HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH
By PHILIP SCHAFF, D.D., LL.D.
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WlCLIF
HISTORY
OF TH'E
CHRISTIAN CHURCH
BY
PHILIP SCHAFF
Christianus sum. Christiani nihil a me alienum puto
VOLUME V. PART II
THE MIDDLE AGES
FROM BONIFACE VIII., 1294, TO THE PROTESTANT
REFORMATION, 1517
BY
DAVID S. SCHAFF, D.D.
PROFESSOR OF CHURCH HISTORY IN THE WESTERN
THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, FITTSBURO
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1910
COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
PUBLISHED MARCH, 1910
RECTOR AND THEOLOGICAL FACULTY
OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF GENEVA
FOUNDED BY
JOHN CALVIN
AND ADMINISTERED BY
THEODORE DE BfcZE
AS ITS FIRST RECTOR
NOMINA PRAECLARA
IN GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR
OF DIVINITY CONFERRED UPON THE AUTHOR AT THE THREE
HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THIS DISTIN-
GIJ8HED SEAT OF LEARNING, JULY 7-10, 1909, AND
IN THE HOPE OF A YET FULLER REALIZATION
OF THE VENERABLE GENEVAN MOTTO
POST TE^JSBRAS LUX
PREFACE
THIS volume completes the history of the Church in the Middle Ages.
])r. Philip Schaff on one occasion spoke of the Middle Ages as a terra
incognita in the United States, — a territory not adequately explored.
These words would no longer be applicable, whether we have in mind
the instruction given in our universities or theological seminaries. In
Germany, during the last twenty years, the study of the period has been
greatly developed, and no period at the present time, except the Apostolic
age, attracts more scholarly and earnest attention and research.
The author has had no apologetic concern to contradict the old notion,
perhaps still somewhat current in our Protestant circles, that the Middle
Ages were a period of superstition and worthy of study as a curiosity
rather than as a time directed and overruled by an all-seeing Providence.
lie has attempted to depict it as it was and to allow the picture of high
religious purpose to reveal itself side by side with the picture of hie-
rarchical assumption and scholastic misinterpretation. Without the
mediaeval age, the Reformation would not have been possible. Nor is
this statement to be understood in the sense in which we speak of reach-
ing a land of sunshine and plenty after having traversed a desert. We
do well to give to St. Bernard and Francis d'Assisi, St. Elizabeth
and St. Catherine of Siena, Gerson, Tauler and Nicolas of Cusa a
high place in our list of religious personalities, and to pray for men
to speak to our generation as well as they spoke to the generations in
which they lived.
Moreover, the author has been actuated by no purpose to disparage
Christians who, in the alleged errors of Protestantism, find an insuper-
able barrier to Christian fellowship. Where he has passed condemnatory
judgments on personalities, as on the popes of the last years of the 15th
and the earlier years of the 16th century, it is not because they occupied
the papal throne, but because they were personalities who in any walk of
life would call for the severest reprobation. The unity of the Christian
faith and the promotion of fellowship between Christians of all names
and all ages are considerations which should make us careful with pen or
spoken word lest we condemn, without properly taking into consideration
that interior devotion to Christ and His kingdom which seems to be
quite compatible with divergencies in doctrinal statement or ceremonial
habit.
Vlll PREFACE
On the pages of the volume, the author has expressed his indebtedness
to the works of the eminent mediaeval historians and investigators of the
<ky» Gregorovius, Pastor, Mandell Creighton, Lea, Ehrle, Denifle, Finke,
Schwab, Haller, Carl Mirbt, K. Muller, Kirsch, Loserth, Janssen, Valois,
Burckhardt-Geiger, Seebohm and others, Protestant and Roman Catholic,
and some no more among the living.
It is a pleasure to be able again to express his indebtedness to the
Rev. David E. Culley, his colleague in the Western Theological Sem-
inary, whose studies in mediaeval history and accurate scholarship have
been given to the volume in the reading of the manuscript, before it went
to the printer, and of the printed pages before they received their final
form.
Above all, the author feels it to be a great privilege that he has been
able to realize the hope which Dr. Philip Schaff expressed in the last
years of his life, that his History of the Christian Church which, in four
volumes, had traversed the first ten centuries and, in the sixth and
seventh, set forth the progress of the German and Swiss Reformations,
might be carried through the fruitful period from 1050-1517.
DAVID S. SCHAFF.
THE WESTERN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY,
PlTTBBURQ.
CONTENTS.
FROM BONIFACE VIII. TO MARTIN LUTHER. A.D. 1294-1517.
Tin SIXTH PERIOD OF CHURCH HISTORY.
PAOB
§ 1. INTRODUCTORY SURVEY ........ 1
CHAPTER I. THE DECLINE OF THE PAPACY AND THE AVIGNON
EXILE. A D. 1294-1877.
§ 2. SOURCES AND LITERATURE ........ 5
§ 3. POPE BONIFACE VIII. 1294-1303 ...... 9
§ 4. BONIFACE VIII. AND PHILIP THE FAIR or FRANCE ... 15
§ 6. LITERARY ATTACKS AGAINST THE PAPACY ..... 29
§ 6" THE TRANSFER OF THE PAPACY TO AVIGNON . . .44
§ 7. THE PONTIFICATE OF JOHN XXII. 1316-1334 .... 60
§ 8. THE PAPAL OFFICE ASSAILED ....... 71
§ 9. THE FINANCIAL POLICY OF THE AVIGNON POPES ... 82
§ 10. THE LATER AVIGNON POPES ....... 96
§ 11. THE RE&STABLISHMENT OF THE PAPACY IN ROME. 1377 . . 106
CHAPTER II. THE PAPAL SCHISM AND THE REFORMATORY
COUNCILS 1878-1449
§12. SOURCES AND LITERATURE
. 116
117
§ 14. FURTHER PROGRESS OF THE SCHISM. 1378-1409
§ 151 THE COUNCIL OF PISA. 1409 . ...
§ 16" THE COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE. 1414-1418 ....
§ 17. THE COUNCIL OF BASEL. 1431-1449
§ 18. THE COUNCIL OF FERRARA-FLORENCE. 1488-1445 .
. 126
. 138
. 145
. 167
. 179
CHAPTER III. LEADERS OF CATHOLIC THOUGHT.
§ 19. SOURCES AND LITERATURE ........ 186
§ 20. OCKAM AND THE DECAY OF SCHOLASTICISM . 188
§ 21. CATHERINE OF SIENA, THE SAINT ...... 194
§ 22. PETER D'AILLY, ECCLESIASTICAL STATESMAN .... 205
§ 23. JOHN GERSON, THEOLOGIAN AND CHURCH LEADER . . .207
§ 24. NICOLAS OF CLAMANGKS, THE MORALIST ..... 218
§ 25. NICOLAS OF CUBA, SCHOLAR AND CHURCHMAN .... 223
§ 26. POPULAR PREACHERS ......... 227
CHAPTER IV. THE GERMAN MYSTICS.
§ 27. SOURCES AND LITERATURE
§ 28.* THE NEW MYSTICISM .
X CONTENTS
PAOR
§ 29^ MEISTER ECKART 243
§ 30t JOHN TAULBR OF STRASSBURG 266
§ 31*. HENRY Suso 262
§ 321 THE FRIENDS OF GOD 269
§ 38. JOHN OF RUYSBROECK 273
§ 34". GERRIT DE GROOTE. THL BROTHERS OF THE COMMON LIFE . 278
§85*. THE IMITATION OF CHRIST. THOMAS A KEMPIS . . . 284
§ 86. THE GERMAN THEOLOGY 293
§ 37. ENGLISH MYSTICS 295
CHAPTER V. REFORMERS BEFORE THE REFORMATION.
§ 88. SOURCES AND LITERATURE . 299
§ 30. THE CHURCH IN ENGLAND IN THE 14ni CENTURY . . 302
§ 40. JOHN WYCLIF 314
§ 41. WYCLIF'S TEACHINGS 325
§ 42. WYCLIF AND THE SCRIPTURES 338
§ 43. THE LOLLARDS 349
§ 44. JOHN Huss OF BOHEMIA ... .... 858
§ 45. Huss AT CONSTANCE 871
§ 46. JEROME OF FRAG 388
§ 47. THE HUSSITES .... 391
CHAPTER VI. THE LAST POPES OF THE MIDDLE AGES 1447-1521.
§48. LITERATURE AND GENERAL SLRVEY 400
§ 49. NICOLAS V. 1447-1455 406
§ 60. -/ENEAS SYLVIUS DE' PICCOLOMINI, Pius II .... 414
§ 61. PAUL II. 1464-1471 425
§ 62. SIXTUS IV. 1471-1484 429
§ 63. INNOCENT VIII. 1484-1402 436
§64. POPE ALEXANDER VI —BORGIA. 1492-1503 . . . .443
§ 66. JULIUS II., THE WARRIOR-POPE. 1503-lol3 . . . .466
§ 66. LEO X. 1613-1521 479
CHAPTER VII HERESY AND WITCHCRAFT.
§ 67. SOURCES AND LITERATURE 497
§ 68. HERETICAL AND UNCHURCHLY MOVEMENTS 498
§ 69. WITCHCRAFT 614
§ 60. THE SPANISH INQUISITION 633
CHAPTER VIII. THE RENAISSANCE.
§ 61. SOURCES AND LITERATURE 566
§ 62. THE INTELLECTUAL AWAKENING 669
§ 63. DANTE, PETRARCA, BOCCACCIO 666
§ 64. PROGRESS OF CLASSICAL STUDIES 679
§ 65. GREEK TEACHERS AND ITALIAN HUMANISTS .... 688
§ 66. THE ARTISTS 698
§ 67. THE REVIVAL OF PAGANISM 606
§68. GERMAN HUMANISM 618
REUCHLIN AND ERASMUS 625
CONTENTS Xi
PAGK
§ 70 HUMANISM IN FRANCE 642
§ 71. HUMANISM IN ENGLAND 645
CHAPTER IX THE PULPIT AND POPULAR PIETY
§ 72. LITERATURE 651)
§ 73. THE CLERGY . 662
§ 74. PREACHING 671
§ 76. DOCTRINAL REFORMERS .... ... 680
§ 76." SAVONAROLA 684
§ 77. STUDY AND CIRCULATION OF THE BIBLE . . . . .716
§ 78. POPULAR PIETY 729
§ 70. WORKS OF CHARITY 747
§ 80. THE SALE OF INDULGENCES . 756
CHAPTER X. THE CLOSE OF THE MIDDLE AGES
ILLUSTRATIONS
WICLIF Frontispiece
PAGE
JULIUS II xn
THE KAUFHAUS, CONSTANCE Facing 148
JOHN HUBS OF BOHEMIA ** 358
POPE LEO X "480
SAVONAROLA " 684
JULIUS II
THE MIDDLE AGES.
THE DECLINE OF THE PAPACY AND THE
PREPARATION FOR MODERN
CHRISTIANITY.
FROM BONIFACE VIII. TO MARTIN LUTHER.
A.D. 1294-1517.
THE SIXTH PERIOD OF CHURCH HISTORY.
§ 1. Introductory Survey.
THE two centuries intervening between 1294 and 1517,
between the accession of Boniface VIII. and the nailing of
Luther's Ninety-five Theses against the church door in Wit-
tenberg, mark the gradual transition from the Middle Ages
to modern times, from the universal acceptance of the papal
theocracy in Western Europe to the assertion of national
independence, from the supreme authority of the priesthood
to the intellectual and spiritual freedom of the individual.
Old things are passing away ; signs of a new order increase.
Institutions are seen to be breaking up. The scholastic sys-
tems of theology lose their compulsive hold on men's minds,
and even become the subject of ridicule. The abuses of the
earlier Middle Ages call forth voices demanding reform on
the basis of the Scriptures and the common well-being of
mankind. The inherent vital energies in the Church seek
expression in new forms of piety and charitable deed.
The power of the papacy, which had asserted infallibility
of judgment and dominion over all departments of human
life, was undermined by the mistakes, pretensions, and world-
liness of the papacy itself, as exhibited in the policy of Boni-
2 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
face VIII., the removal of the papal residence to Avignon,
and the disastrous schism which, for nearly half a century,
gave to Europe the spectacle of two, and at times three,
popes reigning at the same time and all professing to be the
vicegerents of God on earth.
The free spirit of nationality awakened during the crusades
grew strong and successfully resisted the papal authority,
first in France and then in other parts of Europe. Princes
asserted supreme authority over the citizens within their do-
minions and insisted upon the obligations of churches to
the state. The leadership of Europe passed from Germany
to France, with England coming more and more into promi-
nence.
The tractarian literature of the fourteenth century set
forth the rights of man and the principles of common law in
opposition to the pretensions of the papacy and the dogma-
tism of the scholastic systems. Lay writers made themselves
heard as pioneers of thought, and a practical outlook upon
the mission of the Church was cultivated. With unexampled
audacity Dante assailed the lives of popes, putting some of
St. Peter's successors into the lowest rooms of hell.
The Reformatory councils of Pisa, Constance, and Basel
turned Europe for nearly fifty years, 1409-1450, into a plat-
form of ecclesiastical and religious discussion. Though they
failed to provide a remedy for the disorders prevailing in the
Church, they set an example of free debate, and gave the
weight of their eminent constituency to the principle that
not in a select group of hierarchs does supreme authority
in the Church rest, but in the body of the Church.
The hopelessness of expecting any permanent reform from
the papacy and the hierarchy was demonstrated in the last
years of the period, 1460-1517, when ecclesiastical Rome
offered a spectacle of moral corruption and spiritual fall
which has been compared to the corrupt age of the Roman
Empire.
The religious unrest and the passion for a better state of
affairs found expression in Wyclif, Huss, and other leaders
who, by their clear apprehension of truth and readiness to
§ 1. INTRODUCTORY SURVEY. 3
stand by their public utterances, even unto death, stood far
above their own age and have shone in all the ages since.
While coarse ambition and nepotism, a total perversion of
the ecclesiastical office and violation of the fundamental vir-
tues of the Christian life held rule in the highest place of
Christendom, a pure stream of piety was flowing in the
Church of the North, and the mystics along the Rhine and
in the Lowlands were unconsciously fertilizing the soil from
which the Reformation was to spring forth.
The Renaissance, or the revival of classical culture, un-
shackled the minds of men. The classical works of antiq-
uity were once more, after the churchly disparagement of a
thousand years, held forth to admiration. The confines of
geography were extended by the discoveries of the continent
in the West.
The invention of the art of printing, about 1440, forms an
epoch in human advancement, and made it possible for the
products of human thought to be circulated widely among
the people, and thus to train the different nations for the
new age of religious enfranchisement about to come, and
the sovereignty of the intellect.
To this generation, which looks back over the last four
centuries, the discovery of America and the pathways to the
Indies was one of the remarkable events in history, a surprise
and a prophecy. In 1453, Constantinople easily passed into
the hands of the Turk, and the Christian empire of the East
fell apart. In the far West the beginnings of a new empire
were made, just as the Middle Ages were drawing to a close.
At the same time, at the very close of the period, under
the direction and protection of the Church, an institution
was being prosecuted which has scarcely been equalled in
the history of human cruelty, the Inquisition, — now papal,
now Spanish, — which punished heretics unto death in Spain
and witches in Germany.
Thus European society was shaking itself clear of long-
established customs and dogmas based upon the infallibility
of the Church visible, and at the same time it held fast to
some of the most noxious beliefs and practices the Church had
4 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
allowed herself to accept and propagate. It had not the
original genius or the conviction to produce a new system of
theology. The great Schoolmen continued to rule doctrinal
thought. It established no new ecclesiastical institution of
an abiding character like the canon law. It exhibited no
consuming passion such as went out in the preceding period
in the crusades and the activity of the Mendicant Orders.
It had no transcendent ecclesiastical characters like St. Ber-
nard and Innocent III. The last period of the Middle Ages
was a period of intellectual discontent, of self-introspection,
a period of intimation and of preparation for an order which
it was itself not capable of begetting.
CHAPTER I.
THE DECLINE OF THE PAPACY AND THE AVIGNON EXILE.
A.D. 1294-1377.
§ 2. Sources and Literature.
For works covering the entire period, see V. 1. 1-3, such as the col-
lections of MANSI, MuRATOiti, and the Rolls Series ; Friedberg's Decretum
Gratiani, 2 vols., Leipzig, 1870-1881; HEFELE-KNOPFLER : Concilienge-
schichte; MIRBT: Qitellen zur Geschichte des Papstthums, 2d ed., 1901 ; the
works of GREGOROVIUS and BRYCE, the General Church and Doctrinal His-
tories of GIESELER, HEFELE, FUNK, HERGENROTHER-KIRSCH, KARL MILLER,
HARNACK, LOOPS, and SEEBERG ; the Encyclopedias of HERZOO, WETZER-
WELTE, LESLIE STEPHEN, POTTHAST, and CHEVALIER ; the Atlases of F. W.
PUTZOER, Leipzig, HEUSSI and MLJLERT, TUbingen, 1905, and LABBERTON,
New York. L. PASTOR Geschichte der Papste, etc., 4 vols., 4th ed., 1901-
1906, and MANDELL CREIGHTON : History of the Papacy, etc., London, 1882-
1894, also cover the entire period in the body of their works and their
Introductory Chapters. There is no general collection of ecclesiastical authors
for this period corresponding to Migne's Latin Patrology.
For §§ 8, 4. BONIFACE VIII. llegesta Bonifatii in POTTHAST : Regesta
pontificum row., II., 1923-2024, 2133 sq.—/>s Registres de Boniface VIIL,
ed. DIOARD, FAU^ON ET THOMAS, 7 Fasc., Paris, 1884-1903. — Hist, eccles. of
Ptolemaeus of Lucca, Vitce Pontif. of Bernardus Guidonis, Chron. Pontif. of
Amalncus Auger, Hist, rerum in Italia gestarum of Ferretus Vicentinus, and
Chronica universale of Villani, all in MURATORI : Eerum Ital. Scriptores,
III. 670 sqq., X. 690 sqq., XI. 1202 sqq., XIII. 348 sqq. — Selections from
Villani, trans, by ROSE E. SELFE, ed. by P. H. WICKSTEED, Westminster,
1897. — FINKE : Aus den Tagen Bonifaz VIII. , Munster, 1902. Prints val-
uable documents, pp. i-ccxi. Also Ada Aragonensia. Quellen . . . zur
Kirchen und Kultiirgeschichte aus der diplomatischen Korrespondenz Jayme
//., 1291-1327 ', 2 vols., Berlin, 1908. — DOLLINGER : Beitrage zur politischen,
kirchlichen und Culturgeschichte der letzten 6 Jahrh., 3 vols., Vienna, 1862-
1882. Vol. III., pp. 347-363, contains a Life of Boniface drawn from the
Chronicle of Orvieto by an eye-witness, and other documents.— -DENIFLE : Die
Denkschriften der Colonna gegen Bonifaz VIIL, etc., in Archiv fttr Lit.
und Kirchengeschichte des M.A., 1892, V. 493 sqq.— DANTE : Inferno, XIX.
62 sqq., XXVII. 86 sqq. ; Paradiso, IX. 182, XXVII. 22, XXX. 147.
MODERN WORKS. — J. RUBKUS : Bonif. VIII. e familia Cajetanorum,
Rome, 1651. Magnifies Boniface as an ideal pope.— P. DUPUY : Hist, du dif~
ferend entre le Pape Bon. ft Philip le Bel, Paris, 1665. — BAIL LET (a Jansen-
ist) : Hist, des desmeles du Pape Bon. VIII. avec Philip le Bel, Paris, 1718. —
6
6 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1204-1617.
L. TOSTI: Storia di Bon. VIII. e de* suoi tempi, 2 vols., Rome, 1846. A
glorification of Boniface.— W. DRUM ANN: Oesch. Bonifatius VIIL, 2 vols.,
Konigsberg, 1862. — CARDINAL WISEMAN : Pope Bon. VIIL in his Essays,
III. 161-222. Apologetic. — BOUTARIC : La France sous Philippe le Bel,
Tans, 1861.— R. HOLTZMANN : W.von Nogaret, Freiburg, 1898.— E. RENAN:
Guil de Nogaret, in Hist. Litt. de France, XXVII. 233 sq. ; also titudes sur
la politique rel. du regne de Phil, le Bel, Paris, 1899. — DOLLINOER : Anagni in
Akad. Vortrdge, III. 223-244. — HEINRICH FINKE (prof, in Freiburg) : as
above. Also Papsttum und Untergang des Tempelordens, 2 vols., MUnster,
1907. — J. HALLER: Papsttum und Kirchenreform, Berlin, 1903. — RICH.
SCHOLZ : Die Publizistik zur Zeit Philipps des Schonen und Bonifaz VIIL,
Stuttgart, 1903. — The Ch. Histt. of GIESELER, HERGENROTHER-KIRSCH, 4th
ed., 1904, II. 682-698, F. X. FUNK, 4th ed., 1902, HEFELE, 3d ed., 1902,
K. MULLER, HEFELE-KNOPFLER : Conciliengeschichte, VI. 281-364. — RANKE :
Vnivers. Hist., IX. — GREGOROVIUS : History of the City of Some, V. — WAT-
TBNBACH: Gesch. des rom. Papstthums, 2d ed., Berlin, 1870, pp. 211-226.
— G. B. ADAMS : Civilization during the Middle Ages, New York, 1894, ch.
XIV. —Art. Bonifatius by HAUCK in Herzog, III. 291-300.
For § 6. LITERARY ATTACKS UPON THE PAPACY. DANTE ALLIGHIERI :
De monarchia, ed. by WITTE, Vienna, 1874 ; GIULIANI, Florence, 1878 ;
MOORE, Oxford, 1894. Eng. trans, by F. C. CHURCH, together with the essay
on Dante by his father, R. W. CHURCH, London, 1878 ; P. H. Wicksteed, Hull,
1896 ; Aurelia Henry, Boston, 1904. —Dante's De monarchia, Valla's De falsa
donatione Constantini, and other anti-papal documents are given in De juris-
dictione, auctoritate et prceeminentia imperiali, Basel, 1566. Many of the
tracts called forth by the struggle between Boniface VIII. and Philip IV. are
found in MELCHIOR GOLDAST : Monarchia S. Eomani wiperii, sive tractatus
de jurisdictione imperiali seu regia et pontificia sen sacerdotali, etc., Han-
over, 1610, pp. 766, Frankfurt, 1668. With a preface dedicated to the elector,
John Sigismund of Brandenburg ; in DUPUY : Hist, du Differend, etc., Paris,
1665, and in Finke and Scholz. See above. — E. ZECK: De recuperatione
terras Sanctce, Ein Traktat d. P. Dubois, Berlin, 1906. For summary and
criticism, S. RIEZLER : Die literarischen Widersacher der Pdpste zur Zeit
Ludwig des Balers, pp. 131-166. Leipzig, 1874. — R. L. POOLE : Opposition to
the Temporal Claims of the Papacy, in his Illustrations of the Hist, of Uded.
Thought, pp. 266-281, London, 1884. —FINKE: Ausden Tagen Bonifaz VIIL,
pp. 169 sqq., etc. — DENIFLE : Chartulanum Un. Parisiensis, 4 vols. —
HALLER: Papsttum.— Artt. in Wetzer-Welte, Colonna, III. 667-671, and
Johann von Paris, VI. 1744-1746, etc.— RENAN: Pierre Dubois in Hist.
Litt. de France, XXVI. 471-636. — HERGENROTHER-KIRBCH : Kirchengesch.,
II. 754 sqq.
For § 6. TRANSFER OF THE PAPACY TO AVIGNON. BENEDICT XI. : Re-
gistre de Benolt XL, ed. C. GRANDJEAN. — For Clement V., dementis papce V.
regestum ed. cura et studio monachorum ord. 8. Benedicti, 9 vols., Rome,
1885-1892. — ETIENNE BALUZE: Vita paparum Avenoniensium 1805-1894,
dedicated to Louis XIV. and placed on the Index, 2 vols., Paris, 1693.
RAYNALDUS : ad annum, 1304 sqq., for original documents. — W. H. BLISS :
Calendar of Entries in the Papal Registries relating to Great Britain and
§ 2. SOURCES AND LITERATURE. 7
Ireland, I. -IV., London, 1896-1902. — GIOVANHI and MATTEO VILLANI:
Hist, of Florence sive Chronica universalis, bks. VIII. sq.-— M. TANOL: Die
papstlichen Eegesta von Benedict XIL-ttregor XL, Innsbruck, 1898.
MANSI : Condi., XXV. 368 sqq., 389 sqq.— J. B. CHRISTOPHE : Hist, de la
papaute pendant le XIV* siecle, 2 vols., Paris, 1853. — C. VON HOFLER: Die
avignonesischen Papste, Vienna, 1871. — FAUOON: La libraire des papes
d* Avignon, 2 vols., Paris, 1886 sq. — M. SOUCHON : Die Papstwahlen von
Bonifaz VIII.- Urban VI., Braunschweig, 1888. —A. EITEL : D. Kirchenstaat
unter Klemens V., Berlin, 1906. — CLINTON LOCKE : Age of the Great West-
ern Schism, pp. 1-99, New York, 1896. — J. H. ROBINSON: Petrarch, New
York, 1898. — SCHWAB: J. Gerson, pp. 1-7. — DOLLINGER-FRIEDRICH : Das
Papstthum, Munich, 1892. — PASTOR : Geschichte der Pdpste seit dem Ausgang
de s M. A., 4 vols., 3d and 4th ed., 1901 sqq., I. 67-114. — STUBBS: Const. Hist,
of England. — CAPES : The English Church in the 14th and 15th Centuries,
London, 1900. — WATTENBACH : Horn. Papstthum, pp. 226-241. —HALLE R:
Papsttum, etc. — HEFELE-KNOPFLER : VI. 378-936. — RANKE : Univers. Hist.,
IX. — GRKGOROVIUS : VI. — The Ch. Histt. of GIESELER, HERGENROTHER-
KIRSCH, II. 737-776, MILLER, II. 16-42. — EHRLE : Der Nachlass Clemens V.
in Archiv fur Lit. u. Kirchengesch., V. 1-150. For the fall of the Templars,
see for lit. V. 1. p. 301 sqq., and especially the works of BOUTARIC, PRUTZ,
SCHOTTMITLLER, DoLLiNGER. — FUNK in Wetzer-Welte, XI. 1311-1345. — LEA :
Inquisition, III. FINKE : Papsttum und Untergang des Tempelordens, 2 vols.,
1907. Vol. II. contains Spanish documents, hitherto unpublished, bearing
on the fall of the Templars, especially letters to and from King Jayme of
Aragon. They are confirmatory of former views.
For § 7. THE PONTIFICATE OF JOHN XXII. Lettres secretes et curiales
du pape Jean XXII. relative a la France, ed. AUG. COULON, 3 Fasc , 1900 sq.
Lettres communes de p. Jean XXIL, ed. MOLLAT, 3 vols., Paris, 1904-1906. —
J. GITERARD: Documents pontificeaux sur la Gascogne. Pontijicat de
Jean XXIL, 2 vols., Paris, 1897-1903.— B A LUZE : Vitce paparum.— V. VE-
LARQUE : Jean XXIL sa vie et ses oeuvres, Paris, 1883. — J. SCHWALM, Appel-
lation d. Konig Ludwigs des Baiern v. 1SS4, 1906. — RIEZLER D. lit.
Widersacher. Also Vatikanische Akten zur deutschen Gesch zur Zeit Lud-
wigs des Bayern, Innsbruck, 1891. — K. MOLLER : Der Kampf Ludwigs des
Baiern mit der romischen Curie, 2 vols., Ttibingen, 1879 sq. — EHRLE: Die
Spirituallen, ihr Verhdltniss zum Franciskanerorden, etc., in Archiv fur Lit.
und Kirchengesch., 1885, p. 609 sqq., 1886, p. 106 sqq., 1887, p. 563 sqq.,
1890. Also P. J. Olivi : S. Leben und s. Schriften, 1887, pp. 409-540.— DOL-
LINGER : Deutschlands Kampf mit dem Papstthum unter Ludwig dem Bayer
in Akad. Vortrdge, I. 119-137. — HKFELE : VI. 646-679. — LEA : Inquisition,
I. 242-304.— The Artt. in Wetzer-Welte, Franziskanerorden, IV. 1650-1683,
and Armut, I. 1394-1401. Artt. John XXIL in Herzog, IX. 267-270, and
Wetzer-Welte, VIII. 828 sqq. — HALLER: Papsttum, p. 91 sqq. — STUBBS:
Const. Hist, of England. — GBEGOROVIUS, VI. — PASTOR : I. 80 sqq.
For § 8. THE PAPAL OFFICE ASSAILED. Some of the tracts may be
found in GOLDAST : Monarchia, Hanover, 1610, e.g. Marsiglius of Padua,
U. 164-312 ; Ockam1s Octo qucestionum decisiones super potestate ac dig ni-
tate papali, II. 740 sqq., and Dialogus inter magistrum et discipulum, etc.,
8 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
II., 399 sqq. Special edd. are given in the body of the chap, and may be
found under Alvarus Pelagius, Marsiglius, etc. , in POTTHABT : Bibl. med. cevi. —
Un trattato inedito di Egidio Colonna : De ecclesice potestate, ed. G. U. OXILIA
etG. BOFPITO, Florence, 1908, pp. Ixxxi, 172. — SCHWAB: Gerson, pp. 24-
28. — MULLER: D. Kampf Ludwigs des Baiern. — RIEZLER : Die lit. Wider-
Backer der Papste, etc., Leipzig, 1874. — MARCOUR : Antheil der Minoriten am
Kampf zwischen Ludwig dem Baiern und Johann XXII., Emmerich, 1874. —
POOLS : The Opposition to the Temporal Claims of the Papacy , in Illust. of
the Hist. ofMed. Thought, pp. 256-281.— HALLER: Papsttum, etc., pp. 73-
89. English trans, of Marsiglius of Padua, The Defence of Peace, by W.
MARSHALL, London, 1535. — M. BIRCK : Marsilio von Padua und Alvaro
Pelayo uber Papst und Kaiser, Mtthlheiin, 1868. — B. LABANCA, Prof . of
Moral Philos. in the Univ. of Rome: Marsilio da Padova, rif or matore polit-
ico e religioso, Padova, 1882, pp. 235. — L. JOURDAN : titude sur Marsile de
Padoue> Montauban, 1892. — J. SULLIVAN : Marsig. of Padua, in Engl. Hist.
Rev., 1905, pp. 293-307. An examination of the MSS. See also DOLLINGER-
FRIEDRICH: Papstthum] Pastor, I. 82 sqq. ; Gregorovius, VI. 118 sqq., the
Artt. in Wetzer-Welte, Alvarus Pelagius, I. 667 sq., Marsiglius, VIII.,
907-911, etc., and in Herzog, XII. 368-370, etc.— N. VALOIS: Hist. Litt.,
Paris, 1900, XXIIL, 528-623, an Art. on the authors of the Defensor.
For § 9. THE FINANCIAL SYSTEM OF THE AVIGNON POPES. EHRLE :
Schatz, Bibliothek und Archw der Papste im 14ten Jahrh., in Archiv fur
Lit. u. Kirchengesch., 1. 1-49, 228-365, also D. Nachlass Clemens V. und der
in Betreff desselben von Johann XXIL gefuhrte Process, V. 1-166.— PH.
WOKER: Das kirchliche Finanzwesen der Papste, Nordlingen, 1878. — M.
TANGL : Das Taxenwesen der pdpstlichen Kanzlei vom ISten bis zur Mitte
des 15ten Jahrh., Innsbruck, 1892.— J. P. KIUSCII : Die papstl. Kollektorien
in Deutschland im XlVten Jahrh., Paderborn, 1894 ; Die Finanzverwal-
tung des Kardinalkollegiums im XIII. u. XlV.ten Jahrh., Munster, 1896;
Die Ruckkehr der Papste Urban V. und Gregor XL von Avignon nach
Horn. Auszuge aus den Kameralregistern des Vatikan. Archivs, Pader-
born, 1898 ; Die papstl. Annaten in Deutschland im XIV. Jahrh. 1328-1360,
Paderborn, 1903.— P. M. BAUMGARTEN: Untersuchungen und Urkunden
uber die Camera Collegii Cardinalium, 1295-1437, Leipzig, 1898.— A. GOTT-
LOB: Die papstl. Kreuzzugsteuern des ISten Jahrh., Heiligenstadt, 1892;
Die Servitientaxe im ISten Jahrh., Stuttgart, 1903. — EMIL GOELLER:
Mittheilungen u. Untersuchungen Uber das papstl. Register und Kanzlei-
wesen im 14ten Jahrh., Rome, 1904 ; D. Liber Taxarum d. papstl. Kammer.
Eine Studie zu ihrer Entstehung u. Anlage, Rome, 1905, pp. 105.—
HALLER: Papsttum u. Kirchenreform ; also Aufzeichnungen uber den papstl.
Haushalt aus Amgnonesischer Zeit; die Vertheilung der Seroitia minuta u.
die Obligationen der Praelaten im ISten u. 14ten Jahrh. ; Die Ausfertigung
der Provisionen, etc., all in Quellen u. Forschungen, ed. by the Royal Prus-
sian Institute in Rome, Rome, 1897, 1898. — C. Lux: Constitutionum apos-
tolicarum de generali beneficiorum reservatione, 1265-1S78, etc., Wratislav,
1904. —A. SCHDLTE : Die Fuggerin Rom, 1496-162S, 2 vols., Leipzig, 1904. —
C. SAMARIN and G. MOLLAT : La Fiscalite pontif. en France au XIV* sitclc,
Paris, 1905. —P. THOMAN : Le droit de propriete des laiques sur les eglises
§ 3. POPE BONIFACE VIII. 1294-1803. 9
et le patronat laique au moy. age, Paris, 1906. Also the work on Canon
Law by T. HINSCUIUS, 6 vols., Berlin, 1869-1897, and £. FRIEDBEHG, 6th ed.,
Leipzig, 1903.
For § 10. LATER AVIGNON POPES. Lettres des papes d' Avignon se rap-
portant & la France, viz. Lettres communes de Benolt XII. , ed. J. M.
VIDAL, Paris, 1905; Lettres closes, patentes et curiales, ed. G. DAUMET,
Paris, 1890; Lettres . . . de Clement VI., ed. E. DEPHEZ, Paris, 1901 ; Ex-
cerpta ex registr. de Clem. VI. et Inn. VI., ed. WERUNSKY, Innsbruck, 1885 ;
Lettres . . . de Pape Urbain V., ed. P. LECACHEUX, Paris, 1902. — -J. H.
ALBANS : Actes anciens et documents concernant le bienheureux Urbain V.,
ed. by U. CHEVALIER, Paris, 1897. Contains the fourteen early lives of
Urban. — BALUZB : Vitce paparum Avenionensiumt 1693; — MURATORI: in
Her. ital. scripp, XIV. 9-728. — CERRI : Innocenzo VI., papa, Turin, 1878.
MAGNAN: Hist, d1 Urbain V., 2d ed., Paris, 1863. — WERUNSKY : Gesch.
Karls IV. u. seiner Zeit, 3 vols., Innsbruck, 1880-1892. — GEO. SCHMIDT : Der
hist. Werth der U alten Biographien des Urban V., Breslau, 1907.— KIRSCH :
Ruckkehr der Papste, as above. In large part, documents for the first time
published.— LECHNER: Das grosse Sterben in DeutsMand, 1348-1351, 1884.—
C. CREIGHTON : Hist, of Epidemics in England, CAMBRIDGE, 1891. F. A.
GASQUET: The Great Pestilence, London, 1893, 2d ed., entitled The Black
Death, 1908.— A. JESSOPP: The Black Death in East Anglia in Coming of
the Friars, pp. 166-261. — VILLANI, WATTENBACH, p. 226 sqq. ; PASTOR, I.,
GREGOROVIUS, VI. — WURM : Cardinal Albornoz, Paderborn, 1892.
For § 11. THE RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF THE PAPACY IN ROME. The Lives
of Gregory XL inBaluz, I. 425 sqq., and MURATORI, III. 2, 645.— KIRSCH:
Ruckkehr, etc., as above. — LEON MIROT : La politique pontif. et lerttourdu
S. Siege a Home, 1S76, Paris, 1899.— F. HAMMERICH: St. Brigitta, die nordische
Prophetin u. Ordenstifterin, Germ, ed., Gotha, 1872. For further lit. on St.
Brigitta, see HERZOG, III. 239. For works on Catherine of Siena, see
ch. III. Also GIESELER, II., 3, pp. 1-131; PASTOR, I. 101-114; GREGO-
ROVIUS, VI. Lit. under § 10.
§ 3. Pope Boniface VIII. 1294-1303.
The pious but weak and incapable hermit of Murrhone, Cce-
lestine V., who abdicated the papal office, was followed by Bene-
dict Gaetani, — or Cajetan, the name of an ancient family of
Latin counts, — known in history as Boniface VIII. At the
time of his election he was on the verge of fourscore,1 but like
Gregory IX. he was still in the full vigor of a strong intellect
1 Drumann, p. 4, Gregorovius, etc. Setting aside the testimony of the con-
temporary Ferretus of Vicenza, and on the ground that it would be well-nigh
impossible for a man of Boniface's talent to remain in an inferior position till
he was sixty, when he was made cardinal, Finke, p. 3 sq., makes Boniface fif-
teen years younger when he assumed the papacy.
10 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
and will. If Coelestine had the reputation of a saint, Boniface
was a politician, overbearing, implacable, destitute of spiritual
ideals, and controlled by blind and insatiable lust of power.
Born at Anagni, Boniface probably studied canon law, in
which he was an expert, in Rome.1 He was made cardinal in
1281, and represented the papal see in France and England
as legate. In an address at a council in Paris, assembled
to arrange for a new crusade, he reminded the mendicant
monks that he and they were called not to court glory or
learning, but to secure the salvation of their souls.2
Boniface's election as pope occurred at Castel Nuovo, near
Naples, Dec. 24, 1294, the conclave having convened the day
before. The election was not popular, and a few days later,
when a report reached Naples that Boniface was dead, the peo-
ple celebrated the event with great jubilation. The pontiff was
accompanied on his way to Rome by Charles II. of Naples.3
The coronation was celebrated amid festivities of unusual
splendor. On his way to the Lateran, Boniface rode on a white
palfrey, a crown on his head, and robed in full pontificals.
Two sovereigns walked by his side, the kings of Naples and
Hungary. The Orsini, the Colonna, the Savelli, the Conti and
representatives of other noble Roman families followed in a
body. The procession had difficulty in forcing its way through
the kneeling crowds of spectators. But, as if an omen of the
coming misfortunes of the new pope, a furious storm burst
over the city while the solemnities were in progress and extin-
guished every lamp and torch in the church. The following
day the pope dined in the Lateran, the two kings waiting
behind his chair.
While these brilliant ceremonies were going on, Peter of
Murrhone was a fugitive. Not willing to risk the possible
rivalry of an anti-pope, Boniface confined his unfortunate
1 Not at Paris, as Bulaeus, without sufficient authority, states. See Finke,
p. 6.
9 Finke discovered this document and gives it pp. iii-vii.
8 There is no doubt about the manifestation of popular joy over the rumor
of the pope's death. Finke, p. 45. At the announcement of the election, the
people are said to have cried out, " Boniface is a heretic, bad all through,
and has in him nothing that is Christian.11
§ 8. POPE BONIFACE VIII. 1294-1303. H
predecessor in prison, where he soon died. The cause of his
death was a matter of uncertainty. The Ccelestine party
ascribed it to Boniface, and exhibited a nail which they de-
clared the unscrupulous pope had ordered driven into Coeles-
tine's head.
With Boniface VIII. began the decline of the papacy. He
found it at the height of its power. He died leaving it humbled
and in subjection to France. He sought to rule in the proud,
dominating spirit of Gregory VII. and Innocent III.; but he
was arrogant without being strong, bold without being saga-
cious, high-spirited without possessing the wisdom to discern
the signs of the times.1 The times had changed. Boniface
made no allowance for the new spirit of nationality which had
been developed during the crusading campaigns in the East,
and which entered into conflict with the old theocratic ideal
of Rome. France, now in possession of the remaining lands
of the counts of Toulouse, was in no mood to listen to the dic-
tation of the power across the Alps. Striving to maintain the
fictitious theory of papal rights, and fighting against the spirit
of the new age, Boniface lost the prestige the Apostolic See
had enjoyed for two centuries, and died of mortification over
the indignities heaped upon him by France.
French enemies went so far as to charge Boniface with
downright infidelity and the denial of the soul's immortality.
The charges were a slander, but they show the reduced con-
fidence which the papal office inspired. Dante, who visited
Rome during Boniface's pontificate, bitterly pursues him in
all parts of the Divina Commedia. He pronounced him "the
prince of modern Pharisees," a usurper "who turned the
Vatican hill into a common sewer of corruption." The poet
assigned the pope a place with Nicholas III. and Clement V.
among the simoniacs in " that most afflicted shade," one of
the lowest circles of hell.2 Its floor was perforated with
holes into which the heads of these popes were thrust.
i Gregorovius, V. 697, calls Boniface "an unfortunate reminiscence1' of
the great popes.
* " Where Simon Magus hath his curst abode
To depths profounder thrusting Boniface."— Paradwo, zzx. 147 sq.
12 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
" The soles of every one in flames were wrapt — l
. . . whose upper parts are thrust below
Fixt like a stake, most wretched soul
******
Quivering in air his tortured feet were seen."
Contemporaries comprehended Boniface's reign in the descrip-
tion, " He came in like a fox, he reigned like a lion, and he
died like a dog, intravit ut vulpes, regnavit ut leo, mortuus est
sicut canis.
In his attempt to control the affairs of European states, he
met with less success than failure, and in Philip the Fair of
France he found his match.
In Sicily, he failed to carry out his plans to secure the
transfer of the realm from the house of Aragon to the king
of Naples.
In Rome, he incurred the bitter enmity of the proud and
powerful family of the Colonna, by attempting to dictate the
disposition of the family estates. Two of the Colonna, James
and Peter, who were cardinals, had been friends of Coeles-
tine, and supporters of that pope gathered around them. Of
their number was Jacopone da Todi, the author of the Stabat
Mater, who wrote a number of satirical pieces against Boni-
face. Resenting the pope's interference in their private mat-
ters, the Colonna issued a memorial, pronouncing Ccelestine's
abdication and the election of Boniface illegal.2 It exposed
the haughtiness of Boniface, and represented him as boasting
that he was supreme over kings and kingdoms, even in tem-
poral affairs, and that he was governed by no law other than
his own will.8 The document was placarded on the churches
and a copy left in St. Peter's. In 1297 Boniface deprived
the Colonna of their dignity, excommunicated them, and pro-
claimed a crusade against them. The two cardinals appealed
to a general council, the resort in the next centuries of so
many who found themselves out of accord with the papal
plans. Their strongholds fell one after another. The last
of them, Palestrina, had a melancholy fate. The two car-
1 Inferno, xix. 46 sq. 118. * Dupuy, pp. 226-227.
8 Super reges et reyna in temporalibus etiam presidere se glorians, etc.,
Scholz, p. 338.
§ 3. POPE BONIFACE VIII. 1294-1803. lg
dinals with ropes around their necks threw themselves at the
pope's feet and secured his pardon, but their estates were
confiscated and bestowed upon the pope's nephews and the
Orsini. The Colonna family recovered in time to reap a
bitter vengeance upon their insatiable enemy.
The German emperor, Albrecht, Boniface succeeded in
bringing to an abject submission. The German envoys were
received by the haughty pontiff seated on a throne with a
crown upon his head and sword in his hand, and exclaiming,
" I, I am the emperor." Albrecht accepted his crown as a
gift, and acknowledged that the empire had been transferred
from the Greeks to the Germans by the pope, and that the
electors owed the right of election to the Apostolic See.
In England, Boniface met with sharp resistance. Edward
I., 1272-1307, was on the throne. The pope attempted to
prevent him from holding the crown of Scotland, claiming it
as a papal fief from remote antiquity.1 The English parlia-
ment, 1301, gave a prompt and spirited reply. The English
king was under no obligation to the papal see for his tem-
poral acts.2 The dispute went no further. The conflict
between Boniface and France is reserved for more prolonged
treatment.
An important and picturesque event of Boniface's pontifi-
cate was the Jubilee Year, celebrated in 1300. It was a for-
tunate conception, adapted to attract throngs of pilgrims to
Rome and fill the papal treasury. An old man of 107 years
of age, so the story ran, travelled from Savoy to Rome, and
told how his father had taken him to attend a Jubilee in the
year 1200 and exhorted him to visit it on its recurrence a cen-
tury after. Interesting as the story is, the Jubilee celebration
of 1300 seems to have been the first of its kind.8 Boniface's
bull, appointing it, promised full remission to all, being peni-
tent and confessing their sins, who should visit St. Peter's
i Tytler, Hist, of Scotland, I. 70 sqq.
8 Edward removed from Scone to Westminster the sacred stone on which
Scotch kings had been consecrated, and which, according to the legend, was
the pillow on which Jacob rested at Bethel.
8 So Hefele VI. 315, and other Roman Catholic historians.
14 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
during the year 1300. l Italians were to prolong their sojourn
80 days, while for foreigners 15 days were announced to be suf-
ficient. A subsequent papal deliverance extended the benefits
of the indulgence to all setting out for the Holy City who
died on the way. The only exceptions made to these gra-
cious provisions were the Colonna, Frederick of Sicily, and
the Christians holding traffic with Saracens. The city wore
a festal appearance. The handkerchief of St. Veronica, bear-
ing the imprint of the Saviour's face, was exhibited. The
throngs fairly trampled upon one another. The contempo-
rary historian of Florence, Giovanni Villani, testifies from
personal observation that there was a constant population in
the pontifical city of 200,000 pilgrims, and that 30,000 people
reached and left it daily. The offerings were so copious that
two clerics stood day and night by the altar of St. Peter's
gathering up the coins with rakes.
So spectacular and profitable a celebration could not be
allowed to remain a memory. The Jubilee was made a per-
manent institution. A second celebration was appointed by
Clement VI. in 1350. With reference to the brevity of human
life and also to the period of our Lord's earthly career, Urban
VI. fixed its recurrence every 33 years. Paul II., in 1470,
reduced the intervals to 25 years. The twentieth Jubilee
was celebrated in 1900, under Leo XIII.2 Leo extended the
* Potthast, 24017. The bull is reprinted by Mirbt, Quellen, p. 147 sq. The
indulgence clause runs : non solum plenam sed largiorem immo plenissimam
omnium suorum veniam peccatorum concedimus. Villani, VIII. 36, speaks
of it as u a full and entire remission of all sins, both the guilt and the punish-
ment thereof."
8 Leo's bull, dated May 11, 1809, offered indulgence to pilgrims visiting the
basilicas of St. Peter, the Lateran, and St. Maria Maggiore. A portion of
the document runs as follows: "Jesus Christ the Saviour of the world, has
chosen the city of Rome alone and singly above all others for a dignified
and more than human purpose and consecrated it to himself.11 The Jubilee
was inaugurated by the august ceremony of opening the porta santa, the sacred
door, into St. Peter's, which it is the custom to wall up after the celebration.
The special ceremony dates from Alexander VI. and the Jubilee of 1600. Leo
performed this ceremony in person by giving three strokes upon the door with
a hammer, and using the words aperite mihi, open to me. The door symbolizes
Christ, opening the way to spiritual benefits.
§ 4. BONIFACE VIII. AND PHILIP THE FAIE. 15
offered benefits to those who had the will and not the ability to
make the journey to Rome.
For the offerings accruing from the Jubilee and for other
papal moneys, Boniface found easy use. They enabled him to
prosecute his wars against Sicily and the Colonna and to
enrich his relatives. The chief object of his favor was his
nephew, Peter, the second son of his brother Loffred, the
Count of Caserta. One estate after another was added to this
favorite's possessions, and the vast sum of more than $5,000,000
was spent upon him in four years.1 Nepotism was one of the
offences for which Boniface was arraigned by his contempo-
raries.
§ 4. Boniface VIII. and Philip the Fair of France.
The overshadowing event of Boniface's reign was his dis-
astrous conflict with Philip IV. of France, called Philip the
Fair. The grandson of Louis IX., this monarch was wholly
wanting in the high spiritual qualities which had distin-
guished his ancestor. He was able but treacherous, and utterly
unscrupulous in the use of means to secure his ends. Un-
attractive as his character is, it is nevertheless with him that
the first chapter in the history of modern France begins. In
his conflict with Boniface he gained a decisive victory. On
a smaller scale the conflict was a repetition of the conflict be-
tween Gregory VII, and Henry IV., but with a different end-
ing. In both cases the pope had reached a venerable age, while
the sovereign was young and wholly governed by selfish
motives. Henry resorted to the election of an anti-pope.
Philip depended upon his councillors and the spirit of the
new French nation.
The heir of the theocracy of Hildebrand repeated Hilde-
brand's language without possessing his moral qualities. He
claimed for the papacy supreme authority in temporal as well
i See Gregorovius, V. 299, 684, who gives an elaborate list of the estates
which passed by Boniface's grace into the hands of the Gaetani. Adam of Usk,
Chronicon, 1377-1421, 2d ed., London, 1904, p. 259, " the fox, though ever
greedy, ever remaineth thin, so Boniface, though gorged with simony, yet to
his dying day was never filled.11
16 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
as spiritual matters. In his address to the cardinals against
the Colonna he exclaimed : " How shall we assume to judge
kings and princes, and not dare to proceed against a worm I
Let them perish forever, that they may understand that the
name of the Roman pontiff is known in all the earth and that
he alone is most high over princes." l The Colonna, in one of
their proclamations, charged Boniface with glorying that he is
exalted above all princes and kingdoms in temporal matters,
and may act as he pleases in view of the fulness of his power
— plenitudo potestatia. In his official recognition of the em-
peror, Albrecht, Boniface declared that as *" the moon has no
light except as she receives it from the sun, so no earthly power
has anything which it does not receive from the ecclesiastical
authority." These claims are asserted with most pretension
in the bulls Boniface issued during his conflict with France.
Members of the papal court encouraged him in these haughty
assertions of prerogative. The Spaniard, Arnald of Villanova,
who served Boniface as physician, called him in his writings
lord of lords — deus deorum.
On the other hand, Philip the Fair stood as the embodiment
of the independence of the state. He had behind him a unified
nation, and around him a body of able statesmen and publicists
who defended his views.2
The conflict between Boniface and Philip passed through
three stages: (1) the brief tilt which called forth the bull
Clericis laicos ; (2) the decisive battle, 1301-1303, ending in
Boniface's humiliation at Anagni; (3) the bitter controversy
which was waged against the pope's memory by Philip, ending
with the Council of Vienne.8
1 Quomodo presumimus judicare reges et principes orbis terrarum et vermi-
culum aggredi non audemus, etc. ; Denifle, Archiv, etc., V. 621. For these and
other quotations, see Finke, Aus den Tagen Bon., etc., p. 152 sqq.
9 Contemporary writers spoke of the modern or recent French nation as
opposed to the nation of a preceding period. So the author of the Tractate
of 1808 in defence of Boniface VIII., Finke, p. Ixxzvi. He said " the kings of
the modern French people do not follow in the footsteps of their predecessors "
— reges moderni gentis Francorum, etc. The same writer compared Philip
to Nebuchadnezzar rebelling against the higher powers.
• See Scholz, Publizistik, VIII. p. 3 sqq.
§ 4. BONIFACE VIII. AND PHILIP THE FAIR. 17
The conflict originated in questions touching the war be-
tween France and England. To meet the expense of his arma-
ment against Edward I., Philip levied tribute upon the French
clergy. They carried their complaints to Rome, and Boniface
justified their contention in the bull Clericu laicos, 1296.
This document was ordered promulged in England as well as
in France. Robert of Winchelsea, archbishop of Canterbury,
had it read in all the English cathedral churches. Its open-
ing sentence impudently asserted that the laity had always
been hostile to the clergy. The document went on to affirm
the subjection of the state to the papal see. Jurisdiction over
the persons of the priesthood and the goods of the Church in no
wise belongs to the temporal power. The Church may make
gratuitous gifts to the state, but all taxation of Church prop-
erty without the pope's consent is to be resisted with excom-
munication or interdict.
Imposts upon the Church for special emergencies had been
a subject of legislation at the third and fourth Lateran Coun-
cils. In 1260 Alexander IV. exempted the clergy from
special taxation, and in 1291 Nicolas IV. warned the king of
France against using for his own schemes the tenth levied for a
crusade. Boniface had precedent enough for his utterances.
But his bull was promptly met by Philip with an act of re-
prisal prohibiting the export of silver and gold, horses, arms,
and other articles from his realm, and forbidding foreigners to
reside in France. This shrewd measure cut off French con-
tributions to the papal treasury and cleared France of the
pope's emissaries. Boniface was forced to reconsider his posi-
tion, and in conciliatory letters, addressed to the king and the
French prelates, pronounced the interpretation put upon his
deliverance unjust. Its purpose was not to deny feudal and
freewill offerings from the Church. In cases of emergency,
the pope would also be ready to grant special subsidies. The
document was so offensive that the French bishops begged the
pope to recall it altogether, a request he set aside. But to
appease Philip, Boniface issued another bull, July 22, 1297,
according thereafter to French kings, who had reached the age
of 20, the right to judge whether a tribute from the clergy was
18 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
a case of necessity or not. A month later he canonized Louis
IX., a further act of conciliation.
Boniface also offered to act as umpire between France and
England in his personal capacity as Benedict Gaetanus. The
offer was accepted, but the decision was not agreeable to the
French sovereign. The pope expressed a desire to visit
Philip, but again gave offence by asking Philip for a loan of
100,000 pounds for Philip's brother, Charles of Valois, whom
Boniface had invested with the command of the papal forces.
In 1301 the flame of controversy was again started by a
document, written probably by the French advocate, Pierre
Dubois,1 which showed the direction in which Philip's mind
was working, for it could hardly have appeared without his
assent. The writer summoned the king to extend his domin-
ions to the walls of Rome and beyond, and denied the pope's
right to secular power. The pontiff's business is confined to
the forgiving of sins, prayer, and preaching. Philip continued
to lay his hand without scruple on Church property ; Lyons,
which had been claimed by the empire, he demanded as a part
of France. Appeals against his arbitrary acts went to Rome,
and the pope sent Bernard of Saisset, bishop of Pamiers, to
Paris, with commission to summon the French king to apply
the clerical tithe for its appointed purpose, a crusade, and for
nothing else. Philip showed his resentment by having the
legate arrested. He was adjudged by the civil tribunal a
traitor, and his deposition from the episcopate demanded.
Boniface's reply, set forth in the bull Ausculta fili — Give
ear, my son — issued Dec. 5, 1301, charged the king with
high-handed treatment of the clergy and making plunder
of ecclesiastical property. The pope announced a council
to be held in Rome to which the French prelates were
called and the king summoned to be present, either in per-
son or by a representative. The bull declared that God
had placed his earthly vicar above kings and kingdoms. To
make the matter worse, a false copy of Boniface's bull was
circulated in France known as Deum time, — Fear God, —
1 Summaria brevis et compendiosa doctrina felicis expeditionis et abbre-
viationis guerrarum ac litium regni Francorum. See Scholz, p. 416.
§ 4. BONIFACE VIII. AND PHILIP THE FAIR. 19
which made the statements of papal prerogative still more
exasperating. This supposititious document, which is sup-
posed to have been forged by Pierre Flotte, the king's chief
councillor, was thrown into the flames Feb. 11, 1302.1 Such
treatment of a papal brief was unprecedented. It remained
for Luther to cast the genuine bull of Leo X. into the fire.
The two acts had little in common.
The king replied by calling a French parliament of the
three estates, the nobility, clergy and representatives of
the cities, which set aside the papal summons to the council,
complained of the appointment of foreigners to French liv-
ings, and asserted the crown's independence of the Church.
Five hundred years later a similar representative body of
the three estates was to rise against French royalty and de-
cide for the abolition of monarchy. In a letter to the pope,
Philip addressed him as "your infatuated Majesty,"2 and
declined all submission to any one on earth in temporal
matters.
The council called by the pope convened in Rome the
last day of October, 1302, and included 4 archbishops, 35
bishops, and 6 abbots from France. It issued two bulls.
The first pronounced the ban on all who detained prel-
ates going to Rome or returning from the city. The sec-
ond is one of the most notable of all papal documents, the
bull Unam sanctam, the name given to it from its first words,
1 See Scholz, p. 357. The authenticity of the bull Ausculta was once called
in question, but is now universally acknowledged. The copy in the Vatican
bears the erasure of Clement V., who struck out the passages most offensive
to Philip. Hefele gives the copy preserved in the library of St. Victor.
2 Sciat maxima tuafatuitas in temporalibus no* alicui non subcase, etc.
Hefele, VI. 332, calls in question the authenticity of this document, at the
same time recognizing that it was circulated in Rome in 1302, and that
the pope himself made reference to it. The original phrase is ascribed to
Pierre Flotte, Scholz, p. 357. Flotte was an uncompromising advocate of the
king's sovereignty and independence of the pope. He made a deep impres-
sion by an address at the parliament called by Philip, 1302. He was prob-
ably the author of the anti-papal tract beginning Anteqpam essent clerici,
the text of which is printed by Dupuy, pp. 21-23. Here he asserts that the
Church consists of laymen as well as clerics, Scholz, p. 361, and that taxea
levied upon Church property are not extortions.
20 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
" We are forced to believe in one holy Catholic Church." It
marks an epoch in the history of the declarations of the
papacy, not because it contained anything novel, but because
it set forth with unchanged clearness the stiffest claims of the
papacy to temporal and spiritual power. It begins with the
assertion that there is only one true Church, outside of which
there is no salvation. The pope is the vicar of Christ, and
whoever refuses to be ruled by Peter belongs not to the fold
of Christ. Both swords are subject to the Church, the spirit-
ual and the temporal. The temporal sword is to be wielded
for the Church, the spiritual by it. The secular estate may
be judged by the spiritual estate, but the spiritual estate by
no human tribunal. The document closes with the startling
declaration that for every human being the condition of sal-
vation is obedience to the Roman pontiff.
There was no assertion of authority contained in this bull
which had not been before made by Gregory VII. and his
successors, and the document leans back not only upon the
deliverances of popes, but upon the definitions of theologians
like Hugo de St. Victor, Bernard and Thomas Aquinas.
But in the Unam sanctam the arrogance of the papacy finds
its most naked and irritating expression.
One of the clauses pronounces all offering resistance to
the pope's authority Manichseans. Thus Philip was made a
heretic. Six months later the pope sent a cardinal legate,
John le Moine of Amiens, to announce to the king his excom-
munication for preventing French bishops from going to
Rome. The bearer of the message was imprisoned and the
legate fled. Boniface now called upon the German emperor,
Albrecht, to take Philip's throne, as Innocent III. had called
upon the French king to take John's crown, and Innocent IV.
upon the count of Artois to take the crown of Frederick II.
Albrecht had wisdom enough to decline the empty gift.
Philip's seizure of the papal bulls before they could be
promulged in France was met by Boniface's announcement
that the posting of a bull on the church doors of Rome was
sufficient to give it force.
The French parliament, June, 1303, passed from the nega-
§ 4. BONIFACE VIII. AND PHILIP THE FAIR. 21
tive attitude of defending the king and French rights to an
attack upon Boniface and his right to the papal throne. In
20 articles it accused him of simony, sorcery, immoral inter-
course with his niece, having a demon in his chambers,
the murder of Coelestine, and other crimes. It appealed to
a general council, before which the pope was summoned to
appear in person. Five archbishops and 21 bishops joined in
subscribing to this document. The university and chapter of
Paris, convents, cities, and towns placed themselves on the
king's side.1
One more step the pope was about to take when a sudden
stop was put to his career. He had set the eighth day of
September as the time when he would publicly, in the church
of Anagni, and with all the solemnities known to the Church,
pronounce the ban upon the disobedient king and release his
subjects from allegiance. In the same edifice Alexander III.
had excommunicated Barbarossa, and Gregory IX., Frederick
II. The bull already had the papal signature, when, as by a
storm bursting from a clear sky, the pope's plans were shat-
tered and his career brought to an end.
During the two centuries and a half since Hildebrand had
entered the city of Rome with Leo IX., popes had been im-
prisoned by emperors, been banished from Rome by its citi-
zens, had fled for refuge and died in exile, but upon no one of
them had a calamity fallen quite so humiliating and complete
as the calamity which now befell Boniface. A plot, formed
in France to checkmate the pope and to carry him off to a
council at Lyons, burst Sept. 7 upon the peaceful population
of Anagni, the pope's country seat. William of Nogaret, pro-
fessor of law at Montpellier and councillor of the king, was
the manager of the plot and was probably its inventor. Ac-
cording to the chronicler, Villani,2 Nogaret's parents were Ca-
thari, and suffered for heresy in the flames in Southern France.
He stood as a representative of a new class of men, laymen,
who were able to compete in culture with the best-trained
1 The university declared in favor of a general council June 21, 1303,
Chartul. Univ. Par. II. 101 sq.
8 VIII. 63. See Scholz, pp. 363-375, and Holtzmann : W. von Nogaret.
22 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
ecclesiastics, and advocated the independence of the state.
With him was joined Sciarra Colonna, who, with other mem-
bers of his family, had found refuge in France, and was thirst-
ing for revenge for their proscription by the pope. With a
small body of mercenaries, 300 of them on horse, they suddenly
appeared in Anagni. The barons of the Latium, embittered by
the rise of the Gaetani family upon their losses, joined with the
conspirators, as also did the people of Anagni. The palaces
of two of Boniface's nephews and several of the cardinals were
stormed and seized by Sciarra Colonna, who then offered the
pope life on the three conditions that the Colonna be restored,
Boniface resign, and that he place himself in the hands of the
conspirators. The conditions were rejected, and after a delay
of three hours, the work of assault and destruction was re-
newed. The palaces one after another yielded, and the papal
residence itself was taken and entered. The supreme pontiff,
according to the description of Villani,1 received the besiegers
in high pontifical robes, seated on a throne, with a crown on
his head and a crucifix and the keys in his hand. He proudly
rebuked the intruders, and declared his readiness to die for
Christ and his Church. To the demand that he resign the
papal office, he replied, " Never; I am pope and as pope I will
die." Sciarra was about to kill him, when he was intercepted
by Nogaret's arm. The palaces were looted and the cathe-
dral burnt, and its relics, if not destroyed, went to swell the
booty. One of the relics, a vase said to have contained milk
from Mary's breasts, was turned over and broken. The pope
and his nephews were held in confinement for three days, the
1 VIII. 63. Dollinger, whose account is very vivid, depends chiefly upon
the testimony of three eye-witnesses, a member of the curia, the chronicler of
Orvieto and Nogaret himself. He sets aside much of Villani's report, which
Reumont, Wattenbach, Gregorovius, and other historians adopt. Dante and
Villani, who both condemn the pope's arrogance and nepotism, resented the
indignity put upon Boniface at Anagni, and rejoiced over his deliverance as of
one who, like Christ, rose from the dead. Dante omits all reference to Sciarra
Colonna and other Italian nobles as participants in the plot Dante's descrip-
tion is given in Paradise, xx. 86 sqq.
" I see the flower-de-luce Alagna [Anagni] enter,
And Christ in his own vicar captive made."
§ 4. BONIFACE VIII. AND PHILIP THE FAIfi. 23
captors being undecided whether to carry Boniface away to
Lyons, set him at liberty, or put him to death. Such was the
humiliating counterpart to the proud display made at the
pope's coronation nine years before !
In the meantime the feelings of the Anagnese underwent
a change. The adherents of the Gaetani family rallied their
forces and, combining together, they rescued Boniface and
drove out the conspirators. Seated at the head of his palace
stairway, the pontiff thanked God and the people for his de-
liverance. " Yesterday," he said, " I was like Job, poor and
without a friend. To-day I have abundance of bread, wine,
and water." A rescuing party from Rome conducted the un-
fortunate pope to the Holy City, where he was no longer his
own master.1 A month later, Oct. 11, 1303, his earthly ca-
reer closed. Outside the death-chamber, the streets of the
city were filled with riot and tumult, and the Gaetani and Co-
lonna were encamped in battle array against each other in the
Campagna.
Reports agree that Boniface's death was a most pitiable one.
He died of melancholy and despair, and perhaps actually in-
sane. He refused food, and beat his head against the wall.
44 He was out of his head," wrote Ptolemy of Lucca,2 and be-
lieved that every one who approached him was seeking to put
him in prison.
Human sympathy goes out for the aged man of fourscore
years and more, dying in loneliness and despair. But judg-
ment comes sooner or later upon individuals and institutions
for their mistakes and offences. The humiliation of Boniface
1 Ferretus of Vicenza, Muratori : Scriptores, IX. 1002, reports that Boni-
face wanted to be removed from St. Peter's to the Lateran, but the Colonna
sent word he was in custody.
2 Extra mentempositus. Ferretus relates that Boniface fell into a rage and,
after gnawing his staff and striking his head against the wall, hanged himself.
Viliani, VIII. 03, speaks of a " strange malady " begotten in the pope so that
he gnawed at himself as if he were mad. The chronicler of Orvieto, see Dol-
linger : Beitrage, etc., III. 353, says Boniface died weighed down by despon-
dency and the infirmities of age, ubi tristitia et senectutis inflrmitate gravatus
mortuus est. It is charitable to suppose that the pope's old enemy, the stone,
returned to plague him, the malady from which the Spanish physician Arnald
of Villanova had given him relief. See Finke, p. 200 sqq.
24 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
was the long-delayed penalty of the sacerdotal pride of his
predecessors and himself. He suffered in part for the hier-
archical arrogance of which he was the heir and in part for
his own presumption. Villani and other contemporaries rep-
resent the pope's latter end as a deserved punishment for his
unblushing nepotism, his pompous pride, and his implacable
severity towards those who dared to resist his plans, and for
his treatment of the feeble hermit who preceded him. One
of the chroniclers reports that seamen plying near the Liparian
islands, the reputed entrance to hell, heard evil spirits rejoic-
ing and exclaiming, " Open, open; receive pope Boniface into
the infernal regions."
Catholic historians like Hergenrother and Kirsch, bound to
the ideals of the past, make a brave attempt to defend Boni-
face, though they do not overlook his want of tact and his
coarse violence of speech. It is certain, says Cardinal
Hergenrother,1 " that Boniface was not ruled by unworthy
motives and that he did not deviate from the paths of his
predecessors or overstep the legal conceptions of the Middle
Ages." Finke, also a Catholic historian, the latest learned
investigator of the character and career of Boniface, acknowl-
edges the pope's intellectual ability, but also emphasizes his
pride and arrogance, his depreciation of other men, his disa-
greeable spirit and manner, which left him without a personal
friend, his nepotism and his avarice. He hoped, said a con-
temporary, to live till " all his enemies were suppressed."
In strong contrast to the common judgment of Catholic
historians is the sentence passed by Gregorovius. " Boniface
was devoid of every apostolical virtue, a man of passionate
temper, violent, faithless, unscrupulous, unforgiving, filled
with ambitions and lust of worldly power." And this will
be the judgment of those who feel no obligation to defend
the papal institution.
1 Kirchengesch., II. 597 sq. Boniface called the French "dogs" and
Philip gar^on, which had the meaning of street urchin. A favorite expres-
sion with him was ribaldus, rascal, and he called Charles of Naples " meanest
of rascals/' vilissimus ribaldus. See Finke, p. 202 sq. Finke's judgment is
based in part upon new documents he found in Barcelona and other libraries.
§ 4. BONIFACE VIII. AND PHILIP THE FAIR. 25
In the humiliation of Boniface VIII., the state gained a
signal triumph over the papacy. The proposition, that the
papal pretension to supremacy over the temporal power is
inconsistent with the rights of man and untaught by the law
of God, was about to be defended in bold writings coming
from the pens of lawyers and poets in France and Italy and,
a half century later, by Wyclif. These advocates of the
sovereign independence of the state in its own domain were
the real descendants of those jurisconsults who, on the plain
of Roncaglia, advocated the same theory in the hearing of
Frederick Barbarossa. Two hundred years after the conflict
between Boniface and Philip the Fair, Luther was to fight
the battle for the spiritual sovereignty of the individual
man. These two principles, set aside by the priestly pride
and theological misunderstanding of the Middle Ages, belong
to the foundation of modern civilization.
Boniface's Bull, Unam Sanctam.
The great importance of Boniface's bull, Unam Sanctam, issued against
Philip the Fair, Nov. 18, 1302, justifies its reproduction both in transla-
tion and the original Latin. It has rank among the most notorious deliver-
ances of the popes and is as full of error as was Innocent VIII. 's bull issued
in 1484 against witchcraft. It presents the theory of the supremacy of the
spiritual power over the temporal, the authority of the papacy over princes,
in its extreme form. The following is a translation : —
Boniface, Bishop, Servant of the servants of God. For perpetual remem-
brance : —
Urged on by our faith, we are obliged to believe and hold that there is
one holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. And we firmly believe and profess
that outside of her there is no salvation nor remission of sins, as the bridegroom
declares in the Canticles, "My dove, my undefiled, is but one; she is the
only one of her mother ; she is the choice one of her that bare her.1' And
this represents the one mystical body of Christ, and of this body Christ is
the head, and God is the head of Christ. In it there is one Lord, one faith,
one baptism. For in the time of the Flood there was the single ark of Noah,
which prefigures the one Church, and it was finished according to the measure
of one cubit and had one Noah for pilot and captain, and outside of it every
living creature on the earth, as we read, was destroyed. And this Church
we revere as the only one, even as the Lord saith by the prophet, "Deliver
my soul from the sword, my darling from the power of the dog." He prayed
for his soul, that is, for himself, head and body. And this body he called
one body, that is, the Church, because of the single bridegroom, the unity of
26 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
the faith, the sacraments, and the love of the Church. She is that seamless
shirt of the Lord which was not rent but was allotted by the casting of lots.
Therefore, this one and single Church has one head and not two heads, — for
had she two heads, she would be a monster, —that is, Christ and Christ's
Ticar, Peter and Peter's successor. For the Lord said unto Peter, " Feed
my sheep. " •* My," he said, speaking generally and not particularly, u these
and those,11 by which it is to be understood that all the sheep are committed
unto him. So, when the Greeks or others say that they were not committed
to the care of Peter and his successors, they must confess that they are not
of Christ's sheep, even as the Lord says in John, " There is one fold and one
shepherd.11
That in her and within her power are two swords, we are taught in the
Gospels, namely, the spiritual sword and the temporal sword. For when the
Apostles said, " Lo, here,11 — that is, in the Church, — are two swords, the Lord
did not reply to the Apostles " it is too much," but " it is enough.11 It is
certain that whoever denies that the temporal sword is in the power of Peter,
hearkens ill to the words of the Lord which he spake, "Put up thy sword
into its sheath.11 Therefore, both are in the power of the Church, namely,
the spiritual sword and the temporal sword ; the latter is to be used for the
Church, the former by the Church ; the former by the hand of the priest,
the latter by the hand of princes and kings, but at the nod and sufferance of
the priest. The one sword must of necessity be subject to the other, and the
temporal authority to the spiritual. For the Apostle said, " There is no
power but of God, and the powers that be are ordained of God " ; and they
would not have been ordained unless one sword had been made subject to
the other, and even as the lower is subjected by the other for higher things.
For, according to Dionysius, it is a divine law that the lowest things are
made by mediocre things to attain to the highest. For it is not according to
the law of the universe that all things in an equal way and immediately
should reach their end, but the lowest through the mediocre and the lower
through the higher. But that the spiritual power excels the earthly power
in dignity and worth, we will the more clearly acknowledge just in proportion
as the spiritual is higher than the temporal. And this we perceive quite dis-
tinctly from the donation of the tithe and functions of benediction and
sanctification, from the mode in which the power was received, and the gov-
ernment of the subjected realms. For truth being the witness, the spiritual
power has the functions of establishing the temporal power and sitting in
judgment on it if it should prove to be not good.1 And to the Church and
the Church's power the prophecy of Jeremiah attests: " See, I have set thee
this day over the nations and the kingdoms to pluck up and to break down
and to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.11
And if the earthly power deviate from the right path, it is judged by the
spiritual power ; but if a minor spiritual power deviate from the right path,
the lower in rank is judged by its superior ; but if the supreme power [the
papacy] deviate, it can be judged not by man but by God alone. And so the
1 This passage is based almost word for word upon Hugo de St. Victor,
De Sacramenti*, II. 2, 4.
§ 4. BONIFACE VIII. AND PHILIP THE PAIR. 27
Apostle testifies, " He which is spiritual judges all things, but he himself is
judged by no man.1' But this authority, although it be given to a man, and
though it be exercised by a man, is not a human but a divine power given by
divine word of mouth to Peter and confirmed to Peter and to his successors
by Christ himself, whom Peter confessed, even him whom Christ called the
Rock. For the Lord said to Peter himself, " Whatsoever thou shalt bind on
earth," etc. Whoever, therefore, resists this power so ordained by God, re-
sists the ordinance of God, unless perchance he imagine two principles to
exist, as did Manichaaus, which we pronounce false and heretical. For Moses
testified that God created heaven and earth not in the beginnings but " in the
beginning.'1
Furthermore, that every human creature is subject to the Roman pontiff,
— this we declare, say, define, and pronounce to be altogether necessary to
salvation.
Bonifatius, Episcopus, Servus servorum Dei. Adfuturam rei memoriam.1
Unam sanctam ecclesiam catholicam et ipsam apostolicam urgente fide
credere cogimur et tenere, nosque hanc firmiter credimus et simpliciter con-
fitemur, extra quam nee solus est, nee remissio peccatorum, sponso in Can-
ticis prodamante : Una est columba mea, perfecta mea. Una est matris SUCK,
electa genetnci SUCK [Cant. 6:9]. Quce unum corpus mysticum reprcesentat,
cujus caput Christus, Chnsti vero Deus. In qua unus Dominus, una fides,
unum baptisma. Una nempe fuit diluvii tempore area Not, unam ecclesiam
proeflgurans, quce in uno cubito consummata unum, Noe videlicet, guberna-
torem habuit et rectorem, extra quam omnia subsistentia super terram legimus
fuisse deleta.
Hanc autem veneramur et unicam, dicente Domino in Propheta : Erue a
framea, Deus, animam meam et de manu cams unicam me am. [Psalm
22 : 20.] Pro anima enim, id est, pro se ipso, capite simul oravit et corpore.
Quod corpus unicam scilicet ecclesiam nominavit, propter sponsi, fidei, sacra-
mentorum et cantatis ecclesice unitatem. Hcec est tunica ilia Domini incon-
sutilis, quce scissa nonfuit, sed sorte provenit. [John 19.]
Igitur ecclesice unius et unices unum corpus, unum caput, non duo capita,
quasi monstrum, Christus videlicet et Christi vicarius, Petrus, Petrique suc-
cessor, dicente Domino ipsi Petro: Pasce oves meas. [John 21 :17.] Meas,
inquit, generahter, non singulanter has vel illas : per quod commisisse sibi
intelligitur universas. Sive ergo Greed sive alii se dicant Petro ejusque suc-
cessoribus non esse commissos : fateantur necesse est, se de ombus Christi
non esse, dicente Domino in Joanne, unum ovile et unicum esse pastorem.
[John 10: 16.]
In hac ejusque potestate duos esse gladios, spiritualem videlicet et tempo-
ralem, evangelicis dictis instruimur. Nam dicentibus Apostolis : Ecce gladit
duo hie [Luke 22 : 38], in ecclesia scilicet, cum apostoli loquerentur, non re-
spondit Dominus, nimis esse, sed satis. Certe qui in potestate Petri tempora-
lem gladium esse negat, male verbum attendit Domini proferentis : Converte
gladium tuum in vaginam. [Matt. 26:62.] Uterque ergo est in potestate
* The text is taken from W. Rttmer : Die Bulle, unam sanctam, Schaff-
hausen, 1889. See also Mirbt : Ouellen. n. Uft «n
28 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
ecclesias, spiritualis scilicet gladius et materialis. Sed is quidem pro ecclesia^
Hit vero ab ecclesia exercendus, ille sacerdotis, is manu regum et militum,
sed ad nutwn etpatientiam sacerdotis.
Oportet autem gladium esse sub gladio, et temporalem auctoritatem spir-
ituall subjici potestati. Nam cum dicat Apostolus : Non est potestas nisi a
Deo; qua autem sunt, a Deo ordinata sunt [Rom. 13 : 1], non autem ordi-
nata essent, nisi gladius esset sub gladio, et tanquam inferior reduceretur per
alium in suprema. Nam secundum B. Dionysium lex divinitatis est, infima
per media in suprema reduci. . . . Sic de ecclesia et ecclesiastica potestate
veriflcatur vaticinium Hieremice [Jer. 1 : 10] : Ecce constitui te hodie super
gentes et regna et cetera, quce sequuntur.
Ergo, si deviat terrena potestas, judicabitur a potestate spirituaU ; sed, si
deviat spiritualis minor, a suo superiori ; si vero suprema, a solo Deo, non
ab homine poteritjudicari, testante Apostolo : Spiritualis homo judicat omnia,
ipse autem a nemine judicatur. [1 Cor. 2 : 15.] Est autem hcec anctoritas,
etsi data sit homini, et exerceatur per hominem, non humana, sed potius
divina potestas, ore divino Petro data, sibique suisque successoribus in ipso
Christo, quern confessus fuit, petra Jlrmata, dicente Domino ipsi Petro :
Quodcunque ligaveris, etc. [Matt. 16 : 19.] Quicunque igitur huic potestati
a Deo sic ordinatce resist it, Dei ordinationi resistit, nisi duo, sicut Mani-
chceus, fingat esse principia, quodfalsum et hcereticum judicamns, quia, tea-
tante Moyse, non in principiis, sed in principio codum Deus creavit et terram.
[Gen. 1:1.]
Porro subesse Romano Pontifici omni humanas creaturce declaramus
dicimus, dejlnimus et pronunciamus omnino esse de necessitate salutis.
The most astounding clause of this deliverance makes subjection to the
pope an essential of salvation for every creature. Some writers have made
the bold attempt to relieve the language of this construction, and refer it to
princes and kings. So fair and sound a Roman Catholic writer as Funk 1
has advocated this interpretation, alleging in its favor the close connection
of the clause with the previous statements through the particle porro, further-
more, and the consideration that the French people would not have resented
the assertion that obedience to the papacy is a condition of salvation. But
the overwhelming majority of Catholic historians take the words in their
natural meaning.3 The expression "every human creature1' would be a
*In his Kirchengeschichtliche Abhandlungen, I. 483-489. This view is
also taken by J. Berchtold : Die Bulle Unam sanctam ihre wahre Bedeutung
und Tragweite fur Staat und Kirche, Munich, 1887. An attempt was made
by Abbe* Mury, La Bulle Unam sanctam, in Rev. des questions histor. 1879,
on the ground of the bull's stinging affirmations and verbal obscurities to
detect the hand of a forger, but Cardinal Hergenrbther, Kirchengesch., II.
594, pronounces the genuineness to be above dispute.
8 So Hergenrttther-Kirsch, Hefele-KnSpfler : Kirchengesch. , p. 880, and
Conciliengesch., VI. 849 sq. Every Jarriter on Boniface VIII. and Philip the
Fair discusses the meaning of Boniface's deliverance. Among the latest is
W. Joos : Die Bulle Unam sanctam, Schaffhausen, 1896. Finke : Aus den
Tagen Bonifaz VIII., p. 146 sqq., C-CXLVI. Scholz : Publizistik, p. 197 sqq.
§ 5. LITBEABY ATTACKS AGAINST THE PAPACY. 29
most unlikely one to be used as synonymous with temporal rulers. Boniface
made the same assertion in a letter to the duke of Savoy, 1300, when he
demanded submission for every mortal, — omnia anima. -flSgidius Colonna
paraphrased the bull in these words, "the supreme pontiff is that authority
to which every soul must yield subjection." 1 That the mediaeval Church
accepted this construction is vouched for by the Fifth Lateran Council,
1516, which, in reaffirming the bull, declared " it necessary to salvation
that all the faithful of Christ be subject to the Roman pontiff.11 2
§ 5. Literary Attacks against the Papacy.
Nothing is more indicative of the intellectual change go-
ing on in Western Europe in the fourteenth century than the
tractarian literature of the time directed against claims made
by the papacy. Three periods may be distinguished. In the
first belong the tracts called forth by the struggle of Philip
the Fair and Boniface VIII., with the year 1302 for its centre.
Their distinguishing feature is the attack made upon the
pope's jurisdiction in temporal affairs. The second period
opens during the pontificate of John XXII. and extends from
1320-1340. Here the pope's spiritual supremacy was at-
tacked. The most prominent writer of the time was Mar-
siglius of Padua. The third period begins with the papal
schism toward the end of the fourteenth century. The
writers of this period emphasized the need of reform in the
Church and discussed the jurisdiction of general councils as
superior to the jurisdiction of the pope.8
The publicists of the age of Boniface VIII. and Philip the
Fair now defended, now openly attacked the mediaeval theory
of the pope's lordship over kings and nations. The body of
literature they produced was unlike anything which Europe
1 Summus pontifex . . . est ilia potestas cui omnis anima debet esse
subjecta.
2 De necessitate esse salutis omnes Christi fldeles romam pontiflei subesse.
The writer in Wetzer-Welte, XII. 229 sqq., pronounces the view impossible
which limits the meaning of the clause to temporal rulers.
8 1 have followed closely in this chapter the clear and learned presentations
of Richard Scholz and Finke and the documents they print as well as the
documents given by Goldast. See below. A most useful contribution to the
study of the age of Boniface VIII. and the papal theories current at the time
would be the publication of the tracts mentioned in this section and others
in a single volume.
30 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
had seen before. In the conflict between Gregory IX. and
Frederick II., Europe was filled with the epistolary appeals of
pope and emperor, who sought each to make good his case
before the court of European public opinion, and more espe-
cially of the princes and prelates. The controversy of this
later time was participated in by a number of writers who
represented the views of an intelligent group of clerics and
laymen. They employed a vigorous style adapted to make
an impression on the public mind.
Stirred by the haughty assertions of Boniface, a new class
of men, the jurisconsults, entered the lists and boldly called
in question the old order represented by the policy of Hilde-
brand and Innocent III. They had studied in the universi-
ties, especially in the University of Paris, and some of them,
like Dubois, were laymen. The decision of the Bologna
jurists on the field of Roncaglia was reasserted with new
arguments and critical freedom, and a step was taken far in
advance of that decision which asserted the independence of
the emperor. The empire was set aside as an antiquated insti-
tution, and France and other states were pronounced sovereign
within their own limits and immune from papal dominion over
their temporal affairs. The principles of human law and the
natural rights of man were arrayed against dogmatic asser-
tions based upon unbalanced and false interpretations of
Scripture. The method of scholastic sophistry was largely
replaced by an appeal to common sense and regard for the
practical needs of society. The authorities used to establish
the new theory were Aristotle, the Scriptures and historic
facts. These writers were John the Baptists preparing the
way for the more clearly outlined and advanced views of Mar-
siglius of Padua and Ockam, who took the further step of
questioning or flatly denying the pope's spiritual supremacy,
and for the still more advanced and more spiritual appeals of
Wyclif and Luther. A direct current of influence can be
traced back from the Protestant Reformation to the anti-papal
tracts of the first decade of the fourteenth century.
The tract writers of the reign of Philip the Fair, who de-
fended the traditional theory of the pope's absolute suprem-
§ 5. LITERARY ATTACKS AGAINST THE PAPACY. 31
acy in all matters, were the Italians -32gidius Colonna, James
of Viterbo, Henry of Cremona, and Augustinus Triumphus.
The writers who attacked the papal claim to temporal power
are divided into two groups. To the first belongs Dante, who
magnified the empire and the station of the emperor as the
supreme ruler over the temporal affairs of men. The men of
the second group were associated more or less closely with
the French court and were, for the most part, Frenchmen.
They called in question the authority of the emperor. Among
their leaders were John of Paris and Peter Dubois. In a
number of cases their names are forgotten or uncertain, while
theii* tracts have survived. It will be convenient first to take
up the theory of Dante, and then to present the views of papal
and anti-papal writings which were evidently called forth by
the struggle started by Boniface.
Dante was in nowise associated with the court of Philip
the Fair, and seems to have been moved to write his treatise
on government, the De monarchic by general considerations
and not by any personal sympathy with the French king.
His theory embodies views in direct antagonism to those
promulged in Boniface's bull Unam sanctam^ and Thomas
Aquinas, whose theological views Dante followed, is here
set aside.1 The independence and sovereignty of the civil
estate is established by arguments drawn from reason,
Aristotle, and the Scriptures. In making good his position,
the author advances three propositions, devoting a chapter to
each : (1) Universal monarchy or empire, for the terms are
used synonymously, is necessary. (2) This monarchy be-
longs to the Roman people. (3) It was directly bequeathed
to the Romans by God, and did not come through the media-
tion of the Church.
1 The date of the De monarchia is a matter of uncertainty. There are no
references in the treatise to Dante's own personal affairs or the contemporary
events of Europe to give any clew. Witte, the eminent Dante student, put
it in 1301; so also R. W. Church, on the ground that Dante makes no refer-
ence to his exile, which began in 1301. The tendency now is to follow
Boccaccio, who connected the treatise with the election of Henry VII. or
Henry's journey to Rome, 1811. The treatise would then be a manifesto for
the restoration of the empire to its original authority. For a discussion of
the date, see Henry: Dante's de monarchia, XXXII. sqq.
82 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
The interests of society, so the argument runs, require an
impartial arbiter, and only a universal monarch bound by no
local ties can be impartial. A universal monarchy will bring
peace, the peace of which the angels sang on the night of
Christ's birth, and it will bring liberty, God's greatest gift
to man.1 Democracy reduces men to slavery. The Romans
are the noblest people and deserve the right to rule. This
is evident from the fine manhood of -33neas, their progeni-
tor,2 from the evident miracles which God wrought in their
history and from their world-wide dominion. This right
to rule was established under the Christian dispensation by
Christ himself, who submitted to Roman jurisdiction in con-
senting to be born under Augustus and to suffer under Ti-
berius. It was attested by the Church when Paul said to
Festus, "I stand at Caesar's judgment seat, where I ought to
be judged," Acts 25 : 10. There are two governing agents
necessary to society, the pope and the emperor. The emperor
is supreme in temporal things and is to guide men to eternal
life in accordance with the truths of revelation. Neverthe-
less, the emperor should pay the pope the reverence which a
first-born son pays to his father, such reverence as Charle-
magne paid to Leo III.8
In denying the subordination of the civil power, Dante
rejects the figure comparing the spiritual and temporal
powers to the sun and moon,4 and the arguments drawn from
the alleged precedence of Levi over Judah on the ground of
1 Libertus est maximum donum humane^ natures a Deo collatum, 1. 14. It
is a striking coincidence that Leo XIII. began his encyclical of June 20,
1888, with these similar words, libertas praestantissimum natures donum,
" liberty, the most excellent gift of nature/1
2 ii. 3. Dante appeals to the testimony of Virgil, his guide through hell and
purgatory. He also quotes Virgil's proud lines : —
"Tw regere imperil populos, Romans, memento.
HCBC tibi erunt artes, pacisque imponere morem
Parcere subjectis et debellare superbos."
Roman, remember that it was given to thee to rule the nations. Thine it
is to establish peace, spare subject peoples and war against the proud.
• ii. 12, 13 ; iii. 13, 16.
4 This last section of the book has the heading auctoritatem imperil im-
mediate dependere a Deo.
§ 5. LITERARY ATTACKS AGAINST THE PAPACY. 33
the priority of Levi's birth ; from the oblation of the Magi
at the manger and from the sentence passed upon Saul by
Samuel. He referred the two swords both to spiritual func-
tions. Without questioning the historical occurrence, he set
aside Constantino's donation to Sylvester on the ground that
the emperor no more had the right to transfer his empire in
the West than he had to commit suicide. Nor had the pope
a right to accept the gift.1 In the Inferno Dante applied to
that transaction the oft-quoted lines : 2 —
" Ah, Constantino, of how much ill was cause,
Not thy conversion, but those rich domains
Which the first wealthy pope received of thee."
The Florentine poet's universal monarchy has remained an
ideal unrealized, like the republic of the Athenian philoso-
pher.8 Conception of popular liberty as it is conceived in this
modern age, Dante had none. Nevertheless, he laid down the
important principle that the government exists for the peo-
ple, and not the people for the government.4
The treatise De monarchia was burnt as heretical, 1329, by
order of John XXII. and put on the Index by the Council of
Trent. In recent times it has aided the Italian patriots in
their work of unifying Italy and separating politics from the
Church according toCavour's maxim, " a free Church in a free
state."
In the front rank of the champions of the temporal power
of the papacy stood J2gidius Colonna, called also ^Egidius
Roman us, 1247-1316. 6 He was an Augustinian, and rose to
1 iii. 10, Constantinus alienare non poterat imperil dignitatem nee ecclesia
recipere.
8 xix. 115 sqq. Ahi, Constantly di quanto malfu matre,
Non la tua conversion, ma quella dote
Che da te prese il primo ricco padre !
In the Purgatorio, xvi. 106-112, Dante deplores the union of the crozier
and the sword.
8 With reference to the approaching termination of the emperor's influence
in Italian affairs, Bryce, ch. XV., sententiously says that Dante's De monar-
chia was an epitaph, not a prophecy.
* Non cives propter consults nee gens propter regem Bed e converso con-
sules propter cives, rex propter gentem, iii. 14.
6 Scholz, pp. 32-129.
84 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
be general of his order. He became famous as a theological
teacher and, in 1287, his order placed his writings in all its
schools.1 In 1295 he was made archbishop of Bourges, Boni-
face setting aside in his favor the cleric nominated by Coe-
lestine. JEgidius participated in the council in Rome, 1301,
which Philip the Fair forbade the French prelates to attend.
He was an elaborate writer, and in 1304 no less than 12 of his
theological works and 14 of his philosophical writings were
in use in the University of Paris.
The tract by which ^Egidius is chiefly known is his Power
of the Supreme Pontiff — De ecclesiastica sive de summi pon-
tificis potentate. It was the chief work of its time in defence
of the papacy, and seems to have been called forth by the
Roman Council and to have been written in 1301. 2 It was
dedicated to Boniface VIII. Its main positions are the
following : —
The pope judges all things and is judged by no man, 1
Cor. 2 : 15. To him belongs plenary power, plenitude potet-
tatis. This power is without measure, without number, and
without weight.8 It extends over all Christians. The pope
is above all laws and in matters of faith infallible. He is like
the sea which fills all vessels, like the sun which, as the uni-
versally active principle, sends his rays into all things. The
priesthood existed before royalty. Abel and Noah, priests,
preceded Nimrod, who was the first king. As the government
of the world is one and centres in one ruler, God, so in the
affairs of the militant Church there can be only one source
of power, one supreme government, one head to whom belongs
1 Chartul. Univ. Paris., II. 12.
3 Jourdain, in 1858, was the first to call attention to the manuscript, and
Kraus the first to give a summary of its positions in the CEsterr. Viertel-
jahrsschrift, Vienna, 1862, pp. 1-33. Among -ffigidius' other tracts is the
" Rule of Princes,'1 — De regimine principum — 1286, printed 1473. It was at
once translated into French and Italian and also into Spanish, Portuguese,
English, and even Hebrew. The " Pope's Abdication " — De renunciatione
papa sive apologia pro Bonifacio VIII. — 1297, was a reply to the manifesto
of the Colonna, contesting a pope's right to resign his office. For a list of
-fflgidius' writings, see art. Colonna ^Egidius, in Wetzer-Welte, III. 667-671.
See Scholz, pp. 46, 126.
8 JEgidius quotes the Wisdom of Solomon, 2 : 21.
§ 5. LITERARY ATTACKS AGAINST THE PAPACY. 85
the plenitude of power. This is the supreme pontiff. The
priesthood and the papacy are of immediate divine appoint-
ment. Earthly kingdoms, except as they have been estab-
lished by the priesthood, owe their origin to usurpation, rob-
bery, and other forms of violence.1 In these views JEgidius
followed Augustine : De civitate, IV. 4, and Gregory VII.
The state, however, he declared to be necessary as a means
through which the Church works to accomplish its divinely
appointed ends.
In the second part of his tract, jEgidius proves that, in
spite of Numb. 18 : 20, 21, and Luke 10 : 4, the Church has
the right to possess worldly goods. The Levites received
cities. In fact, all temporal goods are under the control of the
Church.2 As the soul rules the body, so the pope rules over
all temporal matters. The tithe is a perpetual obligation.
No one has a right to the possession of a single acre of ground
or a vineyard without the Church's permission and unless
he be baptized.
The fulness of power, residing in the pope, gives him the
right to appoint to all benefices in Christendom, but, as God
chooses to rule through the laws of nature, so the pope rules
through the laws of the Church, but he is not bound by them.
He may himself be called the Church. For the pope's power
is spiritual, heavenly and divine. -52gidius was used by his
successors, James of Viterbo, Augustinus Triumphus and
Alvarus, and also by John of Paris and Gerson who contested
some of his main positions.8
The second of these writers, defending the position of Boni-
face VIII., was James of Viterbo,4 d. 1308. He also was an
Italian, belonged to the Augustinian order, and gained promi-
nence as a teacher in Paris. In 1302 he was appointed by
Boniface archbishop of Beneventum, and a few months later
archbishop of Naples. His Christian Government — De re-
ffimine christiano — is, after the treatise of JEgidius, the most
1 See Scholz, p. 96 sqq. This author says the de regimine principum of
uEgidius presents a different view, and following Aristotle, derives the state
from the social principle. 8 Sub dominio et potentate ecclesias.
8 Scholz, p. 124. * See Finke, pp. 163-166 j Scholz, pp. 129-163.
86 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1204-1517.
comprehensive of the papal tracts. It also was dedicated to
Boniface VIII., who is addressed as "the holy lord of the
kings of the earth." The author distinctly says he was led
to write by the attacks made upon the papal prerogative.
To Christ's vicar, James says, royalty and priesthood,
regnum et sacerdotium, belong. Temporal authority was not
for the first time conferred on him when Constantino gave
Sylvester the dominion of the West. Constantine did noth-
ing more than confirm a previous right derived from Christ,
when he said, " whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be
bound in heaven." Priests are kings, and the pope is the
king of kings, both in mundane and spiritual matters.1 He
is the bishop of the earth, the supreme lawgiver. Every soul
must be subject to him in order to salvation.2 By reason of
his fulness of power, the supreme pontiff can act according to
law or against it, as he chooses.8
Henry of Cassaloci, or Henry of Cremona, as he is usually
called from his Italian birthplace, d. 1312, is mentioned, con-
trary to the custom of the age, by name by John of Paris, as
the author of the tract, The Power of the Pope — De po-
testate papce.* He was a distinguished authority in canon
law and consulted by Boniface. He was appointed, 1302, a
member of the delegation to carry to Philip the Fair the two
notorious bulls, Salvador mundi and Ausculta fili. The same
year he was appointed bishop of Reggio.6 The papal de-
fenders were well paid.
Henry began his tract with the words of Matt. 27 : 18,
"All power is given unto me," and declared the attack
1 Scholz, pp. 135, 145, 147. These two prerogatives are called potestas ordi-
nis and potestas jurisdictionis. 2 Scholz, p. 148.
8 Potest agere etsecundum leges quasponit et prater ill as, ubi opportunism
essejudicaverit. Finke, p. 166.
* Finke, pp. 166-170 ; Scholz, pp. 162-165. Finke was the first to use this
tract. Scholz describes two MSS. in the National Library of Paris, and
gives the tract entire, pp. 459-471.
6 A contemporary notes that the consistory was reminded that the nominee
was the author of the De potestate papce, " a book which proves that the pope
was overlord in temporal as well as spiritual matters.*1 Scholz, p. 155. The
tract was written, as Scholz thinks, not later than 1301, or earlier than 1208,
as it quotes the Liber textu*.
§ 5. LITEBAEY ATTACKS AGAINST THE PAPACY. 37
against the pope's temporal jurisdiction over the whole earth
a matter of recent date, and made by " sophists " who de-
served death. Up to that time no one had made such denial.
He attempts to make out his fundamental thesis from Scrip-
ture, the Fathers, canon law, and reason. God at first ruled
through Noah, the patriarchs, Melchizedec, and Moses, who
were priests and kings at the same time. Did not Moses
punish Pharaoh ? Christ carried both swords. Did he not
drive out the money-changers and wear the crown of thorns ?
To him the power was given to judge the world. John 5 : 22.
The same power was entailed upon Peter and his successors.
As for the state, it bears to the Church the relation of the
moon to the sun, and the emperor has only such power as the
pope is ready to confer. Henry also affirms that Constantino's
donation established no right, but confirmed what the pope
already possessed by virtue of heavenly gift. l The pope trans-
ferred the empire to Charlemagne, and Innocent IV. asserted
the papal supremacy over kings by deposing Frederick II.
If in early and later times the persons of popes were abused,
this was not because they lacked supreme authority in the
earth a or were in anywise subject to earthly princes. No
emperor can legally exercise imperial functions without papal
consecration. When Christ said, " my kingdom is not of this
world," he meant nothing more than that the world refused
to obey him. As for the passage, " render to Caesar the things
which are Caesar's," Christ was under no obligation to give
tribute to the emperor, and the children of the kingdom are
free, as Augustine, upon the basis of Matt. 27 : 26 sq., said.
The main work of another defender of the papal preroga-
tives, Augustinus Triumphus, belongs to the next period.8
An intermediate position between these writers and the
anti-papal publicists was taken by the Cardinals Colonna and
their immediate supporters.4 In their zeal against Boniface
1 Constantinus non dedit sed recognovit ab ecclesia se tenere — confltetur
se ab ecclesia illud tenere. See Scholz, p. 467.
8 Non defectus juris ', sed potential.
8 Four of his smaller tracts are summarized by Scholz, pp. 172-189. See § 8.
* Scholz, pp. 198-207.
38 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
VIII. they questioned the absolute power of the Church in
temporal concerns, and placed the supreme spiritual authority
in the college of cardinals, with the* pope as its head.
Among the advanced writers of the age was William
Durante, d. 1331, an advocate of Gallicanism.1 He was ap-
pointed bishop of Mende before he had reached the canonical
age. He never came under the condemnation of the Church.
In a work composed at the instance of Clement V. on general
councils and the reformation of Church abuses, De modo ffeneralis
concilii celebrandi et corruptelis in ecclesiis reformandis, he de-
manded a reformation of the Church in head and members,2 us-
ing for the first time this expression which was so often employed
in a later age. He made the pope one of the order of bishops on
all of whom was conferred equally the power to bind and to
loose.8 The bishops are not the pope's assistants, the view
held by Innocent III., but agents directly appointed by God
with independent jurisdiction. The pope may not act out
of harmony with the canons of the early Church except with
the approval of a general council. When new measures are
contemplated, a general council should be convened, and one
should be called every ten years.4
Turning now to the writers who contested the pope's right
to temporal authority over the nations, we find that while the
most of them were clerics, all of them were jurists. It is
characteristic that besides appealing to Aristotle, the Scrip-
tures, and the canon law, they also appealed to the Roman
law. We begin with several pamphlets whose authorship is
a matter of uncertainty.
The Twofold Prerogative — Qucestio in utramque partem
— was probably written in 1302, and by a Frenchman.6 The
1 Scholz, pp. 208-223.
2 Tarn in capite quam in membris. Scholz, pp. 211, 220. The tract was
reprinted at the time of the Council of Trent and dedicated to Paul III.
3 The words Matt. 10 : 19, were addressed to the whole Church, he says,
and not to Peter alone.
* Scholz, p. 214.
6 This date is made very probable by Scholz, p. 226 sqq. Kiezler, p. 141,
wrongly put it down to 1864-1880. Scheffer-Boichorst showed that the
author spoke of the canonization of Louis IX., 1297, as having occurred " in
§ 5. LITERARY ATTACKS AGAINST THE PAPACY. 39
tract clearly sets forth that the two functions, the spiritual
and the temporal, are distinct, and that the pope has plenary
power only in the spiritual realm. It is evident that they
are not united in one person, from Christ's refusal of the
office of king and from the law prohibiting the Levites hold-
ing worldly possessions. Canon law and Roman law rec-
ognized the independence of the civil power. Both estates
are of God. At best the pope's temporal authority extends
to the patrimony of Peter. The empire is one among the
powers, without authority over other states. As for the
king of France, he would expose himself to the penalty of
death if he were to recognize the pope as overlord.1
The same positions are taken in the tract,2 The Papal
Power, — Qucestio de potestate papce. The author insists that
temporal jurisdiction is incompatible with the pope's office.
He uses the figure of the body to represent the Church, giv-
ing it a new turn. Christ is the head. The nerves and veins
are officers in the Church and state. They depend directly
upon Christ, the head. The heart is the king. The pope is
not even called the head. The soul is not mentioned. The
old application of the figure of the body and the soul, repre-
senting respectively the regnum and the sacerdotium, is set
aside. The pope is a spiritual father, not the lord over
Christendom. Moses was a temporal ruler and Aaron was
priest. The functions and the functionaries were distinct.
At best, the donation of Constantine had no reference to
France, for France was distinct from the empire. The depo-
sition of Childerich by Pope Zacharias established no right,
for all that Zacharias did was, as a wise counsellor, to give the
barons advice.
A third tract, one of the most famous pieces of this litera-
our days," and that he quoted the Liber sextus, 1298, as having recently
appeared. The tract is given in Goldast : Monarchia, II. 196 sqq.
1 Scholz, p. 239. On Feb. 23, 1302, Philip made his sons swear never to
acknowledge any one but God as overlord.
2 It is bound up in MS. with the former tract and with the work of John
of Paris. It is printed in Dupuy, pp. 003-083. It has been customary to
regard Peter Dubois as the author, but Scholz, p. 257, gives reasons against
this view.
40 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
ture, the Disputation between a Cleric and a Knight,1 was
written to defend the sovereignty of the state and its right
to levy taxes upon Church property. The author maintains
that the king of France is in duty bound to see that Church
property is administered according to the intent for which
it was given. As he defends the Church against foreign
foes, so he has the right to put the Church under tribute.
In the publicist, John of Paris, d. 1306, we have one of the
leading minds of the age.2 He was a Dominican, and enjoyed
great fame as a preacher and master. On June 26, 1303, he
joined 132 other Parisian Dominicans in signing a document
calling for a general council, which the university had openly
favored five days before.8 His views of the Lord's Supper
brought upon him the charge of heresy, and he was forbidden
to give lectures at the university.4 He appealed to Clement
V., but died before he could get a hearing.
John's chief writing was the tract on the Authority of the
Pope and King, — De potentate regia et papalif — which al-
most breathes the atmosphere of modern times.
John makes a clear distinction between the " body of the
faithful," which is the Church, and the " body of the clergy." 6
1 Disputatio inter clericum et militem. It was written during the conflict
between Boniface and Philip, and not by Ockam, to whom it was formerly
ascribed. Recently Riezler, p. 145, has ascribed it to Peter Dubois. It was
first printed, 1475, and is reprinted in Goldast: Monarchia, I. 13 sqq. MSS.
are found in Paris, Oxford, Cambridge, and Prag. See Scholz, p. 336 sqq.
An English translation appeared with the following title : A dialogue betwene
a knight and a clerke concerning the Power Spiritual and temporal, by
William Ockham, the great philosopher, in English and Latin, London, 1540.
* Finke, pp. 170-177 ; Scholz, pp. 275-333.
« Chartul. Univ. Paris., II. 102.
4 De mode existendi corporis Christi in sacramento altaris. Chartul. II.
120.
a First printed in Paris, 1506, and is found in Goldast, II. 108 sqq. For the
writings ascribed to John, see Scholz, p. 284 sq. Finke, p. 172, says, tin ge-
sundes beinahe modernes Empflnden zeichnet ihn aus. His tract belongs to
1302-1303. So Scholz and Finke. John writes as though Boniface were still
living. He quotes " the opinions of certain moderns " and Henry of Cremona
by name. The last chapter of John's tract is largely made up of excerpts from
JEgidius1 De renuntiatione papa. Scholz, p. 291, thinks it probable that
Dante used John's tract.
• Congregatio fldelium . . . congregatio clericorum.
§ 5. LITERARY ATTACKS AGAINST THE PAPACY. 41
The Church has its unity in Christ, who established the two
estates, spiritual and temporal. They are the same in origin,
but distinguished on earth. The pope has the right to pun-
ish moral offences, but only with spiritual punishments. The
penalties of death, imprisonment, and fines, he has no right
to impose. Christ had no worldly jurisdiction, and the pope
should keep clear of " Herod's old error." l Constantino had
no right to confer temporal power on Sylvester. John ad-
duced 42 reasons urged in favor of the pope's omnipotence in
temporal affairs and offers a refutation for each of them.
As for the pope's place in the Church, the pope is the rep-
resentative of the ecclesiastical body, not its lord. The
Church may call him to account. If the Church were to elect
representatives to act with the supreme pontiff, we would have
the best of governments. As things are, the cardinals are his
advisers and may admonish him and, in case he persists in his
error, they may call to their aid the temporal arm. The pope
may be deposed by an emperor, as was actually the case when
three popes were deposed by Henry III. The final seat of
ecclesiastical authority is the general council. It may depose
a pope. Valid grounds of deposition are insanity, heresy, per-
sonal incompetence and abuse of the Church's property.
Following Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas, John derived the
state from the family and not from murder and other acts of
violence.3 It is a community organized for defence and bodily
well-being. With other jurists, he regarded the empire as an
antiquated institution and, if it continues to exist, it is on a
par with the monarchies, not above them. Climate and geo-
graphical considerations make different monarchies necessary,
and they derive their authority from God. Thus John and
Dante, while agreeing as to the independence of the state,
differ as to the seat where secular power resides. Dante
placed it in a universal empire, John of Paris in separate
monarchies.
The boldest and most advanced of these publicists, Pierre
Dubois,8 was a layman, probably a Norman, and called him-
1 Scholz, p. 316. * Finke, p. 72 ; Scholz, p. 824.
• See Renan : Hist. LM. XXVI. 471-686 ; Scholz, pp. 374-444.
42 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
self a royal attorney.1 As a delegate to the national council
in Paris, April, 1302, he represented Philip's views. He was
living as late as 1321. In a number of tracts he supported the
contention of the French monarch against Boniface VIII.2
France is independent of the empire, and absolutely sovereign
in all secular matters. The French king is the successor of
Charlemagne. The pope is the moral teacher of mankind,
" the light of the world," but he has no jurisdiction in tem-
poral affairs. It is his function to care for souls, to stop
wars, to exercise oversight over the clergy, but his jurisdic-
tion extends no farther.
The pope and clergy are given to worldliness and self-in-
dulgence. Boniface is a heretic. The prelates squander the
Church's money in wars and litigations, prefer the atmosphere
of princely courts, and neglect theology and the care of souls.
The avarice of the curia and the pope leads them to scandalous
simony and nepotism.8 Constantino's donation marked the
change to worldliness among the clergy. It was illegal, and
the only title the pope can show to temporal power over the
patrimony of Peter is long tenure. The first step in the di-
rection of reforms would be for clergy and pope to renounce
worldly possessions altogether. This remedy had been pre-
scribed by Arnold of Brescia and Frederick II.
Dubois also criticised the rule and practice of celibacy.
Few clergymen keep their vows. And yet they are retained,
while ordination is denied to married persons. This is in the
face of the fact that the Apostle permitted marriage to all.
The practice of the Eastern church is to be preferred. The
rule of single life is too exacting, especially for nuns. Du-
rante had proposed the abrogation of the rule, and Arnald
of Villanova had emphasized the sacredness of the marriage
tie, recalling that it was upon a married man, Peter, that
Christ conferred the primacy.4
1 Advocatus regalium causarum.
2 For these tracts, see Renan, p. 470 sq. ; Scholz, p. 886 sqq.
8 Scholz, p. 398.
4 Contulit conjugate scilicet beato Petro primatum ecclerice, Finke, p.
clzziii. Arnald is attacking the Minorites and Dominicans for publicly teach-
§ 5. LITERARY ATTACKS AGAINST THE PAPACY. 43
Dubois showed the freshness of his mind by suggestions of
a practical nature. He proposed the colonization of the Holy
Land by Christian people, and the marriage of Christian women
to Saracens of station as a means of converting them. As a
measure for securing the world's conversion, he recommended
to Clement the establishment of schools for boys and girls in
every province, where instruction should be given in different
languages. The girls were to be taught Latin and the funda-
mentals of natural science, and especially medicine and surgery,
that they might serve as female physicians among women in
the more occult disorders.
A review of the controversial literature of the age of
Philip the Fair shows the new paths along which men's
thoughts were moving.1 The papal apologists insisted upon
traditional interpretations of a limited number of texts, the
perpetual validity of Constantine's donation, and the transfer
of the empire. They were forever quoting Innocent's famous
bull, Per veneralilem.2 On the other hand, John of Paris, and
the publicists who sympathized with him, as also Dante, cor-
rected and widened the vision of the field of Scripture, and
brought into prominence the common rights of man. The re-
sistance which the king of France offered to the demands of
Boniface encouraged writers to speak without reserve.
The pope's spiritual primacy was left untouched. The
attack was against his temporal jurisdiction. The fiction of
the two swords was set aside. The state is as supreme in
its sphere as the Church in its sphere, and derives its authority
immediately from God. Constantine had no right to confer
the sovereignty of the West upon Sylvester, and his gift con-
stitutes no valid papal claim. Each monarch is supreme in
his own realm, and the theory of the overlordship of the em-
peror is abandoned as a thing out of date.
The pope's tenure of office was made subject to limitation.
ing that the statements of married people in matters of doctrine are not to be
believed, conjugate non est credendum super veritate divina.
1 See the summary of Scholz, pp. 444-458.
2 It is quoted again and again by Henry of Cremona. See the text in Scholz,
p. 464 sq., etc. For the text of the bull, see Mirbt : Quellen, pp. 127-130.
44 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
He may be deposed for heresy and incompetency. Some
writers went so far as to deny to him jurisdiction over Church
property. The advisory function of the cardinals was em-
phasized and the independent authority of the bishops affirmed.
Above all, the authority residing in the Church as a body of
believers was discussed, and its voice, as uttered through a
general council, pronounced to be superior to the authority of
the pope. The utterances of John of Paris and Peter Dubois
on the subject of general councils led straight on to the views
propounded during the papal schism at the close of the four-
teenth century.1 Dubois demanded that laymen as well as
clerics should have a voice in them. The rule of clerical celi-
bacy was attacked, and attention called to its widespread vio-
lation in practice. Pope and clergy were invoked to devote
themselves to the spiritual well-being of mankind, and to
foster peaceable measures for the world's conversion.
This freedom of utterance and changed way of thinking
mark the beginning of one of the great revolutions in the his-
tory of the Christian Church. To these publicists the modern
world owes a debt of gratitude. Principles whicli are now re-
garded as axiomatic were new for the Christian public of their
day. A generation later, Marsiglius of Padua defined them
again with clearness, and took a step still further in advance.
§ 6. The Transfer of the Papacy to Avignon.
The successor of Boniface, Benedict XL, 1303-1304, a
Dominican, was a mild-spirited and worthy man, more bent
on healing ruptures than on forcing his arbitrary will. De-
parting from the policy of his predecessor, he capitulated to
the state and put an end to the conflict with Philip the Fair.
Sentences launched by Boniface were recalled or modified,
and the interdict pronounced by that pope upon Lyons was
revoked. Palestrina was restored to the Colonna. Only
Sciarra Colonna and Nogaret were excepted from the act of
immediate clemency and ordered to appear at Rome. Bene-
dict's death, after a brief reign of eight months, was ascribed
1 Scholz, p. 322 ; Schwab : Life of Geraon, p. 188.
§ 6, THE TRANSFER OF THE PAPACY TO AVIGNON. 45
to poison secreted in a dish of figs, of which the pope partook
freely.1
The conclave met in Perugia, where Benedict died, and
was torn by factions. After an interval of nearly eleven
months, the French party won a complete triumph by the
choice of Bertrand de Got, archbishop of Bordeaux, who
took the name of Clement V. At the time of his election,
Bertrand was in France. He never crossed the Alps. After
holding his court at Bordeaux, Poictiers, and Toulouse, he
chose, in 1309, Avignon as his residence.
Thus began the so-called Babylonian captivity, or Avi-
gnon exile, of the papacy, which lasted more than seventy
years and included seven popes, all Frenchmen, Clement V.,
1305-1314 ; John XXII., 1316-1334; Benedict XII., 1334-
1342; Clement VI., 1342-1352 ; Innocent VI., 1352-1362;
Urban V., 1362-1370 ; Gregory XL, 1370-1378. This pro-
longed absence from Rome was a great shock to the papal
system. Transplanted from its maternal soil, the papacy was
cut loose from the hallowed and historical associations of
thirteen centuries. It no longer spake as from the centre of
the Christian world.
The way had been prepared for the abandonment of the
Eternal City and removal to French territory. Innocent II.
and other popes had found refuge in France. During the
last half of the thirteenth century the Apostolic See, in its
struggle with the empire, had leaned upon France for aid.
To avoid Frederick II., Innocent IV. had fled to Lyons, 1245.
If Boniface VIII. represents a turning-point in the history of
the papacy, the Avignon residence shook the reverence of
Christendom for it. It was in danger of becoming a French
institution. Not only were the popes all Frenchmen, but the
large majority of the cardinals were of French birth. Both
were reduced to a station little above that of court prelates
subject to the nod of the French sovereign. At the same
i Ferretus of Vicenza, Muratori, IX. 1013. Villani, VIII. 80. As an
example of Benedict's sanctity it was related that after be was made pope he
was visited by his mother, dressed in silks, but he refused to recognize her
till she had changed her dress, and then he embraced her.
46 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
time, the popes continued to exercise their prerogatives over
the other nations of Western Christendom, and freely hurled
anathemas at the German emperor and laid the interdict
upon Italian cities. The word might be passed around,
" where the pope is, there is Rome," but the wonder is that
the grave hurt done to his oecumenical character was not
irreparable.1
The morals of Avignon during the papal residence were
notorious throughout Europe. The papal household had all
the appearance of a worldly court, torn by envies and
troubled by schemes of all sorts. Some of the Avignon
popes left a good name, but the general impression was bad
— weak if not vicious. The curia was notorious for its
extravagance, venality, and sensuality. Nepotism, bri-
bery, and simony were unblushingly practised. The finan-
cial operations of the papal family became oppressive to
an extent unknown before. Indulgences, applied to all
sorts of cases, were made a source of increasing revenue.
''Alvarus Pelagius, a member of the papal household and a
strenuous supporter of the papacy, in his De planctu ecclesice,
complained bitterly of the peculation and traffic in ecclesias-
tical places going on at the papal court. It swarmed with
money-changers, and parties bent on money operations.
Another contemporary, Petrarch, who never uttered a word
against the papacy as a divine institution, launched his sat-
ires against Avignon, which he called "the sink of every
vice, the haunt of all iniquities, a third Babylon, the Babylon
of the West." No expression is too strong to carry his bit-
ing invectives. Avignon is the " fountain of afflictions, the
1 See Pastor, I. 75-80. He calls Clement's decision to remain in France
der unselige Entschluss, " the unholy resolve/1 and says the change to Avi-
gnon had the meaning of a calamity and a fall, die Bedeutung einer Katastro-
phe, eines Sturzes. Hefele-Knopfler, Kirchengeschichte, p. 458, pronounces
it " a move full of bad omen." Baur, Kirchengesch. d. M.A., p. 265, said,
"The transference of the papal chair to Avignon was the fatal turning-point
from which the papacy moved on to its dramatic goal with hasty step." See
also Haller, p. 23. Pastor, p. 62, making out as good a case as he can for the
Avignon popes, lays stress upon the support they gave to missions in Asia
and Africa. Clement VI., 1842-1862, appointed an archbishop for Japan.
§ 6. THE TRANSFER OF THE PAPACY TO AVIGNON. 47
refuge of wrath, the school of errors, a temple of lies, the
awful prison, hell on earth."1 But the corruption of Avi-
gnon was too glaring to make it necessary for him to invent
charges. This ill-fame gives Avignon a place at the side of
the courts of Louis XIV. and Charles II. of England.
During this papal expatriation, Italy fell into a deplorable
condition. Rome, which had been the queen of cities, the goal
of pilgrims, the centre towards which the pious affections of
all Western Europe turned, the locality where royal and
princely embassies had sought ratification for ambitious plans
— Rome was now turned into an arena of wild confusion and
riot. Contending factions of nobles, the Colonna, Orsini,
Gaetani, and others, were in constant feud,2 and strove one
with the other for the mastery in municipal affairs and were
often themselves set aside by popular leaders whose low
birth they despised. The source of her gains gone, the city
withered away and was reduced to the proportions, the pov-
erty, and the dull happenings of a provincial town, till in
1370 the population numbered less than 20,000. She had no
commerce to stir her pulses like the young cities in Northern
and Southern Germany and in Lombardy. Obscurity and
melancholy settled upon her palaces and public places, broken
only by the petty attempts at civic displays, which were like
the actings of the circus ring compared with the serious
manoeuvres of a military campaign. The old monuments
were neglected or torn down. A papal legate sold the stones
of the Colosseum to be burnt in lime-kilns, and her marbles
were transported to other cities, so that it was said she was
drawn upon more than Carrara.8 Her churches became
1 Petrarch speaks of it " as filled with every kind of confusion, the pow-
ers of darkness overspreading it and containing everything fearful which had
ever existed or been imagined by a disordered mind." Robinson : Petrarch,
p. 87. Pastor, I. p. 76, seeks to reduce the value of Petrarch's testimony on
the ground that he spoke as a poet, burning with the warm blood of his
country, who, notwithstanding his charges, preferred to live in Avignon.
8 The children did not escape the violence of this mad frenzy. The little
child, Agaplto Colonna, was found in the church, where it had been taken by
the servant, strangled by the Orsini.
* Pastor, p. 7&, with note.
48 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
roofless. Cattle ate grass up to the very altars of the Lateran
and St. Peter's. The movement of art was stopped which
had begun with the arrival of Giotto, who had come to Rome
at the call of Boniface VIII. to adorn St. Peter's. No prod-
uct of architecture is handed down from this period except
the marble stairway of the church of St. Maria, Ara Coeli,
erected in 1348 with an inscription commemorating the de-
liverance from the plague, and the restored Lateran church
which was burnt, 1308.1 Ponds and d6bris interrupted the
passage of the streets and filled the air with offensive and
deadly odors. At Clement V.'s death, Napoleon Orsini as-
sured Philip that the Eternal City was on the verge of de-
struction and, in 1347, Cola di Rienzo thought it more fit to
be called a den of robbers than the residence of civilized men.
The Italian peninsula, at least in its northern half, was a
scene of political division and social anarchy. The country
districts were infested with bands of brigands. The cities
were given to frequent and violent changes of government.
High officials of the Church paid the price of immunity from
plunder and violence by exactions levied on other personages
of station. Such were some of the immediate results of the
exile of the papacy. Italy was in danger of succumbing to the
fate of Hellas and being turned into a desolate waste.
Avignon, which Clement chose as his residence, is 460 miles
southeast of Paris and lies south of Lyons. Its proximity to
the port of Marseilles made it accessible to Italy. It was pur-
chased by Clement VI., 1348, from Naples for 80,000 gold flor-
ins, and remained papal territory until the French Revolution.
As early as 1229, the popes held territory in the vicinity, the
duchy of Venaissin, which fell to them from the domain of
Raymond of Toulouse. On every side this free papal home
was closely confined by French territory. Clement was urged
by Italian bishops to go to Rome, and Italian writers gave as
one reason for his refusal fear lest he should receive meet pun-
ishment for his readiness to condemn Boniface VIII.8
1 John XXII. paid off the cost incurred for this restoration with the price of
silver vessels left by Clement V. for the relief of the churches in Rome.
See Ehrle, V. 131. a See Finke : Qudlen, p. 92.
§ 6. THE 1JBANSFBB OF THE PAPACY TO AVIGNON. 49
Clement's coronation was celebrated at Lyons, Philip and
his brothef Charles of Valois,the Duke of Bretagne and rep-
resentatives of the king of England being present. Philip
and the duke walked at the side of the pope's palfrey. By
the fall of an old wall during the procession, the duke, a
brother of the pope, and ten other persons lost their lives.
The pope himself was thrown from his horse, his tiara rolled
in the dust, and a large carbuncle, which adorned it, was lost.
Scarcely ever was a papal ruler put in a more compromising
position than the new pontiff. His subjection to a sovereign
who had defied the papacy was a strange spectacle. He owed
his tiara indirectly, if not immediately, to Philip the Fair.
He was the man Philip wanted.1 It was his task to appease
the king's anger against the memory of Boniface, and to meet
his brutal demands concerning the Knights Templars. These,
with the Council of Vienne, which he called, were the chief
historic concerns of his pontificate.
The terms on which the new pope received the tiara were
imposed by Philip himself, and, according to Villani, the price
he made the Gascon pay included six promises. Five of them
concerned the total undoing of what Boniface had done in his
conflict with Philip. The sixth article, which was kept secret,
was supposed to be the destruction of the order of the Tem-
plars. It is true that the authenticity of these six articles has
been disputed, but there can be no doubt that from the very
outset of Clement's pontificate, the French king pressed their
execution upon the pope's attention.2 Clement, in poor posi-
tion to resist, confirmed what Benedict had done and went
1 Dollinger says Clement passed completely into the service of the king, er
trat ganz in den Dienst des Konigs. Akad. Vortrage, III. 254.
2 Mansi was the first to express doubts concerning these articles, reported by
Villani, VIII. 80. Dollinger: Akad. Vortrdge, III. 264, and Hefele, following
Bouteric, deny them altogether. Hefele, in a long and careful statement, VI.
894-403, gives reasons for regarding them as an Italian invention. Clement
distinctly said that he knew nothing of the charges against the Templars till
the day of his coronation. On the other hand, Villani's testimony is clear and
positive, and at any rate shows the feeling which prevailed in the early part of
the fourteenth century. Archer is inclined to hold on to Villani's testimony,
Ene. Brit., XXIII. 164. The character of pope and king, and the circum-
stances under which Clement was elected, make a compact altogether probable.
60 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
farther. He absolved the king ; recalled, Feb. 1, 1306, the
offensive bulls Olericis laicoB and Unam sanctam^ so far as they
implied anything offensive to France or any subjection on
the part of the king to the papal chair, not customary before
their issue, and fully restored the cardinals of the Colonna
family to the dignities of their office.
The proceedings touching the character of Boniface VIII.
and his right to a place among the popes dragged along for
fully six years. Philip had offered, among others, his brother,
Count Louis of Evreux, as a witness for the charge that Boni-
face had died a heretic. There was a division of sentiment
among the cardinals. The Colonna were as hostile to the
memory of Boniface as they were zealous in their writings
for the memory of Ccelestine V. They pronounced it to be
contrary to the divine ordinance for a pope to abdicate. His
spiritual marriage with the Church cannot be dissolved. And
as for there being two popes at the same time, God was him-
self not able to constitute such a monstrosity. On the other
hand, writers like Augustinus Triumphus defended Boniface
and pronounced him a martyr to the interests of the Church
and worthy of canonization.1 In his zeal against his old enemy
Philip had called, probably as early as 1305, for the canoniza-
tion of Coelestine V.2 A second time, in 1307, Boniface's con-
demnation was pressed upon Clement by the king in person.
But the pope knew how to prolong the prosecution on all sorts
of pretexts. Philip represented himself as concerned for the
interests of religion, and Nogaret and the other conspirators
insisted that the assault at Avignon was a religious aci,negotium
fidei. Nogaret sent forth no less than twelve apologies defend-
ing himself for his part in the assault.3 In 1310 the formal
1 Dupuy, pp. 448-466. See Finke and Scholz, pp. 198-207. Among those who
took sides against the pope was Peter Dubois. In his Deliberatio super agen-
dis a Philippo IV. (Dupuy, pp. 44-47), he pronounced Boniface a heretic.
This tract was probably written during the sessions of the National Assembly
in Paris, April, 1302. See Scholz, p. 386. In another tract Dubois (Dupuy,
pp. 214-19) called upon the French king to condemn Boniface as a heretic.
2 This is upon the basis of a tractate found and published by Finke, Aus
den Tagen Bon. VIIL, pp. Ixix-c, and which he puts in the year 1308. See
pp. Ixxxv, xcviii. Scholz, p. 174, ascribes this tract to Augustinus Triumphus.
« Holtzmann : W. von Nogaret, p. 202 sqq.
§ 6. THE TRANSFER OF THE PAPACY TO AVIGNON. 61
trial began* Many witnesses appeared to testify against Boni-
face,— laymen, priests and bishops. The accusations were that
the pope had declared all three religions false, Mohammedan-
ism, Judaism and Christianity, pronounced the virgin birth
a tale, denied transubstantiation and the existence of hell and
heaven and that he had played games of chance.
Clement issued one bull after another protesting the inno-
cency of the offending parties concerned in the violent meas-
ures against Boniface. Philip and Nogaret were declared
innocent of all guilt and to have only pure motives in prefer-
ring charges against the dead pope.1 The bull, Rex gloricB^
1311, addressed to Philip, stated that the secular kingdom
was founded by God and that France in the new dispensation
occupied about the same p]ace as Israel, the elect people, oc-
cupied under the old dispensation. Nogaret's purpose in enter-
ing into the agreement which resulted in the affair at Anagni
was to save the Church from destruction at the hands of Boni-
face, and the plundering of the papal palace and church was
done against the wishes of the French chancellor. In several
bulls Clement recalled all punishments, statements, suspen-
sions and declarations made against Philip and his kingdom,
or supposed to have been made. And to fully placate the
king, he ordered all Boniface's pronouncements of this char-
acter effaced from the books of the Roman Church. Thus in
the most solemn papal form did Boniface's successor undo all
that Boniface had done.2 When the (Ecumenical Council of
Vienne met, the case of Boniface was so notorious a matter
that it had to be taken up. After a formal trial, in which the
accused pontiff was defended by three cardinals, he was ad-
judged not guilty. To gain this point, and to save his pred-
ecessor from formal condemnation, it is probable Clement
1 The tract of 1308 attempts to prove some of the charges against Boniface
untrue, or that true sayings attributed to him did not make him a heretic.
For example, it takes up the charges that Boniface had called the Gauls dogs,
and had said he would rather be a dog than a Gaul. The argument begins by
quoting Eccles. 3 : 19, p. Izz. sqq.
8 The condemned clauses were in some cases erased, but Boniface's friends
succeeded in keeping some perfect copies of the originals. See Hefele-
Knbpfier, VI. 460.
52 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
had to surrender to Philip unqualifiedly in the matter of the
Knights of the Temple.
After long and wearisome proceedings, this order was for-
mally legislated out of existence by Clement in 1312. Founded
inlll9 to protect pilgrims and to defend the Holy Land against
the Moslems, it had outli ved its mission. Sapped of its energy
by riches and indulgence, its once famous knights might well
have disbanded and no interest been the worse for it. The
story, however, of their forcible suppression awakens universal
sympathy and forms one of the most thrilling and mysterious
chapters of the age. Dollinger has called it " a unique drama
in history."1
The destruction of the Templar order was relentlessly in-
sisted upon by Philip the Fair, and accomplished with the
reluctant co-operation of Clement V. In vain did the king
strive to hide the sordidness of his purpose under the thin
mask of religious zeal. At Clement's coronation, if not before,
Philip brought charges against it. About the same time, in
the insurrection called forth by his debasement of the coin,
the king took refuge in the Templars' building at Paris. In
1307 he renewed the charges before the pope. When Clement
hesitated, he proceededto violence, and on the night of Oct. 13,
1307, he had all the members of the order in France arrested
and thrown into prison, including Jacques de Molay, the
grand-master. Dollinger applies to this deed the strong lan-
guage that, if he were asked to pick out from the whole
history of the world the accursed day, — dies nefastus, — he
would be able to name none other than Oct. 13, 1307. Three
days later, Philip announced he had taken this action
as the defender of the faith and called upon Christian
princes to follow his example. Little as the business was to
Clement's taste, he was not man enough to set himself in
opposition to the king, and he gradually became complai-
1 Dbllinger's treatment, Akad. Vortrage, III. 244-274, was the last address
that distinguished historian made before the Munich Academy of the Sciences.
In his zeal to present a good case for the Templars, he suggests that if they had
been let alone they might have done good service by policing the Mediterranean,
with Cyprus as a base.
§ 6. THE TRANSFER OF THE PAPACY TO AVIGNON. 53
sant.1 The machinery of the Inquisition was called into use.
The Dominicans, its chief agents, stood high in Philip's
favor, and one of their number was his confessor. In 1308
the authorities of the state assented to the king's plans to
bring the order to trial. The constitution of the court was
provided for by Clement, the bishop of each diocese and two
Franciscans and two Dominicans being associated together.
A commission invested with general authority was to sit in
Paris.2
In the summer of 1308 the pope ordered a prosecution of
the knights wherever they might be found.8 The charges set
forth were heresy, spitting upon the cross, worshipping an idol,
Bafomet — the word for Mohammed in theProvengal dialect
— and also the most abominable offences against moral decency
such as sodomy and kissing the posterior parts and the navel of
fellow knights. The members were also accused of having
meetings with the devil who appeared in the form of a black
cat and of having carnal intercourse with female demons.
The charges which the lawyers and Inquisitors got together
numbered 127 and these the pope sent through France and
to other countries as the basis of the prosecution.
Under the strain of prolonged torture, many of the unfortu-
nate men gave assent to these charges, and more particularly
1 In the bull Pashtralis prceeminentice, 1307. Augustinus Triuraphus, in his
tract on the Templars, de facto Templarorum, without denying the charges of
heresy, denied the king's right to seize and try persons accused of heresy on
his own initiative and without the previous consent of the Church. See the
document printed by Scholz, pp. 508-616.
2 It consisted of the archbishop of Narbonne, the bishops of Mende, Bayeux,
and Limoges and four lesser dignitaries. The place of sitting was put at Paris
at the urgency of Philip.
8 In the bull Facie ns misericordiam. In this document the pope made
the charge that the grand-master and the officers of the order were in the habit
of granting absolution, a strictly priestly prerogative. It was to confirm the
strict view of granting absolution that Alexander III. provided for the ad-
mission of priests to the Military Orders. See Lea's valuable paper, The
Absolution Formula of the Templars. See also on this subject Finke I. SOS-
SOT. Funk, p. 1830, says der Pabst kam vonjetzt an dem KVnig mehr und
mehr entgegen und nachdem er sich von dem gewaltigsten und rttcksichtstosig-
Bten Fftrsten seiner Zeit hatte ungarnen lassen, war ein Entkomme* aw
seiner Gewalt kaum mehr mdglich.
54 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
to the denial of Christ and the spitting upon the cross. The
Templars seem to have had no friends in high places bold
enough to take their part. The king, the pope, the Domini-
can order, the University of Paris, the French episcopacy were
against them. Many confessions once made by the victims were
afterwards recalled at the stake . Many denied the charges alto-
gether.1 In Paris 36 died under torture, 54 suffered there at
one burning, May 10, 1310, and 8 days later 4 more. Hun-
dreds of them perished in prison. Even the bitterest ene-
mies acknowledged that the Templars who were put to death
maintained their innocence to their dying breath.2
In accordance with Clement's order, trials were had in Ger-
many, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Cyprus and England. In Eng-
land, Edward II. at first refused to apply the torture, which was
never formally adopted in that land, but later, at Clement's
demand, he complied. Papal inquisitors appeared. Synods in
London and York declared the charges of heresy so serious that
it would be impossible for the knights to clear themselves.
English houses were disbanded and the members distributed
among the monasteries to do penance. In Italy and Germany,
the accused were, for the most part, declared innocent. In
Spain and Portugal, no evidence was forthcoming of guilt and
the synod of Tarragona, 1310, and other synods favored their
innocence.
The last act in these hostile proceedings was opened at the
Council of Vienne, called for the special purpose of taking ac-
tion upon the order. The large majority of the council were
1 These practices have been regarded by Prutz, Loiscleur {La doctrine secrete
des Templien, Paris, 1872) and others as a part of a secret code which came
into use in the thirteenth century. But the code has not been forthcoming and
was not referred to in the trials. Frederick II. declared that the Templars re-
ceived Mohammedans into their house at Jerusalem and preferred their religious
rites. This statement must be taken with reserve, in view of Frederick's hos-
tility to the order for its refusal to help him on his crusade. See M. Paris, an.
1244.
2 At the trial before the bishop of Nismes hi 1309, out of 32, all but three
denied the charges. At Perpignan, 1310, the whole number, 26, denied the
charges. At Clermont40 confessed the order guilty, 28 denied its guilt. With
such antagonistic testimonies it is difficult, if at all possible, to decide the
question of guilt or innocence.
§ 6. THE TRANSFER OF THE PAPACY TO AVIGNON. 55
in favor of giving it a new trial and a fair chance to prove its
innocence. But the king was relentless. He reminded Clem-
ent that the guilt of the knights had been sufficiently proven,
and insisted that the order be abolished. He appeared in
person at the council, attended by a great retinue. Clement
was overawed, and by virtue of his apostolic power issued his
decree abolishing the Templars, March 22, 1312.1 Clement's
reasons were that suspicions existed that the order held to
heresies, that many of the Templars had confessed to heresies
and other offences, that thereafter reputable persons would
not enter the order, and that it was no longer necessary for
the defence of the Holy Land. Directions were given for the
further procedure. The guilty were to be put to death ; the
innocent to be supported out of the revenues of the order.
With this action the famous order passed out of existence.
The end of Jacques de Molay, the 22d and last grand-mas-
ter of the order of Templars, was worthy of its proudest days.
At the first trial he confessed to the charges of denying Christ
and spitting upon the cross, and was condemned, but after-
wards recalled his confession. His case was reopened in 1314.
With Geoffrey de Charney, grand-preceptor of Normandy,
and others, he was led in front of Notre Dame Cathedral, and
sentenced to perpetual imprisonment. Molay then stood forth
and declared that the charges against the order were false,
and that he had confessed to them under the strain of torture
and instructions from the king. Charney said the same. The
commission promised to reconsider the case the next day. But
the king's vengeance knew no bounds, and that night, March 11,
1314, the prisoners were burned. The story ran that while the
flames were doing their grewsome work, Molay summoned pope
and king to meet him at the judgment bar within a year. The
former died, in a little more than a month, of a loathsome dis-
1 Per viam provisions sen ordinationis apostolicce is the language of the
bull, that is, as opposed to de jure or as a punishment for proven crimes. This
bull, Vox clamantis, was found by the Benedictine, Dr. Gams, in Spain, in 1866.
See Hefele-KnSpfler, VI. 626 sqq. It is found in Mirbt : Quellen, p. 149 sq.
Clement asserts he issued the order of abolition "not without bitterness and
pain of heart," non sine cordis amaritudine et dolore. Two other bulls on
the Templars and the disposition of their property followed in May.
56 THE MIDDLE AGES, A.D. 1204-1617.
ease, though penitent, as it was reported, for his treatment of
the order, and the king, by accident, while engaged in the chase,
six months later. The king was only 46 years old at the time
of his death, and 14 years after, the last of his direct descend-
ants was in his grave and the throne passed to the house of
Valois.
As for the possessions of the order, papal decrees turned
them over to the Knights of St. John, but Philip again inter-
vened and laid claim to 260,000 pounds as a reimbursement
for alleged losses to the Temple and the expense of guard-
ing the prisoners.1 In Spain, they passed to the orders of
San lago di Compostella and Calatrava. In Aragon, they
were in part applied to a new order, Santa Maria de Montesia,
and in Portugal to the Military Order of Jesus Christ, ordo
militice Jesu Ckristi. Repeated demands made by the pope
secured the transmission of a large part of their possessions to
the Knights of St. John. In England, in 1323, parliament
granted their lands to the Hospitallers, but the king appropri-
ated a considerable share to himself. The Temple in London
fell to the Earl of Pembroke, 1313.2
The explanation of Philip's violent animosity and persist-
ent persecution is his cupidity. He coveted the wealth of
the Templars. Philip was quite equal to a crime of this
sort.8 He robbed the bankers of Lombardy and the Jews of
1 The wealth of the Templars has been greatly exaggerated. They were
not richer in France than the Hospitallers. About 1300, the possessions of
each of these orders in that country were taxed at 6000 pounds. See Dbllinger,
p. 267 sq. Thomas Fuller, the English historian, quaintly says, * * Philip would
never have taken away the Templars1 lives if he might have taken away their
lands without putting them to death. He could not get the honey without
burning the bees." The Spanish delegation to the Council of Vienne wrote
back to the king of Aragon that the chief concern at the council and with the
king in regard to the Templars was the disposition of their goods, Finke, I.
350, 374. Finke, I. Ill, 115, etc., ascribes a good deal of the animosity against
the order to the revelations made by Esquin de Floy ran to Jay me of Aragon
in 1305. But the charges he made were already current in France.
8 In 1609 the benchers of the Inner and Middle Temple received the build-
ings for a small annual payment to the Crown, into whose possession they had
passed under Henry VIII.
8 Dante and Villani agree that the Templars were innocent. In this judg-
ment most modern historians concur. Funk declares the sentence of inno-
§ 6. THE TRANSFER OF THE PAPACY TO AVIGNON. 57
France, and debased the coin of his realm. A loan of 500,000
pounds which he had secured for a sister's dowry had involved
him in great financial straits. He appropriated all the pos-
sessions of the Templars he could lay his hands upon. Clem-
ent V.'s subserviency it is easy to explain. He was a creature
of the king. When the pope hesitated to proceed against the
unfortunate order, the king beset him with the case of Boni-
face VIII. To save the memory of his predecessor, the pope
surrendered the lives of the knights.1 Dante, in represent-
ing the Templars as victims of the king's avarice, compares
Philip to Pontius Pilate.
" I see the modern Pilate, whom avails
No cruelty to sate and who, unbidden,
Into the Temple sets his greedy sails."
Purgatory, xx. 91.
The house of the Templars in Paris was turned into a royal
residence, from which Louis XVI., more than four centuries
later, went forth to the scaffold.
The Council of Vienne, the fifteenth in the list of the oecumen-
ical councils, met Oct. 16, 1311, and after holding three sessions
adjourned six months later, May 6, 1312. Clement opened it
with an address on Psalm 111 : 1, 2, and designated three sub-
jects for its consideration, the case of the order of the Tem-
plars, the relief of the Holy Land and Church reform. The
documents bearing on the council are defective.2 In addition
cence to be •* without question the right one," p. 1341. Dollinger, with great
emphasis, insists that nowhere did a Templar make a confession of guilt except
under torture, p. 267. More recently, 1907, Finke (I. p. ix. 326 sq. 837) in-
sists upon their innocence and the untrustworthiness of the confessions made
by the Templars. He declares that he who advocates their guilt must ac-
cept the appearances of the devil as a tom-cat. Prutz, in his earlier works,
decided for their guilt. Schottmttller, Dtfllinger, Funk, and our own Dr. Lea
strongly favor their innocence. Banke : Univ. Hist., VIII. 622, wavers and
ascribes to them the doctrinal standpoint of Frederick II. and Manfred. In
France, Michelet was against the order ; Michaud, Guizot, Renan and Bou-
taric for it Hallam : Middle Ages, I. 142-146, is undecided.
1 See Dollinger, p. 255, and Gregorovius. Lea gives as excuse for the length
at which he treats the trial and fate of the unfortunate knights, their helpless-
ness before the Inquisition.
» Ehrie, Archivflir Lit. und Kirchengesch. IV. 361-470, published a frag-
mentary report which he discovered in the National Library in Paris. For
the best account of the proceedings, see Hefele-Knopfler, VI. 514-554.
68 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
to the decisions concerning the Templars and Boniface VIII.,
it condemned the Beguines and Beghards and listened to
charges made against the Franciscan, Peter John Olivi (d.
1298). Olivi belonged to the Spiritual wing of the order. His
books had been ordered burnt, 1274, by one Franciscan gen-
eral, and a second general of the order, Bonagratia, 1279, had
appointed a commission which found thirty-four dangerous
articles in his writings. The council, without pronouncing*
against Olivi, condemned three articles ascribed to him bear-
ing on the relation of the two parties in the Franciscan order,
the Spirituals and Conventuals.
The council has a place in the history of biblical scholar-
ship and university education by its act ordering two chairs
each, of Hebrew, Arabic, and Chaldee established in Paris,
Oxford, Bologna, and Salamanca.
While the proceedings against Boniface and the Templars
were dragging on in their slow course in France, Clement was
trying to make good his authority in Italy. Against Venice
he hurled the most violent anathemas and interdicts for ven-
turing to lay hands on Ferrara, whose territory was claimed
by the Apostolic See. A crusade was preached against the
sacrilegious city. She was defeated in battle, and Ferrara
was committed to the administration of Robert, king of
Naples, as the pope's vicar.
All that he could well do, Clement did to strengthen the
hold of France on the papacy. The first year of his pontifi-
cate he appointed 9 French cardinals, and of the 24 persons
whom he honored with the purple, 23 were Frenchmen. He
granted to the insatiable Philip a Church tithe for five years.
Next to the fulfilment of his obligations to this monarch,
Clement made it his chief business to levy tributes upon eccle-
siastics of all grades and upon vacant Church livings. l He was
prodigal with offices to his relatives. This was a leading fea-
ture of his pontificate. Five of his kin were made cardinals,
three being still in their youth. His brother he made rector
of Rome, and other members of his family received Ancona,
Ferrara, the duchy of Spoleto, and the duchy of Venaissin, and
1 Haller, p. 45 sqq.
§ 6. THE TRANSFER OF THE PAPACY TO AVIGNON. 59
other territories within the pope's gift.1 The administration
and disposition of his treasure occupied a large part of Clem-
ent's time and have offered an interesting subject to the pen
of the modern Jesuit scholar, Ehrle. The papal treasure left
by Clement's predecessor, after being removed from Perugia
to France, was taken from place to place and castle to castle,
packed in coffers laden on the backs of mules. After Clem-
ent's death, the vast sums he had received and accumulated
suddenly disappeared. Clement's successor, John XXII., in-
stituted a suit against Clement's most trusted relatives to
account for the moneys. The suit lasted from 1318-1322, and
brought to light a great amount of information concerning
Clement's finances.2
His fortune Clement disposed of by will, 1312, the total
amount being 814,000 florins; 300,000 were given to his
nephew, the viscount of Lomagne and Auvillars, a man other-
wise known for his numerous illegitimate offspring. This
sum was to be used for a crusade ; 314,000 were bequeathed to
other relatives and to servants. The remaining 200,000 were
given to churches, convents, and the poor. A loan of 160,000
made to the king of France was never paid back.8
Clement's body was by his appointment buried at Uzeste.
His treasure was plundered. At the trial instituted by John
XXII., it appeared that Clement before his death had set apart
70,000 florins to be divided in equal shares between his suc-
cessor and the college of cardinals. The viscount of Lomagne
was put into confinement by John, and turned over 300,000
florins, one-half going to the cardinals and one-half to the
pope. A few months after Clement's death, the count made
loans to the king of France of 110,000 florins and to the king
of England of 60,000.
Clement's relatives showed their appreciation of his liber-
ality by erecting to his memory an elaborate sarcophagus at
1 Ehrle, V. 139 sq.
2 Ehrle, p. 147, calculates that Clement's yearly income was between 200,000
and 250,000 gold florins, and that of this amount he spent 100,000 for the ex-
penses of his court and saved the remainder, 100,000 or 160,000. Ehrle, p. 149,
gives Clement's family tree. * Ehrle, pp. 126, 135.
60 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
Uzeste, which cost 50,000 gold florins. The theory is that the
pope administers moneys coming to him by virtue of his papal
office for the interest of the Church at large. Clement spoke
of the treasure in his coffers as his own, which he might dis-
pose of as he chose.1
Clement's private life was open to the grave suspicion of
unlawful intimacy with the beautiful Countess Brunissenda of
Foix. Of all the popes of the fourteenth century, he showed
the least independence. An apologist of Boniface VIII.,
writing in 1308, recorded this judgment : 2 " The Lord per-
mitted Clement to be elected, who was more concerned about
temporal things and in enriching his relatives than was Boni-
face, in order that by contrast Boniface might seem worthy
of praise where he would otherwise have been condemned, just
as the bitter is not known except by the sweet, or cold except
by heat, or the good except by evil." Villani, who assailed
both popes, characterized Clement " as licentious, greedy of
money, a simoniac, who sold in his court every benefice for
gold."8
By a single service did this pope seem to place the Church
in debt to his pontificate. The book of decretals, known as
the Clementines, and issued in part by him, was completed by
his successor, John XXII.
§ 7. The Pontificate of John XXII. 1316-1334.
Clement died April 20, 1314. The cardinals met at Car-
pentras and then at Lyons, and after an interregnum of twenty-
seven months elected John XXII., 1316-1334, to the papal
throne. He was then seventy-two, and cardinal-bishop of
1 Clement's grave is reported to have been opened and looted by the Cal-
vinists in 1668 or 1677. See Ehrle, p. 139.
2 Finke : Ann den Tayen Bon. VI1L, p. Ixxxviii.
8 Chronicle, IX. 69. Villani tells the story that at the death of one of
Clement's nephews, a cardinal, Clement, in his desire to see him, consulted a
necromancer. The master of the dark arts had one of the pope's chaplains con-
ducted by demons to hell, where he was shown a palace, and in it the nephew's
soul laid on a bed of glowing fire, and near by a place reserved for the pope
himself. He also relates that the coffin, in which Clement was laid, was burnt,
and with it the pope's body up to the waist.
§ 7. THE PONTIFICATE OF JOHN XXII. 1316-1884. 61
Porto.1 Dante had written to the conclave begging that it
elect an Italian pope, but the French influence was irresist-
ible.
Said to be the son of a cobbler of Cahors, short of stature,2
with a squeaking voice, industrious and pedantic, John was,
upon the whole, the most conspicuous figure among the popes
of the fourteenth century, though not the most able or worthy
one. He was a man of restless disposition, and kept the papal
court in constant commotion. The Vatican Archives preserve
59 volumes of his bulls and other writings. He had been a tu-
tor in the house of Anjou, and carried the preceptorial method
into his papal utterances. It was his ambition to be a theo-
logian as well as pope. He solemnly promised the Italian
faction in the curia never to mount an ass except to start on
the road to Rome. But he never left Avignon. His devo-
tion to France was shown at the very beginning of his reign
in the appointment of eight cardinals, of whom seven were
Frenchmen.
The four notable features of John's pontificate are his
quarrel with the German emperor, Lewis the Bavarian, his
condemnation of the rigid party of the Franciscans, his own
doctrinal heresy, and his cupidity for gold.
The struggle with Lewis the Bavarian was a little after-
play compared with the imposing conflicts between the Hohen-
stauf en and the notable popes of preceding centuries. Europe
looked on with slight interest at the long-protracted dispute,
which was more adapted to show the petulance and weakness
of both emperor and pope than to settle permanently any
great principle. At Henry VII. 's death, 1313, five of the elec-
tors gave their votes for Lewis of the house of Wittelsbach,
and two for Frederick of Hapsburg. Both appealed to the
new pope, about to be elected. Frederick was crowned by
1 Villani, IX : 81, gives the suspicious report that the cardinals, weary of
their inability to make a choice, left it to John, Following the advice of Car-
dinal Napoleon Orsini, he grasped his supreme chance and elected himself.
He was crowned at Lyons.
3 Villani's statement that he was the son of a cobbler is doubted. Ferretus
of Vicenza says he was "small like Zaccheus."
62 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
the archbishop of Treves at Bonn, and Lewis by the archbishop
of Mainz at Aachen. In 1317 John declared that the pope
was the lawful vicar of the empire so long as the throne was
vacant, and denied Lewis recognition as king of the Romans on
the ground of his having neglected to submit his election to
him.
The battle at Miihldorf, 1322, left Frederick a prisoner in
his rival's hands. This turn of affairs forced John to take
more decisive action, and in 1323 was issued against Lewis
the first of a wearisome and repetitious series of complaints
and punishments from Avignon. The pope threatened him
with the ban, claiming authority to approve or set aside an
emperor's election.1 A year later he excommunicated Lewis
and all his supporters.
In answer to this first complaint of 1 323, Lewis made a
formal declaration at Niirnberg in the presence of a notary
and other witnesses that he regarded the empire as inde-
. pendent of the pope, charged John with heresy, and appealed
to a general council. The charge of heresy was based on the
pope's treatment of the Spiritual party among the Francis-
cans. Condemned by John, prominent Spirituals, Michael
of Cesena, Ockam and Bonagratia, espoused Lewis7 cause,
took refuge at his court, and defended him with their pens.
The political conflict was thus complicated by a recondite ec-
clesiastical problem. In 1324 Lewis issued a second appeal,
written in the chapel of the Teutonic Order in Sachsen-
hausen, which again renewed the demand for a general council
and repeated the charge of heresy against the pope.
The next year, 1325, Lewis suffered a severe defeat from
Leopold of Austria, who had entered into a compact to put
Charles IV. of France on the German throne. He went so
far as to express his readiness, in the compact of Ulm, 1326,
to surrender the German crown to Frederick, provided he
himself was confirmed in his right to Italy and the imperial
dignity. At this juncture Leopold died.
By papal appointment Robert of Naples was vicar of Rome.
1 See Mttller: Kampf 'Ludwtgs, etc., I. 61 sqq. Examinatio, approbatio ac
admonitio, repulsio quoque et reprobatio.
§ 7. THE PONTIFICATE OF JOHN XXII. 1316-1334. 63
But Lewis had no idea of surrendering his claims to Italy,
and, now that he was once again free by Leopold's death, he
marched across the Alps and was crowned, January 1327, em-
peror in front of St. Peter's. Sciarra Colonna, as the repre-
sentative of the people, placed the crown on his head, and two
bishops administered unction. Villani1 expresses indigna-
tion at an imperial coronation conducted without the pope's
consent as a thing unheard of. Lewis was the first mediaeval
emperor crowned by the people. A formal trial was insti-
tuted, and "James of Cahors,who calls himself John XXII."
was denounced as anti-christ and deposed from the papal
throne and his effigy carried through the streets and burnt.2
John of Corbara, belonging to the Spiritual wing of the
Franciscans, was elected to the throne just declared vacant, and
took the name of Nicolas V. He was the first anti-pope since
the days of Barbarossa. Lewis himself placed the crown upon
the pontiff's head, and the bishop of Venice performed the cere-
mony of unction. Nicolas surrounded himself with a col-
lege of seven cardinals, and was accused of having forthwith
renounced the principles of poverty and abstemiousness in
dress and at the table which the day before he had advocated.
To these acts of violence John replied by pronouncing
Lewis a heretic and appointing a crusade against him, with
the promise of indulgence to all taking part in it. Fickle
Rome soon grew weary of her lay-crowned emperor, who had
been so unwise as to impose an extraordinary tribute of
10,000 florins each upon the people, the clergy, and the Jews
of the city. He retired to the North, Nicolas following him
with his retinue of cardinals. At Pisa, the emperor being
present, the anti-pope excommunicated John and summoned
a general council to Milan. John was again burnt in effigy,
at the cathedral, and condemned to death for heresy. In 1330
* X. 65.
2 The grounds on which John was deposed were his decisions against the
Spirituals, the use of money and ships, intended for a crusade, to reduce
Gtenoa, appropriation of the right of appointment to clerical offices, and his
residence away from Rome. The document is found in Muratori, XIV.f
1167-1178. For a vivid description of the enthronement and character of
John of Corbara, see Gregorovius, VI. 153 sqq.
64 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
Lewis withdrew from Italy altogether, while Nicolas, with a
cord around his neck, submitted to John. He died in Avi-
gnon three years later. In 1334, John issued a bull which,
according to Karl M tiller, was the rudest act of violence done
up to that time to the German emperor by a pope.1 This
fulraination separated Italy from the crown and kingdom
— imperium et regnum — of Germany and forbade their being
reunited in one body. The reason given for this drastic
measure was the territorial separation of the two provinces.
Thus was accomplished by a distinct announcement what the
diplomacy of Innocent III. was the first to make a part of the
papal policy, and which figured so prominently in the struggle
between Gregory IX. and Frederick II.
With his constituency completely lost in Italy, and with
only an uncertain support in Germany, Lewis now made
overtures for peace. But the pope was not ready for any-
thing less than a full renunciation of the imperial power.
John died 1334, but the struggle was continued through
the pontificate of his successor, Benedict XII. Philip VI. of
France set himself against Benedict's measures for reconcili-
ation with Lewis, and in 1337 the emperor made an alliance
with England against France. Princes of Germany, making
the rights of the empire their own, adopted the famous con-
stitution of Rense, — a locality near Mainz, which was con-
firmed at the Diet of Frankfurt, 1338. It repudiated the
pope's extravagant temporal claims, and declared that the
election of an emperor by the electors was final, and did not
require papal approval. This was the first representative
German assembly to assert the independence of the empire.
The interdict was hanging over the German assembly when
Benedict died, 1342. The battle had gone against Lewis,
and his supporters were well-nigh all gone from him. A
submission even more humiliating than that of Henry IV.
was the only thing left. He sought the favor of Clement VI.,
but in vain. In a bull of April 12, 1343, Clement enumerated
the emperor's many crimes, and anew ordered him to re-
nounce the imperial dignity. Lewis wrote, yielding sub-
I336sqq., 376 sqq., 406.
§ 7. THE PONTIFICATE OF JOHN XXII. 1316-1334. 65
mission, but the authenticity of the document was questioned
at Avignon, probably with the set purpose of increasing the
emperor's humiliation. Harder conditions were laid down.
They were rejected by the diet at Frankfurt, 1344. But Ger-
many was weary, and listened without revulsion to a final
bull against Lewis, 1346, and a summons to the electors to
proceed to a new election. The electors, John of Bohemia
among them, chose Charles IV., John's son. The Bohemian
king was the blind warrior who met his death on the battle-
field of Crecy the same year. Before his election, Charles had
visited Avignon, and promised full submission to the pope's de-
mands. His continued complacency during his reign justi-
fied the pope's choice. The struggle was ended with Lewis'
death a year later, 1347, while he was engaged near Munich
in a bear-hunt. It was the last conflict of the empire and
papacy along the old lines laid down by those ecclesiastical
warriors, Hildebrand and Innocent III. and Gregory IX.
To return to John XXII., he became a prominent figure in
the controversy within the Franciscan order over the tenure
of property, a controversy which had been going on from the
earliest period between the two parties, the Spirituals, or
Observants, and the Conventuals. The last testament of St.
Francis, pleading for the practice of absolute poverty, and
suppressed in Bonaventura's Life of the saint, 126S, was not
fully recognized in the bull of Nicolas II I., 1279, which granted
the Franciscans the right to use property as tenants, while
forbidding them to hold it in fee simple. With this decision
the strict party, the Spirituals, were not satisfied, and the
struggle went on. Coelestine V. attempted to bring peace by
merging the Spiritual wing with the order of Hermits he
had founded, but the measure was without success.
Under Boniface VIII. matters went hard with the Spir-
ituals. This pope deposed the general, Raymond Gaufredi,
putting in his place John of Murro, who belonged to the
laxer wing. Peter John Olivi (d.1298), whose writings were
widely circulated, had declared himself in favor of Nicolas'
bull, with the interpretation that the use of property and
goods was to be the " use of necessity," — usus pauper, — as
66 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1204-1517.
opposed to the more liberal use advocated by the Conventuals
and called usus moderate. Olivi's personal fortunes were
typical of the fortunes of the Spiritual branch. After his
death, the attack made against his memory was, if possible,
more determined, and culminated in the charges preferred at
Vienne. Murro adopted violent measures, burning Olivi's
writings, and casting his sympathizers into prison. Other
prominent Spirituals fled. Angelo Clareno found refuge for
a time in Greece, returning to Rome, 1305, under the protec-
tion of the Colonna.
The case was formally taken up by Clement V., who called a
commission to Avignon to devise measures to heal the division,
and gave the Spirituals temporary relief from persecution.
The proceedings were protracted till the meeting of the
council in Vienne, when the Conventuals brought up the case
in the form of an arraignment of Olivi, who had come to be
regarded almost as a saint. Among the charges were that
he pronounced the usus pauper to be of the essence of the
Minorite rule, that Christ was still living at the time the
lance was thrust into his side, and that the rational soul has
not the form of a body. Olivi's memory was defended by
Ubertino da Casale, and the council passed no sentence upon
his person.
In the bull Exivi de paradiso,1 issued 1313, and famous in
the history of the Franciscan order, Clement seemed to take
the side of the Spirituals. It forbade the order or any of its
members to accept bequests, possess vineyards, sell products
from their gardens, build fine churches, or go to law. It
permitted only " the use of necessity," usus arctus or pauper,
and nothing beyond. The Minorites were to wear no shoes,
ride only in cases of necessity, fast from Nov. 1 until
Christmas, as well as every Friday, and possess a single
mantle with a hood and one without a hood. Clement
ordered the new general, Alexander of Alessandra, to turn
over to Olivi's followers the convents of Narbonne, Carcas-
1 It is uncertain whether this bull was made a part of the proceedings of
the (Ecumenical Council of Vienne. See Hefele, VI. 660, who decides for it,
and Ehrle, Archiv, 1885, p. 640 sqq.
§ 7. THE PONTIFICATE OF JOHN XXII. 1310-1334. 67
sonne and Beziers, but also ordered the Inquisition to punish
the Spirituals who refused submission.
In spite of the papal decree, the controversy was still being
carried on within the order with great heat, when John XXII.
came to the throne. In the decretal Quorumdam exegit^ and in
the bull Sancta romana et universalis ecclesia, Dec. 30, 1317,
John took a positive position against the Spirituals. A few
weeks later, he condemned a formal list of their errors and
abolished all the convents under Spiritual management.
From this time on dates the application of the name
Fraticelli l to the Spirituals. They refused to submit, and
took the position that even a pope had no right to modify the
Rule of St. Francis. Michael of Cesena, the general of the
order, defended them. Sixty-four of their number were sum-
moned to Avignon. Twenty-five refused to yield, and
passed into the hands of the Inquisition. Four were burnt
as martyrs at Marseilles, May 7, 1318. Others fled to Sicily.2
The chief interest of the controversy was now shifted to
the strictly theological question whether Christ and his
Apostles observed complete poverty. This dispute threatened
to rend the wing of the Conventuals itself. Michael of Cesena,
Ockam, and others, took the position that Christ and his
Apostles not only held no property as individuals, but held
none in common. John, opposing this view, gave as arguments
the gifts of the Magi, that Christ possessed clothes and bought
food, the purse of Judas, and Paul's labor for a living. In the
bull Cum inter nonnullosi 1323, and other bulls, John declared
it heresy to hold that Christ and the Apostles held no posses-
sions. Those who resisted this interpretation were pronounced,
1324, rebels and heretics. John went farther, and gave back to
the order the right of possessing goods in fee simple, a right
which Innocent IV. had denied, and he declared that in things
which disappear in the using, such as eatables, no distinction
can be made between their use and their possession. In 1826
John pronounced Olivi's commentary on the Apocalypse
1 Hefele, VI 681. Ehrle: Die Spiritual™ in Archiv, 1885, pp. 609-614.
f Bhrle : Arckto, pp. 166-168. He adduces acts of Inquisition against the
Spirituals in Umbria, In the vicinity of Assiai, as late as 1341.
68 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
heretical. The three Spiritual leaders, Cesena, Ockam, and
Bonagratia were seized and held in prison until 1328, when
they escaped and fled to Lewis the Bavarian at Pisa. It was
at this time that Ockam was said to have used to the em-
peror the famous words, " Do thou defend me with the sword
and I will defend thee with the pen" — tu me defended gladio,
ego te defendant calamo. They were deposed from their offices
and included in the ban fulminated against the anti-pope,
Peter of Corbara. Later, Cesena submitted to the pope, as
Ockam is also said to have done shortly before his death.
Cesena died at Munich, 1342. He committed the seal of the
order to Ockam. On his death-bed he is said to have cried
out : " My God, what have I done ? I have appealed against
him who is the highest on the earth. But look, O Father, at
the spirit of truth that is in me which lias not erred through
the lust of the flesh but from great zeal for the seraphic order
and out of love for poverty." Bonagratia also died in Munich.1
Later in the fourteenth century the Regular Observance
grew again to considerable proportions, and in the beginning
of the fifteenth century its fame was revived by the flaming
preachers Bernardino of Siena and John of Capistrano. The
peace of the Franciscan order continued to be the concern of
pope after pope until, in 1517, LeoX. terminated the struggle
of three centuries by formally recognizing two distinct societies
within the Franciscan body. The moderate wing was placed
under the Master-General of the Conventual Minorite Broth-
ers, and was confirmed in the right to hold property. The
strict or Observant wing was placed under a Minister-Gen-
eral of the Whole Order of St. Francis.2 The latter takes
precedence in processions and at other great functions, and
holds his office for six years.
i See Riezler, p. 124.
3 Magister-generalis fratrum minorum conventualium and minister-gen-
eralis totius ordinis S. Francesci. The Capuchins, who are Franciscans,
were recognized as a distinct order by Paul V., 1619. Among the other schis-
matic Franciscan orders are the Recollect Fathers of France, who proceeded
from the Recollect Convent of Nevers, and were recognized as a special body
by Clement VIII., 1602. These monks were prominent in mission work
among the Indians in North America.
§ 7. THE PONTIFICATE OP JOHN XXII. 1316-1334. 69
If the Spiritual Franciscans had been capable of taking
secret delight in an adversary's misfortunes, they would have
had occasion for it in the widely spread charge that John
was a heretic. At any rate, he came as near being a heretic
as a pope can be. His heresy concerned the nature of
the beatific vision after death. In a sermon on All Souls',
1331, he announced that the blessed dead do not see God
until the general resurrection. In at least two more sermons he
repeated this utterance. John, who was much given to theol-
ogizing, Ockam declared to be wholly ignorant in theology.1
This Schoolman, Cesena, and others pronounced the view
heretical. John imprisoned an English Dominican who
preached against him, and so certain was he of his case that
he sent the Franciscan general, Gerardus Odonis, to Paris to
get the opinion of the university.
The King, Philip VI., took a warm interest in the subject,
opposed the pope, and called a council of theologians at Vin-
cennes to give its opinion. It decided that ever since the Lord
descended into hades and released souls from that abode, the
righteous have at death immediately entered upon the vision
of the divine essence of the Trinity.2 Among the supporters
of this decision was Nicolas of Lyra. When official an-
nouncement of the decision reached the pope, he summoned a
council at Avignon and set before it passages from the Fathers
for and against his view. They sat for five days, in Decem-
ber, 1333. John then made a public announcement, which was
communicated to the king and queen of France, that he had
not intended to say anything in conflict with the Fathers arid
the orthodox Church and, if he had done so, he retracted his
utterances.
The question was authoritatively settled by Benedict XII.
in the bull Benedictus deus, 1336, which declared that the
blessed dead — saints, the Apostles, virgins, martyrs, con-
fessors who need no purgatorial cleansing — are, after death
and before the resurrection of their bodies at the general
1 In facilitate theologies omn ino fuit ignarus. See Mttller : JfiTamp/, etc., I.
24, note.
2 Mansi, XXV. 982-984.
70 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
judgment, with Christ and the angels, and that they behold
the divine essence with naked vision.1 Benedict declared
that John died while he was preparing a decision.
The financial policy of John XXII. and his successors
merits a chapter by itself. Here reference may be made to
John's private fortune. He has had the questionable fame
of not only having amassed a larger sum than any of his
predecessors, but of having died possessed of fabulous wealth.
Gregorovius calls him the Midas of Avignon. According
to Villani, he left behind him 18,000,000 gold florins and
7,000,000 florins' worth of jewels and ornaments, in all 25,-
000,000 florins, or $60,000,000 of our present coinage. This
chronicler concludes with the remark that the words were
no longer remembered which the Good Man in the Gospels
spake to his disciples, "Lay up for yourselves treasure in
heaven."2 Recent investigations seem to cast suspicion upon
this long-held view as an exaggeration. John's hoard may
have amounted to not more than 750,000 florins, or $2,000,-
000 8 of our money. If this be a safe estimate, it is still
true that John was a shrewd financier and perhaps the rich-
est man in Europe.
When John died he was ninety years old.
lDiviname88entiam immediate, se bene et dare et aperte illi* ostendentem.
Mansi, XXV. 986.
aXI. 20. Another writer, Galvaneus de La Flainma, Muratori, XII. 1009
(quoted by Haller, Papsttum, p. 104), says, John left 22,000,000 florins
besides other u unrecorded treasure.11 This writer adds, the world did not
have a richer Christian in it than John XXII.
8 This is the figure reached by Ehrle, Die 25 Millionrn iwi Schatz Johann
XXII. , Archiv, 1889, pp. 155-160. It is based upon the contents of 15 coffers,
opened in the year 1342 at the death of Benedict XII. These coffers con-
tained John's treasure, and at that time yielded 760,000 florins. But it is
manifestly uncertain how far John's savings had been reduced by Benedict,
or whether these coffers were all that were left by John. For example, at his
consecration, Benedict gave 100,000 florins to his cardinals, and 160,000 to the
churches at Rome, and it is quite likely he drew upon John's hoard. The
gold mitres, rings, and other ornaments which John's thrift amassed, were
stored in other chests. Villani got his report from his brother, a Florentine
banker in the employ of the curia at Avignon. It is difficult to understand
how, in making his statement, he should have gone so wide of the truth as
Ehrle suggests.
§ 8. THE PAPAL OFFICE ASSAILED. 71
§ 8. The Papal Office Assailed.
To the pontificate of John XXII. belongs a second group
of literary assailants of the papacy. Going beyond Dante
and John of Paris, they attacked the pope's spiritual func-
tions. Their assaults were called forth by the conflict with
Lewis the Bavarian and the controversy with the Franciscan
Spirituals. Lewis' court became a veritable nest of anti-
papal agitation and the headquarters of pamphleteering.
Marsiglius of Padua was the cleverest and boldest of these
writers, Ockam — a Schoolman rather than a practical
thinker — the most copious. Michael of Cesena * and Bona-
gratia also made contributions to this literature.
Ockam sets forth his views in two works, The Dialogue
and the Sight Questions. The former is ponderous in thought
and a monster in size.2 It is difficult, if at times possible, to
detect the author's views in the mass of cumbersome disputa-
tion. These views seem to be as follows : The papacy is not
an institution which is essential to the being of the Church.
Conditions arise to make it necessary to establish national
churches.8 The pope is not infallible. Even a legitimate
pope may hold to heresy. So it was with Peter, who was
judaizing, and had to be rebuked by Paul, Liberius, who was
an Arian, and Leo, who was arraigned for false doctrine by
Hilary of Poictiers. Sylvester II. made a compact with the
devil. One or the other, Nicolas III. or John XXII., was a
heretic, for the one contradicted the other. A general coun-
cil may err just as popes have erred. So did the second
Council of Lyons and the Council of Vienne, which condemned
the true Minorites. The pope may be pronounced a heretic
by a council or, if a council fails in its duty, the cardinals
1 Riezler, p. 247 sq. Three of these writings are in Goldast's Monarchia II.,
1236 sqq. Riezler's work, Die literarischen Widersacher dtr Pdpste is the best
treatment of the subject of this chapter.
2 The Dialogue, which is printed in Goldast, is called by Riezler an almost
unreadable monster, tin kaum Ubersehbares Monstrum.
* Quod non eat necease, ut sub Christo sit unus rector totius ecclesice sed
sufficit quod sint plures diversos regentes provincios. Quoted by Haller, p. 80.
72 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
may pronounce the decision. In case the cardinals fail, the
right to do so belongs to the temporal prince. Christ did
not commit the faith to the pope and the hierarchy, but to
the Church, and somewhere within the Church the truth is
always held and preserved. Temporal power did not origi-
nally belong to the pope. This is proved by Constantino's
donation, for what Constantino gave, he gave for the first time.
Supreme power in temporal and spiritual things is not in a
single hand. The emperor has full power by virtue of his
election, and does not depend for it upon unction or corona-
tion by the pope or any earthly confirmation of any kind.
More distinct and advanced were the utterances of Marsi-
glius of Padua. His writings abound in incisive thrusts against
the prevailing ecclesiastical system, and lay down the principles
of a new order. In the preparation of his chief work, the
Defence of the Faith, — Defensor pads, — he had the help of
John of Jandun.1 Both writers were clerics, but neither of them
monks. Born about 1270 in Padua, Marsiglius devoted him-
self to the study of medicine, and in 1312 was rector of the
University of Paris. In 1325 or 1326 he betook himself to the
court of Lewis the Bavarian. The reasons are left to surmisal.
He acted as the emperor's physician. In 1328 he accompanied
the emperor to Rome, and showed full sympathy with the
measures taken to establish the emperor's authority. He joined
in the ceremonies of the emperor's coronation, the deposition
of John XXII. and the elevation of the anti-pope, Peter of
Corbara. The pope had already denounced Marsiglius and
John of Jandun 2 as " sons of perdition, the sons of Belial, those
pestiferous individuals, beasts from the abyss," and summoned
the Romans to make them prisoners. Marsiglius was made
1 M tiller, 1 . 368, upon the basis of a note in a MS. copy in Vienna, places its
composition before June 24, 1324 ; Riezler between 1324-1326. John of Jan-
dun's name is associated with the composition of the book in the papal bulls.
However, the first person singular, ego, is used throughout. According to
Innocent VI, Marsiglius was much influenced by Ockam, then the leading
teacher in France. This is inherently probable from their personal associa-
tion in Paris and at the emperor's court and the community of many of their
views. See Haller, p. 78. John of Jandun died probably 1328. See Riez-
ler, p. 56. « See the bull of Oct. 23, 1327, Mirbt, Quellen, p. 152.
§ 8. THE PAPAL OFFICE ASSAILED. 78
vicar of Rome by the emperor, and remained true to the prin-
ciples stated in his tract, even when the emperor became a sup-
pliant to the Avignon court. Lewis even went so far as to
express to John XXII. his readiness to withdraw his protec-
tion from Marsiglius and the leaders of the Spirituals. Later,
when his position was more hopeful, he changed his attitude
and gave them his protection at Munich. But again, in his
letter submitting himself to Clement VI., 1343, the emperor
denied holding the errors charged against Marsiglius and
John, and declared his object in retaining them at his court
had been to lead them back to the Church. The Paduan
died before 1343. l
The personal fortunes of Marsiglius are of small historical
concern compared with his book, which he dedicated to the
emperor. The volume, which was written in two months,2 was
as audacious as any of the earlier writings of Luther. For
originality and boldness of statement the Middle Ages has
nothing superior to offer. To it may be compared in modern
times Janus' attack on the doctrine of papal infallibility at
the time of the Vatican Council.8 Its Scriptural radicalism
was in itself a literary sensation.
In condemning the work, John XXII., 1327, pronounced as
contrary " to apostolic truth and all law " its statements that
Christ paid the stater to the Roman government as a matter
1 In that year Clement spoke of Marsiglius as dead, Riezler, p. 122. With
Ockam, Marsiglius defended the marriage of Lewis1 son to Margaret of
Maultasch, in spite of the parties being within the bounds of consanguinity
forbidden by the Church. His defence is found in Goldast, II. 1383-1391.
For Ockam's tract, see Riezler, p. 254.
2 Riezler, p. 36. It contains 150 folio pages in Goldast. Riezler, 193 sq.,
gives a list of MS. copies. Several French translations appeared. Gregory
XI. in 1376 complained of one of them. An Italian translation of 1363 is
found in a MS. at Florence, Engl. Hist. Rev., 1905, p. 302. The work was
translated into English under the title The Defence of Peace translated out
of Latin into English by Wyllyam Marshall, London, R. Wyer, 1635.
8 Hergenrother-Kirsch, II. 756, says : Unerhort in der christlichen Welt
waren die ktihnen Behauptungen die sie zu Gunsten ihres Beschutzers auf>
stellten. Pastor, I. 85, says that Marsiglius' theory of the omnipotence of
the state cut at the root of all individual and Church liberty and surpassed
in boldness, novelty, and keenness all the attacks which the position claimed
by the Church in the world had been called upon to resist up to that time.
74 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
of obligation, that Christ did not appoint a vicar, that an em-
peror has the right to depose a pope, and that the orders of the
hierarchy are not of primitive origin. Marsiglius had not
spared epithets in dealing with John, whom he called " the
great dragon, the old serpent." Clement VI. found no less
than 240 heretical clauses in the book, and declared that he had
never read a worse heretic than Marsiglius. The papal con-
demnations were reproduced by the University of Paris, which
singled out for reprobation the statements that Peter is not
the head of the Church, that the pope may be deposed, and that
he has no right to inflict punishments without the emperor's
consent.1
The Defensor pads was a manifesto against the spiritual as
well as the temporal assumptions of the papacy and against the
whole hierarchical organization of the Church. Its title is
shrewdly chosen in view of the strifes between cities and states
going on at the time the book was written, and due, as it
claimed, to papal ambition and interference. The peace of
the Christian world would never be established so long as the
pope's false claims were accepted. The main positions are the
following : 2 —
The state, which was developed out of the family, exists
that men may live well and peaceably. The people themselves
are the source of authority, and confer the right to exercise it
upon the ruler whom they select. The functions of the priest-
hood are spiritual and educational. Clerics are called upon
to teach and to warn. In all matters of civil misdemeanor
they are responsible to the civil officer as other men are.
They should follow their Master by self-denial. As St.
Bernard said, the pope needs no wealth or outward display to
be a true successor of Peter.
The function of binding and loosing is a declarative, not a
judicial, function. To God alone belongs the power to for-
i Chartul. Univ. Parts., II. 301.
8 Mirbt : Quellen, pp. 160-152, presents a convenient summary of Part III. of
the Defensor. In this part a resume* is given by the author of the preceding
portion of the work. Marsiglius quotes Aristotle and other classic writers,
Augustine and other Fathers, Hugo of St. Victor and other Schoolmen, but
he ignores Thomas Aquinas, and never even mentions his name.
§ 8. THE PAPAL OFFICE ASSAILED. IS
give sins and to punish. No bishop or priest has a right to
excommunicate or interdict individual freedom without the
consent of the people or its representative, the civil legislator.
The power to inflict punishments inheres in the congregation
" of the faithful " — fidelium. Christ said, " if thy brother
offend against thee, tell it to the Church." He did not say,
tell it to the priest. Heresy may be detected as heresy by the
priest, but punishment for heresy belongs to the civil official
and is determined upon the basis of the injury likely to be done
by the offence to society. According to the teaching of the
Scriptures, no one can be compelled by temporal punishment
and death to observe the precepts of the divine law.1
General councils are the supreme representatives of the
Christian body, but even councils may err. In them laymen
should sit as well as clerics. Councils alone have the right
to canonize saints.
As for the pope, he is the head of the Church, not by divine
appointment, but only as he is recognized by the state. The
claim he makes to fulness of power, plenitudo poteatatis, con-
tradicts the true nature of the Church. To Peter was com-
mitted no greater authority than was committed to the other
Apostles.2 Peter can be called the Prince of the Apostles
only on the ground that he was older than the rest or more
steadfast than they. He was the bishop of Antioch, not
the founder of the Roman bishopric. Nor is his presence in
Rome susceptible of proof. The pre-eminence of the bishop
of Rome depends upon the location of his see at the capital
of the empire. As for sacerdotal power, the pope has no
more of it than any other cleric, as Peter had no more of it
than the other Apostles.8
The grades of the hierarchy are of human origin. Bishops
1 Ad observanda prcecepta divines legis poena vel supplicio temporali nemo
ev angelica scriptura compelli prcecipitur, Part III. 3.
2 Nullam potestatem eoque minus Goactivam jurisdictionem habuit Petrus
a Deo immediate super apostolos reliquos, II. 15. This is repeated again and
again.
8 JVbn plus sacerdotalis auctoritatis essentialis habet Rom. episcopus, quam
alter sacerdos quilibet sicut neque beatus Petrus amplius ex hac habuit
ceteri* apostoli*, II. 14.
76 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
and priests were originally equal. Bishops derive their au-
thority immediately from Christ.
False is the pope's claim to jurisdiction over princes and
nations, a claim which was the fruitful source of national
strifes and wars, especially in Italy. If necessary, the em-
peror may depose a pope. This is proved by the judgment
passed by Pilate upon Christ. The state may, for proper
reasons, limit the number of clerics. The validity of Constan-
tino's donation Marsiglius rejected, as Dante and John of Paris
had done before, but he did not surmise that the Isidorean
decretals were an unblushing forgery, a discovery left for
Laurentius Valla to make a hundred years later.
As for the Scriptures, Marsiglius declares them to be the ulti-
mate source of authority. They do not derive that authority
from the Church. The Church gets its authority from them.
In cases of disputed interpretation, it is for a general council
to settle what the true meaning of Scripture is.1 Obedience
to papal decretals is not a condition of salvation. If that
were so, how is it that Clement V. could make the bull Unam
ganctam inoperative for France and its king? Did not that
bull declare that submission to the pope is for every creature
a condition of salvation ! Can a pope set aside a condition
of salvation ? The case of Liberius proves that popes may be
heretics. As for the qualifications of bishops, archbishops,
and patriarchs, not one in ten of them is a doctor of theology.
Many of the lower clergy are not even acquainted with gram-
mar. Cardinals and popes are chosen not from the ranks of
theologians, but lawyers, causidici. Youngsters are made car-
dinals who love pleasure and are ignorant in studies.
Marsiglius quotes repeatedly such passages as " My king-
dom is not of this world," John 17 : 36, and " Render unto
Caesar the things which are Caesar's ; and to God the things
which are God's," Matt. 22 : 21. These passages arid others,
such as John 6 : 15, 19 : 11, Luke 12 : 14, Matt. 17 : 27, Rom.
13, he opposes to texts which were falsely interpreted to the
advantage of the hierarchy, such as Matt. 16 : 19, Luke 22 : 38,
John 21 : 15-17.
1 Interpretatio ex communi concilia fldelium fatta, etc., Pan III. 1.
§ 8. THE PAPAL OFFICE ASSAILED. 77
If we overlook his doctrine of the supremacy of the state
over the Church, the Paduan's views correspond closely with
those held in Protestant Christendom to-day. Christ, he
said, excluded his Apostles, disciples, and bishops or pres-
byters from all earthly dominion, both by his example and his
words.1 The abiding principles of the Defensor are the final
authority of the Scriptures, the parity of the priesthood and
its obligation to civil law, the human origin of the papacy, the
exclusively spiritual nature of priestly functions, and the body
of Christian people in the state or Church as the ultimate
source of authority on earth.
Marsiglius has been called by Catholic historians the fore-
runner of Luther and Calvin.8 He has also been called by
one of them the "exciting genius of modern revolution."8
Both of these statements are not without truth. His pro-
gramme was not a scheme of reform. It was a proclamation
of complete change such as the sixteenth century witnessed. A
note in a Turin manuscript represents Gerson as saying that
the book is wonderfully well grounded and that the author was
most expert in Aristotle and also in theology, and went to the
roots of things.4
The tractarian of Padua and Thomas Aquinas were only 50
years apart. But the difference between the searching epi-
grams of the one and the slow, orderly argument of the other
is as wide as the East is from the West, the directness of mod-
1 Exdusit se ipsum et app. ac distipulos etiam sues ipsorumque successors,
consequenter episcopos sen presbyteros, ab omni principatu sen mundano re-
gimine exemplo et sermone, II. 4.
a Dollinger : Kirchengesch. II. 259, 2d ed., 1843, says, » In the Defensor the
Calvinistic system was, in respect to Church power and constitution, already
marked out' ' Pastor, 1 . 85, says, * 4 If Calvin depended upon any of his prede-
cessors for his principles of Church government, it was upon the keen writer
of the fourteenth century.1'
8 Pastor, 1. 84, shifts this notoriety from Huss to Marsiglius. Riezler, p. 232,
and Haller, p. 77, compare Marsiglius' keenness of intellect with the Reform-
ers', but deny to him their religious warmth.
4 Eat liber mirabiliter bene fundatus. Et fuit homo multum peritus in
doctrina Aristoteleia, etc., Engl Hist. Rev., p. 298. The Turin MS. dates
from 1416, that is, contemporary with Gerson. In this MS. John of Paris' De
potentate is bound up with the Defensor.
78 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1204-1617.
ern thought from the cumbersome method of mediaeval scho-
lasticism. It never occurred to Thomas Aquinas to think out
beyond the narrow enclosure of Scripture interpretation built
up by other Schoolmen and mediaeval popes. He buttressed
up the regime he found realized before him. He used the old
misinterpretations of Scripture and produced no new idea on
government. Marsiglius, independent of the despotism of
ecclesiastical dogma, went back to the free and elastic prin-
ciples of the Apostolic Church government. He broke the
moulds in which the ecclesiastical thinking of centuries had
been cast, and departed from Augustine in claiming for here-
tics a rational and humane treatment. The time may yet
come when the Italian people will follow him as the herald
of a still better order than that which they have, and set aside
the sacerdotal theory of the Christian ministry as an inven-
tion of man.1
*• Germany furnished a strong advocate of the independent
rights of the emperor, in Lupold of Bebenburg, who died in
1363. He remained dean of Wiirzburg until he was made
bishop of Bamberg in 1353. But he did not attack the spir-
itual jurisdiction of the Apostolic See. Lupold's chief work
was The Rights of the Kingdom and Empire — dejuriluaregni
et imperil, — written after the declarations of Reuse. It has
been called the oldest attempt at a theory of the rights of the
German state.2 Lupold appeals to the events of history.
In defining the rights of the empire, this author asserts that
an election is consummated by the majority of the electors and
that the emperor does not stand in need of confirmation by
the pope. He holds his authority independently from God.
Charlemagne exercised imperial functions before he was
1 Compared with Wyclif, a pamphleteer as keen as he, Marsiglius did not
enter into the merits of distinctly theological doctrine nor see the deep con-
nection between the dogma of transubstantiation and sacramental penance and
papal tyranny as the English reformer did. But so far as questions of gov-
ernment are concerned, he went as far as Wyclif or farther. See the com-
parison, as elaborated by Poole, p. 275.
2 Der dlteste Versuch einer Theorie des deutschen Staatsrecht*, Riezler,
p. 180. Two other works by Lupold have come down to us. See Riezler,
pp. 180-192.
§ 8. THE PAPAL OFFICE ASSAILED. 79
anointed and crowned by Leo. The oath the emperor takes
to the pope is not the oath of fealty such as a vassal renders,
but a promise to protect him and the Church. The pope has
no authority to depose the emperor. His only prerogative is
to announce that he is worthy of deposition. The right to
depose belongs to the electors. As for Constantino's dona-
tion, it is plain Constantino did not confer the rule of the
West upon the bishop of Rome, for Constantino divided both
the West and the East among his sons. Later, Theodosius
and other emperors exercised dominion in Rome. The notice
of Constantino's alleged gift to Sylvester has come through
the records of Sylvester and has the appearance of being
apocryphal.
The papal assailants did not have the field all to them-
selves. The papacy also had vigorous literary champions.
Chief among them were Augustinus Triumphus and Alva-
rus Pelagius.1 The first dedicated his leading work to John
XXII., and the second wrote at the pope's command. The
modern reader will find in these tracts the crassest exposi-
tion of the extreme claims of the papacy, satisfying to the
most enthusiastic ultramontane, but calling for apology from
sober Catholic historians.2
1 For the papal tracts by Petrus de Palude and Konrad of Megenberg, d.
1374, see Riezler, p. 287 sqq. The works are still unpublished. Konrad's
Planctus ecclesice is addressed to Benedict in these lines, which make the
pope out to be the summit of the earth, the wonder of the world, the door-
keeper of heaven, a treasury of delights, the only sun for the world.
41 Flos et apex mundi, qui totius ease rotundi
Nectare dulcorum conditus aromate morum
Orbis papa stupor, clausor call et reserator,
Tu sidus clarum, thesaurus deliciarum
Sedes sanctapolus, tu mundo sol modo solus."
* Pastor, I. 85. Hergenrother-Kirsch, II. 767, complains that these two
authors push matters beyond the limits of truth, " making the pope a semi-
god, the absolute ruler of the world.11 See Haller, p. 82 sq. Haller says it
is a common thing among the common people in Italy for a devout man to
call the pope a god upon earth, un Dio in terra. One of the smaller tracts
already referred to is printed by Finke in Aus den Tagen, etc., LXIX-XCIX,
and three others by Scholz, Publizistik, pp. 486-616. See Scholz's criticism,
pp. 172-189. Finke, p. 260, is in doubt about the authorship.
80 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
Triumphus, an Italian, born in Ancona, 1243, made arch-
bishop of Nazareth and died at Naples, 1328, was a zealous
advocate of Boniface VIII. His leading treatise, The
Power of the Church, — Summa de potestate ecclesiastica, —
vindicates John XXII. for his decision on the question of
evangelical poverty and for his opposition to the emperor's
dominion in Italy.1 The pope has unrestricted power on the
earth. It is so vast that even he himself cannot know fully
what he is able to do.2 His judgment is the judgment of God.
Their tribunals are one.8 His power of granting indulgences
is so great that, if he so wished, he could empty purgatory
of its denizens provided that conditions were complied with.4
In spiritual matters he may err, because he remains a man,
and when he holds to heresy, he ceases to be pope. Council
cannot depose him nor any other human tribunal, for the
pope is above all and can be judged by none. But, being a
heretic, he ceases, ipso facto, to be pope, and the condition
then is as it would be after one pope is dead and his succes-
sor not yet elected.
The pope himself may choose an emperor, if he so please,
and may withdraw the right of election from the electors or
depose them from office. As vicar of God, he is above all
kings and princes.
The Spanish Franciscan, Alvarus Pelagius, was not always
as extravagant as his Augustinian contemporary.5 He was
professor of law at Perugia. He fled from Rome at the approach
of Lewis the Bavarian, 1328, was then appointed papal peni-
1 For edd. of Triumphus1 tract, see Potthast, Bibl. Hist, under Trium-
phus. Riezler, p. 286, dates the tract 1324-1328, Haller, p. 83, 1322, Scholz,
p. 172, 1320. See Poole, 262 sq.
2 Nee credo, quod papa possit scire totum quod potest facere per potentiam
suam, 32. 3, quoted by Pcttlinger, Papstthum, p. 433.
8 This famous passage runs sententia papas sententia Dei una sententia
eat, quid unum consistorium est ipsius papa et ipsius Dei . . . cujus con-
sistorii claviger et ostiarius est ipse papa. See Schwab, Gerson, p. 24.
4 Totum purgatorium evacuare potest, 3. 23. Dollinger, p. 451, says of
Triumphus' tract that on almost every page the Church is represented as a
dwarf with the head of a giant, that is, the pope.
6 He incorporated into his work entire sections from James of Viterbo, De
regimine christiano, Scholz, p. 151.
§ 8. THE PAPAL OFFICE ASSAILED. 81
tentiary at Avignon, and later bishop of the Portuguese dio-
cese of Silves. His Lament over the Church, — de planctu
ecclesice,1 — while exalting the pope to the skies, bewails the
low spiritual estate into which the clergy and the Church had
fallen. Christendom, he argues, which is but one kingdom,
can have but one head, the pope. Whoever does not accept
him as the head does not accept Christ. And whosoever,
with pure and believing eye, sees the pope, sees Christ him-
self.2 Without communion with the pope there is no salva-
tion. He wields both swords as Christ did, and in him the
passage of Jer. 1:10 is fulfilled, " I have this day set thee
over the nations and over the kingdoms to pluck up
and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build
and to plant." Unbelievers, also, Alvarus asserts to be le-
gally under the pope's jurisdiction, though they may not be
so in fact, and the pope may proceed against them as God
did against the Sodomites. Idolaters, Jews, and Saracens are
alike amenable to the pope's authority and subject to his
punishments. He rules, orders, disposes and judges all
things as he pleases. His will is highest wisdom, and what
he pleases to do has the force of law.3 Wherever the su-
preme pontiff is, there is the Roman Church, and he cannot
be compelled to remain in Rome.4 He is the source of all
law and may decide what is the right. To doubt this means
exclusion from life eternal.
As the vicar of Christ, the pope is supreme over the state.
He confers the sword which the prince wields. As the body
is subject to the soul, so princes are subject to the pope.
Constantine's donation made the pope, in fact, monarch over
the Occident. He transferred the empire to Charlemagne in
trust. The emperor's oath is an oath of fealty and homage.
1 Dollinger, p. 433, places its composition in 1329, Riezler, 1331, Haller, be-
tween 1330-1332. Alvarus issued three editions, the third at Santiago, 1340.
2 Verepapa representat Christum in terris, utqui videt cum oculo contem-
plative etfideli videat et Christum, I. 13.
8 Apud eumestpro ratione voluntas, et quod ei placet ley is habet vigorem,
I. 46.
* Unum est consistorium et tribunal Christi et papa, 1.20. Ubicunque est
papa, ibi eat eccles. Bom. . . , Non cogitur stare JBomcc, 1. 31.
o
82 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1204-1517.
The views of Augustinus Triumphus and Alvarus followed
the papal assertion and practice of centuries, and the assent
or argument of the Schoolmen. Marsiglius had the sanction
of Scripture rationally interpreted, and his views were con-
firmed by the experiences of history. After the lapse of
nearly 500 years, opinion in Christendom remains divided,
and the most extravagant language of Triumphus and Alva-
rus is applauded, and Marsiglius, the exponent of modern
liberty and of the historical sense of Scripture, continues to
be treated as a heretic.
§ 9. The Financial Policy of the Avignon Popes.
The most notable feature of the Avignon period of the pa-
pacy, next to its subserviency to France, was the development
of the papal financial system and the unscrupulous traffic
which it plied in spiritual benefits and ecclesiastical offices.
The theory was put into practice that every spiritual favor has
its price in money. It was John XXII. 's achievement to re-
duce the taxation of Christendom to a finely organized system.
The papal court had a proper claim for financial support on
all parts of the Latin Church, for it ministered to all. This
just claim gave way to a practice which made it seem as if
Christendom existed to sustain the papal establishment in a
state of luxury and ease. Avignon took on the aspect of an
exchange whose chief business was getting money, a vast bu-
reau where privileges, labelled as of heavenly efficacy, were
sold for gold. Its machinery for collecting moneys was more
extensive and intricate than the machinery of any secular
court of the age. To contemporaries, commercial transactions
at the central seat of Christendom seemed much more at home
than services of religious devotion.
Themindof John XXII. ran naturally to the counting-house
and ledger system.1 He came from Cahors, the town noted for
its brokers and bankers. Under his favor the seeds of com-
1 Holler says, p. 108, the characteristic of John's pontificate was finance,
der Fiskalismus. Tangl, p. 40, compares his commercial instincts to the
concern for high ideals which animated Gregory VII,, Alexander III., and In-
nocent III. See vol. V, I., pp. 787, sqq.
§ 9. FINANCIAL POLICY OF THE AVIGNON POPES. 83
mercialisra in the dispensation of papal appointments sown
in preceding centuries grew to ripe fruitage. Simony was
an old sin. Gregory VII. fought against it. John legalized
its practice.
Freewill offerings and Peter's pence had been made to
popes from of old. States, held as fiefs of the papal chair, had
paid fixed tribute. For the expenses of the crusades, Inno-
cent III. had inaugurated the system of taxing the entire
Church. The receipts from this source developed the love of
money at the papal court and showed its power, and, no mat-
ter how abstemious a pope might be in his own habits, greed
grew like a weed in his ecclesiastical household. St. Ber-
nard, d. 1153, complained bitterly of the cupidity of the
Romans, who made every possible monetary gain out of the
spiritual favors of which the Vatican was the dispenser. By
indulgence, this appetite became more and more exacting, and
under John and his successors the exploitation of Christendom
was reduced by the curia to a fine art.
The theory of ecclesiastical appointments, held in the Avi-
gnon period, was that, by reason of the fulness of power
which resides in the Apostolic See, the pope may dispense all
the dignities and benefices of the Christian world. The pope
is absolute in his own house, that is, the Church.
This principle had received its full statement from Clement
IV., 1265.1 Clement's bull declared that the supreme pontiff
is superior to any customs which were in vogue of filling
Church offices and conflicted with his prerogative. In partic-
ular he made it a law that all offices, dignities, and benefices
were subject to papal appointment which became vacant apud
sedem apostolicam or in curia, that is, while the holders were
visiting the papal court. This law was modified by Gregory
X. at the Council of Lyons, 1274, in such a way as to restore
the right of election, provided the pope failed to make an ap-
pointment within a month.2 Boniface VIII., 1295, again ex-
1 Licet ecclesiarum. See Lib. sextus, III. 4, 2. Friedberg's ed., II. 102,
Lux, p. 5, says romanus pontifex supremus collator, ad quern plenaria de
omnibus totius orbts beneficiis eccles. dispositio jure naturo pertinet, etc.
2 Lux, p. 12 ; Hefele : Conciliengesch. VI. 151.
84 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1204-1617.
tended the enactment by putting in the pope's hands all livings
whose occupants died within two days' journey of the curia,
wherever it might at the time be.1 Innocent IV. was the
first pope to exercise the right of reservation or collation on
a large scale. In 1248, out of 20 places in the cathedral of
Constance, 17 were occupied by papal appointees, and there
were 14 " expectants " under appointment in advance of the
deaths of the occupants. In 1255, Alexander IV. limited the
number of such expectants to 4 for each church. In 1265,
Clement IV. forbade all elections in England in the usual way
until his commands were complied with, and reserved them to
himself. The same pontiff, on the pretext of disturbances going
on in Sicily, made a general reservation of all appointments in
the realm, otherwise subject to episcopal or capitular choice.
Urban IV. withdrew the right of election from the Ghibelline
cities of Lombardy ; Martin IV. and Honorius IV. applied the
same rule to the cathedral appointments of Sicily and Aragon ;
Honorius IV. monopolized all the appointments of the Latin
Church in the East; and Boniface VIII., in view of Philip IV.'s
resistance, reserved to himself the appointments to all " cathe-
dral and regular churches " in France. Of 16 French sees which
became vacant, 1295-1301, only one was filled in the usual way
by election.2
With the haughty assumption of Clement IV.'s bull and
the practice of later popes, papal writers fell in. Augustinus
Triumphus, writing in 1324, asserted that the pope is above
all canon law and has the right to dispose of all ecclesiastical
places.8 The papal system of appointments included provi-
sions, expectances, and reservations.4
1 Lux, p. 13 ; Friedberg : Reservationen in Herzog, XVI. 672.
2 Lux, p. 17 sqq., and Haller, p. 38, with authorities.
8 Verum super ipsum jus, potest dispensare, etc. Quoted by Gieseler,
II. 123.
4 A provision, that is, provider e ecclesice de episcopo signified in the
first instance a promotion, and afterwards the papal right to supersede ap-
pointments made in the usual way by the pope's own arbitrary appointment.
The methods of papal appointment are given in Liber sextus, I. 16, 18 ;
Friedberg's ed., II. 969. See Stubbs, Const. Hist., III. 320. " Collations1'
was also used as a general term to cover this papal privilege. The formulas
§ 9, FINANCIAL POLICY OF THE AVIGNON POPES. 85
In setting aside the vested rights of chapters and other
electors, the pope often joined hands with kings and princes.
In the Avignon period a regular election by a chapter was the
exception. l The Chronicles of England and France teem with
usurped casesof papal appointment. In 1322 the pope reserved to
himself all the appointments in episcopal, cathedral, and abbey
churches, and of all priors in the sees of Aquileja, Ravenna,
Milan, Genoa, and Pisa.2 In 1329 he made such reservation
for the German dioceses of Metz, Toul, and Verdun, and in
1339 for Cologne.8 There was no living in Latin Christendom
which was safe from the pope's hands. There were not
places enough to satisfy all the favorites of the papal house-
hold and the applicants pressed upon the pope's attention by
kings and princes. The spiritual and administrative qualities
of the appointees were not too closely scrutinized. Frenchmen
were appointed to sees in England, Germany, Denmark, and
other countries, who were utterly unfamiliar with the lan-
guages of those countries. Marsiglius complains of these
" monstrosities " and, among other unfit appointments, men-
tions the French bishops of Winchester and Lund, neither of
whom knew English or Danish. The archbishop of Lund,
after plundering his diocese, returned to Southern France.
To the supreme right of appointment was added the su-
preme right to tax the clergy and all ecclesiastical property.
The supreme right to exercise authority over kings, the su-
preme right to set aside canonical rules, the supreme right to
make appointments in the Church, the supreme right to tax
Church property, these were, in their order, the rights asserted
by the popes of the Middle Ages. The scandal growing out
of this period commonly ran de apostol potestatis plenitudine reservamus.
See John's bull of July 30, 1822, Lux, p. 62 sq. Bogare, monere, precipere are
the words generally used by pope Innocent III., 1198-1216, see Hinschtus,
II. 114 sq. Alexander III. used the expression ipsum commendamus rogantes
et rogando mandantes and others like it. Hinschius, III. 116, dates insistence
on reservations as a right from the time of Lucius III., 1181-1185.
1 Haller, p. 107.
a Lux, p. 61 sq. This author, pp. 69-106, gives 67 documents not before
published, containing reservations by John XXII. and his successors.
8 Kirsch : Kollektorien, p. xxv sq.
86 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
of this unlimited right of taxation called forth the most vig-
orous complaints from clergy and laity, and was in large part
the cause which led to the summoning of the three great
Reformatory councils of the fifteenth century.1
Popes had acted upon this theory of jurisdiction over the
property of the Church long before John XXII. They levied
taxes for crusades in the Orient, or to free Italy from rebels
for the papal state. They gave their sanction to princes and
kings to levy taxes upon the Church for secular purposes,
especially for wars.2 In the bull Clericis laicos, Boniface did
not mean to call in question the propriety of the Church's con-
tributing to the necessities of the state. What he demanded
was that he himself should be recognized as arbiter in such
matters, and it was this demand which gave offence to the
French king and to France itself. The question was much
discussed whether the pope may commit simony. Thomas
Aquinas gave an affirmative answer. Alvarus Pelagius 8
thought differently, and declared that the pope is exempt
from the laws and canons which treat of simony. Augustinus
Triumphus took the same ground.* The pope is not bound
by laws. He is above laws. Simony is not possible to him.
In estimating the necessities of the papal court, which
justified the imposition of customs, the Avignon popes were
no longer their own masters. They were the creatures of the
camera and the hungry horde of officials and sycophants
Hergenrdther-Kirsch, II. 762. K. MQller: Kirchengesch., II. 45.
Kirsch : Finanzverwaltung, p. 70. Pastor, in the 1st ed. of his Hist, of the
Popes, I. 63, said das unheilvolle System der Annaten, Reservationen und
Expektanzen hat seit Johann XXII. zur Auabildung gelangt.
2 The course of Clement V., in allowing grants to Philip the Fair, Charles
of Valois, and other princes, was followed by John. In 1316 he granted to the
king of France a tenth and aunates for four years, in 1326 a tenth for two years,
and in 1333 a tenth for six years. The English king, in 1317, was given a share of
the tenth appointed by the Council of Vienne for a crusade and at the same
time one-half of the annates. Again, in the years 1319, 1322, 1330, a tenth was
accorded to the same sovereign. See Haller, p. 110 sq.
8 De planctu eccles., II. 14, papa legibus loquentibus de simonia et canoni-
bus solutus est.
4 V. 3, certum est, summum pontiflcem canonicam simoniam a jure positive
prohibitam non posse commtttere, quia ipse est supra jus et eum jura positiva
non ligant.
§ 9. FINANCIAL POLICY OF THE AVIGNON POPES. 87
whose clamor filled the papal offices day and night. These
retainers were not satisfied with bread. Every superior office
in Christendom had its value in terms of gold and silver.
When it was filled by papal appointment, a befitting fee was
the proper recognition. If a favor was granted to a prince in
the appointment of a favorite, the papal court was pretty sure
to seize some new privilege as a compensation for itself. Prec-
edent was easily made a permanent rule. Where the pope once
invaded the rights of a chapter, he did not relinquish his hold,
and an admission fee once fixed was not renounced. We may
not be surprised at the rapacity which was developed at the
papal court. That was to be expected. It grew out of the
false papal theory and the abiding qualities of human nature.1
The details governing the administration of the papal
finances John set forth in two bulls of 1316 and 1331. His
scheme fixed the financial policy of the papacy and sacred
college.2 The sources from which the papacy drew its reve-
nues in the fourteenth century were : (1) freewill offerings,
so called, given for ecclesiastical appointments and other papal
favors, called visitations, annates, aervitia ; and (2) tributes
from feudal states such as Naples, Sicily, Sardinia, and England,
and the revenues from the papal state in Italy.8 The moneys
so received were apportioned between four parties, the pope,
the college of cardinals, and their two households. Under
John XXII. the freewill offerings, so called, came to be re-
garded as obligatory fees. Every papal gift had its compen-
sation. There was a list of prices, and it remained in force till
changed on the basis of new estimates of the incomes of ben-
efices. To answer objections, John XXII., in his bull of 1331,
insisted that the prices set upon such favors were not a charge
for the grace imparted, but a charge for the labor required for
writing the pertinent documents.4 But the declaration did
1 Kirsch : Kollektorien, p. xii sq. and other Catholic writers make some
defence of John's financial measures on the ground that the sources of income
from the State of the Church dried up when the papacy was transferred to
Avignon.
2 For the details, see Tangl, p. 20 sqq. 8 See vol. V. 1, p. 787 sqq.
4 Non habita considerations ad valorem beneftcii, de quo fiet gratia sed ad
laborem scripturce dumtaxat. See Tangl, p. 21.
88 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1204-1517.
not remove the ill odor of the practice. The taxes levied were
out of all proportion to the actual cost of the written docu-
ments, and the privileges were not to be had without money.
These payments were regularly recorded in registers or
ledgers kept by the papal secretaries of the camera. The de-
tails of the papal exchequer, extant in the Archives of the
Vatican, have only recently been subjected to careful investi-
gation through the liberal policy of Leo XIII., and have made
possible a new chapter in works setting forth the history
of the Church in this fourteenth century.1
These studies confirm the impression left by the chroniclers
and tract- writers of the fourteenth century. The money
dealings of the papal court were on a vast scale, and the
transactions were according to strict rules of merchandise.2
Avignon was a great money centre. Spiritual privileges were
vouched for by carefully worded and signed contracts and
receipts. The papal commercial agents went to all parts of
Europe.
Archbishop, bishop, and abbot paid for the letters confirm-
ing their titles to their dignities. The appointees to lower
clerical offices did the same. There were fees for all sorts of
concessions, dispensations and indulgences, granted to lay man
and to priest. The priest born out of wedlock, the priest
seeking to be absent from his living, the priest about to be
1 Woker took up the study in 1878, and has been followed by a number of
scholars such as Tangl, Gottlob, Goeller, Haller, Baumgarten, Schulte, and
especially Dr. Kirsch, professor of church history in the Catholic University
of Freiburg, Switzerland. See, for a full description, Baumgarten, pp. v-
zxiii. The subject involves a vast array of figures and commercial briefs of
all kinds, and includes the organization of the camera, the system of collec-
tion, the graduated scales of prices, the transmission of moneys to Avignon,
the division of the receipts between the pope and the cardinals, the values of
the numerous coins, etc. Garampi, a keeper of the Vatican Archives, in the
eighteenth century arranged these registers according to countries. See
Kirsch, Kollektorien, ip. vii, and Rtickkehr, p. xli-1 ; Tangl, vi sqq. ; Baum-
garten, viii, x sqq.
2 Kirsch : Kollektorien, p. vii, note, gives four different headings under
which the moneys were recorded, namely : (1) census and visitations ;
(2) bulls ; (3) servitia communia ; (4) sundry sources. He also give*. «ae
entries under which disbursements were entered, such as the kitchen, books
and parchments, palfreys, journeys, wars, etc.
§ 9. FINANCIAL POLICY OP THE AVIGNON POPES. 89
ordained before the canonical age, all had to have a dispensa-
tion, and these cost money. l The larger revenues went directly
into the papal treasury and the treasury of the camera. The
smaller fees went to notaries, doorkeepers, to individual cardi-
nals, and other officials. These intermediaries stood in a long
line with palms upturned. To use a modern term, it was an
intricate system of graft. The beneficiaries were almost end-
less. The large body of lower officials are usually designated
in the ledgers by the general term " familiars " of the pope or
camera.2 The notaries, or copyists, received stipulated sums
for every document they transcribed and service they per-
formed. However exorbitant the demands might seem, the
petitioners were harried by delays and other petty annoyances
till in sheer weariness they yielded.
The taxes levied upon the higher clergy were usually paid
at Avignon by the parties in person. For the collection of the
annates from the lower clergy and of tithes and other general
taxes, collectors and subcollectors were appointed. We find
these officials in different parts of Europe. They had their
fixed salaries, and sent periodical reckonings to the central
bureau at Avignon.3 The transmission of the moneys they col-
lected was often a dangerous business. Not infrequently the
carriers were robbed on their way, and the system came into
vogue of employing merchant and banking houses to do this
business, especially Italian firms, which had representatives in
Northern and Central Europe. The ledgers show a great
diversity in the names and value of the coins. And it was a
nice process to estimate the values of these moneys in the
terms of the more generally accepted standards.4
1 Tangl, 74 sq.
8 As an example of the host of these officials who had to be fed, see Tangl,
pp. 64-67. He gives a list of the fees paid by agents of the city of Cologne,
which was seeking certain bulls in 1393. The title " secretary " does not
occur till the reign of Benedict XII., 1338. Goeller, p. 46.
8 One of the allowances made by John XXII. for collectors was 5 gold florins
a day. Kirsch : Kollektorien, VII. sqq., XLIX. sqq. Kirsch gives the official
ledgers of papal collectors in Basel, pp. 4-32, and other sees of Germany.
Sometimes the bishop acted as collector in his diocese, Goeller, p. 71.
4 For elaborate comparisons of the value of the different coins of the four-
teenth century, see Kirsch, Kollektorien, LXXVIII. and Riickkehr, p. zli sqq.
90 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
The offerings made by prelates at their visits to the papal
see, called visitationes,1 were divided equally between the papal
treasury and the cardinals. From the lists it appears that the
archbishops of York paid every three years " 300 marks ster-
ling, or 1200 gold florins." Every two years the archbishops
of Canterbury paid " 800 marks sterling, or 1500 gold florins";
the archbishop of Tours paid 400 pounds Tournois; of Rheims,
500 pounds Tournois; of Rouen, 1000 pounds Tournois.2 The
archbishop of Armagh, at his visitation in 1301, paid 50 silver
marks, or 250 gold florins. In 1350 the camera claimed from
Armagh back payments for fifty years.8 Presumably no
bishop of that Irish diocese had made a visit in that interval.
Whether the claim was honored or not, is not known.
The servitia communia, or payments made by archbishops,
bishops, and abbots on their confirmation to office, were also
listed, according to a fixed scale. The voluntary idea had
completely disappeared before a fixed assessment.4 Such a
dignitary was called an electus until he had paid off the
Gottlob, pp. 133, 174 sq., etc. Baumgarten, CCXI sqq. The silver mark, the
gold florin, and the pound Tournois were among the larger coins most current.
One mark was worth 4 or 6 gold florins, or 8 pounds Tournois. The grossus
Turonensis was equal to about 25 cents of our value. See Tangl, 14. For the
different estimates of marks in florins, see Baumgarten, CXXI. The gold
florin had the face value of $2.50 of our money, or nearly 10 marks German
coinage. See Kirsch, Kollektorien, p. Ixx ; R'uckkehr, p. xlv ; Gottlob,
Servitientaxe, p. 176 ; Baumgarten, p. ccxiii ; Tangl, 14, etc. Kirsch gives the
purchasing price of money in the fourteenth century as four times what it now
is, Finanzverwaltung, p. 56. The gold mark in 1370 was worth 02 gold florins,
the silver mark 6 florins, Kirsch • Biickkehr, p. xlv. Kirsch : Backkehr,
pp. 1-lxi, gives a very elaborate and valuable list of the prices of commodi-
ties and wages in 1370 from the Vatican ledger accounts. Urban V. 's agents
bought two horses for 117 florins gold and two mules for 90 florins. They
paid 1 gold florin for 12 pairs of shoes and 1 pair of boots. A salma of wheat
— equal to 733 loaves of bread — cost 4 florins, or $10 in our money. The
keeper of the papal stables received 120 gold florins a year. The senator of
Rome received from Gregory XI. 500 gold florins a month. A watchman of
the papal palace, 7 gold florins a month. Carpenters received from 12-18
shillings Provis, or 60-80 cents, 47 of these coins being equal to 1 gold florin.
1 Visitationes ad limina apostolorum, that is, visits to Rome.
* See Baumgarten, CXXI.; Kirsch : Finanzverwaltung, p. 22 sq.
8 Baumgarten, p. cxxii.
4 Gottlob, Scrvitien, p. 30 sqq., 75-93 ; Baumgarten, p. xcvii sqq.
§ 9. FINANCIAL POLICY OF THE AVIGNON POPES. 91
tax.1 In certain cases the tax was remitted on account of the
poverty of the ecclesiastic, and in the ledgers the entry was
made, " not taxed on account of poverty," non taxata propter
paupertatem. The amount of this tax seems to have varied, and
was sometimes one-third of the income and sometimes a larger
portion.2 In the fourteenth century the following sees paid
servitia as follows: Mainz, 5,000 gold florins; Treves, 7,000;
Cologne, 10,000; Narbonne, 10,000. On the basis of a new
valuation, Martin V. in 1420 raised the taxation of the sees
of Mainz and Treves to 10,000 florins each, or $25,000 of our
money, so that they corresponded to the assessment made
from of old upon Cologne.8 When an incumbent died with-
out having met the full tax, his successor made up the deficit
in addition to paying the assessment for his own confirma-
tion.4
The following cases will give some idea of the annoyances
to which bishops and abbots were put who travelled to
Avignon to secure letters of papal confirmation to their offices.
In 1334, the abbot-elect of St. Augustine, Canterbury, had to
wait in Avignon from April 22 to Aug. 9 to get his confirma-
tion, and it cost him 148 pounds sterling. John IV., abbot-
elect of St. Albans, in 1302 went for consecration to Rome,
accompanied by four monks. He arrived May 6, presented
his case to Boniface VIII. in person at Anagni, May 9, and did
not get back to London till Aug. 1, being all the while engaged
in the process of getting his papers properly prepared and cer-
1 Gottlob, p. 130.
2 Kirech: Finanzverwaltung, and Baumgarten, p. xcvii, make it one -third.
Gottlob, p. 120, says it was sometimes more.
8 Baumgarten, p. cvi, Schulte, p. 97 sq. Cases are also reported of the re-
duction of the assessment upon a revaluation of the property. In 1326 the
assessment of the see of Breslau was reduced from 4,000 to 1,785 gold florins.
Kirsch : Finanzverwaltung, p. 8.
4 For cases, see Baumgarten, p. cviii. Attempts to get rid of this assess-
ment were unavailing. The bishop of Bamberg, in 1336, left Avignon without
a bull of confirmation because he had not made the prescribed payment The
reason is not recorded, but the statement is spread on the ledger entry that
episcopal confirmation should not be granted to him till the Apostolic letters
pertaining to it were properly registered and delivered by the Apostolic camera.
Goeller, p. 69.
92 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
tified to.1 The £xpense of getting his case through was 2,585
marks, or 10,340 gold florins, or $25,000 of our money. The
ways in which this large sum was distributed are not a matter
of conjecture. The exact itemized statement is extant: 2,258
marks, or 9,032 florins, went to " the Lord pope and the cardi-
nals." Of this sum 5,000 florins, or 1,250 marks, are entered
as a payment for the visitatio, and the remainder in payment
of the servitium to the cardinals. The remaining 327 marks,
or 1,308 florins, were consumed in registration and notarial
fees and gifts to cardinals. To Cardinal Francis of St. Maria
in Cosmedin, a nephew of Boniface, a gift was made costing
more than 10 marks, or 40 florins.
Another abbot-elect of St. Albans, Richard II., went to
Avignon in 1326 accompanied by six monks, and was well
satisfied to get away with the payment of 3,600 gold florins.
He was surprised that the tax was so reasonable. Abbot
William of the diocese of Autun, Oct. 22, 1316, obligated
himself to pay John XXII. , as confirmation tax, 1,500 gold
florins, and to John's officials 170 more.2
The fees paid to the lower officials, called servitia minuta,
were classified under five heads, four of them going to the
officials, familiares of the pontiff, and one to the officials of the
cardinals.8 The exact amounts received on account of servitia
or confirmation fees by the pope and the college of cardinals,
probably will never be known. From the lists that have been
examined, the cardinals between 1316-1323 received from this
source 234,047 gold florins, or about 39,000 florins a year. As
the yield from this tax was usually, though not always, divided
in equal shares between the pope and the cardinals, the full
sum realized from this source was double this amount.4
The annates, so far as they were the tax levied by the pope
upon appointments made by himself to lower clerical offices
1 Gesta Abb. monaster. S. Albani, II. 65 sq. See Gottlob, Servitien, p. 174
sqq. for the full list of his expenses.
2 The contract is printed entire by Kirsch, Finanzverwaltung, pp. 73-77,
and Gottlob, p. 162 sqq.
8 See Gottlob, pp. 102-118 ; Schulte, p. 13 sqq.
* Baumgarten, p. czx.
§ 9. FINANCIAL POLICY OF THE AVIGNON POPES. 93
and livings, went entirely into the papal treasury, and seem to
have been uniformly one-half of the first year's income.1 They
were designated as livings " becoming vacant in curia," which
was another way of saying, places which had been reserved
by the pope. The popes from time to time extended this tax
through the use of the right of reservation to all livings be-
coming vacant in a given district during a certain period. In
addition to the annate tax, the papal treasury also drew an
income during the period of their vacancy from the livings re-
served for papal appointment and during the period when an
incumbent held the living without canonical right. These
were called the "intermediate fruits" — mediifructus.*
Special indulgences were an uncertain but no less important
source of revenue. The prices were graded according to the
ability of the parties to pay and the supposed inherent value
of the papal concession. Queen Johanna of Sicily paid 500
grossi Tournois, or about $150, for the privilege of taking the
oath to the archbishop of Naples, who acted as the pope's rep-
resentative. The bull readmitting to the sacraments of the
Church Margaret of Maul tasch and her husband, Lewisof Bran-
denburg, the son of Lewis the Bavarian, cost the princess 2000
grossi Tournois. The king of Cyprus was poor, and secured
for his subjects indulgence to trade with the Egyptians for
the modest sum of 100 pounds Tournois, but had to pay 50
pounds additional for a ship sent with cargo to Egypt.8
There was a graduated sgale for papal letters giving persons
liberty to choose their confessor without regard to the parish
priests.
1 John XXII., 1316, Benedict XII., 1336, Clement VI., 1342, and Boniface
IX., 1392, ismied bulls requiring such appointees to pay one-half the first year's
income into the papal treasury. See, on this subject, Kirsch, Kollektorien, p.
xxv sqq. He mentions the papal collector, Gerardus, who gives a continuous
list for the years 1343-1360, of such payments of annates, fructus beneftcio-
rum vacantium ad Cameram Apostolicam pertinentes. The annates, or
annalia, were originally given to the bishops when livings became vacant, but
were gradually reserved for the papal treasury. See Friedberg, Kirchliche
Abgaben, in Herzog, 1. 05.
fl Kirsch : Kollektorien, p. xxvi. Benedict, 1336, appropriated these pay-
ments to the papal treasury.
8 Tangl, pp. 31, 32, 37.
94 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
To these sources of income were added the taxes for the re-
lief of the Holy Land — pro subsidio terra sanctce. The Coun-
cil of Vienne ordered a tenth for six years for this purpose.
John XXII., 1333, repeated the substance of Clement's bull.
The expense of clearing Italy of hostile elements and reclaim-
ing papal territory as a preliminary to the pope's return to
Rome was also made the pretext for levying special taxes.
For this object Innocent VI. levied a three-years' tax of a
tenth upon the Church in Germany, and in 1366 Urban V.
levied another tenth upon all the churches of Christendom.1
It would be a mistake to suppose that the Church always
responded to these appeals, or that the collectors had easy
work in making collections. The complaints, which we found
so numerous in England in the thirteenth century, we meet
with everywhere during the fourteenth century. The re-
sistance was determined, and the taxes were often left unpaid
for years or not paid at all.
The revenues derived from feudal states and princes, called
census, were divided equally between the cardinals and the
pope's private treasury. Gregory X., in 1272, was the first
to make such a division of the tribute from Sicily, which
amounted to 8000 ounces of gold, or about $90,000. 2 In the
pontificate of John XXII. there is frequent mention of the
amounts contributed by Sicily and their equal partition. The
sums varied from year to year, and in 1304 it was 3000
ounces of gold. The tribute of Sardinia and Corsica was
fixed in 1297 at the annual sum of 2000 marks, and was
divided between the two treasuries.8 The papal state and
Ferrara yielded uncertain sums, and the tribute of 1000 marks,
pledged by John of England, was paid irregularly, and finally
abrogated altogether. Peter's pence, which belongs in this
category, was an irregular source of papal income.4
1 Kirsch : Kollektorien, pp. zx, zzi.
2 Kirsch : Finanzverwaltung, p. 3 ; Biickkehr, p. zv. The payment to
Urban V. in 1367 and its division into equal shares is a matter of record. In
a ledger account begun in 1317, and now in the Vatican, an ounce of gold wag
estimated at 6 florins, a pound of gold at 96 florins. See Kirsch, Finanzver-
waltung, p. 71 ; Baumgarten, p. ccxi.
8 Baumgarten, p. czlii sq. * Baumgarten, CXXVI. sqq.
§ 9. FINANCIAL POLICY OF THE AVIGNON POPES. 95
The yearly income of the papal treasury under Clement V.
and John XXII. has been estimated at from 200,000 to 250,000
gold florins.1 In 1353 it is known to have been at least
260,000 florins, or more than $600,000 of our money.
These sources of income were not always sufficient for the
expenses of the papal household, and in cases had to be antici-
pated by loans. The popes borrowed from cardinals, from
princes, and from bankers. Urban V. got a loan from his
cardinals of 30,000 gold florins. Gregory XI. got loans of
30,000 florins from the king of Navarre, and 60,000 from the
duke of Anjou. The duke seems to have been a ready
lender, and on another occasion loaned Gregory 40,000 florins.2
It was a common thing for bishops and abbots to make loans
to enable them to pay the expense of their confirmation.
The abbot of St. Albans, in 1290, was assessed 1300 pounds
for his servittum^ and borrowed 500 of it.8 The habit grew
until the time of the Reformation, when the sums borrowed, as
in the case of Albrecht, archbishop of Mainz, were enormous.
The transactions of the Avignon chancellory called forth
loud complaints, even from contemporary apologists for the
papacy. Alvarus Pelagius, in his Lament over the Church,
wrote : " No poor man can approach the pope. He will call
and no one will answer, because he has no money in his purse
to pay. Scarcely is a single petition heeded by the pope
until it has passed through the hands of middlemen, a
corrupt set, bought with bribes, and the officials conspire to-
gether to extort more than the rule calls for." In another
place he said that whenever he entered into the papal chambers
he always found the tables full of gold, and clerics counting
1 Ehrle : Process uber d. Nachlass Klcmens V. , in Archiv, etc., V. 147. The
revenue of Philip the Fair amounted in 1301 to 207,900 pounds. See Gottlob,
Servitien, 133. Gottlob, p. 134, says the cardinals received as much more as
their share.
* Haller, p. 138.
8 Walter de Gray, bishop of Worcester, is said to have borrowed 10,000
pounds at his elevation, 1215. Roger de Wendover, as quoted by Gottlob,
p. 186. The passage runs obligates in curia Romana de decem millibus libris,
etc. Gottlob understands this to refer to Roman bankers, not to the Roman
curia.
96 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
and weighing florins.1 Of the Spanish bishops he said that
there was scarcely one in a hundred who did not receive
money for ordinations and the gift of benefices. Matters
grew no better, but rather worse as the fourteenth century
advanced. Dietrich of Nieheim, speaking of Boniface IX.,
said that " the pope was an insatiable gulf, and that as for
avarice there was no one to compare with him."3 To effect
a cure of the disease, which was a scandal to Christendom,
the popes would have been obliged to cut off the great army
of officials who surrounded them. But this vast organized
body was stronger than the Roman pontiff. The funda-
mental theory of the rights of the papal office was at fault.
The councils made attempts to introduce reforms, but in vain.
Help came at last and from an unexpected quarter, when
Luther and the other leaders openly revolted against the
mediaeval theory of the papacy and of the Church.
§ 10. The Later Avignon Popes.
The bustling and scholastic John XXII. was followed by
the scholarly and upright Benedict XII., 1334-1342. Born
in the diocese of Toulouse, Benedict studied in Paris, and
arose to the dignity of bishop and cardinal before his eleva-
tion to the papal throne. If Villani is to be trusted, his
election was an accident. One cardinal after another who
voted for him did so, not dreaming he would be elected. The
choice proved to be an excellent one. The new pontiff at
once showed interest in reform. The prelates who had no
distinct duties at Avignon he sent home, and to his credit it
was recorded that, when urged to enrich his relatives, he re-
plied that the vicar of Christ, like Melchizedek, must be with-
out father or mother or genealogy. To him belongs the honor
of having begun the erection of the permanent papal palace
at Avignon, a massive and grim structure, having the features
1 De planclu eccl. II. 7, quum scepe intraverim in cameram camerarii
domnlpapce, semper ibi vidi nummvlarios et mensas plena* auro, et clericos
computantes et trutinantes Jlorenos. See Dollinger-Friedrich, pp. 86, 420.
9 Insatiabilis vorago et in avaricia null us ei similis. De tchismate. Brier's
ed., p. 119. The sacra auri fames prevailed at Avignon.
§ 10. THE LATER AVIGNON POPES. 97
of a fortress rather than a residence. Its walls and towers
were built of colossal thickness and strength to resist attack.
Its now desolated spaces are a speechless witness to perhaps
the most singular of the episodes of papal history. The
cardinals followed Benedict's example and built palaces in
Avignon and its vicinity.
Clement VI., 1342-1852, whohadbeen archbishop of Rouen,
squandered the fortune amassed by John XXII. and prudently
administered by Benedict. He forgot his Benedictine train-
ing and vows and was a fast liver, carrying into the papal
office the tastes of the French nobility from which he sprang.
Horses, a sumptuous table, and the company of women made
the papal palace as gay as a royal court.1 Nor were his rela-
tives allowed to go uncared for. Of the twenty-five cardinals'
hats which he distributed, twelve went to them, one a brother
and one a nephew. Clement enjoyed a reputation for elo-
quence and, like John XXII., preached after he became pope.
Early in his pontificate the Romans sent a delegation, which
included Petrarch, begging him to return to Rome. But
Clement, a Frenchman to the core, preferred the atmosphere
of France. Though he did not go to Rome, he was gracious
enough to comply with the delegation's request and appoint
a Jubilee for the deserted and impoverished city.
During Clement's rule, Rome lived out one of the pictur-
esque episodes of its mediaeval history, the meteoric career of
the tribune Cola (Nicolas) di Rienzo. Of plebeian birth, this
visionary man was stirred with the ideals of Roman inde-
pendence and glory by reading the ancient classics. His
oratory flattered and moved the people, whose cause he
espoused against the aristocratic families of the city. Sent
to Avignon at the head of a commission, 1343, to confer the
highest municipal authority upon the pope, he won Clement's
attention by his frank manner and eloquent speech. Return-
1 Pastor, I. 70, says, " Luxury and fast living prevailed to the most
flagrant degree under Clement's rule." For detailed description of Avignon
and' the papal palace, see A. Penjon, Avignon, la ville et le palats des
papes, pp. 134, Avignon, 1878 ; F. Digonnet: Le palais des papes en Avignon,
Avignon, 1907.
98 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
ing to Rome, he fascinated the people with visions of freedom
and dominion. They invested him on the Capitol with the
signiory of the city, 1347. Cola assumed the democratic title
of tribune. Writing from Avignon, Petrarch greeted him
as the man whom he had been looking for, and dedicated to
him one of his finest odes. The tribune sought to extend
his influence by enkindling the flame of patriotism throughout
all Italy and to induce its cities to throw off the yoke of their
tyrants. Success and glory turned his head. Intoxicated with
applause, he had the audacity to cite Lewis the Bavarian and
Charles IV. before his tribunal, and headed his communica-
tions with the magnificent superscription, " In the first year
of the Republic's freedom." His success lasted but seven
months. The people had grown weary of their idol. He
was laid by Clement under the ban and fled, to appear again
for a brief season under Innocent V.
Avignon was made papal property by Clement, who paid
Joanna of Naples 80,000 florins for it. The low, price may have
been in consideration of the pope's services in pronouncing the
princess guiltless of the murder of her cousin and first hus-
band, Andreas, a royal Hungarian prince, and sanctioning her
second marriage with another cousin, the prince of Tarentum.
This pontiff witnessed the conclusion of the disturbed ca-
reer of Lewis the Bavarian, in 1347. The emperor had sunk
to the depths of self-abasement when he swore to the 28 arti-
cles Clement laid before him, Sept. 18, 1343, and wrote to
the pope that, as a babe longs for its mother's breast, so his
soul cried out for the grace of the pope and the Church.
But, if possible, Clement intensified the curses placed upon
him by his two predecessors. The bull, which he announced
with his own lips, April 13, 1346, teems with rabid execra-
tions. It called upon God to strike Lewis with insanity,
blindness, and madness. It invoked the thunderbolts of
heaven and the flaming wrath of God and the Apostles Peter
and Paul both in this world and the next. It called all the
elements to rise in hostility against him ; upon the universe
to fight against him, and the earth to open and swallow him
up alive. It blasphemously damned his house to desolation
§ 10. THE LATER AVIGNON POPES. 99
and his children to exclusion from their abode. It invoked
upon him the curse of beholding with his own eyes the
destruction of his children by their enemies.1
During Clement's pontificate, 1348-1349, the Black Death
swept over Europe from Hungary to Scotland and from Spain
to Sweden, one of the most awful and mysterious scourges
that has ever visited mankind. It was reported by all the
chroniclers of the time, and described by Boccaccio in the in-
troduction to his novels. According to Villani, the disease
appeared as carbuncles under the armpits or in the groin,
sometimes as big as an egg, and was accompanied with de-
vouring fever and vomiting of blood. It also involved a gan-
grenous inflammation of the lungs and throat and a fetid odor
of the breath. In describing the virulence of the infection,
a contemporary said that one sick person was sufficient to in-
fect the whole world.2 The patients lingered at most a day
or two. Boccaccio witnessed the progress of the plague as it
spread its ravages in Florence.8 Such measures of sanitation
as were then known were resorted to, such as keeping the
streets of the city clean and posting up elaborate rules of
health. Public religious services and processions were ap-
pointed to stay death's progress. Boccaccio tells how he saw
the hogs dying from the deadly contagion which they caught
in rooting amongst cast-off clothing. In England all sorts
of cattle were affected, and Knighton speaks of 5000 sheep
dying in a single district.4 The mortality was appalling.
The figures, though they differ in different accounts, show a
vast loss of life.
1 This awful denunciation runs : Veniat ei laqueus quern ignorat, et cadat in
ipsuin. Sit maledictus ingrediens, sit maledictus egrediens. Percutiat eum
dominus amentia et ccecitate ac mentis furore. C&lum super eum fulgura
mittat. Omnipotent dei ira et beatorum Petri etPauli ... in hocetfuturo
seculo exardescat in ipsum. Or bis terrarum pugnet contra eum, aperiatur terra
et ipsum absorbeat vivum. Mirbt : Quellen, p. 153. See Miiller : Kampf Lud-
voigs, etc., II. 214.
a" Quoted by Gasquet, Slack Death, p. 46.
8 Whitcomb, Source Book of the Renaissance, pp. 16-18, gives a transla-
tion.
* Knighton's account, Chronicon, Rolls Series II. 58-66.
100 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
A large per cent of the population of Western Europe fell
before the pestilence. In Siena, 80,000 were carried off ; in
Venice, 100,000 ; in Bologna, two-thirds of the population ;
and in Florence, three-fifths. In Marseilles the number who
died in a single month is reported as 57,000. Nor was the
papal city on the Rhone exempt. Nine cardinals, 70 prelates,
and 17,000 males succumbed. Another writer, a canon writ-
ing from the city to a friend in Flanders, reports that up to the
date of his writing one-half of the population had died. The
very cats, dogs, and chickens took the disease.1 At the pre-
scription of his physician, Guy of Chauliac, Clement VI.
stayed within doors and kept large fires lighted, as Nicolas
IV. before him had done in time of plague.
No class was immune except in England, where the higher
classes seem to have been exempt. The clergy yielded in great
numbers, bishops, priests, and monks. At least one arch-
bishop of Canterbury, Bradwardine, was carried away by it.
The brothers of the king of Sweden, Hacon and Knut, were
among the victims. The unburied dead strewed the streets
of Stockholm. Vessels freighted with cargoes were reported
floating on the high seas with the last sailor dead.2 Convents
were swept clear of all their inmates. The cemeteries were
not large enough to hold the bodies, which were thrown into
hastily dug pits.3 The danger of infection and the odors
emitted by the corpses were so great that often there was no
one to give sepulture to the dead. Bishops found cause in this
neglect to enjoin their priests to preach on the resurrection
of the body as one of the tenets of the Catholic Church, as
did the bishop of Winchester.4 In spite of the vast mor-
tality, many of the people gave themselves up without re-
straint to revelling and drinking from tavern to tavern and
to other excesses, as Boccaccio reports of Florence.
In England, it is estimated that one-half of the population,
1 Quoted by Gasquet, p. 46 gqq. 2 Gasquet, p. 40.
8 Thorold Rogers saw the remains of a number of skeletons at the digging
for the new divinity school at Cambridge, and pronounced the spot the plague-
pit of this awful time. Six Centuries of Work and Wages, I. 157.
4 Gasquet, p. 128.
§ 10. THE LATEB AVIGNON POPES. 101
or 2,500,000 people, fell victims to the dread disease.1 Ac-
cording to Knighton, it was introduced into the land through
Southampton. As for Scotland, this chronicler tells the
grewsome story that some of the Scotch, on hearing of the
weakness of the English in consequence of the malady, met in
the forest of Selfchyrche — Selkirk — and decided to fall upon
their unfortunate neighbors, but were suddenly themselves
attacked by the disease, nearly 5000 dying. The English
king prorogued parliament. The disaster that came to the
industries of the country is dwelt upon at length by the Eng-
lish chroniclers. The soil became " dead," for there were no
laborers left to till it. The price per acre was reduced one-
half, or even much more. The cattle wandered through the
meadows and fields of grain, with no one to drive them in.
" The dread fear of death made the prices of live stock cheap."
Horses were sold for one-half their usual price, 40 solidi, and
a fat steer for 4 solidi. The price of labor went up, and the
cost of the necessaries of life became "very high."2 The
effect upon the Church was such as to interrupt its ministries
and perhaps check its growth. The English bishops provided
for the exigencies of the moment by issuing letters giving to
all clerics the right of absolution. The priest could now
make his price, and instead of 4 or 5 marks, as Knighton
reports, he could get 10 or 20 after the pestilence had spent
its course. To make up for the scarcity of ministers, ordina-
tion was granted before the canonical age, as when Bateman,
bishop of Norwich, set apart by the sacred rite 60 clerks,
u though only shavelings " under 21. In another direction
the evil effects of the plague were seen. Work was stopped
1 These are the figures of Jessopp, Coming of the Friars, Gasquet, p. 226,
and Cunningham, Growth of English Industries and Commerce, p. 276.
Thorold Rogers, however, in Six Centuries of Work, etc., and England before
and after the Black Death, Fortnightly Review, VIII. 190 sqq. reduces the num-
ber. Jessopp bases his calculations upon local documents and death lists of
the diocese of Norwich and finds that in some cases nine-tenths of the popula-
tion died. The Augustinians at Heveringland, prior and canons, died to a
man. At Hickling only one survived. Whether this fell mortality among the
clergy, especially the orders, points to luxuriant living and carelessness in
habits of cleanliness, we will not attempt to say.
a Knighton, II. 02, 05.
102 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
on the Cathedral of Siena, which was laid out on a scale of
almost unsurpassed size, and has not been resumed to this
day.1
The Black Death was said to have invaded Europe from
the East, and to have been carried first by Genoese vessels.2
Its victims were far in excess of the loss of life by any battles
or earthquakes known to European history, not excepting the
Sicilian earthquake of 1908.
In spite of the plague, and perhaps in gratitude for its ces-
sation, the Jubilee Year of 1350, like the Jubilee under Boni-
face at the opening of the century, brought thousands of pil-
grims to Rome. If they left scenes of desolation in the cities
and villages from which they came, they found a spectacle of
desolation and ruin in the Eternal City which Petrarch, visit-
ing the same year, said was enough to move a heart of stone.
Matthew Villani 3 cannot say too much in praise of the de-
votion of the visiting throngs. Clement's bull extended the
benefits of his promised indulgence to those who started on a
pilgrimage without the permission of their superiors, the cleric
without the permission of his bishop, the monk without the
permission of his abbot, and the wife without the permission
of her husband.
Of the three popes who followed Clement, only good can be
said. Innocent VI. , 1352—1 362, a native of the see of Limoges,
had been appointed cardinal by Clement VI. Following in the
1 Gaaquet, p. 263. This author, pp. viii, 8, compares the ravages of the
bubonic plague in India, 1897-1905, to the desolations of the Black Death.
He gives the mortality in India in this period as 3,250,000 persons. lie
emphasizes the bad effects of the plague in undoing the previous work of the
Church and checking its progress.
2 Ralph, bishop of Bath and Wells, in a pastoral letter warned against the
41 pestilence which had come into a neighboring kingdom from the East."
Knighton refers its origin to India, Thomas Walsingham, Hiat. Angl., Rolls
Series I. 273, thus speaks of it: "Beginning in the regions of the North and
East it advanced over the world and ended with so great a destruction that
scarcely half of the people remained. Towns once full of men became desti-
tute of inhabitants, and so violently did the pestilence increase that the living
were scarcely able to bury the dead. In certain houses of men of religion,
scarcely two out of twenty men survived. It was estimated by many that
scarcely one-tenth of mankind had been left alive."
• Muratori, XV. 56.
§ 10. THE LATER AVIGNON POPES. 103
footsteps of Benedict XII., he reduced the ostentation of the
Avignon court, dismissed idle bishops to their sees, and insti-
tuted the tribunal of the rota^ with 21 salaried auditors for the
orderly adjudication of disputed cases coming before the papal
tribunal. Before Innocent's election, the cardinals adopted a
set of rules limiting the college to 20 members, and stipulating
that no new members should be appointed, suspended, deposed,
or excommunicated without the consent of two-thirds of their
number, and that no papal relative should be assigned to a high
place. Innocent no sooner became pontiff than he set it aside
as not binding.
Soon after the beginning of his reign, Innocent released Cola
di Rienzo from confinement 1 and sent him and Cardinal JSgidius
Alvarez of Albernoz to Rome in the hope of establishing order.
Cola was appointed senator, but only a few months afterwards
was put to death in a popular uprising, Oct. 8, 1354. He
dreamed of a united Italy, 500 years before the union of its
divided states was consummated, but his name remains a
powerful impulse to popular freedom and national unity in
the peninsula.
Tyrants and demagogues infested Italian municipalities and
were sucking their life-blood. The State of the Church had
been parcelled up into petty principalities ruled by rude nobles,
such as the Polentas in Ravenna, the Malatestas in Rimini,
the Montefeltros in Urbino. The pope was in danger of los-
ing his territory in the peninsula altogether. Soldiers of for-
tune from different nations had settled upon it and spread
terror as leaders of predatory bands. In no part was anarchy
more wild than in Rome itself, and in the Campagna.
Albernoz had fought in the wars against the Moors, and had
administered the see of Toledo. He was a statesman as well
as a soldier. He was fully equal to his difficult task and
restored the papal government.2
1 Cola had roamed about till he went to Prag, where Charles IV. seized him
and sent him to Avignon in 1352. Petrarch, who corresponded with him,
speaks of seeing him in Avignon, attended by two guards. See Robinson,
Petrarch, pp. 841-343 sqq.
2 The full term of Albernoz' service in Italy extended from 1363-1368. By
his code, called the JEgidian Constitutions, he became the legislator of the
104 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
In 1355, Albernoz, as administrator of Rome, placed the
crown of the empire on the head of Charles IV. To such a
degree had the imperial dignity been brought that Charles was
denied permission by the pope to enter the city till the day
appointed for his coronation. His arrival in Italy was wel-
comed by Petrarch as Henry VII. 's arrival had been welcomed
by Dante. But the emperor disappointed every expectation,
and his return from Italy was an inglorious retreat. He placed
his own dominion of Bohemia in his debt by becoming the
founder of the University of Prag.1 It was he also who, in
1356, issued the celebrated Golden Bull, which laid down the
rules for the election of the emperor. They placed this trans-
action wholly in the hands of the electors, a majority of whom
was sufficient for a choice. The pope is not mentioned in the
document. Frankfurt was made the place of meeting. The
electors designated were the archbishops of Mainz, Treves, and
Cologne, the Count Palatine, the king of Bohemia, the mar-
grave of Brandenburg, and the duke of Saxony.2
Urban V., 1362-1370, at the time of his election abbot of
the Benedictine convent of St. Victor in Marseilles, developed
merits which secured for him canonization by Pius IX., 1870.
He was the first of the Avignon popes to visit Rome. Pe-
trarch, as he had written before to Benedict XII. and Clement
VI., now, in his old age, wrote to the new pontiff rebuking
the curia for its vices and calling upon him to be faithful to
his part as Roman bishop. Why should Urban hide himself
away in a corner of the earth ? Italy was fair, and Rome,
hallowed by history and legend of empire and Church, was
the theocratic capital of the world. Charles IV. visited
Avignon and offered to escort the pontiff. But the French
State of the Church for centuries. For text, see Mansi, XXVI. 299-807.
Gregorovius, VI. 430, calls him " the most gifted statesman who ever sat in the
college of cardinals,11 and Wurm,his biographer, " the second founder of the
State of the Church.11
1 In 1834 Clement had set off the diocese of Prag from the diocese of Mainz
and made it an archbishopric.
2 Bryce, ch. XIV., says well that the Golden Bull completed the German-
ization of the Holy Roman Empire by separating the imperial power from the
papacy. See Mirot, La politique pontificate, p. 2.
§ 10. THE LATER AVIGNON POPES. 105
king opposed the plan and was supported by the cardinals in
a body. Only three Italians were left in it. Urban started
for the home of his spiritual ancestors in April, 1367. A fleet
of sixty vessels furnished by Naples, Genoa, Venice, and Pisa
conducted the distinguished traveller from Marseilles to
Genoa and Corneto, where he was met by envoys from Rome,
who put into his hands the keys of the castle of St. An-
gelo, the symbol of full municipal power. All along the way
transports of wine, fish, cheese, and other provisions, sent on
from Avignon, met the papal party, and horses from the
papal stables on the Rhone were in waiting for the pope at
every stage of the journey.1
At Viterbo, a riot was called forth by the insolent manners
of the French, and the pope launched the interdict against
the city. The papal ledgers contain the outlay by the apoth-
ecary for medicines for the papal servants who were wounded
in the me!6e. Here Albernoz died, to whom the papacy
owed a large debt for his services in restoring order to Rome.
The legend runs that, when he was asked by the pope for an
account of his administration, he loaded a car with the keys
of the cities he had recovered to the papal authority, and sent
them to him.
Urban chose as his residence the Vatican in preference to
the Lateran. The preparations for his advent included the
restoration of the palace and its gardens. A part of the
garden was used as a field, and the rest was overgrown with
thorns. Urban ordered it replanted with grape-vines and
fruit trees. The papal ledger gives the cost of these im-
provements as 6,621 gold florins, or about $15,000. Roofs,
floors, doors, walls, and other parts of the palace had to be
renewed. The expenses from April 27, 1367, to November,
i Kirsch : Riickkehr, etc., pp. xii, 74-90. During the stop of five days at
Genoa, Urban received timely help in the payment of the feoffal tax of Naples,
8000 ounces of gold. Kirsch, in his interesting and valuable treatment, pub-
lishes the ledger entries made in the official registers, deposited in Rome and
Avignon and giving in detail the expenses incurred on the visits of Urban and
Gregory XI. Gregorovius, VI. 430 sqq., gives an account of Urban's pil-
grimage in his most brilliant style.
106 THB MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
1368, as shown in the report of the papal treasurer, Gaucelin
de Pradello, were 15,559 florins, or * 39,000.*
During the sixty years that had elapsed since Clement V.
fixed the papal residence in France, Rome had been reduced
almost to a museum of Christian monuments, as it had before
been a museum of pagan ruins. The aristocratic families
had forsaken the city. The Lateran had again fallen a prey
to the flames in 1360. St. Paul's was desolate. Rubbish or
stagnant pools filled the streets. The population was reduced
to 20,000 or perhaps 17,000.2 The return of the papacy was
compared by Petrarch to Israel returning out of Egypt.
Urban set about the restoration of churches. He gave 1000
florins to the Lateran and spent 5000 on St. Paul's. Rome
showed signs of again becoming the centre of European so-
ciety and politics. Joanna, queen of Naples, visited the city,
and so did the king of Cyprus and the emperor, Charles
IV. In 1369 John V. Palseologus, the Byzantine emperor,
arrived, a suppliant for aid against the Turks, and publicly
made solemn abjuration of his schismatic tenets.
The old days seemed to have returned, but Urban was not
satisfied. He had not the courage nor the wide vision to
sacrifice his own pleasure for the good of his office. Had he
so done, the disastrous schism might have been averted. He
turned his face back towards Avignon, where he arrived " at
the hour of vespers," Sept. 27, 1370. He survived his re-
turn scarcely two months, and died Dec. 19, 1370, uni-
versally beloved and already honored as a saint.
§ 11. The Re-establishment of the Papacy in Rome. 1377.
Of the nineteen cardinals who entered the conclave at the
death of Urban V., all but four were Frenchmen. The choice
immediately fell on Gregory XL, the son of a French count.
At 17 he had been made cardinal by his uncle, Clement VI.
1 The accounts are published entire by Kirsch, pp. ix sqq. xxx, 109-165.
2D611inger, The Church and the Churches, Engl. trans., 1862,' p. 858,
puts the population at 17,000. Gregorovius, VI. 438, makes the estimate
somewhat higher.
§ 11. EB-ESTABLISHMENT OF THE PAPACY IN ROME. 107
His contemporaries praised him for his moral purity, affa-
bility, and piety. He showed his national sympathies by
appointing 18 Frenchmen cardinals and filling papal appoint-
ments in Italy with French officials. In English history he
is known for his condemnation of Wyclif. His pontificate
extended from 1370-1378.
With Gregory's name is associated the re-establishment of
the papacy in its proper home on the Tiber. For this change
the pope deserves no credit. It was consummated against
his will. He went to Rome, but was engaged in prepara-
tions to return to Avignon, when death suddenly overtook
him.
That which principally moved Gregory to return to Rome
was the flame of rebellion which filled Central and Northern
Italy, and threatened the papacy with the permanent loss of
its dominions. The election of an anti-pope was contem-
plated by the Italians, as a delegation from Rome informed
him. One remedy was open to crush revolt on the banks of
the Tiber. It was the presence of the pope himself.1
Gregory had carried on war for five years with the dis-
turbing elements in Italy. In the northern parts of the
peninsula, political anarchy swept from city to city. Sol-
diers of fortune, the most famous of whom was the English-
man, John Hawkwood, spread terror wherever they went.
In Milan, the tyrant Bernabo was all-powerful and truculent.
In Florence, the revolt was against the priesthood itself, and
a red flag was unfurled, on which was inscribed the word
" Liberty." A league of 80 cities was formed to abolish the
pope's secular power. The interdict hurled against the
Florentines, March 31, 1376, for the part they were taking
in the sedition, contained atrocious clauses, giving every one
the right to plunder the city and to make slaves of her
people wherever they might be found.2 Genoa and Pisa
1 Pastor, Hergenrather-Kirsch, Kirsch, RUckkehr, p. xvii ; Mirot, p. viii,
7 sq., and other Catholic historians agree that this was Gregory's chief motive.
Mirot, pp. 10-18, ascribes to Gregory three controlling ideas — the reform of
the Church, the re-establishment of peace with the East as a preliminary to a
new crusade against the Turks, and the return of the papacy to Rome.
2 Baluz, I. 436, Gieseler, IV. 1, p. 90 sq., give the bull
108 THE MIDDLE AQES. A.D. 1294-1517.
followed Florence and incurred a like papal malediction.
The papal city, Bologna, was likewise stirred to rebellion in
1376 by its sister city on the Arno.
Florence fanned the flames of rebellion in Rome and the
other papal towns, calling upon them to throw off the yoke
of tyranny and return to their pristine liberty. What
Italian, its manifesto proclaimed, " can endure the sight of
so many noble cities, serving barbarians appointed by the
pope to devour the goods of Italy ? " 1 But Rome remained
true to the pope, as did Ancona. On the other hand, Perugia,
Narni, Viterbo, and Ferrara, in 1375, raised the banner of
rebellion until revolt threatened to spread over the whole of
the papal patrimony. The bitter feeling against the French
officials was intensified by a detachment of 10,000 Breton
mercenaries which the pope sent to crush the revolution.
They were under the leadership of Cardinal Robert of Geneva,
— afterward Clement VII., — an iron-hearted soldier and
pitiless priest. It was as plain as day, Pastor says, that
Gregory's return was the only thing that could save Rome
to the papacy.
To the urgency of these civil commotions were added the
pure voices of prophetesses, which rose above the confused
sounds of revolt and arms, the voices of Brigitta of Sweden
and Catherine of Siena, both canonized saints.
Petrarch, who for nearly half a century had been urging
the pope's return, now, in his last days, replied to a French
advocate who compared Rome to Jericho, the town to which
the man was going who fell among thieves, and stigmatized
Avignon as the sewer of the earth. He died 1374, without
seeing the consuming desire of his life fulfilled. Guided by
patriotic instincts, he had carried into his appeals the feeling
of an Italian's love of his country. Brigitta and Catherine
made their appeals to Gregory on higher than national grounds,
the utility of Christendom and the advantage of the king-
dom of God. Emerging from visions and ecstatic moods of
devotion, they called upon the Church's chief bishop to be
faithful to the obligations of his holy office.
1 Quoted by Mirot, p. 48, and Gregorovius, VI. 466 sqq.
§ 11. HE-ESTABLISHMENT OF THE PAPACY IN BOMB. 109
On the death of her husband, St. Brigitta left her Scandi-
navian home and joined the pilgrims whose faces were set
towards Rome in the Jubilee year of 1350.1 Arriving in the
papal city, the hope of seeing both the emperor and the pope
once more in that centre of spiritual and imperial power
moved her to the devotions of the saint and the messages of
the seer. She spent her time in going from church to church
and ministering to the sick, or sat clad in pilgrim's garb, beg-
ging. Her revelations, which were many, brought upon her
the resentment of the Romans. She saw Urban enter the
city and, when he announced his purpose to return again to
France, she raised her voice in prediction of his speedy death,
in case he persisted in it. When Gregory ascended the
throne, she warned him that he would die prematurely if he
kept away from the residence divinely appointed for the
supreme pontiff. But to her, also, it was not given to see the
fulfilment of her desire. The worldliness of the popes stirred
her to bitter complaints. Peter, she exclaimed, " was appointed
pastor and minister of Christ's sheep, but the pope scatters
them and lacerates them. He is worse than Lucifer, more un-
just than Pilate, more cruel than Judas. Peter ascended the
throne in humility, Boniface in pride. " To Gregory she wrote,
" in thy curia arrogant pride rules, insatiable cupidity and exe-
crable luxury. It is the very deepest gulf of horrible simony.2
Thou seizest and tearest from the Lord innumerable sheep."
And yet she was worthy to be declared a saint. She died in
1373. Her daughter Catherine took the body to Sweden.
Catherine of Siena was more fortunate. She saw the
papacy re-established in Italy, but she also witnessed the un-
happy beginnings of the schism. This Tuscan prophetess,
called by a sober Catholic historian, "one of the most won-
derful appearances in history," 8 wrote letter after letter to
1 Brigitta was born near Upsala, 1803. See Gardner, St. Catherine of
Siena, p. 44 sqq. Mlinger has called attention to the failure of her prophe-
cies to be fulfilled, Fables and frophecies of the Middle Age*, trans, by
Prof. Henry B. Smith, pp. 831, 398.
2 Vorago pessima horribilis symoniae, Brigitta's Revelationes, as quoted
by Gieseler, Haller, p. 88, and Gardner, p. 78 sq.
8 Pastor, I. 103.
110 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
Gregory XI. whom she called " sweet Christ on earth," appeal-
ing to him and admonishing him to do his duty as the head
of the Church, and to break away from his exile, which she
represented as the source of all the evils with which Christen-
dom was afflicted. " Be a true successor of St. Gregory," she
wrote. " Love God. Do not bind yourself to your parents
and your friends. Do not be held by the compulsion of
your surroundings. Aid will come from God. " His return to
Rome and the starting of a new crusade against the Turks,
she represented as necessary conditions of efficient measures
to reform the Church. She bade him return " swiftly like a
gentle lamb. Respond to the Holy Spirit who calls you. I
tell you, Come, come, come, and do not wait for time,
since time does not wait for you. Then you will do like
the Lamb slain, whose place you hold, who, without weapons
in his hands, slew our foes. Be manly in my sight, not fear-
ful. Answer God, who calls you to hold and possess the seat
of the glorious shepherd, St. Peter, whose vicar you are." l
Gregory received a letter purporting to come from a man
of God, warning him of the poison which awaited him at Rome
and appealing to his timidity and his love of his family. In
a burning epistle, Catherine showed that only the devil or one
of his emissaries could be the author of such a communication,
and called upon him as a good shepherd to pay more honor to
God and the well-being of his flock than to his own safety, for
a good shepherd, if necessary, lays down his life for the sheep.
The servants of God are not in the habit of giving up a
spiritual act for fear of bodily harm.2
In 1376, Catherine saw Gregory face to face in Avignon,
whither she went as a commissioner from Florence to arrange
a peace between the city and the pope. The papal residence
she found not a paradise of heavenly virtues, as she expected,
but in it the stench of infernal vices.8 The immediate object
i Scudder : Letters of St. Catherine, p. 132 sq.; Gardner, pp. 158, 176, etc.
* Scudder, p. 182 sqq.
* This was Catherine's deposition to her confessor. See Mirbt : Quellen,
p. 154, in romana curia, ubi deberet paradisus etse c&licarwn vlrtutum, in-
veniebat fcstorem infernalium vitiarum.
§ 11. RE-ESTABLISHMKNT OF THE PAPACY IN BOMB. Ill
of the mission was not accomplished; but her unselfish appeals
confirmed Gregory in his decision to return to Rome — a de-
cision he had already formed before Catherine's visit, as the
pope's own last words indicate.1
As early as 1374, Gregory wrote to the emperor that it was
his intention to re-establish the papacy on the Tiber.2 A mem-
ber of the papal household, Bertrand Raffini, was sent ahead
to prepare the Vatican for his reception. The journey was
delayed. It was hard for the pope to get away from France.
His departure was vigorously resisted by his relatives as well
as by the French cardinals and the French king, who sent a
delegation to Avignon, headed by his brother, the duke of
Anjou, to dissuade Gregory from his purpose.
The journey was begun Sept. 13, 1376. Six cardinals were
left behind at Avignon to take care of the papal business.
The fleet which sailed from Marseilles was provided by Joanna
of Naples, Peter IV. of Aragon, the Knights of St. John,
and the Italian republics, but the vessels were not sufficient
to carry the large party and the heavy cargo of personal bag-
gage and supplies. The pope was obliged to rent a number
of additional galleys and boats. Fernandez of Heredia, who
had just been elected grand-master of the Knights of St. John,
acted as admiral. A strong force of mercenaries was also re-
quired for protection by sea and at the frequent stopping
places along the coast, and for service, if necessary, in Rome
itself. The expenses of this peaceful A rmada — vessels, mer-
cenaries, and cargo — are carefully tabulated in the ledgers
preserved in Avignon and the Vatican.8 The first entries of
1 Mirot, p. 101, is quite sure Catherine had no influence in bringing Greg-
ory to his original decision. So also Pastor and Gardner.
2 Later biographers tell of a vow made by Gregory at the opening of his
pontificate to return to Rome, but no contemporary writer has any reference to
it, Mirot, p. 52.
8 Kirsch, pp. 169-264, gives a copy of these ledger entries. One set contains
the expenses of preparation, one set the expenses from Marseilles to Rome,
and a third set, the expenses after arriving in Rome. Still another gives the
expenses of repairing the Vatican — the wages of workmen and the prices paid
for lumber, lead, iron, keys, etc. On the back of this last volume, which is in
the Vatican, are written the words, " JSxpensas palatii apostolici, 1370-1380."
112 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
expense are for the large consignments of Burgundy and other
wines which were to be used on the way, or stored away in
the vaults of the Vatican.1 The cost of the journey was heavy,
and it should occasion no surprise that the pope was obliged
to increase the funds at his control at this time by borrowing
30,000 gold florins from the king of Navarre.2 The papal
moneys, amounting to 85,713 florins, were carried from Avi-
gnon to Marseilles in twelve chests on pack horses and mules,
and in boats. To this amount were added later 41,527 florins,
or, in all, about $300,000 of our present coinage. The cost
of the boats and mercenaries was very large, and several times
the boatmen made increased demands for their services and
craft to which the papal party was forced to accede. Ray mund
of Turenne, who was in command of the mercenaries, received
700 florins a month for his " own person," each captain with
a banner 24 florins, and each lance with three men under him
18 florins monthly. Nor were the obligations of charity to be
overlooked. Durandus Andreas, the papal eleemosynary, re-
ceived 100 florins to be distributed in alms on the journey,
and still another 100 to be distributed after the party's arrival
at Rome.8
The elements seemed to war with the expedition. The fleet
had no sooner set sail from Marseilles than a fierce storm arose
whichlasted several weeks and made the journey tedious. Urban
V. was three days in reaching Genoa, Gregory sixteen. From
Genoa, the vessels continued southwards the full distance to
Ostia, anchorage being made every night off towns. From
Ostia, Gregory went up the Tiber by boat, landing at Rome
Dec. 16, 1377. The journey was made by night and the banks
were lit up by torches, showing the feverish expectation of the
people. Disembarking at St. Paul's, the pope proceeded the
next day, Jan. 17, to St. Peter's, accompanied by rejoicing
1 Kirsch, pp. xviii, 171, Mirot, p. 112 sq., says, Lea vins paraissent avoir
tenu une grande place dans le retour, et, & la veille du depart, on s'occupa tant
d' assurer le service de la bouteillerie durant le voyage, que de garnir en previ-
sion de Varrivee, les caves du Vatican.
2 Kirsch, p. 184. For other loans made by Gregory, e.g. 80,000 florins in
1374 and 60,000 in 1376, see Mirot, p. 36.
8 Kirsch, pp. xz, xxii, 170.
§ 11. RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF THE PAPACY IN ROME. 113
throngs. In the procession were bands of buffoons who
added to the interest of the spectacle and afforded pastime
to the populace. The pope abode in the Vatican and,
from that time till this day, it has continued to be the papal
residence.
Gregory survived his entrance into the Eternal City a single
year. He spent the warmer months in Anagni, where he must
have had mixed feelings as he recalled the experiences of his
predecessor Boniface VIII., which had been the immediate
cause of the transfer of the papal residence to French soil.
The atrocities practised at Cesena by Cardinal Robert cast a
dark shadow over the events of the year. An uprising of the
inhabitants in consequence of the brutality of his Breton troops
drove them and the cardinal to seek refuge in the citadel.
Hawkwood was called in, and, in spite of the cardinal's pacific
assurances, the mercenaries fell upon the defenceless people
and committed a butchery whose shocking details made the
ears of all Italy to tingle. Four thousand were put to death,
including friars in their churches, and still other thousands
were sent forth naked and cold to find what refuge they could
in neighboring towns. But, in spite of this barbarity, the
pope's authority was acknowledged by an enlarging circle of
Italian commonwealths, including Bologna. Florence, even,
sued for peace.
When Gregory died, March 27, 1378, he was only 47 years
old. By his request, his body was laid to rest in S. Maria
Nuova on the Forum. In his last hours, he is said to have
regretted having given his ear to the voice of Catherine of
Siena, and he admonished the cardinals not to listen to proph-
ecies as he had done.1 Nevertheless, the monument erected
to Gregory at Rome two hundred years later is true to history
in representing Catherine of Siena walking at the pope's side
as if conducting him back to Rome. The Babylonian captiv-
ity of the papacy had lasted nearly three-quarters of a cen-
tury. The wonder is that with the pope virtually a vassal of
1 So Gerson, De examinatione doctrinarum, I. 16, as quoted by Gieseler,
ut caverent ab hominibus sive viris give mulieribus, sub specie religionis lo-
quentibus visiones . . . quia per tales ipse reductus. See Pastor, I. 113.
114 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
France, Western Christendom remained united. Scarcely
anything in history seems more unnatural than the voluntary
residence of the popes in the commonplace town on the Rhone
remote from the burial-place of the Apostles and from the
centres of European life.
CHAPTER II.
THE PAPAL SCHISM AND THE REFORMATORY COUNCILS.
1378-1449.
§ 12. Sources and Literature.
For §§ 13, 14. THE PAPAL SCHISM. — Orig. documents in RAYNALDUS :
Annal. eccles. — C. E. BULAUS, d. 1078 : Hist, univer. Parisiensis, 6 vols., Paris,
1005-1073, vol. IV. — VAN DKR HARDT, see § 16. — H. DBNIFLK and A. CHATE-
LAIN: Chartul. universitatis Paris., 4 vols., Paris, 1889-1897, vols. III., IV.,
especially the part headed de schismate, III. 552-039. — THEODERICH OF NIE-
IIEIM (Niem) : de Kchismate inter papas et antipapas, Basel, 1660, ed. by
GKO. EKLER, Leipzig, 1890. Nieheim, b. near Paderborn, d 1417, had ex-
ceptional opportunities for observing the progress of events. He was papal
secretary — notarius sacn palatii — at Avignon, went with Gregory XI. to
Rome, was there at the breaking out of the schism, and held official positions
under three of the popes of the Roman line. In 1408 he joined the Livorno
cardinals, and supported Alexander V, and John XXIII. — See H. V. SAUER-
LANI>: D. Leben d. Dietrich von Nieheim nebxt enter Uebersicht fiber dessen
Srhrtften, Gottingen, 187/3, and G. ERLKK Dietr. von Nieheim, sein Leben
u. s. Schriften, Leipzig, 1887. — ADAM OF USK : Chroniron, 1377-1421, 2d
ed by E. M. THOMPSON, with Engl. trans., London, 1904 — MARTIN DE
ALPARTILS: Chronica actitatorum temporibus Domini Benedicti XIII.
ed. Fr. Ehrle, S.J., vol. I, Paderborn, 1900. — W^CLIF'S writings, Lives
of Boniface IX. and Innocent VII. in Muratori, III. 2, pp. 830 sqq.,
JW8 sq. — P. DUPUY: Hist, du schisme 1378-1420, Paris, 1654. — P.
L. MAIMBOURG (Jesuit): Hist, du grand schisme d" Occident, Paris,
1078. — EHRLE: Neue Materialien zur Gesch. Peters von Luna (Bene-
dict XIII.), in Archiv fur Lit. und Kirchengesch., VI. 139 sqq., VII.
1 8qq. — L. GAYET: Le grand schisme d1 Occident, 2 vols., Florence and
Berlin, 1889. — C. LOCKE: Age of the Great Western Schism, New York,
1896. — PAUL VAN DYKE : Age of the Renascence, an Outline of the Hist, of
the Papacy, 1S77-1587, New York, 1897. — L. SAI.KMBIER : Le grand schisme
(V Occident, Paris, 1900, 3d ed., 1907. Engl. trans., London, 1907. — N. VALOIS :
La France et le grand schisme d1 Occident, 4 vols., Paris, 1896-1901. — E.
GOELLER : Konig Sigismund's Kirchenpolitik vom Tode Bonifaz IX. bis zur
Berufung d. Konstanzer Concils, Freiburg, 1902. — M. JANSEN : Papst Boni-
fatius IX. u. s. Beziehungen zur deutschen Kirche, Freiburg, 1904. — H.
BRUCE : The Age of Schism, New York, 1907. — E. J. KITTS : In the Days
of the Councils. A Sketch of the Life and Times of Baldassare Cossa, John
XXIII. , London, 1908. — HEFELK-KNOPFLER : Conciliengesch., VI. 727-936.
116
116 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
— HERGENBOTHER-KIRSCH, II. 807-833. — GREGOROVIUB, VI. 494-611. — PAS-
TOR, I. 116-176. — CREIGHTON, I. 66-200.
For §§ 16, 16. THK COUNCILS OF PISA AND CONSTANCE. —M ANSI : Concilia,
XXVI., XXVII. — LABB^US: Concilia, XL, XII. 1-269. — HERMANN VAN
DEB HAKDT, Prof, of Hebrew and librarian at Helmstadt, d. 1746: Magnum
oecumenicum Constantiense Concilium de universali ecclesice reformatione,
unione et fide, 6 vols., Frankfurt and Leipzig, 1696-1700. A monumental
work, noted alike as a mine of historical materials and for its total lack of
order in their arrangement. In addition to the acts and history of the Coun-
cil of Constance, it gives many valuable contemporary documents, e.g. the
De corrupto statu eccles., also entitled De ruina cedes , of NICOLAS OF CLA-
MANOES ; the De modis uniendi et reformandi eccles. in concilio universali ;
De difficultate reformationis; and Monita de necessitate reformationis eccles.
in capite et membris, — all probably by NIEHEIM ; and a Hist, of the Council,
by DIETRICH VRIE, an Augustinian, finished at Constance, 1417. These
are all in vol. I. Vol. II. contains Henry of Limgenstein's ConsiliuM
pads : De unione ac reformatione ecclesice, pp. 1-60 ; a Hist, of the. c. of Pisa,
pp. 61-166 ; NIEHEIM'S Invectiva in diffugientem Johannem XXHL and de
vita Johan. XXIII. usque adfugam et carcerem ejus, pp. 296-459, etc. The
vols. are enriched with valuable illustrations. Volume V. contains a stately
array of pictures of the seals and escutcheons of the princes and prelates
attending the council in person or by proxy, and the fourteen univeisitit's
represented. The work also contains biogg. of D'Ailly, Gerson, Zarabella,
etc. — LANGENSTEIN'S Consilium pads is also given in Du Pin's ed. of Gerson's
Works, ed. 1728, vol. II. 809-839. The tracts De difficultate reformationis and
Monita de necessitate, etc., are also found in Du Pin, II. 867-876, 885-902,
and ascribed to Peter D'Ailly. The tracts De reformatione and De eccles.,
concil. generalis, romani pontificis et cardinahum auctoritate, also ascribed
to D'Ailly in Du Pin, II. 903-915, 925-960. — ULRICH VON RICHEXTAL : Das
Concilium so ze Costenz gehalten worden, ed. by M. R. BUCK, Tubingen,
1882. — Also MARMION : Gesch. d. Cone, von Konstanz nach Ul. von Richental,
Constance, 1860. Richental, a resident of Constance, wrote from his own
personal observation a quaint and highly interesting narrative. First publ.,
Augsburg, 1483. The MS. may still be seen in Constance. — *H. FINKR:
Forschungen u. Quellen zur Gesch. des Konst. Konzils, Paderborn, 1889.
Contains the valuable diary of Card. Fillastre, etc — *FINKE : Actas cone. Con-
stanciensis, 1410-1414, Mlinster, 1906. — J. L'ENFANT (Huguenot refugee
in Berlin, d. 1728) : Hist, duconc. de Constance, Amsterdam, 1714 ; also Hist,
du cone, de Pisa, Amsterdam, 1724, Engl. trans., 2 vols., London, 1780. —
B. H&BLER: Die Konstanzer Reformation u. d. Konkordate von 1418, Leipzig,
1867.— U. LENZ: Drei Traktate aus d. Schriftencyclus d. Konst. Konzils,
Marburg, 1876. Discusses the authorship of the tracts De modis, De necessi-
tate, and De difficultate, ascribing them to Nieheim. — B. BKSB : Studien zur
Gesch. d. Konst. Konzils, Marburg, 1891. — J. H. WTLIE: The Counc. of
Const, to the Death ofj. Hus, London, 1900. — *J. B. SCHWAB: J. Gerson,
Wtirzburg, 1868. — * P. TSCHACKERT : Peter von Ailli, Gotha, 1877. — DOL-
LINOEB-FRIEDRICH : D. Papstthum, new ed., Munich, 1892, pp. 164-164.—
F. X. FUNK : Martin V. und d. Konzil von Konstanz in Abhandlungen u.
§ IS, THE SCHISM BEGUN. 1378. 117
Untersuchungen, 2 vols., Paderborn, 1897, I. 489-498. — The works cited in
§ 1, especially, CREIGHTON, I. 200-420, HEFELE, VI. 992-1043, VII. 1-376,
PASTOR, I. 188-279, VALOIS, IV., SALEMBIER, 260 sqq.; Eine Invektive
gegen Gregor xii., Nov. 1, 1408, in Ztschr. f. Kirchengesch., 1907, p. 188 sq.
For § 17. THE COUNCIL OP BASEL. — Lives of Martin V. and Eugenius IV.
in MANBI: XXVIII. 975 sqq., 1171 sqq. ; in MDRATOBI: Ital. Scripp., and
PLATINA: Hist, of the Popes, Engl. trans., II. 200-236. — MANSI, XXIX.-
XXXI. ; LABBJSITS, XII. 464-XIII. 1280.— For C. of Siena, MANSI: XXVIII.
1058-1082. — Monum. concil. general, soec. XV., ed. by PALACKY, 3 vols., Vi-
enna, 1867-1896. Contains an account of C. of Siena by JOHN STOJKORIC of
Ragusa, a delegate from the Univ. of Paris. — JOHN DE SEGOVIA : Hist. gest.
gener. Basil, cone., new ed., Vienna, 1873. Segovia, a Spaniard, was a
prominent figure in the Basel Council and one of Felix V/s cardinals. For
his writings, see HALLER'S Introd. — Concil. Basiliense. Studien und Quellen
zur Gesch. d. Concils von Basel, with Introd. ed. by T. HALLER, 4 vols.,
Basel, 1896-1903. — .&NEAS SYLVIUS PICCOLOMINI: Commentarii de gestis
concil. Basil, written 1440 to justify Felix's election, ed. by FEA, Rome, 1823 ;
also Hist. Frederici III., trans, by T. ILGEN, 2 vols., Leipzig. No date.
-flSneas, afterward Pius II., •« did not say and think the same thing at all
times," says HALLER, Introd., p 12. — See VOIGT : Enea Sylvio de' Picco-
lomini, etc., 3 vols., Berlin, 1860-1803. — INFESSURA : Diario dclla citta di
Koma, Home, 1890, pp. 22-42. — F. P. ABERT; Eugenius IV., Mainz, 1884.
— WATTENBACH : Horn. Papstthum, pp. 271-284. — HEFELE-KNOPFLBR, VII.
376-849. — POLLINGER-FRIEDRICII : Papstthum, 100 sqq. — CREIGHTON, II. 3-
273. — PASTOR, I. 209-306. — GRK<JOROVIUS, VI.-VII. — M. G. PEROUSE:
Louis Al eman et la fin du grand schisme, Paris, 1905. A detailed account
of the C. of Basel
For § 18. THE FERRARA-FLORENrE COUNCIL. — ABRAM OF CRETE: His-
toria, in Latin trans., Rome, 1621 ; the Greek original by order of Gregory
XIII , Rome, 1677 ; new Latin trans., Rome, 1612. — SYLV. SYROPULOS : Vera
hist, unionis non verce inter Grceros et Latinos, ed. by CREYGHTON, Haag, 1660,
— MANSI, XXXI., contains the documents collected by Mansi himself, and
also the Acts published by HORATIUS JUSTINIAN, XXXI. 1356-1711, from a
Vatican MS., 1638. The Greek and Latin texts are printed side by side. —
LABBJKUS and HARDUIN also give Justinian's Acts and their own collections. —
T. FROMMANN : Krit. Beitrdge zur Gesch. d. florentinischen Kircheneinigung,
Halle, 1872. KNOPFLER, art. Ferrara-Florenz, in Wetzer-Welte : IV. 1363-
1380. TSCHACKKRT, art. Ferrara-Florenz, in Herfcog, VI. 46-48. ~DoL-
LINGER-FRIEDRICH : Papstthum, pp. 166-171.
§ 13. The Schism Begun. 1378.
The death of Gregory XI. was followed by the schism of
Western Christendom, which lasted forty years, and proved to
be a greater misfortune for the Church than the Avignon cap-
tivity. Anti-popes the Church had had, enough of them since
118 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
the days of Gregory VII., from Wibert of Ravenna chosen by
the will of Henry IV. to the feeble Peter of Corbara, elected
under Lewis the Bavarian. Now, two lines of popes, each
elected by a college of cardinals, reigned, the one at Rome, the
other in Avignon, and both claiming to be in the legitimate
succession from St. Peter.
Gregory XI. foresaw the confusion that was likely to follow
at his death, and sought to provide against the catastrophe of
a disputed election, and probably also to insure the choice of
a French pope, by pronouncing in advance an election valid, no
matter where the conclave might be held. The rule that the
conclave should convene in the locality where the pontiff died,
was thus set aside. Gregory knew well the passionate feeling
in Rome against the return of the papacy to the banks of the
Rhone. A clash was almost inevitable. While the pope lay
a-dying, the cardinals at several sittings attempted to agree
upon his successor, but failed.
On April 7, 1378, ten days after Gregory's death, the con-
clave met in the Vatican, and the next day elected the Nea-
politan, Bartholomew Prignano, archbishop of Bari. Of the
sixteen cardinals present, four were Italians, eleven French-
men, and one Spaniard, Peter de Luna, who later became fa-
mous as Benedict XIII. The French party was weakened by
the absence of the six cardinals, left behind at Avignon, and
still another was absent. Of the Italians, two were Romans,
Tebaldeschi, an old man, and Giacomo Orsini, the youngest
member of the college. The election of an Italian not a mem-
ber of the curia was due to factions which divided the French
and to the compulsive attitude of the Roman populace, which
insisted upon an Italian for pope.
The French cardinals were unable to agree upon a candidate
from their own number. One of the two parties into which
they were split, the Limousin party, to which Gregory XI. and
his predecessors had belonged, numbered six cardinals. The
Italian mob outside the Vatican was as much a factor
in the situation as the divisions in the conclave itself. A
scene of wild and unrestrained turbulence prevailed in the
square of St. Peter's. The crowd pressed its way into the
§ 13. THE SCHISM BEGUN. 1378. 119
very spaces of the Vatican, and with difficulty a clearing was
made for the entrance of all the cardinals. To prevent the
exit of the cardinals, the Banderisi, or captains of the thir-
teen districts into which Rome was divided, had taken posses-
sion of the city and closed the gates. The mob, determined to
keep the papacy on the Tiber, filled the air with angry shouts
and threats. " We will have a Roman for pope or at least an
Italian." — Romano, romano, lo volemo, o almanco Italiano was
the cry. On the first night soldiers clashed their spears in the
room underneath the chamber where the conclave was met,
and even thrust them through the ceiling. A fire of combus-
tibles was lighted under the window. The next morning, as
their excellencies were saying the mass of the Holy Spirit and
engaged in other devotions, the noises became louder and more
menacing. One cardinal, d'Aigrefeuille, whispered to Orsini,
" better elect the devil than die."
It was under such circumstances that the archbishop of Bari
was chosen. After the choice had been made, and while they
were waiting to get the archbishop's consent, six of the cardinals
dined together and seemed to be in good spirits. But the
mob's impatience to know what had been done would brook no
delay, and Orsini, appearing at the window, cried out " go to
St. Peter. " This was mistaken for an announcement that old
Tebaldeschi, cardinal of St. Peter's, had been chosen, and a
rush was made for the cardinal's palace to loot it, as the cus-
tom was when a cardinal was elected pope. The crowd surged
through the Vatican and into the room where the cardinals
had been meeting and, as Valois puts it, " the pillage of the
conclave had begun." To pacify the mob, two of the cardi-
nals, half beside themselves with fright, pointed to Tebaldeschi,
set him up on a chair, placed a white mitre on his head, and
threw a red cloak over his shoulders. The old man tried to
indicate that he was not the right person. But the throngs
continued to bend down before him in obeisance for several
hours, till it became known that the successful candidate was
Prignano.
In the meantime the rest of the cardinals forsook the build-
ing and sought refuge, some within the walls of St. Angelo,
120 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
and four by flight beyond the walls of the city. The real pope
was waiting for recognition while the members of the elect-
ing college were fled. But by the next day the cardinals had
sufficiently regained their self-possession to assemble again, —
all except the four who had put the city walls behind them, —
and Cardinal Peter de Vergne, using the customary formula,
proclaimed to the crowd through the window : " I announce
to you a great joy. You have a pope, and he calls himself Ur-
ban VI." The new pontiff was crowned on April 18, in front
of St. Peter's, by Cardinal Orsini.
The archbishop had enjoyed the confidence of Gregory XI.
He enjoyed a reputation for austere morals and strict con-
formity to the rules of fasting and other observances enjoined
by the Church. He wore a hair shirt, and was accustomed
to retire with the Bible in his hand. At the moment of his
election no doubt was expressed as to its validity. Nieheim,
who was in the city at the time, declared that Urban was
canonical pope-elect. " This is the truth," he wrote, " and
no one can honestly deny it. " l All the cardinals in Rome
yielded Urban submission, and in a letter dated May 8 they
announced to the emperor and all Christians the election and
coronation. The cardinals at Avignon wrote acknowledging
him, and ordered the keys to the castle of St. Angelo placed
in his hands. It is probable that no one would have thought
of denying Urban's rights if the pope had removed to Avi-
gnon, or otherwise yielded to the demands of the French
members of the curia. His failure to go to France, Urban
declared to be the cause of the opposition to him.
Seldom has so fine an opportunity been offered to do a
worthy thing and to win a great name as was offered to Urban
VI. It was the opportunity to put an end to the disturbance
in the Church by maintaining the residence of the papacy in
its ancient seat, and restoring to it the dignity which it had
lost by its long exile. Urban, however, was not equal to the
occasion, and made an utter failure. He violated all the laws
of common prudence and tact. His head seemed to be com-
pletely turned. He estranged and insulted his cardinals. He
i Brier's e<L, p. 16.
§ 13. THE SCHISM BEGUN. 1878. 121
might have made provision for a body of warm supporters by
the prompt appointment of new members to the college, but
even this measure he failed to take till it was too late. The
French king, it is true, was bent upon having the papacy re-
turn to French soil, and controlled the French cardinals. But
a pope of ordinary shrewdness was in position to foil the king.
This quality Urban VI. lacked, and the sacred college, stung
by his insults, came to regard him as an intruder in St. Peter's
chair.
In his concern for right living, Urban early took occasion
in a public allocution to reprimand the cardinals for their
worldliness and for living away from their sees. He forbade
their holding more than a single appointment and accepting
gifts from princes. To their demand that Avignon continue
to be the seat of the papacy, Urban brusquely told them that
Rome and the papacy were joined together, and he would not
separate them. As the papacy belonged not to France but to
the whole world, he would distribute the promotions to the
sacred college among the nations.
Incensed at the attack made upon their habits and per-
quisites, and upon their national sympathies, the French
cardinals, giving the heat of the city as the pretext, removed
one by one to Anagni, while Urban took up his summer resi-
dence at Tivoli. His Italian colleagues followed him, but
they also went over to the French. No pope had ever been
left more alone. Forming a compact body, the French mem-
bers of the curia demanded the pope's resignation. The
Italians, who at first proposed the calling of a council, ac-
quiesced. The French seceders then issued a declaration,
dated Aug. 2, in which Urban was denounced as an apostate,
and his election declared void in view of the duress under
which it was accomplished.1 It asserted that the cardinals
at the time were in mortal terror from the Romans. Now
that he would not resign, they anathematized him. Urban
replied in a document called the Factum, insisting upon the
validity of his election. Retiring to Fondi, in Neapolitan
territory, the French cardinals proceeded to a new election,
1 The document is given by Hefele, VI. 730-734.
122 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
Sept. 20, 1378, the choice falling upon one of their number,
Robert of Geneva, the son of Amadeus, count of Geneva.
He was one of those who, four months before, had pointed
out Tebaldeschi to the Roman mob. The three Italian cardi-
nals, though they did not actively participate in the election,
offered no resistance. Urban is said to have received the
news with tears, and to have expressed regret for his untact-
f ul and self-willed course. Perhaps he recalled the fate of his
fellow-Neapolitan, Peter of Murrhone, whose lack of worldly
wisdom a hundred years before had lost him the papal crown.
To establish himself on the papal throne, he appointed 29
cardinals. But it was too late to prevent the schism which
Gregory XI. had feared and a wise ruler would have averted.
Robert of Geneva, at the time of his election 3G years old,
came to the papal honor with his hands red from the bloody
massacre of Cesena. He had the reputation of being a poli-
tician and a fast liver. He was consecrated Oct. 31 under
the name of Clement VII. It was a foregone conclusion
that he would remove the papal seat back to Avignon.
He first attempted to overthrow Urban on his own soil,
but the attempt failed. Rome resisted, and the castle of St.
Angelo, which was in the hands of his supporters, he lost,
but not until its venerable walls were demolished, so that at
a later time the very goats clambered over the stones. He
secured the support of Joanna, and Louis of Anjou whom she
had chosen as the heir of her kingdom, but the war which
broke out between Urban and Naples fell out to Urban's
advantage. The duke of Anjou was deposed, and Charles
of Durazzo, of the royal house of Hungary, Joanna's natural
heir, appointed as his successor. Joanna herself fell into
Charles' hands and was executed, 1382, on the charge of
having murdered her first husband. The duke of Brunswick
was her fourth marital attempt. Clement VII. bestowed
upon the duke of Anjou parts of the State of the Church
and the high-sounding but empty title of duke of Adria.
A portion of Urban's reward for crowning Charles, 1381,
was the lordship over Capria, Amalfi, Fondi, and other locali-
ties, which he bestowed upon his unprincipled and worthless
§ 13. THE SCHISM BEGUN. 1378. 123
nephew, Francis Prignano. In the war over Naples, the pope
had made free use of the treasure of the Roman churches.
Clement's cause in Italy was lost, and there was nothing for
him to do but to fall back upon his supporter, Charles V. He
returned to France by way of the sea and Marseilles.
Thus the schism was completed, and Western Europe had
the spectacle of two popes elected by the same college of
cardinals without a dissenting voice, and each making full
claims to the prerogative of the supreme pontiff of the Chris-
tian world. Each pope fulminated the severest judgments of
heaven against the other. The nations of Europe and its uni-
versities were divided in their allegiance or, as it was called,
their "obedience." The University of Paris, at first neutral,
declared in favor of Robert of Geneva,1 as did Savoy, the
kingdoms of Spain, Scotland, and parts of Germany. Eng-
land, Sweden, and the larger part of Italy supported Urban.
The German emperor, Charles IV., was about to take the same
side when he died, Nov. 29, 1378. Urban also had the vigorous
support of Catherine of Siena. Hearing of the election which
had taken place at Fondi she wrote to Urban : " I have heard
that those devils in human form have resorted to an election.
They have chosen not a vicar of Christ, but an anti-christ.
Never will I cease, dear father, to look upon you as Christ's
true vicar on earth."
The papal schism which Pastor has called "the greatest
misfortune that could be thought of for the Church"2 soon
began to call forth indignant protests from the best men of the
time. Western Christendom had never known such a scan-
dal. The seamless coat of Christ was rent in twain, and Solo-
mon's words could no longer be applied, " My dove is but
1 The full documentary accounts are given in the Chartularium, III. 661-
576. Valois gives a very detailed treatment of the allegiance rendered to the
two popes, especially in vol. II. Even in Sweden and Ireland Clement had
some support, hut England, in part owing to her wars with France, gave un-
divided submission to Urban.
2 Pastor, p. 143 sqq., quotes a German poem which strikingly sets forth the
evils of the schism, and Pastor himself says that nothing did so much as the
schism to prepare the way for the defection from the papacy in the sixteenth
century.
124 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
one."1 The divine claims of the papacy itself began to be
matter of doubt. Writers like Wyclif made demands upon
the pope to return to Apostolic simplicity of manners in sharp
language such as no one had ever dared to use before. Many
sees had two incumbents ; abbeys, two abbots ; parishes, two
priests. The maintenance of two popes involved an increased
financial burden, and both papal courts added to the old prac-
tices new inventions to extract revenue. Clement VII. 's
agents went everywhere, striving to win support for his obedi-
ence, and the nations, taking advantage of the situation, mag-
nified their authority to the detriment of the papal power.
The following is a list of the popes of the Roman and
Avignon lines, and the Pisan line whose legitimacy has now
no advocates in the Roman communion.
ROMAN LINE AVIGNON LINE
Urban VI., 1378-1389. Clement VII., 1378-1394.
Boniface IX., 1389-1404. Benedict XIII., 1394-1409.
Innocent VII., 1404-1406. Deposed at Pisa, 1409, and at
Gregory XII., 1406-1415. Constance, 1417, d. 1424.
Deposed at Pisa, 1409. Resigned
at Constance, 1415, d. 1417.
PISAN LINE
Alexander V., 1409-1410.
John XXIII., 1410-1415.
Martin V., 1417-1431.
Acknowledged by the whole Latin Church.
The question of the legitimacy of Urban VI. 's pontificate is
still a matter of warm dispute. As neither pope nor council
has given a decision on the question, Catholic scholars feel no
constraint in discussing it. French writers have been inclined
to leave the matter open. This was the case with Bossuet,
Mansi, Martene, as it is with modern French writers. Valois
hesitatingly, Salembier positively, decides for Urban. Histo-
rians, not moved by French sympathies, pronounce strongly
in favor of the Roman line, as do Hef ele, Funk, Hergenrother-
Kirsch, Denifle, and Pastor. The formal recognition of
Urban by all the cardinals and their official announcement of
1 Adam of Usk, p. 218, and other writers.
§ 13. THE SCHISM BEGUN. 1378. 125
his election to the princes would seem to put the validity
of his election beyond doubt. On the other hand, the decla-
ratio sent forth by the cardinals nearly four months after
Urban's election affirms that the cardinals were in fear of
their lives when they voted ; and according to the theory of
the canon law, constraint invalidates an election as constraint
invalidated Pascal II. 's concession to Henry V. It was the
intention of the cardinals, as they affirm, to elect one of their
number, till the tumult became so violent and threatening
that to protect themselves they precipitately elected Pri-
gnano. They state that the people had even filled the air
with the cry, " let them be killed," moriantur. A panic
prevailed. When the tumult abated, the cardinals sat down
to dine, and after dinner were about to proceed to a re-elec-
tion, as they say, when the tumult again became threatening,
and the doors of the room where they were sitting were
broken open, so that they were forced to flee for their lives.
To this testimony were added the depositions of individual
cardinals later. Had Prignano proved complaisant to the
wishes of the French party, there is no reason to suspect that
the validity of his election would ever have been disputed.
Up to the time when the vote was cast for Urban, the cardi-
nals seem not to have been under duress from fear, but to
have acted freely. After the vote had been cast, they felt
their lives were in danger.1 If the cardinals had proceeded
to a second vote, as Valois has said, Urban might have been
elected. The constant communications which passed between
Charles V. and the French party at Anagni show him to have
been a leading factor in the proceedings which followed and
the reconvening of the conclave which elected Robert of
Geneva.2
i This is the judgment of Pastor, I. 119.
3 Valois, 1. 144, devotes much space to the part Charles took in preparing
the way for the schism, and declares he was responsible for the part France
took in it and in rejecting Urban VI. Hergenrother says all the good he can
of the Roman line and all the evil he can of the Avignon line. Clement he pro-
nounces a man of elastic conscience, and Benedict XIII., his successor, as
always ready in words for the greatest sacrifices, and farthest from them when
it came to deeds.
126 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
On the other hand, the same body of cardinals which elected
Urban deposed him, and, in their capacity as princes of the
Church, unanimously chose Robert as his successor. The
question of the authority of the sacred college to exercise this
prerogative is still a matter of doubt. It received the abdica-
tion of Coelestine V. and elected a successor to him while he
was still living. In that case, however, the papal throne be-
came vacant by the supreme act of the pope himself.
§ 14. Further Progress of the Schism. 1378-1409.
The territory of Naples remained the chief theatre of the
conflict between the papal rivals, Louis of Anjou, who had
the support of Clement VII., continuing to assert his claim to
the throne. In 1383 Urban secretly left Rome for Naples,
but was there held in virtual confinement till he had granted
Charles of Durazzo's demands. He then retired to Noccra,
which belonged to his nephew. The measures taken by the
cardinals at Anagni had taught him no lesson. His insane
severity and self-will continued, and brought him into the
danger of losing the papal crown. Six of his cardinals en-
tered into a conspiracy to dethrone him, or at least to make
him subservient to the curia. The plot was discovered, and
Urban launched the interdict against Naples, whose king was
supposed to have been a party to it. The offending cardinals
were imprisoned in an old cistern, and afterwards subjected
to the torture.1 Forced to give up the town and to take
refuge in the fortress, the relentless pontiff is said to have
gone three or four times daily to the window, and, with can-
dles burning and to the sound of a bell, to have solemnly
pronounced the formula of excommunication against the be-
sieging troops. Allowed to depart, and proceeding with the
members of his household across the country, Urban reached
Trani and embarked on a Genoese ship which finally landed
him at Genoa, 1386. On the way, the crew threatened to
carry him to Avignon, and had to be bought off by the uu-
1 Nieheim, p. 91. See also pp. 103 sq., 110, for the further treatment Of
the cardinals, which was worthy of Pharaoh.
§ 14. FURTHER PROGRESS OF THE SCHISM. 127
fortunate pontiff. Was ever a ruler in a worse predicament,
beating about on the Mediterranean, than Urban ! Five of
the cardinals who had been dragged along in chains now met
with a cruel end. Adam Aston, the English cardinal, Urban
had released at the request of the English king. But towards
the rest of the alleged conspirators he showed the heartless re-
lentlessness of a tyrant. The chronicler Nieheim, who was
with the pope at Naples and Nocera, declares that his heart
was harder than granite. Different rumors were afloat con-
cerning the death the prelates were subjected to, one stating
they had been thrown into the sea, another that they had
their heads cut off with an axe; another report ran that their
bodies were buried in a stable after being covered with lime
and then burnt.
In the meantime, two of the prelates upon whom Urban
had conferred the red hat, both Italians, went over to Clement
VII. and were graciously received.
Breaking away from Genoa, Urban went by way of Lucca
to Perugia, and then with another army started off for Naples.
Charles of Durazzo, who had been called to the throne of
Hungary and murdered in 1386, was succeeded by his young
son Ladislaus (1386-1414), but his claim was contested by
the heir of Louis of Anjou (d. 1384). The pontiff got no
farther than Ferentino, and turning back was carried in a
carriage to Rome, where he again entered the Vatican, a few
months before his death, Oct. 15, 1389.
Bartholomew Prignano had disappointed every expectation.
He was his own worst enemy. He was wholly lacking in
common prudence and the spirit of conciliation. It is to his
credit that, as Nieheira urges, he never made ecclesiastical
preferment the object of sale. Whatever were his virtues
before he received the tiara, he had as pope shown himself
in every instance utterly unfit for the responsibilities of
a ruler.
Clement VII., who arrived in Avignon in June, 1879,
stooped before the kings of France, Charles V. (d. 1380) and
Charles VI. He was diplomatic and versatile where his
rival was impolitic and intractable. He knew how to
128 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
entertain at his table with elegance.1 The distinguished
preacher, Vincent Ferrer, gave him his support. Among the
new cardinals he appointed was the young prince of Luxem-
burg, who enjoyed a great reputation for saintliness. At the
prince's death, in 1387, miracles were said to be performed at
his tomb, a circumstance which seemed to favor the claims of
the Avignon pope.
Clement's embassy to Bohemia for a while had hopes of
securing a favorable declaration from the Bohemian king,
Wenzil, but was disappointed.2 The national pride of the
French was Clement's chief dependence, and for the king's
support he was obliged to pay a humiliating price by grant-
ing the royal demands to bestow ecclesiastical offices and tax
Church property. As a means of healing the schism, Clement
proposed a general council, promising, in case it decided in his
favor, to recognize Urban as leading cardinal. The first
schismatic pope died suddenly of apoplexy, Sept. 16, 1394,
having outlived Urban VI. five years.
Boniface IX., who succeeded Urban VI., was, like him, a
Neapolitan, and only thirty -five at the time of his election.
He was a man of fine presence, and understood the art of
ruling, but lacked the culture of the schools, and could not
even write, and was poor at saying the services.3 He had the
satisfaction of seeing the kingdom of Naples yield to the
Roman obedience. He also secured from the city of Rome
full submission, and the document, by which it surrendered to
him its republican liberties, remained for centuries the foun-
dation of the relations of the municipality to the Apostolic
See.4 Bologna, Perugia, Viterbo, and other towns of Italy
which had acknowledged Clement, were brought into sub-
mission to him, so that before his death the entire peninsula
was under his obedience except Genoa, which Charles VI. had
reduced. All men's eyes began again to turn to Rome.
In 1390, the Jubilee Year which Urban VI. had appointed
attracted streams of pilgrims to Rome from Germany, Hun-
i Nieheim, p. 124. « Valois, II. 282, 299 sqq.
* Nescient scribere etiam male cantabat, Nieheim, p. 130.
* Gregoroviua, VI. 647 sqq. ; Valois, II. 162, 166 sqq.
§ 14. FURTHER PROGRESS OF THE SCHISM. 129
gary, Bohemia, Poland, and England and other lands, as did
also the Jubilee of 1400, commemorating the close of one and
the beginning of another century. If Rome profited by these
celebrations, Boniface also made in other ways the most of
his opportunity, and his agents throughout Christendom re-
turned with the large sums which they had realized from the
sale of dispensations and indulgences. Boniface left behind
him a reputation for avarice and freedom in the sale of eccle-
siastical concessions.1 He was also notorious for his nepotism,
enriching his brothers Andrew and John and other relatives
with offices and wealth. Such offences, however, the Romans
could easily overlook in view of the growing regard through-
out Europe for the Roman line of popes and the waning influ-
ence of the Avignon line.
The preponderant influence of Ladislaus secured the elec-
tion of still another Neapolitan, Cardinal Cosimo dei Miglio-
rati, who took the name of Innocent VII. He also was only
thirty-five years old at the time of his elevation to the papal
chair, a doctor of both laws and expert in the management of
affairs. The members of the conclave, before proceeding to
an election, signed a document whereby each bound himself,
if elected pope, to do all in his power to put an end to the
schism. The English chronicler, Adam of Usk, who was
present at the coronation, concludes the graphic description
he gives of the ceremonies2 with a lament over the desolate
condition of the Roman city. How much is Rome to be
pitied I he exclaims, " for, once thronged with princes and
their palaces, she is now a place of hovels, thieves, wolves,
worms, full of desert spots and laid waste by her own citizens
who rend each other in pieces. Once her empire devoured
1 Erat insatiabtlis vorago et in avaricia nullus similis ei, Nieheim, p. 119.
Nieheim, to be sure, was disappointed in not receiving office under Boniface, but
other contemporaries say the same thing. Adam of Usk, p. 269, states that,
" though gorged with simony, Boniface to his dying day was never filled."
* Chronicle, p. 262 sqq. This is one of the most full and interesting ac-
counts extant of the coronation of a mediaeval pope. Usk describes the con-
clave as well as the coronation, and he mentions expressly how, on his way
from St. Peter's to the Lateran, Innocent purposely turned aside from St.
Clement's, near which stood the bust of Pope Joan and her son.
128 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
entertain at his table with elegance.1 The distinguished
preacher, Vincent Ferrer, gave him his support. Among the
new cardinals he appointed was the young prince of Luxem-
burg, who enjoyed a great reputation for saintliness. At the
prince's death, in 1387, miracles were said to be performed at
his tomb, a circumstance which seemed to favor the claims of
the Avignon pope.
Clement's embassy to Bohemia for a while had hopes of
securing a favorable declaration from the Bohemian king,
Wenzil, but was disappointed.2 The national pride of the
French was Clement's chief dependence, and for the king's
support he was obliged to pay a humiliating price by grant-
ing the royal demands to bestow ecclesiastical offices and tax
Church property. As a means of healing the schism, Clement
proposed a general council, promising, in case it decided in his
favor, to recognize Urban as leading cardinal. The first
schismatic pope died suddenly of apoplexy, Sept. 16, 1394,
having outlived Urban VI. five years.
Boniface IX., who succeeded Urban VI., was, like him, a
Neapolitan, and only thirty -five at the time of his election.
He was a man of fine presence, and understood the art of
ruling, but lacked the culture of the schools, and could not
even write, and was poor at saying the services.8 He had the
satisfaction of seeing the kingdom of Naples yield to the
Roman obedience. He also secured from the city of Rome
full submission, and the document, by which it surrendered to
him its republican liberties, remained for centuries the foun-
dation of the relations of the municipality to the Apostolic
See.4 Bologna, Perugia, Viterbo, and other towns of Italy
which had acknowledged Clement, were brought into sub-
mission to him, so that before his death the entire peninsula
was under his obedience except Genoa, which Charles VI. had
reduced. All men's eyes began again to turn to Rome.
In 1390, the Jubilee Year which Urban VI. had appointed
attracted streams of pilgrims to Rome from Germany, Hun-
i Niehelm, p. 124. * Valois, II. 282, 299 sqq.
* Nescient scribere etiam male cantabat, Nieheim, p. 130.
4 Gregorovius, VI. 547 sqq. ; Valois, II. 162, 166 sqq.
§ 14. FURTHER PROGRESS OF THE SCHISM. 129
gary, Bohemia, Poland, and England and other lands, as did
also the Jubilee of 1400, commemorating the close of one and
the beginning of another century. If Rome profited by these
celebrations, Boniface also made in other ways the most of
his opportunity, and his agents throughout Christendom re-
turned with the large sums which they had realized from the
sale of dispensations and indulgences. Boniface left behind
him a reputation for avarice and freedom in the sale of eccle-
siastical concessions.1 He was also notorious for his nepotism,
enriching his brothers Andrew and John and other relatives
with offices and wealth. Such offences, however, the Romans
could easily overlook in view of the growing regard through-
out Europe for the Roman line of popes and the waning influ-
ence of the Avignon line.
The preponderant influence of Ladislaus secured the elec-
tion of still another Neapolitan, Cardinal Cosimo dei Miglio-
rati, who took the name of Innocent VII. He also was only
thirty-five years old at the time of his elevation to the papal
chair, a doctor of both laws and expert in the management of
affairs. The members of the conclave, before proceeding to
an election, signed a document whereby each bound himself,
if elected pope, to do all in his power to put an end to the
schism. The English chronicler, Adam of Usk, who was
present at the coronation, concludes the graphic description
he gives of the ceremonies2 with a lament over the desolate
condition of the Roman city. How much is Rome to be
pitied I he exclaims, " for, once thronged with princes and
their palaces, she is now a place of hovels, thieves, wolves,
worms, full of desert spots and laid waste by her own citizens
who rend each other in pieces. Once her empire devoured
1 Erat insatiabilis vorago et in avaricia nullus similis ci, Nieheim, p. 119.
Nieheim, to be sure, was disappointed in not receiving office under Boniface, but
other contemporaries say the same thing. Adam of Usk, p. 259, states that,
" though gorged with simony, Boniface to his dying day was never filled."
* Chronicle, p. 262 sqq. This is one of the most full and interesting ac-
counts extant of the coronation of a mediaeval pope. Usk describes the con-
clave as well as the coronation, and he mentions expressly how, on his way
from St. Peter's to the Lateran, Innocent purposely turned aside from St.
Clement's, near which stood the bust of Pope Joan and her don.
130 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1204-1617.
the world with the sword, and now her priesthood devours ii
with mummery. Hence the lines —
" ' The Roman bites at all, and those he cannot bite, he hates.
Of rich he hears the call, but 'gainst tne poor he shuts his gates. M>
Following the example of his two predecessors, Innocent
excommunicated the Avignon anti-pope and his cardinals,
putting them into the same list with heretics, pirates, and
brigands. In revenge for his nephew's cold-blooded slaughter
of eleven of the chief men of the city, whose bodies he threw
out of a window, he was driven from Rome, and after great
hardships he reached Viterbo. But the Romans soon found
Innocent's rule preferable to the rule of Ladislaus, king of
Naples and papal protector, and he was recalled, the nephew
whose hands were reeking with blood making public entry
into the Vatican with his uncle.
The last pope of the Roman line was Gregory XII. Angelo
Correr, cardinal of St. Marks, Venice, elected 1406, was sur-
passed in tenacity as well as ability by the last of the Avignon
popes, elected 1394, and better known as Peter de Luna of
Aragon, one of the cardinals who joined in the revolt against
Urban VI. and in the election of Clement VII. at Fondi.
Under these two pontiffs the controversy over the schism
grew more and more acute and the scandal more and more
intolerable. The nations of Western Europe were weary of
the open and flagitious traffic in benefices and other ecclesi-
astical privileges, the fulminations of one pope against the
other, and the division of sees and parishes between rival
claimants. The University of Paris took the leading part
in agitating remedial measures, and in the end the matter was
taken wholly out of the hands of the two popes. The cardi-
nals stepped into the foreground and, in the face of all ca-
nonical precedent, took the course which ultimately resulted
in the reunion of the Church under one head.
V Before Gregory's election, the Roman cardinals, number-
ing fourteen, again entered into a compact stipulating that
the successful candidate should by all means put an end to
the schism, even, if necessary, by the abdication of his office.
§ 14. FUETHBE PROGRESS OF THE SCHISM. 181
Gregory was fourscore at the time, and the chief considera-
tion which weighed in his choice was that in men arrived at
his age ambition usually runs low, and that Gregory would
be more ready to deny himself for the good of the Church
than a younger man.
Peter de Luna, one of the most vigorous personalities who
have ever claimed the papal dignity, had the spirit and much
of the ability of Hildebrand and his namesake, Gregory IX.
But it was his bad star to be elected in the Avignon and not
in the Roman succession. Had he been in the Roman line,
he would probably have made his mark among the great
ruling pontiffs. His nationality also was against him. The
French had little heart in supporting a Spaniard and, at
Clement's death, the relations between the French king and
the Avignon pope at once lost their cordiality. Peter was
energetic of mind and in action, a shrewd observer, magni-
fied his office, and never yielded an inch in the matter of
papal prerogative. Through the administrations of three
Roman pontiffs, he held on firmly to his office, outlived the
two Reformatory councils of Pisa and Constance, and yielded
not up this mortal flesh till the close of the first quarter of
the fifteenth century, and was still asserting his claims and
maintaining the dignity of pope at the time of his death. Be-
fore his election, he likewise entered into a solemn com-
pact with his cardinals, promising to bend every effort to
heal the unholy schism, even if the price were his own ab-
dication.
The professions of both popes were in the right direction.
They were all that could be desired, and all that remained was
for either of them or for both of them to resign and make
free room for a new candidate. The problem would thus
have been easily settled, and succeeding generations might
have canonized both pontiffs for their voluntary self-abnega-
tion. But it took ten years to bring Gregory to this state of
mind, and then almost the last vestige of power had been
taken from him. Peter de Luna never yielded.
Undoubtedly, at the time of the election of Gregory XII.,
the papacy was passing through one of the grave crises in its
132 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D, 1294-1517.
history. There were not wanting men who said, like Langen-
stein, vice-chancellor of the University of Paris, that perhaps
it was God's purpose that there should be two popes indefi-
nitely, even as David's kingdom was divided under two
sovereigns.1 Yea, and there were men who argued publicly
that it made little difference how many there were, two or
three, or ten or twelve, or as many as there were nations.2
At his first consistory Gregory made a good beginning,
when he asserted that, for the sake of the good cause of
securing a united Christendom, he was willing to travel by
land or by sea, by land, if necessary, with a pilgrim's staff,
by sea in a fishing smack, in order to come to an agreement
with Benedict. He wrote to his rival on the Rhone, de-
claring that, like the woman who was ready to renounce
her child rather than see it cut asunder, so each of them
should be willing to cede his authority rather than be re-
sponsible for the continuance of the schism. He laid his
hand on the New Testament and quoted the words that
"he who exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that
humbleth himself shall be exalted." He promised to
abdicate, if Benedict would do the same, that the cardinals
of both lines might unite together in a new election ; and he
further promised not to add to the number of his cardinals,
except to keep the number equal to the number of the
Avignon college.
Benedict's reply was shrewd, if not equally demonstrative.
He, too, lamented the schism, which he pronounced detestable,
wretched, and dreadful,8 but gently setting aside Gregory's
blunt proposal, suggested as the best resort the via discussionis,
or the path of discussion, and that the cardinals of both lines
should meet together, talk the matter over, and see what
should be done, and then, if necessary, one or both popes
might abdicate. Both popes in their communications called
* Da Pin, II. 821.
1 Letter of the Univ. of Paris to Clement VII., dated July 17, 1804. Chartul.
III. 638, nihil omnino curandum quotpapae tint, et non modo duos aut tres,
sed decem aut duodecim immo et singulis reynis singulos prtjfci poMe, etc.
*Hac execranda et detestanda, diraque divisio, Nieheim, pp. '200-213,
gives both letters entire.
§ 14. PUBTHEB PBOGBESS OP THE SCHISM. 133
themselves "servant of the servants of God." Gregory ad-
dressed Benedict as " Peter de Luna, whom some peoples in
this wretched — miserabili — schism call Benedict XIII. ";
and Benedict addressed the pope on the Tiber as " Angelus
Correr, whom some, adhering to him in this most destructive
— pernicioso — schism, call Gregory XII." " We are both old
men," wrote Benedict. " Time is short ; hasten, and do not
delay in this good cause. Let us both embrace the ways of
salvation and peace."
Nothing could have been finer, but it was quickly felt that
while both popes expressed themselves as ready to abdicate,
positive as the professions of both were, each wanted to have
the advantage when the time came for the election of the
new pontiff to rule over the reunited Church .
As early as 1381, the University of Paris appealed to the
king of France to insist upon the calling of a general council
as the way to terminate the schism. But the duke of Anjou
had the spokesman of the university, Jean Ronce, imprisoned,
and the university was commanded to keep silence on the
subject.
Prior to this appeal, two individuals had suggested the
same idea, Konrad of Gelnhausen, and Henry of Langenstein,
otherwise known as Henry of Hassia. Konrad, who wrote
in 1380,1 and whose views led straight on to the theory of
the supreme authority of councils,2 affirmed that there were
two heads of the Church, and that Christ never fails it, even
though the earthly head may fail by death or error. The
Church is not the pope and the cardinals, but the body of
the faithful, and this body gets its inner life directly from
Christ, and is so far infallible. In this way he answers those
who were forever declaring that in the absence of the pope's
call there would be no council, even if all the prelates were
assembled, but only a conventicle.
In more emphatic terms, Henry of Langenstein, in 1381,
justified the calling of a council without the pope's interven-
1 Gelnhausen's tract, De congregando concilio in temporc schtematis, in
Martene-Durand, Thesaurus nov. anecd., II. 1200-1226.
a So Pastor, I. 185. See also, Schwab, Geraon, p. 124 sqq.
134 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
tion.1 The institution of the papacy by Christ, he declared,
did not involve the idea that the action of the pope was
always necessary, either in originating or consenting to legis-
lation. The Church might have instituted the papacy, even
had Christ not appointed it. If the cardinals should elect a
pontiff not agreeable to the Church, the Church might set
their choice aside. The validity of a council did not depend
upon the summons or the ratification of a pope. Secular
princes might call such a synod. A general council, as the
representative of the entire Church, is above the cardinals,
yea, above the pope himself. Such a council cannot err, but
the cardinals and the pope may err.
The views of Langenstein, vice-chancellor of the University
of Paris, represented the views of the faculties of that insti-
tution. They were afterwards advocated by John Gerson,
one of the most influential men of his century, and one of
the most honored of all the centuries. Among those who
took the opposite view was the English Dominican and con-
fessor of Benedict XIII. , John Hayton. The University of
Paris he called "a daughter of Satan, mother of error,
sower of sedition, and the pope's detainer," and declared the
pope was to be forced by no human tribunal, but to follow
God and his own conscience.
In 1394, the University of Paris proposed three methods
of healing the schism3 which became the platform over which
the issue was afterwards discussed, namely, the via cessionis^
or the abdication of both popes, the via compromissi, an adju-
dication of the claims of both by a commission, and the via
synodi^ or the convention of a general council to which the
settlement of the whole matter should be left. No act in
the whole history of this famous literary institution has given
it wider fame than this proposal, coupled with the activity it
displayed to bring the schism to a close. The method pre-
ferred by its faculties was the first, the abdication of both
popes, which it regarded as the simplest remedy. It was
1 Consilium pacis de wiione et reformation* ecclesias in concilia univer-
sali quarenda, Van der Hardt, II. 3-60, and Du Pin, Opp. Gerson, II. 810
sqq. « (Jhartul. III. p. 608 sqq.
§ 14. FURTHER PROGRESS OP THE SCHISM. 135
suggested that the new election, after the popes had abdicated,
should be consummated by the cardinals in office at the time
of Gregory XL's decease, 1378, and still surviving, or by a
union of the cardinals of both obediences.
The last method, settlement by a general council, which
the university regarded as offering the most difficulty, it
justified on the ground that the pope is subject to the Church
as Christ was subject to his mother and Joseph. The au-
thority of such a council lay in its constitution according to
Christ's words, " where two or three are gathered together
in my name, there am I in the midst of them." Its member-
ship should consist of doctors of theology and the laws taken
from the older universities, and deputies of the orders, as well
as bishops, many of whom were uneducated, — illiterati.1
Clement VII. showed his displeasure with the university
by forbidding its further intermeddling, and by condemning
his cardinals who, without his permission, had met and rec-
ommended him to adopt one of the three ways. At Clem-
ent's death the king of France called upon the Avignon col-
lege to postpone the election of a successor, but, surmising
the contents of the letter, they prudently left it unopened
until they had chosen Benedict XIII. Benedict at once
manifested the warmest zeal in the healing of the schism,
and elaborated his plan for meeting with Boniface IX., and
coining to some agreement with him. These friendly propo-
sitions were offset by a summons from the king's delegates,
calling upon the two pontiffs to abdicate, and all but two of
the Avignon cardinals favored the measure. But Benedict
declared that such a course would seem to imply constraint,
and issued a bull against it.
The two parties continued to express deep concern for the
healing of the schism, but neither would yield. Benedict
gained the support of the University of Toulouse, and strength-
ened himself by the promotion of Peter d'Ailly, chancellor
of the University of Paris, to the episcopate. The famous in-
quisitor, Nicolas Eymericus, also one of his cardinals, was a
firm advocate of Benedict's divine claims. The difficulties
1 ChartuL, I. 620.
136 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
were increased by the wavering course of Charles VI., 1380-
1412, a man of feeble mind, and twice afflicted with insanity,
whose brothers and uncles divided the rule of the kingdom
amongst themselves. French councils attempted to decide
upon a course for the nation to pursue, and a third council,
meeting in Paris, 1398, and consisting of 11 archbishops and
60 bishops, all theretofore supporters of the Avignon pope, de-
cided upon the so-called subtraction of obedience from Bene-
dict. In spite of these discouragements, Benedict continued
loyal to himself. He was forsaken by his cardinals and be-
sieged by French troops in his palace and wounded. The
spectacle of his isolation touched the heart and conscience of
the French people, and the decree ordering the subtraction
of obedience was annulled by the national parliament of 1403,
which professed allegiance anew, and received from him full
absolution.
When Gregory XII. was elected in 1406, the controversy
over the schism was at white heat. England, Castile, and
the German king, Wenzil, had agreed to unite with France in
bringing it to an end. Pushed by the universal clamor, by the
agitation of the University of Paris, and especially by the feel-
ing which prevailed in France, Gregory and Benedict saw that
the situation was in danger of being controlled by other hands
than their own, and agreed to meet at Savona on the Gulf of
Genoa to discuss their differences. In October, 1407, Bene-
dict, attended by a military guard, went as far as Porto
Venere and Savona. Gregory got as far as Lucca, when he de-
clined to go farther, on the plea that Savona was in territory
controlled by the French and on other pretexts. Nieheim rep-
resents the Roman pontiff as dissimulating during the whole
course of the proceedings and as completely under the influ-
ence of his nephews and other favorites, who imposed upon the
weakness of the old man, and by his doting generosity were
enabled to live in luxury. At Lucca they spent their time
in dancing and merry-making. This writer goes on to say
that Gregory put every obstacle in the way of union.1 He is
1 Nieheim, pp. 237, 242, 274, etc., manifeate impedire modis omnibus conar
bantur.
§ 14. FURTHER PROGRESS OF THE SCHISM. 137
represented by another writer as having spent more in bonbons
than his predecessors did for their wardrobes and tables, and
as being only a shadow with bones and skin.1
Benedict's support was much weakened by the death of
the king's brother, the duke of Orleans, who had been his
constant supporter. France threatened neutrality, and Bene-
dict, fearing seizure by the French commander at Genoa, beat
a retreat to Perpignan, a fortress at the foot of the Pyrenees,
six miles from the Mediterranean. In May of the same year
France again decreed " subtraction," and a national French
assembly in 1408 approved the calling of a council. The last
stages of the contest were approaching.
Seven of Gregory's cardinals broke away from him, and,
leaving him at Lucca, went to Pisa, where they issued a mani-
festo appealing from a poorly informed pope to a better
informed one, from Christ's vicar to Christ himself, and to the
decision of a general council. Two more followed. Gregory
further injured his cause by breaking his solemn engagement
and appointing four cardinals, May, 1408, two of them his
nephews, and a few months later he added ten more. Cardi-
nals of the Avignon obedience joined the Roman cardinals
at Pisa and brought the number up to thirteen. Retiring to
Livorno on the beautiful Italian lake of that name, and acting
as if the popes were deposed, they as rulers of the Church
appointed a general council to meet at Pisa, March 25, 1409.
As an offset, Gregory summoned a council of his own to
meet in the territory either of Ravenna or Aquileja. Many
of his closest followers had forsaken him, and even his native
city of Venice withdrew from him its support. In the mean-
time Ladislaus had entered Rome and been hailed as king.
It is, however, probable that this was with the consent of
Gregory himself, who hoped thereby to gain sympathy for
his cause. Benedict also exercised his sovereign power as
pontiff and summoned a council to meet at Perpignan,
Nov. 1, 1408.
The word " council," now that the bold initiative was taken,
was hailed as pregnant with the promise of sure relief from
1 Vita, Muratori, III., II., 838, solum sptritus cum ostribus etpelle.
188 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1204-1617.
the disgrace and confusion into which Western Christendom
had been thrown and of a reunion of the Church.
§ 15. The Council of Pisa.
The three councils of Pisa, 1409, Constance, 1414, and
Basel, 1431, of which the schism was the occasion, are known
in history as the Reformatory councils. Of the tasks they
set out to accomplish, the healing of the schism and the insti-
tution of disciplinary reforms in the Church, the first they ac-
complished, but with the second they made little progress.
They represent the final authority of general councils in the
affairs of the Church — a view, called the conciliary theory —
in distinction from the supreme authority of the papacy.
The Pisan synod marks an epoch in the history of Western
Christendom not so much on account of what it actually ac-
complished as because it was the first revolt in council against
the theory of papal absolutism which had been accepted for
centuries. It followed the ideas of Gerson and Langenstein,
namely, that the Church is the Church even without the
presence of a pope, and that an oecumenical council is legiti-
mate which meets not only in the absence of his assent but
in the face of his protest. Representing intellectually the
weight of the Latin world and the larger part of its constit-
uency, the assembly was a momentous event leading in the
opposite direction from the path laid out by Hildebrand,
Innocent III., and their successors. It was a mighty blow
at the old system of Church government.
While Gregory XII. was tarrying at Rimini, as a refugee,
under the protection of Charles Malatesta, and Benedict XIII.
was confined to the seclusion of Perpignan, the synod was
opened on the appointed day in the cathedral of Pisa. There
was an imposing attendance of 14 cardinals, — the number
being afterwards increased to 24, — 4 patriarchs, 10 arch-
bishops, 79 bishops and representatives of 116 other bishops,
128 abbots and priors and the representatives of 200 other
abbots. To these prelates were added the generals of the
Dominican, Franciscan, Carmelite, and Augustinian orders,
§ 16. THE COUNCIL OF PISA. 139
the grand-master of the Knights of St. John, who was ac-
companied by 6 commanders, the general of the Teutonic
order, 300 doctors of theology and the canon law, 109 rep-
resentatives of cathedral and collegiate chapters, and the
deputies of many princes, including the king of the Romans,
Wenzil, and the kings of England, France, Poland, and
Cyprus. A new and significant feature was the repre-
sentation of the universities of learning, including Paris,1
Bologna, Oxford and Cambridge, Montpellier, Toulouse,
Angers, Vienna, Cracow, Prag, and Cologne. Among the
most important personages was Peter d'Ailly, though there
is no indication in the acts of the council that he took a
prominent public part. John Gerson seems not to have
been present.
The second day, the archbishop of Milan, Philargi, himself
soon to be elected pope, preached from Judg. 20 : 7 : " Be-
hold ye are all children of Israel. Give here your advice
and counsel," and stated the reasons which had led to the
summoning of the council. Guy de Maillesec, the only car-
dinal surviving from the days prior to the schism, presided
over the first sessions. His place was then filled by the
patriarch of Alexandria, till the new pope was chosen.
One of the first deliverances was a solemn profession of the
Holy Trinity and the Catholic faith, and that every heretic
and schismatic will share with the devil and his angels the
burnings of eternal fire unless before the end of this life he
make his peace with the Catholic Church.2
The business which took precedence of all other was the
healing of the schism, the causa unionis, as it was called, and
disposition was first made of the rival popes. A formal trial
was instituted, which was opened by two cardinals and two
archbishops proceeding to the door of the cathedral and sol-
emnly calling Gregory and Benedict by name and summoning
them to appear and answer for themselves. The formality
1 Schwab, p. 228 sq.. The address which Gereon is said to have delivered
and which Mansi includes in the acts of the council was a rhetorical com-
position and never delivered at Pisa. Schwab, p. 243.
a Mansi, XXVII. 368.
140 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
was gone through three times, on three successive days, and
the offenders were given till April 15 to appear.
By a series of declarations the synod then justified its exist-
ence, and at the eighth session declared itself to be " a general
council representing the whole universal Catholic Church and
lawfully and reasonably called together." 1 It thought along
the lines marked out by D'Ailly and Gerson and the other
writers who had pronounced the unity of the Church to con-
sist in oneness with her divine Head and declared that the
Church, by virtue of the power residing in herself, has the
right, in response to a divine call, to summon a council.
The primitive Church had called synods, and James, not
Peter, had presided at Jerusalem.
D'Ailly, in making definite announcement of his views at
a synod, meeting at Aix, Jan. 1, 1409, had said that the
Church's unity depends upon the unity of her head, Christ.
" Christ's mystical body gets its authority from its divine head
to meet in a general council through representatives, for it
is written, " where two or three are gathered together in my
name, there am I in the midst of them." The words are not
"in Peter's name," or "in Paul's name," but "in my name."
And when the faithful assemble to secure the welfare of the
Church, there Christ is in their midst.
Gerson wrote his most famous tract bearing on the schism
and the Church's right to remove a pope — De auferililitate
papcB db ecclesia — while the council of Pisa was in session.2 In
this elaborate treatment he said that, in the strict sense, Christ
is the Church's only bridegroom. The marriage between the
pope and the Church may be dissolved, for such a spiritual
marriage is not a sacrament. The pope may choose to separate
himself from the Church and resign. The Church has a simi-
lar right to separate itself from the pope by removing him.
All Church officers are appointed for the Church's welfare and,
when the pope impedes its welfare, it may remove him. It is
bound to defend itself. This it may do through a general
council, meeting by general consent and without papal ap-
pointment. Such a council depends immediately upon Christ
1 Manfli, XXVII. 866. * See Schwab, p. 260 sqq.
§ 15. THE COUNCIL OF PISA. 141
for its authority. The pope may be deposed for heresy or
schism. He might be deposed even where he had no personal
guilt, as in case he should be taken prisoner by the Saracens,
and witnesses should testify he was dead. Another pope
would then be chosen and, if the reports of the death of the
former pope were proved false, and he be released from cap-
tivity, he or the other pope would have to be removed, for the
Church cannot have more than one pontiff.
Immediately after Easter, Charles Malatesta appeared in
the council to advocate Gregory's cause. A commission, ap-
pointed by the cardinals, presented forty reasons to show that
an agreement between the synod and the Roman pontiff was
out of the question. Gregory must either appear at Pisa in
person and abdicate, or present his resignation to a commis-
sion which the synod would appoint and send to Rimini.
Gregory's case was also represented by the rival king of the
Romans, Ruprecht,1 through a special embassy made up of the
archbishop of Riga, the bishops of Worms and Verden, and
other commissioners. It presented twenty-four reasons for
denying the council's jurisdiction. The paper was read by
the bishop of Verden at the close of a sermon preached to the
assembled councillors on the admirable text, " Peace be unto
you." The most catching of the reasons was that, if the
cardinals questioned the legitimacy of Gregory's pontifi-
cate, what ground had they for not questioning the valid-
ity of their own authority, appointed as they had been by
Gregory or Benedict.
In a document of thirty-eight articles, read April 24, the
council presented detailed specifications against the two
popes, charging them both with having made and broken
solemn promises to resign.
The argument was conducted by Peter de Anchorano, pro-
fessor of both laws in Bologna, and by others. Peter argued
that, by fostering the schism, Gregory and his rival had for-
feited jurisdiction, and the duty of calling a representative
council of Christendom devolved on the college of cardinals.
1 The electors deposed Wenzil in 1400 for incompetency, and elected Ru-
precht of the Palatinate.
142 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
In certain cases the cardinals are left no option whether they
shall act or not, as when a pope is insane or falls into heresy
or refuses to summon a council at a time when orthodox doc-
trine is at stake. The temporal power has the right to expel
a pope who acts illegally.
In an address on Hosea 1 : 11, " and the children of Judah
and the children of Israel shall be gathered together and shall
appoint themselves one head," Peter Plaoul, of the University
of Paris, clearly placed the council above the pope, an opinion
which had the support of his own university as well as the sup-
port of the universities of Toulouse, Angers, and Orleans,
The learned canonist, Zabarella, afterwards appointed car-
dinal, took the same ground.
The trial was carried on with all decorum and, at the end
of two months, on June 5, sentence was pronounced, declaring
both popes " notorious schismatics, promoters of schism, and
notorious heretics, errant from the faith, and guilty of the no-
torious and enormous crimes of perjury and violated oaths." l
Deputies arriving from Perpignan a week later, June 14,
were hooted by the council when the archbishop of Tarragona,
one of their number, declared them to be " the representa-
tives of the venerable pope, Benedict XIII." Benedict had
a short time before shown his defiance of the Pisan fathers by
adding twelve members to his cabinet. When the deputies
announced their intention of waiting upon Gregory, and
asked for a letter of safe conduct, Balthazar Cossa, afterwards
John XXIII., the master of Bologna, is said to have declared,
44 Whether they come with a letter or without it, he would
burn them all if he could lay his hands upon them."
The rival popes being disposed of, it remained for the coun-
cil to proceed to a new election, and it was agreed to leave the
matter to the cardinals, who met in the archiepiscopal palace
of Pisa, June 26, and chose the archbishop of Milan, Philargi,
who took the name of Alexander V. He was about seventy,
1 JEforum utrumgue fuisse et esse notorios schismaticos et antiqut schismatis
nutritores . . . necnon notorios hasreticos et a fide devios, notoriUque crimi-
nibu$ enormibus perjurii* et violations voti irretitos, etc., Mansi, XXVI.
1147, 1225 sq. Hefele, VI. 1025 sq., also gives the judgment in full.
§ 15. THE COUNCIL OF PISA. 143
a member of the Franciscan order, and had received the red
hat from Innocent VII. He was a Cretan by birth, and the first
Greek to wear the tiara since John VI I. , in 705. He had never
known his father or mother and, rescued from poverty by the
Minorites, he was taken to Italy to be educated, and later sent
to Oxford. After his election as pope, he is reported to have
said, " as a bishop I was rich, as a cardinal poor, and as pope
I am a beggar again." l
In the meantime Gregory's side council at Cividale, near
Aquileja, was running its course. There was scarcely an at-
tendant at the first session. Later, Ruprecht and king Lad-
islaus were represented by deputies. The assumption of the
body was out of all proportion to its size. It pronounced the
pontiffs of the Roman line the legitimate rulers of Christen-
dom, and appointed nuncios to all the kingdoms. However,
not unmindful of his former professions, Gregory anew ex-
pressed his readiness to resign if his rivals, Peter of Luna and
Peter of Candia (Crete), would do the same. Venice had de-
clared for Alexander, and Gregory, obliged to flee in the dis-
guise of a merchant, found refuge in the ships of Ladislaus.
Benedict's council met in Perpignan six months before, No-
vember, 1408. One hundred and twenty prelates were in
attendance, most of them from Spain. The council adjourned
March 26, 1409, after appointing a delegation of seven to pro-
ceed to Pisa and negotiate for the healing of the schism.
After Alexander's election, the members lost interest in the
synod and began to withdraw from Pisa, and it was found im-
possible to keep the promise made by the cardinals that there
should be no adjournment till measures had been taken to
reform the Church " in head and members." Commissions
were appointed to consider reforms, and Alexander prorogued
the body, Aug. 7, 1409, after appointing another council for
April 12, 1412.2
1 Nieheim, p. 320 sqq., gives an account of Alexander's early life.
9 Creighton is unduly severe upon Alexander and the council for adjourn-
ing, without carrying out the promise of reform. Hefele, VI. 1042, treats the
matter with fairness, and shows the difficulty involved in a disciplinary re-
form where the evils were of such long standing.
144 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
At the opening of the Pisan synod there were two popes ; at
its close, three. Scotland and Spain still held to Benedict, and
Naples and parts of Central Europe continued to acknowledge
the obedience of Gregory. The greater part of Christendom,
however, was bound to the support of Alexander. This
pontiff lacked the strength needed for the emergency, and he
aroused the opposition of the University of Paris by extending
the rights of the Mendicant orders to hear confessions.1 He
died at Bologna, May 3, 1410, without having entered the
papal city. Rumor went that Balthazar Cossa, who was about
to be elected his successor, had poison administered to him.
As a rule, modern Catholic historians are inclined to belittle
the Pisan synod, and there is an almost general agreement
among them that it lacked oecumenical character. Without
pronouncing a final decision on the question, Bellarmin re-
garded Alexander V. as legitimate pope. Gerson and other
great contemporaries treated it as oecumenical, as did also
Bossuet and other Gallican historians two centuries later.
Modern Catholic historians treat the claims of Gregory XII.
as not affected by a council which was itself illegitimate and
a high-handed revolt against canon law.2
But whether the name cecumencial be given or be withheld
matters little, in view of the general judgment which the
summons and sitting of the council call forth. It was a des-
perate measure adopted to suit an emergency, but it was also
the product of a new freedom of ecclesiastical thought, and
1 The number of ecclesiastical gifts made by Alexander in his brief pon-
tificate was large, and Nieheim pithily says that when the waters are confused,
then is the time to fish.
8 Pastor, I. 192, speaks of the unholy Pisan synod — segenslose Pisaner
Synode. All ultramontane historians disparage it, and Hergenrttther-Kirsch
uses a tone of irony in describing its call and proceedings. They do not exon-
erate Gregory from having broken his solemn promise, but they treat the
council as wholly illegitimate, either because it was not called by a pope or be-
cause it had not the universal support of the Catholic nations. Hefele, I. 67
sqq., denies to it the character of an oecumenical synod, but places it in a
category by itself. Pastor opens his treatment with a discourse on the
primacy of the papacy, dating from Peter, and the sole right of the pope to call
a council. The cardinals who called it usurped an authority which did not
belong to them.
§ 16. THE COUNCIL OP CONSTANCE. 1414-1418. 145
so far a good omen of a better age. The Pisan synod demon-
strated that the Church remained virtually a unit in spite of
the double pontifical administration. It branded by their
right names the specious manoeuvres of Gregory and Peter de
Luna. It brought together the foremost thinkers and literary
interests of Europe and furnished a platform of free discussion.
Not its least service was in preparing the way for the impos-
ing council which convened in Constance five years later.
§ 16. The Council of Constance. 1414-1418.
At Alexander's death, seventeen cardinals met in Bologna
and elected Balthazar Cossa, who took the name of John
XXIII. He was of noble Neapolitan lineage, began his
career as a soldier and perhaps as a corsair,1 was graduated
in both laws at Bologna and was made cardinal by Boniface
IX. He joined in the call of the council of Pisa. A man of
ability, he was destitute of every moral virtue, and capable of
every vice.
Leaning for support upon Louis of Anjou, John gained
entrance to Rome. In the battle of Rocca Secca, May 14,
1411, Louis defeated the troops of Ladislaus. The captured
battle-flags were sent to Rome, hung up in St. Peter's, then
torn down in the sight of the people, and dragged in the dust
in the triumphant procession through the streets of the city,
in which John participated. Ladislaus speedily recovered
from his defeat, and John, with his usual faithlessness, made
terms with Ladislaus, recognizing him as king, while Ladislaus,
on his part, renounced his allegiance to Gregory XII. That
pontiff was ordered to quit Neapolitan territory, and embark-
ing in Venetian vessels at Gaeta, fled to Dalmatia, and finally
took refuge with Charles Malatesta of Rimini, his last polit-
ical ally.
The Council of Constance, the second of the Reformatory
councils, was called together by the joint act of Pope John
XXIII. and Sigisr lund, king of the Romans. It was not till
he was reminded by the University of Paris that John paid
i Nieheim, 'n Life of John, in Van der Hardt, II. 339.
146 THE MIDDLE AolB. A.D. 1294-1617.
heed to the action of the Council of Pisa and called a council
to meet at Rome, April, 1412. Its sessions were scantily
attended, and scarcely a trace of it is left.1 After ordering
Wyclif s writings burnt, it adjourned Feb. 10, 1413. John had
strengthened the college of cardinals by adding fourteen to its
number, among them men of the first rank, as D'Ailly, Za-
barella of Florence, Robert Hallum, bishop of Salisbury, and
Fillastre, dean of Rheims.
Ladislaus, weary of his treaty with John and ambitious to
create a unified Latin kingdom, took Rome, 1413, giving the
city over to sack. The king rode into the Lateran and looked
down from his horse on the heads of St. Peter and St. Paul,
which he ordered the canons to display. The very churches
were robbed, and soldiers and their courtesans drank wine
out of the sacred chalices. Ladislaus left Rome, struck with
a vicious disease, rumored to be due to poison administered
by an apothecary's daughter of Perugia, and died at Naples,
August, 1414. He had been one of the most prominent
figures in Europe for a quarter of a century and the chief
supporter of the Roman line of pontiffs.
Driven from Rome, John was thrown into the hands of
Sigismund, who was then in Lombardy. This prince, the
grandson of the blind king, John, who was killed at Crecy,
had come to the throne of Hungary through marriage
with its heiress. At Ruprecht's death he was elected king
of the Romans, 1411. Circumstances and his own energy
made him the most prominent sovereign of his age and the
chief political figure in the Council of Constance. He lacked
high aims and moral purpose, but had some taste for books,
and spoke several languages besides his own native German.
Many sovereigns have placed themselves above national stat-
utes, but Sigismund went farther and, according to the story,
placed himself above the rules of grammar. In his first address
at the Council of Constance, so it is said, he treated the Latin
word schisma, schism, as if it were feminine.2 When Pris-
1 Finke : Forschungen, p. 2 ; Acta cone., p. 108 sqq.
3 Date operam, the king said, ut ista nefanda schisma cradicetur. See
Wylie, p. 18.
§ 16. THE COUNCIL OFfcoNSTAWCfc. H14-1418. 147
cian and other learned grammarians were quoted to him to
show it was neuter, lie replied, " Yes ; but I ain emperor and
above them, and can make a new grammar. " The fact that
Sigisraund was not yet emperor when the mistake is said to
have been made — for he was not crowned till 1433 — seems
to prejudice the authenticity of the story, but it is quite likely
that he made mistakes in Latin and that the bon-mot was
humorously invented with reference to it.
Pressed by the growing troubles in Bohemia over John
Huss, Sigismund easily became an active participant in the
measures looking towards a new council. Men distrusted
John XXIII. The only hope of healing the schism seemed to
rest with the future emperor. In many documents, and by
John himself, he was addressed as " advocate and defender
of the Church " l — advocatus et defemor ecclesice.1
Two of John's cardinals met Sigismund at Como, Oct. 13,
1413, and discussed the time and place of the new synod.
John preferred an Italian city, Sigismund the small Swabian
town of Kempten ; Strassburg, Basel, and other places were
mentioned, but Constance, on German territory, was at last
fixed upon. On Oct. 30 Sigismund announced the approach-
ing council to all the prelates, princes, and doctors of Christ-
endom, and on Dec. 9 John attached his seal to the call.
Sigismund and John met at Lodi the last of November, 1413,
and again at Cremona early in January, 1414, the pope being
accompanied by thirteen cardinals. Thus the two great
luminaries of this mundane sphere were again side by side.2
They ascended together the great Torazzo, close to the cathe-
dral of Cremona, accompanied by the lord of the town, who
afterwards regretted that he had not seized his opportunity
and pitched them both down to the street. Not till the fol-
lowing August was a formal announcement of the impending
1 See Finke, Forschungen, p. 28. Sigismund gives himself the same title.
See his letter to Gregory, Mansi, XXVIII. 3.
2 Sigismund, in his letter to Charles VI. of France, announcing the council,
had used the mediaeval figure of the two lights, duo luminaria super ter-
rain, mains videlicet minus ut in ipsis universalis ecclesice consistere flr-
mamentum in quibus pontificalia anctftritas et regalis potentia designantur,
unaquas spiritualia et altera qua corporalia regerentur. Mansi, XXVIII. 4.
148 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
council sent to Gregory XII., who recognized Sigismund as
king of the Romans.1 Gregory complained to Archbishop
Andrew of Spalato, bearer of the notice, of the lateness of the
invitation, and that he had not been consulted in regard to
the council. Sigismund promised that, if Gregory should be
deposed, he would see to it that he received a good life posi-
tion.2
The council, which was appointed for Nov. 1, 1414, lasted
nearly four years, and proved to be one of the most impos-
ing gatherings which has ever convened in Western Europe.
It was a veritable parliament of nations, a convention of the
leading intellects of the age, who pressed together to give
vent to the spirit of free discussion which the Avignon scan-
dals and the schism had developed, and to debate the most
urgent of questions, the reunion of Christendom under one
undisputed head." 8
Following the advice of his cardinals, John, who set his face
reluctantly towards the North, reached Constance Oct. 28,
1414. The city then contained 5500 people, and the beauty
of its location, its fields, and its vineyards, were praised by
Nieheim and other contemporaries. They also spoke of the
salubriousness of the air and the justice of the municipal laws
for strangers. It seemed to be as a field which the Lord had
blessed.4 As John approached Constance, coming byway of
the Tirol, he is said to have exclaimed, " Ha, this is the place
where foxes are trapped." He entered the town in great
style, accompanied by nine cardinals and sixteen hundred
mounted horsemen. He rode a white horse, its back covered
with a red rug. Its bridles were held by the count of Mont-
ferrat and an Orsini of Rome. The city council sent to the
1 There is some evidence that a report was abroad in Italy that Sigismund
intended to have all three popes put on trial at Constance, but that a gift of
60,000 gulden from John at Lodi induced him to support that pontiff. Finke :
Acta, p. 177 sq.
* Sigismund's letters are given by Hardt, VL 5, 6 ; Mansi, XXVIII. 2-4.
See Finke, Forschungen, p. 23.
8 Funk, Kirchengesch., p. 470, calls it eine der grossartigsten Kirchenver-
sammlungen welche die Geschichte kennt, gewissermctssen ein Kongrets des
ganzen Abendlandes. * Hardt, II. 80S.
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§ 16. THE COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE. 1414-1418. 149
pope's lodgings four large barrels of Elsass wine, eight of
native wine, and other wines.1
The first day of November, John attended a solemn mass
at the cathedral. The council met on the 5th, with fifteen
cardinals present. The first public session was held Nov.
16. In all, forty-five public sessions were held, the usual
hour of assembling being 7 in the morning. Gregory XII.
was represented by two delegates, the titular patriarch of
Constantinople and Cardinal John Dominici of Ragusa, a
man of great sagacity and excellent spirit.
The convention did not get into full swing until the arrival
of Sigismund on Christmas Eve, fresh from his coronation,
which occurred at Aachen, Nov. 8, and accompanied by his
queen, Barbara, and a brilliant suite. After warming them-
selves, the imperial party proceeded to the cathedral and, at
cock-crowing Christmas morning, were received by the pope.
Services were held lasting eight, or, according to another
authority, eleven hours without interruption. Sigismund,
wearing his crown and a dalmatic, exercised the functions
of deacon and read the Gospel, and the pope conferred
upon him a sword, bidding him use it to protect the
Church.
Constance had become the most conspicuous locality in
Europe. It attracted people of every rank, from the king to
the beggar. A scene of the kind on so great a scale had
never been witnessed in the West before. The reports of
the number of strangers in the city vary from 50,000 to
100,000. Bichental, the indefatigable Boswell of the council,
himself a resident of Constance, gives an account of the ar-
rival of every important personage, together with the number
of his retainers. One-half of his Chronicle is a directory of
names. He went from house to house, taking a census, and
to the thousands he mentions by name, he adds 5000 who
1 Richental, Chronik, pp. 25-28, gives a graphic description of John's entry
into the city. This writer, who was a citizen of Constance, the office he filled
being unknown, had unusual opportunities for observing what was going
on and getting the official documents. He gives copies of several of John's
bulls, and the most detailed accounts of some of the proceedings at which he
was present. See p. 129.
150 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
rode in and out of the town every day. He states that 80,000
witnessed the coronation of Martin V. The lodgings of the
more distinguished personages were marked with their coats
of arms. Bakers, beadles, grooms, scribes, goldsmiths, mer-
chantmen of every sort, even to traffickers from the Orient,
flocked together to serve the dukes and prelates and the
learned university masters and doctors. There were in at-
tendance on the council, 33 cardinals, 5 patriarchs, 47 arch-
bishops, 145 bishops, 93 titular bishops, 217 doctors of
theology, 361 doctors in both laws, 171 doctors of medicine,
besides a great number of masters of arts from the 37 univer-
sities represented, 83 kings and princes represented by envoys,
38 dukes, 173 counts, 71 barons, more than 1500 knights,
142 writers of bulls, 1700 buglers, fiddlers, and players on
other musical instruments. 700 women of the street prac-
tised their trade openly or in rented houses, while the
number of those who practised it secretly was a matter of
conjecture.1 There were 36,000 beds for strangers. 500 are
said to have been drowned in the lake during the progress
of the council. Huss wrote, " This council is a scene of foul-
ness, for it is a common saying among the Swiss that a gener-
ation will not suffice to cleanse Constance from the sins which
the council has committed in this city." 2
The English and Scotch delegation, which numbered less
than a dozen persons, was accompanied by 700 or 800 mounted
men, splendidly accoutred, and headed by fifers and other
musicians, and made a great sensation by their entry into the
city. The French delegation was marked by its university
men and other men of learning.8
1 Qffene Huren in den Hurenhausern und solche, die selber Hauser gemie-
thet hatten und in den Mallen lagen und wo sie mochten, doren waren uber
700 und die heimlichen, die lass ich belibnen. Richental, p. '215. The numbers
above are taken from Richental, whose account, from p. 164 to 215, is taken
up with the lists of names. See also Van der Hardt, V. 60-53, who gives
18,000 prelates and priests and 80,000 laymen. A later hand has attached to
Richental's narrative the figures 72,460.
a Workman : Letters of Huss, p. 263.
• Usk, p. 304 ; Kymer, Feeder., IX. 167; Richental, p. 34, speaks of the
French as die Schulpfaffen und die gelehrten Leute am Frankreich.
§ 16. THE COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE. 1414-1418. 151
The streets and surroundings presented the spectacle of a
merry fair. There were tournaments, dances, acrobatic shows,
processions, musical displays. But in spite of the conges-
tion, good order seems to have been maintained. By order
of the city council, persons were forbidden to be out after
curfew without a light. Chains were to be stretched across
some of the streets, and all shouting at night was forbidden.
It is said that during the council's progress only two persons
were punished for street brawls. A check was put upon
extortionate rates by a strict tariff. The price of a white loaf
was fixed at a penny, and a bed for two persons, with sheets
and pillows, at a gulden and a half a month, the linen to be
washed every two weeks. Fixed prices were put upon grains,
meat, eggs, birds, and other articles of food.1 The bankers
present were a great number, among them the young Cosimo
de' Medici of Florence.
Among the notables in attendance, the pope and Sigismund
occupied the chief place. The most inordinate praise was
heaped upon the king. He was compared to Daniel, who
rescued Susanna, and to David. He was fond of pleasure,
very popular with women, always in debt and calling for
money, but a deadly foe of heretics, so that whenever he
roared, it was said, the Wyclifites fled.2 There can be no
doubt that to Sigismund were due the continuance and success
of the council. His queen, Barbara, the daughter of a Styrian
count, was tall and fair, but of questionable reputation, and
her gallantries became the talk of the town.
The next most eminent persons were Cardinals D'Ailly,
Zabarella, Fillastre, John of Ragusa, and Hallum, bishop of
Salisbury, who died during the session of the council, and was
1 Richental, p. 39 sqq., gives an elaborate list of these regulations.
2 So de Vrie, the poet-historian of the council, Hardt, 1. 193. The follow-
ing description is from the accomplished pen of JEneas Sylvius, afterwards
Pius II: " He was tall, with bright eyes, broad forehead, pleasantly rosy
cheeks, and a long, thick beard. He was witty in conversation, given to wine
and women, and thousands of love intrigues are laid to his charge. He had a
large mind and formed many plans, but was changeable. He was prone to
anger, but ready to forgive. He could not keep his money, but spent
lavishly, He made more promises than he kept, and often deceived/'
152 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
buried in Constance, the bishop of Winchester, uncle to the
English king, and John Gerson, the chief representative of the
University of Paris. Zabarella was the most profound author-
ity on civil and canon law in Europe, a professor at Bologna,
and in 1410 made bishop of Florence. He died in the midst
of the council's proceedings, Sept. 26, 1417. Fillastre left be-
hind him a valuable daily journal of the council's proceedings.
D'Ailly had been for some time one of the most prominent
figures in Europe. Hallum is frequently mentioned in the
proceedings of the council. Among the most powerful agencies
at work in the assemblies were the tracts thrown off at the
time, especially those of Diedrich of Nieheim, one of the
most influential pamphleteers of the later Middle Ages.1
The subjects which the council was called together to dis-
cuss were the reunion of the Church under one pope, and
Church reforms.2 The action against heresy, including the
condemnation of John Huss and Jerome of Prag, is also con-
spicuous among the proceedings of the council, though not
treated by contemporaries as a distinct subject. From the
start, John lost support. A sensation was made by a tract,
the work of an Italian, describing John's vices both as man
and pope. John of Ragusa and Fillastre recommended the
resignation of all three papal claimants, and this idea became
more and more popular, and was, after some delay, adopted by
Sigismund, and was trenchantly advocated by Nieheim, in his
tract on the Necessity of a Reformation in the Church.
From the very beginning great plainness of speech was used,
so that John had good reason to be concerned for the tenure
of his office. December 7, 1414, the cardinals passed prop-
ositions binding him to a faithful performance of his papal
* Finke, p. 133, calls him the " greatest journalist of the later Middle Ages."
The tracts De modi* uniendi, De difflcultate reformations, De, necessitate
reformations are now all ascribed to Nieheim by Finke, p. 133, who follows
Lenz, and with whom Pastor concurs as against Erler.
2 In hoc generali concilio agendum fuit de pace et unione perfecta ec~
clesice, secundo de reformation illius, Fillastre's Journal, in Finke, p. 164.
H(KC synodus . . . pro exstirpatione prcesentis schismatis et unione ac refor-
mattone ecclesice Dei in capite et membris is the council's own declaration,
Mansi, XXVII. 585.
§ 36. THE COUNCIL OF COKSTANCE. 1414-1418. 153
duties and abstinence from simony. D'Ailly wrote against
the infallibility of councils, and thus furnished the ground
for setting aside the papal election at Pisa.
From November to January, 1415, a general disposition was
manifested to avoid taking the initiative — the noli me tangere
policy, as it was called.1 The ferment of thought and dis-
cusssion became more and more active, until the first notable
principle was laid down early in February, 1415; namely, the
rule requiring the vote to be by nations. The purpose was
to overcome the vote of the eighty Italian bishops and doctors
who were committed to John's cause. The action was taken
in the face of John's opposition, and followed the precedent
set by the University of Paris in the government of its
affairs. By this rule, which no council before or since has
followed, except the little Council of Siena, 1423, England,
France, Italy, and Germany had each a single vote in the
affairs of the council. In 1417, when Aragon, Castile, and
Scotland gave in their submission to the council, a fifth vote
was accorded to Spain. England had the smallest represen-
tation. In the German nation were included Scandinavia,
Poland, and Hungary. The request of the cardinals to have
accorded to them a distinct vote as a body was denied. They
met with the several nations to which they belonged, and
were limited to the same rights enjoyed by other individuals.
This rule seems to have been pressed from the first with great
energy by the English, led by Robert of Salisbury. Strange
to say, there is no record that this mode of voting was adopted
by any formal conciliar decree.2
The nations met each under its own president in separate
places, the English and Germans sitting in different rooms
in the convent of the Grey Friars. The vote of the majority
of the nations carried in the public sessions of the council.
The right to vote in the nations was extended so as to include
the doctors of both kinds and princes. D'Ailly advocated
this course, and Fillastre argued in favor of including rectors
1 Apud aliquos erat morbus " noli me tangere," Fillastre's Journal, p. 164.
a See Finke, Forschungen, p. 31. Richental, pp. 50-53, gives a quaint ac-
count of the territorial possessions of the five nations.
154 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
and even clergymen of the lowest rank. Why, reasoned
D'Ailly, should a titular bishop have an equal voice with a
bishop ruling over an extensive see, say the archbishopic of
Mainz, and why should a doctor be denied all right to vote
who has given up his time and thought to the questions
under discussion ? And why, argued Fillastre, should an
abbot, having control over only ten monks, have a vote, when
a rector with a cure of a thousand or ten thousand souls is
excluded ? An ignorant king or prelate he called a " crowned
ass." Doctors were on hand for the very purpose of clear-
ing up ignorance.
When the Italian tract appeared, which teemed with
charges against John, matters were brought to a crisis. Then
it became evident that the scheme calling for the removal of
all three popes would go through, and John, to avoid a worse
fate, agreed to resign, making the condition that Gregory XII.
and Benedict should also resign. The formal announcement,
which was read at the second session, March 2, 1415, ran : " I,
John XXIII., pope, promise, agree, and obligate myself, vow
and swear before God, the Church, and this holy council, of
my own free will and spontaneously, to give peace to the
Church by abdication, provided the pretenders, Benedict and
Gregory, do the same."1 At the words "vow and swear,"
John rose from his seat and knelt down at the altar, remain-
ing on his knees till he finished the reading. The reading
being over, Sigismund removed his crown, bent before John,
and kissed his feet. Five days after, John issued a bull con-
firming his oath.
Constance was wild with joy. The bells rang out the glad
news. In the cathedral, joy expressed itself in tears. The
spontaneity of John's self-deposition may be questioned, in
view of the feeling which prevailed among the councillors and
the report that he had made an offer to cede the papacy for
30,000 gulden.2
A most annoying, though ridiculous, turn was now given
to affairs by John's flight from Constance, March 20. Ru-
1 Hardt, II. 240, also IV. 44 ; Mansi, XXVII. 668. Also Richental, p. 66.
2 According to a MS. found at Vienna by Finke, Fonchunyen, p. 148.
§ 16. THE COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE. 1414-1418. 155
mors had been whispered about that he was contemplating
such a move. He talked of transferring the council to Rizza,
and complained of the unhealthiness of the air of Constance.
He, however, made the solemn declaration that he would not
leave the town before the dissolution of the council. To be
on the safe side, Sigismund gave orders for the gates to be
kept closed and the lake watched. But John had practised
dark arts before, and, unmindful of his oath, escaped at
high noon on a " little horse," in the disguise of a groom,
wrapped in a gray cloak, wearing a gray cap, and having a
crossbow tied to his saddle.1 The flight was made while the
gay festivities of a tournament, instituted by Frederick, duke
of Austria, were going on, and with two attendants. The
pope continued his course without rest till he reached Schaff-
hausen. This place belonged to the duke, who was in the
secret, and on whom John had conferred the office of com-
mander of the papal troops, with a yearly grant of 6000 gulden.
John's act was an act of desperation. He wrote back to the
council, giving as the reason of his flight that he had been in
fear of Sigismund, and that his freedom of action had been
restricted by the king.2
So great was the panic produced by the pope's flight that
the council would probably have been brought to a sudden
close by a general scattering of its members, had it not been
for Sigismund's prompt action. Cardinals and envoys de-
spatched by the king and council made haste to stop the
fleeing pope, who continued on to Laufenburg, Freiburg, and
Breisach. John wrote to Sigismund, expressing his regard
for him, but with the same pen he was addressing communi-
cations to the University of Paris and the duke of Orleans,
seeking to awaken sympathy for his cause by playing upon
the national feelings of the French. He attempted to make
it appear that the French delegation had been disparaged
when the council proceeded to business before the arrival
of the twenty-two deputies of the University. France and
1 Richental, pp. 62-72, gives a vivid account of John's flight and seizure.
2 Fillastre ; Finke, Forschungen, p. 169, j>apa dicebat quod pro timore regis
Romanorum rccesserat.
156 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
Italy, with two hundred prelates, had each only a single vote,
while England, with only three prelates, had a vote. God,
he affirmed, dealt with individuals and not with nations. He
also raised the objection that married laymen had votes at the
side of prelates, and John Huss had not been put on trial,
though he had been condemned by the University of Paris.
To the envoys who found John at Breisach, April 23, he
gave his promise to return with them to Constance the next
morning ; but with his usual duplicity, he attempted to es-
cape during the night, and was let down from the castle by
a ladder, disguised as a peasant. He was soon seized, and
ultimately handed over by Sigismund to Louis III., of the
Palatinate, for safe-keeping.
In the meantime the council forbade any of the delegates
to leave Constance before the end of the proceedings, on pain
of excommunication and the loss of dignities. Its fourth and
fifth sessions, beginning April 6, 1415, mark an epoch in the
history of ecclesiastical statement. The council declared
that, being assembled legitimately in the Holy Spirit, it was
an oecumenical council and representing the whole Church,
had its authority immediately from Christ, and that to it the
pope and persons of every grade owed obedience in things
pertaining to the faith and to the reformation of the Church
in head and members. It was superior to all other eccle-
siastical tribunals.1 This declaration, stated with more pre-
cision than the one of Pisa, meant a vast departure from the
papal theory of Innocent III. and Boniface VIII.
Gerson, urging this position in his sermon before the
council, March 23, 1415, said2 the gates of hell had prevailed
against popes, but not against the Church. Joseph was set
to guard his master's wife, not to debauch her, and when the
1 Hardt, IV. 89 sq., and Mansi, XXVII. 686-690. The deliverance runs :
hcec sancta synodus Constantiensis primo declarat ut ipsa synodus in S.
Spirits legitime congregate generate concilium faciens, cedes, catholicam
militantem representans, potestatem a Christo immediate habeat, cut quilibet
cujusmodi status vel dignitatis, etiamai papalis exist at, obedire tenetur in his
qua pertinent ad fldem et exstirpationem prcesentis schismatis et reforma-
tionem eccles. in capite et membris.
2 Hardt, II. 266-273 ; Du Pin, II. 201 sqq.
§ 16. THE COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE. 1414-1418. 157
pope turned aside from his duty, the Church had authority
to punish him. A council has the right by reason of the
vivifying power of the Holy Spirit to prolong itself, and
may, under certain conditions, assemble without call of pope
or his consent.
The conciliar declarations reaffirmed the principle laid
down by Nieheim on the eve of the council in the tract en-
titled the Union of the Church and its Reformation, and by
other writers.1 The Church, Nieheim affirmed, whose head is
Christ, cannot err, but the Church as a commonwealth, —
respublica, — controlled by pope and hierarchy, may err.
And as a prince who does not seek the good of his subjects
may be deposed, so may the pope, who is called to preside
over the whole Church. . . . The pope is born of man, born
in sin — clay of clay — limus de limo. A few days ago the
son of a rustic, and now raised to the papal throne, he is not
become an impeccable angel. It is not his office that makes
him holy, but the grace of God. He is not infallible ; and
as Christ, who was without sin, was subject to a tribunal, so
is the pope. It is absurd to say that a mere man has power
in heaven and on earth to bind and loose from sin. For he
may be a simoniac, a liar, a fornicator, proud, and worse
than the devil — pejor quam diabolus. As for a council, the
pope is under obligation to submit to it and, if necessary,
to resign for the common good — utilitatem communem. A
general council may be called by the prelates and temporal
rulers, and is superior to the pope. It may elect, limit, and
depose a pope — and from its decision there is no appeal —
potest papam eligere, privare et deponere. A tali concilia nullus
potest appellare. Its canons are immutable, except as they
may be set aside by another oecumenical council.
These views were revolutionary, and show that Marsiglius
of Padua, and other tractarians of the fourteenth century,
had not spoken in vain.
Having affirmed its superiority over the pope, the council pro-
1 Hardt, vol. I., where it occupies 176 pp. Du Pin, II., 162-201. This tract,
formerly ascribed to Gerson, Leuz and Finke give reason for regarding as the
work of Nieheim.
158 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
ceeded to try John XXIII. on seventy charges, which included
almost every crime known to man. He had been unchaste
from his youth, had been given to lying, was disobedient to
his parents. He was guilty of simony, bought his way to
the cardinalate, sold the same benefices over and over again,
sold them to children, disposed of the head of John the Bap-
tist, belonging to the nuns of St. Sylvester, Rome, to Flor-
ence, for 50,000 ducats, made merchandise of spurious
bulls, committed adultery with his brother's wife, violated
nuns and other virgins, was guilty of sodomy and other
nameless vices.1 As for doctrine, he had often denied the
future life.
When John received the notice of his deposition, which
was pronounced May 29, 1415, he removed the papal cross
from his room and declared he regretted ever having been
elected pope. He was taken to Gottlieben, a castle belong-
ing to the bishop of Constance, and then removed to the
castle at Heidelberg, where two chaplains and two nobles
were assigned to serve him. From Heidelberg the count
Palatine transferred him to Mannheim, and finally released
him on the payment of 30,000 gulden. John submitted to
his successor, Martin V., and in 1419 was appointed cardinal
bishop of Tusculum, but survived the appointment only six
months. John's accomplice, Frederick of Austria, was de-
prived of his lands, and was known as Frederick of the
empty purse — Friedrich mit der leer en Tasche. A splendid
monument was erected to John in the baptistery in Florence
by Cosimo de' Medici, who had managed the pope's money
affairs.
.
While John's case was being decided, the trial of John Huss
was under way. The proceedings and the tragedy of Huss'
death are related in another place.
John XXIII. was out of the way. Two popes remained,
i Hardt, IV. 196-208 ; Mansi, XXVIII. 662-673,715. Adam of Usk, p. 806f
says, Our pope, John XXIII., false to his promises of union, and otherwise
guilty of perjuries and murders, adulteries, simonies, heresy, and other
excesses, and for that he twice fled in secret, and cowardly, in vile raiment,
by way of disguise, was delivered to perpetual imprisonment by the council.
§ 16. THE COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE. 1414-1418. 159
Gregory XII. and Benedict XIII., who were facetiously called
in tracts and addresses Errorius^ a play on Gregory's patro-
nymic, Angelo Correr,1 and Maledictua. Gregory promptly re-
signed, thus respecting his promise made to the council to resign,
provided John and Benedict should be set aside. He also had
promised to recognize the council, provided the emperor should
preside. The resignation was announced at the fourteenth
session, July 4, 1415, by Charles Malatesta and John of Ragusa,
representing the Roman pontiff. Gregory's bull, dated May
15, 1414, which was publicly read, " convoked and authorized
the general council so far as Balthazar Cossa, John XXIII., is
not present and does not preside." The words of resignation
ran, " I resign, in the name of the Lord, the papacy, and all its
rights and title and all the privileges conferred upon it by
the Lord Jesus Christ in this sacred synod and universal
council representing the holy Roman and universal Church.2
Gregory's cardinals now took their seats, and Gregory him-
self was appointed cardinal-bishop of Porto and papal legate
of Ancona. He died at Recanati, near Ancona, Oct. 18, 1417.
Much condemnation as Angelo Correr deserves for having
temporized about renouncing the papacy, posterity has not
withheld from him respect for his honorable dealing at the
close of his career. The high standing of his cardinal, John
of Ragusa, did much to make men forget Gregory's faults.
Peter de Luna was of a different mind. Every effort was
made to bring him into accord with the mind of the council-
men in the Swiss city, but in vain. In order to bring all
the influence possible to bear upon him, Sigismund, at the
council's instance, started on the journey to see the last of
the Avignon popes face to face. The council, at its sixteenth
session, July 11, 1415, appointed doctors to accompany the
king, and eight days afterwards he broke away from Con-
stance, accompanied by a troop of 4000 men on horse.
Sigismund and Benedict met at Narbonne, Aug. 15, and
at Perpignan, the negotiations lasting till December. The
1 This name is given to Gregory constantly by Nieheim in his De schismate.
2 The document is given in Hardt, IV. 360. See, for the various documents,
Hardt, IV. 192 sq., 846-381 ; Mansi, XXVII. 733-745.
160 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
decree of deposition pronounced at Pisa, and France's with-
drawal of allegiance, had not broken the spirit of the old
man. His dogged tenacity was worthy of a better cause.1
Among the propositions the pope had the temerity to make
was that he would resign provided that he, as the only sur-
viving cardinal from the times before the schism, should have
liberty to follow his abdication by himself electing the new
pontiff. Who knows but that one who was so thoroughly
assured of his own infallibility would have chosen himself.
Benedict persisted in calling the Council of Constance the
" congregation," or assembly. On Nov. 14 he fled to Peii-
iscola, a rocky promontory near Valencia, again condemned
the Swiss synod, and summoned a legitimate one to meet in
his isolated Spanish retreat. His own cardinals were weary
of the conflict, and Dec. 13, 1415, declared him deposed.
His long-time supporter, Vincent Ferrer, called him a per-
jurer. The following month the kingdom of Aragon, which
had been Benedict's chief support, withdrew from his obedi-
ence and was followed by Castile and Scotland.
Peter de Luna was now as thoroughly isolated as any mortal
could well be. The council demanded his unconditional ab-
dication, and was strengthened by the admission of his old
supporters, the Spanish delegates. At the thirty-seventh ses-
sion, 1417, he was deposed. By Sigismund's command the
decision was announced on the streets of Constance by trum-
peters. But the indomitable Spaniard continued to defy the
synod's sentence till his death, nine years later, and from the
lonely citadel of Peniscola to sit as sovereign of Christendom.
Cardinal Hergenrother concludes his description of these
events by saying that Benedict " was a pope without a church
and a shepherd without sheep. This very fact proves the
emptiness of his claims." Benedict died, 1423,2 leaving be-
hind him four cardinals. Three of these elected the canon,
Gil Sanduz de Munoz of Barcelona, who took the name of
Clement VIII. Five years later Gil resigned, and was ap-
1 Pastor, Hefele, and Hergenrbther call it stubbornness, Hartndckigkeit.
Dttllinger is more favorable, and does not withhold his admiration from Peter.
1 Valois, IV. 450-464, gives strong reasons for this date as against 1424.
§ 16. THE COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE. 1414-1418. 161
pointed by Martin V. bishop of Majorca, on which island he
was a pope with insular jurisdiction.1 The fourth cardinal,
Jean Carrier, elected himself pope, and took the name of
Benedict XIV. He died in prison, 1433.
It remained for the council to terminate the schism of years
by electing a new pontiff and to proceed to the discussions of
Church reforms. At the fortieth session, Oct. 30, 1417, it
was decided to postpone the second item until after the elec-
tion of the new pope. In fixing this order of business, the
cardinals had a large influence. There was a time in the
history of the council when they were disparaged. Tracts
were written against them, and the king at one time, so it
was rumored, proposed to seize them all.2 But that time
was past; they had kept united, and their influence had
steadily grown.
The papal vacancy was filled, Nov. 11, 1417, by the elec-
tion of Cardinal Oddo Colonna, who took the name of Mar-
tin V. The election was consummated in the Kaufhaus,
the central commercial building of Constance, which is still
standing. Fifty-three electors participated, 6 deputies from
each of the 5 nations, and 23 cardinals. The building was
walled up with boards and divided into cells for the electors.
Entrance was had by a single door, and the three keys were
given, one to the king, one to the chapter of Constance, and
one to the council. When it became apparent that an election
was likely to be greatly delayed, the Germans determined to
join the Italians in voting for an Italian to avoid suspicion
that advantage was taken of the synod's location on Ger-
man soil. The Germans then secured the co-operation of the
English, and finally the French and Spaniards also yielded.8
The pope-elect was thus the creature of the council.
1 Mansi, XXVIII. 1117 sqq., gives Clement's letter of abdication. For an
account of Benedict's two successors and their election, see Valois, IV. 455-478.
2 Fillastre's Journal, p. 224. For the tracts hostile to the cardinals, see
Finke, Forschungen, p. 81 sq.
8 Richental, p. 116 sqq., gives a detailed account of the walling up of the
Kaufhaus and the election, and of the ceremonies attending Martin's corona-
tion. He also, p. 123, tells the pretty story that, before the electors met,
ravens, jackdaws, and other birds of the sort gathered in great numbers on the
162 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
The Western Church was again unified under one head.
But for the deep-seated conviction of centuries, the office of
the universal papacy would scarcely have survived the strain
of the schism.1 Oddo Colonna, the only member of his dis-
tinguished house who has worn the tiara, was a subdeacon at
the time of his election. Even more hastily than Photius,
patriarch of Constantinople, was he rushed through the ordi-
nation of deacon, Nov. 12, of priest, Nov. 13, and bishop,
Nov. 14. He was consecrated pope a week later, Nov. 21,
Sigismund kissing his toe. In the procession, the bridles
of Martin's horse were held by Sigismund and Frederick
the Hohenzollern, lately created margrave of Branden-
burg. The margrave had paid Sigismund 250,000 marks as
the price of his elevation, a sum which the king used to
defray the expenses of his visit to Benedict.
Martin at once assumed the presidency of the council which
since John's flight had been filled by Cardinal Viviers.
Measures of reform were now the order of the day and
some headway was made. The papal right of granting in-
dulgences was curtailed. The college of cardinals was limited
to 24, with the stipulation that the different parts of the
church should have a proportionate representation, that no
monastic order should have more than a single member in
the college, and that no cardinal's brother or nephew should
be raised to the curia so long as the cardinal was living.
Schedules and programmes enough were made, but the ques-
tion of reform involved abuses of such long standing and so
deeply intrenched that it was found impossible to reconcile
the differences of opinion prevailing in the council and bring
it to promptness of action. After sitting for more than three
years, the delegates were impatient to get away.
As a substitute for further legislation, the so-called con-
roof of the Kaufhaus, but that as soon as Martin was elected, thousands of
greenfinches and other little birds took their places and chattered and sang
and hopped about as if approving what had been done.
1 Catholic historians regard the survival of the papacy as a proof of its
divine origin. Salembier, p. 895, says, " The history of the great Schism
would have dealt a mortal blow to the papacy if Christ's promises had not
made it immortal."
§ 16. THE COUNCIL OP CONSTANCE. 1414-1418. 163
cordats were arranged. These agreements were intended to
regulate the relations of the papacy and the nations one with
the other. There were four of these distinct compacts, one
with the French, and one with the German nations, each to be
valid for five years, one with the English to be perpetual, dated
July 21, 1418, and one with the Spanish nation, dated May 13,
1418. l These concordats set forth rules for the appointment
of the cardinals and the restriction of their number, limited
the right of papal reservations and the collection of annates
and direct taxes, determined what causes might be appealed to
Rome, and took up other questions. They were the foundation
of the system of secret or open treaties by which the papacy
has since regulated its relations with the nations of Europe.
Gregory VII. was the first pope to extend the system of papal
legates, but he and his successors had dealt with nations on
the arbitrary principle of papal supremacy and infallibility.
The action of the Council of Constance lifted the state to
some measure of equality with the papacy in the administra-
tion of Church affairs. It remained for Louis XIV., 1643-
1715, to assert more fully the Galilean theory of the authority
of the state to manage the affairs of the Church within its ter-
ritory, so far as matters of doctrine were not touched. The
first decisive step in the assertion of Gallican liberties was the
synodal action of 1407, when France withdrew from the
obedience of Benedict XIII. By this action the chapters
were to elect their own bishops, and the pope was restrained
from levying taxes on their sees. Then followed the compact
of the Council of Constance, the Pragmatic Sanction adopted
at Bourges, 1438, and the concordat agreed upon between
Francis I. and Leo X. at the time of the Reformation. In
1682 the French prelates adopted four propositions, restricting
the pope's authority to spirituals, a power which is limited
by the decision of the Council of Constance, and by the prec-
edents of the Gallican Church, and declaring that even in
matters of faith the pope is not infallible. Although Louis,
1 See Mirbt, art. Konkordat, in Herzog, X. 705 sqq. Hardt gives the con-
cordats with Germany and England, I. 1056-1088, and France, IV. 155 sqq.
Mansi, XXVIL 1189 sqq., 1108 sqq.
164 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
who gave his authority to these articles, afterwards revoked
them, they remain a platform of Gallicanism as against the
ultramontane theory of the infallibility and supreme authority
of the pope, and may furnish in the future the basis of a settle-
ment of the papal question in the Catholic communion.1
In the deliverance known as Frequens, passed Oct. 9, 1417,
the council decreed that a general council should meet in
five years, then in seven years, and thereafter perpetually
every ten years.2 This action was prompted by Martin in
the bull Frequent^ Oct. 9, 1417. On completing its forty-
fifth session it was adjourned by Martin, April 22, 1418.
The Basel-Ferrara and the Tridentine councils sat a longer
time, as did also the Protestant Westminster Assembly,
1643-1648. Before breaking away from Constance, the pope
granted Sigismund a tenth for one year to reimburse him for
the expense he had been to on account of the synod.
The Council of Constance was the most important synod of
the Middle Ages, and more fairly represented the sentiments
of Western Christendom than any other council which has
ever sat. It furnished an arena of free debate upon inter-
ests whose importance was felt by all the nations of Western
Europe, and which united them. It was not restricted by
a programme prepared by a pope, as the Vatican council of
1870 was. It had freedom and exercised it. While the
dogma of transubstantiation enacted by the 4th Lateran,
1215, and the dogma of papal infallibility passed by the
Vatican council injected elements of permanent division into
the Church, the Council of Constance unified Latin Christen-
dom and ended the schism which had been a cause of scandal
for forty years. The validity of its decree putting an oecu-
menical council above the pope, after being disputed for cen-
turies, was officially set aside by the conciliar vote of 1870.
For Protestants the decision at Constance is an onward step
1 See art. GMllikanismus, in Herzog, and Der Ursprung der gallikan.
Freiheiten, in Hist. Zeitschrift, 1903, pp. 194-215.
2 Creigbton, I. 393, after giving the proper citation from Hardt, IV. 1432,
makes the mistake of saying that the next council was appointed for seven
years, and the succeeding councils every five years thereafter.
§ 16. THE COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE. 1414-1418. 165
towards a right definition of the final seat of religious
authority. It remained for Luther, forced to the wall by
Eck at Leipzig, and on the ground of the error committed
by the Council of Constance, in condemning the godly man,
John Huss, to deny the infallibility of councils and to place
the seat of infallible authority in the Scriptures, as inter-
preted by conscience.
Note on the (Ecumenical Character of the Council of Constance.
Modern Roman Catholic historians deny the oecumenical character and
authority of the Council of Constance, except its four last, 42d-45th sessions,
which were presided over hy Pope Martin V., or at least all of it till the mo-
ment of Gregory XII. 's bull giving to the council his approval, that is, after
John had fled and ceased to preside. Ilergenrother-Kirsch, II. 862, says
that before Gregory's authorization the council was without a head, did not
represent the Roman Church, and sat against the will of the cardinals, by
whom he meant Gregory's cardinals. Salembier, p. 317, says, H n'est devenu
cecumtiniqite qu'apres la trente-cinquieme session, lorsque Gregoire XII. eut
donne sa demission, etc. Pastor, I. 198 sq., warmly advocates the same
view, and declares that when the council in its 4th and 5th sessions announced
its superiority over the pope, it was not yet an oecumenical gathering.
This dogma, he says, was intended to set up a new principle which revolu-
tionized the old Catholic doctrine of the Church. Philip Hergenrother, in
Katholiaches Kirchenrecht, p. 344 sq., expresses the same judgment. The
council was not a legitimate council till after Gregory's resignation.
The wisdom of the council in securing the resignation of Gregory and de-
posing John and Benedict is not questioned. The validity of its act in elect-
ing Martin V., though the papal regulation limiting the right of voting to the
cardinals was set aside, is also acknowledged on the ground that the council
at the time of Martin's election was sitting by Gregory's sanction, and Greg-
ory was true pope until he abdicated.
A serious objection to the view, setting aside this action of the 4th and
6th sessions, is offered by the formal statement made by Martin V. At the
final meeting of the council and after its adjournment had been pronounced,
a tumultuous discussion was precipitated over the tract concerning the affairs
of Poland and Lithuania by the Dominican, Falkenberg, which was written
in defence of the Teutonic Knights, and justified the killing of the Polish
king and all his subjects. It had been the subject of discussion in the nations,
and its heresies were declared to be so glaring that, if they remained uncon-
demned by the council, that body would go down to posterity as defective in
its testimony for orthodoxy. It was during the tumultuous debate, and after
Martin had adjourned the council, that he uttered the words which, on their
face, sanction whatever was done in council in a conciliar way. Putting an
end to the tumult, he announced he would maintain all the decrees passed
by the council in matters of faith in a conciliar way — omnia et singula
166 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
determinate et conclusa et decreta in materiis fidei per prcesens sacrum con-
cilium generate Constantiense conciliariter tenere et inviolabiliter observare
volebat et nunquam contravenire quoquomodo. Moreover, he announced that
he sanctioned and ratified acts made in a " conciliar way and not made other-
wise or in any other way.1' Ipsaque sic conciliariter facta approbat papa
et ratificat et non aliter nee alio modo. Funk, Martin V. und das Konzil zu
Konstanz in Abhandlungen, I. 489 sqq., Hefele, Concilienyesch., I. 52, and
Kupper, in Wetzer-Welte, VII. 1004 sqq., restrict the application of these
words to the Falkenberg incident. Funk, however, by a narrow interpreta-
tion of the words " in matters of faith," excludes the acts of the 4th and 6th
sessions from the pope's approval. Dollinger (p. 464), contends that the ex-
pression conciliariter, "in a conciliar way," is opposed to nationaliter, •* in
the nations." The expression is to he taken in its simple meaning, and refers
to what was done by the council as a council.
The only other statement made by Martin bearing upon the question
occurs in his bull Frequens, of Feb. 22, 1418, in which he recognized the
council as oecumenical, and declared its decrees binding which pertained to
faith and the salvation of souls — quod sacrum concilium Constant., aniver-
salem ecclesiam representans approbavit et approbat in favorem fidei et salu-
tem animarum, quod hoc est ab universis Christi ftdelibus approbandum et
tenendum. Hefele and Funk show that this declaration was not meant to
exclude matters which were not of faith, for Martin expressly approved
other matters, such as those passed upon in the 30th session. There is no
record that Martin at any time said anything to throw light upon his mean-
ing in these two utterances.
In the latter part of the fifteenth century, as Raynaldus, an. 1418, shows,
the view came to expression that Martin expressly intended to except the
action of the 4th and 5th sessions from his papal approval.
Martin V.'B successor, Eugenius IV., in 144(5, thirty years after the synod,
asserted that its decrees were to be accepted so far as they did not prejudice
the law, dignity, and pre-eminence of the Apostolic See — absquc tamen prce-
judicio juris et dignitatis et proeeminentias Apost. sedis. The papacy had at
that time recovered its prestige, and the supreme pontiff felt himself strong
enough to openly reassert the superiority of the Apostolic See over oacumeni-
cal councils. But before that time, in a bull issued Dec. 13, 1443, he for-
mally accepted the acts of the Council of Basel, the most explicit of which
was the reaffirmation of the acts of the Council of Constance in its 4th and
5th sessions.
It occurs to a Protestant that the Council of Constance would hardly have
elected Oddo Colonna pope if he had been suspected of being opposed to the
council's action concerning its own superiority. The council would have
stultified itself in appointing a man to undo what it had solemnly done. And
for him to have denied its authority would have been, as Dollinger says
(p. 159), like a son denying his parentage. The emphasis which recent
Catholic historians lay upon Gregory's authorization of the synod as giving
it for the first time an oecumenical character is an easy way out of the diffi-
culty, and this view forces the recognition of the Roman line of popes as
the legitimate successors of St. Peter during the years of the schism.
§ 17. THE COUNCIL OF BASEL. 1481-1449. 167
§ 17. The Council of Basel. 1431-1449.
Martin V. proved himself to be a capable and judicious
ruler, with courage enough when the exigency arose. He
left Constance May 16, 1418. Sigismund, who took his de-
parture the following week, offered him as his papal residence
Basel, Strassburg, or Frankfurt. France pressed the claims
of Avignon, but a Colon na could think of no other city than
Rome, and proceeding by the way of Bern, Geneva, Mantua,
and Florence, he entered the Eternal City Sept. 28, 1420. 1
The delay was due to the struggle being carried on for its
possession by the forces of Joanna of Naples under Sforza,
and the bold chieftain Braccio.2 Martin secured the with-
drawal of Joanna's claims by recognizing that princess as
queen of Naples, and pacified Braccio by investing him with
Assisi, Perugia, Jesi, and Todi.
Rome was in a desolate condition when Martin reached it,
the prey of robbers, its streets filled with refuse and stag-
nant water, its bridges decayed, and many of its churches
without roofs. Cattle and sheep were herded in the spaces
of St. Paul's. Wolves attacked the inhabitants within the
walls.8 With Martin's arrival a new era was opened. This
pope rid the city of robbers, so that persons carrying gold
might go with safety even beyond the walls. He restored
the Lateran, and had it floored with a new pavement. He
repaired the porch of St. Peter's, and provided it with a new
roof at a cost of 50,000 gold gulden. Revolutions within
the city ceased. Martin deserves to be honored as one of
Rome's leading benefactors. His pontificate was an era of
peace after years of constant strife and bloodshed due to fac-
tions within the walls and invaders from without. With
him its mediaeval history closes, and an age of restoration
and progress begins. The inscription on Martin's tomb in
the Lateran, " the Felicity of his Times," — temporum suorum
expresses the debt Rome owes to him.
1 Richental, pp. 149 sqq. 2 Infessura, p. 21.
8 Five large wolves were killed in the Vatican gardens, Jan. 23, 1411.
Gregorovius, VI. 018.
168 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
Among the signs of Martin's interest in religion was his
order securing the transfer to Rome of some of the bones of
Monica, the mother of Augustine, and his bull canonizing
her. On their reception, Martin made a public address in
which he said, " Since we possess St. Augustine, what do
we care for the shrewdness of Aristotle, the eloquence of
Plato, the reputation of Pythagoras ? These men we do not
need. Augustine is enough. If we want to know the truth,
learning, and religion, where shall we find one more wise,
learned, and holy than St. Augustine ? "
As for the promises of Church reforms made at Constance,
Martin paid no attention to them, and the explanation made
by Pastor, that his time was occupied with the government
of Rome and the improvement of the city, is not sufficient
to exculpate him. The old abuses in the disposition and
sale of offices continued. The pope had no intention of
yielding up the monarchical claims of the papal office. Nor
did he forget his relatives. One brother, Giordano, was
made duke of Amain, and another, Lorenzo, count of Alba.
One of his nephews, Prospero, he invested with the purple,
1426. He also secured large tracts of territory for his
house.1
The council, appointed by Martin at Constance to meet
in Pavia, convened April, 1423, was sparsely attended, ad-
journed on account of the plague to Siena, and, after con-
demning the errors of Wyclif and Huss, was dissolved
March 7, 1424. Martin and his successors feared councils,
and it was their policy to prevent, if possible, their assem-
bling, by all sorts of excuses and delays. Why should the
pope place himself in a position to hear instructions and re-
ceive commands ? However, Martin could not be altogether
deaf to the demands of Christendom, or unmindful of his
pledge given at Constance. Placards were posted up in
Rome threatening him if he summoned a council. Under
constraint and not of free will, he appointed the second
1 Pastor, I. 227, Martin's warm admirer, passes lightly over the pope's
nepotism with the remark that in this regard he overstepped the line of pro-
priety— er hat das Mass des Erlaubten tiberschritten.
§ 17. THE COUNCIL OF BASEL. 1431-1449. 169
council, which was to meet in seven years at Basel, 1431, but
he died the same year, before the time set for its assembling.
Eugenius IV., the next occupant of the papal throne,
1431-1447, a Venetian, had been made bishop of Siena by
his maternal uncle, Gregory XII., at the age of twenty-four,
and soon afterwards was elevated to the curia. His pontifi-
cate was chiefly occupied with the attempt to assert the
supremacy of the papacy against the conciliar theory. It also
witnessed the most notable effort ever made for the union of
the Greeks with the Western Church.
By an agreement signed in the conclave which elevated
Eugenius, the cardinals promised that the successful candi-
date should advance the interests of the impending general
council, follow the decrees of the Council of Constance in
appointing cardinals, consult the sacred college in matters
of papal administration, and introduce Church reforms.
Such a compact had been signed by the conclave which
elected Innocent VI., 1352, and similar compacts by almost
every conclave after Eugenius down to the Reformation,
but all with no result, for, as soon as the election was con-
summated, the pope set the agreement aside and pursued his
own course.
On the day set for the opening of the council in Basel,
March 7, 1431, only a single prelate was present, the abbot
of Vezelay. The formal opening occurred July 23, but
Cardinal Cesarini, who had been appointed by Martin and
Eugenius to preside, did not appear till Sept. 9. He was
detained by his duties as papal legate to settle the Hussite
insurrection in Bohemia. Sigismund sent Duke William of
Bavaria as protector, and the attendance speedily grew. The
number of doctors present was larger in comparison to the
number of prelates than at Constance. A member of the
council said that out of 500 members he scarcely saw 20
bishops. The rest belonged to the lower orders of the clergy,
or were laymen. " Of old, bishops had settled the affairs of
the Church, but now the common herd does it."1 The most
interesting personage in the convention was -/Eneas Sylvius
1 Traversari, as quoted by Creighton, 1. 128.
170 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
Piccolomini, who came to Basel as Cardinal Capranica's
secretary. He sat on some of its important commissions.
The tasks set before the council were the completion of
the work of Constance in instituting reforms,1 and a peaceful
settlement of the Bohemian heresy. Admirable as its effort
was in both directions, it failed of papal favor, and the synod
was turned into a constitutional battle over papal absolutism
and conciliar supremacy. This battle was fought with the
pen as well as in debate. Nicolas of Cusa, representing
the scholastic element, advocated, in 1433, the supremacy of
councils in his Concordantia catholica. The Dominican, John
of Turrecremata, took the opposite view, and defended the
doctrine of papal infallibility in his Summa de ecclesia et ejus
auctoritate. For years the latter writing was the classical
authority for the papal pretension.
The business was performed not by nations but by four
committees, each composed of an equal number of representa-
tives from the four nations and elected for a month. When
they agreed on any subject, it was brought before the council
in public session.
It soon became evident that the synod acknowledged no
earthly authority above itself, and was in no mood to hear the
contrary principle defended. On the other hand, Eugenius
was not ready to tolerate free discussion and the synod's self-
assertion, and took the unfortunate step of proroguing the
synod to Bologna, making the announcement at a meeting of the
cardinals, Dec. 18, 1431. The bull was made public at Basel
four weeks later, and made an intense sensation. The synod
was quick to give its answer, and decided to continue its sit-
tings. This was revolution, but the synod had the nations
and public opinion back of it, as well as the decrees of the
Council of Constance. It insisted upon the personal presence
of Eugenius, and on Feb. 15, 1432, declared for its own sover-
eignty and that a general council might not be prorogued or
transferred by a pope without its own consent.
In the meantime Sigismund had received the iron crown at
1 Ob reformationem eccles. Dei in capite et membris spedaliter congregatur,
Mansi, XXIX. 105, etc.
§ 17. THE COUNCIL OF BASEL. 1481-1449. 171
Milan, Nov. 25, 1431. He was at this period a strong sup-
porter of the council's claims. A French synod, meeting at
Bourges early in 1432, gave its sanction to them, and the
University of Paris wrote that Eugenius' decree transferring
the council was a suggestion of the devil. Becoming more
bold, the council, at its third session, April 29, 1432, called
upon the pope to revoke his bull and be present in person. At
its fourth session, June 20, it decreed that, in case the papal
office became vacant, the election to fill the vacancy should be
held in Basel and that, so long as Eugenius remained away
from Basel, he should be denied the right to create any more
cardinals. The council went still farther, proceeded to
arraign the pope for contumacy, and on Dec. 18 gave him 60
days in which to appear, on pain of having formal proceedings
instituted against him.
Sigismund, who was crowned emperor in Rome the following
Spring, May 31, 1433, was not prepared for such drastic action.
He was back again in Basel in October, but, with the emperor
present or absent, the council continued on its course, and
repeatedly reaffirmed its superior authority, quoting the dec-
larations of the Council of Constance at its fourth and fifth
sessions. The voice of Western Christendom was against
Eugenius, as were the most of his cardinals. Under the stress
of this opposition, and pressed by the revolution threatening
his authority in Rome, the pope gave way, and in the decree
of Dec. 13, 1433, revoked his three bulls, beginning with
Dec. 18, 1431, which adjourned the synod. He asserted he had
acted with the advice of the cardinals, but now pronounced
and declared the " General Council of Basel legitimate from
the time of its opening." Any utterance or act prejudicial to
the holy synod or derogatory to its authority, which had pro-
ceeded from him, he revoked, annulled, and pronounced utterly
void.1 At the same time the pope appointed legates to pre-
1 Decernimus et declaramus generate concil. Basileense a tempore in-
choationis suce legitime continuatum fuisse et esse . . . quidquid per nos aut
nostro nomine in prejudicium et derogationem sacri concil. Basileensis seu
contra ejus auctoritatem factum et attentatum seu assertum e8t,caasamu8, re-
vocamus, irritamus et annullamus, nullas, irritas fuisse et ease declaramus,
Mansi, XXIX. 78.
172 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617,
side, and they were received by the synod. They sworexin
their own names to accept and defend its decrees.
No revocation of a former decree could have been made
more explicit. The Latin vocabulary was strained for
words. Catholic historians refrain from making an argu-
ment against the plain meaning of the bull, which is fatal
to the dogma of papal inerrancy and acknowledges the su-
periority of general councils. At best they pass the decree
with as little comment as possible, or content themselves
with the assertion that Eugenius had no idea of con-
firming the synod's reaffinnation of the famous decrees of
Constance, or with the suggestion that the pope was under
duress when he issued the document.1 Both assumptions
are without warrant. The pope made no exception what-
ever when he confirmed the acts of the synod " from its
opening." As for the explanation that the decree was
forced, it needs only to be said that the revolt made against
the pope in Rome, May, 1434, in which the Colonna took a
prominent part, had not yet broken out, and there was no
compulsion except that which conies from the judgment
that one's case has failed. Cesarini, Nicolas of Cusa,
JSneas Sylvius, John, patriarch of Antioch, and the other
prominent personages at Basel, favored the theory of the
supreme authority of councils, and they and the synod would
have resented the papal deliverance if they had surmised
its utterances meant something different from what they ex-
pressly stated. Dollinger concludes his treatment of the sub-
ject by saying that Eugenius' bull was the most positive and
unequivocal recognition possible of the sovereignty of the
council, and that the pope was subject to it.
Eugenius was the last pope, with the exception of Pius
IX., who has had to flee from Rome. Twenty-five popes
had been obliged to escape from the city before him. Dis-
guised in the garb of a Benedictine monk, and carried part
1 So Hergenrather-Kirsch, II. 919, Pastor, I. 288, etc. Funk, Kirchen-
gesch., p. 374, with his usual fairness, says that Eugenius in his bull gave
unconditional assent to the council. So verstand er sich endlich zur unbe-
dingten Annahme der Synode.
§ 17. THE COUNCIL OF BASEL. 1431-1449. 173
«
of the way on the shoulders of a sailor, he reached a boat on
the Tiber, but was recognized and pelted with a shower of
stones, from which he escaped by lying flat in the boat,
covered with a shield. Reaching Ostia, he took a galley to
Livorno. From there he went to Florence. He remained
in exile from 1434 to 1443.
In its efforts to pacify the Hussites, the synod granted
them the use of the cup, and made other concessions. The
causes of their opposition to the Church had been expressed
in the four articles of Prag. The synod introduced an al-
together new method of dealing with heretics in guarantee-
ing to the Hussites and their representatives full rights of
discussion. Having settled the question of its own author-
ity, the synod took up measures to reform the Church
" in head and members." The number of the cardinals was
restricted to 24, and proper qualifications insisted upon, a
measure sufficiently needed, as Eugenius had given the red
hat to two of his nephews. Annates, payments for the pal-
lium, the sale of church dignities, and other taxes which the
Apostolic See had developed, were abolished. The right of
appeal to Rome was curtailed. Measures of another nature
were the reaffirmation of the law of priestly celibacy,1 and the
prohibition of theatricals and other entertainments in church
buildings and churchyards. In 1439 the synod issued a
decree on the immaculate conception, by which Mary was
declared to have always been free from original and actual
sin.2 The interference with the papal revenues affecting the
entire papal household was, in a measure, atoned for by the
promise to provide other sources. From the monarchical head
of the Church, directly appointed by God, and responsible to
no human tribunal, the supreme pontiff was reduced to an offi-
cial of the council. Another class of measures sought to clear
Basel of the offences attending a large and promiscuous gath-
ering, such as gambling, dancing, and the arts of prostitutes,
who were enjoined from showing themselves on the streets.
1 De concubinariis, Mansi, XXIX. 101 sq.
2 Immunem semper fuisse ab omni originali et actuali culpa, etc., Mansi,
XXIX. 183.
174 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
Eugenius did not sit idly by while his prerogatives were
being tampered with and an utterly unpapal method of deal-
ing with heretics was being pursued. He communicated with
the princes of Europe, June 1, 1436, complaining of the high-
handed measures, such as the withdrawal of the papal reve-
nues, the suppression of the prayer for the pope in the liturgy,
and the giving of a vote to the lower clergy in the synod.
At that juncture the union with the Greeks, a question
which had assumed a place of great prominence, afforded
the pope the opportunity for reasserting his authority and
breaking up the council in the Swiss city.
Overtures of union, starting with Constantinople, were
made simultaneously through separate bodies of envoys sent
to the pope and the council. The one met Eugenius at
Bologna ; the other appeared in Basel in the summer of 1434.
In discussing a place for a joint meeting of the representa-
tives of the two communions, the Greeks expressed a prefer-
ence for some Italian city, or Vienna. This exactly suited
Eugenius, who had even suggested Constantinople as a place
of meeting, but the synod sharply informed him that the city
on the Bosphorus was not to be considered. In urging Basel,
Avignon, or a city in Savoy, the Basel councilmen were losing
their opportunity. Two delegations, one from the council
and one from the pope, appeared in Constantinople, 1437,
proposing different places of meeting.
When the matter came up for final decision, the council,
by a vote of 355 to 244, decided to continue the meeting at
Basel, or, if that was not agreeable to the Greeks, then at
Avignon. The minority, acting upon the pope's preference,
decided in favor of Florence or Udine. In a bull dated
Sept. 18, 1437, and signed by eight cardinals, Eugenius con-
demned the synod for negotiating with the Greeks, pro-
nounced it prorogued, and, at the request of the Greeks, as
it alleged, transferred the council to Ferrara.1
1 "Transfer" is the word used by the pope — transferendo hoc sacrum
concilium in civitatem Ferrarensium, Mansi, XXIX. 166. Reasons for the
transfer to an Italian city and an interesting statement of the discussion over
the place of meeting are given in Haller, Cone. Bos., 1. 141-150.
§ 17. THE COUNCIL OF BASEL. 1481-1449. 175
The synod was checkmated, though it did not appreciate
its situation. The reunion of Christendom was a measure
of overshadowing importance, and took precedence in men's
minds of the reform of Church abuses. The Greeks all went
to Ferrara. The prelates, who had been at Basel, gradually
retired across the Alps, including Cardinals Cesarini and
Nicolas of Cusa. The only cardinal left at Basel was d' Ale-
man, archbishop of Aries. It was now an open fight between
the pope and council, and it meant either a schism of the
Western Church or the complete triumph of the papacy.
The discussions at Basel were characterized by such vehe-
mence that armed citizens had to intervene to prevent vio-
lence. The conciliar theory was struggling for life. At its
28th session, October, 1437, the council declared the papal
bull null and void, and summoned Eugenius within sixty days
to appear before it in person or by deputy. Four months
later, Jan. 24, 1438, it declared Eugenius suspended, and,
June 25, 1439, at its 34th session, "removed, deposed, de-
prived, and cast him down," as a disturber of the peace of
the Church, a simoniac and perjurer, incorrigible, and errant
from the faith, a schismatic, and a pertinacious heretic.1
Previous to this, at its 33d session, it had again solemnly
declared for the supreme jurisdiction of councils, and denied
the pope the right to adjourn or transfer a general council.
The holding of contrary views, it pronounced heresy.
In the meantime the council at Ferrara had been opened,
Jan. 8, 1438, and was daily gaining adherents. Charles VII.
took the side of Eugenius, although the French people, at the
synod of Bourges in the summer of 1438, accepted, substan-
tially, the reforms proposed by the council of Basel.2 This
action, known as the Pragmatic Sanction, decided for the
superiority of councils, and that they should be held every
1 Eugenium fuisse et ease notorium et manifestum contwnacem, violatorem
assuluum atque contemptorem sacrorum canonum synodalium, pacis et unita-
tis eccles. Dei perturbatorem notorium . . . simoniaeum, perjurum, incor-
riffibilem, schismaticum, a ftdt devium, pertinacem hatretieum, dilapidatorem
jurium et bonorum eccleste, inuttlem et damnosum ad administrationem
romani pontificii, etc., Mansi, XXIX. 180.
9 Mirbt gives it in part, Quellen, p. 160.
176 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
ten years, abolished annates and first-fruits, ordered the large
benefices filled by elections, and limited the number of cardi-
nals to twenty-four. These important declarations, which
went back to the decrees of the Council of Constance, were the
foundations of the Gallican liberties.
The attitude of the German princes and ecclesiastics was
one of neutrality or of open support of the council at Basel.
Sigismund died at the close of the year 1437, and, before the
election of his son-in-law, Albrecht II., as his successor, the
electors at Frankfurt decided upon a course of neutrality.
Albrecht survived his election as king of the Romans less than
two years, and his uncle, Frederick III., was chosen to~take
his place. Frederick, after observing neutrality for several
years, gave his adhesion to Eugenius.
Unwilling to be ignored and put out of life, the council at
Basel, through a commission of thirty-two, at whose head
stood d'Aleman, elected, 1439, Amadeus, duke of Savoy, as
pope.1 After the loss of his wife, 1435, Amadeus formed the
order of St. Mauritius, and lived with several companions in
a retreat at Ripaille, on the Lake of Geneva. He was a man
of large wealth and influential family connections. He as-
sumed the name of Felix V., and appointed four cardinals.
A year after his election, and accompanied by his two sons,
he entered Basel, and was crowned by Cardinal d'Aleman.
The tiara is said to have cost 30,000 crowns. Thus Western
Christendom again witnessed a schism. Felix had the sup-
port of Savoy and some of the German princes, of Alfonso
of Aragon, and the universities of Paris, Vienna, Cologne,
Erfurt, and Cracow. Frederick III. kept aloof from Basel
and declined the offer of marriage to Margaret, daughter of
Felix and widow of Louis of Anjou, with a dowry of 200,000
ducats.
The papal achievement in winning Frederick III., king of
the Romans, was largely due to the corruption of Frederick's
chief minister, Caspar Schlick, and the treachery of jEneas
Sylvius, who deserted one cause and master after another as
1 H. Manger, D. Wahl Amadeoa v. Savoy en gum Papste, Marburg, 1901,
p. 04. Sigismund, in 1416, raised the counts of Savoy to the dignity of dukes.
§ 17. THE COUNCIL OF BASEL. 1431-1449. 177
it suited his advantage. From being a vigorous advocate of
the council, he turned to the side of Eugenius, to whom he
made a most fulsome confession, and, after passing from the
service of Felix, he became secretary to Frederick, and proved
himself Eugenius' most shrewd and pliable agent. He was
an adept in diplomacy and trimmed his sails to the wind.
The archbishops of Treves and Cologne, who openly sup-
ported the Basel assembly, were deposed by Eugenius, 1446.
The same year six of the electors offered Eugenius their
obedience, provided he would recognize the superiority of an
oecumenical council, and within thirteen months call a new
council to meet on German soil. Following the advice of
-/Eneas Sylvius, the pope concluded it wise to show a concilia-
tory attitude. Papal delegates appeared at the diet, meeting
September, 1446, and ^Eneas was successful in winning over
the margrave of Brandenburg and other influential princes.
The following January he and other envoys appeared in
Rome as representatives of the archbishop of Mainz, Fred-
erick III., and other princes. The result of the negotiations
was a concordat, — the so-called princes' concordat, — Fiirsten
Konkordat, — by which the pope restored the two deposed
archbishops, recognized the superiority of general councils,
and gave to Frederick the right during his lifetime to
nominate the incumbents of the six bishoprics of Trent,
Brixen, Chur, Gurk, Trieste, and Pilsen, and to him and his
successors the right to fill, subject to the pope's approval,
100 Austrian benefices. These concessions Eugenius ratified
in four bulls, Feb. 5-7, 1447, one of them, the bull Scdvatoria,
declaring that the pope in the previous three bulls had not
meant to disparage the authority of the Apostolic See, and if
his successors found his concessions out of accord with the
doctrine of the fathers, they were to be regarded as void.
The agreement was celebrated in Rome with the ringing of
bells, and was confirmed by Nicolas V. in the so-called Vienna
Concordat, Feb. 17, 1448.1
Eugenius died Feb. 23, 1447, and was laid at the side of
Eugenius III. in St. Peter's. He had done nothing to intro-
i Given in Mirbt, p. 165 sqq.
178 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
duce reforms into the Church. Like Martin V., he was fond
of art, q, taste he cultivated during his exile in Florence. He
succeeded in perpetuating the mediaeval view of the papacy,
and in delaying the reformation of the Church which, when
it came, involved the schism in Western Christendom which
continues to this day.
The Basel council continued to drag on a tedious and un-
eventful existence. It was no longer in the stream of notice-
able events. It stultified itself by granting Felix a tenth.
In June, 1448, it adjourned to Lausanne. Reduced to a
handful of adherents, and weary of being a synonym for in-
nocuous failure, it voted to accept Nicolas V., Eugenius* suc-
cessor, as legitimate pope, and then quietly breathed its last,
April 25, 1449. After courteously revoking his bulls anath-
ematizing Eugenius and Nicolas, Felix abdicated. He was
not allowed to suffer, much less obliged to do penance, for
his presumption in exercising papal functions. He was made
cardinal-bishop of Sabina, and Apostolic vicar in Savoy and
other regions which had recognized his " obedience." Three
of his cardinals were admitted to the curia, and d'Aleman
forgiven. Felix died in Geneva, 1451.1
The Roman Church has not since had an anti-pope. The
Council of Basel concluded the series of the three councils,
which had for their chief aims the healing of the papal schism
and the reformation of Church abuses. They opened with
great promise at Pisa, where a freedom of discussion prevailed
unheard of before, and where the universities and their learned
representatives appeared as a new element in the delibera-
tions of the Church. The healing of the schism was accom-
plished, but the abuses in the Church went on, and under the
last popes of the fifteenth century became more infamous
than they had been at any time before. And yet even in
this respect these councils were not in vain, for they afforded
a warning to the Protestant reformers not to put their trust
i In his bull Ut pacts, 1449, recognizing the Lausanne act in his favor,
Nicolas V. called Amadeus " his venerable and most beloved brother," and
spoke of the Basel-Lausanne synod as being held under the name of an
oecumenical council, sub nomine generate concilii, Labbaus, XII. 663, 666.
§ 18. THE COUNCIL OP FEKRARA-FLOREtfCE. 179
even in ecclesiastical assemblies. As for the theory of the
supremacy of general councils which they had maintained
with such dignity, it was proudly set aside by later popes in
their practice and declared fallacious by the Fifth Lateran in
1516,1 and by the dogma of papal infallibility announced at
the Council of the Vatican, 1870.
§ 18. The Council of Ferrara-Florence. 1438-1445.
The council of Ferrara witnessed the submission of the
Greeks to the Roman see. It did not attempt to go into the
subject of ecclesiastical reforms, and thus vie with the synod
at Basel. After sixteen sessions held at Ferrara, Eugenius
transferred the council, February, 1439, to Florence. The rea-
son given was the unhealthy conditions in Ferrara, but the real
grounds were the offer of the Florentines to aid Eugenius
in the support of his guests from the East and, by getting
away from the seaside, to lessen the chances of the Greeks
going home before the conclusion of the union. In 1442 the
council was transferred to Rome, where it held two sessions in
the Lateran. The sessions at Ferrara, Florence, and Rome are
listed with the first twenty-five sessions of the council of Basel,
and together they are counted as the seventeenth oecumenical
council.2
The schism between the East and the West, dating
from the middle of the ninth century, while Nicolas I. and
Photius were patriarchs respectively of Rome and Constanti-
nople, was widened by the crusades and the conquest of Con-
stantinople, 1204. The interest in a reunion of the two
branches of the Church was shown by the discussion at Bari,
1098, when Anselm was appointed to set forth the differences
with Greeks, and by the treatments of Thomas Aquinas and
other theologians. The only notable attempt at reunion was
1 Sess. XI. romanum pontificem tanquam super omnia concilia auctorita-
tem habentem, conciliorum indicendorum transferendorum ac dissolvendorum
plenum jus et potestatem habere. This council at the same time pronounced
the Council of Basel a " little council,'1 conciliabulum, "or rather a con-
venticle,1' conventicula. Mansi, XXXII. 067.
9 Hefele-Kiiopfler, Kirchengeach., p. 477.
180 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
made at the second council of Lyons, 1274, when a deputation
from the East accepted articles of agreement which, however,
were rejected by the Eastern churches. In 1369, the em-
peror John visited Rome and abjured the schism, but his
action met with unfavorable response in Constantinople.
Delegates appeared at Constance, 1418, sent by Manuel
Palseologus and the patriarch of Constantinople,1 and, in
1422, Martin V. despatched the Franciscan, Anthony Mas-
sanus, to the Bosphorus, with nine articles as a basis of union.
These articles led on to the negotiations conducted at Ferrara.
Neither Eugenius nor the Greeks deserve any credit for the
part they took in the conference. The Greeks were actuated
wholly by a desire to get the assistance of the West against
the advance of the Turks, and not by religious zeal. So far
as the Latins are concerned, they had to pay all the expenses
of the Greeks on their way to Italy, in Italy, and on their
way back as the price of the conference. Catholic historians
have little enthusiasm in describing the empty achievements
of Eugenius.2
The Greek delegation was large and inspiring, and included
the emperor and the patriarch of Constantinople. In Vene-
tian vessels rented by the pope, the emperor John VI., Palae-
ologus, reached Venice in February, 1438. 3 He was accorded
a brilliant reception, but it is fair to suppose that the pleas-
ure he may have felt in the festivities was not unmixed with
feelings of resentment, when he recalled the sack and pillage
of his capital, in 1204, by the ancestors of his entertainers.
John reached Ferrara March 6. The Greek delegation com-
prised 700 persons. Eugenius had arrived Jan. 27. In his
bull, read in the synod, he called the emperor his most beloved
son, and the patriarch his most pious brother.4 In a public
1 Richental, Chronik, p. 113, has a notice of their arrival.
2 So Hefele-Knopfler, Kirchengesch., p. 476 ; Hergenrother-Kirsch, II. 049 ;
Funk, Kirchengesch., p. 377. Pastor, II. 307, says, ** Die politische Nothlage
brachte endlich die Griechen zum Nachyeben."
8 An account of the emperor's arrival and entertainment at Venice is
given in Mansi, XXXI. 463 sqq.
* Dilectissimus filius noster Bomceorum imperator cum piissimmo fratre
nostro, Josepho Const, patriarchy Mansi, XXXI. 481.
§ 18. THE COUNCIL OF FERRARA-FLORENCE. 181
address delivered by Cardinal Cesarini, the differences divid-
ing the two communions were announced as four, — the mode
of the procession of the Holy Spirit, the use of unleavened
bread in the eucharist, the doctrine of purgatory, and the papal
primacy. The discussions exhibit a mortifying spectacle of
theological clipping and patchwork. They betray no pure
zeal for the religious interests of mankind. The Greeks in-
terposed all manner of dilatory tactics while they lived upon
the hospitality of their hosts. The Latins were bent upon
asserting the supremacy of the Roman bishop. The Orientals,
moved by considerations of worldly policy, thought only of
the protection of their enfeebled empire.
Among the more prominent Greeks present were Bessarion,
bishop of Nice, Isidore, archbishop of Russian Kief, and Mark
Eugenicus, archbishop of Ephesus. Bessarion and Isidore re-
mained in the West after the adjournment of the council, and
were rewarded by Eugenius with the red hat. The arch-
bishop of Ephesus has our admiration for refusing to bow
servilely to the pope and join his colleagues in accepting
the articles of union. The leaders among the Latins were
Cardinals Cesarini and Albergati, and the Spaniard Tur-
recremata, who was also given the red hat after the council
adjourned.
The first negotiations concerned matters of etiquette. Eu-
genius gave a private audience to the patriarch, but waived
the ceremony of having his foot kissed. An important ques-
tion was the proper seating of the delegates, and the Greek
emperor saw to it that accurate measurements were taken of
the seats set apart for the Greeks, lest they should have posi-
tions of less honor than the Latins.1 The pope's promise to
support his guests was arranged by a monthly grant of thirty
florins to the emperor, twenty-five to the patriarch, four each
to the prelates, and three to the other visitors. What possi-
ble respect could the more high-minded Latins have for eccle-
siastics, and an emperor, who, while engaged on the mission of
Church reunion, were willing to be the pope's pensioners, and
live upon his dole !
1 So Syrophulos. See Hefele, Conciliengesch., VII. 672.
182 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
The first common session was not held till Oct. 8, 1438.
Most of it was taken up with a long address by Bessarion, as
was the time of the second session by a still longer address by
another Greek. The emperor did his share in promoting de-
lay by spending most of his time hunting. At the start the
Greeks insisted there could be no addition to the original
creed. Again and again they were on the point of withdraw-
ing, but were deterred from doing so by dread of the Turks
and empty purses.1
A commission of twenty, ten Greeks and ten Latins, was
appointed to conduct the preliminary discussion on the ques-
tions of difference.
The Greeks accepted the addition made to the Constantino-
politan creed by the synod of Toledo, 589, declaring that the
Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, but with the
stipulation that they were not to be required to introduce
the filioque clause when they used the creed. They justified
their course on the ground that they had understood the Lat-
ins as holding to the procession from the Father and the Son
as from two principles. The article of agreement ran : " The
Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son eternally and
substantially as it were from one source and cause."2
In the matter of purgatory, it was decided that immediately
at death the blessed pass to the beatific vision, a view the
Greeks had rejected. Souls in purgatory are purified by pain
and may be aided by the suffrages of the living. At the in-
sistence of the Greeks, material fire as an element of purifica-
tion was left out.
The use of leavened bread was conceded to the Greeks.
In the matter of the eucharist, the Greeks, who, after the
words, "this is my body," make a petition that the Spirit may
turn the bread into Christ's body, agreed to the view that
transubstantiation occurs at the use of the priestly words,
1 Hergenrdther-Kirsch, II. 949, lays stress upon the Greek readiness to
accept alms.
8 jEternaliter et substantialiter tanquam ab uno principle et causa. The
statement expatre et Jllio and ex patre per filium were declared to be iden-
tical in meaning.
§ 18. THE COUNCIL OF FERRABA-FLORENCE. 183
but stipulated that the confession be not incorporated in the
written articles.
The primacy of the Roman bishop offered the most serious
difficulty. The article of union acknowledged him as "having
a primacy over the whole world, he himself being the suc-
cessor of Peter, and the true vicar of Christ, the head of the
whole Church, the father and teacher of all Christians, to
whom, in Peter, Christ gave authority to feed, govern and
rule the universal Church."1 This remarkable concession
was modified by a clause in the original document, running,
"according as it is defined by the acts of the oecumenical
councils and by the sacred canons." 2 The Latins afterwards
changed the clause so as to read, " even as it is defined by the
oecumenical councils and the holy canons." The Latin falsi-
fication made the early oecumenical councils a witness to the
primacy of the Roman pontiff.
The articles of union were incorporated in a decree8 be-
ginning Lcetentur cceli et exultat terra, " Let the heavens re-
joice and the earth be glad." It declared that the middle
wall of partition between the Occidental and Oriental
churches has been taken down by him who is the corner-
stone, Christ. The black darkness of the long schism had
passed away before the ray of concord. Mother Church re-
joiced to see her divided children reunited in the bonds of
peace and love. The union was due to the grace of the Holy
Ghost. The articles were signed July 5 by 115 Latins and
1 Diffinimus sanctam apostol. sedem et Eomanam pontificem in universum
orbem tenere primatum et ipsum pontificem Eomanum successorem esse B.
Petri primipis apostolorum, et verum Christi vicarium, totiusque ecclesice
caput, et omnium Chnstianorum patrem et doctorem exiatere, etc. Mansi,
XXXI. 1697.
2 Quemadmodum et in gestis cscumenicorum conciliorum et in sacris ca-
nonibus continetur. The change placed an etiam in the place of the first ett so
that the clause ran quemadmodum etiam in gestis, etc. See Dollinger-Fried-
rich, D. Papstthum, pp. 170, 470 sq. Dollinger says that in the Roman ed. of
1626 the Ferrara council was called the 8th oecumenical.
8 The document, together with the signatures, is given in Mansi, pp. 1028-
1036, 1695-1701. Hefele-Knopfler, ConciliengeBch., VII. 742-753, has regarded
it of such importance as to give the Greek and Latin originals in full, and also
a German translation.
184 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1204-1617.
33 Greeks, of whom 18 were metropolitans. Archbishop
Mark of Ephesus was the only one of the Orientals who re-
fused to sign. The patriarch of Constantinople had died a
month before, but wrote approving the union. His body lies
buried in S. Maria Novella, Florence. His remains and the
original manuscript of the articles, which is preserved in the
Laurentian library at Florence, are the only relics left of
the union.
On July 6, 1439, the articles were publicly read in the
cathedral of Florence, the Greek text by Bessarion, and the
Latin by Cesarini. The pope was present and celebrated the
mass. The Latins sang hymns in Latin, and the Greeks fol-
lowed them with hymns of their own. Eugenius promised
for the defence of Constantinople a garrison of three hundred
and two galleys and, if necessary, the armed help of Western
Christendom. After tarrying for a month to receive the five
months of arrearages of his stipend, the emperor returned by
way of Venice to his capital, from which he had been absent
two years.
The Ferrara agreement proved to be a shell of paper, and
all the parade and rejoicing at the conclusion of the proceed-
ings were made ridiculous by the utter rejection of its articles
in Constantinople.
On their return, the delegates were hooted as Azymites, the
name given in contempt to the Latins for using unleavened
bread in the eucharist. Isidore, after making announcement
of the union at Ofen, was seized and put into a convent, from
which he escaped two years later to Rome. The patriarchs
of Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexandria issued a letter from
Jerusalem, 1443, denouncing the council of Florence as a synod
of robbers and Metrophanes, the Byzantine patriarch as a
matricide and heretic.
It is true the articles were published in St. Sophia, Dec.
14, 1452, by a Latin cardinal, but six months later, Constan-
tinople was in the hands of the Mohammedans. A Greek
council, meeting in Constantinople, 1472, formally rejected
the union.
On the other hand, the success of the Roman policy was
§ 18. THE COUNCIL OF FEBRAKA-FLOBENCE. 185
announced through Western Europe. Eugenius' position was
strengthened by the empty triumph, and in the same propor-
tion the influence of the Basel synod lessened. If cordial
relations between churches of the East and the West were not
promoted at Ferrara and Florence, a beneficent influence
flowed from the council in another direction by the diffusion
of Greek scholarship and letters in the West.
Delegations also from the Armenians and Jacobites appeared
at Florence respectively in 1439 and 1442. The Copts and
Ethiopians also sent delegations, and it seemed as if the time
had arrived for the reunion of all the distracted parts of Chris-
tendom.1 A union with the Armenians, announced Nov. 22,
1439, declared that the Eastern delegates had accepted the
procession of the Holy Spirit from the Son and the Chalcedon
Council giving Christ two natures and by implication two
wills. The uniate Armenians have proved true to the union.
The Armenian catholicos, Gregory IX., who attempted to en-
force the union, was deposed, and the Turks, in 1461, set up an
Armenian patriarch, with seat at Constantinople. The union
of the Jacobites, proclaimed in 1442, was universally disowned
in the East. The attempts to conciliate the Copts and Ethiopi-
ans were futile. Eugenius sent envoys to the East to apprise
the Maronites and the Nestorians of the efforts at reunion.
The Nestorians on the island of Cyprus submitted to Rome,
and a century later, during the sessions of the Fifth Lateran,
1516, the Maronites were received into the Roman com-
munion.
On Aug. 7, 1445, Eugenius adjourned the long council
which had begun its sittings at Basel, continued them at
Ferrara and Florence, and concluded them in the Lateran.
1 See Mansi, XXXI. 1047 sqq. ; Hefele-Knbpfler, VII. 788 sqq. The only
meeting since between Greeks and Western ecclesiastics of public note was
at the Bonn Conference, 1876, in which Ddllinger and the Old-Catholics took
the most prominent part. Dr. Philip Schaff and several Anglican divines
also participated. See Creeds of Christendom, II 545-554, and Life of Philip
Schaff, pp. 277-280.
CHAPTER III.
LEADERS OF CATHOLIC THOUGHT.
§ 19. Literature.
For § 20. OCKAM AND THE DECAY OP SCHOLASTICISM. — No complete ed.
of Ockam's works exists. The fullest lists are given by RIEZLER, see below,
LITTLE : Grey Friars of Oxford, pp. 226-234, and POTTHAST : II. 871-873.
GOLDAST'B Monarchia, II. 313-1296, contains a number of his works, e.g.
opus nonaginta dierum, Compendium errorum Johannis XXII., De utiU
dominio rerum eccles. et abdications bonorum temporalium, Super potestatem
summi pontijicis, Qucestionum octo decisiones, Dial, de potestate papali et
imperials in tres partes distinctus, (1) de hcereticis, (2) de erroribus Joh.
XXIL, (3) de potestate papa, conciliorum et imperatoris (first publ. 2 vols.,
Paris, 1476). — Other works : Expositio aurea super totam artem veterem, a
com. on PORPHYRY'S Isagoge, and ARISTOTLE'S Elenchus, Bologna, 1496. —
Summa logices, Paris, 1488. — Super IV. libros sententiarum, Lyons, 1483. —
De sacramento altaris, Strassburg, 1491. — De prcedestinatione et futuris con-
tingentibus, Bologna, 1496. — Quodlibeta septem, Paris, 1487. — RIEZLER: D.
antipdpstlichen und publizistischen Schriften Occams in his Die literar.
Widersacher, etc., 241-277. — HAUREAU : La philos. scolastique. — WERNER :
Die Scholastik des spateren M.A., II., Vienna, 1883, and Der hi. Thos. von
Aquino, III. —STOCKL : Die Philos. des M.A., II. 986-1021, and art. Nomi-
nalismus in Wetzer-Welte, IX. — BAUR: Die christl Kirche d. MA., p. 377
sqq. — MILLER : Der Kampf Ludwigs des Baiern. — R. L. POOLE in Dirt, of
Natl. Biog., XLI. 367-362.— R. SEEBERO in Herzog, XIV. 260-280.— A.
DORNER; D. Verhaltniss von Kirche und Staat nach Occam in Mudien und
Kritiken, 1886, pp. 672-722. — F. KROPATSCHECK : Occam und Luther in Beitr.
zur Forderung christl. Theol., Gutersloh, 1900. — Art. Nominalismus, by
STOCKL in Wetzer-Welte, IX. 423-427.
For §21. CATHERINE OP SIENA. — Her writings. Epistole ed orazioni
della seraphica vergine s. Catterina da Siena, Venice, 1600, etc. — Best ed.
6 vols., Siena, 1707-1726.— Engl. trans, of the Dialogue of the Seraphic
Virgin Cath. of Siena, by ALOAR THOROLD, London, 1896. — Her Letters, ed.
by N. TOMMABEO : Le letters di S. Caterina da Siena, 4 vols. , Florence, 1860. —
*Engl. trans, by VIDA D. SCUDDER : St. Cath. of Siena as seen in her Letters,
London, 1906, 2d ed., 1906.— Her biography is based upon the Life written
by her confessor, RAYMUNDO DE VINEIB BIVE DE CAPUA, d. 1399 : vita s. Cath.
Senensis, included in the Siena ed. of her works and in the Acta Sanctt. III.
863-969. — Ital. trans, by Catherine's secretary, NERI DE LANDOCCIO, Fr.
trans, by E. CARTIER, Paris, 1863, 4th ed., 1877.— An abbreviation of Ray-
mund's work, with annotations, Leggenda della Cat. da Siena, usually called
186
§ 19. LITEBATUBB. 187
La Leggenda minore, by TOMMASO D' ANTONIO Nxoci CAFPABINI, 1414. — K.
HA SB : Caterina von Siena, Ein Heiligeribild, Leipzig, 1864, new ed., 1892. —
J. E. BUTLKB: Cath. of Siena, London, 1878, 4th ed., 1896. — AUGUSTA T.
DRANE, Engl. Dominican : The Hist, of Cath. of Siena, compiled from the
orig. sources, London, 1880, 3d ed., 1900, with a trans, of the Dialogue.—
St. Catherine of Siena and her Times, by the author of Mademoiselle Mori
(Margaret D. Roberts), New York, 1906, pays little attention to the miracu-
lous element, and presents a full picture of Catherine's age. — *E. G. GARDNER :
St. Catherine of Siena : A Study in the Religion, Literature, and History of
the fourteenth century in Italy, London, 1907.
For § 22. PETER D'AILLY. — PAUL TSCHACKERT : Peter von Ailli. Zur
Gesch. des grossen abendlandischen Schismas und der Reformconcilien von
Pisa und Constanz, Gotha, 1877, and Art. in HERZOG, I. 274-280. — SALEM-
BIER : Petrus de Alliaco, Lille, 1886. — LENZ : Drei Traktate aus d. Schriften-
cyclusd. Konst. Konz., Marburg, 1876. — BESS: Zur Gesch. des Konst. Konzils,
Marburg, 1891.— FINKE: Forsc.hungen und Quellen, etc., pp. 103-182. — For
a list of D'Ailly's writings, See TSCHACKERT, pp. 348-365. — Some of them
are given in VAN DER HARDT and in Du PIN'S ed. of Gerson's Works, I. 489-
804, and the De difficultate reform, cedes., and the De necessitate reform,
eccles., II. 867-903.
For § 23. JOHN GERSON. — Works. Best ed. by L. E. Du PIN, Prof, of
Theol. in Paris, 6 vols., Antwerp, 1706 ; 2d ed., Hague Com., 1728. The
2d ed. has been consulted in this work and is pronounced by Schwab " indis-
pensable/1 It contains the materials of Gerson's life and the contents of his
works in an introductory essay, Gersoniana, I. i-cxlv, and also writings
by D'AILLY, LANGENSTEIN, ALEMAN and other contemporaries. A number
of Gerson's works are given in GOLDAST'S Monarchia and VAN DER HARDT. —
A Vita Gersonis is given in HARDT' s Cone. Const., IV. 26-57. — Chartul. Univ.
Paris., III., IV., under John Arnaud and Gerson. — J. B. SCHWAB : Johannes
Gerson, Prof, der Theologie und Kanzler der Universitdt Paris, Wtirzburg,
1858, an exhaustive work, giving also a history of the times, one of the most
thorough of biographies and to be compared with HURTER'S Innocent III.
— A. MASSON : J. Gerson, sa vie, son temps et ses oyuvres, Lyons, 1894. —
A. LAMBON : J. Gerson, sa reforme de Venseigement theol. et de V education
populaire, Paris, 1888. — BESS: Zur Gesch. d. Konstanz. Konzils; art.
Gerson in HERZOO, VI. 612-617. — LAFONTAINE : Jehas Gerson, 1S63-1429,
Paris, 1906, pp. 340.— J. SCHWANE : Dogmengesch.— WERNER: D. Scholastik
d. spdteren M.A., IV., V.
For § 24. NICOLAS OP CLAMANOES. — Works, ed. by J. M. LYDIUS, 2 vols.,
Leyden, 1613, with Life. — The De ruina ecclesia, with a Life, in VAN DEB
HARDT: Cone. Constan., vol. L, pt. III. — Writings not in Lydius are given
by BULJEUB in Hist. univ. Paris. — BALUZIUS : Miscellanea, and D'ACHERY :
Spicilegium. — Life in Du PIN'S Works of Gerson, I., p. xxxix sq. —A. MUNTZ:
Nic. de Clem., sa vie et ses Merits, Strassburg, 1846. — J. SCHWAB : J. Gerson,
pp. 493-497. — Artt. by BESS in HERZOO, IV. 138-147, and by KNOPFLER in
Wetzer-Welte, IX. 298-806.— G. SCHUBERT: Nic. von Clem, als Verfasser
der Schrift de corrupto ecclesias statu, Grossenhain, 1888.
For § 25. NICOLAS OF CUBA. — Edd. of his Works, 1476 (place not given),
188 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
as ed. by FABER STAPULENSIS, 3 vole., 1514, Basel. — German trans, of a
number of the works by F. A. SCHRAPFF, Freiburg, 1862. — SCHRAPFF : Der
Cardinal und Bischof Nic. von Cusa, Mainz, 1843 ; Nic. von Cusa als Re-
formator in Kirche, Reich und Philosophic des 15ten Jahrh.^ Tubingen, 1871. —
J. M. Dtfx : Der deutsche Card. Nic. von Cusa und die Kirche seiner Zeit,
2 vols., Regensburg, 1847. — J. UEBINGER : D. Gotteslehre des Nic. von Cusa,
Munster, 1888. — J. MARX : Nik. von Cues und seme Stiftungen zu Cues und
Deventer, Treves, 1906, pp. 115. — C. SCHMITT : Card. Nic. Cusanus, Coblenz,
1907. Presents him as astronomer, geographer, mathematician, histo-
rian, homilete, orator, philosopher, and theologian. — STOCKL, III. 23-84. —
SCHWANE, pp. 98-102.— Art. by FUNK in Wetzer-Welte, IX. 306-316.
§ 20. Ockam and the Decay of Scholasticism.
Scholasticism had its last great representative in Duns
Scotus, d. 1308. After him the scholastic method gradually
passed into disrepute. New problems were thrust upon the
mind of Western Europe, and new interests were engaging its
attention. The theologian of the school and the convent gave
way to the practical theological disputant setting forth his
views in tracts and on the floor of the councils. Free dis-
cussion broke up the hegemony of dogmatic assertion. The
authority of the Fathers and of the papacy lost its exclu-
sive hold, and thinkers sought another basis of authority in
the general judgment of contemporary Christendom, in the
Scriptures alone or in reason. The new interest in letters and
the natural world drew attention away from labored theologi-
cal systems which were more adapted to display the ingenuity
of the theologian than to be of practical value to society. The
use of the spoken languages of Europe in literature was fitted
to force thought into the mould of current exigencies. The
discussions of Roger Bacon show that at the beginning of the
fourteenth century men's minds, sated with abstruse meta-
physical solutions of theological questions, great and trivial,
were turning to a world more real and capable of proof.
The chief survivors of the dialectical Schoolmen were Du-
randus and William Ockam. Gabriel Biel of Tubingen, who
died just before the close of the fifteenth century, is usually
called the last of the Schoolmen.1 Such men as D'Ailly, Ger-
1 Seeberg gives a good deal of attention to Biel in his Dogmengeschichte.
Stockl carries the history of scholasticism down to Cardinal Cajetan, who wrote
§ 20. OCKAM AND THE DECAY OF SCHOLASTICISM. 189
son and Wyclif, sometimes included under the head of medi-
eval scholastics, evidently belong to another class.
A characteristic feature of the scholasticism of Durandus
and Ockani is the sharper distinction they made between
reason and revelation. Following Duns Scotus, they declared
that doctrines peculiar to revealed theology are not suscep-
tible of proof by pure reason. The body of dogmatic truth,
as accepted by the Church, they did not question.
A second characteristic is the absence of originality. They
elaborated what they received. The Schoolmen of former
periods had exhausted the list of theological questions and
discussed them from every standpoint.
The third characteristic is the revival and ascendency of
nominalism, the principle Roscellinus advocated more than
two hundred years before. The Nominalists were also called
Terminists, because they represent words as terms which do
not necessarily have ideas and realities to correspond to them.
A universal is simply a symbol or term for a number of things
or for that which is common to a number of things.1 Univer-
sality is nothing more than a mode of mental conception. The
University of Paris resisted the spread of nominalism, and in
1339 the four nations forbade the promulgation of Ockam's
doctrine or listening to its being expounded in private or
public.2 In 1473, Louis XI. issued a mandate forbidding the
doctors at Paris teaching it, and prohibiting the use of the
writings of Ockarn, Marsiglius and other writers. In 1481
the law was rescinded.
Durandus, known as doctor resolutiasimus, the resolute doc-
tor, d. 1334, was born at Pour^ain, in the diocese of Clermont,
entered the Dominican order, was appointed by John XXII.
bishop of Limoux, 1317, and was later elevated to the sees of
Puy and Meaux. He attacked some of the rules of the Fran-
acommentary on Thomas Aquinas' Summatheologica, and includes the German
mystics, Eck, Luther, etc., who clearly belong in another category. Professor
Seth, in art. Scholasticism in the Enc. Brit*, and Werner, close the history with
Francis Suarez, 1617. The new age had begun a hundred years before that tune.
1 Terminus prolatusvel scriptus nihil signiftcat nisi secundum voluntariam
institutionem. Ockam, as quoted by Stbckl, II. 962.
2 Chartul. II. 485. Also p. 607, etc.
190 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
ciscans and John XXII. *s theory of the beatific vision, and in
1333 was declared by a commission guilty of eleven errors.
His theological views are found in his commentary on the
Lombard, begun when he was a young man and finished in his
old age. He showed independence by assailing some of the
views of Thomas Aquinas. He went beyond his predecessors
in exalting the Scriptures above tradition and pronouncing
their statements more authoritative than the dicta of Aristotle
and other philosophers.1 All real existence is in the indi-
vidual. The universal is not an entity which can be divided
as a chunk of wood is cut into pieces. The universal, the
unity by which objects are grouped together as a class, is de-
duced from individuals by an act of the mind. That which
is common to a class has, apart from the individuals of the
class, no real existence.
On the doctrine of the eucharist Durandus seems not to
have been fully satisfied with the view held by the Church, and
suggested that the words " this is my body," may mean " con-
tained under " — contentum sub hoc. This marks an approach
to Luther's view of consubstantiation. This theologian was
held in such high esteem by Gerson that he recommended him,
together with Thomas Aquinas, Bradwardine and Henry of
Ghent, to the students of the college of Navarre.2
The most prof ound scholastic thinker of the fourteenth cen-
tury was the Englishman, William Ockam, d. 1349, called
doctor invincibility the invincible doctor, or, with reference to
his advocacy of nominalism, venerabilia inceptor, the venerable
inaugurator. His writings, which were more voluminous than
lucid, were much published at the close of the fifteenth cen-
tury, but have not been put into print for several hundred
years. There is no complete edition of them. Ockam's
views combined elements which were strictly mediaeval, and
elements which were adopted by the Reformers and modern
1 Naturalis philosophies non est scire quid Aristoteles vel alii philosophi
senserunt sed quid habet veritas rerum, quoted by Deutsch, p. 97. Durandus'
commentary on the sentences of the Lombard was publ. Paris, 1608, 1615,
etc. See DtHtoch, art. Durandus, in Herzog, V. 06-104.
2 Schwab : J. Gerson, p. 812.
§ 20. OCKAM AND THE DECAY OF SCHOLASTICISM. 191
philosophy. His identification with the cause of the Spirit-
ual Franciscans involved him in controversy with two popes,
John XXII. and Benedict XII. His denial of papal infalli-
bility has the appearance not so much of a doctrine pro-
ceeding from theological conviction as the chance weapon laid
hold of in time of conflict to protect the cause of the Spirituals.
Of the earlier period of Ockam's life, little is known. He
was born in Surrey, studied at Oxford, where he probably was a
student of Dims Scotus, entered the Franciscan order, and was
probably master in Paris, 1315-1820. For his advocacy of the
doctrine of Christ's absolute poverty he was, by order of John
XXII., tried and found guilty and thrown into confinement.1
With the aid of Lewis the Bavarian, he and his companions,
Michael of Cesena and Bonagratia, escaped in 1328 to Pisa.
From that time on, the emperor and the Schoolman, as already
stated, defended one another. Ockam accompanied the em-
peror to Munich and was excommunicated. At Cesena's
death the Franciscan seal passed into his hands, but whatever
authority he possessed he resigned the next year into the
hands of the acknowledged Franciscan general, Farinerius.
Clement VI. offered him absolution on condition of his abjur-
ing his errors. Whether he accepted the offer or not is un-
known. He died at Munich and is buried there. The dis-
tinguished Englishman owes his reputation to his revival of
nominalism, his political theories and his definition of the final
seat of religious authority.
His theory of nominalism was explicit, and offered no toler-
ation to the realism of the great Schoolmen from Anselm on.
Individual things alone have factual existence. The univer-
sals are mere terms or symbols, fictions of the mind — fic-
tionea, signa mentalia, nomine^ tigna verbalia. They are like
images in a mirror. A universal stands for an intellectual
act — actus intelligenda — and nothing more. Did ideas exist
in God's mind as distinct entities, then the visible world would
have been created out of them and not out of nothing.2
1 It lasted four years, Mttller, Ludwig der Baier, p. 208.
2 Nullum universale est aliqua substantial extra animam existed, quoted by
Seeberg, in Herzog, p. 269. Quoddam fictum existent objective in mente.
192 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
Following Duns Scotus, Ockam taught determinism.
God's absolute will makes things what they are. Christ
might have become wood or stone if God had so chosen.
In spite of Aristotle, a body might have different kinds of
motion at the same time. In the department of morals,
what is now bad might have been good, if God had so
willed it.
In the department of civil government, Ockam, advocating
the position taken by the electors at Rense, 1338, declared
the emperor did not need the confirmation of the pope. The
imperial office is derived immediately from God.1 The Church
is a priestly institution, administers the sacraments and shows
men the way of salvation, but has no civil jurisdiction,2 potes-
tas coactiva.
The final seat of authority, this thinker found in the Scrip-
tures. Truths such as the Trinity and the incarnation cannot
be deduced by argument. The being of God cannot be proven
from the so-called idea of God. A plurality of gods may be
proven by the reason as well as the existence of the one God.
Popes and councils may err. The Bible alone is inerrant.
A Christian cannot be held to believe anything not in the
Scriptures.8
The Church is the community of the faithful — communitas,
or congregatio fideliumt The Roman Church is not identical
with it, and this body of Christians may exist independently
of the Roman Church. If the pope had plenary power, the law
of the Gospel would be more galling than the law of Moses.
Werner, III. 116. The expression objective in mente is equivalent to our word
subjective.
1 Imperialis dignitas et potestas cst immediate a solo Deo. Goldast, IV. 90,
Frankf. ed. See also Dorner, p. 675.
2 Kropatscheck, p. 65 sq., Matt. 30:25 sqq. Clement VI. declared
Ockam had sucked his political heresies from Mareiglius of Padua.
8 See Riezler, p. 273, and Seeberg, pp. 271, 278, Christianus de necessitate
salutis non tenetur ad credendum nee credere quod nee in bibha continetur
nee ex solis contentis in biblia potest consequentia necessaria et manifesto,
inferri.
4 Itomana ecclesia eat distincta a congregations fldelium et potest contra
fldem errare. Ecclesia autem universalis errare non potest. See Kropat-
scheck, p. 65 eqq., and also Dorner, p. 606.
§ 20. OCKAM AND THE DECAY OF SCHOLASTICISM. 193
All would then be the pope's slaves.1 The papacy is not a
necessary institution.
In the doctrine of the eucharist, Ockam represents the
traditional view as less probable than the view that Christ's
body is at the side of the bread. This theory of impanation,
which Rupert of Deutz taught, approached Luther's theory of
consubstantiation. However, Ockam accepted the Church's
view, because it was the less intelligible and because the power
of God is unlimited. John of Paris, d. 1308, had compared
the presence of Christ in the elements to the co-existence of
two natures in the incarnation and was deposed from his
chair at the University of Paris, 1304. Gabriel Biel took a
similar view.2
Ockam's views on the authority of the civil power, papal
errancy, the infallibility of the Scriptures and the eucharist
are often compared with the views of Luther.8 The German
reformer spoke of the English Schoolman as " without doubt
the leader and most ingenious of the Schoolmen" — scholas-
ticorum doctorum sine dubio princeps et ingeniosissimus. He
called him his " dear teacher," and declared himself to be of
Ockam's party — sum Occamicce factionis.* The two men were,
however, utterly unlike. Ockam was a theorist, not a reformer,
and in spite of his bold sayings, remained a child of the
mediaeval age. He started no party or school in theologi-
cal matters. Luther exalted personal faith in the living
Christ. He discovered new principles in the Scriptures, and
made them the active forces of individual and national belief
and practice. We might think of Luther as an Ockam if he
had lived in the fourteenth century. We cannot think of
Ockam as a reformer in the sixteenth century. He would
scarcely have renounced monkery. Ockam's merit consists
in this that, in common with Marsiglius and other leaders of
1 See Werner, III. 120, who quotes Scaliger as saying of Ockain, omnium
mortalium subtillissimus, cujus ingenium vetera subvertit, nova ad invictas
insanias et incomprehensibiles subtditates fabricavit et conformavit.
2 See Werner, D. hi. Thomas, III. Ill; Harnack, Dogmengesch., III. 494;
Seeberg, 276.
* For example, Kropatscheck, especially p. 66 sqq., and Seeberg, p. 289.
« Weimar, ed. VI. 183, 195, 600, as quoted by Seeberg.
o
194 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
thought, he imbibed the new spirit of free discussion, and was
bold enough to assail the traditional dogmas of his time.
In this way he contributed to the unsettlement of the perni-
cious mediaeval theory of the seat of authority.
§ 21. Catherine of Siena^ the Saint.
Next to Francis d'Assisi, the most celebrated of the Italian
saints is Catherine of Siena — Caterina da Siena — 1347-1380.
With Elizabeth of Thuringia, who lived more than a century
before her, she is the most eminent of the holy women of the
Middle Ages whom the Church has canonized. Her fame de-
pends upon her single-hearted piety and her efforts to advance
the interests of the Church and her nation. She left no order
to encourage the reverence for her name. She was the most
public of all the women of the Middle Ages in Italy, and yet
she passed unscathed and without a taint through streets and
in courts. Now, as the daughter of an humble citizen of Siena,
she ministers to the poor and the sick: now, as the prophetess
of heaven, she appeals to the conscience of popes and of com-
monwealths. Her native Sienese have sanctified her with the
fragrant name la beata poplana, the blessed daughter of the
people. Although much in her career, as it has been handed
down by her confessor and biographer, may seem to be
legendary, and although the hysterical element may not be
altogether wanting from her piety, she yet deserves and will
have the admiration of all men who are moved by the sight
of a noble enthusiasm. It would require a fanatical severity
to read the account of her unwearied efforts and the letters,
into which she equally poured the fire of her soul, without
feeling that the Sienese saint was a very remarkable woman,
the Florence Nightingale of her time or more, " one of the most
wonderful women that have ever lived," as her most recent
English biographer has pronounced her. Or, shall we join
Gregorovius, the thorough student of mediaeval Rome, in
saying, " Catherine's figure flits like that of an angel: through
the darkness of her time, over which her gracious genius
sheds a soft radiance. Her life is more worthy and assuredly
§ 21. CATHERINE OF SIENA, THE SAINT. 195
a more human subject for history than the lives of the popes
of her age."1
Catherine Benincasa was the twenty-third of a family of
twenty-five children. Her twin sister, Giovanna, died in in-
fancy. Her father was a dyer in prosperous circumstances.
Her mother, Monna Lapa, survived the daughter. Catherine
treated her with filial respect, wrote her letters, several of
which are extant, and had her with her on journeys and in
Rome during her last days there. Catherine had no school
training, and her knowledge of reading and writing she ac-
quired after she was grown up.
As a child she was susceptible to religious impressions,
and frequented the Dominican church near her father's
home. The miracles of her earlier childhood were reported
by her confessor and biographer, Raymund of Capua. At
twelve her parents arranged for her a marriage, but to avoid
it Catherine cut off her beautiful hair. She joined the ter-
tiary order of the Dominicans, the women adherents being
called the mantellate from their black mantles. Raymuud
declares " that nature had not given her a face over-fair,"
and her personal appearance was marred by the marks of
the smallpox. And yet she had a winning expression, a
fund of good spirits, and sang and laughed heartily. Once
devoted to a religious life, she practised great austerities,
flagellating herself three times a day, — once for herself,
once for the living and once for the dead. She wore a hair
undergarment and an iron chain. During one Lenten sea-
son she lived on the bread taken in communion. These asceti-
cisms were performed in a chamber in her father's house.
She was never an inmate of a convent. Such extreme asceti-
cisms as she practised upon herself she disparaged at a later
period.
At an early age Catherine became the subject of visions
and revelations. On one of these occasions and after hours
of dire temptation, when she was tempted to live like other
girls, the Saviour appeared to her stretched on the cross and
said : " My own daughter, Catherine, seest thou how much I
1 Gardner, p. vii ; Gregorovius, VI. 521 sqq.
196 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
have suffered for thee ? Let it not be hard for thee to suffer
for me." Thrilled with the address, she asked: "Where wert
thou, Lord, when I was tempted with such impurity?" and He
replied, "In thy heart." In 1367, according to her own
statement, the Saviour betrothed himself to her, putting a
ring on her finger. The ring was ever afterwards visible to
herself though unseen by others. Five years before her death,
she received the stigmata directly from Christ. Their im-
pression gave sharp pain, and Catherine insisted that, though
they likewise were invisible to others, they were real to her.
In obedience to a revelation, Catherine renounced the
retired life she had been living, and at the age of twenty
began to appear in public and perform the active offices of
charity. This was in 1367. She visited the poor and sick,
and soon became known as the ministering angel of the
whole city. During the plague of 1374, she was indefati-
gable by day and night, healed those of whom the physicians
despaired, and she even raised the dead. The lepers outside
the city walls she did not neglect.
One of the remarkable incidents in her career which she
vouches for in one of her letters to Raymund was her treat-
ment of Niccolo Tuldo, a young nobleman condemned to die
for having uttered words disrespectful of the city govern-
ment. The young man was in despair, but under Catherine's
influence he not only regained composure, but became joyful
in the prospect of death. Catherine was with him at the
block and held his head. She writes, " I have just received
a head into my hands which was to me of such sweetness as
no heart can think, or tongue describe." Before the execu-
tion she accompanied the unfortunate man to the mass, where
he received the communion for the first time. His last words
were " naught but Jesus and Catherine. And, so saying,"
wrote his benefactress, "I received his head in my hands."
She then saw him received of Christ, and as she further
wrote, " When he was at rest, my soul rested in peace, in so
great fragrance of blood that I could not bear to remove the
blood which had fallen on me from him."
The fame of such a woman could not be held within the
§ 21. CATHERINE OP SIENA, THE SAINT. 197
walls of her native city. Neighboring cities and even the
pope in Avignon heard of her deeds of charity and her rev-
elations. The guide of minds seeking the consolations of
religion, the minister to the sick and dying, Catherine now
entered into the wider sphere of the political life of Italy and
the welfare of the Church. Her concern was divided between
efforts to support the papacy and to secure the amelioration
of the clergy and establish peace. With the zeal of a prophet,
she urged upon Gregory XI. to return to Rome. She sought
to prevent the rising of the Tuscan cities against the Avignon
popes and to remove the interdict which was launched against
Florence, and she supported Urban VI. against the anti-pope,
Clement VII. With equal fervor she urged Gregory to insti-
tute a reformation of the clergy, to allow no weight to consid-
erations of simony and flattery in choosing cardinals and pastors
and " to drive out of the sheep-fold those wolves, those demons
incarnate, who think only of good cheer, splendid feasts and su-
perb liveries." She also was zealous in striving to stir up the
flames of a new crusade. To Sir John Hawkwood, the free-
lance and terror of the peninsula, she wrote, calling upon him
that, as he took such pleasure in fighting, he should thenceforth
no longer direct his arms against Christians, but against the
infidels. She communicated to the Queen of Cyprus on the
subject. Again and again she urged it upon Gregory XI.,
and chiefly on the grounds that he " might minister the blood
of the Lamb to the wretched infidels," and that converted, they
might aid in driving pride and other vices out of the Christian
world.1
Commissioned by Gregory, she journeyed to Pisa to influ-
ence the city in his favor. She was received with honors by
the archbishop and the head of jbhe republic, and won over two
professors who visited her with the purpose of showing her
she was self -deceived or worse. She told them that it was
not important for her to know how God had created the world,
but that " it was essential to know that the Son of God had
taken our human nature and lived and died for our salva-
tion." One of the professors, removing his crimson velvet
* Scudder, Letters, pp. 100, 121, 136, 179, 184, 284, etc.
198 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
cap, knelt before her and asked for forgiveness. Catherine's
cures of the sick won the confidence of the people. On this
visit she was accompanied by her mother and a group of like-
minded women.
A large chapter in Catherine's life is interwoven with the
history of Florence. The spirit of revolt against the Avi-
gnon regime was rising in upper Italy and, when the papal
legate in Bologna, in a year of dearth, forbade the transpor-
tation of provisions to Florence, it broke out into war. At
the invitation of the Florentines, Catherine visited the city,
1375 and, a year later, was sent as a delegate to Avignon
to negotiate terms of peace. She was received with honor
by the pope, but not without hesitancy. The other mem-
bers of the delegation, when they arrived, refused to recog-
nize her powers and approve her methods. The cardinals
treated her coolly or with contempt, and women laid snares
at her devotions to bring ridicule upon her. Such an at-
tempt was made by the pope's niece, Madame de Beaufort
Turenne, who knelt at her side and ran a sharp knife into
her foot so that she limped from the wound.
The dyer's daughter now turned her attention to the task
of confirming the supreme pontiff in his purpose to return
to Rome and counteract the machinations of the cardinals
against its execution. Seeing her desire realized, she
started back for Italy and, met by her mother at Leg-
horn, went on to Florence, carrying a commission from the
pope. Her effort to induce the city to bow to the sentence
of interdict, which had been laid upon it, was in a measure
successful. Her reverence for the papal office demanded
passive obedience. Gregory's successor, Urban VI., lifted
the ban. Catherine then returned to Siena where she dic-
tated the Dialogue, a mystical treatise inculcating prayer,
obedience, discretion and other virtues. Catherine declared
that God alone had been her guide in its composition.
In the difficulties, which arose soon after Urban's election,
that pontiff looked to Siena and called its distinguished
daughter to Rome. They had met in Avignon. Accom-
panied by her mother and other companions, she reached
§ 21. CATHERINE OF SIENA, THE SAINT. 199
the holy city in the Autumn of 1378. They occupied a
house by themselves and lived upon alms.1 Her summons
to Urban " to battle only with the weapons of repentance,
prayer, virtue and love" were not heeded. Her presence,
however, had a beneficent influence, and on one occasion,
when the mob raged and poured into the Vatican, she ap-
peared as a peacemaker, and the sight of her face and her
words quieted the tumult.
She died lying on boards, April 29, 1380. To her com-
panions standing at her side, she said : " Dear children, let
not my death sadden you, rather rejoice to think that I am
leaving a place of many sufferings to go to rest in the quiet
sea, the eternal God, and to be united forever with my
most sweet and loving Bridegroom. And I promise to be
with you more and to be more useful to you, since I leave
darkness to pass into the true and everlasting light."
Again and again she whispered, " I have sinned, O Lord ;
be merciful to me." She prayed for Urban, for the whole
Church and for her companions, and then she departed,
repeating the words, " Into thy hands I commit my spirit."
At the time of her death Catherine of Siena was not yet
thirty-three years old. A magnificent funeral was ordered
by Urban. A year after, her head, enclosed in a reliquary,
was sent to her native Siena, and in 1461 she was canon-
ized by the city's famous son, pope Pius II., who uttered
the high praise "that none ever approached her without
going away better." In 1865 when Santa Maria sopra
Minerva in Rome was reopened, her ashes were carried
through the streets, the silver urn containing them being
borne by four bishops. Lamps are kept ever burning at
the altar dedicated to her in the church. In 1866 Pius IX.
elevated the dyer's daughter to the dignity of patron saint
and protectress of Rome, a dignity she shares with the
prince of the Apostles. With Petrarch she had been the
most ardent advocate of its claims as the papal residence,
and her zeal was exclusively religious.
1 Gardner, p. 298, says one of the two houses is still shown where they
dwelt.
200 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
In her correspondence and Dialogue we have the biography
of Catherine's soul. Nearly four hundred of her letters are
extant. l Not only have they a place of eminence as the revela-
tions of a saintly woman's thoughts and inner life, but are, next
to the letters written by Petrarch, the chief specimens of
epistolary literature of the fourteenth century. She wrote
to persons of all classes, to her mother, the recluse in the
cloister, her confessor, Raymund of Capua, to men and women
addicted to the pleasures of the world, to the magistrates of
cities, queens and kings, to cardinals, and to the popes, Greg-
ory XI. and Urban VI., gave words of counsel, set forth at
length measures and motives of action, used the terms of
entreaty and admonition, and did not hesitate to employ
threats of divine judgment, as in writing to the Queen of
Naples. They abound in wise counsels.
The correspondence shows that Catherine had some ac-
quaintance with the New Testament from which she quotes
the greater precepts and draws descriptions from the miracle of
the water changed into wine and the expulsion of the money-
changers from the temple and such parables as the ten virgins
and the marriage-feast. One of her most frequent expressions
is the blood of Christ, and in truly mystical or conventual
manner she bids her correspondents, even the pope and the
cardinals, bathe and drown and inebriate themselves in it, yea,
to clothe and fill themselves with it, " for Christ did not buy
us with gold or silver or pearls or other precious stones, but
with his own precious blood."2
To Catherine the religious life was a subjection of the will
to the will of God and the outgoing of the soul in exercises
of prayer and the practice of love. " I want you to wholly
destroy your own will that it may cling to Christ crucified."
So she wrote to a mother bereft of her children. Writing
to the recluse, Bartolomea della Seta, she represented the
Saviour as saying, " Sin and virtue consist in the consent of
the will, there is no sin or virtue unless voluntarily wrought."
1 None of these are in her own hand, but six of them are originals as they
were written down at her dictation. Gardner, p. xii., 373 sqq.
* Letters, pp. 64, 65, 75, 110, 158, 164, 226, 263, 283, etc.
§ 21. CATHERINE OF SIENA, THE SAINT. 201
To another she wrote, " I have already seen many penitents
who have been neither patient nor obedient because they have
studied to kill their bodies but not their wills." 1
Her sound religious philosophy showed itself in insisting
again and again that outward discipline is not the only or
always the best way to secure the victory of the spirit. If
the body is weak or fallen into illness, the rule of discretion
sets aside the exercises of bodily discipline. She wrote,
" Not only should fasting be abandoned but flesh be eaten and,
if once a day is not enough, then four times a day." Again
and again she treats of penance as an instrument. "The
little good of penance may hinder the greater good of in-
ward piety. Penance cuts off," so she wrote in a remarkable
letter to Sister Daniella of Orvieto, "yet thou wilt always
find the root in thee, ready to sprout again, but virtue pulls
up by the root."
Monastic as Catherine was, yet no evangelical guide-book
could write more truly than she did in most particulars.
And at no point does this noble woman rise higher than
when she declined to make her own states the standard for
others, and condemned those "who, indiscreetly, want to
measure all bodies by one and the same measure, the meas-
ure by which they measure themselves." Writing to her
niece, Nanna Benincasa, she compared the heart to a lamp,
wide above and narrow below. A bride of Christ must have
lamp and oil and light. The heart should be wide above,
filled with holy thoughts and prayer, bearing in memory the
blessings of God, especially the blessing of the blood by
which we are bought. And like a lamp, it should be narrow
below, " not loving or desiring earthly things in excess nor
hungering for more than God wills to give us."
To the Christian virtues of prayer and love she contin-
ually returns. Christian love is compared to the sea, peace-
ful and profound as God Himself, for "God is love." This
passage throws light upon the unsearchable mystery of the
Incarnate Word who, constrained by love, gave Himself up
in all humility. We love because we are loved. He loves
i Letters, pp. 43, 102, 162, 149.
202 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
of grace, and we love Him of duty because we are bound to
do so; and to show our love to Him we ought to serve and
love every rational creature and extend our love to good and
bad, to all kinds of people, as much to one who does us ill as
to one who serves us, for God is no respecter of persons, and
His charity extends to just men and sinners. Peter's love
before Pentecost was sweet but not strong. After Pentecost
he loved as a son, bearing all tribulations with patience. So
we, too, if we remain in vigil and continual prayer and tarry
ten days, shall receive the plenitude of the Spirit. More
than once in her letters to Gregory, she bursts out into a
eulogy of love as the remedy for all evils. " The soul can-
not live without love," she wrote in the Dialogue, " but must
always love something, for it was created through love.
Affection moves the understanding, as it were, saying, 4 1
want to love, for the food wherewith I am fed is love. ' " l
Such directions as these render Catherine's letters a valua-
ble manual of religious devotion, especially to those who are
on their guard against being carried away by the underly-
ing quietistic tone. Not only do they have a high place as
the revelation of a pious woman's soul. They deal with
unconcealed boldness and candor with the low conditions
into which the Church was fallen. Popes are called upon to
institute reforms in the appointment of clergymen and to
correct abuses in other directions. As for the pacification
of the Tuscan cities, a cause which lay so close to Catherine's
heart, she urged the pontiff to use the measures of peace and
not of war, to deal as a father would deal with a rebellious son,
— to put into practice clemency, not the pride of authority.
Then the very wolves would nestle in his bosom like lambs.2
As for the pope's return to Rome, she urged it as a duty
he owed to God who had made him His vicar. In view of
the opposition on the Rhone, almost holding him as by phys-
ical force, she called upon him " to play the man," " to be a
manly man, free from fear and fleshly love towards himself
or towards any creature related to him by kin," " to be stable
1 Scudder, Letters, pp. 81, 84, 126 sq.; Gardner, Life, p. 377.
9 Letters, p. 133.
§ 21. CATHERINE OF SIENA, THE SAINT. 203
in his resolution and to believe and trust in Christ in spite
of all predictions of the evil to follow his return to Rome." *
To this impassioned Tuscan woman, the appointment of un-
worthy shepherds and bad rectors was responsible for the
rebellion against papal authority, shepherds who, consumed
by self-love, far from dragging Christ's sheep away from the
wolves, devoured the very sheep themselves. It was because
they did not follow the true Shepherd who has given His life
for the sheep. Likening the Church to a garden, she invoked
the pope to uproot the malodorous plants full of avarice,
impurity and pride, to throw them away that the bad priests
and rulers who poison the garden might no longer have rule.
To Urban VI. she addressed burning words of condemna-
tion. "Your sons nourish themselves on the wealth they
receive by ministering the blood of Christ, and are not
ashamed of being money-changers. In their great avarice
they commit simonies, buying benefices with gifts or flat-
teries or gold." And to the papal legate of Bologna, Car-
dinal d'Estaing, she wrote, " make the holy father consider the
loss of souls more than the loss of cities, for God demands
souls."
The stress Catherine laid upon the pope's responsibility
to God and her passionate reproof of an unworthy and hire-
ling ministry, inclined some to give her a place among
the heralds of the Protestant Reformation. Flacius Illyri-
cus included her in the list of his witnesses for the truth
— Catalogue testium veritatis.* With burning warmth she
spoke of a thorough -going reformation which was to come
upon the Church. " The bride, now all deformed and clothed
in rags," she exclaimed, " will then gleam with beauty and
jewels, and be crowned with the diadem of all virtues. All
believing nations will rejoice to have excellent shepherds,
and the unbelieving world, attracted by her glory, will be
1 Letters, pp. 66, 185, 232, etc.
a Dttllinger, Fables and Prophecies of the Middle Ages, p. 330, calls atten-
tion to the failure of Catherine's predictions to reach fulfilment. " How little
have these longings of the devout maiden of Siena been transformed into
history ! "
204 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
converted unto her." Infidel peoples would be brought into
the Catholic fold, — ovile catholicum, — and be converted
unto the true pastor and bishop of souls. But Catherine,
admirable as these sentiments were, moved within the limits
of the mediaeval Church. She placed piety back of peni-
tential exercises in love and prayer and patience, but she
never passed beyond the ascetic and conventual conception
of the Christian life into the open air of liberty through
faith. She had the spirit of Savonarola, the spirit of fiery self-
sacrifice for the well-being of her people and the regeneration
of Christendom, but she did not see beyond the tradition of the
past. Living a hundred years and more before the Floren-
tine prophet, she was excelled by none in her own age and
approached by none of her own nation in the century be-
tween her and Savonarola, in passionate effort to save her
people and help spread righteousness. Hers was the voice
of the prophet, crying in the wilderness, " Prepare ye the way
of the Lord.''
In recalling the women of the century from 1350 to 1450,
the mind easily associates together Catherine of Siena and
Joan of Arc, 1411-1431, one the passionate advocate of the
Church, the other of the national honor of France. The
Maid of Orleans, born of peasant parentage, was only twenty
when she was burnt at the stake on the streets of Rouen, 1431.
Differing from her Italian sister by comeliness of form and
robustness of constitution, she also, as she thought, was the
subject of angelic communications and divine guidance. Her
unselfish devotion to her country at first brought it victory,
but, at last, to her capture and death. Her trial by the Eng-
lish on the charges of heresy and sorcery and her execution
are a dark sheet among the pages of her century's history.
Twenty-five years after her death, the pope revoked the
sentence, and the French heroine, whose standard was
embroidered with lilies and adorned with pictures of the
creation and the annunciation, was beatified, 1909, and now
awaits the crown of canonization from Rome. The exalted
passion of these two women, widely as they differ in methods
and ideals and in the close of their careers, diffuses a bright
§ 22. PETER D'AILLY, ECCLESIASTICAL STATESMAN. 205
light over the selfish pursuits of their time, and makes the
aims of many of its courts look low and grovelling.
§ 22. Peter d'Ailly, Ecclesiastical Statesman.
One of the most prominent figures in the negotiations for
the healing of the papal schism, as well as one of the fore-
most personages of his age, was Peter d'Ailly, born in Com-
piegne 1350, died in Avignon 1420. His eloquence, which
reminds us of Bossuet and other French orators of the court
of Louis XIV., won for him the title of the Eagle of France —
aquila Francia.1
In 1372 he entered the College of Navarre as a theologi-
cal student, prepared a commentary on the Sentences of the
Lombard three years later, and in 1380 reached the theologi-
cal doctorate. He at once became involved in the measures
for the healing of the schism, and in 1381 delivered a cele-
brated address in the name of the university before the French
regent, the duke of Anjou, to win the court for the policy of
settling the papal controversy through a general council.
His appeal not meeting with favor, he retired to Noyon, from
which he wrote a letter purporting to come from the devil,
a satire based on the continuance of the schism, in which
the prince of darkness called upon his friends and vassals,
the prelates, to follow his example in promoting division in
the Church. He warned them as their overlord that the
holding of a council might result in establishing peace and
so bring eternal shame upon them. He urged them to con-
tinue to make the Church a house of merchandise and to be
careful to tithe anise and cummin, to make broad the bor-
ders of their garments and in every other way to do as he
had given them an example.2
In 1384 D'Ailly was made head of the College of Navarre,
where he had Gerson for a pupil, and in 1389 chancellor of
the university.
1 Tschackert, Salembier and Finke consider D'Ailly under the three aspects
of theologian, philosopher and ecclesiastical diplomatist Lenz and Bess em-
phasize the part he played as an advocate of French policy against England.
*JBpistola dtoboli leviathan. Ttchackert gives the text, Appendix, pp. 16-21.
206 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
When Benedict XIII. was chosen successor to Clement
VII., he was sent by the French king on a confidential
mission to Avignon. Benedict won his allegiance and ap-
pointed him successively bishop of Puy, 1395, and bishop of
Cambray, 1397. D'Ailly was with Benedict at Genoa, 1405,
and Savona, 1407, but by that time seems to have come to the
conclusion that Benedict was not sincere in his profession of
readiness to resign, and returned to Cambray. In his absence
Cambray had decided for the subtraction of its allegiance
from Avignon. D'Ailly was seized and taken to Paris, but
protected by the king, who was his friend. Thenceforth he
favored the assemblage of a general council.
At Pisa and at Constance, D'Ailly took the position that
a general council is superior to the pope and may depose
him. Made a cardinal by John XXIII., 1411, he attended
the council held at Rome the following year and in vain
tried to have a reform of the calendar put through. At
Constance, he took the position that the Pisan council,
though it was called by the Spirit and represented the
Church universal, might have erred, as did other councils
reputed to be general councils. He declared that the three
synods of Pisa, Rome and Constance, though not one body,
yet were virtually one, even as the stream of the Rhine at
different points is one and the same. It was not necessary,
so he held, for the Council of Constance to pass acts confirm-
ing the Council of Pisa, for the two were on a par.1
In the proceedings against John XXIII., the cardinal took
sides against him. He was the head of the commission which
tried Huss in matters of faith, June 7, 8, 1415, and was present
when the sentence of death was passed upon that Reformer.
At the close of the council he appears as one of the three
candidates for the office of pope, and his defeat was a disap-
pointment to the French.2 He was appointed legate by
1 These judgments are expressed in the Capita agendorum, a sort of
programme for the guidance of the council prepared by D'Ailly, 1414. Finke,
Forschungcn, pp. 102-132, has no doubt that they proceeded from D'Ailly's
pen, a view confirmed by MSS. in Vienna and Rome. Finke gives a resume*
of the articles, the original of which is given by van der Hardt., II. 201 sqq.
and Mansi, XXVII. 647. * Tschackert, p. 205.
§ 23. JOHN GERSON. 207
Martin V., with his residence at Avignon, and spent his last
days there.
D'Ailly followed Ockam as a nominalist. To his writings
in the departments of philosophy, theology and Church gov-
ernment he added works on astronomy and geography and
a much-read commentary on Aristotle's meteorology.1 His
work on geography, The Picture of the World, — imago mundi,
— written 1410, was a favorite book with Columbus. A
printed copy of it containing marginal notes in the navi-
gator's own hand is preserved in the biblioteca Colombina,
Seville. This copy he probably had with him on his third
journey to America, for, in writing from Hayti, 1498, he
quoted at length the eighth chapter. Leaning chiefly upon
Roger Bacon, the author represented the coast of India or
Cathay as stretching far in the direction of Europe, so that,
in a favorable wind, a ship sailing westwards would reach it
in a few days. This idea was in the air, but it is possible
that it was first impressed upon the mind of the discoverer
of the New World by the reading of D'Ailly's work. Hum-
boldt was the first to show its value for the history of dis-
covery.2
§ 23. John G-erwn, Theologian and Church Leader.
In John Gerson, 1363-1429, we have the most attractive
and the most influential theological leader of the first half
of the fifteenth century. He was intimately identified with
the University of Paris as professor and as its chancellor
in the period of its most extensive influence in Europe.
His voice carried great weight in the settlement of the
questions rising out of the papal schism.
Jean Charlier Gerson, born Dec. 14, 1363, in the village
of Gerson, in the diocese of Rheims, was the oldest of twelve
children. In a letter to him still extant,8 his mother, a godly
woman, pours out her heart in the prayer that her children
may live in unity with each other and with God. Two of
John's brothers became ecclesiastics. In 1377 Gerson went
1 Tschackert gives an estimate of D'Ailly's writings, pp. 303-335.
* See Fiske, Discovery of America, I. 872. « Schwab, p. 61.
208 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
to Paris, entering the College of Navarre. This college was
founded by Johanna, queen of Navarre, 1304, who provided
for 3 departments, the arts with 20 students, philosophy with
30 and theology with 20 students. Provision was made also
for their support, 4 Paris sous weekly for the artists, 6 for the
logicians and 8 for the theologians. These allowances were
to continue until the graduates held benefices of the value
respectively of 30, 40 and 60 pounds. The regulations al-
lowed the theological students a fire, daily, from November to
March after dinner and supper for one half-hour. The luxury
of benches was forbidden by a commission appointed by Ur-
ban V. in 1366. On the festival days, the theologians were
expected to deliver a collation to their fellow-students of the
three classes. The rector at the head of the college, origi-
nally appointed by the faculty of the university, was now ap-
pointed by the king's confessor. The students wore a special
dress and the tonsure, spoke Latin amongst themselves and
ate in common.
Gerson, perhaps the most distinguished name the Univer-
sity of Paris has on its list of students, was a faithful and en-
thusiastic son of his alma mater, calling her " his mother,"
" the mother of the light of the holy Church," " the nurse of
all that is wise and good in Christendom," " a prototype
of the heavenly Jerusalem," "the fountain of knowledge,
the lamp of our faith, the beauty and ornament of France,
yea, of the whole world." l
In 1382, at the age of nineteen, he passed into the theo-
logical department, and a year later came under the guidance
of D'Ailly, the newly appointed rector, remaining under him
for seven years. Gerson was already a marked man, and was
chosen in 1383 procurator of the French "nation," and in
1387 one of the delegation to appear before Clement VII. and
argue the case against John of Montson. This Dominican,
who had been condemned for denying the immaculate con-
ception of Mary, refused to recant on the plea that in being
condemned Thomas Aquinas was condemned, and he appealed
to the pope, The University of Paris took up the case, and
i Schwab, p. 6&.
§ 23. JOHN GEKSON. 209
D'Ailly in two addresses before the papal consistory took the
ground that Thomas, though a saint, was not infallible. The
case went against De Montson ; and the Dominicans, who re-
fused to bow to the decision, left the university and did not
return till 1403.
Gerson advocated Mary's exemption from original as well
as actual sin, and made a distinction between her and Christ,
Christ being exempt by nature, and Mary — domino, nostra —
by an act of divine grace. This doctrine, he said, cannot be
immediately derived from the Scriptures,1 but, as the Apostles
knew more than the prophets, so the Church teachers know
some things the Apostles did not know.
At D'Ailly's promotion to the episcopate, 1395, his pupil fell
heir to both his offices, the offices of professor of theology
and chancellor of the university. In the discussion over the
healing of the schism in which the university took the lead-
ing part, he occupied a place of first prominence, and by tracts,
sermons and public memorials directed the opinion of the
Church in this pressing matter. The premise from which lie
started out was that the peace of the Church is an essential
condition to the fulfilment of its mission. This view he set
forth in a famous sermon, preached in 1404 at Tarascon be-
fore Benedict XIII. and the duke of Orleans. Princes and
prelates, he declared, both owe obedience to law. The end
for which the Church was constituted is the peace and well-
being of men. All Church authority is established to sub-
serve the interests of peace. Peace is so great a boon that
all should be ready to renounce dignities and position for it.
Did not Christ suffer shame ? Better for a while to be with-
out a pope than that the Church should observe the canons
and not have peace, for there can be salvation where there
is no pope.2 A general council should be convened, and it
was pious to believe that in the treatment of the schism it
1 In scriptura sacra neque continetur explicite neque in contentis eadem
educitnr evidenter, Du Pin's ed. III. 1350. For sermons on the concep-
tion, nativity and annunciation of the Virgin, vol. III. 1317-1377. Also III.
041, and Du Pin's Gfersoniana, I. cviii. sq.
2 Potest absque papa mortali stare salus, Du Pin, II. 72. The Tarascon
sermon is given by Du Pin, II. 64-72. Schwab's analysis, pp. 171-178.
p
210 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
would not err — pium est credere non erraret. As Schwab
has said, no one had ever preached in the same way to a pope
before. The sermon caused a sensation.
Gerson, though not present at the council of Pisa, contrib-
uted to its discussions by his important tracts on the Unity
of the Church — De unitate ecclesiastica — and theilemoval of
a Pope — De auferbilitate papce ab ecclesia. The views set forth
were that Christ is the head of the Church, and its monarchi-
cal constitution is unchangeable. There must be one pope,
not several, and the bishops are not equal in authority with
him. As the pope may separate himself from the Church,
so the Church may separate itself from the pope. Such ac-
tion might be required by considerations of self-defence. The
papal office is of God, and yet the pope may be deposed even
by a council called without his consent. All Church offices
and officials exist for the good of the Church, that is, for the
sake of peace which comes through the exercise of love. If
a pope has a right to defend himself against, say, the charge
of unchastity, why should not the Church have a like right
to defend itself? A council acts under the immediate author-
ity of Christ and His laws. The council may pronounce
against a pope by virtue of the power of the keys which is
given not only to one but to the body — unitati. Aristotle de-
clared that the body has the right, if necessary, to depose its
prince. So may the council, and whoso rejects a council of
the Church rejects God who directs its action. A pope may
be deposed for heresy and schism, as, for example, if he did not
bend the knee before the sacrament, and he might be deposed
when no personal guilt was chargeable against him, as in the
case already referred to, when he was a captive of the Sara-
cens and was reported dead.
At the Council of Constance, where Gerson spoke as the
delegate of the French king, he advocated these positions
again and again with his voice, as in his address March 23,
1415, and in a second address July 21, when he defended the
decree which the synod had passed at its fifth session. He
reasserted that the pope may be forced to abdicate, that gen-
eral councils are above the popes and that infallibility only
§ 23. JOHN GERSON. 211
belongs to the Church as a body or its highest representative,
a general council.1
A blot rests upon Gerson's name for the active part he took
in the condemnation of John Huss. He was not aboye his
age, and using the language of Innocent III. called heresy a
cancer.3 He declares that he was as zealous in the proceedings
against Huss and Wyclif as any one could be.8 He pro-
nounced the nineteen errors drawn from Huss' work on the
Church " notoriously heretical." Heresy, he declared, if it is
obstinate, must be destroyed even by the deatli of its profess-
ors.4 He denied Huss' fundamental position that nothing
is to be accepted as divine truth which is not found in Scrip-
ture. Gerson also condemned the appeal to conscience, ex-
plicitly assuming the old position of Church authority and
canon law as final. The opinions of an individual, however
learned he may be in the Scriptures, have no weight before
the judgment of a council.6
In the controversy over the withdrawal of the cup from
the laity, involved in the Bohemian heresy, Gerson also took
an extreme position, defending it by arguments which seem
to us altogether unworthy of a genuine theology. In a tract
on the subject he declared that, though some passages of
Scripture and of the Fathers favored the distribution of both
wine and bread, they do not contain a definite command, and
in the cases where an explicit command is given it must be
understood as applying to the priests who are obliged to com-
mune under both kinds so as to fully represent Christ's suf-
ferings and death. But this is not required of the laity who
commune for the sake of the effect of Christ's death and not
to set it forth. Christ commanded only the Apostles to par-
take of both kinds.6 The custom of lay communion was never
universal, as is proved by Acts 2 : 42, 46. The essence of
1 See Schwab, pp. 520 sqq., 668.
a In a sermon before the Council of Constance, Du Pin, II. 207.
8 Dialog, apologet., Du Pin, II. 387.
4 Adpunitionem et exterminationem errantium, Du Pin, II. 277.
* See Schwab, pp. 699, 601.
6 Contra heresin de communion* laicorum sub utraque specie, Du Pin,
I. 457-468. See Schwab, p. 604 sqq.
212 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
the sacrament of the body and blood is more important than
the elements, John 6 : 54. But the whole Christ is in either
element, and, if some of the doctors take a different view, the
Church's doctrine is to be followed, and not they. From time
immemorial the Church has given the communion only in one
form. The Council of Constance was right in deciding that
only a single element is necessary to a saving participation
in the sacrament. The Church may make changes in the
outward observance when the change does not touch the es-
sence of the right in question. The use of the two elements,
once profitable, is now unprofitable and heretical.
To these statements Gerson added practical considerations
against the distribution of the cup to laymen, such as the dan-
ger of spilling the wine, of soiling the vessels from the long
beards of laymen, of having the wine turn to vinegar, if it be
preserved for the sick and so it cease to be the blood of Christ
— et ita desineret esse sanguis Christi — and from the impos-
sibility of consecrating in one vessel enough for 10,000 to
20,000 communicants, as at Easter time may be necessary.
Another danger was the encouragement such a practice would
give to the notions that priest and layman are equal, and that
the chief value of the sacrament lies in the participation and
not in the consecration of the elements.1 Such are some of
the " scandals " which this renowned teacher ascribed to the
distribution of the cup to the laity.
A subject on which Gerson devoted a great deal of energy
for many years was whether the murder of tyrants or of a
traitorous vassal is justifiable or not. He advocated the
negative side of the case, which he failed to win before the
Council of Constance. The question grew out of the treat-
ment of the half -insane French king, Charles VI. (1380-1422),
and the attempt of different factions to get control of the
government.
On Nov. 23, 1407, the king's cousin, Louis, duke of Orleans,
was murdered at the command of the king's uncle, John,
duke of Burgundy. The duke's act was defended by the
1 Quod virtus hujus sacramenti non e*t principalius in consecratione quam
in sumptione, Du Pin, L 467.
§ 23. JOHN GEE80N. 213
Franciscan and Paris professor, John Petit, — Johannes Par-
vus, — in an address delivered before the king March 8, 1408.
Gerson, who at an earlier time seems to have advocated the
murder of tyrants, answered Petit in a public address, and
called upon the king to suppress Pe tit's nine propositions.1
The University of Paris made Gerson's cause its own. Petit
died in 1411, but the controversy went on. Petit's theory
was this, that every vassal plotting against his lord is deserv-
ing of death in soul and body. He is a tyrant, and accord-
ing to the laws of nature and God any one has the right to
put him out of the way. The higher such a person is in rank,
the more meritorious is the deed. He based his argument
upon Thomas Aquinas, John of Salisbury, Aristotle, Cicero
and other writers, and referred to Moses, Zambri and St.
Michael who cast Lucifer out of heaven, and other examples.
The duke of Orleans was guilty of treason against the king,
and the duke of Burgundy was justified in killing him.
The bishop of Paris, supported by a commission of the In-
quisition and at the king's direction, condemned Petit and his
views. In February, 1414, Gerson made a public address de-
fending the condemnation, and two days later articles taken
from Petit's work were burnt in front of Notre Dame. The
king ratified the bishop's judgment, and the duke of Burgundy
appealed the case to Rome.2
The case was now transferred to the council, which at its
fifteenth session, July 6, 1415, passed a compromise measure
condemning the doctrine that a tyrant, in the absence of a
judicial sentence, may and ought to be put to death by any
subject whatever, even by the use of treacherous means, and
in the face of an oath without committing perjury. Petit was
not mentioned by name. It was this negative and timid ac-
tion, which led Gerson to say that if Huss had had a defender,
lie would not have been found guilty. It was rumored that
1 Vol. V. of Gerson's works is taken up with documents bearing on this
subject Gerson's addresses, bearing upon it at Constance, are given in vol. II.
See Schwab, p. 609 sqq., and Bess, Zur Geschichte, etc. The Chartulariwm,
IV. 261-286, 326 sqq., gives the nine propositions in French, with Gerson's
reply, and other matter pertaining to the controversy. 2 Schwab, p. 620.
214 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
the commission which was appointed to bring in a report, by
sixty-one out of eighty votes, decided for the permissibility
of Petit's articles declaring that Peter meant to kill the high
priest's servant, and that, if he had known Judas' thoughts
at the Last Supper, he would have been justified in killing
him. The duke of Burgundy's gold is said to have been
freely used.1 The party led by the bishop of Arras argued
that the tyrant who takes the sword is to be punished with the
sword. Gerson, who was supported by D'Ailly replied that
then the command " thou shalt not kill " would only forbid such
an act as murder, if there was coupled with it an inspired gloss,
"without judicial authority." The command means, "thou
shalt not kill the innocent, or kill out of revenge." Gerson
pressed the matter for the last time in an address delivered be-
fore the council, Jan. 17, 1417, but the council refused to go
beyond the decree of the fifteenth session.
The duke of Burgundy got possession of Paris in 1418, and
Gerson found the doors of France closed to him. Under the
protection of the duke of Bavaria he found refuge at Ratten-
berg and later in Austria. On the assassination of the duke
of Burgundy himself, with the connivance of the dauphin,
Sept. 10, 1419, he returned to France, but not to Paris. He
went to Lyons, where his brother John was, and spent his last
years there in monastic seclusion. The dauphin is said to have
granted him 200 livres in 1420 in recognition of his services to
the crown.
It remains to speak of Gerson as a theologian, a preacher
and a patriot.
In the department of theology proper Gerson has a place
among the mystics.2 Mysticism he defines as " the art of love,"
the " perception of God through experience. " Such experience
is reached by humility and penance more than through the path
of speculation. The contemplative life is most desirable, but,
1Mansi, XXVII. 765, Quilibet tyrannus potest et debet licite et meritortc
occidi per quemcumque . . . non expectata sententta vel mandate judicis
cuiuseumque. For D'Ailly 's part, see Tschackert, pp. 235-247.
2 Gerson's mysticism is presented in such tracts as De vita spirituali anima
and De monte contemplations, Da Pin, III. 1-77, 541-579.
§ 23. JOHN GERSON. 215
following Christ's example, contemplation must be combined
with action. The contemplation of God consists of knowledge
as taught in John 17 : 3, " This is life eternal, to know Thee
and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent." Such knowledge is
mingled with love. The soul is one with God through love.
His mysticism was based, on the one hand, on the study of the
Scriptures and, on the other, on the study of Bonaventura and
the St. Victors. He wrote a special treatise in praise of Bona-
ventura and his mystical writings. Far from having any con-
scious affinity with the German mystics, he wrote against John
of Ruysbroeck and Ruysbroeck's pupil, John of Schdnhofen,
charging them with pantheism.
While Gerson emphasized the religious feelings, he was far
from being a religious visionary and wrote treatises against the
dangers of delusion from dreams and revelations. As coins
must be tested by their weight, hardness, color, shape and
stamp, so visions are to be tested by the humility and honesty
of those who profess to have them and their readiness to teach
and be taught. He commended the monk who, when some one
offered to show him a figure like Christ, replied, " I do not want
to see Christ on the earth. I am contented to wait till I see
him in heaven."
When the negotiations were going on at the Council of Con-
stance for the confirmation of the canonization of St. Brigitta,
Gerson laid down the principle that, if visions reveal what is
already in the Scriptures,1 then they are false, for God does
not repeat Himself, Job 33 : 14. People have itching ears for
revelations because they do not study the Bible. Later he
warned2 against the revelations of women, as women are more
open to deception than men.
The Scriptures, Gerson taught, are the Church's rule and
guide to the end of the world. If a single statement should
be proved false, then the whole volume is false, for the Holy
Spirit is author of the whole. The letter of the text, however,
is not sufficient to determine their meaning, as is proved from
1 In his De probations spirituum, Du Pin, I. 37-43; and De distinctions
verarum visionum a falsis, Du Pin, I. 43-69.
8 De examinations doctrinarum, Du Pin, I. 7-22.
216 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
the translations of the Waldenses, Beghards and other sec-
taries.1 The text needs the authority of the Church, as Augus-
tine indicated when he said, " I would not believe the Gospel
if the authority of the Church did not compel me."
Great as Gerson's services were in other departments, it was,
to follow his sympathetic and scholarly biographer, Schwab,
from the pulpit that he exercised most influence on his gener-
ation.2 He preached in French as well as Latin, and his ser-
mons had, for the most part, a practical intent, being occupied
with ethical themes such as pride, idleness, anger, the command-
ments of the Decalogue, the marital state. He held that the
ordinary priest should confine himself to a simple explanation
of the Decalogue, the greater sins and the articles of faith.
During the last ten years of his life, spent in seclusion at
Lyons, he continued his literary activity, writing more partic-
ularly in the vein of mystical theology. His last work was
on the Canticles.
The tradition runs that the great teacher in his last years
conducted a catechetical school for children in St. Paul's at
Lyons, and that he taught them to offer for himself the daily
prayer, " God, my creator, have pity upon Thy poor servant,
Jean Gerson " — Mon Dieu^ mon Createur, ayez pitit de vostre
pauvre serviteur, Jean Gerson.3 It was for young boys and per-
haps for boys spending their first years in the university that
he wrote his tractate entitled Leading Children to Christ.4 It
opens with an exposition of the words, " Suffer little children
to come unto me " and proceeds to show how much more seemly
it is to offer to God our best in youth than the dregs of sickly
1 Si propositio aliqua s. scripturce posita assertive per auctorem suum,
qui est Sp. sanctus, esset falsa, tota 8. scripturce vacillaret auctoritas, quoted
by Schwab, p. 314.
2 Gerson hatte seine einflussreiche Stellung vorzuyxweise dem Eufe zu
danken den er als Prediger genoss, Schwab, p. 376.
8 See Schwab, p. 773, who neither accepts nor rejects the tradition. Dr.
Philip Schaff used to bring the last literary activity of President Theodore D.
Wolsey, of Yale College, into comparison with the activity of Gerson. In his
last years Dr. Wolsey wrote the expositions of the Sunday school lessons for
the Sunday School Times.
* De parvulis ad Christum trahendis, written according to Schwab, 1409-
1412, Du Pin, HI. 278-291.
§ 23, JOHN GERSOIT. 217
old age. The author takes up the sins children should be ad-
monished to avoid, especially unchastity, and holds up to repro-
bation the principle that vice is venial if it is kept secret, the
principle expressed in the words si non caste tamen caute.
In a threefold work, giving a brief exposition of the Ten
Commandments, a statement of the seven mortal sins and some
short meditations on death and the way to meet it, Gerson
gives a sort of catechism, although it is not thrown into the
form of questions and answers. As the author states, it was
intended for the benefit of poorly instructed curates who heard
confessions, for parents who had children to instruct, for per-
sons not interested in the public services of worship and for
those who had the care of the sick in hospitals.1
The title, most Christian doctor — doctor chriatianissimua —
given to John Gerson is intended to emphasize the evangeli-
cal temper of his teaching. To a clear intellect, he added warm
religious fervor. With a love for the Church, which it would
be hard to find excelled, he magnified the body of Christian
people as possessing the mind and immediate guidance of Christ
and threw himself into the advocacy of the principle that the
judgment of Christendom, as expressed in a general council,
is the final authority of religious matters on the earth.
He opposed some of the superstitions inherited from another
time. He emphasized the authority of the sacred text. In
these views as in others he was in sympathy with the progress-
ive spirit of his age. But he stopped short of the principles of
the Reformers. He knew nothing of the principles of individ-
ual sovereignty and the rights of conscience. His thinking
moved along churchly lines. He had none of the bold original
thought of Wyclif and little of that spirit which sets itself
against the current errors of the times in which we live. His
vote for Huss' burning proves sufficiently that the light of
the new age had not dawned upon his mind. He was not,
like them, a forerunner of the movement of the sixteenth
century.
1 Opusculum tripartitum: depreceptis decalogi, de confessione, et de arte
moriendi, Du Pin, I., 426-450. Bess, in Herzog, VI. 615, calls it " the first
catechism/'
218 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
The chief principle for which Gerson contended, the suprem-
acy of general councils, met with defeat soon after the great
chancellor's death, and was set aside by popes and later by the
judgment of a general council. His writings, however, which
were frequently published remain the chief literary monuments
in the department of theology of the first half of the fourteenth
century.1 Separated from the Schoolmen in spirit and method,
he stands almost in a class by himself, the most eminent theolo-
gian of his century. This judgment is an extension of the
judgment of the eminent German abbot and writer, Tritheraius,
at the close of the fifteenth century: " He was by far the chief
divine of his age " 2 — Theologorum sui temporis longe princeps.
§ 24. Nicolas of Clamanges^ the Moralist.
The third of the great luminaries who gave fame to the
University of Paris in this period, Nicolas Poillevillain de
Clamanges, was born at Clamengis,8 Champagne, about 1367
and died in Paris about 1437. Shy by nature, he took a less
prominent part in the settlement of the great questions of
the age than his contemporaries, D'Ailly and Gerson. Like
them, he was identified with the discussions called forth by
the schism, and is distinguished for the high value he put on
the study of the Scriptures and his sharp exposition of the
corruption of the clergy. He entered the College of Navarre
at twelve, and had D'Ailly and Gerson for his teachers. In
theology he did not go beyond the baccalaureate. It is prob-
able he was chosen rector of the university 1393. With
Peter of Monsterolio, he was the chief classical scholar of
the university and was able to write that in Paris, Virgil,
Terence and Cicero were often read in public and in private.4
In 1394, Clamanges took a prominent part in preparing the
1 The first complete edition of Gerson9 s writings appeared from the press of
John Koelhoff. 4 vols. Cologne, 1483, 1484. The celebrated preacher, Geiler
of Strassburg, edited a second edition 1488. 2 Schwab, p. 779, note.
8 The spelling given by Denifie in the Chartularium.
4 Chartul. III. pp. 6, zi. In the Chartularium Clamanges always appears
as a member of the faculty of the arts, III. 606, etc.
§ 24. NICOLAS OF CLAMANGES, THE MORALIST. 219
paper, setting forth the conclusions of the university in regard
to the healing of the schism.1 It was addressed to the " most
Christian king, Charles VI., most zealous of religious orthodoxy
by his daughter, the university. " This, the famous document
suggesting the three ways of healing the schism, — by abdica-
tion, arbitration and by a general council, — is characterized
by firmness and moderation, two of the elements prominent in
Clamanges' character. It pronounced the schism pestiferous,
and in answer to the question who would give the council its
authority, it answered : " The communion of all the faithful
will give it; Christ will give it, who said: 4 Where two or three
are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of
them.'"
The Paris professor was one of the men whom the keen-
eyed Peter de Luna picked out, and when he was elected pope,
Clamanges supported him and wrote appealing to him, as the
one who no longer occupied the position of one boatman among
others, but stood at the rudder of the ship, to act in the interest
of all Christendom. He was called as secretary to the Avi-
gnon court, but became weary of the commotion and the vices
of the palace and the town.2 In 1406, he seems to have with-
drawn from Benedict at Genoa and retired to Langres, where
he held a canon's stall. He did not, however, break with the
pope, and, when Benedict in 1408 issued the bull threaten-
ing the French court with excommunication, Clamanges was
charged with being its author. He denied the charge, but the
accusation of want of patriotism had made a strong impression,
and he withdrew to the Carthusian convent, Valprofonds, and
later to Fontaine du Bosc. His seclusion he employed in writ-
ing letters and treatises and in the study of the Bible which he
now expressed regret for having neglected in former years for
classical studies.
To D' Ailly he wrote on the advantages of a secluded life. —
Defructu eremi. In another tract — Defructu rerum adver-
sarum — he presented the advantages of adversity. One of
1 Chartul., III. 617-624.
3 Tcedebat me vehementer curte, tcedebat turb&, tadebat tumultua, tcedebat
ambitionia et morwn in plerisque vitiosorum, he wrote. Quoted by Knopfler.
220 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
more importance complained of the abuse of the Lord's Day
and of the multiplication of festivals as taking the workman
from his work while the interests of piety were not advanced.
In still another tract — De studio theologico — addressed to a
theologian at Paris who had inquired whether it was better
for him to continue where he was or to retire to a pastorate,
he emphasized the importance and delicacy of caring for souls,
but advised the inquirer to remain at the university and to con-
cern himself chiefly with the study of the Scriptures. He
ascribed the Church's decline to their neglect, and pronounced
the mass, processionals and festivals as of no account unless
the heart be purified by faith.
During the sessions of the Council of Constance, which he
did not attend, Clamanges sent a letter to that body urging
unity of thought and action. He expressed doubt whether
general councils were always led by the Holy Spirit. The
Church, which he defined as infallible, is only there where the
Holy Spirit is, and where the Church is, can be only known
to God Himself. In 1425 he returned to Paris and lectured
on rhetoric and theology.
Clamanges' reputation rests chiefly upon his sharp criticism
of the corrupt morals of the clergy. His residence in Avignon
gave him a good opportunity for observation. His tract on
the prelates who were practising simony — De prcesulibus simo-
niacis — is a commentary on the words, " But ye have made it
a den of thieves," Matt. 21 : 13. A second tract on the down-
fall of the Church — De ruina ecclesice — is one of the most
noted writings of the age. Here are set forth the simony and
private vices practised at Avignon where all things holy were
prostituted for gold and luxury. Here is described the cor-
ruption of the clergy from the pope down to the lowest class
of priests. The author found ideal conditions in the first cen-
tury, when the minds of the clergy were wholly set on heavenly
things. With possessions and power came avarice and ambi-
tion, pride and luxury. The popes themselves were guilty of
pride in exalting their authority above that of the empire and
by asserting for themselves the right of appointing all prelates,
yea of filling all the benefices of Christendom. The evils aris-
§ 24. NICOLAS OF CLAMANGES, THE MORALIST. 221
ing from annates and expectances surpass the power of state-
ment. The cardinals followed the popes in their greed and
pride, single cardinals having as many as 500 livings. In order
to perpetuate their " tyranny," pope and curia had entered into
league with princes, which Clamanges pronounces an abomina-
ble fornication. Many of the bishops drew large incomes from
their sees which they administered through others, never visit-
ing them themselves. Canons and vicars followed the same
course and divided their time between idleness and sensual
pleasure. The mendicant monks corresponded to the Phari-
sees of the synagogue. Scarcely one cleric out of a thousand
did what his profession demanded. They were steeped in
ignorance and given to brawling, drinking, playing with dice
and fornication. Priests bought the privilege of keeping con-
cubines. As for the nuns, Clamanges said, he dared not speak
of them. Nunneries were not the sanctuaries of God, but
shameful brothels of Venus, resorts of unchaste and wanton
youth for the sating of their passions, and for a girl to put on
the veil was virtually to submit herself to prostitution.1 The
Church was drunken with the lust of power, glory and pleasures.
Judgment was sure to come, and men should bow humbly be-
fore God who alone could rectify the evils and put an end to
the schism. Descriptions such as these must be used with dis-
crimination, and it would be wrong to deduce from them that
the entire clerical body was corrupt. The diseases, however,
must have been deep-seated to call forth such a lament from a
man of Clamanges' position.
The author did not call to open battle like the German Re-
former at a later time, but suggested as a remedy prayers, pro-
cessions and fasts. His watchword was that the Church must
humble itself before it can be rebuilt.3 It was, however, a
1 Quid aliud sunt hoc tempore puellarum monasteria, nisi qucedam, non
dico Dei sanctuaria sed execranda prostibula Veneris . . . ut idem hodie sit
puellam velare quod adpublice scortandum exponere, Hardt, I. 38.
8 Secies, priits humilianda quam erigenda. The authorship of the De ruina
has been made a matter of dispute. Muntz denied it to Clamanges chiefly on
the ground of its poor Latin and Knopfler is inclined to follow him. On the
other hand Schuberth and Schwab, followed somewhat hesitatingly by Bess,
accept the traditional view. Schwab brings out the similarity between the De
222 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
bold utterance and forms an important part of that body of
literature which so powerfully moulded opinion at the time of
the Reformatory councils.
The loud complaints against the state of morals at the papal
court and beyond during the Avignon period increased, if possi-
ble, in strength during the time of the schism. The list of
abuses to be corrected which the Council of Constance issued,
Oct. 30, 1417, includes the official offences of the curia, such
as reservations, annates, the sale of indulgences and the un-
restricted right of appeals to the papal court. The subject of
chastity it remained for individual writers to press. In de-
scribing the third Babylon, Petrarch was even more severe than
Clamanges who wrote of conditions as they existed nearly a
century later and accused the papal household of practising
adultery, rape and all manners of fornication.1 Clamanges
declared that many parishes insisted upon the priests keeping
concubines as a precaution in defence of their own families.
Against all canonical rules John XXIII. gave a dispensation
to the illegitimate son of Henry IV. of England, who was only
ten years old, to enter orders.2 The case of John XXIII. was
an extreme one, but it must be remembered, that in Bologna
where he was sent as cardinal-legate, his biographer, Dietrich
of Nieheim, says that two hundred matrons and maidens, in-
cluding some nuns, fell victims to the future pontiff's amours.
Dietrich Vrie in his History of the Council of Constance said:
" The supreme pontiffs, as I know, are elected through avarice
and simony and likewise the other bishops are ordained for
ruina and Clamanges1 other writings and takes the view that, while the tract
was written in 1401 or 1402, it was not punished till 1400.
1 Mitto stuprum, raptus, incestus, adulteria, qui jam pontiflcalis lasciviae
ludi sunt, quoted by Lea. Sacerd. Celibacy, 1. 426. Gillis li Muisis, abbot of
St. Martin di Tournai, d. 1352, in the Recollections of his Life written a year
before his death, speaks of good wines, a good table, fine attire and above all
holidays as in his day the chief occupations of monks. Cure's and chap-
lains had girls and women as valets, a troublesome habit over which there
was murmuring, and it had to be kept quiet. See C. V. Langlois, La vie en
France au moyen age cTapres quelques moralities du temps, Paris, 1008, pp.
320, 336, etc.
3 Jan. 15, 1412. Under the name of E. Leboorde. For the document,
see English Historical Review, 1904, p. 96 sq.
§ 25. NICOLAS OF CUBA. 223
gqjd. The old proverb * Freely give, for freely ye have received
is now most vilely perverted and runs * Freely I have not re-
ceived and freely I will not give, for I have bought my bishopric
with a great price and must indemnify myself impiously for
my outlay.' ... If Simon Magus were now alive he might
buy with money not only the Holy Ghost but God the Father
and Me, God the Son." l But bad as was the moral condition of
the hierarchy and papacy at the. time of the schism, it was not
so bad as during the last half century of the Middle Ages.
The Reformatory councils are the best, though by no means the
only, proof that a deep moral vitality existed in the Church.
Their very summons and assembling were a protest against
clerical corruption and hypocrisy "in head and members," —
from the pope down to the most obscure priest, — and at the
same time a most hopeful sign of future betterment.
§ 25. Nicolas of Cusa, Scholar and Churchman.
Of the theologians of the generation following Gerson and
D'Ailly none occupies a more conspicuous place than the Ger-
man Nicolas of Cusa, 1401-1464. After taking a prominent
part in the Basel council in its earlier history, he went into
the service of Eugenius IV. and distinguished himself by prac-
tical efforts at Church reform and by writings in theology and
other departments of human learning.
Born at Cues near Treves, the son of a boatman, he left the
parental home on account of harsh treatment. Coming under
the patronage of the count of Manderscheid, he went to De-
venter, where he received training in the school conducted by
the Brothers of the Common Life. He studied law in Padua,
and reached the doctorate, but exchanged law for theology be-
cause, to follow the statement of his opponent, George of Heim-
burg, he had failed in his first case. At Padua he had for one
of his teachers Cesarini, afterwards cardinal and a prominent
figure in the Council of Basel.
In 1432 he appeared in Basel as the representative of Ulrich of
Manderscheid, archbishop-elect of Treves, to advocate Ulrich's
1 Hardt, I. 104 sqq. The lament is put into the mouth of Christ.
224 THE MIDDLE AGES, A.D. 1294-1517.
cause against his rival, Rabanus of Helmstatt, bishop of Spires,
whom the pope had appointed archbishop of the Treves diocese.
Identifying himself closely with the conciliar body, Nicolas
had a leading part in the proceedings with the Hussites and
went with the majority in advocating the superiority of the
council over the pope. His work on Catholic Unity, — De
concordantia catholica, — embodying his views on this question
and dedicated to the council 1433, followed the earlier treat-
ments of Langenstein, Nieheim and Gerson. A general coun-
cil, being inspired by the Holy Spirit, speaks truly and infallibly.
The Church is the body of the faithful — unitas fidelium — and
is represented in a general council. The pope derives his au-
thority from the consent of the Church, a council has power to
dethrone him for heresy and other causes and may not be
prorogued or adjourned without its own consent. Peter re-
ceived no more authority from Christ than the other Apostles.
Whatever was said to Peter was likewise said to the others.
All bishops are of equal authority and dignity, whether their
jurisdiction be episcopal, archiepiscopal, patriarchal or papal,
just as all presbyters are equal.1
In spite of these views, when the question arose as to the
place of meeting the Greeks, Nicolas sided with the minority
in favor of an Italian city, and was a member of the delega-
tions appointed by the minority which visited Eugenius IV. at
Bologna and went to Constantinople. This was in 1437 and
from that time forward he was a ready servant of Eugenius
and his two successors. jEneas Sylvius, afterwards Pius II.,
called him the Hercules of the Eugenians. -32neas also pro-
nounced him a man notable for learning in all branches of
knowledge and on account of his godly life.2
1 John of Turrecremata, d. 1468, whose tract on the seat of authority in the
Church — Summa de eccles. et ejus auctoritate — 1460 has already been referred
to, took the extreme ultramontane position. The papal supremacy extends to
all Christians throughout the world and includes the appointment of all bishops
and right to depose them, the filling of all prelatures and benefices whatsoever
and the canonizing of saints. As the vicar of Christ, he has full jurisdiction
in all the earth in temporal as well as spiritual matters because all jurisdiction
of secular princes is derived from the pope quod omnium principum sacula-
rium jurisdictionalis potestas a papa in eos derivata sit. Quoted from Giese-
ler, III. 6, pp. 210-227. * Hist, of Fred. III., 409, Germ, transl. II. 227.
§ 25. NICOLAS OF CUBA. 225
Eugenius employed his new supporter as legate to arrange
terms of peace with the German Church and princes, an end
he saw accomplished in the concordat of Vienna, 1447. He
was rewarded by promotion to the college of cardinals, and
in 1452 was made bishop of "Brixen in the Tyrol. Here he
sought to introduce Church reforms, and he travelled as the
papal legate in the same interest throughout the larger part of
Germany.
By attempting to assert all the mediaeval f eoffal rights of his
diocese, the bishop came into sharp conflict with Siegmund,
duke of Austria. Even the interdict pronounced by two popes
did not bring the duke to terms. He declared war against the
bishop and, taking him prisoner, forced from him a promise
to renounce the old rights which his predecessors for many
years had not asserted. Once released, the bishop treated his
oath as null, on the ground that it had been forced from him,
and in this he was supported by Pius II. In 1460 he went to
Rome and died at Todi, Umbria, a few years later.
Nicolas of Cusa knew Greek and Hebrew, and perhaps has
claim to being the most universal scholar of Germany up to his
day since Albertus Magnus. He was interested in astronomy,
mathematics and botany, and, as D'Ailly had done before, he
urged, at the Council of Basel, the correction of the calendar.
The literary production on which he spent most labor was a
discussion of the problems of theology — De docta ignorantia.
Here he attacked the scholastic method and showed the in-
fluence upon his mind of mysticism, the atmosphere of which
he breathed at Deventer. He laid stress upon the limitations
of the human mind and the inability of the reason to find out
God exhaustively. Faith, which he defined as a state of the
soul given of God's grace, finds out truths the intellect can-
not attain to.1 His views had an influence upon Faber Stapu-
lensis who edited the Cusan's works and was himself a French
forerunner of Luther in the doctrine of justification by faith,
His last labors, in connection with the crusade against the
1 Fides eat habitus bonus, per bonitatem data a deo, ut per Jldem restau-
rentur iUce veritates objectives, qitas intellectus attingere non potest, quoted
by Schwane, p. 100.
Q
226 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
Turks pushed by Pius II. , led him to studies in the Koran and
the preparation of a tract, — De cribatione Alcoran, — in which
he declared that false religions have the true religion as their
basis.
It is as an ecclesiastical mediator, and as a reformer of cler-
ical and conventual abuses that the cardinal has his chief place
in history. He preached in the vernacular. In Bamberg he
secured the prohibition of new brotherhoods, in Magdeburg
the condemnation of the sale of indulgences for money. In
Salzburg and other places he introduced reforms in convents,
and in connection with other members of his family he founded
the hospital at Cues with beds for 33 patients. He showed
his interest in studies by providing for the training of 20 boys
in Deventer. He dwelt upon the rotation of the earth on its
axis nearly a century before Copernicus. He gave reasons for
regarding the donation of Constantine spurious, and he also
called in question the genuineness of other parts of the Isido-
rian Decretals.
On the other hand, the cardinal was a thorough churchman
and obedient child of the Church. As the agent of Nicolas
V. he travelled in Germany announcing the indulgence of the
Jubilee Year, and through him, it is said, indulgences to the
value of 200,000 gulden were sold for the repair of St. Peter's.
This noble and many-sided man has been coupled together
with Gutenberg by Janssen, — the able and learned apologist
of the Catholic Church in the closing years of the Middle Ages,
— the one as the champion of clerical and Church discipline,
the other the inventor of the printing-press. It is no dispar-
agement of the impulses and work of Nicolas to say that he
had not the mission of the herald of a new age in thought and
religion as it was given to Gutenberg to promote culture and
civilization by his invention.1 He did not possess the gift of
1 Janssen, I. 2-6. Here we come for the first time into contact with this
author whose work has gone through 20 editions and made such a remarkable
sensation. Its conclusions and methods of treatment will be referred to at
length farther on. Here it is sufficient to call attention to the seductive
plausibility of the work, whose purpose it is to show that an orderly refor-
mation was going on in the Church in Germany when Luther appeared and
by his revolutionary and immoral tendency brutally rived the unity of the
§ 26. POPULAB PBEACHBKS. 227
moral and doctrinal conviction and foresight which made the
monk of Wittenberg the exponent and the herald of a radical,
religious reformation whose permanent benefits are borne wit-
ness to by a large section of Christendom.
§ 26. Popular Preachers.
During the century and a half closing with 1450, there were
local groups of preachers as well as isolated pulpit orators who
exercised a deep influence upon congregations. The German
mystics with Eckart and John Tauler at their head preached
in Strassburg, Cologne and along the Rhine. D'Ailly and
Gerson stood before select audiences, and give lustre to the
French pulpit. Wyclif, at Oxford, and John Huss in Bohemia,
attracted great attention by their sermons and brought down
upon themselves ecclesiastical condemnation. Huss was one
of a number of Bohemian preachers of eminence. Wyclif
sought to promote preaching by sending out a special class of
men, his "pore preachers."
The popular preachers constitute another group, though the
period does not furnish one who can be brought into compari-
son with the field-preacher, Berthold of Regensburg, the White-
field of his century, d. 1272. Among the popular preachers
of the time the most famous were Bernardino and John of
Capistrano, both Italians, and members of the Observant wing
of the Franciscan order, and the Spanish Dominican, Vincent
Ferrer. To a later age belong those bright pulpit luminaries,
Savonarola of Florence and Geiler of Strassburg.
Bernardino of Siena, 1380-1444, was praised by Pius II. as
a second Paul. He made a marked impression upon Italian
audiences and was a favorite with pope Martin V. His voice,
Church and checked the orderly reformation. Such a conclusion is a result
of the manipulation of historic materials and the use of superlatives in de-
scribing men and influences which were like rills in the history of the onward
progress of religion and civilization. The initial comparison between Guten-
berg and Nicolas of Cusa begs the whole conclusion which Janssen had in
view in writing his work. Of the permanent consequence of the work of the
inventor of the printing-press, no one has any doubt. The author makes a
great jump when he asserts a like permanent influence for Nicolas in the
department of religion.
228 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
weak and indistinct at first, was said to have been made strong
and clear through the grace of Mary, to whom he turned for
help. He was the first vicar-general of the Observants, who
numbered only a few congregations in Italy when he joined
them, but increased greatly under his administration. In
1424 he was in Rome and, as Infessura the Roman diarist re-
ports,1 so influenced the people that they brought their games
and articles of adornment to the Capitol and made a bonfire
of them. Wherever he went to preach, a banner was carried
before him containing the monogram of Christ, IHS, with
twelve rays centring in the letters. He urged priests to put
the monogram on the walls of churches and public buildings,
and such a monogram may still be seen on the city building
of Siena.2 The Augustinians and Dominicans and also Poggio
attacked him for this practice. In 1427, he appeared in Rome
to answer the charges. He was acquitted by Martin V., who
gave him permission to preach everywhere, and instructed him
to hold an eighty-days' mission in the papal city itself. In
1419, he appeared in the Lombard cities, where the people were
carried away by his exhortations to repentance, and often burned
their trinkets and games in the public squares. His body lies
in Aquila, and he was canonized by Nicolas V., 1450.
John of Capistrano, 1386-1456, a lawyer, and at an early age
intrusted with the administration of Perugia, joined the Obser-
vants in 1416 and became a pupil of Bernardino. He made
a reputation as an inquisitor in Northern Italy, converting and
burning heretics and Jews. No one could have excelled him
in the ferocity of his zeal against heresy. His first appointment
as inquisitor was made in 1426, and his fourth appointment 23
years later in 1449.8
As a leader of his order, he defended Bernardino in 1427, and
was made vicar-general in 1443. He extended his preaching
1 Diario, p. 26. For Bernardino, see Thureau-Dangin, St. Bernardin de
Sienne. Un predicateur populaire, Paris, 189(5. Several edd. of his sermons
have appeared, including the ed. of Paris, 1660, 5 vols., by De la Haye.
* See Pastor, I. 231-283.
8 Jacob, I. 30 sq. For John's life, see E. Jacob, John of Capistrano. His
Life and Writings, 2 vols., Breslau, 1906, 1907. Pastor, I. 463-468, 691-698;
Lempp's art. in Herzog, III. 713 sqq.; Lea, Inquisition, II. 662 sqq.
§ 26. POPULAE PREACHERS. 22t
to Vienna and far up into Germany, from Niirnberg to Dresden,
Leipzig, Magdeburg and Breslau, making everywhere a tre-
mendous sensation. He used the Latin or Italian, which had
to be interpreted to his audiences. These are reported to have
numbered as many as thirty thousand.1 He carried relics of
Bernardino with him, and through them and his own instru-
mentality many miracles were said to have been performed.
His attendants made a note of the wonderful works on the spot.2
The spell of his preaching was shown by the burning of pointed
shoes, games of cards, dice and other articles of pleasure or
vanity. Thousands of heretics are also reported to have yielded
to his persuasions. He was called by Pius II. to preach against
the Hussites, and later against the Turks. He was present
at the siege of Belgrade, and contributed to the successful de-
fence of the city and the defeat of Mohammed II. He was
canonized in 1690.
The life of Vincent Ferrer, d. 1419, the greatest of Spanish
preachers, fell during the period of the papal schism, and he
was intimately identified with the controversies it called forth.
His name is also associated with the gift of tongues and with
the sect of the Flagellants. This devoted missionary, born in
Valencia, joined the Dominican order, and pursued his studies
in the universities of Barcelona and Lerida. He won the doc-
torate of theology by his tract on the Modern Schism in the
Church — De moderno ecclesice schismate. Returning to Valen-
cia, he gained fame as a preacher, and was appointed confessor
to the queen of Aragon, lolanthe, and counsellor to her hus-
band, John I. In 1395, Benedict XIII. called him to be chief
penitentiary in Avignon and master of the papal palace. Two
years later he returned to Valencia with the title of papal
legate. He at first defended the Avignon obedience with great
warmth, but later, persuaded that Benedict was not sincere in
his professions looking to the healing of the schism, withdrew
from him his support and supported the Council of Constance.
1 Yea, 60,000 at Erfurt. Jacob, I. 74.
* See Jacob, I. 60 sqq,, etc. JEneas Sylvius said he had not seen any of
John's miracles, but would not deny them. In Jena alone John healed
thirty lame persons. Jacob, I. 69.
230 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
Ferrer's apostolic labors began in 1399. He itinerated
through Spain, Northern Italy and France, preaching two and
three times a day on the great themes of repentance and the
nearness of the judgment. He has the reputation of being the
most successful of missionaries among the Jews and Moham-
medans. Twenty-five thousand Jews and eight thousand Mo-
hammedans are said to have yielded to his persuasions. Able
to speak only Spanish, his sermons, though they were not in-
terpreted, are reported to have been understood in France and
Italy. The gift of tongues was ascribed to him by his contem-
poraries as well as the gift of miracles. Priests and singers
accompanied him on his tours, and some of the hymns sung were
Vincent's own compositions. His audiences are given as high
as 70,000, an incredible number, and he is said to have preached
twenty thousand times. He also preached to the Waldenses
in their valleys and to the remnant of the Cathari, and is said
to have made numerous converts. He himself was not above
the suspicion of heresy, and Eymerich made the charge against
him of declaring that Judas Iscariot hanged himself because
the people would not permit him to live, and that he found
pardon with God.1 He was canonized by Calixtus III., 1455.
The tale is that Ferrer noticed this member of the Borgia fam-
ily as a young priest in Valencia, and made the prediction that
one day he would reach the highest office open to mortal man.2
On his itineraries Ferrer was also accompanied by bands of
Flagellants. He himself joined in the flagellations, and the
scourge with which he scourged himself daily, consisting of
six thongs, is said still to be preserved in the Carthusian con-
vent of Catalonia, scala ccelL Both Gerson and D'Ailly at-
tacked Ferrer for his adoption of the Flagellant delusion. In
a letter addressed to the Spanish preacher, written during the
sessions of the Council of Constance, Gerson took the ground
that both the Old Testament and the New Testament forbid
1 Lea: Inquisition, II. 168, 176, 268, 284.
2 Razanno, a fellow-Dominican, wrote the first biography of Ferrer, 1466.
The Standard Life is by P. Fages, Hist, de 8. Vine. Ferrer apotre de VEu-
rope, 2 vols., 2d ed., Louvain, 1901. The best ife written by a Protestant is by
L. Heller, Berlin, 1830. It is commended in Wetzer-Welte, XII. 978-083.
§ 26. POPULAR PREACHERS. 231
violence done to the body, quoting in proof Deut. 14 : 1,
"Ye shall not cut yourselves." He invited him to come to
Constance, but the invitation was not accepted.1
1 For German preaching in the fourteenth century, other than that of the
mystics, see Linsenmeyer, Gesch. der Predigt in Deutachland bis zum Au*-
gange d. Uten Jahrh., Munich, 1886, pp. 391-470 ; Cruel : Gesch. d. deutschen
Prediyt im M.A., p. 414 sqq.; A. Franz: Drei deutsche Minoritenprediger des
Xllten und XlVten Jahrh., Freiburg, 1JK)7, pp. 160. The best-known
German preachers were the Augustinians Henry of Frimar, d. 1340, and
Jordan of Quedhnburg, d. about 1376. See for the fifteenth century, ch. IX.
CHAPTER IV.
THE GERMAN MYSTICS.
§ 27. Sources and Literature.
GENERAL WORKS. — * FRANZ PFEIFFER: Deutsche Mystiker, 2 vols.,
Leipzig, 1857, 2d ed. of vol. I., Gottingen, 1906. — * R. LANOENBERG : Quel-
len und Forschungen zur Gesch der deutschen Mystik, Bonn, 1902.—
F. GALLE : Geistliche Stimmen aus dem M.A., zur Erbauung, Halle, 1841.
— MRS. F. BE VAN: Three Friends of God, Trees planted by the River, Lon-
don.— *W. R. INGE: Light^ Life and Love, London, 1904. Selections
from ECKART, TAULER, Srso, RUYHBROECK, etc. — The works given under
Eckart, etc., in the succeeding sections. — R. A. VAUGHAN : Hours with the
Mystics. For a long time the chief English authority, offensive by the dia-
logue style it pursues, and now superseded. — *W. PREGER : Gesch. der
deutschen Mystik im Mittelalter, 3 vols., Leipzig, 1874-1893. — G. ULLMANN :
Reformatoren vor der Reformation, vol. II., Hamburg, 1841. — *!NGK:
Christian Mysticism, pp. 148 sqq., London, 1899. — ELEANOR C. GREGORY:
An Introd. to Christ. Mysticism, London, 1901 . — W. R. NICOLL : The Gar-
den of Nuts, London, 1905. The first four chapp give a general treatment
of mysticism. — P. MEHLHORN: 2). Bluthezeit d. deutschen Mystik, Freiburg,
1907, pp. 04. — *S. M. DEUTSCH: Mystische Theol. in Herzog, XIX. 6,31 sqq.
— CRUEL : Gesch. d. deutschen Predigt im M.A., pp. 370-414. — A. RITSCHL :
Gesch. d. Pietismus, 3 vols., Bonn, 1880-1886. — HARNACK : Dogmengesch.,
III. 376 sqq. — LOOFS : Dogmengesch., 4th ed., Halle, 1906, pp. 621-633.—
W. JAMES : The Varieties of Relig. Experience, chs. XVI., XVII.
For § 29. MEISTER ECKART. — German Sermons bound in a vol. with
TAULER'S Sermons, Leipzig, 1498, Basel, 1621. — PFEIFFER: Deutsche Mys-
tiker, etc., vol. II., gives 110 German sermons, 18 tracts, and 60 fragments.
— * DENIFLE : M. EckeharCs Lateinische Schriften und die Grundanschauung
seiner Lehre, in Archiv fur Lit. und Kirchengesch., II. 416-652. Gives
excerpts from his Latin writings. — F. JOSTES : M. Eckehart und seine
Junger, ungedruckte Tevte zur Gesch. der deutschen Mystik, Freiburg, 1895.
— *H. BUTTNER: M. EckeharVs Schriften und Predigten aus dem Mittel-
hochdeutschen iibersetzt, Leipzig, 1903. Gives 18 German sermons and writ-
ings.— G. LANDAUER: Eckharfs mystische Schriften in unsere Sprache
ubertragen, Berlin, 1903. — H. MARTENSEN : M. Eckart, Hamburg, 1842. —
A. LASSON : M. E. der Mystiker, Berlin, 1868. Also the section on Eckart
by LASSON in Ueberweg's Hist, of Phil. — A. JUNDT : Essai sur le mys-
ticisme speculatif d. M.E., Strassburg, 1871 ; also Hist, du pantheisms popu-
laire au moyen age, 1875. Gives 18 of Eckart's sermons. — PREGER, I. 309-
§ 27. SOURCES AND LITERATURE. 233
468. — H. DELACROIX : Le mysticisms speculatif en Attemagne au Ue siecle,
Paris, 1900. — DEUTBCH'S art. Eckart in Herzog, V. 142-164. — DENIFLE :
IHe Heimath M. EckeharVs in Archiv fur Lit. und K. Gesch. des M.A., V.
349-364, 1889.— STOCKL: Gesch. der Phil., etc., III. 1095-1120.— PFLEI-
DEEER: Religionsphilosophie, Berlin, 2d ed., 1883, p. 8 sqq. — INGE. —
L. ZIEOLER : D. Phil, und relig. Bedeutung d. M. Eckehart in Preuss. Jahr-
bttcher, Heft 3, 1904. —See a trans, of Eckart's sermon on John 6 : 44, by
D. S. SCHAFF, in Homiletic Rev., 1902, pp. 428-431.
NOTE. — Eckart's German sermons and tracts, published in 1498 and 1621,
were his only writings known to exist till Pfeiffer's ed., 1867. Denifle was
the first to discover Eckart's Latin writings, in the convent of Erfurt, 1880,
and at Cusa on the Mosel, 1886. These are fragments on Genesis, Exodus,
Ecclesiastes and the Book of Wisdom. John Trithemius, in his De scripp.
eccles., 1492, gives a list of Eckart's writings which indicates a literary activ-
ity extending beyond the works we possess. The list catalogues four books
on the Sentences, commentaries on Genesis, Exodus, the Canticles, the Book
of Wisdom, St. John, on the Lord's Prayer, etc.
For §30. JOHN TAULER.— Tauler's Works, Leipzig, 1498 (84 sermons
printed from MSS. in Strassburg) ; Augsburg, 1608 ; Basel, 1521 (42 new
sermons) and 1622 ; Halberstadt, 1623 ; Cologne, 1643 (160 sermons, 28 being
publ. for the first time, and found in St. Gertrude's convent, Cologne); Frank-
furt, 1666; Hamburg, 1621 ; Frankfurt, 3 vols., 1826 (the edition used by
Miss Winkworth) ; ed. by J. HAMBERGER, 1864, 2d ed., Prag, 1872. The
best. Hamberger substituted modern German in the text and used a Strass-
burg MS. which was destroyed by fire at the siege of the city in 1870 ; ed. by
KUNTZE UND BIESENTHAL containing the Introdd. of Arndt and Spener,
Berlin, 1842. — *Engl. trans., SUSANNA WINKWORTH: The History and Life
of fiev. John Tauter with 25 Sermons, with Prefaces by CANON KINGS LEY
and ROSWELL I). HITCHCOCK, New York, 1858. — * The Inner Way, 36 Ser-
mons for Festivals, by John Tauler, trans, with Iiitrod. by A. W. BUTTON,
London, 1906. — C.SCHMIDT: J. Tauler von Strassburg, Hamburg, 1841,
and Nicolas von Basel, Bericht von der Bekehrung Tauler s, Strassburg, 1875.
— DENIFLE: D. Buch von geistlicher Armuth, etc., Munich, 1877, and
Tauler'' s Bekehrung, Munster, 1879. — A. JUNDT : Les amis de Dieu au If
siecle, Paris, 1879.— PREGER, III. 1-244. — F. COHRS : Art. Tauler in Herzog,
XIX. 461-469.
NOTE. — Certain writings once ascribed to Tauler, and printed with his
works, are now regarded as spurious. They are (1) The Book of Spiritual
Poverty, ed. by Denifle, Munich, 1877, and previously under the title Imita-
tion of Christ's Life of Poverty, by D. Sudermann, Frankfurt, 1621, etc.
Denifle pointed out the discord between its teachings and the teachings of
Tauler's sermons. (2) Medulla animce, consisting of 77 chapters. Preger
decides some of them to be genuine. (3) Certain hymns, including Es kommt
ein Schiff geladen, which even Preger pronounces spurious, III. 86. They are
publ. by Wackernagel.
For § 81. HENRY Suso. —Ed. of his works, Augsburg, 1482, and 1512. —
*M. DIEPENBROCK: H. Suso' 8, genannt Amandus, Leben und Schriften,
Regensburg, 1829, 4th ed., 1884, with Preface by J. GORRES. — H. SEUSJD
234 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
DENIFLE : D. deutschen Schriften des aeligen H. Sense, Munich, 1880. —*H.
SEUSE : Deutsche Schriften, ed. K. BIHLMEYER, Stuttgart, 1907. The first
complete edition, and based upon an examination of many MSS. — A Latin
trans, of Suso's works by L. SURIUS, Cologne, 1565. — French trans, by
THIROT: Outrages mystiques du bienheureux H. Suso, 2 vols., Paris, 1899.
Engl. extracts in Light, Life and Love, pp. 86-100. — PREGER: D. Brief e
H. Suso's nach einer Handschrift d. XV. Jahrh. , Leipzig, 1867.— C. SCHMIDT :
Der Mystiker, H. Suso in Stud, und Kritiken, 1843, pp. 836 sqq. — PREOER :
Deutsche Mystik, II. 309-419. — L. KARCHER : //. Suso aus d. Predigerorden,
inFreiburger Diocesenarchiv, 1808, p. 187 sqq. — CRUEL: Gesch. d. deutschen
Predigt, 396 sqq. —Art. in WETZER-WELTK, H. SEUSK, V. 1721-1729.
For § 82. THE FRIENDS OF GOD. — The works of ECK ART, TA ITLER, Suso,
RUTSBRCECK. — JITNDT : Les Amis de Dieu, Paris, 1879. — KEHSEL : Art.
Gottesfreunde in WETZER-WELTE, V. 893-900. —The writings of RIJLMAN
MERSWIN : Von den vier Jahren seines anfahenden Lebens, ed. by SCHMIDT,
in Reuss and Cunitz, Beitrage zu den theol. Wissenschaften, V., Jena, 1864. —
His Bannerbuchlein given in Jundt's Les Amis. — Das Buch von den neun
Felsen, ed. from the original MS. by C. SCHMIDT, Leipzig, 18-59, and in ab-
breviated form by PREOER, III. 337-407, and DIEPENIIROCK : Uvinrich Suso,
pp. 605-672.— P. STRAUCH: Art. Rulman Merswin in Herzog, XVII. 20-27.
— For the " Friend of God of the Oberland " and his writings. K. SCHMIDT :
Nicolas von Basel: Leben und ausgewahlte Schriften, Vienna, 1866, and
Nic. von Basel, Bericht von der Bekehrung Taulers, Strassburg, 1876. — F.
LAUCHERT : Des Gottesfreundes im Oberland Buch von den zwei Mannen,
Bonn, 1896. — C. SCHMIDT: Nic. von Basel und die Gottesfreunde, Basel,
1866. — DENIFLE : Der Gottesfreund im Oberland und Nic. von Basel. Eine
krit. Studie, Munich, 1876. — JLNDT : Rulman Merswin et VAim de Dieu de
V Oberland, Paris, 1890. —PREGER, III. 290-837. — K. RIEDER : Der Gottes-
freund vom Oberland. Eine Erflndung des Strassburger Johanmterbruders
Nicolaus von Lowen, Innsbruck, 1906.
For § 33. JOHN OF RUYSBROECK. — Vier Schriften, ed. by ARNSWALDT,
with Introd. by ULLMANN, Hanover, 1848. — Superseded by J. B. DAVID
(prof, in Louvaine), 6 vols., Ghent, 1857-1868. Contains 12 writings.— Lat.
trans, by SURIUS, Cologne, 1649. — *F. A. LAMBERT: Drei Schriften des
Mystikers J. van Ruysb., Die Zierde der geistl. Hochzeit, Vom glanzenden
Stein and Das Buch von der hochsten Wahrheit, Leipzig. No date ; about
1906. Selections from Ruysbroeck in Light, Life and Love, pp. 100-196. —
* J. G. V. ENGBLHARDT : Rich, von St. Victor u. J. Ruysbroeck, Erlangen,
1838. — ULLM ANN: Reformatoren, etc., II. 36 sqq. — W. L. DE VREESE :
Bijdrage tot de kennis van het leven en de werken van J. van Ruusbroec, Ghent,
1896. — *M. MAETERLINCK : Ruysbr. and the Mystics, with Selections from
Ruysb., London, 1894. A trans, by JANE T. STODDART of Maeterlinck's essay
prefixed to his L'Ornement des noces spirituelles de Ruysb., trans, by him
from the Flemish, Brussels, 1891. — Art. Ruysbroeck in HERZOG, XVII. 267-
273, by VAN VEEN.
For § 34. GERRIT DE GROOTE AND THE BROTHERS OF THE COMMON LIFE.
— Lives of Groote, Florentius and their pupils, by THOMAS A KEMPIS : Opera
omnia, ed. by SOMMALIUB, Antwerp, 1601, 3 vols., Cologne, 1759, etc., and
§ 27. SOURCES AND LITERATURE. 235
in unpubl. MSS. — J. BUSCH, d. 1479: Liber de viris illustribus, a collection
of 24 biographies of Windesheim brethren, Antwerp, 1621 ; also Chronicon
Windeshemense, Antwerp, 1621, both ed. by GRUBK, Halle, 1886.— G. H. M.
DELPRAT : Verhandeling over de broederschap van Geert Groote en over den
involoed der fraterhuizen, Arnheim, etc., 1856. — J. G. R. ACQUOY (prof, in
Leyden) : Gerhardi Magni epistolas XIV., Antwerp, 1867. — G. BONET-
MAURY : Gerhard de Groot cTapres des documents inedites, Paris, 1878. —
* G. KETTLE WELL : Thomas a Kempis and the Brothers of the Common Life,
2 vols., New York, 1882. — * K. GRUBE: Johannes Busch, Augustinerpropst
in Hildesheim. Ein kathol. Reformator im Uten Jahrh., Freiburg, 1881.
Also G. Groote und seine Stiftungen, Cologne, 1883. — R. LANGENBEHO :
Quellen und Forschungen, etc., Bonn, 1902. — BOERNER: Die Annalen und
Akten der Brilder des Gemeinsamen Lebens im Lichtenhofe zu Hildesheim,
eine Grundlage der Gesch. d. deutschen BrMerhduaer und ein Beitrag zur
Vorgesch. der Reformation, Furstenwalde, 1906. — The artt. by K. HIRSCHB
in HERZOG, 2d ed., II. 678-760, and L. SCHULJIE, HBRZOG, 3d ed., III., 474-
607, and P. A. THIJM in WETZER-WELTE, V. 1286-1289.— ULLMANN: Refor-
matoren, II. 1-201. —LEA: Inquisition, II. 360 sqq. — UHLHORN : Christl
Liebesthatigkeit im M.A., Stuttgart, 1884, pp. 360-375.
NOTE. — A few of the short writings of Groote were preserved by Thomas &
Kempis. To the sermons edited by Acquoy, Langenberg, pp. 3-33, has
added Groote's tract on simony, which he found in the convent of Frenswegen,
near Nordhorn. He has also found Groote's Latin writings. The tract on
simony — de simonia ad Beguttas — is addressed to the Beguines in answer to
the question propounded to him by some of their number as to whether it was
simony to purchase a place in a Beguine convent. The author says that
simony " prevails very much everywhere," and that it was not punished by
the Church. He declares it to be simony to purchase a place which involves
spiritual exercises, and he goes on to apply the principle to civil offices, pro-
nouncing it simony when they are bought for money. The work is written
in Low German, heavy in style, but interesting for the light it throws on
practices current at that time.
For § 36. THE IMITATION OP CHRIST. — Edd. of A KEMPIS' works, Utrecht,
1473 (16 writings, and omitting the Imitation of Christ) ; Nurnberg, 1494 (20
writings), ed. by J. BADIUS, 1620, 1521, 1523; Paris, 1549; Antwerp, 1574 ;
Dillingen, 1676 ; ed. by H. SOMMALIUS, 3 vols., Antwerp, 1599, 3d ed. 1616 ;
ed. by M. J. POHL, 8 vols. promised ; thus far 6 vols., Freiburg im Br., 1903
sqq. Best and only complete ed. — THOMAS A KEMPIS' hymns in BLUME
and DREVES: Analecta hymnica, XL VIII. pp. 476-614. — For biograph.
and critical accounts. — Jon. BUSCH: Chron. Windesemense. — H. Ros-
WEYDE : Chron. Mt. S. Agnetis, Antwerp, 1615, and cum Rosweydii vindiciis
Kempensibus, 1622. — J. B. MALOU : Rechercheshistoriq. et critiq. sur le veri-
table auteur du livre de VImilat. de Jesus Chr., Tournay, 1848 ; 3d ed., Paris,
1858. — * K. HIRSCHS : Prologomena zu einer neuen Ausgabe de imitat. Chr.
(with a copy of the Latin text of the MS. dated 1441), Berlin, 1873, 1883,
1894. — C. WOLFBGRUBER : Giovanni Gersen sein Leben und sein Werk de
Imitat. Chr., Augsburg, 1880. — *S. KETTLEWELL : Th, a Kempis and the
Brothers of the Common Life, 2 vols., London, 1882. Also Authorship of
236 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
the de imitat. Chr., London, 1877, 2d ed., 1884.— F. R. CHUIBB : Th. d
Kempis, with Notes of a visit to the scenes in which his life wets spent, with
some account of the examination of his relics, London, 1887. — L. A.
WHBATLEY: Story of the Imitat. of Chr., London, 1891.— DOM VINCENT
SCULLY : Life of the Venerable Th. a Kempis, London, 1901. — J. E. G. DK
MONTMORENCY : Th. a Kempis, His Age and Book, London, 1906. — * C. BIGG
in Wayside Sketches in Eccles. Hist., London, 1906, pp. 184-164.— D. B.
BUTLER, Thos. a Kempis, a Bel. Study, London, 1908. — Art. Thos. d Kempis
in London Quarterly Beview, April, 1908, pp. 254-263.
First printed ed of the Latin text of the Imitat. of Christ, Augsburg, 1472.
Bound up with Jerome's de mris illust. and writings of Augustine and Th.
Aquinas. — Of the many edd. in Kngl. the first was by W. ATKYNSON, and
MARGARET, mother of Henry VII., London, 1602, reprinted London, 1828, new
ed. by J. K. INGRAM, London, 1893. — The Imitat. of Chr., being the auto-
graph MS. of Th. a Kempis de Imitat. Chr. reproduced in facsimile from
the orig. in the royal libr. at Brussels. With Introd. by C. RUELENR, London,
1879. — The Imitat. of Chr. Now for the first time set forth in Rhythm and
Sentences. With Pref. by CANON LIDDON, London, 1889. — Facsimile He-
production of the 1st ed. of 1471, with Hist. Introd. by C. KNOX-LITTLE, Lon-
don, 1894.— The Imitat. of Chr , trans, by CANON W. BENHAM, with 12
photogravures after celebrated paintings, London, 1906. — An ed. issued
1881 contains a Pref. by DEAN FARRAR. — R. P. A. DE BACKER : Essai bib-
Iwgraph. sur le lime, de imitat. Chr., Liege, 1864. — For further lit. on the
Imitat. of Chr., see the Note at the end of § 36.
§ 28. The New Mysticism.
In joy of inward peace, or sense
Of sorrow over sin,
He is his own best evidence —
His witness is within.
— WHITTIER, Our Master.
At the time when the scholastic method was falling into
disrepute and the scandals of the Avignon court and the
papal schism were shaking men's faith in the foundations of
the Church, a stream of pure pietism was watering the regions
along the Rhine, from Basel to Cologne, and from Cologne to
the North Sea. North of the Alps, voices issuing from con-
vents and from the ranks of the laity called attention to the
value of the inner religious life and God's immediate com-
munications to the soul.
To this religious movement has recently been given the
name, the Dominican mysticism, on account of the large
§ 28. THE NEW MYSTICISM. 237
number of its representatives who belonged to the Domini-
can order. The older name, German mysticism, which is to
be preferred, points to the locality where it manifested itself,
and to the language which the mystics for the most part
used in their writings. Like the Protestant Reformation,
the movement had its origin on German soil, but, unlike
the Reformation, it did not spread beyond Germany and the
Lowlands. Its chief centres were Strassburg and Cologne;
its leading representatives the speculative Meister Eckart, d.
1327, John Tauler, d. 1361, Henry Suso, d. 1366, John Ruys-
broeck, d. 1381, Gerrit Groote, d. 1384, and Thomas a Kempis,
d. 1471. The earlier designation for these pietists was
Friends of God. The Brothers of the Common Life, the
companions and followers of Groote, were of the same type,
but developed abiding institutions of practical Christian
philanthropy. In localities the Beguines and Beghards also
breathed the same devotional and philanthropic spirit. The
little book called the German Theology, and the Imitation of
Christ, were among the finest fruits of the movement. Gerson
and Nicolas of Cusa also had a strong mystical vein, but
they are not to be classed with the German mystics. With
them mysticism was an incidental, not the distinguishing,
quality.
The mystics along the Rhine formed groups which, however,
were not bound together by any formal organization. Their
only bond was the fellowship of a common religious purpose.
Their religious thought was not always homogeneous in its
expression, but all agreed in the serious attempt to secure
purity of heart and life through union of the soul with God.
Mysticism is a phase of Christian life. It is a devotional
habit, in contradistinction to the outward and formal practice
of religious rules. It is a religious experience in contrast to
a mere intellectual assent to tenets. It is the conscious effort
of the soul to apprehend and possess God and Christ, and ex-
presses itself in the words, "I live, and yet not I but Christ
liveth in me." It is essentially what is now called in some
quarters "personal religion." Perhaps the shortest defi-
nition of mysticism is the best. It is the love of God shed
238 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
abroad in the heart.1 The element of intuition has a large
place, and the avenues through which religious experience
is reached are self-detachment from the world, self-purga-
tion, prayer and contemplation.
Without disparaging the sacraments or disputing the au-
thority of the Church, the Germanmystics soughtabetterway.
They laid stress upon the meaning of such passages as " he
that believeth in me shall never hunger and he that cometh
unto me shall never thirst," " he that loveth me shall be loved
of my Father " and " he that f olloweth me shall not walk in
darkness." The word love figures most prominently in their
writings. Among the distinctive terms in vogue among them
were Abffeschiedenheit^ Eckart's word for self-detachment from
the world and that which is temporal, and Kehr, Tauler's
oft-used word for conversion. They laid stress upon the
new birth, and found in Christ's incarnation a type of the
realization of the divine in the soul.
German mysticism had a distinct individuality of its own.
On occasion, its leaders quoted Augustine's Confessions and
other works, Dionysius the Areopagite, Bernard and Thomas
Aquinas, but they did not have the habit of referring back to
human authorities as had the Schoolmen, bulwarking every
theological statement by patristic quotations, or statements
taken from Aristotle. The movement arose like a root out
of a dry ground at a time of great corruption and distraction
in the Church, and it arose where it might have been least ex-
pected to arise. Its field was the territory along the Rhine
where the heretical sects had had representation. It was a
fresh outburst of piety, an earnest seeking after God by other
paths than the religious externalism fostered by sacerdotal
* See Inge, Engl. Mystics, p. 37. This author, in his Christian Mysticism,
p. 5, gives the definition that mysticism is "the attempt to realize in the
thought and feeling the immanence of the temporal in the eternal and of the
eternal in the temporal." His statements in another place, The Inner Way,
pp. xx-xxii, are more simple and illuminating. The mystical theology is
that knowledge of God and of divine things which is derived not from obser-
vation or from argument but from conscious experience. The difficulty of
giving a precise definition of mysticism is seen in the definitions Inge cites,
Christian Mysticism, Appendix A. Comp. Deutsch, p. 632 sq.
§ 28. THE NEW MYSTICISM. 239
prescriptions and scholastic dialectics. The mystics led the
people back from the clangor and tinkling of ecclesiastical
symbolisms to the refreshing springs of water which spring
up into everlasting life.
Compared with the mysticism of the earlier Middle Ages
and the French quietism of the seventeenth century, repre-
sented by Madame Guyon, Fenelon and their predecessor
the Spaniard Miguel de Molinos, German mysticism likewise
has its own distinctive features. The religion of Bernard
expressed itself in passionate and rapturous love for Jesus.
Madame Guyon and F6nelon set up as the goal of religion a
state of disinterested love, which was to be reached chiefly
by prayer, an end which Bernard felt it scarcely possible to
reach in this world.
The mystics along the Rhine agreed with all genuine
mystics in striving after the direct union of the soul with
God. They sought, as did Eckart, the loss of our being in
the ocean of the Godhead, or with Tauler the undisturbed
peace of the soul, or with Ruysbroeck the impact of the divine
nature upon our nature at its innermost point, kindling with
divine love as fire kindles. With this aspiration after the
complete apprehension of God, they combined a practical ten-
dency. Their silent devotion and meditation were not final
exercises. They were moved by warm human sympathies,
and looked with almost reverential regard upon the usual
pursuits and toil of men. They approached close to the idea
that in the faithful devotion to daily tasks man may realize
the highest type of religious experience.
By preaching, by writing and circulating devotional works,
and especially by their own examples, they made known the
secret and the peace of the inner life. In the regions along
the lower Rhine, the movement manifested itself also in the
care of the sick, and notably in schools for the education of
the young. These schools proved to be preparatory for the
German Reformation by training a body of men of wider
outlook and larger sympathies than the mediaeval convent
was adapted to rear.
For the understanding of the spirit and meaning of Ger-
240 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
man mysticism, no help is so close at hand as the comparison
between it and mediaeval scholasticism. This religious move-
ment was the antithesis of the theology of the Schoolmen ;
Eckart and Tauler of Thomas Aquinas, the German Theol-
ogy of the endless argumentation of Duns Scotus, the Imita-
tion of Christ of the cumbersome exhaustiveness of Albertus
Magnus. Roger Bacon had felt revulsion from the hair-
splitting casuistries of the Schoolmen, and given expression to
it before Eckart began his activity at Cologne. Scholasticism
had trodden a beaten and dusty highway. The German
mystics walked in secluded and shady pathwaj's. For a
catalogue of dogmatic maxims they substituted the quiet ex-
pressions of filial devotion and assurance. The speculative
element is still prominent in Eckart, but it is not indulged
for the sake of establishing doctrinal rectitude, but for the
nurture of inward experience of God's operations in the soul.
Godliness with these men was not a system of careful defini-
tions, it was a state of spiritual communion; not an elabo-
rate construction of speculative thought, but a simple faith
and walk with God. Not processes of logic but the insight
of devotion was their guide.1 As Loofs has well said, Ger-
man mysticism emphasized above all dogmas and all ex-
ternal works the necessity of the new birth.2
It also had its dangers. Socrates had urged men not to
rest hopes upon the Delphian oracle, but to listen to the voice
in their own bosoms. The mystics, in seeking to hear the
voice of God speaking in their own hearts, ran peril of mag-
nifying individualism to the disparagement of what was
common to all and of mistaking states of the overwrought
imagination for revelations from God.8
Although the German mystical writers have not been
1 It is quite in keeping with this contrast that Pfleiderer, in his Religions-
philo sophie, excludes the German mystics from a place in the history of Ger-
man philosophy on the ground that their thinking was not distinctly system-
atic. He, however, gives a brief statement to Eckart, but excludes Jacob
Boehme. a Dogmengesch., p. 631.
8 Nicoll, Garden of Nuts, p. 31, says, "We study the mystics to learn from
them. It need not be disguised that there are great difficulties in the way.
The mystics are the most individual of writers," etc.
§ 28. THE NEW MYSTICISM. 241
quoted in the acts of councils or by popes as have been the
theologies of the Schoolmen, they represented, if we follow
the testimonies of Luther and Melanchthon, an important
stage in the religious development of the German people, and
it is certainly most significant that the Reformation broke
out on the soil where the mystics lived and wrought, and
their piety took deep root. They have a perennial life for
souls who, seeking devotional companionship, continue to go
back to the leaders of that remarkable pietistic movement.
The leading features of the mysticism of the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries may be summed up in the following prop-
ositions.
1. Its appeals were addressed to laymen as well as to clerics.
2. The mystics emphasized instruction and preaching, and,
if we except Suso, withdrew the emphasis which had been
laid upon the traditional ascetic regulations of the Church.
They did not commend bufferings of the body. The dis-
tance between Peter Damiani and Tauler is world-wide.
3. They used the New Testament more than they used the
Old Testament, and the words of Christ took the place of the
Canticles in their interpretations of the mind of God. The
German Theology quotes scarcely a single passage which is
not found in the New Testament, and the Imitation of Christ
opens with the quotation of words spoken by our Lord.
Eckart and Tauler dwell upon passages of the New Testa-
ment, and Ruysbroeck evolves the fulness of his teaching
from Matthew 25 : 6, " Behold the Bridegroom cometh, go
ye out to meet him."
4. In the place of the Church, with its sacraments and
priesthood as a saving institution, is put Christ himself as
the mediator between the soul and God, and he is offered as
within the reach of all.
5. A pure life is taught to be a necessary accompaniment
of the higher religious experience, and daily exemplification
is demanded of that humility which the Gospel teaches.
6. Another notable feature was their use of the vernacular
in sermon and treatise. The mystics are among the very
earliest masters of German and Dutch prose. In the Intro-
242 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
duction to his second edition of the German Theology^
Luther emphasized this aspect of their activity when he said,
44 1 thank God that I have heard and find my God in the Ger-
man tongue as neither I nor they [the adherents of the old
way] have found Him in the Latin and Hebrew tongues."
In this regard also the mystics of the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries were precursors of the evangelical movement of the
sixteenth century. Their practice was in plain conflict with
the judgment of that German bishop who declared that the
German language was too barbarous a tongue to be a proper
vehicle of religious truth.
The religious movement represented by German and Dutch
mysticism is an encouraging illustration that God's Spirit
may be working effectually in remote and unthought-of
places and at times when the fabric of the Church seems to be
hopelessly undermined with formalism, clerical corruption and
hierarchical arrogance and worldliness. It was so at a later
day when, in the little and remote Moravian town of Ilerrn-
hut, God was preparing the weak things of the world, and
the things which were apparently foolish, to confound the
dead orthodoxy of German Protestantism and to lead the
whole Protestant Church into the way of preaching the Gos-
pel in all the world. No organized body survived the mystics
along the Rhine, but their example and writings continue to
encourage piety and simple faith toward God within the pale
of the Catholic and Protestant churches alike.
A classification of the German mystics on the basis of
speculative and practical tendencies has been attempted, but
it cannot be strictly carried out.1 In Eckart and Ruysbroeck,
the speculative element was in the ascendant ; in Tauler, the
1 See Preger, 1. 8, and Ullmann, Iteformatoren, II. 203. Harnack goes far
when he denies all originality to the German mystics. Of Eckart he says,
Dogmenyesch., III. 378, " I give no extracts from his writings because I do
not wish to seem to countenance the error that the German mystics expressed
anything we cannot read in Origen, Plotlnus, the Areopagite, Augustine,
Erigena, Bernard and Thomas Aquinas, or that they represented a stage of
religious progress.** The message they announced was certainly a fresh one
to their generation, even if all they said had been said before. They spoke
from the living sources of their own spiritual experience. They were not
§ 29. MEISTEU ECKAET. 243
devotional ; in Suso, the emotional; in Groote and other men
of the Lowlands, the practical.
§ 29. Meister Eckart.
Meister Eckart, 1260-1327, the first in the line of the Ger-
man mystics, was excelled in vigor of thought by no religious
thinker of his century, and was the earliest theologian who
wrote in German.1 The philosophical bent of his mind won
for him from Hegel the title, " father of German philosophy.**
In spite of the condemnation passed upon his writings by the
pope, his memory was regarded with veneration by the suc-
ceeding generation of mystics. His name, however, was al-
most forgotten in later times. Mosheim barely mentions it,
and the voluminous historian, Schroeckh, passes it by alto-
gether. Baur, in his History of the Middle Age*) devotes to
Eckart and Tauler only three lines, and these under the head
of preaching, and makes no mention at all of German mysti-
cism. His memory again came to honor in the last century,
and in the German church history of the later Middle Ages
he is now accorded a place of pre-eminence for his fresh-
ness of thought, his warm piety and his terse German style.2
With Albertus Magnus and Rupert of Deutz he stands out
an the earliest prominent representative in the history of
German theology.
imitators. Harnack, however, goes on to give credit to the German mystics
for fulfilling a mission when he says they are of invaluable worth for the
history of doctrine and the church history of Germany. In the same con-
nection he denies the distinction between mysticism and scholastic theology.
" Mysticism,'1 he asserts, " cannot exist in the Protestant Church, and the
Protestant who is a mystic and does not become a Roman Catholic is a
dilettante.19 This condemnation is based upon the untenable premise that
mysticism is essentially conventual, excluding sane intellectual criticism and
a practical out-of-doors Christianity.
1 Eckart's name is written in almost every conceivable way in the docu-
ments. See BUttner, p. zxii, as Eckardus, Eccardus, Egghardus ; Deutsch
and Delacroix, Eckart ; Pfeiffer, Preger, Inge and Langenberg, Eckhart ;
Denifle and Bttttner, Eckehart. His writings give us scarcely a single clew to
his fortunes. Quiltif-Echard was the first to lift the veil from portions of his
career. See Freger, I. 825.
9 Deutsch, Herzog, V. 140, says that part* of Eckart's sermons might serve
as models of German style to-day.
244 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
During the century before Eckart, the German church
also had its mystics, and in the twelfth century the godly
women, Hildegard of Bingen and Elizabeth of Schonau, added
to the function of prophecy a mystical element. In the
thirteenth century the Benedictine convent of Helfta, near
Eisleben, Luther's birthplace, was a centre of religious warmth.
Among its nuns were several by the names of Gertrude and
Mechthild, who excelled by their religious experiences, and
wrote on the devotional life. Gertrude of Hackeborn, d.
1292, abbess of Helfta, and Gertrude the Great, d. 1302,
professed to have immediate communion with the Saviour
and to be the recipients of divine revelations. When one of
the Mechthilds asked Christ where he was to be found, the
reply was, " You may seek me in the tabernacle and in Ger-
trude's heart." From 1203 Gertrude the Great recorded her
revelations in a work called the Communications of Piety —
Insinuationes divince pietatis. Mechthil J of Magdeburg, d.
1280, and Mechthild of Hackeborn, d. 1310, likewise nuns of
Helfta, also had visions which they wrote out. The former,
who for thirty years had been a Beguine, Deutsch calls " one
of the most remarkable personalities in the religious history
of thethirteenth century." Meehthild of Hackeborn, ayounger
sister of the abbess Gertrude, in her book on special grace, —
Liber specialis gratice^ — sets forth salvation as the gift of
grace without the works of the law. These women wrote in
German.1
David of Augsburg, d. 1271, the inquisitor who wrote on the
inquisition, — De inquisitione hcereticorum, — also wrote on the
devotional life. These writings were intended for monks, and
two of them 2 are regarded as pearls of German prose.
1 Flacius Illyricus includes the second Mechthild in bis Catal. veritati*.
For the lives of these women and the editions of their works, see Preger, I.
71-132, an<l the artt. of Deutsch and Zockler in Herzog. Some of the elder
Mechthild's predictions and descriptions seem to have been used by Dante.
See Preger, p. 103 sq. Mechthild v. Magdeburg : D. Jliessende Licht der
Gotthnt, Berlin, 1007.
2 Die sieben Vorregeln der Tugend and der Spiegel der Tugend, both given
by PfeifEer, together with other tract*, the genuineness of some of which is
doubted. See Preger, L 268-283, and Lempp in Herzog, IV. 603 sq.
§ 29. MEISTER BCKAKT. 245
In the last years of the thirteenth century, the Franciscan
Lamprecht of Regensburg wrote a poem entitled " Daughter of
Zion" (Cant. III. 11), which, in a mystical vein, depicts the
soul, moved by the impulse of love, and after in vain seeking
its satisfaction in worldly things, led by faith and hope to God.
The Dominicans, Dietrich of Freiburg and John of Stern gas-
sen, were also of the same tendency.1 The latter labored in
Strassburg.
Eckart broke new paths in the realm of German religious
thought. He was born at Hochheim, near Gotha, and died
probably in Cologne.2 In the last years of the thirteenth cen-
tury he was prior of the Dominican convent of Erfurt, and pro-
vincial of the Dominicans in Thuringia, and in 1300 was sent
to Paris to lecture, taking the master's degree, and later the
doctorate. After his sojourn in France he was made prior
of his order in Saxony, a province at that time extending from
the Lowlands to Livland. In 1311 he was again sent to Paris
as a teacher. Subsequently he preached in Strassburg, was
prior in Frankfurt, 1320, and thence went to Cologne.
Charges of heresy were preferred against him in 1325 by
the archbishop of Cologne, Henry of Virneburg. The same
year the Dominicans, at their general chapter held in Venice,
listened to complaints that certain popular preachers in Ger-
many were leading the people astray, and sent a representa-
tive to make investigations. Henry of Virneburg had shown
himself zealous in the prosecution of heretics. In 1322, Walter,
a Beghard leader, was burnt, and in 1325 a number of Beg-
hards died in the flames along the Rhine. It is possible that
Eckart was quoted by these sectaries, and in this way was
exposed to the charge of heresy.
The archbishop's accusations, which had been sent to Rome,
were set aside by Nicolas of Strassburg, Eckart's friend,
who at the time held the position of inquisitor in Germany.
In 1327, the archbishop again proceeded against the suspected
preacher and also against Nicolas. Both appealed from the
* Denifle, Archiv, etc., II. 240, 529.
2 Till the investigations of Denifle, his place of birth was usually given as
Stnwsburg. See Denifle, p. 355.
246 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
archbishop's tribunal to the pope. In February, Eckart made
a public statement in the Dominican church at Cologne,
declaring he had always eschewed heresy in doctrine and
declension in morals, and expressed his readiness to retract
errors, if such should be found in his writings.1
In a bull dated March 27, 1329, John XXII. announced
that of the 26 articles charged against Eckart, 15 were hereti-
cal and the remaining 11 had the savor of heresy. Two other
articles, not cited in the indictment, were also pronounced
heretical. The papal decision stated that Eckart had ac-
knowledged the 17 condemned articles as heretical. There
is no evidence of such acknowledgment in the offender's
extant writing.2
Among the articles condemned were the following. As
soon as God was, He created the world. — The world is
eternal. — External acts are not in a proper sense good and
divine. — The fruit of external acts does not make us good,
but internal acts which the Father works in us. — God loves
the soul, not external acts. The two added articles charged
Eckart with holding that there is something in the soul
which is uncreated and uncreatable, and that God is neither
good nor better nor best, so that God can no more be called
good than white can be called black.
Eckart merits study as a preacher and as a mystic theo-
logian.
1 Ego magister Ekardus, doctor sac. theol., protestor ante omnia, quod
omnem errorem in fide et omnem deformitatem inmonbus semper in quantum
mihi possiltile fuit, sum detestatus, etc. Preger, I. 476-478. Preger, I. 471
sqq., gives the Latin text of Eckart's statement of Jan. 24, 1327, before the
archiepiscopal court, his public statement of innocence in the Dominican
church and the document containing the court's refusal to allow his appeal
to Rome.
8 The 20 articles, as Denifle has shown, were based upon Eckart's Latin
writings. John's bull is given by Preger, I. 479-182, and by Denifle, Archiv,
II. 086-640. Preger, I. 366 sqq., Delacroix, p. 238 and Deutsch, V. 146, insist
that Eckart made no specific recantation. The pope's reference must have
been to the statement Eckart made in the Dominican church, which con-
tained the words, " I will amend and revoke in general and in detail, as often
as may be found opportune, whatever is discovered to have a less wholesome
sense, intellectum minus sane.
§ 29. MEI8TER ECKART. 247
As A PREACHER. — His sermons were delivered in churches
and at conferences within cloistral walls. His style is graphic
and attractive, to fascination. The reader is carried on by
the progress of thought. The element of surprise is promi-
nent. Eckart's extant sermons are in German, and the
preacher avoids dragging in Latin phrases to explain his
meaning, though, if necessary, he invents new German terms.
He quotes the Scriptures frequently, and the New Testament
more often than the Old, the passages most dwelt upon being
those which describe the new birth, the sonship of Christ and
believers, and love. Eckart is a master in the use of illus-
trations, which he drew chiefly from the sphere of daily ob-
servation, — the world of nature, the domestic circle and the
shop. Although he deals with some of the most abstruse
truths, he betrays no ambition to make a show of speculative
subtlety. On the contrary, he again and again expresses a
desire to be understood by his hearers, who are frequently
represented as in dialogue with himself and asking for expla-
nations of difficult questions. Into the dialogue are thrown
such expressions as " in order that you may understand, " and
in using certain illustrations he on occasion announces that
he uses them to make himself understood.1
The following is a resume of a sermon on John 6 : 44,
" No man can come unto me except the Father draw him."2
In drawing the sinner that He may convert him, God draws
with more power than he would use if He were to make a
thousand heavens and earths. Sin is an offence against nature,
for it breaks God's image in us. For the soul, sin is death, for
God is the soul's true life. For the heart, it is restlessness,
for a thing is at rest only when it is in its natural state.
Sin is a disease and blindness, for it blinds men to the brief
duration of time, the evils of fleshly lust and the long dura-
tion of the pains of hell. It is bluntness to all grace. Sin
is the prison-house of hell. People say they intend to turn
away from their sins. But how can one who is dead make
himself alive again? And by one's own powers to turn from
sin unto God is much less possible than it would be for the
i BUttner, p. 14 ; Pfeifler, p. 192, etc. 2 Pfeifler, 216.
248 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1204-1617.
dead to make themselves alive. God himself must draw.
Grace flows from the Father's heart continually, as when He
says, " I have loved thee with an everlasting love."
There are three things in nature which draw, and these
three Christ had on the cross. The first was his fellow-like-
ness to us. As the bird draws to itself the bird of the same
nature, so Christ drew the heavenly Father to himself, so that
the Father forgot His wrath in contemplating the sufferings
of the cross. Again Christ draws by his self-emptiness. As
the empty tube draws water into itself, so the Son, by empty-
ing himself and letting his blood flow, drew to himself all the
grace from the Father's heart. The third thing by which he
draws is the glowing heat of his love, even as the sun with its
heat draws up the mists from the earth.
The historian of the German mediaeval pulpit, Cruel, has
said,1 " Eckart's sermons hold the reader by the novelty and
greatness of their contents, by their vigor of expression and
by the genial frankness of the preacher himself, who is felt
to be putting his whole soul into his effort and to be giving
the most precious things he is able to give." He had his
faults, but in spite of them "he is the boldest and most
profound thinker the German pulpit has ever had, — a
preacher of such original stamp of mind that the Church in
Germany has not another like him to offer in all the centuries."
ECKABT AS A THEOLOGICAL THINKER. — Eckart Was still
bound in part by the scholastic method. His temper, how-
ever, differed widely from the temper of the Schoolmen.
Anselm, Hugo of St. Victor, Thomas Aquinas and Bonaven-
tura, who united the mystical with the scholastic element,
were predominantly Schoolmen, seeking to exhaust every
supposable speculative problem. No purpose of this kind
appears in Eckart's writings. He is dominated by a desire
not so much to reach the intellect as to reach the soul and to
lead it into immediate fellowship with God. With him the
weapons of metaphysical dexterity are not on show; and in
his writings, so far as they are known, he betrays no inclina-
tion to bring into the area of his treatment those remoter
ip.384.
§ 29. MBISTEB ECKART. 249
topics of speculation, from the constitution of the angelic
world to the motives and actions which rule and prevail in
the regions of hell. God and the soul's relation to Him are
the engrossing subjects.1
The authorities upon whom Eckart relied most, if we are
to judge by his quotations, were Dionysius the Areopagite,
and St. Bernard, though he also quotes from Augustine,
Jerome and Gregory the Great, from Plato, Avicenna and
Averrhoes. His discussions are often introduced by such ex-
pressions as " the masters say," or " some masters say." As
a mystical thinker he has much in common with the mystics
who preceded him, Neo-Platonic and Christian, but he was
no servile reproducer of the past. Freshness characterizes
his fundamental principles and his statement of them. In
the place of love for Jesus, the precise definitions of the stages
of contemplation emphasized by the school of St. Victor and
the hierarchies and ladders and graduated stairways of Dio-
nysius, he magnifies the new birth in the soul, and son-
ship.2
As for God, He is absolute being, Deus est ease. The
Godhood is distinct from the persons of the Godhead, — a
conception which recalls Gilbert of Poictiers, or even the qua-
ternity which Peter the Lombard was accused of setting up.
1 Denifle lays down the proposition that Eckart is above all a School-
man, and that whatever there is of good in him is drawn from Thomas
Aquinas. These conclusions are based upon Eckart 's Latin writings. Deutsch,
V. 16, says that the form of Eckart's thought in the Latin writings is scholastic,
but the heart is mystical. Delacroix, p. 277 sqq., denies that Eckart was a
scholastic and followed Thomas. Wetzer-Welte, IV. 11, deplores as Eckart's
defect that he departed from " the solid theology of Scholasticism " and took
up Neo-Platonic vagaries. If Eckart had been a servile follower of Thomas, it
is hard to understand how he should have laid himself open in 28 propositions
to condemnation for heresy.
a Harnack and, in a modified way, Delacroix and Loofs, regard Eckart's
theology as a reproduction of Erigena, Dionysius and Plotinus. Delacroix,
p. 240, says, sur tous leapohtfs esaentiets, il est tfactord avec Plotin et Pro-
clus. But, in another place, p. 260, he says Eckart took from Neo-Platonism
certain leading conceptions and " elaborated, transformed and transmuted
them." Loofs, p. 680, somewhat ambiguously says, Die game Eckehartsche
Mystik i»t verstSndlich als fine Erfassung der thomistischen und augus-
tinischen Tradition unter dem Gesichtswinkel des Areopagtien.
250 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
The Trinity is the method by which this Godhood reveals
itself by a process which is eternal. Godhood is simple es-
sence having in itself the potentiality of all things.1 God
has form, and yet is without form; is being, and yet is without
being. Great teachers say that God is above being. This is
not correct, for God may as little be called a being, em Weaen,
as the sun may be called black or pale.2
All created things were created out of nothing, and yet they
were eternally in God. The master who produces pieces of
art, first had all his art in himself. The arts are master within
the master. Likewise the first Principle, which Eckart calls
Erstigkeit, embodied in itself all images, that is, God in God.
Creation is an eternal act. As soon as God was, He created
the world. Without creatures, God would riot be God. God
is in all things and all things are God — Nu tint all Ding
ffleich in O-ott und Bint Q-ot selber.* Thomas Aquinas made a
clear distinction between the being of God and the being of
created things. Eckart emphasized their unity. What he
meant was that the images or universals exist in God eter-
nally, as he distinctly affirmed when he said, " In the Father
are the images of all creatures."4
As for the soul, it can be as little comprehended in a defi-
nition as God Himself.6 The soul's kernel, or its ultimate es-
sence, is the little spark, Funkelein, a light which never goes
out, which is uncreated and uncreatable.6 Notwithstanding
these statements, the German theologian affirms that God
created the soul and poured into it, in the first instance, all
His own purity. Through the spark the soul is brought into
union with God, and becomes more truly one with Him than
1 Pfeiffer, pp. 264, 640.
2 Pfeiffer, p. 208. The following passage is an instance of Eckart's ab-
struseness in definition. He says God's einveltigin Natur ist von Forme n
formelos, von Werdenen werdelos, von Wetenen weselos, und ist von Sachen
$achelos. Pfeiffer, p. 497. » Pfeiffer, pp. 282, 311, 570.
4 In dem Vater sind Slide alter Creaturen, Pfeiffer, pp. 200, 285, etc.
6 Die Seele in ihrem Grande ist so unsprecMich als Gott unsprechltch int.
Pfeiffer, p. 80.
' pp. 89, 113, 198, 286, etc. Pfleiderer, p. 0, calls this the soul's spirit, — der
Geist der Seek, — and Deutsch, p. 162, der innerst Seelengrund.
§ 29. MEI8TEB BCKART. 251
food does with the body. The soul cannot rest till it returns
to God, and to do so it must first die to itself, that is, com-
pletely submit itself to God.1 Eckart's aim in all his sermons,
as he asserts, was to reach this spark.
It is one of Eckart's merits that he lays so much stress upon
the dignity of the soul. Several of his tracts bear this title.3
This dignity follows from God's love and regenerative opera-
tion.
Passing to the incarnation, it is everywhere the practical
purpose which controls Eckart's treatment, and not the meta-
physical. The second person of the Trinity took on human
nature, that man might become partaker of the divine nature.
In language such as Gregory of Nyssa used, he said, God be-
came man that we might become God. Q-ott ist Mensch warden
das% wir Gott wurden. As God was hidden within the human
nature so that we saw there only man, so the soul is to be
hidden within the divine nature, that we should see nothing
but God.8 As certainly as God begets the Son from His own
nature, so certainly does He beget Him in the soul. God is
in all things, but He is in the soul alone by birth, and no-
where else is He so truly as in the soul. No one can know
God but the only begotten Son. Therefore, to know God,
man must through the eternal generation become Son. It
is as true that man becomes God as that God was made man.4
The generation of the eternal Son in the soul brings joy
which no man can take away. A prince who should lose his
kingdom and all worldly goods would still have fulness of
joy, for his birth outweighs everything else.6 God is in the
soul, and yet He is not the soul. The eye is not the piece
of wood upon which it looks, for when the eye is closed, it is
the same eye it was before. But if, in the act of looking, the
eye and the wood should become one, then we might say the
eye is the wood and the wood is the eye. If the wood were
a spiritual substance like the eyesight, then, in reality, one
1 pp. 113, 152, 286, 497, 630.
2 Die Edelkeit der Seele, Von der WHrdigkett der Seele, Von dem Adel
der Svelc, Pfeiffer, pp. 382-448.
« p. 640. « pp. 168, 207, 286, 846. • pp. 44, 478-483.
252 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
might say eye and wood are one substance.1 The fundament
of God's being is the fundament of my being, and the funda-
ment of my being is the fundament of God's being. Thus I
live of myself even as God lives of Himself.2 This beget men t
of the Son of God in the soul is the source of all true life and
good works.
One of the terms which Eckart uses most frequently, to de-
note God's influence upon the soul, is durchbrechen, to break
through, and his favorite word for the activity of the soul, as
it rises into union with God. is AbgeschiedenJieit^ the soul's
complete detachment of itself from all that is temporal and
seen. Keep aloof, abgeschieden, he says, from men, from your-
self, from all that cumbers. Bear God alone in your hearts,
and then practise fasting, vigils and prayer, and you will come
unto perfection. This Abgeschiedenheit, total self -detach-
ment from created things,3 he says in a sermon on the sub-
ject, is "the one thing needful." After reading many writ-
ings by pagan masters and Christian teachers, Eckart came to
consider it the highest of all virtues, — higher than humility,
higher even than love, which Paul praises as the highest;
for, while love endures all things, this quality is receptive-
ness towards God. In the person possessing this quality, the
worldly has nothing to correspond to itself. This is what
Paul had reference to when he said, "I live and yet not I,
for Christ liveth in me." God is Himself perfect Abgeschie-
denheit.
In another place, Eckart says that he who has God in
his soul finds God in all things, and God appears to him out
of all things. As the thirsty love water, so that nothing
else tastes good to them, even so it is with the devoted
soul. In God and God alone is it at rest. God seeks rest,
and He finds it nowhere but in such a heart. To reach this
1 Pfeiffer, p. 139.
2 Hier ist Gottes Grund mein Grund und mein Grund Gottes Grund. Hier
lebe ich aus meinem Eigenen, wie Gott aus seinem Eigenen lebt. BUttner,
p. 100.
8 Lautere, alles Erschaffenen ledige AbgesMedenheit. For the sermon, see
Bttttner, p. 9 sqq.
§ 29. MEISTBR BCKAET. 253
condition of Abgeschiedenheit, it is necessary for the soul
first to meditate and form an image of God, and then to
allow itself to be transformed by God.1
What, then, some one might say, is the advantage of prayer
and good works ? In eternity, God saw every prayer and
every good work, and knew which prayer He could hear.
Prayers were answered in eternity. God is unchangeable
and cannot be moved by a prayer. It is we who change
and are moved. The sun shines, and gives pain or pleasure
to the eye, according as it is weak or sound. The sun does
not change. God rules differently in different men. Differ-
ent kinds of dough are put into the oven; the heat affects
them differently, and one is taken out a loaf of fine bread,
and another a loaf of common bread.
Eckart is emphatic when he insists upon the moral obliga-
tion resting on God to operate in the soul that is ready to
receive Him. God must pour Himself into such a man's
being, as the sun pours itself into the air when it is clear and
pure. God would be guilty of a great wrong — Grebrechen
— if He did not confer a great good upon him whom He
finds empty and ready to receive Him. Even so Christ said
of Zaccheus, that He must enter into his house. God first
works this state in the soul, and He is obliged to reward it
with the gift of Himself. " When I am blessed, selig^ then
all things are in me and in God, and where I am, there is
God, and where God is, there I am."2
Nowhere does Eckart come to a distinct definition of justi-
fication by faith, although he frequently speaks of faith as a
heavenly gift. On the other hand, he gives no sign of laying
stress on the penitential system. Everywhere there are
symptoms in his writings that his piety breathed a different
atmosphere from the pure mediaeval type. Holy living is
with him the product of holy being. One must first be
righteous before he can do righteous acts. Works do not
sanctify. The righteous soul sanctifies the works. So long
as one does good works for the sake of the kingdom of heaven
or for the sake of God or for the sake of salvation or for any
1 Pfeiffer, II. 484. a Pfeiffer, pp. 27, 32, 479 sq., 647 sq.
254 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
external cause, he is on the wrong path. Fastings, vigils,
asceticisms, do not merit salvation.1 There are places in
the mystic's writings where we seem to hear Luther himself
speaking.
The stress which Eckart lays upon piety, as a matter of
the heart and the denial to good works of meritorious virtue,
gave plausible ground for the papal condemnation, that
Eckart set aside the Church's doctrine of penance, affirming
that it is not outward acts that make good, but the disposition
of the soul which God abidingly works in us. John XXII.
rightly discerned the drift of the mystic's teaching.
In his treatment of Mary and Martha, Eckart seems to make
a radical departure from the mediaeval doctrine of the superior
value of pure contemplation. From the time of Augustine,
Rachel and Mary of Bethany had been regarded as the repre-
sentatives of the contemplative and higher life. In his sermon
on Mary, the German mystic affirmed that Mary was still at
school. Martha had learned and was engaged in good works,
serving the Lord. Mary was only learning. She was striv-
ing to be as holy as her sister. Better to feed the hungry and
do other works of mercy, he says, than to have the vision of
Paul and to sit still. After Christ's ascension, Mary learned
to serve as fully as did Martha, for then the Holy Spirit was
poured out. One who lives a truly contemplative life will
show it in active works. A life of mere contemplation is a
selfish life. The modern spirit was stirring in him. He saw
another ideal for life than mediaeval withdrawal from the
world. The breath of evangelical freedom and joy is felt in
his writings.2
Eckart's speculative mind carried him to the verge of pan-
theism, and it is not surprising that his hyperbolical expres-
sions subjected him to the papal condemnation. But his
pantheism was Christian pantheism, the complete union of
1 Pfeiffer, II. 646, 664, 683, Niht endienent unserin were dar zuo dass uns
Got iht gebe Oder tuo.
2 Es geht ein Qeist evangelischer Freiheit durch Eckart's Sittenlehre
welcher zugleich ein Geist der Freudigkeit ist, Preger, I. 452. See the sermon
on Mary, Pfeiffer, pp. 47-63. Also pp. 18-21, 607.
§ 29. MBISTBB BCKABT. 255
the soul with God. It was not absorption in the divine being
involving the loss of individuality, but the reception of God-
hood, the original principle of the Deity. What language
could better express the idea that God is everything, and
everything God, than these words, words adopted by Hegel
as a sort of motto: " The eye with which I see God is the
same eye with which God sees me. My eye and God's eye
are the same, and there is but one sight, one apprehension,
one love." l And yet such language, endangering, as it might
seem, the distinct personality of the soul, was far better than
the imperative insistence laid by accredited Church teachers
on outward rituals and conformity to sacramental rites.
Harnack and others have made the objection that the Co-
logne divine does not dwell upon the forgiveness of sins. This
omission may be overlooked, when we remember the promi-
nence given in his teaching to regeneration and man's divine
sonship. His most notable departure from scholasticism
consists in this, that he did not dwell upon the sacraments
and the authority of the Church. He addressed himself to
Christian individuals, and showed concern for their moral and
spiritual well-being. Abstruse as some of his thinking is,
there can never be the inkling of a thought that he was set-
ting forth abstractions of the school and contemplating mat-
ters chiefly with a scientific eye. He makes the impression
of being moved by strict honesty of purpose to reach the
hearts of men.2 His words glow with the Minne^ or love, of
which he preached so often. In one feature, however, he
differed widely from modern writers and preachers. He did
not dwell upon the historical Christ. With him Christ in us is
the God in us, and that is the absorbing topic. With all his
high thinking he felt the limitations of human statement and,
counselling modesty in setting forth definitions of God, he
1 Das Auge das da inne ich Gott sehe, das ist selbe Auge da inne mich Gott
sieht. Mein Auge und Gottes Auge, das ist ein Auge, und ein Erkennen und
ein Gesicht und ein Minnen, Pfeiffer, p. 312.
2 This is well expressed by Lasson in Ueberweg, I. 471. Inge says, p. 150,
Eckart's transparent honesty and his great power of thought, combined with
deep devoutness and purity of soul, make him one of the most interesting fig-
ures in the history of Christian philosophy.
256 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
said, " If we would reach the depth of God's nature, we must
humble ourselves. He who would know God must first know
himself."!
Not a popular leader, not professedly a reformer, this early
German theologian had a mission in preparing the way for
the Reformation. The form and contents of his teaching had
a direct tendency to encourage men to turn away from the
authority of the priesthood and ritual legalism to the realm
of inner experience for the assurance of acceptance with God.
Pfleiderer has gone so far as to say that Eckart's " is the spirit
of the Reformation, the spirit of Luther, the motion of whose
wings we already feel, distinctly enough, in the thoughts of
his older German fellow-citizen." 2 Although he declared his
readiness to confess any heretical ideas that might have crept
into his sermons and writings, the judges at Rome were right
in principle. Eckart's spirit was heretical, provoking revolt
against the authority of the mediaeval Church and a restate-
ment of some of the forgotten verities of the New Testament.
§ 30. John Tauler of Strassburg.
To do Thy will is more than praise,
As words are less than deeds ;
And simple trust can find Thy ways
We miss with chart of creeds.
— WHITTIER, Our Master.
Among the admirers of Eckart, the most distinguished were
John Tauler and Heinrich Suso. With them the speculative
element largely disappears and the experimental and practical
elements predominate. They emphasized religion as a matter
of experience and the rule of conduct. Without denying any
of the teachings or sacraments of the Church, they made promi-
nent immediate union with Christ, and dwelt upon the Christian
graces, especially patience, gentleness and humility. Tauler
was a man of sober mind, Suso poetical and imaginative.
1 If eiffer, II. 165, 390.
2 p. 7. Freger concludes his treatment of Eckart by saying, I. 458, that it
was he who really laid the foundations of Christian philosophy. Er erst hat
die christliche Philosophic eigentlich begrttndet.
§ 30. JOHN TAULER OF STRASSBURG. 257
John Tauler, called doctor ittuminatus, was born in Strass-
burg about 1300, and died there, 1361. Referring to his father's
circumstances, he once said, " If, as my father's son, I had once
known what I know now, I would have lived from my paternal
inheritance instead of resorting to alms." 1 Probably as early
as 1315, he entered the Dominican order. Sometime before
1330, he went to Cologne to take the usual three-years' course
of study. That he proceeded from there to Paris for further
study is a statement not borne out by the evidence. He,
however, made a visit in the French capital at one period of
his career. Nor is there sufficient proof that he received the
title doctor or master, although he is usually called Dr. John
Tauler.
He was in his native city again when it lay under the in-
terdict fulminated against it in 1329, during the struggle be-
tween John XXII. and Lewis the Bavarian. The Dominicans
offered defiance, continuing to say masses till 1339, when they
were expelled for three years by the city council. We next
find Tauler at Basel, where he came into close contact with
the Friends of God, and their leader, Henry of Nordlingen.
After laboring as priest in Bavaria, Henry went to the Swiss
city, where he was much sought after as a preacher by the
clergy and laymen, men and women. In 1357, Tauler was
in Cologne, but Strassburg was the chief seat of his activity.
Among his friends were Christina Ebner, abbess of a convent
near Niirnberg, and Margaret Ebner, a nun of the Bavarian
convent of Medingen, women who were mystics and recipi-
ents of visions.8 -Tauter died in the guest-chamber of a nun-
nery in Strassburg, of which his sister was an inmate.
Tauler's reputation in his own day rested upon his power
as a preacher, and it is probable that his sermons have been
1 Preger, III. 131. The oldest Strassburg MS. entitles Tauler erluhtete beg-
nodete Lerer. See Schmidt, p. 169. Preger, III. 93, gives the names of a
number of persons by the name of Taweler, or Tawler, living in Strassburg.
2 Christina wrote a book entitled Von der Gnaden Ueberlast, giving an ac-
count of the tense life led by the sisters in her convent. She declared that the
Holy Spirit played on Tauler's heart as upon a lute, and that it had been re-
vealed to her in a vision that bis fervid tongue would set the earth on fire.
See Strauch's art. in Herzog, V. 129 sq. Also Preger, II. 247-261, 277 sqq.
258 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
more widely read in the Protestant Church than those of other
mediaeval preachers. The reason for this popularity is the
belief that the preacher was controlled by an evangelical spirit
which brought him into close affinity with the views of the
Reformers. His sermons, which were delivered in German,
are plain statements of truth easily understood, and containing
little that is allegorical or fanciful. They attempt no display
of learning or speculative ingenuity. When Tauler quotes
from Augustine, Gregory the Great, Dionysius, Anselm or
Thomas Aquinas, as he sometimes does, though not as fre-
quently as Eckart, he does it in an incidental way. His power
lay in his familiarity with the Scriptures, his knowledge of
the human heart, his simple style and his own evident sin-
cerity.1 He was a practical e very-day preacher, intent on
reaching men in their various avocations and trials.
If we are to follow the History of Tauler s Life and Con-
science, which appeared in the first published edition of his
works, 1498, Tauler underwent a remarkable spiritual change
when he was fifty.3 Under the influence of Nicolas of Basel, a
Friend of God from the Oberland, he was then led into a higher
stage of Christian experience. Already had he achieved the
reputation of an effective preacher when Nicolas, after hearing
him several times, told him that he was bound in the letter
and that, though he preached sound doctrine, he did not feel
the power of it himself. He called Tauler a Pharisee. The
rebuked man was indignant, but his monitor replied that he
lacked humility and that, instead of seeking God's honor, he
was seeking his own. Feeling the justice of the criticism,
Tauler confessed he had been told his sins and faults for the
first time. At Nicolas' advice he desisted from preaching
for two years, and led a retired life. At the end of that time
Nicolas visited him again, and bade him resume his sermons.
Tauler's first attempt, made in a public place and before a
1 Specklin, the Strassburg chronicler, says Tauler spoke '« in clear tones,
with real fervor. His aim was to bring men to feel the nothingness of the
world. He condemned clerics as well as laymen.11
3 A translation of the book is given by Miss Winkworth, pp. 1-73. It calls
Tauler's monitor der groue Gottesfreund im Oberlande. See § 32.
§ 30. JOHN TAULBB OF 8TBASSBUBG. 259
large concourse of people, was a failure. The second sermon
he preached in a nunnery from the text, Matt. 25: 6, "Behold
the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him," and so power-
ful was the impression that 50 persons fell to the ground like
dead men. During the period of his seclusion, Tauler had
surrendered himself entirely to God, and after it he continued
to preach with an unction and efficiency before unknown in
his experience.
Some of Tauler's expressions might give the impression
that he was addicted to quietistic views, as when he speaks of
being " drowned in the Fatherhood of God," of " melting in
the fire of His love," of being "intoxicated with God." But
these tropical expressions, used occasionally, are offset by the
sober statements in which he portrays the soul's union with
God. To urge upon men to surrender themselves wholly to
God and to give a practical exemplification of their union with
Him in daily conduct was his mission.
He emphasized the agency of the Holy Spirit, who enlightens
and sanctifies, who rebukes sin and operates in the heart to
bring it to self -surrender.1 The change effected by the Spirit,
which he called Kehr — conversion — he dwelt upon con-
tinually. The word, which frequently occurs in his sermons,
was almost a new word in medieval sermonic vocabulary.
Tauler also insisted upon the Eckartian AbgeBchiedenheit^ de-
tachment from the world, and says that a soul, to become
holy, must become " barren and empty of all created things,"
and rid of all that "pertains to the creature." When the
soul is full of the creature, God must of necessity remain apart
from it, and such a soul is like a barrel that has been filled
with refuse or decaying matter. It cannot thereafter be
used for good, generous wine or any other pure drink.2
As for good works, if done apart from Christ, they are of
no avail. Tauler often quoted the words of Isaiah 64 : 6.
" All our righteousnesses are as a polluted garment." By
1 One of the sermons, bringing out the influence of the Spirit, based on
John 16 : 7-1 1, is quoted at length by Archdeacon Hare in his Mission of the
Comforter. See also Miss Winkwortb, pp. 350-368,
9 Inner Way, pp. 81, 113, 128, 180.
260 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
his own power, man cannot come unto God. Those who
have never felt anxiety on account of their sins are in the
most dangerous condition of all.1
The sacraments suffer no depreciation at Tauler's hands,
though they are given a subordinate place. They are all
of no avail without the change of the inward man. Good
people linger at the outward symbols, and fail to get at
the inward truth symbolized. Yea, by being unduly con-
cerned about their movements in the presence of the Lord's
body, they miss receiving him spiritually. Men glide, he
says, through fasting, prayer, vigils and other exercises, and
take so much delight in them that God has a very small
part in their hearts, or no part in them at all.3
In insisting upon the exercise of a simple faith, it seems
almost impossible to avoid the conclusion that Tauler took
an attitude of intentional opposition to the prescient and self-
confident methods of scholasticism. It is better to possess
a simple faith — einfaltiger Glaube — than to vainly pry into
the secrets of God, asking questions about the efflux and re-
flux of the Aught and Nought, or about the essence of the
soul's spark. The Arians and Sabellians had a marvellous
intellectual understanding of the Trinity, and Solomon and
Origen interested the Church in a marvellous way, but what
became of them we know not. The chief thing is to yield
oneself to God's will and to follow righteousness with
sincerity of purpose. " Wisdom is not studied in Paris, but
in the sufferings of the Lord," Tauler said. The great
masters of Paris read large books, and that is well. But
the people who dwell in the inner kingdom of the soul
read the true Book of Life. A pure heart is the throne of
the Supreme Judge, a lamp bearing the eternal light, a
treasury of divine riches, a storehouse of heavenly sweetness,
the sanctuary of the only begotten Son.8
A distinctly democratic element showed itself in Tauler's
piety and preaching which is very attractive. He put honor
i Mifls Winkworth, pp. 853, 475, etc.
* Inner Way, p. 200. Miss Winkworth, pp. 845, 860 aqq.
9 Preger, III. 182 ; Misa Winkworth, p. 848.
§ 80. JOHN TAULBB OF 8TBASSBUEG. 261
upon all legitimate toil, and praised good and faithful work
as an expression of true religion. One, he said, " can spin,
another can make shoes, and these are the gifts of the Holy
Ghost ; and I tell you that, if I were not a priest, I should
este'em it a great gift to be able to make shoes, and would
try to make them so well as to become a pattern to all."
Fidelity in one's avocation is more than attendance upon
church. He spoke of a peasant whom he knew well for
more than forty years. On being asked whether he should
give up his work and go and sit in church, the Lord replied
no, he should win his bread by the sweat of his brow, and
thus he would honor his own precious blood. The sym-
pathetic element in his piety excluded the hard spirit of
dogmatic complacency. " I would rather bite my tongue,"
Tauler said, "till it bleed, than pass judgment upon any
man. Judgment we should leave to God, for out of the
habit of sitting in judgment upon one's neighbor grow
self-satisfaction and arrogance, which are of the devil."1
It was these features, and especially Tauler's insistence
upon the religious exercises of the soul and the excellency
of simple faith, that won Luther's praise, first in letters to
Lange and Spalatin, written in 1516. To Spalatin he wrote
that he had found neither in the Latin nor German tongue
a more wholesome theology than Tauler's, or one more con-
sonant with the Gospel.2
The mood of the heretic, however, was furthest from
Tauler. Strassburg knew what heresy was, and had proved
her orthodoxy by burning heretics. Tauler was not of their
number. He sought to call a narrow circle away from the
formalities of ritual to close communion with God, but the
Church was to him a holy mother. In his reverence for
the Virgin, he stood upon mediaeval ground. Preaching on
i Preger, III. 131 ; Miss Winkworth, p. 355.
8 Kostlin, Life of M. Luther, I. 117 sq., 126. Melanchthon, in the Preface
to the Franf. ed of Tauler said : " Among the moderns, Tauler is easily the
first. I hear, however, that there are some who dare to deny the Christian
teaching of this highly esteemed man.19 Beza was of a different mind, and
called Tauler a visionary. See Schmidt, p. 160. Preger, III. 194, goes so far
as to say that Tauler clearly taught the evangelical doctrine of justification.
262 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
the Annunciation, he said that in her spirit was the heaven
of God, in her soul His paradise, in her body His palace.
By becoming the mother of Christ, she became the daughter
of the Father, the mother of the Son, the Holy Spirit's bride.
She was the second Eve, who restored all that the first Eve
lost, and Tauler does not hesitate to quote some of Bernard's
passionate words pronouncing Mary the sinner's mediator
with Christ. He himself sought her intercession. If any
one could have seen into her heart, he said, he would have
seen God in all His glory.1
Though he was not altogether above the religious perver-
sions of the mediaeval Church, John Tauler has a place
among the godly leaders of the Church universal, who have
proclaimed the virtue of simple faith and immediate commun-
ion with God and the excellency of the unostentatious prac-
tice of righteousness from day to day. He was an expounder
of the inner life, and strikes the chord of fellowship in all who
lay more stress upon pure devotion and daily living than upon
ritual exercises. A spirit congenial to his was Whittier, whose
undemonstrative piety poured itself out in hearty appreciation
of his unseen friend of the fourteenth century. The modern
Friend represents the mysterious stranger, who pointed out to
Tauler the better way, as saying ; —
What hell may be, I know not. This I know,
I cannot lose the presence of the Lord.
One arm, Humility, takes hold u|>on
His dear humanity ; the other, Love,
Clasps His divinity. So where 1 go
He goes ; and better fire-walled hell with Him
Than golden-gated Paradise without.
Said Tauler,
My prayer is answered. God hath sent the man,
Long sought, to teach me, by his simple trust,
Wisdom the weary Schoolmen never knew.
§ 31. Henry Su*o.
Henry Suso, 1295 7-1366, a man of highly emotional
nature, has on the one hand been treated as a hysterical
1 Tke Inner fTay, p. 67 Bqq., 77 sqq.
§ 81. HENRY SUSO. 263
visionary, and on the other as the author of the most finished
product of German mysticism. Born on the Lake of Con-
stance, and perhaps in Constance itself, he was of noble
parentage, but on the death of his mother, abandoned his
father's name, Berg, and adopted his mother's maiden name,
Seuse, Suso being the Latin form.1 At thirteen, he entered
the Dominican convent at Constance, and from his eighteenth
year on gave himself up to the most exaggerated and painful
asceticisms. At twenty-eight, he was studying at Cologne,
and later at Strassburg.
For supporting the pope against Lewis the Bavarian, the
Dominicans in Constance came into disfavor, and were ban-
ished from the city. Suso retired to Diessehoven, where he
remained, 1339-1346, serving as prior. During this period,
he began to devote himself to preaching. The last eighteen
years of his life were spent in the Dominican convent at
Ulm, where he died, Jan. 25, 1366. He was beatified by
Gregory XVI., 1831.
Suso's constitution, which was never strong, was under-
mined by the rigorous penitential discipline to which lie
subjected himself for twenty-two years. An account of it
is given in his Autobiography. Its severity, so utterly
contrary to the spirit of our time, was so excessive that
Suso's statements seem at points to be almost incredible.
The only justification for repeating some of the details is to
show the lengths to which the penitential system of the
Medieval Church was carried by devotees. Desiring to
carry the marks of the Lord Jesus, Suso pricked into his bare
chest, with a sharp instrument, the monogram of Christ,
IHS. The three letters remained engraven there till his
dying day and, " Whenever my heart moved," as he said, " the
name moved also." At one time he saw in a dream rays of
glory illuminating the scar.
He wore a hair shirt and an iron chain. The loss of blood
forced him to put the chain aside, but for the hair shirt he
substituted an undergarment, studded with 150 sharp tacks.
1 Bihlmeyer, p. 65, decides for 1295 as the probable date of Suso's birth.
Other writers put it forward to 1300.
264 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
This he wore day and night, its points turned inwards to-
wards his body. Often, he said, it made the impression on
him as if he were lying in a nest of wasps. When he saw his
body covered with vermin, and yet he did not die, he exclaimed
that the murderer puts to death at one stroke, " but alas, O
tender God, — zarter Q-ott^ — what a dying is this of mine I "
Yet this was not enough. Suso adopted the plan of tying
around his neck a part of his girdle. To this he attached
two leather pockets, into which he thrust his hands. These
he made fast with lock and key till the next morning. This
kind of torture he continued to practise for sixteen years,
when he abandoned it in obedience to a heavenly vision.
How little had the piety of the Middle Ages succeeded in
correcting the perverted views of the old hermits of the
Nitrian desert, whose stories this Swiss monk was in the
habit of reading, and whose austerities he emulated !
God, however, had not given any intimation of disapproval
of ascetic discipline, and so Suso, in order further to impress
upon his body marks of godliness, bound against his back a
wooden cross, to which, in memory of the 30 wounds of
Christ, he affixed 30 spikes. On this instrument of torture
he stretched himself at night for 8 years. The last year
he affixed to it 7 sharp needles. For a long time he went
through 2 penitential drills a day, beating with his fist upon
the cross as it hung against his back, while the needles and nails
penetrated into his flesh, and the blood flowed down to his feet.
As if this were not a sufficient imitation of the flagellation
inflicted upon Christ, he rubbed vinegar and salt into his
wounds to increase his agony. His feet became full of sores,
his legs swelled as if he had had the dropsy, his flesh became
dry and his hands trembled as if palsied. And all this, as he
says, he endured out of the great inner love which he had for
God, and our Lord Jesus Christ, whose agonizing pains he
wanted to imitate. For 25 years, cold as the winter might be,
he entered no room where there was a fire, and for the same
period he abstained from all bathing, water baths or sweat
baths — Wasserbad und Schweissbad. But even with this list of
self-mortifications, Suso said, the whole of the story was not told.
§ 81. HENRY 8USO, 265
In his fortieth year, when his physical organization had
been reduced to a wreck, so that nothing remained but to die
or to desist from the discipline, God revealed to him that his
long-practised austerity was only a good beginning, a break-
ing up of his untamed humanity, — Ein DurMrechen seines
ungebrochenen Menschen, — and that thereafter he would have
to try another way in order to "get right." And so he pro-
ceeded to macerations of the inner man, and learned the les-
sons which asceticisms of the soul can impart.
Suso nowhere has words of condemnation for such barbar-
ous self-imposed torture, a method of pleasing God which
the Reformation put aside in favor of saner rules of piety.
Other sufferings came upon Suso, but not of his own in-
fliction. These he bore with Christian submission, and the
evils involved he sought to rectify by services rendered to
others. His sister, a nun, gave way to temptation. Over-
coming his first feelings of indignation, Suso went far and near
in search of her, and had the joy of seeing her rescued to a
worthy life, and adorned with all religious virtues. Another
cross he had to bear was the charge that he was the father of
an unborn child, a charge which for a time alienated Henry
of Nordlingen and other close friends. He bore the insinua-
tion without resentment, and even helped to maintain the
child after it was born.
Suso's chief writings, which abound in imagery and com-
parisons drawn from nature, are an Autobiography,1 and
works on The Eternal Wisdom — JZiichlein von der ewigen
Weisheit — and the Truth — Suchlein von der Wahrheit. To
these are to be added his sermons and letters.
The Autobiography came to be preserved by chance. At
the request of Elsbet Staglin, Suso told her a number of his
experiences. This woman, the daughter of one of the lead-
ing men of Zurich, was an inmate of the convent of Tosse,
near Winterthur. When Suso discovered that she had com-
mitted his conversations to writing, he treated her act as "a
1 It contains 68 chapters. Diepenbrock's ed. , pp. 137-306 ; Bihlmeyer's ed. ,
pp. 1-195. Diepenbrock's edition has the advantage for the modern reader
of being transmuted into modern German.
266 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
spiritual theft," and burnt a part of the manuscript. The
remainder he preserved, in obedience to a supernatural com-
munication, and revised. Suso appears in the book as " The
Servant of the Eternal Wisdom."
The Autobiography is a spiritual self-revelation in which the
author does not pretend to follow the outward stages of his
career. In addition to the facts of his religious experience,
he sets forth a number of devotional rules containing much
wisdom, and closes with judicious and edifying remarks on
the being of God, which he gave to Elsbet in answer to her
questions.1
The Book of the Eternal Wisdom, which is in the form of
a dialogue between Christ, the Eternal Wisdom, and the
writer, has been called by Denifle, who bore Suso's name, the
consummate fruit of German mysticism. It records, in Ger-
man,2 meditations in which use is made of the Scriptures.
Here we have a body of experimental theology such as ruled
among the more pious spirits in the German convents of the
fourteenth century.
Suso declares that one who is without love is as unable to
understand a tongue that is quick witli love as one speaking
in German is unable to understand a Fleming, or as one who
hears a report of the music of a harp is unable to understand
the feelings of one who has heard the music with his own
ears. The Saviour is represented as saying that it would be
easier to bring back the years of the past, revive the withered
flowers or collect all the droplets of rain than to measure
the love — Minne — he has for men.
The Servant, after lamenting the hardness of heart which
refuses to be moved by the spectacle of the cross and the
love of God, seeks to discover how it is that God can at once
be so loving and so severe. As for the pains of hell, the
lost are represented as exclaiming, " Oh, how we desire that
1 A translation of these definitions is given by Inge, in Light, Life and
Love, pp. 66-82.
3 Suso made a revision of bis work in Latin under the title Horologium
eternal sapientfa, a copy of which Tauler seems to have had in his possession.
Preger, II. 324.
§ 81. HENRY SU8O. 267
there might be a millstone as wide as the earth and reaching
to all parts of heaven, and that a little bird might alight every
ten thousand years and peck away a piece of stone as big as
the tenth part of a millet seed and continue to peck away
every ten thousandth year until it had pecked away a piece
as big as a millet seed, and then go on pecking at the same
rate until the whole stone were pecked away, so only our
torture might come to an end; but that cannot be."
Having dwelt upon the agony of the cross and God's im-
measurable love, the bliss of heaven and the woes of hell,
Suso proceeds to set forth the dignity of suffering. He had
said in his Autobiography that " every lover is a martyr," l
and here the Eternal Wisdom declares that if all hearts were
become one heart, that heart could not bear the least reward
he has chosen to give in eternity as a compensation for the
least suffering endured out of love for himself. . . . This is
an eternal law of nature that what is true and good must be
harvested with sorrow. There is nothing more joyous than
to have endured suffering. Suffering is short pain and pro-
longed joy. Suffering gives pain here and blessedness here-
after. Suffering destroys suffering — Leiden todtet Leiden.
Suffering exists that the sufferer may not suffer. He who
could weigh time and eternity in even balances would rather
lie in a glowing oven for a hundred years than to miss in eter-
nity the least reward given for the least suffering, for the suffer-
ing in the oven would have an end, but the reward is forever.
After dwelling upon the advantages of contemplation as
the way of attaining to the heavenly life, the Eternal Wisdom
tells Suso how to die both the death of the body and the soul;
namely, by penance and by self-detachment from all the things
of the earth — Entbrechen von alien Dingen. An unconverted
man is introduced in the agonies of dying. His hands grow
cold, his face pales, his eyes begin to lose their sight. The
prince of terrors wrestles with his heart and deals it hard blows.
The chill sweat of death creeps over his body and starts
haggard fears. " O angry countenance of the severe Judge,
how sharp are thy judgments ! " he exclaims. In imagination,
i Bihlmeyer's ed., p. 13.
268 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
or with real sight, he beholds the host of black Moors approach-
ing to see whether he belongs to them, and then the beasts of
hell surrounding him. He sees the hot flames rising up above
the denizens of purgatory, and hears them cry out that the
least of their tortures is greater than the keenest suffering
endured by martyr on the earth. And that a day there is as
a hundred years. They exclaim, "Now we roast, now we
simmer and now we cry out in vain for help." The dying
man then passes into the other world, calling out for help to
the friends whom he had treated well on the earth, but in vain.
The treatise, which closes with excellent admonitions on the
duty of praising God continually, makes a profound spiritual
impression, but it presents only one side of the spiritual life,
and needs to be supplemented and expurgated in order to pre-
sent a proper picture. Christ came into the world that we
might have everlasting life now, and that we might have
abundance of life, and that his joy might remain in us and our
joy might be full. The patient endurance of suffering puri-
fies the soul and the countenance, but suffering is not to be
counted as always having a sanctifying power, much less is it
to be courted. Macerations have no virtue of themselves, and
patience in enduring pain is only one of the Christian virtues,
and not their crown. Love, which is the bond of perfectness,
finds in a cheerful spirit, in hearty human fellowships and in
well-doing also, its ministries. The mediaeval type of piety
turned the earth into a vale of tears. It was cloistral. For
nearly 30 years, as Suso tells us, he never once broke through
the rule of silence at table.1 Innocent III. could write, just
before becoming world-ruler, a treatise on the contempt of the
world. The piety of the modern Church is of a cheerful type,
and sees good everywhere in this world which God created.
Suso's piety was what the Germans have called the mysticism
of suffering — die Mystik des Leidens. His way of self-in-
flicted torture was the wrong way. In going, however, with
Suso we will not fail to reach some of the heights of religious
experience and to find nearness to God.
Suso kept company with the Friends of God, and acknowl-
1 Autobiog., ch. XIV, Bihlmeyer's ed., p. 88.
§ 82. THE FKIBNDS OF GOD. 269
edged his debt to Eckart, " the high teacher," " his high and
holy master," from whose " sweet teachings he had taken deep
draughts." As he says in his Autobiography , he went to
Eckart in a time of spiritual trial, and was helped by him out
of the hell of distress into which he had fallen. He uses some
of Eckart's distinctive vocabulary, and after the Cologne
mystic's death, Suso saw him " in exceeding glory " and was
admonished by him to submission. This quality forms the
subject of Suso's Book on the Truth^ which in part was meant
to be a defence of his spiritual teacher.
A passage bearing on the soul's union with Christ will serve
as a specimen of Suso's tropical style, and may fitly close this
chapter. The soul, so the Swiss mystic represents Christ as
saying —
" the soul that would find me in the inner closet of a consecrated and self-
detached life, — abgeschiedenes Leben, — and would partake of my sweet-
ness, must first be purified from evil and adorned with virtues, be decked
with the red roses of passionate love, with the beautiful violets of meek
submission, and must be strewn with the white lilies of purity. It shall
embrace me with its arms, excluding all other loves, for these I shun and
flee as the bird does the cage. This soul shall sing to me the song of
Zion, which means passionate love combined with boundless praise.
Then I will embrace it and it shall lean upon my heart." 1
§ 32. The Friends of God.
The Friends of God attract our interest both by the sug-
gestion of religious fervor involved in their name and the re-
spect with which the prominent mystics speak of them. They
are frequently met within the writings of Eckart, Tauler, Suso,
and Ruysbroeck, as well as in the pages of other writers of the
fourteenth century. Much mystery surrounds them, and ef-
forts have failed to define with precision their teachings,
numbers and influence. The name had been applied to the
Waldenses,2 but in the fourteenth century it came to be a des-
ignation for coteries of pietists scattered along the Rhine, from
Basel to Strassburg and to the Netherlands, laymen and
priests who felt spiritual longings the usual church services
did not satisfy. They did not constitute an organized sect.
* Von der wigen Weisheit, Bihlmeyer's ed., p. 296 sq.
* Preger, 111. 870 ; Strauch, p. 206.
270 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
They were addicted to the study of the Scriptures, and sought
close personal fellowship with God. They laid stress upon
a godly life and were bent on the propagation of holiness.
Their name was derived from John 16 : 15, " Henceforth 1
call you not servants, but I have called you friends." Their
practices did not involve a breach with the Church and its
ordinances. They had no sympathy with heresy, and antag-
onized the Brethren of the Free Spirit. The little treatise,
called the Q-erman Theology, at the outset marks the differ-
ence between the Friends of God and the false, free spirits,
especially the Beghards.1
A letter written by a Friend to another Friend 2 represents
as succinctly as any statement their aim when it says, " The
soul that loves God must get away from the world, from the
flesh and all sensual desires and away from itself, that is, away
from its own self-will, and thus does it make ready to hear
the message of the work and ministry of love accomplished
by our Lord Jesus Christ." The house which Rulman Mers-
win founded in Strassburg was declared to be a house of
refuge for honorable persons, priests and laymen who, with
trust in God, choose to flee the world and seek to improve
their lives. The Friends of God regarded themselves as
holding the secret of the Christian life and as being the salt
of the earth, the instructors of other men.8
Among the leading Friends of God were Henry of Nord-
lingen, Nicolas of Lowen, Rulman Merswin and " the great
Friend of God from the Oberland." The personality of the
Friend of God from the Oberland is one of the most evasive in
the religious history of the Middle Ages. He is presented as
a leader of great personal power and influence, as the man
who determined Tauler's conversion and wrote a number of
tracts, and yet it is doubtful whether such a personage ever
lived. Rulman Merswin affirms that he had been widely
active between Basel and Strassburg and in the region of
Switzerland, from which he got his name, the Oberland. In
1 See Rulman Merowin's condemnation of the Beguinea and Beghards in
the Nine Socks, chs. XIII., XIV. « AB printed by Preger, IIL 417 sq.
8 See the last chapter of R. Merawin's Nine Rock*.
§ 32, THE FRIENDS OF GOD. 271
1377, according to the same authority, he visited Gregory XI.
in Rome and, like Catherine of Siena, petitioned the pontiff
to set his face against the abuses of Christendom. Rulman
was in correspondence with him for a long period, and held
his writings secret until within four years of his (Rulman's)
death, when he published them. They were 17 in number,
all of them bearing on the nature and necessity of a true
conversion of heart.1
This mystic from the Oberland, as Rulman's account goes,
led a life of prayer and devotion, and found peace, performed
miracles and had visions. He is placed by Preger at the
side of Peter Waldo as one of the most influential laymen of
the Middle Ages, a priest, though unordained, of the Church.
After Rulman's death, we hear no more of him.
Rulman Merswin, the editor of the Oberland prophet's
writings, was born in Strassburg, 1307, and died there, 1382.
He gave up merchandise and devoted himself wholly to a
religious life. He had undergone the change of conversion
— Kehr. For four years he had a hard struggle against
temptations, and subjected himself to severe asceticisms, but
was advised by his confessor, Tauler, to desist, at least for a
time. It was towards the end of this period that he met the
man from the Oberland. After his conversion, he purchased
and fitted up an old cloister, located on an island near Strass-
burg, called dasgriine W&rti to serve as a refuge for clerics and
laymen who wished to follow the principles of the Friends of
God and live together for the purpose of spiritual culture. In
1370, after the death of his wife, Rulman himself became an
inmate of the house, which was put under the care of the
Knights of St. John a year later. Here he continued to ex-
hort by pen and word till his death. He lies buried at the
side of his wife in Strassburg.
Merswin's two chief writings are entitled Das Bannerbiich-
1 The two leading writings are Das Buck von den zwei Mannen, an account
of the first five years immediately succeeding the author's con version, and given
in Schmidt's JVic. von Basel, pp. 205-277, and Das Buck von denfdnfMannen,
in which the Oberlander gives an account of his own life and the lives of his
friends. For the full list of the writings, see Preger, III. 270 sqq., and
Strauch, p. 209 sqq.
272 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
Zein, the Banner-book, and Das Such von den neun Felsen, the
Nine Rocks. The former is an exhortation to flee from the
banner of Lucifer and to gather under the blood-red banner
of Christ.1 The Nine Rocks^ written in the form of a dia-
logue, 1352, opens with a parable, describing innumerable
fishes swimming down from the lakes among the hills through
the streams in the valleys into the deep sea. The author
then sees them attempting to find their way back to the hills.
These processes illustrate the career of human souls depart-
ing from God into the world and seeking to return to Him.
The author also sees a " fearfully high mountain," on which
are nine rocks. The souls that succeed in getting back to
the mountain are so few that it seemed as if only one out of
every thousand reached it. He then proceeds to set forth
the condition of the eminent of the earth, popes and kings,
cardinals and princes; and also priests, monks and nuns, Be-
guines and Beghards, and people of all sorts and classes.
He finds the conditions very bad, and is specially severe on
women who, by their show of dress and by their manners, are
responsible for men going morally astray and falling into sin.
Many of these women commit a hundred mortal sins a day.
Rulman then returns to the nine rocks, which represent the
nine stages of progress towards the source of our being, God.
Those who are on the rocks have escaped the devil's net, and
by climbing on up to the last rock, they reach perfection.
Those on the fifth rock have gained the point where they
have completely given up their own self-will. The sixth
rock represents full submission to God. On the ninth the
number is so small that there seemed to be only three persons
on it. These have no desire whatever except to honor God,
fear not hell nor purgatory, nor enemy nor death nor life.
The Friends of God, who are bent on something more than
their own salvation, are depicted in the valley below, striv-
ing to rescue souls from the net in which they have been
ensnared. The Brethren of the Free Spirit resist this merci-
ful procedure.
1 See Preger, III. 340 sqq. C. Schmidt gives the text, as does also Diepen-
brook, H. Su*o, pp. 505-672.
§ 83. JOHN OF BUYSBROBCK. 273
The presentation is crude, and Scripture is not directly
quoted. The biblical imagery, however, abounds, and, as
in the case of the ancient allegory of Hermas, the principles
of the Gospel are set forth in a way adapted, no doubt, to
reach a certain class of minds, even as in these modern days
the methods of the Salvation Army appeal to many for
whom the discourses of Bernard or Gerson might have little
meaning.1
Rulman Merswin is regarded by Denifle, Strauch and other
critics as the author of the works ascribed to the Friend of
God from the Oberland, and the inventor of this fictitious
personage.3 The reason for this view is that no one else
knows of the Oberlander and that, after Rulman's death,
attempts on the part of the Strassburg brotherhood to find
him, or to find out something about him, resulted in failure.
On the other hand, it is difficult to understand why Rulman
did not continue to keep his writings secret till after his own
death, if the Oberlander was a fictitious character.8
Whatever may be the outcome of the discussion over the
historic personality of the man from the Oberland, we have
in the writings of these two men a witness to the part lay-
men were taking in the affairs of the Church.
§ 33. John of Ruysbroeck.
Independent of the Friends of God, and yet closely allied
with them in spirit, was Jan von Ruysbroeck, 1293-1381.
In 1350, he sent to the Friends in Strassburg his Adorn-
ment of the Spiritual Marriage — Chierheit der gheesteleker
1 Strauch, p. 208, and others regard Merswin's works as in large part
compilations from Tauler and other writers. Strauch pronounces their
contents garrulous — geschwatzig. The Nine Rocks used to be printed
with Suso's works. Merswin's authorship was established by Schmidt.
a Rulman hat den Qottesfreund einfach erfunden. Strauch, p. 217.
1 Preger and Schmidt are the chief spokesmen for the historic personality
of the man from the Oberland. Rieder has recently relieved Rulman from
the stain of forgery, and placed the responsibility upon Nicolas of Lowen,
who entered das griine Wort in 1306. The palaeographic consideration is
emphasized, that is, the resemblance between Nicolas1 handwriting and the
script of the reputed Oberlander.
274 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
Brulockb. He forms a connecting link between them and
the Brothers of the Common Life. The founder of the lat-
ter brotherhood, de Groote, and also Tauler, visited him.
He was probably acquainted with Eckart's writings, which
were current in the Lowlands.1
The Flemish mystic was born in a village of the same name
near Brussels, and became vicar of St. Gudula in that city.
At sixty he abandoned the secular priesthood and put on the
monastic habit, identifying himself with the recently estab-
lished Augustinian convent Groenendal, — Green Valley, —
located near Waterloo. Here he was made prior. Ruys-
broeck spent most of his time in contemplation, though he
was not indifferent to practical duties. On his walks through
the woods of Soignes, he believed he saw visions and he was
otherwise the subject of revelations. He was not a man of the
schools. Soon after his death, a fellow- Augustinian wrote
his biography, which abounds in the miraculous element.
The very trees under which he sat were illuminated with an
aureole. At his passing away, the bells of the convent rang
without hands touching them, and perfume proceeded from
his dead body.
The title, doctor ecstaticus, which at an early period was
associated with Ruysbroeck, well names his characteristic
trait. He did not speculate upon the remote theological
themes of God's being as did Eckart, nor was he a popular
preacher of every-day Christian living, like Tauler. He
was a master of the contemplative habit, and mused upon
the soul's experiences in its states of partial or complete
union with God. His writings, composed in his mother-
tongue, were translated into Latin by his pupils, Groote and
1 The extent to which Eckart influenced the mystics of the Lowlands is a
matter of dispute. The clergy strove to keep his works from circulation.
Langenberg, p. 181, quotes Gerherd Zerbold von ZUtphen's, d. 1398, tract, De
libris Teutonicalibus, which takes the position that, while wholesome books
might be read in the vulgar tongue, Eckart's works and sermons were ex-
ceedingly pernicious, and not to be read by the laity. Langenberg, pp. 184-204,
gives descriptions and excerpts from four MSS. of Eckart's writings in Low
German, copied in the convent of Nazareth, near Bredevoorde, and now pre-
served in the royal library of Berlin, but they do not give Eckart as the
author.
§ 33. JOHN OF RUY8BEOBCK. 275
William Jordaens. The chief products of his pen are the
Adornment of the Spiritual Marriage, the Mirror of Blessed-
ness and Samuel, which is a defence of the habit of contem-
plation, and the Glistening Stone, an allegorical meditation
on the white stone of Rev. 2 : 17, which is interpreted to
mean Christ.
Ruysbroeck laid stress upon ascetic exercises, but more
upon love. In its highest stages of spiritual life, the soul
comes to God "without an intermediary." The name and
work of Christ are dwelt upon on every page. He is our
canon, our breviary, our every-day book, and belongs to
laity and clergy alike. He was concerned to have it under-
stood that he has no sympathy with pantheism, and opposed
the heretical views of the Brethren of the Free Spirit and
the Beghards. He speaks of four sorts of heretics, the marks
of one of them being that they despise the ordinances and
sacraments of the Catholic Church, the Scriptures and the
sufferings of Christ, and set themselves above God himself.
He, however, did not escape the charge of heresy. Gerson,
who received a copy of the Spiritual Marriage from a Car-
thusian monk of Bruges, found the third book teaching
pantheism, and wrote a tract in which he complained that
the author, whom he pronounced an unlearned man, followed
his feelings in setting forth the secrets of the religious life.
Gerson was, however, persuaded that he had made a mistake
by the defence written by John of Schoenhofen, one of the
brethren of Groenendal. However, in his reply written 1408,
he again emphasized that Ruysbroeck was a man without
learning, and complained that he had not made his meaning
sufficiently clear.1
The Spiritual Marriage, Ruysbroeck's chief contribution
to mystical literature, is a meditation upon the words of the
parable, " Behold, the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet
him." It sets forth three stages of Christian experience, the
1 Engelhardt, pp. 265-297, gives a full statement of the controversy. For
Gerson's letters to Bartholomew and Schoenhofen and Schoenhofen's letter,
see Du Pin, Works of Gerson, pp. 29-82. Maeterlinck, p. 4, refers to the
difficulty certain passages in Ruysbroeck's writings offer to the interpreter.
276 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
active, the inner and the contemplative. In the active stage
the soul adopts the Christian virtues and practises them, fight-
ing against sin, and thus it goes out " to meet the bridegroom."
We must believe the articles of the Creed, but not seek to fully
understand them. And the more subtle doctrines of the Scrip-
ture we should accept and explain as they are interpreted by
the life of Christ and the lives of his saints. Man should study
nature, the Scriptures and all created things, and draw from
them profit. To understand Christ he must, like Zaccheus,
run ahead of all the manifestations of the creature world, and
climb up the tree of faith, which has twelve branches, the
twelve articles of the Creed.
As for the inner life, it is distinguished from the active by
devotion to the original Cause and to truth itself as against
devotion to exercises and forms, to the celebration of the
sacrament and to good works. Here the soul separates itself
from outward relations and created forms, and contemplates
the eternal love of God. Asceticism may still be useful, but
it is not essential.
The contemplative stage few reach. Here the soul is trans-
ferred into a purity and brightness which is above all natural
intelligence. It is a peculiar adornment and a heavenly
crown. No one can reach it by learning and intellectual
subtlety nor by disciplinary exercises. In order to attain to
it, three things are essential. A man must live virtuously;
he must, like a fire that never goes out, love God constantly,
and he must lose himself in the darkness in which men of the
contemplative habit no longer find their way by the methods
known to the creature. In the abyss of this darkness a light
incomprehensible is begotten, the Son of God, in whom we
44 see eternal life."
At last the soul comes into essential unity with God, and,
in the fathomless ocean of this unity, all things are seized
with bliss. It is the dark quiet in which all who love God
lose themselves. Here they swim in the wild waves of the
ocean of God's being.1
1 1 have followed the German text given by Lambert, pp. 3-160. Selec-
tions, well translated into English, are given in Light, Life and Love.
§ 33. JOHN OF BUY8BBOECK. 277
He who would follow the Flemish mystic in these utter-
ances must have his spirit. They seem far removed from the
calm faith which leaves even the description of such ecstatic
states to the future, and is content with doing the will of God
in the daily avocations of this earthly life. Expressions he
uses, such as " spiritual intoxication," * are not safe, and the
experiences he describes are, as he declares, not intended for
the body of Christian people to reach here below. In most
men they would take the forms of spiritual hysteria and the
hallucinations of hazy self -consciousness. It is well that Ruys-
broeck's greatest pupil, de Groote, did not follow along this
line of meditation, but devoted himself to practical questions
of every-day living and works of philanthropy. The ecstatic
mood is characteristic of this mystic in the secluded home in
Brabant, but it is not the essential element in his religious
thought. His descriptions of Christ and his work leave little
to be desired. He does not dwell upon Mary, or even men-
tion her in his chief work. He insists upon the works which
proceed from genuine love to God. The chapter may be
closed with two quotations : —
" Even devotion must give way to a work of love to the spiritual and
to the physical man. For even should one rise in prayer higher than
Peter or Paul, and hear that a poor man needed a drink of water, he
would have to cease from the devotional exercise, sweet though it were,
and do the deed of love. It is well pleasing to God that we leave Him
in order to help His members. In this sense the Apostle was willing to
be banished from Christ for his brethren's sake."
" Always before thou retire at night, read three books, which thou
oughtest always to have with thee. The first is an old, gray, ugly volume,
written over with black ink. The second is white and beautifully written
in red, and the third in glittering gold letters. First read the old volume.
That means, consider thine own past life, which is full of sins and errors,
as are the lives of all men. Retire within thyself and read the book of
conscience, which will be thrown open at the last judgment of Christ.
Think over how badly thou bast lived, how negligent thou hast been in
thy words, deeds, wishes and thoughts. Cast down thy eyes and cry,
* God be merciful to me a sinner/ Then God will drive away fear and
anxious concern and will give thee hope and faith. Then lay the old
book aside and go and fetch from memory the white book. This is the
i See Lambert, pp. 62, 63, etc.
278 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
guileless life of Christ, whose soul was pure and whose guileless body
was bruised with stripes and marked with rose-red, precious blood. These
are the letters which show his real love to us. Look at them with deep
emotion and thank him that, by his death, he has opened to thee the gate
of heaven. And finally lift up thine eyes on high and read the third book,
written in golden script ; that is, consider the glory of the life eternal, in
comparison with which the earthly vanishes away as the light of the
candle before the splendor of the sun at midday/'1
§ 34. Gerrit de Groote and the Brothers of the Common Life.
It was fortunate for the progress of religion, that mysticism
in Holland and Northwestern Germany did not confine itself
to the channel into which it had run at Groenendal. In the
latter part of the fourteenth century, and before Ruysbroeck's
death, it associated with itself practical philanthropic ac-
tivities under the leadership of Gerrit Groote, 1340-1384,
and Florentius Radewyn, 1350-1400, who had finished his
studies in Prag. They were the founders of the Windesheim
Congregation and the genial company known as the Brothers
of the Common Life, called also the Brothers of the New
Devotion. To the effort to attain to union with God they
gave a new impulse by insisting that men imitate the conduct
of Christ.2 Originating in Holland, they spread along the
Rhine and into Central Germany.
Groote was born at Deventer, where his father had been
burgomaster. After studying at Paris, he taught at Cologne,
and received the appointment of canon, enjoying at least two
church livings, one at Utrecht and one at Aachen. He lived
the life of a man of the world until he experienced a sudden
conversion through the influence of a friend, Henry of Kolcar,
a Carthusian prior. He renounced his ecclesiastical liv-
ings and visited Ruysbroeck, being much influenced by him.
Thomas a Kempis remarks that Groote could say, after his
i Quoted by Oalle, pp. 184-224.
9 See Grube, Gerh. Groat, p. 9 ; Langenberg, p. iz ; Pastor, I. 160. The
Latin titles of the brotherhood were fratres vitas communis, fratres modernas
devotionis, fratres bonce voluntatis, with reference to Luke 11: 14, and fratres
collationarii with reference to their habit of preaching. Groote's name to
spelled Geert de Groote, Gherd de Groet (Langenberg, p. 3), Gerhard Groot
(Grube), etc.
§ 84. GEEKIT DB GROOTE. 279
visits to Ruysbroeck, "Thy wisdom and knowledge are
greater than the report which I heard in my own country."
At forty he began preaching. Throngs gathered to hear
him in the churches and churchyards of Deventer, Zwolle,
Leyden and other chief towns of the Lowlands.1 Often he
preached three times a day. His success stirred up the Fran-
ciscans, who secured from the bishop of Utrecht an inhibition
of preaching by laymen. Groote came under this restric-
tion, as he was not ordained. An appeal was made to Urban
VI., but the pope put himself on the side of the bishop.
Groote died in 1384, before the decision was known.
Groote strongly denounced the low morals of the clergy,
but seems not to have opposed any of the doctrines of the
Church. He fasted, attended mass, laid stress upon prayer
and alms, and enforced these lessons by his own life. To
quote an old writer, he taught by living righteously —
docuit sancte vivendo. In 1374, he gave the house he had
inherited from his father at Deventer as a home for widows
and unmarried women. Without taking vows, the inmates
were afforded an opportunity of retirement and a life of
religious devotion and good works. They were to support
themselves by weaving, spinning, sewing, nursing and caring
for the sick. They were at liberty to leave the community
whenever they chose. John Brinkerinck further developed
the idea of the female community.
The origin of the Brothers of the Common Life was on this
wise. After the inhibition of lay preaching, Groote settled
down at Deventer, spending much time in the house of Floren-
tius Radewyn. He had employed young priests to copy manu-
scripts. At Radewyn's suggestion they were united into a
community, and agreed to throw their earnings into a com-
1 The title, hammer of the heretics, — malleus hereticorum, — was applied
to him for his defence of the orthodox teaching. For the application of this
expression, see Hanson, Gesch. des Hexenwahns, p. 301. On Groote's fame
as a preacher, see Grube, p. 14 sqq., 23. Thomas a Kempis vouches for
Groote's popularity as a preacher. See Kettlewell, I. 130-134. Among his
published sermons is one against the concubinage of the clergy — defocaristis.
For a list of his printed discourses, see Herzog, VII., 692 sqq., and Langen-
toerg, p. 36 sqq.
280 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1204-1617.
mon fund. After Groote's death, the community received a
more distinct organization through Radewyn. Other societies
were established after the model of the Deventer house, which
was called "the rich brother house," — het rijke fraterhuis, —
as at Zwolle, Delft, Liege, Ghent, Cologne, Miinster, Marburg
and Rostock, many of them continuing strong till the Refor-
mation.1
A second branch from the same stock, the canons Regular
of St. Augustine, established by the influence of Radewyn
and other friends and pupils of Groote, had as their chief
houses Windesheim, dedicated 1387, and Mt. St. Agnes,
near Zwolle. These labored more within the convent, the
Brothers of the Common Life outside of it.
The Brotherhood of the Common Life never reached the
position of an order sanctioned by Church authority. Its
members, including laymen as well as clerics, took no irrevo-
cable vow, and were at liberty to withdraw when they pleased.
They were opposed to the Brethren of the Free Spirit, and were
free from charges of looseness in morals and doctrine. Like
their founder, they renounced worldly goods and remained
unmarried. They supported the houses by their own toil.2
To gardening, making clothes and other occupations per-
taining to the daily life, they added preaching, conducting
schools and copying manuscripts. Groote was an ardent
lover of books, and had many manuscripts copied for his
library. Among these master copyists was Thomas a Kempis.
Classical authors as well as writings of the Fathers and books
of Scripture were transcribed. Selections were also made
from these authors in distinct volumes, called ripiaria — little
river banks. At Liege they were so diligent as copyists as
to receive the name Breeders van de penne. Brothers of the
Quill. Of Groote, Thomas a Kempis reports that he had a
1 See Grube, p. 88, and Schulze, p. 402 sqq., who gives a succinct history
of 18 German houses and 20 houses in tfrb Lowlands. The last to be estab-
lished was at Cambray, 1505.
3 Writing of Radewyn, Thomas a Kempis, Vita Florentii, ch. XIV., says
that work was most profitable to spiritual advancement, and adapted to hold
in check the lusts of the flesh. One brother who was found after hit death
to be in possession of some money, was denied prayer at his burial.
§ 34. GBKRIT DE GROOTE. 281
chest filled with the best books standing near his dining
table, so that, if a course did not please him, he might reach
over to them and give his friends a cup for their souls. He
carried books about with him on his preaching tours. Ob-
jection was here and there made to the possession of so
many books, where they might have been sold and the pro-
ceeds given to the poor.1 Translations also were made of the
books of Scripture and other works. Groote translated the
Seven Penitential Psalms, the Office for the Dead and certain
Devotions to Mary. The houses were not slow in adopting
type, and printing establishments are mentioned in connec-
tion with Maryvale, near Geissenheim, Windesheim, Her-
zogenbusch, Rostock, Louvaine and other houses.
The schools conducted by the Brothers of the Common
Life, intended primarily for clerics, have a distinguished
place in the history of education. Seldom, if ever before,
had so much attention been paid to the intellectual and moral
training of youth. Not only did the Brothers have their own
schools. They labored also in schools already established.
Long lists of the teachers are still extant. Their school at
Herzogenbusch had at one time 1200 scholars, and put Greek
into its course at its very start, 1424. The school at Liege
in 1524 had 1600 scholars.2 The school at De venter ac-
quired a place among the notable grammar schools of history,
and trained Nicolas of Cusa, Thomas a Kempis, John Wessel
and Erasmus, who became an inmate of the institution, 1474,
and learned Greek from one of its teachers, Synthis. Making
the mother-tongue the chief vehicle of education, these schools
sent out the men who are the fathers of the modern literature
of Northwestern Germany and the Lowlands, and prepared
the soil for the coming Reformation.
Scarcely less influential was the public preaching of the
Brethren in the vernacular, and the collations, or expositions
1 Uhlhorn, p. 378, gives the case of such an objector, a certain man by the
name of Ketel of Deventer. Also Langenberg, p. x.
1 See Schmid, Gesch. d. Ereithung wm Aitfang bis auf unsere Zeit, Stutt-
gart, 1892, IT. 104-167; Hirsche in Henog, II. 759; Pastor's high tribute,
I. 152 ; and Langenberg, p. ix.
282 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
of Scripture, given to private circles in their own houses.
Groote went to the Scriptures, so Thomas a Kempis says, as
to a well of life. Of John Celle, d. 1417, the zealous rector
of the Zwolle school, the same biographer writes : " He fre-
quently expounded to the pupils the Holy Scriptures, im-
pressing upon them their authority and stirring them up to
diligence in writing out the sayings of the saints. He also
taught them to sing accurately, and sedulously to attend
church, to honor God's ministers and to pray often."1
Celle himself played on the organ.
The central theme of their study was the person and life
of Christ. "Let the root of thy study," said Groote, "and
the mirror of thy life be primarily the Gospel, for therein is
the life of Christ portrayed."2 A period of each day was
set apart for reflection on some special religious subject, —
Sunday on heaven, Monday on death, Tuesday on the mer-
cies of God, Wednesday on the last judgment, Thursday on
the pains of hell, Friday on the Lord's passion and Saturday
on sins. They laid more stress upon inward purity and
rectitude than upon outward conformities to ritual.8
The excellent people joined the other mystics of the four-
teenth century in loosening the hold of scholasticism and sacer-
dotalism, those two master forces of the Middle Ages.4 They
gave emphasis to the ideas brought out strongly from other
quarters, — the heretical sects and such writers as Marsiglius
of Padua, — the idea of the dignity of the layman, and that
monastic vows are not the condition of pure religious devotion.
They were the chief contributors to the vigorous religious
current which was flowing through the Lowlands. Popular
religious literature was in circulation. Manuals of devotion
were current, cordials and prsecordials for the soul's needs.
Written codes of rules for laymen were passed from hand to
1 Kettlewell, I. 111.
2 Thos. ft, Kempis, Vita Gerard. XVIII. 11 ; Kettlewell, I. 166. A life
of a cleric he declared to be the people's Gospel — vita clerici evangelium
popult. « See Langenberg, p. 61.
4 See Ullman, II. 82, 115 sq. Schulze, p. 190, is not so clear on this point.
Kettlewell, IL 440, says that the Brothers were " the chief agents in pioneer-
ing the way for the Reformation.'1
§ 34. GERRIT DE GROOTE. 283
hand, giving directions for their conduct at home and abroad.
Religious poems in the vernacular, such as the poem on the
wise and foolish virgins, carried biblical truth.
Van viffjuncfrou wen de wis weren
Unde van vifdwasen wilt nu hir leren.
Some of these were translations from Bernard's Jesu dulcis
memoria, and some condemned festivities like the Maypole
and the dance.1
Eugene IV., PiusII.,andSixtusIV. gave the Brothers marks
of their approval, and the great teachers, Cardinal Cusa,D'Ailly
and John Gerson spoke in their praise. There were, however,
detractors, such as Grabon,a Saxon Dominican who presented,
in the last days of the Council of Constance, 1418, no less
than twenty-five charges against them. The substance of
the charges was that the highest religious life may not be
lived apart from the orders officially sanctioned by the
Church. A commission appointed by Martin V., to which
Gerson and D'Ailly belonged, reported adversely, and Gra-
bon was obliged to retract. The commission adduced the
fact that there was no monastic body in Jerusalem when the
primitive Church practised community of goods, and that con-
ventual walls and vows are not essential to the highest reli-
gious life. Otherwise the pope, the cardinals and the prelates
themselves would not be able to attain to the highest reach
of religious experience.2
With the Reformation, the distinct mission of the Brother-
hood was at an end, and many of the communities fell in with
1 See Langenberg. The poem he gives on the dance, 68 sqq., begins—
Hyr na volget eyn Icre schone
Teghen dantzen wide van den meybome.
Here follows a nice teaching against dancing and the May tree. One reason
given against dancing was that the dancers stretched out their arms, and so
showed disrespect to Christ, who stretched out his arms on the cross. One
of the documents is a letter in which a monk warns his niece, who had gone
astray, against displays of dress and bold gestures, intended to attract the
attention of young men, especially on the Cathedral Square. With the letter
he sent his niece a book of devotional literature.
9 Van der Hardt, Cone. Const., IIL 107-121, gives Grabon's charges, the
judgments of D'Ailly and Gerson and the text of Grabon's retraction.
284 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
the new movement. As for the houses which maintained
their old rules, Luther felt a warm interest in them. When,
in 1532, the Council of Hervord in Westphalia was proposing
to abolish the local sister and brother houses, the Reformer
wrote strongly against the proposal as follows : " Inasmuch as
the Brothers and Sisters, who were the first to start the Gos-
pel among you, lead a creditable life, and have a decent and
well-behaved community, and faithfully teach and hold the
pure Word, such monasteries and brother-houses please me
beyond measure." On two other occasions, he openly showed
his interest in the brotherhood of which Groote was the
founder.1
§ 35. The Imitation of Christ. Thomas a Kempis.
. . . mild saint
A Kempis overmild.
— LANIER.
The pearl of all the mystical writings of the German-Dutch
school is the Imitation of Christ, the work of Thomas a Kempis.
With the Confessions of St. Augustine and Bunyan's Pilgrim's
Progress it occupies a place in the very front rank of manuals
of devotion, and, if the influence of books is to be judged by
their circulation, this little volume, starting from a convent
in the Netherlands, has, next to the Sacred Scriptures, been
the most influential of all the religious writings of Christen-
dom. Protestants and Catholics alike have joined in giving
it praise. The Jesuits introduced it into their Exercises.
Dr. Samuel Johnson, once, when ill, taught himself Dutch by
reading it in that language, and said of its author that the
world had opened its arms to receive his book.2 It was
translated by John Wesley, was partly instrumental in the
conversion of John Newton, was edited by Thomas Chalmers,
was read by Mr. Gladstone " as a golden book for all times "
and was ftie companion of General Gordon. Dr. Charles
1 De Wette, Luther's Letters, Nos. 1448, 1440, vol. IV., pp. 368 sqq.
9 An. The Worldly Wisdom of Thos. ft Kempis, in Dublin Review, 1908,
pp. 262-287.
§ 85. THE IMITATION OF CHEIST. 285
Hodge, the Presbyterian divine, said it has diffused itself
like incense through the aisles and alcoves of the Uni-
versal Church.1
The number of counted editions exceeds 2000. The
British Museum has more than 1000 editions on its shelves.3
Originally written in the Latin, a French translation was
made as early as 1447, which still remains in manuscript.
The first printed French copies appeared in Toulouse, 1488.
The earliest German translation was made in 1434 and is
preserved in Cologne, and printed editions in German begin
with the Augsburg edition of 1486. Men eminent in the
annals of German piety, such as Arndt, 1621, Gossner, 1824,
and Tersteegen, 1844, have issued editions with prefaces.
The work first appeared in print in English, 1502, the trans-
lation being partly by the hand of Margaret, the mother of
Henry VII. Translations appeared in Italian in Venice and
Milan, 1488, in Spanish at Seville, 1536, in Arabic at Rome,
1663, in Arminian at Rome, 1674, and in other languages. 8
The Imitation of Christ consists of four books, and derives
its title from the heading of the first book, De imitatione
Christi et contemptu omnium vanitatum mundi^ the imitation of
Christ and the contempt of all the vanities of the world.
It seems to have been written in metre.4 The four books
are not found in all the manuscripts nor invariably arranged
in the same order, facts which have led some to suppose that
1 System. Theol., I. 79. For Gladstone's judgment, see Morley, II. 186.
Butler, p. 191, gives a list of 33 English translations from 1602-1900.
De Quincey said : " The book came forward in answer to the sighing of Chris-
tian Europe for light from heaven. Excepting the Bible in Protestant lands,
no book known to man has had the same distinction. It is the most marvel-
lous biblical fact on record." Quoted by Kettle well, I.
2 Backer, in his Essai bibliogr., enumerates 545 Latin editions, and about
900 editions in French. There are more than 50 editions belonging to the fif-
teenth century. See Funk, p. 426. The Bullingen collection, donated to the
city library of Cologne, 1838, contained at the time of the gift 400 different
edd. Montmorenci, p. xzii sq., gives the dates of 29 edd., 1471-1503, with
places of issue.
8 Corneille produced a poetical translation in French, 1651. A polyglot
edition appeared at Sulzbach, 1837, comprising the Latin text and translations
in Italian, French, German, Greek and English.
* Hirsche discovered the rhythm and made it known, 1874.
286 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1204-1517.
they were not all written at the same time. The work is a
manual of devotion intended to help the soul in its commun-
ion with God. Its sententious statements are pitched in the
highest key of Christian experience. Within and through
all its reflections runs the word, self-renunciation. Its open-
ing words, " whoso f olloweth me, shall not walk in darkness
but shall have the light of life," John 8 : 12, are a fitting
announcement of the contents. The life of Christ is repre-
sented as the highest study it is possible for a mortal to take
up. He who has his spirit has found the hidden manna.
What can the world confer without Jesus? To be without
him is the direst hell; to be with him, the sweetest paradise.
Here are counsels to read the Scriptures, statements about
the uses of adversity and advice for submission to author-
ity, warnings against temptations, reflections upon death, the
judgment and paradise. Here are meditations on Christ's
oblation on the cross and the advantages of the communion,
and also admonitions to flee the vanities and emptiness of
the world and to love God, for he that lovetli, knoweth God.
Christ is more than all the wisdom of the schools. He lifts up
the mind in a moment of time to perceive more reasons for
eternal truth than a student might learn over books in ten
years. He teaches without confusion of words, without the
clashing of opinions, without the pride of reputation, — sine
fastu honoris, — the contention of arguments. The conclud-
ing words are : " My eyes are unto Thee. My God, in Thee do
I put my trust, O Thou Father of mercies. Accompany thy
servant with Thy grace and direct him by the path of peace
to the land of unending light — patriam perpetuce claritatis."
The plaintive minor key, the gently persuasive tone of the
work are adapted to attract serious souls seeking the inner
chamber of religious peace and purity of thought, but especially
those who are under the shadow of pain and sorrow. The
praise of Christ is so unstinted, and the dependence upon him
so unaffected, that one cannot help but feel, in reading this
book, that he is partaking of the essence of the Gospel. The
work, however, presents only one side of the Christian life.
It commends humility, submission, gentleness and the passive
§ 35. THE IMITATION OF CHRIST. 287
virtues. It does not emphasize the manly virtues of courage and
loyalty to the truth, nor elaborate upon Christian activities to
be done to our fellow-men. To fall in completely with the spirit
of Thomas a Kempis, and to abide there, would mean to follow
the best cloistral ideal of the Middle Ages, or rather of the
fourteenth century. Its counsels and reflections were meant
primarily for those who had made the convent their home,
not for the busy traffickers in the marts of the world, and in
association with men of all classes. It leans to quietism, and
is calculated to promote personal piety for those who dwell
much alone rather than to fit men for engaging in the public
battles which fall to men's usual lot. Its admonitions are
adapted to help men to bear with patience rather than to rectify
the evils in the world, to be silent rather than to speak to the
throng, to live well in seclusion rather than set an example of
manly and womanly endeavor in the shop, on the street and
in the family. The charge has been made, and not without
some ground, that the Imitation of Christ sets forth a selfish
type of religion.1 Its soft words are fitted to quiet the soul
and bring it to meek contentment rather than to stir up the
combatant virtues of courage and of assistance to others.
Its message corresponds to the soft glow of the summer even-
ing, and not to the fresh hours filled with the rays of the morn-
ing sun. This plaintive note runs through Thomas' hymns,
as may be seen from a verse taken from " The Misery of
this Life": —
Most wonderful would it be
If one did not feel and lament
That in this world to live
Is toil, affliction, pain.3
i This is Milman's judgment. Hist. ofLat. Christ., Bk. XIV., 3, Milman
Raid, " The book's sole, single, exclusive object is the purification, the eleva-
tion of the individual soul, of the man absolutely isolated from his kind, of the
man dwelling alone in the heritage of his thoughts. "
8 Mirum est, si non lugeat
Experimento qui probat
Quod vivere in sceculo
Labor, dolor, afflictio.
Blume and Dreves: Analecta hymnica, XL VIII. 608. Thomas a
Kempis' hymns are given Blume and Dreves, XLVIII. 476-614.
288 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
Over the pages of the book is written the word Christ. It
is for this reason that Protestants cherish it as well as Cath-
olics. The references to mediaeval errors of doctrine or
practice are so rare that it requires diligent search to find
them. Such as they are, they are usually erased from Eng-
lish editions, so that the English reader misses them entirely.
Thomas introduces the merit of good works, transubstantia-
tion, IV. 2, the doctrine of purgatory, IV. 9, and the worship
of saints, I. 13, II. 9, II. 6, 59. But these statements, how-
ever, are like the flecks on the marbles of the Parthenon.
The author, Thomas a Kempis, 1380-1471, was born in
Kempen, a town 40 miles northwest of Cologne, and died
at Zwolle, in the Netherlands. His paternal name was
Hemerken or Hammerlein, Little Hammer. He was a
follower of Groote. In 1395, he was sent to the school of
Deventer, under the charge of Florentius Radewyn and the
Brothers of the Common Life. He became skilful as a
copyist, and was thus enabled to support himself . Later he
was admitted to the Augustinian convent of Mt. St. Agnes,
near Zwolle, received priest's orders, 1413, and was made sub-
prior, 1429. His brother John, a man of rectitude of life, had
been there before him, and was prior. Thomas' life seems to
have been a quiet one, devoted to meditation, composition
and copying. He copied the Bible no less than four times,
one of the copies being preserved at Darmstadt. His works
abound in quotations of the New Testament. Under an old
picture, which is represented as his portrait, are the words,
" In all things I sought quiet, and found it not save in retire-
ment and in books."1 They fit well the author of the famous
Imitation of Christ, as the world thinks of him. He reached
the high age of fourscore years and ten. A monument was
dedicated to his memory in the presence of the archbishop
of Utrecht in St Michael's Church, Zwolle, Nov. 11, 1897.
The writings of a Kempis, which are all of a devotional
1 In omnibus requiem qucesivi et non invent nisi in een huechsken met een
buexken. Franciscus Tolensis is the first to ascribe the portrait to & Kempis.
Kettlewell's statements about a Kempis1 active religious services are imagi-
nary, I. 31, 322, etc. See Lindsay's statement, Enc. Brit., XIV. 32.
§ 35. THE IMITATION OF CHRIST. 289
character, include tracts and meditations, letters, sermons,
a Life of St. Lydewigis, a steadfast Christian woman who
endured a great fight of afflictions, and the biographies of
Groote, Florentius and nine of their companions. Works
similar to the Imitation of Christ are his prolonged medita-
tion upon the Incarnation, and a meditation on the Life and
Blessings of the Saviour,1 both of which overflow with admi-
ration for Christ.
In these writings the traces of mediaeval theology, though
they are found, are not obtrusive. The writer followed his
mediaeval predecessors in the worship of Mary, of whom he
says, she is to be invoked by all Christians, especially by
monastics.2 He prays to her as the " most merciful," the
" most glorious " mother of God, and calls her the queen of
heaven, the efficient mediatrix of the whole world, the joy
and delight of all the saints, yea, the golden couch for all the
saints. She is the chamber of God, the gate of heaven, the
paradise of delights, the well of graces, the glory of the
angels, the joy of men, the model of manners, the brightness
of virtues, the lamp of life, the hope of the needy, the salva-
tion of the weak, the mother of the orphaned. To her all
should flee as sons to a mother's bosom.8
From these tender praises of Mary it is pleasant to turn
away to the code of twenty-three precepts which the
Dutch mystic laid down under the title, A Small Alphabet
for a Monk in the School of G-od.* Here are some of them.
Love to be unknown and to be reputed as nothing. Love
solitude and silence, and thou wilt find great quiet and a
good conscience. Where the crowd is, there is usually con-
fusion and distraction of heart. Choose poverty and simplic-
ity. Humble thyself in all things and under all things, and
thou wilt merit kindness from all. Let Christ be thy life,
thy reading, thy meditation, thy conversation, thy desire, thy
gain, thy hope and thy reward. Zaccheus, brother, descend
i Pohl'g edM II. 1-59 ; V. 1-363.
a De disciplina claustralium, Pohl'e ed., II. 313. For prayers to Mary
III. 356-368 and sermons on Mary, VI. 218-238.
» Pohl, III. 867; VI. 210, 235 sq. * IIL 817-322.
u
290 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
from the height of thy secular wisdom. Come and learn in
God's school the way of humility, long-suffering and patience,
and Christ teaching thee, thou shalt come at last safely to
the glory of eternal beatitude.
NOTE. — THE AUTHORSHIP OF THE IMITATION OF CHRIST. This question
has been one of the most hotly contested questions in the history of pure lit-
erature. National sentiments have entered into the discussion, France and
Italy contending for the honor of authorship with the Lowlands. The work
is now quite generally ascribed to Thomas a Kempis, but among those who
dissent from this opinion are scholars of rank.
Among the more recent treatments of the subject not given in the Litera-
ture, § 27, are V. BECKER : Vauteur de Vlmitat. et les documents neerlandais,
Hague, 1882. Also Les derniers travaux sur Vauteur de Vlmitat., Brussels,
1889. — DENIFLE : Krit. Bemerk. zur Gersen-Kempis Frage, Zeitung fur
kath. Theol., 1882 sq. — A. 0. SPITZEN . Th. a K. als schrijver der navolging,
Utrecht, 1880. Also Nouvelle defense en reponse du Denifle, Utrecht, 1884. —
L. SAKTINI: I diritti di Tommaso da Kemp., 2 vols., Rome, 1879-1881.—
F. X. FUNK: Gerson und Gersen and Der Verfasser der Nachfolge Christi
in his Abhandlungen, Paderborn, 1899, II. 37;M44. — P. E. PMOL Descnpt.
bibliogr. des MSS. et desprincip. edd du livre de imitat., Paris, 1898. Also
Paleographie^ classement, genealogie du livre de imitat., Paris, 1898. Also
Vauteur du livre de imitat., 2 vols., Paris, 1899. — SCIIULZE'B art. in
HERZOO. — G. KENTENICH : Die Uandschriften der Imitat. und die Autorschaft
des Thomas, in Brieger's Zeitschrift, 1902, 18 sqq., 1903, 594 sqq.
Pohl gives a list of no less than 35 persons to whom with more or less con-
fidence the authorship has been ascribed. The list includes the names of
John Gerson, chancellor of the University of Paris ; John Gersen, the reputed
abbot of Vercelli, Italy, who lived about 1230 ; Walter Hylton, St. Bernard,
Bonaventura, David of Augsburg, Tauler, Suso and even Innocent III. The
only claimants worthy of consideration are Gerson, Gersen, and Thomas a
Kempis, although Montinorency is inclined to advance the claim of Walter
Hylton. The uncertainty arises from the facts (1) that a number of the
MSS. and printed editions of the fifteenth centuiy have no note of author-
ship ; (2) the rest are divided between these, Gerson, Gersen, & Kempis,
Hylton, and St. Bernard ; (3) the MSS. copies show important divergencies.
The matter has been made more difficult by the forgery of names and dates
in MSS. since the controversy began, these forgeries being almost entirely in
the interest of a French or Italian authorship. A reason for the absence of
the author's name in so many MSS. is found in the desire of & Kempis, if he
indeed be the author, to remain incognito, in accordance with his own motto,
ama nesciri, *'love to be unknown. "
Of the Latin editions belonging to the fifteenth century, Pohl gives 28 as
accredited to Gerson, 12 to Thomas, 2 to St. Bernard, and 6 as anonymous.
Or, to follow Funk, p. 426, 40 editions of that century were ascribed to Ger-
son, 11 to a Kempis, 2 to Bernard, 1 to Gersen, and 2 are anonymous. Spit-
zen gives 15 as ascribed to a Kempis. Most of the editions ascribing the
§ 35. THE IMITATION OF CHRIST. 291
work to Gerson were printed in France, the remaining editions being printed
in Italy or Spain. The editions of the sixteenth century show a change, 37
Latin editions ascribing the authorship to a Kempis, and 26 to Gerson. As
for the MSS. dated before 1460, and whose dates may be said to be reason-
ably above suspicion, all were written in Germany and the Lowlands. The
oldest, included in a codex preserved since 1826 in the royal library of Brus-
sels, probably belongs before 1420. The codex contains 9 other writings of
a Kempis besides the Imitation, and contains the note, Finitus et completus
MCCCCXLI per manus fratris Th. Kempensis in Monte S. Agnetis prope
Zwollis (finished and completed, 1441, by the hands of brother Thomas a
Kempis of Mount St. Agnes, near Zwolle). See Pohl, II. 461 sqq. So this is
an autographic copy. The text of the Imitation, however, is written on older
paper than the other documents, and has corrections which are found in a
Dutch translation of the first book, dating from 1420. For these reasons,
Funk, p. 424, and others, puts the MS. back to 1416-1420.
The literary controversy over the authorship began in 1604, when Dom
Pedro Manriquez, in a work on the Lord's Supper issued at Milan, and on the
alleged basis of a quotation by Bonaventura, declared the Imitation to be
older than that Schoolman. In 1606, Bellarmin, in his Descript. eccles., was
more precise, and stated it was already in existence in 1260. About the
same time, the Jesuit, Kossignoli, found in a convent at Arona, near Milan, a
MS. without date, but bearing the name of an abbot, John Gersen, as its
author ; the house had belonged to the Benedictines once. In 1614 the Bene-
dictine, Constantius Cajetan, secretary of Paul V., issued his Gersen restitutus
at Rome, and later his Apparatus ad Gersenem restitittnm, in which he de-
fended the Italian's claim. This individual was said to have been a Benedic-
tine abbot of Vercelli, in Piedmont, in the first half of the thirteenth century.
On the other hand, the Augustinian, Rosweyde, in his v indictee Kempenses,
Antwerp, 1617, so cogently defended the claims of a Kempis that Bellarmin
withdrew his statement. In the nineteenth century the claims of Gersen were
again urged by a Piedmontese nobleman, Gregory, in his Istoria delta Ver-
cellese letteratura, Turin, 1819, and subsequent publications, and by Wolfs-
gruber of Vienna in a scholarly work, 1880. But Hirsche and Funk are, no
doubt, right in pronouncing the name Gersen a mistake for Gerson, and Funk,
after careful criticism, declares the Italian abbot a fictitious personage. The
most recent Engl. writer on the subject, Montmorenciy, p. xiii, says, " there is
no evidence that there was ever an abbot of Vercelli by the name of Gersen. "
The claims of John Gerson are of a substantial character, and France was
not slow in coming to the chancellor's defence. An examination of old MSS.,
made in Paris, had an uncertain issue, so that, in 1640, Richelieu's splendid
edition of the Imitation was sent forth without an author's name. The
French parliament, however, in 1652, ordered the book printed under the
name of a Kerapis. The matter was not settled and, at three gatherings,
1671, 1674, 1687, instituted by Mabillon, a fresh examination of MSS. was
made, with the result that the case went against a Kempis. Later, Du Pin,
after a comparison of Gerson 's writings with the Imitation, concluded that
it was impossible to decide with certainty between these two writers and
Gersen. (See his 2d ed. of Genon'a Works, 1728, I. lix-lxxxiv) ; but in a
292 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517
special work, Amsterdam, 1706, he had decided in favor of the Dutchman.
French editions of the Imitation continued to be issued under the name of
Gerson, as, for example, those of Erhard-Mezler, 1724, and Vollardt, 1768.
On the other hand, the Augustinian, Amort, defended the a Kempis author-
ship in his Informatio de statu controversies, Augsburg, 1728, and especially
in his Scutum Kempense, Cologne, 1728. After the unfavorable statement
of Schwab, Life of Genon, 1858, pp. 782-786, declaring that the Imitation is
in an altogether different style from Gerson*s works, the theory of the Gerson
authorship seemed to be finally abandoned. The first collected edition of
Gerson's Works, 1483, knows nothing about the Imitation. Nor did Gerson's
brother, prior of Lyons, mention it in the list he gave of the chancellor's
works, 1423. The author of the Imitation was, by his own statements, a
monk, IV. 6, 11 ; III., 56. Gerson would have been obliged to change his
usual habit of presentation to have written in the monastic tone.
After the question of authorship seemed to be pretty well settled in favor
of a Kempis, another stage in the controversy was opened by the publications
of Puyol in 1898, 1899. Puyol gives a description of 348 manuscripts, and
makes a sharp distinction between those of Italian origin and other manu-
scripts. He also annotates the variations in 57, with the conclusion that the
Italian text is the more simple, and consequently the older and original text.
He himself based his edition on the text of Arona. Puyol is followed by
Kentenich, and has been answered by Pohl and others.
Walter Hylton's reputed authorship of the Imitation is based upon three
books of that work, having gone under the name De musica ecclesiastica in
MSS. in England and the persistent English tradition that Hylton was the
author. Montmorency, pp. xiv, 138-170, while he pronounces the Hylton
theory of authorship untenable, confesses his inability to explain it.
The arguments in favor of the a Kempis authorship, briefly stated, are
as follows : —
1. External testimony. John Busch, in his Chronicon Windetemense,
written 1464, seven years before & Kempis' death, expressly states that a
Kempis wrote the Imitation. To this testimony are to be added the testi-
monies of Caspar of Pforzheim, who made a German translation of the work,
1448 ; Hermann Rheyd, who met Thomas, 1454, and John Wessel, who was
attracted to Windesheim by the book's fame. For other testimonies, see
Hirsche and Funk, pp. 432-436.
2. Manuscripts and editions. The number of extant MSS. is about 500.
See Kentenich, p. 294. Funk, p. 420, gives 13 MSS. dated before 1500, ascrib-
ing the Imitation to a Kempis. The autograph copy, contained in the
Brussels codex of 1441, has already been mentioned. It must be said, how-
ever, the conclusion reached by Hirsche, Pohl, Funk, Schulze and others that
this text is autographic has been denied by Puyol and Kentenich, on the
basis of its divergences from other copies, which they claim the author could
not have made. A second autograph, in Louvaine (see Schulze, p. 730),
seems to be nearly as old, 1420, and has the note scriptus manibus et char-
acteribus Thomas qui est autor horum devotorum libellorum, " written by
the hand of Thomas," etc. (Pohl, VI. 456 sq.). A third MS., stating that
Thomas is the author, and preserved in Brussels, is dated 1425. —As for the
§ 36. THE GERMAN THEOLOGY. 293
printed editions of the fifteenth century, at least 13 present Thomas as the
author, from the edition of Augsburg, 1472, to the editions of Paris, 1493,
1600.
3. Style and contents. These agree closely with & Kempis' other writ-
ings, and the flow of thought is altogether similar to that of his Meditation
on Christ's Incarnation. Spitzen seems to have made it at least very prob-
able that the author was acquainted with the writings of Ruysbroeck, John
of Schoenhoven, and other mystics and monks of the Lowlands. Funk has
brought out references to ecclesiastical customs which fit the book into the
time between the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Hirsche laid stress on
Germanisms in the style.
Among recent German scholars, Denifle sets aside a Kempis' claims and
ascribes the work to some unknown canon regular of the Lowlands. Karl
Muller, in a brief note, Kir cheng each., II. 122, and Loofs Dogmengesch.,
4th ed., p. 633, pronounce the & Kempis authorship more than doubtful.
On the other hand, Schwab, Hirsche, Schulze and Funk agree that the claims
of Thomas are almost beyond dispute. It is almost impossible to give a rea-
son why the Imitation should have been ascribed to the Dutch mystic, if he
were not indeed its author. The explanation given by Kentenich, p. 603,
seems to be utterly insufficient.
§ 3G. The German Theology.
The evangelical teachings of the little book, known as The
German Tfieoloffy, led Ullmann to place its author in the list
of the Reformers before the Reformation.1 The author was
one of the Friends of God, and no writing issuing from that
circle has had a more honorable and useful career. Together
with the Imitation of Christ, it has been the most profitable of
the writings of the German mystics. Its fame is derived
from Luther's high praise as much as from its own excellent
contents. The Reformer issued two editions of it, 1516,
with a partial text, and 1518, in the second edition giving it
the name which remains with it to this day, Ein Deut%ch
Tfieologia — A German treatise of Theology.2 Luther desig-
1 The best German ed., Stuttgart, 1868. The text is taken from Pfeiffer's
ed., Strassburg, 1851, 3d ed. unchanged ; Gtitersloh, 1875, containing Luther's
Preface of 1618 and the Preface of Joh. Arndt, 1632. Pfeiffer used the MS.
dated 1407, the oldest in existence. The best Engl. trans., by Susannah Wink-
worth, from Pfeiffer's text, London, 1864, Andover, 1860. The Andover ed.
contains an Introd. by Miss Wink worth, a Letter from Chevalier Bunsen
and Prefaces by Canon Kingsley and Prof. Calvin E. Stowe.
2 Luther's full title in the ed. of 1518 is Ein Deutsch Theologia, das itt ein
tdles Duchlein vom rechten Vertttande. was Adam und Ckristus sei und trie
294 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
nated as its author a Frankfurt priest, a Teutonic knight, but
for a time it was ascribed to Tauler. The Preface of the
oldest MS., dated 1497, and found in 1850, made this view
impossible, for Tauler is himself quoted in ch. XIII. Here
the author is called a Frankfurt priest and a true Friend of
God.
Luther announced his high obligation to the teachings of
the manual of the way of salvation when he said that next
to the Bible and St. Augustine, no book had come into his
hands from which he had learnt more of what God and man
and all things are and would wish to learn more. The author,
he affirmed, was a pure Israelite who did not take the foam
from the surface, but drew from the bed of the Jordan. Here,
he continued, the teachings of the Scriptures are set forth as
plain as day which have been lying under the desk of the
universities, nay, have almost been left to rot in dust and
muck. With his usual patriotism, he declared that in the
book he had found Christ in the German tongue as he and the
other German theologians had never found him in Greek,
Latin or Hebrew.
The German Theology sets forth man's sinful and helpless
condition, Christ's perfection and mediatorial work and calls
upon men to have access to God through him as the door.
In all its fifty-four chapters no reference is made to Mary or
to the justifying nature of good works or the merit of sacra-
mental observances.1 It abounds as no other writing of the
German mystics did in quotations from the New Testament.
In its pages the wayfaring man may find the path of salvation
marked out without mystification.
The book, starting out with the words of St. Paul, " when
that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be
Adam in uns tterben und Christus in un$ erttehen soil. A German the-
ology, that is, a right noble little book about the right comprehension of what
Adam and Christ are, and how Adam is to die in us and Christ is to arise.
Cobra in Herzog, XIX. 626, mentions 28 editions as having appeared in High
German previous to 1742. Luther's Prefaces are given in the Weimar ed. of
his Works, pp. 163, 370-878.
1 Dr. Calvin B. Stowe said *« the book sets forth the essential principle of
the Gospel in its naked simplicity,11 Winkworth's ed., p. v.
§ 37. ENGLISH MYSTICS. 295
done away,'* declares that that which is imperfect has only
a relative existence and that, whenever the Perfect becomes
known by the creature, then " the I, the Self and the like
must all be given up and done away." Christ shows us
the way by having taken on him human nature. In chs.
XV.-LIV., it shows that all men are dead in Adam, and that
to come to the perfect life, the old man must die and the new
man be born. He must become possessed with God and de-
possessed of the devil. Obedience is the prime requisite of
the new manhood. Sin is disobedience, and the more " of
Self and Me, the more of sin and wickedness and the more
the Self, the I, the Me, the Mine, that is, self-seeking and self-
ishness, abate in a man, the more doth God's I, that is, God
Himself, increase." By obedience we become free. The life
of Christ is the perfect model, and we follow him by heark-
ening unto his words to forsake all. This is nothing else than
saying that we must be in union with the divine will and be
ready either to do or to suffer. Such a man, a man who is a
partaker of the divine nature, will in sincerity love all men
and things, do them good and take pleasure in their welfare.
Knowledge and light profit nothing without love. Love
maketli a man one with God. The last word is that no man
can come unto the Father but by Christ.
In 1621 the Catholic Church placed the Theologia Q-erman-
ica on the Index. If all the volumes listed in that catalogue
of forbidden books were like this one, making the way of
salvation plain, its pages would be illuminated with ineffable
light.'
§ 37. English Mystics.
England, in the fourteenth century, produced devotional
writings which have been classed iu the literature of mys-
ticism. They are wanting in the transcendental flights of
the German mystics, and are, for the most part, marked by
a decided practical tendency.
1 St5ckl and other Catholics, though not all, are bitter against the Theologia
and charge it with pantheism. Bunsen ranked it next to the Bible. Wink-
worth's ed., p. liv.
296 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
The Ancren Riwle was written for three sisters who lived
as anchoresses at Tarrant Kaines, Dorsetshire.1 It was the
custom in their day in England for women living a recluse
life to build a room against the wall of some church or a small
structure in a churchyard and in such a way that it had win-
dows, but no doors of egress. This little book of religious
counsels was written at the request of the sisters, and is usu-
ally ascribed to Simon of Ghent, bishop of Salisbury, d. 1315.
The author gives two general directions, namely, to keep the
heart " smooth and without any scar of evil," and to practise
bodily discipline, which " serveth the first end, and of which
Paul said that it profiteth little." The first is the lady, the
second the handmaid. If asked to what order they belonged,
the sisters were instructed to say to the Order of St. James,
for James said, " Pure religion and undefiled before our God
and Father is this : to visit the fatherless and widows in their
affliction and to keep one's self unspotted from the world."
It is interesting to note that they are bidden to have warm
clothes for bed and back, and to wash "as often as they please."
They were forbidden to lash themselves with a leathern
thong, or one loaded with lead except at the advice of their
confessor. Richard Rolle, d. 1349, the author of a number
of devotional treatises, and also translations or paraphrases
of the Psalms, Job, the Canticles and Jeremiah, suddenly left
Oxford, where he was pursuing his studies, discontented with
the scholastic method in vogue at the university, and finally
settled down as a hermit at Hampole, near Doncaster. Here
he attained a high fame for piety and as a worker of miracles.
He wrote in Latin and English, his chief works being the
Latin treatises, The Emendation of Life and TJie Fervor of
Love. They were translated in 1434, 1435, by Rich Misyn.
His works are extant in many manuscript copies. Rolle
exalted the contemplative life, indulged in much dreamy
religious speculation, but also denounced the vice and world-
liness of his time. In the last state of the contemplative
1 The Ancren Riwle, ed. by J. Morton, Camden series, London, 1868. See
W. R. Inge, Studies inEngl. Myttics, London, 1906, p. 88 sqq.
§ 87. ENGLISH MYSTICS. 297
life he represents man as "seeing into heaven with his
ghostly eye."1
Juliana of Norwich, who died 1443, as it is said, at the age of
100, was also an anchoress, having her cell in the churchyard of
St. Julian's church, Norwich. She received 16 revelations,
the first in 1373, when she was 30 years old. At that time,
she saw " God in a point." She laid stress upon love, and
presented the joyful aspect of religion. God revealed Him-
self to her in three properties, life, light and love. Her
account of her revelations is pronounced by Inge "a fragrant
little book."2
The Ladder of Perfection, written by Walter Hylton, an
Augustinian canon of Thurgarton, Nottinghamshire, who
died 1396,8 depicts the different stages of spiritual attain-
ment from the simple knowledge of the facts of religion,
which is likened to the water of Cana which must be turned
into wine, to the last stages of contemplation and divine
union. There is no great excellency, Hylton says, "in watch-
ing and fasting till thy head aches, nor in running to Rome
or Jerusalem with bare feet, nor in building churches and
hospitals." But it is a sign of excellency if a man can love
a sinner, while hating the sin. Those who are not content
with merely saving their souls, but go on to the higher de-
grees of contemplation, are overcome by " a good darkness,"
a state in which the soul is free and not distracted by any-
thing earthly. The light then arises little by little. Flashes
come through the chinks in the walls of Jerusalem, but Jeru-
salem is not reached by a bound. There must be transfor-
mation, and the power that transforms is the love of God shed
* C. Horetman, Richard Rolle of Hampole, 2 vols. The Early Engl. Text
Soc. publ. the Engl. versions of Misyn, 1890. G. G. Perry edited his liturgy
in the vol. giving the York Breviary, Surtees Soc, The poem, Pricke of Con-
science, was issued by H. R. Bramley, Oxford, 1884. See Stephen, Diet. Natl.
Biog. XLIX. 164-166.
8 The Revelations of Divine Love has been ed. by R. F. S. Cressy, London,
1670, reprinted 1843 ; by H. Collins, London, 1817, and by Grace Warrack.
3d ed. Lond., 1009. See Inge and Diet, of Natl. Biog.
» Written in English, the Ladder was translated by the Carmelite friar,
Thomas Fyslawe, into Latin. Hylton's death is also put in 1433.
298 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
abroad in the soul. Love proceeds from knowledge, and the
more God is known, the more is He loved. Hylton's wide
reputation is proved by the ascription of Thomas a Kern-
pis' Imitation to him and its identification in manuscripts with
his De musica ecclesiastical
These writings, if we except Rolle, betray much of that
sobriety of temper which characterizes the English religious
thought. They contain no flights of hazy mystification and
no rapturous outbursts of passionate feeling. They empha-
size features common to all the mystics of the later Mid-
dle Ages, the gradual transformation through the power of
love into the image of God, and ascent through inward con-
templation to full fellowship with Him. They show that the
principles of the imitation of Christ were understood on the
English side of the channel as well as by the mystics of the
Lowlands, and that true godliness is to be reached in another
way than by the mere practice of sacramental rites.
These English pietists are to be regarded, however, as iso-
lated figures who, so far as we know, had no influence in
preparing the soil for the seed of the Reformation that was
to come, as had the pietists who lived along the Rhine.2
1 The Ladder of Perfection was printed 1494, 1600, and has been recently
ed. by R. E. Guy, London, 1869, and J. B. Dalgairns, London, 1870. See Inge,
pp. 81-124 ; Montmorency, Thomas it Kempis, etc., pp. 138-174 ; and Diet, of
Natl. Biog., XXVI. 435 sqq.
2 Montmorency, p. 69, makes a remark for which, so far as I know, there
is no corroborative testimony in the writings of the English Reformers, that
" in this English mystical movement — of which a vast imprinted literature
survives— is to be found the origin of Lollardiam and of the Reformation in
England.'9
CHAPTER V.
REFORMERS BEFORE THE REFORMATION.
§ 88. Sources and Literature.
For § 89. CHURCH AND SOCIETY IN ENGLAND, ETC. — THOMAS WALBINO-
HAM : Hist. Anglicana, ed. by RILEY, Rolls Ser., London, 1869. —WALTER
DE HEIMBURGH : Chronicon, ed. by HAMILTON, 2 vols., 1848 sq. — ADAM MERI-
MUTH : Chronicon, and ROBT. DE AVESBURY : De gestis mirabilibus Edwardi
III., ed. by THOMPSON with Introd., Rolls Ser., 1889. — Chron. Angliai (1326-
1388), ed. by THOMPSON, Rolls Ser., 1874. — HENRY KNIGHTON : Chronicon,
ed. by LUMBY, Rolls Ser., 2 vols., 1895. — RANULPH HIGDEN, d. bef. 1400:
Polychronicon, with trans, by TREVISA, Rolls Ser., 9 vols., 1806-1886. — THOS.
RYMER, d. 1713: Feeder a, Conventions et Litera, London, 1704-1715. —
WILKINS : Concilia. — W. C. BLISS : Calendar of Entries in the Papal Reg-
isters relating to G. Britain and Ireland, vols. IL-IV., London, 1897-1902.
Vol. II. extends from 1806-1342 ; vol. III., 1342-1382 ; vol. IV., 1362-1404.
A work of great value. — GEE and HARDY : Documents, etc. — H ADD AN and
STUBBS: Councils and Eccles. Doc'ts. — STCBBS : Constit. Hist, of Engl.,
III. 294-887. —The Him. of Engl., by LINGARD, bks. III., IV., and GREEN,
bk. IV. —CAPES : The Engl. Ch. in the 14th and 15th Centt., London, 1900.
— HALLKR: Papsttum und Kirchenreform, pp. 375-466. — JESSOPP: The
Coming of the Friars. — CREIGHTON : Hist, of Epidemics in England. —
GAHQUKT: The Great Pestilence, 1893. — RABHDALL and others: Histt. of
Oxford and Cambridge. — The Diet, of Nat. Biog. — Also THOS. FULLER'S
Hist, of Or. Brit., for its general judgments and quaint statements. —
LoflERTH : Studien zur Kirchenpolitik Englands im 14 Jahrh. in Sitzungs-
berichte d. kaiserl. Akademie d. Wissenschaften in Wien, Vienna, 1897. — G.
KRIEHN : Studies in the Sources of the Social Revol. of 1381, Am. Hist
Rev., Jan.-Oct., 1902. — C. OMAN : The Great Revolt in 1381, Oxford, 1906.
— TRAILL: Social Engl., vol. II, London, 1894.— ROGERS: Six Centt. of
Work and Wages. — CUNNINGHAM : Growth of Engl. Industry.
For §§ 40-42. JOHN WYCLIP. — I. The publication of Wyclif s works be-
longs almost wholly to the last twenty-five years, and began with the creation
of the Wyclif Society, 1882, which was due to a summons from German
scholars. In 1868, Shirley, Fasc., p. xlvi, could write, "Of Wye's Engl.
writings nothing but two short tracts have seen the light," and in 1883,
Loaerth spoke of his tractates " mouldering in the dust.1' The MSS. are
found for the most pan in the libraries of Oxford, Prag and Vienna. The
Trialogus was publ. Basel, 1625, and WycliffJs Wycket, in Engl., NUrnberg,
1646. Reprinted at Oxford, 1828. —Latin Works, ed. by the Wyclif Soc.,
organized, 1882, in answer to Buddensieg'i appeal in the Academy, Sept 17,
299
300 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
1881, 31 vols., London, 1884-1907. — De officio pastorali, ed. by LBCHLEB,
Leipzig, 1863. — Trialogus, ed. by LECHLER, Oxford, 1809. — Z>e veritate sac.
Scriptures, ed. by RUDOLF BUDDENSIEG, 3 vols., Leipzig, 1904. — De potestate
papae, ed. by LOSERTH, London, 1907. — Engl. Works : Three Treatises, by
J. WYCLIFFE, ed. by J. H. TODD, Dublin, 1851. — * Select Engl. Works, ed.
by THOS. ARNOLD, 3 vols., Oxford, 1809-1871. — * Engl. Works Hitherto Un-
printed, ed. by F. D. MATTHEW, London, 1880, with valuable Introd. —
* WYCLIF'S trans, of the Bible, ed. by FORSHALL and MADDEN, 4 vols. , Ox-
ford, 1860. — His New Test, with Introd. and Glossary, by W. W. SKEAT,
Cambridge, 1879. — The trans, of Job, Pss., Prov., Eccles. and Canticles,
Cambridge, 1881. — For list of Wyclif's works, see CANON W. W. SHIRLEY :
Cat. of the Works of J. W., Oxford, 1806. He lists 90 Latin and 06 Engl.
writings. — Also LECHLER in his Life of Wtclif, II. 65D-673, Engl, trans.,
pp. 483-498. — Also Rashdall's list in Diet, of Nat. Biog. — ll. Biographical.
— THOMAS NETTER of Walden, a Carmelite, d. 1430 : Fasciculi zizaniornm
Magistri Joh. Wyclif cum tritico (Bundles of tares of J Wye. with the wheat),
a collection of indispensable documents and narrations, ed. by SHIRLK^,
with valuable Introd., Rolls Ser., London, 1868. — Also Doctrinale fidei
Christianas adv. Wiclcffltas et Hussitas in his Opera, Paris, 1632, best ed.,
3 vols. , Venice, 1767. Walden could discern no defects in the friars, and
represented the opposite extreme from Wyclif. He sat in the Council of Pisa,
was provincial of his order in England, and confessor to Henry V. — The
contemporary works given above, Chron. Anglice, Walsingham, Knighton,
etc. — England in the Time of Wycli/e in trans, and reprints, Dept. of Hist.
Univ. of Pa., 1895.— JOHN FOXE : Book of Martyrs, London, 1032, etc.—
JOHN LEWIS : Hist, of the Life and Sufferings of J. W., Oxford, 1720, etc.,
and 1820. — R. VAUGHAN : Life and Opinions of J. dp Wyrliffe, 2 vols., Lon-
don, 1828, 2d ed., 1831. — V. LECHLEK : J. von Widif und die Vorgesch. der
Reformation, 2 vols., Leipzig, 1873. — *Engl. trans., J. W and his Engl.
Precursors, with valuable Notes by PETER LOIUMKR, 2 vols , London, 1878,
new edd., 1 vol., 1881, 1884. — * R. BroDENsiEG . J Wiclif und seine Zeit,
Gotha, 1883. Also J. W. as Patriot and Reformer, London, 1884. — E. S.
HOLT : J. dc W., the First Reformer, and what he did for England, London,
1884. — V. VATTIER : J. W., sa vie, ses a>uvres et aa doctrine, Paris, 1880. —
* J. LOSBRTH : Hus und Wiclif, Prag and Leipzig, 1883, Engl. trans , London,
1884. Also WSs Lehre v. wahrem u. falschem Papsttum, in Hist. Zeitschrift,
1907, p. 237 sqq. — L. SERGEANT: John Wyclif, New York, 1893. — H. B.
WORKMAN : The Age of Wyclif, London, 1901. — GEO. S. INNES : J. W., Cin'ti.
— J. C. CARRICK : Wye. and the Lollards, London, 1908. — C. BIOG, in Way-
side Sketches in Eccles. Hist., London, 1900. — For other Biogg., see SHIRLEY :
Fasciculus, p. 531 sqq. —III. J. L. POOLE : W. and Movements for Reform,
London, 1889, and W.'B Doctr. of Lordship in Illustr. ofMed. Thought, 1884.—
WIEGAND: De eccles. notione quid Wiclif docuer it, Leipzig, 1891. — *G. M.
TREVELYAN : Engl. in the Age of W., London, 2d ed., 1899. —POWELL and
TREVELYAN : The Peasants' Rising and the Lollards, London, 1899. — H.
FttRBTENAU : J. von W:s Lehren v. d. Stellung d. weltl. Gewalt, Berlin, 1900.
— HADDAN and STUBBS : Councils and Eccles. Docts. — GEE and HARDY. —
STUBBS: Constit. Hist., III. 314-374. —The Histt. of CAPES, GREEN and
§ 38. SOURCES AND LITERATURE. 301
LINGARD, vol. IV. —The Histt. of the Engl. Bible, by EADIE, WESTCOTT,
MOITLTON, STOUOHTON, MOMBERT, etc. — MATTHEW: Authorship of the
Wyclifltie Bible, Engl. Hist. Rev., January, 1896. — GASQUET : The Eve of
the Reformation, new ed., London, 1906 , The Old Engl. Bible and Other
Essays, London, 1908. — R. S. STORRH . J. Wye. and the First Engl. Bible in
Sermons and Addresses, Boston, 1902. An eloquent address delivered in
New York on the 600th anniversary of the appearance of WycliP s New Test.
— RASHDALL in Diet, of Natl. Biog., LXIII. 202-223. — G. S. INKIS:
Wycltfe Cin«.
For §43. LOLLARDS. — The works noted above of KNIGHTON, WALSING-
HAM, RYMER'S Foedera, the Chron. Anglics, WALDEN'S Fasc ziz., FOXE'S
Book of Martyrs. Also ADAM USK : Chronicle. — THOB. WRIGHT: Polit.
Poems and Songs, Rolls Ser., 2 vols., London, 1859. — FREDERICQ : Corp.
inquis. Neerl., vols. I.-III. — REGINALD PECOCK : The Repressor of overmuch
Blaming of the Clergy, ed. by BABINOTON, Rolls Ser., 2 vols., London, 1860.
— The Histt. of Engl. and the Church of Engl. — A. M. BROWN : Leaders of
the Lollards, London, 1848. — W. H. SUMMERS : Our Lollard Ancestors,
London, 1904. — * JAMES GAIRDNKR: Lollardy and the Reform, in Engl.,
2 vols., London, 1908. — E. I*. CHKYNEY : The Recantations of the Early
Lollards, Am. Hist. Rev., April, 1899. -— H. S. CRONIN : The Twelve Conclu-
sions of the Lollards, Engl. Hist. Rev., April, 1907. — Art. Lollarden, by
BIDDKNHIKG in HsRzoG, XI. 615-626. — %The works of TREVELYAN and
FORBIIALL and MADDEN, cited above, and Oldcastle, vol. XLII. 86-93, and
other artt. in Diet, of Nat. Biog.
For §§ 44-46. JOHN Hrss. — Hist, et monumenta J. Hus atque Hieronymi
I*ragensis, confessorum Christi, 2 vols., Nurnberg, 1668, Frankfurt, 1716. I
have used the Frankfurt ed. — W. FLAJSHANS . Mag. J. Hus Expositio Deca-
logi, Prag, 1903; De corpore Christi: De sanguine Christi, Frag, 1904 ; Ser-
mones de sanctis, Prag, 1908 ; Super quatuor sententiarum, etc. — * FRANCIS
PA LACK Y • Docnmenta Mag. J. Hus, vifam, tloctrinam, causam in Constan-
tiensi actam consiho iHustrantia, 1403-1418, pp. 708, Prag, 1869. Largely
from unpublished sources. Contains the account of Peter of Mladenowitz,
who was with Huss at Constance. — K. J. ERBEN (archivanus of Prag) :
Mistra Jana Hiwi sebrane spisy Czeske. A collection of Huss' Bohemian
writings, 3 vols., Prag, 1866-1868. — Trans, of Huss' Letters, first by LUTHER,
Wittenberg, 1636 (four of them, together with an account by Luther of Huss*
trial and death), republ. by C. VON KUGELGEN, Leipzig, 1902. — MACKENZIE :
7/M/w1 Letters, Edinburgh, 1846. — * H. B. WORKMAN and R. M. POPE : Letters
of J. Hus with Notes. — For works on the Council of Constance, see MANSI,
vol. XXVIII., VAN DER HARDT, FINKE, RICHENTAL, etc., see §12. — C. VON
HOFLEB: Geschichtsschreiber der hussitinchen Beioegung, 3 vols., Vienna,
1856-1866. Contains Mladenowitz and other contemporary documents. —
* I'ALACKT, a descendant of the Bohemian Brethren, d. 1876 : Oeschichte von
Bohmen, Prag, 1886 sqq., 3d ed., 6 vols., 1864 sqq. Vol. III. of the first ed.
was mutilated at Vienna by the censor of the press (the office not being
abolished till 1848), on account of the true light in which Huss was placed.
Nevertheless, it made such an impression that Baron Helfert was commis-
sioned to write a reply, which appeared, Prag, 1867, pp. 287. In 1870,
Palaoky publ. a second ed. of vol. III., containing all the excerpted parts.
802 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
— PALACKT: Die Vorlaufer des Hussitenthums in Btihmen, Prag, 1869.—
L. KOHLER : J. Hus u. *. Zeit, 3 vols., Leipzig, 1846. — E. H. GILLETT, Prof,
in New York Univ., d. New York, 1876 : Life and Times of J. Hues, 2 vols.,
Boston, 1863, 3d ed., 1871. — W. BBROER : J. Hus u. Kdnig Sigismund,
Augsburg, 1871. — BONNKCHOBK : J. Hus u. das Condi zu Kostnitz, Germ,
trans., 3d ed., Leipzig, 1870. — F. v. BEZOLD : Zur Gesch. d. Husitenthums,
Munich, 1874. — E. DENIS : Buss et la guerre des Hussites, Paris, 1878. —
A. H. WRATJBLAW : J. Hus, London, 1882. — * J. LOSERTH : Widifand Hus,
also Beitrdge zur Oesch. der Hussit. Bewegung, 6 small vols., 1877-1896, re-
printed from magazines. Also Introd. to his ed. of Wielif s De ecclesia.
Also art. J. Huss in HERZOO, Encyc., VIII. 473-489. — LECHLER : J. Hm,
Leipzig, 1890. — * J. H. WYLIE : The Counc. of Constance to the Death of
J. Hus, London, 1900. — * H. B. WORKMAN : The Dawn, of the Reformation,
The Age of Hus, London, 1902. —LEA : Hist, of the Inquis., II. 431-6<J6.—
Hefele, vol. VII. — * J. B. SCHWAB . J. Gerson, pp. 627-609. — THCHACKERT :
Von Ailli, pp. 218-236. — W. FABER and J. KURTH : Wie sah Hus aus f
Berlin, 1907. —Also J. Huss by LttTzow, N.Y., 1909, and KUHR, Cin«.
For § 47. THE HUSSITES. — MANSI, XXVII, XXIX. — HALLER • Concil.
Basiliense. — BEZOLD : Konig Sigismund und d. JReichskriege, gegen d. Husi-
ten, 3 vols, Munich, 1872-1877. — *JAROSLAV GOLL: Quellen und Unter-
suchungen zur Gesch. der Bohmischen Brtider, 2 vols., Pra#, 1878-1882. —
* L. KELLER : Die Reformation und die alteren Reformparteien, Leipzig,
1885. — W. PREOER : Ueber das Verhdltni** der Taboriten zu den Waldesiern,
des Ijten Jahrh., 1887. — HAL'PT: Waldenserthum und Inquisition im siid-
ostlichen Deutschland, Freiburg i. Br., 1890. — H. HERRE : Die Husiten-
verhandlungen, 1429, in Quellen u. Forxchungen d. Hist Inst. von Rom,
1899.— *K. MULLER: Bohm. Bruder, HERZOO, III. 446-467. — E. DB
SCHWEIICITZ : The Hist, of the Church known as the Unitas fratrum, Beth-
lehem, 1886. — Also HERQENROTHER-KIRSCH : Kirchengesch. , II. 886-903.
§ 39. The Church in England in the Fourteenth Century.
The 14th century witnessed greater social changes in Eng-
land than any other century except the 19th. These changes
were in large part a result of the hundred years' war with
France, which began in 1337, and the terrible ravages of the
Black Death. The century was marked by the legal adop-
tion of the English tongue as the language of the country and
the increased respect for parliament, in whose counsels the
rich burgher class demanded a voice, and its definite division
into two houses, 1341. The social unrest of the land found
expression in popular harangues, poems, and tracts, affirming
the rights of the villein and serf class, and in the uprising
known as the Peasants9 Revolt.
§ 89. THE CHURCH IN ENGLAND. 308
The distinctly religious life of England, in this period, was
marked by obstinate resistance to the papal claims of juris-
diction, culminating in the Acts of Provisors, and by the ap-
pearance of John Wyclif , one of the most original and vigor-
ous personalities the English Church has produced.
An industrial revolution was precipitated on the island by
the Great Pestilence of 1348. The necessities of life rose enor-
mously in value. Large tracts of land passed back from the
smaller tenants into the hands of the landowners of the gen-
try class. The sheep and the cattle, as a contemporary wrote,
" strayed through the fields and grain, and there was no one
who could drive them." The serfs and villeins found in the
disorder of society an opportunity to escape from the yoke of
servitude, and discovered in roving or in independent engage-
ments the joys of a new-found freedom. These unsettled con-
ditions called forth the famous statutes of Edward III.'s reign,
1327-1377, regulating wages and the prices of commodities.
The popular discontent arising from these regulations, and
from the increased taxation necessitated by the wars with
France, took the form of organized rebellion. The age of
feudalism was coming to an end. The old ideas of labor and
the tiller of the soil were beginning to give way before more
just modes of thought. Among the agitators were John Ball,
whom Froissart, with characteristic aristocratic indifference,
called "the mad priest of Kent," the poet Longland and the
insurgent leader, Watt Tyler. In his harangues, Ball fired
popular feeling by appeals to the original rights of man. By
what right, he exclaimed, " are they, who are called lords,
greater folk than we ? On what grounds do they hold us in
vassalage ? Do not we all come from the same father and
mother, Adam and Eve?" The spirit of individual freedom
breathed itself out in the effective rhyme, which ran like wild-
fire,—
When Adam delved and Ere span
Who was then the gentleman ?
The rhymes, which Will Longland sent forth in his
Complaint of Pier* Ploughman^ ventilated the sufferings and
demands of the day laborer and called for fair treatment such
304 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1204-1517.
as brother has a right to expect from brother. Gentleman
and villein faced the same eternal destinies. " Though he be
thine underling," the poet wrote, " mayhap in heaven, he will
be worthier set and with more bliss than thou." The rising
sense of national importance and individual dignity was fed
by the victory of Crecy, 1346, where the little iron balls, used
for the first time, frightened the horses ; by the battle of Poic-
tiers ten years later ; by the treaty of Br^tigny, 1360, whereby
Edward was confirmed in the possession of large portions of
France, and by the exploits of the Black Prince. The specta-
cle of the French king, John, a captive on the streets of Lon-
don, made a deep impression. These events and the legali-
zation of the English tongue, 1362,1 contributed to develop a
national and patriotic sentiment before unknown in England.
The uprising, which broke out in 1381, was a vigorous as-
sertion of the popular demand for a redress of the social in-
equalities between classes in England. The insurgent bands,
which marched to London, were pacified by the fair promises
of Richard II., but the Kentish band led by Watt Tyler, be-
fore dispersing, took the Tower and put the primate, Sudbury,
to death. He had refused to favor the repeal of the hated de-
capitation tax. The abbeys of St. Albans and Edmondsbury
were plundered and the monks ill treated, but these acts of
violence were a small affair compared with the perpetual im-
port of the uprising for the social and industrial well-being of
the English people. The demands of the insurgents, as they
bore on the clergy, insisted that Church lands and goods, after
sufficient allowance had been made for the reasonable wants
of the clergy, should be distributed among the parishioners,
and that there should be a single bishop for England. This
involved a rupture with Rome.2
It was inevitable that the Church should feel the effects of
these changes. Its wealth, which is computed to have cov-
1 Mandeville composed his travels in 1356 in French, and then translated
out of French into English, that every man of his nation might understand.
Trevisa, writing in 1387, said that all grammar schools and English children
"leaveth French and construeth and learncth English. "
a See Krlehn, Am. Hist. Rev., pp. 480, 483.
§ 39. THE CHURCH IN ENGLAND. 305
ered one-third of the landed property of the realm, and the
idleness and mendicancy of the friars, awakened widespread
murmur and discontent. The ravages made among the clergy
by the Black Death rendered necessary extraordinary meas-
ures to recruit its ranks. The bishop of Norwich was author-
ized to replace the dead by ordaining 60 young men before the
canonical age. With the rise of the staples of living, the sti-
pends of the vast body of the priestly class was rendered still
more inadequate. Archbishop Islip of Canterbury and other
prelates, while recognizing in their pastorals the prevalent un-
rest, instead of showing proper sympathy, condemned the cov-
etousness of the clergy. On the other hand, Longland wrote
of the shifts to which they were put to eke out a living by
accepting secular and often menial employment in the royal
palace and the halls of the gentry class.
Parson and parish priest pleyued to the bishop,
That their parishes were pore sith the pestilence tym,
To have a license and a leve at London to dwelle
And Ryu gen there for symonye, for silver is swete.
There was a movement from within the English people to
limit the power of the bishops and to call forth spirituality and
efficiency in the clergy. The bishops, powerful as they re-
mained, were divested of some of their prestige by the parlia-
mentary decision of 1370, restricting high offices of state to
laymen. The first lay chancellor was appointed in 1340. The
bishop, however, was a great personage, and woe to the parish
that did not make fitting preparations for his entertainment
and have the bells rung on his arrival. Archbishop Arundel,
Foxe quaintly says, " took great snuff and did suspend all such
as did not receive him with the noise of bells." Each diocese
had its own prison, into which the bishop thrust refractory
clerics for penance or severer punishment.
The mass of the clergy had little learning. The stalls and
canonries, with attractive incomes, where they did not go to
foreigners, were regarded as the proper prizes of the younger
sons of noblemen. On the other hand, the prelates lived in
abundance. The famous bishop of Winchester, William of
Wy keham, counted fifty manors of his own . In the larger ones,
806 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
official residences were maintained, including hall and chapel.
This prelate travelled from one to the other, taking reckonings
of his stewards, receiving applications for the tonsure and
ordination and attending to other official business. Many of
the lower clergy were taken from the villein class, whose sons
required special exemption to attend school. The day they
received orders they were manumitted.
The benefit of clergy, so called, continued to be a source of
injustice to the people at large. By the middle of the 13th
century, the Church's claim to tithes was extended not only to
the products of the field, but the poultry of the yard and the
cattle of the stall, to the catch of fish and the game of the
forests. Wills almost invariably gave to the priest " the best
animal" or the "best quick good." The Church received and
gave not back, and, in spite of the statute of Mortmain, be-
quests continued to be made to her. It came, however, to be
regarded as a settled principle that the property of Church and
clergy was amenable to civil taxation, and bishops, willingly
or by compulsion, loaned money to the king. The demands of
the French campaigns made such taxation imperative.
Indulgences were freely announced to procure aid for the
building of churches, as in the case of York Cathedral, 1396,
the erection of bridges, the filling up of muddy roads and for
other public improvements. The clergy, though denied the
right of participating in bowling and even in the pastime of
checkers, took part in village festivities such as the Church-
ale, a sort of mediaeval donation party, in which there was gen-
eral merrymaking, ale was brewed, and the people drank freely
to the health of the priest and for the benefit of the Church.
As for the morals of the clergy, care must always be had not
to base sweeping statements upon delinquencies which are apt
to be emphasized out of proportion to tiieir extent. It is cer-
tain, however, that celibacy was by no means universally en-
forced, and frequent notices occur of dispensations given to
clergymen of illegitimate birth. Bishop Quevil of Exeter com-
plained that priests with families invested their savings for the
benefit of their marital partners and their children. In the
next period, in 1452, De la Bere, bishop of St. David's, by his
§ 39. THE CHURCH IN ENGLAND, 807
own statement, drew 400 marks yearly from priests for the priv-
ilege of having concubines, a noble, equal in value to a mark,
from each one.1 Gower, in his Vox clamantis, gave a dark
picture of clerical habits, and charges the clergy with coarse
vices such as now are scarcely dreamed of. The Church his-
torian, Capes, concludes that "immorality and negligence were
widely spread among the clergy."2 The decline of discipline
among the friars, and their rude manners, a prominent feature
of the times, came in for the strictures of Fitzralph of Armagh,
severe condemnation at the hands of Wyclif and playful sar-
casm from the pen of Chaucer. The zeal for learning which
had characterized them on their first arrival in England, early
in the 13th century, had given way to self-satisfied idleness.
Fitzralph, who was fellow of Balliol, and probably chancellor
of the University of Oxford, before being raised to the episco-
pate, incurred the hostility of the friars by a series of sermons
against the Franciscan theory of evangelical poverty. He
claimed it was not scriptural nor derived from the customs of
the primitive Church. For his temerity he was compelled to
answer at Avignon, where he seems to have died about the
year I860.8 Of the four orders of mendicants, the Franciscans,
Dominicans, Carmelites and Augustinians, Longland sang that
they
Preached the people for profit and themselve
Closed the Gospel as them good lyked,
For covetis of copis construed it as they would.
Of the ecclesiastics of the century, if we except Wyclif, prob-
ably the most noted are Thomas Bradwardine and William of
Wykeham, the one the representative of scholarly study, the
other of ecclesiastical power. Bradwardine, theologian, phi-
1 Gascoigne, as quoted by Gairdner : Lollardy and the Reform., I. 262.
«L p. 263.
8 His Defentio curatorum contra eos qm privilegatos se dicunt is printed in
Goldast, IL 466 sqq. See art. Fitzralph, by R. L. Poole, Diet, of Nat. Biog.,
XIX. 194-198. Four books of Fitzralph's Depaupene salvatoris were printed
for the first time by Poole in his ed. of Wycliffs De dominio, pp. 267-477.
As for libraries, Fitzralph says that in every English convent there was a grand
library. On the other hand, the author of the Philobiblion, Rich, de Bury,
charges the friars with losing their interest in books.
308 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
losopher, mathematician and astronomer, was a student at Mer-
ton College, Oxford, 1325. At Avignon, whither he went to
receive consecration to the see of Canterbury, 1349, he had a
strange experience. During the banquet given by Clement VI.
the doors were thrown open and a clown entered, seated on a
jackass, and humbly petitioned the pontiff to be made arch-
bishop of Canterbury. This insult, gotten up by Clement's
nephew Hugo, cardinal of Tudela, and other members of the
sacred college, was in allusion to the remark made by the pope
that, if the king of England would ask him to appoint a jackass
to a bishopric, he would not dare to refuse. The sport throws
an unpleasant light upon the ideals of the curia, but at the
same time bears witness to the attempt which was being made
in England to control the appointment of ecclesiastics. Brad-
wardine enjoyed such an enviable reputation that Wyclif and
other English contemporaries gave him the title, the Profound
Doctor — doctor profundu*.1 In his chief work on grace and
freewill, delivered as a series of lectures at Merton, he declared
that the Church was running after Pelagius.2 In the philo-
sophical schools he had rarely heard any tiling about grace, but
all day long the assertions that we are masters of our own wills.
He was a determinist. All things, he affirmed, which occur,
occur by the necessity of the first cause. In his Nun's Tale,
speaking of God's predestination, Chaucer says : —
But he cannot boult it to the bren
As can the holie rloctour, 8. Austin,
Or Boece (Boethius), or the Bishop Bradwardine.
Wykeham, 1324-1404, the pattern of a worldly and aristo-
cratic prelate, was an unblushing pluralist, and his see of Win-
chester is said to have brought him in £60,000 of our money
annually. In 1361 alone, he received prebends in St. Paul's,
Hereford, Salisbury, St. David's, Beverley, Bromyard, Wher-
well Abergwili, and Llanddewi Brewi, and in the following
1 Wyclif: De writ, «cr., I. 30, 109, etc.
3 De causa Dei contra Pelagium el de virtute cauaarum ad suos Mertinenses,
ed. by Sir Henry Saville, London, 1618. For other works, see Seeberg's art.
in Herzog, III. 360, and Stephens in Diet, of Nat. Biog., VI. 188 sq. Also
S. Hahn, That. Bradwardinus, und teine Lehre von d. menschl. Willens-
freiheit, Munster, 1905.
§ 39. THE CHURCH IN ENGLAND. 309
year Lincoln, York, Wells and Hastings. He occupied for a
time the chief office of chancellor, but fell into disrepute. His
memory is preserved in Winchester School and in New Col-
lege, Oxford, which he founded. The princely endowment
of New College, the first stones of which were laid in 1387,
embraced 100 scholarships. These gifts place Wykeham in
the first rank of English patrons of learning at the side of
Cardinal Wolsey. He also has a place in the manuals of the
courtesies of life by his famous words, " Manners makyth
man."1
The struggles of previous centuries against the encroach-
ment of Rome upon the temporalities of the English Church
was maintained in this period. The complaint made by Mat-
thew Paris2 that the English Church was kept between two
millstones, the king and the pope, remained true, with this
difference, however, the king's influence came to preponderate.
Acts of parliament emphasized his right to dictate or veto
ecclesiastical appointments and recognized his sovereign pre-
rogative to tax Church property. The evident support which
the pope gave to France in her wars with England and the
scandals of the Avignon residence were favorable to the crown's
assertion of authority in these respects. Wyclif frequently
complained that the pope and cardinals were " in league with
the enemies of the English kingdom " 8 and the papal registers
of the Avignon period, which record the appeals sent to the
English king to conclude peace with France, almost always
mention terms that would have made France the gainer. At
the outbreak of the war, 1339, Edward III. proudly complained
that it broke his heart to see that the French troops were paid
in part with papal funds.4
The three most important religious acts of England between
John's surrender of his crown to Innocent III. and the Act of
Supremacy, 1534, were the parliamentary statutes of Mort-
1 See art. by Tait in Diet, of Nat. Biog., LXIII. 226-231.
* Rolls Series, IV. 669. 8 De eccles., p. 832.
4 Walsingham, Hist. Angl.t I. 200 sqq., and the pope's reply, p. 208 sqq.
Benedict showed his complete devotion to the French king when he wrote
that, if he had two souls, one of them should be given for him. Quoted by
Loserth, Stud, zur Kirchenpol., p. 20.
810 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
main, 1279, of Provisory 1351, and for the burning of heretics,
1401. The statute of Mortmain or Dead-hand forbade the
alienation of lands so as to remove them from the obligation
of service or taxation to the secular power. The statute of
Provisors, renewed and enlarged in the acts of Prsemunire,
1353, 1390 and 1393, concerned the subject of the papal rights
over appointments and the temporalities of the English Church.
This old bone of contention was taken up early in the 14th
century in the statute of Carlyle, 1307,1 which forbade aliens,
appointed to visit religious houses in England, taking moneys
with them out of the land and also the payment of tallages and
impositions laid upon religious establishments from abroad.
In 1343, parliament called upon the pope to recall all " reserva-
tions, provisions and collations " which, as it affirmed, checked
Church improvements and the flow of alms. It further pro-
tested against the appointment of aliens to English livings,
"some of them our enemies who know not our language."
Clement VI., replying to the briefs of the king and parliament,
declared that, when he made provisions and reservations, it
was for the good of the Church, and exhorted Edward to act
as a Catholic prince should and to permit nothing to be done
in his realm inimical to the Roman Church and ecclesiastical
liberty. Such liberty the pope said he would " defend as hav-
ing to give account at the last judgment." Liberty in this
case meant the free and unhampered exercise of the lordly
claims made by his predecessors from Hildebrand down.2
Thomas Fuller was close to the truth, when, defining papal
provisions and reservations, he wrote, " When any bishopric,
abbot's place, dignity or good living (aquila non capit musca*
— the eagle does not take note of flies) was like to be void,
the pope, by a profitable prolepsis to himself, predisposed such
places to such successors as he pleased. By this device he de-
feated, when he so pleased, the legal election of all convents
and rightful presentation of all patrons."
1 Gee and Hardy, pp. 92-94.
8 For the text of the parliamentary brief and the king's letter, which was
written in French, see Merimuth, p. 138 sqq., 163 sqq., and for Clement's
reply, Bliss, III., 9 sqq.
§ 39. THE CHURCH IN ENGLAND. 311
The memorable statute of Provisors forbade all papal pro-
visions and reservations and all taxation of Church property
contrary to the customs of England. The act of 1353 sought
more effectually to clip the pope's power by forbidding the
carrying of any suit against an English patron before a for-
eign tribunal.1
To these laws the pope paid only so much heed as expedi-
ency required. This claim, made by one of his predecessors in
the bull Cupientes, to the right to fill all the benefices of Chris-
tendom, he had no idea of abandoning, and, whenever it was
possible, he provided for his hungry family of cardinals and
other ecclesiastics out of the proverbially fat appointments
of England. Indeed, the cases of such appointments given
by Merimuth, and especially in the papal books as printed by
Bliss, are so recurrent that one might easily get the impression
that the pontiff's only concern for the English Church was to
see that its livings were put into the hands of foreigners. I
have counted the numbers in several places as given by Bliss.
On one page, 4 out of 9 entries were papal appointments. A
section of 2£ pages announces " provisions of a canonry, with
expectation of a prebend " in the following churches : 7 in
Lincoln, 5 in Salisbury, 2 in Chichester, and 1 each in Wells,
York, Exeter, St. Patrick's, Dublin, Moray, Southwell, How-
den, Ross, Aberdeen, Wilton.2 From 1342-1385 the deanery
of York was held successively by three Roman cardinals. In
1374, the incomes of the treasurer, dean and two archdeaneries
of Salisbury went the same way. At the close of Edward
III.'s reign, foreign cardinals held the deaneries of York,
Salisbury and Lichfield, the archdeanery of Canterbury, re-
puted to be the richest of English preferments, and innumer-
able prebends. Bishops and abbots-elect had to travel to
Avignon and often spend months and much money in securing
confirmation to their appointments, and, in cases, the prelate-
1 See the texts of these statutes in Gee and Hardy, 108 sqq., 112-123.
With reference to the renewal of the act in 1390, Fuller quaintly says: "It
mauled the papal power in the land. Some former laws had pared the pope's
nails to the quick, but this cut off his fingers.11
2 II. 346 ; III. 64 sq. Prebend has reference to the stipend, canonry to
the office.
812 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
elect was set aside on the ground that provision had already
been made for his office. As for sees reserved by the pope,
Stubbs gives the following list, extending over a brief term
of years : Worcester, Hereford, Durham and Rochester, 1317 ;
Lincoln and Winchester, 1320 ; Lichfield, 1322 ; Winchester,
1323 ; Carlisle and Norwich, 1325 ; Worcester, Exeter and
Hereford, 1327; Bath, 1329; Durham, Canterbury, Win-
chester and Worcester, 1334. Provisions were made in full
recognition of the plural system. Thus, Walter of London,
the king's confessor, was appointed by the pope to the deanery
of Wells, though, as stated in the papal brief, he already held
a considerable list of "canonries and prebends," Lincoln, Salis-
bury, St. Paul, St. Martin Le Grand, London, Hridgenorth,
Hastings and Hareswell in the diocese of Salisbury.1 By the
practice of promoting bishops from one see to another, the
pope accomplished for his favorites what he could not have
done in any other way. Thus, by the promotion of Sudbury
in 1374 to Canterbury, the pope was able to translate Courte-
nay from Hereford to London, and Gilbert from Bangor to
Hereford, and thus by a single stroke he was enriched by the
first-fruits of four sees.
In spite of legislation, the papal collectors continued to ply
their trade in England, but less publicly and confidently than
in the two preceding centuries. In 1379, Urban VI. sent Cos-
mat us Gentilis as his nuncio and collector-in-chief,with instruc-
tions that he and his subcollectors make speedy returns to Rome,
especially of Peter's pence.2 In 1375, Gregory XI. had called
upon the archbishops of Canterbury and York to collect a tax
of 60,000 florins for the defence of the lands of the Apostolic
1 Bliss, II. 521. Cases of the payment of large sums for appointments to
the pope and of the disappointed ecclesiastics-elect are given in Merimuth,
pp. 31, 67, 69, 60, 61, 71, 120, 124, 172, etc., Bliss and others. Merimuth,
p. 67, etc., refers constantly to the bribery used by such expressions as causa
pecunialiter cognita, and non sine magna pecunice quantitate. In cases, the
pope renounced the right of provision, as Clement V., hi 1308, the livings held
incommendam by the cardinal of St. Sabina, and valued at 1000 marks. See
Bliss, II. 48. For the cases of agents sent by two cardinals to England to
collect the incomes of their livings, and their imprisonment, see Walsinghain,
1.260. * Bliss, IV. 267.
§ 39. THE CHURCH IN ENGLAND. 313
see, the English benefices, however, held by cardinals being ex-
empted. The chronicler Merimuth, in a noteworthy paragraph
summing up the curial practice of foraging upon the English
sees and churches, emphasizes the persistence and shrewdness
with which the Apostolic chair from the time of Clement V. had
extorted gold and riches as though the English might be treated
as barbarians. John XXII. he represents as having reserved
all the good livings of England. Under Benedict XII., things
were not so bad. Benedicts successor, Clement VI., was of
all the offenders the most unscrupulous, reserving for himself
or distributing to members of the curia the fattest places in
England. England's very enemies, as Merimuth continues,
were thus put into possession of English revenues, and the
proverb became current at Avignon that the English were
like docile asses bearing all the burdens heaped upon them.1
This prodigal Frenchman threatened Edward III. with ex-
communication and the land with interdict, if resistance to his
appointments did not cease and if their revenues continued
to be withheld. The pope died in 1353, before the date set
for the execution of his wrathful threat. While France was
being made English by English arms, the Italian and French
ecclesiastics were making conquest of England's resources.
The great name of Wyclif, which appears distinctly in 1366,
represents the patriotic element in all its strength. In his
discussions of lordship, presented in two extensive treatises, he
set forth the theory of the headship of the sovereign over the
temporal affairs of the Church in his own dominions, even to
the seizure of its temporalities. In him, the Church witnessed
an ecclesiastic of equal metal with Thomas a Becket, a man,
however, who did not stoop, in his love for his order, to humili-
ate the state under the hand of the Church. He represented
the popular will, the common sense of mankind in regard to
1 Inter curiales vcrtitur in proverbium quod Angliti svnt boni asini, omnia
onera eis imposita et intolerabiUa supportantes. Merimuth, p. 176. To
these bunions imposed upon England by the papal see were added, as in
Matthew Paris* times, severe calamities from rain and cold. Merimuth tells
of a great flood in 1339, when the rain fell from October to the first of Decem-
ber, so that the country looked like a continuous sea. Then bitter cold setting
in, the country looked like one field of ice.
314 THE MIDDLE AGES, A.D. 1294-1517.
•
the province of the Church, the New Testament theory of the
spiritual sphere. Had he not been practically alone, he would
have anticipated by more than two centuries the limitation of
the pope's power in England.
§ 40. John Wyclif.
u A good man was there of religioun
That was a pore Persone of a town ;
But rich he was of holy thought and werk ;
He was also a lerned man, a clerk,
That Chrisies gospel trewly wolde preche.
******
This noble ensample to his shepe he gaf,
That first he wrought and after that he taught
******
A better priest I trow that nowhere uon is,
He waited after no pompe ne reverence ;
Ne maked him no spiced conscience,
But Christes lore and his apostles twelve
He taught, but first he folwed it hirnselve." 1
— CHAUCER.
The title, Reformers before the Reformation, has been aptly
given to a group of men of the 14th and 15th centuries who
anticipated many of the teachings of Luther and the Protestant
Reformers. They stand, each by himself, in solitary promi-
nence, Wyclif in England, John Huss in Bohemia, Savonarola
in Florence, and Wessel, Goch and Wesel in Northern Germany.
To these men the sculptor has given a place on the pedestal of
his famous group at Worms representing the Reformation of
the 1 6th century. They differ, if we except the moral reformer,
Savonarola, from the group of the German mystics, who sought
a purification of life in quiet ways, in having expressed open
dissent from the Church's ritual and doctrinal teachings. They
also differ from the group of ecclesiastical reformers, D'Ailly,
Gerson, Nicolas of Clamanges, who concerned themselves with
the fabric of the canon law and did not go beyond the correc-
tion of abuses in the administration and morals of the Church.
Wyclif and his successors were doctrinal reformers. In some
1 Often supposed to be a description of Wyclif.
§ 40. JOHN WYCLIF. 315
views they had been anticipated by Marsiglius of Padua and
the other assailants of the papacy of the early half of the 14th
century.
John Wyclif, called the Morning Star of the Reformation,
and, at the time of his death, in England and in Bohemia the
Evangelical doctor,1 was born about 1324 near the village of
Wyclif, Yorkshire, in the diocese of Durham.2 His own writ-
ings give scarcely a clew to the events of his career, and little
can be gathered from his immediate contemporaries. He was
of Saxon blood. His studies were pursued at Oxford, which
had six colleges. He was a student at Balliol and master of
that hall in 1361. He was also connected with Merton and
Queen's, and was probably master of Canterbury Hall, founded
by Archbishop Islip.8 He was appointed in succession to the
livings of Fillingham, 1363, Ludgershall, 1368, and by the king's
appointment, to Lutterworth, 1374. The living of Lutter-
worth was valued at £ 26 a year.
Wyclif occupies a distinguished place as an Oxford school-
man, a patriot, a champion of theological and practical reforms
» Fasciculi, p. 362.
9 Leland's Itinerary placed Wyclif 's birth in 1324. Buddensieg and Rash-
dall prefer 1330. Leland, our first authority for the place of birth, mentions
Spresswell ( Hipgwell) and Wyclif-on-Tees, places a half a mile apart. Wyclif 's
name is spelled in more than twenty different ways, as Wiclif, accepted by
Lechler, Loserth, Buddensieg and German scholars generally ; Wiclef, Wicliffe,
Wicleff, Wycleff, Wycliffe, adopted by Foxe, Milman, Poole, Stubbs, Rashdall,
Bigg; Wyclif preferred by Shirley, Matthew, Sergeant, the Wyclif Society, the
Early English Text Society, etc. The form Wyclif is found in a diocesan
register of 1361, when the Reformer was warden of Balliol College. The earliest
mention in an official state document, July 26, 1374, gives it Wiclif. On Wyclif s
birthplace, see Shirley, Fasciculi, p. x sqq.
* A Wyclif is mentioned in connection with all of these colleges. The
question is whether there were not two John Wyclifs. A John de Whytecly ve
was rector of Mayfield, 1301, and later of Horsted Kaynes, where he died,
1383. In 1366 Islip, writing from Mayfleld, appointed a John Wyclyve war-
den of Canterbury Hall. Shirley, Note on the two Wiclifs, in the Fasciculi,
p. 618 sqq., advocated the view that this Wyclif was a different person from
our John Wyclif, and he is followed by Poole, Rashdall and Sergeant. Prin-
cipal Wilkinson of Marlborough College, Ch. Quart. Rev., October, 1877,
makes a strong statement against this view; Lechler and Buddensieg, the two
leading German authorities on Wyclif s career, also admit only a single Wyclif
as connected with the Oxford Halls.
316 THB MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
and the translator of the Scriptures into English. The papal
schism, occurring in the midst of his public career, had an im-
portant bearing on his views of papal authority.
So far as is known, he confined himself, until 1366, to his
duties in Oxford and his parish work. In that year he ap-
pears as one of the king's chaplains and as opposed to the
papal supremacy in the ecclesiastial affairs of the realm. The
parliament of the same year refused Urban V.'s demand for
the payment of the tribute, promised by King John, which
was back 33 years. John, it declared, had no right to obli-
gate the kingdom to a foreign ruler without the nation's con-
sent. Wyclif, if not a member of this body, was certainly an
adviser to it.1
In the summer of 1374, Wyclif went to Bruges as a member
of the commission appointed by the king to negotiate peace
with France and to treat with the pope's agents on the filling
of ecclesiastical appointments in England. His name was
second in the list of commissioners, following the name of
the bishop of Bangor. At Bruges we find him for the first
time in close association with John of Guunt, Edward's fa-
vorite son, an association which continued for several years,
and for a time inured to his protection from ecclesiastical
violence.2
On his return to England, he began to speak as a religious
reformer. He preached in Oxford and London against the
pope's secular sovereignty, running about, as the old chroni-
cler has it, from place to place, and barkingagainst the Church.3
It was soon after this that, in one of his tracts, he styled the
bishop of Rome " the anti-Christ, the proud, worldly priest of
Rome, and the most cursed of clippers and cut-purses." He
maintained that he " has no more power in binding and loos-
1 So Lechler, who advances strong arguments in favor of this view. Lo-
serth, who is followed by Rashdall, brings considerations against it, and places
Wyclif 'a first appearance as a political reformer in 1376. Studien zur Kirch-
cnpol., etc., pp. 1, 32, 35, 44, 60. A serious difficulty with this view is that
it crowds almost all the Reformer's writings into 7 years.
2 John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, was the younger brother of the Black
Prince. The prince had returned from his victories in France to die of an
incurable disease. * Chron. Angl. , p. 1 16 sq.
§ 40, JOHN WYCLIF. 317
ing than any priest, and that the temporal lords may seize the
possessions of the clergy if pressed by necessity." The duke
of Lancaster, the clergy's open foe, headed a movement to
confiscate ecclesiastical property. Piers Ploughman had an
extensive public opinion behind him when he exclaimed, "Take
her lands, ye Lords, and let her live by dimes (tithes)." The
Good Parliament of 1376, to whose deliberation Wyclif con-
tributed by voice and pen, gave emphatic expression to the
public complaints against the hierarchy.
The Oxford professor's attitude had become too flagrant
to be suffered to go unrebuked. In 1377, he was summoned
before the tribunal of William Courtenay, bishop of London, at
St. Paul's, where the proceedings opened with a violent alter-
cation between the bishop and the duke. The question was
as to whether Wyclif should take a seat or continue standing
in the court. Percy, lord marshal of England, ordered him
to sit down, a proposal the bishop pronounced an unheard-of
indignity to the court. At this, Lancaster, who was present,
swore he would bring down Courtenay's pride and the pride
of all the prelates in England. "Do your best, Sir," was
the spirited retort of the bishop, who was a son of the duke
of Devonshire. A popular tumult ensued, Wyclif being pro-
tected by Lancaster.
Pope Gregory XI. himself now took notice of the offender
in a document condemning 19 sentences from his writings as
erroneous and dangerous to Church and state. In fact, he
issued a batch of at least five bulls, addressed to the archbishop
of Canterbury, the bishop of London, the University of Ox-
ford and the king, Edward III. The communication to Arch-
bishop Sudbury opened with an unctuous panegyric of Eng-
land's past most glorious piety and the renown of its Church
leaders, champions of the orthodox faith and instructors not
only of their own but of other peoples in the path of the
Lord's commandments. But it had come to his ears that the
Lutterworth rector had broken forth into such detestable
madness as not to shrink from publicly proclaiming false prop-
ositions which threatened the stability of the entire Church.
His Holiness, therefore, called upon the archbishop to have
318 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
John sent to prison and kept in bonds till final sentence
should be passed by the papal court.1 It seems that the vice-
chancellor of Oxford at least made a show of complying with
the pope's command and remanded the heretical doctor to
Black Hall, but the imprisonment was only nominal.
Fortunately, the pope might send forth his f ulminations to
bind and imprison but it was not wholly in his power to hold
the truth in bonds and to check the progress of thought. In
his letter to the chancellor of Oxford, Gregory alleged that
Wyclif was vomiting out of the filthy dungeon of his heart
most wicked and damnable heresies, whereby he hoped to pol-
lute the faithful and bring them to the precipice of perdition,
overthrow the Church and subvert the secular estate. The
disturber was put into the same category with those princes
among errorists, Marsiglius of Padua and John of Jandun.2
The archbishop's court at Lambeth, before which the of-
fender was now cited, was met by a message from the widow
of the Black Prince to stay the proceedings, and the sitting
was effectually broken up by London citizens who burst into
the hall. At Oxford, the masters of theology pronounced the
nineteen condemned propositions true, though they sounded
badly to the ear. A few weeks later, March, 1878, Gregory
died, and the papal schism broke out. No further notice was
taken of Gregory's ferocious bulls. Among other things, the
nineteen propositions affirmed that Christ's followers have no
right to exact temporal goods by ecclesiastical censures, that
the excommunications of pope and priest are of no avail if not
according to the law of Christ, that for adequate reasons the
king may strip the Church of temporalities and that even a
pope may be lawfully impeached by laymen.
With the year 1378 Wyclif s distinctive career as a doctri-
nal reformer opens. He had defended English rights against
foreign encroachment. He now assailed, at a number of points,
the theological structure the Schoolmen and mediaeval popes
had laboriously reared, and the abuses that had crept into
the Church. The spectacle of Christendom divided by two
papal courts, each fulminating anathemas against the other, was
' Gee and Hardy, p. 106 sqq. * JPVuc., pp. 242-244.
§ 40. JOHN WYCLIF. 319
enough to shake confidence in the divine origin of the papacy.
In sermons, tracts and larger writings, Wyclif brought Scrip-
ture and common sense to bear. His pen was as keen as a Damas-
cus blade. Irony and invective, of which he was the master, he
did not hesitate to use. The directness and pertinency of his ap-
peals brought them easily within the comprehension of the popu-
lar mind. He wrote not only in Latin but in English. /His
conviction was as deep and his passion as fiery as Luther's, but
on the one hand, Wyclif s style betrays less of the vivid illus-
trative power of the great German and little of his sympathetic
warmth, while on the other, less of his unfortunate coarseness.
As Luther is the most vigorous tract writer that Germany has
produced, so /Wyclif is the foremost religious pamphleteer
that has arisen in England ; and the impression made by his
clear and stinging thrusts may be contrasted in contents and
audience with the scholarly and finished tracts of the Oxford
movement led by Pusey, Keble and Newman, the one reach-
ing the conscience, the other appealing to the aesthetic tastes ;
the one adapted to break down priestly pretension, the other
to foster it.
But the Reformer of the 14th century was more than a
scholar and publicist. Like John Wesley, he had a prac-
tical bent of mind, and like him he attempted to provide
England with a new proclamation of the pure Gospel. To
counteract the influence of the friars, whom he had begun to
attack after his return from Bruges, he conceived the idea of
developing and sending forth a body of itinerant evangelists.
These " pore priests," as they were called, were taken from
the list of Oxford graduates, and seem also to have included
laymen. Of their number and the rules governing them, we
are in the dark. The movement was begun about 1380, and
on the one side it associates Wyclif with Gerrit de Groote,
and on the other with Wesley and with his more recent fel-
low-countryman, General Booth, of the Salvation Army.
Although this evangelistic idea took not the form of a per-
manent organization, the appearance of the pore preachers
made a sensation. /According to the old chronicler, the dis-
ciples who gathered around him in Oxford were many and,
320 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1204-1517.
clad in long russet gowns of one pattern, they went on foot,
ventilating their master's errors among the people and pub-
licly setting them forth in sermons.1 They had the distinc-
tion of being arraigned by no less a personage than Bishop
Courtenay "as itinerant, unauthorized preachers who teach er-
roneous, yea, heretical assertions publicly, not only in churches
but also in public squares and other profane places, and who
do this under the guise of great holiness, but without having
obtained any episcopal or papal authorization."
It was in 1381, the year before Courtenay said his memora-
ble words, that Walden reports that Wyclif " began to deter-
mine matters upon the sacrament of the altar." a To attempt
an innovation at this crucial point required courage of the
highest order. In 12 theses he declared the Church's doc-
trine unscriptural and misleading. For the first time since
the promulgation of the dogma of transubstantiation by the
Fourth Lateran was it seriously called in question by a theo-
logical expert. It was a case of Athanasius standing alone.
The mendicants waxed violent. Oxford authorities, at the
instance of the archbishop and bishops, instituted a trial, the
court consisting of Chancellor Berton and 12 doctors. With-
out mentioning Wyclif by name, the judges condemned as pes-
tiferous the assertions that the bread and wine remain after
consecration, and that Christ's body is present only figuratively
or tropically in the eucharist. Declaring that the judges had
not been able to break down his arguments, Wyclif went on
preaching and lecturing at the university. But in the king's
council, to which he made appeal, the duke of Lancaster took
sides against him and forbade him to speak any more on the
subject at Oxford. This prohibition Wyclif met with a still
more positive avowal of his views in his Cor^featsion^ which
closes with the noble words, " I believe that in the end the
truth will conquer."
The same year, the Peasants' Revolt broke out, but there
is no evidence that Wyclif had any more sympathy with
the movement than Luther had with the Peasants' Rising of
1525. After the revolt was over, he proposed that Church
1 Chron. AngL, p. 396 ; also Knighton, II. 184 sq. ' Fa$c., p. 104.
§ 40. JOHN WYCLIF. 321
property be given to the upper classes, not to the poor.1 The
principles, however, which he enunciated were germs which
might easily spring up into open rebellion against oppression.
Had he not written, " There is no moral obligation to pay
tax or tithe to bad rulers either in Church or state. It is
permitted to punish or depose them and to reclaim the wealth
which the clergy have diverted from the poor '' ? One hundred
and fifty years after this time, Tyndale said, " They said it
in Wyclif 's day, and the hypocrites say now, that God's Word
arouseth insurrection."2
Courtenay's elevation to the see of Canterbury boded no good
to the Reformer. In 1382, he convoked the synod which is
known in English history as the Earthquake synod, from the
shock felt during its meetings. The primate was supported
by 9 bishops, and when the earth began to tremble, he showed
admirable courage by interpreting it as a favorable omen. The
earth, in trying to rid itself of its winds and humors, was mani-
festing its sympathy with the body ecclesiastic.8 Wyclif, who
was not present, made another use of the occurrence, and de-
clared that the Lord sent the earthquake " because the friars
had put heresy upon Christ in the matter of the sacrament, and
the earth trembled as it did when Christ was damned to bodily
death."*
The council condemned 24 articles, ascribed to the Reformer,
10 of which were pronounced heretical, and the remainder to
be against the decisions of the Church.5 The 4 main sub-
jects condemned as heresy were that Christ is not corporally
present in the sacrament, that oral confession is not necessary
for a soul prepared to die, that after Urban VI. 's death the Eng-
lish Church should acknowledge no pope but, like the Greeks,
govern itself, and that it is contrary to Scripture for ecclesias-
tics to hold temporal possessions. Courtenay followed up
the synod's decisions by summoning Rygge, then chancellor
i See Trevelyan, p. 199 ; Kriehn, pp. 264-286, 458-485.
1 Pref . to Expos, of St. John, p. 226, Parker Soc. ed.
• Sicut in terras visceribus includuntur air et spiritus infecti et ingrediuntur
in terra motum, Fasc., p. 272.
4 Select Sngl. Works, III. 603. • Gee and Hardy, pp. 108-110.
322 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
of Oxford, to suppress the heretical teachings and teachers.
Ignoring the summons, Rygge appointed Repyngdon, another
of Wyclif s supporters, to preach, and when Peter Stokys,
"a prof essor of the sacred page," armed with a letter from the
archbishop, attempted to silence him, the students and tutors
at Oxford threatened the Carmelite with their drawn swords.
But Courtenay would permit no trifling and, summoning
Rygge and the proctors to Lambeth, made them promise on
their knees to take the action indicated. Parliament sup-
ported the primate. The new preaching was suppressed, but
Wyclif stood undaunted. He sent a Complaint of 4 articles to
the king and parliament, in which he pleaded for the supremacy
of English law in matters of ecclesiastical property, for the
liberty for the friars to abandon the rules of their orders and
follow the rule of Christ, and for the view that on the Lord's
table the real bread and wine are present, and not merely the
accidents.1
The court was no longer ready to support the Reformer,
and Richard II. sent peremptory orders to Rygge to suppress
the new teachings. Courtenay himself went to Oxford, and
there is some authority for the view that Wyclif again met
the prelate face to face at St. Frideswides. Rigid inquisi-
tion was made for copies of the condemned teacher's writings
and those of Hereford. Wyclif was inhibited from preaching,
and retired to his rectory at Lutterworth. Hereford, Repyng-
don, Aston and Bedeman, his supporters, recanted. The whole
party received a staggering blow and with it liberty of teaching
at Oxford.2
Confined to Lutterworth, Wyclif continued his labors on the
translation of the Bible, and sent forth polemic tracts, includ-
ing the Cruciata? a vigorous condemnation of the crusade which
the bishop of Norwich, Henry de Spenser, was preparing in
support of Urban VI. against the Avignon pope, Clement VII.
The warlike prelate had already shown his military gifts dur-
ing the Peasants' Uprising. Urban had promised plenary
1 Select Engl Writings, III. 607-523.
* Jfa«c., pp. 272-833. See Shirley, p. xliv.
• Latin Works, II. 677 sqq.
§ 40. JOHN WYCLIF. 328
indulgence for a year to all joining the army. Mass was said
and sermons preached in the churches of England, and large
sums collected for the enterprise. The indulgence extended
to the dead as well as to the living. Wyclif declared the cru-
sade an expedition for worldly mastery, and pronounced the
indulgence " an abomination of desolation in the holy place."
Spenser's army reached the Continent, but the expedition was
a failure. The most important of Wyclif s theological trea-
tises, the Trialogus, was written in this period. It lays down
the principle that, where the Bible and the Church do not agree,
we must obey the Bible, and, where conscience and human au-
thority are in conflict, we must follow conscience.1
Two years before his death, Wyclif received a paralytic stroke
which maimed but did not completely disable him. It is pos-
sible that he received a citation to appear before the pope. With
unabated rigor of conviction, he replied to the supreme pontiff
that of all men he was most under obligation to obey the law
of Christ, that Christ was of all men the most poor, and sub-
ject to mundane authority. No Christian man has a right to
follow Peter, Paul or any of the saints except as they imitated
Christ. The pope should renounce all worldly authority and
compel his clergy to do the same. He then asserted that, if
in these views he was found to err, he was willing to be cor-
rected, even by death. If it were in his power to do anything
to advance these views by his presence in Rome, he would will-
ingly go thither. But God had put an obstacle in his way, and
had taught him to obey Him rather than man. He closed with
the prayer that God might incline Urban to imitate Christ in
his life and teach his clergy to do the same.
While saying mass in his church, he was struck again with
paralysis, and passed away two or three days after, Dec. 29,
1384, "having lit a fire which shall never be put out."2
1 Fasc., p. 841 eq. ; Lechler-Lorimer, p. 417, deny the citation. The reply
is hardly what we might have expected from Wyclif, confining itself, as it does,
rather curtly to the question of the pope's authority and manner of life. Luther* s
last treatment of the pope, Der Papst der Ende-Chrtet und Wider Christ, is not
a full parallel. Wyclif was independent, not coarse.
1 The most credible narrative preserved of Wyclif s death comes from John
Horn, 'the Reformer's assistant for two yean, and was written down by Dr.
824 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
Fuller, writing of his death, exclaims, "Admirable that a hare,
so often hunted with so many packs of dogs, should die quietly
sitting in his form."
Wyclif was spare, and probably never of robust health, but he
was not an ascetic. He was fond of a good meal. In temper
he was quick, in mind clear, in moral character unblemished.
Towards his enemies he was sharp, but never coarse or ribald.
William Thorpe, a young contemporary standing in the court
of Archbishop Arundel, bore testimony that "he was ema-
ciated in body and well-nigh destitute of strength, and in con-
duct most innocent. Very many of the chief men of England
conferred with him, loved him dearly, wrote down his say-
ings and followed his manner of life." l
The prevailing sentiment of the hierarchy was given by
Walsingham, chronicler of St. Albans, who characterized the
Reformer in these words : " On the feast of the passion of St.
Thomas of Canterbury, John de Wyclif, that instrument of the
devil, that enemy of the Church, that author of confusion to the
common people, that image of hypocrites, that idol of heretics,
that author of schism, that sower of hatred, that coiner of lies,
being struck with the horrible judgment of God, was smitten
with palsy and continued to live till St. Sylvester's Day, on
which he breathed out his malicious spirit into the abodes of
darkness."
The dead was not left in peace. By the decree of Arundel,
Wyclif 's writings were suppressed, and it was so effective that
Caxton and the first English printers issued no one of them
from the press. The Lateran decree of February, 1413, ordered
his books burnt, and the Council of Constance, from whose
Thomas Gascoigne upon Horn's sworn statement. Walden twice makes the
charge that disappointment at not being appointed bishop of Worcester started
Wyclif on the path of heresy, but there is no other authority for the story, which
is inherently improbable. Lies were also invented against the memories of
Luther, Calvin and Knoz, which the respectable Catholic historians set aside.
1 Bale, in his account of the Examination of Thorpe, Parker Soc. ed., I.
80-81. The biographies of Lewis, Vaughan, Lorimer and Sergeant give por-
traits of Wyclif. The oldest, according to Sergeant, pp. 16-21, is taken from
Bale's Summary, 1648. There is a resemblance in all the portraits, which rep-
resent the Reformer clothed in Oxford gown and cap, with long beard, open
face, clear, large eye, prominent nose and cheek bones and pale complexion.
§ 41. WYCLIF'S TEACHINGS. 325
members, such as Gerson and D'Ailly, we might have expected
tolerant treatment, formally condemned his memory and or-
dered his bones exhumed from their resting-place and " cast
at a distance from the sepulchre of the church." The holy
synod, so ran the decree, "declares said John Wyclif to have
been a notorious heretic, and excom municates him and condemns
his memory as one who died an obstinate heretic." l In 1429,
at the summons of Martin IV., the decree was carried out by
Flemmyng, bishop of Lincoln.
The words of Fuller, describing the execution of the decree
of Constance, have engraven themselves on the page of English
history. " They burnt his bones to ashes and cast them into
Swift, a neighboring brook running hard by. Thus this brook
hath conveyed his ashes into Avon, Avon into Severn, Severn
into the narrow seas, they into the main ocean. And thus the
ashes of Wicliffe are the emblem of his doctrine, which now is
dispersed the world over."
In the popular judgment of the English people, John Wyclif,
in company with John Latimerand John Wesley, probably rep-
resents more fully than any other English religious leader, in-
dependence of thought, devotion to conscience, solid religious
common sense, and the sound exposition of the Gospel. In the
history of the intellectual and moral progress of his people, he
was the leading Englishman of the Middle Ages.2
§ 41. Wyclif a Teachings.
Wyclif fs teachings lie plainly upon the surface of his many
writings. In each one of the eminent roles he played, as school-
1 A part of the sentence runs, Sancta synodus declarat diffinU et sentential
eumdem J. Wicleff fuisse notorium hasreticum pertinacem et in haresi de-
cessisse. . . ordinat corpus etejusossa, si abaliisfldelibuscorporibusdiscernt
possint, exhumari etprocul ab ecclesiae sepultura jactart. Mansi, XXVII. 635.
2 Green, in his Hist, of the EngL People, passes a notable encomium on the
" first Reformer/' and the late Prof. Bigg, Wayside Sketches, p. 131, asserts
" that his beliefs are in the main those of the great majority of Englishmen
to-day, and this is a high proof of the Justice, the clearness and the sincerity
of his thoughts.1' The Catholic historian of England, Lingard, IV. 102, after
speaking of Wyclif s intellectual perversion, refers to him, uas that extraor-
dinary man who, exemplary in his morals, declaimed against vice with the
freedom and severity of an Apostle.11
326 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
man, political reformer, preacher, innovator in theology and
translator of the Bible, he wrote extensively. His views show
progress in the direction of opposition to the mediaeval errors
and abuses. Driven by attacks, he detected errors which, at
the outset, he did not clearly discern. But, above all, his
study of the Scriptures forced upon him a system which was
in contradiction to the distinctively mediaeval system of the-
ology. His language in controversy was so vigorous that it
requires an unusual effort to suppress the impulse to quote at
great length.
Clear as Wyclif's statements always are, some of his works
are drawn out by much repetition. Nor does he always move
in a straight line, but digresses to this side and to that, taking
occasion to discuss at length subjects cognate to the main
matter he has in hand. This habit often makes the reading
of his larger works a wearisome task. Nevertheless, the au-
thor always brings the reader back from his digression or, to
use a modern expression, never leaves him sidetracked.
I. As A SCHOOLMAN. — Wyclif was beyond dispute the
most eminent scholar who taught for any length of time at
Oxford since Grosseteste, whom he often quotes.1 He was
read in Chrysostom, Augustine, Jerome and other Latin
Fathers, as well as in the mediaeval theologians from Anselin
to Duns Scotus, Bradwardine, Fitzralph and Henry of Ghent.
His quotations are many, but with increasing emphasis, as the
years went on, he made his final appeal to the Scriptures. He
was a moderate realist and ascribed to nominalism all theo-
logical error. He seems to have endeavored to shun the deter-
minism of Bradwardine, and declared that the doctrine of
necessity does not do away with the freedom of the will, which
is so free that it cannot be compelled. Necessity compels the
creature to will, that is, to exercise his freedom, but at that
point he is left free to choose.2
1 Op. evang., p. 17, etc., De dom. div., p. 215, etc., De dom. civ., 384 sqq.,
where the case of Frederick of Lavagna is related at length.
2 Hergenrother, II. 881, speaks of Wyclif a system as pantheistic realism
and fatalism, D. Lehrsystem des Wicliftot krasaer, pantheistischer Realismus,
Fataliwwt u. Predtstianismus.
§ 41. WYCLIF'S TEACHINGS. 327
II. As A PATRIOT. — In this role the Oxford teacher took
an attitude the very reverse of the attitude assumed by An-
selm and Thomas a Becket, who made the English Church a
servant to the pope's will in all things. For loyalty to the
Hildebrandian theocracy, Anselm was willing to suffer banish-
ment and a Becket suffered death. In Wyclif, the mutter-
ings of the nation, which had been heard against the foreign
regime from the days of William the Conqueror, and especially
since King John's reign, found a stanch and uncompromising
mouthpiece. Against the whole system of foreign jurisdiction
he raised his voice, as also against the Church's claim to hold
lands, except as it acknowledged the rights of the state. He
also opposed the tenure of secular offices by the clergy and,
when Archbishop Sudbury was murdered, declared that he
died in sin because he was holding the office of chancellor.
Wyclif s views on government in Church and state are chiefly
set forth in the works on Civil and Divine Lordship — De do-
minio divino, and De dominio civili — and in his Dialogus.1 The
Divine Lordship discusses the title by which men hold prop-
erty and exercise government, and sets forth the distinction be-
tween sovereignty and stewardship. Lordship is not properly
proprietary. It is stewardship. Christ did not desire to rule
as a tenant with absolute rights, but in the way of communicat-
ing to others.2 As to his manhood, he was the most perfect of
servants.
The Civil Lordship opens by declaring that no one in mortal
sin has a right to lordship, and that every one in the state of
grace has a real lordship over the whole universe. All Chris-
tians are reciprocally lords and servants. The pope, or an ec-
clesiastical body abusing the property committed to them, may
be deprived of it by the state. Proprietary right is limited by
proper use. Tithes are an expedient to enable the priesthood
1 The De dom. civ. and the De dom. div., ed. for the Wyclif Soc. by R. L.
Poole, London, 1886, 1800. See Poole's Prefaces and his essay on Wyclif's
Doctrine of Lordship in his Illustrations, etc., pp. 282-311. The Dialogus, sive
speculum ecclesice militantis, ed. by A. W. Pollard, 1886.
2 Salvator noster noluit esse proprietarie dominant, sed communicative,
p. 204.
828 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
to perform its mission. The New Testament does not make
them a rule.
From the last portion of the first book of the Civil Lordship,
Gregory XI. drew most of the articles for which Wyclif had
to stand trial. Here is found the basis for the charge ascrib-
ing to him the famous statement that God ought to obey the
devil. By this was meant nothing more than that the juris-
diction of every lawful proprietor should be recognized.
III. As A PREACHER. — Whether we regard Wyclif s con-
stant activity in the pulpit, or the impression his sermons made,
he must be pronounced by far the most notable of English
preachers prior to the Reformation.1 294 of his English ser-
mons and 224 of his Latin sermons have been preserved. To
these discourses must be added his English expositions of the
Lord's prayer, the songs of the Bible, the seven deadly sins
and other subjects. With rare exceptions, the sermons are
based upon passages of the New Testament.
The style of the English discourses is simple and direct.
No more plainly did Luther preach against ecclesiastical
abuses than did the English Reformer. On every page are
joined with practical religious exposition stirring passages re-
buking the pope and worldly prelates. They are denounced as
anti-christ and the servants of the devil — the fiend — as they
turn away from the true work of pasturing Christ's flock for
worldly gain and enjoyment. The preacher condemns the
false teachings which are nowhere taught in the Scriptures,
such as pilgrimages and indulgences. Sometimes Wyclif
seems to be inconsistent with himself, now making light of
fasting, now asserting that the Apostles commended it ; now
disparaging prayers for the dead, now affirming purgatory.
With special severity do his sermons strike at the friars who
preach out of avarice and neglect to expose the sins of their
hearers. No one is more idle than the rich friars, who have
nothing but contempt for the poor. Again and again in these
sermons, as in his other works, he urges that the goods of the
1 Loserth, Introd. to Lat. sermones, II. f p. xx, pronounces their effect ex-
traordinary. The Engl. sermons have been ed. by Arnold, Select Engl. Works,
vote. I, II, and the Lat. sermons by Loserth, in 4 vols.
§ 41. WYCLIF'S TEACHINGS. 329
friars be seized and given to the needy classes. Wyclif, the
preacher, was always the bold champion of the layman's rights.
His work, The Pastoral Office, which is devoted to the du-
ties of the faithful minister, and his sermons lay stress upon
preaching as the minister's proper duty. Preaching he de-
clared the "highest service," even as Christ occupied himself
most in that work. And if bishops, on whom the obligation
to preach more especially rests, preach not, but are content to
have true priests preach in their stead, they are as those that
murder Jesus. The same authority which gave to priests
the privilege of celebrating the sacrament of the altar binds
them to preach. Yea, the preaching of the Word is a more
precious occupation than the ministration of the sacraments.1
When the Gospel was preached, as in Apostolic times, the
Church grew. Above all things, close attention should be
given to Christ's words, whose authority is superior to all the
rites and commandments of pope and friars. Again and again
^ Wyclif sets forth the ideal minister, as in the following de-
scription:—
" A priest should live holily, in prayer, in desires and thought, in godly
conversation and honest teaching, having God's commandments and His
Gospel ever on his lips. And let his deeds be so righteous that no man
may be able with cause to find fault with them, and so open his acts that
he may be a true book to all sinful and wicked men to serve God. For
the example of a good life stirreth men more than true preaching with
only the naked word."
The priest's chief work is to render a substitute for Christ's
miracles by converting himself and his neighbor to God's
law.2 The Sermon on the Mount, Wyclif pronounced sufficient
for the guidance of human life apart from any of the require-
ments and traditions of men.
IV. As A DOCTRINAL REFORMER. — Wyclif s later writings
teem with denials of the doctrinal tenets of his age and indict-
1 JSvangelizatto verbi est preciosior quam ministratio alicujus ecclesiastici
sacramenti, Op. evang., I. 375. Predicatio verbi Dei est solemnior quam
confectio sacramenti, De sac. «cr., II. 156. See also Arnold, EngL Works, III.
163 sq., 464 ; Sertn. Lat,, II. 115 ; De scr. sac., II. 138.
9 Debemus loco miraculorum Christi no* et proximo* ad legem Dei conver-
tere. De ver., I. 90 ; Op. evang., I. 368.
330 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
ments against ecclesiastical abuses. There could be no doubt
of his meaning. Beginning with the 19 errors Gregory XI.
was able to discern, the list grew as the years went on. The
Council of Constance gave 45, Netter of Walden, fourscore,
and the Bohemian John Liicke, an Oxford doctor of divinity,
266. Cochlseus, in writing against the Hussites, went beyond
all former computations and ascribed to Wyclif the plump sum
of 303 heresies, surely enough to have forever covered the Re-
former's memory with obloquy. Fuller suggests as the reason
for these variations that some lists included only the Reformer's
primitive tenets or breeders, and others reckoned all the younger
fry of consequence derived from them.
The first three articles adduced by the Council of Constance l
had respect to the Lord's Supper, and charged Wyclif with
holding that the substance of the bread remains unchanged
after the consecration, that Christ is not in the sacrament of
the altar in a real sense, and the accidents of a thing cannot
remain after its substance is changed. The 4th article ac-
cuses him with declaring that the acts of bishop or priest in
baptizing, ordaining and consecrating are void if the celebrant
be in a state of mortal sin. Then follow charges of other al-
leged heresies, such as that after Urban VI. the papacy should
be abolished, the clergy should hold no temporal possessions,
the friars should gain their living by manual toil and not
by begging, Sylvester and Constantine erred in endowing the
Church, the papal elections by the cardinals were an invention
of the devil, it is not necessary to salvation that one believe
the Roman church to be supreme amongst the churches and
that all the religious orders were introduced by the devil.
The most of the 45 propositions represent Wyclif's views
with precision. They lie on the surface of his later writings,
but they do not exhaust his dissent from the teachings and
practice of his time. His assault may be summarized under
five heads : the nature of the Church, the papacy, the priest-
hood, the doctrine of transubstantiation and the use of the
Scriptures.
The Church was defined in the Civil Lordship to be the
1 See Mansi, XX VII. , 632-636, and Mirbt, p. 157 aq.
§ 41. WYCLIF'S TEACHINGS. 381
body of the elect, — living, dead and not yet born, — whose head
is Christ. Scarcely a writing has come down to us from
Wyclif s pen in which he does not treat the subject, and in
his special treatise on the Church, written probably in 1378,
it is defined more briefly as the body of all the elect — con-
gregatio omnium predestinatorum. Of this body, Christ alone
is the head. The pope is the head of a local church. Stress
is laid upon the divine decree as determining who are the pre-
destinate and who the reprobate.1
Some persons, he said, in speaking of " Holy Church, un-
derstand thereby prelates and priests, monks and canons and
friars and all that have the tonsure, — alle men that han crownes,
— though they live ever so accursedly in defiance of God's
law." But so far from this being true, all popes, cardinals and
priests are not among the saved. On the contrary, not even a
pope can tell assuredly that he is predestinate. This knows no
one on earth. The pope may be a prescitus, a reprobate. Such
popes there have been, and it is blasphemy for cardinals and
pontiffs to think that their election to office of itself constitutes
a title to the primacy of the Church. The curia is a nest of here-
tics if its members do not follow Christ, a fountain of poison,
the abomination of desolation spoken of in the sacred page.
Gregory XI. Wyclif called a terrible devil — horrendusdiabolus.
God in His mercy had put him to death and dispersed his con-
federates, whose crimes Urban VI. had revealed.2
Though the English Reformer never used the terms visible
and invisible Church, he made the distinction. The Church
militant, he said, commenting on John 10 : 26, is a mixed body.
The Apostles took two kinds of fishes, some of which remained
in the net and some broke away. So in the Church some are
ordained to bliss and some to pain, even though they live godly
for a while.8 It is significant that in his English writings
Wyclif uses the term Christen men — Christian men — in-
stead of the term the faithful.
1 Dt dom. civ., I. 858. Ecclesia cath. five apost. est universitas predcstinato-
rum. De eccles., ed. by Loserth, pp. 2, 5, 31, 94, Engl. Works, III. 839, 447,
etc. » De cedes., 5, 28 sq., 63, 88, 89, 355, 858, 860.
8 Engl. Works., I. 50.
882 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
As for the papacy, no one has used more stinging words against
individual popes as well as against the papacy as an institution
than did Wyclif. In the treatises of his last years and in his
sermons, the pope is stigmatized as anti-christ. His very last
work, on which he was engaged when death overtook him, bore
the title, Anti-christ, meaning the pope. He went so far as to
call him the head- vicar of the fiend. l He saw in the papacy the
revelation of the man of sin. The office is wholly poisonous
— totumpapale officium venenosum. He heaped ridicule upon
the address " most holie fadir." The pope is neither necessary
to the Church nor is he infallible. If both popes and all their
cardinals were cast into hell, believers could be saved as well
without them. They were created not by Christ but by the
devil. The pope has no exclusive right to declare what the
Scriptures teach, or proclaim what is the supreme law. His ab-
solutions are of no avail unless Christ has absolved before. Popes
have no more right to excommunicate than devils have to curse.
Many of them are damned — multipap&sunt dampnati. Strong
as such assertions are, it is probable that Wyclif did not mean
to cast aside the papacy altogether. But again and again the
principle is stated that the Apostolic see is to be obeyed only so
far as it follows Christ's law.2
As for the interpretation of Matthew 16 : 18, Wyclif took
the view that " the rock " stands for Peter and every true Chris-
tian. The keys of the kingdom of heaven are not metal keys,
as popularly supposed, but spiritual power, and they were com-
mitted not only to Peter, but to all the saints, " for alle men
1 The condemnatory epithets and characterizations are found in the Engl.
Works, ed. by Matthew, Depapa, pp. 468-487, and The Church andher Members,
and The Schism of the Bom. Pontiffs, Arnold's ed., III. 262 sqq., 340 sqq.,
the Trialogus, Dialogue, the Latin Sermons, vol. II., and especially the Opus
evangehcum, parts of which went under the name Christ and his Adversary,
Antichrist. See Loserth's introductions to Lat. Serm., II. p. ivsq., and Op.
evang., vol. II. ; also his art. Wiclifs Lehre, vom wahren, undfalschen Papst-
tum, Hist. Ztschrift, 1907, and his ed. otiheDepotestatepapce. In these last
works Loserth presents the somewhat modified view that when Wyclif in-
veighed against the papacy it was only as it was abused. The De potestate
was written perhaps in 1379. His later works show an increased severity.
a Lat. Serm., IV. 95 ; De dom. civ., 866-894 ; De ver. scr., II. 66 sqq. ; Dial.,
p. 26 ; Op. evang., I. 38, 92, 98, 882, 414, II. 182, IIL 187 ; Engl. Works, II.
229 sq., etc.
§ 41. WYCLIF'S TEACHINGS. 333
that comen to hevene have these keies of God. " 1 Towards the
pope's pretension to political functions, Wyclif was, if possible,
more unsparing. Christ paid tribute to Caesar. So should
the pope. His deposition of kings is the tyranny of the devil.
By disregarding Peter's injunction not to lord it over God's
heritage, but to feed the flock, he and all his sect — tot a secta
— prove themselves hardened heretics.
Constantine's donation, the Reformer pronounced the begin-
ning of all evils in the Church. The emperor was put up to
it by the devil. It was his new trick to have the Church en-
dowed.2 Chapter after chapter of the treatise on the Church
calls upon the pope, prelates and priests to return to the exer-
cise of spiritual functions. They had become the prelates and
priests of Caesar. As the Church left Christ to follow Caesar,
so now it should abandon Caesar for Christ. As for kissing
the pope's toe, there is no foundation for it in Scripture or
reason.
The pope's practice of getting money by tribute and taxa-
tion calls forth biting invective. It was the custom, Wyclif
said, to solemnly curse in the parish churches all who clipped
the king's coins and cut men's purses. From this it would
seem, he continued,
that the proud and worldly priest of Rome and all his advisers were the
most cursed of clippers and cut-purses, — cursed of clipperis and purse-ker-
veris, — for they drew out of England poor men's livelihoods and many thou-
sands of marks of the king's money, and this they did for spiritual favors.
If the realm had a huge hill of gold, it would soon all be spent by this
proud and worldly priest-collector. Of all men, Christ was the most poor,
both in spirit and in goods, and put from him all manner of worldly lord-
ship. The pope should leave his authority to worldly lords, and speedily
advise his clergy to do the same. I take it, as a matter of faith, that no
man should follow the pope, nor even any of the saints in heaven, except
as they follow Christ.8
The priests and friars formed another subject of Wyclif's
vigorous attack. Clerics who follow Christ are true priests and
1 Op. cvanff., II. 105 sq. ; Engl. Works, I. 360 sq.
2 De ver.j I. 267 ; Engl Works, III. 341 sq. ; De Eccles., 189, 365 sqq. ; Op.
Evang., III. 188.
8 Engl. Works, III. 320. Letter to Urban VI., Fasc. ziz., p. 341 ; Engl.
Works, III. 604-606.
334 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
none other. The efficacy of their acts of absolution of sins
depends upon their own previous absolution by Christ. The
priest's function is to show forgiveness, already pronounced by
God, not to impart it. It was, he affirmed, a strange and mar-
vellous thing that prelates and curates should "curse so faste,"
when Christ said we should bless rather than reprove. A sen-
tence of excommunication is worse than murder.
The rule of auricular confession Wyclif also disparaged.
True contrition of heart is sufficient for the removal of sins.
In Christ's time confession of man to man was not required.
In his own day, he said, " shrift to God is put behind; but privy
(private) shrift, a new-found thing, is authorized as needful for
the soul's health." He set forth the dangers of the confes-
sional, such as the unchastity of priests. He also spoke of the
evils of pilgrimages when women and men going together
promiscuously were in temptation of great " lecherie." l Cleri-
cal celibacy, a subject the Reformer seldom touched upon, he
declared, when enforced, is against Scripture, and as under the
old law priests were allowed to marry, so under the new the
practice is never forbidden, but rather approved.
Straight truth-telling never had a warmer champion than
Wyclif. Addressing the clergy, he devotes nearly a hundred
pages of his Truth of Scripture to an elaboration of this prin-
ciple. Not even the most trifling sin is permissible as a means
of averting a greater evil, either for oneself or one's neighbor.
Under no circumstances does a good intention justify a false-
hood. The pope himself has no right to tolerate or practice
misrepresentation to advance a good cause. To accomplish a
good end, the priest dare not even make a false appeal to fear.
All lying is of itself sin, and no dispensation can change its
character.2
The friars called forth the Reformer's keenest thrusts, and
these increased in sharpness as he neared the end of his life.
1 His De eucharistia et panitentia sive de confessione elaborates this sub-
ject. See also Engl. Works, I. 80, III. 141, 348, 461.
2 De eccles. , p. 162 ; De ver. scr. , II. 1-99. Omne mendatium est per Be peo-
catum sed nulla circumstantia potest recttycare, ut peccatum sit non pecca-
tum, De wr., II. 61.
§ 41. WYCLIF'S TEACHINGS. 835
Quotations, bearing on their vices, would fill a large volume.
Entire treatises against their heresies and practices issued from
his pen. They were slavish agents of the pope's will ; they
spread false views of the eucharist ; they made merchandise of
indulgences and letters of fraternity which pretended to give
the purchasers a share in their own good deeds here and at the
final accounting. Their lips were full of lies and their hands of
blood. They entered houses and led women astray ; they lived
in idleness ; they devoured England.1
The Reformer had also a strong word to say on the delusion
of the contemplative life as usually practised. It was the guile
of Satan that led men to imagine their fancies and dreamings
were religious contemplation and to make them an excuse for
sloth. John the Baptist and Christ both left the desert to live
among men. He also went so far as to demand that monks be
granted the privilege of renouncing the monkish rule for some
other condition where they might be useful.2
The four mendicant orders, the Carmelites, Augustinians,
Jacobites or Dominicans, and Minorites or Franciscans gave
their first letters to the word Cairn, showing their descent from
the first murderer. Their convents, Wyclif called Cain's cas-
tles. His relentless indignation denounced them as the tail of
the dragon, ravening wolves, the sons of Satan, the emissaries
of anti-christ and Luciferians and pronounced them worse
than Herod, Saul arid Judas. The friars repeat that Christ
begged water at the well. It were to their praise if they begged
water and nothing else.8
With the lighter hand of ridicule, Chaucer also held up the
mendicants for indictment. In the Prologue to his Canterbury
Tales he represents the friar as an —
. . . easy man to yeve penaunce,
Ther as he wiste to have a good pitaunce
For unto a powre order for to give
Is signe that a man is well y-shrive.
1 Engl. Works, III. 420 sqq. ; Op. evang., II. 40; Lat. serm., TV. 62, 121, etc.
a See the tract Of Feigned Contemplative Life in Matthew, pp. 187, 196 ;
De eccles., p. 880; Lat. Serm., II. 112.
8 Lat. serm., II. 84; Trial, IV. 38 ; Engl. Works, III. 348; Dial., pp. 13, 66,
etc.
336 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
His wallet lay biforn him in his lappe
Bretful of pardoim come from Rome all hoot,
A voys he hadde as smal as hath a goot
Ne was ther swich another pardonour
For in his male he hadde a pilwe-beer [pillow]
Which that, he seyde, was our Lady's veyl :
And in a glas he hadde a pigges bones. .
— SKEAT'B ed., 4 : 7, 21.
If it required boldness to attack the powerful body of the
monks, it required equal boldness to attack the mediaeval dogma
of transubstantiation. Wyclif himself called it a doctrine of
the moderns and of the recentChurch — novella ecclesia. In his
treatise on the eucharist, he praised God that he had been de-
livered from its laughable and scandalous errors.1 The dogma of
the transmutation of the elements he pronounced idolatry, a
lying fable. His own view is that of the spiritual presence.
Christ's body, so far as its dimensions are concerned, is in
heaven. It is efficaciously or virtually in the host as in a sym-
bol.2 This symbol " represents " — vicarius est — the body.
Neither by way of impanation nor of identification, much
less by way of transmutation, is the body in the host. Christ
is in the bread as a king is in all parts of his dominions and as
the soul is in the body. In the breaking of the bread, the body
is no more broken than the sunbeam is broken when a piece of
glass is shattered : Christ is there sacramentally, spiritually,
efficiently — aacramentaliter, tpiritualiter et virtualiter. Tran-
substantiation is the greatest of all heresies and subversive of
logic, grammar and all natural science.8
The famous controversy as to whether a mouse, partaking
of the sacramental elements, really partakes of Christ's body is
discussed in the first pages of the treatise on the eucharist.
Wyclif pronounces the primary assumption false, for Christ is
not there in a corporal manner. An animal, in eating a man,
1 Ab isto acandaloso et derisibili errore de quidditate hujus sacramenti, pp.
52, 199.
3 Corpus Chr. eat dimensionaliter in cceZo et virtualiter in hostia ut in signo.
De euchar., pp. 271, 303. Walden, Fasc. ziz., rightly represents Wyclif as hold-
ing that " the host Is neither Christ nor any part of Christ, but the effectual
sign of him." » De euchar., p. 11; Trial., pp. 248, 261.
§ 41. ' WYCLIP'S TEACHINGS. 337
does not eat his soul. The opinion that the priest actually breaks
Christ's body and so breaks his neck, arms and other mem-
bers, is a shocking error. What could be more shocking, —
horribiliu*, — he says, than that the priest should daily make
and consecrate the Lord's body, and what more shocking than
to be obliged to eat Christ's very flesh and drink his very blood.
Yea, what could be thought of more shocking than that Christ's
body may be burned or eructated, or that the priest carries God
in bodily form on the tips of his fingers. The words of insti-
tution are to be taken in a figurative sense. In a similar man-
ner, the Lord spoke of himself as the seed and of the world as
the field, and called John, Elijah, not meaning that the two were
one person. In saying, I am the vine, he meant that the vine
is a symbol of himself.
The impossibility of the miracle of elemental transmutation,
Wyclif based on the philosophical principle that the substance
of a thing cannot be separated from its accidents. If accidents
can exist by themselves, then it is impossible to tell what a
thing is or whether it exists at all. Transubstantiation would
logically demand transaccidentation, an expression the Eng-
lish Reformer used before Luther. The theory that the acci-
dents remain while the substance is changed, he pronounced
" grounded neither in holy writt ne reson ne wit but only
taughte by newe hypocritis and cursed heretikis that magny-
fyen there own fantasies and dremes." 1
Another proof of Wyclif 's freedom of mind was his assertion
that the Roman Church, in celebrating the sacrament, has no
right to make a precise form of words obligatory, as the words
of institution differ in the different accounts of the New Tes-
tament. As for the profitable partaking of the elements, he
declared that the physical eating profits nothing except the soul
be fed with love. Announcing it as his expectation that he
would be set upon for his views, he closed his notable treatise
on the eucharist with the words, The truth of reason will pre-
vail over all things.
Super omnia vincit veritas rationis.
1 De euch., pp. 78, 81, 132; Engl. Works, III. 620.
888 THE MIDDLE AGES; A.D. 1294-1617.
In these denials of the erroneous system of the mediaeval
Church at its vital points, Wyclif was far in advance of his
own age and anticipated the views of the Protestant Reformers.
§ 42. Wyclif and the Scriptures.
Wyclif s chief service for his people, next to the legacy of
his own personality, was his assertion of the supreme author-
ity of the Bible for clergy and laymen alike and his gift to
them of the Bible in their own tongue. His statements, setting
forth the Scriptures as the clear and sufficient manual of salva-
tion and insisting that the literal sense gives their plain mean-
ing, were as positive and unmistakable as any made by Luther.
In his treatise on the value and authority of the Scriptures,
with 1000 printed pages,1 more is said about the Bible as
the Church's appointed guide-book than was said by all the
mediaeval theologians together. And none of the Schoolmen,
from Anselm and Abaelard to Thomas Aquinas and Duns
Scotus, exalted it to such a position of preeminence as did he.
With one accord they limited its authority by coordinating
with its contents tradition, that is, the teachings of the Church.
This man, with unexcelled precision and cogency, affirmed its
final jurisdiction, as the law of God, above all authorities, pa-
pal, decretist or patristic. What Wyclif asserts in this spe-
cial treatise, he said over again in almost every one of his
works, English and Latin. If possible, he grew more em-
phatic as his last years went on, and his Opus evangelicum^
probably his very last writing, abounds in the most positive
statements language is capable of.
To give the briefest outline of the Truth of Scripture will
be to state in advance the positions of the Protestant Reform-
ers in regard to the Bible as the rule of faith and morals. To
Wyclif the Scriptures are the authority for every Catholic tenet.
1 De veritate Scripturce, ed. by Buddensieg, with Introd., 3 vols., Leip., 1904.
The editor, I. p. xci, gives the date as 1387, 1388. Wyclif starts out by quot-
ing Augustine at length, I. 6-16. The treatise contains extensive digressions,
as on the two natures of Christ, 1. 170 sqq., the salutation of Mary, I. 282 sqq.,
lying, II. 1-99, Mohammedanism, II. 248*266, the functions of prelates and
priests, III. 1-104, etc.
§ 42. WYCLIP AND THE SCKIPTURES. 339
They are the Law of Christ, the Law of God, the Word of God,
the Book of Life — liber vitce. They are the immaculate law
of the Lord, most true, most complete and most wholesome.1
All things necessary to belief for salvation are found in them.
They are the Catholic faith, the Christian faith, — fides chris-
tiana, — the primal rule of human perfection, the primal foun-
dation of the Christian proclamation.
This book is the whole truth which every Christian should
study.2 It is the measure and standard of all logic. Logic, as
in Oxford, changes very frequently, yea, every twenty years,
but the Scriptures are yea, yea and nay, nay. They never
change. They stand to eternity.3 All logic, all law, all phi-
losophy and all ethic are in them. As for the philosophy of the
pagan world, whatever it offers that is in accord with the
Scriptures is true. The religious philosophy which the Chris-
tian learns from Aristotle he learns because it was taught by
the authors of Scripture.4 The Greek thinker made mistakes,
as when he asserted that creation is eternal. In several places
Wyclif confesses that he himself had at one time been led
astray by logic and the desire to win fame, but was thankful to
God that he had been converted to the full acceptance of the
Scriptures as they are and to find in them all logic.
All through this treatise, and in other works, Wyclif con-
tends against those who pronounced the sacred writings irra-
tional or blasphemous or abounding in errors and plain false-
hoods. Such detractors he labelled modern or recent doctors
— modernii novelli doctores. Charges such as these would seem
well-nigh incredible, if Wyclif did not repeat them over and
over again. They remind us of the words of the priest who
told Tyndale,150 years later, " It were better to be without
1 lex domini immaculata . . . verissima, completissima et saluberrima, I.
166.
a Ulum librum debet omnis christianus adiscere cum sit omnis veritas, I.
109, 138.
8 I. 54. Alice logica scepissime variantur . . . logica scriptures in eternum
stat.
* I. 22, 29, 138. Christianus philosophtam non discit quia Aristotelis sed
quia nutorum scriptures sac. et per consequent tamquam suam scientiam qua*
in libris theologies rectius est edocta.
840 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
God's laws than to be without the pope's." What could be
more shocking, — horribilius, — exclaimed Wyclif, than to as-
sert that God's words are false.1
The supreme authority of the Scriptures appears from their
contents, the beneficent aim they have in view, and from the
witness borne to them by Christ. God speaks in all the books.
They are one great Word of God. Every syllable of the two
Testaments is true, and the authors were nothing more than
scribes or heralds.2 If any error seem to be found in them, the
error is due to human ignorance and perverseness. Nothing
is to be believed that is not founded upon this book, and to its
teachings nothing is to be added.8
Wyclif devotes much time to the principles of biblical ex-
position and brushes away the false principles of the Fathers
and Schoolmen by pronouncing the " literal verbal sense " the
true one. On occasion, in his sermons, he himself used the other
senses, but his sound judgment led him again and again to lay
emphasis upon the etymological meaning of words as final. The
tropological, anagogical and allegorical meanings, if drawn
at all, must be based upon the literal meaning. Wyclif con-
fessed his former mistake of striving to distinguish them with
strict precision. There is, in fact, only one sense of Scripture,
the one God himself has placed in it as the book of life for the
wayfaring man.4 Heresy is the contradiction of Scripture. As
for himself, Wyclif said, he was ready to follow its teachings,
even unto martyrdom, if necessary.5
1 1. 151, 200, 394, 408; Lat. serm., 179; De eccles., 173, 318, etc.
3 Tota scrip, est unum magnum Verbum Dei., I. 269. Autores nisiscribce
vel precones ad scrib. Dei legem. I. 392. Also I. 86, 156, 198, 220 sqq., III.
106 sqq., 143.
8 Falsitas in proposito est in false intelligent^ et non in Scrip, sac., p. 193.
Nulli alii in quoquam credere nisi de quanto se fundaverit ex script. I. 383.
De civ. dom., p. 394.
4 De ver., 114, 119, 123. Sensus literalis script, est utrobique verus, p. 73.
Solum ille est sensus script, quern deus et beati legunt in libra vitas qui est uni
talis et alteri viatoribus, semper verus, etc., p. 126.
6 Oportet conclusiones carnis et seculi me deserere et sequi Christum in
pauperie si debeam coronari, 1. 357. Also II. 129-131. In view of the above
statement, it is seen how utterly against the truth Kropatschek's statement
is, Man wird den Begnff Vorreformatoren getrost in die historische Rumpel-
§ 42. WYCLIF AND THE SCRIPTURES. 341
For hundreds of years no eminent teacher had emphasized
the right of the laity to the Word of God. It was regarded as
a book for the clergy, and the interpretation of its meaning was
assumed to rest largely with the decretists and the pope. The
Council of Toulouse, 1229, had forbidden the use of the Bible
to laymen. The condemned sects of the 12th and 13th cen-
turies, especially the Waldenses, had adopted another rule, but
their assailants, such as Alanus ab Insulis, had shown how
dangerous their principle was. Wyclif stood forth as the
champion of an open Bible. It was a book to be studied by
all Christians, for " it is the whole truth." Because it was given
to the Church, its teachings are free to every one, even as is
Christ himself.1
To withhold the Scriptures from the laity is a fundamental
sin. To make them known in the mother-tongue is the first duty
of the priest. For this reason priests ought always to be fa-
miliar with the language of the people. Wyclif held up the
friars for declaring it heresy to translate God's law into Eng-
lish and make it known to laymen. He argued against their
position by referring to the gift of tongues at Pentecost and
to Jerome's translation, to the practice of Christ and the Apos-
tles who taught peoples in their native languages and to the
existence in his own day of a French translation made in spite
of all hindrances. Why, he exclaims, " should not Englishmen
do the same, for as the lords of England have the Bible in French,
it would not be against reason if they had the same material in
English." Through an English Bible Englishmen would be
enabled best "to follow Christ and come to heaven."2 What
could be more positive than the following words ?
Christen men and women, olde and young, shulden study fast in the
New Testament, and no simple man of wit shulde be aferde un measurably
hammer werfen kbnnen, we may without further thought cast the idea of Re-
formers before the Reformation into the historical rag bag. The remark he
makes after stating how little the expression sola scriptura meant in the mouths
of mediaeval reformers. See Walter in Litzg., 1905, p. 447.
1 Ilium librum debet omnis Christianus adiscere cum sit omnis veritas. De
ver., I. 100. Fideles cujuscunque generis, fuerint clerici vel laid, viri vel
femtnas, tnveniunt inea virtutem operand!, etc., pp. 117, 186. Op. evang., II.
36. « Matthew, Sel. Works, p. 429 sq.
342 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
to study in the text of holy Writ. Pride and covetise of clerks is cause
of their blyndness and heresie and priveth them fro verie understand-
ing of holy Writ The New Testament is of f ul autorite and open to un-
derstanding of simple men, as to the pynts that ben most needful to sal-
vation.
Wyclif was the first to give the Bible to his people in their
own tongue. He knew no Hebrew and probably no Greek.
His version, which was made from the Latin Vulgate, was the
outgrowth of his burning desire to make his English country-
men more religious and more Christian. The paraphrastic
translation of books which proceeded from the pen of Richard
Rolle and perhaps a verse of the New Testament of Kentish
origin and apparently made for a nunnery,1 must be considered
as in no wise in conflict with the claim of priority made for the
English Reformer. In his task he had the aid of Nicolas Here-
ford, who translated the Old Testament and the Apocryphal
books as far as Baruch 3 : 20. A revision was made of Wyclif s
Bible soon after his death, by Purvey. In his prologue, Pur-
vey makes express mention of the " English Bible late trans-
lated," and affirms that the Latin copies had more need of being
corrected than it. One hundred and seventy copies of these
two English bibles are extant, and it seems strange that, until
the edition issued by Forshall and Madden in 1850, they re-
mained unprinted.2 The reason for their not being struck off
on the presses of Caxton and other early English printers, who
issued the Golden Legend, with its fantastic and often gre wsome
religious tales, was that Wyclif had been pronounced a heretic
and his version of the Scriptures placed under the ban by the
religious authorities in England.
* The text pub. Camhr., 1902 and 1905, by Anna C. Panes : A Fourteenth
Cent. Engl. Bible Vs.
2 The Holy Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments with the Apocry-
phal Books, in the earliest English Versions made from the Vulgate by John
Wycliffe and his Followers. 4 vols., Oxford, 1860. The work cost 22 years of
labor. It contains Purvey 's Prologue and an exhaustive Preface by the editors.
Purvey's New Test, had been printed by John Lewis, London, 1731, and re-
printed by Henry Baber, Lond., 1810, and in the Bagster English Hexapla,
Lond., 1841. Adam Clarke had published Wyclif s version of the Canticles
in his Commentary, 3rd vol., 1823, and Lea Wilson, Wyclif 's New Test., Lond.,
1848.
§ 42. WYCLIF AND THE SCRIPTURES. 343
A manuscript preserved in the Bodleian, Forshall and Mad-
den affirm to be without question the original copy of Hereford
himself. These editors place the dates of the versions in 1382
and 1388. Purvey was a Lollard, who boarded under Wyclif s
roof and, according to the contemporary chronicler, Knighton,
drank plentifully of his instructions. He was imprisoned, but
in 1400 recanted, and was promoted to the vicarage of Hy the.
This preferment he resigned three years later. He was im-
prisoned a second time by Archbishop Chichele, 1421, was alive
in 1427, and perhaps died in prison.
To follow the description given by Knighton in his Chroni-
cle, the gift of the English Bible was regarded by Wyclif's
contemporaries as both a novel act and an act of desecration.
The irreverence and profanation of offering such a translation
was likened to the casting of pearls before swine. The passage
in Knighton, who wrote 20 years after Wyclif's death, runs
thus : —
The Gospel, which Christ bequeathed to the clergy and doctors of the
Church, — as they in turn give it to lay and weaker persons, — this Mas-
ter John Wyclif translated out of the Latin into the Anglican tongue, not
the Angelic tongue, so that by him it is become common, — vulgare, — and
more open to the lay folk and to women, knowing how to read, than it used
to be to clerics of a fair amount of learning and of good minds. Thus,
the Gospel pearl is cast forth and trodden under foot of swine, and what
was dear to both clergy and laity is now made a subject of common jest to
both, and the jewel of the clergy is turned into the sport of the laity, so
that what was before to the clergy and doctors of the Church a divine gift,
has been turned into a mock Gospel [or common thing].1
The plain meaning of this statement seems to be that Wyclif
translated at least some of the Scriptures, that the translation
was a novelty, and that the English was not a proper language
for the embodiment of the sacred Word. It was a cleric's
book, and profane temerity, by putting it within the reach of
the laity, had vulgarized it.
The work speedily received reprobation at the hands of the
1 Commune ceternum. It is hard to give the exact rendering of these
words. Knighton goes on to refer to William of St. Amour, who said of some
that they changed the pure Gospel into another Gospel, the evangelium aster-
num or evangelium Spiritus sancti. Knighton, Chronicle, II. 161 sq.
344 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
Church authorities. A bill presented in the English parlia-
ment, 1391, to condemn English versions, was rejected through
the influence of the duke of Lancaster, but an Oxford synod,
of 1408, passed the ominous act, that upon pain of greater ex-
communication, no man, by his own authority, should translate
into English or any other tongue, until such translation were
approved by the bishop, or, if necessary, by the provincial
council. It distinctly mentions the translation " set forth in
the time of John Wyclif." Writing to John XXIII., 1412,
Archbishop Arundel took occasion to denounce " that pesti-
lent wretch of damnable memory, yea, the forerunner and dis-
ciple of anti-christ who, as the complement of his wickedness,
invented a new translation of the Scriptures into his mother-
tongue." l
In 1414, the reading of the English Scriptures was forbidden
upon pain of forfeiture " of land, cattle, life and goods from
their heirs forever." Such denunciations of a common Eng-
lish version were what Wyclif s own criticisms might have
led us to expect, and quite in consonance with the decree of
the Synod of Toulouse, 1229, and Arundel's reprobation has
been frequently matched by prelatical condemnation of ver-
nacular translations of the Bible and their circulation down
to the papal f ulminations of the 19th century against Bible so-
cieties, as by Pius VII., 1816, who declared them " fiendish in-
stitutions for the undermining of the foundation of religion."
The position, taken by Catholic apologists, that the Catholic
hierarchy has never set itself against the circulation of the
Scriptures in the vernacular, but only against unauthorized
translations, would be adapted to modify Protestantism's notion
of the matter, if there were some evidence of only a limited
attempt to encourage Bible study among the laity of the Catholic
Church with the pages of Scripture open before them. If we
go to the Catholic countries of Southern Europe and to South
America, where her sway has been unobstructed, the very op-
posite is true.
In the clearest language, Wyclif charged the priestly author-
1 Novas adsuce malitias complementum Scripturarum in linguam maternam
translations practica adinventa. Wilkins, III. 350.
§ 42, WYCLIF AND THE SCRIPTURES. 345
ities of his time with withholding the Word of God from the
laity, and denying it to them in the language the people could
understand. And the fact remains that, from his day until
the reign of Elizabeth, Catholic England did not produce any
translations of the Bible, and the English Reformers were of
the opinion that the Catholic hierarchy was irrevocably set
against English versions. Tyndale had to flee from England
to translate his New Testament, and all the copies of the first
edition that could be collected were burnt on English soil.
And though it is alleged that Tyndale 's New Testament was
burnt because it was an " unauthorized " translation, it still
remains true that the hierarchy made no attempt to give the
Bible to England until long after the Protestant Reformation
had begun and Protestantism was well established.
The copies of Wyclif s and Purvey's versions seem to have
been circulated in considerable numbers in England, and were
in the possession of low and high. The Lollards cherished
them. A splendid copy was given to the Carthusians of Lon-
don by Henry VI., and another copy was in the possession of
Henry VII. Sir Thomas More states distinctly that there was
found in the possession of John Hunne, who was afterwards
burnt, a Bible " written after Wyclif 's copy and by him trans-
lated into our tongue." l While for a century and a half these
volumes helped to keep alive the spirit of Wyclif in England,
it is impossible to say how far Wyclif s version influenced the
Protestant Reformers. In fact, it is unknown whether they
used it at all. Some of its words, such as mote and beam and
strait gate, which are found in the version of the 16th century,
seem to indicate, to say the least, that these terms had become
common property through the medium of Wyclif s version.2
The priceless heirloom which English-speaking peoples possess
in the English version and in an open Bible free to all who will
read, learned and unlearned, lay and cleric, will continue to be
associated with the Reformer of the 14th century. As has been
said by one of the ablest of recent Wyclif students, Budden-
sieg, the call to honor the Scriptures as the Word of God and
1 More's Works, p. 240, quoted by Gairdner, 1. 112.
* See Forshall and Madden, p. xxxii, and Eadie, pp. 90-94.
846 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
to study and diligently obey them, runs through Wyclifs writ-
ings like a scarlet thread.1 Without knowing it, he departed
diametrically from Augustine when he declared that the Scrip-
tures do not depend for their authority upon the judgment of
the Church, but upon Christ.
In looking over the career and opinions of John Wyclif, it
becomes evident that in almost every doctrinal particular did
this man anticipate the Reformers. The more his utterances
are studied, the stronger becomes this conviction. He exalted
preaching ; he insisted upon the circulation of the Scriptures
among the laity ; he demanded purity and fidelity of the clergy ;
he denied infallibility to the papal utterances, and went so far
as to declare that the papacy is not essential to the being of
the Church. He defined the Church as the congregation of
the elect ; he showed the unscriptural and unreasonable char-
acter of the doctrine of transubstantiation ; he pronounced
priestly absolution a declarative act. He dissented from the
common notion about pilgrimages ; he justified marriage on
biblical grounds as honorable among all men ; he appealed for
liberty for the monk to renounce his vow, and to betake him-
self to some useful work.
The doctrine of justification by faith Wyclif did not state.
However, he constantly uses such expressions as, that to be-
lieve in Christ is life. The doctrine of merit is denied, and
Christ's mediation is made all-sufficient. He approached close
to the Reformers when he pronounced "faith the supreme
theology," — fides est summa theologia^ — and that only by the
study of the Scriptures is it possible to become a Christian.2
Behind all Wyclifs other teaching is his devotion to Christ
and his appeal to men to follow Him and obey His law. It is
1 Buddensieg, Introd. to De ver., pp. xxxii, xxxviii.
2 See De ver. *cr., I. 209, 212, 214, 260, II. 234. He made a distinction be-
tween the material and formal principles when he spoke of the words of
Christ as something materiale, and the inner meaning as something formale.
Buddensieg, p. xlv, says Wyclif had a dawning presentiment of justifying
faith. According to Poole, he stated the doctrine in other terms in his treat-
ment of lordship. Rashdall, Diet. Natl. Biog., LXIII. 221, says that, apart
from the doctrine of justification by faith, there is little in the teachings of the
16th cent, which Wyclif did not anticipate.
§ 42. WYCLIF AND THE SCRIPTURES. 347
scarcely an exaggeration to say that the name of Christ appears
on every page of his writings. To him, Christ was the su-
preme philosopher, yea, the content of all philosophy.1
In reaching his views Wyclif was, so far as we know, as in-
dependent as any teacher can well be. There is no indica-
tion that he drew from any of the mediaeval sects, as has been
charged, nor from Marsiglius and Ockam . He distinctly states
that his peculiar views were drawn not from Ockam but from
the Scriptures.2
The Continental Reformers did not give to Wyclif the honor
they gave to Huss. Had they known more about him, they
might have said more.8 Had Luther had access to the splendid
shelf of volumes issued by the Wyclif Society, he might have
said of the English Reformer what he said of Wessel's Works
when they were put into his hands. The reason why no or-
ganized reformation followed Wyclif s labors is best given
when we say, the time was not yet ripe. And, after all the
parallelisms are stated between his opinions and the doctrines
of the Reformers, it will remain true that, evangelical as he was
in speech and patriotic as he was in spirit, the Englishman never
ceased to be a Schoolman. Luther was fully a man of the new
age.
NOTE. — THE AUTHORSHIP OF THE FIRST ENGLISH BIBLE. Recently
the priority of Wyclif's translation has been denied by Abbot Gasquet in
two elaborate essays, The Old English Bible, pp. 87-155. He also pro-
nounces it to be very doubtful if Wyclif ever translated any part of the
Bible. All that can be attempted here is a brief statement of the case.
In addition to Knighton's testimony, which seems to be as plain as language
could put it, we have the testimony of John Huss in his Reply to the
Carmelite Stokes, 1411, that Wyclif translated the whole Bible into English.
1 Summits philos.y immo summa philosophia est Christus, deus noster,
quern seqitendo et discendo sumus philosophi. De ver. scr., I. 32.
2 De ver. scr., 1. 346 sqq. See Loserth, Kirchenpolitik, pp. 2, 112 sq. Bud-
densieg, De ver. scr., p. viii, says, Waser war wissen tot'r, nicht wie er es ge-
worden. We know what he was, but not how he came to be what he was.
See, for a Bom. Cath. judgment, Hergenrother-Kirsch, II. 878, who finds con-
centrated in Wyclif the false philosophy of the Waldenses and the Apocalyp-
tics, of Marsiglius and Ockam.
8 Melanchthon, in a letter to Myconius, declared that Wyclif was wholly
ignorant of the doctrine of justification, and at another time he said he had
foolishly mixed up the Gospel and politics.
348 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
No one contends that Wyclif did as much as this, and Huss was no doubt
speaking in general terms, having in mind the originator of the work and the
man's name connected with it. The doubt cast upon the first proposition,
the priority of Wyclif 's version, is due to Sir Thomas More's statement in
his Dialogue, 1530, Works, p. 233. In controverting the positionsof Tyndale
and the Reformers, he said, " The whole Bible was before Wyclif 's days,
by virtuous and well-learned men, translated into English and by good
and godly people, with devotion and soberness, well and reverently read."
He also says that he saw such copies. In considering this statement it
seems very possible that More made a mistake (1) because the statement
is contrary to Knighton's words, taken in their natural sense and Huss'
testimony. (2) Because Wyclif's own statements exclude the existence
of any English version before his own. (3) Because the Lollards asso-
ciated their Bible with Wyclifs name. (4) Because before the era of
the Reformation no English writer refers to any translating except in con-
nection with Wyclifs name and time. Sir Thomas More was engaged in
controversy and attempting to justify the position that the Catholic hie-
rarchy had not been opposed to translations of the Scriptures nor to their
circulation among proper classes of the laity. But Abbot Gasquet, after
proposing a number of conjectural doubts and setting aside the natural
sense of Knighton's and ArundePs statements, denies altogether the Wyc-
liffite authorship of the Bible ascribed to him and edited by Forshall
and Madden, and performs the feat of declaring this Bible one of the old
translations mentioned by More. It must be stated here, a statement that
will be recalled later, that Abbot Gasquet is the representative in England
of the school of Janssen, which has endeavored to show that the Catholic
Church was in an orderly process of development before Luther arose, and
that Luther and the Reformers checked that development and also wil-
fully misrepresented the condition of the Church of their day. Dr. Gas-
quet, with fewer plausible facts and less literature at command than Jans-
sen, seeks to present the English Church's condition in the later Middle
Ages as a healthy one. And this he does (1 ) by referring to the existence
of an English mediaeval literature, still in MSS., which he pronounces vast
in its bulk ; (2) by absolutely ignoring the statements of Wyclif ; (3) by
setting aside the testimonies of the English Reformers ; (4) by disparag-
ing the Lollards as a wholly humble and illiterate folk. Against all these
witnesses he sets up the single witness, Sir Thomas More.
The second proposition advocated by Dr. Gasquet that it is doubtful, and
perhaps very improbable, that Wyclif did nothing in the way of translating
the Bible, is based chiefly upon the fact that Wyclif does not refer to such
a translation anywhere in his writings. If we take the abbot's own high
priest among authorities, Sir Thomas More, the doubt is found to be unjusti-
fiable, if not criminal. More, speaking of John Hunne, who was burnt,
said that he possessed a copy of the Bible which was " af ter a Wycliffite copy."
Eadie, I. 60 sqq. ; Westcott, Hist, of the Eng. Bible. Gairdner, who discusses
§ 43. THE LOLLARDS. 349
the subject fairly in his Lollardy, 1. 101-117, Capes, pp. 125-128, F. D. Mat-
thew, in Eng. Hist. Rev., 1895, and Bigg, Wayside Sketches, p. 127 sq.,
take substantially the position taken by the author. Gasquet was pre-
ceded by Lingard, Hist, of Eng., IV. 196, who laid stress upon Here's
testimony to offset and disparage the honor given from time immemorial to
Wyclif in connection with the English Bible.
How can a controversialist be deemed fair who, in a discussion of this
kind, does not even once refer to Wyclif 's well-known views about the value
of a popular knowledge of the Scriptures, and his urgency that they be given
to all the people through plain preaching and in translation ? Dr. Gasquet's
attitude to " the strange personality of Wyclif " may be gotten from these
words, Old Eng. Bible, p. 88 : " Whatever we may hold as Catholics as to
his unsound theological opinions, about which there can be no doubt, or,
as peace-loving citizens, about his wild revolutionary social theories, on
which, if possible, there can be less," etc.
The following are two specimens of Wyclif s versions : —
MATT. viu. 23-27. And Jhesu steyinge vp in to a litel ship, his disciplis
sueden him. And loo ! a grete steryng was made in the see, so that the litil
ship was hilid with wawis ; but he slepte. And his disciplis camen nigh to
hym, and raysiden hym, sayinge, Lord, saue vs : we perishen. And Jhesus
seith to hem, What ben yhee of litil feith agast ? Thanne he rysynge com-
aundide to the wyndis and the see, and a grete pesibleuesse is maad. For-
sothe men wondreden, sayinge : Whatmanere man is he this, for the wyndis
and the see obeishen to hym.
ROM. viu. 5-8. For thei that ben af tir the fleisch saueren tho thingis that
ben of the fleisch, but thei that ben af tir the spirit f elen tho thingis that ben
of thespirit. For the prudence of fleisch : isdeeth,but theprudence of spirit:
is liif and pees. For the wisdom of fleische is enemye to God, for it is not
suget to the lawe of God : for nether it may. And thei that ben in fleisch :
moun not please to God.
§ 43. The Lollards. J
Although the impulse which Wyclif started in England did
not issue there in a compact or permanent organization, it was
felt for more than a century. Those who adopted his views
were known as Wycliffites or Lollards, the Lollards being as-
sociated with the Reformer's name by the contemporary chron-
iclers, Knighton and Walsingham, and by Walden.1 The for-
1 In 1382 Repyngdon was called Lollardus de secta Wyclif, and Peter Stokes
was referred to as having opposed the " Lollards and the sect of Wyclif,"
Fasc., 296. Knighton, II. 182, 260, expressly calls the Wycliffians Lollards,
Wydiviani qui et Lollardi dicti sunt.
850 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
mer term gradually gave way to the latter, which was used to
embrace all heretics in England.
The term Lollards was transplanted to England from Hol-
land and the region around Cologne. As early as 1300 Lollard
heretics were classed by the authorities with the Beghards,
Beguines, Fratricelli, Swestriones and even the Flagellants, as
under the Church's ban. The origin of the word, like the term
Huguenots, is a matter of dispute. The derivation from the
Hollander, " Walter Lollard," who wasburntin Cologne, 1322,
is now abandoned.1 Contemporaries derived it from lolium, —
tares, — and referred it to the false doctrine these sectarists
were sowing, as does Knighton, and probably also Chaucer, or,
with reference to their habit of song, from the Latin word lavr
dare, to praise.2 The most natural derivation is from the Low
German, lullen or einlullen^ to sing to sleep, whence our English
lullaby. None of the Lollard songs have come down to us.
Scarcely a decade after Wyclif s death a bull was issued by Bon-
iface IX., 1396, against the "LullardsorBeghards "of the Low
Countries.
The Wycliffite movement was suppressed by a rigid inqui-
sition, set on foot by the bishops and sanctioned by parliament.
Of the first generation of these heretics down to 1401, so far
as they were brought to trial, the most, if not all, of them re-
canted. The 15th century furnished a great number of Lol-
lard trials and a number of Lollard martyrs, and their number
was added to in the early years of the 16th century. Active
measures were taken by Archbishop Courtenay ; and under
his successor, Thomas, earl of Arundel, the full force of perse-
cution was let loose. The warlike bishop of Norwich, Henry
1 Fredericq, I. 172. A certain Matthew, whose bones were exhumed and
burnt, is called Mattaeus Lollsert. Fred., I. 250. For documents associating
the Lollards with other sectarists, see Fred., I. 228, II. 132, 133, III. 46, etc.
a So Jan Hocsem of Lie*ge, d. 1348, who in his Gesta pontiff. Leodienrtvm
says, eodem anno (1809) quidam hypocrite gyrovagi qui Lollardi sive Deum lau-
dantes vocabuntur, etc. Fred., 1. 154. Chaucer, hi his Prologue to the Ship-
man^ Tale, says: —
This loller here wol prechen us somewhat
He wolde sowen some difficulty
Or sprenge cokkle in our dene corn.
§ 43. THE LOLLARDS. 351
Spenser, joined heartily in the repressive crusade, swearing to
put to death by the flames or by decapitation any of the dis-
senters who might presume to preach in his diocese. The
reason for the general recantations of the first generation of
Wyclif s followers has been found in the novelty of heresy
trials in England and the appalling effect upon the accused,
when for the first time they felt themselves confronted with
the whole power of the hierarchy.1
In 1394, they were strong enough to present a petition in
full parliament, containing twelve Conclusions.2 These prop-
ositions called the Roman Church the stepmother of the Church
in England, declared that many who had priestly ordination
were not ordained of God, took up the evils growing out of en-
forced celibacy, denied Christ's material presence in the eu-
charist, condemned pilgrimages and image-worship, and pro-
nounced priestly confession and indulgences measures invented
for the profit of the clergy. The use of mitres, crosses, oil
and incense was condemned and also war, on the ground that
warriors, after the first blood is let, lose all charity, and so
" go straight to hell." In addition to the Bible, the document
quotes Wyclif's Trialogus by name.
From about 1390 to 1425, we hear of the Lollards in all di-
rections, so that the contemporary chronicler was able to say
that of every two men found on the roads, one was sure to be
a Lollard.8 With the accession of Henry IV. of Lancaster
(1399-1413), a severe policy was adopted. The culminating
point of legislation was reached in 1401, when parliament
passed the act for the burning of heretics, the first act of the
kind in England.4 The statute referred to the Lollards as a
new sect, damnably thinking of the faith of the Church in re-
spect to the sacraments and, against the law of God and the
Church, usurping the office of preaching. It forbade this peo-
ple to preach, hold schools and conventicles and issue books.
The violators were to be tried in the diocesan courts and, if
1 Cheyney, p. 486 aqq.
* Gee and Hardy, pp. 126-182. Fasc., pp. 860-869. See Gairdner, 1. 44-46.
» Knighton, II. 191.
* De comburendo hoerctico, Gee and Hardy, pp. 138-187.
352 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
found guilty and refusing to abjure, were to be turned over
to the civil officer and burnt. The burning, so it was stipu-
lated, was to be on a high place where the punishment might be
witnessed and the onlookers be struck with fear.
The most prominent personages connected with the earliest
period of Wycliffism, Philip Repyngdon, John Ashton, Nico-
las Hereford and John Purvey, all recanted. The last three
and Wyclif are associated by Knighton as the four arch-here-
tics.
Repyngdon, who had boldly declared himself at Oxford for
Wyclif and his view of the sacrament, made a full recantation,
1382. Subsequently he was in high favor, became chancellor
of Oxford, bishop of Lincoln and a cardinal, 1408. He showed
the ardor of his zeal by treating with severity the sect whose
views he had once espoused.
John Ashton had been one of the most active of Wyclif's
preachers. In setting forth his heretical zeal, Knighton de-
scribes him as " leaping up from his bed and, like a dog, ready to
bark at the slightest sound." He finally submitted in Court-
enay's court, professing that he " believed as our modur, holy
kirke, believes," and that in the sacrament the priest has in
his hand Christ's very body. He was restored to his privi-
leges as lecturer in Oxford, but afterwards fell again into heret-
ical company.1
Hereford, Wyclif's fellow-translator, appealed to Rome, was
condemned there and cast into prison. After two years of con-
finement, he escaped to England and, after being again im-
prisoned, made his peace with theChurch and died a Carthusian.
In 1389, nine Lollards recanted before Courtenay, at Leices-
ter. The popular preacher, William Swynderby, to whose
sermons in Leicester the people flocked from every quarter,
made an abject recantation, but later returned to his old ways,
1 Knighton, II. 171 sqq., gives the recantation in English, the Fasc., p. 320,
in Latin. John Foxe's accounts of the Lollard martyrs are always quaintly
related. Gairdner is the fullest and best of the recent treatments. For his
judgment of Foxe, see I. 159, 836 sqq. He ascribes to him accuracy in tran-
scribing documents. The articles in the Diet, of Natl. Biog. are always to be
consulted.
§ 43. THE LOLLARDS. 353
and was tried in 1391 and convicted. Whether he was burnt
or died in prison, Foxe says, he could not ascertain.
The number suffering death by the law of 1401 was not
large in the aggregate. The victims were distributed through
the 125 years down to the middle of Henry VIII. 's reign. There
were among them no clergymen of high renown like Ridley and
Latimer. The Lollards were an humble folk, but by their
persistence showed the deep impression Wyclif's teachings
had made. The first martyr, the poor chaplain of St. Osythe,
William Sawtre, died March 2, 1401, before the statute for
burning heretics was passed. He abjured and then returned
again to his heretical views. After trying him, the spiritual
court ordered the mayor or sheriff of London to " commit him
to the fire that he be actually burnt." 1 The charges were that
he denied the material presence, condemned the adoration of
the cross and taught that preaching was the priesthood's most
important duty.
Among other cases of burnings were John Badby, a tailor
of Evesham, 1410, who met his awful fate chained inside of a
cask ; two London merchants, Richard Turming and John
Claydon at Smithfield, 1415 ; William Taylor, a priest, in 1423
atSmithfield ; William White at Norwich, 1428 ; Richard Hove-
den, a London citizen, 1430 ; Thomas Bagley, a priest, in the
following year ; and in 1440, Richard Wyche, who had corre-
sponded withHuss. Peter Payne, the principal of St. Edmund's
College, Oxford, took refuge in flight, 1417, and became a
leader among the Hussites, taking a prominent part as their
representative at the Council of Basel. According to Foxe
there were, 1424-1430, 100 prosecutions for heresy in Norwich
alone. The menace was considered so great that, in 1427,
Richard Flemmyng, bishop of Lincoln, founded Lincoln Col-
lege, Oxford, to counteract heresy. It was of this college that
John Wesley was a fellow, the man who made a great breach
in the Church in England.
1 Gee and Hardy give the sentence and the Fasc. the proceedings of the trial.
It is a matter of dispute under what law Sawtrd was condemned to the flames.
Prof. Mattland, in his Canon Law, holds that it was under the old canon
practice as expressed in papal bulls. The statute De comburendo was before
parliament at the time of Sawtre*'s death.
2A
354 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
The case of William Thorpe, who was tried in 1397 and again
before Arundel, 1407, is of interest not only in itself, but for
the statements that were made in the second trial about Wyclif.
The archbishop, after accusing Thorpe of having travelled about
in Northern England for 20 years, spreading the infection of
heresy, declared that he was called of God to destroy the false
sect to which the prisoner belonged, and pledged himself to
" punish it so narrowly as not to leave a slip of you in this
land. " l Thorpe's assertion that Wyclif was the greatest clerk
of his time evoked from Arundel the acknowledgment that he
was indeed a great clerk and, by the consent of many, " a perfect
liver," but that many of the conclusions of his learning were
damned, as they ought to be.
Up to the close of the 14th century, a number of laymen in
high position at court had favored Wycliffism, including Sir
Lewis Clifford, Sir Richard Stury and Sir John Clanvowe, all
of the king's council, Sir John Cheyne, speaker of the lower
house, the Lord Chancellor, Sir Thomas Erpingham and also
the earl of Salisbury.2 This support was for the most part
withdrawn when persecution took an active form. With Sir
John Oldcastle, otherwise known as Lord Cobham from his
marriage with the heiress of the Cobham estate, it was differ-
ent. He held firm to the end, encouraged the new preachers
on his estates in Kent, and condemned the mass, auricular con-
fession and the worship of images. Arundel's court, before
which he appeared after repeated citations, turned him over
to the secular arm "to do him to death." Oldcastle was im-
prisoned in the Tower, but made his escape and was at large
for four years. In 1414, he was charged with being a party to
an uprising of 20,000 Lollards against the king. Declared an
outlaw, he fled to Wales, where he was seized three years later
and taken to London to be hanged and burnt as a traitor and
heretic, Dec. 15, 1417. 8 John Foxe saw in him "the blessed
martyr of Christ, the good Lord Cobham."
1 The proceedings are given at great length by Foze and by Bale, who copied
Tyndale's account. 8el. Works of Bp. Bale, pp. 62-133.
2 Walsingham, II. 244 ; Knighton, II. 181 ; Chron. Angl., p. 377.
8 Walsingham, II. 328, says he was hung as a traitor and burnt as a heretic.
TJsk, p. 317, reports he " was hung on the gallows in a chain of iron after
§ 43. THE LOLLARDS. 355
It is a pleasant relief from these trials and puttings-to-death
to find the University of Oxford in 1406 bearing good testi-
mony to the memory of its maligned yet distinguished dead,
placing on record its high sense of his purity of life, power in
preaching and diligence in studies. But fragrant as his mem-
ory was held in Oxford, at least secretly, parliament was fixed
in its purpose to support the ecclesiastical authorities in stamp-
ing out his doctrine. In 1414, it ordered the civil officer to
take the initiative in ferreting out heresy, and magistrates, from
the Lord chancellor down, were called upon to use their power
in extirpating "all manner of heresies, errors and lollardies."
This oath continued to be administered for two centuries, until
Sir Edward Coke, Lord High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire, re-
fused to take it, with the name Lollard included, insisting that
the principles of Lollardy had been adopted by the Church of
England.1
Archbishop Chichele seemed as much bent as his predecessor,
Arundel, on clearing the realm of all stain of heresy. In 1416
he enjoined his suffragans to inquire diligently twice a year
for persons under suspicion and, where they did not turn them
over to the secular court, to commit them to perpetual or tem-
porary imprisonment, as the nature of the case might require.
It was about the same time that an Englishman, at the trial
of Huss in Constance, after a parallel had been drawn between
Wyclifs views and those of the Bohemian, said, " By my
soul, if I were in your place I would abjure, for in England
all the masters, one after another, albeit very good men, when
suspected of Wicliffism, abjured at the command of the arch-
bishop."2
Heresy also penetrated into Scotland, James Resby, one of
Wyclif 's poor priests, being burnt at Perth, 1407, and another
at Glasgow, 1422. In 1433, a Bohemian student at St. Andrews,
that he had been drawn. He was once and for all burnt up with fierce fire,
paying justly the penalty of both swords." The Fasciculi give a protracted
account of Sir John's opinions and trial. Judgments have been much
divided about him. Fuller speaks of him " as a boon companion, jovial
roysterer and yet a coward to boot." Shakespeare presents him hi the char-
acter of Falstaff. See Galrdner, I. 97 sq.
i Summers, p. 07. * Loserth, Wiclif and Hus, p. 175.
356 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
Paul Craw, suffered the same penalty for heresy. 1 The Scotch
parliament of 1425 en joined bishops to make search for heretics
and Lollards, and in 1416 every master of arts at St. Andrews
was obliged to take an oath to defend the Church against them.
Between 1450-1517, Lollardy was almost wholly restricted
to the rural districts, and little mention is made of it in con-
temporary records. At Amersham, one of its centres, four
were tried in 1462, and some suffered death, as William Barlowe
in 1466, and John Goose a few years later. In 1507, three were
burnt there, including William Tylsworth, the leading man of
the congregation. At the crucial moment he was deserted by
the members, and sixty of them joined in carrying fagots for
his burning. This time of recantation continued to be known
in the district as the Great Abjuration. The first woman to
suffer martyrdom in England, Joan Broughton, was burnt at
Smithfield, 1494, as was also her daughter, Lady Young. Nine
Lollards made public penance at Coventry, 1486, but, as late
as 1519, six men and one woman suffered death there. Foxe
also mentions William Sweeting and John Brewster as being
burnt at Smithfield, 1511, and John Brown at Ashford the
same year. How extensively Wyclif's views continued to be
secretly held and his writings read is a matter of conjecture.
Not till 1559 was the legislation directed against Lollardy re-
pealed.
Our knowledge of the tenets and practices of the Lollards
is derived from their Twelve Conclusions and other Lollard
documents, the records of their trials and from the Represser
for over-much Blaming of the Clergy, an English treatise written
by Dr. Pecock, bishop of Chichester, and finished 1455. In-
clined to liberal thought, Bishop Pecock assumed a different at-
titude from Courtenay, Arundel and other prelates, and sought
by calm reasoning to win the Lollards from their mistakes.
He mentioned the designation of Known Men — 1 Cor. 14 :
38, 2 Tim. 2:19 — as being one of old standing for them,
and he also calls them "the lay party " or "the Bible Men."
He proposed to consider their objections against 11 customs
and institutions, such as the worship of images, pilgrimages,
1 Mitchell : Scottish Reformation, p. 15.
§ 45. THE LOLLARDS. 357
landed endowments for the church, degrees of rank among the
clergy, the religious orders, the mass, oaths and war. Their
tenet that no statute is valid which is not found in the Scrip-
tures he also attempted to confute. In advance of his age,
the bishop declared that fire, the sword and hanging should
not be resorted to till the effort had been made " by clene wit
to draw the Lollards into the consent of the true faith." His
sensible counsel brought him into trouble, and in 1457 he was
tried by Archbishop Bouchier and offered the alternative of
burning or public recantation. Pecock chose the latter, and
made abjuration at St. Paul's Cross before the archbishop and
thousands of spectators. He was clothed in full episcopal
robes, and delivered up 14 of his writings to be burnt.1 He
was forced to resign his see, and in 1459 was, at the pope's
instance, remanded to close confinement in Thorney Abbey.
His Represser had been twice burnt in Oxford.
There seems to have been agreement among the Lollards
in denying the material presence of Christ in the eucharistic
bread and in condemning pilgrimages, the worship of images and
auricular confession. They also held to the right of the people
to read the Scriptures in their own tongue.2 The expression,
God's law, was widely current among them, and was opposed
to the canon law and the decisions of the Church courts. Some
denied purgatory, and even based their salvation on faith,8 the
words, "Thy faith hath saved thee," being quoted for this view.
Some denied that the marriage bond was dependent upon the
priest's act, and more the scriptural warrant and expediency
of priestly celibacy.4
Lollardy was an anticipation of the Reformation of the
1 Among these works was the Provoker, in which Peoock denied that the
Apostles had compiled the Apostles1 Creed. See In trod, to Babington's Ed. of
the Bepressor in Bolls Series, and art. Pecock in Diet. Natl. Biog., XLIV.
198-202.
2 Knighton, II. 166, complains of the Lollards having the Scriptures in the
vulgar tongue. Such a translation he said the laity regarded as melior et
dignior quam lingua latina. * So Walsingham, II. 263.
* Summers, p 60, speaks of an unpublished Lollard MS. of 87 articles which
deal with clerical abuses, Rucli as simony, quarrelling, holding secular offices,
oaths, the worship of images, the pncharist and papal authority.
358 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
sixteenth century, and did something in the way of preparing
the mind of the English people for that change. Professed by
many clerics, it was emphatically a movement of laymen. In
the early Reformation period, English Lutherans were at times
represented as the immediate followers of Wyclif . Writing in
1523 to Erasmus, Tonstall, bishop of London, said of Lutheran-
ism that "it was not a question of some pernicious novelty, but
only that new arms were being added to the great band of
Wycliffite heretics."1
§ 44. John HUBS of Bohemia.
Across the seas in Bohemia, where the views of Wyclif were
transplanted, they took deeper root than in England, and as-
sumed an organized form. There, the English Reformer was
called the fifth evangelist and, in its earlier stages, the move-
ment went by the name of Wycliffism. It was only in the later
periods that the names Hussites and Hussitism were substi-
tuted for Wycliffites and Wycliffism. Its chief spokesmen were
John HUBS and Jerome of Prag, who died at the stake at Con-
stance for their avowed allegiance to Wyclif.
Through Huss, Prag became identified with a distinct stage
in the history of religious progress. Distinguished among its
own people as the city of St. John of Nepomuk, d. 1383, and in
the history of armies as the residence of Wallenstein, the Cath-
olic leader in the Thirty Years' War, Prag is known in the West-
ern world pre-eminently as the home of Huss. Through his
noble advocacy, the principles enunciated by Wyclif became
the subject of discussion in oecumenical councils, called forth
armed crusades and furnished an imposing spectacle of stead-
fast resistance against religious oppression. Wycliffism passed
out of view in England ; but Hussitism, in spite of the most
bitter persecution by the Jesuits, has trickled down in pure
though small streamlets into the religious history of modern
times, notably through the Moravians of Herrnhut.
During the reign of Charles IV., king of Bohemia and em-
peror, 1346-1378, the Bohemian kingdom entered upon the
1 Trevelyan, p. 849.
JOHN Huss OF BOHEMIA
§ 44. JOHN HUBS OF BOHEMIA. 359
golden era of its literary and religious history. In 1344, the
archbishopric of Prag was created, and the year 1347 witnessed
an event of far more than local importance in the founding of
the University of Prag. The first of the German universities,
it was forthwith to enter upon the era of its brightest fame.
The Czech and German languages were spoken side by side
in the city, which was divided, at the close of the 14th cen-
tury into five quarters. The Old Town, inhabited chiefly by
Germans, included the Teyn church, the Carolinum, the Beth-
lehem chapel and the ancient churches of St. Michael and St.
Gallus. Under the first archbishop of Prag, Arnest of Par-
dubitz, and his successor Ocko of Wlaschim, a brave effort was
made to correct ecclesiastical abuses. In 1355, the demand for
popular instruction was recognized by a law requiring parish
priests to preach in the Czech. The popular preachers, Kon-
rad of Waldhausen, d. 1369, Militz of Kremsier, d. 1374, and
Matthias of Janow, d. 1394, made a deep impression. They
quoted at length from the Scriptures, urged the habit of fre-
quent communion, and Janow, as reported by Rokyzana at the
Council of Basel, 1433, seems to have administered the cup to
the laity.1 When John Huss entered upon his career in the
university, he was breathing the atmosphere generated by these
fervent evangelists, although in his writings he nowhere quotes
them.
Close communication between England and Bohemia had
been established with the marriage of the Bohemian king Wen-
zel's sister, Anne of Luxemburg, to Richard II., 1382. She was
a princess of cultivated tastes, and had in her possession copies
of the Scriptures in Latin, Czech and German. Before this
nuptial event, the philosophical faculty of the University of
Prag, in 1367, ordered its bachelors to add to the instructions
of its own professors the notebooks of Paris and Oxford doc-
tors. Here and there a student sought out the English univer-
sity, or even went so far as the Scotch St. Andrews. Among
those who studied in Oxford was Jerome of Prag. Thus a
1 The truth of Rokyzana's statement is denied by Loserth, in Herzog, VIII.
588 sq. On other Bohemian preachers of Huss9 day, see Flajshans, Scrm. de
Sanctis, p. iv.
360 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
bridge for the transmission of intellectual products was laid
from Wyclif s lecture hall to the capital on the Moldau.1
Wyclif 's views and writings were known in Bohemia at an early
date. In 1381 a learned Bohemian theologian, Nicolas Biceps,
was acquainted with his leading principles and made them a
subject of attack. Huss, in his reply to the English Carmelite,
John Stokes, 1411, declared that he and the members of the
university had had Wyclif 's writings in their hands and been
reading them for 20 years and more.2 Five copies are extant
of these writings, made in Huss' own hand, 1398. They were
carried away in the Thirty Years' War and are preserved in
the Royal Library of Stockholm.
John Huss was born of Czech parents, 1369, at Husinec in
Southern Bohemia. The word Hus means goose, and its dis-
tinguished bearer often applied the literal meaning to himself.
For example, he wrote from Constance expressing the hope
that the Goose might be delivered from prison, and he bade
the Bohemians, " if they loved the Goose," to secure the king's
aid in having him released. Friends also referred to him in the
same way.8 His parents were poor and, during his studies in
the University of Prag, he supported himself by singing and
manual services. He took the degree of bachelor of arts in 1393
and of divinity a year later. In 1396 he incepted as master of
arts, and in 1398 began delivering lectures in the university.
In 1402 he was chosen rector, filling the office for six months.
With his academic duties Huss combined the activity of a
preacher, and in 1402 was appointed to the rectorship of the
1 See Loserth, Wiclifand Bus, p. 70. Wenzel or Wenceslaus IV., sur-
named the Lazy, was the son of Charles IV. His second wife was Sophia of
Bavaria. His half-brother, Sigismund, succeeded him on the throne.
2 Flajshans : Serm. de Sanctis, p. xxi. Nttrnb. ed., I. 135.
8 Workman : Hus* Letters, pp. 94, 118, 163, 189, 192, 198, 201. The spell-
ing, Hus, almost universally adopted in recent years by German and English
writers, has been exchanged by Loserth in his art. in Herzog for Huss, as a
form more congenial to the German mode of spelling. For the same reason
this volume has adopted the form Huss as more agreeable to the English read-
er's eye and more consonant with our mode of spelling. Karl Miiller adopts
this spelling in his Kirchengeschichte. The exact date of Huss1 birth is usually
given as July 6th, 1369, but with insufficient authority. Loserth, Wiclifand
HUB, p. 65 sq.
§ 44. JOHN HUS8 OF BOHEMIA. 361
Chapel of the Holy Innocents of Bethlehem. This church,
usually known as the Bethlehem church, was founded in 1391
by two wealthy laymen, with the stipulation that the incum-
bent should preach every Sunday and on festival days in Czech.
It was made famous by its new rector as the little church, Anas-
tasia, in Constantinople, was made famous in the fourth cen-
tury by Gregory of Nazianzus, and by his discourses against
the Arian heresy.
As early as 1402, Huss was regarded as the chief exponent
and defender of Wycliffian views at the university. Protests,
made by the clergy against their spread, took definite form
in 1403, when the university authorities condemned the 24
articles placed under the ban by the London council of 1382.
At the same time 21 other articles were condemned, which one
of the university masters, John Hiibner, a Pole, professed to
have extracted from the Englishman's writings. The decision
forbade the preaching and teaching of these 45 articles. Among
Wyclif s warm defenders were Stanislaus of Znaim and Ste-
phen Paletz. The subject which gave the most offence was his
doctrine of the Lord's Supper.
A distinct stage in the religious controversies agitating Bo-
hemia was introduced by the election of Sbinko of Hasenburg
to the see of Prag, 1403. In the earlier years of his admin-
istration Huss had the prelate's confidence, held the post of
synodal preacher and was encouraged to bring to the arch-
bishop's notice abuses that might be reformed. He was also
appointed one of a commission of three to investigate the al-
leged miracles performed by the relic of Christ's blood at
Wylsnak and attracting great throngs. The report condemned
the miracles as a fraud. The matter, however, became subject
of discussion at the university and as far away as Vienna and
Erfurt, the question assuming the form whether Christ left any
of his blood on the earth. In a tract entitled the Glorification
of all Christ's Blood^1 Huss took the negative side. In spite
of him and of the commission's report, the miracles at Wylsnak
went on, until, in 1552, a zealous Lutheran broke the pyx
which held the relic and burnt it.
1 De omni Christi sanguine glorificato, ed. by Flajshans, p. 42.
362 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
So extensive was the spread of Wycliffism that Innocent
VII., in 1405, called upon Sbinko to employ severe measures
to stamp it out and to seize Wyclif s writings. The same year
a Prag synod forbade the propaganda of Wyclif 's views and
renewed the condemnation of the 45 articles. Three years later
Huss — whose activity in denouncing clerical abuses and advo-
cating Wyclif s theology knew no abatement — was deposed
from the position of synodal preacher. The same year the
university authorities, at the archbishop's instance, ordered
that no public lectures should be delivered on Wyclif's Tria-
logus and Dialogue and his doctrine of the Supper, and that no
public disputation should concern itself with any of the con-
demned 45 articles.
The year following, 1409, occurred the emigration from the
university of the three nations, the Bavarians, Saxons and
Poles, the Czechs alone being left. The bitter feeling of the
Bohemians had expressed itself in the demand for three votes,
while the other nations were to be restricted to one each.
When Wenzel consented to this demand, 2000 masters and
scholars withdrew, the Germans going to Leipzig and found-
ing the university of that city. The University of Prag was
at once reduced to a provincial school of 500 students, and has
never since regained its prestige.1
Huss, a vigorous advocate of the use of the Czech, was the
recognized head of the national movement at the university, and
chosen first rector under the new regime. If possible, his ad-
vocacy of Wyclif and his views was more bold than before.
From this time forth, his Latin writings were filled with excerpts
from the English teacher and teem with his ideas. Wyclif's
writings were sown broadcast in Bohemia. Huss himself had
translated the Trialogu* into Czech. Throngs were attracted
by preaching. Wherever, wrote Huss in 1410, in city or town,
in village or castle, the preacher of the holy truth made his
1 See Rashdall : Universities of Europe, I. 211-242. The number of depart-
ing students is variously given. The number given above has the authority
of Procopius, a chronicler of the 15th century. Only 602 were matriculated
at Leipzig the first year, and this figure seems to point to a smaller number
than 2000 leaving Frag. KUgelgen, Die Geftingmssbriefe, p. ix, adopts the
unreasonable number, 5000.
§ 44. JOHN HUSS OF BOHEMIA. 363
appearance, the people flocked together in crowds and in
spite of the clergy.1
Following a bull issued by Alexander V., Sbinko, in 1410,
ordered Wyclifs writings seized and burnt, and forbade
all preaching in unauthorized places. The papal document
called forth the protest of HUBS and others, who appealed to
John XXIII. by showing the absurdity of burning books on
philosophy, logic and other non -theological subjects, a course
that would condemn the writings of Aristotle and Origen to
the flames. The protest was in vain and 200 manuscript copies
of the Reformer's writings were cast into the flames in the
courtyard of the archiepiscopal palace amidst the tolling of the
church bells.2
Two days after this gre wsome act, the sentence of excommuni-
cation was launched against Huss and all who might persist
in refusing to deliver up Wyclifs writings. Defying the arch-
bishop and the papal bull, Huss continued preaching in the
Bethlehem chapel. The excitement among all classes was
intense and men were cudgelled on the streets for speaking
against the Englishman. Satirical ballads were sung, declaring
that the archbishop did not know what was in the books he had
set fire to. Huss' sermons, far from allaying the commotion,
were adapted to increase it.
Huss had no thought of submission and, through handbills,
announced a defence of Wyclifs treatise on the Trinity before
the university, July 27. But his case had now passed from
the archbishop's jurisdiction to the court of the curia, which
demanded the offender's appearance in person, but in vain.
In spite of the appeals of Wenzel and many Bohemian nobles
who pledged their honor that he was no heretic, John XXIII.
put the case into the hands of Cardinal Colonna, afterwards
Martin V., who launched the ban against Huss for his refusal
to comply with the canonical citation.
Colonna's sentence was read from all the pulpits of Prag ex-
cept two. But the offensive preaching continued, and Sbinko
1 Workman : Hua* Letters, p. 36.
2 Among the condemned writings, 17 in all, were the Dialogua, Trialogus,
De incarnatione Verbi and the De domtnio civili.
364 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
laid the city under the interdict, which, however, was with-
drawn on the king's promise to root out heresy from his realm.
Wenzel gave orders that " Master Huss, our beloved and faith-
ful chaplain, be allowed to preach the Word of God in peace."
According to the agreement, Sbinko was also to write to the
pope assuring him that diligent inquisition had been made,
and no traces of heresy were to be found in Bohemia. This
letter is still extant, but was never sent.
Early in September, 1411, Huss wrote to John XXIII. protest-
ing his full agreement with the Church andasking that the cita-
tion to appear before the curia be revoked. In this communi-
cation and in a special letter to the cardinals l Huss spoke of
the punishment for heresy and insubordination. He, however,
wrote to John that he was bound to speak the truth, and that
he was ready to suffer a dreadful death rather than to declare
what would be contrary to the will of Christ and his Church.
He had been defamed, and it was false that he had expressed
himself in favor of the remanence of the material substance of
the bread after the words of institution, and that a priest in mor-
tal sin might not celebrate the eucharist. Sbinko died Sept.
28, 1411. At this juncture the excitement was increased by
the arrival in Prag of John Stokes, a Cambridge man, and well
known in England as an uncompromising foe of Wycliffism.
He had come with a delegation, sent by the English king, to
arrange an alliance with Sigismund. Stokes' presence aroused
the expectation of a notable clash, but the Englishman, although
he ventilated his views privately, declined Huss' challenge to
a public disputation on the ground that he was a political repre-
sentative of a friendly nation.1
The same year, 1411, John XXIII. called Europe to a crusade
against Ladislaus of Naples, the defender of Gregory XII., and
promised indulgence to all participating in it, whether by per-
sonal enlistment or by gifts. Tiem, dean of Passau, appointed
preacher of the holy war, made his way to Prag and opened the
sale of indulgences. Chests were placed in the great churches,
1 These letters are given by Workman, pp. 51-54.
9 Huss1 reply, Replica, and Stokes1 statement, which called it forth, are
given in the Nttrnb. ed., 1. 135-139.
§ 44. JOHN HITS8 OP BOHEMIA. 365
and the traffic was soon in full sway. As Wyclif, thirty years
before, in his Cruciate had lifted up his voice against the cru-
sade in Flanders, so now Huss denounced the religious war and
denied the pope's right to couple indulgences with it. He
filled the Bethlehem chapel with denunciations of the sale and,
in a public disputation, took the ground that remission of sins
comes through repentance alone and that the pope has no au-
thority to seize the secular sword. Many of his paragraphs
were taken bodily from Wyclif 's works on the Church and on
the Absolution from guilt and punishment.1 Huss was sup-
ported by Jerome of Prag.
Popular opinion was on the side of these leaders, but from
this time Huss' old friends, Stanislaus of Znaim and Stephen
Paletz, walked no more with him. Under the direction of Wok
of Waldstein, John's two bulls, bearing on the crusade and offer-
ing indulgence, were publicly burnt, after being hung at the
necks of two students, dressed as harlots, and drawn through
the streets in a cart.2 Huss was still writing that he abhorred
the errors ascribed to him, but the king could not countenance
the flagrant indignity shown to the papal bulls, and had three
men of humble position executed, Martin, John and Stanis-
laus. They had cried out in open church that the bulls were
lies, as Huss had proved. They were treated as martyrs, and
their bodies taken to the Bethlehem chapel, where the mass
for martyrs was said over them.
To reaffirm its orthodoxy, the theological faculty renewed
its condemnation of the 45 articles and added 6 more, taken
from Huss' public utterances. Two of the latter bore upon
preaching.8 The clergy of Prag appealed to be protected " from
the ravages of the wolf, the Wycliffist Hus, the despiser of
the keys," and the curia pronounced the greater excommuni-
cation. The heretic was ordered seized, delivered over to
the archbishop, and the Bethlehem chapel razed to the ground.
1 Hues' tract is entitled De indulgentit* sive de cruciatu papas Joh. XXIII.
fulminata contra Ladislaum Apulia regem. Niirnb. ed., 213-235.
2 Workman : Hua* Letters.
8 See Huss' reply, Defensto quorundam articulorum J. Wicleff, and the
rejoinder of the theol. faculty, Niirnb. ed., I. 139-146.
THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D, 1204-1617.
Three stones were to be hurled against Huss' dwelling, as a
sign of perpetual curse. Thus the Reformer had against him
the archbishop, the university, the clergy and the curia, but
popular feeling remained in his favor and prevented the papal
sentence from being carried out. The city was again placed
under the interdict. Huss appealed from the pope and, because
a general council's action is always uncertain and at best
tardy, looked at once to the tribunal of Christ. He publicly
asserted that the pope was exercising prerogatives received
from the devil.
To allay the excitement, Wenzel induced Huss to withdraw
from the city. This was in 1412. In later years Huss ex-
pressed doubts as to whether he had acted wisely in complying.
He was moved not only by regard for the authority of his royal
protector but by sympathy for the people whom the interdict
was depriving of spiritual privileges. Had he defied the sen-
tence and refused compliance with the king's request, it is prob-
able he would have lost the day and been silenced in prison
or in the flames in his native city. In this case, the interest
of his career would have been restricted to the annals of his
native land, and no place would have been found for him in
the general history of Europe. So Huss went into exile, but
there was still some division among the ecclesiastical authori-
ties of the kingdom over the merits of Wycliffism, and a na-
tional synod, convoked February 13, 1413, to take measures
to secure peace, adjourned without coming to a decision.
Removed from Prag, Huss was indefatigable in preaching
and writing. Audiences gathered to hear him on the market-
places and in the fields and woods. Lords in their strong castles
protected him. Following Wyclif, he insisted upon preach-
ing as the indefeasible right of the priest, and wrote that to
cease from preaching, in obedience to the mandate of pope or
archbishop, would be to disobey God and imperil his own salva-
tion.1 He also kept in communication with the city by visit-
ing it several times and by writing to the Bethlehem chapel,
the university and the municipal synod. This correspondence
abounds in quotations from the Scriptures, and Huss reminds
1 Workman : Hu? Letters, pp. 60, 66.
§ 44. JOHN HUBS OF BOHEMIA. 867
his friends that Christ himself was excommunicated as a male-
factor and crucified. No help was to be derived from the saints.
Christ's example and his salvation are the sufficient sources
of consolation and courage. The high priests, scribes, Phari-
sees, Herod and Pilate condemned the Truth and gave him
over to death, but he rose from the tomb and gave in his stead
twelve other preachers. So he would do again. What fear,
he wrote, " shall part us from God, or what death ? What shall
we lose if for His sake we forfeit wealth, friends, the world's
honors and our poor life ? . . . It is better to die well than
to live badly. We dare not sin to avoid the punishment of death.
To end in grace the present life is to be banished from misery.
Truth is the last conqueror. He wins who is slain, for no adver-
sity "hurts him if no iniquity has dominion over him." In
this strain he wrote again and again. The " bolts of anti-christ,"
he said, could not terrify him, and should not terrify the " elect
of Prag." J
Of the extent of Huss' influence during this period he bore
witness at Constance when, in answer to D'Ailly, he said: —
I have stated that I came here of my own free will. If I had been un-
willing to come, neither that king [referring to Wenzel] nor this king here
[referring to Sigismund] would have been able to force me to come, so nu-
merous and so powerful are the Bohemian nobles who love me, and within
whose castles I should have been able to lie concealed.
And when D'Ailly rebuked the statement as effrontery, John
of Chlum replied that it was even as the prisoner said, " There
are numbers of great nobles who love him and have strong
castles where they could keep him as long as they wished, even
against both those kings."
The chief product of this period of exile was Huss' work on
the Church, De ecclesia^ the most noted of all his writings. It
was written in view of the national synod held in 1413, and was
sent to Prag and read in the Bethlehem chapel, July 8. Of
this tractate Cardinal D'Ailly said at the Council of Constance
that, by an infinite number of arguments, it combated the pope's
1 Workman, p. 107-120. Workman translates seventeen letters written
from this exile, pp. 83-138.
368 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
plenary authority as much as the Koran, the book of the damned
Mohammed, combated the Catholic faith.1
In this volume, next to Wyclif s,the most famous treatment
on the Church since Cyprian's work, De ecclesia, and Augus-
tine's writings against the Donatists, Huss defined the Church
and the power of the keys, and then proceeds to defend himself
against the fulminations of Alexander V. and John XXIII. and
to answer the Prag theologians, Stephen Paletz and Stanislaus
of Znaim, who had deserted him. The following are some of
its leading positions.
The Holy Catholic Church is the body or congregation of all
the predestinate, the dead, the living and those yet to be.2 The
term 'catholic' means universal. The unity of the Church is
a unity of predestination and of blessedness, a unity of faith,
charity and grace. The Roman pontiff and the cardinals are
not the Church. The Church can exist without cardinals and
a pope, and in fact for hundreds of years there were no cardinals. 8
As for the position Christ assigned to Peter, Huss affirmed
that Christ called himself the Rock, and the Church is founded
on him by virtue of predestination. In view of Peter's clear
and positive confession, " the Rock — Petra — said to Peter —
Petro — * I say unto thee, Thou art Peter, that is, a confessor
of the true Rock which Rock I am.' And upon the Rock, that
is, myself, I will build this Church. " Thus Huss placed himself
firmly on the ground taken by Augustine in his Retractations.
Peter never was the head of the Holy Catholic Church.4
1 Du Pin, Opp. Gerson., II. 001. The De ecclesia is given in the Ntirnb.
ed., I. 243-319.
2 Eccl. est omnium prasdestinatorum universitas ; qua est omnes pradesti-
nati, prcesentes, prceteriti etfuturi. Nttrnb. ed. I., 244.
8 Writing to Christian Prachatitz, in 1413, Huss said, " If the pope is the
head of the Roman Church and the cardinals are the body, then they in
themselves form the entire Holy Roman Church, as the entire body of a man
with the head is the man. The satellites of anti-christ use interchangeably
the expressions * Holy Roman Church ' and ( pope and cardinals ' etc.1* Work-
man : HUB' Letters, p. 121.
4 Propter confessionem tarn claram et firmam, dixit Petra Petro, et ego
dico tibi quia tu es Petrus, id est confessor Petras veriB qui est Christus et
super hone Petram quam confessus es, id est, super me, etc., Ntirnb. ed., I. 257.
Petrus non fuit nee est caput s. eccles. cathol.,p. 263. See also the same
interpretation in Huss' Serm. de Sanctis, p. 84.
§ 44. JOHN HUSS OF BOHEMIA. 369
He thus set himself clearly against the whole ultramontane
theory of the Church and its head. The Roman bishop, he
said, was on an equality with other bishops until Constantino
made him pope. It was then that he began to usurp author-
ity. Through ignorance and the love of money the pope may
err, and has erred, and to rebel against an erring pope is to
obey Christ.1 There have been depraved and heretical popes.
Such was Joan, whose case Huss dwelt upon at length and re-
fers to at least three times. Such was also the case of Libe-
rius, who is also treated at length. Joan had a son and Liberius
was an Arian.2
In the second part of the De ecclesia^ Huss pronounced the
bulls of Alexander and John XXIII. anti-christian, and there-
fore not to be obeyed. Alexander's bull, prohibiting preach-
ing in Bohemia except in the cathedral, parish and monastic
churches was against the Gospel, for Christ preached in houses,
on the seaside, and in synagogues, and bade his disciples to go
into all the world and preach. No papal excommunication
may be an impediment to doing what Christ did and taught
to be done.8
Turning to the pope's right to issue indulgences, the Re-
former went over the ground he had already traversed in his
replies to John's two bulls calling for a crusade against Ladis-
laus. He denied the pope's right to go to war or to make appeal
to the secular sword. If John was minded to follow Christ, he
should pray for his enemies and say, " My kingdom is not of
this world. " Then the promised wisdom would be given which
no enemies would be able to gainsay. The power to forgive
sins belongs to no mortal man any more than it belonged to the
priest to whom Christ sent the lepers. The lepers were cleansed
before they reached the priest. Indeed, many popes who con-
ceded the most ample indulgences were themselves damned.4
* Nurnb. ed., I. 260, 284, 294, etc.
2 HUBS also in his Letters repeatedly refers to Joan and Liberius, e.g. he
writes, " I should like to know if pope Liberius the heretic, Leo the heretic
and the pope Joan, who was delivered of a boy, were the heads of the Roman
Church." Workman : Hu»^ Letters, p. 125. • Ntirnb. ed., I. 302.
* De indulgentiis, Nttrnb. ed., pp. 220-228.
2a
370 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
Confession of the heart alone is sufficient for the soul's sal-
vation where the applicant is truly penitent.
In denying the infallibility of the pope and of the Church
visible, and in setting aside the sacerdotal power of the priest-
hood to open and shut the kingdom of heaven, Huss broke
with the accepted theory of Western Christendom ; he com-
mitted the unpardonable sin of the Middle Ages. These fun-
damental ideas, however, were not original with the Bohemian
Reformer. He took them out of Wyclif's writings, and he also
incorporated whole paragraphs of those writings in his pages.
Teacher never had a more devoted pupil than the English Re-
former had in Huss. The first three chapters of De eccletsia are
little more than a series of extracts from Wyclif's treatise on
the Church. What is true of this work is also true of most of
Huss' other Latin writings.1 Huss, however, was not a mere
copyist. The ideas he got from Wyclif he made thoroughly his
own. When he quoted Augustine, Bernard, Jerome and other
writers, he mentioned them by name. If he did not mention
Wyclif, when he took from him arguments and entire para-
graphs, a good reason can be assigned for his silence. It was
well known that it was Wyclif's cause which he was represent-
ing and Wycliffian views that he was defending, and Wyclif's
writings were wide open to the eye of members of the university
faculties. He made no secret of following Wyclif, and being
willing to die for the views Wyclif taught. As he wrote to
1 Loserth wrote his Wicliff and Hm to show the dependence of Huss upon
his English predecessor, and the latter half of this work gives proof of it
by printing in parallel columns portions of the two authors1 compositions.
He says, p. Ill, that the De ecclesia is only "a meagre abridgement of
Wyclif s work on the same subject. This author affirms that in his Latin
tractates Huss uhas drawn all his arguments from Wyclif,11 and that "the
most weighty parts are taken word for word from his English predecessor/1
pp. xiv, 139, 141, 166, etc. Neander made a mistake in rating the influence
of Matthias of Janow upon Huss higher than the influence of Wyclif. He
wrote before the Wyclif Society began its publications. Even Palacky, in
his Church History of Bohemia, III. 190-197, pronounced it uncertain how far
Huss was influenced by Wyclif's writings, and questions whether he had
attached himself closely to the English Reformer. The publications of the
Wyclif Society, which make a comparison possible, show that one writer
could scarcely be more dependent upon another than Huss was upon Wyclif.
§ 45. HUSS AT CONSTANCE. 371
Richard Wyche, he was thankful that "under the power of
Jesus Christ, Bohemia had received so much good from the
blessed land of England.9' l
The Bohemian theologian was fully imbued with Wyclif s
heretical spirit. The great Council of Constance was about
to meet. Before that tribunal Huss was now to be judged.
§ 45. Huss at Constance.
Thou wast their Rock, their fortress and their might;
Thou, Lord, their captain in the well-fought fight;
Thou, in the darkness drear, their light of light. Alleluia.
The great expectations aroused by the assembling of the
Council of Constance included the settlement of the disturbance
which was rending the kingdom of Bohemia. It was well un-
derstood that measures were to be taken against the heresy
which had invaded Western Christendom. In two letters ad-
dressed to Conrad, archbishop of Prag, Gerson bore witness
that, in learned centres outside of Bohemia, the names of Wyclif
and Huss were indissolubly joined. Of all HUBS' errors, wrote
the chancellor, " the proposition is the most perilous that a man
who is living in deadly sin may not have authority and domin-
ion over Christian men. And this proposition, as is well known,
has passed down to Huss from Wyclif." 2
To Constance Sigismund, king of the Romans and heir of
the Bohemian crown, turned for relief from the embarrassment
of Hussitism ; and from Lombardy he sent a deputation to
summon Huss to attend the council, at the same time promis-
ing him safe conduct. The Reformer expressed his readiness
to go, and had handbills posted in Prag announcing his decision.
Writing to Wenzel and his queen, he reaffirmed his readiness,
and stated he was willing to suffer the penalty appointed for
heretics, should he be condemned.8
Under date of Sept. 1, 1414, Huss wrote to Sigismund that
he was ready to go to Constance " under safe-conduct of your
1 Workman : HUB' Letters, p. 36.
a Van der Hardt, I. 18; Palacky, Docum., pp. 52*3-628.
8 For these letters and copies of the handbill, see Workman, Hits' Letters,
p. 140 sqq.
872 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
protection, the Lord Most High being my defender." A week
later, the king replied, expressing confidence that, by his ap-
pearance, all imputation of heresy would be removed from
the kingdom of Bohemia.
Huss set out on the journey Oct. 11, 1414, and reached Con-
stance Nov. 3. He was accompanied by the Bohemian no-
bles, John of Chlum, Wenzel of Duba and Henry Lacembok.
With John of Chlum was Mladenowitz, who did an important
service by preserving Huss' letters and afterwards editing
them with notes. Huss' correspondence, from this time on,
deserves a place in the choice autobiographical literature of the
Christian centuries. For pathos, simplicity of expression and
devotion to Christ, the writings of the Middle Ages do not
furnish anything superior.
In a letter written to friends in Bohemia on the eve of his
departure, Huss expressed his expectation of being confronted
at Constance by bishops, doctors, princes and canons regular,
yea, by more foes than the Redeemer himself had to face. He
prayed that, if his death would contribute aught to God's glory,
he might be enabled to meet it without sinful fear. A second
letter was not to be opened, except in case of his death. It
was written to Martin, a disciple whom the writer says he had
known from childhood. He binds Martin to fear God, to be
careful how he listened to the confessions of women, and not
to follow him in any frivolity he had been guilty of in other
days, such as chess-playing. Persecution was about to do its
worst because he had attacked the greed and incontinence of
the clergy. He willed to Martin his gray cloak and bade him,
in case of his death, give to the rector his white gown and to
his faithful servant, George, a guinea.
The route was through Niirnberg. Along the way Huss
was met by throngs of curious people. He sat down in the
inns with the local priests, talking over his case with them.
At Niirnberg the magistrates and burghers invited him to meet
them at an inn. Deeming it unnecessary to go out of its way
to meet Sigismund, who was at Spires, the party turned its face
directly to the lake of Constance. Arrived on its upper shore,
they sent back most of their horses for sale, a wise measure, as
§ 45. HtfSS AT CONSTANCE. 373
it proved, in view of the thousands of animals that had to be
cared for at Constance.1
Arrived at Constance, HUBS took lodgings with a "second
widow of Sarepta," who had kept the bakery to the White Pig-
eon. The house is still shown. His coming was a great sen-
sation, and he entered the town, riding through a large crowd.
The day after, John of Chlumand Baron Lacembok called upon
pope John XX III., who promised that no violence should be done
their friend, nay, even though he had killed the pope's own
brother. He granted him leave to go about the city, but for-
bade him to attend high mass. Although he was under sen-
tence of excommunication, Huss celebrated mass daily in his
own lodgings. The cardinals were incensed that a man charged
openly with heresy should have freedom, and whatever misgiv-
ings Huss had had of unfair dealing were to be quickly justified.
Individual liberty had no rights before the bar of an ecclesias-
tical court in the 15th century when a heretic was under accu-
sation. Before the month had passed, Huss' imprisonment
began, a pretext being found in an alleged attempt to escape
from the city concealed in a hay-wagon.2 On November 28,
the two bishops of Trent and Augsburg entered his lodgings
with a requisition for him to appear before the cardinals. The
house was surrounded by soldiers. Huss, after some hesita-
tion, yielded and left, with the hostess standing at the stairs
in tears. It was the beginning of the end.
After a short audience with the cardinals, the prisoner was
taken away by a guard of soldiers, and within a week he was
securely immured in the dungeon of the Dominican convent.
Preparations had been going on for several days to provide
the place with locks, bolts and other strong furnishings.
1 Huss kept one for himself, thinking it might be necessary for him to ride
and see Sigismund. Writing from Constance, Nov. 4th, he said that horses
were cheap there. One, bought in Bohemia for 6 guineas, was given away
for 7 florins, or one-third the original price. Workman : Letters, p. 158.
2 The charge is reported by Richental, p. 76 sq. His story is invalidated
by the false date he gives and also by the testimony of Mladenowitz, who
declared it wholly untrue. If there had been any attempt at escape, it
would hardly have been allowed to go unnoticed in the trial. See Wylie,
p. 189.
374 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
In this prison, Huss languished for three months. His cell
was hard by the latrines. Fever and vomiting set in, and it
seemed likely they would quickly do their dismal work. John
XXIII. deserves some credit for having'sent his physician, who
applied clysters, as Huss himself wrote. To sickness was added
the deprivation of books, including the Bible. For two months
we have no letters from him. They begin again, with January,
1415, and give us a clear insight into the indignities to which
he was exposed and the misery he suffered. These letters
were sent by the gaoler.
What was Sigismund doing ? He had issued the letter of
safe-conduct, Oct. 18. On the day before his arrival in Con-
stance, Dec. 24th, John of Chlum posted up a notice on the
cathedral, protesting that the king's agreement had been
treated with defiance by the cardinals. Sigismund professed
to be greatly incensed, and blustered, but this was the end of
it. He was a time-serving prince who was easily persuaded
to yield to the arguments of such ecclesiastical figures as
D'Ailly, who insisted that little matters like Huss' heresy
should not impede the reformatidh of the church, the council's
first concern, and that error unreproved was error counte-
nanced.1 All good churchmen prayed his Majesty might not
give way to the lies and subtleties of the Wycliffists. The
king of Aragon wrote that Huss should be killed off at once,
without having the formality of a hearing.
During his imprisonment in the Black Friars' convent, Huss
wrote for his gaoler, Robert, tracts on the Ten Commandments,
the Lord's Prayer, Mortal Sin and Marriage. Of the 13 letters
preserved from this time, the larger part were addressed to John
of Chlum, his trusty friend. Some of the letters were written
at midnight, and some on tattered scraps of paper.2 In this
1 In an audience with Sigismund, D'Ailly protested that/actaro J. Hus et
alia minora non debebant reformationem eccles. et Rom. imperil impedire quod
erat principals pro quo fuerat concilium congregatum. Fillastre, in Finke, p.
258.
9 On reading a letter in the Bethlehem chapel, Hawlik exclaimed, " Alas,
alas, Hus is running out of paper." And John of Chlum spoke of one of
Huss1 letters as being written "on a tattered, three-cornered bit of paper/9
Workman : HusJ Letters, p. 196.
§ 45. HUSS AT CONSTANCE. 375
correspondence four things are prominent : Huss' reliance upon
the king and his word of honor, his consuming desire to be
heard in open council, the expectation of possible death and his
trust in God. He feared sentence would be passed before
opportunity was given him to speak with the king. " If this
is his honor, it is his own lookout," he wrote.1
In the meantime the council had committed the matter of
heresy to a commission, with D' Ailly at its head. It plied Huss
with questions, and presented heretical articles taken from his
writings. Stephen Paletz, his apostate friend, badgered him
more than all the rest. His request for a " proctor and advo-
cate " was denied. The thought of death was continually be-
fore him. But, as the Lord had delivered Jonah from the
whale's belly, and Daniel from the lions, so, he believed, God
would deliver him, if it were expedient.
Upon John XXIII.'s flight, fears were felt that Huss might
be delivered by his friends, and the keys of the prison were put
into the hands of Sigismund. On March 24th the bishop of
Constance had the prisoner chained and transferred by boat to
his castle, Gottlieben. There he had freedom to walk about
in his chains by day, but he was handcuffed and bound to the
wall at night. The imprisonment at Gottlieben lasted seventy-
three days, from March 24th-June 5th. If Huss wrote any
letters during that time none have survived. It was a strange
freak of history that the runaway pontiff , on being seized and
brought back to Constance, was sent to Gottlieben to be fel-
low-prisoner with Huss, the one, the former head of Christen-
dom, condemned for almost every known misdemeanor ; the
other, the preacher whose life was, by the testimony of all con-
temporaries, almost without a blemish. The criminal pope was
to be released after a brief confinement and elevated to an ex-
alted dignity; the other was to be contemned as a religious
felon and burnt as an expiation to orthodox theology.
At Gottlieben, Huss suffered from hemorrhage, headache
and other infirmities, and at times was on the brink of starva-
tion. A new commission, appointed April 6, with D' Ailly at
its head, now took up seriously the heresy of Huss and Wyclif ,
* Workman : Letters, p. 174, 182, 184, 100.
376 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
whom the council coupled together.1 Huss' friends had not
forgotten him, and 250 Moravian and Bohemian nobles signed
a remonstrance at Prag, May 13, which they sent to Sigis-
mutfd, protesting against the treatment " the beloved master
and Christian preacher " was receiving, and asked that he might
be granted a public hearing and allowed to return home. Upon
a public hearing Huss staked everything, and with such a hear-
ing in view he had gone to Constance.
In order to bring the prisoner within more convenient reach
of the commission, he was transferred in the beginning of June
to a third prison, — the Franciscan friary. From June 5-8 pub-
lic hearings were had in the refectory, the room being crowded
with cardinals, archbishops, bishops, theologians and persons of
lesser degree. Cardinal D'Ailly was present, and took the lead-
ing part as head of the commission. The action taken May 4th
condemning 260 errors and heresies extracted from Wyclif s
works was adapted to rob Huss of whatever hope of release he
still indulged. Charges were made against him of holding that
Christ is in the consecrated bread only as the soul is in the body,
that Wyclif was a good Christian, that salvation was not depend-
ent upon the pope and that no one could be excommunicated ex-
cept by God Himself. He also had expressed the hope his soul
might be where Wyclif s was.2 When a copy of his book on
the Church was shown, they shouted, "Burn it." Whenever
Huss attempted to explain his positions, he was met with shouts,
" Away with your sophistries. Say, Yes or No. " The English-
man, John Stokes, who was present, declared that it seemed to
him as if he saw Wyclif himself in bodily form sitting before
him.
On the morning of June 7th, Huss exclaimed that God and
his conscience were on his side. But, said D'Ailly, " we can-
not goby your conscience when we have other evidence, and the
e vidence of Gerson himself against you, the mostrenowned doc-
tor in Christendom." 8 D'Ailly and an Englishman attempted
1 See Card. Fillastre's Diary in Finke's Forschungen, pp. 164, 179.
8 Utinam anima esset ibi, ubi est anima Joh. Wicleff. Mansi, XXVII. 760.
8 Nos non possums secutidum tuam conscientiam judicare, etc., Palacky,
Doc. 278. Tschackert, pp. 225,235, says D'Ailly would have been obliged to
§ 45. HTJSS AT CONSTANCE. 877
to show the logical connection of the doctrine of remanence with
realism. When Huss replied that such reasoning was the logic
of schoolboys, another Englishman had the courage to add,
Huss is quite right: what have these quibbles to do with mat-
ters of faith? Sigismund advised Huss to submit, saying that
he had told the commission he would not defend any heretic
who was determined to stick to his heresy. He also declared
that, so long as a single heretic remained, he was ready to light
the fire himself with his own hand to burn him. He, however,
promised that Huss should have a written list of charges the
following day.
That night, as Huss wrote, he suffered from toothache, vom-
iting, headache and the stone. On June 8th, 39 distinct arti-
cles were handed to him, 26 of which were drawn from his work
on the Church. When he demurred at some of the statements,
D'Ailly had the pertinent sections from the original writings
read. When they came to the passage that no heretic should
be put to death, the audience shouted in mockery. Huss went
on to argue from the case of Saul, after his disobedience towards
Agag, that kings in mortal sin have no right to authority. Sig-
ismund happened to be at the moment at the window, talking
to Frederick of Bavaria. The prelates, taking advantage of the
avowal, cried out, " Tell the king Huss is now attacking him."
The emperor turned and said, "John Huss, no one lives with-
out sin." D'Ailly suggested that the prisoner, not satisfied with
pulling down the spiritual fabric, was attempting to hurl down
the monarchy likewise. In an attempt to break the force of
his statement, Huss asked why they had deposed pope John.
Sigismund replied that Baldassarre was real pope, but was
deposed for his notorious crimes.
The 39 articles included the heretical assertions that the
Church is the totality of the elect, that a priest must continue
preaching, even though he be under sentence of excommunica-
tion, and that whoso is in mortal sin cannot exercise authority.
lay aside his purple if he had not resisted Huss' views. Huss had said of
Gerson, O si dens daret tempus scribendi contra mendacia Parisiensis cancel-
larii, Palacky, Doc. 97. Gerson went so far as to say that Huss was condemned
for his realism. See Schwab, pp. 298, 686.
378 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1204-1517.
Huss expressed himself ready to revoke statements that might
be proved untrue by Scripture and good arguments, but that
he would not revoke any which were not so proved. When Sig-
ismund remonstrated, Huss appealed to the judgment bar of
God. At the close of the proceedings, D'Ailly declared that
a compromise was out of the question. Huss must abjure.1
As Huss passed out in the charge of the archbishop of Riga,
John of Chlum had the courage to reach out his hand to him.
The act reminds us of the friendly words Georg of Frunds-
berg spoke to Luther at Worms. Huss was most thankful,
and a day or two afterward wrote how delightful it had been
to see Lord John, who was not ashamed to hold out his hand
to a poor, abject heretic, a prisoner in irons and the butt of all
men's tongues. In addressing the assembly after Huss9 de-
parture, Sigismund argued against accepting submission from
the prisoner who, if released, would go back to Bohemia and
sow his errors broadcast. " When I was a boy," he said, " I
remember the first sprouting of this sect, and see what it is to-
day. We should make an end of the master one day, and when
I return from my journey we will deal with his pupil. What's
his name ? " The reply was, Jerome. Yes, said the king, I
mean Jerome.
Huss, as he himself states, was pestered in prison by emis-
saries who sought to entrap him, or to " hold out baskets " for
him to escape in. Some of the charges made against him he
ascribes to false witnesses. But many of the charges were not
false, and it is difficult to understand how he could expect to
free himself by a public statement, in view of the solemn con-
demnation passed upon the doctrines of Wyclif . He was con-
vinced that none of the articles brought against him were
contrary to the Gospel of Christ, but canon law ruled at coun-
cils, not Scripture. A doctor told him that, if the council should
affirm he had only one eye, he ought to accept the verdict.
Huss replied if the whole world were to tell him so, he would
not say so and offend his conscience, and he appealed to the
1 See TBchackert, p. 230. D'Ailly persisted in this position after he left
Constance. Wyclif and Huss remained to him the dangerous heretics, —
pernitiosi heretici. Van der Hardt, VI. 16.
§ 45. H08S AT CONSTANCE. 379
case of Eleazar in the Book of the Maccabees, who would not
make a lying confession.1 But he was setting his house in
order. He wrote affecting messages to his people in Bohemia
and to John of Chlum. He urged the Bohemians to hear only
priests of good report, and especially those who were earnest
students of Holy Writ. Martin he adjured to read the Bible
diligently, especially the New Testament.
On June 15th, the council took the far-reaching action for-
bidding the giving of the cup to laymen. This action Huss
condemned as wickedness and madness, on the ground that it
was a virtual condemnation of Christ's example and command.
To Hawlik, who had charge of the Bethlehem chapel, he wrote,
urging him not to withhold the cup from the laity.2 He saw
indisputable proof that the council was fallible. One day it
kissed the feet of John, as a paragon of virtue, and called him
" most holy," and the next it condemned him as " a shameful
homicide, a sodomite, a simoniac and a heretic." He quoted
the proverb, common among the Swiss, that a generation
would not suffice to cleanse Constance from the sins the body
had committed in that city.
The darkness deepened around the prisoner. On June 24th,
by the council's orders, his writings were to be burnt, even
those written in Czech which, almost in a tone of irony, as he
wrote, the councillors had not seen and could not read. He
bade his friends not be terrified, for Jeremiah's books, which
the prophet had written at the Lord's direction, were burnt.
His affectionate interest in the people of " his glorious coun-
try " and in the university on the Moldau, and his feeling of
gratitude to the friends who had supported him continued un-
abated. A dreadful death was awaiting him, but he recalled
the sufferings of Apostles and the martyrs, and especially the
agonies endured by Christ, and he believed he would be
purged of his sins through the flames. D' Ailly had replied to
him on one occasion by peremptorily saying he should obey the
decision of 50 doctors of the Church and retract without ask-
ing any questions. " A wonderful piece of information," he
i Workman : J7u0' Letters, pp. 226, 239-241.
* See Workman, pp. 185, 246, 248.
380 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
wrote, "As if the virgin, St. Catherine, ought to have re-
nounced the truth and her faith in the Lord because 50 phi-
losophers opposed her." 1 In one of his last letters, written to
his alma mater of Prag, he declared he had not recanted a
single article.
On the first day of July, he was approached by the arch-
bishops of Riga and Ragusaand 6 other prelates, who still had
a hope of drawing from him a recantation. A written declara-
tion made by Huss in reply showed the hope vain.2 Another
effort was made July 5th, Cardinals D' Ailly and Zabarella and
bishop Hallum of Salisbury being of the party of visiting prel-
ates. Huss closed the discussion by declaring that he would
rather be burnt a thousand times than abjure, for by abjuring
he said he would offend those whom he had taught.8
Still another deputation approached him, his three friends
John of Chlum, Wenzel of Duba and Lacembok, and four
bishops. They were sent by Sigismund. As a layman, John
of Chlum did not venture to give Huss advice, but bade him, if
he felt sure of his cause, rather than to lie against God, to
stand fast, even to death. One of the bishops asked whether
he presumed to be wiser than the whole council. No, was the
reply, but to retract he must be persuaded of his errors out of
the Scriptures. " An obstinate heretic ! " exclaimed the bishops.
This was the final interview in private. The much-desired
opportunity was at hand for him to stand before the council as a
body, and it was his last day on earth.
After seven months of dismal imprisonment and deepening
disappointment, on Saturday, July 6th, Huss was conducted to
the cathedral. It was 6 A.M., and he was kept waiting out-
side the doors until the celebration of mass was completed.
He was then admitted to the sacred edifice, but not to make a
defence, as he had come to Constance hoping to do. He was to
listen to sentence pronounced upon him as an ecclesiastical out-
cast and criminal. He was placed in the middle of the church
onahighstool, set there specially for him.4 The bishopof Lodi
i Workman, p. 264. a Ibid., p. 276.
8 Non vellet abjurare sed militates comburi, Mansi, XXVII. 764.
4 Ad medium concilii ubi erat levatus in altum scamnum pro eo. Mansi,
XXVII. 747.
§ 45. HUSS AT CONSTANCE. 381
preached from Rom. 6 : 6, "that the body of sin may be de-
stroyed." The extermination of heretics was represented as
one of the works most pleasing to God, and the preacher used
the time-worn illustrations from the rotten piece of flesh, the
little spark which is in danger of turning into a great flame and
the creeping cancer. The more virulent the poison the swifter
should be the application of the cauterizing iron. In the style of
Bossuet in a later age, before Louis XIV., he pronounced upon
Sigismund the eulogy that his name would be coupled with song
and triumph for all time for his efforts to uproot schism and
destroy heresy.
The commission, which included Patrick, bishop of Cork, ap-
pointed to pronounce the sentence, then ascended the pulpit.
All expressions of feeling with foot or hand, all vociferation or
attempt to start disputation were solemnly forbidden on pain
of excommunication. 30 articles were then read, which were
pronounced as heretical, seditious and offensive to pious ears.
The sentence coupled in closest relation Wyclif and Huss.1
The first of the articles charged the prisoner with holding that
the Church is the totality of the predestinate, and the last that
no civil lord or prelate may exercise authority who is in mortal
sin. Huss begged leave to speak, but was hushed up.
The sentence ran that " the holy council, having God only
before its eye, condemns John Huss to have been and to be a
true, real and open heretic, the disciple not of Christ but of
John Wyclif, one who in the University of Prag and before the
clergy and people declared Wyclif to be a Catholic and an evan-
gelical doctor — vir catholicus et doctor evangelicus. " It ordered
him degraded from the sacerdotal order, and, not wishing to
exceed the powers committed unto the Church, it relinquished
him to the secular authority.
Not a dissenting voice was lifted against the sentence. Even
John Gerson voted for it. One incident has left its impress
upon history, although it is not vouched for by a contemporary.
It is said that, when Huss began to speak, he looked at Sig-
ismund, reminding him of the safe-conduct. The king, who sat
in state and crowned, turned red, but did not speak.
1 The articles are given in Mans!, pp. 754 sq., 1209-1211, and Hardt, IV.
408-12.
382 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1204-1517.
The order of degradation was carried out by six bishops, who
disrobed the condemned man of his vestments and destroyed
his tonsure. They then put on his head a cap covered over with
pictures of the devil and inscribed with the word, heresiarch,
and committed his soul to the devil. With upturned eyes, Huss
exclaimed, " and I commit myself to the most gracious Lord
Jesus."
The old motto that the Church does not want blood — ec-
desia nan sitit sanguinem — was in appearance observed, but
the authorities knew perfectly well what was to be the last scene
when they turned Huss over to Sigismund. " Go, take him and
do to him as a heretic " were the words with which the king
remanded the prisoner to the charge of Louis, the Count Pal-
atine. A guard of a thousand armed men was at hand. The
streets were thronged with people. As Huss passed on, he saw
the flameson the public square which were consuming his books.
For fear of the bridge's breaking down, the greater part of the
crowd was not allowed to cross over to the place of execution,
called the Devil's Place. Huss' step had been firm, but now,
with tears in his eyes, he knelt down and prayed. The paper
cap falling from his head, the crowd shouted that it should be
put on, wrong side front.
It was midday. The prisoner's hands were fastened behind
his back, and his neck bound to the stake by a chain. On the
same spot sometime before, so the chronicler notes, a cardinal's
worn-out mule had been buried. The straw and wood were
heaped up around Huss' body to the chin, and rosin sprinkled
upon them. The offer of life was renewed if he would recant.
He refused and said, " I shall die with joy to-day in the faith of
the Gospel which I have preached. " When Richental, who was
standing by, suggested a confessor, he replied, " There is no
need of one. I have no mortal sin. " At the call of bystanders,
they turned his face away from the East, and as the flames
arose, he sang twice, Christ, thou Son of the living God, have
mercy upon me. The wind blew the fire into the martyr's face,
and his voice was hushed. He died, praying and singing.
To remove, if possible, all chance of preserving relics from
the scene, Huss' clothes and shoes were thrown into the mer-
§ 45. HUSS AT CONSTANCE.
ciless flames. The ashes were gathered up and cast into the
Rhine.
While this scene was being enacted, the council was going
on with the transaction of business as if the burning without
the gates were only a common event. Three weeks later, it an-
nounced that it had done nothing more pleasing to God than
to punish the Bohemian heretic. For this act it has been
chiefly remembered by after generations.
Not one of the members of the Council of Constance, after its
adjournment, so far as we know, uttered a word of protest
against the sentence. No pope or oecumenical synod since has
made any apology for it. Nor has any modern Catholic historian
gone further than to indicate that in essential theological doc-
trines Huss was no heretic, though his sentence was strictly in
accord with the principles of the canon law. So long as the dog-
mas of an infallible Church organization and an infallible pope
continue to be strictly held, no apology can be expected. It is of
the nature of Protestant Christianity to confess wrongs and, as
far as is possible, make reparation for them. When the Mas-
sachusetts court discovered that it had erred in the case of the
Salem witchcraft in 1692, it made full confession, and offered
reparation to the surviving descendants ; and Judge Se wall, one
of the leaders in the prosecution, made a moving public apol-
ogy for the mistake he had committed. The same court re-
called the action against Roger Williams. In 1903, the Prot-
estants of France reared a monument at Geneva in expiation
of Calvin's part in passing sentence upon Servetus. Luther,
in his Address to the German Nobility ', called upon the Roman
Church to confess it had done wrong in burning Huss. That
innocent man's blood still cries from the ground.
Huss died for his advocacy of Wycliffism. The sentence
passed by the council coupled the two names together.1 The
1 Buddenseig, Hus, Patriot and Reformer, p. 11, says, " The whole Hussite
movement is mere Wycliffisin." Loserth, Wiclif and Hus, p. xvi, says, It
was Wyclif's doctrine principally for which Hus yielded up his life. Invec-
tives flying about in Constance joined their names together. The Missa Wic~
lejistarum ran, Credo in Wykleph ducem injerni patronum Boemice et in Hus
fllium ejus unicum nequam nostrum, qui conceptusest er spiritu Luciferi, natus
matre ejus etfactus incarnatus equalis Wikleph, secundum malam voluntatem
384 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1204-1517.
25th of the 30 Articles condemned him for taking offence at
the reprobation of the 45 articles, ascribed to Wyclif. How
much this article was intended to cover cannot be said. It is
certain that Huss did not formally deny the doctrine of tran-
substantiation, although he was charged with that heresy. Nor
was he distinctly condemned for urging the distribution of the
cup to the laity, which he advocated after the council had posi-
tively forbidden it. His only offence was his definition of the
Church and his denial of the infallibility of the papacy and its
necessity for the being of the Church. These charges consti-
tute the content of all the 30 articles except the 25th. Luther
said brusquely but truly, that Huss committed no more atro-
cious sin than to declare that a Roman pontiff of impious life is
not the head of the Church catholic.1
John Huss struck at the foundations of the hierarchical sys-
tem. He interpreted our Lord's words to Peter in a way that
was fatal to the papal theory of Leo, Hildebrand and Innocent
III.2 Hisconception of the Church, whichhe drewfrom Wyclif,
contains the kernel of an entirely new system of religious au-
thority. He made the Scriptures the final source of appeal, and
exalted the authority of the conscience above pope, council and
canon law as an interpreter of truth. He carried out these
et major secundum ejus persecutionem, regnans tempore desolationis studii
Pragensis, tempore quo Boemia a fide apostotavit. Quipropter nos hereticos
descendit ad inferna et non resurget a mortuis nee habebit vitam eternam.
Amen.
1 Note appended to HUBS' writings, ed. 1587. See Huss1 Opp., Prelim. State-
ment, I. 4. It did not require the study of the modern historian to affirm the
view taken above. John Foxe, in his Book of Martyrs, presented it clearly
when he said, " By the life, acts and letters of Huss, it is plain that he was con-
demned not for any error of doctrine, for he neither denied their popish tran-
substantiation, neither spake against the authority of the church of Rome, if
it were well governed, nor yet against the seven sacraments, but said mass him-
self and in almost all their popish opinions was a papist with them, but only
through evil will was he accused because he spoke against the pomp, pride and
avarice and other wicked enormities of the pope, cardinals and prelates of the
church, etc.
9 Gerson declared that among the causes for which Huss was condemned
was that he had affirmed that the Church could be ruled by priests dispersed
throughout the world in the absence of one head as well as with one head.
Schwab, p. 688.
§ 45. HUBS AT CONSTANCE. 885
views in practice by continuing to preach in spite of repeated
sentences of excommunication, and attacking the pope's right
to call a crusade. If the Church be the company of the elect,
as Huss maintained, then God rules in His people and they
are sovereign. With such assertions, the teachings of Thomas
Aquinas were set aside.
The enlightened group of men who shared the spirit of Ger-
son and D'Ailly did not comprehend Wycliffism, for Wycliff-
ism was a revolt against an alleged divine institution, the
visible Church. Gerson denied that the appeal to conscience
was an excuse for refusing to submit to ecclesiastical authority.
Faith, with him, was agreement with the Church's system.
The chancellor not only voted for Huss' condemnation, but
declared he had busily worked to bring the sentence about. Nine-
teen articles he drew from Huss' work on the Church, he pro-
nounced " notoriously heretical." However, at a later time,
in a huff over the leniency shown to Jean Petit, he stated that
if Huss had been given an advocate, he would never have been
convicted.1
In starting out for Constance, Huss knew well the punish-
ment appointed for heretics. The amazing thing is that he
should ever have thought it possible to clear himself by a pub-
lic address before the council. In view of the procedure of
the Inquisition, the council showed him unheard-of considera-
tion in allowing him to appear in the cathedral. This was
done out of regard for Sigismund, who was on the eve of his
journey to Spain to induce Benedict of Luna to abdicate.2
As for the safe-conduct — salvo-conductus — issued by Sigis-
mund, all that can be said is that a king did not keep his word.
He was more concerned to be regarded as the patron of a great
council than toprotecta Bohemian preacher, his future subject.
Writing with reference to the solemn pledge, Huss said, " Christ
deceives no man by a safe-conduct. What he pledges he ful-
fils. Sigismund has acted deceitfully throughout. " 8 The plea,
1 Schwab, pp. 688-599, 600. On the whole subject of Hues1 views Schwab
has excellent remarks, p. 596 sqq.
a See Workman : Age of Hus, pp. 284, 293, 364, and Wylie, p. 175 sqq.
8 Workman : Hus* Letters, p. 269 sq.
2c
386 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
often made, that the king had no intention of giving HUBS an
unconditional pledge of protection, is in the face of the docu-
mentary evidence. In September, 1415, the Council of Con-
stance took formal notice of the criticisms floating about that
in Huss' execution a solemn promise had been broken, and an-
nounced that no brief of safe-conduct in the case of a heretic is
binding. No pledge is to be observed which is prejudicial to
the Catholic faith and ecclesiastical jurisdiction.1
The safe-conduct was in the ordinary form, addressed to all
the princes and subjects of the empire, ecclesiastical and secular,
and informing them that Huss should be allowed to pass, re-
main and return without impediment. Jerome, according to
the sentence passed upon him by the council, declared that the
safe-conduct had been grossly violated, and when, in 1433, the
legates of the Council of Basel attempted to throw the respon-
sibility for Huss' condemnation on false witnesses, so called,
Rokyzana asked how the Council of Constance could have been
moved by the Holy Ghost if it were controlled by perjurers,
and showed that the violation of the safe-conduct had not been
forgotten. When the Bohemian deputies a year earlier had
come to Basel, they demanded the most carefully prepared briefs
of safe-conduct from the Council of Basel, the cities of Eger
and Basel and from Sigismund and others. Frederick of Bran-
denburg and John of Bavaria agreed to furnish troops to pro-
tect the Hussites on their way to Basel, at Basel, and on their
journey home. A hundred and six years later, Luther prof-
ited by Huss' misfortune when he recalled Sigismund's per-
fidy, perfidy which the papal system of the 16th century
would have repeated, had Charles V. given his consent.2
In a real sense, Huss was the precursor of the Reformation.
It is true, the prophecy was wrongly ascribed to him, "To-day
you roast a goose — Huss — but a hundred years from now
a swan will arise out of my ashes which you shall not roast."
Unknown to contemporary writers, it probably originated after
1 Mansi, XXVII. 791, 799. Also Mirbt, p. 166. Lea, Inquisition, II. p. 462
sqq., has an excellent statement of the whole question of HUBS' safe-conduct.
2 Luther declared that a safe- conduct promised to the devil must be kept.
See Kostlin, M. Luther, I. 352.
§ 45. HUSS AT CONSTANCE. 887
Luther had fairly entered upon his work. But he struck a
hard blow at hierarchical assumption before Luther raised his
stronger arm. Luther was moved by Huss' case, and at Leip-
zig, forced to the wall by Eck's thrusts, the Wittenberg monk
made the open avowal that oecumenical councils also may err,
as was done in putting Huss to death at Constance. Years
before, at Erfurt, he had taken up a volume of the Bohemian
sermons, and was amazed that a man who preached so evangel-
ically should have been condemned to the stake. But for fear
of the taint of heresy, he quickly put it down. l The accred-
ited view in Luther's time was given by Dobneck in answer to
Luther's good opinion, when he said that Huss was worse than
a Turk, Jew, Tartar and Sodomite. In his edition of Huss'
letters, printed 1537, Luther praised Huss' patience and humil-
ity under every indignity and his courage before an imposing
assembly as a lamb in the midst of wolves and lions. If such
a man, he wrote, " is to be regarded as a heretic, then no per-
son under the sun can be looked upon as a true Christian."
A cantionale, dating from 1572, and preserved in the Prag
library, contains a hymn to Huss' memory and three medal-
lions which well set forth the relation in which Wyclif and
Huss stand to the Reformation. The first represents Wyclif
striking sparks from a stone. Below it is Huss, kindling a
fire from the sparks. In the third medallion, Luther is hold-
ing aloft the flaming torch. This is the historic succession,
although it is true Luther began his career as a Reformer be-
fore he was influenced by Huss, and continued his work, know-
ing little of Wyclif.
To the cause of religious toleration, and without intending
it, John Huss made a more effectual contribution by his death
than could have been made by many philosophical treatises,
even as the deaths of Blandina and other martyrs of the early
Church, who were slaves, did more towards the reduction of the
evils of slavery than all the sentences of Pagan philosophers.
Quite like his English teacher, he affirmed the sovereign rights
1 John Zacharias, one of the professors of the university at Erf art, had taken
a prominent part in the debates at Constance against Huss, and received as his
reward the red rose from the pope. Kostlin, M. Luther^ I. 58, 87.
388 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
of the truth. It was his habit, so he stated, to conform his
views to the truth, whatever the truth might be. If any one,
he said, " can instruct me by the sacred Scriptures or by good
reasoning, I am willing to follow him. From the outset of my
studies, I have made it a rule to joyfully and humbly recede
from a former opinion when in any matter I perceive a more
rational opinion."1
§ 46. Jerome of Prag.
A year after Huss' martyrdom, on May 30, 1416, his friend
Jerome of Prag was condemned by the council and also suf-
fered at the stake. He shared HUBS' enthusiasm for Wyclif,
was perhaps his equal in scholarship, but not in steadfast con-
stancy. Huss' life was spent in Prag and its vicinity. Je-
rome travelled in Western Europe and was in Prag only occa-
sionally. Huss left quite a body of writings, Jerome, none.
Born of a good family at Prag, Jerome studied in his native
city, and later at Oxford and Paris. At Oxford he became a
student and admirer of Wyclif's writings, two of which, the
Trialogus and the Dialogu*, he carried with him back to Bohe-
mia not later than 1402. In Prag, he defended the English
doctor as a holy man " whose doctrines were more worthy of
acceptance than Augustine himself," stood with Huss in the
contest over the rights of the Bohemian nation, and joined
him in attacking the papal indulgences, 1412.
Soon after arriving in Constance, Huss wrote to John of
Chlum not to allow Jerome on any account to go to join him.
In spite of this warning, Jerome set out and reached Constance
April 4th, 1415, but urged by friends he quit the city. He was
seized at Hirschau, April 15, and taken back in chains. There
is every reason for supposing he and Huss did not see one an-
other, although Huss mentions him in a letter within a week
1 Si aliqua persona ecclesia me scrip. 8. vel ratione valida, docuerit, para-
tissime consentire. Nam a primo studii met tempore hoc mihi statuipro regula,
ut quotiescunque saniorem sente.ntiam in quacunque materia per tip er em, a
priori sententia gaudenter et humiliter declinarem. Wyclif had expressed the
same sentiment in his De universaltbut, which Huss translated, 1308. See
Loserth, p. 263.
§ 46. JEKOME OF PRAG. 389
before his death,1 expressing the hope that he would die holy
and blameless and be of a braver spirit in meeting pain than he
was. Huss had misjudged himself. In the hour of grave
crisis he proved constant and heroic, while his friend gave way.
On Sept. 11, 1415, Jerome solemnly renounced his admira-
tion for Wyclif and professed accord with the Roman church
and the Apostolic see and, twelve days later, solemnly repeated
his abjuration in a formula prepared by the council.2
Release from prison did not follow. It was the council's in-
tention that Jerome should sound forth his abjuration as loudly
as possible in Bohemia, and write to Wenzel, the university and
the Bohemian nobles ; but he disappointed his judges. Fol-
lowing Gerson's lead, the council again put the recusant heretic
on trial. The sittings took place in the cathedral, May 23 and
26, 1416. The charge of denying transubstantiation Jerome
repudiated, but he confessed to having d'one ill in pledging
himself to abandon the writings and teachings of that good
man John Wyclif, and Huss. Great injury had been done to
Huss, who had come to the council with assurance of safe-con-
duct. Even Judas oraSaracen ought undersuch circumstances
to be free to come and go and to speak his mind freely.
On May 30, Jerome was again led into the cathedral. The
bishop of Lodi ascended the pulpit and preached a sermon, call-
ing upon the council to punish the prisoner, and counselling that
against other such heretics, if there should be any, any wit-
nesses whatever should be allowed to testify, — ruffians, thieves
and harlots. The sermon being over, Jerome mounted a bench
— bancum ascendent — and made a defence whose eloquence
is attested by Poggio and others who were present. Thereupon,
the "holy synod " pronounced him a follower of Wyclif and
Huss, and adjudged him to be cast off as a rotten and withered
branch — palmitem putridum et aridum.*
Jerome went out from the cathedral wearing a cheerful
countenance. A paper cap was put on his head, painted over
i Workman : Letters, p. 266. 3 Mansi, XXVII. 794 sqq., 842-864.
8 For the sentence, see Mansi, XXVII. 887-897. Foxe, in his Book of
Martyrs, gives a translation and an excellent account of the proceedings
against Jerome and his martyrdom.
890 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
with red devils. No sentence of deposition was necessary or
ceremony of disrobing, for the condemned man was merely a
laic.1 He died on the spot where Huss suffered. As the wood
was being piled around him, he sang the Easter hymn, salva
festa dies, Hail, festal day. The flames were slow in putting
an end to his .miseries as compared with Huss. His ashes were
thrown into the Rhine. And many learned people wept, the
chronicler Richental says, that he had to die, for he was almost
more learned than Huss. After his death, the council joined
his name with the names of Wyclif and Huss as leaders of
heresy.
Poggio Bracciolini's description of Jerome's address in the
cathedral runs thus : —
It was wonderful to see with what words, with what eloquence, with
what arguments, with what countenance and with what composure, Jerome
replied to his adversaries, and how fairly he put his case. . . . He advanced
nothing unworthy of a good man, as though he felt confident — as he also
publicly asserted — that no just reason could be found for his death. . . .
Many persons he touched with humor, many with satire, many very often
he caused to laugh in spite of the sad affair, jesting at their reproaches.
... He took them back to Socrates, unjustly condemned by his fellow-
citizens. Then he mentioned the captivity of Plato, the flight of Anaxag-
oras, the torture of Zeno and the unjust condemnation of many other
Pagans. . . . Thence he passed to the Hebrew examples, first instancing
Moses, the liberator of his people, Joseph, sold by his brethren, Isaiah,
Daniel, Susannah. . . . Afterwards, coming down to John the Baptist and
then to the Saviour, he showed how, in each case, they were condemned by
false witnesses and false judges. . . . Then proceeding to praise John
Huss, who had been condemned to be burnt, he called him a good man, just
and holy, unworthy of such a death, saying that he himself was prepared
to go to any punishment whatsoever. ... He said that Huss had never
held opinions hostile to the Church of God, but only against the abuses of
the clergy, against the pride, the arrogance and the pomp of prelates. . . .
He displayed the greatest cleverness, — for, when his speech was often in-
terrupted with various disturbances, he left no one unscathed but turned
trenchantly upon his accusers and forced them to blush, or be still. . . .
For 340 days he lay in the bottom of a foul, dark tower. He himself did
not complain at the harshness of this treatment, but expressed his wonder
that such inhumanity could be shown him. In the dungeon, he said, he
had not only no facilities for reading, but none for seeing. ... He stood
there fearless and unterrified, not alone despising death but seeking it, so
1 Laicus, Mansi, XXVII. 894.
§ 47. THE HUSSITES. 391
that you would have said he was another Cato. O man, worthy of the ever-
lasting memory of men I I praise not that which he advanced, if anything
contrary to the institutions of the Church ; but I admire his learning, his
eloquence, his persuasiveness of speech, his adroitness in reply. . . . Per-
severing in his errors, he went to his fate with joyful and willing counte-
nance, for he feared not the fire nor any kind of torture or death. . . . When
the executioners wished to start the fire behind his back that he might not
see it, he said, ' Come here and light the fire in front of me. If I had been
afraid of it, I should never have come to this place.' In this way a man
worthy, except in respect of faith, was burnt. . . . Not Mutius himself
suffered his arm to burn with such high courage as did this man his whole
body. Nor did Socrates drink the poison so willingly as he accepted the
flames.1
Sylvius, afterwards Pius II., bore similar testimony
to the cheerfulness which Huss and Jerome displayed in the
face of death, and said that they went to the stake as to a feast
and suffered death with more courage than any philosopher.2
§ 47. The Hussites.
The news of Huss' execution stirred the Bohemian nation
to its depths. Huss was looked upon as a national hero and
a martyr. The revolt, which followed, threatened the very
existence of the papal rule in Bohemia. No other dissenting
movement of the Middle Ages assumed such formidable pro-
portions. The Hussites, the name given to the adherents of
the new body, soon divided into two organized parties, the
Taborites and the Calixtines or Utraquists. They agreed in
demanding the distribution of the cup to the laity. A third
body, the Unitas Fratrum, or Bohemian Brethren, originated
in the middle of the 15th century, forty years after Huss' death.
When it became known that Huss had perished in the flames,
the populace of Prag stoned the houses of the priests unfriendly
to the martyr ; and the archbishop himself was attacked in his
palace, and with difficulty eluded the popular rage by flight.
King Wenzel at first seemed about to favor the popular party.
The Council of Constance, true to itself, addressed a docu-
ment to the bishop and clergy of Prag, designating Wyclif, Huss
i Huss, Opera, II. 532-684. Palacky, Mon. 624-699. A full translation is
given by Whitcomb in Lit. Source-Book of the Italian Renaissance^ pp. 40-47.
* Hist. Boh., c. 36.
392 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
and Jerome as most unrighteous, dangerous and shameful men,1
and calling upon the Prag officials to put down those who were
sowing their doctrines.
The high regard in which Huss was held found splendid ex-
pression at the Bohemian diet, Sept. 2, 1415, when 452 nobles
signed an indignant remonstrance to the council for its treat-
ment of their " most beloved brother," whom they pronounced
to be a righteous and catholic man, known in Bohemia for many
years by his exemplary life and honest preaching of the law
of the Gospel. They concluded the document by announcing
their intention to defend, even to the effusion of blood, the law
of Christ and his devoted preachers.2 Three days later, the
nobles formed a league which was to remain in force for six
years, in which they bound themselves to defend the free
preaching of the Gospel on their estates, and to recognize the
authority of prelates only so far as they acted according to the
Scriptures.
To this manifesto the council, Feb. 20, 1416, replied by cit-
ing the signers to appear before it within 50 days, on pain of
being declared contumacious.
Huss' memory also had honor at the hands of the university,
which, on May 23, 1416, sent forth a communication addressed
to all lands, eulogizing him as in all things a master whose life
was without an equal.8 In omnibus Magister vitae sine pari.
Upon the dissolution of the council, Martin V., who, as a
member of the curia, had excommunicated Huss, did not allow
the measures to root out Hussitism drag. In his bull Inter
cunctosf Feb. 22, 1418, he ordered all of both sexes punished
as heretics who maintained " the pestilential doctrine of the
heresiarchs, John Wyclif, John Huss and Jerome of Prag."
Wenzel announced his purpose to obey the council, but many
of his councillors left the court, including the statesman, Nic-
olas of Pistna, and the military leader, the one-eyed John
Zizka. The popular excitement ran so high that, during a
1 Improbi88imo8, et periculosissimos, teterrimosque viros, Mansi, XXVIL
781-783. * Mansi, pp. 780-81.
8 Palacky, Monum., I. 80-82.
* Mansi, XXVII. 1204-16. Also Mirbt, p. 167 sqq.
§ 47. THE HUSSITES. 393
Hussite procession, the crowd rushed into the council-house
and threw out of the window seven of the councillors who had
dared to insult the procession.
Affairs entered a new stage with Wenzel's death, 1419. With
considerable unanimity the Bohemian nobles acceded to his
successor Sigismund's demand that the cup be withheld from
the laity, but the nation at large did not acquiesce, and civil
war followed. Convents and churches were sacked. Sigis-
mund could not make himself master of his kingdom, and an
event occurred during his visit in Breslau which deepened the
feeling against him. A merchant, John Krasa, asserting on
the street the innocence of Huss, was dragged at a horse's tail
to the stake and burnt. Hussite preachers inveighed against
Sigismund, calling him the dragon of the Apocalypse.
Martin V. now summoned Europe to a crusade against Bo-
hemia, offering the usual indulgences, as Innocent III. had done
two centuries before, when he summoned a crusade against the
Cathari in Southern France. In obedience to the papal man-
date, 150,000 men gathered from all parts of Europe. All the
horrors of war were perpetrated, and whole provinces desolated.
Five times the holy crusaders entered the land of Huss, and five
times they were beaten back. In 1424 the Hussites lost their
bravest military leader, John Zizka, but in 1427, under his suc-
cessor, Procopius Rasa, called the Great, the most influential
priest of Prag, they took the offensive and invaded Germany.
While they were winning victories over the foreign in-
truders, the Hussites were divided among themselves in re-
gard to the extent to which the religious reformation should
be carried. The radical party, called the Taborites, from the
steep hill Tabor, 60 miles south of Prag, on which they built
a city, re jected transubstantiation, the worship of saints, prayers
for the dead, indulgences and priestly confession and renounced
oaths, dances and other amusements. They admitted laymen,
including women, to the office of preaching, and used the na-
tional tongue in all parts of the public service. Zizka, their
first leader, held the sword in the spirit of one of the Judges.
After his death, the stricter wing of the Taborites received the
name of the Orphans.
394 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1204-1517.
The moderate party was called now Pragers, from the chief
seat of their influence, now Calixtines, — from the word calix
or cup, — or Utraquists from the expression sub utraque specie,
"under both forms," from their insisting upon the administra-
tion of the cup to the laity. The University of Prag took
sides with the Calixtines and, in 1420, the four so-called Prag
articles were adopted. This compact demanded the free preach-
ing of the Gospel, the distribution of the cup to the laity, the
execution of punishment for mortal sins by the civil court, and
the return of the clergy to the practice of Apostolic poverty.
The Calixtines confined the use of Czech at the church ser-
vice to the Scripture readings.1
After the disastrous rout of the Catholic army, led by Cardi-
nal Cesarini at Tauss, Aug. 14, 1431, the history of the Bohemian
movement passed into a third stage, marked by the negotiations
begun by the Council of Basel and the almost complete annihila-
tion of the Taborite party. It was a new spectacle for an oecumen-
ical council to treat with heretics as with a party having rights.
Unqualified submission was the demand which the Churcli had
heretofore made. On Oct. 15, 1431, the council invited the
Bohemians to a conference and promised delegates safe-con-
duct. This promise assured them that neither guile nor deceit
would be resorted to on any ground whatsoever, whether it be
of authority or the privileges of canon law or of the decisions
of the Councils of Constance and Siena or any other council.2
Three hundred delegates appointed by the Bohemian diet ap-
peared in Basel. On the way, at Eger, and in the presence of
the landgrave of Brandenburg and John, duke of Bavaria, they
laid down their own terms, which were sent ahead and accepted
by the council.8 These terms, embodied in thirteen articles,
dealt with the method of carrying on the negotiations, the
cessation of the interdict during the sojourn of the delegates
in the Swiss city and the privilege of practising their own re-
ligious rites. The leaders of the Bohemian delegation were
1 As early as 1423, dissenters with the name of Hussites appeared in Northern
Germany and Holland. Fredericq, Corpus Inq., III. 66, 142, etc.
9 Sine frauds et quolibet dolo, occulte vel manifests, etc. Mansi, XXIX. 27.
8 See Hefele, VII. 476 sq.
§ 47. THE HUSSITES. 395
John Rokyzana of the Utraquist party and the Taborite, Pro-
copius. Rokyzana was the pastor of the Teyn Church in Prag.
The council recognized the austere principles of the Hussites
by calling upon the Basel authorities to prohibit all dancing
and gambling and the appearance of loose women on the streets.
On their arrival, Jan. 4, 1433, the Bohemians were assigned to
four public taverns, and a large supply of wine and provisions
placed at their disposal. Delegations from the council and from
the city bade them formal welcome. They followed their own
rituals, the Taborites arousing most curiosity by the omission
of all Latin from the services and discarding altar and priestly
vestments.
On the floor of the council, the Bohemians coupled praise with
the names of Wyclif and Huss, and would tolerate no references
to themselves as heretics. The discussions were prolonged to
a wearisome length, some of their number occupying as much
as two or three days in their addresses. Among the chief
speakers was the Englishman, Peter Payne, whose address con-
sumed three days. The final agreement of four articles, known
as the Campactata, was ratified by deputies of the council and
of the three Bohemian parties giving one another the hand.
The main article granted the use of the cup to the laity, where
it was asked, but on condition that the doctrine be inculcated
that the whole Christ is contained in each of the elements.
The use of the cup was affirmed to be wholesome to those par-
taking worthily.1 The Compacts were ratified by the Bohe-
mian diet of Iglau, July 5, 1436. All ecclesiastical censures
were lifted from Bohemia and its people. The abbot of Bon-
nival, addressing the king of Castile upon the progress of the
Council of Basel, declared that the Bohemians at the start were
like ferocious lions and greedy wolves, but through the mercy
of Christ and after much discussion had been turned into the
meekest lambs and accepted the four articles.2
Although technically the question was settled, the Taborites
were not satisfied. The Utraquists approached closer to the
Catholics. Hostilities broke out between them, and after a
wholesale massacre in Prag, involving, it is said, 22,000 victims,
1 See Mansi, XXXI. 278 sqq. * Haller, Condi. Basil., I. 291 sqq.
396 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
the two parties joined in open war. The Taborites were de-
feated in the battle at Lipan, May 30, 1434, and Procopius
slain. This distinguished man had travelled extensively, go-
ing as far as Jerusalem before receiving priestly orders. He
was a brilliant leader, and won many successes in Austria,
Moravia and Hungary. The power of the Taborites was gone,
and in 1452 they lost Mt. Tabor, their chief stronghold.
The emperor now entered upon possession of his Bohemian
kingdom and granted full recognition to the Utraquist priests,
promising to give his sanction to the elections of bishops made
by the popular will and to secure their ratification by the pope.
Rokyzana was elected archbishop of Prag by the Bohemian
diet of 1435. Sigismund died soon after, 1437, and the arch-
bishop never received papal recognition, although he admin-
istered the affairs of the diocese until his death, 1471.
Albert of Austria, son-in-law of Sigismund and an uncom-
promising Catholic, succeeded to the throne. In 1457 George
Podiebrad, a powerful noble, was crowned by Catholic bishops,
and remained king of Bohemia till 1471. He was a consistent
supporter of the national party which held to the Compactata.
The papal authorities, refusing to recognize Rokyzana, de-
spatched emissaries to subdue the heretics by the measures of
preaching and miracles. The most noted among them were
Fra Giacomo and John of Capistrano. John, whose miraculous
agency equalled his eloquence, succumbed to a fever after the
battle of Belgrade.
In 1462 the Compacts were declared void by Pius II., who
threatened with excommunication all priests administering the
cup to the laity. George Podiebrad resisted the papal bull.
Four years later, a papal decree sought to deprive that " son
of perdition " of his royal dignity, and summoned the Hun-
garian king, Matthias Corvinus, to take his crown.1 Matthias
1 Pius had received at Mt. Tabor hospitable treatment from the Hussites,
whom he was afterwards to treat with wonted papal arrogance. Travelling
through Bohemia on a mission from Frederick III. , and benighted, he preferred
to trust himself to the Taborites rather than to their enemies. Although he
had found refuge with them, he used ridicule in describing their poverty and
peasant condition. Some he found almost naked, some wore only a sheepskin
over their bodies, some had no saddle, some no reins for their horses. And
§ 47. THE HUSSITES. 397
accepted the responsibility, took the cross and invaded Moravia.
The war was still in progress when Podiebrad died. By the
peace of Kuttenberg 1485 and an agreement made in 1512,
the Utraquists preserved their right to exist at the side of
their Catholic neighbors. Thus they continued till 1629, when
the right of communion in both kinds was withdrawn by Ferdi-
nand II. of Austria, whose hard and bloody hand put an end
to all open dissent in Bohemia.1
The third outgrowth from the Hussite stock, the Unitas Fra-
trum^ commonly called the Bohemian Brethren, has had an hon-
orable and a longer history than the Taborites and Calixtines.
This body still has existence in the Moravians, whose missionary
labors, with Herrnhut as a centre, have stirred all Protestant
Christendom. Its beginnings are uncertain. It appears dis-
tinctly for the first time in 1457, and continued to grow till the
time of the Reformation. Its synod of 1467 was attended by
60 Brethren. The members in Prag were subjected to perse-
cution, and George Podiebrad gave them permission to settle
on the estate, Lititz, in the village corporation of Kunwald.3
Martin, priest at Koniggraetz, with a part of his flock affiliated
himself with them, and other congregations were soon formed.
They were a distinct type, worshipping by themselves, and
did not take the sacraments from the Catholic priests. They
rejected oaths, war and military service and resorted, appar-
ently from the beginning, to the lot. They also rejected the
doctrine of purgatory and all services of priests of unworthy
life.
The exact relation which this Hussite body bore to the Ta-
borites and to the Austrian Waldenses is a matter which has
yet he was obliged to say that, though they were bound by no compulsory sys-
tem of tithes, they filled their priests' houses with corn, wood, vegetables and
meat. See Lea, II. 661.
1 The Utraquists came into contact with Luther as early as 1519. At the
time of the Leipzig Colloquy, two of their preachers in Prag, John Poduschka
and Wenzel Rosdalowsky, wrote him letters. The first also sent Luther a gift
of knives, and the second, HUBS' work On the Church^ which was reprinted in
Wittenberg, 1520. Luther replied by sending them some of his smaller writ-
ings. Kostlin, M. Luther, I. 290.
3 The old Moravian school for girls near Lancaster, Pa., gets its name from
this colony. The wife of President Benjamin Harrison studied there.
398 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
called forth much learned discussion, and is still involved in
uncertainty. But there seems to be no doubt that the Bohemian
Brethren were moved by the spirit of Huss, and also that in
their earliest period they came into contact with the Waldenses.
Pressing up from Italy, the followers of Peter Valdez had
penetrated into Bohemia in the later part of the 14th century,
and had Frederick Reiser as their leader. l This Apostolic man
was present at the Council of Basel, 1435, and styled himself
" the bishop of the faithful in the Romish church, who reject
the donation of Constantine." With Anna Weiler, he suffered
at the stake in Strassburg, 1458. One of the earliest names
associated with the Bohemian Brethren is the name of Peter
Chelcicky, a marked religious personage in his day in Bohemia.
We know he was a man of authority among them, but little
more.2
Believing that the papal priesthood had been corrupt since
Constantino's donation to Sylvester, the Brethren, at the synod
of 1467, chose Michael, pastor of Senf tenburg, " presbyter and
bishop," and sent him to the Waldensian bishop Stephen for
sanction or consecration.3 It seems probable that Stephen had
received orders at Basel from bishops in the regular succession.
On his return, Michael consecrated Matthias of Kunwald,
while he himself, for a time and for a reason not known, was
not officially recognized. The synod had resorted to the lot
and placed the words "he is " on 3 out of 12 ballots, 9 being left
1 For the earlier history of the Austrian Waldensians, see vol. V., part I.,
p. 500 sq.
2 Goll, Untersuchungen, is a strong advocate of the dependence of the Bo-
hemian Brethren upon the Waldenses for their peculiar views, although he de-
nies that the two sects had any organic connection. Karl Miiller, Herzog Enc.,
III. 448, comes to the same conclusion. He is, however, in doubt whether Chel-
cicky was associated with the Waldenses. Goll is of the opinion that he was
strongly influenced by them. Preger, Ueber d. Verhdltniss der Taboriten gu
den WaldesierndesltfenJahrh., Munich, 1887, occupies an isolated position
when he represents the Taborites as a continuation of the Bohemian Wal-
denses, with some modification. These two bodies were separate when the
Bohemian Brethren began to appear on the scene.
8 So Lucas of Prag. See his writings in Goll, pp. 107, 112. De Sch weinitz,
Hist, of the Un. Fratrum, p. 141 sqq., accepts the ordination of Stephen as
regular. Mtiller questions it, Herzog, III. 452.
§ 47. THE HUSSITES, 899
blank. Matthias chose one of the printed ballots. l Matthias,
in turn, ordained Thomas and Elias bishops, men who had drawn
the other two printed ballots.
By 1500, the Bohemian Brethren numbered 200,000 scattered
in 300 or 400 congregations in Bohemia and Moravia. They
had their own confession, catechism and hymnology.2 Of the
60 Bohemian books printed 1500-1510, 50 are said to have been
by members of the sect. A new period in their history was in-
troduced by Lucas of Prag, d. 1528, a voluminous writer. He
gave explanations of the Brethren's doctrine of the Lord's Sup-
per to Luther. Brethren, including Michael Weiss, the hymn-
writer, visited the German Reformer, and in 1521 he had in
his possession their catechism.
The merciless persecutions of the Brethren and the other
remaining Hussite sectarists were opened under the Austrian
rule of Ferdinand I. in 1549, and continued, with interruptions,
till the Thirty Years' War when, under inspiration of the Jes-
uits, the government resorted to measures memorable for their
heartlessness to blot out heresy from Bohemia and Moravia.
The Church of the Brethren had a remarkable resurrection
in the Moravians, starting with the settlement of Christian
David and other Hussite families in 1722 on land given by
Count Zinzendorf at Herrnhut, They preserve the venerable
name of their spiritual ancestry, Unitas Fratrum, and they have
made good their heritage by their missionary labors which have
carried the Gospel to the remotest ends of the earth, from Green-
land to the West Indies and Guiana, and from the leper colony
of Jerusalem to Thibet and Australia. In our own land, David
Zeisberger and other Moravian missionaries have shown in
their labors among the Indian tribes the godly devotion of John
Huss, whose body the flames at Constance were able to destroy,
but not his sacred memory and influence.
1 See Goll, p. 87, and the letter to Rokyzana, whose nephew Gregory be-
longed to the Lititz colony, p. 92. Of the consecration of Michael by Stephen
there is no doubt. There is some uncertainty about the details.
9 See MUller's art on Bohemian Hymnody in Julian's Dictu.
CHAPTER VI.
THE LAST POPES OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 1447-1621
§ 48. Literature and General Survey.
WORKS ON THE ENTIRE CHAPTER. — Bullarium, ed. by TOMASETTI, 5 volsM
Turin, 1869 sq. — MANSI: Councils, XXXI., XXXII. — MURATORI : Rerum
ital. scriptores. Gives Lives of the popes. — STKPANO INFESSURA : Diario
della citta di Roma, ed. by O. TOMMASINI, Rome, 1890. Extends to 1494,
and is the journal of an eye-witness. Also in MURATORI. — JOH. BCRCHARD :
Diarium sive rerum urbanarum commentarii, 148S-1506, ed. by L. THUASNK,
3 vols., Paris, 1883-1886. Also in MURATORI.— B. PLATINA, b. 1421 in
Cremona, d. as superintendent of the Vatican libr., 1481 : Lives of the Popes
to the Death of Paul //., 1st Lat. ed., Venice, 1479, Engl. trans, by W.
BENHAM in Anc. and Mod. Libr. of Theol. No date. — SIGISMONDO DEI
CONTI DA FOLIGNO : Le storie de suoi tempi 1475-1510, 2 vols., Rome, 1883.
Lat. and Ital. texts in parallel columns. — PASTOR : Ungedruckte Akten zur
Gesch. der Papste, vol. I., 1376-1404, Freiburg, 1904.— .RANKE : Hist of
the Popes. — A. VON REUMONT : Gesch. d. Stadt Rom., vol. III., Berlin, 1870.
— *MANDELL CREIOHTON, bp. of London: Hist, of the Papacy during the
Period of the Reformation, II. 236-IV., London, 1887.— *GREGOROVIUB : Hist,
of the City of Rome, Engl. trans., VII., VIII.— *L. PASTOR, R. Cath. Prof,
at Innsbruck : Gesch. der Papste im Zeitalter der Renaissance, 4 vols., Frei-
burg, 1886-1906, 4th ed., 1901-1906, Engl. trans. F. I. Ambrosius, etc., 8 vols.,
1908. — WATTENBACH: Gesch. des rom. Papstthums, 2d ed., Berlin, 1876,
pp. 284-300. — HEFELE-HEROENROTHER : Conciliengeschichte, VIII. Her-
genrdther's continuation of Hefele's work falls far below the previous vols.
by Hefele's own hand as rev. by KNOPFLER. — The Ch. Histt. of HKRGEN-
ROTHER-KlRSCH, HfiFELE, FUNK, KARL Mt)LLER. — H. THUR8TON : The Holy
Year of Jubilee. An Account of the Hist and Ceremonial of the Rom.
Jubilee, London, 1900. — Pertinent artt. in WETZER-WELTE and HERZOO. —
The Histt. of the Renaissance of BURCKHARDT and STMONDS. — For fuller
lit., see the extensive lists prefixed to Pastor's first three vols. and for a
judicious estimate of the contemporary writers, see Creighton at the close of
his vols.
NOTE. — The works of Creighton, Gregorovius and Pastor are very full.
It is doubtful whether any period of history has been treated so thoroughly
and satisfactorily by three contemporary historians. Pastor and Gregoro-
vius have used new documents discovered by themselves in the archives of
Mantua, Milan, Modena, Florence, the Vatican, etc. Pastor's notes are
yols. of erudite investigation. Creighton is judicial but inclined to be too
400
§ 48. LITERATURE AND GENERAL SURVEY. 401
moderate in his estimate of the vices of the popes, and in details not always
reliable. Gregorovius' narration is searching and brilliant. He is unspar-
ing in his reprobation of the dissoluteness of Roman society and backs his
statements with authorities. Pastor's masterly and graphic treatment is the
most extensive work on the period. Although written with ultramontane
prepossessions, it is often unsparing when it deals with the corruption of
popes and cardinals, especially Alexander VI., who has never been set forth
in darker colors since the 16th century than on its pages.
For § 49. NICOLAS V. — Lives by PLATINA and in MURATORI, especially
MANKTTI. — INFESSURA: pp. 46-69. — GIBBON: Hist, of Home, ch. LXVIII.
For the Fall of Constantinople. — GREGOROVIUS : VIL 101-160. — CREIGH-
TON: II. 273-865. — PASTOR: I. 361-774. — GBO. FINDLAY: Hist, of Greece
to 1864, 7 vols., Oxford, 1877, vols. IV., V. — EDW. PEARS : The Destruction
of the German Empire and the Story of the Capture of Constantinople by the
Turks, London, 1903, pp. 476.
For § 60. Pius II. — Opera omniat Basel, 1661, 1571, 1589. — Opera in-
edita, by I. CUGNONI, Rome, 1883. — His Commentaries, Pii pontif. max.
commentarii rerum memorabilium quce temporibus suis contigerunt, with the
continuation of Cardinal Ammanati, Frankfurt, 1614. Last ed. Rome,
1894. — Epistolce, Cologne, 1478, and often. Also in opera, Basel, 1651. —
A. WEISS : JEneas Sylvius als Papst Pius II. Rede mit 149 bisher ungedruckten
Brief en, Graz, 1897. — Eine liede d. Enea Silvio vor d. C. zu Basel, ed. J.
HALLER in Quellen u. Forschungen aus ital. Archiven, etc., Rome, 1900,
III. 82-102. — PASTOR : II. 714-747 gives a number of Pius' letters before un-
publ. — Orationes polit. et eccles. by MANSI, 3 vols., Lucse, 1766-1769. — His-
toria Fnd. III. Best ed. by KOLLAR, Vienna, 1762, Germ, trans, by ILGEN,
2 vols., in Geschichtschreiber der deutschen Vorzeit., Leipzig, 1889 sq. — Ad-
dresses at the Congress of Mantua and the bulls Execrabilis and In minoribus
in MANSI: Condi., XXXII., 191-267. —For full list of edd. of Pius' Works,
see Potthast, I. 19-25. — PLATINA: Lives of the Popes. — ANTONIUS CAM-
PAN us : Vita Pii II., in MURATORI, Scripp., III. 2, pp. 969-992. — G. VOIOT :
Enea Silvio de? Picc,olomini als Papst Pius II. und sein Zeitalter, 3 vols.,
Berlin, 1856-1863. — K. HASE : JEn. Syl. Piccolomini, in Eosenvorlesungen,
pp. 66-88, Leipzig, 1880. — A. BROCKHAUS : Oregor von Heimburg, Leipzig,
1861. — K. MENZEL : Diether von Isenberg, als Bischofvon Mainz, 1459-1463,
Erlangen, 1868. — GREGOROVIUS : VII. 160-218. — BURCKHARDT. — CREIGH-
TON: 11.365-600.— PASTOR: II. 1-293. Art. Pius II. by BENRATH in HERZOO,
XV. 422-436.
For § 61. PAUL II. — Lives by PLATJNA, GASPAR VERONBNSIS, and M.
CANENSIUS of Viterbo, both in MURATORI, new ed., 1904, III., XVI., p.Ssqq.,
with Preface, pp. i-xlvi. — A. PATRITIUS : Descriptio adventus Friderici III.
ad Paulum II. , MURATORI, XXIII. 206-216. — AMMANATI'S Continuation of
Pius II.'s Commentaries, Frankfurt ed., 1614. Caspar Veronensis gives a pane-
gyric of the cardinals and Paul's relatives, and stops before really taking up
Paul's biography. Platina, from personal pique, disparaged Paul II. Canen-
sius1 Life is in answer to Platina, and the most important biography. — GREOO-
ROVIUS: VII. — CREIGHTON: III. — PASTOR: II.
For §§ 62, 63. SIXTUS IV., INNOCENT VIII. — INFESSURA, pp. 75-283. —
2p
402 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
BURCHARD, in Thuasne's ed., vol. I. — J. GHERARDI DA VOLTERRA: Dia-
rio Romano, 1479-1484, in MURATORT, Scripp., XXIII. 3, also the ed. of
1904. — PLATINA in MURATORI, III., p. 1063, etc. (accepted by Pastor as genu-
ine and with some question by Creighton). — SIOISMONDO DEI CONTI DA
FOLIGNO : vol. I. Infessura is severe on Sixtus IV. and Innocent VIII. Vol-
terra, who received an office from Sixtus, does not pronounce a formal judg-
ment. Sigismondo, who was advanced by Sixtus, is partial to him. — A.
THUASNE : Djem, Sultan, fits de Mohammed II. d'apres lea documents
originaux en grande partie inedits, Paris, 1892. — GREGOROVIUS : VII. 241-
340. — PASTOR : II. 461-III. 284. — CREIOHTON : III. 66-156. — W. ROSCOE :
Life of Lorenzo the Magnificent, 2 vols., Liverpool, 1796, 6th ed., London,
1826, etc.
§ 64. ALEXANDER VI. — Bulls in Bullarium Rom. — The Regesta of Alex.,
filling 113 vols., in the Vatican, Nos. 772-884. After being hidden from
view for three centuries, they were opened, 1888, by Leo XIII. to the inspec-
tion and use of Pastor. — See Pastor's Preface in his Gesch. der Papste. —
INFESSURA. Stops at Feb. 26, 1494. — BURCHARD: vols. II., III. — SIGISMONDO
DE' CONTI . Le storie, etc. — GORDON: Life of Alex. VI., London, 1728.
— ABBE OLLIVIER : Le pape Alex. VI. et les Borgia, Paris, 1870. — V.
NEMEC : Papst Alex. VI., eine Rechtfertigung, Klagenfurt, 1879. Both
attempts to rescue this pope from infamy. — LEONETTI : Papa Aless. VI.,
3 vols., Bologna, 1880. — M. BROSCH : Alex. VI. u. seine Sohne, Vienna,
1889. — C. VON HOFLER: Don Rodrigo de Borgia und seine Sohne, Don
Pedro Luis u. Don Juan, Vienna, 1889. — HOFLER: D. Katastrophe des
herzoglichen Hauses des Borgias von Gandia, Vienna, 1892. — SCHUBERT-
SOLDEM : D. Borgias u. ihre Zeit, 1907. — REUMONT : Gesch. der Stadt Rom.
Also art. Alex. VI. in WETZER-WELTE, I. 483-491. — H. F. DELABORDE:
L* expedition de Chas. VIII. en Italic, Paris, 1888. — RANKE: Hist, of the
Popes. — ROSCOE : Life of Lorenzo. — GREGOROVIUS : Hist, of City of Rome,
vol. VII. Also Lucrezia Borgia, 3d ed., Stuttgart, 1876. Engl. trans, by
J. L. GARNER, 2 vols., New York, 1903. — CREIGHTON : III. — PASTOR : III.
— HERGENROTHER-KIRSCH : III. 982-988. — * P. VILLARI : Machiavelli and
his Times, Engl. trans., 4 vols., London, 1878-1883. — BURCKHARDT and
SYMONDS on the Renaissance. — E. G. BOURNE : Demarcation Line of Alex.
VI. in Essays in Hist. Criticism. — LORD ACTON: The Borgias and their
Latest Historian, in North Brit. Rev., 1871, pp. 361-367.
For § 65. JULIUS II. BULLARIUM IV. — BURCHARD: Diarium to May,
1606. — SIGISMONDO : vol. II. — PARIS DE CHASSIS, master of ceremonies at the
Vatican, 1604 sqq. : Diarium from May 12, 1604, ed. by L. FRATI, Bologna,
1886, and DOLLINGER in Beitrdge zur pol. kirchl. u. Culturgesch. d. letzen
SJahrh., 3 vols., Vienna, 1863-1882, III. 363-433. — A. GIUSTINIAN, Vene-
tian ambassador : Dispacci, Despatches, 1502-1606, ed. by VILLARI, 3 vols.,
Florence, 1876, and by RAWDON BROWNING in Calendar of State Papers,
London, 1864 sq. — FR. VETTORI : Sommario della storia d' Italia 1511-1587,
ed. by REUMONT in Arch. Stor. ItaL, Append. B., pp. 261-387. — DUBMEKIL :
Hist, de Jules II., Paris, 1873. — *M. BROSCH: Papst Julius II. und die
Grunaung des Kirchenstaats, Gotha, 1878.— P. LEHMANN : D. pisaner
Konzil vom Jahre, 1511, Breslau, 1874. — HEFELE-HERGENROTHER : VIII.
§ 48. LITERATURE AND GENERAL SURVEY. 403
392-592. — BKNRATH : Art. Julius IL, in HERZOG, IX. 621-625. — VILLABI :
Machiavelli. — RANKB : I. 86-59. — RKUMONT : III., Pt. 2, pp. 1-49. —
GREGOROVIUS: VIII. — CRBIOHTON : IV. 64-176. — PASTOR: III.
For § 56. LEO X. — Regesta to Oct. 16, 1515, ed. by HERGENR&THIER,
8 vols., Rome, 1884-1891. — MANSI : XXXII. 649-1001. — PARIS DE GRASSIS,
as above, and ed. by ARMELLINI: II diario de Leone X., Rome, 1884.—
VETTORI : Sommario. — M. SANUTO, Venetian ambassador: Diarii, I.-XV.,
Venice, 1879 sqq. — * PAULUS Jovius, b. 1483, acquainted with Leo : De Vita
Leonis, Florence, 1549. The only biog. till FABRONI'S Life, 1797. — *L. LAN-
DUCCI: Diario Fiorentino 1450-1516, continued to 1642, ed. by BADIA,
Florence, 1883. — *W. ROSCOE : Life and Pontificate of Leo X., 4 vols.,
Liverpool, 1806, 6th ed. rev. by his son, London, 1853. The book took high
rank, and its value continues. Apologetic for Leo, whom the author considers
the greatest pope of modern times. Put on the Index by Leo XII., d. 1829.
A Germ trans, by GLARER and HENKE, with valuable notes, 3 vols., Leipzig,
1806-1808. Ital. trans, by COUNT L. Bossi, Milan, 1816 sq. — E. MUNTZ :
Raphael, His Life, Work, and Times, Engl. trans., W. ARMSTRONG, Lon-
don, 1896. —E. ARMSTRONG: Lor. de1 Medici, New York, 1896. — H. M.
VAUGHAN : The Medici Popes (Leo X. and Clement VII.}, London, 1908.—
HhFELE-IlERGENRdTiiER: VIII. 692-855. — RE u MONT : III. Pt. 2, pp. 49-146.
VILLARI : Machiavelli. — CREIGHTON : IV. — GREGOROVIUS : VIII. — PAS-
TOR . IV. — KOSTLIN: Life of Luther, I. 204-625. — * A. SCHULTE : Die
Fugger in Rom. 1495-1523, 2 vols , Leipzig, 1904. — BURCKHARDT.— SYMONDS.
POPES.— NICOLAS V., 1447-1455 ; CALixTusIII., 1465-1458 ; Pius II., 1468-
1464 ; PAUL II., 1464-1471 ; SIXTUS IV., 1471-1484 ; INNOCENT VIII., 1484-
1492 ; ALEXANDER VI., 1492-1603 ; Pius III., 1603 ; JULIUS II., 1603-1613 ;
LEO X., 1613-1621.
The period of the Reformatory councils, closing with the
Basel-Ferrara synod, was followed by a period notable in the
history of the papacy, the period of the Renaissance popes.
These pontiff s of the last years of the Middle Ages were men
famous alike for their intellectual endowments, the prostitu-
tion of their office to personal aggrandizement and pleasure
and the lustre they gave to Rome by their patronage of letters
and the fine arts. The decree of the Council of Constance, as-
serting the supreme authority of oecumenical councils, treated
as a dead letter by Eugenius IV., was definitely set aside by
Pius II. in a bull forbidding appeals from papal decisions and
affirming finality for the pope's authority. For 70 years no
general assembly of the Church was called.
The ten pontiffs who sat on the pontifical throne, 1450-1517,
represented in their origin the extremes of fortune, from the
occupation of the fisherman, as in the case of Sixtus IV., to the
404 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
refinement of the most splendid aristocracy of the age, as in
the case of Leo X. of the family of the Medici. In proportion
as they embellished Rome and the Vatican with the treasures
of art, did they seem to withhold themselves from that sincere
religious devotion which would naturally be regarded as a
prime characteristic of one claiming to be the chief pastor of
the Christian Church on earth. No great principle of admin-
istration occupied their minds. No conspicuous movement of
pious activity received their sanction, unless the proposed cru-
sade to reconquer Constantinople be accounted such, but into
that purpose papal ambition entered more freely than devotion
to the interests of religion.
This period was the flourishing age of nepotism in the Vati-
can. The bestowment of papal favors by the pontiffs upon their
nephews and other relatives dates as a recognized practice from
Boniface VIII. In vain did papal conclaves, following the de-
cree of Constance, adopt protocols, making the age of 30 the
lowest limit for appointment to the sacred college, and putting
a check on papal favoritism. Ignoring the instincts of mod-
esty and the impulse of religion, the popes bestowed the red
hat upon their young nephews and grandnephews and upon the
sons of princes, in spite of their utter disqualification both on
the ground of intelligence and of morals. The Vatican was
beset by relatives of the pontiffs, hungry for the honors and
the emoluments of office. Here are some of those who were
made cardinals before they were 30 : Calixtus III. appointed
his nephews, Juan and Rodrigo Borgia (Alexander VI.), the
latter 25, and the little son of the king of Portugal ; Pius II.,
his nephew at 23, and Francis Gonzaga at 17 ; Sixtus IV., John
of Aragon at 14, his nephews, Peter and Julian Rovere, at 25
and 28, and his grandnephew, Rafaelle Riario, at 17 ; Inno-
cent VIII., John Sclafenatus at 23, Giovanni de' Medici at 13 ;
Alexander VI., in 1493, Hippolito of Este at 15, whom Sixtus
had made archbishop of Strigonia at 8, his son, Caesar Borgia,
at 18, Alexander Farnese (Paul III.), brother of the pope's mis-
tress, at 25, and Frederick Casimir, son of the king of Poland,
at 19 ; Leo X., in 1513, his nephew, Innocent Cibo, at 21, and
his cousin, the illegitimate Julius de' Medici, afterwards Clem-
§ 48. LITERATURE AND GENERAL SURVEY. 405
eut VII., and in 1517 three more nephews, one of them the
bastard son of his brother, also Alfonzo of Portugal at 7, and
John of Loraine, son of the duke of Sicily, at 20. This is an
imperfect list.1 Bishoprics, abbacies and other ecclesiastical
appointments were heaped upon the papal children, nephews
and other favorites. The cases in which the red hat was con-
ferred for piety or learning were rare, while the houses of Man-
tua, Ferrara and Modena, the Medici of Florence, the Sf orza of
Milan, the Colonna and the Orsini had easy access to the Apos-
tolic camera.
The cardinals vied with kings in wealth and luxury, and their
palaces were enriched with the most gorgeous furnishings and
precious plate, and filled with servants. They set an example
of profligacy which they carried into the Vatican itself. The
illegitimate offspring of pontiffs were acknowledged without
a blush, and the sons and daughters of the highest houses in
Italy, France and Spain were sought in marriage for them by
their indulgent fathers. The Vatican was given up to nup-
tial and other entertainments, even women of ill-repute being
invited to banquets and obscene comedies performed in its
chambers.
The prodigal expenditures of the papal household were main-
tained in part by the great sums, running into tens of thou-
sands of ducats, which rich men were willing to pay for the
cardinalate. When the funds of the Vatican ran low, loans
were secured from the Fuggers and other banking houses and
the sacred things of the Vatican put in pawn, even to the tiara
itself. The amounts required by Alexander VI. for marriage
1 Among other youthful appointments to the dignity of cardinal are Jacinto
Bobo, afterwards Ccelestine III., at 18, by Houonus III., 1126 ; Peter Roger,
afterwards Gregory XI., at 17, Hercules Gonzaga, by Clement VII., at 22 ;
Alexander Farnese, by his uncle, Paul III., at 14, who also appointed his
grandsons, Guida Sforza at 16 and Ranucio Farnese at 15 ; two nephews, at
the ages of 14 and 21, by Julius III., d. 1555, and also Innocent del Monte at
17 ; Ferdinand de' Medici at 14, by Pius IV., d. 1505 ; Andrew and Albert of
Austria, sons of Maximilian II., at 18, by Gregory XIII., and Charles of
Loraine at 16 ; Alexander Peretti at 14, by his uncle, Sixtus V., d. 1690 ; two
nephews at 18, by Innocent IX., d. 1591 ; Maurice of Savoy at 14, and Ferdi-
nand, son of the king of Spain, at 10, by Paul V., d. 1621 ; a nephew at 17, by
Innocent X., d. 1655 ; a son of the king of Spain, by Clement XII., d. 1740.
406 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
dowries for his children, and by Leo X. for nephews, were enor-
mous.
Popes, like Sixtus IV. and Alexander VI., had no scruple
about involving Italy in internecine wars in order to compass
the papal schemes either in the enlargement of papal domain or
the enrichment of papal sons and nephews. Julius II. was a
warrior and went to the battle-field in armor. No sovereign
of his age was more unscrupulous in resorting to double dealing
in his diplomacy than was Leo X. To reach the objects of its
ambition, the holy see was ready even to form alliances with the
sultan. The popes, so Dollinger says, from Paul II. to Leo X.,
did the most it was possible to do to cover the papacy with shame
and disgrace and to involve Italy in the horrors of endless wars. 1
The Judas-like betrayal of Christ in the highest seat of Chris-
tendom, the gayeties, scandals and crimes of popes as they pass
before the reader in the diaries of Infessura, Burchard and de
Grassis and the despatches of the ambassadors of Venice, Man-
tua and other Italian states, and as repeated by Creighton, Pastor
and Gregorovius, make this period one of the most dramatic in
human annals. The personal element furnished scene after
scene of consuming interest. It seems to the student as if his-
tory were approaching some great climax.
Three events of permanent importance for the general his-
tory of mankind also occurred in this age, the overthrow of
the Byzantine empire, 1453, the discovery of the Western world,
1492, and the invention of printing. It closed with a general
council, the Fifth Lateran, which adjourned only a few months
before the Reformer in the North shook the papal fabric to its
base and opened the door of the modern age.
§ 49. Nicolas V. 1447-1455.
Nicolas V., 1447-1455, the successor of Eugenius IV., was
ruled by the spirit of the new literary culture, the Renaissance,
and was the first Maecenas in a line of popes like-minded. Fol-
lowing his example, his successors were for a century among the
foremost patrons of art and letters in Europe. What Greg*
1 Papstthum, p. 102.
§ 49. NICOLAS V. 1447-1466. 407
ory VII. was to the system of the papal theocracy, that Nicolas
was to the artistic revival in Rome. Under his rule, the eternal
city witnessed the substantial beginnings of that transforma-
tion, in which it passed from a spectacle of ruins and desertion
to a capital adorned with works of art and architectural con-
struction. He himself repaired and beautified the Vatican and
St. Peter's, laid the foundation of the Vatican library and called
scholars and artists to his court.1
Thomas Parentucelli, born 1397, the son of a physician of
Sarzana, owed nothing of his distinction to the position of his
family. His father was poor, and the son was little of stature,
with disproportionately short legs. What he lacked, however,
in bodily parts, he made up in intellectual endowments, tact and
courtesies of manner. His education at Bologna being com-
pleted, his ecclesiastical preferment was rapid. In 1444, he was
made archbishop of Bologna and, on his return from Germany
as papal legate, 1446, he was honored with the red hat. Four
months later he was elevated to the papal throne, and according
to ^Eneas Sylvius, whose words about the eminent men of his day
always have a diplomatic flavor, Thomas was so popular that
there was no one who did not approve his election.
To Nicolas was given the notable distinction of witnessing the
complete reunion of Western Christendom. By the abdication
of Felix V., whom he treated with discreet and liberal generos-
ity, and by Germany's abandonment of its attitude of neutrality,
he could look back upon papal schism and divided obediences as
matters of the past.
The Jubilee Year, celebrated in 1450, was adapted to bind the
European nations closely to Rome, and to stir up anew the fires
of devotion which had languished during the ecclesiastical dis-
putes of nearly a century.3 So vast were the throngs of pil-
grims that the contemporary, Platina, felt justified in asserting
that such multitudes had never been seen in the holy city before.
According to ^Eneas, 40,000 went daily from church to church.
The handkerchief of St. Veronica, — losudario^ — bearing the
1 Pastor heads his chapter on Nicolas with the caption Nicolas V., der Be-
grunder des pdpstlichen Maecenats.
a Pastor, I. 417 sq., emphasizes these consequences of the Jubilee Year.
408 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
outline of the Lord's face, was exhibited every Sabbath, and the
heads of St. Peter and St. Paul every Saturday. The large
sums of money which the pilgrims left, Nicolas knew well how
to use in carrying out his plans for beautifying the churches
and streets of the city.
The calamity, which occurred on the bridge of St. Angelo,
and cast a temporary gloom over the festivities of the holy year,
is noticed by all the contemporary writers. The mule belong-
ing to Peter Barbus, cardinal of St. Mark's, was crushed to death,
so dense were the crowds, and in the excitement two hundred
persons or more were trodden down or drowned by being pushed
or throwing themselves into the Tiber. To prevent a repeti-
tion of the disaster, the pope had several buildings obstructing
the passage to the bridge pulled down.1
In the administration of the properties of the holy see, Nicolas
was discreet and successful. He confirmed the papal rule over
the State of the Church, regained Bolsena and the castle of Spo-
leto, and secured the submission of Bologna, to which he sent
Bessarion as papal legate. The conspiracy of Stephen Porcaro,
who emulated the ambitions of Kienzo, was put down in 1453 and
left the pope undisputed master of Rome. In his selection of
cardinals he was wise, Nicolas of Cusa being included in the nu m-
ber. The appointment of his younger brother, Philip Calan-
drini, to the sacred college, aroused no unfavorable criticism.
Nicolas' reign witnessed, in 1452, the last coronation in Rome
of a German emperor, Frederick III. This monarch, who
found in his councillor, JEneas Sylvius, an enthusiastic biog-
rapher, but who, by the testimony of others, was weak and des-
titute of martial spirit and generous qualities, was the first of
the Hapsburgs to receive the crown in the holy city, and held
the imperial office longer than any other of the emperors before
or after him. With his coronation the emperor combined the
celebration of his nuptials to Leonora of Portugal.
Frederick's journey to Italy and his sojourn in Rome offered
to the pen of JEneas a rare opportunity for graphic description,
of which he was a consummate master. The meeting with the
1 Measure, p. 48 ; Platina, II. 242 ; JEneas : Hist. JPrid. 172 ; Ilgen's trans.,
I. 214.
§ 49. NICOLAS V. 1447-1465. 409
future empress, the welcome extended to his majesty, the fes-
tivities of the marriage and the coronation, the trappings of
the soldiery, the blowing of the horns, the elegance of the vest-
ments worn by the emperor and his visit to the artistic wonders
of St. Peter's, — these and other scenes the shrewd and facile
JSneas depicted. The Portuguese princess, whose journey
from Lisbon occupied 104 days, disembarked at Leghorn, Feb-
ruary, 1452, where she was met by Frederick, attended by
a brilliant company of knights. After joining in gay enter-
tainments at Siena, lasting four days, the party proceeded to
Rome. Leonora, who was only sixteen, was praised by those
who saw her for her rare beauty and charms of person. She
was to become the mother of Maximilian and the ancestress of
Charles V.1
On reaching the gates of the papal capital, Frederick was
met by the cardinals, who offered him the felicitations of the
head of Christendom, but also demanded from him the oath
of allegiance, which was reluctantly promised. The ceremo-
nies, which followed the emperor's arrival, were such as to
flatter his pride and at the same time to confirm the papal
tenure of power in the city. Frederick was received by Nic-
olas on the steps of St. Peter's, seated in an ivory chair, and
surrounded by his cardinals, standing. The imperial visitor
knelt and kissed the pontiff's foot. On March 16, Nicolas
crowned him with the iron crown of Lombardy and united
the imperial pair in marriage. Leonora then went to her
own palace, and Frederick to the Vatican as its guest. The
reason for his lodging near the pope was that Nicolas might
have opportunity for frequent communication with him or, as
rumor went, to prevent the Romans approaching him under
cover of darkness with petitions for the restoration of their
liberties.2 Three days later, March 19, the crown of the em-
1 Infessura, p. 52, says that language could not exaggerate Leonora's beauty,
bella quanta si potesse dire. JEneas, Hist. Frid., 265, speaks of her dark
complexion, jet-black and lustrous eyes, her soft red cheeks, her intelligent
3xpression, and her snow-white neck, " in every particular a charming person. "
9 Hist. Frid., 294 ; Ilgen, II. 84 sq. JEneas gives the alternate reason for
.be hospitality shown to his master.
410 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
pire was placed upon Frederick's head.1 With his consort he
then received the elements from the pope's hand. The fol-
lowing week Frederick proceeded to Naples.2
Scarcely in any pontificate has so notable and long-forecasted
an event occurred as the fall of Constantinople into the hands
of the Turks, which took place May 29, 1453. The last of the
Constantines perished in the siege, fighting bravely at the gate
of St. Roinanos. The church of Justinian, St. Sophia, was
turned into a mosque, and a cross, surmounted with a janis-
sary's cap, was carried through the streets, while the soldiers
shouted, " This is the Christian's God." This historic catas-
trophe would have been regarded in Western Europe as appal-
ling, if it had not been expected. The steady advance of the
Turks and their unspeakable atrocities had kept the Greek
empire in alarm for centuries. Three hundred years before,
Latin Christendom had been taught to expect defeats at the
hands of the Mohammedans in the taking of Edessa, 1145, and
the fatal battle of Hattin and the loss of Jerusalem, 1187.
In answer to the appeals of the Greeks, Nicolas despatched
Isidore as legate to Constantinople with a guard of 200 troops,
but, as a condition of helping the Eastern emperor, he insisted
that the Ferrara articles of union be ratified in Constantinople.
In a long communication, dated Oct. 11, 1451, the Roman
pontiff declared that schisms had always been punished more
severely than other evils. Korah, Dathan and Abiram, who
attempted to divide the people of God, received a more bitter
punishment than those who introduced idolatry. There could
not be two heads to an empire or the Church. There is no
salvation outside of the one Church. He was lost in the flood
1 The crown used on the occasion was reputed to be the one used by
Charlemagne which Sigismund had removed to Nilrnberg. JEneas, with his
usual journalistic love of detail, noticed the Bohemian lion of Charles IV.
engraven on the sword, which also was brought from Niirnberg.
2 ^Eneajs, p. 303, who is scrupulous in stating from time to time that Fred-
erick and Leonora lodged in different palaces or tents, now gives a detailed
account of the circumstances attending their first lodging together as man and
wife in Naples. The account is such as we might expect from Boccaccio and
not from a prelate of the Church, but ./Eneas' own record fitted him for enter-
ing with pruriency into realistic details. They are characteristic of the times
and of Spanish customs.
§ 49. NICOLAS V. 1447-1466. 411
who was not housed in Noah's ark. Whatever opinion it may
have entertained of these claims, the Byzantine court was in too
imminent danger to reject the papal condition, and in Decem-
ber, 1452, Isidore, surrounded by 300 priests, announced, in the
church of St. Sophia, the union of the Greek and Latin com-
munions. But even now the Greek people violently resented
the union, and the most powerful man of the empire, Lucas
Notaras, announced his preference for the turban to the tiara.
The aid offered by Nicolas was at best small. The last week
of April, 1453, ten papal galleys set sail with some ships from
Naples, Venice and Genoa, but they were too late to render
any assistance.1
The termination of the venerable and once imposing fabric
on the Bosphorus by the Asiatic invader was the only fate pos-
sible for an empire whose rulers, boasting themselves the suc-
cessors of Constantino, Theodosius and Justinian, Christian in
name and most Christian by the standard of orthodox profes-
sions, had heaped their palaces full of pagan luxury and excess.
The government, planted in the most imperial spot on the earth,
had forfeited the right to exist by an insipid and nerveless re-
liance upon the traditions of the past. No elements of revival
manifested themselves from within. Religious formulas had
been substituted for devotion. Much as the Christian student
may regret the loss of this last bulwark of Christianity in the
East, he will be inclined to find in the disaster the judgment
realized with which the seven churches of the Apocalypse were
threatened which were not worthy. The problem which was
forced upon Europe by the arrival of the Grand Turk, as con-
temporaries called Mohammed II., still awaits solution from
wise diplomacy or force of arms or through the slow and silent
movement of modern ideas of government and popular rights.
The disaster which overtook the Eastern empire, Nicolas
V. felt would be regarded by after generations as a blot upon
his pontificate, and others, like J2neas Sylvius, shared this view.2
1 Pastor, I. 6S8 sqq., devotes much space to an attempt to show that Nico-
las made an effort to help the Greeks. Infessura blames him for making none.
2 ^Eneas wrote, July 12, 1463, to the pope : u Historians of the Roman pontiffs,
when they reach your time, will write, 4 Nicolas V., a Tuscan, was pope for
412 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
He issued a bull summoning the Christian nations to a crusade
for the recovery of Constantinople, and stigmatized Mohammed
II. as the dragon described in the Book of Revelation. Abso-
lution was offered to those who would spend six months in the
holy enterprise or maintain a representative for that length
of time. Christendom was called upon to contribute a tenth.
The cardinals were enjoined to do the same, and all the papal
revenues accruing from larger and smaller benefices, from bish-
oprics, archbishoprics and con vents, were promised for the un-
dertaking.
Feeble was the response which Europe gave. The time of
crusading enthusiasm was passed. The Turk was daring and
to be dreaded. An assembly called by Frederick III., at Re-
gensburg in the Spring of 1454, at which the emperor himself
did not put in an appearance, listened to an eloquent appeal
by jEneas, but adjourned the subject to the diet to meet in
Frankfurt in October. Again the emperor was not present,
and the diet did nothing. Down to the era of the Reforma-
tion the crusade against the Turk remained one of the chief
official concerns of the papacy.
If Nicolas died disappointed over his failure to influence
the princes to undertake a campaign against the Turks, his
fame abides as the intelligent and genial patron of letters and
the arts. In this role he laid after generations under obliga-
tion to him as Innocent III., by his crusading armies, did not.
He lies buried in St. Peter's at the side of his predecessor,
Eugenius IV.1
The next pontiff, the Spaniard, Calixtus III., 1455-1458, had
two chief concerns, the dislodgment of the Turks from Con-
so many years. He recovered the patrimony of the Church from the hands of
tyrants, he gave union to the divided Church, he canonized Bernardino, he
built the Vatican and splendidly restored St. Peter's, he celebrated the Jubilee
and crowned Frederick III.' All this will be obscured by the doleful addition,
4 In his time Constantinople was taken and plundered by the Turks.' Your
holiness did what you could. No blame can be justly attached to you. But the
ignorance of posterity will blame you when it hears that in your time Constan-
tinople was lost." Gibbon makes the observation that " The pontificate of
Nicolas V., however powerful and prosperous, was dishonored by the fall of
the Eastern Empire," ch. LXVIII. It was not within Nicolas' power to avert
the disaster. 1 His epitaph is given by Mirbt, p. 169.
§ 49. NICOLAS V. 1447-1465. 413
stantinople and the advancement of the fortunes of the Borgia
family, to which he belonged. Made cardinal by Eugenius IV.,
he was 77 years old when he was elected pope. From his day,
the Borgias played a prominent part in Rome, their career culmi-
nating in the ambitions and scandals of Rodrigo Borgia, for 30
years cardinal and then pope under the name of Alexander VI.
Calixt us opened his pontificate by vowing "to Almighty God
and the Holy Trinity, by wars, maledictions, interdicts, ex-
communications and in all other ways to punish the Turks." 1
Legates were despatched to kindle the zeal of princes through-
out Europe. Papal jewels were sold, and gold and silver clasps
were torn from the books of the Vatican and turned into
money. At a given hour daily the bells were rung in Rome
that all might give themselves to prayer for the sacred war.
But to the indifference of most of the princes was added ac-
tive resistance on the part of France. Venice, always looking
out for her own interests, made a treaty with the Turks. Fred-
erick III. was incompetent. The weak fleet the pope was able
to muster sailed forth from Ostia under Cardinal Serampo to
empty victories. The gallant Hungarian, Hunyady, brought
some hope by his brilliant feat in relieving Belgrade, July 14,
1456, but the rejoicing was reduced by the news of the gallant
leader's death. Scanderbeg, the Albanian, who a year later
was appointed papal captain-general, was indeed a brave hero,
but, unsupported by Western Europe, he was next to power-
Calixtus* unblushing nepotism surpassed anything of the
kind which had been known in the papal household before.
Catalan adventurers pressed into Rome and stormed their
papal fellow-countrymen with demands for office. Upon the
three sons of two of his sisters, Juan of Milan, son of Cather-
ine Borgia, and Pedro Luis and Rodrigo, sons of Isabella, he
heaped favor after favor. Adopted by their uncle, Pedro and
Rodrigo were the objects of his sleepless solicitude. Grego-
rovius has compared the members of the Borgia family to the
Roman Claudii. By the endowment of nature they were vig-
orous and handsome, and by nature and practice, sensual, am-
i Mansi, XXXII. 159 sq.
414 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1204-1517.
bitious, and high-handed, — their coat of arms a bull. Under
protest from the curia, Rodrigo and Juan of Milan were made
cardinals, 1457, both the young men still in their twenties.
Their unsavory habits were already a byword in Rome.
Rodrigo was soon promoted over the heads of the other mem-
bers of the sacred college to the place of vice-chancellor, the
most lucrative position within the papal gift. At the same
time, the little son — figliolo — of the king of Portugal, as
Infessura calls him, was given the red hat.
With astounding rapidity Pedro Luis, who remained a lay-
man, was advanced to the highest positions in the state, and
made governor of St. Angelo and duke of Spoleto, and put
in possession of Terni, Narni, Todi and other papal fiefs.1 It
was supposed that it was the fond uncle's intention, at the
death of Alfonso of Naples, to invest this nephew with the
Neapolitan crown by setting aside Alfonso's illegitimate son,
Don Ferrante.
Calixtus' death was the signal for the flight of the Spanish
lobbyists, whose houses were looted by the indignant Romans.
Discerning the coming storm, Pedro made the best bargain he
could by selling S. Angelo to the cardinals for 20,000 ducats,
and then took a hasty departure.
Like Honorius III., Calixtus might have died of a broken
heart over his failure to arouse Europe to the effort of a cru-
sade, if it had not been for this consuming concern for the for-
tunes and schemes of his relatives. From this time on, for
more than half a century, the gift of dignities and revenues
under papal control for personal considerations and to un-
worthy persons for money was an outstanding feature in the
history of the popes.
§ 50. jSSneas Sylvius de* Piccolomini^ Pius IL
The next pontiff, Pius II., has a place among the successful
men of history. Lacking high enthusiasms and lofty aims, he
was constantly seeking his own interests and, through diplo-
1 Pastor, I. 747, says ein solches Verfahren war untrhSrt, it was an un-
heard-of procedure.
§ 50. ^JNBAS SYLVIUS DB' PICCOLOMINI, PIUS II. 415
matic shrewdness, came to be the most conspicuous figure of
his time. He was ruled by expediency rather than principle.
He never swam against the stream.1 When he found himself
on the losing side, he was prompt in changing to the other.
-<Eneas Sylvius de' Piccolomini was born in 1405 at Cor-
signano, a village located on a bold spur of the hills near Siena.
He was one of 18 children, and his family, which had been
banished from Siena, was poor but of noble rank. At 18, the
son began studying in the neighboring city, where he heard
Bernardino preach. Later he learned Greek in Florence. It
was a great opportunity when Cardinal Capranica took this
young man with him as his secretary to Basel, 1431. Grego-
rovius has remarked that it was the golden age of secretaries,
most of the Humanists serving in that capacity. Later, JSneas
went into the service of the bishop of Novaro, whom he accom-
panied to Rome. The bishop was imprisoned for the part
he had taken in a conspiracy against Eugenius IV. The
secretary escaped a like treatment by flight. He then served
Cardinal Albergati, with whom he travelled to France. He
also visited England and Scotland.2
Returning to Basel, ^Eneas became one of the conspicuous
personages in the council, was a member, and often acted as
chairman of one of the four committees, the committee on faith,
and was sent again and again on embassies to Strassburg,
Frankfurt, Trent and other cities. The council also appointed
him its chief abbreviator. In 1440 he decided in favor of the
rump-synod, which continued to meet in Basel, and espoused
the cause of Felix V., who made him his secretary. The same
year he wrote the tract on general councils.8 Finding the
cause of the anti-pope waning, he secured a place under Freder-
ick III., and succeeded to the full in ingratiating himself in that
monarch's favor. His Latin epigrams and verses won for him
the appointment of poet-laureate, and his diplomatic cleverness
1 Enea ist seiner Tage nie gegen den Strom geschwommen. Haller in Qttel-
len, etc., IV. 83.
3 London he found the most populous and wealthy city he had seen.
Scotland he described as a cold, barren, and treeless country.
8 Libellus dialogorum de generate concilii aitctoritate.
416 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
and versatility the highest place in the royal council. At first
he joined with Schlick, the chancellor, in holding Frederick to
a neutral attitude between Eugenius and the anti-pope, but
then, turning apostate to the cause of neutrality, gracefully
and unreservedly gave in his submission to the Roman pontiff.
While on an embassy to Rome, 1445, he excused himself be-
fore Eugenius for his errors at Basel on the plea of lack of
experience. He at once became useful to the pope, and a year
later received the appointment of papal secretary. By his
persuasion, Frederick transferred his obedience to Eugenius,
which jEneas was able to announce in person to the pope a few
days before his death. From Nicolas V. he received the sees
of Trieste, 1447, and Siena, 1450, and in 1456 promotion to
the college of cardinals.
At the time of his election as pope, -dEneas was 53 years
old. He had risen by tact and an accurate knowledge of men
and European affairs. He was a thorough man of the world,
and capable of grasping a situation in a glance. He had been
profligate, and his love affairs were many. A son was born
to him in Scotland, and another, by an Englishwoman, in
Strassburg. In a letter to his father, asking him to adopt the
second child, he described, without concealment and appar-
ently without shame, the measures he took to seduce the moth-
er. He spoke of wantonness as an old vice. He himself was
no eunuch nor without passion. He could not claim to be wiser
than Solomon nor holier than David. -/Eneas also used his pen
in writing tales of love adventures. His History of Frederick
III. contains prurient details that would not be tolerated in a
respectable author to-day. He was even ready to instruct
youth in methods of self-indulgence, and wrote to Sigismund,
the young duke of the Tyrol, neither to neglect literature nor
to deny himself the blandishments of Venus.1 This advice
1 tineas aided Chancellor Schlick in some of his love adventures, and de-
scribed one of them in the much-read novel, Eurialus et Lucretia. His letters
from 1444 on, show a desire to give up the world. He declared he had had
enough of Venus, but he also wrote that Venus evaded him more than he
shrank from her. He seems to have passed into a condition of physical in-
firmity, and to have been forced to abandon his immoral courses. He, how-
ever, also indicates he had begun to be actuated by feelings of penitence,
§ 50. AENEAS SYLVIUS DE' PICCOLOMINI, PIUS II. 417
was recalled to his face by the canonist George von Heim-
burg at the Congress of Mantua. The famous remark belongs
to ^Eneas that the celibacy of the clergy was at one time with
good reason made subject of positive legislation, but the
time had come when there was better reason for allowing
priests to marry. He himself did not join the clerical order
till 1446, when he was consecrated subdeacon. Before Pius'
election,1 the conclave bound the coming pope to prosecute the
war against the Turk, to observe the rules of the Council of
Constance about the sacred college and to consult its members
before making new appointments to bishoprics and the greater
abbeys. Nominations of cardinals were to be made to the
camera, and their ratification to depend upon a majority of its
votes. Each cardinal whose income did not amount to 4,000
florins was to receive 100 florins a month till the sum of 4,000
was reached. This solemn compact formed a precedent which
the cardinals for more than half a century followed.
^Eneas' constitution was already shattered. He was a great
sufferer from the stone, the gout and a cough, and spent many
months of his pontificate at Viterbo and other baths. His
rule was not distinguished by any enduring measures. He
conducted himself well, had the respect of the Romans, re-
ceived the praise of contemporary biographers, and did all he
could to further the measures for the expulsion of the Turks
from Europe. He appointed the son of his sister, Laodamia,
cardinal at the age of 23, and in 1461 he bestowed the same
dignity on Francis Gonzaga, a youth of only 17. These ap-
pointments seem to have awakened no resentment.
To advance the interest of the crusade against the Turks,
Pius called a congress of princes to meet in Mantua, 1460. On
his way thither, accompanied by Bessarion, Borgia and other
cardinals, he visited his birthplace, Corsignana, and raised it
whether from motives of policy or religion cannot be made out. Gregorovius,
VII. 165, combines the inconsistent passages from Pius' letters when he says
that, after long striving to renounce the pleasures of the world, exhaustion
and incipient disease facilitated the task.
1 The election was by the accessus, that is, after the written ballot was
found to be indecisive, the cardinals changed their votes by word of mouth.
See Hergenrother, Kath. Kirchenrecht, p. 273.
2fi
418 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
to a bishopric, changing its name to Pienza. He also began
the construction of a palace and cathedral which still endure.
Siena he honored by conferring the Golden Rose on its sign-
iory, and promoting the city to the dignity of a metropolitan
see. He also enriched it with one of John the Baptist's arms.
Florence arranged for the pope's welcome brilliant amusements,
— theatrical plays, contests of wild beasts, races between lions
and horses, and dances, — worldly rather than religious spec-
tacles, as Pastor remarks.
The princes were slow in arriving in Mantua, and the attend-
ance was not such as to justify the opening of the congress till
Sept. 26. Envoys from Thomas Pal<eologus of the Morea,
brother of the last Byzantine emperor, from Lesbos, Cyprus,
Rhodes and other parts of the East were on hand to pour out
their laments. In his opening address, lasting three hours, Pius
called upon the princes to emulate Stephen, Peter, Andrew, Se-
bastian, St. Lawrence and other martyrs in readiness to lay
down their lives in the holy war. The aggression of the Turks
had robbed Christendom of some of its fairest seats, — Antioch,
where the followers of Christ for the first time received the
name Christians, Solomon's temple, where Christ so often
preached, Bethlehem, where he was born, the Jordan, in which
he was baptized, Tabor, on which' he was transfigured, Calvary,
where he was crucified. If they wanted to retain their own
possessions, their wives, their children, their liberty, the very
faith in which they were baptized, they must believe in war
and carry on war. Joshua continued to have victory over his
enemies till the sun went down ; Gideon, with 300, scattered
the Midianites ; Jephthah, with a small army, put to flight the
swarms of the Ammonites ; Samson had brought the proud
Philistines to shame ; Godfrey, with a handful of men, had de-
stroyed an innumerable number of the enemy and slaughtered
the Turks like cattle. Passionately the papal orator exclaimed,
O I that Godfrey were once more present, and Baldwin and Eu-
stache and Bohemund and Tancred, and the other mighty men
who broke through the ranks of the Turks and regained Jeru-
salem by their arms.1
iMansi, XXXII. 207-222.
§ 50. .aJNEAS SYLVIUS DB' PICCOLOMINI, PIUS II. 419
The assembly was stirred to a great heat, but, so a contempo-
rary says, the ardor soon cooled. Cardinal Bessarion followed
Pius with an address which also lasted three hours. Of eloquence
there was enough, but the crusading age was over. The con-
querors of Jerusalem had been asleep for nearly 400 years.
Splendid orations could not revive that famous outburst of
enthusiasm which followed Urban's address at Clermont. In
this case the element of romance was wanting which the con-
quest of the Holy Sepulchre had furnished. The prowess of
the conquering Turks was a hard fact.
During the Congress of Mantua the controversy broke out
between the German lawyer, Gregor of Heimburg, and Pius.
They had met before at Basel. Heimburg, representing the
duke of the Tyrol, who had imprisoned Nicolas of Cusa, spoke
against the proposed crusade. He openly insulted the pope
by keeping on his hat in his presence, an indignity he jokingly
explained as a precaution against the catarrh. From the sen-
tence of excommunication, pronounced against his ducal mas-
ter, he appealed to a general council, August 13, 1460. He
himself was punished with excommunication, and Pius called
upon the city of Nurnberg to expel him as the child of the
devil and born of the artifice of lies. Heimburg became a
wanderer until the removal of the ban, 1472. He was the
strongest literary advocate in Germany of the Basel decrees
and the superiority of councils, and has been called a prede-
cessor of Luther and precursor of the Reformation. l Diether,
archbishop of Mainz, another advocate of the conciliar system,
who entered into compacts with the German princes to uphold
the Basel decrees and to work for a general council on German
soil, was deposed, 1461, as Hermann, archbishop of Cologne,
was deposed a hundred years later for undertaking measures
of reform in his diocese.
Pius left Mantua the last of January, 1461, stopping on the
return journey a second time at his beloved Siena, and canon-
1 Gregorovius, VII. 184. His tract Admonitio de iryustif usitrpationibus
paparum rom. ad imperatorem . . . sive confutatio primatus papas, and other
tracts by Heimburg, are given in Goldast, Monarchia. See art Gregor v.
Heimburg Joj Tschackert in Herzog, VII. 188-136, and for quotations, Gieaeler.
420 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
izing its distinguished daughter, Catherine.1 Here Rodrigo
Borgia's gay eties were so notorious as to call forth papal rebuke.
The cardinal gave banquets to which women were invited with-
out their husbands. In a severe letter to the future supreme
pontiff, Pius spoke of the dancing at the entertainments as being
performed, so he understood, with "all licentiousness."
The ease with which Pius, when it was to his interest, re-
nounced theories which he once advocated is shown in two
bulls. The first, the famous bull, Execrdbilis, declared it an
accursed and unheard-of abuse to make appeal to a council
from the decisions of the Roman pontiff, Christ's vicar, to
whom it was given to feed his sheep and to bind and loose on
earth and in heaven. To rid the Church of this pestiferous
venom, — pestiferum virus, — it announced the papal purpose
to damn such appeals and to lay upon the appellants a curse
from which there could be no absolution except by the Roman
pontiff himself and in the article of death.2 Thus the solemn
principle which had bloomed so promisingly in the fair days of
the councils of Constance and Basel, and for which Gerson and
D' Ailly had so zealously contended, was set aside by one stroke
of the pen. Thenceforward, the decree announced, papal de-
cisions were to be treated as final.
Three years later, April 26, 1463, the theory of the suprem-
acy of general councils was set aside in still more precise lan-
guage.8 In an elaborate letter addressed to the rector and
scholars of the University of Cologne, Pius pronounced for the
monarchical form of government in the church — monarchicum
regimen — as being of divine origin, and the one given to Peter.
As storks follow one leader, and as the bees have one king, so
the militant church has in the vicar of Christ one who is mod-
erator and arbiter of all. He receives his authority directly
from Christ without mediation. He is the prince — prcesul —
of all the bishops, the heir of the Apostles, of the line of Abel
1 A full translation of the letter is given by Gregorovius in Lucrez. Borgia,
p. 7 sq. a Mansi, XXXII. 259 sq. ; Mirbt, p. 169 sq.
8 Mansi, XXXII. 195-203. Gieseler quotes at length. -ffineas had written
a letter to the rector of the Univ. of Cologne with the same import, Oct. 13,
1447.
§ 50. AENEAS SYLVIUS Dfi' PICCOLOM1NI, PIUS II. 421
and Melchisedek. As for the Council of Constance, Pius ex-
pressed his regard for its decrees so far as they were approved
by his predecessors, but the definitions of general councils, he
affirmed, are subject to the sanction of the supreme pontiff,
Peter's successor. With reference to his former utterances
at Basel, he expressly revoked anything he had said in conflict
with the positions taken in the bull, and ascribed those state-
ments to immaturity of mind, the imprudence of youth and
the circumstances of his early training. Quis non err at mor-
talis — what mortal does not make mistakes, he exclaimed.
Reject JSneas and follow Pius — ^Eneam rejidte, Pium recipite
— he said. The first was a Gentile name given by parents at
the birth of their son; the second, the name he had adopted on
his elevation to the Apostolic see.1
It would not be ingenuous to deny to Pius II., in making re-
tractation, the virtue of sincerity. A strain of deep feeling runs
through its long paragraphs which read like the last testament
of a man speaking from the heart. Inspired by the dignity of his
office, the pope wanted to be in accord with the long line of his
predecessors, some of whom he mentioned by name, from Peter
and Clement to the Innocents and Boniface. In issuing the
decree of papal infallibility four centuries later, Pius IX. did
not excel his predecessor in the art of composition ; but he had
this advantage over him that his announcement was stamped
with the previous ratification of a general council. The two
documents of the two popes of the name Pius reach the sum-
mit of papal assumption and consigned to burial the theories
of the final authority of general councils and the infallibility
of their decrees.
Scarcely could any two things be thought of more incongru-
ous than Pius II.'s culture and the glorious reception he gave
in 1462 to the reputed head of the Apostle Andrew. Thishighly
prized treasure was brought to Italy by Thomas Palseologus,
who, in recognition of his pious benevolence toward the holy see,
was given the Golden Rose, a palace in Rome and an annual al-
1 The same time that Pius issued his bull of retractation, Gabriel Biel,
called the last of the Schoolmen, issued his tract on Obedience to the Apostolic
see, taking the same ground that Pius took.
422 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
lowance of 6,000 ducats. The relic was received with ostenta-
tious signs of devotion. Bessarion and two other members of
the sacred college received it at Narni and conveyed it to Rome.
The pope, accompanied by the remaining cardinals and the Ro-
man clergy, went out to the Ponte Molle to give it welcome.
After falling prostrate before the Apostle's skull, Pius delivered
an appropriate address in which he congratulated the dumb
fragment upon coming safely out of the hands of the Turks to
find at last, as a fugitive, a place beside the remains of its brother
Apostles. The address being concluded, the procession re-
formed and, with Pius borne in the Golden Chair, conducted the
skull to its last resting-place. The streets were decked in holi-
day attire, and no one showed greater zeal in draping his palace
than Rodrigo Borgia. The skull was deposited in St. Peter's,
after, as Platina says, " the sepulchres of some of the popes and
cardinals, which took up too much room, had been removed."
The ceremonies were closed by Bessarion in an address in which
he expressed the conviction that St. Andrew would join with
the other Apostles as a protector of Rome and in inducing the
princes to combine for the expulsion of the Turks.1
In his closing days, Pius II. continued to be occupied with
the crusade. He had written a memorable letter to Mohammed
II. urging him to follow his mother's religion and turn Christian,
and assuring him that, as Clovis and Charlemagne had been
renowned Christian sovereigns, so he might become Christian
emperor over the Bosphorus, Greece and Western Asia. No
reply is extant. In 1458, the year before the Mantuan congress
assembled, the crescent had been planted on the Acropolis of
Athens. All Southern Greece suffered the indignity and hor-
rors of Turkish oppression. Servia fell into the hands of the
invaders, 1459, and Bosnia followed, 1462.
Pius' bull of 1463, summoning to a crusade, was put aside
by the princes, but the pontiff, although he was afflicted with
serious bodily infirmities, the stone and the gout, was deter-
mined to set an example in the right direction. Like Moses,
he wanted, at least, to watch from some promontory or ship
1 Pastor, II. 233-236, and Creighton, II. 436-438, give elaborate accounts
of this curious piece of superstition.
§ 50. -3ENEAS SYLVIUS DE* PICCOLOMINI, PIUS II. 423
the battle against the enemies of the cross. Financial aid was
furnished by the discovery of the alum mines of Tolfa, near
Civita Vecchia, in 1462, the revenue from which passed into
the papal treasury and was specially devoted by the conclave
of 1464 to the crusade. But it availed little. Pius proceeded
to Ancona on a litter, stopping on the way at Loreto to dedi-
cate a golden cup to the Virgin. Philip of Burgundy, upon
whom he had placed chief reliance, failed to appear. From
Frederick III. nothing was to be expected. Venice and Hun-
gary alone promised substantial help. The supreme pontiff
lodged on the promontory in the bishop's palace. But only
two vessels lay at anchor in the harbor, ready for the expedi-
tion. To these were added in a few days 14 galleys sent by
the doge. Pius saw them as they appeared in sight. The
display of further heroism was denied him by his death two
days later. A comparison has been drawn by the historian
between the pope, with his eye fixed upon the East, and an-
other, a born navigator, who perhaps was even then turning
his eyes towards the West, and before many years was to set
sail in equally frail vessels to make his momentous discovery.
On his death-bed, Pius had an argument whether extreme
unction, which had been administered to him at Basel during
an outbreak of the plague, might be administered a second
time. Among his last words, spoken to Cardinal Ammanati,
whom he had adopted, were, " pray for me, my son, for I am
a sinner. Bid my brethren continue this holy expedition."
The body was carried to Rome and laid away in St. Peter's.
The disappointment of this restless and remarkable man,
in the closing undertaking of his busy career, cannot fail to
awaken human sympathy. Pius, whose aims and methods
had been the most practical, was carried away at last by a ro-
mantic idea, without having the ability to marshal the forces
for its realization. He misjudged the times. His purpose
was the purpose of a man whose career had taught him never
to tolerate the thought of failure. In forming a general es-
timate, we cannot withhold the judgment that, if he had made
culture and literary effort prominent in the Vatican, his pon-
tificate would have stood out in the history of the papacy
424 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
with singular lustre. It will always seem strange that he did
not surround himself with literati, as did Nicolas V., and that
his interest in the improvement of Rome showed itself only
in a few minor constructions. His biographer, Campanus, de-
clares that he incurred great odium by his neglect of the Hu-
manists, and Filelfo, his former teacher of Greek, launched
against his memory a biting philippic for this neglect. The
great literary pope proved to be but a poor patron.1 Platiua's
praise must not be forgotten, when he says, " The pope's de-
light, when he had leisure, was in writing and reading, because
he valued books more than precious stones, for in them there
were plenty of gems. " What he delighted in as a pastime him-
self, he seems not to have been concerned to use his high posi-
tion to promote in others. He was satisfied with the diplo-
matic mission of the papacy and deceived by the ignis fatuus
of a crusade to deliver Constantinople.
Platina describes Pius at the opening of his pontificate as
short, gray-haired and wrinkled of face. He rose at daybreak,
and was temperate at table. His industry was noteworthy.
His manner made him accessible to all, and he struck the Ro-
mans of his age as a man without hypocrisy. Looked at as a
man of culture, jEneas was grammarian, geographer, historian,
novelist and orator. Everywhere he was the keen observer of
men and events. The plan of his cosmography was laid out
on a large scale, but was left unfinished.2 His Commentaries,
extending from his birth to the time of his death, are a racy
example of autobiographic literature. His strong hold upon
the ecclesiastics who surrounded him can only be explained
by his unassumed intellectual superiority and a certain moral
ingenuousness. He is one of the most interesting figures of
his century.8
1 Creighton, II 491. Pastor, II. 28-31, makes a belabored effort to re-
move in part this stigma, and excuses Pius II. by the lack of funds from
which he suffered and his engrossment in the affairs of the papacy. Pius
chartered the universities of Nantes, Ingolstadt and Basel.
2 Hist, rerum ubique gestarum cum locorum descriptione nonfinita, Venice,
1477, in the Opera, Basel, 1561, etc.
8 Voigt and Benrath are severe upon Pius II., and regard the religious atti-
tude of his later years as insincere and the crusade as dictated by a love of
§ 51. PAUL II. 1464-1471. 425
§ 51. Paul IL 1464-1471.
The next occupant of the papal throne possessed none of the
intellectual attractiveness of his predecessor, and displayed no
interest in promoting the war against the Turks. He was as
difficult to reach as Pius had been accessible, and was slow in
attending to official business. The night he turned into day,
holding his audiences after dark, and legates were often obliged
to wait far into the night or even as late as three in the morn-
ing before getting a hearing.
Pietro Barbo, the son of a sister of Eugenius IV., was born
in Venice, 1418. He was about to set sail for the East on a
mercantile project, when the news reached Venice of his uncle's
election to the papacy. Following his elder brother's advice,
he gave up the quest of worldly gain and devoted himself to
the Church. Eugenius' favor assured him rapid promotion,
and he was successively appointed archdeacon of Bologna,
bishop of Cervia, bishop of Vicenza, papal pronotary and car-
dinal. On being elected to the papal chair, the Venetian chose
the name of Formosus and then Mark, but, at the advice of the
conclave, both were given up, as the former seemed to carry
with it a reference to the pontiff's fine presence, and the latter
was the battle-cry of Venice, and might give political offence.
So he took the name, Paul.
Before entering upon the election, the conclave again adopted
a pact which required the prosecution of the crusade and the as-
sembling of a general council within three years. The number
of cardinals was not to exceed 24, the age of appointment being
not less than 30 years, and the introduction of more than one of
the pope's relatives to that body was forbidden.1
This solemn agreement, Paul proceeded at once summarily
fame. Gregorovius' characterization is one of the least satisfactory of that
impartial historian's pen. He says, " There was nothing great in him. En-
dowed with fascinating gifts, this man of brilliant parts possessed no enthusi-
asms/* etc., VII. 104. Pastor passes by the failings of ./Eneas' earlier life
with a single sentence, but gives, upon the whole, the most discriminating
estimate. He sees only moral force in his advocacy of the crusade, and pro-
nounces him, with Nicolas V. , the most notable of the popes of the 15th century.
1 The document is given by Raynaldus and Gieseler.
426 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
to set aside. The cardinals were obliged to attach their names
to another document, whose contents the pope kept concealed
by holding his hand over the paper as they wrote. The vet-
eran Carvajal was the only member of the curia who refused
to sign. From the standpoint of papal absolutism, Paul was
fully justified. What right has any conclave to dictate to the
supreme pontiff of Christendom, the successor of St. Peter !
The pact was treason to the high papal theory, and meant noth-
ing less than the substitution of an oligarchy for the papal mon-
archy. Paul called no council, not even a congress, to discuss
the crusade against the Turks, and appointed three of his neph-
ews cardinals, Marco Barbo, his brother's son, and Battista Zeno
and Giovanni Michiel, sons of two sisters.1 His ordinances for
the city included sumptuary regulations, limiting the prices to
be paid for wearing apparel, banquets and entertainments at
weddings and funerals, and restricting the dowries of daugh-
ters to 800 gold florins.
A noteworthy occurrence of Paul's pontificate was the storm
raised in Rome, 1466, by his dismissal of the 70 abbreviators,
the number to which Pius II. had limited the members of that
body. This was one of those incidents which give variety to
the history of the papal court and help to make it, upon the whole,
the most interesting of all histories. The scribes of the papal
household were roughly divided into two classes, the secretaries
and the abbreviators. The business of the former was to take
charge of the papal correspondence of a more private nature,
while the latter prepared briefs of bulls and other more solemn
public documents.2 The dismissal of the abbreviators got per-
manent notoriety by the complaints of one of their number, Pla-
tina, and the sufferings he was called upon to endure. This
invaluable biographer of the popes states that the dispossessed
officials, on the plea that their appointment had been for life,
besieged the Vatican 20 nights before getting a hearing. Then
Platina, as their spokesman, threatened to appeal to the princes
of Europe to have a general council called and see that justice
* Pastor, II. 307, fully justifies Paul for setting aside the pact on the ground
that every pope gets plenary authority directly from God.
* Hergenrother : Kath. Kirchenrecht, p. 299
§ 51. PAUL II. 1464-1471. 427
was done. The pope's curt answer was that he would rescind
or ratify the acts of his predecessors as he pleased.
The unfortunate abbreviator, who was more of a scholar
than a politician, was thrown into prison and held there dur-
ing the four months of Winter without fire and bound in chains.
Unhappily for him, he was imprisoned a second time, accused
of conspiracy and heretical doctrine. In these charges the
Roman Academy was also involved, an institution which culti-
vated Greek thought and was charged with having engaged in
a propaganda of Paganism. There was some ground for the
charge, for its leader, Pomponius Laeto, who combined the care
of his vineyard with ramblings through the old Roman ruins
and the perusal of the ancient classics, had deblaterated against
the clergy. This antiquary was also thrown into prison. Pla-
tina relates how he and a number of others were put to the
torture, while Vienesius, his Holiness' vice-chancellor, looked
on for several days as the ordeal was proceeding, " sitting like
another Minos upon a tapestried seat as if he had been at a
wedding, a man in holy orders whom the canons of the Church
forbade to put torture upon laymen, lest death should follow, as
it sometimes does. " On his release he received a promise from
Paul of reappointment to office, but waited in vain till the ac-
cession of Sixtus IV., who put him in charge of the Vatican
library.1
Paul pursued an energetic policy against Podiebrad and the
Utraquists of Bohemia and, after ordering all the compacts
with the king ignored, deposed him and called upon Matthias
of Hungary to take his throne. Paul had rejected Podiebrad's
offer to dispossess the Turk on condition of being recognized
as Byzantine emperor.2
In 1468, Frederick III. repeated his visit to Rome, accom-
panied by 600 knights, but the occasion aroused none of the high
expectation of the former visit, when the emperor brought with
1 Jacob Volaterra in Muratori, new ed., XXIII. 3, p. 98.
3 Pastor, II. 358 sqq., makes a heroic effort to exempt Paul from the guilt of
neglecting the crusade against the Turks. In a letter written by Cardinal Gon-
zaga, which he prints for the first time (II. 773), the statement is made that
Paul was quietly laying aside one-fourth of his income to be used against the
Turks. There is no mention of any sum of this kind among the pope's assets.
428 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1204-1517.
him the Portuguese infanta. There was no glittering pageant,
no august papal reception. On receiving the communion in the
basilica of St. Peter's, he received from the pontiff's hand the
bread, but not the " holy blood," which, as the contemporary re-
lates, Paul reserved to himself as an object-lesson against the
Bohemians, though it was customary on such occasions to give
both the elements. The successor of Charlemagne and Bar-
barossa was then given a seat at the pope's side, which was no
higher than the pope's feet.1 Patritius, who describes the
scene, remarks that, while the respect paid to the papal dignity
had increased, the imperium of the Roman empire had fallen
into such decadence that nothing remained of it but its name.
Without manifesting any reluctance, the Hapsburg held the
pope's stirrup.
Paul was not without artistic tastes, although he condemned
the study of the classics in the Roman schools,2 and was pro-
nounced by Platina a great enemy and despiserof learning.
He was an ardent collector of precious stones, coins, vases
and other curios, and took delight in showing his jewels to
Frederick III. Sixtus IV. is said to have found 54 silver
chests filled with pearls collected by this pontiff, estimated to
be worth 300,000 ducats. The two tiaras, made at his order,
contained gems said to have been worth a like amount. At
a later time, Cardinal Barbo found in a secret drawer of one
of Paul's chests sapphires valued at 12,000 ducats.8 Platina
was probably repeating only a common rumor, when he reports
that in the daytime Paul slept and at night kept awake, look-
ing over his jewels.
To this diversion the pontiff added sensual pleasures and
public amusements.4 He humored the popular taste by re-
storing heathen elements to the carnival, figures of Bacchus
and the fauns, Diana and her nymphs. In the long list of the
1 Patritius in Muratori, XXIII. 206-215.
2 Pastor, II. 347, tries to show that Paul had some mind for humanistic
studies. During his pontificate, 1467, the German printers, Schweinheim and
Pannarts, set up the first printing-presses in Rome, but not under Paul's pat-
ronage. « Infessura, p. 167.
4 A quotation given by Gregorovius, VII. 226, probably exaggerates when
it states he filled his house with concubines — exconcubina domwn replevit.
§ 52. SIXTHS IV. 1471-1484. 429
gayeties of carnival week are mentioned races for young men,
for old men and for Jews, as well as races between horses,
donkeys and buffaloes. Paul looked down from St. Mark's
and delighted the crowds by furnishing a feast in the square
below and throwing down amongst them haudf uls of coins.
In things of this kind, says Infessura, the pope had his de-
light.1 He was elaborate in his vestments and, when he ap-
peared in public, was accustomed to paint his face.
The pope's death was ascribed to his indiscretion in eating
two large melons. Asked by a cardinal why, in spite of the
honors of the papacy, he was not contented, Paul replied that
a little wormwood can pollute a whole hive of honey. The
words belong in the same category as the words spoken 300
years before by the English pope, Adrian, when he announced
the failure of the highest office in Christendom to satisfy all
the ambitions of man.
§ 52. Sixtus IV. 1471-1484.
The last three popes of the 15th century, SixtusIV., Innocent
VIII . and Alexander VI., completely subordinated the inter-
ests of the papacy to the advancement of their own pleasure
and the enrichment and promotion of their kindred.2 The
avenues of the Vatican were filled with upstarts whose only
claim to recognition was that they were the children or the
nephews of its occupant, the supreme pontiff.
The chief features of the reign of Sixtus IV., a man of
great decision and ability, were the insolent rule of his numer-
ous nephews and the wars with the states of Italy in which
their intrigues and ambitions involved their uncle. At the
time of his election, Francesco Rovere was general of the
order of the Franciscans. Born 1414, he had risen from the
lowest obscurity, his father being a fisherman near Savona.
He took the doctor's degree in theology at Padua, and taught
1 Et di queste cose lui si pigliara piacsre, p. 69.
8 Den ndchst-folgcnden Tragern der Tiara schien dieselbe in erster Linie
ein Mittel zur Beretcherung und Erhohung ihrer Familien zu sein. Dfesem
Zwecke wnrde die ganzepapstliche Macht in rtickstchtsloscster Weise dienstbar
gemacht, Hefele-Knttpfler, Kirchcngesch. , p. 488.
430 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
successively in Bologna, Pavia, Siena, Florence and Perugia.
Paul II. appointed him cardinal. In the conclave strong
support is said to have come to him through his notorious
nephew, Peter Riario, who was active in conducting his can-
vas and making substantial promises for votes.
The effort to interest the princes in the Turkish crusade
was renewed, but soon abandoned. Cardinals were despatched
to the various courts of Europe, Bessarion to France, Marco
Barbo to Germany, and Borgia to Spain, but only to find these
governments preoccupied with other concerns or ill-disposed
to the enterprise. In 1472, a papal fleet of 18 galleys actu-
ally set sail, with banners blessed by the pope in St. Peter's,
and under the command of Cardinal Caraffa. It was met at
Rhodes by 30 ships from Naples and 36 from Venice and, after
some plundering exploits, returned with 25 Turkish prisoners
of war and 12 camels, — trophies enough to arouse the curios-
ity of the Romans. Moneys realized from some of Paul II.'s
gems had been employed to meet the expenditure.
Sixtus' relatives became the leading figures in Rome, and
in wealth and pomp they soon rivalled or eclipsed the old
Roman families and the older members of the sacred college.
Sixtus was blessed or burdened with 16 nephews and grand-
nephews. All that was in his power to do, he did, to give
them a good time and to establish them in affluence and honor
all their days. The Sienese had their day under Pius II., and
now it was the turn of the Ligurians. The pontiff's two broth-
ers and three, if not four, sisters, as well as all their progeny,
had to be taken care of. The excuse made for Calixtus III.
cannot be made for this indulgent uncle, that he was approach-
ing his dotage. Sixtus was only 56 when he reached the
tiara. And desperate is the suggestion that the unfitness or
unwillingness of the Roman nobility to give the pope proper
support made it necessary for him to raise up another and a
complacent aristocracy.1
Sixtus deemed no less than five of his nephews and a grand-
nephew deserving of the red hat, and sooner or later eight
1 Hergenrother-Kirsch, II. 079. These most reputable Catholic historians
intimate rather than emphasize this consideration.
§ 52. SIXTUS IV. 1471-1484. 431
of them were introduced into the college of cardinals. Two
nephews in succession were appointed prefects of Rome. The
nephews who achieved the rank of cardinals were Pietro Riario
at 25, and Julian della Rovere at 28, in 1471, both Franciscan
monks ; Jerome Basso and Christopher Rovere, in 1477 ; Do-
minico Rovere, Christopher's brother, in 1478; and the pope's
grandnephew, Raphael Sansoni, at the age of 17, in 1477. The
two nephews made prefects of Rome were Julian's brother
Lionardo, who died in 1475, and his brother Giovanni, d. 1501.
Lionardo was married by his uncle to the illegitimate daughter
of Ferrante, king of Naples.1
Upon Peter Riario and Julian Rovere he heaped benefice
after benefice. Julian, a man of rare ability, afterwards made
pope under the name of Julius II., was appointed archbishop of
Avignon and then of Bologna, bishop of Lausanne, Constance,
Viviers, Ostia and Velletri, and placed at the head of several
abbeys. Riario, who, according to popular hearsay, was the
pope's own child, was bishop of Spoleto, Seville and Valencia,
Patriarch of Constantinople, and recipient of other rich places,
until his income amounted to 60,000 florins or about 2,500,000
francs. He went about with a retinue of 100 horsemen. His
expenditures were lavish and his estate royal. His mistresses,
whom he did not attempt to conceal, were dressed in elegant
fabrics, and one of them wore slippers embroidered with pearls.
Dominico received one after the other the bishoprics of Cor-
neto, Tarentaise, Geneva and Turin.
The visit of Leonora, the daughter of Ferrante, in Rome in
1473, while on her way to Ferrara to meet her husband, Her-
cules of Este, was perhaps the most splendid occasion the city
had witnessed since the first visit of Frederick III. It fur-
nished Riario an opportunity for the display of a magnificent
hospitality. On Whitsunday, the Neapolitan princess was con-
ducted by two cardinals to St. Peter's, where she heard mass
said by the pope and then at high-noon witnessed the miracle
1 A useful genealogical tree of the Rovere is given by Creighton, HI. 100.
Pastor takes no pains to bide bis righteous indignation at Sixtus' exhaustive
provision for bis relatives, — seine zahlreiche und unwttrdiye Verwandten, as
be calls them.
432 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
play of Susanna and the Elders, acted by Florentine players.
The next evening she sat down to a banquet which lasted 3
hours and combined all the skill which decorators and cooks
could apply. The soft divans and costly curtainings, the silk
costumes of the servants and the rich courses are described in
detail by contemporary writers. In anticipation of modern
electrical fans, 3 bellows were used to cool and freshen the at-
mosphere. In such things, remarks Infessura, the treasures
of the Church were squandered.1
In 1474, on the death of Peter Riario, a victim of his excesses
and aged only 28,a his brother Jerome, a layman, came into
supreme favor. Sixtus was ready to put all the possessions of
the papal see at his disposal and, on his account, he became
involved in feuds with Florence and Venice. He purchased
for this favorite Imola, at a cost of 40,000 ducats, and married
him to the illegitimate daughter of the duke of Milan, Cath-
erine Sforza. The purchase of Imola was resented by Florence,
but Sixtus did not hesitate to further antagonize the republic
and the Medici. The Medici had established a branch banking-
house in Rome and become the papal bankers. Sixtus chose
to affront the family by patronizing the Pazzi, a rival banking-
firm. At the death of Philip de' Medici, archbishop of Pisa, in
1474, Salviati was appointed his successor against the protest
of the Medici. Finally, Julian de' Medici was denied the car-
dinalship. These events marked the stages in the progress of
the rupture between the papacy and Florence. Lorenzo, called
the Magnificent, and his brother Julian represented the family
which the fiscal talents of Cosmo de' Medici had founded. In
his readiness to support the ambitions of his nephew, Jerome
Riario, the pope seemed willing to go to any length of vio-
lence. A conspiracy was directed against Lorenzo's life, in
1 Diario, p. 77. At the chief banquet, the menu comprised wild boars roasted
whole, bucks, goats, hares, pheasants, fish, peacocks with their feathers,
storks, cranes, and countless fruits and sweetmeats. An artificial mountain
of sugar was brought into the dining-chamber, from which a man stepped forth
with gestures of surprise at finding himself amid such gorgeous surroundings.
a Sixtus reared to him a splendid monument in the Church of the Apostles.
Peter and his brother Jerome are represented as kneeling and praying to the
Madonna. See Pastor, II. 294 sq.
§ 52. 8IXTUS IV. 1471-1484. 433
which Jerome was the chief actor, — one of the most cold-
blooded conspiracies of history. The pope was conversant
with the plot and talked it over with its chief agent, Monte-
secco and, though he may not have consented to murder, which
Jerome and the Pazzi had included in their plan, he fully ap-
proved of the plot to seize Lorenzo's person and overthrow
the republic.1
The terrible tragedy was enacted in the cathedral of Florence.
When Montesecco, a captain of the papal mercenaries, hired to
carry out the plot, shrank from committing sacrilege by shed-
ding blood in the church of God, its execution was intrusted to
two priests, Antonio Maffei da Volterra and Stefano of Bagno-
rea, the former a papal secretary. While the host was being
elevated, Julian de' Medici, who was inside the choir, was struck
with one dagger after another and fell dead. Lorenzo barely
escaped. As he was entering the sanctuary, he was struck by
Maffei and slightly wounded, and made a shield of his arm by
winding his mantle around it, and escaped with friends to the
sacristy, which was barred against the assassins. The bloody
deed took place April 26, 1478.
The city proved true to the family which had shed so much
lustre upon it, and quick revenge was taken upon the agents of
the conspiracy. Archbishop Salviati,his brother, Francesco de'
Pazzi and others were hung from the signoria windows.2 The
two priests were executed after having their ears and noses cut
off. Montesecco was beheaded. Among those who witnessed
the scene in the cathedral was the young cardinal, Raphael, the
pope's grandnephew, and without having any previous knowl-
edge of the plot. His face, it was said, turned to an ashen
pallor, which in after years he never completely threw off.
With intrepid resolution, Sixtus resented the death of his
archbishop and the indignity done a cardinal in the imprison-
1 So Pastor, II. 635, Gregorovius, VII. 239, Karl Mttller, II. 180 and Creigh-
ton, III. 75. They all agree that Sixtus knew the details of the plot, and ap-
proved them, except in the matter of the murder, which, however, he did not
peremptorily forbid.
3 See the account of the legate of Milan, publ. by Pastor, II. 785 sq. Of Sixtus1
connivance at the plot against the Medici, Pastor, II. 541, says, " It calls for
deep lament that a pope should play a part in the history of this conspiracy."
2r
434 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
ment of Raphael as an accomplice. He hurled the interdict at
the city, branding Lorenzo as the son of iniquity and the ward
of perdition, — iniquitatis filius etperditionis alumnus^ — and
entered into an alliance with Naples against it. Louis XL of
France and Venice and other Italian states espoused the cause
of Florence. Pushed to desperation, Lorenzo went to Naples
and made such an impression on Fen-ante that he changed his
attitude and joined an alliance with Florence. The pope was
checkmated. The seizure of Otranto on Italian soil by the Turks,
in 1480, called attention away from the feud to the imminent
danger threatening all Italy. In December of that year, Sixtus
absolved Florence, and the legates of the city were received in
frontof St. Peter's and touched with the rod in token of forgive-
ness. Six months later, May 26, 1481, Rome received the news
of the death of Mohammed II., which Sixtus celebrated by spe-
cial services in the church, Maria del Popolo,1 and the Turks
abandoned the Italian coast.
Again, in the interest of his nephew, Jerome, Sixtus took
Forli, thereby giving offence to Ferrara. He joined Venice in a
waragainst that city, and all Italy became involved. Later, the
warlike pontiff again saw his league broken up and Venice and
Ferrara making peace, irrespective of his counsels. He vented
his mortification by putting the queen of the Adriatic under the
interdict.
In Rome, the bloody pope fanned the feud between the
Colonnaandthe Orsini, and almost succeeded in blotting out the
name of the Colonna by assassination and judicial murder.
Sixtus has the distinction of having extended the efficacy of
indulgences to souls in purgatory. He was most zealous in dis-
tributing briefs of indulgence.2 The Spanish Inquisition re-
ceived his solemn sanction in 1478. Himself a Franciscan, he
augmented the privileges of the Franciscan order in abull which
that order calls its great ocean — mare magnum. He canonized
the official biographer of Francis d'Assisi, Bonaventura.
He issued two bulls with reference to the worship of Mary and
1 Infessura, p. 86.
2 Pastor, II. 610 sqq , is very cautious in his remarks on the subject of Six-
tus' indulgences, almost to reticence.
§ 53. INNOCENT VIII. 1484-1492. 435
the doctrine of the immaculate conception, but he declared her
sinlessness from the instant of conception a matter undecided by
the Roman Church and the Apostolic see — nondum ab ecclesia
romana et apostolica sede decisum.1 In all matters of ritual and
outward religion, he was of all men most punctilious. The chron-
icler, Volterra, abounds in notices of his acts of devotion. As a
patron of art, his name has a high place. He supported Platina
with four assistants in cataloguing the archives of the Vatican
in three volumes.
Such was Sixtus IV., theunblushingpromoterof the interests
of his relatives, many of them as worthless as they were insolent,
the disturber of the peaceof Italy, re vengeful, and yet the liberal
patron of the arts. The enlightened diarist of Rome, Infessura,3
calls the day of the pontiff's decease that most happy day, the
day on which God liberated Christendom from the hand of an
impious and iniquitous ruler, who had before him no fear of God
nor love of the Christian world nor any charity whatsoever,
but was actuated by avarice, the love of vain show and pomp,
most cruel and given to sodomy.3
During his reign, were born in obscure places in Saxony
and Switzerland two men who were to strike a mighty blow
at the papal rule, themselves also of peasant lineage and the
coming leaders of the new spiritual movement.
§53. Innocent VIIL 1484-1492.
Under Innocent VIIL matters in Rome were, if anything,
worse than under his predecessor, Sixtus IV. Innocent was
an easy-going man without ideals, incapable of conceiving or
1 Mansi, XXXII. 374 sqq., gives the bull on the immaculate conception dated
Sept. 6, 1483 ; also Mirbt, p. 170.
a In quo felicissimo di«, etc., pp. 166-158.
* This charge, which Infessura elaborates, Creighton, III. 116,286, dismisses
as unproved ; Pastor, II. 640, also, but less confidently. Infessura was a
friend of the Colonna, to whom Sixtus was bitterly hostile. Burchard, I.
10 sqq., gives a very detailed account of Sixtus' obsequies. He spoke from
observation as one of the masters of ceremonies. Pastor makes a bold effort
to rescue Sixtus from most of the charges made against his character by
Infessura.
436 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1204-1517.
carrying out high plans. He was chiefly notable for his open
avowal of an illegitimate family and his bull against witchcraft.
At Sixtus' death, wild confusion reigned in Rome. Nobles
and cardinals barricaded their residences. Houses were pil-
laged. The mob held carnival on the streets. The palace of
Jerome Riario was sacked. Relief was had by an agreement
between the rival families of the Orsini and Colonna to with-
draw from the city for a month and Jerome's renunciation of
the castle of S. Angelo, which his wife had defended, for
4,000 ducats. Not till then did the cardinals feel themselves
justified in meeting for the election of a new pontiff.
The conclaves of 1484 and 1492 have been pronounced by
high catholic authority among the " saddest in the history of
the papacy." l Into the conclave of 1484, 25 cardinals entered,
21 of them Italians. Our chief account is from the hand of
the diarist, Burchard, who was present as one of the officials.
His description goes into the smallest details. A protocol
was again adopted, which every cardinal promised in a solemn
formula to observe, if elected pope. Its first stipulation was
that 100 ducats should be paid monthly to members of the sacred
college, whose yearly income from benefices might not reach
the sum of 4,000 ducats (about 200,000 francs in our present
money). Then followed provisions for the continuance of
the crusade against the Turks, the reform of the Roman curia
in head and members, the appointment of no cardinal under
30 for any cause whatever, the advancement of not more than
a single relative of the reigning pontiff to the sacred college
and the restriction of its membership to 24.a
Rodrigo Borgia fully counted upon being elected and, in
expectation of that event, had barricaded his palace against
being looted. Large bribes, even to the gift of his palace,
were offered by him for the coveted prize of the papacy.
Cardinal Barbo had 10 votes and, when it seemed likely that
he would be the successful candidate, Julian Rovere and
Borgia, renouncing their aspirations, combined their forces,
and, during the night, went from cell to cell, securing by
promises of benefices and money the votes of all but six of
1 Pastor, III. 178. * Burchard, I. 33-65
§ 53. INNOCENT VIII. 1484-1492. 437
the cardinals. According to Burchard, the pope about to be
elected sat up all night signing promises. The next morning
the two cardinals aroused the six whom they had not dis-
turbed, exclaiming, " Come, let us make a pope." " Who ?"
they said. " Cardinal Cibo." " How is that ? " they asked.
" While you were drowsy with sleep, we gathered all the votes
except yours," was the reply.
The new pope, Lorenzo Cibo, born in Genoa, 1432, had been
made cardinal by Sixtus IV., 1473. During his rule, peace was
maintained with the courts of Italy, but in Rome clerical dis-
sipation, curial venality and general lawlessness were rampant.
" In darkness Innocent was elected, in darkness he lives, and
in darkness he will die," said the general of the Augustinians.1
Women were carried off in the night. The murdered were
found in the streets in the morning. Crimes, before their com-
mission, were compounded for money. Even the churches
were pilfered. A piece of the true cross was stolen from S.
Maria in Trastavere. The wood was reported found in a vine-
yard, but without its silver frame. When the vice-chancellor,
Borgia, was asked why the laws were not enforced, he replied,
" God desires not the death of a sinner, but rather that he
should pay and live." 2 The favorite of Sixtus IV., Jerome
Riario, was murdered in 1488. His widow, the brave and
masculine Catherine Sforza, who was pregnant at the time, de-
fended his castle at Forli and defied the papal forces besieging
it, declaring that, if they put her children to death who were
with her, she yet had one left at Imola and the unborn child
in her womb. The duke of Milan, her relative, rescued her
and put the besiegers to flight.
All ecclesiastical offices were set for sale. How could it be
1 Infessura, p. 177. The Augustinian was thrown into prison for making
the remark. Infessura returns again and again, pp. 237 sq., 243, 256 sq , to
the reign of crime going on in the city.
2 Infessura gives the case of a father who, after committing incest with his
Iwo daughters, murdered them and was set free upon the payment of 800
ducats. Gregorovius, VII. 297, says of the Italian character of the last 30 years
of the 15th century that " it displays a trait of diabolical passion. Tyranni-
cide, conspiracies and deeds of treachery are universal, and criminal selfish-
ness reigns supreme.11
438 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
otherwise, when the papal tiara itself was within the reach of
the highest bidder ? l The appointment of 18 new papal secre-
taries brought 62,400 ducats into the papal treasury. The
bulls creating the offices expressly declared the aim to be to
secure funds. 52 persons were appointed to seal the papal
bulls, called plumbatores, from the leaden ball or seal they used,
and the price of the position was fixed at 2,500 ducats. Even
the office of librarian in the Vatican was sold, and the papal
tiara was put in pawn. In a time of universal traffic in eccle-
siastical offices, it is not surprising that the fabrication of papal
documents was turned into a business. Two papal notaries
confessed to having issued 50 such documents in two years,
and in spite of the pleas of their friends were hung and burnt,
1489.2
Innocent's children were not persons of marked traits, or
given to ambitious intrigues. Common rumor gave their num-
ber as 16, all of them children by married women.3 Frances-
chetto and Theorina seem to have been born before the father
entered the priesthood. Franceschetto's marriage to Madda-
lena, a daughter of Lorenzo the Magnificent, was celebrated
in the Vatican, Jan. 20, 1488. Ten months later, the pope's
granddaughter, Peretta, child of Theorina, was also married in
the Vatican to the marquis of Finale. The pontiff sat with the
ladies at the table, a thing contrary to all the accepted proprie-
ties. In 1492, another grandchild, also a daughter of Theo-
rina, Battistana, was married to duke Louis of Aragon.4
The statement of Infessura is difficult to believe, although
it is made at length, that Innocent issued a decree permitting
1 Funk, Kir cheng esch., 373, says, In Horn, schien alles kduflich zu tein.
9 For the details, see Burchard, I. 365-368.
* So Manillas in his epigram —
Octo nocens pueros genuit totidemque puellas,
Hunc mento poterit dicere Roma patrem.
Illegitimately he begat 8 boys and girls as many.
Hence Home deservedly may call him father.
Burchard, I. 321, calls Franceschetto bastardus.
4 Burchard, 1. 323, 488. In 1883, the Berlin Museum came into possession
of a bust of Theorina bearing the inscription, " Teorlna Cibo Inn. VIII. P. M.
f. singuli exempli matrona formccque dignitate conjuaria."
§ 53. INNOCENT VIII. 1484-1492. 489
concubinage in Rome both to clergy and laity. The prohibition
of concubinage was declared prejudicial to the divine law and
the honor of the clergy, as almost all the clergy, from the high-
est to the lowest, had concubines, or mistresses. According to
the Roman diarist, there were 6,800 listed public courtezans in
Rome besides those whose names were not recorded.1 To say
the least, the statement points to the low condition of clerical
morals in the holy city and the slight regard paid to the leg-
islation of Gregory VII. Infessura was in position to know
what was transpiring in Rome.
What could be expected where the morals of the supreme
pontiff and the sacred senate were so loose ? The lives of many
of the cardinals were notoriously scandalous. Their palaces
were furnished with princely splendor and filled with scores of
servants. Their example led the fashions in extravagance in
dress and sumptuous banquetings. They had their stables,
kennels and falcons. Cardinal Sforza, whose yearly income is
reported to have been 30,000 ducats, or 1,500,000 francs, pres-
ent money, excelled in the chase. Cardinal Julian made sport
of celibacy, and had three daughters. Cardinal Borgia, 'the
acknowledged leader in all gayeties, was known far and wide
by his children, who were prominent on every occasion of dis-
play and conviviality. The passion for gaming ran high in the
princely establishments. Cardinal Raphael won 8,000 ducats
at play from Cardinal Balue who, however, in spite of such
losses, left a fortune of 100,000 ducats. This grandnephew of
Sixtus IV. was a famous player, and in a single night won from
Innocent's son, Franceschctto, 14,000 ducats. The son com-
plained to his father, who ordered the fortunate winner to
restore the night's gains. But the gay prince of the church
excused himself by stating that the money had already been
paid out upon the new palace he was engaged in erecting.
The only relative whom Innocent promoted to the sacred
college was his illegitimate brother's son, Lorenzo Cibo. The
1 Infessura, p. 260 sq. Pastor, III. 260, pronounces Infessura's statement
altogether incredible, — ganzlich unglaubwtirdiff, — and blames Infessura's
editor, TDmraasinl, for allowing the statement to pass in his edition without
note or jomment. Pastor, in his 1st ed., III. 252, had pronounced the state-
ment of the Roman diarist eine ungeheuerliche Behauptung.
440 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
appointment best known to posterity was that of Giovanni de'
Medici, son of Lorenzo the Magnificent, afterwards Leo X.
Another appointment, that of D'Aubusson, was associated
with the case of the Mohammedan prince, Djem. This inci-
dent in the annals of the papacy would seem incredible, if it
were not true. A writer of romance could hardly have in-
vented an episode more grotesque. At the death of Mo-
hammed II., his son, Djem, was defeated in his struggle for the
succession by his brother Bajazet, and fled to Rhodes for pro-
tection. The Knights of St. John were willing to hold the
distinguished fugitive as prisoner, upon the promise of 45,000
ducats a year from the sultan. For safety's sake, Djem was
removed to one of the Hospitaller houses in France. Hun-
gary, Naples, Venice, France and the pope, — all put in a claim
for him. Such competition to pay honor to an infidel prince
had never before been heard of in Christendom. The pope won
by making valuable ecclesiastical concessions to the French
king, among them the bestowal of the red hat on D'Aubusson.
The matter being thus amicably adjusted, Djem was con-
ducted to Rome, where he was received with impressive cere-
monies by the cardinals and city officials. His person was
regarded as of more value than the knowledge of the East
brought by Marco Polo had been in its day, and the reception
of the Mohammedan prince created more interest than the re-
turn of Columbus from his first journey to the West. Djem
was escorted through the streets by the pope's son, and rode a
white horse sent him by the pope. The ambassador of the
sultan of Egypt, then in Rome, had gone out to meet him, and
shed tears as he kissed his feet and the feet of his horse. The
popes had not shrunk from entering into alliances with Oriental
powers to secure the overthrow of Mohammed II. and his
dynasty. Djem, or the Grand Turk, as he was called, was wel-
comed by the pope surrounded by his cardinals. The proud de-
scendant of Eastern monarchs, however, refused to kiss the
supreme pontiff's foot, but made some concession by kissing his
shoulder. He was represented as short and stout, with an aquiline
nose, and a single good eye,givenat times inordinately to drink,
though a man of some intellectual culture. He was reported
§ 53. INNOCENT VIII. 1484-1402. 441
to have put four men to death with his own hand. But Djem
was a dignitary who signified too much to be cast aside for such
offences. Innocent assigned him to elegantly furnished apart-
ments in the Vatican, and thus the strange spectacle was af-
forded of the earthly head of Christendom acting as the host of
one of the chief living representatives of the faith of Islam,
whichhad almost crushed out the Christian churches of the East
and usurped the throne on the Bosphorus.
Bajazet was willing to pay the pope 40,000 ducats for the
hospitality extended to his rival brother, and delegations came
from him to Rome to arrange the details of the bargain. The
report ran that attempts were made by the sultan to poison
both his brother and the pope by contaminating the wells of
the Vatican. When the ambassador brought from Constan-
tinople the delayed payment of three years, 120,000 ducats,
Djem insisted that the Turk's clothes should be removed and
his skin be rubbed down with a towel, and that he should lick
the letter " on every side," as proof that he did not also carry
poison.1 Djem survived his first papal entertainer, Innocent
VIII., three years, and figured prominently in public functions
in the reign of Alexander VI. He died 1495, still a captive.
Another curious instance was given in Innocent's reign of
the hold open-mouthed superstition had in the reception given
to the holy lance. This pretended instrument, with which
Longinus pierced the Saviour's sideand which wasfound during
the Crusades by the monk Barthelemy at Antioch, was already
claimed by two cities, Nurnberg and Paris. The relic made
a greater draft upon the credulity of the age than St. Andrew's
head. The latter was the gift of a Christian prince, howbeit
an adherent of the schismatic Greek Church ; the lance came
from a Turk, Sultan Bajazet.
Some question arose among the cardinals whether it would
not be judicious to stay the acceptance of the gift till the
1 Totam ab omnibus ejus lateribus lingua sua lambivit. Infessura, p. 263.
For the letter of the painter Mantegna to the duke of Mantua and its curious
details, June 15, 1489, see Pastor, 1st ed., III. 218. The picture of the
Disputation of St. Catherine in the sala dei santi in the Vatican contains a
picture of Djem riding a white palfrey. Infessura and Burchard enter with
journalistic relish into the details of Djem's appearance and treatment in Rome.
442 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
claims of the lance in Niirnberg had been investigated. But
the pope's piety, such as it was, would not allow a question of
that sort to interfere. An archbishop and a bishop were de-
spatched to Ancona to receive the iron fragment, for only the
head of the lance was extant. It was conducted from the city
gates by the cardinals to St. Peter's, and after mass the pope
gave his blessing. The day of the reception happened to be
a fast, but, at the suggestion of one of the cardinals, some of
the fountains along the streets, where the procession was ap-
pointed to go, were made to throw out wine to slake the thirst
of the populace. After a solemn service in S. Maria del Po-
polo, on Ascension Day, 1492, the Turkish present, encased
in a receptacle of crystal and gold, was placed near the hand-
kerchief of St. Veronica in St. Peter's.1
The two great stains upon the pontificate of Innocent VIII.,
the crusade he called to exterminate the Waldenses, 1487, and
his bull directed against the witches of Germany, 1484, which
inaugurated two horrible dramas of cruelty, have treatment in
another place.
Innocent was happy in being permitted to join with Europe in
rejoicings over the expulsion of the last of the Moors from Gra-
nada, 1492. Masses were said in Rome, and a sermon preached
in the pontiff's presence in celebration of the memorable event.2
With characteristic national gallantry, Cardinal Borgia showed
his appreciation by instituting a bull-fight in which five bulls
were killed, the first but not the last spectacle of the kind seen
in the papal city. In his last sickness, Innocent was fed by a
woman's milk.8 Several years before, when he was thought to
1Infes8ura, p. 224, and especially Burchard, I. 482-486, and Sigismondo, II.
2&-29, 69, give extended accounts of the honors paid to the piece of iron, the
sacratissimum ferreum lancece. The sultan's representative, Chamisbuerch,
who was also present, was reported to have handed the pope a package contain-
ing 40,000 ducats. Sigismondo uses the word spicula, little point, for the lance.
2 Burchard, I. 444 sqq.
8 The harrowing story was told that, at the suggestion of a Jewish physician,
the blood of three boys was infused into the dying pontiff's veins. They were
ten years old, and had been promised a ducat each. All three died. The Jew-
ish physician fled. The story is told by Infessura and repeated by Raynaldus.
It is pleasant to have Gregorovius, VII. 838, as well as Pastor, III. 276 sq.,
give it no credence.
§54. POPE ALEXANDER VI — BORGIA. 1492-1503. 443
be dying, the cardinals found 1,200,000 ducats in his drawers
and chests. They now granted his request that 48,000 ducats
should be taken from his fortune and distributed among his
relatives.
§ 54. Pope Alexander VI— Borgia. 1492-1503.
The pontificate of Alexander VI., which coincides with the
closing years of the 15th century and the opening of the 16th,
may be compared with the pontificate of Boniface VIII., which
witnessed the passage from the 13th to the 14th centuries. Bon-
iface marked the opening act in the decline of the papal power
introduced by the king of France. Under Alexander, when
the French again entered actively into the affairs of Italy, even
to seizing Rome, the papacy passed into its deepest moral hu-
miliation since the days of the pornocracy in the 10th century.
Alexander VI., whom we have before known as Cardinal ]\jjd^
rigo Borgia, has the notorious distinction of being the most
corrupt of the popes of the Renaissance period. Even in the
judgment of Catholic historians, his dissoluteness knew no re-
straint and his readiness to abase the papacy for his own personal
ends, no bounds.1 His intellectual force, if used aright, might
have made his pontificate one of the most brilliant in the annals
of the Apostolic see. The time was ripe. The conditions of-
fered the opportunity if ever period did. But moral principle
was wanting. Had Dante lived again, he would have written
that Alexander VI. made a greater refusal than the hermit pope,
Coelestine V., and deserved a darker doom than the simoniac
pope, Boniface VIII.
At Innocent VIII. 's death, 23 cardinals entered into the con-
clave which met in the Sistine chapel. Borgia and Julian Ro-
vere were the leading candidates. They were rivals, and had
1 Pastor, III. 278, says that, " from the moment he received priestly conse-
cration to the end of his life, he was a slave to the demon of sensuality.1'
Hefele-Knttpfler, Kirchengesch., p. 485, speaks of his career before he reached
the papal office as having been * 4 very dissolute ' f — sehr dissolut. Prof. Villari,
Machiavelli, I. 279, calls Alexander the worst of the popes, whose ( * crimes were
sufficient to upset any human society.*' Gregorovius and Pastor have carried
on the most notable researches in this period, and rivalled one another in the
brilliant description of Alexanders reign and domestic relations.
444 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1204-1617.
been candidates for the papal chair before. Everything was
to be staked on success in the pending election. Openly and
without a blush, ecclesiastical offices and money were offered
as the price of the spiritual crown of Christendom. Julian was
supported by the king of France, who deposited 200,000 ducats
in a Roman bank and 100,000 more in Genoa to secure his elec-
tion. If Borgia could not outbid him he was, at least, the more
shrewd in his manipulations. There were only five cardinals,
including Julian, who took nothing. The other members of
the sacred college had their price. Monticelli and Soriano were
given to Cardinal Orsini and also the see of Cartagena, and the
legation to the March ; the abbey of Subiaco and its fortresses
to Colonna ; Civita Castellana and the see of Majorca to Sa-
velli ; Nepi to Sclafetanus ; the see of Porto to Mich'iel ; and
rich benefices to other cardinals. Four mules laden with gold
were conducted to the palace of Ascanio Sforza, who also re-
ceived Rodrigo's splendid palace and the vice-chancellorship.
Even the patriarch of Venice, whose high age — for he had
reached 95 — might have been expected to lift him above the
seduction of filthy lucre, accepted 5,000 ducats. Inf essura caus-
tically remarks that Borgia distributed all his goods among the
poor.1
The ceremonies of coronation were on a scale which appeared
to the contemporaries unparalleled in the history of such oc-
casions. A figure of a bull, the emblem of the Borgias, was
erected near the Palazzo di S. Marco on the line of the proces-
sion, from whose eyes, nostrils and mouth poured forth water,
and from the forehead wine. Rodrigo was 61 years of age,
had been cardinal for 37 years, having received that dignity
when he was 25. His fond uncle, Calixtus III., had made him
archbishop of Valencia, heaped upon him ecclesiastical offices,
including the vice-chancellorship, and made him the heir of his
1 P. 281. In his despatch to the duchess of Este, published by Pastor, 1st ed.,
III. 879, Giovanni Boccaccio, bishop of Modena, gives an estimate of Borgia's
ability to pay for the tiara, the vice-chancellorship worth 8,000 ducats, the cities
of Nepi and Civita Castellana, abbeys in Aquila and Albano, each worth 1,000
ducats a year, two large abbeys in the kingdom of Naples, the abbey of Subiaco,
worth 2,000 a year, abbeys in Spain, 16 bishoprics in Spain, the see of Porto,
worth 1,200 ducats, and numerous other ecclesiastical places.
§54. POPE ALEXANDER VI — BORGIA. 1492-1503. 445
personal possessions. His palace was noted for the splendor
of its tapestries and carpets and its vessels of gold and silver.1
The new pope possessed conspicuous personal attractions. He
was tall and well-formed, and his manners so taking that a con-
temporary, Gasparino of Verona, speaks of his drawing women
to himself more potently than the magnet attracts iron.2 The
reproof which his gallantries of other days called forth from
Pius II. at Siena has already been referred to.
The pre-eminent features of Alexander's career, as the su-
preme pontiff of Christendom, were his dissolute habits and his
extravagant passion to exalt the worldly fortunes of his chil-
dren. In these two respects he seemed to be destitute at once
of all regard for the solemnity of his office and of common con-
science. A third feature was the entry of Charles VIII. and the
French into Italy and Rome. During his pontificate two events
occurred whose world-wide significance was independent of the
occupant of the papal throne, — the one geographical, the other
religious, — the discovery of America and the execution of the
Florentine preacher, Savonarola. As in the reign of Calixtus
III., so now Spaniards flocked to Rome, and the Milanese am-
bassador wrote that ten papacies would not have been able to sat-
isfy their greed for official recognition. In spite of a protocol
adopted in the conclave, a month did not pass before Alexander
appointed his nephew, Juan of Borgia, cardinal, and in the next
years he admitted four more members of the Borgia family to
the sacred college, including his infamous son, Caesar Borgia, at
the age of 18.8
Alexander's household and progeny call for treatment first.
It soon became evident that the supreme passion of his pontifi-
cate was to advance the fortunes of his children.4 His pa-
rental relations were not merely the subject of rumor; they are
vouched for by irresistible documentary proof.
Alexander was the acknowledged father of five children by
1 The letter of Cardinal Sforza to bis brother, dated 1484, and publ. by Fas-
tor, III. 876, gives a description of his associate's palace.
2 Sigismondo, II. 53, ascribes to Alexander majestas formes.
« Burchard, I. 677.
4 Seine Kinder zu erhdhen war sein vorzttglichste* Ziel is the statement of
the calm Catholic historian, Funk, p. 873.
446 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
Vanozza de Cataneis: Pedro Luis, Juan, Csesar, Lucre tia, Joffr£
and, perhaps, Pedro Ludovico. The briefs issued by Sixtus
IV. legitimating Csesar and Ludovico are still extant.1 Two
bulls were issued by Alexander himself in 1493, bearing on
Caesar's parentage. The first, declaring him to be the son of
Vanozza by a former husband, was intended to remove the
objections the sacred college naturally felt in admitting to its
number one of uncertain birth. In the second, Alexander an-
nounced him to be his own son.2 Tiring of Vanozza, who was
11 years his junior, Alexander put her aside and saw that she
was married successively to three husbands, himself arranging
for the first relationship and making provision for the second
and the third.8 In her later correspondence with Lucretia she
signed herself, thy happy and unhappy mother — lafelice ed
infdice matre.
These were not the only children Alexander acknowledged.
His daughters Girolama and Isabella were married 1482 and
1483.* Another daughter, Laura, by Julia Farnese, born in
1492, he acknowledged as his own child, and in 1501 the pope
formally legitimated, as his own son, Juan, by a Roman woman.
In a first bull he called the boy Caesar's, but in a second he
recognized him as his own offspring.6
1 They are given in Burchard, Supplement to vol. Ill, and dated Oct. 1, 1480,
and Nov. 4, 1481.
a See W. H. Woodward, Two Bulls of Alex. VI. , Sept., 1493, in Engl. Hist.
Rev., 1908, pp. 730-734.
* Vanozza outlived Alexander 15 years, dying 1618. Her epitaph formerly
in S. Maria del Fopolo reads, Vanotice Cathanas, Ccesare Valentin, Joane
Candias, Jufredo Scylatii et Lucretia Ferraria, ducibus filiis, etc. See
Creighton, IIL 163, Pastor, III. 270. Pastor says that to deny the authenticity
of this inscription as Ollivier does is nothing less than ridiculous — geradezu
lacherlich. On Ollivier's attempt to rehabilitate Alexander, see Pastor's caustic
words in 1st ed. , 1. 589. Burchard constantly calls LucTeti&papcefllia, II. 278,
386, 493, etc., and Joffre* and the other boys his sons. So also Sigismondo II.
249, 270, etc. The nativity of Pedro Ludovico is not absolutely certain, but it
is highly probable that Vanozza was his mother.
* Gregorovius, Lucrezia Borgia, p. 19, and Appendix, Germ, ed., where the
marriage contract of Girolama is given.
* These two bulls, extant at Mantua and first published by Gregorovius,
Lucr. Borgia, Appendix, 76-85, were issued the same day. Burchard, III.
170, calls the child's mother quasdam Romano. Following Burchard, Grego-
§54. POPE ALEXANDER VI — BOBGIA. 1492-1503. 447
Among Alexander's mistresses, after he became pope, the
most famous was cardinal Farnese's sister, Julia Farnese,
called for her beauty, La Bella. Infessura repeatedly refers
to her as Alexander's concubine. Her legal husband was
appeased by the gift of castles.
The gayeties, escapades, marriages, worldly distinctions and
crimes of these children would have furnished daily material
for paragraphs of a nature to satisfy the most sensational
modern taste. Don Pedro Luis, Alexander's eldest son, and his
three older brothers began their public careers in the service of
the Spanish king, Ferdinand, who admitted them to the ranks
of the higher nobility and sold Gandia, with the title of duke, to
Don Pedro. This gallant young Borgia died in 1491 at the
age of 30, on the eve of his journey from Rome to Spain to
marry Ferdinand's cousin. His brother, Don Juan, fell heir
to the estate and title of Gandia and was married with princely
splendor in Barcelona to the princess to whom Don Pedro had
been betrothed.
Alexander's son, Caesar Borgia, was as bad as his ambition was
insolent. The annals of Rome and of the Vatican for more than
a decade are filled with his impiety, his intrigues and his crimes.
At the age of six, he was declared eligible for ordination. He
was made protonotary and bishop of Pampeluna by Innocent
VIII. At his father's election he hurried from Pisa, where
he was studying, and on the day of his father's coronation
was appointed archbishop of Valencia. He was then sixteen.
Don Joffre was married, at 13, to a daughter of Alfonso of
Naples and was made prince of Squillace.
The personal fortunes of Alexander's daughter, Lucretia,
constitute one of the notorious and tragic episodes of the
15th century.
The most serious foreign issue in Alexander's reign was the in-
rovius and Pastor have no doubt that it was Alexander's own child,. Pastor,
HI. 476, says that the bull is unquestionably genuine. A satire of the year
1500 ascribes to Alexander 3 or 4 children by Julia Farnese. According to
Villari, Life of Savonarola^ p. 376, note, the Civilta cattolica, the papal organ
at Rome, March 16, 1873, acknowledged the existence of Giovanni, as Alex-
ander's sixth or seventh child.
448 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
vasion of Charles VIII. , king of France. The introductory act
in what seemed likely to be the complete transformation of Italy
was the sale of Cervetri and Anguillara to Virginius Orsini for
40,000 ducats by Franceschetto, the son of Innocent VIII. This
papal scion was contented with a life of ease and retired to Flor-
ence. The transfer of these two estates was treated by the
Sforza as disturbing the balance of power in the peninsula, and
Ludovicoand Ascanio Sforza pressed Alexander to check the in-
fluence of Ferrante, king of Naples, who was the supporter of the
Orsini. Ferrante, a shrewd politician, by ministering to Alex-
ander's passion to advance his children's fortunes, won him from
the alliance with the Sforza. He promised to the pope's son,
Joffr6, Donna Sancia, a mere child, in marriage. Ludovico
Sforza, ready to resort to any measure likely to promote his own
personal ambition, invited Charles VIII. to enter Italy and make
good his claim to the crown of Naples on the ground of the former
Angevin possession. He also applauded the French king's an-
nounced purpose to reduce Constantinople once more to Chris-
tian dominion.
On Ferrante's death, 1494, Alfonso II. was crowned king of
Naples by Alexander's nephew, Cardinal Juan Borgia. Charles,
then only 22, was short, deformed, with an aquiline nose and an
inordinately big head. He set out for Italy at the head of a
splendid army of 40,000 men, equipped with the latest inven-
tions in artillery. Julian Rovere, who had resisted Alexander's
policy and fled to Avignon, joined with other disaffected cardi-
nals in supporting the French and accompanying the French
army. Charles' march through Northern Italy was a series of
easy and almost bloodless triumphs. Milan threw open its gates
to Charles. So did Pisa. Before entering Florence, the king
was met by Savonarola, who regarded him as the messenger
appointed by God to rescue Italy from her godless condition.
Rome was helpless. Alexander's ambassadors, sent to treat
with the invader, were either denied audience or denied satis-
faction. In his desperation, the pope resorted to the Turkish
sultan, Bajazet, for aid. The correspondence that passed be-
tween the supreme ruler of Christendom and the leading sover-
eign of the Mohammedan world was rescued from oblivion by
§ 54. POPE ALEXANDER VI — BORGIA. 1492-1503. 449
the capture of its bearer, George Busardo.1 40,000 ducats were
found on Busardo's person, a payment sent by Bajazet to Alexan-
der for Djem's safe-keeping. Alexander had indicated to the
sultan that it was Charles' aim to carry Djem off to France and
then use him as the admiral of a fleet for the capture of Constan-
tinople. In reply, Bajazet suggested that such an issue would
result in even greater damage to the pope than to himself. His
papal friend, whom he addressed as his Gloriosity — gloriositaa, —
might be pleased to lift the said prisoner, Djem, out of the
troubles of this present world and transfer his soul into another,
where he would enjoy more quiet.2 For performing such a
service, he stood ready to give him the sum of 300,000 ducats,
which, as he suggested, the pope might use in purchasing prince-
doms for his children.
On the last day of 1404, the French army entered the holy
city, dragging with it 36 bronze cannon. Such military disci-
pline and equipment the Romans had not seen, and they looked
on with awe and admiration. To the king's demand that the
castle of S. Angelo be surrendered, Alexander sent a refusal de-
claring that, if the fortress were attacked, lie would take his posi-
tion on the walls, surrounded with the most sac red relicsin Rome.
Cardinals Julian Rovere, Sforza, Savelli and Colonna, who had
ridden into the city with the French troops, urged the king to
call a council and depose Alexander for simony. But when it
came to the manipulation of men, Alexander was more than a
match for his enemies. Charles had no desire to humiliate the
pope, except so far as it might be necessary for the accomplish-
ment of his designs upon Naples. A pact was arranged, which
included the delivery of Djem to the French and the promise
that Caesar Borgia should accompany the French troops to
Naples as papal legate. In the meantime the French soldiery
had sacked the city, even to Vanozza's house. Henceforth the
1 These letters are given in full by Burchard, II. 202 sqq. Alexander's
letters Gregorovius pronounces to be genuine beyond a doubt. The sultan's
are matter of dispute. Ranke discredited them, but Gregorovius regards their
contents as genuine, though the form may be spurious. Creighton, III. 800
sqq., gives reasons for accepting them.
2 Dictum Gem, levare facere ex angustiis istius mundi et transferre eju*
animan in aliud seculum ubi meliorem habebit guietem, Burchard, II. 209.
2o
450 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
king occupied quarters in the Vatican, and the disaffected car-
dinals, with the exception of Julian, were reconciled to the pope.
On his march to Naples, which began Jan. 25, 1495, Charles
took Djem with him. That individual passed out of the gates
of Rome, riding at the side of Caesar. These two personages, the
Turkish pretender and the pontiff's son, had been on terms of
familiarity, and often rode on horseback together. Within a
month after leaving Rome, and before reaching Naples, the Ori-
ental died. The capital of Southern Italy was an easy prize for
the invaders. Caesar had been able to make his escape from the
French camp. His son's shrewdness and good luck afforded
Alexander as much pleasure as did the opportunity of join-
ing the king of Spain and the cities of Northern Italy in an
alliance against Charles. In 1496, the alliance was strength-
ened by the accession of Henry VII. of England. After
abandoning himself for several months to the pleasures of the
Neapolitan capital, the French king retraced his course and,
after the battle of Fornuovo, July 6, 1495, evacuated Italy.
Alexander had evaded him by retiring from Rome, and sent
after the retreating king a message to return to his proper do-
minions on pain of excommunication. The summons neither
hastened the departure of the French nor prevented them from
returning to the peninsula again in a few years.1
The misfortunes and scandals of the papal household were
not interrupted by the French invasion, and continued after it.
In the summer of 1497, occurred the mysterious murder of
Alexander's son, the duke of Gandia, then 24 years old. It
was only a sample of the crimes being perpetrated in Rome.
The duke had supped with Caesar, his brother, and Cardinal
Juan Borgia at the residence of Vanozza. The supper being
over, the two brothers rode together as far as the palace of
Cardinal Sforza. There they separated, the duke going, as he
said, on some private business, and accompanied by a masked
man who had been much with him for a month past. The next
day, Alexander waited for his son in vain. In the evening, un-
1 The French left behind them a terrible legacy in the disease which they are
said to have carrried during the Crusades and again a century ago, under Napo-
leon, to Syria, and known as the French disease. See Pastor, III. 7.
§54. POPE ALEXANDER VI — BORGIA. 1492-1603. 451
able to bear the suspense longer, he instituted an investigation.
The man in the mask had been found mortally wounded. A
charcoal-dealer deposed that, after midnight, he had seen sev-
eral men coming to the brink of the river, one of them on a
white horse, over the back of which was thrown a dead man.
They backed the horse and pitched the body into the water.
The pope was inconsolable with grief, and remained without
food from Thursday to Sunday. He had recently made his son
lord of the papal patrimony and of Viterbo, standard-bearer
of the church and duke of Benevento. In reporting the loss
to the consistory of cardinals, the father declared that he loved
Don Juan more than anything in the world, and that if he had
seven papacies he would give them all to restore his son's life.
The origin of the murder was a mystery. Different persons
were picked out as the perpetrators. It was surmised that the
deed was committed by some lover who had been abused by
the gay duke. Suspicion also fastened on Ascanio Sforza, the
only cardinal who did not attend the consistory. But grad-
ually the conviction prevailed that the murderer was no other
than Csesar Borgia himself, and the Italian historian, Guicciar-
dini, three years later adopted the explanation of fratricide.
Caesar, it was rumored, was jealous of the place the duke of
Gandia held in his father's affections, and hankered after the
worldly honors which had been heaped upon him.
When the charcoal-dealer was asked why he did not at once
report the dark scene, he replied that such deeds were a com-
mon occurrence and he had witnessed a hundred like it.1
In the first outburst of his grief, Alexander, moved by feel-
ings akin to repentance, appointed a commission of six cardinals
to bring in proposals for the reformation of the curia and the
1 Burchard's account of the tragedy, II. 887-390. Gregorovius, VIII. 424,
confidently advocates the theory of fratricide. This explains why Alexander
dropped the investigation two weeks after it was begun, and why he and Caesar
in the first meetings after the event were silent in each other's presence. How-
ever, it is almost too much to believe that Alexander would at once begin to
heap honors upon Cflesar, as he did, if the father believed him to be the mur-
derer. Roscoe, 1. 163 sq. , and Pastor discredit the theory of fratricide, to which
Creighton, III. 388, also inclines. Don Juan was the only one of the Borgiaa
that founded a family.
452 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
Church. His reforming ardor was, however, soon spent, and
the proposals, when offered, were set aside as derogatory to the
papal prerogative. For the next two years, the marriages and
careers of his children, Caesar and Lucretia, were treated as if
they were the chief concern of Christendom.
Lucretia, born in 1480, had already been twice betrothed to
Spaniards, when the father was elected pope and sought for
her a higher alliance. In 1493, she was married to John Sf orza,
lord of Pesaro, a man of illegitimate birth. The young princess
was assigned a palace of her own near the Vatican, where Julia
Farnese ruled as her father's mistress. It was a gay life she
lived, as the centre of the young matrons of Rome. Accom-
panied by a hundred of them at a time, she rode to church.
She was pronounced by the master of ceremonies of the papal
chapel most fair, of a bright disposition, and given to fun and
laughter.1 The charges of incest with her own father and
brother Caesar made against her on the streets of the papal city,
in the messages of ambassadors and by the historian, Guicci-
ardini, seem too shocking to be believed, and have been set
aside by Gregorovius, the most brilliant modern authority for
her life. The distinguished character of her last marriage and
the domestic peace and happiness by which it was marked seem
to be sufficient to discredit the damaging accusations.
The marriage with the lord of Pesaro was celebrated in the
Vatican, after a sermon had been preached by the bishop of
Concordia. Among the guests were 11 cardinals and 150
Roman ladies. The entertainment lasted till 5 in the morning.
There was dancing, and obscene comedies were performed, with
Alexander and the cardinals looking on. And all this, ex-
claims a contemporary, " to the honor and praise of Almighty
God and the Roman church ! " a
After spending some time with her husband on his estate,
Lucretia was divorced from him on the charge of his impotency,
the divorce being passed upon by a commission of cardinals.
1 Burchard, II. 280t 498, fllia clarisfima, filiajocosa et riaoria.
* Infessura, p. 286 sq., closes his account by saying be would not tell all, lest
it might seem incredible. The account of Boccacgio, ambassador of Ferrara,
who was present, is given by Gregorov., Lucr. Borgia, pp. 69-61.
§ 54. POPE ALEXANDER VI — BORGIA. 1492-1603. 453
After spending a short time in a convent, the princess was
married to Don Alfonso, duke of Besiglia, the bastard son of
Alfonso II. of Naples. The Vatican again witnessed the nup-
tial ceremony, but the marriage was, before many months, to
be brought to a close by the duke's murder.
In the meantime Donna Sancia, the wife of Joffr6, had come
to the city, May, 1496, and been received at the gates by cardi-
nals, Lucretia and other important personages. The pope,
surrounded by 11 cardinals, and with Lucretia on his right
hand, welcomed his son and daughter-in-law in the Vatican.
According to Burchard, the two princesses boldly occupied
the priests' benches in St. Peter's. Later, it was said, Sancia's
two brothers-in-law, the duke of Gandia and Caesar, quarrelled
over her and possessed her in turn. Alexander sent her back
to Naples, whether for this reason or not is not known. She
was afterwards received again in Rome.
Caesar, in spite of his yearly revenues amounting to 35,000
ducats, had long since grown tired of an ecclesiastical career.
Bishop and cardinal-deacon though he was, he deposed before
his fellow-cardinals that from the first he had been averse to
orders, and received them in obedience to his father's wish.
These words Gregorovius has pronounced to be perhaps the
only true words the prince ever spoke. Cfesar's request was
granted by the unanimous voice of the sacred college. Alex-
ander, whose policy it now was to form a lasting bond between
France and the papacy, looked to Louis XII., successor of
Charles VIII., for a proper introduction of his son upon a
worldly career.1 Louis was anxious to be divorced from his
deformed and childless wife, Joanna of Valois, and to be united
to Charles' young widow, Anne, who carried the dowry of Brit-
tany with her. There were advantages to be gained on both
sides. Dispensation was given to the king, and Caesar was made
duke of Valentinois and promised a wife of royal line.
The arrangements for Caesar's departure from Rome were
on a grand scale. The richest textures were added to gold
and silver vessels and coin, so that, when the young man de-
1 Alexander bad courteously attended a mass for the repose of the soul of
his old enemy, Charles, in the Sistme chapel, Burchard, II. 461.
454 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
parted from the city, he was preceded by a line of mules car-
rying goods worth 200,000 ducats on their backs. The duke's
horses were shod with silver. The contemporary writer gives
a picture of Alexander standing at the window, watching the
cortege, in which were four cardinals, as it passed towards the
West. The party went by way of Avignon. After some
disappointment in not securing the princess whom Caesar had
picked out, Charlotte d'Albret, then a young lady of sixteen,
and a sister of the king of Navarre, was chosen. When the
news of the marriage, which was celebrated in May, 1499,
reached Rome, Alexander and the Spaniards illuminated their
houses and the streets in honor of the proud event. The ad-
vancement of this abandoned man, from this time forth, en-
gaged Alexander VI.'s supreme energies. The career of Caesar
Borgia passes, if possible, into stages of deeper darkness, and
the mind shrinks back from the awful sensuality, treachery and
cruelty for which no crime was too revolting. Everything had
to give way that stood in the hard path of his vulgar ambition
and profligate greed. And at last his father, ready to sacri-
fice all that is sacred in religion and human life to secure his
son's promotion, became his slave, and in fear dared not to
offer resistance to his plans.
The duke was soon back in Italy, accompanying the French
army led by Louis XII. The reduction of Milan and Naples
followed. The taking of Milan reduced Alexander's former
ally and brought captivity to Ascanio Sforza, the cardinal,
but it was welcome news in the Vatican. Alexander was bent,
with the help of Louis, upon creating a great dukedom in cen-
tral Italy for his son, with a kingly dominion over all the pen-
insula as the ultimate act of the drama. The fall of Naples
was due in part to the pope's perfidy in making an alliance
with Louis and deposing the Neapolitan king, Frederick.
Endowed by his father with the proud title of duke of the
Romagna and made captain-general of the church, Cresar, with
the help of 8,000 mercenaries, made good his rights to Imola,
Forli, Rimini and other towns, some of the victories being
celebrated by services in St. Peter's. At the same time, Lu-
cretia was made regent of Nepi and Spoleto. As a part of
§54. POPE ALEXANDER VI — BORGIA. 1492-1603. 455
the family program, the indulgent father proceeded to declare
war against the Gaetani house and to despoil the Colonna,
Savelli and Orsini. No obstacle should be allowed to remain
in the ambitious path of the unscrupulous son. Upon him
was also conferred that emblem of purity of character or of
high service to the Church, the Golden Rose.
The celebration of the Jubilee in the opening year of the
new century, which was to be so eventful, brought hundreds
of thousands of pilgrims to the holy city, and the great sums
which were collected were reserved for the Turkish crusade,
or employed for the advancement of the Borgias. The bull
announcing the festival offered to those visiting Rome free
indulgence for the most grievous sins.1 On Christinas eve,
1499, Alexander struck the Golden Gate with a silver mallet,
repeating the words of Revelation, " He openeth and no man
shutteth."
In glaring contrast to the religious ends with which the Jubi-
lee was associated in the minds of the pilgrims, Ctusar entered
Rome, in February, surrounded with all the trappings of mili-
tary conquest. Among the festivities provided to relieve the
tedium of religious occupations was a Spanish bull-fight. The
square of St. Peter's was enclosed with a railing and the spec-
tators looked on while the pope's son, Caesar, killed five bulls.
The head of the last he severed with a single stroke of his
sword.
Another of the fearful tragedies of the Borgia family filled
the atmosphere of this holy year with its smothering fumes,
the murder of Lucretia's husband, the duke of Besiglia, to
whom she had borne a son.2 On returning home at night he
was fallen upon at the steps of St. Peter's and stabbed. Car-
ried to his palace, he was recovering, when Caesar, who had
visited him several times, at last had him strangled, August
18, 1500. The pope's son openly declared his responsibility,
>Burchard, 11.591-693.
2Rodrigo, who was baptized in St. Peter's, Nov. 1, 1499, the 16 cardinals
then in Rome, many ambassadors and other dignitaries being present. In
1601 he was invested with the duchy of Serraoneta. Bur chard, II. 575, 578;
III. 170.
456 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1204-1517.
and gave as an explanation that he himself was in danger from
the prince.
With such scenes the new century was introduced in the
papal city. But the end was not yet. The appointment of
cardinals had been prostituted into a convenient device for
filling the papal coffers and advancing the schemes of the papal
family. In 1493 Alexander added 12 to the sacred college,
including Alexander Farnese, afterwards Paul III., and brother
to the pope's mistress. From these creations more than
100,000 ducats are said to have been realized.1 In 1496 four
more were added, all Spaniards, including the pope's nephew,
Giovanni Borgia, and making 9 Spaniards in Alexander's cabi-
net. When 12 cardinals were appointed, Sept. 28, 1500, Caesar
reaped 120,000 ducats as his reward. He had openly explained
that he needed the money for his designs in the Romagna. In
1503, just before his father's death, the duke received 130,000
more for 9 red hats. He raised 64,000 by the appointment
of new abbreviators. Nor were the dead to go free. At the
death of Cardinal Ferrari, 50,000 ducats were seized from his
effects, and when Cardinal Michiel died, nephew of Paul II.,
150,000 ducats were transferred to the duke's account.
One iniquity only led to another. Cardinal Orsini, while on
a visit to the pope, was taken prisoner. His palace was dis-
mantled, and other members of the family seized and their
castles confiscated. The cardinal's mother, aged fourscore,
secured from Alexander, upon the payment of 2,000 ducats
and a costly pearl which Orsini's mistress had in her posses-
sion and, dressed as a man, took to Alexander,2 the privilege
of supplying her son with a daily dole of bread. But the un-
fortunate man's doom was sealed. He came to his death, as it
was believed, by poison prepared by Alexander.8
The last of Alexander's notable achievements for his family
was the marriage of Lucretia to Alfonso, son of Hercules, duke
of Ferrara, 1502. The young duke was 24, and a widower.
1 Inf essura, p. 293. s Burehard, III. 236.
8 So Pastor, though with some hesitation, III. 491. Even Creighton, IV. 40,
is unwilling to dismiss the charge as groundless. But in another place, p. 266,
he seems to contradict himself.
§ 54. POPE ALEXANDER VI — BORGIA. 1402-1603. 457
The prejudices of his father were removed through the good
offices of the king of France and a reduction of the tribute due
from Ferrara, as a papal fief, from 400 ducats to 100 florins, the
college of cardinals giving their assent. While the negotia-
tions were going on, Alexander, during an absence of three
months from Rome, confided his correspondence and the trans-
action of his business to the hands of his daughter. This
appointment made the college of cardinals subject to her.
Lucretia entered with zest into the settlement of the pre-
liminaries leading up to the betrothal and into the prepara-
tions for the nuptials. When the news of the signing of the
marriage contract reached Rome, early in September, 1501, she
went to S. Maria del Popolo, accompanied by 300 knights and
four bishops, and gave public thanks. On the way she took
off her cloak, said to be worth 300 ducats, and gave it to her
buffoon. Putting it on, he rode through the streets crying out,
" Hurrah for the most illustrious duchess of Ferrara. Hurrah
for Alexander VI." l For three hours the great bell on the cap-
itol was kept ringing, and bonfires were lit through the city to
" incite everybody to joy." The pope's daughter, although she
had been four times betrothed and twice married, was only 21
at the time of her last engagement. According to the Ferra-
rese ambassador, her face was most beautiful and her manners
engaging.2 In the brilliant escort sent by Hercules to conduct
his future daughter-in-law to her new home, were the duke's
two younger sons, who were entertained at the Vatican. Cae-
sar and 19 cardinals, including Cardinal Hippolytus of Este,
met the escort at the Porto del Popolo. Night after night, the
Vatican was filled with the merriment of dancing and theatri-
cal plays. At her father's request, Lucretia performed special
dances. The formal ceremony of marriage was performed,
December 30th, in St. Peter's, Don Ferdinand acting as proxy
for his brother. Preceded by 50 maids of honor, a duke on
each side of her, the bride proceeded to the basilica. Her ap-
proach was announced by musicians playing in the portico.
Within on his throne sat the pontiff, surrounded by 13 cardi-
* Burchard, III. 161 sq.
* The letter is given in Gregor., Lucr. Borgia, p. 212.
458 THB MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
nals. After a sermon, which Alexander ordered made short,
a ring was put on Lucretia's finger by Duke Ferdinand. Then
the Cardinal d'Este approached, laying on a table 4 other rings,
a diamond, an emerald, a turquoise and a ruby, and, at his
order, a casket was opened which contained many jewels, in-
cluding a head-dress of 16 diamonds and 150 large pearls.
But with exquisite courtesy, the prelate begged the princess not
to spurn the gift, as more gems were awaiting her in Ferrara.
The rest of the night was spent in a banquet in the Vatican,
when comedies were rendered, in which Caesar was one of the
leading figures. To their credit be it said, that some of the
cardinals and other dignitaries preferred to retire early. The
week which followed was filled with entertainments, including
a bull-fight on St. Peter's square, in which Caesar again was
entered as a matador.
The festivities were brought to a close Jan. 6th, 1502.
150 mules carried the bride's trousseau and other baggage.
The lavish father had told her to take what she would. Her
dowry in money was 100,000 ducats. A brilliant cavalcade,
in which all the cardinals and ambassadors and the magis-
trates of the municipality took part, accompanied the party to
the city gates and beyond, while Cardinal Francesco Borgia
accompanied the party the whole journey. In this whole af-
fair, in spite of ourselves, sympathy for a father supplants our
indignation at his perfidy in violating the sacred vows of a
Catholic priest and the pledge of the supreme pontiff. Alex-
ander followed the cavalcade as far as he could with his eye,
changing his position from window to window. But no men-
tion is made by any of the writers of the bride's mother.
Was she also a witness of the gayeties from some concealed or
open standing-place ?
Lucretia never returned to Rome. And so this famous
woman, whose fortunes awaken the deepest interest and also
the deepest sympathy, passes out from the realm of this his-
tory and she takes her place in the family annals of the noble
house of Este. She gained the respect of the court and the
admiration of the city, living a quiet, domestic life till her
death in 1519. Few mortals have seen transpire before their
§54. POPE ALEXANDER VI — BORGIA. 1492-1503. 459
own eyes and in so short a time so much of dissemblance and
crime as she. She was not forty when she died. The old
representation, which made her the heroine of the dagger and
the poisoned cup and guilty of incest, has given way to the
milder judgment of Reumont and Gregorovius, with whom
Pastor agrees. While they do not exonerate her from all
profligacy, they rescue her from being an abandoned Mag-
dalen, and make appeal to our considerate judgment by show-
ing that she was made by her father an instrument of his
ambitions for his family and that at last she exhibited the de-
votion of a wife and of a mother. Her son, Hercules, who
reigned till 1559, was the husband of Ren6e, the princess who
welcomed Calvin and Clement Marot to her court.
Death finally put an end to the scandals of Alexander's
reign. After an entertainment given by Cardinal Hadrian,
the pope and his son Cajsar were attacked with fever. It was
reported that the poison which they had prepared for a car-
dinal was by mistake or intentionally put into the cups they
themselves used.1 The pontiff's sickness lasted less than a
week. The third day he was bled. On his death-bed he
played cards with some of his cardinals. At the last, he re-
ceived the eucharist and extreme unction and died in the pres-
ence of five members of the sacred college. It is especially
noted by that well-informed diarist, Burchard, that during
1 The question of whether or no poison was the cause of the pope's death
must be regarded as an open one. This is the view taken by Gregorovius,
Koscoe, I. 193 sq., Reumont, Pastor, III. 499. Creighton, IV. 43, and Her-
genrother, III. 987, are against the theory of poisoning. Neither Burchard
nor the ambassador of Venice speak of poison. The ambassador of Mantua,
writing on the 19th, denies the charge, which was freely made on the streets.
Kanke, D. rom. Papste, p. 35, distinctly decides for poisoning. So also Hase,
Kirche.nyesch., III. 353. Many contemporary writers pronounced for poison-
ing, Guicciardini, Cardinal fiembo, Jovius, Cardinal ^gidius, etc. Alexan-
der's physician gave as the immediate cause of death apoplexy. Against the
theory of poisoning is the fact that Cardinal Hadrian was also taken sick.
On the other hand is the evidence that Alexander's body immediately after
death was bloated and disfigured and his mouth was filled with foam, and
that CfiBsar was taken sick at the same time with the same symptoms, a fact
which Gregorovius, VII. 621, pronounces the strongest evidence for the theory
of poisoning.
460 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1204-1517.
his sickness Alexander never spoke a single word about Lu-
cretia or his son, the duke. Caesar was too ill to go to his
father's sick-bed but, on hearing of his death, he sent Miche-
letto to demand of the chamberlain the keys to the papal ex-
chequer, threatening to strangle the cardinal, Casanova, and
throw him out of the window in case he refused. Terrified out
of his wits, — perterritW) — the cardinal yielded, and 100,000
ducats of gold and silver were carried away to the bereaved son.
In passing an estimate upon Alexander VI., it must be re-
membered that the popular and also the carefully expressed
judgments of contemporaries are against him.1 The rumor
was current that the devil himself was present at the death-
scene and that, paying the price he had promised him for the
gift of the papacy 12 years before, Alexander replied to the
devil's beckonings that he well understood the time had come
for the final stage of the transaction.2
Alexander's intellectual abilities have abundant proof in the
results of his diplomacy by which he was enabled to plot for the
political advancement of Caesar Borgia, with the support of
France, at whose feet he had at one time been humbled, by his
winning back the support of the disaffected cardinals, and by
his immunity from personal hurt through violence, unless it be
through poison at last. That which marks him out for unmiti-
gated condemnation is his lack of principle. Mental ability,
which is ascribed to the devil himself, is no substitute for moral
qualities. Perfidy, treachery, greed, lust and murder were
stored up in Alexander's heart.8 While he shrank from the
commission of no crime to reach the objects of his ambition, he
was wont to engage in the solemn exercises of devotion, and
1 There is one exception, the address made in the conclave after Alex-
ander's death by the bishop of Gallipolis. See Garnett's art. Engl. Hist. Rev. ,
1892, p. 311 sq., giving the text of the British Museum, the only copy in exist-
ence.
2 The duke of Mantua, whose camp was near Rome, wrote to his duchess
that seven devils appeared in the pope's room at the moment of his death,
that the body swelled and was dragged from the bed with a cord. Gregoro-
vius, Lucr. Borgia, p. 288.
1 Bishop Creighton, IV. 44, lays stress on the fact that hypocrisy was not
added to Alexander's other vices.
§ 54. POPE ALEXANDER VI — BORGIA. 1492-1508. 461
even to say the mass with his own lips. To measure his iniquity,
as has been said, one need only compare his actions with the
simple statement of the precepts, " Thou shalt not kill, thou
shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal." Elevation
to a position of responsibility usually has the effect of sobering
a man's spirit, but Rodrigo Borgia degraded the highest office
in the gift of Christendom for his own carnal designs. The
moral qualities and aims of Gregory VII. and Innocent III.,
however much we may dissent from those aims, command re-
spect. Alexander VI. was sensual, and his ability to govern
men, no matter how great it was, should not moderate the
abhorrence which his depraved aims arouse. The man with
brute force can hold others in terror, but he is a brute,
nevertheless. The standards, it must be confessed, of life
in Rome were low when Rodrigo was made cardinal, and a
Roman chronicler could say that every priest had his mis-
tress and almost all the Roman monasteries had been turned
into lupinaria — brothels.1 But holy traditions still lingered
around the sacred places of the city ; the solemn rites of the
Christian ritual were still performed ; the dissoluteness of the
Roman emperors still seemed hellish when compared with the
sacrifice of the cross. And yet, two years before Alexander's
death, October 31, 1501, an orgy took place in the Vatican by
Caesar's appointment whose obscenity the worst of the imperial
revels could hardly have surpassed. 50 courtezans spent the
night dancing, with the servants and others present, first with
their clothes on and then nude, the pope and Lucretia look-
ing on. The women, still naked, and going on their hands and
feet, picked up chestnuts thrown on the ground, and then re-
ceived prizes of cloaks, shoes, caps and other articles.2
1 Infessura, p. 287.
3 Burchard, III. 167, who reports the wild scene, was reticent about many
of the evil happenings in the papal palace. The other authorities for the orgy
may be seen in Tbuasne's ed. of Burchard. See also Villari, Machiavelli,
I. 538. When we are taken to the square of St. Peter's, where the pope and
the cardinals watched a feat of tight-rope walking, an expert walking with a
child in his arms, we may easily applaud or tolerate the recreation, Burchard,
III. 210 ; but the dark furies of evil seem at will to have had mastery over
Alexander's soul.
462 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
To Alexander nothing was sacred, — office, virtue, marriage,
or life. As cardinal he was present at the nuptials of the
young Julia Farnese, and probably at that very moment con-
ceived the purpose of corrupting her, and in a few months she
was his acknowledged mistress. The cardinal of Gurk said to
the Florentine envoy, " When I think of the pope's life and
the lives of some of his cardinals, I shudder at the thought of
remaining in the curia, and I will have nothing to do with it
unless God reforms His Church." It was a biting thrust when
certain German knights, summoned to Rome, wrote to the pon-
tiff that they were good Christians and served the Count Pala-
tine, who worshipped God, loved justice, hated vice and was
never accused of adultery. " We believe," they went on, " in
a just God who will punish with eternal flames robbery, sacri-
lege, violence, abuse of the patrimony of Christ, concubinage,
simony and other enormities by which the Christian Church
is being scandalized."1
It is pleasant to turn to the few acts of this last pontificate
of the 15th century which have another aspect than pure self-
ishness or depravity. In 1494, Alexander canonized Anselm
without, however, referring to the Schoolman's great treatise
on the atonement, or his argument for the existence of God.2
He promoted the cult of St. Anna, the Virgin Mary's reputed
mother, to whom Luther was afterwards devoted.8 He almost
blasphemously professed himself under the special protection
of the Virgin, to whom he ascribed his deliverance from death
on several occasions, by sea and in the papal palace.
In accord with the later practice of the Roman Catholic
Church, Alexander restricted the freedom of the press, ordering
that no volume should be published without episcopal sanction.4
His name meets the student of Western discovery in its earli-
est period, but his treatment of America shows that he was
not informed of the purposes of Providence. In two bulls,
i Burchard, III. 110. « Mansi, XXXII. 688 sq.
8 Calvin spoke of having been taken as a child by his mother to the abbey
of Ourscamp, near Noyon, where a part of St. Anna's body was preserved, and
of having kissed the relic.
4 Decretum de libris non sine censura imprimendi*, 1601. Reusch, Index,
p. 64.
§ 54. POPE ALEXANDER VI — BOKGIA. 1492-1603. 463
issued May 4th and 5th, 1493, he divided the Western world
between Portugal and Spain by a line 100 leagues west of the
Azores, running north and south. These documents mention
Christopher Columbus as a worthy man, much to be praised,
who, apt as a sailor, and after great perils, labors and expendi-
tures, had discovered islands and continents — terras firmas —
never before known. The possession of the lands in the West,
discovered and yet to be discovered, was assigned to Spain and
Portugal to be held and governed in perpetuity, — in per-
petuum* — and the pope solemnly declared that he made the
gift out of pure liberality, and by the authority of the omnipo-
tent God, conceded to him in St. Peter, and by reason of the
vicarship of Jesus Christ, which he administered on earth.1
Nothing could be more distinctly stated. As Peter's succes-
sor, Alexander claimed the right to give away the Western
Continent, and his gift involved an unending right of tenure.
This prerogative of disposing of the lands in the West was in
accordance with Constantino's invented gift to Sylvester,
recorded in the spurious Isidorian decretals.2
If any papal bull might be expected to have the quality of
inerrancy, it is the bull bearing so closely on the destinies of
the great American continent, and through it on the world's
history. But the terms of the bull of May 4th were set aside
a year after its issue by the political treaty of Tordesillas, June
7, 1494, which shifted the line to a distance 370 leagues west
of the Cape Verde Islands. And the centuries have rudely
overturned the supreme pontiff's solemn bequest until not a
foot of land on this Western continent remains in the pos-
1 De nostra mera liberalitate . . . auctoritate omnip. Dei, nobis in beato
Pefro concessa, ac vicariatus J. Christi, qua fungimur in terris. For the
bull, see Mirbt, pp. 174-176. Also Flake, Disc, of Am., I. 454-468 ; II. 681-603.
2 Pastor, III. 620, seeks to break the force of the charge that Alexander's
gift was a short-sighted piece of work by putting the unnatural interpretation
upon donamus et assignamus, that it referred only to what Portugal and Spain
had already acquired But the very wording of the bull makes this impossible,
for it is distinctly said that all islands and continents were given to Spain and
Portugal which were to be discovered in the future, as well as those which
were already discovered — omnes insulas et terras flrmas inventas et invent*
endas, detecta* et detegendas. For the bull of Sept 26, 1493, giving India to
Spain, see Davenport in Am. Hist. Rev., 1909, p. 764 sqq.
464 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
session of the kingdoms to which it was given. Putting aside
the distinctions between doctrinal and disciplinary decisions,
which are made by many Catholic exponents of the dogma of
papal infallibility, Alexander's bull conferring the Americas,
as Innocent III.'s bull pronouncing the stipulations of the
Magna Charta forever null, should afford a sufficient refutation
of the dogma.
The character and career of Alexander VI. afford an argu-
ment against the theory of the divine institution and vicarial
prerogatives of the papacy which the doubtful exegesis of
our Lord's words to Peter ought not to be allowed to counter-
act. If we leave out all the wicked popes of the 9th and 10th
centuries, forget for a moment the cases of Honorius and other
popes charged with heresy, and put aside the offending popes
of the Renaissance period and all the bulls which sin against
common reason, such as Innocent VIII. 's bull against witch-
craft, Alexander is enough to forbid that theory. Could God
commit his Church for 12 years to such a monster? It is fair
to recognize that Catholic historians feel the difficulty, al-
though they find a way to explain it away. Cardinal Her-
genrdther says that "Christendom was delivered from a great
offence by Alexander's death, but even in his case, unworthy
as this pope was, his teachings are to be obeyed, and in him the
promise made to the chair of St. Peter was fulfilled (Matt.
23 : 2, 3). In no instance did Alexander VI. prescribe to
the Church anything contrary to morals or the faith, and never
did he lead her astray in disciplinary decrees which, for the
most part, were excellent." l
In like strain, Pastor writes:2 "In spite of Alexander, the
purity of the Church's teaching continued unharmed. It was
as if Providence wanted to show that men may injure the
Church, but that it is not in their power to destroy it. As a
bad setting does not diminish the value of the precious stone,
so the sinfulness of a priest cannot do any essential detriment
either to his dispensation of her sacraments or to the doctrines
committed to her. Gold remains gold, whether dispensed by
clean hands or unclean. The papal office is exalted far above
1 Hergenrather-Kirach, II. 087. ' III. 603.
§ 54. POPE ALEXANDER VI — BORGIA. 1492-1603. 465
the personality of its occupants, and cannot lose its dignity
or gain essential worth by the worthiness or unworthiness of
its occupants. Peter sinned deeply, and yet the supreme pas-
toral office was committed to him. It was from this stand-
point that Pope Leo the Great declared that the dignity of
St. Peter is not lost, even in an unworthy successor. Petri
dignitas etiam in indigno hceredo non deficit." Leo's words
Pastor adopts as the motto of his history.
In such reasoning, the illustrations beg the question. No
matter how clean or unclean the hands may be which handle it,
lead remains lead, and no matter whether the setting be gold
or tin, an opaque stone remains opaque which is held by them.
The personal opinion of Leo the Great will not be able to stand
against the growing judgment of mankind, that the Head of
the Church does not commit the keeping of sacred truth to
wicked hands or confide the pastorate over the Church to a
man of unholy and lewd lips. The papal theory of the succes-
sion of Peter, even if there were no other hostile historic testi-
mony, would founder on the personality of Alexander VI., who
set an example of all depravity. Certainly the true successors
of Peter will give in their conduct some evidence of the fulfil-
ment of Christ's words "the kingdom of heaven is within you."
Who looks for an illustration of obedience to the mandates
of the Most High to the last pontiff of the 15th century! l
1 Pastor, in the course of prolonged estimates, Gesch. der Pfipste, III. pp. vi,
601 sq., etc., says . " The life of this voluptuary — Genustmenschen — a man
of untamed sensuality, contradicted at every point the demands of him he was
called upon to represent. With unrestrained abandon, he gave himself up to
a vicious life until his end. " Ranke thus expresses himself, Hist, of the Popes,
Germ, ed., I. 32. "All his life through, Alexander was bent on nothing else
than to enjoy the world, to live pleasurably, to satisfy his passions and am-
bitions." The estimate of Gregorovius, City of Rome, VII. 626, is this : " No
one can ever discover in Alexander's history any other guiding principle than
the contemptible one of aggrandizing his children at any cost. To the despicable
objects of nepotism and self-preservation he sacrificed his own conscience,
the happiness of nations, the existence of Italy and the good of the Church.1'
Bishop C reign ton, IV. 43-40, lays such elaborate emphasis upon Alexander's
knowledge of politics, firmness of purpose and affability of manners that one
loses the impression of the baseness of his morals and the sacrilege to which he
subjected his office and himself. He seems to have been influenced by Roscoe's
presentation of Alexander's "many great qualities," I. 196.
466 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1204-1517.
§ 55. Julius II., the Warrior-Pope. 1508-1513.
Alexander's successor, Pius III., a nephew of Pius II., and a
man of large family, succumbed, within a month after his elec-
tion, to the gout and other infirmities. He was followed by
Julian Rovere, Alexander's old rival, who, as cardinal, had
played a conspicuous part for more than 30 years. He proved
to be the ablest and most energetic pontiff the Church had had
since the days of Innocent III. and Gregory IX. in the 13th
century.
At Alexander's death, Caesar Borgia attempted to control the
situation. He afterwards told Machiavelli that he had made
provision for every exigency except the undreamed-of conjunc-
tion of his own and his father's sickness. l Consternation ruled
in Rome, but with the aid of the ambassadors of France, Ger-
many, Venice and Spain, Caesar was prevailed upon to withdraw
from the city, while the Orsini and the Colonna families, upon
which Alexander had heaped high insult, entered it again.
The election of Julian Rovere, who assumed the name of
Julius II., was accomplished with despatch October 31, 1503,
after bribery had been freely resorted to. The Spanish cardi-
nals, 11 in number and still in a measure under Caesar's control,
gave their votes to the successful candidate on condition that
Csesar should be recognized as gonfalonier of the church. The
faithful papal master-of -ceremonies, whose Diary we have had
occasion to draw on so largely, was appointed bishop of Orta, but
died two years later. Born in Savona of humble parentage and
appointed to the sacred college by his uncle, Sixtus IV., Julius
had recently returned to Rome after an exile of nearly 10 years.
The income from his numerous bishoprics and other dignities
made him the richest of the cardinals. Though piety was not
one of the new pontiff's notable traits, his pontificate furnished
an agreeable relief from the coarse crimes and domestic scandals
of Alexander's reign. It is true, he had a family of three daugh-
ters, one of whom, Felice, was married into the Orsini family in
1506, carrying with her a splendid do wry of 15,000 ducats. But
the marriage festivities were not appointed for the Vatican, nor
1 The Prince, ch. VII.
§ 55. JULIUS II., THE WAKRIOR-POPE. 1603-1513. 467
did the children give offence by their ostentatious presence in
the pontifical palace. Julius also took care of his nephews.
Two of them were appointed to the sacred college, Nov. 29, 1503,
and later two more were honored with the same dignity. For
making the Spanish scholar, Ximenes, cardinal, Julius deserved
well of other ages as well as his own . He was a born ruler. He
had a dignified and imposing presence and a bright, penetrating
eye. Under his white hair glowed the intellectual fire of youth.
He was rapid in his movements even to impetuosity, and brave
even to daring. Defeats that would have disheartened even the
bravest, seemed only to intensify Julius' resolution. If his lan-
guage was often violent, the excuse is offered that violence of
speech was common at that time. As a cardinal he had shown
himself a diplomat rather than a saint, and as pope he showed
himself a warrior rather than a priest. When Michael Angelo,
who was ordered to execute the pope's statue in bronze, was
representing Julius with his right hand raised, the pope asked,
" What are you going to put into the left ? " " It may be a
book," answered the artist. " Nay, give me a sword, for I am
no scholar," was the pope's reply. Nothing could be more char-
acteristic.1
Julius' administration at once brought repose and confidence
to the sacred college and Rome. If he did not keep his promise
to abide by the protocol adopted in the conclave calling for the
assembling of a council within two years, he may be forgiven on
the ground of the serious task he had before him in strengthening
the political authority of the papal see. This was the chief aim
•of his pontificate. He deserves the title of the founder of the
State of the Church, a realm that, with small changes, remained
papal territory till 1870. This end being secured, he devoted
himself to redeeming Italy from its foreign invaders. Three
foes stood in his way, Caesar and the despots of the Italian cities,
the French who were intrenched in Milan and Genoa, and the
Spaniards who held Naples and Sicily. His effort to rescue I taly
1 The statue was placed in front of St. Petronio in Bologna. The left hand
held neither hook nor sword, hut the keys. Faster, III. 669, says, in einer
derartigen Persfinlichkeit lag mehr Staff zu einem K&nige und Feldherrn alszu
einem Priester.
468 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
for the Italians won for him the grateful regard due an Italian
patriot. Like Innocent III., he closed his reign with an oecu-
menical council.
Caesar Borgia returned to Rome, was recognized as gonfalo-
nier and given apartments in the Vatican. Julius had been in
amicable relations with the prince in France and advanced his
marriage, and Caesar wrote that in him he had found a second
father. But Caesar, now that Alexander was dead, was as a gal-
ley without a rudder. He was an upstart ; Julius a man of pow-
er and far-reaching plans. Prolonged co-operation between the
two was impossible. The one was sinister, given to duplicity ;
the other frank and open to brusqueness. The encroachment of
Venice upon the Romagna gave the occasion at once for Caesar's
fall and for the full restoration of papal authority in that region.
Supporters Caesar had none who could be relied upon in the day
of ill success. He no longer had the power which the control of
patronage gives. Julius demanded the keys of the towns of the
Romagna as a measure necessary to the dislodgment of Venice.
Csesaryielded, but withdrew to Ostia, meditating revenge. He
was seized, carried back to Rome and placed in the castle of S.
Angelo, which had been the scene of his dark crimes. He was
obliged to give up the wealth gotten at his father's death and to
sign a release of Forli and other towns. Liberty was then given
him to go where he pleased. He accepted protection from the
Spanish captain, Gonsalvo de Cordova, but on his arrival in
Naples the Spaniard, with despicable perfidy, seized the deceived
man and sent him to Spain, August, 1504. For two years he was
held a prisoner, when he escaped to the court of his brother-in-
law, the king of Navarre. He was killed at the siege of Viana,
1507, aged 31 . Thus ended the career of the man who had once
been the terror of Rome, whom Ranke calls " a virtuoso in crime,"
and Machia velli chose as the model of a civil ruler. This political
writer had met Caesar after Julius' elevation, and in his Prince1
1 The Prince, written in 1515, was dedicated to Leo X.'s nephew, Lorenzo
de' Medici, at a time when it was contemplated giving Lorenzo a large slice of
Italian territory to govern. See Villari .- Machiavelli, III. 372-424. Also Louis
Dyer: Machiavelli and the Modern State, Boston, 1904. Caesar Borgia had
his laureate, who sung his praises in 12 Latin lyrics, Peter Franciscus Justulus
§ 55. JULIUS II., THE WABKIOB-POPE. 1503-1613. 469
says, " It seems good to me to propose Caesar Borgia as an ex-
ample to be imitated by all those who through fortune and the
arms of others have attained to supreme command. For, as he
had a great mind and great ambitions, it was not possible for him
to govern otherwise." Caesar had said to the theorist," I rob no
man. I am here to act the tyrant's part and to do away with ty-
rants. " Only if to obtain power by darkness and assassination
is worthy of admiration, and if to crush all individual liberty is
a just end of government, can the Machiavellian ideal be re-
garded with other feelings than those of utter reprobation.
There is something pathetic in the recollection that, to the end,
this inhuman brother retained the affection of his sister, Lucre-
tia. She pled for his release from imprisonment in Spain, and
Caesar's letter to her announcing his escape is still extant.1
When the rumor came of his death, Lucretia despatched her ser-
vant, Tullio, to Navarre to find out the truth, and gave herself up
to protracted prayer on her brother's behalf. This beautiful ex-
ample of a sister's love would seem to indicate that Caesar pos-
sessed by nature some excellent qualities.
Julius was also actively engaged in repairing some of the
other evils of Alexander's reign and making amends for its
injustices. He restored Sermoneta to the dukes of Gaetarii.
The document which pronounced severe reprobation upon Alex-
ander ran, u our predecessor, desiring to enrich his own kin,
through no zeal for justice, but by fraud and deceit, sought for
causes to deprive the Gaetani of their possessions." With de-
cisive firmness, he announced his purpose to assert his lawful
authority over the papal territory and, accompanied by 9 car-
dinals, he left Rome at the head of 500 men and proceeded to
make good the announcement. Perugia was quickly brought
to terms ; and, aided by the French, the pope entered Bologna,
against which he had launched the interdict. Returning to
Rome, he was welcomed as a conqueror. The victorious troops
of Spoleto. Jupiter, who is represented as about to destroy the world for its
wickedness, perceives that it contains at least one excellent young man,
Cesar, and sends Mercury to urge him to take up arms for the world's deliver-
ance. Engl. Hist. Rev., Jan., 1002, pp. 15-20.
1 The letter is given by Gregorovius, Lucr. Borgia, p. 319.
470 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
passed under triumphal arches, including a reproduction of
Constantino's arch erected on St. Peter's square ; and, accom-
panied by 28 members of the sacred college, Julius gave sol-
emn thanks in St. Peter's.1
The next to be brought to terms was Venice. In vain had
the pope, through letters and legates, called upon the doge to
give up Rimini, Faenza, Forli and other parts of the Romagua
upon which he had laid his hand. In March, 1508, he joined
the alliance of Cambrai, the other parties being Louis XII.
and the emperor Maximilian, and later, Ferdinand of Spain.
This agreement decided in cold blood upon the division of the
Venetian possessions, and bound the parties to a war against
the Turk. France was confirmed in the tenure of Milan, and
given Cremona and Brescia. Maximilian was to have Ve-
rona, Padua and Aquileja ; Naples, the Venetian territories
in Southern Italy ; Hungary, Dalmatia ; Savoy, Cyprus ; and
the Apostolic see, the lands of which it had been dispossessed.
It was high-handed robbery, even though a pope was party to
it. Julius, who had promised to add the punishments of the
priestly office to the force of arms, proceeded with merciless
severity, and placed the republic under the interdict, April
27, 1509. In vain did Venice appeal to God and a general
council. Past sins enough were written against her to call
for severe treatment. She was forced to surrender Rimini,
Faenza and Ravenna, and was made to drink the cup of humil-
iation to its dregs. The city renounced her claim to nominate
tobishoprics and benefices and tax the clergy without the papal
consent. The Adriatic she was forced to open to general com-
merce. Her envoys, who appeared in Rome to make public
apology for the sins of the proud state, were subjected to
the insult of listening on their knees to a service performed
outside the walls of St. Peter's and lasting an hour; at
every verse of the Miserere the pope and 12 cardinals, each
with a golden rod, touched them. Then, service over, the
doors of the cathedral were thrown open and absolution pro-
1 The expedition is described by de Grassis, the new master of ceremonies
at the papal palace, who accompanied the expedition, and also by -flSgidius of
Viterbo.
§ 55. JULIUS II., THE WARRIOR-POPE. 1503-1513. 471
nounced.1 The next time Venice was laid under the papal
ban, the measure failed.
Julius' plans were next directed against the French, the im-
pudent invaders of Northern Italy and claimants of sov-
ereignty over it. Times had changed since the pope, as cardi-
nalJulian Rovere, had accompanied the French army under
Charles VIII. The absolution of Venice was tantamount to
the pope's withdrawal from the alliance of Cambrai. By mak-
ing Venice his ally, he hoped to bring Ferrara again under the
authority of the holy see. The duchy had flourished under
the warm support of the French.
Julius now made a far- reaching stroke in securing the help of
the Swiss, who had been fighting under the banners of France.
The hardy mountaineers, who now find it profitable to enter-
tain tourists from all over the world, then found it profitable
to sell their services in war. With the aid of their vigorous
countryman, Bishop Schinner of Sitten, afterwards made car-
dinal, the pope contracted for 6,000 Swiss mercenaries for five
years. The localities sending them received 13,000 gulden a
year, and each soldier 6 francs a month, and the officers twice
that sum. As chaplain of the Swiss troops, Zwingli went to
Rome three times, a coursfc of which his patriotism afterwards
made him greatly ashamed. The descendants of these Swiss
mercenaries defended Louis XVI., and their heroism is com-
memorated by Thorwaldsen's lion, cut into the rock at Lucerne.
Swiss guards, dressed in yellow suits, to this day patrol the
approaches and halls of the Vatican.2
1 Pastor, III. 643, contents himself with the simple mention of the abso-
lution of the Venetians, and omits all reference to the humiliating conditions.
The Venetian scribblers let loose their pens against Julius and, among other
charges, made against him the charge of sodomy. Pastor, III. 044, Note.
2 Z wing] Ps friend, Thomas Platter (1499-1582), in speaking in his Auto-
biography of his travels in Germany as a boy to get knowledge and begging
his bread, mentions how willing the people were to give him ear, " for they were
very fond of the Swiss.71 At Breslau a family was ready to adopt him, partly
on this ground. After the defeat of Marignano, 1515, it was a common saying,
BO Platter says, " The Swiss have lost their good luck." On one occasion near
Dresden, after a good dinner, to which he had been treated, he was taken in
to see the mother of the home, who was on her death-bed. She said to Platter
and his Swiss companions, " I have heard so many good things about the
472 THE MIDDLE AGES, A.D. 1294-1617.
The French king, Louis XII. (1498-1515), sought to break
Julius' power by adding to the force of arms the weight of a
religious assembly and, at his instance, the French bishops met
in council at Tours, September, 1510, and declared that the pope
had put aside the keys of St. Peter, which his predecessors had
employed, and seized the sword of Paul. They took the ground
that princes were justified in opposing him with force, even to
withdrawing obedience and invading papal territory.1 As in
the reign of Philip the Fair, so now, moneys were forbidden trans-
ferred from France to Rome, and a call was made by 9 cardinals
for a council to meet at Pisa on Sept. 1st, 1511. This council
of Tours denounced Julius as " the new Goliath," and Louis had
a coin struck off with the motto, I will destroy the name of
Babylon — per dam Babylonia nomen. Calvin, in the year of his
death, sent to Ren£e, duchess of Ferrara, one of these medals
which in his letter, dated Jan. 8, 1564, he declared to be the
finest present he had it in his power to make her. Renee
was the daughter of Louis XII. Julius excommunicated
Alfonso, duke of Ferrara, as a son of iniquity and a root of
perdition. Thus we have the spectacle of the supreme priest
of Christendom and the most Christian king, the First Son of
the Church, again engaged in war with one another.
At the opening of the campaign, Julius was in bed with a
sickness which was supposed to be mortal ; but to the amaze-
ment of his court, he suddenly arose and, in the dead of Winter,
January, 1511, betook himself to the camp of the papal forces.
His promptness of action was in striking contrast to the dila-
tory policy of Louis, who spent his time writing letters and sum-
moning ecclesiastical assemblies when he ought to have been on
the march. From henceforth till his death, the pope wore a
beard, as he is represented in Raphael's famous portrait.2 Snow
covered the ground, but Julius set an example by enduring all
the hardships of the camp. To accomplish the defeat of the
Swiss that I was very anxious to see one before my death." See Whitcomb,
Renaissance Source-Book, p. 108 ; Monroe, Thos. Platter, p. 107.
i Mansi, XXXIL 666-669.
8 Creighton, IV, 123, unguardedly says that Julius was the first pope who
let his beard grow. Many of the early bishops of Rome, as depicted in St. Peter's,
wore beards. So did Clement VII. after him, and other popes.
§ 55. JULIUS II., THE WAKRIOR-POPE. 1603-1613. 473
French, he brought about the Holy League, October, 1511, Spain
and Venice being the other parties. Later, these three allies
were joined by Maximilian and Henry VIII. of England. Henry
had been honored with the Golden Rose. l Henry's act was Eng-
land's first positive entrance upon the field of general European
politics.
In the meantime the French were carrying on the Council of
Pisa. The pope prudently counteracted its influence by call-
ing a council to meet in the Lateran. Christendom was rent
by two opposing ecclesiastical councils as well as by two oppos-
ing armies. The armies met in decisive conflict under the walls
of the old imperial city of Ravenna. The leader of the French,
Gaston de Foix, nephew of the French king, though only 24,
approved himself, in spite of his youth, one of the foremost cap-
tains of his age. Bologna had fallen before his arms, and now
Ravenna yielded to the same necessity after a bloody battle.
The French army numbered 25,000, the army of the League
20,000. In the French camp was the French legate, Cardinal
Sanseverino, mounted and clad in steel armor, his tall form tow-
ering above the rest. Prominent on the side of the allied army
was the papal legate, Cardinal de' Medici, clad in white, and Giu-
lio Medici, afterwards Clement VII. The battle took place on
Easter Day, 1512. Gaston de Foix, thrown to the ground by the
fall of his horse, was put to death by some of the seasoned Span-
ish soldiers whom Gonsalvo had trained. The victor, whose
battle cry was " Let him that loves me follow me," was borne
into the city in his coffin. Rimini, Forli and other cities of the
Romagna opened their gates to the French. Cardinal Medici
was in their hands.
The papal cause seemed to be hopelessly lost, but the spirit
of Julius rose with the defeat. He is reported to have exclaimed,
" I will stake 100,000 ducats and my crown that I will drive the
French out of Italy," and the victory of Ravenna proved to be
another Cannae. The hardy Swiss, whose numbers Cardinal
Schinner had increased to 18,000, and the Venetians pushed the
campaign, and the barbarians, as Julius called the French, were
forced to give up what they had gained, to surrender Milan and
1 See the pope's letter granting it, Mansi, XXXII. 554.
474 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
gradually to retire across the Alps. Parma and Piacenza, by
virtue of the grant of Mathilda, passed into his hands, as did also
Reggio. The victory was celebrated in Rome on an elaborate
scale. Cannons boomed from S. Angelo, and thanks were
given in all the churches. In recognition of their services, the
pope gave to the Swiss two large banners and the permanent
title of Protectors of the Apostolic see — auxiliatores sedis apos-
tolicce. Such was the end of this remarkable campaign.
Julius purchased Siena from the emperor for 30,000 ducats
and, with the aid of the seasoned Spanish troops, took Florence
and restored the Medici to power. In December, 1513, Max-
imilian, who at one time conceived the monstrous idea of com-
bining with his imperial dignity the office of supreme pontiff,
announced his support of the Lateran council, the pope having
agreed to use all the spiritual measures within his reach to se-
cure the complete abasement of Venice. The further execu-
tion of the plans was prevented by the pope's death. In his
last hours, in a conversation with Cardinal Grimani, he pounded
on the floor with his cane, exclaiming, " If God gives me life, I
will also deliver the Neapolitans from the yoke of the Spaniards
and rid the land of them." l
The Pisan council had opened Sept. 1, 1511, with only two
archbishops and 14 bishops present. First and last G cardinals
attended, Carvajal, Brigonnet, Prie, d'Albret, Sanseverino and
Borgia. The Universities of Paris, Toulouse and Poictiers were
represented by doctors. After holding three sessions, it moved
to Milan, where the victory of Ravenna gave it a short breath of
life. When the French were defeated, it again moved to Asti
in Piedmont, where it heldaninth session, and then it adjourned
to Lyons, where it dissolved of itself.2 Hergenrother, Pastor and
other Catholic historians take playful delight in calling the coun-
cil the little council — conciliabulum — and a conventicle, terms
which Julius applied to it in his bulls.8 Among its acts were a
f ulmination against the synod Julius was holding in the Lateran,
and it had the temerity to cite the pope to appear, and even to
declare him deposed from all spiritual and temporal authority.
i Pastor, III. 726. * Hefele-Hergenritther, VIII. 620.
• See Mansi, XXXII. 670.
§ 55. JULIUS II., THE WAItBIOR-POPE. 1603-1613. 475
The synod also reaffirmed the decrees of the 5th session of the
Council of Constance, placing general councils over the pope.
Very different in its constitution and progress was the Fifth
Lateran, the last oecumenical council of the Middle Ages, and
the 18th in the list of oecumenical councils, as accepted by the
Roman Catholic Church. It lasted for nearly five years, and
closed on the eve of the nailing of the XCV theses on the
church door in Wittenberg. It is chiefly notable for what it
failed to do rather than for anything it did. The only one of its
declarations which is of more than temporary interest was the
deliverance, reaffirming Boniface's theory of the supremacy of
the Roman pontiff over all potentates and individuals whatso-
ever.
In his summons calling the council, Julius deposed the cardi-
nals, who had entered into the Pisan synod, as schismatics and
sons of darkness.1 The attendance did not compare in weight
or numbers with the Council of Constance. At the 1st session,
held May 3, 1512, there were present 16 cardinals, 12 patriarchs,
10 archbishops, 70 bishops and 3 generals of orders. The open-
ing address by ^Egidius of Viterbo, general of the Augustinian
order, af ter cl welling upon the recent glorious victories of Julius,
magnified the weapons of light at the council's disposal, piety,
prayers, vows and the breastplate of faith. The council should
devote itself to placating all Christian princes in order that the
arms of the Christian world might be turned against the flagrant
enemy of Christ, Mohammed. The council then declared the
adherents of the Pisan conventicle schismatics and laid France
under the interdict. Julius, who listened to the eloquent ad-
dress, was present at 4 sessions.
At the 2d session, Cajetan dilated at length on the pet papal
theory of the two swords.
In the 4th session, the Venetian, Marcello, pronounced a
eulogy upon Julius which it would be hard to find excelled for
1 A pamphlet war was waged over the council. Among the writers on the
papal side was Thomas de Vio Gaeta, general of the Dominican order and after-
wards famous as Cardinal Cajetan, who had the colloquies with Luther. His
tracts were ordered burnt by Louis XII. He took the ground that no council can
be oecumenical which has not the pope's support. An account of this literary
skirmish is given by Hefele-Hergenrttther, VIII. 470-480.
476 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
fulsome flattery in the annals of oratory. After having borne
intolerable cold, so the eulogist declared, and sleepless nights
and endured sickness in the interests of the Church, and hav-
ing driven the French out of Italy, there remained for the
pontiff the greater triumphs of peace. Julius must be pas-
tor, shepherd, physician, ruler, administrator and, in a word,
another God on earth.1
At the 5th session, held during the pope's last illness, a bull was
read, severely condemning simony at papal elections. The re-
mainingsessionsofthecouncilwereheld under Julius' successor.
When Julius came to die, he was not yet 70. No man of his
time had been an actor in so many stirring scenes. On his death-
bed he called for Paris de Grassis, his master of ceremonies, and
reminded him how little respect had been paid to the bodies of
deceased popes within his recollection. Some of them had been
left indecently nude. He then made him promise to see to it that
he should have decent care and burial.2 The cardinals were sum-
moned. The dying pontiff addressed them first in Latin, and im-
plored them to avoid all simony in the coming election, and re-
minded them that it was for them and not for the council to choose
his successor. He pardoned the schismatic cardinals, but ex-
cluded them from the conclave to follow his death. And then,
as if to emphasize the tie of birth, lie changed to Italian and
besought them to confirm his nephew, the duke of Urbino, in
the possession of Pesaro, and then he bade them farewell. A last
remedy, fluid gold, was administered, but in vain. He died Feb.
20, 1513.*
1 Tu pastor, tu medicus, tu gubernator, tu cultor, tu denique alter Deus in
terris, Mansi, XXXII. 761. Hefele-Hergenrother, VII. 528-531, pronounce this
expression, God on earth, used before by Gregory II., a rhetorical flourish and
nothing more. See also Pastor, III. 725.
a De Grassis reports the rumors abroad concerning the pope's mortal malady.
One of them was the Gallic disease, and another that the pope's stomach had
given way under excessive indulgence. He also speaks of the great number
who went to look at the pope's corpse and to kiss his feet. Dtfllinger, III. 432.
8 A satire, called Julius exclusus, which appeared after the pontiff's death,
represented him as appearing at the gate of heaven with great din and noise.
Peter remarked that, as he was a brave man, had a large army and much gold
and was a busy builder, he might build his own paradise. At the same time the
Apostle reminded him he would have to build the foundations deep and strong
§ 55. JULIUS II., THE WARRIOR-POPE. 1603-1513. 477
The scenes which ensued were very different from those
which followed upon the death of Alexander VI. A sense of
awe and reverence filled the city. The dead pontiff was looked
upon as a patriot, and his services to civil order in Rome and
its glory counterbalanced his deficiencies as a priest of God.1
It was of vast profit that the Vatican had been free from the
domestic scandals which had filled it so long. From a worldly
standpoint, Julius had exalted the papal throne to the eminence
of the national thrones of Europe. In the terrific convulsion
which Luther's onslaughts produced, the institution of the
papacy might have fallen in ruins had not Julius re-established
it by force of arms. But in vain will the student look for
signs that Julius II. had any intimation of the new religious
reforms which the times called for and Luther began. What
measures this pope, strong in will and bold in execution, might
have employed if the movement in the North had begun in his
day, no one can surmise. The monk of Erfurt walked the streets
of Rome during this pontificate for the first and only time.
While Luther was ascending the scala santa on his knees and
running about to the churches, wishing his parents were in
purgatory that he might pray them out, Julius was having per-
to resist the assaults of the devil. Julius retorted by peremptorily giving Peter
three weeks to open heaven to him. In case he refused, he would open siege
against him with 60,000 men. This recalls a story Dr. Philip Schaff used to
tell of Gregory XVI., with whom, as a young graduate of Berlin, he had an audi-
ence. Gregory had a reputation witli the Romans for being a connoisseur of
wines. At his death, so the Roman wits reported, he appeared at the gate
of heaven and, drawing out his keys, tried to unlock the gate. The keys would
not fit. Peter, hearing the noise, looked out and, seeing the bunch of keys,
told his vicar that he had brought with him by mistake the keys to his wine
cellar, and must return to his palace and get the right set.
1 Guicciardini pronounces Julius a priest only in name. A letter dated
Home, Feb. 24, 1513, and quoted by Brosch, p. 868, has this statement, hie
pontifex nos omnes, omnem Italiam a Barbarorvm et Gallorum mantbus eri-
puit, an expression used by ^pdius and Marcello before the Lateran council.
See also Paris de Grassis in Dollinger, p. 432. Pastor, III. 732, and Hergen-
rtither, Conciliengesch., VIII. 535, justify Julius1 attention to war on the ground
that he was fighting in a righteous cause and for possessions he had held as
temporal prince ever since the 8th century. The right of a pope to defend the
papal state is inherent in the very existence of a papal state. Even a saint,
Leo IX., urges Pastor, p. 741, followed the camp.
478 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
fected a magnificently jewelled tiara costing 200,000 ducats,
which he put on for the first time on the anniversary of his coro-
nation, 1511. These two men, both of humble beginnings,
would have been more a match for each other than Luther and
Julius' successor, the Medici, the man of luxurious culture.1
Under Julius II . the papal finances flourished. Great as were
the expenditures of his campaigns, he left plate and coin esti-
mated to be worth 400,000 ducats. A portion of this fund was
the product of the sale of indulgences. He turned the forgive-
ness of sins for the present time and in purgatory into a matter
of merchandise.2
In another place, Julius will be presented from the standpoint
of art and culture, whose splendid patron he was. What man
ever had the privilege of bringing together three artists of such
consummate genius as Bramante, Michael Angelo and Raph-
ael! His portrait in the Pitti gallery, Florence, forms a rich
study for those who seek in the lines and colors of Raphael's art
the secret of the pontiff's power.8 The painter has represented
Julius as an old man with beard, and with his left hand grasping
the arm of the chair in which he sits. His fingers wear jewelled
rings. The forehead is high, the lips firmly pressed, the eyes
betokening weariness, determination and commanding energy.
In the history of the Western Continent, Julius also has some
place. In 1504 he created an archbishopric and two bishoprics
of Hispaniola, or Hayti. The prelates to whom they were as-
signed never crossed the seas. Seven years later, 1511, he re-
voked these creations and established the sees of San Domingo
and Concepcion de la Vega on the island of Hayti and the see of
San Juan in Porto Rico, all three subject to the metropolitan
supervision of the see of Seville.
* See Ranke : Hist, of the Popes, I. 35.
3 Pastor, III. 675, condemns Julius under this head, tadelnswerth erscheint
dass das Ablassgeschdjt vielfach zu einer Finanzoperation wurde.
8 An original cartoon of this portrait is preserved in the Corsini palace,
Florence. In 1889 1 met Professor Weizsacker of Ttibingen in Florence stand-
ing before Julius* portrait and studying it. I bad been with him in his home
before he started on his journey, and be told me that one of the chief pleas-
ures which he was anticipating from his Italian trip was the study of that
portrait of one of the most vigorous — thatkrdftig — of the popes.
§ 56. LEO X. 1518-1621. 479
§ 56. Leo X. 1513-1521.
The warlike Julius II. was followed on the pontifical throne
by the voluptuary, Leo X., — the prelate whose iron will and
candid mind compel admiration by a prince given to the pur-
suit of pleasure and an adept in duplicity. Leo loved ease
and was without high aims. His Epicurean conception of the
supreme office of Christendom was expressed in a letter he
sent a short time after his election to his brother Julian. In
it were these words, " Let us enjoy the papacy, for God has
given it to us." l The last pontificate of the Middle Ages cor-
responded to the worldly philosophy of the pontiff. Leo wanted
to have a good time. The idea of a spiritual mission never
entered his head. No effort was made, emanating from the
Vatican, to further the interests of true religion.
Born in Florence, Dec. 11, 1475, Giovanni de' Medici, the seo-
ondsonof Lorenzo the Magnificent, had every opportunity which
family distinction, wealth and learned tutors, such as Poliziano,
could give. At 7 he received the tonsure, and at once the world
of ecclesiastical preferment was opened to the child. Louis
XI. of France presented him with the abbey of Fonte Dolce,
and at 8 he was nominated to the archbishopric of Aix, the
nomination, however, not being confirmed. A canonry in each
of the cathedral churches of Tuscany was set apart for him,
and his appointments soon reached the number of 27, one of
them being the abbacy of Monte Cassino, and another the office
of papal pronotary.2
The highest dignities of the Church were in store for the
lad and, before he had reached the age of 14, he was made
cardinal-deacon by Innocent VIII., March 9, 1489. Three
1 These words are upon the testimony of the contemporary ambassador,
Marino Giorgi, and cannot be set aside. Similar testimony is given by a biog-
rapher of Leo in Cod. Vat., 3920, which Dollmger quotes, Fapstthum, p. 484,
and which runs volo ut pontificatu isto quam rtiaxime perfruamur. Pastor, IV.
353, while trying to break the force of the testimony for Leo's words, pro-
nounces the love of pleasure a fundamental and insatiable element of bis
nature — ein e unersdttliehe Vergntigungsauckti etc. Hef ele-K nopfler, Kirchen-
gesch , p. 488, speak in the same vein when they say, Des neuen Papstes vorzilg-
lichstes Ntrtben gait heiterem Lebensgenuss, etc.
a See Vaughan, p. 13 sq.
480 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1204-1617.
years later, March 8, 1492, Giovanni received in Rome formal
investment into the prerogatives of his office. The letter, which
Lorenzo wrote on this latter occasion, is full of the affectionate
counsels of a father and the prudent suggestions of the tried
man of the world, and belongs in a category with the letters
of Lord Chesterfield to his son. Lorenzo reminded Giovanni
of his remarkable fortune in being made a prince of the church,
all the more remarkable because he was not only the youngest
member of the college of cardinals, but the first cardinal to
receive the dignity at so tender an age. With pardonable
pride, he spoke of it as the highest honor ever conferred upon
the Medicean house. He warned his son that Rome was the
sink of all iniquities and exhorted him to lead a virtuous life,
to avoid ostentation, to rise early, an admonition the son never
followed, and to use his opportunities to serve his native city.
Lorenzo died a few months later.1 Forthwith the young prel-
ate was appointed papal legate to Tuscany, with residence in
his native city.
When Julius died, Giovanni de' Medici was only 37. In
proceeding to Rome, he was obliged to be carried in a litter,
on account of an ulcer for which an operation was performed
during the meeting of the conclave. Giovanni, who belonged
to the younger party, had won many friends by his affable
manners and made no enemies, and his election seems to have
been secured without any special effort on his part. The great-
grandson of the banker, Cosimo, chose the name of Leo X.
He was consecrated to the priesthood March 17, 1513, and to
the episcopate March 19. The election was received by the
Romans with every sign of popular approval. On the festivi-
ties of the coronation 100,000 ducats, or perhaps as much as
150,000 ducats, were expended, a sum which the frugality of
Julius had stored up.
The procession was participated in by 250 abbots, bishops
and archbishops. Alfonso of Este, whom Julius II. had ex-
communicated, led the pope's white horse, the same one he
had ridden the year before at Ravenna. On the houses and
lrThe famous letter is given by Roscoe, Bohn's ed., pp. 286-288, and
Vaughan, p. 23 sqq.
POPE LEO X
§ 56. LEO X. 1613-1621. 481
on the arches, spanning the streets, might be seen side by side
statues of Cosmas and Damian, the patrons of the Medicean
house, and of the Olympian gods and nymphs, On one arch
at the Piazza di Parione were depicted Perseus, Apollo, Moses
and Mercury, sacred and mythological characters conjoined,
as Alexander Severus joined the busts of Abraham and Or-
pheus in his palace in the third century. A bishop, afterwards
Cardinal Andrea della Valle, placed on his arch none but an-
cient divinities, Apollo, Bacchus, Mercury, Hercules and Venus,
together with fauns and Ganymede. Antonio of San Marino,
the silversmith, decorated his house with a marble statue of
Venus, under which were inscribed the words —
Mars ruled ; then Pallas, but Venus will rule forever. l
As a ruler, Leo had none of the daring and strength of his
predecessor. He pursued a policy of opportunism and stooped
to the practice of duplicity with his allies as well as with his
enemies. On all occasions he was ready to shift to the win-
ning side. To counteract the designs of the French upon
Northern Italy, he entered with Maximilian, Henry VIII. and
Ferdinand of Spain into the treaty of Mechlin, April 5, 1513.
He had the pleasure of seeing the French beaten by Henry
VIII. at the battle of the Spurs 2 and again driven out of Italy
by the bravery of the Swiss at Novara, June 6. Louis easily
yielded to the pope's advances for peace and acknowledged the
authority of the Late ran council. The deposed cardinals, Car-
vajal and Sanseverino, who had been active in the Pisan coun-
cil, signed a humiliating confession and were reinstated. Leo
1 See Schulte, p. 198 sq., and Reumont, III., part II., p. 67. In front of the
house of the banker, Agostino Chigi, were seen two persons representing Apollo
and Mercury, and two little Moore, together with the inscription —
Olim habuit Cypria sua tempora, tempera Mavors
Olim habuit, sua nunc tempora Pallas habet.
The goddess of Cyprus had her day and also Mars,
But now Minerva reigns.
a August 16, 1513. The Scotch king, James IV., who had married Henry's
sister, Margaret, joined the French. The memorable defeat at Flodden fol-
lowed, Sept. 9, 1613. James and the flower of the Scotch nobility fell. Leo
recognized Henry's victories by conferring upon him the consecrated sword
and hat which it was the pope's custom to set aside on Christmas day.
2i
482 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
remarked to them that they were like the sheep in the Gos-
pel which was lost and was found. A secret compact, entered
into between the pontiff and King Louis, and afterwards joined
by Henry VIII., provided for the French king's marriage
with Mary Tudor, Henry's younger sister, and the recognition
of his claims in Northern Italy. But at the moment these
negotiations were going on, Leo was secretly engaged in the
attempt to divorce Venice from the French and to defeat the
French plans for the reoccupation of Milan. Louis' career
was suddenly cut short by death, Jan. 1, 1515, at the age of
52, three months after his nuptials with Mary, who was six-
teen at the time of her marriage.
The same month Leo came to an understanding with Max-
imilian and Spain, whereby Julian de' Medici, the pope's brother,
should receive Parma, Piacenza and Reggio. Leo purchased
Modena from the emperor for 40,000 ducats, and was sending
60,000 ducats monthly for the support of the troops of his
secret allies.
At the very same moment, faithless to his Spanish allies, the
pope was carrying on negotiations with Venice to drive them
out of Italy.
Louis' son-in-law and successor, Francis I., a warlike and
enterprising prince, held the attention of Europe for nearly a
quarter of a century with his campaigns against Charles V.,
whose competitor he was for the imperial crown. Carrying
out Louis' plans, and accompanied by an army of 35,000 men
with 60 cannon, he marched in the direction of Milan, inflicting
at Marignano, Sept., 1515, a disastrous defeat upon the 20,000
Swiss mercenaries.1 At the first news of the disaster, Leo was
thrown into consternation, but soon recovered his composure,
exclaiming in the presence of the Venetian ambassador, " We
1 The battle is vividly described by D. J. Dierauer, Gesch. der schweizer-
ischen Eidgenossenschafl, 2 vols., Gotha, 1892, vol. II. 461 sqq. On the sec-
ond day of the battle, the arrival of the Venetian troops gave victory to the
French. Of the 12,000 left on the field dead, the most were Swiss. Before
entering the battle, as was their custom, the mountaineers engaged in prayer,
and the leader, Steiner of Zug, after repeating the usual formula of devotion
unto death, threw, in the name of the Trinity, a handful of earth over his
fellow-soldiers1 heads.
§ 56. LEO X. 1513-1521. 483
shall have to put ourselves into the hands of the king and cry
out for mercy." The victory, was the reply, "will not inure
to your hurt or the damage of the Apostolic see. The French
king is a son of the Church." And so it proved to be. Without
a scruple, as it would seem, the pope threw off his alliances
with the emperor and Ferdinand and hurried to get the best
terms he could from Francis.
They met at Bologna. Conducted by 20 cardinals, Francis
entered Leo's presence and, uncovering his head, bowed three
times and kissed the pontiff's hand and foot. Leo wore a tiara
glittering with gems, and a mantle, heavy with cloth of gold.
The French orator set forth how the French kings from time
immemorial had been protectors of the Apostolic see, and how
Francis had crossed the mountains and rivers to show his sub-
mission. For three days pontiff and king dwelt together in
the same palace. It was agreed that Leo yield up Parma and
Piacenza to the French, and a concordat was worked out which
took the place of the Pragmatic Sanction. This document,
dating from the Council of Basel, and ratified by the synod of
Bourges, placed the nomination to all French bishoprics, abbeys
and priories in the hands of the king, and this clause the con-
cordat preserved. On the other band, the clauses in the Prag-
matic Sanction were omitted which made the pope subject to
general councils and denied to him the right to collect annates
from French benefices higher and lower.
The election of a successor to the emperor Maximilian, who
died Jan., 1519, put Leo's diplomacy to the severest test.
Ferdinand the Catholic, who had seen the Moorish domination
in Spain come to an end and the Americas annexed to his
crown, and had been invested by Julius II. in 1510 with the
kingdom of Naples, died in 1516, leaving his grandson, Charles,
heir to his dominions. Now, by the death of his paternal grand-
father Maximilian, Charles was heir of the Netherlands and the
lands of the Hapsburgs and natural claimant of the imperial
crown. Leo preferred Francis, but Charles had the right of
lineage and the support of the German people. To prevent
Charles' election, and to avoid the ill-will of Francis, he agitated
through his legate, Cajetan, the election of either Frederick the
484 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
Wise, elector of Saxony, or the elector of Brandenburg. Secretly
he entered into the plans of Francis and allowed the archbishops
of Treves and Cologne to be assured of their promotion to the
sacred college, provided they would cast their electoral vote for
the French king. But to be sure of his ground, no matter who
might be elected, Leo entered also into a secret agreement with
Charles. Both candidates had equal reason for believing they
had the pope on their side.1 Finally, when it became evident
that Francis was out of the race, and after the electors had
already assembled in Frankfurt, Leo wrote to Cajetan that
it was no use beating one's head against the wall and that he
should fall in with the election of Charles. Leo had stipulated
100,000 ducats as the price of his support of Charles.8 He
sent a belated letter of congratulation to the emperor-elect,
which was full of tropical phrases, and in 1521, at the Diet of
Worms, the assembly before which Luther appeared, he con-
cluded with Charles an alliance against his former ally, Francis.
The agreement included the reduction of Milan, Parma and
Piacenza. The news of the success of Charles' troops in tak-
ing these cities reached Leo only a short time before his death,
Dec. 1. 1521. For the cause of Protestantism, the papal alli-
ance with the emperor against France proved to be highly
favorable, for it necessitated the emperor's absence from Ger-
many.
In his administration of the papacy, Leo X. was not unmind-
ful of the interests of his family. Julian, his younger brother,
was made gonfalonier of the Church, and was married to the
sister of Francis I.'s mother. For a time he was in possession
of Parma, Piacenza and Reggio. Death terminated his career,
1516. His only child, the illegitimate Hippolytus, d. 1535,
was afterwards made cardinal.
The worldly hopes of the Medicean dynasty now centred in
Lorenzo de' Medici, the son of Leo's older brother. After the
1 Pastor, IV. 185 sq., strongly condemns Leo's two-tongued diplomacy,
doppelztingiges Verhalten. Leo's brief, authorizing Francis to make a promise
of red hats to the two archbishops, is dated March 12, 1510.
8 One-half was to be paid in cash and the other half to be deposited with
the Taggers, Schulte, p. 196.
§ 56. LEO X. 1613-1621. 485
deposition of Julius' nephew, he was invested with the duchy
of Urbino. In 1518 he was married to Madeleine de la Tour
d'Auvergne, a member of the royal house of France. Leo's
presents to the marital pair were valued at 300,000 ducats,
among them being a bedstead of tortoise-shell inlaid with
mother-of-pearl and precious stones. They took up their
abode at Florence, but both husband and wife died a year after
the marriage, leaving behind them a daughter who, as Cath-
erine de' Medici, became famous in the history of France and
the persecution of the Huguenots. With Lorenzo's death, the
last descendant of the male line of the house founded by Cosimo
de' Medici became extinct.
In 1513 Leo admitted his nephew, Innocent Cibo, and his
cousin, Julius, to the sacred college. Innocent Cibo, a young
man of 21, was the son of Franceschetto Cibo, Innocent VIII. 's
son, and Maddelina de' Medici, Leo's sister. His low morals
made him altogether unfit for an ecclesiastical dignity. Julius
de' Medici, afterwards Clement VII., was the bastard son of
Leo's uncle, who was killed in the Pazzi conspiracy under Sixtus
IV., 1478. The impediment of the illegitimate birth was re-
moved by a papal decree.1 Two nephews, Giovanni Salviatiand
Nicolas Ridolfi, sons of two of Leo's sisters, were also vested with
the red hat, 1517. On this occasion Leo appointed no less than
thirty-one cardinals. Among them were Cajetan, the learned
general of the Dominicans, -^Egidius of Viterbo, who had won
an enviable fame by his address opening the Lateran council,
and Adrian of Utrecht, Leo's successor in the papal chair. Of
the number was Alfonso of Portugal, a child of 7, but it was un-
derstood he was not to enter upon the duties of his office till he
had reached the age of 14. Among the other appointees were
princes entirely unworthy of any ecclesiastical office.2
The Vatican was thrown into a panic in 1517 by a conspiracy
1 The investigation, started by Leo, resulted in making it appear that Julius*
mother, Floreta, and his father had agreed to regard themselves as married,
though a formal service was wanting.
2 Silvio Passerini, one of the fortunate candidates, was a prince of benefice-
hunters. Pastor, IV. 130, gives fifty-five notices of benefices bestowed on him
from Leo's Regesta He calls the list of the places he received as wahrhajl
erachreckend, u something terrifying.19
486 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
directed by Cardinal Petrucci of Siena, one of the younger set
of cardinals with whom the pope had been intimate. Embittered
by Leo'sinterference in his brother's administration of Siena and
by the deposition of the duke of Urbino, Petrucci plotted to have
the pope poisoned by a physician, Battesta de V ercelli, a special-
ist on ulcers. The plot was discovered, and Petrucci, who came
to Rome on a safe-conduct procured from the pope by the Span-
ish ambassador, was cast into the Marroco, the deepest dungeon
of S. Angelo. On being reminded of the safe-conduct, Leo re-
plied to the ambassador that no one was safe who was a poisoner.
Cardinals Sauli and Riario were entrapped and also thrown into
the castle-dungeons. Two other cardinals were suspected of
being in the plot, but escaped. Petrucci and the physician were
strangled to death ; Riario and Sauli were pardoned. Riario,
who had witnessed the dastardly assassination in the cathedral
of Florence 40 years before, was the last prominent representa-
tive of the family of Sixtus IV. Torture brought forth the
confession that the plotters contemplated making him pope.
Leo set the price of the cardinal's absolution high,— 150,000
ducats to be paid in a year, and another 150,000 to be paid
by his relatives in case Riario left his palace. He finally se-
cured the pope's permission to leave Rome, and died, 1521, at
Naples.
One of the sensational pageants which occurred during Leo's
pontificate was on the arrival of a delegation from Portugal,
1514,to announce to the pope the obedience of its king, Emman-
uel. The king sent a large number of presents, among them
horses from Persia, a young panther, two leopards and a white
elephant. The popular jubilation over the procession of the
wild beasts reached its height when the elephant, taking water
into his proboscis, spurted it over the onlookers.1 In recogni-
tion of the king's courtesy, the pope vested in Portugal all the
lands west of Capes Bojador and Non to the Indies.
The Fifth Lateran resumed its sessions in April, 151 3, a month
after Leo's election. The council ratified the concordat with
France, and at the 8th session, Dec. 19, 1513, solemnly affirmed
1 The elephant became the subject of quite an extensive literature, poets join-
ing others in setting forth his peculiarities. See Pastor, IV. 52, Note.
§ 56. LEO X. 1618-1521. 487
the doctrine of the soul's immortality.1 The affirmation was
called forth by the scepticism of the Arabic philosophers and the
Italian pantheists. A single vote recorded against the decree
came from the bishop of Bergamo, who took the ground that it
is not the business of theologians to spend their time sitting in
judgment upon the theories of philosophers.
The invention of printing was recognized by the council as a
gift from heaven intended for the glory of God and the propaga-
tion of good science, but the legitimate printing of books was
restricted to such as might receive the sanction of the master of
the palace in Rome or, elsewhere, by the sanction of the bishop
or inquisitors who were charged with examining the contents
of books.2 The condemnation of all books, distasteful to the
hierarchy, was already well under way.
The council approved the proposed Turkish crusade and
levied a tenth on Christendom. Its collection was forbidden
in England by Henry VIII. Cajetan presented the cause in an
eloquent address at the Diet of Augsburg, 1518. Altogether
the most significant of the council's deliverances was the bull,
Pater aternus, labelled as approved by its authority and sent
out by Leo, 151G.8 Here the position is reaffirmed — the po-
sition taken definitely by Pius II. and SixtusIV. — that it is
given to the Roman pontiff to have authority over all Church
councils and to appoint, transfer and dissolve them at will.
This famous deliverance expressly renewed and ratified the
constitution of Boniface VIII., the Unam sanctum, asserting it
1 The concordat met with serious resistance in France both from parliament
and the University of Paris on the ground that it set aside the decisions of the
Councils of Constance and Basel on the question of conciliar authority, and thus
overthrew the Galilean liberties. The rector of the university forbade the uni-
versity printer issuing the document, but he was brought to time by Leo in-
structing his legate to pronounce censure against him and the university, who
"thinking themselves to be wise, had become fools."
3 Perpetuis futuris temporibus, nullus librum aliquem seu hliam quamcun-
que scripturam tarn in urbe nostra quam aliis quibusvis civitatibus et diocesi-
bus imprimere seu imprimi facere prcKsumat, Mansi, XXXII. 912 sq. Also In
part in Mirbt, p. 177.
8 tfacro concilia approbante. Do'llinger, Papstthum, p. 185, affirms that, in
far-reaching significance, no other rule ever passed in a Roman synod equals
this bull.
488 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
to be altogether necessary to salvation for all Christians to be
subject to the Roman pontiff.1 To this was added the atro-
cious declaration that disobedience to the pope is punishable
with death. Innocent III. had quoted Deut. 17 : 12 in favor
of this view, falsifying the translation of the Vulgate, which he
made to read, " that whoever does not submit himself to the
judgment of the high-priest, him shall the judge put to death."
The council, in separating the quotations, falsely derived it
from the Book of the Kings.2
Nor should it be overlooked that in his bull the infallible
Leo X. certified to a falsehood when he expressly declared that
the Fathers, in the ancient councils, in order to secure confirma-
tion for their decrees, u humbly begged the pope's approba-
tion." This he affirmed of the councils of Nice, 325, Ephesus,
Chalcedon, Constantinople, 680, and Nice, 787. 214 years be-
fore, when Boniface VIII. issued his bull, Philip the Fair was
at hand to resist it. The French sovereign now on the throne,
Francis I., made no dissent. The concordat had just been rati-
fied by the council.
The council adjourned March 16, 1517, a bare majority of
two votes being for adjournment. Writers of Gallican sym-
pathies have denied its oecumenical character. On the other
hand, Cardinal Hergenrother regrets that the Church has taken
a position to it of a stepmother to her child. Pastor says there
was already legislation enough before the Fifth Lateran sat
to secure all the reforms needed. Not laws but action was re-
quired. Funk expresses the truth when he says, what the
council did for Church reform is hardly worth noting down.8
In passing judgment upon Leo X., the chief thing to be said
is that he was a worldling. Religion was not a serious mat-
ter with him. Pleasure was his daily concern, not piety. He
gave no earnest thought to the needs of the Church. It would
1 Mansi, XXXII. 968 ; Mirbt, p. 178. Solum Bom. pontiftcem auctorita-
tem super omnia concilia habentem et conciliorum indicendorum transferrn-
dorum ac dissolvendorum plenum jus ft potestatem habere . . . et cum de ne-
cessitate salutis existat omnes Christi fldeles Romano pontiflci subesse, etc.
a Petrt successores . . . quibusex libri Regum testimonio Ua obedire necesse
eat, ut qui non obedierit, morte moriatur.
8 Kirchengesck., p. 888.
§ 56. LEO X. 1613-1321. 489
scarcely be possible to lay more stress upon this feature in the
life of Louis XIV., or Charles II., than does Pastor in his
treatment of Leo's career. Reumont l says it did not enter
Leo's head that it was the task and duty of the papacy to
regenerate itself, and so to regenerate Christendom. Leo's
personal habits are not a matter of conjecture. They lie before
us in a number of contemporary descriptions. In his reverend
regard for the papal office, Luther did Leo an unintentional
injustice when he compared him to Daniel among the lions.
The pope led the cardinals in the pursuit of pleasure and in
extravagance in the use of money. To one charge, unchaste-
ness, Leo seems not to have exposed himself. How far this
was a virtue, or how far it was forced upon him by nature,
cannot be said.
The qualities, with which nature endowed him, remained
with him to the end. He was good-humored, affable and ac-
cessible. He was often found playing chess or cards with his
cardinals. At the table he was usually temperate, though he
spent vast sums in the entertainment of others. He kept a
monk capable of swallowing a pigeon at one mouthful and 40
eggs at a sitting. To his dress he gave much attention, and
delighted to adorn his fingers with gems.
The debt art owes to Leo X. may be described in another
place. Rome became what Paris afterwards was, the centre
of luxury, art and architectural improvement. The city grew
with astonishing rapidity. " New buildings," said an orator,
" are planted every day. Along the Tiber and on the Janic-
ular hill new sections arise." Luigi Gradenigo, the Venetian
ambassador, reports that in the ten years following Leo's elec-
tion, 10,000 buildings had been put up by persons from North-
ern Italy. The palaces of bankers, nobles and cardinals were
filled with the richest furniture of the world. Artists were
drawn from France and Spain as well as Italy, and every kind
of personality who could afford amusement to others.
The Vatican was the resort of poets, musicians, artists, and
also of actors and buffoons. Leo joined in their conversation
and laughed at their wit. He even vied with the poets in
* III., part II., p. 128.
490 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
making verses off-hand. Musical instruments ornamented
with gold and silver he purchased in Germany. With almost
Oriental abandon he allowed himself to be charmed with en-
tertainments of all sorts.
Among Leo's amusements the chase took a leading place,
though it was forbidden by canonical law to the clergy. For-
tunately for his reputation, he was not bound, as pope, by
canon law. As Louis XIV. said, "I am the state," so the pope
might have said, " I am the canon law." Portions of the year
he passed booted and spurred. He fished in the lake of Bol-
sena and other waters. He takes an inordinate pleasure in
the chase, wrote the Venetian ambassador. He hunted in the
woods of Viterbo and Nepi and in the closer vicinity of Rome,
but with most pleasure at his hunting villa, Magliana. He
reserved for his own use a special territory. The hunting
parties were often large.1 At a meet, prepared by Alexan-
der Farnese, the pope found himself in the midst of 18 cardi-
nals, besides other prelates, musicians, actors and servants.
A pack of sixty or seventy dogs aided the hunters. Magliana
was five miles from Rome, on the Tiber. This favorite pleas-
ure castle is now a desolate farmhouse. In strange contrast
to his own practice, the pope, at the appeal of the king of
Portugal, forbade the privileges of the chase to the Portu-
guese clergy.
The theatre was another passion to which Leo devoted him-
self. He attended plays in the palaces of the cardinals and
rich bankers and in S. Angelo, and looked on as they were per-
formed in the Vatican itself. Bibbiena, one of the favorite
members of his cabinet, was a writer of salacious comedies.
One of these, the Calandria^ Leo witnessed performed in
1514 in his palace. The ballet was freely danced in some of
these plays, as in the lascivious Suppositi by Ariosto, played
before the pope in S. Angelo on Carnival Sunday. Another
of the plays was the Mandragola, by Machiavelli, to modern
performances of which in Florence young people are not ad-
1 Pastor, who gives eight solid pages, IV. 407-415, to an account of Leo's
hunting expeditions, speaks of his passion for the chase as his leidenschaflliche
Jagdliebkaberci.
§ 56. LEO X. 1513-1621. 491
mitted.1 An account given of one of these plays by the am-
bassador of Ferrara, Paolucci, represented a girl pleading with
Venus for a lover. At once, eight monks appeared on the
scene in their gray mantles. Venus bade the girl give them
a potion. Amor then awoke the sleepers with his arrow.
The monks danced round Amor and made love to the girl.
At last they threw aside their monastic garb and all joined
in a moresca. On the girl's asking what they could do with
their arms, they fell to fighting, and all succumbed except
one, and he received the girl as the prize of his prowess.2
And Leo was the high-priest of Christendom, the professed
successor of Peter the Apostle I
Festivities of all sorts attracted the attention of the good-
natured pope. With 14 cardinals he assisted at the marriage
of the rich Sienese banker, Agostino Chigi, to his mistress.
The entertainment was given at Chigi's beautiful house, the
Farnesina. This man was considered the most fortunate banker
of his day in Rome. The kings of Spain and France and
princes of Germany sent him presents, and sought from him
loans. Even the sultan was said to have made advances for
his friendship. His income was estimated at 70,000 ducats a
year, and he left behind him 800,000 ducats. This Croesus was
only fifty-five when death separated him from his fortune. At
one of his banquets, the gold plates were thrown through the
windows into the Tiber after they were used at the table, but
fortunately they were saved from loss by being caught in a
net which had been prepared for them. On another occa-
sion, when Leo and 13 cardinals were present, each found his
own coat-of-arms on the silver dishes he used. At Agostino's
marriage festival, Leo held the bride's hand while she received
the ring on one of her fingers. The pontiff then baptized
one of Chigi's illegitimate children. Cardinals were not
ashamed to dine with representatives of the demi-monde, as
at a banquet given by the banker Lorenzo Strozzi.8 But in
* Vaughan, p. 177. a See Reumont, III, Part II., 134 sq.
1 Sanuto, as quoted by Pastor, IV. 384. For some of the entertainments
given by Cardinal Riario Cornaro, see Vaughan, p. 186 sqq. At one of the
banquets given by Cardinal Cornaro, sixty-five courses were served, three
492 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
scandals of this sort Alexander's pontificate could not well
be outdone.
With the easy unconcern of a child of the world, spoiled by
fortune, the light-hearted de' Medici went on his way as if the
resources of the papal treasury were inexhaustible. Julius was
a careful financier. Leo's finances were managed by incom-
petent favorites.1 In 1517 his annual income is estimated to
have been nearly 600,000 ducats. Of this royal sum, 420,000
ducats were drawn from state revenues and mines. The alum
deposits at Tolfa yielded 40,000; Ravenna and the salt mines
of Cervia, 60,000 ; the river rents in Rome, 60,000 ; and the
papal domains of Spoleto, Ancona and the Romagna, 150,000.
According to another contemporary, the papal exchequer re-
ceived 160,000 ducats from ecclesiastical sources. The ven-
dable offices at the pope's disposal at the time of his death
numbered 2,150, yielding the enormous yearly income of
328,000 ducats.2
Two years after Leo assumed the pontificate, the financial
problem was already a serious one. All sorts of measures had
to be invented to increase the papal revenues and save the
treasury from hopeless bankruptcy. By augmenting the num-
ber of the officials of the Tiber — porzionari di ripa — from 141
to 612, 286,000 ducats were secured. The enlargement of the
colleges of the cubiculari and scudieri, officials of the Vatican,
brought in respectively 90,000 and 11 2,000 ducats more. From
the erection of the order of the Knights of St. Peter, — cava-
lieri di Scm Pietro, — with 401 members, the considerable sum
of 400,000 ducats was realized, 1,000 ducats from each knight.
The sale of indulgences did not yield what it once did, but the
dishes to each course, and all served on silver. Such devices as a huge pie,
from which blackbirds or nightingales flew forth, or dishes of peacocks' tails,
or a construction of pastry from which a child would emerge to say a piece,
— these were some of the inventions prepared for the amusement of guests
at the tables of members of the sacred college.
1 Vettori, a contemporary, as quoted by Villari, IV. 4, says, "It was no
more possible for his Holiness to keep 1,000 ducats than it is for a stone to
fly upwards of itself." Villari, IV. 46, gives a list of Leo's enormous debts.
2 These two lists of figures are taken from the Venetian ambassadors,
Giorgi and Gradenigo. Schulta, Die Fugger, p. 97 sq , gives many cases of
the payment of annates and the servitia through the Fuggers.
§ 56. LEO X. 1513-1521. 493
revenue from this source was still large.1 The highest eccle-
siastical offices were for sale, as in the reign of Alexander.
Cardinal Innocent Cibo paid 30,000 ducats or, as another report
went, 40,000, for his hat, and Francesco Armellini bought his
for twice that amount.2
The shortages were provided for by resort to the banker and
the usurer and to rich cardinals. Loan followed loan. Not
only were the tapestries of the Vatican and the silver plate
given as securities, but ecclesiastical benefices, the gems of the
papal tiara and the rich statues of the saints were put in pawn.
Sometimes the pope paid 20 per cent for sums of 10,000 ducats
and over.8 It occasions no surprise that Leo's death was fol-
lowed by a financial collapse, and a number of cardinals passed
into bankruptcy, including Cardinal Pucci, who had lent the
pope 150,000 ducats. From the banker, Bernado Bini, Leo had
gotten 200,000 ducats. His debts were estimated as high as
800,000 ducats. It was a common joke that Leo squandered
three pontificates, the legacy Julius left and the revenues of
his successor's pontificate, as well as the income of his own.
For the bankers and all sorts of money dealers the Medicean
period was a flourishing time in Rome. No less than 30 Flor-
entines are said to have opened banking institutions in the city,
and, at the side of the Fuggers and Welsers, did business with
the curia. The Florentines found it to be a good thing to have
a Medicean pope, and swarmed about the Vatican as the Span-
iards had done in the good days of Calixtus III. and Alexan-
der VI., the Sienese, during the reign of Pius II., and the
Ligurians while Sixtus IV. of Savona was pope. They stormed
the gates of patronage, as if all the benefices of the Church were
intended for them.4
' Schulte, I. 174, 223 sqq.
3 Pastor, IV. 368, has said, Um Geld herbeizuschaffen schreckte man vor
keinem Mittel zuriick. Dollinger, Papstthum, p. 485, quotes a contemporary
as saying ea tempestate Roma, sacra omnia venalia crant, etc.
8 These figures are given by Schulte, I. 224-227, upon the basis of Sanuto
and other contemporary writers. The ill odor of usury was avoided by repre-
senting the charges of the bankers as gifts.
4 Pastor, IV. 371, in bis striking way says, Der Zudrang der Florentiner in
derersten Zeit dieses Pontificate war ein enormer. Die Begehrlichke # dieser
494 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
Leo's father, Lorenzo, said of his three sons that Piero was
a fool, Giuliano was good and Giovanni shrewd. The last
characterization was true to the facts. Leo X. was shrewd,
the shrewdness being of the kind that succeeds in getting tem-
porary personal gain, even though it be by the sacrifice of high
and accessible ends. His amiability and polish of manners
made him friends and secured for him the tiara. He was not
altogether a degenerate personality like Alexander VI., capa-
ble of all wickedness. But his outlook never went beyond
his own pleasures. The Vatican was the most luxurious court
in Europe ; it performed no moral service for the world. The
love of art with Leo was the love of color, of outline, of beauty
such as a Greek might have had, not a taste controlled by re-
gard for spiritual grace and aims. In his treatment of the
European states and the Italian cities, his diplomacy was
marked by dissimulation as despicable as any that was prac-
tised by secular courts. Without a scruple he could solemnly
make at the same moment contradictory pledges. Perfidy
seemed to be as natural to him as breath.1
At the same time, Leo followed the rubrics of religion. He
fasted, so it is reported, three times a week, abstained from
meat on Wednesday and Friday, daily read his Breviary and
was accustomed before mass to seek absolution from his con-
fessor. But he was without sanctity, without deep religious
conviction. The issues of godliness had no appreciable effect
upon him in the regulation of his habits. Even in his patron-
age of art and culture, he forgot or ignored Ariosto, Machia-
Leute war grenzenlos. The Fuggers, who carried on the most extensive deal-
ings with the papal treasury and the sacred college, had been firmly established
in Rome since the beginning of Alexander Vl.'s pontificate. They came origi-
nally from Langen to Augsburg, where they started business as weavers, and
then branched off into trading in spices and other commodities reaching
Europe through Venice, and in copper and other metals, under the name of
Ulrich Fugger and Brothers (George and Jacob), and their capital, estimated
by the taxes they paid, increased, between 1480 and 1601, 1,634 per cent.
Schulte, p. 3. After its transfer to Rome, the house became the depository
of the papal treasurer and cardinals, and was the intermediary for the pay-
ment of annates and servitia to the papal and camera treasuries. The exact
amounts, as furnished in the ledger entries, are given by Schulte.
1 See Pastor's terrific indictment, IV. 359 sq.
§ 56. LEO X. 1613-1521. 495
velli, Guicciardini and Erasmus. What a noble substitution it
would have been, if these men had found welcome in the Vati-
can, and the jesters and buffoons and gormandizers been rele-
gated to their proper place ! The high-priest of the Christian
world is not to be judged in the same terms we would apply
to a worldly prince ruling in the closing years of the Middle
Ages. The Vatican, Leo turned into a house of revelling and
frivolity, the place of all others where the step and the voice
of the man of God should have been heard. The Apostle,
whom he had been taught to regard as his spiritual ancestor,
accomplished his mission by readiness to undergo, if necessary,
martyrdom. Leo despoiled his high office of its sacredness
and prostituted it into a vehicle of his own carnal propensities.
Had he followed the advice of his princely father, man of the
world though he was, Leo X. would have escaped some of the
reprobation which attaches to his name.
There is no sufficient evidence that Leo ever used the words
ascribed to him, "how profitable that fable of Christ has been
to us." l Such blasphemy we prefer not to associate with the
de' Medici. Nevertheless, no sharper condemnation of one
claiming to be Christ's vicar on earth could well be thought
of than that which is carried by the words of Sarpi, the
Catholic historian of the Council of Trent,2 who said, " Leo
would have been a perfect pope, if he had combined with his
other good qualities a moderate knowledge of religion and a
greater inclination to piety, for neither of which he shewed
much concern." Before Leo's death, the papacy had lost a
part of its European constituency, and that part which, in
the centuries since, has represented the furthest progress of
civilization. The bull which this pontiff hurled at Martin Lu-
ther, 1520, was consumed into harmless ashes at Wittenberg,
ashes which do not speak forth from the earth as do the ashes
of John Huss. To the despised Saxon miner's son, the Prot-
estant world looks back for the assertion of the right to study
1 Quantum nobis nostrisque ea de Christo fabula profuerit, satis est omni-
bus soeculis notum. The words, said to have been spoken to Cardinal Bembo,
were noted down for the first time by Bale in his Pageant of the Popes, ed.
1674, p. 170. Bale, bishop of Ossoxy, had been a Carmelite. • 1 : 1.
496 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1204-1617.
the Scriptures, a matter of more importance than all the cir-
cumstance and rubrics of papal office and sacerdotal functions.
Not seldom has it occurred that the best gifts to mankind
have come, not through a long heritage of prerogatives but
through the devotion of some agent of God humbly born. It
seemed as if Providence allowed the papal office at the close
of the mediaeval age to be filled by pontiffs spiritually un-
worthy and morally degenerate, that it might be known for all
time that it was not through the papacy the Church was to be
reformed and brought out of its mediaeval formalism and scho-
lasticism. What popes had refused to attempt, another group
of men with no distinction of office accomplished.
CHAPTER VII.
HERESY AND WITCHCRAFT.
§ 57. Literature.
For § 58. — For the BRETHREN OP THE FREE SPIRIT, FREDERICQ : Cor-
pus doc. hcer. pravitalis, etc., vols. I-III. — HAUPT, art in HERZOO, III.
467-473, Bruder des Freien Geistes. See lit., vol. V., I. p. 459. —For the
FRATICELU, F. EHRLE: Die Spiritualen. Ihr Verhdltniss zum Francis-
kanerorden u. zu d. Fraticellen in Archiv f. K. u. Lit. geschichte, 1885,
pp. 1509-1570; 1886, pp. 106-164; 1887, pp. 553-623. — DOLLINGKR: Sekten-
gesch.,11 — LEA: Inquisition, III. 129 sqq., 164-176. — WETZER-WELTE,
IV, 1926-1935 —For the WALDENHES, see lit., vol. V., I p. 469. —Also,
W. PREGER: Der Traktat des Dav. von Augsburg uber die Waldenser,
Munich, 1878. — HANHEN : Quellen, etc, Bonn, 1901, 149-181, etc. See
full title below. —For the FLAGELLANTS, see lit., vol. V., I. p. 876. Also
PAUL RUNGE : D. Lieder u. Melodien d. Ccissler d. Jahres 1349, nach. d.
Aufzeichnung Hugo's von Reutlingen nebst einer Abhandlung uber d. ital.
Geisslerlirder von H. Schneegans u. einem Beitrage uber d. deutschen u.
niederl. Geissler von H. PFANNENSCHMID, Leipzig, 1900.
For § 59. WITCHCRAFT. — For the treatments of the Schoolmen and
other raed. writers, see vol. V., I. p. 878. — Among earlier modern writers,
see J. BODIN: Magorum Daemonomania, 1679. — REG SCOTT: Discovery
of Witchcraft, London, 1584. — P. BIXAFKLD: De confessionibus maleficarum
et sag arum, Treves, 1596. — M. DELRIO: Disquisitiones magicae, Antwerp,
1599, Cologne, 1679. — ERASTUS, of Heidelberg: Repititio disputationis de
lamiis sen strigibus, Basel, 1578. — J. GLANVILL: tfadducismus triumphatus,
London, 1681. — R. BAXTER: Certainty of the World of Spirits, London,
1691. — Recent writers. — *T. WRIGHT: Narrative of Sorcery and Magic,
2 vols , London, 1851. — G. ROSKOFF: Gesch. des Teufels, 2 vols., Leipzig,
1869. — W. G. SOLDAN: Gesch. der Hexcnprocesse, Stuttgart, 1843; new
ed , by HEPPE, 2 vols., Stuttgart, 1880. — LEA: History of the Inquisition,
III. 379-560.— *LECKT : History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of
Rationalism in Europe, eh. I. — DOLLINGER-FRIEDRICH : D. Papstthum,
pp. 123-131. — A. D. WHITE, History of the Warfare of Science and The-
ology in Christendom, 2 vols., New York, 1898. — *J. HANSEN: Zauber-
wahn, Inquisition und Hc.xenprocess im Mittelalter und die Entstehung der
grossen Hexenverfolgung, Munich, 1900 ; * Quell en und Untersuchungen
zur Gesch. des Hexenwahns und der Hexenverfolgung im M.A., Leipzig,
1901. — GRAF VON HOENSBROECH : D. Papstthum in seiner sozialkultu-
rellen Wirksamkeit, Leipzig, 2 vols., 1900; 4th ed., 1901, I. 380-599. — J.
2* 497
498 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
DIEFENBACH : Dvr Hexenwahn, vor u. nach Glaubenspaltung in Deutschland,
Mainz, 1886 (the last chapter — on the condones variae — gives sermons
on the weather, storms, winds, dreams, mice, etc.); also, Besessenheit,
Zauberei u. Hexenfabeln, Frankfurt, 1893 ; also, Zauberglaube des 16 ten
Jahrh. nach d. Katechismen M. Luthers und d. P. Canisius, Mainz, 1900. —
BINZ: Dr. Joh. Weyer, Bonn, 1885, 2d ed., Berlin, 1896. A biography of
one of the early opponents of witch-persecution, with sketches of some
of its advocates. —BAISSAC: Les grands jours de la sorcellerie, Paris,
1890. — H. VOGELSTEIN and P. RIEGER, Gesch. d. Juden in Horn, 2 vols.,
Berlin, 1895 sq. — S. BIEZLER : Gesch. d. Hexenprocesse in Baiern, Stutt-
gart, 1896. — C. LEMPENS : D. grosste Verbrechen alter Zeiten. Pragma-
tische Gesch. d. Hexenprocesse, 2d ed., 1904. — JANSSEN-PASTOR : Gesch.
d. deutschen Voltes, etc., vol. VIII., 631-761. — The Witch-Persecutions,
in Un. of Pa. Transll. and Reprints, vol. III.
For § 60. THE SPANISH INQUISITION. — See lit., V. I. p. 460 sqq.-—
HEFELE: D. Cardinal Ximines und d. kirchL Zustdnde in Spanien am Ende
d. 15 u. Anfang d. 16. Jahrh. , Tubingen, 1844, 2d ed., 1851. Also, art.
Ximines in Wetzer-Welte, vol. XII. — C. V. LANGLOIS: L'inq., d'apres lea
travaux recents, Paris, 1902. — H. C. LEA: Hist, of the Inquisition of Spain,
4 vols., New York, 1906 sq. Includes Sicily, Sardinia, Mexico and Peru, but
omits Holland. — E. VACANDARD : Th*> Inquisition. A criticism and history.
Study of the Coercive Power of the Church, transl. by B. L. Conway,
London, 1908. — C. G. TICKNOR: Hist, of Spanish Literature, I. 460 sqq.—
PASTOR : Gesch. d. Papste, III. 624-630.
Dr. Lea's elaborate work is the leading modern treatment of the sub-
ject and is accepted as an authority in Germany. See Benrath in Lit-Zeit-
ung, 1908, pp. 203-210. The author has brought out as never before the
prominent part the confiscation of property played in the Spanish tribunal.
The work of Abb6 Vacandard, the author of the Life of St. Bernard, takes
up the positions laid down in Dr. Lea's general work on the Inquisition
and attempts to break the force of his statements. Vacandard admits the
part taken by the papacy in prosecuting heresy by trial torture and
even by the death penalty, but reduces the Church's responsibility on the
ground of the ideas prevailing in the Middle Ages, and the greater free-
dom and cruelty practised by the state upon its criminals. He denies that
Augustine favored severe measures of compulsion against heretics and
sets forth, without modification, the unrelenting treatment of Thomas
Aquinas.
§ 58. Heretical and Unchurchly Movements.
In the 14th and 15th centuries, the seat of heresy was shifted
from Southern France and Northern Italy to Bohemia and
Northern Germany, the Netherlands and England. In North-
ern and Central Europe, the papal Inquisition, which had been
so effective in exterminating the Albigenses and in repressing
or scattering the Waldenses, entered upon a new period of its
§ 58. HERETICAL AND UNCHUBCHLY MOVEMENTS. 499
history, in seeking to crush out a new enemy of the Church,
witchcraft. The rise and progress of the two most powerful
and promising forms of popular heresy, Hussitism and
Lollardy, have already been traced. Other sectarists who
came under the Church's ban were the Beghards and Be-
guines, who had their origin in the 13th century,1 the Breth-
ren of the Free Spirit, the Fraticelli, the Flagellants and the
Waldenses.
It is not possible to state with exactness the differences
between the Beghards, Beguines, the Brethren of the Free
Spirit and the Fraticelli as they appeared from 1300 to 1500.
The names were often used interchangeably as a designation
of foes of the established Church order.2 The court records
and other notices that have come down to us indicate that
they were represented in localities widely separated, and ex-
cited alarm which neither their numbers nor the station of
their adherents justified. The orthodox mind was easily
thrown into a panic over the deviations from the Church's
system of doctrine and government. The distribution of the
dissenters proves that a widespread religious unrest was felt
in Western Christendom. They may have imbibed some
elements from Joachim of Flore's millenarianism, and in a
measure partook of the same spirit as German mysticism.
There was a spiritual hunger the Church's aristocratic dis-
cipline and its priestly ministrations did not satisfy. The
Church authorities had learned no other method of dealing
with heresy than the method in vogue in the days of Inno-
cent III. and Innocent IV., and sought, as before, by impris-
onments, the sword and fire, to prevent its predatory ravages.
The Brethren of the Free Spirit 8 were infected with pan-
theistic notions and manifested a tendency now to free
thought, now to libertinism of conduct. At times they are
identified with the Beghards and Beguines. The pantheistic
element suggests a connection with Amaury of Bena ojr
Meister Eckart, but of this the extant records of trials furnish
1 See vol. V., I. 489 sqq.
* Haupt, pp. 467, 471. Bezold : Gesch. d. deutschen Reform., p. 120 sqq.
• Secta spiritus libertatis, liberi spirit us, etc.
500 THE MIDDLE AGES. A,D. 1204-1517.
no distinct evidence. To the Beghards and Beguines like-
wise were ascribed pantheistic tenets.
To the general class of free thinkers belonged such indi-
viduals as Margaret of Henegouwen, usually known as
Margaret of Porete, a Beguine, who wrote a book advocating
the annihilation of the soul in God's love, and affirmed that,
when this condition is reached, the individual may, without
qualm of conscience, yield to any indulgence the appetites of
nature call for. After having several times relapsed from
the faith, she was burnt, together with her books, in the Place
de Greve, Paris, 1310.1 Here belong also the Men of Reason,
— homines intelligently — who appeared at Brussels early in
the 14th century and were charged with teaching the final
restoration of all men and of the devil.2
The Fraticelli, also called the Fratricelli, — the Little
Brothers, — represented the opposite tendency and went to an
extravagant excess in insisting upon a rigid observance of the
rule of poverty. Originally followers of the Franciscan Ob-
servants, Peter Olivi, Michael Cesena and Angelo Clareno,
they offered violent resistance to the decrees of John XXII.,
which ascribed to Christ and the Apostles the possession of
property. Some were given shelter in legitimate Franciscan
convents, while others associated themselves in schismatic
groups of their own. They were active in Italy and South-
ern France, and were also represented in Holland and even in
Egypt and Syria, as Gregory XL, 1375, declared; but it would
be an error to regard their number as large. In his bull,
Sancta romana, issued in 1317, John XXII. spoke of "men of
the profane multitude, popularly called Fraticelli, or brethren
of the poor life, Bizochi or Beguines or known by other names."
This was not the first use of the term in an offensive sense.
Villani called two men Fraticelli, a mechanic of Parma, Sega-
1 Fredericq, I. 156-160, II. 63 sqq. Another writer of the same class was
Mary of Valenciennes, whose book was condemned by the Inquisition, about
1400, as a work of ** incredible subtlety.11 It was mentioned by Gerson in his
tract on false and true visions, Fredericq, II. 188.
3 For a list of their errors, see Fredericq, 1. 267-270. A sect of free thinkers
known as the Loists flourished in Antwerp in the 16th century. DBllinger,
II. 664 sqq., gives one of their documents.
§ 58. HERETICAL AND UNCHUBCHLY MOVEMENTS. 501
relli and his pupil Dolcino of Novara, both of whom were burnt,
Segarelli in 1300 and Dolcino some time later. Friar Bonato,
head of a small Spiritual house in Catalonia, after being roasted
on one side, proffered repentance and was released, but after-
wards, 1335, burnt alive.1 Wherever the Fraticelli appeared,
they were pursued by the Inquisition. A number of bulls of
the 14th century attacked them for denying the papal edicts
and condemned them to rigorous prosecution. A formula,
which they were required to profess, ran as follows : " I swear
that I believe in my heart and profess that our Lord Jesus
Christ and his Apostles, while in mortal life, held in common
the tilings the Scriptures describe them as having and that
they had the right of giving, selling and alienating them."
In localities they seem to have carried their opposition to
the Church so far as to set up a hierarchy of their own.2 The
regular priests they denounced as simonists and adulterers.
In places they were held in such esteem by the populace
that the Inquisition and the civil courts found themselves
powerless to bring them to trial. Nine were burnt under
Urban V. at Viterbo, and in 1389 Fra Michaele Berti de Calci,
who had been successful in making converts, met the same
fate at Florence. In France also they yielded victims to the
flames, among them, Giovanni da Castiglione and Francese
d'Arquata at Montpellier, 1354, and Jean of Narbonne and
Maurice at Avignon. These enthusiasts are represented as
having met death cheerfully.
Early in the 15th century, we find the Fraticelli again the
victims of the Inquisition. In 1424 and 1426, Martin V.
ordered proceedings against certain of their number in Flor-
ence and in Spain. The vigorous propaganda of the papal
preachers, John of Capistrano and James of the Mark, suc-
ceeded in securing the return of many of these heretics to the
Church, but, as late as the reign of Paul II., 1466, they were
represented in Rome, where six of their number were im-
prisoned and subjected to torture. The charges against them
were the denial of the validity of papal decrees of indulgence
iLea: Span. Inq., III. 190.
2 Wetzer- Welle, IV. 1931, quoting Mansi-JfiftceZi. IV. 696-610.
502 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
other than the Portiuncula decree.1 In Northern Europe the
Fraticelli were classified with the Lollards and Beghards or
identified with these heretics. The term, however, occurs
seldom. Walter, the Lollard, was styled " the most wicked
heresiarch of the Fraticelli, a man full of the devil and most
perverse in his errors." a
Of far more interest to this age are the Flagellants who at-
tracted attention by the strange outward demonstrations in
which their religious fervor found expression. Theirs was a
militant Christianity. They made an attempt to do something.
They correspond more closely to the Salvation Army of the
19th century than any other organization of the Middle Ages.
There is no record that the beating of drums played any part
in the movement, but they used popular songs, a series of dis-
tinctive physical gestures and peculiar vociferations, uniforms
and some of the discipline of the camp. Their campaigns were
penitential crusades in which the self-mortifications of the mon-
astery were transferred to the open field and the public square,
and were adapted to impress the impenitent to make earnest
in the warfare against the passions of the flesh. The Flagel-
lants buffeted the body if they did not always buffet Satan.
An account has already been given of the first outbreak of
the enthusiasm in Italy in 1259, which, starting in Perugia,
spread to Northern Italy and extended across the Alps to
Austria, Prag and Strassburg.8 Similar outbreaks occurred
in 1296, 1333, 1349, 1399, and again at the time of the Spanish
evangelist, Vincent Ferrer.
From being regarded as harmless fanatics they came to be
treated as disturbers of the ecclesiastical peace, and in North-
ern Europe were classed with Beghards, Lollards, Hussites
and other unchurchly or heretical sectarists.
1 Lea: Inquit., III. 178; Aur. Con/., III. 377.
2 Dttllinger, II. 381, 407 sq. The first three volumes of Fredericq contain
the term Fraticelli only twice, III. 17, 226.
8 Vol. V., 1, p. 876 sqq. The Flagellants were also known as Flagellatores,
Cruciferi, Panitentes, Dinciplinati, Battisti, etc., and in German and Dutch as
Geissler, Qeeselaars, Cruusbroeders, Kreuzbnider, etc. The references under
Geeoelaars in Fredericq fill four closely printed pages of the Index, IIL 297-
800.
§ 58, HERETICAL AND UNCHUBCHLY MOVEMENTS. 508
The movement of 1333 was led by an eloquent Dominican,
Venturino of Bergamo, and is described at length by Villani.
Ten thousand followed this leader, wearing head-bands in-
scribed with the monogram of Christ, IHS, and on their chests
a dove with an olive-branch in her mouth. Venturino led his
followers as far as Rome and preached on the Capitoline. The
penniless enthusiasts soon became a laughing-stock, and Ven-
turino, on going to Avignon, gained absolution and died in
Smyrna, 1346.
The earlier exhibitions of Flagellant zeal were as dim candle-
lights compared with the outbursts of 1349, during the ravages
of the Black Death, which in contemporary chronicles and
the Flagellant codes was called the great death — das gro%%e
Sterben, pestls grandis^ mortalitas magna. Bands of religious
campaigners suddenly appeared in nearly all parts of Latin
Christendom, Hungary, Bohemia, Italy, France, Germany and
the Netherlands. John du Fayt, preaching before Clement
VI., represented them as spread through all parts — peromnes
provincial — and their numbers as countless. The exact num-
bers of the separate bands are repeatedly given, as they ap-
peared in Ghent, Tournay, Dort, Bruges, Li6ge and other
cities.1 Even bishops and princes took part in them. There
were also bands of women.
Our knowledge of the German and Lowland Flagellants is
most extensive. While the accounts of chroniclers differ in
details, they agree in the main features. The Flagellants clad
themselves in white and wore on their mantles, before and be-
hind, and on their caps, a red cross, from which they got the
name, the Brothers of the Cross. They marched from place to
place, stopping only a single day and night at one locality, ex-
cept in case of Sunday, when they often made an exception. In
the van of their processions were carried crosses and banners.
They sang hymns as they marched. The public squares in
front of churches and fields, near-by towns, were chosen for
their encampments and disciplinary drill, which was repeated
twice a day with bodies bared to the waist. A special feature
1 Fredericq, II. 120, III. 19, 21, 33, etc. Also Fttntemann, pp. 74 sqq.
Range, 99-209.
504 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1204-1617.
was the reading of a letter which, so it was asserted, was origi-
nally written on a table of stone and laid by an angel on the
altar of St. Peter's in Jerusalem.1 It represented Christ as
indignant at the world's wickedness, and, more especially, at
the desecration of Sunday and the prevalence of usury and
adultery, but as promising mercy on condition that the Flagel-
lants gather and make pilgrimages of penance lasting 33 J days,
a period corresponding to the years of his earthly life.
The letter being read, the drill began in earnest. It con-
sisted of their falling on their knees and on the ground three
times, in scourging themselves and in certain significant ges-
tures to indicate to what sin each had been specially addicted.
Every soldier carried a whip, or scourge, which, as writers are
careful to report, was tipped with pieces of iron. These were
often so sharp as to justify their comparison to needles, and the
blood was frequently seen trickling down the bodies of the
more zealous, even to their loins.2 The blows were executed
to the rhythmic music of hymns, and the ruddy militiamen, —
milites rubicundi, — as they were sometimes called, believed
that the blood which they shed was one with Christ's blood or
was mixed with it. They found a patron in St. Paul, whose
stigmata they thought of, not as scars of conscience but bodily
wounds.8 At each genuflection they sang a hymn, four
hymns being sung during the progress of a drill. The first
calling to the drill began with the words : —
Nun tretet herzu wer busen welle
F lichen wir die heisse Holle.
Lucifer ist bos GeseUe
Wen er habet mit Peck er ihn labet.
Darumjliehen wir mit ihm zu sein.
Wer unser Susse wolle pflegen
Der soil gelten und wieder geben.
1 Fredericq, IL 119, III. 22, etc. Runge, 152 sqq.
3 Pointillons defer; aculeis ferrets ; habentes in fine nodos aculeatos; quasi
acus acuti inflxi. Fredericq, I. 197, II. 120 sqq., III. 19, 20, 86, etc. Lt
sang leur couloit parmy lea rains, Fredericq, III. 19. Hugo of Beutlingen
also speaks of the sharp iron tips. Runge, p. 26.
8 Si sanguis istorum militum est Justus, et unitus cum sanguine CJtristi, etc.
Fredericq, III. 18. Dicebant quod eorwn sanguis per Jlagella effusus cum
Christi sanguine miscebatur, II. 126.
§ 58. HERETICAL AND UNCHUBCHLY MOVEMENTS. 505
Now join us all who will repent
Let's flee the fiery heat of hell.
Lucifer is a bad companion
Whom he clutches, he covers with pitch.
Let us flee away from him.
Whoso will through our penance go
Let him restore what he's taken away.1
In falling flat on the ground, they stretched out their arms
to represent the arms of the cross. The fourth hymn, sung at
the third genuflection, was a lament over the punishment of
hell to which the usurer, the liar, the murderer, the road-
robber, the man who neglected to fast on Friday and to keep
Sunday, were condemned, and with this was coupled a prayer
to Mary.
Das Hilf uns Maria K'dnigin,
Dass wir deines Kindes Huld gewin.
Mary, Queen, help us, pray,
To win the favor of thy child.3
Each penitent indicated his besetting sin. The hard drinker
put his finger to his lips. The perjurer held up his two front
fingers as if swearing an oath. The adulterer fell on his belly.
The gambler moved his hand as if in the act of throwing dice.
During the ravages of the Black Death a contingent of 120
of these penitential warriors crossed the channel from Holland
and marched through London and other English towns, wear-
ing red crosses and having their scourges pointed with pieces
of iron as sharp as needles.8 But they failed to secure a
following.
It was inevitable that the Flagellants should incur opposi-
tion from the Church authorities. The mediaeval Church as
little tolerated independence in ritual or organization as in
doctrine. In France, they were opposed from the first. The
University of Paris issued a deliverance against them, and
Philip VI. forbade their manoeuvres on French soil under
pain of death. A harder blow was struck by the head of
Christendom, Clement VI., who fulminated his sweeping bull
1 Hugo von Reutlingen, p. 30.
8 Hugo von Reutlingen, in Runge, p. 38.
* So Robert of Avesbury, Rolls Series, p. 407 sqq.
506 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
Oct. 20, 1349. Flagellants starting from Basel appeared in
Avignon to the number, according to one document, of 2000.
Before issuing his bull, Clement and his cardinals listened to
the sermon on the subject preached by the Paris doctor, John
du Fayt. The preacher selected 13 of the Flagellant tenets
and practices for his reprobation, including the shedding of
their own blood, a practice, he declared, fit for the priests
of Baal, and the murder of Jews for their supposed crime
of poisoning the wells, in which was sought the origin of the
Black Plague. Clement pronounced the Flagellant move-
ment a work of the devil and the angelic letter a forgery.
He condemned the warriors for repudiating the priesthood
and treating their penances as equivalent to the journey to
the jubilee in Rome, set for 1350.1 The bull was sent to
the archbishops of England, France, Poland, Germany and
Sweden, and it called upon them to invoke, if necessary, the
secular arm to put down the new rebellion against the ordi-
nances of the Church.
Against such opposition the Flagellants could not be ex-
pected to maintain themselves long. Sharp enactments were
directed against them by the Fleming cities and by archbish-
ops, as in Prag and Magdeburg. Strassburg forbade public
scourgings on its streets. As late as 1353, the archbishop of
Cologne found it necessary to order all priests who had fa-
vored them to confess on pain of excommunication.2
We are struck with four features of the Flagellant move-
ment during the Black Death, — its organization, the part as-
sumed in it by the laity, the use of music and, in general, its
strong religious and ethical character. In Italy, before this
time, these people had their organizations. There was scarcely
1 Clement's bull is given by Fredericq, I. 100-201, and in translation by
FBrstemann, p. 07 sqq. Du Fayt's sermon is full of interest, and is one of
the most important documents given by Fredericq, III. 28-37. Du Fayt
ascribed the Black Death to an infection of the air due to the celestial bodies
— infectionem ctris crcatam a corporibus ccefeatifrua. The deliverance of the
University of Paris is lost See Chartul. III. 656 sqq.
9 Fredericq, IL 116, etc. The magistrates, as at Tournay, sometimes
found it necessary to repeat their proclamations against the Flagellants as
often as three times.
§ 58. HERETICAL AND UNCHURCHLY MOVEMENTS. 507
an Italian city which did not have one or more such brother-
hoods. Padua had six, Perugia and Fabiano three, but the
movement does riot seem to have developed opposition to
Church authority. In some of the outbreaks priests were the
leaders, and the permanent organizations seem to have formed
a close association with the Dominicans and Franciscans and
to have devoted themselves to the care of the poor and sick.
On the other hand, in the North, a spirit of independence
of the clergy manifested itself. This is evident from the
Flagellant codes of the German and Dutch groups, current at
the time of the great pestilence and in after years. The con-
ditions of membership included reconciliation with enemies,
the consent of husband or wife or, in the case of servants, the
consent of their masters, strict obedience to the leaders, who
were called master or rector, and ability to pay their own ex-
penses. During the campaigns, which lasted 33£ days, they
were to ask no alms nor to wash their persons or their cloth-
ing, nor cut their beards nor speak to women, nor to lie on
feather beds. They were forbidden to carry arms or to pur-
sue the flagellation to the limit where it might lead to sick-
ness or death.1
Five pater wasters and ave Marias were prescribed to be said
before and after meals, and it was provided that, so long as
they lived, they should flagellate themselves every Friday
three times during the day and once at night. The associa-
tions were called brotherhoods, and the members were bidden
to call each other not chum — socium — but brother, "seeing
that all were created out of the same element and bought
with the same price."8
The leaders of the fraternities were laymen, and, as just
indicated, the equality of the members before God and the
cross was emphasized. The movement was essentially a lay
movement, an expression of the spirit of dissatisfaction in
1 Usque ad mortem vel inflrmitatem. See especially the 85 article* of
Bruges, Fredericq, II. Ill sqq. ; 50 articles given by Forstemann, p. 104
sqq. and the several codes given by Range, 115 sqq. Hugo of Reutlingen,
in Runge, 27, mentions the strict prohibition against bathing, balnea fratori
non licet Mi tempore tali.
« Fredericq, III. 16, Runge, pp. 25, 41, 118, etc.
508 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
Northern Germany and the Lowlands with the sacerdotal
class.1 Some of the codes condemn the worship of images,
the doctrine of transubstantiation, indulgences, priestly unc-
tion and, in cases, they substituted the baptism of blood for
water baptism. One of these, containing 50 articles, expressly
declared that the body of Christ is not in the sacrament, and
that "indulgences amount to nothing and together with
priests are condemned of God." The 26th article said, "It
is better to die with a skin tanned with dust and sweat than
with one smeared with a whole pound of priestly ointment."2
The German hymns as well as the codes of the Flagellants
urge the duty of prayer and the mortification of the flesh and
the preparation for death, the abandonment of sin, the rec-
onciliation of enemies and the restoration of goods unjustly
acquired. These sentiments are further vouched for by the
chroniclers.
To these religionists belongs the merit of having revived the
use of popular religious song. Singing was a feature of the
earliest Flagellant movement, 1259.3 Their hymns are in
Latin, Italian, French, German and Dutch. In Italian they
went by the name of laude, and in German leisen. The Ital-
ian hymns, like the German, agree that sins have brought
down the judgment of God and in appealing to the Virgin
Mary, and call upon the " brethren " to castigate themselves,
to confess their sins and to live in peace and brotherhood.
They beseech the Virgin to prevail upon her son to stop " the
hard death and pestilence " — Gesune tolga via V aspra morte
e pistilentia.* Most of these hymns are filled with the thought
of death and the woes of humanity, but the appeals to Mary
are full of tenderness, and every conceivable allegory is ap-
plied to her from the dove to the gate of paradise, from the
1 Runge, pp. 130, 215.
2 Fbrstemann, p. 165 sqq.
8 Schneerganz speaks of the number of their hymns in manuscript in Italian
libraries as " exceedingly large. " He gives a list of such libraries and also a
list of the published laude. See Range, pp. 50-54. It is not, however, to be
supposed that more than a few were in popular use and sung.
4 See, for example, Runge, p. 68 sqq.
§ 58. HERETICAL AHD UNOHURCHLY MOVEMENTS. 509
rose to a true medicine for every sickness. The songs of the
Italian and the Northern Flagellants seem to have been inde-
pendent of each other.1
The cohorts in the North agreed in using the same peni-
tential song at their drills, but they had a variety of scores
and songs for their marches.2 While the most of the words
of their songs have been known, it is only recently that some
of the music has been found to which the Flagellants sang
their hymns. A manuscript of Hugo of Reutlingen, dating
from 1349 and discovered at St. Petersburg, gives 8 such
tunes, together with the words and an account of the move-
ment.8 The hearers, in describing the impression made upon
them by the melodies, mention their sweetness, their orderly
rhythm, — ordine miro hymnos cantabant, — and their pathos
capable of " moving hearts of stone and bringing tears to the
eyes of the most stolid. "4
Altogether, the Flagellant movement during the Black
Death, 1349, must be regarded as a genuinely popular reli-
gious movement.
The next outbreak of Flagellant zeal, which occurred in 1399,
was confined for the most part to Italy. The Flagellants, who
were distinguished by mantles with a red cross, appeared in
1 Schneerganz, p. 85, emphatically denies all connection.
2 Fr. Chrysander as quoted by Runge, p. 1. For specimen of the hymns
and accounts of the singing, see Runge, Forstemann, p. 255 sqq., Fredericq,
I. 197; II. 108, 123, 127-120, 137-139, 140; III. 23-27.
1 This most interesting document, edited by Runge, gives the original
music. Here are two lines with a translation of the German words : —
^
m
Now let us all lift up . . our hands
4=f—
£=MH
f^=
±±*=
3=
^
And pray to God this death to
* See Runge, pp. 27, 140, 157.
a - vert
510 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
Genoa, Piacenza, Modena, Rome and other Italian cities. A
number of accounts have come down to us, now favorable as
the account of the "notary of Pistoja," now unfavorable
as the account of von Nieheim. According to the Pistojan
writer, the movement had its origin in a vision seen by a
peasant in the Dauphin6, which is of interest as showing the
relative places assigned in the popular worship to Christ and
Mary. After a midday meal, the peasant saw Christ as a
young man. Christ asked him for bread. The peasant told
him there was none left, but Christ bade him look, and behold I
he saw three loaves. Christ then bade him go and throw the
loaves into a spring a short distance off. The peasant went,
and was about to obey, when a woman, clad in white and
bathed in tears, appeared, telling him to go back to the young
man and say that his mother had forbidden it. He went, and
Christ repeated his command, but at the woman's mandate the
peasant again returned to Christ. Finally he threw in one
of the loaves, when the woman, who was Mary, informed him
that her Son was exceedingly angry at the sinfulness of the
world and had determined to punish it, even to destruction.
Each loaf signified one-third of mankind and the destruction
of one-third was fixed, and if the peasant should cast in the
other two loaves, all mankind would perish. The man cast
himself on his knees before the weeping Virgin, who then as-
sured him that she had prayed her Son to withhold judgment,
and that it would be withheld, provided he and others went
in processions, flagellating themselves and crying "mercy"
and " peace,9' and relating the vision he had seen.1
The peasant was joined by 17 others, and they became the nu-
cleus of the new movement. The bands slept in the convents
and church grounds, sang hymns, — laude, — from which they
were also called laudesi, and scourged themselves with thongs
as their predecessors had done. Miracles were supposed to
accompany their marches. Among the miracles was the bleed-
ing of a crucifix, which some of the accounts, as, for example,
von Nieheim's, explain by their pouring blood into a hole in
the crucifix and then soaking the wood in oil and placing it
1 See Fttrstemann, p. Ill sqq.
§ 58. HERETICAL AND UNCHUECHLY MOVEMENTS. 511
in the sun to sweat. According to this keen observer, the
bands traversed almost the whole of the peninsula. Fifteen
thousand, accompanied by the bishop of Modena, marched to
Bologna, where the population put on white. Not only were
the people and clergy of Rome carried away by their demon-
strations, but also members of the sacred college and all classes
put on sackcloth and white. The pope went so far as to be-
stow upon them his blessing and showed them the handker-
chief of St. Veronica. Nieheim makes special mention of
their singing and their new songs — nova carmina. But the
historian of the papal schism could see only evil and fraud in
the movement,1 and condemns their lying together promis-
cuously at night, men and women, boys and girls. On their
marches they stripped the trees bare of fruit and left the
churches and convents, where they encamped, defiled by their
uncleanness. An end was put to the movement in Rome by
the burning of one of the leading prophets.
The bull of Clement VI. was followed, in 1372, by the ful-
mination of Gregory XI., who associated the Flagellants with
the Begliards, and by the action of the Council of Constance.
In a tract presented to the council in 1417, Gerson asserted
that the sect made scourging a substitute for the sacrament
of penance and confession.2 He called upon the bishops to
put down its cruel and sanguinary members who dared to
shed their own blood and regarded themselves as on a par with
the old martyrs. The laws of the decalogue were sufficient
without the imposition of any new burdens, as Christ himself
taught, when he said, " If thou wilt enter into life, keep the
commandments. " This judgment of the theologians the Flag-
ellants might have survived, but the merciless probe of the In-
quisition to which they were exposed in the 15th century took
their life. Trials were instituted against them in Thuringia
under the Dominican agent, Schonefeld, 1414. At one place,
Sangerhausen, near Erfurt, 91 were burnt at one time and, on
1 Omnem populum mirabiliter deceperunt. De schismate, II. 26. Erler'a
ed., p. 168 sq.
9 Contra scctam flag til antium. Du Pin's ed., IL 650-664. Van der
Hardt, III. 99 aqq.
512 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
another occasion, 22 more. The victims of the second group
died, asserting that all the evils in the Church came from tfce
corrupt lives of the clergy.
The Flagellant movement grew out of a craving which the
Church life of the age did not fully meet. Excesses should
not blind the eye to its good features. Hugo of Reutlingen
concludes his account of the outbreak of 1349 with the words :
"Many good things were associated with the Flagellant broth-
ers, and these account for the attention they excited."
A group of sectaries, sometimes associated by contempo-
rary writers with the Flagellants, was known as the Dancers.
These people appeared at Aachen and other German and
Dutch towns as early as 1374. In Cologne they numbered
500. Like the Flagellants, they marched from town to town.
Their dancing and jumping — dansabant et saltdbant — they
performed half naked, sometimes bound together two and two,
and often in the churches, where they had a preference for the
spaces in front of the images of the Virgin. Cases occurred
where they fell dead from exhaustion. In Holland, the Dancers
were also called Frisker or Frilis, from frisch, — spry, — the
word with which they encouraged one another in their terp-
sichorean feats.1
To another class of religious independents belong the Wal-
denses, who, in spite of their reputation as heretics, continued
to survive in France, Piedmont and Austria. They were still
accused of allowing women to preach, denying the real pres-
ence and abjuring oaths, extreme unction, infant baptism and
also of rejecting the doctrines of purgatory and prayers for
the dead.2
With occasional exceptions, the Waldensians of Italy and
France were left unmolested until the latter part of the 15th
century and the dukes of Savoy were inclined to protect them
1 The bad effects of the delusion upon morals is given by chroniclers, one of
whom says that during one of the epidemics 100 unmarried women became
pregnant. See Fredericq, I. 231 sq., III. 41, etc. Other names given to the
Dancers were Chorizantes and Tripudiantes.
a D&llinger, II. 365 sqq. Here the barbs, — uncles, — the religious leaders
of the Waldenses, are represented as making affidavit of the tenets of their
people.
§ 58. HERETICAL AND UNCHUECHLY MOVEMENTS. 513
in their Alpine abodes. But the agents of the Inquisition
were keeping watch, and the Franciscan Borelli is said to tave
burned, in 1393, 150 at Grenoble in the Dauphin£ in a single
day. It remained for Pope Innocent VIII. to set on foot a
relentless crusade against this harmless people as his prede-
cessor of the same name, Innocent III., set on foot the crusade
against the Albigenses. His notorious bull of May 5, 1487,
called upon the king of France, the duke of Savoy and other
princes to proceed with armed expeditions against them and
to crush them out "as venomous serpents."1 It opened with
the assertion that his Holiness was moved by a concern to
extricate from the abyss of error those for whom the sovereign
Creator had been pleased to endure sufferings. The striking
difference seems not to have occurred to the pontiff that the
Saviour, to whose services he appealed, gave his own life, while
he himself, without incurring any personal danger, was con-
signing others to torture and death.
Writing of the crusade which followed, the Waldensian
historian, Leger, says that all his people had suffered before
was as " flowers and roses " compared to what they were now
called upon to endure. Charles VIII. entered heartily into
the execution of the decree, and sent his captain, Hugo de la
Palu. The crusading armies may have numbered 18,000 men.
The mountaineer heretics fled to the almost inaccessible
platform called Prfidu Tour, where their assailants could make
no headway against their arrows and the stones they hurled.
On the French side of the Alps the crusade was successful.
In the Val de Louise, 70, or, according to another account,
3000, who had fled to the cave called Balme de Vaudois, were
choked to death by smoke from fires lit at the entrance. Many
of the Waldenses recanted, and French Waldensianism was
well-nigh blotted out. Their property was divided between
the bishop of Embrun and the secular princes. As late as
1545, 22 villages inhabited by French Waldenses were pil-
laged and burnt by order of the parliament of Provence.
With the unification of Italy in 1870, this ancient and re-
spectable people was granted toleration and began to descend
1 The bull is given by Comba : The Waldenses of Italy, p. 126 «q.
2L
514 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
from its mountain fastnesses, where it had been confined fo^f
the half of a millennium.
In Austria, the fortunes of the Waldensians were more or less
interwoven with the fortunes of the Hussites and Bohemian
Brethren. In parts of Northern Germany, as in Brandenburg
in 1480, members of the sect were subjected to severe persecu-
tions. In the Lowlands we hear of their imprisonment, ban-
ishment and death by fire.1
The mediaeval horror of heresy appears in the practice of
ascribing to heretics nefarious performances of all sorts. The
terms Waldenses and Waldensianism were at times made
synonymous with witches and witchcraft. Just how the terms
Vauderie, Vaudoisie, Vaudois, Waudenses and Vdldenses came
to be used in this sense has not been satisfactorily explained.
But such usage was in vogue from Lyons to Utrecht, and the
papal bull of Eugenius IV., 1440, refers to the witches in Sa-
voy as being called Waldenses.2 An elaborate tract entitled
the Waldensian Idolatry,3 — Valdenses ydolatrce^ — written in
1460 and giving a description of its treatment in Arras, accused
the Waldenses with having intercourse with demons and riding
through the air on sticks, oiled with a secret unguent.
§ 59. 'Witchcraft and its Punishment.
Perhaps no chapter in human history is more revolting than
the chapter which records the wild belief in witchcraft and the
merciless punishments meted out for it in Western Europe in
the century just preceding the Protestant Reformation and
1 Fredericq, I. 26, 50, 361 sqq. ; 501 sq., 512 ; II. 263 sqq. ; III 109. This
author, I. 357 sqq., gives a sermon by a canon of Tournay against Walden-
fiian tenets, which was much praised at the time. A French translation
by Hansen, Quellen, p. 184 sq.
2 See the bull in Hansen, Quellen, p. 18, and an extended section, pp.
408 sqq., on the use of the term Vauderie for witchcraft. In the 14th cen-
tury it was used to designate the practice of unnatural crimes, just as was the
term Boufferie in France, which, at the first, was applied to the Oatharan
heresy.
« This document is given in part by Fredericq, III. 94-109, and in full by
Hansen, pp. 149-182. Its details are as disgusting as the imagination could
well invent
§ 59. WITCHCRAFT AND ITS PUNISHMENT. 515
the succeeding century.1 In the second half of that century,
the Church and society were thrown into a panic over witch-
craft, and Christendom seemed to be suddenly infested with
a great company of bewitched people, who yielded themselves
to the irresistible discipline of Satan. The mania spread from
Rome and Spain to Bremen and Scotland. Popes, lawyers,
physicians and ecclesiastics of every grade yielded their as-
sent, and the only voices lifted up in protest which have come
down to us from the Middle Ages were the voices of victims
who were subjected to torture and perished in the flames. No
Reformer uttered a word against it. On the contrary, Luther
was a stout believer in the reality of demonic agency, and
pronounced its adepts deserving of the flames. Calvin allowed
the laws of Geneva against it to stand. Bishop Jewel's ser-
mon before Queen Elizabeth in 1562 was perhaps the im-
mediate occasion of a new law on the subject.3 Baxter
proved the reality of witchcraft in his Certainty of the World
of Spirits. On the shores of New England the delusion
had its victims, at Salem, 1692, and a century later, 1768,
John Wesley, referring to occurrences in his own time, de-
clared that "giving up witchcraft was, in effect, giving up
the Bible."
In the establishment of the Inquisition, 1215, Innocent III.
made no mention of sorcery and witchcraft. The omission
may be explained by two considerations. Provision was made
for the prosecution of sorcerers by the state, and heretical
depravity, a comparatively novel phenomenon for the Middle
1 Lempens pronounces the prosecution of witchcraft the greatest crime of
all times, das grdsste Verbrechen aller Zeiten. Witches were called fascina-
m", strigimaga, /amice, phytonissce, strigce, streges, malefiaz, Gazarii, that
is, Cathari, and Valdense*, etc. For the derivation of the German term, Hexe,
see J. Francke's discussion in Hansen, Quellen, pp. 615-670.
3 In Protestant Scotland the iron collar and gag were used. The last trial
in England occurred in 1712. A woman was executed for witchcraft in
Seville in 1781 and another in Glarus in 1782. Dr. Diefenbach, in his Aber-
glaube, etc., attempts to prove that the belief in witchcraft was more deep-
seated in Protestant circles than in the Catholic Church. Funk, Kitchen-
gesch., p. 419, Hefele, Kirchengesch., p. 522, and other Catholic historians take
care to represent the share Protestants had in the persecution of witches as
equal to the share of the Catholics.
516 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
Ages, was in Innocent's age regarded as the imminent danger
to which the Church was exposed.
Witchcraft was one of the forms of maleficium^ the general
term adopted by the Middle Ages from Roman usage for
demonology and the dark arts, but it had characteristic features
of its own.1 These were the transport of the bewitched through
the air, their meetings with devils at the so-called sabbats and
indulgence in the lowest forms of carnal vice with them.
Some of these features were mentioned in the canon episcopi, —
the bishop's canon, — which appeared first in the 10th century
and was incorporated by Gratian in his collection of canon law,
1150. But this canon treated as a delusion the belief that
wicked women were accustomed to ride together in troops
through the air at night in the suite of the Pagan goddess,
Diana, into whose service they completely yielded themselves,
and this in spite of the fact that women confessed to this affin-
ity.3 The night-riding, John of Salisbury, d. 1182, treated as
an illusion with which Satan vexed the minds of women ; but
another Englishman, Walter Map, in the same century, reports
the wild orgies of demons with heretics, to whom the devil
appeared as a tom-cat.8
From the middle of the 13th century the distinctive features
of witchcraft began to engage the serious attention of the
Church authorities. During the reign of Gregory IX., 1227-
1241, it became evident to them that the devil, not satisfied
with inoculating Western Europe with doctrinal heresy, had
determined to vex Christendom with a new exhibition of his
malice in works of sorcery and witchcraft. Strange cases were
occurring which the inquisitors of heresy were quick to detect.
The Dominican Chantimpre tells of the daughter of a count of
1 Alexander Hales distinguished eight sorts of matefldum. Martin V. and
Eugeuius IV. call the workers of the dark arts sortilegi, divinatorcs, demonum
tnvocatores, carminatores, conjuratores, superstitiosi, augures, utentes ambits
ncfariiaet prohibits. See Hansen, Quellen, p. 16 sqq. Henry IV.'s council
of bishops, met at Worms, 1076, in deposing Gregory VII., accused him of
witchcraft and making covenant with the devil.
*Scelerat<K mulieres . . . credunt se et profitenturnocturnis horis cum Diana
paganorum dea et innumera multitudine mulierum equitare super quasdam
bestias, etc. Hanson, Quellen, p. 88 sq.
• See Vol. V., I. 889-897, and Hanson, Zauberwahn, p. 144.
§ 59. WITCHCRAFT AND ITS PUNISHMENT. 517
Schwanenburg, who was carried every night through the air,
even eluding the strong hold of a Franciscan who one night tried
to hold her back. In 1275 a woman of Toulouse, under torture,
confessed she had indulged in sexual intercourse with a demon
for many years and given birth to a monster, part wolf and
part serpent, which for two years she fed on murdered children.
She was burnt by the civil tribunal.
But it is not till the 15th century that the era of witchcraft
properly begins. From about 1430 it was treated as a distinct
cult, carefully defined and made the subject of many treatises.
The punishments to be meted out for it were carefully laid
down, as also the methods by which witches should be detected
and tried. The cases were no longer sporadic and exceptional ;
they were regarded as being a gild or sect marshalled by Satan
to destroy faith from the earth.
It is probable that the responsibility for the spread of the
wild witch mania rests chiefly with the popes. Pope after
pope countenanced and encouraged the belief. Not a single
utterance emanated from a pope to discourage it.1 Pope after
pope called upon the Inquisition to punish witches.
The list of papal deliverances opened in 1233, when Gregory
IX., addressing the bishops of Mainz and Hildesheim, accepted
the popular demonology in its crudest forms.2 The devil, so
Gregory asserted, was appearing in the shapes of a toad, a pallid
ghost and a black cat. In language too obscene to be repeated,
he described at length the orgies which took place at the meet-
ings of men and women with demons. Where medicines did
not cure, iron and fire were to be used. The rotting flesh was
to be cut out. Did not Elijah slay the four hundred priests
of Baal and Moses put idolaters to death?
1 Michelet, p. 9, says: " I unfalteringly declare that the witch appeared in the
age of that deep despair which the gentry of the Church engendered. The witch
is a crime of their own achieving. " Dttllinger, Papstthum, p. 123, says that
witchcraft in its different manifestations, from the 13th to the 17th century, is
u a product of the faith in the plenary authority of the pope. This may seem to
be a paradox, but it is not hard to prove.71 Hoensbroech's language, I., 881,
is warm but true, when he says, •' In all this period the pope was the patron
and the prop of the belief in witchcraft, spreading it and confirming it."
9 A translation of Gregory's bull, Vox rama, is given by Hoensbroech,
L 216-218. See Dollinger: Papstthum, pp. 126, 144.
518 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
Before the close of the 13th century, popes themselves were
accused of having familiar spirits and practising sorcery, as
John XXI., 1276, and Boniface VIII. Boniface went so far,
1803, as to order the trial of an English bishop, Walter of
Coventry and Lichfield, on the charge of having made a pact
with the devil and habitually kissing the devil's posterior
parts. Under his successor, Clement, the gross charges of
wantonness with the devil were circulated against the Knights
of the Temple. In his work, De maleficUs, Boniface VIII. 's
physician, Arnold of Villanova, stated with scientific precision
the satanic devices for disturbing and thwarting the marital
relation. Among the popes of the 14th century, John XXII.
is distinguished for the credit he gave to all sorts of malefic
arts and his instructions to the inquisitors to proceed against
persons in league with the devil.1
Side by side with the papal utterances went the authorita-
tive statements of the Schoolmen. Leaning upon Augustine,
Thomas Aquinas, d. 1274, accepted as real the cohabitation
of human beings with demons, and declared that old women
had the power by the glance of their eye of injecting into young
people a certain evil essence. If the horrible beliefs of the
Middle Ages on the subject of witchcraft are to be set aside,
then the bulls of Leo XIII. and Pius X.2 pronouncing Thomas
the authoritative guide of Catholic theology must be modified.
The definitions of the Schoolmen justified the demand which
papal deliverances made, that the Church tribunal has at least
equal jurisdiction with the tribunal of the state in ferreting
oat and -prosecuting the adepts of the dark arts. Manuals of
procedure in cases of sorcery used by the Inquisition date
back at least to 1270.8 The famous Interrogatory of Bernard
Guy of 1320 contains formulas on the subject. The canonists,
however, had difficulty in defining the point at which male-
fidum became a capital crime. Oldradus, professor of canon
law in turn at Bologna, Padua and Avignon, sought, about
1 So, in 1326, John inveighed against those who cum morte fcedus ineunt et
pactum faciunt cum inferno. For the text of this and other papal documents,
see Hansen, Quellen, pp. 1-37.
1 In his hull Pascendi gregit, 1907.
• Hanson : Zauberwahn, pp. 241, 203 sq., 271.
§ 59. WITCHCRAFT AND ITS PUNISHMENT. 519
1325, to draw a precise distinction between the two, and gave
the opinion that, only when sorcery savors strongly of heresy,
should it be dealt with as heresy was dealt with, the position
assumed before by Alexander IV. , 1258-1260. The final step
was taken when Eymericus, in his Inquisitorial Directory and
special tracts, 1370-1380, affirmed the close affinity between
maleficium and heresy, and threw the door wide open for the
most rigorous measures against malefics.
To such threefold authorization was added the weight of the
great influence of the University of Paris, which, in 1378, two
years after the issue of Eymericus' work, sent out 28 articles
affirming the reality of maleficium.
Proceeding to the second period in the history of our sub-
ject, beginning with 1430, it is found to teem with tracts and
papal deliverances on witchcraft.
Gerson, the leading theologian of his age, said it was heresy
and impiety to question the practice of the malefic arts, and
Eugenius IV., in several deliverances, beginning with 1434,
spoke in detail of those who made pacts with demons and sac-
rificed to them.1 Witchcraft was about to take the place in
men's minds which heresy had occupied in the age of Inno-
cent III. The frightful mania was impending which spread
through Latin Christendom under the Renaissance popes, from
Pius II. to Clement VII., and without a dissenting voice re-
ceived their sanction. Of the Humanist, Pius II., better
things might have been expected, but he also, in 1459, fulmi-
nated against the malefics of Brittany. To what length the
Vatican could go in sanctioning the crassest superstition is
seen from Sixtus IV.'s bull, 1471, in which that pontiff reserved
to himself the right to manufacture and consecrate the little
waxen figures of lambs, the touch of which was pronounced to be
sufficient to protect against fire and shipwreck, storm and hail,
lightning and thunder, and to preserve women in the hour of
parturition.2
1 Principis tenebrarum suasus et illusiones coecitate noxia sectaries demoni-
bus immolant, eos adorant, etc. . . . illis homagium faciunt, etc. Hansen,
Quellen, p. 17.
8 Cerea formal innocenttssimi agni, Hanson, etc. : Qttellen, p. 21 sq.
520 THB MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
Among the documents on witchcraft, emanating from papal
or other sources, the place of pre-eminence is occupied by the
bull, Summit desiderantes, issued by Innocent VIII., 1484.
This notorious proclamation, consisting of nearly 1000 words,
was sent out in answer to questions proposed to the papal chair
by German inquisitors, and recognizes in clearest language the
current beliefs about demonic bewitchment as undeniable.
It had come to his knowledge, so the pontiff wrote, that the
dioceses of Mainz, Cologne, Treves, Salzburg and Bremen
teemed with persons who, forsaking the Catholic faith, were
consorting with demons. By incantations, conjurations and
other iniquities they were thwarting the parturition of women
and destroying the seed of animals, the fruits of the earth, the
grapes of the vine and the fruit of the orchard. Men and women,
flocks and herds, trees and all herbs were being afflicted with
pains and torments. Men could no longer beget, women no
longer conceive, and wives and husbands were prevented from
performing the marital act. In view of these calamities, the
pope authorized the Dominicans, Heinrich Institoris and Jacob
Sprenger, professors of theology, to continue their activity
against these malefics in bringing them to trial and punishment.
He called upon the bishop of Salzburg to see to it that they
were not impeded in their work and, a few months later, he
admonished the archbishop of Mainz to give them active sup-
port. In other documents, Innocent commended Sigismund,
archbishop of Austria, the count of the Tyrol and other persons
for the aid they had rendered to these inquisitors in their effort
to crush out witchcraft.
The burning of witches was thus declared the definite policy
of the papal see and the inquisitors proceeded to carry out its
instructions with untiring and merciless severity.1
Innocent's communication, so abhorrent to the intelligent
judgment of modern times, would seem of itself to sweep
away the dogma of papal infallibility, even if there were no
cases of Liberius, the Arian, or Honorius, the Monothelite.
The argument is made by Pastor and Cardinal Hergenrother
1 See Hansen, p. 27-29. DOllinger-Friedrich, p. 126, Bays, " Mit Inn. VIII.
beginnt das regelmfosige Verbrennen der Hexen."
§ 59. WITCHCRAFT AND ITS PUNISHMENT. 521
that Innocent did not officially pronounce on the reality of
witchcraft when, proceeding upon the basis of reports, he con-
demned it and ordered its punishment.1 However, in case
this explanation be not regarded as sufficient, these writers
allege that the decision, being of a disciplinary nature, would
have no more binding force than any other papal decision on
non-dogmatic subjects. This distinction is based upon the
well-known contention of Catholic canonists that the pope's
inerrancy extends to matters of faith and not to matters of
discipline. Leaving these distinctions to the domain of theo-
logical casuistry, it remains a historic fact that Innocent's bull
deepened the hold of a vicious belief in the mind of Europe
and brought thousands of innocent victims to the rack and to
the flames. The statement made by Dr. White is certainly
not far from the truth when he says that, of all the documents
which have issued from Rome, imperial or papal, Innocent's
bull first and last cost the greatest suffering.2 Innocent might
have exercised his pontifical infallibility in denying, or at least
doubting, the credibility of the witnesses. A simple word from
him would have prevented untold horrors. No one of his suc-
cessors in the papal chair has expressed any regret for his de-
liverance, much less consigned to the Index of forbidden books
the Malleus maleficarum, the inquisitors' official text-book on
witchcraft, most of the editions of which printed Innocent's
bull at length.
Innocent's immediate successors followed his example and
persons or states opposing repressive measures against witches
were classed with malefactors and, as in the case of Venice,
the state was threatened by Leo X. with the fulminations of
the Church if it did not render active assistance. At the
papal rebuke, Brescia changed its attitude and in a single year
sentenced 70 to the flames.
Next to Innocent's bull, the Witches Hammer, — Malleus
1 Gesch. der Papste, III. 200 sqq., Hergenrother-Kirech, II. 1040 sq. Va-
candard, Inquisition, p. 200, takes the same view and says u Innocent assuredly
had no intention of committing the Church to a belief in the phenomena he
mentions in his bull ; but his personal opinion did have an influence upon the
canonists and Inquisitors of his day," etc.
8 Warfare of Science and Theology, I. 861.
522 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
maleficarum, — already referred to, is the most important and
nefarious legacy the world has received on witchcraft. Dr.
Lea pronounces it " the most portentous monument of super-
stition the world has produced." l These two documents were
the official literature which determined the progress and
methods of the new crusade.
The Witches Hammer^ published in 1486, proceeded from
the hands of the Dominican Inquisitors, Heinrich Institoris,
whose German name was Kramer, and Jacob Sprenger. The
plea cannot be made that they were uneducated men. They
occupied high positions in their order and at the University of
Cologne. Their book is divided into three parts : the iirst
proves the existence of witchcraft ; the second sets forth the
forms in which it manifested itself ; the third describes the
rules for its detection and prosecution. In the last quarter
of the 15th century the world, so it states, was more given over
to the devil than in any preceding age. It was flooded with
all kinds of wickedness. In affirming the antics of witches and
other malefics, appeal is made to the Scriptures and to the teach-
ings of the Church and especially to Augustine and Thomas
Aquinas. Witches and sorcerers, whose father is the devil,
are at last bound together in an organized body or sect.
They meet at the weekly sabbats and do the devil homage
by kissing his posterior parts. He appears among them as a
tom-cat, goat, dog, bull or black man, as whim and conven-
ience suggest. Demons of both sexes swarm at the meetings.
Baptism and the eucharist are subjected to ridicule, the cross
trampled upon. After an abundant repast the lights are ex-
tinguished and, at the devil's command " Mix, mix," there fol-
low scenes of unutterable lewdness. The devil, however, is a
strict disciplinarian and applies the whip to refractory mem-
bers.
The human members of the fraternity are instructed in all
sorts of fell arts. They are transported through the air. They
kill unbaptized children, keeping them in this way out of
heaven. At the sabbats such children are eaten. Of the
carnal intercourse, implied in the words wccubus and incubus,
1 Inquisition, III. 543.
§ 59. WITCHCRAFT AND ITS PUNISHMENT. 528
the authors say, there can be no doubt. To quote them, " it
is common to all sorcerers and witches to practise carnal lust
with demons."1 To this particular subject are devoted two
full chapters, and it is taken up again and again.
In evidence of the reality of their charges, the authors draw
upon their own extensive experience and declare that, in 48
cases of witches brought before them and burnt, all the vic-
tims confessed to having practised such abominable whore-
doms for from 10 to 30 years.
Among the precautions which the book prescribed against
being bewitched, are the Lord's Prayer, the cross, holy water
and salt and the Church formulas of exorcism. It also adds
that inner grace is a preservative.2
The directions for the prosecution of witches, given in the
third part of the treatise, are set forth with great explicitness.
Public rumor was a sufficient cause for an indictment. The
accused were to be subjected to the indignity of having the
hair shaved off from their bodies, especially the more secret
parts, lest perchance some imp or charm might be hidden
there. Careful rules were given to the inquisitors for pre-
serving themselves against being bewitched, and Institoris and
Sprenger took occasion to congratulate themselves that, in
their long experience, they had been able to avoid this calam-
ity. In case the defender of a witch seemed to show an ex-
cess of zeal, this was to be treated as presumptive evidence
that he was himself under the same influence. One of the
1 Hoc est commune omnium maleflcarum spurcitias carnales cum dcemoni-
bus exercere, Malleus, II. 4. The author goes into all the details of the demon's
procedure, the demon as be approaches men being known as the succubus, and
women as the incubus. Many of the details are too vile to repeat. Such
passages of Scripture are quoted as Gen. vi. 2 and 1 Cor. xi. 10, which is made
to teach that the woman wears a covering on her head to guard herself against
the looks of lustful angels. The demons, in becoming succubi and incubi, are
not actuated by carnal lust, so the author asserts, but by a desire to make their
victims susceptible to all sorts of vices.
8 Many cases are given to show the efficacy of these preservatives. For
example, a man in Ravensburg, who was tempted by the devil in the shape
of a woman, became much concerned, and at last, recalling what a priest had
said in the pulpit, sprinkled himself with salt and at once escaped the devil's
influence.
524 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1017.
devices for exposing guilt was a sheet of paper of the length
of Christ's body, inscribed with the seven words of the cross.
This was to be bound on the witch's body at the time of the
mass, and then the ordeal of torture was applied. This meas-
ure almost invariably brought forth a confession of guilt. The
ordeal of the red-hot iron was also recommended, but it was
to be used with caution, as it was the trick of demons to cover
the hands of witches with a salve made from a vegetable es-
sence which kept them from being burnt. Such a case hap-
pened in Constance, the woman being able to carry the glowing
iron six paces and thus going free.
Of all parts of this manual, none is quite so infamous as the
author's vile estimate of woman. If there is any one who
still imagines that celibacy is a sure highway to purity of
thought, let him read the testimonies about woman and mar-
riage given by mediaeval writers, priests and monks, them-
selves celibate and presumably chaste. Their impurities of
expression suggest a foul atmosphere of thought and conversa-
tion. The very title of the Malleus maleficarum — the Ham-
mer of the Female Malefics — is in the feminine because, as
the authors inform their readers, the overwhelming majority
of those who were behagged and had intercourse with demons
were women.1 In flat contrast to our modern experience of the
religious fidelity of women, the authors of this book derive the
word/ewnwa — woman — from/6 andrnwws, that is, fides minus^
less in faith. Weeping and spinning and deceiving they repre-
sent as the very essence of her nature. She deceives, because
she was formed from Adam's rib and that was crooked.
A long chapter, I. 6, is devoted to showing woman's infe-
riority to man and the subject of her alliance with demons is
dwelt upon, apparently with delight. The cohabitation with
fiends was in earlier ages, the authors affirm, against the will of
women, but in their own age it was with their full consent and
by their ardent desire. They thank God for being men. Few
of their sex, they say, consent to such obscene relations, — one
man to ten women. This refusal was due to the male's natu-
1 Hotresis dicenda eat non maleftcorum sed malqflcarum, tit flat a potiori
denominatio. See Hansen: Quellen, 416-444, and Zaubencahn, 481-490.
§ 59. WITCHCRAFT AND ITS PUNISHMENT. 525
ral vigor of mind, vigor rationis. To show the depravity of
woman and her fell agency in history, Institoris and Sprenger
quote all the bad things they can heap up from authors, biblical
and classic, patristic and scholastic, Cato, Terence, Seneca,
Cicero, Jerome. Jesus Sirach's words are frequently quoted,
"Woman is more bitter than death." Helen, Jezebel and
Cleopatra are held forth as examples of pernicious agency
which wrought the destruction of kingdoms, such catastrophes
being almost invariably due to woman's machinations.
It was the common representation of the writers of the out-
going century of the Mediaeval Age that God permits the in-
tervention of Satan's malefic agency through the marriage bed
more than through any other medium, and for the reason that
the first sin was carried down through the marital act. On
this point, Thomas Aquinas is quoted by one author after the
other.1 Preachers, as well as writers on witchcraft, took this
disparaging view of woman. Geiler of Strassburg gave as the
reason for ten women being burnt to one man on the charge
of witchcraft, woman's loquacity and frivolity. He quoted
Ambrose that woman is the door to the devil and the way of
iniquity — janua diaboli et via iniquitatis. Another noted
preacher of the 15th century, John Nider, gave ten cases in
which the cohabitation of man and woman is a mortal sin
and, in a Latin treatise on moral leprosy, included the mar-
riage state.2 A century earlier, in his De planctu eccleslce^
written from Avignon, Bishop Alvarez of Pelayo enumerated
102 faults common to women, one of these their cohabitation
with the denizens of hell. From his own experience, the
prelate states, he knew this to be true. It was practised, he
1 Com. ad Sent., IV. 34, qu. I 3, quia corruptio peccati prima ... in no*
per actum generantem devenit, ideo maleficii potestas permittitur diabolo adeo
in hoc actu magis quam aliis. See Hansen : Quellen, pp. 88-99. In answering
the question why more women were given to sorcery than men, Alexander
Hales declared that it was because she had less intellectual vigor than man,
tm'ntu habet discretionem spiritus.
2 See Hansen : Quell™, p. 423 sqq. Wyclif does not seem to have had so
low an opinion of woman as did the writers of the century after him. And
yet he says, Lat. Serm. II. 161, Femina superat in malicia multos viro* . . .
veritas est quod natura feminea e*t virtute inferior, etc.
526 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1204-1617.
says, in a convent of nuns and vain was his effort to put a
stop to it.
Experts gave it as their opinion that "the new sect of
witches" had its beginning about the year 1300.1 But the
writers of the 15th and 16th centuries were careful to prove
that their two characteristic performances, the flight through
the air and demonic intercourse, were not illusions of the im-
agination, but palpable realities.2 To the testimonies of the
witches themselves were added the ocular observations of
church officials.8 Other devilish performances dwelt upon,
were the murder of children before baptism, the eating of
their flesh after it had been consecrated to the devil and the
trampling upon the host.4 One woman, in 1457, confessed she
had been guilty of the last practice 30 years.
The more popular places of the weekly sabbats were the
Brocken, Benevento, Como and the regions beyond the Jor-
dan. Here the witches and demons congregated by the thou-
sands and committed their excesses. The witches went from
congregation to congregation as they pleased6 and, according
to Prierias, children as young as eight and ten joined in the
orgies.
Sometimes it went hard with the innocent, though pruri-
ent, onlookers of these scenes, as was the case with the in-
quisitor of Como, Bartholomew of Homate, and some of his
companions. Determined to see for themselves, they looked
on at a sabbat in Mendrisio from a place of concealment. As
1 Ista secta strigiarum. So Bernard of Como, who was followed by Nicolas
Jacquier, Prierias, etc. Hansen : QueUen, pp. 282, 310.
3 Turrecremata, the Spanish dogmatician and canonist, dissents from the
opinion that the flying women were led by Diana and Herodias, on the rational
grounds that Diana never existed and Herodias probably was never permitted
to leave hell.
8 See the realistic language of Jacquier, Prierias, Bartholomew of Spina,
etc. Quellen, p. 186, etc.
4 Jacquier, Widinan of Kemnat, Barthol. of Spina, etc., Quellen, pp. 141,
234, 827, sq.
* Valdenses ydolatrce, Quellen, pp. 157, 166. The poet Martin le Franc,
secretary to Felix V., in his Champion dcs dames, about 1440, speaks of 10,000
witches celebrating a sabbat in the Valley of Wallis. Six hundred of them
were brought to confess they had cohabited with demons. Qucllen, 90-104.
§ 59. WITCHCKAFT AND ITS PUNISHMENT. 527
if unaware of their presence, the presiding devil dismissed the
assembly, but immediately calling the revellers back, had
them drag the intruders forth and the demons belabored
them so lustily that they survived only 15 days.1 The forms
the devil usually assumed were those of a large tom-cat or a
goat. If the meeting was in a building, he was wont to de-
scend by a ladder, tail foremost. The witches kissed his poste-
rior parts and, after indulging in a feast, the lights were put
out and wild revels followed. As early as 1460, pictures were
printed representing women riding through the air, straddling
stocks and broomsticks, on goats or carried by demons. In
Normandy, the obsessed were called broom-riders — acolaces.*
Taught by demons, they made a salve of the ashes of a toad
fed on the wafer, the blood of murdered children and other
ingredients, which they applied to their riding sticks to facili-
tate their flights. According to the physician, John Hartlieb,
who calls this salve the " unguent of Pharelis " — Herodias —
it was made from seven different herbs, each gathered on a
different day of the week and mixed with the fat of birds and
animals.8
The popularity of the witch-delusion as a subject of literary
treatment is shown by the extracts Hansen gives from 70
writings, without exhausting the list.4 Most of the writers
were Dominicans. The Witches Hammer was printed in many
editions, issued 13 times before 1520 and, from 1574-1669, 16
times. The most famous of these writers in the earlier half of
1 The incident is told by that famous witch-inquisitor, Bernard of Como,
in his Df strigiis. Hansen . Quellen, pp. 270-284.
a From scoba, meaning broom. So in the tract Errores Gazariorum seu
il Jorum qui scobam vel barulum equitare probantttr, Quellen, pp. 118-123.
* Quellen, p. 131 sq. This medical expert declared that women and men
were often turned into toads and cats. When such a cat's paw was cut off,
it was found that the foot of the suspected witch was gone. With his own eyes,
this mediaeval practitioner says he saw such a woman burnt in Rome, and he
states that many such cases occurred in the papal metropolis Hartlieb
was medical adviser to Duke Albert III. of Bavaria. His Buck aller verbo-
tenen Kunst, Unglaubens u. d. Zauberei, was written 1456.
4 Hansen devotes 60 pages of his Quellen to the title, date and authors of
the Malleus. An excellent German translation is by J. W. R. Schmidt : Der
Hexenhammer, Berlin, 3 vols., 1906.
528 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1204-1517.
the 15th century was John Nider, d. 1438, in his Formicarius
or Ant-Industry. He was a member of the Dominican order,
professor of theology in Vienna and attended the Council of
Basel. Writers like Jacquier were not satisfied with sending
forth a single treatise.1 Writers like Sylvester Prierias, d.
1523, known in the history of Luther, and Bartholomew Spina,
d, 1546, occupied important positions at the papal court.2
These two men expounded Innocent VIII. 's bull, and quote
the Witches Hammer. Geiler of Strassburg repeated from
the pulpit the vilest charges against witches. Pico della
Mirandola, the biographer of Savonarola, filled a book with
material of the same sort, and declared that one might as well
call in question the discovery of America as the existence of
witches. 8
The prosecution of witches assumed large proportions first
in Switzerland and Northern Italy and then in France and
Germany. In Rome, the first reported burning was in 1424. 4
In the diocese of Como, Northern Italy, 41 were burnt the
year after the promulgation of Innocent VIII. 's bull. Between
1500-1525 the yearly number of women tried in that district
was 1000 and the executions averaged 100. In 1521, Prierias
declared that the Apennine regions were so full of witches that
they were expected soon to outnumber the faithful.
1 Flagellum hareticorum fascinariorum, The Heretics' Flail. Extracts
in Hansen, 133-144. Tract, de calcinatione dcemonum sen malignorum
spirituum, still in MS. in Brussels.
2 De strigmagarum damonumque mirandis, Rome, 1621, and De strigibus et
lamiis, Venice, 1535. Hansen, pp. 317-339.
* Strix sive de* ludijicatione dcemonum, 1523. See Burckhardt-Geiger :
Renaissance, Excursus, II. 359-362. The official papal view at the close of the
16th century was set forth by the canonist, Francis Pegna, d. in Rome 1612.
He held an appointment on the papal commission for the revision of Gratian's
Decretals, and asserts that the aerial flights and cohabitation of witches
could be proved beyond all possible doubt. See extracts from his Com. on
Eymericus Director ium. Hansen : Quellen, p. 358 sq.
4 Infessura, Tommasini's ed., p. 25. For another burning in Rome, 1442,
Burckhardt-Geiger, II. 359. For witchcraft in Italy, see this author, II. 255-
264. Also the extensive lists of trials, 1245-1540, noted down in Hanson's
Quellen ; the ecclesiastical trials, pp. 445-516 ; the civil, pp. 517-415. In 1628
Gregory XV. renewed the penalty of lifelong imprisonment for making pacts
with the devil.
§ 59. WITCHCRAFT AND ITS PUNISHMENT. 529
In France, one of the chief victims, the Carmelite William
Adeline, was professor in Paris and had taken part in the
Council of Basel. Arraigned by the Inquisition, 1458, he con-
fessed to being a Vaudois, and having habitually attended
their synagogues and done homage to the devil. In spite of
his abjurations, he was kept in prison till he died.1 In Brian-
$on, 1428-1447, 110 women and 57 men were executed for
witchcraft in the flames or by drowning.
In Germany, Heidelberg, Pforzheim, Niirnberg, Wiirzburg,
Bamberg, Vienna, Cologne, Metz and other cities were centres
of the craze and witnessed many executions. It was during
the five years preceding 1486 that Heinrich Institoris and
Sprenger sent 48 to the stake. The Heidelberg court-
preacher, Matthias Widman, of Kemnat, pronounced the
" Cathari or heretical witches " the most damnable of the sects,
one which should be subjected to "abundance of fire and
without mercy." He reports that witches rode on broom-
sticks, spoons, cats, goats and other objects, and that he had
seen many of them burnt in Heidelberg. In 1540, six years
before Luther's death, four witches and sorcerers were burnt
in Protestant Wittenberg. And in 1545, 34 women were
burnt or quartered in Geneva. In England the law for the
burning of heretics, 1401, was applied to these unfortunate
people, not a few of whom were committed to the flames. But
the persecution in the mediteval period never took on the
proportions on English soil it reached on the Continent ; and
there, it was not the Church but the state that dealt with the
crime of sorcery.
According to the estimate of Louis of Paramo, himself a
distinguished inquisitor of Sicily who had condemned many
to the flames, there had been during the 150 years before
1597, the date of his treatise on the Origin and Progress of the
Inquisition^ 30,000 executions for witchcraft.2
1 Hansen : Quellen, pp. 467-472. For the notorious case of Gilles de Rais,
the reputed original Bluebeard, see Lea : Inq., III. 468-487.
3 For other figures, see Hansen: Zauberwohn, p. 532 sqq., Hoensbroech,
I. 500 sqq., and Lecky, I. 20 sqq. Seven thousand are said to have been burnt
at Treves. In 1670, 70 persons were arraigned in Sweden and a large num-
ber of them burnt.
2M
530 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
The judgments passed upon witches were whipping, ban-
ishment and death by fire, or, as in Cologne, Strassburg and
other places, by drowning. The most common forms of tor-
ture were the thumb-screw and the strappado. In the latter
the prisoner's hands were bound behind his back with a rope
which was drawn through a pulley in the ceiling. The body
was slowly lifted up, and at times left hanging or allowed to
suddenly drop to the floor. In our modern sense, there was
no protection of law for the accused. The suspicion of an
ecclesiastical or civil court was sufficient to create an almost
insurmountable presumption of guilt. Made frantic by the
torture, the victims were willing to confess to anything, how-
ever untrue and repulsive it might be. Death at times must
have seemed, even with the Church's ban, preferable to pro-
tracted agonies, for the pains of death at best lasted a few
hours and might be reduced to a few minutes. As Lecky has
said, these unfortunate people did not have before them the
prospect of a martyr's crown and the glory of the heavenly
estate. They were not buoyed up by the sympathies and
prayers of the Church. Unpitied and unprayed for, they
yielded to the cold scrutiny of the inquisitor and were con-
sumed in the flames.
Persons who took the part of the supposed witch, or ven-
tured to lift up their voices against the trials for witchcraft,
did so at the risk of their lives. In 1593, the Dutch priest,
Cornelius Loos Callidus, was imprisoned at Treves for declar-
ing that women, making confession under torture to witch
devices, confessed to what was not true. And four years
before, 1589, Dr. Dietrich Flade, a councillor of Treves, was
burnt for attacking the prosecution of witchcraft.1
The belief in demonology and all manner of malefic arts
was a legacy handed down to the Church from the old Roman
1 Dollinger-Friedrich, pp. 130, 447. For Loos' recantation as given by
Delrio, see Phil. Trail, and Reprints, III. In a letter, written in 1029, the
chancellor of the bishop of WUrzburg states that the week before a beautiful
maiden of 19 had been executed as a witch. Children of three and four
years, he adds, to the number of 800, were reported to have had intercourse
with the devil. He himself had seen children of seven and promising students
of 12 and 16 put to death. Phil. Trail, etc., III.
§ 59. WITCHCRAFT AND ITS PUNISHMENT. 631
world and, where the influence of the Northern mythologies
was felt, the belief took still deeper roots. But it cannot be
denied that cases and passages taken from the Scriptures, espe-
cially the Old Testament, were adduced to justify the wild
dread of malign spirits in the Middle Ages. Saul's experi-
ence with the witch of Endor, the plagues brought by the
devil upon Job, the representations in Leviticus and Deuter-
onomy, incidents from the Apocrypha and the cases of de-
monic agency in the New Testament were dwelt upon and
applied with literal and relentless rigor.
It is a long chapter which begins with the lonely contests the
old hermits had with demons, recounts the personal encounters
of mediaeval monks in chapel and cell and relates the horrors
of the inquisitorial process for heresy. Our more rational pro-
cesses of thought and our better understanding of the Chris-
tian law of love happily have brought this chapter to a close
in enlightened countries. The treatment here given has been
in order to show how greatly a Christian society may err, and
to confirm in this generation the feeling of gratitude for the
better sentiments which now prevail. It is perhaps also due
to those who suffered, that a general description of the injus-
tice done them should be given. The chapter may not unfitly
be brought to a close by allowing one of the victims to speak
again from his prison-cell, the burgomaster of Bamberg, though
he suffered a century after the Middle Ages had closed, 1628.
After being confronted by false witnesses he confessed, under
torture, to having indulged in the practices ascribed to the be-
witched and he thus wrote to his daughter: —
Many hundred good nights, dearly beloved daughter, Veronica. Innooent
have I come into prison, innocent must I die. For whoever conies into a witch-
prison must become a witch or be tortured till he invents something out of his
head and — God pity him — bethinks himself of something. I will tell you
how it has gone with me. . . . Then came the executioner and put the thumb-
screws on me, both hands bound together, so that the blood ran out at the
nails and everywhere, so that for four weeks I could not use my hands, as you
can see from the writing. . . . Then they stripped me, bound my hands be-
hind my back and drew me up. I thought heaven and earth were at an end.
Eight times did they do this and let me drop again so that I suffered terrible
agony. . . . [Here follows a rehearsal of the confessions he was induced to
make.] . . . Now, dear child, you have all my confessions for which I must
632 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
die. They are sheer lies made up. All this I was forced to say through fear of
the rack, for they never leave off the torture till one confesses something. . . .
Dear child, keep this letter secret so that people may not find it or else I shall
be tortured most piteously and the jailers be beheaded. ... I have taken
several days to write this for my hands are both lame. Good night, for your
father Johannes Junius will never see you more. 1
Innocent Villas Bull^ Summit desiderantes. December 5,
1484: In Part:*
Innocentius episcopus, servos servorum del, ad perpetuam rei memoriam.
Summis desiderantes affectibus, prout pastoralis solllcitudinis cura requirit,
ut fides catholica nostris potissime temporibus ubique augeatur et fioreat ac
omnis hseretica pravitas de finibus fidelium procul pellatur, ea libenter de-
claramus ac etiam de novo concedimus per quae huiusmodi pium desideriain
nostrum votivum sortiatur effectual ; cunctisque proptcrea, per nostra opera-
tionis ministerium, quasi per providi operation is saeculum erroribus exstir-
patis, eiusdem fidei zelus et observantia in ipeorum corda fidelium fortius
imprimatur.
Sane nuper ad nostrum non sine ingenti molestia pervenit auditum, quod
in nonnullis parti bus Alemanise superioris, necnon in Maguntinensi, Coloni-
ensi, Treverensi, Saltzumburgensi, et Bremensi, provinces, civitatibus, terris,
locis et dioecesibus complures utriusque sezus person®, propriae salutis imme-
mores et a fide catholica deviantes, cum daemonibus, incubis et succubis abuti,
ac suis incantationibus, carminibus et coniurationibus aliisque nefandis super-
stitiosis, et sortilegis excesaibus, criminibus et delictis, mulierum partus, ani-
malium foetus, terra fruges, vinearum uvas, et arborum fructus ; necnon
homines, mulieres, pecora, pecudes et alia diversoruin generum animalia;
vineas quoque, pomeria, prata, pascua, blada, f rumenta et alia terra leguinina
perire, suffocari et extingui facere et procurare ; ipsosque homines, mulieres,
iuraenta, pecora, pecudes et animalia diris tarn intrinsecis quam extnnsecis
doloribus et torraentis afficere et excruciare ; ac eosdem homines ne gignere,
et mulieres ne concipere, virosque, ne uxoribus, et mulieres, ne viris actua
coniugalesreddere valeant, impedire; fidem pneterea ipsam, quam in sacri sus-
ceptione baptism! susceperunt, ore sacrilego abnegare, aliaque quam plurima
nefanda, excessus et crimina, instigante hum ani generis inimico, committcre
et perpetrare non vereutur in animarum suarum periculum, divinae maiesta-
tis offensam ac perniciosum exemplum ac scandalum plurimorum. Quodque
licet dilecti filii Henrici Institons in pradictis partibus Alemaniae superioris
. . . necnon lacobus Sprenger per certas partes line® Kheni, ordinis Pnedi-
catorum et theologiae professores, heeretic® pravitatis inquisitorea per litcras
1 The translation taken from the Phila. Trsll. and Reprints, vol. III.
9 Reprinted from Hansen : Quellen, pp. 26-27 . The Latin text is also found
in Soldan, p. 215, and Mirbt, p. 171 sq. Germ. trsl. in Schmidt, pp. xxxvi-xli,
and Hoensbroech, I. 884-886. £ngl. trsl. in Phila. Trill, and Reprint*,
yol. III.
§ 60. THE SPANISH INQUISITION. 533
apostolicas deputati fuerunt, prout adtrac existunt ; tamen nonnulli cleric! et
laid illarum partium, quaerentes plura sapere quam oporteat, pro eo quod in
literis deputationis huiusmodi provincial, civitates dioeceses, terra et alia loca
praedicta illarumque person® ac excessus huiusmodi nominatim et specifics
expressa non fuerunt, ilia sub eisdem partibus ininime contineri, et propterea
prtefatis inquisitoribus in provinciis, civitatibus, dioecesibus, terris et locis
pradictis huiusmodi inquisitionis officium exequi non licere ; et ad perso-
narum earundem super excessibus et criininibus antedictis punitionem, in-
carcerationem et correctionem admitti non debere, pertinaciter asserere non
erubescunt. . . . Huiusmodi inquisitionis officium ezequi ipsasque personas,
quas in pramissis culpabiles reperierint, iuxta earum demerita corrigere, in-
carcerare, punire et mulctare, . . . Quotiens opus fuerunt, aggravare et re-
aggravare auctoritate nostra procuret, tovocato ad hoc, si opus fuerit, auxilio
brachii saecularis.
§ 60. The Spanish Inquisition.
Torquemada's name, with clouds o'ercast,
Looms in the distant landscape of the past
Like a burnt tower upon a blackened heath,
Lit by the fires of burning woods beneath.
— LONGFELLOW.
The Inquisition of Spain is one of the bywords of history.
The horrors it perpetrated have cast a dark shadow over
the pages of Spanish annals. Organized to rid the Spanish
kingdoms of the infection of heresy, it extended its methods
to the Spanish dependencies in Europe, Sicily and Holland
and to the Spanish colonies of the new world. After the mar-
riage of Philip II. with Mary Tudor it secured a temporary
recognition in England. In its bloody sacrifices, Jews, Moors,
Protestants and the practitioners of the darkarts were included.
No country in the world was more concerned to maintain the
Catholic faith pure than was Spain from the 15th to the 18th
century, and to no Church organization was a more unre-
stricted authority given than to the Spanish Inquisition.
Agreeing with the papal Inquisition established by Innocent
III. in its ultimate aim, the eradication of heresy, it differed
from that earlier institution by being under the direction of a
tribunal appointed by the Spanish sovereign, immediately
amenable to him and acting independently of the bishops.
The papal Inquisition was controlled by the Apostolic see,
534 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
which appointed agents to carry its rules into effect and
whose agency was to a certain extent subject to the assent of
the bishops.
Engaged in the wars for the dispossession of the Pagan
Moors, the Spanish kingdoms had shown little disposition to
yield to the intrusion of Catharan and other heresy from the
North. The menace to its orthodox repose came from the
Jews, Jews who held firmly to their ancestral faith and Jews
who had of their own impulse or through compulsion adopted
the Christian rites. In no part of Europe was the number of
Jews so large and nowhere had they been more prosperous in
trade and reached such positions of eminence as physicians and
as counsellors at court. The Jewish literature of mediaeval
Spain forms a distinct and notable chapter in Hebrew literary
history. To rid the land of the Jews who persisted in their
ancestral belief was not within the jurisdiction of the Church.
That belonged to the state, and, according to the canon law,
the Jew was not to be molested in the practice of his religion.
But the moment Jews or Moors submitted to baptism they be-
came amenable to ecclesiastical discipline. Converted Jews
in Spain were called conversoa^ or maranos — the newly con-
verted— and it was with them, in its first period, that the
Spanish Inquisition had chiefly to do. After Luther's doc-
trines began to spread it addressed itself to the extirpation
of Protestants, but, until the close of its history, in 1834, the
Jewish Christians constituted most of its victims.
From an early time Spanish legislation was directed to the
humiliation of the Jews and their segregation from the Chris-
tian population. The (ecumenical Council of Vienne, 1312,
denounced the liberality of the Spanish law which made a
Jewish witness necessary to the conviction of a Jew. Spanish
synods, as those of Valladoiid and Tarragona, 1322, 1329, gave
strong expression to the spirit of intolerance with which the
Spanish church regarded the Jewish people. The sacking
and wholesale massacre of their communities, which lived apart
in quarters of their own called Juderias, were matters of fre-
quent occurrence, and their synagogues were often destroyed
or turned into churches. It is estimated that in 1391, 50,000
§ 60. THE SPANISH INQUISITION. 535
Jews were murdered in Castile, and the mania spread to
Aragon.1
The explanation of this bitter feeling is to be sought in the
haughty pride of the descendants of Abraham according to the
flesh, their persistent observance of their traditions and the ex-
orbitant rates of usury which they charged. Not content with
the legal rate, which in Aragon was 20% and in Castile 33J%,
they often compelled municipalities to pay even higher rates.
The prejudice and fears of the Christian population charged
them with sacrilege in the use of the wafer and the murder of
baptized children, whose blood was used in preparations made
for purposes of sorcery. Legislation was made more exacting.
The old rules were enforced enjoining a distinctive dress and
forbidding them to shave their beards or to have their hair cut
round. All employment in Christian households, the practice
of medicine and the occupation of agriculture were denied
them. Scarcely any trade was left to their hand except the
loaning of money, and that by canon law was illegal for
Christians.
The joint reign of Ferdinand, 1452-1516, and Isabella,
1451—1504, marked an epoch in the history of the Jews in
Spain, both those who remained true to their ancestral faith
and the large class which professed conversion to the Christian
Church.8
In conferring the title " Catholic " upon Ferdinand and
Isabella, 1495, Alexander VI. gave as one of the reasons the
expulsion of the Jews from Spain, 1492. The institution of
the Spanish Inquisition, which began its work twelve years
before, was directed primarily against the converses, people of
* Lea, I. 100 sqq., 107 sq.
8 Ferdinand was associated with his father, John of Navarre, in the govern-
ment of Aragon from the year 14fl9. The same year he was married to
Isabella, sister of Henry IV., king of Castile. At Henry's death, Isabella's title
to the throne was disputed by Juana who claimed to be a daughter of Henry,
but was popularly believed to be the child of Bel tram de la Cueva and so called
La Beltraneja. The civil war, which followed, was brought to a close in 1479
by Juana's retirement to a convent, and the undisputed recognition of Isabella.
Ferdinand and Isabella's reign is regarded as the most glorious in Spanish
annals. Ferdinand's grandson, through his daughter Juana, Charles V., suc-
ceeded to his dominions.
536 THB MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
Jewish blood and members of the Church who in heart and
secret usage remained Jews.
The papal Inquisition was never organized in Castile, and
in Aragon it had a feeble existence. With the council of
Tortosa, 1429, complaints began to be made that the converses
neglected to have their children baptized, and by attending
the synagogues and observing the Jewish feasts were putting
contempt upon their Christian faith. That such hypocrisy
was practised cannot be doubted in view of the action of the
Council of Basel which put its brand upon it. In 1451 Juan
II. applied to the papal court to appoint a commission to in-
vestigate the situation. At the same time the popular feeling
was intensified by the frantic appeals of clerics such as Friar
Alfonso de Espina who in his Fortalicium fi dei — the Fortifi-
cation of the Faith — brought together a number of alleged
cases of children murdered by Jews and argued for the Church's
right to baptize Jewish children in the absence of the parents'
consent.1 The story ran that before Isabella's accession her
confessor Torquemada, that hammer of heretics, secured from
her a vow to leave no measure untried for the extirpation of
heresy from her realm. Sometime later, listening to this same
ecclesiastic's appeal, Ferdinand and his consort applied to the
papal see for the establishment of the Inquisition in Castile.
Sixtus IV., who was then occupying the chair of St. Peter,
did not hesitate in a matter so important, and on Nov. 1, 1478,
issued the bull sanctioning the fell Spanish tribunal. It
authorized the Spanish sovereigns to appoint three bishops
or other ecclesiastics to proceed against heretics and at the
same time empowered them to remove and replace these officials
as they thought fit. After a delay of two years, the commis-
sion was constituted, 1480, and consisted of two Dominican
theologians, Michael de Morillo and John of St. Martin, and a
friar of St. Pablo, Seville. A public reception was given to
the commission by the municipal council of Seville. The num-
ber of prisoners was soon too large for the capacity of St. Pablo,
where the court first established itself, and it was removed to
the chief stronghold of the city, the fortress of Triana, whose
i Lea, I. 15.
§ 60. THE SPANISH INQUISITION. 537
ample spaces and gloomy dungeons were well fitted for the
dark work for which it had been chosen.
Once organized, the Inquisition began its work by issuing
the so-called Edict of Grace l which gave heretics a period of
80 or 40 days in which to announce themselves and, on making
confession, assured them of pardon. Humane as this measure
was, it was also used as a device for detecting other spiritual
criminals, those confessing, called penitentea, being placed un-
der a vow to reveal the names of heretics. The humiliations
to which the penitents were subjected had exhibition at the
first auto defe held in Toledo, 1486, when 750 penitents of both
sexes were obliged to march through the city carrying candles
and bare-headed ; and, on entering the cathedral, were in-
formed that one-fifth of their property had been confiscated,
and that they were thenceforth incapacitated to hold public
office. The first auto defe was held in Seville, Feb. 6, 1481,
six months after the appointment of the tribunal, when six men
and women were cremated alive. The ghastly spectacle was
introduced with a sermon, preached by Friar Alfonso de
Hojeda. A disastrous plague, which broke out in the city,
did not interrupt the sittings of the tribunal, which estab-
lished itself temporarily at Aracena, where the first holocaust
included 23 men and women. According to a contemporary,
by Nov. 4, 1491, 298 persons had been committed to the flames
and 79 condemned to perpetual imprisonment.2 The tribunal
established at Ciudad Real, 1483, burnt 52 heretics within two
years, when it was removed, in 1485, to Toledo. In Avila,
from 1490-1500, 75 were burnt alive, and 26 dead bodies ex-
humed and cast into the flames. In cases, the entire conversos
population was banished, as in Guadalupe, by the order of the
inquisitor-general, Deza, in 1500. From Castile, the Inquisi-
tion extended its operations to Aragon, where its three chief
centres were Valencia, Barcelona and Saragossa, and then to
the Balearic Islands, where it was especially active. The first
burning in Saragossa took place, 1484, when two men were
burnt alive and one woman in effigy, and at Barcelona in 1488,
when four persons were consumed alive.
i Lea, II. 467-463. * Lea, 1. 165.
538 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
The interest of Sixtus IV. continued to follow the tribu-
nal he had authorized and, in a letter addressed to Isabella,
Feb. 13, 1483, he assured the queen that its work lay close to
his heart. The same year, to render the tribunal more efficient,
it was raised by Ferdinand to the dignity of the fifth council
of the state with the title, Ooncejo de la Supremo, y General
Inquisition. Usually called the suprema, this body was to
have charge of the Holy Office throughout the realm. The
same end was promoted by the creation of the office of
inquisitor-general, 1483, to which the power was consigned of
removing and appointing inquisitorial functionaries. The
first incumbent was Thomas de Torquemada, at that time prior
of Santa Cruz in Segovia. This fanatical ecclesiastic, whose
name is a synonym of uncompromising religious intolerance
and heartless cruelty, had already been appointed, in 1482, an
inquisitor by the pope. He brought to his duties a rare
energy and formulated the rules characteristic of the Spanish
Inquisition.
With Torquemada at its head, the Holy Office became, next
to royalty itself, the strongest power in Spain. Its decisions
fell like the blow of a great iron hammer, and there was no
power beneath the sovereign that dared to offer them resist-
ance. In 1507, at the death of Deza, third inquisitor-general,
Castile and Aragon were placed under distinct tribunals.
Cardinal Ximenes, 1436-1517, a member of the Franciscan
order and one of the foremost figures in Spanish church history,
was elevated to the office of supreme inquisitor of Castile. His
distinction as archbishop of Toledo pales before his fame as a
scholar and patron of letters. He likewise was unyielding in
the prosecution of the work of ridding his country of the taint
of heresy, but he never gave way to the temptation of using
his office for his own advantage and enriching himself from the
sequestrated property of the converses, as Torquemada was
charged with doing.
Under Adrian of Utrecht, at first inquisitor-general of Ara-
gon, the tribunals of the two kingdoms were again united in
1518, and, by the addition of Navarre, which Ferdinand had
conquered, the whole Iberian peninsula, with the exception of
§ 60. THE SPANISH INQUISITION. 539
Portugal, came under the jurisdiction of a single supreme offi-
cial. Adrian had acted as tutor to Charles V., and was to suc-
ceed Leo X. on the papal throne. From his administration,
the succession of inquisitors-general continued unbroken till
1835, when the last occupant of the office died, Geronimo Cas-
tellan y Salas, bishop of Tarazona.1
The interesting question has been warmly discussed, wheth-
er the Inquisition of Spain was a papal institution or an in-
stitution of the state, and the attempt has been made to lift
the responsibility for its organization and administration from
the supreme pontiff. The answer is, that it was predomi-
nantly an ecclesiastical institution, created by the authority of
Sixtus IV. and continuously supported by pontifical sanction.
On the other hand, its establishment was sought after by Fer-
dinand and Isabella, and its operations, after the papal authori-
zation had been secured, was under the control of the Spanish
sovereign. So far as we know, the popes never uttered a word
in protest against the inhuman measures which were practised
by the Spanish tribunals. Their only dissent arose from the
persistence with which Ferdinand kept the administrative
agency in his own hands and refused to allow any interference
with his disposition of the sequestrated estates.2 The hearty
1 The list is given by Lea, I. 660-550.
2 Hefele, in his Life of Cardinal Ximenes, p. 266 sqq., took the position that
the Spanish Inquisition was a state institution, Staatsanstalt, pointing out that
the inquisitor-general was appointed by the king, and the inquisitors proceeded
in his name. Ranke, Die Oxmanen u. d. span. Monarchic in Flirsten u. Vol-
ker, 4th ed., 1877, calls it "a royal institution fitted out with spiritual weap-
ons." On the other hand, the Spanish historians, Orti y Lara and Rodrigo
take the position that it was a papal institution. Pastor takes substantially
this view when he insists upon the dominance of the religious element and the
bull of Sixtus IV. authorizing it. So, he says, erscheint d. span. Inquisition
aU ein geminchtes Institut mit vorwieyend kirchlichem Charakter, 1st ed., II.
642-640, 4th ed., III. 024-4KJO. Wetzer-Welte, VI. 777, occupies the same
ground and quotes Orti y Lara as saying, " The Inquisition fused into one
weapon the papal sword and the temporal power of kings.11 Dr. Lea empha-
sizes the mixed character of the agency, and says that the chief question is not
where it had its origin, but which party derived the most advantage. It is, how-
ever, of much importance for the history of the papacy as a divine or human
institution to insist upon its responsibility in authorizing and supporting the
nefarious Holy Office. Funk says that " the assumption that the Spanish In-
quisition was primarily a state institution does not hold good.11
540 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
approbation of the Apostolic see is vouched for in many docu-
ments, and the responsibility for the Spanish tribunal was dis-
tinctly assumed by Sixtus V., Jan. 22, 1588, as an institution
established by its authority. Sixtus IV. and his successors
sought again and again to get its full management into their
own hands, but were foiled by the firmness of Ferdinand.
When, for example, in a bull dated April 18, 1482, the pope
ordered the names of the witnesses and accusers to be com-
municated to the suspects, that the imprisonments should be
in episcopal gaols, that appeal might be taken to the Apostolic
chair and that confessions to the bishop should stop all prose-
cution, Ferdinand sharply resented the interference and hinted
that the suggestion had started with the use of converses gold
in the curia. This papal action was only a stage in the battle
for the control of the Holy Office.1 Ferdinand was ready to
proceed to the point of rupture with Rome rather than allow
the principle of appeals which would have reduced the power
of the suprema to impotence. Sixtus wrote a compromising
reply, and a year later, October, 1483, Ferdinand got all he
asked for, and the appointment of Torquemada was confirmed.
The royal management of the Inquisition was also in danger
of being fatally hampered by letters of absolution, issued ac-
cording to custom by the papal penitentiary, which were valid
not only in the court of conscience but in stopping public
trials. Ferdinand entered a vigorous protest against their
use in Spain, when Sixtus, 1484, confirmed the penitentiary's
right ; but here also Sixtus was obliged to retreat, at least in
part, and Alexander VI. and later Clement VII., 1524, made
such letters invalid when they conflicted with the jurisdiction
of the Spanish tribunal. Spain was bent on doing things in
its own way and won practical independence of the curia.2
The principle, whereby in the old Inquisition the bishops were
co-ordinate in authority with the inquisitors or superior to them,
* Lea, 1. 235 ; II. 103 sqq.
8 Lea, II. 116, etc., insists upon the double-dealing of the papacy, from
Sixtua IV. to Julius II., " who with one hand sold letters of absolution and
with the other declared them Invalid by revocation." Sixtus' bull of 1484
was confirmed by Paul III., 1549. Its claim, an infallible papacy cannot well
abandon.
§ 60. THE SPANISH INQUISITION. 541
had to be abandoned in Spain in spite of the pope's repeated
attempts to apply it. Innocent VIII., 1487, completely sub-
jected the bishops to the inquisitorial organization, and when
Alexander, 1494, annulled this bull and required the inquis-
itors to act in conjunction with the bishop, Ferdinand would
not brook the change and, under his protection, the suprema
and its agents asserted their independence to Ferdinand.
Likewise, in the matter of confiscations of property, the
sovereign claimed the right to dictate their distribution, now
applying them for the payment of salaries to the inquisitors
and their agents, now appropriating them for the national
exchequer, now for his own use or for gifts to his favorites.
No concern of his reign, except the extension of his domin-
ions, received from Ferdinand more constant and sympathetic
attention than the deletion of heresy. With keen delight
he witnessed the public burnings as adapted to advance the
Catholic faith. He scrutinized the reports sent him by in-
quisitors and, at times, he expressed his satisfaction with their
services by gifts of money. In his will, dated the day before
his death, he enjoined his heir, Charles V., to be strenuous in
supporting the tribunal. As all other virtues, so this testa-
ment ran, " are nothing without faith by which and in which
we are saved, we command the illustrious prince, our grand-
son, to labor with all his strength to destroy and extirpate
heresy from our kingdoms and lordships, appointing minis-
ters, God-fearing and of good conscience, who will conduct
the Inquisition justly and properly for the service of God and
the exaltation of the Catholic faith, and who will also have
a great zeal for the destruction of the sect of Mohammed."1
Without doubt, the primary motive in the establishment of
the tribunal was with Ferdinand, and certainly with Isabella,
religious.
There seems at no time to have been any widespread revolt
against the procedure of the Inquisition. In Aragon, some
mitigation of its rigors and rules was proposed by the Cortes
1 Lea, I. 214. For Ferdinand's expressions of satisfaction with the zeal
shown in the burning of heretics, as after a holocaust at Valladolid, Septem-
ber, 1509, see Lea, I. 189, 191, etc.
542 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1204-1617.
of Barcelona, 1512, such as the withdrawal from the inquisi-
tors of the right to carry weapons and the exemption of
women from the seizure of their property, in cases where a
husband or father was declared a heretic, but Ferdinand and
Bishop Engu&ra, the Aragonese inquisitor-general, were dis-
pensed by Leo X., 1514, from keeping the oath they had taken
to observe the rules. At Charles V.'s accession, an effort was
made to have some of the more offensive evils abolished, such
as the keeping of the names of witnesses secret, and in 1520
the Cortes of Valladolid and Corunna made open appeal for
the amendment of some of the rules. Four hundred thou-
sand ducats were offered, presumably by converses, to the
young king if he would give his assent, and, as late as
1528, the kingdom of Granada, in the same interest, offered
him 50,000 ducats. But the appeals received no favorable
action and, under the influence of Ximines, in 1517, the
council of Castile represented to Charles that the very peace
of Spain depended upon the maintenance of the Inquisition.
The cardinal wrote a personal letter to the king, declaring
that interference on his part would cover his name with
infamy.1
The most serious attempt to check the workings of the In-
quisition occurred in Saragossa and resulted in the assassina-
tion of the chief inquisitor, Peter Arbues, an act of despair
laid at the door of the conversos. Arbues was murdered in
the cathedral Jan. 25, 1485, the fatal blow being struck
from behind, while the priest was on his knees engaged in
prayer. He knew his life was threatened and not only wore
a coat of mail and cap of steel, but carried a lance. He
lingered twenty-four hours. Miracles wrought at the coffin
vouched for the sanctity of the murdered ecclesiastic. The
sacred bell of Villela tolled unmoved by hands. Arbues'
blood liquefied on the cathedral floor two weeks after the
deed. Within two years, the popular veneration showed it-
self in the erection of a splendid tomb to the martyr's mem-
ory and the Catholic Church, by the bull of Pius IX., June
29, 1867, has given him the honors of canonization. As the
i Lea, I. 217.
§ 60. THE SPANISH INQUISITION. 543
assassination of the papal delegate, Peter of Castelnau, at the
opening of the crusade against the Albigenses, 1208, wrought
to strengthen Innocent in his purpose to wipe out heresy,
even with the sword, likewise the taking off of Arbues only
tightened the grip of the Spanish Inquisition in Aragon. His
murderers and all in any way accessory to the crime were
hunted down, their hands were cut off at the portal of the
cathedral and their bodies dragged to the market-place,
where they were beheaded and quartered or burnt alive.1
Next to the judicial murders perpetrated by the Inquisition,
its chief evil was the confiscation of estates. The property of
the conversos offered a tempting prize to the cupidity of the
inquisitors and to the crown. The tribunal was expected to
live from the spoils of the heretics. Torquemada's Instructions
of 1484 contained specific rules governing the disposition of
goods held by heretics. There was no limit put upon their
despoilment, except that lands transferred before 1479 were
exempted from seizure, a precaution to avoid the disturbance
of titles. The property of dead heretics, though they had lain
in their graves fifty years, was within the power of the tribu-
nal. The dowries of wives were mercifully exempted whose
husbands were adjudged heretical, but wives whose fathers
were found to be heretics lost their dowries. The claims of
the children of heretic fathers might have been expected to
call for merciful consideration, but the righteousness of their
dispossession had no more vigorous advocates than the clergy.
To such property, as the bishop of Siraancas argued, the old
Christian population had a valid moral claim. The Instruc-
tions of 1484 direct that, if the children were under age at the
time of the confiscation, they were to be distributed among
pious families, and announced it as the king's intention, in case
they grew up good Christians, so to endow them with alms,
especially the girls, that they might marry or enter religion.2
The practice of confiscation extended to the bedding and
wearing apparel of the victims. One gracious provision was
that the slaves of condemned heretics should receive free-
1 Lea, I. 250 sqq. ; Wetzer-Welte, Petrus Arbues, vol. IX.
3 Lea, II. 336.
644 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
dom. Lands were sold at auction 30 days after their seques-
tration, but the low price which they often brought indicates
that purchasers enjoyed special privileges of acquisition. Fer-
dinand and his successor, Charles, were profuse in their dispo-
sition of such property. Had the moneys been used for the
wars against the Moors, as at first proposed by Torquemada,the
plea might be made that the tribunal was moved by unselfish
considerations, but they were not. Not only did Ferdinand
take money for his bankrupt treasury, but lie appropriated
hunting horses, pearls and other objects for his own use. The
Flemish favorites of Charles V., in less than ten months, sent
home 1,100,000 ducats largely made up of bequests derived
from the exactions of the sacred court.1 Dr. Lea, whose merit
it is to have shown the vast extent to which the sequestration
of estates was carried, describes the money transactions of the
Inquisition as " a carnival of plunder." It was even found to
be not incompatible with a purpose to maintain the purity of the
faith to enter into arrangements whereby, for a sufficient con-
sideration, communities received protection from inquisitorial
charges. The first such bargain was made at Valencia, 1482.
The king, however, did not hesitate on occasion to violate his
pact and allow unfortunate converses^ who had paid for exemp-
tion, to be arraigned and condemned. No law existed requir-
ing faith to be kept with a heretic. It also happened that
condemned converses purchased freedom from serving in the
galleys or wearing the badge of heresy, the sanbenito.*
As early as 1485, Ferdinand and Isabella were able to erect
a royal palace at Guadalupe, costing 2,732,333 maravedis, with
the proceeds of sequestrated property and, in a memorial ad-
dress to Charles V., 1524, Tristan de Leon asserted that these
sovereigns had received from the possessions of heretics no less
than 10,000,000 ducats. Torquemada also was able to spend
vast sums upon his enterprises, such as the conventual build-
ing of St. Thomas at Avila, which it was supposed were drawn
from the victims whom his religious fervor condemned to the
loss of their goods and often of their lives.8 When the hereti-
1 Peter Martyr, as quoted by Lea, II. 381.
* Lea, I. 217 ; II. 868, aq., 400-418. « Lea, II. 868.
§ 60. THE SPANISH INQUISITION. 645
cal mine was showing signs of exhaustion in Spain, the Span-
ish colonies of Mexico and Peru poured in their spoils to en-
able the Holy Office to maintain the state to which it had been
accustomed. At an early period, it began to take care for
its own perpetuation by making investments on a large
scale.1
After Ferdinand's death, the supremaa power increased,
and it demanded a respect only less than that which was
yielded to the crown. Its arrogance and insolence in admin-
istration kept pace with the high pretension it made to sa-
credness of aim and divine authority. The institution was
known as the Holy Office, the building it occupied was the
holy house, casa santa, and the public solemnity at which the
tribunal appeared officially before the public and announced
its decisions was called the act of faith, auto defe.
The suprema acted upon the principle started by Paramo,
that the inquisitor was the chief personage in his district. He
represented both the pope and king.2 On the one hand, he
claimed the right to arrest at will and withoiit restriction
from the civil authority ; on the other, he demanded freedom
for his officials from all arrest and violence.
In trading and making exports, the Holy Office claimed
exemption from the usual duties levied upon the people at
large. Immunity from military service and the right to carry
deadly weapons by day and night were among other privileges
to which it laid claim. A deliverance of the Apostolic see,
1515, confirmed it in its right to arrest the highest noble in
the land who dared to attack its prerogatives or agents and,
in case of need, to protect itself by resort to bloodshed. Its
jurisdiction extended not only to the lower orders of the clergy,
but also to members of the orders, a claim which, after a long
struggle, was confirmed by the edicts of Pius IV. and V.,
1559, 1561. A single class was exempted from the rules of its
procedure, the bishops. However, the exemption was rather
apparent than real, for the Holy Office exercised the right of
arraigning bishops under suspicion before the papal chair.
1 Lea : The Inq. in the Span. Dependencies, p. 219.
3 Lea heads a chapter on this subject, gupereminence, I. 350-375.
546 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
The first cases of this kind were prelates of Jewish extraction,
Davila of Segovia, 1490, and Aranda of Calahorra, 1498. Both
were tried in Rome, the former being exonerated, and Aranda
kept in prison in S. Angelo, where he is supposed to have
died, 1500. The most famous of the episcopal suspects, the
archbishop of Toledo, Bartholomew of Carranza, 1503-1576,
was kept in prison for 17 years, partly in Spain and partly in
Rome. The case enjoyed a European reputation.
Carranza had the distinction of administering the last rites
to Charles V. and was for a time a favorite of Philip II., but
that sinister prince turned against him. Partly from jealousy
of Carranza's honors, as has been surmised, and chiefly on
account of his indiscretions of speech, the inquisitor-general
Valdes decided upon the archbishop's prosecution, and when
his Commentary on the Catechism appeared in Spanish, he
was seized under authorization from the Apostolic see, 1559.
For two years the prelate was kept in a secret prison and
then brought to trial, t After delay, Pius IV., 1564, appointed
a distinguished commission to investigate the case and Pius
V. forced his transfer in 1567 to Rome, where he was confined
in S. Angelo for nine years. Under Pius V.'s successor,
Gregory XIII., Carranza was compelled to abjure alleged
errors, suspended from his seat for five years and remanded
to confinement in a Roman convent, where he afterwards died.
The boldness and vast power of the Inquisition could have no
better proof than the indignity and punishment placed upon a
primate of Spain.
The procedure of the Holy Office followed the rules drawn
by Torquemada, 1484, 1485, called the Instructions of Seville,
and the Instruct ions of Valladolid prepared by the same hand,
1488 and 1498. These early codes were afterwards known as
the Instructiones antiguas, and remained in force until super-
seded by the code of 1561 prepared by the inquisitor-general,
Valdes.
Torquemada lodged the control of the Inquisition in the
supremo, to which all district tribunals were subordinated.
Permanent tribunals were located at Seville, Toledo, Valla-
dolid, Madrid (Corte), Granada, Cordova, Murcia Llerena,
§ 60. THE SPANISH INQUISITION. 547
Cuenca, Santiago, Logrono and the Canaries under the crown
of Castile and at Saragossa, Valencia, Barcelona and Majorca
under the crown of Aragon.1
The officials included two inquisitors, an assessor or consulter
on modes of canonical procedure, an alguazil or executive officer,
who executed the sentences of the tribunal, notaries who kept
the records, and censors or calif adores who pronounced elaborate
opinions on points of dispute. To these was added an official
who appraised and took charge of confiscated property. A
large body of subordinates, such as the familiars or confidential
agents, complete the list of officials. Laymen were eligible to
the office of inquisitor, provided they were unmarried, and a
condition made for holding any of these places was purity of
blood, limpieza* freedom from all stain of Morisco, Jewish or
heretic parentage and of ancestral illegitimacy. This peculiar
provision led to endless investigation of genealogical records
before appointments were made.3
Each tribunal had a house of its own, containing the audience
chamber, rooms for the inquisitors, a library for the records, —
le secrete de la Inquisition^ — a chamber of torture and secret
prisons. The familiars have a dark fame. They acted as a
body of spies to detect and report cases of heresy. Their zeal
made them the terror of the land, and the Cortes of Monzon,
1512, called for the reduction of their number.
In its procedure, the Inquisition went on the presumption
that a person accused was guilty until he had made out his
innocence. The grounds of arrest were rumor or personal
denunciation. Informing on suspects was represented to the
people as a meritorious act and inculcated even upon chil-
dren as a duty. The instructions of 1484 prescribed a miti-
gated punishment for minors who informed on heretical fathers,
and Bishop Simancas declared it to be the sacred obligation of
a son to bring his father, if guilty, to justice.8 The spiritual of-
fender was allowed an advocate. Secrecy was a prime feature
1 For list of temporary tribunals, see Lea, I. 541-656.
3 Lea devotes a whole chapter to the subject, IL 285-314. In time limpieza
was made a condition of holding church offices of any son in Spain.
' Lea, II. 485.
548 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
in the procedure. After his arrest, the prisoner was placed in
one of the secret prisons, — carceres secretas, — and rigidly de-
prived of all intercourse with friends. All papers bearing
upon his case were kept from him. The names of his accusers
and of witnesses for his prosecution were withheld. In the
choice of its witnesses the Inquisition allowed itself great lib-
erty, even accepting the testimony of persons under the Church's
sentence of excommunication, of Jews who remained in the
Hebrew faith and of heretics. Witnesses for the accused were
limited to persons zealous for the orthodox faith, and none of
his relatives to the fourth generation were allowed to testify.
Heresy was regarded as a desperate disorder and to be removed
at all costs. On the other hand, the age of amenability was
fixed at 12 for girls and 14 for boys. The age of fourscore
gave no immunity from the grim rigors of the exacting
tribunal.1
The charges, on which victims were arraigned, included the
slightest deflection in word or act from strict Catholic usage,
such as the refusal to eat pork on a single occasion, visiting a
house where Moorish notions were taught, as well as saying
that the Virgin herself and not her image effected cures, and
that Jews and Moors would be saved if they sincerely believed
the Jewish and the Moorish doctrines to be true.2 Recourse
was had to torture, not only to secure evidence of guilt. Even
when the testimony of witnesses was sufficient to establish
guilt, resort was had to torture to extract a confession from
the accused that thereby his soul might be delivered from the
burden of secret guilt, to extract information of accomplices,
and that a wholesome influence might be exerted in deterring
others from heresy by giving them an example of punishment.
The modes of torture most in use were the water ordeal and
the garruche. In the water-cure, the victim, tightly bound,
was stretched upon a rack or bed, and with the body in an
inclined position, the head downward. The jaws were dis-
tended, a linen cloth was thrust down the victim's throat and
water from a quart jar allowed to trickle through it into his
1 Lea, II. 187, gives cases of accused women, respectively 78, SO and 86.
9 Lea, III. 8, 14, etc.
§ 60. THE SPANISH INQUISITION. 549
inward parts.1 On occasion, seven or eight such jars were
slowly emptied. The garrucha, otherwise known as the strap-
pade, has already been described. In its application in Spain
it was customary to attach weights to the feet and to suspend
the body in such a manner that the toes alone touched the
ground, and the Spanish rule required that the body be raised
and lowered leisurely so as to increase the -pain.
The final penalties for heresy included, in addition to the
spiritual impositions of fasting and pilgrimage, confiscation of
goods, imprisonment, public scourging, the galleys, exile and
death. Confiscation and burning extended to the dead, against
whom the charge of heresy could be made out. At Toledo,
July 25, 1485, more than 400 dead were burnt in effigy. Fre-
quently at the auto* no living victims suffered. In cases of
the dead their names were effaced from their tombstones, that
" no memory of them should remain on the face of the earth
except as recorded in our sentence." Their male descendants,
including the grandchildren, were incapacitated from occupy-
ing benefices and public positions, from riding on horseback,
carrying weapons and wearing silk or ornaments.
The penalty of scourging was executed in public on the
bodies of the victims, bared to the waist, by the public execu-
tioner. Women of 86 to girls of 13 were subjected to such
treatment. Galley labor as a mode of punishment was sanc-
tioned by Alexander VI., 1503. The sentence of perpetual
imprisonment was often relaxed, either from considerations of
mercy or for financial reasons. Up to 1488, there had been
5000 condemnations to lasting imprisonment.2
The saco bendito^or sanbenito, another characteristic feature of
the Spanish Inquisition, was a jacket of gray or yellow texture,
furnished before and behind with a large cross as prescribed
by Torquemada. This galling humiliation was aggravated by
the rule that, after they were laid aside, the sanbenitos should
be hung up in the churches, together with a record of the wearer's
1 In Paris the usual method was to inject water into the mouth, oil and
vinegar also being used. The amount of water was from 9 to 18 pints. La
Croix : Manners, Customs and Dress of the M. A, N.Y. 1874, chapter on Pun-
ishments, pp. 407-433.
8 Lea, III 140-169.
550 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
name inscribed and his sentence. To avoid the shame of thb
public display, descendants often sought to change their names,
a practice the law soon checked. The precedent for the san-
benito was found in the covering our first parents wore to hide
their nakedness, or in the sackcloth worn in the early Church
as a mark of penance.
The auto defe, the final act in the procedure of the Inquisi-
tion, shows the relentlessness of this tribunal, and gave the
spectators a foretaste of the solemnities of the day of judg-
ment. There heretics, after being tried by the inquisitorial
court, were exposed to public view, l and received the first
official notice of their sentence. The ceremonial took place
on the public squares, where platforms and staging were
erected at municipal expense, and such occasions were treated
as public holidays. On the day appointed, the prisoners
marched in procession, led by Dominicans and others bearing
green and white crosses, and followed by the officials of the
Holy Office. Arrived at the square, they were assigned seats
on benches. A sermon was then preached and an oath taken
from the people and also from the king, if present, to support
the Inquisition. The sentences were then announced. Un-
repentant heretics were turned over to the civil officers. Wear-
ing benitos, inscribed with their name, they were conducted on
asses to the brasero, or place of burning, which was usually out-
side the city limits, and consigned to the flames. The other
heretics were then taken back to the prisons of the Inquisi-
tion. Inquisitorial agents were present at the burnings and
made a record of them for the use of the religious tribunal.
The solemnities of the auto de fe were usually begun at 6 in
the morning and often lasted into the afternoon.
Theoretically, the tribunal did not pass the sentence of
blood. The ancient custom of the Church and the canon law
forbade such a decision. Its authority ceased with the aban-
donment— or, to use the technical expression, the relaxa-
tion — of the offender to the secular arm. By an old custom
in passing sentence of incorrigible heresy, it even prayed the
secular officer to avoid the spilling of blood and to exercise
1 For a description of an auto, see Lea, III. 214-224.
§ 60. THE SPANISH INQUISITION. 551
mercy. The prayer was an empty form. The state well
understood its duty, and its failure to punish with death here-
tics convicted by the spiritual court was punishable with ex-
communication. It did not presume to review the case, to
take new evidence or even to require a statement of the evi-
dence on which the sentence of heresy was reached. The
duty of the secular officer was ministerial, not judicial.
The sentence of heresy was synonymous with burning at the
stake. The Inquisition, however, did not stop with turning
heretics over to the state, but, as even Vacandard admits, at
times pronounced the sentence of burning.1
So honorable to the state and to religion were the autos de
fe regarded that kings attended them and they were ap-
pointed to commemorate the marriage of princes or their
recovery from sickness. Ferdinand was in the habit of at-
tending them. On the visit of Charles V. to Valencia, 1528,
public exhibition was given at which 13 were relaxed in
person and 10 in effigy. Philip II/s marriage, in 1560, to
Isabella of Valois was celebrated by an auto in Toledo and, in
1564, when this sovereign was in Barcelona, a public exhibi-
tion was arranged in his honor, at which eight were sentenced
to death. Such spectacles continued to be witnessed by royal
personages till 1701, when Philip V. set an example of better
things by refusing to be present at one.
1 Lea, III. 185 sq , quotes the sentence upon Mencia Alfonso, tried at
Guadalupe, 1485, which runs : " As a limb of the devil, she shall be taken to
the place of burning so that by the secular officials of this town justice maybe
executed upon her according to the custom of these kingdoms." Paul III.,
1547, and Julius III., 1650, conferred upon clerics the right of condemning to
mutilation and death in cases where, as with the Venetian government, delays
were interposed in the execution of the ecclesiastical sentence. Vacandard
says, p. 180 . " Some inquisitors, realizing the emptiness of the formula, ec-
clesia abhorret a sanguine, dispensed with it altogether and boldly assumed
the full responsibility for their sentences. The Inquisition is the real judge,
— it lights the fires. ... It is erroneous to pretend that the Church had
absolutely no part in the condemnation of heretics to death. Her participa-
tion was not direct and immediate, but, even though indirect, it was none the
less real and efficacious.19 This author, p. 211, misrepresents history when
he makes the legislation of Frederick II. responsible for the papal treatment
of heresy. Innocent III. had been punishing the Albigenses to death long
before the appearance of Frederick's Constitutions.
552 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
The last case of an execution by the Spanish Inquisition
was a schoolmaster, Cayetano Ripoll, July 26, 1826. His trial
lasted nearly two years. He was accused of being a deist,
and substituting in his school the words " Praise be to God "
for "Ave Maria purissima." He died calmly on the gibbet
after repeating the words, " I die reconciled to God and to
man."1
Not satisfied with putting heretical men out of the world,
the Inquisition also directed its attention to noxious writings.2
At Seville, in 1490, Torquemada burnt a large number of
Hebrew copies of the Bible, and a little later, at Salamanca,
he burnt 6000 copies. Ten years later, 1502, Ferdinand and
Isabella promulgated a law forbidding books being printed,
imported and sold which did not have the license of a bishop
or certain specified royal judges. All Lutheran writings were
ordered by Adrian, in 1521, delivered up to the Inquisition.
Thenceforth the Spanish tribunal proved itself a vigorous
guardian of the purity of the press. The first formal Index,
compiled by the University of Louvain, 1546, was approved
by the inquisitor-general Valdes and the supreme and ordered
printed with a supplement. This was the first Index Expur-
ffatorius printed in Spain. All copies of the Scriptures in
Spanish were seized and burnt, and the ferocious law of 1558
ordered booksellers keeping or selling prohibited books pun-
ished with confiscation of goods or death. Strict inquisito-
rial supervision was had over all libraries in Spain down into
the 19th century. Of the effect of this censorship upon
Spanish culture, Dr. Lea says : "The intellectual development
which in the 16th century promised to render Spanish liter-
ature and learning the most illustrious in Europe was stunted
and starved into atrophy, the arts and sciences were neglected,
1 The Spanish Inquisition was introduced into Sicily in 1487, where it met
with vigorous resistance from the parliament, and in Sardinia, 1492. In the
New World its victims were Protestants, conversos, bigamists and fornicatore.
The Mexican tribunal was abolished in 1820, and that of Peru, the same year.
As late as 1774 a Bogota physician was tried " as the first and only one who
in this kingdom and perhaps in all America" had publicly declared himself
for the Copernican system.
1 Lea, chapter on Censorship, III. 481-548 ; Ticknor : Span. Lit., 1. 461 sqq.
§ 60. THE SPANISH INQUISITION. 558
and the character which Spain acquired among the nations
was tersely expressed in the current saying that Africa began
at the Pyrenees."
The " ghastly total " of the victims consigned by the Spanish
Inquisition to the flames or other punishments has been differ-
ently stated. Precise tables of statistics are of modern crea-
tion, but that it was large is beyond question. The historian,
Llorente, gives the following figures : From 1480-1498, the
date of Torquemada'H death, 8800 were burnt alive, 6500 in ef-
figy and 90,004 subjected to other punishments. From 1499-
1506, 1664 were burnt alive, 832 in effigy and 32,456 subjected
to other punishments. From 1507-1517, during the term of
Cardinal Ximines, 2536 were burnt alive, 1368 in effigy and
47,263 subjected to other penalties. This writer gives the
grand totals up to 1524 as 14,344 burnt alive, 9372 in effigy
and 195,937 condemned to other penalties or released as peni-
tents. In 1524, an inscription was placed on the fortress of
Triana, Seville, running : " In the year 1481, under the pontifi-
cate of Sixtus IV. and the rule of Ferdinand and Isabella, the
Inquisition was begun here. Up to 1524, 20,000 heretics and
more abjured their awful crime on this spot and nearly 1000
were burnt." From records still extant, the victims in Toledo
before 1501 are found to have numbered 297 burnt alive and
600 in effigy, and 5400 condemned to other punishment or rec-
onciled. The documents, however, are not preserved or, at
any rate, not known from which a full estimate could be made.
In any case the numbers included thousands of victims burnt
alive and tens of thousands subjected to other punishments.1
The rise of the Spanish Inquisition was contemporary with
Spain's advance to a foremost place among the nations of Eu-
rope. After eight centuries, her territory was for the first time
1 See Hoensbroech, I. 130, quoting Llorente. Dr. Lea speaks of the ap-
parent tendency of early writers to exaggerate the achievements of the " Holy
Office,*' and calls in question, though with some hesitation, Llorente 's figures
and the figures given by an early secretary of the tribunal, Zurita, who re-
cords 4000 burnings and 80,000 reconciliations in Seville alone before 1620.
See Lea's figures, IV. 613-624. Father Gams, in his Kirchcngcsch. Spanien*,
reckons the number of those burnt, up to 1504, at 2000, but he excludes from
these figures the burnings for other crimes than heresy. See Lea, IV. 617.
554 THE MIDDLE AGES* A.D. 1204-1517.
completely free from the government of the Mohammedan.
The renown of her regiments was soon to be unequalled. Span-
ish ships opened the highways of the sea and returned from
the New World freighted with its wealth. Spanish diplomacy
was in the ascendant in Italy. But the decay of her vital forces
her religious zeal did not check. Spain's Catholic orthodoxy
was assured, but Spain placed herself outside the current of
modern culture and progress. By her policy of religious se-
clusion and pride, she crushed independence of thought and
virility of moral purpose. One by one, she lost her territorial
acquisitions, from the Netherlands and Sicily to Cuba and the
Philippines in the far Pacific. Heresy she consumed inside of
her own precincts, but the paralysis of stagnation settled down
upon her national life and institutions, and peoples professing
Protestantism, which she still calls heresy, long since have
taken her crown in the world of commerce and culture, inven-
tion and nautical enterprise. The present map of the world has
faint traces of that empire on which it was the boast of the Span-
iard of the 16th century that the sun never set. This reduction
of territory and resources calls forth no spirit of denunciation.
Nay, it attracts a sympathetic consideration which hopes for
the renewed greatness of the land of Ferdinand and Isabella,
through the introduction of that intellectual and religious free-
dom which has stirred the energies of other European peoples
and kept them in the path of progress and new achievement.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE RENAISSANCE.
§ 61. Literature of the Renaissance.
FOR an extended list of literature, see VOIGT : Wiederbelebung fas class.
Alterthums, II. 517-529, bringing it down to 1881, and PASTOR: Gesch. der
Papste, I., pp. xxxii-lxill, III., pp. xlii-lxix. Also this vol., pp. 400 sqq.
Gelger adds lit. notices to his Renaissance und Humanismus, pp. 564 sqq.
The edd. of most of the Humanists are given in the footnotes. — M. WHIT-
COMB: A Lit. Source-Book of the Hal Renaiss., Phila., 1898, pp. 118.
GKNL. WORKS. — * G. TIRABOSCHI, a Jesuit and librarian of the duke of
Modena, d. 1794 : Storia della Letteratura Italiana, 13 vols., Modena, 1771-
1782; 9 vols., Roma, 1782-1785; 16 vols., Milan, 1822-1826. Vol. V. of the
Roman ed. treats of Dante, Petrarca and Boccaccio. — HEEREN : Gesch. d.
class. Lit., etc., 2 vols., Gutting., 1797-1802. — Roscos: Life of Lorenzo de*
Medici and Life and Pontificate of Leo X — J. CH. L. SISMONDI, d. 1842:
Hist, des Republiques ItaL, Paris, 1807-1818, 6th ed., 10 vols., 1840-1844.
Etigl. trsl., Lond., 1832, and Hist, de la renaiss. de la liberte en Italic, 2
vols., 1832. —J. MICHKLET, d. 1874: Renaissance, the 7th vol. of his Hist,
de France, Paris, 1867. — * J. BURCKHARDT, Prof, in Basel, d. 1897 : Die
Cultur der Renaissance in Italien, Basel, 1860; 3rd ed. by L. GEIGER, 1878.
9th ed., 1904. A series of philosophico- historical sketches on the six aspects
of the Italian Renaissance, namely, the new conception of the state, the
development of the individual, the revival of classic antiquity, the discov-
ery of the world and of man, the new formation of society and the trans-
formation of morals and religion. Engl. trsl. by Middlemore from the 3rd
ed., 2 vols., Lond., 1878, 1 vol., 1890. Also his Cicerone; Anleitung zum
Genuss der Kunstwerke ItaL, 4th ed. by BODE, Leipz., 1879 ; 9th ed., 2 vols.,
1907. — * G. VOIOT : Wiederbelebung des clastischen Alterthums oder das erste
Jahrhundert des Humanismus, 1859; 2 vols., 3rd ed,, 1893. — T. D. WOOL-
SKY, Pres. of Yale Col., d. 1889 : The Revival of Letters in the 14th and 15th
Centuries. A series of valuable articles in the line of Voigt's first ed., in
the New Eng lander for 1864 and 1865. — M. MONNIKR : La Renaiss. de Dante
a Luther, Paris, 1884. Crowned by the French Acad. — * P. VILLARI : Nic.
Machiavelli e i suoi tempi, 3 vols., Flor., 1877-1882 ; EngL trsl. by the author's
wife, 4 vol., Lond., 1878-1883. An introd. chap, on the Renaiss. New ed., 2 vols.
1891. — J. A. SYMONDS : Renaissance in Italy, Lond., 1877 sqq. ; 2d, cheaper
ed., 7 vols., 1888. Part I., The Aye of the Despots; Part II., The Revival
of Learning; Part III., The Fine Arts; Part IV., ItaL Literature, 2 vols.;
665
556 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
Part V., The Oath. Reaction, 2 vols. The most complete Engl. work on the
subject and based upon the original sources, but somewhat repetitious. Also
his Life of Michelangelo, etc. See below. — G. KOKRTING: Qesch. der Lit.
Italiens im Zeitalter der Renaiss., Leipz., Vol. I., 1878, Petrarca; Vol. II.,
1880, Boccaccio; Vol III., 1884, the forerunners and founders of the Re-
naissance. — * L. GEIGKK, Prof, in Berlin : Renaissance u. Humanismus in
Ital. und Deutschland, Berlin, 1882, 2nd ed., 1899. Part of Oncken's Allg.
Gesch. — MRS. OLIPHANT: The Makers of Florence, Lond., 1888. Sketches
of Dante, Giotto, Savonarola, Michelangelo. — P. SCIIAFF : 21ie Renaissance,
N.Y., 1891, pp. 132 . — * GREGOROVIUS : Hist, of the City of Rome, vols. vi-viii.
— * PASTOR: Gesch d. Pdpste, especially vols. I 3-63; III. 3-172. — CREIGH-
TON : Hist, of the Papacy. — P. and H. VAN DYKK : The Age of the Renascence,
1377-1627, N.Y., 1897. —K.BRANPI: D. Renaiss. in Florenz u. Rum, 2nd
ed., Leipz., 1900. — W. S. LILLY: Renaiss. Types, Lond., 1901. — E. STEIN-
MANN: Rom u. d Renaiss., von Nik. V. — Leo X., 2nd ed , Leipz., 1902.—
* JOHN OWEN : The Skeptics of the Ital. Renaiss., Lond., 1893. — J. KLACZKO :
Rome and the Renaiss., trsl. by Dennie, N. Y., 1903. — P. VAN DYKE • Aretino,
Th. Cromwell and Maximilian I, N.Y., 1906. — L. SCHMIDT: D Renaiss.
in Brief en v. Dichtern, Kunstlern, Staatsmdnnern u. Frauen. — J. E.
SANDYS : Hist, of Class. Scholarship, 3 vols. — A. BAUDRILLART : The Cath.
Ch., the Renais. and Protestantism, Lond., 1908 — IMBART DE LA Tour;
Keglise cathol. : la cnse et la renaiss., Paris, 1909.
For § 3. — For DANTK. Best Italian text of the Div. Commedia is by
WITTE. The ed of Fraticelli, Flor., 1881, is used in this vol. Sec also
Toynbee's text, Lond., 1900. The latest and best Ital. commentaries by
SCARTAZZINI, Leipz., 3 vols., 1874-1894, 3rd, small ed , 1899, P. G. CAMPI,
Turin, 1890 sqq., and W. W. VERNON, based on Benvenuto da I mo la, 2 vols.,
Lond., 1897.— Engl. trsll. of Dante's Div. Com. : In verse by RKV. H. F. GARY,
1805, etc., amended ed. by 0. KUHNS, N.Y., 1897. — J. C. WRIGHT, Lond.,
1843, etc. ; LONGFELLOW, 3 vols., 1867, etc. ; E. II. PLUMPTRE, 2 vols., Lond. ,
1887 sqq.; T. W. PARSONS, Bost., 189G — H. K. HASELFOOT, Lond., 1899.
— M. R. VINCENT, N.Y., 1904. — In prose: J. A.CARLYLE, Lond., 1848, etc.;
W. S. DUGDALE, Purgatorio, Lond., 1883. — A. J. BUTLER, Lond., 1894. —
G. C. NORTON, Boston, 1892, new ed., 1901. — P. H. WICKSTEED, Lond., 1901
sqq. — H. F. TOZER, Lond., 1904. — *G. A. SCARTAZZINI, a native of the
Orisons, Reformed minister: Prolegomeni della Div. Com , etc., Leipz.,
1890. Engl. trsl. A Companion to Dante, by A. J. BUTLER, Lond., 1893;
Dante Handbuch, etc., Engl. trsl. Hdbook. to Dante, etc., by T. DAVIDSON,
Bost., 1887. — E. A. FAY: Concordance to the Div. Com., Cambr., Mass.,
1880. — P. SCHAFF : Dante and the Div. Com., in Literature and Poetry, 1890,
pp. 279-429, with list of Dante lit., pp. 328-837. — TOZER : Engl. Concordance
on Dante's Div. Com., Oxf., 1907. — * E. MOORE: Studies in Dante, 3 vols.,
Lond., 1896-1903. -—Lives of Dante : Dante and his Early Biographers, being
a returns by E. MOORE of five, Lond , 1880. A trsl. of Boccaccio's and Brunt's
Lives, by WICKSTEED, Hull, 1898. — F. X. KRAUS, Berl., 1897. —P. VILLARI :
The First Two Centt. of Florent. Hist. The Republic, and Parties at the Time
of Dante. Engl. trsl. by L. Viilari. — * WITTE: Essays on Dante, trsl. by
Lawrence and Wicksteed. — Essays on Dante by * B. W. CHURCH, 1888, and
§ 61. LITERATURE OP THE RENAISSANCE, 557
* LOWELL. — M. F. ROSSETTI : Shadow of Dante, Ed In., 1884. — OWEN : Skep-
tics of the Ital. Renaiss. — J. A. SYMONDS: Introd. to the Study of Dante,
Iiond., 1893. — D. G. C. ROSSETTI : Dante and Ital. Poets preceding him,
1100-1800, Boston, 1893. — C. A. DINSMORE : The Teachings of Dante, Boat.,
1901. — C. E. LAUGHLIN: Stories of Authors' Loves, Phila., 1902. — A. H.
STRONG : Dante, in Great Poets and their Theol., Phila., 1897, pp. 105-155. —
Art. Dante with lit. in the SCHAFP-HERZOG, III. 353 sqq. by M. R. VINCENT.
For PETRARCA: Opera omnia, Venice, 1503; Basel, 1554, 1581. — Epti-
tolce ed. in Lat. and Ital. by Fracassetti, Flor., 1859-1870, in several vols.
The Canzoniere or Rime in Vita e Morte di Mad. Laura often separately
edited by Marsand, Leopardi, Carducci and others, and in all collections
of the Ital. classics. — Sonnets, Triumphs and other Poems, with a Life by
T.CAMPBELL, Lond., 1889-1890. — Lives by BLANC, Halle, 1844. — M£ZIERES,
Paris, 1868, 2d ed., 1873. — GEIGER, Leipz., 1874. — KOERTING, Leipz., 1878,
pp. 722. — MARY A. WARD, Bost., 1891.— F. HORRIDGE, 1897.— * J. H.
ROBINSON and H. W. ROLFE, N.Y , 1898.— L. O. KUHNS, Great Poets of
Italy, 1904. — E. J. MILLS: Secret of Petr., 1904. —R. DE NOLHAC: Petr.
and the Art World, 1907.
For BOCCACCIO: Opere volgari, ed. by MOUTIER, 17 vols., Flor., 1827-
1834, Le tettere edit? ed inrdite, trsl. by FR CORRAGINI, Flor., 1877. — Lives
of Boccaccio by MANETTI, BALDELLI, LANDAU, KOKRTING, Leipz., 1880. —
GKIGKR: Renaissance, pp. 448-474. — *OWEN: Skeptics, etc., pp. 128-147.
— N H. DOLE : Boccaccio and the Novella in A Teacher of Dante, etc., N.Y.,
1908.
For § 64. — For Lives of the popes, see pp. 401-403. Lives of Cosimo de*
Medici by FABRONI, Pisa, 1789 ; K. D. EWART, Lond., 1899 ; and of Lorenzo
by FABROXI, 2 vols., Pisa, 1784 ; ROSCOE , VON REUMONT ; B. BUSER, Leipz.,
1879 ; CASFELNAU, 2 vols., Paris, 1879. — VAUGHAN : The Medici Popes, 1908.
— G. F. YOUNG: The Medici, 1400-1743, Lond., 1909. — LOR. DE' MEDICI:
Opere, 4 vols., Flor., 1825, Poesie, ed. by Carducci, Flor., 1859. — E. L. S.
HORSBURGH : Lor. the Magnificent, Lond., 1909.
For § 66 — (J. VASARI, pupil of Michelangelo, d. 1574 ; Lives of the More
Celebrated Painters, Sculptors and Architects, 1550 ; best ed. by Milanesi,
9 vols , Flor., 1878-1885. Small ed., 1889. Engl. trsl., new ed., 1878, 6
vols. in Bonn's Library. Vasari is the basis of most works in this depart-
ment. — BENVENUTO CELLINI, goldsmith and sculptor at Florence, d. 1570 :
Vita scritta da lui medesimo. An autobiog. giving a lively picture of the
life of an Ital. artist of that period. German trsl. by GOETHE; Engl. trsll.
by ROSCOE and SYMONDS, Lond., 1890. — A. Luioi LANZA, d. 1810: The
Hist of Painting in Italy, from the Period of the Revival of the Fine Arts to
1800 Trsl. by T. Roscoe, S vols., Lond., 1852. — W. Lit BKE : Hist, of Sculp-
ture, Engl. trsl. by Bnnnett, 2 vols., 1872; Outlines of the Hist, of Art, ed.
by R. STURGIS, 2 vols., N.Y., 1904. — J. A. CROWE and G. B. CAVALCASELLE :
Hist, of Painting in Italy, etc., to the 16th Cent., Lond., 1864-1867, ed. by Doug-
lass, Lond., 3 volsv, 1903-1908. — MRS. JAMESON and LADY EASTLAKE: Hist,
of our Lord as exemplified in Works of Art. — MRS. JAMESON : Legends of the
Madonna asrepres. in the Fine Arts, Saqr* and Leg. Art; Legends of the
Monastic Orders as expressed in the Fine Arts. — H. TAINE : Lectures on Art,
558
THE MIDDLE AGBB. A.to. UW-J6J7.
Pirto,1866iq.-l§tieries: TbPMot.ofArt. Sad ftrfef:
etc. Tral by Dnrand, N.Y., 1875. -A. WOLWAKW And X.
Hist of AM., Early Christian and Med. Painting. Tnl by Colrln, Lond.,
1880, illus.— E. MCNTZ : Hi*, de I'Art pendant la Remit*., 5 rote., Paris,
1889-1906. The first 8 vols. are devoted to Italy, the 4th to France, the 6th
to other countries. Lea Anliquiles de la vilte de &om, 1800-1000, Paris, 1886.
— Hisll. of Archil, by FERGUSON and R. STURGIB. — C. H. MOORE : Character
of Renaiss. Archil., N.Y., 1905. — R. LANCIANI : Golden Day* of Ihe Renaiss.
in Rome, 1906. — A. K. PORTER : Med. Archil. Its Origin and Development
2 vols., N.Y., 1909. — Z*t><5* of Michelangelo by * H. GRIMM, 2 vols., Berl.,
1860, 5th ed., 1879. Engl. trsl. by Bunnett, 12th ed., 2 vols., Boat,, 1882 ;
A.SPRENGKR: Ra/aele u. Michelangelo, 2nd ed., 1883 ; C. CLEMENT, Lond.,
1888; J. A. SYMONDS, 2 vols., N.Y., 1892 ; F. HORRIDGE, 1897 ; C. HOL-
ROYD, 1903. — Lives of Raphael by RULAND, Lond., 1870 ; LUBKE, Dres-
den, 1881 ; MONTZ, trsl. by Armstrong, 1888 ; CROWE and CAVALCASELLE,
2 vols., Lond., 1882-1888 ; MINGHETTI, Ger. ed.,Breslau, 1887 ;* H. GRIMM,
trsl. by 8. H. Adams, Host., 1888 ; KNACKFUSS, trsl. by Dodgson, N.Y.,
1899.
For §§68, 69.— K. HAGEN : Deutschland lilerarische und religiose Ver-
hallnisse im Reformalions-Zfilaller, Erlang., 1841-1844, 3 vols., 2d ed.,
Frankf ., 1868. —J. JANSSEN-PASTOR : Gesch. des deulschen Volkes, 18th ed.,
1.77-166,11. Comp.hisalphab.listof books,I.,pp.Kxi-lv. — GEIGKR: Re-
naiss. u. Humanismus, pp. 323-580. — ZARNCKE: D. deulschen Universitdten
im J£4., Lelp., 1857. — PAULSEN : Germ. Universities, etc., trsl. by Perry,
Lond., 1895. — G. KAUFMAN N: Gesch. d. deulschen Universitaten, 2 vols.,
Stuttg., 1888-1896. — For monographs on the universities, see Lit. in Rash-
dall and Schmid, pp. 51-54.
For REUCHLTN : Briefwechsel, ed. L. Geiger, Tttbing., 1875. Monographs
on Reachlin by MAYERHOF, Berl., 1830; LAMAY, Pforzheim, 1855 ; GEIGER,
Leipz., 1871; A. HORAWITZ, Vienna, 1877. —On Reuchlin's conflict with
the Dominicans of Cologne and Hutten's part in it, see STRAUSS : U. von
Hullen, pp. 132-164; BOOKING, II. 65-156. — N. PAULUS : D. deulschen Do-
minikaner im Kampfe mil Lulher, Freib., 1903, p. 94 sqq., 119 sqq. — JANS-
SEN, II. 40 sqq.
For ERASMUS : Opera, cd. B. Rhenanns, 9 vols., Basel, 1640, by Le Clerc,
10 vols., Leyden, 1703-1706. — Epislolas, ed. ALLEN, Oxf ., 1906. In Engl.
trsl. by * F. M. NICHOLS, 2 vols., Lond., 1901-1904. In Engl. trsl., Praise
of Folly, Lond., 1876. Colloquies, Lond., 1724, new ed., 2 vols., 1878. En-
chirMon, Lond., 1906. — Bibl. Erasmania, 6 vols., Ghent, 1897-1907 sqq.—
Lines of Erasmus, by H. DURAND DB LAUR : Er. precurseur el inilialeur de
Vespril mod., 2 vols., Paris, 1872. — * R. B. DRUMMOND, 2 vols., Lond., 1873.
— * F. SEEBOHM : The Oxf. Reformers, Lond., 1887, etc. — AMIEL, Paris, 1889.
— J. A. FROUDB, 1896. — * E. EMERTON, N.Y., 1899. — A. B. PENNINGTON,
Lond., 1875, 1901.— E. F. H. CAPET, Lond., 1903. — * J. A. FAULKNER, Cin'ti,
1907 . — A . RICHTER : Erasmienstudien, Dresden, 1901 . — GBIGER, 626 sqq.
-JANSSEN, II. 1-24.
For general education : RASBPALL : Universities, II., pp. 211-286. — K. A.
SCHMID : Gesch. d. Brziehung, Stuttg., 1892, II. 61-136.— J. MttLum : Quel-
§ 62. THE INTELLECTUAL AWAKENING. 569
lenschrtften xur Gesch. d. deutschsprachl. Unterricht* bit gur Mitt* d. 16.
Jahrh., Gotha, 1882.
ForULRicHvowHoTTBN: E. BACKING : UlrichiHutteniopp.,7vo\B.,lA\vz.t
1869-1870.— S. SZAMATOLSKI: Huttens deutsche Schriften, 1891. — D, F.
STRAUSS, author of the Life of Jesus: U. von Hutten, 3 vols., Leipz., 1868,
1 vol., 1871, Engl. trsl., Lond., 1874. Also Qesprache von U. von Hut., the
Epp. obscurorum virorum in German, Leipz., I860. — J. DECKERT: Ul.v.
Hutten's Leben u. Wirken, Vienna, 1901.
For § 70. IMBART DE LA TOUR, Prof, at Bordeaux : Deglise catholique :
la crise et la renaissance^ Paris, 1909, being vol. II. of Leg origines de la
reforme, vol. L, La France moderne, 1906. To be completed in 4 vols.—
SCHMID: Oesch. d. Erziehung, II., 40 sqq. — H. M. BAIRD: Hist, of the
Huguenots, I. 1-164.— BONET MAURY, art. Faber in Herzog, V. 716 sqq.
— Works on the Univ. of Paris and French Lit. : H. VAN LAUN : Hist, of
French Lit., 3 vols. in one, N.Y., 1896, pp. 269-296.— The Histt. of France
by MARTIN and GUIZOT.
For § 71. — F. SKEBOHM : The Oxford Reformers, Colet, Erasmus, More,
Lond., 1887. — Colet's writings ed. with trsl. and notes by LUPTON, 6 vols.,
Lond., 1867-1876. — Lives of Colet, by S. KNIGHT, 1823. — J. H. LUPTON:
Life of Dean Colet, Lond., 1887, newed., 1908. — Artt. in Diet. Natl. Biogr^
Colet, Fisher, etc. — Histt. of Engl. by LINGARD and GREEN. — Histt. of the
Engl. Ch. by GAIRDNER and by CAPES. — WARD- WALLER: Cambr. Hist, of
Engl. Lit., vol. III., Cambr., 1009. — H. MORLEY : Engl. Writers, vol. VIIM
1891.-— MULLINGER : Hist, of Univ. of Cambridge. —For edd. of Sir Thos.
More's Works, see Diet. Natl. Biogr., XXXVIII., 446 sqq. — Lives of More
by ROPER, written in Mary Tudor's reign, publ. Paris, 1626; STAPLETON,
Douay, 1688 ; E. MORE, a grandson, 1627; T. E. BRIDGETT, Rom. Oath.,
2nd ed., 1892: W. H. HUTTON, 1895. — W. S. LILLY: Benaiss. Types, 1901,
III., Erasmus, IV., More.— L. EINSTEIN: The Hal. Renaiss. in England.
— A. D. INNES: Ten Tudor Statesmen, Lond., 1906. More is treated pp.
76-111. — A. F. LEACH: Engl. Schools at the Reformation, Lond., 1896.
— Eng. Works of Bp. J. FISHER, ed. MAJOR, Lond., 1876.— Life of Fisher,
by BRIDGETT, 1888.
§ 62. The Intellectual Awakening.
The discussions, which issued in the Reformatory councils
and which those councils fostered, were a worthy expression
of an awakening freedom of thought in the effort to secure
relief from ecclesiastical abuses. The movement, to which the
name Renaissance has been given, was a larger and far more
successful effort, achieving freedom from the intellectual
bondage to which the individual man had been subjected by
the theology and hierarchy of the Church. The intelligence
of Italy, and indeed of Western Europe as a whole, had grown
weary of the monastic ideal of life, and the one-sided purpose
560 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
of the scholastic systems to exalt heavenly concerns by ignor-
ing or degrading things terrestrial. The Renaissance insisted
upon the rights of the life that now is, and dignified the total
sphere for which man's intellect and his aesthetic and social
tastes by nature fit him. It sought to give just recognition
to man as the proprietor of the earth. It substituted the
enlightened observer for the monk; the citizen for the con-
templative recluse. It honored human sympathies more than
conventual visions and dexterous theological dialectics. It
substituted observation for metaphysics. It held forth the
achievements of history. It called man to admire his own crea-
tions, the masterpieces of classical literature and the monu-
ments of art. It bade him explore the works of nature and
delight himself in their excellency. How different from the
apparent or real indifference to the beauties of the natural
world as shown, for example, by the monk, St. Bernard, was
the attitude of Leon Battista Albert!, d. 1472, who bore
testimony that the sight of a lovely landscape had more than
once made him well of sickness.1
In the narrower sense, the Renaissance may be confined to
the recovery of the culture of Greece and Rome and the
revival of polite literature and art, and it is sometimes de-
signated the Revival of Letters. After having been taught
for centuries that the literature of classic antiquity was full of
snares and dangers for a Christian public, men opened their
eyes and revelled with childlike delight in the discovery of
ancient authors and history. Virgil sang again the jfineid,
Homer the Iliad and Odyssey. Cicero once more delivered
his orations and Plato taught his philosophy. It was indeed
an intellectual and artistic new birth that burst forth in Italy,
a regeneration, as the word Renaissance means. But it was
more. It was a revolt against monastic asceticism and scho-
lasticism, the systems which cramped the free flow of bodily
enthusiasm and intellectual inquiry." It called man from
1 Geiger-Burckhardt, L 152.
9 Along this line, see the strong remarks of Owen, pp. 72-06. This vigor-
bus writer traces the roots of the Renaissance back to the liberating influence
of the Crusade* on the intelligence of Europe.
§ 62. THE INTELLECTUAL AWAKENING. 561
morbid self -mortifications as the most fitting discipline of
mortal existence here below, and offered him the satisfaction
of all the elements of his nature as his proper pursuit.
Beginning in Italy, this new enthusiasm spread north to
Germany and extended as far as Scotland. North of the
Alps, it was known as Humanism and its representatives
as Humanists, the words being taken from literce humance,
or humaniores, that is, humane studies, the studies which
develop the man as the proprietor of this visible sphere. In
the wider sense, it comprehends the revival of literature and
art, the development of rational criticism, the transition from
feudalism to a new order of social organization, the elevation
of the modern languages of Europe as vehicles for the highest
thought, the emancipation of intelligence, and the expansion
of human interests, the invention of the printing-press, the
discoveries of navigation and the exploration of America and
the East, and the definition of the solar system by Copernicus
and Galileo, — in one word, all the progressive developments
of the last two centuries of the Middle Ages, developments
which have since been the concern of modern civilization.
The most discriminating characterization of this remark-
able movement came from the pen of Michelet, who defined
it as the discovery of the world and man. In this twofold
aspect, Burckhardt, its leading historian for Italy, has treated
the Renaissance with deep philosophical insight.
The period of the Renaissance lasts from the beginning of
the 14th to the middle of the 16th century, from Roger
Bacon, d. 1294, and Dante, d. 1321, to Raphael, d. 1520, and
Michelangelo, d. 1564, Reuchlin, d. 1522, and Erasmus, d.
1536. For more than a century it proceeded in Italy without
the patronage of the Church. Later, from the pontificate
of Nicolas V. to the Medicean popes, Leo X. and Clement
VII., it was fostered by the papal court. For this reason the
last popes of the Middle Ages are known as the Renaissance
popes. The movement in the courts may be divided into
three periods: the age of the great Italian literati, Dante,
Petrarca and Boccaccio, the age from 1400-1460, when the
interest in classic literature predominated, and the age from
2o
562 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
1460-1540, when the pursuit of the fine arts was the predomi-
nant feature. The first age contributed immortal works to
literature. In the second, Plato and the other classics were
translated and sedulously studied. In the last, the fine arts
and architecture offered their array of genius in Italy.
To some writers it has occurred to go back as far as
Frederick II. for the beginnings of the movement. That
sovereign embodied in himself a varied culture and a versa-
tility of intellect rare in any age. With authorship and a
knowledge of a number of languages, he combined enlightened
ideas in regard to government and legislation, the patronage
of higher education and the arts. For the varied interests
of his mind, he has been called the first modern man.1 How-
ever, the literary activity of his court ceased at his death.
Italy was not without its poets in the 13th century, but it is
with the imposing figure of Dante that the revival of culture
is to be dated. That a Renaissance should have been needed
is a startling fact in the history of human development and
demands explanation. The ban, which had been placed by
the Church upon the study of the classic authors of antiquity
and ancient institutions, palsied polite research and reading
for a thousand years. Even before Jerome, whose mind had
been disciplined in the study of the classics, at last pro-
nounced them unfit for the eye of a Christian, Tertullian's
attitude was not favorable. Cassian followed Jerome ;
and Alcuin, the chief scholar of the 9th century, turned
away from Virgil as a collection of lying fables. At the
close of the 10th century, a pope reprimanded Arnulf of
Orleans by reminding him that Peter was unacquainted with
Plato, Virgil and Terence, and that God had been pleased to
choose as His agents, not philosophers and rhetoricians, but
rustics and unlettered men. In deference to such authori-
ties the dutiful churchman turned from the closed pages of
the old Romans and Greeks. Only did a selected author
like Terence have here and there in a convent a clandestine
though eager reader.
In the 12th century, it seemed as if a new era in literature
* Burckhardt, I. 4. See vol. V., Pt. I. 188 of this History.
§ 62. THE INTELLECTUAL AWAKENING. 563
was impending, as if the old learning was about to flourish
again. The works of Aristotle became more fully known
through the translations of the Arabs. Schools were started
in which classic authors were read. Abaelard turned to Vir-
gil as a prophet. The Roman law was discovered and ex-
plained at Bologna and other seats of learning. John of
Salisbury, Grosseteste, Peter of Blois and other writers freely
quoted from Cicero, Livy, Tacitus, Suetonius, Ovid and other
Latin authors. But the head of Western Christendom dis-
cerned in this movement a grave menace to theology and re-
ligion, and was quick to blight the new shoot with his curse,
and in its early statutes, forced by the pope, the University
of Paris excluded the literature of Rome from its curriculum.
But this arbitrary violence could not forever hold the mind
of Europe in bonds. The satisfaction its intelligence was
seeking, it did not find in the subtle discussions of the School-
men or the dismal pictures of the monastics. When the new
movement burst forth, it burst forth in Italy, that beautiful
country, the heir of Roman traditions. The glories of Italy's
past in history and in literature blazed forth again as after a
long eclipse, and the cult of the beautiful, for which the Italian
is born, came once more into free exercise. In spite of inva-
sion after invasion the land remained Italian. Lombards,
Goths, Normans had occupied it, but the invaders were roman-
izcd much more than the Italians were teutonized. The feudal
system and Gothic architecture found no congenial soil south
of the Alps. In the new era, it seemed natural that the
poets and orators of old Italy should speak again in the land
which they had witnessed as the mistress of all nations. The
literature and law of Greece and Rome again becamethe edu-
cators of the Latin and also of the Teutonic races, preparing
them to receive the seeds of modern civilization.
The tap-root of the Renaissance was individualism as op-
posed to sacerdotal authority. Its enfranchising process mani-
fested itself in Roger Bacon, whose mind turned away from
the rabbinical subtleties of the Schoolmen to the secrets of
natural science and the discoveries of the earth reported by
Rubruquis or suggested by his own reflection, and more
564 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
fully in Dante, Marsiglius of Padua and Wyclif, who resisted
the traditional authority of the papacy. It was active in the
discussions of the Reformatory councils. And it received a
strong impetus in the administration of the Lombard cities
which gloried in their independence. With their authority
the imperial policy of Frederick Barbarossa and Frederick II.
had clashed. Partly owing to the loose hold of the empire
and partly owing to the papal policy, which found its selfish
interests subserved better by free contending states and re-
publics than by a unified kingdom of Italy under a single
temporal head, these independent municipalities took such
deep root that they withstood for nearly a thousand years
the unifying process which, in the case of France, Great
Britain and Spain, resulted in the consolidation of strong
kingdoms soon after the era of the Crusades closed. Upon
an oligarchical or a democratic basis, despots and soldiers of
fortune secured control of their Italian states by force of in-
nate ability. Individualism pushed aside the claims of birth,
and it so happened in the 14th and 15th centuries that the
heads of these states were as frequently men of illegitimate
birth as of legitimate descent. In our change-loving Italy,
wrote Pius II., "where nothing is permanent and no old dy-
nasty exists, servants easily rise to be kings." l
It was in the free republic of Florence, where individualism
found the widest sphere for self-assertion, that the Renais-
sance took earliest root and brought forth its finest products.
That municipality, which had more of the modern spirit of
change and progress than any other mediaeval organism, in-
vited and found satisfaction in novel and brilliant works of
power, whether they were in the domain of government or of
letters or even of religion, as under the spell of Savonarola.
There Dante and Lionardo da Vinci were born, and there
Machiavelli exploited his theories of the state and Michelangelo
wrought. The Medici gave favor to all forms of enterprise
that might bring glory to the city. After Nicolas V. ascended
the papal throne, Rome vied with its northern neighbor as a
1 Quoted by Burckhardt, 1. 27. This author speaks of an Epidemic fur
kleine Dynastien in Italy.
§ 62. THE INTELLECTUAL AWAKENING. 565
centre of the arts and culture. The new tastes and pur-
suits also found a home in Ferrara, Urbino, Naples, Milan
and Mantua.
Glorious the achievement of the Renaissance was, but it was
the last movement of European significance in which Italy
and the popes took the lead. Had the current of aesthetic
and intellectual enthusiasm joined itself to a stream of re-
ligious regeneration, Italy might have kept in advance of
other nations, but she produced no safe prophets. No Re-
former arose to lead her away from dead religious forms to
living springs of spiritual life, from ceremonies and relics to
the New Testament.
In spreading north to Germany, Holland and England, the
movement took on a more serious aspect. There it produced
no poets or artists of the first rank, but in Reuchlin and Eras-
mus it had scholars whose erudition not only attracted the
attention of their own but benefited succeeding generations
and contributed directly to the Reformation. South of the
Alps, culture was the concern of a special class and took on
the form of a diversion, though it is true all classes must have
looked with admiration upon the works of art that were being
produced.
It was, then, the mission of the Renaissance to start the
spirit of free inquiry, to certify to the mind its dignity, to ex-
pand the horizon to the faculties of man as a citizen of the
world, to recover from the dust of ages the literary treasures
and monuments of ancient Greece and Rome, to inaugurate a
style of fresh description, based on observation, in opposition
to the dialectic circumlocution of the scholastic philosophy,
to call forth the laity and to direct attention to the value of
natural morality and the natural relationships of man with
man. To the monk beauty was a snare, woman a temptation,
pleasure a sin, the world vanity of vanities. The Humanist
taught that the present life is worth living. The Renaissance
breathed a cosmopolitan spirit and fostered universal sympa-
thies. In the spirit of some of the yearnings of the later Roman
authors, Dante exclaimed again, "My home is the world."1
i Burckhardt, I. 145.
566 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1204-1517.
§ 68. Dante, Petrarca, Boccaccio.
Dante, Petrarca and Boccaccio represent the birth and glory
of Italian literature and ushered in the new literary and artistic
age. Petrarca and Boccaccio belong chiefly to the department
of literary culture ; Dante equally to it and the realm of relig-
ious thought and composition. The period covered by their
lives extends over more than a hundred years, from Dante's
birth in 1265 to Boccaccio's death, 1375.
Dante Alighieri, 1265-1321, the first of Italian and the
greatest of mediaeval poets, has given us in his Divina Corn-
media^ the Divine Comedy, conceived in 1300, a poetic view of
the moral universe under the aspect of eternity, — tub specie
cetemitatis. Bora in Florence, he read under his teacher Bru-
netto Latini, whom in later years he praised, Virgil, Horace,
Ovid and other Latin authors. In the heated conflict of par-
ties, going on in his native city, he at first took the side of the
Guelfs as against the Ghibellines, who were in favor of the im-
perial regime in Italy. In 1300, he was elected one of the
priori or chief magistrates, approved the severe measures then
employed towards political opponents and, after a brief tenure
of office, was exiled. The decree of exile threatened to burn
him alive if he ventured to return to the city. After wander-
ing about, going to Paris and perhaps further west, he settled
down in Ravenna, where he died and where his ashes still lie.
After his death, Florence accorded the highest honors to his
memory. Her request for his body was refused by Ravenna,
but she created a chair for the exposition of the Divine Comedy,
with Boccaccio as its first occupant, and erected to her distin-
guished son an imposing monument in the church of Santa
Croce and a statue on the square in front. In 1865, all Italy
joined Florence in celebrating the 6th centenary of the poet's
birth. Never has study been given to Dante's great poem as
a work of art by wider circles and with more enthusiasm than
to-day, and it will continue to serve as a prophetic voice of
divine judgment and mercy as long as religious feeling seeks
expression.
Dante was a layman, married and had seven children. An
§ 68. DANTE, PETRARCA, BOCCACCIO. 567
epoch in his life was his meeting, as a boy of nine years, with
Beatrice, who was a few months younger than himself, at a
festival given in her father's house, where she was tenderly
called, as Boccaccio says, Bice. The vision of Beatrice — for
there is no record that they exchanged words — entered and
filled Dante's soul with an effluence of purity and benignity
which cleared away all evil thoughts.1 After an interval of
nine years he saw her a second time, and then not again till,
in his poetic dream, he met her in paradise. Beatrice married
and died at 24, 1290.
With this vision, the new life began for Dante, the vita nu-
ova which he describes in the book of that name. Beatrice's
features illuminated his path and her pure spirit was his guide.
At the first meeting, so the poet says, " she appeared to me
clothed in a most noble color, a modest and becoming crimson,
garlanded and adorned in such wise as befitted her very youth-
ful age." The love then begotten, says Charles Eliot Norton,
u lasted from Dante's boyhood to his death, keeping his heart
fresh, spite of the scorchings of disappointment, with the
springs of perpetual solace. " 2 The last glimpse the poet gives
of her was as he saw her at the side of Rachel in the highest
region of heaven.
The third in order, underneath her, lo!
Rachel with Beatrice. —Par., xxxii. 6.
Had Dante written only the tract against the temporal power
of the papacy, the De monarchia, his name would have been
restricted to a place in the list of the pamphleteers of the 14th
century. His Divine Comedy exalts him to the eminence of the
foremost poetic interpreter of the mediaeval world. This im-
mortal poem is a mirror of mediaeval Christianity and civiliza-
tion and, at the same time, a work of universal significance and
perennial interest. It sums up the religious concepts of the
Middle Ages and introduces the free critical spirit of the mod-
ern world.8 It is Dante's autobiography and reflects his own
experiences: —
1 Vita Nuova, 10, 11. See Scartazzini, Handbuch, p. 193.
1 Vita Nuova, Norton's trel., p. 2.
9 Die KomVdie ist der Schwanengesang des Mittelalters, eugleich aber auch
568 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
All the pains by me depicted, woes and tortures, void of pity,
On this earth I have encountered — found them all in Florence City.1
It brings into view the society of mediaeval Italy, a long array
of its personages, many of whom had only a local and transient
interest. At the same time, the Comedy is the spiritual biog-
raphy of man as man wherever he is found, in the three con-
ditions of sin, repentance and salvation. It describes a
pilgrimage to the world of spirits beyond this life, from the
dark forest of temptation, through the depths of despair in
hell, up the terraces of purification in purgatory, to the realms
of bliss. Through the first two regions the poet's guide is
Virgil, the representative of natural reason, and through the
heavenly spaces, Beatrice, the type of divine wisdom and love.
The Inferno reflects sin and misery; the Purgatorio, penitence
and hope ; the Paradiso, holiness and happiness. The first
repels by its horrors and laments ; the second moves by its
penitential tears and prayers; the third enraptures by its
purity and peace. Purgatory is an intermediate state, con-
stantly passing away, but heaven and hell will last forever.
Hell is hopeless darkness and despair ; heaven culminates in
the beatific vision of the Holy Trinity, beyond which nothing
higher can be conceived by man or angel. Here are depicted
the extremes of terror and rapture, of darkness and light, of
the judgment and the love of God. In paradise, the saints
are represented as forming a spotless white rose, whose cup is
a lake of light, surrounded by innocent children praising God.
This sublime conception was probably suggested by the rose-
da* begeisterte Lied, welches die Herankunjl einer neuen Zeit einJeitet. tfcar-
tazzim, Dante Alighieri, etc., p. 530. See Geiger, II. 30 sq. Church, p. 2,
calls it " the first Christian poem, the one which opens European literature as
the Iliad did that of Greece and Rome.'1 Dante knew scarcely more than a
dozen Greek words, and, on account of its popular language, he called his great
epic and didactic poem a comedy, or a village poem, deriving it from *<6pi?,
villa, without apparently being aware of the more probable derivation from
xwpos, merry-making.
1 Allen Schmerz, den ich getungen, all die Qualen, Greu'l und Wunden
HaV ich schon auf dieser Erden, haV ich in Florenz gefunden.
— GEIBEL : Dante in Verona.
One of the finest poems on Dante is by Uhland, others by Tennyson,
Longfellow, etc.
§ 63. DANTE, PETRARCA, BOCCACCIO. 569
windows of Gothic cathedrals, or by the fact that the Virgin
Mary was called a rose by St. Bernard and other mediaeval
divines and poets.
Following the geocentric cosmology of the Ptolemaic sys-
tem, the poet located hell within the earth, purgatory in the
southern hemisphere, and heaven in the starry firmament.
Hell is a yawning cavity, widest at the top and consisting of
ten circles. Purgatory is a mountain up which souls ascend.
The heavenly realm consists of nine circles, culminating in the
empyrean where the pure divine essence dwells.
Among these regions of the spiritual and future world,
Dante distributes the best-known characters of his and of
former generations. He spares neither Guelf nor Ghibelline,
neither pope nor emperor, and gives to all their due. He
adapts the punishment to the nature of the sin, the reward to
the measure of virtue, and shows an amazing ingenuity and
fertility of imagination in establishing the correspondence of
outward condition to moral character. Thus the cowards and
indifferentists in the vestibule of the Inferno are driven by a
whirling flag and stung by wasps and flies. The licentious
are hurried by tempestuous winds in total darkness, with
carnal lust still burning, but never gratified.
The infernal hurricane, that never rests
Hurtles the spirits onward in its rapine,
Whirling them round , and smiting, it molests them ;
It hither, thither, downward, upward, drives them.
— /n/erno, V. 31-43.
The gluttonous lie on the ground, exposed to showers of hail
and foul water ; blasphemers supine upon a plain of burning
sand, while sparks of fire, like flakes of snow in the Alps,
slowly and constantly descend upon their bodies. The wrath-
ful are forever tearing one another.
And I, who stood intent upon beholding,
Saw people mud-besprent in that lagoon,
All of them naked and with angry look.
They smote each other not alone with hands,
But with the head and with the breast and feet
Tearing each other piecemeal with their teeth.
— Inferno, VII. 100 sqq.
570 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
The simonists, who sell religion for money and turn the
temple of God into a den of thieves, are thrust into holes,
head downwards, with their feet protruding and tormented
with flames. The arch-heretics are held in red-hot tombs, and
tyrants in a stream of boiling blood, shot at by the centaurs
whenever they attempt to rise. The traitors are immersed
in a lake of ice with Satan, the arch-traitor and the embodi-
ment of selfishness, malignity and turpitude. Their very
tears turn to ice, symbol of utter hardness, and Satan is for-
ever consuming in his three mouths the three arch-traitors,
Judas, Brutus and Cassius. Milton represents Satan as the
archangel who even in hell exalts himself and in pride ex-
claims, " Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven," and
the poet leaves the mind of the reader disturbed by a feeling
of admiration for Lucifer's untamed ambition and superhuman
power. Dante's Satan awakens disgust and horror, and the in-
scription over the entrance to hell makes the reader shudder: —
Through me ye enter the abode of woe ;
Through me to endless sorrow are brought ;
Through me amid the souls accurst ye go.
******
All hope abandon — ye who enter here !
Per me si va nella citta dolente ;
Per me si va neW eterno dolore ;
Per me si va tra la perduta gente.
******
Lasciate ogni speranza, voi c&1 entrate.
Passing out from the domain of gloom and dole, Virgil leads
the poet to purgatory, where the dawn of day breaks. This
realm, as has been said, comes nearer to our common life than
hell or paradise.1 Hope dwells here. Song, not wailing, is
heard. A ship appears, moved by an angel and filled with
spirits, singing the hymn of redemption. Cato approaches and
urges the guide and Dante to wash themselves on the shore
from all remainders of hell and to hurry on. In purgatory,
they pass through seven stages, which correspond to the seven
mortal sins, the two lowest, pride and envy, the highest, wan-
tonness and luxury. All the penitents have stamped on their
foreheads seven P's, — the first letter of the word peccata^ sins,
* Strong, p. 142.
§ 68. DANTE, PETRARCA, BOCCACCIO. 571
— which are effaced only one by one, as they pass from stage
to stage, " enclasped with scorching fire," until they are deliv-
ered through penal fire from all stain. A similar correspond-
ence exists between sin and punishments as in the Inferno, but
with the opposite effect, for here sins are repented of and for-
given, and the woes are disciplinary until u the wound that
healeth last is medicined." Thus the proud, in the first and
lowest terrace, are compelled to totter under huge weights,
that they may learn humility. The indolent, in the fourth ter-
race, are exercised by constant and rapid walking. The avari-
cious and prodigal, with hands and feet tied together, lie with
their faces in the dust, weeping and wailing. The gluttons
suffer hunger and thirst that they may be taught temperance.
The licentious wander about in flames that their sensual pas-
sions may be consumed away.
Arriving at paradise, the Roman poet can go no further,
and Beatrice takes his place as Dante's guide. The spirits
are distributed in glory according to their different grades of
perfection. Here are passed in review theologians, martyrs,
crusaders, righteous princes and judges, monks and contem-
plative mystics. In the 9th heaven Beatrice leaves the poet
to take her place at the side of Rachel, after having intro-
duced him to St. Bernard. Dante looks again and sees Mary
and Eve and Sarah, —
. . . and the gleaner-maid
Meek ancestress of him, who sang the songs
Of sore repentance in his sorrowful mood ;
Gabriel, Adam, Moses, John the Baptist, Peter, St. Augustine
and other saints. Then he is led by the devout mystic to
Mary, who, in answer to his prayer, shows him the Deity in
the empyrean, but what he saw was not for words to utter.
Alike are all the saints in enjoying the same reward of the
beatific vision.
Dante was in full harmony with the orthodox faith of his
age, and followed closely the teachings of Thomas Aquinas'
great book of divinity.1 He accepted all the distinctive tenets
1 " There is in Dante no trace of doctrinal dissatisfaction. He respects
every part of the teaching of the Church in matters of doctrine, authoritatively
572 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
of mediaeval Catholicism — purgatory, the worship of Mary,
the intercession of saints, the efficacy of papal indulgences and
the divine institution of the papacy. He paid deep homage
to the monastic life and accords exalted place to Benedict,
St. Francis and Dominic. But he cast aside all traditions in
dealing freely with the successors of Peter in the Apostolic
see. Here, too, he was under the direction of the beloved
Beatrice. The evils in the Church he traced to her temporal
power and he condemned to everlasting punishment Anasta-
sius II. for heresy, Nicolas III., Boniface VIII. and Clem-
ent V. for simony, Coelestine V. for cowardice in abdicating
the pontifical office, and a squad of other popes for avarice.
Following the theology of Augustine and Thomas Aquinas,
he put into hell the whole heathen world except two solitary
figures, Cato of Utica, who sacrificed life for liberty and
keeps watch at the foot of purgatory, and the just emperor,
Trajan, who, 500 years after his death, was believed to have
been prayed out of hell by Pope Gregory I. To the region
of the Inferno^ also, though on the outer confines of it, a place
is assigned to infants who die in infancy without being bap-
tized, whether the offspring of Christian or heathen parents.
Theirs is no conscious pain, but they remain forever without
the vision of the blessed. In the same vicinity the worthies
of the old dispensation were detained until Christ descended
after his crucifixion and gave them release. There, John the
Baptist had been kept for two years after his pains of mar-
tyrdom, Par. xxxii. 25. In the upper regions of the hope-
less Inferno a tolerably comfortable place is also accorded
to the noble heathen poets, philosophers, statesmen and war-
riors, while unfaithful Christians are punished in the lower
circles according to the degrees of their guilt. The heathen,
who followed the light of nature, suffer sorrow without pain.
Aft Virgil says : —
In the right manner they adored not God.
For such defects, and not for other guilt,
Lost are we, and are only so far punished,
That without hope we live on, in desire.
laid down. ... He gives no evidence of free inquiry and private judg-
ment.19 — Moore, Studies, II. 65, 60.
§ 63. DANTB, PBTBAECA, BOCCACCIO. 573
Dante began his poem in Latin and was blamed by Gio-
vanni del Virgilio, a teacher of Latin literature in Bologna,
because he abandoned the language of old Rome for the vul-
gar dialect of Tuscany. I*oggio also lamented this course.
But the poet defended himself in his unfinished book, Elo-
quence in the Vernacular, De vulgari eloquio^1 and, by writing
the Commedia, the Vita nuova, the Convivio and his sonnets
in his native Florentine tongue, he became the father of
Italian literature and opened the paths of culture to the laity.
Within three years of the poet's death, commentaries began
to be written on the Divina Commedia, as by Graziuolo de'
Hambagliolo, 1324, and within 100 years chairs were founded
for its exposition at Florence, Venice, Bologna arid Pisa.
A second service which Dante rendered in his poem to the
coining culture was in bringing antiquity once more into the
foreground and treating pagan and Christian elements side by
side, though not as of the same value, and interweaving myth-
ological fables with biblical history, classical with Christian
reminiscences. By this tolerance he showed himself a man
of the new age, while he still held firmly to the mediaeval the-
ology.2
Dante's abiding merit, however, was his inspiring portrayal
of the holiness and love of God. Sin, the perversion of the
will, is punished with sin continuing in the future world and
pain. Salvation is through the " Lamb of God who takes away
our sins and suffered and died that we might live." This poem,
like a mighty sermon, now depresses, now enraptures the soul,
or, to use the lines of the most poetic of his translators, Long-
fellow, —
Thy sacred song is like the trump of doom ;
Yet in thy heart what human sympathies,
What soft compassion glows.
Francesco Petrarca, 1304—1374, was the most cultured man
of his time. His Italian sonnets and songs are masterpieces of
Italian poetic diction, but he thought lightly of them and hoped
to be remembered by his Latin writings.8 He was an enthusi-
1 Engl. translation by A. G. F. Howell, London, 1800.
2 See Burckhardt-Geiger, I. 219.
8 Of his 817 sonnets and 29 canzoni all are erotic but 31. For the sake of
574 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
ast for the literature of antiquity and gave a great impulse to
its study. His parents, exiled from Florence, removed to
Avignon, then the seat of the papacy, which remained Fran-
cesco's residence till 1333. He was ordained to the priesthood
but without an inward call. He enjoyed several ecclesiastical
benefices as prior, canon and archdeacon, which provided for
his support without burdening him with duties. He courted
and enjoyed the favor of princes, popes and prelates. He
abused the papal residence on the Rhone as the Babylon of the
West, urged the popes to return to Rome and hailed Cola da
Rienzo as an apostle of national liberty. His writings contain
outbursts of patriotism button the other hand, the author seems
to contradict himself in being quick to accept the hospitality of
the Italian despots of Mantua, Padua, Rimini and Ferrara, and
the viconti of Milan. In 1350, he formed a friendship with
Boccaccio which remained warm until his death.
In spite of his priestly vows, Petrarca lived with concubines
and had at least two illegitimate children, Giovanni and Fran-
cesca, the stain of whose birth was removed by papal bulls. In
riper years, and more especially after his pilgrimage to Rome
in the Jubilee year, 1350, he broke away from the slavery of sin.
"I now hate that pestilence," he wrote to Boccaccio, "infinitely
more than I loved it once, so that in turning over the thought
of it in my mind, I feel shame and horror. Jesus Christ, my
liberator, knows that I say the truth, he to whom I often prayed
with tears, who has given to me his hand in pity and helped me
up to himself." He took great delight in the Confessions of St.
Augustine, a copy of which he carried about with him.
In his De contemptu mundi, — the Contempt of the World, —
written in 1343, Petrarca confesses as his greatest fault the love
of glory and the desire for the immortality of his name. This,
the besetting sin of the ancient Greeks and Romans, the Human-
ists inherited. It became with them a ruling passion. They
found it in Cicero, the most read of all the Latin classics. Dante
strove after the poet's laurel and often returned to the theme of
euphony, the author changed his patronymic Petrarco into Petrarca. In the
English form, Petrarch, the accent is changed from the second to the first syl-
lable.
§ 63. DANTE, PETRARCA, BOCCACCIO. 575
fame as a motive of action — lo grand disio della eccelenza.1
Petrarca, after much seeking on his own part, was offered
the poet's crown by the University of Paris and the Roman
senate. He took it from the latter, and was crowned on the
Capitoline Hill at Rome, April 8, 1341, Robert, king of Sicily,
being present on the occasion. This he regarded as the
proudest moment of his life, the excelling glory of his career.
In ostentatious piety the poet carried his crown to St. Peter's,
where he laid it on the altar of the Apostle.
Petrarca has been called the first modern scholar and man
of letters, the inaugurator of the Italian Renaissance. Unlike
Dante, he despised scholastic and mystic learning and went
further back to the well of pagan antiquity. He studied
antiquity, not as a philologist or antiquarian, but as a man of
taste.2 He admired the Greek and Roman authors for their
eloquence, grace and finish of style. Cicero and Virgil were
his idols, the fathers of eloquence, the eyes of the Latin lan-
guage. He turned to Plato. He made a distinction between
the religion of the New Testament as interpreted by Augus-
tine and as interpreted by the Schoolmen. Petrarca also
opened the period of search and discovery of ancient books
and works of art. He spared no pains to secure old manu-
scripts. In 1345, he found several of Cicero's letters at
Verona, and also a portion of Quintilian which had been
unknown since the 10th century. A copy of Homer he kept
with care, though he could not read its contents. All the
Greek he knew was a few rudiments learned from a faithless
Calabrian, Barlaam. He was the first to collect a private
library and had 200 volumes. His first thought in passing old
convents was to hunt up books. He accumulated old coins and
medals and advocated the preservation of ancient monuments.
He seems also to have outlined the first mediaeval map of Italy.8
1 "The noble desire of fame," Par. xi. 86-117. See, on the subject, Burck-
hardt-Geiger, I. 154 sq. Pastor, I. 4 sq., calls special attention to this pursuit
of the phantom, fame, by the Humanists at courts and from the people.
9 Robinson, Life, p. 886, says, " Petrarch's love for Cicero and Virgil springs
from what one may call the fundamental Humanistic impulse, delight in the
free play of mind among ideas that are stimulating and beautiful.*9
• See Burckhardt-Geiger, II., Excurtus LXL
576 THB MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
Few authors have more fully enjoyed the benefit of their la-
bors than Petrarca. He received daily letters of praise from all
parts of Italy, from France, Germany and England. He ex-
pressed his satisfaction that the emperor of Byzantium knew
him through his writings. Charles IV. invited him three
times to Germany that lie might listen to his eloquence and
learn from him lessons of wisdom ; and Pope Gregory XL
on hearing of his death, ordered good copies of all his books.
The next generation honored him, not as the singer of Laura,
the wife of another, whose beauty and loveliness he praised
in passionate verse,1 but as the scholar and sage.
The name of Giovanni Boccaccio, 1313-1375, the third of
the triumvirate of the Italian luminaries of the 14th century,
has also a distinct place in the transition from the Middle
Ages to the age of the Renaissance. With his two great
predecessors he was closely linked, with Dante as his biogra-
pher, with Petrarca as his warm friend. It was given to him
to be the founder of easy and elegant Italian prose. The
world has had few writers who can equal him in realistic
narration.2 There is ground for the saying that Dante is
admired, Petrarca praised, Boccaccio read. He also wrote
poetry, but it does not constitute his claim to distinction.
Certaldo, twenty miles from Florence, was probably Boccac-
cio's birthplace. He was the illegitimate son of a Florentine
father and a Parisian mother. After spending six years in
business and giving six to the law, — the whole period being
looked upon by him later as lost time, — he devoted himself
to literature. Several years he spent at the court of Naples,
where he fell in love with Maria, the married daughter of
King Robert, who yielded her honor to his advances. Later,
he represented her passion for him in L'Amorosa Fiammetta.
Thus the three great Italian literati commemorate the love
of women who were bound in matrimony to others, but
1 For Petrarca's attachment to Laura, see Koerting, p. 088 sq,, and
Symonds, Ital Lit., I. 92, and The Dantetque and Platonic Ideals of Love,
in Contemp. Rev., Sept., 1800.
2 Symonds, Ital, Lit., I. 99, says, " Boccaccio was the first to substitute
a literature of the people for the literature of the learned classes and the
aristocracy,11 etc.
§ 63. DANTE, PETRARCA, BOCCACCIO. 577
there is a wide gulf between the inspiring passion of Dante
for Beatrice and Boccaccio's sensual love.1 Boccaccio was
an unmarried layman and freely indulged in irregular love.
His three children of unknown mothers died before him.
In his old age he passed, like Petrarca, through a certain
conversion, and, with a preacher's fervor, warned others
against the vanity, luxury and seductive arts of women.
He would fain have blotted out the immoralities of his writ-
ings when it was too late. The conversion was brought
about by a Carthusian monk who called upon him at Cer-
taldo. Upon the basis of another monk's vision, he threat-
ened Boccaccio with speedy death, if he did not abandon his
godless writing. Terrified with the prospect, he determined to
renounce the pen and give himself up to penance. Petrarca,
on hearing of his state of mind, wrote to him to accept what
was good in the monk's advice, but not to abandon studies
which he pronounced the nutriment of a healthy mind.
In zeal for the ancient classics, Boccaccio vied with his con-
temporary. Many of them he copied with his own hand, and
bequeathed them to his father-confessor in trust for the Augus-
tinian convent of the Holy Spirit in Florence. He learned the
elements of Greek and employed a Greek of Calabria, Leontius
Pilatus, to make a literal translation of the Iliad and Odyssey
for learners. An insight into his interest in books is given to
us in his account of a visit to Monte Casino. On asking to see
the library, a monk took him to a dusty room without a door
to it, and with grass growing in its windows. Many of the
manuscripts were mutilated. The monks, as his guide told
him, were in the habit of tearing out leaves to be used by the
children as psalters or to be sold to women for amulets for
their arms.
In 1373, the signoria of Florence appointed him to the lec-
tureship on the Divina Commedia, with a salary of 100 guldens
gold. He had gotten only as far as the 17th canto of the In-
ferno when he was overtaken by death.
Boccaccio's Latin works are mostly compilations from an-
1 The best edition of his La Vita di Dante, with a critical text and intro-
duction of 174 pages, is by Francesco Marci-Leone, Florence, 1888.
2r
578 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
cient mythology — De genealogia deorum — and biography, and
also treat the subject of geography — De montium, silvarum,
lacuum et marium nominibus. In his De claris mulieribus, he gave
the biographies of 104 distinguished women, including Eve,
the fictitious popess, Johanna, and Queen Johanna of Naples,
who was still living. His most popular work is the Decam-
erone^ the Ten Days' Book — which in later years he would
have destroyed or purged of its immoral and frivolous ele-
ments. It is his poetry in prose and may be called a Commedia
Humana, as contrasted with Dante's Commedia Divina. It
contains 100 stories, told by ten young persons, seven ladies
and three men of Florence, during the pestilence of 1348.
After listening to a description of the horrors of the plague,
the reader is transferred to a beautiful garden, several miles
from the city, where the members of the company^ amid laugh-
ter and tears, relate the stories which range from moral tales
to indecent love intrigues. One of the well-known stories
is of the Jew, Abraham, who, refusing to comply with the ap-
peals to turn Christian, went to Rome to study the question
for himself. Finding the priestly morals most corrupt, car-
dinals with concubines and revelling in riches and luxury, he
concluded Christianity must have a divine origin, or it would
not have survived when the centre of Christendom was so
rotten, and he offered himself for baptism. The Decamerone
reveals a low state of morals among priests and monks as
well as laymen and women. It derides marriage, the confes-
sional, the hypocrisy of monkery and the worship of relics.
The employment of wit and raillery against ecclesiastical
institutions was a new element in literature, and Boccaccio
wrote in a language the people understood. No wonder that
the Council of Trent condemned the work for its immoralities,
and still more for its anticlerical and antimonastic ridicule ;
but it could not prevent its circulation. A curious expur-
gated edition, authorized by the pope, appeared in Florence in
1573, which retained the indecencies, the impure personages,
but substituted laymen for the priests and monks, thus saving
the honor of the Church.1
1 In an attempt to break the force of the charge that in its beginnings the
Renaissance was wholly an individualistic movement, independent of the
§ 64. PROGRESS AND PATRONS OF CLASSICAL STUDIES. 579
Dante, Petrarca and Boccaccio led the way to a recognition
of the worth of man's natural endowment by depicting the
passions of his heart. To them also it belonged to have an
ardent love for nature and to reproduce it in description.
Thus Petrarca described the mountains and the gulfs of the
sea as well as Rome, Naples and other Italian places where
he loved to be.1 His description of his delight in ascending a
mountain near Vaucluse, it has been suggested, was the first of
its kind in literature. In these respects, the appreciation of
man and the world, they stood at the opening of the new era.
§ 64. Progress and Patrons of Classical Studies in the
15th Century.
The enthusiasm for classical studies and the monuments of
antiquity reached its high pitch in Italy in the middle and
latter half of the 15th century. Many distinguished classi-
cal students appeared, none of whom, however, approached
in literary eminence the three Italian literati of the preced-
ing century. Admirable as was their zeal in promoting an
acquaintance with the writers of Greece and Rome, they were
in danger of becoming mere pedants and imitators of the
past. The whole field of ancient literature was searched,
poetry and philosophy, letters and works of geography and
history. Italy seemed to be bent on setting aside all other
studies for the ancient classics. Cicero was taken as the
supreme model of style, and his age was referred to as "that
immortal and almost heavenly age." 2
The services of the Italian Humanists in reviving an in-
terest in ancient literature and philosophy were, however,
quite enough to give distinction to their era, though their own
writings have ceased to be read. One new feature of abiding
significance was developed in the 15th century, the science
of literary and historical criticism. This was opened by
Salutato, d. 1406, who contended that Seneca could not have
Church, Pastor, I. 6 sqq., lays stress upon the gracious treatment Petrarca
and Boccaccio received from popes and the repentance of their latter years.
1 See Burckhardt-Geiger, II. 18 sqq.
* Burckhardt-Geiger, L 277.
580 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. -1204-1517.
been the author of the tragedies ascribed to him, and culmi-
nated in Laurentius Valla and the doubts that scholar cast
upon the authorship of the Apostles' Creed and the Donation
of Constantine. The Fall of Constantinople in 1453, with
which the middle of the century was signalized, cannot be
regarded as more than an incident in the history of the spread
of Greek letters in the West, which would have been accom-
plished had the city remained under the Greek emperors.
To the discovery and copying of manuscripts, led by such
men as Poggio or the monk Nicolas of Treves, who in 1429
brought to Rome 12 hitherto unpublished comedies of Plau-
tus, were added the foundation of princely libraries in Flor-
ence, Rome, Urbino and other cities. Numerous were the
translations of Greek authors made into Latin, and more nu-
merous the translations from both languages into Italian. By
the recovery of a lost or half-forgotten literature, the Italian
Renaissance laid the modern world under a heavy debt. But
in its restless literary activity, it went still further, imitating
the literary forms received from antiquity. Orations became
a marked feature of the time, pompous and stately. The en-
voys of princes were called orators and receptions, given to
such envoys, were opened with classical addresses. Orations
were also delivered at the reception of relics, at funerals and
marriages — the epithalamials — and even at the consecration
of bishops. At a betrothal, Filelfo opened his address with
the words, "Aristotle, the peripatetic teacher." The orations
of this Latinist, most eminent in his day, are pronounced by
Geiger a disgusting mixture of classic and biblical quotations.1
Not seldom these ornate productions were extended to two
or three hours. Pius II.'s fame for oratory helped him to the
papal throne.
All forms of classic poetry were revived — from the epic
to the epigram, from tragedy to satire. Petrarca's Africa^
an epic on Scipio, and Boccaccio's Theseid led the way. At-
tempts were even made to continue or restore ancient literary
works. Maffeo Vegio, under Martin V., composed a 13th
book of Virgil, Bruni restored the second decade of Livy.
i 1. 261 aq.
§ 64. PROGKESS AND PAT11ONS OF CLASSICAL STUDIES. 581
The poets not only revived the ancient mythologies but peo-
pled Italy with new gods and nymphs. Especially active
were they in celebrating the glories of the powerful men of
their age, princes and popes. A Borgiad was dedicated to
Alexander VI., a Borsead to Borso, duke of Este, a Sforzias
to one of the viconti of Milan and the Laurentias to Lorenzo
de' Medici. The most offensive panegyric of all was the poet-
ical effusion of Ercole Strozzi at the death of Caesar Borgia.
In this laudation, Roma is represented as having placed her
hopes in the Borgias, Calixtus III. and Alexander VI., and
last of all in Ctesar, whose deeds are then glorified.
In historic composition also, a new chapter was opened.
The annals of cities and the careers of individuals were
studied and written down. The histories of Florence, first
in Latin by Lionardo Bruni and then down to 1362 by the
brothers Villani, who wrote in Italian, and then by Poggio to
1455, were followed by other histories down to the valuable
Diaries of Rome by Infessura and Burchard, the History of
Venice 1487-1513, by Bembo, and the works of Machiavelli
and Guicciardini, who wrote in Italian. In 1463, Flavio
Biondo compiled his encyclopaedic work in three parts on the
history, customs, topography and monuments of Rome and
Italy, Roma instaurata* Roma triumphant and Italia illus-
trata. Lionardo Bruni wrote Lives of Cicero and Aristotle in
Latin and of Dante and Petrarca in Italian. The passion for
composition was displayed in the despatches of Venetian, Man-
tuan and other ambassadors at the courts of Rome or Este and
by the elaborate letters, which were in reality finished essays,
for the most part written in Latin and introducing comments
on books and matters of literary interest, by Politian, Bembo
and others, a form of writing revived by Petrarca. The
zeal for Latin culture also found exhibition in the habit of
giving to children ancient names, such as Agamemnon and
Achilles, Atalanta and Pentesilea. A painter called his
daughter Minerva and his son Apelles. The habit also took
root of assuming Latin names. A Sanseverino, howbeit of
illegitimate birth, proudly called himself Julius Pomponius
Laetus. This custom extended to Germany, where Schwarz-
582 THB MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
erd gave up his original German patronymic for Melanch-
thon, Hausschein for (Ecolampadius, Reuchlin for Capnio,
Buchmann for Bibliander; Hutten, Luther, Zwingli, who were
more patriotic, adhered to their vernacular names. Pedants
adopted a more serious change when they paganized sacred
terms and substituted mythological for Christian ideas. The
saints were called dii and dece ; their statues, simulacra sancta
deorum ; holy images of the gods, Peter and Paul, dii titulares
RomcB or 8. Romulus and S. Remus ; the nuns, vestales virgines;
heaven, Olympus ; cardinals, augurs, and the College of Car-
dinals, Senatus sacer ; the pope, pontifex maximus, and his
thunders, dirce ; the tiara, infula Romulea ; and God, Jupiter
optimus maximus!1 Erasmus protested against such absurd
pedantry as characterizing Humanism in its dotage. Another
sign of the cult of the ancients was the imitation of Roman
burial usages even in the churches. At Bruni's death in 1443,
the priors of Florence decreed him a public funeral " after
the manner of the ancients." Before the laying-away of his
body in S. Croce, Manetti pronounced a funeral oration and
placed the crown of laurel on the deceased author's head.
The high veneration of antiquity was also shown in the re-
gard which cities and individuals paid to the relics of classical
writers. Padua thought she had the genuine bones of Livy,
and Alfonso of Naples considered himself happy in securing
one of the arms of the dead historian. Naples gloried in the
real or supposed tomb of Virgil. Parma boasted of the bones
of Cassius. Como claimed both the Plinies, but Verona proved
that the elder belonged to it. Alfonso of Naples, as he was
crossing over the Abruzzi, saluted Sulmona, the birthplace of
Ovid.
The larger Italian towns were not without Latin schools.
Among the renowned teachers were Vittorino da Feltre, whom
Gonzaga of Mantua called to his court, and Guarino of Ve-
rona. Children of princes from abroad went to Mantua to sit
at the feet of Feltre, who also gave instruction to as many as
70 poor and talented children at a time. Latin authors were
committed to memory and translated by the pupils, and math-
1 Burckhardt-Geiger, I. 274 ; Symonds, IL 390 sqq.
§ 64. PROGRESS AND PATRONS OF CLASSICAL STUDIES. 583
ematics and philosophy were taught. To his literary curric-
ulum Feltre added gymnastic exercises and set his pupils a
good example by his chastity and temperance. He was rep-
resented as a pelican which nourishes her young with her
own blood. Pastor, who calls this teacher the greatest Italian
pedagogue of the Renaissance period, is careful to notice that
he had mass said every morning before beginning the sessions
of the day.
The Humanists were fortunate in securing the encourage-
ment of the ricli and powerful. Literature has never had more
liberal and intelligent patrons than it had in Italy in the 15th
century. The munificence of Maecenas was equalled and sur-
passed by Cosimo and Lorenzo de' Medici in Florence and Nico-
las V. in Rome. Other cities had their literary benefactors, but
some of these were most noted for combining profligacy with
their real or affected interest in literary culture. Humanists
were in demand. Popes needed secretaries, and princes courted
orators and poets who could conduct a polished correspond-
ence, write addresses, compose odes for festive occasions and
celebrate their deeds. Lionardo Bruni, Valla, Bembo, Sado-
leto and other Humanists were secretaries or annotators at the
papal court under Nicolas V. and his successors.
Cosimo de' Medici, d. 1464, the most munificent promoter
of arts and letters that Europe had seen for more than a thou-
sand years, was the richest banker of the republic of Florence,
scholarly, well-read and, from taste and ambition, deeply inter-
ested in literature. We have already met him at Constance
during the council. He travelled extensively in France and
Germany and ruled Florence, after a temporary exile, as a
republican merchant-prince, for 30 years. He encouraged
scholars by gifts of money and provided for the purchase of
manuscripts, without assuming the air of condescension which
spoils the generosity of the gift, but with a feeling of respect
for superior merit. His literary minister, Nicolo de' Niccoli,
1364-1437, was a centre of attraction to literary men in Flor-
ence and collected and, in great part, copied 800 codices.
Under his auspices, Poggio searched some of the South Ger-
man convents and found at St. Gall the first complete Quintil-
584 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
ian. Niccoli's library, through Cosimo's mediation, was given
to S. Marco, and forms a part of the Medicean library. With
the same enlightened liberality, Cosimo also encouraged the
fine arts. He was a great admirer of the saintly painter, Fra
Angelico, whom he ordered to paint the history of the cruci-
fixion on one of the walls of the chapter-house of S. Marco.
Among the scholars protected in Florence under Cosimo's ad-
ministration were the Platonist Ficino, Lionardo Bruni and
Poggio. During the last year of his life, Cosimo had read to
him Aristotle's Ethics and Ficino's translation of Plato's The
Highest Good. He also contributed to churches and convents,
and by the erection of stately buildings turned Florence into
the Italian Athens.
Cosimo's grandson and worthy successor, Lorenzo de' Med-
ici, d. 1492, was well educated in Latin and Greek by Lan-
dino, Argyropulos and Ficino. He was a man of polite
culture and himself no mean poet, whose songs were sung on
the streets of Florence. His family life was reputable. He
liked to play with his children and was very fond of his son
Giovanni, afterwards Leo X. Michelangelo and Pico della
Mirandola were among the ornaments of his court. By his
lavish expenditures he brought himself and the republic to
the brink of bankruptcy in 1490.
Federigo da Montefeltro, duke of Urbino, d. 1482, and
Alfonso of Naples also deserve special mention as patrons of
learning. Federigo, a pupil of Vittorino da Feltre, was a
scholar and an admirer of patristic as well as classical learning.
He also cultivated a taste for music, painting and architecture,
employed 30 and 40 copyists at a time, and founded, at an ex-
pense of 40,000 ducats, a library which, in 1657, was incorpo-
rated in the Vatican.
Alfonso was the special patron of the skeptical Laurentius
Valla and the licentious Beccadelli, 1394-1471, and also had at
his court the Greek scholars, George of Trebizond and the
younger Chrysoloras. He listened with delight to literary,
philosophical and theological lectures and disputes, which were
held in his library. He paid large sums for literary work, giv-
ing Beccadelli 1000 gold guldens for his Hermaphrodite^ and
§ 04. PROGRESS AND PATKONS OF CLASSICAL STUDIES. 585
Fazio, in addition to his yearly stipend of 500 guldens, 1,500
guldens for his Historic* Alphonsi. When he took Manetti to
be his secretary, he is reported to have said he would be will-
ing to divide his last crust with scholars.
With Nicolas V., 1447-1455, Humanism triumphed at the
centre of the Roman Church. He was the first and best pope
of the Renaissance and its most liberal supporter. However,
Humanism never struck as deep root in Rome as it did in
Florence. It was always more or less of an exotic in the papal
city.1 Nicolas caught the spirit of the Renaissance in Florence^
where he served as private tutor. For 20 years he acted as the
secretary of Cardinal Niccolo Abergati, and travelled in
France, England, Burgundy, Germany and Northern Italy.
On these journeys he collected rare books, among which were
Lactantius, Gregory of Nazianzus, Irenseus, 12 epistles of Igna-
tius and an epistle of Polycarp. Many manuscripts he copied
with his own hand, and he helped to arrange the books Cosimo
collected. His pontificate was a golden era for architects and
authors. With the enormous sums which the year of Jubilee,
1450, brought to Rome, he was able to carry out his double pas-
sion for architecture and literature. In the bank of the Medici
alone, 100,000 florins were deposited to the account of the
papacy. Nicolas gave worthy scholars employment as tran-
scribers, translators or secretaries, but he made them work night
and day. He sent agents to all parts of Italy and to other coun-
tries, even to Russia and England, in search of rare books, and
had them copied on parchment and luxuriously bound and
clasped with silver clasps. He thus collected the works of
Homer, Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, Plato, Aristotle,
Polybius, Diodorus Siculus, Appian, Philo Judseus, and the
Greek Fathers, Eusebius, Basil, Gregory of Nazianzus, Chry-
sostom, Cyril and Dionysius the Areopagite. He kindled a
feverish enthusiasm for the translation of Greek authors, and
was determined to enrich the West with versions of all the sur-
viving monuments of Hellenic literature. As Symonds puts it,
Rome became a factory of translations from Greek into Latin.
Nicolas paid to Valla 500 scudi for a Latin version of Thucy-
1 Gregoroviua, VII, 639 ; Symonds, Rev. of Learning, II. 215.
586 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
dides and to Guarino 1,500 for his translation of Strabo. He
presented to Nicolas Perotti for his translation of Polybius a
purse of 500 new papal ducats, — a ducat being the equivalent
of 12 francs, — with the remark that the sum was not equal to
the author's merits. He offered 5,000 ducats for the discovery
of the Hebrew Matthew and 10,000 gold gulden fora translation
of Homer, but in vain; for Marsuppini and Oratius only fur-
nished fragments of the Iliad, and Valla's translation of the first
16 books was a paraphrase in prose. He gave Manetti, his sec-
retary and biographer, though absent from Rome, a salary of
600 ducats. No such liberal and enlightened friend of books
ever sat in the chair of St. Peter.
Nicolas found an enduring monument in the Vatican Library,
which, with its later additions, is the most valuable collection
in the world of rare manuscripts in Oriental, Greek, Latin and
ecclesiastical literature. Among its richest treasures is the
Vatican manuscript of the Greek New Testament. There had
been older pontifical libraries and collections of archives, first
in the Lateran, afterwards in the Vatican palace, but Nicolas
well deserves to be called the founder of the Vatican Library.
He bought for it about 5,000 volumes of valuable classical and
biblical manuscripts, — an enormous collection for those days,
— and he had besides a private library, consisting chiefly of
Latin classics. No other library of that age reached 1,000
volumes. Bessarion had only 600 volumes, Niccoli in Florence
800, Federigo of Urbino 772. The Vatican now contains
30,000 manuscripts and about 100,000 printed works. Free
access was offered to its archives for the first time by Leo XIII.
The interest of the later popes of the Renaissance period
was given to art and architecture rather than to letters. The
Spaniard, Calixtus III., according to the doubtful report of
Vespasiano, regarded the accumulation of books by his prede-
cessor as a waste of the treasures of the Church of God,
gave away several hundred volumes to the old Cardinal Isi-
dore of Kiew and melted the silver ornaments, with which
many manuscripts were bound, into coin for his proposed war
against the Turks.
From the versatile diplomatist and man of letters, Pius II.,
§ 64. PBOGEESS AND PATRONS OF CLASSICAL STUDIES. 587
the Humanists had a right to expect much, but they got little.
This, however, was not because JEneas Sylvius had reason to
fear rivalry. After being elected pope, he was carried about
the city of Rome and to Tusculum, Alba, Ostia and other lo-
calities, tracing the old Roman roads and water conduits and
examining other monuments. He was a poet, novelist, con-
troversialist, historian, cosmographer. He had a heart for
everything, from the boat-race and hunting-party to the
wonders of great cities, Florence and Rome. His faculty of
observation was as keen as his interests were broad. Noth-
ing seems to have escaped his eye. Everything that was
human had an interest for him, and his description of cities and
men, as in his Frederick III. and History of Bohemia^ hold
the reader's attention by their clever judgments and their ap-
preciation of characteristic and entertaining details.1 Pius'
novels and odes breathe a low moral atmosphere, and his
comedy, Chrisis, in the style of Terence, deals with women of
ill-repute and is equal to the most lascivious of the Human-
istic productions. His orations fill three volumes, and over
500 of his letters are still extant.
Under Paul II., the Humanists of the papal household had
hard times, as the treatment of Platina shows. Sixtus IV.,
1471-1484, has a place in the history of the Vatican library,
which he transferred to four new and beautiful halls. He
endowed it with a permanent fund, provided for Latin, Greek
and Hebrew copyists, appointed as librarians two noted schol-
ars, Bussi and Platina, and separated the books from the ar
chives.2 The light-hearted Leo X., a normal product of the
Renaissance, honored Bembo and other literati, but combined
the patronage of frivolous with serious literature. In a letter
printed in the first edition of the first six books of the Annals
of Tacitus^ 1515, — discovered in the Westphalian convent of
Corbay, 1508, — he wrote that "from his earliest years he had
been accustomed to think that, if we except the knowledge
and worship of God Himself, nothing more excellent or more
1 Burckhardt-Geiger, II. 21.
* See Pastor, II. 655 sqq., who dwells at length on this pope's service to
the library.
588 TUB MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1204-1517.
useful had been given by the Creator to mankind than classi-
cal studies which not only lead to the ornament and guidance
of human life, but are applicable and useful to every particu-
lar situation."
As a characteristic development of the Italian Renaissance
must be mentioned the so-called academies of Florence, Rome
and Naples. These institutions corresponded somewhat to
our modern scientific associations. The most noted of them,
the Platonic Academy of Florence, was founded by Cosimo
de' Medici, and embraced among its members the principal
men of Florence and some strangers. It celebrated the birth-
day of Plato, November 13, with a banquet and a discus-
sion of his writings. It revived and diffused the knowledge
of the sublime truths of Platonism, and then gave way to
other academies in Florence of a more literary and social
character.1 Its brightest fame was reached under Lorenzo.
The academy at Rome, which had Pompon ius Lsetus for
its founder, did not confine itself to the study of Plato and
philosophy, but had a more general literary aim. The meet-
ings were devoted to classical discussions and the presentation
of orations and plays. Although Laetus was half a pagan,
Alexander VI. was represented at his funeral, 1498, by mem-
bers of his court. Cardinal Sadoleto in the 16th century
reckoned the Roman academy among the best teachers of his
youth. The academy at Naples, developed by Jovianus Pon-
tanus, devoted itself chiefly to matters of style. The Flor-
entine academy has been well characterized by Professor Jebb
as predominantly philosophic, the Roman as antiquarian and
the Neapolitan as literary.2
§ 65. Q-reek Teachers and Italian Humanists.
The revival of the study of Greek, which had been neglected
for eight centuries or more, was due, not to an interest in the
original text of the New Testament, but to a passion to become
acquainted with Homer, Plato and other classic Greek authors.
1 R. Rocholl, D. Platonismus d. Renaissancezeit, in Brieger'a Zeitschr.
fur K.-gesch., Leipz., 1892, pp. 47-106.
*Cambr.Hist. ,1.660.
§ 65. GREEK TEACHERS AND ITALIAN HUMANISTS. 589
Not even had Gregory the Great any knowledge of the lan-
guage. The erection of chairs for its study was recommended
by the Council of Vienne, but the recommendation came to
nothing. The revival of the study of the language was fol-
lowed by the discovery of Greek manuscripts, the preparation
of grammars and dictionaries and the translation of the Greek
classics.
If we pass by such itinerating and uncertain teachers as the
Calabrians, from whom Petrarca and Boccaccio took lessons,
the list of modern teachers of Greek opens with Emanuel
Chrysoloras, 1350-1415. He taught in Florence, Milan,
Padua, Venice and Rome and, having conformed to the Latin
Church, was taken as interpreter to the council at Constance,
where he died. He wrote the first Greek grammar, printed
in 1484. The first lexicon was prepared by a Carmelite monk,
Giovanni Crastone of Piacenza, and appeared in 1497. Pro-
vided as we are with a full apparatus for the study of Greek,
we have little conception of the difficulty of acquiring a book-
knowledge of that language without the elementary helps of
grammar and dictionary.
A powerful impetus was given to Greek studies by the Coun-
cil of Ferrara, 1439, with its large delegation from the East-
ern Church and its discussions over the doctrinal differences
of Christendom. Its proceedings appeared in the two lan-
guages. Among those who attended the council and remained
in the West for a period or for life, were Plethon, whose origi-
nal name was Georgios Gemistos, 1355-1450, and Bessarion,
1403-1472. Cosimo de' Medici heard Plethon often and was
led by his lectures on Plato to conceive the idea of the Pla-
tonic Academy in Florence.
Bessarion, bishop of Nicaea, became a fixture in the Latin
Church and was admitted to the college of cardinals by Eu-
genius IV. The objection made in conclave to his candidacy
for the papal chair by the cardinal of Avignon was that he was
a Greek and wore a beard. He died in Ravenna* Like all
Greeks, Bessarion was a philosophical theologian, and took
more interest in the metaphysical mystery of the eternal pro-
cession of the Spirit than the practical work of the Spirit upon
590 THB MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
the hearts of men. He vindicated Plato against the charges
of immorality and alleged hostility to orthodox doctrines,
pointed to that philosopher's belief in the creation and the
immortality of the soul, quoted the favorable opinions of him
given by Basil, Augustine and other Fathers, and represented
him as a bridge from heathenism to Christianity. Bessarion's
palace in Rome was a meeting-place of scholars. At an ex-
pense of 15,000 ducats or, as Platina says, 30,000, he collected
a valuable library which he gave, in 1468, to the republic of
Venice.1
George of Trebizond, 1395-1484, came to Italy about 1420,
conformed to the papal church, taught eloquence and the
Aristotelian philosophy in Venice and Rome, and was ap-
pointed an apostolic scribe by Nicolas V. He was a con-
ceited, disputatious and irascible man and quarrelled with
Valla, Poggio, Theodore of Gaza, Bessarion and Perotti. The
50 scudi which Sixtus IV. gave him for the translation of
Aristotle's History of Animals, he contemptuously threw into
the Tiber. His chief work was a comparison of Aristotle and
Plato, to the advantage of the former.
Theodore of Gaza, George's rival, was a native of Thessa-
lonica, reached Italy 1430, taught in Ferrara and then passed
into the service of Pope Nicolas. He was a zealous Plato-
nist, and translated several Greek works into Latin and some
of Cicero's works into Greek and also wrote a Greek grammar.
John Argyropulos, an Aristotelian philosopher and trans-
lator, taught 15 years with great success at Florence, and
then at Rome, where Reuchlin heard him lecture on Thu-
cydides. His death, 1486, was brought about by excess in
eating melons.
The leading Greeks, who emigrated to Italy after the fall
of Constantinople, were Callistus, Constantine Lascaris and
his son John. John Andronicus Callistus taught Greek at
Bologna and at Rome, 1454-1469, and took part in the dis-
putes between the Platonists and Aristotelians. Afterwards
he removed to Florence and last to France, in the hope of
1 Sessarionis Opera in Migne's Patrol. Orceca, vol. CLXI. Lives of
Bessarion by Henri Vast, Paris, 1878, and H. Rocholl, Leip., 1904.
§ 65. GREEK TEACHERS AND ITALIAN HUMANISTS. 591
better remuneration. He is said to have read all the Greek
authors and imported six chests of manuscripts from Greece.
Constantine Lascaris, who belonged to a family of high rank
in the Eastern empire, gave instruction in the Greek lan-
guage to Ippolita, the daughter of Francis Sforza, and later
the wife of Alfonso, son of Ferdinand I. of Naples. He com-
posed a Greek grammar for her, the first book printed in
Greek, 1476. In 1470, he moved to Messina, where he estab-
lished a flourishing school, and died near the close of the
century. Among his pupils was Cardinal Bembo of Venice.
His son, John Lascaris, 1445-1535, was employed by
Lorenzo de' Medici to collect manuscripts in Greece, and
superintended the printing of Greek books in Florence. He
accompanied Charles VIII. to France. In 1513, he was called
by Leo X. to Rome, and opened there a Greek and Latin
school. In 1518, he returned to France and collected a library
for Francis I. at Fontninebleau.
Among those who did distinguished service in collecting
Greek manuscripts was Giovanni Aurispa, 1369-1459, who
went to Constantinople in his youth to study Greek, and
bought and sold with the shrewdness of an experienced book-
seller. In 1423, he returned from Constantinople with 238
volumes, including Sophocles, -^Eschylus, Plato, Xenophon,
Plutarch, Lucian. Thus these treasures were saved from
ruthless destruction by the Turks, before the catastrophe of
1453 overtook Constantinople.
The study of Greek suffered a serious decline in Italy after
the close of the 15th century, but was taken up and carried to
a more advanced stage by the Humanists north of the Alps.
The study of Hebrew, which had been preserved in Europe
by Jewish scholars, notably in Spain, was also revived in
Italy in the 15th century, but its revival met with opposition.
When Lionardo Bruni heard that Poggio was learning the
language, he wrote contending that the study was not only
unprofitable but positively hurtful. Manetti, the biographer
of Nicolas V., translated the Psalms out of Hebrew and made
a collection of Hebrew manuscripts for that pontiff. The
Camalduensian monk, Traversari, learned the language and,
592 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
in 1475, began the printing of Hebrew books on Italian
presses. Chairs for the study of Hebrew were founded at
Bologna, 1488, and in Rome 1514.
Passing from the list of the Greek teachers to the Italian
Humanists, it is possible to select for mention here only a few
of the more prominent names, and with special reference to
their attitude to the Church.
Lionardo Bruni, 1369-1444, a pupil of Chrysoloras, gives us
an idea of the extraordinary sensation caused by the revival
of the Greek language. He left all his other studies for the
language of Plato and Demosthenes. He was papal secretary
in Rome and for a time chancellor of Florence, and wrote let-
ters, orations, histories, philosophical essays and translations
from the Greek, among them Aristotle's Ethics^ Politics and
Economics, and Plato's Phcedo, Orito^ Apology^ Phcedrus and
Gorgias and his Epistles and six of Plutarch's Lives. For-
eigners went to Florence expressly to see his face. He was
a pious Catholic.1
Francesco Poggio Bracciolini, 1380-1459, was secretary of
Martin V., then of Nicolas V., and lived mostly in Florence
and Rome.2 He was the most widely known Humanist of his
day and had an unbounded passion for classical antiquity and
for literary controversy. He excelled chiefly in Latin, but
knew also Greek and a little Hebrew. He was an enthusi-
astic book-hunter. He went to Constance as papal secretary
and, besides discovering a complete copy of Quintilian's Insti-
tutes^ made search in the neighboring Benedictine abbeys of
Reichenau and Weingarten for old manuscripts. In Cluny
and other French convents he discovered new orations of
Cicero. He also visited " barbarous England." Although in
the service of the curia for nearly 50 years, Poggio detested
and ridiculed the monks and undermined respect for the
church which supported him. In his Dialogue against Hy-
pocrisy^ he gathered a number of scandalous stories of the
1 Lionardo Bruni Aretini ffpistolat, ed. Mehua, 2 vols., Flor., 1742.
9 Opera Poggii, Basel, 1513, and other edds. Epistola Poggii, ed. To-
nelli, 3 vols., Flor., 1832, 1860, 1861. Shepherd : Life of Poggio. Pastor's
castigation of Poggio, I. 38 sqq., is in bis most vigorous style.
§ 65. GREEK' TEACHERS AND ITALIAN HUMANISTS. 593
tricks and frauds practised by monks in the name of religion.
His bold description of the martyrdom of the heretic Jerome
of Prag has already been cited. When Felix was elected,
Poggio exhausted the dictionary for abusive terms and called
the anti-pope another Cerberus, a golden calf, a roaring lion,
a high-priest of malignity; and he did equally well for the
Council of Basel, which had elected Felix. Poggio's self-
esteem and quick temper involved him in endless quarrels,
and invectives have never had keener edge than those which
passed between him and his contestants. To his acrid tongue
were added loose habits. He lived with a concubine, who
bore him 14 children, and, when reproached for it, he frivo-
lously replied that he only imitated the common habit of the
clergy. At the age of 54, he abandoned her and married a
Florentine maiden of 18, by whom he had 4 children. His
Facetice^ or Jest-Book, a collection of obscene stories, acquired
immense popularity.
The general of the Camalduensian order, Ambrogio Tra-
versari, 1386-1439, combined ascetic piety with interest in
heathen literature. He collected 238 manuscripts in Venice
and translated from the Greek Fathers. He was, perhaps, the
first Italian monk from the time of Jerome to his own day
who studied Hebrew.
Carlo Marsuppini, of Arezzo, hence called Carlo Aretino,
belonged to the same circle, but was an open heathen, who
died without confession and sacrament. He was nevertheless
highly esteemed as a teacher and as chancellor of Florence,
and honorably buried in the church of S. Croce, 1463, where a
monument was erected to his memory.
Francesco Filelfo, 1398-1481, was one of the first Latin and
Greek scholars, and much admired and much hated by his con-
temporaries. He visited Greece, returned to Italy with a rich
supply of manuscripts, and was professor of eloquence and
Greek in the University of Florence. He combined the worst
and best features of the Renaissance. He was conceited, mean,
selfish, avaricious. He thought himself equal if not superior
to Virgil and Cicero. In malignity and indecency of satire
and invective he rivalled Poggio. His poisonous tongue got
594 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
him into scandalous literary feuds with Niccolo, Poggio, mem-
bers of the Medici family and others. He was banished from
Florence, but, recalled in his old days by Lorenzo, he died a few
weeks after his return, aged 83. He was always begging or
levying contributions on princes for his poetry, and he kept
several servants and six horses. His 3 wives bore him 24 chil-
dren. He was ungrateful to his benefactors and treacherous
to his friends.1
Marsilio Ficino, 1433-1499, one of the circle who made the
court of Lorenzo the Magnificent famous, was an ordained
priest, rector of two churches and canon of the cathedral of
Florence. He eloquently preached the Platonic gospel to his
"brethren in Plato," and translated the Orphic hymns, the
Hermes Tritmegisto*, and some works of Plato and Plotinus,
— a colossal task for that age. He believed that the divine
Plotinus had first revealed the theology of the divine Plato
and "the mysteries of the ancients," and that these were
consistent with Christianity. Yet he was unable to find in
Plato's writings the mystery of the Trinity. lie wrote a de-
fence of the Christian religion, which he regarded as the only
true religion, and a work on the immortality of the soul, which
he proved with 15 arguments as against the Aristotelians. He
was small and sickly, and kept poor by dishonest servants and
avaricious relations.
Politian, tolas edition of Justinian's Pandects^ added trans-
lations of Epictetus, Hippocrates, Galen and other authors,
and published among lecture-courses those on Ovid, Sueto-
nius, Pliny and Quintilian. His lecture-room extended its
influence to England and Germany, and Grocyn, Linacre and
Reuchlin were among his hearers.
Three distinguished Italian Humanists whose lives overlap
the first period of the Reformation were cardinals, Pietro
Bembo, 1470-1547, Giacopo Sadoleto, 1477-1547, and Alean-
der, 1480-1542. All were masters of an elegant Latin style.
For 22 years Bembo lived in concubinage, and had three chil-
dren. Cardinal Sadoleto is best known for his polite and
* His life, Rosmini, 3 Tola., Milan, 1808, Epistolct Ftielfl, Venet., 1602.
§ 65. GREEK TEACHERS AND ITALIAN HUMANISTS, 595
astute letter calling upon the Genevans to abandon the Ref-
ormation, to which Calvin replied.1
Not without purpose have the two names, Laurentius Valla,
1406-1457, and Pico della Mirandola, 1463-1494, been re-
served for the last. These men are to be regarded as having,
among the Humanists of the 15th century, the most points of
contact with our modern thought, — the one the representative
of critical scholarship, the other of broad human sympathies
coupled with a warm piety.
Laurentius Valla, the only Humanist of distinction born in
Rome, taught at Pavia, was secretary to the king of Naples, and
at last served at the court of Nicolas V.a He held several
benefices and was buried in the Lateran, but was a sceptic and
an indirect advocate of Epicurean morality. He combined
classical with theological erudition and attained an influence
almost equal to that enjoyed by Erasmus several generations
later. He was a born critic, and is one of the earliest pio-
neers of the right of private judgment. He broke loose from
the bondage of scholastic tradition and an infallible Church
authority, so that in this respect Bellarmin called him a fore-
runner of Luther. Luther, with an imperfect knowledge of
Valla's works, esteemed him highly, declaring that in many
centuries neither Italy nor the universal Church could pro-
duce another like him.3 He narrowly escaped the Inquisi-
sition. He denied to the monks the monopoly of being ** the
religious," and attacked their threefold vow. In his Annota-
tions to the New Testament, published by Erasmus, 1505, he
ventured to correct Jerome's Vulgate. He doubted the genu-
1 Sadoleti opp., Moguntise, 1007 ; Verona, 1737, 4 vols. In his Concilium
dfi emendanda Ecclenia, 1538, Sadoleto admitted many abuses and proposed
a reformation of the Church, which he vainly hoped from the pope.
» Valla's Works, Basel, 1640, J. Vahlen ; L. Valla, Vienna, 1864, 2d ed.,
1870 ; Voigt, I. 464 sqq. See Benrath in Herzog, XX. 422 sqq.
1 Cut' nee Italia nee universa ecclesia multis seculis similem habuit non
modo in omni disciplinarwn genere *ed ex constantia et ztlofld? Christianorum
nnnftcto. See his Respons. adLovan. et Colon theol of March, 1520, Weimar
ed., VI. 183. In this reply to the Louvain and Cologne the^ogians who had
condemned his writings, Luther also speaks of the injg»tice of condemning
Pico della Mirandola and Reuchlin.
596 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
ineness of the writings attributed to Dionysius the Areopa-
gite and rejected as a forgery Christ's letter to King Abgarus
which Eusebius had accepted as genuine. When he attacked
the Apostolic origin of the Apostles' Creed and, about 1440,
exposed the Donation of Constantino as a fiction, he was call-
ing in question the firm belief of centuries. In pronouncing
the latter " contradictory, impossible, stupid, barbarous and
ridiculous," l he was wrenching a weapon, long used, out of the
hand of the hierarchy. His attack was based on the ground
of authentic history, inherent improbability and the mediaeval
character of the language. Not satisfied with refuting its
genuineness, Valla made it an occasion of an assault upon
the whole temporal power of the papacy. He thus struck at
the very bulwarks of the mediaeval theocracy. In boldness
and violence Valla equalled the anti-papal writings of Luther.
He went, indeed, not so far as to deny the spiritual power
and divine institution of the papacy, but he charged the
bishop of Rome with having turned Peter into Judas and
having accepted the devil's offer of the kingdoms of this
world. He made him responsible for the political divisions
and miseries of Italy, for rebellions and civil wars, herein
anticipating Machiavelli. He maintained that the princes
had a right to deprive the pope of his temporal possessions,
which he had long before forfeited by their abuse. The purity
of Valla's motives are exposed to suspicion. At the time he
wrote the tract he was in the service of Alfonso, who was en-
gaged in a controversy with Eugenius IV.
Unfortunately, Valla's ethical principles and conduct were
no recommendation to his theology. His controversy with
Poggio abounds in scandalous personalities. In the course of
it, Valla was charged with seduction and pederasty.2 His
1 De falso credita et ementita Constantini donatwne. A well-written MS.
copy in the Vatican is dated 1451. The tract is printed in Valla's Opera,
761-795, and in Brown's Fasciculus reruro, Rome, 1690, pp. 132-167, French
text, by A. Bonneau, Paris, 1879. Luther received a copy through a friend,
Feb., 1520, and was strengthened by it in his opposition to popery, which he
attacked unmercifully in the summer of that year in his Address to the Ger-
man Nobility i and his Babyl. Captivity of the Church.
» The first issues were Invecttw in Vallam and Antidoti in Poggium. The
§ 65. GREEK TEACHERS AND ITALIAN HUMANISTS. 597
Ciceronian Dialogues on Lust, written perhaps 1431, are an
indirect attack upon Christian morality. Valla defended the
Platonic community of wives. What nature demands is good
and laudable, and the voice of nature is the voice of God.
When he was charged by Poggio with having seduced his
brother-in-law's maid, he admitted the charge without shame.
Pico della Mirandola, the most precocious genius that had
arisen since Duns Scotus, was cut down when he was scarcely
30 years of age. The Schoolman was far beyond him in dia-
lectic subtlety, but was far inferior to him in independence of
thought and, in this quality, Pico anticipated the coming age.
lie studied canon law, theology, philosophy and the humani-
ties in Ferrara and learned also Hebrew, Chaldee and Arabic.1
In his twenty-third year, he went to Rome and published 900
theses on miscellaneous topics, in which he anticipated some of
the Protestant views ; for example, that no image or cross
should be adored and that the words " This is my body "
must be understood symbolically, — significative, — not materi-
ally. He also maintained that the science of magic and the
Cabbala confirm the doctrine of the Trinity and the deity of
Christ. These opinions aroused suspicion, and 13 of his theses
were condemned by Innocent VIII. as heretical ; but, as he
submitted his judgment to the Church, he was acquitted of
heresy, and Alexander VI. cleared him of all charges.
To his erudition, Pico added sincere faith and ascetic ten-
dencies. In the last years of his short life, he devoted himself
to the study of the Bible with the purpose of preaching Christ
throughout the world. He was an admirer of Savonarola, who
blamed him for not becoming a full monk and thought he went
to purgatory. Of all Humanists he had the loftiest conception
of man's dignity and destiny. In his De dignitate hominis, he
coarse controversial language, common to many of the Humanists, unfortu-
nately Luther and Luther's Catholic assailants shared, and also Calvin.
» The Theses of Pico, Rome, 1480, and Cologne. His Opera, Bologna, 1496,
and together with the works of his nephew, JOHN F. Pico, Basel, 1572, and
1001. — G. DRKYDORFP : Das System des Joh. Pico von Jft'r., Marb., 1858.—
GKIOER, 204 sqq. — His Life, by his nephew, J. Fr. Pico. Trel. from the Latin
by Sir Thos. More, 1510. Ed., with Introd. and Notes, by J. M. Rigg, Lond.,
1890.
598 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
maintained that God placed man in the midst of the world
that he might the more easily study all that therein is, and
endowed him with freewill, by which he might degenerate
into the condition of the beast or rise to a godlike existence.
He found the highest truth in the Christian religion. He
is the author of the famous sentence : Philosophia veritatem
quoeriti theologia invenit, religio possidet, — philosophy seeks
the truth, theology finds it, religion has it.
Mirandola had a decided influence on John Reuchlin, who
saw him in 1490 and was persuaded by him of the immense
wisdom hid in the Cabbala. He also was greatly admired by
Zwingli. He was the only one, says Burckhardt, " who, in a
decided voice, fought for science and the truth of all the ages
against the one-sided emphasis of classic antiquity. In him
it is possible to see what a noble change Italian philosophy
would have undergone, if the counter-Reformation had not
come in and put an end to the whole higher intellectual move-
ment."1 Giordano Bruno, one of the last representatives of
the philosophical Renaissance, was condemned as a heretic by
the Roman Inquisition and burnt on the Campo de' Fiori in
1600. To the great annoyance of Pope Leo XIII., his ad-
mirers erected a statue to his memory on the same spot in
1889.
§ 66. The Artists.
Hctc est Italia diis sacra. — FLINT.
Italian Humanism reproduced the past. Italian art was
original. The creative productions of Italy in architecture,
sculpture and painting continue to render it the world's chief
centre of artistic study and delight. Among Italian authors,
Dante alone has a place at the side of Michelangelo, Raphael
and Lionardo da Vinci. The cultivation of art began in the age
of Dante with Cimabue and Giotto, but when Italian Humanism
was declining Italian painting and sculpture were celebrating
their highest triumphs. Such a combination and succession
of men of genius in the fine arts as Italy produced, in a period
extending over three centuries, has nowhere else been known.
i 1. 217. See also II. 73, 306 sq.
§ 66. THE ARTISTS. 599
They divided their triumphs between Florence and Rome, but
imparted their magic touch to many other Italian cities, includ-
ing Venice, which had remained cold to the literary movement.
Here again Rome drew upon Florence for painters such as
Giotto and Fra Angelico, and for sculptors such as Ghiberti,
Donatello, Brunelleschi and Michelangelo.
While the Italy of thelSth century — or the quattrocento, as
the Italians call it — was giving expression to her own artistic
conceptions in color and marble and churchly dome, master-
pieces of ancient sculpture, restless, in the graves where for
centuries they had had rude sepulture, caine forth to excite the
admiring astonishment of a new generation. What the age
of Nicolas V. was for the discovery of manuscripts, the age of
Julius II. was for the discovery of classic Greek statuary. The
extensive villa of the Emperor Hadrian at Tivoli, which ex-
tended over several miles and embraced a theatre, lyceum,
temple, basilica, library, and race-course, alone furnished im-
mense treasures of art. Others were found in the bed of the
Tiber or brought from Greece or taken from the Roman baths,
where their worth had not been discerned. In Alexander VI. 's
pontificate the Apollo Belvedere was found ; under Julius II.
the torso of Hercules, the Laocoon group 1 and the Vatican
Venus. The Greek ideals of human beauty were again re-
vealed and kindled an enthusiasm for similar achievements.
Petrarca's collections were repeated. Paul II. deposited his
rich store of antiquities in his palace of San Marco. In Florence,
Lorenzo de' Medici was active in securing pieces of ancient art.
The museum on the Capitoline Hill in Rome, where Nicolas V.
seems to have restored the entire palace of the senate, dates
from 1471, one of its earliest treasures being the statue of
Marcus Aurelius. The Vatican museum was the creation of
Julius II. To these museums and the museums in Florence
were added the galleries of private collectors.
In architecture, the Renaissance artists never adopted the
stern Gothic of the North. In 1452, Leon Battista Alberti
1 The discovery of the LaocoOn in a vineyard in Rome was "like a Jubi-
lee," Michelangelo was one of the first to see it Saddleto praised it in
Latin verses. See description in Klaczko, W. 93-96.
600 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1204-1617.
showed to Nicolas V. a copy of his De re cedificatoria^ a work
on architecture, based upon his studies of the Roman monu-
ments. Nicolas opened the line of great builders in Rome and
his plans were on a splendid scale.
The art of the Renaissance blends the glorification of medi-
aeval Catholicism with the charms of classical paganism, the
history of the Bible with the mythology of Greece and Rome.
The earlier painters of the 14th and 15th centuries were more
simple, chaste and devout than those of the 16th, who reached
a higher distinction as artists. The Catholic type of piety is
shown in the preponderance of the pictures of the Madonna
holding "the infant Saviour in her arms or on her lap and in
the portraiture of St. Sebastian and other saints. Heavenly
beauty and earthly sensuality meet side by side, and the
latter often draws attention away from the former. The
same illustrious painters, says Hawthorne, in the Marble Faun^
" seem to take up one task or the other — the disrobed woman
whom they called Venus, or the type of highest and tenderest
womanhood in the mother of their Saviour — with equal readi-
ness, but to achieve the former with far more satisfactory suc-
cess." One moment the painter represented Bacchus wedding
Ariadne and another depicted Mary on the hill of Calvary.
Michelangelo now furnished the Pieta for St. Peter's, now
designed the Rape of Ganymede for Vittoria Colonna and the
statue of the drunken Bacchus for the Roman Jacopo Galli.
Titian's Magdalen in the Pitti gallery, Florence, exhibits in
one person the voluptuous woman with exposed breasts and
flowing locks and the penitent saint looking up to heaven. Of
Sandro Botticelli, Vasari said that "in many homes he painted
of naked women a plenty." If, however, the Christian religion
furnished only to a single writer, Dante, the subject of his
poem, it furnished to all the painters and sculptors many sub-
jects from both Testaments and also from Church history, for
the highest productions of their genius.
In looking through the long list of distinguished sculptors,
painters and architects who illuminated their native Italy in
the Renaissance period, one is struck with the high age which
many of them reached and, at the same time, with the brief
§ 66. THE ARTISTS. 601
period in which some of them acquired undying fame. Mi-
chelangelo lived to be 89, while Correggio died before he was
44. Titian, had he lived one year longer, would have rounded
out a full century, while death took the brush out of Raphael's
hand before he was 37, a marvellous example of production in
a short period, to be compared with Mozart in the department
of music and Blaise Pascal in letters. And again, several of
the great artists are remarkable examples of an extraordinary
combination of talents. Lionardo da Vinci and Michelangelo
excelled alike as architects, sculptors, painters and poets.
Lionardo was, besides being these, a chemist, engineer, musi-
cian, merchant and profound thinker, yea, "the precocious
originator of all modern wonders and ideas, a subtle and uni-
versal genius, an isolated and insatiate investigator," and is
not unjustly called, on his monument at Milan, "the restorer
of the arts and sciences."1 His mural picture of the Last
Supper in Milan, best known by the engraving of Raphael
Morghen, in spite of its defaced condition, is a marvellous re-
production of one of the sublimest events, adapted to the
monks seated around their refectory table (instead of the re-
clining posture on couches), and every head a study. As for
Michelangelo, he has been classed by Taine with Dante,
Shakespeare and Beethoven among the four great intellects
in the world of art and literature.
Distinguishing in the years between 1300-1550 two periods,
the earlier Renaissance to 1470 and the high Renaissance,
from that date forward, we find that Italian art had its first
centre in Florence, and its most glorious exhibition under
Julius II. and Leo X. in Rome.3 The earlier period began with
Cimabue, who died about 1302, and Giotto, 1276-1336, the
i Taine, Lectures on Art, I. 16. — Ltibke, Hist, of Art, II. 280 sq. says:
" Lionardo was one of those rare beings in whom nature loves to unite all con-
ceivable human perfections, — strikingly handsome, and at the same time of a
dignified presence and of an almost incredible degree of bodily strength; while
mentally he possessed such various endowments as are rarely united in a single
person/1 etc. See also Symonds, III. 814.
8 Julius ordered a colossal tomb wrought for himself, but he could not be
depended upon as a paymaster, as Michelangelo complained. See Klaczko,
p. 62.
602 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617,
friend of Dante. According to the story, Cimabue found Giotto,
then ten years old, drawing sheep on a stone with a piece of
charcoaland, with his father's consent, took the lad to Florence.
These two artists employed their genius in the decoration of
the cathedral erected to the memory of St. Francis in Assisi.
The visitor to S. Croce and other sacred places in Florence looks
upon the frescos of Giotto. His Dante, like Guido Reni's
Beatrice Cenci, once seen can never be forgotten. Symonds
has remarked that it may be said, without exaggeration, that
Giotto and his scholars, within the space of little more than half
a century, painted upon the walls of the churches and the pub-
lic places of Italy every great conception of the Middle Ages.1
Fra Angelico da Fiesole, 1387-1455, is the most religious of
the painters of this period, and his portraiture of saints and
angels is so pure as to suggest no other impression than saintli-
ness.
The mind is almost stunned by the combination of brilliant
artistic achievement, of which the pontificate of Julius II. may
be taken as the centre. There flourished in that age Perugino,
1446-1524, — Raphael's teacher, — Lionardo da Vinci, 1452-
1519, Raphael, 1483-1520, Michelangelo, 1475-1504, Cor-
reggio, 1493-1534, Andrea del Sarto, 1487-1531, and Titian,
1477-1576, all Italians.
Of Raphael, his German biographer has said his career is
comprised in four words, " he lived, he loved, he worked, he
died young."2 He was an attractive and amiable character,
free from envy and jealousy, modest, magnanimous, patient of
criticism, as anxious to learn as to teach, always ready to assist
poor artists. Michelangelo and he labored in close proximity
in the Vatican, Michelangelo in the Sistine chapel, Raphael
in the stanze and loggie. Their pupils quarrelled among
themselves, each depreciating the rival of his master; but the
masters rose above the jealousy of small minds. They form a
noble pair, like Schiller and Goethe among poets. Raphael
seemed almost to have descended from a higher world. Vasari
* The Renaissance, HI, 191.
* Seine Qeschichte tot in den tier Begrtfen enthalten: leben, itcbcn. or-
beiten und jung aterben.
§ 66. THE ARTISTS. 603
says that he combined so many rare gifts that he might be
called a mortal god rather than a simple man. The portraits,
which present him as an infant, youth and man, are as char-
acteristic and impressive as Giotto's Dante and Guido Reni's
Beatrice Cenci.
Like Goethe, Raphael was singularly favored by fortune and
was free from the ordinary trials of artists — poverty, humili-
ation and neglect. He held the appointment of papal chamber-
lain and had the choice between a cardinal's hat and marriage
to a niece of Cardinal Bibbiena, with a dowry of three thousand
gold crowns. But lie put off the marriage from year to year,
and preferred the dangerous freedom of single life. His
contemporary and admirer, Vasari, says, when Raphael felt
death approaching, he " as a good Christian dismissed his mis-
tress from his house, making a decent provision for her sup-
port, and then made his last confession. "
The painter's best works are devoted to religious characters
and events. On a visit to Florence after the burning of Sa-
vonarola, lie learned from his friend Fra Bartolomeo to esteem
the moral reformer and gave him, as well as Dante, a place
among the great teachers of the Church in his fresco of the
Theologia in the Vatican. His Madonnas represent the per-
fection of human loveliness and purity. In the Madonna di
San Sistoat Dresden, so called because Sixtus IV. is introduced
into the picture, the eye is divided between the sad yet half-
jubilant face of the Virgin Mother, the contemplative gaze of
the cherubs and the pensive and sympathetic expression of
the divine child.
Grimm says, Raphael's Madonnas are not Italian faces but
women who are lifted above national characteristics. The
Madonnas of da Vinci, Correggio, Titian, Murillo and Rubens
contain the features of the nationality to which these painters
belonged. Raphael alone has been able to give us feminine
beauty which belongs to the European type as such.1
The last, the greatest, and the purest of Raphael's works is
the Transfiguration in the Vatican. While engaged on it, he
died, on Good Friday, his birthday. It was suspended over
1 Raphael, p. 428 aqq.
604 THE MIDDLE AGES, A.D. 1204-1517.
his coffin and carried to the church of the Pantheon, where his
remains repose in his chosen spot near those of his betrothed
bride, Maria di Bibbiena. In that picture we behold the divin-
est figure that ever appeared on earth, soaring high in the air,
in garments of transparent light, and with arms outspread,
adored by Moses on the right hand and by Elijah on the left,
who represent the Old Covenant of law and promise. The
three favorite disciples are lying on the ground, unable to face
the dazzling splendor from heaven. Beneath this celestial
scene we see, in striking contrast, the epileptic boy with rolling
eyes, distorted features, and spasmodic limbs, held by his agon-
ized father and supported by his sister; while the mother im-
ploringly appeals to the nine disciples who, in their helplessness,
twitted by scribes, point up to the mountain where Jesus had
gone. In connecting the two scenes, the painter followed the
narrative of the Gospels, Matt. xvii. 1-14; Mark ix. 2-14;
Luke ix. 28-37. The connection is being continually repeated
in Christian experience. Descending from the Mount of Trans-
figuration, we are confronted with the misery of earth and, help-
less in human strength, we look to heaven as the only source
of help.
Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal.
Michelangelo Buonarroti was 10 years older than Raphael,
and survived him 44 years. He drew the inspiration for his
sculptures and pictures from the Old Testament, from Dante
and from Savonarola. He praised Dante in two sublime son-
nets and heard Savonarola's thrilling sermons against wick-
edness and vice, and witnessed his martyrdom. Vasari and
Condivi both bear witness to his spotless morality. He de-
plored the corruptions of the papal court.
For Rome still slays and sells Christ at the court,
Where paths are closed to virtue's fair increase.1
The artist's works have colossal proportions, and refuse to
be judged by ordinary rules. They are divided between paint-
ing, as the frescos in the Sistine chapel of St. Peter's, archi-
tecture as in St. Peter's dome, and works of statuary, as Moses
in Rome and David in Florence. His Pieta in St. Peter's, a
* SymondB, III. 616.
§ 66. THE ARTISTS. 605
marble group representing the Virgin Mary holding the cru-
cified Saviour in her arms, raised him suddenly to the rank of
the first sculptor of Italy.1 His Last Judgment, on the altar
wall of the Sistine chapel, represents the dominant conception
of the Middle Ages of Christ as an angry judge, and is as
Dantesque as Dante's Inferno itself.2 The artist's last work in
marble was the unfinished Pieta, in the cathedral of Florence;
his last design a picture of the crucifixion. In his last poems,
lie took farewell of the fleeting pleasures of life, turned to God
as the only reality and found in the crucified Saviour his only
comfort. This is the core of the evangelical doctrine of jus-
tification rightly understood.
The day of Michelangelo's death was the day of Galileo
Galilei's birth in Florence. The golden age of art had passed :
the age of science was at hand.
Among the greater churches of Italy, — the cathedrals of
Milan, Venice, Pisa, Siena, Florence and Rome, — St. Peter's
stands pre-eminent in dimensions, treasures of art and imposing
ecclesiastical associations.8 This central cathedral of Chris-
tendom was not dedicated till 1626 by Urban VIII. Its re-
construction was planned on a colossal scale by Nicolas V.,but
little was done till Julius II. took up the work. Among the ar-
chitects who gave to the building their thought, B ram ante and
Michelangelo did most. On April 18, 1506, Julius II. laid
the first stone according to B ram ante's design. A mass being
said by Cardinal Soderini, the old pope descended by a ladder
into the trench which had been dug at the spot where the statue
of St. Veronica now stands. There was much fear, says Paris
de Grassis, that the ground would fall in and the pope, before
consecrating the foundations, cried out to those above not to
come too near the edge. Under Leo X., Raphael was appointed
sole architect, and was about to deviate from Bramante's plan,
when death stayed his hand. Michelangelo, taking up the
1 See Grimm's description, I. 186 sqq.
1 Grimm, II. 224, speaks of the expression on Christ's face as indescribably
repelling, but says, if a last judgment has to be painted with Christ as the judge,
such an aspect must be given him.
8 Pastor, III. 64-9, following Redtenbacher, gives a list of the more impor-
tant pieces of ecclesiastical architecture in Italy, 1401-1618.
606 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1204-1517.
task in 1535, gave to the structure its crowning triumph in
the dome, the noblest in Western Europe, and the rival of the
dome of St. Sophia.
That vast and wondrous dome,
To which Diana's marvel was a cell, —
Christ's mighty shrine above his martyr's tomb.1
§ 67. The Revival of Paganism.
The revival of letters and the cultivation of art brought no
purification of morals to Italy nor relief from religious formal-
ism. The great modern historians of the period, — Voigt,
Burckhardt, Gregorovius, Pastor, Creighton and Symonds, —
agree in depicting the decline of religion and the degeneracy
of morals in dark colors, although Pastor endeavors to rescue
the Church from the charge of total neglect of its duty and to
clear the mediaeval hierarchy and theology from the charge of
being responsible for the semi-paganism of the Renaissance.
The mediaeval theology had put the priesthood in the place
of the individual conscience. Far from possessing any passion
to rescue Italy from a religious formalism which involved the
seeds of stagnation of thought and moral disintegration, the
priesthood was corrupt at heart and corrupt in practice in the
highest seats of Christendom.2 Finding the clerical mind of
Italy insincere and the moral condition of the Church corrupt,
Humanism not only made no serious effort to amend this deplor-
able state but, on the contrary, it contributed to the further de-
cadence of morals by a revival of paganism, now Epicurean,
now Stoical, attested both in the lives and the writings of many
of its chief leaders. Gregorovius has felt justified in pronoun-
cing the terrible sentence that the sole end of the Italian Re-
naissance was paganism.8
The worship of classical forms led to the adoption of clas-
sical ideas. There were not wanting Humanists and artists
who combined culture with Christian faith, and devoted their
1 With these lines of Byron may be coupled those of Schiller : —
Und ein zwriter Himmel in den Himmel
Steigt Sand Peter's wundersamer Dom.
a See Burckhardt-Geiger, II. 178 sqq. » VII. 686.
§ 67. THE REVIVAL OP PAGANISM. 607
genius to the cause of truth and virtue. Traversari strictly
observed the rules of his monastic order ; Manetti, Lionardo
Bruni, Vittorino da Feltre, Ficino, Sadoleto, Fra Angelico, Fra
Bartolomeo, Michelangelo and others were devout Christian
believers. Traversari at first hesitated to translate classic
authors and, when he did, justified himself on the ground that
the more the Pagan writers were understood, the more would
the excellence of the Christian system be made manifest. But
Poggio, Filelfo, Valla and the majority of the other writers of
the Renaissance period, such as Ariosto, Aretino, Machiavelli,
were indifferent to religion, or despised it in the form they
saw it manifested. Culture was substituted for Christianity,
the worship of art and eloquence for reverence for truth and
holiness. The Humanists sacrificed in secret and openly to
the gods of Greece and Rome rather than to the God of the
Bible. Yet, they were not independent enough to run the risk
of an open rupture with orthodoxy, which would have sub-
jected them to the Inquisition and death at the stake.1 Yea,
those who were most flagrant in their attacks upon the ecclesi-
astics of their time often professed repentance for their writ-
ings in their last days, as Boccaccio and Bandello, and applied
for extreme unction before death. So it was with Machiavelli,
who died with the consolations of the Church which he under-
mined with his pen, with the half-Pagan Poinponius Laetus of
Rome and the infamous Sigismondo Malatesta of Rimini, who
joined to his patronage of culture the commission of every
crime.
Dangerous as it may be to pronounce a final judgment upon
the moral purity of a generation, even though, as in the case
of the 15th century, it reveals itself clearly in its literature
and in the lives of the upper classes, literary men, popes and
princes, nevertheless this it is forced upon us to do. The Re-
naissance in Italy produced no Thomas a Kempis. No devout
mystics show signs of a reform movement in her convents
and among her clergy, though, it is true, there were earnest
preachers who cried out for moral reform, as voices crying in
the wilderness. Nor are we unmindful of the ethical disinte*
i Voigt, II; 213.
608 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1204-1617.
gration of the Church and society at other periods and in other
countries, as in France under Louis XIV., when we call atten-
tion to the failure of religion in the country of the popes and
at a time of great literary and artistic activity to bear fruits in
righteousness of life.
The Humanists were the natural enemies of the monks. For
this they cannot be blamed. As a class, the monks hated learn-
ing, boasted of superior piety, made a display of their proud
humility and yet were constantly quarrelling with each other.
Boccaccio and the novelists would not have selected monks and
nuns as heroes and heroines of their obscene tales if monastic
life had not been in a degenerate state. Poggio, Filelfo, Valla,
Bandello, Machiavelli, Ariosto, Aretino and Erasmus and the
writers of the JEpistolce virorum obscurorum chastised with
caustic irony and satire the hypocrisy and vices of the monas-
tic class, or turned its members into a butt of ridicule. To the
charges of unchastity and general hypocrisy was added the im-
position of false miracles upon the ignorant and credulous. It
was common rumor that the nuns were the property of the
monks.1 The literature of the 15th century teems with such
charges, and Savonarola was never more intense than when he
attacked the clergy for their faithlessness and sins. Machi-
avelli openly declared " we Italians are of all most irreligious
and corrupt," and he adds, " we arc so because the repre-
sentatives of the Church have shown us the worst example."
Pastor has suggested that Humanists, who were themselves
leading corrupt lives, were ill-fitted to sit in judgment upon
the priesthood. This in a sense is true, and their representa-
tions, taken alone, would do no more than create an unfavorable
presumption, but their statements are confirmed by the scan-
dals of the papal court and the social conditions in Rome ;
and Rome was not worse than Venice, Florence and other Ital-
ian towns. The same distinguished historian seeks to parry
the attacks of Humanistic writers and to offset the lives of the
hierarchy by a long list of 89 saints of the calendar who lived
1400-1520.3 The number is imposing, but outside of Ber-
iGeiger, II. 182-4.
3 Pastor, I. 44 sqq., III. 66-8. It would be scarcely possible to furnish a
§ 67. THE EBVIVAL OF PAGANISM. 609
nardino da Siena, Fra Angelico, Jacopo della Marca and John
of Capistrano, few of the names are known to general history,
and the last two showed traits which the common judgment of
mankind is not inclined to regard as saintly. Pastor also ad-
duces the wills of the dying, in which provision was made for
ecclesiastical objects, but these may indicate superstitious fear
as well as intelligent piety. After all is said:, it remains true
that the responsibility and the guilt were with the clergy, who
were rightly made the targets of the wits, satirists and philoso-
phers of the time.
But while the Humanists were condemning the clerical
class, many, yea, the most of them, lived in flagrant violation
of the moral code themselves and inclined to scepticism or
outright paganism. In their veneration of antiquity, they
made the system of Plato of equal authority with the Chris-
tian system, or placed its authority above the Christian scheme.
They advocated a return to the dictates of nature, which
meant the impulses of the natural and sensuous man. The
watchword, sequere naturam, " follow nature," was launched
as a philosophical principle. The hard-fought controversy
which raged over the relative merits of the two Greek think-
ers, Aristotle and Plato, was opened by Plethon, who accused
Aristotle of atheism. The battle was continued for many
years, calling forth from contestants the bitterest personal
assaults. In defending Plato, Ficino set the philosopher so
high as to obscure the superior claims of the Christian reli-
gion, and it was seriously proposed to combine with the Scrip-
ture readings of the liturgy excerpts from Plato's writings.1
The immortality of the soul was formally questioned by
more offensive portrait of a priest than the living person, Don Nicolo de Pelagait
di Firarola. He had become the leader of a robber band and, in 1495, was con-
fined in an iron cage in the open air in Ferrara. He had committed murder the
day he celebrated his first mass and was absolved in Rome. Afterwards he
killed four men and married two women who went about with him, violated
women without number and led them captive, and carried on wholesale mur-
der and pillage. But how much worse was this priest than John XXIII.,
charged by a Christian council with every crime, and Alexander VI., whose
papal robes covered monstrous vice ?
1 See Pastor, HI. 117 ; Symonds, II. 208, etc.
2R
610 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
Pietro Pomponazzi, a popular teacher of the Aristotelian phi-
losophy in Padua and Bologna. His tract, published in 1516,
was burnt by the Franciscans at Venice, but was saved from
a like fate in Rome and Florence by the intervention of
Bembo and Julius de' Medici. So widespread was the phi-
losophy of materialism that the Fifth Lateran three years
before, Dec. 19, 1513, deemed it necessary to reaffirm the
doctrine of the soul's immortality and to instruct professors
at the universities to answer the arguments of the materialists.
In the age of Julius II. and Leo X., scepticism reigned uni-
versally in Rome, and the priests laughed among themselves
over their religious functions as the augurs once did in the
ancient city.1
The chief indictment against Humanism is, that it lacked
a serious moral sense, which is an essential element of the
Christian system. Nor did it at any time show a purpose of
morally redeeming itself or seek after a regenerative code of
ethics. It declined into an intellectual and aesthetic luxury,
a habit of self-indulgence for the few, with no provision for
the betterment of society at large arid apparently no concern
for such betterment. The Humanists were addicted to arro-
gance, vanity, and lacked principle and manly dignity. They
were full of envy and jealousy, engaged in disgraceful per-
sonal quarrels among themselves and stooped to sycophancy
in the presence of the rich and powerful. Politian, Filelfo
and Valla agreed in begging for presents and places in terms
of abject flattery. While they poured contempt upon the
functionaries of religion, they failed to imitate the self-deny-
ing virtues which monasticism enjoined and that regard for
the rights of others which Christian teaching commands.
Under the influence of the Renaissance was developed that
delusive principle, called honor, which has played such an
extensive role in parts of Europe and under which a polished
culture may conceal the most refined selfishness.2
No pugilistic encounter could be more brutal than the
1 Gregorovius, VIII. 300. For an excellent account of Pomponazzi and his
views, see Owen : Skeptics, pp. 184-240.
* See Burckhardt-Geiger, II. 155 sqq. and his quotation from Rabelais.
§ 67. THE REVIVAL OF PAGANISM. 611
literary feuds between distinguished men of letters. Poggio
and Filelfo fought with poisoned daggers. To sully these
pages, says Symonds, ** with Poggio's rank abuse would be
impossible." Poggio, not content with thrusts at Filelfo's
literary abilities, accused him of the worst vices, and poured
out calumnies on Filelfo's wife and mother. In Poggio's con-
test with George of Trebizond, the two athletes boxed each
other's ears and tore one another's hair. George had accused
Poggio of taking credit for translations of Xenophon and
Diodorus which did not belong to him. Between Valla and
Fazio eight books of invectives were exchanged. Bezold is
forced to say that such feuds revealed perhaps more than the
cynicism of the Italian poetry the complete moral decay.1
To the close of the period, the Renaissance literature
abounds in offences against morality and decency. Poggio
was already 70 years of age when he published his filthy
Faceti&i Jest-book, which appeared 26 times in print before
1500 and in 3 Italian translations. Of Poggio's works, Burck-
hardt says, " They contain dirt enough to create a prejudice
against the whole class of Humanists." Filelfo's epigrams,
De jocis et seriis^ are declared by his biographer, Rosmini, to
contain " horrible obscenities and expressions from the streets
and the brothels." Beccadelli and Aretino openly preached
the emancipation of the flesh, and were not ashamed to em-
bellish and glorify licentiousness in brilliant verses, for which
they received the homage of princes and prelates. Beccadelli's
Hermaphrodite was furiously attacked by the monks in the
pulpit, but applauded by the Humanists. Cosimo allowed the
indecent work to be dedicated to himself, and the author was
crowned by the Emperor Sigismund in Siena, 1433, and died
old and popular at Naples, 1471. The critics of his obsceni-
ties, Beccadelli pointed to the ancient writers. Nicolas was
loaned a copy of his notorious production, kept it for nine
days and then returned the work without condemning it.
Pietro Aretino, d. 1557, the most obscene of the Italian poets,
was called il divino Aretino, honored by Charles V., Francis I.
and Clement VII., and even dared to aspire to a cardinal's hat,
* Bezold, p. 200, die vollendet* lUttich* Vtrkommenheit.
612 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
but found a miserable end. Bandello, d. 1562, in his Facetia,
paints society in dissolution. Moral badness taints every one's
lips. Debauchery in convents is depicted as though it were
a common occurrence. And he was a bishop ! 1
Machiavelli, the Florentine politician and historian, a wor-
shipper of ability and power, and admirer of Cwsar Borgia,
built upon the basis of the Renaissance a political system of
absolute egotism ; yet he demands of the prince that he shall
guard the appearance of five virtues to deceive the ignorant.2
Under the cover of Stoicism, many Humanists indulged in a
refined Epicureanism.
The writers of novels and plays not only portrayed social
and domestic immorality without a blush, but purposely
depicted it in a dress that would call forth merriment and
laughter. Tragedy was never reached by the Renaissance
writers. The kernel of this group of works was the faithless-
ness of married women, for the unmarried were kept under
such close supervision that they were with difficulty reached.
The skill is enlarged upon with which the paramour works
out his plans and the outwitted husband is turned into an ob-
ject of ridicule. Here we are introduced to courtesans and
taken to brothels.8
In the Mandragola by Machiavelli, Callimaco, who has
been in Paris, returns to Florence determined to make Lucre-
zia, of whose charms he has heard, his mistress. Assuming
the roll of a physician, he persuades her husband, who is anx-
ious for an heir, to allow him to use a potion of mandragora,
which will relieve his wife of sterility and at the same time kill
the paramour. Working upon the husband's mind through
the mother-in-law and Lucrezia's confessor, who consents to
the plot for a bribe, he secures his end. Vice and adultery
are glorified. And this was one of the plays on which Leo X.
looked with pleasure! In 1513, in face of the age-long pro-
1 He furnished the text to a series of obscene pictures by Giulio Romano.
Symonds, Ital. Lit., II. 383 sqq. Reumont, Hist, of Rome, III., Part H. 367,
calls Aretino " die Schandsdule der Literature
a The principles of his Principe are fully discussed by Villari in his Machia-
, II. 403-473, and by Symonds, Age of the Despot*, p. 306 sqq.
8 See Symonds, Ital. Lit., II. 174 sqq.
§ 67. THE REVIVAL OP PAGANISM.
hibition of the theatre by the Church, this pontiff opened the
playhouse on the Capitol. A few years later he witnessed the
performance of Ariosto's comedy the Suppositi. The scenery
had been painted by Raphael. The spectators numbered
2,000, Leo looking on from a box with an eye-glass in his
hand. The plot centres around a girl's seduction by her
father's servant. One of the first of the cardinals to open his
palace to theatrical representations was Raffaele Riario.
Intellectual freedom in Italy assumed the form of unre-
strained indulgence of the sensual nature. In condemning
the virginity extolled by the Church, Beccadelli pronounced
it a sin against nature. Nature is good, and he urged men
to break down the law by mixing with nuns.1 The hetcerce
were of greater service to mankind than monastic recluses.
Illegitimacy, as has already been said, was no bar to high po-
sition in the state or the Church. Jineas Sylvius declared
that most of the rulers in Italy had been born out of wedlock,2
and when, as pope, he arrived in Ferrara, 1459, he was met by
eight princes, not a single one of them the child of legitimate
marriage. The appearance of the Gallic disease in Italy at
the close of the 15th century may have made men cautious;
the rumor went that Julius IL, who did not cross his legs
at public service on a certain festival, was one of its victims.8
Aretino wrote that the times were so debauched that cousins
and kinsfolk of both sexes, brothers and sisters, mingled to-
gether without number and without a shadow of conscientious
scruple.4
What else could be expected than the poisoning of all
grades of society when, at the central court of Christendom,
the fountain was so corrupt. The revels in the Vatican
under Alexander VI. and the levity of the court of Leo X.
furnished a spectacle which the most virtuous principles could
1 Nan est nefas se virginibus sanctimonialibus immiscere. Pastor, I. 21.
a Frederick III., Ilgen's trsl , II. 186 sqq.
» Burckbardt-Geiger, II. 161, 843 sqq. Syraonds, II. 477. The mal fran-
zese is said to have appeared in Naples in 1405. It spread like wildfire. Dar-
ing the Crusades the syphilitic disease, so ran the belief, was spread in the East
through the French.
4 Cortigiana, as quoted by Symonds, ItctL £#., II. 191.
614 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
scarcely be expected to resist. Did not a harlequin monk on
one occasion furnish the mirth at Leo's table by his extraor-
dinary voracity in swallowing a pigeon whole, and consuming
forty eggs and twenty capons in succession ! Innocent VII I. 's
son was married to a daughter of the house of the Medici, and
Alexander's son was married into the royal family of France
and his daughter Lucrezia into the scarcely less proud family
of Este. Sixtus IV. taxed and thereby legalized houses of pros-
titution for the increase of the revenues of the curia. The
6,800 public prostitutes in Rome in 1490, if we accept Infes-
sura's figures, were an enormous number in proportion to the
population. This Roman diarist says that scarcely a priest
was to be found in Rome who did not keep a concubine " for
the glory of God and the Christian religion.'1 All parts of
Italy and Spain contributed to the number of courtesans.
They lived in greater splendor in Rome than the heta3nu in
Athens, and bore classical names, such as Diana, Lucrezia,
Camilla, Giulia, Costanza, Imperia, Beatrice. They were ac-
companied on their promenades and walks to church by poets,
counts and prelates, but usually concluded their gilded misery
in hospitals after their beauty had faded away.1
The almost nameless vice of the ancient world also found
its way into Italy, and Humanists and sons of popes like the
son of Paul III., Pierluigi Farnese, if not popes themselves,
were charged with pederasty. In his 7th satire, Ariosto, d.
1533, went so far as to say it was the vice of almost all the
Humanists. For being addicted to it, a Venetian ambassador
lost his position, and the charge was brought against the Ve-
netian annalist, Sanuto. Politian, Valla and Aretino and the
academicians of Rome had the same accusation laid at their
door. The worst cannot be told, so abhorrent to the prime
instincts of humanity do the crimes against morality seem.
No wonder that Syrnonds speaks of " an enervation of Italian
society in worse than heathen vices."2
1 Reumont, III., Pt. II. 461 sqq. ; Gregorovius, viii, 306 sqq. ; Burck-
hardt-Geiger, II. 881-336.
9 Rev. of Learning, 407 ; Geiger, II. 176 ; Excursus II., 84S sqq. ; Pastor,
III. 101 sqq. ; Voigt, II. 471 ; Gregorovius, viii, 308, says: " we should inspire
§ 67. THE UBVIVAL OF PAGANISM. 615
To licentiousness were added luxury, gaming, the vendetta
or the law of blood-revenge, and murder paid for by third
parties. Life was cheap where revenge, a licentious end or
the gain of power was a motive. Cardinals added benefice
to benefice in order to secure the means of gratifying their
luxurious tastes.1 In the middle of the 16th century, Italy,
says Burckhardt, was in a moral crisis, out of which the best
men saw no escape. In the opinion of Syinonds, who has
written seven volumes on the Renaissance, it is " almost im-
possible to overestimate the moral corruption of Rome at
the beginning of the 16th century. And Gregorovius adds
that "the richest intellectual life blossomed in a swamp of
vices."2
Of open heresy and attacks upon the papal prerogatives,
popes were intolerant enough, as was quickly proved, when
Luther appeared and Savonarola preached, but not of open
immorality and secret infidelity. In the hierarchical interest
they maintained the laws of sacerdotal celibacy, but allowed
them to be broken by prelates in their confidence and employ,
and openly flaunted their own bastard children and concu-
bines. And unfortunately, as has been said, not only did the
Humanists, with some exceptions, fall in with the prevailing
disgust did we attempt to depict the unbounded vice of Roman society in the
corrupt times of Leo X. The moral corruption of an age, one of the best of
whose productions has the title of Syphilis, is sufficiently known.11 Bandello,
as quoted by Burckhardt, says " Nowadays we see a woman poison her
husband to gratify her lusts, thinking that a widow may do whatever she de-
sires. Another, fearing the discovery of an illicit amour, has' her husband
murdered by her lover. And though fathers, brothers and husbands arise
to extirpate the shame with poison, with the sword, and by every other
means, women still continue to follow their passions, careless of their honor
and their lives.1* Another time, in a milder strain, he exclaims : u Would
that we were not daily forced to hear that one man has murdered his wife
because he suspected her of infidelity ; that another has killed his daughter,
on account of a secret marriage ; that a third has caused his sister to be mur-
dered, because she would not marry as he wished ! It is great cruelty that
we claim the right to do whatever we list, and will not suffer women to do
the same."
1 Burckhardt-Geiger, II. 172 sqq. ; Pastor, III. 128.
9 Burckhardt-Geiger, U. 153 ; Symonds, Bev. of Learning, p. 406; Grego-
rovius, viii, 282.
616 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
licentiousness: there even was nothing in their principles to
prevent its practice. As a class, the artists were no better than
the scholars and, if possible, even more lax in regard to sex-
ual license. Such statements are made not in the spirit of
bitterness toward the Church of the Middle Ages, but in def-
erence to historic fact, which ought at once to furnish food
for reflection upon the liability of an ecclesiastical organiza-
tion to err and even to foster vice as well as superstition by
its prelatical constitution and unscriptural canons, and also
to afford a warning against the captivating but fallacious
theory that literature and art, not permeated by the princi-
ples of the Christian faith, have the power to redeem them-
selves or purify society. They did not do it in the palmy
days of Greece and Rome, nor did they accomplish any such
end in Italy.
In comparing our present century with the period of the
Renaissance, there is at least one ground for grateful acknowl-
edgment.1 The belief in astrology, due largely to the rise of
astronomical science, has been renounced. Thomas Aquinas
had decided that astrology was a legitimate art when it is used
to forecast natural events, such as drought and rain, but when
used to predict human actions and destiny it is a daemonic
cult.2 At an early period it came to be classed with heresy,
and was made amenable to the Inquisition. In 1324, Cecco
d'Ascoli, who had shown that the position of libra rendered
the crucifixion of Christ inevitable, was obliged to abjure, and
his astrolabe and other instruments were burnt, 1327, by the
tribunal at Florence. In spite of Petrarca's ridicule, the cult
continued. The Chancellor D'Ailly gave it credit. Scarcely
a pope or Italian prince or republic of the latter part of the
Renaissance period who did not have his astrologer or yield
to the delusion in a larger or smaller measure, as, for example,
Sixtus IV., Julius II. and Leo X., as well as Paul III. at a
period a little later. Julius II. delayed his coronation several
weeks, to Nov. 26, 1503, the lucky day announced by the as-
1 See Burckhardt-Geiger, II. 286 gqq. ; An. Attrologie in Wetzer-Welte, L
1526 sqq., by Pastor ; and Lea, Inquisition, III. 487 aqq.
* Swnma, II. 2, 96; Migne's ed., III. 729-731.
§ 67. THE BBVIVAL OF PAGANISM. 617
trologer. Ludovico of Milan waited upon favorable signs in
the heavens before taking an important step.1
On the other hand, Savonarola condemned the belief, and
was followed by Pico della Mirandola and Erasmus.2 To the
freedom of human action astrology opposed a fatalistic view
of the world. This was felt at the time, and Matteo Villani
said more than once that " no constellation is able to compel
the free-will of man or thwart God's decree." Before the
15th century had come to a close, the cult was condemned to
extinction in France, 1494, but in Germany, in spite of the
spread of the Copernican system, it continued to have its fol-
lowers for more than a century. The great Catholic leader
in the Thirty Years' War, Wallenstein, continued, in the face
of reverses, to follow the supposed indications of the heavenly
bodies, and Schiller puts into his mouth the words : —
The stars lie not ; what's happened
Has turned out against the course of star and fate ;
Art does not play us false. The false heart
'Tis, which drags falsehood into the truth-telling heavens.
The revolt against the ascendancy of mediaeval priestcraft
and scholastic dialectic was a great and necessary movement
demanded by the sane intents of mankind. The Italian Re-
naissance led the revolt. It gave liberty to the individual and
so far its work was wholesome, but it was liberty not bound
by proper restraints. It ran wild in an excess of indulgence,
so that Machiavelli could say, " Italy is the corruption of
the world." When the restraint came, it came from the
North as it had come centuries before, in the days of the Ottos,
in the 10th century. When studies in Italy set aside the ideals
of Christianity, when religion seemed to be in danger of expir-
ing and social virtue of altogether giving way, then the voice
* Vfflari, Machiavelli, I. 275.
* Villari, Life and Times of Savonarola, p. 183. Savonarola, in a sermon,
said : " Wouldst thou see how the Church is ruled by the hands of astrologers ?
There is no prelate or great lord that hath not intimate dealings with some
astrologer, who fizeth the hour and the moment in which he is to ride out or
undertake some piece of business. For these great lords venture not to stir
a step save at their astrologer's bidding/9 See the remarks of Baudrillart,
p. 607, on the powerlessness of culture to restrain the delusion of astrology.
618 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
was raised in Wittenberg which broke with monastic asceti-
cism and scholasticism and, at the same time, asserted an in-
dividualism under the control of conscience and reverence for
God.
§ 68. Humanism in Germany.
Humanistic studies were late in finding entrance into Ger-
many. They were opposed not so much by priestly ignorance
and prejudice, as was the case in Italy, as by the scholastic
theology which reigned at the universities. German Human-
ism may be dated from the invention of the printing-press
about 1450. Its flourishing period began at the close of the
15th century and lasted only till about 1520, when it was ab-
sorbed by the more popular and powerful religious movement,
the Reformation, as Italian Humanism was superseded by the
papal counter-Reformation. Marked features distinguished
the new culture north of the Alps from the culture of the Ital-
ians. The university and school played a much more impor-
tant part than in the South. The representatives of the new
scholarship were teachers, even Erasmus, who taught in Cam-
bridge, and was on intimate terms with the professors at Basel.
During the progress of the movement new universities sprang
up, from Basel to Rostock. Again, in Germany, there were
no princely patrons of arts and learning to be compared in in-
telligence and munificence to the Renaissance popes and the
Medici. Nor was the new culture here exclusive and aristo-
cratic. It sought the general spread of intelligence, and was
active in the development of primary and grammar schools.
In fact, when the currents of the Italian Renaissance began to
set toward the North, a strong, independent, intellectual cur-
rent was pushing down from the flourishing schools conducted
by the Brothers of the Common Life. In the Humanistic
movement, the German people was far from being a slavish
imitator. It received an impulse from the South, but made
its own path. Had Italy been careful to take lessons from
the pedagogy of the North, it is probable her people would
to-day be advanced far beyond what they are in intelligence
and letters.
§ 68. HUMANISM IN GERMANY. 619
In the North, Humanism entered into the service of reli-
gious progress. German scholars were less brilliant and ele-
gant, but more serious in their purpose and more exact in their
scholarship than their Italian predecessors and contempora-
ries. In the South, the ancient classics absorbed the atten-
tion of the literati. It was not so in the North. There was no
consuming passion to render the classics into German as there
had been in Italy. Nor did Italian literature, with its loose
moral teachings, find imitators in the North. Boccaccio's
Decameron was first translated into German by the physician,
Henry Stainhowel, who died in 1482. North of the Alps,
the attention was chiefly centred on the Old and New Testa-
ments. Greek and Hebrew were studied, not with the purpose
of ministering to a cult of antiquity, but to more perfectly reach
the fountains of the Christian system. In this way, prepara-
tion was made for the constructive work of the Protestant
Reformation.
And what was true of the scholarship of Germany was also
true of its art. The painters, Albrecht Diirer, who was born
and died at Niirnberg, 1471-1528, Lukas Kranach, 1472-1553,
and for the most part Hans Holbein, 1497-1543, were free
from the pagan element and contributed to the spread of the
Reformation. Kranach lived in Wittenberg after 1504 and
painted portraits of Luther, Melanchthon and other leaders of
the German Reformation. Holbein gave illustrations for
some of the new writings and painted portraits of Erasmus
and Melanchthon. His Madonna, now at Darmstadt, has a
German face and wears a crown on her head, while the child
in her arms reflects his concern for the world in the sadness
of his countenance.
If any one individual more than another may be designated
as the connecting link between the learning of Italy and Ger-
many, it is ^Eneas Sylvius. By his residence at the court of
Frederick HI. and at Basel, as one of the secretaries of the
council, he became a well-known character north of the Alps
long before he was chosen pope. The mediation, however,
was not effected by any single individual. The fame of the
Renaissance was carried over the pathways of trade which led
620 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
from Northern Italy to Augsburg, Niirnberg, Constance and
other German cities. The visits of Frederick III. and the
campaigns of Charles VIII. and the ascent of the throne of
Naples by the princes of Aragon carried Germans, French-
men and Spaniards to the greater centres of the peninsula.
A constant stream of pilgrims itinerated to Rome and the
Spanish popes drew to the city throngs of Spaniards. As the
fame of Italian culture spread, scholars and artists began to
travel to Venice, Florence and Rome, and caught the inspira-
tion of the new era.
To the Italians Germany was a land of barbarians. They
despised the German people for their ignorance, rudeness and
intemperance in eating and drinking. JEneas found that the
German princes and nobles cared more for horses and dogs
than for poets and scholars and loved their wine-cellars better
than the muses. Carapanus, a witty poet of the papal court,
who was sent as legate to the Diet of Regensburg by Paul II.,
and afterwards was made a bishop by Pius II., abused Ger-
many for its dirt, cold climate, poverty, sour wine and miser-
able fare. He lamented his unfortunate nose, which had to
smell everything, and praised his ears, which understood noth-
ing. Such impressions were soon offset by the sound schol-
arship which arose in Germany and Holland. And, if Italy
contributed to Germany an intellectual impulse, Germany
sent out to the world the printing-press, the most important
agent in the history of intellectual culture since the invention
of the alphabet.
Before the first swell of the new movement was felt, the
older German universities were already established : Prag in
1347, Vienna 1365, Heidelberg 1386, Cologne 1388, Erfurt
1392, Wiirzburg 1402, Leipzig 1409 and Rostock 141 9. Dur-
ing the last half of the 15th century, there were quickly added
to this list universities at Greifswald and Freiburg 1456,
Treves 1457, Basel 1459, Ingolstadt 1472, Tubingen and
Mainz 1477, and Wittenberg 1502. Ingolstadt lost its dis-
tinct existence by incorporation in the University of Munich,
1826, and Wittenberg by removal to Halle. Most of these
universities had the four faculties, although the popes were
§ 68. HUMANISM IN GERMANY. 621
slow to give their assent to the sanction of the theological
department, as in the case of Vienna and Rostock, where the
charter of the secular prince authorized their establishment.
Strong as the religious influences of the age were, the social
and moral habits of the students were by no means such as
to call for praise. Parents, Luther said, in sending their sons
to the universities, were sending them to destruction, and an
act of the Leipzig university, dating from the close of the
15th century, stated that students came forth from their
homes obedient and pious, but " how they returned, God
alone knew." l In 1510, the student-body at Erfurt were so
turbulent that the citizens and the peasant-folk turned cannons
upon the collegiate building and, after the students had fled,
battered down its walls and did great damage to university
archives and library.
The theological teaching was ruled by the Schoolmen, and
the dialectic method prevailed in all departments. In clash-
ing with the scholastic method and curricula, the new teaching
met with many a repulse, and in no case was it thoroughly tri-
umphant till the era of the Reformation opened. Erfurt may
be regarded as having been the first to give the new culture a
welcome. In 1466, it received Peter Luder of Kislau, who
had visited Greece and Asia Minor, and had been previously
appointed to a chair in Heidelberg, 1456. He read on Virgil,
Jerome, Ovid and other Latin writers. There Agricola
studied and there Greek was taught by Nicolas Marschalck,
under whose supervision the first Greek book printed in
Germany issued from the press, 1501. There John of Wesel
taught. It was Luther's alma mater and, among his pro-
fessors, he singled out Trutvetter for special mention as the
one who directed him to the study of the Scriptures.3
Heidelberg, chartered by the elector Ruprecht I. and Pope
Urban VI., showed scant sympathy with the new movement.
* Schmid, II. 83.
9 Kitetlin, Leben Ltttbers, I. 45. Rashdall, II., pp. 245, speaks of Erfurt
as the first university formed after the model of Paris in which the organiza-
tion by nations does not appear. It was abolished 1816. The endowments
of the German universities came largely through the appropriation of prebends.
622 THE KIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
However, the elector-palatine, Philip, 1476-1508, gathered at
his court some of its representatives, among them Reuchlin.
Ingolstadt for a time had Reuchlin as professor and, in 1492,
Konrad Celtis was appointed professor of poetry and elo-
quence.
In 1474, a chair of poetry was established at Basel. Founded
by Pius II., it had among its early teachers two Italians, Fina-
riensis and Publicius. Sebastian Brant taught there at the close
of the century and among its notable students were Reuchlin
and the Reformers, Leo Jud and Z wingli. In 1481, Tubingen
had a stipend of oratoria. Here Gabriel Biel taught till very
near the close of the century. The year after Bid's death,
Heinrich Bebel was called to lecture on poetry. One of Bebel's
distinguished pupils was Philip Melanchthon, who studied and
taught in the university, 1512-1518. Reuchlin was called from
Ingolstadt to Tubingen, 1521, to teach Hebrew and Greek, but
died a few months later.
Leipzig and Cologne remained inaccessible strongholds of
scholasticism, till Luther appeared, when Leipzig changed
front. The last German university of the Middle Ages, Wit-
tenberg, founded by Frederick the Wise and placed under the
patronage of the Virgin Mary and St. Augustine, acquired a
world-wide influence through its professors, Luther and Me-
lanchthon. Not till 1518, did it have instruction in Greek,
when Melanchthon, soon to be the chief Greek scholar in Ger-
many, was called to one of its chairs at the age of 21. Accord-
ing to Luther, his lecture-room was at once filled brimful,
theologians high and low resorting to it.
As seats of the new culture, Nurnberg and Strassburg occu-
pied, perhaps, even a more prominent place than any of the
university towns. These two cities, with Basel and Augsburg,
had the most prosperous German printing establishments. At
the close of the 15th century, Nurnberg, the fountain of inven-
tions, had four Latin schools and was the home of Albrecht
Diirer the painter and Willibald Pirkheimer, a patron of
learning.
Popular education, during the century before the Reforma-
tion, was far more advanced in Germany than in other nations.
§ 68. HUMANISM IN GEBMANY. 623
The chief schools, conducted by the Brothers of the Common
Life, were located at Zwolle, Deventer, Herzogenbuach and
Li£ge. All the leading towns had schools.1 The attendance
at Deventer ran as high as 2,200. Melanchthon attended the
Latin school at Pforzheim, now in Baden. Here Reuchlin
found his young grand-nephew and gave him a Greek grammar,
promising him a Vocabulary, provided Melanchthon would
have ready some verses in Latin on his return. It is needless
to say that the boy was ready and received the book. The
town of Schlettstadt in Alsace was noted as a classical centre.
Here Platter found Sapidus teaching, and he regarded it as
the best school he had found. In 1494, there were five peda-
gogues in Wesel, teaching reading, writing, arithmetic and
singing. One Christinas the clergy of the place entertained
the pupils, giving them each cloth for a new coat and a piece
of money.2 The primary or trivial schools, as they were called
from teaching the trivium, — grammar, rhetoric and dialectic,
— gradually extended their courses and, before the Reforma-
tion, such schools as Li6ge and Schlettstadt had eight classes.8
Greek was begun with the 4th class.
Among the noted schoolmasters was Alexander Hegius, who
taught at Deventer for nearly a quarter of a century, till his
death in 1498. At the age of 40 he was not ashamed to sit at
the feet of Agricola. He made the classics central in educa-
tion and banished the old text-books. Trebonius, who taught
Luther at Eisenach, belonged to a class of worthy men. The
penitential books of the day called upon parents to be diligent
in keeping their children off the streets and sending them to
school.4 It remained for Luther to issue a stirring appeal to
the magistrates of the Saxon towns to establish schools for
both girls and boys and he called for a curriculum, which
i Bezold, p. 204. * Janssen, I. 27. • Schmid, II 112.
* It seems to have been the custom to apply the rod without mercy. Luther
speaks of the number of floggings he got a day. No case is more famous than
that of Hans Butzbach. As a little fellow he was accustomed to play truant.
When the teacher, an Erfurt B. A., found it out, he took off the child's clothes
and, binding him to a post, flogged him till the blood covered his body. His
mother, hearing the cries, hurried to the school, and bunting the door open and
seeing her child, fell fainting to the floor. Schmid, II. 125.
624 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
included not only history and Latin but vocal and instrumen-
tal music.
The chief Humanists of Germany were Rudolph Agricola,
Reuchlin and Erasmus. To the last two a separate treatment
is given as the pathfinders of biblical learning, the venerabiles
inceptores of modern biblical research.
Agricola, whose original name was Roelef Huisman, was
born near Groningen, 1443, and died 1485. He enjoyed the
highest reputation in his day as a scholar and received un-
stinted praise from Erasmus and Melanchthon. He has been
regarded as doing for Humanism in Germany what was done
for Italy by Petrarca, the first life of whom, in Gertnan, Agricola
prepared. He was far in advance of the Italian poet in the
purity of his life. After studying in Erfurt, Louvain and
Cologne, Agricola went to Italy, spending some time at the
universities in Pavia and Ferrara. He declined a professor's
chair in favor of an appointment at the court of Philip of the
Palatinate in Heidelberg. He made Cicero and Quintilian
his models. In his last years, he turned his attention to the-
ology and studied Hebrew. Like Pico della Mirandola, he was
buried in the cowl of a monastic order. The inscription on his
tomb in Heidelberg stated that he had studied what is taught
about God and the true faith of the Saviour in the books of
Scripture.
Another Humanist was Jacob Wimpheling, 1450-1528, of
Schlettstadt, who taught in Heidelberg. He was inclined to
be severe on clerical abuses but, at the close of his career,
wanted to substitute for the study of Virgil and Horace, Sedu-
lius and Prudentius. The poetic Sebastian Brant, 1457-1521,
the author of the Ship of Fools, began his career as a teacher
of law in Basel. Mutiauus Rufus, d. at Gotha 1526, in his
correspondence, went so far as to declare that Christianity is
as old as the world and that Jupiter, Apollo, Ceres and Christ
are only different names of the one hidden God.1
A name which deserves a high place in the German litera-
ture of the last years of the Middle Ages is John Trithemius,
1462-1505, abbot of a Benedictine convent atSponheim, which,
1 Bezold, p. 236.
§ 69. EEUCHLIN AND EUASMUS. 625
under his guidance, gained the reputation of a learned acad-
emy. He gathered a library of 2,000 volumes and wrote a
patrology, or encyclopaedia of the Fathers, and a catalogue of
the renowned men of Germany. Prelates and nobles visited
him to consult and read the Latin and Greek authors he had
collected. These men and others contributed their part to
that movement of which Reuchlin and Erasmus were the
chief lights and which led on easily to the Protestant Ref-
ormation.1
§ 69. Reucftlin and Erasmus.
In his fresco of the Reformation on the walls of the Berlin
museum, Kaulbach has given a place of great prominence to
Reuchlin and Erasmus. They are represented in the group
of the Humanists, standing side by side, with books under
their arms and clad in scholar's cap and gown, their faces
not turned toward the central figure on the platform, Martin
Luther. The artist has presented the truth of history. These
two most noteworthy German scholars prepared the way for
the Reformation and the modern study of the Greek and He-
brew Scriptures, but remained and died in the Roman Church
in which they were born. Rightly did Ulrich von Hutten call
them " the two eyes of Germany." To them, and more espe-
cially to Erasmus, did all the greater Reformers owe a debt,
Luther,Calvin,Zwingli,OEcolampadius,MelanchthonandBeza.
John Reuchlin, 1455-1522, known also by the Latin name
Capnion,3 was born in Pforzheim and studied at Schlettstadt,
Freiburg, Paris, Basel, Orleans, Poictiers, Florence and Rome.
He learned Greek from native Greeks, Hebrew from John
Wessel and from Jewish rabbis in Germany and Italy. He
bought many Hebrew and rabbinical books, and marked down
the time and place of purchase to remind him of the happiness
1 Among the other German Humanists were Crotus Rubeanus, 1480-1640,
Georg Spalatin, 1484-1646, Beatus Rhenanus, 1486-1647, Eoban Hesse or
Hessus, 1488-1640, Vadianus, 1484-1661, Glareanus or Loriti of Glarus, 1488-
1663, and Bonifacius Amerbach, 1496-1662, the last three from German
Switzerland.
8 From frdritor, i.e. little smoke, the Greek equivalent for Reuchlin, the di-
minutive of Ranch, smoke.
626 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1204-1517.
their first acquaintance gave him. A lawyer by profession,
he practised law in Stuttgart and always called himself legum
doctor. He was first in the service of Eberhard, count of
Wiirtemberg, whom he accompanied to Italy in 1482 as he
later accompanied his son, 1490. He served on diplomatic
missions and received from the Emperor Maximilian the rank
of a count of the Palatinate. At Eberhard's death he removed
to Heidelberg, 1496, where he was appointed by the elector
Philip chief tutor in his family. His third visit to Rome,
1498, was made in the elector's interest. Again he returned
to Stuttgart, from which he was called in 1520 to Ingolstadt
as professor of Greek and Hebrew at a salary of 200 gulden.
In 1521, he was driven from the city by the plague and was
appointed lecturer in Tubingen. His death occurred the fol-
lowing spring at Liebenzell in the Black Forest.
Reuchlin recommended Melanchthon as professor of Greek
in the University of Wittenberg, and thus unconsciously se-
cured him for the Reformation. He was at home in almost
all the branches of the learning of his age, but especially in
Greek and Hebrew. He translated from Greek writings into
Latin, and a part of the Iliad and two orations of Demosthenes
into German. His first important work appeared at Basel when
he was 20, the Vocdbulariu* breviloquus, a Latin lexicon which
went through 25 editions, 1475-1504. He also prepared a
Greek Grammar. His chief distinction, however, is as the
pioneer of Hebrew learning among Christians in Northern
Europe. He gave a scientific basis for the study of this lan-
guage in his Hebrew Grammar and Dictionary, the De rudi-
mentis hebraicis, which he published in 1506 at his own cost
at Pforzheim. Its circulation was slow and, in 1510, 750 copies
of the edition of 1,000 still remained unsold. The second edi-
tion appeared in 1537. The author proudly concluded this
work with the words of Horace, that he had reared a monu-
ment more enduring than brass.1 In 1512, he issued the Peni-
1 * ' Stat [exegi] monumentum cere perennius. " Reuchlin also explained the
difficult theory of Hebrew accentuation, in De acwntibus tt orthographic*
lingua hebr., 1518. Comp. Geiger, Das Studium der hebr. Sprache in Dtutsch-
land v. Ende des 15 ten bit zur Mitte des 16ten Jahrh., Brealau, 1870, and his
Rtuchlin, 161, etc.
§ 69. REUCHLIN AND ERASMUS. 627
tential Psalms with a close Latin translation and grammatical
notes, a work used by Luther. The printing of Hebrew books
had begun in Italy in 1475.
Reuchlin pronounced Hebrew the oldest of the tongues —
the one in which God and angels communicated with man.
In spite of its antiquity it is the richest of the languages and
from it other languages drew, as from a primal fountain. He
complained of the neglect of the study of the Scriptures for the
polite study of eloquence and poetry.1 Reuchlin studied also
the philosophy of the Greeks and the Neo-Platonic and Pythag-
orean mysticisms. He was profoundly convinced of the value
of the Jewish Cabbala, which he found to be a well of hidden
wisdom. In this rare branch of learning he acknowledged
his debt to Pico della Mirandola, whom he called " the greatest
scholar of the age." He published the results of his studies
in two works — one, De verbo mirifico^ which appeared at Basel
in 1494, and passed through eight editions,* and one, De arte
cabbalistica^ 1517. " The wonder-working word " is the He-
brew tetragrammaton IHVH, the unpronounceable name of
God, which is worshipped by the celestials, feared by the in-
fernals and kissed by the soul of the universe. The word
Jesu, Ihsvh, is only an enlargement of Ihvh by the letter s. The
Jehovah- and Jesus-name is the connecting link between God
and man, the infinite and the finite. Thus the mystic tradi-
tion of the Jews is a confirmation of the Christian doctrine of
the trinity and the divinity of Christ. Reuchlin saw in every
name, in every letter, in every number of the old Testament,
a profound meaning. In the three letters of the word for
create, bara, Gen. 1 : 1, he discerned the mystery of the Trinity;
in one verse of Exodus, 72 inexpressible names of God ; in
Prov. 30 : 31, a prophecy that Frederick the Wise, of Saxony,
would follow Maximilian as emperor of Germany, a prophecy
which was not fulfilled. We may smile at these fantastic
vagaries ; but they stimulated and deepened the zeal for the
hidden wisdom of the Orient, which Reuchlin called forth from
the grave.
Through his interest in the Jews and in rabbinical litera-
* See quotation in Janssen, II. 40.
THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
ture, Reuchlin became involved in a controversy which spread
over all Europe and called forth decrees from Cologne and
other universities, the archbishop of Mainz, the inquisitor-gen-
eral of Germany, Hoogstraten, the emperor, Maximilian, and
Pope Leo X. The monks were his chief opponents, led by
John Pfefferkorn, a baptized Jew of Cologne. The contro-
versy was provoked by a tract on the misery of the Jews, writ-
ten by Reuchlin, 1505 — Missive warumb die Juden so lang im
Mend sind. Here the author made the obstinacy of the Jews
in crucifying Christ and their persistence in daily blasphem-
ing him the just cause of their sorrows, but, instead of calling
for their persecution, he urged a serious effort for their con-
version. In a series of tracts, Pfefferkorn assaulted this posi-
tion and demanded that his former coreligionists, as the sworn
enemies of Christ, should be compelled to listen to Christian
preaching, be forbidden to practise usury and that their false
Jewish books should be destroyed.1 The flaming anti-Semite
prosecuted his case with the vigor with which a few years later
Eck prosecuted the papal case against Luther. Maximilian,
whose court he visited three times to present the matter,
Hoogstraten and the University of Cologne took Pfefferkorn's
side, and the emperor gave him permission to burn all Jewish
books except, of course, the Old Testament. Called upon to
explain his position by the archbishop of Mainz, with whom
Maximilian left the case, Reuchlin exempted from destruction
the Talmud, the Cabbala and all other writings of the Jews
except the Nizahon and the Toledoth Jeshu^ which, after due
examination and legal decision, might be destroyed, as they
contained blasphemies against Christ, his mother and the
Apostles. He advised the emperor to order every university
in Germany to establish chairs of Hebrew for ten years.2
Pfefferkorn, whom Reuchlin had called a " buffalo or an ass,"
replied in a violent attack, the Handmirror — Handspiegel
wider und gegen die Juden — 1511. Both parties appeared be-
fore the emperor, and Reuchlin replied in the Spectacles — Au-
1 Judenspiegel ; Judenbeichte ; Osternbuch; Judenfeind, 1507-'09.
3 "RathsMag, ob man den Juden alle ihre Bucher nehmen, abthun und
verbrennen soil," Stuttgart, Nov. 6, 1610.
§ 69. REUCHLIN AND ERASMUS. 629
genspiegel, — which in its turn was answered by his antagonist
iu the Burning Glass — Brandspiegel. The sale of the Spec-
tacle* was forbidden in Frankfurt. Reuchlin followed in a
Defense against all Calumniators^ 1513, and after the manner
of the age cudgelled them with such epithets as goats, biting
dogs, raving wolves, foxes, hogs, sows, horses, asses and chil-
dren of the devil.1 An appeal he made to Frederick the Wise
called forth words of support from Carlstadt and Luther. The
future Reformer spoke of Reuchlin as a most innocent and
learned man, and condemned the inquisitorial zeal of the Co-
logne theologians who " might have found worse occasions of
offence on all the streets of Jerusalem than in the extraneous
Jewish question." The theological faculty of Cologne, which
consisted mostly of Dominicans, denounced 43 sentences taken
from Reuchlin as heretical, 1514. The Paris university fol-
lowed suit. Cited before the tribunal of the Inquisition by
Hoogstraten, Reuchlin appealed to the pope. Hoogstraten
had the satisfaction of seeing the Augenspiegel publicly burnt
at Cologne, Feb. 10, 1514. The young bishop of Spires, whom
LeoX. appointed to adjudicate the case, cleared Reuchlin and
condemned Hoogstraten to silence and the payment of the
costs, amounting to 111 gulden, April 24, 1514.2 But the in-
domitable inquisitor took another appeal, and Leo appointed
Cardinal Grimani and then a commission of 24 to settle the
dispute. All the members of the commission but Sylvester
Prierias favored Reuchlin, who was now supported by the
court of Maximilian, by the German "poets" as a body
and by Ulrich von Hutten, but opposed by the Dominican
order. When a favorable decision was about to be rendered,
Leo interposed, June 23, 1520, and condemned Reuchlin'sbook,
the Spectacle*, as a work friendly to the Jews, and obligated
the author to pay the costs of trial and thereafter to keep si-
lence. The monks had won and Pfefferkorn, with papal au-
1 Janssen, IT. 61, in justifying the inquisitorial process and the action of
the Un. of Cologne against Reuchlin, makes a great deal of these epithets.
8 For an account of Hoogstraten, d. 1527, who came from Brabant, see
Paulus : Die detttschen Dominikaner, etc. , pp. 80-106. Among other writings,
he wrote a book on witchcraft and two books, 1525, 1520, against Luther's
tracts, the Babylonian Captivity and Christian Freedom, Paulas, p. 105.
630 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1204-1617.
thority on his side, could celebrate his triumph over scholarship
and toleration in a special tract, 1521.
With the Reformation, which in the meantime had broken
out at Wittenberg, the great Hebrew scholar showed no sym-
pathy. He even turned away from Melanchthon and cancelled
the bequest of his library, which he had made in his favor, and
gave it to his native town, Pforzheim. He prevented, however,
Dr. Eck, during his brief sojourn at Ingolstadt, from burning
Luther's writings. His controversy with Pfefferkorn had
shown how strong in Germany the spirit of obscurantism was,
but it had also called forth a large number of pamphlets and
letters in favor of Reuchlin. The Hebrew pathfinder prepared
a collection of such testimonies from Erasmus, Mutianus, Peu-
tinger, Pirkheimer, Busch, Vadianus, Glareanus, Melanchthon,
JEcolampadius, Hedio and others, — in all, 43 eminent scholars
who were classed as Reuchlinists.
Among the writings of the Reuchlinists against the oppo-
nents of the new learning, the Letters of Unfamed Men — ISpis-
tolce virorum obscurorum — occupy the most prominent place.
These epistles are a fictitious correspondence of Dominican
monks who expose their own old-fogyism, ignorance and vul-
garity to public ridicule in their barbarous German-Latin
jargon, which is called kitchen- Latin, Kiichenlatein, and which
admits of no adequate translation. They appeared anony-
mously, but were chiefly written by Ulrich von Hutten and
Crotus Rubeanus whose German name was Johannes Jager.
The authors were friends of Luther, but Crotus afterwards
fell out with the Reformation, like Erasmus and other Hu-
manists.
Ulrich von Hutten, 1488-1523, after breaking away from
the convent in which his father had placed him six years before,
pursued desultory studies in the University of Cologne, de-
veloped a taste for the Humanistic culture and travelled in
Italy. In 1517, he returned to Germany and had a position
at the court of the pleasure-loving Albrecht, archbishop of
Mainz, a patron of the new learning. He was crowned with
the poet's crown by Maximilian and was hailed as the future
great epic poet of Germany by Erasmus, but later incurred
§ 69. BEUCHLIN AND ERASMUS. 631
the hostility of that scholar who, after Hutten's death, di-
rected against bis memory the shafts of his satire. He joined
Franz von Sickingen in standing ready to protect Luther at
Worms. Placed under the ban, he spent most of his time
after 1520, till his death, in semi-concealment at Schlettstadt,
Basel and at Zurich under the protection of Zwingli.
Hutten's life at Cologne and in Rome gave him opportunity
enough to find out the obscurantism of the Dominicans and
other foes of progress as well as the conditions prevailing at
the papal court. In 1517, he edited Valla's tract on the spu-
rious Donation of Constantino and, with inimitable irony,
dedicated it to Leo X. In ridicule and contempt it excelled
everything, Janssen says, that had been written in Germany
up to that time against the papacy. As early as 1513, Hutten
issued epigrams from Italy, calling Julius II. uthe corrupter
of the earth, the plague of mankind."1 His Latin poem, the
Triumph of Iteuchlin, 1518, defended the Hebrew scholar, and
called for tierce punishment upon Pfefferkorn. It contained
a curious woodcut, representing Reuchlin's triumphal pro-
cession to his native Pforzheim, and his victory over Hoog-
straten and Pfefferkorn with their four idols of superstition,
barbarism, ignorance and envy.2
The 10 Epistles of the Unfamed Men^ written first in Latin
and then translated by Hutten into German, with genial and
not seldom coarse humor, demanded the restriction of the
pope's tyranny, the dissolution of the convents, the appropria-
tion of annates and lands of abolished convents and benefices
for the creation of a fund for the needy. The amorous pro-
pensities of the monks are not spared. The author called the
holy coat of Treves a lousy old rag, and declared the relics
of the three kings of Cologne to be the bodies of three Westpha-
lian peasants. In the 4th letter, entitled the Roman trinity,
things are set forth and commented upon which were found in
three's in Rome. Three things were considered ridiculous at
Rome : the example of the ancients, the papacy of Peter and
1 Strauss, I. 00 sqq.
* Backing, III . 418-448. Geiger : Rtuchlin, p. 522, gives a facsimile of the
picture.
632 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
the last judgment. There were three things of which they had
a superabundance in the holy city: antiquities, poison and
ruins; three articles were kept on sale: Christ, ecclesiastical
places and women ; three things which gave the Romelings
pain: the unity among the princes, the growing intelligence
of the people and the revelation of their frauds ; three things
which they disliked most to hear about: a general council, a
reformation of the clerical office and the opening of the eyes
of the Germans ; three things held as most precious: beautiful
women, proud horses and papal bulls. These were some of
the spectacles which Rome offered. Had not Hutten himself
been in Rome, when the same archbishop's pall was sold twice
in a single day ! The so-called " gracious expectations," which
the pope distributed, were a special mark of his favor to the
Germans.1 Hutten's wit reached the popular heart, drew
laughter from the educated and stirred up the wrath of the
self-satisfied advocates of the old ways. As a knight, he
touched a new chord, the national German pride, a chord on
which Luther played as a master.
What Reuchlin did for Hebrew learning, Erasmus, who was
twelve years his junior, accomplished for Greek learning and
more. He established the Greek pronunciation which goes by
his name; he edited and translated Greek classics and Church
Fathers and made them familiar to northern scholars, and he
furnished the key to the critical study of the Greek Testament,
the magna charta of Christianity. He was the contemporary
of the Protestant Reformers and was an invaluable aid to the
movement led by them through his edition of the New Testa-
ment, his renunciation of scholastic subtlety in its interpreta-
tion and his attacks on the ceremonial religiosity of his age.
But, when the time came for him to take open sides, he pro-
tested his aversion to the course which the Reformers had taken
as a course of violence and revolution. He died in isolation,
without a party. The Catholics would not claim him; the
Protestants could not.8
1 Strauss : Hutten's Getprdche, pp. 121-3, etc., 143.
* Volume VI. of this History gives an extended survey of Erasmus1 career,
writings and theological opinions. He belongs to the Middle Ages act much
§ 69. UEUCHLIN AND ERASMUS. 633
Desiderius Erasmus, 1466-1536, was born at Rotterdam out
of wedlock, his father probably a priest at the time.1 His
school life began at Deventer when he was nine years old,
Hegius then being in charge. His parents died when he was
13 and, in 1481, he was in the school at Herzogenbusch where
he spent three years, a period he speaks of as lost time. His
letters of after years refer to his school experiences without
enthusiasm or gratitude. After wandering about, he was per-
suaded against his will to enter a convent at Steyn. This step,
in later years, he pronounced the most unfortunate calamity of
his life. To his experience in the convent he ascribed the
physical infirmity of his manhood. But he certainly went
forth with the great advantage of having become acquainted
with conventual life on its inside, and wholesome moral in-
fluence must have been exerted from some quarter in his early
life to account for the moral discrimination of his later years.
His ability secured for him the patronage of the bishop of
Cambray, who intended taking him as his interpreter to Italy,
where he hoped to receive the cardinal's hat. So far as Italy
went, the young scholar was disappointed, but the bishop sent
him to Paris, without, however, providing him with much
financial assistance. He was able to support himself from the
proceeds of instruction he gave several young Englishmen
and, through their mediation, Erasmus made his first visit to
England, 1499. This visit seems to have lasted only two or
three months.2
At Oxford, the young scholar met Colet and Sir Thomas
More and, through the influence of the former, was induced
to give more attention to the Greek than he had been giving.
The next years he spent in France and Holland writing his
book of Proverbs, — Adagio,, — issued 1500, and his Manual of
as to the modern period if not more, and the salient features of his life and
historical position must be given here, even if there be a partial repetition of
the treatment of vol. VI.
1 In the compendium which he wrote of his life, Erasmus distinctly states
that he was born out of wedlock and seems to imply that his father was a
priest at the time. See Nichols, Letters, I. 14. The other view that the
father became a priest later is taken by Froude, p. 2, and most writers.
* Nichols, I. 224.
634 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
the Christian soldier, — Enchiridion militis Christian^ — issued
in 1502. In 1505, he was back in England, remaining there
for three years. He then embraced an opportunity to travel
in Italy with the two sons of Henry VII. 's Genoese physician,
Battista Boerio. At Turin, he received the doctor's degree,
spent a number of months in Venice, turning out work for the
Aldine presses, and visited Bologna, Rome and other cities.
There is no indication in his correspondence that he was
moved by the culture, art or natural scenery of Italy, nor does
he make a single reference to the scenery of the Alps which
he crossed.
Expecting lucrative appointment from Henry VIII., Eras-
mus returned to England, 1509, remaining there five years.
On his way, he wrote for diversion his Praise of Folly, — En-
comium morice, — a book which received its title from the fact
that he was thinking of Sir Thomas More when its conception
took form in his mind. The book was completed in More's
house and was illustrated with life-like pictures by Holbein.1
During part of this sojourn in England, Erasmus was entered
as " Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity " at Cambridge
and taught Greek. The salary was 65 dollars a year, which
Emerton calls "a respectable sum." He was on intimate
terms with Colet, now dean of St. Paul's, More, Fisher, bishop
of Rochester, Archbishop Warham and other Englishmen.
Lord Mountjoy provided him with an annuity and Archbishop
Warham with the living of Aldington in 1411, which Erasmus
retained for a while and then exchanged for an annuity of £20
from the archbishop.2
From 1516-1521, he had his residence in different cities in
the Lowlands, and it was at this time he secured complete dis-
pensation from the monastic vow which had been granted in
part by Julius II. some years earlier.8 Erasmus1 fame now
exceeded the fame of any other scholar in Europe. Wher-
ever he went, he was received with great honors. Princes
joined scholars and prelates in doing him homage. Melanch-
i NicholB, U. 2 sqq., 262.
1 See Emerton'B remarks on this matter, p. 184 sqq.
» Nichols, H. 148 sq., 462.
§ 69. BEUCHLIN AND ERASMUS. 635
thon addressed to him a poem, " Erasmus the best and great-
est," JSrasmum optimum, maximum. His edition of the Greek
New Testament appeared in 1516, and in 1518 his Colloquies,
a collection of familiar relations of his experiences with men
and things.
When persecution broke out in the Netherlands after Leo's
issuance of his bull against Luther, Erasmus removed to
Basel, where some of his works had already been printed on
the Froben presses. At first he found the atmosphere of his
new home congenial, and published one edition after the other
of the Fathers, — Hilary 1523, Irenseus 1526, Ambrose 1527,
Augustine 1528, Epiphanius 1529, Chrysostom 1530. But
when the city, under the influence of (Ecolampadius, went
Protestant and Erasmus was more closely pushed to take defi-
nite sides or was prodded with faithlessness to himself in not
going with the Reformers, he withdrew to the Catholic town
of Freiburg in Breisgau, 1529. The circulation of his Collo-
quies had been forbidden in France and burnt in Spain, and
his writings were charged by the Sorbonne with containing
32 heretical teachings. On the other hand, he was offered
the red hat by Paul III., 1535, but declined it on account of
his age.
After the death of (Ecolampadius, he returned to Basel,
1535, broken down with the stone and catarrh. The last
work on which he was engaged was an edition of Origen.
He died calling out, " Oh, Jesus Christ, thou Son of God, have
mercy on me," but without priest or extreme unction, — sine
lux, sine crux, sine Deus, as the Dominicans, of Cologne in
their joy and bad Latin expressed it. He was buried in the
Protestant cathedral of Basel, carried to the grave, as his
friend and admirer, Beatus Rhenanus, informs us, on the
shoulders of students. The chief magistrate of the city and
all the professors and students were present at the burial.
Erasmus was the prince of Humanists and the most influ-
ential and useful scholar of his age. He ruled with undis-
puted sway as monarch in the realm of letters. He combined
brilliant genius with classical and biblical learning, keen wit
and elegant taste. He rarely wrote a dull line. His exten-
THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
sive travels made him a man of the world, a genuine cosmo-
politan, and he stood in correspondence with scholars of all
countries who consulted him as an oracle. His books had
the popularity and circulation of modern novels. When the
rumor went abroad that his Colloquies were to be condemned
by the Sorbonne, a Paris publisher hurried through the press
an edition of 24,000 copies. To the income from his writings
and an annuity of 400 gulden which he received as counsellor
of Charles V. — a title given him in 1516 — were added the
constant gifts from patrons and admirers.1
Had Erasmus confined himself to scholarly labors, though
he secured eminence as the first classicist of his age, his influ-
ence might have been restricted to his time and his name to
a place with the names of Politian of Italy and Budaeus of
France, whose works are no longer read. But it was other-
wise. His labors had a far-reaching bearing on the future.
He was a leading factor in the emancipation of the mind cf
Europe from the bondage of ignorance and superstition, and
he uncovered a lifeless formalism in religion. He unthawed
the frost-bitten intellectual soil of Germany. The spirit of
historical criticism which Laurentius Valla had shown in the
South, he represented north of the Alps, and of Valla he
spoke as " unrivalled both in the sharpness of his intelligence
and the tenacity of his memory."2 But the sweep of his in-
fluence is due to the mediation of his pupils and admirers,
Zwingli, (Ecolampadius and Luther.
Erasmus' break with the old mediaeval ecclesiasticism was
shown in a fourfold way. He scourged the monks for their
ignorance, pride and unchastitj', and condemned that ceremo-
nialism in religion which is without heart ; he practised the
critical method in the treatment of Scripture; he issued the
first Greek New Testament ; he advocated the translation of
the Bible into the languages spoken in his day.
In almost every work that he wrote, Erasmus, in a vein of
satire or in serious statement, inveighed against the hypocriti-
cal pretension of the monkery of his time and against the use-
lessness of hollow religious rites. In his edition of the New
1 See Drummond, II. 268. 3 Nichols, I. 64.
§ 69. KEUCHLIN AND EBASMUS. 637
Testament, he frequently returns to these subjects. For ex-
ample, in a note on Matt. 19 : 12 he speaks of the priests "who
are permitted to fornicate and may freely keep concubines but
not have a wife."1 No where is his satire more keen on theclergy
than in the Praise of Folly. In this most readable book, Folly
represented as a female, delivers an oration to an audience of all
classes and conditions and is most explicit and elaborate when
she discourses on the priests, monks, theologians and the pope.
After declaring with consummate irony that of all classes the
theologians were the least dependent upon her, Folly proceeds
to exhibit them as able to give the most exquisite solutions for
the most perplexing questions, how in the wafer accidents may
subsist without a subject, how long a time it required for the
Saviour to be conceived in the Virgin's womb, whether God
might as easily have become a woman, a devil, a beast, an herb
or a stone as a man. In view of such wonderful metaphysics,
the Apostles themselves would have needed a new illuminating
spirit could they have lived again.
As for the monks, whose name signifies solitude, they were
to be found in every street and alley. They were most precise
about their girdles and hoods and the cut of their crowns, yet
they easily provoked quarrels, and at last they would have to
search for a new heaven, for entrance would be barred them to
the old heaven prepared for such as are true of heart. As for
the pope, Luther's language never pictured more distinctly the
world-wide gulf between what the successor of St. Peter should
be and really was, than did the biting sentences of Erasmus.
Most liberal, he said, were the popes with the weapons of the
Spirit, — interdicts, greater and lesser excommunications, roar-
ing bulls and the like, — which they launch forth with unre-
strained vehemence when the authority of St. Peter's chair is
attacked. These are they who by their lusts and wickedness
grieve the Holy Spirit and make their Saviour's wounds to bleed
afresh.2 In the Enchiridion, he says, " Apostle, pastor and
1 For a number of quotations, see Froude, 123 sqq.
2 Compare Erasmus' disparaging remarks on the papacy on the occasion of
the pageant of Julius II. at Bologna when an arch bore the inscription, "To
Julius IL, Conqueror of the Tyrant," Faulkner, p. 82 sqq.
638 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1204-1517.
bishop " are names of duties not of government, and papa, pope,
and abbas, abbot, are titles of love. The sale of indulgences,
saint worship and other mediaeval abuses came in for Erasmus9
poignant thrusts.
In addition to his own Annotations and Paraphrases of
the New Testament, he edited the first printed edition of
Valla's Annotation*, which appeared in Paris, 1505, It was
his great merit to call attention to the plain meaning of Script-
ure and to urge men " to venerate the living and breathing
picture of Christ in the sacred books, instead of falling down
before statues of wood and stone of him, adorned though
they were with gold. What were Albertus Magnus, Thomas
Aquinas and Ockam compared with him, whom the Father in
heaven called His beloved Son!" As for the Schoolmen, he
said, " I would rather be a pious divine with Jerome than in-
vincible with Scotus. Was ever a heretic converted by their
subtleties!" l
The appearance of Erasmus' edition of the Greek Testament
at Basel, 1516, marked an epoch in the study and understand-
ing of the Scriptures. It was worth more for the cause of re-
ligion than all the other literary works of Erasmus put together,
yea, than all the translations and original writings of all the
Renaissance writers. The work contained a dedication to Leo
X., a man whom Erasmus continued to flatter, as in the epistle
dedicating to him his edition of Jerome, but who of all men was
destined to oppose the proclamation of the true Gospel. The
volume, 672 pages in all, contained the Greek text in one
column and Erasmus' own Latin version in the other, together
with his annotations. It was hurried through the press in or-
der to anticipate the publication of the New Testament of the
Complutensian Polyglot, which was actually printed in 1514,
but was not given to the public till 1520. The editor used three
manuscripts of the 12th century, which are still preserved in
the university library of Basel and retain the marginal notes of
Erasmus and the red lines of the printer to indicate the corre-
sponding pages of the printed edition. Erasmus did not even
take the trouble to copy the manuscripts, but sent them, with
1 Paradetis ad Zectorem, prefixed to Erasmus1 New Testament,
§ 69. BEUCHLIN AND ERASMUS. 689
numerous marginal corrections, to the printer.1 The manu-
script of the Apocalypse was borrowed from Reuchlin, and dis-
appeared, but was rediscovered, in 1861, by Dr. Delitzsch in the
library of CEttingen-Wallerstein at Mayhingen, Bavaria. It
was defective on the last leaf and supplemented by Erasmus,
who translated the last six verses from the Vulgate into indif-
ferent Greek, for he was a better Latinist than Hellenist.
In all, Erasmus published five editions of the Greek Testa-
ment — 1516, 1519, 1522, 1527 and 1535. Besides, more than
30 unauthorized reprints appeared in Venice, Strassburg, Basel,
Paris and other cities. He made several improvements, but
his entire apparatus never exceeded eight MSS. The 4th and
the 5th editions were the basis of the textus receptus, which ruled
supreme till the time of Lachmann and Tregelles. His notes
and paraphrases on the New Testament, the Apocalypse ex-
cepted, were translated into English, and a copy given to every
parish in 1547. Zwingli copied the Pauline Epistles from the
1st Greek edition with his own hand in the convent at Einsie-
deln, 1516. From the 2d edition of 1519, Luther prepared his
German translation on the Wartburg, 1522, and Tyndale his
English version, 1526.
Thus Erasmus directly contributed to the preparation of
the vernacular versions which he so highly commended in
his Preface to the 1st edition [of his Greek Testament. He
there expressed the hope that the Scriptures might be trans-
lated into every tongue and put into the hands of every
reader, to give strength and comfort to the husbandman at
his plough, to the weaver at his shuttle, to the traveller on
his journey and to the woman at her distaff. He declared it
a miserable thing that thousands of educated Christians had
never read the New Testament. In editing the Greek orig-
inal, it was his purpose, so he says, to enable the theologians
to study Christianity at its fountain-head. It was high praise
1 Prascipitatum fuit verius guam editum, says Erasmus himself in the Pref-
ace. The 2d edition also contains several pages of errors, some of which have
affected Luther's version. The 3d edition first inserts the spurious passage of
the three heavenly witnesses, 1 John 5 : 7, to remove any occasion of offence,
we cuiforet ansa calumniandi.
640 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1204-1617.
when (Ecolampadius confessed he had learned from Erasmus
that" in the Sacred Books nothing was to besought but Christ,"
nihil in sacris scripturis prater Christum qucerendum.1
It was a common saying, to which Erasmus himself refers,
that he laid the egg which Luther hatched. His relations to the
Wittenberg Reformer and to the movement of the Refor-
mation is presented in the 6th volume of this series. Here it
is enough to say that Erasmus desired a reformation by grad-
ual education and gentle persuasion within the limits of the
old Church system. He disapproved of the violent measures
of Luther and Zwingli, and feared that they would do much
harm to the cause of learning and refined culture, which he
had more at heart than religion.
He and Luther never met, and he emphatically disavowed
all responsibility for Luther's course and declared he had had no
time to read Luther's books. And yet, in a letter to Zwingli,
he confessed that most of the positions taken by Luther he
had himself taken before Luther's appearance. The truth is
that Erasmus was a critical scholar and not a man of action
or of deep fervor of conviction. At best, he was a moralist.
He went through no such religious experiences as Luther, and
Luther early wrote to Lange that he feared Erasmus knew
little of the grace of God. The early part of the 16th century
was a period when the critic needed to be supplemented.
Erasmus had no mind for the fray of battle. His piety was
not deep enough to brave a rupture with the old order. He
courted the flattery of the pope, though his pen poured forth
ridicule against him. And nowhere is the difference of the
two men shown in clearer light than in their treatment of
Leo X., whom, when it was to his advantage, Erasmus lauded
as a paragon of culture.2 He did not see that something more
was needed than literature and satire to work a change. The
times required the readiness for martyrdom, and Erasmus' re-
ligious conviction was not sufficient to make him ready to
suffer for principle. On most controverted points, Emerton
well says he had one opinion for his friends and another for
the world. He lacked both the candor and the courage to be
* Nichols, II. 585. * Nichols, II. 108, 814, 522.
§ 69. KEUCHLIN AND ERASMUS. 641
a religious hero. " Erasmus is a man for himself " was the
apt characterization often repeated in the Letters of Unfamed
Men. Luther spoke to the German people and fought for
them. Erasmus awakened the admiration of the polite by his
scholarship and wit. The people knew him not. Luther spoke
in German : Erasmus boasted that he knew as little Italian as
Indian and that he was little conversant with German, French
or English. He prided himself on his pure Latinity.
Erasmus never intended to separate from Rome any more
than his English friends, John Colet and Thomas More. He
declared he had never departed from the judgment of the
Church, nor could he. " Her consent is so important to me
that I would agree with the Arians and Pelagians if the
Church should approve what they taught." This he wrote
in 1526 after the open feud with Luther in the controversy
over the freedom of the will. The Catholic Church, however,
never forgave him. All his works were placed on the Index
by two popes, Paul IV. in 1559 and Sixtus V., 1590, as
intentionally heretical. In 1564, by the final action of the
Council of Trent, this sweeping judgment was revoked and
all the writings removed from the Index except the Colloquies
Praise of Folly, Christian Marriage and one or two others,
a decision confirmed by Clement VIII., 1596. And there the
matter has rested since.1
The Catholic historian of the German people, Janssen, in a
dark picture of Erasmus, presents him as vain and conceited,
ungrateful to his benefactors, always read}' to take a neutral
attitude on disputed questions and, for the sake of presents,
flattering to the great. Janssen calls attention to his delight
over the gold and silver vessels and other valuables he had re-
ceived in gifts. My drawers, Erasmus wrote, " are filled with
presents, cups, bottles, spoons, watches, some of them of pure
gold, and rings too numerous to count." In only one respect,
says Janssen, did he go beyond his Italian predecessors in his
attack upon the Church. The Italians sneered and ridiculed,
but kept their statements free from hypocritical piety, which
Erasmus often resorted to after he had driven his dagger into
i See Emerton, pp. 464-6.
2x
642 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1204-1517,
his opponent's breast.1 In England, the old Puritan, Tyndale,
also gave Erasmus no quarter, but spoke of him as one " whose
tongue maketh little gnats great elephants and lifteth up above
the stars whosoever giveth him a little exhibition," a But no
one has ever understood Erasmus and discerned what was his
mission better than Luther. That Reformer, who had once
called him " our ornament and hope — decus nostrum et spes"
— expressed the whole truth when, in a letter to (Ecolampa-
dius, 1523, he said: " Erasmus has done what he was ordained
to do. He has introduced the ancient languages in place of
the pernicious scholastic studies. He will probably die like
Moses in the land of Moab. . . . He has done enough to over-
come the evil, but to lead to the land of promise is not, in my
judgment, his business."
§ 70. Humanism in France.
Humanism in France found its way from Italy, but did not
become a distinct movement until the 16th century was well
on its way. Budaeus, 1467-1540, was the chief representative
of classical studies; Faber Stapulensis, or, to use his French
name, Lefevre d'Etaples, of Christian culture, 1469-1536, both
of them living well into the period of the Reformation.3 In
France, as in Germany, the pursuit of the classics never went
to the point of intoxication as it did in Italy. In France, the
Renaissance did not reach its maturity till after the Reforma-
tion was well advanced in Germany,the time at which the springs
of the movement in the Italian peninsula were dried up.
On the completion of the 100 years' war between France and
England, the intellectual currents began to start. In 1464,
Peter Raoul composed for the duke of Bourgogne a history of
1 Janssen, II. 9 sqq. The inventory of his goods contains a list of his fur-
niture, wardrobe, napkins, nightcaps, cushions, goblets, silver vessels, gold
rings and money (722 gold gulden, 900 gold crowns, etc.) . See Sieber, Inven-
tarium fiber die ffinterlassenschaft des Erasmus vom &8Juli, 1536, Basel, 1889.
2 Pref. to Pentateuch, Parker Soc. ed., p. 395.
» Imbart, II. 382. In his Skeptics of the French Renaissance, Lond., 1893,
Owen treats of Montaigne, Peter Ramus, Pascal and other men who were im-
bued with the spirit of free inquiry and lived after the period included in this
volume.
§ 70. HUMANISM IN PRANCE. 643
Troy* At that time the French still regarded themselves as
descendants of Hector. If we except Paris, none of the French
universities took part in the movement. Individual writers
and printing-presses at Paris, Lyons, Rouen and other cities
became its centres and sources. William Fichet and Gaguin
are usually looked upon as the first French Humanists. Fichet
introduced " the eloquence of Rome " at Paris and set up a
press at the Sorbonne. He corresponded with Bessarion and
had in his library volumes of Petrarca, Guarino of Verona and
other Italians. Gaguin copied and corrected Suetonius in 1468
and other Latin authors. Poggio's Jest-book and some of Val-
la's writings were translated into French. In the reign of
Louis XL, who gloried in the title " the first Christian king,"
French poets celebrated his deeds. The homage of royalty
took in part the place among the literary men of France that
the cult of antiquity occupied in Italy.1
Greek, which had been completely forgotten in France, had
its first teachers in Gregory Tifernas, who reached Paris, 1458,
John Lascaris, who returned with Charles VIIL, and Her-
monymus of Sparta, who had Reuchlin and Budaeus among
his scholars. An impetus was given to the new studies by
the Italian, Aleander, afterwards famous for his association
with Luther at Worms. He lectured in Paris, 1509, on Plato
and issued a Latino-Greek lexicon. In 1512 his pupil, Va-
table, published the Greek grammar of Chrysoloras. William
Budaeus, perhaps the foremost Greek scholar of his day,
founded the College de France, 1530, and finally induced
Francis I. to provide for instruction in Hebrew and Greek.
The University of Paris at the close of the 14th century was
sunk into a low condition and Erasmus bitterly complained
of the food, the morals and the intellectual standards of the
college of Montague which he attended. Budaeus urged the
combination of the study of the Scriptures with the study of
the classics and exclaimed of the Gospel of John, " What is
it, if not the almost perfect sanctuary of the truth I " a He
1 Imbart, II. 864-372. Louis XI. was eulogized as being greater than
Achilles, Alexander and Soipio, and the mightiest since Charlemagne.
* Imbart, II. 645.
644 THE MIDDLE AGES, A.D. 1204-1517.
persisted in setting himself against the objection that the
study of the languages of Scripture led on to Lutheranism.
Lefevre studied in Paris, Pavia, Padua and Cologne and,
for longer or shorter periods, tarried in the greater Italian
cities. He knew Greek and some Hebrew. From 1492-1506
he was engaged in editing the works of Aristotle and Ray-
mundus Lullus and then, under the protection of Bri^onnet,
bishop of Meaux, he turned his attention to theology. It was
his purpose to offset the Sentences of Peter the Lombard by
a system of theology giving only what the Scriptures teach.
In 1509, he published the Psalterum quintuplex, a combina-
tion of five Latin versions of the Psalms, including a revision
and a commentary by his own hand. In 1512, he issued a
revised Latin translation of the Pauline Epistles with com-
mentary. In this work, he asserted the authority of the
Bible and the doctrine of justification by faith, without appre-
ciating, however, the far-reaching significance of the latter
opinion.1 He also called in question the merit of good works
and priestly celibacy. In his Preface to the Psalms Lefevre
said, "For a long time I followed Humanistic studies and I
scarcely touched my books with things divine, but then these
burnt upon me with such light, that profane studies seemed
to be as darkness in comparison." Three years after the ap-
pearance of Luther's New Testament, Lefevre's French trans-
lation appeared, 1523. It was made from the Vulgate, as was
his translation of the Old Testament, 1528. In 1522 and
1525, appeared his commentaries on the four Gospels and the
Catholic Epistles. The former was put on the Index by the
Sorbonne. The opposition to the free spirit of inquiry and to
the Reformation, which the Sorbonne stirred up and French
royalty adopted, forced him to flee to Strassburg and then to
the liberal court of Margaret of Angouleme.
Among those who came into contact with Lefevre were
Farel and Calvin, the Reformers of Geneva. In the mean-
1 Imbart, II. 394, says, H va donner un singulier eclat a la doctrine de la
justification par la fot, *ans, cependant, sacrtyer lea auvres. This author
draws a comparison between Lefevre and Erasmus. See, however, Lefevre'e
Preface itself, and Bonet-Maury in Heraog, V. 715.
§ 71. HUMANISM IN ENGLAND. 645
time Clement Marot, 1496-1544, the first true poet of the
French literary revival, was composing his French versifica-
tion of the Psalms and of Ovid's Metamorphoses. The Psalms
were sung for pleasure by French princes and later for worship
in Geneva and by the Huguenots. When Calvin studied the
humanities and law at Bourges, Orleans and Paris, about 1520,
he had for teachers Cordier and L'Etoile, the canonists, and
Melchior Wolmar, teacher of Greek, whose names the future
Reformer records with gratitude and respect. He gave him-
self passionately to Humanistic studies and sent to Erasmus
a copy of his work on Seneca's Clemency, in which he quoted
frequently from the ancient classics and the Fathers. Had
he not adopted the new religious views, it is possible he would
now be known as an eminent figure in the history of French
Humanism.
§ 71 . Humanism in England.
Use well temporal things : desire eternal things.
— JOHN COLET.
Humanism reached England directly from Italy, but was
greatly advanced by Erasmus during his three sojourns at
Oxford and Cambridge and by his close and abiding friend-
ship with the leading English representatives of the movement.
Its history carries us at once to the universities where the
conflict between the new learning and the old learning was
principally fought out and also to St. Paul's school, London,
founded by Colet. It was marked with the usual English
characteristics of caution and reserve, and never manifested
any of the brilliant or paganizing traits of the Italian literary
movement, nor did it reach the more profound classical scholar-
ship of the German Humanists. In the departments of the
line arts, if we except printing, it remained unresponsive to the
Continental leadership. English Humanism, like the theology
of the English Reformation, adopted the work of others. It
was not creative. On the other hand, it laid more distinctive
Bmphasis upon the religious and ethical elements than the
Humanistic circles of Italy, though not of Germany. Its
shief leaders were John Colet and Sir Thomas More, with
646 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
whom Erasmus is also to be associated. It had patrons in
high places in Archbishop Warham of Canterbury, Cardinal
Wolsey and John Fisher, bishop of Rochester.1
The English revival of letters was a direct precursor of the
English Reformation, although its earliest leaders died in the
Catholic Church. Its first distinct impetus was received in the
last quarter of the 15th century through English students who
visited Italy. It had been the custom for English archdeacons
to go to Italy for the study of the canon law. Richard de Bury
and Peter de Blois had shown interest in books and Latin pro-
fane authors. Italians, Poggio and Polidore Virgil2 among
them, tarried and some of them taught in England, but the
first to introduce the new movement were William Sellyng,
Thomas Linacre and William Grocyn.
Sellyng, of All Souls' College, Oxford, and afterwards prior
of Christ Church, Canterbury, 1471-1495, made a visit to Italy
in 1464 and at Bologna was a pupil of Politian. From this
tour, or from a later one, he brought back with him some Greek
MSS. and he introduced the studying of Greek in Canterbury.
Linacre, d. 1524, the most celebrated medical man of his day
in England, studied under Sellyng at Christ Church and then
in Oxford, where he took Greek under Cornelio Vitelli, the
first to publicly teach that language in England in the later
Middle Ages. He then went to Florence, Rome and Padua,
where he graduated in medicine. On returning to England,
he was ordained priest and later made physician to Henry VIII.
He translated the works of Galen into English.8
While Linacre was studying in Florence, Grocyn arrived in
that city. He was teaching Greek in Oxford before 1488 and,
on his return from the Continent, he began, 1491, to give Greek
lectures in that university. With this date the historian,
1 Wolaey applied the proceeds of 20 monasteries, which lie closed, to the en-
dowment of a school at Ipswich and of Cardinal College, Oxford. In 1616, Fox,
bishop of Winchester, founded Corpus Christ! College at the same university
to teach the new learning.
8 He wrote a History of England and revenged himself by disparaging Wol-
sey, who had refused to give him his favor.
•For his services to medicine, see W. Osier ; That. Linacre, Carabr., 1908,
pp. 23-27.
§ 71. HUMANISM IN ENGLAND. 647
Green, regards the new period as opening. Grocyn lectured
on pseudo-Dionysius and, following Laurentius Valla, aban-
doned the tradition that he was the Areopagite, the pupil of
St. Paul. He and Linacre were close friends of Erasmus, and
that scholar couples them with Colet and More as four repre-
sentatives of profound and symmetrical learning.1
At the close of the 15th century, the English were still a
" barbarous " people in the eyes of the Italians.2 According
to Erasmus, who ought to have known what a good school was,
the schoolteachers of England were "shabby and broken down
and, in cases, hardly in their senses." At the universities, the
study of Duns Scotus ruled and the old method and text-books
were in use. The Schoolmen were destined, however, soon to
be displaced and the leaves of the Subtle Doctor to be scattered
in the quadrangles of Oxford and trodden under foot.
As for the study of Greek, there were those, as Wood says,
who preached against it as u dangerous and damnable " and,
long after the new century had dawned, Sir Thomas More wrote
to the authorities at Oxford condemning them for opposition
to Greek.8 A course of sermons, to which More refers, had
been preached in Lent not only against the study of the Greek
classics but also the Latin classics. What right, he went on
to say, " had a preacher to denounce Latin of which he knew
so little and Greek of which he knew nothing ? How can he
know theology, if he is ignorant of Hebrew, Greek and Latin?"
In closing the letter, More threatened the authorities with pun-
ishment from Warham, Wolsey and even the king himself, if
they persisted in their course. Of the clergy's alarm against
the new learning, More took notice again and again. To Lily,
the headmaster of St. Paul's school, he wrote, " No wonder your
school raises a storm ; it is like the wooden horse for the ruin
of barbarous Troy." But, if there were those who could see
only danger from the new studies, there were also men like
* Nichols : Erasmus1 Letters, L 226. Sir Thomas More, writing to Colet,
Nov., 1604, said. u I shall spend my time with Grocyn, Liuacre and Lily. The
first, as you know, is the director of my life in your absence, the second the
master of my studies, the third my most dear companion.'1
a Seehohm, p. 2S3. * See the letter. Froude : Erasmus, 139.
648 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
Fisher of Rochester who set about learning Greek when he was
60. For the venerable Sentences of the Lombard, the Scrip-
tures were about to be instituted as the text-book of theology
in the English universities.
The man who contributed most to this result was John Colet.
Although his name is not even so much as mentioned in the
pages of Lingard, he is now recognized, as he was by Tyndale,
Latimer and other Reformers of the middle of the 16th century,
as the chief pioneer of the new learning in England and as an
exemplar of noble purposes in life and pure devotion to culture.
The son of Sir Henry Colet, several times lord mayor of
London, the future dean of St. Paul's was one of 22 children.
He survived all the members of his family except his mother,
to whom he referred, when he felt himself growing old, with
admiration for her high spirits and happy old age. As we
think of her, we may be inclined to recall the good mother of
John Wesley. After spending 3 years at Oxford, 1493-1496,1
young Colet, "like a merchantman seeking goodly wares," as
Erasmus put it, went to Italy. For the places where lie studied,
we are left to conjecture, but Archbishop Parker two gener-
ations later said that he studied "a long time in foreign coun-
tries and especially the Sacred Scriptures." On his return to
Oxford, although not yet ordained to the priesthood, he began
expounding St. Paul's Greek epistles in public, the lectures
being given gratuitously. At this very moment the Lady
Margaret professor of divinity was announcing for his subject
the Quodlibeta of Duns Scotus. Later, Colet expounded also
the First Epistle to the Corinthians.
At this period, he was not wholly freed from the old academic
canons and was inclined to reject the reading of classic authors
whose writings did not contain a "salutatory flavor of Christ
and in which Christ is not set forth. . . . Books, in which
Christ is not found, are but a table of devils.1'2 Of the im-
pression made by his exposition, a proof is given in Colet's own
1 Probably at Magdalen Hall. See Lupton, 28 aqq., and the same cautious
author for Colet's school life in London. For the facts of Colet'a career, our
best authority is Erasmus* letter to Justus Jonas.
9 Quoted by Lupton, p. 76.
§ 71. HUMANISM IN ENGLAND. 649
description of a visit he had from a priest. The priest, sitting
in front of Colet's fire, drew forth from his bosom a small copy
of the Epistles, which he had transcribed with his own hand,
and then, in answer to his request, his host proceeded to set
forth the golden things of the 1st chapter of Romans.1 His
expositions abound in expressions of admiration for Paul.
At Oxford, in 1498, Colet met Erasmus, who was within a
few months of being of the same age, and lie also came into con-
tact with More, whom he called "a rare genius." The fellow-
ship with these men confirmed him in his modern leanings.
He lectured on the Areopagite's Hierarchies, but he soon came
to adopt Grocyn's view of their late date. The high estimate
of Thomas Aquinas which prevailed, he abandoned and pro-
nounced him "arrogant for attempting to define all things"
and of " corrupting the whole teaching of Christ with his pro-
fane philosophy."2 Some years later, writing to Erasmus, he
disparaged the contemporary theologians as spending their lives
in mere logical tricks and dialectic quibbles. Erasmus, reply-
ing to him, pronounced the theology which was once venerable
become "almost dumb, poor and in rags."
As dean of St. Paul's, an appointment he received in 1504,
Colet stands forth as a reformer of clerical abuses, a bold
preacher and a liberal patron of education. The statutes he
issued for the cathedral clergy laid stress upon the need of ref-
ormation "in every respect, both in life and religion." The
old code, while it was particular to point out the exact plane
the dean should occupy in processions and the choir, did not
mention preaching as one of his duties. Colet had public lec-
tures delivered on Paul's Epistles, but it was not long till he
was at odds with his chapter. The cathedral school did not
meet his standard, and the funds he received on his father's
death he used to endow St. Paul's school, 1509.8 The origi-
1 For the letter to the abbot of Winchcombe, in which Colet describes the
priest's visit, see Lupton, p. 00 sqq., and Seebohm, p. 42 sqq.
*Seebohm, p. 107.
9 Seebohm gives 1510. For date and the original name, see correspondence
in London Times, July 7, 20, 1009, between M. E. J. McDonnell and Gardi-
ner, surmaster and honorable librarian of St. Paul's. The school was some-
650 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
nal buildings were burnt down in the London fire, and new
buildings reared in 1666. The statutes made the tuition free,
and set the number of pupils at 153, since increased threefold.
They provided for instruction in " good literature, both Latin
and Greek," but especially for Christian authors that " wrote
their wisdom with clean and chaste Latin." The founder's
high ideal of a teacher's qualifications, moral as well as liter-
ary, set forth in his statutes for the old cathedral school, was
" that he should be an upright and honorable man and of much
and well-attested learning." Along with chaste literature, he
was expected " to imbue the tender minds of his pupils with
holy morals and be to them a master, not of grammar only,
but of virtue."1
St. Paul's has the distinction of being the first grammar-
school in England where Greek was taught. The list of its
masters was opened by William Lily, one of the few English-
men of his age capable of teaching Greek. After studying at
Oxford, he made a journey to Jerusalem, and returned to Eng-
land by way of Italy. He died in 1522. By his will, Colet
left all his books, " imprinted and in paper," to poor students
of the school.
As a preacher, the dean of St. Paul's was both bold and Scrip-
tural. Among his hearers were the Lollards. Colet himself
seems to have read Wyclifs writings as well as other heretical
works.8 Two of his famous sermons were delivered before
convocation, 1511, and on Wolsey's receiving the red hat. The
convocation discourse, which has come down to us entire, is a
times called Jesus1 School by Colet. The buildings were finished, August,
1510. The present location of the school is Hammersmith.
1 The statutes are given by Lupton, Appendix A., p. 271 sqq. For the
Accidence which Colet prepared for the school, see Lupton, Appendix B. In
contrasting the recent Latin with the Latin of classic authors, profane and
patristic, Colet called the former " blotterature rather than literature/' One
of the rules required the boys to furnish their own candles, stipulating they
should be of wax and not of tallow. For the bishop who preached against St.
Paul's school as " a home of idolatry," see Colet's letter to Erasmus, Nichols,
II. 63.
* The former is an inference from Erasmus1 statement in his account of the
visit to Walsingham, and the latter Erasmus1 plain statement in his letter to
Jonas.
§ 71. HUMANISM IN ENGLAND. 651
vigorous appeal for clerical reform.1 The text was taken from
Rom. xii : 2. " Be ye not conformed to this world but be ye re-
formed." The pride and ambition of the clergy were set forth
and their quest of preferment in Church and state condemned.
Some frequented feasts and banquetings and gave themselves
to sports and plays, to hunting and hawking.2 If priests them-
selves were good, the people in their turn would be good also.
" Our goodness," exclaimed the preacher, " would urge them
on in the right way far more efficaciously than all your sus-
pensions and excommunications. They should live a good and
holy life, be properly learned in the Scriptures and chiefly and
above all be filled with the fear of God and the love of the
heavenly life."
According to the canons of the age, the preacher went be-
yond the limits of prudence and Fitz-James, bishop of London,
cited him for trial but the case was set aside by the archbishop.
The charges were that Colet had condemned the worship of
images and declared that Peter was a poor man and enjoyed
no episcopal revenues and that, in condemning the reading of
sermons, Colet had meant to give a thrust to Fitz-James him-
self, who was addicted to that habit. Latimer, who was at
Cambridge about that time, said in a sermon some years later,
that " in those days Doctor Colet was in trouble and should
have been burned, if God had not turned the king's heart to
the contrary."
When Erasmus* Greek Testament appeared, Colet gave it
a hearty welcome. In a letter to the Dutch scholar acknowl-
edging the receipt of a copy, he expressed his regret at not
having a sufficient knowledge of Greek to read it and his de-
sire to be his disciple in that tongue. It was here he made
the prediction that " the name of Erasmus will never perish.'*
Erasmus had written to Colet that he had dipped into Hebrew
but gone no further, " frightened by the strangeness of the
1 The text in Lupton, Appendix C.
8 Lupton, p. 183, Bays Colet might aptly have referred to the case of the
archdeacon who, in the course of his visitation, went to Bridlington Priory with
97 homes, 21 dogs and 8 hawks. For Colet's description in the Hierarchies
of Dionysius of what a priest should be, see Lupton, p. 71 ; Seebohm, p. 76.
652 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
idiom and in view of the insufficiency of the human mind to
master a multitude of subjects."1 A much younger scholar
at Tubingen, Philip Melanchthon, had put his tribute to the
Novum instrumentum in Greek verse which was transmitted to
Erasmus by Beatus Rhenanus. Fox, bishop of Winchester,
pronounced the book more instructive to him than 10 com-
mentaries.
Not long before his death, Colet determined to retire to a
religious retreat at Shene, a resolution based upon his failing
health and the troubles in which his freedom of utterance had
involved him. He did not live to carry out his resolution. He
was buried in St. Paul's. It is noteworthy that his will con-
tained no benefactions to the Church or provision for masses
for his soul. Erasmus paid the high tribute to his friend, while
living, that England had not " another more pious or one who
more truly knew Christ." And, writing after Colet's death
to a correspondent, he exclaimed, " What a man has England
and what a friend I have lost!" Colet had often hearkened to
Erasmus' appeals in times of stringency.2 No description in
the Colloquies has more interest for the Anglo-Saxon people
than the description of the journey which the two friends made
together to the shrines of Thomas a Becket and of Our Lady
of Walsingham. And the best part of the description is the
doubting humor with which they passed criticism upon Peter's
finger, the Virgin's milk, one of St. Thomas' shoes and other
relics which were shown them.
Far as Colet went in demanding a reform of clerical habits,
welcoming the revival of letters, condemning the old scholastic
disputation and advocating the study of the Scriptures, it is
quite probable he would not have fallen in with the Reforma-
tion.8 He was fifty when it broke out. The best word that
can be spoken of him is, that he seems to have conformed closely
to the demand which he made of Christian men to live good
1 Nichols, I. 376, II. 287. At a later time, to take More's statement, Colet
prosecuted the study, Nichols, II. 398.
a Nichols, II. 25, 35 sqq.t 72, 258, etc.
* Gasquet : The Eve of the Reformation, p. 6, insists that the contrary view
is •« absolutely false and misleading.19
§ 71. HUMANISM IN ENGLAND. 653
and upright lives for, of a surety, he said, " to do mercy and
justice is more pleasant to God, than to pray or do sacrifice to
Him." l What higher tribute could be paid than the one paid
by Donald Lupton in his History of Modern Protestant Divines,
1637, "This great dean of St. Paul's taught and lived like
St. Paul."*
Sir Thomas More, 1478-1535, not only died in the Catholic
Church, but died a martyr's death, refusing to acknowledge the
English king's supremacy so far as to impugn the pope's author-
ity. After studying in Oxford, he practised law in London,
rising to be chancellor of the realm. It is not for us here to
follow his services in his profession and to the state, but to
trace his connection with the revival of learning and the reli-
gious movement in England. More was a pattern of a devout
and intelligent layman. He wore a hair shirt next to his skin
and yet he laughed at the superstition of his age. On taking
office, he stipulated that " he should first look to God and after
God to the king." At the same time, he entered heartily with
his close friends, Erasmus and Colet, into the construction of a
new basis for education in the study of the classics, Latin and
Greek. He was firmly bound to the Church, with the pope
as its head, and yet in his Utopia he presented a picture of an
ideal society in which religion was to be in large part a matter
of the family, and confession was not made to the priest nor
absolution given by the priest.
With the exception of the Utopia, all of More's genuine works
were religious and the most of them were controversial treatises,
intended to confute the new doctrines of the Reformation which
had found open advocates in England long before More's death.
More was beheaded in 1535 and, if we recall that Tyndale's Eng-
lish New Testament was published in 1526, we shall have a
standard for measuring the duration of More's contact with
the Protestant upheaval. Tyndale himself was strangled and
burnt to death a year after More's execution. In answer to
1 A Right Fruitful Admonition concerning the Order of a Good Christian
Man's Life. A tract by Colet reprinted in Lupton's Ltfe, p. 806 sqq., from an
ed. of 1584.
a Lupton : Life of Colet, p. 148.
654 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
Simon Fish's work, The Supplication of Beggars, a bitter attack
against purgatory, More sent forth the Supplication of Souls
or Poor Seely (simple) Souls pewled out of Purgatory. Here
souls are represented as crying out not to be left in their penal
distress by the f orgetf ulness of the living. Fish was condemned
to death and burnt, 1533. As the chief controversialist on the
old side, More also wrote against John Fryth, who was con-
demned to the stake 1533, and against Tyndale, pronouncing
his translation of the New Testament " a false English transla-
tion newly forged by Tyndale." He also made the strange
declaration that " Wyclif, Tyndale and Friar Barnes and such
others had been the original cause why the Scripture has been
of necessity kept out of lay people's hands. " l More said hereti-
cal books were imported from the Continent to England " in
vats full." He called Thomas Hylton, a priest of Kent, one of
the heretics whom he condemned to the flames, " the devil's
stinking pot. " Hyhon's crime was the denial of the five sacra-
ments and he was burnt 1530.2 As was the custom of the time,
More's controversial works abound in scurrilous epithets. H is
opponents he distinguishes by such terms as "swine," "hell-
hounds that the devil hath in his kennel," " apes that dance
for the pleasure of Lucifer," 3 In his works against Tyndale
and Fryth, he commended pilgrimages, image-worship and
indulgences. He himself, so the chancellor wrote, had been
present at Barking, 1498, when a number of relics were discov-
ered which " must have been hidden since the time when the
abbey was burnt by the infidels," and he declared that the main
1 See Gasquet : Eve of the Reform., p. 216 sqq.
a What estimate was put upon the life of a heretic in some quarters in Eng-
land may be gathered from a letter written to Erasmus, 1611, by Ammonias,
Latin secretary to Henry VIII. The writer said, he did " not wonder wood
was so scarce and dear, the heretics necessitated so many holocausts." At
the convocation of 1512, an old priest arguing for the burning of heretics re-
peated the passage louder and louder hareticttm homtnem devtta (avoid) and
explained it as if it were de vita tolli, to be removed from life, and thus turned
the passage into a positive command to execute heretics. For More's denial
of having used cruelty towards heretics, see his Engl. Works, p. 901 sqq. The
martyrologist, Foxe, pronounced More " a bitter persecutor of good men and
a wretched enemy against the truth of the Gospel."
« Dr. Lindsay in Cambr. Hint, of Engl. Lit., III. 19.
§ 71. HUMANISM IN ENGLAND. 655
thing was that " such relics were the remains of holy men, to
be had in reverence, and it was a matter of inferior import
whether the right names were attached to them or not."1
And yet, More resisted certain superstitions, as of the Fran-
ciscan monk of Coventry who publicly preached, that " whoever
prayed daily through the Psalter to the Blessed Virgin could
not be damned. " He denied the Augustinian teaching that in-
fants dying without baptism were consigned to eternal punish-
ment and he could write to Erasmus, that Hutten's Epistolce
obscurorum virorum delighted every one in England and that
44 under a rude scabbard the work concealed a most excellent
blade." 2 His intimacy with Colet and Erasmus led to an at-
tempt on the part of the monks, in 1519, to secure his conver-
sion.
More was beatified by Leo XIII., 1886, and with St. Edmund,
Bishop Fisher and Thomas a Becket is the chief English mar-
tyr whom English Catholics cultivate. He died 44 unwilling to
jeopardize his soul to perpetual damnation " and expressing the
hope that, 44 as St. Paul and St. Stephen met in heaven and were
friends, so it might be with him and his judges." Gairdner is
led to remark that " no man ever met an unjust doom in a more
admirable spirit." 8 We may concur in this judgment and yet
we will not overlook the fact that More, gentleman as he was in
ieart, seems to us to have been unrelenting to the men whom he
convicted as heretics and, in his writings, piled upon them epi-
thets as drastic as Luther himself used. Aside from this, he is
lo be accorded praise for his advocacy of the reform in edu-
cation and his commendation of Erasmus9 Greek Testament.
He wrote a special letter to the Louvain professor, Dorpius, up-
1 Gasquet : The Epe of the Reformation, p. 378.
2 Nichols, II. 428. See also Seebohm, pp. 408, 410, 470.
1 Hist, of the Engl. Church in the 16th Cent., etc., p. 160. Among the af-
"ecting scenes in the last experiences recorded of men devoted to martyrdom
was the scene which occurred on More's way to the Tower, reported by More's
Iret biographer, Roper (Lumby's ed., p. liii) . His favorite daughter, Margaret,
onging once more to show her affection, pressed through the files of halberdiers
and, embracing her father, kissed him and received his blessing. When she
was again outside the ranks of the guards, she forced her way through a sec-
ond time for a father's embrace.
656 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
braiding him for his attack upon the critical studies of Erasmus
and upon the revision of the old Latin text as unwarranted.
More's Utopia, written in Latin and published in 1516 with
a preface by Budreus, took Europe by storm. It was also called
Nusquama or Nowhere. With Plato's Republic as a precedent,
the author intended to point out wherein European society
and especially England was at fault. In More's ideal common-
wealth, which was set up on an island, treaties were observed and
promises kept, and ploughmen, carpenters, wagoners, colliers
and other artisans justly shared in the rewards of labor with
noblemen, goldsmiths and usurers, who are called the unpro-
ductive classes. u The conspiracy of the rich procuring their
own commodities under the name and title of the common-
wealth " was not allowed. In Utopia, a proper education was
given to every child, the hours of physical labor were reduced
to six, the streets were 20 feet wide and the houses backed with
gardens and supplied with fresh water. The slaughtering was
done outside the towns. All punishment was for the purpose
of reform and religion, largely a matter of family. The old
religions continued to exist on the island, for Christianity had
but recently been introduced, but More, apparently belying his
later practice as judge, declared that "no man was punished for
his religion." Its priests were of both sexes and "overseers
and orderers of worship " rather than sacerdotal functionaries.
Not to them but to the heads of families was confession made,
the wife prostrate on the ground confessing to her husband,
and the children to both parents. The priests were married.
Little did More suspect that, within ten years of the publi-
cation of his famous book, texts would be drawn from it to sup-
port the Peasants' Revolt in Germany.1 In it are stated some
of the sociological hopes and dreams of this present age. The
author was voicing the widespread feeling of his own generation
1 Cambr. Hist. ofEngl. Lit., p. 20. For an excellent summary of the Utopia,
seeSeebohm.pp. 346-366, and also W. B. Guthrie, in Socialism before the French
Bevol.y pp. 54-132, N. Y. , 1907. For the Latin edd. and Engl. transl., see Diet.
ofNatt. Biogr., p. 444. An excellent ed. of Robynson's trsl., 2d ed., 1566, was
furnished by Prof. Lumby, Cambr., 1879. The Life of More, by Roper, More's
son-in-law and a Protestant, is prefixed. Also Lupton : The Utopia, Oxf ., 1896.
A reprint of the Lat. ed., 1618, and the Engl. ed., 1661.
§ 71. HUMANISM IN ENGLAND. 657
which was harassed with laws restricting the wages of labor,
with the enclosures of the commons by the rich, the conversion
of arable lands into sheep farms and with the renewed war-
fare on the Continent into which England was drawn.1
John Fisher, who suffered on the block a few months before
More for refusing to take the oath of supremacy, and set aside
the succession of Catherine of Aragon's offspring, was 79 years
old when he died. Dean Perry has pronounced him "the
most learned, the most conscientious and the most devout
of the bishops of his day." In 1511, he recommended Erasmus
to Cambridge to teach Greek. On the way to the place of be-
headal, this good man carried with him the New Testament,
repeating again and again the words, " This is life eternal to
know Thee and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." "That
was learning enough for him," he said.
To Grocyn, Colet, More and Fisher the Protestant world
gives its reverent regard. It is true, they did not fully appre-
hend the light which was spreading over Europe. Neverthe-
less, they went far as pioneers of a more rational system of
education than the one built up by the scholastic method and
they have a distinct place in the history of the progress of
religious thought.2
In Scotland, the Protestant Reformation took hold of the nation before the
Renaissance had much chance to exercise an independent influence. John
Major, who died about 1550, wrote a commentary on the Sentences of Peter
the Lombard and is called " the last of the Schoolmen. " He is, however, a con-
necting link with the new movement in literature through George Buchanan,
his pupil at St Andrews. Major remained true to the Roman communion.
Buchanan, after being held for six months in prison as a heretic in Portugal,
returned to Scotland and adopted the Reformation. According to Professor
1 See Lumby's fntrod., p. xiv, and Guthrie, p. 96 sq.
2 There is, of course, no standing ground except that of generous toleration
as between the view taken by the author and the view of Abbot Gasquet, who
can find nothing praiseworthy in the Protestant Reformation and closes his
chapter on the Revival of Letters in England, in The Eve of the Reform., p. 46,
with the words, " What put a stop to the Humanist movement in England, as
it certainly did in Germany, was the rise of the religious difficulties which were
opposed by those most conspicuous for their championship of true learning,
scholarship and education,11 meaning Colet, Erasmus, Fisher and More. For
good remarks on the bearing of English Humanism on the Protestant move-
ment, see Seebohm, pp. 494 gqq., 610.
2u
658 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294>1517.
Hume-Brown, his Latin paraphrase of the Psalms in metre " was, until recent
years, read in Scotland in every school where Latin was taught.11 1 Knox's His-
tory of the Reformation was the earliest model of prose literature in Scotland.
1 See chapter Reformation and Renascence in Scotl., by Hume-Brown in
Cambr. Hist, of Eng. Lit., III. 160-186. For the gifted Alesius, who spent
the best part of his life as a professor in Germany, see A. F. Mitchell: The
Scottish Reformation, Edinb., 1900.
CHAPTER IX.
THE PULPIT AND POPULAR PIETY.
§ 72. Literature.
FOR §§ 73, 74. — The works of Erasmus, Colet, Tyndale, Getter of Strass-
burg and other sources quoted in the notes. — LEA : Hist, of Cler. Celibacy.
Also Hist, of Span. Inq. — Histt. of the Engl. Ch. by CAPES and GAIRDNER-
TRAILL : Social Hist, of Engl., vol. II. — SEEBOHM : Oxf. Reformers. — GAS-
QUKT: The Old Engl. Bible and Other Essay s^ond., 2ded., 1907. Also The
Eve of the Reformation, pp. 245 sqq. — CRUEL : Gesch. d. deutschen Predigt, im
MA, pp. 431-663, Detmold, 1879. — KOLDE : D. reUg. Leben in Erfurt am Aus-
i/ange d MA, 1898 — LANPMANN : D. Prfdigttum in Westphalen in d. letzten
Zeiten d. MA, pp. 25G. — SCHON : art. Predigt in Herzog, XV. 642-656. —
.1 ANHSEN-PAS TOR • Hist, of the Ger. People, vol. I. — PASTOR : Gesch. d. Papste^
I. 31 sqq., III. 133 sqq. — HEFELE-UERGENROTHER : Conciliengesch., vol.
VIII.
For§ 75. — ULLMANN : Reformers before the Reformation, 2 vols., Harab.,
1841 sq., 2ded., Gotha, 1866, Engl. trsl., 2 vols., Edinb., 1855; Also,/. Wessel,
tin Vorganger Luthers, Hamb., 1834 — GIEHELER, li., Part IV. 481-503. Copi-
ous excerpts from their writings. — HEKGENROTHER-KIRSCH, II., 1047-
1049 — JANHSEN-PASTOR : I. 745-747. — HARNACK : Dogmengesch., III. 518,
rtc.— LOOKS • Dogmengetfch., 4th ed., 655-658.— For GOCH : His De libertate
christ., etc., ed. by Corn. Graphacus, Antw., 1520-1523. — O. CLEMEN: Joh.
l^ipper von Goch, Leip., 1896 and artt. in Herzog, VI. 740-743, and in Wetzer-
Welte, VI 1678-1684. — For WESEL : his Adv. indulgentias in Waich's Monu-
menta medii aevi Gotting., 1757. — The proceedings of his trial, in JEN E AS
SYLVIUS : Commentarium de concilia Basileae and D'ARGENTR& : Col. nov.
judiciorum de erroribus novis, Paris, 1755, and BROWNE : Fasciculus, 2ded.,
Lond., 1690. —Artt. In Herzog by CLEMEN, xxi, 127-131, and Wetzer-
Welte, VI. 1786-1789.— For WESSEL: 1st ed. of his works Farrago rerum
theol., a collection of his tracts, appeared in the Netherlands about 1521,
2d ed., Wittenb., 1522, containing Luther's letter, 3d and 4th edd., Basel,
1522, 1523. Complete ed. of his works containing Life, by A. HARDENBERO
(preacher in Bremen, d. 1574), Gronlngen, 1614. — MUURLINQ : Commentatio
historico-theol. de Wesseli cum vita turn meritis, Trajectl ad Rhenum, 1831 ;
also de Wesseli principiis ac virtutibus, Amsterd., 1840. — J. FRIEDRICH,
Rom. Cath.: J. Wessel, Regensb., 1862. — Artt. Wessel in Herzog, by VAN
VEEN, zzi. 131-147, and Wetzer-Welte, XII. 1339-1343. —P. HOFSTEDK DB
GROOT : J. Wessel Ganzevoort, Gronlngen, 1871.
659
660 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
For § 76. — NICOLAB OF LYRA : Postillce sive Commentaria brevia in omnia
biblia, Rome, 1541-1543, 5 vols., Introd. — WYCLIF : De veritate scrip, sac.,
ed. by Buddensieg, 3 vols., Leipzig, 1904. — GERSON : De sensu litterali scrip:
sac, Du Pin's ed., 1728, I. 1 sqq. —ERASMUS : Introd. to Gr. Test, 1516.
— L. HAIN: Repertorium bibliographicum, 4 vols., Stuttg., 1826-1838. —
ED. REUSS, d. 1891 : D. Gesch. d. heil. Schriften X.T., 6th ed., Braunschweig,
1887, pp. 603 sqq. — F. W. FARRAR: Hist, of Interpretation, Lond., 1886, pp.
'254-303. — S. BEROBR: La Bible Franchise au moyen age, Paris, 1884. —
GASQUET : The Old Engl. Bible, etc. ; the Eve of the Reformation. — F. FALK :
Bibrtstudien, Bibelhandschriften und Bibeldrucken, Mainz, 1901 : Die Bibel
am Ausgange des MA, ihre Kenntnis und ihre Verbreitung, Col., 1905. — W.
WALTHER: D. deutschen Bibel ubersetzungen des MA, Braunschweig, 1889-
1892 —A. COPPINGER: Incunabula bibl or the First Half Cent, of the Lat.
Bible, 1450-1500, with 54 facsimiles, Lond., 1892. — The Histt. of the Engl.
Bible, by WESTCOTT, EADIE, MOULTON, KENYON, etc. — JANSSEN-PASTOR:
Gesch. des deutschen rotkes, 1.9 sqq. — BEZOLD: Gesch. der Reformation,
pp. 109 sqq. — R. SCIIMID : iV/r. of Lyra, in Herzog XII 28-30. — Artt. Bibcl-
lesen und Bibelverbot and Bibelubersetzungen in Herzog II. 700 sqq., III.
24 sqq. Other works cited in the notes.
For § 77. — I. SOURCES • Savonarola's Lat. and Ital. writings consist of
sermons, tracts, letters and a few poems. The largest collection of MSS.
and original edd. is preserved in the National Library of Florence. It con-
tains 15 edd. of the Triumph of the Cross issued in the 15th and 10th centt.
Epp. spirituals et asceticac, ed. QUETIF, Paris, 1674. The sermons were col-
lected by a friend, Lorenzo Vivoli, and published as they came fresh from
the preacher's lips. Best ed. Sermoni e Prediche, Prato, 1846. Also ed. by
G. BACCINI, Flor., 1889. A selection, ed. by VILLARI and CASANOVA . Scelta
di prediche e scritti, G. Sav., Flor., 181)8. — Germ. trsl. of 12 sermons and
the poem de ruina mundi by H. SCHOTTMULLER : Berlin, 1901, pp 132 —
A. GHERARDI : Nuovi documenti e studii intorno a Savon , 1876, 2d ed., Flor.,
1887. — The Triumph of the Cross, ed. in Lat. and Ital. by L. FKRRKTTI,
O.P , Milan, 1901. Engl. trsl. from this ed. by J. PROCTER, Lond.. 1901, pp.
209. — Exposition of Fs. LI and part of Ps. XXXII, Lat. text with Engl.
trsl. by E. H. PEROWNE, Lond., 1900, pp. 227. — Sav/s Poetry, ed. by C.
GUASTI, Flor., 1862, pp. xxii, 1864. — Rudelbach, Perrens and Viilarl give
specimens in the original — E. C. BAYONNE . (Euvres spir. choisies df Sav., 3
vols., Paris, 1880. — Oldest biographies by P. BUKLAMACCIII, d. 1519, founded
on an older Latin Life, the work of an eye-witness, ed. by Mansi, 1761 : G. F.
Pico BELLA MIRANI>OLA (nephew of the celebrated scholar of that name),
completed 1520, publ. 1530, ed. by Qu&tif, 2 vols., Paris, 1674. On these
three works, see VILLARI, Life of Rav., pp. xxvil sqq. —Also J. NARDI (a
contemporary) : Le storie delta citta di Firenze, 1404-1531, Flor., 1584 —
LUCA LANDUCCI, a pious Florentine apothecary and an ardent admirer of
Sav. : Diario Fiorentino, 1450-1516, Florence, 1883. A realistic picture of
Florence and the preaching and death of Savonarola.
II. MODERN WORKS. — For extended lit., see POTTHAST : Bill hist. med.t
II. 1564 sqq. — Lives by RUDULBACH, Hamb., 1835. —MEIER, Berl., 1836.—
K. EASE in Neue Propheten, Leip., 1861. — F. T. PERRENS, 2 vols., Paris,
§ 72. LITEBATUEE. 661
1858, 3d ed., 1859. — MADDEN, 2 vols., Lond., 1854. — PADRE V. MARCHESE,
Flor., 1865. — * PASQUALE VILLARI: Life, and Times of Savon., Flor., 1859-
1861, 2d ed., 1887, 1st Engl. trsl. by L. Homer, 2d Engl. trsL by Mrs.
Villari, Lond., 2 vols., 1888, 1 vol. ed., 1899. — RANKB in Hist, btogr. Studien,
Leip., 1877. — BAYONNE : Paris, 1879. — E. WARREN, Lond., 1881. — W.
CLARK, Prof. Trinity Col., Toronto, Chicago, 1891. — J. L. O'NEiL, O.P.:
Was Sav. really excommunicated f Host, 1900; * H. LUCAS, St. Louis, 1900.
— G. McHARDT, Edinb., 1901.— W. H. CRAWFORD : Sav.the Prophet in Men of
the Kingdom series. — * J. SGHKITZER : Quellen und Forschungen zur Gesch.
Savon., 3 vols., Munich, 1902-1904. Vol. II., Sav. und die Fruerprobe, pp.
1 75. — Also Savon, im Lichte der neuesten Lit. in Hist.-pol. Blatter, 1898-1900.
— II. RIESCH : Savon, u. s. Zeit, Leip., 1906. — ROSCOE in Life of Lorenzo the
Magnificent. — E. COMBA: Storia della riforma in Italia, Flor., 1881. — P.
SCHAFP, art. Savon, in Herzog II,, 2d ed., XIII. 421-431, and BENRATH in
3d ed., XVII. 502^513. — CREIGHTON: vol. III. — GREGOROVIUS : VII. 432
sqq. — * PASTOR : 4th ed., III. 137-148, 150-162, 396-437 : Zur Beurtheilung
Sav., pp. 79, Freib. im Br., 1896. This brochure was in answer to sharp at-
tacks upon Pastor's treatment of Savonarola in the 1st ed. of his Hist., espe-
cially those of Luotto and Feretti. — P. LUOTTO : II vero Savon, ed il Savon,
di L. Pastor, Flor., 1897, p. 620. Luotto also wrote Dello studio di scrittura
sacra secondo G. Savon. <> Leon XIII., Turin, 1896. — FERETTI : Per la causa
di Fra G. Savon., Milan, 1897. — MRS. OLIPHANT : Makers of Florence. —
GODKJN : The Monastery of San Marco, Lond., 1901. — G. BIERMANN : KrU.
Studie zur Gesch. des Fra G. Savon., Rostock, 1901. — BRIE : Savon, und d.
deutschf Lu., Breslau, 1903. — G. BONET-MAURY : Les Precurseurs de la Be-
forme et de la liberte de conscience . . . du XII' et XIIIe siecle, Paris, 1904,
contains Sketches of Waldo, Bernard of Clairvaux, Peter the Venerable,
St. Francis, Dante, Savonarola, etc. — Savonarola has been made the sub-
ject of romantic treatment by Lenau in his poem Savonarola, 1844, Geo.
Eliot in Romola, and by Alfred Austin in his tragedy, Savonarola, Lond.,
1881, with a long preface in which an irreverent, if not blasphemous, par-
allel is drawn between the Florentine preacher and Christ.
For § 78. — See citations in the Notes.
For § 79 — G. UHLIIOKN . Die christl. Liebesthdtigkeit im MA, Stuttg.,
1884. — P. A. THIKJM : Gesch. d. Wohlthdtigkeitsanstalten in Belgien, etc.,
Freib., 1887. — L. LALLBMANI>: Hint dfla chante, 3 vols., Paris, 1906. Vol.3
covers the lOth-lflth century. — T. KOLDE : Art. Britderschaften, in Herzog,
III. 434-441. — A. BLAIZE. Des monts-de-pietl et des banques de prft sur
gage, Paris, 1856. —II. HOLZAFFEL: D. An fdnge d. montes pietatis 1462-15 15,
Munich, 1903. — TOULMIN SMITH: Engl. Gilds, Lond., 1870. — THOROIJ>
ROGERS: Work and Wages, ch. XI. sqq. — W. CUNNINGHAM: Growth of
Engl. Industry and Commerce, Bk. II., ch. III. sqq. — LECKY : Hist. ofEurop.
Morals, II. — STUBBS : Const. Hist., ch. XXI. — W. VON HE YD: Gesch. d.
Levantenhandels im MA, 2 vols., Stuttg., 1879. — A rtt Aussatz and Zins u.
Wucher in Wetzer-Welte, I. 1706 sqq., XII. 1963-1976. — JANSSKN-PASTOR,
I. 451 sqq. —PASTOR : Gesch. d. Papste., III.
For § 80. — The Sources are THOMAS AQUINAS, the papal bulls of indul-
gence and treatments by WVCLIF, HUBS, WKSBEL, JOHN OF PALTZ, JAMES or
662 THE MIDDLE AGES, A.D. 1294-1617.
JttTBRBOCK, etc. Much material is given by W. KOHLER : Dokvmente zum
Ablaasstreit, Tttb., 1902, and A. SCHULTE : D. Fuggerin Rom, 2 vols., Leipz.,
1904. Vol. II contains documents. — The authoritative Cath. work is FR.
BERINGKR : Die Ablasse, for Wesen u. Gebrauch, pp. 860 and 64, 13th ed ,
Paderb., 1906.— Also NIC. PAULUS: J. Tetzd, der Ablansprediger, Mainz,
1899. —Best Prot. treatments, H. C. LEA: Hint, of Auric. Con/, and Indul-
gences in %ht Lot. C%., 3 vols., Phil., 1896. — T. BUIRGER, art. Indulgenzen
In Herzog, IX. 76-94, and Schaff-Herzog, V. 486 sqq. and D. Wesen d.
Ablasses am Ausgange d. MA^ a university address. Brieger has promised
an extended treatment in book f orm. — SCHAFF : Ch. Hist., V., I. p. 729
sqq., VI. 146 sqq.
§ 73. The Clergy.
Both in respect of morals and education the clergy, during
the period following the year 1450, showed improvement over
the age of the Avignon captivity and the papal schism. Cleri-
cal practice in that former age was so low that it was impos-
sible for it to go lower and any appearance of true religion
remain. One of the healthy signs of this latter period was
that, in a spirit of genuine religious devotion, Savonarola in
Italy and such men in Germany as Busch, Thomas Murner,
Geiler of Strassburg, Sebastian Brant and the Benedictine
abbot, Trithemius, held up to condemnation, or ridicule,
priestly incompetency and worldliness. The pictures, which
they joined Erasmus in drawing, were dark enough. Never-
theless, the clergy both of the higher and lower grades included
in its ranks many men who truly sought the well-being of the
people and set an example of purity of conduct.
The first cause of the low condition, for low it continued to
be, was the impossible requirement of celibacy. The infrac-
tion of this rule weakened the whole moral fibre of the cleri-
cal order. A second cause is to be looked for in the seizure
of the rich ecclesiastical endowments by the aristocracy as its
peculiar prize and securing them for the sons of noble par-
entage without regard to their moral and intellectual fitness.
To the evils arising from these two causes must be added the
evils arising from the unblushing practice of pluralism. No
help came from Rome. The episcopal residences of Toledo,
Constance, Paris, Mainz, Cologne and Canterbury could not
be expected to be models of domestic and religious order when
§ 73. THE CLERGY. 668
the tales of Boccaccio were being paralleled in the lives of the
supreme functionaries of Christendom at its centre.
The grave discussions of clerical manners, carried on at the
Councils of Constance and Basel, revealed the disease without
providing a cure. The proposition was even made by Cardi-
nal Zabarella and Gerson, in case further attempts to check
priestly concubinage failed, to concede to the clergy the privi-
lege of marriage.1 In the programme for a reformation of
the Church, offered by Sigismund at Basel, the concession was
included and Pius II., one of the attendants on that synod,
declared the reasons for restoring the right of matrimony to
priests to be stronger in that day than were the reasons in a
former age for forbidding it. The need of a relaxation of the
rigid rule found recognition in the decrees of Eugenius IV.,
1441, and Alexander VI., 1496, releasing some of the military
orders from the vow of chastity. Here and there, priests like
Lallier of Paris at the close of the 15th century, dared to pro-
pose openly, as Wyclif had done a century before, its full aboli-
tion. But, for making the proposal, the Sorbonne denied to
Lallier the doctorate.
In Spain, the efforts of synods and prelates to put a check
upon clerical immorality accomplished little. Finally, the
secular power intervened and repeated edicts were issued by
Ferdinand and Isabella against priestly concubinage, 1480,
1491, 1502, 1503. So energetic was the attempt at enforce-
ment that, in districts, clerics complained that the secular
officials made forcible entrance into their houses and carried
off their women companions.2 In his History of the Spanish
Inquisition, Dr. Lea devotes a special chapter to clerical solici-
tation at the confessional. Episcopal deliverances show that
the priests were often illiterate and without even a knowledge
of Latin. The prelates were given to worldliness and the
practice of pluralism. The revenues of the see of Toledo were
estimated at from 80,000 to 100,000 ducats, with patronage at
the disposal of its incumbent amounting to a like sum. A sin-
1 Lea : Cler. Celibacy, II. 25. Gerson : Dial, natures et sophice tie casti-
tate ecelesiasticorum. Du Pin's ed., II. 617-636.
1 Lea : Inq. of jfyain, I. 15 sqq.
664 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1204-1617.
gle instance must suffice to show the extent to which pluralism
in Spain was carried. Gonzalez de Mendoza, while yet a child,
held the curacy of Hita, at twelve was archdeacon of Guadala-
jara, one of the richest benefices of Spain, and retained the
bishopric of Seguenza during his successive administrations
of the archbishoprics of Seville and Toledo. Gonzalez was
a gallant knight and, in 1484, when he led the army which
invaded Granada, he took with him his bastard son, Rodrigo,
who was subsequently married in great state in the presence
of Ferdinand and Isabella to Ferdinand's niece. In 1476,
when the archbishopric of Saragossa became vacant, king
Juan II. applied to Sixtus IV. to appoint his son, Alfonzo, a
child of six, to the place. Sixtus declined, but after a spirited
controversy preserved the king's good-will by appointing the
boy perpetual administrator of the see.
In France, the bishop of Angers, in an official address to
Charles VIII. , 1484, declared that the religious orders had
fallen below the level of the laity in their morals.1 To give
a case of extravagant pluralism, John, son of the duke of
Lorraine, 1498-1550, was appointed bishop-coadjutor of Metz,
1501, entering into full possession seven years later, and, one
after the other, he united with this preferment the bishoprics
of Toul, 1517, and T6rouanne, 1518, Valence and Die, 1521,
Verdun, 1523, Alby, 1536, Macon soon after, Agen, 1541 and
Nantes, 1542. To these were added the archbishoprics of
Narbonne, 1524, Rheims, 1533, and Lyons, 1537. He also
held at least nine abbeys, including Cluny. He resigned the
sees of Verdun and Metz to a nephew, but resumed them in
1548 when this nephew married Marguerite d'Egmont.2 In
1518, he received the red hat. During the 15th century one
boy of 10 and another of 17 filled the bishopric of Geneva.
A loyal Romanist, Soeur Jeanne de Jussie, writing after the
beginning of the 16th century, testifies to the dissoluteness
of the bishops and clergy of the Swiss city and charged them
with living in adultery.8
1 For further testimonies, see Lea : Cler. Celibacy, II. 8 sqq.
a See Lea in Cambr. Mod. Hist., I. 660.
8 Quoted by Lindsay : The Reformation, II. 90. Of the Italian convent*,
Savonarola declared that the nuns had become worse than harlots.
§ 73. THE CLERGY. 665
In Germany, although as a result of the labors of the Mystics
the ecclesiastical condition was much better, the moral and in-
tellectual unfitness was such that it calls forth severe criticism
from Catholic as well as Protestant historians. The Catholic,
Janssen, says that " the profligacy of the clergy at German
cathedrals, as well as their rudeness and ignorance, was pro-
verbial. The complaints which have come down to us from
the 15th century of the bad morals of the German clergy are
exceedingly numerous." Kicker, a Protestant, speaks of " the
extraordinary immorality to which priests and monks yielded
themselves." And Bezold, likewise a Protestant, says that
"in the 15th century the worldliness of the clergy reached
a height not possible to surpass." l The contemporary, Jacob
Wimpheling, set forth probably the true state of the case.
He was severe upon the clergy and yet spoke of many excel-
lent prelates, canons and vicars, known for their piety and
good works. He knew of a German cleric who held at one
time 20 livings, including 8 canonries. To the archbishopric
of Mainz, Albrecht of Hohenzollern added the see of Hal-
berstadt and the archbishopric of Magdeburg. For his pro-
motion to the see of Mainz he paid 30,000 gulden, money
he borrowed from the Fuggers.
The bishops were charged with affecting the latest fashions
in dress and wearing the finest textures, keeping horses and
huntings dogs, surrounding themselves with servants and
pages, allowing their beards and hair to grow long, and going
about in green- and red-colored shoes and shoes punctured
with holes through which ribbons were drawn. They were
often seen in coats of mail, and accoutred with helmets and
swords, and the tournament often witnessed them entered
in the lists.3
The custom of reserving the higher offices of the Church for
the aristocracy was widely sanctioned by law. As early as
1281 in Worms and 1294 in Osnabruck, no one could be dean
who was not of noble lineage. The office of bishop and preb-
* Janssen, I. 081, 687, 708 ; Ficker, p. 27 ; Bezold, pp. 79, 83.
8 See Hefele-Hergenrbther : Con«7i>n0eacfc., VIII., under Kleidung, and
Butzbach : Satires elegiacs quoted by Janaseu, I. 685 sqq.
666 THE MIDDLB AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
end stalls were limited to men of noble birth by Basel, 1474,
Augsburg, 1475, Miinster and Paderborn, 1480, and Osna-
bruck, 1517. The same rule prevailed in Mainz, Halberstadt,
Meissen, Merseburg and other dioceses. At the beginning of
the 16th century, it was the established custom in Germany
that no one should be admitted to a cathedral chapter who
could not show 16 ancestors who had joined in the tournament
and, as early as 1474, the condition of admission to the chap-
ter of Cologne was that the candidate should show 32 mem-
bers of his family of noble birth. Of the 228 bishops who
successively occupied the 82 German sees from 1400-1517, all
but 13 were noblemen. The eight occupants of the see of
Munbter, 1424-1508, were all counts or dukes. So it was
with 10 archbishops of Mainz, 1419-1514, the 7 bishops of Hal-
berstadt, 1407-1513, and the 5 archbishops of Cologne, 1414-
1515.1 This custom of keeping the high places for men of
noble birth was smartly condemned by Geiler of Strassburg
and other contemporaries. Geiler declared that Germany was
soaked with the folly that to the bishoprics, not the more pious
and learned should be promoted but only those who, " as they
say, belong to good families." It remained for the Protes-
tant Reformation to reassert the democratic character of the
ministry.
A high standard could not be expected of the lower ranks
of the clergy where the incumbents of the high positions held
them, not by reason of piety or intellectual attainments but as
the prize of birth and favoritism. The wonder is, that there
was any genuine devotion left among the lower priesthood. Its
ranks were greatly overstocked. Every family with several
sons expected to find a clerical position for one of them and
often the member of the family, least fitted by physical quali-
fications to make his way in the world, was set apart for reli-
gion. Here again Geiler of Strassburg applied his lash of
indignation, declaring that, as people set apart for St. Velten
the chicken that had the pox and for St. Anthony the pig that
was affected with disease, so they devoted the least likely of
their children to the holy office.
1 Janssen, I. 689-690, gives a full list of these bishops.
§ 73. THE CLERGY. 667
The German village clergy of the period were as a rule not
university bred. The chronicler, Felix Faber of Ulm, in 1490
declared that out of 1000 priests scarcely one had ever seen a
university town and a baccalaureate or master was a rarity
seldom met with. With a sigh, people of that age spoke of
the well-equipped priest of "the good old times."
From the Alps to Scandinavia, concubinage was widely
practised and in parts of Germany, such as Saxony, Bavaria,
Austria and the Tirol, it was general. The region, where
there was the least of it, was the country along the Rhine.
In parts of Switzerland and other localities, parishes, as a
measure of self-defence, forced their young pastors to take
concubines. Two of the Swiss Reformers, Leo Jud and
Bullinger, were sons of priests and Zwingli, a prominent
priest, was given to incontinence before starting on his re-
formatory career. It was a common saying that the Turk of
clerical sensualism within was harder to drive out than the
Turk from the East.
How far the conscientious effort, made in Germany in the
last years of the Middle Ages to reform the convents, was
attended with success is a matter of doubt. John Busch
labored most energetically in that direction for nearly fifty
years in Westphalia, Thuringia and other parts. The things
that he records seem almost past belief. Nunneries, here
and there, were no better than brothels. In cases, they were
habitually visited by noblemen. The experience is told of
one nobleman who was travelling with his servant and stopped
over night at a convent. After the evening meal, the nuns
cleared the main room and, dressed in fine apparel, amused
their visitor by exhibitions of dancing.1 Thomas Murner
went so far as to say that convents for women had all been
turned into refuges for people of noble birth.2 The dancing
during the sessions of the Diet of Cologne, 1505, was opened
by the archbishop and an abbess, and nuns from St. Ursula's
1 Janssen, I. 720. Bezold, p. 83, certainly goes far, when he makes the un-
modified statement, that the convents were high schools of the most shameful
immorality — Hochachulen for grftuelichsten Unsittliehkeit.
a Sindjetzt allyemein Edelleute tfpital, Janssen, I. 724.
668 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
and St. Mary's, the king Maximilian looking on. Preachers,
like Geiler of Strassburg, cried out against the moral dangers
which beset persons taking the monastic vow.1 The cloistral
life came to be known as the " the compulsory vocation." As
the time of the Reformation approached, there was no lessen-
ing of the outcry against the immorality of the clergy and
convents, as appears from the writings of Ulrich von Hutten
and Erasmus.
The practice of priestly concubinage, uncanonical though
it was, bishops were quite ready to turn into a means of gain,
levying a tax upon it. In the diocese of Bamberg, a toll
of 5 gulden was exacted for every child born to a priest
and, in a single year, the tax is said to have brought in the
considerable sum of 1,500 gulden. In 1522, a similar tax
of 4 gulden brought into the treasury of the bishop of Con-
stance, 7,500 gulden. The same year, complaint was made
to the pope by the Diet of Nurnberg of the reckless lawless-
ness of young priests in corrupting women and of the annual
tax levied in most dioceses upon all the clergy without dis-
tinction whether they kept concubines or not.2 It is not sur-
prising, in view of these facts, that Luther called upon monks
and nuns unable to avoid incontinence of thought, to come
forth from the monasteries and marry. On the other hand,
it must not be forgotten that no plausible charge of incon-
tinence was made against the Reformer.
If we turn to England, we are struck with the great dearth
of contemporary religious literature, 1450-1517, as compared
with Germany.3 Few writings have come down to us from
which to form a judgment of the condition of the clergy.
Our deductions must be drawn in part from the testimonies
1 Diejungen Monchlein, he said, und Ndnnlein die du machest, die werden
JSuren und Buben. The young monks and nuns will become harlots and
rascals. I have not spoken of that custom of medheval lust, the jus primes
noctis or droit de marquette as it was called, whereby the feudal lord had the
privilege of spending the first night with all brides. Spiritual lords in South-
ern France, having domains, did not shrink, in cases, from demanding the
same privilege. Lea : Celibacy, I. 441.
» Lea, II. 59.
8 Gee and Hardy: in Documents, etc., gives only two ecclesiastical acts be-
tween 1402-1532.
§ 78. THE CLBEGY. 669
of the English Humanists and Reformers and from the records
of the visitations of monasteries and also their suppression
under Henry VIII. In a document, drawn up at the request
of Henry V. by the University of Oxford, 1414, setting forth
the need of a reformation of the Church, one of the articles
pronounced the " undisguised profligacy of the clergy to be
the scandal of the Church." l In the middle of the century,
1455, Archbishop Bourchier's Commission for Reforming the
Clergy spoke of the marriage and concubinage of the secular
clergy and the gross ignorance which, in quarters, marked
them. In the latter part of the century, 1489, the investi-
gation of the convents, undertaken by Archbishop Morton,
uncovered an unsavory state of affairs. The old abbey of
St. Albans, for example, had degenerated till it was little bet-
ter than a house of prostitution for monks. In two priories
under the abbey's jurisdiction, the nuns had been turned out
to give place to avowed courtesans. The Lollards demanded
the privilege of wedlock for priests. When, in 1494, 30
of their number were arraigned by Robert Blacater, arch-
bishop of Glasgow, one of the charges against them was their
assertion that priests had wives in the primitive Church.2
Writing at the very close of the 15th century, Colet ex-
claimed, " Oh, the abominable impiety of those miserable
priests, of whom this age of ours contains a great multitude,
who fear not to rush from the arms of some foul harlot into
the temple of the Church, to the altar of Christ, to the mys-
teries of God."8 The famous tract, the Beggar** Petition^
written on the eve of the British Reformation, accused the
clergy of having no other serious occupation than the destruc-
tion of the peace of family life and the corruption of women.4
iWilkins: Condi, III. 360-366.
2 Capes : EngL Ch. in the 14th and 15th Cento., p. 269, says that many
of the clergy were actually married.
8 Seebohm, p. 76. For Mutton's summary of the Norwich visitation, see
Traill : Social EngL, II. 467 sqq. He concludes that "if the religious did
little good, they did no harm.1' But see same volume, p. 666, for the charge
against the priests of Gloucester.
4 Froude puts the composition of this tract in 1628. The 16th complaint
runs : " Who is she that will set her hands to work to get 3 pence a day and
670 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
As for the practice of plural livings, it was perhaps as much
in vogue in England as in Germany. Dr. Sherbourne, Co*
let's predecessor as dean of St. Paul's, was a notable exam-
ple of a pluralist, but in this respect was exceeded by Morton
and Wolsey. As for the ignorance of the English clergy, it
is sufficient to refer to the testimony of Bishop Hooper who,
during his visitation in Gloucester, 1551, found 168 of 311
clergymen unable to repeat the Ten Commandments, 40 who
could not tell where the Lord's Prayer was to be found and
31 unable to give the author.1
In Scotland, the state of the clergy in pre-Ref ormation times
was probably as low as in any other part of Western Europe.2
John IV.'s bastard son was appointed bishop of St. Andrews at
16 and the illegitimate sons of James V., 1513-1542, held the
five abbeys of Holyrood, Kelso, St. Andrews, Melrose and Cold-
ingham. Bishops lived openly in concubinage and married
their daughters into the ranks of the nobility. In the marriage
document, certifying the nuptials of Cardinal Beaton's eldest
daughter to the Earl of Crawford, 1546, the cardinal called her
his child. On the night of his murder, he is said to have been
with his favorite mistress, Marion Ogilvie.
Side by side with the decline of the monastic institutions,
there prevailed among the monks of the 15th century a most
exaggerated notion of the sanctifying influence of the monastic
vow. According to Luther, the monks of his day recognized
two grades of Christians, the perfect and the imperfect. To
the former the monastics belonged. Their vow was regarded
as a second baptism which cleared those who received it from
all stain, restored them to the divine image and put them in a
class with the angels. Luther was encouraged by his superiors
to feel, after he had taken the vow, that he was as pure as a child.
This second regeneration had been taught by St. Bernard and
Thomas Aquinas. Thomas said that it may with reason be
may have at least 20 pence a day to sleep an hour with a friar, a monk or a
priest Who is she that would labor for a groat a day and may have at least
12 pence a day to be a bawd to a priest, monk or friar ?"
1 See James Gairdner in Engl. Hist. Rev., Jan., 1905.
2 Dr. Tulloch says in his Luther and other Leader* of the Reformation,
" Nowhere else had the clergy reached such a pitch of flagrant and disgraceful
§ 74. PREACHING. 671
affirmed that any one " entering religion," that is, taking the
monastic vow, thereby received remission of sins.1
§ 74. Preaching.
The two leading preachers of Europe during the last 50 years
of the Middle Ages were Jerome Savonarola of Florence and
John Geiler of Strassburg. Early in the 15th century, Gerson
was led by the ignorance of the clergy to recommend a reduc-
tion of preaching,2 but in the period just before the Reforma-
tion there was a noticeable revival of the practice of preaching
in Germany and a movement in that direction was felt in Eng-
land. Erasmus, as a cosmopolitan scholar, made an appeal for
the function of the pulpit, which went to all portions of West-
ern Europe.
In Germany, the importance of the sermon was emphasized
by synodal decrees and homiletic manuals. Such synods were
the synods of Eichsttidt, 1463, Bam berg, 1491, Basel, 1503,Meis-
sen, 1504. Surgant's noted Handbook on the Art of Preaching
praised the sermon as the instrument best adapted to lead the
people to repentance and inflame Christian love and called it
" the way of life, the ladder of virtue and the gate of para-
dise." 8 It was pronounced as much a sin to let a word from
the pulpit fall unheeded as to spill a drop of the sacramental
wine. In the penitential books and the devotional manuals of
the time, stress was laid upon the duty of attending preaching,
iniquity and the Roman Catholic religion such an utter corruption of all that is
good as in Scotland/'
i Bernard in Migne, 182 : 889, Th. Aq. Summa, II. 2, q. 189. Denifle, Luther
und Lutherthum, I. 208, makes the monstrous charge of deliberate lying and
knavery against Luther for his treatment of monkish baptism. Kolde : Denifle's
Beschimpfung M. Luthers, Leipz., 1904, pp. 33-49, shows the justice of Luther's
representations. Their truth is not affected by the statement of Joseph Ries :
DasffeistJiche Leben nach der Lehre d. hi. Bernard, p. 36, namely that Bernard
and the Church held that outside the convents there may be some who are in the
state of perfection while inside cloistral walls there may be those who are in the
imperfect state.
» Contra vanam curiositatem, Du Pin's ed., 1728, 1. 106 sqq.
• Manualecuratoruvnpredicandiprabensmodum, 1608, quoted by Janssen,
1.38.
672 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1204-1517.
as upon the mass. Those who left church before the sermon
began were pronounced deserving excommunication. Wolff's
penitential manual of 1478 made the neglect of the sermon a
violation of the 4th commandment. The efficacy of sermons
was vouched for in the following story. A good man met the
devil carrying a bag full of boxes packed with salves. Hold-
ing up a black box, the devil said that he used it to put people
to sleep during the preaching service. The preachers, he con-
tinued, greatly interfered with his work, and often by a single
sermon snatched from him persons he had held in his power
for 30 or 40 years.1
By the end of the 15th century, all the German cities and
most of the larger towns had regular preaching.3 It was a com-
mon thing to endow pulpits, as in Mainz, 1465, Basel, 14G9,
Strassburg, 1478, Constance, Augsburg, Stuttgart and other
cities. The popular preachers drew large audiences. So it was
with Geiler of Strassburg, whose ministry lasted 30 years.
10,000 are said to have gathered to hear the sermons of the
barefooted monk, Jacob Mene of Cologne, when he held forth
at Frankfurt, the people standing in the windows and crowd-
ing up against the organ to hear him. It was Mene's practice
to preach a sermon from 7-8 in the morning, and again after
the noon meal. On a certain Good Friday he prolonged his
effort five hours, from 3-8 P.M. According to Luther, towns
were glad to give itinerant monks 100 gulden for a series of
Lenten discourses.
Other signs of the increased interest felt in sermons were
the homiletic cyclopaedias of the time furnishing materials de-
rived from the Bible, the Fathers, classic authors and from the
realm of tale and story. To these must be added the plenaria,
collections from the Gospels and Epistles with glosses and
1 Wolff's and the Augsburger BetcJitbtichlein, ed. Falk, pp. 78, 87 ; Gute
Vermaninge, ed. by Bahlrnann, p. 73 ; Nicholas Ruse of Rostock as quoted by
Janssen, I. 39. Der Spiegfl de* tiiinders about 1470. See Geffcken, p. 69.
Seelentrost, 1483, etc.
9 Cruel, pp. 047, 652, closes his treatment of the German pulpit in the M. A.
with the observation that the old view, reducing the amount of preaching in
Germany in the 15th century, must be abandoned. Gruel's view is now gener-
ally accepted by Protestant writers.
§ 74. PBBACHING. 673
comments. The plenarium of Guillermus, professor in Paris,
went through 75 editions before 1500. Collections of model
sermons were also issued, some of which had an extensive cir-
culation. The collection of John Nider, d. 1439, passed through
17 editions. His texts were invariably subjected to a threefold
division. The collection of the Franciscan, John of Werden,
who died at Cologne about 1450, passed through 25 editions.
John Herolt's volume of Sermons of a Disciple — Sermones
disripuli — went through 41 editions before 1500 and is com-
puted to have had a circulation of no less than 40,000 copies.1
One of the most popular of the collections called Parati ser-
mones — The Ready Mans Sermons — appeared anonymously.
Its title was taken from 1 Peter 4 : 6, "ready — paratus — to
judge the quick and the dead " and Ps. 119 : 60, " I made
haste [ready] and delayed not to observe thy commandments."
In setting forth the words " Be not unwise but understanding
what the will of the Lord is" the author says that such wisdom
is taught by the animals. 1. By the lion who brushes out his
paw-prints with his tail so that the hunter is thrown off the
track. So we should with penance erase the marks of our sins
that the devil may not find us out. 2. The serpent which
closes both ears to the seducer, one ear with his tail and the
other by holding it to the ground. Against the devil we
should shut our ears by the two thoughts of death and eternity.
3. The ant from which we learn industry in making provision
for the future. 4. A certain kind of fish which sucks itself
fast to the rock in times of storm. So we should adhere closely
to the rock, Christ Jesus, by thoughts of his passion and thus
save ourselves from the surging of the waves of the world.
Such materials show that the homiletic instinct was alert and
the preachers anxious to catch the attention of the people and
impart biblical truth.
The sermons of the German preachers of the 15th century
were written now in Latin, now in German. The more famous
of the Latin sermonizers were Gabriel Biel, preacher in Mainz
and then professor in Tubingen, d. 1495, and Jacob Jiiterbock,
1383-1465, Carthusian prior in Erfurt and professor in the
* Janssen, 1 : 43.
2x
674 THE MIDDLE AGES, A.D. 1294-1617.
university in that city.1 Among the notable preachers who
preached in German were John Herolt of Basel, already men-
tioned; the Franciscan John Gritsch whose sermons reached
26 editions before 1500; the Franciscan, John Meder of Basel
whose Lenten discourses on the Prodigal Son of the year 1494
reached 36 editions and Ulrich Krafft, pastor in Ulm, 1500 to
1516, and author of the two volumes, The Spiritual Battle and
Noah's Ark.
More famous than all others was Geiler of Strassburg,
usually called from his father's birthplace, Geiler of Kaisers-
berg, born in Schaffhausen, 1445, died in Strassburg, 1510.
He and his predecessor, Bertholdt of Regensburg, have the
reputation of being the most powerful preachers of mediaeval
Germany. For more than a quarter of a century he stood in
the cathedral pulpit of Strassburg, the monarch of preachers
in the North. After pursuing his university studies in Frei-
burg and Basel, Geiler was made professor at Freiburg, 1476.
His pulpit efforts soon made him a marked man. In accept-
ing the call as preacher in the cathedral at Strassburg, he
entered into a contract to preach every Sunday and on all fes-
tival and fast days. He continued to fill the pulpit till within
two months of his death and lies interred in the cathedral
where he preached.8
44 The Trumpet of Strassburg," as Geiler was called, gained
his fame as a preacher of moral and social reforms. He ad-
vocated no doctrinal changes. Called upon, 1500, to explain
his public declaration that the city councillors were 44 all of
the devil," he issued 21 articles demanding that games of
chance be prohibited, drinking halls closed, the Sabbath and
festival days observed, the hospitals properly cared for and
monkish mendicancy regulated.
1Ullman : Reformers, etc., I. 229 sqq., classes him with the Reformers be-
fore the Reformation, and chiefly on the basis of his tract, De septem ecclesia
statibus.
a Lives of Geiler by Abb6 L. Dacheux, 1876, and Lindemann, 1877. For
earlier biographies by Beatus Rhenanus, etc , see Lorenzi, I. 1. Getter's
sermons have been issued by Dacheux • Die <e*ten ffchrijten G.'a, Freib.,
1882, and by Ph. de Lorenzi, 4 vols., Treves, 1881-1883, with a Life, See also
Cruel, Deutsche Prfdigt, pp. 538-676 ; H. Hering : Lehrbueh for Homiletik,
p. 81 sq., and Kawerau, in Herzog VI. 427-432, Janssen, I. 136 §qq.
§ 74. PREACHING. 675
He was a preacher of the people and now amused, now stung
them, by anecdotes, plays on words, descriptions, proverbs,
sallies of wit, humor and sarcasm.1 He attacked popular fol-
lies and fashions and struck at the priests " many of whom
never said mass," and at the convents in which u neither reli-
gion nor virtue was found and the living was lax, lustful, dis-
solute and full of all levity."'2 Mediasval superstition he
served up to his hearers in good doses. He was a firm be-
liever in astrology, ghosts and witches.
Geiler's style may seem rude to the polite age in which we
live, but it reached the ear of his own time. The high as
well as the low listened. Maximilian went to hear Geiler
when he was in Strassburg. No one could be in doubt about
the preacher's meaning. In a series of 65 passion sermons,
he elaborated a comparison between Christ and a ginger cake
— the German Lebkuchen. Christ is composed of the bean
meal of the deity, the old fruit meal of the body and the wheat
meal of the soul. To these elements is added the honey of
compassion. He was thrust into the oven of affliction and is
divided by preachers into many parts and distributed among
the people. In other sermons, he compared perfect Christians
to sausages.
In seven most curious discourses on Der Hase im Pfeffer —
an idiomatic expression for That's the Rub — based on Prov.
30 : 26, " The coney is a weak folk," he made 14 comparisons
between the coney and the good Christian. The coney runs
better up hill than down, as a good Christian should do.
The coney has long ears as also a Christian should have, espe-
cially monastics, attending to what God has to say. The coney
must be roasted; and so must also the Christian pass through
the furnace of trial. The coney being a lank beast must be
cooked in lard, so also must the Christian be surrounded with
love and devotion lest he be scorched in the furnace. In
1 A remarkable specimen of his power to play on words is given in his use
of the word A/e, monkey, which he applied to ten different classes of the
devil's dupes. See Cruel, p. 643. Bischof, bishop, he derived from Beiss-schctf
— bite-sheep — because prelates bit the sheep instead of taking them to
pasture.
* Kawerau, VI. 428.
676 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
64 discourses, preached two years before his death, Geiler
brought out the spiritual lessons to be derived from ants and
in another series he elaborated the 25 sins of the tongue. In
a course of 20 sermons to business men, he depicted the six
market days and the devil as a pedler going about selling
his wares. He preached 17 sermons on the lion in which the
king of beasts was successively treated as the symbol of the
good man, the worldly man, Christ and the devil; 12 of these
sermons were devoted to the ferocious activities of the devil.
A series on the Human Tree comprised no less than 163 dis-
courses running from the beginning of Lent, 1495, to the close
of Lent, 1496.
During the last two years of the 15th century, Geiler
preached 111 homilies on Sebastian Brant's Ship of Fools —
Narren-schijf — all drawn from the text Eccles. 1 : 15 as it reads
in the Vulgate, "the fools are without number." Through
Geiler's intervention Brant had been brought to Strassburg
from Basel, where he was professor. His famous work, which
is a travesty upon the follies of his time, employed the figure
of a ship for the transport of his fools because it was the
largest engine of transportation the author knew of. Very
humorously Brant placed himself in the moderator's chair
while all the other fools were gathered in front of him. He
himself took the role of the Book-fool. Among other follies
which are censured are the doings of the mendicants, the
traffic in relics and indulgences and the multiplication of bene-
fices in single hands.1 Geiler's homilies equal Brant's poetry
in humor. Both were true to life. No preacher of the Mid-
dle Ages held the popular ear so long as Geiler of Strassburg
and no popular poet, not even Will Langland, more effectu-
ally wrote for the masses than Sebastian Brant.
In this period, the custom came to be quite general to preach
from the nave of the church instead of from the choir railing.
Preachers limited their discourses by hour-glasses, a custom
later transplanted to New England.3 Sermons were at times un-
iSeeLorenzi, II. 1-321.
3 Cruel, quoting Surgant, p. 635. Erasmus, Praise of Folly, p. 05, speaks of
the preacher " spending his glass in telling pleasant stories.1'
§ 74. PREACHING. 677
duly extended. Gerhard Groote sometimes preached for three
hours during Lent and John Gronde extended some of his dis-
courses to six hours, mercifully, however, dividing them into
two parts with a brief breathing-spell between, profitable as
may well be surmised alike to the preacher and the hearers.
Geiler, who at one time had been inclined to preach on without
regard to time, limited his discourses to a single hour.
The criticisms which preachers passed upon the customs of
the day show that human nature was pretty much the same
then as it is now and that the " good old times " are not to be
sought for in that age. All sorts of habits were held up to
ridicule and scorn. Drunkenness and gluttony, the dance and
the street comedy, the dress of women and the idle lounging of
rich men's sons, usury and going to church to make a parade
were among the subjects dwelt upon. Again and again, Geiler
of Strassburg returned to the lazy sons of the rich who spent
their time in retailing scandals and doing worse, more silly in
their dress than the women, fops who " thought themselves
somebody because their fathers were rich." He also took spe-
cial notice of women and their fripperies. He condemned their
belts, sometimes made of silk and adorned with gold, costing as
much as 40 or 50 gulden, their padded busts and their extensive
wardrobes, enabling them to wear for a week at a time two dif-
ferent garments each day and a tliird one for a dancing party
or the play. He launched out against their long hair, left to
fall down over the back and crowned with ribbons or small caps
such as the men wore. As examples of warning, Absalom and
Holofernes were singled out, the former caught by his hair in
the branches of the tree and Holofernes ensnared by the adorn-
ments of J udith. Geiler called upon the city authorities to
come to the help of society and the preacher and legislate
against such evils.1
Another preacher, Hollen, condemned the long trails which
women wore as "the devil's wagon," for neither men nor angels
1 See Cruel's chapter on pulpit polemics, pp. 617-629 and Janssen, 1. 440 sqq.
A preacher in Ulm, John Capistran, about 1460, was put by the aldermen in
the lock-up for his excessive vehemence in condemning the prevailing luxury in
dress and other questionable social customs.
678 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
but only the devil has a caudal appendage. As for dancing,
especially the round dances, the devil was the head concert-
master at such entertainments and the higher the dancers
jumped, the deeper their fall into hell and, the more firmly they
held on to each other with their hands, the more closely did the
devil tighten his hold upon them. Dancing was represented
by the preachers as an occasion of much profligacy.
In ridiculing the preaching of his day, Erasmus held forth
the preachers' ignorance, their incongruous introductions,
their use of stories from all departments without any discrimi-
nation, their old women's tales and the frivolous topics they
chose — anile* fabulce et questiones frivolce. A f am ous passage
in which the great scholar disparages the preaching of the
monks and friars begins with the words: —
All their preaching is mere stage-playing, and their delivery the very trans-
ports of ridicule and drollery. Good Lord! how inimical are these gestures 1
What heights and falls in their voice ! What toning, what bawling, what sing-
ing, what squeaking, what grimaces, making of mouths, apes1 faces, and dis-
torting of their countenance ; and this art of oratory as a choice mystery, they
convey down by tradition to one another.1
Erasmus deserves credit for discerning the need of the times,
and recommending the revival of the practice of preaching and
the mission of preachers to the heathen nations. His views
were set forth in the Ecclesiastes or Preacher, a work written
during the Freiburg period and filling 275 pages,2 each double
the size of the pages of this volume. The chief purpose of
preaching he defined to be instruction. Every preacher is a
herald of Christ, who was himself the great preacher. The
office of preaching is superior in dignity to the office of kings.
" Among the charisms of the Spirit, none is more noble and effi-
cacious than preaching. To be a dispenser of the celestial phi-
losophy and a messenger of the divine will is excelled by no
office in the Church." It is quite in accord with Erasmus' high
regard for the teaching function, that he magnifies the instruc-
tional element of the sermon. Writing to Sapidus, 1516, he
said, " to be a schoolmaster is next to being a king." 8
* Praise of Folly, 141 sqq. * Basel, ed. 1540, pp._643-917.
• Nichols : Erasmus' Letters, XL 285.
§ 74. PREACHING. 679
Of the English pulpit, there is little to say. We hear of
preaching at St. Paul's Cross and at other places, but there is
no evidence that preaching was usual. No volumes of English
sermons issued from the printing-press. Colet is the only Eng-
lish preacher of the 15th century of historical importance.
The churchly counsel given to priests to impart instruction
to the people, issued by the Lambeth synod of 1281, stands
almost solitary. In 1466, Archbishop Nevill of York did no
more than to repeat this legislation.
In Scotland the history of the pulpit begins with Knox.
Dr. Blaikie remarks that, for the three centuries before the
Reformation, scarcely a trace of Christian preaching can be
found in Scotland worthy the name. The country had no
Wyclif, as it had no Anselrn.1 Hamilton and Wishart, Knox's
immediate forerunners, were laymen.
The Abbe* Dr. Gasquet in a chapter on A Forgotten English Preacher in his
Old Eng. Bible and other Essays gives extracts from the MS. sermon of Thomas
Brim Ion, Bishop of Rochester, 1372-1389. After saying that we know very
little about medieval preaching in England, Dr. Gasquet, p. 54, remarks that
it is perhaps just as well, as the sermons were probably dull and that " the
modern sermon " has to be endured as a necessary evil. In his chapter on
Teaching and Preaching, pp. 244-284, in his Eve of the Reformation, the same
author returns to the subject, but the chapter itself gives the strongest evidence
of the literary barrenness of the English Church in the closing years of the
Middle Ages and the dearth of preaching and public instruction. By far the
larger part of the chapter, pp 254-280, is taken up with quotations from Sir
Thomas More, the tract Dives and Pauper and other tracts, to show that the
doctrine of the worship of images and saints was not taught in its crass form
and with a statement of the usefulness of miracle-plays as a means of popu-
lar religious instruction. Dr. Gasquet lays stress upon the " simple instruc-
tion " given by the English priesthood in the Middle Ages as opposed to formal
sermons which he confesses " were probably by no means so frequent as in these
times. He makes the astounding assertion, p 245, that religious instruction
as a means of social and moral improvement was not one of the primary aims
of the Reformation. The very opposite is proved by the efforts of Luther,
Calvin and Knoz to secure the establishment of schools in every hamlet and
the catechisms which the two former prepared and the numerous catechisms
prepared by their fellow Reformers. And what of their habit of constant
preaching ? Luther preached day after day. One of the first signs of the
Reformation in Geneva was that St. Pierre and St. Gervaise were opened for
preaching daily. Calvin incorporated into his ecclesiastical polity as one of
the orders the ministry, the teaching body.
1 W. G. Blaikie : The Preachers of Scotland, p. 86.
680 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
§ 75. Doctrinal Reformers.
A group of theologians appeared in Northwestern Germany
who, on the one hand, were closely associated by locality and
training with the Brothers of the Common Life and, on the
other, anticipated the coming age by the doctrinal reforms
which they proposed. On the latter account, John of Goch,
John of Wesel and Wessel of Gansfort have been properly
classed with Wyclif and Huss as Reformers before the Refor-
mation.1 Erasmus has no place at their side for, with his satire
on ceremonies and church conditions, the question is always
raised of his sincerity. Savonarola suggested no doctrinal
changes. Among the new views emphasized by one or all of
these three men were the final authority of the Scriptures, the
fallibility of the pope, the sufficiency of divine grace for sal-
vation irrespective of priestly mediation, and the distinction
between the visible and the invisible Church. However, but
for the Protestant Reformation, it is not probable their voices
would have been heard beyond the century in which they
lived.
John Pupper, 1400-1475, usually called John of Goch from
his birthplace, a hamlet on the lower Rhine near Cleves, seems
to have been trained in one of the schools of the Brothers of
the Common Life, and then studied in Cologne and perha]>s
in Paris. He founded a house of Augustinians near Mecheln,
remaining at its head till his death. His writings were not
published till after the beginning of the Reformation. He
anticipated that movement in asserting the supreme authority
of the Bible. The Fathers are to be accepted only so far as
they follow the canonical Scriptures. In contrast to the
works of the philosophers and the Schoolmen, the Bible is a
1 This group of men forms the subject of Ullmann's notable work The Re-
formers before the Reformation published in 1841. He followed Flariua,
Walch and others before him who had treated them as precursors of the Refor-
mation. Hase : Kirchengesch., II. 551 ; Kostlin : Leben Luthers, I. 13 ; Funk,
p. 882, and others still hold to this classification. Loofs : Dogmengtsch., p. 668,
takes another view and says " they were not Reformers before the Reforma-
tion, nevertheless they bear witness that, in the closing years of the Middle
Ages, the preparation made for the Reformation was not merely negative."
Janssen, 1. 745, treats them as followers of HUBS.
§ 75. DOCTRINAL REFORMERS. 681
book of life ; theirs, books of death.1 He also called in ques-
tion the merit of monastic vows and the validity of the dis-
tinction between the higher and lower morality upon which
monasticism laid stress. What is included under the higher
morality is within the reach of all Christians and not the
property of monks only. He renounced the Catholic view of
justification without stating with clearness the evangelical
theory."2
John Ruchrath von Wesel, d. 1481, attacked the hierarchy
and indulgences and was charged on his trial with calling in
question almost all the distinctive Roman Catholic tenets.
He was born in Oberwesel on the Rhine between Mainz and
Coblentz. He taught at the University of Erfurt and, in
1458, was chosen its vice-rector. Luther bore testimony to
his influence when he said, " I remember how Master John
Wesalia ruled the University of Erfurt by his writings
through the study of which I also became a master."8 Leav-
ing Erfurt, he was successively professor in Basel and cathe-
dral preacher in Mainz and Worms.
In 1479, Wesel was arraigned for heresy before the Inqui-
sition at Mainz.4 Among the charges were that the Scriptures
are alone a trustworthy source of authority ; the names of the
predestinate are written in the book of life and cannot be
erased by a priestly ban ; indulgences do not profit ; Christ is
not pleased with festivals of fasting, pilgrimages or priestly
celibacy ; Christ's body can be in the bread without any
change of the bread's substance : pope and councils are not
to be obeyed if they are out of accord with the Scriptures ;
1 Goch's words are Sola scriptura canonica fldem indubiam et irrefragabilem
habet auctoritatem. The writer in Wetzer-Welte concedes Goch's deprecia-
tion of the Schoolmen and of Thomas Aquinas in particular, whom at one
point Goch calls a prince of error — princeps erroris.
2 Ullinann, I. 91, 140 sqq., asserts that Goch stated the doctrine of justifi-
cation by faith alone. Clemen and the writer in Wetzer-Welte modify this
judgment. Walch, as quoted by TJllmann, p. 160, gives 9 points in which
Goch anticipated the Reformation.
8 Catholic writers like Funk, p. 390, Wetzer-Welte and Janssen, I. 740,
speak of Wesel as one of the false teachers of the Middle Ages and find many
of the doctrines of the Reformation in his writings.
* For detailed account of the trial, Ulhnan, I. 883-405.
682 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
he whom God chooses will be saved irrespective of pope and
priests, and all who have faith will enjoy as much blessedness
as prelates. Wesel also made the distinction between the
visible and the invisible Church and defined the Church as
the aggregation of all the faithful who are bound together
by love — collectio omnium fidelium caritate copulatorum. In
his trial, he was accused of having had communication with
the Hussites. In matters of historical criticism, he was also
in advance of his age, casting doubt upon some of the state-
ments of the Athanasian Creed, abandoning the application of
the term Catholic to the Apostles' Creed and pronouncing the
addition of the filioque clause — and from the Son — unwar-
ranted. The doctrines of indulgences and the fund of merit
he pronounced unscriptural and pious frauds. The elect are
saved wholly through the grace of God — tola Dei gratia sal-
vantur electi.
At the request of Diether of Isenburg, archbishop of Mainz,
the Universities of Cologne and Heidelberg sent delegates to
the trial. The accused was already an old man, leaning on
his staff, when he appeared before the tribunal. Lacking
strength to stand by the heretical articles, he agreed to submit
"to mother Church and the teachings of the doctors." A
public recantation in the cathedral followed, and his books
were burnt.1 These punishments were not sufficient to ex-
piate his offence and he was sentenced to imprisonment for
life in the Augustinian convent of Mainz, where he died.
Among Wesel's reported sayings, which must have seemed
most blasphemous to the devout churchman of the time, are
the following: " The consecrated oil is not better than the oil
used for your cakes in the kitchen." " If you are hungry, eat.
You may eat a good capon on Friday." " If Peter established
fasting, it was in order that he might get more for his fish "
on fast days. To certain monastics, he said, " Not religion "
(that is, monastic vows) "but God's grace saves," reliyionullum
salvat ted gratia Dei.
1 During his trial, Wesel acknowledged the following writings as his: 1 , Super
modo obligattonls legum hvmanarum ad quemdam Nicolaum de Bohemia. 2, De
potestateecdes. 3, De jejuniis. 4, De indulgentiis.
§ 75. DOCTRINAL REFORMERS. 683
A still nearer approach to the views of the Reformers was
made by Wessel Gansfort, commonly called John Wessel,1 born
in Groningen, 1420, died 1489. In his Preface to Weasel's
writings, 1522, Luther said, "If I had read Wessel earlier, my
enemies might have said that Luther drew everything from
Wessel, so well do our two minds agree." Wessel attended
school at Z wolle, where he met Thomas a Kempis of the neigh-
boring convent of Mt. St. Agnes. The story ran that when
Thomas pointed him to the Virgin, Wessel replied, " Father,
why did you not rather point me to Christ who calls the heavy-
laden to himself ? " He continued his studies in Cologne, where
he took Greek and Hebrew, in Heidelberg and in Paris. He
declined a call to Heidelberg. In 1470, we find him in Rome.
The story went that, when Sixtus IV. invited him to follow
the common custom of visitors to the Vatican and make a re-
quest, the German student replied that he would like to have
a Hebrew or Greek manuscript of the Bible from the Vatican.
The pope, laughing, said, "Why did you not ask for a bishopric,
you fool ? " Wessel's reply was " Because I do not need it."
Wessel spent some time in Basel, where he met Reuchlin.
In 1473, the bishop of Utrecht wrote that many were seeking
his life and invited him back to Holland. His last years, from
1474 on, Wessel spent with the Brothers of the Common Life
at Mt. St. Agnes, and in the nuns' convent at Groningen.
There, in the place of his birth, he lies buried. His last words
were, "I know no one save Jesus, the Crucified."
Wessel enjoyed a reputation for great learning. He escaped
arraignment at the hands of the Inquisition, but was violently
attacked after his death in a tract on indulgences, by Jacob
Hoeck, Dean of Naaldwyk. None of Wessel's writings were
published till after the outbreak of the Reformation. Al-
though he did not reach the doctrine of justification by faith,
he declared that pope and councils may err and he defined the
Church to be the communion of the saints. The unity of the
Church does not lie in the pope — unitas ecclesice sub uno papa
1 The name " John " is disputed by Muurling and Wetzer-Welte and shown
by PauliM to be a mistake. Gansfort, or Goesevort, was the name of the vil-
lage from which the family came.
684 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
tantum accidentalis est, adeo ut non sit necessaria. He laid
stress upon the faith of the believer in partaking of the eucha-
rist or, rather, upon his hunger and thirst after the sacrament.
But he did not deny the sacrifice of the mass or the validity
of the communion under one kind. He gave up the judicial
element in priestly absolution.1 There is no such thing as
works of supererogation, for each is under obligation to do all
he can and to do less is to sin. The prerogative of the keys
belongs to all believers. Plenary indulgences are a detestable
invention of the papacy to fill its treasury.
In 1522, a Dutch lawyer, von Hoen, joining with other
Netherlanders, sent Luther a copy of some of Weasel's writ-
ings.2 In the preface which the Reformer wrote for the Wit-
tenberg edition, he said that, as Elijah of old, so he had felt
himself to be the only one left of the prophets of God but he
had found out that God had also had his prophets in secret
like Wessel.
These three German theologians, Goch, Wesel and Wessel,
were quietly searching after the marks of the true Church and
the doctrine of justification by faith in Christ alone. With-
out knowing it, they were standing on the threshold of the
Reformation.
§ 76. Girolamo Savonarola.
Ecce gladius Domini super terrain cito et velociter.
In the closing decade of the 15th century the city of Florence
seemed to be on the eve of becoming a model municipality, a
pattern of Christian morals, a theocracy in which Christ was
acknowledged as sovereign. In the movement looking towards
this change, the chief actor was Jerome Savonarola, prior of the
1 See Ritschl : The Christian Doctr. of Justification and Reconciliation.
Edinb. ed.t p. 481 sq.
2 In a letter accompanying the gift, Honius wrote that the words " This is
ray body " meant ** This represents my body." For Luther's reply, see Ktfst-
lin : Luther* Leben, I. 701. For the 1st edd. of Weasel's woiks, see Doedes,
pp. 435, 442. Doedes in Studien u. Kritiken, for 1870, p. 409, asks, " Who
in the latter half of the 16th cent, had so much genuine faith and evangelical
knowledge as this man who was always the scholar of the Lord Jesus Christ
and nothing else ? "
SAVONAROLA
§ 76. GIEOLAMO SAVONAROLA. 685
Dominican convent of St. Mark's, the most imposing preacher
of the Middle Ages and one of the most noteworthy preachers
of righteousness since St. Paul. Against the dark moral back-
ground of his generation he appears as a broad sheet of northern
light with its coruscations, mysterious and protentous, but also
quickly disappearing. His message was the prophet's cry, " Who
shall abide the day of His coming and who shall stand when He
appeareth ? "
Savonarola, born in Ferrara Sept. 21, 1452, died in Florence
May 28, 1498, was the third of seven children. Choosing his
grandfather's profession, he entered upon the study of medicine,
from which he was turned away by a deepening impression of the
corruption of society and disappointment at the refusal of a family
of Strozzi, living at Ferrara, to give him their daughter in mar-
riage. At the age of 23, he secretly left his father's house and
betook himself to Bologna, where he assumed the Dominican
habit. Two days after his arrival in Bologna, he wrote thus to
his father explaining the reason of his abrupt departure.
I could not endure any longer the wickedness of the blinded peoples of Italy.
Virtue I saw despised everywhere and vices exalted and held in honor. With
great warmth of heart, I made daily a short prayer to God that He might re-
lease me from this vale of tears. * Make known to me the way,' I cried, * the
way in which I should walk for I lift up my soul unto Thee,1 and God in His
infinite mercy showed me the way, unworthy as I am of such distinguishing
grace.1
He begged his father to console his mother and referred him
to a poem by his pen on the contempt of the world, which he
had left among his papers. In this letter and several letters to
his mother, which are extant, is shown the young monk's warm
affection for his parents and his brothers and sisters.
In the convent, the son studied Augustine and Thomas
Aquinas and became familiar with the Scriptures, sections of
whicli he committed to memory. Two copies of the Bible are
extant in Florence, containing copious notes in Savonarola's
own handwriting, made on the margin, between the printed lines
t The translation is from Schottinuller, pp. 2, 3, This writer gives two of
Savonarola's letters to his mother.
686 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
and on added leaves.1 After his appointment as provincial, he
emphasized the study of the Bible in Hebrew and Greek.
In 1481, he was sent to Florence, where he became an inmate
of St. Mark's. The convent had been rebuilt by Cosimo de
Medici and its walls illuminated by the brush of Fra Angelico.
At the time of Savonarola's arrival, the city was at the height
of its fame as a seat of culture and also as the place of light-
hearted dissipation under the brilliant patronage of Lorenzo the
Magnificent.
The young monk's first efforts in the pulpit in Florence were
a failure. The congregation at San Lorenzo, where he preached
during the Lenten season, fell to 25 persons. Fra Mariano da
Gennazzano, an Augustinian, was the popular favorite. The
Dominican won his first fame by his Lenten sermons of 1486,
when he preached at Brescia on the Book of Revelation. He
represented one of the 24 elders rising up and pronouncing judg-
ments upon the city for its wickedness. In 1489, he was invited
back to Florence by Lorenzo at the suggestion of Picodella Mir-
andola, who had listened to Savonarola's eloquence at Reggio.
During the remaining nine years of his life, the city on the Arno
was filled with Savonarola's personality. With Catherine of
Siena, he shares the fame of being the most religious of the figures
that have walked its streets. During the first part of this short
period, he had conflict with Lorenzo and, during the second, with
Alexander VI., all the while seeking by his startling warnings
and his prophecies to bring about the regeneration of the city
and make it a model of civic and social righteousness. From
Aug. 1, 1490, when he appeared in the pulpit of St. Mark's, the
people thronged to hear him whether he preached there or in
the cathedral. In 1491, he was made prior of his convent. To
preaching he added writings in the department of philosophy
and tracts on humility, prayer and the love of Jesus. He was
of middle height, dark complexion, lustrous eyes dark gray in
color, thick lips and aquiline nose. His features, which of them-
i The one, the Vulgate printed in Basel, 1401, the other in Venice, 1402. See
Luotto : Dello Studio, etc. This author draws a parallel between Leo XIII.'s
commendation of the study of the Bible and Savonarola's emphasis upon it as
the seat of authority.
§ 76. GIBOLAMO SAVONAROLA. 687
selves would have been called coarse, attracted attention by the
serious contemplative expression which rested upon them, and
the flash of his eye.
Savonarola's sermons were like the flashes of lightning and
the reverberations of thunder. It was his mission to lay the
axe at the root of dissipation and profligacy rather than to
depict the consolations of pardon and communion with God.
He drew more upon the threatenings of the divine wrath than
upon the refreshing springs of the divine compassion. Tender
descriptions of the divine love and mercy were not wanting in
his sermons, but the woes pronounced upon the sinf ulness of his
time exceeded the gentle appeals. He was describing his own
method, when he said, " I am like the hail. Cover thyself
lest it come down upon thee, and strike thee. And remember
that I said unto thee, Cover thy head with a helmet, that is
clothe thyself with virtue and no hail stone will touch thee." l
In the time of his greatest popularity, the throngs waited
hours at the doors of the cathedral for the preacher's arrival
and it has been estimated by Villari, that audiences of 10,000
or 12,000 hung on his discourses. Like fields of grain under
the wind, the feelings of his audiences were swayed by the
preacher's voice. Now they burned with indignation: now
they were softened to tears. " I was overcome by weeping and
could not go on." So wrote the reporter while taking down
a sermon, and Savonarola himself felt the terrible strain of his
efforts and often sank back into his seat completely exhausted.
His message was directed to the clergy, high and low, as well as
to the people and the flashes of his indignation often fell upon
the palace of Lorenzo. The clergy he arraigned for their greed
of prebends and gold and their devotion to outer ceremonies
rather than to the inner life of the soul. Florence he addressed
in endearing terms as the object of his love. " My Florence,"
he was wont to exclaim. Geneva was no more the city of
Calvin or Edinburgh of Knox than was Florence the city of
1 Sermon, March 14, 1498. Schottraliller, p. 111. Roeooe : Life of Lorenzo^
ch. VIII., says : "The divine word from the lips of Savonarola, descended
not amongst his audience like the dews of heaven. It was the piercing hail,
the sweeping whirlwind, the destroying sword."
688 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1204-1517.
Savonarola. Portraying the insincerity of the clergy, he
said: —
In these days, prelates and preachers are chained to the earth by the
lovaof earthly things. The care of souls is no longer their concern.
They are content with the receipt of revenue. The preachers preach to
please princes and to be praised by them. They have done worse. They
have not only destroyed the Church of God. They have built up a new
Church after their own pattern. Go to Rome and see I In the mansions
of the great prelates there is no concern save for poetry and the oratorical
art. Go thither and see ! Thou shall find them all with the books of the
humanities in their hands and telling one another that they can guide
mens' souls by means of Virgil, Horace and Cicero. . . . The prelates
of former days had fewer gold mitres and chalices and what few they
possessed were broken up and given to relieve the needs of the poor. But
our prelates, for the sake of obtaining chalices, will rob the poor of their
sole means of support. Dost thou not know what I would tell thee!
What doest thou, O Lord 1 Arise, and come to deliver thy Church from
the hands of devils, from the hands of tyrants, from the hands of iniqui-
tous prelates.1
Dizzy flights of fancy abounded in Savonarola's discourses
and took the place of calm and logical exposition. On the
evening before he preached his last sermon in Advent, 1492,
Savonarola beheld in the middle of the sky a hand holding a
sword with the inscription, Behold the sword of the Lord will
descend suddenly and quickly upon the earth — Ecce gladiu*
Domini super terrain cito et velociter. Suddenly the sword
was turned toward the earth, the sky was darkened, swords,
arrows and flames rained down. The heavens quaked with
thunder and the world became a prey to famine and death.
The vision was ended by a command to the preacher to make
these things known. Again and again, in after years did he
refer to this prophetic vision.2 Its memory was also preserved
by a medal, representing on one side Savonarola and on the
other a sword in the heavens held by a hand and pointing to a
city beneath.
The inscription on the heavenly sword well represents the
* Villari, 1. 183 sqq.
2 So Nov. 1, 1494, etc. See Schottmuller, p. 28 sqq. The motto, ctto et
velociter, was repeated to Savonarola by the Virgin in hia vision of heaven,
1496.
§ 76. GIROLAMO SAVONAROLA. 689
style of Savonarola's preaching. It was impulsive, pictorial,
eruptive, startling, not judicial and instructive. And yet it
made a profound impression on men of different classes.
Pico della Mirandola the elder has described its marvellous
effect upon himself. On one occasion, when he announced as
his text Gen. 6 : 17, " Behold I will bring the flood of waters
upon the earth," Pico said he felt a cold shudder course through
him, and his hair, as it were, stand on end. One is reminded
of some of the impressions made by the sermons of Christ-
mas Evans, the Welsh preacher, and the impression made by
Whitefield's oratory upon Lord Chesterfield and Franklin.
But the imagery of the sermon, brilliant and weird as it was,
is no sufficient explanation of the Florentine preacher's power.
The preacher himself was burning with religious passion. He
felt deeply and he was a man of deep devotion. He had the
eye of the mystic and saw beneath the external and ritual to
the inner movements of spiritual power.
The biblical element was also a conspicuous feature of his
preaching. Defective as Savonarola's exegesis was, the bibli-
cal element was everywhere in control of his thought and de-
scriptions. His famous discourses were upon the ark, Exodus,
and the prophets Haggai, Ezekiel, Amos and Hosea, and John's
Revelation. He insisted upon the authority of Scripture. " I
preach the regeneration of the Church," he said, u taking the
Scriptures as my sole guide." l
Another element which gave to Savonarola's sermons their
virility and power was the prophetic element. Savonarola was
not merely the expounder of righteousness. He claimed to be
a prophet revealing things which, to use his own words, " are
beyond the scope of the knowledge which is natural to any
creature. " This element would have been a sign of weakness,
if it had not been associated with a great personality, bent on
noble ends. The severity of his warnings was often so fearful
1 Rudelbach, pp. 333-346, presents an elaborate statement of Savonarola's
attitude to the Bible, and quotes from one of his sermons on the Exodus thus:
" The theologians of our time have soiled everything by their unseemly dispu-
tations as with pitch. They do not know a shred of the Bible, yea, they do not
even know the names of its books."
2y
690 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
that the preacher himself shrank back from delivering them.
On one occasion, he spent the entire night in vigils and prayer
that he might be released from the duty of making known a mes-
sage, but in vain. The sermon, he then went forth to preach,
he called a terrific sermon.
Savonarola's confidence in his divine appointment to be the
herald of special communications from above found expression
not only from the pulpit but was set forth more calmly in two
works, the Manual of Revelations,!^^ and & Dialogue concern-
ing Truth and Prophecy, 1497. The latter tract with a number
of Savonarola's sermons were placed on the Index. In the for-
mer, the author declared that for a long time he had by divine
inspiration foretold future things but, bearing in mind the
Saviour's words, " Give not that which is holy unto the dogs,"
he had practised reserve in such utterances. He expressed his
conception of the office committed to him, when he said, " The
Lord has put me here and has said to me, ' I have placed thee
as a watchman in the centre of Italy . . . that thou mayest hear
my words and announce them,' " Ezek. 3 : 17. If we are in-
clined to regard Savonarola as having made a mistake in claim-
ing prophetic foresight, we easily condone the mistake on the
ground of his impassioned fervor and the pure motives by which
he was animated. To his prophecies he applied Christ's own
words, that no jot or tittle should fail till they were fulfilled.
None of his messages was more famous than the one he re-
ceived on his visit to paradise, March, 1495. Before starting
on his journey, a number of ladies offered to be his companions.
Philosophy and Rhetoric he declined. Accepting the company
of Faith, Simplicity, Prayer and Patience, he was met on his
way by the devil in a monk's garb.1 Satan took occasion to
present to him objections against the supernatural character of
his predictions. Savonarola ought to have stopped with preach-
ing virtue and denouncing vices and left prophecy alone. A
prophet was always accredited by miracles. True prophets were
holy men and the devil asked Savonarola whether he felt he
had reached a high grade of saintliness. He then ventured to
i Lucas, pp. 66-61, gives a translation of the interview. Also Perrens, II.
167-177.
§ 76. GIBOLAMO SAVONAROLA. 691
show that Savonarola's prophecies had not al ways been fulfilled.
By this time they had arrived at the gates of paradise where
prudently Satan took his leave. The walls of paradise — so
Savonarola described them — were of diamonds and other pre-
cious stones. Ten banners surmounted them inscribed with
the prayers of Florence. Hierarchies and principalities ap-
peared on every side. With the help of angels, the visitor
mounted a ladder to the throne of the Virgin who gave him a
crown and a precious stone and then, with Jesus in her arms,
supplicated the Trinity for Savonarola and the Florentines.
Her request was granted and the Florentines promised an era of
prosperity preceded by a period of sorrows. In this new time,
the city would be more powerful and rich than ever before.
The question arises whether Savonarola was a genuine
prophet or whether he was self-deluded, mistaking for the
heated imaginations of his own religious fervor, direct commu-
nications from God.1 Alexander VI. made Savonarola's " silly
declaration of being a prophet" one of the charges against
him.2 In his Manual of Revelations, Savonarola advanced four
considerations to prove that he was a true prophet — his own
subjective certainty, the fulfilment of his predictions, their re-
sult in helping on the cause of moral reform in Florence and
their acceptance by good people in the city. His prophecies,
he said, could not have come from astrology for he rejected it,
nor from a morbid imagination for this was inconsistent with
his extensive knowledge of the Scriptures, nor from Satan for
Satan hated his sermons and does not know future events.
For us, the only valid test is historical fact. Were Sa-
vonarola's prophecies fulfilled ? The two prophecies, upon
whose fulfilment stress is laid, were the political revolution in
Florence, which occurred, and the coming of Charles VIII.
from across the Alps. Savonarola saw in Charles a Cyrus
whose advent would release Florence from her political bond-
1 Luotto asserts that the dilemma is presented of the genuineness of Savon-
arola's predictions or downright imposture and he boldly supports the former
view. Pastor, Villari, Lucas and others show that we are not narrowed down
to this dilemma.
8 In his first letter to Savonarola July 21, 1495. See the text in O'Neil, p. 10
sqq. Savonarola's reply, p. 26 sqq.
692 THB MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
age and introduce an era of civil freedom. He also predicted
Charles' subsequent re treat. Commines, who visited Savonarola
in the convent of St. Mark's after the trials which followed
Charles1 advent in Italy had begun, went away impressed with
the friar's piety and candor, and declared that he predicted
with certainty to him and to the king, "things which no one
believed at the time and which have all been fulfilled since." 1
On the other hand, such solemn prognostications failed of
fulfilment, as the extension of Florentine dominion even to
the recovery of Pisa, made May 28, 1495, and the speedy con-
version of the Turks and Moors, made May 3, 1495. The
latter purported to be a revelation from the Virgin on his visit
to paradise. Where a certain number of solemn, prophetic
announcements remained unfulfilled, it is fair to suspect that
the remainder were merely the predictions of a shrewd ob-
server watching the progress of events. Many people trusted
the friar as a prophet but, as conditions became more and
more involved, they demanded with increasing insistence
that he should substantiate his prophetic claim by a miracle.
Even the predictions which came true in part, such as the
coming of Charles VIII. across the Alps, received no ful-
filment in the way of a permanent improvement of condi-
tions, such as Savonarola expected. The statement of Prof.
Bonet-Maury expresses the case well. Savonarola's prophetic
gift, so-called, was nothing more than political and religious
intuition.2 Some of his predictions were not in the line of
what Christian prophecies might be expected to be, such as
the rehumiliation of Pisa. The Florentines felt flattered by
the high honor which the prophet paid to their city, and his
1 Villari I. 355 and Bonet-Maury, p. 232.
2 This is the view of Lucas, pp. 61) sq., Pastor, Creighton, III. 248, who
pronounces " the prophetic claims a delusion,17 arid Villari. The last author
says, I. 352 sqq., " Is it not possible that Savonarola was intoxicated by the
feeling that the earlier predictions had been fulfilled, and, as the difficulty of
maintaining his position in Florence in the last years of his life increased, he
felt forced to appeal more and more to this endowment as though it were
real ? " Rudelbach gives a long chapter to Savonarola's prophecies, pp. 281-
833. Pastor discusses Savonarola's alleged prophetic gift thoroughly in his
Oesch. d. Papstc, III. 145 sqq., and in refutation of Luotto in his Zur Beur-
theilung.
§ 76. GIROLAMO SAVONAROLA. 698
predictions of her earthly dominion as well as heavenly glory.
In liis Manual of Revelations he exclaims, "Whereas Florence
is placed in the midst of Italy, like the heart in the midst of
the body, God has chosen to select her, that she may be the
centre from which this prophetic announcement should be
spread abroad throughout all Italy."
No scene in Savonarola's career excels in moral grandeur and
dramatic interest his appearance at the death-bed of Lorenzo
the Magnificent, in 1492. History has few such scenes to offer.
When it became apparent to the brilliant ruler of the Floren-
tine state that his days were numbered, he felt unwilling to
face the mysteries of death and the future without the absolu-
tion priestly prerogative pretends to be competent to confer.
Savonarola and Lorenzo loved Florence with an equal love,
though the one sought its glory through a career of righteous-
ness and the other through a career of worldly dominion and
glittering culture. The two leaders found no terms of agree-
ment. Lorenzo had sought to win the preacher by personal
attention and blandishments. He attended mass at St. Mark's.
Savonarola held himself back as from an elegant worldling
and the enemy of the liberties of Florence. " You see," said
Lorenzo, "a stranger has come into my house, yet he will not
stoop to pay me a visit." " He does not ask for me; let him
go or stay at his pleasure," replied the friar to those who told
him that Lorenzo was in the convent garden.
Five influential citizens of Florence called and suggested
to the friar that he modify his public utterances. Recogniz-
ing that they had come at Lorenzo's instance, he bade them
tell the prince to do penance for his sins, for the Lord is no
respecter of persons and spares not the mighty of the earth.
Lorenzo called upon Fra Mariano to publicly take Savonarola
to task. This he did from the pulpit on Ascension Day, 1491.
Lorenzo himself was present, but the preacher's charges over-
shot the mark, and Savonarola was more popular than ever.
The prior of St. Mark's exclaimed, "Although lam a stranger
in the city, and Lorenzo the first man in the state, yet shall I
stay here and it is he who will go hence."
When the hour of death approached, Lorenzo was honest
694 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
with himself. In vain did the physician, Lazzaro of Pavia,
resort to the last medical measure, a potion of distilled gems.
Farewell was said to Pico della Mirandola and other literary
friends, and Lorenzo gave his final counsels to his son, Piero.
The solemn rites of absolution and extreme unction were all
that remained for man to receive from man. Lorenzo's con-
fessor was within reach but the prince looked to St. Mark's.
44 1 know of no honest friar save this one," he exclaimed. And
so Savonarola was summoned to the bedside in the villa
Careggi, two miles from the city. The dying man wanted to
make confession of three misdeeds: the sack of Vol terra, the
robbery of Monte delle Fanciulle and the merciless reprisals
after the Pazzi conspiracy. The spiritual messenger then pro-
ceeded to present three conditions on which his absolution
depended. The first was a strong faith in God's mercy. The
dying man gave assent. The second was that he restore his
ill-gotten wealth, or charge his sons to do it. To this assent
was also given. The third demand required that he give back
to Florence her liberties. To this Lorenzo gave no response
and turned his face to the wall. The priest withdrew and,
in a few hours, April 8, 1492, the ruler of Florence passed into
the presence of the omnipotent Judge who judgeth not accord-
ing to the appearance but according to the heart and whose
mercy is everlasting.
The surmisal has been made that, if Savonarola had been
less rigid, he might have exercised an incalculable influence
for good upon the dying prince who was still susceptible of
religious impressions.1 But who can with probability conjec-
ture the secrets of the divine purpose in such cases ? Per-
1 So Pastor, HI. 141. The account given of Lorenzo's interview with
Savonarola is based upon Burlamacchi and Mirandola. Poll ti an, in a letter
to Jacopo Antiquario, gave a different account of the three demands and made
no mention of Savonarola's demand that Florence be restored her liberties.
He also added that Savonarola left the room pronouncing upon the dying man
a blessing. Polltian's version is accepted by Roscoe, ch. X., Creighton, III.
296-299 and Lucas, 83 sq. The version given above is accepted by Villari,
168 sqq., W. Clark, p. 116, and the rigid critic Hase, p. 20. Ranke did not see
his way clear to deny its truth and Reumont, II. 443, who denied it in the
1st ed. of his Lorenzo de' Medici, hesitates in the 2d ed. Pastor proceeds upon
the basis oi its truth but expresses doubt in a note.
§ 76. GIBOLAMO SAVONAROLA. 695
haps, Savonarola's relentless demands awakened in Lorenzo a
serious impression showing itself in a cry to God for absolu-
tion, while the extreme unction of the priest might have lulled
the dying man's conscience to sleep with a false sense of secur-
ity. At any rate, the influence of the friar of St. Mark's with
the people increased.
During the years, beginning with 1494, Savonarola's ascen-
dancy was at its height and so cold a witness as Guicciardini
reports his influence as extraordinary. These years included
the invasion of Charles VIII., the banishment of the Medici
from Florence and the establishment of a theocratic govern-
ment in the city.
" He will come across the Alps against Italy like Cyrus ,"
Savonarola had prophesied of the French king, Charles VIII.
And, when the French army was approaching the confines of
Florence, he exclaimed, " Behold, the sword has come upon
you. The prophecies are fulfilled, the scourge begun! Behold
these hosts are led of the Lord ! O Florence, the time of sing-
ing and dancing is at an end. Now is the time to shed floods
of tears for thy sins."
Florence listened eagerly. Piero de' Medici went to the
French camp and yielded to the king's demand for 200,000
florins, and the cession of Pisa, Leghorn and Sarzana. But
Savonarola thundered and pled from the pulpit against the
Medicean house. The city decreed its banishment and sent
commissioners to Charles, with Savonarola among them. In
his address, which is preserved, the friar reminded his Majesty
that he was an instrument sent by the Lord to relieve Italy of
its woes and to reform the Church. Charles entered Florence
but, moved by Savonarola's intercession, reduced the tribute
to 120,000 florins and restrained the depredations of the French
soldiery. The king also seems to have listened to the friar's
stern words when he said to him, " Hearken unto the voice of
God's servant and pursue thy journey onward without delay."
When Charles, after sacking Rome and occupying Naples,
returned to Northern Italy, Savonarola wrote him five letters
threatening that, if he did not do for Florence the things about
which he had spoken to him, God's wrath would be poured out
696 THE MIDDLES AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
upon his head. These things were the recognition of the lib-
erties of Florence and the return of Pisa to her dominion. In
his letter of May 25, 1495, bidding Charles favor the city of
Florence, he asserted, " God has chosen this city and deter-
mined to magnify her and raise her up and, whoso toucheth
her, toucheth the apple of His eye." Certainly, from the
standpoint of the welfare of Italy, the French invasion was
not of Providential origin. Although the banners of his army
were inscribed with the words Voluntas Dei — the Will of God
— and Missus Dei — the legate of God — Charles was bent on
territorial aggrandizement and not on breaking the bonds of
civic despotism.
The time had now come to realize in Florence Savonarola's
ideal of government, a theocracy with Christ at its head. The
expulsion of the Medici made possible a reorganization of the
state and the new constitution, largely a matter of Savonarola's
creation, involved him inextricably in civic policies and the war
of civic factions. However, it should not be forgotten that his
municipal constitution secured the commendation of Guicci-
ardini and other Italian political writers. It was a proof of
the friar's remarkable influence that, at his earnest advice, a
law was passed which prevented retaliatory measures against
the followers of the Medici. Landucci wrote in his diary that,
but for Savonarola, the streets would have been bathed in blood.
In his great sermons on Haggai, during the Advent season of
M94, and on the Psalms in 1495, Savonarola definitely em-
barked as a pilot on the political sea. " The Lord has driven
my bark into the open ocean," he exclaimed from the pulpit.
Remonstrating with God for imposing this duty upon him, he
declared, * I will preach, if so I must, but why need I meddle
with the government of Florence.' And the Lord said, 4 If
thou wouldst make Florence a holy city, thou must establish
her on firm foundations and give her a government which
cherishes righteousness.' Thus the preacher was committed.
He pronounced from the pulpit in favor of virtue as the foun-
dation of a sound government and democracy as its form.
" Among northern nations," he affirmed, where there is great
strength and little intellect, and among southern nations where
§ 76. GIKOLAMO SAVONAROLA. 697
there is great intellect and little strength, the rule of a single
despot may sometimes be the best of governments. But in
Italy and, above all in Florence, where both strength and in-
tellect abound, — where men have keen wits and restless spirits,
— the government of the one can only result in tyranny."
In the scheme, which he proposed, he took for his model the
great council of Venice, leaving out its head, the doge, who was
elected for life. The great council of Florence was to consist
of, at least, 1500 men, who had reached the age of 29, paid their
taxes and belonged to the class called beneficiati, that is, those
who held a civil office themselves or whose father, grandfather,
or great-grandfather had held a civil office. A select council
of 80 was to be chosen by it, its members to be at least forty
years of age. In criminal cases, an appeal from a decision of
the signory was allowed to the great council, which was to
meet once a week and to be a voting rather than a deliberative
body.
The place of the supreme doge or ruler, Savonarola gave to
God himself. u God alone," he exclaimed from the pulpit,
" God alone will be thy king, O Florence, as He was king of
Israel under the old Covenant. " " Thy new head shall be Jesus
Christ," — this was the ringing cry with which he closed his
sermons on Haggai. Savonarola's recent biographer, Villari,
emphasizes " the masterly prudence and wisdom shown by him
in all the fundamental laws he proposed for the new state." He
had no seat in the council and yet he was the soul of the en-
tire people.1
In the last chapter of his career, Savonarola was pitted against
Alexander VI. as his contestant. The conflict began with the
demand made by the pope July 25, 1495, that Savonarola pro-
ceed to Rome and answer charges. Then followed papal in-
hibitions of his preaching and the decree of excommunication,
and the conflict closed with the appointment of a papal com-
mission which condemned Savonarola to death as a heretic.
Alexander's order, summoning the friar to Rome, was based
1 One of Savonarola's propositions was to levy taxes on real property alone
and, it seems, he was not averse to taxing Church property. Landucci, p. 1 19 ;
Villari, I. 269,298; II. 81.
698 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
on his announcement that his predictions of future events came
by divine revelation.1 At the same time, the pope expressed
his great joy over the report that of all the workers in the
Lord's vineyard, Savonarola was the most zealous, and he prom-
ised to welcome him to the eternal city with love and fraternal
affection. Savonarola declined the pontiff's summons on the
ground of ill-health and the dangers that would beset him on
the way to Rome. His old rival in the pulpit, Fra Mariano
de Gennazzano, and other enemies were in Rome intriguing
against him, and the Medici were fast winning the pope's favor.
Alexander's first letter inhibiting him from preaching, Sept.
9, 1495, condemned Savonarola's insane folly in mixing up with
Italian political affairs and his announcement that he was a
special messenger sent from God. In his reply Savonarola
answered the charges and, at the invitation of the signory, con-
tinued to preach. In his third brief, Oct. 16, 1495, the pontiff
forbade him to preach openly or in private. Pastor remarks,
" It was as clear as the sun that Savonarola was guilty of rank
disobedience to the papal authority." 2
For five months, the friar held himself aloof in his convent
but, Feb. 17, 1496, at the call of the signory to preach the
Lenten sermons, he again ascended the pulpit. He took the
bold position that the pope might err. " The pope," lie said,
"may command me to do something that contravenes the law
of Christian love or the Gospel. But, if he did so command,
I would say to him, thou art no shepherd. Not the Roman
Church, but thou errest." From that time on, he lifted his
voice against the corruptions of the papal city as he had not
done before. Preaching on Amos 4 : 1, Feb. 28, 1496, he ex-
claimed, " Who are the fat kine of Bashan on the mountains
of Samaria ? I say they are the courtesans of Italy and Rome.
Or, are there none ? A thousand are too few for Rome, 10,000,
12,000, 14,000 are too few for Rome. Prepare thyself, O Rome,
for great will be thy punishments."8
1 See the document in Lucas, p. 180, and O'Neil, p. 0 sq. The original in
Budelbach.
3 Zur Beurtheilung, p. 66. Pastor is refuting Luotto's position.
1 The Italian text in Perrens, I. 471 sq. The sermons of this period were
on Amos, Zachariah, Micah and Ruth. According to Burlamaccbi, the sul-
tan had some of them translated into Turkish. Villari, II. 87.
§ 76. GIHOLAMO SAVONAROLA. 699
Finding threats would not stop Savonarola's mouth, Alex-
ander resorted to bribery, an art in which he was well skilled.
Through a Dominican sent to Florence, he offered to the friar
of St. Mark's the red hat. But Alexander had mistaken his
man and, in a sermon delivered August, 1496, Savonarola de-
clared that neither mitres nor a cardinal's hat would he have,
but only the gift God confers on His saints —death, a crim-
son hat, a hat reddened with blood. Lucas, strangely enough,
ascribes the offer of the red hat, not to vicious shrewdness but
to the alleged good purpose of Alexander to show his appre-
ciation of "an earnest but misguided man."
The carnival season of 1496 and the seasons of the next two
years gave remarkable proofs of the hold Savonarola had on
the popular mind. The carnival, which had been the scene of
wild revelries, was turned into a semi-religious festival. The
boys had been accustomed to carry their merriment to rude
excesses, forcing their demands for money upon older persons,
dancing around bonfires at night and pelting people and houses
promiscuously with stones. For this "festival of the stones,"
which the signory had been unable to abolish Savonarola and
his co-helpers substituted a religious celebration. It was called
the reform of the boys. Savonarola had established boys' brig-
ades in different wards of the city and arranged tiers of seats
for them against the walls of the cathedral. These " boys of
Fra Girolaino," as Landucci calls them, marched up and down
the streets singing hymns which Savonarola and Benivieni
composed and taking their places at stands, erected for the
purpose, received collections for the poor.
On the last day of the carnival of 1497, occurred the burn-
ing of the vanities, as it was called. The young men, who
had been stirred to enthusiasm by Savonarola's sermons, went
through the city, knocking from door to door and asking the
people to give up their trinkets, obscene books such as Ovid
and Boccaccio, dice, games of chance, harps, mirrors, masks, cos-
metics and portraits of beautiful women, and other objects of
luxury. These were piled up in the public square in a pyra-
mid, 60 feet high and 240 feet in circumference at the base.
The morning of that day, throngs listened to the mass said
700 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1204-1617.
by Savonarola. The young men went in procession through
the streets and reaching the pile of vanities, they with others
joined hands and danced around the pile and then set fire to
it amid the singing of religious songs. The sound of bells
and trumpets added to the effect of the strange spectacle.
Men thought of the books and philters, burnt at Ephesus
under the spell of Paul's preaching. The scene was repeated
the last year of Savonarola's life, 1498.
Savonarola has been charged with having no sympathy with
the Renaissance and the charge it is not easy to set aside. As
Burckhardt, the historian of that movement, says, he remained
a monastic. In one writing, he sets forth the dangers of litera-
ture. Plato and Aristotle are in hell. And this was the judg-
ment expressed in the city of the Platonic Academy ! Virgil
and Cicero he tolerated, but Catullus, Ovid and Terence he
condemned to banishment.1
At one time, under the spell of the prior's preaching, all
Florence seemed to be going to religion. Wives left their
husbands and betook themselves to convents. Others mar-
ried, taking the vow of nuptial abstinence and Savonarola
even dreamed that the city might reach so perfect a condition
that all marrying would cease. People took the communion
daily and young men attended mass and received the euchar-
istic emblem. Fra Bartolomeo threw his studies of naked
figures into the fire and for a time continued to think it
sinful to use the hands in painting which ought to be folded
continually in prayer. It was impossible that such a tension
should continue. There was enthusiasm but not regenera-
tion. A reaction was sure to come and the wonder is that
Savonarola retained so much of the popular confidence, almost
to the end of his life.
Alexander would have none of the Florentine reforms and
was determined to silence Savonarola at any cost Within the
city, the air was full of rumors of plots to restore the Medici
and some of the conspirators were executed. Enemies of the
republic avowed their purpose to kill Savonarola and circu-
lated sheets and poems ridiculing and threatening him. In-
1 Die Kultur d. Renaissance, II. 200 eq.
§ 76. GIBOLAMO SAVONAROLA. 701
suiting placards were posted up against the walls of his convent
and, on one occasion, the pulpit of the cathedral was defiled
with ordure and draped in an ass' skin, while spikes were
driven into the place where the preacher was accustomed to
strike his hand. Landucci speaks of it as a "great scandal."
Assassins even gathered in the cathedral and were only cowed
by guards posted by the signory. The friar of St. Mark's
seemed not to be appalled. It was ominous, however, that the
signory became divided in his support.
If possible, Savonarola became more intense in his arraign-
ment of the evils of the Church. He exclaimed: " O prostrate
Church, thou hast displayed thy foulness to the whole earth.
Thou hast multiplied thy fornications in Italy, in France, in
Spain and all other regions. Thou hast desecrated the sacra-
ments with simony. Of old, priests called their bastards
nephews, now they call them outright sons." Alexander
could not mistake the reference nor tolerate such declama-
tions. The integrity of the supreme seat of Christendom
was at stake. A prophetic function superior to the papacy
Eugenius III. might recognize, when it was administered in
the admonitions of a St. Bernard, but the Florentine prophet
hud engaged in denunciation even to personal invective. The
prophet was losing his balance. On May 12, 1497, for "his
failure to obey our Apostolic admonitions and commands " and
as " one suspected of heresy " Alexander declared him excom-
municate. All were forbidden to listen to the condemned man
or have converse with him.1
In a letter addressed a month later " to all Christians, the
elect of God," Savonarola again affirmed his readiness to yield
to the Church's authority, but denied that he was bound to
submit to the commands of his superiors when these were in
conflict with charity and God's law. " Henceforth," exclaimed
the Puritan contemporary, Landucci, " we were deprived of the
Word of God." The signory wrote to Alexander in support
of Savonarola, affirming his purity of character and soundness
of doctrine, and friends, like Pico della Mirandola the younger,
issued defences of his conduct. The elder Pico della Miran-
i The bull is given by Villari, II. 189 sq. ; Pastor, III. 411 sq.
702 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
dola and Politian, both of whom had died a year or two before,
showed their reverence for Savonarola by assuming the Do-
minican garb on their death-beds.
At this time, Savonarola sent forth his Triumph of the Cross,
in which were set forth the verity and reasonableness of the
Catholic faith.1 After proving from pure reason God's exist-
ence and the soul's immortality, the work proceeds to expound
the Trinity, which is above man's reason, and articles of the
Apostles' Creed, and to set forth the superior excellency of the
lives of Christians, on which much stress is laid. It closes
with a confutation of Mohammedanism and other false forms
of religion.
Savonarola kept silence in the pulpit and refrained from the
celebration of the sacrament until Christmas day of 1497, when
he celebrated the mass at St. Mark's three times. On the llth
of February, he stood again in the pulpit of the duomo. To
a vast concourse he represented the priest as merely an instru-
ment of the Almighty and, when God withdraws His presence,
prelate and pope are but as " a broken iron tool." "And, if a prel-
ate commands what is contrary to godly living and charity, he
is not only not to be obeyed but deserves to be anathema." On
another occasion, he said that not only may the pope be led into
error by false reports but also by his own badness, as was the
case with Boniface VIII. who was a wicked pope, beginning his
pontificate like a fox and ending it like a dog.2 Many, through
reverence for the Church, kept away from Savonarola's preach-
ing from this time on. Among these was the faithful Landucci,
who says, " whether justly or unjustly, I was among those who
did not go. I believed in him, but did not wish to incur risk
by going to hear him, for he was under sentence of excommuni-
cation." Savonarola's enemies had made the words of Gregory
the Great their war-cry, Sententia pastoris sivejusta sive unjusta
timenda est. — " The sentence of the shepherd is to be respected,
whether it be just or unjust." 8 His denunciations of the cor-
1 Published in 1497, both in Latin and Etruscan, the Etruscan translation
being by Savonarola himself.
* Pastor: Beurthetlung, p. 71 sqq. ; Villari, II. 262.
• See Schnitzer : Feuerprobe, p. 144.
§ 76. GIBOLAMO SAVONAROLA. 708
ruption prevailing in the Church became more bold. The ton-
sure, he cried,
is the seat of all iniquity. It begins in Rome where the clergy make mock of
Christ and the saints ; yea, are worse than Turks and worse than Moors. They
traffic in the sacraments. They sell benefices to the highest bidder. Have not
the priests in Rome courtesans and grooms and horses and dogs ? Have they
not palaces full of tapestries and silks, of perfumes and lackeys ? Seemeth it,
that this is the Church of God?
Every Roman priest, he said, had his concubine. No longer
do they speak of nephews but of their sons and daughters.
Savonarola even sought to prove from the pulpit that the papal
brief of excommunication proceeded from the devil, inasmuch
as it was hostile to godly living.
It was becoming evident that the preacher was fighting a los-
ing battle. His assaults against the morals of the clergy and
the Vatican stirred up the powers in the Church against him ;
his political attitude, factions in Florence. His assertions, deal-
ing more and more in exaggerations, were developing an expect-
ant and at the same time a critical state of mind in the people
which no religious teacher could permanently meet except
through the immediate and startling intervention of God. He
called heaven to witness that he was "ready to die for His God "
and invited God to send him to the fires of hell, if his motives
were not pure and his work inspired. On another occasion, he
invoked the Lord to strike him dead on the spot, if he was not
sincere. Landucci reports some of these wild protestations
which he heard with his own ears.
One weapon still remained to the pope to bring Savonarola to
terms, — the interdict. This he threatened to fulminate over
Florence, unless the signory sent this " son of the evil one " to
Rome or cast him into prison. In case the first course was pur-
sued, Alexander promised to treat Savonarola as a father would
treat a son, provided he repented, for he u desired not the death
of a sinner but that he might turn from his way and live." l
He urged the signory not to allow Savonarola to " be as the fly
in the milk, disturbing its relations with Rome " or " to toler-
ate that pernicious worm fostered by their warmth."
1 See Alexander's letters in Perrons, 1. 481-485 ; Pastor, III. 418 sq. O'Neil
finds no room for them.
704 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
Through epistolary communications and legates, the signory
continued its attempts to remove Alexander's objections and
protect Savonarola. But, while all the members continued to
express confidence in the friar's purity of motive, the majority
came to take the position that it was more expedient to silence
the preacher than to incur the pope's ban. At the public meet-
ing, called by the signory March 9, 1498, to decide the course
of action to be taken, the considerations pressed were those of
expediency. The pope, as the vicar of Christ, has his authority
directly from God and ought to be obeyed. A second consider-
ation was the financial straits of the municipality. A tenth was
needed and this could only be ordered through the pope. Some
proposed to leave the decision of the matter to Savonarola him-
self. He was the best man the world had seen for 200 years.
Others boldly announced that Alexander's letters were issued
through the machinations of enemies of Florence and the cen-
sures they contained, being unjust, were not to be heeded. 1 On
March 17, 1498, the signory's decision was communicated to Sa-
vonarola that he should thenceforth refrain from preaching
and the next day he preached his last sermon.
In his last sermon, Savonarola acknowledged it as his duty
to obey the mandate. A measure had been worked out in his
mind which was the last open to a churchman. Already had
he hinted from the pulpit at the convention of a general coun-
cil as a last resort. The letters are still extant which he
intended to send to the kings of Spain, England, France, Ger-
many and Hungary, calling upon them to summon a council.
In them, he solemnly declared that Alexander was no pope.
For, aside from purchasing his office and from his daily sale
of benefices, his manifest vices proved him to be no Christian.
The letters seem never to have been received. Individuals,
however, despatched preliminary communications to friends
at the different courts to prepare the way for their appeal.2
One, addressed to Charles VIII. , was intercepted at Milan
1 See Schnitzer : Feuerprobe, p. 88 sqq.
3 For the originals, see Perrens, 1. 487-492. Excerpts are given by Villari,
II. 292 sq. See also Hase, p. 59, Creighton, III. 287. Of the genuineness of
the letters, Villari says there can be no doubt.
§ 76. GIROLAMO SAVONAROLA. 705
and sent to the pope. Alexander now had documentary proof
of the Florentine's rebellion against papal authority. But
suddenly a wholly unexpected turn was given to the course
of events.
Florence was startled by the rumor that resort was to be
had to ordeal by fire to decide the genuineness of Savonarola's
claims.1 The challenge came from a Franciscan, Francesco
da Puglia, in a sermon at S. Croce in which he arraigned the
Dominican friar as a heretic and false prophet. In case Sa-
vonarola was not burnt, it would be a clear sign that Florence
was to follow him. The challenge was accepted by Fra
Domenico da Pescia, a monk of St. Mark's and close friend of
Savonarola's, a man of acknowledged purity of life. He took
his friend's place, holding that Savonarola should be reserved
for higher things. Francesco da Puglia then withdrew and
a Franciscan monk, Julian Rondinelli, reluctantly took his
place. Savonarola himself disapproved the ordeal. It was
an appeal to the miraculous. He had never performed a mir-
acle nor felt the importance of one. His cause, he asserted,
approved itself by the fruits of righteousness. But to the
people, as the author of Romola has said, "the fiery trial
seemed a short and easy argument " and Savonarola could not
resist the popular feeling without forfeiting his popularity.
The history of Florence could show more than one case of
saintly men whose profession had been tested by fire. So it
was, during the investiture controversy, with St. John Gual-
berti, in Settimo close by, and with the monk Peter in 1068,
and so it was^a half century later, with another Peter who
cleared himself of the charge of contemning the cross by
walking unhurt over nine glowing ploughshares.2
The ordeal was authorized by the signory and set for April 7.
It was decided that, in case Fra Domenico perished, Savona-
rola should go into exile within three hours. The two par-
ties, Domenico and Rondinelli, filed their statements with
the signory. The Dominican's included the following points.
i Landucci'B account of the fuoco, p. 165 sqq., is most vivid. For Cerre-
tani's account, Schnitzels ed., 59-71.
* See Schnitzer : Feuerprobc, p. 40 sq.
706 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
The Church stands in need of renovation. It will be chas-
tened. Florence will be chastened. These chastisements
will happen in our day. The sentence of excommunication
against Savonarola is invalid. No one sins in ignoring it.1
The ordeal aroused the enthusiasm of Savonarola's friends.
When he announced it in a sermon, many women exclaimed,
"I, too, I, too." Other monks of St. Mark's and hundreds
of young men announced their readiness to pass through the
flames out of regard for their spiritual guide.
Alexander VI. waited with intense interest for the last bul-
letins from Florence. His exact state of mind it is difficult
to determine. He wrote disapproving of the ordeal and yet
he could not but feel that it afforded an easy way of getting
rid of the enemy to his authority. After the ordeal was over,
he praised Francesco and the Franciscans in extravagant terms
and declared the Franciscans could not have done anything
more agreeable to him.2
The coming trial was looked for with the most intense in-
terest. There was scarcely any other topic of conversation
in Florence or in Rome. Great preparations were made. Two
pyres of thorns and other wood were built on the public
square about 60 feet in length, 3 feet wide at the base and 3
or 4 feet high,3 the wood soaked with pitch and oil. The dis-
tance between the pyres was two feet, just wide enough for
a man to pass through. All entrances to the square were
closed by a company of 300 men under Marcuccio Salviatis
and two other companies of 500 each, stationed at different
points. The people began to arrive the night before. The
windows and roofs of the adjoining houses were crowded with
the eager spectators.
1 Schnitzer, p. 64.
3 Schnitzer, p. 64 sq., who goes into the matter at length, and Villari, II.
306 sqq., agree in the opinion that Alexander fully sympathized with the
ordeal. They also agree that the Arrabbiati were largely, if not wholly, respon-
sible for the suggestion of the ordeal and making it a matter of public ap-
pointment. Pastor, III. 429, represents Alexander as wholly disapproving
the ordeal.
8 There is a difference among the contemporary writers about the figures.
Landucci, p. 168, gives the length at 50 braccia, width 10 and height 4 ; Barto-
lomeo Cerretani, Schnitzer ed. p. 62, the width as 1 braccio and the height 2.
§ 76. G1ROLAMO SAVONABOLA. 707
The solemnity was set for eleven o'clock. The Dominicans
made a solemn impression as they marched to the appointed
place. Fra Domenico, in the van, was clothed in a fiery red
velvet cope. Savonarola, clad in white and carrying a mon-
strance with the host, brought up the rear of the body of monks
and these were followed by a great multitude of men, women
and children, holding lighted tapers. When the hour arrived
for the procession to start, Savonarola was preaching. He had
again told the people that his work required no miracle and that
lie had ever sought to justify himself by thesigns of righteousness
and declared that, as on Mt. Carmel, miraculous intervention
could only be expected in answer to prayer and humility.
Later mediaeval history has few spectacles to offer to the eye
and the imagination equal in interest to the spectacle offered
that day. There, stood the greatest preacher of his time and
the most exalted moral figure since the days of John Huss and
Gerson. And there, the ancient method of testing innocency
was once more to be tried, a novel spectacle, indeed, to that
cultured generation of Florentines. The glorious pageants of
Medicean times had afforded no entertainment more attractive.
The crowds were waiting. The hour was past. There was a
mysterious moving of monks in and out of the signory-palace.
The whole story of what occurred was later told by Savonarola
himself as well as by other eye-witnesses. The Franciscans re-
fused to allow Fra Domenico to enter the burning pathway wear-
ing his red cope or any of the other garments he had on, on the
ground that they might be bewitched. So he was undressed to
his skin and put on another suit. On the same ground, they also
insisted that he keep at a distance from Savonarola. The im-
patience of the crowds increased. The Franciscans again passed
into the signory-hall and had a long conference. They had dis-
cerned a wooden crucifix in Domenico's hands and insisted upon
its being put away for fear it might also have been bewitched.
Savonarola substituted the host but the Franciscans insisted
that the host should not be carried through the flames. The
signory was appealed to but Savonarola refused to yield, declar-
ing that the accidents might be burnt like a husk but that the
essence of the sacred wafer would remain unconsumed. Sud-
708 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
denly a storm came up and rain fell but it as suddenly stopped.
The delay continued. The crowds were growing unruly and
threatening. Nightfall was at hand. The signory called the
ordeal off.
Savonarola's power was gone. The spell of his name had
vanished. The spectacle was felt to be a farce. The popular
menace grew more and more threatening and a guard scarcely
prevented violence to Savonarola's person, as the procession
moved back to St. Mark's.
There is much in favor of the view that on that day Savona-
rola's political enemies, the Arrabbiati, were in collusion with
the Franciscans and that the delay on the square, occasioned by
interposing objections, was a trick to postpone the ordeal alto-
gether.1 It was said daggers were ready to put Savonarola out
of the way. The populace, however, did not stop to consider
such questions. Savonarola had not stood the test. And, it
reasoned, if he was sincere and confident of his cause, why did
he not enter the flaming pathway himself and brave its fiery
perils. If he had not gone through unharmed, he at any rate,
in dying, would have shown his moral heroism. It was Luther's
readiness to stand the test at Worms which brought him the
confidence of the people. Had he shrunk in 1521 in the presence
of Charles V., he would have lost the popular regard as Savona-
rola did in 1498 on the piazza of Florence. The judgment of
modern times agrees with the popular judgment of the Floren-
tines. Savonarola showed himself wanting in the qualities of
the hero. Better for him to have died, than to have exposed
himself to the charge of cowardice.
Florence felt mad anger at having been imposed upon. The
next day St. Mark's was stormed by the mob. The signory voted
Savonarola's immediate banishment. Landucci, who wept and
continued to pray for him, says " that hell seemed to have opened
its doors." Savonarola made an address, bidding farewell to his
friends. Resistance of the mob was in vain. The convent was
broken into and pillaged. Fra Domenico and the prior were
bound and taken before the galfonieramidstinsultsandconfined
1 Schnitzer, p. 150 sq., who says the signory and the Franciscans joined " in
packing the cards."
§ 76. GIBOLAMO SAVONAROLA. 709
in separate apartments. A day or two later FraSilvestro, whose
visions had favored the ordeal, was also seized. " As for saying
a word in Savonarola's favor," wrote Landucci, "it was impos-
sible. One would have been killed."
The pope, on receiving the official news of the occurrences
in Florence, sent word congratulating the signory, gave the
city plenary absolution and granted it the coveted tithes for
three years. He also demanded that Savonarola be sent to
Rome for trial, at the same time, however, authorizing the city
to proceed to try the three friars, not neglecting, if necessary,
the use of torture.1 A commission was appointed to examine
the prisoners. Torture was resorted to. Savonarola was
bound to a rope drawn through a pulley and, with his hands
behind his back, was lifted from the floor and then by a sud-
den jerk allowed to fall. On a single day, he was subjected
to 14 turnings of the rope. There were two separate trials
conducted by the municipality, April 17 and April 21-23.
In the delirious condition, to which his pains reduced him,
the unfortunate man made confessions which, later in his sane
moments, he recalled as untrue.2 He even denied that he was
a prophet. The impression which this denial made upon such
ardent admirers as Landucci, the apothecary, was distressing.
Writing April 19, 1498, he says: —
I was present at the reading of the proceedings against Savonarola, whom
we all held to be a prophet. But he said he is no prophet and that his prophe-
cies were not from God. When I heard that, I was seized with wonder and
amazement. A deep pain took hold of my soul, when I saw such a splendid
edifice fall to the ground, because it was built upon the sorry foundation of a
falsehood. I looked for Florence to become a new Jerusalem whose laws
and example of a good life — buona vita — would go out for the renovation of
the Church, the conversion of infidels and the comfort of the good and I felt
the contrary and took for medicine the words, u In thy will, O Lord, are all
tilings placed " — in voluntate tua, Domine, omnia sunt posita. Diary , p. 173.
Alexander despatched a commission of his own to conduct
the trial anew, Turriano, the Venetian general of the Domini-
1 Etiam per torturam. Alexander's letter in Lucas, p. 372.
3 The reports of Savonarola's trial and confessions are of uncertain value,
as they were garbled by the reporter Ser Ceccone. See Pastor, III. 432 sq.
Landucci says that from 9 A.M. till nightfall the cries of Domenico and Syl-
vestro under the strain of torture could be heard in the city prison.
710 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
cans and Francesco Romolino, the bishop of Ilerda, afterwards
cardinal. Letters from Rome stated that the commission had
instructions "to put Savonarola to death, even if he were an-
other John the Baptist." Alexander was quite equal to such
a statement. Soon after his arrival in Florence, Romolino an-
nounced that a bonfire was impending and that he carried the
sentence with him ready, prepared in advance.
Fra Domenico bore himself most admirably and persisted in
speaking naught but praise of his friend and ecclesiastical su-
perior. Fra Silvestro, yielding to the agonies of the rack,
charged his master with all sorts of guilt. Other monks of
St. Mark's wrote to Alexander, making charges against their
prior as an impostor. So it often is with those who praise in
times of prosperity. To save themselves, they deny and calum-
niate their benefactors. They received their reward, the papal
absolution.
The exact charges, upon which Savonarola was condemned
to death, are matter of some uncertainty and also matter of
indifference, for they were partly trumped up for the occasion.
Though no offender against the law of God, he had given of-
fence enough to man. He was accused by the papal commis-
sioners with being a heretic and schismatic. He was no
heretic. The most that can be said is, that lie was a rebel
against the pope's authority and went in the face of Pius IL's
bull Execrabilis^ when he decided to appeal to a council.1
The intervals between his torture, Savonarola spent in com-
posing his Meditations upon the two penitential Psalms, the
82d and the 51st. Here we see the gloss of his warm religious
nature. The great preacher approaches the throne of grace as
a needy sinner and begs that he who asks for bread may not be
turned away with a stone. He appeals to the cases of Zaccheus,
Mary Magdalene, the woman of Canaan, Peter and the prodigal
son. Deliver me, he cries, " as Thou hast delivered countless
sinners from the grasp of death and the gates of hell and my
tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness." Luther, who
published the expositions with a notable preface, 1523, declared
1 See the miserable letters sent by the papal commission to Alexander,
Lucas, pp. 434-436.
§ 76. GIROLAMO SAVONAROLA. 711
them "a piece of evangelical teaching and Christian piety.
For, in them Savonarola is seen entering in not as a Dominican
monk, trusting in his vows, the rules of his order, his cowl and
masses and good works but clad in the breastplate of righteous-
ness and armed with the shield of faith and the helmet of
salvation, not as a member of the Order of Preachers but as an
everyday Christian."1
At their own request the three prisoners, after a separation
of six weeks, were permitted to meet face to face the night
before the appointed execution. The meeting occurred in the
hall of the signory. When Savonarola returned to his cell,
he fell asleep on the lap of Niccolini of the fraternity of the
Battuti, a fraternity whose office it was to minister to prisoners.
Niccolini reported that the sleep was as quiet as the sleep of a
child. On awaking, the condemned man passed the remain-
ing hours of the night in devotions. The next morning, the
friends met again and partook together of the sacrament.
The sentence was death by hanging, after which the bodies
were to be burnt that " the soul might be completely separated
from the body." The execution took place on the public square
where, two months before, the crowds had gathered to wit-
ness the ordeal by fire. Savonarola and his friends were led
forth stripped of their robes, barefooted and with hands bound.
Absolution was pronounced by the bishop of Verona under ap-
pointment from the pope. In pronouncing Savonarola's dep-
osition, the prelate said, " I separate thee from the Church
militant and the Church triumphant" — separo te ab ecclesia
militante et triumphante. " Not from the Church triumphant,"
replied Savonarola, " that is not thine to do " — militante, nan
triumphante : hoc enim tuum non est. In silence he witnessed
the deaths of Fra Domenico and FraSilvestro, whose last words
were " Jesus, Jesus," and then ascended the platform of exe-
cution. There were still left bystanders to fling insults. The
1 Weimar ed. XII. 248. Twenty-three edd. of Savonarola's exposition ap-
peared within two years of the author's death and, before half a century
elapsed, it had been translated into Spanish, German, English and French.
In Italy, it was used as a tract and put into the hands of prisoners condemned
to death. It was embodied in the Salisbury Primer, 1538, and in Henry
VIII. »s Primer, 1643.
712 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
bodies were burnt and, that no particle might be left to be used
as a relic, the ashes were thrown into the Arno.
Savonarola had been pronounced by Alexander's commis-
sion " that iniquitous monster — omnipedium nequissimum —
call him man or friar we cannot, a mass of the most abominable
wickedness." The pious Landucci, in thinking of his death,
recalled the crucifixion and, at the scene of the execution, again
lamented the disappointment of his hopes for the renovation
of the Church and the conversion of the infidel — la novazione
della chiesa e la conversione degli infedeli.
Savonarola was one of the most noteworthy figures Italy has
produced. The modern Christian world, Catholic and Protes-
tant, joins him in close fellowship with the flaming religious
luminaries of all countries and all centuries. He was a preacher
of righteousness and a patriot. Among the religious personali-
ties of Italy, he occupies a position of grandeur by himself,
separate from her imposing popes, like Gregory VII. and Inno-
cent III. ; from Dante, Italy's poet and the world's ; from St.
Francis d'Assisi and from Thomas Aquinas. Italy had other
preachers, — Anthony of Padua, Bernardino of Siena, — but
their messages were local and ecclesiastical. With Arnold of
Brescia, Savonarola had something in common. Both had a
stirring message of reform. Both mixed up political ideals
with their spiritual activity and both died by judicial sanction
of the papal see.
Savonarola's intellectual gifts and attainments were not ex-
traordinary. He was great by reason of moral conviction, his
eloquence, his disinterested love of his country, his whole-
souled devotion to the cause of righteousness. As an admin-
istrator, he failed. He had none of the sagacity or tact of the
statesman and it was his misfortune to have undertaken to
create a new government, a task for which he was the least
qualified of all men.1 He was a preacher of righteousness
and has a place in the M goodly fellowship of the prophets."
He belonged to the order of Ezekiel and Isaiah, Nathan and
John the Baptist, — the company in which the Protestant world
also places John Knox.
1 See the excellent remarks of Burckhardt : Aenafef ., IL 200.
§ 76. GIBOLAMO SAVONAROLA. 718
Savonarola was a true Catholic. He did not deny a single
dogma of the mediaeval Church. But he was more deeply
rooted in the fundamental teachings of Christ than in eccle-
siastical formulas. In the deliverance of his message, he
rose above rituals and usages. He demanded regeneration
of heart. His revolt against the authority of the pope, in ap-
pealing to a council, is a serious stumbling-block to Catholics
who are inclined to a favorable judgment of the Friar of
St. Mark's. Julius II.'s bull Cum tanto divino, 1505, pro-
nounced every election to the papacy secured by simony invalid.
If it was meant to be retroactive, then Alexander was not a
true pope.1
The favorable judgments of contemporaries were numerous.
Guicciardini called him the saviour of his country — salvatore
di patria — and said that " Never was there so much goodness
and religion in Florence as in his day and, after his death, it
was seen that every good thing that had been done was done
at his suggestion and by his advocacy." Machiavelli thus ex-
pressed himself : " The people of Florence seemed to be neither
illiterate nor rude, yet they were persuaded that God spake
through Savonarola. I will not decide, whether it was so or
not, for it is due to speak of so great a man with reverence."
The day after Savonarola's death, women were seen praying
at the spot where he suffered and for years flowers were strewn
there. Pico della Mirandola closed his biography with an elab-
orate comparison between Savonarola and Christ. Both were
sent from God. Both suffered in the cause of righteousness
between two others. At the command of Julius II., Raphael,
12 years after Savonarola's death, placed the preacher among
the saints in his Disputa. Philip Neri and Catherine de Ricci a
1 Pastor, III. 430 says that Savonarola was always true to Catholic dogma
in theory. His only departure was disobeying the pope and appealing to a
council. Father Proctor, Pref . to Triumph of the Cross, p. xvii, calls Savona-
rola " Of Catholics the most Catholic "
a Cardinal Capecelatro in his Life of St. Ph. Neri. trsl. by Father Pope, I.
278, says, " Philip often read Savonarola's writings especially the Triumph
of the Cross, and used them in the instruction of his spiritual children.11
Quoted by Proctor, Preface, p. 6. For Catherine de Ricci, see her Life by
F. M. Capes, Lond., 1908, pp. 48, 49, 63, 270 sq. She was devoted in her cult
714 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
revered him, and Benedict XIV. seems to have regarded him
worthy of canonization.1
Within the Dominican order, the feeling toward its greatest
preacher has undergone a great change. Respect for the papal
decision led it, for a hundred years after Savonarola's death,
to make official effort to retire his name to oblivion. The
Dominican general, Sisto Fabri of Lucca, in 1585, issued an
order forbidding every Dominican monk and nun mentioning
his name and commanded them to give up any article to their
superiors which kept warm admiration for him or aroused it.
In the latter half of the 19th century, as the 400th anniversary
of his execution approached, Catholics, and especially Domini-
cans, in all parts of the world defended his memory and efforts
were made to prepare the way for his canonization. In the
attempt to remove all objections, elaborate arguments have
been presented to prove that Alexander's sentence of excom-
munication was in fact no excommunication at all.2 The sound
and judicious Catholic historians, Hefele-Knopfler, do not hesi-
tate to pronounce his death a judicial murder.8
By the general consent of Protestants, Jerome Savonarola is
numbered among the precursors of the Reformation, — the view
taken by Ranke. He was not an advocate of its distinguish-
of Savonarola and wrote a laud to him. This was the chief objection to her
beatification in 1716, but the arguments for an unfavorable judgment of Savona-
rola were answered on that occasion.
1 Villari, II. 417, following Schwab and other Catholic writers. The in-
terpretation put upon Benedict's words is denied by Pastor: Bcurtheiluny,
p. 16 sq., and Lucas.
2 Father O'Neil, a Dominican, in his work, Was Savonarola really excom-
municated? takes this position and says, p. 132, " Alexander did not inflict
any censure on Savonarola.1' The fact, however, is that in his letters to the
signory, Alexander proceeded on the basis of his brief of excommunication.
He stated distinctly the reasons for his being excommunicated and he called
upon the priests of Florence to publicly announce his sentence of May 12,
1497, upon pain of drawing ecclesiastical censure upon themselves. O'Neil
replies that a papal decision, based upon a false charge, is invalid, p. 175 sqq.
8 Rechtlos hingemordert, Kirchengezch., p. 603. Ranke's statement that
the view making Savonarola a hero is a Dominican legend u worked out after
the preacher's death" has been rendered untenable by the latest research
by the eminent Savonarola scholar, the Catholic Professor Schnitzer. See his
Feuerprobe, p. 152.
§ 76. GIROLAMO SAVONAROLA. 715
ing tenet of justification by faith. The Roman church was for
him the mother of all other churches and the pope its head.
In his Triumph of the Cross, he distinctly asserts the seven sac-
raments as an appointment of Christ and that Christ is " wholly
and essentially present in each of the eucharistic elements."
Nevertheless, he was an innovator and his exaltation of divine
grace accords with the teaching of the Reformation. Here
all Protestants would have fellowship with him as when he
said : l —
It is untrue that God's grace is obtained by pre-existing works of merit as
though works and deserts were the cause of predestination. On the contrary,
these are the result of predestination. Tell me, Peter ; tell me, O Magda-
lene, wherefore are ye in paradise ? Confess that not by your own merits
have ye obtained salvation, but by the goodness of God.
Passages abound in his Meditations like this one. " Not by
their own deservings, O Lord, or by their own works have
they been saved, lest any man should be able to boast, but
because it seemed good in Thy sight." Speaking of Savona-
rola's Exposition of the Psalms, Luther said that, although
some clay still stuck to Savonarola's theology, it is a pure and
beautiful example of what is to be believed, trusted and hoped
from God's mercy and how we come to despair of works. And
the whole-souled German Reformer exclaimed, " Christ canon-
izes Savonarola through us even though popes and papists burst
to pieces over it."2
The sculptor has given him a place at the feet of Luther and
at the side of Wyclif and Huss in the monument of the Ref-
ormation at Worms. When Catholics, who heard that this
was proposed, wrote to show the impropriety of including the
Florentine Dominican in such company, Rietschel consulted
Hase on the subject. The venerable Church historian replied,
" It makes no difference whether they counted Savonarola a
heretic or a saint, he was in either case a precursor of the
Reformation and so Luther recognized him." 8
1 Sermon VIII. in Prato ed. quoted by Rudelbach. Bayonne wrote hia work
in 1879 to dispose of this charge and to prepare the way for Savonarola's
canonization.
3 Canonizat turn Christus per no*, rumpanter etiam papa et papists
$imul. Weiinar ed. XII. 248.
» Kirchengesch., II. 666.
716 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
The visitor in Florence to-day finds two invisible personali-
ties meeting him everywhere, Dante, whom the city banished,
and Savonarola, whom it executed. The spirit of the execu-
tioner has vanished and the mention of Savonarola's name
strikes in all Florentines a tender chord of admiration and love.
In 1882, the signory placed his statue in the Hall of the Five
Hundred. There, a few yards from the place of his execution,
he stands in his Dominican habit and cowl, with his left hand
resting on a lion's head and holding aloft in his right hand a
crucifix, while his clear eye is turned upwards. Again, on
May 22, 1901, the city honored the friar by setting a circular
bronze tablet with portrait on the spot where he suffered
death. A great multitude attended the dedication and one of
the wreaths of flowers bore the name of the Dominicans.
In Savonarola's cell in St. Mark's has been placed a me-
dallion head of the friar, and still another on the cloistral wall
over the spot where he was seized and made prisoner, and the
visitor will often find there a fresh wreath of flowers, a proof
of the undying memory of the Florentine preacher and patriot.
This was he,
Savonarola, — the star-look shooting from the cowl.
— BROWNING, Casa Guido Windows.
§ 77. The Study and Circulation of the JSible.
The only biblical commentary of the Middle Ages, con-
forming in any adequate sense to our modern ideas of exege-
sis, was produced by Nicolas of Lyra, who died 1340. The
exegesis of the Schoolmen was a subversion of Scripture
rather than an exposition. In their hands, it was made
the slave of dogma. Of grammatical and textual criticism
they had no conception and they lacked all equipment for
the grammatical study of the original Hebrew and Greek.
What commentaries were produced in the flourishing era of
Scholasticism, were either collections of quotations from the
Fathers, called Chains, — catena, the most noted of which
was the catena on the Gospels by Thomas Aquinas, — or, if
original works, they teemed with endless suggestions of the
fancy and were like continents of tropical vine-growths
§ 77. STUDY AND CIRCULATION OF THE BIBLE. 717
through which it is next to impossible to find a clear path to
Jesus Christ and the meaning of human life. The bulky ex-
positions of the Psalms, Job and other biblical books by such
theologians as Rupert of Deutz, Bonaventura and Albertus
Magnus, are to-day intellectual curiosities or, at best, man-
uals from which piety of the conventual type may be fed.
They bring out every other meaning but the historical and
plain sense intended by the biblical authors. Especially true
is this of the Song of Songs, which the Schoolmen made a
hunting-ground for descriptions of the Virgin Mary.1 It is
said, Thomas Aquinas was engaged on the exposition of this
book when he died.
The traditional mediaeval formula of interpretation reduced
Tychonius' seven senses to four, — the literal, allegorical,
moral and anagogical. The formula ran: —
Litteralis gesta docet ; quid credas, allegoria,
Moralis quid agas ; quo tendas anagogia.
Thomas Aquinas, fully in accord with this method, said that
" the literal sense of Scripture is manifold, its spiritual sense,
threefold, viz., allegorical, moral and anagogical.'*2 The lit-
eral sense teaches the things which have happened, the alle-
gorical what we are to believe, the moral what we are to do and
the anagogical directs to things to be awaited. The last three
senses correspond to faith, hope and charity. Hugo of Cher
compared them to the four coverings of the tabernacle, the
four winds, the four wings of the cherubim, the four rivers
of paradise, the four legs of the Lord's table. Here are speci-
mens: Jerusalem, literally, is a city in Palestine; allegori-
cally, it is the Church; morally, the faithful soul; anagogically,
the heavenly Jerusalem. The Exodus from Egypt is, histori-
cally, a fact; allegorically, the redemption of Christ; morally,
the soul's conversion; anagogically, the departure for the
heavenly land. In his earliest years, Dean Colet followed
this method. From Savonarola we would expect it. The
literal heaven, earth and light of Genesis 1 : 1, 2, he expounded
1 So sober a writer as Reuss, p. 607, speaks of the commentaries on the
Canticles, as being without number.
* Summa, I. 1 art. x.
718 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1204-1517.
as meaning allegorically, Adam, Eve and the light of grace
or the Hebrews, Gentiles and Jesus Christ ; morally, the soul,
body and active intelligence; anagogically, angels, men and
the vision of God. In his later years, Colet, in answer to a
letter from Erasmus, who insisted upon the fecundity of mean-
ings of Scripture texts, abandoned his former position and de-
clared that their fecundity consisted not in their giving birth
to many senses but to one only and that the truest.1 In his
better moods, Erasmus laid stress upon the one historical
sense, applying to the interpretation of the Bible the rule that
is applied to other books.
After the Reformation was well on its way, the old irra-
tional method continued to be practised and Bishop Longland,
in a sermon on Prov. 9 : 1, 2, preached in 1525, explained
the words " she hath furnished her table " to mean, that wis-
dom had set forth in her spiritual banquet the four courses of
history, tropology, anagogy and allegory.2 Three years later,
1528, Tyndale, the translator of the English Bible, had this
to say of the mediaeval system of exegesis and the new sys-
tem which sought out the literal sense of Scripture: —
The papists divide the Scripture into four senses, the literal, tropolog-
ical, allegorical and anagogical. The liteial sense lias become nothing at
all, for the pope hath taken it clean away and hath made it his possession.
He hath partly locked it up with the false and counterfeited keys of his
traditions, ceremonies and feigned lies. Thou shalt understand that the
Scripture hath but one sense, which is the literal sense, and this literal
sense is the root and ground of all and the anchor that never faileth
whereunto, if thou cleave, thou canst never err or go out of the way.8
A decided step in the direction of the new exegesis move-
ment was made by Nicolas of Lyra in his PostUla^ a brief com-
mentary on the entire Bible.4 This commentator, called by
* See Lupton, p. 104, and Seelnhm, pp. 30, 124 sq., 445-447.
8 Farrar, p. 296.
1 The Obedience of a Christian Man, Parker Soc.t p. 303 sq. The
author of the Epp. obscurorum virorum speaks of having listened to a lecture
on poetry, in which Ovid was explained naturaliter, liter aliter, historialiter et
spiritualiter. In his preface to the Pentateuch, p. 394, Tyndale said, "The
Scripture hath but one simple, literal sense whose light the owls cannot abide/*
« Lyra's work was printed 8 times before 1600. The ed. printed at Rome,
1471-1473, is in 6 vols.
§ 77. STUDY AND CIRCULATION OF THE BIBLE. 719
Wy clif the elaborate and skilful annotator of Scripture, — tamen
copiosus et ingeniosuB postillator Scripturce* — was born in Nor-
mandy, about 1270, and became professor in Paris where he re-
mained till his death. He knew Greek and learned Hebrew
from a rabbi and his knowledge of that tongue gave rise to the
false rumor that he had a Jewish mother. Lyra made a new
Latin translation, commented directly on the original text and
ventured at times to prefer the comments of Jewish commen-
tators to the comments of the Fathers. As he acknowledged
in his Introduction, he was much influenced by the writings of
Rabbi Raschi.
Lyra's lasting merit lies in the stress he laid upon the literal
sense which lie insisted should alone be employed in establish-
ing dogma. In practice, however, he allowed a secondary sense,
the mystical or typical, but he declared that it had been put to
such abuse as to have choked out — suffocare — the literal
sense. The language of Scripture must be understood in its
natural sense as we would expect our words to be understood.8
His method aided in undermining the fanciful and pernicious
exegetical system of the Schoolmen who knew neither Greek
nor Hebrew and prepared the way for a new period of biblical
exposition. He was used not only by Wyclif and Gerson,3 but
also by Luther, who acknowledged his services in insisting upon
the literal sense.
Although Wyclif wrote no commentaries on books of Scrip-
ture, he gave expositions of the Lord's Prayer and the Deca-
logue and of many texts, which are thoroughly practical and
popular. In his treatise on the Truth of Scripture, he seems
at times to pronounce the discovery of the literal sense the only
object of a sound exegesis.4 A generation later, Gersonshowed
an inclination to lay stress upon the literal sense as fundamental
but went no further than to say that it is to be accepted so far
1 De veritate scr. sac., I. 275. Wyclif quotes Lyra, II. 100, etc.
8 Prol. 2. Omnes presupponunt sensum lit. tanquam fundamentum, unde
sicut cediflcium declinans afundamento disponitur ad ruinam expositio mystica
discrepant a sensu lit. reputanda est indecens et inepta. See Reuse, p. 610.
» Du Pin's ed., 1728, 1.3, etc.
4 Sensus lit. scripture est utrobique verus, De wr., I. 73, 122.
720 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
as it is found to be in harmony with the teachings of the
Church.1
Later in the 15th century, the free critical spirit which the
Revival of Letters was begetting found pioneers in the realm
of exegesis in Lauren tius Valla and Erasmus, Colet, Wesel and
Wessel. As has already been said, Valla not only called in
question the genuineness of Constantino's donation, but criti-
cised Jerome's Vulgate and Augustine. Erasmus went still
farther when he left out of his Greek New Testament, 1516, the
spurious passage about the three witnesses, 1 John 5 : 7, though
he restored it in the edition of 1522. He pointed out the dis-
crepancy between a statement in Stephen's speech and the ac-
count in Genesis and questioned the authorship of the Epistle
to the Hebrews, the Apostolic origin of 2d and 3rd John and
the Johannine authorship of the Apocalypse.
In opposition to such views the Sorbonne, in 1526, declared
it an error of faith to call in question the authorship of any of
the books of the New Testament. Erasmus recommended for
the student of the Scriptures a fair knowledge of Latin, Greek
and Hebrew and also that he be versed in other studies, espe-
cially the knowledge of natural objects such as the animals,
trees, precious stones and geography of Scripture.2
The nearest approach to the exegetical principles as well as
doctrinal positions of the Reformers was made by the French-
man, Lefevre d'Etaples, whose translations of the New Testa-
ment and the Old Testament carry us into the period intro-
duced by Luther. It remained for Luther and the other Re-
formers to give to the literal or historical sense its due weight,
and especially from the sane grammatical exegesis of John
Calvin is a new period in the exposition of the sacred writings
to be dated.
The early printing-presses, from Lyons to Paris and from
Venice and Niirnberg to Cologne and Liibeck, eagerly turned
out editions of the entire Bible or parts of it, the vast majority
of which, however, gave the Latin text. The first printed
1 Gerson, De sensu lit. scr. sac. Du Pin's ed., 1728, 1. 2 sq., says, sensus
lit. semper est verus and sensus lit. judicandus est prout ecclesia a Sp. S. in-
spirata determinat et nan ad cujusltbei arbitrium.
3 Paraclesis.
§ 77. STUDY AND CIRCULATION OF THE BIBLE. 721
Latin Bible, which appeared at Mainz without date and in two
volumes, belongs before 1455 and bears the name of the Guten-
berg Bible from the printer or the Mazarin Bible from the copy
which was found in the library of Cardinal Mazarin. Before
1520, no less than 199 printed editions of the entire volume ap-
peared. Of these, 156 were Latin, 17 German, — 3 of the Ger-
man editions being in Low German, — 11 Italian, 2 Bohemian
and one Russian.1 Spain produced two editions, a Limousin
version at Valencia, 1478, and the Complutensian Bible of Car-
dinal Ximenes, 1514-1517. England was far behind and her
first printed English New Testament did not appear till 1526,
although Caxton had set up his printing-press at Westminster
in 1477.
To the printed copies of the whole Scriptures must be added
the parts which appeared inplenaria and psalteria^ — copies of
the Gospels and of the Psalms,2 — and in the postillce which
contained the Scripture text with annotations. From 1470-
1520 no less than 103 postillce appeared from the press.8
The number of copies of the Bible sent off in a single edition
is a matter of conjecture as must also be the question whether
copies were widely held by laymen.4
* Falk, pp. 24, 91-97, gives a full list with the places of issue. Walther gives
a list of 120 MSS. of the Bible in German translation. The Lenox Library in
New York has a copy of the Mazarin Bible. The first book bearing date, place
and name of printers was the PaaUcrium issued by Fust and Scboffer, Aug.
14, 1457. See Copinger : Incunabula biblica or the First Half Century of the
Latin Bible, Lond., 1892.
3 Often only a brief selection of Psalms was given. Such collections were
meant as manuals of devotion and perhaps also to be used in memorizing. See
Falk, p. 28 sqq.
8 Falk, p. 32. The word postilla comes from post ilia verba sicut textus
evangclii and its use goes back to the 13th century.
4 Janssen, I. 23, 75 attempts to establish it as a fact that the copies struck
off were numerous. He cites in confirmation the edition of the Latin Grammar
of Cochlseus, 151 1, which included 1,000 copies, and of a work of Bartholomew
Arnoldi, 1617, 2,000copies. Sebastian Brant declared that all lands were full
of the Scriptures, and the Humanist, Celti, that the priests could find a copy in
every inn if they chose to look. 6,000 copies of Tyndale's New Testament were
printed in a single edition. The Koberger firm of NUrnberg has the honor of
having produced no less than 25 editions, 1476-1520. Its Vulgate was on sale
in London as early as 1680.
SA
722 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
The new path which Erasmus struck out in his edition of the
New Testament was looked upon in some quarters as a danger-
ous path. Dorpius, one of the Louvain professors, in 1515,
anticipated the appearance of the book by remonstrating with
Erasmus for his bold project and pronounced the received Vul-
gate text free "from all mixture of falsehood and mistake."
This, he alleged, was evident from its acceptance by the Church
in all ages and the use the Fathers had made of it. Another
member of the Louvain faculty, Latromus, employed his learn-
ing in a pamphlet which maintained that a knowledge of Greek
and Hebrew was not necessary for the scholarly study of the
Scriptures. In England, Erasmus' New Testament was at-
tacked on a number of grounds by Lee, archbishop of York ; and
Standish, bishop of St. Asaph, preached a furious sermon in St.
Paul's churchyard on Erasmus' temerity in undertaking the
issue of such a work. The University of Cologne was espe-
cially outraged by Erasmus' attempt and Conrad of Hersbach
wrote :l —
They have found a language called Greek, at which we must be careful
to be on our guard. It is the mother of all heresies. In the hands of many
persons I see a book, which they call the New Testament. It is a book full
of thorns and poison. As for Hebrew, my brethren, it is certain that those
who learn it will sooner or later turn Jews.
But among the men who read Erasmus' text was Martin Luther,
and he was studying it to settle questions which started in his
soul. About one of these he asked his friend Spalatin to consult
Erasmus, namely the final meaning of the righteousness of the
law, which he felt the great scholar had misinterpreted in his an-
notations on the Romans in the Novum instrumentum. He be-
lieved, if Erasmus would read Augustine's works, he would
change his mind. Luther preferred Augustine, as he said, with
the knowledge of one tongue to Jerome with his knowledge
of five.
Down to the very end of its history, the mediaeval Church
gave no official encouragement to the circulation of the Bible
among the laity. On the contrary, it uniformly set itself
against it. In 1199 Innocent III., writing to the diocese of
1 Hase : Ch. Hist., II. 2, p. 493. Faulkner : Erasmus, p. 127 sqq. Dorpius'
letter is given by Nichols, II. 168 sqq.
§ 77. STUDY AND CIRCULATION OF THE BIBLE. 728
Metz where the Scriptures were being used by heretics, declared
that as by the old law, the beast touching the holy mount
was to be stoned to death, so simple and uneducated men
were not to touch the Bible or venture to preach its doctrines.1
The article of the Synod of Toulouse, 1229, strictly forbidding
the Old and New Testaments to the laity either in the original
text or in the translation 2 was not recalled or modified by pa-
pal or synodal action. Neither after nor before the invention
of printing was the Bible a free book. Gerson was quite in line
with the utterances of the Church, when he stated, that it was
easy to give many reasons why the Scriptures were not to be
put into the vulgar tongues except the historical sections and
the parts teaching morals.8 In Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella
represented the strict churchly view when, on the eve of the
Reformation, they prohibited under severe penalties the trans-
lation of the Scriptures and the possession of copies. The posi-
tive enactment of the English archbishop, Arundel, at the
beginning of the 15th century, forbidding the reading of
Wyclif's English version, was followed by the notorious pro-
nouncement of Archbishop Bertholdt of Mainz against the
circulation of the German Bible, at the close of the same cen-
tury, 1485. The position taken by Wyclif that the Scriptures,
as the sole source of authority for creed and life, should be
freely circulated found full response in the closing years of
the Middle Ages only in the utterances of one scholar, Eras-
mus, but he was under suspicion and always ready to submit
himself to the judgment of the Church hierarchic. If Wyclif
said, " God's law should be taught in that tongue that is more
known, for this wit [wisdom] is God's Word," Erasmus in his
Paraclesis* uttered the equally bold words: —
I utterly dissent from those who are unwilling that the sacred Scrip-
tures should be read by the unlearned translated into their own vulgar
tongue, as though the strength of the Christian religion consisted in men's
i Migne CCXIV : 696 sq.
3 Ne prasmissos libros laid habeant in vulgari translatos arctissime inhi-
bemus, Mansi, XXIII. 194.
8 Prohibendam ease vulgarem translationem librorum sac, etc. Contra
vanam curiositatem, Du Pin's ed., I. 105.
« Basel ed., V. 117 sq.
724 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
ignorance of it. The counsels of kings are much better kept hidden but
Christ wished his mysteries to be published as openly as possible. I wish
that even the weakest woman should read the Gospel and the epistles of
Paul. And I wish they were translated into all languages, so that they
might be read and understood, not only by Scots and Irishmen but also
by Turks and Saracens. I long that the husbandman should sing por-
tions of them to himself as he follows the plow, that the weaver should
hum them to the tune of his shuttle, that the traveller should beguile
with their stories the tedium of his journey.
The utterances of Erasmus aside, the appeals made 1450-
1520 for the circulation of the Scriptures among all classes are
very sparse and, in spite of all pains, Catholic controversialists
have been able to bring together only a few. And yet, the
few that we have show that, at least in Germany and the Neth-
erlands, there was a popular hunger for the Bible in the ver-
nacular. Thus, the Preface to the German Bible, issued at
Cologne, 1480, called upon every Christian to read the Bible
with devotion and honest purpose. Though the most learned
may not exhaust its wisdom, nevertheless its teachings are
clear and uncovered. The learned may read Jerome's Vul-
gate but the unlearned and simple folk could and should use
the Cologne edition which was in good German. The devo-
tional manual, Die Himmehthilr, — Door of Heaven, — 1513,
declared that listening to sermons ought to stir up people to
read diligently in the German Bible. In 1505, Jacob Wim-
pheling spoke of the common people reading both Testaments
in their mother-tongue and made this the ground of an appeal
to priests not to neglect to read the Word of God themselves.1
Such testimonies are more than offset by warnings against
the danger attending the popular use of Scriptures. Brant
spoke strongly in this vein and so did Geiler of Strassburg, who
asserted that putting the Scriptures into the hands of laymen
was like putting a knife into the hands of children to cut
bread. He added that it "was almost a wicked thing to
print the sacred text in German."2 Archbishop Bertholdt's
1 Falk, p. 18. Janssen, I. 72, is careful to tell that the peasant, Hans
Werner, who could read, knew his Bible so well by heart that he was able to
give the places where this text and that were found.
3 Es ist fast fin V6s Ding dass man die Btbel zu deutsch druckt. Quoted
by Frietsche-Nestle in Herzog, II. 704.
§ 77. STUDY AND CIRCULATION OF THE BIBLE. 725
fulmination against German versions of the Bible and their
circulation among the people no doubt expressed the general
mind of the hierarchy in Germany and all Europe.1 In this
celebrated edict, the German primate pronounced the German
language too barbarous a tongue to reproduce the high
thoughts expressed by Greek and Latin writers, writing of
the Christian religion. The Scriptures are not to be given
to simple and unlearned men and, above all, are not to be put
into the hands of women.2 He spoke of the fools who were
using the divine gift of printing to send forth things pro-
scribed to the public and declared, that the printers of the
sacred text were moved by the vain love of fame or by greed.
In his zeal, the archbishop went so far as to forbid the transla-
tion of all works whatsoever, of Greek and Latin authorship, or
their sale without the sanction of the doctors of the Universi-
ties of Mainz or Erfurt. The punishment for the violation
of the edict was excommunication, confiscation of books and
a fine of 100 gulden.
The decree was so effective that, after 1488, only four edi-
tions of the German Bible appeared until 1522, when Luther
issued his New Testament, when the old German translations
seemed to be suddenly laid aside.8 In England, Arundel's
inhibition so fully expressed the mind of the nation that for a
full century no attempt was made to translate the Bible into
English and it was not till after 1530 that the first copy of
the English Scriptures was published on English soil.4 Sir
Thomas More, it is true, writing on the threshold of the
English Reformation, interpreted Arundel's decree as directed
against corrupt translations and sought to make it appear
1 The text is given in Mirbt : Quellen zur Gesch. d. Papsttums, p. 173.
9 Quis enimdabit idiotis et indoctis hominibus etfemineo sexui, etc.
8 Reuss, p. 534. The last four editions of the old German Bible were 1400,
Augsburg, 1404, Ltibeck, Augsburg, 1608, 1518.
4 We might have expected some definite utterance in regard to Bible trans-
lations from Pecock, in his Represser of Overmuch Blaming of the Clergy,
1450-1400. What he says is in the progress of his refutation of the Lollards'
position that all things necessary to be believed and done are to be found in
the Scriptures. He adds, Rolls Series, I. 110, "And thou shall not find ex-
pressly in Holy Scripture that the New and Old Testaments should be writ
in English tongue to laymen or in Latin tongue to clergy."
726 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1204-1517.
that it was on account of errors that Wyclif s version had been
condemned. He was striving to parry the charge that the
Church had withheld the Bible from popular use, but, what-
ever the interpretation put upon his words may be (see this
volume, p. 348), the fact remains that the English were slow
in getting any printed version of their own and that the Catho-
lic party issued none till the close of the 16th century.
Distinct witness is borne by Tyndale to the unwillingness
of the old party to have the Bible in English, in these words :
" Some of the papists say it is impossible to translate the Scrip-
tures into English, some that it is not lawful for the lay-
folk to have it in the mother-tongue, some that it would make
them all heretics."1 After the new views were quite preva-
lent in England, the English Bible had a hard time in winning
the right to be read. Tyndale's version, for the printing of
which he found no room in England, was at Wolsey's instance
proscribed by Henry VIII. and the famous burning of 1527 in
St. Paul's churchyard of all the copies Bishop Tonstall could
lay his hands on will always rise up to rebuke those who try
to make it appear that the circulation of the Word of God was
intended by the Church authorities to be free. Tyndale de-
clared that, " in burning the New Testament, the papists did
none other thing than I looked for ; no more shall they do if
they burn ine also." Any fears he may have had were realized
in his execution at Vilvorde, 1536.2 No doubt, the priest repre-
1 Pref. to the Pentateuch, Parker Soc. ed., Tyndale's Doctr. Works, p. 392.
Arundel did not adduce any errors in Wyclifs version. Abbot Gasquet, in
The Old Engl. Bible, p. 108, and Eve of the Reform., p. 209 sqq., attempts to
show that the Bible was not a proscribed book in England before the Reforma-
tion. The testimonies he adduces, commending the Scriptures, are so pain-
fully few as to seem to make his case a hopeless one. Dizon, Hist, of the
Ch. of Engl., I. 451, speaks of Arundel's "proclaiming the war of authority
against English versions/'
3 Cochlaeus informed the English authorities of Tyndale's presence in Wit-
tenberg and his proposed issue of the English N. T., in order to prevent "the
importation of the pernicious merchandise. " Tonstall professed to have dis-
covered no less than 2000 errors in Tyndale's N. T. See Fulke's Defence in
Parker Soc. ed., p. 61. Tyndale, Pref. to the Pent., p. 878, says, that •• the
papists who had found all their Scripture before in their Duns or such like
devilish doctrine, now spy out mistakes in my transl., even if it be only the
dot of an i."
§ 77. STUDY AND CIRCULATION OF THE BIBLE. 727
sented a large class when he rebuked Tyndale for proposing to
translate the Bible in the words, " We were better without God's
laws than the pope's." The martyr Hume's body was hung
when an English Bible was found on his person. In 1543, the
reading of the Scriptures was forbidden in England except to
persons of quality. The Scotch joined the English authori-
ties when the Synod of St. Andrews, 1529, forbade the im-
portation of Bibles into Scotland.
In France, according to the testimony of the famous printer
Robert Stephens, who was born in 1503, the doctors of the
Sorbonne, in the period when he was a young man, knew
about the New Testament only from quotations from Jerome
and the Decretals. He declared that he was more than 50
years old before he knew anything about the New Testament.
Luther was a man before he saw a copy of the Latin Bible.
In 1533, Geneva forbade its citizens to read the Bible in
German or French and ordered all translations burnt.1 The
strict inquisition of books would have passed to all countries,
if the hierarchy had had its way. In 1535, Francis I. closed
the printing-presses and made it a capital offence in France
to publish a religious book without authorization from the
Sorbonne. The attitude of the Roman Catholic hierarchy,
since the Reformation as well as during the Reformation, has
been against the free circulation of the Bible. In the 19th
century, one pope after another anathematized Bible societies.
In Spain, Italy and South America, the punishments visited
upon Bible colporteurs and the frequent burning of the Bible
itself have been quite in the line of the decrees of Arundel
and Bertholdt and the treatment of Bishop Tonstall. Nor
will it be forgotten that, at the time Rome was made the
capital of Italy in 1870, a papal law required that copies of the
Bible found in the possession of visitors to the papal city be
confiscated.
On the other hand, through the agency of the Reformers,
the book was made known and offered freely to all classes.
What use the Reformers hoped to make of printing for the dis-
1 See Baird: Hist, of the Huguenots, I. 57 ; Lindsay: The Reformation,
11.80.
728 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
semination of religion and intelligence is tersely and quaintly
expressed by the martyrologist, Foxe, in these words : * —
Either the pope must abolish printing or he must seek a new world to
reign over, for else, as the world stands, printing will abolish him. The
pope and all the cardinals must understand this, that through the light of
printing the world begins now to have eyes to see and heads to judge. . . .
God hath opened the press to preach, whose voice the pope is never able to
stop with all the puissance of the triple crown. By printing as by the
gift of tongues and as by the singular organ of the Holy Ghost, the doctrine
of the Gospel sounds to all nations and countries under heaven and what
God reveals to one man, is dispersed to many and what is known to one na-
tion is opened to all.
NOTE. — Both Janssen and Abbot Gasquet spend much pains in the at-
tempt to show that the mediaeval Church was not opposed to the circulation
of the Bible in popular versions or the Latin Vulgate. The proofs they
bring forward must be regarded as strained and insufficient. They ignore
entirely the vast mass of testimony on the other side, as, for example, the
testimony involved in the popular reception given to the German and Eng-
lish Scriptures when they appeared from the hands of the Reformers and
the mass of testimony given by the Reformers on the subject. Gasquet en-
deavors to break the force of the argument drawn from Arundel's edict, but
he has nothing to say of the demand Wyclif made for the popular dissem-
ination of the Bible, a demand which implied that the Bible was withheld
from the people. Dr. Barry, who belongs to the same school, in the Cambr.
Mod. Hist., I. 640, speaks of "the enormous extent the Bible was read in
the 15th century" and that it was not "till we come within sight of the
Lutheran troubles that preachers, like Geiler of Kaisersberg, hint their
doubts on the expediency of unrestrained Bible-reading in the vernacular."
What is to be said of such an exaggeration in view of the fact that the vast
majority of Bibles were in Latin, a language which the people could not
read, that Geiler died in 1510, seven years before Luther ceased to be a
pious Augustinian monk, and that he did very much more than hint doubts 1
He expressed himself unreservedly against Bible-reading. Janssen-Pastor,
— I. 23 sqq., 72 sqq., VII. 535 sqq. — have a place for stray testimonies be-
tween 1480-1520 in favor of the popular reading of the Scriptures, but, so
far as I can see, do not refer to the warnings of Brant, Geiler and other**
against their use by laymen, and the only reference they make to Bertholdt's
notorious decree is to the clause in which the archbishop emphasizes the
divine art of printing, divina quccdam ars imprimendi, I. 15.
1 Book of Martyrs, V. 366.
§ 78. POPULAR PIETY. 729
§ 78. Popular Piety.
During the last century of the Middle Ages, the religious life
of the laity was stimulated by some new devices, especially in
Germany. There, the effort to instruct the laity in the matters
of the Christian faith was far more vital and active than in any
other part of Western Christendom.
The popular need found recognition in the illustrations, fur-
nished in many editions of the early Bibles. The Cologne
Bible of 1480, the Liibeck Bible of 1494: and the Venice Bible
of Malermi, 1497, are the best examples of this class of books.
Fifteen of the 17 German Bibles, issued before the Reforma-
tion, were illustrated.
A more distinct recognition of this need was given in the
so-called biblia pauperum, — Bibles for the poor, — first single
sheets and then books, containing as many as 40 or 50 pictures
of biblical scenes.1 In the first instance, they seem to have
been intended to aid priests in giving instruction. Side by
side, they set scenes from the two Testaments, showing the
prophetic types and their fulfilments. Thus the circumcisions
of Abraham, Jacob and Christ are depicted in three separate
pictures, the priest being represented in the very act of cir-
cumcising Christ. Explanations in Latin, German or French
accompany the pictures.
An extract will give some idea of the kind of information
furnished by this class of literature. When Adam was dying,
he sent Seth into the garden to get medicine. The cherub
gave him a branch from the tree of life. When Seth returned,
he found his father dead and buried. He planted the branch
* Ed. Reuss : D. deutschen Historienbibeln vor d. Erjlndung d. BMcher-
drucks, 1866. — J. T. Berjeau: Biblia pauperum, Lond., 1859. —Laib u.
Schwarz : D. Biblia pauperum n. d. Original in d. Lyceumsbibl. zu Con-
stam, ZUrlch, 1867. — Th. Merzdorf : D. deutschen Historienbibeln nach 40
Hdschriflen, Tub., 1870, 2 vols.— R. Muther : D. altesten deutschen Bilder-
bibeln, 1883. — Falk: D. Bibel am Ausgange d. MA, p. 77 sqq. — Biblia
pauperum n. d. Wolfenbuttel Exemplare jetzt in d. Bibl. nationale, ed. P.
Heintz, mit Einleitung uber d. Entstehung d. biblia pauperum, by W. L.
Schreiber, Straas., 1908. — Artt. Bilderbibel, in Herzog, III. 214 and Histori-
enbibel, in Herzog, VIII. 165 sqq. and Bib. pauperum, in Wetzer-Welte, IL
770 aq. —Reuss : Gesch. d. N. T., 624 sqq.
730 THB MIDDLE AGES. A,D. 1294-1617.
and in 4000 years it grew to be the tree on which the Saviour
was crucified.
The best executed of these biblical picture-books are those
in Constance,1 St. Florian, Austria and in the libraries of
Munich and Vienna. The name, biblia pauperum^ may have
been derived from Bona ventura or the statement of Gregory
the Great, that pictures are the people's bible. In 1509,
Lukas Kranach issued the passion in a series of pictures at
Wittenberg.
A marked and most hopeful novelty in Germany were the
numerous manuals of devotion and religious instruction which
were issued soon after the invention of printing. This litera-
ture bears witness to the intelligent interest taken in religious
training, although its primary purpose was not for the young
but to furnish a guide-book for the confessional and to serve
priest and layman in the hour of approaching death.2 These
books are, for the most part, in German, and probably had a wide
circulation. They show common Christians what the laws of
God are for daily life and what are the chief articles of the
Church's faith. Some of the titles give us an idea of the in-
tent, — The Soul's Guide, Der Seelenfuhrer ; Path to Heaven,
Die ffimmelstrasse ; The Soul's Comfort, Der Seelentrost ; The
Heart's Counsellor, Der Herzmahner ; The Devotional Bell,
Das andtichtige Zeitgld'cklein ; The Foot-Path to Eternal Bliss,
Der Fusspfad zur ewigen Seligkeit; The Soul's Vegetable
Garden, Das Seelenwurzgtirtlein ; The Soul's Vineyard, Der
1 The Constance copy in the Rosengarten museum contains many pictures,
with explanatory notes on each page. I was particularly struck with the
execution of Christ's entry into Jerusalem.
3 Bezold, p. 112, speaks of the number of these manuals as massenhaft
and Dr. Barry, Cambr. Hist., I. 641, with rhetorical unprecision speaks of
them as sold in all book-markets. See J. Geffcken : D. Bibelcatechismen d.
15 Jahrh., Leipz., 1866. — B. Hasak: D. christl. Glaube d. deutschen Volkes
beim Schlusse d. MA, Kegensb., 1868. — P. Bahlmann- Deutschland's kathol.
Katechismen bis zum Ende d. 10 Jahrh. > Munster, 1804. —F. Falk : D.
deutschen Merbebtichlein bis 1620, Col., 1800. Also Drei BeichtbMchlein
nach den 10 Geboten, Munster, 1907. Also D. Drnckkuntt im Dienste d.
Kirche bis 1580, CoL, 1879. — F. W. Battenberg - Joh. Wolff, Beichtbilchlein,
Giesseu, 1907.— Janssen-Pastor, I. 32 sqq. — Aclielis - Prak. Tfteof., II. 497
sqq. — Wiegand : D. apott. Symbol im MA, p. 60 sqq.
§ 78. POPULAR PIETY. 731
Weingarten der Seele ; The Spiritual Chase, Die geistliche Jagd.
Others were known by the general title of BeichibUchlein —
libri dipenitentia — or penitential books.
A compendious statement of their intent is given in the title
of the Seelenfiihrer,1 namely " The Soul's Guide, a useful book
for every Christian to practise a pious life and to reach a holy
death." This literature deserves closer attention both because
it represents territory hitherto largely neglected by students
of the later Middle Ages and because it bears witness to the zeal
among the German clergy to spread practical religion among
the people. The Himmelwagen, the Heavenly Carriage, repre-
sents the horses as faith, love, repentance, patience, peace,
humility and obedience. The Trinity is the driver, the car-
riage itself God's mercy.
With variations, these little books explain the 10 Command-
ments, the 14 articles of the Creed — the number into which
it was then divided — the Lord's Prayer, the Beatitudes,
mortal sins, the 5 senses, the works of mercy and other topics.
The SouC s Comfort, which appeared in 16 editions, 1474-1523,2
takes up the 10 Commandments, 7 sacraments, 8 Beatitudes,
6 works of mercy, the 7 spiritual gifts, 7 mortal sins and 7 car-
dinal virtues and " what God further thinks me worthy of
knowing." Most useful as this little book was adapted to be,
it sometimes states truth under strange forms, as when it tells
of a man whose soul after death was found, not in his body
but in his money-chest and of a girl who, while dancing on
Friday, was violently struck by the devil but recovered on
giving her promise to amend her ways.
The Path to Heaven contains 52 chapters. The first two
set forth faith and hope, the joys of the elect and the pains of
the lost and it closes with 4 chapters describing a holy death,
the devil's modes of tempting the dying and questions which
are to be put to sick people. Dietrich Kolde's Mirror of a
Christian Man, one of the most popular of the manuals, in
the first two of its 46 chapters, took up the Apostles' Creed
i Printed at Mainz, by Peter SchGffer, 1498, 47 pp.
a See list of the editions in Bahlmann, p. 13 sq. The Cologne ed. of 1474
is in the London museum.
732 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
and, in the last, the marks of a good Christian man. The
first edition appeared before 1476 ; the 23d at Delfft, 1518.1
Many of the manuals expressly set forth the value of the
family religion and call upon parents to teach their children
the Creed, the 10 Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, to have
them pray morning and evening and to take them to church
to hear the mass and preaching. The Soul's Guide says,
"The Christian home should be the first school for young
children and their first church."
The Path to Heaven? written by Stephen von Landskron or
Lanzkranna, dean of Vienna, d. 1477, presents a very attrac-
tive picture of a Christian household. As a model for imita-
tion, the head of a family is represented as going to church
with his wife, children and servants every Sunday and lis-
tening to the preaching. On returning home, he reviews
the subject of the sermon and hears them recite the Com-
mandments, Lord's Prayer and Creed and the 7 mortal sins.
Then, after he has refreshed himself with a draught, Trinklein^
they sing a song to God or Mary or to one of the saints. The
SouVs Comfort counsels parents to examine their households
about the articles of faith and the precepts the children had
learned at school and at church. The Table of a Christian
Life 3 urges the parents to keep their children off the streets,
send them to school, making a selection of their teachers and,
above all, to live well themselves and "go before " their chil-
dren in the practice of all the virtues.
Of the penitential books, designed distinctly as manuals of
preparation for the confessional, the work of John Wolff is
the most elaborate and noteworthy. This good man, who was
chaplain at St. Peter's, Frankfurt, wrote his book 1478.4 He
was deeply interested in the impartation of religious instruc-
tion. His tombstone, which was unearthed in 1895, calls him
1 Bahlmann, pp. 17-19. The first dated MS. copy is 1470.
2 Bahlmann, p. 7, gives as the probable date of composition, 1450. The
1st printed ed., Augsburg, 1484. See also Geffcken, pp. 107-119.
8 Bahlmann gives it in full, pp. 63-74.
4 See Falk : Drei Beichtb&chlein. The text of Wolff's manual fills pp.
17-75. Falk also gives a penitential book, printed at NUmberg, 1475, pp.
77-81, and a manual printed at Augsburg, 1504, pp. 82-96.
§ 78. POPULAR PIETY. 733
the " doctor of the 10 Commandments " and gives a represen-
tation of the 10 Commandments in 10 pictures, each Command-
ment being designated by a hand with one or more fingers
uplifted. Such tables it was not an uncommon thing, in the
last years of the Middle Ages, to hang on the walls of churches.
Wolff's book, which is a guide for daily Christian living,
sets forth at length the 10 Commandments and the acts and
inward thoughts which are in violation of them, and puts into
the mouth of the offender an appropriate confession. Thus,
confessing to a violation of the 4th Commandment, the of-
fender says, " I have done on Friday rough work, in farming,
dunging the fields, splitting wood, spinning, sewing, buying
and selling, dancing, striking people at the dance, playing
games and doing other sinful things. I did not hear mass or
preaching and was remiss in the service of Almighty God."
Upon the exposition of the Decalogue follow lists of the five
baser sins, — usury, killing, stealing, sodomy and keeping back
wages, — the 6 sins against the Holy Ghost, the 7 works of
mercy such as visiting the sick, clothing the naked and bury-
ing the dead, the sacraments, the Beatitudes, the 7 gifts of
the Holy Ghost and an exposition of repentance. The work
closes with a summary of the advantages to be derived from
the frequent repetition of the 10 Commandments and men-
tions 13 excuses, given for not repeating them, such as that
the words are hard to remember and the unwillingness to have
them as a perpetual monitor.
These manuals, having in view the careful instruction of
adults and children, indicate a new era in the history of relig-
ious training. No catechisms have come down to us from
the ancient Church. The catechumens to whom Augustine
and Cyril addressed their catechetical discourses were adults.
In the 13th century, synods began to call for the preparation
of summaries of religious knowledge for laymen. So a synod
at Lambeth, 1281, Prag, 1355, and Lavaur, France, 1368.
The Synod of Tortosa, 1429, ordered its prelates to secure the
preparation of a brief compendium containing in concise para-
graphs all that it was necessary for the people to know and
that might be explained to them every Sunday during the
734 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
year by their pastors. Gerson approached the catechetical
method (see this volume, p. 216 sq.) and, after long years of
activity made the statement that the reformation of the church
must begin with children, a parvulis eccletice reparatio et eyus
cultura incipienda.1 In his Tripartite work he presents the
Ten Commandments, confession and thoughts for the dying.
The catechetical form of question and answer was not
adopted till after the Lutheran Reformation was well on its
way. The term, catechism, as a designation of such a manual
was first used by Luther, 1525, and the first book to bear the
title was Andreas Althammer's Catechism, which appeared
in 1528. Luther's two catechisms were issued one year later.
The first Catholic book to bear the title was prepared by
George Wicelius, 1535.
In England, we have something similar to the German peni-
tential books in the Prymer*? the first copy of which dates
from 1410. They were circulated in Latin and English, and
were intended for the instruction of the laity. They con-
tained the calendar, the Hours of our Lady, the litany, the
Lord's Prayer, Creed, Ten Commandments, 7 Penitential
Psalms, the 7 deadly sins, prayers and other matters. The
book is referred to by Piers Plowman, and frequently in the
15th century, as one well known.8 The Horn-book also de-
serves mention. This device for teaching the alphabet and
1 Gerson's opp., Du Pin's ed., III. 280. Luther, in the same vein, said in
1516, Weimar ed., I. 460, 494, that, if there was to be a revival in the Church,
it must start with the instruction of the children. A single book, corre-
sponding to the manuals above described, has come down to us, from an
earlier period, the composition of a monk of Weissenberg of the 9th century.
See two Artt. on Catechisms in the Presb. Banner, Dec. 81, 1008, Jan. 7,
1909 by D. S. Schaff.
2 Maskell : Monumenba ritualia, 2d ed., 1882, III., pp. ii-lxvii and a re-
print of a Prymer, III. 3-183. Dr. Edward Barton edited three Primers,
dating from 1535, 1539, 1645, Oxf., 1834. See also Proctor's Hist. oftheBk.
of Com. Prayer, p. 14 sq. Proctor calls the Primer " the book authorized for
160 years before the Reformation by the Engl. Church, for the private devo-
tion of the people." A. W. Tuer : Hist, of the Horn Book, 2 vols., Lond.,
1896. Highly illust. and most beautiful vols.
« Maskell, III., pp. rav-xlix, says the word, Prymer, can be traced to
the beginning of the 14th century.
§ 78. POPULAR PIETY. 735
the Lord's Prayer consisted of a rectangular board with a
handle, to be held like a modern hand-mirror. On one or
both sides were cut or printed the letters of the alphabet and
the Lord's Prayer. Horn-books were probably not in general
use till the close of the 16th century, but they date hack to
the middle of the 15th. They probably got their name from
a piece of animal horn with which the face of the written
matter was covered as a protection against grubby fingers.1
A nearer approach to the catechetical idea was made by
Colet in his rudiments of religious knowledge appended to
his elementary grammar, and intended for use in St. Paul's
School. It contains the Apostles' Creed, the Lord's Prayer,
an exposition of the love due God and our fellowmen, 46
special "precepts of living," and two prayers, and is generally
known as the Catecheyzon.*
Religious instruction was also given through the series of
pictures known as the Dance of Death, and through the mir-
acle plays.3 In the Dance of Death, a perpetual memento
mori, death was represented in the figure of a skeleton appear-
ing to persons in every avocation of life and of every class.
None were too holy or too powerful to evade his intrusion
and none too humble to be beyond his notice. Death wears
now a serious, now a comic aspect, now politely leads his
victim, now walks arm in arm with him, now drags him or
beats him. An hour-glass is usually found somewhere in the
pictures, grimly reminding the onlooker that the time of life
is certain to run out. These pictures were painted on bridges,
1 Horn -books, as Mr. Tuer says, were much used in England, Scotland
and America, down to the close of the 18th century. So completely had
they gone out of use, that even Mr. Gladstone declared he knew " nothing at
all about them. Tuer, I., p. 8.
2 Text in Lupton : Life of Colet, pp. 285-292.
8 G. Peignot : Recherches sur les Dauses des morts, Paris, 1826. — C. Douce :
The Dance of Death, London, 1883. — Massmann : Literatur der Todtentanze,
etc., Leipzig, 1841. -— R. Fortoul : Les Danses des morts, Paris, 1844. — Smith:
Holbein* s Dance of Death, London, 1849. — G. Kastner, Les Danses des morts,
Paris, 1862. — W. Bftumker : Der Todtentanz, Frankfurt, 1881. — W. Combe :
The JEngl. Dance of Death, new ed., 2 vols., N.Y., 1903. — Valentin Dufour,
Recherches sur la danse macabre, peinte en 1425, au ctmetiere des innocents,
Paris, 1873.— Wetzer-Welte: Todtentanz, XI., 1834-1841.
736 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
houses, church windows and convent walls. Among the old*
est specimens are those in Minden, 1383, at Paris in the
churchyard of the Franciscans, 1425, Dijon, 1436, Basel, 1441,
Croyden, the Tower of London, Salisbury Cathedral, 1460,
Liibeck, 1463.1
In the fifteenth century, the religious drama was in its bloom
in Germany and England.2 The acting was now turned over
to laymen and the public squares and streets were preferred
for the performances. The people looked on from the houses
as well as from the streets. In 1412, while the play of St.
Dorothea was being acted in the market-place at Bautzen,
the roof of one of the houses fell and 33 persons were killed.
The introduction of buffoonery and farce had become a recog-
nized feature and lightened the impression without impairing
the religious usefulness of the plays. The devil was made a
subject of perpetual jest and fun. The people found in them
an element of instruction which, perhaps, the priest did not
impart. The scenes enacted reached from the Creation and
the fall of Lucifer to the Last Judgment and from Abel's
death and Isaac's sacrifice to the crucifixion and resurrection.
Set forth by living actors, the miracle plays and moralities
were to the Middle Ages what the Pilgrim's Progress was to
Puritans. They were performed from Rome to London, at
the marriage and visits of princes and for the delectation of
the people. We find them presented before Sigismund and
prelates during the solemn discussions of the Council of Con-
stance, as when the play of the Nativity and the Slaughter of
the Innocents was acted at the Bishop of Salisbury's lodgings,
1417, and at St. Peter's, as when the play of Susannah and
the Elders was performed in honor of Leonora, daughter of
Fen-ante of Naples, 1473. At a popular dramatization of the
parable of the 10 Virgins in Eisenach, 1324, the margrave,
1 William Dunbar, the Scotch poet, wrote with boisterous humor, The Dance
of the Benin Deidlie Synnis (1507 ?), perhaps as a picture of a revel held on
Shrove Tuesday at the court. Each of the cardinal sins performed a dance.
Ward-Waller : Cambr. Hist, of Lit., II. 289, etc.
3 In addition to the lit. given in vol. V. : 1, p. 869, see F. £. Schellfng : Hist,
of the Drama of Engl., 1558-164$, with a Resume of the Earlier Drama from
the Beginning^ Boston, 1908.
§ 78. POPULAR PIETY. 737
Friedrich, was so moved by the pleas of the 5 foolish maidens
and the failure to secure the aid of Mary and the saints, that
he cried out, " What is the Christian religion worth, if sinners
cannot obtain mercy through the intercession of Mary ? " The
story went, that he became melancholy and died soon after-
wards.
Of the four English cycles of miracle plays, York, Chester,
Coventry and Towneley or Wakefield, the York cycle dates
back to 1360 and contained from 48 to 57 plays. Chester and
Coventry were the traditional centres of the religious drama.
The stage or pageant, as it was called, was wheeled through the
streets. The playing was often in the hands of the guilds, such
as the barbers, tanners, plasterers, butchers, spicers, chandlers.1
The paying of actors dates from the 14th century.
Chester cycles was Noah's Flood, a subject popular every-
where in mediaeval Europe. After God's announcement to the
patriarch, his 3 sons and their wives offered to take hand in the
building of the ark. Noah's wife alone held out and scolded
while the others worked. In spite of Noah's well-known qual-
ity of patience, her husband exclaimed: —
Lord, these women be crabbed, aye
And none are meke, I dare well saye.
Nothing daunted, however, the patriarch went on with his
hammering and hewing and remarked : —
These bordes heare I pinne togither
To bear us saffe from the weither,
That we may rowe both heither and theither
And saffe be from the fludde.2
The ark finished, each party brought his portion of animals
and birds. But when they were housed, Noah's help-meet again
proved a disturbing element. Noah bade Shem go and fetch
her.
Sem, sonne, loe ! thy mother is wrawe (angry).
1 Pollock gives 48 York guilds with plays assigned to each, pp. xxxi-miv.
There are records of plays in more than 100 Engl. towns and villages, Pollock,
p. xxiii.
2 Text in Pollock, p. 8 sqq. It was common to represent Noah's consort
as a shrew. So Chaucer in the Miller' 9 Tale,
SB
738 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
Shem told her they were about to set sail, but still she resisted
entreaty and all hands were called to join together and " fetch
her in."
One of the best of the English plays, Everyman, has for its
subject the inevitableness of death and the judgment.1 God
sends Death to Everyman and, in his attempt to withstand
his message, Everyman calls upon his friends Fellowship,
Riches, Strength, Beauty and Good Works for help or, at
least, to accompany him on his pilgrimage. This with one
consent they refused to do. He then betook himself to Pen-
ance, and has explained to him the powers of the priesthood: —
God hath to priest more power given
Than to any angel that is in heaven.
With five words, he may consecrate
God's body in flesh and blood to take
And handleth his Maker between his hands :
The priest bindeth and unbindeth all bands
Both in earth and in heaven,
He ministers all the sacraments seven.
Such plays were impressive sermons, a popular summer-school
of moral and religious instruction, the mediaeval Chatauqua.
They continued to be performed in England till the 16th cen-
tury and even till the reign of James I., when the modern drama
took their place. The last survival of the religious drama of
the Middle Ages is the Passion Play given at Oberammergau
in the highlands of Bavaria. In obedience to a vow, made dur-
ing a severe epidemic in 1634, it has been acted every ten years
since and more often in recent years. Since 1860, the perform-
ances have attracted throngs of spectators from foreign lands, a
performance being set for 1910. Writers have described it as a
most impressive sermon on the most momentous of scenes, as it
is a solemn act of worship for the simple-hearted, pious Catholics
of that remote mountain village.
Pilgrimages and the worship of relics were as popular in the
15th century as they had been in previous periods of the Middle
Ages.2 Guide-books for pilgrims were circulated in Germany
i The text in Pollock. It was revived in New York City in the Winter of
1902-1903 and played in three theatres, creating a momentary interest.
* See Erasmus : Praise of Folly, Enchiridion and Colloquies. — Gasquet :
Eve of the Reformation, pp. 866-394. — G. Ficker : D. ausgehende Mtttelaltcr.
§ 78. POPULAR PIETY. 789
and England and contained vocabularies as well as items of
geography and other details.1 Jerusalem continued to attract
the feet of princes and prelates as well as persons of less exalted
estate. Frederick the Wise of Saxony, Luther's cautious but
firm friend, was one of these pilgrims in the last days of the
Middle Ages. William Wey of England, who in 1458 and 1462,
went to the Holy Land, tells us how the pilgrims sang "O city
dear Jerusalem," Urba beata, as they landed at Joppa. Sir
Richard Torkington and Sir Thomas Tappe, both ecclesiastics,
made the journey the same year that Luther nailed up the
Theses, 1517. The journeys to Rome during the Jubilee Years
of 1450, 1500, drew vast throngs of people, eager to see the holy
city and concerned to secure the religious benefits promised by
the supreme pontiff. Local shrines also attracted constant
streams of pilgrims.
Among the popular shrines in Germany were the holy blood
at Sternberg from 1492, the image of Mary at Grimmenthal from
1499, as a cure for the French sickness, the head of St. Anna at
Diiren from 1500, this relic having been stolen from Mainz. The
holy coat of Treves was brought to light in 1512. As in the
flourishing days of the Crusades, so again, pilgrimage-epidemics
broke out among the children of Germany, as in 1457 when
large bands went to St. Michael's in Normandy and in 1475 to
Wilsnack, where, in spite of the exposure by Nicolas of Cusa,
the blood was still reputed holy.2 The most noted places of
pilgrimage in Germany were Cologne with the bodies of the
three Magi-kings and Aachen, where Mary's undergarment,
Jesus' swaddling-cloth and the loin-cloth he wore on the cross
and other priceless relics are kept. Some idea of the popu-
larity of pilgrimages may be had from the numbers that are
given, though it is possible they are exaggerated. In 1466,
180,000 attended the festival of the angels at Einsiedeln, S wit-
Leipzig, pp. 69-78. — H. Siebert, Rom. Cath. : Beitr&gezur vorreformatorischen
Heiligen-und Reliquienverehrung, Freib. im Br., 1907. — Bezold, p. 106 8qq.,
Janasen-Pastor.
i Falk • Druckkunst, pp. 33-87 ; 44-79 etc. Siebert, p. 66 sq. — Wey : /tf n-
erarieSi ed. by Roxburghe Club, 1857.
» We have the account of the latter by an eye-witness, the chronicler priest,
Conrad Stolle of Erfurt. See Fioker, p. 69 «q.
740 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
zerland, and in 1496 the porter at the gate of Aachen counted
146,000.1 In the 14 days, when the relics were displayed, 85,000
gulden were left in the money-boxes of St. Mary's, Aachen.
Imposing religious processions were also popular, such as the
procession at Erfurt, 1483, in a time of drought. It lasted from
5 in the morning till noon, the ranks passing from church to
church. Among those who took part were 948 children from
the schools, the entire university-body comprising 2,141 per-
sons, 312 secular priests, the monks of 5 convents and a com-
pany of 2,316 maidens with their hair hanging loosely down
their backs and carrying tapers in their hands. German synods
called attention to the abuses of the pilgrimage-habit and sought
to check it.2
English pilgrims, not satisfied with going to Rome, Jerusalem
and the sacred places on their own island, also turned their foot-
steps to the tomb of St. James of Compostella, Spain. In 1456,
Wey conducted 7 ship-loads of pilgrims to this Spanish locality.
Among the popular English shrines were St. Edmund of Bury,
St. Ethelred of Ely, the holy hood of Boxley, the holy blood of
Hailes and, more popular than all, Thomas a Becket's tomb at
Canterbury and our Blessed Lady of Walsingham. So much
frequented was the road to Walsingham that it was said, Provi-
dence set the milky way in the place it occupies in the heavens
that it might shine directly upon it and direct the devout to the
sacred spot. These two shrines were visited by unbroken pro-
cessions of religious itinerants, including kings and queens as
well as people less distinguished. Reference has already been
made to Erasmus' description, which he gives in his Colloquies.
At Walsingham, he was shown the Virgin's shrine rich with
jewels and ornaments of silver and gold and lit up by burning
candles. There, was the wicket at which the pilgrim had to
stoop to pass but through which, with the Virgin's aid, an armed
1 Bezold, 105 sq., Jansseto, I. 748. See an art., Belie Worship in the Heart
of European the Presb. Banner, Sept. 16, 1909, by D. S. Schaff on a visit to
Einsiedeln, whither 160,000 pilgrims journeyed in 1908, and to Aachen when
the " greater relics," which are displayed once in 7 years, were exposed July
9-21, 1909, and according to the Frankfurt press attracted 600,000 pilgrims.
2 Janssen, L 748-760, ascribes the popularity of pilgrimages in Germany to
the currendi libido, the travelling itch.
§ 78. POPULAR PIETY. 741
knight on horseback had escaped from his pursuer. The
Virgin's congealed milk, the cool scholar has described with par-
ticular precision. Asking what good reason there was for be-
lieving it was genuine, the verger replied by pointing him to an
authentic record hung high up on the wall. Walsingham was
also fortunate enough to possess the middle joint of one of
Peter's fingers.
At Canterbury, Erasmus and Colet looked upon Becket's
skull covered with a silver case except at the spot where the
fatal dagger pierced it and Colet, remarking that Thomas was
good to the poor while on earth, queried whether now being in
heaven he would not be glad to have the treasures, stored in
his tomb, distributed in alms. When a chest was opened and
the monk held up the rags with which the archbishop had blown
his nose, Colet held them only a moment in his fingers and let
them drop in disgust. It was said by Thomas & Kempis, that
rarely are they sanctified who jaunt about much on pilgrimages
— raro sanctificantur, qui multum peregrinantur.1 One of the
German penitential books exclaimed, " Alas ! how seldom do
people go on pilgrimages from right motives." Twenty-five
years after the visits of Erasmus and Colet, the canons of Wal-
singham, convicted of forging relics, were dragged by the king's
order to Chelsea and burnt and the tomb of St. Thomas was
rifled of its contents and broken up.
Saints continued to be in high favor. Every saint has his
distinct office allotted to him, said Erasmus playfully. One is
appealed to for the toothache, a second to grant easy delivery
in childbirth, a third to lend aid on long journeys, a fourth to
protect the farmer's live stock. People prayed to St. Christo-
pher every morning to be kept from death during the day, to
St. Roche to be kept from contagion and to St. George and St.
Barbara to be kept from falling into the hands of enemies.
He suggested that these fabulous saints were more prayed to
than Peter and Paul and perhaps than Christ himself.2 Sir
Thomas More, in his defence of the worship of saints, expressed
his astonishment at the " madness of the heretics that barked
against the custom of Christ's Church."
1 Tmit. of Christ, 1. 1, ch. 23. See Siebert, p. 66.
a Praise of Folly, pp. 80, 90, and Enchiridion, XII., p. 135.
742 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
The encouragement, given at Rome to the worship of relics,
had a signal illustration in the distinguished reception accorded
the head of St. Andrew by the Renaissance pope, Pius II. In
Germany, princes joined with prelates in making collections of
sacred bones and other objects in which miraculous virtue was
supposed to reside and whose worship was often rewarded by
the almost infinite grace of indulgence. In Germany, in the
15th century as in Chaucer's day in England, the friars were
the indefatigable purveyors of this sort of merchandise, from the
bones of Balaam's ass to the straw of the manger and feathers
from St. Michael's wings. The Niirnberger, Nicolas Muffel,
regretted that, after the effort of 33 years, he had only been
able to bring together 308 specimens. Unfortunately this did
not keep him from the crime of theft and the penalty of the
gallows.1 In Vienna, were shown such rarities as a piece of
the ark, drops of sweat from Gethsemane and some of the
incense offered by the Wise Men from the East. Albrecht,
archbishop of Mainz, helped to collect no less than 8,133 sacred
fragments and 42 entire bodies of saints. This collection,
which was deposited at Halle, contained the host — that is,
Christ's own body — which Christ offered while he was in the
tomb, a statue of the Virgin with a full bottle of her milk hang-
ing from her neck, several of the pots which had been used at
Cana and a portion of the wine Jesus made, as well as some of
the veritable manna which the Hebrews had picked up in the
desert, and some of the earth from a field in Damascus from
which God made Adam.
A most remarkable collection was made by no less a person-
age than Frederick the Wise of Saxony.2 A rich description
of its treasures has been preserved from the hand of Andreas
Meinhard, then a new master of arts. On his way to Witten-
berg, 1507, he met a raw student about to enter the university,
Reinhard by name. The elector had made good use of the
opportunities his pilgrimages to Jerusalem furnished and suc-
ceeded in obtaining the very respectable number of 5,005 sacred
1 Bezold, p. 90 ; Siebert, p. 59.
a Lie Universitdt Wittenberg nach der Beschreibung des Mag. Andrea*
Meinhard, ed. by J. Hausleiter, 2d ed., Leipz., 1903.
§ 78. POPULAE PIETY. 748
pieces. The collection was displayed for over a year in the
Schlosskirche, where Meinhard arid his travelling companion
looked at it with wondering eyes and undoubting confidence.
Among the pieces were a thorn from the crown of thorns, a tunic
belonging to John the Evangelist, milk from the Virgin's breast,
a piece of Mt. Calvary, a piece of the table on which the Last
Supper was eaten, fragments of the stones on which Christ
stood when he wept over Jerusalem and as he was about to
ascend to heaven, the entire body of one of the Bethlehem
Innocents, one of the fingers of St. Anna, " the most blessed of
grandmothers," — beatissimce avice, — pieces of the rods of
Aaron and Moses, a piece of Mary's girdle and some of the
straw from the Bethlehem manger. Good reason had Mein-
hard to remark that, if the grandfathers had been able to arise
from the dead, they would have thought Rome itself transferred
to Wittenberg. Each of these fragments was worth 100 days
of indulgence to the worshipper. The credulity of Frederick,
the collector, and the people betrays the atmosphere in which
Luther was brought up and the struggle it must have cost him
to attack the deep-seated beliefs of his generation.
The religious reverence paid to the Virgin could not well go
beyond the stage it reached in the age of the greater School-
men nor could more flattering epithets be heaped upon her
than were found in the works of Albertus Magnus and Bona-
ventura. Mary was more easily entreated than her Son. The
Horticulus animce, — Garden of the Soul, — tells the story of a
cleric, accustomed to say his Ave Maria* devoutly every day,
to whom the Lord appeared and said, that his mother was much
gratified at the priest's prayers and loved him much but that
he should not forget also to direct prayers to himself. The
book, Heavenly Wagon, called upon sinners to take refuge in
her mantle, where full mercy and pardon would be found.1
Erasmus remarked that Mary's blind devotees, praying to
her on all occasions, considered it manners to place the mother
before the Son.2 In 1456, Calixtus III. commended the use
1 Siebert, p. 30.
a Praise of Folly,
744 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
of the Ave Maria as a protection against the Turks. English
Prymers contained the salutations,
Blessid art thou virgyn marie, that hast born the lord maker of the world :
thou hast getyn hyin that made thee, and thou dwellist virgyne withouten
ende. Thankis to god.
Heil sterre of the see, hooli goddis modir, alwei maide, blesful gate of
heuene.1
The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception in its extreme
form, exempting Mary from the beginning from all taint of
original sin, was defined by the Council of Basel2 but the
decision has no oecumenical authority. Sixtus IV., 1477 and
1483, declared the definition of the dogma still an open ques-
tion, the Holy See not having pronounced upon the subject.
But the University of Paris, 1497, in emphatic terms decided
for the doctrine and bound its members to the tenet by an
oath. Erasmus, comparing the subtlety of the Schoolmen with
the writings of the Apostles, observed that, while the former
hotly contended over the Immaculate Conception, the Apostles
who knew Mary well never undertook to prove that she was
immune from original sin.8
To the worship of Mary was added the worship of Anna,
Mary's reputed mother. The names of Mary's parents, Anna
and Joachim, were received from the Apocryphal Gospels of
James and the Infancy. Jerome and Augustine had treated
the information with suspicion as also the further information
that the couple were married in Bethlehem and lived in Naza-
reth, had angelic announcements of the birth of Mary and
that, upon Joachim's death, Anna married a second and a third
time. The Crusaders brought relics of her with them to
Western Europe and gradually her claim found recognition.
Her cult spread rapidly. In Alexander VI. she found a dis-
tinguished devotee. Churches and hospitals were built to her
memory. Trithemius wrote a volume in her praise and artists,
* See Maskell, III. 63.
2 Nunquam, actualiter subjacuisse origtnali peccato, sed immuncm temper
fuisse ab omni originali et actuali culpa. Mansi, XXIX. 183.
9 Praise of Folly, p. 126.
§ 78. POPULAR PIETY. 745
like Albrecht Diirer, joined her with Mary on the canvas.1
She was claimed as a patron saint by women in childbirth and
by the copper miners. Luther himself was one of her ardent
worshippers. Both Albrecht of Mainz and Frederick the Wise
were fortunate enough to have in their collections of relics,
each, one of the fingers of the saint.2
If sacred poetry is any test of the devotion paid to a saint,
then the Virgin Mary was far and away the chief personage to
whom worshippers in the last centuries of the Middle Ages
looked for help. The splendid collection issued by Blume
and Dreves, — Analecta hymnica, — filling now nearly 8,000
pages, gives the material from which a judgment can be formed
as to the relative amount of attention writers of hymns and
sequences paid to the Godhead, to Mary and to the other saints.
Number XLII., containing 336 hymns, gives 37 addressed to
Christ, 110 to Mary and 189 to other saints. Number XL VI.
devotes 102 to Mary. These numbers are taken at random.
Here are introductory verses from several of the thousands of
hymns which were composed in praise of her virtues and the
efficacy of her intercession: —
Pulchra regis regia Mater altissimi regis
Regens regent em omnia* Tu humani altrix gregis
Advocata potissima
Salve dHtatti cella /n hora noftig ul(ima 6
Virgo virginum
Maria, nostra consolatrix.*
Anna also has a large place in the hymns of the later Middle
1 Janssen, I. 248. See E. Schaumkell : Der Cultus der hi. Anna am Aus-
gange des MA, Freib., 1896. J. Trithemius: De laudibus S. Anna, Mainz,
1494.
2 St. Anne's day was fixed on July 26 by Gregory XIII., 1684. The
Western Continent has a great church dedicated to St. Anne at Beau Pre*
on the St. Lawrence, near Quebec. It possesses one of its patron's fingers.
No other Catholic sanctuary of North America, perhaps, has such a reputation
for miraculous cures as this Canadian church.
* Beautiful ruler of the king, Ruling him who rules all things. Blume and
Dreves, XLIL 116.
* Hail, cell of the Deity, Virgin of virgins, Mary, our comforter. XLV. 117.
* Mother of the most high King, Thou foster-mother of the flock, Advo-
cate most mighty, In the dread hour of death. XLV. 118.
746 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
Ages and the 16th century.1 Here are the opening verses of
two of them :
Dulcis Jew matris pater Qaude, mater Anna
Joachim, et Anna mater Gaude, mater sancta
Justi, natu nobiles* Cum sis Deifacta
Genetrix avia.*
In England, singing sacred songs seems to have been little
cultivated before the 16th century. The singing of Psalms in
the days of Anne Boleyn was a novelty and was greatly enjoyed
at the court as it was later in Elizabeth's reign, on the streets.
The vast numbers of sacred pieces, written in Germany,
France and the Lowlands, were intended for conventual de-
votions not for popular use.4 Singing, however, was practised
extensively in pilgrimages and processions and also in churches,
and the Basel synod at its 21st session complained that the
public services were interrupted by hymns in the* vernacular.
Germany took the lead in sacred popular music. From
1470-1520, nearly 100 hymns were printed from German presses,
many of them with original tunes. Sometimes the hymns were
in German from beginning to end, sometimes they were a mix-
ture of Latin and German. As the Middle Ages drew to a
close, religious song increased. The Reformation established
congregational singing and begat the congregational hymn-
book.6
1 Number XLII. of Blume and Dreves' collection gives 10 ; Number
XLIII. 9, Number XLIV. 8, Anna hymns.
8 Father of the dear mother of Jesus, Joachim, and her mother Anna,
Righteous and noble of birth. XLII. 154.
8 Rejoice Anna mother, Rejoice holy mother, For thou art made grand-
mother of God. XLIII. 78.
« The Cambridge Role, a MS. in Cambridge, contains 12 carols. John of
Dunstable founded a school of music early in the 16th century. Traill : Social
Engl., II. 368 sq. Maskell, Mon. rit., Ill . 1 sqq., gives a number of English
hymns printed in the Prymers of the first half of the Iflth century.
6 Bfcumker gives 71 hymns with original melodies printed before 1520. On
the subject of mediasval hymns, see Mone : Lateinische Hymnen d. MA,
3 vols., Freib., 1856 ; Ph. Wackernagel : Das deutsche Kirchenlied von der
dltesten Zeit, etc., 2 vols, Leipz., 1867. W. Bftumker : D. kathol. deutsche
Kirchenlied in seinen Singweisen, 3 vols., Freib., 1886-1891 and Em deutsches
geistliches Liederbuch mil Melodieen aus d. Uten Jahrh., etc., Leipz., 1895,
Jansaen, I. 288 sqq. Also artt. Kirchenlied and Kirchenmusik in Herzog, X.
§ 79. WORKS OF CHARITY. 747
These adjuncts and elements of Christian worship and
training were added to the usual service of the churches, the
celebration of the mass, which was central, the confessional
and preaching. The age was religious but doubt was grow-
ing. A writer of the 15th century says of England : l —
There are many who have various opinions concerning religion . . . but
all attend mass every day and say many pater nosters in public, the women
carrying long rosaries in their hands and any who can read taking the Hours
of our Lady with them and reciting them in church verse by verse in a low
voice as is the manner of the religious. They always hear mass in their
parish church on Sunday and give liberal alms nor do they omit any form
incumbent upon good Christians.
The age of a more intelligent piety was still to come, though
it was to prove itself less submissive to human authority.
§ 79. Works of Charity.
•
Benevolence and philanthropy, which are of the very es-
sence of the Christian religion, flourished in the later Middle
Ages. In the endeavor to provoke his generation to good
works, Luther asserted that "in the good old papal times
everybody was merciful and kind. Then it snowed endow-
ments and legacies and hospitals." 2 Institutions were estab-
lished to care for the destitute and sick, colleges and bursaries
were endowed and protection given to the dependent against
the rapacity of unscrupulous money-lenders.
The modern notion of stamping out sickness by processes
of sanitation scarcely occurred to the mediaeval municipali-
ties. Although the population of Europe was not ^ of what
it is to-day, disease was fearfully prevalent. No epidemics
so fatal as the Black Death appeared in Europe but, even in
1 Italian Relation of Engl., Camden Soc. ed., p. 23.
a Quoted by Uhlhorn, p. 489. Janssen, II. 326 sq., takes too seriously
Luther's complaint that more liberality had been shown and care given to the
needy under the old system than under the new, using it as a proof of the
influence of Protestantism. Riezler, Oesch. Baierns, as quoted by Janssen,
I. 670 says, " The Christian spirit of love to one's neighbor was particularly
active in the 16th century in works of benevolence and there is scarcely
another age BO fruitful in them.9' So also Bezold, p. 94.
748 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
England, the return of plagues was frequent, as in 1406, 1439,
1464, 1477. The famine of 1438, called the Great Famine,
was followed the next year by the Great Pestilence, called
also the pestilence sans merci. In 1464, to follow the Chronicle
of Croyland, thousands " died like slaughtered sheep." The
sweating sickness of 1485 reappeared in 1499 and 1504. In
the first epidemic, 20,000 died in London and, in 1504, the
mayor of the city succumbed. The disease took people sud-
denly and was marked by a chill, which was followed by a
fiery redness of the skin and agonizing thirst that led the vic-
tims to drink immoderately. Drinking was succeeded by
sweating from every pore.1
Provision was made for the sick and needy through the mon-
asteries, gilds and brotherhoods as well as by individual assist-
ance and state collections. The care of the poor was in England
regarded as one of the primary functions of the Church. Arch-
bishop Stratford, 1342, ordered that a portion of the tithe
should be invariably set apart for their needs. The neglect
of the poor was alleged as one of the crying omissions of the
alien clergy.
Doles for the poor, a common form of charity in England,
were often provided for on a large scale. During the 40 days
the duke of Gaunt's body was to remain unburied, 50 marks
were to be distributed daily until the 40th day, when the
amount was to be increased to 500 marks. Bishop Skirland
wanted 200 given away between his death and his interment.
A draper of York gave by will 100 beds with furniture to as
many poor folk. A cloth-maker made a doubtful charity when
he left a suit of his own make to 13 poor people, with the con-
dition that they should sit around his coffin for 8 days. There
were houses, says Thorold Rogers, where doles of bread and
beer were given to all wayfarers, houses where the sick were
treated, clothed and fed, particularly the lepers. One of the
hospitals that survives is St. Cross at Winchester for old and
indigent people.2 The cook Ketel, a Brother of the Common
1 See C. Creighton in Social England, II. 412, 476, 561.
2 Rogers: Work and Wages, p. 417. Stubbs: Const. Hist., ch. XXI.
Capes : Engl. Ch. Hist, in the 14th and 16th Cent., pp. 270 sq., 866 sq.
§ 79, WORKS OF CHARITY. 749
Life, whose biography Thomas a Kempis wrote, said it would
be better to sell all the books of the house at Deventer and
give more to the poor.
Hospitals, in the earlier part of our period, were the special
concern of the knights of the Teutonic Order and continued
throughout the whole of it to engage the attention of the
Beguines. It became the custom also for the Beguines to go as
nurses to private houses as in Cologne, Frankfurt, Treves, Ulm
and other German cities, receiving pay for their services.1
The Beguinages in Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp and other cities
of Belgium and Holland date back to this period. The 15th
century also witnessed the growth of municipal hospitals, a
product of the civic spirit which had developed in North-
Europe. Cities like Cologne, Liibeck and Augsburg had sev-
eral hospitals. The Hotel de Dieu^ Paris, did not come under
municipal control till 1505. In cases, admission to hospitals
was made by their founders conditional on ability to say the
Lord's Prayer, the Creed and the Ave Maria, as for example to
St. Anthony's, Augsburg. In this case, the founder took care
to provide for himself, requiring the inmates on entering to say
100 Pater nosters and 100 Ave Marias over his grave and every
day to join in saying over it 15 of each.2 Damian of Lowen
and his wife, who endowed a hospital at Cologne, 1450, stipu-
lated that " the very poorest and sickest were to be taken care
of whether they belonged to Cologne or were strangers."
Rome had more than one hospital endowment. The founda-
tion of Cardinal John Colonna at the Lateran, made 1216, still
remains. In his History of the Popes (III. 51), Pastor has
given a list of the hospitals and other institutions of mercy in
the different states of Italy and justly laid stress upon this
evidence of the power of Christianity. The English gilds,
organized, in the first instance, for economic and industrial
purposes, also pledged relief to their own sick and indigent
members. The gild of Corpus Christ! at York provided 8 beds
for poor people and paid a woman by the year 14 shillings and
i Uhlhorn, p. 383 sq.
* Uhlhorn, p. 388. For the conditions of admission to hospitals and med-
ical treatment, AUemand, III. 192 sqq. is to be consulted.
750 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
fourpence to keep them. The gild of St. Helena at Beverley
cared constantly for 3 or 4 poor folk.1
Leprosy decreased during the last years of the Middle Ages,
but hospitals for the reception of lepers are still extensively
found, — the lazarettos, so called after Lazarus, who was re-
puted to have been afflicted with the disease. Houses for this
malady had been established in England by Lanfranc, Mathilda,
queen of Henry I. at St. Giles, by King Stephen at Burton,
Leicestershire and by others till the reign of John. St. Hugh
of Lincoln, as well as St. Francis d' Assissi distinguished them-
selves by their solicitude for lepers. But the disease seems to
have died out in England in the 14th century and it was hard
to fill the beds endowed for this class of sufferers. In 1434,
it was ordered that beds be kept for 2 lepers in the great Dur-
ham leper hospital " provided they could be found in these
parts." Originally the hospital had beds for GO.2 Late in the
16th century there were still lepers in Germany. Thomas
Platter wrote, " When we came to Munich, it was so late that
we could not enter the city, but had to remain in the leper-
house."8
Begging was one of the curses of England and Germany as
it continues to be of Southern Europe to-day. It was no dis-
grace to ask alms. The mendicant friars by their example
consecrated a nuisance with the sacred authority of religion.
Pilgrims and students also had the right of way as beggars.
1 In 1409 was founded an asylum for lunatics in Valencia, Lecky : ffist. of
Europ. Morals, II. 94 sq. There were pest-houses in Oxford and Cambridge
and Continental universities often had special hospitals of their own. Writing
of the 16th century, Thomas Platter speaks of such a hospital at Breslau.
The town paid 16 hellers for the care of each patient. These institutions were,
however, far removed from our present methods of cleanliness. Of the Breslau
hospital, Platter (Monroe's Life, p. 108 sq.) says, u We had good attention,
good beds, but there were many vermin there as big as ripe hemp-seed, so that
I and others preferred to lie on the floor rather than in the beds."
2 Geo. Fernet : Leprosy in Quart. Rev., 1908, p. 884 sqq. C. Creighton, Soc.
Sngl, II. 413. This Hist., Vol. V., L, pp. 895, 825,894. For the fearful prev-
alence of cutaneous diseases and crime in England in the 18ih century and
as a cure for those who sigh for the fictitious happy conditions of mediaeval
society, tee Jessopp, Coming of the Friars, p. 101 sqq.
8 Monroe: That. Flatter, p. 107.
§ 79. WORKS OF CHARITY. 751
Sebastian Brant gave a list of the different ecclesiastical beggars
who went about with sacks, into which they put with indis-
criminate greed apples, plums, eggs, fish, chickens, meat, butter
and cheese, — sacks which had no bottom.
Der Settler Sack wird nimmer voll;
Wie man ihnfullt, so bleibt er hohl.
In Germany, towns gave franchises to beg.1 The habit of
mendicancy, which Brant ridiculed, Geiler of Strassburg called
upon the municipality to regulate or forbid altogether. In
England, mendicancy was a profession recognized in law.
With the decay of the monastic endowments and the legal
maintenance of wages at a low rate, the destitution and vagrancy
increased. The English statutes of laborers at the close of this
period, 1495 and 1504, ordered beggars, not able to work, to
return to their own towns where they might follow the habit of
begging without hindrance.2
At a time when in Germany, the richest country of Europe,
church buildings were multiplying with great rapidity, many
churches in England, on account of the low economic condi-
tions, were actually left to go to ruin or turned into sheep-
cotes and stables, a transmutation to which Sir Thomas More
as well as others refers. The rapacity of the nobles and ab-
bots in turning large areas into sheep-runs deprived laborers
of employment and brought social distress upon large num-
bers. On the other hand, parliament passed frequent statutes
of apparel, as in 1463 and 1482, restricting the farmer and
laborer in his expenditure on dress. The different statutes
of laborers, enacted during the 15th century, had the effect
of depressing and impoverishing the classes dependent upon
the daily toil of their hands.8
In spite of the strict synodal rules, repeated again and
1 Uhlhorn, pp. 433, 456. Such a license was issued in Vienna, 1442. Eber-
lin of Gtinzburg went so far as to say that in Germany, 14 out of every 15 people
lived a life of idleness.
* Stubbs, ch. XXI. ; Social Engl, II. 548-550. Cunningham, p. 478 aq. ;
Rogers, pp. 416-419.
a See Traill : Soc. EngL, II. 388, 392-308. For the activity in church-
building in Germany, see Janssen, I. 180 sq. ; Bezold, p. 90 ; Picker, p. 65.
752 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294H617.
again, usury was practised by Christians as well as by Jews.
All the greater Schoolmen of the 13th century had discussed
the subject of usury and pronounced it sin, on the ground of
Luke 6 : 34, and other texts. They held that charges of in-
terest offended against the law of love to our neighbor and
the law of natural fairness, for money does not increase with
use but rather is reduced in weight and value. It is a species
of greed which is mortal sin.1 It was so treated by mediaeval
councils when practised by Christians and the contrary opin-
ion was pronounced heretical by the oecumenical council of
Vienne. Geiler of Strassburg expounded the official church
view when he pronounced usury always wicked. It was
wrong for a Christian to take back more than the original
principal. And the substitution of a pig or some other gift
in place of a money payment he also denounced.
The rates of the Jews were exorbitant. In Florence, they
were 20 % in 1430 and, in 1488, 32| %.a In Northern Europe
they were much higher, from 43J to 80 or even 100 %. Mu-
nicipalities borrowed. Clerics, convents and churches mort-
gaged their sacred vessels. City after city in Germany and
Switzerland expelled the Jews, — from Spires and Zurich,
1435, to Geneva, 1490, and Niirnberg, Ulm and Nordlingen,
1498-1500. The careers of the great banking-houses in the
second half of the fifteenth century show the extensive de-
mand for loans by popes and prelates, as well as secular
princes.
To afford relief to the needy, whose necessities forced them
to borrow, a measure of real philanthropy was conceived in
the last century of the Middle Ages, the montes pietatis, or
charitable accumulations.8 They were benevolent loaning
funds. The idea found widespread acceptance in Italy, where
the first institutions were founded at Perugia, 1462, and Or-
1 Thos. Aquinas : Summa, II. 2, q. 78.
9 Pastor : Gesch. d. Papste, III. 83 sq. For Germany, see Janssen, 1.460 sqq.
* Other names given to them were montes Christi, monte delta caritb, mare
di pteta. See Holzapfel, pp. 18, 20, for funds to provide for burial, montes
mortuorum, made up from contributions, and funds to which mothers con-
tributed at the birth of children, called montes dotis. Holzapfel gives the
primary authorities on the benevolent loaning funds, pp. 8-14.
§ 79. WORKS OF CHARITY. 753
vieto, 1463. City councils aided such funds by contributions,
as at Perugia, when it gave 3,000 gulden. But in this case,
finding itself unable to furnish the full amount, it mulcted
the Jews for 1,200 gulden, Pius II. giving his sanction to
the constraint. In cases, bishops furnished the capital, as at
Pistoja, 1473, where Bishop Donato de' Medici gave 3,000
gulden. At Lucca, a merchant, who had grown rich through
commercial affiliation with the Jews, donated the princely
capital of 40,000 gold gulden. At Gubbio, a law taxed all
inheritances one per cent in favor of the local fund, and neg-
lect to pay was punished with an additional tax of one per
cent.
The popes showed a warm interest in the new benevolence
by granting to particular funds their sanction and offering
indulgences to contributors. From 1463 to 1515 we have
records of 16 papal authorizations from such popes as Pius II.,
Sixtus IV., Innocent VIII., Alexander VI., Julius II. and
Leo X. The sanction of Innocent VIII., given to the Mantua
fund, 1486, called upon the preachers to summon the people
to support the fund, promised 10 years full indulgence to
donors, and excommunicated all who opposed the project.
Sixtus IV., in commending the fund for his native town of
Savona, 1479, pronounced its worthy object to be to aid not
only the poor but also the rich who had pawned their goods.
He offered a plenary indulgence on the collection of every
100 gulden. In 1490, the Savona fund had 22,000 gulden
and the limit of loans was raised to 100 ducats.1
The administration of these bureaus of relief was in the
hands of directors, usually a mixed body of clergymen and
laymen, and often appointed by municipal councils. The
accounts were balanced each month. In Perugia, the rate,
which was 12 % in 1463, was reduced to 8 % a year later. In
Milan it was reduced from 10% to 5%, in 1488. Five per
cent was the appointed rate fixed at Padua, Vicenza and Pisa,
and 4 % at Florence. The loans were made upon the basis
of property put in pawn. The benevolent efficacy of these
funds cannot be questioned and to them, in part, is due the
i Holzapfel, pp. 10-12, 44, 64, 70.
3c
764 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
reduction of interest from 40 % to 4 and 10 % in Italy, before
the close of the 15th century.1 They met, however, with
much opposition and were condemned as contravening the
traditional law against usury.
A foremost place in advancing the movement was taken by
the Franciscans and in the Franciscan Bernardino da Feltre,
1439-1494, it had its chief apostle. This popular orator can-
vassed all the greater towns of Northern Italy, — Mantua,
Florence, Parma, Padua, Milan, Lucca, Verona, Brescia.
Wherever he went, he was opposed from the pulpit and by
doctors of the canon law. At Florence, so warmly was the
controversy conducted in the pulpits that a public discussion
was ordered at which Lorenzo de' Medici, doctors of the law,
clerics and many laymen were present, with the result that
the archbishop forbade opposition to the mons on pain of ex-
communication. The Deuteronomic injunction, 24:12 sq.,
ordering that, if a man borrow a coat, it should be restored
before sundown and the Lord's words, Luke 6, were quoted
by the opposition. But it was replied, that the object of loan-
ing to the poor was not to enrich the fund or individuals but
to do the borrower good. Savonarola gave the institution his
advocacy.2 The Fifth Lateran commended it and in this it
was followed, 50 years later, by the Council of Trent.
The attempt to transplant the Italian institution in Germany
was unsuccessful and was met by the establishment of banks
by municipal councils, as at Frankfurt.3 In England also, it
gained no foothold. So strong was the feeling against lending
out money at interest that, at Chancellor Morton's importu-
nity, parliament proceeded against it with severe measures,
and a law of Henry VII. 's reign made all lending of money at
interest a criminal offence and the bargain between borrower
and lender null and void.
Notable expression was also given to the practice of beuev-
1 Holzapfel, p. 184.
* Villari, I. 294 aqq.; Holzapfel, pp. 124, 185. According to Holzapfel,
there were in Italy in 1896, 566 monti di pietb with 78,000,000 lire — f 16,000,-
000 — out in loans.
* Holzapfel, p. 102 sqq, ; Janssen, I. 464, 489.
§ 79. WORKS OP CHAEITY. 755
olence by the religious brotherhoods of the age. These or-
ganizations developed with amazing rapidity and are not to be
confounded with the gilds which were organizations of crafts-
men, intended to promote the production of good work and
also to protect the master-workers in their monopoly of trade.
They were connected with the Church and were, in part,
under the direction of the priesthood, although from some of
them, as in Liibeck, priests were distinctly excluded. Like
the gilds, their organization was based upon the principle of
mutual aid1 but they emphasized the principle of unselfish
sympathy for those in distress. Luther once remarked, there
was no chapel and no saint without a brotherhood. In fact,
nothing was so sure to make a saint popular as to name a
brotherhood after him. By 1450, there was not a mendicant
convent in Germany which had not at least one fraternity con-
nected with it. Cities often had a number of these organiza-
tions. Wittenberg had 21, Liibeck 70, Frankfurt 31, Ham-
burg 100. Every reputable citizen in German cities belonged
to one or more.2 Luther belonged to 3 at Erfurt, the brother-
hoods of St. Augustine, St. Anna and St. Catherine.
The dead, who had belonged to them, had the distinct ad-
vantage of being prayed for. Their sick were cared for in
hospitals, containing beds endowed by them. Sometimes they
incorporated the principle of mutual benefit or assurance soci-
eties, and losses sustained by the living they made good. At
Paderborn, in case a brother lost his horse, every member con-
tributed one or two shillings or, if he lost his house, his fellow-
members contributed three shillings each or a load of lumber.
As there were gilds of apprentices as well as of master-
workmen, so there were brotherhoods of the poor and humble
as well as of those in comfortable circumstances. Even the
lepers had fraternities, and one of these clans had fief rights to
a spring at Wiesbaden. So also had the beggars and cripples
1 The constitution of the Gild of St. Mary of Lynn contained the clauses,
"If any sister or brother of this gild fall into poverty, they shall have help
from every other brother and sister in a penny a day." The Gild of St.
Catharine, London, had a similar stipulation. Smith: Engl. Gilds, p. 186.
8 Degenhard Pfafflnger, counsellor to Frederick the Wise, belonged to 36.
Kolde, 437 ; Uhlhorn, p. 423.
756 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
at Zulpich, founded 1454. The entrance fee in the last case
was 8 shillings, from which there was a reduction of one-half
for widows. 1
In the case of the Italian brotherhoods, it is often difficult
to distinguish between a society organized for a benevolent
purpose and a society for the cult of some saint. The gilds
of Northern Italy, as a rule, laid emphasis upon religious
duties such as attendance upon mass, confession of sins and
refraining from swearing. The Roman societies had their
patron saints, — the blacksmiths and workers in gold, St.
Eligius, the millers Paulinus of Nola, the barrel-makers St.
James, the inn-keepers St. Blasius and St. Julian, the masons
St. Gregory the Great, the barbers and physicians St. Cosmas
and St. Damian, the painters St. Luke and the apothecaries
St. Lawrence. The popes encouraged the confraternities and
elevated some of them to the dignity of archfraternities, as St.
Saviour in Rome, the first to win this distinction. Florence
was also good soil for religious brotherhoods. At the begin-
ning of the 16th century, there were no less than 73 within its
bounds, some of them societies of children.2
Society did not wait for the present age to apply the prin-
ciple of Christian charity. The development of organizations
and bureaus in the 15th century was not carried as far as it
is to-day, and for the good reason that the same demand for it
did not exist. The cities were small and it was possible to
carry out the practice of individual relief with little fear of
deception.
§ 80. The Sale of Indulgences.
Nowhere, except in the lives of the popes themselves, did
the humiliation of the Western Church find more conspicuous
exhibition than in the sale of indulgences. The forgiveness
of sins was bought and sold for money, and this sacred privi-
lege formed the occasion of the rupture of Western Christen-
dom as, later, the Lord's Supper became the occasion of the
chief division between the Protestant churches.
1 Uhlhorn, p. 422. a Pastor, IV. 30-38.
§ 80. THE SALE OP INDULGENCES. 757
Originally an indulgence was the remission of a part or all
of the works of satisfaction demanded by the priest in the
sacrament of penance. This is the definition given by Roman
Catholic authorities to-day.1 In the 13th century, it came to
be regarded as a remission of the penalty of sin itself, both
here and in purgatory. At a later stage, it was regarded, at
least in wide circles, as a release from the guilt of sin as well
as from its penalty. The fund of merits at the Church's dis-
position— thesaurus meritorum — as defined by Clement VI.,
in 1343, is a treasury of spiritual assets, consisting of the in-
finite merits of Christ, the merits of Mary and the supererog-
atory merits of the saints, which the Church uses by virtue of
the power of the keys. One drop of Christ's blood, so it was
argued, was sufficient for the salvation of the world, and yet
Christ shed all his blood and Mary was without stain. From
the vast surplus accumulation supplied by their merits, the
Church had the right to draw in granting remission to sinners
from the penalties resulting from the commission of sin. The
very term "keys," it was said, implies a treasure which is
locked away and to which the keys give access.2 The au-
thority to grant indulgences was shared by the pope and the
bishops. The law of Innocent III., intended to check its
abuse, restricted the time for which bishops might grant in-
dulgence to 40 days, the so-called quarantines. By the decree
of Pius X., issued Aug. 28, 1903, cardinals, even though they
are not priests, may issue indulgences in their titular churches
for 200 days, archbishops for 100 and bishops for 50 days.
The application of indulgence to the realm of purgatory by
Sixtus IV. was a natural development of the doctrine that the
prayers and other suffrages of the living inure to the benefit
1 So Paulus ; J. Tetzel, p. 88, and Beringer, p. 2, a member of the Society
of Jesus, whose work on indulgences has the sanction of the Congregation
of Indulgences of the College of Cardinals. Both writers insist that the in-
dulgence does not confer forgiveness of guilt but only the remission of pen-
alty after guilt is forgiven. See also on the general subject this Hist., V. 1,
pp. 736-748, VI. 146 sqq.
* John of Paltz: Coelifodina in Kohler, p. 57. Nota in hoc quod dicit,
claves, innuit thesauros quia omne carum clauditur et seratur potest tamen
clavibus adiri.
758 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
of the souls in that sphere. As Thomas Aquinas clearly
taught, such souls belong to the jurisdiction of the Church
on earth. And, if indulgences may be granted to the living,
certainly the benefit may be extended to the intermediate
realm, over which the Church also has control.
Sixtus' first bull granting indulgence for the dead was issued
1476 in favor of the church of Saintes. Here was offered to
those who paid a certain sum — certain pecuniam — for the
benefit of the building, the privilege of securing a relaxation
of the sufferings of the purgatorial dead, parents for their
children, friend for friend. The papal deliverance aroused
criticism and in a second bull, issued the following year, the
pontiff states that such relaxations were offered by virtue of
the fulness of authority vested in the pope from above —
plenitude potestatis — to draw upon the fund of merits.1
To the abuse, to which this doctrine opened the door, was
added the popular "belief that letters of indulgence gave ex-
emption both from the culpability and penalty of sin. The
expression, " full remission of sins," plena or plenissima remis-
sio peccatorum, is found again and again in papal bulls from
the famous Portiuncula indulgence, granted by Honorius III.
to the Franciscans, to the last hours of the undisputed sway of
the pope in the West. It was the merit of the late Dr. Lea
to have called attention to this almost overlooked element of
the mediaeval indulgence. Catholic authorities of to-day, as
Paulus and Beringer, without denying the use of the expres-
sion, a poena et culpa, assert that it was not the intent of any
genuine papal message to grant forgiveness from the guilt
of sin without contrition of heart.2 The expression was in
JFor the text of the bulls, see Lea III. 585 sqq. and Kdhler, pp. 37-40. A
bull ascribed to Calixtus III., 1457, also sanctions indulgences for the dead.
It is accepted as genuine by Paulus. For Gabriel Biers acceptance of Sixtus1
assertion of power to grant indulgences to the dead, see Kohler, p. 40.
9 Paulus, 97 sq., and Beringer, p. 11, either explain the expression to mean
the penalty of guilt, as if it read a poena culpa delicta, or refer it to venial sins.
See Vol. V. 1, p. 741. The Jubilee bull of Boniface VIII. , 1300, was inter-
preted by a cardinal to include in its benefits guilt as well as penalty — du-
plex tndulffentia culpce videlicet et poence. Kohler, p. 18 sq., gives the text of
the boll John XXIII. confessed to have often absolved a culpa et poena.
§ 80. THE SALE OF INDULGENCES. 759
current use in tracts and in common talk.1 John of Paltz,
in his Coelifodina, an elaborate defence of indulgences written
towards the close of the 15th century, affirmed that an indul-
gence is given by virtue of the power of the keys whereby
guilt is remitted and penalty withdrawn. These keys open the
fund of the Church to its sons.2 Luther was only expressing
the popular view when, writing to Albrecht of Mainz, 1517,
he complained that men accepted the letters of indulgence
as giving them exemption from all penalty and guilt — homo
per istas indulgentia* liber sit ab omni poena et culpa. Not
only on the Continent but also in England were such forms
of indulgence circulated. For example, Leo X.'s indulgence
for the hospital S. Spirito in Rome ran in its English trans-
lation, "Holy and great indulgence and pardon of plenary
remission a culpa et poena."* The popular mind did not stop
to make the fine distinction between guilt and its punishment
and, if it had, it would have been quite satisfied to be made
free from the sufferings entailed by sin. If by a papal indul-
gence a soul in purgatory could be immediately released and
given access to heavenly felicity, the question of guilt was of
no concern.
Long before the days of Tetzel, Wyclif and Huss had con-
demned the use of the formula, " from penalty and guilt," as did
also John Wessel. In denouncing the bulls of indulgence for
those joining in a crusade against Ladislaus, issued 1412, Huss
copied Wyclif almost word for word.4 Wyclif fiercely con-
1 It was used by Piers Plowman (see Lea : Sacerd. Celibacy, I. 444) , by Lan-
ducci, 1513, r indulgenza di colpaepena, Badia'sed., p. 341, by Oldecop, 1516,
who listened to Tetzel (see his letter in Paulus, p. 39), etc. Oldecop said that
those who cast their money into the chest and confessed their sins were " ab-
solved from all their sins and from pain and guilt. M For other cases and a
general treatment of the subject, see Lea, III. 67-80.
« Kbhler, p. 69.
8 See Maskell : Monum. rit., etc., III. 372 sqq. These indulgences in Eng-
land were printed on single sheets perhaps by Wynkyn de Worde. Such an
English reprint announced an indulgence of 2560 days granted by Julius II.
to all contributing to a crusade against the Saracens and other Christian
enemies.
* Nttrnb. ed., 1716, vol. I. 212-267 ; Defens. quor. artt. J. Wyclif and the
Reply of the Prag. theol. faculty, I. 139-146.
760 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1204-1517.
demned the papal assumption in granting full indulgence for
the crusade of Henry de Spenser. Priests, he asserted, have no
authority to give absolution without proper works of satisfac-
tion and all papal absolution is of no avail, where the offend-
ers are not of good and worthy life. If the pope has power to
absolve unconditionally, he should exercise his power to excuse
the sins of all men. The English Reformer further declared
that, to the Christian priest it was given, to do no more than an-
nounce the forgiveness of sins just as the old priests pronounced
a man a leper or cured of leprosy, but it was not possible for him
to effect a cure. He spoke of " the fond fantasy of spiritual
treasure in heaven, that each pope is made dispenser of the
treasure at his own will, a thing dreamed of without ground." 1
Such power would make the pope master of the saints and
Christ himself. He condemned the idea that the pope could
" clear men of pain and sin both in this world and the other, so
that, when they die, they flee to heaven without pain. This is
for blind men to lead blind men and both to fall into the lake."
As for the pardoning of sin for money, that would imply that
righteousness may be bought and sold. Wyclif gave it as a
report, that Urban VI. had granted an indulgence for 2,000
years.2
Indulgences found an assailant in Erasmus, howbeit a genial
assailant. In his Praise of Folly , he spoke of the " cheat of par-
dons and indulgences." These lead the priests to compute the
time of each soul's residence in purgatory and to assign them a
longer or shorter continuance according as the people purchase
more or fewer of these salable exemptions. By this easy way
of purchasing pardon any notorious highwayman, any plunder-
ing bandit or any bribe-taking judge may for a part of their
unjust gains secure atonement for perjuries, lusts, bloodsheds,
debaucheries and other gross impieties and, having paid off ar-
rears, begin upon a new score. The popular idea was no doubt
stated by Tyndale in answer to Sir Thomas More when he said,
that " men might quench almost the terrible fire of hell for
three halfpence."8
1 De schis. pontif., Engl. Works, ed. by Arnold, HI. 1262.
8 Engl. Works, Arnold's ed., I. 210, 364 ; De eccles., p. 561.
8 See Gasquet, Eve of the Reformation, p. 884.
§ 80. THE SALE OF INDULGENCES. 761
It is fair to say that, while the last popes of the Middle Ages
granted a great number of indulgences, the exact expression,
" from guilt and penalty," does not occur in any of the extant
papal copies 1 although some of their expressions seem fully to
imply the exemption from guilt. Likewise, it must be said
that they also contain the usual expressions for penitence as a
condition of receiving the grace — " being truly penitent and
confessing their sins " — vere poenitentibus et confessia.
Indulgences in the last century of the Middle Ages were
given for all sorts of benevolent purposes, crusades against the
Turks, the building of churches and hospitals, in connection
with relics, for the rebuilding of a town desolated by fire, as
Briix, for bridges and for the repair of dikes, such an indul-
gence being asked by Charles V. The benefits were received
by the payment of money and a portion of the receipts, from
33 % to 50 %, was expected to go to Rome. The territory
chiefly, we may say almost exclusively, worked for such enter-
prises was confined to the Germanic peoples of the Continent —
from Switzerland and Austria to Norway and Sweden. Eng-
land, France and Spain were hardly touched by the traffic.
Cardinal Ximenes set forth the damage done to ecclesiastical
discipline by the practice and, as a rule, it was under other
pretexts that papal moneys were received from England.2
In the transmission of the papal portions of the indulgence-
moneys, the house of the Fuggers figures conspicuously. Some-
times it charged 5 %, sometimes it appropriated amounts not
reckoned strictly on the basis of a fixed per cent. The power-
ful banking-firm, also responding cheerfully to any request
made to them, often secured the grant of indulgences in Rome.
The custodianship of the chests, into which the indulgence-
moneys were cast, was also a matter of much importance and
here also the Fuggers figured prominently. Keys to such
1 James of Jtiterbock in his Tract, de indulg. about 1451 says he did not re-
collect to have seen or read a single papal brief promising indulgence apoena
et eulpa. Ktthler, p. 48.
* For the details which follow, the treatment by Schulte, in his work on
the Fuggers, is the chief authority. This book contains a remarkable array
of figures and facts based on studies among the sources.
762 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
chests were often distributed to two or three parties, one of
whom was apt to be the representative of the bankers.
Among the more famous indulgences for the building of
German churches were those for the construction of a tower in
Vienna, 1514, for the rebuilding of the Cathedral of Constance,
which had suffered great damage from fire, 1511, the building of
the Dominican church in Augsburg, 1514, the restoration of the
Cathedral of Treves, 1515, and the building of St. Annaberg
church, 1517, in which Duke George of Saxony was much in-
terested. One-half of the moneys received for these construc-
tions went to Rome. In most of these cases, the Fuggers acted
as agents to hold the keys of the chest and transmit the moneys
to the papal exchequer. The sees of Constance, Chur, Augs-
burg and Strassburg were assigned as the territory in which
indulgences might be sold for the cathedral in Constance. No
less than four bulls of indulgence were issued in 1515 for the
benefit of Treves, including one for those who visited the holy
coat which was found 1512 and was to be exhibited every 7
years.1
Among the noted hospitals to which indulgences were issued
— that is, the right to secure funds by their sale — were hos-
pitals in Niirnberg, 1515, Strassburg, 1518 and S. Spirito, Rome,
1516.
Both of the churches in Wittenberg were granted indul-
gences and a special indulgence was issued for the reliquary-
museum which the elector Frederick had collected. An
indulgence of 100 days was attached to each of the 5,005
specimens and another 100 to each of the 8 passages between
the cases that held them. With the 8,133 relics at Halle and
the 42 entire bodies, millions and billions of days of indulgence
were associated, a sort of anticipation of the geologic periods
moderns demand. To be more accurate, these relics were good
for pardons covering 39,245,120 years and 220 days and the
still further period of 6,540,000 quarantines, each of 40 days.
In Rome, the residence of the supreme pontiffs, as we might
well have expected, the offer of indulgences was the most copi-
* Treves also boasted of a nail of the cross, the half part of St. Peter's staff
and St. Helena's skull.
§ 80. THE SALE OF INDULGENCES. 763
OUR, almost as copious as the drops on a rainy day. According
to the Niirnberger relic-collector, Nicolas Muffel, every time
the skulls of the Apostles were shown or the handkerchief of
St. Veronica, the Romans who were present received a pardon
of 7,000 days, other Italians 10,000 and foreigners 14,000. In
fact, the grace of the ecclesiastical authorities was practically
boundless. Not only did the living seek indulgences, but even
the dying stipulated in their wills that a representative should
go to Assisi or Rome or other places to secure for their souls
the benefit of the indulgences offered there.
Prayers also had remarkable offers of grace attached to
them. According to the penitential book, The Soul's Joy, the
worshipper offering its prayers to Mary received 11,000 years
indulgence and some prayers, if offered, freed 15 souls from
purgatory and as many earthly sinners from their sins. It
professed to give one of Alexander VI. 's decrees, according to
which prayer made three times to St. Anna secured 1,000 years
indulgence for mortal sins and 20,000 for venial. The SouTs
Garden claimed that one of Julius II. 's indulgences granted
80,000 years to those who would pray a prayer to the Virgin
which the book gave. No wonder Siebert, a Roman Catholic
writer, is forced to say that " the whole atmosphere of the later
Middle Ages was soaked with the indulgence-passion." *
An indulgence issued by Alexander VI., in 1502, was de-
signed to secure aid for the knights of the Teutonic Order
against the Russians. The latter was renewed by Julius II.
and Cologne, Treves, Mainz, Bremen, Bamberg and other sees
were assigned as the territory. Much money was collected,
the papal treasury receiving one-third of the returns. The
preaching continued till 1510 and Tetzel took a prominent part
in the campaign.2
It remains to speak of the most important of all of the
indulgences, the indulgence for the construction of St. Peter's
in Rome. This interest was pushed by two notable popes,
Julius II. and Leo X., and called forth the protest of Luther,
which shook the power of the papacy to its foundations. It
1 Beliquienvcrehrung, pp. 33 sq., 60 sq.
* A full account in Paulas, Tetzel, pp. 6-23.
764 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
seems paradoxical that the chief monument of Christian archi-
tecture should have been built in part out of the proceeds of
the scandalous* traffic in absolutions.
On April 18, 1506, soon after the laying of the corner-stone
of St. Peter's, Julius II. issued a bull promising indulgence
to those who would contribute to its construction, fdbrica, as
it was called. Eighteen months later, Nov. 4, 1507, he com-
missioned Jerome of Torniello, a Franciscan Observant, to
oversee the preaching of the bull in the so-called 25 Cis-
montane provinces, which included Northern Italy, Austria,
Bohemia and Poland. By a later decree Switzerland was
added.1 Germany was not included and probably for the
reason that a number of indulgence bulls were already in force
in most of its territory. A special rescript appointed War-
ham, archbishop of Canterbury, as chief overseer of the busi-
ness in England. At Julius' death, the matter was taken
up by Leo X. and pushed.
The preaching of indulgences in Germany for the advan-
tage of St. Peter's began in the pontificate of Leo X. and is
closely associated with the elevation of Albrecht of Hohen-
zollern to the sees of Mainz, Magdeburg and Halberstadt.
Albrecht, a brother of Joachim, elector of Brandenburg, was
chosen in 1513 to the archbishopric of Magdeburg and the
bishopric of Halberstadt. The objections on the ground of
his age and the combination of two sees — a thing, however,
which was true of Albrecht's predecessor — were set aside by
Leo X., after listening to the arguments made by the German
embassies.
In 1514, Albrecht was further honored by being elected
archbishop of Mainz. The last incumbent, Uriel of Gemmin-
1 In a pamphlet entitled Simla by Andrea Guarna da Salerno, Milan, 1517,
as quoted by Klaczko, Home and the Renaissance, p. 26, Bramante the archi-
tect was refused entrance to heaven by St. Peter for destroying the Apostle's
temple in Rome, whose very antiquity called the least devout to God. And
when the heavenly porter charged him with a readiness to destroy the very
world itself and ruin the pope, the architect confessed and declared that his
failure was due to the fact that " Julius did not put his hand into his pocket
to build the new church but relied on indulgences and the confessional. Paris
de Gnussis called Bramante " the miner/1 architectum Bramantem sen potiu*
Buinantem.
§ 80. THE SALE OF INDULGENCES. 765
gen, died the year before. The archdiocese had been unfortu-
nate with its bishops. Berthold of Henneberg had died 1504
and James of Liebenstein in 1508. These frequent changes
necessitated a heavy burden of taxation to enable the prel-
ates to pay their tribute to the Holy See, which amounted to
10,000 ducats in each case, with sundry additions. By the
persuasion of the elector Joachim and the Fuggers, Leo sanc-
tioned Albrecht's election to the see of Mainz. He was given
episcopal consecration and thus the three sees were joined in
the hands of a man who was only 24.
But Albrecht's confirmation as archbishop was not secured
without the payment of a high price. The price, 10,000
ducats, was set by the authorities in Rome and did not originate
with the German embassy, which had gone to prosecute the
case. The proposition came from the Vatican itself and at
the very moment the Lateran council was voting measures
for the reform of the Church. It carried with it the promise
of a papal indulgence for the archbishop's territories. The
elector Joachim expressed some scruples of conscience over
the purchase, but it went through. Schulte exclaims that,
if ever a benefice was sold for gold, this was true in the case
of Albrecht.1
The bull of indulgences was issued March 31, 1515, and
granted the young German prelate the right to dispose of par-
dons throughout the half part of Germany, the period being
fixed at 8 years. The bull offered " complete absolution —
plenissimam indulgentiam — and remission of all sins," sins
both of the living and the dead. A private paper, emanating
from Leo and dated two weeks later, April 15, mentions the
10,000 ducats proposed by the Vatican as the price of Albrecht's
confirmation as having been already placed in Leo's hands.2 To
enable him to pay the full amount of 80,000 ducats his eccle-
siastical dignities had cost, Albrecht borrowed from the Fug-
gers and, to secure funds, he resorted to a two-years9 tax of
1 See his account of the transaction, I. 115-121.
« Schulte, I. 125. Leo's bull of March 31 is given by Kohler, pp. 88-98.
Even the Rom. Cath., Paulas, Tetzel, p. 81, goes as far as to speak of "the mis-
erable business which for both Leo and Albrecht was first of all a financial
transaction.0
766 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
two-fifths which he levied on the priests, the convents and
other religious institutions of his dioceses. In 1517, " out of
regard for his Holiness, the pope, and the salvation and com-
fort of his people," Joachim opened his domains to the indul-
gence-hawkers. It was his preaching in connection with this
bull that won for Tetzel an undying notoriety. Oldecop,
writing in 1516, of what he saw, said that people, in their
eagerness to secure deliverance from the guilt and penalty of
sin and to get their parents and friends out of purgatory, were
putting money into the chest all day long.
The description of Tetzel's sale of indulgences and Luther's
protest are a part of the history of the Reformation. It re-
mains, however, yet to be said, as belonging to the mediaeval
period, that the grace of indulgences was popularly believed
to extend to sins, not yet committed. Such a belief seems to
have been encouraged by the pardon-preachers, although there
is no documentary proof that any papal authorities made such
a promise. In writing to the archbishop of Mainz, Oct. 31,
1517, Luther had declared that it was announced by the in-
dulgence-hawkers that no sin was too great to be covered by
the indulgence, nay, not even the sin of violating the Virgin,
if such a thing had been possible. And late in life, 1541,
the Reformer stated that the pardoner " also sold sins to be
committed.'9 1 The story ran that a Saxon knight went to
Tetzel and offered him 10 thaler for a sin he had in mind to
commit. Tetzel replied that he had full power from the pope
to grant such an indulgence, but that it was worth 30 thaler.
The knight paid the amount, but some time later waylaid
Tetzel and took all his indulgence-moneys from him. To
Tetzel's complaints the robber replied, that thereafter he must
not be so quick in giving indulgence from sins, not yet com-
mitted.8
1 An offer of this sort is referred to by John of Paltz (see quotation in
Paulas) : Tetzel, p. 136, and Paulas' attempt to explain it away.
8 One of the savory pulpit anecdotes bearing on indulgences ran as follows :
Certain pilgrims, on their journey, came to a tree on which 5 souls were
hanging. On their return, they found 4 had vanished. The one left behind
reported that his companions had been released by friends, but that he was
without a single friend. So, for the unfortunate soul's benefit, one of the
§ 80. THE SALE OF INDULGENCES. 767
The traffic in ecclesiastical places and the forgiveness of
sins constitutes the very last scene of mediaeval Church his-
tory. On the eve of the Reformation, we have the spectacle
of the pope solemnly renewing the claim to have rule over
both spheres, civil and ecclesiastical, and to hold in his hand
the salvation of all mankind, yea, and actually supporting the
extravagant luxuries of his worldly court with moneys drawn
from the trade in sacred things. How deep-seated the per-
nicious principle had become was made manifest in the bull
which Leo issued, Nov. 9, 1518, a full year after the nailing
of the Theses on the church door at Wittenberg, in which all
were threatened with excommunication who failed to preach
and believe that the pope has the right to grant indulgences.1
pilgrims made a pilgrimage to Home, and the soul at once took its flight to
heaven. "So may a soul,'1 the moral went on to say, "be released from
purgatorial fire, if only 50 Pater nosters be said for it."
1 The bull in Mirbt, p. 182.
CHAPTER X.
THE CLOSE OF THE MIDDLE AGES.
LIT. — The following treatments may be consulted for this chapter.
HALLER : Papstthum u. Kirchenreform. — DOLLINGER-FRIEDRICH : D. Papst-
thum.—G. KRUGER: The Papacy, Engl. trsl., N.Y., 1909. — LKA: The Eve
oftheReformation,\n Cambr.Hist., 1 : 653-692. — BBZOLD : Gcsch.d.dcut&chcn
Reformation, pp. 1-244. — JANSSKN-PASTOR : vol. I., II. — PASTOR : Oesch.
d. Papste, III. 3-150, etc. — GREGOROVIUS : vols. VII., VIII. — G. FICKER:
Das ausgehende MA u. sein Verhaltniss zur Reformation, Lelpz., 1903. —
A. SCHULTB : Kaiser Maximilian als Kandidatfiir d. papstlic.hen Stuhl 151 7,
Leipz., 1906. — O. SMEATON: The Medici and the Ital. Renaissance, Cin'tt.
— The works already cited of Tn. ROGERS and CUNNINGHAM. — W. H. HE YD :
Gcsch. d. LevantenhandeU, 2 vols., Stuttg., 1859.
Many great regions are discovered
Which to late age were ne'er mentioned,
Who ever heard of th' Indian Peru
Or who, in venturous vessel, measured
The Amazon huge river, now found true?
Or f ruitfuilest Virginia who did ever view ?
Yet all these were when no man did them know,
Yet have from wisest ages hidden been.
And later times things more unknown shall show.
Why then should witless man so much misween,
That nothing is but that which he hath seen.
— SPENSER, Faerie Queene.
No period in the history of the Christian Church has a more
clear date set for its close than the Middle Ages. In whatever
light the Protestant Reformation is regarded there can be no
doubt that a new age began with the nailing of the Theses on
the church doors in Wittenberg. All attempts to find another
date for the beginning of modern history have failed, whether
the date be the reign of Philip the Fair or the Fall of Constan-
tinople, 1453, or the invention of printing. Much as the inven-
tion of movable type has done for the spread of intelligence,
the personality and conduct of Luther must always be looked
768
THE CLOSE OP THE MIDDLE AGES. 769
upon as the source from which the new currents of human
thought and action in Western Europe emanated.1
Not so easy, however, is it to fix a satisfactory date for the
opening of the Middle Ages. They have been dated from
Charlemagne, the founder of the Holy German Empire, the
patron of learning, the maker of codes of law. The better start-
ing-point is the pontificate of Gregory the Great, who is well
called the last of the Fathers and the first of the medieval popes.
From that date, the rift between the Eastern and the Western
Churches, which was already wide as a result of the arrogance
of the bishops of Rome, rapidly grew to be unhealable.
The Middle Ages, with their limits, fall easily into 3 periods,
but it must be confessed that the first, extending from 600—1050,
is a period of warring elements, with no orderly development.
Hildebrand properly opens the Middle Ages as a period of great
ideas, conscious of its power and begetting movements which
have exerted a tremendous influence upon the history of the
Churc'h. From the moment that monk entered Rome, the
stream of ecclesiastical affairs proceeded on its course between
well-defined banks. During the 500 years that followed, the
voice of the supreme pontiff was heard above all other voices
and controlled every movement emanating from the Church.
In this period, the doctrinal system, which is distinctively
known as the mediaeval, came to its full statement. It was the
period of great corporate movements, of the Crusades, the Men-
dicant orders, of the cathedrals and universities, of the canon
law and the sacramental combination and of the Reformatory
councils.
The third period of the Middle Ages, which this volume trav-
erses, is at once the product of the former period of Gregory VII.
and Innocent III. and, at the same time, the germinative seed-
plot of new forces. The sacerdotal keeps its hold and the papacy
remains the central tribunal and court of Europe, but protests
were heard — vigorous and startling from different quarters,
from Prag, Paris, Oxford — which, without overthrowing old
1 Gregorovius, VII. 278, well says that " theoretically and practically the
Reformation put an end to the universal power of the papacy and closed the
Middle Ages as an epoch in the world's history/'
3D
770 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
institutions, shook the confidence in their Apostolic appointment
and perpetuity. These last two centuries of the mediaeval world
betray no consuming passion like the Crusades, for all efforts of
the pope to stir the dead nerves of that remarkable impulse were
futile. And Pius II., looking from the bluffs of Ancona out
upon the sea in the hope of discerning ships rigged to undertake
the recon quest of the East, furnishes a pathetic spectacle of an
attempt to call forth energies to achieve the dreams of the past,
when for practical minds the illusion itself has already disap-
peared.
The Reformatory councils endeavored to undo what Hilde-
brand and Innocent III. had built up and Thomas Aquinas had
sanctioned, the control of the Church and society by the will of
the supreme pontiff. The system of the Schoolmen broke down.
Wyclif, himself endowed with scholastic acute ness, belonged to
that modern class of men who find in practical considerations
a sufficient reason to ignore the contentions of dialectic philos-
ophy. And, finally, the Renaissance completely set aside some
of the characteristic notions of the Middle Ages, stirring the in-
terest of man in all the works of God, and honoring those who
in this earthly sphere of action wrought out the products of in-
tellectual endeavor in literature and art, on the platform and
in the department of state.
This last period of the Middle Ages appears to the student of
general history as a period of presentiments — and efforts on the
part of scattered thinkers, to reach a more free and rational mode
of thought and living than the mode they had inherited from the
past. The period opening with Hildebrand and extending to
Boniface VIII. furnished more imposing personalities, — archi-
tects compelling by the force of intellectual assertion, — but
fewer useful men. It created a dogmatic unity and triumphed
by a policy of force, but the rights of the individual and the prin-
ciple of liberty of thought and conscience, with which God has
chosen to endow mankind, it could not consign to permanent
burial.
However, in spite of the efforts put forth in the closing period
of the Middle Ages to shake off the fetters of the rigid eccle-
siastical compulsion, it failed. The individual reformers and
THE CLOSE OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 771
prophets prepared the way for a new time, but were unable to
marshal forces enough in their own age to inaugurate the new
order. This it was the task of Luther to do.
In a retrospect of the marked features of the closing centuries
of the Middle Ages, we are struck first of all with the process
by which the nations of Western Europe became consolidated
until they substantially won the limits which they now occupy.
The conquest of the weary Byzantine empire seemed to open
the way for the Turks into all Europe. The acropolis of Athens
was occupied in 1458. Otranto on the Italian coast was seized
and Vienna itself threatened. All Europe felt as Luther did
when lie offered the prayer, "from the murderous cruelty of the
Turk, Good Lord deliver us." Much as the loss of the city on
the Bosphorus was lamented at this time, it cannot but be felt
that there was no force in Eastern Christendom which gave any
promise of progress, theological or civil.
The papacy, claiming to be invested with plenitude of au-
thority, abated none of its claims, but by its history proved that
those very claims are fictitious and have no necessary place in
the divine appointment.
Seldom has a more impressive spectacle been furnished than
was furnished by the Reformatory councils. Following the
Avignon period and the age of the papal schism, they struggled
to correct the abuses of the papal system and to define its limita-
tions. The first oecumenical council held on German soil, the
Council of Constance, made such an authoritative decision. Its
weight was derived from its advocates, the most distinguished
theologians and canonists of the time, and the combined voice
of the universities and the nations of Latin Christendom. But
the decision proved to be no stronger than a spider's web. The
contention, which had been made by that long series of pungent
tracts which was opened with the tract of Gelnhausen, was easily
set aside by the dexterous hand of the papacy itself. Gelnhausen
had declared that the way to heal the troubles in the papal house-
hold was to convoke a general council.1 To this mode of state-
1 Gelnhaufien in Mart&ne, Theaaur. nov. ante., Paris ed., 1717, II. 1203.
Conclusio principals ista eat quod pro remediando et de media auferendo achis-
mate moderno expcdit, poteat et debet concilium generate convocari.
772 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
xnent Pius II. opposed his bull, ExecrabiUs^ and his successors
went on untroubled by the outcry of Latin Christendom for some
share in the government of the Church.
But the appeal for a council was an ominous portent. It had
been made by Philip the Fair and the French Parliament, 1303.
It was made by the Universities of Paris and Oxford and the
great churchmen of France. It was made by Wyclif, by Huss
and Savonarola. In vain, to be sure, but the body of the Church
was thinking and the arena of free discussion was extending.
The most extravagant claims of the papacy still had def ende rs.
Augustus Triumphus and Alvarus Pelayo declared there could
be no appeal from the pope to God, because the pope and God
were in agreement. He who looks upon the pope with intent
and trusting eye, looks upon Christ, and wherever the pope is,
there is the Church. Yea, the pope is above canon law. But
these men were simply repeating what was current tradition.
Dante struck another note, when he put popes in the lowest
regions of hell, and Marsiglius of Padua, when he cast doubt
upon Peter's ever having been in Home and insisted that the
laity are also a part of the Church.
The scandalous lives of the popes whose names fill the last
paragraph of the history of the Middle Ages would have ex-
cluded them from decent modern circles and exposed them
to sentence as criminals. They were perjurers, adulterers.
Avarice, self-indulgence ruled their life. They had no mercy.
The charges of murder and vicious disease were laid to their
door. They were willing to set the states of Italy one over
against the other and to allow them to lacerate each other to
extend their own territory or to secure power and titles for their
own children and nephews. Luther was not far out of the way
when, in his Appeal to the German Nobility, he declared " Roman
avarice is the greatest of robbers that ever walked the earth.
All goes into the Roman sack, which has no bottom, and all in
the name of God." In all history, it would be difficult to discover
a more glaring inconsistency between profession and practice
than is furnished by the careers of the last popes of the Middle
Ages.
Upon freedom of thought, the papacy continued to lay the
THE CLOSE OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 773
mortmain of alleged divine appointment. Dante's De monarchia
was burnt by John XXII. The evangelical text-book, the The-
ologia Germanica, has been puton the Index. Erasmus' writings
were put on the Index. Curses were hurled against a German
emperor by Clement VI. which it would almost be sacrilege to
repeat with the lips. Eckart was declared a heretic. Wyclif s
bones were dug up and cast into the flames. Huss was burnt.
Savonarola was burnt. And, from nameless graves in Spain
and Germany rises the protest against the papacy as a divine
institution.
Valla said again and again that the papacy was responsible
for all the misfortunes of Italy, its worst enemy. To such a
low plane was that institution brought that the Emperor Maxi-
milian I. seriously considered having himself elected pope and
combining in himself the two sovereignties of Church and state.
That such a thought was possible is proof of the actual state of
affairs. A most Catholic historian, Janssen (III. 77), says :
" The court of Leo X., withits extravagant expenditure in card-
playing, theatres and all inannerof worldly amusements, was still
more flagrantly opposed to the position of chief overseer of the
Church than the courts of the German ecclesiastical princes,
notably Albrecht of Mainz. The iniquity of Rome exceeded
that of the ecclesiastical princes of Germany." And was not
the chief idea, which some of the aspirants after the highest
office in Christendom had in mind, well embodied in the words
with which Leo followed his election, " Let us enjoy the papacy " ?
If the lives of these latter popes were unworthy, their treatment
of the spiritual prerogatives was sacrilegious. Rome encouraged
the Crusades but sent no Crusaders. In Rome everything was
for sale. The forgiveness of sins itself was offered for money.
And, within papal circles, there was no movement towards
reform. As well might men have looked for a burnt field to
furnish food. It is not improbable that the very existence of
the papacy was saved by the Reformation. This is the view to
which Burckhardt chooses to give expression twice in the same
work.1 It discredited by its incumbents every high claim as-
1 Renaissance, I. 130, II. 185. Ficker, p. 13, speaks of " the incalculable ad-
vantage which accrued to the Catholic Church from the Reformation.1*
774 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
serted for it. And yet, with abounding self-confidence, in the
last hours of the Middle Ages, it solemnly reaffirmed the claim of
supreme jurisdiction over the souls and bodies of men, the Church
and the state. And after the Reformation had begun, Prierias,
Master of the palace, declared the pope's superiority to the Scrip-
tures in these words : " Whoever does not rest upon the doctrine
of the Roman Church and the Roman pope as an infallible rule,
of faith, from which even the Holy Scriptures derive theirauthor-
ity, is a heretic." And to be a heretic meant to be an outlaw.
Prierias was the man who spoke of Luther as " the brute with
the deep eyes and strange fantasies."
Forces of another character were working. In quiet path-
ways, the mystics walked with God and, though they did not re-
pudiate the sacramental system, they called attention to the
religion of the heart as the seat of religion. The Imitation of
Christ was written once, for all ages. The Church had found
its proper definition as the body of the elect and that idea stood
in direct antithesis to the theory the hierarchy worked upon.
The preaching of the Waldenses had been condemned by the
Fourth Lateran Council, but there was a growing popular de-
mand for instruction as well as the spectacle of the mass, and the
catechetical manuals laid stress upon the sermon. The Albigen-
ses had been completely blotted out, but the principles of Lol-
lardism and Hussitism continued to flow, though as little rills.
The Inquisition was still doing its work, but in Germany schools
for all classes of children were being taught. The laity was
asserting its rights in the domain of learning and culture.
These influences were silently preparing the soil for the new
teachings.
In the 15th century, a potent force stirred Europe as Europe
had never been stirred by it before, — Commerce. The in-
dustrial change, then going on, deserves more than a passing
reference as a factor preparing the mind for intellectual and
religious innovation. This, at least, is true of the German
people. Explorations and the extension of commerce have, in
more periods than one, preceded a revival of missionary enter-
prise. But, of all the centuries, none is so like the 19th as
the last century of the Middle Ages, — vital with humanistic
THE CLOSE OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 775
forces of all kinds. It was a time of revolution in the methods
of trade and the comforts and prices of living. The world
could never be again just what it had been before. There was
marked restlessness among the artisan and peasant classes.
This industrial unrest was adapted to encourage and to beget
unrest in things ecclesiastical and to accustom the mind to the
thought of change there.
From Italy, whose harbors were the outfitting points for
fleets during the Crusades, the centre of trade had shifted to the
cities north of the Alps and to the Portuguese coast. Niirn-
berg, Dim, Augsburg and Constance in Southern Germany;
Bruges, Antwerp and other cities along the lower Rhine and
in Flanders; and the cities of the Hanseatic League were
bustling marts, turning out new and wonderful products of
manufacture and drawing the products of the outside world
through London, Lisbon, Lyons and Venice. Energy and en-
terprise were making Germany rich and her mercantile houses
had their representatives and depots in Venice, Antwerp and
other ports.1
Methods of business, such as to-day are suggesting grave
problems to the political economist and moralist, were intro-
duced and flourished. Trading companies and monopolies
came upon the stage and startled the advocates of the old
feudal ways by the extent and boldness of their operations.
Trusts flourished in Augsburg and other German cities.2 In-
1 For the tianafrr of the centre of the Levantine trade from Venice to Lisbon
at the beginning of the 10th century, see Heyd, II. 505-610. II eyd says that
the discovery of the route to India around the Cape of Good Hope by the
Portuguese hattc irie eiu Donncrschlay am hcilcren Jit mind die Gemuther der
Vtitie.tianer bertihrt. To counteract the stream of trade in the direction of
Lisbon, the Venetians piopnsed a scheme for cutting a canal through the
Isthmus of Suez in 1500 and, in the same interest, the Turks actually began
that enterprise in 1520. Manuel, king of Portugal, in 1505 stationed a fleet
at Calicut to prevent the Venetians from interfering with the export of Indian
goods to Portugal. For the German Board of Trade at Venice, the fondaco
dei Tedeschi, see Heyd, II. 520, etc.
2 Writing in 1458, JEneas Sylvius said, " The German nation takes the
lead of all others in wealth and power.'1 He spoke of Cologne as unexcelled
in magnificence among the cities of Europe. At NUruberg he found simple
burghers living in houses, the like of which the kings of Scotland would have
been glad to house in.
776 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
dividuals and corporations cornered the import trade, the grain
crop, the wine harvest, the silver, copper and iron product,
sugar, linen, leather, pepper, even soap, for they used soap also
in those days. The Hochstetters, the Ebners and the Fug-
gers were among the great speculative and trading firms of the
age. They carried things with a high hand. Ambrose Hoch-
stetter of Augsburg, for example, one season bought up all the
ash wood, another all the grain and another all the wine. Nor
was the art of adulteration left for these later, and often
discredited, times to practice. They condescended to small
things, even to the mixing of brick-dust with pepper. Com-
modities rose suddenly in price. In Germany, wine rose, in
1510, 49 per cent and grain 32 per cent. Imperial diets took
cognizance of these conditions and tried to correct the evils
complained of by regulating the prices of goods.1 Munici-
palities did the same. Preachers, like Geiler of Strassburg,
charged the monopolists with fearing neither God nor man
and called upon the cities to banish them. Professors of
jurisprudence, for there was at that time no department of
social science, inveighed against monopolies as spiders' webs
to ensnare the innocent.2 It was a fast age. There was no
precedent for what was going on. Men sighed for the good
old times. Speculation was rampant and the prospect of quick
gains easily captivated the people. They took shares in the
investment companies and often lost everything. It was
noticed that the directors of the companies were able to avoid
1 So the Diet of Cologne, 1512. At the same time, however, it declared
that its acts were not designed to prevent the association of merchants in trad-
ing companies. The Diet of Innsbruck, 1618, did the same, and complained
of the trading companies for driving out the small dealers and fixing prices
arbitrarily. Tntheinius argued for laws protecting the people from the over-
reachings of avarice and declared that whosoever bought up meat, grain and
other articles of diet to force up prices is no better than a common criminal.
See Janssen, II. 102, sq.
2 So Christopher Kuppner of Leipzig, in his tract on usury, 1608. He in-
sists that magistrates should proceed against trading companies and rich mer-
chants who, through agents in other lands, bought up saffron, pepper, corn
and what not and sold them at whatsoever price they chose. According to
the secretary of the firm, Conrad Meyer, the capital of the Fuggers increased
in 7 years 13,000,000 florins.
THE CLOSE OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 777
losses which the common and unsuspecting investor had to
bear. The confusion was increased by the readiness of town
aldermen and city councillors to take stock in the concerns.
It also happened that the great traders, whose ventures involved
others in loss, were conspicuous in church affairs.
To the wealth, arising from manufactures and foreign com-
merce, were added the riches which were being dug up from the
newly opened mines of silver, copper and iron in Bohemia and
Saxony. Avarice was cried down as the besetting sin of the age
and, in some quarters, commerce was denounced as being carried
on in defiance of the simplest precepts of the Gospel.1
With wealth came extravagance in dress and at the table. Mu-
nicipalities legislated against it and imperial parliaments sought
to check it by arbitrary rules. Wimpheling says, table services
of gold were not unusual and that he himself had eaten from
golden plates at Cologne. Complaint was frequently made at
the diets that men were being brought to poverty by their ex-
penditures for dress upon themselves and the expenditures of
the female members of their households.
In Germany, peasants were limited to a certain kind of cloth
for their outer garments and to a maximum price.2 The women
had their share in making the disturbance and dignified town
councils sat in judgment upon the number of gowns and other
articles of apparel and ornament the ladies of the day might pos-
sess withoutdetriment to the community or hurt to the solvency
of their indulgent husbands. The council of Ratisbon, for
example, in 1485 made it a rule that the wives and daughters
of distinguished burghers should be limited to 8 dresses, 6 long
1 A preacher in 1515 declared the spirit of speculation then prevailing to be
of recent growth, only ten years old, and that it had not existed in former times.
Janssen, II. 87.
a The diets of 1498 and 1600 forbade artisans to wear gold, silver, pearls, vel-
vet and embroidered stuffs. They were forbidden to pay more than one-half a
florin a yard for the cloth of their coats and mantles. Laws regulating dress
were also passed in Italy. Elastic beds, false hair and other fashions came into
vogue. Women sat in the sun all day to bleach their hair. In Florence, money
was scented. See Burckhardt-Geiger, II. 87 sqq. John of Arundel, who was
drowned at sea, 1879, had 52 new suits of cloth of gold or tissue. By a par-
liamentary act of 1403, no knight or other person might wear shoes or boots
having peaks longer than two inches, Soc. EngL, II. 426 sqq.
778 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
cloaks, 3 dancing gowns, one plaited mantle with not more than
3 sets of sleeves of silk velvet and brocade, 2 pearl hair bands
not to cost more than 12 florins, one tiara of gold set with pearls,
not more than three veils costing 8 florins each, etc. But why
enumerate the whole list of articles? It is supposable the
women conformed, even if they were inclined to criticise the al-
dermen for not sticking to their legitimate municipal business.
Geiler of Strassburg had his word to say for these innovations
of an extravagant age, the women with two dresses for a single
day, their long trains trailing in the dust, the cocks' feathers
worn in the women's hats and the long hair falling down over
their shoulders. The times were cried down as bad. It is,
however, pleasant to recall that a contemporary annalist com-
mended as praiseworthy the habit of bathing at least " once
every two weeks."
Among the artisans and the peasants, the unrest asserted it-
self in strikes and uprisings, strikes for shorter hours, for better
food and for better wages. Sometimes a municipality and a
gild were at strife for years. Sometimes a city was bereft at
one stroke of all the workers of a given craft, as was Nurnberg
of her tin workers in 1475. The gilds of tailors are said to have
been most given to strikes.
The new social order involved the peasant class in more
hardship than any other. The peasants were made the vic-
tims of the rapacity and violence of the landowners, who en-
croached upon their fields and their traditional but unwritten
rights, and deprived them of the right to fish and hunt and
gather wood in the forests. The Church also came in for its
share of condemnation. One-fifth of the soil of Germany
was in the possession of convents and other religious estab-
lishments and the peasant leaders called upon the monks and
priests to distribute their lands. In their marching songs
they appealed to Christ to keep them from putting the priests
to death. The Peasant War of 1525 was not the product of
the abuse of the principle of personal freedom introduced by
the Reformation. It was one of a long series of uprisings
and it has been said that, if the Reformation had not come
and diverted the attention of the people, it is likely Germany
THE CLOSE OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 779
would have been shaken by such a social revolution in the
16th century as the world has seldom seen.1
In England, the restlessness was scarcely less demonstrative
and the condition of the laboring classes scarcely less deplor-
able. Their hardships in the 14th century called forth the
rebellion of Watt Tyler. The famous statute of laborers of
1350 fixed the wages of reapers at 3 pence a day ; the statute
of 1444, a century later, raised it to 5 pence. The laws of
1495, Cunningham says, were intended to keep down the wages
of the daily toiler. English legislation was habitually bent
on preventing an artificial enhancement of prices. At the very
close of the Middle Ages, 1515, a regulation fixed the day's
work from 5 in the morning until 7 or 8 in the evening in
summer and during the hours of daylight during the winter.
Legislation was sought to put a limit on prices against the in-
flation of combinations. Frauds and adulterations in articles
offered for sale, bad work and false weights were officially
condemned in 1504. Against the proclivity of the gilds to
fix the prices of their wares at unreasonable figures, Henry
VII. set himself with determination. With the development
of sheep-walks, farm hands lost their employment.2 To the
author of Utopia the act of parliament in 1515, fixing wages,
seemed to be u nothing else than a conspiracy of the rich against
the poor," and " the laboring man was doomed to a life so
wretched that even a beast's life in comparison seemed to be
enviable."
The discoveries in the New World and the nautical ex-
ploits, which carried Portuguese sailors around the Cape of
Good Hope, also stimulated this feeling of restlessness. While
the horizon of the natural world was being enlarged and new
highways of commerce were being opened, thoughtful men had
questions whether the geography of the spiritual world, as
outlined in the scholastic systems, did not need revision. The
* Picker, p. 107 sq.; M tiller: Kirchengesch. II. 196 sq. Among these
peasant leaders, the piper of Niklashausen was one of the most prominent.
In the last quarter of the 15th century, tracts were circulated among the peas-
ants, calling upon them to resist the oppression of the ruling classes and de-
mand the secularization of Church lands.
a Rogers, p. 143 ; Cunningham, pp. 399, 457 sq., 468 sqq., 476 sqq., 484.
780 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
resurrection of the Bible as a popular book stimulated the
curiosity and questioning. The Bible also was a new world.
The trade, the enterprise, the thought awakened during the
last 70 years of the Middle Ages were incomparably more
vital than had been awakened by the Crusades and the Cru-
saders9 tales. When the Reformation came, the chief centres
of business in Germany and England became, for the most part,
seats of the new religious movement, Niirnberg, Ulm, Augs-
burg, Geneva, Strassburg, Frankfurt, Liibeck and London.
The Renaissance, as has already been set forth, was another
potent factor contributing to the forward impulse of the last
century of the Middle Ages. All the faculties of man were to
be recognized as worthy of cultivation. Europe arose as out
of a deep sleep. Men opened their eyes and saw, as Mr. Taine
put it. The Renaissance made the discovery of man and the
earth. The Schoolmen had forgotten both. Here also a new
world was revealed to view and Ulrich von Hutten, referring
to it and to the age as a whole could exclaim, " O century,
studies flourish, spirits are awaking. It is a pleasure to live! "
But in the Renaissance Providence seems to have had the de-
sign of showing again that intellectual and artistic culture may
flourish, while the process of moral and social decline goes on.
No regenerating wave passed over Italy's society or cleansed
her palaces and convents. The outward forms of civilization
did not check the inward decline. The Italian character, says
Gregorovius, " in the last 30 years of the 15th century displays
a trait of diabolical passion. Tyrannicide, conspiracies and
deeds of treachery were universal." In the period of Athenian
greatness, the process of the intellectual sublimation of the few
was accompanied by the process of moral decay in the many.
So now, art did not purify. The Renaissance did not find out
what repentance was or feel the need of it. Savonarola's ad-
miring disciple, Pico della Mirandola, presented a memorial to
the Fifth Lateran which declared that, if the prelates " delayed
to heal the wounds of the Church, Christ would cut off the cor-
rupted members with fire and sword. Christ had cast out the
money-changers, why should not Leo exile the worshippers of
the many golden calves ? " In Italy, remarks Ranke, " no one
THE CLOSE OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 781
counted for a cultured person who did not cherish some errone-
ous views about Christianity."
The North had no Dante and Petrarca and Boccaccio or
Thomas Aquinas, but it had its Tauler and Thomas a Kempis
and its presses sent forth the first Greek New Testament. This
was a positive preparation for the coming age as much as the
Greek language was a preparation for the spread of Christian-
ity through Apostolic preaching in the 1st century. German
printers went to Rome in 1467 and as far as Barcelona. In his
work on the new invention, 1507, Wimpheling l declared " that
as the Apostles went forth of old, so now the disciples of the
sacred art go forth from Germany into all lands and their printed
books become heralds of the Gospel, preachers of the truth and
wisdom." Germany became the intellectual market of Europe
and its wares went across the North Sea to that little kingdom
which was to become the chief bulwark of Protestantism. In
vain did Leo X. set himself against the free circulation of lit-
erature.2
The Greek edition of the New Testament and the printing-
press, — that invention which cleaves all the centuries in two
and yet binds all the centuries together — were the two chief
providential instruments made ready for Martin Luther. But
he had to find them. They did not make him a reformer, the
leader of the new age. Erasmus, whom Janssen mercilessly con-
demns, remained a raoralizer. He lacked both the passion and
the heroism of the religious reformer. The religious reformer
must be touched from above. Reuchlin, Erasmus and Guten-
berg prepared the outward form of the Greek and Hebrew
Bible. Luther discovered its contents, and made them known.
Such were the complex forces at work in the closing cen-
tury of the Middle Ages. The absolute jurisdiction of the
papacy was solemnly reaffirmed. The hierarchy virtually con-
stituted the Church. Religious dissent was met with compul-
sion and force, not by persuasion and instruction. Coercion
was substituted for individual consent. Popular piety re-
1 De arte impressorto. The printer Gutenberg lived 1307-1468 and his son-
in-law, Schoffer, died 1502.
2 In his bull of May 4, 1515. See Mirbt, p. 177.
782 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
maiued bound in the old forms and was strong. But there
were sounds of refreshing rills, flowing from the fresh foun-
tain of the water of life, running at the side of the old ceremo-
nials, especially in the North. The Revival of Letters aroused
the intellect to a sense of its sovereign rights. The move-
ment of thought was greatly accelerated by the printed page.
The development of trade communicated unrest. But the
lives of the popes, as we look back upon the age, forbade the
expectation of any relief from Rome. The Reformatory coun-
cils had contented themselves with attempts to reform the ad-
ministration of the Church. Nevertheless, though men did
not see it, driftwood as from a new theological continent was
drifting about and there were prophetic voices though the
princes of the Church listened not to them. What was needed
was not government, was not regulations but regeneration.
This the hierarchy could not give, but only God alone.1
The facts, set forth in this volume, leave no room for the con-
tention of the recent class of historians in the Roman Church, —
Janssen, Denifle, Pastor, Nicolas, Paulus, Dr. Gasquet — who
have devoted themselves to the task of proving that an orderly
reform-movement was going on when the Reformation broke
out. That movement, they represent as an unspeakable calam-
ity for civilization, an apostasy from Christianity, an insur-
rection against divinely constituted authority. It violently
checked the alleged current of progress and popes, down to Pius
IX. and Leo XIII., have anathematized Protestantism as a poi-
sonous pestilence and the mother of all modern evils in Church
and state. In the attempt to make good this judgment, these
recent writers not only have laid stress upon " the good old
times," — a description which the people of the 15th century
would have repudiated,2 — but have resorted to the defamation
1 See Sohm's sententious words in closing bis treatment of the Middle Ages,
Kirchengesch., 15th ed., 1907, p. 122 sq. Colet, who was in Italy during the
rule of Alexander VI. said: " Unless the Mediator who created and founded
the Church out of nothing for himself, lay his hand with all speed, our most
disordered Church cannot be far from death. ... All seek their own, not the
things of Jesus Christ, not heavenly things but earthly things, what will bring
them to death, not what will bring them life eternal/* — SEEBOHM, p. 75.
8 To the other testimonies in this vol. add Erasmus, Enchiridion, p. 11 sq.
THE CLOSE OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 783
of the German Reformer's character, setting aside the contempo-
raries who knew him best, and violently perverting Luther's own
words. Imbart de la Tour, the most recent French historian
of this school, on reaching the year 1517, exclaims, "The era
of peaceful reforms was at an end ; the era of religious revolu-
tion was about to open."1
Lefevre d'Etaples was not alone when he uttered the fa-
mous words: —
The signs of the times announce that a reformation of the Church is near
at hand and, while God is opening new paths for the preaching of the Gospel
by the discoveries of the Portuguese and the Spaniards, we must hope that He
will also visit His Church and raise her from the abasement into which she
has now fallen.
The Philosophy of Christ, — the name which Erasmus gave
to the Gospel in his Parades^ prefixed to his edition of the New
Testament, — was to a large degree covered over by the dialec-
tical theology of the Schoolmen. What men needed was the
Gospel and the bishop of Isernia, preaching at the Fifth Lateran
council in its 12th session, spoke better than he knew when
he exclaimed : " The Gospel is the fountain of all wisdom, of
all knowledge. From it has flowed all the higher virtue, all
that is divine and worthy of admiration. The Gospel, I say
the Gospel." The words were spoken on the very eve of the
Reformation and the council of the Middle Ages failed utterly
to offer any real remedy for the religious degeneracy. The
Reformer came from the North, not from Rome and as from
another Nazareth. The angel of God had to descend again
and trouble the waters and a single personality touched in con-
1 II. 679. An example of misrepresentation may be taken from Denifle,
Luther u. Luthertum who picks out a single clause from one of Luther's ser-
mons, Die Begierde ist ganzlich unbesiegbar, 4t Passion cannot be overcome/1
and holds it up as the starting-point for the Reformer's alleged profligate life.
What could be more atrocious, unworthy of a scholar and a gentleman, when
it was Luther's purpose in this very sermon to show that Christ imparts the
power to overcome evil, which the natural man does not possess and calls upon
men to flee to Christ's protection. In these last vols, Denifle outdid Janssen.
Leo XIII. praised Janssen as a " light of historic science and a man of pro-
found learning.11 Pius X. gave to Denifle the distinction of receiving the first
copy of his book from the author's hand.
784 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
science proved himself mightier than the wisdom of theology
and wiser than the rulers of the visible Church.
Remarkable the Middle Ages were for their bold enterprises
in thought and action and they are an important part of the
history of the Church. We acknowledge our debt, but their
superstitions and errors we set aside as we move on in the
pathway of a more intelligent devotion and broader human
sympathies, towards an age when all who profess the Gospel
shall unite together in the unity of the faith in the Sou of God.
INDEX
[NOTE. — The Index gives the names of many of the authors whose full titles
are found in the volume The first number or numbers refer to the titles of
their writings. The numbers that follow are confined to verbal citations from
the authors The volume i» inconsistent in spelling the Italian poet's name,
Petrarch, in the earlier part of the volume and Petrarca, in the chapter on the
Renaissance. On his name see p. 573 ]
Abbre viators, 426 sq.
Abgrschicdcnhcit, 252, 259, 2G9.
A brain of Crete, 117.
Achelis, 730
Acton, Lord, 402
Adam of I'.sk, 115, 15, 129, 158.
Adams, (i B , 6
Adeline, :>29.
Adrian VI , 538, 552
JEnraH Hxlvms, see Pius II.
Agncola, 024
Alborgati, 181
Albernoz, 103 sq.
Alberti, 500, 599.
Albrecht of Mainz, 742, 759, 764 sqq
Alexander V , 139, 142.
Alexander VI , 400, 413, 420, 430, 439,
442, 443 sqq , his character, 401 ,
divides Amen* a, 403 , death, 470,
549, 581, 588, 013, 080, 097, 701 sqq ,
707 sqq , 744
Alfonso of Naples, 582.
Allcmand, 749
Alvarus Pclapius, 40 ; 79 sq , 95.
Amadous, sec Fohx V.
AmbrosiiiR, V. J , 400.
America, 420 sq ; di vidcd, 463.
Am hist. Rev , 463, etc.
Ammanati, 401.
Amort, 292.
Andrew of Spalato, 148.
Andrew, St , head of, 421.
Angchco, Fra, 602.
Anna, St , 462, 744 sqq , 755, 763.
An nates, 91 sqq., 173.
Aiiselm, 179, 402.
Antipope, 130; 176, 178,
Apostles' Creed, 081.
Aquinas, Thos , 20, 78, 190, 518, 525,
572, 649, 680, 685, 712, 716 sq., 758
Arbues, 542.
Aretino, 593, 611.
Argyropulos, 584, 590.
Armenians, 185
Arnald of Villanova, 16, 42.
Arnold of Brescia, 42.
Arnold, Thos , 300.
Arundol, Abp , 305, 324, 344, 350.
Asceticism, 264, 267.
Ahhton, John, 352.
Astrology, 016.
Aiigustiiius Trmmphus, 31 ; 53; 70 sq.,
83.
Ausculta fill, 18.
.1 uto dc f<; 537, 549 sqq.
Avignon popes, 9, 45 eqq., financial
policy, 82, list of. 124, estimate of,
124, schism, 132 sqq.
Bacon, Roger, 188, 207.
Bahlmann, 730.
Baird, 559, 727.
Bajazet, 441
Balthazar Cossa, see John XXIII.
Baluze, 6.
Bandello, 007.
Barry, 728, 730.
Bartolomeo, Fra, 700.
Basel, C. of, 167 sqq.
Baudrillart, 556
Baumgarten, 8, 88, 91.
Baumker, 735, 746.
Baur, 186, 46; 243.
Bayonno, 060, 715.
Beatific vision, 69, 190.
Beatrice, 567.
Bcccadclli, 584,611.
gffng, 749 sqq.
Begumes and Beghards, 68, 270, 360,
499.
Bollarmin, 144.
Bembo, Card., 495, 694.
785
786
INDEX
Benedict XI., 6, 44.
Benedict XII., 96.
Benedict X11L, 118, 130 sqq., 138,
159; 160; 219.
Benevolence, words of, 747 sq.
Benrath, 595.
Berchtold, J , 28.
Berger, S , 660.
Berger, W , 302.
Bennger, 757 sq
Bernardino da Feltre, 754
Bernardino of Siena, 68, 227 sq., 412.
Berthold of Regensburg, 227.
Bertholdt, Abp., 723 sq.
Bess, 116, 187, 221.
Bessanon, 181, 422, 430, 589.
Beza, 261
Bezold, 302, 611, 664, 667.
Bible, 43, 76, 188, 215, 260, 282, 286 ;
Wye. on, 334, 338 sqq , trsll. of,
341 sq., 344, first Enpl 347; 357,
367 ; 384, 552, 626 sq , 638 sq., 648
sq , 680, 685, 688, 716-728.
Bible Men, 356.
Biblia pauperum, 729.
Biel, Gabnel, 188, 193, 421, 673.
Biclmeyer, 234.
Bigg, 236, 300, 325, 349.
Binsfeld, 497.
Bishops, 665.
Black Death, 99 sqq., 303, 305, 505.
Bliss, W. C., 299, 312.
Bliss, W. H., 6.
Blume and Dreves, 745 sq.
Boccaccio, Giovanni, 557, 99, 444, 576
sqq., 579, 619
Booking, 559.
Bohemian Brethren, 391, 399.
Bonagratia, 58, 68, 71, 191.
Bonct-Maury, 235, 559.
Boniface VIII, 10-23; a heretic, 42,
on trial, 51 ; 83, 156, 487, 758.
Boniface IX , 128.
Bonnechose, 302.
Borgia, Caesar, 446, 447, 451, 453 ; 454 ;
455, 460, 466, 468 sq.
Borgia, Lucr., 446, 447, 452, 455, 456
sq., 458, 469.
Borgia, Rodr , see Alexander VI.
Bourne, 402.
Boutaric, 6.
Bradwardine, 100, 308.
Bramante, 605, 764.
Brandi, 556.
Brant, 624, 675 sq., 751.
Brethren of the Free Spirit, 499.
Bridgett, 559.
Brigitta, St., 109, 215.
Brinkerinck, 279 sqq.
Brotherhoods, 748, sqq., 756.
Brothers of the Common Life, 234,
278, 623, 683.
Browning, Rawdon, 402.
Bruce, H., 115.
Biimi, 581.
Bryce, 104.
Buchanan, Geo., 657.
Budu?us, 642 sq
Buddensieg, 300, 345.
BlllUM.18, 115
Burchard, 400, 406, 435 sqq., 441, 446,
459-461, etc.
Burckhardt, 555, 400, 561, 598, 611,
615.
Burlaniacchi, P , 660, 698, etc.
Butler, A J , 556.
Butler, D B , 236.
Butler, J. E , 187.
But trier, 232.
Butzbach, 623.
Cajetan, 487.
Cahxtines, 394 sq
Cahxtus III , 413, 444, 586; 743, 758.
Calvin, 77, 645, 679
Capes, 7, 299, 307, 349.
Capuchins, 68.
Caraffa, Card , 430.
Carlylc, J. A , 556.
Carranza, 546.
Carrie k, 300.
Gary, H F., 556.
Catechisms, 729 sqq.
Catherine of Siena, 186, 109 sqq.; Ill ;
194-201, 686.
Cavour, 33.
Celibacy, 42; 306 sq., 439, 662 sq., 667
sq
Census, 94.
(Ysanm, 169, 181, 394.
Chamisbuerch, 442.
Charles IV , Emp , 65; 104, 358 sq.
Charles V, 484, 541, 546, 761.
Charles VIII., 448, 691, 694, 704
Charles of Durazzo, 126 sq.
Charney, Geoff, of, 55.
Chartul. Un. Par., 34, 40, 123, 213, 218,
etc.
Chaucer, 308, 314, 335, 350.
Cheyney, 301.
Chichele, Abp., 343, 355.
Chigi Agostino, 481.
Christophe, J. B , 7.
Chrysoloras, 584.
Church, taxation, 17 ; and state, 43 ;
defined, 192, 330, 368, 385; cor-
ruption of, 220 sq. ; 224; in Engl.,
302 sqq.; 681, 683, 691, etc.
INDEX
787
Church, F. C., 6.
Church, R. W., 566.
Cimabue, 602.
Clamanges, Nicolas, 187, 218 sqq.
Clareno, Angelo, 66.
Clemen, 659.
Clement V., 45 sqq ; 59.
Clement VI., 9, 14, 97, 757.
Clement VII., 108, 113, 122 sqq.
Clergy, worldhness, 42, 279 ; 306 ; alien,
310; in Hngl., 311, 668; Wye. on,
334 ; 662 sqq , in Germ , 665 sqq ,
in Scot! , 669 sq ; in Sp , 663 ; in
France, 663; 676.
Clencis laicis, 86.
Coelestme V., 9, 50, 122.
Cohrs, 233
Cola di Rienzo, 48, 97 sq , 102.
Colet, 559, 633, 645, 648 sqq.; 741.
Colonna, ^Egidius, 33.
Colonna, Oddo, 161.
Columbus, 207, 463.
Comba, 513.
Combe, 735.
Compactata, 395.
Conclave, papal, 425, 429, 436, 443 sq.,
466.
Concordats, 163, with Germany, 177,
487.
Concubinage, clcr., 439, 662 sq , 666
sq , 668 sq.
Confessional, 334.
Constance, C. of, 145 sqq. ; judgment
upon, 164 sqq ; 324, 330; and
Huss, 371 sqq., 421, 662
Constantino's Donation, 33, 36, 42,
43, 72, 76, 79, 81, 333, 596.
Conti, Sig dd, 402.
ConversoH, The, 534 sqq.
Coppmgor, A., 660.
('opts, 185.
Courtenay, Bp., 317 sqq.
Creighton, C , 9, 460, 465, 472, 750.
Creighton, Maud., 5; 143; 164, 406,
692.
Cruciata, 322.
Cruel, 232, 248, 671.
Crusade, against Venice, 58; against
the Turks, 94, 412, 417, 422 sq., 487,
761.
Cum inter nonmdlos, 67.
Cunningham, 101.
Cup, withdrawal of, 211 sq.
Cupientes, 311.
Curia, 86, 89 ; members ill-treated, 126 ;
limited, 162, 176; papal compacts
in, 169; 221; youth of, 404 sq. ;
wealth of, 405; increased by Alex.
VI., 456.
Dacheux, Abbe* L., 674.
D'Ailly, 187; 135, 140, 151, 153 sq.,
205 sqq.; on Huss, 367 sq.; 374,
376, 378 sq.
D'Aleman, 187; 175 sqq.
Dance of Death, 735 sq.
Dancers, 512.
Dante, 5, 6, 2, 556; on Bon. VIII., 11;
31; 57; 566 sqq.; 572; 379.
Decamerone, 578.
De concordaniia cath , 224.
Defensor pads, 72 sqq.
Delaborde, 402.
Delacroix, 233, 249.
De monarchia, Bryce on, 33.
Demfle, 5, 6, 115, 232, 233, 234, 290;
245, 249, 273, 670.
De Nolhac, 557.
De planctu ecclesice, 81, 86.
Deum time, 18.
Deutsrh, 190, 232, 233, 243, 249.
Deventer, 623.
Dicfenbach, 498, 515.
Diepenbrock, 233.
Dierauer, 482.
Digard, 5.
Digonnet, F , 97.
Dmsmore, 557.
Disease, 748, see Black Death.
Dimne Comedy, 567 sqq.
Djem, 440, 449.
Dollmger, 5, 6, 7, 106, 109; on Bon.
VIII , 22; 49; 57; 77; 80, 166, 203,
406, 479, 487, 493, 520.
Dorner, A , 186.
Drama, 490, 612 sq.
Drane, 187.
Drumann, W , 6.
Drummond, R. B., 558.
Dubois, 18, 42.
Dufour, 735.
Dugdale, 556.
Duns Scotus, 189 ; 647, 648.
Du Pin, 132, 187, 291.
Dupuy, P , 5, 115.
Durand de Laur, H., 558.
Durandus, 189 sq.
Durante, 38 sq.
Durer, 619, 745.
Dux, 188
Dyer, 468.
Eadie, 300.
Eckart, 232, 243 sqq. ; a heretic, 246 ;
preacher, 247 ; theologian, 248 sq. ;
pantheist, 254 sq. ; judgment upon,
256; 269.
Ehrle, 7, 8, 115, 497; 59; 70.
Emerton, 558, 634.
788
INDEX
Empire, jurisdiction of, 78.
Engelhardt, 234.
England and Bon. VIII., 17 ; church in,
302 sqq.
EngL Hist. Rev , 426, 469, etc.
Epiaiola! vir , etc., 608, 630 sqq.
Erasmus, 558, 618, 632 aqq ; 635, 636,
642; 651 sq., 720, 724, 740 sq.. 744,
760.
Erler, 115.
Ethiopian Christians, 185.
Eucharist, 182, 190, 193, 320; Wye.
on, 335 sq
Eugenius IV., 166, 169; 172; 175.
Execrabtlia, 420.
Exivi de paradiso, 66.
"Expectations, "84.
Eymencus, 135.
Falk, F., 660, 729, 730; 721.
Falkenberg, 165.
Farnese, Julia, 446.
Farrar, F. W., 236, 660.
Faulkner, 558, 637.
Fehx V., 176, 178.
Feltrc, da, 582
Ferarra, C. of, 174 sqq., 179 sqq.
Ferdinand the Oath, 483, 535, 544,
551, 554, 723
Ferrer, Vine., 160, 229 sq.
Ficino, 584, 594, 609
Ficker, 768, 664, 739.
Filelfo, 580, 593, 607.
FUioque, 181.
Fillastre, 146, 152.
Finke, 5, 7, 116 , 9 sq , 16, 24 ; 40, 79,
148; 152; 155, 206
Fisher, Dp , 559, 646, 648, 655, 657.
Fitzralph, 307
Flacius, III , 203, 244.
Flagellants, 497, 230, 350, 502 sqq ;
and hymns, 504 sqq
Flajshans, 301.
Flemmyng, Bp , 325, 353.
Flotte, 19.
Forgiveness, see Indulgences.
Forshall and Madden, 300, 343.
Fortnightly Rev., 101, etc.
Fortoul, 735.
Foxe, J,300; on Huss, 384.
Franciscans, 05 sqq ,71, 191, 754.
Fraticelli, 67, 500 sqq.
Frederick III., 176, 408 sq , 416, 427 sq
Frederick of Austria, 155, 158.
Frederick the Wise, 742.
Fredericq, 301, 500, 512.
Frequent, 164.
Friedberg, E., 9.
Friends of God, 234, 269, 272.
Frommann, 117.
Froude, J A , 558, 669.
Fuggers, 492, 494; 761 sqq.
Fuller, Thos , 299 ; 56, 309, 325, 355.
Funk, F. X , 6, 116; 290; on Unam
sanctam, 28; 166, 172, 291, 488, 539.
Gairdner, Jas , 301, 349, 352, 559, 655.
GalhcaniHiii, 38, 163, 488.
Gallic disease, 613, 615.
Gandia, duke of, 450 sq.
Gardner, E G , 187.
Gasquct, F. A , 9, 299 ; 102, 347, 652,
657, 678 sq , 726, 728.
Gaston de Foix, 475.
Gayct, 115.
Gee and Hardy, 353, etc.
Geffcken, 730.
Geiger, 555, 558, 625 ; 556.
Geiler of Strasnburg, 218, 525, 666 sq.,
670, 673 sqq , 752
General Council, advocated, 41 ; 44,
134 sqq , authority of, 156, 165;
frequency of, 164 ; Gerson and,
209 sqq , (lamangc'ft and, 220.
George of Tn-bizond, 590.
German Theology, Tho, 242, 270, 293.
Germany, 018 Kijq
Gerson, 113, 187, 138 sqq, 152; 156
sq , 209 sq ; 207 , at Count ance, 210 ;
on Huss, 211,213, 361, 384 sq ,214;
on the Bible, 215, as preacher, 210,
and children, 217, estimate of place
in history, 217 sq , 290, 377, on
conscience, 386 , 511,662, 720.
Gertrude the Great, 244.
OJibbon, 401,412.
deader, 9, etc.
Gilds, 748, 755.
Gil Sanduz, 160.
Giotto, 602
Giustiniam, 402.
Glanvill, 497.
Goch, 659, 680.
Godkin, 061.
Goeller, K , 8, 115.
Goethe, 557, 602.
Goldast, Melchior, 6.
Golden Bull, 104.
Goll, 302, 398.
Gorres, 233.
Gottlieben, 158.
Grabon, 283.
Greek, 225 , study of, 588 sqq., 619,
626, 632, N. Tent., 638 sqq , 644,
651; 643, 647, 683.
Greek Church, union with the Latin,
174; 179 nqq. .
Green, 299, 325.
INDEX
789
Gregorovius, 6 ; 11 ; 104, 406, 410, 425,
440, 451, 450, 465, 615, 768.
Gregory, Eleanor C , 232.
Gregory XI., 107 sqq. ; died, 113;
118 sq., 317.
Gregory XII, 130 sqq. ; 137 sq., 145,
154, 150
Grimm, 558, 602 sq.
Grocyn, 646.
Groote, 234, 274, 277 sqq.
Grube, K , 235.
Gmcciardim, 451, 477.
Guizot, 550.
Guthne, W. B , 656.
Guy de Maillesec, 130.
Halm, 3 , 308.
Hales, Alex, 516, 525.
Hallam, 57.
Haller, J., 6, 117, 82, 174.
Hallum, 146, 151.
Hamburger, 233.
Hanson, 497, 514, 516, etc.
Hardt, van der, 116; 134, 150, 156,
158.
Harnack, 103, on Eckart, 242, on
Mysticism, 243 , 240.
HaHak, 130.
Haso, K , 187, 401, 450, 604.
Haupt, 302.
Haureau, 186
Hawkwocnl, 113, 107.
Hawthorne, 600.
Hebrew, Btudy of, 58, 225, 501, 610,
626 P<] , 632.
Hefele-Knopfler, 5, 10, 183, 420, 443,
479, 539, 714.
Hegt-1, 243.
HegiuH, 023
Hemrich Institoria, 520, etc.
Henry of Cremona, 36 sq.
Henry of Langenstem, 116, 133.
Honry VII 1 ,481 nq
Heresy, 152, 211, 229, 246, 320 «q ,
382, 498, 536 mm , 615, 681.
Hergenrother-Kirsch, 6; 24; 73; on
Avignon popes, 125; 165, 326, 430.
Herolt, 672 sq.
Heyd, 768.
HiRdrn, II , 209.
HtMcbrand, 15.
Hinftchhis, T , 9.
Hirsche, 235.
Hitchcock, R. D, 283.
Hoensbroech, 407.
Hofler, 7, 301, 402.
Holbein, 610.
Holroyd, 568.
Holtzmann, R., 6.
Holy Lance, 441.
Holy Office, 540, 546.
Holzapfel, 752, 754.
Horatius Justinian, 117.
Hospitals, indulg. for, 740 sqq.
Hugo of Reutlingen, 504 sq., 512.
Humanism, nee Renaissance.
Huss, 147, 168, 301,358 sqq., 361;
a patriot, 365 ; on Ch. and papacy,
368 sq ; on indulg , 360 ; and Wye.,
370, 381 , at Constance, 371 ; Letters,
374 sqq ; in the Council, 376 sqq.;
a heretic, 383 sq. ; "safe conduct1'
of, 385 sq. ; estimate of, 386 sqq ;
750
Hussites, 173 ; 220; 302, 301 sqq., 514,
681.
Hutten, von, 550, 625, 620 sqq.
Hutton, 233.
Hylton, 290, 207.
Hymns, 508 sq , 745 sq.
Imbart de la Tour, 556, 644.
Imitation of Christ, 235, 284 sqq., 200
sqq.
1m mac. Conception, see Mary.
Immortality, doctr of, 487, 600.
Impanation, 193, 337.
Index, The, 295, 552.
Indulgences, 226, 306, 364, 369, 654,
681, 683; 756-767.
Infessura, 117, 400, 406, 409, 414, 432,
435, 437, 441, 447, 452.
Inge, 232, 238, 255.
Innes, A D., 550.
Innea, Geo S , 300.
Innocent III , 156, 757.
Innocent VI , 102.
Innocent VIII., 435 sqq., 448, 513, 520,
532,541.
Inquisition, 3 , 53 ; 67 ; Span., 434, 501,
515, 533, 547, 552 sq. ; 616.
Interdict, over Germany, 64; 107 sq. ;
on Florence, 434 ; Venice, 470, 703.
Lshp, Abp., 305.
Jacobites, 185.
James of Mark, 501.
Jansen, M, 115.
Janssen, 226, 629, 641, 664, 670, 721,
724, 728, 740, 747.
Jerome of Prag, 350, 388 sqq. ; esti-
mate of, 300.
Jessopp, 9, 101, 750.
Jews, 534 sqq. ; 548 sq., 752.
Joachim of Flore, 499.
Joan of Arc, 204.
Johanna of Naples, 106, 578.
Johanna of Sicily, 93.
790
INDEX
John XXII., Letters, 7; 60 sqq.; the
beatific vision, 69; wealth, 70; 82
sqq.; 246, 600.
John XXIII., 142, 145, 149, 162 sq.
154; 158; 222, 364, 758.
John Celle, 282.
John du Fayt, 603, 606.
John Hawkwood, 107.
John of Capistrano, 228, 501.
John of Chlum, 367, 371 sqq., 374, 378
sq.
John of Corbara, an ti pope, 63.
John of Jandun, 72.
John of Paltz, 757, 759.
John of Paris, 40; 193.
John of Ragusa, 149, 151.
John of Salisbury, 516.
John df Schoenhofen, 275.
John of Segovia, 117.
John of Sterngassen, 245.
John of Turrecremata, 170, 181, 224.
John Palaologus, 106.
Jordan of Quedlinburg, 231.
Jostes, 232.
Jourdain, 34.
Jubilee Year, 13; of 1350, 102; of
1390, 128; 226, 407 eq , 455 , 758.
Juliana of Norwich, 297.
Julius II., 406, 431, 436, 444, 466 sqq ;
471; 492, 601, 616; 713, 763 sq.
Jundt, 232.
Juterbock, 673, 761.
Karcher, 234.
Kawerau, 674.
Kehr, 238, 259, 271.
Keller, L., 302.
Kentenich, 290.
Kettlewell, 235, 282, 288.
Kirsch, J. P., 8, 87 sqq., 93 sq., 104.
Kitts, 115.
Klacxko, 556, 599, 764.
Knighton, 299, 99, 101, 343, 350, 352
Knopfler, 117.
Known Men, 356.
Kohler, 302.
Kolde, 659, 670.
Konrad of Gelnhausen, 133.
KostUn, 261, 403.
Kranach, Lukas, 619.
Kriehn, 299.
Kropatscheck, 186, 340.
Kruger, 768.
Kiigelgen, 301, 362.
Labbieus, 116.
Labberton, 5.
Ladislaus, 127, 129, 143, 145 sq.
Latontwr oali, 183.
Lafontaine, 187.
Lambert, 234.
Lamprecht, 245.
Lanciani, 658.
Landauer, 232.
TAnf^niAnn, 659.
Landucci, 402, 700, 705, 709, 759.
Langenberg, 232, 274, 283.
Langlois, 222, 498.
Lascaris, 591.
Lasson, 232.
Lateran, Fifth, 179, 473, 480 sq., 754.
Laughlin, 557.
Lea, 7, 758, 53, 57; 539, 544, 651, 653,
663.
Leach, 559.
Learning, see Renaissance.
Lechler, 300, 302, 315.
Lechner, 9.
Lecky, 497, 530, 749.
Lefevre, 188, 644.
Leinpens, 498, 515.
Lempp, 228.
L 'Enfant, 116.
Lenz, 116, 187.
Leo X., 406, 440, 468; 479 sqq.; en-
joj-s the papacy, 479; 48O sqq ;
judgment upon, 489 , love of drama,
490 sq ; as financier, 492 ; manners
and piety, 494, 587, 591, 613, 629,
759, 763.
Leo XIII , 14; 586,598.
Leonora of Naples, 431.
Leonora of Portugal, 408 sq.
Leprosy, 750
Lewis the Bavarian, 61 sq.; 63; 98.
Libraries, 584, 58C, 625.
Lilly, 556.
Lily, W., 647, 652.
Li nacre, 646.
Lingard, 299, 325, 349.
Linaenmeyer, 231.
Loists, 500.
Lollards, 301, 345, 350 sq., 351, 354,
357 sq. ; 502 sqq., 050, 725.
London Times, 649.
Lond. Quar. Rev., 236.
Longfellow, 533, 556.
Longland, W., 303, 305, 307.
Loofs, 232, 249, 293, 679.
Lorenzi, Ph. de, 674.
Lorimer, 300.
Loscrth, 299, 302.
Louis XII., 453, 472, 481.
Louis of Anjou, 126 sqq.
Lowell, 557.
Lttbke, 557, 601.
Lucas, H , 661.
Lumby, 299.
INDEX
791
Luotto, P., 661, $85, 690.
Lupold of Bebenburg, 78.
Lupton, 559, 650 sq.
Luther, 164; 193; 242, 256, 261, 284,
293, 323, 347, 387, 477, 489, 596,
621, 623, 640, 642, 670, 679, 681 sq. ;
711, 715, 719, 722, 734, 747, 755, 759,
763, 766, 768.
Lutterwurth, 317.
Lux, C., 8, 83.
Lyons, 2d Council, 180.
Mabillon, 291.
Machiavelh, 468 sq., 607, 612, 617.
Maeterlinck, 234.
Magnan, 9.
Maimbourg, 115.
Maitland, Prof , 353./
Malaiesta, Chas , 138, 141.
Manetti, 557, 582, 592.
Mans,, 7, 142.
Mantua, Congress of, 417 aqq.
Marchese, Padre, 661.
Marcour, 8.
Margaret of Maultasch, 93.
Maromtes, 185
Managlius of Padua, 8, 29; 71, 78, 77,
157, 192.
Martene-Durand, 133.
Martensen, 232.
Martin, 559.
Martin V , 161 aqq ; 166 sqq
Jtfary, Imm. concep , 173, 209, 435, 744 ;
worsliip of, 505, 507, 510, 572, 740,
742 sqq.
Ma*kell, 734, 746, 757.
Mansmann, 735.
MaHHon, 187.
Matthew xvi: 18, 332, 368, 384.
Matthew, F D , 300, 349.
Matthew Paris, 54, 309
Maximilian I , 474, 482,
McHardy, 661.
MechthiloX 244.
Medici, Cosimo de, 151, 158, 583, 589,
Julian de, 485; Lorenzo de, 432,
480, 557, 584, 588, 687, 692 sq., 754
Melanchthon, 261, 347, 623, 635.
Men of Reason, 500.
Merimuth, 299, 309, 313.
Mere win, Rulman, 234, 270 sq.
Merzdorf, 729.
Michael of Gesena, 67 sq., 71, 191.
Michelangelo, 584, 601, 604 sqq.
Miehelet, 57, 517, 555, 561.
Miracles, 510 sq., 542.
Miracle Plays, 432, 736.
Mirbt, 5, 14, 55, 163.
Mirot, 9, 112. j
Missions, 43.
Mladenowitc, Peter of, 301, 372.
Mohammed II., 412, 422, 434, 440.
Molay, Jacques de, 52; 55.
Money, Medieval, 90.
Monks, 221, 335 sq., 608, 634, 636 aqq.,
664, 670.
Monroe, 472, 750.
Monies pietati*, 752 sqq.
Montmorency, 236, 291, 298.
Montson, John of, 208.
Moore, C. H , 558, 572.
Moors, 442, 534.
Moravians, 242, 397.
More, £ , 556, 559.
More, Sir Thos , 345, 348, 633, 647,
653 sqq., 679, 741, 751, 760.
Morley, H , 559.
Mortmain, 309.
Muller, K., 7; 302, 62; 64, 360.
Mulhnger, 559.
MunU, 187, 403, 658.
Muratori, 5.
Muurling, 659.
Mysticism, 214 sq., 236 sqq. ; 237; 244
sqq./ 254, 276, 286 sqq.; English,
295 sqq.; 335.
Nepotism of Bon. VIII., 15 ; 58 sq.,
46, 129, 168, 404, 413, 429 sq., 467.
Nen de Landoccio, 186.
Nest on an s, 185.
Netter, 300, 330.
Nicholo, F M., 558, 633, 647.
Nicolas V., 406 sqq., 583 sq.
Nicolas of Cusa, 170, 175, 187, 223 sqq.,
237, 408, 716, 718 sq.
Nicolas of Lyra, 69, 660.
Nicolas of Strassburg, 245, 258.
Nicoll, W. R., 232.
Nicolo de Niccoli, 583 sq.
Nider, John, 525, 528.
Nieheim, 26, 115, 116, 96; 127, 152;
157; 510.
Nogaret, 21, 50.
Nolhac, R. De, 557.
Nominalism, 191, 207.
Norton, 656, 567.
Oberammergau, 738.
Ockam, 7, 40, 67 sq., 71, 186, 188 sqq.
Oldcastle, Sir John, 354 sq.
Oldecop, on indulg., 759.
Oliphant, Mrs., 555,
Olivi, 58, 65, 500.
Ollivier, 402, 446.
Oman, 299.
O'Neil, J. L., 661, 714.
Ordeal, 704, 706.
792
INDEX
Osier, 646.
Owen, 556, 642.
Palacky, 117, 301, 370.
Palseologus, John VI., 180 sq.
Papacy, 1 ; 11 ; 20, 25, 29 sq., 34 sqq
31, 38 sq., 42, 71 sqq. ; 76 ; 86 ; 96 ; 1 17
sqq., 147; 119; 123; 134, 140 sq.,
157; perpetuity of, 162; 177, 183,
191, 210; Wye. on, 332; Huss
on, 369; bribes of, 441, 451, 463,
464 sq ; infallibility of, 464
finances of, 492 sq. ; failure, 495
sq. ; and witchcraft, 515 sqq. ;
morals of, 614; 680.
Paris de Grassis, 402, 476.
Paris, Univ. of, 123 ; and the schism,
130, 132 sqq. ; 145, 189, 208.
Pastor, 5, 400 ; on Avignon popes, 46 ;
on Marsiglius, 73; on the Schism,
123; on Coun. of Pisa, 144; 165,
168, 180, 400, 406 sq., 424 sq , 428,
435, 439, 443, 484, 489 sq., 493,
579, 583, 608, 690, 692, 713, 749.
Pater Alternus, 487.
Patritius, 401, 428.
Paues, Anna 0., 342.
Paul II , 425 sqq ; wealth of, 428.
Paulufl, N., 558, 662; 757, 765.
Pa via, Coun. of, 68.
Payne, Peter, 353, 395.
Pears, Edw , 401.
Pecock, Bp , 301, 356, 725.
Perowne, E. H., 660.
Perpignan, 138, 143.
Perrens, F. T., 660.
Peter de Luna, see Benedict XIII.
Petit, John, 213.
Petrarca, 557, 47; 97, 102, 104, 106,
108, 199, 222, 573 sqq.
Pfefferkorn, 628 sq.
Pfeiffer, 232, 256.
Pfleiderer, 233, 256.
Phila, trail, and reprints, 498, 530,
532.
Philanthropy, see Benevolence.
Philip the Fair, 18; 50; 57..
Pico, J F.,597, 713.
Pico Mirandola, 595, 597 sq.f 624, 686,
688, 693, 702.
Pilgrimages, 455, 652, 654.
Pisa, line of. popes, 124; Council of,
138 sqq., 473, 475.
Pius II., 117; on Rigismund, 151, 169;
on authority of Councils, 172, 177;
on Huss, 390; 409; birth, 415; at
Basel, 415; sec'y to Fred. Ill , 415;
Ch. and pope, 416; letters of, 416;
and crusade against Turks, 417 sqq.,
422 sq.; on the .papacy, 420; 580,
587.
Pius IX., 172, 542.
Pius X., 757.
Plaoul, Peter, 142.
Platina, 117, 400, 407, 422, 424; 426;
428, 435.
Platonic, Acad , 588.
Platter, Thos , 471, 750.
Plethon, 589, 609.
Pluralinm, 312 sq., 663 sq.
Podicbrad, 396, 427.
Poggio, on Huss, 390; 580, 592, 607,
611,643.
Pohtian, 594, 694.
Pollock, 737.
Pomp. Lsotus, 588, 607.
Poole, J. L , 300.
Poole, R L , 6, 8, 186, 346.
Pope, may be deponed, 41, 44 ; hereti-
cal, 71 , function of, 74 ; plenitudo
potentate, 75; infallibility of, 80,
172, 420 sq ; supremo over the
state, 81 ; dispen«»er of all benefices,
83; simony of, 84 sqq ; and taxa-
tion, 85 sq ; income of, 95 ; borrows
money, 95, 112, returns to Avignon,
lllsq , Ace to Catherine, 201 sqq ;
corruption of, 222; last popes of
the M A , 403 sqq.
Porete, Marg. of, 500.
Potthaat, 5
Prcemunire, 309.
Prag, 4 article** of, 173; Univ. of, 359,
362.
Pragmatic sanction, 163, 179.
Preaching, 227 *qq , 247 sqq , 670 sqq.,
686 sqq
Prt'ger, 232, 497, 246, 256 sq., 261, 273,
302, 398.
Pneria«, 528.
Printing, 487, 622.
ProcopiuH, 393.
Provisions, 84 sqq
Prymrr, 711,734,744.
PtolomBPiw of Lucca, 5 ; 23.
Purgatory, «ee Indulgences,
Quarantines, 757.
Radewyn, 278, 280.
Ranke, 6, 400, 449, 459, 465, 468, 539
694.
Raphael, 601, sq., 605.
Rashdall, 299, 346, 362, 558, 621.
Raynaldus, 6, 115, 166.
Reformation, the, 283, 552, 630, 640,
645, 764 sqq.
Reformatory Councils, 2, 138 sqq., 403.
INDEX
798
Regular observance, 68.
Reiser, 398.
Relics, indulg. for, 229, 422, 441, 654,
739, 742 sq.
Renaissance, 3, 555 sqq. ; 560 sqq.
Renan, E , 6, 57.
Repyngrlon, 332, 349, 352.
Resby, J , 355.
Rf»8cr\ ations, 84
Reuchlm, 558, 598, 625 sqq , 628.
Reumont, 4<X), 489, 612.
Rouse h, 402
KeuHs, (UiO. 729.
Rev (if Letters, BOO Renaissance.
Riohental, Ulnck von, 116, 149,
(\>un of 0 , 149 sqq ; 153 ; 161 ; 373,
382
Rtea, J , 670.
Riesch, H., 661.
Riezler, S , 6, 7, 498; 38, 136, 747.
Ritsrhl, 232.
Robert of Avcwbury, 505.
Roliert of Geneva, see Clement VII.
Robinson, J H , 7, 47, 557, 575.
Rogers, Thorold, 100 sq , 748.
Rokyzana, 396
Rolle, Richard, 296.
Rome, condition in Avignon period,
47 sq , m 1360, 100, m 1390, 129,
in 1420, 167, in 1490, 437; popes
return to. 111 sqq , taken by
French, 449 sq
Romoia, 705
ROJXT, 559, 656.
Roacoe, 402, 555, 686.
Rosmim, 594, 611.
Rossetti, 557
Rosweydc, 235.
Rudclbach, 660, 689, 692.
Runge, 497, 507.
Ruprecht, 141, 143
Ruysbrocck, 215, 234, 269, 273 sqq.
Ryraer, 299.
fladoleto, 588, 594.
fit. Peters, 605, 764 sqq.
Saints, worship of, 741.
Salembier, 115, 187, 162, 165.
Salvation Army, 273, 602.
Sal-wUoria, 177.
Sandys, 556.
Sanuto, 402.
SapiduR, 623.
Sarpi, 495
Sauerland, 115.
Saville, 308.
Savonarola, 204, 615; 617, 664, 670,
684 sqq. ; appearance and preach-
ing, 686 sq , visions, 688 sqq.;
gov't of Florence, 696; and the
Renaissance, 700 ; last sermon, 704 ;
ordeal, 706 sq. ; tried, 709; Medi-
tations, 710; 715; death, 711; esti-
mate of, 712 sqq , 717, 754.
Sawtre, 353.
Sbinko, 361, 363, 365.
Scartazzini, 556, 567, 568.
Schaff-Herzog, 557, etc.
Schaff, P., 185, 216, 556.
Schaff, S., 233, 734, 740.
Schiller, 606, 617.
Schilling, F. G., 736.
Schism, see Papacy.
Schmid, K A , 558.
Schmid, R , 660.
Schneeganz, 508 sq.
Schmtzer, J , 661, 706, 708, 714.
Scholasticism, 188, 716, 744.
Scholz, Rich , 6, 29, 35, 36, 40.
School*, 280, 618, 622 sq., 633, 649 eq.
Schottmuller, H., 660.
Schrapff, 188.
Schubert-Soldem, 402.
Schulte, A , 8, 403, 768, 492, 761.
Schwab, 116, 139, 187, 210, 216, 292,
384.
Schwalm, 7.
Schwane, 187, 225.
Scudder, 110, 186.
Seeberg, 188, 191, 308.
Seebohm, 558, 657, 716.
Sellyng, 646.
Sergeant, 300, 324.
Scrvitia, 87 sqq , 90 sqq.
Sforza, Cath., 437, 450.
Shirley, 300, 315.
Siebert, 739, 763.
Siena, Council of, 168.
Sigismondo dei Conti, etc., 400.
Sigismund, 146, 159, 167, 171.
Simony, 84, 476.
Sismondi, 555.
Sixtus IV, 406, 429 sqq., 432; 536
sqq., 663, 757 sq.
Smeaton, O., 768.
Sociology, 747 sqq.
Souchon, M., 7.
Spencer, 768.
Staglin, Elsbet, 265.
State, supreme in its sphere, 43; Clem-
ent V '# bull on, 51 ; by Coun. of
Const., 163; state, 192.
Steinmann, 556.
Stoddart, 234.
Stokys, 322, 360, 364, 376.
Storrs, R 8., 301.
Strauch, 234, 273.
Strong, A. H., 557, 570.
794
, 7, 290.
Sudbury, Abp., 804, 317.
Summers, W. H., 301, 357.
Summit desiderantes, 532.
Superstition, see Relics, Indulgences,
etc.
Surgant, 671.
Susa, 233, 262 sqq.
Swords, two, 28, 37.
Swynderby, 352.
Symonds, 555, 576, etc.
Taborites, 393.
Taine, 551, 601.
Tangl, 7, 8, 82, 87.
Tauler, 233, 256, sqq , 259 sq., 261, 262,
269.
Templars, 52 sqq.
Tetsel, 757, 763, 766 sq.
Theod. of Gasa, 590.
Thesaurus meritorum, 757.
Thomas a. Becket, 740.
Thos. a Keinpis, 235, 278, 280, 284
sqq., 288 sq., 682, 741, 748.
Thorpe, W., 354.
Thuasne, 400, 402.
Thureau-Dangin, 228.
Ticknor, 498, 552.
Tiraborchi, 555.
Tomasseo, 186.
Torquemada, 533, 540, 542 sqq., 546,
552.
Traill, 299, 669, etc.
Trantfiffvration, The, 604.
Transubstantiation, see Eucharist.
Traversari, 593.
Trevelyan, 350.
Trithemius, 218, 624, 663, 744.
Triumph of the Crow, 715.
Tschackert, 116, 117, 187, 205, 419.
Tuer, 734.
Turks, Crusades against, 412 sq., 417,
425, 436, 487, 586, 761.
Turrecremata, 526.
Tychonius, 717.
Tyndale, 345, 642, 653, 718 sq., 726,
760.
Uhlhorn, 235.
Ullmann, 232, 659, 679, 681,
Unam aanetom, 19 sqq., 25 sqq.,
487.
Union of Christendom, 174, 179 sqq.,
188.
Untias fratrum, 399.
Universities, 620 sqq.
Urban V., 9, 104.
Usury, 535, 752.
Utut pauper, 65.
Utopia, The, 653, 656 sq.
Utraquists, 394 sq., 427.
Vacandard, 498, 521.
Valla, 580, 586, 595, 607, 610, 636.
Valois, 8, 115, 119, 125.
Van Dyke, Paul, 556.
Vanozza, 446, 449.
Vasari, 557, 603.
Vatican, repaired, 105, marriage in,
457 sq.
Vaughan, H. N , 403, 491.
Vaughan, R., 232, 300.
Vontunno, 503.
Veronica, St , 407, 510.
Vienne, C of, 55 sqq
Villani, 5, 14, 23 sq , 49, 60 sq., 70, 96,
102, 500
Villari, 402, 443, 555 sq., 687, 692, 713.
Vincent, Marvin R., 556.
Vinci, da, 601.
Viriitationcs, 90.
Voigt, 117, 401,555.
Vrie, 116, 151, 222.
Wackernagel, 746.
Waldenses, 442, 498, 512 sq.
Walmngham, 102, 299, 3O9, 354.
Walsingham, Lady of, 740.
Walther, 660.
Ward, Mary A., 557.
Ward-Waller, 736
Warham, Abp , 634, 646.
Warrack, Grace, 297.
Wattenbach, 6, 400.
Weiss, A . 401.
Wenrel, King, 360, 364, etc.
Werner, 186.
Werunsky, 9.
Wesel, 659, 681.
Wesley, John, 319.
Wessel, 659, 682 sq., 759.
Westcott, 301, 348.
Westm. Assbly., 164.
Wette, de, 284.
Wey, 739.
Wbeatley, 236.
Whitcomb, 99, 472, 555.
White, A. D., 497, 521.
Whittier, 236, 256, 262.
Wicksteed, 5, 556.
Wiegard, 300, 730.
Wimpheling, 624, 664.
Witchcraft, 442, 514 sqq., 590 sq.
Woifflgruber, 235.
Wolker, 8.
Wolsey, Card., 216, 646.
Woman, 524 sq., 643, 615.
Woolsey, Theo., 555.
INDEX
795
Workman, 300 sq., etc.
Wright, J. C., 556.
Wright, Thos., 301, 497.
Wychf, 308, on schism, 124, con-
demned, 168, 299, 309, 313 aqq., 321 ;
pamphleteer, 309, reformer, 320,
329, death, 323, and Co. of Const.,
324, estimate of, 325, 346 sq ,
354, schoolman, 326, patriot, 327,
preacher, 324 nq , a heretic, 323, 330,
352; 356, 358, views in Bohemia,
359 sqq.; 353, 387, 525, 719, on
indulg , 759.
Wykham, W. of, 305, 307 eqq.
Wyhe, 116, 146.
Ximenes, 467, 538, 761.
Young, G. F., 557.
Zabarella, 146, 152, 380, etc.
Zizka, 393 sq.
1 29 354
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