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HISTDEY 


LATIN    CHRISTIANITY  ; 


THAT  07 

THE  POPES  TO  THE  PONTIFICATE  OF  NIOOLA.S  V. 


BY  HENRY  HAET  MILMAH,  D.D., 

'1BEAN  OF  BT, 


IN  NINE  YOLUMES,— VOL. 


LONDON: 
JOHN  MURRAY,  ALBEMARLE  STREET. 

1903. 


LDETDIIN 

PMNTCO  nv  WILLIAM  ULHlTtS  AND  SIDNS,  IIMITED, 
IJl'KIl,  STHEtT,  BTUirnnO  STllKtT,  S,C  ,  AND    DBEU  WlhDURF,  BTRKFT,  W 


CONTENTS 


THE   SEVENTH   VOLUME. 


A.D. 

1291 
1205 


BOOK  XI.— continued. 

CHAPTEE  VII. 
BDHIFADE  Tin, 


Election  of  Boniface 

Bonifaca  at  Borne — Inauguration 

Persecution  of  Doelestine    .. 

D  Bath  and  Canonization 

Early  Career  of  Boniface    .. 
1206-1302  Affairs  of  Sicily  and  Naples       ,.     . 
1207    The  Oolonnas      ..     

Boniface  and  Italy      

1292    Adalph  of  Nassau  Emperor 

1298    Death  of  Adolph— Albert  of  Austria 


11 

12 
16 
24 
82 
93 
37 


1294 


OHAPTEE   VIII. 

B  DKIFAOB  YIII.  —  ENGLAND  AXD  FBANOB. 

England— Development  of  Constitution       ...  59 

France — The  Lawyers ,      ..      .  41 

Eiward  I.  and  the  Dlergy      .....  45 

Quarrel  between  France  and  England  46 

Pope  commands  a  True  a       49 

Taxation  of  Clergy  in  England     ...  5D 

Statute  of  Mortmain      .„     ..     ..      .  61 

France— Philip  tuea  the  Olergy   ...  59 

a.  2 


iv  CONTENTS  OP  VOL.  VII. 

A.D.  PAGE 

1296  'The  Bull  "Clericis  Laicos" CO 

England — Parliament  at  Bury      61 

Osuncil  in  St.  Paul's      ib, 

Confirmation  of  the  Charters 64 

Philip's  Edict 66 

The  Bull— Ineffabilis      ..      68 

The  King's  reply 71 

1297  Pope's  Prudence      ..      74 

1298  Arbitration  of  Boniface — Peace     78 

1299  Scotland — Interference  of  Boniface       ..      ..      ..  79 

1300  Jubilee 83 


CHAP  TEE  IX. 
BONIFACE  VIII. — His  FALL. 

Boniface  at  the  height  of  Ms  power      ..      ..     ..  87 

Dangers — The  Franciscans ..      .,  88 

The  Fraticelli 91 

Charles  of  Valois    .,      ..  • 93 

1801    England — Parliament  of  Lincoln 94 

Claims  of  England  and  Scotland 90 

Quarrel  of  Boniface  and  Philip  of  France     ..      ,.  99 

Philip's  Alliance  with  the  Empire        103 

Humours  about  Boniface       ...      ,,      ..     ..      ,.  104 

1801    Bishop  of  Pamiers 105 

Court-plenary  at  Senlis .,      ..  107 

Peter  Flotte 109 

The  Lesser  Bull      112 

Bull,  Ausculta  fill ..  116 

1302    Bull  burned     ..      ..     ..      ..      117 

States  General — Addresses  to  the  Pope        ..      .,  ib, 

Consistory  at  Borne        ,.  128 

Bull,  TJnam  Sanctam     ,,      ..      ,.     .,     ,.     „  126 

Battle  of  Courtrai   ... ,     ..     «»  126 

Philip  condemns  the  Inquisition  ..     .,     ,.     .«  127 

Meeting  at  the  Louvre — Twelve  Articles  •  • ««     •„«  181 

The  King's  answer .. "..  182 

Parliament  at  the  Louvre      ...      ...     ,.     ,.     *,  134: 

William  of  JSTogaret       136 

Papal  despatches  seized *     ..     „  188 


CONTENTS  OF  YDL.  VII.  T 

AJ>  FAGS 

Second  Parliament — Charges  against  Boniface     ..  139 

The  King's  Appeal 143 

General  adhesion  of  the  kingdom 14  j 

Boniface  at  Anagai ib. 

Excommunication 147 

Attack  on  the  Pops        149 

Rescue  of  the  Pope 152 

Death  of  Boniface 154 

OHAPTEB  X. 

BENEDICT  XL 

Election  of  Benedict  XI 157 

Measures  of  Benedict      159 

Bull  ufBanedict      163 

Death  of  Benedict 165 


BOOK  XII, 

THE  POPES  IN  AVIGrNON. 

OHAPTEB  I, 

CLEMENT  V. 

1804-5    Gonolava 170 

13D5  Barnard  ie  Goth.  .,  ..  ,.  ,,  1T1 

Eleetion— Coronfttion  of  Olament  Y 173 

His  first  acts 174 

•William  of  Nogaret  175 

1007  Meeting  at  Poitiers 178 

The  Templars 181 

Du  Malay  at  Poitiers  193 

Accusations  against  ths  Order  •  <•  1^4 

Arreat  of  the  Templars  ..  105 

Specific  charges  ,*  .,  „,  <.  IBS 


i  CONTENTS  OF  VOL.  TIL 

A  I)  PAOI 

Tortures 2D< 

Interrogations — Confessions 20] 

The  Pope 20E 

Templars  in  England      209 

1308  Death  of  tha  Emperor  —  Henry  of  Luxemburg 

Empsror      210 

Parliament  of  Tours       212 

CHAPTER  II. 

1309  Process  of  ths  Templars        220 

DornmissioD  opened  at  Paris ..      ..  221 

DuMulay       224 

1310  Others  "brought  to  Paris 228 

Defenders— Proctors  choaen 232 

•Witnesses        237 

Confessions      239 

Archbishop  of  Sens 240 

Burning  of  the  relapsed 243 

Templars  in  England      252 

Hearings  in  London        264 

Templars  in  Scotland  and  Irelani 264 

m  Italy 2D5 

in  Spain 2Q7 

Difficulty  of  the  quastion      2  BO 

Historians       274 

Abolition  of  the  Order 276 


CHAPTER  HI. 

ABBAIGNMENT  or  BONIFAOE— COUNCIL  OF  VIEHNH. 

1310  Persecution  of  memory  of  Pope  Boniface  ,,  .,  279 

Pope  Clement  at  Avignon  ,.  .,  ..  ,,  .,  280 

Consistory— Charges  ..  ..  -,  .,  ,.  -  285 

"WitaBBfles  *,  .,  .,  .,  287 

Summary  of  evidence  ..  ,,  ,  ..  294 

Papal  judgment  2()|i 

1811    Council  of  Yiennu .,  i-'iJB 


CONTENTS  OF  VOL.  VII.  VTA 

CHAPTER  IV. 

HBNBT  op  LUXEMBURG.  —  ITALY. 

The  Pope 305 

Affairs  of  Italy        307 

1310  Henry  of  Luxemburg  in  Italy              308 

1311  Crowned  at  Milan fa 

1312  Advance  from  Genoa  to  Borne      313 

Coronation .,      ..  •$, 

1313  Death  of  Henry       314 

Dante  de  Monarchift       315 

CHAPTER  V. 

END  OP  Du  MDLAY —  OF  POPE  CLEMENT  —  OP  Kraa  FBHIP. 

Burning  of  Du  Molay     321 

Death  of  Clement ,  323 

Death  of  Philip  IV 327 

Teutonic  Order       328 

CHAPTER   VI. 

POPE  JOBS  XXII, 

1313    Conclave  at  Carpentraa      ..     .. 334 

1816    Pope  John  XXII ,  337 

Fall  of  Royal  House  of  France 340 

Persecutions  for  Witchcraft       342 

Spiritual  Franciscans 345 

Ths  Abbot  Joaohlm 347 

The  Everlasting  Gtospel      ,.     , 349 

John  Peter  Oliva        351 

Z3S1-13  01  Wilhelmina 3S3 

1280-88  Gerard  Sagarelli  of  Parma 36 B 

Dolcino  of  Novara       .,  350 

War     364 

1304    Death  of  Margarita  and  of  Doloino  ..     .«     .,  367 

Pope  John,  claims  treaauies  of  Clement    .,     .,  369 

Persecutes  tha  Spirituals 373 


Vlll 


CONTENTS  OF  VOL.  VII. 

PAOB 

AD  377 

William  of  Ockham    ..     ••      •  .......        g^g 

Controversy  on  Papal  power      ......      •• 

1320  Insurrection  of  the  Peasantry     ........        gg3 

1321  The  Lepers..     .............. 

CHAPTEE  VII. 

JOHN  XXII.  —  LOTJIB  OF  BAVABrA. 

885 
Louis  of  Bavaria  Emperor      ..........        gg8 

i317    Affairs  of  Italy       ..      »     ••     ••      .....         g91 

Excommunication  of  Visconti       ..      •  •     «•      *          ^ 

1322    Battle  of  .Muhldorf  .....  •     ........        gg8 

Process  against  Louis  of  Bavaria   ........        « 

Excommunication 


German  proclamation     ..     -  .........  „ 

1325  Treaty  of  Louis  and  Frederick  ........  JjJ6 

Marsilio  of  Padua    .........  •     "     "'  ^Q 

"William  of  Octham       ..     ••     ........  ^^ 

1327  Louis  descends  into  Italy  ..  ...  ......  <,-,« 

At  Pisa—  Florence—  Cecco  d'  Ascoli     ......  *JO 

Coronation       ..     ..      ••      ..........  ,,« 

The  Antipope—  Nicolas  V  ...........  ^ 

Louis  abandons  Kome     ..........      "  ^ 

Defection  of  Italy    ..     ••     •  .........  ^ 

Fate  of  tlie  Antipope  ..  ..........  . 

1330    Pope  refuses  all  accommodation    ..      .  .....  *  • 

Heresy  of  Pope  John  XXII  ...........  *£J 

1334    PMlip  of  Valois,  King  of  France   ......     -  "^ 

Eecantation—  Death  of  John,.  ..  n.  ..... 

OHAPTBB  Till. 

BENEDICT  XII. 

437 

Election    ..     ........     •*     "*,.,  ""..  .**  .,«« 

,335-6    Character-Decides  the  question  of  Beatifm  \  uton  4J8 

King  Philip  at  Avignon;  .....     »      ••     "  J*;1 

1338    WeaTrness  of  Louis  of  Bavaria       ..     ..  '   »     -  **~ 

Embassy  to  Avignon     ..     •••••'.    "     "  JJJ 

Meeting  of  Louis  and  Edward  of  England    ..     ..  **o 

1342    Death  of  Benedict  XII  .........     ».     •*  **s 


CONTENTS  OF  VOL.  VII.  is 

CHAPTER  IX. 

CLEMENT  VI. 

His  acts — hig  court         ....  ,         450 

Clement  aui  Louis  of  Bavaria,         .  454 

1344-    Degrading  terms  accepted  ty  LOUIH  456 

1340     Now  Excommunication ..       .  4130 

1347     Queen  Joanna  of  Naples         .         4S2 

DHAPTEE  X. 

KIENZI. 
JUeim — naU-nta^e    ..  408 


134-3-4     Uiutm  ab  A-vignon  .               4B9 

llienzi  in  Home                      411 

1347     lliHing  m  Rome       475 

1'uwur  of  liicnzi 482 

I'vo  cession  of  Aug.  1               481 

llnronation      ...       .              485 

Insurrection  of  the  noblus 489 

134«-D    Ml  anil  retreat  of  Tdcnzi       493 

13.11    llitmsd  at  Pragvw 499 

i;ii")!i    Kun-cndereil  to  the  Popo  m  Avijcui/n — I'atrarci-i    .  JKM3 


vot.  VII, 


HISTORY 

OF 

LATIN     CHRISTIANITY. 


BOOK  XI. — continued. 
CHAPTER   VIL 

BonitacB  VIII. 

THE  Conclave  might  seem  determined  to  retrieve  theii 
former  error  in  placing  tha  devout  but  unworldly  Coeles- 
tine  in  the  chair  of  St,  Peter,  by  raising  to  the  Pon- 
tificate a  prelate  of  the  most  opposite  character.  Human 
nature  could  hardly  offer  a  stronger  contrast  thau  Bene- 
detto Glaetani  and  Petsr  Morrone,  Boniface  VIII.  and 
Coalestme  Y,  Of  all  the  Roman  Pontiffs,  Boniface  has 
left  the  darkest  name  for  craft,  arrogance,  ambition, 
even  for  avarice  and  cruelty.  Against  the  memory  of 
Boniface  were  joined  in  fatal  conspiracy,  the  passions, 
interests,  undying  hostilities,  the  conscientious  partisan- 
ship, the  not  ungrounded  oppugnancies,  not  of  indi- 
vidual foes  alone,  but  of  houses,  of  factions,  of  orders,  of 
classes,  of  professions,  it  may  be  said  of  kingdoms.  His 
own  acts  laid  the  foundation  of  this  sempiternal  hatred. 
In  his  own  day  his  harsh  treatment  of  Ooelestine  and 
the  Coelestmians  (afterwards  mingled  up  or  confounded 
with,  the  wide-spread  Fraticelli,  the  extreme  and  demo- 
cratic Franciscans)  laid  up  a  deep  store  of  aversion  in 
the  popular  mind.  So  in  the  higher  orders,  bis  terrible 

VOL  VU.  B 


2  LATIS"  DnniSTIASm.  BOOKXI. 

determination  to  crush  the  old  and  powerful  family  of 
the  Colonnas,  and  tha  stern  hand  with,  which  he  re- 
pressed others  of  the  Italian  nohles  :  Ins  resolute  Guelf- 
ism;  hia  mvitatian  of  Charles  of  "Valois  into  Italy,  in- 
volved him  in  the  hatefulness  of  all  Charles's  tyranny 
anl  oppression.  This,  with  his  own  exile,  goaded  the 
Guelf-born  Dante  mto  a  relentless  Grhibelline,  and 
doomed  Pope  Boniface  to  an  earthly  immortality  of 
shame  andtorment  in  the  Hell  of  the  poet.  The  quarrel 
.with  the  King  of  France,  Philip  the  Fair,  brought  him 
during  his  lifetime  into  formidable  collision  with  a  new 
power,  the  strength  of  which  was  yet  unsuspected  in 
Christendom,  that  of  the  lawyers,  his  fatal  foes;  ani 
bequeathed  him  in  later  times  throughout  the  writings 
of  the  French  historians,  and  even  divines  [French 
national  pride  triumphing  over  the  zeal  of  the  Church- 
man), as  an  object  of  hostility  during  two  centuries  of 
the  most  profound  Roman  Catholic  learning,  and  most 
perfect  Roman  Catholic  eloquence.  Tha  revolt  against 
the  Papal  power  at  the  Reformation  seized  with  avidity 
the  memory  of  one,  thus  consigned  in  his  own  day,  in 
life  and  after  death,  to  tho  blackest  obloquy,  abandoned 
by  most  of  his  natural  supporters,  and  from  whose  broad 
and  undisguised  assertions  of  Papal  power  later  Popea 
had  shrunk  and  attempted  to  efface  iliBiu  from  their 
records.  Thus  Boniface  VIII.  has  not  merely  been 
handed  down,  and  justly,  as  the  Pontiff  of  the  loftiest 
spiritual  pretensions,  pretensions  which,  in  their  lan- 
guage at  leasb,  might  have  appalled  Ililtbbrand  or  In- 
nocent III.,  but  almost  all  contemporary  history*  as' well 
as  poetry,  from  the  sublime  verse  of  Dante-to  the  vulgar 
but  vigorous  rhapsodies  of  Jacopone  da  Todi,  are  full  of 
those  striking  and  unforgotten  touches  of  haughtiness 
and  rapacity,  many  of  which  cannot  be  true,  many  nc1 


CHAP.  VII.  THE  CONCLAVE.  3 

doubt  invented  by  his  enemies,  many  others  are  sus- 
picious, yet  all  show  the  height  of  detestation  which, 
either  by  adherence  to  principles  grown  unpopular,  or 
by  his  own  arrogance  and  violence,  he  hai  raised  in 
great  part  of  Christendom.  Boniface  was  hardly  dead, 
when  the  epitaph,  which  no  time  can  erase,  from  the 
impression  of  which  the  most  candid  mind  strivss  with 
difficulty  to  emancipate  itself,  was  proclaimed  to  the 
unprotesting  Christian  world :  "  He  came  in  like  a  fox, 
he  ruled  like  a  lion,  he  disd  like  u  dog."  Yet  calmer 
justice,  as  well  as  the  awful  reverence  for  all  successors 
of  St.  Peter,  and  the  ardent  corporate  zeal  which  urges 
Human  Catholic  writers  on  the  forlorn  hops  of  vindi- 
cating every  act  and  every  edict  of  every  Roman 
Pontiff,  have  not  left  Boniface  VIII.  without  defence; 
some,  indeed,  have  ventured  to  appeal  to  the  respect 
and  admiration  of  posterity,11 

The  abdication  of  Coelestiioie  took  place  on  the  feast 
of  St.  Lucia.    The  law  of  Gregory  2L,  which  n^.  13. 
secluded  the  Conclave  in  unapproachable  sepa-  DQnBltlTe- 
ration  from  the  world,  had  been  re-enacted,  but  was  not 
enforced  to  ita  utmost  rigour,    Latino  Malebranca,  the 
Cardinal  who  had  exercised  so  much  influence  in  the 
election  of  Coelestine  V.,  had  been  some  months  dead. 
The  old  Italian  interest  was  represented  by  the  Car- 
dinals of  the  two  great  houses,  long  opposed  in  their 
fierce  hereditary  hostility,  Guelf  and  Grhibelline,  Mntteo 


•  Cardinal  Wiflemnn  hns  embarked 
in  this  desperate  cause  with  considai- 
abie  learning  and  more  ingenuity.  HM 
article  in  the  "  Dublin  Review,1'  now 
reprinted  in  Ma  Essays,  was  uibwerpd 
at  the  time  by  a  clever  pnppr  in  the 
"British  an!  Foreign  Review,"  in 


which  mny  be  tincad  an  Italian  hand. 
Since  that  time  have  appeared  Tosti'a 
pmiegvn'cftl,  hut.  not  very  nnocessfd 
biography ;  and  &  fairer,  more  im- 
partial Life  by  Dramarm ;  nob,  how* 
ever  in  my  opinion  equal  to  the  sub* 


ject. 


B  2 


4  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Boon  XI. 

Rosso  and  Napoleon  tliB  Orsmis,  and  the  two  Coloimas, 
of  whQm  the  elder,  Peter,  was  a  man  of  bold  and  unscru- 
pulous ambition.  But  the  preponderance  of  numbers 
was  with  the  new  Cardinals  appointed  by  Dcelestine  at 
ths  dictation  of  Charles  of  Naples.  Of  these  thirteen, 
seven  (one  was  dead). were  Frenchmen :  it  might  seem 
that  the  election  must  absolutely  depend  on  tha  will 
of  Charles.  Benedetto  Gastani  stood  alono;  he  was 
recommended  by  his  consummate  ability  ;  but  on  that 
account,  too,  he  was  feared,  perhaps  suspect cd,  by  all 
who  wished  to  rule,  and  few  were  there  in  the  Con- 
clave without  that  wish.  The  strong  reaction  might 
dispose  the  Cardinals  to  elect  a  Pops  of  the  loftiest 
spiritual  views,  who  might  be  expected  to  rescue  the 
Popedom  from  its  present  state  of  impotency  and 
contempt:  but  that  reaction  would  hardly  counter- 
poise the  rival  ambition  of  the  Orsinis  and  Oolonnas, 
and  the  sworn  subserviancy  of  so  many  to  the  King  of 
Naples, 

The  Cardinal  Benedetto  Gravtani  was  of  a  noble  family 
Benedetto  m  Anagni,  which  city  from  its  patriciate  had 
Gaetani.  airBaiiy  giVBn  two  of  its  greatest  Popes  to  the 
chair  of  St.  Peter.  He  was  of  blameless  morals,  and 
unrivalled  in  his  knowledge  of  the  Canon  law,  equally 
unrivalled  in  experience  and  the  despatch  of  business. 
HB  had  bean  in  almost  every  kingdom  of  Western 
Christendom,  England,  France,  Portugal,  as  the  repre- 
SBntative  of  the  Pop  BJ  was  personally  known  to  most 
of  the  monarchfl,  anil  acquaint  ad  with  the  politics  and 
churches  of  most  of  the  realms  in  Europe.  It  had  been 
at  first  supposed  that  Benedetto  Gaetani,  who  had  in- 
sulted King  Charles  at  Perugia,  and  1m  I  haughtily 
rebuked  him  for  his  interference  with  the  Conclave, 
would  not  venture  to  Naples.  He  had  come  the  last, 


lHAP.  VII. 


BENEDETTO  GAETANT. 


and  with  reluctance  :b  but  his  knowledge  of  affairs,  and 
the  superiority  of  his  abilities,  soon  made  him  master  in 
the  deliberations  of  the  Conclave.  The  abdication  of 
CoelBstinB  had  been,  if  not  at  his  suggestion,  urged  on 
the  irresolute  and  vacillating  Pope  by  his  command- 
ing mind ;  even  if  the  vulgar  artifices  of  frightening 
him  into  ths  determination  were  unnecessary,  and  be- 
neath the  SBVBVB  character  of  Gaetani.  The  Conclave 
sat,  in  the  Castel  Nnovo  at  Naples,  for  ten  days ;  at  tha 
close,  Benedetto  Graetani,  as  it  seemed,  by  unanimous 
consent,  was  declared  Pope.  The  secrets  of  the  inter- 
mediate proceedings  might  undoubtedly  transpire ;  the 
hostility,  which  almost  immediately  broke  out  among 
all  parties,  would  not  scruple  to  reveal  the  darkest  in- 
trigues; those  intrigues  would  even  take  the  most 
naked  and  distinct  form.  Private  mutual  understand- 
ings would  become  direct  covenants;  promises  made 
with  reserve  and  caution,  undisguised  declarations.  The 
vulgar  rumours,  therefore,  would  contain  the  truth,  but 
more  than  the  truth.  It  was  no  sudden  acclamation, 
no  deference  at  once  to  the  superiority  of  Gaetani,  The 
long  delay  shows  a  balance  and  strife  of  parties;  the- 
conqueror  betrays  by  his  success  that  he  conducted  most 
subtly,  or  adroitly,  ths  game  of  conquest.  Gaetani,  it 
is  said,  not  only  availed  himself  of  the  irreconcileable 
hostility  between  the  Orsinis  and  Coloimas,  but  played 
each  against  the  other  with  exquisite  dexterity.  Each 
at  length  consented  to  leave  the  nomination  to  him, 
each  expecting  to  be  named.  Gaetani  named  himself  j 
the  Orsini,  Matteo  Rosso,  submitted;  the  Colonnas  be- 


b  See  qviotation  above  flora  Ptolem. 
Luc.  "  Venil  igltur  ultimus,  ct  sic 
Miivit  deduce)  e  aua  negotm,  ijuod  fnctua 


asset  [past  Domimia  Curias."— o,  xxii, 
Ptolemy  was  present  during  moat  si 
these  proceedings. 


LATIN  CHRISTIANITY. 


BOOK  XI. 


trayed.  their  indignation ;  and  this,  if  not  the  first,  was 
tha  deepest  causa  of  the  mutual  unforgiving  hatred." 
From  that  time  (it  may  however  be  remembered  that 
the  Colonnaa  were  Grhibellme)  was  implacable  feud 
between  the  Pope  and  that  house.  But  the  Italian 
interest,  represented  by  the  Orsinis  and  Colonnas,  no 
longer  ruled  the  Conclave.  Charles  of  Naples  must  be 
propitiated,  for  he  held  perhaps  twelve  suffrages.  Gae- 
tani  suggested,  it  was  said,  at  a  midnight  interview 
with  Charles,  that  a  weak  Pontiff  could  not  befriend 
the  King  with  half  the  power  which  might  be  wieldad 
by  a  strong  one.  "King  Charles,  your  Pope  CosleatinB 
had  the  will  and  the  power  to  aid  you,  but  knew  not 
how ;  influences  the  Cardinals,  your  friends,  in  my  fa- 
vour, I  shall  have  not  only  the  will  and  the  power,  but 
the  knowledge  also  to  serve  you."d  Charles's  obse- 
quious Cardinals  gave  thsir  vote  for  Graetani,  it  may 
be  presumed  with  the  consent  or  cognisance  at  least 
of  Charles.  Nor  in  justice  can  it  be  denied  that  if  he 
pledged  himself  to  USB  every  effort  for  the  reconquest 
of  Sicily,  ha  did  more  than  adhere  with  unshaken, 
fidelity  to  his  engagements,  even  when  it  had  been 
perhaps  the  better  Papal  policy  to  have  abandoned 
the  cause.  Ib  was  unquestionably  through  the  Pope's 
consummate  ability,  rather  than  by  favouring  circum- 
stances or  the  popularity  of  his  character,  that  Charles 
afterwards  maintained  the  contest  for  that  kingdom. 


•  Ferretua  Vicentinua  apud  Mura- 
tori,  S.  R.  T.  t,  ix.  Ferretua,  though 
a  ceotemporary,  is  Toy  no  means  au 
accurate  writer:  ha  has  made  some 
singular  mistakes,  and  ha  wrote  at 
Viaenza.  Before  it  reached  him,  any 
private  and  doubtful  negotiation,  which 
we  con  hardly  ^ueation  took  place, 


woull  become  positive  and  determi- 
nate, 

*  "  Re  Carlo,  11  tuo  Papa  Ccleatino 
t'  ha  voluto  a  potato  servira,  ma  nan 
ha  uaputo :  onda  ae  tu  adoperl  co'  tuol 
atmd  Cardlnali  chb  io  aln  Bletto  Papa, 
iu  saprt)  o  verrb  e  potrb."— Villruii,, 
viii,  6. 


CHAP.  VII. 


ELECTION  OF  BONIFACE  Vlll. 


Gruelfism,  too,  brought  Charles  and  Benedetto  Oaetani 
into  one  common  interest. 

Benedetto  Gaetani  was  chosen  Pope  with  all  apparent 
unanimity  on  the  23rd  of  December;  no  doubt  it  was 
truly  said,  not  to  his  own  dissatisfaction.8  He  took  the 
name  of  Boniface;  it  was  reported  that  he  intimated  by 
that  nama  that  he  \vaa  to  ba  known  by  deeds  rather 
than  by  words.  The  abdication,  the  negotiation  with 
the  conflicting  Cardinals,  with  Charles  of  Naples,  was 
the  work  of  ten  days,  implying  by  its  duration  strife  and 
resistance  ;  by  its  rapidity,  despatch,  and'boldness  in  re- 
conciling strife  and  surmounting  difficulty. 

But  no  sooner  was  Gaetani  Pope  than  he  yearned  for 
the  independence,  tha  sole  supremacy,  of  Rome  or  the 
Roman  dominions ;  lie  would  not  be  a  Pops,  the  instru- 
ment of,  and  in  thrall  to,  a  King  at  Naples,  The  moat 
pressing  invitations,  the  most  urgent  remonstrances,, 
would  not  induce  him  to  delay ;  he  hurried  on  by  Capua, 
Monte  Casino,  Anagni.  In  his  native  city  ho  waa  wel- 
comed with  festive  dances;  everywhere  receivsd  with 
humble  deference,  deference  which  ha  enforced  by  hia 
lofty  demeanour.  At  the  gates  of  Rome  he  was  met  by 
$ie  militia,  by  the  knighthood,  by  the  clergy  of  .Rome, 
chanting  in  triumph,  as  though  the  Pope  had ,  escaped 
from  prison.  Italy,  Christendom  w  ex  a  to  know  that  a 
true  Pope  bad  ascended  the  throne* 

The  inauguration,  .pf  JJonifaca  was  the  most  magnifi- 
cent which.  Rome  had  evsr  beheld.'  In  his  procession 

•  "  EleetuB  ebt  ipie  nan  invitus,  non 
gemMm,"— Pi-pin.  Chran,  npud  MLIVU- 
toi'i,  c.  xh.  Diuitu  bugrjitoti  the  fraudu- 
lent means  Of  BUBKBSfl- 

"  Sei  tu  81  toati)  de  qnol  huver  nuzlo, 
Per  lo  quul  nun  tcnu  atL  tcure  a  ingtumo 
L«  belU  Uunna,  n  dl  put  fame  itriuslu." 
litfcmo,  xlx.  B3. 


u  vaiy  odil  iiccount  of  the 
of  the  vaiuea  of  the  ItJilian 
and  Vienuh  ulavgy  iliuing  this  Baro- 
mony: — • 

"  lUetonumRmuannBavet  flarumdlapenbe, 
lllu  cault,  feilt  lilt*  BrttYEia  iiuitrtum  dla- 

tearuu 
Iiqbrleva  in  vuccm  nesclt  con  ila  tore  p«  mix 


8  LATIN  CEKISTIANITT,  BOOK  XK 

to  Si  Peter's  and  back  to  ths  Lateran  palace,  whero 
inauguration  he  was  entertained,  ha  rods  not  a  humble 
Jun  IB,  1395,  ass,  but  a  noble  white  horse,  richly  capari- 
soned :  he  had  a  crown  on  his  head;  the  King  of  Naples 
held  the  bridle  on  one  aide,  his  son,  the  King  of  Hun- 
gary, on  the  other.  The  nobility  of  Eome,  the  Orsinis, 
the  Oolonnas,  the  Savellis,  the  Stefaneschi,  the  Anni- 
baldi,  who  had  not  only  welcomed  him  to  Borne,  but 
conferred  on  him  the  Senatorial  dignity,  followed  in  a 
body:  the  procession  could  hardly  force  its  way  through 
tha  masses  of  the  kneeling  people.  In  the  midst,  a 
furious  hurricane  burst  over  the  city,  and  extinguished; 
every  lamp  and  torch  in  the  church.  A  darker  oman 
followed :  a  riot  broke  out  among  the  populace,  in  which 
forty  lives  were  lost.  The  day  after,  the  Pope  dined  in 
public  in  the  Lateran ;  the  two  Kings  waited  behind  his 
chair.  Before  his  coronation,  Boniface  took  a  solemn 
oath  of  fidelity  to  St.  Peter  and  to  the  Church,  to  main- 
tain the  great  mysteries  of  the  faith,  ths  decrees  of  the 
eight  Q-eneral  Councils,  the  ritual  and  Order  of  the 
Church,  not  to  alienate  the  possessions  of  the  Church, 
and  to  restore  discipline.  This  oath  was  unusual  [at 
least  in  its  length),  it  was  attested  by  a  notary,  and  laid 
up  in  the  Pontifical  archives.* 

Immediately  after  the  consecration,  a  Manifesto  pro- 
claimed to  Christendom  the  voluntary  abdication  of 
Coelastine,  on  account  of  his  acknowledged  inexpert* 


Italus,  ipse  notaa  refrfcanB,  con  nublln 

guttas. 

A*  flatn  mallfr  TDK  Gullloa  lege  mororam 
nlt,  at  guarble  *  gemlmna  wttoteula 
unctl 


Carotin.  St.  Cfeorgt. 


t  Tugi  and  others  hare  Bhowa  that 
the  proleuupn  of  faith  attached  to  this 
oath  cannot  ha  genuine,  Qu,?  forged 
wlien  Boniface  was  afterwards  accwwd 
of  heresy? 


*  Wlrbel,  germ. ;  warble,  Engl, 


CHAP.  VII. 


DCELESTINE  PERSECUTED. 


ence,  incapacity,  ignorance  of  secular  affairs,  IOVB  of 
deTout  solitude ;  and  the  elevation  of  Boniface,  who  had 
been  compelled  to  accept  the  throne.  But  SBrious  and 
dangerous  doubts  were  still  entertained,  or  might  be 
made  the  specious  pretext  of  rebellion  against  the  au- 
thority of  the  Pope.  Did  the  omnipotence  of  the  Pope 
extend  to  tha  resignation  of  the  office  ?  His  Bull,  em- 
powering himself  to  abdicate,  and  his  abdication,  were 
without  precedent,  and  contrary  to  some  canonical  prin- 
ciples. Already,  if  not  openly  uttered,  might  be  heard 
by  the  quick  and  jealous  ears  of  Bomfacs  some  murmurs 
even  among  his  Cardinals.  No  one  knew  better  the 
versatility  of  Homo  and  of  her  nobles.  Boniface  was 
not  the  man  to  allow  advantage  to  his  adversaries,  and 
adversaries  he  knew  well  that  he  had,  and  would  have 
more,  and  those  more  formidable,  if  they  should  gain 
possession  of  the  person  of  OcelestmB,  and  use  his  name 
for  their  own  anarchical  purposes.11  Coelestine  had  aban- 
doned the  pomp  and  authority,  he  could  not  shake  off 
the  dangers  and  troubles,  tha  jealousies  and 

•u        •  T,-  i,   u  i  i    j.      i,-     f  OmlBBtlnuV 

apprehensions  which  belonged  to  his  former 
state.  The  solitude,  in  which  he  hoped  to  live  and  die 
in  peace,  was  closely  watched ;  he  was  agitated  by  nc 
groundless  fears,  probably  by  intimations,  that  it  might 
be  necessary  to  invite  him  to  Borne,  Once  he  escaped, 
and  hid  himself  among  some  other  hermits  in  a  wood. 
But  he  could  not  elude  the  emissari&s  of  Boniface.  He 
received  a  more  alarming  warning  of  his  danger,  and 


k  Angela*  ID,  the  Coclsstinian  Abbot 
of  Monte  Casino,  was  imprisoned  in 
the  terrible  dungeon  of  the  Lake  of 
Bolsenn,  where  the  clergy  wers  sent 
to  expiate  tha  worst  ciimsa ;  hs  sur- 
vived but  few  days,  eating  the  breai 
ci  tribulation,  drinking  the  water  of 


bitterness.  According  to  Benedetto  ia 
Imala,  his  crime  was  having  favoured 
the  escape  of  Cralestme,  Tosti  sag- 
gusts  as  man  probable,  thut  with  bit 
brother  delertlniana  ha  had  diasunded 
Ctelestina  from  the  gran  rifiuto.— Tosti, 
Monte  CasinBi  Hi,  j.  41, 


10  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  XI, 

fled  to  the  sea-coast,  in  order  to  take  refuge  in  the  un- 
trodden forests  of  Dalmatia.  His  little  vessel  was  cast 
back  by  contrary  winds;  he  was  seized  by  the  Governor 
of  lapygia,  in  the  district  of  the  Capitanata.  He  was 
sent,  according  to  the  order  of  Boniface,  to  Anagni.  All 
along  the  road,  for  above  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles, 
the  people,  deeply  impressed  with  the  sanctity  of  CoelES- 
tine,  crowded  around  him  with  perilous  homage.  Thsy 
plucked  the  hairs  of  the  ass  on  which  he  rode,  and  cut 
off  pieces  of  his  garments  to  keep  as  reliijues.  They 
watched:  him  at  night  till  ha  went  to  rest;  they  were 
ready  by  thousands  in  the  early  morning  to  see  him.  set 
forth  upon  his  journey.  Some  of  the  more  zealous  en- 
treated him  to  resume  the  Pontificate.  The  humility  of 
Coelestine  did  not  forsake  him  for  an  instant;  e vary- 
where  he  protested  that  his  resignation  was  voluntary. 
He  was  brought  into  the  presence  of  Boniface.  Like 
the  meanest  son  of  the  Church,  he  foil  down  at  the  feet 
of  the  Pope ;  his  only  prayer,  a  prayer  urged  with  tears, 
was  that  he  might  be  permitted  to  return  to  hia  desert 
-  hermitage.  Boniface  addressed  him  in  severe 
language.  He  was  committed  to  safe  custody 
in  the  castle  of  Fumone,  watched  day  and  night  by 
soldiers,  like  a  prisoner  of  state.  His  treatment  is  de- 
scribed as  more  or  less  harsh,  according  as  the  writer  ia 
more  or  less  favourable  to  Boniface.1  By  one  account, 
his  cell  was  so  narrow  that  he  had  not  room  to  move; 
where  hia  feet  stood  when  he  celebrated  mass  by  day, 
there  his  head  reposed  at  night.  He  obtained  with  dif- 
ficulty permission  for  two  of  hia  brethren  to  be  with 
him ;  but  so  unwholesome  was  the  placa,  that  they  were 
obliged  to  resign,  their  charitable  offico.  According  to 

1  Ptolero.  Luc.  Stefaneadu.  Vit-  Ccle&t  apud  Bolltinaiataa,  with  other  Lira. 


CHAP.  TIL  DEATH  QF  UUiLESTINE.  11 

another  statement,  the  narrowness  of  his  cell  was  his 
own  choice :  he  was  permitted  to  indulge  in  this  merito- 
rious misery ;  his  brethren  were  allowed  free  access  to 
him  j  he  suffered  no  insult,  but  was  treated  with  the 
utmost  humanity  and  respect.  Death  released  him 
before  long  from  his  spontaneous  or  enforced  wretched- 
ness. He  was  seized  with,  a  fever,  generated  perhaps 
by  the  unhealthy  confinement,  accustomed  as 
ha  had  been  to  tho  free  mountain  air.  He  died 
May  19,  129  S,  was  buried  with  ostentatious  publicity, 
that  the  world  might  know  that  Boniface  now  reigned 
without  rival,  in  the  church  of  Ferentino.  Tha  Cardinal 
Thomas,  his  own  Cardinal,  and  Theodoric,  the  Pope's 
Chamberlain,  conducted  the  ceremonial,  to  which  all 
the  prelates  and  clergy  in  the  neighbourhood  were  sum- 
moned,k  Countless  miracles  were  told  of  MB  death :  a 
golden  cross  appeared  to  the  soldiers,  shining  above  the 
door  of  his  cell :  his  soul  was  seen  by  a  faithful  disciple 
visibly  ascending  to  heaven.  His  body  became  the  causa 
of  a  fierce  quarrel,  and  of  a  pious  crime.  It  was  stolon 
from  the  grava  at  Perantino,  and  carried  to  Aquila, 
An  insurrection  of  the  people  of  l^erentino  was  hardly 
quelled  by  the  Bishop;  on  tha  assurance,  after  the 
visitation  of  the  tomb,  that  the  heart  of  the  Saint  had 
been  fortunately  left  behind,  they  consented  to  abandon 
their  design  of  vengeance.  Immediately  on  the  death 
of  Boniface  tha  canonisation  of  Coelestine  was  urgently 
demanded,  especially  by  the  enemies  of  that  omonisatiou. 
JPope.  It  was  granted  by  Clement  V.  The  1&  1313- 
monks  of  the  C Palestinian  brotherhood  (self-incorp orated, 
self-organisod)  grew  and  flourished;  they  built  convents 
in  many  parts  of  Italy,  even  in  France.  Bat  the 


"  Supplementum  Vit.  S.  Celeslin.  npud  Bo  lundistw. 


12  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  .  BOOK  XL 

memory  of  the  Pope,  who  had  disdained  and  thrown 
aside  the  Papal  diadem,  dwelt  with  no  less  venera- 
tion among  the  Fraticelli,  the  only  trua  followers,  as 
they  averred,  and  in  ona  respect  justly  averred,  of  St 
Francis.  The  Cnelestinians  were  not,  strictly  speaking, 
Franciscans;  they  were  a  separate  Order;  owed  their 
foundation,  as  they  said,  to  the  sainted  Popa ;  but  held 
the  same  opinions,  sprang  from  ths  same  class,  seem  at 
length  to  have  merged  into  and  mingled  with  the  lower 
and  more  fanatic  of  the  Minorites.  Of  them,  and  of 
the  placs  assigned  to  Ooelestine  in  the  visions  of  the 
Abbot  Joachim,  the  Book  of  the  Everlasting  Gospel, 
and  in  all  tha  prophecies  spread  abroad  by  these  wild 
sects  more  hereafter. 

Boniface  surveyed  Christendom  with  the  haughty 
glance  of  a  master,  but  not  altogether  with  the  cool  and 
penetrating  wisdom  of  a  statesman.  Noble  visions  of 
universal  pacification,  of  now  crusades,  of  that  glorious 
but  impracticable  scheme  of  uniting  Europe  in  one  vast 
confederacy  against  Saracenic  sway,  swept  before  hia 
thoughts.  To  a  mind  like  his,  which  held  it  to  be  sacri- 
lege or  impiety  to  recede  from  any  claim  once  made  by 
the  See  of  Rome,  and  acknowledged  by  the  ignorance, 
interests,  or  weakness  of  the  temporal  sovereign,  the 
Papacy  was  a  perilous  height  on  which  the  steadies^ 
hsad  might  become  dizzy  and  lose  its  self-command, 
From  Naples  to  Scotland  tho  Papal  supremacy  was  in 
possession  of  full,  established,  and  acknowledged  power, 
which  took  cognisance  of  the  moral  acts  of  sovereigns, 
their  private  life,  their  justice,  humanity,  respect  for  the 
rights  of  their  subjects.  It  was  thus  absolutely  illimit- 
able. Besides  this,  the  Popes  held  an  actual  feudal 
suzerainty  over  soma  of  ths  smaller  kingdoms,  admitted 
by  their  Mugs  in  times  of  weakness,  or  in  order  to 


JHAP.  VII.        EARLY  CAREER  OF  BONIFACE  VIII  13 

legalise  the  usurpation,  of  the  throne  by  some  new 
dynasty.  For  this  power  they  could  cite  precedent, 
more  or  less  venerable,  recognised,  uncontested ;  and 
precedent  was  universally  held  the  great  foundation  of 
such  tenure.  It  was  an  axiom  of  the  Papal  policy  that 
rights,  superiorities,  sovereignties,  once  claimed  by  the 
Pope,  belonged  to  ths  Pope:  he  claimed  Corsica  and 
Sardinia,  partly  as  islands,  partly  as  said  to  have  formed 
a  portion  of  the  domains  of  the  Countess  Matilda,  and 
then  granted  Corsica  and  Sardinia  as  Ms  own  inalien- 
able, incontestable  property.  Not  only  Naples  and 
Sicily,  Arragon,  Portugal,  Hungary,  Bohemia,  Scotland, 
England — it  was  averred,  though  the  indignant  nation 
still  repudiated,  or  but  reluctantly  acknowledged,  the 
submission  of  John,  and,  still  while  it  paid  irregularly, 
murmured  against  the  tribute — had  been  ceded  as  fiefs, 
or  were  claimed  as  owing  that  kind  of  allegiance.  Over 
the  Empire  the  Pope  still  asserted  the  privilege  of  the 
Pope's  at  least  ratifying  tba  election,  of  deposing  the 
Emperor  who  might  invade  or  violate  tho  rights  of  the 
Boman  See,  rights  indefinite  and  interpreted  by  his  sole 
authority,  against  which  lay  no  appeal.  Even  iu  .France 
the  ruling  dynasty  was  liable  to  bs  reminded  that  tho 
throne  had  been  conferred  by  Pope  Zacharias  on  Pepin 
the  father  of  Charlemagne ;  so  too  on  the  Papal  sanc- 
tion rested  its  later  transfer  one  a  to  the  House  of  Capet. 
Throughout  Christendom  tho  Pope  had  a  kingdom  of 
his  own  within  every  kingdom.  The  clergy,  possessing 
a  vast  portion,  iu  some  countries  more  than,  half  the 
land  and  wealth,  and  of  unbounded  influence,  owei  to 
him  their  first  allegiance.  They  were  assessable  and  to 
be  taxed  only  for  him  or  by  his  authority ;  and,  though 
occasionally  refractory,  occasionally  more  true  to  theii 
national  descent  and  their  national  pride  than  to  their 


14 


LATIN  CHEISTIAKITT. 


BOOK  XI. 


sacerdotal  interests,  and  sometimes  standing  strongly 
on  their  ssparate  hierarchical  independence;  yet,  as  they 
held  their  independence  of  the  civil  power,  their  immu- 
nities from  taxation,  their  distinct  sacred  character, 
chiefly  from  the  Pope,  and  looked  to  his  spiritual  arms 
for  their  security  and  protection,  they  were  everywhere 
his  subjects  in  the  first  instance.  And  besides  the 
clergy,  and  compelling  the  clergy  themselves  to  more 
unlimited  Papal  obedience,  the  monastic  orders,  more 
especially  the  Friars,  were  his  great  standing  army,  liig 
garrison  thi  oughout  the  Christian  world. 

Boniface  had  visited  many  countries  in  Europe.  It  is 
Boniface aa  asserted  that  in  his  youth  he  studied  law  in 
MdM*^  Paris>  a:n|l  eyen  ^at  IIB  na(^  teen  canon  in 
i"111-  that  church.10  He  had  accompanied  the  Car- 
dinal Ottobuoni  to  England,  when  sent  by  Alexander  IV, 
to  offer  the  crown  of  Sicily  to  the  Prince  Edmund.  He 
had  been  joined  in  a  mission  with  Matteo,  Cardinal 
of  Acqua  Sparta,  to  adjust  the  conflicting  claims  of 
Charles  of  Anjou  and  Sicily,  and  of  Eodolph,  King  of 
the  Romans,  to  the  inheritance  of  Provonce.  The  treaty, 
which  he  draw,  placed  the  Pope  in  the  high  office  of 
arbiter  in  temporal  as  in  spiritual  matters,  In  any  dis- 
pute as  to  the  fulfilment  or  interpretation  of  tho  treaty, 
the  two  Kings  submitted  themselves  absolutely  to  the 
judgement  of  the  Pope."  For  his  success  in  this  lega- 
tion, QtiBtani  had  been  rewarded  with  the  Canlinalate. 
Graetani  had  been  employed  to  dissuade  Charles  of 
Anjou  from  hia  duel  at  Bordeaux  with  the  King  of 
Arragon.  He  had  sat  in  Borne  in  a  commission  upon 
the  ecclesiastical  affairs  of  Portugal  The  student  of 


m  ~Du  Boulay,  Hist.  Dnivars.  Pane. 
ToEli,  Storia  di  Bmiifnzio  VIII.  to  ji, 
31,  He  Waa  canon  also  of  Anagtii,  nf 


Todi,  of  Lyons,  tif  St.  Peter  to  Rom* 
He  waa  tileo  Apostolic  Notaiy. 
•  Jlavnnld.  >ub  uu.  1280, 


CHAP.  VII.    BONIFACE    AND    CHARLES  OF  NAPLES.  15 

law  in  the  University  of  Paris  returned  to  that  city 
as  Papal  Legate  (with  the  Cardinal  of  Parma)  from 
Nicolas  IV.  They  had  the  difficult  comrais.sion  to  de- 
mand the  refunding  the  tenths  raised  by  Philip  the 
Bold  for  a  Crusade  to  tliB  Holy  Laud,  from  his  son 
Philip  the  Fair.  Us  had  thus  experience  of  the  stern 
rapacity  of  Philip  the  Fair,  his  defiance  of  all  authority, 
even  that  of  the  Pope,  in  affairs  of  money.  IIo  hnd  to 
allay  the  other  most  intense  and  dominant  passion  of 
the  same  Philip  the  Fair,  hatred  and  jealousy  of  Ed- 
ward I.,  King  of  England.  On  the  first  question,  he 
presided  in  a  synod  held  in  the  church  of  St.  G-ensvieve, 
a  synod  which  ended  in  nothing.  On  the  second  point 
Philip  waa  equally  impracticable;  he  coldly  repelled 
the  advice  which  would  reconcile  him  with  his  detested 
rival.  The  same  Legates  at  Tarascon  had  ^\>.i9, 
been  instructed  to  arrange  the  treaty  between  lafllp 
France,  Charlea  of  Naples,  and  Alfonso  of  Arragim. 
The  peace  had  been  settled,  but  broken  off  by  the 
death  of  King  Alfonso. 

But  in  all  his  travels  and  his  intercourse  with  these 
sovereigns,  Boniface  had  not  discerned,  or  his  haughty 
hierarchical  spirit  had  refused  to  see,  the  revolution 
which  had  been  slowly  working  throughout  Christen- 
dom: in  France  the  growth  of  the  royal  power;  in 
England  the  aspirations  after  religious  ad  well  as  civil 
freedom ;  the  advance  of  the  Universities ;  ths  rise  of 
the  civil  lawyers,  who  were  to  meet  the  clergy  on  their 
own  ground,  and  wrest  from  them  the  supremacy,  or  at 
least  to  confront  them  on  equal  terms  in  the  field  of 
jurisprudence — a  lettered  order,  bound  together  by  as 
strong  a  corporate  spirit,  and  often  hostile  to  the  ecclc-* 
eiastical  canonists,  Boniface  had  not  discovered  that 
the  Papal  power  had  reached,  had  passed  its  zenith; 


IB  LATIN  DHRISTlANriT  BooEXt 

that  his  attempt  to  raise  it  even  higher,  to  exhibit  it 
in  a  moi'B  naked  and  undisguised  form  than  had  been 
dared  by  Gregory  YH.  or  Innocent  III.,  would  shake  it 
to  its  base. 

Boniface  was  bound  by  gratitude  to   Charles,  King 
Boniface  ana   of  Naples,  claimant  of  Sicily,  perhaps  by  a 
Napus.        plighted  or  understood    covenant  during  his 
election.    .R™  first  act  was  one  of  haughty  leniency: 
he  granted  a  remission  of  any  forfeiture  of  the  fief  of 
Naples  which  might  hava  been  incurred  by  his  father, 
Charles  of  Anjou,  or  by  Charles  himself,  for  not  having 
fulfilled  the  conditions  of  his  vassalage.    If  Either  should 
hava  become  liable,  not  merely  to  forfeiture,  but  to 
excommunication,  as  having  violated  any  one  of  the 
covenants  imposed  by  his  liege  lord  the  Church,  had 
neglected  or  refused  to  pay  the  stipulated  tribute,  and 
thereby  incurred  deprivation,  the  Pope  condescended  to 
grant  absolution  on  the  condition  of  full  satisfaction 
to  the  Dhurch.0     On  tho  sudden  death  of  Charles  of 
Hungary,  during  tha  absence  of  King  Charles  of  Naples, 
the  Pope  acted  at  once  as  Liege  Lord  of  Hungary,  ap- 
pointed his  Legate  Landulph,  and  afterwards,  yielding 
to  the  petitions  of  the  people,  the  Queen  Maria  as 
Regent  of  the  realm. 

The  interests  of  the  Papal  See,  no  less  than  hia  alli- 
ance with  Charles  of  Naples,  bound  Pope  Boniface  to 
reconcile,  if  possible,  the  conflicting  pretensions  of  the 
Houses  of  Anjou  and  Arragon.  The  Araigonese,  not- 
withstanding the  reiterated  grants  of  the  kingdom  of 
Sicily  to  tha  Angevine,  notwithstanding  the  most  solemn 
excommunications,  and  the  most  strenuous  warfare  ot 
the  combined  Papal  and  Angevine  armies,  had  atiU 


Dull  apud  Raynalinm. 


CHAP.  VII.        AFFAIRS  OF  SICILY  AND  NAPLES.  17 

obstinately  maintained  their  title  by  descent,  election  of 
the  people,  actual  possession,  The  throne  of  Sicily  had 
successively  passed  down  the  whole  line  of  brothers, 
from  Peter  to  Alfonso,  from  Alfonso  to  James,  from 
James  it  had  devolved,  in  fact,  if  not  by  any  regular 
grant  or  title,  through  assent  or  connivance,  on  the 
more  active  and  ambitious  Frederick. 

During  the  reign  of  the  more  paaEBful  James  a  treaty 
had  been  agreed  to.  Two  marriages,  to  which  Pope 
Ccelestine  removed  the  canonical  impediments,  ratified 
the  peace.  James  of  Arragon  was  espoused  to  Blanche, 
the  daughter  of  Charles;  Robert,  son  of  Charles,  to 
lolante,  the  sister  of  James.*  Throughout  this  whole 
transaction  ths  Pope  (now  Boniface)  assumed,  and  it 
should  seem  without  protest,  tha  power  to  grant  the 
kingdoms  of  Arragon  and  Valencia.  In  the  surrender 
of  those  kingdoms  by  Charles  of  Yalois,  he  insisted  ou 
the  full  recognition  that  he  had  held  them  by  grant  of 
the  Pope.  They  were  regranted  to  James  of  Arragon, 
who  on  this  tenure  did  not  scruple  to  accept,  as  the  suc- 
cessor of  his  brother  Alfonso,  the  hereditary  jmaa*, 
dominions  of  his  house.  All  who  presumed  to  ""• 
impede  or  to  disturb  this  peace  were  solemnly  excom- 
municated at  Anagni  on  St.  John  the  Baptist's  day. 

But  the  younger  branches  of  the  house  of  Arragon 
had  not  been  so  easily  overawed  by  the  terrors  of  the 
Church  to  abandon  the  rich  inheritance  of  Sicily,  nor 
was  Sicily,  yet  reeking  with  the  blood  shed  at  the 
Vespers,  prepared  to  submit  to  the  vengsance  of  the 
house  of  Anjou.  The  deep,  inextinguishable  hatred  of 
the  French  was  in  the  hearts  of  all  orders ;  it  was  nursed 
by  the  remembrance  of  their  merciless  oppressions;  by 

9  Bnefa  in  KnynaUus,  1ZH4. 
VII,  ° 


IB  LATIN  DHRISTIAJSTTY. 

the  satisfaction  of  revenge  once  glutted,  and  the  fear 
that  the  revolt,  tho  Vesper  massacre,  and  tha  years  of 
war,  would,  be  even  more  terribly  atoned  fcr,  Boniface 
knew  the  bold  and  ambitions  character  cf  Frederick, 
the  yonnger  son  of  the  house  of  Arragon.  He  had  a 
splendid  lure  for  him — no  leas  than  the  Empire  of  Con- 
Btantinople.  Tha  Pope  invited  him  to  a  conference. 
Frederick  appeared  on  the  coast  of  Italy  with  a  power- 
fill  and  well-appointed  fleet,  accompanied  by  John  of 
Pro  cida  and  the  great  Admiral  Eager  Loria,  near  Yell  Btri. 
The  Pope  offered  him  the  hand  of  Catherine  Courtenay, 
the  daughter  of  Philip,  titular  Latin  Emperor  of  the 
East:  all  the  powers  of  the  West  were  to  confederate 
and  place  her,  with  her  young  and  valiant  husband,  on 
the  Byzantine  throne.  To  hsr  likewise  ha  had  written, 
under  the  magnificent  title  of  Empress  of  Donstantinople, 
in  a  tone  of  parental  persuasion  and  spiritual  authority, 
urging  her  to  give  her  hand  to  the  brave  Prince  of 
Arragon.*  By  so  doing  she  would  show  herself  u  worthy 
descendant  of  her  grandfather  Baldwin  and  her  father 
Philip,  a  dutiful  daughter  of  the  Church ;  she  would  not 
merely  gain  the  glorious  crown  of  her  ancestors,  but 
restore  the  erring  and  schismatical  Greeks  to  their  obe- 
dience to  tho  Holy  See.T 

A  treaty  waa  formed  on  the  following  terms,  Charles 
of  Yalois  fully  surrendered  his  empty  title  to  Arragou, 
and  acquired  a  title  [as  empty  it  proved)  to  the  throne 
of  Corsica  and  Sardinia,  with  large  subsidies  in  money. 
James  of  Arragon  had  the  full  recognition  uf  his  right 
to  the  throne  of  Arragon,  which  he  already  possessed. 


1  Micol,  Special,  ii.  21,     Compare  Amari,  p.  363,  uh.  xic. 
r  Brief  of  the  Pope  to  Catherine  of  Courtenay,  Uaynuld,  sub  nun,  1200 
(27th  June). 


CHAP.  VII.  KINGDOM  DF  SICILY.  1& 

peace,  a^d  the  shame  of  haying  abandoned  his  brother 
and  the  claim  of  the  house  of  Arragon  to  the  throne  of 
Sicily.  The  Pope  secured,  as  he  fondly  hoped  through- 
out, the  lasting  gratitude  of  Dharles  of  Valois,  the  glory 
of  having  commanded  peace,  and  the  vain  hope  that  he 
had  deluded  Frederick  to  surrender  the  actual  posses- 
sipn  of  the  throne  of  Sicily  for  a  visionary  empire  in 
tha  East,  which  the  Pope  assumed  the  power,  not  of 
granting,  but  of  having  bestowed  with  the  hand  of  the 
heiress  to  that  barren  title,  Catherine  of  Courtenay. 
"A  princess  without  a  foot  of  land  must  not  wed  a 
prince  without  a  foot  of  land;  she  was  to  bring  her  im- 
perial dowry."8 

But  the  youthful  Prince  Frederick  of  Arragon  was 
not  so  easily  tempted  by  tha  astute  Pontiff.  He  re- 
quired time  for  consideration,  and  returned  with  his 
fleet  to  Sicily,  Nor  was  James  of  Arragon  so  absolutely 
in  earnest,  nor  so  determined  on  the  surrender  of  his 
hereditary  claims  on  Sicily.  In  public  he  dared  not 
own  the  treaty.  Envoys  were  sent  from  Palermo  to 
demand  whether  he  had  actually  ceded  the  island  to  the 
Pope  and  the  King  of  Naples.  King  James  was  forced 
to  acknowledge  that  he  had  done  so.  On  the  publica- 
tion of  his  answer,  there  was  a  cry  in  the  streets  of 
Palermo, /'What  sorrow  is  like  unto  our  sorrow?'* 
But  in  secret,  it  was  said,  King  James  had  more  than 
suggested  resistance.  He  was  asked,  "  How,  then,  shall 
Prince  Frederick  act?"  "He  is  a  soldier,  and  knows 
his  duty;  ye,  too,  know  your  duty."  John  of  Cala- 
mandra  was  sent  by  the  Pope  to  Messina  to  offer  a  blank 
parchment  to  the  Sicilians,  on  which  they  were  to  in- 
scribe whatever  exemptions,  immunities,  or  sec'iritiee, 


Brief  of  Ptipa  Boniface,  IlayiwlJ,  i20«J,  c.  9. 

C  2 


20  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  XI. 

might  tempt  the  nation  to  acknowledge  the  treaty.  A 
noble,  Peter  da  Ansab,  drew  his  sword,  "  It  is  by  the 
sword,  not  by  parchments,  that  Sicily  will  win  peace." 
The  Papal  Envoy  left  the  island  with  all  the  haste  of 
terror.1 

Frederick  was  crowned  in  the  Cathedral  of  Palermo 
Marohai,  Dn  Easter  Day,  with  the  acclamation  of  all 
1Z86t  Sicily,  determined  to  resist  to  the  utmost  the 
abhorred  dominion  of  the  French.  He  sailed  instantly 
with  a  powerful  neat,  subjected  Keggio  and  the  country 
around,  and  threatened  the  whole  kingdom  of  Naples. 
On  Ascension  Day  the  Pope  condemned  Frederick  and 
th 3  Sicilians  by  a  bull,  couched,  if  possible,  in  more 
than  ordinarily  terrific  phrases.  He  heaped  up  charges 
of  perfidy,  usurpation,  impiety,  contempt  of  God  and.  of 
his  Church;  he  annulled  absolutely  and  entirely  the 
election  of  Frederick  as  King  of  Sicily ;  ha  threatened 
with  excommunication,  with  the  extremest  spiritual  and 
temporal  penalties,  all  who  should  not  instantly  abandon 
his  cause ;  he  forbade  all  who  owned  spiritual  allegiance 
to  Rome  to  enter  into  treaty  with  him;  and  he  revoked 
all  indulftBnciss,  privileges,  or  immunities,  granted  at 
any  time  to  the  kingdom  of  Sicily,  more  especially  all 
granted  to  those  concerned  in  the  consecration  or  rather 
execration  of  the  usurping  King.  The  Sicilians,  strong 
in  their  patriotism  and  their  hatred  of  the  French  domi- 
nion, despised  these  idle  fulminations.  Charles  must 
pr spare  for  war,  or  rather  tho  Pope  in  the  name  of 
Charles.  But  th$  resources  of  Naples  were  altogether 
exhausted ;  King  Charles  had  paid  a  large  sum  to  James 
of  Arragon  for  the  renunciation  of  his  rights,  and  bor- 
rowed more  of  the  Pope.  Boniface  was  at  once  rapa  • 


Mqiitaner,  NIC.  Special*  ii.  22, 


CHAP.  Yil. 


THE  WAE  OP  SICILY. 


21 


clous  and  liberal.  He  put  off  the  day  for  the  discharge 
of  the  first  debt,  ani  furnished  five  thousand  ounces  of 
gold.  Charles  was  empowered  to  tax  the  Church  pro- 
perty in.  his  realm  for  this  pious  war,  waged  to  maintain 
the  rights  of  the  Church. 

The  war  of  Sicily  continual!  almost  to  the  close  of  tha 
Pontificate  of  Boniface  VIII.    King  James  of  Arragon 
was  summoned  by  the  inflexible  Pope  to  assist  in  wrest- 
ing the  kingdom  from  his  brother;  he  received  tha  titib 
of  standard-b Barer  of  the  Church.     James  obeyed  with 
enforced  but  ostentatious  obsequiousness.     Yet  he  was 
suspected,  perhaps  not  without  reason,  of  a  traitorous 
reluctanca  to  conquer.11    Tha  war  dragged  on,  aggres- 
sive on  the  side  of  Frederick  against  Naples,  rather 
than  endangering  Sicily.     Roger  de  Loria,        ia^ 
affronted  by  an  untimely  suspicion  of  perfidy, 
yielded  to  the  temptation  of  the  principality,  over  two 
barren  islands  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  conquered  from 
the  Moors.     The  revolted  Sicilian  Admiral    Jnjy4( 
inflicted  a  terrible  discomfiture  on  the  fleet  of    Jm 
his  former  sovereign,  Frederick.    But  in  the  flam  a  year 
Frederick  revenged  himself  by  the  total  defeat  of  the 
army  of  Charles  of  Naples  on  the  plains  of  Formiearia, 
and  the  capture  of  his  son,  Philip  of  Tarento,    In  the 
next  year  another  naval  victory  raised  still 

1    «     !  j,  »  p-n  T  •  1  1        AJ».1M2. 

higher  the  fame  of  Boger  Loria,  who  seemed 
to  cany  with  him,  whichever  cause  he  espoused,  the 
dominion  of  the  sea,    But  the  invasion  of  Sicily  was 
baffled  by  the  prudence  and  Fabian  policy  of  King  Fre- 


u  "  Quod  si  sacex  Pi-incepa  Ecdesia 
ipsuxu  ad  hseo  per  cdicta  veranda  proi- 
BUS  (mpdlat,  SB  licet  invitum,  Dei 
magifl  quam  homintun  offensam  me- 
,  neoesaa  quidem  eflfia  farora- 


biliter  obaequi.  Cupiobat  aum  fratria 
rtunam,  aed  ut  pomla  ubjectio  legitl- 
ma  causa  veatiratur,  oompGUl  voluit.'1' 
— Ferret.  Viuontin.  apud  Muratoi,  3, 
E,  T.  xi.  p.  958. 


LATIN  OHEISTJLAtflTT. 


deriuk.  The  Pops,  at  length  weary  of  the  expenditure, 
suspecting  the  lukewarm  aid  of  James  of  Arragoii,  and 
not  yet  in  open  breach  with  Philip  King  of  France, 
summoned  Philip's  brother,  Charlea  of  Valois,  whose 
successes  in  Flanders  had  obtained  for  him  the  fame  of 
a  great  general,  to  aid  the  final  conquest  of  Sicily. 
Perhaps  lie  meditated  the  transference  of  the  crown  of 
Naples  and  Sicily  from  the  feeble  descendants  of  the 
AffoiMDf  house  of  Anjou  to  the  more  powerful  Charles 
sidiy.  Of  yai0jSt  T^  summons  to  Charles  of  Valois 
was,  aa  tha  invitation,  to  French  princes  hy  the  Pope  to 
take  part  in  Italian  affairs  has  ever  been,  fatal  to  tha 
liberties  and  welfare  of  Italy,  ruinous  to  the  Popes 
themselves.  He  did  but  crush  the  liberties  of  Florence, 
and  left  the  excommunicated  Frederick  on  the  throne 
of  Sicily.*  "He  came,"  says  the  historian,  "to  bring 
peace  to  Florence,  and  "brought  war;  to  wage  war 
against  Sicily,  and  concluded  an  ignominious  peace." 
His  invasion  of  Sicily  with  an  overwhelming  force  only 
made  more  obstinate  the  resistance  of  the  Sicilians : 
they  met  him  not  in  tha  field;  they  allowed  him  to 
wear  away  his  army  in  vain  successes.7  Boniface  heard 
before  his  death  that  a  treaty  of  peace  had  been  sealed, 
leaving  Frederick  in  peaceable  possession  of  the  whola 
island  for  his  lifetime,  under  the  title  of  King  of  Trina- 
cria,  The  only  price  which  he  paid  was  the  acceptance 
as  has  wife  of  a  daughter  of  the  house  of  Anjou.  Fre- 
derick of  Arragon,  notwithstanding  the  terms  of  the 
treaty,  by  which  on  his  death  the  crown  of  Sicily  was 


S,  cli'  «  BtoeuM  fa  «ooppl»r  In 

PwJ*-"          pwttttf,j«.  10. 
y  Tha  "War  may   lie   read   folly 
and  well  told  in  tile  last  diojrfer  of 
Amaii. 


CHAP.  VII. 


BONIFACE  A  GUELJ1. 


23 


aueU- 


to  revert  to  the  King  of  Naples,  handed  it  quietly  down 
to  his  own  posterity.  But  we  must  return  hereafter  to 
Charles  of  Valois. 

Boniface  aspired  to  be  tha  pacificator  of  Italy,  but  it 
was  not  by  a  lofty  superiority  to  the  passions 
of  ths  times,  by  tempering  tha  ferocity  of  the 
conflicting  factions,  and  with  a  stern  but  impartial 
justice  repressing  Guelf  and  GhibBlline;  it  was  mthsr 
by  avowedly  proclaiming  himself  the  head  of  the  Guelfic 
interest,  seizing  the  opportunity  of  the  feebleness  of  the 
Empire  to  crush  all  the  Imperialist  faction,  ani  to 
annul  all  tha  Imperial  rights  in  Italy.  Anagni  had 
been  a  GhibBlline  city;  the  Gaetani  a  GlnbellinB 
family.  But  in  Boniface  the  Churchman  had  long 
struggled  triumphantly  against  the  Grhibelline;  the 
Papacy  wrought  him  at  once  into  a  determined  &uelf. 
Even  before  his  pontificate  he  had  connected  himself 
with  the  Orsini,  the  enemies  of  his  enemies,  ths  Co- 
lonnaa.  The  Ghibellines  spread  stories  about  Pope- 
Boniface;  true  or  false,  naked  or  exaggerated  truth, 
they  found  ready  credence.  The  Ghibellines  were 
masters,  through  the  Orsis  and  Spinolas,  of  Genoa  \  tha 
Archbishop  Stephen  Porchetto  was  of  that  family.  ID 
the  solemn  service  of  the  Church,  when  the  Pope  strews 
ashes  on  the  heads  of  all,  to  admonish  them  of  the 
nothingness  of  man,  instead  of  the  usual  words,  Boniface 
broke  out,  *  Grlub&lline,  remember  that  thou  art  dust, 
and  with  all  other  Grhibellines  to  dust  thou  shalt 
return."  * 

The  Ooloinas   centered   in  themselves  everything 


•  Thii,  according  to  Minuter!,  if 
«vw  said,  must  have  lieen  said  to 
Archbiahop  Poi-chetto,  wlia  succeeded 


Jacob  a  "Voragina  (author  of  its 
legpndn  Aurea). — Muratori,  S.  B,  I,  ix. 
Note  on  Jacob  a  Voragine,  p.  ID* 


24  LATIN  DHEISTIANITY.  JioosXI. 

which,  could  keep  alive  the  well-grounded  fear,  the 
jealousy,  the  vindictiveness  of  the  Pope,  as  well  as  to 
justify  his  desire  of  order,  of  law,  and  of  peace.  They 
bad  Grhibelliniam,  power,  wealth,  lawlessness,  ill-con- 
cealed doubts  of  his  title  to  the  Papacy,  no  doubt 
ambition  to  transfer  tha  Papacy  to  themselves.  Under 
Nicolas  IV.  they  had  ruled  supreme  over  the  Pope; 
under  Graetani,  would  they  endure  to  be  nothing  ?  All 
the  Papacy  could  give  or  add  to  their  vast  possessions, 
titles,  ranks,  were  theirs,  or  had  been  theirs  but  a  few 
years  ago,  They  had  long  been  the  great  G-hibellius 
huus 3,  In  Borne,  still  more  iu  the  Bomagna,  they  had 
fortresses  heli  to  be  impregnable — Palestrina,  Nepi, 
Zagaraola,  Colonna;  and  these  gave  them,  if  not  the 
absolute  command  of  the  region,  the  power  of  plunder- 
ing and  tyrannising  with  impunity,  Nor  was  that  power 
under  any  constraint  of  respect  for  sacred  things,  of 
humanity,  or  of  justice.  They  might  become  what  the 
Counts  and  Nobles  of  former  centuries  had  been,  mas- 
ters of  the  Papal  territories,  of  the  Papacy  itself. 

The  Colonnas  were  strong,  as  has  been  seen,  even  in 
the  conclave,  in  which  sat  two  Cardinals  of  that  house. 
The  death  of  Coelestine  had  not  removed  all  doubt  as  to 
the  validity  of  the  election  of  Boniface,  No  one  knew 
better  than  Boniface  how  the  Golonnas  had  been  de- 
ceived into  giving  their  favourable  suffrages,  how 
deeply,  if  silently,  they  already  repented  of  their  weak* 
ness  j  how  ready  they  would  be  to  fall  back  011  the  ille- 
gality of  the  whole  affair.  There  can  be  little  question 
that  they  were  watching  the  opportunity  of  revolt  as 
eagerly  as  Boniface  that  of  crushing  the  detested  house 
Df  Dolonna.  It  concerned  his  own  security  not  less  than 
that  of  the  Papacy;  the  uneonteated  aovsreignty  of  the 
Pope  over  his  own  dominions ;  the  permanent  rescue  uf 


CHAP.  VII.    PAPAL  BULL  AGAIXST  THE  DDLDNNAS. 


25 


the  throne  of  St.  Peter  from  the  tyranny  of  a  fierce  and 
unscrupulous  host  of  bandit  chieftains,  and  from  Grhibel- 
linea  at  tha  gates  of  Borne,  and  even  in  Eome.a 

The  Dolonnaa  were  so  ill-advised,  or  so  unable  to 
restrain  each  other,  as  to  give  a  plausible  reason,  and 
more  than  one  reason,  for  the  Pope  to  break  out  in  just 
it  seemed,  if  implacable,  resentment.  The  Dolunna, 
who  held  the  city  of  Palestrina,  surprised  and  carried 
off  on  the  road  to  Anagni  a  rich  caravan  of  furniture 
belonging  to  the  Pope.  The  crime  of  one  was  the 
crime  of  all.  But  heavier  charges  were  not  wanting 
which  involved  the  whole  house.  They  were  accused 
of  conspiracy,  as  doubtlBSs  they  had  conspired  in  their 
wishes  if  not  in  overt  acts,  with  Frederick  of  Arragon 
and  the  Sicilians.  It  was  said  that  they  had  openly 
received  in  Palestrina  Francis  Grescentio  and  Nicolas 
Pazzi,  citizsns  of  Borne,  envoys  from  Frederick  of 
Arragon.11  There  is  a  dark  indication  that  already 
France  was  tampering  in  the  opposition  to  Boniface.0 

A  Bull  camo  forth  denouncing  the  whole  family, 
their  ancestors,  as  well  as  the  present  race,  rapoismi 

.......       ...  i  ,.          i     j.  agftlnattbe 

with  indiscriminate  condemnation,  but  con-  cuioniuu, 
centering  all   the   penalty    on   the    two    Cardinals.4 
"Having  taken  into  consideration  the  wicked  acts  of 
the  Oolonnas  in.  former  tunes,  their  present  manifest 
relapse  into  their  hereditary  guiltiness,  and  our  just 


•  Compare  Haynaldua,  sub  ann. 
1297,  p.  233, 

t  Muratori  doubts  this  (p.  256) ;  it 
IB  not  brought  forward  as  a  specific 
charge  by  the  Pope,  but  fur  this  the 
Pope  might  have  his  leosous.  It  la 
assarted  by  Villam,  vui.  21 ;  Ptolem, 
Luwn,  in  Annal.  Chuonicon  Foroli- 
rifflifl.  S.  H.  T,  Uli.  Tosti  has  lather 


oatantatlously  brought  forward  A  new 
cause  of  hostility.  Cardinal  James 
Colonua  Was  trustee  for  hia  thi'ee 
brothers,  and  robbed  them  of  their 
property.  They  appealed  to  the  Pope. 
Fiom  Patrini,  MemDiio  Pane&tnuE, 
Koma,  1795. 

'  See  note  next  page, 

*  The  Bull  in  Raynalivs,  A.ti.  1291 


2Q  LATIN  CHBISTIAtfinr.  BOOK XI 

feais  of  their  former  misdeeds,  it  is  clear  as  daylight 
that  this  odious  house  of  Colonna,  cruel  to  its  subjects, 
troublesome  to  its  neighbours,  the  enemy  of  the  Roman 
Eepublic,  rebellions  against  the  Holy  Roman  Church, 
the  disturber  of  the  public  peace  in  the  city  and  in  the 
territory  of  Rome,  impatient  of  equals,  ungrateful  for 
benefits,  stranger  to  humility,  and  possessed  by  mad- 
ness, having  neither  fear  nor  respect  for  man,  and  an 
insatiable  lust  to  throw  the  city  and  the  whole  world 
into  confusion,  has  endeavoured  (here  follow  the  specific 
charges)  to  instigate  our  dear  sons  Jainea  of  Arragon 
and  the  noble  youth  Frederick  to  rebellion."  The  Pope 
then  avows  that  he  had  summoned  the  Golonnas  to  sur- 
render their  castles  of  Palbstrina,  Oolonna,  and  Zaga- 
ruola,  into  his  hands.  TI:?1'1*  refusal  to  obey  this  imps- 
liouB  demand  was  at  once  the  proof  ana  iria  aggravation 
of  their  disloyalty,  "Believing,  than,"  he  procseds, 
"the  rank  of  Cardinal  held  by  thesa  stubborn  and 
intractable  men  to  be  a  scandal  to  the  faithful,  WG  have 
determined,  after  trying  those  milder  measures  (the 
demand  of  ths  unconditional  surrender  of  their  castles), 
in  the  stiength  of  the  power  of  the  Meat  High,  to 
subdue  the  pride  of  the  aforesaid  James  and  Peter, 
to  crush  their  arrogance,  to  cast  them  forth  as  diseased 
sheep  from  the  fold,  to  depose  them  for  ever  from  their 
high  station."  He  goes  on  to  deprive  them  uf  all  their 
ecclesiastical  rank  and  revenues,  to  cloclare  them  excom- 
municate, and  to  threaten  with  the  severest  censures  of 
the  Church  all  who  should  thenceforth  treat  them  as 
Cardinals,  or  in  any  way  befriend  their  cause.  Such 
partisans  were  to  be  considered  in  heresy,  schism,  and 
rebellion,  to  lose  all  ecclesiastical  rank,  dignity,  or 
bishopric,  and  to  forfeit  their  estates.  The  descendants 
of  one  branch  were  declarsd  incapable,  to  the  fourth 


CHAP.  VII. 


EEPLY  OF  THE  CDLOKNAB. 


27 


generation,  of  entering  into  holy  orders.     Such  was  the 
attainder  for  their  spiritual  treason. 

The  Colonnas  had  offered,  on  the  mediation  of  the 
Senator  and  the  Commonalty  of  Home,  to  R<.p]yDfthe 
submit  themselves  in  the  fullest  manner  to  Culonnaa 
the  Pope,"  But  the  Pope  would  bs  satisfied  with 
nothing  less  than  the  surrender  of  all  their  great 
castles.  Therefore,  when  they  could  no  longer  avoid 
it,  they  accepted  the  defiance  to  internecine  war, 
They  answered  by  a  proclamation,  of  great  length, 
hardly  inferior  in  violence,  more  desperately  daring 
than  that  of  the  Pope.  They  repudiated  altogether 
the  right  of  Boniface  to  the  Pontificate;  they  denied 
the  power  of  Coalestma  to  resign.  They  accused  Boni- 
face of  obtaining  the  abdication  of  Coelsstine  by  frau- 
dulent means*  by  conditions  and  secret  understandings, 
by  stratagems  and  machinations  ; f  they  appealed  to  a 
General  Council,  that  significant  menace,  in  later  times 


e  The  senators  and  commonalty  of 
Rome  had  persuaded  the  Colonnas  to 
this  course,  "  Buaaenant,  induxeruat 
quod  ad  pedw  nosh-as  reversntcr  Veni- 
rent,  nosfaa.  et  ipsms  Komanre  Ecdeslee 
absolute  ao  liber 6  mandata  faeturi ;  ad 
qute  prsefeti  schismatic!  et  reballes 
pails  stirtibasclatorihus  respondenwt,  SB 
ventures  ad  pedqa  nostioa  ac  nustra  fit 
prtGfatm  Eooleflia  man  data  fecturos." 
— Epist.  Bonlfec.  ad  Paniect.  SaV»lU, 
Orvieto,  20th  Sept.  ' 

'  These  words  am  remarkable; — 
"  Quad  in  renundationa  ipsms  multee 
fraudea  et  do]i,  couditionea  et  intendi- 
menta  at  maoMnamonta,  et  tales  et 
talia  intarvenibiae  multipliciter  asserun- 
tWf  quod  eato,  quod  possat  fien  renmi- 
tlntio,  de  quo  mpnto  dubitatur,  ipBiun 
vitiarent  at  redderent  illegitimam,  m- 


effiDacem,  et  uullano)," — Apud  Ilay- 
nald.  sub  ann.  1297,  No,  34-.  But 
the  most  remarkable  foot  regarding 
this  document  ia  that  it  wWUftorted 
in  tha  Caetle  of  Longhezia  byftwi  <%- 
nitaries  of  the  Ghwah  of  Frantic,  the 
FroVoflb  of  Bheima,  the  Archdeacon  of 
Rouen,  three  canons,  of  Chnitres,  oJ 
Evraux,  and  of  Seahs;  and  by  three 
Franciscan  fi"iar0,  of  whom  one  -was  £A« 
fdnious  poet  Jacopone  da  Tddi,  after- 
wards  persecuted  ly  Boniface.  Thia 
JB  of  great  importance.  The  quanel 
with  Philip  the  Fair  hnd  already  begun 
in  tha  year  before ;  the  Bull  "  Clericu 
Lmcus"  had  bom  issued;  and  here  IBB 
confoderncy  of  the  Colonnas,  the  agenb 
uh  ths  King  of  France,  and  the  Crelesli- 
man  Frfliiciactmn,  IMieai-gdateMay  10, 
Iii07  -Dupuy,  Archircs  du  DiflHrani 


28  LATIX  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  Si, 

of  such  fearful  power.  This  long  argumentative  decla- 
ration of  the  Colonna  Cardinals  was  promulgated  in  all 
quarters,  affixed  to  the  doors  of  churches,  and  placed 
on  the  very  altar  of  St.  Peter.  But  the  Colonnas  stood 
alone;  none  other  of  the  Conclave  joined  them;  no 
popular  tumult  broke  out  on  their  side.  Their  allies, 
and  allies  they  doubtless  had,  were  beyond  the  Faro ; 
within  the  Alps,  Ghibelliniam  was  overawed,  and  aban- 
doned its  champions,  notwithstanding  their  purple,  to 
the  unresisted  Pontiff.  Boniface  proceeded  to  pass  hia 
public  sentence  against  his  contumacious  spiritual  vas- 
Pupaiaen-  sals.  The  sentence  was  a  concentration  of  all 
DGC.IHT.  the  maledictory  language  of  ecclesiastical 
wrath.  No  instrument,  after  a  trial  for  capital  treason, 
in  any  period,  was  irawn  with  more  careful  and  vindic- 
tive particularity.  It  was  not  content  with  treating  the 
appeal  as  heretical,  blasphemous,  and  schiainatical,  but 
as  an  act  of  insanity.  The  Pop  a  had  an  unanswerable 
argument  against  their  denial  of  the  validity  of  his 
election,  their  undisturbed,  unprotesting  allegiance 
during  three  years,  their  recognition  of  the  Pope  by 
assisting  him  in  all  his  papal  functions.  The  Bull 
denounced  their  audacity  in  presuming,  after  their 
deposition,  to  assume  the  names  and  to  wear  the  dress 
nnd  insignia  of  Cardinals.  The  penalty  was  not  merely 
perpetual  degradation,  but  excommunication  in  ita ' 
severest  form ;  the  absolute  confiscation  of  the  entire 
estates,  not  only  of  the  Cardinals,  but  of  the  whole 
Colonna  family.  It  included,  by  name,  John  di  San 
Vito,  and  Otho,  the  son  of  John,  the  brother  of  the  Car- 
dinal James  and  the  father  of  Cardinal  Peter,  Agapeto, 
Stephen,  and  James  Sciarra,  sons  of  the  same  John, 
with  all  their  kindred  and  relatives,  and  their  descend- 
ants for  ever.  It  absolutely  incapacitated  them  from 


CHAP.  VII. 


PAPAL  SENTENCE. 


29 


holding  rank,  office,  function,  or  property.  AH  towns, 
castles,  or  places  which,  harboured  any  of  their  persons 
fell  under  interdict;  and  the  faithful  were  commanded 
to  deliver  them  up  wherever  they  might  be  found. 

This  proscription,  this  determination  to  extinguish 
one  of  the  most  ancient  and  powerful  families  of  Italy, 
with  the  degradation  of  two  Cardinals,  was  an  act  of 
rigour  and  severity  beyond  all  precedent.  Nor  was  it 
a  loud  and  furious  but  idle  menace.  Boniface  had  not 
miscalculated  his  strength.  The  Orsini  lent  all  their 
forces  to  humble  the  rival  Colonnas,  and  a  Crusade  was 
proclaimed,  a  Crusade  against  two  Cardinals  of  the 
Church,  a  Crusade  at  the  gates  of  Eomo.*  jBn.toSept. 
The  same  indulgences  were  granted  to  those  lauflp 
who  should  take  up  arms  against  the  Cardinals  and 
their  family  which  were  offered  to  those  who  warred  on 
the  unbelievers  in  the  Holy  Land.  The  Cardinal  of 
Porto,  Matthew  Acijuasparta,  Bishop  of  S.  Sabina,  com- 
manded the  army  of  the  Fope  in  this  sacred  war. 
Stronghold  after  stronghold  wan  stormed;  castle  after 
castle  fell.h  Palsstrina  alone  held  out  with  intrepid 
obstinacy.  Almost  the  whole  Colonna  house  sought 
their  last  refuge  in  the  walls  of  this  redoubted  fortress, 
which  defied  the  siege,  and  wearied  out  the  assailing 
forces,  Gkudo  di  Montsfeltro,  a  famous  Ghibelline 
chieftain,  had  led  a  life  of  bloody  and  remorseless  war- 
fare, in  which  he  was  even  mora  distinguished  by  craft 
than  by  valour.  He  had  treated  with  contemptuous 
defiance  all  the  papal  censures  which  rebuked  and  would 


*  Raynaldus,  sub  aim.  1298.  Dante 
puts  these  words  in  the  mouth  of 
Guido  di  MonlBfeltrn  : — 

'  Loprlnripe  de  mural  Farlaei, 

HaveOdo  gaerru  preaw  a  laterann, 


E  non  con  Saracln  lib  con  Ulnrtrl ; 

One  cluhctm  BUD  nlmka  era  ChrlBtluno  ; 

K  nessmio  era  atato  a  vinecrn  Aerl, 

Ne  mereaUiite  In  terra  dl  Soldann," 

Injerno,  f.  xxvli,  61 

fc  Ptolem.  Unen.  p.  1213. 


LA.TIN  CHRISTIANITY, 


BOOK  XI. 


avenge  hia  discomfiture  of  many  papal  generals  and 
the  depression  of  the  Gruelfs.  In  an  access  of  devotion, 
now  grown  old,  he  had  taken  the  hahit  and  the  vows  of 
St.  Francis,  divorced  his  wife,  given  up  his  wealth,  oh- 
tained  remission  of  his  sina,  first  from  Drelestine,  after- 
wards from  Boniface,  and  was  living  in  quiet  in  a 
convent  at  Ancona.1  He  was  summoned  from  his  cell 
on  his  allegiance  to  the  Pope,  and  with  plenary  absolu- 
tion for  his  broken  vows,  commanded  to  inspect  the 
walls,  and  give  his  counsel  on  the  best  means  of  re- 
ducing the  stubborn  citadel.  The  old  soldier  surveyed 
the  impregnable  defences,  and  then,  requiring  still  fur- 
ther absolution  for  any  crime  of  which  he  might  be 
guilty,  uttered  his  memorable  oracle,  "  Promise  largely ; 
keep  little  of  your  promises."11  The  large  promises 
were  made ;  the  Colonnas  opened  their  gates ;  within 
the  prescribed  three  days  appeared  the  two  Cardinals, 
with  others  of  ths  house,  Agapeto  and  Sciarra,  not  on 
horseback,  but  more  humbly,  on  foot,  before  the  Popo 
smTenaer  of  at  Eieti.  They  were  received  with  outward 
piiBstrfau.  bianclnsss,  and  admitted  to  absolution.  They 
afterwards  averred™  that  they  had,  been  tempted  to 
surrender  with  the  understanding  that  the  Papal  btm- 
iiera  were  to  be  displayed  on  the  walls  of  Palestrina ; 


1  Tosti,  the  ap alngs tic  biographer  of 
Boniface  VIII.,  endeavours  to  laise 
some  du'onologiwil  difficulties,  which 
amount  to  this,  that  Palcbtrum  sur- 
rendeied  in  the  month,  of  September, 
«nd  that  Quido  di  Hontefeltro  die!  at 
Asaisi  (it  might  be  suddenly,  he  was 
an  old  worn- out  roan)  an  the  23rd  or 
29th  of  that  month. 

k  "Lunga  pramesaa,  con  attemler 
corbo/'—Iufevno,  «.  Comment,  fli 
BcftvaautD  da  Imola  (npud  Mui'titgr,"), 


Fiuet.  Viceut.  Papinus  (Ibid.).  Then  a 
ore  Ghib  clime  wnteis;  this  alona 
thiows  suspicion  on  their  authority. 
Out  Dimtu  wntea  us  of  a  notorious 
fact,  Tosti's  aigument,  which  inters 
from  the  Colonnas'  act  of  humiliation, 
nf  which  he  adducca  good,  evidence, 
that  the  aomndev  waa  unconditional, 
ia  more  ramarkabla  fur  its  zeal  than  its 
logic. 

m  In  tha  procee  lings  before  Clement 
V.  apud  Diipuy.          , 


CllAP.  VII. 


FLIGHT  OF  THE  CDLONNAS. 


31 


but  that  the  Papal  honour  ones  satisfied,  perhaps  the 
fortifications  dismantled,  the  city  was  to  be  restore!  tu 
its  lords.  Not  sueh  was  the  design  of  Boniface.  He 
determined  to  make  the  rebellious  city  an  example  of 
righteous  pontifical  rigour.  He  first  condemned  it  to 
be  no  longer  the  seat  of  a  Bishop ;  then  commanded,  as 
elder  Eome  her  rival  Carthage,  that  it  should  be  utterly 
razed  to  the  ground,  passed  over  by  the  plough,  and 
sown  with  salt,  so  as  never  again  to  be  the  habitation  of 
man.11  A  new  city,  to  be  called  the  Papal  city,  was  to 
be  built  in  the  neighbourhood. 

The  Dolonnas  found  that  they  had  nothing  to  hope, 
much  to  fear  from  the  Pt>pe,  who  was  thus  destroying, 
as  it  were,  the  lair  of  these  will  beasts,  whom  he  might 
seem  determined  to  extirpate,  rather  than  permit  to 
resume  any  fragment  of  their  dangerous  power.  Though 
themselves  depressed,  humbled,  they  were  still  formid- 
able by  their  connexions.  The  Pope  accused  them, 
justly  it  might  be  such  desperate  men,  of  meditating 
new  schemes  of  revolt.  The  Annibaleschi,  their  rela- 
tives, a  powerful  family,  had  raised  or  threatened  to 
raise  the  Maremma.  Boniface  seized  John  of  Ceccano 
of  that  house,  cast  him  into  prison,  and  confiscated  all 
his  lands.  The  Dobnnas  fled;  some  found  might  of  the 
refuge  in  Sicily,*  Stephen  was  received  with  CulunnM- 
honour  in  Prance,  The  Cardinals  retired  into  obscurity. 
In  Francs,  too,  after  having  been  taken  by  corsairs 
arrived  Sciarra  Colonna,  hereafter  to  wreak  the  terrible 
vengeance  of  his  house  upon  the  implacable  Pope. 

Throughout  Italy  Boniface  had  assumed  the  sumo 


*  "Ipsatrujui?  tiratio  aubjici  et  TE- 
teria  Instar  Carthagmis  Afncamc,  nc 
salem  in  eum  ,et  feanuis  et  niamkvi- 


mus  seminau,  ut  tuo  rcm,  ni?c  namen, 
nee  titulum  haberet  civittitla," 
the  diet  in  Rnyualtlus, 


32  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  XI. 

imperious  dictatorship.  His  aim,  the  suppression  of  tha 
interminable  wars  which  arrayed  city  against 
city,  order  against  order,  family  against  family, 
was  not  unbecoming  hia  holy  office ;  but  it  was  in  the 
tone  of  a  master  that  he  commanded  tha  world  to 
peace,  a  tone  which  provoked  resistance.  It  was  not 
by  persuasivB  influence,  which  might  lull  tha  conflicting 
passions  of  men,  and  enlighten  them  as  to  their  real 
interests.  Nor  was  his  arbitration  so  serenely  superior 
to  the  disturbing  impulse  of  Guelfic  and  Papal  am- 
bition as  to  be  accepted  as  an  impartial  award.  The 
depression  of  Ghibellinism,  not  Christian  peace,  might 
SBem  his  ultimata  aim. 

Italy,  however,  was  but  a  narrow  part  of  tha  great 
spiritual  realm  over  which  Boniface  aspired  to  maintain 
an  authority  surpassing,  at  least  in  tha  plain  holiness 
of  its  pretensions,  that  of  his  most  lofty  predecessors, 
BonifacB  did  not  abandon  the  principle  upon  which  the 
Popes  had  originally  assumed  the  right  of  interposing  in 
the  quarrels  of  kings,  their  paramount  duty  to  obey  his 
summons  as  soldiers  of  the  Cross,  and  to  confederate  for 
the  reconquest  of  the  Holy  Land.  But  this  object  had 
shrunk  into  the  background ;  even  among  the  religious, 
the  crusading  passion,  by  being  diverted  to  less  holy 
purposes,  was  WBllnigh  extinguished ;  it  had  begun 
even  to  revolt  more  than  stir  popular  feeling.  But 
Bonifaca  rather  rested  his  mandates  on  the  universal, 
and,  as  ha  declared,  the  unlimited  supremacy  of  the 
Roman  See. 

Tha  great  antagonistic  power  which  had  so  long 
SdJW"'  mestlBi  witjl  the  Papacy  had  indeed  fallen 
Nassau.  into  comparative  insignificance!,  The  Empire, 
under  Adolph  of  Nassau  (though  acknowledged  as  King 
of  the  Romans  he  had  not  yet  received  the  Imperial 


.  11*.          ADOLPH  DF  NASSAU  EMFEB.OR.  33 

crown),  tad  sunk  from  a  formidable  rival  into  an  object 
of  disdainful  protection  to  the  Pope. 

Un  the  death  of  Rodolph  of  Hapsburg  the  Princes  of 
Germany  dreaded  the  perpetuation  of  the  Empire  in 
that  house,  which  had  united  to  its  Swabian 
possessions  the  great  inheritance  of  Austria. 
Albert  of  Austria,  the  son  of  Rodolph,  was  feared  and 
hated;  feared  for  his  unmeasured  ambition,  extensive 
dominions,  and  the  stern  determination  with  which  hs 
had  put  down  the  continual  insurrections  in  Austria  and 
Styria ;  hated  for  his  haughty  and  overbearing  manners, 
and  the  tin  disguised  despotism  of  his  character.  "Wenzel, 
King  of  Bohemia,  Albert,  Elector  of'  Saxony,  Otho  the 
Long,  Margrave  of  Brandenburg,  were  drawn  together 
by  their  common  apprehensions  and  jealousy  of  the 
Austrian.  The  ecclesiastical  Electors  were  equally 
averse  to  a  hereditary  Emperor,  and  to  one  of  com- 
manding power,  ability,  and  resolution.  But  it  was  not 
easy  to  find  a  rival  to  oppose  to  the  redoubted  Albert, 
who  reckoned  almost  in  careless  security  on  the  suc- 
cession  to  the  Empire,  and  had  already  seized 
the  regalia  in  the  Castle  of  Trefels.  Siegfried,  ay' 
Archbishop  of  Cologne,  suggested  the  name  of  Adolph 
of  Nassau,  a  prince  with  no  qualification  but  intrepid 
valour  and  the  fame  of  some  military  skill,  but  with 
neither  wealth,  territory,  nor  influence,  Gerhard,  the 
subtle  Archbishop  of  Mentz,  seized  the  opportunity  of 
making  an  Emperor  who  should  not  merely  be  the 
vassal  of  the  Church  of  Roma,  but  even  of  the  Church 
in  Germany.  It  was  said  that  he  threatened  severally 
each  elector  that,  if  he  refused  his  vote  for  Adolph,  the 
Archbishop  would  bring  forward  that  Prince  who  would 
be  most  obnoxious  to  each  one  of  them.  Adolph  of 
Nassau  was  chosen  King  of  the  Romans,  but  he  was 

VOL. 


84  LATIN  OEBISTIANm.  BOOK  XI 

too  poor  to  defray  the  cost  of  his  own  coronation :  the 
magistrates  of  Frankfort  opposed  a  tax  which  the  Arch- 
bishop threatened  to  extort  from  the  Jews  of  that  city. 
The  Archbishop  of  Mentz  raised  2D,OUD  marks  of  silver 
on  the  lands  of  his  See  ;  and  so  the  coronation  of 
jiniB24,  Adolph  took  place  at  Aix-la- Chap  ells.  But 
1291  there  was  no  disinterestedness  in  this  act  of 
the  Archbishop.  The  elevation  of  Adolph  of  Nassau, 
if  it  did  not  begin,  was  the  first  flagrant  example  of  the 
purchase  of  the  Imperial  crown  by  the  sacrifice  of  its 
rights.  The  capitulations"  show  the  timea.  The  King 
of  the  Eomans  was  to  compel  the  burghers  of  Mentz  to 
Tarns  ex-  pay  a  fine  of  BO  DO  marks  of  silver,  imposed 
Archbishop"  upon  them  by  the  Emperor  Bodolph,  for  soma 
juiylt.  act  of  disobedience  to  their  Prelate ;  he  was 
neither  in  act  nor  in  counsel  to  aid  the  burghers  against 
that  Prelate ;  never  to  take  Ulrit)  of  Hanau  or  Master 
Henry  of  Klingenberg  into  his  counsels,  or  to  show  them 
any  favour,  but  always  to  espouse  the  cause  of  the  Arch- 
bishop and  of  the  Church  against  these  troublesome 
neighbours :  he  was  to  grant  to  the  Archbishop  certain 
villages  and  districts,  with  the  privilege  of  a  free  city  : 
to  grant  certain  privileges  and  possessions  to  certain 
ralativBs  of  the  Archbishop ;  to  protect  him  by  his  royal 
favour  against  tha  Duke  of  Brunswick,  and  all  his 
enemies;  to  grant  the  toll  at  Boppard  on  the  Rhine 
in  perpetuity  to  the  Church  of  Mimtz;  to  pay  all  the 
debts  due  from  ths  Archbishop  to  the  Court  of  Borne, 
and  to  hold  the  Archbishop  harmless  from  all  processes 
in  respect  of  such  debts  j  to  repay  all  charges  incurrBd 
on  account  of  his  coronation ;  to  grant  to  the  Archbishop 
the  Imperial  cities  of  Muhlhauseu  and  Nordhausen,  and 


0  Wuvdtwein,  Diplom.  Moguntiaca,  i.  2&, 


CBAF.  VII.  AECHBISHOP  DP  MENTZ.  35 

to  compel  the  burghers  to  take  the  oath  of  fealty  to 
him.  Nor  was  this  all.  Among  the  further  stipulations, 
the  Emperor  was  to  make  over  the  Jews  of  Mentz  (the 
Jews  of  the  Empire  were  now  the  men  of  the  Emperor) 
to  the  Archbishop;  this  superiority  had  been  usurped 
by  the  burghers  of  Mentz.  The  Emperor  was  not  to 
intermeddle  with  causes  which  belonged  to  the  spiritual 
Courts ;  not  to  allow  them  to  be  brought  before  tem- 
poral tribunals ;  to  leave  the  Archbishop  and  his  clergy, 
and  also  all  his  suffragan  bishops,  in  full  possession 
of  their  immunities  and  rights,  casbles,  fortresses,  and 
goods.  One  article  alone  concerned  ths  whole  prince- 
dom of  tha  Empire.  No  prince  was  to  be  suminonad 
to  the  Imperial  presence  without  the  notice  of  fifteen 
weeks,  prescribed  by  ancient  usage.  The  other  eccle- 
siastical electors  wera  not  quite  so  grasping  in  their 
demands:  Cologne  and  Treves  were  content  with  tha 
cession  of  certain  towns  and  possessions.  Adolph  sub- 
mitted to  all  these  tarrua,  which,  if  ha  had  ths  will,  ho 
had  hardly  the  power  to  fulfil.9 

The  Emperor,  who  was  thus  subservient  to  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Mentz,  was  not  likely  to  offer  any  dangerous 
resistance  to  tha  pretsnsions  gf  the  Pope ;  and  to  him 
Pops  Bonifaca  issued  his  mandates  and  his  inhibitions 
as  to  a  subject.  Adolph  might  at  first  have  held  the 
balance  between  tha  conflicting  Kings  of  France  and 
England;  his  inclinations  or  his  necessities  drove  him 
into  the  party  of  England.  He  sent  a  cartel 
of  defiance  to  the  King  of  France,  to  which 
King  Philip  rejoined,  if  not  insultingly,  with  tha  lan- 
guage of  an  equal.  But  tha  subtle  as  well  as  haughty 
Philip  revenged  himself  on  the  hostila  Empire  by  taking 

•  Compare  throughout  Schmidt,  Ge&chichte  der  Dsutschec,  viii.  p.  116,  et  Mqq. 

D   2 


LATIN 


BOOK  XI. 


more  serious  advantage  of  its  weakness.  The  last  wreck 
of  the  kingdom  of  Aries,  Provence,  became  part  of 
the  kingdom  of  Francs;  the  old  county  of  Burgundy, 
Tranche  Donate,  by  skilful  negotiations,  was  BEY ored 
from  the  Empire.11  These  hostile  measures,  and  the 
subsidies  of  England,  were  irresistible  to  the  indigent 
yet  warlike  Adolph.  He  declared  himself  the  ally  of 
Edward ;  and  when  Boniface  sent  two  Cardinals  to 
command  France  and  England  to  make  peacs,  at  the 
same  time  the  Bishops  of  Eeggio  and  Sienna  had  in- 
structions to  warn  the  Emperor,  under  the  terror  of 
ecclesiastical  censures,  not  to  presume  to  interfere  in 
the  quarrel.  The  Pope's  remonstrance  was  a  bitter 
insult:  "  Becomes  it  so  great  and  powerful  a 

A..D  12B5  .  °  -  ,.r  r  . 

Prince  to  serve  as  a  common  soldier  for  hire 
in  the  armies  of  England?"1  But  English  gold  out- 
weighed. Apostolic  censure  and  scorn.  In  the  campaign 
in  Flanders  the  Emperor  Adolph  had  2000  knights  in 
arms  on  the  side  and  in  the  pay  of  England.  The  rapid 
bUCCBSses,  however,  of  the  King  of  France  enabled 
Adolph  at  once  to  fulfil  his  engagements  with  England 
without  much  risk  to  his  subsidiary  troops.  The  Em- 
peror was  included  in  the  peace  to  which  the  two  monarchs 
were  reduced  under  the  arbitration  of  Boniface." 

The  reign  gf  Adolph  of  Nassau  was  not  bug.  Boni- 
face may  have  contributed  unintentionally  to  its  uaily 
and  fatal  close  by  exacting  the  payment  of  the  debt  due 
from  Gerhard  of  Mentz  to  the  SOB  of  Homo,  which 
Adolph  was  under  covenant  to  discharge,  but  wanted 
the  will  or  the  power,  or  both.  Ha  would  not  apply 


i  Leibnitz,  Cod.  G.  Diplotn.  jc.  No. 
18,  p.  33 

*  Apud  Jtaynald.  1285,  No,  45, 

•  The  documents  may  be  read  in 


Kaynaldua  and  in  Rymer,  Bub  Mini* 
Schmidt,   Geachi elite    der 
Tiii.  p,  130,  atttqq. 


CHAP.  VII.         DEATH  OF  ADULPH  OF  2USSAU,  37 

the  subsidies  of  England  to  this  object.    There  was  deep 
and  sullen  discontent  throughout  Germany. 

At  tlis  coronation  of  Wenzel  as  King  of  Bohemia, 
G-erhard  of  Mentz  performed  the  solemn  office  ;  Jrme  Zi 
tfiirty- eight  Princes  of  the  Empire  were  pre-  1297i 
sent.  Albert  of  Austiia  was  lavish  of  his  wealth,  and 
of  his  promises.b  Grerhard  was  to  receive  15,DDO  marks 
of  silver.  Count  Hageloch  was  sent  to  Borne  to  pur- 
chase the  assent  of  the  Pope  to  the  deposition  of 
Adolph,  and  a  new  election  to  the  Empire.  Boniface 
refused  all  hearing  to  the  offer.  But  Albert  of  Austria 
trusted  to  himself,  his  own  arms,  and  to  the  League, 
which  now  embraced  almost  all  the  temporal  and  eccle- 
siastical Princes,  the  Elector  of  Saxony,  the  young 
Margrave  of  Brandenburg,  Herman  the  Tall,  the  Am- 
bassadors of  Bohemia  and  Cologne.  Adolph  was  de- 
clared deposed;  Albert  of  Austria  elected  King  of  the 
Bomans.  The  crimes  alleged  against  Adolph  were  that 
he  had  plundered  churches,  debauched  maidens,  received 
pay  from  his  inferior  the  King  of  England.  He  was 
also  accused  of  having  broken  the  seals  of  letters, 
administered  justice  for  bribes,  neither  maintained  the 
peace  of  the  Empire,  nor  the  security  of  the  public 
roads.  Thrice  was  he  summoned  to  answer,  and  then 
condemned  as  contumacious.  The  one  great  quality  of 
Adolph  of  Nassau,  his  personal  bravery,  was  his  ruin; 
ho  hastened  to  meet  hia  rival  in  battle  near  Worms, 
plunged  fiercely  into  the  fray,  and  was  slain. 

The  crime  of  Adolph's  death  (for  a  crime  it  was  de- 
clared, an  act  of  rebellion,  treason,  and  murder,    Jniy  a> 
against  the  anointed  head  of  the   Empire)    1MB- 
placed  Albert  of  Austria  at  the  mercy  of  tlie  Pope* 

*  Schmidt,  p.  137. 


38  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY  BOOK  Xi. 

The  sentence  of  excommunication  was  passed,  which 
none  but  the  Pope  could  annul,  and  which,  suspended 
over  the  head  of  the  King  elect  of  the  Bomans,  made 
him  dependant,  to  a  certain  degree,  on  the  Pope,  for 
tho  validity  of  his  unratified  election,  the  security  of  his 
unconfirmed  throne.  And  so  affairs  stood  till  the  last 
fatal  quarrel  of  Bonifaco  with  the  King  of  France  made 
the  alliance  of  the  Empsror  not  merely  of  high  advan- 
tage, but  almost  of  necessity.  Albert's  sins  suddenly 
disappeared.  The  perjured  usurper  of  the  Empire,  the 
murderer  of  his  blameless  predecessor,  became  without 
iliflleulty  the  legitimate  King  of  theEomans,  the  uncon* 
tested  Sovereign  of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire. 


.  VIII.  DEVELOPMENT  or  ENGLISH  0 DNSTITUTIDK    38 


CHAPTER  VITL 

Boniface  VIII.    England,  anil  France. 

IF  the  Empire  had  sunk  to  impotence,  almost  to  con- 
tempt, the  kingdoms  of  Francs  and  England  were  rising 
towards  the  dawn  of  their  future  greatness.  Each  too 
had  begun  to  develops  itself  towards  that  stats  which  it 
fully  attained  only  after  some  centuries,  England  that 
of  a  balanced  constitutional  realm,  Francs  that  of  an 
absolute  monarchy.  In  England  the  kingly 
power  was  growing  into  strength  in  the  hands 
of  the  able  and  vigorous  Edward  I. ;  but  tlan- 
around  it  were  rising  likewise  those  free  institutions 
which  wsre  hereafter  to  limit  and  tp  strengthen  the 
royal  authority.  Tha  national  representation  began  to 
assume  a  more  regular  and  extended  form ;  the  Parlia- 
ments were  more  frequent;  the  boroughs  were  non- 
firmed  in  their  right  of  choosing  representatives ;  the 
commons  were  taking  their  place  as  at  once  an  acknow- 
ledged and  an  influential  Estate  of  the  realm;  the  King 
had  been  compelled  more  than  once,  though  reluctantly 
and  evasively,  to  renew  ths  great  charters.*  The  law 
became  more  distinct  and  authoritative,  but  it  was  not 
the  Roman  law,  but  the  old  common  law  descended 
from  the  Saxan  times,  and  guaranteed  by  the  charters 
wrested  from  tha  Norman  kings.  It  grew  up  beside 
the  canon  law  of  the  clergy,  each  rather  avoiding  tha 


Throughout  Hallam,  Middle  Ages,  ii.  IDD, 


40  LATIN    CHfUSTIAJS-lTY.  booicXL 

other's  ground,  than  rigidly  defining  its  own  province. 
Edward  waa  called  the  Juatinian  of  England,  but  it  was 
not  by  enacting  a  new  code,  but  as  framing  statutes 
which  embodied  some  of  the  principles  of  tha  common 
law  of  the  kingdom.  The  clergy  were  still  a  separate 
casts,  ruled  by  their  own  law,  amenable  almost  exclu- 
sively to  thsir  own  superiors  ;  but  they  had  gradually 
receded  or  been  quietly  repelled  from  their  co-ordinate 
administration  of  the  affairs  and  the  justice  of  the  realm. 
They  were  one  Estate,  but  in  the  civil  wars  they  had 
been  divided:  some  wera  for  the  King,  some  boldly  anil 
freely  sided  with  the  Barons ;  and  the  Barons  had  be- 
come a  great  distinct  aristocracy,  whom  the  King  was 
disposed  to  balance,,  not  by  tho  clergy,  but  by  the 
commons.  The  King's  justices  had  long  begun  to  super- 
sede the  mingled  court  composed  of  the  bishops  and  tha 
barons:  some  bishops  sat  as  barons,  not  as  bishops. 
The  civil  courts  were  still  wresting  some  privilege  or 
power  from  the  ecclesiastical.  The  clergy  contended 
obstinately,  but  not  always  successfully,  for  exclusive 
jurisdiction  in  all  causes  relating  to  Dhurch  property, 
or  property  to  which  the  Dhurch  advanced  a  claim,  us 
to  tithes.  There  was  a  slow,  persevering  determination, 
notwithstanding  the  triumph  of  Backet,  to  bring  the 
clergy  accused  of  civil  offences  under  the  judgement  of 
the  King's  courts,  thus  infringing  or  rather  abrogating 
ths  sob  cognisance  of  the  Church  over  Churchmen.11 
It  was  enacted  that  the  clerk  might  be  arraigned  in  tha 
King's  court,  and  not  surrendered  to  the  ordinary  till 
the  full  inquest  in  the  matter  of  accusation  had  been 
earned  out.  On  that  the  whole  estate,  real  and  per- 
sonal, of  the  felon  clerk  might  be  seized.  The  ordinary 

*  &e  the  whole  course  of  this  silent  chango  in  Haiku,  if.  pp.  2D-23, 


CHAP.  VIII. 


FRANCE. -THE  LAWYERS. 


thus  became  either  tha  mere  executioner,  according  to 
the  Church's  milder  form  of  p unishment,  of  a  sentence 
passed  by  the  civil  court,  or  became  obnoxious  to  the 
charge  of  protecting,  or  unjustly  acquitting  a  convicted 
felon.  If,  while  the  property  was  thus  boldly  escheated, 
there  was  still  some  reverence  for  the  sacred  person  of 
the  "anointed  of  the  Lord,')B  even  archbishops  will  be 
seen,  before  two  reigna  are  passed,  bowing  their  necka 
to  the  block  (for  treason),  without  any  severs  shock  to 
public  feeling,  or  any  potent  remonstrance  from  the 
hierarchy.  On  the  other  hand,  the  singular  usage,  the 
benefit  of  clergy,  by  expanding  that  benefit  over  other 
classes,  tended  to  mitigate  the  rigour  of  the  penal  law, 
with  but  rare  infringements  of  substantial  justice.11 

In  France  the  royal  power  had  grown  up,  checked  by 
no  great  league  of  the  feudal  aristocracy,  limited 
by  no  charter.   The  strong  and  remorseless  rule 
of  Philip  Augustus,  the  popular  virtues  of  Saint  Louis, 
had  lent  lustre,  and  so  brought  power  to  the  throne, 
which  in  England  had  been  degraded  by  the  tyrannical 
and   pusillanimous  John,  and    enfeebled  by  the    long, 
inglorious  reign  of  Henry  III".    In  .France  the  power  of 
the  clergy  might  have  been  a  sufficient,  as  it  waa  almost 
tha  only  organised  counterpoise  to  the  kingly  prsroga- 
tive ;  but  there  had  gradually  risen,  chiefly  in  tha  Uni- 
versitiss,  a  new  power,  that  of  the  Lawyers:  TheUw- 
they  had  begun  to  attain  that  ascendancy  in  yBIB> 
the  Parliaments  which  grew  into  absolute  dominion  over 
those  assemblies.    But  the  law  which  these  men  ex- 
pounded was  not  lika  the  common  law  of  England,  the 


<>  The  alleged  Scriptural  groundwork 
of  this  immunity,  "  Touch  not  mine 
Anointed,  and  in  my  prophets  no  harm  " 
,'Pf.  cr.  1 5),  Was  enshrined  m  the  De- 


cretal* aa  an  Eternal,  irrefragable  axiom. 
d  On  benefit  of  clergy  read  the  not* 
in  Serjeant  Stephen's  BkickrtQBB,  v.  IT. 
p.  435. 


42  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  Xt 

growth  of  the  forests  of  Germany,  the  old  free  Teutonic 
usages  of  the  Franks,  but  the  Roman  imperial  law,  of 
•which  the  Sovereign  was  the  fountain  and  supreme 
head.  Tha  clergy  had  allowed  this  important  study  to 
escape  out  of  their  exclusive  possession.  It  had  been 
widely  cultivated  at  Bologna,  Paris,  Auxarre,  and  other 
universitiBS.  The  clergy  had  retired  to  their  own  strong- 
hold of  the  canon  law,  whila  they  seemed  not  aware  of 
the  dangerous  rivals  which  were  rising  up  against  them. 
The  Lawyers  became  thus,  as  it  were,  a  new  estate : 
they  lent  themselves,  partly  in  opposition  to  the  clergy, 
partly  from  the  tendency  of  the  Roman  law,  to  the 
assertion  and  extansion  of  the  royal  prerogative.  The 
hierarchy  found,  almost  suddenly,  instead  of  a  cowering 
superstitious  people,  awed  by  their  superior  learning, 
trembling  at  therulminations  of  thair  authority,  a  grave 
intellectual  aristocracy,  equal  to  themselves  in  profound 
erudition,  resting  on  ancient  written  authority,  appeal- 
ing to  the  vast  body  of  the  unabrogated  civil  law,  of 
which  they  were  perfect  masters,  opposing  to  the  canons 
of  the  Church  canons  at  least  of  greater  antiquity.  The 
Bang  was  to  the  lawyers  what  Caesar  had  bean  to  the 
Roman  Empire,  what  the  Pope  was  to  the  Churchmen. 
Caesar  was  undisputed  lord  in  his  own  realm,  as  Christ 
in  his.  The  Pandects,  it  has  been  said,  were  the  gospel 
of  ths  lawyers.6 

On  the  thrones  of  thsse  two  kingdoms,  France  and 
EuS^an(iJ Bat  two  fckgs  with  s°ms  resemblance, 
^  ^k  SDme  marke|l  oppugnaney  in  their 
characters.     Edward  I.  and  Philip  the  Fair 
were  both  man  of  unmeasured  ambition,  strong  deter- 


•  Compare  Slsmondi,  Hist,  dea  Francis,  vii.  5,  10,  and  tha  eloquent  bu 
usual  rather  overwrought  passage  in  Michrjet. 


CHAP.  V1H.       ED  WARD  1.  AND  PHILIP  iilE  F-Alh.  4J 


mination  of  will,  with  much  of  the  ferocity  and  the  craft 
of  barbarism  ;  neither  of  them  scrupulous  of  bloodshed 
to  attain  his  ends,  neither  disdainful  of  dark  and  crooked 
policy.  There  was  more  frank  force  In  Edward  ;  he  was 
by  nature  and  habit  a  warlike  prince  ;  the  irresistible 
temptation  of  the  crown  of  Scotland  alone  betrayed  him 
into  ungenerous  and  fraudulent  proceedings.  In  Philip 
the  Fair  the  gallantry  of  the  French  temperament 
broke  out  on  rare  occasions  :  his  first  Flemish  campaigns 
were  conducted  with  bravery  and  skill,  but  Philip  ever 
preferred  the  subtle  negotiation,  the  slow  and  wily  en- 
croachment ;  till  his  enemies  were,  if  not  in,  his  power, 
at  least  at  great  disadvantage,  he  did  not  venture  on 
the  usurpation  or  invasion.  In  the  slow  systematic  pur- 
suit of  his  object  he  was  utterly  without  scruple,  without 
remorse.  He  was  not  so  much,  cruel  as  altogether  obtuse 
to  human  suffering,  if  necessary  to  the  prosecution  of 
his  schemes  ;  not  so  much  rapacious  as,  finding  money 
indispensable  to  his  aggrandisement,  seeking  money  by 
means  of  which  he  hardly  seemed  to  discern  the  in- 
justice or  the  folly.  Never  was  man  or  monarch  so 
intensely  selfish  as  Philip  the  Fair:  his  own  power  was 
his  ultimate  scope  ;  ha  extended  so  enormously  the  royal 
prerogative,  the  influence  of  France,  because  he  was 
King  of  France.  His  rapacity,  which  persecuted  th& 
Templars,  his  vindictiveness,  which  warred  on  Bpniface 
after  death  as  through  life,  was  this  selfishness  in  other 
forms. 

Edward  of  England  was  considerably  the  older  of  the 
two  Kings.  As  Prince  of  Wales  he  had  shown  great 
ability  and  vigour  in  the  suppression  of  the  Barons' 
wars;  he  had  rescued  tha  endangered  throne.  He  had 
been  engaged  in  tha  Crusades  ;  his  was  the  last  gleam 
of  romantic  valour  and  enterprise  in  the  Holy  Land, 


LATIN  CHRISTIANITY. 


BOOK  XI, 


even  if  the  fine  story  of  his  wife  Eleanora  suckiDg  the 
poison  from  his  wound  was  the  poetry  of  a  later  time. 
On  his  return  from  the  East  he  heard  of  his  father's 
death;  his  journey  through  Sicily  and  Italy  was  the 
triumphant  procession  of  a  champion  of  the  Church; 
the  great  cities  vied  with  each  other  in  the  magnificence 
of  his  reception.  Ha  had  obtained  satisfaction  for  the 
barbarous  and  sacrilegious  murder  of  his  kinsman,  Honry 
of  Almain,  son  of  Eichaid  of  Cornwall,  in  tliB  cathedral 
of  Viterbo  during  the  elevation  of  the  Host,  by  Guy  de 
Montfort  with  his  brother  Simon.  The  murderer  (Simon 
had  died)  had  been  subjected  to  the  most  rigorous  anil 
humiliating  penance.1' 

Since  his  accession  Edward  had  deliberately  adhered 
to  his  great  aim,  the  consolidation  of  the  whole 
British  islands  under  his  sovereignty,  to  the 
comparative  neglect  of  his  continental  possessions.  He 
aspired  to  be  the  King  of  Great  Britain  rather  than  tha 
vassal  rival  of  France.  He  had  subdued  Wales ;  he  had! 
established  his  suzerainty  over  Scotland ;  he  had  awarded 
the  throne  of  Scotland  to  John  Baliol,  whom  h&  was 
almost  goading  to  rebellion,  in  order  to  find  a  pretext 
for  the  subjugation  of  that  kingdom.  Edward,  in  the 
early  part  of  his  reign,  was  on  the  best  terms  with  tha 
clergy:  ha  respected  them,  and  they  respected  him. 
The  clergy  under  Henry  III.  would  have  ruled  the 
superstitious  King  with  unbounded  authority  had  they 


Nov.  1211. 


1  The  documents  relating  to  this 
strange  murder  are  most  of  them  in 
Eymer  and  in  the  MS  ,  B,  M.  Sou 
especially  letter  of  Gregory  X,,  JSov. 
29,  1273,  Guy  sought  to  la  ad- 
mitted to  this  Pope's  presence  at 
Florence;  ho  with  his  accmipUceg 


folio  we  3  thu  Pope  two  miles  out  of  tha 
city,  without  shoes,  without  clothes, 
except  their  Bhirta  and  tveechea,  Guy 
threw  himself  at  the  Pope's  feet,  wupt 
and  howled,  "  alt  at  bos  sine  teuore." 
On  the  subuenuBDt  fate  of  Guy  of  Monk 
'«it  see  Dr.  Lingmtl,  vol.  ill.  p,  180. 


CHAP.  VHI.          EDWARD  1.  AfrD  THE  CLERGY.  45 

not  been  involved  in  silent  stubborn  resistance  to  the 
Sea  of  Rome.  Henry,  as  has  been  seen,  heaped  on  them 
wealth  and  honours ;  but  ha  offered  no  opposition  to,  he 
shared  in,  their  immoderate  taxation  by  Rome ;  he  did 
not  resist  the  possession  of  some  of  the  richest  benefices 
and  bishoprics  by  foreigners.  If  hia  fear  of  the  clergy 
was  strong,  his  fear  of  the  Pope  was  stronger;  he  was 
only  preventsd  from  being  the  slave  of  his  own  eccle- 
siastics because  he  preferred  the  remote  and  no  less 
onerous  servitude  to  Rome/  But  this  quarrel  of  the 
English  clergy  -with  Rome  was  somewhat  reconciled: 
the  short  lives  of  the  later  Popes,  the  vacancy  in  the 
See,  the  brief  Papacy  of  CceleBtine,  had  relaxed,,  to  some 
extent,  the  demands  of  tenths  and  subsidies.  Edward 
therefore  found  the  hierarchy  ready  to  support  him  in 
his  plane  of  insular  conquest.  John  Peekhani,  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  accompanied  him  to  Wales,  and 
pronounced  an  excommunication  against  the  rebellious 
princes :  no  voice  was  raised  against  the  cruel  and  igno- 
minious exscutions  with  which  Edward  secured  and 
sullied  his  conquest.11  Against  tho  massacro  of  the 
bards,  perhaps  esteemed  by  the  English  clergy  KIDI-B 
barbarians,  if  not  heathens,  there  was  no  remonstrance. 
Among  the  hundred  and  four  judged  appointed  to  ex- 
amine into  the  claims  of  the  competitors  for  the  Scottish 
throne,  Edward  named  twenty-four.  Of  theae  were  four 
bishops,  two  deans,  one  archdeacon,  and  some  other 
clergy.  The  Scots  named  eight  bishops  and  several 
abbots.  Edward's  great  financial  measure,  the  remorse- 
less plunder  an  I  cruel  expatriation  of  the  Jews,  was 
beheld  by  the  clergy  as  a  noble  act  of  Christian  vigour, 


*  We  must  not  forget  his  difficulties  about  Prince  Edmund's  claim  to  Sldly, 
b  Collier,  i,  p.  4 84. 


4B  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  XL 

Among  tha  cancelled  debts  were  vast  numbers  of  theirs; 
among  the  plunder  no  inconsiderable  portion  had  been 
Church  property,  pawned  or  sold  by  necessitous  or  irre- 
ligious ecclesiastics.  Tha  great  wealth  obtained  for  the 
instant  by  the  King  might  stave  off,  they  would  fondly 
hope,  for  some  time,  all  demands  on  thB  Church.1 

If  Edward  of  England  meditated  the  reduction  of  the 
whole  British  islands  under  one  monarchy,  and  had  pur- 
sued this  end  since  his  accession  with  unswerving  deter- 
mination, Philip  the  Fair  coveted  with  no  less  eager 
ambition  the  continental  territories  of  England.  Ho 
too  aspired  to  be  King  of  all  France,  not  mere  feudal 
sovereign  over  almost  independent  vassals,  but  actual 
ruling  monarch.  He  had  succeeded  in  incorporating 
the  wreck  of  the  kingdom  of  Aries  with  his  own  realm. 
He  had  laid  the  train  for  the  annexation  of  Burgundy : 
his  son  was  affianced  to  the  daughter  and  heiress  of 
Dtho  V.  Edward,  however,  had  given  no  cause  for 
aggression;  ha  had  performed  with  scrupulous  puncti- 
liousness all  the  acts  of  homage  and  fealty  which  tha 
King  of  France  could  command  for  the  lands  of  Grascony, 
Guienne,  and  the  other  hereditary  possessions  of  the 
Kings  of  England. 

There  had  been  peace  between  France  and  England 
lane  ponce.  ^or  tne  unusual  period  of  thirty-five  years,  but 
isB»toi2B4.  gjjgjuiy  misunderstanding  and  jealousies  had 
begun.  Peace  between  two  such  Kings,  in  such  rela- 
tion to  each  other,  in  such  an  age,  could  hardly  bo 
permanent.  The  successes  of  Edward  in  his  own 
realm  stimulated  rather  than  appalled  the  unscrupulous 


<  Hist  of  Jews,  iii.  258-2B2,  Tha 
documents  may  bo  read  in  Anglia 
Judaica.  Tovey  says  (p,  244)  whola 
nils  oftJatents  relating-  to  their  estates 


are  still :  emainlng  in  the  Tower.  Ilavn 
we  not  tiny  Jewiah  antiquaries  to  ex- 
plore thiaTQine? 


CHAP.  VIII.      QUARREL  OF  FRANCE  AND  ENGLAND.  41 

ambition  of  Philip.  An  accidental  quarrel  among  tho 
mariners  of  tha  two  nations  was  the  signal  for  tho  ex- 
plosion of  these  smouldering  hostilities.  The  quarrel 
lei  to  piratical  warfare,  waged  with  the  utmost  cruelty 
along  the  whole  British  Channel  and  ths  western  coast 
of  France.  The  King  of  France  was  only  too  ready  to 
demand  satisfaction.  Edward  of  England,  though  re- 
luctant to  engage  in  continental  warfare,  could  not 
abandon  his  own  subjects ;  yet  so  absorbed  was  Edward 
in  hia  own  affairs  that  he  became  the  victim  of  the 
grossest  artifice.  The  first  offenders  in  the  quarrel  had 
boen  sailors  of  Edward's  port  of  Bayonna.  It  was  indis- 
pensable for  the  honour  of  France  that  they  should 
suffer  condign  punishment.  Gruienne  must  be  sur- 
rendered for  a  time  to  the  Suzerain,  the  King  of  France, 
that  he  might  exercise  his  unresisted  jurisdiction  over 
the  criminals.  Philip  was  permitted  to  march  into 
Guienne,  and  to  occupy  with  force  some  of  the  strongest 
castles.  On  the  demand  of  restitution  he  laughed  to 
scorn  the  deluded  Edward;  negotiations,  remonstrances, 
were  squally  unavailing.  The  affront  was  too  flagrant 
ani  humiliating,  tha  loss  too  precious ;  war  seemed  iu- 
€vitable.  Edward,  by  his  heralds,  renounced  his  alle- 
giance ;  ha  would  no  longer  be  the  man,  tha  vassal,  of 
a  King  who  violated  all  treaties  sworn  to  by  their  com- 
mon ancestors.  But  the  Barons  and  the  Churchmen  of 
England  were  now  averse  to  foreign  wara :  their  sub- 
sidies, their  aids,  their  musters,  were  slow,  reluctant, 
almost  refused.  Each  Sovereign  strengthened  himself 
with  foreign  allies :  Edward,  as  has  been  said,  sub- 
sidised the  Emperor  Adolph  of  Nassau,  and  entered 
into  a  league  with  the  Counts  of  Flanders  antl  of  Bai, 
who  WBre  prepared  to  raise  the  standard  of  revolt 
against  the  Suzerain,  tlia  King  of  France.  Philip 


43  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY 

entered  into  hardly  less  dangerous  correspondence  with 
the  opponants  of  Edward's  power  in  Scotland.k 

So  stood  affairs  between  tha  kingdoms  of  France  and 
Accession  of  England  at  the  accession  of  Boniface  VIII, 
Deo.  i29i.  Philip  had  now  overrun  the  whole  of  Grascony, 
and  Edward  had  renounced  all  allegiance,  and  declared 
that  he  would  hold  hia  Aquitaman  possessions  without 
fealty  to  the  King  of  Franca ;  but  ths  Seneschal  of 
Gascony  had  been  defeated  and  was  a  prisoner.*1  Duke 
John  of  Brabant  had  risen  in  rebellion  against  the  King 
of  Francs;  he  had  been  compelled  to  humiliating  sub- 
mission by  Charles  of  Valois.  Almost  the  first  act  of 
Boniface  was  to  command  peace.  Berard,  Cardinal 
Bishop  of  Alba,  and  Simon,  Cardinal  Bishop  of  Pales- 
trina,  were  sent  as  Legates,  armed  with  the  power  of 
releasing  from  all  oaths  or  obligations  which  might 
stand  in  the  way  of  pacification,  and  of  inflicting  eccle- 
siastical censures,  without  appeal,  upon  all,  of  whatso- 
ever degree,  rank,  or  condition,  who  should  rebel  against 
their  authority.11  The  Cardinals  crossed  to  England; 
they  wers  received  in  a  full  Parliament  at  Westminster. 
The  King  of  England  ordered  his  brother  Edmund  and 
John  de  Lacy  to  explain  tha  causes  of  the  war,  his 
grievances  and  insults  endured  from  tha  King  of  France. 
The  Cardinals  peremptorily  insisted  on  peace.  Edward 
replied  that  he  could  not  make  peace  without  the  con- 
currence of  his  ally  the  King  of  the  Romans.  The  Car* 
dinals  urged  a  truce ;  this  Edward  rejected  with  equal 
determination.  They  endeavoured  to  prevent  the  sailing 
of  Edward's  fleet,  already  assembled  in  the  ports  of  tha 


k  Document  in  liyraai-,  sab  ann.  1294.  Walsingliam,  51.    Home, 
"  JorfonuB  apui  Bayimld,    Matt.  Westmonart.  aub  nan, 
E  Instructions  in  Raynnld,  sub  ann.  1995. 


.  vlti          JBON1FAUE  COMMANDS  A  TBUCE.  *9 

island.  Edward  steadily  refused  even  that  concession. 
Bnt  "Boniface  was  not  so  to  be  silenced;  he  declared  all 
existing  treaties  of  alliance  null  and  void,  and  peremp- 
torily enjoined  a  truce  from  St.  John  Baptist's  Jnnezi. 
day  until  the  same  festival  in  the  ensuing  izs's 
year.0  To  Edward  ho  wrote  expressing  his  surprise  and 
grief  that  he,  who  in  his  youth  had  waged  only  holy 
wars  against  unbelievers,  should  fall  off  in  his  mature 
age  into  a  disturber  of  the  peace  of  Christendom,  and 
feel  no  compunction  at  the  slaughter  of  Christians  by 
each  other.  He  wrote,  as  has  been  told,  in  more 
haughty  and  almost  contemptuous  language  to  tha 
King  of  the  Eomans;  he  reproached  him  for  serving 
as  a  bass  mercenary  of  the  King  of  England:  tha 
King  of  tha  Romans,  if  disobedient,  could  hava  ni? 
hope  or  claim  to  the  Imperial  Crown;  obedient,  hp 
might  merit  not  only  the  praise  of  man,  but  the 
favour  and  patronage  of  the  Apostolic  See.  The 
Archbishop  of  Mentz  was  commanded  to  give  no  aid 
whatever  to  the  King  of  tha  Eomana  in  this  unholy 
•war ;  on  Adolph  too  was  imperatively  urged  the  truce 
for  a  year.11 

The  Cardinal  Legates,  Alba  and  Palestrina,  discou- 
raged by  their  reception  in  England,  did  not  venture 
to  appear  before  the  more  haughty  and  irascible  Philip 
of  France  "with  the  Pope's  imperious  mandate ;  they 
assumed  that  the  truce  for  a  year,  enjoined  by  the  Pope, 
would  find  obsequious  observance.  Boniface  did  not 
think  fit  to  rebuke  their  judicious  prudence ;  but  of  his 
own  supreme  power  ordered  that  on  the  expiration  of 


0  RaynaH,  sub  aim.  129  B. 
f  Letters  apud  RaynnM.  1295.  The 
Nuncios  m  Germany,  the  Bishops  uf 
VOL.  VIT 


Reggio  and  Sienna,  had  full  powers  U> 
release  from  all  oaths  anrl  treaties.  Sea 
above,  p.  35. 


50  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  XI. 

the  first  year  the  trace  should  be  continued  for  two 
years  longer.* 

The  blessings  of  peace,  tha  league  of  all  Christian 
princes  against  ths  Infidel,  might  be  the  remote  and 
splendid  end  which  Boniface  either  had  or  thought  he 
had  in  view  in  his  confident  assertion  of  his  inhibitory 
powers,  and  his  right  of  interposing  in  the  quarrels  of 
Christian  princes.    But  there  was  one  immediate  and 
pressing  evil  which  could  not  well  escape  his  sagacity. 
Such  wars  could  no  longer  be  carried  on  without  tli8 
Taxation  „,  taxation  of  the  clergy.     Not  merely  was  the 
tha  ciergy    pDpe  the  supreme  guardian  of  this  inestimable 
results1  oi9    immunity,  freedom  from  civil  assessments,  but 
war  it  was  impossible  that  the  clergy  either  could 

or  would  endure  tho  double  burthens  imposed  on  them 
by  their  own  Sovereigns  and  by  the  See  of  Borne.  All 
the  subjects  of  the  Roman  See,  as  they  owed,  if  not  ex- 
clusive, yet  superior  allegiance  to  the  Pope,  so  their 
vast  possessions  must  be  tributary  to  him  alone,  at  least 
his  permission  must  be  obtained  far  contributions  to 
secular  purposes.  Wars,  even  if  conducted  on  tho  per- 
fect feudal  principle  (each  Lord,  at  the  summons  of  tho 
Drown,  levying,  arming,  bringing  into  the  field,  and 
maintaining  his  vassals  at  his  own  cost),  were  neces- 
sarily conducted  with  much  growing  expense  for  muni- 
tions of  war,  military  engines,  commissariat  however 
imperfect,  vessels  for  freight,  if  in  foreign  lands.  But 
the  principle  of  feudalism  had  boon  weakened;  war 
ceased  to  be  the  one  noble,  the  one  not  ignominious 
calling,  the  duty  and  privilege  of  the  aristocracy  at  the 
head  of  their  retainers.  No  sooner  had  agricultu.ro, 


v  The  Bull  in  Raynoldue  (1283,  No.  19),  addressed  to  Adulph,  King  of  thr 
j&unaca. 


CHAP.  VIII.  STATUTE  DP  MORTMAIN.  51 

commerce,  manufactures,  become  respectable  and  lucra- 
tive; no  sooner  must  armies  be  raised  and  retained  on 
service,  even  in  part,  by  regular  pay,  than  the  cost  of 
keeping  sucli  armies  on  foot  began  to  augment  beyond 
all  proportion.  The  ecclesiastics  who  held  Knights' 
Pees  were  bound  to  furnish  their  quota  of  vassals;  they 
did  often  furnish  them  with  tolerable  regularity ;  they 
had  even  appeared  often,  and  still  appeared,  at  the 
head  of  their  contingent;  yet  there  must  have  been 
more  difficulty,  more  frequent  evasion,  more  dispute  as 
to  liability  of  service,  as  the  land  of  the  realm  fell  more 
and  more  into  the  hands  of  the  clergy.  Though  the 
great  Statute  of  Mortmain,  enacted  by  succes- 
sive  Kings,  the  first  bold  limitary  law  to  the  M" 
all-absorbing  acquisition  of  land  by  the  clergy,  may 
have  been  at  first  more  directly  aimed  at  other  losses 
sustained  by  the  Crown,  when  estates  were  held  by 
ecclesiastic  or  monastic  bodies,  such  as  reliefs  upon  suc- 
cession, upon  alienation,  upon  wardships  and  marriages, 
which  could  not  arise  out  of  lands  held  by  perpetual 
corporations  and  corporations  perpetuated  by  ecclesi- 
astical descent;  yet  among  the  objects  sought  by  that 
Statute  must  have  been  that  the  Drown  should  be  less 
dependent  on  ecclesiastical  retainers  in  time  of  war. 

The  Mortmain  Statute,1"  of  which  the  principle  was 
established  by  the  G-reat  Charter,  only  applied  to  reli- 
gious houses.  The  second  great  Charter  of  Henry  III. 
comprehended  the  whole  Hierarchy,  Bishops,  Chapters, 
and  Beneficiaries.  The  Statute  of  Edward  endeavoured 
tb  strike  at  tha  root  of  the  evil,  and  prohibited  the  re- 
ceiving land  in  mortmain,  whether  by  gift,  bequest,  or 
any  other  mode;  the  penalty  was  the  forfeiture  of  tho 


'7th  Edward  I.     Compare  Hallam,  ii.  p  24-. 

E  2 


52  1ATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  XI, 

land  to  the  Lord,  in  default  of  the  Lord  to  the  King. 
But  the  law,  or  tha  interpretation  of  tha  law,  was  still 
in  the  hands  or  at  the  command  of  the  clergy,  who  were 
tha  only  learned  body  in  the  realm.  Ingenious  devices 
were  framed,  fictitious  titles  to  the  original  fief,  fraudu- 
lent or  collusive  acknowledgements,  refusal  or  neglect 
to  plead  on  the  part  of  the  tenant,  and  so  recoveries  of 
the  land  hy  the  Church,  as  originally  and  indefensibly 
its  own;  afterwards  grants  to  feoffees  in  perpetuity,  or 
for  long  terms  of  years,  for  the  use  of  religious  houses 
or  ecclBsiastics.  It  required  two  later  Statutes,  that  of 
Westminster  under  Edward  I.  (in  his  eighteenth  year), 
finally  that  of  Richard  II.  (in  his  fifteenth  year),  before 
the  skill  and  ingenuity  of  this  hierarchical  invasion 
of  property  was  finally  baffled,  and  an  end  put  to  the 
all-absorbing  aggression  of  the  Church  on  the  land  of 
England.8 

The  Popes  themselves  had,  to  a  certain  extent,  given 
the  authority  and  the  precedent  in  the  direct  taxation 
of  the  clergy  for  purposes  of  war ;  but  these  were  for 
holy  wars.  Sovereigns,  themselves  engaged  in  cruaades, 
or  who  allowed  crusades  to  be  preached  and  troops 
raised  and  armed  in  their  dominions  for  that  sacred 
object,  occasionally  received  grants  of  twentieths,  tenths, 
or  more,  on  the  ecclesiastical  revenues  for  this  religious 
use.  In  many  instances  tho  Sovereigns,  following  the 
examples,  as  was  believed,  of  the  Popes  themaelvofl,  had 
raised  tha  money  under  this  pretext  and  applied  it  to 
their  own  more  profane  purposes,  and  thus  had  learned 
to  look  on  ecclesiastical  property  as  by  no  means  so 
snored,  to  hold  the  violation  of  its  peculiar  exemptions 
very  far  from  the  impious  sacrilege  which  it  had  been 


BlttrikhtmiB,  n.  eh.  IS, 


CHAP.  VIIL        INEVITABLE  RESULTS  OP  WAR.  53 

asserted  and  believed  to  be  in  moie  superstitious  times. 
But  all  subsidies,  which  in  latter  years  had  begun  to  be 
granted  in  England,  at  least  throughout  the  reign  of 
Henry  III.,  had  been  held  to  be  free  gifts,  voted  by  the 
clergy  themselves  in  their  own  special  Synods  or  Con- 
vocations. Now,  however,  these  voluntary  subsidies, 
suggested  by  the  King's  friends  among  the  clergy,  but 
liable  to  absolute  refusal,  had  grown  into  imperative  ex- 
actions. Edward,  as  his  necessities  became  more  urgent, 
from  his  conquests,  hia  intrigues,  his  now  open  invasion 
of  Scotland,  and  the  impending  war  with  France,  could 
not,  if  he  hoped  for  success,  and  was  not  disposed  from 
any  overweening  terror  of  the  spiritual  power,  to  permit 
one-third  or  one-half k  (if  WB  are  to  believe  some  state- 
ments), at  all  events  a  very  large  portion  of  the  realm, 
to  withhold  its  contribution  to  the  public  service.  The 
wealth  of  the  clergy,  the  facility  with  which,  if  he  once 
got  over  his  religious  fear  and  scruples,  such  taxes  could 
be  levied;  the  natural  desire  of  f oreatalling the  demands 
of  Rome,  which  so  fatally,  according  ID  the  economic 
views  of  the  time,  drained  the  land  of  a  large  portion  of 
its  wealth ;  perhaps  his  own  mistaken  policy  in  expelling 
the  Jews,  and  so  inflicting  at  once  a  heavy  Mow  on  the 
trade  of  tha  country,  and  depriving  him  of  a  wealthy 
class  whom  he  might  have  plundered  in  a  more  slow 
and  productive  manner  without  remorse,  resistance,  or 
remonstrance ;  all  conspired  to  urge  the  King  on  hia 
course.  Certainly,  whatever  hia  motives,  his  wants,  or 
his  designs,  Edward  had  already  asserted,  in  various 
ways  and  in  tha  boldest  manner,  hia  right  to  tax  the 
clergy,  had  raised  the  tax  to  an  unprecedented  amount, 


See  the  passage  in  Turner's  Hist,  of  England,  in  a  future  Note.    This  nabje 
discussed  hereafter, 


LATIN  CHRISTIANITY. 


BOOK  XI. 


and  showsd  that  JIB  would  hesitate  at  no  meana  to 
enforce  Ma  demands.  He  had  obtained  from  Pops 
Nicolas  IV.  (about  1291)  a  grant  of  ths  tenth  of  the 
whale  ecclesiastical  property,  under  the  pretext  of  an 
expedition  to  the  Holy  Land,  a  pretext  which  the  Pope 
would  more  easily  admit  from  a  Prince  who  had  already 
displayed  hia  zeal  and  valour  in  a  Crusade,  and  of  which 
Edward  himself,  after  the  subjugation  of  Wales  and 
Scotland  and  the  security  of  his  French  dominions, 
might  remotely  contemplate  the  fulfilment.  This  grant 
was  assessed  on  a  new  valuation,11  enforced  on  oath,  and 
which  probably  raised  to  a  great  amount  the  value  of 
the  Church  property,  and  so  increased  the  demands  of 
the  King,  and  aggravated  tha  burthens  of  the  clergy,11 
By  another  more  arbitrary  act,  before  his  war  in 
Gruienne,  Edward  had  appointed  Commissioners  to 
make  inquisition  into  the  treasuries  of  all  the  religious 
houses  and  chapters  in  the  realm.  Not  only  were  these 


•  This  valuation  was  maintained,  as 
that  on  which  all  eeclBsinitical  pio- 
peity  was  assessed,  till  the  time  of 
Hem  y  VJII.  It  was  published  in  1 8 D2 
br  the  Recoil  Commission,  fulin. 
~*  In  the  MS  ,  B  M  ,  sub  ami  1276, 
vol.  xiii.,  is  an  account  of  the  "Sona- 
tas" of  the  lUcarih  of  FloiniBe,  for 
tenths  collected  In  England.  The 
total  sum  (the  details  of  each  diocese 
are  given,  hut  some,  as  Caiiteibmy  anil 
London,  do  nut  appear)  is  11,035?., 
xiv.  soliili,  3  dauiuii.  The  bankers 
undertake  to  dehvei  the  sntnc  in  Lon- 
don or  any  place,  "  ultia  et  citra 
mare."  They  take  upon  themselves 
all  nsks  pf  pillage,  theft,  violence,  fire, 
or  shipwreck,  Whence  'heir  profits 
do  not  appear  "  E  b  Raimtri  sopra- 
ailo  eon  li  mm  ms.no  abo  iuswito  quia 


di  sntto,  e  messu  lo  mio  sugcllo,  con 
quelo  dtilii  compagina"  Other  signn- 
tuicb  Follow.  In  a  later  nccount,  nfter 
tha  valuatinn  of  Nicolas  IV.,  dated 
Aug.  30,  vol.  xv  ,  the  whole  pirjju'ity, 
with  the  ncB|itinu  of  tin-  goodn  of  the 
Bishops  »f  Wiiuilifbtei1  and  Lincoln, 
and  Nhiibt  Chuich,  Cnntcibun,  in  w't 
at  204, 1M;  15s.  M.  ct  obuh  j  the 
teiitli,  20,4042.  IDs  3d.  et  olnli. 
Win  ton  ,md  Lincoln,  3077?.  153.  Id. 
&D.,  tBiith,  307?  15».  fltf.  tl)  oboH, 
Christ  Chuich,  355?.  9s.  2df.;  tctith, 
IJ5?.  10*.  11(2,  S|i(!uinl  tux  on  plurnh- 
ties,  7!W.  10s.  lid.  1.  Total  collected, 
20,855?,  7s.  Hi?.  In  another  place, 
the  Dwn  of  St  Paul's  as  tnoaurer 
(vol.  xin  p.  110),  accounts  for  tho 
sum  of  31B5/,  79.  3d.  1,  arrear*  tot 
three  yean. 


CHAP.  VIli.  iDWARD'8  NECESSITIES.  55 

religious  houses  in  possession  of  considerable  accumula- 
tions of  wealth,  but  they  were  the  only  banks  of  deposit 
in  which  others  could  lay  up  their  riches  in  sscurity. 
All  these  sums  were  enrolled  in  the  Exchequer,  and, 
under  the  specious  name  of  loans,  carried  off  for  the 
King's  USB. 

But  with  the  King's  necessities,  the  King's  demands 
grew  in  urgency,  frequency,  imperiousnese. 
It  was  during  the  brief  Pontificate  of  Coeles- 
tine  V.,  when  Kobert  of  Winchelsea,  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  was  at  Borne  to  receive  his  pall  from  the 
hands  of  the  Pope,  that  the  King  in  a  Parliament  at 
Westminster  demanded  of  the  clergy  a  subsidy  of  half 
of  their  annual  revenue.  The  clergy  were  confounded; 
they  entreated  permission  to  retire  and  consult  on  the 
grave  question.  William  Montfort,  Dean  of  St.  Paul's, 
was  chosen  to  persuade  the  King  to  desist  from,  or  at 
least  to  reduce  his  demand  to  some  less  exorbitant 
amount.  The  Dean  had  hardly  begun  his 
speech,  when  he  fell  dead  at  the  feet  of  the 
King.  Edward  was  unmoved;  he  might  perhaps  tarn 
the  natural  argument  of  the  clergy  on  themselves,  and 
treat  the  death  of  Montfort  as  a  judgement  of  Groi  upon 
a  refractory  subject.  He  sent  Sir  John  Havering  to 
the  Prelates,  who  were  still  shut  up  in  the  royal  palace  at 
Westminster.  The  Knight  was  to  proclaim  that  who- 
ever opposed  the  King's  will  was  to  come  forth  and  dis- 
cover himself;  and  that  ths  King  would  at  once  proceed 
against  him  as  a  disturber  of  the  public  .peace.  The 
spirit  of  Becket  prevailed  not  among  the  Prelates  ;  no 
one  would  venture  to  put  to  the  test  the  stern  and 
determined  Edward.  They  submitted  with  ungracious 
reluctance,  in  hopes  no  doubt  that  their  Primate  would 
Boon  appear  among  them;  and  that  he,  braced,  aa  it 


5B 


LATIN  CHBISTIANITY.. 


HOOK  XI. 


were,  by  the  air  of  Kome,  would  bear  the  brunt  of  oppo- 
sition to  the  Kmg.y 

If  the  necessities  of  Edward  drove  him  to  these  strong 
mcasurDS  against  the  clergy  of  England,  the  French 
hierarchy  had  still  more  to  dread  from  the  insatiable 
rapacity  and  wants  of  Philip  the  Fair.  That  rapacity, 
the  remorseless  oppression  of  the  whole  people  by  the 
despotic  monarch,  anil  his  loss  of  their  loyal  affection, 
was  now  so  notorious  that  tha  Pope,  in  one  of  his  letters 
to  the  King,  speaks  of  it  as  an  admitted  fact.7  Philip 
had  as  ynt  been  engaged  in  no  expensive  wars ;  his 
court  might  indulge  in  some  coarse  pomp  and  luxury; 
yet  trade  might  have  flourished,  even  arts  and  manufac- 
tures might  havo  been  introduced  from.  Flanders  and 
Italy,  hut  for  tho  stern  and  exterminating  measures  of 
hia  rude  finance.  His  coffers  woro  always  filling,  never 
full;  and  ho  know  no  way  nf  raising  a  revenue  but 
by  direct  and  cruel  extortion,  exorcised  by  himself,  or 
by  his  farmers  of  tliQ  taxes  under  his  seal  and  authority. 
Two  Italian  bankers,  ths  brothers  Biceio  and  Musciatto 
dti  Franc  cm,  possessed  his  entire  confidence,  and  were 
armed  with  his  unlimited  powers.  But  the  taxes  wrung 
from  the  tenants  of  tho  crown,  from  the  peasants  to 
whom  thoy  left  not  tho  seed  for  the  future  harvest,  were 
soon  exhaust  rid,  mul  of  course  diminished  with  every 
year  of  intolerable  burtbsn:  ether  sources  of  wealth 
must  bs  diecovero.fi. 

rJh0  Jews  were  the  first;  their  strange  obstinacy  in 
ni  on  ay-making  made  them  his  perpetual  victims.  Philip 


V  Compare  Collier,  EM.  Hist,  i,  p. 
463,  folio  edit. 

•  "  Ipsi  quidem  auWiti  atho  aunt 
dirarelB  onaribus  aggnmtl,  quod  co- 
rum  oi  te  Mllta  at  sulijacta  miiltum 


pufaitui1  infriguit.se  devotio,  ct  panto 
amplins  nggmrantur,  tnnto  potiua  ia 
pobtcnun  refngoRcat."  — /J  Pliilip, 
Reg.  Dupuy,  p.  13. 


CHAP.  VIII. 


RAPACITY  OF  PHILIP. 


might  seem  to  feed  them  up  by  his  favour  to  become 
a  richer  sacrifice : a  he  sold  to  particular  per- 
sons acts  of  security;  he  exacted  large  sums 
aa  though  he  would  protect  them  in  fair  trade  from 
their  communities.     At  length  after  some  years  of  this 
plundering  and  pacifying,  came  the  fatal  blow,  their 
expulsion  from  the  realm  with   every  aggravation  of 
cruelty,  the  seizure  and  confiscation  of  thair  property.11 
What  is  moie   strange.,   the  persecuted  and 
exiled  Jews  were  in  five  years  rich  and  nume- 
rous   enough  to    tempt  a  second  expulsion,  a  second 
confiscation. 

But  in  TTran.ce  the  Jews  had  formidable  commercial 
rivals  in  tho  Italian  hankers.  Philip  respected  wealthy 
Christians  no  more  than  wealthy  misbelievers.  The 
whole  of  these  peaceful  and  opulent  men  Mayli 
were  seized  and  imprisoned  on  tha  charge  1Ml* 
of  violating  the  laws  against  usury;  and  to  warn  them 
from  that  unchristian  practice,  they  were  mercifully 
threatened  with  the  severest  tortures,  to  be  escape! 
only  on  tho  payment  of  enormous  mulcts.'  Some  re- 
sisted;  but  the  gaolers  had  their  ciders  to  urge  upon 
the  weary  prisoners  the  inflexible  determination,  of  the 
King.  Most  of  them  yielded ;  but  they  fled  the  inhos- 
pitable realm;  and  if  they  loft  behind  much  of  their 
actual  wealth,  they  carried  with  them  their  enterprise 
and  industry.4  The  Francosis,  Philip's  odious  financiers, 
derived  a  double  advantage  from  their  departure,  the 


•  In  1288  1m  fnibarlu  the  nvbitiiiiy 
impiisonment  of  the  Jews  nh  the  desiiB 
of  any  monk.    This  seems  to  liiue 
Dem  a  common  piacticB. 

h  Hist,  of  Jews,  in.  p.  20G-7. 

•  Villani,  Tii,  c.  14U 


a  Villimi  (vii.  140"),  Th»  commer- 
cial Floi  cntine  sen  the  nun  of  Fi  ivucfl 
in  this  ill  usage  nt'thp  Italian  bsiukcra. 
"  Ondn  fu  inultD  uprriso,  o  il'  nllui'ti 
mnnnzi  lo  TPJUIIB  ill  Fntncfa 


58  LATIN"  DHUISTIANITr  BOOK  XI 

plunder  of  their  riches  and  the  monopoly  of  all  the 

internal  trade,  which  had  been   earned   on  by  thuir 

exiled  countrymen,  with  the  sole  liberty  no  doubt  of 

violating  with  impunity  the  awful  laws  against  usury. 

Philip  even  had  strength  and  daring  to  plunder  hia 

Nobles.    Under  tliB  pretext  of  a  sumptuary 

Tlic  nobles    ,  i   •   i       i        -,     i     Ti  •  f  i 

law,  which  limited  the  possession  of  such 
pompous  indulgences  to  those  few  who  possessed  more 
than  six  thousand  livrea  tournois6  of  annual  revenue, 
he  demanded  the  surrender  of  all  their  gold  and  silver 
plate,  it  was  averred,  only  for  safe  custody;  but  that 
which  reached  the  royal  treasury  only  came  out  in  th3 
shape  of  stamped  coin.  This  stamped  coin  was  greatly 
inferior,  in  weight  and  from  its  alloy,  to  the  current 
money.  The  King  could  not  deny  or  dissemble  the 
iniquity  of  this  transaction ;  ha  excused  it  from,  tha 
urgent  necessities  of  the  kingdom ;  promised  that  ths 
treasury  would  reimburse  the  loss;  that  the  royal  ex- 
chequer would  receive  tha  coin  at  its  nominal  value ; 
and  even  promised  to  pledge  the  royal  domains  aa 
security.  But  Philip's  promises  in  affairs  of  money 
were  but  specious  evasions/ 

As  an  order,  the  clergy  of  France  had  not  been  sub- 
jected to  any  direct  or  special  taxation  under 
the  name  of  voluntary  subsidy;  but  Philip  had 
shown  on  many  occasions  no  pious  respect  for  the  goods 
of  the   Dhurch ;   he  had  long  retained  thu   ostatcs  of 
vacant  bishoprics.    Their  time   could  not  but  come, 
Philip  at  the  beginning  of  hia  reign  had  struck  a  fatal 
blow  against  the  clergy,  of  which  the  clergy  itself,  not 
then  ruled  by  Boniface,  perhaps  hardly  discerned  tha 


*  Equal,  it  is  calculated,  to  72,030  francs,  »woh»W  much  mpre. 
'  Ordonnances -clea  Rons,  May,  1295, 


SHAP  VIII.    EXPULSION  DF  CLERGY  FltOlL  THE  COURTS.      59 

jearingg  even  on  tliB  future  inevitable  question  of  their 
axation  by  the  state.  He  banished  the  clergy  from  the 
whole  administration  of  the  law :  expelled  them  from 
the  courts,  from  that  time  forth  to  be  the  special  and 
undisputed  domain  of  their  rivals  and  future  foes,  the 
civil  lawyers.  An  Ordinance  commanded  all  dukes, 
counts,  barons,  archbishops,  bishops,  abbots,  chapters, 
who  had  jurisdiction,  to  commit  the  exercise  of  that 
jurisdiction  to  bailiffs,  provosts,  and  assessors,  not  eccle- 
siastics. The  pretext  was  specious,  that  if  such  men 
abused  then-  power,  they  could  be  punished  for  the 
abuse.  It  was  also  forbidden  to  all  chapters  and  monas- 
teries to  employ  an  ecclesiastic  as  proctor.  Another 
Ordinance  deprived  the  clergy  of  the  right  of  being 
elected  as  provost,  mayor,  sheriff  (echevin),  or  municipal 
councillor.  Bishops  could  only  sit  in  the  Eoyal  Parlia- 
ment by  permission  of  the  President/ 

Still  up  to  this  time  the  clergy  had  not  been  subjected 
to  the  common  assessments.  The  first  taxa-  TumtiDn  of 
tion,  which  bore  the  odious  name  of  the  mal-  clerpy< 
t6te  (the  ill  assessed  and  ill  levied),  respected  them.h 
It  had  fallen  chiefly,  if  not  exclusively,  on  the  traders. 
But  whether  emboldened  by  the  success  of  his  rival 
Edward  in  England,  or  knowing  that,  if  Edward  wielded 
the  wealth  of  the  English  clergy,  ho  must  wield  that  of 
France,  in  the  now  extraordinary  impost  the  impartial 
assessment  comprehended  ecclesiastics  as  well  as  the 
laity. 

Boniface  VIII.,  with  all  his  ability  and  sagacity,  was 
possessed  even  to  infatuation  with  the  conviction  of 
the  unlimited,  irresistible  power  of  the  Papacy.  Ha 
determined,  once  for  all,  on  the  broadest,  boldest,  most 


Ordunnances  des  Roia,  1287-1289,  k  Sub  ann.  1293, 


60  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  XI. 

uucontestabls  ground  to  bring  to  issue  this  inevitable 
question  ;  to  sever  the  property  of  the  Church  from  all 
secular  obligations  ;  to  declare  himself  the  one  exclusive 
trustse  of  all  the  lands,  goods,  and  properties,  held 
throughout  Christendom  by  the  clergy,  by  monastic 
bodies,  even  by  the  universities :  and  that,  "without  his 
consent,  no  aid,  benevolence,  grant,  or  subsidy  could  be 
raised  on  their  estates  or  possessions  by  any  temporal 
sovereign  in  the  world.  Such  is  the  full  and  distinct 
ThoHuii  ssnse  of  the  famous  Bull  issued  by  Boniface 
LaicM."  at  the  QDimn  en  cement  of  the  second  year  of 
hia  Pontificate.  "  The  laity,  such  is  the  -witness  of  all 
antiquity,  have  been  ever  hostile  to  the  clergy:  recent 
experience  sadly  confirms  this  truth.  They  are  igno- 
rant that  over  ecclesiastical  persons,  over  eccleaiastical 
property,  they  have  no  power  whatever.  But  they  have 
dared  to  exact  both  from  the  secular  and  the  regular 
clergy  a  twentieth,  a  tenth,  half  of  their  revenue,1  and 
applied  the  money  to  their  own  secular  uses.  Some 
base  and  time-serving  prelates  havo  been  so  dastardly 
as  to  submit  to  those  wicked  exactions."  The  prohi- 
bition of  the  Pope  was  as  particular  and  explicit  as 
could  be  framed  in  words .  "  On  no  title,  on  nn  plea, 
under  no  name,  was  any  tax  to  bo  levied  on  any  pro- 
perty of  the  Church,  without  the  distinct  permission  of 
the  Pope.  Every  layman  of  whatever  rank,  emperor, 
king,  prince,  duke,  or  their  officers,  who  received  euoh 
money,  was  at  onco  and  absolutely  under  excommuni- 
cation ;  they  could  only  bo  absolved,  undor  competent 
authority,  at  the  hour  of  death.  Every  ecclesiastic  who 


1  This  seems  aimed  directly  at  Edward  I,  It  was  believed  in  England  tint 
the  Trail  was  obtained  by  the  influence  of  the  English  primate.  Koto  t  of  VVm- 
chclsea,  then  at  Rome. 


AP  VIII.  PARLIAMENT  AT  BURY.  Bl 

bmitted  to  such  taxation  was  at  once  deposed,  and 
capable  of  holding  any  benefice.     The  Universities 
hich  should  so  offend  -were  under  interdict." k 
But  the  Kings  of  France  and  England  were  not  so 
isily  appalled  into  acquiescence  in  a  claim  EmK\iam. 
hich  either  smote  their  exchequer  with  bar-  A-D-12DG 
jnness,  or  reduced  them  to  dependence  not  only  on 
aeir  own  subjects,  but  also  on  the  Pope.     It  gave  to 
le  Pontiff  of  Rome  the  ultimate  judgement  on  war  and 
eace  between  nations.    Edward  had  gone  too  far  :  he 
ad  derived  too  much  advantage  from  ths  subsidies  of 
he  clergy  to  abandon  that  fruitful  source  of  revenue. 
.Tie  year  after  the  levy  of  one-half  of  the  income  of  the 
lergy,  a  Parliament  met  at  St.  Edmondsbury.  Parliament 
Che    laity   granted    a  subsidy;    the    clergy,  atJJury- 
Dleading  their  inability,  as  drained  by  the  payment  of 
ihe  last  year,  or  emboldened  by  the  presence  of  the 
Primate  .Robert  of  Winchelsea,  refused  all  further  grant. 
The  King  allowed  time  for   deliberation,  but  in  the 
mean  time  with  significant  precaution  ordered  locks  to 
be  placed  on  all  their  barns,  and  that  thny  should  be 
sealed  with  the  King's  seal.   The  Archbishop  at  once  com- 
manded the  Bull  of  Pope  Boniface  to  be  road  publicly  in 
all  the  cathedral  churches  of  the  realm;  but  the  barns 
did  not  fly  open  at  the  bidding  of  the  great  enchanter. 
The  Primate  summoned  a  provincial  Synod  council  at 
or  Convocation  of  the  Clergy,  to  meet  in  St.  St-I1<iulls- 
Paul's,  London.     The  King  sent  an  order  warning  tho 
Synod  against  mating   any  constitution  which  might 
infringe   on  his  prerogative,   or  which  might  turn  to 
"  the  disadvantage  of  us,  our  ministers,  or  any  of  our 


"  The  Troll "  Chrioia  LaiEog,"  apui  Dupuy,  Preuvas,  p.  14.     In  RaynnlduB, 
mb  ann.  1298,  January,  and  Rymer,  it.  706, 


S3  1ATD<  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  XI 

faithful  subjects."™  The  majority  of  the  Synod  peremp- 
torily  refused  all  grant  or  concession.  Upon  this  King 
Edward  took  the  bold  yet  tenable  ground,  that  those 
who  would  not  contribute  to  the  maintenance  of  the 
temporal  power  should  not  enjoy  its  protection  ;  if  they 
refused  the  obligations,  they  must  abandon  the  rights  of 
subjects.  The  whole  clergy  of  the  realm  were  declared 
by  the  Chief  Justice  on  the  Bench  to  be  in  a  state  of 
outlawry :  they  had  no  resort  to  ths  King's  justice. 
Nor  was  this  an  idle  menace.  Officers  were  ordered 
to  seize  the  bsst  horses  both  of  the  secular  and  regular 
clergy :  if  they  sought  redress,  the  lawyers  wsra  for- 
bidden to  plead  on  their  behalf:  the  King's  courts  wer? 
closed  against  them.  They  were  now  in  a  perilous  and 
perplexing  condition ;  they  must  either  resist  the  King 
or  the  Pope.  They  felt  the  King's  hand ;  the  demand 
took  the  form  not  merely  of  a  subsidy,  but  of  a  fins  for 
the  contumacious  resistance  to  the  King's  authority. 
Yet  the  terrible  anathemas  ofthsPops's  Bull  had  hardly 
died  away  m  their  cathedrals.  There  was  division 
among  themselves.  A  great  part  of  the  clergy  leaned 
towards  the  more  prudent  courss,  and  empowered  tho 
Archbishop  of  York,  the  Bishops  of  Durham,  Salisbury, 

and  Ely  to  endeavour  to  effect  a  compromise. 

A  fifth  part  of  their  revenue  from  estates  anrl 
goods  was  sot  apart  in  SDima  sanctuary  or  privileged 
place,  to  be  drawn  forth  when  required  by  the  neces- 
sities of  the  Church  or  the  kingdom.  The  Papal 
prohibition  was  thus,  it  was  thought,  eluded:  the  King, 
remaining  judge  of  the  necessity,  cared  not,  provided 
he  obtained  the  money.11  The  Primate,  as  though  tho 

m  Spelraan,  Concilia,  sub  arm. 

*  Hfimingfiui,  107,  108.    Bind/,  Appendix,  10,  23.    Westminster,  ail  uuv 
1296.    Collier,  i.  491,  Stc. 


.  Vin.  THE  KING  RELENTS.  63 

shrine  of  Thomas  a  Becket  spoke  warning  and  encou- 
ragement (he  knew,  too,  what  Pope  was  on  ArcMniJir,p 
the  th-ions),  refused  all  submission,  but  he  resij!ta- 
stood  alone,  and.  alone  bore  the  penalty.  His  •whole 
estate  was  seized  to  the  King's  USB,  Ths  Archbishop 
had  but  the  barren  consolation  of  declaring  tha  rest 
of  the  clergy  to  hays  incurred  the  Papal  sentence  of 
excommunication.  He  left  ths  Synod  with  a  solemn 
admonition  to  the  other  Prelates  and  clergy  lest  they 
should  imperil  their  souls  by  criminal  concession.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  preaching  Friars  of  the  Order  of 
St.  Dominic,  usually  the  unscrupulous  assertors  of  the 
Papal  power,  appeared  in  St.  Paul's,  and  offered  pub- 
licly to  maintain  the  doctrine,  that  in  time  of  war  ifc 
was  lawful  for  the  clergy  to  contribute  to  the  necessities 
of  tliB  sovereign.  Notwithstanding  the  Papal  prohi- 
bition, the  clergy  at  length  yielded,  and  granted,  a 
fourth  of  their  revenue.  The  Archbishop  alone  stood 
firm;  but  his  lands  were  in.  the  hands  of  the  King's 
officers;  himself  an  exile  from  the  court.  He  retired 
with  a  single  chaplain  to  a  country  parsonage,  dis- 
charged the  humble  duties  of  a  priest,  and  lived  on  the 
alms  of  his  flock.  Lincoln  alone  followed  his  conscien- 
tious example;  Beckst  and  GrastBte  had  met  together. 
But  Lincoln  had  generously  officious  friends,  who  bought 
the  King's  pardon. 

The  war  had  now  broken  out;  the  King  was  about 
to  leave  the  realm,  and  to  embark  for  Flanders.  The  K-,,B 
It  had  been  dangerous,  if  Edward  should  en-  IBlBntH 
counter  any  of  the  accidents  of  war,  or  bo  compelled  to 
protracted  absence,  to  leave  his  young  son  in  the  midst 
of  a  hostile  clergy,  and  a  people  embittered,  by  heavy 
exactions.     Edward  restored  his  barony  to  the  Arch- 
bishop, and  summoned  him.  to  attend  a  Parliament  at 


64 


LATIN  CHEISTIANITY 


BOOK  XI. 


Westminster ;  the  Archbishop  stood  by  the  side  of  the 
young  Prince  of  Wales.  The  prudent  King  conde- 
scended to  an  apologetic  tone,  he  lamented  that  the 
aggressions  of  his  enemies  in  France  and  Scotland  had 
compelled  him  reluctantly  to  lay  these  onerous  burthens 
on  his  subjects.  He  was  about  to  expose  his  life  to  the 
chancss  of  war;  if  Grod  should  bleas  his  arms  with  suc- 
cess, he  promised  to  restore  to  his  people  the  taxes 
which  he  had  levied:  if  IIB  should  fal!3  he  commended 
his  young  son  and  heir  to  their  loyal  love.0  The  whole 
assembly  was  moved ;  the  Archbishop  melted  into  tears. 
Yet  these  soft  emotions  by  no  means  blinded  them  to 
the  advantage,  offered  by  the  occasion,  of  wresting  from 
the  King  some  further  security  for  their  liberties.  The 
two  charters,  the  Great  Charter,  and  that  of  the  Forests, 
were  confirmed,  and  with  them  more  specific  guarantees 
obtained.  All  judgements  given  by  ths  King's  justices 
or  ministers  of  the  crown,  contrary  to  the  provisions  of 
the  charters,  were  declared  null  and  void.p  The  King 
commanded  that  the  charters  under  his  seal  should,  be 
sent  to  all  the  cathedral  churches  in  tha  realm,  to  be 
there  kept  and  read  in  ths  hearing  of  the  people  twice 
every  year.  Tha  Archbishops  and  Prelates  at  each 
reading  were  to  declare  all  who  violated  these  great 
national  statutes  by  word,  deed,  or  counsel,  under  actual 
sentence  of  excommunication,  The  Archbishops  ware 
to  compel  by  distraint  or  otherwise  the  suffragan  Pre- 
lates who  should  be  remiss  in  the  reiteration  of  the 
grave  anathemas.1 


»  Westminster,  eub  aim.  1297.  HB- 
mingford,  Kmghton. 

p  The  Acts  in  Rymer. 

«  The  civil  lawyers,  na  Sir  Ed- 
ward CoVo,  maintain  that  the  clingy 


her  a  acted  under  tha  nuthouty  ana 
command  of  tha  temporal  power. 
High  Churchman,  lika  Collier,  in- 
sist that  tha  blehopa  were  con- 
senting tg  the  measure ;  that  it 


CHAP.  VIII.  RECEPTION  OF  THE  BOLL  IIS  FRANCE.  G& 

Thus  the  clergy  of  England,  abandoning  their  own 
ground  of  ecclesiastical  immunities,  took  shelter  under 
the  liberties  of  the  realm.  Of  these  liberties  they 
constituted  themselves  tha  guardians ;  and  so  shrouded 
their  own  exemptions  under  the  general  right,  now 
acknowledged,  that  the  subject  could  not  be  taxed  "with- 
out his  own  consent.  The  Archbishop  during  the  next 
year  published  an  excommunication  in  which  the  rights 
of  the  clergy  and  of  the  people  were  blended  with  con- 
summate skill.  It  condemned  the  King's  officers  who 
had  seized  the  goods  and  imprisoned  the  persons  of  the 
clergy  [perhaps  for  the  arrears  of  the  subsidy),  and  at 
the  same  time  all  who  should  have  violated  the  charter, 
It  re-asserted  the  immunity  of  all  the  King's  subjects 
from  taxation  to  •which  they  had  not  given  their  assent. 
He  thus  obeyed  the  royal  mandate,  aimed  a  blow  at  the 
royal  power,  and  asserted  tha  special  exemptions  of 
the  clergy/ 

The  famous  Bull  was  received  in  France  by  the  more 
violent  and  haughty  Philip  with  still  greater  Bttjiln 
indignation;  it  struck  at  once  at  his  pride,  Franc&- 
his  power,  and  his  cupidity.  Philip,  in  his  imperious 
taxation,  had  bean  embarrassed  by  none  of  the  slow 
forms,  the  semblance  at  least  of  voluntary  grant,  to 
the  observance  of  which  the  Great  Charter,  and  now 
usage,  had  bound  the  King  of  England;  and  which, 
joined  with,  their  own  peculiar  exemptions,  made  it 
necessary  that  the  contributions  of  ths  clergy  should  be 
voted  as  an  aid,  benevolence,  or  subsidy.  Philip,  of  his 
eole  will,  had  imposed  the  tax  for  the  second  time  {the 


Wai  according  to  dacreas  of  several 
piorincial  oouncila;  that  the  penal- 
ties on  refractory  prelates  were  left 
id  the  spiritual  authority  of  the 


aichbLliDps.      Compare  Collier,  i.  p. 


494. 


'  Westm.  sub  aim.  1298.    Colltei 
p  495.    Speltflan,  Concilia. 


VOL.  VII  F 


LATIN  CHB1ST1ANITY. 


first  was  a  hundredth  of  actual  property,  now  a  fiftieth), 
which  passed  under  the  detested  name  of  maltote :  the 
harshness  and  extortion  of  hia  officers,  who  levied  this 
charge,  increased  its  unpopularity.  At  first  it  had  been 
demanded  of  the  merchants,  then  of  all  citizens,  last  of 
the  clergy.  But  if  the  wrath  of  Philip  was  mare  vehe- 
ment, his  revenge  was  more  cool  and  deliberate ;  it  was- 
a  retaliation  which  bore  the  appearance  of  moderation, 
but  struck  the  Popedom  deep  in  the  most  vital  and 
sensitive  part.  If  the  clergy  might  not  be  taxed  for  the 
exigencies  of  France,  nor  might  in  any  way  be  tributary 
to  the  King,  France  would  no  longer  ba  tributary  to  tha 
Pope,  From  all  the  kingdoms  of  Western  Christendom 
vast  wealth  was  constantly  flowing  to  Borne ;  every 
great  promotion  had  to  pay  its  fees,  no  cause  could  be 
evoked  to  Eome  without  large  expenditure  in  Borne: 
no  pilgrim  visited  the  Eternal  City  unladen  with  pre- 
cious gifts  and  offerings :  the  Pope  claimed  and  not 
seldom  had  exercised  the  power  of  assessing  the  clergy, 
not  merely  for  ordinary  purposes,  but  for  extraordinary 
exigencies  which  concerned  the  safety  or  the  grandeur- 
of  tha  Pontificate.  Philip  issued  an  Ordinance,"  pro- 
hibiting in  the  moat  rigid  anil  precise  terms  the  export- 
ation of  gold  or  silver,  either  in  ingots  or  in  plate,  of 
precious  stones,  of  provisions,  arms,  horses,  or  munitions- 
of  war,  of  any  article,  indeed,  of  current  value,  without 
special  permission  sealed  and  delivered  by  the  crown.6 


'  Thia  edict,  passed  by  the  King  in 
Parliament,  bad  been  preceded  and  was 
accomptuiied  by  another,  prohibiting 
thu  enhance  of  all  foreign  merchants 
iato  the  realm,  under  the  strange  pica 
that  the  mtarnal  trade  of  the  country 
was  carried  on  with  sufficient  activity 
Ly  the  natives  of  France,  So  well 


indeed  hud  Philip  been  served  by  hist 
ngunts  in  Rome,  tlmt  these  prohibitory 
diets  aim  oat,  if  not  quite,  anticipated 
the  formal  publication,  of  the  Papal 
bull  in  France. 

'  The  edict,  Aug.  17,  120  B.  SIs- 
monitt  has  mistaken  the  republicatlou 
of  the  bull  "  Cteitifl  Luow,"  Aug.  18. 


CHAP.  VIIL  PHILIP'S  EDICT.  B7 

Thus,  at  one  blow,  Rome  was  deprived  of  all  Jier 
supplies  from  Prance.  The  other  Edict,  which  pro- 
hibited foreign  trading  in  the  land,  proscribed  the 
agents,  the  bankers,  who  transmitted  in  other  ways 
the  Papal  revenues  to  .Rome.  Boniface  had  gone  too 
far :  but  it  was  neither  in  his  character,  his  station,  nor 
in  the  interest  of  the  hierarchy,  to  retract.  Yet,  he  was 
still  true  to  the  old  Gruelh'e  policy,  close  alliance  with 
France.  Ha  had  espoused  the  causa  of  the  French 
house  of  Anjou  in  Naples  with  ardour.  As  Pope,  he 
no  doubt  contemplated  with  admiration  that  model  of  a 
Christian  King,  whom  ha  was  called  upon  by  the  almost 
adoring  voice  of  Christendom  to  canonise,  Saint  Louis. 
The  Empire,  though  now  abased,  might  rally  again,  and 
resume  its  hostility ;  the  Colonnas  were  not  yet  crushed; 
Grhibellinism.  not  absolutely  under  his  feet.  He  had, 
indeed,  under  the  lofty  character  which  he  assumed  of 
arbiter  of  the  world,  as  the  Supreme  Pontiff,  ta  whom 
lay  resort  against  all  Christian  vassals  as  well  as  Sove- 
reigns, received  the  appeal  of  the  Count  of  Flanders 
against  his  liege  Lord,  Philip  of  France.  Philip,  jealous 
of  tha  design  of  the  Count  of  Flanders  to  many  hie 
daughter  to  the  heir  of  England,  had  summoned  tha 
Count  and  Countess  with  their  daughter  to  Paris.  They 
had  been  treacherously  seized;  the  Count  and  Countess 
had  escaped,  or  had  been  dismissed,  but  the  daughter 
was  kept  as  a  hostage  in  the  power  of  Philip,  who  "bred 
her  up  with  his  own  family,  The  Count  of  Flanders 
complained  to  the  Pope  of  this  injustice.  The  Pope 
had  sent  his  Legate,  the  Bishop  of  Meaux,  to  demand 


tn  France,  for  the  original  promulga- 
tion in  January  [Hist,  des  Franfais, 
TIII.  51 B).  Raynolius  and  Dupuy 


in  England  early  in  the  year.  The 
Pope  refers  to  it  in  his  answer,  us 
the  cause  of  the  King's  hostile  ordi- 


place  it  in  January.    It  was  known 

p  2 


B8  LATIN  CEBISTlAJSTiT\.  BOOK  XL 

her  liberation.  The  only  answer  was  a  lofty  rebuke  to 
the  Pope  for  presuming  to  intermeddle  with  temporal 
affairs  beyond  his  jurisdiction.11 

Under  these  conflicting-  circumstances,  Boniface  issued 
his  second  Manifesto.  Never  was  promulgated  by  the 
Papal  court  a  Bull  at  once  so  inflexibly  imperious,  yefc 
so  bland ;  so  disguising  the  haughtiness,  the  arrogance 
of  a  master,  under  the  smooth  and  gentle  language  ot 
a  parent;  so  manifestly  anxious  to  conciliate,  yet  so 
almost  contemptuously  offensive.  Crimination,  expos- 
tulation, menace,  flattery,  explanation  bordering  on 
apology,  almost  on  concession,  display  the  Pops  as  the 
proudest  of  mankind,  yet  for  a  moment  conscious  that 
he  is  addressing  a  monarch  as  proud  as  himself;  de- 
termined to  assert  to  the  uttermost  his  immeasurable 
superiority,  and  yet  modifying,  tempering  his  demands : 
as  the  head  of  the  Gruelfs,  reluctant  to  alienate  the  pro- 
tector of  the  Gruelfic  interest  And  ha  is  still  the  head 
of  the  great  Sacerdotal  caste,  determined  to  maintain 
that  casts  in  its  inviolable  sanctity  and  power,  and  to 
yield  up  no  letter  of  thu  pretensions  of  his  haughtiest 
ancestors.  All  the  acts  of  Kings,  as  moral  acts,  were 
under  the  immediate,  indefeasible  jurisdiction  of  the 
TIB  BOH  Pope.  "  The  Church,  by  the  ineffable  love  of 
sept.i29G  JJQJ.  gpouae,  Christ,  has  received  the  dowry 
of  many  precious  gifts,  especially  that  great  gift  of 
liberty.  Who  shall  presuma  against  G-od  and  the  Lord 
to  infringe  her  liberty,  and  not  be  beaten  down  by  the 
hammer  of  supreme  power  to  dust  and  ashes  ?  My 
eon !  turn  not  away  thins  cars  from  the  voice  of  thy 
father ;  his  parental  language  flows  from  the  tenderness 
of  his  heart,  though  with  some  of  the  bitterness  of  post 


Compaie  Diipuy  mil  Bullet. 


CHAP.  VIII,  PAPAL  BULL,  69 

injuries."  The  Pope  throws  the  whole  blame  on  the 
King's  evil  counsellors.  "  Let  him  not  jrnrmit  them  to 
change  the  throne  of  his  glory  into  a  seat  of  pestilence." 
"  The  King's  Ordinance  to  forbid  foreigners  all  traffic 
in  the  land,  is  not  less  impolitic  than  unjust.  His  sub- 
jects are  oppressed  with  intolerable  burthens;  already 
their  alienated  loyalty  has  begun  to  decay,  it  will  soon 
be  altogether  estranged;  it  is  a  grievous  loss  for  a  King 
to  forfeit  the  love  of  his  subjects."  Tha  Pope  will  not 
believe  that  the  general  prohibition  against  all  jersons 
quitting  the  realm,  or  exporting  money  or  goods,  can 
be  intended  to  apply  to  ecclesiastics ;  this  would  ba 
worse  than  impolitic,  it  would  be  insane.  "Neither 
thou  nor  any  secular  prince  hast  tho  power  to  do  this  : 
by  the  very  prohibition  is  incurred  a  sentence  of  excom- 
munication." The  Pope  reminds  the  King  of  the  intense 
anxiety  with  which  he  has  devoted  long  clays  and  sleep- 
less nights  to  his  interests;  how  he  has  laboured  to 
preserve  peace,  sent  his  Cardinals  to  mediate.  "Is  this 
the  return  for  the  inestimable  favours  shown  by  the 
Church  to  you  and  your  ancestors?"  From  the  appeal 
to  Philip's  gratitude  he  passes  to  an  appeal  to  Philip's 
fears.  "Lift  up  your  eyes  and  look  around  :  the  pow- 
erful Kings  of  the  Romans,  of  England,  of  Spain  ore  in 
league  against  you.  Is  this  a  time  to  add /the  Holy  See 
to  your  enemies?  Let  not  your  insolent  counsellors 
drive  you  to  this  fatal  precipice !  Call  to  mind  the 
goodness  of  the  Holy  See,  which  you  may  thus  compel 
to  abandon  you  without  succour.  Call  to  mind  the 
canonisation  of  your  ancestor,  Louis,  whose  miracles  the 
Holy  See  has  examined  with  assiduous  care.  Instead 
of  securing,  like  him,  her  love,  deserve  not  her  indigna- 
tion. What  is  the  causa  of  all  this?  Our  Constitution 
in  defence  of  ecclesiastical  liberty?  That  Constitution 


73  iATIN  CHBIBTIANIT1.  BOOK  XI. 

asserted  only  the  principles  maintained  by  Popes  and 
Councils;  it  added  the  awful  penalti as  of  excommuni- 
cation, because  man  are  mare  affected  by  the  drsad  of 
punishment  than  by  ths  IDVB  of  virtue.  Nor  did  we  by 
that  Constitution  precisely  ordain  that  the  Prelates  and 
clergy  were  not  to  contribute  to  the  necessities  of  the 
King:  but  wa  declared  that  this  was  not  to  be  dona 
without  our  special  permission,  bearing  in  mind  the 
insupportable  exactions  sometimes  wrung  from  eccle- 
siastics by  the  King's  officers  under  his  authority.  Not 
only  do  all  divine  and  human  laws,  even  judgements, 
attest  the  abuse  of  such  authority,  but  the  authority 
itself  is  absolutely  interdicted;  and  this  we  have  inti- 
mated for  the  perpetual  memory  of  the  truth.  If  you 
object  that  such  permission  has  been  petitioned  for  from 
the  Holy  See,  and  the  petition  has  not  been  granted," 
if  the  realm  were  in  danger,  urgent  and  admitted,  the 
Pope  pledges  himself  to  permit  not  only  the  levying 
of  taxes,  "  but  the  crosses  of  gold  and  silver,  even  the 
consecrated  vessels  and  furniture  of  the  churches  should 
be  sacrificed,  before  a  kingdom,  so  dear  to  the  Apostolic 
WEB,  should  be  exposed  to  peril."  "  The  Constitution 
did  not  absolutely  prohibit  the  King  from  exercising 
his  rights  over  ecclesiastics  who  held  fiefs  of  the  crown, 
according  to  the  laws  and  usages  of  the  realm ;  but  for 
himself,  Boniface  was  prepared  to  lay  down  all,  even  his 
life,  in  defence  of  the  liberties  and  immunities  of  the 
Dhureh  against  all  usurpers  whatsoever.9'  He  charged 
the  whole  guilt  of  the  war  on  the  King  of  France ;  it 
arose  from  his  unjust  occupation  of  Burgundy,  an  un- 
doubted fief  of  the  Empire,  and  of  Grascony,  the  inherit- 
ance of  Edward  of  England,  as  Duke  of  Gruienne.  Oil 
the  evils  of  war  he  enlarged :  peril  to  the  souls  of  rneu, 
the  slaughter,  the  bottomless  gulf  of  expenditure,  tba 


CHAP,  VIE.  THE  KING'S  EEPLY.  71 

damage,  arising  from  the  usurpations  suggested  by  his 
evil  counsellors.  Those  wrongs  against  the  Kings  of 
the  Romans  and  of  England  were  sins,  therefore,  un- 
doubtedly under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Pope;*  in  such 
aggressions  the  Popa  had  full  power  of  judgement.  It 
was  shamaful  for  Philip  to  refuse  the  mediation,  which 
had  been,  accepted  by  the  King  of  the  Romans  and  the 
King  of  England.  The  Pope  would  not  proceed  at  once 
to  the  last  extremity;  he  would  first  attempt  the  ways 
of  remonstrance  and  gentleness;  and  for  this  end  ha 
had  sent  the  Bishop  of  Viviers  to  explain  more  fully 
his  determination.7 

The  King  of  France  promulgated  an  answer,  full,  not 
too  long,  but  in  language  well  considered,  and  Amwwof 
of  singular  force  and  strength.  This  document  thB]flnB- 
showed  the  progress  of  tha  human  mind,  and  manifestly 
divulged  the  new  power,  that  of  the  civil  lawyers,  whose 
style  and  phrases  appear  throughout.  It  began  with 
the  bold  historic  assertion,  not  only  of  the  superior  an- 
tiquity of  the  temporal  to  the  spiritual  power  m  Europe ; 
but  that  before  there  were  ecclesiastics  in  the  world  the 
Kings  of  France  had  the  supreme  guardianship  of  tha 
realm,  with  full  authority  to  enact  all  such  ordinances 
aa  might  be  for  the  public  weal.  "  The  King,  therefore., 
had  prohibited  the  exportation  of  arms,  provisions,  and, 
other  things  which  might  be  turned  to  the  advantage  of 
his  enemies.9'  But  this  prohibition  was  not  absolute  (he 
turned  the  Pope's  evasions  on  the  Pope),  "  it  required 
for  such  exportation  the  special  licence  of'  the  King1. 
Such  licence  would  not  have  been  refused  to '  ecclesi- 
astics, if  they  gave  assurance  that  what  they  exported  \vafi 


*  "Dumque  in  tot  super  lispeccwe  to  assarunt,  aa  hoc  judicium  ad  SedMtt 
eandem  non«st  dutuun  potmen."  »  Tha  document  in  Dupuy,  fee. 


72  LATIN  DHRISTIANITT.  BOOK  XI. 

their  own  property,  and  could  not  be  applied  to  the 
damage  of  the  realm."  The  King  glanced  with  covert 
sarcasm  at  the  partiality  of  the  Pope.  "  That  othei 
most  dear  son  of  the  Church  (the  King  of  England)  had 
bean  allowed  to  seize  the  goods  of  the  clergy,  to  im- 
prison the  clergy,  and  yet  no  excommunication  hac? 
been  pronounced  against  him."  The  proclamation  pro- 
ceeded  daringly  to  grapple  with  the  vital  question.  It 
denied  tha  right  of  tha  clergy  to  the  exclusive  appel- 
lation of  "the  Church."  The  laity  were  as  much  mem- 
bers of  Christ's  mystical  body  as  the  clergy.  The  clergy 
had  no  special  liberty ;  this  was  an  usurpation  on  the- 
common  rights  of  all  the  faithful.  The  liberty  which 
Christ  had  obtained  belonged  to  the  layman  as  well  as- 
to  the  ecclesiastic.  "Did  Christ  die  and  riae  again 
for  the  clergy  alone?"  There  were,  indeed,  peculiat 
liberties,  according  to  the  Statutes  of  the  Koman  Pon- 
tiffs, but  these  had  been  granted  or  permitted  by  the. 
Roman  Emperors.  "  Such  liberties,  so  granted  or  per- 
mitted, cannot  take  away  the  rights  of  Kings  to  provide,, 
with  the  advice  of  their  Parliament,  all  things  necessary 
for  the  defence  of  the  realm,  according  to  the  eternal 
rule:  Bander  unto  Caesar  the  things  that  are  Caesar's. 
All  alike,  clerks  and  laymen,  nobles  and  subjects,  are 
bound  to  the  common  defence.  Such  charges  are  not 
to  be  called  exactions,  extortions,  burthens.  They  are 
subsidies  to  the  Sovereign  fin:  the  general  protection. 
The  property  of  the  Church  m  time  of  war  ia  exposed 
to  more  than  ordinary  dangers.  To  refuse  to  contribute- 
to  the  exigencies  of  the  war,  is  to  refuse  due  payment 
to  your  protectors." 

"  What  wise  and  intelligent  man  is  not  in  utter  amaze- 
ment when  he  hears  the  Vicar  of  Christ  prohibiting  and 
fulminating  his  anathema  against  contributions  for  the 


CHAP.  VIII.        REMONSTRANCE  OJf  THE  KING.  73 

defence  of  the  realm,  according  to  a  fair  equal  rate,  for 
the  defence  of  the  clergy  themselves  ?  They  may  give 
to  stage-players  ;  they  have  full  and  unbounded  licence 
to  lavish  any  expenditure,  to  the  neglect  of  their 
churches,  on  their  dress,  their  horses,  their  assemblies, 
their  banquets,  and  all  other  secular  pomps  and  plea- 
sures. What  sane  men  would  forbid,  under  tha  sen- 
tence of  anathema,  that  tha  clergy,  crammed,  fattened, 
swollen  by  the  devotion  of  Princes,  should  assist  the 
same  Princes  by  aids  and  subsidies  against  the  perse- 
cutions of  their  foes  ?  Hava  they  not  the  discernment 
to  see  that  this  inhibition,  this  refusal  is  little  less  than 
high  treason,  condemned  by  the  laws  of  God  anil  man? 
It  is  aiding  and  abetting  the  King's  enemies,  it  is 
treachery  to  the  defenders  of  the  common  weal.  We, 
like  our  forefathers,  haye  ever  paid  due  reverence  to 
Grod,  to  his  Catholic  Church,  and  his  ministers,  but  we 
fear  not  the  unjust  and  immeasurable  threats  of  men." 
He  proceeds  to  justify  the  war.  "  The  King  of  England 
had  refused  allegiance  for  his  fiefs  held  of  the  crown  of 
France.  Ample  satisfaction,  and  fair  terms  of  peace, 
had  been  offered  to  the  King  of  the  Komans."  The 
county  pf  Burgundy  the  King  of  France  held  by  right 
of  conquest  in  open  war,  after  defiance  and  proclama- 
tion of  hostilities  by  the  King  of  the  Romans  himself. 
"We  therefore  ought  no  longer  to  be  provoked  by 
insults,  but,  as  dutiful  sons  of  the  Church,  to  be  looked 
upon  with  favour,  and  consoled  in  our  dangers  and 
distresses."' 

The  Pope  thought  it  not  prudent  to  contest  these 
broad  and  bold  principles  of  temporal  supremacy;  he 
was  now  involved  in  the  internecine  strife  "with  the  Do- 


v  Document  in  Dupuj. 


T4  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  XL 

loiinaa.  An  address  in  a  milder  tone,  in  which  protesta- 
Fpb  7p  tiona  of  regard  and  esteem  predominated  over 
1Z9Ti  the  few  lingering  words  of  menace,  declared 
that  a  more  harsh,  strict,  and  rigorous  meaning  than  he 
had  designed  had  bean  attributed  by  the  malignity  and 
cunning  of  evil  counsellors  to  the  Papal  Bull.  The 
Cardinal  Legates,  howBver3  were  commanded  to  raise 
all  monies  due  to  the  Pops ;  and  if  the  King's  officers 
should  interfere  with  their  transmission,  they  were 
without  hesitation  or  delay  to  pronouncs  sentence  of 
cnndnctof  ex  communication  against  those  officers.*  The 
otarey  Pope  found  himself  deserted  in  Franca  by  his 
natural  allies.  Tn  the  Gallican  Church,  either  national 
pride  triumphed  over  the  hierarchical  spirit,  or  the 
clergy  feared  the  King  more  than  the  Pope.  The  Arch- 
bishop of  Bheims,  with  nothing  of  the  stubborn  boldness 
of  Becket,  or  even  the  passive  courage  of  Eobert  of 
Winchelsea,  sent  a  strong  though  humble  address  to 
the  Pope,  expressing  profound  gratitude  for  his  care  of 
the  ecclesiastical  liberties,  but  acknowledging  their 
obligations,  both  as  feudatories  of  the  King  and  as 
subjects,  and  their  duty,  in  self-defence,  to  contribute 
to  the  public  service  :.  they  deprecated  the  Pope's  pro- 
ceedings as  disturbing  the  peace  which  happily  pre- 
vailed between  the  Church  of  Fiance  and  the  King  and 
Parliament  of  France.11 

For  once  the  haughty  Boniface  listened  to  the  admo* 

rradenwof  nitions  of  prudence.    The  King  of  France,  by 

Boniface,     suspending  for  a  time  the  operations  of  his 

hostile  ordinance,  gave  the  Pop  a  aii  opportunity  of 

withdrawing  with  less  loss  of  dignity  from  his  dangerous 

position.    Another  Bull  appeared.     "The  author,"  it 

»  Dupuy,  Feb.  3.  *  Dupay,  p.  26. 


CHAP.  VIII.  THK  POPE'S  PBTJDENDE.  75 

declared,  "  of  every  law  is  the  sole  interpreter  of  that 
law ;"  and  the  interpretation  which  it  now  pleaaei  Popa 
Boniface  to  give  to  his  famous  Bull,  virtually  abrogated 
it  as  regarded  the  kingdom  of  France.  The  King  had 
full  right  to  command  the  service  of  all  his  feudatories, 
whether  holding  secular  or  ecclesiastical  fiefs:  aids, 
benevolences,  or  loans  might  be  granted,  provided  there 
was  no  exaction,  only  a  friendly  and  gentla  requisition 
from  the  King's  courts.  If  the  realm  was  in  danger, 
equal  taxes  might  be  assessed  on  all  alike;  it  waa  left 
to  the  conscience  of  the  King,  if  of  full  age,  during 
the  King's  nonage  to  the  prelates,  princes,  dukes,  and 
counts  of  the  realm,  to  decide  when  the  state  waa  in 


The  successes  of  Philip  the  Fair  in  negotiation  us 
well  as  in  war,  no  doubt,  if  they  did  not  awa  TIM  WOT. 
the  Pope,  showsd  the  danger  as  well  as  the  I287p  12BB' 
impolicy  of  alienating  the  old  true  ally  of  the  Pope- 
dom,  now  rising  to  increased  power  and  influence.    For 
his   dictatorial   injunctions  to  make  peace  had  been 
utterly  disregarded  by  all  parties ;  the  truce,  which  he 
had  ordered  for  two  years,  had  not  been  observed  for  as 
many  months. 

It  waa  a  powerful  league  which  had  been  organisi'd 
by  the  lavish  subsidies  of  England.  It  comprehended 
the  King  of  the  Bomang,  Guy  Dampierre,  Count  of 
Flanders,  who  hoped  to  compel  the  King  of  France  to 
release  hia  daughter,  the  Dount  of  Bar,  the  Duke  uf 
Brabant,  the  Counts  of  Hainault  and  Grueldres,  the 
Bishops  of  Liege  and  Utrecht,  tha  Archbishop  of 
Cologne.  The  Counts  of  Auxerra,  Montbelliard,  and 
othar  nobles  of  that  province  engaged,  or.  the  receipt  ojf 


Apiid  Dupuy,  p.  39, 


76  LATIN  DHHISTUtflTY.  BOOK  XL 

thirty  thousand  livras,  to  make  a  revolt  in  Burgundy. 
The  more  remote  Counts  of  Savoy  and  Grandson  wera 
pledgee!  to  encourage  and  maintain  this  revolt.  So 
utterly  and  almost  cDntumoliously  were  ths  pacific 
views  of  the  Pope  disregarded  in  all  quarters.  But, 
in  the  mean  time  Philip  had  won  over  the  Duke  of 
Bretague  from  the  English  league.  In  all  parts  his 
subsidies  counteracted  those  of  England;  subsidies  on 
both  sides  largely  drawn  from  the  ecclesiastical  reve- 
nues. HB  had  enteicd  Inlanders.  Dharles  of  Valois 
had  inflicted  a  savers  defeat  on  the  rebels,  so  the 
Flemings  in  thB  army  of  the  Count  Dampierre  ware 
called.  The  rich  manufacturing  eities,  indignant  at 
former  attempts  of  their  liege  Lord,  the  Count  of 
Flanders,  to  infringe  their  privileges,  opened  their 
gates  to  Philip  as  their  Suzerain.  The  Count  in. 
vain  attempted  to  retrace  his  steps ;  they  would  not 
trust  him,  and  were  at  least  indifferent  to  their  change 
of  masters. 

Edward  had  at  length  disembarked  to  the  relief  of 
his  overwhelmed  ally.*  But  the  forces  of  the  King  of 
England  were  unequal  to  the  contest.  The  war  in  de- 
fence of  his  foreign  dominions  had  been  unpopular  in 
England.  The  English  nobles,  be  com  a  more  inflexibly 
insular  in  their  feelings,  had  more  than  once  refused  to 
follow  their  monarch  for  the  defence  or  reconquest  of 
Grascony.  In  small  numbers  and  with  reluctance  they 
had  accompanied  him  to  the  Flemish  shores.  Edward's 
own  military  skill  and  vigour  seemed  to  have  deserted 
him:  he  was  forced  to  abandon  Bruges,  which  opened 
its  gates  to  the  conqueror.  Ghent  was  hardly  safe.6 


*  He  embarked  at  Wmdhelsen,  Aug.  22 ;  landed  at  Sluyu,  27, 1207.   Kymer, 

*  Tha  war  in  the  Englid  and  French  historians ;  plainly  and  briefly  in  llapin. 


CHAP.  VIII  DISPOSITION  TO  PEACJS.  77 

These  unusual  efforts  had  exhausted  the  resources  of 
both  kingdoms.  The  means  of  prosecuting  tha  war 
could  only  be  wrung  by  farce  from  murmuring  and  rs- 
fractory  subjects,  the  clergy  as  well  as  the  laity.  There 
was  a  limit  not  only  to  the  endurance,  but  to  the  possi- 
bility of  raising  new  taxes,  and  that  limit  had  been 
reached  both  in  England  and  Prance. 

At  the  close  of  the  year  the  Kings  consented  to  a 
short  truce.  News  from  England,  during  the 
suspension  of  arms,  disconcerted  the  plans  of 
Edward  for  the  reorganisation  iu  greater  strength  and 
activity  of  his  wide-spread,  league.  All  Scotland  was  in 
revolt.  Wallace,  from  a  wild  adventurer,  at  the  head 
of  a  loose  band  of  moss-troopers,  had  assumed,  in  a  Par- 
liament at  Perth,  the  title  of  guardian  of  the  realm  and 
general  of  the  armies  of  Scotland.  Warenne,  Earl  of 
Surrey,  Edward's  Lieutenant,  had  been  reduced  to  act 
on  the  defensive.  The  Scots  were  ravaging  Cumberland 
and  Westmoreland. 

Boniface  found  these  two  haughty  monarchy  who  had 
so  short  a  time  before  contemptuously  spurned  his  medi- 
ation, one  of  them,  if  not  imploring,  making  direct  over- 
tures in  the  most  submissive  terms  for  his  interposition ; 
the  other  accepting  it  with  undisguised  satisfaction. 
Edward  despatched  his  ambassadors  to  Borne,  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Dublin,  the  Bishop  of  Durham,  the  Count  of 
Savoy,  Sir  Otho  Ghrandison,  Sir  Hugh  de  Vere  (the 
Bishop  of  Winchester  was  then  at  Borne),  to  request 
the  arbitration  of  his  Holiness.'  The  King  of  France 
'was  not  averse  to  peace.  He  had  gained  fame,  terri- 
tory, power,  and  vengeance  against  some  of  his  more 
dangerous  and  disaffected  vassals.  The  Pope  had  al< 

'  Navr  Rymer,  p.  809.    See  the  Sulmtituio  Speciaim,  p,  30J. 


LATIN  DHRISTIANITY 


BOOK  XI. 


Boniface 
arbiter. 


ready,  by  abrogating  or  mitigating  his  obnoxious  Bull 
as  regarded  France,  by  the  solemn  act  of  the  canonisa- 
tion of  St.  Louis,  shown  his  disposition  to  return  to  the 
old  Papal  policy,  close  alliance  with  France.  Philip 
a c ceded  to  the  arbitration  not  of  the  Pops  [for  both 
monarchs  endBavonred  to  save  their  honour  and  the  in- 
dependence of  their  realms,  and  to  preclude  a 
dangerous  precedent),  but  of  Boniface  in  his 
private  character-^  Benedetto  Graetani  was  ths  ap- 
pointed arbiter.  This  subtle  distinction  Boniface  was 
wiae  enough  to  permit  and  to  despisa :  the  world  saw 
the  two  great  Kings  at  his  feet,  awaiting  his  award,  and 
in  that  award,  the  full  virtual  recognition  of  the  Papal 
arbitration.  The  contested  territories  could  be  seques- 
tered, as  they  were  for  a  time,  only  into  ths  hands  of 
the  Pope's  officers,  not  those  of  Benedetto  Graetani, 
The  extraordinary  despatch  with  which  this  importanl 
treaty  was  framed,  ths  equity  of  its  provisions. 

The  treaty.  J  ,        '  -i  j 

the  unreserved,  if  on  one  side  angry  and  re- 
luctant, assent  of  the  contending  parties,11  could  not  biit 
raise  the  general  opinion  of  the  Papal  authority.  Ero 
long  the  King  of  France  had  acquiesced  in  the  decree.1 
The  treaty  seemed  to  aim  at  the  establishment  of  lasting 
peace  between  the  two  rival  powers  by  a  double  mar- 


*  As  regards  Fiance,  this  condition 
may  appear  the  subtle  and  provident 
invention  of  the  lawyers.  They  would 
not  admit,  even  in  terms,  that  aupc- 
i  iority  which  the  See  of  Homo  grounded 
on  precedents  as  feudal  lord  of  England, 
Scotland,  Sicily,  Arragon,  Hungary;  nor 
even  that  more  vague  superiority  over 
the  King  of  Germany,  aa  King  of  the 
liomonBOtd  claimant  of  the  empire, 

h  The  agreement  waa  signed  at  Rome, 
funs  14,  1298.  The  instrument  In 


Uymi-r  ia  dated  June  27.  The  tone  ol 
the  King  of  England  is  far  mure  sub- 
missive than  that  of  the  King  of  Fiance, 
Compare  the  two  documents  in  Rymer. 
The  nubltis  of  Burgundy,  the  allies  of 
Eilwurd,  Monthdliard,  D"Ailay,  Mont- 
faucon,  sent  ambaasaiora  to  represent 
them  in  the  treaty.  The  Count  of 
Flanders  and  Edwmd's  other  conti- 
nental allies  acceded  to  the 
of  Benedetto  Gaetanl. 
I  See  p,  101, 


CHAP.  VIE.  THE  TREATY.  73 

riage  between  the  houses,  that  of  Edward  himself  with 
Margaret  the  sister,  of  the  younger  Edward  with  Isa- 
bella, daughter  of  the  King  of  France.*  But  so  com- 
pletely was  the  Pope  inseparable  from  Benedetto 
Gaetani,  that  the  penalty  imposed,  in  case  either 
monarch  should  not  fulfil  the  terms  of  these  marriage 
contracts,  was  an  Interdict  to  be  laid  on  their  terri- 
tories. Keatitution  was  to  be  made  on  either  side  of  all 
lands,  vessels,  merchandise,  or  goods,  still  subsisting ; 
compensation  according  to  the  same  arbitration  fov 
those  destroyed  or  damaged  during  the  war.  Edward 
was  to  receive  back,  if  not  wholly,  in  great  part, 
his  fiefs  in  France,  on  condition  of  homage  and 
fealty  to  his  liege  Lord ;  and  the  Pope  became  security 
against  his  future  rebellion.  In  the  mean  time  till  the 
boundaries  could  be  settled,  and  all  questions  of  juris- 
diction brought  to  issue,  those  territories  were  to  be 
surrendered  to  the  Pope's  officers,  to  be  held  by  the 
Pop  a  until  the  final  termination  of  all  differences.  The 
arbitration  of  Benedetto  Graetani  waa  pronounced  itt 
full  Synod  at  Borne  in  the  presence  of  the  Cardinals, 
the  Apostolic  Notaries,  and,  all  the  functiona-riss  of  the 
Papal  Court.  According  to  the  terms  of  the  arbitra- 
tion, the  Bishop  of  Vicenza  took  possession  in  the  Pope's 
name  of  the  province  of  Gluienne. 

This  was  not  the  only  quarrel  in  which  the  Pope  was 
invited  to  take  the  part  of  arbiter.  The  insurgent  Scots 
had.  recourse  to  the  protection  of  the  Papal  See  against 
the  tyrannous  usurpation  of  Edward.  Their  claim  to 
this  protection  rested  not  on  the  general  function  and 


k  The  Pope  annulled  all  the  engagements,  obligations,  and  natha  BUteied 
by  Edward  to  many  bin  eon  to  the  daughter  of  the  Count  of  I'lander* — 
p.  188. 


BO  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  XI. 

duty  of  the  Head  of  the  Chriatian  Church  to  interposa 
his  good  offices  in  defence  of  the  oppressed,  for  the 
maintenance  of  justice,  and  the  preservation  of  Chris- 
tian peace.  They  appealed  to  the  Pope  aa  their 
acknowledged  liege  Lord.  Scotland,  they  said,  was  a 
fief  of  the  Church  of  Borne,  and  had  a  right  to 
demand  aid  against  tha  invader  not  only  of  their 
liberties,  hut  of  the  Popa's  rights.  The  origin  of  thia 
claim  ia  obscure,  but  it  was  not  now  heard  for  the  first 
time.  Nor  did  it  seem  to  rest  on  the  vague  and 
general  pretensiona  of  the  Pope  to  the  sovereignty  over 
all  islands.1"1 

Already,  before  this  appeal  had  been  publicly  re- 
ceived at  Koine,  Boniface,  in  the  character  which  he 
assumed  of  Pacificator  of  Christendom,,  and  on  the 
strength  of  the  treaty  concluded  under  his  arbitration 
between  France  and  England,  had  admonished  King 
Edward  not  to  prosecute  tha  war  against  the  'Scots, 
Edward  took  no  notice  of  this  admonition.  His  first 
campaign  at  the  head  of  the  knighthood  of  England  had 
ended  with  the  total  defeat  of  Wallace,  who  became 
again  a  wandering  and  almost  solitary  adventurer.  But 
though  he  could  vanquish,  the  King  of  England  could 
not  koep  possession  of  the  poor  territory;  and  at  the  close 
of  the  campaign  most  of  his  forces  dispersed  and  returned 
to  their  English  homes.  A  new  government  had  been 
formed.  William  Lamberton,  Bishop  of  St.  Andrew's, 
Robert  Bruce,  and  John  Domyn  proclaimed  themselves 


*  Compare  Llngard's  note,  vol.  iii, 
0,  8,  in  which  ha  dearly  shows  that  it 
had  lieen  aaflertad  on  more  than  one 
occasion.  In  Hu  MS,,  B.  M.,  appears 


tudo,  [[ualiter  regnmn  ipaum  per  beat* 
Andrea  Apoatoli  vmerandas  reliquiae) 
non  sine  suparni  Dei  demo,  acqnisituin 
et  Eonverflum  extitlt  ad  fidal  Cuthollmi 


thia  itagBlor  ground  for  tha  title:    unitotem."— Vol.  adv.  p.  53,  June  3t 
"Pratem  nosM  potat  Kegia  Celai-    1290. 


£HAF.  Vin.  SCOTLAND.  81 

a  Regency  in  the  name  of  John  Baliol,  who,  though  in 
an  English,  prison,  was  still  held  to  be  the  rightful  sove- 
reign. Edward's  marriage  with  Margaret  of  France, 
the  time  necessary  to  reorganise  his  army,  the  refusal 
of  the  English  barons  to  invade  Scotland  during  the 
winter,  gave  the  Kegency  so  much  leisure  to  recover 
their  strength,  that  they  ventured  to  lay  siege  to  the 
castle  of  Stirling.  But  their  main  hope  was  in  the  in- 
tervention of  the  Pops  ;  and  the  Pop B  appeared  to  take 
up  their  cause  with  a  vigour,  as  it  were,  flushed  by 
the  recent  submission  of  Edward.  His  Bull  Jms^, 
address  ad  to  the  King  of  England  spoke  almost  1Z9B 
the  words  of  the  Ambassador  of  Scotland.  It  declared 
that  the  kingdom  of  Scotland  had  belonged  in  full  rigl  t 
to  the  Church  of  Rome :  that  it  neither  was  nor  ever 
had  been  a  fief  of  the  King  of  England,  or  of  his  an- 
cestors. It  discussed  and  disdainfully  threw  aside  all 
the  pretensions  of  feudal  suzerainty  adduced  by  the 
King  of  England.  It  commanded  him  instantly  to  re- 
lease the  Bishop  of  Glasgow,  the  Bishop  of  Sodor,  and 
other  Scottish  ecclesiastics  whom  he  kept  in  prison ;  to 
surrender  the  castles,  and  still  more  the  monasteries 
and  religious  houses,  which  ha  presumed  to  hold  to 
their  damage,  in  some  places  to  their  utter  ruin,  in  the 
realm  of  Scotland ;  to  send  his  Ambassadors  within  six 
months  to  Rome  to  receive  the  Pope's  determination 
on  all  differences  between  himself  and  the  kingdom  of 
Scotland. 

Edward  was  compelled  for  a  time  to  dissemble  his 
indignation  at  this  imperious  summons.  The  Bull,  to 
ensure  its  service  upon  the  King,  had  been  committed 
to  Winchelsea,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  The  Primate 
was  commanded,  in  virtue  of  his  obedience  to  the  Pope, 
without  delay  to  present  this  mandate  to  the  King,  and 

•VOL.  VIT.  Q 


BZ  LATIN  DHHISTIAN1TY. 

use  all  his  authority  to  induce  the  King  to  immediate 
and  unreserved  compliance.11 

At  this  time  all  civil  and  religious  affairs  were  sus- 
pended; all  thoughts  swallowed  up,  by  the  gi eat  reli- 
gious movement  which,  at  the  close  of  the  century, 
began  in  Italy  and  rapidly  drew  all  Western  Chris- 
tendom within  its  whirlpool,  a  vaat  peaceful  Crusade, 
to  Home  not  to  Jerusalem,  by  which  the  spiritual 
advantages  of  that  remote  and  armed  and  perilous 
pilgrimage  were  to  ba  attained  at  much  less  cost, 
exertion,  and  danger.  To  the  calm  and  philosophic 
mind  the  termination  of  a  centenary  period  in  the  his- 
tory of  man  is  an  epoch  which  cannot  be  contemplated 
without  awa  and  seriousness;  in  those  ages  awe  and 
seriousness  were  inseparable  from  profound,  if  passionate 
and  unreasoning  religion.  It  is  impossible  to  determine 
whether  a  skilful  impulse  from  Borne  and  from  the 
clergy  first  kindled  this  access  of  fervent  devotion.  At 
this  period,  when  Christendom  was  either  seized  or 
inspired  with  this  paroxysm  of  faith,  Palestine  was  irre- 
coverably lost :  the  unbelievers  were  in  undisturbed  pos- 
session of  the  sepulchre  of  Christ.  But  the  tombs  of 
the  Apostles,  of  Peter  and  of  Paul,  next  to  that  of  the 
Eiidccraor,  the  moat  sacred,  and  hallowed  by  their 


•  There  is  great  difficulty  about 
tiw  dates  In  this  affair.  Tlia  bull  and 
the  letter  to  WmcheUca  ai  E  dated  Juno, 
1290.  The  Pailiamtmt  of  Linculu  was 
iummimed  Sept.  27,  1300  ;  nut  in 
1301.  Lingard  (supposes  that  the  bull, 
which  was  only  delivared  by  WinuhBl- 
M*  to  tha  King  ift  Aug.  1300,  hod 
beau  withheld  "by  soma  imaeoowtable 
delay  from  reaching  Winahelaaa  till 
towards  June  1300.  Wa  might  per- 


haps suppose  that  the  jubilee,  in  its 
nrppnratioiiH,  and  m  the  necessary 
arrangements,  absorbed  nil  the  time  of 
the  liomtiu  uunrt,  and  altogether  pre- 
occupying tlio  public  mind,  superseded 
all  othur  luHinsiM.  But,  from  tho 
litiughty  tone  and  almost  menace  of 
the  Papal  letters  to  Winchelsoa  (MS., 
B.  M.),  there  seema  to  have  been  Borne 
timid  reluctance  or  delay  on  the  part 
of  the  piimate. 


CHAP.  VIII.  JUBILEE.  83 

venerable  and  unquestioned  reliques,  ware  accessible  to 
all  the  Wast.  The  plenary  Indulgences,  which  had 
been  BO  lavishly  bestowed  in  the  early  period  of  the 
Crusades,  and  might,  even  in  the  decay  of  the  Crusading 
passion,  be  obtained  by  the  desperate  and  world-weary 
votary,  were  not  now  coveted  with  less  ardour.  Would 
the  Church  withhold  on  more  easy  terms  those  precious 
and  consolatory  privileges  for  which  the  world  was 
content  to  pay  by  such  prodigal  oblations,  and  which 
were  thus  the  source  of  inexhaustible  power  and  wealth 
to  the  clergy?  Christendom  was  now  almost  at  peace  ; 
the  Pope's  treaty  had  been  respected  by  France  and 
England,  and  by  their  respective  allies.  Germany 
reposed  under  the  doubtful  supremacy  of  Albert  of 
Austria.  The  north  of  Italy  was  in  outward  at  least 
and  unwonted  peace:  the  industrious  and  flourishing 
republics,  the  commercial  and  maritime  cities  were 
overflowing  with  riches,  and  ready  with  their  lavish 
tribute. 

Already  on  the  first  of  January  of  the  great  centenary 
year,  even  before,  on  the  Nativity  (1299),  the  Churches 
of  Rome,  it  might  seam,  from  a  natural,  spontaneous, 
unsuggested,  and  therefore  heaven-inspired  thought 
(the  movement  was  the  stronger  because  no  one  knew 
how  and  where  it  began),  were  thronged  with  thousands 
supplicating,  almost  imperiously  demanding,  what  they 
had  been  taught  or  believed  to  be  the  customary  Indulg- 
ences of  the  season.  The  most  humbly-religious  Pope 
might  have  rejoiced  at  that  august  spectacle  of  Chris- 
tendom thus  crowding  to  offer  its  homage  on  tha  tombs 
of  the  Apoatles,  acknowledging  Borne  aa  the  leligious 
centre  of  the  world,  and  coming  under  the  personal 
benediction  of  the  Eoman  Pontiff.  The  venerable  imago 
of  the  successor  of  St.  Peter,  thus  planted  in  thu  Quarts 

G  2 


B4  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  XI 

of  so  many,  who  would  return  home  not  passive  slaves 
only  but  ardent  aasertora  of  the  Papal  supremacy,  not 
subjects  only  but  worshippers ;  the  tribute  lavished  upon, 
the  altars — thesa  might  be  but  secondary  considerations. 
Ambition,  pride,  and  avarice  might  stand  rebuked  before 
nobler,  mora  holy  sentiments.  Which  predominated  in 
the  hsart  of  Boniface  VIII.,  shall  history,  written  by 
human  hand,  presume  to  say?  If  both  or  either  in- 
trudad  on  his  serene  contemplation  of  this  triumph  of 
the  religious  element  in  man,  was  it  the  more  high  and 
generous,  or  the  more  low  and  sordid  ?  was  it  haughtiness 
or  rapacity?  Assuredly  tha  sagacity  of  Boniface  could 
not  refusB  to  discern  the  immediate,  and  to  foresee  the 
remoter  consequences  of  this  ceremony:  he  could  not 
closa  his  eyes  on  the  myriads  at  his  feet:  he  could  not 
refuse  to  hear  the  amount  of  the  treasures  which  loaded 
the  altars. 

The  court  of  Roma,  in  its  solemn  respect  for  precedent, 
affected  to  require  the  sanction  of  ancient  usage  for  tha 
institution  of  the  Holy  year.  The  Mosaic  Law  offered 
its  Jubilee,  the  tradition  of  the  secular  games  at  Koine 
might  lurk  to  this  time,  at  least  among  the  learned,  very 
probably  in  tlio  habits  and  customs  of  the  people.  Thti 
Church  had  never  disdained,  rather  had  avowed,  the  policy 
of  turning  to  her  own  good  ends  tha  old  Pagan  usages. 
Grave  inquiry  was  instituted.  The  Cardinal  Stefaneschi, 
the  poet-historian,  waa  employed  to  search  the  archives: 
the  College  of  Oardinala  waa  duly  consulted.  At  length 
the  Pope  himself  ascended  the  pulpit  in  St.  Peter's. 
The  church  was  splendidly  hung  with  rich  tapestries ;  it 
•was  crowded  with  eager  votaries.  After  hie  sermon  the 
Pope  unfolded  the  Bull,  which  proclaimed  the 
welcome  Indulgences,  sealed  with  the  pon- 
tifical seal*  The  Bull  was  immediately  promulgated ; 


CHAP.  Mil.  PILGBIMS  AJtfD  OFFEBINGS.  85 

it  asserted  the  ancient  usage  of  Indulgences  to  all  who 
should  make  pilgrimage  to  the  tomb  of  the  *(  Chief  of 
the  Apostles."  The  Paps,  in  his  solicitude  for  the  souls 
of  men,  by  his  plenary  power,  gava  to  all  who  luring 
the  year  should  visit  once  a  day  the  Dhurehes  of  the 
Apostles,  the  Eomana  for  thirty  days,  strangers  for 
fifteen,  and  should  have  repented  and  confessed,  full 
absolution  of  all  their  sins. 

All   Europe    was  in  a  phrensy   of   religious    zeal. 
Throughout  the  year  the   roada   in   the  re- 

j.     f        ~t.        e   ri  TT  T>    j.    • 

motest  parts  ot  Germany,  Hungary,  Britain, 
were  crowded  with  pilgrims  of  all  ages,  of  both  sexes. 
A  Savoyard  above  one  hundred  years  old  determined  to 
see  the  tombs  of  the  Apostles  before  he  died.  There 
were  at  times  two  hundred  thousand  strangers  at  Borne. 
During  the  year  (no  doubt  the  calculations  were  loose 
and  vague)  the  city  was  visited  by  millions  of  pilgrims. 
At  one  time,  so  vast  was  the  press  both  within  and 
without  the  walls,  that  openings  were  broken  for  ingress 
and  egress.  Many  people  were  trampled  down,  and 
perished  by  suffocation,  The  Papal  authorities  had 
taken  the  wisest  and  most  effective  measures  against 
famine  for  such  accumulating  multitudes.  It  was  a 
year  of  abundant  harvest;  the  tBrritories  of  Borne  and 
Naples  furnished  large  supplies.  Lodgings  ware  ex- 
orbitantly dear,  forage  scarce ;  but  tha  ordinary  food  of 
man,  bread,  meat,  wine,  and  fish,  was  sold  in  great 
plenty  and  at  moderate  prices.  The  oblations  were 
beyond  calculation.  It  is  reported  by  an  eye-witness 
that  two  priests  stood  with  rakes  in  their  hands  sweeping 
the  uncounted  gold  and  silver  from  the  altars.  Nor 
was  this  tribute,  like  offerings  or  subsidies  for  Crusades, 
to  be  devoted  to  special  uses,  the  accoutrements,  provi- 
sions, freight  of  armies.  It  was  entirely  at  the  fiee  and 


3S 


LATIN  CHRISTIANITY. 


XL 


irresponsible  disposal  of  ths  Pope.  Christ endom  of  its 
own  accord  was  heaping  at  the  Pope's  feet  this  extra- 
ordinary custom :  °  and  receiving  back  the  gift  of  pardon 
and  everlasting  life. 

But  from  this  great  act  of  amnesty  to  the  whole  of 
Christendom  were  sternly  excluded  the  enemies  of 
Boniface — the  rebels,  as  they  were  proclaimed,  against 
the  ISee  of  Borne — Frederick  of  Arragon  and  the  Sici- 
lians, the  Colonnas,  and  all  who  harboured  them. 


0  StofuiesGhi,  Villain,  Istorle  Fiorent. 
viu.3b'  Ventura,  After  all,  this  mode 
of  collecting  lines  not,  with  the  explana- 
tion of  the  Cardinal-poet,  necessarily 
imply  a  contribution  so  very  ennimous. 
Tha  text  of  Stefaneschi  IB  unfortunately 
imperfect.  He  seems  to  say  that  the 
usual  annual  offerings  on  the  tamba 
of  the  Apostles  amounted  to  3D,D[)0 
florins  ;  this  year  to  50,  DUO  mare, 
chiefly  in  smnll  coma  of  nil  countm.". 
Many  were  too  poor  to  make  any 
offering.  The  Cardinal  contusta  the 
conduct  of  these  humble  votaries  with 
that  of  the  kings,  who,  unhka  the 
Three  of  old,  BO  munificent  (it  the  feet 
of  the  infant  Jesus,  weie  parsimonious 
In  their  offerings  to  Jesus  nt  the  right 
haul  of  the  Father.  "  Instead  of  thla, 


they  seize  the  tithes  of  the  churches 
tea  to  we  [I  by  their  generous  ancestors, 
whose  glory  becomes  their  shame."1 
Villnni,  himself  a  pilgrim  (did  the 
lich  Florentines  pny  handsomely?),. 
notes  the  vast  wealth  gained  by  tha 
Romans  as  well  as  by  the  Church, 
Recording  to  his  stiong  expression, 
almost  all  Clmstcndom  went.  Vil- 
IAUI  drew  his  historic  inspiration  from 
Ins  pilgrimage.  His  admiration  of  the 
great  anil  ancient  monuments  of  Bamef. 
lecoided  by  Virgil,  SalliiBt,  Lucnn, 
Titus  Livius,  Vahvius,  and  Oroaius^ 
lei  him,  an  unworthy  disciple,  to 
attempt  bo  write  history  in  their  style. 
Villiini  is  far  from  Livy,  or  even 
Salluat;  but  he  might  hold  hu  DWD 
before  Valeriun  md  Orosiuo. 


CHAP.  IX.    ZENITH  OF  THE  POWER  OF  BONIFACE.  87 


UHAPTEE  IX. 

Boniface  TH1.     His  Fall. 

THIS  centenary  year,  illustrated  by  the  splendid  festival 
of  the  Jubilee,  and  this  homage  and  tribute  Boniface  at 

•j    i  i        -n  •  j>  i.  j.     AI        the  height  of 

paid  by  several  millions  01  worshippers  to  the  hispowur. 
representative  of  St.  Peter,  was  the  zenith  of  the  fame 
and  power  of  Boniface  VTIL,  perhaps  of  the  .Roman 
Pontificate.  So  far  his  immeasurable  pretensions,  if 
they  had  encountered  resistance,  had  suffered  no  humi- 
liating rebuke.  Christendom  might  seem,  by  its  sub- 
mission, as  if  conspiring  to  intoxicate  all  his  ruling 
passions,  to  tempt  his  ambition,  to  swell  his  pride,  to 
glut  his  rapacity.  The  Colonnas,,  his  redoubted  enemies, 
were  crushed ;  they  were  exiles  in  distant  lands ;  it 
might  seem  superfluous  hatred  to  confer  on  them  the 
distinction  of  exclusion  from,  the  benefits  of  the  Jubilee. 
Sicily,  he  might  hope,  would  not  long  continue  her  unfiljal 
rebellion.  Roger  Loria,  now  on  the  Angeyine  side,  had 
gained  one  of  his  famous  -victorias  over  the  Arragonese 
fleet.  Already  Boniface  had  determined  in  his  mind 
that  great,  though  eventually  fatal  scheme  by  which 
Charles  of  Vabis,  •who  in  the  plains  of  Flanders  had 
gained  distinguished  repute  in  arms,  should  descend  the 
Alps  as  the  soldier  of  the  Pope,  and  terminate  at  once 
the  obstinate  war.  Sicily  reduced,  Charles,  of  Valois, 
married  to  the  heiress  of  the  Latin  Emperor  Baldwin, 
•was  to  win  .back  the  imperial  throne  of  Constantinople 
to  ths  dominion  of  the  West,  and  to  its  spiritual  Bile* 


88  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  XL 

giance  under  the  Roman  See.  Boniface  had  interposed 
to  regulate  ths  succession  to  the  crown  of  Hungary: 
Hungary  had  received  a  king  at  his  bidding.1  The 
King  of  the  Unmans,  Albert  of  Austria,  was  under  his 
ban  as  a  rebel,  and  even  as  the  murderer,  so  ha  was 
denounced,  of  his  sovereign,  Acblph  of  Nassau.  Abso- 
lution for  these  crimes  could  only  be  given  by  the  Pope 
himself,  and  Albert  would  doubtless  purchase  at  any 
price  that  spiritual  pardon  without  which  his  throne 
trembled  under  him.  The  t\vo  mighty  Kings  of  France 
and  England,  who  onco  spurned,  had  now  been  reduced 
to  accept  his  mediation.  He  held,  as  arbiter,  the  pro- 
vince of  G-uienne.  Scotland,  to  escapa  English  rule, 
had  declared  herself  a  fief  of  the  Apostolic  See.  Edward 
had  not  yet  ventured  to  treat  with  scorn  the  strange 
demand  of  implicit  submission,  in  all  differences  between 
himself  and  the  Scots,  to  the  Papal  judgement.  Tho 
embers  of  that  fatal  controversy  between  the  King  of 
France  and  Boniface,  which  were  hereafter  to  blaze 
out  into  such  ruinous  conflagration,  ware  smouldering 
unregarded,  and  to  all  seeming  entirely  extinguished. 
Philip,  the  brother  of  Oharlea  of  Valoia,  might  appear 
the  dearest  and  most  obedient  son  of  the  Church. 

But  even  at  this  time,  in  the  depths  and  en  the 
heights  of  the  Christian  world,  influences  were  at  work 
not  only  about  to  become  fatal  to  the  worldly  grandeur 
of  Boniface  and  to  his  life,  but  to  his  fame  to  the  latest 
ages.  Bonifacs  was  hated  with  a  sincerity  and  intensity 
of  hatred  which,  if  it  darkened,  cannot  be  rejected  as 
a  witness  against  his  VICES,  his  overweening  arrogance* 
his  treachery,  his  avidity. 

The  Franciscans  throughout  Ohristandom,  more  espa- 


Mallath,  BofldUohte  dor  Magywren,  'i.  p.  5, 


CHAP.  IX.          AVIDITY  OF  THE  FRANCISCANS.  89 

dally  in  Italy,  bad  the  strongest  hold  on  the  popular 
mini,  Their  brotherhood  was  vigorous  enough  not  to 
be  weakened  by  the  great  internal  schism  which  had 
begun  to  manifest  itaelf  from  their  foundation.11  But  to 
both  the  factions  in  this  powerful  order,  up  to  near  this 
time  among  the  vehement  and  passionate  teachers  of 
the  humblest  submission  to  the  Papacy,  the  present 
Pontiff  was  equally  odious.  In  all  lands  the  Franciscans 
were  followed  and  embarrassed  by  the  insoluble  inter- 
minable question,  the  possession  of  property,  a  question 
hereafter  to  ba  e^en  more  fiercely  agitated.  How  could 
the  Franciscans  not  yield  to  the  temptation  of  the  wealth 
which,  as  formerly  with  other  Orders,  the  devotion  of 
mankind  now  cast  at  their  feet  ?  The  inveterate  feeling 
of  the  possibility  of  propitiating  the  Deity  by  munificent 
gifts,  of  atoning  for  a  life  of  violence  and  guilt  by  the 
lavish  donation  or  bequest,  made  it  difficult  for  those 
who  held  dominion  over  men's  minds  as  spiritual  coun- 
sellors, to  refuse  to  accept  as  stewards,  to  be  the 
receivers,  as  it  were,  for  Grod,  of  thoss  oblations,  ever 
more  frequent  and  splendid  according  to  the  depth  and 
energy  of  the  religious  impressions  which  they  had 
awakened.  From  stewards  to  become  owners;  from 
dispensers  or  trustees,  and  sometimes  vendors  of  lands 
or  goods  bequeathed  to  pious  uses,  in  order  to  distribute 
the  proceeds  among  the  poor  or  on  religious  edifices,  to 
be  the  lords,  and  so,  as  they  might  fondly  delude  them- 
selves, the  more  prudent  and  economic  managers  of  such 
estates,  was  but  an  easy  and  unperceived  transition. 
Hence,  if  not  from  more  sordid  causes,  in  defiance  of  the 
vow  of  absolute  poverty,  the  primal  law  of  the  society, 


b  See  back  the  succession  of  Genaials,  Ellas,  Cresccntius,  John  of  Patina, 
Dniiaventura,  vol.  vi.  p.  350. 


90  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  XI 

the  Franciscans  now  vied  in  wealth  with  the  older  and 
^ss  rigorous  orders.0  Mendicancy,  their  vital  principle, 
had  long  ceased  to  be  content  with  the  scanty  boon  of 
hard  far  a  and  coarsa  clothing ;  it  grasped  at  lands  and 
the  cost  at  least  of  splendid  buildings.  But  the  stern 
and  inflexible  statute  of  the  order  stood  in  thsir  way ; 
the  Pope  alone  could  annul  that  primary  disqualification 
to  hold  lands  and  other  property.  To  abrogate  this 
inconvenient  rule,  to  enlarge  the  narrow  vow,  htid  now 
become  the  aim  of  the  most  powerful,  and,  because  most 
powerful,  most  wealthy  Minorites.  But  Boniface  was 
inexorable.  On  the  Franciscans  of  England  he  prac- 
tised a  most  unworthy  fraud ;  and,  bound  together  as  tho 
Order  was  throughout  Christendom,  such  an  act  woulcl 
produce  its  effect  throughout  the  whole  republic  of  the 
Minorites.  The  crafty  avarice  of  the  Pope  was  too  much 
for  the  simpb  avarice  of  tho  Order.  They  offered  to 
deposit  forty  thousand  ducats  with  certain  bankers,  as 
the  prico  of  the  Papal  permission  to  hold  lands.  The 
Pope  appeared  to  listen  favourably  till  the  money  was 
in  tliB  bankers'  hands.  He  then  discovered  that  the 
concession  was  in  direct  opposition  to  the  fundamental 
laws  of  the  Ordsr,  and  to  the  will  of  the  seraphic 
Francis ;  but  as  they  could  not  hold  property,  the  pro- 
perty in  the  bankers'  hands  could  not  bs  theirs.  He 
absolved  tha  bankers  from  their  obligation  to  repay  the 
Franciscans,  and  seized  for  his  proper  USD  the  unowned 
treasures.  It  was  a  bold  and  d asperate  measure,  even 
in  a  Pope,  a  Pope  with  the  power  and  authority  of 
Boniface,  to  estrange  the  loyalty  of  the  Minoritaa,  dis- 
perse d,  but  in  strict  union,  throughout  the  world,  and 


e  Westminster  saya  that  it  was  rumoured  that  the  Statute  of  Moitmain  win 
chiefly  aimed  at  restraining  the  avidity  of  the  FranoiMaas. — v.  p,  495. 


.  IX.  THE  FEATIDELLI.  91 

now  in  command  not  merely  of  the  popular  mind,  but 
of  tlie  profoundest  theology  of  the  age. 

But  if  the  higher  Franciscans  might  thus  be  disposed 
to  taunt  the  rapacity  of  Boniface,  which  had  baffled 
their  own,  and  throughout  the  Order  might  prevail  a 
bropdmg  and  unavowed  hostility  to  the  intractable 
Pontiff ;  it  was  worse  among  the  lower  Franciscans, 
who  had  begun  to  draw  off  into  a  separate  and  inimical 
community.  These  were  already  under  dark  suspicions 
of  heresy,  and  of  belief  in  prophecies  (hereafter  to  be 
more  fully  shown1),  no  less  hostile  to  the  whole  hier- 
archical system  than  the  tenets  of  the  Albigensians,  or 
of  the  followers  of  Peter  Waldo.  To  them  Boniface, 
was,  if  not  the  Antichrist,  hardly  less  an  object  of  devout 
abhorrence.  To  the  Fraticelli,  Coelestine  waa  ever  the 
model  Pope.  The  Coelestinians  had  either  blended  with 
the  Fraticelli,  or  were  bound  to  them  by  ths  closest 
sympathies.  With  them,  Boniface  was  still  an  usurper 
who  disgraced  the  throne  which  he  had  obtained 
through  lawless  craft  and  violence,  by  the  maintenance 
of  an  iniquitous,  unchristian  system,  a  system  im- 
placably irreconcileable  with  Apostolic  poverty,  and 
therefore  with  Apostolic  faith.  The  Fraticelli,  or 
DoaUstinians,  as  has  been  seen,  had  their  poet;  and 
perhaps  the  rude  rhymes  of  Jacopone  da  Todi,  to  tho 
tunes  and  in  the  rhythm  of  much  of  the  popular  hymn- 
ology,  sounded  more' powerfully  in  the  ears  of  men, 
stirred  with  no  less  fire  the  hearts  of  his  simpler 
hearers,  than  in  later  days  the  sublime  terzains  of 
Dante.  Jacopone  da  Todi  was  a  lawyer;  of  a  gay  and 
jovial  life.  His  wife,  of  exquisite  beauty  and  of  noble 


*  We  must  await  tha  pontificate  of  John  XXII.  for  the  fall  development  of 
tlieir  tenets, 


LATIN  CHRISTIANITY. 


BOOK  XT, 


birth,  was  deeply  religious.  During  a  solemn  festival 
in.  the  church,  aha  fell  on  the  pavement  from  a  sraffold. 
Jacopone  ruahed  to  loosen  her  dress;  the  dying  woman 
struggled  with  more  than  feminine  modesty ;  she  was 
found  swathed  in  the  coarsest  sackcloth.  Jacopone  at 
once  renounced  the  world,  and  became  a  Franciscan 
tertiary ;  in  the  rigour  of  his  aaceticiam3  in  the  stern- 
ness of  his  opinions,  a  true  brother  of  the  most  extreme 
of  the  Eratieelli.  We  have  heard  Jacopone  admonish 
Coelestine:  his  rude  verse  was  no  less  bold  against 
Boniface.6 

Boniface  pursued  the  Fraticelli,  whose  dangerous  doc- 
trines his,  well-informed  sagacity  could  not  but  follow 
out  to  their  inevitable  conclusions/  even  if  they  had 
not  yet  announced  that  coming  reign  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
which  was  to  supersede  and  sweep  away  all  the  hier- 
archy. He  could  hardly  be  ignorant  of  their  menacing 
prophecies.  He  r/ut  off  at  once  this  rebellious  branch 
from  the  body  of  the  faithful,  and  denounced  them  as 
obstinate  irreulamubla  heretics.8  Jacopone,  not  without 
muse  (he  had.  baou  the  secretary  in  that  league  of  tha 
Coloimaa  and  the  ecclesiastics  of  Francs),  became  an 
object  of  parae ration;  that  persecution,  as  usual,  only 
gttvo  him  the  honour  and  increasing  influence  of  a 


1  A  poem  lina  diBajiptwail  from  the 
Inter  editions  :— 

"  0  P«pn  Bonifacio 
Malta  hul  glocato  al  mondo, 
Penw  dm  gtoMDto 
Non  te  parritt  pnrtlre." 

Thla  it  genuine  Jaoopona,  Two  Btan- 
ZM,  alludmg  to  tha  scene  at  Anagni, 
•eem  of  a  mov a  doubtful  houd.— Notu 
to  the  Gannaji  translation  of  Ozanam 
on  tha  lUUgioui  Foots  of  Italy,  by 
Dr.  Juliua.p.  1SB, 


*  Compile  Ferretus  Viceutiiius,  end 
oFfleconil  book,  chaiacter  of  BonU'aca. 

*  On  the  Fratioelli,  Raynaldua,  p. 
240.    lu  the  bull  of  Boniface  ngwuBt 
them,  IIB  is  extremely  indignant  at 
thflir  apoatacy.    They  averred  "quod 
temp  ore  interdictl  mellue  qiwm  alii> 
tempore  ait  elsdam,  et  quod  propter 
eieommunioatianem  cibua  nun  miuiu 
sapidus  alt  tampomlla,  MO  minus  bena 
dormiunt  propterea."— p.  342. 


CHAP.  IX. 


CBAKLES  OF  VALOIS. 


martyr ;  his  verses  were  hardly  lass  bold,  and  were  morn 
endeared  to  the  passions,  and  sunk  deeper  into  the 
hearts  of  men.h 

A  Pope  of  a  Grhibelline  family,  an  apostate,  as  he  was 
justly  or  unjustly  thought,  who  had  earned  Gruelfism  to 
an  unprecedented  height  of  arrogance,  and  enforced  its 
triumph  -with  remorseless  severity,  centred  of  course  on 
himself  the  detestation  of  all  true  Grhibellines.  He  had 
trampled  down,  but  not  exterminated,  the  Golonnas; 
their  dispersion,  if  less  dangerous  to  his  power,  was 
more  dangerous  to  his  fame.  Wherever  they  went  they 
spread  the  most  hateful  stories  of  his  pride,  perfidy, 
cruelty,  avarice,  so  that  even  now  we  cannot  discri- 
minate darkened  truth  from  baseless  calumny,  The 
greedy  ears  of  the  Grhibellines  throughout  Italy,  of  his 
enemies  throughout  Christendom,  drank  in  and  gave 
further  currency  to  these  sinister  and  rankling  an- 
tipathies. 

But  the  measure  by  which  Boniface  hoped  almost  to 
exterminate  Grhibellinism,  by  placing  on  the  throne  of 
Naples  a  powerful  monarch,  instead  of  the  feeble  re- 
presentative of  the  old  Angevine  line,  thus  wresting 
Sicily  for  ever  from  the  house  of  Arragon,  and  BO 
putting  an  end  to  the  war,  was  most  disastrous  to  his 
peace  and  to  his  fame.  The  invitation  of  Charles  of 
Yalois  to  be  the  soldier,  protector,  ally  of  the  ci»rH»of 
Pope,  ended  in  revolting  half  Italy,  while  it  ValoiB> 
had  not  the  slightest  effect  in  mitigating  the  subsequent 
fatal  collision  with  France.  Had  Charles  of  Valoia 
never  trampled  on  the  liberties  of  Florence,  Dante 


fc  Theie  is  to  my  ear  a  Litter  and 
insulting  tons  m  the  two  satn  es  written 
ft  om  his  prison,  in  which  ho  seems  to 
•ipplicate,  and  at  the  same  time  to 


treat  the  Papal  absolution  as  indift'eient 
to  one  So  full  as  he  wna  of  hati  ed  at 
himself  and  love  of  Christ.— Satire 
iTii.  ilx. 


LATIN  CHRISTIANITY. 


BOOK  XI 


might  never  have  fallen  off  to  Grhibellinism ;  he  might 
have  been  silent  of  tha  fate  of  Boniface  in  hell.  Hardly 
had  Charles  of  Valeria  descended  into  Italy,  when  Boni- 
face could  not  disguise  to  himself  that  he  had  intro- 
duced a  master  instead  of  a  vassal.  The  haughty 
.Frenchman  paid  as  little  respect,  in  his  inordinate  am- 
bition, to  the  counsels,  admonitions,  remonstrances  of 
the  Pope,  aa  to  the  liberties  of  the  Italian  people,  or  the 
laws  of  justice,  humanity,  or  good  faith.  The  summary 
of  Charles  of  Valois'  expedition  into  Italy,  the  expedi- 
tion of  ths  lieutenant  and  peacemaker  of  the  Pope,  was 
contained  in  that  sarcastic  sentence  alluded  to  above, 
"Ha  came  to  establish  peace  in  Tuscany,  and  left  war; 
he  went  to  Sicily  to  wage  war,  and  mcids  a  disgraceful 
peace."  Through  Charles  of  Valois  the  Pope  became 
an  object  of  execration  in  Florence,  of  mistrust  and 
hatred  throughout  Italy ;  the  anathematised  Frederick 
obtained  full  possession  of  Sicily  for  his  life,  and  as 
much  longer  aa  his  descendants  could  hold  it,1  It  were 
perhaps  hard  to  determine  which  of  the  two  brothers 
shook  the  power,  and  made  the  name  of  Boniface  more 
odious  to  mankind,  his  friend  and  ally  Charles  of  Valois, 
-or  liia  foe  Philip  the  Fair. 

The  arrogant  interposition  of  the  Pope  in  the  affairs 
England,  of  Scotland  was  rejected,  not  only  by  the  King 
Bu-iiument  but  by  the  English  nation.  The  Parliament 

91  Lincoln.  *  t  r  t 

AJ>.  lam.  met  at  Lincoln.  There  assembled  one  hun- 
dred and  four  of  the  greatest  barons  of  the  realm, 
among  the  first,  Bohun,  Earl  of  Hereford,  and  Bigod, 
Earl  of  Norfolk,11  whose  bold  opposition  had  compelled 


1  See  fcefora,  p.  22. 

*  It  was  Bigod  who  refused  to 
attend  thu  King  as  Karl  Marshal  to 
Handera,  "By  tliD  everlasting  God/' 


said  Edward,  "  Sir  Earl,  you  elmll  go 
or  hung."  "  By  the  everlasting  God/' 
answered  Bigwl,  "I  will  neither  &o 
nor  hung." 


CIIAP.  IX.  TARLIAMENT  OF  LINCOLN  95 

the  King  lo  sign  the  two  charters,  with  additional 
securities  for  the  protection  of  the  subject  against  the 
power  of  the  Drown;  they  had  joined  with  the  Arch- 
bishop to  resist  the  exactions  of  the  Hing.  The  Uni- 
versities sent  their  most  distinguished  doctors  of  civil 
law;  the  monasteries  had  been  ordered  to  furnish  all 
documents  which  could  throw  light  on  ths  controversy. 
The  answer  to  the  Pope's  Bull,  agreed  on  after  some 
discussion,  was  signed  by  all  the  Nobles.  It  expressed 
the  amazement  of  the  Lords  in  Parliament  at  the 
unheard-of  pretensions  advanced  in  the  Papal  Bull, 
asserted  the  immemorial  supremacy  of  the  King  of 
England  over  the  Eing  of  Scotland  in  the  times  of  the 
Britons  and  of  the  Saxona.  Scotland  had  never  paid 
feudal  allegiance  to  the  Church.  The  King  of  England 
is  in  no  way  accountable  or  amenable  to  tha  jurisdiction 
of  the  Pope  for  his  rights  over  the  kingdom  of  Scotland; 
he  must  not  permit  those  rights  to  be  called  in  question. 
It  would  be  a  disinheritance  of  the  crown  of  England 
and  of  the  royal  dignity,  a  subversion  of  tiie  state  of 
England,  if  the  King  should  appear  by  his  proctors  or 
ambassadors  to  plead  on  those  rights  in  the  Court  of 
Home;  an  infringement  of  the  ancient  liberties,  customs, 
=ind  laws  of  the  realm,  "to  the  maintenance  of  which  we 
are  bound  by  a  solemn  oath,  and  which  by  Groi's  grace 
we  will  maintain  to  the  utmost  of  our  power,  and  with 
our  whole  strength.  We  neither  permit,  nor  will  we 
permit  (we  have  neither  the  will  nor  the  power  to  do 
so)  our  Lord  the  King,  even  if  he  should  so  design,  to 
comply,  or  attempt  compliance,  with  demands  SQ  un- 
precedented, so  unlawful,  so  prejudicial,  so  unheard  of. 
Wherefore  we  humbly  and  earnestly  beseech  your 
Holiness  to  leave  our  King,  a  true  Catholic,  and  devo- 
tedly attached  to  the  Church  of  Borne,  in  peaceful 


&B  LATIIT  OHRXSTIANITf  BOOK  XL 

and  undisturbed  possession  of  all  his  rights,  liberties, 
customs,  and  laws."  m 

Eing  Edward,  however,  to  quiet  the  conscience  of  the 
Pope,  not,  as  he  distinctly  declared,  as  submitting  to  his 
judgement,  condescended  to  malis  a  full  and  elaborate 
statement  of  his  title  to  the  homage  of  Scotland,  in  a 
document  which  seemed  to  presume  on  the  ignorance  or 
credulity  of  his  Holiness  as  to  the  history  of  England 
and  of  the  world,  with  boldness  only  equalled  by  the 
counter-statements  of  the  Scottish  Regency.  It  is  a 
singular  illustration  of  the  state  of  human  knowledge 
when  poetry  and  history  are  one,  when  the  mythic  and 
historic  have  ths  same  authority  even  as  to  grave  legal 
claims,  and  questions  affecting  the  destinies  of  nations. 
The  origin  of  the  King  of  England's  supremacy  over 
ciaimuor  Scotland  mounts  almost  t»  immemorial  an- 
England,  tiquity.  Brute,  the  Trojan,  in  the  daya  of  Eli 
and  Samuel,  conquered  the  island  of  Albion  from  the 
Giants,  He  divided  it  among  his  three  sons,  Loarine, 
Albanaot,  and  Camber.  Albanact  was  slain  in  battle 
by  a  foreign  invader,  Humber.  Locrine  avenged  his 
death,  slew  the  usurper,  who  was  drowned  in  the  river 
which  took  his  name,  and  subjected  the  realm  of 
Albanact  (Scotland)  to  t^ftt  of  Britain.  Of  the  two 
sons  of  Dunwallo,  King  of  Britain,  Belinua  and  Brennufi, 
Belinus  received  the  kingdom  of  Britain,  Brennus  that 
of  Scotland,  under  his  brother,  according  to  the  Trojan 
law  of  primogeniture.  King  Arthur  bestowed  the  king- 
dom of  Scotland  on  Angusil,  who  bore  Arthur's  sword 
before  him  in  sign  of  fealty.  So,  throughout  the  Saxon 
race,  almost  every  famous  King,  from  Athelatan  to 
Edward  the  Confessor,  had  either  ippointed  Kings  i>l 


Ryroer,  tote4  Feb.  IS,  1301. 


CHAP.  IX.     DLAIMS  DF  ENGKLAND  AND  &COTLAND.  97 

Scotland  or  received  homage  from  them.  The  Normans 
exercised  the  same  supremacy,  from  William  tha  Con- 
quer or  to  King  Edward's  father,  Henry  III.  The  Hing 
dauntlessly  relates  acts  of  submission  and  fealty  from 
all  iha  Scottish  Kings.  He  concludes  this  long  and 
laboured  manifesto  with  the  assertion  of  his  full,  abso- 
lute, indefeasible  title  to  tha  kingdom  of  Scotland,  as 
well  in  right  of  property  as  of  possession ;  and  that  ho 
will  neither  da  any  act,  nor  give  any  security,  which 
will  in  the  least  derogate  from  that  right  and  that  pos- 
session. 

The  Pope  received  this  extraordinary  statement  with 
consummate  solemnity.  Ha  handed  it  over  to  Answer  or 
Baldred  Basset,  tho  Envoy  of  the  Scottish  tlieScl)ta- 
Begsncy.  In  due  time  appeared  the  answer,  which, 
with  the  sams  grave  unsuspiciousnest.1,  meets  the  King 
on  his  own  gruund.  The  Scots  had  their  legend,  which 
for  this  purpose  becomes  equally  authentic  history. 
Thsy  deny  not  Brute  or  his  conquest;  but  they  hold 
their  independent  descent  from  Scota,  the  daughter  of 
Pharaoh,  King  of  Egypt,  who  sojourned  at  Athens  and 
subdued  Ireland.  Her  sons  conquered  Scotland  from 
the  degenerate  race  of  Brute.  The  Saxon  supremacy, 
if  there  were  such  supremacy,  is  no  precedent  for 
Edward,  a  descendant  of  Norman  Icings,  No  act  of 
homage  was  ever  performed  to  them  by  any  King 
of  Scotland,  but  by  William  the  Lion,  and  that  for 
lands  held  within  th&  kingdom  of  England.  They 
assert  the  absolute  jurisdiction  of  the  court  of  Borne. 
Edward,  did  ha  not  mistrust  his  cause,  could  not 
decline  that  just  and  infallible  tribunal.  Scotland  is, 
and  ever  has  been,  an  allodial  fief,  an  inalienable 
possession  of  the  Church  of  Borne.  It  was  contained 
in  tha  universal  grant  of  Constantino  the  Emperor, 

VOL,  vii.  H 


08  LATIN  CHBISlIAtfm.  BOOK  XI. 

of  all  islands  in  thn  ocean  to  the  successors  of  Si, 
Peter." 

But  these  more  remote  controversies  were  now  to  be 
Qimirei-wtth  drowned  in  the  din  of  that  absorbing  strife, 
Fran*.  on  ^hick  Christendom  gazed  in  silent  amaze- 
ment, the  quarrel  between  tha  Pope  and  the  King  of 
France.  Boniface  must  descend  from  hie  tranquil  emi- 
nence, as  dictator  of  peace,  as  arbiter  between  contend- 
ing Kings,  to  a  long  furious  altercation  of  royal  Edicts 
and  Papal  Bulls,  in  which,  if  not  all  respect  for  the 
Boman  See,  at  least  for  himself,  was  thrown  aside;  in 
which,  if  not  his  life,  his  power  and  his  personal 
liberty  were  openly  menaced;  in  which  on  his  side 
he  threatened  to  excommunicate,  to  depose  by  some 
powerful  league  the  greatest  monarch  in  Europe,  and 
was  himself  summoned  to  appear  before  a  General 
Council  to  answer  for  the  most  monstrous  crimes.  The 
strife  closed  with  his  seizure  in  his  own  palace,  and  in 
his  hastened  death. 

As  tliis  strife  with  France  became  more  violent,  the 
Thu  pops  and  King  of  England,  whom  each  party  would  fear 
ibanaon5  to  offend,  calmly  pursued  his  plans  of  security 
theiraiiy  and  aggiandiaB-ment.  The  rights  of  ths  Roman 
See  to  the  fief  of  Scotland  quietly  sunk  into  oblivion; 
the  liberties  of  the  oppressed  Scots  ceased  to  awaken 
the  sympathies  of  their  spiritual  vindicator.  The  change 
in  the  views  of  the  Popo  was  complete ;  his  inactivity  in 
the  cause  of  the  Scots  grew  into  indirect  support  of  the 
King  of  England.  In  an  extant  Bull  he  reproves  the 
Archbishop  of  Glasgow  and  other  Prelates  of  Scotland, 
for  their  obstinate  maintenance  of  an  unnatural  re- 
bellion: he  treats  them  as  acting  unworthily  of  their 


*  Bymer,    On  the  Scotch  plea,  compare  Fordua,  Scoti  Chronicon. 


CflAP.  IX.      QUARREL  UJf  THE  POPE  AND  PHILIP.  99 

holy  calling,  and  threatens  them  -with  condign  censure 
those  very  Prelates  for  whose  imprisonment  ha  had  coo? 
demned  the  King  of  England." 

Nor  was  Philip  less  disposed  to  abandon  the  Scottish 
insurgents  to  their  fate.  After  obtaining  for  them  the 
short  truce  of  Angers,  ha  no  longer  interposed  in  their 
behalf.  There  might  almost  seem  a  tacit  understanding 
bet-ween  the  Kings.  Edward,  in  like  manner,  forgot  his 
faithful  ally  the  Count  of  Flanders,  who  was  confined  in 
a  French  prison  as  a  rebellious  vassal.  He  did  not  insist 
on  his  liberation,  it  does  not  appear  that  he  even  re- 
monstrated against  this  humiliating  wrong. 

The  quarrel  between  Boniface  VIII.  and  Philip  the 
Fair  is  one  of  the  great  epochs  in  the  Papal  history, 
the  turning  point  after  which,  for  a  time  at  least,  the 
Papacy  sank  with  a  swift  and  precipitate  descent,  ani 
from  which  it  never  rose  again  to  the  same  commanding 
height.  This  quarrel  lad  rapidly,  if  not  directly  anil 
immediately,  to  that  debasing  period  wlucb.  has  been 
called  the  Babylonian  captivity  of  the  Popes  in  Avignon, 
during  which  they  became  not  much  more  than  the 
slaves  of  the  Kings  of  France.  It  was  the  strife  of 
the  two  proudest,  hardest,  and  least  conciliatory  of  men, 
in  defence  of  the  two  most  stubbornly  irrecoucileable 
principles  which  could  ba  brought  into  collision,  with 
everything  to  exasperate,  nothing  to  avert,  to  break, 
or  to  mitigate  the  shock. 

The  causes  which  led  more  immediately  to  this  dis- 
astrous discord  seem  petty  and  insignificant;  but  when 
two  violent,  ambitious,  and  unyielding  men  are  opposed, 
each  strenuous  in  the  assertion,  of  incompatible  claims, 
small  causes  provoke  and  irritate  the  feud,  more 

•  RjTner, 

H   2 


100  LATIN  UIILJSTIANITT.  BOOK  XI. 

than  some  one  great  object  of  contest.  The  clergy  of 
France  had  many  grievances,  complained  of  many 
usurpations  on  the  part  of  Philip,  hia  family,  and  his 
officers,  which  were  duly  brought  before  tha  Papal 
court.  The  Bishop  of  Laon  had  been  suspended  from 
Ms  spiritual  functions  by  the  Pope;  he  was  cited  to 
Home.  The  King  sequesterBd  and  took  possession  of 
ths  lands  and  goods  as  of  a  vacant  Sse.  John,  Cardinal 
of  S.  Cecilia,  had  devised  certain  estates  which  he  held 
in  France  for  the  endowment  of  a  college  for  poor  clerks 
in  Paris.  Philip,  it  is  not  known  on  what  plea,  seized 
the  lands,  and  refused  to  restore  them,  though  admo- 
nished by  the  Pope.  Bobert  of  Artois,  the  King's 
brother,  claimed  against  the  Bishop  part  of  the  city  of 
Oambray:  he  continued  to  hold  it  in  defiance  of  the 
Papal  censure.  The  Archbishop  of  Eheims  complained 
that  hia  estates,  sequestered  by  tha  King  for  his  own 
use  during  the  vacancy  of  the  See,  had  not  been  fully 
restored  to  the  ArohiBpiscopatB.  The  Archbishop  of 
Narbonne  was  involvad  in  two  disputes,  ons  with  the 
Viscount  of  that  city,  who  claimed  to  hold  his  castle  in 
Narboniio  of  tha  King,  nut  of  the  Archbishop,  who  had 
received,  as  was  asserted  on  the  other  hand,  tho  homage 
and  fealty  of  hia  father.  A  Council  was  held  at  Bozicrs 
on  the  Kubject:  and  an  appeal  ma  do  to  Paris.  Tho 
second,  fund  related  to  the  district  of  Maguolone,  which 
the  officers  of  Kt.  Louis  had  usurped  from  the  Seo  of 
Narbonne;  but  on  an  appeal  to  Clement  IV.,  it  had 
been  ceded  back  to  the  Church,  The  offfcers  of  Philip 
were  again  in  possession  of  Magu clone.  On  this  subject 
came  a  strong,  but  not  intemperate  remonstrance  from 
the  Pope,  yet  in  which  might  be  heard  the  first  fnint 
murmurs  of  the  brooding  storm.  The  Pope  naturally 
set  before  the  King  the  example  of  hia  pious  and  sainted 


CHIP.  IX.  DISSATISFACTION  OF  PHILIP,  101 

grandsire  Louis.  That  canonisation  is  always  repre- 
sent sd  as  an  act  of  condescending  favour,  not  as  a  right 
extorted  by  the  unquestioned  virtues  and  acknowledged 
miracles  of  St.  Louis ;  and  as  binding  the  kingdom  of 
France,  especially  his  descendants  on  the  throne,  in  an 
irredeemable  debt  of  gratitude  to  the  Holy  See.  "The 
Pope  cannot  overlook  such  aggressions  as  those  of  the 
King  on  the  rights  of  the  Archbishop  of  Narbonne  with- 
out incurring  the  blame  of  dumb  dogs,  who  dare  not 
bark;"  he  warns  the  King  against  the  false  prophets 
with  honeyed  lips,  the  evil  counsellors,  the  extent  of 
whose  fatal  influence  he  already,  no  doubt,  dimly  fore- 
saw, the  lawyers,  on  whom  the  King  depended  in  all  his 
acts,  whether  for  the  maintenance  of  his  own  rights,  or 
the  usurpation  of  those  of  others. 

As  yet  there  was  no  open  breach.  No  doubt  the 
recollection  of  the  former  feud  rankled  in  the  hearts 
of  both.  The  unmeasured  pretensions  of  the  Pope  in 
the  Bull  which  exempted  the  clergy  altogether  from 
taxation  for  the  state  had  not  been  rescinded,  only 
mitigated  as  regarded  France.  All  these  smaller 
vexatious  acts  of  rapacity  showed  that  the  King  was 
actuated  by  the  same  spirit,  which  would  proceed  to 
any  extremity  rather  than  yield  this  prerogative  of 
his  crown. 

The  dissatisfaction  of  Philip  with  ths  arbitration  of 
Boniface  between  Franco  and  England;  his  indignation 
that  the  arbitrament,  which  had  bean  referred  to  Bene- 
detto Graetani,not  to  Pope  Boniface,  had  beon  published 
in  the  form  of  a  Bull;  the  fury  into  which  the  King 
and  the  nobles  were  betrayed  by  the  articles  concerning 
the  Count  of  Flanders,  rest  on  no  extant  contemporary 
authority ;  yet  ore  so  particular  and  so  characteristic  that 
it  id  difficult  to  ascribe  them  to  the  invention  of  the 


102 


LATIN  DHEISTIANITT 


13o  [>H  XI 


French  historians.5  It  is  said  that  the  Bull,  -which  had 
been,  ostentatiously  read  before  a  great  public  assembly 
in  tha  Yatican,  was  presented  to  the  King  of  Franca  by 
an  English  prelate,  the  Bishop  of  Durham,  as  Papal 
Legate  for  that  purpose,  as  well  as  ambassador  of  Eng- 
land; that  besides  tha  articles  of  peace  between  Franca 
and  England,  it  ordered  the  King  to  surrender  to  the 
Count  of  Flanders  all  tha  citias  which  ha  had  taken 
during  the  war,  to  deliver  up  his  daughter,  who  had  been 
a  prisoner  in  France  during  two  years,  and  to  allow  the 
Count  of  Flanders  to  marry  her  according  to  his  own 
choice ; a  and  also  commanded  Philip  himself  to  take  up 
the  Cross  for  the  Holy  Land.  The  King  could  not  restrain 
his  wrath.  Count  liobert  of  Artois  seized  the  insolent 
parchment:  "Such  dishonour  shall  never  fall  on  tha 
kingdom  of  France,"  HB  threw  it  into  the  fire/  Some 
trembled,  some  highly  lauded  this  contempt  of  the  Pope. 


'The  trail  aa  published  in  Ryiner 
contains  no  article  relating  to  the 
Count  of  Flanders ;  it  13  entirely  con- 
fined to  the  dispute  between  France 
anil  England,  anil  tha  affairs  of  Gas- 
cony.  That  in'tida,  if  there  were 
such,  must  hnvn  lean  sepaiate  anil 
(liHtlnut.  Thu  English  nmpnssailors, 
according  to  another  document  (New 
Ilymer),  refuse!  to  entei  into  the 
negotiation  without  tho  consent  of  tha 
Counts  of  Flanders  end  Bur.  Tha  two 
counts  submitted,  like  the  tyro  Itinga, 
to  the  Papal  m-M  [ration. 

*  I  have  qugtcilflboTo  tha  bull  annul- 
ling the  mar  dngc  contra  Bb  of  young  Ed- 
ward of  England  with  this  piincesn,p,  79. 

*  Dupny,  Mezeray,  and  V«lly  relate 
all  thU  without  hssitntion.    SJamondi 
rejects  it  altogether.    Bupuy  refera  to 
Villani,  where  thine  is  not  a  word 
About  it,  an!  to  the  Flemish  historian 


Oudegheist,  qm  (1'Aichevesqua  de 
Rama)  "depuis  lea  picaente  aa  Boy 
Philippe  IB  Bel,  en  la  presence  de  plu- 
sieura  Princea  da  Boyaulme,  et  cntre 
autres  da  Robert  Conte  d'Artoys, 
lequel  s'appariihevtint  d'une  inuaite'a 
melfinchnlia  et  tristcsse  qua  Indicta 
flentcncc  nvoib  cause  nu  cmur  d'lccluy, 
Roy  Philippe,  piint  Icsdictcs  bulles  dea 
mams  da  VArchevesijua,  Icsiiuellas  II 
debchira  et  jecta  nu  fau,  disnnt  ijue  tel 
deahonneur  n'aviendroib  jamaia  &,  tin 
Roy  de  Fiance.  Pont  an&uns  das 
Aaaiatans  la  Inuferent  grandement,  lee 
nutrca  la  blaamQrent,"  Oudagherst, 
p,  222.  It  IB  singular  that  there  is 
tha  same  obscurity  about  the  dBmand 
made,  it  is  said,  by  tha  £ishop  of 
Pamlere  far  the  liberation  of  the  Count 
of  Flanders— ona  of  the  onuses  which 
exasperated  Philip  nioab  violeutly 
against  that  prelate. 


CHIP.  IX.  ALLIANCE  "WITH  THE  EMPIEE  103 

It  is  quits  certain  that  Philip  took  a  step  of  more 
decided  disdain  and  hostility  to  the  Pope,  in  entering 
into  an  open  alliance  and  connexion  by  mariiage  with 
the  excommunicated  Albert  of  Austria.  The  King  of 
the  Romans  and  the  King  of  France  met  in  great  pomp 
batween  Toul  and  Vaucouleurs,  on  the  confines  of  their 
kingdoms.  Blanche,  the  sister  of  Philipj  was  solemnly 
espoused  to  Rodolph,  son  of  Albert  of  Austria.  Tins 
step  implied  more  than  mistrust,  total  disbelief  in  the 
promises  held  out  by  Pope  Boniface  to  Charles  of  Valois, 
that  not  merely  he  should,  be  placed,  as  the  reward  of 
his  Italian  conquests,  on  the  throne  of  the  Eastern 
Empire,  but  that  tha  Pop  a  would  ensure  his  succession 
to  the  Empire  of  the  West,  held  to  be  vacant  by  tlia 
death  of  Adolph  of  Nassau.  These  magnificent  hopes 
the  Pope  had  not  the  power,  Philip  manifestly  believed 
that  ha  had  not  the  will,  to  accomplish.'  Albert  of  Austria 
was  yet  under  the  Papal  ban  aa  tha  murderer  of  his 
Sovereign.  Boniface  had  exhorted  the  ecclesiastical 
electors  to  resist  his  usurpation,  as  he  esteemed  it,  to 
the  utmost.  Neither  the  Archbishops  of  Mentis  nor  of 
Cologne  were  present  at  the  meeting.  Albert  of  Austria 
communicated  this  treaty  of  marriage  with  the  royal 
house  of  France  to  the  Pope;  and  no  doubt  hoped  to 
advance  at  least  the  recognition  of  his  title  as  King  o 
the  Komans,  Boniface  refused  to  admit  the  ambassadors 
of  tha  vassal  who  had  slain  his  lord,  of  a  Prince  who, 
without  the  Papal  sanction,  dared  to  assume  the  title  of 
King  of  the  Romans,1 

Humours  of  more  ostentatious  r'rwteinptnnuBni-Hs  were 
widely  disseminated  in  Transalpine   Uhrihtumloui,  and 


1  Hiatorin  Australia,  apuil  Fieher,  i.  417,  sub  ann,  12H3.    Lcihnitx,  I'od. 
iplom.  i.  25.  t  nnyiiulil,  sn),  nmtt  l,",[Jllt 


1U4:  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  XL 

among  the  Ghihellines  of  Northern  Italy.  Boniface 
Runumrfl  had  appeared  in  warlike  attire,  and  declared 
faw.  that  himself,  the  successor  of  St.  Peter,  was 
tha  only  Caesar.  During  the  Jubilee  he  had  displayed 
himself  alternately  in  tha  splendid  habiliments  of  the 
Pope  and  those  of  the  Emperor,  with  the  crown  on  his 
head,  the  sceptre  in  his  hand,  and  tha  Imperial  sandals 
on  his  feet ;  ha  had  two  swords  borns  before  him,  and 
thus  openly  assumed  the  full  temporal  as  well  as  spi- 
ritual supremacy  over  mankind.  These,  reports,  whether 
grounded  on  some  misunderstanding  of  acts  or  words, 
or  on  the  general  haughty  demeanour  of  tho  Pope, 
whether  grosa  exaggeration  or  absolute  invention,  were 
no  doubt  spread  "by  the  industrious  yindictiveness  of  the 
Pontiff's  enemies."  It  was  no  augury  of  peace  that 
some  of  ths  Colonnas  were  op suly  received  at  the  court 
of  France:  Stephen,  the  nephew  of  the  two 
Cardinals  (they  remained  at  Genoa),  iSciarra,  a 
name  afterwards  more  fatal  to  the  Pope,  redeemed  by  the 
liberality  of  the  King  from  the  corsairs  who  had  taken  him 
on  tho  high  seas.  It  is  far  from  improbable  that  from  thfj 
Colonnaa  and  their  partisans,  not  only  such  statements  M 
these  had  their  source  or  thi-ir  blacker  colouring, but  even 
darker  and  more  heinous  charges.  These  were  all  seized 
by  the  lawyers,  Peter  Plqtte  and  William  of  Nogaret. 
Italian  revenge,  brooding  over  cruel  and  unforgiven  in- 
juries, degradation,  impoverishment,  exile;  G-hibelline 
hatred,  with  the  discomfiture  of  ecclesiastical  ambition 
in  the  Churchmen,  would  be  little  scrupulous  as  to  the 
weapons  which  it  would  employ.  Bonifaco,  if  not  the 
victim  of  his  overweening  arrogance,  may  have  beer 
the  victim  of  his  own  violence  and  implacability. 


Of  one  thing  tmly  I  aw  conflict,  thnt  they  are  nnt  htm  mrmtfou. 


CHAP.  IX.  El  SHOP  OF  PAMIERS.  195 

The  unfortunate,  if  not  insulting,  choice  of  his  Legate 
at  this  peculiar  crisis  precipitate!  the  rupture.  Instead 
of  one  of  the  grave,  smooth,  distinguish  Bill,  if  inflexible, 
Cardinals  of  hig  own  court,  Boniface  entrusted  with  this 
difficult  mission  a  man  turbulent,  intriguing,  odious  to 
Philip ;  with  notions  of  sacerdotal  power  as  stern  and 
unbending  as  his  own ;  a  subject  of  the  Jving  of  Prance, 
yet  in  a  part  of  the  kingdom  in  which  that  subjection 
was  recent  and  doubtful.  Bernard  Saisset  had  sniwct 
been  Abbot  of  St.  Antonine's  in  Pamiers,  a  Pawium, 
city  of  Languedoc.  The  Counts  of  Foix,  had  a  joint 
jurisdiction  with  the  Abbot  over  that  city  and  over  the 
domains  of  the  convent.  But  the  house  of  Foix  during 
the  Albigensian  war  had  lost  all  its  power ;  these  rights 
passed  first  to  Simon  de  Montfort,  then  to  the  King  of 
France.  But  the  King  of  France,  Philip  the  Hardy, 
had  rewarded  Roger  Bernard,  Count  of  Foix,  for  his 
servicBs  in  the  war  of  Catalonia,  with  the  grant  of  all 
his  rights  over  Pamisrs,  except  the  absolute  suzerainty. 
The  Abbots  resisted  the  grant,  and  refused  all  accom- 
modation, The  King  commanded  the  Yiscotmt  of 
Bigorre,  who  held  the  castle,  to  put  it  into  tho  hands 
of  the  Count  of  Foix.  The  Abbot  appealed  to 
Eome.  Bogor  Barnard  was  excommunieat ad;  lafle' 
Jiis  lands  placed  under  interdict  Tha  Pope  erected  tho 
city  of  Pamiers  into  a  Bishopric;  Bernard  Saisset 
became  Bishop,  and  condescended  to  racoivD  a  large 
sum  from  the  Count  of  Foix,  with  a  fixed  rent  on,  the 
estates.  The  Count  of  Foix  did  homage  at  the  feet  of 
the  Bishop. 

„  Such  was  the  man  chosen  by  Boniface  as  Legate  to 
the  proud  and  irascible  Philip  ths  Fair.  Thero  IB  no 
record  of  the  special  object  of  his  mission  or  of  Ma 
instructions.  It  is  said  that  he  held  the  loftiest  and 


IDS  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  XL 

most  contemptuous  language  concerning  the  illimitable 
power  of  the  Church  over  all  temporal  sovereigns; 
that  his  arrogant  demeanour  rendered  his  demands 
still  more  insulting;  that  he  peremptorily  insisted  on 
the  liberation  of  the  Count  of  Flanders  and  his 
daughter.  Philip,  after  the  proclamation  of  his  truca 
with  England,  had  again  sent  a  powerful  army  into 
Flanders:  tha  Count  was  abandoned  by  the  King  of 
England,  abandoned  by  his  own  subjects.  Guy  of 
Dampierre  (we  have  before  alluded  to  his  fate)  had 
been  compelled  to  surrender  with  his  family,  anil 
was  now  a  prisoner  in  Francs,  Philip  had  the  moat 
deep-rooted  hatred  of  the  Count  of  Flanders,  aa  a  rebel- 
lious vassal,  and  as  one  whom  lie  had  cruelly  injured. 
Some  passion  aa  profound  as  this,  or  his  most  sensitive 
pride,  must  have  been  galled  by  the  Bishop  of  Panders, 
or  even  Philip  the  Fair  would  hardly  have  been  goaded 
to  measures  of  sucih  vindictive  violence,  Philip  was 
surrounded  by  his  groat  lawyers,  his  Chancellor  Peter 
Fbttc,  his  confidential  advisers,  Enguerrand  de  Marigny, 
William  do  Plasiau,  and  William  of  Nogaret,  honest 
counsallors  aa  far  aa  the  advancement  of  the  royal 
power,  tho  independence  of  the  temporal  on  the  spiritual 
sovereignty,  and  tha  administration,  of  juwtica  by  learned 
and  able  men,  according  ta  fixed  principles  of  law, 
instead  of  the  wild  and  uncertain  judgements  of  the 
petty  feudal  lords,  lay  or  ecclesiastic ;  dangerous  coun- 
sellors, aa  aervilo  instruments  of  royal  encroachment, 
oppression,  and  exaction;  everywhere  straining  the  law, 
the  old  Boman.  law,  in  favour  of  the  kingly  prerogative, 
beyond  its  proper  despotism,  Philip,  by  their  advice, 
determined  to  arraign  the  Papal  Legato,  as  a  subject 
guilty  at  least  of  spoken  treason.  He  allowed  the 
Bishop  to  depart,  but  Saisset  was  followed  or  preceded 


CHAP.  IX.          CHABGKES  AGAINST  THE  BISHOP.  107 

by  a  commission  sent  to  Toulouse,  the  Archdeacon  of 
Angers  and  the  Vidame  of  Amiens,  to  collect 
secret  information  as  to  hig  conduct  and  lan- 
guage. So  soon  as  the  Legate  Bishop  arrived  in  liia 
diocese,  he  found  a  formidable  array  of  charges  prepared 
against  him.  Tw  enty-four  -witness eg  had  been  examined ; 
the  Counts  of  Foix  and  Commingefl,  the  Bishop  of  Tou- 
louse, Beziers,  and  Maguelone,  the  Abbot  of  St.  Pepoul. 
He  was  accused  of  simony,  of  heresy,  principally  as 
regarded  confession.*  The  Bishop  would  have  ilsd  at 
once  to  Roma  ;  but  this  flight  without  tliB  leave  of  the 
King  or  hia  metropolitan  had  incurred  the  forfeiture  of 
his  temporalities.  Ha  sent  the  Abbot  of  Maa  d'Asil 
humbly  to  entreat  permission  to  retire.  But  tlia  King's 
commissioners  wcra  on  the  watch.  The  Yidama  of 
Ami ans  stood  by  night  at  the  gates  of  the  Episcopal 
Palace,  Bummontsd  the  Bishop  to  appear  before  the 
King,  searched  all  his  chambers,  set  the  royal  seal  on 
all  his  books,  papers,  money,  plate,  on  hig  episcopal 
ornaments,  It  is  even  said  that  his  domestics  were  put 
to  the  torture  to  obtain  evidence  against  him.  After 
some  delay,  the  Prelate  set  out  from  Toulous3, 
accompanied  by  the  captain  of  the  crossbow- 
men  and  his  troop,  the  Seneschal  of  Toulouse,  and  two 
royal  sergeants—- ostensibly  to  do  him  honour;  in  fad;, 
as  a  guard  upon  the  prisoner. 

The  King  was  holding  hia  Court-plenary,  a  Parlia- 
ment of  the  whole  realm  at  Senlis.  The  Bishop 
appeared  before  him,  as  ha  sat  surrounded  by 
the  princes,  prelates,  knights,  and  ecclesiastics.     Peter 
Flotte,  the  Keeper  of  the  Seals,  rose  and  arraigned  tho 


Dupuy   Preuvea,  p.  326,     Time  may  bo  rend  iho  c'epgmtiotu  of  tlti 


108  ULTIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  XI 

Bishop  as  having-  uttered  many  contemptuous  and  trea- 
chBTBea      sonable  words  against  tha  Emg's  Maiesty.    Ha 

against  DB  °  a  j        j 


offered  to  substantiate  these  gravs  charges  by 
unexceptionable  witnesses.  Then  Bishop  Bernard  was 
accused  of  having  repeated  a  prediction  of  Saint  Louis3 
that  in  the  third  generation,  under  a  weak  prince,  the 
kingdom  of  France  would  pass  for  evsr  from  his  line 
into  that  of  strangers  ;  of  having  said  that  Philip  wag 
in  every  way  unworthy  of  the  crown  ;  that  he  was  not 
of  tha  pure  race  of  Charlemagne,  but  of  a  bastard 
branch;  that  he  was  no  true  King,  but  a  handsome 
image,  who  thought  of  nothing  but  being  looked  upon 
with  admiration  by  the  world;  that  he  deserved  no 
name  but  that  of  issuer  of  base  money  ;y  that  his  court 
was  treacherous,  corrupt,  and  unbelieving  as  himself; 
that  he  had  grievously  oppressed  by  tyranny  and  ex- 
tortion all  who  spoka  the  language  of  Toulouse  ;  that 
he  had  no  authority  over  Pamiers,  which  was  neither 
within  the  realm  nor  held  of  the  kingdom  of  France. 
There  were  other  charges  of  acts,  not  of  words  ;  secret 
overtures  to  England  ;  attempts  to  alienate  the  loyalty 
of  the  Counts  of  Comminges,  and  to  induce  the  province 
of  Languedoc  to  revolt,  and  set  up  her  old  independent 
Counts.1  The  Chancellor  concluded  by  addressing  the 
metropolitan,  the  Archbishop  of  Narbonne,  summoning 
him  in  the  King's  name  to  seize  and  secure  the  person 
thus  accused  by  tha  King  of  leze  majosto;  if  the  Arch- 
bishop refused,  the  King  must  take  his  own  course. 
The  Archbishop  was  in  tha  utmost  consternation  and 
difficulty.  He  dared  not  absolutely  refuse  obedience  to 
the  King.  The  life  of  the  Bishop  waa  threatened  by 
some  of  the  mora  lawless  of  the  court.  He  was  with- 


t  Faux  mommy eur.  *  The  charges  are  in  Dupuy,  p.  633, 


JHAP,  IX. 


PETER  FLOTTE. 


IDP 


drawn,  aa  if  for  protection ;  the  King's  guards  slept  in 
his  chamber.  The  Archbishop  remonstrated  against  this 
insult  towards  a  spiritual  person.  Tha  King  demanded 
whether  he  would  be  answerable  for  the  safe  custody  of 
tha  prisoner.  The  Archbishop  was  bound  not  only  by 
awe,  but  by  gratitude  to  the  Pops.  Ons  of  the  causes 
of  the  (parrel  between.  Boniface  and  the  King  waa  tha 
zealous  assertion  of  the  Archbishop's  rights  to  the  Count- 
ship  of  Maguelone.  He  consult  ad  the  Archbishop  of 
Auch  and  the  other  bishops.  It  was  agreed  that  the 
Bishop  of  iSenlis  should  maka  over  for  a  certain  time 
a  portion  of  his  teiritory  to  the  Archbishop,  Within 
that  ceded  territory  the  Bishop  should  be  kept,  but  not 
in  close  custody;  his  own  chamberlain  alone  was  to 
sleep  in  his  chamber,  but  the  King  might  appoint  a 
faithful  knight  to  keep  guard.  Ho  was  to  have  his 
chaplains;  permission  to  write  to  Home,  his  letters 
being  first  examinad;  lest  his  diocese  should  suffur 
damage,  his  ssal  was  to  be  locked  up  in  a  strong  cliotst 
under  two  keys,  of  which  he  retained  DUO. 

King  Philip  could  not  commit  this  bold  act  of  the 
seizure  and  imprisonment  of  a  bishop,  a  Papal  Nuncio, 
without  communicating  his  proceedings  to  the  Pope, 
This  communication  was  made,  either  accompanied  or 
followed  by  a  solemn,  embassaga.  Bat  if  the  Legate 
appointed,  by  the  Pope  waa  the  most  obnoxious  ecclesi- 
astic whom  he  could  have  chosen,  the  chief  ambassador 
designated  by  tha  King,  who  proceeded  to  Homo,  and 
affronted  the  Pope  by  his  dauntless  language,  was  the 
Keaper  of  the  Seals,  Peter  Elotte.a  If  tha  King  and 


1  After  caraful  namimitioii  of  tha 
evidence,  I  think  thcie  is  no  duubb 
of  this  miEBiun  of  Fetor  Flutto,  It 
oanuot  be  pure  invention.  See  Mutt, 


Westm.  m  fue.  Walwnghnm.  SJM  n 
linn  us,  sub  ami.  KJ[)1.  Kayualii, 
ibid.  Bailh't,  Demdrti,  p.  11  HI  Jb% 


11 D  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOB  XI. 

his  counsellors  had  desired  to  show  the  malice  and  false- 
hood or  gross  exaggeration  of  the  treasonable  charges 
brought  against  the  Bishop  of  Paimers,  they  could  not 
liavs  dona  it  more  effectually  than  by  the  monstrous 
language  which  they  accused  him  of  haying  used  against 
the  Pops  himself, — the  Pope,  whom  he  represented  as 
Legate  or  Nuncio  at  the  court  of  France,  the  object 
of  his  devout  reverence  as  a  High  Churchman,  to  whom 
hs  had  applied  for  protection,  at  whose  fset  he  sought 
for  refuge.  The  Bishop  of  Fanners  (so  averred  the 
King  of  France  in  a  public  despatch)  waa  not  only, 
according  to  tha  usual  charges  against  all  delinquent 
prelates,  guilty  of  heresy,  simony,  and  unbelief;  of 
having  declared  the  sacrament  of  penance  a  human 
invention,  fornication  not  forbidden  to  the  clergy:  in 
accumulation  of  these  offences,  he  had  called  Boniface 
the  Supreme  Pontiff,  in  the  hearing  of  many  credible 
•witnesses,  the  devil  incarnate ;  he  had  asserted  "  that 
the  Pope  had  impiously  canonised  St.  .Louis,  who  was 
in  hell,"  "  No  wonder  that  this  man  had  not  hesitated 
to  utter  the  foulest  treasons  against  his  temporal  sove- 
reign, when  he  had  thus  blasphemed  against  G-od  and 
the  Church."  "All  this  the  inquisitors  had  gathered 
from  the  attestations  of  bishops,  abbots,  and  religions 
men,  as  well  as  counts,  knights,  and  burghers."  The 
King  demanded  the  degradation  and  the  condemnation 
of  the  Bishop  by  spiritual  censures,  and  permission  to 
make  "a  sacrifice  to  God  by  tha  hands  of  justice/' 
Peter  'JFlotte  is  declared,  even  in  the  presence  of  the 
Pops,  to  have  maintained  lug  unawed  intrepidity.  To 
the  Pope's  absolute  assertion  of  his  superiority  over  the 
secular  power,  the  Chancellor  replied  with  sarcastic 
significance,  "Your  power  in  temporal  affairs  is  a  powei 
m  word,  that  of  the  King  my  master  in  deed." 


CHAP.  IX.  *APAL  BULLS.  Ill 

Such  negotiations,  with,  such  a  negotiator,  were  not 
likely  to  lead  to  peace.  Bull  after  Bull  came  papttlBu]]B. 
forth ;  several  of  the  earlier  ones  bore  the  1JBC- a 
same  date.  The  first  was  addressed  to  tlio  King.  It 
declared  in  the  strongest  terms  that  the  temporal  sove- 
reign had  no  authority  whatever  over  the  person  of  an 
ecclesiastic.  "Ths  Pope  had  heard  with  deep  sorrow 
that  the  King  of  France  had  caused  the  Bishop  of 
Pamiers  to  be  brought  before  him  (Boniface  trusted 
not  against  his  will),11  and  had  committed  him  tD  the 
custody  of  the  Archbishop  of  Narbonne.  The  Pope 
exhorted,  he  commanded  the  King  immediately  to  ro- 
Isase  the  prelate3  to  permit  him  to  proceed  to  Home, 
and  to  restore  all  his  goo  la  and  chattels.  Unless  he 
did  this  instantly,  hs  would  incur  canonical  censure  for 
laying  his  profane  and  sacrilegious  hands  on  a  bishop," 
A  second  Bull  commanded  the  Archbishop  of  nB0.4( 
Narbonne  to  consider  the  Bishop  as  under  the  13ua' 
special  protection  of  the  Pops;  to  send  him,  with  all 
the  documents  produced  upon  the  trial,  to  Borne ;  and 
to  inhibit  all  further  proceedings  of  the  King,  A 
tlu'rd  Bull  annulled  the  special  suspension,  as  regarded 
Franc 3,  of  the  famous  Papal  statute  that  clerks  should 
make  no  payments  whatever  to  the  laity;0  "  tho  King 
was  to  learn  that  by  his  disobedient  conduct  ha  liaa 
forfeited  all  peculiar  and  distinctive  favour  from  tho 
Holy  See."  The  fourth  was  even  a  stronger  and  more 
irrevocable  act  of  hostility.  This  Bull  was  addressed 
to  all  the  archbishops  and  prelates,  to  the  cathedral 
chapters,  and  the  doctors  of  the  canon  and  the  civil  law, 
It  cited  them  to  appear  in  person,  or  by  Iheii*  repre* 


1  "Utlnam  non  inrltum."— Baynaia.  Ann,  1001,  c.  xxviii. 
•  ••  dericia  Uiwa." 


112  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  XI 

sentatives,  at  Horns  on  the  1st  November  of  tils  ensu- 
ing vear,  to  take  counsel  concerning  all  the 

Aj>.i3Da.       °  J  ,       e  .      ,  P  . 

excesses,  crimes,  acts  of  insolence,  injury,  or 

exaction,  committed  by  ths  King  of  Eraucs  or  his 
officers  against  ths  churches,  the  secular  and.  regular 
clergy  of  his  kingdom.  This  was  to  set  himself  at  the 
head  of  a  league  or  conspiracy  of  the  whole  clergy  of 
France  against  their  King,  it  was  a  levy  in  mass  of  the 
hierai  ehy  in  full  revolt.  Tho  Pope  had  already  con- 
descendingly informed  the  King  of  his  intention,  and 
3ntreated  him  not  to  be  disturbed  by  these  procesdings, 
but  to  place  full  reliance  on  the  equity  and  indulgence 
of  the  Supremo  Pontiff. 

So  closed  the  first  year  of  this  century.  Early  in  the 
ThaLcBBcr  folio wi»g  year  was  published,  or  at  least 
Bulu  widely  bruited  abroad,  a  Bull  bearing  the 
Popo's  signaturo,  brief,  sharp,  sententious.  It  had  none 
of  that  grave  solemnity,  that  unctuous  ostentation  of 
pious  and  paternal  tenderness,  that  prodigality  of  Scrip- 
tural and  sacred  allusion,  which  usually  sheathed  the 
severest  admonitions  of  the  Holy  Sue.  "Boniface  the 
Pope  to  the  King  of  France,  We  would  have  you  to 
know  that  you  arc  subordinate  in  temporals  as  in  spi- 
rituals. Tho  collation  to  benefices  and  pr abends  in  no 
wise  belongs  to  you:  if  you  havo  any  guardianship  of 
vacant  benefices,  it  is  only  to  receive  the  fruits  for  the 
successors.  Whatever  collations  you  have  made,  we 
declare  null;  whatever  have  been  Carried  into  effect* 
we  revoke.  All  who  believe  not  this  are  guilty  of 
heresy,"  The  Pope,  in  his  subsequent  Bulls,  openly 
accuses  certain  persons  of  having  issued  false  writings 
in  his  name ;  he  intimates,  if  he  does  not  directly  charge 
Peter  Flotte  as  guilty  of  the  fraud.  That  this  is  tha 
document,  or  one  of  the  documents,  thus  disclaimed; 


CHAP.  I&  THE  LESSER  BULL.  113 

there  can  be  no  doubt.  Was  it,  then,  a  bold  and 
groundless  forgery,  or  a  summary  of  the  Pope's  pre- 
tensions, stripped  of  all  stately  circumlocution,  ani 
presented  in  their  odious  and  offensive  plainness,  with 
a  viaw  to  enable  the  world,  or  at  least  France,  to  judga 
on  the  points  at  issue  ?  It  might  seem  absolutely  in- 
credible that  the  Chancellor  of  France  should  have  the 
audacity  to  promulgate  writings  in  the  name  of  the  Pope, 
altogether  fictitious,  which  the  Pope  would  instantly 
disown;  if  the  monstrous  charges  adduced  against  the 
Bishop  of  PamiBrSj  and  afterwards  in  open  court  against 
the  Pops  himself,  did  not  display  an  utter  contempt  for 
truth,  a  confidence  in  the  credulity  of  mankind,  at  least 
as  inconceivable  in  later  times.  Our  doubts  of  the  sheer 
invention  are  rather  as  to  the  impolicy  than  the  men- 
dacity of  the  act.  The  answer  in  the  name  of  the  King 
of  France  (and  this  answer,  undoubtedly  authentic, 
proves  irrsfragably  the  publication  and  wide  dissemina- 
tion of  the  Lesser  Bull  of  the  Pope)  with  its  oatentation 
not  only  of  discourteous  but  of  vulgar  contempt,  ob- 
tained the  same  publicity.  "  Philip,  by  the  grace  of 
God  King  of  France,  to  Boniface,  who  assumes  to  ba 
the  Chief  Pontiff,  little  or  no  greeting.4  Let  your 
fatuity  know,  that  in  temporals  we  arc  subordinate  to 
none.  The  collation  to  vacant  benefices  and  prebends 
belongs  to  us  by  royal  right ;  the  fruits  arc  ours.  We 
will  maintain  all  collations  made  and  to  bo  made  by  us, 
and  their  possessors.  All  who  believe  otherwise  we  hold 
to  be  fools  and  madmen,"0 


*  "Salutem  modicum  aut  nullum." 

•  The  weight  of  Evidence  that  these 
two  eztranidmary  dncumimU  wero  ex- 
tant anil  published  at  thu  time  teems 
to  me  lii-PMh title,      They  were  not 

VOL.  VII. 


contcatEtl  for  i50n  years;  they  Are 
adduced  liy  most  at  the  -write™  nf  the 
time;  they  BIG  tn  tin  finmil  in  Hi« 
Gloss  on  thu  Dmolnls  of  Kiiiiil'nce, 
published  40  ywira  afar  by  John 


114 


LATIN  CHRISTIANITY. 


BOOK  XL 


The  more  full  and  acknowledged  Bull  might  rude  si 
be  almost  fairly  reduced  to  the  coarse  and  rude  sum- 
mary of  the  Lesser.*  It  contained  undeniably,  under 
its  veil  of  specious  and  moderate  language,  every  one 
of  those  hardy  and  unmeasured  doctrines.  But  the 
language  is  part  of  the  spirit  of  such  documents ;  the 
mitigating  and  explanatory  phrase  is  not  necessarily  de- 
ceptive or  hypocritical :  though  in  truth  each  party  was 
detBrminEd  to  misunderstand  the  other.  Neither  was 
prepared  to  follow  out  his  doctrines  to  thoir  legitimate 
conclusion;  neither  could  acknowledge  the  impossi- 
bility of  fixing  the  bounds  of  spiritual  and  of  temporal 
authority.  The  Pope's  notion  of  spiritual  supremacy 
necessarily  comprehended  tho  •whole  range  of  human 
action:  the  King  represented  the  Pope  as  claiming  a 
feudal  supremacy,  as  though  he  asserted  the  kingdom 
of  France  to  ba  held  of  him.  And  this  was  the  intelli- 
gible sovereignty  which  roused  the  indignation  of  feudal 
France,  indignation  justified  by  the  actual  claim  of  such 
sovereignty  over  other  kingdoms.  Each  therefore  stood 
on  an  imprL'gnabla  theoretics  ground;  but  each  theory, 
when  they  attempted  to  carry  it  into  practice,  clashed 
with  insurmountable  difficulties. 

Tho  gi  cator  Bull,  of  which  the  authenticity  is  unqueB- 


Aiidmv  of  Bologna.  See  nil  Hi u  very 
mi'ious  deliberation  uf  Putin1  Je  Bunco 
on  thii  very  Bull,  published  in  Dupuy, 
Pi  SUVBH,  p.  45.  It  is  called  iu  general 
the  Lesser  Bull. 

'  Sismondi  supposes  that  the  Lesser- 
Bull  was  framed  by  Pater  riotte,  to 
be  kid  before  the  States-General,  on 
account  of  the  great  length  of  the 
genuliiB  Bull ;  that  having  BO  pre- 
sented U,  tmi  Been  Us  effect,  he  was 
nimble  uti  unwilling  to  withdraw  it. 


Bat  of  the  iinawiTH  or  tho  three  Orden, 
two  mo  extant,  and  in  a  very  different 
tone  fioin  tho  brief  onu  Jiauiibed  to  ths 
King,  It  tcema  t»  ma  rather  to  have 
been  intended  as  an  appeal  to  papula) 
feeling  than  to  that  of  a,  regular  as- 
sembly. Suuh  substitution  IB  hudlj 
conceivable  in  an  aURtnbly  at  whicl 
all  the  prelates  and  gieat  abbots  o 
the  kingdom  woia  present,  Nor  do® 
this  n»tlan  account  far  the  King'i 
reply, 


CHAP.  IX.  THE  GREATER  BULL.  115 

tionsd,  ran  in  these  terms  : — It  began  with,  the  accus- 
tomed protestation  of  parental  tendsrnesa,  which  BUH. 
demanded  more  than  filial  obedience,  obedience  flu- 
to  the  Pope  as  to  God.  "Hearken,  my  moat  dear  son, 
to  the  precepts  of  thy  father  ',  open  the  Bars  of  thina 
heart  to  tha  instruction  of  thy  master,  the  vicegerent 
of  Him.  who  is  the  one  Master  and  Lord.  Beceive 
willingly,  be  careful  to  fulfil  to  the  utmost,  the  admo- 
nitions of  thy  mother,  the  Church.  Keturn  to  God  with 
a  contrite  heart,  from  wham,  by  sloth  or  through  evil 
counsels,  thou  hast  departed,  and  devoutly  conform  to 
His  decrees  and  ours."  The  Pope  then  shadows  forth 
tha  plenary  and  tremendous  power  of  Rome  in  the 
vague  and  awful  words  of  the  Did  Testament.  "See, 
I  have  this  day  set  thee  over  the  nations  and  over 
the  kingdoms,  to  root  out  and  to  pull  down,  ancB 
to  destroy  and  to  overthrow,  to  build  and  to  plant,"* 
This  was  no  new  Papal  phrase;  it  had  been  used 
with  the  aame  boldness  of  misappropriation  by  the 
Greg ories  and  Innocents  of  old.  It  might  mean  only 
spiritual  censures  ;  it  was  softened  off  in  tha  next  clause 
into  such  meaning.11  Yet  it  might  also  signify  the 
annulling  the  subjects'  oaths  of  allegiance,  the  over- 
throw by  any  means  of  the  temporal  throns,  the  trans- 
ference of  the  crown  from  one  head  to  another.  This 
sentence,  which  in  former  times  had  been  awful,  was 
now  presumptuous,  offensive,  odioua.  It  was  that  which 
the  King,  at  a  later  period,  insisted  moat  strenuously  oil 
erasing  from  the  Bull.  "Let  no  ons  persuade  you  that 
you  are  not  subject  to  the  Hierarch  of  the  Celestial 
Hierarchy."  The  Bull  proceeds  to  rebuke,  in  firm,  but 

V  Jeremiah  i.  10. 

"  CTt  giegem  pascenteB  Dnminicvuc  .  ,  ,  nlligetnus  fracta,  et  reducannu 
nbjecta,  vummqus  inf'undamus,"  Stc. 


U5  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Boo*  XI 

neither  absolutely  ungentle  nor  discourteous  terms,  the 
oppressions  of  the  King  over  his  subjects  (the  moat 
galling  sentences  were  those  which  alluded  to  his  tam- 
pering with,  the  coin,  "  his  acts  as  money-changer  "), 
not  only  the  oppressions  of  Ecclesiastics,  but  of  Peers, 
Counts,  Barons,  the  Universities,  and  the  people,  all 
of  whom  the  Pope  thus  takes  undsr  his  protection.  The 
King's  right  to  the  collation  of  henefices  he  denies  in 
the  moat  peremptory  terms ;  he  brands  his  presumption 
in  bringing  ecclesiastics  under  the  temporal  jurisdiction, 
iiia  levying  taxes  on  the  clergy  wh.o  did,  not  hold  fiefs 
of  the  Crown,  "although  no  layman  has  any  power 
whatever  over  an  ecclesiastic : "  he  censures  especially 
the  King's  usurpations  on  the  church  of  Lyons,  a 
church  beyond  the  limits  of  his  realm,  and  independent 
of  his  authority;  his  abuse  of  the  custody  of  vacant 
bishoprics,  "The  voice  of  the  Pope  was  hoarse  in 
remonstrating  against  these  a  eta  of  iniquity,  to  which 
the  King  turned  the  ear  of  the  deaf  adder."  Though 
the  Popo  would  be  justified  in  tailing  arms  against  the 
King,  his  bow  and  quiver  (what  bow  and  quiver  he 
leaves  in  significant  obscurity),  he  had  determined  tc 
make  thi«  lust  appeal  to  Philip's  conscience,  He  had 
RummoiiBd  tho  clergy  of  France  to  llometo  taka  cogm- 
nanco  of  all  these  things.  He  solemnly  warned  the 
King  against  tho  evil  counsellors  by  whom  ho  was  en- 
vironed; and  oonaluilci  with  tho  old  ami  somewhal 
obsolete  termination  of  all  such  addresses  to  Christiai 
Kings,  an  admonition  to  consider  the  Btato  of  the  Hoi} 
Land,  tha  all-absorbing  duty  of  recovering  the  sepulchre 
of  Christ. 

The  King  in  all  this  grave,  as  it  bore  upon  its  face 
paternal  expostulation,  aaw  only,  or  chose  to  sea,  or  wai 
permitted  by  his  loyal  counsellors,  who  by  their  servili 


CHAP.  IX  STATES  GENEEA1,.  Ill 

adulation  of  his  passions  absolutely  ruled  Ms  mind, 
to  see  only  the  few  plain  and  arrogant  demands  con- 
centered in  tha  Lesser  Bull,  with  the  allusions  to  hia 
oppressions  and  exactions,  not  less  insulting  from  their 
truth.  His  conscience  as  a  Christian  was  untouched  by 
religious  awe;  his  pride  as  a  Hing  provoked  to  fury. 
The  Archdeacon  of  NarbonnB,  the  bearer  of  the  Papal 
Bull,  was  ignommiously  refused  admittance  to  the  royal 
presence.  In  the  midst  of  his  court,  more  than  ordi- 
narily thronged  with  nobles,  Philip  solemnly  declared 
that  he  would  disinherit  all  his  sons  if  they  consented 
to  hold  the  kingdom  of  France  of  any  one  but  of  God. 
Fifteen  days  after,  tha  Bull  of  the  Pope  was  jan.26, 
publicly  burned  in  Paris  in  the  King's  pre-  1302- 
sencB,  and  this  act  proclaimed  throughout  the  city  by 
the  sound  of  the  trumpet.'  Paris  knew  no  more  of  the 
ground  of  the  quarrel,  or  of  the  Papal  pretensions,  than, 
may  have  been  communicated  in  the  Lesser  Bull ;  it 
heard  in  respectful  silence,  if  not  with  acclamation,  the 
King's  defiance  of  the  Pope,  at  which  a  century  before 
it  would  have  trembled  and  wailed,  as  inevitably  to  be 
follow  ad  by  all  the  gloom,  terror,  spiritual  privations  of 
an  Interdict. 

All  France  seemed  prepared  to  espouse  the  quarrel 
of  the  King.  Philip,  or  Philip's  counsellors,  had  such 
confidence  in  the  state  of  the  public  mind,  which  them- 
selves had  so  skilfully  wrought  up,  as  boldly  to  appeal 
to  the  whole  nation.  The  States- General  were  statM. 
Bummonad  for  the  first  time,  not  only  the  two  AjjSuMww, 
orders,  the  Nobles  and  the  Clergy,  but  the  commonalty 
also,  the  burghers  of  the  towns  and  cities,  now  rising 
into  notice  and  wealth.  The  States-General  met  in  the 

1  Dupur.  p.  59. 


US  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  XI 

church  of  Notre  Dams  at  Paris.  Tha  Chancellor,  Peter 
Flotte,  submitted,  and  put  his  own  construction  on  the 
several  Bulls  issued  by  the  Pope  on  the  5th  of  De- 
cember, which  withdrew  the  privileges  conceded  by 
himself  to  the  realm  of  France,  summoned  all  tha 
Bishops  and  Doctors  of  Theology  and  Law  in  France  to 
Home,  as  his  subjects  and  spiritual  vassals,  and  (this 
was  the  vital  question)  asserted  that  the  King  held  the 
realm,  of  France,  not  of  Grod,  but  of  the  Pope.  This 
feudal  suzerainty,  the  only  suzerainty  the  Nobles  com- 
prehended, and  which  was  declared  by  the  Chancellor 
to  be  claimed  by  the  Pap 9,  was  hardly  less  odious  to 
them  than  to  the  King.  The  clergy  were  embarrassed ; 
some,  no  doubt,  felt  strongly  the  national  pride  of  inde- 
pendence, though  they  owed  unlimited  allegiance  to  the 
Pope.  They  held,  too,  fiefs  of  the  Crown ;  and  the  col- 
lation of  benefices  by  the  Crown  secured  them  from  that 
of  which  they  were  especially  jealous,  the  intrusion  of 
foreigners  into  the  preferments  which  they  esteemed 
their  own  right,  There  had  been,  from  the  days  of 
Hin Dinar  of  iUieims  at  least,  a  vague  notion  of  eoma 
special  and  distinctive  liberties  belonging  to  the  Gallican 
Church,  The  Commons,  or  the  Third  Estate,  would 
hardly  have  been  summoned  by  Philip  and  his  subtle 
advisers,  if  their  support  to  the  royal  cause  had  not 
been  sure.  The  priclo  of  their  new  political  importance, 
their  recognition  as  part  of  the  nation,  if  not  their  in- 
telligence, would  maintain  their  loyalty  to  the  Drown, 
undisturbed  by  any  superstitious  veneration  for  tha 
Hierarchy. 

Each  order  drew  up  its  separate  address  to  the  Papa! 
Addreii  of  Court  j  that  of  the  ruder  Nobles  was  in  French, 
the  cardinal*;  not  to  the  Pops,  but  to  tha  Cardinals;  that  ojf 
the  clergy  in  Latin,  to  the  Pope.  These  two  are  extant; 


CHAP.  IX.  ADDRESS  OP  THE  NDBLE3.  119 

the  third,  of  the  Commons,  which  would  no  doubt  have 
been  the  most  curious,  is  lost.  The  Nobles  dwell  on  tha 
long1  and  immemorial  and  harmonious  amity  between 
the  Church  of  Rome  and  the  realm,  of  Francs ;  that 
amity  was  disturbed  by  the  extortionate  and  unbridled 
acts  of  him  who  now  governed  the  Church.  They,  the 
Nobles  and  People  of  France,  would  never,  under  the 
Worst  extremities,  endure  the  wicked  and  outrageous 
innovations  of  the  Pope,  his  claim  of  the  temporal  suh- 
jection  af  the  King  and  the  kingdom  to  Home,  his  sum- 
moning the  prelates  and  ecclesiastical  dignitaries  of  the 
realm  for  the  redress  of  alleged  grievances  and  oppres- 
sions before  Boniface  at  Borne.  "We,  the  people  of 
Francs,  neither  desire  nor  will  receive  the  redress  of 
such  grievances  by  hia  authority  or  his  power,  but  only 
from  that  of  our  Lord  the  King."  They  vindicate  the 
King's  determination  not  to  allow  the  wealth  of  the 
realm,  especially  arms,  to  be  exported  from  France, 
They  accuse  the  Pope  of  having  usurped  the  collation 
of  beneficea,  and  of  having  bestowed  them  for  money  on 
unknown  strangers.  By  this  and  his  other  exactions, 
the  Church  was  BO  impoverished  anil  discredited  that 
the  bishops  could  not  find  men  of  noble  descent,  of  good 
birth,  or  of  letters,  to  accept  benefices.  "  These  things, 
hateful  to  God  and  displeasing  to  good  men,  had  never 
been  seen,  and  were  not  expected  to  be  seen,  before  the 
time  of  Antichrist."  They  call  on  the  Cardinals  to 
arrest  the  Pope  in  his  dangerous  courses,  to  chastise 
him  for  his  excesses,  that  Christendom  may  return  to 
peace,  and  good  Christians  be  able  to  devote  themselves 
to  the  recovery  of  the  Holy  Land.  This  letter  was 
signed  by  Louis,  Count  of  Evreux,  the  King's  brother; 
by  Bobert,  Count  of  Artois;  by  the  Dukes  of  Burgundy, 
Bretagne,  Lorraine ;  the  Counts  of  Dreux,  St  Pol,  de  la 


120  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  XL 

Marche,  Boulogne,  OmnmingBS,  Alb  email  a,  Forez,  Eu, 
Nevres,  AuxBrrs,  Perigord,  Joigny,  Valentinois,  Poitiers, 
Montbaliard,  Sancerre,  even  by  ths  Flemish  Counts  of 
Hainault  ani  Luxemburg,  the  Loiils  of  Douci  and 
Beaujeu,  the  Yiscount  of  Narbonne,  and  BOUIB  others.11 
The  address  of  tha  Prelates  to  the  Pope  was  more  re- 
or  HIB  ciorgy  spBotful,  if  not,  as  usual,  supplicatory.  They 
tothaPopB,  fo0  faBa£  ag  dangerous  novelties,  now  firat  ex- 
pressed in  the  Papal  Bulls,  the  assertion  that  the  King 
holds  his  realm  of  the  Pope,  the  right  of  the  Pope  to 
summon  the  subjects  of  the  King,  high  ecclBaiastics,  to 
Home,  for  the  general  redress  of  grievances,  wrongs, 
and  injuries  committed  by  the  King,  his  bailiffs  or 
officers.  They  too  urge  the  collation  to  banaficea  of 
persons  unknown,  strangers,  and  not  above  suspicion, 
who  never  reside  on  their  benefices;  the  unpopularity 
and  impoverishment  of  the  Church ;  the  constant  drain 
on  the  wealth  of  tha  realm  by  direct  exactions  and  psr- 
petual  appeals  to  Borne.  The  King  had  called  on  them 
and  on  the  Barons  of  France  to  consult  with  him  on  the 
maintenance  of  the  ancient  liberties,  honour,  and  state 
of  the  kingdom.  The  Barons  had  withdrawn,  and  de- 
termined to  support  the  King.  They  too  had  ratired, 
but  had  demanded  longer  delay,  lest  they  should  in- 
fringe on  their  obcdionca  to  the  Pope.  They  had  at 
length  replied  that  they  held  themselves  bound  to  the 
preservation  of  the  person  and  of  the  authority  of  the 
King,  the  rights  and  liberties  of  the  kingdom.  But,  as 
they  were  also  under  allegiance  to  the  Popa,  they  had 
humbly  craved  permission  to  go  to  Homo  to  represent 
the  whole  case.  To  this  tin;  King  and  the  Barons  had 
answered  by  a  stern  refusal  to  permit  them  to  quit  tho 

p.  31  62, 


JHAP. 


ANSWER  OF  THE  DABDINALS. 


121 


realm,  on  the  penalty  of  the  seizure  and  sequestration 
of  all  their  lands  and  goods,  "  So  great  and  imminent 
was  the  peril  as  to  threaten  an  absolute  dissolution  of 
the  Church  and  State  ;  tha  clergy  were  so  odious  to  the 
people  that  they  avoided  all  intercourse  with  them; 
tongue  could  not  tell  the  dangers  to  which  they  were 
exposed."1 

The  Cardinals  replied  to  the  Dukes,  Counts,  and 
Barons  of  France  with  dignity  and  modera-  ^^eroftin 
tion.  They  assured  the  Nobles  of  their  earnest  Oinlilllllfl' 
desire,  and  that  of  tha  Pope,  to  maintain  the  friendly 
relations  between  the  Church  of  Rome  and  the  kingdom 
of  Francs.  He  was  an  enemy  to  the  man  (designating 
clearly,  but  not  naming  the  Chancellor)  who  had  sowed 
the  tares  of  discord.  The  Pops  had  never  written  to 
the  King  claiming  the  temporal  sovereignty.  Tho 
Archdeacon  of  NarbomiB,  as  himself  deposes,  had  not 
advanced  such  claim.  The  whole  argument,  therefore, 
of  the  Chancellor  was  built  on  sand.  They  insisted  on 
the  right  of  the  Pope  to  hold  Councils,  and  to  summrm 
to  such  Councils  all  the  Prelates  of  Christendom,  In 
their  turn  they  eluded  the  charge  that  this  Council  was 
to  take  cognisance  of  what  ware  undeniably  the  tem- 
poral affairs  of  France.  "  If  all  the  letters  of  the  Popo 
had  been  laid  before  the  Prelates  and  Barons,  and  their 
tenor  explained  by  the  Pope's  Nuncio,  they  would  have 
been  found  full  of  love  and  pious  solicitude."  They 
then  dwell  on  the  manifest  favours  of  the  Papal  See  to 
France.  They  deny  that  the  Pope  had  appointed  any 
foreign  biah ops,  but  to  the  sees  of  Bourges  and  of  Arras* 


i  "  Cum  jam  abhorreant  lalci  et 
pronus  effiugiant  conaortia  clericorum, 
MM  a  auia  omnino  cowUm  et  aloou- 


tionibna  abdi  canto  .  . 

oulum  aaimarum  ut  vntia  et  diver* 

pencula,"— -PreuvM,  p.  70  et  teg. 


122  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  XL 

In  all  other  cases  lie  had  nominated  subjects  of  rha 
realm,  men  known  in  the  Court,  familiar  with  tha 
King,  an'd  of  good  repute.™  The  answer  of  the  Car- 
dinals to  tha  Mayors,  Sheriffs,  Jurors  of  the  cities  and 
towns,  was  in  the  same  grave  tone,  denying  the  claim  of 
temporal  sovereignty,  and  alleging  the  same  acts. 

The  Pope,  in  his  answer  to  the  Prelates  and  Clergy, 
Answer  oi  did  not  maintain  th  3  same  decorous  majesty^ 
tilo  ifashVs.  Hia  wrath  was  excited  by  what  he  desined  the 
timorous  apostasy  of  Churchmen  from  the  cause  of  the 
Church.  "  Under  the  hypocritical  veil  of  consolation, 
the  beloved  daughter,  the  Dhurch  of  France,  had  heaped 
reproach  on  her  spotless  mother,  tha  Church  of  Home. 
The  Prelates  had  stooped  to  be  mendicants  for  the  suf- 
frages of  the  Parliament  of  PariSj  and  alleged  the  loss 
of  their  property,  and  the  danger  of  their  persona,  if 
thsy  should  set  out  for  Eome.  That  son  of  Belial,  Peter 
Flotte,  whose  bodily  sight  was  so  feeble,  who  was  stone- 
blind  in  soul,  had  been  permitted,  and  others  who 
thirsted  for  Christian  blood  had  been  permitted,  to  laad 
astray  our  dear  son,  Philip  of  Prance."  "  And  to  this 
ye  listened,  who  ought  to  have  poured  scathing  con- 
tempt upon  them  all.  YD  did  this  from  base  timidity, 
from  baser  worldlinsss.  But  they  labour  in  vain,  lie 
that  eitteth  in  the  north  shall  not  long  lift  himsolf  up 
against  the  Vicar  of  Christ  Jesus,  to  whom  there  has 
not  yet  been  a  second  :  ho  shall  fall  with  all  his  fol- 
lowers* Do  not  they  who  deny  the  subjection  of  the 
temporal  to  the  spiritual  power  assert  the  two  prin* 
oiples?"n  This  waa  a  subtle  blow.  Manicheism  was 
the  most  hated  heresy  to  all  who  knew,  and  all  who  dii 
not  know,  its  meaning. 


«  June  20,    PreuYw,  p.  63,  •  PreuvM,  p. 


CHAP.  IX.  CONSISTORY  AT  HOME.  123 

At  Borne,  about  the  same  time,  was  held  a  Con- 
sistory, in  which  the  differences  with  France  were  sub- 
mitted, to  solemn  deliberation.  Matthew  Acqua,  June  BE 
Sparta,  tha  Franciscan,  Cardinal  of  Porto,  as  Komel  ** " 
representing  the  sense  of  the  Cardinals,  delivered  a  long 
address,  half  sermon  and  half  speech.  He  took  for  Ma 
text,  from  the  epistle  of  the  day  before,  the  speech  ot  , 
Feast  of  St.  John  ths  Baptist,  the  passage  of  portn!"1  ° 
Jeremiah  concerning  the  universal  power  to  pluck  up, 
root  out,  destroy,  and  plant.  He  applied  it  directly  to 
John  the  Baptist,  by  clear  inference  to  the. Pope.  Ha 
lamented  the  difference  with  the  King  of  France,  which 
had  arisen  from  so  light  a  cause;  assarted  perfect  har- 
mony to  exist  between  tha  Pope  and  the  Sacred  Col- 
lege. He  dsclared  the  real  letter  sent  by  the  Pope  to 
have  been  full  of  gentleness  and  love;  the  falsa  letter 
had  neither  been  sent  nor  authorised  by  the  Pope. 
"Had  not  the  King  of  France  a  confessor?  Did  he 
not  receive  absolution?  It  is  as  partaking  of  sin  that 
the  Pope  takes  cognisance  of  all  temporal  acts,"  He 
appeals  to  the  famous  similitude  of  the  two  luminaries^ 
of  which  the  temporal  power  was  the  lesser ;<  but-  h& 
draws  a  distinction  between  the  temporal  power  of  tha 
Pope  and  his  right  to  carry  it  into  execution.  "  The 
Vicar  of  Christ  has  unbounded  jurisdiction,  for  he  io 
even  to  judgs  the  quick  and  the  dead ;  but  he  is  not 
competent  to  tha  use,  he  is  not  tha  executive  of  tha 
temporal  power,  for  ( the  Lord  said,  put  up  thy  sword 
(the  temporal  sword)  into  its  scabbard.' " 

The  Pope  followed  the  Cardinal  of  Porto  in  a  more 
strange  lino  of  argument.     His  text  was,  "  Whom  Go3 
has  joined  together,  let  no  man  put  asunder,"  spwchof 
This  sentence,  applied,  he  says,  by  God  to  our  thap°p«- 
first  parents,  applies  also  to  the  Church  and  tho  Kings 


124  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY,  BOOK  XL 

of  France,  Oa  the  first  baptism  of  the  King  of  Franca 
by  S.  Remigius,  the  Archbishop  said,  "  Holi  thee  to 
tha  Ohurch:  so  long  as  thou  holiest  to  the  Church, 
thou  and  thy  kingdom  shall  prosper:  so  so  an  as  thou 
departest  from  it,  thou  and  thy  kingdom  shall  perish. 
What  gifts  and  blessings  °  does  not  the  King  of  France 
receive  from  the  Church!  even  at  the  present  day,  by 
our  grants  and  dispensations,  forty  thousand  livres. 
'  Let  no  man  put  asunder.'  Who  is  ths  man  ?  The 
word  man  is  sometimes  used  for  God,  Christ,  tha  Holy 
Spirit^  sometimes  for  the  devil.  Here  it  means  that 
diabolical  man,  that  Antichrist,  blind  in  bodily  eye- 
sight, more  blind  of  soul,  Pater  Flotte.  The  satellites 
of  that  Ahitophal  are  Robert  Count  of  Artois  and  the 
Uount  St.  Pol.  It  is  he  that  falsified  our  letter ;  it  is  he 
that  made  us  say  to  the  King  that  he  held  his  realm 
of  us,  For  forty  years  we  have  been  trained  in  the 
science  of  law;  we  know  that  there  are  two  powers; 
how  could  such  a  folly  enter  our  heal?  We  say,  as 
our  brother  the  Cardinal  of  Porto  has  said,  that  in 
nothing  would  we  usurp  the  royal  power;  but  the  King 
cannot  deny  that  he  is  subject  to  us  in  regard  to  his 
sins."  The  Pope  than  enters  on  the  collation  to  bene- 
fices, on  which  point  he  ia  prepared,  of  his  froe  grnca,  to 
make  large  but  special  concessions  to  the  King,  After 
some  expressions  of  regard,  he  reassumea  the  language 
of  reproach  and  of  menace,  "  But  for  us,  the  King 
would  not  hava  a  foot  in  the  stirrup.  Whan  the  Eng- 
lish, the  (remans,  all  his  more  powerful  vassals  and 
neighbours,  rose  up  against  him  in  one  league,  to  whom 
but  to  us  did  he  owe  his  triumph?  Our  predecessors 
have  dBposed  three  Kings  of  France,  These  things  are 
written  in  their  annals  as  in  ours ;  and  this  King,  guilty 

•  Fomenta. 


CHAP  IX. 


A  SECOND  BULL. 


125 


of  BO  much  more  heinous  offences,  we  could  depose  as 
we  could  discharge  a  groom,p  though  we  should  do  it 
with  sorrow.  As  for  the  citation  of  Bishops,  we  could 
call  the  whole  world  to  our  presence,  weak  and  aged  as 
wo  are.  If  they  coma  not  at  our  command,  let  them 
know  that  they  are  hereby  deprived  and  deposed." 

From  this  Consistory  emanated  a  second  Bull,  which 
deliberately  and  fully  defined  the  powers  assumed  by 
the  Pope.  It  asserted  the  eternal  unity  of  the  Catholic 
Church  under  St.  Peter  and  his  successors.  TheBuii 
Whosoever,  as  the  Greeks,  denied  that  sub-  aanctmn." 
ordination,  denied  that  themselves  were  of  Christ 
"There  are  two  swords,  the  spiritual  and  the  temporal : 
our  Lord  said  not  of  these  two  swords,  'it  is  too  much, 
but  fit  is  enough.'  Both  are  in  the  power  of  the 
Church:  the  one  the  spiritual,  to  he  used  ly  the 
Church,  the  other  tha  material,  for  the  Church;  the 
former  that  of  priests,  the  latter  that  of  kings  and  sol- 
diers, to  be  wielded  at  the  command  and  by  the  suffer- 
ance of  the  priest.11  One  sword  must  be  under  the 
other,  the  temporal  under  the  spiritual.  .  ,  .  ,  The 
spiritual  instituted  the  temporal  powsr,  and  judges 
whether  that  power  is  well  exercised."  The  eternal 
verse  of  Jeremiah  is  adduced.  "If  the  temporal  power 
errs,  it  is  judged  by  the  spiritual.  To  deny  this,  is  to 
assert,  with  the  heretical  Manicheans,  two  co-eijual 
principles.  We  therefore  assert,  define,  and  pronounce 
that  it  is  necessary  to  salvation  to  believa  that  every 
human  being  is  subject  to  the  Pontiff  of  Rome." r 


p  "Nos  flcponevEinus  RegGiiij  aicut 
unum  garuiunem."  Bee  the  whole 
ipeech  m  Knynald,  sub  ann. 

i  "Ad  imtum  et  pathntiam  sawr- 
dotit," 


'  "Pori'n  BubeBaa  Romano  I'uuLi- 
fici  omm  liunmnaj  emturtc  declaiti- 
mm,  ilmmuB,  cb  ilifliuimus  cumins 
earn  da  ncccsaitate  fidai,"  — 
p.  54. 


126 


LATIN  CHBISTIANITY. 


The  insurrection  in  Flanders  diverted  the  minds  of 
July  11,  m3n  for  some  short  time  from  this  quarrel 
I3ua  which  appalled  Christendom.  The  free  and 
industrious  Fleming  manufacturing  burghers  found  the 
rule  of  the  King  of  France  more  intolerabla  than  that 
of  their  former  lords.  Their  victory  at  Courtrai,  fore- 
told by  a  comet,  the  most  bloody  and  humiliating  defeat 
which  for  years  had  been  suffered  by  the  arms  of 
France,  was  not  likely  to  soothe  the  haughty  temper 
of  Philip.  The  loftier  Churchmen,  in  the  death  of 
Robert  of  Artoia  on  that  fatal  field,  saw  the  judgement 
of  God  on  him,  who  was  said  to  have  trodden  under 
foot  tha  Pope's  Bull  of  arbitration,  whose  seal  was  the 
first  affixed  to  the  remonstrance  of  the  Nobles  in  the 
Parliament  of  Paris."  Among  those  that  fell  was  a 
more  dira  enemy  of  the  Pope,  the  Chancellor  Peter 
Flotte. 

Hence,  perhaps,  in  the  mean  time  attempts  had  been 
made  to  obtain  the  mediation  of  some  of  the  greater 
vassals  of  tho  Crown,  the  IJukes  of  Bretagna  and  of 
Burgundy.  The  Pope  had  intimated  that  they  would 
bo  more  fitting  and  acceptable  ambassadors  than  ths 
lung's  iuflobnt  legal  counsellors.  Those  powerful  and 
altnoat  independent  sovereigns  had  commissioned  Hugh,  a 
brother  of  the  Order  of  Knights  Templars,  to  express  their 
earnest  desire  for  the  reconciliation  of  the  King  with  the 
Pope.  From  Anagni  the  Cardinal  of  Porto 
wrote  to  the  Dulre  of  Bretagne,  the  Cardinals  oi! 
San  Pucbnziana  and  S,  Maria  Nuova  to  tho  Duke  of  Bur- 
gundy, representing  tho  insult  offered  to  the  Pope  in 


'  Continuat,  Nangte,  Boa^uat,  p. 
585.  Chroniiues  de  St»  Denys,  p. 
t»7D,  Vilknl  (rill,  55)  antedates  the 
battle  March  J51,  He  la  espwhilly 


Indignant  that  tha  ndblea  of  Franc* 
were  defeated  by  base  artfwuis,  "tea- 
BBrandoU  e  fulloni."  Thin  in  curiona 
in  tho  mercantile  Floientine. 


.  IX.     PHILIP  CONDEMNS  THE  IN 3TJIS1TION.  127 

publicly  burning  his  Bull  (an  act  -which  neither  heretic, 
pagan,  nor  tyrant  would  have  done),  ani  the  friendly 
and  patient  tone  of  the  Pope's  genuine  letters.  They 
explained  the  reason  why  the  Pops  could  not  write  to 
one  actually  in  a  state  of  excommunication.  They 
exhorted,  the  princes  to  induce  the  King  to  humbla 
himself  before  his  spiritual  father. 

The  Prelates  of  France  had  been  summoned  to  appear 
in  Borne  at  the  beginning  of  November.  It  prBiatcB wim 
was  to  be  seen  how  many  would  dare  to  defy  e° tolloine' 
the  resentment  of  the  King,  and  resolutely  obey  their 
spiritual  sovereign.  There  were  only  four  Archbishops, 
thirty-five  Bishops,  six  of  the  great  Abbots.  Of  thess 
by  far  the  larger  number  were  the  Bishops  of  Bratagne, 
Burgundy,  and  Languedoc,  The  Archbishop  of  Tours 
headed  eight  of  his  Breton  suffragans ;  the  Archbishop 
of  Auch  fifteen  Provenpals,  including  tha  Bishop  of 
Pamiers.  The  Archbishop  of  Bordeaux  was  a  subject 
of  the  King  of  England,  as  Duka  of  Aquitaina,  The 
Archbishop  of  Bourges  was  one  of  the  Italians  promoted 
by  the  Pope ;  with  him  went  one  or  two  of  his  suffra- 
gans. Philip,  it  might  seem,  knew  from  what  quar- 
ters he  might  expect  this  defection.  The  Seneschal 
9f  Toulouse  received  orders  to  publish  the  royal  prohi- 
bition to  all  Barons,  Knights,  Primates,  Bishops,  or 
Abbots  against  quitting  the  realm;  or,  if  they  should 
have  quitted  it,  to  command  their  instant  return,  on 
pain  of  corporal  punishment  and  confiscation  of  all 
their  temporal  goods.  These  southern  pro- 
viucas  he  watched  with  peculiar  jealousy,  and, 
as  if  determined  to  shake  tha  ecclesiastical  Doti21- 
dominion,  he  published  an  Edict,*  denouncing  tha 


1  Orilonnanum  dea  Roifl. 


128  LATIN  BHJUSTIJUTCTT.  BOOK  XL 

cruBlties  and  tyranny  of  the  Inquisition,  and  of  Fulk 
af  St.  George,  tha  head  of  that  awful  tribunal.  This 
arraignment,  whila  it  appeared  to  strike  at  the  abuses, 
condemned  the  Office  itself.  "  Complaints  have  reached 
us  from  all  quart srs,  from  Prelates  and  Barons,  that 
Brother  Fulk,  the  Inquisitor  of  heretical  offences,  has 
encouraged  those  errors  and  crimes  which  it  is  his  func- 
tion to  extirpate.  Under  the  pretext  of  law  he  has 
violated  all  law;  under  tha  semblance  of  piety,  com- 
mitted acts  of  the  grossest  impiety  and  inhumanity; 
under  the  plea  of  defending  the  Catholic  faith,  done 
deeds  at  which  the  minds  of  men  revolt  with  horror. 
There  is  no  bound  to  Ms  exactions,  oppressions,  and 
charges  against  our  faithful  subjects,  In  defiance  of 
the  canonical  rules,  ha  begins  his  processes  by  arrest 
and  torture,  by  torture  new  and  unheard  of.  Those 
whom,  according  to  his  caprice,  he  accuses  of  having 
denied  Christ  or  attacked  the  foundations  of  the  faith, 
he  compels  by  these  tortures  to  make  false  admissions 
of  guilt ;  if  he  cannot  compel  their  inflexible  innocence 
to  confess  guilt,  he  suborns  false  witnesses  against 
them."11  This  \vas  tha  Ordinance  of  the  King  who 
cruelly  seized  and  tortured  the  Templars! 

The  winter  passed  in  vain  overtures  for  reconcilia- 
tion. Each  sought  to  strengthen  himself  by  new 
alliances;  Philip  by  concessions  to  his  people,  ex- 
torted partly  by  tha  unprosperous  state  of  affairs  in 
Flanders,  and  from  tha  desire  to  make  his  personal 
quarrel  with  the  Popa  a  national  affair.*  As  the  year 
advanced,  Philip  pressed  the  conclusion  of  the  peace 
with  England  n  it  was  ratified  at  Paris,  Philip  re- 


it  Ordonnaruxa  des  Rain,  1. 340,  Hist,  do  Lauguedoo,  Preuvea,  No,  64,  p.  1  la 
*  Siamondl,  Hist,  des  FowyBis,  ix,  104, 


CHAP.  K.         ALBERT'S  REALTY  TO  TI1E  TOPE.  124 

signed  Aquitaine  on  the  due  performance  of  homage 
by  England.  The  Pope  suddenly  forgot  all  the  crimes 
and  contumacy  of  Albsrt  of  Austria.  Tha  MliyaDi 
murderer  of  his  predecessor,  he,  against  whom  13QlJ- 
Boniface  himaelf  had  Excited  the  ecclesiastical  electors 
to  rebellion,  became  a  devout  and  prudent  son,  who  hai 
humbly  submitted,  not  to  the  judgement,  but  to  ths 
clemency  of  hia  father,  and  had  offered  to  prove  himaelf 
innocent  of  the  misdeed  imputed  to  him,  and  to  undergo 
such  penance  as  should  be  imposed  upon  him  by  the 
Holy  See.  The  Pope  wrote  to  the  Princes  of  the 
Empire,  commanding  them  to  render  their  allegiance 
to  Albert;  and  it  suited  the  present  policy  of  Albert  to 
obtain  tha  Empire  on  any  terms.  At  Nurern-  July  17i 
berg  he  promulgated  a  golden  Bull,  sealed  13B31 
with  the  Imperial  seal,  in  which  he  acknowledged,  in 
terms  as  full  as  ever  had  been  extorted  from  the  most 
humiliated  of  hia  predecessors,  that  the  Homan  Empire 
had  been  granted  to  Charlemagne  by  the  Apostolic 
See ;  that  though  the  King  of  the  Eomanu  was  chosen 
by  certain  temporal  and  ecclesiastical  Electors,  the 
temporal  sword  derived  all  its  authority  from  the  oath 
of  allegiance  to  the  Pops.  The  protection  of  the 
Church  was  the  first  and  paramount  duty  of  the  Em- 
peror. He  swore  to  guard  the  Pope  against  any  injury 
to  life  or  limb ;  and  though  it  was  the  customary  phrass, 
yet  it  is  curious  that  he  swore  also,  as  if  the  scene  at 
Anagui  might  be  foreseen  distinctly,  to  guard  from  cap- 
ture and  imprisonment.y  He  swore  too  that  the  Pope's 
enemies  should  be  his  enemias,  of  whatever  rank  or 
dignity,  Kings  or  Emperors.  The  eagerness  with  which 
Albert  of  Austria  detached  himself  from  the  alliance  ol 


r  "Capi  toatt  captiritate,"    Compare  Baynald.  sub  ami.  1303 
VOL,  YIL  K 


WU  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  XI 

the  King  of  France,  though  cemented  by  marriage  i\is 
profound  humility  of  his  language,  was  not  calculated 
to  diminish  the  haughty  confidence  of  Boniface  in  the 
awe  still  inspired  by  the  Papal  power."  Boniface  had 
the  prudence  to  secure  himself  against  the  French  inte- 
rest in  Italy:  ha  consents!  at  length  in  permit  the 
King  of  Naples  to  rest  content  with  the  throne  of  that 
kingdom,  and  to  acknowledge  Frederick  of  Arragou  as 
King  of  Trinacrio.  Charles  of  Valois  had  return  ud  to 
France  to  assist  hia  brother  in  tho  wars  of  Flanders. 

Philip,  on  his  side,  was  preparing  certain  popular 
acts,  whir.h  wore  to  bo  proclaimed  at  the  same  great 
assembly  in  tho  Louvre  before  which  he  had  deter- 
mined to  appeal  to  his  subjects  against  tho  encroach- 
ments of  the  Pope.  Yet  for  a  time  he  had  been  oven 
more  deeply  wounded  by  his  unavenged  discomfiture  by 
the  Homings,  and  he  had  not  therefore  altogether  aban- 
doned tho  thought  of  pacification  with  the  Pope.  It 
can  hardly  have  been  unauthorised  by  the  Jung,  that 
tho  Count  of  Alonpon  and  the  Bishop  of  AuxerrB',  one 
of  tho  Pi-pJatPH  who  had  obeyed  the  citation  to  Home, 
hud  Hyld  out  hopes  that  tho  King- was  not  uverso  to 
an  amicable  fluttloinent.  Accordingly  John  Lo  Moine, 
•riini'npai  Oardmnl  of  S.  Marccjllinus  and  S.  Polcr,  a 
puta.1*11  native  of  Picardy,  appeared  in  tho  Court  at 
Paris.  Hut  tho  iWHwion  of  tho  Lrsguto  waa  not  one  of 
peace,  Boniface  inunt  have  miscalculated  raost  griev- 
ously both  the  blow  iufliutud  by  the  Flemings  on  th& 
power  of  Philip,  ami  tho  Ktrcngth  derived  by  himself 
from.  lxi&  Gliibtdliijit)  alliance  with  the  Emperor,  The 


'*  vally,  Coxe,  And  otheiw  write  cnnf  >lently  of  the  offer  of  tha  French 
to  AlWt;  with  Siumimil!,  I  can  distiorsr  no  trftco  of  this  In  the  contemporary 
document*, 


CHAP.  IX.  CARDINAL  LE  MOINE  AT  PAETS.  131 

Legate  was  instructed  first  to  summon  those  Prelates, 
the  King's  partisans,  who  had  not  made  their  appear- 
ance at  Rome,  to  obey  the  Pope  without  delay,  and 
hasten  to  tns  feet  of  his  Holiness,  under  the  penalty  of 
immediate  deposition.  These  Prelates  were  the  Arch- 
bishops of  Sens  and  Narbonne,  the  Bishops  of  Soissons, 
Beauvais,  and  Meau*,  with  the  Abbot  of  St.  Denis. 
The  Archbishop  of  BoUBn,  the  Bishops  of  Paris,  Amiens, 
Langres,  Poitiers,  and  Bayeux  had  alleged  their  age 
and  infirmity.  The  Pope  condescended  to  admit  their 
excuse.  So  too  were  excused  the  Italian  Bishop  of 
Arras,  who  was  of  such  tried  loyalty  to  the  Pope  (was 
he  employed  in  keeping1  up  the  correspondence  of  which 
Boniface  was  accused  with  the  revolted  Flemings?), 
and  the  Bishop  and  Chapter  of  Laon,  on  account  of 
some  heavy  uharges  which  they  had  borne. 

The  Legate  had  twelve  Articles  which  he  was  to  offer 
to  the  King  for  his  immediate  and  peremptory 
assent;  articles  of  absolute  and  humiliating 
concession  on  his  part,  on  that  of  the  Pope  of  unyield- 
ing rigour,  if  nut  of  insulting  menace  or  more  insulting 
clemency.  I.  The  revocation  of  the  King's  inhibitory 
Edict  against  tha  ecclesiastics  who  had  gona  to  Roma 
in  obedience  to  the  Papal  citation,  full  satisfaction  to 
all  who  had  undergone  penalties,  the  abrogation  of  all 
processes  instituted  against  them  la  the  King's  Courts. 
II,  The  Pope  asserted  Ms  inherent  right  to  collate  to 
all  benefices;  no  layman,  could  collate  without  autho- 
rity from  the  Apostolic  See.  IIL  The  Pope  had  full 
right  to  send  Legates  to  any  part  of  Christendom* 
IV.  The  administration  and  distribution  of  all  eccle- 
siastical property  and  revenue  is  in  the  Popo  alone, 
not  in  any  other  person,  ecclesiastic  or  lay.  Tho  Pope 
has  power,  without  asking  the  assent  of  any  one  to,  lay 

K2 


132  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY,  BOOK  XI, 

on. -them  any  charge  lie  may  please.  V.  No  King  01 
Prince  can  seize  the  goods  of  any  ecclesiastic,  nor  com- 
pel any  ecclesiastic  to  appear  in  the  King's  Courts  to 
answer  to  any  personal  action  or  for  any  property  not 
held  as  a  fief  of  the  Crown.  VI.  The  King  was  to  give 
satisfaction  for  his  contumelious  act  in  burning  the 
Papal  Bull  to  which  were  appondBil  the  images  of  tho 
Apostles  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul.  VII.  The  King  is 
not  to  abuse  what  is  called  ths  Kegale,  the  custody  and 
guardianship  of  vacant  benefices,  VIII.  The  spiritual 
sword  (judicature)  is  to  be  restored  to  the  Prelates  and 
other  ecclesiastics.  IX.  The  King  is  no  longer  to 
blind  himself  to  the  iniquity  of  the  debasement  of  tho 
coin,  and  the  damage  thus  wrought  on  tha  Prelates, 
Barons,  and  Cbrgy  of  the  realm.  X.  The  King  is  to 
call  to  mind  the  misdeeds  and  excesses  charged  upon 
him  in  our  private  letters  by  our  notary.1  XL  The 
city  of  Lyons  is  entirely  independent  of  the  King  nf 
France.  XII.  The  Pope,  unless  tho  King  ainrmdud 
and  corroetsd  all  these  misdoings,  wnuld  at  once  proceed 
against  him  spiritually  and  teinporally, 
Ths  King  answered  ouch  separate  Article :  and  his 
answers  acorn  to  imply  some  apprehension  that 
j^g  powel.  waa  shaken,  some  disinclination  to 
proceed  to  extremities,  Ho  stooped  to  evasion,  perhaps 
more  than  evasion.  I.  The  King  denied  that  the  inhi- 
bition to  his  subjects  to  quit  tha  realm  was  aimed  at 
the  Prelates  summoned  to  Horn 3.  It  was  a  general 
precautionary  inhibition  to  prevent  tho  exportation  of 
the  riches  and  produce  of  the  realm  during  the  war 
and  the  revolt  of  his  PlBmisu  vassals,  II.  The  King 


Utem  Otawu    Jam*  the  notary  w»»  I  presume,  the  Arohdewxm  nl 


CHAP. IX.      THE  KING'S  ANSWER  To  TUB  POPE.  133 

demanded  no  more,  with  regard  to  tlia  collation  of 
benefices,  than  had  been  enjoyed  by  St.  Louis  and  his 
other  royal  predecessors.  III.  The  Sing  had  no  wist 
to  prohibit  the  reception  of  the  Papal  Legates,  unless 
Buspscted  persons  and  on  just  grounds.  IV.  The  King 
had  no  design  to  interfere  with  the  administration  of 
the  property  of  the  Church,  except  BO  far  as  was  war- 
ranted by  his  rights  and  by  ancient  custom.  V.  and 
VIII.  So  as  to  the  seizure  of  the  goods  of  the  Church. 
The  King  intends  nothing  beyond  law  and  usage.  He 
is  fully  prepared  to  give  the  Church  the  frae  use  of  the 
spiritual  sword  in  all  cases  where  the  Church  has  com- 
petent jurisdiction.  To  the  VIth  Article,  the  burning  of 
the  Bull,  the  answer  is  most  extraordinary.  The  King 
affects  to  suppose  that  the  Popa  alludes  not  to  the  Bull 
publicly  burned  at  Paris  with  sound  of  trumpet,  but  to 
that  of  a  Bull  relating  to  tha  Chapter  of  Laon,  burned 
on  account  of  its  invalidity.  VII.  The  King  denies  the 
abuse  of  the  Regale.  IX.  The  debasement  of  the  coin 
took  place  on  account  of  the  exigencies  of  the  State.  It 
was  a  prerogative  exercised  by  all  Kings  of  France,  and 
the  King  was  engaged  in  devising  a  remedy  for  the  evil. 

XI.  The  King  had  interfered  in  the  affairs  of  Lyons,  on 
account  of  a  dangerous  feud  between  the  Archbishop 
and  the  people.    The  Archbishop,  he  averred,  owed  to 
him  an  oath  of  fealty,  which  had  been  refused,  never- 
theless he  was  prepared  to  continue  his  good  offices. 

XII.  The  King  earnestly  desired  that  the  unity  anc} 
peace  which  had  so  long  subsisted  between  the  kingdom 
of  France  and  the  Roman  Sse  should  be  restored :  ha 
Avas  prepared  to  act  by  tho  counsel  of  the  Dukes  of 
Bretagne  and  Burgundy.    To  these  the  Pope  himself 
had  proposed  to  submit  all  their  differences. 

With  these  answarn  of  the  King  the  Pope  declared 


134  LATIN  OHKISTUNHT.  BOOK  XI, 

himself  utterly  dissatisfied.      Some   were  in   absolute 
defiance  of  truth,  none  consonant  with  justice. 
Ha  would    endure    martyrdom    rather    than 
submit  to  such  degrading   conditions.    But  the  same 
messengers  which  bora  the  Pope's  instructions  to  the 
Cardinal  of  S.Marcellmua  to  appeal  again  to  the  King's 
Council  were  the  bearers  of  another  Brief.     That  Brief 
declared  that  Philip,  King  of  France,  notwith- 

, .       .  .  ,    f .       . ,    °        .        ,     . ,  i     .       n . 

standing  hia  royal  dignity,  and  notwithstanding 
any  privilege  or  indulgence,  had  actually  incurred  tha 
penalties  of  the  general  Excommunication  published  by 
the  Pope ;  that  ho  waa  excommunicate  for  having  pro- 
hibited the  Bishops  of  Franca  from  attending,  according 
to  the  Pope's  command,  at  Borne.  All  ecclesiastics,  of 
whatever  rank,  even  Bishops  or  Archbishops,  who  should 
presume  to  celebrate  maaa  before  the  King,  praaeh, 
administer  any  of  tli3  sacraments,  or  hear  confession, 
were  likewise  excommunicate.  This  sentence  waa  to  bo 
proclaimed  in  all  convenient  places  within  ths  realm. 
The  King's  confessor,  Nicolas,  a  Friar  Preacher,  had 
orders  to  fix  a  peremptory  term  of  three 

Muy'  months  for  the  King's  submission,  for  his  per- 
sonal ,i]ipeamu(in  at  Jlomc,  to  be  dault  with  according  to 
hia  cluflurtK,  imd,  if  ho  were  able,  to  prove  hia  innocence. 

But  already,  above  a  mouth  before  the  dato  of  those 
I'Miiamorust  Jji'lc'ln,  the  King  had  held  his  Parliament  at 
March1!.™'  tha  Louvi'0  in  Paru.  The  Prelates  and  Barons 
had  basil  summoned,  to  take  COUIISB!  on  affairs  touching 
the  welfare  of  the  realm,  Only  two  Archbishops,  Sena 
and  Narbonne,  three  Bishops,  Meaux,  Nevere,  and 
Angers,1*  obeyed  the  royal  summons;  but  the  Barons 
made  up  an  imposing  assemblage.  Before  this  audi- 

»  So  wrttea  SlnoondJ.  It  Is  Antealodor  in  tbt  doounwat  j  tut  4b*  Bl«ho| 
gl  Aiwrru  waa-potwiUbr  «U11  la  BOOM* 


CHAP.  IX.  WILLIAM  DF  NO  &ARET.  13B 

enoe  appeared  William  of  Nogaret,  ona  of  the  great 
lawyers,  most  eminent  in  the  King's  favour.  Nogaret 
was  born  in  the  diocese  of  Toulouse,  of  a  race  whoa  a 
blood  had  been  shed  by  the  Inquisition.0  The  Nemesis 
of  that  awful  persecution  was  about  to  wreak  itself  on 
the  Papacy.  Nogaret  had  become  a  most  distinguished 
Professor  of  Civil  Law  and  Judge  of  Beaucaire:  he  had 
been  ennobled  by  Philip  the  Fair,  It  ia  dangerous  to 
crush  hereditary  religion  out  of  men's  hearts.  Law  and 
the  most  profound  devotion  to  the  King  had  become 
the  raligion  of  Nogaret.  He  was  a  man  without  fear, 
without  scruple;  perhaps  thought  that  he  was  only 
inflicting  just  retribution  on  the  persecutors  of  his 
ancestors.  According  to  the  accustomed  form,  William 
of  Nogaret  began  his  address  to  the  Assembly  with  a 
text  of  SenptuiB.  "There  were  false  prophets  amtmg 
the  people,  so  among  you  are  masters  of  lies,"a  These 
are  the  words  of  Saint  Peter,  and  in  the  chair  of  Saint 
Peter  sits  the  master  of  lies,  ill-named  the  doer  of  good 
(Boniface),  but  rather  the  doer  of  evil.8  Boniface  (ha 
went  on)  had  usurped  the  Holy  See ;  he  had  wadded 
the  Boman  Church,  while  her  lawful  husband,  Coelas- 
tine,  was  alive;  him  he  had  compelled  to  an  unlawful 
abdication  by  fraud  and  violence,  Nogaret  laid  down, 
in  strict  legal  phrase,  four  propositions  :••— I,  That  the 
Pope  was  not  the  true  Pope,  II.  That  he  was  a  heretic  - 
III.  Was  a  notorious  Simoniac :  IV,  A  man  weighed 
down  with  crimes — pride,  iniquity,  treachery,  rapacity 
— an  insupportable  load  and  burthen  to  the  Church. 
Hs  appealed  to  a  General  Council:  he  declared  it  to 
be  the  office  and  function  of  the  King,  of  France  to 
Bummon  such  Council.  "Before  that  Council  he  was 


Philijp'a  edict  agaiuat  the  Inquisition    wan  piobably  suggested  by  N 
'  S.  Peter,  Epiut.  ii.  21, 


136  LATIN  OHBISTIANITT.  BOOK  XI 

prepared  to  appear  and  to  substantiate  all  thefls  charges." 
The  public  notaries  mads  record  of  thesa  accusations, 
advanced  in  the  presence  of  the  two  Archbishops  and 
the  three  Bishops,  of  many  princes  and  nobles,  whose 
names  wera  recited  in  the  decree  of  record. 

Philip,  to  attach  all  orders  of  his  subjects  to  the 
ordinance  of  thronB  during  this  imminent  crisis,  and  perhaps 
Reformation.  to  divert  the  minds  of  men  from  the  daring 
blow,  the  arraignment  of  a  Pope  before  a  General 
Council,  had  prepared  his  great  Ordinance  for  the 
reformation  of  the  realm.  The  Ordinance  was  mani- 
festly designed  for  the  especial  conciliation  of  the  clergy. 
All  churches  and  monastBrieSj  all  prelates  and  ecclesi- 
astics, were  to  be  held  in  the  grace  and  favour  of  the 
Bang,  as  of  his  religious  ancestors :  their  immunities 
and  privileges  were  to  bo  respected,  as  in  the  time  of 
St.  Louis:  all  good  and  ancient  customs  were  to  be 
maintained ;  all  new  and  bad  ones  annulled.  The  right 
of  tho  King  to  seize  or  confiscate  the  goods  of  the 
clergy  was  indeed  asserted,  but  in  guarded  and  tem- 
perate terms,  The  Eegale  was  not  to  be  abused,  and 
(a  curious  illustration  of  the  mode  of  life)  the  fishponds 
of  ths  ecclesiastics  were  not  to  be  drained  during  the 
time  of  vacancy.  ,  Ecclesiastics  coming  to  the  King's 
Court  were  to  be  immediately  heard,  that  they  might 
return  to  their  sacred  charge.  No  fees  were  to  be  re- 
ceived by  the  King's  officers  from  ecclesiastics.' 

The  Ordinances  for  the  reformation  of  tho  realm  waa 
skilfully  designed  to  cover  the  extension  of  the  royal 
power  by  the  extension  of  the  royal  jurisdiction :  yet  it 
professed  to  respect  all  separate  jurisdictions  of  Prelates 
and  Borons ;  it  was  content  to  supersede  them  -without 


Ordonaancas  das  Kola  de  Fiiuice,  vol*  I*  rob  Mmo. 


CHAP.  IX. 


ORDINANCE  DF  REFORM  ATI  ON. 


1S7 


violence.  Two  Parliaments  were  to  be  hell  yearly 
at  Paris,  two  Exchequer  Courts  at  Bouen,  two  Days 
at  Troyas,  one  Parliament  at  Toulouse.  No  doubt 
Philip's  jurists  intended  thus,  without  alarming  the 
feudal  Lords,  quietly  to  draw  within  their  own  sphere 
almost  tha  whole  business  of  the  realm.  Their  more 
profound  science,  the  more  authoritative  power  of  exe- 
cuting their  sentences,  tha  greater  regularity  of  their 
proceedings,  would  give  to  the  King's  Courts  and  to 
those  of  the  Parliaments  every  advantage  over  that  of 
the  Bishop  or  of  the  Baron.  As  though  the  Hing  were 
disposed  to  win  the  affections  of  every  class  of  his  people, 
there  ara  in  the  Ordinance  special  instructions  to  the 
royal  officers  to  execute  their  functions  with  moderation 
and  gentleness.*  The  Crown  was  absolutely  compelled 
to  the  harsh  and  unwelcome  duty  of  levying  taxes  by 
the  disloyalty  and  rebellion  of  some  of  its  subjects.  Not 
only  were  the  King's  bailiffs  and.  seneschals  to  be  thus 
courteous  and  forbearing,  even  the  sarjeanta  were  to  he 
mild  and  soft-spoken.11 

The  Pope  had,  either  not  heard,  or  disdained  to  re- 
gard, what  he  might  yet  esteem  the  impotent  audacity 
of  William  of  Nogarst,  and  the  audience  given  to  hia 
unprecedented  requisition  by  the  Parliament  held  in 
the  Louvra.  In  his  letter,  dated  one  month  after,  to 
the  Cardinal  of  8.  Marcellinus,  in  which  he  rejected  the 
r aplies  of  Philip  to  his  demands,  there  is  no  allusion  to 
this  glaring  insult,  But  the  King  of  France  had  early 
intimation  of  the  contents  of  the  Papal  letters,  which 
commanded  the  Cardinal  of  S.  Marcellinus  to  declare 


•  "  C'eatnasavoir  quo YOU  devi'z  fitre 
avilez  de  parhr  on  peuple  par  douces 
paroles,  et  demonatrer  In  grans  d&ob£- 
iflflancM,  rebellions,  et  domnges." — Ibid. 


h  "Et  VQUB  aviaez  de  met  tie  Sei> 
gena  dtfbonnaires  et  tractable*  pout 
fnire  vos  executions,  si  que  11  n'aient 
cause  de  BUX  doloir." — Ordoimance, 


138 


LATIN  CHRISTIANITY. 


BOOK  XL 


him  actually  excommunicate.1  The  bearers  of  these 
letters  wera  the  Archdeacon  of  Doutances  and  Nicolaa 
BenefractDj  a  servant  of  the  Cardinal.  It  is  said  that, 
in.  the  pride  of  bsing  employed  on  such  important 
services,  they  betrayed  the  secret  of  their  despatches. 
"  They  bore  that  which  would  make  the  Xing  tremble 
on  his  throne."  Orders  were  given  to  the  King's  officers 
to  arrest  them :  they  were  seized  and  thrown  into  prison 
at  Troyes.  Certain  other  priests  boasted  that  they  had 
been  permitted  to  taks  copies  of  these  Briefs,  and  were 
promulgating  them  in  order  to  stir  up  the  people  to 
insurrection,  Tha  Cardinal  protested,  and  imperiously 
demanded  the  delivery  of  the  Briefs  into  his  hands. 
The  Edict  confiscating  the  goods  of  the  Bishops  who 
had  attended  the  Synod  at  Borne  was  renewed,  if  not 
put  in  execution.  The  Order  which  convoked  again  the 
States-General,  to  take  counsel  on  the  crimes  and  dis- 
abilities of  his  master  the  Pope,  was  fixed  on  the  walls 
of  the  Monastery  of  St.  Martin  at  Tours,  where  the 
Legate  was  lodged.  All  his  movements  were  watched; 
he  could  neither  receive  a  visit  nor  a  single  paper  without 
the  King's  knowledge.  He  determined  to  return  to 
Koine,  mortified  and  humbled  by  the  total  failure  of  his 
mission,  which  he  had  been  instructed  to  carry  out  with 
such  imposing  haughtiness.  No  doubt  he  had  acted  up 
to  those  instructions. 

The  States-General  held  their  second  meeting  in  the 

Philip's  answers^  as  contained  in  the 
Cardinal's  to  Ram  a  whish  he  had  then 
received,  is  dated  April  13.  The 
mission,  the  reception  by  Philip,  tha 
offer  of  the  articles,  the  time  foi  the  de- 
liberate reply,  the  communioatiDn  of 
ths  result  to  Rome,  the  Pope's  letter, 
Qould  not  possibly  have  been  concluded 
iu  n  month, 


1  The  succession  of  events, 
much  depends,  is  by  no  means  clear. 
Velly  places  tha  mission  of  Cardinal 
La  Maine,  the  articles  offered  by  him, 
the  elaborate  answai  of  the  King,  after 
the  Parliament  in  the  Louvre,  in  which 
William  of  Nogavat  appeared  (March 
12).  The  Pope's  letter  to  the  Car- 
dinal expressing  his  dissatisfaction  at 


CHAP.  IX,       CHARGES  A3AINST  POPE  BONIFACE.  139 

Louvre  on  the  13th  of  June.  Louis  Count  of  Evreux, 
Guy  Count  of  St.  Pol,  John  Count  of  Dreux, 
William  of  Plasian,  Knight  and  Lord  of  Veze-  SS 
noble  (Pater  Flotte,  the  Chancellor,  had  fallen  JuBB  13 
at  Courtrai,  William  of  Nogaret  was  elsewhere),  presented 
themselves  before  the  Assembly,  and  declared  that 
Christendom  was  in  the  utmost  danger  and  misery 
through  the  misrule  of  Boniface;  that  a  lawful  Pope 
waa  necessary  for  her  salvation;  that  Boniface  was 
laden  with  crimes.  William  of  Plasian  swore  upon  the 
Gospels  that  these  charges  were  true ;  that  ha  was  pre- 
pared to  prove  them  before  a  General  Council;  that 
the  King,  as  champion  of  the  faith,  was  compelled  to 
summon  such  Council.  It  was  no  less  the  duty  of  tha 
Prelates  and  Nobles  to  concur  in  this  measure.  The 
Prelates  observed  that  it  waa  an  affair  of  the  gravest 
import,  and  required  mature  deliberation.  The  next 
day  William  of  Plasian  produced  his  charges,  charges 
of  the  most  monstrous  heresy,  infidelity,  and,  what  was 
perhaps  worse,  wizardry,  and  dealing  with  evil  spirits; 
charges  against  a  Pope  who  for  nearly  nine  years  had 
exercised  the  full  authority  of  St.  Peter's  successor  j  a 
man  now  in  extreme  old  age,  whose  life  and  stern  in- 
flexible orthodoxy  had  been  till  now  above  question ;  who 
had  been  the  chosen  arbiter  of  Kings  in  their  quarrels; 
who  had  been  almost  adored  at  the  Jubilee  by  assenting 
Dhristendom ;  who  was  even  at  this  time  bestowing  the 
Imperial  crown,  accepted  by  Albert  of  Austria  with  the 
humblest  gratitude.  These  charges  were  advanced  with 
a  solemn  appeal  to  the  Holy  Gospels,  before  the  King 
and  the  nobility  of  France,  before  a  great  body  of  eccle- 
siastics, who,  so  far  from  repudiating  them  at  ones  with 
indignant  impatience,  admitted  them  as  the  groundwork 
of  a  process  to  be  submitted  to  a  General  Council  of  all 


I4D 


LATIN  CHRISTIANITY, 


BOOK  Xl 


Dhristendom :  this  Council  there  seems  no  reasonable 
doubt  was  in  the  actual  contemplation,  and  was  delibe- 
rately determined  on  by  Philip  and  bis  advisers.  The 
Tta  articles  of  accusation  cannot  ba  judged  with- 
cSwrBBS-  out  the  examination  of  their  startling,  repul- 
sive, even  loathsome  detail:  they  must  ba  seen  too  in 
their  strange  confusion.  The  Pope  neither  believed  the 
immortality  nor  the  incorruptibility  of  the  human  soul, 
it  perished  with  the  body.  He  did  not  believe  in  eternal 
life  j  he  had  averred  that  it  was  no  sin  to  indulge  the 
body  in  all  pleasures;  he  had  publicly  declared  and 
preached  that  he  had  rather  be  a  dog,  an  ass,  or  any 
brute  beast,  than  a  Frenchman;  that  no  Frenchman 
had  a  soul  which  could  deserve  everlasting  happiness: 
this  he  had  taught  to  persons  on  their  deathbeds.  He 
did  not  believe  in  the  Eeal  Presence  in  the  Eucharist. 
He  was  reputed  (all  these  things  were  advanced  as 
matters  of  public  fame  and  scandal)  to  have  averred 
that  fornication  and  other  obscene  practices  were  no 
sin.  He  had  often  said  that  to  depress  the  King  of 
France  and  the  French  he  would  devote  himself,  the 
world,  and  the  Church  to  ruin.  "  Perish  the  French, 
come  what  may."  He  had  approved  a  book  written  by 
a  physician,  Am  old  of  Yilleneuve,  which  had  been  con- 
demned by  the  Bishop  and  the  Masters  of  Theology  in 
Paris  as  heretical.  He  had  caused,  to  perpetuate  his 
damnable  memory,  silver  images  of  himself  to  be  set 
up  in  the  churches,  to  which  the  people  were  tempted 
to  pay  idolatrous  worship.  "  He  has  a  special  familiar 
devil,  whose  counsels  he  follows  in  all  things."11  He  is 


*  Tils  afterwards  grew  into  a  mi- 
nute detail  of  all  the  famous  wizards 
•nd  iorcerers  from  whom  he  had  ob- 
tained many  different  familiar  spirits 


with  whom  he  dealt :  one  ww  jn  a  ring 
which  ha  always  wore,  but  offeree!  to 
the  King  of  Naples,  who  rejected  tin 
gift  with  plum  abhorrence. 


CHAP.  IX.  ACCUSATIONS  OF  PEOFLIGACY.  141 

a  sortilege,  and  consults  diviners  and  f  ortune-tellBis.  He 
has  declared  that  Popes  cannot  commit  simony,  •which 
declaration  is  heresy.  Ha  keeps  a  market  by  one 
Simon,  an  usurer,  of  ecclesiastical  dignities  and  benefices. 
Contrary  to  Christ's  charge  to  his  Apostles,  "  My  peace 
I  leava  with  you,"  he  has  constantly  stirred  up  and 
fomented  discords  and  wars.  On  one  occasion,  when 
two  parties  had  agreed  to  terms  of  peace,  Boniface 
inhibited  them  and  said,  " If  the  Son  of  God  or  Peter 
the  Apostle  had  descended  upon  earth  and  given  such 
precept,  I  would  have  replied,  fl  believe  you  not,'  " 
Like  certain  heretics  who  assert  themselves  to  be  tha 
only  true  Christians,  he  called  all  others,  especially  that 
most  Christian  people  tha  French,  Patcrins.  He  was  a 
notorious  sodomite.  He  had  caused  the  murder  of  many 
clerks  in  his  own  presence,  and  urged  his  officers  to 
their  bloody  work,  saying,  u  Strike  horns !  strike  home  J " 
He  had  refused  the  Eucharist,  as  unnecessary,  ta  a 
nobleman  in  prison  in  his  last  agony.  He  had  com- 
pelled priests  to  reveal  confessions.  He  did  not  observe 
the  Fasts  of  the  Church,  not  even  Lent.  He  depresses 
and  always  has  depressed  the  whole  Order  of  Cardinals, 
tha  Hack  and  the  White  Monks,  the  Franciscan  and 
Preaching  Friars:  he  calls  them  all  hypocrites.  He 
never  utters  a  good  word,  but  words  of  scorn,  lying 
reproach,  and  detraction  against  every  bishop,  monk, 
or  ecclesiastic,  He  has  conceived  an  old  and  impla- 
cable hatred  against  the  King  of  France,  and  owned 
that  he  would  subvert  Christianity  if  he  might  humble 
what  he  calls  the  pride  of  the  French.  He  has  granted 
the  tenths  of  his  realm  to  the  King  of  England,  on  con- 
dition of  his  waging  war  on  France;  he  has  leagued 
with  Frederick  of  Arragon  against  the  French.  King  ol 
Naples ;  ha  has  granted  the  Empire  to  Albert  of  Austria, 


142  LATIN  CHBISTIANITT.  BOOK  XI 

whom  he  had  so  long  treated  as  unduly  sleeted,  as  a 
traitor,  and  as  a  murderer,  with  the  avowed  purpose  of 
employing  him  to  crush  the  pride  of  the  French.  The 
Holy  Land  is  lost  through  Ms  fault;  he  has  diverted 
the  subsidies  raised  for  the  Christians  of  the  Holy  Land 
to  enrich  his  kindred.  Ha  is  the  fountain,  and  ground 
of  aH  simony;  he  has  reduced  all  prelates  and  eccle- 
siastics to  servitudB,  and  loaded  them  with  taxation; 
the  wealth  he  has  extorted  from  Christendom  he  has 
lavished  on  Ins  own  family,  whom  he  has  raised  to  the 
rank  of  counts  and  barons,  and  in  building  fortresses 
on  the  lands  of  Roman  nobles,  whom  he  has  cruelly 
oppressed  and  driven  into  exile.  He  has  dissolved 
many  lawful  marriages ;  he  has  promoted  his  nephew, 
a  man  of  notoriously  profligate  life,  to  the  Cardmalate, 
forced  that  nephew's  wife  to  taka  a  vow  of  chastity, 
and  himself  begotten  upon  her  two  bastard  sons.  He 
treated  his  holy  predecessor  Crelestine  with  the  utmost 
inhumanity,  and  caused  his  death.  He  has  privately 
made  away  in  prison  with  many  others  who  denied  his 
lawful  election  to  the  Papacy.  To  the  public  scandal 
te  has  allowed  many  nuns  to  return  to  a  worldly  life. 
HB  has  also  said  that  in  a  short  time  he  would  make 
all  the  French  martyrs  or  apostates.  Lastly,  he  seeks 
not  the  salvation,  but  the  perdition  of  souls.111 

Each  of  these  separate  articles  was  declared  to  rest 
on  public  fame  and  notoriety,  and  so  the  accuser  might 
seem  in  some  degree  to  guard  himself  against  personal 
responsibility  for  their  truth,  Still  it  is  almost  incon- 
ceivable how  even  such  bold  men,  so  fully  possessed  of 
the  royal  favour,  could  venture  on  some  of  these  charges, 
BO  flagrantly  false.  Tha  Uolonnas,  no  doubt,  whose 


Compare  for  a])i  this  Dupuy,  Pnavw. 


CHAP.  IX,  EI1TG  PHILIP'S  APPEAL.  143 


were  not  forgotten,  some  of  whom  will  soon  be 
discovered  in  active  league  with  Phihp's  Jurists,  had 
disseminated,  these  rumours  of  the  Pope's  tyrannies  and 
cruel  misdeeds  in  Italy,  not  improbably  the  enormities 
charged  on  his  private  life.  The  coarse  artifice  (skill  it 
cannot  be  called)  with  which  tha  vanity  of  the  French 
nation  is  constantly  appealed  to  ;  the  accumulation  on 
ana  man  of  all  the  accusations  which  could  be  imagined 
as  most  odious  to  mankind  ;  were  not  merely  ominous 
of  danger  to  Bouifaca  himself,  but  signs  of  the  declining 
awa  of  the  Popedom  beyond  ths  walls  of  Kome,  beyond 
the  confines  of  Italy.  William  of  Plasian  solemnly  pro- 
tested that  he  was  actuated  by  no  hatred  or  passion;  in 
the  most  formal  manner  he  declared  his  adhesion  to  the 
appeal  before  mada  by  William  of  Nogarst. 

The  Xing  commanded  his  own  appeal  to  ba  read. 
"We,  Philip,  King  of  Francs,  having  heard 
the  charges  now  alleged  by  William  of  Plasian,  app*!ftL 
as  heretofore  by  William  of  Nogarat,  against  Boniface, 
now  presiding  over  the  Roman  Church  ;  though  wa  had 
rather  cover  tha  shame  of  our  father  with  our  garment, 
yet  in  the  fervour  of  our  Catholic  faith,  and  our  devo- 
tion to  the  Holy  See,  and  to  our  Mother,  tha  Church,  for 
which  our  ancestors  have  not  hesitated  to  risk  their 
lives,  we  cannott  but  assent  to  these  requisitions  :  we 
will  use  our  utmoet  power  jfou  the1  convocation  of  a 
Greneral  Council,  in<  order  to  r  amove  these  scandals 
from  the  Church;  and  we  call  upon  and  entreat,  in  the 
bowels  of  mercy  in  Jeaus  Christ,  all  you  archbishops, 
bishops,  and  prelates,  to  join  us  in  promoting  this 
Q-eneral  Council;  and  lest  the  aforesaid  Boniface  should 
utter  sentences  of  excommunication  or  interdict,  or  any 
act  of  spiritual  violence  against  us,  our  realm,  our 
churches,  our  prelates,  pur  barons,  or  our  vassals,  we 


144 


1ATIN  CHEISTIAUITY. 


BOOK  XL 


appeal  to   this  Great  Council,    and  to  a  legitimate 
Pope." 

No  Churchman  uttered  one  word  of  remonstrance. 
It  might  have  been,  difficult  to  treat  with,  scorn,  or  repel 
with  indignation,  an  arraignment  mads  with  such,  formal 
solemnity;  accusations  openly  recognised  by  the  King 
as  grave  and  serious  subjects  of  inquiry.  The  Jurists 
had  taken  care  that  all  was  conducted  according  to 
unexceptionable  rules  of  procedure.  The  prelates  veiled 
their  weak  compliance  with  the  King's  wishes,  their 
assent  to  the  unusual  act  uf  permitting  a  Pope  to  be 
arraigned  as  a  criminal  for  the  most  hateful  and  loath- 
some offences  and  denounced  before  a  General  Council, 
under  the  specious  plea  of  the  necessity  of  investigation 
into  such  fearful  scandals,  and  tha  pious  hope  that  the 
innocence  of  Boniface  would  appear.  To  this  assent 
were  signed  the  names  of  five  archbishops — Nicosia  (in 
Cyprus),  a  Frenchman  by  birth,  Eheims,  Sens,  Nar- 
bonne,  Tours;  of  twenty-one  bishops — Laon,  Beauvais, 
Chalons-sur-Marne,  Auxerre,  Meaux,  Nevers,  Chartrss, 
Orleans,  Amiens,  Terouanne,  Senlis,  Angers,  Avranches, 
Coutances,  Evreux,  Lisieux,  Seez,  Clermont,  Limoges, 
Puy,  Macon  (afterwards  St.  Omer,  Boulogne,  Ypres) ; 
eleven  of  the  great  abbots — Dlugny,  Premontre,  Mar- 
moutier,  Citeaux,  St.  Denis,  Oompiegne,  St.  Victor,  St. 
Geneviave,  St.  Martin  da  Laon,  Kgeac,  Beaulieu ;  the 
Visitors  of  the  Orders  of  the  Temple  and  of  St.  John.11 


•  Dupuy,  PrravSfl.  Baillet  pub- 
lished c  special  appeal  of  tha  Arch- 
trishcp  m  Narbonna  containing  ten 
charges  against  the  Pope,  in  substance 
much  the  sama  with  those  Of  Da 
Plosion,  hut  darkeuing  the  charge  pf 
immorality  into  his  having  seduced 
two  of  his  married  nieces,  by  whom 


ha  had  many  children.  "0  patrem 
ffficunduml"  It  is  said  that  thla 
appeal  was  made  ia  the  States- General 
at  the  Louvre.  Baillet  found  It  among 
the  BriennB  papers ;  but  what  proof 
is  there  of  its  authenticity  ?  Baillet, 
Ddmele's,  Additions  das  Preuras,  p, 
29. 


CHAP.  IX.  BONIFACE  AT  ANAGNI.  145 

The  Hing  was  not  content  with  this  general  suffrage 
of  tha  States-General,  nor  even  with  the  mutual  gua- 
rantes  entered  into  between  himself,  the  ecclesiastics, 
and  the  barons  of  Francs,  to  stand  by  each  other  and 
co-op er at 3  in  holding  the  General  Council;  in  par- 
mittingnD  excommunication  or  interdict  to  be  published 
within  the  realm,  and  to  pay  no  regard  to  any  mandate 
or  Bull  of  tha  Pope.  He  appealed  severally  to  all  ths 
ecclesiastical  and  monastic  bodies  of  the  realm.  General  ad- 
He  obtained  seven  hundred  acts  of  adhesion  kingdom. 
from  bishops,  chapters,  conventual  bodies,  and  the  Orders 
of  friars.  Of  the  numerous  houses  of  the  Clugniacs,  seven 
only  refused,  eleven  sent  evasive  answers.  All  who  had 
hitherto  been  the  most  ardent  and  servile  partisans  of 
the  Popedom,  the  Preachers  the  Sons  of  St.  Dominic, 
the  Minorites  the  Sons  of  St.  Francis,  the  Templars  and 
Hospitallers,  were  for  tha  King,  The  University  of 
Paris  gave  in  its  unqualified  concurrence  to  the  royal 
demands.  Philip  sant  his  appeal  into  some  of  the 
neighbouring  kingdoms.  All  these  gave  at  least  their 
tacit  assent  to  the  arraignment  of  the  Pope  before  a 
General  Council ;  some,  no  doubt,  reconciled  it  to  their 
conscience  by  doubts  as  to  the  validity  of  the  election 
of  Boniface,  and  his  title  to  be  considered  a  lawful  Pope : 
all  were  careful  that  the  appeal  lay  not  merely  to  the 
Council,  but  to  a  future  lawful  Pope ;  all  protested  their 
fervent  reverence  and  attachment  to  the  Church,  their 
loyalty  to  the  See  of  Rome. 

The  Pope  had  retired,  as  usual,  from  the  summer 
heats,  perhaps  not  without  mistrust  of  the  Boniface  at 
Banians,  to  hia  native  city,  Anagni.    There,  in  cZuLy 
a  public  consistory,  ha  purged  himself  by  oath  AUB  IB. 
of  the  charge  of  heresy ;  the  more  scandalous  accusations 
against  his  life  and  morals  he  disdained  to  notice.    In 

VOL.  VII.  L 


HL>  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY* 

the  Bull  lasted  from,  that  consistory,  IIB  declared  that  ha 
had  received  intelligence  of  the  proceedings  of  the  King 
and  the  Barons  in  the  Louvre,  of  their  appeal  to  n, 
General  Council,  to  a  futura  lawful  Pope,  of  their  pro- 
clamation, that  they  would  receive  neither  legate  nor 
letter  from  him,  and  their  renunciation  af  all  obedience. 
"With  what  sincerity,  with  what  charity,  with  what 
zeal,  this  conventicle  had  acted,  might  be  undBrstood, 
by  all  who  value  truth,  from  the  blasphemies  which 
they  had  poured  forth  against  him,  and  the  open  recep- 
tion of  his  deadly  anemy,  Stephen  Oolonna."  "  They 
have  lyingly  blasphemed  us  with  lying  blasphemies, 
charging  us  with  heresy,  and  with  other  monstrous 
criminalities  over  which  they  have  affected  to  weep. 
"Who  in  all  the  world  has  heard  that  we  have  been 
suspected  of  the  taint  of  heresy?  Which  of  our  race, 
who  in  all  Campania,  has  been  branded  with  such  a 
name?  We  were  sound  Catholics  when  He  received 
favours  from  us.  Valentinian  the  Emperor  humbled 
himself  before  the  Bishop  of  Milan :  the  King  of  France 
is  as  much  below  the  Emperor  as  we  are  above  the 
Bishop  of  Milan.  The  state  of  the  Church  will  be 
utterly  subverted,  the  pawsr  of  the  Boinan  Pontiff  anni- 
hilated, if  such  kings  and  princes,  when  the  Roman 
Pontiff  shall  think  it  right  to  inflict  correction  upon 
them,  shall  presume  to  call  him  a  heretic  or  of  noto- 
riously scandalous  life,  and  so  escape  censure.  This 
pernicious  example  must  be  cut  up  by  the  roots,  With- 
out us  ixo  General  Council  can  be  held.  Henceforth  no 
king,  no  prince,  or  other  magnate  of  France  shall  dare, 
by  the  example  of  tha  King,  to  break  out  in  words  of 
blasphemy,  and  thus  hope  to  elude  due  correction.  Not 
to  name  the  King  of  France  deposed  by  Pope  Zacharias, 
did  Theodosius  tha  Great,  excommunicated  by  Sb 


CHAP.  IX  EXCOMMTTNIDATIDN.  147 

Ambrose,  kindle  into  wrath  ?  Did  the  glorious  Lothair 
lift  up  his  heel  against  Pope  Nicolas?  or  Frederick 
against  Innocent  ?  "  In  proper  tima  and  place  he,  Boni- 
face, would  proceed  to  tha  extreme  censure,  unless  full 
Satisfaction  should  be  offered,  lest  the  blood  of  Philip 
should  be  required  at  his  hands." 

The  stress  laid  upon  the  reception  of  Stephen  Colonna 
shows  that  Boniface  knew  whence  sprung  much  of  the 
most  desperate  hostility  to  his  fame  ani  authority.  He 
was  peculiarly  indignant  at  tha  presumption  of  the 
Archbishop  of  Nicosia,  whom  ha  had  ordered,  ani  again 
ordered  in  a  separate  Bull,  to  return  to  his  diocese,  and 
not  to  presume  to  meddle  in  the  affairs  of  France.  A 
thiril  Bull,  to  punish  the  prelates  who  had  been  seducpd 
into  rebellion  by  the  King,  suspended  in  all  the  eccle- 
siastical corporations  tha  right  of  election,  declared  all 
vacant  benefices  at  the  sola  disposal  of  the  Pope,  annulled 
all  elections  made  during  this  suspension,  and  until  the 
King  should  have  returned  to  his  obedience,  A  fourth 
deprived  tha  Universities  of  the  right  of  teaching,  of 
granting  any  degree  in  theology,  canon  or  civil  law. 
This  privilege  the  Pope  declared  to  be  derived  entirely 
from  tha  Apostolic  See,  and  to  have  been  forfeited  by 
their  rebellious  adhesion  to  the  cause  of  the  King.* 

Boniface  seemed,  as  it  were,  to  pause,  to  be  gathering 
up  his  strength  to  launch  the  last  crushing  En»m»nu- 
thunders  upon  the  head  of  the  contumacious  nlcatlon 
King.     The  sentence   of  excommunication  hai  been 
prepared;  it  had  received  the  Papal  Seal.     It  began 
with  more  than  the  usual  solemnity  and  haughtiness. 
"We  who  sit  on  the  high  throne  of  St.  Peter,  the  vice- 
gerent of  Him  to  whom  the  Father  said,  'Thou  art  my 

•  The  Ball  in  Dupuy  ani  Rnyimldus,  sub  win.  t  f reaves,    Rajnaltlui 

l  2 


I4S  LATIN  CHEISTIANITT.  LOOK  XL 

Son,  this  day  have  I  begotten  thee,'  '  Ask  of  me,  I  will 
give  Thse  the  nations  as  Thine  inheritance,  and  the 
uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  as  Thy  possession:  to 
bruise  kings  with  a  rod  of  iron,  and  to  break  them  in 
pieces  like  a  potter's  vessel.'  An  awful  admonition  to 
kings  I  But  the  unlimited  LJower  of  St.  Peter  has  eve* 
been  exercised  with  serene  lenity."  The  Bull  then 
recapitulates  all  the  chief  causes  of  the  quarrel :  the 
prohibition  of  the  bishops  to  attend  the  Papal  summons 
to  Rome ;  the  missions  of  James  de  Normannis  Arch- 
deacon of  Wai-bonne,  and  of  the  Cardinal  of  St.  Mar- 
cellinus  rejected  with  scorn  (it  is  silent  as  to  the  burning 
of  tha  Bull),  the  seizure  and  imprisonment  of  Nicolas 
da  BenefractD,  the  bearer  of  the  Papal  letters;  tha 
entertainment  of  Stephen  Colonna  at  the  Court  in  Paris. 
The  King  of  Franca  was  declared  excommunicate ;  his 
subjects  released  from  their  allegiance,  or  rather  peremp- 
torily inhibited  from  paying  him  any  acts  of  obedience ; 
all  the  clergy  were  forbidden,  under  pain  of  perpetual 
disability,  to  hold  preferment,  from  receiving  benefices 
at  his  hands ;  all  such  appointments  were  void,  all 
leagues  were  annulled,  all  oaths  abrogated,  "and  this 
our  Bull  is  ordered  to  be  suspended  in  the  porch  of  the- 
Cathedral  of  Anagni."  The  8th  of  September  was1 
the  fatal  day." 

Boniface,  infatuated  by  the  sense  of  his  unapproach- 
able  majesty,  and  of  the  sanctity  of  his  office, 
taken  no  precautions  for  the  safeguard  of 
person>  ]JB  could  not  but  know  that  his 
two  deadliest  enemies,  William  of  Nogaret,  the  most 
daring  of  Philip's  legal  counsellors,  and  Sciorra  Oolonna, 
the  most  fierce  and  desperate  of  the  house  which  he  had 

i  Preuvee,  p.  1B2. 


CHAP.  IX.  ATTACK  ON  THE  POPE.  149 

driven  to  desperation,  had  been  for  several  months  in 
Italy,  on  the  Tuscan  borders  at  no  great  distance  from 
Borne.  They  were  accompanied  by  Musciatto  dei  Fran- 
cesi,  in  whose  castle  of  Staggia,  not  far  from  Sienna, 
they  had  taken  up  their  abode.  They  had  unlimited 
power  to  draw  on  the  Fanizzi,  the  merchant  bankers  of 
the  King  of  France  at  Florence.  To  tha  simple  pea-* 
santry  they  held  out  that  their  mission  was  to  reconcile 
the  Pope  with  ths  King  of  France;  others  supposed 
that  they  were  delegated  to  serve  upon  the  Pope  the 
citation  to  appear  before  the  General  Council.  They 
bought  with  their  gold  many  of  the  petty  barons  of 
Romagna.  They  hired  to  be  at  their  command  a  band 
of  tha  lawless  soldiery  who  hai  been  employed  in  the 
late  wars.  They  had  their  emissaries  in  Anagni ;  some 
even  of  ths  Cardinals  had  not  been  inaccessible  to  their 
dark  intrigues. 

On  a  sudden,  on  the  7th  September  (ths  8th  was  the 
day  for  the  publication  of  the  Bull),  the  peaceful  streets 
of  Anagni  were  disturbed.  Ths  Pope  and  the  Cardinals, 
who  were  all  assembled  around  him,  were  startled  with 
the  trampling  of  armed  horse,  and  the  terrible  cry, 
which  ran  like  wildfire  through  the  city,  "Death  to 
Pope  Boniface!  Long  live  the  King  of  France  1" 
Sciarra  Colonna,  at  the  head  of  three  hundred  horsemen, 
the  Barons  of  Gercano  and  Supino,  and  some  others, 
the  sons  of  Master  Massio  of  Anagni,  were  marching  in 
furious  haste,  with  the  banner  of  the  King  pf  France 
displayed.  The  ungrateful  citizens  of  Anagni,  forgetful 
of  thsir  pride  in  their  holy  compatriot,  of  the  honour 
and  advantage  to  their  town  from  ths  splendour  and 
wealth  of  the  Papal  residence,  received  them  with  rebel- 
lious and  acclaiming  shouts. 

The  bell  uf  the  city,  indeed,  had  tolled  at  the  first 


150  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY. 

alarm;  the  burghers  had  assembled;  they  had  chosen 
their  commander;  but  that  commander,  whom  they 
ignorantly  or  treacherously  chose,  was  Arnulf,  a  deadly 
enemy  of  the  Pope.  The  banner  of  the  Church  was 
unfolded  against  the  Pope  by  the  captain  of  the  people 
of  Anagni.r  Ths  first  attack  was  on  the  palace  of  thy 
Pope,  on  that  of  tha  Marquis  Graetani,  his  nephew,  ani 
those  of  three  Cardinals,  the  special  partisans  of  Boni- 
face. The  houses  of  the  Pops  and  of  his  nephew  made 
some  resistance.  The  doors  of  those  of  the  Cardinals 
were  beaten  down,  the  treasures  ransacked  and  carried 
off;  the  Oardmals  themselves  fled  from  the  backs  of  the 
houses  through  the  common  sawer.  Then  arrived,  but 
not  to  the  rescue,  Arnulf,  the  Oaptain  of  the  People;  he 
had  perhaps  been  suborned  by  Eeginald  of  Supino, 
With  him  were  the  sons  of  Chiton,  whose  fathsr  was 
pining  in  the  dungeons  of  Boniface."  Instead  of  resist- 
ing, they  joined  the  attack  on  the  Palace  of  the  Pope's 
nephew  and  his  own.  The  Pope  and  his  nephew  im- 
plored a  truce;  it  was  granted  for  eight  hours.  This 
time  the  Pope  employed  in  endeavouring  to  stir  up  tha 
people  to  his  defence:  the  people  coldly  answered  that 
they  were  under  the  command  of  their  Captain.  The 
Pope  demanded  the  terms  of  the  conspirators.  "If  tha 
Pope  would  save  his  life,  let  him  instantly  restore 
the  Coloima  Cardinals  to  their  dignity,  and  reinstate 
the  whole  house  in  their  honours  and  possessions ;  after 
this  restoration  the  Pope  must  abdicate,  and  leave  hia 
body  at  the  disposal  of  (Sciarra."  The  Pope  groaned  in 
the  depths  of  his  heart.  "  The  word  is  spoken."  Again 
the  assailants  thundered  at  the  gates  of  the  palace; 


*  Statement  of  William  of  Nogaret  Dupny,  p,  247,  I  see  no  reason  to  doubt  this 

*  The  Chiton , of 'Wakingham  to  probably  the  MUBBI'D  of  Villain, 


CHAP,  IX.  THE  POPE'S  FIEMNESS  151 

still  there  was  obstinate  resistance.  The  principal 
church,  of  Anagni,  that  of  Santa  Maria,  protected  the 
Pope's  palacs.  Sciarra  Dolonna's  lawless  band  set  fire 
to  ths  gates;  the  church  was  crowded  with  clergy  and 
laity  and  traders  who  had  brought  their  precious  wares 
into  tliB  sacred  building.  They  were  plundered  with 
such  rapacity  that  not  a  man  escape!  with  a  farthing. 

The  Marquis  found  himself  compelled  to  surrender, 
on  the  condition  that  hia  own  life,  those  of  his  family 
and  of  his  servants,  should  be  spared.  At  these  sad 
tidings  the  Pope  wept  bitterly.  The  Pope  was  alone ; 
from  the  first  the  Cardinals,  some  from  treachery,  some 
from  cowardice,  had  flpd  on  all  sides,  even  his  most 
familiar  friends:  they  had  crept  into  the  most  ignoble 
hiding-places.  The  aged  Pontiff  alone  lost  not  his  self- 
command.  He  had  declared  himself  ready  to  perish  in 
his  glorious  causa ;  he  determined  to  fall  with  dignity. 
"If  I  am  betrayed  like  Christ,  I  am  ready  to  clia  like 
Christ."  He  put  on  the  stole  of  St.  Peter,  the  imperial 
crown  was  on  his  head,  the  keys  of  St.  Peter  in  one 
hand  and  the  cross  in  tha  other:  he  took  hia  seat  cm 
the  Papal  throne,  and,  like  tha  Koman  Senators  of  old, 
awaited  the  approach  of  the  Gaul.* 

But  the  pride  and  cruelty  of  Boniface  had  raised 
and  infixed  deep  in  the  hearts  of  men  passions  which 
acknowledged  no  awe  of  age,  of  intrepidity,  or  religious 
majesty.  In  William  of  Nogar  at  the  blood  of  his  Tolosan 
ancestors,  in  Colonna  the  wrongs,  the  degradation,  the 
beggary,  the  exile  of  all  his  house,  had  extinguished  every 
feeling  but  revenge.  They  insulted  him.  with  contu- 
melious reproaches;  they  menaced  his,  life.  The  Pope 
answered  not  a  word  They  insisted  that  he  should  at 

t  Villani.  in  ha. 


152  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  XI 

once  abdicate  tha  Papacy.  "Behold  my  neck,  behold 
my  head,"  was  the  only  reply.  But  fiercer  words  passed 
between  the  Pope  and  William  of  Nogaret.  Nogaret 
threatened  to  drag  him  before  the  Council  of  Lyons, 
where  he  should  bs  deposed  from  the  Papacy.  '  Shall 
I  suffer  myself  to  be  degraded  and  deposed  by  Paterins 
like  thee,  whose  fathers  were  righteously  burned  as 
Paterina?"  William  turned  fiery  red,  with  shame 
thought  tha  partisans  of  Boniface,  more  likely  with 
wrath.  Sciorra,,  it  was  baid,  would  have  slain  him  out- 
right: he  was  prevented  by  some  of  his  own  followeis 
even  by  Nogaret.  "  Wretched  Pope,  even  at  this 
distance  the  goodness  of  my  Lord  the  King  guards 
thylifa."u 

He  was  placed  under  close  custody,  not  one  of  his 
own  attendants  permitted  to  approach  him.  Worse 
indignities  awaited  him.  He  was  set  on  a  vicious  horse, 
with  his  face  to  the  tail,  and  so  led  through  the  town  to 
his  place  of  imprisonment  The  palaces  of  the  Pope 
and  of  his  nephew  wers  plundered;  so  vast  was  the 
wealth,  that  the  annual  revenues  of  all  the  kings  in 
the  world  would  not  have  been  equal  to  the  treasures 
found  and  carried  off  by  Sciarra's  freebooting  soldiers. 
His  very  private  chamber  was  ransacked;  nothing  left 
but  bare  walls. 

At  length  the  people  of  Anagni  could  no  longer  bear 
the  insult  and  the  Bufferings  heaped  upon  their  illus- 
trious and  holy  fellow-citizen.  They  rose  in  irresistible 
insurrection,  drovs  out  the  soldiers  by  whom  they  had 
been  overawed,  now  gorged  with  plunder,  arid  doubtlesid 
not  unwilling  to  withdraw.  The  Pops  was  rescued,  and 
led  out  into  the  street,  where  the  old  man  addressed  a 


ChroniiOes  de  St.  Denys. 


CHAP  IX. 


RETURN  TO  HOME. 


153 


few  words  to  the  people  :  "  Good  men  and  women,  ye 
see  how  mine  enemies  have  come  upon  me,  and  plun- 
der si  my  gooda,  those  of  the  Church  and  of  the  poor, 
Not  a  morsel  of  bread  have  I  eaten,  not  a  drop  have 
I  drunk  since  my  capture.  I  ani  almost  dead  with 
hunger."  If  any  good  woman  will  give  me  a  piece  of 
bread  ani  a  cup  of  wine,  if  she  haa  no  wine,  a  little 
water,  I  will  absolve  her,  and  any  one  who  will  giva  me 
their  alms,  from  all  their  sins."  The  compassionate 
rabble  burst  into  a  cry,  "Long  life  to  the  Pope!"  They 
carried  him  back  to  his  naked  palace.  They  crowded, 
the  women  especially,  with  provisions,  bread,  meat, 
water,  and  wine.  They  could  not  find  a  single  vessel: 
thsy  poured  a  supply  of  water  into  a  chest.  The  Popa 
proclaimed  a  general  absolution  to  all  except  the  plun- 
derers of  his  palace.  He  even  declared  that  he  wished 
to  be  at  peace  with  the  Colonnas  and  all  his  enemies. 
This  perhaps  was  to  disguise  his  intention  of  retiring, 
as  soon  as  he  could,  to  Bome,y 

The  Eomans  had  heard  with  indignation  the  sacri- 
legious attack  on  the  person  of  the  Supreme  Ratumto 
Pontiff,     Four  hundred  horse  under  Matteo  Ronie' 
and  Graetano  Orsini  were  ssnt  to  conduct  him  to  tha 
city.    He  entered  it  almost  in  triumph ;  the  populace 
welcomed  him  with  every  demonstration  of  joy.    But 
the  awe  of  his  greatness  was  gone;  the  spell  of  his 
dominion  over  the  minds  of  men  was  broken.    His  over- 


1  According  to  5.  Antoninus,  liis  as- 
sailants treated  him  with  respect,  and 
only  kept  him  in  safe  custody. 

7  I  have  drawn  this  accounb  from 
the  various  authorities,  the  historians 
Villani,  Walaingham,  the  Chromques 
de  St.  Panys,  and  others,  with  the  de- 
clarations of  Nogarnt  and  his  partisans, 


aocoi  ding  to  my  awn  view  of  the  trust- 
worthiness of  the  statements,  and  the 
probability  of  the  incidents.  The  re- 
ference to  each  special  authority  would 
hnve  been  almost  etidlesa  and  perplexing. 
The  reader  may  compare  Drumann, 
whose  conscientious  German  industry 
is  more  particular.— P.  128  et  jcgg. 


154 


LATIE  CHKI5TIAU1TY. 


BOOK  XX 


weening  haughtiness  anil  domination  had  made  him 
many  enemies  in  the  Sacred  College,  the  gold  of  Franca 
had  made  him  more.  This  general  revolt  is  his  severest 
condemnation.  Among  his  first  enemies  was  the  Car- 
dinal Napol  eon  Orsini.  Orsini  had  followed  the  triumphal 
entranca  of  the  Pope.  Boniface,  to  show  that  he  desired 
to  reconcile  himself  with  all,  courteously  invited  him  to 
his  tabla.  Tha  Orsini  coldly  answered  "that  he  must 
receive  the  Oalonna  Dardinals  into  his  favour ;  he  must 
not  now  disown  what  had  been  wrung  from  him  by 
compulsion."  "I  will  pardon  them,"  said  Boniface, 
"but  the  mercy  of  the  Pope  is  not  to  be  from  com- 
pulsion." He  found  himself  again  a  prisoner. 

This  last  mortification  crushed  the  bodily,  if  not  the 
mental  strength  of  ths  Pope.  Among  the  Grlnbellines 
terrible  stories  were  bruited  abroad  of  his  death.  In  an 
access  of  fury,  either  from  poison  or  wounded  pride,  he 
sat  gnawing  the  top  of  his  staff,  and  at  length  either 
Death  of  beat  out  his  own  brains  against  the  wall,  or 
octi^BiaD3.  smothered  himself  (a  strange  notion!)  with 
his  own  pillows.*  More  friendly,  probably  more  trust- 
worthy, accounts  describe  him  as  sadly  but  quietly 
breathing  his  last,  surrounded  by  eight  Cardinals, 
having  confessed  the  faith  and  received  ihe  consoling 
offices  of  the  Church.  The  Cardinal-Poet  anticipates 
his  mild  sentence  from  the  DivinB  Judge,' 

The  religious  mind  of  Christendom  was  at  once  per- 
plexed and  horror-stricken  by  this  act  of  sacrilegious 


'  FeiTctus  Yicantinns,  npud  Mura- 
tori,  a  fierce  Ghlbelline, 

1  "  Leto  proflLratna,  onheluB 

proentratt,  fasatmiiue  fldam, 


Bannuue  Bwlesla:,  Christo  tunn  reddltur 

slraua 
QplrituB.  et  suryl  noBcit  Jam  Juilcls  Iram, 


BeA  mltem  placldumque  patrU,  oen  cre- 
dere fia  eot." 

Apud,  Mwratorl,  8.  X.  I. 

See  in  Tpatl's  Life  tha  account  of  the 
exhumation  of  Boniface.  His  body  is 
eaid  to  bar  a  fippeorefl,  after  302  years, 
whole  and  with  r»  marks  of  violence 


CHAP.  DL 


DEATH  DP  BONIFACE 


156 


violence  on  tha  person  of  the  Supreme  Pontiff:  it 
shocked  some  even  of  the  sternest  Grlubellmes.  Dante, 
who  brands  the  pride,  ths  avarice,  the  treachery  of 
Boniface  in  hia  most  terrible  words,  and  has  consigned 
him  to  the  direst  doom  (though  it  is  true  that  his 
alliance  -with  the  French,  with  Charles  of  Yaloia,  by 
whom  the  poet  had  been  driven  into  exile,  was  among 
the  deepest  causes  of  his  hatred  to  Boniface),  neverthe- 
less express BS  the  almost  universal  feeling.  Christen- 
dom. "  shuddered  to  behold  the  Fleur-de-lis  enter  into 
Anagni,  and  Christ  again  captive  in  his  Yicar,  the 
mockery,  the  gall  and  vinegar,  the  crucifixion  between 
living  robbers,  the  insolent  and  sacrilegious  cruelty  of 
the  second  Pilate."  b 


*  Purgatoiio,  xx,  89  -— 

Veggio  In  AUgna  entrnr  ID  fiar  d'  alien, 
Ifi  nel  vlcarlo  BUD  Ohnsto  easer  catto; 
Veflglolo  nn  oltra  volta  Baser  darl 
eEglD  rlnnuvBllur  I1  aceto  e  1'  Me, 
K  tiu  vlvl  Indronl  ess  ere  and  BO. 
egglB  11  DUDVO  Pilato  at  mudelo, 
CUB  cl6  nol 


Strange  1  to  find  poetry  ascribed  to 
Bomfuco  VIII  ani  in  that  poetry  (an 
address  to  the  Virgin)  these  lines.  — 


"  Vedca  I'  nccto  ch'  era  col  flol  mieto 
Data  u  bevere  al  dolca  JBBU  CrlBbo, 
E  nn  BTHU  coltello  11  cor  ID  trapassava." 

The  poem  was  found  in  a  MS.  in  the 
Vatican  by  Amati;  it  waa  said  in  tha 
MS.  that  it  was  hgibla  in  the  15th 
century  on  the  walls  of  5.  Paolo  fuon 
idle  mure.  It  was  given  by  Amaii 
to  Perticari,  who  published  it  in  fill 
Essay  ID  Munti'a  Prapaata,  p.  244. 


156 


LATIN  OHBISTIANm. 


Booi  XI 


CHAPTEE   X. 


Benedict  XI. 

did  the  Church  of  Eome  want  a  calmer,  more 
sagacious,  or  a  firmer  head  :  never  was  a  time  in  which 
the  boldest  intellsct  might  stand  appalled,  or  the  pro- 
foundBst  piety  shrink  from  the  hopeless  office  of  restor- 
ing peace  between  the  temporal  and  the  spiritual  power. 
How  could,  the  Papacy  maintain  its  ground  with  safety, 
or  recede  with  dignity?  There  seemed  this  fearful 
alternative,  either  to  continue  the  strife  with  the  King 
of  France,  with  the  nation,  with  the  clergy  of  France; 
with  the  King  of  France,  who  had  not  respected  the 
sacred  person  of  the  Pope,  against  whose  gold  and 
against  whose  emissaries  in  Italy  no  Pope  was  secure  : 
with  the  nation,  now  one  with  the  King;  with  the 
clergy  of  France,  who  had  acknowledged  the  right  of 
bringing  the  Pope  before  a  General  Oouncil,  a  Council 
not  to  be  held  in  Borne  or  in  Italy,  but  in  Lyons,  if  not 
in  the  dominions,  under  the  control,  of  the  King  of 
France  ;  among  whom  it  could  not  be  unknown,  that 
new  and  extreme  doctrines  had  been  propagated,  unre- 
buked,  and  with  general  acceptance.0  Or,  on  the  other 


*  Two  remarkable  writings  will  bo 
found  in  Goldastua,  Da  Monarchia,  ii., 
which  endeavoured  to  define  the  limits 
of  the  temporal  and  spiritual  powers, 
the  entire  independence  and 
of  the  temporal  sovereign 


in  temporal  things ;  pne  ty  JDgiihu, 
Archbishop  of  Bourgas ;  one  by  John 
of  Paris.  There  is  an  excellent  sum' 
jnary  of  both  In  the  posthumoua 
volume  of  Neander'a  history,  pp, 
24-35. 


CHAP.  X,  BENEDICT  XI.  ibl 

hand,  to  disown  the  arrogance,  the  offensive  language., 
the  naked  and  unmeasured  assertion  of  principles  which 
the  Pontificate  was  not  prepared  to  abandon ;  to  sacri- 
fice the  memory,  to  leave  unreproved,  unpunished,  the 
outrage  on  ths  person  of  Boniface.  Were  the  Colonnaa 
to  be  admitted  to  all  the  honours  and  privileges  of  the 
Gardinalate  ?  the  dreadful  days  at  Anagni,  the  violence 
against  Boniface,  the  plunder  of  the  Papal  treasures  to 
be  left  (dire  precedent!)  in  impunity?  Were  William 
of  Nogaret,  and  Seiarra  Colonna,  and  Reginald,  de 
Supine,  and  the  other  rebellious  Barons  to  triumph 
in  their  unhallowed  misdeeds,  to  revel  in  their  impious 
plunder  ?  Yet  how  to  strike  the  accomplices  and  leave 
the  author  of  the  crime  unscathed?  Would  ths  proud 
King  of  France  abandon  his  loyal  and  devoted  subjects 
to  the  Papal  wrath  ? 

Yet  the  Conclave,11  as  though  the  rival  factions  had 
not  time  to  array  themselves  in  their  natural  hostility, 
or  to  provoke  each  other  to  mutual  recriminations,  in 
but  a  few  days  came,  it  should  seem,  to  an 

A.  TST-     i      -Q  •    •  TV  i_        BensdletXI, 

unanimous  suffrage.  Nicolas  Boccasmij  Bishop 
of  Ostia,  was  raised  to  the  throne  of  St.  Peter.  He  was 
a  man  of  humble  race,  born  at  Treviao,  educated  at 
Venice,  »f  the  Order  of  St.  Dominic.  He  was  of 
blameless  morals  and  gentle  manners.  Ha  had  been 
employed  to  settle  tha  affairs  of  Hungary  during  the 
contested  succession  for  the  crown :  he  had  conducted 
himself  with  moderation  and  ability.  Ha  had  been  one 
of  the  Cardinals  who  adhered  with  unshaken  fidelity  to 
Boniface;  he  had  witnessed,  perhaps  suffered  in,  the 


b  According  to  CiaBconlus  there  wars  eighteen  Cardinals  living  at  the  time 
of  the  death  of  Boniface,  See  ths  list,  not  of  couige  including  the  Golouniu. 
There  were  two  Orsinis,  two  Gaetanis. 


158  UTIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOB  XI. 

deplorable  outrage  at  Anagni.     Ha  took  the  name  of 
Benedict  XI. 

Benedict  began  his  reign  with  consummate  prudence 
yet  not  without  the  lofty  assertion  of  the  Papal  power 
He  issued  a  Bull  to  rebuke  Frederick  of  Arragon,  the 
King  of  Trinacria,  for  presuming  to  date  the  acts  of  his 
reign  from  the  time  at  which  he  had  assumed  the  crown 
of  Sicily,  not  that  of  the  treaty  in  which  the  Pope 
acknowledged  his  title.  The  Arragonesa  prince  was 
reminded  that  he  held  the  crown  but  for  his  life,  that 
it  then  passed  hack  to  the  AngBvine  line,  the  French 
house  of  Naples.0 

The  only  act  which  before  the  close  of  the  year  tooli 
cognisance  of  the  affair  of  Anagni,  was  a  Bull  of  excom- 
munication not  against  the  assailants  of  the  Pope's  per- 
son, but  against  the  plunderers  of  the  Papal  treasures. 
The  Archdeacon  of  Xaintonge  was  armed  with  full 
powers  to  persuade  or  to  enforce  their  restitution.  A 
fond  hope !  as  if  such  treasures  were  likely  to  be  either 
won  or  extorted  from  such  hands.  The  rest  of  the  year 
and  the  commencement  of  the  next  were  occupied  with 
remote  negotiations — which,  in  however  perilous  state 
stood  the  Papacy,  were  never  neglected  by  ths  Pope — 
the  affairs  of  Norway  and  of  the  Byzantine  Empire  in 
the  East. 

Philip  had  no  sooner  heard  of  tha  death  of  Boniface 

flei,i25(     and  the  accession  of  Benedict  than  he  named 

13W<       his  ambassadors  to  offer  his  congratulations, 

worded  in  the  most  flattering  terms,  on  tha  elevation  of 

Ban  edict.    They  were  Berard,  Lord  of  MawuBil,  Patei- 

de  BaLUperohe  a  Canon  of  Ohartres,  a  profound  jurist, 

tad,,  it  might  seam  as  a  warning  to  the  Pope  that  ha 

•  Boll  In  BaynalcLuB,  sab  ann. 


CHAP.  X. 


MEASURES  DF  BENEDICT. 


159 


was  determined  to  retract  nothing,  William  del  f'lasian, 
But  already  Ban  edict,  in  his  wisdom,  had,  un-    Htscon- 

11      -•  .         n    1    •  11  1  Clllltoty 

compelled,  out  01  his  own  generous  will,  made  measures, 
all  the  concessions  to  which  he  was  disposed,  or  which 
his  dignity  would  endure.  Already  in  Paris  tha  King, 
tha  Prelates,  the  Barons,  and  people  of  France  had 
been  declared  absolved  from  the  excommunication 
under  which  they  lay.d  During  that  excommunica- 
tion the  Pope  could  holi  no  intercourse  with  the  King 
of  the  realm ;  he  could  receive  no  ambassadors  from 
the  Court. 

The  envoys  of  the  King  were  received  with  civility. 
In  the  spring  a  succession  of  conciliatory  Apnia, 
edicts  seemed  framed  in  order  to  heal  the  1JB4- 
threatened  breach,  between  the  Papacy  and  its  ancient 
ally,  the  King  of  Prance.  There  was  nothing  to  offend 
in  a  kind  of  pardonable  ostentation  of  condescension, 
kept  up  by  the  Pope,  a  paternal  superiority  which  he 
etui  maintained;  the  King  of  France  was  to  be  the 
pious  Joash,  to  listen  to  the  counsels  of  the  High  Priest, 
Jehoiada.  The  censures  against  the  prelates  for  con* 
tumacy  in  not  obeying  the  citation  to  Rome  were  re- 
scinded ;  the  right  of  giving  instruction  in  tha  civil  and 
canon  law  restored  to  the  universities*  Even  the  affairs 
of  the  Archbishop  of  Narbonne  and  the  Bishop  of 
Pamiers,  the  first  causes  of  th&  dispute,  were  brought  to 
an  amicable  conclusion.  All  the  special  privileges  of 
the  Kings  of  Francs  iu  spiritual  matters  were  given 
back  in  the  amplest  and  most  gracious  manner.  The 
tenths  on  the  clergy  were  granted  for  two  years  on 


d  This  was  granted  "  absents  et 
Don  petente,"  —Bsnedint'a  letter  m 
Oupuy1,  p  207  This  is  confirmed  by 
the  cotitinuatoi  of  Nangis.  Compare 


note  in  Uaynaldus,   ai  ami, 
1304.    Tho  Anagm 
had  not  bctm  jiiomulgnted. 


I6D  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY  Boos  21. 

account  of  tha  war  in  Flanders;  the  famous  But? 
"Clerioia  Laicos"  was  mitigated  so  as  to  deprive  it  of 
its  injurious  and  offensive  spirit.  It  permitted  all  volun 
tary  subsidies,  leaving  tha  Sing  and  tha  clergy  to  dstei> 
mine  what  degrse  of  compulsion  was  consistent  with 
fie s- will  offerings. 

The  Colonnas  found  a,  hearing  with  this  calm  and 
The  coim-  ™BB  P°PB-  They  had  entreated  the  inter- 
""•  ference  of  the  King  of  France  in  their  cause ; 
they  asserted  that  the  Pope  had  no  power  to  degrade 
Cardinals;  that  they  had  been  deposed,  despoiled, 
banished  by  the  mere  arbitrary  mandate  of  Boniface, 
without  citation,  without  trial,  without  hearing :  and 
this  by  a  Pope  of  questionable  legitimacy.  Their  re- 
storation by  Benedict  is  described  by  himself  as  an  act 
of  becoming  mercy:  he  eludes  all  discussion  on  the 
justice  of  the  sentence,  or  the  conduct  of  his  prede- 
cessor. But  their  rehabilitation  was  full  and  complete, 
with  some  slight  limitations.  The  sentence  of  depo- 
sition from  the  Dardinalate,  the  privation  of  benefices, 
the  disability  to  obtain  the  Papacy,  the  attainder  of 
the  family  both  in  tha  mala  and  female  line,  were 
absolutely  revoked,  Ths  restitution  of  the  confiscated 
property  was  reserved  for  future  arrangement  with  the 
actual  possessors.  Palestrina  alone  was  not  to  be 
rebuilt  or  fortified ;  it  was  to  remain  a  devoted  place, 
and  not  again  to  become  the  seat  of  a  Bishop.  Even 
the  name  of  Sciarra  Colonna  appears  in  this  act  of  cle- 
mency,0 "William  of  Nogaret  was  the  only  Frenchman 
exBsptsil  from  this  comprehBnsive  amnesty:  even  he 
was  not  inflexibly  excluded  from  all  hope  of  absolution. 
But  the  act  of  pardon  for  so  heinous  aii  offense  aa  hia 


RaynaU,  sub  ann, 


CHAP.X.  PERBEDTJTIDN  DF  MEMDE.Y  DF  BONIFACE.        151 

waa  reserved  for  the  special  -wisdom,  and  mercy  of  the 
Fops  himself.  In  another  document*  Seiarra  Dolonna 
is  joined  with  William  of  Nogaret  as  the  yet  unforgiven 
off  end  sis. 

Peaca  might  seem  at  hand.  The  King  of  France, 
with  every  one  of  the  great  causes  of  quarrel  thus  gene- 
rously removed,  with  such,  sacrifices  to  his  woundsd 
pride,  would  resume  his  old  position  as  the  favourite 
son,  the  close  ally,  the  loyal  protector  of  tlia  Papacy. 
If,  with  a  fidelity  unusual  in  kings,  in  kings  like  Philip, 
he  should  scrupla  to  abandon  his  faithful  instruments, 
men  who  had  not  shrunk  from  sacrilege,  hardly  from 
murder,  in  his  cause,  yet  the  Pops  did  not  seem  dis- 
posed to  treat  even  them  with  immitigable  severity. 
The  Pope,  though  honour,  justice,  the  sanctity  of  the 
person  of  the  Pontiff,  might  require  that  some  signal 
mark  of  retribution  should  separata  from  all  other  cri- 
minals William  of  Nogaret  and  Sciarra  Colonna,  per- 
haps too  his  own  rebellious  barons  and  the  inhabitants 
of  Anagni,  who  rose  against^  Boniface  ;  yet  would  hardly 
think  it  necessary  to  drive  such  desperate  men  to  worse 
desperation.  But  the  profound  p  ersonal  hatred  of  Philip 
the  Fair  to  Boniface  VIII,,  or  his  determination  still 
further  to  humiliate  that  power  which  could  presum.9  to 
interfere  with  his  hard  despotism,  was  not 


Batiatad  with  the  daath;  he  would  pin-sue  the  persecute  tua 

^_  •  niHttiory  of 

memory  of  Boniface,  and  so  far  justify  his  own  Boniface. 
cruel  and  insulting  acts  by  obtaining  from  a  Greneral 
Council  the  solemn  confirmation  of  those  strange  charges 
on  which  Boniface  had  been  arraigned  by  Nogaret  and 
De  Plasian. 

Another  embassy  from  France  appeared  at  Roma 

1  Seen  by  Bajoaliiia.    See  in  km. 
VOt.  VII,  M 


1 62  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOQR  XI, 

but  not  addressed  to  the  Pope — Waltar  da  C'hatenay 
and  Peter  ds  Celle,  with,  a  notary,  Peter  de  Piperno. 
According  to  their  instructions,  they  visited  singly  and 
severally  each  of  the  Cardinals  then  resident  in  Borne. 
"The  ffing  of  Trance,"  they  said,  "in  the  full  Parlia- 
ment of  all  his  Prelates  and  Barons,  from  his  zealous 
reverence  for  the  Church  and  the  throne  of  St.  Peter, 
had  determined  that  the  Church  should  be  ruled  by 
a  legitimate  Pontiff,  and  not  by  one  who  so  grossly 
abused  his  power  as  Boniface  VIII.  They  had  resolved 
to  summon  a  Grensral  Council,  in  order  that  Boniface 
might  prove  his  innocence  (they  had  the  effrontery  to 
say,  as  they  devoutly  hoped!)  of  the  accusations  urged 
against  him;  and  not  only  for  that  purpose,  but  for  the 
good  of  Christendom,  and  (of  course)  for  the  war  in 
the  Holy  Land."*  To  each  of  the  Cardinals  was  put 
the  plain  question  whether  he  would  concur  in  the  con- 
vocation of  this  General  Council,  and  promote  it  by  his 
aid  and  countenance.  Five  made  the  cautious  answer 
that  they  would  deliberate  with  the  Pope  in  his  Consis- 
tory on  this  weighty  matter.  Fiva  gave  in  their  adhe- 
sion to  the  King  of  France.  The  earns  proceeding  took 
place  with  six  Cardinals  at  Viterbo.  Of  these  four 
took  the  more  prudent  course ;  two  gave  their  suffrage 
for  the  G-eneral  Council. 

Benedict  XI.  might  think  that  he  had  carried  can- 
cession  far  enough.  He  had  shown  his  placability,  he 
had  now  to  show  his  firmness.  The  obstinacy  of  the 
King  of  France  in  persecuting  the  memory  of  Boniface, 
in  pressing  forward  ths  General  Council;  the  profound 
degradation  of  the  Papacy,  if  a  General  Council  should 


v  April  3, 1804.   The  King  could  not  hare  leceived  tha  Papal  edicts,  but  he 
must  have  known  the  mill  disposition  of  Beuediut. 


CHAP.  X.    ADI  DBS  IN  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  AHABNL  163 

bs  permitted  to  sit  in  judgement  even  on  a  dead  Pope; 
the  desecration  of  the  Papal  Holiness  if  any  part  of 
these  foul  charges  should  be  even  apparently  proved; 
the  injustice,  the  cowardliness  of  leaving  the  body  of 
his  predecessor  to  he  thus  torn  in  pieces  by  his  rabid 
enemies ;  the  well-grounded  mistrust  of  a  tribunal  thus 
convoked,  thus  constituted,  thus  controlled;  all  these 
motives  arrested  tha  Pontiff  in  his  conciliatory  course, 
and  unhappily  disturbed  the  dispassionate  dignity  which 
ha  had  hitherto  maintained. 

A  Bull  came  forth  against  the  actors  in  the  tragedy 
of  Anagni.  Language  seemed  labouring  to  JnnB7p 
express  the  horror  and  detestation  of  the  Pope  13D*- 
at  this  "flagitious  wickedness  and  wicked  flagitious- 
ness."  Fifteen  persons  were  named  —  William  of 
Nogaret,  Beginald  de  Supine  and  Ms  son,  the  two  sons 
of  the  man  whom  Boniface  held  in  prison,  Sciarra 
Colonna,  the  Anagnsse  who  had  aided  them,  It  de- 
nounced their  cruelty,  their  blasphemy  against  the 
Pope,  their  plunder  of  the  sacred  treasures.  These 
acts  had  been  done  publicly,  openly,  notoriously,  in  the 
sight  of  Benedict  himself— acts  of  capital  treason,  of 
rebellion,  of  sacrilege;  crimes  against  the  Julian  law 
of  public  violence,  the  Cornelian  against  assassinations ; 
acts  of  lawless  imprisonment,  plunder,  robbery,  crimes 
and  felonies  which  struck  man  dumb  with  amazement. 
"  Who  is  so  cruel  as  to  refrain  from  tears  ?  who  so  hate- 
ful as  to  refuse  compassion  l  What  indolent  and  remiss 
judge  will  not  rise  up  to  punish  ?  Who  is  safe,  when  in 
his  native  city  no  longer  is  security,  his  house  is  no 
longer  his  refuge?  The  Pontiff  himself  is  thus  dis- 
honoured, and  the  Church  thus  brought  into  captivity 
with  her  Lord.  0  inexpiable  guilt!  0  miserable 
Anagni,  who  hast  endured  such  things !  May  the  rain 

V  2 


154  LATIN  CER1STIANITS.  BOOK  XI 

and  the  dew  never  fall  upon  thee!  0  most  unhappy 
perpetrators  of  a  crime,  so  adverse  to  the  spirit  of  King 
David,  who  kept  untouched  tlia  Lord's  anointed  though 
his  fos,  and  avenged  his  death."  The  Bull  declares, 
excommunicate  all  tha  above-named,  who  in  their 
proper  persona  were  guilty  of  the  crime  at  Anagui,  and 
all  who  had  aided  and  abetted  them  by  succour,  counsel, 
or  favour.  Philip  himself  could  hardly  stand  beyond 
this  sweeping  anathema.  The  Pope  cited  these  persons 
to  appear  before  him  on  the  Feast  of  St.  Peter  and 
St.  Paul,  there  to  receive  their  sentence.  The 
citation  waa  fixed  on  the  gates  of  the  cathedral 
of  Perugia.  The  Bullh  was  promulgated  on  the  7th  of 
June ;  on  the  27th  of  July  Benedict  waa  dead. 

The  Pope  had  retired  to  Perugia  from  Borne — per- 
haps to  avoid  the  summer  heats,  but  no  doubt  also  for 
greater  security  than  he  could  command  in  Rome,  where 
the  Dolonnas  were  strong,  and  the  Fiench  party  power- 
ful through  their  gold.  There  he  meditated  and  aimed 
this  blow,  which,  by  appalling  the  more  rancorous  foes 
of  Boniface,  might  scare  them  from  preying  on  his  re- 
mains, and  thus  reinvest  the  Papacy,  which  had  conde- 
scended far  below  its  wont,  in  awe  and  majesty.  Many 
of  the  Cardinals  had  remonstrated  against  the  departure 
of  the  Pope  from  Rome,  which  was  almost  by  stealth  j  it 
was  rumoured  that  he  thought  affixing  the  Papal  resi- 
dence in  one  of  the  Lombard  cities.  They  had  refused 
to  accompany  him,  But  Perugia  was  not  more  safe  than 
Borne.  It  is  said  that  while  the  Pope  was  at  dinner,  a 
young  female  veiled  and  in  the  dress  of  a  novice  of  St. 
Petronilla  in  Perugia,  offered  him  in  a  silver  basin  some 
beautiful  fresh  figs,  of  which  ha  was  very  fond,  as  from 

*  The  Bull  in  Kaynaldus,  pub  am. 


CHAP.  X.  DEATH  DF  BENEDICT  XI.  1  G5 

the  abbess  of  that  convent.  The  Pope,  not  suspecting  a 
gift  from  such,  a  hand,  ate  them  eagerly,  and  without 
haying  them  previously  tasted.1  That  he  died  of  poison 
few  in  that  age  would  venture  to  doubt.  William  of 
Nogaret,  Sciarra  Colonna,  Musciatto  de'  Francesi,  the 
Cardinal  Napoleon  Drsini,  were  each  silently  arraigned 
as  guilty  of  this  new  crime.  Oae  Grhibellina  writer, 
hostila  to  Benedict,  names  the  King  of  France  as  haying 
suborned  the  butler  of  the  Pope  to  perpetrate  this  fear- 
ful deed.  Yet  the  disorder  was  a  dysentery,  which 
lasted  seven  or  eight  days,  not  an  unusual  effect  of  the 
immoderate  USB  of  rich  fruit.  No  one  thought  that  a 
death  so  seasonable  to  one  party,  so  unseasonable  to 
another,  could  be  in  the  course  of  nature. 

Fifteen  years  afterwards  a  Franciscan  friar  of  Tou- 
louse, named  Bernard,  was  accused  at  Carcassonne  as 
concerned,  by  magic  and  othsr  black  arts,  in  the  poison- 
ing of  Benedict  XL  This  was  not  his  only  crime.  He 
was  charged  with,  haying  excited  the  populace  against 
the  rival  Order  of  the  Friar  Preachers  and  the  In- 
quisition, of  having  broken  open  the  prisons  of  the 
Inquisition,  and  set  free  the  prisoners:  he  was  charged 
with  magic  and  divination,  and  with  believing  in  the 
visions  of  the  Abbot  Joachim.  He  was  oae  of  the 
fanatic  Fraticelli,  seemingly  a  man  of  great  daring  and 
energy.  The  Ecclesiastical  Judges  declared  that  they 
could  find  no  proof,  either  from  his  own  mouth  or  from 
othar  evidence,  of  his  concern  in  the  poisoning  of  Bene- 
dict. He  was  condemned  to  perpetual  imprisonment  in 
irons.  The  King's  advocates  impeached  the  sentence, 


1  "  Le  mangiava  vnlEntiari  e  senza  fame  fare  saggiD."— Villani.    This  simple 
of  wander,  that  the  Pope  would  eat  anything  untastei,  is  frightfully 
Till,  o,  BD. 


IBS  LATIN  DERISTlAMTr.  BOOK  XL 

renewed  the  charge  of  tis  being  an  accomplice  in  the 
poisoning  of  the  Pope,  and  demanded  that  he  should  be 
delivered  to  the  secular  arm.  The  Pope  (John  XXII.) 
aggravated  the  severity  of  his  sentence  by  prohibiting 
any  mitigation  of  his  penance  j  but  spoke  very  gene- 
rally of  his  enormous  crim.es.k 


k  3BB  the  vary  curium  documents  in  Baliuius.— Vita  Papar    Aviuioueik 
TO),  Ji,  No,  lib. 


BOOK  XII. 

CONTEMPORARY  CHRONOLOGY. 


POPES. 

EMPERORS. 

KINGS  OF  FBANCE. 

KINGS  OF  ENGLAND. 

CINGS  OF  SCOTLAND. 

AD 

A.JX                             A..D. 

JUD.                            A.D. 

A.D.                            A.D. 

A.D.                        A.D. 

A.IA 

1208  Albert  of 

1305  Clement  V.    1314 

Austria     1307 
1303  Vacant. 

Kdwai'd  L     1307 
1807  Edward  II.   1327 

1308  Eobart  I. 
(Bruce)      1323 

iHcSiioy 

1304  Henry  of  Lux- 

emburg    1313 

Philip  the 

1314  Louis  of  Ba- 
varia        1347 

Fair          1814 
1314  toils  la 

1316  John  ECU.   1SS4 

Hntiu 
1816  John  I. 

1316  Philip  the 

Long         1321 

1327  BdwardHr.  1377 

1321  Charles  IV. 

the  Fair    1328 

ArchUsliope  of 

1829  David  U. 

1334  Benedict  XH.  1342 
1842  Clement  VI.  1352 

(Frederick  of 
Austria.)      • 

1328  Philip  of  Va- 
loia           1351 

Canterbury. 

1294  KobertofWln- 
chelsay       1318 
1313  Walter  Iteynolila. 
13^7  Simon  Mepham. 

1352  Innocent  VI.  1302 

1347  Charles  IV.  of 
Luxemburg  1378 

13B1  Jolm  H.       1S04 

1838  John  Stratford. 
1318  Tliomna  Brad- 
•wai'dlno. 
1349  Simon  Islip. 

1382  Urban  V.       1370 

1304  CliarlesIV.  1380 

1300  Simon  Langham. 
1307  William  WliitUo- 

1370  Gregory  SI.  1378 

eey. 
137B  Simon  Sudbiiry. 

1370  Bobortn. 

KINGS  OF  SPAIN. 

KINGS  OF  POETTJGAt 

KINGS  OF  SWEDEN. 

KINGS  OF  POLAND. 

EASTERN  EMPKROBS. 

A.D.                        A.D. 

A.D.                         A-33- 

A.D.                            A.D. 

A.B.                         A,D. 

'A*. 

Castile. 

Dionyains     1325 

BergerH.     1320 

1300  LudJulaua  IV. 

Andronicus  Pn- 
toologoa   1!J20 

fferdimndlV.  1312 
1812  Alfonso  XII.  1350 

1325  Alfonso  IV.   1357 

1328  Magnus  III. 

1388  Caslmlr  tho 
Groat. 

1320  Andronlouall. 
Patoologus  184; 

1360  Peter  the  Cruel. 

1857  Peter  the 

1364  Albert. 

IffTO  louto  of  Hun- 

1841  John  V.  Rv 
Imologua. 

Cruel        1307 

iiW" 

1868  Henry  the  Bastard 

1807  ITei'duttuid  I. 

Arragan. 

KINGS  OT  DUNlrAKK, 

Joinia  the 
Just           1327 

Brick  Till.   1821 

1S27  AIphonaoIV.1836 

1321  OhriBtophar  1888 

1836  Peter  IV.      1380 

1338  Waldomor. 

(     168     )  BooKXD, 


BOOK  XII. 

THE  POPES  IN  AVIGKNDN. 
CHAPTEK  I. 

Clement  V. 

THE  period  in  the  Papal  history  has  arrived  which  in 
the  Italian  writers  is  called  tho  Babylonish  captivity :  it 
lasted  more  than  seventy  years,8  Borne  is  no  longer 
the  Metropolis  of  Christendom ;  the  Pope  is  a  French 
Prelate.  The  succBssor  of  St.  Peter  is  not  on  St.  Peter's 
throne;  he  ia  environed  with  none  of  the  traditionary 
majesty  or  traditionary  sanctity  of  the  Eternal  City; 
lid  has  abandoned  the  holy  bodies  of  the  Apostles,  the 
churches  of  the  Apostles.  It  is  perhaps  the  most  mar- 
vsllous  part  of  its  history,  that  the  Papacy,  having  sunk 
so  low,  sank  no  lower ;  that  it  recovered  its  degradation ; 
that,  from  a  satellite,  almost  a  slave,  of  the  King  of  France, 
the  Pontiff  ever  emerged  again  to  be  an  independent 
potentate;  and,  although  the  great  line  of  medieeval 
Popes,  of  Gregory,  of  Alexander  III,  andtha  Innocents, 
expired  in  Boniface  YIIL,  that  ha  could  resume  even  his 
modified  supremacy.  There  is  no  proof  so  strong  of  the 
•vitality  of  the  Papacy  as  that  it  could  establish  the  law 
that  wherever  the  Pope  is,  there  is  the  throne  of  St.  Peter  j 
that  he  could  cease  to  be  Bishop  of  Rome  in  all  but  in 
name,  and  then  take  back  again  the  abdicated  Bishopric, 


From  13  05  to  1373- 


CHAP.  I. 


THE  POPES  IN  AVIGNON 


Never  was  revolution  mora  sudden,  more  total,  it 
might  seem  more  enduring  in  its  consequences.  The 
close  of  the  last  century  had  seen  Boniface  VIII.  ad- 
vancing higher  pretensions,  if  not  wielding  more  actual 
power,  than  any  former  Pontiff;  the  acknowledged 
pacificator  of  the  world,  the  arbiter  between  the  Kings 
of  France  and  England,  claiming  and  exercising  feudal 
as  well  as  spiritual  supremacy  over  many  kingdoms, 
bestowing  crowns  as  in  Hungary,  awarding  the  Empire; 
with  millions  of  pilgrims  at  the  Jubilee  in  Rome,  still 
the  centre  of  Christendom,  paying  him  homage  which 
bordered  on  adoration,  and  pouring  the  riches  of  the 
world  at  his  feet.  The  first  decade  of  the  new  century 
is  not  morD  than  half  passed;  Pope  Clement  V.  is  a 
voluntary  prisoner,  but  not  the  less  a  prisoner,  m 
the  realm,  or  almost  within  the  precincts  of  France  ; 
struggling  in  vain  to  escape  from  the  tyranny  of  his 
inexorable  master,  and  to  break  or  elude  the  fetters 
wound  around  him  by  his  own  solemn  engagements. 
He  is  almost  forced  to  condemn  his  predecessor  for 
crimes  of  whirh  he  could  hardly  believe  him  guilty ;  to 
accept  a  niggardly,  and  perhaps  never-fulfilled,  penance 
from  men  almost  murderers  of  a  Pope;  to  sacrifice,  on 
evidence  which  he  himself  manifestly  mistrusted,  one 
of  the  great  military  orders  of  Christendom  to  the 
hatred  or  avarice  of  Philip.  The  Pope,  from  Lord 
over  the  freedom  of  the  world,  had  ceased  to  be  a  free 
agent. 

The  short  Pontificate  of  Benedict  XI.  had  exaspe- 
rated, rather  than  allayed,  the  divisions  in  the  Conclave.11 


b  Thais  were  now  nineteen  Car- 
dinals, nccoiding  to  Dmcconias,  exclu- 
sive of  the  Colannas.  Dne  of  the 
former  Conclave  had  died.  Pope 


Benedict  had  named  two,  the  Cmdinal 
of  Prato  (Ostia  and  Vrlhtu),  and  an 
Englishman,  Walter  "Wjnterbum  nf 
Salisbury. 


170  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  XII. 

The  terrible  fate  of  the  two  last  Popes  had  not  cooled 
down  the  eager  competition  for  the  perilous 

Conclave       ...       .,  mi        «      i  •      -i  i-ii-n 

dignity.  The  Cardinals  assembled  at  Peru- 
gia. The  two  factions,  the  French  and  that  of  the 
partisans  and  kindred  of  Boniface  VEX,  were  headed, 
the  latter  by  Mattso  Oraini  and  Francesco  Graetani, 
brother  of  the  late  Pnpe,  the  former  by  Napoleon  Orsini 
and  the  Cardinal  da  Prato.c  The  Colonna  Cardinals 
had  not  yet  been  permitted  to  resume  their  place  in  the 
Conclave.  The  elder,  James  Colonna,  had  lived  in 
seclusion,  if  not  in  concealment,  at  Perugia.  He  came 
forth  from  his  hiding-place ;  he  summoned  his  nephew, 
who  had  found  an  asylum  at  Padua,  to  his  aid.  They 
had  an  unlimited  command  of  French  money.  But 
this  money  could  hold,  it  could  not  turn,  the  balance 
between  the  two  Orsini,  each  of  whom  aspired  to  be,  or 
to  create  the  Pope.  The  Conclave  mat,  it  separated, 
it  met  again;  they  wrangled,  intrigued;  each  faction 
strove,  but  in  vain,  to  win  the  preponderance  by  stub- 
bornness or  by  artifice,  by  bribery  in  act  or  promise.11 
Months  wore  away.  At  length  the  people  of  Perugia 
grew  weary  of  the  delay:  they  surrounded  the  Con- 
clave; threatened  to  keep  the  Cardinals  as  prisoners; 
demanded  with  loud  outcries  a  Pope;  any  hour  they 
might  proceed  to  worse  violence:  by  ona  account  they 
unroofed  the  house  in  which  the  Cardinals  sat,  and  cut 
off  their  provisions."  One  day  the  Cardinal  da  Prato 
accosted  Francesco  Graetani,  "We  are  doing  SOTB  wrong: 
it  is  an  evil  and  a  scandal  to  Christendom  to  deprive  it 
B»  long  of  its  Chief  Pastor."  "  It  rests  not  with  us," 


*  Fernbiu  Yicentinus,  Murat.  B.  I. 
.    p.  1014, 
4  "Ut  multum  valet  aurea  per- 


BDiutat  in  donln 
pwtata  6ducla."— - Ferrrt,  Vioent, 
°  Ibid,  p,  4D15, 


CHAP  1,       MEETING  OF  KING  AND  ARCHBISHOP.  171 

replied  Gaetani.     "Will  yon  accede  to  any  reasonabla 
schema  which  may  reconcile  our  differences  ?" 
The   Cardinal    da  Prato  then  proposed  that     mpBct 
one  party  should  name  three  Ultramontane  (Northern) 
Prelates,  not  of  the  Sacred  College,  on  one  of  whom  the 
adverse  party  should  pledge  itself  to  unite  its  suffrages. 
Graetani  consented,  on  condition  that  the  Bonifaciana 
should  nama  the  three  Prelates.     They  were  named; 
among  the  three  the  Archbishop  of  Bordeaux. 

Bernard  da  Groth  had  been  raised  by  Boniface  VIIL 
from  the  small  bishopiic  of  Dommingea  to  the  archi- 
episcopal  seat  of  Bordeaux.  As  a  subject  of  the  King 
of  England,  he  owed  only  a  more  remote  allegiance  to 
Ms  suzerain,  the  King  of  France.'  He  was  committed 
in  some  personal  hostility  with  Charles  of  Valois. 
Throughout  the  strife  between  th a  Pope  and  the  King 
he  had  been  on  the  Pope's  side.  He  had  withdrawn  in 
disguise  from  the  Court  in  order  to  obey  the  Pope's 
summons  to  Borne :  he  was  among  the  Pr slates  assem- 
bled in  November  at  Borne,  If  there  waa  any  Trans- 
alpine Prelate  whom  the  kindred  and  friends  of  Boniface 
might  suppose  secure  to  their  party,  from  his  inclina- 
tions, his  gratitude,  his  animosities,  his  former  conduct, 
it  was  Bernard  de  Goth.  But  the  sagacious  Cardinal 
da  Prato  knew  the  man;  he  knew  the  Gascon  cha- 
racter. Forty  days  were  to  elapse  before  the  election. 
In  eleven  days  a  courier  was  in  Paris.  In  six  interview  at 
days  more  the  King  and  the  Archbishop  of  Arc§b™hop. 
Bordeaux,  each  with  a  few  chosen  attendants,  met  in  a 
forest  belonging  to  the  Monastery  of  St.  Jean  d'Angely. 
The  secrets  of  that  interview  are  related,  perhaps  with 


*  Yet  ib  is  aaid,  "Lint  in  AnglicA  regione  prseul  esseb,    tamm  Flulipja 
gratissimus,  c^uoii  a  juventute  familiarm  eititisset."— Ferret.  Vioent 


172  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY,  BOOK  XII. 

suspicious  particularity.  Yet  the  King,  having  achieved 
his  purpose,  was  not  likely  to  conceal  hia  part  in  the 
treaty,  especially  from  hia  secret  counsellors,  who  had 
possibly  some  interest  to  divulge,  none  to  conceal,  ths 
•whole  affair.  Tha  King  began  by  requesting  the  re- 
conciliation of  the  Archbishop  with  Charles  of  Yalois. 
Ha  then  opened  the  great  subject  of  the  interview.  HB 
showed  to  the  dazzled  eyes  of  the  Prelate  the  despatch 
of  the  Cardinal  da  Prato.  "  One  word  from  me,  and 
you  are  Pope."  But  the  King  insisted  on  sis  condi- 
tions:— I.  His  own  full  and  complete  re  conciliation  with 
tha  Church.  II.  The  absolution  of  all  persons  whom  he 
had  employed  in  his  strife  with  Boniface.  III.  Ths 
tenths  for  five  years  from  the  clergy  of  the  realm. 
IY.  The  condemnation  of  the  memory  of  Boniface. 
V.  The  reinvestment  of  the  Colonnas  in  the  rank  and 
honours  of  the  Cardmalate,  Tha  VIth  and  last  was  a 
profound  secret,  which  he  reserved  for  himself  to  claim 
when  tha  time  of  its  fulfilment  should  ba  come.  That 
secret  has  never  been  fully  revealed.  Some  have 
thought,  and  not  without  strong  ground,  that  Philip 
already  meditated  tha  suppression  of  tha  Templars. 
Tha  cautious  King  was  not  content  with  the  acqui- 
escence, or  with  tho  oath,  of  the  Archbishop,  an  o&th 
from  which,  as  Pope,  he  might  release  himself.  De  Goth 
was  solemnly  sworn  up  an  tha  Host:  ha  gava  up  his 
brother  and  two  nephews  as  hostages.  Bsfora 

IMS".  '  thirty-five  days  had  passed,  the  Cardinal  da 
Prato  had  secret  intelligence  of  the  compact.  They 
proceEded  to  the  ballot ;  Bernard  de  Groth  was  unani- 
mously chosen  Pope,  In  the  Cathedral  of  Bordeaux  he 
toot  the  name  of  Clement  V. 

The  first  ominous  warning  to  the  Italian  Prelates  was 
a  summons  to  attend  the  coronation  of  the  new  Pope, 


CHAT.  I.  ODEONATIDN  AT  LYONS  173 

not  at  Boms  or  in  Italy,  but  at  Lyons.  The  Cardinal 
Matteo  Orsini  is  said  to  have  uttered  a  sad  vaticination: 
"  It  will  be  long  before  we  behold  the  face  of  another 
Pope."ff  Clement  began  hia  slow  progress  towards 
Lyons  at  the  end  of  August.  He  passed  through  Agen, 
Toulouse,  Beziers,  MontpelliBr,  and  Nismes.  The 
monasteries  which  were  compelled  to  lodge  and  enter- 
tain ths  Pope  and  all  his  letmuB  murmured  at  the 
pomp  and  luxury  of  hia  train:  many  of  them  were 
heavily  impoverished  by  this  enforced  hospitality.  At 
Montpellier  he  received  the  homage  of  ths  Kings  of 
Majorca  and  Ariagon :  he  confirmed  the  King  of  Arragon 
in  the  possession  of  the  islands  of  Corsica  and 

DcL  7 

Sardinia,  and  received  his  oath  of  fealty.  He 
had  invited  to  his  coronation  hia  two  sovereigns,  the 
Kings  of  France  and  England.  The  King  of  England 
alleged  important  affairs  in  Scotland  as  an  excuse  for 
not  doing  honour  to  his  former  vassal.  The  Kings  of 
France  and  Majorca  were  present.  On  the  Cardinal 
Matteo  Orsini,  Italian,  Roman,  to  the  heart,  devolved 
the  office  of  crowning  the  Gras con  Pope,  whose  NOV.  u, 

.  -r  i  mi  CfflfUniUOB 

aversion  to  Italy  he  well  knew.  The  Pope  atJ^rona. 
rode  in  solemn  state  from  the  Church  of  St.  Just  in  the 
royal  castle  of  Lyons  to  the  palace  prepared  for  Trim. 
The  King  of  France  at  first  held  his  bridle,  and  then 
yielded  the  post  of  humble  honour  to  his  brothers, 
Charles  of  Yalois,  and  Louis  of  Evraux,  and  to  the 
Duke  of  Bretagne.  The  pomp  was  interrupted  by 
a  dire  and  ominous  calamity.  An  old  wall  fell  as 
they  passed.  The  Pope  was  thrown  from  his  horse, 
but  escaped  unhurt:  his  gorgeous  crown  rolled  in 
the  mire.  The  Duke  of  Bretagne,  with  eleven  or 


v  VI.  Vit.  Clement,  apui  Balm. 


174  LiTIN  OHBISTIANITI.  BOOK  XII. 

twelve  others,  was  killed ;    Charles  of  Valois  seriously 
hurt. 

Clement  Y.  hastened  to  fulfil  the  first  of  his  engage- 
ThePopa    ments  to  the  King  of  Franc  a,  perhaps  design- 
vows,        ing  by  this  ready  zeal  to  avert,  elude,  or  delay 
the  accomplishment  of  those  which  were  more  difficult 
or  more  humiliating.     The  King  of  France  had  plenary 
absolution:  he  was  received  as  again  the  favoured  son 
and  protector  of  the  Church.    To  the  King  were  granted 
the  tenths  on  all  the  revenues  of  the  Church  of  Franca 
for  five  years.     The   Colonnas  were  restored  to  their 
dignity;  they  resumed  ths  state,,  dress,  and  symbols  of 
the   Cardinalate,  and  took  their  place  in  the  Sacred 
College.    A  promotion  of  ten  Cardinals  showed  what 
New  MT-   interest  was  hereafter  to  prevail  in  the  Con- 
dlnillB       clave.     Among  the  ten  were  the  Bishops  of 
Toulouse  and  Beaeis,  the  Archbishop  (Elect)  of  Bor- 
deaux and  the  nephew  of  the  Pope,  the  King's  Con- 
fessor Nicolas    da  Francavilla,   the  King's  Chancellor 
Stephen,  Archdeacon  of  Bruges.    A  French  Pope  was 
to  be  surrounded  by  a  French  Court. 

Measure  followed  measure  to  propitiate  the  Pope's 
master.  Of  the  two  famous  Bulls,  that  denominated 
"Clericis  Laicos"  was  altogether  abrogated,  as  having 
been  the  cause  of  grievous  scandals,  dangers,  and  incon- 
veniences. The  old  decrees  of  the  Lateran  and  other 
Councils  concerning  the  taxation  of  the  clergy  were  de- 
clai^d  to  be  tho  law  of  the  Church.  As  to  the  other,  the 
"  Unam  Sanctam,"  the  dearest  beloved  son  Philip  pf 
.France,  for  his  loyal  attachment  to  the  Church  of  Borne, 
had  deserved  that  the  Pope  should  declare  this  statute  to 
contain  nothing  to  his  prejudice ;  that  he,  his  realm,  and 
his  people,  wero  exactly  in  the  same  stata,  as  regarded  the 
See  of  Borne,  as  before  tha  promulgation  of  that  Bull, 


CHAP.  I.  WILLIAM  OP  NDBARET.  175 

But  there  wera  two  articles  of  tha  compact,  besides 
the  secret  one,  yet  unaccomplished,  the  complete  abso- 
lution of  all  the  King's  agents  in  tlie  quarrel  -with  the 
Pope,  and  the  condemnation  of  the  memory  of  Boniface. 
The  Pope  writhed  and  struggled  in  vain  in  the  folds  of 
his  deathly  embarrassment.  The  King  of  Francs  could 
not  in  honour,  he  was  not  disposed  by  temper  to  abandon 
the  faithful  executioners  of  his  mandates:  he  might 
want  them  for  other  remorseless  services.  He  could 
not  retreat  or  let  fall  the  accusations  against  the  de- 
ceased Pope.  Philip  was  compelled,  like  other  perse- 
cutors, to  go  on  in  his  persecution.  This  immitigable, 
seemingly  vindictive,  hostility  to  the  fame  of  Boniface 
was  his  only  justification.  If  those  high  crimes  and 
misdemeanours  of  which  tha  Pope  had  been  arraigned, 
those  heresies,  immoralities,  cruelties,  enormities,  were 
admitted  to  be  groundless,  or  dropped  as  not  thought 
worthy  of  proof,  the  seizure  of  Anagni  became  a  bar- 
barous, cowardly,  and  unnecessary  outrage  on  a  defence- 
less old  man,  an  impious  sacrilege :  William  of  Nogaret 
and  his  accomplices  were  base  and  cruel  assassins. 

Already,  before  the  death  •  of  Benedict,  William  of 
Nogaret  had  issued  one  strong  protest  againsb 
his  condemnation,  During  the  vacancy  hs 
allowed  no  repose  to  the  memory1  of  Boniface,  and 
justified  himself  against  the  terrible  anathema  of  Bene- 
dict. He  appeared  before  the  official  of  his  diocesan, 
the  Bishop  of  Paris,  and  claimed  absolution  from  a 
censure  issued  by  the  Pope  under  false  information. 
He  promulgated  two  memorials:  in  the  first  h«  adduced 
sixty  heads  of  accusation  against  Boniface  *  in  "the 
second  he  protested  at  great  length  against  the  rash, 
proceedings  of  Pope  Benedict.  The  Bull  of  Benedict 
had  cited  him  to  appear  at  Borne  on  the  Festival  of 


176  LATIN  CHfiISTIAJSTITY.  BOOK  XII. 

St.  Peter  and  St  Paul.  He  excused  his  contumacy  in  not 
appearing :  he  was  in  France,  the  citation  had  not  been 
served  upon  him;  and  also  by  reason  of  the  death,  of 
the  Pope,  as  wall  as  on  account  of  his  powerful  enemies 
in  Italy.  Nogaret  entered  into  an  elaborate  account  of 
liia  own  intercourse  with  Pope  Boniface.  Five  years 
before,  he  had  been  the  King's  ambassador  to  announce 
the  treaty  of  Philip  with  Albert,  King  of  the  Romans. 
The  Pope  demanded  Tuscany  as  the  prica  of  his  consent 
to  that  alliance.  It  waa  then  that  William  ofNogaret 
heard  at  Borne  the  vices  and  misdeeds  of  the  Pope,  of 
which  he  was  afterwards  arraigned,  and  had  humbly 
implored  the  Pope  to  desist  from  his  simonies  and  ex- 
tortions. The  Pope  had  demanded  whether  he  spoka 
in  his  own  name  or  in  that  of  the  King.  Nogaret  had 
replied,  in  his  own,  out  of  his  great  zeal  for  the  Ohurch. 
The  Pope  had  roared  with  passion,  like  a  madman,  and 
had  heaped  on  him  menaces,  insults,  and  blasphemies.*1 
Hogaret  treats  the  refusal  of  Boniface  to  appear  before 
the  Council  when  first  summoned  at  Anagni  as  an  act 
of  contumacy;  he  therefore  (Nogaret)  was  justified  in 
using  force  towards  a  contumacious  criminal,  He  as- 
serts that  he  saved  the  life  of  Boniface  when  others 
would  have  killed  him;  that  he  tried  to  protect  the 
treasure,  of  which  he  had  not  touched  a  penny ;  he  had 
kept  the  Pope  with,  a  decent  attendance,  and  supplied 
him  with  food  and  drink.  Had  he  slain  the  wicked 
usurper  he  had  been  justified,  as  Pkineag  who  pleased 
the  Lord,  as  Abraham  who  slew  the  Kings,  Hoses  the 
Egyptian,  the  Maccabees  the  enemies  of  G-od.  Pope 
Benedict  had  complained  of  the  loss  of  his  treasure,  ha 
ought  rather  to  have  complained  that  sc  vast  a  treasure 

"»  Preuvw,  p,  959. 


Ctr    .  L  THE  KING'S  DISTRESSES.  l<7 

had  been  wrung  by  cruel  exactions  from  the  impove- 
rished church BS.  Ha  asserts  that  for  all  his  acts  he  had 
received  absolution  from  Boniface  himself.  For  all  thesa 
reasons  he  appealed  to  a  General  Council  in  the  vacancy 
of  ths  Pontificate,  and  demanded  absolution  from  the 
unjust  censures  of  tha  misinformed  Pope  Benedict. 

William  of  Nogaret  was  necessary,  as  other  men  of 
his  stamp,  for  meditated  acts  of  tha  King,  not  less  cruel 
or  less  daring  than  the  surprisal  at  Anagni  and  the 
abasement  of  the  Supreme  Pontiff.  The  King  Kmg>fl  ^B, 
of  France,  ever  rapacious,  yet  ever  necessitous,  treBMfl< 
\vlio  must  maintain  his  schemes,  his  ambition,  his  wars 
in  Flanders,  at  lavish  cost,  but  with  hardly  any  certain 
income  but  that  of  the  royal  domains,  had  again  taken 
to  that  coarse  expedient  of  barbarous  finance,  the  de- 
basement of  the  coin.  There  were  now  two  standards : 
in  the  higher  the  King  and  the  Nobles  exacted  the 
payments  of  their  subjects  and  vassals ;  the  lower  tho 
subjects  and  vassals  were  obliged  to  receive  as  current 
money.  Everywhere  was  secret  or  clamorous  discon- 
tent, aggravated  by  famine;1  discontent  in  Paris  and 
Orleans  rose  to  insurrQction,  which  endangered  tha 
King's  government,  even  his  person,  and  was  only  put 
down  by  extreme  measures  of  cruelty.  The  King  was 
compelled  to  make  concessions,  to  consent  himself  to 
be  paid  in  the  lower  coin.  But  some  time  had  elapsed 
since  the  usual  financial  resource  in  times  of  difficulty 
had  been  put  in  force.  The  Jews  had  had  jeWBpinn. 
leisure  to  became  again  alluringly  rich.  Wil-  iBred" 
liam  of  Nogaret  proceeded  with  his  usual  rapid  reso- 
lution. In  one  day  all  the  Jews  were  seized,  their 
property  confiscated  to  the  Drown,  the  race  expelled 


1  During  the  wintei  13Q4-!>. 
VOL,  V1L 


178  LATIN  DHEISTIANITY.  B30KXIL 

thB  realm.  The  clergy,  in  their  zeal  for  the  faith,  and 
the  hope  that  their  own  burthens  might  be  lightened, 
approved  this  pious  robbery,  and  rejoiced  that  France 
was  delivered  from  the  presence  of  this  usurious  an  I 
miscreant  race.  William  of  Nogaret  had  atoned  for 
some  at  least  of  his  sins.k  But  even  this  was  not  his 
last  service. 

Pope  Clement,  in  the  mean  time,  hastened  to  return 
to  Bordeaux.  Ha  passed  by  a  different  road,  through 
Macon,  Clugny,  Nevers,  Bom-gee,  Limoges,  again  se- 
verely taxing  by  tha  honour  of  his  entertainment  all 
the  great  monasteries  and  chapters  on  his  way.  The 
Archbishop  of  Bourges  was  so  reduced  as  to  accept  the 
TUB  Pope  at  pittance  of  a  Canon.  At  Bordeaux  the  Pope 
Bordeaux.  waa  ^  ^Q  flommions  of  England,  and  to  Ed- 
ward of  England  he  showed  himself  even  a  more  ob- 
sequious vassal  than  to  the  Eing  of  France.  He  could 
perhaps  secure  Edward's  protection  if  too  hardly  pressed 
by  his  inexorable  master,  the  King  of  France. 

England.    ^  ^yQ  ^  jjj^ard  plenary  absolution  from 

all  his  oaths  to  maintain  the  Charters  (the  Great  Charter 
and  the  Charter  of  Forests)  extorted  from  him,  as  was 
asserted,  by  hia  disloyal  subjects.™1  Afterwards,  casting 
asida  all  the  haughty  pretensions  of  Pope  Boniface,  he 
excommunicated  liobart  Bruce,  now  engaged  in  his 
gallant  strife  for  the  crown  of  Scotland." 

But  the  Pope  could  not  decline  the  commanding  in- 
vitation of  King  Philip  to  an  interview  within 
thB  r0alni  of  Francej  at  Poitiers.  To  that  eity 

he  went,  but  soon  repented  of  having  placed  himself  so 
completely  within  the  King's  power.  He  attempted  to 


«  Ordonnanoes  das  Bola,  i.  443, 447,    Vita,  dementis.    Coutinuator.  Nungis, 
p,  594.    Rftynali,  sub  ami,  1808,  c,  29.  «  Kymer.  •  Ibii. 


CHAP.  I.      THE  POPE'S  INTERVIEW  WITH  PHILIP.  179 

make  an  honourable  retreat;  he  was  retained  with 
courteous  force,  and  overwhelmed  with  spacious  honour 
and  reverence. 

A  Congress  of  Princes  might  seem  assembled  to  show 
their  nattering  respect  to  the  Pontiff: — Philip,  with  his 
three  sons,  his  brothers  Charles  of  Yalois  and  Louis 
Count  of  EvreuXj  Robert  Count  of  Flanders,  Charles 
King  of  Naples,  the  ambassadors  of  Edward  Xing  ot 
England.  Clement,  by  the  prodigality  of  his  conces- 
sions, endeavoured  to  avert  the  fatal  question,  the  con- 
demnation of  Boniface.  He  was  seized  with  a  sudden 
ardour  to  place  Charles  of  Valois  on  the  throne  of  Con- 
stantinople, in  right  of  his  wife,  Isabella  of  Courtenay. 
He  declared  himself  the  head  of  a  new  Crusade,  ad- 
dressed Bulls  to  all  Christendom,  in  order  to  expel  the 
feeble  Anironicus  from  the  throne,  which  must  fall 
under  the  power  of  the  Turks  and  Saracens,  unless  filled 
by  a  powerful  Christian  Emperor.  He  pronounced  his 
anathema  against  Androniciis.  He  awarded  the  king- 
dom of  Hungary  to  Charobert,  grandson  of  the  King  of 
Naples.  Ha  took  the  first  steps  for  the  canonisation 
of  Louis,  the  second  son  of  Charles,  who  had  died  Arch- 
bishop of  Toulouse  in  the  odour  of  sanctity,  He  re- 
mitted the  vast  debt  owed  by  the  King  of  Naples  to  the 
Papal  See,  which  amounted  to  360,000  ounces  of  gold ; 
a  third  was  absolutely  annulled,  the  rest  assigned  to  the 
Crusads  of  Charles  of  Valois.0 

But  the  inflexible  Philip  was  neither  to  be  diverted 
nor  dissuaded  from  exacting  the  full  terms  of  his  bond. 
He  offered  to  prove  forty-three  articles  of  heresy  against 
Boniface;  he  demanded  that  the  body  of  the  Pope 
should  be  disinterred  and  burned,  the  ignominious  fate 


»  Acta  apud  Baluzium,  zzv. 

N  2 


JRO  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BooirXIL 

of  heretics,  which  ha  had  undeservedly  escaped  during 
life.  Even  the  French  Cardinals  saw  and  deprecated 
the  fatal  consequences  of  such  a  proceeding  to  the 
Church.  All  the  acts  of  Boniface,  his  bulls,  decrees, 
promotions,  became  questionable.  The  College  of  Car- 
dinals was  dissolved,  at  least  the  nomination  of  almost 
all  became  precarious.  The  title  of  Clement  himself 
was  doubtful.  The  effects  of  breaking  the  chain  of 
traditional  authority  were  incalculable,  interminable. 
The  Supplement  to  the  Canon  Law,  the  Sixth  Book 
of  Decretals,  at  once  the  most  unanswerable  proof  of 
the  orthodoxy  of  Boniface  and  the  most  full  assertion 
of  tha  rights  of  the  Church,  fell  to  the  ground.  The 
foundations  of  the  Papal  power  were  shaken  to  the  base. 
By  the  wise  advice  of  the  Cardinal  da  Prato,  Clement 
determined  to  dissemble  and  so  gain  time.  Philip  him- 
self had  demanded  a  General  Council  of  all  Christendom. 
A  Q-eneral  Council  alone  of  all  Christendom  could  give 
Council  of  dignity  and  authority  to  a  decree  so  weighty 
termin aiiLun-  aud  unprecedented  as  the  condemnation  of  a 
Pope.  They  only  could  investigate  such  judgement. 
In  such  an  assembly  the  Prelates  of  the  Christian  world, 
French,  English,  Germans,  Italians,  Spaniards,  might 
mset;  and  the  Church,  in  her  full  liberty,  and  with 
irrefragable  solemnity,  decide  the  awful  cause.  He 
named  the  city  of  Vienne  in  Dauphiny  as  the  seat  of 
this  Great  Council.  In  the  mean  time  ho  strove  to 
conciliate  the  counsellors  who  ruled  the  mind  of  Philip, 
Absolution  "William  of  Nogaret  and  his  accomplices  re- 
StND"  ceived  full  absolution  for  all  their  acts  in 
the  seizure  of  Boniface  and  the  plunder  of  the  Papal 
treasures,  on  condition  of  certain  penances  to  be  as- 
higned  by  some  of  the  Cardinals.  William  of  Nagaret 
was  to  take  arma  in  the  East  against  the  Saracens,  and 


CHAP.  I. 


THE  TEMPLARS. 


181 


not  to  return  without  permission  of  the  Holy  S&e;  but 
he  was  allowed  five  years1  delay  before  lie  was  called  on 
to  fulfil  this  penitential  Crusade.5 

The  Pope  could  breaths  raora  freely :  he  had  gained 
time,  and  time  was  inestimable.  Who  could  know  what  it 
might  bring  forth?  Even  the  stubborn  hatred  of  Philip 
might  be,  if  not  mitigated,  distracted  to  some  other 
object.  That  object  seemed  to  arise  at  once,  great,  of 
absorbing  public  interest,  ministering  excitement  to  all 
Philip's  dominant  passions,  a  religious  object  of  the 
most  surprising,  unprecedented,  almost  appalling  nature, 
and  of  the  most  dubious  justice  and  policy,  the  abolition 
of  the  great  Order  of  tha  Knights  Templars.  The  secret 
of  the  laat  stipulation  in  the  covenant  between  the  King 
and  the  Pope  remained  with  themselves;  what  it  wasj 
and  whether  it  was  really  demanded,  was  not  per- 
mitted to  transpire.  Was  it  this  destruction  of  the 
Templars  ?  No  one  knew  :  yet  all  had  their  conjec- 
ture. Or  was  it  some  yet  remoter  scheme,  the  eleva- 
tion of  his  brother  or  himself  to  the  Imperial  throne? 
It  was  still  a  dark,  profound,  and  so  more  stimulating 
mystery. 

The  famous  Drder  of  the  Temple  of  Jerusalem  had 
sprung,  like  all  the  other  great  religious  insti-  AiD.  11I8. 
tutions  of  the  middle  ages,  from  the  humblest  S^aS^nta' 
origin.     Their  ancestors  were  a  small  band  of  TBmPlwa' 
nine  French  Knights,1  engaged  on  a  chivalrous  adven- 
ture, sworn  to  an  especial  service,  the  protection  of  the 
Christian  pilgrims  to  the  Holy  Sepulchre  through  the 


•  RaynalduB,  sub  aun.  1307,  c.  n. 

4  A.D.  1118.  Hugo  ie  Payens, 
Godfrey  da  St.  Omar,  Raoul,  Godfrey 
BiBol,  Pngau  JB  Montdidier,  Archem- 


told  lie  St.  Anton,  Aniraw,  Guniomar, 
Hugh  Count  af  Provence.— Wiluka, 
Geschichta  dcs  Tempelherreu 
p.  9 


182  LATIN  DEKISTIANITY  BOOK  XII, 

dangerous  passes  between  Jerusalem  and  the  Jordan, 
that  they  might  bathe,  unmolested  by  the  marauding 
Aloslemin,  in  the  holy  waters.  The  Templars  had  be- 
come, in  almost  every  kingdom  of  ths  West,  a  powerful, 
wealthy,  ani  formidable  republic,  governed  by  their 
own  laws,  animated  by  the  closest  corporate  spirit,  under 
the  severest  internal  discipline  and  an  all-pervading 
organisation ;  independent  alike  of  the  civil  power  and 
of  the  spiritual  hierarchy.  It  was  a  half-military,  half- 
monastic  community.  The  three  great  monastic  vows, 
implicit  obedience  to  their  superiors,  chastity,  the  aban- 
donment of  all  personal  property,  were  the  fundamental 
statutes  of  the  Order:  while,  instead  of  the  peaceful  and 
secluded  monastery,  the  contemplative,  devotional,  or 
atudious  life,  their  convents  wore  strong  castles,  their 
life  that  of  the  camp  or  the  battle-field,  their  occupation 
chivalrous  exercises  or  adventures,  war  in  preparation, 
or  war  in  all  its  fierceness  and  activity.  The  nine 
brethren  in  arms  were  now  fifteen  thousand  of  the 
bravest,  best-trained,  most  experienced  soldiers  in  the- 
world;  armed,  horsed,  accoutered  in  the  most  perfect 
and  splendid  fashion  of  the  times ;  isolated  from  all  ties 
01*  interests  with  the  rest  of  mankind;  ready  at  the 
summons  of  the  G-raud  Master  to  embark  on  any  service ; 
the  one  aim  the  power,  aggrandisement,  enrichment  of 
the  Order. 

9t*  Bernard,  in  his  devout  enthusiasm,  had  beheld  in 
ihe  rise  of  the  Templars  a  permanent  and  invincible 
Crusade.  The  Order  (with  its  rival  brotherhood,  the 
Knights  of  th&  Hospital  or  of  St.  John)  was  in  Lis  view 
a  perpetual  sacred  militia,  which  would  conquer  and 
maintain  the  sepulchre  of  the  Lord,  become  the  body- 
guatfi  BHhe  Christian  Kings  of  Jerusalem,  the  standing 
army  on  the  outposts  of  Christendom.  His  eloquent 


CHAP.  I. 


THEIR  PEITILEGEa. 


183 


address  to  the  soldiers  of  the  Temple1  was  at  ones  tha 
law  and  the  vivid  expression  of  the  dominant  sentiments 
of  his  time;  here,  aa  in  all  things,  his  age  spake  in  St. 
Bernard.  From  that  time  the  devout  admiration  of 
Western  Christendom  in  heaping  the  most  splendid 
endowments  of  lands,  castles,  riches  of  all  kinds,  on  the 
Knights  of  the  Temple  and  of  the  Hospital,  supposed 
that  it  was  contributing  in  the  most  efficient  manner  to 
the  Holy  Wars.  Successive  Popes,  the  most  renowned 
and  wise,  especially  Innocent  III.,  notwithstanding  occa- 
sional signs  of  mistrust  and  jealousy  of  their  augment- 
ing power,  had  vied  with  each  other  in  enlarging  ths 
privileges  and  raising  the  fame  of  the  Knights  of 
the  Temple.  Eugenius  III.,  under  the  influence  of  St. 
Bernard,  first  issued  a  Bull  in  their  favour;  but  their 
great  Charter,  which  invested  them  in  their 
most  valuable  rights  and  privileges,8  was  issued 
by  Alexander  III.  They  had  already  ceased  to  be  a 
lay  community,  and  therefore  under  spiritual  subj  action 
to  the  clergy.  The  clergy  had  been  admitted  in  con- 
siderable numbers  into  the  Order,  and  so  their  own, 
body  administered  within  themselves  all  the  rites  and 
sacraments  of  religion.  Innocent  III.  released  the  clergy 
in  the  Order  of  the  Templars  from  their  oath  of  fidelity 
and  obedience  to  their  Bishop;  henceforth  they  owed 
allegiancB  to  the  Pope  alone,6  Honorms  HE,  prohibited 
all  Bishops  from  excommunicating  any  Knight  Templar, 


A  D.  1172. 


*  Refer  back  to  vol.  IT.  394. 
Sermo  ad  Militea  Tampli,  Opera,  p. 
BSD. 

1  The  Bull,  Drone  datum  optimum. 
Compare  Wilcke,  p.  77.  It  is  trans- 
lated by  Mr.  Addjsan,  the  Knights 
Templflis,  p.  70. 


Innocent  III,,  Epist.  i.  508,  li. 
35,  84,  257,  259.  To  the  Biahgps, 
"  Qnatenus  a  cjipellanis  ccclesiunim, 
quffl  plena  jars  jam  dictlu  frdtntus 
stint  concsssiE,  nco  fLdelitatetD,  new 
oDBdientiam  exigatia,  qtua  Romani 
tantum  Pontifiu  Bunt  subject!." 


184 


LATIN  CHRISTIANITY. 


BOOK  XII, 


or  laying  on  interdict  on  their  churches  or  houses. 
Gregory  IX.,  Innocent  IV.,  Alexander  HE.,  Clement  IV. 
maintained  their  absolute  exemption  from  episcopal 
authority.  The  Grand  Master  and  the  brotherhood  of 
the  Temple  were  subordinate  only  to  the  supreme  head 
of  Christendom.  Gregory  X.  crowned  their  privileges 
with  an  exempli  on  from  all  contributions  to  tha  Holy 
War,  and  from  the  tenths  paid  by  the  rest  of  Christen- 
dom, for  this  sacred  purpose.  The  pretence  -was  that 
their  whole  lauds  and  wealth  were  held  on  that  tenure," 
Nearly  two  hundred  years*  had  elapsed  since  tha 
foundation  of  the  Order,  two  hundred  years  of  slow, 
imperceptible,  but  inevitable  change.  Tha  Knights 
Templars  fought  in  the  Holy  Land  with  consummate 
valour,  discipline,  activity,  anil  zeal ;  but  they  fought 
for  themselves,  not  for  the  common  cause  of  Christianity, 
They  were  an  independent  army,  owing  no  subordi- 
nation to  the  Hing  or  Bishop  of  Jerusalem,  or  to  any 
of  the  Sovereigns  who  placed  themselves  at  the  head 
of  a  Crusaie.  They  supported  or  thwarted,  accorcling 
to  their  own  views,  the  plans  of  campaigns,  joined 
vigorously  in  the  enterprise,  or  stood  aloof  in  sullen 
disapprobation :  they  made  or  broke  treaties.  Thua  for- 
midable lo  tho  enemies  of  the  faith,  they  were  not  less 
so  to  its  champions.  There  was  a  constant  rivalry  with 
the  Knights  of  St.  John,  not  of  generous  emulation,  but 
of  power  and  even  of  sordid  gain.  During  tha 


*  "Cum  roe  ad  hoc  pimcipa<Uer 
laborati*,  ut  vos  panter  et  omaia  quw 
habotia  pro  ipsiiu  term  sunctffl  duftu- 
Btone,  ac  Christiana)  fidei  exponatia, 
yog  exirtere  a  prautatioaa  hujusmcuii 
(decimra  pro  terrft  aanct&)  do  Isnigni- 
lateApostoItcfi  curaremus." — Compa 


Wileke,  h.  p  193. 

"  111B—1B07.  Aa  early  as  tba 
Ci  usade  of  tha  Emperor  Conrad  (1 147  j, 
L'oiu-ail  wouli  have  takea  Damascus, 
"  jiiiji  nvaritia,  dalus  et  Invidia  Templa. 
rloium  obfltitJsaet."— Aunal,  Horbip, 
Pertz.  xvl.  p,  7. 


CHAP.  I.       DHAEADTEE  DF  THE  "WAE  IN  THE  EAST.         185 

dition  of  Frederick  II.  the  Master  of  the  Templars  and 
the  whole  Order  had  espoused  the  cause  of  the  Pope. 
To  their  stubborn  opposition  was  attributed,  no  doubt 
with  much  justice,  the  failure  or  rather  the  imperfect 
success  of  that  Crusade. 

The  character  of  the  war  in  the  East  had  also 
changed,  unnoticed,  unobserved.  There  was  no  longer 
the  implacable  mutual  aversion,  or  rather  abhorrence, 
with  which  the  Christian  met  the  Saracen,  the  Saracen 
the  Christian ;  from  which  the  Christian  thought  that 
by  slaying  the  Saracen  he  was  avenging  the  cause  of  his 
Redeemer,  and  washing  off  his  own  sins;  the  Saracen  that 
in  massacring  the  Christian,  or  trampling  on  the  Christian 
dog,  he  was  acting  according  to  the  first  principles  of  his 
faith,  and  winning  Paradise.  This  traditionary,  almost 
inborn,  antipathy  had  worn  away  by  long  intermingling, 
and  given  place  to  the  courtesies  and  mutual  respect 
of  a  more  chivalrous  warfare.  The  brave  and  generous 
Knight  could  not  but  admire  bravery  and  generosity  in 
his  antagonist.  The  accidents  of  war  led  to  more  iuti- 
mata  acquaintance,  acquaintance  to  hospitable  even  to 
social  inter  course,  social  intercourse  to  a  fairer  estimation 
of  the  better  qualities  on  both  sides.  The  prisoner  was 
not  always  reduced  to  a  cruel  and  debasing  servitude, 
or  shut  up  in  a  squalid  dungeon.  He  became  the  guest, 
the  companion,  of  his  high-minded  captor.  A  character 
like  that  of  jSaladm,  which  his  fiercest  enemies  could 
not  behold  without  awe  and  admiring  wonder,  must 
have  softened  the  detestation  with  which  it  was  once 
the  duty  of  the  Christian  to  look  on  the  Unbeliever. 
The  lofty  toleration  of  Frederick  II.  might  offend  the 
more  zealous  by  its  approximation  to  indifference,  but 
was  not  altogether  uncongenial  to  the  dominant  feeling, 
How  far  had  that  indifference,  which  was  so  hardly 


186  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY. 

reproached  against  Frederick,  crept  into  the  minds  and 
hearts  of  Frederick's  moat  deadly  enemies  ?  How  far 
had  Mohammedanism  lost  its  odious  and  repulsive  cha- 
racter to  the  Templars,  and  begun  to  appear  not  as  a 
monstrous  and  wicked  idolatry  to  be  refuted  only  -with 
the  good  sword,  but  as  a  sublime  and  hardly  irrational 
Theism?  How  far  had  Oriental  superstitions,  belief  in 
magic,  in  the  power  of  amulets  and  talismans,  divina- 
tion, mystic  signs  and  characters,  dealings  with  genii  or 
evil  spirits,  seized  on  the  excited  imaginations  of  those 
adventurous  but  rude  warriors  of  the  West,  and  mingled 
with  that  secret  ceremonial  which  was  designed  to 
impress  upon  the  initiated  ths  inflexible  discipline  of 
Oriental  ^Q  Order  ?  How  far  ware  the  Templars  ori- 
mflnnerB-  entalised  by  their  doiniciliation  in  the  East  ? 
Had  their  morals  escaped  the  taint  of  Oriental  licence  ? 
Vows  of  chastity  were  very  different  to  men  of  hot 
blood,  inflamed  by  the  sun  of  the  East,  in  the  freedom 
of  the  camp  or  the  marauding  expedition,  provoked  by 
the  sack  and  plunder  of  towns,  the  irruption  into  the 
luxurious  hareems  of  their  foes ;  and  to  monks  in  close* 
watched  seclusion,  occupied  every  hour  of  the  day  and 
night  with  religious  services,  emaciated  by  the  fast  and 
scourge,  and  become,  as  it  were,  the  shadows  of  men. 
If  even  Western  devotees  were  so  apt,  as  was  ever  tho 
case,  to  degenerate  into  debauchery,  the  individual  Tem- 
plar at  least  would  hardly  maintain  his  austere  and 
impeccable  virtue.  Those  unnatural  vices,  which  it 
offends  Christian  purity  even  to  alluda  to,  but  which 
are  looked  upon  if  not  with  indulgence,  at  least  without 
the  same  disgust  in  the  East,  were  chiefly  charged  upon 
the  Templars,  Yet  after  all,  it  was  the  pride  rather 
than  the  sensuality  of  the  Order  which  was  their  charac- 
teristic and  proverbial  crime.  Bichard  I,,  who  must 


.  I.  LOSS  OE  PALESTINE.  18? 

have  known  them  well  in  the  East,  bequeathed  not  Ms 
avarice,  or  his  Inst,  but  his  pride,  to  the  Knights  of  the 

Temple. 

But  the  Templars  were  not  a  great  colony  of  warriors 
transplanted  and  settled  in  the  East  as  their  permanent 
abode,  having  broken  off  all  connexion  with  their  native 
West.    They  were  powerful  feudal  lords,  lords  of  cas> 
ties  and  domains  and  estates,  a  self-governed  community 
in  all  the  kingdoms  of  Europe.    Hence  their     LoSsof 
total  expulsion,  with  the  rest  of  the  Christian        es  ™' 
establishments,  from  Palestine,  left  them  not,  as  might 
have  been  expected,  without  home,  without  possessions, 
discharged,  as  it  were,  from  their  mission  by  its  melan- 
choly and  ignominious  failure.     The  loss  of  the  Temple, 
the  irretrievable  loss,  might  seem  to  imply  the  dissolu- 
tion of  the  defenders  of  the   Temple:  it  might  be 
thought  to  disband  and  disclaim  them  as  useless  and 
wori>out  veterans.    The  bitter  disappointment  of  the 
Christian  world  at  that  loss  would  attribute  the  shame, 
the  guilt,  to  those  whose  especial  duty  it  was,  the  very 
charter  of  their  foundation,  to  protect  it.    That  guilt 
was  unanswerably  shown  by  God's  visible  wrath.    His 
abandonment  of  the  tomb  of  his  Blessed  Son  was  a 
proof  which  could  not  be  gainsaid,  that  the  Christians, 
those  especially  designated  for  the  glorious  service,  were 
unworthy  of  that  honour.    Any  charge  of  wickedness 
so  denounced,  it  might  seem,  by  God  himself,  would 

find  ready  hearing. 

The  Knights  of  the  Hospital,  more  fortunate  or  more 
sagacious,  had  found  an  occupation  for  their  con^stof 
arms,  of  which  perhaps   themselves  did  not  Knigwsof 
appreciate  the  full  importance,  the  conquest     ' 
of  Rhodes,    Their  establishment  in  that  island  became 
the  bulwark,  long  the  unconquerable  outpost  of  Christen- 


IBS 


LATIN  CHRISTIANITY. 


BDQK  XI 


dom  in  the  East.  The  Templars,  if  they  did  not  alto- 
gether stand  aloof  from  that  enterprise,  disdained  to 
act  a  secondary  part,  and  to  aid  in  subduing  for  their 
rivals  that  in  which  those  rivals  would  claim  exclusive 
dominion.7 

Clement  V.,  soon  after  his  accession,  had  summoned 
the  Errand  Masters  of  the  two  Orders  to  Europe,  under 
the  pretext  of  consulting  them  on  the  affairs  of  the 
East,  on  succours  to  be  afforded  to  the  King  of  Armenia, 
and  on  plans  which  had  been  already  formed  for  the 
union  of  the  two  Orders.  It  does  not  appear  whether, 
either  with  a  secret  understanding  with  the  King  of 
France,  or  of  his  own  accord,  he  as  yet  contemplated 
hostile  measures  against  the  Order.  He  declares  him- 
self, that  while  at  Lyons  he  had  heard  reports  unfavour- 
able both  to  the  faith  and  to  the  conduct  of  the  Tem- 
plars :  but  he  had  r  ejected  with  disdain  all  impeachment 
against  an  Order  which  had  warred  so  valiantly  and 
shed  so  much  noble  blood  in  defence  of  ths  Sepulchre 
of  the  Lord.  His  invitation  was  couched  in  the 
smoothest  terms  of  religious  adulation.* 

Du  Molay,11  Grand  Master  of  the  Order,  manifestly 
altogether  unsuspecting,  obeyed  the  Papal  in- 
Oliy'  vitation.  The  Grand  Master  of  the  Hospital- 
lers alleged  his  engagement  in  tho  siege  of  Ehodes. 
Hut  if  Du  Molay  had  designed  to  precipitata  the  fall  of 
his  Order,  he  could  not  hava  followed  a  more  fatal 
course  of  policy,  His  return  to  Europe  was  not  that  of 
the  head  of  an  institution  whose  occupation  and  special 


T  Raynnld.  gub  arm.  13D9. 

*  "De  quorum  chcumBpectA  pro- 
bitftte,  et  prnbutA  clrcumspectione 
«c  Tulgntfi,  fidelttate  fidudnfli  tena- 
mus."  Sg  wrote  Clfineut  V.  Tho 


letter  19  in  Rajrnaldus,  date  June  6, 
13  OS. 

•  See  in  Raynuuard,  Monuments 
HiBtorigun,  p,  15  et  teqq.,  the  lift 
imd  BerriDes  of  Du  Molay, 


CHAP.  L 


DTI  MDLAT. 


189 


function  was  in  the  East,  anl  who  held  all  they  pos- 
sessed on  the  tenure  of  war  against  the  Moslemin.  He 
might  rather  seem  an  independent  Prince,  intending  to 
take  up  his  permanent  abode  and  live  in  dignity  and 
wealth  on  their  ample  domains,  or  rather  territories,  in 
Europe.  He  might  seem  almost  wantonly  to  alarm  the 
jealous  apprehensions,  and  stimulate  the  insatiable  ra- 
pacity of  Philip  the  Fair.  He  assembled  around  him  in 
Cyprus  a  retinue  of  sixty,  the  most  distinguished  Knights 
of  the  Order,  collected  a  great  mass  of  treasure,  and 
left  ths  Marshal  of  the  Order  as  Regent  in  that  island. 
In  this  state,  having  landed  in  the  south,  and  made  his 
slow  progress  through  France,  he  entered  the  capital, 
and  proceeded  to  the  mansion  of  the  Order,  in  Entry  into 
Paria  as  well  as  in  London  perhaps  the  most  Pflria- 
spacious,  the  strongest,  and  even  most  magnificent 
edifice  in  the  city.  The  treasure  which  Du  Molay 
brought  was  reports i  to  amount  to  the  enormous  sum 
of>  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  golden  florins  and  a 
vast  quantity  of  silver.  The  populace  wondered  at  the 
long  train  of  sumpter  horses,b  as  they  moved  through 
the  narrow  streets  to  the  Temple  citadel,  which  con- 
fronted the  Louvre  in  its  height  and  strength.  Du 
Molay  waa  received  with  ostentatious  courtesy  by  the 
King.  Everything  flattered  his  pride  and  security; 
there  was  no  sign,  no  omen  of  the  danger  which 
lowered  around  him, 

Yet  Du  Molay,  if  of  less  generous  and  unsuspicious 
nature,  should  have  known  the  character  of  Philip,  and 


b  Rnynouari  says,  p.  17,  "  Outre 
I'lmmense  tn&or  que  1'DrSre  conssr- 
vait  dans  IB  jmlais  iu  Tsmple  I,  Paris, 
le  chef  appwta  de  1' Orient  cent  dn- 


ciuante  milU  florins  i'or,  et  una  grands 
(juantitS  ie  gros  tournnis  d'argent,  4111 
formaient  la  charge  ie  douze  chevaux 
aomrnea  considerable  pour  la  temps." 


L90 


LATIN  OHEISTIANITT. 


BOOK  XIL 


that  eveiy  motive  which  actuated  that  unscrupulous 
King  was  concentred  in  its  utmost  intensity  against  his 
Order.  Philip's  manifest  policy  waa  the  submission  of 
the  whole  realm  to  his  despotic  power;  the  elevation 
of  the  kingly  authority  above  all  feudal  check,  or  eccle- 
siastical control.  Would  he  endure  an  armed  brother- 
hoodj  a  brotherhood  so  completely  organised,  in  itself 
more  formidable  than  any  army  ho  could  bring  into  the 
field,  to  occupy  a  fortress  in  his  capital  and  other  strong- 
holds throughout  tha  kingdom?  It  was  no  less  his 
policy  to  establish  an  uniform  taxation,  a  heavy  and 
grinding  taxation,  on  all  classes,  on  the  Church  as  on 
the  laity.  Ths  Templars  had  stubbornly  refused  to 
pay  the  tenths  which  he  had  levied  everywhere  else 
almost  without  resistance,0  There  were  strong  sus- 
picions that  during  the  strife  with  the  King,  Boniface 
had  reckoned  on  the  secret  if  not  active  support  of  the 
Templars,  who,  as  highly  favoured  by  the  Pope,  had 
almost  always  boon  high  Papalists.a  If  they  had  not 
held  u  congregation  in  defence  of  Boniface,  such  con- 
gregation might  have  bson  held.8  For  this  reason  no 
rloubt,  if  not  for  a  darker  ono — some  concern  in  the 
burning  of  his  father — William  of  Nogaret  hated  the 
Templars  with  all  the  hatred  which  he  had  not  ex- 
hausted on  Pope  Bonifacs.' 


0  They  wers  exempt  by  tha  Papal 
privilege.  These  tenths  ware  a  till  in 
theory  permitted  by  the  Popa,  t\a 
though  for  holy  uses— the  recovery  of 
Palestine. 

a  "  In  diebus  suis  admirabilis  novl- 
tos  ah  perse  quaiio  facta  eat  super  Ot- 
dinsm  Tamplanorum,  quoi  pro  Desalt 
ex  invidia  et  oupkUtate  Philippi  Fran- 
corom  regis,  yii  odlo  Tamplai-JM  hap 


bebat,  cu  quod  auai  fuernnt  store  contra 
ipsum  ex  sententift  exMrnmnnioatloniB, 
dAtft  per  dictum  Bonifaemm  contra 
dictum  Begem,"  —  Chronlo.  Autena. 
Murator.  zi.  p.  193. 

•  Oflo  writer  says,  "  Qula  contra 
Begem  oongregationein  fecarunt." 

e  "Gulielmiia  do  Nogarat,  Regis 
Francla;  auotor  fult  pro  posse  minus 
ordinia  Templaviorum,  ab  ijucil  putrem 


CHAP.  I. 


PHILIP'S  EXTORTIONS. 


191 


Philip  knew  well  not  only  the  strength  but  tha  wealth 
of  the  Order.  He  knew  their  strength,  for  during  the 
insurrections  at  Paris  on  account  of  the  debasement  of 
the  coin,  he  had  fled  from  his  own  insecure  Louvre,  and 
taken  refuge  in  the  Temple.  From  that  impregnable 
fortress  he  had  defied  his  rebellious  subjects,  and  after- 
wards haying  gathered  some  troops,  perhaps  with  the 
aid  of  the  Templars  themselves,  suppressed  the  mutiny 
(which  the  Templars  nevertheless  were  accused  of  having 
instigated),  and  had  hanged  the  insurgents  8  on  the  trees 
around  the  city.  Philip  knew  too  their  wealth.11  From 
their  treasures  alone  he  had  been  able  to  borrow  the 
dowry  of  his  daughter  Isabella,  on  her  marriage  with 
Prince  Edward  of  England.  Debtors  love  not  their 
creditors,  Du  Malay  is  said  to  have  made  importunate 
and  unwelcome  demands  for  repayment.1  Every  race 
or  community  possessed  of  dangerous  riches  had  in 
turn  suffered  the  extortionate  persecutions  of  Philip. 
Would  his  avarice,  which  had  drained  the  Jews,  the 
Lombards,  and  laid  his  sacrilegious  hands  on  the 
Church,  so  tempted,  respect  the  Templars,  even,  if  he 
had  no  excuse  of  religious  zeal  or  regard,  fpr  morals  to 
justify  his  confiscation  of  their  riches  ? 


ejus  tQiujuam  hajretioum  camhuri  fece- 
iunt,"  This  can.  hardly  bo  literally 
true.  But  see  fuither  the  stiikmg 
speech  of  a  Templar  going  to  the  stake, 
and  (what  cannot  be  true)  the  death  of 
Nogai  et. — Chi'on.  Asians,  ut  supra. 

"  Conlumatoi  Nangisupuil  Bouquet, 
p.  594. 

fc  Of  then  wealth : 
"  LI  frere,  11  mcstra  an  Temple 
Qu'etfiotent  rumpit  et  oinplB 
Il'or,  J'arsent  at  de  ricUeeso, 
Et  qul  nmiiulent  tul  iinblebBe  .  ,  . 
TozJui'S  ndiutulnnt  nans  voniirc  " 

quutLii  by  Haynouard,  p, ',:, 


According  to  Paris,  "Habent  Tem- 
plarii  in  Dhriatianltate  IIQTBIH  millia 
Huinerlarmn." — p.  417. 

1  "  Quia  is  magiatrum  aidiuis  eso- 
sum  hatmfc,  propter  importunam  pe- 
cuniee  exactionem,  quam  in  nuptua 
filia:  SUCQ  laab elite  ei  mutuum  Ae- 
derut,  luhiaQat  prnetarea  pi  IE di is  rni- 
htum  et  posieasionibus." — Thorn,  dc 
IP.  Moor,  Vit.  Edward  II.,  quoted 
in  note  to  Bnluzma.  Pap. 
p.  589. 


192  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  XIL 

Du  Molay,  in  his  lofty  security,  proceeded  to  the 
DU  Moiay  at  great  meeting  at  Poitiers,  to  pay  his  allegiance 
Poitiers         w^n  .j.nB  prmDBB  an^  Sovereigns,  and  to  give 
counsel  to  the  Pope  on  the  affairs  of  the  East  and  those 
of  tha  Military  Orders.    Du  Molay's  advice  as  to  the 
future  Crusade,  however  wise  and  •well-grounded,  might 
seem  a  death-blow  to  all  hopes  of  success.     There  could 
he  no  reliance  on  the  King  of  Armenia;  to  reconquer 
the  Holy  Land  would  demand  the  league  and  no-opera- 
tion of  all  the  Kings  of  Christendom.     Their  united 
forces,  conveyed  by  the  united  fleets  of  Genoa,  Venice, 
and  other  maritime  cities,  should  land  at  Cyprus ;  and 
from  Cyprus  carry  on  a  regular  and  aggressive  war. 
The  proposal  for  the  fusion   of  the  Knights   of  tha 
Temple    and    of   St.   John,    a    scheme    proposed    by 
Gregory  X.  and  by  St.  Louis,  he   coldly  rejected  as 
impracticable.    "  That  which  ia  new  is  not  always  the 
best.    The  Orders,  in  their  separate  corporations,  had 
done  great  things ;  it  was  doubtful  how,  if  united,  they 
would  act  togethor.     Both  were  spiritual  as  well  as 
secular  institutions:  neither  could,  with  safe  conscience, 
give  up  the  statutus  to  which  they  had.  sworn,  to  adopt 
those  of  the  other.     There  would  rise  inaxtingmshabla 
discord  concerning  their  estates  and  possessions.    The 
Templars  wore  lavish  of  their  wealth,  the  Hospitallers 
only  intent  ou  amassing  wealth:  on  this  head  there 
must  be  ondlesa  strife.    The  Templars  wuro  in  better 
i'anio,  more  richly  endowed  by  the  laity.    Tho  Templars 
would  lose  their  popularity,  or  excite  the  anvy  of  the 
Hospitallers,    Thero  would  ba  eternal  contests  between 
the  heads  of  the  Orders,  as  to  the  conferring  dignities 
and  offices  of  trust,    The  united  Order  might  be  more 
strong  and  formidabls,  and  yat  many  ancient  establish- 
ments fall  to  the  ground ;  and  so  the  collective  wealth 


.  I.        ACCUSATIONS  AGAINST  THE  DP.DEE. 


193 


and  power  might    be    diminished    rather    than  aug- 
mented." k 

Yet  even  now  that  Du  Malay  was  holding  this  almost 
supercilious  language,  the  mine  was  under  his  feet,  rsady 
to  burst  and  explode.  Du  Molay  oould  not  be  abso- 
lutely ignorant  of  the  sinister  rumours  which  had  long 
been  spread  abroad  concerning  the  faith,  the  morals, 
the  secret  mysteries  of  his  Order,'  he  could  not  bs  igno- 
rant that  they  had  been  repeatedly  urged  upon  the  Pope 
by  the  King  himself,  by  his  counsellors,  by  the  Prior  of 
the  new  convent  in  Poitiers.111  But  he  maintained,  both 
he  and  the  other  Preceptors  of  the  Order,  the  same 
haughty  dBmeanour.  They  demanded  again  and  again, 
and  in  the  most  urgent  terms,  rigid  investigation,  so 
that,  if  blameless,  as  they  asserted,  they  might  receive 
public  absolution ;  if  guilty,  might  suffer  condemnation." 
Content  with  this  defiance  of  their  enemies,  Du  Molay 
and  the  other  Preceptors  returned  quietly  to  Paris.0 

There  was  a  certain  Squino  di  Morian,  Prior  of  Mont- 
falcon,  in  the  county  of  Toulouse,  who  had  smumxii 
besn  condemned,  as  a  heretic  and  a  man  of  evil  ™rjttn- 
life,  to  perpetual  imprisonment  in  the  dungeons  of  one 
of  the  royal  castles.    There  he  met  one  Koffo,  a  Flo- 


*  See   the  Document  m  Baluziue, 
vol.  it.  p.  17*. 

»  Letter  of  Dlamsnt  to  Philip,  Ba- 
luzius,  ii.  p.  74.  This  letter  is  mis- 
dated by  Baluzius.  Wilcke  has  re- 
tained the  error.  The  letter  mentions 
the  death  of  Edward  L,  which  took 
place  July  7,  13  D7.  It  was  written 
when  Clement  was  at  or  near  Poitiers. 
The  King-  hod  left  tho  city. 

•  "  Quia   varfc    magistcr    militia 
Tetnpli  ao  multi  pnceeptoreg,  tarn  ie 
-egna  tun  quam  alils  ejuadem  crdinia 

VOL.  VII. 


I  cum  endem,  audito,  at  dbcerunt,  quid 
tarn  erga  noa  ta  quam  erga  aliijuoa  alioa 
dominos  temji  mules  super  proidicito 
facto  multipliuiter  eorum  upinio  giuvii- 
batur,  a  nobs,  nedum  semel,  eed  plui  uu 
Bum  magnft  in^tonticl  potierunt  quod 
nos  super  illis  BIS  faUb  impoaitis,  ut 
dicebaut,  veil  em  ua  uiquJi  cro  ventatem^ 
ac  eos,  si  lepeiiroutur,  ut  lusjuri'ljiuit 
inaulpabilea,  nbsolvaie,  vel  ijisof  M  rc- 
perirentur  culpabiles,  quod  uullstt'iiat 
ciedabaot,  coademnoiu  VBlk-inus.'  —Ex 
Epist.  ut  supra.  °  KaynDunrJ,  -,  18. 


134 


LATIN  CSRISTUNITT, 


B  ODE  XII. 


tentine,  an  apostate  Templar,  perhaps  some  others :  he 
contrived  to  communicate  to  the  King's  officers  that  he 
could  reveal  foul  and  monstrous  secrets  of  the  Order. 
He  was  admitted  to  the  royal  presence;  and  on  his 
attestation  the  vague  and  terrible  charges,  which  had 
been  floating  about  as  rumours,  grew  into  distinct  and 
awful  articles  of  accusation.1" 

Christendom  heard  with  amazement  and  horror  that 
charges      this  noble,  proud,  and  austere   Order,  which 

against  UlB  .  .  . 

order.  had  waged  irreconcileable  war  with  the  Sara- 
cens, poured  its  best  blood,  like  water,  for  two  hundred 
years  on  the  soil  of  Palestine,  sworn  to  the  severest 
chastity  as  to  the  most  rigorous  discipline,  waa  charged 
and  publicly  charged  by  the  King  of  France  wilh  the 
moat  deliberate  infidelity,  with  the  most  revolting  lust, 
with  the  most  subtle  treason  to  Christendom,  The  sum 
of  these  charges,  as  appeared  from  the  examinations, 
was, — that  at  the  secret  initiation  into  the  Order,  each 
novice  was  compelled  to  deny  Christ,  and  to  spit  upon 
the  Cross;  that  obscene  hisses  were  given  and  received 
py  the  candidate;  that  an  idol,  the  head  either  of  a 
cat,  with  two  human  faces,  or  that  of  one  of  the  eleven 
thousand  virgins,  or  of  some  other  monstrous  form,  was 
the  object  of  their  secret  worship ;  that  they  wore  a 
cord  which  had  acquired  a  magical  or  talismanic  power 
by  contact  with  this  idol;  that  full  licence  was  granted 


P  BaUizhVit.VI,  Yillaiii,vui.  92. 
This  vras  the  current  history  of  the 
tune.  The  historian  expiessss,  too, 
the  prevailing  opinion  out  of  France. 
"Md  plti  si  dice,  qhe  fq.  per 
di.loro  molta  maneta,  a  per 
preso;  col  maestro  del  temple,  E 
roagione<  II  J&pa  per  kvavsi 
11  Be  ii  Francis,  pei  la  richiastn.  del 


cDB.dennn.ra  Fap:i  Bonifnzlo  .  .  .  per 
piacere  al  Re  h  OGsentl  di  cio  fere." 
Dupuy  obaei-ves  (De  k.  Condemnatioo 
dea  Templisi-s,  p.  8),  that  all  the 
histQilana  of  UiB'timss  agree  In  thlft 
HB  rufei-B  to  thorn.  Cflmpare  also 
Notu,  p.  193,  in  Haveman,  Gaschichte 
dee  Ausgangs  des  Tempelhftrren  0» 
dens.  Stutgaii,  Ifl43. 


CHAP.  I.  AHBEST  DP  THE  TEMPLARS.  106 

for  the  indulgence  of  unnatural  lusts  •  that  parts  of  the 
canon  of  the  mass  -were  omittsd  in  their  churches ;  that 
the  Grrand  Master  and  other  great  officers,  even  when 
not  in  holy  orders,  claimed  the  power  of  granting  abso- 
lution ;  that  they  were  in  secret  league  -with  the  Moham- 
medans, and  had  constantly  betrayed  the  Christian 
cause,  especially  that  of  St,  Louis  at  Mansura.  These 
were  ths  formal  legal  charges,  of  which  tha  accusers 
offered  to  furnish  proof,  or  to  wring  confession  by  tor- 
ture from  the  criminals  themsslves.  Popular  credulity, 
terror,  hatred,  envy,  either  by  the  usual  inventivanesa 
of  common  rumour,  or  by  the  industrious  malice  of  the 
King  and  his  counsellors,  darkened  even  these  crimes 
into  more  appalling  and  loathsome  acts.  If  a  Templar 
refused  to  continue  to  his  death  in  his  wickedness,  he 
was  burned  and  his  aslies  given  to  be  drank  "by  the 
younger  Templars.  A  child  begotten  on  a  virgin  was 
cooked  and  roasted,  nnd  the  idol  anointed  with  its  fat."1 
Philip  did  not  await  the  tardy  decision  of  the  Pope. 
A  slower  process  might  hava  banded  together  AnestDfihs 
this  formidable  body,  thus  driven  to  despair,  TemPlairg 
in  resistance  if  not  in  rebellion,  On  the  14th  of  Sep- 
tember, the  Feast  of  the  Elevation  of  tha  Cross,  sealed 
instructions  were  issued  to  all  the  seneschals  and  other 
high  officers  of  the  crown  throughout  the  realm,  to 
summon  each  a  powerful  armed  force,  on  the  night  of 
the  12th  of  October:  then  and  not  before,  under  paiu  of 
death,  to  open  those  close  instructions.1"  The  ingtrac- 


q  See  the  eleven  articles  in  the 
Chromque  Se  Saint  Denys,  Bouquut, 
p.  BBS.  Observe  among  the  mpio 
heinous  charges  is  one  thnt  they  refused 
to  pay  taxes  to  the  king,  "  Que  eux  re- 
wnnui'Jiit  iii  Titfsor  du  Koi  a  iiucuns 


avoir  dnnntf,  qui  nu  noi  avnient  fait 
cDntianettf,  laqnello  chane  tftmt  moult 
damngpnblo  au  Unrnume  " — Art.  \i. 
*  In  Dnpuy,  i.  p,  all,    Theie  m 
ropy  of  the   nrtlisiH  mlJrr")neJ  tu  tl* 
ViJunic  mid  tin-  l):iilift'  nf  Ainietta. 
0  2 


195 


LATIN  OHRISTIAWTT. 


BOOK  XII, 


tiona  ran,  that  according  to  sBcret  counsels  taken  with 
the  Holy  Father  the  Pope,  with  his  cognisance  if  not 
his  sanction,  the  King  gave  command  to  arrest  on  one 
aiii  the  sama  day  all  the  Knights  Templars  -within  the 
kingdom;  to  commit  them  to  safe  custody,  and  to  set 
tha  royal  seal  on  all  their  goods,  to  make  a  careful 
inventory  thereof,  and  to  retain  them  in  the  name  of 
tha  King.  Philip's  officers  were  trained  to  execute 
these  rapid  and  simultaneous  movements  for  the  appre- 
hension and  spoliation  of  some  devoted  class  of  his  sub- 
jects. That  which  had  succeeded  so  well  with  thy 
defenceless  Lombards  and  Jews,  was  executed  with 
equal  promptitude  and  precision  against  the  warlike 
Templars.  In  one  day  (Friday,  October  13th),  at  the 
dawn  of  one  day,  with  no  single  act  of  resistance,  with 
no  single  attempt  at  flight,  as  if  not  the  slightest  inti- 
mation of  measures  which  had  been  a  month  in  pre- 
paration had  reached  their  ears ;  or  as  if,  presuming  on 
their  innocence,  numbers,  or  popularity,  they  had  not 
deigned  to  take  alarm :  tha  whole  Order,  every  one  of 
these  highborn  and  valiant  warriors,  found  the  houses 
of  the  Order  surrounded  by  the  King's  soldiers,  and 
was  dragged  forth  to  prison.  The  inventory  of  the 
whole  property  was  made,  and  was  in  the  King's  power. 
In  Paris,  William  of  Nogarst  and  Eeginald  cle  Eoye, 


la  dated  PontiBsra  ("  Pontoise  ")• 
But  the  fullest  "  instructions  "  ara 
those  from  the  archives  of  Nismea, 
published  by  Menard,  "  Hfetoira  de 
Nismea,"  Preurea,  p.  195,  They 
begin  with  thes«  inflaming  words! 
"  Rea  amara,  rea  flebllig,  res  quiiem 
cpgitata  hombilis,  aulitu  terribilla, 
deteatabilis  cnminB,  execrabilia  Bcelere, 
abhomlnabilia  open,  detestanch  flogi- 


tiD,  rea  penitus  ymo  ab  omni  huniani- 
tate  seposlta,  dudum  fide  Jignoium 
lakclone  multorum  .  ,  .  ."  Those 
employe!  "  sajzare  "  mtut  be  well 
armed,  "  in  mana  forti  ne  po&alt  per 
lllos  fratres  ab  eorum  famUias  reaisti." 
ImjufsitiDn  vrafl  to  be  made  "  paiiiou- 
lariter  at  iiverslm  omtiittinda  c^o 
potwunt,  etiam  ubt  faciendum  ride* 
i-int,  per  tormonta." — p.  197, 


CHAP.  I. 


FURTHER  PROCEEDINGS. 


197 


fit  executioners  of  such,  a  mandate,  were  intrusted  with 
the  arrest  of  the  Grand  Master  and  tha  Knights  in 
Paris.  Jacques  du  Molay  but  the  day  before  had  held 
the  pall  at  the  funeral  of  the  King's  sister."  They  were 
confined  in  separate  dungeons.  The  royal  officers  took 
possession  of  the  strong  and  stately  mansion  which  had 
given  refuge  to  the  King.  Everywhere  throughout 
France  there  was  the  same  suddenness,  the  earn 3 
despatch,  the  same  success.  Every  Templar  in  the 
realm  was  a  prisoner.11 

The  secrecy,  the  celerity,  the  punctuality  with  which 
those  orders  were  executed  throughout  the  pnrthejp,,,. 
realm,  could  not  but  excite,  even  had  they  w*410^- 
been  employed  on  an  affair  of  less  moment,  amazement 
and  admiration  bordering  on  terror.  Ths  Templara 
were  wealthy,  powerful,  had  connexions  at  once  among 
the  highest  and  the  humblest  families.  They  had  been 
haughty,  insolent,  but  many  at  least  lavish  in  alms- 
giving. They  partook  of  the  sanctity  which  invested 
fill  religious  bodies ;  they  were  or  had  been  the  defenders 
nf  the  Sepulchre  of  Christ;  they  had  fought,  knelt, 
worshipped  in  the  Holy  Land.  It  was  prudent,  if  not 
necessary,  to  crush  at  once  all  popular  sympathy;  to 
leave  no  doubt  of  the  King's  justice,  or  suspicion  of  his 
motives  in  seizing  such  rich  and  tempting  endowments. 
The  very  day  after  the  apprehension  of  the  Knights, 
the  Canons  of  Notre  Dame  and  the  Masters  of  the 
University  of  Paris  were  assembled  in  the  Chapter- 
house of  that  church.  The  Chancellor  William  of 


Micheht, 
Hist.  Asa  Franfals,  vol.  iv.  ch.  iii. 

1  Neither  the  iiatnes  nor  the  num- 
bers of  the  prison  are  ID  pther  SDDCS- 
chaltiea  are  known.  Sixty  were 


ancsted  at  Bcaucnuu ;  forty-five  of 
these  incarcerated  At  Aigiu's  Moi'tfie, 
fiftean  at  Nlsniea.  Thirty-three  w«w 
committed  to  the  royal  costle  « 
Alan. 


193 


LATIN  CHEISTIAITITT. 


Charges 


Nogaretj  tie  Provost  of  Paris,  and  others  of  the  King's 
minister  a,  with  William  Imbert,  the  King's  Confess  or 
and  Grand  Inquisitor  of  iha  realm,  to  whose  jurisdiction 
the  whole  affair  was  committed,  made  their  appearance, 
and  arraigned  ths  Order  on  five  enormous 
charges.11  I.  The  denial  of  Christ  and  the 
insult  to  the  Cross ;  II.  The  adoration  of  an  idolatrous 
head;  III.  The  kisses  at  their  reception;  IV.  The 
omission  of  the  words  of  consecration  in  the  mass; 
V.  Unnatural  crimes.  Dn  the  same  day  (Saturday)  the 
theological  faculty  of  Paris  was  summoned  to  give  judge- 
ment whether  the  King  could  proceed  against  a  reli- 
gious Order  on  his  own  authority,  They  took  time  for 
their  deliberation :  their  formal  sentence  was  not  pro- 
mulgated till  some  months  after;  its  substance  was 
probably  declared  or  anticipated.  A  temporal  judge 
cannot  pass  sentence  in  case  of  heresy,  unless  summoned 
thereto  by  the  Church,  and  where  the  heretics  have 
been  made  ovsr  to  the  secular  arm.  But  in  case  of 
necessity  he  may  apprehend  and  imprison  a  heretic, 
with  ths  intent  to  deliver  him  over  to  the  Church,11 
Pwaciunga.  ^B  next  ^av  (Sunday)  the  whole  clergy  and 
the  people  from  all  the  parishes  of  tlis  city 
were  gathered  together  in  the  gardens  of  the  royai- 
palace.  Sermons  were  delivered  by  the  most  popular 
preachers,  the  Friars  ;  addresses  Were  made  to  the  mul- 
titude by  the  King's  ministers,  denouncing,  blackening, 
aggravating  the  crimes  of  the  Templars,  No  means 
were  spared  to  allay  any  possibls  movement  of  interest 


*  "  Casua  enormisgimos."  Baluzii 
Vit,  I,  The  first  of  theae  lives  (of  Cle- 
mepb  V,)  was  jyntten  by  John,  Canon 
of  St.  Victor  in  Paris,  and  therefore  ia 


tha  best  authority  for  the  eventi  in 
Pavia, 

*  Owner,  ii,  p.  207.    WJckB)  i,  pi 
284. 


.  1.  THE  TRIBUNAL,  199 

in  their  favour.  Blow  followed  blow  without  pause  or 
delay;  every  rebellious  impulse  of  sympathy,  every 
feeling  of  compunction,  respect,  gratitude,  pity,  must 
be  crushed  by  terror  out  of  the  hearts  of  men.y  Tha 
Grand  Inquisitor  opened  his  Court,  with  the  Chancellor, 
and  as  many  of  the  King's  ministers  as  were  present. 
The  apprehension  of  the  Templars,  in  order  to  th&ir 
safe  custody,  and  with  the  intent  to  deliver  them  over 
to  the  Church,  was  assumed,  or  declared  to  be  within, 
the  province  of  the  temporal  power.  Tha  final  judge- 
ment was  reserved  for  tha  Archbishops  and  Bishops: 
but  the  Head  of  the  Inquisition,  ths  Dominican  William 
Imbert,  thus  lent  the  terrors  of  his  presence  to  the 
King's  commission. 

The  tribunal  sat  from  day  to  day,  endeavouring  to 
extort  confession  from  the  one  hundred  and  T^  trnra. 
forty  prisoners,  who  wero  separately  examined.  naL 
These  men,  some  brave  and  well-born,  but  mostly  rude 
and  illiterate  soldiers,  some  humble  servitors  of  the 
Order,  were  brought  up  from  their  dungeons  without 
counsel,  mutual  communication,  or  legal  advice,  and 
submitted  to  every  trial  which  subtloty  or  cruelty  could 
invent,  or  which  could  work  on  the  feebler  or  tho  firmer 
mind, — shame,  terror,  pain,  the  hope  of  impunity,  of 
reward,  Confession  was  bribed  out  of  sumo  by  offers 
of  indulgence,  wrung  from  others  by  the  dread  of 
torture,  by  actual  torture, — torture,  with  the  various 
ways  of  which  our  hearts  must  be  shocked,  that  wo  may 
judge  more  fairly  on  their  effects.  These  were  among1 
the  forms  of  procedure  by  torture  in  those  times,  with- 
out doubt  mercilessly  employed  in  the  dungeons  which 


•  v  "  Ne  popiilus  Bcandaliziu-etur  de  eorum  tarn  sulitatieft  cnptlone, 
loippe  potentisfiimi  divitiis  et  honors."— Vit,  1. i>,  9 


200  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  XII. 

confine!  the  Templars.  The  criminal  was  stripped,  hia 
hands  tied  behind  him ;  the  cord  which  lashed 
his  hands  hung  upon  a  pulley  at  some  height 
above.  At  the  sign  of  the  judge  he  waa  hauled  up  with 
a  frightful  wrench,  and  then  violently  let  fall  to  the 
ground.  This  was  called  in  the  common  phrase,  hoisting, 
It  was  the  mast  usual,  perhaps  the  mildest  form  of 
torture.  After  that  the  feet  of  ths  criminal  were  fixed 
in  a  kind  of  stocks,  rubbed  with  oil,  and  fire  applied  to 
the  soles.  If  he  show  si  a  disposition  to  confess,  a  board 
was  driven  between  his  feet  and  the  fire ;  if  he  gave  no 
further  hopes,  it  was  withdrawn  again.  Then  iron  boots 
were  fitted  to  the  naked  heels,  and  contracted  either  by 
wedges  or  in  some  other  manner.  Splinters  of  wood 
were  driven  up  the  nails  into  the  finger-joints;  teeth 
were  wrenched  out ;  heavy  weights  hung  on  the  most 
sensitive  parts  of  the  body,  even  on  the  genitals.  And 
these  excruciating  agonies  wera  inflicted  by  the  basest 
executioners,  on  proud  men,  suddenly  degraded  into 
criminals,  their  spirits  shattered  either  by  the  sudd  en 
withdrawal  from  the  light  of  day,  from  the  pride,  pomp, 
it  might  be  the  luxury  of  life  into  foul,  narrow,  sunless- 
dungeons  ;  or  more  slowly  broken  by  long  incarceration 
in  these  clammy,  noisome  holes :  some  almost  starved. 
The  effect  upon  their  minds  will  appear  hereafter  from 
the  horror  and  shuddering  agony  with  which  they  ar& 
reverted  to  by  the  bravest  Knights.  If  their  haroS 
frames,  inured  to  endurance  in  adventure  and  war, 
might  feel  less  acutely  the  bodily  sufferings,  their  lofty 
and  generous  minds  would  be  more  sensitive  to  the 
shame  and  degradation.  Knights  were  racked  like  the 
basest  slaves ;  and  there  was  nothing  to  awaken,  every- 
thing to  repress,  the  pride  of  endurance ;  no  publicity, 
nothing  of  the  stern  consolation  of  defying,  or  bearing 


CHAP. 


CONFESSIONS. 


201 


bravely  or  contemptuously  before  tha  eyes  of  men  tha 
cruel  agony.  It  was  all  secret,  all  in  the  depths  of  the 
gloomy  dungeon,  where  human  sympathy  and  human, 
admiration  could  not  find  their  way.  And  according 
to  the  rigour  and  the  secrecy  of  the  torture  was  the 
terrible  temptation  of  the  weak  or  fearful,  of  those 
whose  patience  gave  way  with  the  first  wrench  of  the 
rack,  to  purchase  impunity  by  acknowledging  whatever 
the  accuser  might  suggest :  to  despair  of  themselves,  of 
the  Drier,  whose  doom  might  seem  irretrievably,  irrevoc- 
ably seal  eel.  Their  very  vices  (and  no  doubt  many  had 
vices),  the  unmeasured  haughtiness  of  most,  the  licen- 
tious self-indulgence  of  some,  would  aggravate  the 
trial ;  utter  prostration  would  follow  overweening  pride, 
softness,  luxury. 

Some  accordingly  admitted  at  once  or  slowly,  and 
with  bitter  tears,  a  part  or  the  whole  of  the 

-  -f  i       .         i      i         -,i        Confusions. 

charges;  some  as  it  seemed,  touched  with 
repentance,  some  at  the  threats,  at  the  eight  of  the 
instruments  of  torture ;  some  not  till  after  long  actual 
suffering;  some  beguiled  by  blond  promises;  some 
subdued  by  starvation  in  prison.  Many,  however,  per- 
severed to  the  and  in  calm  and  steadfast  denial,  more 
retracted  their  confessions,  and  expired  upon  the  rack.2 
The  King  himself,  by  one  account,  was  present  at  the 
examination  of  the  Grand  Master :  the  awe  of  the  royal 
presence  wrought  some  to  confession,  But  Philip  with- 


*  "Factumiue  eat  ut  cor  urn  non- 
nnlh  spnnte  quo-dam  pricmisaorum  vel 
omnia  kcrymabiliter  sunt  confessf. 
Alii  quidera,  ut  viflubatm,  puenitanti^ 
duet),  alii  ant  em  diversu  tonnentis 


upeotu  pertarriti;   alii  blabdis  tract! 
promise]  wnibus  at  illecti  ;  alii  careens 


medift  cniuatl  vel  court!  multiplici* 
terqua  cDiBpulsi.  .  .  .  Multi  tinmen 
pemtufl  omnia  negarsrunt,  et  pluret 
qu  confefisi  primi  ftierunb  ad  nega* 
tinncm  poatea  reversi  aunt,  m  ea  for- 
titer  persDreranteflj  quorum  nonnulli 
inter  ipsa  supplicia  perierunt," 
tinuat.  Nnngia. 


202 


1ATIN  DHBJSTIANITY. 


BoocXIL 


drew,  it  should  seem,  when,  tortures  were  actually 
applied,  under  which,  it  ia  said,  in  the  unintentional 
irony  of  the  historian,  some  willingly  confessed,  though 
others  died  without  confession.  To  those  who  confessed 
ths  King  seemed  disposed  to  hold  out  the  possibility  of 
mercy." 

After  some  interval  the  University  of  Paris  was  sum- 
Cunfession  moned  to  the  Temple  to  hear  nothing  IBSS  than 
SiMteJ"1  the  confession  of  the  Grand  Master  himself. 
How  Du  Malay  was  wrought  to  confession,  by  what 
persuasion  or  what  violence,  remained  among  the  secrets 
of  his  dungeon ;  it  is  equally  uncertain  what  were  the 
articles  which  hs  confessed,  Some  at  this  trial  asserted 
that  the  accursed  form  of  initiation  nad  been  unknown 
in  the  Order  till  within  the  last  forty  years.  -But  this 
was  not  enough;  they  must  be  won  or  compelled,  to 
more  full  acknowledgement.  At  a  second  sassion  before 
the  University  the  Master  and  the  rest  pleaded  guilty, 
and  in  the  name  of  the  whols  Order,  to  all  the  charges.1' 
The  King's  Almoner,  the  Treasurer  of  the  TemplS  at 
Paris,  made  the  same  confession.  But  this  confession 
of  the  Grand  Master,  however  industriously  bruit  eel 
abroad,  in  whatever  form  it  might  seem  fit  to  the  enemies 
of  the  Order,  though  no  doubt  it  had  a  powerful  effect 


»  "  Mngister  militia;  Templniioium 
cum  multia  mihtibus,  et  viria  magnLs 
BUI  Ordinis  captus  apud  Pausing  soram 
Regs  praduotua  fuisaet.  Tuno  guidam 
ipaorum  propter  veieoundiam  venta- 
tem  da  pisBimsais  denegnverunt,  et 
ijuijam  alii  ipsam  sibi  confessi  fua- 
runt.  Sed  posted  illi  ijui  denegnbant 
cum  tormentis  ipsara  tuno  libenter 
confitebantur,  et  alqui  ipaprum  m 
tormentis  tine  confessions  momlian- 


tm,  vel  comburebantur  (the  turning 
was  later).  Et  tune  da  confitentibus 
ultra  (ultra?)  veritatem  ipse  mitlua 
ss  habebab."— Vit,  TI.  apod  Balnz, 
p.  101. 

b  They  were  not  content  to  admit 
"  ijUDsdam  ELrticuhrum,"  "Itam  in 
alia,  cDngregaUone  coram  TJnivaraltati 
Magiatar  eb  alii  plarea  almplimter  flont 
confessl,  et  Magiflter  pro  toto  Drdine," 
— Tit.  I.  p,  HO. 


CRAP.  I.     INTERROGATORIES  IN  TEE  PROVINCES.  203 

up  DO.  tile  weaker  brethren  who  sought  a  precedent  for 
their  weakness,  and  with  thosa  who  might  think  a  cause 
abandoned  by  the  Grand  Master  utterly  desperate,  by 
no  means  produced  complete  submission,  Still  a  great 
number  of  the  Knights  repudiated  the  base  example, 
disbelieved  its  authenticity,  or  excused  it,  as  wrung 
from  him  by  intolerable  tortures ;  they  sternly  adhered 
to  their  denial.  One  biave  old  Knight  in  the  South 
declared  that  "  if  the  Grand  Master  had  uttered  such 
things,  he  had  lied  in  hia  throat." 

The  interrogatory  had  done  ita  work.  The  prisoners 
were  carried  back  to  their  dungeons,  some  in  the 
Temple,  some  in  the  Louvre,  and  in  other  prisons.  The 
Grand  Master  with  the  three  Preceptors  of  the  Order 
were  transferred  to  the  royal  castle  of  Corbeil;  ths 
Treasurers  to  Moret.  In  these  prisons  many  died  of 
hunger,  of  remorse,  aud  anguish,  of  mind ;  some  hung 
themselves  in  despair.0 

With  no  less  awful  despatch  proceeded  the  interro- 
gatories in  other  parts  of  France.  Everywhere  torture 
was  prodigally  used ;  everywhere  was  the  saina  result, 
some  free  confessions,  some  retractations  of  confessions ; 
some  bold  and  inflexible  denials  of  the  whole;  some 
equivocations,  some  submissions  manifestly  racked  out 
of  unwilling  witnesses  by  imprisonment,  exhaustion, 
and  agony. 

The  Grand  Inquisitor  proceeded  on  a  circuit  to 
Bayeux :  in  tha  other  northern  cities  he  dele- 
gated  his  work  usually  to  Dominican  Friars, 
Thirteen  were  examined  at  Caen,  seven  of  0ct-fla-iaD7' 
them  had  been  previously  interrogated  at  Font  da 


*  "  Ubi  famn  Taferebat,  plures  mortuDs  fuisM  Inedift,  vel  cordis  tristitii  v* 
ei  desperations  axiBpenJiu  pciuse." — Vit.  I. 


2D4 


LATIN  DHEISTIANITT. 


BOOK  XII, 


1'Arche.  Twelve  made  confession  after  torture,  on  tha 
promiss  of  absolution  from  the  Church,  and  security 
against  secular  punishment.  Ten  others  were  examined 
at  Pont  de  1'Arohe.  In  the  south,  of  seven  at  Oahora, 
two  recanted  their  confession.  At  ClBrmont  twenty- 
nins  obstinately  denied  the  charges,  forty  admitted  their 
truth.  Two  German  Templars,  returning  from  Paris, 
were  arrested  at  Dhaumont,  in  Lorraine ;  they  stead- 
fastly denied  the  whole.  In  the  seneschalty  of  Beaucaire 
and  Nismes4  sixty-six  Templars  had  been  arrested  by 
Edward  As  Maubrisson  and  William  de  St.  Just,  the 
Lieutenant  of  the  Seneschal,  Eertrand  Jourdain  de 
I'lsls.  They  had  been  committed  to  different  prisons. 
Edward  de  Maubrisson  held  his  first  sitting  at  Aigues 
Kortes  upon  forty-five  -who  were  in  the  dungeons  of 
that  city.  The  King's  Advocate,  the  Bang's  Justice, 
and  two  other  nobles  were  present,  but  no  ecclesiastic 
either  during  this  or  any  of  the  subsequent  sessions. 
According  to  the  prscise  instructions  the  following 
questions  were  put  to  the  criminals,  but  cautiously  and 
carefully,8  and  at  first  only  in  general  terms,  in  order  to 
elicit  free  confession.  Where  it  was  necessary  torture  was 
to  be  applied.  I.  That  on  the  reception  the  postulant 
was  led  into  a  sacristy  behind  the  altar,  commanded 
thrice  to  deny  Christ,  and  to  apit  on  the  crucifix.  Then, 
II.  Whan  he  was  unclothed,  the  Initiator  kissed  Jhrni 
on  the  navel,  the  spine,  and  the  mouth.  III.  He  was 
granted  full  licence  for  the  indulgence  of  unnatural 
lusts.  IV,  Girt  with  a  cord  which  had  been  drawn 


*  In  thia  Beneschfllty  lay  the  great 

estate  of  William  of  Nogaret,  There  are 

.  leveral  royal  grants  m  the  documents  at 

Jie  end  of  Ma"nard,Histoire  deNismea, 


vol.  i.,  which  show  that  Nogaret  wai 
not  sparingly  rewarded,  even  by  hi« 
parsimonious  king,  for  his  services, 
•  "  Caute  at  diligenter." 


CHAP.  I  GOJSTESSIUISS.  205 

across  the  idol-head.  In  the  provincial  chapters  an.  idol, 
a  human  head  was  worshipped.  V.  The  clerical  brethren 
were  alone  to  be  pressed  on  the  omission  of  the  words 
in  ths  mass. 

Eight  servitors  were  first  introduced.  They  confessed 
the  whole  of  iiha  first  charges;  they  declared  NDV  8i 
that  tliBy  had  denied  Christ  in  fear  of  iurpri-  13DT- 
sonmsnt,  even  of  death;  but  they  had  denied  him  with 
the  lips,  not  the  heart ;  they  swora  that  they  had  never 
committed  unnatural  crimes ;  of  the  idol  and  the  omis- 
sion of  the  words  in  the  mass  they  knew  nothing.  Da 
the  following  day  thirty-five  more  were  examined,  all 
servitors  except  one  clerk  and  three  Knights,  Pons 
Segum,  Bertrand  de  Silva,  Bertraud  de  Salgues.  The 
same  confession,  word  for  word,  the  same  reservation: 
the  priest  alone  acknowledged  that  he  had  administered 
an  unconsecrated  Host,  omitting  the  words  of  consecra- 
tion; but  in  his  heart  he  had  never  neglected  to  utter 
them.  There  is  throughout  the  same  determination  to 
limit  the  confession  to  the  narrowest  bounds,  to  keep 
to  the  worda  of  the  charges,  absolutely  to  exculpate 
themselves,  and  to  criminate  the  Order,  from  which 
some  might  rejoice  to  be  released,  others  think  irre- 
vocably doomed.  They  were  all  afterwards  summoned, 
in  the  presence  of  two  monks  in  the  Dominican  cloister 
at  Nismes,  to  whom  the  Grand  Inquisitor  had  given 
power  to  act  for  the  Holy  Office,  to  repeat  thai)1 
confession,  and  admonished  within  eight  days  still 
further  to  confess  any  heresies  of  which  they  might 
have  been  guilty.  Maubrisson  also  passed  to  Nismes; 
fifteen  servitors  were  interrogated;  there  were  the 
flame  confessions,  the  same  denials.  At  Carcassonne 
the  Preceptor  of  the  wealthy  house  of  Villcdieu,  Cas- 
flaigaes,  with  four  others,  was  examined  before  th« 


20S 


LATXN  CHRISTIANITY. 


BOOK  XIL 


Poitiers 
Oct.  87. 


Bishop,  Peter  de  Kochefort:    they  admitted  all,  even 
the  idol.* 

The  Pope  was  no  IBSS  astounded  than  the  rest  of 
Christendom  by  this  sudden  and  rapid  measure, 
BD  0ppOSite  to  the  tardy  and  formal  procedures 
of  the  Itoman  Court.  It  was  a  flagrant  and  insulting 
invasion  of  the  Papal  rights,  the  arrest  of  a  whole 
religious  Order,  under  the  special  and  peculiar  pro- 
tection of  the  Pope,  and  the  seizure  of  all  their  estates 
and  goods,  so  far  as  yet  appeared,  for  the  royal  use. 
It  looked  at  first  like  a  studied  exclusion  of  all  spiritual 
persons  even  from  the  interrogatory.  Clement 
could  not  suppress  his  indignation:  he  broke 
out  into  angry  expressions  against  the  King;  he  issued 
a  Bull,  in  which  he  declared  it  an  unheard-of  measure 
that  the  secular  power  should  presume  to  judge  religious 
persons;  to  the  Pops  alone  belonged  the  jurisdiction  over 
the  Knights  Templars.  He  deposed  William  Imbert  from 
the  office  of  Grand  Inquisitor,  as  having  presumptuously 
overstepped  his  powers.  He  sent  two  Legates,  the  Cardi- 
nal Berenger  of  Fredeol  and  Stephen  of  Suza,  to  demand 
the  surrender  of  the  prisoners  and  of  their  estates  to  the 
Pope.  In  a  letter  to  the  Archbishops  of  RliBims,  Bourges 
and  Tours,  he  declared  that  he  had  been  utterly  amazed 
at  tha  arrest  of  the  Templars,  and  the  hasty  proceedings 
of  the  Grand  Inquisitor,  who,  though  he  lived  in  his  im- 
mediate neighbourhood,  had  given  him  no  intimation  of 
the  King's  design.  He  had  his  own  viewa  on  the  subject ; 
his  mind  could  not  be  induced  to  believe  the  charges.* 


1  The  report,  the  fnllM  anil  most 
minute  of  all,  as  to  the  interrogatories 
at  Niemea,  ia  dated  1310.  Bqt  it 
contains  the  eailjer  proceedings  from 
the  beginning  of  the  prosecution  out 


of  the  Authentic  Acts.    I  hare  there* 
fore  dwelt  upon  it  move  at  length.— • 
Me'nard,  Hist,   de  Nismes,  p.  449 
Preuvea,  p.  105. 
if  Dflchery,  SpfciLegium,  x,  366. 


CHAP.  I. 


MESSAGE  TO  ENGLAND. 


207 


But,  when  the  first  impulse  of  his  wrath  was  over,  the 
Pope  felt  his  own.  impotence;  he  -was  in  the  toils,  in 
the  power,  now  imprudently  within  the  dominions,  of  ths 
relentless  Philip  ;  his  resentment  speedily  cooled  down. 
The  great  prelates  of  Francs  arrayed  themselves  on  the 
side  of  the  King.  Tha  King  held  secret  councils  at 
Melun,  and  at  other  places,  with  the  Princes  and  Bishops 
of  the  realm,  meditating,  it  might  be,  strong  measures 
against  the  Pops.  Somewhat  later,  the  Archbishop  of 
Bheims  announced  to  the  King  that  himself,  with  his 
Suffragans  and  Chapter,  had  met  at  Senlia,  and  were 
prepared  to  aid  the  King  in  the  prosecution  of  ths 
Templars.11 

The  King  of  France  had  laid  down  a  wide  scheme  foi 
the  suppression  of  the  Templars,  not  in  his  own  domi- 
nions alone,  but  throughout  Christendom.  Abolished 
on  account  of  their  presumed  irregularities  in  France, 
they  could  not  be  permitted,  as  involved  jo.  the  same 
guilt,  to  subsist  in  the  English  dominions  ifi  Francs,  in 
Provence,  or  even  in  England.  Already,  on  Message  to 
ths  issuing  the  instructions  for  their  arrest,  KnBUndi 
Philip  had  despatched  an  ecclesiastic,  Bernard  Pelet,  to 
his  son-in-law,  Edward  II,  of  .England,  to  inform  him  of 
their  guilt  and  heresy,  and  to  urge  him  to  taks  the 
same  measures  for  their  apprehension,  Edward  and 
his  Barons  declared  themselves  utterly  amazed  at  the 
demand.1  Neither  he  nor  his  Prelates  and  Barons  could 
at  first  credit  the  abominable  and  execrable  charges; 
but  before  the  end  of  the  year,  the  Pope  himself,  aa 


•  "  Ad  vastram  presenciam  duximus 
destinandum  (episoopuin)  ad  nssentien- 
dum  geranium  Deum  et  justitiam 
raajestati."— Archives  Aimi- 


niatrat,  Je  Ebuims,  Collect.  Document! 
Incite,  ii.  05. 

1  22nd  Sept.,  Edwardus  Philippe,— 
Rymer,  ill.  ad  *nn.  13  D7,  / 


203 


LATIN  OEBISTIANm. 


BOOH  XIL 


if  nil  willing  that  Edward,  as  Philip  had  done,  should 
take  the  affair  into  his  own  hands  and  proceed  without 
Papal  authority,  hastened  to  issue  a  Bull,  in  which  h& 
commanded  the  King  to  arrest  all  the  Templars  in  his 
dominions;  and  to  sequester  their  lands  and  property. 
The  Bull,  however,  seemed  studiously  to  limit  the  guilt 
to  individual  niBmhers  of  the  Drder.k  The  goods  were 
to  be  retained  for  tha  service  of  the  Holy  Land,  if  the 
Order  should  be  condemned,  otherwise  to  bs  preserved 
for  the  Order.  It  referred  to  the  confession  of  tha 
Grand  Master  at  Paris,  that  this  abuse  had  crept  in  at 
the  instigation  of  Satan,  contrary  to  the  Institutes  of 
the  Drier.  The  Pope  declares  that  one  brother  of  tha 
Order,  a  man  of  high  birth  and  rank,  had  made  full 
confession  to  himself  of  his  crime ;  that  in  the  kingdom, 
of  Cyprus  a  noble  knight  had  made  his  abnegation  of 
Christ  at  the  command  of  the  Grand  Master  in  the 
presence  of  a  hundred  knights. 

King  Edward  had  hesitated.  On  the  4th  December, 
as  though  under  the  influence  of  the  Templars  them* 
selves,  ha  wrote  to  the  Kings  of  Portugal,  Dastile,  Sicily, 
and  Arragon,  He  expressed  strong  suspicion  of  Barnard 
Pelet,  who  had  presumed  to  make  some  horrid  and  de- 
testable accusations  against  the  Order,  and  endeavoured 
by  letters  of  certain  persons,  which  he  had  produced 
(those  of  the  King  of  France),  but  had  procured,  as 
Edward  believed,  by  undue  means,  to  induce  the  King 
to  imprison  all  the  brethren  of  the  Temple  in  his  do- 
minions. He  urged  those  Kings  to  avert  their  ears 
from  the  calumniators  of  the  Order,  to  join  him  in  pro* 


k  "  Quod  nnguli  fratred  dicti  or- 
dlnifi  in  anil  professions  .  .  ,  eipreflaie 
Tarbifl  abnegant  Jes,  Christum.  «  ,  ." 


See  the  Bull,  "  Pastoralla 

tire  Bolio."— Bay nftldus  aub  aim,  NJV 

23, 


CHAP.  I.  KING  of  NAPLES,  209 

testing  the  Knights  from  the  avarice  and  jealousy  of 
their  enemies."1  Still  later,  King  Edward,  in  a  letter  to 
the  Pops,  asserts  the  pure  faith  and  lofty  morals  of  the 
Order,  and  speaks  of  ths  detractions  and  calumnies  of 
a  few  persons  jealous  of  their  greatness,  and  convicted 
of  ill  will  to  tha  Order.11 

The  Papal  Bull   either   appalled  or  convinced  the 
King  of  England.     Only  five  days  after  his 
letter  (the  Bull  having  arrived  in  the  interim), 
orders  wera  issued  to  the  sheriffs  for  the  general  arrest 
of  the  Templars  throughout  England.     The  persons  of 
the  Knights  were  to  be  treated  with  respect,  the  in- 
ventory of  their  names  and  effects  returned 

_  Dec.  2D 

into  the  Exchequer  at  Weatminstar.  The 
same  instructions  were  sent  to  Wales,  Irsland,  and 
Scotland.  On  the  28th  December  the  King  informed 
the  Pope  that  he  would  speedily  carry  his  commands 
into  execution.  On  the  Wednesday  after  Epiphany  the 
arrest  took  place  with  the  same  simultaneous  prompti- 
tude as  in  France,  and  without  resistance. 

The  King  of  Naples,  as  Count  of  Provence,  followed 
exactly  the  plan  of  the  King  of  France.     He  Bnggj 
transmitted    sealed   instructions    to    all    the  lfflpfl8' 
officers  of  the  Crown,  which  were  to  be  opened  on  the 
24th  January.     On  the  25th  all  the  Templars  in  Pro- 
vence and  Forcalijuier  were  committed  to  the  prisons  of 
Aix  and  Pertuis ;  those  of  the  counties  of  Nice,  G-rafe, 
St.  Maurice,  and  the  houses  in  Avignon  and  Aries,  to 
the  Castle  of  Meirargues. 

Just  at  this  juncture  an  appalling  event  took  place, 


»  "Auresvestraa  fipervBTBoiiim  du- 
tnictiomtius,  4111,  ut  cradimuB,  11011  zelo 
-liuhtudinia  sed  cupiihtotbi  et  timdnc 


spintibus  excitnntur,  avertere  velitis 
— Kedyng.  Dec,,  4,  Kyuicr  sub  aim. 
0  B/mei,  Due.  10, 


V.IT,    T/TT  P 


LATIN  CHRISTIANITY. 


which,  in  some  degree  distracted  the  attention  of  Chris- 
Death  of  the  tBndom  from  the  rapidly  unfolding  tragedy 
Emperor.  of  faQ  Tgmplars,  and  had  perhaps  no  incon- 
siderable though  remote  influBnce  on  their  doom.  The 
Emperor  Albert  was  murdered  at  Konigstein  by  his  own 
nsphaw,  John,  in  the  full  view  of  their  ancestral  house.0 
Tha  "Ring  of  Prance  was  known  to  aspire  to  the  impe- 
rial crown,  if  not  for  himself,  for  his  brother  Charles  of 
Valois.  He  instantly  despatched  ambassadors 
to  secure  the  support  of  ths  Pope  for  Charles 
ofYalois  —  Charles,  the  oil  enemy  of  Clement,  to  whom 
he  had  been  reconciled  only  on  compulsion.  It  is  even 
asserted  that  he  demanded  this  aa  the  last,  the  secret 
stipulation,  sworn  to  by  the  Pope  when  he  sold  himself 
to  the  King  for  the  tiara.p  But  the  accumulation  of 


Charles  of 


•  CDXB  has  told  coldly  the  terrible 
vengeance  of  the  Empress  Agnes.  Shu 
witnessed  the  execution  of  sixty-till ee 
of  the  retainer  of  the  Lord  of  Balm, 
the  accomplice  of  John  of  Ha.pi.burg 
•'  Now,"  she  saii,  as  the  blood  flowed, 
"I  bath  a  in  honey  dew  "  She  founded 
the  magnificent  convent  of  Konigstem, 
of  which  fine  ruina  lemoin  Chiis- 
tinnity  still  finds  a  voice  in  the  wildest 
and  worst  times.  The  rebuke  of  the 
hermit  to  the  vengeful  Empress  must 
be  heard:  "God  is  not  served  by 
shedding  innocent  blooi,  and  by  build- 
ing convents  from  the  pi  Cm  d  21  of 
families,  but  by  confession  and  for- 
giveness of  mjunus." — Compare  Coxe's 
Austria,  oh.  vi. 

F  "Bex  autem  Fmudm  Phihppus, 
audlta  vacations  imperil,  cogitavit 
facile  posse  impermm  redire  al  Fran- 
cos, ratlone  sexts  promissionia  factoj 
mbi  a  Papft,  si  operam  daret  ut  papa 
rj  tsicut  focbum  eat.  Nam  cum 


explicosset  jam  earn,  videlicet  in  de- 
lend  a  ^liquid  gebtum  fuit  per  Boni- 
facmm  et  memoiiam  ejus,  ad  quod 
Papa  se  difficultahat,  at  in  posterum 
hoc  ofieiebat  agendum,  nibitratus  est 
Eex  commutari  faceie  quod  fuerat  poa- 
tulatum  ab  eo  in  sibiutilms  ethonDra- 
bihus  negrtiuui)  ut  videlicet  loco  piffi- 
dictte  petitionu  hoc  oonce Jai  atur,  ut 
Dominus  Carol  us  Yahsienais,  fratei' 
GJUS  eligeretur  m  Impcratorem.  Quod 
satis  a'quum  ut  exiguibile  vidcbatur, 
cum  Bonif.iciua  Papa  IIDB  ei  promisais- 
sst,  et  nd  hoc  inulU  fecciot  pi  o  eccleaife. 
Bud  ab  olim  imperium  fu  erat  apud  Fran*- 
cos  lempoiB  Caroli  mngui,  transhitum 
a  Graois  ad  cos,  SIB  po&ait  tranaira  da 
Teutonics  ad  FiAncofi." — S.  Antonini 
Chronicon,  lii.  p.  270.  This  Chronicle 
is  a  compilation  in  the  words  of  other 
writers,  but  shows  what  writers  were 
held  in  best  esteem,  when  the  Aich- 
bishop  of  Florence  (afterwards  canon- 
isei)  wrote  dunug  the  next  century. 


CHAP.  I.  HENET  OF  LUXEMBURG.  211 

crowns  on  the  heads  of  the  princes  of  Francs  was  not 
more  formidable  to  the  liberties  of  Europe  than  to  the 
Pope,  who  must  inevitably  sink  eVBn  into  more  ignoble 
vassalage.  A  Valois  rulsd  in  France  and  in  Naples. 
A  daughter  of  the  King  of  France  was  on  the  throne 
af  England:  it  might  be  hoped,  or  foreseen,  that  the 
young,  beautiful,  and  ambitious  bride  might  wean  her 
feeble  hudband  from  the  disgraceful  thraldom  of  his 
minions,  and  govern  Mm  who  could  not  govern  himself. 
If  Charles  were  Emperor,  what  power  in  Em-ops  could 
then  resist  or  control  this  omnipotent  house  of  Valois  ? 

Philip  had  already  bought  the  vote  and  support  of 
the  Archbishop  of  Cologne ;  he  anticipated  the  tame 
acquiescence  of  the  Pope.  Charles  of  Valois  visited  the 
Pope  with  the  ostentation  of  respect,  but  at  the  head  of 
six  thousand  men-at-arms. 

But  the  sagacious  Cardinal  da  Prato  was  at  hand  to 
keep  alive  the  fears  and  to  guide  the  actions  of  Clement, 
The  Pope  had  no  resource  but  profound  dissimulation, 
or  rather  consummate  falsehood.  He  wrote  publicly  to 
recommend  Charles  of  Yaloia  to  the  electors;  his  secret 
agents  urged  them  to  secure  their  own  liberties  and  the 
independence  of  the  Church  by  any  other  choice,4  The 
election  dragged  on  for  some  months,  of  doubt,  Henry  of 

•n    j-  i    .   j    •  AJ    i        ^     TT  LincBBflraiB 

vacillation,  and  intrigue.  At  length  Henry  Bmporw, 
of  Luxemburg  was  named  King  of  the  Romans.* 
Clement  pretended  to  submit  to  the  hard  necessity  of 
consenting  to  a  choice  in  which  six  of  the  electors  had 
concurred;  he  could  no  longer  in  decency  assert  the 
claims  of  Charles  of  Valois.  Philip  suppressed  but  did 
not  the  less  brood  ovsr  his  disappointment  and  wrath. 


4  "Scd  omnipotuns  Dena  (writes  S. 
Antoninus)  qui  dishipat  conailia  prm- 
dptua  .  .  .  non  perausit  lem  ipsnm 

Buum  hnbei  B  effectum,  no  cculcsia  regnfi 
Francim  sulijiceietm."  —  Ibid. 
*  At  Fiaufefort,  Nov.  27,  13QIL 
F  2 

212  LATIN  BERISTIAIWTY: 

Thus  all  this  time,  if  Clement  had  any  lingering 
desire  to  show  favour  or  justice  to  the  Templars,  or  to 
maintain  the  Order,  it  had  sunk  into  an  object  not  only 
secondary  to  that  which  he  thought  his  paramount  duty 
and  the  chief  interest  of  the  Papacy,  to  avert  the  con- 
demnation from  tha  memory  of  Boniface ;  but  also  to 
that  of  rescuing  the  imperial  crown  from  the  grasp  of 
France.  TQ  contest  a  third,  a  more  doubtful  issue  with 
King  Philip,  was  in  his  situation,  and  with  his  pliant 
character,  with  his  fatal  engagements,  and  his  want  of 
vigour  and  moral  dignity,  beyond  his  powers. 

The  King  neglected  no  means  to  overawe  the  Pope. 
He  had  succeeded  in  making  his  quarrel  with 
Pope  Boniface  a  national  question.  For  the 
first  time  the  Commons  of  France  had  been  summoned 
i'urmally  and  distinctly  to  the  Parliament,  which  had 
given  weight  and  dignity  to  the  King's  proceedings 
against  Pope  Boniface.8  The  States-General,  the 
burghers  and  citizens,  as  well  as  the  nobles  and  pre- 
lates, the  whole  French  nation,  were  now  again  sum- 
moned to  a  Parliament  at  Tours  on  May  1.  Philip 
knew  that  by  this  time  he  had  penetrated  the  whole 
realm  with  his  hatred  of  the  Templars.  The  Order 
had  been  long  odious  to  the  clergy,  as  interfering  with 
their  proceedings,  and  exercising  spiritual  functions  at 
Ifust  within  their  own  precincts.  The  Knights  sat 
proudly  aloof  in  their  own  fastnesses,  and  despised  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  Bishop  or  tha  Metropolitan.  The 
excommunication,  the  interdict,  which  smote  or  silenced 
tha  clergy,  had  no  effect  within  the  walls  of  the  Temple 
Their  balls  tolled,  their  masses  were  chanted,  when  all 
the  rest  of  the  kingdom  was  in  silence  and  sorrow ;  men 

*  See  above,  p,  117. 


CHAP.  T, 


PAELIAMENT  OF  TOURS. 


213 


fled  to  them  to  find  the  consolations  forbidden  else- 
where. Their  ample  and  growing  estates  refused  to 
pay  tithe  to  the  clergy;  their  exemption  rested  on 
Papal  authority.  It  was  on  a  of  the  charges  which  in 
enormity  seemed  to  be  not  less  hateful  than  the  most 
awful  blasphemy  or  the  foulest  indulgences,  that  the 
great  officers,  the  Grand  Master,  though  not  in  orders, 
dared  to  pronounce  the  absolution.  The  Nobles  wertj 
jealous  of  a  privileged  Order,  and  no  doubt  with  th& 
commonalty  looked  to  soms  lightening  of  thsir  own 
burthens  from  the  confiscation,  to  which  they  would 
willingly  give  their  suffrage,  of  the  estates  of  the 
Templars ;  nor  did  these  proud  feudal  lords  like  men 
prouder  than  themselves.*  Among  the  commonalty 
the  dark  rumours  so  industriously  disseminated,  the 
reports  of  full  and  revolting  confessions,  had  now  been 
long  working ;  the  popular  mind  waa  fully  poaaesaed 
with  horror  at  these  impious,  execrable  practices.  At 
particular  periods,  free  institutions  are  the  most  ready 
and  obsequious  instruments  of  tyranny :  the  popular 
Parliament  of  Philip  the  Fair  sanctioned,  by  their  ac- 
clamation, hia  worst  iniquities  ;u  and  ths  politic  Philip, 
before  this  appeal  to  the  people,  knew  well  to  what 
effect  the  popular  voice  would  speak.  The  Parliament 
of  Tours,  with  hardly  a  dissentient  vote,  d 3 dared  tlin 
Templars  worthy  of  death,*  The  University  of  Paris 
gave  the  weight  of  their  judgement  as  to  the  fulness 
and  authenticity  of  tha  confessions;  at  the  same  time 
they  reasserted  the  sole  right  of  the  Roman  Court  to 
pass  the  final  sentence. 


*  Eight  of  the  nobility  of  Languedoc, 
at  the  Parliament  of  Tours,  entrusted 
their  powers  to  William  of  Nogiuet. — 
Hist,  de  Languedoc,  iv.  143. 

•  *  Intendebat  onion  Rax  sapienter 


ngere,  Et  nJuo  volebiib  hominem  cujus- 
hbet  cnnditionis  i  Bgni  sui  habere  jnili- 
cium  vel  nsaenaum,  ne  poseit  m  nliquc 

i,"— Yit,  i.  -3.  12. 
Vit  i.  ibid. 


2U 


LATIN  DHRISTIANITT. 


Hot  K  XII. 


From  Tours,  the  King,  with  his  sons,  brothers,  and 
chief  counsellors,  proceeded  at  Whitsuntide  to  the  Pope 
at  Poitiers.  He  came  armed  with  the  Acts  of  the 
13-eneral  Estates  of  the  realm.  They  were  laid  before 
the  Pope  by  William  da  Plasian.  The  Pope  was  sum- 
moned to  proceed  against  the  Order  for  confessed  and 
notorious  heresy. 

This  appeal  to  his  tribunal  seemed  to  awaken  Clement 
to  the  consciousness  of  his  strength.  For  the  temporal 
power  to  assume  the  right,  even  now  when  the  Pope 
was  in  the  King's  realm,  of  adjudging  in  causes  of 
heresy,  was  too  flagrant  an  invasion  on  the  spiritual 
power.  The  fata  of  the  Order  too  must  depend  on  the 
Pope.  The  King  might  seize,  imprison,  interrogate, 
even  put  to  the  torture,  individual  Templars,  his  sub- 
jects; but  the  dissolution  of  the  Order,  founded  under 
the  Papal  sanction,  guaranteed  by  so  many  Papal 
Bulls,  could  not  be  commanded  by  any  other  authority. 
Clement  entrenched  himself  behind  the  yet  lingering 
awe,  the  yet  unquestioned  dignity  of  the  Papal  SBB. 
"  The  charges  were  heavy,  but  they  had  bean  pressed 
on  with  indecent  haste,  without  consulting  the  successor 
of  St.  Peter;  the  Grand  Inquisitor  had  exceeded  his 
powers ;  the  Pope  demanded  that  all  the  prisoners 
should  be  made  over  to  himself,  the  sole  judge  in  such 
high  matters."  Long  and  sullen  discussions  took  place 
between  the  Cardinals  and  the  Counsellors  of  the  King7 

The  King  (the  affair  of  the  Empire  was  not  settled, 
that  was  the  secret  of  Clement's  power)  was  unwilling 
to  drive  the  Pope  to  extremities.  He  ordered  copies  of 


ibi  prEtactum  nego- 
tiutn  factis,  allegatiottibuB  et  ration- 
ibua,  pro  parte  P&pte  et  respon- 
«cmbus  pro  Rege,  nUimiituBque  et 


replication  ibua  multis  utrinqup  coram 
caidinalibiw  cleioqua  et  catena  ijui 
moroit  difleusBUin."— Vit.  i. 


CHAP,  I. 


JSEW  EXAMINATION. 


215 


all  the  proceedings  against  the  Knights,  and  the  in- 
ventories of  their  goods,  to  be  furnished  to  the  Pontiff. 
This  Clement  took  in  good  part.  The  custody  of  tha 
Estates  and  propeity  of  the  Order  had  given  a  perilous 
advantage  to  the  King.  The  Pope  now  issued  a  circular 
Bull  ta  the  Archbishops  and  Bishops  of  France  to  take 
upon  themselves  the  administration  of  all  the  seques- 
tered goods ;  and  to  them  was  to  be  consigned,  to  each 
within  his  own  diocese,  the  final  examination  and  judge- 
ment." The  Templars  caught  at  the  faint  gleam  of 
hope  that  tha  Church  would  assume  the  judgement; 
they  were  fondly  possessed  with  a  notion  of  the  justice, 
the  humanity  of  the  Church.  Some  instantly  recanted 
their  confessions.  The  King  broke  out  into  a  passion  of 
wrath.  HB  publicly  proclaimed,  that  while  he  faithfully 
discharged  the  duties  of  a  Christian  king  and  a  servant 
of  the  Lord,  the  lukewarm  Vicegerent  of  Christ  was 
tampering  with  heresy,  and  must  answer  befora  God 
for  his  guilt.  The  Pope  took  alarm.  At  1  cngth  it  was 
agreed  that  the  custody  both  of  the  parsons  and  the 
goods  should  remain  with  the  King;  that  the  Knighta 
should  be  maintained  in  prison,  where  they  were  to  lie, 
out  of  the  r avenues  of  their  estatas;  that  no  personal 
punishment  should  bs  inflicted  without  the  consent  of 
the  Pope ;  that  the  fate  of  the  Order  should  be  deter- 
mined at  the  great  Council  of  Vierrne,  summoned  for 
October  10,  131D.a  Clement  reserved  for  himself  the 


1  Clemens  Philippo,— Baluz.  n.  SB. 
Tha  date  IB  eripneous;  it  should  be 
Jul7  3,  130B. 

•  "Tandem  conrentum  eat  inter 
CDS,  quod  RBI  bona  eorum  omnw 
levaret,  BSU  levim  facerut  fidelity  ppr 
ministrps,  et  savors  ea  usquequo  Papa 
cum  ipuD  liege  deliberanet  quid  legi 


expedite!,  aed  punitionem  corpurum  non 
faceret;  corpora  tamcn  eorum  servari 
faceiet,  Bicut  feceiat,  et  4e  proveiitibua 
domorum  TempU  sustentan  tuque  aa 
roncilium  generals  futuivnn :  corpDiv 
autem  ex  tune  panehut  1'apa  in  mauu 
Bull."  This  left,  as  we  bhall  HBC,  nil  tu  turn 
public  trml  to  the  Church  — Vit.J.p.  13. 


210 


.LATIN  DHEISTIAKITT. 


BOOK  XII 


sentence  on  the  Grand  Master  anil  other  chief  officers 
of  the  Temple. 

Yet  before  Philip  left  Poitiars,  seventy-two  Templars 
were  brought  from  different  prisons  (with  the  King  and 
the  King's  Counsellors  rested  the  selection)  they  were 
interrogated  before  ths  Pope  and  the  Cardinals.  All  con- 
fess Bd  the  whole :  they  were  remanded.  In  a  few  days 
after,  their  confessions  were  read  to  them  in  the  vulgar 
tongue,  in  the  Consistory;  all  adhered  to  their  truth. 

But  tha  Grrand  Master  and  some  of  the  principal  pre- 
ceptors of  the  Order — those  of  Normandy,  Aquitaine, 
and  Poitou — were  now  in  confinement  in  the  castle  of 
Chmon.  Some  of  them  could  not  mount  on  horseback, 
some  were  so  weak  that  they  could  not  be  conveyed  to 
Poitiers  :b  the  torture  and  the  dungeon  had  done  their 
work.  Three  Cardinals  (Berenger  of  S.  Nireus  and 
Achilleus,  Stephen  of  S.  Dyriac,  Landolph  of  8.  Angelo) 
were  commission  ad  to  go  and  receive  their  depositions. 
The  Cardinals  reported  that  all  those  Knights,  in  the 
presence  of  public  notaries  and  other  good  menj  had 
Sworn  on  the  G-ospels,  without  compulsion  or  fear,  to 
the  denial  of  Christ,  and  the  insult  to  tho  cross  on 
initiation;  some  others  to  foul  and  horrible  offences, 
not  to  be  named.  Du  Malay  had  confessed  the  denial ; 
he  had  empowered  a  servitor  of  the  Order  to  make  the 
rest  of  his  confession.11  The  Cardinals,  having  regard 
to  their  penitence,  had  pronounced  the  absolution  of  the 
Church,  and  recommended  them  to  the  royal  mercy,* 

The  Pope  pretended  that  conviction  had  been  forced 
upon  him  by  these  dreadful  revelations.  He  now  issued 


b  "Sed^UDniam  quidam  ex  eis  SIB 
inflnnabantur  tuuo  tempona,  quod 
equitare  nun  puternnt,  aec  ad  nostram 
presencaam  quojuomodo  adduci."— 


Ths  Pope'g  own  vordfl  m  tha  B"U 
"  Faciena  miaericorifam  "11 

See  on  p.  1 130,       <»  EpistoL  Cai-di- 
. — Bolur.  ii.  121. 


CHAP.  I. 


POPE  CLEMENT  LEAVES  POITIERS. 


217 


a  Bull,  address  ad  to  all  Christendom,  In  which  he  de- 
clared how  slowly  and  with  difficulty  he  had  been 
compelled  to  believe  the  infamy,  the  apostasy  of  the 
noble  and  valiant  Order.  His  beloved  son,  tha  King  of 
France,  not  urged  by  avarice,8  for  he  had  not  intended 
to  confiscate  or  appropriate  to  his  own  USB  the  goods  of 
the  Templars  (he  that  excuses  sometimes  accuses !),  but 
actuated  solely  by  zeal  for  the  faith,  had  laid  informa- 
tion before  him  which  he  could  not  but  receive.  Dna 
Kmght  of  noble  race,  and  of  no  light  esteem  (could 
this  be  Squino  cle  Florian,  the  Prior  of  Montfalcon  ?), 
had  deposed  in  secret,  and  upon  his  oath,  to  these 
things.  It  had  now  been  confirmed  by  seventy-two, 
who  had  confessed  the  guilt  of  the  Order  to  him; 
the  Grand  Master  and  the  others  to  the  Cardinals. 
Throughout  the  world  therefore,  he  commanded,  by  this 
Apostolic  Bull,  that  proceedings  should  be  instituted 
against  the  Knights  of  ths  Temple,  against  tho  Pre- 
ceptor of  the  Order  in  Germany.  The  result  was  to  be 
transmitted,  under  seal,  to  the  Pope.  The  secular  arm 
might  be  called  in  to  compel  witnesses  who  were  con- 
temptuous of  Church  censures  to  bear  their  testimony/ 
Pope  Clamant,  when  this  conference  was  over, 
hastened  to  leave  his  honourable  imprisonment  at 
Poitiers.  He  passed  some  months  at  Bordeaux,  the 
Cardinals  in  the  neighbourhood,  After  the  winter  he 
retired  to  Avignon,  hereafter  to  be  the  residence  of  the 
Transalpine  Popes.*  As  he  passed  through  Toulouse 


a  Is  it  charity  in  the  Pope  to  excul- 
pate the  king  of  avoiice?  "  Non  gippg 
avantiae,  cum  do  bonia  Templanorum 
mhil  sibi  Venditnre  vel  apprupnaie 
mtenclat,"  01  adroitness  to  clench  his 
eanoesaion?  Sea  the  secret  compact 
•bout  the  custody  of  the  goods. — 


Dupny,  Condemnation,  p.  107. 

1  TAB  Bull,  "FaeienB  misencni- 
diani,"  dated  Aug.  12,  1308. 

«  Enluz,  u.  p.  1 34.  Ha  wwi  at  Nar- 
bonna,  Apul  5, 1309,  then  at  Montpel- 
li  er  and  Nistnes ;  he  arrived  at  Avignon 
nt  the  end  of  April. — Meaiud,  p.  45&, 


218 


LATIN  CHRISTIANITY. 


BOOK  XII. 


lie  addressed  a  circular  letter  to  the  King  of  France,  in 
which,  haying  declared  the  unanswerable  evidence  of 
the  heresy  and  the  guilt  of  the  Templars,  he  prohibited 
all  men  from  aiding,  counselling,  or  favouring,  from 
harbouring  or  concealing,  amy  member  of  the  proscribed 
Order;  he  commandsd  all 'persona  to  seize,  arrest,  and 
commit  them  to  safe  custody.  All  this  under  the  pain 
of  severe  spiritual  censure.  Yet  there  were  many  who 
stole  away  unperceived;  and  for  concealment  or  from 
want  submitted  to  the  humblest  functions  of  society,  to 
plebeian  services  or  illiberal  arts.  Many  bore  exile, 
degradation,  indigence,  with  noble  magnanimity — all 
asserting,  wherever  it  was  safe  to  assert  it,  as  in  the 
GhibeUine  cities  of  Lombardy,  the  entire  and  irre- 
proachable innocence  of  the  Order.11 

As  he  passed  through  Nismes,  the  Pope  issued  his 
commission  to  Bertrand,  Bishop  of  that  city,  to  rein- 
vestigate  the  guilt  of  the  prisoners.  Bertrand  held  one 
session;  then,  on  account  of  his  age  and  mfirmity, 
devolved  the  office  on  "William  St.  Lawrence  Cure"  of 
Durfort.  Durfort  opened  his  court  first  at  Nismes, 
afterwards  at  Alais.  Thirty-two,  a  few  Knights,  others 
servitors,  the  same  who  had  confessed  before  the  royal 
commissioners — now  that  the  milder  and  more  impartial 
Church  sat  in  judgement — now  that  their  'chains  were 


h  "Si  qui  autem  ex  Templanoium 
aEtu  manumissl  aut  per  fugam  tib-* 
Btraeti  evadeia  potuerunt,  projectp 
Religioms  sum  habitu  minislenis  pla- 
tans ignoti,  nub  aitibna  illiberalibus 
se  dederunt.  Nonnulli  autem  ex  da- 
rlsBimis  parentibus  orti,  dum  trans- 
fugffi  laooribus  multis  cb  pariculm 
duium  expoaiti,  vitas  tedium  mngni- 
fiois  qniniDnitn  nobilmm  conatibuu 


T.lipendeiunt,  ulfciD  se  gentibus  edi- 
litre,  adjui'iuitcs  ee  objecti  ciimirtlfl 
pi  oraus  insontee ' '  1?  erretus  of  Vi  Benza 
had  bL'fniB  Enid  (and  m  Lottibardy  the 
refugees  would  ogt  fear  to  d ascribe 
their  Bufferings)  that  manj  had  died 
in  pnaon,  "  tarn  iiu  vmculis  retmtoB 
pedoris  Bi^uallorUiiuB  ngldi  angustia 
peremit."— Apud  Murator.  H,  I.  S.  is, 
D.  1017. 


CHAP.  I. 


EXAMINATION  AT  ALAIB. 


219 


struck  off,  and  they  felt  their  limbs  free,  and  hoped 
that  they  should  not  return  to  their  fetii  prisons — 
almost  with  one  voice  disclaimed  their  confessions.  One 
only,  manifestly  in  a  paroxysm  of  fright,  and  in  the 
eager  desire  of  obtaining  absolution,  recanted  his  re- 
cantation. Another,  Drohet,  had  abandoned  the  Order ; 
he  confessed,  but  only  from  hearsay,  and  intreated  not 
to  be  sent  back  to  prison  among  men  whose  heresy 
he  detested.  A  third  appeared  to  the  Court  to  have 
concerted  his  evidence,  was  remanded,  made  amende 
by  a  more  ample  confession,  clearly  from  panic :  he 
had  heard  of  the  cat-idol.  The  rest  firmly,  resolutely 
denied  all.1 


1  The  examination  fit  Alais  began 
June  19,  1313,  ended  July  14.  St. 
Lawrence  took  as  his  assessors  two 
canons  of  Nismcs,  three  Dominicans, 
twu  Franciscans  of  Alms  (Menard,  p. 
209),  Eight  were  bi  ought  from 
Nismea  [of  these  were  thiee  knights), 
seventeen  from  Aigues  Maries,  seven 
from  the  prisons  in  .Alais.  It  should 


be  added  that  the  i  counting  witness 
Bernard  Arnold,  swora  that  tho  pn 
souers  had  met  to  concert — when 
and  where?  —  "  quod  LDtidie  tene- 
bant  sun  colloqum,  ct  SUDS  tractatus 
super  hiis;  ct  aesa  ad  in  vie  BID  m- 
atruunt  qualitei  ncgent  amnm,  et 
dicant  dictum  or  dm  em  bonum  esse  et 
Banotum," — Preuvea,  p,  175, 


223  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  XIL 


CHAPTER  IL 

Process  of  the  Templars. 

THE  affair  of  tha  Templars  slumbered  for  some  months, 
but  it  slumbered  to  awaken  into  terrible  activity.  A 
Papal  Commission"-  was  now  opened  to  inquire,  not  into 
the  guilt  of  the  several  members  of  the  Order,  but  of 
the  Order  itself.  The  Order  was  to  be  arraigned  before 
the  Council  of  Yienne,  which  was  to  decide  on  its 
reorganisation  or  its  dissolution.  This  Dommiasi on  there- 
fora  superseded  all  the  ordinary  jurisdictions  either  of 
the  Bishop  or  of  the  Inquisition,  and,  in  order  to  furnish 
irrefragable  proof  before  the  Council,  summoned  beforu 
it  for  re-examination  all  who  had  before  made  depn- 
sitiona  in  those  Courts.  Their  confessions  were  put  in 
as  evidence,  but  they  had  the  opportunity  of  recanting 
or  disclaiming  those  confessions.1* 

At  the  head  of  the  Commission  was  Grilles  d'Aiscelin, 
Archbishop  of  Narbonne,  a  man  of  learning,  but  no 
strength  of  character ;  the  Bishop  of  Mends,  who  owed 
his  advancement  to  King  Philip ;  the  Bishops  of  Bayeux 
and  Limoges;  the  Archdeacons  of  Eouen  (the  Papal 
Notary),  of  Trent,  and  Maguelonne,  and  the  Provost  of 
Aix.  The  Provost  excused  himself  from  attendance* 
The  Archbishop  and  the  Bishop  of  Bayeux  grew  weary 
and  withdrew  themselves  gradually,  on  various  pretexts, 
from  the  sittings. 

•  Aug.  1309.    The  CommisBiira  Bat,  with  BOTOB  internussba,  to  May,  1311 
*•  See  Haveman,  p,  227. 


CHAP.  n.  COMMISSION  AT  PABIS.  2521 

The  CommissiDii  opened  its  Court  in  the  Bishop's 
palace  at  Paris'1  August  7th,  1309.  The  BuU  issued  by 
the  Pope  at  Poitiers  was  read.1  Then,  after  other  docu- 
ments, a  citation  of  the  Order  of  Hnighta  Templars,  and! 
all  and  every  one  of  the  Brethren  of  the  said  Order. 
This  citation  was  addressed  to  the  Archbishops  of  the 
nine  Provinces,  Sens,  Eheims,  Kouen,  Tours,  Lyons, 
Bourges,  Bordeaux,  Narbonne,  and  Auch,  and  to  their 
suffragans.  It  was  to  ba  suspended  on  the  doors  of  all 
cathedral  and  collegiate  churches,  public  schools,  and 
court-houses,  the  houses  of  the  Templars,  and  the  prisons, 
where  the  Templars  were  confined.  Sworn  messengers 
were  despatched  to  promulgate  this  citation  in  the  pro- 
vinces and  dioceses.  The  Templars  were  to  appear  on 
the  day  after  the  Feast  of  St.  Martin. 

Dn  that  day  not  a  Tamplar  was  seen.     Whether  the 
Bishops  were  reluctant  to  give  orders,  or  the  jrov.ia. 
keepers  of  tha  prisons  to  obey  orders;  whether  commiMion 
uo  means  of  transport  had  been  provided,  no  NB  Tempi*™ 
une  knew ;  or,  what  ia  far  less  likely,  that  tha  ttppeir' 
Templars  themselves  shrunk  from  this  new  interroga- 
tory, hardly  hoping  that  it  would  be  conducted  with 
more  mildness,  or  dreading  that  it  might  command  fresh 
tartness.     On  five  successive   days  proclamation  was 
made  by  the  apparitor  of  tha  Official  of  Paris,  summon- 
ing the  Knights  to  answer  for  their  Order.    No  VOICE* 
replied.     Dn  the  Tuesday  inquiry  was  made  into  the 


c  The  acts  of  this  Commission  are 
the  most  full,  authentic,  and  curious 
documents  m  the  history  of  tha  aboli- 
tion of  the  Templars.  They  weie 
jmlliflhad  imperfectly,  or  rather  a 
nummary  of  them,  by  Moldenhauer, 
Hamburg,  1702.  The  complete  and 


pcared  in  the  anginal  Latin,  among 
th'a  'Documents  Incite  sur  1'HlstoirB 
da  France,'  under  the  care  of  M. 
Michelet.  The  second  volume  has 
recently  bean  added.  My  citations, 
if  not  otherwise  distinguished,  refer  to 
these  volumes. 


genuine  proceedings    have     new  ap-       d  " 


222  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY,  BOOK  XL. 

unswers  of  the  Bishops  to  the  Court.  Some  were  found 
to  have  published  the  citation,  others  to  have  neglected 
or  disobeyed;  from  some  had  coma  no  answers;  to 
them  letters  were  addressed  of  mild  rebuke  or  exhorta- 
tion. The  Templars  were  to  be  informed  that  tha 
investigation  was  not  against  individual  membsrs  of  the 
Order,  but  against  the  Order  itself.  No  one  was  to  be 
compelled  to  appear;  but  all  who  voluntarily  undertook 
the  defence  of  the  Order  had  free  liberty  to  go  to  Paris.0 
On  the  22nd  of  November  the  Bishop  of  Paris  ap- 
peared in  Court.  He  declared  that  he  had  himself 
gone  to  the  prison  in  which  the  Grand  Master,  Hugo 
de  Peyraud  the  Visitor  of  the  Order,  and  other  Knights 
were  confined;  that  he  had  caused  the  Apostolic  letter 
to  be  read  in  Latin,  and  explained  in  the  vulgar  tongue ; 
that  the  Knights  had  declared  themselves  ready  to  ap- 
pear before  the  Court;  some  were  willing  to  defend  the 
Order.  He  had  published  the  citation  in  tha  churches 
and  other  public  places,  and  sent  persons  of  trust  to 
make  known  and  to  explain  the  citation  to  all  the 
prisoners  in  the  city  and  diocese  of  Paris.  Orders  were 
issued  to  Philip  de  Vohet,  Provost  of  the  church  of 
Poitiers,  and  John  de  Jamvilla,  doorkeeper  to  the  King, 
who  had  the  general  custody  of  tha  prisoners,  to  bring 
before  the  Court,  under  a  strong  and  trusty  guard,  the 
Master,  the  Visitor,  and  all  who  would  undertake  the 
defence,  The  Provoat  and  De  Jamvillo  bowed  and 
promised  to  obey.  On  the  same  day  appeared  a  man 
in  a  secular  habit,  who  called  himself  John  de  Mobt,  of 


"Neo  volumua  quod  jontra  fratrss 
dicti  ordinis,  et  de  hiis  qua 
«ngalwe«  jet-annas  tmi- 
gant,  ncm  mtandimua  Inquirers  contra 
contra  orebnom aupra- 


dictum  juxta  tracUtam  noliia  form  Am. 
Neo  futt  nnstrra  totencicrnls,  neo  eat, 
quod  aliijul  ex  eia  venire  oogantur  vsl 
teneantur,  sed  aolum  li  qul  voluntarlfl 
venire  vuleant  pro  pwmUris,"— p.  25» 


OHAP.  II, 


DOMMIBS10N  AT  PARIS. 


223 


the  diucese  of  Besantjon.  He  was  manifestly  a  simple 
and  bewildered  man,  who  Lad  left  the  Order  or  who  had 
been  dismissed  ten  years  before,  and  seemed  under  the 
influence  of  panic.  "Ha  knew  no  harm  of  tha  Order, 
did  not  come  to  defend  it,  was  ready  to  do  or  to  suffer 
whatever  tha  Court  might  ordain ;  he  prayed  that  they 
would  furnish  him  with  subsistence,  for  hrj  wag  very 
poor."  The  Court  saw  that  he  was  half-witted,  and  sent 
him  to  the  Bishop  of  Paris  to  be  taken  care  of.f  Six 
Knights  than  stood  before  the  Court.  Gerald  de  Daus 
was  asked  why  he  appeared,  He  replied,  in  obedience 
to  the  citation:  he  was  prepared  to  answer  any  inter- 
rogatory. The  Court  answered,  that  they  compelled  no 
one  to  come  before  them,  and  asked  whether  he  was 
ready  to  defend  the  Order.  After  many  words  he  said 
that  he  was  a  simple  soldier,  without  house,  arms,  or 
land :  he  had  neither  ability  nor  knowledge  to  defend 
tha  Order.  So  said  the  other  five.  Then  appeared 
Hugo  de  Peyraud,  Visitor  of  the  Order,  under  Hugh  AB 
the  custody  of  the  Provost  of  Poitiers  and  peyraul 
John  da  Jamville.  He  came  in  consequence  of  the 
citation,  made  known  by  the  Bishop  of  Paris,  to  ana  war 
any  interrogatory.  He  came  further  to  entreat  the 
Pop 9  and  the  King  not  to  waste  and  dissipate  the  goods 
of  the  Temple,  but  religiously  to  devote  them  to  their 
original  USB,  the  cause  of  the  Holy  Land.  He  had 
given  his  answers  to  the  three  Cardinals  at  Ohinon,  had 
baen  prepared  to  do  the  same  before  the  Pops ;  ho 


"  Et  quia  fait  visum  eisdem  do* 
minis  commissnriis,  ex  aspeatu  at  con- 
BidBracione  persona;  sun,  actuum, 
geatuum,  et  bqueltc,  ^uud  erat  vatic 
simplex  vel  fatuue,  et  nun  bene  com- 
pos mentis  BU«»  XLDD  pi'Dcceserunt 


ul terms  cam  eodsra."— p,  27.  By 
same  strange  mistake  of  his  own  or 
of  hm  authuritiBs,  SismoniU  has  attri- 
buted the  speech,  and  conduct  of  this 
poor  crazy  mnn  to  Da  Malay. 


224 


LATIN  CHRISTIANITY. 


BOOK  ill 


Da  Malay. 


could  only  say  the  same  before  the  Commissioners. 
He  too  declined  to  undertake  tha  defence,  and  was 
remanded  to  prison.* 

Alter  two  days'  adjournment,  on  Wednesday,  No- 
vember 26th,  Du  Molay,  at  his  own  request, 
was  brought  before  ths  Court.  He  was  asked 
whether  ha  would  defend  the  Order.  "  The  Order  was 
foundBd,"  he  replied,  "  and  endowed  with  its  privileges 
by  tha  Pope.  He  wondered  that  the  Pope  would  pro- 
ceed in  such  haste  to  the  abolition  of  such  an  Order. 
The  sentence  hung  over  Frederick  n.  for  thirty-two 
years.  Himself  was  an  unlearned  man,  unfit,  without 
counsel,  to  defend  the  Temple;  yet  he  was  prepared  to 
do  it  to  the  beat  of  his  ability.  He  should  hold  himself 
a  base  wretch,  he  would  be  justly  held  as  a  base  wretch 
by  others,  if  he  defended  not  an  Order  from  which  he 
had  received  so  much  honour  and  advantage.  Yet  this 
was  a  hard  task  for  one  who  had  bsen  thrown  into 
prison  by  the  King  and  by  ths  Pope,  and  had  but  four 
deuiers  in  the  world  to  fee  counsel,  All  he  sought  was 
that  the  truth  might  be  known  concerning  the  Order, 
not  in  France  only,  but  before  the  kings,  princes,  pre- 
lates, and  barons  of  ths  world.  By  the  judgement  of 
those  kings,  princes,  prelates,  and  barons  he  would  stand. " 
The  Court  replied  that  he  should  deliberate  well  on  his 
defence.  The  Master  said,  "  he  had  but  ono  attendant, 
a  poor  servitor  of  the  Order :  he  was  his  cook."  They 


'  Tha  Court  received,  private  in- 
formation that  certain  Templars  had 
arrived  in  Pans,  disguised  in  seoulm. 
nabits,  and  furnished  with  money  to 
provide  counsel  and  legal  aid  to  defend 
theOriei;  they  had  been  nnestedhy 
the  king's  officers ;  the  Provost  of  the 
Chfltelefc  was  commanded  to  bring 


them  befoi  e  tha  Court.  It  was  a  false 
alarm.  Ona  of  them  only  had  been  a 
servitor  foi  thuae  monks ;  he  was  poor, 
and  had  come  to  Paris  to  seek  a  liveli- 
hood. They  were  gravely  informed 
that  if  they  designed  to  defend  the 
Order,  the  Court  -was  ready  to  heal 
them ,'  they  disclaimed  such  intention. 


CHAP  H.  DTJ  MOLAT.  225 

reminded  him  significantly  of  his  confessions:  they 
would  have  him  to  know  that,  in  a  case  of  heresy  or 
faith,  the  c  ours  a  was  direct  and  summary,  without  the 
noise  and  form  of  advocates  and  judicial  procedure. 

They  then,  without  delay,  read  the  Apostolic  letters, 
and  the  confession  which  Du  Molay  was  reported  to 
have  made  before  the  three  Oardinals.  Tha  Grand 
Master  stood  aghast;  the  gallant  knight,  the  devout 
Christian,  rose  within  him.  Twice  he  signed  himself 
with  ths  sign  of  ths  cross.  "  If  the  Lords  Commis- 
sioners ware  of  other  condition,  he  would  answer  them 
in  another  way."  The  Commissioners  coldly  replied 
"that  they  sat  not  there  to  accept  wager  of  battle." 
Du  Molay  saw  at  ones  his  error.  "  I  meant  not  that, 
but  would  to  Grod  that  the  law  observed  by  the  Saracens 
and  tha  Tartars,  as  to  the  forgers  of  false  documents, 
were  in  uss  here!  The  Saracens  and  Tartars  strike 
off  the  heads  of  such  traitors,  and  cleave  them  to  the 
middle."  The  Court  only  subjoined,  "The  Church 
passes  sentence  on  heretics,  and  delivers  over  the  obsti- 
nate to  the  secular  arm." 

William  de  Plasian,  the  subtlest  of  Philip's  coun- 
sellors, was  at  hand.  He  led  Du  Malay  aside:  he 
protested  that  he  loved  him  as  a  brother-soldier;  he 
besought  him  with  many  words  not  to  rush  upon  his 
ruin.  Du  Molay,  confused,  perplexed,  feared  that  if  ha 
acted  further  without  thought  he  might  fall  into  some 
snare.  Ha  requested  delay.  He  felt  confidence  (fatal  con- 
fidence !)  in  De  Plasian,  for  De  Plasian  was  a  knight ! 

The  day  after,  Ponsard  de  Grisi,  Preceptor  of  Payens, 
was  brought  up  with  Baoul  de  Grisi,  Preceptor 
of  Lagny  Sec.    Ponsard  boldly  declared  him- 
self ready  to  undertake  the  defence  of  the  Order.    AM 
the  enormous  charges  against  the  Order  were  utterly, 

VOL,  vn  Q 


22  S 


LATIN  CHE1BTIANITT. 


BOOK  XII 


absolutely  false ;  false  were  all  the  confessions,  extorted 
by  terror  and  pain,  from  himself  and  other  brethren 
before  the  Bishop  of  Paris.  Those  tortures  had  been 
applied  by  the  sworn  and  deadly  enemies  and  accusers 
of  the  Order,  by  the  Prior  of  Montfalcon,  and  William 
Bob  arts,  the  monk.h  HB  put  in  a  schedule : — "  These 
are  tha  traitors  who  have 'falsely  and  disloyally  accused 
•the  religion  of  the  Temple :  William  Boberts  title  monk, 
who  had  them  put  to  the  tortuie;  Esquin  de  Marian 
of  Beziers,  Prior  of  Montfalcon ;  Bernard  Pelet,  Prior  of 
Maao  [Philip's  Envoy  tt>  England) ;  and  G-ervaisBoysDl, 
Hnightof  Gisora."1 

Had  Ponsari  himself  been  tortured  ?  He  had  been 
tortured  before  the  Bishop  of  Paris  three  months  ere  he 
made  confession.  His  hands  had  been  tied  behind  him 
till  the  blood  burst  from  his  nails.  He  had  stood  thus 
in  a  pit  for  the  space  of  an  hour.k  He  protested  that  in 
that  state  of  agony  he  should  confess  or  deny  whatever 
they  would.  He  was  .prepared  to  endure  beheading, 
the  stake,  or  the  cauldron,  for  tha  honour  of  the  Order; 
but  these  Blows  excruciating  torments  he  could  not  bear, 
besides  the  horrors  of  his  two  years*  imprisonment.  He 
was  asked  if  lis  had  anything  to  allege  wherefore  the 
Court  should  not  proceed.  He  hoped  that  the  causa 
would  be  decided  by  guod  men  and  true.m  The  Provost 


h  "Pa  yjm  et  pfoptar  penculum 
et  timoram,  ijuia  torquebantur  a  Flon- 
gerano  de  Eiturres,  priori  Montefal- 
conjs,  Gulislmo  Roberto  monochD,  Ini- 
miasaorum.11  This  ia  anew  and  berrible 
facb,  that  the  accusers,  even  the  Prioi 
of  MontfulcDiL,  \vere  tha  tortwars  1 

1  Moldenhauer  says  tlmt  the}'  cars 
in  a  paper,  "  Ces  snut  les  treytoilrs,1 
Uqtul  not  propose  imsete'  et  debaute 


contra  hsta  da  la  Religion  dea  Temple, 
Guilialraes  Kobars  Moynes,  qui  led 
mitoyet  a  geinaa ;  Es^in?  de  Fhxian 
da  Biterns,  en  Pnena  de  Montfancon, 
Bernari  Peleti  Friend  da  Maso  Je 
Genois,  ob  Everoones  'de  "BoxxsHi,  Echa- 
lier  vencus  a  Giaors  "  (aic).—f,  33. 

^  Leuge. 

'    «*>  See  •'also  this  in  the  Phcfes  and  in 
p,  3G. 


CHAP.  n.  PONSARlJ.  227 

of  Poitiers  interposed;  he  produced  a  schedule  of 
charges  advance  1  by  Ponaard  himself  against  ths  Order. 
"  Truth,"  answered  Ponsard,  a  requires  no  concealment. 
I  own  that,  in  a  fit  of  passion,  on  account  of  some  con- 
tumelious words  with  ths  Treasurer  of  the  Temple,  I 
did  draw  up  that  schedule."  Those  charges,  however, 
dark  as  were  some  of  them,  were  totally  unlike  those 
now  brought  against  the  brotherhood.  Before  he  left 
the  Court  Ponsard  expressed  his  hops  that  the  severity 
of  his  imprisonment  might  not  be  aggravated  because 
he  had  undertaken  the  defence  of  the  Order.  The  Court 
gave  instructions  to  the  Provost  of  Poitiers  and  DB 
Jamville  that  he  should  not  be  more  harshly  treated. 

On  the  Friday  before  tho  Feast  of  St.  Andrew 
Du  Molay  appeared  again.  De  Plasian  had 
alarmed,  or  persuaded  or  caressed  him  to  a  8galn' 
more  calm  and  suppliant  demeanour.  HB  thanked  the 
commissioners  for  their  indulgence  in  granting  delay. 
Asked  if  he  would  defand  the  Order,  he  saiil  that  "he 
was  an  unlettered  and  a  poor  man.  Ths  Pope  had 
reserved  for  his  own  decision  the  judgement  on.  him- 
self and  other  heads  of  the  Order,  He  prayed  to  be 
brought,  as  speedily  as  might  be  (for  life  was  short), 
into  the  presence  of  the  Pope."  Asked  whether  he 
saw  cause  why  the  Court  should  not  proceed,  not 
against  individual  Knights,  but  against  the  Order,  he 
replied,  "None;  but  to  disburthen,  his  consciencej  he 
must  aver  three  things:  I,  That  no  religious  edifices 
were  adorned  with  so  much  splendour  and  beauty  as  the 
chapels  of  the  Templars,  nor  the  services  performed 
with  greater  majasty,  except  in  cathedral,  churches ; 

II.  That  no  Order  was  more  munificent  in  almsgiving ; 

III.  That  no  Brotherhood  and  no  Christians  had  con-* 
fronted    death  more  intrepidly,   or  shed  their  bloogj 

Q  2 


228  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  XII. 

more  cheerfully  for  the  cause  of  Christ."  He  especially 
referred  to  the  rescue  of  the  Count  of  Artois.  The 
Court  replied  that  these  things  profited  not  to  salvation, 
"where  tha  groundwork  of  the  faith  waa  wanting.  Du 
Molay  professed  his  full  belief  in  the  Trinity,  arid  in  all 
the  articles  of  the  Catholic  faith. 

William  of  Nogarat  came  forward,  and  inquired 
whether  it  was  not  written  in  the  Chronicles  of  St. 
Denys,  that  Saladin  had  publicly  declared,  on  a  certain 
defeat  of  the  Templars,  that  it  was  "  a  judgement  of 
God  for  their  apostasy  from  their  faith,  and  for  their 
unnatural  crimes."  Du  Molay  was  amazed ;  "  he  had 
never  heard  this  in  tha  East."  He  acknowledged  that 
he  and  some  young  Knights,  eager  for  war,  had  mur- 
mured against  the  Grand  Master,  William  de  Beaujeu, 
because  he  kept  peace  with  the  Sultan,  peace  which 
turned  out  to  be  a  wise  measure.  Ha  entreated  to  be 
allowed  the  mass  and  the  divine  offices,  to  have  his 
chapel  and  his  chaplain.  He  withdrew,  never  to  leava 
his  prison  till  some  years  after  to  be  burned  alive. 

Up  to  this  time  none  but  the  prisoners  confined  in 
Paris  had  been  brought  before  the  Commission.  It  was 
still  found  that  the  citations  had  been  but  partially 
served  in  the  prisons  of  the  other  provinces.  Letters 
were  aSa*n  written  to  the  Archbishops  and 
Bishops,  enjoining  them  to  send  up  all  the 
Templars  who  would  undertake  the  defence  of  the  Order 
to  Paris.  The  King  issued  instructions  to  the  Bailiffs 
and  Seneschals  of  the  realm  to  provide  horses  and  con- 
veyances, and  to  furnish  a  strong  and  sufficient  guard. 
Thia  waa  the  special  office  of  the  Provost  of  Poitiers, 
and  John  de  Jamville,  who  had  the  general  custody 
of  the  captives  in  the  provinces  of  Sens,  Rheims,  and 
Eouen.  The  prisons  of  Orleans  were  crowded.  They 


CiiAP.lI.        THIS  DETERS  FROM  THE  PROVINCES. 


229 


were  compelled  to  disgorge  all  their  imnatea.  The 
appointed  day  was  the  morrow  after  the  Purification. 
From  that  day  till  the  end  of  March  the  pri-  February2i 
sonera  came  pouring  in  from  all  parts  of  the  131Dl 
kingdom.  Great  numbers  had  died  of  torture,  of 
famine,  of  shame  and  misery  at  their  confinement  in 
fetid  and  unwholesome  dungeons,,  men  accustomed  to 
a  free  and  active  life.  The  surviyars  came,  broken 
in  spirit  by  torture,  not  perhaps  sure  that  the  Papal 
Commission  would  maintain  its  unusual  humanity ;  most 
of  them  with  the  burthen  of  extorted  confessions,  which 
they  knew  would  rise  up  against  them.  Perhaps  same 
selection  was  mads.  Some,  no  doubt,  the  more  obsti- 
nate, and  the  more  than  obstinate,  those  who  had 
recanted  their  confessions,  were  kept  carefully  away. 
Tet  even  under  these  depressing,  crushing  circum- 
stances their  numbers,  their  mutual  confidence  in  each 
other,  the  glad  open  air,  the  face  of  man,  before  whom 
they  were  now  to  bear  themselves  proudly,  and — vague 
hope! — some  reliance  on  the  power,  the  justice,  or  the 
mercy  of  the  Pope,  into  whose  hands  they  might  seem 
to  have  passed  from  that  of  the  remorseless  King,  gave 
them  courage.  They  heard  with  undisguised  murmurs 
of  indignation  the  charges  now  publicly  made  against 
the  Order,  against  themselves:  the  blood  boiled  as  of 
old ;  the  soldier  nerved  himself  in  defiance  of  his  foe. 

The  first  interrogatory,  to  which  all  at  the  time  col- 
lectively before  the  Court"  were  exposed,  was  whether 


»  See  the  detail — from  Dlarmoat 
34,  from  Sens  5,  from  the  Bishopric 
of  Amiens  12,  from  that  of  Paris 
about  10,  from  Tours  7  or  8  (of  the 
Tourame  Templars,  some  would  de- 
fend themselves,  nut  the  Order,  some 
M  far  as  themselves  were  concerned), 


fiom  St.  Martin  ABB  Champa  in  Pari» 
14,  from  Nismea  7,  from  Monlhery  B, 
from  tha  Temple  34,  from  Aris  m  tha 
diocese  of  Paris  19,  from  the  Castle  of 
Corbeil  88,  from  St.  Denyo  7,  from 
Beauvais  19,  from  Chalons  9,  from 
Tyers  in  the  diocese  of  Sew  10 


230 


LATIN  CHRISTIANITY. 


BOOK  XII 


they  would  defend  the  Order.  By  far  the  larger 
Askeaiftney  number  engaged  with  unhesitating  intrepidity. 
SMS?  There  WBre  soms  hundreds.  Dreadful  talea 
Fsb- 3-  transpired  of  their  prison-houses,  Of  those  from 
St.  Denys  John  de  Baro  had  been  three  times  tortured, 
and  kept  twelve  weeks  on  bread  and  water.  Of  those 
from  Tyers  one  declared  that  twenty-five  of  the  Brethren 
had  died  in  prison  of  torture  and  suffering :  he  asserted 
that  if  the  Host  were  administered  to  them,  Bod  would 
work  a  miracle  to  show  which  spoke  truth,  those  who 
confessed  or  those  who  denied.  Of  the  twenty  who 
arrived  later  from  the  province  of  Sena  one,  John  of 
CochiaB,  produced  a  letter  from  the  Provost  of  PoitierSj 
addressed  to  Laurence  da  Brand,  once  commander  in 
Apulia,  and  to  other  prisoners,  urging  them  to  deny  to 
the  Bishop  of  Orleans  that  they  had  been  tampered 
with,,  and  pressed  to  confess  falsehoods :  to  act  according 
to  the  advice  of  John  Chiapini,  "the  beloved  clerk;" 
and  warning  them  that  the  Pope  had  ordered  all  who 
did  not  persevere  in  their  confessions  to  be  burned  at 
once.0  The  Provost,  having  examined  the  document 
with  seeming  care,  said,  that  he  did  not  believe  that  he 
had  written,  such  a  letter,  or  that  it  was  sealed  with  his 
seal :  "  a  certain  clerk  sometimes  kept  his  seal,  but  he 
had  not  urged  the  prisoners  to  speak  anything  but  the 
truth."  One  of  those  from  Toulouse  had  been  so  dread 
fully  tortured  by  fire,  that  some  of  the  bones  of  his  fee 
had  dropped  out;  he  produced  them  before  the  Court, 


flam  Carcassonne  2B.  There  came 
from  the  piovince  of  Sena  2D  more; 
theie  came  from  Sammartina  in  the 
diocese  of  Maux  14 ;  fiom  Auxerre  4, 
from  CreTMWBur  13,  fiom  Toulouse 
6,  fiom  Poitiers  13,  from  Crewi  8, 


from  Moisaiac  G,  from  Janmlh  (Or- 
leans) 21,  fiom  GIHDIB  SB,  from 
VBIHOH  13,  fiom  Bourges  dioceat 
14,  fiom  fas  archdiocese  of  Lyoni 
22. 
8  Froces,  p,  75. 


.  n. 


THE  DEFENCE  UNDERTAKEN. 


231 


These  many  hundred  Knights,  Clerks,  and  Servitors, 
i  great  majority  at  least  of  those  before  the  undertaka 
Court,  resolved,  notwithstanding  their  former  *• dBfeni:B- 
sufferings,  to  defend  their  Order.  Some  of  their  answers 
were  striking  from  their  emphatic  boldness.  "To 
death."  "To  the  end."  "To  the  peril  of  my  soul." 
"  I  have  never  confessed,  never  will  confess,  those  base 
calumnies."  "  Give  us  the  sacrament  on  the  oaths,  and 
let  God  judge'."  "  "Withmy body  andmy  eoul."  "  Against 
all  men,  against  all  living,  save  the  King  and  the  Pope." 
"I  have  made  some  confession  before  the  Pope,  but 
I  lied.  I  revoke  all,  and  will  stand  to  the  defence 
of  the  Order."  P  Those  who  declined,4  alleged  different 
excuses,  some  would  defend  themselves,  not  the  Order; 
some  would  not  undertake  tha  defence,  unauthorised  by 
the  Grand  Master ;  some  were  simple  men,  unversed  in 
such  proceedings;  ona  with  simplicity,  which  seemed 
like  irony,  "would  not  presume  to  litigate  with  tha 
King  and  the  Pops."  Yery  few,  indeed,  with  Gerhard 
de  Lorinche,  refused  "because  there  "were  many  bad 
points  in  tha  Drdsr."  Many  entreated  that  they  might 
be  relieved  from  gome  of  tha  hardships  of  their  prisons*, 


'  Baynauard  gives  the  names  (p. 
271),  confirmed  by  tha  Procfcs, 

*  There  seems  to  hare  been  leas 
boldness  and  resolution  among  the 
great  officers  of  the  Older;  perhaps 
they  were  old  and  more  sorely  tried. 
John  de  Tournon,  the  Tieosurer  pf  the 
Temple  in  Paris,  refused  to  undertake 
then-  defence.  William  of  ArtEblay, 
the  king's  almoner,  would  not  offer 
himself  for  that  purpose.  Godfrey  de 
Gonavilie,  Pieeeptor  of  Poithou  and 
Aquitaine,  said  that  he  vras  a  pri- 


mmer, a  radB  unlettered  man:  befnra 
the  King  and  the  Popo,  whom  ha  held 
for  good  lords  and  just  judges,  hs 
would  speak  what  was  right,  but  not 
before  the  ComnussionBi-s.  The  Com- 
misaioners  pledged  themselves  for  hJa 
full  security  and  fi  eedom  of  Bpeech.— 
p,  100.  "  Nee  deberet  timara  da  ah- 
i^uibus  violenciis  mjuriia  vel  tpnnentia, 
quia  non  inf arrant  neo  inferri  poimit- 
terent,  immo  impodirent  si  iuferrl 
dBberent."— p.  88.  This  it  not* 
worthy. 


232  LATIN  CHE1STIANITY.  BOOK  ill 

that  they  might  be  admitted  to  the  holy  offices  of  the 
Church;  aome  that  they  might  resume  the  habit  of 
the  Order. 

On  the  25th  of  March  the  Knights,  who  had  under- 
Defenders  taken  the  defence,  were  assembled  in  the 
cbur"tta  garden  of  the  Archbishop's  palace  at  Paris, 
to  the  number  of  five  hundred  and  fifty-six;  their 
names  are  extant  in  full.'  The  Papal  commission, 
and  the  articles  exhibited  against  the  Order,  which 
had  been  drawn  up,  to  the  number  of  one  hundred 
and  twenty-seven3  by  the  King  and  his  counsellors/ 
and  which  had  before  been  read*  and  explained  in 
French  to  about  ninety  persons,,  were  naw  read  again 
in  Latin  at  full  length.  They  contained,  in  minute 
legal  particularity,  every  charge  which  had  been  adduced 
before.  As  the  Notary  was  proceeding  to  translate  the 
charges,  a  general  outcry  arose  that  thsy  did  not  need 
to  hear,  that  they  would  not  hear,  such  foul,  false,  and 
unutterabla  things  in  ths  vulgar  tongue. 

The  Dommiflsioners,  in  order  to  proceed  with  regu- 
larity, commanded  the  prisoners  to  select  from  among 
themselves  six  or  eight  or  ten  proctors  to  conduct  the 
defence :  they  promised  to  these  proctors  full  freedom 
of  speech.  After  some  deliberation  Eeginald  de  Pruin, 
Preceptor  of  the  Temple  in  Orleans,  and  Peter  of  Bo- 
logna, Proctor  of  the  Order  in  the  Eoman  Court,  both 
lettered  men,  dictated,  in  the  name  of  tha  Knights  pre- 
sent, this  representation:  "It  appeared  hard  to  them 
and  to  the  rest  of  the  Brethren  that  they  had  been 
deprived  of  the  sacraments  of  the  Church,  stripped  ol 
their  religious  habit,  despoiled  of  their  goods,  igno- 


*  In  the  Prctsfcfl ;  Maldenhnner  has  556,  Hav«aan  says  544. 

,  whom  Haveman  quotes  D.  249.  '  March  14, 


CHAP.  II.  DHDIDE  OF  PROCTORS.  233 

miniDUsly  imprisoned  and  put  in  chains.  They  were 
ill  provided  with  all  things :  the  bodies  of  those  who 
had  died  in  prison  had  been  buried  in  unconsecrated 
ground :  in  tha  hour  of  death  they  had  been  denied  the 
Sacrament.  No  one  could  act  as  a  proctor  without  the 
consent  of  the  Brand  Master ;  they  were  illiterate  and 
simple,  they  required  therefore  the  aid  and  advice  of 
learned  Counsel.  Many  Knights  of  high  character  had 
not  been  permitted  to  undertake  the  defence:  they 
named  Reginald  de  Vossiniac  and  Matthew  de  Dlichy 
as  eminently  qualified  for  that  high  function." 

There  was  great  difficulty  in  ths  choice  of  proctors 
and  in  their  investiture  with  powers  to  act  in  defence  of 
the  Order.  The  public  notaries  went  round  the  prisons 
in  which  tha  Templars  were  confined,  to  require  their 
assent,  if  d  at  ermine  d  on  the  defence,  to  the  nomination 
of  proctors.  The  Knights  had  taken  new  courage  from 
their  short  emancipation  from  their  fetters,  from  the 
glimpse  of  ths  light  of  day.  About  seventy-seven  m 
the  Temple  dungeons  solemnly  averred  all  the  articles 
to  be  foul,  irrational,  detestable,  horrid,  false  to  the 
blackest  falsehood,  iniquitous,  fabricated,  invented  by 
mendacious  witnesses,  base,  infamous;  that  "the  Tem- 
ple'1 is  and  always  was  pur  a  and  blameless,  If  they 
ware  not  permitted  to  appear  in  person  at  the  Genera) 
Council,  they  prayed  that  they  might  appear  by  somo 
of  their  Brethren.  They  asserted  all  the  confessions  to 
be  false,  wrung  from  them  by  torture,  or  by  the  fear  of 
torture,  and  therefore  to  be  annulled  and  thrown  aside ; 
that  these  things  were  public,  notorious,  to  be  concealed 
by  no  subterfuge.  Other  prisoners  put  in  other  pleas 
of  defence,  as  strong,  some  of  them  more  convincing 
from  their  rashness  and  simplicity,  A  few  bitterly 
complain sd  of  the  miserable  allowance  for  their  main- 


23.4 


LATIN  CHBISTIANITY. 


BOOK  XII. 


tenance:  they  had  to  pay  two  soua  for  knocking  off 
their  irons,  when  brought  up  for  hearing,  and  ironing 
them  again.11 

The  mass  of  suffrages,  though  others  were  named, 
were  for  Peter  of  Bologna,  Reginald  da  Pruin,  priests ; 
William  de  Dhambonnet  and  Bertrand  de  Salleges, 
knights,  as  those  in  whom  they  had  greatest  con- 
fidence as  proctors.  Already  on  the  1st  of  April 
these  four  with  Matthew  de  Clichy  and  Robert  Yigier 
had  given  in  a  written  paper,  stating  that  without  tha 
approbation  of  the  Grand  Master  they  could  not  act. 
The  Brand  Master,  the  chief  Preceptors  of  Francs, 
GuiennB,  Cyprus,  and  Normandy,  and  the  other  Breth- 
ren, must  be  withdrawn  from  the  custody  of  the  King's 
officers,  and  delivered  to  that  of  the  Church,  as  it  was 
notorious  that  they  dared  not,  through  fear,  or  through 
seduction  and  false  promises,  consent  to  the  defence  of 
the  Order,  and  that  false  confessions  would  be  adduced 
so  long  as  the  cause  should  last.1  They  demanded  every- 
thing requisite  to  defend  the  cause,  especially  the  counsel 
of  learned  lawyers;  full  security  for  the  proctors  and 
their  counsel:  that  the  apostate  Brethren,  who  had 
thrown  off  the  habit  of  the  Order,  should  be  taken  into 
the  custody  of  the  Church  till  it  should  be  ascertained 
whether  they  had  borne  true  or  false  witness,7  for  it 
was  well  known  that  they  had  bean  corrupted  by  soli- 
citations and  bribes ;  that  the  priests  who  had  heard 
the  dying  confessions  of  the  Templars  should  bs  exa- 
mined, as  to  those  confessions ;  that  the  accusers  should 


u  Proc&,  passim,  at  this  period. 

*  "  Qum  scimufl  predictos  fratres 
HDD  audei'e  consentira  defansiom  or- 
dinb,  propter  eoram  metum  at  seduc- 
tiifflpm,  efc  felsas  jromiBsiones,  pia 


quamdiu  durabit  causa,  durubit  et  con* 
feasio  falsa."— p.  127. 

r  This  was  probably  aimei  espe- 
cially at  SiuinD  da  Florida  and  bJl 
calleiiguu. 


QUP  I».  PROTEST  OF  THE  PB.DCTDB.S.  235 

appear  before  the  Court,  and  be  liable   to  the  Lex 
Talionia. 

On  the  7th  of  April  they  appeared,  again  with  Wil- 
liam de  Montreal,  Matthew  da  Oresson  Essart,  John 
de  St.  Leonard,  and  William  de  Grinsac.  Peter  of 
Bologna  read  the  final  determination  of  the  Brethren: 
— "They  could  not,  without  leave  from  the  Protest  of  the 
Grand  Master,  appoint  proctors,  but  they  were  FroctOTB 
content  that  the  four,  the  two  priests,  Peter  of  Bologna 
and  De  Pruin,  the  two  Knights,  De  Dhambonnet  and 
Sallegea,  should  appear  for  the  defence,  produce  all 
documents,  allege  all  laws,  and  watch  the  whole  pro- 
ceedings in  their  behalf.  They  demanded  that  no 
confessiDn,  extorted  by  solicitation,  reward,  or  fear, 
should  be  adduced  to  their  prejudice ;  that  all  the  false 
Brethren,  who  had  thrown  off  the  habit  of  the  Order, 
should  be  kept  in  safe  custody  by  the  Church  till  found 
true  or  mendacious  j  that  no  layman  should  be  present 
at  the  hearing,  no  one  who  might  cause  reasonable 
dread;"  for  tha  Brethren  were  in  general  so  downcast 
in  mind  from  terror,  that  it  is  less  surprising  that  they 
should  tell  lies  than  speak  truth,  when  they  com- 
pare the  tribulation,  anguish,  insults  endured  by  those 
who  speak  truth,  with  the  advantages,  enjoyments, 
freedom  of  those  who  speak  falsehood.*  "  It  is  amazing 
that  those  should  be  believed  who  are  thua  corrupted  by 
personal  advantage  rather  than  the  martyrs  of  Christ, 
who  endure  the  worst  afflictions :"  **  thsy  aver  that  no 
Knight  in  all  the  world  out  of  the  realm  of  JFranca  has 
or  would  utter  such  lies:  it  is  manifest  therefore  that 


•  "  Qma  onrnes  frntrca  generaliter  ihiiu  4111  mentivmtur,  Bed  plus  Je  hiil 
tanto  ten  ore,  et  timine  peiculsi,  \\w><[  j  qu,  hustment  vcntntum." — p.  1GB,  ool 
con  eat  minvndum  quoiUm  ninln  at  >ut  Maldcuhauer. 


235  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  liooK  XII 

they  that  do  this  in  Franca  are  seduced  by  terror,  influ- 
ence, or  bribery,"  a  They  assert  distinctly,  deliberately, 
withcut  reserve,  the  holiness  of  the  Order;  their  fidelity 
to  their  three  solemn  vows  of  chastity,  obedience, 
poverty ;  their  dedication  to  the  service  of  Christ's 
Sepulchre;  they  avouch  the  utter  mendacity  of  tha 
articles  exhibited  against  them.  "  Certain  false  Chris- 
tians, or  absolute  heretics,  moved  by  the  zeal  of  covet- 
ousneaSj  or  the  ardour  of  envy,  have  sought  out  some 
few  apostates  or  renegades  fiom  the  Order  (diseased 
sheep  cast  out  of  the  fold),  and  with  them  have  invented 
and  forged  all  the  horrid  crimes  and  wickednesses  attri- 
buted to  the  Order.  They  hava  poisoned  the  ears  of 
the  Pope  and  of  the  King.  The  Pope  and  the  King, 
thus  misled  by  designing  and  crafty  counsellors,  have 
permitted  their  satellites  to  compel  confessions  by  im- 
prisonment, torture,  the  dread  of  death.  Finally,  they 
protested  against  the  form  of  procedure,  as  directly  con- 
trary to  law,  an  inquisition  ex  officio,  because  before 
their  arrest  they  were  not  arraigned  by  public  fame, 
because  they  are  not  now  in  a  state  of  freedom  and 
security,  but  at  the  mercy  of  those  who  are  continually 
suggesting  to  the  King  that  he  should  urge  all  who  have 
confessed  by  words,  messages,  or  letters  not  to  retract 
their  false  depositions,  extorted  by  fear ;  for  if  they  re- 
tract them,  they  will  be  burned  alive."* 

William  da  Montreal  presented  another  protest  in 
Provencal  French,  somewhat  different  in  terms,  insist- 
ing on  their  undoubted  privilege  of  being  judged  by  the 
Pope  and  the  Pope  alone, 

These  protests  had  no  greater  effect  than  such  pro- 


'  *  "  Quare  dicta  sunt  in,  regno  Fi'anaiffl,  guia,  ijui  dirarunt,  corrupt!  timorr ' 
ttoee  vel  t*eti°  testificatl  sunt "  M  fc  P.  140. 


CHAP  II.  WITNESSES.  ^37 

tests  usually  have ;  they  were  overruled  by  the  Commis- 
sioners, wh~  declared  themselves  determined  to  proceed. 
On  April  llth,  on  tha  eve  of  Palm  Sunday,  the  wit- 
nesses, how  chosen  is  unknown,  were  brought  Witne8Bca 
forward:  oaths  of  remarkable  solemnity  were 
administered  in  the  presence  of  the  four  advocates  of 
the  Order.  Tha  depositions  of  the  first  witnesses  were 
loose  and  unsatisfactory,  resting  on  rumour  and  sus- 
picion. Baoul  da  Prael  had  some  years  before  heard 
Gervais,  Prior  of  the  Temple  at  La  on,  declare  that  the 
Templars  had  a  great  and  terrible  secret:  he  would 
have  his  head  cut  off  rather  than  betray  it.  Nicolas 
Domizelli,  Provost  of  ths  Monastery  of  Fassal,  had 
heard  his  uncle,  who  entered  the  Order  twenty-five 
years  before,  declare  that  the  same  B-ervais  had  used 
the  same  language  concerning  the  secret  usagus  of  the 
Order.  He  had  himself  wished  to  enter  the  Order,  but, 
though  he  was  very  rich,  Gervais  had  raised  difficulties. 
Some  of  the  Court  adjourned  to  the  deathbed  of  John 
de  S.  Benedict,  Preceptor  of  Isla  Boohard.  John  under- 
went, though  said  to  be  at  the  point  of  dsath,  a  long  in- 
terrogatory. He  confessed,  as  they  reported,  the  denial 
of  Christ  and  spitting  on  the  Cross  at  his  reception: 
of  the  idol,  or  of  the  other  charges  lie  knew  nothing, 
Guiscard  de  Marsiac  had  heard  of  the  obscene  kisses. 
His  relative,  Hugh  de  Mar  chant,  after  he  had  entered 
the  Order,  had  become  profoundly  melancholy;  hs 
called  himself  a  lost  man,  had  a  a  sal  stamped  "  Hugh 
the  Lost."  Hugh,  however,  had  died,  after  confession 
to  a  Friar  Minor  and  having  received  the  Holy  Sacra- 
ment, in  devotion  and  peace.  Then  came  two  servitors, 
under  the  suspicious  character  of  renegades,  having  cast 
off  the  dress  of  the  Order,  John  da  Taillefer,  and  John 
de  Himjuemet,  an  Englishman,  They  deposed  to  the 


238  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  m 

denial  of  Christ,  the  spitting  on  the  Cross,  the  denial 

with,  thair  lips  not  their  hearts   [as  almost  every  one 

did),  the  spitting  near  not  on  the  Dross. 

The  Court  adjourned  for  the  Festival  of  Easter,  and 
resumed  its  sittings  on  the  Thursday  in  Easter 
•week.  The  four  defenders  had  become  stil1 

more  emholdened,  perhaps  by  the  meagre  and  incon. 
clusivB  evidence.     They  put  in  a  new  protest 

New-protest.  .  ,  j-  i_       .  -  i       . 

agamst  UIB  proceedings,  as  nasty,  violent^, 
sudden,  iniquitous,  and  without  the  forms  of  law.  Tha 
Brethren  had  been  led  liks  sheep  to  the  slaughter;  they 
recounted  again  the  imprisonments,  the  tortures,  under 
which  many  had  died,  many  were  maimed  for  life,  by 
which,  some  had  been  compelled  to  make  lying  confes- 
sions. Further,  letters  had  been  shown  to  the  Brethren, 
with  the  King's  seal  attached,  promising  them,  if  they 
would  bear  witness  against  the  Order,  safety  of  life  and 
limb,  ample  provision  for  life,  and  assuring  them  at  the 
same  tima  that  the  Order  was  irrevocably  doomed. 
They  demanded  a  list  of  the  witnesses,  so  that  they 
might  adduce '  evidence  as  to  their  credibility ;  that 
those  who  had  given  their  depositions  should  be  sepa- 
rated and  kept  apart  from  those  who  had  not,  so  that 
thera  might  ba  no  collusion  or  mutual  understanding; 
that  tha  depositions  should  be  kept  secret ;  that  every 
witness  should  be  informed  that  he  might  speak  the 
truth  without  fear,  because  hig  deposition  would  not  ba 
divulged  tiU  it  had  been  laid  before  the  Pope.  They 
demanded  that  the  layman  De  Plasian,  De  Nogaret, 
and  others  should  not  be  present  in  the  spiritual  court 
to  overawe  the  judges ;  they  demanded  that  those  who 
bad  the  custody  of  the  Templars  should  ba  interrogated 
as  to  the  testimony  given  concerning  the  Order  by  the 
dying  in  theic  last  hours. 


CHAP,  II.  EXAMINATIONS  RESUMED.  239 

The  examinations  began  again.  Another  servitor, 
Huguet  de  Buris,  who,  -with  a  fourth,  hai  Exammatiani 
shared  the  dungeon  of  Taillefer  and  John  the  reauniBd- 
Englishman,  deposed  much  to  ths  same  effect.  Grerard 
de  Passages  gave  more  extraordinary  evidence.  Seven- 
teen years  after  his  reception  ha  had  abandoned  the 
Order  for  five  years  on  account  of  the  foul  acts  wliich 
had  taken  place  at  his  reception..  After  the  usual 
rigorous  oaths  had  been  administered,  a  crucifix  of 
wood  was  produced:  he  was  asked  whether  he  believed 
that  cross  to  be  G-od.  He  replied  that  it  was  the  image 
of  the  Crucified.  It  was  answered,  "  this  is  but  a  piece 
of  wood;  Grod  is  in  heaven."  He  was  commanded  to 
spit  upon  and  trample  on  the  Cross.  HB  did  this,  not 
compelled,  but  from  hia  vow  of  obedience.  He  kissed 
his  Initiator  on  the  spine  of  the  back.  Yet  Gerard  de 
Passages,  though  thus  a  renegade  to  the  Order,  had 
suffered,  he  avers,  the  most  horrible  tortures  before  the 
King's  Bailiff  at  Mac  on,  weights  tied  to  the  genitals  and 
other  limbs  to  compel  him  to  a  confession,  of  the  idol,  of 
which  he  declared  that  he  knew  nothing*  Godfrey  de 
Thatan,  the  fourth  of  the  servitors,  "  had  been  forced  to 
the  denial  of  Dhrist,  on  his  reception,  by  the  threat  of 
being  shut  up  in  a  place  where  he  could 'See  neither  hid 
hands  >nor ,  jbis  feet,9'  Kaymond  da  Vassiaiae  made  an 
admission  for  the  first  .time  of,  one  of  the  fouler 
charges,  but  denied  the  actual  guilt  of  the  v 
Order.  Baldwin  de  St.  Just,  Preceptor  of  Ponthieu, 
had  been  twice  examined,  twice  put  to  the  torture,  at 
Amiens  by  the  Friar  Preachers,  at  Paris  before  the 
Bishop.  The  sharper  tortures  at  Amiens  had  compelled 
him  to  confess  more  than  the  less  intolerable  tortures 
at  Paris,  or  than  he  was  disposed  to  avow  before  the 
Commissioners.  "  At  his  own  reception  had  taken  place 


24 D  LATIN  OHEISTIANITY.  BOOK  XII 

the  abnegation,  the  insult  to  the  Crofls,  the  licence  to 
commit  unnameable  vices.  But  at  the  recaption  of  four 
Brothers,  one  his  own  nephew,  at  which  he  had  been 
•present,  nothing  of  the  kind."  The  servitor  James  of 
Troyes  was  the  moat  ready  witness :  he  had  left  the 
Drier  four  years  before  from  love  of  a  woman.  Besides 
the  usual  admissions,  he  had  heard,  he  could  not  say 
from  whom,  that  a  head  was  worshipped  at  the  mid- 
night Chapters.  The  Court  itself  mistrusted  the  ease, 
fluency,  and  contradictions  of  this  witness.* 

Still  during  all  these  examinations  new  batches  of 
Knights  were  brought  in,  almost  all  of  them  eager  to 
undertake  the  defence  of  the  Order.  As  yet,  consider- 
ing the  means  unscrupulously  used  to  obtain  evidence, 
the  evidence  had  been  scanty,  suspicious,  resting  chiefly 
on  low  persons  of  doubtful  fidelity  to  thsir  vows.  Hope, 
even  something  like  triumph,  might  bs  rising  in  the 
haarts,  faintly  gleaming  on  the  countenances  of  the 
Templars.  The  Court  itself  might  seem  somewhat 
shaken:  the  weighty  protests,  unanswered  and  unanswer- 
able, could  hardly  be  without  some  effect.  "Who  could 
tsll  the  turn  affairs  might  take? 

But  now,  at  this  crisis,  terrible  rumours  began  to 

Archbishop  spread  that  the  Archbishop  of  Sens,  in  de- 

ofsens.      fiancB  and  in  contempt  of  the  supreme  Papal 

tribunal,  was   proceeding    (as  Metropolitan  of  Paris) 

against   all  who  had    retracted  their   confessions  as 

relapsed  heretics.     These  were  the  first  fruits  of  the 

Archbishop's  gratitude  to  the  King  for  his  promotion 

extorted  from  the  reluctant  Pope :  he  had  not  been  a 

month  enthroned! 


•  "  Predicts  teabis  videbatur  ease  valle  facilis  et  proem  ad  loqumdum  at  in 
pluritma  iiotia  mis  non  esge  stabilis,  Bed  quasi  varlana  et  vacillanB." 


:A*.  H.  PHILIP  DE  MARIGNI.  241 

Stephen,  Archbishop  of  Sens,  had  died  about  the 
aster  of  the  preceding  year.  The  Pope  declared  his 
^termination  himself  to  nominate  the  Metropolitan  of 
us  important  See,  of  which  tha  Bishop  of  Paris  was  a 
ifiragan.  But  the  King  requested,  he  demanded  tha 
3B  for  Philip,  the  brother  of  his  faithful  mini- 
er,  Enguerrand  de  Marigni,  the  author  and 
Iviser  of  all  his  policy.  Dlement  struggled  with  some 
^solution,  but  gays  way  at  length;  ha  acceded  un- 
"aciously,  reluctantly,  but  still  acceded. 

At   Easter  Philip    de    Marigni    received   his   pall. 
Imost  his  first  act  was  to  summon  a  Pro- 
Lncial  Council  to   sit  in  judgement  on  the 
emplars  who  had  retracted  their  confessions.      The 
ipid  deliberations  of  this  Council  were  known  to  be 
rawing  to  a  close.     On  Sunday  the  four  ie-  Appeal  to 
miers  demanded  a  special  audience  of  the 


ommissioners.    They  put  in  a  strong  protest  against 
is  acts  of  the  Archbishop  ;  they  entreated  the  inter- 
sntion  of  the  Commissioners  to  arrest  these  iniquitous 
roceedings;  they  appealed  to  their  authority,  to  their 
istice,  to  their  mercy  for  their  Brethren  now  on  trial 
sfore  another  Court.  The  Arohbishop  of  Narbonna  mth- 
rew  under  the  pretext  of  hearing  or  celebrating  mass. 
b  was  not  till  the  evening  that  they  obtained  a  cold  reply, 
The  proceedings  of  the  Archbishop  related  to  different 
latters  thanthosa  before  the  Court  :  the  trial  of  relapsed 
eretics.    The  Commissioners  had  no  authority  to  inhibit 
IB  Archbishop  of  Sens  and  his  Suffragans  :  they  would, 
owever,  deliberate  further  on  the  subject." 
They  had  no  time  for  deliberation.    The  next  day 
)0  Marigni's  Council  closed  its  session.    The  ]lBC)lllim  or 
jchbishop  pronounced  all  who  had  retracted  t110^'"1"' 
leir  confessions,  and  firmly  adhered  to  their  rotraotn- 

VOL,  VII. 


242  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  XH, 

tion,  relapsed  her  sties.  It  was  strange,  stern  logic : 
"You  have  confessed  yourself  to  be  guilty  of  heresy,  on 
that  confession  you  have  received  absolution.  If  you 
retract  your  confessions,  ths  Church  treats  you  not  as 
reconciled  sinners,  but  as  relapsed  heretics,  and  as 
heretics  adjudges  you  to  be  burns d."  It  was  in  vain 
urged  that  their  heresy  rested  on  their  own  confession ; 
that  confession  withdrawn,  there  was  no  proof  of  their 
heresy.  Those  who  persisted  in  their  confession  were 
set  at  liberty,  declared  reconciled  to  the  Church,  pro- 
vided for  by  the  King.  Those  who  had  made  no  con- 
fession, and  refused  to  make  one,  were  declared  not 
reconciled  to  the  Church,  and  ordered  to  be  detained 
in  prison,  which  might  be  parpatual.  For  the  relapsed 
there  was  a  darker  destiny. 

On  May  12th  fifty-four  stakes,  encircled  with  dry 
wood,  ware  erected  outside  the  Porte  St.  Antoine. 
Fifty-four  Templars  ware  led  forth — men,  some  of 
noble  birth,  many  in  the  full  health  and  strength  of 
manhood.4  The  habits  of  their  Order  were  rent  from 
them ;  each  was  bound  to  the  stake,  with  an  executioner 
beside  him.  The  herald  proclaimed  for  the  last  time 
that  those  who  would  confess  should  be  set  at  liberty. 
Kindred  and  friends  thronged  around  weeping,  beseech- 
ing, imploring  them  to  submit  to  the  King.  Not  one 
showed  the  least  sign  of  weakness:  they  resolutely 
asserted  the  innocence  of  the  Order,  their  own  faith  as 
Christians.  The  executioners  slowly  lit  the  wood,  which 
began  to  scorch,  to  burn,  to  consume  their  extremities, 
The  flames  rose  higher;  and  through  the  crackling 
might  be  heard  the  howlings  of  the  dying  men,  their 
agonising  prayers  to  Christ,  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  to 


Raynouord  (pp.  1D9-111)  has  recovered  the  names  of  moat  of  the  54. 


CHAP.  II.  TEBBIBLE  EXECUTIONS.  243 

the  Saints.  Not  one  but  died  an  unshrinking  and  reso- 
lute martyr  to  the  guiltlessness  of  the  Order.  The 
people  looked  on  in  undisguised  sympathy.  "  Their 
souls,"  says  one  chronicler,  "  incurred  deeper  damna- 
tion, for  they  misled  the  people  into  grievous  error." B 
Day  after  day  went  on  the  same  sad  spectacle.  On  the 
eve  of  the  Ascension  four  were  burned,  among  them 
the  King's  Almonar.  One  hundred  and  thirteen  were 
burned  in  Paris  alone,  and  not  one  apostate ! 

The  examinations  were  going  on,  meantime,  before 
the  Papal  Commission.  The  day  when  it  was  Examination* 
well  known  that  tha  Archbishop  was  about  to  P™0861 
condemn  the  recreants  to  the  flames,  Humphry  de  Puy, 
a  servitor,  gave  th3  most  intrepid  denial  to  the  whole  of 
the  charges :  he  had  been  three  times  tortured,  kept  in 
a  dungeon  on  bread  and  water  for  twenty-six  weeks, 
He  described  his  own  reception  as  solemn,  secret,  and 
austere.  He  had  heard  rumours  of  such  things  as  were 
said  to  have  taken  place ;  he  did  not  believe  one  word 
of  them.  Throughout,  his  denial  was  plain,  firm,  un- 
shaken. John  Bertaldi  was  under  examination  when 
the  tidings  of  the  burnings  at  the  Porte  St.  Antoane  were 
made  known.  Tha  Commissioners  sent  a  tardy  and 
feeble  petition  at  least  for  delay,  and  to  inform  the 
Archbishop  and  the  King's  officers  that  the  Templars 
had  entered  an  appeal  to  the  Council  of  Yienne,  This 
was  all  I 

The  next  day  Aymeric  de  Villars  le  Duo  appeared 
before  the  Commissioners,  pale,  bewildered ;  yet  on  his 
oath,  and  at  peril  of  his  soul,  he  imprecated  upon  him- 
self, if  he  lied,  instant  death,  and  that  he  might  ba 


•  Dhromquea  do  St.  Daays,     Tha  best  account  is  in  Villain,  viil.  xcil , 
Zantflest  Ghromcon,  apud  Martene,  v  p,  159. 

ic  2 


244  LATIN  CHEIBT1AN1TT.  BogK3Ul, 

plunged  body  and  soul,  in  sight  of  the  Court,  into  hell. 
HB  smote  his  breast,  lift  el  his  hands  in  solemn  appeal 
to  tha  altar,  knelt  down,  and  averred  all  the  crimes  im- 
puted to  the  Order  utterly  false :  though  ha  had  been 
tortured  by  Gr.  da  MaraUlac  and  Hugo  do  Cella,  the 
King's  officers,  to  partial  confession.  He  had  seen  the 
waggons  in  which  the  fifty-four  had  been  led  to  be 
burned,  ha  had  heard  that  they  had  been  burned.  He 
doubted  whether,  if  he  should  be  burned,  he  would  not 
through  fear  confess  anything,  and  confess  it  on  his 
oath,  even  if  he  were  asked  if  he  had  slain  the  Lord. 
He  entreated  the  Commissioners,  he  even  entreated  the 
notaries  not  to  betray  his  secret  lest  he  should  be  con- 
demned to  the  same  fate  as  his  Brethren. 

The  Commissioners  found  the  witnesses  utterly  para- 
lysed with  dread,  and  only  earnest  that  their  confessions 
or  retractations  of  their  confessions  might  not  be  re- 
vaaled ;  above  forty  abandoned  the  defence  in  despair. 
So,  after  soms  unmeaning  communications  with  the 
Archbishop  of  Sana,  they  determined  to  adjourn  the 
Court  for  some  months,  till  November  3rd. 

In  the  mean  tima  other  Metropolitans  and  Bishops 
followed  the  summary  and  barbarous  proceedings  of 
Philip  Marigni  of  Sens/  The  Archbishop  of  Eheims 
held  a  Council  at  Senlis;  nine  Templars  were  burned: 
the  Archbishop  of  Eousn  at  Pont  de  1'Arohe;  the 
number  of  victims  is  not  known,  but  they  were  many.* 
The  Bishop  of  Carcassonne  held  his  Council:  John 
Oassautras,  Commander  in  Carcassonne,  with  many 
others  perished  in  the  fire.h  Duke  Thiebault  of  Lor- 


Contlnuatoi'    Nangis.— Vit.   Cle-    Rouen,  quoted  by  RayuDuard,  p.  120. 


vent.  VI. 


Hiatoire    Jes    Ai  chorlquea    de 


Hist.  EccJsfl,  ds   Carcassonne.—  < 


Ibid. 


CHAP.  II.       COMMISSION  RESUMES  ITS  SITTINGS. 


245 


raine,  who  had  a  sized  the  goods  of  the  Templars,  ordered 
great  numbers  to  execution,  None  retracted  their  re- 
tractation of  their  confession.1 

On  November  3rd  the  Commission  resumed  its 
sittings,  but  most  of  the  Commissioners  were  weary  or 
disgusted  with  thsir  work.  Three  only  were  present 
The  Archbishop  of  Narbonne  and  the  Bishop  of  Bayeux 
were  elsewhere  employed,  it  was  alleged  on  the  King's 
business.  The  Archdeacon  of  Maguelonne  wrote  from 
Montpellier  to  excuse  himself  on  account  of  illness. 
The  Bishop  of  Limoges  withdrew :  a  letter  to  tho  King 
had  been  seen,  disapproving  the  reopening  of  the  Com- 
mission till  the  meeting  of  a  Parliament  summoned  for 
the  day  of  St.  YincBnt.k  They  adjourned  to  the  17th 
of  December.10  The  Commission  was  than  more  full; 
the  Archbishop  of  Narbonne  and  four  others  took  their 
seats.  Of  the  four  proctors,  the  Knights  William  de 
Chambonnet  and  Bernard  de  Salleges  alone  appeared. 
Peter  of  Bologna  and  Eeginald  de  Pruin,  it  was  asserted, 
had  renounced  the  defence.  Peter  de  Bologna  was 
heard  of  no  more ;  he  was  reported  to  have  broken 
prison.  Eeginald  de  Pruin,  as  having  been  degraded 
by  the  Archbishop,  was  deemed  disqualified  to  act  for 
the  Order.  Thus  was  the  defence  crippled.  In  vain 
the  Knights,  unlettered  men,  demanded  counsel  to 
assist  them;  they  too  abandoned  the  desperate  office. 
The  Court,  released  from  their  importunate  presence, 
could  proceed  with  greater  despatch.  Lest  any  new 


1  "Unum  autem  mirandum  fuit, 
quod  omnes  et  sing  all  sigillatim  con- 
fessiones  suas  quaa  prlus  faceranb  in 
juthcio,  et  jurati  confess!  fuerant  Hosts 
veritatem,  pemtus  retractaverant,  di- 
Mutes  BB  falso  dudsse  pnua  eb  se  fuisie 


mentitofl,  nullmn  super  htco  reddeutos 
cauaam  nisi  vim  vel  rnetum  tormen- 
toram  quod  da  BB  t«lia  faterentur."— • 
iv.  Vit.  Cloment.  p.  72. 

k  Jan.  22.  <•  By  an  error  ia 

the  t)i>oum&nt,  Oct.  17. 


24B  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY. 

hindrance  should  occur,  at  the  suggestion  of  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Narbunne  it  was  determined  that  the  Commis- 
sioners might  sit  by  deputy. 

The  Court  sat  from  the  17th  of  December  to  ths 
26th  of  May.  Not  less,  on  the  whole,  than  two  hun- 
dred and  thirty-one  witnesses  were  heard.  It  cannot 
now  ba  wondered  if  the  confessions  were  more  in 
accordance  with  th9  views  of  the  King.  The  most 
intrepid  of  the  Hnights  had  died  at  the  stake ;  every 
one,  who  retracted  his  confession  must  make  up  his. 
mind  to  be  burned.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Order 
ssemed  irretrievably  doomed :  while  confession  might 
secure  themselves,  the  most  stubborn  assertor  of  tha 
blamelessnasa  of  the  Order  could  not  avert  its  disso- 
lution. j  A  few  appeared  in  the  habit  of  the  Ordsr,  with 
the  long  .beard :  most  had  either  thrown  it  off,  or  it 
had  been  taken  from  them,,  they  appeared  shaven. 
This  was  the  case  with  all  who  had  been  absolved  by 
the  Church. 

The  confessions,  upon  strict  examination,  manifestly 
betray  this  predominant  feeling  of  terror  and  despair, 
jSome  there  were  who  nobly,  obstinately  denied  tha 
whole.  Those  who  confessed,  confessed  as  little  as  they 
could,  enough  to  condemn  the  Order,  yet  not  to  incul- 
pate, or  to  inculpate  as  littla  as  possible,  themselves. 
The  confessions  are  constantly  clashing  and  contradict 
tory,u  Men  present  at  certain  receptions  assert  things 
to  have  taken,  place,  which  others,  also  present*  explicitly 
deny.  The  general  conclusion  was  this.  Many  dwelt 
on  the  difficulties  which  were  raised  against  their  admis- 
sion to  UIB  Order.  They  were  admonished  that 


•  Rajncmard  has,  with  much  ingenuity  and  truth,  brought  together  tin 
jfreot  contradictions. — p.  157  et  saqj. 


CHAP.  II.  RESULT  OF  CONFESSIONS.  247 

must  not  expect  to  ride  about  in  splendid  attire  on 
stately  horses,  and  to  live  easy  and  luxurious  lives ; 
they  had  to  submit  to  austere  discipline,  stern  self- 
denial,  almost  intolerable  privations  and  hardships. 
When  they  would  wish  to  be  beyond  the  sea,  they 
would  be  thwarted  in  thair  wishes;  when  they  would 
sleep,  they  would  be  forced  to  watch;  when  to  eat,  to 
fast.  They  were  asked  if  they  believed  the  Catholic 
faith  of  the  Church  of  Rome ;  if  they  were  in  Holy 
Orders,  married,  under  the  vows  of  any  other  Brother- 
hood :  whether  they  had  given  bribe  or  promise  to  any 
Knight  Templar  to  obtain  admission  into  the  Order. 
"Ye  ask  a  great  thing,"  replied  the  Knight  who  admitted 
them  to  their  request. 

The  first  and  public  act  of  reception,0  all  agrued,  was 
most  severe,  solemn,  impressive.  The  three  n«roitDf 
great  vows  of  obedience,  chastity,  abandon-  DlJllfB"rtlPI"1- 
ment  of  property,  were  administered  with  awful  gravity. 
Then  it  was,  according  to  the  confession  of  most  who 
confessed  anything,  that,  after  they  had  been  clothed 
in  the  dress  of  the  Order,  they  were  led  aside  into  some 
private  chamber  or  chapel,  and  compelled,  either  in, 
virtue  of  their  vow  of  obedience,  or  in  dread  of  some 
mysterious  punishment,  to  deny  Christ,  to  spit  on.  tha 
Cross.  Yet,  perhaps  without  exception,  all  swore  that 
they  had  denied  with  their  lips,  not  with  their  heart ; 
that  they  spat,  beside,  above,  below,  not  on  the  Oross.p 
All  declared  that  never  after  had  any  attempt  been 
mads  to  confirm  them  in  apostasy  from  Christ:*  all 


"  See  the  moat  full  account  of  tha 
reception  b7  Gerard  de  CHUSBB,  p.  170 
**  seqq, 

*  "  Juxta  nun  super." 


Sicily,  and  doorkeeper  of  Pope  Bens- 
diet  XI,,  was  toll,  when  bo  denied 
Christ,  "that  the  Cmutfiud  WHS  a  MSB 
propheb ;  and  that  he  must  net  bellevt 


Albert  de  Canellis,  preceptor  in    or  have  hope  qr  trust  in  him.'1— p.  424 


248 


LATItf  OHBiSTIAKIir. 


BooKXIL 


declared  that  they  fully  believed  the  whole  creed  of  the 
Church ;  almost  all  that  they  believed  all  their  Brethren 
to  have  perfect  faith  in  Ohrist.  There  were  some 
singular  variations  and  explanations  of  the  denial.  One 
believed  it  to  be  a  mere  test  of  their  absoluta  obedience; 
another  a  probation,  as  to  whether  thsy  were  of  sufficient 
resolution  to  be  sent  to  the  Holy  Land,  where,  in  the 
power  of  the  Mohammedans,  they  might  be  compelled 
to  choose  between  death  and  the  abnegation  of  their 
BedeBiner:1  some  that  it  was  a  mysterious  allusion  to 
the  denial  of  S.  Peter;  some  that  it  was  an  idle  jest;1 
some  that  it  was  treated  lightly,  "  Gro,  fool,  and  confess." 
Many  had.  confessed  the  crime,  most  usually  to  Minorite 
Friars,  and,  though  their  confession  shocked  ths  priest, 
they  received,  after  some  penance,  full  absolution.  Most 
of  those  who  acknowledged  the  abnegation  of  Christ, 
admitted  the  obscene  Mas :  some  that  it  wa."  but  a  bro- 
therly kiss  on  the  mouth;  some  had  received,  some  had 
been  compelled  to  bestow  this  sign  of  obedience :  it 
was  sometimes  on  the  navel,  sometimes  between  the 
shoulders,  sometimes  at  the  bottom  of  the  spine,  some- 
times, very  rarely,  lower:  it  waa  sometimes  on  the 
naked  parson,  more  often  through  the  clothes.  Here 
stopped  the  admissions  of  great  numbers ;  this  they 
thought  would  suffice ;  the  whole  of  the  rest  they  denied. 
Others  went  further:  some  admitted  the  permission  to 


*  Dae  had  confessed  it  to  a  Friar 
Minn1]  "  et  dixit  si  dictus  frater  ijuod 
ipse  in  articulo  mortis  et  aliter  audl- 
verat  confessiones  multorum  fratrum 
dicti  urdmia,  et  numjuam  intellect 
aed  ciedebat  quod  hoc  fecis- 
ad  tamptandum,  si  vontingeret 
sum  cap!  ultra  mare  a  Saracenis,  an 
aum." — p.  4,05.  Another 


Friar-Preacher  took  the  same  view  of 
the  denials,  and  added,  "  Quia,  si  non 
negfisast,  foraitaa  citius  miaiasent  eum 
ultra  maie." — p,  525  Peter  de  Dharrat 
smd  that  afler  his  abnegation,  "Dictus 
Dilo  incepit  aubridei-e,  D[iiaal  c?ispic£BM<to 
ipsum  testem." 

1  Truffaa.     It  was  dona   "  truffa- 
torie." 


CHAP.  II. 


THE  IDOL. 


249 


Tha IdoL 


commit  unnatural  crimes,  though  in  the  charge  on 
reception  tha  sin  was  declared  to  be  relentlessly  punished 
by  perpetual  imprisonment;  but  all  swore  vehemently 
that  they  had  never  committed  such  Crimea  ;  had  never 
been  tempted  or  solicit ed  to  commit  them ;  offences  of 
this  kind  were  very  rare,  and  punished  by  expulsion 
from  the  Order.  Soms  said  that  they  were  told  it  was 
better  to  sin  so  than  with  women  to  deter  from  that  sin : 
some  took  it  merely  as  an  injunction  hospitably  to  share 
their  bed  with  a  Brother :  they  wore  their  dress  night 
and  day,  with  a  cord  which  bound  it  close.* 

Of  the  idol  but  few  had  heard ;  still  fewer  aeen  it. 
It  was  a  cat ;  it  was  a  human  head  with  two 
faces;  it  was  of  stone  or  metal,  with  features 
which  might  be  discerned,  or  was  utterly  shapeless ;  it 
was  the  head  of  one  of  the  eleven  thousand  virgins  :n  no 
one  idol  could  be  produced,  though  every  mansion  of  the 
Templars,  and  all  their  most  secret  treasures,  were  in  the 
hands  of  their  enemies,  had  been  seized  without  warning 
or  time  for  concealment,  and  searched  with  the  most 
deliberate  scrutiny.  In  the  midst  of  the  examinations 
came,,  in  a  Latin  wilting  from  Yercelli,  from  Antonio 
Siri,  a  notary,  this  wild  story,  followed  by  another  not 
less  extravagant.  A  renegade  in  Sicily  had  divulged 
the  secret.  A  Lord  of  Sidon  had  loved  a  beautiful 
woman:  he  had  never  enjoyed  her  before  her  death. 
After  her  death  he  disintarred  and  abused  her  body. 
The  fruit  of  this  unholy  and  loathsome  connexion  was 


1  Theobald  of  Tavamay  added  to  his 
indignant  denial  of  those  cnmes,  "  We 
had  always  money  enough  to  purchase 
the  favours  of  the  most  beautiful 
vomen." — p  325. 

"  William  de  Arreblny,  the  king's 


almonar,  before  his  apprehension,  had 
behaved  ib  to  ba  the  head  of  one  nf  thwe 
Virgins ;  since,  from  what  he  had  heai  ii 
in  prison,  suspected  it  wria  on  idol,  for 
it  seemed  to  have  two  faces,  wu  terrible 
to  see,  iind  had  a  silver  beard  I— p.  503, 


S5D  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  XII, 

a  head ;  and  this  head,  a  talisman  of  good  fortune,  wag 
the  idol  of  the  Templars.* 

Most  of  the  interrogated  SBsniBd  to  think  that  they 
Jiad  satisfied  all  demands  when  they  had  made  admis- 
sions on  the  first  few  questions :  to  the  rest  they  gave  a 
general  denial,  or  pleaded  total  ignorance.  There  ware 
some  vagua  answers  about  secret  midnight  chapters,  of 
absolution  spoken  by  tha  Grand  Master,  hut  rarely, 
except  in  the  absence  of  a  priest,  or  it  was  conditional, 
and  to  be  confirmed  by  a  priest :  very  few  knew  any- 
thing of  the  omission  of  the  words  at  the  consecration 
of  the  host.  But  throughout  they  are  the  confessions 
of  men  under  terror,  some  in  an  agony  of  dread,  others 
from  the  remembrance  or  the  fear  of  torture,  or  of  worse 
than  torture.  John  da  Pollsncourt  at  first  protested 
again  and'  again  that  he  would  adhere  to  his  confession 
made  before  the  Bishop  of  Amiens  that  he  had  denied 
Christ  The  Commissioners  saw  that  he  was  pale  and 
shivering  j  they  exhorted  him  to  speak  the  truth,  for 
neither  they  nor  the  notaries  would  betray  his  aecret. 
HB  then  solemnly  denied  the  whole  and  every  parti- 
cular; averred  that  he  had  made  his  confession  before 
the  Inquisitors  from  fear  of  death;  that  Griles  de 
Boutongi,  one  of  the  former  witnesses,  hai  urged  on 
Mm  and  many  others  in  the  prison  of  Montr euil  that 
they  would  lose  their  lives  if  they  did  not  assist  in  thei 
dissolution  of  the  Order  by  confessing  the  abnegation  of 
Christ  and  the  spitting  on  the  cross,y  Three  days  after, 
the  same  John  de  Follencourt  entreats  another  hearing, 
not  only  retracts  his  retractation,  but  adds  to  his  former 
confession,  acknowledging  the  licence  to  commit  name* 
less  gins,  but  denies  the  worship  of  the  idol-cat.  John 

•  Pp<  346-6,  7  P.  369. 


CHAP.  II.         CONFESSIONS  THEDUGE  TORTURE. 


252 


de  Cormeli,  Preceptor  of  Moissiat?,  at  first  seems  to 
assert  the  perfect  sanctity  of  the  initiation.  Using 
pressed  as  to  anything  unseemly  having  taken  place,  ha 
hesitates,  entreats  to  speak  with  the  Commissioners  in 
private.  The  Commissioners  decline  this,  but,  seeing 
him  bewildered  with  the  terror  of  torture  (he  had  lost 
four  teeth  by  torture  at  Paris),  allow  him  to  retire  and 
deliberate.  Some  days  after  he  appears  again  with  a 
full  confession.1  John  de  Eumfrey  had  confessed  because 
he  hai  been  three  times  tortured.  Bobert  Vigier  denied 
all  tha  charges;  he  had  confessed  on  account  of  the 
violence  of  the  tortures  inflicted  on  him  at  Paris  by 
the  Bishop  of  Nsvers:4  three  of  his  brethren  had  died 
under  tha  torture.  Stephen  da  Domant  was  utterly 
bewildered;  he  confessed  to  the  denial  and  the  spitting 
on  the  cross.  "  Would  he  maintain  this  in  the  face  of 
the  Knight  who  had  received  him,  and  so  give  him  the 
lie?"  He  would  not.1*  The  Court  saw  that  he  was 
shattered  by  the  tortures  undergone  two  years  before 
under  the  Bishop  of  Paris. 

All  these  depositions,  signed,  sealed,  attested,  authen- 
ticated, were  transmitted  to  the  Pope.0 


»  ET5D6V  •  P.  SU.  b  P.  567.' 
D  M.  Michelet  Writes  thus  In  the1 
Fieface  to  the  second  Toluma  of  the 
Precis  dea  Templiers,  which,  it  must 
he  admitted,  contains  on  the  whole  a1 
fitmtliEg  mass  of  confessions :  "  II 
suffit  le  remarijuer,  ijue  dans  lea  in- 
terrogitoires  qua  nous  publiona,  Us 
3 allegations  aont  presijue  toutes  iden- 
tiques,  comms  si  elles  etaient  iiateea 
d'un  formulaire  convenu,  qu'au  con- 
trairB  les  avaux  sont  tous  difffrens, 
vanes  As  uircQnatauces  spd'eialea,  BOU- 
reut  trfet  nalves,  (jui  leur  dauiBlit  un 


caraotere  partioullar  So  veradttf.  la 
controira  doit  avail*  liflu,  si  lea  avenx 
avojent  ettf  dlctds  on  arrachtffl  par  lw) 
tortui-es }  Us  saraient  &  peu  prfes  Bem- 
blahlea,  at  la  divewJtff  se  troiiTerait 
platdt  dans  lea  delegations."  I  con- 
fess that  my  jmpi'asalon  of  the  fact  IB 
difTeient,  though  I  ana  unwilling'  to 
set  017  opinion  on  this  point  against 
that  of  the  Editor  of  tha  Proceeding!!. 
But  the  fact  itself,  if  true,  strike  me 
just  in  the  contrnry  way.  The  de- 
negationg  w»  a  simple  denials ;  thg 
avowala,  thuM  of  parsons  who  had 


252 


LATIlf  DHKISTIANITI. 


BOOK  XII, 


It  was  not  in  Franca  alone  that  tha  Templars  were 
arrested,  interrogated,  in  some  kingdoms,  and 
^y  the  Pope's  order,  submitted  to  torture.  In 
England,  Edward  II.,  after  the  example  of  his  father-in- 
law,  and  in  obedience  to  the  Pope's  repeated  injunctions, 
and  to  his  peremptory  Bull,  had  seized  with  the  same 
despatch,  and  cast  into  different  prisons,  all  the  Templars 
in  England,  Wales,  and  Ireland;  Scotland  had  done 
the  same.  The  English  Templars  were  under  custody 
in  London,  Lincoln,  and  York.  From  Lincoln,  before 
the  interrogatory,  great  part,  but  not  all,  were  trans- 
ferred to  the  Tower  of  London,  to  the  care  of  John 
Cromwell,  the  Constable.11  The  first  proceeding  was 
before  Balph  Baldock,  Bishop  of  London.  On  the  21st 
of  October  he  opened  the  inquest  on  forty  Knights, 
including  the  Grand  Master,  William  de  la  More,  in  the 
chapter-house  of  the  monastery  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  in 
tha  presence  of  the  Papal  Commissioners,  Deodate, 
Abbot  of  Lagny,  and  Sicard  de  St.  Yaur,  Canon  of 
Narbonne,  Auditor  of  the  Pope.8  The  questions  were 
at  first  far  more  simple,  far  less  elaborately  drawn  out 
than  those  urged  in  France.'  The  chief  points  were 


suffered  or  feared  torture  or  death, 
who  WBia  bewildered,  desperate  of 
saving  the  Order,  and  spuka  therefore 
whatever  ought  please  or  propitiate 
tha  judges.  Truth  is  usually  plain, 
simple;  falsehood,  desultory,  circum- 
stantial, contradictory.  In  their  con- 
fessions they  were  wildly  bidding  for 
tli air  lives.  Whatever  you  wish  ua  to 
say,  WB  will  any  It;  a  few  words 
more  or  less  matter  not;  or  a  few 
more  assenting  answers  to  questions 
which  suggested  those  answers  25 
examined  at  Elne  in  Rounillun  had  not 


been  tortured  ;  they  denied  calmly, 
consistently,  the  whole. — Tom.  11,  p. 
421. 

'  "  Ut  commodius  et  efficaciqs  pro- 
cedi  potest  ad  imjuisitionem." — Rymer, 
1339. 

•  Wllkins,  Concilia  Magn.  Britann. 
ii.  p.  334. 

'  Condi.  Magn.  Bntann,  ii.  347.  I 
shall  be  excused  for  giving  the  English 
examinations  somewhat  more  at  length. 
The  trials  were  here  at  least  mart 
fair. 


CHAP.  II. 


TEMPLARS  IN  ENGLAND. 


353 


these:* — Whether  the  chapters  and  the  recaption  of 
knights  were  held  in,  secret  and  by  night ;  whether  in 
those  chapters  were  committed  any  offences  against 
Christian  morals  or  the  faith  of  the  Church ;  whether 
they  knew  that  any  individual  brother  had  denied  the 
Eedeemer  and  worshipped  idols;  whether  they  them- 
selves held  heretical  opinions  on  any  of  the  sacraments. 
The  examination  was  conducted  with  grave  dignity. 
The  warders  of  the  prisons  were  commanded  to  keep  the 
witnesses  separate,  under  pain  of  the  greater  excommuni- 
cation :  to  allow  them  no  intercourse,  to  permit  no  one 
to  have  access  to  them.  The  first  four  witnesses,  William 
Haven,  Hugh  of  Tadcastar,  Thomas  Dhamberleyn,  Balph 
of  Barton,  were  interrogated  according  to  the  simple! 
formulary.  They  described  each  his  reception,  by  whom, 
in  whose  presence  it  took  place;  denied  calmly,  dis- 
tinctly, specifically,  every  one  of  the  charges ;  declared 
that  they  believed  them  to  be  false,  and  had  not  the 
least  suspicion  of  their  truth.  Balph  of  Barton  was  a 
priest;  he  was  recalled,  and  than  first  examined,  under 
a  more  rigid  form  of  oath,  on  each  of  the  eighty-seven 
articles  used  in  France,  and  sanctioned  by  the  Pope. 
His  answer  was  a  plain  positive  denial  in  succession  of 
every  criminal  charge,  Forty-seven  witnesses  deposed 
fully  to  the  same  effect.11  From  all  these  knights  had 
been  obtained  not  one  syllable  of  confession.1  It  was 


*  The  charges  were  read  to  them  in 
Latin,  French,  and  English. 

h  Thomas  da  Ludhom,  the  thirty- 
first  witness,  said  that  ha  had  bean 
often  urged  to  leave  the  Oidei ;  but 
Jmd  constantly  refused,  though  he  hod 
quite  enough  to  live  ujMm  had  lie 
done  BO. 


1  The  forty-fourth.,  John  of  Stoke, 
Chaplain  of  the  Order,  was  HUGS- 
tiond  as  to  the  death  of  William 
Bachelor,  a  knight.  It  appears  that 
Bochelur  had  been  in  the  prison 
of  the  TsmplaiH  eight  weeks,  hml 
died,  hail  been  buncd,  not  in  thj 
cemetery,  bat  in  the  public  way 


254 


LATIN  CHRISTIANITY. 


BOOK  XII 


determined  to  admit  the  tsstimony  of  witnesses  not  of 

the  Order.    Seventeen  were  examined,  clergy, 

public  notaries,  and  others.    Most  of  them  knew 

nothing  against  the  Templars ;  the  utmost  was  a  vague 

suspicion  arising  out  of  the  secresy  with  -which  they  held 

their  chapters.     One  man  alone  deposed  to  an  overt 

act  of  guilt  against  a  knight,  Guy  de  Forest,  who  had 

been  his  enemy. 

From  January  29th  to  February  4tli  wsre  hearings 
before  the  Bishops  of  London  and  Ohich ester,  the  Papal 
Commissioners,  and  some  others,  in  St.  Martin's  Lud- 
gate,  and  in  other  churches,  on  twenty-nine  newarticlea 
I.  "Whether  they  knew  anything  of  the  infidel  and  foul 
crimes  charged  in  the  Papal  Bull.  II.  Whether  the 
knights  deposed  under  awe  of  the  Great  Preceptor  or 
of  the  Order.  IIL  Whether  the  form  of  reception  was 
the  same  throughout  the  world,  &B.  Thirty-four  wit- 
nesses, some  before  examined,  persisted  in  the  same 
absolute  denial.  On  the  Sth  of  June  the  Inquest  dwelt 
solely  on  the  absolution  pronounced  by  the  Grand  Pre- 
ceptor. William  de  la  More  deposed  that  when  an 
offender  was  brought  up  before  the  chapter  he  was 
stripped  of  the  dress  of  the  Order,  his  back  exposed, 
and  the  President  struck  three  blows  with  scourges. 
He  then  said,  "Brother,  pray  to  God  to  remit  thy  sins," 
He  turned  to  those  present,  "Brethren,  pray  to  God 
that  he  remit  our  brother's  sin,  and  repeat  your  Pater 
Noster."  He  swore  that  he  had  never  used  the  form, 
"I  abgolvs  thee,  in  the  nama  of  the  Father,  Son,  and 
Holy  Ghost."  This  was  the  case  with  all  offences,  save 


within  the  Temple,  and  not  in.  tha 
dress  at  the  Order.  He  had  died  «- 
wramuni eated  by  the  rules  of  the 


Order.  It  was  intimated  that  Ea« 
chalor's  offence  was  appropriating  somi 
of  the  goods  of  the  Drier, 


SEARINGS  IN  IiONDON. 


255 


those  •which,  could  not  be  confessed  "without  indecency. 
These  ha  remitted  as  far  as  ha  might  by  the  powers 
granted  to  him  by  God  and  the  Pope.k  This  waa  the 
universal  practice  of  the  Order.  All  the  witnesses 
confirmed  the  testimony  of  William  de  la  More.  Inter- 
rogatories were  also  mads  at  different  times  at  Juna  i,  mo. 
Lincoln  under  the  Papal  Commission,  and  Apniaa. 
before  tha  Archbishop  at  York  -with  the  two  Papal 
Commissioners.111  All  examined  denied  the  whole  as 
firmly  and  unanimously  as  at  London. 

The  conclusions  to  which  the  chief  Court  arrived, 
after  these  Inquisitions,  were  in  part  a  full  and  absolute 
acquittal  of  the  Order ;  in  part  were  based  on  a  distorted 
and  unjust  view  of  the  evidence ;  in  part  on  evidence 
almost  acknowledged  to  be  unsatisfactory.  The  form, 
of  reception  was  declared  to  be  the  same  throughout  the 
world ;  of  the  criminality  of  that  form,  or  of  any  of  its 
particular  usages,  not  one  word.  Certain  articles  were 
alleged  to  be  proved :  the  absolution  pronounced  by  the 
Grand  Preceptor,  and  by  certain  lay  knights  in  high 
office,  and  by  tha  chapters;  also  that  the  reception  was 
by  night  and  secret;  that  they  were  sworn  not  to  reveal 
the  secret  of  their  reception  (proved  by  seven,  witnesses), 
were  liable  to  be  punished  for  such  revelation  (by  three 
witnesses);  that  it  was  not  lawful  among  themselves  to 
discuss  this  secret  (by  three  witnesses) ;  that  they  wera 
sworn,  to  increase  the  wealth  of  the  Order,  by  right  or 
wrong;11  by  four  witnesses  that  they  were  forbidden  to 
confess  except  to  prissts  of  their  own  Order.0 


k  "  Sed  alia  peccata,  HUM  non  auilent 
confitei  ipiopter  urubescentiam  cninisTBl 
thnorem  jubtibiffi  ordinis,  ipse  ex  put  es- 
tate fiibi  concesaS,  a  Deo  et  donnnn  Papft, 
remittit  ei  In  quantum  patast." — p.  357. 


»  Thoa.  Stul)bs,  Act.  Fontif,  Eth- 
nic, apui  Twywlen,  p.  173  D;  tl* 
Hermngfiud. 

•  "  For  faa  vel  per  nefufl. ' 

•  Couuil.  p,  548. 


253  LATIN  DHEISTLLNITY-  fiOoEXU, 

The  testimony  of  certain  hostile  witnesses  was  all 
this  time  kept  separate;  it  was  admitted  that  at  the 
utmost  even  this  was  but  presumptive  against  the 
Order.  The  Court  seemed  to  have  been  ashamed  of  it, 
as  well  they  might.  In  one  place  there  is  a  strong  inti- 
mation that  the  witnesses  had  contradicted  and  forsworn 
themselves.1*  To  what  did  it  amount,  and  what  manner 
of  men  were  the  witnesses  P 

An  Irish  Brother,  Henry  Tanet,  had  heard,  that  in 
the  East  one  knight  had  apostatised  to  Islam :  he  had 
heard  that  the  Preceptor  of  Mount  Felerin  in  Syria  had 
received  knights  with  the  denial  of  Christ;  the  names 
of  the  knights  he  knew  not.  Certain  knights  of  Cyprus 
(unnamed)  ware  not  sound  in  faith.  A  certain  Templar 
Lad  a  brazen  head  which  answered  all  questions.  He 
never  heard  that  any  knight  worshipped  an  idol,  except 
an  apostate  to  Mohammedanism  I  and  the  aforesaid 
Preceptor. 

John  of  Nassingham  had  heard  from  others,  who  said 
that  they  had  been  told,  that  at  a  great  banquet  given 
by  the  Preceptor  at  York  many  brothers  met  in  solemn 
festival  to  worship  a  oalf. 

John  da  Eure,  knight  (not  of  the  Order),  had  invited 
William  de  la  Fsnne,  Preceptor  of  Wesdall,  to  dinner. 
De  la  Feline,  after  dinner,  had  produced  a  book,  and 
given  it  to  his  wife  to  read,  which  book  denied  the 
virgin  birth  of  the  Saviour,  and  the  Eedemption :  "  Christ 
was  crucified,  not  for  man's  sins,  but  for  his  own." 
De  la  Fenne  had  confessed  this  before  the  Inquest. 
Himself,  being  a  layman,  could  not  know  the  con- 
tents of  the  book. 


t  «  Suaplcio  (iu«j  loco  teatis  21  in  MS.  allegatur)  probare  vidi  tur,  g[uod  DIHDH 
nanunati  m  aliquu  cUjcrav?rimt,  at  ex  inspections  prncessuum  appnret," 


CHAP.  II.         WITNESSES  NOT  OF  THE  OliuKR.  257 

William  de  la  Forde,  Hector  of  Crofton,  had  heard 
from  an  Augustinian  monk,  now  dead,  that  ha  had 
heard  the  confession  of  Patrick  Rippon,  of  the  Order, 
also  dead,  a  confession  of  all  the  crimes  charged  against 
the  Order.  He  had  heard  all  this  after  the  apprehension 
of  the  Templars  at  York. 

Eobert  of  Dteringham,  a  Franciscan,  had  heard  a 
chaplain  of  the  Order  say  to  his  brethren,  "The  devil 
will  burn  you,"  or  some  such  worda.  He  had  seen  a 
Templar  with  his  face  to  the  "West,  his  hinder  parts 
towards  the  altar.  Twent)  years  before,  at  Wetherby, 
he  had  looked  through  a  hole  in  the  wall  of  a  chapel 
where  the  Preceptor  was  said  to  be  busy  arranging  the 
reliques  brought  from  the  Holy  Land;  he  saw  a  very 
bright  light.  Next  day  he  asked  a  Templar  what 
Saint  they  worshipped ;  the  Templar  turned  pale,  and 
entreated  him,  as  he  valued  his  life,  to  speak  no  more 
of  the  matter. 

John  Wederal  sent  in  a  schedule,  in  which  ho  testified 
in  writing  that  he  heard  a  Templar,  one  Eobert  Bayser,  as 
he  walked  along  a  meadow,  say,  "Alas  I  al^s  1  that  ever 
I  was  born !  I  must  deny  Christ  and  hold  to  the  devil  I" 

N.  de  Dhinon,  a  Franciscan,  had  heard  that  a  certain 
Templar  had  a  son  who  looked  through  a  wall  and  saw 
the  knights  compelling  a  professing  knight  to  deny 
Ohrist;  on  his  refusal  they  killed  him.  The  boy  was 
asked  by  his  father  whether  he  would  be  a  Templar; 
the  boy  refused,  saying  what  he  had  seen :  on  which  his 
father  killed  him  also. 

Ferins  Mareschal  deposed  that  his  grandfather  entered 
the  Order  in  full  health  and  vigour,  delighting  in  his 
hawks  and  hounds;  in  three  days  he  was  dead:  tin* 
witness  suspected  that  he  would  not  consent  to  lb<" 
wickednesses  practised  by  the  Order. 

VOti,  VII.  .  g 


258  JATItf  CEKISTIANITY.  BOOK  XII, 

Adam  de  Heton  deposed  that  when  he  wag  a  boy  it 
was  a  gommon  cry  among  boys,  "Beware  of  the  kisses 
of  the  Templars." 

William  de  Bsrney,  an  Augustinian,  had  heard  that 
a  certain  Templar,  he  did  not  know  his  name,  but  be- 
lieved that  he  was  the  Preceptor  of  Duxworthe  (near 
Cambridge),  had  said  that  man  after  dsath  had  no  more 
a  living  sou]  than  a  dog. 

Roger,  Rector  of  Grodmershaiii,  deposed  that  fifteen 
years  before  he  had  desired  to  enter  the  Order.  Stephen 
Quenteril  had  warned  him,  "  If  you  were  my  father,  and 
might  become  Grand  Master  of  the  Order,  I  would  not 
havs  you  enter  it.  WB  have  three  vows,  known  only  to 
God,  the  devil,  and  the  brethren."  What  those  vows 
were  Stephen  would  not  reveal. 

William,  Yicar  of  St,  Clement  in  Sandwich,  had  heard 
fifteen  years  before,  from  a  groom  in  his  service,  that 
the  said  groDm  had  heard  from  another  servant,  that 
the  said  servant  at  Dinelee  had  hid  himself  under  a  seat 
in  the  great  hall  where  the  Templars  hold  their  mii- 
night  chapters.  The  President  preached  to  the  brethren 
how  they  might  get  richer.  All  the  brethren  deposited 
their  girdles  in  a  certain  place :  one  of  these  girdles  the 
servant  found  and  carried  to  his  master.  The  master 
struck  him  with  his  swortl  in  the  presence  of  the  said 
groom.  William  was  asked  if  the  groom  was  living: 
he  did  not  know. 

Thomas  Tulyat  had  heard  from  the  Vicar  of  Suttou 
that  he  had  heard  a  certain  priest,  who  officiated  among1 
the  Templars,  had  been  inhibited  from  using  thai  words 
of  consecration  in  the  mass. 

John  do  Q-ertia,  a  Frenchman,  had  heard  fourteen 
years  before  from  a  woman  ntuned  Cacocaoa,  who  lived 
near  some  elms  in  a  street  in  a  suburb  of  London,  lead-* 


CHAP  II  FURTHER  WITNESSES.  259 

ing  to  St.  Giles,  tlmt  Exvalet,  Preceptor  of  London,  had 
told  this  woman  that  a  servant  of  certain  Templars  had 
concealed  himself  in  their  chapter-house  at  Dinelee.' 
The  Knights  present  had  retired  to  a  house  adjacent 
[how  the  witness  saw  them,  appears  not);  there  they 
opened  a  coffer,  produced  a  black  idol  with  shining  eyes, 
performing  certain  disgusting  ceremonies.  One  of  them 
refused  to  do  more  [the  conversation  is  given  word  for 
word),  they  threw  him  into  a  well,  and  then  proceeded 
to  commit  all  kinds  of  abominable  excesses.  He  said 
that  one  Walter  Savage,  who  belonged  to  EarlWarennB, 
had  entered  the  Order,  and  after  two  years  disappeared. 
Agnes  Lovekote  deposed  to  tha  same. 

Brother  John  Wolby  de  Bust  had  heard  from  Brother 
John  of  Dingeeton  that  he  believed  that  the  charges 
against  the  Templars  were  not  without  foundatiDn ;  that 
he  had  heard  say  that  the  Court  of  Bom  a  was  not 
dealing  in  a  straightforward  mannar,  and  wished  to  save 
the  Grand  Master.  The  said  Brother  averred  that  he 
knew  the  place  in  London  where  a  gilded  head  was 
kept.  There  were  two  more  in  England,  he  knew  Hot 
where. 

Eichtird  ds  Kocfield  had  heard  from  John  of  Bairne 
that  William  Bachelor*  had  said  that  he  had  lost  MB 
soul  by  entering  into  the  Order;  that  there  was  one 
article  in  their  profession  which  might  not  be  revealed, 

Gaspar  (or  Grodfrey)  ds  Nafferton,  chaplain  of  Byde, 
was  in  tha  service  of  the  Templars,  at  the  admission  of 
William  de  Po aldington.  The  morning  after  Ms  admis- 
sion William  looked  very  sad.  A  certain  Brother  Eoger 
had  promised  Godfrey  for  two  shillings  to  obtain  his 


See  abuvc. 

The  kmglit  whosa  mysterious  disappearance  had  been  noticed  before. 

s  2 


2  SO  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY 

admission  to  see  the  ceremony.  Boger  broke  his  word, 
and,  being  reproached  by  Godfrey,  said  "lie  would  not 
have  clone  it  for  his  tabard  full  of  money."  Ce  If  I 
had  known  that,"  said  Grodfrey,  "I  would  have  seen  it 
through  a  hole  in  the  wall."  "  You  would  inevitably 
have  been  put  to  death,  or  forced  to  take  tliB  habit 
of  the  Older,"  He  also  deposed  to  having  seen  a 
Brother  copying  the  secret  statutes. 

John  of  Donyngton,  a  Franciscan,  had  converged  with 
a  certain  veteran  who  had  left  the  Order.  At  the  Court 
of  Eome  he  had  confessed  to  the  great  Penitentiary  why 
ha  left  the  Order ;  that  there  were  four  principal  idol's 
in  England ;  that  William  de  la  More,  new  Grand  Pre- 
ceptor, had  introduced  all  these  into  England.  DB  la 
More  had  a  great  roll  in  which  were  inscribed  all  these 
wicked  observances.  The  same  John  of  Donyngton  had 
heard  dark  sayings  from  others,  intimating  that  therp 
were  profound  and  torriblo  secrets  in  the  Order.8 

Such  was  the  mass  of  strange,  loose,  hearsay,  anti- 
quated evidence/  much  of  which  had  passed  through 
many  mouths.  This  was  all  which  as  yet  appeared 
against  an  Order,  arrested  and  imprisoned  by  the  King, 
acting  undor  the  Pope's  Bull,  an  Order  odious  from 
jealousy  of  its  wealth  and  power,  and  from  its  arrogance 


•  Wilcke  asserts  that  Bishop  Munter 
had  discovered  at  Roma  the  Beport  of 
the  Confessions  of  the  English  Tern- 
jilara,  whloli  was  transmitted  to  the  Pope, 
It  ia  more  full,  ha  says,  titan  that  ID  the 
Concilia.  I  cannot  see  that  Wilota  pro- 
duces mubh  new  mate  from  this  re- 
port His  summary  it  very  inaccurate, 
iMfftejf  out  everything  which  throws 
losplolon.  on  almost  every  testimony. 

1  Two  ConfesaiCM  mode  In  Prance 


were  put  in,  ia  which  Raheit  de  St. 
Just  and  Godfrey  de  Gonaville  had 
deposed  to  their  reception  in  England, 
with  all  the  more  appalling  und  loath* 
some  ceremonies.  These  confessions 
do  not  appear  In  the  Procas  (by 
Michelot).  Their  names  occur  maia 
than  once.  Gonarille  was  chosen  I? 
some  as  a  defender  of  the  Order.  He 
was  present  at  many  of  the  receptions, 
sworn  to  by  tha  witnesses. 


CHAP.  II.      TOBTTJBE  AUTEOBISED  BY  THE  POPE. 


261 


to  the  clergy  and  to  the  monastic  communities ;  espe- 
cially to  the  clergy  as  claim  ing  exemption  from  their 
jurisdiction,  and  assuming  some  of  their  powers:  an 
Order  which  possessed  estates  in  every  county  (the  in- 
structions of  the  King  to  tha  sheriffs  of  the  counties 
imply  that  they  had  property  everywhere),  at  all  events 
vast  estates,  of  which  there  are  ample  descriptions. 
Against  the  Order  torture  was,  if  not  generally  and 
commonly  applied,  authorised  at  least  by  the  distinct 
injunctions  of  the  King  and  of  the  Pope." 

At  length,  towards  the  end  of  May,  three  witnesses 
were  found,  men  who  had  fled,  and  had  been  ThrBBWlt. 
excommunicated  as  contumacious  on  account  neaseB 
of  their  disobedience  to  the  citation  of  the  Court,  men 
apparently  of  doubtful  character.    Stephen  Staplebridge 
is  described  as  a  runaway  apostate.*    He  had  been  ap- 
prehended by  the  King's  officers  at  Salisbury,  committed 
to  Newgate,  and  thence  brought  up  for  examination 
before  the  Bishops  of  London  and  Ohichester,    Stephen, 


»  Was  tha  torture  employed  against 
the  Templars  in  England  ?  It  is  as- 
serted by  Raynouard,  p.  132.  Haye- 
roan  (p  905)  quotes  these  instruc- 
tions, as  In  Dugdala  (they  are  in.  the 
Concilia,  n.  p.  314),  "  Et  si  per  hujus- 
jnodi  arctatianBs  eh  separations  nihil 
ahud  quam  prius  vellenfc  confiteri, 
quod  exlilnc  quratiDnarentur,  ita  quod 
quRshoneB  illse  fiant  absque  mutila- 
tione  et  debilitations  alicujus  membn 
et  sine  violent^  aangmnis  eftusione." 
See  also  in  Bymer,  in.  p.  22B,  the 
royal  order  to  those  who  hail  ths 
Templars  in  custody,  "Quod  lidem 
Pralati  eb  Inquiatores  de  ipsis  Tem- 
^ihriis  et  scrum  coinpaiibus,  in  QIT^B- 
TIONJBUS  et  aliis  ad  hoi;  convenienti- 


bus  urdinent  et  faciant,  quatiena 
Toluentit,  id  quod  eis,  secuniuin 
Legem  Ecdeaiasticam,  videbitur  faci- 
endum." Orders  to  the  Mayor  and 
Sheriffs  of  London,  «'  £t  cdrpora  dic- 
torum  Templariorum  in  QiLEBTIONI- 
Bua  et  ac|  hoc  convenientibus  ponerc.31 
—p.  232.  Still  there  is  not  the  heart- 
breaking evidence  or  bitter  complaint 
of  its  actual  application,  as  m  France, 
The  Pops  gave  positive  orders  to  em- 
ploy  torture  in  Spain.  "  Ad  habfin- 
dam  ab  BIB  ventatis  plenitudmem 
promptioi  am  tormentia  et  quaestioni- 
bus,  si  sponte  connteri  naluaiint, 
experai  procuratis."— Eaynald.  A.H, 
1311,  c.  54. 
«  "  Apostata  fugitims," 


262 


LATIN  CHRISTIANITY. 


being  sworn,  declared  that  there  ware  two  forms  of 
reception,  one  good  and  lawful,  one  contrary  to  the 
faith.:  at  his  admission  at  Dinelee  by  Brian  le  Jay,  late 
Grand  Preceptor  of  England,  he  had  been  compelled 
to  deny  Christ,  which  he  did  with  his  lips,  not  hia 
heart;  to  spit  on  the  Dross — this  hs  escaped  by  spitting 
on  his  own  hands.  Brian  la  Jay  had  afterwards  inti- 
mated to  him  that  Christ  wa9  not  very  G-od  and  very 
Man.  He  also  averred  that  those  who  refused  to  deny 
Christ  were  mada  away  with  beyond  sea:  that  William 
Bachelor  had  died  in  prison  and  in  torment,  but  not  for 
that  cause.  He  made  other  important  admissions :  after 
his  confession  he  throw  himself  on  ths  ground,  with 
tears,  groans,  and  shrieks,  imploring  mercy,? 

Thomas  Thoroldeby  (called  Tocci)  was  said  to  have 
been  present  at  the  reception  of  Stapl abridge."  On  this 
point  he  somewhat  prevaricated:  all  the  rest  he  reso- 
lutely deniid  except  that  there  was  a  suspicion  against 
the  Order  on  account  of  their  secret  chapter.  He  was 
asked  why  he  had  fled.tt  "  The  Abbot  of  Iiagny  had 
threatened  him  that  he  would  force  him  to  confess 
before  he  was  out  of  their  hands."  Thoroldeby  had 
been  present  when  the  confessions  were  made  before  the 
Pope;  he  had  seen,  therefore,  tha  treatment  of  his 
Brethren  in  France.  Four  days  after  Thoroldaby  was 
brought  up  again :  what  had  taken  place  in  the  interval 
maybe  conjectured ;b  he  now  made  the  most  full  and 


r  This  8  Bunds  as  if  he  had  teen 
toitured,  or  feared  to  le. 

•  They  ware  examined  first  at  St. 
Martin's  in  tha  Vintiy;  Thoroldeby, 
the  esctmd  time,  in  St.  Mary  Overy, 
Southwork, 

•  Walter  Clifton,  examined  in  Scot- 
land, was  naked  whether  any  of  tha 


victims  had  Sod,  "  propter  sos&dalum," 
"  ob  timoiem  hqjufimodi,"— he  named 
Thomas  Tocol  as  one  who  had  fled.— 
p.  384. 

b  Havaman  SR.JS,  "  uastreitig  g»- 
f  dltBrt."  It  looks  moat  suspicious,—* 
p.  315. 


JHAP,  II. 


THE  CHAPLAIN'S  EVIDENCE. 


253 


ample  confession.  He  had  been  received  fourteen  or 
fifteen  years  before  by  Guy  Forest.  Adam  Dhampmesle 
and  three  others  had  stood  over  him  with  drawn  swords, 
and  compelled  him  to  deny  Christ.  Guy  -taught  him 
to  believe  only  in  the  Grsat  God.  He  had  heard  Brian 
le  Jay  say  a  hundred  times  that  Christ  was  not  very 
God  and  very  Man.  Brian  IB  Jay  had  said  to  him  that 
the  least  hair  in  a  Saracen's  beard  was  worth  more  than 
his  whole  body."  He  told  many  other  irreverent  sayings 
of  Le  Jay:  there  seems  to  have  been  much  ill-blood 
between  them.  Ha  related  some  adventures  in  ths  Holy 
Land,  from  which  he  would  imply  treachery  in  the 
Order  to  the  Christian  cause.  After  his  admission  into 
the  Order,  John  da  Man  had  said  to  him,  "  Are  you  a 
Brother  of  the  Order  ?  If  so,  were  you  seated  in  the 
belfry  of  St.  Paul's,  you  would  not  see  more  misery 
than  will  happen  to  you  before  you  die." 

John  de  Stoke,  Chaplain  of  the  Order,  deposed  to 
Having  been  compelled  to  deny  Christ.4 

On  June  27th  these  three  witnesses,  Staplebridge* 
Thoroldehy,  and  Stoke,  received  public  absolution,  on, 
the  performance  of  certain  penances,  from  Bobert  Win- 
chelsea,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  some  of  his 
suffragans.  Many  other  Knights  were  in  like  manner 
absolved  on  their  humble  confession  that  they  had  been 
under  evil  report,8  and  under  suspicion  of  heresy.  It 


E  "  Quod  minimus  pilus  bai'bue  umua 
Saraceni,  fuit  tnajons  valaris  ijunm  to- 
tum  corpus  istius  qui  hijmtur."— p  38  ti. 

'  These  are  the  only  three  witnesses 
against  the  Ordei  who  belonged  to  it, 
according  to  the  Concilia.  Wilcke 
asserts  that  in  the  Vatican  Acts,  seen 
by  Bishop  Munter,  thsre  were  17  wit- 
nesses to  the  denial  of  Chlist,  16  to 


the  spitting  on  the  Dross,  8  on  il*- 
i  aspect  to  the  Sacraments,  2  on  the 
omission  of  the  woi  is  of  consecration. 
But  he  does  not  say  whether  these 
witnesses  were  of  the  Order,  and  his 
whale  repi  Mentation,  of  the  Confessions 
from  the  Concilia  Is  that  of  a  man 
who  has  made  up  his  mindt — " 
i.  p.  323.  •  »  Diffaroatf 


2(5* 


LATIN  CHRISTIANITY. 


Boon  XII, 


was  hoped  that  the  Great  Preceptor  of  England,  William 
de  la  More,  would  make  his  submission,  and  accept 
absolution  on  tha  same  easy  terms.  But  the  high 
spirit  of  DB  la  More  revolted  at  the  humiliation.  To 
their  earnest  exhortation  that  he  •would  own  at  least 
the  usurpation  of  the  power  of  absolution,  and  seek 
pardon  of  the  Church,  he  replied  that  he  had  never 
been  guilty  of  the  imputed  heresies,  and  would  not 
abjure  crimes  which  he  had  never  committed.  Ha  waa 
remanded  to  the  prison.  The  general  sentence  against 
the  English  Templars  was  perpetual  imprisonment  in 
monasteries/  They  seem  to  have  been  followed  by 
general  respect. 

In  Scotland  the  Inquisition  was  conducted  by  the 

Scotland.   Bishop  of  St.  Andrew's  and  John  de  Sabrco, 

isDfl,  '     one  of  the  Pope's  clerka.    The  interrogatories 

of  only  two  Knights  appear :   but  many  monks'  and 

clergy  were  examined,  who  seem  to  have  been  extremely 

jealous  of  what  they  branded  as  the  lawless  avarice  and 

boundless  wealth  of  the  Templars/ 

In  Ireland  thirty  Brothers  of  the  Ordar  were  interro- 

T  gated  in  the  church  of  St.  Patrick ;  one  only, 

IraUnd  ,       ,    .          ,     ...    ,  .   .  J' 

a  chaplain,  admitted  even  suspicions  against 
the  Order,  Other  witnesses  were  then  examined, 
chiefly  Franciscans,  who  in  Ireland  seem  to  have  been 
actuated  by  a  bitter  hatred  of  the  Templars.  All  of 
them  swore  that  they  suspected  and  believed  the  guilt 
of  the  Order,  but  no  one  deposed  to  any  fact,  except 


'  "  Quo!  ainguli  in  singul 
tarifr  pasaessiouatiB  tUtruderentur,  pro 
perpetuA  penitentift  peragendft,  qui 
poster  In  hujiumodi  monoateriis  bene 
per  DwniA  se  gerabant,"— Thos.  Wai* 


f  A  monk  of  Newtmtth  complaint 
of  their  "  con^ueatUB  injustoa,  InSif- 
ferenter  aibi  appropriare  cupiunt,  per 
faa  et  nefaa,  bona  et  priedia  euarum 
vlcinorum,"  Compare  Adduon,  pi 
483. 


CHAP.  II.  TEMPLAlll  IN  ITALY.  2fc)5 

that  in  the  celebration  of  the  Mass  certain  Templars 
would  not  look  up,  but  kept  their  eyes  fixed  on  the 
.ground.  Soma  two  or  three  discharged  servants  told 
all  sorts  of  rumours  against  the  Order,  "that  rafrac- 
tory  Brethren  were  sewed  up  in  sacks  and  cast  into  the 
sea"  It  was  often  said  that  whenever  a  Chapter 
was  held,  one  of  the  number  was  always  missing. 
Everything  that  the  Grand  Master  ordered  was  obeyed 
throughout  the  world.11 

In  Italy,  wherever  tha  influence  of  France  and  the 
authority  of  the  Pops  strongly  predominated,  JM 
confessions  were  obtained.  In  Naples,  Charles 
of  Aiijou,  Philip's  cousin,  had  already  arrested  the  whole 
Order,  as  in  his  dominions  in  Provence,  Forcalquier,  and 
Piedmont.1  The  house  of  Anjou  had  to  wreak  their 
long-hoarded  vengeance  on  the  Templars  for  the  aid 
-they*  had  afforded  to  the  Arragonese,  Frederick  of 
Sicily.  The  servitor  Frank  Banyans  described  an  idol 
kept  in  a  coffer,  and  shown  to  him  by  the  Preceptor 
of  Bari.  Andrew,  a  servitor,  had  been  compelled 
to  deny  Christ,  and  to  other  enormities ;  had  seen 
:an  idol  with  three  heads,  which  was  worshipped  as 
their  God  and  their  Redeemer:  he  it  was  who  be- 
fstowed  on  them  their  boundless  wealth.  The  Archbishop 
of  Brindisi  heard  from  ,two  confessions  of  the  denial 
of  Christ.  Six  ware  heard  in  ArragonesB  Sicily,  who 
made  some  admissions.  Thirty-two  in  Messina  resolutely 
denied  all.k 


h  The  report  is  mWilkins,  Concilia. 

1  The  proceedings  ID  Eenucsura, 
Alais,  and  Nismes,  are,  according  to 
Wjlcke,  10  the  Vatican  (see  above). 
'At  Lucerne  (?),  a  brothei  admitted  in 
boldly  averred  that  the  Pope 


himself  had  .wowed  hu  belief  that 
Jesus  TVije  not  God,  that  he  suffered 
nut  for  the  redemption  of  man,  but 
from  hatred  of  the  Jewi. — WilckB,ftoui 
MS.,  p.  337, 

k  Wilcke,  Haveman  f?), 


LATIN  CHRISTIANITY. 


BOOK  XH 


In  tlis  Papal  States  the  examinations  lasted  from 
December,  13D9,  to  July,  131D,  at  Viterbo,  before  the 
Bialiop  of  Sutri.  The  worship  of  idols  was  acknow- 
ledged by  asvBral  witnesses,™  At  Florence,  and  before 
a  Provincial  Council  held  by  the  Archbishop  of  Pisa  and 
the  Bishop  of  Florence,  some  Knights  admitted  the 
guilt  of  the  Order.  But  Reginald,  Archbishop  of  Ra- 
venna, had  a  commission  of  inquiry  over  Lombardy,  the 
March  of  Ancona,  Tuscany,  and  Dalmatia.  At  Ravenna 
the  Dominicans  proposed  to  apply  tortura:  the  majority 
of  the  Council  rejected  the  proposition.  Seven  Tem- 
plaravl  maintained  tha  innocence  of  the  Order;  they 
were  absolved;  and  in  the  Council  the  Churchmen 
declared  that  those  who  retracted  confessions  made 
under  tortura  were  to  be  held  guiltless."  The  Arch- 
bishop of  Ravenna  and  tha  Bishop  of  Rimini  held  an 
inquest  at  Cessna.  Andrew  of  Sienna  declared  that  ha 
had  heard  that  many  Brothers  had  confessed  from  fear 
of  torture.  HB  knew  nothing,  had  heard  nothing  af  such 
things;  had  he  known  them,  he  would  haye  left  the 
Order,  and  denounced  it  to  the  Bishops  and  Inquisitors. 
"  I  had  rather  have  been,  a  beggar  for  my  bread  than 
remained  with  such  men.  I  had  rather  died,  for  above 
all  things  is  to  bo  preferred  the  salvation  of  the  soul." 
From  Lombardy  there  are  no  reports.p  In  the  island 
of  Cyprus  an.  inquest  was  held:11  one  hundred  and  ten 


w  Tin;  pniticulars  in  Raynounrd,  p, 
271. 

"  The  names  m  lUiyiiounriJ,  p.  277. 

•  "  Cnmmuiii  nententld  dwretum 
tat  innncentes  abaolvi.  .  .  ,  Intelligi 
innocents  dehera  qul,  metu  tormsn- 
torum,  cnnf'essi  fuisuent,  si  delada  earn 
cotiftissionem  revocoasaat ;  aut  VBVO- 
cai*,  hujunraodl  tormsntorum  metu, 


ne  inferrentur  nova,  non  fuisaent 
auai,  [lum  tamen  id  conataret."— Har- 
duin,  Cgneil.  7,  p.  1317.  All  thia 
imp'ies  tha  genBTfll  use  of  toiiore  in 
Italy. 

>  There  trers  one  or  two  unim- 
portant iniuiries  at  Bologna, 
&c. — Raynounrd. 

*  May  and  June,  1311. 


CHAP.  II. 


TEMPLARS  IN  SPA1JS. 


267 


witnesses  were  heard,  seventy-five  of  the  Older.  They 
had  at  DUB  time  taken  up  arms  to  defend  themselves, 
but  laid  them  down  in  obedience  to  the  law.  All  main- 
tained the  blainelessnesa  of  the  Order  with  courage  and 
dignity. 

In  Spain  the  acquittal  of  the  Drier  in  each  of  the 
kingdoms  was  solemn,  general,  complete.*  In 
Arragon,  on  the  first  alarm  of  an  arrest  of  the 
Order,  the  Knights  took  to  their  mountain-fortresses, 
manned  them,  and  seemed  determined  to  stand  on  their 
def  encB.  They  soon  submitted  to  the  King  and  the  laws. 
The  Grrand  Inquisitor,  D.  Juan  Latger,  a  Dominican, 
conducted  tha  interrogatories  with  stern  severity ;  the 
torture  was  usad.  A  Council  was  assembled  at  Tarra- 
gona, on  which  sat  tha  Archbishop,  Gruillen  da  Roeca- 
berti,  with  his  suffragans.  The  Templars  were  declared 
innocent;  above  all  suspicion.8  "No  one  was  to  dare 
from  that  time  to  defame  them."  Other  interrogatories 
took  place  in  Medina  del  Campo,  Medina  Deli,  and  in 
Lisbon.  The  Council  of  Salamanca,  presided  over  by 
the  Archbishop  of  Santiago,  the  Bishop  of  Lisbon,  and 
some  other  prelates,  having  made  diligent  investigation 
of  the  truth,  declared  the  Templars  of  Castile,  Leon, 
and  Portugal  free  from  all  the  charges  imputed  against 
them,*  reserving  the  final  judgement  for  the  Supreme 
Pontiff. 

In  Germany  Peter  Ashpalter,  Archbishop  of  Mentz, 
summoned  a  Synod  in  obedience  to  the  Pope's  Bull 
issued  to  the  Archbishops  of  Mentz,  Dologno,  Treves, 


*  See  Zurifci  Amiles,  Gampamanea, 
1  "  Neque  enim  turn  culpabiles  invent! 
fuerunt,  ac  fana.  f'erebat,  quomvis  tar- 
mentis  adacti  fmssent  ad  confessionem 
Concil.  sub  nno. 


t  "  Y  si  mand6,  qua  nadia  Be  atra- 
viaase  a  infamnrba  par  qnantn  en  la 
aveviguacion  hechu  par  el  concilia  fue- 
ron  hallndas  libias  di  toiln  mala  sua« 
." — Campomtines,  Duacit.  vli. 


2SS  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY  BOOK  XII, 

and  Magdeburg.  The  Council  was  seated,  the  Piimata 
and  his  brother  prelates.  Suddenly  Hugh,  Wild 
and  Rheingraf,  the  Preceptor  of  the  Order  at 
Grumbach  near  Bteissenheim,  entered  the  hall  with 
hia  Knights  in  full  armour  and  m  the  habit  of  the 
Order.  The  Archbishop  calmly  demanded  their  busi- 
ness. In  a  loud  clear  voice  Hugh  replied,  that  hs  and 
his  Brethren  understood  that  the  Council  was  assembled, 
under  a  commission  from  the  Eoman  Pontiff,  for  the 
abolition  of  the  Order;  that  enormous  crimes  and  more 
than  heathen  wickednesses  ware  charged  against  them; 
they  had  been  condemned  without  legal  hearing  or  con- 
viction, "Wherefore  before  the  Holy  Fathers  present 
hs  appealed  to  a  future  Pope  and  to  hia  whole  clergy; 
and  entered  his  public  protest  that  those  who  had  bean 
delivered  up  and  burned  had  constantly  denied  those 
crimes,  and  on  that  denial  had  suffered  tortures  and 
death:  that  Grod  had  avouched  their  innocence  by  a 
wonderful  miracle,  their  whita  mantles  marked  with 
tils  red-cross  had  been  exposed  to  fire  and  would  not 
burn.""  The  Archbishop  fearing  leat  a  tumult  should 
arise,  accepted  the  protest,  and  dismissed  them  with 
courtesy.  A  year  afterwards  a  Council  at  Msntz,  hav- 
ing heard  thirty-eight  witnessss,  declared  the  Order 
guiltless.  A  Council  held  by  the  Archbishop  of  Trevea 
came  to  the  same  determination.  Burchard,  Archbishop 
of  Magdeburg,  a  violent  and  unjust  man,  attempted  to 
arrest  the  Templars  of  the  North  of  Grermany,  He  was 
compelled  to  release  them.  They  defended  tha  fortress 
of  Beyer  Naumbourg  against  the  Archbishop,  Public 
favour  appears  to  have  baen  on  their  side:  no  con- 
demnation took  place. 


Serrariiw,  Res  Moguntfece. — Manai,  vol.  xzr,  p.  297, 


CHAP.  IL          DIFFICULTY  OF  THE  QUESTION.  239 

Christian  history  has  few  problems  more  perplexing, 
vet  more  characteristic  of  the  age,  than  the 

•-,  •  f    ±1        m          1  m         The  problem. 

guilt  or  innocence  of  the  Templars.  Two 
powerful  interests  have  conspired  in  later  times  against 
them.  The  great  legists  of  monarchical  France,  during 
u,  period  of  vast  learning,  thought  it  treason  ThE  ]ilwyHa_ 
against  the  monarchy  to  suppose  that,  even  in 
times  so  remote,  an  ancestor  of  Louis  XIV.  could  have 
been  guilty  of  such  atrocious  iniquity  as  the  unjust  con- 
demnation of  the  Templars.  The  whola  archives  were 
entirely  in  the  power  af  thsse  legists.  The  documents 
wers  published  with  laborious  erudition;  but  through- 
out, both  in  the  affair  of  the  Templars  and  in  the  strife 
with.  Boniface  VUL,  and  in  the  prosecution  of  his 
memory,  with  a  manifest,  almost  an  avowed,  bias  to- 
wards the  King  of  France.  The  honour,  too,  of  the 
legal  profession  seemed  involved  in  these  questions.  The 
distinguished  ancestors  of  the  great  modern  lawyers,  the 
DB  Flottes,  De  Plasians,  and  the  Nogarets,  who  raised 
the  profession  to  be  the  prs dominant  power  in  the  state, 
and  set  it  on  equal  terms  with  the  hierarchy — the 
founders  almost  of  the  parliaments  of  France — inust 
not  suffer  attainder,  or  be  degraded  into  the  servile 
counsellors  of  proceedings  which  violated  every  prin- 
ciple of  law  and  of  justice' 

On  the   other  hand  the  ecclesiastical  writers,  who 
esteem  every  reproach  against  the  Fope  as  an  Theeccieni- 
insult  to,  or  a  weakening  of  their  religion,  MtteBg 
would  rescue  Clement  V.  from,  the  guilt  of  the  unjust 
persecution,  spoliation,  abolition  of  an  Order  to  which 
Christendom  owed  so   deep  a  debt  of  honour  and  of 
gratitude.    Papal  infalh'biUty,  to  those  who  hold  it  in 
•its  highest  sense,  or  Papal  impeccability,  in  which  they 
would  fondly  array,  as  far  'as  possible,  each  hallowed 


270  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  XII. 

successor  of  St.  Peter,  is  endangered  by  the  weakness, 
if  not  worse  than  weakness,  of  the  Holy  Father.  But 
the  calmer  survey  of  the  whole  reign  of  Philip  the  Fair, 
of  his  character  and  that  of  his  counsellors — of  hia  mea- 
sures and  his  necessities — of  his  unscrupulous  ambition, 
avarice,  fraud,  violence — of  the  other  precedents  of  his 
oppression — at  least  throws  no  improbability  on  the 
most  discreditable  version  of  this  affair,  Clement  V., 
inextricably  fettered  by  the  compact  through  which  he 
bought  the  tiara,  still  in  the  realm  or  within  the  power 
of  Philip,  with  no  religious,  no  moral  strength  in  his 
personal  character,  had,  as  Pope,  at  least  one,  if  not 
more  than  one  object — the  Binding  or  avoiding  the  con- 
demnation of  Pope  Boniface,  to  which  must  be  sacrificed 
every  other  right  or  claim  to  justice.  The  Papal  autho- 
rity was  absolutely  on  the  hazard,-  the  condemnation  of 
Boniface  would  crumble  away  its  very  base.  A  graat 
Italian  Pope  might  have  beheld  in  the  military  Orders, 
now  almost  discharged  from  their  functions  in  the  East, 
a  power  which  might  immeasurably  strengthen  the  See 
of  Komf\  They  might  become  a  feudal  militia,  of  vast 
wealth  and  possessions,  holding  directly  of  himself,  if 
skilfully  managed,  at  his  command,  in  every  kingdom 
m  Christendom.  With  this  armed  aristocracy,  with  the 
Friar  Preachers  to  rule  the  middle  or  more  intellectual 
classes,  the  Friar  Minors  to  keep  alive  and  govern  the 
fanaticism  of  the  lowest,  what  could  limit  or  control  his 
puissance  ?  But  a  French  Pope,  a  Pope  in  the  position 
of  Clamant,  had  no  such  splendid  visions  of  supremacy; 
what  he  held,  he  held  almost  on  sufferance;  he  could 
maintain  himsslf  by  dexterity  and  address  alone,  not  by 
intrepid  assertion  of  authority.  "Nor  was  it  difficult  to 
abuse  himself 'into  a  belief  or  a  supposed  belief  in  the 
gtrilt  flf  Ihe  Templars,  He  had  but  to  accept  without 


CHAP.  II.  EVIDENCE.  271 

too  severe  examination  the  evidence  heaped  before  him; 
to  authorise  as  he  did — and  in  BD  doing  ha  introduced 
nothing  new,  startling,  or  contrary  to  the  usage  of  the 
Church — the  terrible  means,  of  which  few  doubted  the 
justice,  used  to  extort  that  evidence.  The  iniquity,  the 
cruelty  was  all  the  King's ;  his  only  responsible  act  at 
last  was  in  the  mildest  form  the  abolition  of  an  Order 
which  had  ceased  to  fulfil  the  aim  for  which  it  was 
founded;  and  by  taking  thia  upon  himself,  he  retained 
the  power  of  quietly  thwarting  the  avarice  of  the  King, 
and  preventing  the  escheat  of  all  ths  possessions  of  the, 
Order  to  the  Crown. 

Our  history  has  shown  the  full  value  of  the  evidence 
against  tha  Order.  Beyond  the  confessions  of 
the  Templars  themselves  there  was  absolutely 
nothing  but  the  wildest,  most  vague,  most  incredible 
tales  of  superstition  and  hatred.  In  Francs  alone,  and 
where  French  influence  prevailed,  were  confessions  ob- 
tained. Elsewhere,  in  Spain,  in  Germany,  parts  of 
Italy,  there  was  an  absolute  acquittal;  in  England, 
Scptiand,  and  Ireland  there  appears  no  evidence  which 
in  the  present  day  would  commit  a  thief,  or  condemn, 
him  to  transportation.  ;  In  France  these  confessions 
were  invariably,  without  exception,  crushed  out  of  men 
imprisoned,  starved,  disgraced,  under  the  most  relent- 
lass  tortures,  or  under  well-grounded  apprehensions  of 
torture,  degradation,  and  misery,  with,  on  the  other 
hand, '  promises  of  absolution,  freedom,  pardon,  royal 
favour.  Yet  on  the  instant  that  they  struggle  again 
into  the  light  ^of  day,;  on  the  first  impulse  of  freedom 
and  hope;  no  sooner  do  they  see  themselves  for  a 
moment  out  of  the  grasp  of  the  remorseless  King; 
Under  the  judgement,  it  might  be,  of  tha  less  remorseless 
Qh-urch,  than  all  these  confessions  are  for  the  most  part 


-72  LATIN  DHR1STIANITY.  BOOK  XII,' 

retracted,  retracted  fully,  unequivocally.  This  retracta- 
tion was  held  so  fatal  to  the  cause  of  their  enemies  that 
all  the  bravest  were  burned  and  submitted  to  be  burned 
rather  than,  again  admit  their  guilt.  The  only  points 
on  which  there  was  any  great  extent  or  unanimity  of 
confession  were  the  ceremonies  at  the  reception,  the 
abnegation  of  Christ,  the  insult  to  the  Dross,  with  tho 
other  profane  or  obscene  circumstances.  These  were 
the  points  on  which  it  was  the  manifest  object  of  the 
prosecutors  to  extort  confessions  which  were  suggested 
by  the  hard,  stern  questions,  the  admission  of  which 
mostly  satisfied  tiia  Court. 

Admit  to  the  utmost  that  the  devout  and  passionate 
enthusiasm  of  the  Templars  had  died  away,  that  famili- 
arity with  other  forms  of  belief  in  the  East  had  deadened 
the  frmatie  zeal  for  Christ  and  hia  Sepulchre ;  that 
Oriental  superstitions,  the  belief  in  magic,  talismans, 
amulets,  had  crept  into  many  minds;  that  in  not  a  few 
the  austere  moraLs  had  yielded  to  the  wild  life,  the  fiery 
sun,  the  vices  of  the  East;  that  the  corporate  spirit  of 
the  Order,  its  power,  its  wealth,  its  pride,  had  absorbed 
the  religious  spirit  of  the  first  Knights :  yet  there  is 
Bomelhing  utterly  inconceivable  in  the  general,  almost 
universal,  requisition  of  a  naked,  ostentatious,  offensive, 
insulting  renunciation  of  the  Christian  faith,  a  renuncia- 
tion following  immediately  ou  the  most  solemn  vow; 
not  after  a  long,  slow  initiation  into  the  Order,  not  as 
the  secret,  esoteric  doctrine  of  the  chosen  few,  but  on 
the  threshold  of  the  Order,  on  the  very  day  of  reception. 
It  must  be  supposed,  too,  that  this  should  not  have 
transpired;  that  it  should  not  have  been  indignantly 
rejected  by  many  of  noble  birth  and  brave  minds ;  or 
that  all  who  did  dare  to  reject  it  should  have  been 
Secretly  made  away  with,  or  overawed  by  the  terror  of 


CHAP.  U.  DU  MDLAT  273 

death,  or  the  solemnity  of  their  VDW  of  ooediance ;  that 
there  should  have  been  hardly  any  prudential  attempts 
at  concealment,  full  liberty  of  confession,  actual  con- 
fession, it  should  seem,  to  bishops,  priests,  and  friars ; 
and  yet  that  it  should  not  have  got  abroad,  except  per- 
haps in  loose  rumours,  in  suspicions,  which  may  have 
been  adroitly  instilled  into  the  popular  mind:  that 
nothing  should  have  been  made  known  till  denounced 
by  the  two  or  three  renegades  produced  by  William  of 
Nogaret. 

Ths  early  confession  of  Du  Molay,  his  retractation  of 
his  retractation,  are  facts  no  doubt  embarrassing,  yet  at 
the  same  time  very  obscure.  But  the  genuine  chival- 
rous tone  of  the  language  in  which  he  asserted  that  the 
confession  had  been  tampered  with,  or  worse;  the  cars 
manifestly  taken  that  his  confession  should  not  be  made 
in  the  presence  of  the  Pope,  the  means  no  doubt  used, 
the  terror  of  torture,  or  actual,  degrading,  agonising 
torture,  to  incapacitate  him  from  appearing  at  Poi- 
tiers : — these  and  many  other  considerations  greatly 
lighten  or  remove  this  difficulty.  His  death,  hereafter 
to  be  told,  which  can  hardly  be  attributed  but  to  ven- 
geance for  his  having  arraigned,  or  fear  lest  he  should 
with  too  great  authority  arraign  the  whole  proceedings, 
with  all  the  horrible  circumstances  of  that  death,  con- 
firms this  view. 

Du  Molay  was  a  man  of  brave  and  generous  impulses, 
but  not  of  firm  and  resolute  character ;  he  was  uneuited 
for  his  post  in  such  pBrilous  times-  That  post  required 
not  only  the  most  intrepid  mind,  but  a  mind  which 
could  calculate  with  sagacious  discrimination  the  most 
pruient  as  well  as  the  boldest  course.  On  him  rested 
the  fame,  the  fate,  of  his  Order;  the  freedom,  tha  ex- 
emption from  torture  or  from  shame,  oi  each  single 

VOL.  VII.  T 


274 


LATIN  OHIIISTIAN.LTY. 


BOOK  XII. 


brother,  his  companions  in  arms,  his  familiar  friends. 
And  this  man.  was  environed  by  the  subtlest  of  foes. 
When  ha  unexpectedly  breaks  out  into  a  bold  and  ap- 
palling disclosure,  De  Plasian  ia  at  hand  to  soften  by 
persuasion,  to  perplex  with  argument,  to  bow  by  cruel 
force.  His  generous  nature  may  neither  have  compre- 
hended the  arta  of  his  enemies,  nor  the  full  significance, 
the  sense  which  might  be  drawn  from  his  words.  He 
may  have  been  tempted  to  some  admissions,  in  the  hope 
not  of  saving  himself  but  hia  Order;  he  may  have 
thought  by  some  sacrifice  to  appease  the  King  or  to 
propitiate  ths  Pope.  The  secrets  of  his  prison-house 
were  never  known.  All  ha  said  was  noted  down  and 
published^  and  reported  to  tha  Pope;  all  he  refused  to 
say  (except  that  one  speech  before  the  Papal  Commis- 
sioners) suppressed.  He  may  have  had  a  vague  trust 
in  the  tardy  justice  of  the  Popa,  when  out  of  the  King's 
power,  and  lulled  himself  with  this  precarious  hope. 
Nor  can  we  quits  assume  that  ha  waa  not  the  victim  of 
absolute  and  groundless  forgery. 

All  contemporary  history,  and  that  history  which  ia 
contempt  nearest  the  times,  except  for  the  most  part 
myinntoijr.  tllQ  Froncn  biographers  of  Pope  Clement,  de- 
nounco  in  plain  unequivocal  terms  the  avarice  of  Philip 
the  Fair  as  the  Hole  causa  of  the  unrighteous  condemna- 
tion of  tho  Templars.  Villani  emphatically  pronounces 
that  tho  charges  of  heresy  were  advanced  in  order  to 
seize  their  treasures,  and  from  secret  jealousy  of  the 
0-raud  Master.  "The  Pope  abandoned  the  Order  to 
the  King  of  Francs,  thai  ho  might  avert,  if  possible, 
the  condemnation  of  Boniface."*  Zantfliet,  Canon  of 


*  u  MOBBO  da  avarlzla  el  faoe  pro- 
mettere  del  Papa  neorstamente  di  dia- 
fim  la  detta  Qrdino  de  Teraplan  ,  ,  . 


ma  pit  al  dice  die  fli  per  tram  dj 
loro  mcilta  muuata,  a  per  urfeguo  pieso 
col  maestro  del  tem|;iu,  e  colla  ma- 


CHAP.  II. 


CONTEMPORARY  HIST  DRY. 


275 


lafcge,  describes  the  noble  martyrdom  of  the  Templars, 
that  of  Du  Malay  from  the  report  of  an  eye-witness: 
"had  not  their  death  tended  to  gratify1  his  insatiate 
appetite  for  their  wealth,  their  noble  demeanour  had 
triumphed  over  the  perfidy  of  the  avaricious  King."y 
The  Cardinal  Antonino  of  Florence,  a  Saint,  though  he 
adopts  in  fact  almost  the  words  of  Villani,  is  even  mora 
plain  and  positive : — "  The  whole  was  forged  by  the 
avarice  of  the  King,  that  he  might  despoil  the  Templars 
of  their  wealth."* 

Yet  the  avarice  of  Philip  was  baffled,  at  least  as  to 
the  full  harvest  he  hoped  to  reap.  The  absolute  confis- 
cation of  all  the  estates  of  a  religious  Order  bordered 
too  nearly  on  invasion  of  the  property  of  the  Church; 
the  lands  and  treasures  were  dedicated  inalienably  to 
pious  uses,  specially  to  the  conquest  of  the  Holy  Land. 
The  King  had  early  bsen,  forced  to  consent  to  make 
over  the  custody  of  the  lands  to  the  Bishops  of  the 
diocesea ;  careful  inventories  too  ware  to  be  made  of 
all  their  goods,  for  which  the  King's  officers  were  re- 
sponsible, But  of  the  moveables  of  which,  the  King  had 
taken  possession,  it  may  be  doubted  if  much,  or  any 
part,  was  allowed  to  escape  his  iron  grasp,  or  whether 


ginne.  II  Papa  per  leyarsi  da  dosso 
il  R&  di  Francia,  per  contentarlp  per 
la  richiesta  di  condennare  Papa  Bom- 
fazio." — 1.  TIII.  c.  92. 

7  "Dicens  ens  tarn  peiv-arsd,  animi 
fortituime  regis  avan  viuisae  perfi- 
diam,  nisi  moi-iando  lUuc  tetendisaeut, 
juo  ejua  appetitus  mexplebihs  cupie- 
bat .  quamquam  nan  minoi  liarco 
gloria  fuerit,  si  recto  prseligentea  ju- 
diaD,  inter  tonnenta  maigerint  defi- 
oere,  quara  adveraus  veritatem  dixine 
nut  &mam  just&  qiiraitara  tuipissimi 


cpnfesflione  maculare."  Ha 
describes  DuMolay's  dentb.  (BBE  further 
on),  "  rega  spec  tan  te/J  and  adds, 
"  qui  heec  vidit  scrip  tori  teatimonium 
prjebqit."— Zantfliat.  Chronic,  apud 
Martens.  Zantfliat'a  nhronicla  wai 
continued  to  146  D  — Collect.  Nov. 
v.  5. 

1  "Totum  tamen  falafe  uonfictun 
ex  araritii,  ut  illi  religiosi  Tempkrii 
exspolmrentnr  bunia  suis." — 5.  An- 
tDDin.  Aichicp  PJoient.  Hist.  Ha 
\vrotB  about  A,n.  14,jO, 

T  ii 


276  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BooKXIL 

any  account  was  ever  given  of  the  vast  tieasures  accu- 
mulated in  the  vaults,  in  the  chapels,  in  the  armouries, 
in  the  storehouses  of  the  Temple  castles.  The  lands 
indeed,  both  in  England  and  in  France,  were  at  length 
made  over  to  the  Hospitallers ;  yet,  according  to  Yillani," 
they  were  so  burthened  by  the  demands,  dilapidations, 
and  exactions  of  the  King's  officers,  they  ha/1  to  pur- 
chasB  the  surrender  from  the  King  and  other  princes 
at  such  vast  cost  of  money,  raised  at  such  exorbitant 
interest,  that  the  Order  of  St.  John  was  poorer  rather 
than  richer  from  what  seamed  so  splendid  a  grant.  The 
Crown  claimed  enormous  sums  as  due  on  the  sequestra- 
tion. Some  years  later  Pope  John  XXII.  complains 
that  the  King's  officers  seized  th&  estates  of  the  Hos- 
liitallers  as  an  indemnity  for  claims  which  had  arisen 
during  the  confiscation." 

The  dissolution  of  the  Drder  was  finally  determined. 
"  If,"  said  the  Popo,  "  it  cannot  be  destroyed  by  the  way 
of  justice,  let  it  bo  destroyed  by  thr>  way  uf  expediency, 
lea't  we  offend  omr  dear  son  the  King  of  France."  °  The 
Council  of  Vienno  was  to  pronounce  tho  solemn  act  of 
il'flsolution.  Of  tli9  Templars  tho  few  who  had  been 
absolved,  and  had  not  retracted  thsir  confession,  were 
pprrnittert  to  enter  into  other  orders,  or  to  retire  into 
monasteries.  Many  had  thrown  off  tho  habit  of  the 

*  "  Ma  convenneb.  loio  u'coglicro  o 
ritjomperfira  dal  Rfc  di  Fnmcin  o  dulli 
altn   piiutipt    6   Signoii  con  tanta 
[junntiti  di  monetii,  cho  eon  gli  in- 
tereasi    coral    poi,  la  raagiane    3  all  a 
Spedale  fu  o  6  in  pifr  povcrtft,  oha 
prlma  avendo  aolo  11  BUD  proprio." 
Vllknl  it  good  authority  in  money 
matter*. 

b  Dupuy,  Condemnation. 

*  "  Et  dent  auJivi  ab  uno,  qui  fait 


testium,  Jeatrnc- 
tufl  fuit  ccnitiajustitiiiro,  etniihi  iinit, 
quod  Ipee  Dlamena  pvotulit  hoc,  'Et 
si  noil  per  viam  juatifciaj  potost  dwtrui, 
deetruatur  tamm  per  viam  expedian- 
tia;,  na  ecaiiilnUzetur  chains  filiufl 
noster  Rex  Friuidffi.' "— Albarici  de 
Koflftto  Bergntnenfils,  Dictioimrium  Ju« 
IIB;  VeiiBtiis,  1579,  folio;  sub  TOO* 
Tempi arii,  quoted  by  Havanua,  p 


CHAP.  II. 


ABOLITION  OF  THE  DEDEH. 


377 


Oriel,  and  in  remote  parts  fell  back  to  secular  employ- 
ments :  many  remained  in  prison.  Du  Molay  and  the 
thres  other  heads  of  the  Order  were  reserved  in  cloaa 
custody  for  a  terrible  fate,  hsreafter  to  be  tald.18 


d  Wilcke  assEi-ts  (p  342)  that  Mol- 
denhauer's  publication  of  the  Proceed- 
ings against  the  Templars  (now  more 
accurately  and  fully  edited  by  M. 
Micheleb)  was  bought  up  by  the 
Freemasons  aa  injurious  to  tie  fame 
of  the  Templars.  If  this  was  BO,  the 
Freemasons  committed  an  error :  my 
doubts  of  then  guilt  ni  e  strongly  con- 
firmed by  the  Pioc&s.  Wilcke  makes 
thiee  regular  gradations  of  initiation : 
I.  The  denial  of  Chust;  II.  The 
kisses ;  III.  The  worship  of  the  Idol. 
This  is  contrary  to  all  the  Evidence; 
the  two  first  ore  always  described 
aa  simultaneous.  Wilcke  has  sup- 
posed that  so  long  as  the  Driler  con- 
sisted only  of  knights,  it  was  ortho- 
dox. The  cleiks  introduced  into  the 
Order,  chiefly  Friar  Minorites,  hi  ought 
in  learning  and  the  wild  speculative 
opinions.  But  for  this  he  alleges  not 
the  least  proof. 

•  A  modern  school  of  history,  some- 
what too  prone  to  make  or  to  imagine 
discoveries,  lias  condemned  the  Tem- 
plars upon  other  grounds,  These 
fierce  unlettered  warriors  have  risen 
into  Oriental  mystics.  Not  ineiely 
has  their  intercourse  with  the  East 
softened  off  their  abhorrence  of  Mo- 
hammedanism, induced  a  moie  liberal 
tone  of  thought,  or  overlaid  their 
Western  superstitions  with  a  layer  of 
Oriental  imagery — they  have  become 
Gnostic  Theists,  have  adopted  many 
of  the  old  Gnostic  charms,  amulets, 
and  allegorical  idols.  Under  these 
influences  they  hod  framed  a  secret 


body  of  statutes,  communicated  only 
to  the  initiate,  who  were  slowly  and 
after  long  probation  admitted  into  the 
abstruse!  and  more  awful  mysteries. 
Not  only  this,  the  very  branch  of  the 
Gnostics  has  been  indicated,  that  of 
the  Ophite,  of  wham  they  are  de- 
clared tu  be  the  legitimate  Western 
descendants.  If  they  hare  thus  had 
piecuisois,  neithei  have  thay  wanted 
BUcccssois.  The  Template  are  the 
ancestors  (as  Wilcke  thought,  the  ac- 
knowledged ancestors)  of  the  seciet 
societies,  which  have  subsisted  by 
regular  tiadition  down  to  modem 
times— the  Fieemasons,  llluminati, 
and  many  others.  It  is  surprising  on 
what  loose,  vague  evidence  rests  the 
whole  of  this  theory  :  on  amulets, 
rings,  images,  of  which  there  is  ni 
proof  whatever  that  they  belonged  to 
the  Templars,  ni  if  they  did,  that  they 
were  not  accidentally  picked  up  by 
individuals  m  the  East;  on  casual 
expressions  of  worthless  witnesses, 
g.  g ,  Staplobndge  the  English  rene- 
gade ;  on  certain  vessels,  or  bowls 
converted  into  vesseli,  used  in  an 
imaginary  Fire  -  Baptism,  deduced, 
without  any  legard  to  gaps  of  ceu- 
tnnes  in  the  tradition,  from  ancient 
heretics,  and  strangely  imnglei  up 
with  the  Sangienl  of  mediaeval  ro- 
mance. M.  VDU  Ilivmmer  has  brought 
great  Oriental  erudition,  but  I  must 
say,  not  much  Western  logic,  tn 
bear  on  the  question;  he  has  b«en 
thoroughly  lefuted,  aa  I  think,  bj 
tl.  Riiynouaid  and.  others.  Another 


273 


LATIN  CHRISTIANITY, 


cognate  ground  19  the  discovery  of 
certain  symbols,  and  those  symbols 
interpreted  into  obscene  significations, 
on  the  chuiches  of  th.2  Templars.  But 
the  same  authorities  shnw  that  these 
symbols  were  by  no  means  peculiar 
to  the  Temple  chinches.  No  doubt 
among  the  monks  thuie  •weie  foul 
imaginations,  and  in  a  com  SB  age  airhi- 
tects— many  af  them  moults — jfiati- 
ficd  those  foul  imaginations  by  such 
unseemly  ornaments.  But  the  argu- 
ment assumes  the  connexion  or  identi- 
fication  of  the  an  hi  tents  with  the  smut 
guild  of  Fieemasamy  (in  which  guild 
I  do  not  believe),  and  also  of  the  Free- 
masons with  the  Templars,  which  is 
totally  destitute  of  pi  oof.  It  appears 
to  me  absolutely  monstrous  to  con- 
clude that  when  all  the  edifices,  the 
churches,  the  mansions,  the  castlps, 
the  fanna,  the  gi  amines  of  the  Tem- 
plars in  Future  and  England,  in  evi'iy 
country  of  Euiopa,  came  into  the  pos- 
session of  their  sworn  enemieif ;  whim 
tli  ens  symbols,  in  a  state  far  mtue 
peifert,  must  have  stared  them  in  the 
flea ;  when  the  hiwycin  were  nn 
thr!  tiAck  foi  cviilnni'e,  when  vague 
rum o iivs  hud  set  nil  thfii  peifieBUtwi 
on  tha  Bcciit;  when  Philip  and  the 
Pope  would  havi!  jim'd  any  piiro  fur 
n  singla  idol,  fttul  nut  mie  cnulil  hi> 
produeed j  because  in  nui  (iwn  dayn> 
among  tlia  thoUMiud  mihshapcn  nuil 
grotesque  sculp  turns,  guignylus,  mid 
corbels,  hero  and  them  mny  be  dm- 
cerued  or  mode  out  something  like  a 
black  cat,  or  somt>  other  shape,  said  to 
have  been  those  of  Templar  idols, — 
theiefove  the  guilt  of  the  Older,  and 
their  lineal  descent  from  ancient  here- 
tic*, nhould  ba  aaaumed  as  hiatory, 
Tet  on  auch  grounda  tha  Drientalina- 
Uon  of  ths  whole  Order,  not  hers  and 


thcio  of  a  single  ri'npgnde,  has  been 
drawn  with  complacent  satisfaction. 
The  gieat  sti'ess  of  oil,  however,  is 
laid  un  the  woislnp  uf  Baphomet. 
The  tilismans,  bowls.,  tyinbuls,  are 
even  called  E.ijihoniEtic.  Now,  with 
M.  Ray  iioimr  J,  I  have  not  the  leait 
doubt  that  Baphotnet  19  no  mare 
than  a  ti.insfoini.iti  on  of  the  name  of 
M.ihamiit,  Here  IB  only  oue  passage 
fiom  tlia  FiDVencul  poetiy.  It  IB 
fiom  a  Poem  by  the  Chevalier  ilu 
Temple,  quoted  Hist,  Littei.  de  la 
,  xix.  p,  345  : 

Quar  PlBux  ilorin,  qui  vcllla 
11  llafmnrt  tilim 
E  ful  obra  ill  Me 


"  Gnii,  who  used  to  ^.ituh  (during 
the  Ciusarl  CD),  now  slumbers,  and 
Bafiimet  (Muhomet)  works  as  he  wills 
to  cnnipUto  the  triumph  of  the  Sul- 
tun.*'  I  am  not  Bin-pviBwl  to  find 
fanciful  wiituit)  like  M  Michelet,  who 
write  i'ui  cfll'ct,  niul  wliri-je  positive- 
ness  Becm-i  tn  mo  not  hi'ldum  in  the 
ratio  to  the  strength  of  his 
dnptiii^  sni'h  wild  no- 
tions, Imt  cvi'ii  tha  iiluar  iriti!llcc,t  of 
Mr,  Hiilliim  npiieiu's  to  me  to  attiibnte 
moio  wiiight  tlitin  I  slifiuld  huvo  ex- 
pt-i'ted  to  thiB  thiiory.—  Note  to  Mul- 
illu  Agch,  vul.  ill.  p.  15  fl.  It  niniii.vra 
tn  mi!,  I  rnnfpfls,  that  so  inia'h  harning 
wnn  nuver  wimtcd  nu  a  fuutimtic  hypo- 
thealii  ns  by  M.  van  Hummer  in  Ilia 
Myaterium  Baphnmetia  Ik-VDhtum. 
The  stotutas  of  the  Order  wore  pub- 
lished in  IB4Q  by  M.  Mmllunl  is 
Chambure.  They  usntuiti  nuthing  but 
what  m  piauii  and  uusteie.  Thie^  as 
Mr.  Halliun  obsevvet.,  is  at  course, 
and  proves  nothing,  M<  de  Chftm- 
hure  eays  that  it  i&  Acknowledged  111 
Germany  that  M,  von 
|  theory  is  an  ilk  chimera, 


.  Ill,  AEBA.IGrNMENT  OF  BONIFACE.  271? 


CHAPTER  III. 

Airaigntnent  of  Eonifaca.     Council  of  Yienue. 

IF,  however,  Pope  Clement  hoped  to  appease  or  to  divert 
the  immitigable  hatred  of  Philip  and  his  mini-  pBrgBBUtioa 
(tiers  fiom  the  persecution  of  the  memory  of  ^^atPaft 
Pope  Boniface  by  the  sacrifice  of  the  Templars,  BDnlfHCB 
or  at  least  to  gain  precious  tims  which  might  be  preg- 
nant with  new  events,  hs  was  doomed  to  disappoint- 
ment. The  hounds  were  not  thrown  off  their  track,  not 
BY  en  arrest  ei  in  their  course,  by  that  alluring  quarry. 
That  dispute  was  still  going  on  simultaneously  with  the 
affair  of  the  Templars.  Philip,  at  every  freeh  hesitation 
of  the  Pope,  broke  out  into  more  threatening  indigna- 
tion. Nogaret  and  the  lawyers  presanted  memorial  on 
memorial,  specifying  with  still  greater  distinctness  and 
particularity  the  offences  which  they  declared  them- 
selves rsady  to  prove.  They  complained,  not  without 
justice,  that  the  most  material  witnesses  might  be  cut 
off  by  death;  that  every  year  of  delay  weakened  their 
power  of  producing  attestations  to  the  validity  of  their 
charges.* 

The  hopes  indeed  held  out  to  the  King's  avarica  and 
revenge  by  the  abandonment  of  the  Templars — hopes,  if 
not  baffled,  eluded — were  more  than  counterbalanced 
by  his  failure  in  obtaining  tha  Empire  for  Charles  of 
Valois.  An  act  of  enmity  sank  deeper  into  the  proud 


•  All  the  documents  are  in  bujmy,  Preuves,  p.  3B7  et  seqq  ,  with  Baillet'c 
miller  volume. 


780  VAT1N  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  III. 

heart  of  Philip  than  an  act  of  favour :  the  favour  had 
been  granted  grudgingly,  reluctantly,  with  difficulty, 
with  reSBrvatiDn;  the  enmity  had  been  subtle,  per- 
fidious, under  the  guise  of  friendship. 

Pope  Clement  had.  now  secured,  as  ha  might  fondly 
suppose,  his  retreat  in  Avignon,  in  some  degree  beyond 
the  King's  power.  In  France  he  dared  not  stay;  to 
Italy  ha  could  not  and  would  not  go.  The  King's  mes- 
sengers wore  in  Avignon  to  remind  him  that  ha  had 
pledged  himself  to  hear  and  examine  the  witnesses 
iiFKiniiij  Hi  against  the  memory  of  BonifacB.  Not  the 
snpiiio.  King's  messengers  alone.  Kaginald  di  Supine 
had  been  most  deeply  implicated  in  the  affair  of  Anagni. 
Ho  had  assembled  a  great  body  of  witnesses,  as  ha 
averred,  to  undergo  the  expected  examination  before 
the  Pope,  Either  the  Popa  himself,  or  the  friends  of 
Boniface,  who  had  still  great  power,  and  seemed  de- 
termined, from  attachment  to  their  kinsman  or  from 
reverence  for  tha  Popodom,  to  hazard  all  in  his  defence, 
drearled  this  formidable  levy  of  witnesses,  whom  Begi- 
nalil  di  fcJupino  would  hardly  have  headed  unless  in 
arms,  Supiuo  had  arrived  within  three  leagues  of 
A  vigil  un  when  lie  rcceivod  intelligence  from  the  King's 
omiasarius  of  HH  ambuscade  of  the  partisans  of  Boniface, 
stronger  than  his  own  troop:  he  would  not  risk  the 
attack,  but  retired  to  Nismes,  and  there,  in  the  presence 
of  the  municipal  authorities,  entered  a  public  protest 
against  thoao  who  prevented  him  and  his  witnesses,  by 
the  fear  of  death,  from  approaching  the  presence  of  the 
Popo.  The  Pope  himself  was  not  distinctly  charged 
with,  but  not  acquitted  of  ['cmiplicity  in  this  deliberate 
plot  to  arrest  the  course  of  juslico.h 

b  "  Rewsserunt  proptorclprediotl,  qui  cum  dicta  domino  Ray  rial  do  vrnerankj 
•d  pi'opria  radeuntes, mortis  meritii  perlBulum  fuimidimtea." — Preurea,  p.  2B9 


CHAP.  III.  DIFFICULTIES  DF  THE  POPE.  281 

Clement  was  in  a  strait :  he  was  not  in  the  dominions, 
but  yet  not  absolutely  safe  from  the  power  BBHCUHIEB  of 
of  Philip.  Charles,  King  of  Naples,  Philip's  thapDPB 
kinsman,  as  Count  of  Provence,  held  the  adjacent 
country.  The  King  of  France  hai  demanded  a  Council 
to  decide  this  grave  question.  The  Council  had  been 
summoned  and  adjourned  by  Clement.  But  a  Pope, 
though  a  dead  Pope,  arraigned  before  a  Council,  all 
the  witness BS  examined  publicly,  in  open  Court,  to  pro- 
claim to  Christendom  the  crimes  imputed  to  Boniface  ! 
Where,  if  the  Council  should  assume  the  power  of  con- 
demning a  dsad  PopB,  would  be  the  security  of  a  living 
one?  Clement  wrote,  not  to  Philip,  but  to  Charles  of 
Valois,  representing  the  toils  and  anxieties  which  he 
was  enduring,  the  laborious  days  and  sleepless  nights, 
in  the  investigation  of  the  affair  of  Boniface.  He  en- 
treated that  the  judgement  might  be  left  altogether  to 
himself  and  the  Dhurch.  He  implored  the  intercession 
of  Charles  with  the  King,  of  Charles  whom  he  had  just 
thwarted  in  his  aspiring  views  on  the  Empire.0 

But  the  King  was  not  to  be  deterred  by  soft  words. 
Ha  wrote  more  peremptorily,  more  imperiously.  "  Soma 
witnesses,  men  of  the  highsst  weight  ani  above  all 
exception,  had  already  died  in  the  Court  of  Borne  ani 
elsewhere:  the  Pops  retarded  the  aafe-oonduct  necessary 
for  the  appBarance  of  other  witnesses,  who  had  been 
seized,  tortured,  put  to  death,  by  the  partisans  of  Boni- 
face." The  Pope  repliad  in  a  humble  tone: — "Never 
was  so  weighty  a  process  so  far  advanced  in  so  short  a 
time.  Only  one  witness  had  died,  and  his  deposition 
had  been  received  on  his  deathbed.  He  denied  the 
seizure,  torture,  death,  of  any  witnesses.  One  of  these 


B  Preuves.  p.  290.     May  23, 1309. 


2B2  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  .BooKXli, 

very  "witnesses,  a  monk,  it  was  confidently  reported,  waa 
in  France  with  William  de  Nogaret."  He  complained 
of  certain  letters  forged  in  his  name — a  new  proof  of 
the  daring  extent  to  which  at  this  time  such  forgeries 
were  carried.  In  those  letters  the  names  of  Cardinals, 
both  of  the  King's  party  and  on  that  of  Bomi'ace,  had 
been  audaciously  inserted.  These  letters  had  been  con- 
demned and  burned  in  the  public  consistory.  The  Pope 
turns  to  another  affair.  Philip,  presuming  on  the  ser* 
vility  of  the  Pope,  had  introduced  a  clause  into  the 
treaty  with  the  Flemings,  that  if  they  broke  the  treaty 
they  should  be  excommunicated,  and  not  receive  abso- 
lution without  the  consent  of  the  King  or  his  successors. 
The  Pope  replies,  "that  ho  cannot  abdicate  for  himself 
or  future  Popes  tho  full  and  sole  power  of  granting 
absolution-  If  tho  King,  as  he  asserts,  can  adduce  any 
precedent  for  such  clause,  ho  would  consent  to  that, 
or  oven  a  stronger  DUO;  but  he  has  taken  cars  that 
tho  Flemings  are  not  apprised  of  his  objection  to  the 
clause."'1 

Clement  was  determined,  as  far  as  a  mind  like  his 
DEtcrmiiui.  \vas  capable  of  dBtermination,  to  reserve  the 

Uon  of  Gto-     ,         . ,    f ,      .    ,  ,  .-•  r>  -n 

ment.  inevitable  judgement  on  the  memory  of  Boni- 
face to  hnnsolf  and  his  own  Court,  and  not  to  recognise 
the  dangerous  tribunal  of  a  Council,  fatal  to  living  as  to 
dead  pontiffs.  He  issued  a  Bull,"  summoning  Philip 
King  of  France,  his  three  sons,  with  the  Counts  of 
Evreux,  St.  Pol,  and  Dreux,  and  William  do  Plasian, 
accorcling  to  their  own  petition,  to  prove  their  charges 
against  Pope  Boniface;  to  appear  before  him 

* '  '  8  'in  Avignon  on  tho  first  court-day  after  tha 
Peast  of  tha  Purification  of  the  Virgin.  The  Bishop  of 


*Pretma,p.  292,  August  23, 13  09,       •Sept,13Q9.  Raynaldu»subann.c.4 


CHAP.  HI.      PHILIP  SHRINKS  FROM  PROSE  DTPTING.          283 

Paris  was  ordered  to  serve  this  citation  an  the  thres 
Counts  and  on  William  de  Plasian.* 

Philip  seemed  to  be  embarrassed  by  this  measure. 
He  shrunk  or  thought  it  beneath  his  dignity  Tha  King 
for  himself  or  his  sons  to  stand  aa  public  pro- 
secutors before  the  Papal  Court.  Instead  of 
the  King  appeared  a  haughty  letter.  "  He  had  been 
compelled  reluctantly  to  take  cognisance  of  the  usurp- 
ation and  wicked  life  of  Pope  Boniface.  Public  fame, 
the  representations  of  men  of  high  esteem  in  the  realm, 
nobles,  prelates,  doctors,  had  arraigned  Boniface  as  a 
heretic,  and  an  intruder  into  the  fold  of  the  Lord. 
A  Parliament  of  his  whole  kingdom  had  demanded  that, 
as  tha  champion  and  defender  of  the  faith,  he  should, 
summon  a  Greneral  Council,  before  which  men  of  the 
highest  character  declared  themselves  ready  to  prove 
these  most  appalling  charges.  William  da  Nogaret  had 
been  sent  to  summon  Pupa  Boniface  to  appear  before 
that  Council.  The  Pope's  frantic  resistance  had  led  to 
acts  of  violence,  not  on  ths  part  of  Nogaret,  but  of  tha 
Pope's  subjects,  by  whom  he  was  universally  hated. 
Thesa  charges  had  been  renewed  after  the  death  of. 
Boniface,  before  Benedict  XI.  and  befora  the  present 
Pope,  The  Pops,  in  other  affairs,  especially  that  of  ths 
Templars,  had  shown  his  regard  for  justice.  All  these 
thiuga  were  to  be  finally  determined  at  ths  approaching 
Council.  But  if  the  Pope,  solicitous  to  avoid  befors 
ths  Council  the  odious  intricacies  of  charges,  examina- 
tions, investigations,  in  the  affair  of  Boniface,  desired 
to  determine  it  by  ths  plenitude  of  the  Apostolic 
authority,  hs  left  it  entirely  to  the  judgement  of  tha 
Pupe,  whether  in  the  Council  or  elsewhere.  He  waa 


1  Raynaldua  ut  supra.     Oct.  1ft. 


284  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  XII. 

prepared  to  submit  the  whole  to  the  disposition  and  ordi- 
nance of  the  Holy  See."  The  King's  sons,  sum- 
moned in  like  manner  to  undertake  the  office 
of  prosecutors,    declined  to  appear  in  that  somewhat 
humiliating  character.1-' 

William  de  Nogaret  and  William  de  Plasian  remained 
Depioflian  tli 9  sole  prosBcutors  in  this  great  cause,  and 
NogarEt.  they  entered  upon  it  with  a  profound  and 
accumulated  hatred  to  Boniface  and  to  his  memory: 
DB  Plasian  with  the  desperate  resolution  of  a  man  so 
far  committed  in  the  strife  that  either  Boniface  must  be 
condemned,  or  himself  be  held  an  impious,  false  accuser; 
Nogaret  with  the  conviction  that  Boniface  must  be  pro- 
nounced a  monster  of  iniquity,  or  himself  hardly  Isss 
than  a  sacrilegious  assassin.  With  both,  the  dignity 
and  honour  of  their  profession  were  engaged  in  a  bold 
collision  with  the  hierarchical  power  which  had  ruled 
the  human  mind  for  centuries ;  both  had  high,  it  might 
be  conscientious,  notions  of  the  monarchical  authority, 
its  independence,  its  superiority  to  the  sacerdotal;  both 
were  bound  by  an  avowed  and  resolute  servility,  which 
almost  rase  to  noble  attachment,  to  their  King  and  to 
France,  The  King  of  France,  if  any  Sovereign,  was  to 
be  exempt  from  Papal  tyranny,  and  hatred  to  France 
was  one  of  the  worst  crimes  of  Boniface.  Both,  unless 
Boniface  was  really  the  infidel,  heretic,  abandoned 
profligate,  which  they  represented  him,  were  guilty  of 
using  unscrupulously,  of  forging,  suborning,  a  mass 
of  evidence  and  a  host  of  witnesses,  of  which  they  could 
not  but  know  the  largar  part  to  bs  audaciously  and 
absolutely  false. 

On  the  other  side  appeared  the  two  nephews  of  Boni 

I  Freuves,  p.  301. 


CHAP.  11L 


CAUSE  OF  BONIFACE  VIII. 


285 


Italians. 


face  an  I  from  six  to  ten  Italian  doctors  of  law,  chosen 
no  doubt  for  their  consummate  science  and  abi- 
lity ;  as  canon  lawyers  confronting  civil  lawyers 
with  professional  rivalry,  and  prepared  to  maintain 
the  most  extravagant  pretensions  of  the  Decretals  as  the 
Statute  Law  of  the  Church.  They  could  not  but  ba 
fully  aware  how  much  ths  awe,  the  reverence,  and  tha 
power  of  the  Papacy  depended  on  the  decision;  they 
were  men,  it  might  be,  full  of  devout  admiration  even 
of  the  overweening  haughtiness  of  Boniface;  churchmen, 
in  whom  the  intrepid  maintenance  of  what  were  heli 
to  be  Church  principles  more  than  compensatBd  for  all 
the  lowlier  and  gentler  virtues  of  the  &ospBl.h  It  was 
a  strange  trial,  the  arraignment  of  a  dead  Pope,  a 
Ehadamanthine  judgement  on  him  who  was  now  before 
a  higher  tribunal. 

On  the  IGth  of  March  the  Pop  a  solemnly  opened  the 
Consistory  at  Avignon,  in  the  palace  belonging  The 
to  the  Dominicans,  surrounded  by  his  Car-  ^ 
diuals  and  a  great  multitude  of  the  clergy  and  laity. 
The  Pope's  Bull  was  read,  in  which,  afteif  great  com- 
mendation of  the  faith  and  zeal  of  the  King  of  France, 
and  high  testimony  to  the  fame  of  Boniface,  he  declared 
that  heresy  was  so  execrable,  so  horrible  an  offence, 
that  ha  could  not  permit  such  a  charge  to  rest  unex- 
amined.  The  French  lawyers  were  admitted  as  prose- 
cutors.1 The  Italians  protested  against  their  admission.11 


fc  "  fiotiua  de  Aiimino  utnuaq.ua 
juris,  Baldredua  Bejeth  Decretorum 
Doctors."  Baldied,  who  took  the 
lead  in  the  defenre,  is  described  as 
Glflscnensis 

1  idnin  de  Lombal,  Clink,  and  Fetor 
ile  Galii'iniid,  nud  Peter  dp  Pilennasio, 


the  King's  nuncios  (nuntu),  appeared 
with  De  Flaaian  and  De  Nagiuet. 

k  James  of  Mndeim  offered  himself 
to  pi  DVB  "quail  pradicli  oppoiicntes 
ad  opponcndnm  contra  dictum  rtomi« 
num  Bomfnciimi  admitti  non 
biint." 


283 


LATIN  CHRISTIANITY. 


Boos.  XII. 


On  Friday  (March  2 Oth)  the  Court  opened  the  session 
The  prosecutors  put  in  a  protest  of  immeasurable  length, 
declaring  that  they  did  not  appear  in.  consequence  of 
the  Pope's  citation  of  the  King  of  Fiance  and  his  sons. 
That  citation  was  informal,  illegal,  based  on  false 
grounds.  They  demanded  that  the  witnesses  who  were 
old  and  sick  should  be  first  heard.  They  challenged 
certain  Cardinals,  the  greater  number  (they  would  not 
name  them  publicly),  as  having  a  direct  inteiest  in  the 
judgement,  as  attached  by  kindred  or  favour  to  Boniface, 
as  notoriously  hostile,  as  having  entered  into  plots 
against  William  de  Nogaret,  as  having  prejudiced  the 
mind  of  Benedict  XL  against  him,  Nogaret,  who  always 
reverted  to  the  affair  of  Anagni,  asserted  that  act  to 
have  been  the  act  of  a  true  Catholic,  one  of  devout, 
filial  love,  not  of  hatred,  the  charity  of  one  who  would 
bind  a  maniac  or  rouse  a  man  in  a  lethargy.111  He  had 
made  common  causa  with  the  nobles  of  Anagni,  all  but 
those  who  plundered  the  Papal  treasures. 

On  the  27th  Do  Nogaret  appeared  again,  and  entered  a 
protest  against  Baldred  and  the  rest,  as  defenders  of  Pope 
Boniface,  against  eight  Oardinalaj  byname,  as  promoted 
by  Boniface :  thosD  men  might  not  bear  any  part  in  the 
cause.  Protest  was  met  by  protest :  a  long,  wearisome, 
and  subtle  altercation  ensued.  Each  tried  to  repel  the 
other  party  from  the  Court.  Nothing  could  be  mors 
captious  than  the  arguments  of  the  prosecutors,  who 
took  exception  against  any  defence  of  Boniface.  The 
Italians  answered  that  no  one  could  ba  brought  into 
Court  but  by  a  lawful  prosecutor,  which  Nogaret  and 


»  "Non  fuit  igitur  odium  aed  cari- 
tas,  non  fait  injuiia  nod  platen,  non 
proditlo  sal  fidelity,  non  sacrileglum 
Ml  sacri  ikftnslo,  nou  parrlcidium 


sed  fibalia  devotio  ut  (el?)  fratprna, 
cum  yil  furioflum  ligat  vel  lethargi< 
Bam  Eicitat,"— j).  388. 


CHAP.  IIL 


WITNESSES. 


287 


De  Plasian  wera  not,  being  notorious  enemies,  assassins* 
defamers  of  the  Pope.  There  was  absolutely  no  cause 
before  the  Court.  The  crimination  and  recrimination, 
dragged  DEL  their  weary  length.  It  was  the  object  of 
De  Nogaret  to  obtain  absolution,  at  least  under  certain 
restrictions.11  This  personal  affair  began  to  occupy- 
almost  as  prominent  a  part  as  the  guilt  of  Boniface. 
Months  passed  in  the  gladiatorial  strife  of  the  lawyers." 
Every  question  was  reopened — the  legality  of  DoelBStine's 
abdication,  the  election  of  Boniface,  the  absolute  power 
of  the  King  of  France.  Vast  erudition  waa  displayed  on 
both  sides.  Meantime  the  examination  of  the  witnesses 
had  gone  on  in  secret  before  the  Popa  or  his 
Commissioners.  Of  these  examinations  appear 
only  the  reports  of  twenty-three  persons  examine  din  April, 
of  eleven  examined  before  the  two  Cardinals,  Beren- 
gario,  Bishop  of  Tusculum,  and  Nicolas,  of  St.  Eusebio, 
with  Bernard  Guido,  the  Grand  Inquisitor  of  Toulouse. 
Some  of  the  eleven  were  re-examinations  of  those  who 
had  made  their  depositions  in  April.  In  the  latter  case 
the  witnesses  were  submitted  to  what  was  intended  to 
be  severe,  but  does  not  aeem  very  skilful,  cross-examin- 
ation. On  these  attestations,  if  these  were  all,  posterity 
is  reduced  to  thia  perplexing  alternative  of  belief;-— 
Either  there  was  a  vast  systematic  subornation  of  per- 
jury, which  brought  together  before  the  Pope  and  the 


•  In  the  midst  of  these  disputes 
arose  a  cuiious  question,  whether 
William  da  Nogaiet  was  still  under 
excommunication.  It  was  aig-uBil 
that  an  excommunicated  person,  if 
merely  biiluted  by  the  Pope,  01  if  tha 
Pope  knowingly  entered  into  convar- 
eatiua  with  him,  was  theieby  JVD- 
lolved.  The  Pope  disclaimed  tills 


doctrine,  and  declared  that  he  had 
never  by  such  salutation  or  inter- 
course with  De  Nognret  intended  to 
confer  that  preciaiu.  pnvilege.  This 
was  to  be  the  mlu  dm  ing  his  pontifi- 
cate. HE  would  not,  however,  issu« 
a  Decietal  on  the  aulijcrt, — p.  40E). 

0  Theie  is  a  Icnp  ham  Mny  13  f 
Aug.  3. 


3BB  LATIN  OHBISTIAN1T1  BooicXlL 

Cardinals,  monks,  abbots,  canDns,  men  of  dignified 
Station,  from  various  parts  of  Italy :  and  all  these  were 
possesssd  with  a  depth  of  hatred,  ingrained  into  the 
hearts  of  man  by  tha  acts  and  demeanour  of  Boniface, 
and  perhaps  a  religious  horror  of  his  treatment  of  Pope 
CoBlestine,  which  seams  to  be  rankling  in  the  hearts  of 
some;  or  with  a  furiousness  of  Grhibellina  hostility, 
which  would  recoil  from  no  mendacity,  which  would  not 
only  accept  every  rumour,  but  invent  words,  acts,  cir- 
cumstances, with  the  most  minute  particularity  and 
with  perpetual  appeal  to  other  witnesses  present  ab  the 
same  transaction.  Nar  were  these  depositions  wrung 
out,  like  those  of  the  Templars,  by  torture ;  they  were 
spontaneous,  or,  if  not  absolutely  spontaneous,  only 
summoned  forth  by  secret  suggestion,  by  undetected 
bribery,  by  untraceable  influence:  they  had  all  the 
outward  semblance  of  honest  and  conscientious  zeal  for 
justice. 

On  the  other  hand,  not  only  must  the  Pope's  guilt  be 
assumed,  but  the  Pope's  utter,  absolute,  ostentatious 
defiance  of  all  prudence,  caution,  dissimulation,  decency, 
Not  only  was  he  a  secret,  hypocritical  unbeliever,  and 
that  not  in  the  mysteries  of  the  faith,  but  in  the  first 
principles  of  all  religion;  lie  was  a  contemptuous, 
boastful  scoffer,  anil  this  on  the  most  public-  occasions, 
and  on  occasions  where  some  respectful  concealment 
would  not  only  have  been  expedient,  but  of  paramount 
necessity  to  his  interest  or  his  ambition.  The  aspirant 
to  the  Papacy,  the  most  Papal  Pope  who  ever  lived, 
laughed  openly  to  scorn  the  groundwork  of  that  Chris- 
tianity on  which  rested  his  title  to  honour,  obedience, 
power,  worship, 

The  most  remarkable  of  all  these  depositions  is  that 
of  seven  witnesses  in  succession,  an  abbot,  three  canons. 


CHAP.  111.  FURTHER  WITNESSES.  289 

two  monka,  and  others,  to  a  discussion  concerning  the 
law  of  Mohammed.     This  was  in  the  year  of  the  ponti- 
ficate of  Coelsstine,  when,   if  his  enemies  arc  to   be 
believed,  Benedetto  Graetani  was  deeply  involvrtl  in 
intrigues  to  procure  the  abdication  of  Cuelestinc,  and 
liia  own  elevation  to  the  Papacy.     At  this  time,  even  if 
these  intrigues  were  untrue,  a  man  so  sagacious  and 
ambitious  could  not  but  have  been  looking  forward  to 
his  own  advancement.     Yut  at  this  very  instant,  it  is 
asseverated,  Gaetani,  in  the  presence*  of  at  least  text  or 
twslve  persons,  abbots,  canona,  monks,  declared  as  his 
doctritie,p  that  no  law  was  divine,  that  all  were  tho 
inventions  of  men,  ineroly  to  keep  tho  vulgar  in  two  l>y 
the  terrors  of  eternal  punishment.    Every  law,  Chris- 
tianity among  the  refit,  contained  truth  and  fulhi'hond  ; 
falsehood,  bar-auso  it  asserted  that  Gud  was  ono  uiul 
three,  whioh  it  WUB  futuoiM  to  believe  ;  fulsL'lujod,  for  it 
is  said  that  a  virgin  had  brought  forth,  which  ^ 
impossible;  falsehood,  bct-unse  it  uvoauhctl  that  tlm 
t>f  (5rt)d  had  taken  tho  imturo  of  man,  whk-h  was  ri 
oulows;  falsehood,  bemuse  it  averred  tlmfc  Umftd  was 
transubstantiated  into  the  body  of  Christ,  which  was 
untrue.    «'  It  ia  false,  because  it  asserts  a  future  life." 
"  Let  God  do  his  worst  with  me  in  another  life,  from 
which  no  one  has  returned  but  to  fantastic  pcopte,  who 
say  that  they  have  seen  and  heard  dl  Ikinds  of  sfcra«g« 
things,  even  have  heard  angels  singing,    80  I  believe 
and  HO  I  hold,  as  doth  every  educated  tnan,   Tho  vulgar 
hold  otherwise,    Wo  must  speak  an  tho  vulgar  do  j 
think  aad  bclievo  with  tha  few."    Another  a<ldod  to  all 
this,  that  when  the  boll  rang  for  tho  passing  of  tlio 
Host,  the  future  1'opo  smiled  and  said,  "You  had  botfosr 


>  "  Qnwd  por  /fioiluui 

vn.  Tr 


200  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY  tfuoR  XII. 


go  and  see  after  your  own  business,  than  after  such 
folly."1!  Three  of  these  witnesses  were  reheard  at  the 
second  examination,  minutely  question  ad  as  to  tlia  place 
of  this  discussion,  the  dress,  attitude,  words  of  Glaetaiii: 
they  adhered,  with  but  slight  dsviation  from  eauli  other, 
to  their  deposition  ;  whatever  its  worth,  ib  was  unshaken.* 
These  blasphemies,  if  wo  are  to  credit  another  witness, 
had  bean  his  notorious  habit  from  his  youth.  The  Prior 
of  St.  Giles  at  San  Gemhio,  near  Narm,  had  been  at 
school  with  him  at  Todi:  he  was  a  dissolute  youth, 
indulged  in  all  carnal  vices,  in  drink  and  play,  blas- 
pheming God  and  the  Virgin.  He  had  heard  Boniface, 
when  a  Cardinal,  disputing  with  certain  masters  from 
Paris  about  the  Besurr  action.  Cardinal  Gaetani  main- 
tained that  neither  soul  nor  body  rose  again.'  To  this 
dispute  a  notary,  Oddarelli  of  Ac  qua  Sparta,  gave  the 
same  testimony.  The  two  witnesses  declared  that  they 
had  not  corns  to  Avignon  for  the  purpose  of  giving  this 
evidence;  they  had  been  required  to  appear  before  the 
Court  by  Bertrand  de  RoBcanegata  :  they  bore  testimony 
neither  from  persuasion,  nor  for  reward,  neither  from 
favour,  fisar,  or  hatred. 

Two  monks  of  St.  Glregory  at  Borne  had  complained 
to  the  Pope  of  their  Abbot,  that  he  held  the  same  loose 
and  infidel  doe-trines,  neither  believed  in  the  Resurrec- 
tion, nor  in  the  Sacraments  of  the  Church  ;  and  denied 
that  carnal  sins  were  sins.  They  were  dismissed  con- 
temptuously front,  the  presence  of  Boniface.  "  Look  at 
this  filmed  race|,  that  will  not  believe  as  their  AbbDt 
believes.''  *  A  mbnk  of  St,  Paul  fared  no  better  witU 
Bimilar  denunciations  of  his  Abbot.u 


'  WttUHMs  vii  xiii.  "  Witnewes  itil.  vnii. 

Vfitnessea  i,  ill  »  Witness  ar« 


CHAP.  Ill,  IMPEOBABLE  CHARGES.  291 


Pagano  of  Sermona,  Primlcerio  of  S.  John 
Maggiors  at  Naples,  deposed  that  Coelestine,  proposing 
to  go  from  Sermona  to  Naples,  sent  Pagano's  father 
Berard  (the  witness  with,  him)  to  invite  the  Cardinal 
Gaetani  to  accompany  him.  Gaetani  contemptuously 
refused.  "  Go  ye  with  your  Saint,  I  will  be  foolsd  no 
more."  "If  any  man,"  said  Berari,  "ought  to  be 
canonised  after  death,  it  is  Coelestinc."  Gaetani  replied, 
"Let  Grod  give  me  the  good  things  of  this  life:  for  that 
which  is  to  come  I  care  not  a  bean;  men  have  no  more 
souls  than  beasts."  Berari  looked  aghast.  "  How  many 
have  you  ever  seen  rise  again?"  Gaetani  SBenied  to 
delight  in  mocking  (such,  at  least,  waa  the  testimony, 
intended,  no  doubt,  to  revolt  to  the  utmost  the  public 
feeling  against  him)  the  Blessed  Virgin,  She  is  no 
miDi-D  a  viigiu  than  my  mother,  I  bdievu  not  iu  your 
"Mariola,"  "Mariola."  Ho  denied  tho  pro  sane  o  of 
Christ  in  the  Host.  "It  is  moro  paste."* 

Yet  even  this  most  appalling  improbability  was  sur- 
passed by  tho  report  of  another  eonveMttion  attested 
by  three  witnesses,  sons  of  knights  of  Lucca,  The 
scene  took  place  at  the  Jubilee,  when  millions  of  persons, 
in  devout  faith  in  the  religion  of  Christ^  in  fear  of  Hell, 
or  in  hope  of  Paradise,  were  crowding  from  all  parts  of 
Europe,  and  offering  inconao  to  the  majesty,  the  riches 
of  the  world  to  the  avarice,  of  the  Popo,  Even  then, 
without  provocation,  in  mere  wantonness  of  tmboliof,  lio 
had  derided  all  the  truths  of  the  Qoflpol,  The  amltw- 
Httdors  of  two  of  the  great  cities  of  Italy  —  Lucca  and 
Bologna—  were  standing  bsfors  Mm,  Tho  death  of  a 
Campanian  knight  was  announced*  "Ho  was  a  Imrl 
man,"  said  the  pious  ohafdain,  "  yot  may  Jesua  Christ 


*  WituewHrtt  xvi.  xx.  sxii. 


2U2  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Booa  SJL 

receive  Ma  soul!"  "Fool!  to  commend  him  to  Christ; 
he  could  not  help  himself,  how  can  ha  help  others  ?  ho 
was  no  Son  of  God,  but  a  wise  man  and  a  great  hypo- 
crite. The  knight  has  had  in  this  life  all  he  will  have. 
Paradise  ia  a  joyous  life  m  this  world;  Hull  a  sad  one." 
"Have  we,  then,  nothing  to  do  but  to  enjoy  ourselves 
in  this  world?  Is  it  no  sin  to  lie  with  women?" — 
"No  greater  sin  than  to  wash  one's  hands."  "Ami 
this  was  said  that  all  present  might  hear ;  not  in  jocoso- 
ness,  but  in  serious  mood."  To  this  monstrous  scene, 
in  those  words,  three  witnesses  deposed  on  oath,  aucl 
gave  tho  names  of  the  ambassadors — men,  no  doubt,  of 
rank,  and  well  known,  to  whom  they  might  thus  seem 
to  appeal/ 

Tha  account  of  a  conversation  with  the  famous  Iloger 
do  Loria  was  hardly  leas  extraordinary,.  Of  the  twr> 
witnesses,  ons  was  a  knight  of  Palermo,,  William,  son  of 
Peter  de  Calatagorona.  1  loger  do  Lona,  having  revolted 
from  the  house  of  Arragou,  came  to  Komo  to  be  recon- 
ciled to  ths  Pope.  Yot  at  that  very  time  tho  Popo 
wantonly  mocked  and  insulted  the  devout  seaman,  by 
laughing  to  scorn  that  faith  which  bowud  him  at  hie 
own  feet,  Do  Loriu  had  sent  the  POJ.JO  an  offering  of 
rich  Sicilian  fruits  and  honey,  "  Suo/1  he  saiil,  "  what 
a  beautiful  land  I  must  liavo  l&ft,  abounding  in  smsh 
fruits,  and  have  -sxpoaed  myself  to  HD  great  clangors  to 
visit  you.  Had  I  died  un  tlua  holy  journey,  surely  I 
had  bQQn  saved."  "  It  might  be  HU,  or  it  might  not/' 
"  Father,  I  trust  that,  if  at  such  a  mom  But  I  had  died, 
Christ  would  have  had  moruy  on  mo."  Tho  Pope  said, 
"  Christ  1  ha  was  not  tlia  Sim  of  God  -.  he  was  a*  man 
eating  and  drinking  like  ourselves :  by  his  preaching  he 


f  WitUKUW  Til   XttJ» 


2n.ip,  III  CIUUGES  DP  MAGIC  223 

drew  many  towards  him,  aiul  difd,  but  losu  not  again, 
neither  will  men  rise  ugain."  *'  I,"  pursued  the  Popo, 
"am  far  mightier  than  Uhrist.  I  can  raise  up  and 
enrich  the  lowly  and  poor ;  I  can  bestow  kingdoms,  and 
humble  and  beggnr  riuh  and  powerful  kings."  In  all 
the  material  parts  of  this  conversation  the  two  uitnesbea 
agreed :  thsy  were  rigidly  cross-examined  as  to  the  place, 
time,  circumstances,  persons  present,  the  dress,  attitude, 
gBstures  of  the  Popo ;  they  were  asked  whether  the 
Pope  spoke  in  jest  or  earnest.* 

The  same  or  other  witness  deposed  to  as  unblushing 
BuamelcsBiiess  regarding  the  foulest  vie  Of),  us  regarding 
thcsa  awful  bhiRphcmiijs  — (t  What  harm  is  thorn  h: 
simony?  what  harm  iu,  adultery,  more  than  rubbing 
ono'a  hands  togethar?"  Thin  uus  hia  JViAouritu  phrase. 
Then  were  brought  forward  imm  fi»rmerly  bt-lungin^  to 
his  household,  to  swear  that  thi'y  had  brought  womon — 
OIIA,  first  hia  \vifuj  thtni  his  daughter — to  his  b«<l. 
Another  boro  witness  that  from  his  youth  Boniface  had 
been  addicted  to  worsts  to  numelufw  vk'tiH  —  that  li« 
was  notoriously  so ;  onu  or  two  loathHomo  facts  were 
avouched. 

Besides  all  thia3  thera  -were  what  in  those  days  would 
perhaps  be  heard  with  still  deeper  horror—  cbwwof 
magical  rites  anil  dealings  with  the  powers  of  ai8flte* 
darkness.    Many  wituesB^B  had  heard  that  Benedetto 
{•Sraetani,  that  Popo  Boniface,  had  a  ring  in  which  he 
kept  an.  evil  spirit.    Brother  Bururd  of  Soriano  had 
seen  from  a  window  the  Cardinal,  Uaotani,  iu  a  gardoa 
below,  draw  a  magic  cirdo,  and  immoluto  a  Liock  ovor 
e  firo  in  an  earthen  pot.    The  blood  and  tht>  flamo 
mingled ;  a  thick  smoke  arose.    The  Cardinal  wit  road* 

»  Witunw  x. 


394  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  XII, 

ing  spells  from  a  book,  and  conjuring  up  the  devils. 
Hs  then  heard  a  terrible  noise  and  wild  voices,  "  Give 
us  our  share."  Gaetani  took  up  the  cock  and  threw  it 
over  the  wall — "  Take  your  share."  The  Cardinal  then 
left  the  garden,  and  shut  himself  alone  in  his  most 
Secret  chamber,  where  throughout  tha  night  he  was 
heard  in  deep  and  earnest  conversation,  and  a  voice, 
the  same  voice,  was  heard  to  answer.  This  witness  de- 
posed likewise  to  having  seen  Gaetani  worshipping  an 
idol,  in  which  dwelt  an  evil  spirit,  This  idol  was  given 
to  him  by  the  famous  magician,  Theodore  of  Bolognaj 
and  was  worshipped  as  his  Grod." 

Such  was  tha  evidence,  the  whole  evidence  which 
appears  (thsre  may  have  been  more)  so  revolt- 
^  ^Q  faQ  faith,  BO  polluting  to  the  morals,  so 
repulsive  to  decency,  that  it  cannot  bo  plainly  repeated, 
yet  adduced  against  the  successor  of  St.  Peter,  the  Yicar 
of  Christ.  What  crimes,  even  for  defamation,  to  charge 
against  a  Pope !  To  all  this  the  Pope  and  the  Con- 
sistory were  compelled  to  listen  in  sullen  patience.  If 
true — if  with  a  shadow  of  truth — how  monstrous  the 
state  of  religion  and  morals  !  If  absolutely  and  utterly 
untrue — if  foul,  false  libela,  bought  by  the  gold  of  the 
King  of  France,  suborned  by  the  unrolcmting  hatred, 
and  got  up  by  the  legal  subblety  of  Do  Nogarst  and 
the  rest — what  humiliation  to  the  Court  of  Homo  to 
have  heard,  received,  recorded  such  wicked  aspersions, 
and  to  have  left  them  nnresentcd,  unpunished  1  The 
glaring  contradiction  in  the  evidence,  that  Boniface  was 
at  once  an  atheist  and  a  worshipper  of  idols,  an  open 
scoffer  in  public  and  a  superstitious  dealer  in  xuagk 
in  private,  is  by  no  means  the  greatest  improbability 


CHAP.  III.    PHILIP  ABA^DOJTS  THE  PROSECUTION  205 

Such  things  have  b sen.  The  direct  and  total  repugnance 
of  such  dauntless,  wanton,  unprovoked  bias-  SiinaUm>«r 
phemies,  even  with  the  vices  charged  against  Clctnellt- 
Boniface,  his  unmeasured  ambition,  consummate  craft, 
indomitable  pride,  is  still  more  astounding,  more  utterly 
bewildering  to  the  belief.  But  whatever  the  secret 
disgust  and  indignation  of  Clement,  it  must  bo  sup- 
pressed ;  however  the  Cardinals,  the  most  attached  to 
the  memory  of  Boniface,  might  murmur  and  burn  with 
wrath  in  their  hearts,  they  must  content  themselves 
with  just  eluding,  with  narrowly  averting,  his  con- 
demnation. 

Philip  himself,  uithar  from  weariness,  dissatisfaction 
with  his  own  cause,  caprice,  or  the  diversion  piiiitn»»»«- 
of  his  mind  to  other  objects,  consented  to  iwwtiim.1*1** 
abandon  the  prosecution  of  the  memory  of  Bonifaw*, 
and  to  leave  the  judgement  to  the  Pope.  On 
this  the  gratitude  of  Clement  knows  no  bounds ;  ttult< 
tha  adulation  of  his  Bull  on  tho  occasion 
belief.  Every  act  of  Philip  i«  justified ;  ho  is  altogether 
acquitted  of  all  hatred  and  injustice;  hia  whole  conduct 
is  attributed  to  pious  zeal.  "Th©  worthy  head  of  that 
royal  house,  which  had  boen  ever  devoted,  had  ever 
offered  themselves  and  the  realm  for  the  maintenance 
of  the  Holy  Mother  Church  of  Borne,  had  been  com- 
pelled by  tha  reiterated  representations  of  men  of 
character  and  esteem,"  to  investigate  the  reports  un- 
favourable to  the  legitimate  election,  to  the  orthodox 
doctrine,  and  to  the  life  of  Pope  Boniface.  The  King's 
full  Parliament  had  urged  him  with  irresistible  unani- 
mity to  pertiist  in  this  course,  "  We  therefore,  with 
our  brethren  the  Cardinala,  pronounce*  and  dtsereo  thiit 
the  afoveaail  King,  having  acted,  and  still  anting,  At  the 
frequent  and  repeated  instance  of  these  high  ami 


295 


LATIN  DHRISTIANITV. 


BOOK  X!!, 


persons,  has  been  and  is  exempt  from  all  blame,  Las  been 
incited  by  a  true,  sine  ere,  and  just  zeal  and  fervour  for  ths 
Catholic  faith."  It  was  thua  acknowledged  that  thero 
was  a  strong  primary  casa  against  Boniface ;  the  appeal 
to  the  Council  was  admitted;  every  act  of  violence 
justified,  except  the  last  assault  at  Anagui,  as  to  which 
the  Pope  solemnly  acquitted  the  King  of  all  complicity. 
The  condescension  of  the  King,  "the  son  of  benediction 
and  grace,"  b  m  at  length  thus  tardily  and  ungraciously 
remitting  the  judgement  to  the  Pope,  is  ascribed  to 
divine  inspiration."  Nor  were  wanting  more  substantial 
marks  of  the  Pope's  gratitude.  Every  Bull  prejudicial 
to  the  King,  to  tho  nobles,  and  the  realm  of  Franco  (not 
contained  in  the  sixth  book  of  Decretals),  is  absolutoly 
cancelled  and  annulled,  except  the  two  called  "  Unoiu 
Sanctam"  and  "Kern  non  novam,"  and  Iheso  are  to 
be  understood  in  the  moderated  sense  assigned  by  the 
present  Pontiff.  All  proceedings  for  forfeiture  of  privi- 
leges, suspension,  excommunication,  interdict,  all  do- 
privations  or  deposala  against  tho  King,  his  broth  era,  sub- 
jects, or  kingdom ;  all  proceedings  against  the  apcusorn, 
prosecutors,  arraigned  intho  cause ;  against  the  prelatoa, 
barons,  and  commons,  on  account  of  any  accusation, 
denunciation,  appeal,  or  petition  for  the  ponvor'ation  of 
a  General  Council;  or  for  blasphemy,  insult,  injury  l»y 
deed  or  word,  against  the  said  Boniface,  oven  fur  hie 
seizure,  the  assault  on  his  house  and  parson,  tho  plunder 
of  thB  treasure,  or  other  acts  at  Anagni ;  for  anything 
dofle  in  behalf  of  the  King  during  his  contest  with 
Boniface ;  all  such  proceedings  against  the  living  or  the 


*  " 


Tuiquam  benediction^  et  gra- 


o "  Noa  itaque  ttHUisuotuainm  re- 
fiam  40  expertam  in  lie  devottonls  et 


rovereutlm  lilialti  gi'atitudinem  lual 
dlcfco  Hag!   divinitla  ortdinntt 


CHAP.  III. 


PUNISHMENT  OF  DE  NDUAKET. 


237 


dead,  against  persons  of  all  ranks — cardinals,  arch- 
bishops, bishops,  emperors,  or  kings,  whether  instituted 
by  Pope  Boniface,  or  by  his  successor  Benedict,  arc  pro- 
visionally1 annulled,  revoked,  cancelled.  "Anil  if  any 
aspersion,  shame,  or  blame,  shall  have  occurred  to  any 
one  out  of  these  denunciations,  and  charges  against 
Boniface,  whether  during  his  life  or  after  his  death,  or 
any  prose tmtion  be  hereafter  instituted  on  that  account, 
these  we  absolutely  abolish  and  declare  null  and  void."0 

In  ordar  that  the  memory  of  these  things  he  utterly 
extinguished,  tho  pi o Headings  of  every  kind  against 
Franco  arts,  under  pain  of  excommunication  to  fao 
erased  within  fimr  mouths  frum  the  capitular  books  und 
registers  of  the  Holy  JSco.r  Tho  nruhivw*  of  the  J'upauy 
are  to  retain  no  single  procedure  injurious  to  tho  King 
of  iVaiico,  or  to  those,  whoever  they  may  be1,  who  ar« 
thus  amply  justified  fur  all  their  most  virulent  pcrhcni- 
tion,  for  all  their  contumacious  rcBistunue,  for  tho  fouli'Bt 
charges,  for  charges  of  atheism,  simony,  whoredom,  so- 
domy, witchcraft,  hi'iewy,  against  tho  do<:t?ua<Kl  l*oju». 

Fifteen  persons  only  are  exempted  from  this  swooping 
amncuty,  or  more  than  amnesty ;  among  them  pantAm«* 
William  de  Kogarot,  iieginald   Supine  and  28251 
his  son,  tha  other  insurgents  of  Aimgni,  and  ** 
Sei&rra  Colonuti.    These  Philip,  DO  doubt  by  a  secret 
understanding  with  the  Pope,  surrendered  to  the  mockery 
of  punishment  which  might  or  might  not  ba  enforced 
The  penance  appointed  to  tho  rent  does  not  appear ;  but 
even  William  deNogarot  obtained  provisional  absolution.* 


•  The  Bull  dated  May,  191  1. 


In  HaynuldtiB  (tub  nnn.)  It  &  full 
aouount  of  ths  Bull*  und  piwsft#e«  of 
BuUi  entirely  erwud  fur  the  grsttificn- 


tion  of  King  rhilip  from  the 
rocorili ;    of  otmm  they  WMB  }tt 
aoirvtid  by  the  {ilous  tare  of  tlm  pnr 
unriM  of  Boulface.     iSce  alxw  I'n-uvi 
p,  (iOn, 
t  ll  Abtntvimiiii  wl  I'AUbUmi" 


2HB  ACTS  DF  THE  COUNCIL  BOOK  XH, 

The  PopD3  solicitous  for  the  welfare  of  his  soul,  and 
in  regard  to  the  pressing  supplications  of  the  King, 
imposed  this  penance.  At  the  next  general  Crusade 
INogaret  should  in  person  set  out  with  arms  and  horses 
for  the  Holy  Land,  there  to  servo  for  life,  unless  his 
terra  of  service  should  be  shortened  by  the  mercy  of 
the  Pope  or  his  successor.  In  the  meantime,  till  this 
general  Crusade  (never  to  come  to  pass),  ha  waa  to 
make  a  pilgrimage  to  certain  shrines  anil  holy  places, 
one  at  Boulogne-sur-Mer,  ons  at  St.  James  of  Compos- 
tella.h  Such  was  the  sentence  on  the  assailant,  almost 
the  assassin,  of  a  Pops ;  on  the  persecutor  of  his  memory 
by  the  most  odious  accusations ;  if  those  accusations 
were  false,  the  suborner  of  the  most  monstrous  system 
of  falsehood,  calumny,  and  perjury.  The  Pope  received 
one  hundred  thousand  florins  from  the  King's  ambas- 
sador as  a  reward  for  his  labours  in  this  causa,1  This 
Bull  of  Clement  V.k  broke  for  ever  the  spell  of  the 
Pontifical  autocracy.  A  King  might  appeal  to  a  Council 
against  a  Pope,  violate  his  personal  sanctity,  constitute 
himself  the  public  prosecutor  by  himself  or  by  his  agents 
for  heresy,  for  immorality,  invent  or  accredit  the  most 
hateful  and  loathsome  charges,  all  with  impunity,  all 
oven  without  substantial  censure, 

The  Council  of  Vienna  met  at  length;  the  number 
oct »  to  of  prelates  is  variously  stated  from  three  hun- 
SmiiS11'  dred  to  one  hundred  and  forty,"*  It  is  said 
viwme.  Qyft,  Bjghopg  WQrQ  present  from  Spain,  Ger- 
many, Denmark.  England,  Scotland,  Ireland,  Italy.  It 

ta  Ptolemy  of  Lucca  calls  this  "peni- 
temia  dura/' 

*  Fbolnn,  Luc,  flpud  Baliutumi  p.  40 , 
"  Tone  ambadatorw  Regis  offarunt  ca- 
nwrse  Domini  Papa)  centum  nlllfo  flwi- 
norum  <iuMi  pvc  ^ 


tione  kborura  clroa  diotam 

"  D,,ted  May,  1311. 

w  Villanl  glyea  the  krger  number, 
(ha  wntinuator  of  Nangis  the  smaUoi. 
Hat  the  Frenoli  writer  givm  only  tb< 


CHAT.  III. 


COUNCIL  OF  VIENNE. 


assume!  the  dignity  of  an  (Ecumenic  Council.  The 
Pope  proposed  three  questions :  I.  The  dissolution  of 
the  Order  of  the  Temple ;  II.  The  recovery  of  tha  Holy 
Land  (the  formal  object  of  every  later  Council,  but 
tvhich  had  sunk  into  a  form) ;  III.  The  reformation 
of  manners  and  of  ecclesiastical  discipline.  The  affair 
of  the  Templars  was  the  first.  It  might  seem  that  this 
whole  inquiry  had  been,  sifted  to  the  bottom.  Yet 
had  the  Popo  mada  further  preparation  for  the  strong- 
measure  determined  upon.  The  ordery  to  the  King  of 
Spain  ti>  apply  tortures  for  the  extortion  of  confession 
had  been  renewed.11  The  Templars  were  to  be  secure 
in  no  part  of  Christendom.  Tho  same  terrible  instruc- 
tions had  been  sent  to  the  Latin  Patriarch  of  Constan- 
tinople, to  tho  Bishops  of  Negropont,  Famagoeta,  ttini 
Nicosia.0  Two  thousand  depositions  had  been  accumu- 
lated, perhaps  now  slumber  in  the  Vatican.  But  unex- 
pected difficulties  arose,  On  ft  sudden  nine  Templars, 
who  had  lurked  in  safe  conBcalmont,  perhaps  in  tho 
valleys  of  tho  Jura  or  the  Alps,  appeared  before  tho 
Council,  and  demanded  to  be  heard  in  defence  of 
the  Order.  The  Pope  was  not  present.  No  sooner  had 
he  heard  of  this  daring  act  than  he  commanded  tho 
nine  intrepid  defenders  of  their  Order  to  be  seized  and 
cast  into  prison.  He  wrote  in  all  haste  to  tha  King  to 
acquaint  him  with  this  untoward  interruption**  But 
embarrassmonts  increased:  the  acts  were  read  before 


n  "Ad  clIdeutlAm  veritntem  Mi- 
gi&w  fore  tortori  truJenilDB,"— Letter 
(it*  Clement  to  King  of  Spain,  quoted 
jy  Kaymraard,  p  1ft  5, 

0  "Ad  habentJnm  itb  «!*  veHtatii 
jpl«fiitudhvetn  promptiovctn  tormenti* 
«t  qurcttlanitiui,  «i  sponte  .conBteii 
iaolu«rint)  esperiri  pwwurctii."— Apud 


177. 


RnynnU.  tJlH,  r.  llii. 

P  Tine  letter  in  KnynDi)BrJ, 
Raynouai'ti  is  unftn-tunately 
with  a  Fit  of  #laqucuu£,  and  Intwta  n 
long  epccch  which  one  vf  the  K«th«r« 
of  th«  Council  wghi  tn  hav*  *jtck«iv 
ThB  letter  t»  dated  l)«e,  11. 


300 


LATIN  CHRISTIANITY. 


1300K  Xll. 


the  Fathers  of  the  Council;  all  the  foreign  prelates 
except  one  Italian,  all  the  French  prelates  except  three, 
concurred  in  tha  justice  of  admitting  the  Order  to  a 
hearing  and  defence  before  the  Council.  These  three 
were  Peter  of  Couvtenay,  Archbishop  of  Rbeiins,  who 
had  burned  the  Templars  at  Seulis:  Philip  de  Harigny 
of  Sens,  who  had  committed  the  fifty-four  Knights  to 
the  flames  in  Paris;  tho  Archbishop  of  Bouen,  the  suc- 
cess or  of  Bertrand  de  Troyes,  who  had  presided  at  Punt 
tie  1'Arche.1'  The  Pope  was  obliged  to  prorogue  the 
Council  for  a  time.  Tha  winter  wore  away  in  private 
discussions.11  The  awe  of  this  King's  presence  was  neces- 
sary to  strengthen  the  Pops,  and  to  intimidate  the 
Council.  The  King  had  summoned  an  assembly  of  the 
realm  at  Lyons,  now  annexed  to  his  kingdom.  Tho 
avowed  object  waa  to  secure  the  triumph  of  Jesus  Christ 
in  the  Council.8  The  Pope  took  courage ;  ho  sum- 
moned the  prelates  on  whom  he  could  depend  to  a 
secret  consistory  with  the  Cardinals.  He  announced 
that  he  had  determined,  by  way  of  prudent  provision,* 
not  uf  condemnation,  to  abolish  the  Order  of  Templars  : 
ha  reserved  to  himself  and  to  the  Church  the  disposal 
of  their  persons  and  of  their  estates.  On  April  J3  this 
act  of  dissolution  was  published  in  tho  full 
Council  on  tho  absolute  and  solo  authority 
of  the  Pope.  This  famous  Order  was  doclaruil  ti>  be 
extinct;  the  proclamation  was  made  iti  the  presence 


4  "In  h&c  simteiitit  concordant 
«mne>  preloti  Italia  prater  unura, 
Hltpania,  Theutoniffl,  Btinira,  Angliic, 
Bootto,  Qt  Hlbemiw.  Itpm  Gdlid, 
Broker  trw  MetropolitAnw,  vliulicot 
itan»nwra,  Sunonenwim  eb 
geasflro."~-Ptolem.  Luo,  Tit,  II. 


43.  Compare  Walalaglinrn,  Thii  WM 
in  thfl  beginning  of  Decflmbsr, 

'  Bwnaid  Outdo,  Vlt,  III.  Cla. 
mcnt,  Compare  IV.  et  VI, 

1  Hist,  du  LnnpuoJoOi  xxlx.  c,  33, 
1),  153, 


CHAP.  III. 


DEFENDERS  DF  BONIFACE. 


30) 


of  tlis  King"  and  his  brother.  We  have  already  de- 
scribed the  award  of  the  estates  to  the  Knights  of 
St.  John,  the  impoverishment  of  that  Order*  by  this 
splendid  boon,  or  traffic/  as  it  was  called  by  the  enemies 
of  Clement. 

Clement,  perhaps,  had  rejoiced  in  secret  at  the  op- 
position of  tha  Council  to  the  condemnation  of  tho 
Templars,  It  aided  him  in  extorting  the  price  of 
the  important  concession  from  King  Philip,  the  reser- 
vation to  hia  own  judgement  of  the  sacred  and  perilous 
treasure  of  hia  predecessor's  memory. 

Tho  Council,  which  hurl  now  resumed  its  sittings,  was 
manifestly  disinclined,  not  in  this  point  alone,  ru.^,^  ,,f 
to  submit  to  the  absolute  control  of  French  So  the 
inilneuGQ.  It  assorted  its  independent  dignity  Coul»rlK 
in  tho  addresses  to  which  it  had  listened  on  the  reform 
of  ficolBBiantical  ubuspa:  it  had  shown  a  strong  hier- 
archical spirit.  No  dimbt  beyond  the  sphere  of  Philip's 
power,  beyond  thti  pulo  of  Ohibolline  animosity,  beyond 
that  of  tho  lower  Frainm-anH,  whose  fanatical  admira- 
tion of  Ccolestino  had  become  implacable  hatred  to 
Boniface,  tho  prosecution  of  the  Pope's  memory  was 
odious.  If  it  rested  on  any  just  grounds,  it  was  an 
irreverent  exposure  of  tha  nakedness  of  their  common 
father  \  if  groundless,  a  wanton  and  wicked  sacrilege. 
When,  therefore,  three  Cardinals,  Richard  of  Sienna, 
master  of  the  civil  law,  Jolm  of  Narnur,  as  eminent  in 
theology,  and  Gentili,  tho  most  consummate  decretalist, 
appear  lid  in  the  Council  to  defend  the  orthodoxy  and 


*  "  Out  neggtium  erat  corili." 

*  "  Undo  ilcpaupcrntn  e»t  noiul» 
.o»]4taliB,   i\w  ee  exiNtimntmt   inile 

fiuil. '— H,  AntonmuBj  KGB 


r  "  Papa  TWO  tttntim  boiia 
infinlto    theaauro   Fratiilmi  vendidit 
hoflpitallfl  S.  Jtmnnij."— 
Oast.  Pontific,  Letklen. 


302 


LATIN  CHRISTIANITY 


BOOK  XII, 


holy  life  of  Pops  Boniface ;  when  two  Catalan  Knightn 
threw  down  their  gauntlets,  and  declared  themselves 
ready  to  maintain  his  innocence  hy  wager  of  battle: 
Clement  interposed  not,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Templars, 
any  adjournment.  Ee  regarded  not  the  confusion  of 
the  King  and  his  partisans.  The  King  was  thcreforo 
obliged  to  submit  to  this  absolute  acquittal,  either  by 
positive  decree  ;  or,  in  default  of  the  appearance  of  any 
Accuser,  of  any  opponent  against  the  theologians  or  thu 
knights,  to  accept  an  edict  that  no  harm  or  prejudice 
should  accrue  to  himself  or  his  successors  for  the  part 
which  they  had  been  compelled  by  duty  and  by  zoal  to 
take  against  Pope  Boniface.* 

The  Council  of  Vienna  had  thus  acquiesced  in  thn 
ActaofihB  determination  of  the  first  object  for  which  it 

itouncllor    ,      .    .  i      .1  „  ,1 

Vienna,  had  been  summoned,  the  suppression  of  ths 
Templars.  The  assembly  listened  with  decent  outward 
sympathy  to  the  old  woarisoinQ  account  of  the  captivity 
of  the  Holy  Land,  and  the  progress  of  the  Mohammedan 
arms  in  the  East.  But  the  crusading  fire  was  burnt 
out ;  there  was  hardly  a  flash  or  gleam  of  enthusiasm. 


*  The  viiulicutinn  of  the  fume  of 
ItouCfutio  by  the  Cimnwl  of  Vienna  is 
inputcil.  P,  Pug],  Arguing  fiom  tin* 
I'act  Hint  the  ulliur  vtsa  not  included 
in  the  summnns,  or  among  tlio  tlirco 
iubJBcte  proposed  foi  tha  coiiHulemtion 
•of  the  Council,  that  ib  WUB  nut  brought 
before  them,  Ktiynnldim  rellw  on  the 
pauagc  of  Villanl,  on  which  ha  ami- 
mulatfls  much  Irrolevant  matter,  with- 
out lengthening  lila  nauae,  Tha 
(tatemant  ID  the  text  appaara  to  me 
to  reconcile  all  difficult)  as.  It  -wan, 
throughout,  the  policy  of  the  Pope  to 
fcwjp  this  dangerous  bosinww  entirely 


in  his  own  hanJy;  thin  hi1  hud  cx- 
tortiiil  with  grunt  iltxteiity  unit  at 
preat  haunJlce  from  the  King.  Till 
ha  knpw  that  ho  cnulil  trust  tin 
Cuuncil,  hi1  hnil  nn  thought  of  jiar* 
mittiiif,-  t,ht>  Council  to  iuterftia  (it 
WUH  an  unnufc  prc^leut) ;  but  when 
imrp  nf  it»  tetiifrt1)',  he  WUH  glad  to 
inks  tliB  I'lflattw'  jtttl^i'mont  in  t!on> 
flnnatian  of  his  own :  he  thua  at  th« 
earns  time  maintained  hlj  own  aolo 
imi  Bupci-lor  right  of  judgement,  anil 
backed  It,  nguiiist  tha  King,  with  thi 
authority  of  the  L'ouwdl, 


CHAT.  III.  ACTS  OF  THE  COUNCIL.  303 

It  seemed,  however,  disposed  to  enter  with  greater  earn- 
estness on  the  reformation  of  manners  and  discipline, 
and  the  suppression  of  certain  dangerous  dissidents  from 
that  discipline.  On  the  former  subject  the  Fathers 
heard  with  respectful  favour  two  remarkable  addresses. 
The  first  was  from  the  Bishop  of  Mencle,  one  of  the 
assessors  at  the  examination  of  the  Templars;  and  this 
address  raises  the  character  of  that  prelate  so  highly, 
that  his  testimony  on  their  condemnation  is  perhaps 
the  most  unfavourable  evidence  on  record  against  them. 
The  other  camo  from  a  prelate  of  great  gravity,,  learn- 
ing, and  piety,  whoao  name  has  not  survived.  These 
addresses,  however,  which  led  to  no  immediate  result, 
may  come  before  us  in  a  general  view  of  th3  Christianity 
of  this  grsat  epoch,  the  culmination  of  tho  Papal  power 
undsr  Boniface  VIII.,  its  rapid  decline  under  the  Popes 
at  Avignon.  So,  two,  the  condemnation  of  that  singular 
sect  or  offset  of  the  FranuiKcans,  the  DVaticclH,  will 
form  part  of  tho  history  of  that  body,  which  perhaps  did 
more  than  any  othor  sects  in  preparation  of  tho  Lol- 
Jarda,  of  Wycliffe,  perhaps  of  tho  great  Kofornmtiow, 
in  the  minds  of  the  people  throughout  Christendom,  as 
the  disseminators  of  doctrines  essentially,  vitally, 
Pupal 


304  LATIN  OHRlSTIANm,  BOOK  XIJ. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

Henry  of  Luxemburg.    Italy. 

POPE  D.JJMENT — at  the  coat  of  much  of  the  Papal 
dignity;  at  the  cost  of  Christian  mercy,  even  if  tha 
Templars,  tortured,  and  burned  at  the  stake,  were 
guilty ;  at  tha  coat  of  truth  and  justice  if  they  were 
innocent — had  baffled  the  King  of  France,  and  had 
averted  the  fatal  blow,  tha  condemnation  of  Popo 
Boniface.  Even  of  the  spoils  of  the  Templars  lie  had 
rescued  a  large  part,  tha  whole  landed  property,  out  of 
the  hands  of  the  rapacious  King ;  ha  had  enriched  him- 
self, his  death  will  hereafter  show  to  what  enormous 
amount.  But  the  subtle  Saacon  had  done  greater  servicu 
to  Ohristsndom  by  thwarting  tho  views  of  the  French 
monarch  upon  a  predominance  in  the  Western  world, 
dangerous  to  her  liberties  and  welfare.  Never  was 
Europe  in  greater  peril  of  falling,  if  not  under  ono 
snvoreignty,  under  tho  dominion,  anil  that  tho  inofrt 
tyranniRal  dominion,  of  nno  house,  Philip  was  lun# 
indeed  in  Franco :  in  many  of  his  worst  w;t,s  of  uppreH- 
Bion  tho  nation,  tho  commonalty  itself,  hud  backed  the 
King.  Even  tho  Church,  HD  lung  as  ho  plundered  and 
trampled  on  others,  waa  on  hia  flitlo.  The  greater 
Metropolitan  Sees  wer»  filled  with  his  creatures. 
Princes  of  tho  house  of  Franco  sat  on  the  thrones  of 
Naples  and  Hungary,  The  feeble  Edward  II,  of  Eng- 
land was  his  son-in-law.  The  Empire,  if  obtained  by 
Charles  of  Valois,  had  involved  not  merely  tha  supreme 


CHAV.  IV.  HENRY  OF  LUXEMBURG.  305 

rule  in  Germany,  but  the  mastery  in  Italy  Clement 
would  not  have  dared  to  refuse  the  imperial  drown,  and 
under  such  an  Emperor  where  was  the  independence  of 
the  Italian  cities?  The  Papal  territory  would  have 
been  held  at  his  mercy. 

The  election  of  Henry  of  Luxemburg  hail  redeemed 
Christendom  from  this  danger.  This  election  unnryor 
had  been  managed  with  unrivalled  skill  by  J-u«mllul»- 
Peter  Ashpoltcr,  Archbishop  of  Mentz."-  This  remark- 
able man  (an  unusual  case)  was  not  of  noble  birth ;  h« 
had  been  bred  a  physician ;  it  was  said  that  he  had  ren- 
dered the  Pope  great  service  by  udvicQ  ponccming  his 
health,  and  had  thus  acquired  a  strong  influence  over 
his  mind.  Archbishop  Peter  first  contrived  the  eleva- 
tion of  Henry's  brother  to  the  Electoral  Sea  of  TTDTBH. 
Two  of  thu  lay  eleulorn,  out  of  jealousy  to-  NPV.ST, 
warda  thu  other  competitors  for  the  crown,  IJUH> 
were  won  over.  Henry  (if  Luxemburg  was  proclaimed 
at  Frankfort.  The  now  King  of  the  JKomuim  was  at 
once  a  just,  a  religious,  and  a  popular  siyverpign.1'  He 
had  put  down  thn  robbers,  and  exMWHed  rigid  but  im- 
partial justice  in  his  own  small  territory.  At  the  same 
time  ha  was  the  most  distinguished  in  arms,  At  the 
tournament  no  knight  in  Europe  could  unhorse  Henry 
of  Luxemburg.  Soon  after  his  elevation  his  indigent 
house  was  enrich ed  and  strengthened  by  tho  marriage 
of  his  son  with,  the  heiress  of  Bohemia. 

The  Pope  had  taken  no  ostensible  part  in  the  elec- 
tion,   "When  Henry  of  Luxemburg  sent  an 


»  This  is  well  told  by  Schmidt— 
Gflschichte  dcr  Deuterium,  vii.  c.  4, 

*  "JuatUB  at  religloeua  et  in  annia 
rtrenuua  fuit."  H  D  Mcmiua,  npud  Chft- 

701.,  YII. 


Ilibt.  rontif,  linden.  Jk» 
tha  desorliitlon  ofhta  jisruon  in  Altai) 
Mueirnt,  1.  Ifl. 


3IW  TIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  XII. 

of  nobles  and  great  pr slates  to  demand  the  imperial 
crown,  Clement  bad  no  pretext,  he  had  indeed  no  dis- 
position, to  refuse  that  which  was  in  the  common  order 
of  things,  Philip  might  brood  in  secret  over  this  politic 
attempt  of  the  Pope  after  amancipation,  yet  had  no 
right  to  take  umbrage. 

In  a  solemn  diet  at  Spires  Henry,  King  of  the 
met  at  Eomans,  declared,  amid  universal  aoclama- 
Wa'usoB.  tion,  his  resolution  to  descend  into  Italy  to 
assert  the  imperial  lights,  and  to  receive  the  Cfflsarean 
crown  at  Rome.  Clement  had  never  lost  sight  of  ths 
affairs  of  Italy :  IIB  was  still  Lord  of  Romagna,  and 
drew  his  revenues  from  the  Papal  territory.  But  he 
had  no  Italian  prepossessions.  The  Bishop  of  Homo 
had  probably  determined,  never  to  set  his  foot  in  that 
unruly  city.  His  court  was  a  court  of  French  Cardinals, 
increassd  at  each  successive  promotion.  He  had  indeed 
interfered  to  save  Pistoia  from  the  cruel  hands  of  Gruelfic 
Florence ;  but  Florence  had  treated  his  threatened  ana- 
Tbo  Pope's  thema  with  scorn.  Bologna,  struck  with  inter* 
p«»oy.  dict  ]3y  tho  angry  Legate  for  aiding  Florence, 
had  made  indeed  aubmisfiionj  but  not  till  nlio  had  forced 
the  Legate  in  an  ignominious  flight  to  savo  his  lift,-. 
Clumont  had  maintained  a  violent  ponlust  with  Venice 
for  Fenura,  Venice  hail  Htrack  a  vigorous  blow  by  tho 
seizure  of  Ferrara,  anil  the  contemptuous  refusal  to 
acknowledge  the  assorted  rights  ofthoPopo  in  that  city. 
The  Venetians  scorned  the  interdict  thundered  against 
their  whole  territory  by  the  Popo.  Clement  found  a 
foo  against  whom  ho  dared  put  forth  all  the  terrors  of 
his  spiritual  power.  Ho  prohibited  all  religious  ritea  in 
Venice,  declared  the  Dnga  and  magistrates  infamous, 
commanded  all  ecclesiastics  to  quit  the  territory  except 
a  few  to  baptise  infants,  and  to  administer  extreme 


CHAP.  IV.  AFFAIRS  OF  ITALY.  307 

unction  to  the  lying.  If  they  persisted  in  their  con- 
tumacjy,  he  declared  the  Doge  G-radenigo  degraded  from 
his  high  office,  and  all  estates  of  Venetians  confiscate  ; 
kings  were  summoned  to  take  up  arms  against  them 
till  they  should  restore  the  rights  of  the  Church.  The 
Venetians  condescended  to  send  an  ambassador;  but  aa 
to  the  restoration  of  Ferrara,  they  made  no  sign  of  con- 
cession. But  Venica  was  vulnerable  through  her  wealth ; 
the  Pop B  struck  a  blow  at  her  -vital  part.  She  had 
factories,  vast  stores  of  rich  merchandise  in  every  great 
haven,  in  every  distant  land.  The  Pope  issued  a  brief, 
summoning  all  kings,  all  rulers,  all  cities  to  plunder 
the  forfeited  msrchandisB  of  Venice,  and  to  reduce  the 
Venetians  to  slavery.  The  Pope's  admonitions  to  peace*, 
hit)  warnings  to  Icings  and  nations  to  abstain  from  •un- 
christian injury  to  each  other,  had  long  lost  their  power. 
But  a  Papal  lirenre  or  lather  exhortation  to  plunder, 
to  plunder  peaceful  uud  defenceless  fantoricR,  was  too 
tempting  an  act  of  obedience,  Everywhere  their  mor- 
ehandiwe  waa  seized, their  factories  pillaged,  tlitartrutlm 
outraged,0  Venice  quailed ;  yet  it  needed  the  utmost 
activity  in  tho  warlike  Legato,  the  Cardinal  Pelagru, 
ut  the  haad  of  troops  from  all  quarters,  to  reconquer 
Ferrara,  Ha  Blew  six  thousand  men. 

On  a  Budcbn  Clement  totally  changed  the  imme- 
morial policy  of  the  Popes.  Ho  did  not  throw  off,  but 
he  quietly  lot  fall,  the  French  alliance :  lie  was  in  olosR 
luagua  with  the  Emperor  :a  the  Pope  became  a  Ghibol- 
line,  If  tho  Papal  and  Imperial  banners  wero  nut  un- 


Qud  ila  re  ilutn  plurilms  pro- 

HIS   Ili'gibun   iiU[)i!iW—  Hay- 

nnu.,  witU  iiullinnlies. 


*  S«e  ClL'inent'B  httei1  to  Henry  of 


,  July  2ft,  IJlOf  .    AIM  thi 


Trpntjr  tlfttuil  At 

11,    1(510,—  Vminmnnta 

iv,  5  1}1, 

x  2 


308  LA.HN  DHBISTlANiTX  BOOK  XIL 

foiled  together,  the  Papal  Legate  was  hy  the  side  of  the 
Emperor.  The  refractory  cities  were  menaced  with  the 
concurrent  ban  of  the  Empire  and  the  excommunication 
of  the  Church. 

Henry,  rather  more  than  a  year  after  the  Diet  at 
Spires,  descended  upon  Italy,  but  with  no  con- 
,  IBID,  siderable  German  force,8  to  achieve  that  in 
which  had  been  discomfited  tha  Othos,  Henrys,  and 
Fredericks.  Griielfs  and  Ghibellines  watched  his  move- 
ments with  unquiet  jealousy.  He  assumed  a  lofty  supe- 
riority to  all  factious  views.'  The  cities  Turin,  Asti, 
Vercelli,  Novara,  opened  their  gates.*  Henry  rein- 
stated the  exiled  Gruelfa  in  Ghibelline,  tho 
Ghibellines  in  Guelfic,  cities.  He  approached 
Milan.  Guido  clella  Torre,  tho  head  of  the  ruling 
Guelfic  faction,  had  sent  a  message  to  the  King  at 
Spires,  "  he  would  lead  him  with  a  falcon  on  his  wrist, 
as  on  a  pleasure-party,  through  all  Lombardy."  Guido 
DM.  aa  was  now  irresolute.  The  Archbishop  of  Milan, 
W1D-  the  nephew  of  Guido,  but  his  mortal  enemy, 
entreated  tho  King's  good  offices  for  the  release  of  three) 
of  his  Idnilred,  imprisoned  by  Delia  Torrn.  King  Henry 
issued  his  orders ;  Guido  refused  to  oLny.  Yet  Milan 
did  not  filasQ  licr  gatoa  on  tho  King,  Guido  occupied 
the  palace  of  the  comnjomilty ;  ho  would  not  dismiss  his 
armed  guard  of  one  thousand  men.  Besides  this,  ho 
had  at  his  command  in  one  street  ten  thousand  men, 


«  Forrctua  Vicentinua  giwi  5000 
Gortmuu. 

'  "  CujtuquHHi  cum  aubjectls  pac- 
tloDto  Impatlaus,  Oibelengo  Qoelfeva 
partium  meutiDiiem  abhoiTeus,  cunctn 
alaoluw  «mplect«u  imparlo,"-— Alb, 
Mueaat.  i.  13. 


t  Hee  Iter  Italicutn  by  Henry  j 
Ihvourite  counsellor.  The  BUhop  of 
Buthronto  gives  &  lively  account  of  all 
his  march,  espedftlly  of  tha  Bhhop'* 
ownperwnalttdvejitures.  It  ha»  been  re- 
printed (after  Keuborand  Muratori)  by 
Boehmer,— Fontes  Iter,  Gorman,  1. 99. 


CHAP.  IV.         HENRY  OF  LUXEMBURG  IN  MILAN.  30S 

not,  lie  averred,  against  the  King,  but  against  his 
enemy,  ths  Archbishop.  Henry  lodged  in  the  Arch- 
bishop's palace,  and  there  kept  his  Christmas,  On  tlie 
day  aftsr,  peace  was  sworn  between  Guiio  Jftn 
della  ToiTe,  his  nephew  the  Archbishop,  and  mi. ' 
Matteo  Visconti:  thsy  exchanged  the  kiaa  of  peace.* 
On  the  Epiphany  Henry  was  crowned  with  the  Iron 
Crown  of  Italy,  not  at  Monza,  but  in  the  Ambrosian 
Church  at  Milan;  the  people  wept  tears  of  joy.  Guido 
gave  up  the  palace  of  the  commonalty  to  the  King,  All 
the  cities  of  Lombardy  wera  present  by  their  Syndics; 
all  took  the  oath  of  allegiance  except  Genoa  and  Venice, 
who  nevertheless  acknowledged  the  supremacy  of  the 
King.'  Henry  calmly  pursued  his  work  of  pacification, 
Ha  placed  Vicars  in  the  cities  from  the  Alps  to  Bologna, 
and  forced  them  to  admit  the  exiles.  Como  received 
the  Guelfs,  the  Ghibellines  entered  Brescia.  Mantua 
admitted  the  Ghibellines,  Piacenza  tho  Guelfs.  Verona 
ulono  obstinately  refused  to  receive  Count  Boniface  and 
the  Guelfa :  her  strong  walls  defied  the  Emperor,  la 
Milan  the  bad  era  of  the  factions  vied  in  their  offerings 
to  Henry.  William,  di  Posterla  proposed  a  vote  of  fifty 
thousand  florins,  but  added  a  donative  to  the  Empress 
Guido  della-  Torre  outbid  his  rival;  "We  are1  it  great 
uml  wealthy  city;  one  hundred  thousand  is  not  too 
much  for  so  noble  a  sovereign."  The  Gormaus  were 
alienated  from  the  parsimonious  Visconlis;  Guido,  they 
averred,  was  tho  Emperor's  friend ;  bat  it  was  shrewdly 
suspected  that  tho  crafty  leader  foresaw  that  Milan, 


*  "  Amiuabihtiu,  utinatn    fiebliter  recollect,  excepting  tlmt  thny  (ilia  W- 

ost'iilntl." — Her,  ltd.  nntlans)  arn  a  [juiiitL'SHcnw,  ntul  will 

wud  many  tliingH  to  PXI-USP  liobng  ncitlici-  to  tlic  [JhurcH  iior  to 

nm  nwciuiiig  "  (wntesthe  the  ldni«'nirr  inn-  ta  tho  sea  nor  tfl  tli* 

Ijisliap  ol'Iiuthronto),  "  which  I  do  not  laail."— Iter  Itulluuni,  ft,  Blili. 


810  LATIN  CHEISTlANITr.  BOOK  XII. 

when  the  tax  cams  to  be  levied,  would  rise  to  shake  off 
the  burthen.  The  Emperor,  to  secure  the  city  in  his 
absence,  demanded  that,  fifty  of  the  great  nobles  and 
leaders,  chosen  half  from  the  Guelfa,  half  from  the 
GhibellinKS,  should  accompany  him  to  Rome  to  do 
honour  to  hia  coronation.  The  Guelfs  were  to  name 
twenty-five  Ghibellines,  the  Ghibellines  twenty-five 
Gruelfs.  But  this  mods  of  election  failed ;  neither 
Guido  nor  Viaconti  would  quit  tha  city.  Guido  alleged 
ill  health;  the  King's  physician  declared  the 
excuse  false.  But  the  assessment  of  this  vast 
sum,  though  the  Germans  were  astonished  at  the  ease 
with  which  much  had  been  paid,  inflamed  the  people. 
faBnrtacUon  Frays  broke  out  between  the  Q-ermans  and 
m MUM.  the  Milanese;  proclamations  were  issued,  for- 
bidding the  Italians  to  bear  arms.  On  a  sudden  a  cry 
was  heard,  "  Death  to  the  Germans !  Peace  between 
the  Lord  Guido  and  the  Lord  MattBol"  Visconti  was 
seized,  carried  before  the  King,  and  dismissed  un- 
harmed. The  Germans  rushed  to  arms;  they  wnro 
joined  by  Visconti's  faction;  much  slaughter,  much 
plunder  ensued.k  Guido  della  Torre  fled ;  his  palace 
fortress  was  surprised  and  ransacked :  great  stores  of 
military  weapons  were  found,  arrows  tipped  with  Greek 
fire,  and  balists, 

No  sooner  was  Milan  hsard  to  be  in  insurrection,  than 
Qrema,  Cremona,  Lodi,  Brescia,  rose.  The  first  were 
May  w,wn.  speedily  subdued ;  Cremona  severely  punished. 
bUtoor  Brescia  alone  stood  an  obstinate  siege.  The 
Bw*d*'  Emperor's  brother  Waleran  fell  in  the 
trenches :  many  Germans  were  hanged  upon  the  walls. 


>(  "Multl  mortal  et  vulneratl,  il  juitfe,  BOUB  irit,"    So  write*  the 
lllahop,  who  had  apprehanied  and,  «i  he  saye,  naved  the  life  of,  Vtownti, 


CHAP,  IV. 


SIEGE  OF  BRESCIA. 


311 


The  new  alliance  between  the  Emperor  and  the  Pope 
tias  here  ostentatiously  proclaimed.  Two  of  the  car- 
dinals appointed  to  crown  the  Emperor,  the  Bishops 
of  St.  Sabina  and  of  Ostia,  appeared  under  the  walls  of 
Brescia.  Tha  gates  flew  open  :  they  passed  the  streets 
amid  acclamations — "  Long  live  our  Mother  tliB  Church; 
long  live  the  Pope  and  the  Holy  Cardinals."  The  Car- 
dinal of  Ostia  addressed  the  commonalty  in  a  lofty 
harangue.  HB  stBrnly  reprovsd  them  for  not  having 
received  that  blessed  son  of  the  Church,  Henry  King 
of  the  Romans,  who  came  in  the  name  of  the  Lord : 
"Th sy  were  in  insurrection  against  the  ordinance  of 
Almighty  God,  against  the  monitions  of  the  Pope:  they 
must  look  for  no  better  fate  than  befell  Sodom  and 
Gomorrah."  The  Captain  of  the  people  answered  in 
their  name — "  They  were  ready  to  obey  the  Pope  and  a 
lawful  Emperor.  Henry  was  no  emperor,  but  a  spoiler, 
who  expelled  the  Guelfs  from  the  cities,  and  gavo  them 
up  to  the  tyranny  of  the  Ghibellinea ;  hs  was  reviving 
the  schism  of  the  Emperor  Frederick,"  The  Cardinals 
withdraw  for  a  time  in  ignominious  silence.  Brescia 
still  held  out :  Henry  urged  tho  Cardinals  to  issue  a 
sentence  of  excommunication,  " For  excommunication," 
was  the  reply,  "  the  Italians  care  nothing.  How  have 
the  Florentines  treated  that  of  tho  Cardinal  of  Oatia,  the 
Bologneee  that  of  Cardinal  Napoleon,  those  of  Milan 
that  of  the  Lord  Felagms?"ra  Famine  at  length  re- 
duced the  obstinate  town.  They  consented  to  the 
mediation  of  the  Cardinals,  and  Henry  entered  Brescia. 
The  want  of  money  led  him  to  compound  fur  the  treason 


*  Albert  MuBsato  apud  Muratovl, 
ft,  1,  9.  I  have  ondearoured  to  recon- 
cile this  Mcouut  with  the  far  Itali- 


cam.    1  unJersttmi  the  Kama  fact  to 
be  alluilftd  to,  page  BOO ;  "  Donuul 


812 


LATIN  CHRISTIANITY. 


BOOK  XII. 


Sept.  18-21. 


by  a  mulct  of  70,DDO  florins.  Henry's  poverty  com- 
pelled him  to  otlisr  acts,  ignominious,  evsn  treacherous, 
as  it  seemed  to  his  most  loyal  counsellors.11 
Henry  advanced  to  Genoa:  the  city  submitted  in  the 
amplest  manner.  But  no  sooner  had  the 
Emperor  left  Lombardy  than  a  new  Guelfic 
league  sprung  up  behind  him.  Throughout  Italy,  the 
Ghielfs,  more  Papalist  than  tha  Pope,  disclaimed  the 
Emperor,  though  under  the  escort  of  cardinal  Isgates. 
At  Genoa,  died  his  Queen,  Margarita.  To  Genoa  came 
ambassadors  from  the  head  of  the  Guelfs,  Bobert  King 
March  B,  °f  Naples,  Negotiations  were  commenced  foi 
13ia-  a  marriage  between  tho  houses  of  Luxemburg 
and  Naples;  but  Robert  demanded  the  office  of  Senator 
of  Borne,  and  before  terms  could  be  concluded,  news 
arrived  that  John,  brother  of  King  Robert,  was  in  Kom© 
with  an  armed  force.  Henry  moved  to  Crhibelline  Pisa; 
he  was  welcomed  with  joy.  In  the  mean  time  Guelfic 
Florence  not  merely  would  not  admit  Pandulph  Savelli, 
the  Pope's  Notary,  and  the  Bishop  of  Buthronto,  Henry's 
ambassadors ;  they  threatened  to  seize*  them,  as  loaded 
with  gold  to  bribe  the  Ghibollincs  to  insurrection.  Tho 
ambassadois  had  many  wild  adventures  in.  the  Apen- 
nines, wore  plundered,  in  peril  of  captivity.  Some 
Tuscan  cities,  mora  Tuscan  lot-flu,  SWOI-Q  allegiance  to 
the  Emperor,  whether  from  loyalty  or  hatred  of  Flo- 
wn ce.  The  ambassadors  arrived  before  Borne.0  The 


•  "I  protested,  but  protested  In 
vain"  (writes ths  Bishop  of  Buthron- 
to)t  "agfllnat  five  nrta  of  my  muster. 
To  the  doubtful  Philip  of  Savoy  lia 
granted,  for  A  ban  of  25,000  florlnn, 
tliB  Ittdabfp  over  Pavla,  Vercelll,  No* 
•*4rft:  to!Matteo  Vlacontl,  for  50,001), 
that  p(  Mllttn;  to  Qtt-barto  dl  Corrc- 


gio,  the  Gufllfic  tyrant  of  Pannn,  for 
an  unknown  Bum,  that  of  Raggio ;  to 
CAD  di  Veionn,  who  obBtlnfttoly  ra» 
fused  to  Admit  a  (tingle  Guelf,  that  ftf 
Voronn:  to  Paswrino,  that  ofMantun." 
— I  tar  Itftlioum,  jr,  38. 

o  This  fs  thrt  matt  curioua  part  odl 
the  Her  Ittilictim, 


CHAP.  IV.  ADVANCE  ON  ROME.  313 

city  was  occupied  by  John  of  Naples.  He  was  strong 
enough  to  maintain  himself  in  the  city,  not  stiong 
enough  to  keep  down  the  Imperialists.  There  was 
parley,  delay,  exchange  of  demands.  ,Tnlm  insisted  on 
fortifying  the  Pont  a  Molle.  To  the  demand,  among 
others,  of  co-operation  in  reconciling  tho  rival  houses 
of  Orsini  and  Cobnna,  hs  sternly  answered,  *'  The 
Colonnas  are  my  enemies ;  with  them  I  will  have 
neither  truce  nor  treaty."  He  at  length  hurled  defiance 
against  the  Emperor. 

Henry  himself  set  out  fiom  Pisa,  anil  advanced  to- 
wards Borne  at  the  head  of  two  thousand  horse.  Hcniy  wi- 
AVith  King  Robert  of  Naples  it  was  neither  Hmnp. 
peace  nor  war.  Prince  John  still  held  the  Poute  Molle. 
On  the  appearance  of  King  Henry  he  was  summoned  to 
withdraw  his  troops.  Ho  withdrew,  he  said,  **  for  his 
own  ends — not  at  the  Emperor's  command."  The  Ger- 
mans charged  over  the  bridgo ;  a  tower  still  manned  by 
Neapolitans  hurled  down  missiles ;  it  was  with  difficulty 
stormed.  Tho  Pope's  Emperor,  with  tho  Cardinals  eom- 
miRahmed  by  tha  Popo  to  crown  him,  entered  Rome :  he 
occupied,  with  tho  Ghibellincs,  the  city  on  one  side  of 
the  Tiber ;  tho  Capitol  was  forced  to  submit  Beyond 
the  Tiber  ware  John  of  Naples  and  the  Guelfio  Orsini. 
Neither  had  strength  to  dispossess  the  other.  But 
Bt.  Peter's  was  in  ths  power  of  the  enemy.  The  mag- 
nificent ceremonial,  which  Pope  Clement  had  drawn 
out  at  great  length  for  tho  coronation  of  Henry,  could 
not  take  place.  Ho  must  submit  to  receive  irinift1Wj 
tho  crown  with  humbler  pomp  in  the  Church  mflg 
of  St.  John  Lataran.  Tho  inglorious  coronation  took 
plaerj  on  tho  festival  of  felt.  Peter  and  St,  Paul, 

The  hsats  :>f  Roma  compellnd  the  Emperor  to  retire 
to  Tivoli    A  year  of  war  ensued:  Florence  placed 


314  LATIN  DHKISTIAN.TT,  BOOK  XLI» 

herself  at  the  head  of  tlia  anti-Imp srialiat  Leagua. 

Henry,  having  made  a  vain  attempt  to  surprisa 

Florence,  retired  to  Pisa.  Th are  he  pronounced 

the  ban  of  the  Empire  against  Florence  and  the  contu- 

Feb  12.    macious  cities;  and  against  Robert  of  Naples, 

i3i3.  whom  he  declared,  as  a  rebellious  vassal,  de- 
posed from  his  throne.  The  ban  of  the  Empire  had  no 
more  terror  than  the  excommunication  of  the  Pope. 
Henry  awaited  forces  from  Germany  to  open  again  the 
campaign :  his  magnanimous  character  struck  even  his 
adversaries.  "  He  was  a  man,"  writes  the  GrUBlf  Villani, 
"  never  depressed  by  adversity,  never  in  prosperity 
elated  with  pride,  or  intoxicated  with  joy." 

But  the  end  of  his  career  drew  on.  He  had  now 
advanced  at  the  head  of  an  army  which  his  enemies 
dared  not  meet  in  the  field,  towards  Sienna.  He  rod  a 
still,  seemingly  in  full  vigour  and  activity.  But  the 
fatal  air  of  Borne  had  smitten  his  strength.  A  car- 
buncle had  formed  under  his  knee;  injudicious  remedies 
inflamed  his  vitiated  blood.  He  died  at  Buonconvento 
AH*,  zi,  in  the  midst  of  his  awe-struck  army,  on  the 
U1J  Festival  of  St.  Bartholomew.  Bumours  of 
foul  practice,  of  course,spread  abroad:  a  Dominican  monk 
was  said  to  have  administered  poison  in  the  Sacrament, 
which  ha  received  with  profound  devotion.  His  body  was 
carried  in  sad  state,  and  splendidly  interred  at  Pisa. 

So  closed  that  empire,  in  which,  if  the  more  factious 
and  vulgar  Ghiballiues  behold  their  restoration  to  their 
native  city,  their  triumph,  their  revenge,  their  sole 
administration  of  public  affairs,  the  noble  G-hibellinism 
of  Dante p  foresaw  the  establishment  of  a  gr3at  universal 


i"  Read  Ant  Dante's  rapturous  letter 
(in  Italian)  to  the  princes  and  pcaplu 
of  Italy  before  bh&  dement  of  H»nry  of 


Luxemburg  (the  Latin  original  IB  lost), 
Fitttloelli'i  edition,  Oper.  Mln.  1(1.  p, 
219.  "Non  rilttca  ta 


.  IV. 


DANTE  OS  MONARCHY. 


315 


monarchy  necessary  to  the  peace  and  civilisation  of 
mankind.  Ths  ideal  sovereign  of  Dante's  famous  trea- 
tise on  Monarchy  was  Henry  of  Luxeml/urg.  Neither 
Dante  nor  his  time  can  be  understood  but  naaiodP 
through  this  treatise.  The  attempt  of  the  *«•«** 
Pope  to  raise  himself  to  a  great  Pontifical  monarchy 
had  manifestly,  ignominiously  failed :  the  Ghibelline  13 
neither  amazed  nor  distressed  at  this  event.  It  is  now 
the  turn  of  the  Imperialist  to  unfold  his  noble  vision. 
"  An  universal  monarchy  is  absolutely  necessary  for 
the  welfare  of  the  world;"  and  this  is  part  of  his 
singular  reasoning — "Peace"  (says  the  weary  sxilo,  the 
man  worn  out  in  cruel  strife,  the  wanderer  from  city  to 
city,  each  of  those  cities  more  fiercely  torn  by  faction 
than  the  last),  "  universal  peace  is  the  first  blessing  of 
mankind.  The  angels  sang  not  riches  or  pleasures,  but 
peace  on  earth :  peace  the  Lord  bequeathed  to  his  dis- 
ciples. For  peace  One  must  rule.  Mankind  ia  moat 
like  God  when  at  unity,  for  God  is  One ;  therefore  undcT 
a  monarchy.  Where  there  in  parity  there  must  be 
strife;  where  strife,  judgement;  the  judge  must  be  a, 
third  party  intervening  with  supreme  authority,"  With- 
out monarchy  can  bo  no  justice,  nor  even  liberty j  for 
Dante's1  monarch  is  no  arbitrary  despot,  but  a  consti- 
tutional sovereign ;  he  is  the  Boman  law  impersonated 
in  ths  Emperor ;  a  monarch  who  should  leave  all  the 
nations,  all  the  free  Italian  cities,  in  possession  of  their 
rights  and  old  municipal  institutions. 


eflette  Idilio  avers  prqd0atinato  it 
Itotnano  prinulpe  ?  "  Tha  Pope  ia 
DOW  on  the  Imperial  eldo,  and  Dante- 
IK  conciliatory  even  to  nil  AvignonoBo 
I'jpe,  Nor  omit,  Mconily, 


letter  to  Henry  tumwlf,  turnout  re- 
proaching him  with  taring 
Flnrcnoe  iinchAotUed,— Ibid,  p,  ftJQ. 

i.  (l  Et  hutnnnum  gcrma,  t 
tiberuui,  op  time  wj  habet." 


LATIN  CHRISTIANITY. 


BOOK  XII. 


But  to  this  monarchy  of  the  world  the  Roman  people 
has  an  inherent,  indefeasible  right  Tha  Saviour  waff 
horn,  when  the  world  wag  at  peace  under  the  Koman 
eway.T  Dante  seizes  and  applies  the  texts,  which  fore- 
show the  peaceful  dominion  of  Christianity,  to  the 
Empire  of  old  Rome.  Rome  assumed  that  empire  of 
right,  not  of  usurpation.  The  Romans  were  the  nohlest 
of  people  by  their  descent  from  JEneas,  the  noblest  of 
men.  The  rise  of  the  Republic  was  one  continual 
miracle :  the  Ancile,  the  repulse  of  the  Gauls,  Clelia, 
all  were  miracles  in  the  highest  senss.*  That  holy, 
pious,  and  glorious  people  sacrificed  its  own  advantage 
to  the  common  good.  It  ruled  the  world  by  its  bsnu- 
fieence.  All  that  the  moat  ardent  Christian  could  assert 
of  the  beat  of  the  Saints,  Dante  attributes  to  tha  older 
Romans.  The  groat  examples  of  human  virtus  are 
CincinnatuB,  Fabricius,  Camillus,  Decius,  Cato.  The 
Roman  people  are  by  nature  predestined  to  rule:  he 
cites  the  irrefragable  authority  of  Virgil.*  There  are  two 
arguments  which  strangely  mingle  with  these.  Rome 
had  won  the  empire  of  the  world  by  wager  of  battle. 
God,  in  the  great  ordeal,  had  adjudged  the  triumph  to 
Rome:  he  had  awarded  to  her  the  prize,  universal, 
indefeasible  monarchy.11  Still  further,  "  Our  Lord  con- 
descended to  bo  put  to  death  under  Pilate,  the  vice- 
gerent of  Tiberius  COBSUT  ;  l>y  that  he  acknowledged  the 


*  "  Quare  iremuerunt  gcntes,  reges 
advcmntar  Damino  BUD  et  uncto  Bub 
Romano  Frmclpe." 

*  "Quad  gtiam  pro  Romnnn  Im- 
jwio  perfietendo,  yruranila  Deus  per- 
tendaret,  lllmtrium  aathorum  trati* 
utmfo  comprobatur,"     The  nuthdw 
we  Livy  and  Lucan. 


1  "  ru  regnire  tmpwio  populw,  KOBWIKV 
mDmemt^j," 

"  "Nullum  dutium  out  quint  p«r- 
vakntia  in  athletia  pro  imperil)  mundi 
cprtantibuB,  Dei  judiclum  eat  aequntn. 
RdmanuH  populus  cunotis  athletlznnti- 
bua  pro  imperlo  mandl  praevalmt."— - 
p.  100,  "  Quod  per  rluellum  acquir, 
tar  jure  acqnirltuv." 


CHAP,  IV. 


THE  NOTION  DF  POPES. 


317 


lawfulness  of  the  jurisdiction,  therefore  the  jurisdiction  is 
of  God."x  But  while  all  this  argument  of  Dante  shows 
the  irresistible  magic  power  still  possessed  over  the  ima- 
gination by  the  mers  name  of  Rome,  how  strongly  does 
it  illustrate  not  only  the  coming  days  of  Rienzi,  but  ths 
strength,  too,  which  the  Papal  power1  had  derived  from 
this  indelible  awe,  this  unquestioning  admission  that 
the  world  owed  allegiance  to  Rome !  Dante  proceeds 
to  prove  that  tha  monarchy,  the  Roman  monarchy,  is 
held  directly  of  God,  not  of  any  Vicar  or  minister  of 
Grod.  He  sweeps  away  with  contemptuous  hand  all 
tho  later  Decretals.  He  admits  the  Huly  Scripture,  the 
first  Councils,  the  early  Doctors,  and  S.  Augustine.  He 
spurns  tho  favourite  tuxts  of  the  .sun  and  inonn  as 
typifying  the  Papac-y  and  tho  Einpiro,  tho  warship  of 
tho  Magi,  the  two  swords,  tho  donation  of  Constantino. 
He  asserts  Christ  to  be  the  only  Boric  r»f  the  Chuirlu 
The  oxamploH  of  authority  assumed  by  PnpoH  over 
JjJmpBi'orB,  ho  confronts  with  prupedunts  of  wvth<nity 
uaed  by  Emperors  ovnr  Pnpus.  Dante  Avtiim  not,  He 
believes  with  the  forvnur  of  a  dcvtmt  fbitholio,  tho 
co-ordinate  supremacy  of  tho  Church  antl  tho  Empire, 
of  tho  Pope  and  the  temporal  monarch;  "but  lib  a  all 
tho  GhibelJinefl,  li'ko  tho  Fratifelli  among  the  lowrv 
orders,  lika  many  other  true  believers,  almost  wor- 
shippers of  the  successor  of  St.  Peter,  he  would  alisii- 
luttily,  rigidly,  entirely  confine  him  to  his  spiritual 
functions;  with  this  life  tho  Pontiff  had  ne  concern, 
eternal  lifo  was  in  his  poww  and  arbitration  alone.* 


*  \Va  fiml  uvBti  tlin  htnitliag  wn- 
tcnao,  "Si  Ilimuiium  Imiici-nim  ttn 
jure  now  fuit,  ppru.ituin  ml  MI  In  Uhvihtn 
nun  fuit  puuitum.1' 

1  Thin  »  the  key  to  Duntc'H  Iinjin< 


nnd  PopaliBm.  lleuw  i»  the 
t  pit  of  hell,  Iho  two  Iruifwri  to 
ai  e  on  flitlan-  niilo  at  tlip  ti.ntor 
to  Chrlnt.  "Brut«,  Iieanutc,  c  rtm- 
KIII."  Hence  both  hiu  i'uu'ue  fil 


318 


LATIN  CHRISTIANITY. 


BOOK  XII. 


Italy,  at  the  death  of  Henry  of  Luxemburg,  fell  back 
into  her  old  anarchy.  Clement,  it  is  true,  laid  claim 
to  the  Empire  during  the  vacancy,  but  it  was  an  idle 
and  despised  boast.1  The,  Transalpine  Clement  was 
succeeded  by  other  Transalpine  Popes ;  but  the  con- 
federacy between  the  Pope  and  the  Emperor  broke  up 
for  ever  at  the  death  of  Henry. 


Denunciations  of  the  avarice  and  pride 
of  Boniface,  and  his  indignation  at  the 
violation  of  the  sanctity  of  Christ's 
Vicar  at  Anagni.  Through  nub,  the 
imperial  authority  is  the  fhst  neces- 
sity of  Italy — 

"  Ahl  gente,  tAA  flovrpflti  asaer  iloYota, 
K  latjclar  seder  Cesar  nalla  Bella, 
SB  beUB  ialondl  eft  cue  Dio  ti  no  ta  " 
Purgat.  vi,  91 

This  is  fallowed  by  the  magnificent 
apostrophe  to  Albert  of  Austria,  whose 
guilt  in  neglecting  Italy  is  not  only 


avengnd  on  his  own  posterity,  bat 
an  his  successor,  Henry  of  Luxem- 
burg,— 

"  Vlenf  a  veder  la  tua,  Roma,  cho  plague 
Vudovn,  e  sola,  D  dl  A  notte  chlumn, 
Cesaremlo,  perch6  nan  rn'ocBompagnEi " 

— Compaia  FDHCO]D,  Discnrso,  p.  22,'t. 
1  "Noa  tarn  ex  Bupcnoritatu  qiinin 
ad  imperium  non  est  dubium  nos  hn» 
IBIQ,  ijuum  ex  po testate,  in  ouft,  va- 
cante  Impeiio,  Imjieratriri  Bucccdimua." 
— CluniBut,  Pnatoral.  Muratori,  Ana. 
sub  aun, 


CHAP.  V.  A1TROACH  OF  CLEMENT'S  END 


CHAPTEB  V, 

The  End  ol  Du  Molay,  of  Pope  Clement,  of  King  Philip. 

THE  end  of  Clement  himself  and  of  Clement's  master, 
the  King  of  France,  drew  near.  The  Pope  had  been 
compelled  to  make  still  larger  concessions  to  the  King. 
Philip's  annexation  of  the  Imperial  city,  Lyons,  and  the 
extinction  of  the  rights  or  claims  of  the  Archbishop  to 
nn  indspendent  jurisdiction,  were  vainly  encountered  by 
remonstrance.  From  this  time  Lyons  became  a  city  of 
the  kingdom  of  France. 

But  the  Pope  and  the  King  must  la  preceded  into 
tho  realm  of  darkness  and  to  the  judgement  sent  of 
heaven  by  other  victims.  Tho  tragedy  of  the  Tcmplant 
had  not  yet  drawn  to  its  tiliwc.  Tho  four  grunt  digni- 
taries of  tho  Order,  the  Grand  Master  Du  Malay,  Guy 
the  Command  or  of  Normandy,  son  of  the  Dauphin  of 
Auvergne,  the  Commander  of  Aquitaine  Godfrey  de 
Qonaville,  the  great  Visitor  of  France  Hugues  de  IV 
rand,  wera  still  pining  in  the  royal  dungeons,  It  vtw 
necessary  to  determine  on  their  fate.  The  King  and 
tho  Pope  were  now  equally  interested  in  burying  the 
affair  for  ever  in  silence  and  oblivion.  So  long  as  tlieBfs 
men  lived,  uncondomned,  undoomod,  the  Ordoi  was  not 
extinct,  A  commission  was  named;  the  Cardinal  Arch- 
bishop of  Albi,  with  two  other  Cardinals,  two  maixkw, 
the  Cistercian  Arnold  Novclli,  and  Arnold  do  FargiH, 
nephew  of  Pops  Clement,  tho  Dominican  Nicolas  d« 
Freveauvillc,  akin  to  the  house  of  Marigny,  formerly  the 


320  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  ML 

King's  confessor.  With  thesa  the  Archbishop  of  Sena 
sat  in.  judgement,  on  the  Knights'  own  former  confes- 
sions. The  Grand  Master  and  the  rest  were  found 
guilty,  and  were  to  be  sentenced  to  perpetual  imprison- 
ment.a 

A  scaffold  was  erected  before  the  porch  of  Notre 
Dame.  On  DUB  side  appeared  tlis  two  Cardinals;  on 
iMsniMTs  the  other  the  four  noble  prisoners,  in  chains, 
E.  under  the  custody  of  the  Provost  of  Paris. 


Mix  years  of  dreary  imprisonment  had  passed  over  their 
heads;  of  their  valiant  brethren  the  most  valiant  had 
been  burned  alive  ;  the  recreants  had  purchased  their 
lives  by  confession  :  the  Pope  in  a  full  Cuuneil  had  con- 
demned and  dissolved  the  Order,  If  a  human  mind,  a 
mind  like  that  of  Du  Molay,  not  the  most  stubborn, 
nould  be  broken  by  suffering  and  humiliation,  it  must 
have  yielded  to  this  long  and  crushing  imprisonment 
The  Dardinal-Archbishop  of  Albi  ascended  a  raised 
platform:  he  read  the  confessions  of  tho  Knights,  the 
proceedings  of  the  Court  ;  he  enlarged  on  the  criminality 
of  the  Order,  on  the  holy  justice  of  tho  Pope,  and  the 
devout,  s  elf-sacrificing  zeal  of  tho  King;  lie  \vaa  pro- 
ceeding to  the  final,  the  fatal  sentence.  At  that  instant 
the  Grand  Master  advanced;  his  gesture  implored  si- 
lence: judges  and  people  gazed  in  awe-struck  appre- 
hension. In  a  calm,  clear  voice  Du  Molay  spake: 
spec*  of  "  Before  heaven  and  earth,  on  the  verge  of 
DU  MDiay,  fo^li,  where  the  bast  falsehood  boars  like  an 
intolerable  weight  upon  tho  soul,  I  protest  that  we  have 
richly  deserved  death,  not  on  account  of  any  heresy  or 
sin  of  which,  ouradves  or  our  Order  have  been,  guilty, 
but  because  we  hava  yielded,  to  save  our  lives,  to  tha 


•  "  Muro  et  career!  perpetuo  ratrudeudi,"— ttotlnuat,  Nangis. 


CHAP.  V.  TBAGEDY  OF  THE  TEMl'LAllS.  321 

seductive  words  of  the  Pope  arid  of  tlio  King :  and  HO 
by  our  confessions  brought  shame  and  ruin  on  our 
blameless,  holy,  and  orthodox  brotherhood." 

The  Cardinals  stood  confounded;  the  people  could 
not  suppress  their  profound  sympathy.  The  assembly 
was  hastily  broken  up ;  the  Provoat  was  commanded  to 
conduct  the  prisoner  back  to  their  dungeons.  "  To- 
morrow we  will  hold  further  counsel." 

But  on  the  moment  that  the  King  heard  these  things, 
without  a  day's  delay,  without  the  least  coil-  D«tb«»riM 
sultation  with  the  Bcelcsiastical  authorities,  he  KoU)r' 
ordered  them  to  death  as  relapsed  heretics.  In  the 
island  on  the  Seine,  where  now  stands  the  statue  of 
Henry  IY.,  between  the  King's  garden  on  one  side  and 
the  convent  of  the  Augustinian  monks  on  the  other,  th<i 
two  pyres  were  raised  (t\vo  out  of  the  four  hud  shrunk 
back  into  their  ignoble  confession).  It  was  the  hour  of 
vespers  when  theso  two  aged  and  noble  men  wore  W 
out  to  be  burned:  they  were  tied  oacli  to  the  uttiki*. 
The  flames  kindled  dully  and  heavily ;  thu  wouil,  hastily 
piled  up,  was  green  or  wot;  or,  in  cruel  inurcy,  th»* 
tardiness  was  designed  that  the  victims  might  luivv 
time,  whils  the  fire  was  still  curling  round  their  ox- 
tromities,  to  recant  their  Bold  recantation.  But  tlxru 
was  no  sign,  no  word  of  weakness,  Bu  Molay  iuxpluri'il 
that  the  image  of  the  Mother  of  God  might  bo  huhl  uji 
before  him,b  and  his  hands  unchained,  that  hi*  mi^lit 
clasp  them  in  prayer.  Both,  as  the  smoke  roue  to  tln*ir 
lips,  as  the  firs  crept  up  to  tho  vital  parts,  outttiuiUMl 
solemnly  to  aver  tlio  innoconco,  tho  Oathulu:  fuith  r4 


*  I 

One  le  ver»,l»i  vlango  Mario, 
Irant  notre  {feigner  Chrtat  nut  nft*, 
Moo.  TUdgo  VUUD  me  tome*." 

ttotlftty  &  jPurvr. 

von.  m 


322 


LATIN  CHRISTIANITY. 


BOOK  XII. 


the  Order.  The  King  himself  sat  and  beheld,"  it  might 
sesm  without  remorse,  this  hideous  spectacls;  the  words 
of  Du  Molay  might  have  reached  hie  cais,  But  the 
paople  looked  on  with  far  other  feelings.  Stupor  kindled 
into  admiration;  the  ex  c  ration  \vas  a  martyrdom;  friars 
gathered  up  their  ashen  and  bones  and  carried  them 
away,  hardly  by  stealth,  to  consecrated  ground  ;  they 
became  holy  reliqueB.1  The  two  who  wanted  courage  to 
die  pined  away  their  mih-Brablo  life  in  prison, 
The  wonder  arid  the  pity  of  the  times  which  immB- 
diatoly  followed,  arrayed  Du  Molay  not  only 
jn  tjie  rDhes  of  tho  martyr,  but  gave  him  the 
terrible  language  of  a  prophet.  "  Clement,  iniquitous 
and  cruel  judge,  I  summon  thee  within  forty  days  to 
meet  me  befors  the  throne  of  the  Most  High."8  Ac- 
cording to  some  accounts  this  fearful  sentence  included 
the  King,  by  whom,  if  uttered,  it  might  have  been 
heard.  The  earliest  allusiun  to  this  awful  speech  does 
not  contain  that  staking  particularity,  which,  if  part  of 
it,  wuuld  be  fatal  to  its  credibility,  the  precise  date  of 
Clement's  death.  It  was  not  till  tho  year  after  that 
Clement  and  King  Philip  passed  to  their  account.  The 
poutic  relation  of  Godfrey  of  Paris  ^  simply  states  that 


prophet 


*  "  Ambo  wgeupeabiiitB,"  Zantiflict. 
lie  nililo  thiit  he  hud  this  from  an  eye- 
witness—  "  qut    hnco  vidit    Bciiptrni 
testimamum  prabmt."     Tho   Ciuiou 
of  Lifegc  ia  said  to  hiivc  been  barn 
towards  the  end  of  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury.   Could  he  have  coiwrwjd  with 
an  cYfl-wjtapss  of  this  sceno  on  March 
11, 1 3t3  ?   But  many  of  these  chroni- 
cles WB  tfaoM  of  the  convent  rather 
than  of  the  JniivMiial  monks.    This 
waa  oontlaued  to  1432.    See  above, 

*  VilUbi  (S,  Antoninus  as  ueual 


cupius  Villain),  "  IS  notn  die  la  notta 
appipfisn  ch>!  '1  ilt'tto  in  .IDS  tit)  e  '1  com- 
fuiono  nartDnzzati,  per  frati 
i  le  Inro  corpora  B  ossa  corat 
flimtc  fuiono  ncolte  e  portata 
via  in  SUCH  luogl." 
*  FerretUB  VJccittinuB. 

{  "  S'en  vendro  on  brhf  WntpamwcU* 
Bur  oel«  qul  nous  flompnant » tort 
Diau  en  ventteninoatre  mat, 
SolgnDM,  dttlt,  MChlez  sans  tire, 
Quo  tous  oelz  qul  now  wnt  ron- 

trire 
PC*  now  on  oront  n  mupir." 

(Xxlfrcy  Ae  farit. 


CHAP.V.  DEATH  OF  DLEMENT.  323 

Du  Molay  declared  that  Rod  would  revenge  their  death 
on  their  unrighteous  judges.  The  rapid  fate  of  these 
two  men  during  the  next  year  might  naturally  so  appal 
the  popular  imagination,  as  to  approximate  more  closely 
the  prophecy  and  its  accomplishment.  At  all  events 
it  betrayed  the  deep  and  general  feeling  of  the  cruel 
wrong  inflicted  on  the  Order ;  while  the  unlamented 
death  of  the  Pope,  the  disastrous  close  of  Philip's  reign, 
and  the  disgraceful  crimes  which  attainted  the  honour 
of  hia  family,  seemed  as  declarations  of  Heaven  as  to 
the  innocence  of  their  noble  victims.* 

The  health  of  Clement  V.  had  been  failing  for  some 
time.  From  his  Court,  ^vhich  he  held  at  Car-  Death  or 
pentraSj  he  sot  out  in  hopes  to  gain  strength  A[.nian,i3H 
from  his  nativa  air  at  Bordeaux.  He  had  hardly  crossed 
the  Rh&ne  when  ha  was  seized  with  mortal  sickness 
at  Roguemauro.  Tho  Papal  treasure  was  seized  by 
his  followers,  especially  his  nephew ;  his  remains  were 
treated  with  such  utter  neglect  that  tho  torches  s«t 
fire  to  the  catafalque  under  which  he  lay,  not  in  state. 
His  body,  covered  only  with  a  single  sheet,  all  that  his 
rapacious  retinue  had  left  to  shroud  their  forgotten 
master,  was  half  burned  (not,  like  those  of  tfce  Templars, 
his  living  body)  before  alarm  was  raised.  His  ashes 
were  borne  back  to  Carpenteas  and  solemnly  interred11 

Clement  left  behind  him  evil  fame.    He  died  shame- 
fully rich.     To  bis  nephew  (nepotism  had  begun  to 


i  Benld£s  other  evidence,  a  singular 
document  but  recently  brought  to  light 
BsUtiliBlies  tha  dnta  of  tha  execution 
of  Du  Molay,  March  11, 1313.  This 
Abbot  and  Convent  of  St.  Germain 
aux  Frii  claimed  jurisdiction  ovsr  the 
inland  where  the  execution  took  place. 


They  complained  of  the  mention  a* 
an  infringement  on  their  right*.  Tho 
Parliament  of  Fui*  taded  m  their 
favour.— Leu  Olim,  publiihail  by  M. 
Beugnot,  Documento  JniMit*,  t.  ii.  p, 


509. 


u»  in 
2 


324  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  XII. 

prevail  in  its  baneful  influence)  KB  bequeathed  not  less 
than  3D 0,0 DO  golden  florins,  under  the  pretext 
of  succour  to  the  Holy  Land,  He  had  died 
still  more  wealthy,  but  that  his  wealth  was  drained  by 
more  disgraceful  prodigality.  It  was  generally  believed 
that  the  beautiful  Bruniaand  de  Foix,  Countess  of  Tal- 
leyrand Perigord,  was  the  Pope's  mistress :  to  her  he 
was  boundlessly  lavish,  and  her  influence  was  irresistible 
even  in  ecclesiastical  matters.  Rumour  ran  that  her 
ifititious  to  the  lustful  Pontiff  were  placed  upon  her 
otherwise  unveiled  bosom.  Italian  hatred  of  a  Trans- 
alpine Pope,  Gi-uelfic  hatred  of  a  Ghibelline  Pope,  may 
have  lent  too  greedy  ear  to  these  disreputable  reports; 
but  the  large  mass  of  authorities  is  against  the  Pope ; 
in  his  favour  hardly  more  than  suspicious  silence.1 

Yet  was  it  the  ambition  of  Dlement  to  be  one  of  the 
ecclesiastical  legislators  of  Christendom.  He  had  hoped 
that  his  new  book  of  Decretals  would  have  been  enrolled 
during  hia  life  with  those  of  his  predecessors.  It  was 
published  on  the  12th  of  March,  but  the  death  of  Clement 
took  place  before  it  had  assumed  its  authority. 

From  Boniface  YIII.  to  Clement  V.  was  indeed  u 
precipitous  fall.  After  this  time  subtle  policy  rathor  than 
conscious  power  became  the  ruling  influence  ofthePope- 
tbm,  The  Popes  had  ceased  absolutely  to  command; 
but  they  had  not  ceased  to  a  great  extent  to  govern. 
Nor  in  these  new  arts  of  government  was  Clement 
without  considerable  skill  and  address.  Notwithstanding 
his  abandonment  of  Home,  his  dangerous  neighbourhood 
to  the  King  of  France,  his  general  subserviency  to  his 
hard  master,  his  doubtful,  at  least,  if  not  utterly 


,  be.  58.    The  Guelfic  Villani.    "Contra  cujwn  pudfoitUm  fotni 
Utwravlt."~Alb«t  HuBrot,  p,  60S.    Hiat,  Languttfoc,  xrix,  35, 138. 


CHAP.  V.  SEJ1V1CES  OF  CLEMENT.  ^25 

disreputable  personal  character,  his  looseness  and  hifl 
rapacity,  he  had  succeeded  in  saving  the  fame  of  hia 
predecessor,  in  averting  the  fatal  blow  to  the  Papedom, 
of  which  it  had  been  impossible  to  conceive  ths  conse- 
quences— he  had  prevented  the  condemnation  of  a  Pope 
as  a  notorious  heretic  and  a  man  of  criminal  life — his 
disintermsnt,  on  which  Philip  at  one  time  insisted,  and 
the  public  burning  of  hia  body.  Clement  succeeded  by 
calm,  stubborn  determination,  by  watching  his  time,  and 
wisely  calculating  the  amount  of  sacrifice  which  would 
content  ths  resentful  antl  vengeful  King.  His  other 
great  service  to  Christendom  was  the  preservation  of 
Europe  from  the  absolute  domination  of  France.  If 
indeed  Henry  of  Luxemburg  had  Established  the  im> 
perial  dominion  in  Italy  in  tile  absence  of  the  Pope,  it 
is  difficult  to  speculate  on  the  results.  Clement  himself 
took  alarm :  he  yielded  promptly  to  the  demands  of  the 
King  of  France,  and  inhibited  tho  war  waged  against 
Philip's  kinsman,  King  Bolmrt  of  Nupli-a,  as  against 
a  vassal  of  the  Church.  Ho  looked  with  distrust  on 
Henry's  league  with  tho  anti-papal  house  of  Arragon, 
with  Frederick  of  Sitily.  Tho  Pope  might  htive  lien 
constrained  ero  bug  to  become  again  a  Guolf. 

Philip  tho  Fair  survive cl  Pope  Clement  only  it  few 
months.k  Philip,  at  forty-six,  was  on  old  and  worn-out 
man.  Though  lie  had  raised  the  royal  power  to  such 
unprecedented  height ;  though  he  had  laid  tho  foumk- 
tbn  of  free  institutions,  not  to  be  duveloped  to  maturity; 
though  successful  in  most  of  his  wars;  though  ho  hwl 
curbed,  at  least,  tho  rebellious  Flemings,  and  tiMwl 
provinces  to  hia  realm,  above  all  tbo  groat  city  nf 
Lyons;  though  in  close  alliance,  by  marriagis  with 

k  Ckmiat  a i ixl  April  '20, Philip  Nor.  !#,  1014. 


teli  .jATIN  CHEISTIANITY.  BOOK  XII. 


.England;  though  ha  had  crushed  the  Templars,  and 
obtained  much  wealth  from  his  share  of  the  spoil; 
though  the  Church  of  France  was  filled  in  its  highest 
sees  by  his  creatures ;  though  the  Pope  was  under  his 
tutelage,  mast  of  the  Cardinals  his  subjects:  yet  the 
lust  years  of  his  reign  were  years  of  difficulty,  disaster, 
and  ignominy.  His  financial  embarrassments,  notwith- 
standing liia  financial  iniquities,  grew  worse  and  worse. 
The  spoils  of  the  Templars  ware  soon  dissipated,  His 
tampering  with  the  coin  of  the  kingdom  became  more 
vriukluHS,  more  directly  opposed  to  all  true  economy, 
mnre  burthensome  and  hateful  to  his  subjects,  less  lucra- 
tive to  the  Crown.m  The  Lombards,  the  Jews,  had  bean 
again  admitted  into  the  realm,  again  to  be  plundered, 
Poverty  of  again  expelled.  The  magnificent  festival  at 
rwup  Paris,  where  he  received  the  King  of  England 
with  unexampled  splendour,  consummated  his  bank- 
ruptcy. 

But  upon  his  house  there  had  fallen  what  wounded 
ijirtgriu-B  or  the  haughty,  chivalrous,  and  feudal  feelings 
family8  of  the  times  more  than  did  the  violation  of 
high  Christian  morals.  The  wives  of  his  three  sons,  the 
handsomest  mon  of  their  day,  were  at  the  same  time 
accused  of  adultery,  and  with  men  of  low  birth.  The 
paramours  of  Miiiguerite  and  of  Blanche,  daughters  of 
Othu  IV,  and  the  wives  of  Louis  and  Charles,  the  elder 
and  younger  sons  of  Philip,  were  two  Norman  gentle- 
man, Philip  and  Walter  ds  Launoi.  Confession,  true  or 
false,  was  wrung;  from  these  men  by  torture ;  but  con- 
fession only  made  their  doom  more  dreadful.  They 
were  mutilated,  flayed  alive,  hung  up  by  the  most 
sensitive  parts  to  die  a  lingering  death.*  Many  persons, 

*  Compare  SlatnoadJ,      n  Contin,  NangU, p,  08.  Chronlij.  da  St.  Denyu,  p,  14& 


CHAP.  V. 


DEATH  OF  PHILIP. 


327 


men  and  women,  of  high,  and  low  rank,  were  tortured 
to  alrait  criminal  connivance  in  the  crimes  of  the  prin- 
cess as:  some  were  sowed  up  in  sacks  and  thrown  into 
the  river,  some  burned  alive,  some  hanged.  The  atrocity 
of  the  punishments  shows  how  deeply  the  disgrace  sank 
into  the  heart  of  the  King,  himself  too  cold  anil  severe 
to  indulge  such  weaknesses.  Marguerite  and  Blanche 
were  shaven  and  shut  up  in  Chateau-  Gaillard.  Mar- 
gu  erite  wag  afterwards  strangled,  that  her  husband 
:night  marry  again:  Blanche  divorced  on  the  plea  of 
parentage.  Her  splendid  dowry  alone  saved  the  life, 
if  not  the  honour,  of  Jane  of  Burgundy,  the  wife  of  the 
second  son,  Philip  of  Poitiers.  She  had  brought  him 
the  sovereignty  of  tranche  ComtB,  which  he  would 
forfeit  by  her  death  or  divorce.  Juim  was  shut  up ;  no 
paramour  was  produced:  the  Parliament  of  Paris  de- 
clared her  guiltless,  and  Philip  received  her  again  to  all 
the  dignity  of  her  station. 

In  this  attainder  to  the  honour  of  the  royal  house 
of  France  some  beheld  the  vengeance  of  Heaven  for  tho 
sacrilegious  outrage  at  Anagni  j  others  for  the  iaiquifama 
persecution  of  the  Templars.0 

Philip  had  fallen  into  great  languor,  yet  was  able 
to  amuse  himself  with  htmting.  A  wild  boar  »s,u,0r 
ran  under  the  legs  of  his  horse,  and  overthrew  Kkl"J><  " 
him.  He  was  carried  to  Fontainebleau,  and  died  witfo 
all  outward  dsmonstrfttions  of  piety.  Tho  persecutor  of 
Popes,  the  persecutor  of  ths  great  religions  Qrdor  of 
Knighthood,  had  always  shown  tho  most  flubmissiro 
reverence  for  the  offices  of  the  Church;  ho  had  beett 


•  4I  ForaK  per  ID  pccoato 
per  lorn  pailrc,  uulln  pvcauvii  tli  Papa 
BonUfnzto,  come  II  VGBCQVP  d'  Atuiaoa 


profettizb,  «  fans   per    quello, 
adoperfe  nc'  Tcnijilievi,  con*  e 
addietro."—  0.  Villwl,  Ix.  8 


cbt 


328 


LATIN 


booKJLLL. 


most  rigid  in  the  proscription  of  heresy  or  of  suspected 
heresy,  The  fires  had  received  ons  more  victim,  Mar- 
guerite de  la  Porstte,  who  had  written  a  hook  of  to3 
ardent  piety  on  the  love  of  Grod.p  Philip  died,  giving 
the  sagest  advice  to  his  sons  of  moderation,  mercy, 
devotion  to  the  Church ;  lessons  which  hs  seemed  to 
lull  himself  to  a  [jiiiet  security  that  he  had  ever  ful- 
filled to  the  utmost.! 


It  is  singular,  even  in  these  dark  times,  to  see  Chris- 
tianity still  strong  at  her  extremities,  still  making 
pon  quests  of  Heathenism,  The  Order  of  the  Knights 
Templars  had  come  to  a  disastrous  and  ignominious  end. 
The  Knights  of  St.  John  or  of  the  Hospital,  now  that 
thft  Holy  Land  was  irrecoverably  lost,  had  planted 
themsslves  in  Rhodes,  as  a  strong  outpost  and  bulwark 
of  Christendom,  which  they  held  for  some  centuries 
against  the  Turco-MiohanimedaD,  power;  and,  when  it 
Ti'utnnic  f0U>  alttiDst  buried  themselves  in  its  ruins.  At 
onier.  flle  same  .jjino,  iogs  observed,  less  envied,  less 
f.imuus,  tho  Teutonic  Order  was  winning  to  itself  from 
lioiilhraulom  (more  nftor  the  example  of  Charlomagnu 
than  of  Christ's  Apnstleu)  a  kingdom,  of  which  the 
Ordur  woa  for  a  tiiao  to  be  tho  Sovereign,  and  which 
hereafter,  conjoinerl  with  one  of  the  groat  German 
PrinuipalitieH,  was  to  become  an  important  state,  tho 
kingdom  of  Prussia. 


*  Coutlmmt.  Kangis,  Simnondi, 
Hint.  Jes  li'ronfdlM,  ix.  p,  233, 

l  After  tho  death  of  Philip's  Queen, 
unlfss  belied  one  of  the  moat  lustful 
of  women,  Qulchard  Bidxop  of  Troyes 
was  arrMted  on  ouHpiclon  of  having 
poisoned  her,  He  was  tried  before' 
the  Archbishop  of  Sens  and  the  Bishops 


of  Orleans  nnd  Auxero.  The  proofii 
failed,  but  tlio  Blohop  wn»  kept  in 
prison,  Nuv(  though  another  man 
nccuHed  himw-lf  of  the  crime,  WM 
the  Biahop  reinstated  in  Tail  BOT.— 
Coiitin.  Nangls,  p.  61.  Comp«nt 
Mlchalet,  Hlit,  d«  Fnmf«iif  vol.  Iv, 
o,  5. 


CHAP,  V.  TEUTONIC  ORDEE.  329 

The  Orders  of  the  Temple  and  of  St.  John  owed,  the 
former  their  foundation,  the  latter  their  power  and 
wealth,  to  nohle  Knights.  They  were  military  and 
aristocratic  brotherhoods,  which  hardly  deigned  ta  re- 
ceive, at  least  in  their  higher  places,  any  but  those  of 
gentle  birth.  The  first  founders  of  the  Teutonic  Order 
were  honest,  decent,  and  charitable  burghera  of  Lubeck 
and  Bremen.  After  the  disasters  which  followed  the 
death  of  Fred  Brick  Barbarossa,  when  the  army  was 
wasting  away  with  disease  and  famine  before  Acre, 
these  merchants  from  the  remote  shores  of  the  Baltic 
ran  up  the  sails  of  their  ships  into  tents  to  receive 
the  sick  and  starving.  They  were  joined  by  the  brethren 
of  a  German  Hospital,  which  had  been  before  founded 
in  Jerusalem,  and  had  been  permitted  by  the  contemp- 
tuous compassion  of  Saladin  to  remain  for  some  time  in 
the  city.  Duke  Frederick  of  Swabia  saw  the  advantage 
of  a  German  Order,  both  to  maintain  the  German  interests 
and  to  relievo  the  necessities  of  German  pilgrims.  Their 
first  house  was  in  Aero.* 

But  it  was  not  till  the  Mastership  of  Herman  of 
Salza  that  the  Teutonic  Order  emerged  into  distinction. 
That  remarkable  man  has  been  seen  adhering  in  un- 
shaken fidelity  to  the  fortunes  of  the  Emperor  Frederick 
II, ;  *  and  Frederick  no  doubt  more  highly  honoured  tho 
Teutonic  Order  because  it  was  commanded  by  Herman 
t)f  Salza,  and  more  highly  esteemed  Herman  of  Salza 
as  Master  of  an  Order  which  abne  in  Palestine  did  not 
thwart,  oppose,  insult  the  German  Emperor,  It  IB  tho 
noblest  testimony  to  the  wisdom,  unimpoached  virtue, 
honour,  and  religion  of  Herman  of  Salza,  that  the  s«<> 


oigt,  Gesuhi«hte  I*icui«c<ni,  ami  autliont.*, 
fckse  vol.  vi,  p,  i!UO. 


3'JO 


LATIN  CHRISTIANITY. 


BOOK  XII. 


eessive  Popes,  Eonorius  III.,  Gregory  IX.,  Innocent 
IV.,  who  agreed  with  Frederick  in  nothing  Bias,  with 
whom  attachmant  to  Fred  Brick  was  enmity  and  treason 
to  the  Church  or  absolute  impiety,  nevertheless  Tied 
with  the  Emperor  in  the  honour  and  respect  paid  to  the 
Master  Herman,  and  in  grants  and  privileges  to  his 
Teutonic  Knights. 

The  Order,  now  entirely  withdrawn,  as  become  useless, 
from  the  Holy  Land,  had  found  a  new  sphere  for  their 
misadiug  valour :  the  subjugation  and  conversion  of  the 
heathen  nations  to  the  south-east  and  the  east  of 
tli3  Baltic.'  Theirs  was  a  complets  Mohammedan  inva- 
sion, the  Gospel  or  the  sword,  Tha  avowed  object  was 
tha  subjugation,  the  extermination  if  they  would  not  be 
subjugated,  of  the  Prussian,  Lithuanian,  Eathonian,  and 
other  kindred  or  conterminous  tribes,  because  they  wers 
infidels,  They  had  refused  to  listen  to  the  pacific 
preachers  of  the  Rospel,  and  pacific  preachers  had  not 
been  wanting.  Martyrs  to  the  faith  had  fallen  on  tha 
dreary  sands  of  Prussia,  in  the  forests  and  morasses  of 
Livonia  and  Esthonia. 

The  Pope  and  the  Emperor  concurred  in  this  alone — 
iti  their  right  to  grant  away  all  lands,  it  might  be 
kingdoms,  won  from  unbelievers.  Tha  charter  of  Fre- 
derick II.  runs  in  a  tone  of  as  haughty  supremacy  as 
those  of  llonurms,  Gregory,  or  Innocent  IV.U 


1  Pgnieraiiitv  had  been  converted  in  a 
more  Chrihtum  nuumer  in  the  twelfth 
century,  chiefly  by  tha  exertions  of 
Bishop  Olho  of  Bambarg,  whosa  ro- 
caaatio  life,  with  that  of  hia  convert, 
Prince  MiUlav,  hna  been  veil  •wrought 
by  My  nephew,  the  Hav,  K.  Milnaim» 
into  a  Romance  (I  wish  it  had  teen 
Uibtory,  or  8Tsn  Legend),  I  truat  this 


note  in  pflrdonable  nepotmrn.  Bte 
alao  Mona,  Nordiflcho  Heidenthum,  or 
Schroeck,  xxv.  p.  221,  Stc.,  for  a  more 
historical  view, 

11  "  Auctoritfttem  eldem  magtetra 
concedimtu,  tairara  Prussia  oum  vlri- 
bus  dtrnib,  et  totls  conatibus  lavft- 
denii,«onoedeatei  etconfinnaates  Btiem 
magliitro,  vucoeworibua  nJtts,  et  doom* 


CHAP.  V 


1ENTJBE  OF  THE  ORDER. 


331 


These  tribes  had  each  their  religion,  the  dearer  to 
them  as  the  charter  of  their  liberty.  It  was  wild,  no 
doubt  superstitious  and  sanguinary.*  They  are  said  tc 
have  immolated  human  victims.7  They  burned  slaves-, 
like  other  valuables,  on  the  graves  of  their  departed 
great  men. 

For  vary  many  years  the  remorseless  war  went  on. 
The  Prussians  rose  and  rose  again  in  revolt ;  but  the 
inexhaustible  Order  pursued  its  stern  course.  It  became 
the  perpetual  German  Crusade.  Wherever  there  was 
a  martial  and  restlsss  noble,  who  found  no  adventure, 
or  no  enemy,  in  his  immediate  neighbourhood ;  wherever 
the  indulgences  and  rewards  of  this  religious  act,  the 
fighting  for  the  Cross,  were  wanted,  without  the  toil, 
peril,  and  coat  of  a  journey  to  the  Holy  Land,  of  the  old 
but  now  decried,  now  unpopular  Crusade ;  wlioevtti 
desired  more  promptly  and  easily  to  waah  uff  his  sins 
in  the  blood  of  the  unbeliever,  rushed  into  tho  Order, 
and  either  enrolled  himuulf  as  a  Knight,  or  Hcrvwl  ft»r 
a  time  under  the  banner.  Thcro  is  hardly  a  jmnooly 
or  a  noble  house  in  Germany  which  did  not  furnish 
so  in  3  of  its  illustrious  names  to  the  roll  of  Teutonic 
Knights. 

So  at  length,  by  their  own  good  swordq,  anil  what 


euro  in  jierpetuum,  htm  pncdiatum 
tun-am  quam  a  praacripto  duce  reci- 
pmt  ut  prvmioit,  at  quameunqua  aUun 
dnbit,  Nccuon  terrain,  qimm  in  pnr- 
tibus  Pmsain1,  Den  Puvunte,  oonquunt, 
velut  vetw  et  iloljituin  jus  Imp«rii,  in 
tnontibtu,  planicip,  fluminilui,  nemn- 
nbua  et,  in  nmn,  ut  cam  libernm  nine 
omni  Bpi-vitin  et  exnctiono  tencwit  ct 
immuuem,  Kt  nulll  rpuponclere  piuinib 
t«rtewiiuv."— Grant  af  Fiwkikk  IJ,, 


Voigt,  GesichiKhti!  X^euswun,  in.  ]i. 
440. 

*  C«mpnm  MOIIP,  i,  7t), 

1  A  burgher  nf  Mug'tnl^urg  wnti 
burned  as  a  wtciUicCt  tc  tluir  K'^lt  \\f 
tho  Kautnngiiin  I'Vusniaim,  rllm  lut 
Iiui  falk'ii  on  him.  A  Nnntiuigiau 
chief  begged  him  off,  \u  \\wn\y,  n\~ 
jityed  hid  liw|ntulity.  Twiu»  ajjiuti  \\", 
tlnew,  Htill  ting  lut,  Wid  mviiiixL  Jum, 
He 


332  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  XII. 

they  no  doubt  deem  Ed  a  more  irrefragable  title,  the 
ty  grants  of  Popes  anl  Emperors,  the  Order  be- 
Br.  camB  Sovereigns ;  a  singular  sovereignty,  which 
descended,  not  by  hereditary  succession,  but  by  the  in- 
corporation of  new  Knights  into  the  Order.  The  whole 
land  became  the  absolute  property  of  the  Order,  to  be 
granted  out  but  to  Christians  only:  apostasy  forfeited 
all  title  to  land. 

Thair  subjects  were  of  two  classes :  I.  The  old  Prus- 
sians converted  to  Christianity  after  the  conquest. 
Baptism  was  the  only  way  to  become  a  freeman,  a  man. 
The  compered  unbeliever  who  remained  an  unbeliever, 
was  the  slave,  the  property  of  his  master,  as  much  as 
his  horse  or  hound.  The  three  ranks  which  subsisted 
among  the  Prussians,  as  in  most  of  the  Teutonic  and 
kindred  tribes,  remained  under  Christianity  and  tha 
sovereignty  of  the  Order.  The  great  landowners,  the 
owners  of  castles  held  immediately  of  the  Order:  their 
estates  had  descended  from  heathen  times.  These  were, 
1,  the  Withings-  2,  the  lower  vassals;  and  3,  those 
which  answered  to  the  Leudes  and  Lita  of  the  Germans, 
retained  their  rank  and  place  in  the  social  scale.  All 
were  bound  to  obey  tha  call  to  war,  to  watch  and  ward; 
to  aid  in  building  and  fortifying  the  castles  and  strong- 
holds of  the  Order. 

II.  The  German  immigrants  or  cobnists.  These 
were  all  equally  under  the  feudal  sovereignty  of  the 
Order.  The  cities  and  towns  were  all  German.  The 
Prussian  seems  to  have  disdained  or  to  have  had  no  in- 
clination to  the  burgher  life.  There  were  also  German 
villages,  each  under  its  Sclmltheifls,  and  with  its  own 
proper  government. 

Thus  was  Christendom  pushing  forward  its  borders. 
These  new  provinces  were  still  added  to  the  dominion 


CHAP.  V.  THEIR  VASSALAGE.  383 

of  Latin  Christianity.  Tlis  Pope  grants,  the  Teutonic 
Order  hold  their  realm  on  ths  conjoint  authority  nf 
tha  successors  of  Caesar  and  of  St.  Peter.  As  a  reli- 
gious Order,  they  arB  the  unreluctant  vassals  of  the 
Pope ;  as  Teutons,  owe  some  undefined  subordination 
to  the  Emperor.1 


*  Voigfc  is  a.  sufficient  and  trustworthy  authonty  fin  thu  rapid  uketch, 
The  Ordei  hns  it?  own  hibtorwns,  but  neither  ii  thch-  style  nor  thoir 


334  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BoonXlL 


CHAPTER     VI. 

Pops  John  XXII. 

CLEMENT  V.  had,  expired  near  Carpentras,  a  city  about 
conEinvB  at  fifteen  miles  from  Avignon,  noar  th  u  foot  of  Mont 
carpcntma  Ventoux.  At  Ctu'pcntriis  the  Conclave  asa em- 
bled,  according  to  latar  usage,  in  the  city  near  the  plac9 
where  tha  Pope  had.  died,  to  elect  a  successor  to  ths 
Gascon  Pontiff.  Of  twenty-three  Cardinals  six  only 
•were  Italians.  With  them  the  primary  object  was  tha 
restoration,  of  tho  Papacy  to  Home.  The  most  sober 
might  tremble  lest  the  Papal  authority  should  hardly 
endure  tha  continued  if  not  perpetual  avulsion  of  the 
Popedom  from  its  proper  seat.  Would  Christendom 
stand  in  awe  of  a  Pope  only  holding  the  Bishopric  of 
Borne  as  a  remote  appanage  to  the  Pontificate,  only 
nominally  scaled  on  the  actual  throne  of  St.  Peter,  in  a 
cathedral  unennobled,  unhallowed  by  any  of  the  ancient 
or  sacred  traditions  of  the  Cacsarean,  tho  Pontifical  city? 
Would  it  endure  a  Pope  sotting  a  ilngrant  example 
of  nion-residBnrjo  to  the  whole  ocijleaiftaticul  order;  no 
longer  an  independent  sovereign  in  the  capital  of 
the  Christian  world,  amid  the  patrimony  claimed  as  the 
gift  of  Constantino  and  Charlemagne,  but  lurking  in  an 
obscure  city,  in  a  narrow  territory,  and  that  territory 
not  his  own  ?  Avignon  waa  in  Provence,  which  Charles 
of  Anjou  had  obtained  in  right  of  his  wife.  The  land 
had  descended  to  his  son  Charles  II.  of  Naplas;  on  the 
death  of  Charles,  to  the  ruling  sovereign,  Robert  of 


CONCLAVE, 


Naples.11  The  Neapolitan  Angevine  house  liad  still 
maintained  the  community  of  interests  "with,  the  parent 
monarchy;  and  thia  territory  of  Provence,  Avignon 
itself,  was  environed  nearly  on  all  sides  by  the  realm 
of  France,  that  realm  whose  king,  not  yet  dead,  had 
persecuted  a  Pope  to  death,  persecuted  him  after  death. 
The  Italian,  but  more  especially  the  Roman,  Car- 
dinals contemplated  with  passionate  distress  the  Italian 
Kome  deserted  by  her  spiritual  sovereign,  and  c*rd)nalH- 
deprived  of  the  pomp,  wealth,  business  of  the  Papal 
Court.  The  head  and  representative  of  this  party  was 
the  Cardinal  Napoleon,  of  the  great  Roman  house  of 
thu  Orsini.  A  letter  addressed  by  him  to  the  King  of 
Franco  shows  this  Italian  feeling,  the  hatred  and  con- 
tempt towards  tho  memory  of  Clement  V,  Ho  bitterly 
d(<plorQSj  and  KxprcHBL's  hie  ibup  contrition  at  his  own 
weakness,  and  that  uf  the  othur  Cardinals  at  Perugia, 
in  yielding  to  tho  oloctiun  of  Clement.  Thw  Church 
under  his  rule  had  gone  headlong  to  ruin.  Itomo  was 
a  desert;  the  thrnno  of  Ht,  IVtcr,  ovon  that  of  Christ 
himsolf,  broken  up ;  tho  patrimony  of  St.  Peter  hold 
rather  than  governed,  by  robbers;  Italy  neglected  and 
abandon 3d  to  strife  and  insurrection ;  not  ouly  cathedral 
churches,  tho  meanest  prebends,  had  run  to  waste.b 
Of  twenty-four  Cardinals  created  by  Pope  Cletn&nt  not 
one  was  sufficient  for  tho  high  office,0  The  Italian 
Cardinals  had  been  treated  by  him  with  contemptuous 


•  See,  farther  on,  tbe  purchase  of 
Avignon  from  Queen  Joanna  of  Najiliiii 
by  LJlemant  VI, 

b  "  Qniiai  milk  remansul  t'lithudnilia 
Kcoleala,  vi>l  alluujua  pondcih  praik-u- 
Jultt,  quie  nnn  Nit  potius  iM-nhtiuiii 
quAin  piovibiimi  pxposiitii,"— Bnluz. 
CoUtrt,  Att.  ND.  Xt  111.  ji.  !!H9. 


f  Such  seems  Uie  nense  nf  tlis  (cvr* 
rujt?)  ptu)8ftgu,-^«'  Dei  XXIV.  Cw- 
dinalibufl  quo*  in  Ecttatt  jmhuit  iiullus 
In  ticukiiia  e«t  repeituii,  qum  cum  «Ji- 
cieditit  i'uit,  Hiillu it'iis  (tec?) 
mui,  ncd  jwreiun  (uit  hue." 
The  twi'dty-tuur,  I  |trpMiiiu<,  inrltult 
nil  Uk-mi'iifn  inunigtiuiiM,  auiuit  dtatl. 


33  B  LATIN  OHEISTIANITT.  BOOK  XII, 

disrespect,  never  summoned  but  to  hear  some  humi- 
liating or  heart-breaking  communication.  The  Pope 
had  more  than  meditated,  he  had  determined,  the  utter 
ruin  of  the  Church,  the  removal  of  the  Papacy  to  some 
obscure  corner  of  Gascony :  "  When  I,"  said  the  Orsini, 
"  an  d  the  Italian  Cardinals  voted  for  the  elevation  of  Pope 
Clement,  it  was  not  to  remove  the  Holy  See  from  Koine, 
and  to  leave  desolate  the  sanctuary  of  the  Apostles." 

The  Italians,  conscious  of  their  weakness,  were  dis- 
ThQ  Gascons  PDSel^  *D  an  honourable  compromise.  They 
put  forward  William  Cardinal  of  Palestrina,  a 
Frenchman  by  birth,  and  of  high  character.  But  in 
the  French  faction  there  was  still  an  inner  faction,  that 
of  the  Gascons.  Clement  had  crowded  his  own  kindred 
and  countrymen  into  the  Conclave.1  Against  them  the 
French  acted  with  the  Italians.  The  contest  within  the 
Conclave  was  fierce,  and  seemed  interminable.  Provi- 
sions began  to  fail  in  Oarpeniras.  The  strife  spread 
from  the  Cardinals  within  to  their  partisans  without. 
Tha  Gascons  rose,  attacked  the  houses  of  the  Italian 
Cardinals,  and  plundered  tho  traders  and  marfthants 
from  the  South.  A  fierce  troop  of  knights  anil  a  host 
ot'rabblo  approached  and  thundered  at  ths  gates  of  the 
Conclave  "  I)  Bath  to  the  Italian  Cardinals ! "  A  firr>  broke 
conciuvu  01lt  during  the  attack  and  pillage  of  ths  houses, 
m<*'  which  threatened  the  hall  of  Conclave,  The 
Cardinals  burst  through  the  back  wall,  crept  ignobly 
through  the  hole,  fled  and  dispersed  on  all  sides.8 


*  **  Quaaoonj  ch'  onutD  gran  parte 
Aal  collagio  voleano  la  elazioue  in  lorn,  e 
li  Cardinal!  Itglioni  eFrancewhl  a  Fro- 
raMli  non  acconwmtirano ;  d  amno 
•toll  gastlgati  dul  Papa  Guawone."— 
Vilionl,  it.  78, 

*  B«rturtd  Ouldo  npud  Bnlualum, 


lipiab,  Kncyc.  Cardinal,  Italorum  d« 
incDUilio  uibia  Caipeuterateneis  apud 
Buluz.  No.  XLII.  RayoalcL  sub  nun. 
1814.  The  Conttauator  of  Nangij  attri- 
butes the  fir  B  to  a  n  ephaw  of  Clement  V. 
See  also  the  Constitution  of  John  XXU 
ogainet  th«  robbere  odd  iaoonHflries. 


CHAP.  VI.  JOHN  XXII.  337 

Eor  two  years  and  above  three  mouths  the  Papal  See 
was  vacant.*  Impatient  Christendom  began  to  murmur. 
Ths  King  of  France,  Louis  le  Hutin,  was  called  upon 
to  interpose  both  by  the  general  voice  and  by  his  own 
interests.  The  office  devolved  on  his  brother  Philip, 
Count  of  Ponthieu.  By  him  the  reluctant  Cardinals 
were  brought  partly  by  force,  partly  inveigled,  to 
Lyons.  The  pious  fraud  of  Philip  was  highly  CnI,cUv6ftt 
admired.  HB  solemnly  promised  that  they  l>yam- 
should  not  be  imprisoned  in  the  Conclave,  but  have  free 
leave  to  depart  wherever  they  would.  Philip  was  sud- 
denly summoned  to  Paris  by  the  death  of  tha  King  of 
France,  but  he  left  the  Conclave  under  stiictund  severe 
guard. 

At  length  they  came  to  a  determination.  Jainus, 
Cardinal  of  Porto,  was  proclaimed  Pope,  und 
assumed  the  name  of  John  XXI L  John  waa  of 
smallj  as  some  describe  him,  of  deformed  stature.  He  \vaa 
born  in  Cahors,  of  tlm  humblest  paroutugcs,  his  father  a 
cobbler.  This,  if  trim,  was  anytliiug  but  dishonourable 
to  the  Pope,  still  leas  to  tlio  C/huruh.  During  an  age 
when  all  without  was  stern  and  influxible  aristocracy, 
all  functions  and  dignities  held  by  feudal  inheritance, 
in  the  Church  alono  a  man  of  extraordinary  talents 
could  rise  to  eminence ;  and  this  was  the  second  cobblfr'a 
son  who  had  sat  on  the  throne  of  Si  Peter.*  The 
cobbler's  son  asserted  and  was  believed  by  most  to  have 
a  right  to  decide  conflicting  claims  to  tlio  Imperial 
Crown,  and  aspired  to  make  an  Emperor  of  his  own.11 


1 

nnrcl 


2  years,  3  months,  17  ilays,— 


«  Sco  Life  of  Urban  IV.,  vol.  iv 


113, 


h  Baluziiifl  produces  fl  pJKsagc  from 
VUL.  VII. 


AlbertlnuB  to  make  out  Juhu  XXII, 
»r  knightly  or  noble  With.  The  con- 
troversy may  bs  wen  In  Muzius  mi 
in  a  nato  to  Raynaldiis  tub  nun, 


B38  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  XIL 

James  of  Cabcra  had  followed  in  his  youth  the  fortunes 
of  an  uncle,  who  had  a  small  trading  capital,  to  Naples. 
He  settled  in  that  brilliant  and  pleasant  city.  He  was 
encouraged  in  the  earnest  desire  of  study  by  a  Fran- 
ciscan friar,  but  refused  to  enter  the  Drier.  The  poor 
scholar  was  rBCommended  to  the  instructor  of  the  King's 
children.  Though  in  a  menial  office,  he  manifested 
such  surprising  aptitude  both  for  civil  and  canon  law, 
that  he  was  permitted  to  attend  the  lectures  of  the 
teachers.  The  royal  favour  shone  upon  him.  He  was 
employed  in  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  in  Borne,  and  in 
other  parts  of  ths  world;  took  orders,  received  prefer- 
ment, was  appointed  by  Boniface  VIII.  Bishop  of  Frejus, 
in  the  Provencal  dominions  of  the  King  of  Naples.  But 
he  preferred  to  dwell  on  the  sunny  shores  of  Naples ; 
perhaps  under  the  immediate  sight  of  the  King,  "While 
he  was  on  a  mission  to  Clement  V.  the  great  see  of 
Avignon  fell  vacant.  To  the  astonishment  of  the  King 
of  Naples  it  was  conferred  on  the  obscure  Bishop  of 
Frejus.  Ths  Pope  explained  that  the  promotion  waa 
made  on  account  of  strong  recommendatory  letters  from 
the  King  himself.  The  letters  had  been  written,  and 
tho  royal  seal  affixed,  without  the  King's  knowledge, 
But  the  consummate  scienca  of  tho  Bishop  of  Avignon 
in  both  branches  of  the  law  won  tha  confidence  and 
favour  of  tho  Pope,  Ha  was  created  Cardinal  for  his 
invaluable  services,  especially  at  the  Council  of  Vienna 
in  the  two  great  causes — tho  condemnation  of  the  Tem- 
plars, and  the  prosecution  of  the  memory  of  Boniface. 
AU  Europe  watched  the  Conclave*  of  Lyons.  Bob  art  of 
Naples  thought  of  his  former  wubject,  the  companion 
uf  his  studies,  A  Pope  attached  to  Napbs  would  aid  him 
in  the  reconquest  of  Sicily,  and  in  his  strife  as  head  of 
the  Gruelfs  in  Italy  against  Pisa  and  the  Lombard 


CHAP.  VI. 


PHDMQTION  OP  CARDINALS. 


33J 


tyrants.  Tha  influence,  the  gold  of  Naples  overcamo 
tha  scruplBS  of  the  atubboin  Italians;  Napoleon  Orami 
yielded;  ihe  cobbler's  son  of  Cahors  \vaa  supremo 
Pontiff.1  It  is  said  that  he  mads  a  piomise  never  to 
mount  horse  or  mule  till  hs  should  set  out  on  his  return 

to  Italy  .k    He  kept  his  vow ;  after  his  corona- 

-r  -.1  ii  i      T»I  A.        Oct  a,  I3is. 

tion  at  Lyons,  he  dropped  down  the  Rhone 

in  a  boat  to  Avignon,  and  there  fixed  the  seat  af  his 
Pontificate. 

This  establishment  in  Avignon  declared  that  John 
XXII.  was  to  be  a  French  not  an  Italian  Joun«t 
Pontiff,  the  successor  of  Clement  Y.,  not  of  Avi«llon- 
the  long  line  of  his  Roman  ancestors,  Ilia  first  pro- 
motion of  Cardinals,  followed  by  two  others,  i..^^,,^ 
at  different  periods  of  his  Pontificate,  apoko  CknUn«ta- 
plainly  to  Christtoidonx  the  same  resolute  pui-puno.  II in 
choice  might  seem  even  more  narrow  than  that  of  hin 
predecessor,  not  merely  confined  to  .Kreiicjh,  or  uvun  to 
Gascon  prelates,  but  to  men  cimnrjctLdl  by  birth  ur  oBiwj 
with  his  native  town  of  Cahors,  Thu  Cullii#o  would  by 
almost  a  Oahorsin  Conclave,  Of  tho  lirat  itight,  one*  was 
his  own  nephow,  throo  from  tlio  diouuso  of  OahoPS,  ono 
French  bishop  the  Chancdbr  of  the  King  of  Franco, 
one  Gascon,  only  one  llonaon  an  Oiaini  Of  tho  next 
seven,  one  waa  from  the  city,  threo  from  the  diocone  of 
Cahors  (of  these  one  was  Archbishop  of  Salerno,  tmu 
Archbishop  of  Aix)j  tho  thruo  gthers  woro  Frcnoh  or 
Provencals.  At  a  third  proinotiuu  uf  ten  UardinuU,  MIX 


1  Tliia  circumstiintial  ucuuuiit  of  tlic 
life  of  Juhn  XXII,  hi  I'crietua  Viiirni- 
tiiiUB  (Muratoii,  It.  I.  >S.  ix.  110  It) 
bears  Btrong  nutrka  ui'  v<TAuity.  By 
nnoblier  account,  the  Election  wiia  by 
oomproiniic.  TliB  UnrilinuU  a^rcnl  t» 
tUrt  tlio  Fopo  named  by  tint  Canllanl 


of  I'tirti) :  hi1  miiiii'il  luiiisL-ll".— S<-i;  nt)t« 
nf  Muntii  UIL  ll.yiiulilus.  VjUnui  in 
luu.  c-it.  L'uniiJ.u  i!  ulan  the  (iluMU  ot 
uiuyuliu  luttcj  tuliliL- ami  to  Itoburt «( 
Nap  Jus, 

k  1'tohin.  Luu.  njpud,  liahu,  p,  lv)8 
uutc,  p,  793, 


340 


LATIN  CHRISTIANITY. 


BOOK  XII. 


were  French  prelates ;  three  Romans,  one  Archbishop 
of  Naples,  one  an  Drsini,  one  a  Colonna;  one  Spaniard, 
Bishop  of  Carthagena.10  The  Bishop  alone  of  his  native 

city  of  Dahors,  aa  -will  soon  appear,  met  with  a  different 
fate  from  the  terrible  justice  or  vengeancB  of  the  Pope. 
The  relation  of  John  XXII.  to  the  throne  of  France 

Fun  Df  tho    was  ffrsatly  changed  from  that  of  his  prede- 

ruyal house  °         „'.  °  ,.,,  ...          ,         _.r 

«r Fmncc.  ccssor.  There  was  no  Jrhihp  the  Fair  to 
extort  from  the  reluctant  Pope,  as  the  price  of  his  ad- 
vancement, tha  lavish  gratification  of  his  pride,  avarice, 
or  revenge,  no  powerful  King,  baclced  by  a  fierce 
nubility,  and  a  people  proud  of  their  rlawning  freedom. 
A  rapid  succession  of  feeble  sovereigns  hold  in  turn  the 
Kceptra  of  France,  and  then  Bank  into  obscurity .  The 
hoiias  of  Philip  was  paying  condign  retribution  in  its 
flpsedy  and  mysterious  extinction.  Divine  Providsnetj 
might  have  looked  with  indifference  (so  Christendom 
was  taught,  and  Christ ondom  was  prone  enough,  to 
think)  on  all  his  extortions,  cruelties*,  and  iniquities 
tu  his  Bubjaists,  on  eVen  his  barbarities;  but  nothing 
less  than  the  shame  of  his  sons,  each  the  husband  of  an 
mlultBruas,  and  the  utter  failure  of  has  line,  could  atone 
fur  his  impious  hostility  to  the  fame,  person,  and 
memory  of  Boniface.  Louis  le  Hutin  (the  disorderly) 
Imd  died  during  the  Conclave  at  Lyons,  after  a  reign 
of  less  than  two  yearfl.tt  He  had  caused  his  first 
\rifa,  accused  of  violating  his  bod,  to  bo  strangled  or 
smother  ad;  and  had  married  Clemontino  of  Hungary, 
nisce  of  the  King  of  Naples,  He  died  leaving  her 
pregnant,  The  death  of  her  son  soon  after  his  birth,0 


m  Ihe  promotion*,  Dec,  17,  1813, 
Dec.  20,  1920,  Dec.  IB,  1928, 
—  Barnard  Qrado,  pp.  134,  138, 
UJ. 


«  From  Nor.  24, 1314,  to  June  5> 
1318. 

0  Horn  NJV.  15,  1313,  dirt  fiv. 
days  after, 


CHAP.  VI.  THE  POPE'S  BRIEF.  341 

left  the  throne  to  the  second  son  of  Philip  the  Fair, 
Philip  the  Long,  The  ace  Bssion  of  Philip  (though  his 
brother  left  a  daughter)  asserted  the  authority  and  esta- 
blished for  ever  the  precedent  of  what  was  called  the 
Salic  Law,  which  excluded  females  from  the  succession 
to  the  throne  of  France.p 

Tha  Pops  in  all  the  briefs  addressed  with  great  fre- 
quency to  the  Zing,  divulged  his  knowledge  i-hci  F»ptf» 
of  the  weakness  of  the  crown.  His  language  We£ 
is  that  of  protecting  and  condescending  interest,  but 
of  a  superior  in  age  and  learning,  as  iu  dignity.  Ho 
first  rebukes  the  King's  habit  of  talking  in  church  on 
subjects  of  business  or  amusement.  He  reproves  the 
national  disrespect  for  Sunday ;  on  that  day  the  courts 
of  law  were  open,  and  it  was  irreverently  chosen  a« 
a  special  day  for  shaving  the  head  and  trinuniiig  tho 
beard.  He  assumed  full  authority  on  all  subjects  which 
might  be  brought  under  ecclesiastical  discipline,  Of 
his  sole  authority  hu  separated  eight  now  suffragan 
bishoprics,  Montauban,  Lombes,  St.  Pupoul,  Bioux, 
Lavaur,  Mirepoix,  Saint  Pona,  and  Alais,  from  the  great 
Archbishopric  of  Toulouse.  He  did  the  same  with,  tliu 
Archbishopric  of  Narbonne.  Hie  power  and  his  reputa- 
tion for  learning  caused  his  mandates  for  the  reform  at  ion 
of  the  Universities  of  Paris,  Orleans,  and  Toulouse  to  be 
received  with  respectful  submission.  Hia  chief  censure 
is  directed  against  the  scholastic  theology,  which  had  in 
some  of  its  distinguished  and  subtile  writers  begun  to 
show  dangerous  signs  of  insubordination  to  the  Church 
of  Borne.  "William  of  Qckham  was  deeply  concerned  in 
the  rebellious  movement  of  part,  it  might  at  one  time 
seem  of  the  whole,  of  the  Franciscan  body :  he  had  pub 

•  Siimoudt,  Hlit.  dw  Franfuls,  Ix.  p.  352. 


342  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  ZIL 

lished  the  powerful  tr satis 9  in  defence  of  the  Imperial 
against  the  Papal  power. 

But  the  profound  learning  of  John  XXII,  though 
reputed  to  embrace  not  only  theology,  but  both  branches 
of  the  law,  the  canon  and  civil,  was  but  the  melancholy 
ignorance  of  his  age.  He  gave  the  sanction  of  the  Papal 
authority  and  of  his  own  name  to  the  bulief,  to  the 
•vulgar  belief,  in  sorcery  and  magic.  He  sadly  showed 
the  sincerity  of  his  own  credulity,  as  well  as  his  relent- 
less disposition,  by  the  terrible  penalties  exacted  upon 
wild  accusations  of  such  crimes.  The  old  poetic  magic 
of  the  Greeks  and  Romnns,  tho  making  an  image  of 
wax  which  melted  away  before  a  slow  fire,  and  with  it 
the  strength  and  lifs  of  the  sorcerer's  victim,  waa  now- 
most  in  vogua,  Louis  IB  Hutin  was  supposed  to  have 
perished  through  this  damnable  art :  half-melted  images 
of  the  King  and  of  Charles  of  Yalois  had  been  disgo- 
Trittiafor  vered  or  produced;  a  magician  and  a  witch 
mngio.  WEsr0  BXecuted  for  tho  crime.11  Even  thi? 
Pope's  life  waa  not  secure  cither  in  its  own  sanctity,  or 
by  the  virtue  of  a  serpentine  ring  lent  to  John  by  Mar- 
garet Countosa  of  Ftix.  Tho  Pope  had  pledged  all  hi* 
goods,  moveable  and  immovoable,  for  the  fiafo  restora- 
tion of  this  invaluable  talisman ;  he  had  pronounced  an 
anathema  against  all  who  should  withhold  it  from  ita 
rightful  owner.  A  dark  conspiracy  waa  formed,  or  sup- 
posed to  be  formed,  in  \vhich  many  of  the  Cardinals 
ware  involved,  against  the  life  of  the  Pope.'  Whether 
they  were  j  salons  of  his  elevation,  or  resented  his  esta- 
blishment of  the  See  at  Avignon,  appears  not ;  but  the 
Cardinals  made  their  peace.  The  full  vengeance  of  the 
Pope  fell  on  a  victim  of  the  next  rank,  not  only  guilty, 

i  Slravondi,  it  308.  *  Baynoldua  aub  «nn.  1317,  c,  111. 


CHAP.  VI.  TRIALS  FOR  MAGIC.  343 

it  was  averred,  of  meditating  this  impious  deed,  but  of 
compassing  it  by  diabolic  arts.  Gerold,  Bishop  of  the 
Pope's  nativB  city,  Cahors,  had  been  highly  honoursd 
and  trusted  by  Clement  V.  On  this  charge  of  capital 
treason,  he  was  now  degraded,  stripped  of  his  episcopal 
attire,  and  condemns!  to  perpetual  imprisonmBnt.  But 
the  wrath  of  the  Pope  was  not  satiated.  He  was  actu- 
ally flayed  alive  and  torn  asunder  by  four  horses.'  There 
is  a  judicial  proceeding  against  another  Bishop  (of  Aix) 
for  professing  and  practising  magical  arts  at  Bologna. 
A  fierce  and  merciless  Inquisition  was  set  up ;  tortures, 
executions  multiplied ;  many  suffered  for  the  manufac- 
ture of  the  fatal  waxen  images,  a  physician  and  several 
clerks.  The  Pope  issued  an  edict  of  terrible  condemna- 
tion, theraby  asserting  the  rsality  of  countless  forms  oi 
sorcery,  diabolic  arts,  dealing  with  evil  spirits,  shutting 
familiar  devils  in  looking-glasses,  circlets,  and  rings.1 
How  much  human  blood  has  boon  shed  by  human  folly  I 

But  if  the  unrelenting  Pope  thus  commanded 
sacrifice  of  so  many  pretenders,  if  indeed  they 
were  really  pretenders,  to  secret  dealing  with  d**w*< 
supernatural  agencies,  it  was  no  imaginary  danger  to 
the  Papal  power  which  threatened  it  from  another 
quarter,  During  the  papacy  of  John  XXIX,  that 
fanatic  movement  towards  religious  freedom  which  arose 
in  the  Mendicant  Orders  broks  out,  not  only  into  secret 
murmurs  against  the  wealth  and  tyranny  of  the  Church, 
but  proclaimed  doctrines  absolutely  subversiva  of  the 
whole  sacerdotal  system,  and  entered  into  perilous  alii- 
ance  with  every  attempt  to  restore  the  Ghibelliue  and 
Imperial  interest  in  Italy,  The  Church  itself— the  most 


•  Bernard  bujilo,  488,  880,    liajroalihm,  1317,  llv.    Ottilia  Ctufotuuia,  I 
P-  138.  «  KaynoUuB,  ibid. 


LATIN  CHRISTIANITY1. 


Ikt  os  XII. 


Sclilam, 


zealous,  obedient,  Papal  part  of  the  Church — gave  birth 
to  these  new  sectaries,  who  professed  never  to  have  left  it, 
and  to  he  themselves  the  Church  within  the  Church, 
The  great  schism  of  the  Franciscan.  Order  has  already 
been  traced  in  its  commencement;  and  in  the 
rise  and  consequences  of  that  inevitable  ques- 
tion, the  possession  of  property.  We  have  seen  tha 
worldly  successor  of  the  unworldly  St.  Francis,  Elias, 
ruling1,  and  repelled  from  the  Order;  the  succession 
of  alternately  mild  and  severe  generals  till  the  time  of 
John  of  Parma.  "Wo  have  seen  the  vacillating  policy 
of  the  Popes,  unwilling  to  estrange,  unable  to  reconcile 
the  iiTeconcileabh  tenets  of  these  antagonists,  who  had 
sworn  to  tho  same  rulo,  honoured  the  sama  Founder, 
call 2 [1  themselves  by  the  same  name,  professed  to 
live  tha  same  life,  The  mitigation  of  the  rule  by 
GJregory  IX.,  and  what  saemed  tho  happy  evasion  of 
Innocent  IV.,  were  equally  repudiated  by  tha  more 
suvere.  Innocent  would  relieve  them  from  the  treason 
to  the  principles  of  their  Master,  and  at  the  same  time 
attach  them  more  closely  to  the  Papal  Sea,  by  declaring 
all  their  property,  houses,  domains,  church  furniture,  to 
be  vested  in  the  Pope.  Tho  usufruct  only  was  granted 
by  him  to  tho  brethren.  The  Spirituals  disdahriBil 
thu  worldly  equivocation.  The  famous  constitution  of 
Nicolas  III.  reawakened,  encouraged,  seemed  at  least 
to  invest  with  the  Papal  sanction,  their  austerest  zeal. 
However  indulgent  some  of  its  provisions,  its  assertion 
of  their  tenets  was  almost  beyond  their  hopes.  The 
total  abdication  of  property  waa  true  meritorious  holi- 
ness." Christ,  as  an  example  of  perfection,  was  abso- 


*  "AMIoatiD   proprletatls    hi^ns- 
tuodi   oronlivji  mum  atm  fcm   In 
efcton   in  comwoni 


propter  Daum  moritorla  sal;, 

at  Ghriitvu  viam  perfeotioni* 
verbo  docuit,  et  exemplo 


COAP.  Yl. 


BPJEITTTAL  FUAXCISCASS, 


345 


lutely,  entirely  a  Franciscan  Mendicant.  The  USB  of 
a  scrip  or  purse  was  only  a  tender  condescension  to 
human  infirmity.* 

So  grew  this  silent  hut  widening  schism.  The  Spi- 
ritualists did  not  secede  from  the  community,  TheFrttti- 
but  from  intercourse  with  their  weak  brethren,  fapin'tuiajata. 
The  more  rich,  luxurious,  learned,  became  the  higher 
Franciscans ;  tho  more  rigid,  sullen,  and  disdainful  be- 
came the  lowest.  While  the  church  in  Assisi  waa  rising 
over  the  ashes  of  St.  Francis  in  unprecedented  splen- 
dour, adorned  with  all  the  gorgeousness  of  young  art, 
the  Spiritualists  denounced  all  this  nrngnilicenco  (is  o£ 
this  world;  the  more  imposing  the  servicieH,  tlio  moru 
sternly  they  retreated  among  tho  peaks  and  forests  of 
the  Apennines,  to  enjoy  undisturbed  tho  pride  and 
luxury  of  beggary.  The  lofty  and  spacious  convents  wens 
their  abomination  ;y  they  housed  themselves  in  Imts  and 
caves  •  there  was  not  a  single  change  in  dresa,  in  provi- 
sion for  food,  in  worship,  in  study,  which  they  diil  not  de- 
nounce as  a  am — as  an  aut  of  ApofittiBy.*  Wherever  tho 


fimavlb,  Ned  his  quluquam  poteet  ob» 
slfltere,"— Nicolaa  III,  Bulla  Excit,  &c. 

*  "Egitnamque  Chrlatus  ot  docuit 
opera  perfsctlonia;  egit  etlam  Iiifiitna, 
aiiiiit  inUrdum  in  fug&  patot  ut  locu- 
IIH,"— Ibid.  The  advereavlea  of  the 
KpirltuallBta  glij acted  that  our  Lord 
and  hia  upoatloa  had  &  pursa.  "  Yea," 
they  rejoined,  "bub  it  waft  entruwtail 
tn  Judna:  if  it  had  been  far  our  ex- 
ample, it  would  have  been  given  to 
St.  Peter," 

r  The  Devils  held  R  chapter  (it  was 
meal  ad  to  *  Brothei)  «gntiifit  the 
Oidnr,  Their  object  waj  to  nullify 
the  thras  VOWB,  "Ln  Pnuvrcld,  on 
tuduiumt  k  fai>«  dot  Bnmtaeiu  mo> 


ot  imngiiifitiiiHi  eDUvattta,'  In 
ChastltiS,  allaiihuttt  lea  religieux  & 
Itt  fnniillurlttf  et 

,'  rObo'iliencc, 

t<t  lit  fuvour  tlon  ptinvra  BCCII- 
liei'«,  et  par  diBucutiuiM 
ii.  xxxv, 
tciH'tn  o(  the 

up  in  A  dtntlon  from  «it 
unuiont  Cuitti  d'Appella  in  thu  psocif 
Hi  on  of  tha  «uthor  of  a  "  Vltn  th  S. 
Fvaticencn;  Fnligno,  18U4."  H<»o»lla 
It  n  Philippia  nr  Vert-hie  Dnttion. 
11  Peccato  la  tonacn  parchi  AinplJata  « 
non  vila  nel  pu'xzo  b  nul  coloic,  !'«•• 
rate  1*  itUcriuv  vi'fltn,  pvrctib  BOO 
ID  tioti  acl  ca»o  di  newwlti, 


346 


LA.TIN  CHRISTIANITY. 


BOOK  XII 


Francis  cans  were,  and  they  were  everywhere,  the  Spiri- 
tualists were  keeping  up  the  strife,  protesting,  and  putting 
to  shame  these  recraant  sons  of  the  common  father. 

But  the  Spiritualists  might  have  kept  up  this  civil 
war  within  the  Order ;  they  might  have  denounced  as 
sin  the  tunic,  if  too  ample,  or  not  coarse  or  dull  enough 
in  colour;  the  provision  of  corn  in  granaries;  the  pos- 
session of  money  for  the  purpose  of  exchange;  the 
receiving  of  money  for  masses  or  funerals ;  the  accepting 
bequests,  though  not  in  money;  tho  huilding  splendid 
convents,  wearing  the  costly  priestly  dresses,  and  having 
gold  and  silver  vessels  for  the  altar ;  the  partial  bestowal 
of  absolution  on  benefactors  and  partisans,  from  interest, 
not  from  merit;  they  might  have  stood  aloof  in  perpetual 
bitter  remonstrance  against  the  pride,  wealth,  luxury, 
and  the  ambition  to  rule  in  courts,  prevalent  among  their 
more  famous  brethren :  all  this  was  without  peril  to  the 
Church  or  to  the  Pope.  It  was  their  revolutionary  doc- 
trine, superadded  to  and  superseding  that  of  the  Church, 
which  made  them  objects  of  terror  and  persecution. 

Liko  all  religious  enthusiasts,  the  Spiritual  Fran- 
fiflcans  were  lovera  of  prophecy.  In  their  desert  her- 
mitages, in  their  barefoot  wanderings  over  the  face  of 


nella  chicMo  dull'  ordinal  e  pcccnto 
il  Hcrvu^Ptie  lo  utensil  ilc'  lag:iti,  np«- 
ciulmcnta  liani  col  fonds,  qunlunque 
fow  il  titolo  ci  nncorclife  fowino  pagft- 
Lili  in  roba,  e  nnn  in  mnneta.  Peaoato 
Jofalriche  He'  Canventi,  porrfil  grandi 
6  spaxiosi,  e  pararaantl  eacri,  pwohfe 
di'tictAcon  oro  e  argonto,  e  par  to  fltweo 
niDtivo  IB  altrl  utomili  deUachlsM;.  1J 
peccftto  finalraante  In  aanoluzlonu  olie  BJ 
datino  nel  tkommento  dslla  Penitflnzla, 
A  1  Bencfattorl  eamDreTolijpercht  dAti 
yts  interew  a  coatnt  il  raerlto."  ' 


la  cnrnji  ili-l  grann,  del  vino  e 
(I'nltri  (jimi'ri,  id  il  furiio  l.i  provisions 
nclla  cantino,  e  urlle  grunal  itifino  a 
tutto  I1  anna,  Peccnto  pHk  d'avcrne 
in  avanzo,  6  vcndarlii  a  cumbinte  per 
coHipi-ar  raljs  per  IP  tonnnu;  CDBI  ijim» 
lun^UE  ftltra  vdulito  di  cin-n,  di  pun- 
noni,  cli  martoxi,  SID,,  sclibene  rcmu- 
HMM  Jl  denaro  preBao  el  Slndnco,  Foe- 
cato  11  rlcever  per  itiezza  di  qneBto  11 

per  la  Menu  b  FunarnU,  a 
offerta  in  limosine,  o 
da  daTOti  per  &r  fusta 


.  VI. 


THE  ABBOT  JOACHIM. 


347 


the  sarth,  amid  the  ravines  of  the  Apennines,  or  the 
•volcanic  cliffs  of  Apulia,  in  their  exile  in  foreign  climes, 
in  their  pilgrimages,  and  no  less  in  their  triumphant 
elation  when  Popes  seemed  to  acknowledge  the  severest 
rule  of  St.  Francis  to  be  Christian  perfection,  they 
brooded  over  strange  revelations  of  the*  future,  which 
were  current  under  various  names,  either  interpreta- 
tions of  the  Apocalypse,  or  prophecies  of  a  bolder  tone. 
The  Abbot  Joachim,  of  Flora  in  the  kingdom  TU&  Abbot 
of  Naph'S,  lives  as  a  Saint  in  the  Calendar  *""»>"«• 
of  It  oni  B;  but  the  Everlasting  Gospel  ascribed  to 
thii  Abbot  Jwuihim  was  to  Christianity,  especially  the 
rjhriutiunity  of  the  Latin  Church,  what  Christianity  had 
boon  to  Judaism,  at  unce  its  completion  and  abolition. 
TliB  Abbot  .loauhim,  indeed,  was  not  only  reverenced 
us  it  Saint,  the  wholo  Church  invested  him  in  the  mantlo 
of  a  prnphptj  the  Churchmen  themselves  accepted  as 
of  ilivino  revelation  all  his  wild  ravings  or  terrible 
•Ifmuncitttions  which  could  ba  directed  against  her 
onemii'8.  Frederick  II,  had  been  doomed  to  ruin  in 
tho  vaticinations  of  tho  Abbot  of  Flora ;  but  the  Church 
discovered  not,  or  refused  to  discover,  what  elsewhere, 
among-  the  more  daring  enthusiasts,  passed  for  the  true, 
if  concealed,  doctrines  of  Joachim;  the  Everlasting; 
Gospel.  This  either  lurked  undetected  in  his  acknow- 
ledged writings,  in  the  Concordance  of  tho  Old  and  New 
Testaments,  and  his  Comment  on  Jeremiah ;  or  at  leant 
for  half  a  century  it  awoko  neither  the  blind  zeal  of  it» 
believers,  nor  the  indignant  horror  of  the  higher  ranks 
of  tho  Church.  So  long  the  Abbot  Joachim  was  an 
orthodox,  or  unsuspected  prophet.*  But  the  holy  horror 


*  The  Abbot  Joachim  wtm  bom  A.TK 
1145,  lied  A.D.  1202.  Pope  Honorlus 
HI.  avouched  hln  orthodoxy.  ThcActa 


Sanctorum  (vol.  vii.)  nml  tbt*  Aiintttt 
of  tho  CiitevcittB  C)nl«r  wninln  tfat 
Life  of  Junchim,  hu  AwUrftiwi,  hit 


348 


LATIN  CHRISTIANITY, 


BOOK  _\H. 


broke  out  at  once  on  the  publication,  at  the  doae  of 
lutmdnctton  this  period,  of  the  Introduction  to  the  Ever- 
lagGoapei  lasting  Grospel.  The  Introduction  placed  what 
was  called  the  "  doutrins  of  Joachim"  in  a  distinct  and 
glaring  light,  perhaps  first  wrought  it  into  a  system.1' 
The  Church  stood  aghast.  The  monks  of  the  older 
Grists,  the  Dominicans,  tha  more  lax  and  the  rnoro 
learned  Franciscans,  the  Clargy,  the  Universities,  the 
Pope  himself,  joined  in  the  alarm.  We  have  heard,  in 
Paris,  the  popular  cry,  tha  popular  satire ;  we  have 
heard  ths  powerful  voice  of  William  of  St.  Amour 
seizing  this  all-dreaded  writing,  to  crush  both  Orders  of 
Mendicants,  and  expel  them  from  the  University."  It 
was  denounced  at  Home:  tha  Pope  Alexander  IV, 
commanded  the  instant  and  total  destruction  of  the 
book.  Excommunication  was  pronounced  against  all 
who  should  possess  the  book,  unless  it  was  brought  in 
and  burned,  within  a  stated  time.  No  one  would  own 
the  perilous  authorship.  It  was  ascribed  by  the  moro 
orthodox  Franciscans  to  a  Dominican,  by  the  Domini- 
cans more  justly  to  a  Franciscan.  There  is  little  doubt 
that  it  came  either  from  John  of  Parma,  or  his  school. 

Tho  proscription  of  the  book  but  endeared  it  to  ita 
followers.    The  visions  were  only  the  more  authentic, 


{reaching,  hi«  wonder  a.  The  hetero- 
doxy on  tha  Trinity  imputed  to  him 
by  the  fourth  Lateran  Council  wan 
probably  founded  on  miBappreliQnaian, 
at  all  events  was  fully  recanted.  The 
but  end  no  wit  full  modem  account  of 
this  remarkable  mam  it  in  Hahn,  Qe- 
BohlBhto  der  Kelzer  1m  Mittelalter,  t, 
Ul,  p,  72  «t  tegq.  Stuttgai'i,  1950, 
See  on  MB  writings  authentic  anil  un» 
authentic,  p.  82, 


*  According  to  Hahn,  thei  a  waft  & 
gradual  approximation  to  tho  Book, 
through   unnuthontic  writings  attri- 
buted to  JMtoi  Joachim,  in  which  ho 
is  made  more  anil  more  fhriouily  to 
dan  ounce  the  ahusufl  in  the  Church. 
Thia  in  the  new  Babylon,— p,  101, 

*  Compare  back,  vol.  vi.  853,  and 
extract*  from  Roa>nn  de  la  RMS  and 
Eutebofluf. 


Un\p.VI.  THE  EVERLASTING  GOSPEL.  ij43 

the  greater  the  terror  they  excited.  With  the  Spiri- 
ualists  the  heresy  of  John  of  Parma,  and  his 
concern  -with  the  prophecies,  was  among  his 
chief  titles  to  sanctity ;  on  the  other  hand,  skilfully 
detached  from  thsse  opinions,  he  became,  like  Joachim 
himself,  a  canonised  saint.11  The  doctrine  of  the  Intro 
tluction  blended  with  and  stimulated  all  the  democracy 
of  religion,  which  would  bring  down  the  pomp,  pride, 
wealth  of  the  hierarchy,  and  bow  it  before  the  not  less 
proud  poverty  of  the  Francis  cans,  The  enemies  of  the 
Order  proclaimed  it  as  the  universal  doctrine  of  the 
Friar  Minors:  they  would  hear  no  disclaimer.  The 
Spirituals,  the  Fraticelli,  chiefly  the  Tertiaries  of  the 
Order,  disdained  to  disclaim,  they  rather  opDnly  avowed 
their  belief,  and  scoffed  at  their  raoro  prudent  or  leas 
faithful  brethren.  But  the  Everlasting  Gospel,  OH  an- 
nounced in  the  Introduction,  was  the  absolute  abro- 
gation of  the  Christian  faith.  There  were  to  be  threo 
estates  of  man,  three  revolutions  nf  God,  Judaism  was 
that  of  the  Father,  Christianity  that  of  the  Son ;  that 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  was  to  come,  was  eomingj  was  har- 
binger ed  by  irrefragable  signs.  At  the  commencement, 
and  in  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century,  its  dawn 
was  mora  and  more  anxiously  awaited.  All  ecclesi- 
astical, all  political  events  were  watched  and  inter- 
preted as  its  preparation.  Passages  were  probably 
interpolated  in  Joachim's  real  writings,  announcing  iho 
two  great  new  Orders,  more  especially  St,  Francis  and 
his  followers,  as  the  Baptists  of  this  now  Gospel.8  Tlio 
new  Gospel  was  to  throw  into  the  shade  the  four  unti- 


AeLa  Sanctorum,  Mnrch  xix, 
The  Life  of  Chrial  by  S. 


turn,  by  its  time  assimilation  ol  S.  Fnm- 
«•  to  the  Saviour  (bingn forty  contrasted 


as  it  is  with  tlit  gnnuinc  GoHj^ln,  wliit'h 


it  might  N»m  mtmik-il  to 


.uinif'rtLii  alrncwt 
ilc.sigtictl  to  Lreitk  t)iu  iiuaiilr  colliulun. 


360  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  XII 

quated  Evangelists.  The  Old  Testament  shone  with 
the  brightness  of  the  stars,  the  New  with  that  of  tha 
moon,  the  Everlasting  Gospel  with  that  of  the  sun.* 
The  Old  Testament  was  the  outer  Holy  court,  ths  Nawthe 
Holy  place,  tha  Everlasting  Gospel  the  Holy  of  Holies. 
No  omens  of  the  coming  of  the  new  kingdom  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  were  so  awful  or  so  undeniable  as  the  cor- 
ruptions of  the  Church:  and  those  corruptions  were 
measured  not  by  a  bfty  moral  standard,  but  by  their 
departure  from  the  perfection,  the  poverty  of  St.  Francis. 
Ths  Pope,  the  hierarchy,  fell  of  course.  But  who  was 
to  work  the  wonderful  change  ?  Whether  the  temporal 
sovereign,  Frederick  II.,  returned  to  earth,  or  a  prince 
of  tha  house  of  Arragon,  Frederick  of  Sicily,  varied 
•with  the  circumstances  of  the  times,  and  the  greater 
activity  and  success  of  Glhibellinism.  The  more  reli- 
gious looked  for  an  unworldly  head,  St.  Francis  himself, 
or  some  one  in  the  spirit  of  St.  Francis. 
On  minds  in  this  state  of  expectant  elation,  came,  at 
the  close  of  ths  century,  the  suddtm  election 
to  th0  popedoni  of  CoBlestine  V.,  one  of  them- 
selves in  lowliness  and  poverty,  a  new  St.  Francis,  to 
the  Spiritualists  a  true  Spiritual.  His  followers  were  by 
no  means  all  believers  in  the  Everlasting  Gospel,  but 
doubtless  many  believers  in  the  Everlasting  Gospol  were 
among  his  followers  ;  and  in  him  thoy  looked  for  the 
dawn  of  the  kingdom  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Many  pro- 
bably of  both  classes  crowded  into  the  Order  sanctioned 
by  the  Pope  ;  the  Qcolestinians,  who,  though  suppressed 
by  Boniface  VIII-,  still  maintained  their  profound  reve* 


Autant  ohe  per  M  grant  valenr 
tiolt  da  darttf  Bolt  de  chaleur, 
Suraurate  la  Solell  IA  Una, 
Qnl  trap  eat  plnu  trouble  eL  iron  Tirana." 

Rvmnn  fo  la  Sott'  13*39. 


CHAP.  VI. 


JOHN  PETER  OLIVA. 


351 


for  the  DUB  genuine  Pope,  were  bound  together  in 
common  brotherhood  by  their  sympathy  with  Ocelestine 
and  their  hatred  of  Boniface  :  they  became  a  wide  if 
not  strictly  organised  sect. 

During  the  Papacy  of  Boniface,  perhaps  at  the  height 
of  his  feud  with  King  Philip,  arose  another  jnhaPcior 

QllVfl 

prophet,  or  what  was  even  more  authoritative,  A.D.  iwi. 
an  interpreter  of  Scriptural  prophecy.  John  Peter  Oliva 
sent  forth  among  the  savers  and  fiery  Franciscans  of 
Provenca,  his  Comment  on  the  Apocalypao,  consentient 
with,  or  at  least  sounding  to  moat  ears  like,  the  Ever- 
lasting Grospel.g  John  Peter  Oliva  beheld,  in  the  0evcu 
seals  of  that  mysterious  vision,  suveu  states  of  tho 
Church : — I.  That  of  her  foundation  under  the  Apostles, 
II.  The  aga  of  the  Martyrs.  III.  Tha  ago  of  thu  expo- 
sition of  tho  faith,  and  tho  confutation  of  insurgent 
heresies.  IV.  That  of  the  Anchorites,  who  fled  into 
the  desert  to  subdue  tho  flesh,  enlightening  the  Church 
like  the  sun  and  the  stars.  V.  That  of  tho  monastic 
communities,  both  secular  and  regular,  some  severe, 
some  condescending1  to  human  infirmity,  hut  holding 
temporal  possessions.  VI,  The  renovation  of  the  trad 
evangelic  life,  the  overthrow  of  Antichrist,  tho  final 
conversion  of  the  Jews  and  Gentiles,  the  re-edification 
of  the  primitive  Church.  The  Tilth  was  to  come :  it 
was  to  be  on  earth  a  wonderful  and  quiet  pre-enjoyment 
of  future  glory,  as  though  tha  heavenly  Jerusalem  had 
descended  upon  the  earth ;  in  the  other  life,  tho  resur- 
rection of  tha  dead,  the  glorification  of  the  saints,  the 
consummation,  of  all  things.1*  Tho  sixth  period  had 
dawned,  the  antiquated  Church  was  to  be  done  away ; 


*  The  opiulona  of  John  Peter  Oliva 
Are  known  by  the  report  of  an  Inijui- 
utorial  oonmuHaion,  on  sixty  articles, 


but  the  ttilidta  are  cited  In  tha 
wot-**  of  Olivtt'B  commentary,-- Ik* 
luzii  Miacell.  1.  k  Article  I. 


352 


LATIN  CHBISTIANITY. 


EDOK  Xir, 


Christ's  law  was  to  ba  re-enacted;  his  life  and  cruci- 
fixion to  be  repeated.  St.  Francis  took  the  place  of 
Christ;  he  was  th3  Angel  of  the  opening  of  the  sixth 
seal;  he  was  one  with  Christ — he  was  Christ  again 
scourged,  Christ  again  crucified — the  image  and  the  form 
of  Christ.1  HB  had  the  same  inefftibla  sanctity;  his 
glorious  stigmata  wsre  the  wounds  of  Christ.k  The  rule 
of  St.  Francis  was  the  tras,  proper  evangelic  rule,  ob- 
served by  Christ  himself  and  by  his  Apostles,"1  Aa 
Christ  rose  again,  so  should  the  perfect  stats  of  Franeis- 
canism  rise  agaiu.  John  Peter  Oliva  asserted  the  truth 
of  the  visions  of  Abbot  Joachim,  as  interpreted  in  the 
famous  Introduction;  Oliva's  exposition  of  the  Apoca- 
lypse was  but  in  another  form  the  Everlasting  Gospel, 
The  Father  in  the  Law  had  revealed  himself  in  awe  and 
terror ;  Christ  as  the  Wisdom  of  God  in  the  Gospel, 
In  the  third  age  the  Holy  Ghost  was  to  be  as  a  flame 
ani  furnace  of  divine  love ;  there  was  to  be  a  kind  of 
revel  of  delights  and  spiritual  joys,  in  which  thsra  was 
not  only  to  be  a  simple  intelligence,  but  a  savour  anil 
palpable  experience  of  tho  truth  of  the  Son — of  the 
power  of  the  Father."  Both  systems  affixed  the  name 


"  Tn  >,pxto  ntatii  1 1>{  petit  carmli 
ct  vptufttnta  puoria  anoculi 
reuovabitur  Chrjsti  lei  ct  vita  et  crux, 
Proptcr  quml  in  ejui*  mitia  FrMieiiciiN 
(ipparuit  Onfall  plngls  nlmractci  izntns, 
et  Chrioto  totiu  concruL-ifixus  et  cnnfi- 
guratUB,"— IX. 

k  la  Us  epull,  nntl  mnuh  of  its  lan- 
guage, Oliva  autielpatL'J  the  profmiB 
Liber  Conformitatuw. 

tt  "Rogulftra  Mlnoram  perBentura 
FrandMum  editam  BSSB  ver6  et  pro- 
pri&  flkm  Evangalioim  qtinm  Cliristiw 
wlpio  Borrftvlt  at  Apostolis  imposuu." 


8.  IVniicis,  lilt  a  the  limlecinor,  lind  lu» 
twelr*  apostles— A.  XXII.  XXXI. 

"  "  Kigo  111  tertitt  t  am  pore  (thera 
wcro  tin  Be  Times,  M  in  the  Ever- 
lusting  Gospel,  though  seven  Panods) 
Spiritufl  Sanctum  exhibobit  go  ut  flam- 
iniim  of  fornwicm  divlnt  amnrta  ,  .  . 
et  ut  ti'ipudium  epirltuollum  jublla- 
tionum  et  jucundltntum,  per  (jttani 
non  flolum  simplid  intelligently  sal 
otiom  guetativft  efc  pttlpatlvft  experlan- 
tifl,  vidubitur  oniuis  vei-itfts  Sapieatlw 
Vorbi  Duj  Incnrnati  et  potentln  Dei 
Patrn." 


CIUF.  VI,  WILEELMJJS'A,  358 

of  Babylon,  the  great  harlot,  the  adulteress,  to  the 
dominant  Church — to  that  which  asserted  itself  to  be 
the  one  true  Church,0  Oliva  swept  away  as  corrupt, 
superfluous,  obsolete,  the  whole  sacerdotal  polity —Pope, 
prelates,  hierarchy.  Their  work  wag  done,  their  doom 
sealed :  these  were  old  things  passed  away,*  new  thingn, 
the  one  universal  rule  of  St.  Francis,  was  to  be  the  faith 
of  man.  As  Herod  and  Pilate  had  conspired  against 
Christ,  so  the  worldly,  luxurious,  simoniacal  Churdi 
arrayed  herself  against  St.  Francis.  In  her  drunkenness 
of  wrath,  the  Church  flamed  out  against  spiritual  men, 
but  her  days  ware  counted,  her  destiny  at  hand. 

These  wild  doctrines  and  wild  prophecies  mingled  in. 
other  quarters  with  other  obnoxious  opinions,  all  equally 
hostile  to  the  great  sacerdotal  monarchy  of  Boms,  and 
to  the  ruling  hierarchy.  Df  all  tliQBO  kindred  hcrusi- 
archs  tho  strangest  in  har  doctrine  and  iu  her  fato  was 
Wilholniiiia,  a  Jiuheniian.  Sho  appeared  iu  Milan,  and 
announced  her  fjruapol,  a  profane  and  faiitftHtie  parody, 
centering  upon  herstjlftho  grout  tenut  of  tho  FratioeHi, 
th  a  reign  of  tho  Holy  GUinst.  In  hor,  the  daughter,  she 
averred,  of  Constance  Qucon  of  Bohemia,  tho  Jloly 
Ghost  was  incarnate.  Her  birth  hud  its  annunciation, 
but  the  aiigsl  Raphael  took  the  place  of  tho  angul 
Gabriel,  She  was  very  (k)d  and  very  woman,  tihu 
came  to  save  Jews,  Saracens,  false  ChriHtianH,  UH  tli« 
Saviour  the  true  Christians.  Her  human  natim* 
to  die  as  that  uf  Christ  had  died,  She  wus  to  rise 
and  ascend  into  heaven.  As  Christ  had  Itjft  MM  vit-ur 
upon  earth,  so  Wilhclmina  left  tho  holy  nun,  Muyfrctlu, 
Mayfreda  was  to  celebrate  tho  mass  at  lior  HP{iulrhn», 

JnlU'lll  IHI.  ,  ,  , 


0  Tile  Iiifiuihitnw  ju'vv  this  nifiireutio 
•nd  justifii'd  it  by  thisso  (iiu'tiitionB  ;~ 
"In  toto  ioto  Ti.iut.itu  \\fv- 


uicustiut 


civ.  Cwiit'.  MI. 


VOL.  VII.  2  A 


854- 


LATIN  CHRISTIANITY. 


BOOK  XII 


to  preach  her  gospel  in  the  great  church  at  Milan,  after 
wards  at  St.  Peter's  in  Rome.  She  was  to  be  a  female 
Pope,  with  full  papal  power  to  baptise  JBWS,  Saracens, 
unbelievers.  The  four  Uospels  were  replaced  by  four 
Wilhelminian  evangelists.  She  was  to  be  seen  by  her 
disciples,  as  Christ  after  his  resurrection.  Plenary  in- 
dulgence was  to  be  granted  to  all  who  visited  the  con- 
vent of  Chiaravalle,  as  to  those  who  visited  the  tomb 
of  our  Lord :  it  was  to  become  the  great  centre  of  pil- 
grimaga.  Her  apostlca  were  to  have  their  Judas3  and 
were  to  be  delivered  by  him  to  the  Inquisition.  But  the 
most  strange  of  all  was  that  Wilhelmina,  whether  her 
doctrines  were  kept  secret  to  the  initiate,*  lived  unper- 
secuted,  and  died  in  peace  and  in  the  odour  of  sanctity. 
She  was  buried  first  in  the  church  of  St.  Peter  in  Drto  j 
her  body  was  afterwards  carried  to  the  convent  of 
Chiaravalle.  Honks  preached  her  funeral  sermon ;  the 
Saint  wrought  miracles ;  lamps  and  wax  candles  burnad 
in  profuse  splendour  at  her  altar;  she  had  three  annual 
mi  to  festivals;  her  Pope,  Mayfreda,  celebrated  inaas. 
It  was  not  till  twenty  years  after  that  the 
orthodoxy  of  the  Milanese  clergy  awoke  in  dismay  and 
horror;  the  won  dor- working  bones  of  S.  Wilholmina 
vvero  dug  up  and  burned;  Mayfrcda  and  one  Andrea. 
Saramita  expiated  at  the  stake  the  long  unregarded 
blasphemies  of  their  misti'Das.' 

150,  given  tho  popular  view  in  which 
tho  Bi'ct  is  nccuHoil  uf  nil  the  promm« 
cnniiB  liccnca  whlih  ia  tlio  ordinary 
chargD  agaiiiflt  all  secret  religion*.  In 
tho  dams  dueument,  which  embrace* 
tho  pi  teens  nf  Wilhelmina,  IB  that  of 
Stephen  nf  Cnrcoruao,  who  was  accuMil 
of  favouring  heretics,  and  na  con  MI  tied 
in  the  murder  of  tha  Inqukior,  I'etu 
Martyr. 


AD 

131(1. 


t  Hail  tho  assimilation  of  S,  Frauds 
to  tho  Snvinur  taken  off  the  atovUIng 


Muratorl,  Ant.  Hal,  70,  from  tho 
original  records.  Tho  author  of  the 
Annala  of  Colraar  calU  her  im  English* 
Woman  of  ethraordinary  beauty,  — 
Apud  Butaner,  Fontea,  I,  p.  fl9,  In 
the  process  there  IB  no  change  of  uu- 
thwtity.  Corto,  Stoiia  di  MHano,  p, 


CHAP.  VI.  FDNGILTJPD  OF  FERRARA.  H55 


Nor  was  this  will  woman  the  only  her&tic  who 
cheated  the  unsuspecting  wonder  of  the  age  pongllnp(>  3t 
into  saint  worship  ;  there  were  others  whose  FerrttTft- 
piety  and  yirtues  won  that  homage  which  was  rudely 
stripped  away  from  the  heterodox.  Pongilupo  of  Fer- 
rara  had  embraced  Waldensian,  or  possibly  Albigen- 
sian  opinions:  he  was  of  the  sect  known  m  Bagnola, 
a  Proven9al  town,  He  died  at  Ferrara;  he  was  splsn- 
didly  buried  in  the  cathedral,  and  left  such  fame  for 
holiness  that  the  people  crowded  round  his  tomb;  hia 
miracles  seemed  so  authentic  that  the  Canons,  the 
Bishop  himself,  Albert,  a  man  esteemed  almost  a  saint 
at  Ferrara,  solemnly  heard  the  cauHc,  and  received 
the  deposition  of  the  witnesses.  But  the  stern  Do- 
minican Inquisitors  of  Ferrara  had  n  koonBi*  vision; 
tho  sainted  Pongilupo  was  condemned  as  an  irrccluim- 
abla,  a  relapsed  heretic;  tho  Canons  wern  reduced 
to  an  humiliating  uclmowhrlginsnt  of  thoir  infatua- 
tion.* 

Of  far  higher,  and  therefore  more  odious  name,  was 
Delano  of  Novara,  who  became  the  fierce  apostle  of  a 
new  sect,  of  kindred  tenets  with  the  Fraticelli  or  spi- 
ritual Franciscans,  with  some  leaven  of  the  old  doctrines 
of  the  Patarines  (the  Puritans)  of  Lombardy.  His  was 
not  a  community  of  meek  and  dreaming  enthusiasts,  or 
at  the  worst  of  stubborn,  and  patient  fanatics;  they 
became  a  tribe,  goaded  by  persecution,  to  take  up  arms 
in  their  own  defence,  and  only  to  be  auppr  Based  by 
arms.  The  patriarch  and  protomartyr  of  this  sect  was 
(lerard  Sagarelli  of  Parma,  then  a  stronghold  of  the 
Spiritualists. 


*•  Muratori  ndiluces  other  instances  of  those  fraudulent  yet  turceaifal  attempt* 
At  obtaining  the  honour*  of  Saintship.—  Jbiil. 

2  A  2 


356  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  XIL 

Gerard  Sagaielli  seamed  to  aapiro  to  found  a  new 
Order  more  beggarly  than  the  moat  beggarly  of  the 
award  sngft-  Franciscans:  ho  had  much  of  the  Fraticelli,  but 
t8UL  either  of  himself  determined  or  was  driven  tu 

farm  a  separate  community.  Pope  Innocent  had  at  first 
rejected  St.  Frar^sifl  as  a  simplB  half-crazy  enthusiast, 
so  the  Franciscans  drove  Sagarelli  from  their  doors  aa 
a  lunatic  idiot.  As  Francis  aspired  to  the  perfect  imi- 
tation of  the  Saviour,  BO  ISagarallitD  that  of  the  Apostles. 
He  still  haunted  the  inhospitable  cloister  and  church  of 
the  Franciscans,  which  would  not  receive  him  as  their 
inmate.  A  lamp  burned  day  and  night  within  the 
precincts,  whiuh  cast  its  mysterious  light  on  a  picture 
and  representation  of  the  Apostles.  Sagarelli  sat  gazing 
on  the  holy  forma,  and  thought  that  the  apostle  rose 
within  hia  soul,  He  determined  to  put  on  the  dross  in. 
which  the  painter,  according  to  hia  fancy  or  according 
to  convention,  had  arrayed  the  holy  twelve.  His  wild 
long  hail1  flowed  down  his  shoulders;  his  thick  board 
fell  over  his  breast ;  lie  put  ruda  sandals  on  his  bare 
foot;  he  wore  a  tunic  and  a  cloak  clasped  before,  of  thu 
dullest  white  and  of  tho  coarsest  sackcloth ;  ho  had  a 
cord,  like  thu  Franciscans,  round  his  waist.  Ho  hurl 
some  small  property,  a  houtje  in  Parma;  ho  aolil  it, 
went  out  into  the  inarket-plaeo  with  bin  money  in  a 
loath  urn  purse,  and,  taking  the  seat  011  which  the 
Podeutft  was  accustom  Bil  to  sit,  fluu^  it  among  the 
scrambling  boys,  to  show  law  contempt  and  ntlor  aban- 
donment of  the  sordid  druss.  II ii  WOB  not  t-oiitont  to 
bs  an  apostle;  he  would  surpass  St.  Frauds  himself  in 
imitation  of  their  Master,  not  of  his  death  but  of  his 
infancy.  Ha  underwent  circuindaitm ;  lie  laid  himself 
in  a  cradle,  was  wrapped  in,  swuddling-elotlicfl,  and,  it  in 
said,  even  received  tho  breast  from  some  wild 


CHAP.  VT. 


SADARELLI  OP  PARKA. 


357 


believer.8  In  Parma,  Sagarelli,  though  for  several  years 
he  prayed  and  preached  repentance  and  beggary  in  the 
strests,  had  a  very  few  followers :  in  the  neighbourhood 
his  loud  shrill  preaching  had  more  success.  At  length 
at  Faenza,  he  who  had  been  beheld  with  contempt  or 
compassion  at  Parma,  bBCams  the  head  of  an  undisci- 
plined yet  organised  sect.  He  found  his  way  back,  if 
not  into  the  city,  into  the  diocese  of  Parma. 

The  utmost  aim.  of  Sagarelli  was  the  foundation  of  a 
new  Mendicant  brotherhood  :  for  those  who  had  taken 
the  vow  of  poverty  would  not  endure  one  poorer  than, 
themselves:  his  followers  called  themselves  the  Apostles, 
or  the  Apostoliu  Brethren,  or  the  Perfect.  They  wero 
but  Spiritual  Franciscans  under  a  new  name. 

ObizKD  fcjanvitalo,  the  Bishop  of  Parma,  was  of  the 
Genoese  house  of  Fieschi,  nephew  of  Innocent  IV,* 
This  haughty  and  turbulent  Prelate  permitted  not  the 
Inquisitors  to  lord  it  in  his  city;  the  Inquisitors  were 
the  victims  of  popular  insurrection.  "When  in  the  act 
of  buming  some  hapless  heretics  they  were  attacked, 
dispersed,  driven  from  the  city,  Parma  tidied  an  inter- 
dict, and  for  a  time  refused  to  readmit  the  Inquisitors. 

Sagarelli  himself  had  now  been  preaching  above 


1  Reftd  MonliBim'a  account  of  Sagtv- 
relli,  GeacliichLo  dca  Aptmtel-Oi'deuB, 
in  hm  two  volumes  of  German.  Eawiy», 
Tim  Kmy  in  a  murlel  of  the  kind  of 
IhssertttliDn  to  which  later  inquirers 
havp  added  little  or  nothing.  Mosheim 
I  liuntly  hwi  why,  this  last 


Kanvitiile  wns  prnmnttid  by 
Atauadei  IV,,  tlio  pwit  p.itnui  of 
A.II.  1257.  In  the 
ha  began  to  luilil 
itt  Pttunn--"  mu'iililifl 


piuturfu  nan  Bpornendin  ejinrnatus"— 
npl>eiireil  in  high  honour  the  genuine 
HkeiiGB"  of  S,  Frannln.  Oblzzo  wan  A 
Btiong  defender  of  ecclesiastical  rights: 
he  laid  mi  interdict  on  tlio  Pructor  ^tha 
of  Piimiii.  Ho  horo  perse- 
with  a  tnuHiiuIme  spirit;  Biid 
lunuelf  HO  wall  agftinet  his 
thut  ha  WH«  presented  by 
(A.D.  1203)  to  t lie  arch i- 
c[H«riipiit«  nf  Itnvi'tinn.  Tliave  lia  <li«i» 
mid  wim  Vmru'il  in  the  Ffitncimtn  vim* 
vent.— UglitlliJtuliiiSwra,  11. 11/227, 


358  LATIN  CEBISTIANITY.  J3ooK  XII 

twenty  years,  either  despised  as  a  fanatic  or  dissembling 
bis  morB  obnoxious  opinions.  He  was  sum- 
moned before  the  Bishop,  who,  in  compassion  or 
disdain,  not  only  spared  bis  life,  but  allowed  the  beggar 
of  bsggars  the  crumbs  from  his  lordly  table.  The  sect 
of  Sagarelli  was  no  doubt  among  those  unauthorised 
Orders  against  which  Honorius  IV.  issued  his 
Bull.  Sugar olli  was  banished  from  Parma; 
he  returned  again,  and  was  thrown  into  prison;  some 
of  hia  followers  were  burned.  At  length,  under  the 
Pontificate  of  Boniface  VIII.,  in  the  year  of  jubilee, 
when  Christendom,  was  under  its  access  of  passionate 
devotion,  the  Inquisition,  the  Dominican  Inquisition, 
resumed  its  full  power  in  Parma.  Sagarelli  was  seized ; 
once  he  abjured,  or  seemed  to  abjure,  but  the  remorseless 
Manfred,  the  Great  Inquisitor,  would  not  lose  his  prey. 
That  abjuration  surrendered  him  as  a  relapsed  heretic 
to  his  irrevocable  doom:  ha  was  condemned  to  the 
flames.  By  one  wild  account  of  this  terrible  sr.eno,  in 
the  midst  of  the  fire  the  voice  of  the  heretic  was  heard) 
"  Help,  AsmodcuH."  At  once  the  fire  wont  out  Thrice 
it  was  rekindled,  thrico  at  that  powerful  spell  it  smoul- 
dered into  hanulessnesB.  Nothing  was  to  be  done  but 
to  appeal  to  a  mure  potent  name.  The  Host  was 
brought,  the  heretic  again  bound  on  the  pile,  again  the 
flames  blazed.  "  Holp,  Asmodeus,"  again  cried  Saga- 
relli.  There  was  a  wailing  in  the  air :  "  Qno  stronger 
than  ourselves  is  here."  The  fire  did  its  terrible  work, 
Such  things  were  believed  in  those  days,  No  one  flhud* 
dared  with  horror  at  the  body  of  the  merciful  Sariouf 
being  employed  on  such  fearful  office.11 


«  I  owe  this  reference  to  Jacob  nt  Aquiu,  in  the  recently  published  Mono* 
CHUnta  Hlit.  Salmndlaj  to  Sign,  Mariottl,  Dolcluo  d«  Nam*. 


CUAP.TI.  DDLDIXO  OF  NOVAHA..  359 

Dolcinc,  born  at  a  village  near  Novara,  either  Prato 
or  Tragantino,  caught  up  the  prophet's  mantle  nuk,Mof 
at  the  fiery  departure  of  Sagarelli.  The  new  KavattL 
heresiarch  was  no  humble  follower :  IIB  had  neither  tha 
prudence  nor  the  timidity  of  the  elder  teacher  to  dis- 
guise or  to  dissemble  his  opinions.  He  was  a  man  cast 
in  an  iron  mould ;  not  only  with  that  eloquence  which 
carries  away  a  host  of  hearers  with  an  outburst  of 
passion  atB  attachment  and  is  gone,  but  that  which  sinks 
deep  into  the  souls  of  men,  mid  works  a  stern,  enduring, 
dsath-defying  fanaticism.  He  must  have  possessed  won- 
derful powers  of  organisation,  and,  as  appealed,  by 
inspiration,  extraordinary  military  skill.  Obauurity  and 
mystery,  perhaps  even  in  his  own  ilay,  hung  over  the 
youth  and  early  life  uf  Dolciuo,  He  was  said  to  have 
sprung  from  a  nablo  family,  the  Toi nielli;  ho  was 
not  improbably  the  eon  of  u  married  Lombard  priest, 
Either  before  or  inmu'diutoly  after  the  death  of  Saga- 
relli,  ho  was  in  the  Tyrol,  and  in  tho  diurcHu  of  Trout, 
where  lurkod  no  doubt  mtiny  heirs  of  tho  doi'trines  of 
Arnold  of  Brosrjia :  it  might  be  too  of  th«  \Valdensians 
and  other  antitjaci'rdotaliHts,  Tho  stern  Franciscan 
J3iahop  of  Trent>  BuonAccolti,  drove  him  back  to  the 
southern  side  of  the  Alps.  As  thu  acknowledged  head 
of  the  Apostolic  Brethren,  on  the  death  of  Wagarelli  he 
was  expelled  from  Milan,  from  Oomo,  from  Brusraa,  from 
Bergamo.  Accjording-  to  one  auruunt  he*  to:>k  refuge 
beyond  the  Adriatic  Sea,  among  tho  wild  fureuts  of 
IDalmatia.* 

But  ho  was  every  where  present  by  his  doctrines.   HIB 


»  Mnahnni  HIMHIH  not  tn  Anubt  tiie  H'suluuci)  in  1  lalmatin.     HIH 
IB  plaiiBililL",  Ipi.t  on  tint,  jiuiut  nlone  that  severe  \vuti;r  \\Aih,  ii  ii]i{uait  to 
me,  to  mmicviiii". 


3  BO  LATIN  CHEISTIANITY.  BOOK  Xll. 

epistles  became  the  G-ospel,  his  prophecies  the  Koran  of 
the  Order.  Of  his  three  epistles,  which  con- 
tained the  chief  part  of  his  doctrines,  two  still 
survive.  Like  the  Franciscan  Spiritualists,  the  Apostles 
of  Parma  had  their  periods  and  eras  m  the  history  of 
mankind.  There  were  four  states  of  man : — I,  That  of 
the  Patriarchs  and  Prophets,  when  not  only  marriage 
but  polygamy  was  lawful  for  the  propagation  of  the 
human  race.y  II.  That  of  Christ  and  his  Apostles;  who 
had  taught  that  virginity  was  better  than  marriage, 
poverty  than  riches,  to  live  without  property  better 
than  to  hold  possessions.  This  period  closurl  with  St. 
Silvester.  III.  In  the  third,  the  nvil  and  iron  age, 
the  love  of  the  people  began  to  wax  cold  towards  Gocl 
and  tUeir  neighbour :  the  Church  assumed  wealth  and 
temporal  power,  All  Popes,  from  St.,  Silvester,  had 
bean  prevaricators  and  deceivers,  except  CtDlestme  V, 
The  rule  of  St.  Benedict,  the  life  of  the  monks,  had 
been  the  saving  goodness  of  that  age.  When  the  love 
of  the  monks  as  of  the  clergy  grew  cold,  virtuu  and 
holiness  had  perished;  all  were  evil,  haughty,  ava- 
ricious, unchaste.  St.  Francis  and  tit.  Dominic  hatl 
Hurpiiased  the  rule  of  St.  Benedict  and  of  the  monks, 
yut  this  too  waH  but  fur  a  time.  The  iron  ago  was  to 
come  to  a  terrible  end,  which  was  to  sweep  away  Popfi, 
prelates,  monks,  friars.  But,  IV.  Ucninl  of  I'urma 
began  the  fourth,  the  gnlilon  ago — that  of  true  Apostolic 
perfection,  The  Dulciuitcfl  too  had  their  Apocalyptic 
interpretations.  The  Seven  Angels  were,  of  Ephesus, 
St.  Benedict ;  of  Pergamus,  Pope  Silvester ;  of  Sardia, 


r  Compare  Mixhoim'svury  ingenious 
tending  of  a  pnswgq  in  the  eplrtla  uf 
Dolein.0  (  ''  In  quo  Blatu 


bonutn  fuisua  nuwcrum  ewn 

M.)  C&UB&  multiplicuindt  gonus  hunui 

nmiu"— Dinsort.i  p.  240, 


CHAP. 


ANTI-PAPAL  TENETS. 


361 


St.  Francis;  of  Laodicea,  St.  Dominic;  of  Smyrna, 
Gerard  of  Parma;  of  Thyatira,  Dolcino  of  Novara;  of 
Philadelphia,  the  future  great  and  holy  Pope. 

Against  the  ruling  Popes  they  wore  more  fearless  and 
denunciatory.  The  Popedom  was  the  great  Ann.rflpal 
harlot  of  the  Revelation.  In  the  latter  days  len"t3- 
there  weio  to  be  four  Popes,  the  first  and  last  good,  the 
second  and  third  bad.  Th&  first  guod  Pope  was  Coaleg- 
tino  V.,  whose  memory  they  reverenced  -with  the  zeal  oi 
all  the  idolaters  of  poverty.  The  first  of  the  bud  was 
Boniface  VIII.  Tho  third  they  did  not  name :  no  Dim 
could  bo  at  a  bhs  for  their  meaning.*  As  to  the  fourth, 
John  XXII.  had  not  as L1  on d  13 d  the  throne  before  Dolciuo 
and  most  of  his  partisans  had  perished;  but  it  would 
have  been  impoasiblc  to  have  conceived  (nor  could  tho 
apostles,  the  successors  of  Dolcino,  conceive)  a  Pontiff, 
except  from  his  lowly  birth,  BO  opposite  to  the  un- 
worldly, humblfi,  poverty-loving  ideal  of  a  Pontiff. 
According  to  thorn,  no  Pope  could  give  absolution 
who  was  not  holy  as  St.  Peter ;  in  povorty  absolutely 
without  property ;  in  lowliness  not  exciting  wars,  per- 
seeutrng  na  one,  allowing  every  one  to  live  in  freedom 
of  conscience."  They  were  amenable  to  no  Papal 
oensurs  (from,  some  lingering  awe  they  left  to  the 
Popo  th.0  power  of  issuing  decrees  and  appointing  to 
dignities);  but  no  Popo  had  authority  to  command 
them,  by  excommunication,  to  abandon  tlis  way  of 
perfection,  nor  could  they  be  summoned  before  the- 
InquiMtion  for  following  after  that  same  perfection.* 


*  Benedict  XI,  seems  to  have  teen 
pttniKil  over. 

*  "Nou  fuvemlo  gucvriu,  neu  uli- 
quern    p«wquenilo,  sttl  pcruiittcnilu 


tfvare  qucmlibct  in  iu& 
Adtlihimmt.,  Hint,  Dokin.  njmd  Murtv 
ton. 

l>  Iliht,  Dolciu.  p.  4  >5. 


8G2  LATIN  CHIUSTIANrn.  BOOK  XII. 

The  Dolcinites  had  their  strong  hut  peculiar  Ghibel- 
linism.     Their  prophetic  hopes  rested  ou  the 

ShlbelllntBm.  «   f  -n      i      •   i        /•  « 

Sicilian  House  ol  An  agon,  rredurick  ofAr- 
ragon  was  to  enter  Rome  on  tho  Nativity,  in  the  year 
1335  (so  positive  and  particular  were  they  in  their 
vaticinations),  to  become  Emperor  to  create  nine  Kings 
(or  rather,  according  to  tho  Apocalypse,  ten),  to  put  to 
death  the  Popo,  his  prelates,  and  the  monks,  The 
Church  was  to  be  reduced  to  her  pnmitivo  Apostolic 
poverty.  Duli-mo  was  to  be  Pupi1,  if  then  alive,  for 
three  years;  and  thon  came  tko  Perfect  Pope,  by  special 
outpouring  of  the  Holy  Grkost.  It  might  be  Dulcinu 
himself  holy  as  St.  Peter,  or  Gerard  of  Parma  restored 
to  life.  Then  Antichrist  was  to  COTHQ;  the  Perfect 
Pope  was  to  be  rapt  for  a  time  to  Paradise  with  Enoch 
and  Elias ;  after  tho  fall  of  Antichrist  he  was  to  return 
and  convert  the  whole  world  to  the  faith  of  Christ. 
Dolcino  and  hia  followers  first  appear  as  an  organised 
AD,  mot,  community  in  Gattinara  and  the  Val  Sssia  in 

in  ttio  Val    ,,.,    n  ,  *     ,„,     ,  ,          ,  .„  ,          .  ,    ,.        „ 

discuia.  Piedmont.  That  beautiful  region  at  tho  loot 
of  the  lower  Alps,  with  green  upland  meadows,  shaded 
by  fine  chestnut  groves,  and  watered  by  tho  dear  Sesia 
and  Ihcj  streams  whitli  fall  into  it,  had  been  but  reuoutly 
posHGHHed  by  the  great  Liliibellino  family,  thtjBlandrate, 
To  this  land  believers  in  these  popular  touuts  Hocked 
from  all  quartern,  from  thu  Alpine  valleys,  from  beyond 
th 3  Alps.  They  proclaimed  that  all  duties  were  to 
yield  to  the  way  of  perfection :  tho  bishop  might  quit 
his  see,  the  priest  hia  parish,  the  monk  hia  cluietsr,  the 
husband  his  wife,  the  wife  her  husband,  to  join  the  one 
true  Church.  Dolcino  in  one  respect  discarded,  or  (it 
is  doubtful  which)  boasted  himself  superior  in  asceticism 
to  the  severity  of  most  of  the  former  sects,  Ea&h,  like 
the  apostle,  had  "  a  sister : "  with  that  sister  every  one 


3HAP  VI. 


THE  BEAUTIFUL  MARGARITA. 


aspired  to  live  in  the  most  unblemished  chastity  It  is 
even  said,  but  by  their  enemies,  that  they  delighted  to 
put  that  chastity  to  the  most  perilous  trial.  Dolcino 
had  a  sister  like  the  rest,  the  beautiful  Margarita,  a 
Tyroless  maiden  of  a  wealthy  family,  of  whom  he  had 
become  enamoured  with  profane  or  holy  love,  when 
beyond  the  Alps.  By  him  she  was  asserted  to  he  a 
model  and  miracle  of  perfect  purity:  his  enemies  of 
course  gave  out  that  she  was  his  mistress.0  At  the 
close  of  their  dark  destiny  she  was  taunted  as  though 
she  were  prpgnant.  "If  so,"  replied  the  confident  fol- 
lowers of  Dolcino,  and  Dolcino  himaelf,  "it  must  be  by 
the  Holy  Ghost."  All  this,  however,  is  belied  by  other 
and  not  leas  unfriendly  authorities.11  But  these  peaceful 
sectaries  (peauuful,  at  least,  as  far  us  overt  acts,  if  hardly 
so  in  thtjir  all-levelling  doctrines)  could  not  be  long 
left  in  pciiLM?.  lu  all  respects  but  in  their  denunciation 
against  the  hiorarohy  they  were  severely  orthodox:  they 
accepted  the  full  creed  of  the  Church,  and  only  super- 
added  that  tanot.  Already,  soon  after  hie  aDcessicm, 
Clement  V,,  at  the  solicitation  of  tho  olergy  and  the 
Giielfs  of  the  neighbourhood,  had  issued  his  Bull  for 
their  total  extirpation,  Already  there  were  menaces, 


*  "  Seoura  du  wbflt  Anuulum,  nomine 
Mnvgaritam,  quam  dlccfoat  KB  ten  ere 
HioriJ  Bororia  m  Chriuto,  provide  et 
huiiesti ;  at  ijuia  thprelimuu  fuit  cane 
griiviiln,    Jpsa  ofc  oui  tuwovei'aut  OHM 
gravidum  do  Spiritu  Sanuto." — AdJi- 
tainent,,  p.  459, 

*  Mtmhchn  juatly  obnerves  that  in 
the  authentic  documents  thero  is  no 
ohorge  of  limiiitiouancBS    ftgaiuat  the 
e«rl!iir  or  later  qxiHtlea,  neither  Jn 
ih«  built  off  Honorius  IV.  or  Nioolu 


IV,,  nor  in  say  reports  of 
more  eapeclally  tlia  very  curiouR  cx« 
EimluatiDD  at  a  much  later  period  of 
Peter  of  Lugo  at  Toulouse,  in  Lim« 
borch,  Hint  Inqulaitionu.  "  Atl«m 
die  OorlchtsrsgiBtor,  BO  wuhl  zu  Tho- 
IOUBO,  obzu  Veto  Bill  flpraclion  file  von 
dlBBBf  Anklagu  lot,  well  eie  ihneu 
kisiue  Uuraiaigkeit,  kuiuc  Uebci-tift- 
tung  dor  Qcaetze  von  der  Zucht  ind 
KQuaohelfc  vorwBTieu,"— 1*.  305, 


BR4  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  XII, 

signs,  beginnings  of  persecution:  the  Inquisition  was 
in  movement.  Almost  at  once  the  sect  became  an 
army.  On  a  mountain  callsd  Balnera,  or  Valnera,  in 
the  upper  part  of  the  valley  of  the  Sesia,  they  pitched 
their  camp  and  built  their  town.  Dolcino  himself 
found  hospitable  reception  \vith  a  faithful  disciple,  a 
rich  landowner,  Milano  Sola.  They  gave  out  that  God 
might  be  worshipped  as  well  in  the  deep  forest,  on 
the  snowy  crag,  as  in  the  church. 

The  first  attempt  at  hostility  against  them  ended  in 
shameful  discomfiture.  The  Podesta  of  Yarallo  headed 
an  attack:  ho  was  igmomnriously  defeated,  taken,  re- 
deemed at  a  largo  ransom.  Dolcino  and  his  followers; 
(they  were  now  counted  by  thousands)  were  masters  of 
the  whole  rich  Val  Sesia.  But  the  thunderclouds  were 
gathering.  No  sooner  was  the  Papal  Bull  proclaimed 
thau  the  Gruelfic  nobles  met  in  arms:  they  took  a 
solemn  oath  in  the  church  of  Scop  a  to  exterminate 
these  proscribed  and  excommunicated  heretics.  This 
formidabls  league  wanted  not  a  formidable  captain. 
The  Bishop  Eainieri,  of  the  noble  and  Guelfic  family 
of  the  Avogadri,  now  ruled  in  Vercelli.  He  set  himself 
at  the  head  of  the  crusade.  Dolcino's  followers  had 
become  soldiers,  Dolcino  a  general  of  more  than  com- 
mon sagacity  and  promptitude.  He  made  a  bold  march 
along  tliB  sharp  mountain-ridge,  and  Reined  a  strong 
position,  the  bare  rock,  still  called  Monte  Calvo.  The 
despair  of  fanaticism  is  terrible.  The  conflicts 
became  murderous  on  both  aides.  Thrice  at 
hast  the  forces  of  the  Bishop  suffered  disgraceful  defeat* 
The  Bishop  saw  his  whole  diocese  a  desolate  waste: 
even  the  churches  were  sacrilegiously  despoiled,  the 
images  of  the  Madonnas  wrre  mutilated,  tho  holy  •vessels 
carried  off.  They  broke  the  bells  and  threw  dovin  tha 


•.  VI.  WAR*  366 

otilfries,8  But  the  stronger  the  position  of  Dolcino, 
the  greater  his  weakness.  How  wers  thousands  to  find 
food  on  those  bleak  inhospitable  craga  ?  Tha  aggression 
of  their  persecutors  had  made  them  warriors:  it  now 
made  thorn  robbers.  SuL-iety  had  declared  war  against 
them:  they  declared  war  against  society.  Famine  knows 
no  laws :  it  makes  laws  of  its  own.  They  proclaimed 
their  full  right  of  plunder,  for  without  plunder  they 
could  not  livo:  all  was  to  them  just,  except  the  de- 
sertion of  thoir  faith.r  Frightful  tales  are  told  of  their 
nraclty  in  their  last  wild  pltiL'o  of  refuge;  for  they  left 
in  the  mountain  hold,  on  the  bare  rock,  the  weak  and 
dofancBless  of  thoir  budy ;  set  off  again  with  tho  same 
promptitude  and  intelligenRe,  over  mountain  ridgss  and 
deep  snows,  and  sei/ed  a  still  stronger  height,  Mount 
Ziirbal,  called  after  them  Monte  Irazznro,  above  Trivcrio, 
JFort)  fur  simiu  months  thuy  tL'ficil  all  attack,  Tho 
Bishop,  grown  wiser  by  perpetual  discomfiture,  wan 
content  to  blockade  all  the  pnsHm  Starvation  grew 
more  intanno;  the  worn  en  and  tho  wmkly,  who  had 
been  loft  on  Monte  Calvo,  found  abwly  tbc'ir  way  to 
Mount  ZorbtU,  and  aggravated  tha  distress,  Tho  women, 
if  thay  did  not  join  in  the  war,  urged  on  the  fierce 
irresistible  sallies  from  their  unapproachable  mountain 
hold,  Thsy  burst  at  one  time  on  the  town  of  lYiverio, 
and  thoroughly  sacked  it.  It  was  on  tho  prisoners  in 
these  expeditions  that  they  wreaked  their  most  merciless 
vengeance,  or  rather  determined  to  turn  them  most 
r01oiitli!8sly  to  thiiir  ailvuntage.  Sibbets  were  orocted 


*  S.  Mariutti  wall  ntmervPH  that  thuir 
li nullity  to  tlie  bclla  find  belfries  IB  iu- 
talligibls  eiuuigh,  Thfy  were  rung  as 
A  tocaln  to  I'ouio  tlip  country  in  feme  of 
Mi  attack  by  tlic  IkikiuiteB, 


11  Itfin  tleroliare,  eftvccrare  ct 
cuntiui!  tnnln  infuiTe  Chriatiiinitt, 
qimm  mori  ct  ilestvui-ve  curiiui 


36P 


LATIN  CHRISTIANITY. 


BOOK  X1L 


upon  the  brow  of  the  sheer  precipice,  on  whicih  the 
inhabitants  from  below  might  behold  their  husbands, 
brothers,  and  kindred  suspended,  and  slowly  yielding 
up  their  lives.  It  was  made  known  that  they  might 
be  ransomed  for  food,  or  what  would  purchase  focil/ 
Redemption  at  such  a  price  could  not  be  permitted  by 
the  inflexible  Bishop.  Men  hunted  like  wild  beasts, 
became  wild  beasts ;  they  were  reduced  to  the  scantiest, 
most  loathsome  food;  they  ate  everything  indiscrimi- 
nately; it  is  said  as  an  aggravation  during  Lent.h  They 
had  passed  the  wild  dreary  winter  on  these  steep, 
dismal,  hungry  peaks.  They  ate  rats,  hares,  doge, 
chopped  grass,  even  mors  horrible  food.  Jerusalem 
or  Numancia  beheld  not  more  frightful  banquets  than 
the  mountain  camp  of  Doleino,  yot  would  they  not  sur- 
render their  lives  or  their  faith.  Nor  was  their  noble 
resistance  obscure  or  without  its  fame,  It  is  difficult 
not  to  discern  some  G-hibelline  admiration,  perhaps 
sympathy,  in  Dante's  famous  lines,1  though  Danto, 
placing  the  message  to  Dolcino,  "that  he  provision 
well  his  mountain  fortress,"  in  the  mouth  of  Mahomet, 
may  Hnem  as  it  were  to  disclaim  all  compassion  for  the 
hcrcsiarch.  es  Unless  Doleinn  did  this  ho  might  como 
cuptnmof  boforo  his  time  to  his  awful  doom."  Famine 

(Jtiuro.      ftt    J^g^    fafr   fa  S]DW   wor]c<      rpj^  NoTarCBO, 

or  rather  tho  VercollesB,  won  at  length  his  dear-bought 


'  " 

erunt,  videntibua  uxoribtu  et 
lua,  ijtiia  non  volebant  BB  icdimcro  BX 
iirfcitrio  prceilictorum  earnim,"— -  Hint. 
Mclu.  p,  41)7,  The  ransom  of  the 
Poctatb  of  Vnrftllo  had  been  exact 3<1  in 
kind,  that  i»,  in  mean«  of  subalsten™. 

*  The  p«t»dlng  Lent  they  hud  faated 
like  goiul  ohurdbn  en.    They  laA  lived 


on  chopped  hnj,  moiotcnctl  with  flome 
kind  of  fut  liqulj. 

1  "  Or  ill  a  frl  Dulclii',  dunqne  clio  »' 

nniil, 

Ta  cli&  foma  vrrtml  II  Solo  hi  brovn, 
8*  pgll  non  vool  qul  toeto  »egult*nnL 
HI  dl  vlvAnda,  cliS  itretta.41  neve 
Nan  rcabl  la  vtttarift  nl  HoaMBo. 
Oh'  altrtraentl  a/M\atex  nun  writ 


CHAP.  VL 


DEATH  OF  MARGARITA. 


837 


victory,     The  besieged  were  worn  to  thin,  feeble,  and 
ghostly  shadows.     Mount  Zerbal  was  stormed.  MlulI,dy 
A  thousand  were  massacred,  drowned  in  their  Tlmrsdliy 
flight  in  the  rivers,  or  burned.     Of  the  prisoners  not 
one  would  recant:  all  perished  rather  in  the  flames  k 

Three — DolcinD,  Longino,  and  Margarita — were  re- 
served for  a  more  awful  public  execution.  The  Pope 
was  consulted  as  to  their  doom.  The  answer  was  cold, 
decisive.  "  Let  them  be  delivered  to  the  secular  arm.'* 
Yercelli  was  to  behold  the  triumph  of  her  Bishop  and 
the  vengeance  wreaked  on  the  rebels  to  the  Church.  A 
tall  stake  was  raised  on  a  high  and  conspicuous  mound, 
Margarita  wns  led  furth.  Notwithstanding  her  Buffer- 
ings, exposure,  famine,  agony,  incarceration,  such,  it  is 
strangely  said,  was  her  beauty  that  men  of  rank  offered 
her  marriage  if  she  would  renounce  her  errors,111  She 
was  yul  heiress,  too,  of  her  great  estate  in  the  Tyrol 
But  whether  it  was  earthly  or  heavenly  love,  wht'thtjn 
the  passionate  attachment  of  the  fund  consort,  or  the 
holy  and  paflsionlaBS  resolution  of  tho  saint,  the  noble 
woman  hail  nothing  of  woman's  weakness ;  fiho  1*^11  or 
tmdured  unfaltering  to  the  end ;  sho  endured  Mw»ulta' 
tho  being  consumed  by  a  slow  fir©  in  the  sight  of 
Doleino  himself ;  his  calm,  voice  was  heard  beseeching, 
admonishing  her,  as  she  shivered  in  the  flames,  to  be 
faithful  to  the  close.  Dolcino  was  as  courageous  under 
his  own.  BY 211  more  protracted  and  agonising  trial,  He 


k  "Abque  ipsft  die  phircs  quam 
tnille  ex  ijieis,  turn  flammsc,  turn 
fluniini  submenu,  ut  pnefntur,  turn 
glnilii»  ot  mnrti  crnileluiHima  dati 
mini,"— Hi«t.  Duluini. 

»  "Ilia vein  imtiuta  tlnctrinfl.  ipniiin 
ttunqmnt  deseruit  mnn'Iuta  illijfl.  Iileo 


portiimciua  in  CD  fuit  firmo,  in  hoc 
crrtirc,  couanleiatA  aexfls  liifirinitftte, 
Nntn  (sum  nullo  unhiK'H  fjnitirpi  cnt  cnm 
in  nxorcm,  tuin  i)rnftei'iiuli;hntudinpitj 
illniH,  tntn  prnpti'i'  PJIIK  jicrAiiiifim  rang- 
ri!«n,  niinrnmm  potuit  lli'cti."— 
cut.  Imola  Mnmtoii,  S,  H.  I.  x. 


BS8 


LATIN  CHRISTIANITY. 


BOOK  XII, 


repelled  all  thosa  who  were  sent  to  disturb  his  last  hours 
ofLongiw)  ^ta  *ne^r  polemic  arguments.  Ha  and  Lem- 
ma iMcino.  gjEO  werB  piaCBii  On  a  lofty  waggon,  in  which 
were  blazing  pans  of  fire  j  men  with  hut  pincers  tore 
away  their  flesh  by  morsels,  and  cast  them  into  tin* 
fire ;  then  wrenched  off  their  limbs.  On  CD,  and  onco 
only,  as  the  most  sensitive  part  of  man  was  rent  away, 
he  betrayed  his  anguish  by  the  convulsion  of  his  face. 
At  length,  having  been  thus  paraded  through  tho  land, 
both,  Longino  in  Biolla,  DolBinu  in  Verccili,  were  re- 
leased from  their  long  death.11 

ThesB  terrible  scones  took  place  under  the  rule  and 
by  tho  authority  of  Clement  V,  Had  John  been  on  the 
Papal  throne  he  would  havo  «ven  moro  in  duly  dash  nrl 
with  the  spiritual  notion  of  an  unworldly  and  a  punr 
Pope.  Clamant  V.  had  been  accused  of  avarice,  John 
XXII.  was  even  moro  heavily  charged  with  the  flamn 
vice ;  and  no  Pops  plunged  more  dwply  into  tho  pn- 
liticfll  affairs  of  his  time  than  John  XX II,  Ilia  arts 
were  at  once  a  bitter  satira  and  ropniuuh  on  hia  pre- 
decessor, and  an  audacious  prudamutinn  of  lii,H  own 

"  TIu  pimcipal  uuthoiihy  fur  thin 
account  in  Hid  Hist.  l)ult;ini,  in  tlu> 
ninth  vulume  of  Mitrntori,  S,  ft.  1., 
with  the  Additnmantu,  the  nutlior 
of  whiuh  pitifusHpa  to  hart)  Bei'ii 
nad  to  cite  two  uf  Ditlcinn'u  ppis- 
tiei.  "But("  hs  nays,  "  thay  knpt 
their  doctrlnei  secret,  iiml  halil  the 
right  to  deny  them  tafina  tha  Inijui- 
fllthn,"  UolchiB,  he  uvara,  hud  ab- 
jured three  times,  Some  circums  tan  ua 
we  from  Benrenxito  da  Iraola'i  com* 
mentery  oa  Dante.— Muratorl,  Ant. 
Ital,  r,  6.  Thta  pmnge  of  my  history 
wet  written  before  the  publication  of 
Sif.  MniobU'i  (V  "Aulctno  and  hii 


&£.  Mariutti  (it  f«  nut  hw 
u'ltl  iinint1)  hajt  tin*  p'fat  lulvtuiia^n  of 
fti'ifci't  lot'fil  knitwlwlgs  of  the  whnlp 
BconB  of  nolfluo't  cnrecr  (1  htul  mywclt', 
hi'tbtc  I  tlntiight  much  of  Jldlt'iiin, 
tiavclhid  ntfildly  through  part  of  tliu 
iliotrict).  The  work  U  one  nf  gient 
Industry  mul  ncBtirnry^  imrml  nomf- 
whut,  to  ray  jsirlgemsiit,  Ijy  Italian  pro- 
lixity, and  Mima  Itnltnft  pmaion,  1  am 
indebted  to  it  for  sotnt  tjorfeotJptu 
nnd  addition*.  Slg,  Marlotti  hu  d*» 
mn1tnhod,  It  wetni  to  me,  the  raligioue 
i-omanca  of  IVofewir  Blugtoliml,  trans* 
ktod  M  hlatoi-y  by  Dr.  Krooe,  4«Dul« 
clno  und  wne  Zuit," 


.  VI.  WEALTH  OF  CLEMENT  V.  369 

rapacity.  Tn  the  fourth  year  of  his  Pontificate,  John  com- 
menced a  process  which  rent  off  ths  last  veil  Process  about 
from  the  enormous  wealth  of  Clement,  and  ciemwtv.0 
showed  at  the  sama  tima  that  the  new  Pope  was  as 
keenly  set  on  the  accumulation  of  Papal  treasures. 
Clement,  before  his  death,  had  deposited  a  vast  amount 
in  mousy,  in  gold  and  silver  Teas  sis,  robes,  books, 
precious  stones  and  other  ornaments,  with  important 
instruments  and  muniments,  in  the  Castle  of  Mouteil, 
in  the  Venaisin.  The  lord  of  the  castle,  the  Viscount 
de  Lomenie  and  Altaville,  on  Clement's  death,  seized, 
and,  as  it  was  said,  appropriated  all  this  treasure. 
Besides  this  he  had  received  sums  of  money  due  to 
the  deceased  Pontiff.  The  Viscount  was  summoned 
to  render  an  account.  He  and  all  persons  in  possession 
uf  any  part  of  this  property  were  to  pay  it  into  the 
hands  of  the  Pope's  treasurer,  under  pain  of  excom- 
munication, and,  as  to  the  Viscount,  of  interdict  on  bis 
territory.  Those  in  tho  Court  of  Rome  were  to  pay 
in  twenty  days,  those  in  France  in  two  months,  those 
beyond  tho  Alpa  in  three.  The  demand  againet  ths 
Viscount  was  more  specific.  It  amounted,  in  the  whole, 
to  1,774,8  DO  florins  of  gold.  Of  this  300,000  had  been 
destined  by  Pope  Clement  to  the  recovery  of  the  Holy 
Land-,  320,000  to  pious  uses;  100,000  was  a  debt 
of  the  King  of  France;  160,000  due  from  the  King  oi 
England.  The  Viscount  was  a  dangerous  man.  No 
qne  ventured  to  serve  the  citation :  it  was  fixed  on  the 
doors  of  the  church  at  Avignon,  The  Viscount  at  length 
deigned  or  thought  it  prudent  to  appear  before  the 
Court.  He  acknowledged  the  trust  of  3 00, DO 0  florins  » 
lie  was  prepared  to  pay  it  when  the  cruaada  should 
begin.  The  baffled  Pope,  after  muuh  unseemly  dinputo, 
yielded  to  a  compromise.  Tho  Viscount  was  to 
VOL,  •vn.  2  » 


370 


LATIN  DHRISTIANITT. 


BOOK  XII. 


15D,DDO  :  the  other  moiety  was  to  remain  in  his  hands, 
on  condition  that  ha  or  his  heirs  should  furnish  one 
thousand  men-at-arma  whenever  the  King  of  France, 
the  King  of  England,  the  King  of  Castile,  or  the  King 
of  Sicily,  or  the  elder  son  of  either,  should  take  the 
cross.  The  sum  said  to  have  been  devoted  to  pious 
uses  had  dwindled  to  2DO,DD[)  florins.  The  Viscount 
declared  that  it  had  bssn  already  expended,  chiefly  by 
others :  he  was  a  simple  knight,  ignorant  of  money 
matters.  The  Pope  was  manifestly  incredulous  :  he 
mistrusted  the  accounts;  and  no  doubt  only  acquiesced 
in  the  acquittal  of  the  Yiscount  from  despair  of  extort- 
ing restitution.  He  hail  but  shown  his  own  avarica  and 
his  weakness." 

If  tha  sect  of  Dolcino  had  baen  nearly  extirpated 
before  the  accsession  of  Pope  John,  the  Spiritualists  and 
the  Fraticelli,  the  believers  in  the  prophecies  of  the 
The  Er«ti-  Abbot  Joachim  and  John  Peter  Qliva,  swarmed 
celu'  not  only  in  Italy,  but  the  latter  especially, 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Papal  Court  of  Avignon. 
These  sordid  and  unseemly  squabbles  for  money  would 
not  be  lost  upon  them.  All  these  msn  alike  perti- 
naciously held  that  the  sole  perfection  of  Christianity 
was  absolute  poverty,  without  possession,  personal  or  in 
common.  They  wore  a  peculiar  dress,  which  offended 
by  its  strange  uncouthneas:  they  cast  aside  the  loose 
long  habit,  appeared  in  short,  tight,  squalid  garments, 
just  sufficient  to  cover  their  nakedness.11  Even  of  their 
dress  and  of  their  food — as  they  immediately  put  it  into 
their  mouths — they  had  only  the  use  :  they  declared  the 


*  Vit.  apud  EaJuz, 

p  "  Perfection  em  evangelicprum 
Christ!  m  quadem  raonatrujsl  deftn- 
rnltate,  et  nlhil  in  futurum  re&erraado 


a  Vii-is  evangelic^  piofesslonis  fitam 
durcntibus,  csse  cunfingtmb"— Bqluz. 
Mucell.  ii.  247, 


CHAP.  VI,  THE  -FKATIDELLI.  371 

birds  of  the  air  and  the  'beasts  of  the  field  to  be  their 
examples.  Granaries  and  cellar  a  were  a  wicked  mistrusl 
of  Groi's  providence. 

Tha  age  was  too  stern  arid  serious  tt>  laugh  to  scorn, 
or  to  treat  these  crazy  tenets  with  compassion ;  and 
they  struck  too  rudely  against  the  power  and  the  in 
terests  of  the  hierarchy,  against  the  Pope  himself,  fui 
contemptuous  indifference.  With  all  this  wua  moulded 
up  a  blind  idolatry  of  St.  Francis  and  of  his  rule — liia 
rule,  which  was  superior  in  its  purity  to  the  Four  Gospels 
• — and  an.  absoluta  denial  of  the  Papal  authority  to 
tamper  with  or  relax  that  rule,  "There  were  two 
Churches:11  one  carnal,  overburdened  with  poRsessiuns, 
overflowing  with  wealth,  polluted  with  wickedness,  over 
which  ruled  the  Hainan  Pontiff  and  the  inferior  Bishops : 
one  spiritual,  frugal,  without  uncleaimeas,  admirable  fur 
its  virtus,  with  poverty  for  its  raiment ;  it  contained  only 
the  Spirituals  and  their  associates,  and  was  ruled  by  men 
of  spiritual  life  alone."  They  had  firm  confidence  in 
the  near  approach  of  the  times  foreshown  by  John  Peter 
Oliva,  when  the  Pope,  the  Cardinals,  all  Abbots  and 
Prelates,  should  ba  abolished,  perhaps  put  to  th&  sword* 
Such,  doctrines  were  too  sure  of  popularity,  possibly 
among  some  of  the  higher  orders,  aasuradly  aabemiffk,. 
among  the  wretched  serfs,  the  humbler  and  "*niiluitl<»11- 
oppressed  vassals,  the  peasantry,  the  artisans  of  the* 
towns,  the  mass  of  the  lower  classes,  Multitudes  no 
doubt  took  refuga  from  want,  degradation,  tyranny,  in 
free  and  s elf-right e DUB  mendicancy/  They  were  spread- 
ing everywhere  (the  followers  of  Dolcino  appeared  in 
Poland),  and  everywhers  they  spread  they  disseminated 


1  These  arts  thi;  words  of  the  Bull  of  Pope  Johu.— liayuald,  Bub  aim.  IE!  18. 
«  Sea,  too,  the  tiial  Lib  Toulous>D  of  Ik  Lupo,  i-eferied  to  nliiivij, 

2  B  2 


872 


LATIN  DHEISTIANlTr. 


BooKXIL 


their  doctrines  in  new  forms,  each,  moro  and  more 
formidable  if  not  fatal  to  the  hierarchy,  Fraticel- 
lism,  Beguiaism,  Lullardism.  They  first  familiarised 
the  common  mind  with  the  notion  that  Rome  was  the 
Bahylon,  the  great  harlot  of  the  Apocalypse. 

John  XXII.  was  too  sagacious  not  to  foresee  the  peril  \ 
Alarm  or  *DD  arrogantly  convinced,  and  too  jealous,  of 
Pope  John,  hia  supreme  spiritual  authority  not  to  resent; 
too  merciless  not  to  extirpate  by  the  most  cruel  means 
theaa  slowly-working  enemies.  Soon  after  his  accession 
Bull  followed  Bull  equally  damnatory.  The  Franciscan 
convents  in  Narbonne  and  in  Beziers  were  in  open 
revolt  from  their  Order:  on  them  the  wrath  of  the 
Pope  first  burst.  The  Inquisition  was  committed  to 
Michael  di  Cessna,  still  the  faithful  subject  of  the  Pope, 
and  to  seven  others.8  Twenty-five  monks  were  con- 
victed, and  sentenced  first  to  degradation,  then  to 
perpetual  imprisonment.  Some  at  least  still  defied  the 
persecutor:  they  committed  their  defiance  to  writing. 
"They  had  not  abandoned  the  holy  Order  of  St. Francis, 
but  the  whited  walls,  its  false  brethren  ;  not  its  habit, 
but  its  robes ;  not  the  faith,  but  the  bark  and  husk  of 
faith :  not  the  Dhurch,  but  the  blind  synagogue  (this 
was  their  constant  and  most  galling  obloquy :  the  cor- 
rupt Dhurch  was  to  the  perfect  one  as  the  Jewish 
Synagogue  to  that  of  Christ) ;  they  had  not  disclaimed 
their  pastor,  but  a  ravening  wolf."  For  this  apostasy, 
iid  it  was  declared,  they  ware  brought  to  the  stake  and 
burned  at  Marseilles.*  They  were  condemned  for  tha 
heresy  of  denying  the  Papal  authority.  As  yet  there 


'  See  the  letter  of  John  XXII.,  IB- 
legating  ths  inquisitorial  power  to 
Michael  di  Cessna, — Baluzii  Miscel- 
lanea. Another  dgcument  contains  ths 


of  the  Inquisition,  and  to  this 
ia  appended  hiB  signature, 

'  (See,  for  the  frightful  details,  Vaw 
sette,  Hist,  ds  Languedoc,  torn.  IT, 


I.       JOHN  PERSECUTES  THE  Sl'IRITUALS  373 

was  no  Papal  censure  of  the  strict  spiritual  interpre- 
tation of  the  Franciscan  rule :  it  was  the  rather  esta- 
blish ei  by  the  Bull  of  Nicolas  IV. 

The  Inquisition  had  begun  its  work:  it  continued. 
under  the  ordinary  Dominican  administration,  under 
which  Franciscan  heretics  were  nut  likely  to  find  in- 
dulgence. In  Narbonne,  in  Beziers,  in  Capestang,  in 
Lodeve,  inLunel,  inPezenas,  those  denisrs  of  ths  Papal 
authority,  and  HO  of  the  tenBts  of  tha  Church  (this  was 
their  declared  crime),  suffered,  as  one  party  thought, 
the  just  doom  of  their  obstinate  heresy ;  as  they  them- 
selves declared,  glorious  martyrdom.11  They  were 
mingled  perhaps  (persecution  is  not  nice  in  its  iisciiini- 
natiun)  with  men  of  more  odious  views,  the  secret  sur- 
vivors of  the  old  Albigensian  or  Waldeneiau  tenets. 
Many  of  tlism  were  believed  to  be,  some  may  have  been 
really,  infected  with  such  opinions.  But  those  that 
perished  at  the  stake  were  but  few  out  of  the  appalling 
numbers,  The  prisons  of  Narbonnu  and  Carcass tmtir 
were  crowded  with  those  who  were  sparud  the  last 
penalty.  Among  thosi)  was  the  Friar  Dulicioaus  of 
Montpellisr,  a  Franciscan,  who  had  boldly  withstood  the 
Inquisition,  and  was  immured  for  life  in  a  dungeon. 
He  it  was  who  declared  that  if  St.  Peter  and  St,  Paul 
should  return  to  earth,  the  Inquisition  would  lay  handss 
on  them  as  damnable  heretics.  At  Toulouse  the  public 
sermons  of  the  Inquisition  took  place  at  intervals,  and 
these  sermons  were  rarely  unaccompanied  by  proofs  of 
their  inemcacy.  Men  who  would  not  be  argued  into 
belief  must  be  burned.  The  corollary  of  a  Christian 
sermon  was  a  holocaust  at  the  stake, 


*  Mwhaim  hai  in  hla  pouauion  a  martyrology  of  113  Spiritual  martyr* 
from  1318  to  tha  Papacy  of  Innocent  VI. 


374 


LATIN  DHPJSTIANITY. 


BOOK  XII, 


As  yet  the  great  question,  the  poverty  of  Christ 
Absolute    tia  Apostles,  had  not  been  awakened  from  its 
i"™"*     repose.     The  Bull  of  Nicolas  IV.  was  still  the 
law;  hut  John  3XII.  was  proud  and  confident  in  his 
theological  learning,  and  not  unwilling  to  plunge  into 
the  perilous  controversy.    Tha  occasion  was  forced  upon 
him,  hut  he  disdained  to  elude  it :  he  seized  on  it  with- 
out reluctance,  perhaps  with  avidity.     HB  was  eager  to 
crush  at  oncf  a  doctrine,  the  root  and  groundwork  of 
these  revolutionary  prophecies    of  John  Peter   Oliva, 
ubertinoiii  wliich  had  recently  been  asserted,  with  in- 
CBaUa-       trepid  courage,  by  an  eloquent  friar,  Ubertino 
di  Basale.     Uhertiuo  had  not  only  been  persecuted  in 
Provence,  he  had  been  excommunicated,  and  driven  out 
of  Tuscany  and  Parma,  where  the  Spirituals  had  set  up 
a  new  General,  Henry  de  Deva,  organised  a  new  Order 
under  provincials,  custodea,  and  guardians,  no  doubt 
with  the  hope  that  from  Sicily  was  even  now  to  come 
forth  the  great  king,  the  deliverer,  the  destroyer  of  the 
carnal  and  wealthy  Church — he  under  whom  was  to 
open,  the  fourth  age,  and  to  arise  the  poor,  immaculate, 
Spiritual  Pope.51 
Ths  Archbishop  of  Narbonne   and  the   Grand  In- 


»  "  Set  thu  Bull  GrloriDsam  Ecclc- 
piam,  "Tarn  det&tatnli  tuiboo  jiim- 
ficientes  magis  idalum  junm  piicla^ 
turn."  ThJa  remarkable  Bull  recounts 
thij  five  erroi-s  of  the  Spiritual  Fran- 
ciacans :— I,  The  aascitian  of  the  two 
churches,  "  unam  carnal  em,  divitu's 
presasm,  aflluenLein  divitiis,  aceleribui 
mauulatam,  cui  Eomnnum  Prscaulera, 
OfflteroequB  infarioraa  Frealatoa  dmni- 
nari  asserunt ;  aliam  EpirituaUm,  fru- 
galitajte  mundaai,  Testitu  decoram, 
lucdoctam"  II,  The  u> 


Beition  that  the  acts  and  SucmmentH 
of  the  clergy  nf  tho  ciunal  chuich 
weie  invulid.  HI.  The  unlawfulness 
of  oaths.  IV.  That  the  wickoilnesfl 
of  the  individual  priest  invalidated  the 
Saciament.  V,  That  they  nlnne  ful- 
fill Ed  the  Gospel  of  Chiist.  Thare  » 
a  useful  collaotion  of  all  the  Bulls 
relating  to  this  Inquisition  at  the  end 
of  N.  Ejmeiic,  Diruetorium  Inquv- 
aitorum.  See  for  this  Bull  (dated 
Avigtun.  23rd  Jan  1313),  p.  58. 


CHAP.  VI.  BULL  OP  NICOLAS  IV.  375 

guisitor,  John  de  Beaune,  were  sitting  in  judgement  on 
a  Beghard.  They  summoned  to  their  council  all  tke 
clergy  distinguish  ed  for  their  learning.  One  of  the 
articles  objected  against  the  Beghard  was  his  assertion 
of  the  absolute  poverty  of  Christ  and  his  Apostles.  The 
Court  were  about  to  condemn  the  tenet,  when  u,,rBngeraa 
Bersnger  de  Talon,  only  a  reader,  but  a  man  7U™- 
of  character,  stood  up  and  declared  it  sound,  catholic, 
and  orthodox.  HB  would  not  be  put  down  by  clamour; 
he  refused  to  retract;  he  cited  the:  Bull  of  Pope  Nicolas; 
he  appealed  to  ths  Pope  in  Avignon.  Berengsr  ap- 
peared before  John  XXII.  and  his  Consistory  of  Car- 
dinals, maintained  his  doctrine,  was  seized  and  put 
under  arrest.  But  as  yet  the  cautious  Court  proceeded 
no  further  than  to  suspend  the  anathema  attached  to 
the  Bull  of  Pope  Nirolas — the  anathema  against  all  who 
should  reopen  the  discussion.* 

Tho  Bull  of  Pope  Nicolas  was  tho  great  charter  of 
Franciscanism.  The  whole  Order  was  in  commotion, 
A  general  Chapter  was  held  at  Perugia,  The 
Chapter  declared  unanimously  that  they  ad- 
hcred  to  the  determination  of  the  Eonmn  Church,  and 
the  Bull  of  Pope  Nicolas,  that  to  assart  the  absolute 
poverty  of  Christ,  the  perfect  way,  was  not  heretical, 
but  sound,  catholic,  consonant  to  the  faith.  They 
appealed  not  only  to  the  Papal  Bull,  but  to  a  decree  of 
the  Council  of  Yienne.  Michael  di  Cesona,  the  General 
of  the  Order,  joined  in  the  condemnation:  he  had  signed 
the  warrant  making  over  the  contumacious  brethren  to 
the  secular  arm  at  Marseilles;  and  now  Michael  di 
Cestma  defied  the  Papal  power,  arrayed  Pope  against 

7  Sflo  tlia  Bull  De  Vei'foorum  Significations  Wnlmngham  Bay*  of  the  Statute! 
ofNfonluB  IV,,  "(jux  ftalunt  nun  aolumflupBitnia  Mlnoreu,  se<l  etram  iiuanire," 
— P,  63, 


B7fi  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  XII. 

Pope,  and  asserted  the  obnoxious  doctrine  in  the 
strongest  terms.  He  stood  not  alone :  the  admini- 
strators of  the  Order  in  England,  Upper  Grermany, 
Aquitaine,  France,  Castile,  and  six  others,  affixed  their 
seal  to  the  protest.' 

Tha  Pope  kept  no  measures :  he  pronounced  the 
Chapter  of  Perugia  guilty  of  heresy ;  he  issued  a  new 
BOH  or  Pops  Bull;  he  exposed  the  legal  fiction,  sanctioned 
JoUn  hy  his  predecessors,  by  which  the  property, 

the  lordship  of  all  the  vast  possessions  of  the  Order, 
was  in  the  See  of  Borne ;  he  taunted  them,  not  without 
bitterness,  with  the  enormous  wealth  which  they  had 
obtained  and  actually  enjoyed  under  this  fallacy;  he 
withdrew  from  them  the  privilege  of  holding,  seeking, 
extorting,  defending,  or  administering  goods  in  th& 
name  of  the  Eoman  See.  The  perilous  conclusion  fol- 
lowed. It  was  at  least  menacingly  hinted  that  the 
property  was  still  in  the  original  owners:  whatever 
usufruct  the  Order  might  have  was  revocable.  The 
Brother  Bonagratia,  the  fierce  opponent  of  TJbertino  di 
Casale,  who  had  defended  the  visions  of  John  Peter  Oliva, 
appealed  against  tha  Bull ;  he  was  thrown  into  prison. 
The  controversy  raged  without  restraint.  The  Oar- 
dinals  sent  in  elaborate  judgements,  most  of 
them  adverse  to  tha  Chapter  of  Perugia,  some 
few  with  a  milder  condemnation,  some  almost  approving 
their  doctrines.  The  Dominicans,  iu  the  natural  course 
of  things,  were  strong  on  the  opposite  party;  it  was  a 
glorious  opportunity  for  the  degradation  of  their  rivals, 
Under  their  influence  the  University  of  Paris  pru- 
flounced  a  prolix,  almost  an  interminable,  judgement 
againi-it  the  Franciscans. 


Kftfntld,  sub  aim.  1322. 


CHAP.  VI. 


MICHAEL  DI  CESSNA. 


377 


On  the  other  hand,  the  most  powerful  dialectician  of 
the  age,  William  of  Dckham,  who  had  already  Wiium  nr 
laid  at  least  the  foundations  of  his  great  system  Dckhana- 
of  rationalistic  philosophy,  BO  adverss  to  the  spirit  of 
the  age ;  and  who  was  about,  by  severe  argument,  to 
assail  and  to  shake  the  whole  fabric  of  the  Papal  do- 
minion, employed  all  his  subtle  skill  in  defence  of  the 
Spirituals.  Michael  di  Cessna,  by  a  strange  uichwidi 
syllogism,  while  he  condescended  to  acknow-  Ce8cnftt 
ledga  the  inferiority  of  St.  Francis  to  the  Redeemer, 
inferred  his  superiority  to  Christ,,  as  Christ  was  under- 
stood and  represented  by  the  Church.*  St.  Francis 
practised  absolute  voluntary  poverty;  if  Christ  did  not, 
he,  the  type,  was  inferior  to  the  Saint  his  antitype.  It 
could  not  be  heretical  to  assert  that  St.  Francis  did  n&t 
surpass  his  Example ;  Christ  therefore  must  have  dona 
all  or  more  than  St.  Francis,  and  practised,  still  more 
total  poverty.  He  appealed  to  the  Stigmata  as  the  un- 
answerable evidence  to  their  complete  similitude.  All 
the  citations  from  the  Gospels  and  the  Acts,  whidi 
showed  that  Christ  and  his  Apostles  had  the  scrip,  the 
purse,  the  bog  (held  by  Judas  b),  the  sword  of  Peter, 
Christ's  raiment  and  undivided  robe,  were  treated  aa 
condescensions  to  human  infirmity.0  This  language  had 
been  authorised  by  the  Bull  of  Pope  Nicolas  ;  and  ou 
that  distinct  irrepealable  authority  they  rest  ad  as  oil 
a  rock,  It  was  clear  that  the  Pope  must  rescind  the 
deliberate  decree  of  his  predecessor.  Nor  was  John  the 


•  Raynald.  sub  nun.  1823. 

•  See  note  above,  p.  846. 

•  "Sic  Jesus   Chriatus,  oujas  per- 
fects sunt  opera,  in  Bute  aotlbUB  vlum 
perfection)*  exercuit,  quod  Jnterdum 
tapttfectorom   Infirm'tetlbui    conde- 


Bcendena,ufc  vwm  perfection!)  extollcrek, 
et  imperi'ectorum  inJinmoji  icmitiui  nou 
damnaret."  Thio  yaauigt  rofcria  ta 
the  "locuta"  of  C'iitlst.  So  upeftki 
the  Bull  '-Kxcit."  YI.  D«mt.  ir. 
t,  xii. 


378 


IATIN  DEEISTlAiaTY. 


BOOKXIL 


pontiff  who  would  shrink  from  the  strongest  display  of 
his  authority.  He  published  two  more  Bulls  in  succes- 
sion. On  the  grounds  of  Sacred  Scripture  and  of  gooi 
sense  his  arguments  were  triumphant,1  hut  all  his  subtle 
ingenuity  could  not  explain  away  or  reconcile  his  con- 
clusions with  the  older  statute.  Nothing  remained  hut 
to  declare  his  power  of  annulling  the  acts  of  his  holy 
ancestor,  That  ancestor*  by  his  Bull,  had  annulled 
those  of  Gregory  DL,  Innocent  IV.,  and  Alexander  IV.6 
All  thosa  who  declared  that  Christ  and  his  Apostles 
had  no  property,  only  the  use  of  things  necessary,  were 
pronounced  guilty  of  damnable  heresy.  The  Fran- 
ciscans retorted  the  charge,  and  publicly  arraigned  of 
heresy  the  Pope  himself. 

This  strange  strife,  which,  if  any  strife,  might  seem 
Effects  of  this  altogether  of  words,  had  a  far  deeper  signifi- 
MntrDvewy.  GanOBj  a]afl  \eft  tQ  the  graveat  political  and 

religious  consequences.  Very  many  of  the  Franciscans 
in  Italy,  who  swayed  ,at  their  will  the  popular  mind, 
became  fierce  Grhibellines.  They  took  part,  as  will 
appear,  with  Louis  of  Bavaria  against  the  Pope.  In 
their  ranks  was  found  the  Antipope.  The  religious 
consequences,  if  not  so  immediately  and  fully  traceable, 
were  more  extensive  and  lasting.  The  controversy  com- 
menced by  forcing  on  a  severe  and  intrppid  examina- 
tion of  the  grounds  of  the  Papal  power.  The  Pope 
finally  triumphed,  but  the  victory  shook  his  throne  to 


*  Perfection  ought  to  be  content 
with,  the  use  of  things  neceBsaiy  to 
life,  The  Pope  argued  that  the  uao 
of  things  neuesaaiy,  fpod  and  clothes, 
implied  pouebbion. 

'  "  Si  enim  nobia  nun  limit  contra 
opB8tltuti0nem  Nicolal  IV.  predecas- 


SDi'iH  miHtii  in  quft  rt  fundantj 
pub  aliqmi  etntuera  oommune,  nee 
sill  licuit  contra  fltatuta  Ortgor,, 
lunocent.  et  Altutand.,  prndictofum, 
etatueie  aut  Alliuii  declnr&rs/'— - Eiti1, 
John.  tit.  xiv, 


CHAP.  VI, 


THE  CONTROVERSY. 


the  centre.  In  1328  Michael  di  Cessna  appeared  beibra 
the  Pontiff  at  Avignon.  He  withstood  him  to  thu  face, 
in  his  own  words,  as  Paul  did  Peter.  He  was  placed 
under  arrest  in  the  full  Consistory.  He  fled  to  Pisa : 
there  he'  mads  a  formal  appeal  to  a  General  Council, 
accused  the  Pope  of  twelve  articles  of  heresy,  published 
a  book  on  the  errors  of  the  Pope,  and  addressed  a  full 
argument  on  those  heresies  to  the  Princes  and  Prelates 
of  Germany.*  Among  other  bold  assertions  he  laid 
down  as  incontestable,  that  a  Pope  who  taught  or  deter- 
mined anything  contrary  to  the  Catholic  faith,  by  that 
act  fell  under  a  sentence  of  excommunication,  con- 
demnation, deprivation.5  He  called  the  Pope  James  of 
Oahors,  as  though  he  were  deposed.  Among  the  articles 
against  John  was  his  assertion  that  Christ,  immedi- 
ately on  his  Conception,  assumed  universal  temporal 
dominion  j h  and  so  the  high  questiun,  the  temporal 
power  of  the  Pope,  became  a  leading  topic  of  the  con- 
troversy. In  a  dialogue  between  OUQ  of  the  Fratkdli 
and  a  Catholic,1  tho  Catholic  urges  all  the  countless 
texts  about  the  dominion  of  Christ,  and  declares  that 
they  must  comprehend  temporal  dominion.  His  title  of 
Jfcfog  were  but  a  mockery,  if  it  wore  not  over  earthly 
Kings  and  over  States,  .only  over  the  souls  of  men.  If 
tha  Popes  did  not  hold  of  nglit  temporal  possessions, 
they  were  damned  for  holding  thorn,  He  recounts  the 
most  famous  of  the  Pontiffs;  "Are  these  pious  and 
holy  man  damned?"  ,  The  Fraticelli  urges  the  infinite 


'  Tvnctatus  contra  crrores  Papm  npud 
Boldiifltum,  ii.  1235  et  acqq. 

t  "  Untie  Papa  contra  cbctrlnam 
fidel  Catholics)  ilocena,  aive  etabueiu, 
in  «en  ten  tiara  excommunicationis,  dam- 
priTonouiu  meidit  ipw  facto." 


h  He  quotefl  flgaimt  tbti  tlie  hymn 
ofS  Ambroae — 


1  Han  acclplt  mortal!*, 
Qul  ragim  dat  cwlo*tl»." 


1  Apui 
t,  2, 


Baluzlum, 


BSD  LATIN  DHBISTIANITV.  BOOK  XII. 

scandal  of  the  wars  and  dissensions  excited  by  the  Pre- 
lates of  the  Church  for  worldly  power.  "It  is  mar- 
vellous that  ys  are  willing  in  arms,  and,  in  defence  of 
temporalities,  to  slay  men  for  whom  Christ  died  on  the 
Cross."  "The  Prelates,"  rejoins  the  Catholic,  "intend 
not  to  slay  men  (far  be  it  from  them !),  but  to  defend 
the  faith  against  heretics,  and  their  temporalities  against 
tyrants."  The  Catholic  quotes  one  of  the  lata  Papal 
edicts.  "He  (the  Pope)  alone  promulgates  law;  he 
alone  is  absolved  from  all  law.  He  sits  alone  in  the 
chair  of  the  blessed  St.  Peter,  not  as  mere  man,  but  as 

man  and  God His  will  is  law;  what  he  pleases 

has  the  force  of  law."k 

Such  avowed  principles  are  those  rather  of  desperate 
defence  than  of  calmly  conscious  power ;  yet  to  outward 
show  John  XXII.  retained  all  his  unshaken  authority. 
He  issued  a  Bull,  commencing  with,  "  Since  that  repro- 
bate man,  Michael  di  Cesena."  Though  the  strength 
of  the  General  of  ths  Order  was  in  Italy,  yet  even  there 
the  Prelates  of  the  Order,  who  were  by  family,  city 
aonnexions,  or  opinions,  Guelf,  adhered  to  the  Pope. 
The  Imperialists  in  Grermany  were  with  the  rebellious 
General,  but  in  France  he  was  held  as  a  heretic.  The 
more  sober  and  moderate  of  the  Order  assembled,  de- 
posed him,  and  chose  Bertrand  di  Torre  as  the  General 
of  the  Franciscans. 

This  spiritual  democracy  had  more  profound  and  en- 

The  PUS-   during  workings  on  the  mind  and  heart  of  man 

toureaui,  than  the  fierce  outbreak  of  social  democracy 

which  now,  during  the  reign  of  Philip  the  Long!  again 


Extravagant,  da  Jjistitut.    "Ipse 
edit  legem,  Ipw  solua  a  legibus 
Ipsa  esl   aol'ii  wdetia  in 


bsati  Fetri  cathedra,  Boa  Umquam 
purua  homo  tied  tan^uam  Deus  at 
."— P.  BJl. 


CHAI>.  VI.  THE  PA8TOUBEAUX.  381 

desolated  France.  As  in  the  days  of  St.  Lotus,  an  in* 
surrection  of  the  peasantry  spread  from  the  British 
Channel  to  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean.  The  long 
unrelenting  exactions  of  Philip  the  Fair,  which  had 
weighed  so  heavily  on  the  higher  orders — where  there 
were  middle  classes,  on  them  too — increasing  in  weight 
as  they  descended,  crushed  to  the  earth  the  cultivators 
of  ths  soil.  The  peasantry  were  goaded  to  madness; 
their  madness  of  coursa  in  that  age  took  a  religious 
turn.  Again,  at  the  persuasion  of  a  degraded  priest 
and  a  renegade  monk,  they  declared  that  it  was  for 
them,  ani  them  only,  to  recover  the  sepulchre  of  Christ 
So  utterly  hopeless  was  it  that  they  should  conquer  a 
state  of  freedom,  peace,  plenty,  happiness  at  home,  that 
they  \vere  driven  by  force  to  this  remote  object.  By  a 
simultaneous  movement  they  left  everywhere 
their  unploughed  fields,  thair  untended  flocks 
and  herds.  At  first  they  were  unarmed,  barefooted* 
with  wallet  aud  pilgrim's  staff.  They  want  two  by  two, 
preceded  by  a  banner,  and  begged  fur  food  at  th«  gates 
of  abbeys  and  castles.  As  they  went  on  and  grew  in 
numbers,  they  seized  or  forged  wild  weapons.  They 
were  joined  by  all  the  wandering  ribalds,  the  outcasts  of 
the  law  (no  small  force),  Ere  they  reached  Paris  they 
were  an  army,  They  had  begun  to  plunder  for  food* 
Everywhere,  if  the  authorities  had  apprehended  any  of 
their  followers,  they  broke  the  prisons.  Some  had  been 
seized  and  committed  to  the  gaols  of  Paris.  They 
swarmed  into  the  city,  burst  open  the  gaol  of  the 
Abbey  of  St.  Martin  des  Champa,  forced  the  stronger 
Chatebt,  hurlsd  the  Provost  headlong  dowu  the  stairs, 
set  free  the  prisoners,  encamped  and  offered  battle  in 
the  Pr$  aux  Clares  and  the  -Pre"  St.  Germain  to  the 
King's  troops.  Few  soldiers  were  ready  to  encouutev 


'-1*2  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY-  BOOK-  XU 

them.  They  sat  off  towards  Aquitaine.  Df  their  march 
to  the  south  nothing  is  known;  but  in  Languedoc  they 
appear ei  on  a  sudden  to  the  number  of  forty  thousand.111 
In  Languedoc  they  found  victims  whom  the  govern- 
ment, the  nobles,  and  the  clergy  would  willingly  have 
yielded  to  their  pillage,  if  they  could  thus  have  glutted 
their  fury.  The  Jews  of  the  South  of  France,  notwith- 
standing  persecution,  expulsion,  were  again  in 
numbers  and  in  perilous  prosperity.  On  them 
burst  the  zeal1  of  this  wild  crusade.  Five  hundred  took 
refuge  in  the  royal  Castle  of  Verdun  on  the  Garonne. 
The  royal  officers  refused  to  defend  them.  The  shep- 
herds set  fire  to  the  lower  stories  of  a  lofty  tower ;  the 
Jews  slew  each,  other,  having  thrown  their  children  to 
the  mercy  of  their  assailants  j  the  infants  which  escaped 
were  baptised.  Everywhere,  even  in  the  great  cities, 
Auch,  Toulouse,  Oastel  Sarrasin,  the  Jews  were  left  to 
be  remorselessly  massacred,  their  property  pillaged. 
The  Pope  himself  might  behold  from  the  walls  of 
Avignon  these  wild  bauds;  but  in  John  XXII.  there 
was  nothing  of  St.  Bernard.  He  launched  his  excom- 
munication, not  against  the  murderers  of  the  inoffensive 
Jews,  but  against  all  who  presumed  to  take  the  Dross 
without  warrant  of  the  Holy  See.  Even  that  same  year 
he  published  violent  Bulls  against  the  poor  persecuted 
Hebrews,  and  commanded  the  Bishops  to  destroy  the 
source  of  their  detestable  blasphemies,  to  burn  their 
Talmuds,0  The  Pope  summoned  the  Seneschal  of  Car- 
cassonne to  defend  the  shores  of  the  Bhone  opposite  to 
Avignon:  the  Seneschal  did  more  terrible  service.  As 
the  shepherds  crowded,  on  the  notion  of  embarking  for 


•  Sumondi  Bays  that  they  wwe  at  Albi  Junu  25,  at  Carcassonne  June 
,  132  [J.  •  A.D.  1320. 


.  VI  THE  LEPERS,  383 

the  Holy  Land,  to  Aigues  Mortea,  he  cut  off  at  once 
their  advance  and  their  retreat,  and  laft  them  tu 
perish  of  want,  nakedness,  and  fever  in  the  pestilential 
marsh  BB.  When  they  were  weakened  by  their  miaerica 
ha  attacked  and  hung  them  without  mercy. 

The  next  year  witnessed  a  more  cruel  persecution, 
that  of  the  Lepers.     There  can  be  no  more 

t  11  Kit  i 

certain  gauge  of  the  wretchedness  of  the  lowest 
classes  of  society  than  the  prevalence  of  that  foul 
malady,  the  offspring  of  meagre  diet,  miserable  lodging 
and  clothing,  physical  and  moral  degradation.  The 
protection  and  care  of  this  blighted  race  was  among  the 
most  beautiful  offices  of  the  Church  during  the  Middls 
Ages.0  Now  in  their  hour  of  deeper  wretchedness  and 
sufferings,  aggravated  by  the  barbarous  folly  of  nmu, 
the  cold  Church  was  silent,  or  rather,  by  her  denuncia- 
tions of  witchcraft  and  hatred  of  tho  Jews,  counte- 
nanced the  strange  accusations  of  which  the  juiie^i 
po or  Lepers  were  tho  victims.  King  Philip  sat  um- 
in  his  Parliament  at  Poitiers.  Public  representations 
were  made  that  all  the  fountains  in  Aquitaine  had  been 
poisoned,  or  were  about  to  be  poisoned,  by  the  Lepers* 
Many  had  been  burned;  they  had  confessed  their  dia- 
bolic wickedness,  which  was  to  be  practised  throughout 
France  and  Germany.  Everywhere  they  ware  seized,* 
confessions  were  wrung  from  them,  They  revealed  the 
plot ;  thay  revealed  the  authors  of  the  plot ;  they  were 
bribed  by  the  Jews,  they  were  bribed  by  the  King  of 
Grenada,  The  ingredients  of  the  poison  were  named, 
a  wild  browage  of  everything  loathsome  and  awful; 
human  urine,  three  kinds  of  herbs  (which  they  could 
not  describe),  with  these  a  consecrated  If  oat  reduced  to 


•  Sec  vol.  iv.  y.  173,  note, 


384  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BooKXIJL 

powder.  With  another  it  was  the  heal  of  a  serpent,  the 
feet  of  a  toad,  the  hair  of  a  woman  steeped  in  some 
black  and  fetid  mixture.  Every  leper,  every  one  sus- 
pected of  leprosy,  was  arrested  throughout  the  realm 
Some  disputes  arose  about  jurisdiction:  they  were  cut 
short  by  a  peremptory  ordinance  of  the  King  to  clear 
the  land  of  the  guilty  and  superstitious  brood  of  lepers. 
They  were  ordered  to  be  burned,  and  burned  they  were 
in  many  parts  of  France.  A  milder  ordinance  came  too 
late,  that  only  the  guilty  should  be  burned,  that  the 
females  with  child  should  be  permitted  to  give  birth  to 
their  miserable  offspring.  The  innocent  were  shut  up 
for  life  in  lazarets.11 

The  inexhaustible  Jews  furnished  new  holocausts, 
The  rich  alone  in  Paris  were  reserved  to  gorge  tha 
royal  exchequer  with  their  wealth.  The  King  is  said  to 
have  obtained  from  this  sanguinary  source  of  revenue 
the  vast  sum  of  150,000  livrea.  The  mercy  of  Oharles 
the  Fair  afterwards  allowed  all  who  survived  to  quit 
the  kingdom  on  paying  a  heavy  ransom  to  the  royal 
treasury.11 


Contimmt,  Nangie,  p.  78.     HiaUrire  de  Languedoc,  iv.  79.     Compare 
,  u.  p.  394.  i      Ccntinuator  Nangta, 


CHAP.  VII.         JOHN  XXII.— LOUIS  OF  BAVAEIA.  885 


CHAPTER   VII. 


John  XXII.    Louis  of  Bavaria, 

IP  John  XXII.  by  hia  avarice  offended  those  who  held 
absolute  poverty  to  be  the  perfection  of  Christianity,  he 
was  in  other  respects  as  far  from  their  conception  of  a 
true  Pope — one  who  should  be  content  with  spiritual 
dominion,  and  withdraw  altogether  from  secular  affairs, 
His  whole  life  was  in  contemptuous  opposition  to  such 
doctrines.     Of  all  the  Pontiffs — Gregory  VII.,  Innocent 
III.,  Boniface  VIII. — no  one  was  muio  dooply  involved 
in  temporal  affairs,  or  employed  hia  spiritual  weapons, 
censures,  excommunications,  mtcrdiuta,  inoro  prodigally 
for  political  ends.     Hia  worldlmsaa  wanted  tha  dignity 
of  motive  which  might  dtutzlo  or  bewilder  tho  (strong 
minds  of  his  predecessors.    If  he  did  not  advance  new 
pretensions,  he  promulgated  the  old  in  the  moat  naked 
and  offensive  form,  so  as  to  provolto  a  controversy, 
which,  however  silenced  for  a  time,  left  its  indelible  in- 
fluence on  the  mind  of  man,     In  hia  long  strife  with 
Louis  of  Bavaria,  no  great  religious,  occlesi-  i..^^ 
astical,   or   even  Papal   interests  were   con-  Dmril1- 
earned.    It  was  no  mortal  struggle,  as  for  the  investi- 
tures, for  the  privileges,  or  imimmitios  of  the  hierarchy. 
Louis  of  Bavaria  was  no  Henry  IV.,  whose  proflignlu 
life  might  seem  to  justify  the  severe  animosity  of  thn 
Pope ;  no  Barbarossa  aiming  at  the  servitude  of  Italy, 
and  of  the  Pope  himself;  to  the  Empire ;  no  Froilwrick  11. 
enclosing  the  Pope  between  the  territory  of  the  E 
VOL,  VIL  2  a 


38  B  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  XII. 

and  the  Kingdom  of  Naples,  and  suspected  at  least 
and  accused  of  designs  not  against  the  hierarchy  alone, 
against  ths  faith  itself.  Louis,  for  his  age,  was  a  vir- 
tuous and  religious  prince,  who  would  have  purchased 
the  Pope's  friendship  hy  any  concessions.  Hor  was  ha 
powerful  enough  to  be  formidable.  Nothing  but  the 
implacable  and  unprovoked  hostility  of  tha  Pope  goaded 
him  to  his  descant  on  Italy,  his  close  alliance  with  the 
Ghibellines,  his  sympathy  with  the  Spiritual  Fran- 
ciscans, his  elevation  of  an  Antipope. 

If  John  XXII.,  as  he  was  publicly  accused,*  avowed 
the  wicked  and  un-Christian  doctrine  that  the  ani- 
mosities of  Kinga  and  Princes  made  a  real  Pops,  a  Pope, 
as  hs  meant,  the  object  of  common  dread;  if  on  this 
principle  civil  war  amongst  the  Princes  of  Germany  was 
tha  peacB  and  security  of  the  Church  of  Home :  never 
did  Pope  reign  at  a  more  fortunate  juncture.  On  Ms 
accession  John  found  ths  Empire  Blunged  into  con- 
fusion as  inextricable  as  the  most  politic  or  hostile 
Pontiff  could  desire.  On  tha  sudden  death  of  Henry 
of  Luxemburg  a  double  election  followed,  of  singular 
doubtfulness  and  intricacy  of  title.  Of  the  seven 
Electors,  Louis  of  Bavaria  had  three  uncontested 
voices — old  Peter  Aschpalter,  Archbishop  of  M&ntz, 
who,  as  heretofore,  exacted  on  behalf  of  his  Boa  an 
ample  price  for  his  suffragB;b  Baldwin  of  Treves,  as 
solemnly  pledged,  and  for  tha  same  kind  of  retaining 
fee ;  and  the  Marquis  of  Brandenburg,  The  fourth  was 
King  Louis  of  Bohemia.  For  Frederick,  of  the  great 


•  Luijpvlci  IV,  AppellntiD  apml  Ik- 
luzlum,  Vit.  Pap,  Avfnion.  ii.  p.  47  8. 

b  See  In  Boehmer  (Reg;sta)  the  re- 
peated and  twodigal  greats  to  tha 
Archbishop  of  Mania,  less  lavish  to 


the  Archbishop  of  Ti'&ves,  On  Jon, 
ID,  1315,  Via  pledges  Oppenhfiim,  the 
town  and  ensile,  with  other  place*,  to 
Peter  Asuhpalter,  not  to  the  Ai  chlilshgp, 
This  is  not  a  eingular  uutanoe, 


CHAP.  VII  JOHN  XXIL—LOOIS  OF  BAVARIA.  387 

house  of  Austria,  stood  the  Archbishop  of  Cologne; 
Bodolph,  Elector  Palatine,  though  brother  of  the  Ba- 
varian; and  the  Duke  of  Saxe  Witt  emb  erg.  With 
these  was  Henry  of  Carinthia,  who  laid  claim  to  the 
kingdom  and  suffrage  of  Bohemia.  Besides  this  dispute 
about  ths  Bohemian  vote,  the  Prince  of  Saxe  Lauen- 
berg,  on  the  side  of  Louis  of  Bavaria,  contested  tha 
Saxon  suffrage.  For  part  of  eight  years"  Pope  John 
had  the  satisfaction  of  hearing  that  the  fertile  fields  of 
Germany  -were  laid  waste,  her  noble  cities  burned,  the 
Rhine  and  her  affluents  running  with  the  blood  of 
Christian  men.  HB  might  look  on  with  complacency, 
admitting  neither  title,  and  awaiting  the  time  when 
he  would  no  longer  dissemble  liis  own  de&igna.  Even 
Clement  V.  had  dreaded  the  union  of  the  two  realms  of 
France  and  the  Empire;  he  had  dared  secretly  to  baffle 
the  plans  of  his  tyrant  Philip  the  Fair,  to  raise  a  prince 
sf  his  house  to  ths  Imperial  throne.  Either  from  (sub- 
servience, from  gratitude,  or  from  aomo  haughty  notion, 
that  a  Pope  in  Avignon  might  rule  tho  feublo  princes- 
who  succBssively  filled  the  throne  of  Philip  tho  Fair,, 
John  determined  to  strive  for  tho  elevation  of  the  King 
of  France  to  the  Empire.  In  Italy  it  was  the  deliberate 
policy  of  Pope  John  altogether  to  abrogate  the  Imperial 
claims  of  supremacy  or  dominion;  but  this  was  not 
conceived  in  tho  noble  spirit  of  an  Italian  Pontiff,  gene- 
rously resolved,  for  tho  independent  of  Italy,  to  raise 
a  powerful  monarchy  in  the  Peninsula,  at  tho  hazard  ot 
its  obtaining  control  over  the  Pops  himself.  It  was  aH  a 
French  Pontiff,  ruling  in  Avignon,  as  the  grateful  vassal 
of  his  patron  Robert  of  Naples,  who  had  reuse  d.  liim  to 


c  Fiorn  the  acccbsbn  of  J.DUIS  of  Bavaria,  Out.  20,  l,ril  I,  to  tlio  buttle 
of  Muhliorf,  Sept,  28, 11322.    Jjhn,  Tope,  1317. 

2    0  2 


SSB  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  KOOK  XII. 

the  Papal  throne,  and  continued  to  exercise  unbounded 
influence  over  the  mind  of  John,  that  the  Pope  plunged 
Italian poii-  mtD  the  politics  of  Italy.  The  expedition  of 
ticB-  Henry  of  Luxemburg,  and  the  voluntary  exile 
of  the  Popea,  had  greatly  strengthened  the  Grhibellines. 
At  their  head  were  the  three  most  powerful  of  those 
subtle  adventurers  who  had  become  Princes,  the  Viaconti 
in  Milan,  Can  dalla  Scala  in  Verona,  Castruccio  in. 
Lucca.  Eobert  of  Naples  and  the  Eepublic  of  Florence 
headed  Ilia  Guclfs.  Immediately  on  his  accession  Pope 
John  went  through  tha  idla  form  of  issuing  letters  of 
peace,  addressed  to  all  the  Princes  and  cities  of  Italy. 
But  tempests  subside  not  at  the  breath  of  Popes,  and 
John  speedily  forgot  his  own  lessons.  Matteo 
Viaconti  ruled  as  Imperial  Vicar,  not  through 
that  vain  title,  but  by  his  own  power  in  the  north.  He 
was  Lord  of  Milan,  Pavia,  Piacenza,  Novara,  Ales- 
sandria, Tortona,  Domo,  Lotli,  Bergamo,  and  other  ter- 
ritories.d  The  Pope  forbade  him  to  bear  the  title  of 
Imperial  Vicar  during  the  abeyance  of  tho  Empire. 
VisGonti  obeyed,  and  styled  himself  Lord  of  Milan.  As 
yet  there  was  no  opsn  hostility;  but  Genoa  had  expelled 
her  Crhibellino  citizens.  The  oxibs  returned  at  tho 
head  of  a  formidable  Lombard  forco  furnished  by  tliB 
Viseonti.  Tho  city  was  besieged,  reduced  to  extremity, 
The  Genoese  summoned  Kobert  King  of  Naples  to  their 
aid;  they  made  over  to  him  tho  Soignory  of  the  city; 
but  the  now  Lord  of  Genoa  could  not  repel  the  be- 
sieging army,  which  still  pressed  on  its  opcrationa  On 
the  29th  April,  132D,  Eobert  of  Naples  set  out  to  visit 
the  Pope  at  Avignon.  The  fate  of  Italy  waa  determined 
in  their  long  and  amicable  conference.  The  King  htid 

'  Muratorl,  Annali  i*  Italia,  out  ran.  1330, 


VII. 


KOBERT  OF  NAPLES  VICAE. 


389 


bestowed  on  John  the  Popedom,  John  -would  bestow  on 
Bobert  the  Kingdom  of  Italy.  The  Cardinal  Bertrand 
de  Poyet,  as  tha  enemies  of  the  Pope  and  the  Cardinal 
averred  (and  they  were  not  men  to  want  enemies),  tho 
natural  son  of  the  Pope,  was  sent  as  the  Legate  af  the 
.Roman  See  into  Lombardy.  The  Pops,  during  the 
vacancy  of  the  Empire  (and  the  Empire,  if  he  had  his 
will,  would  ba  long  vacant),  claimed  the  administration 
of  tha  Imperial  realm.8 

In  the  next  year  King  Bobert  was  created,  by  the 
Pope's  mandate,  Vicar  of  Italy  during  the  Robert  of 
abeyance  of  the  Empire.  The  Pops  waa  pre-  vK" 
pared  to  maintain  his  Vicar,  to  crush  the  audacious 
Ghibellines,  who  had  not  withdrawn  from  the  siege  of 
Genoa,  with  all  the  arms,  spiritual  as  well  as  temporal, 
within  his  power.  The  Inquisition  was  commanded  to 
instituta  a  process  of  heiesy  against  Matte o  Visconti 
and  his  sons,  against  Can  Granclo,  against  Pasaeriuo, 
Lord  of  Mantua,  against  the  Marquis  of  Eate,  Lord  of 
Ferrara,  and  all  tha  other  heads  of  tho  Ghibelliacs. 
The  Princes  protested  their  zealous  orthodoxy;  their 
solo  crime  was  rBsistauco  to  this  now  usurpation  of  the 
Pope/  But  tha  Pope  relied  not  on  his  spiritual  arms. 
Franco  was  aver  ready  to  furnish  gallant  Knights  and 
Barona  on  any  advsnturoj  especially  whcro  they  might 


*  "  Da  jure  BBt  legenrium  quml  vn- 
cfliite  imp  en  o  ....  ejus  jiuihiliutin, 
i  egimen  ct  dispoaitio  ad  Kiunmum  Pon- 
lihui-m  ilcvolvixntm ,  cm  in  personfl, 
B.  I'etn,  coclcbtis  sitnul  et  tcii'Etn  Itn- 
jiejij  jura  Dcus  ipac  CDmmusit."— Bull, 
datcil  1317.  Compi'D  Planck,  ^  ,p.  118. 

'  Qooil  Muiatim  Imd  bDlbru  spoken 
ot  the  immodcia^  influpnco  of  llnbsit 
ef  Naples  over  thu  Pope;  tie  procrnda : 


"  Chp  i  RB  o  Piininiil  dclk  tcim  fite 
cinnct  gnorra,  e  unn  pcimipn  iluva,  ira 
mmtabila  th  HUM  to  miBcro  mondo  ,  , 
Ma  BPinprc  sau\  da  deciideiaie  di6  il 
HaiiMilozin,  instituito  ila  I>in  pci  hone 
di'll'  (inimt),  e  ]i?r  nemiimi1  lii  pure,  nan 
cntri  ml  niijutiirL',  c  tjmcuttir  le  nmli- 
titize  vdglie  tic'  Pnuciiu  tcrreiii,  c 
rnalto  pitl  giiiuili  dull'  [unliizioiifl  H 
stesso."— Annul,  eubwu.  lltiiD, 


390  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  XII. 

adorn  thair  brilliant  arms  with,  the  Cross.  Philip,  the 
soil  of  Charles  of  Valois,  descended  the  Alps  at  tha 
head  of  three  thousand  men-at-arms  ;  the  Gruelfs  flocked 
to  his  standard;  he  was  joined  by  the  Cardinal  Legate. 
But  the  French  Prince,  encompassed  by  ths  -wily  Vis- 
conti  with  a  large  fores,  either  won  by  his  unexpected 
and  politic  courtesy,  or,  as  the  Gruelfs  bitterly  declared, 
over-bribed,  at  all  events  glad  to  extrinata  himself  from 
his  perilous  position,  retreated  beyond  the  Alps  without 
striking  a  blow.  Still,  though  Yercelli  fell  before  the 
conquering  Visconti,  the  Cardinal  Legate  maintained 
his  haughty  tone.  He  sent  to  command  the  Milanese 
to  submit  to  the  Vicar  named  by  the  Pope,  King  Robert 
of  Naples:  his  messenger,  a  priest,  was  thrown  into 
prison. 

The  next  year  more  formidable  preparations  were 
made.  A  large  army  was  levied  and  placed  tinder  the 
•command  of  Kaymond  da  Cardona,  an  experienced 
General.  Frederick  of  Austria  was  invited  to  join  the 
league:  his  brother  Henry  came  down,  the  Alps,  on  the 
German  side,  with  a  body  of  men. 

The  spiritual  battle  was  waged  with  equal  vigour. 
Council  or  A  Council  was  held  at  Brogolio,  near  Alex- 
•BroBuiLu.  an,dria.  Matte  o  Visconti  was  arraigned  as  a 
profane  enemy  of  the  Church,  as  the  impious  and  cruel 
perpetrator  of  all  crimes  and  sina,  tho  ravuning  depopu- 
lator  of  Lombardy.*  He  Imd  contumaciously  prevented 
any  one  from  passing  his  frontier  with  the  Papal  Bull  of 
excommunication;  he  had  resisted  tho  Inquisition,  and 
endeavoured  to  rcseuo  a  heretic  female  named  Man- 
fredi;  he  was  a  necromancer,  invoked  devils,  and  took 
their  counsel;  he  denied  the  resurrection  of  the  body; 


v  Feb.  2[),  1322.  Concilium  Brojjohense,  apud  Lalbe,  1322. 


CHAP.  VII. 


HENRI  OF  AUSTRIA. 


391 


for  two  years  he  had  resisted  the  Papal  monition.  He 
was  pronounced  to  be  degraded,  deprived  of  hia  military 
belt,  incapacitated  from  holding  any  civil  office,  and 
condemned,  with  all  his  posterity,  to  everlasting  infamy.11 
The  land  waa  under  an  interdict ;  his  estates,  and  those 
of  all  his  partisans,  declared  confiscate;  indulgences 
were  freely  offered  to  all  -who  would  join  the  crusade, 
as  against  a  Saracen.  Henry  of  Austria  was  received  in 
Brescia  with  two  thousand  men-at-arms :  tha  Pope  had 
purchased  this  support  by  one  hundred  thousand  golden 
florins.  The  Patriarch  of  Aquileia,  at  the  head  of  four 
or  five  thousand  men,  did  not  fear  to  publish  the  Bull  of 
excommunication.1  But  Henry  of  Austria  found  that  it 
was  not  in  the  interest  of  a  candidate  for  the  Henryor 
Empire  to  war  on  the  partisans  of  the  Empire.  AUBlrla- 
"  I  come/'  ho  said  to  the  Gruelfic  exiles  from  Bergamo, 
"not  to  crush  but  to  raise  those  who  keep  their  fealty 
to  the  Empire."  Ho  refused  forty  thousand  florins  for 
their  reinstatement  in  Bergamo,  arid  retired  to  Verona. 
There  he  waa  magnificently  entertained,  received  sixty 
thousand  florins  from  the  Grtribellmo  league,  and  retired 
to  Grermany. 

Mattco  Visconti  was  only  more  assiduous,  on  account 
of  his  excommunication,  in  visiting  churches,  by  such 


•  "  Publicb  a  confi-rmd  tutta  ID  aco- 
muniuhu  19  gl'  intenlettt  eontio  la  jier- 
Baua  di  Mattco  Viaronti,  da'  BUOI' 
figliucili  B  fnutnri,  e  ilella  di  lui  cittfi,, 
col  confiacD  da'  beni,  st'luavitu  dalle 
PBIRDDQ  como  HD  Bi  tuittas.sn  de'  wSava- 
ceni.  Furnna  nncora  apmti  tuttj  i 
tesori  dalle  Inilulgenzo  B  Ji-1  periionc 
de'  -pcccnti,  n  chi  pienduva  la  Grace  e 
1'  mini  contra  ill  quubti  pweteai  Eietici. 
— Murntori,  tmb  mm  l',522. 

1  Compai'e    MuratDri    dating    tne 


yaars  1319,  1H20,  1321,  t323,  foe 
the  neb)  uf  tins  fuiioun  Pabruvri'li, 
fuippnrtt'il  by  tha  nn  less  furiout 
Liiliato,  Bertiaml  de  Pnggettn  (t't^et). 
Fnscolo  gays,  with  ju« tic :>>  "Eia 
orni cula,  venilutg  al  I'ii]in,  o 
sati-lhte  di  quel  CunlLiiiUa  di 
i'  ounle  un  iintm  o  due  1111(10  la  murta 
di  Dniitc  amlb  a  Itavoiiiiu admin ttei'i-ar 
le  BUC  coneri," — Dlacorao  eu)  'JVsto  di 
l)*ntc,  pp,  20,  3Q5. 


892 


LATIN  OHKISriANITT. 


Boos  XJ] 


JlUlD  2fr, 


ttcts  of  devotion  making  public  profession  of  his  Catholic 
faith;  but  he  was  seventy-two  years  old:  he 
died  broken  down  by  the  weight  of  affairs,  and 
left  his  five  aana  and  their  descendants  to  maintain  the 
power  and  glory  of  his  house,  who  wers  to  provoke,  from 
more  impartial  posterity,  a  sentence  of  condemnation 
for  far  worse  crimes  than  the  heresy  imputed  to  him 
by  Pop  a  John. 

The  great    battle   of  Muhldorf,  between   the  rival 
sept,  2a,  ma  claimants  for  the  Empira.  changed  the  aspect 

ButllB  ol  .       ,         _         .        „  I,  .  ?  .       ,        r-T. 

MuiiWarf  of  affairs.1'  Louis  of  Havana  triumphed.  His 
adversary,  .Frederick  of  Austria,  was  his  prisoner.  He 
communicated  his  success  to  the  Pope."1  The  Pope 
answered  coldly,  exhorting  him  to  treat  his  illustrious 
captive  with  humanity,  and  offering  his  interposition, 
as  if  Louis  had  won  no  victory,  and  ths  award  of  the 
Empire  rested  with  himself. 

Louis  could  not  doubt  the  implacable  hostility  of  tho 
Pope,  at  least  his  determination  not  to  leave  him  in 
quiet  and  uncontsstsd  possession  of  the  Empire.  In 
self-defence  he  must  seek  new  alliances.  As  Emperor 
now,  by  the  judgement,  he  might  suppose,  of  the  God 
of  battles,  it  was  his  duty  to  maintain  the  rights  of  the 
Empire,  and  those  rights  comprehended  at  least  tho 
cities  of  Lombardy.  Eobert  of  Naples  aimed  mani- 
lastly,  if  not  undiKguisudly,  at  the  kingdom,  of 
Italy:  it  was  rum  our  pd  that  he  had  assumed 
the  royal  title.  The  Pope  had  proclaimed  him  Vicar  of 


1Ma- 


k  Compan  tho  nocouub  of  the  battle 
in  Bonhroer,  Funtea  Kururn  Gliiiin.  i. 
p.  1S1 ,  and  Joannes  Vjctaviuus,  ibij. 
p.  863. 

»  Th:rs  is  a.  strnmga  story  in  the 
Lib,  da  Due,  Biivnvim  ^apuii  Boeluner, 


I'^utaa),  tluit  Louis,  nfter  tlia  battle, 
sent  lettei-g  of  submiflfliDu  to  tho  PopO) 
wliiuh  were  falsified  by  hia  Chancellor, 
Ulno  of  Aup>burg,  fts  those  of  Fre- 
deride  II.  hod  been  by  Peter  de  Vlnoft. 
— Fontcb,  i.  142. 


CHAT.  VII.     PEDDESS  AflAINST  LOUIS  OF  BAYARiA..          393 

the  vacant  Empire.  The  Cardinal  Legate  was  in  person 
combating  at  the  head  of  the  armies  which  were  to 
subdue  all  Lombardy  to  the  sway  of  the  Vicar  or  King. 
Louis  entered  into  engagements  with  his  GhibeUine 
subjects.  His  ambassador.  Count  Bertholdt  da  Nyffen,u 
sent  an  admonition  to  the  Cardinal  Legate  at  Piacenza 
to  commit  no  further  hostilities  on  the  tenitory  of  the 
Empire.  The  Cardinal  replied  that  he  held  the  terri- 
tory in  his  master's  name  during  the  vacancy  of  the 
Empire;  he  was  astonished,  that  a  Catholic  prince  like 
Louis  of  Bavaria  should  confederate  with  tha  hereti- 
cal Viscontis.  Eight  hundred  men-at-arms  arrived  at 
Milan ;  the  city  was  saved  from  the  besieging  army  of 
the  Legate  and  the  King  of  Naples. 

The  Pope  resolved  to  crush  the  dtingoious  luaguo 
growing  up  among  the  Ghibelliuea.  On  CMubcr  0, 
1323,  a  year  after  the  battle  of  Muhldorf,  ho  j,n),ri  lllsl). 
instituted  a  pro  DOBS  ut  Avignon  against  LOIUH  ^HEE 
of  Bavaria.  lie  arraigned  Louis  of  prp&ump-  l*mil>i 
tion  in  assuming  tha  title,  and  usurping  the  pnwm1  of 
the  King  of  the  llomaiis,  before  the  Popo  had  examined 
and  given  judgement  on  the  contested  election,  espe- 
cially in  granting  the  Mftrquisato  of  Brandenburg  to  bin 
own  son.  Louis  was  admonished  to  lay  down  all  his 
power,  to  appear  personally  before  tho  Court  of  Avignon 
within  three  months,  there  to  receive  the  Papal  sen- 
tence. All  ecclesiastics,  patriarchs,  ardibishups,  and 
bishops,  under  pain  of  deprivation  and  forfeiture  of  all 
privileges  and  feuds  which  they  hold  of  the  Church — 
all  secular  persons,  under  pain  of  Bxcemuuunieution  and 
interdict— wcro  forbidden  to  ronilur  furthur  fruity  or 
allegiance  to  Louis  as  King  of  the  Itomans;  all  outht)  of 


894  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  XII. 

fealty  were  annulled.  Louis  sent  ambassadors  to  the 
Court  of  Avignon,  not  to  contest  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
Pope,  but  to  obtain  a  prolongation  of  tha  period  assigned 
for  his  appearance.  In  his  apology  ha  took  bolder 
ground.  "  For  ten  years  he  had  been  King  of  the 
Bomana ;  and  he  declared  the  interposition  now  ob- 
truded by  the  Pope  to  ba  an  invasion  of  his  rights.  To 
the  charge  of  alhanca  with  the  Viacontis  he  pleaded 
ignorance  of  their  heretical  tenets.  He  even  ventured 
to  retort  insinuations  of  heresy  against  the  Pope,  as 
having  sanctioned  the  betrayal  of  the  secrets  of  tho  con- 
fessional by  the  Minorita  friars.  Finally  ha  appealed 
to  a  General  Council,  at  which  he  declared  his  intention 
to  be  present."0 

Yet  once  more  he  strove  to  soften  the  inexorable 
Pope.  He  had  already  revoked  the  title  of  Imperial 
Vicar  borns  by  Graleazzo  Visconti.  His  ambassadors 
presented  an  humble  supplication  to  tha  Pope  seated  on 
his  throne,  for  the  extension  of  the  time  for  his  appaar- 
ance  at  Avignon.  The  answer  of  John  was  even  more 
insultingly  imp BHOUB.  "The  Duke  of  Bavaria,  contrary 
to  the  Pontifical  decree,  persisted  in  calling  himself 
King  of  ths  Komans ;  not  merely  was  he  in  luagua  with 
the  Viscontis,  but  had  received  the  homage  uf  the 
Marquis  of  Este,  who  hail  got  possession  of  Ferrari* 
They  too  were  heretics,  as  were  all  who  opposed  tho 
Pope.  Louis  had  presumptuously  disturbed  Robert 
King  of  Naples  in  his  office  of  Vicar  of  Italy,  conferred 
on  him  by  the  Popo."P 

Against  the  Visconti  Pope  John  urged  on  his  crusade; 
it  was  a  religious  war.  The  Cardinal  Legate  was  de- 
feated with  great  loss  before  Lodi.  The  Papal  General^ 


*  Dated  Nuremberg,  Got,  1323,  P  Knynnldiw,  Jan.  5, 1324, 


CHAP.  Vll.  EXCOMMXTNI CATION.  395 

Raymond  de  Dardona,  was  attacked  and  made  prisoner 
near  Vaprio:  lie  was  taken  to  Milan,  but  made  capture  of 
his  escape  to  Monza,  afterwards  to  Avignon.  General" 
According  to  one  account,  Galeazzo  Visconti  hal  con- 
nived at  the  flight  of  Dardona.  The  General  declared 
at  Avignon  that  it  was  vain  to  attempt  the  subjugation 
of  the  Visconti,  but  that  Galeazzo  was  prepared  to  hold 
Milan  for  himself  with  fifteen  hundred  men-at-arms, 
Eubjsct  to  the  Pope.11  John  would  have  consented  to 
this  compact  with  the  heretical  Visconti,  but  ho  could 
not  act  without  tho  consent  of  the  King  of  Naples. 
Bobert  demanded  that  the  Visconti  should  join  with  all 
their  forces  to  expel  the  Emperor  from  Italy.  The  wily 
Visconti  sought  to  be  master  himself,  not  to  create  a 
King  in  Italy.  He  broke  off  abruptly  the  secret  negotia- 
tions, anil  applied  himself  to  strengthen  the  fDi'tificatioiiB 
and  tho  castle  of  Milan. 

Tho  war  was  again,  a  fierce  crusaib  against  heretical 
and  contumacious  enemies  of  ths  Pope  and  Kmmmtu 
of  religion.     A  now  anathema  was  launched  SffiSJJ,"* 
against  the  Visconti,  reciting  at  length  all  Vlwont1' 
their  heresies,  in  which,  except  their  obstinate  Grhibel- 
linism,  it  is  difficult  to  detect  tho  heresy.     It  was 
asserted  that  the  grandmother  of  Matteo  Visconti  and 
two  othor  females  of  his  house  had  been  burnad  for  that 
crime.    Matteo,  now  dead,  laboured  under  suspicion  of 
having  denied  the  resurrection  of  the  body.    Galcazzo 
was  thought  to  be  implioitod  in  this  hereditary  guilt. 
The  rest  of  the  charges  were  more  likely  to  bo  truo : 
acts  of  atrocious  tyranny,  sacrileges  perpetrated  during 
war,  which  they  hail  flared  to  wuga  ugaiiiHt  th« 
of  the  Pop>3. 


Marigis,  I,  in.  c.  27.    II.  1. 1,  xii.    Muratori,  Ami.  I'  JUlo,  sub  mm. 


896 


CHRISTIANITY. 


BooKXH, 


Dilution  of 
Louis  of 
Bavaria 


The  Pope  proceeded  to  the  excommunication  of  Louis 
^  Bavaria.  Twice  had  he  issued  his  process  ; 
tha  two  months  were  passed;  Louis  had  not 
appeared.  On.  the  21st  of  March  the  sentence 
was  promulgated  with  all  its  solemn  formalities.  Ex- 
communication waa  not  all:  still  severer  penalties 
awaited  him  if  hs  did  not  present  himself  in  humility 
at  the  footstool  of  the  Papal  throne  within  three  weeks. 
By  this  Bull  all  prelates  and  ecclesiastics  were  for- 
bidden to  render  him  allegiance  as  King  of  the  Konians  ; 
all  cities  and  commonalties  and  private  persons,  though 
pardoned  for  their  contumacy  up  to  the  present  time, 
were  under  ban  for  all  future  acts  of  fealty ;  all  oaths 
were  annulled.  The  Bull  of  excommunication  waa 
affixed  to  tha  cathedral  doors  of  Avignon,  and  ordered 
to  be  published  by  the  ecclesiastical  Electors  of 
Grermany/ 

Pope  John  had  yet  but  partially  betrayed  his  ulti- 
mata purpose — no  less  than  to  dsposB  Louis  of  Bavaria, 
and  to  transfer  the  Imperial  crown  to  the  King  of 
France.  Another  son  of  Philip  ths  Pair,  Philip  the 
Long,  had  disd  without  male  issue.  Charles  the  Fair, 
the  last  of  tha  unblessed  race,  had  sought,  immediately 
on  his  accession,  a  divorce  from  his  adulterous  wife, 
Blanche  of  Bourbon.8  The  canon  law  admitted  not  this 
causa  for  the  dissolution  of  the  sacramant,  but  it  could 
be  declared  null  by  ths  arbitrary  will  of  the  Pope  on 
the  moat  distant  consanguinity  between  the  parties. 
Yet  this  marriage  had  takon  place  under  a  Papal  dis- 
pensation; a  naw  subterfuge  must  bo  sought:  it  wag 


*  Shroeck,  p.  71.     Oiihlenachlflgar, 
irab  aim. 

*  It  was  reported  that  Blanche  pf 
Bourbon  continued  her  licentious  life 


in  her  prison  in  Cli&teuu-GnilUrd.  She 
was  pregnant  by  her  keeper,  or  by 
one  alae. — Continual.  Naugia, 


CHAP.  VIJ.  GERMAN  PROCLAMATION.  397 

luckily  found  that  ClBmant  V.,  in  his  dispensation,  had 
left  unnoticed  some  still  more  remota  spiritual  relation- 
ship. Charles  the  Fair  was  empowered  to  many  again. 
His  consort  was  tha  daughter  of  the  Emperor  Henry  of 
Luxemburg.  A  Papal  dispensation  removed  the  ob- 
jection of  as  close  consanguinity  as  in  the  former  case — 
a  dispensation  easily  granted,  for  the  connexion,  if  not 
suggested  by  ths  Pope,  singularly  agreed  with  his 
ambitious  policy.  It  broke  the  Luxemburg  party,  tb,9 
main  support  of  Louis  of  Bavaria;  it  carried  over  the 
suffrage  of  the  chivalrous  but  versatile  John  of  Bohemia, 
son  of  the  Emperor  Henry,  the  brother  of  tho  Quocn  of 
France.  John  of  Bohemia  appeared  with  his  uncle,  the 
Archbishop  of  Treves,  and  took  part  in  all  tho 
rejoicings  at  the  coronation  of  his  sister  in 
Paris.  His  son  was  married,  still  more  to  rivet  the 
bond  of  union,  to  a  French  princess ;  his  younger  son 
sent  to  be  educated  at  the  Court  of  France.  Charles 
the  Fair  camo  to  Toulouse  to  preside  over  ths  Floral 
Games :  thence  lie  proceeded  to  Avignon.  Tho  Pope, 
the  King  of  Franco,  King  Koburt  of  Naples,  met  to  par* 
tition  out  the  greater  part  of  Christendom — to  France 
the  Empire,  to  Bob  art  the  Kingdom  of  Italy. 

But  the  avowed  determination  to  wrest  the  Empire 
from   Germany  roused  a  general  opposition  „ 

i  1,1      T»i-  T       "tin        t-i«   ,  i      uerfflfiny. 

beyond  tho  Rhine.    Louis  held  a  Diet,  early 
in  the  spring,  at  Frankfort.    Tho  proclamation  issued 
from  this  Diet  was  in  a  tone  of  high  defiance.*     It 
taunted  John,  "  who  called  himself  the  XXII.,  as  the 


1  The  long  document  may  lie  read 
hiBnluziug,  Vita  Tap.  Aren.  i  p.  478, 
ot  sfljj  ;  impiiifiictly  in  Pjiynaldua, 
Bub  aim,  1324  about  April  24.  An- 


Roic,,  and  In  rjolilnstus,  dated  nt 
lUtibbon,  Ang,  (I'luiHtufi  Sci-vator  Bo« 
minus'),  in  nut,  Bulhi'iitie,  a«X)rdinf,r  tf 


niul  buclinner, 


pthei  protect,    in  Aruitmui,  Atmal.  |  p. 


398 


LATIN  CHRISTIANITY. 


ensmy  of  peace,  and  as  deliberately  inflaming  war  in 
the  Empire  for  the  aggrandisement  of  the  Papacy." 
u  He  had  been  so  blinded  by  his  wickedness  as  to  abuse 
onb  of  the  keys  of  St.  Pater,  binding  where  ha  should 
loose,  loosening  where  he  should  bind.  He  had  con- 
demned aa  heretics  many  pious  and  blameless  Catholics, 
whose  only  crime  was  their  attachment  to  the  Empire." 
"He  will  not  remember  that  Constantins  drew  forth  the 
Pope  Silvester  from  a  cave  in  which  ha  lay  hid,  and  in 
his  generous  prodigality  bestowed  all  the  liberty  and 
honour  p assess eil  by  the  Church.  In  return,  the. suc- 
cessor of  Silvester  seeks  by  every  means  to  destroy  the 
holy  Empire  and  her  true  vassals."  The  protest  ex- 
amined at  great  length  all  the  proceedings  of  the  Pope, 
his  disputing  the  election  of  Louis  at  Frankfort  by  tho 
majority  of  the  Electors  and  the  coronation  of  Louia  at 
Aix-la-Chapelle ;  his  absolution  of  the  vassals  of  the 
Empire  from  their  oaths,  "  a  wicked  procuration  of  per- 
jury !  the  act  not  of  a  Vicar  of  Christ,  but  of  a  cruel 
and  lawless  tyrant  I"  It  further  denies  the  right  of  the 
Pope  to  assume  tha  government  of  the  Empire  during 
a  vacancy,  as  utterly  without  ground  or  precedent. 
Moreover,  "the  Pope  had  attacked  Chriat  himself,  his 
ever  blessed  Mother,  and  the  Ploly  Apostles,  by  re- 
jecting the  evangelic  doctrine  of  absolute  poverty."11 
The  last  sentence  divulged  tho  quarter  from  which 


•  "  Nan  suffecit  iii  Impel  mm  ,  .  , . 
in  Jpsum  Dominant!  Jesum  Christum 
Regent  Begum,  et  Dommum  Dnmino- 
rum,  Prineijum  Regum  terra,  ct  EJUS 
Banctissimam  miitrem,  (jute  njusdom 
voti  et  status  cum  film  in  obsovantia, 
paupertatia  vtett,  et  sanctum  Apna- 
tobrum  collegium  ipaorum  denigvando 


vit.im  at  actus  mam  geve  t,  et  in  doc- 
trJnnm  evangshuntn  de  paupcrtate  altls- 
simfL  ,  ,  .  quoil  fuuJuiucntum  uoc 
sua  innlfl  vitft  et  a  muudi 
nli  i1  u  ft  c-nmtur  everteie  «1 
haretino  dogmatc,  et  venBiiat4  cloe 
c,— P  49i. 


CHAP.  VII.       SPIRITUALISTS  FDR  THE  EMPEROR.  399 

came  forth  this  fearless  manifesto.  Tha  Spiritual  Fran- 
ciscans were  throughout  Germany  become  the  spirituniiata 
staunch  allies  of  the  Pope's  enemy.  Men  of  Emperor, 
the  profoundest  learning  began  with  intrepid  diligence 
to  examine  the  -whole  question  of  the  Papal  power — 
men  who  swayed  the  populace  began  to  fill  their  ears 
with  denunciations  of  Papal  ambition,  arrogance,  wealth. 
The  Dominicans,  of  CDUTBB  adverse  to  the  Franciscans, 
triel  in  vain  to  stem  the  torrent;  for  all  the  higher 
clergy,  tha  wealthier  monks  in  Germany,  were  now 
united  with  tha  barefoot  friars.  The  Pope  had  but  two 
steadfast  adherents,  old  enemies  of  Louis,  the  Bishop;  ot 
Passim  and  Strasburg.  No  one  treated  the  King  of  the 
Bomans  as  under  excommunication.  Tho  Canons  oi 
Freiaingon  refused  to  receive  a  Bishop,  an  adherent  ot 
the  Pop o.  Tho  Dominicans  at  llatishon  and  Landslmt 
closed  their  churches;  the  people  refused  thorn  all 
almsj  thoy  wore  compelled  by  hunger  to  resume  their 
services.  Many  cities  ignominiously  expelled  those* 
prelates  who  would  publish  the  Papal  Bull.  At  StraH- 
burg  a  priest  who  attempted  to  fix  it  on  the  doors  of  the 
cathedral  was  thrown  into  the  Bhina.  The  Dominicans 
who  refused  to  perform  divine  service  "were  driven,  from 
the  city** 

King  Charles  of  France,  trusting  in  the  awe  of  the 
Papal  excommunications  and  the  ardent  promises  of 
the  King  of  Bohemia,  advanced  in  great  state 
to  Bar-sur-Aube,  where  he  expected  some  of 
tho  Electors  and  a  great  body  of  the  Princes  of  Ger- 
many to  appaar  and  lay  the  Imperial  crown  at  hin  feet. 
Leopold  of  Austria  came  alons.     The  German  Queen  of 
'France  had  died,,  in  premature  childbirth,  at  Issoudon., 


»  Burgumli,  HUt,  Uavar.  it.  83. 


too 


LATIN  OHK1STIAMTY. 


BOOK  XII, 


on  the  return  of  the  Court  from  Avignon/  The  con- 
nexion was  dissolved  which  bound  the  King  of  Bohemia 
to  the  French  interest:  on  the  other  side  afth  a  Rhine 
ha  had  become  again  a  Grerman.  He  wrote  to  the  Pope 
that  he  could  not  consent  to  despoil  the  German  Princes 
of  their  noblest  privilege,  the  election  to  the  Empire. 
The  ecclssiastical  Electors  stood  aloof.  Leopold  was 
resolved  at  any  price  to  revenge  himself  on  Louis  of 
Bavaria,  and  to  rescue  hia  brother  Frederick  from  cap- 
tivity/ The  King  of  Franc  D  advanced  thirty  thousand 
marks  to  enable  him  to  keep  up  the  war.  At  the  same 
time  the  Pope  issued  a  fourth  process  against  Louia  of 
Bavaria:  he  was  cited  to  appear  at  Avignon  in  October. 
All  ecclesiastics  who  had  acknowledged  the  King  wera 
rl  s  dared  under  suspension  and  excommunication;  all 
laymen  under  interdict.  The  Archbishop  of  Magdeburg 
was  commanded  to  publish  the  Bull," 

On  the  other  hand,  at  the  wedding  of  Louia  of  Bavaria 
with  the  daughter  of  William  of  Holland  at  Cologne, 
John  of  Bohemia  and  the  three  ecclesiastical  Electors 
nai^  VOUEksafBd  *heir  presence.  In  a  Diet  at 
Eatisbon  Louis  laid  before  th0  States  of  the 
Empire  his  proclamation  against  the  Pope,  and  hia 


}jib  2 


7  Sho  died  April  1324.  July  5, 
Charles  mniriuil  his  cou.sm-gciin.in, 
the  laughter  nf  Louia,  Daunt  of 
livreux.  Tho  I'ape,  m  ctlier  vases  so 
difficult,  shocked  tlu  pious  by  piu- 
imtting  thiJi  tnarringa  of  cDUsins-gci- 
ttfuu 

1  Sea  ia  Allert.  Argent,  (apud 
Uratiaium)  tho  dealings  of  Leopold 
with  a  famous  necromancer,  who  pro- 
misod  t»  deliver  Frederick  from  prison. 
The  devil  nppearod  to  Fradanck  as  a 
poor  schclar,  offoriflg  to  transport  him 


away  in  a  cloth.  Frederick  ninth  tha 
sign  of  tho  cross,  the  devil  disappnued. 
FicJcnck  enti Gated  lun  guarJa  to  give 
him  soraa  rtilniues,  mid  to  pray  that 
ho  should  not  be  conjured  out  of  cap- 
tivity,—P.  123. 

»  July  13.  Villam,  ir.  234.  Mar- 
tme,  AneL-dut.  Oehhnsdilager,  Urkun* 
denbuch,  xlil.  10B,  Hayimldi  (imper* 
hot).  Tha  Pipe  condemns  Louis  as 
the  ftiutor  of  those  heretics,  Milan  D 
of  Lomhordy,  Mfrfillio  of  Padvia, 
Jolm  of  Ghent, 


CHAP.  VII.  MEETING  AT  HHENSE  401 

appeal  to  a  General  Council.  Not  ona  of  the  States 
refused  its  adherence;  the  Papal  Bulls  against  the 
Emperor  "were  rejected,  those  "who  dared  to  publish 
them  hardshell.  The  Archbishop  of  Saltzburg  was  de- 
clared an  enemy  of  the  Empire.11  Even  Leopold  of 
Austria  made  advances  towards  reconciliation.  Ha  sent 
the  imperial  crown  and  jewels  to  Loins;  he  only  urged 
the  release  of  his  brother  from  captivity. 

Louis,  infatuated  by  his  success,  refused  these  over- 
tures. But  the  gold  of  France  began  to  work.  Leopold 
was  soon  at  the  head  of  a  powerful  Austrian  and  German 
force.  Louis  was  obliged  to  break  up  the  siege  of  Burgau 
and  take  to  flight,  with  the  loss  of  his  camp,  munitions, 
and  treasures.  The  feeble  German  princes  again  looked 
towards  France.  A  great  meeting  was  held  at  Knd  Bf  Jttll4 
Rhense  near  Doblentz.  The  Electors  of  Mentz  iiif'ting  of 
and  Cologne,  with  Leopold  of  Austria,  met  Ulll!'i3"- 
the  ambassadors  of  tha  Popo  and  of  Charles  of  Franco. 
The  election  of  the  King  of  France  to  tho  Empire  was 
proposed,  almost  curried.15  Usvtholrl  of  Buohuck,  tho 
commander  of  tho  Teutonic  Order  at  Coblentz,  rose.  Ho 
appealed  with  great  eloquence  to  the  German  pride, 
"  Would  they,  to  gratify  the  arbitrary  passions  of  the 
Pope,  inflict  eternal  disgrace  on  the  Gorman  Empire,  and 
elect  a  foreigner  to  the  throns?"  Somo  attempt  waw 
made  to  compromise  the  disputo  by  the  election  of  tho 
King  of  France  only  for  his  lifo;  but  tho  Grrarimms  were 
too  keen-sighted  and  suspicions  to  fall  into  this  snare. 

Louis  had  learned  wisdom,  Tho  only  safe  course  waa 
reconciliation  with  his  rival ;  arid  Frederick  of  Austria 
had  pined  too  long  in  prison  not  to  accede  to  any  terma 


h  Aug.    BnahniDr  seems  to  doubt  the  Diet  of  Katfetwu. 
°  Albert  Argent.     Raynuld.  sub  turn.    Schmidt,    fsihriidnili,  p.  43U 
VOL.  Til.  2   D 


402 


LATIN  CHRISTIANITY. 


BOOK  xn. 


of  release.  Louis  visited  his  captive  at  Trausnitz :  ths 
Traitywith  tsrins  were  easily  arranged  between  parties  so 
FredariLk  eager  fD1-  a  treaty.  Frederick  surrendered  all 
right  and  title  to  the  Empire;  Leopold  gave  up  all 
which  his  houso  had  usurped  from  the  Empire;  he 
and  his  brothers  were  to  swear  eternal  fealty  to  Louis, 
against  every  one,  priest  or  layman,  by  name  against  him 
who  called  himself  Pope.  Certain  counts  and  knights 
were  to  guarantee  the  treaty.  Burgau  and  Eeisenberg 
were  to  bo  surrendered  to  Bavaria;  Stephen,  son  of 
Louis,  was  to  marry  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Frederick. 
The  Pope  and  the  Austrian  party  were  alike  astounlod 
Ma  by  this  suilden  pacification.  The  Pope  at  onoo 

declared  the  treaty  null  and  void,  Leopold 
rushed  to  arms.  But  the  highminded  Frederick  would 
not  stoop  to  a  breach  of  faith.  Ho  had  but  to  utter  his 
wish,  and  the  Pope  had  absolved  him  from  all  his  oaths. 
They  were  already  declared  null,  as  sworn  to  an  excom- 
municated person,  and  therefore  of  no  validity.  Tho 
Pope  forbade  Mm  to  return  to  prison ; tl  but  he  published 
letters  declaring  his  surrender  of  his  title  to  the  Empirn, 
admonished  hia  brother  to  desist  from  hostilities,  and 
endeavoured  to  reconcile  the  Pope  with  Louis,  lie 
had  sworn  to  more  than  ho  could  fulfil:  ho  return  rrl  to 
Munich  to  offer  himself  again  as  a  prisoner.  Thcrro 
was  a  strife  of  generosity;  tho  rivals  beranio  the  t-luse&t 
go  friends,  ate  at  the  sumo  ttiblo,  slept  in  the 

same  bed.0  Tho  Pope  wrote  to  the  King  of 
France,  expressing  his  utter  awtonishmoiit  at  this  strango 
and  incredible  Sorman  honesty/ 


*  Bull  "Ad  nostrum,"  Kaynali. 
sub  ann,  Oehlanschhger, 

»  Sw  the  nuthwitles  m  Schmidt,  p, 
26B, 


1  "  Fimilliaiitns  at  nmidtla  ilbmui 
ilur.um  iricri'dibilk" — P.fvymiM,  suli 
ann,  lleciil  Sohiller'a  fine  Lnoa,  Deutaoha 
Tvsue,  \Vnj-kB,  b,  ix.  jn,  IPD, 


CHAP.  VII.    TREATY  DP  LOUIS  AND  DP  FREDERICK.         403 

Tha  friends  agreed  to  cancel  the  former  treaty — a 
new  one  was  mads.  Both,  as  one  person,  wore  to  have 
ecpial  right  and  title  to  the  Empire,  to  be  brotheis,  and 
each  alike  King  of  the  Romans  and  administrator  of  the 
Empire.  On  every  alternate  day  the  names  of  Louis 
and  of  Frederick  should  taks  precedence  m  tho  instru- 
ments of  state ;  no  weighty  affairs  were  to  be  determined 
but  by  common  consent;  the  great  fiefs  to  be  granted, 
homage  received,  by  both;  if  one  set  out  for  Italy,  the 
other  was  to  rule  in  Germany.  There  was  to  be  one 
common  Imperial  Judge,  one  Secretary  of  State.  Tho 
seat  of  government  was  to  change  every  half  or  quarter 
of  a  year.  There  were  to  be  two  great  seals ;  on  that  of 
Louis  the  name  of  Frederick,  on  that  of  Frederick  tho 
name  of  Louis  stood  first.  Tho  two  Princes  sworii  befor3 
their  confessors  to  keep  their  oath :  ten  great  vassals 
were  tho  witnesses. 

This  singular  treaty  was  kept  secret;  as  it  transpired, 
all  parties,  except  the  Austrian,  broke-  out  into  cliHsatiH- 
faction.8'  The  Electors  declared  it  an  invasion  of  their 
rights.  The  Pops  condemned  tha  impiety  of  Frederick 
in  daring  to  enter  into  this  intimate  association  with 
one  under  excommunication.  Another  plan  was  pro- 
posed, that  Louis  should  rule  in  Italy,  Frederick  in 
Germany.  This  was  more  perilous  to  the  Pontiff:  ho 
wrote  to  Charles  of  France  to  reprove  him  for  hia 
sluggishness  and  inactivity  in  Iho  maintenance)  of  liis 
own  interests. 

Ths  Austrian  party  under  Leopold  began  to  hono 
that  as  Louis  was  proscribed  by  the  incxorablo 
hatred  of  the  Pope,  his  Holiness  would  be  per- 
auaded  to  acknowledge  Frederick.     The  Archbishops  of 

*  ViJlaui,  ix.  c.  .14.    Sehmiilt,  p,  2  S3. 

2  D  2 


434 


LATIN  CHRISTIANITY 


BOOK  XII. 


wet  of 


Mentz  and  Cologne,  and  their  brothers  the  Counts  of 
Bueheck  and  Virneburg,  repaired  to  Avignon.  Duks 
Albert,  the  brother  of  Frederick  and  of  Leopold,  urgod 
this  conclusion.  But  the  Pope  was  too  deeply  pledged 
by  his  passions  and  by  his  promises  to  Charles  of 
France:  the  Austrians  obtained  only  bland  and  un- 
meaning words.  The  death  of  Leopold  of  Austria, 
before  the  great  Diet  of  the  Empire,  summoned  to 
Spires,  seemed  at  once  to  quench  tha  strife. 
Maze  Frederick  withdrew  from  the  contest.  Loins 
i,  i32B  of  Bavaria  met  the  Diet  as  undisputed  Em- 
peror; he  even  ventured  to  communicate  his  deter- 
mination to  descend  into  Italy,  his  long-meditated  plan 
of  long-provoked  vengeance  against  the  Pope.  There 
were  some  faint  murmurs  among  the  ecclesiastical 
Electors  that  he  was  still  under  the  ban  of  excommuni- 
cation, "  That  ban/'  rejoined  Louis,  "  yourselves  have 
taught  me  to  despise  :  to  the  pious  and  '.earned  Italians 
it  is  even  more  despicable,"  u 

Louis  of  Bavaria,  now  that  Germany,  if  it  acknow- 
[.  leilgcd  not,  yet  acquiesced  in  his  kingly  titla, 
determined  to  assert  his  imperial  rights  in 
Italy.  The  implacable  Pope  compelled  him 
to  seiik  allies  in  all  quarters,  and  to  carry  on  the  contest 
wherever  he  might  hope  for  success,  None  of  tha  great 
German  feudatories  obeyed  ths  summons  to  attend  him. 
They  were  bound  by  their  f salty  to  appear  at  his  coro- 
nation in  Borne,  but  that  coronation  they  might  think 
remote  and  doubtful.  The  Prelates,  the  ecclesiastical 


tak;s  n 


Jtttly 


b  TrithenriuB,  Dhron.  Hirseh.  Boch- 
mer  observes,  "Wader  eine  urkunde 
nooh  ain  gleichwitiger  nuf  these  That* 
Meto  hlndauten,1'  lit  tlierofore  vyeuta 
th«  vhota.  But  ara  iiot  the  "ur- 


kundo  "  very  imperfbctly 
nnil  the  writoia  few  anil  uncertain  ia 
their  notice  of  events?  It  is  of  no 
great  historic  consequence,  The  lead* 
lug  fnctB 


CHAP.  VII.  TVAE  DP  WMT1NSS.  405 

Electors,  would  hardly  accompany  one  still  under  ex- 
communication. An  embassy  to  Avignon,  demanding 
that  ordars  should  be  given  for  his  coronation,  was  dis- 
missed with,  silent  scorn.  But  the  Grhibelline  chieftains 
eagerly  pressed  his  descent  into  Italy.1  He  appeared  at 
a  Diet  of  the  great  Lombard  feudatories  at  Trent,  with 
few  troops  and  still  mora  scanty  munitions  of  AtTrent,  , 
war.  He  found  around  him  three  of  the  Vis-  war, 
contis,  GralBazzo,  Marco,  Luchino,  the  Marquises  of  Este, 
Eafaello  and  Obizzo,  Passermo  Lord  of  Mantua,  Can 
della  Scala  Lord  of  Verona,  Vicenza,  Feltre,  and 
Belluno.  Delia  Scala  had  an  escort  of  600  horse,  his 
body-guard  against  the  Duke  of  Carinthia,  with  whom 
he  was  contesting  Padua.  Thers  were  ambassadors 
from  Pisa,  from  tha  Genoese  emles,  fiorn  Castruccio  of 
Lucca,  and  the  King  of  Sicily.  All  were  prodigal  in 
their  vows  of  loyalty,  and  even  prodigal  in  ac-t.k  They 
offered  150,000  florins  of  gold,  Tho  tiding*  of  thin 
supply  brought  rapidly  down  considerable  bands  of 
German  advanlurers  around  the  standard  of  Louis. 

Louis  relied  not  on  arms  alone,  nor  on  the  strength 
and  fidality  of  the  Italian  Ghibellinea.    A  war  Wapof 
had  long  been  waging;  and  now  his  dauntless  wrlLll1«^ 
and  even  fanatical  champions  were  prepared  to  wagB 
that  religious  war  in  public  opinion  to  the  last  ex- 
tremity,    He  was  accompanied  by  Marsilio  of  Padua 
and  by  John  of  Jaudun.m     These  mon  had  already' 
thrown  down  the  gauntlet  to  the  world  in  dofunce  of 
the  Imperial  against  the  Papal  supremacy. 

Marsilio  of  Padua  was  neither  cticlesiaatio  nor  lawyer, 


Cortesiua  apuilMui-atoii,  R  I.  S.  xii.  B3S,    Albertus  MussatUB,  Funtw.,  p.  172 

u  Multia  gians  flaria  diapensis." — ^Albert  RJutsato. 

In  Cbampgne,  sometjuiEfi   ci-roncDualy  calleil  John  of  Ghent. 


405 


LATIN  CHRISTIANITY. 


BOOK  XII. 


he  was  the  King's  physician;  but  in  profound  theolo- 
learning  as  in  dialectic  skill  surpassed 
Df  kjg  agB<  Three  years  before,  Marsilio 
had  published  hia  famous  work,  'The  Defender  of 
Peace.'  The  title  itself  was  a  quiet  but  ssvere  sarcasm 
against  the  Pope;  it  arraigned  him  as  the  irreconcil- 
able enemy  of  peace.  This  grave  and  argumentative 
work,  if  to  us  of  inconceivable  prolixity  (though  to  that 
of  William  of  Ockham  it  is  light  and  rapid  reading), 
advanced  and  maintained  tenets  which,  if  hoard  for 
centuries  in  Christendom,  had  been  heard  only  from 
obscure  and  fanatic  heretics,  mostly  mingled  up  with 
wild  and  obnoxious  opinions,  or,  as  in  the  strife  with  ths 
Lawyers  or  concerning  the  memory  of  Boniface,  with 
fierce  personal  charges. 

The  first  book  discusses,  with  great  depth  and  dia- 
lectic subtlety,  the  origin  and  principles  of  government. 
In  logic  and  in  thought  the  author  is  manifestly  a 
severs  Aristotelian.  The  second  establishes  the  origin, 
the  principles,  the  limits  of  the  sacerdotal  power.1* 
Marsilio  takes  hia  firm  anil  resolute  stand  on  the  sacred 
Scriptures,  or  rather  on  tha  Gospel ;  he  distinctly  re- 
pudiates the  dominant  Old  Testament  interpretation  of 
the  New.  Tho  G-ospel  is  the  sole  authoritative  law  of 
Christianity;  the  rule  fur  the  interpretation,  of  those 
Scripturss  rests  not  with  any  one  priest  or  college  of 
priests ;  it  requires  no  less  than  the  assent  and  sanction 


•  "  MDSI  legem  DBUB  tudiilit  nt>- 
seiTandorum  in  state  ritic  jirwaentis, 
ad  contentions  humanns  duimendas, 
pweeepta  tallum  upocinliter  continen* 
tern,  et  ad  hoc  propoitionnlitei  BB 
ha"beiitein  humanea  legla  quantum  ad 
mil  partem.  Verum  IIUJUB- 


moili  proccopta  in  Eviiiigelicft,  legs  noi> 
trailiilit  Uliribtua,  aed  tradita  rel  tra- 
dendn  suppoauit  in  hximnnis  legihiu, 
quaa  oliservnrl  et  princlpantibus  BC- 
cunilum  ens  amnem  aiilmam  humanom 
otarlire  prajcipit,  in  hits  saltern  quod  now 
admwetur  logi  salutia."' — P.  215. 


CHAP.  V!I. 


MARSILIO  OF  PADUA. 


407 


of  a  General  Council.  These  Scriptures  gave  no  co- 
ercive power  whatever,  no  secular  jurisdiction  to  the 
Bishop  of  Rome,  or  to  any  other  bishop  or  priest.  The 
sacerdotal  order  was  instituted  to  instruct  the  people  in 
the  truths  of  the  Grasp  el  and  for  the  ailministra/tion  of 
the  Sacraments.  It  is  only  hy  usage  that  the  clergy 
are  called  the  Church,  by  recent  usage  the  Bishop  of 
Rome  and  the  Cardinals.  The  true  Church  is  the  whole 
assembly  of  the  faithful.  The  word  "  spiritual"  has  in. 
like  manner  been  usurped  by  the  priesthood  ;  all  Chris- 
tians, as  Christians,  are  spiritual.  The  third  chapter 
states  fairly  and  fully  the  scriptural  grounds  alleged  for 
the  sacerdotal  and  papal  pretensions:  they  are  sub- 
mitted to  calm  but  rigid  examination."  The  question 
is  not  what  power  was  possessed  by  Christ  as  God  anil 
man,  but  what  ha  conferred  on  the  apostles,  what  de- 
scended to  their  successors  the  bishops  and  presbyters ; 
what  he  forbado  them  to  assume ;  what  is  iniiimt  by  tho 
power  of  the  keys.  "  God  alone  remits  sins,  the  priest's 
power  ia  only  declaratory."  The  illustration  is  the  easo 
of  the  leper  in  the  Grospula  healed  by  Chriat,  declared 
healed  by  the  priest11  Ho  admits  what  ia  r& quired  by 
the  Sacrament  of  Penance,  and  sonio  power  of  com- 
muting the  pains  of  purgatory  (this,  as  well  oa  transub- 
stantiatiou,  he  distinctly  asserts)  for  temporal  penalties. 
But  eternal  damnation  ia  by  Grod  alono,  fur  Goil  alone 
is  above  ignorance  and  partial  affection,  to  which  all 
priests,  oven  the  Pope,  are  subject.  Crimes  for  which  a 
man  is  to  be  excommunicated  are  not  to  bs  judged  by 
a  priest  or  college  of  pripsta,  but  by  the  whole  body  of 


•  Innocent's  famous  biinihtude  of 
the  Bun  ami  inonn  is,  I  think,  alone 
omitted,  no  duult  in  ihuilnin. 

»  He  hug  another  illubtration.    The 


pricut  is  the  juilor,  who  lins  un  jurlirln, 
pnwur,  though  he  mny  ojiim  mill  eliut 
the  Jo 01  of  this  priscm. 


403 


LATIN  CHKiaTIANITY. 


BOOK  XII. 


the  faithful.'  The  clergy  liavs  no  coactive  power  even 
over  heretics,  Jews  or  infidels.  Judgement  over  them 
is  by  Christ  alone,  ani  in  the  other  world.  They  are 
to  be  punished  by  the  temporal  power  if  they  offend 
against  human  statutes.'  The  immunities  of  the  clergy 
from  temporal  jurisdiction  are  swept  away  as  irrecon- 
eileable  with  the  absolute  supremacy  of  the  Stats.  If 
the  clergy  were  entirely  withdrawn  from  temporal  au- 
thority, all  would  rush  into  the  order,  especially  since 
Boniface  VIII.  extended  the  clerical  privilege  to  those 
who  had  the  simple  tonsure.  Poverty  with  contempt  of 
the  world  was  the  perfection  taught  by  CJhrist  and  his 
apostles,  and  therefore  the  indelible  charaL'teriatic  of  all 
bishops  and  priests.  Now  the  clergy  accumulate  vast 
wealth,  bestow  or  bequeath  it  to  their  heirs,  or  lavish  it 
on  hors3s,  servants,  banquets,  the  vanity  and  voluptu- 
ousness of  the  world.  Marsilio  does  not,  with  the  rigour 
of  Spiritual  FranciBcanisra,  insist  on  absolute  mendi- 
cancy :  sustenance  the  clergy  might  have,  and  no  more; 
with  that  they  should  be  content.  Tithes  are  a  direct 
usurpation,  The  Apostles  were  all  equal ;  the  Saviour 
is  to  bo  believed  rather  than  old  tradition,  which  in- 
vested St.  Peter  with  caeicive  power  over  the  other 
Apostles,  Still  more  do  the  Decretals  err,  that  tha 


i  "UmvHBltftsFulalium/'p  2DB. 

*  This  is  rcnuirlCiiWc.  "  Quoil  ai 
humanil  IcgB  pi'olulutum  fliorit, 
tlcum  aut  nliter  infidelem  in 
maneia,  qui  talis  in  ipsft  icpcitus 
fun-it,  tanqunm  Jegfa  JiwnancB  truns- 
gretsor  e&ilem  poenl  vel  snpphciD  huiu 
transgruasiani  a&tiitm  legs  atatutia,  in 
hda  stsouh,  debPb  aiceii.  Si  rero 
aut  aUter  Infidelem  com- 
fidellbus  eftdem  pruvhcla  nan 


fiieiit  prohibitum  humana  Icga,  qucm- 
ndmoilnm  liBDistich  eb  aeinim  Jutla'O- 
iiim  fiau  humauis  b^ibue  r*imiKsum 
e\titit  ptinm  tamporibua  ChrUtiflnnrum 
pnpulnrmn  piincipum  at^ue  ponti/i- 
cum,  Jiuo  cujpiam  noti  liL'?re  hojre- 
tmum  VB!  aliter  iulidclam 


arcero  poeua 
renli  aut  pevuontili  pro  atatu  vitffi  prac 

SBHtlll,  "—P.  217. 


CHAP.  VII. 


BISHOP  DP  ROME. 


409 


.Bishop  of  Borne  has  authority  over  ths  temporalities, 
not  only  of  the  clergy,  but  of  emperors  and  kings.  The 
Bishop  of  Rome  can  in  no  sense  be  called  the  successor 
of  St.  Peter :  first,  because  no  apostle  was  appointed 
by  the  divine  law  ovar  any  peculiar  people  or  land ; 
secondly,  because  ha  was  at  Antioeh  before  Eome. 
Paul,  it  ia  known,  was  at  Rome  two  ysara.  He,  if  any 
one,  having  taught  the  Romans,  was  Bishop  of  Rome : 
it  cannot  be  shown  from  the  Scriptures  that  St.  Peter 
was  Bishop  of  Rome,  or  that  he  was  ever  at  Rome.  It 
is  incredible  that  if  he  were  at  Rome  before  St.  Paul, 
he  should  not  be  mentioned  eithar  by  St.  Paul  or  by  St. 
Luke  in  tha  Acts.8  Constantine  the  Great  first  emanci- 
pated the  priesthood  from  the  coercive  authority  of  tho 
temporal  prince,  and  gave  some  of  them  dignity  and 
power  over  other  bishops  and  churches.  But  the  Popo 
has  no  power  to  docree  any  article  of  faith  as  necessary 
to  salvation.1  The  Bull  therefore  of  Boniface  VIII. 
("Unam  Sanctam")  was  falsa  and  injurious  to  all  mankind 
beyond  all  imaginable  falsehood,11  A  General  Council 
alone  could  dacide  such  questions,  and  General  Councils 
could  only  be  summoned  by  the  civil  sovereigns.  The 
primacy  of  the  Bishop  of  Roma  was  no  more  than  this ; 
that  having  consulted  with  the  clergy  on  suck  or  on- 
other  important  matters,  he  might  petition  the  sove- 
reign to  summon  a  General  Council,  preside,  and  with 
the  full  consent  of  the  Council  draw  up  and  enact  laws. 


1  It  ia  curious  to  fiuil  thia  aigument 
BO  well  put  In  the  fourteenth  century. 

*  Tho  author  examines  the  famous 
saying  aiculaj  to  St.  Augustine, 
"Ego  varo  non  cicilerem  Evmigclio, 
nisi  ma  Catholic,*  lii'dewm  cnmmo- 
7er«t  auotoritaB."  Ila  meant  the 


testimony  of  tha  Church   (tho   ml- 
luutivu  loiljr  of  (Jluistinns)  that  tilttM 
wiitings  anally  pvouecihtl  from  Ajxw 
ties  anil  Evnngi'lists, 
*  "  Cnuctis  dvilitoi- 


(tmtiiuin    cxtogitubi- 
lium  fiUoj'um."  —  I1.  W8. 


410  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BoosXtt 

As  to  the  coronation  of  the  Emperor  at  Kerne,  and  the 
confirmation  of  his  election  by  the  Pope,  the  first  was  a 
ceremony  in  which  the  Popa  had  no  more  power  than 
the  Archbishop  of  Rheiins  at  the  anointing  of  tha  Kings 
of  France.  The  simplicity  alone,  not  to  say  tho  pusil- 
lanimity, of  certain  Emperors  hail  permitted  the  Bishops 
of  Kome  to  transmute  this  innocent  usage  into  an  arbi- 
trary right  of  ratifying  the  election ;  and  so  of  malting 
the  choice  of  the  seven  Electors  of  as  little  value  as  that 
of  the  meanest  of  mankind.* 

Tho  third  book  briefly  draws  forty-one  conclusions 
from  tha  long  argument.  Among  tli6se  were, — ths 
Decretals  of  the  Popes  can  inflict  no  temporal  penalty 
unless  ratified  by  the  civil  Sovereign ;  there  is  no  power 
of  dispensation  in  marriages ;  the  temporal  power  may 
limit  the  number  of  tha  clergy  as  of  churchss ;  no- 
canonisation  can  take  place  but  by  a  General  Council ; 
a  G-eneral  Gounod,  may  suspend  or  depose  a  Bishop  of 
Home. 

The  '  Defender  of  Peace'*  was  but  one  of  several 
writings  in  the  samo  daring  tone.  There  was  a  second 
by  Marsilio  of  Padua  on  tlio  Translation  of  the  Empire. 
Another  was  ascribed,  but  erroneously,  to  John  of 
Jan  dun,  on  the  nullity  of  the  proccudiugH  of  Pope  John 
against  Louis  of  Bavaria.  Above  all  the  famous  fcjchool- 
wmiBm  »f  Mum,  William  of  Ockham,  composed  two  works 
ockimm.  £ono  ul  "ninety  days")  of  an  enormous  pro- 
lixity and  of  an  intense  subtloty,  such  as  might,  accord- 
ing to  our  notionfi,  have  palled  on  tho  dialectic)  passions 
of  the  most  pugnacious  univortiity,  or  exhausted  tha 
patience  of  the  most  laborious  monk  in  the  most  droway 


>  "  Tantam  enim  aeptem  ttaaoru  aut  lippi  possent  Koinano  Regi  anctoiiUtcu 


CHAP.  VII. 


WILLIAM  OF  OCEHAM. 


cloister/  But  no  doubt  there  were  lighter  and  mora 
inflammatory  addresses  poured  in  quick  succession  into 
the  popular  ear  by  the  Spiritual  Franciscans,  and  Ly  all 
•who  envied,  coveted,  hatscl,  or  conscientiously  believed 
the  wealth  of  the  clergy  fatal  to  their  holy  office — by  all 
who  saw  in  the  Pope  a  political  despot  oi1  an  Antichrist. 
At  Trent,  Louis  of  Bavaria  and  his  fearless  counsellors 
declared  the  Pope  a  heretic,  exhibited  sixteen  articles 
against  him,  and  spoke  of  him  as  James  the  Priest. 

So  set  forth  another  German  Emperor,  unwarned, 
apparently  ignorant  of  all  former  history,  to  run  the 
same  course  as  his  predecessors — a  triumphant  passage 
through  Italy,  a  jubilant  reception  in  Rome,  a  splendid 
coronation,  the  creation  of  an  Autipopo;  then  dissatis- 
faction, treachery,  revolt  among  his  partisans,  soon 
•weary  of  the  exactions  wrung  from  them,  Lut  which 
were  absolutely  necessary  to  maintain  tho  idle  pageant; 
his  German  troops  wasting  away  with  their  own  excesses 
and  tliB  uncongenial  climate,  and  cut  off  by  war  or 
fever;  an  ignominious  retreat  quickening  into  flight; 
the  wonder  of  mankind  sinking  at  onco  into  contempt ; 
the  mockery  and  scoffing  joy  of  his  inexorable  foes. 

From  Trent  Louis   of  Bavaria,  with  six  hundred 
German  horse,  passed  by  Bergamo,  an  i  arrived 
at  Como;  from  thence,  his  fore  as  Catherine:  as 

i         111  j        i  TI«-.T  r,  TI  , 

he  advanced,  he  entered  Milan.    At  Pentecost  Mwc|1  '&• 
he  was  crowned  in  the  Church  of  St.  Ambrose,  May  ao. 
The  Archbishop  of  Milan  was  an  exile.    Thrcs  excom- 
municated  Bishops    (Federico  di  Maggi   of  Brescia, 
Suido  Tarlati  the  turbulent  Prelate  of  Arezzo,   arid 


7  The  two,  the  Dialngiw,  nnd  the 
Opus  Nonaginta  Dieiuni,  which  com- 
pi'ehenda  the  Compendium  Jh'roruin 


Pnpre,  occupy  tinni  ly  1 0  DO  papwii  prink 
cil  in  the  very  L-lnncst  typ,  in 

vul.  ii.  p.  K13  U  1235. 


412  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY. 

Henry  of  Trent)  set  the  Iron  Drown  on  the  head  of  tho 

King  of  the  Romans:  his  wife,  Margarita,  was 

crowned  with  a  diadem  of  gold.     Dan  della 

Scala  was  present  with  fifteen  hundred,  horse,  and  most 

of  the  mighty  Ghibellme  chieftains.     Gralsazzo  Visconti 

waa  confirmed  as  Imperial  Vicar  of  Milan,  Pavia,  Lodi, 

Vercelli;  but  hardly  two  months  had  elapsed 

when    Galeazzo    was    arrested,    imprisoned, 

threatened  with  the  loss  of  his  head,  if  Mouza  was  not 

surrendered.     The  commander  of  the  castle  hesitated, 

but  was  forced  to  yield.     The  cause  of  this  quarrel  is 

not  quite  certain.    The  needy  Bavarian  pressed  for  the 

full  payment  of  the  covenanted  contribution.    Galeazzo, 

it  is  said,  haughtily  replied  that  the  Emperor  must  wait 

his  time.*   G-aleazzo  knew  that  Milan  groaned  under  his 

exactions,    Two  of  his  own  brothers  were  weary  of  Crale- 

azzo's  tyranny.    Louis  at  onus  caught  at  popularity,  and 

released  himself  from  the  burthen  of  gratitude,  from  the 

degrading  position  of  being  his  vassal's  vassal.     Tho 

Viaconti  was  therefore  cast  into  prison/  all  his  proud 

house  were  compelled  to  seek  concealment ;  but  it  was  a 

fatal  blow  to  the  party  of  Louis.    Tho  Grhiballine  tyrants 

had  hoped  to  rule  under  tha  name  of  tha  Emperor,  not 

to  be  ruled  by  him.1'  The  Guelf  secretly  rejoiced:  "  God 

is  slaying  our  Qiicnums  liy  our  enemies." 

Louis  having  extorted  2DO,DQ[)  florins  from  Milan  and 

Aug.  is,     tlio  otliLT  cities,  advanced  unopposed  towards 

sept.  B.  '   Tuscany.    He  waa  received  with  great  pomp 

by  Qastruceio  of  Lucca,  but  imperialist  Pisa  closed  her 


R.  I.  S.  t.  nil. 


Hniigla,  IJl&t.  Hpiloet, 


"  Interim  Gulenz  supdlnim  ntguc 
ac  faoeia  rocusnntpm  in 
profunduju  carcsrsm   detrudi 


qun  pctlcs  natringi  fi-clt,"— Albert 
Musmit.— P,  77  S. 

*  "  Anntintlrei-sio  Jitcc  a  ludovjoo  in 
ViwiCunaJtes  fucta  tyiurinisca'tGrisLDm- 
ImrditB  ingentes  terruros  Jticuflait."— Ih, 


CHAP.  T,u. 


DEOCO  D'ASDOLI. 


413 


gates  against  the  ally  of  her  deadly  enemy  j  nor  till 
after  she  had  suffered  a  long  siegs  \vas  Pisa  AtPiw. 
compelled  to  her  old  obedience:  she  paid  J!uv'1 
heavily  for  her  brief  disloyalty.0  Thia  was  the  only 
resistance  encountered  by  tha  Bavarian.  The 
Pope  meanwhile  had  launched  in  vain,  and  for 
a  fifth  time,  hia  spiritual  thunders.  For  his  impious 
acts  at  Trentj  Louis  was  declared  to  have  forfeited  all 
fiefs  he  held  of  the  Church  or  of  the  Empire,  especially 
the  Dukedom  of  Bavaria.  Ho  was  again  cited  to  appear 
before  the  judgement- seat  at  Avignon,  to  receive  due 
penalty  for  his  sins;  all  Christiana  were  enjoined  to 
withhold  every  act  of  obedience  from  him  as  ruler.4 
But  no  Gruelfic  chieftain,  no  State  or  city,  stood  forward 
to  head  tha  crusads  commanded  by  the  Pope.  Florence 
remained  aloof,  though  under  the  Duko  of  Calabria; 
the  proceedings  of  ths  Pope  against  Louis  of  Bavaria 
were  published  by  the  Cardinal  Orsmi.  Her  only  act 
was  the  burning,  by  tha  Inquisitor,  of  the  astrologer, 
Cecco  d'Ascoli,  wLuse  wild  predictions  wore  said  to 
have  foreshown  the  descent  of  the  Bavarian  and  the 
aggrandisement  of  Castmccio.  GBCCO'S  book,  according 
to  the  popular  statement,  ascribed  all  human  events  to 
the  irresistible  influence  of  the  stars.  The  stars  them- 
selves were  subject  to  the  enchantments  of  malignant 
spirits.  Christ  came  into  the  world  under  that  fatal 
necessity,  lived  a  coward  life,  and  died  his  inevitable 
death,  "Under  the  same  planetary  forco,  Antichrist  was 
to  come  in  gorgeous  apparel  and  great  power," 


o  "  E  biflogimvngli  porb  ch1  ella  E  sun. 
gente  emno  molto  poveri." — Villani. 

d  Apud  Maitcnu,  p.  471. 

•  Villaai,  cxxxix.  Compare  fleSade, 
Tie  de  Pe'traniua,  i.  p.  48,  II«  Bays 


that  there  10  in  the  Vatican  a  MS,, 
"  Profetia  cli  Ceccu  d'  Abcoli."  I  have 
examined,  1  will  nob  wiy  rmd,  Cecro'g 
poem,  "  L'-Am-Via,"  luilf  tutrology 
half  natuial  hihtory,  anil  munt  nub- 


LATIN  CHRISTIANITY. 


BOOK  XII. 


Borna  had  already  sent  a  peremptoiy  summons  to 
the  Pope  to  return  and  take  up  liia  residence 
i.  in  the  sacred  city.  If  lie  did  not  obey,  they 
threatened  to  receive  the  King  of  Bavaria.  A  Court 
thsy  would  have  •  if  not  th0  Pope's,  that  of  the  Emperor. 
The  Pope  replisd  with  unmeaning  promises  and  solemn 
admonitions  against  an  impious  alliance  with  the  perse- 
cutor of  the  Church.'  The  Eomaua  had  no  faith  in  his 
promises,  and  despised  his  counsels.  •  Napoleon  Orsini 
and  Stephen  Colonna,  both  in  ths  interests  of  Eohert  of 
Naples,  wero  driven  from  the  pity.  Sciarra  Colonna,  a 
name  fatal  to  Popes,  was  elscted  Uaptain  of  the  people. 
A  largu  Neapolitan  force  landed  at  Dstia,  and 
broke  into  the  Leonine  city.  The  boll  of  the 
Capitol  tolled,  the  city  rose,  tli3  invaders  were  repelled 
with  great  slaughter, 

From  Pisa,  where  lie  had  forced  a  contribution  of 
Jan.  isaa.      2 0 0,0 DO  fl orfna,  2 D.O D 0  from  the  clergy.  Louis 

LoiilR  BdvnnBOB      „   .L  .  '        '  .  QJ> 

to  Homo,  oi  Bavana  made  a  winter  march  over  the 
Maremma  to  Viterbo.  His  partisans  (Sciarra  Colonna, 
Jacopo  Kavclli,  Tcboldo  di  St.  Eustozio)  wore  masters 
of  the  city.  To  soothe  the  people  they  sent  ambassadors 
to  demand  ticrtaiu  torms.  Loiiis  orilcrcd  Castmciit); 
Lord  of  Liicji-a,  to  reply.  Castructio  signed  to  tlia 
trump ctcrs  tn  Kouud  the  advance.  "  This  in  the  answer 
of  my  Lord  the  Emperor."  In  five  days  Louis  wa? 


Sept.  23. 


to  Da  flaJa's  verdict :  "  S'll 
paa  plus  snuMoi-  r[ue  jnbtc, 
il  y  a  apiuircucc,  on  lui  fit 
grands  injustico  en  le  tirfllant." — P 
BD»  Tlieris  are,  howeror,  dnrna  cmiaus 
pausagss  in  which  In  attacks  Dan  to, 
not,  na  Plgnotti  (v.  Ill,  p,  1)  unfairly 
aaye,  thinking  himself  a  better  poet, 


plnhsophJcal 


but    11 

rloutuiii'i 
"  In  cio  pnrcoatl,  flnrentln  poeta, 
Poiirndo  rke  gll  ben  delln  furttUiA 
NBceBultate  alens  eon  lor  motii. 


Fortniut  nnn  I  oltro  ohe  dlBpoato 
Clela,  cba  dlspoiiB  caw.  anlmata,"  fee, 

— p  XXXV,  ?  S66  alBU  Ifi. 

Albeit  Mussnto,  p.  173. 


CHAP.  VII.  CORONATION  OF  LOUIS.  415 

within,  the  city;  there  was  no  opposition;  his  advent 
was  welcomed,  it  waa  said,  like  that  of  God.f  Hia 
inarch  had  been  swelled  by  numbers:  the  city  waa 
crowded  with  swarms  of  the  Spiritual  Franciscans ;  with 
all  who  took  part  with  their  General,  Michael  di  Cesena, 
against  the  Pope ;  with  the  Fraticelli;  with  the  poorer 
clergy,  who  desired  to  reduce  the  rest  to  their  own 
poverty,  or  who  were  honestly  or  hypocritically  possessed 
with  the  fanaticism  of  mendicancy.  The  higher  and 
wealthier,  as  well  of  the  clergy  as  of  the  monastic 
Orders,  and  even  the  friars,  withdrew  in  fear  or  disgust 
before  this  democratic  inroad.  The  churches  wuro 
closed,  the  convents  deserted,  hardly  a  bell  tolled,  the 
services  were  scantily  performed  by  schismatic  or  ex- 
communicated priests. 

Yet  the  procesaion  to  the  coronation  of  Louis  of 
Bavaria  was  as  magnificent  as  of  old.  The  Cwnnuiiim. 
Emperor  passed  through  squadrons  of  at  least  Jw*n'. 
five  thousand  horse ;  the  city  had  decked  itself  in  all  its 
splendour;  there  was  an  imposing  assemblage  of  thr* 
nobles  on  the  way  from  S,  Maria  Maggiore  to  >St, 
Fetor's ;  but  at  tho  coronation  the  place  of  thu  Fopo  or 
of  delegated  Cardinals  was  ill  supplied  by  tho  JJuthnp  of 
Venetia  and  tho  Bishop  of  Aleria,  known  only  a,s  unilci' 
excommunication.  The  Count  of  tlio  Latonni  Palace 
was  wanting;  Castruccio  was  invested  with  tlmt  dignity. 
Castruccio  (clad  in  a  crimson  vest,  cmbroiderr-d  iu  front 
with  the  words,  "'Tis  ha  whom  God  wiHn," 
"He  will  be  whatever  God  wills")  was  iL 
created,  amid  loud  popular  applause,  Srautur  jtinl 


*  "  J'npuluB  RomauuB  ut  Deo  ab  eitelsis  vi'iiu'iite,  K-ivIum  ilhnti  Itinjjuii 
wlacritatibua,  praconiorumiiui}  appluueibMB  execnit."— Allw-it  Mus  I'D,  S.  K.  I. 
*,  773, 


tl0  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BooicXIL 

rial  Vicar  of  Koine,  Thren  laws  were  promulgated : 
one  for  tha  maintenance  of  the  Catholic  faith,  one  on 
the  revenues  clue  to  the  clergy  (a  vain  attempt  to 
propitiate  their  favour),  ona  in  defence  of  widows  and 
orphans. 

Louis  could  not  pans  a :  he  was  but  half  avenged  upon 
his  implacable  enemy.  He  waa  not  even  secure;  so 
long  as  John  was  Pope,  ha  was  not  Emperor ;  ha  waa 
under  the  ban  of  BX communication.  He  had  been 
driven  to  extremity ;  there  was  no  extremity  to  which 
he  must  not  proceed.  He  had  not  satisfied  nor  paid  the 
price  of  their  attachment  to  his  Mendicant  partisans. 
On  the  Placa  before  St.  Peter's  Church  was  erected  a 
B  lofty  stage.  Tha  Emperor  ascended  and  took 
his  scat  on  a  gorgeous  throne:  he  wore  the 
purple  robes,  the  Imperial  crown;  in  his  right  hand  ho 
bore  the  golden  sseptrs,  in  his  left  the  golden  apple. 
Around  him  were  Prelates,  Barons,  and  armed  Knights ; 
the  populacs  filled  the  vast  space.  A  brother  of  tho 
Order  of  the  Eremites  advanced  on  the  stage,  and  cried 
aloud,  "Is  thero  any  Procurator  who  will  defend  the 
Priest  Jam  QS  of  Cahors,  who  calls  himself  Pop  a  John 
XXII. ?"  Thrice  he  uttered  tho  summons;  no  answer 
was  niadp.  A  learned  Abbot  of  Grsrinany  mounted  the 
stage,  and  made  a  long  sermon  in  eloquent  Latin,  on 
tho  text,  "This  is  the  day  of  good  tidings."  The 
topics  were  skilfully  chosen  to  work  upon  the  tnrbulant 
audience.  "Tho  holy  Emperor  beholding  Rome,  the 
head  of  iiha  world  and  of  the  Christian  faith,  deprived 
both,  of  her  temporal  and  liar  spiritual  throne,  had  left 
his  own  realm,  and  his  young  children  to  restore  her 
dignity.  At  Home  he  had  heard  that  James  of  Cahora, 
called  Pope  John,  had  determined  to  change  tha  titlei 
of  the  Cardinals,  and  transfer  them  alro  to  Avignon 


CIIAP.  VIL  THE  POPE  DEPOSED.  427 

that  he  had  proclaimed  a  crusade  against  the  Roman 
people  :  therefore  the  Syndics  of  the  Banian  clergy,  and 
the  representatives  of  the  Eoman  people,  had  entreated 
him,  to  proceed  against  the  said  James  of  Cahors  as 
a  heretic,  and  to  provide  the  Church  and  people  of 
Eome,  as  the  Emperor  Dtho  had  done,  with  a  holy  and 
faithful  Pastor."  He  recounted  eight  heresies  of  John. 
Among  them,  "he  had  been  urged  to  war  against  the 
Saracens:  he  had  replied,  'We  have  Sara eens  enough 
at  home.' "  He  had  said  that  Christ,  "  whose  poverty 
was  among  hia  perfections,  held  property  in  common 
with  his  disciples."  He  had  declared,  contrary  to  the 
Gospel,  which  maintains  the  rights  of  Csesar,  and  asserts 
the  Pope's  kingdom  to  be  purely  spiritual,  that  to  him 
(the  Pope)  belongs  all  power,  temporal  as  well  as 
spiritual.  For  these  crimes,  therefore,  of  heresy  and 
treason,  the  Emperor,  by  the  new  law,  and  by  other 
laws,  canon  and  civil,  removed,  deprived,  and  n^p™, 
cashiered  the  same  James  of  Dahors  from  his  duPMW^ 
Papal  office,  leaving  to  any  one  who  had  temporal 
jurisdiction  to  execute  upon  him  the  penalties  of  heresy 
and  treason.  Henceforth  no  Prince,  Baron,  or  com- 
monalty was  to  own  him  as  Pope,  under  pain  of 
condemnation  as  fautor  of  his  treason  and  heresy:  half 
the  penalty  was  to  g 3  to  the  Imperial  treasury,  half  to 
the  Eoman  people.11  He,  Louis  of  Bavaria,  promised 
in  a  few  days  to  provide  a  good  Pope  and  a  good  Pastor 


k  According   to  the  statement   of    Benedict  XII.,  of  these  things 


Louie,  still  more  atrocious  charges 
were  inserted  into  this  scntance  of  da* 
position,  by  Udalrio  of  Guelilrca,  tlia 
Emperor's  secretary.  Louis  being  a 
rude  soldier,  ignorant  of  Latin,  know 


nalii,  sub  turn.  1333).  Uilulnc  did 
this  out  of  secret  anmity  to  the  Km* 
poror,  to  commit  him  mure  irrn- 
trievably  with  thn  I'lijw,  — 
nota  on  Ilayriuldiin,  1I52R,  c.  xxxvi* 


nothing,  aa  he  afterwards  declared  to 

VOL.  VII.  2    K 


418 


LATIN  CHRISTIANITY. 


BOOK  X1K 


for  the  great  consolation  of  the  people  of  Borne  and  of 

all  Christians.1 

But  Rome  was  awed  rather  than  won  by  this  flattery  to 

her  pride.  Only  four  days  after,  an  ecclesiastic,  James15 
protestor  son  °f  Stephen  Colonna,  appeared  before  the 
aXm  church  of  S.  Marcellus,  and  in  the  presence  of 
April  22.  onB  thousand  Eomans  read  aloud  and  at  full 

length  the  last  and  most  terrible  process  of  Pope  John 

against  Louis  of  Bavaria.    He  -went  on  to  declare  that 

D 

"  no  Syndicate,  representing  the  clergy  of  Borne,  had  ad- 
dressed Louis;  that  Syndicate,  the  priests  of  St.  Peter's,, 
of  St.  John  Lateran,  of  St.  Maria  Magginre,  with  all  the 
other  dignified  clergy  and  abbots,  had  left  R 01110  for 
some  months,  lest  they  should  be  contaminated  by  the 
presence  of  persons  under  excommunication."  He  con- 
tinued uninterrupted  his  long  harangue,  and  then 
deliberately  nailsd  the  Pope's  Brief  on  the  doors  of  the 
Church  of  S.  Marcellus.  The  news  spread  with  a  dasp 
murmur  through  the  city.  Louis  sent  a  troop  to  seizo 
the  daring  ecclesiastic;  he  was  gone,  the  populace  had 
made  no  attempt  to  arrest  him.  He  was  afterwards 

rewarded  by  the  Pope  with  a  rich  bishopric. 

The  next  day  a  law  was  published  in  the  pre- 
sence of  the  senators  and  people,  that  the  Pope  about  to  be 
namsd,  and  all  future  Popes,  should  be  bound  to  rosido, 
except  for  three  months  in  the  year,  in  Home;  that  he 
should  not  depart,  unless  with  the  permission  of  the  Ro- 
man people,  above  two  days'  journey  from  the  city.  If 
summoned  to  return,  and  disobedient  to  tha  summons,, 
he  might  be  deposed  and  another  chosen  in  his  place.™ 


April  23 


1  Apui  Baluciuui,  ii.  p.  523. 

*  He  was  canon  of  ths  Lateran  j 
afterwards  the  friend  of  Petrarch. 
See  account  of  Petrarch'*  vi«t  to  him 


OB  Bishop  of  Lwnbea.— De  Safe,  i 
101,  ftp. 

m  The  rxmdemnatian  of  John  XXII. 
to  death,  tut  hU  capital  aentence,  art 


CHAP.  VII. 


THE  ANTIPOPE, 


418 


On  Ascension  Day  ths  people  were  again  summoned 
to  the  Place  before  St.  Peter's  Dhurch.  Louis  m  u 
appeared  in  all  his  imperial  attire,  with  many 
of  the  lower  clergy,  monks,  and  friars.  He  took  his 
seat  upon  the  throne:  the  designated  Pope,  Peter  di 
Oorvara,  sat  by  his  sida  under  the  baldachin.  The  friar 
Nicolas  ii  Fabriano  preached  on  the  text,  "  And  Peter, 
turning,  said,  the  Angs'l  of  the  Lord  hath  appeared  and 
delivered  me  out  of  the  hand  of  Herod."  The  Bavarian 
was  the  angel,  Pope  John  was  Herod.  The  Bishop  of 
Venetia  came  forward,  and  three  times  demanded 
whether  they  would  have  the  brother  Peter  for  th3 
Pope  of  Eome,  There  was  a  loud  acclamation,  whether 
from  fear,  from  contagious  excitement,  from  wonder  at 
the  daring  of  the  Emperor,  or  from  genuine  joy  that 
they  had  a  humble  and  a  Eoman  Pops."  The  Bishop 
read  the  Decree.  The  Emperor  rose,  put  on  the  finger 
of  the  friar  the  ring  of  St,  Peter,  arrayed  him  in  tho 
pall,  and  saluted  him  by  the  name  of  Nicolas  V.  With 
the  Pope  on  his  right  hand  ha  passed  into  the  church, 
where  Mass  was  celebrated  with  tho  utmost  solemnity, 

Peter  di  Dorvara  was  bom  in  the  Abruzzi  \  he  belonged 
to  the  extreme  Franciscan  faction ;  a  man  of  Tlle  Aml. 
that  rigid  austerity  that  no  charge  could  bo  pupo- 
brought  against  him  by  his  enemies  but  hypocrisy.   The 


asserted  lay  RaynalduB  on  unpublished 
authority.  This  account  is  received 
as  authentic  by  Boehmer,  who  accepts 
all  that  is  against  Louis  and  in  favour 
of  Pope  John.  It  is  more  likely  a 
version  of  Muusato'a  atory  of  his  Ijeug 
liumed  in  effigy  by  the  people,  rather 
than  confirmed  by  it,  As  a  grave 
judicial  proceeding  it  IB  highly  impro- 
bable.—Itaynali,  sub  aim, 


•  The  people,  according  to  Albert 
MuasatD,  Uumiuulcil  the  deposition  of 
John,  anil  the  elevation  of  ft  new  Pope, 
"  novum  propnnEndum  Ponti/kcm,  qui 


nam  .  .  .  m  suli  Rfunft  i-egut 
ilium    Juannom,    riui    tvans 
flnorm  KcclatiiD  illuilib, 
—  Fontw,  p.  175. 


42D  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Boos  xn. 

one  imputation  was,  that  he  had  lived  in  wedlock  five 
years  before  he  put  on  the  habit  of  S.  Francis.  Ha 
took  the  vows  without  his  wife's  consent.  She  had 
despised  the  beggarly  monk;  sha  claimed  restitution  of 
conjugal  rights  from  tha  wealthy  Pontiff."  All  this 
perhaps  proves  tha  fanatic  sincerity  of  Peter,  and  the 
man  that  was  thus  put  forward  by  a  fanatic  party  (it  is 
said  when  designated  for  the  office  he  fled  either  from 
modesty  or  fear)  must  have  been  believed  to  be  a  fanatic. 
Nothing  indeed  but  fanaticism  would  have  given  him 
couragB  to  assume  the  perilous  dignity. 

The  first  act  of  Nicolas  V.  was  to  create  seven  Car- 
dinals— two  deposed  bishops,  Modena  and.  Venetia,  one 
deposed  abbot  of  S.  Ambrogio  in  Milan,  Nicolas  di 
Fabriano,  two  Human  popular  leaders.  Louis  caused 
himself  to  be  crowned  again  by  his  Supreme  Pontiff. 

But  in  Nicolas  V.  his  party  hoped,  no  doubt,  to  see 
the  apostle  of  absolute  poverty.  They  saw  him  and  his 
Cardinals  on  stately  steeds,  the  gift  of  the  Emperor, 
with  servants,  even  knights  and  squires :  they  heard 
that  they  indulged  in  splendid  and  costly  banquets. 
The  Pope  bestowed  ecclesiastical  privileges  and  benefices 
with  the  lavish  hand  of  his  predecessors,  it  was  believed 
at  the  time  for  payments  in  money. 

The  contest  divided  all  Christendom.  In  tha  remotest 
parts  were  wandering  friara  who  denounced 
^ha  heresy  of  Pope  John,  asserted  the  causa  of 
the  Emperor  and  of  his  Antipope.  In  the  University 
of  Paris  were  men  of  profound  thought  who  held  the 
same  views,  and  whom  the  ruling  powers  of  the  Uni- 
versity were  constrained  to  tolerate.  The  whole  of 


*  "  Hepatlit  Pcmtiflcem  loeupletatn,  ijuem  tat  annw  apiwerat  mentlieius 
1.  vii.  f.  11, 


CH»*.  VII,       VAKIBf  fl  POPULARITY  OF  LOUIS. 


121 


Europe  seemed  becoming  Guelf  or  Grhibelline.  Yet 
could  no  contest  be  mure  unequal;  that  it  lasted,  proves 
the  vast  and  all-pervading  influence  of  the  Mendicants ; " 
for  the  -whole  strength  of  the  Emperor  and  of  the  Anti- 
pope:  was  in  the  religious  movement  of  this  small  section, 
in  the  Roman  populace  and  their  Grhibelline  leaders. 
The  great  GrhibeUine  princes  were  for  themselves  alone; 
if  they  maintained  their  domination  over  their  subject 
cities,  they  cared  neither  for  Emperor  nor  Pope.  Against 
this  were  arrayed  the  ancient  awe  which  adhered  to  the 
name  of  the  Pope,  the  Pope  himself  elected  and  sup- 
ported by  all  the  Cardinals,  the  whole  higher  clergy, 
whose  wealth  hung  on  the  issue,  those  among  the  lower 
clergy  (and  they  were  very  many)  who  hated  the 
intrusive  Mendicants,  the  rival  Order  of  the  Dominicans, 
who  now,  however,  were  weakened  by  a  schism  in  which 
the  Pope  had  mingled,  concerning  the  election  and 
power  of  the  General  and  Prefects  of  the  Order.  Besides 
these  were  Robert  of  Naples,  for  whom  the  Pope  had 
hazarded  so  much,  and  all  the  Guelfs  of  Italy,  among 
them  most  of  the  Roman  nobles. 

The  tide  which  had  BD  rapidly  floated  up  Louis  of 
Bavaria  to  the  height  of  acknowledged  Emperor  and 
the  creator  of  a  new  Pope,  ebbed  with  still  greater 
rapidity.  He  is  accused  of  having  wasted  precious 
time  and  not  advanced  upon.  Naples  to  crush  Ms  defence- 
less rival.q  But  Louis  may  have  known  the  inefficient 
state  of  his  own  forces  and  of  his  own  finances.  Robert 
of  Naples  now  took  the  aggressive:  his  fleet  besieged 


P  See  a  rery  striking  passage  of 
Albert  Mussato,  da  Ludov,  Bavar  ; 
Muratori,  x.  p.  775;  Fontea,  p.  77. 

*  «  Ipse  Guitar  segnia  tonto  tttnpore 
rtetit,  otiosus  in  urbev  quod  quasi 


omnin  expendebat,"  in  one  'expedition 
ha  destroyed  the  castle  la  which  Con- 
nuhn  WAS  beheaded,— Albert,  Ai-gea 
tin  p,  12-1. 


422  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  KoojcXH. 

Ostia;  his  troops  lined  the  frontier  and  cut  off  tha 
supplies  on  which.  Boms  partly  depended  for  subsistence, 
The  Emperor's  military  movements  were  uncertain,  and 
desultory;  when  he  did  move,  ha  was  in  danger  of 
starvation.  The  Antipope,  to  ba  of  any  use,  ought  to 
have  combined  the  adored  sanctity  of  Coelestine  V.  with 
the  vigour  and  audacity  of  Boniface  VIII.  The  Romans, 
always  ready  to  pour  forth  shouting  crowds  into  the 
tapestried  streets  to  the  coronation  of  an  Emperor,  or 
the  inauguration  of  a  Fops,  had  now  had  their  pageant. 
Their  pride  had  quaffed  its  draught :  languor  ever 
follows  intoxication.  They  began  to  oscillate  back  to 
their  old  attachments  or  to  indifference.  The  excesses 
of  the  German  soldiers  violated  their  houses,  scarcity 
raised  their  markets.  If  the  Pope  might  now,  compul- 
Borily,  take  pride  in  his  poverty  (and  the  loss  of  the 
wealth  which  flowed  to  Roma  under  former  Pontiffs  was 
not  the  least  cause  of  the  unpopularity  of  the  Avignonese 
Popes),  yet  the  Emperor's  state,  the  Emperor's  forces 
must  be  maintained.  And  how  maintained,  but  by 
exactions  intolerable,  or  which  they  would  no  longer 
tolerate?  The  acts  of  tha  new  government  were  not 
such  as  would  propitiate  their  enemies.  Two  men,  in 
the  absence  of  the  Emperor,  were  burned  for  denying 
Peter  of  Corvara  to  be  the  lawful  Pope.*  A  straw  effigy 
of  Pope  John  was  publicly  burned,  a  puerile  vengeance 
which  might  be  supposed  significant  of  some  darker 
menace." 

•  On  the  4th  of  August,  not  four  months  after  his 
Louiioban-  coronation,  the  Emperor  turned  his  back  on 
a^  some.  jjD1Iie,  which  he  could  no  longer  hold.  On  the 
following  night  came  the  Cardinal  Berthold  and  Stephen 

'  Villon],  c.  four.  •  "  Miwato 


CHAP.  VII.  THE  ANTIPuTE  13  VITEBBO.  42,1 

Colonna  on  the  8th.,  Napoleon  Orsiui  took  poasessioii 
of  the  cky.  Tha  churches  were  reopened;  all  the  pri- 
vileges granted  by  tha  Emperor  and  tha  Antipope 
annulled;  their  scanty  archives,  all  their  Bulls  and 
state  papers,  burned:  the  bodies  of  the  German  soldierg 
dug  tip  out  of  their  graves  and  cast  into  the  Tiber, 
Sciarra  Colonna  and  his  adherents  took  flight,  carrying 
away  all  tha  plunder  which  they  could  seize. 

Louis  of  Bavaria  retired  to  Viterbo;  ha  was  accom- 
panied by  the  Pope,  whosa  pontificate,  -by  his  ThBAntipopa 
own  law,  depended  on  his  residence  in  Borne,  octi. 
He  is  charged  with  having  robbed  the  church  of  St. 
Fortunatus  even  of  its  lamps — the  apostle  of  absolute 
poverty !  Worsa  than  this,  he  threatened  all  who  should 
adhere  to  his  adversary  not  merely  with  excommunica- 
tion, but  with  the  stake.  He  would  employ  against 
them  tha  remedy  of  burning,  and  ao  of  severing  them 
from  the  body  of  the  faithful  ,b 

Pope  John,  meantime,  at  Avignon,  having  exhausted 
his  spiritual  thunders,  had  recourse  to  means  of  defence 
seemingly  more  consistent  with  the  successor  of  Christ's 
Apostles.  He  commanded  intercessory  supplications  to 
be  offer sd  in  all  churches :  at  Avignon  forms  of  prayer 
in  the  most  earnest  and  solemn  language  were  used, 
entreating  God's  blessing  on  tha  Church,  his  malediction 
on  her  contumacious  enemies.  His  prayets  might  seem 
to  be  accepted.  The  more  powerful  of  the  Ghibellino 
chieftains  came  to  a  disastrous  end.  Passerino,  tho 
crafty  tyrant  of  Mantua,  was  surprised  by  a  conspiracy 
of  the  Gbnzago,  instigated  by  Can  della  Scalfy  and 
elain ;  his  son  was  cast  alive  to  perish  in  a  tower,  into 
which  Pasasrino  had  thrown  the  victims  of  his  own 


*  v  AduatioiuB  cb  piQcialonla  remeJi  utn."— Apui  Itaynaldiim,  c,  tu, 


424  LATIN  UHBISTIANITY.  BOOK  XII, 

vengeance.  The  excommunicated  Bishop  of  Forli  died 
by  a  terrible  death.;  G-aleazzo  Yisconti,  so  lately  Lord 
of  Milan  and  of  seven  other  great  cities,  died  in  poverty, 
a  mercenary  soldier  in  the  army  of  Castruccio.  Cas- 
truccio  himself,  if,  as  is  extremely  doubtful,  Louis  could 
have  depended,  on  his  fidelity  (for  Castraccio, 
'  Master  of  Pisa,  -was  negotiating  with  Florence), 
seemingly  his  mast  powerful  support,  died  of  a  fever." 
Pisa,  of  which  Dastrucaio  had  become  Lord,  and 
sept 31.  which  the  Emperor  scrupled  not  to  wrest  from 
id1"1*  his  sons  (Castruccia's  dying  admonition  to 
them  had  been  to  make  haste  and  secure  that  city), 
became  the  head-quarters  of  Louis  and  his  Antipope. 
Nicolas  V.  continued  to  issue  his  edicts  anathematising 
the  so-called  Pope,  inveighing  against  the  deposed 
James  of  Cahors,  against  Robert  of  Naples  and  the 
Florentines.  But  the  thunders  of  an  acknowledged 
Pope  made  no  deep  impression  on  the  Italians:  those 
of  80  quBstitaable  a  Pontiff  were  heard  with  utter 
apathy.  The  Ghibellines  were  already  weary  of  an 
Emperor  whose  only  Imperial  power  seemed  to  b a  to 
levy  onerous  taxes  upon  them,  with  none  of  gratifying 
their  vengeance  on  the  Gruelfs.  Gradually  they  fell  off. 
The  Marquises  of  Este  made  their  peace  with  the  Pope. 
Azzo,  tliB  son  of  Gl-aleazzo  Visconti,  having  purchased 
his  release  from  the  Court  of  the  Emperor  at  the  pries 
of  60,000  florins,*  returned  to  Milan  as  Imperial  Vicar; 
but  before  long  tlie  Yiseonti  began  to  enter  into  secret 
correspondence  with  Avignon;  they  submitted  to  the 
humiliation  of  being  absolved,  on  their  penitence,  from 
the  crime  of  heresy,  and  of  receiving  back  their  dignity 


4  Albert  Muaeato,  in  Ludor,  Bavor.  Viltai,  kttr. 
'  125,000.    Villani,  i.  c.  117. 


CHAP.  VII.  DEFECTION  DF  ITALY.  425 

as  a  grant  from  the  Pope.7    The  Pope  appointed  John 
Visconti  Cardinal  and  Legate  in  Lombardy. 

The  Emperor's  own  G-erman  troops,  unpaid  and  unfed, 
broke  away  from  tha  camp  to  live  at  free  quarters 
wherever  they  could.  The  only  allies  who  joined  the 
Court  at  Pisa  were  Michael  di  Cesena,  the  contumacious 
General  of  the  Franciscans,  and  his  numerous  followers. 
Pope  John  had  attempted  to  propitiate  thia  party  by 
the  wisa  measure  of  canonising  DoelestinB  Y. ;  but  the 
breach  was  irreparable  between  fanatics  who  held  ab- 
solute poverty  to  be  the  perfection  of  Christianity, 
and  a  Pope  whose  coffers  were  already  bursting  with 
that  mass  of  gold  which  on  his  death  astonished  the 
world. 

The  Emperor,  summoned  by  the  threatening  state  of 
affairs  in  Lombardy,  broke  up  his  Court  at  Defectumor 
Pisa,  and  marched  his  army  to  Pavia,  there  to  Iw1r" 
linger  for  some  inglorious  mouths,  No  sooner  was  he- 
gone  than  Ghibelline  Pisa  rose  in  tumult,,  and  expelled 
the  pseudo-Pontiff  with  his  officers  from  their  city. 
They  afterwards  made  a  merit  with  Pope  John  that 
they  would  have  seized  and  delivered  him  up,  but 
from  their  fear  of  the  Imperial  garrison.  A  short  time 
elapsed:  they  had  courage  to  compel  the  garrison  to 
abandon  the  city.  They  sent  ambassadors  to  make- 
their  peace  with  the  Pope.  Host  of  the  Lombard  cities 
had  either  set  or  followed  the  example  of  defection. 
Rumours  spread  abroad  of  tne  death  of  Frederick  oi 
Austria,  the  friendly  rival  of  the  Bavarian  for  the 
Empire,  So  axe  more  formidable  claimant  might  obtain 
suffrages  among  those  who  still  persisted  in  asserting 
the  Empire  to  be  vacant.  Louis  retired  to  Trent, 


r  See  in  Kaynaldus  the  form  of  absolution,  1328,  c,  Iv.  raid  Irl. 


*33  LATIN  OHKISTIAJTITY.  BOOK  XIL 

and  for  ever  abandoned  his  short-lived  kingdom  of 
Italy.* 

Death  seemed  to  conspire  with  Fortune  to  remove  the 
enemies  of  the  Pope.*  Sciarra  Colonna  died;  Silvester 
Galta,  tlis  Grhibslline  tyrant  of  Viterbo,  disd;  at  length 
Can  dalla  Scala  was  cut  off  in  his  power  and  magmfi- 
FatBDftna  cense,  A  more  wretched  and  humiliating  fate 
Antipopc.  awajted  the  Antipops.  On  the  revolt  of  Pisa 
from  the  Imperial  interests  ha  had  fled  to  a  castle  of 
Count  Boniface,  Doneratico,  about  thirty-five  miles  dis- 
tant. Tha  castle  being  threatened  by  the  Florentines, 
he  stole  back,  and.  lay  hid  in  the  Fiaan  palace  of  the 
same  nobleman,  Pop  a  John  addressed  a  latter  to  "  his 
dear  brother,"  the  Count,  urging  him  to  surrender  the 
child  of  hell,  the  pupil  of  malediction.  Peter  himself 
wrote  supplicatory  letters,  throwing  himself  on  the 
mercy  of  the  Pope*  The  Count,  with  honour  and 
courage,  stipulated  for  the  life  and  even  for  the  abso- 
lution of  the  proscribed  outlaw.  The  Archbishop  of 
Pisa  was  commissioned  to  receive  the  recantation,  the 
admission  of  all  his  atrocious  crimes,  and  to  remove  tha 
A]j  ^  spiritual  censures.  In  the  Cathedral  of  Pisa, 
where  he  had  sat  in  state  as  the  successor  of 
St.  Peter,  the  Antipope  now  abjured  his  usurped  Pope- 
dom,  and  condemned  all  his  own  heretical  and  impious 
acts.  He  was  then  placed  on  board  a  galley,  and  con- 
veyed to  Avignon,  In  every  city  in  Provence  through, 
which  he  passed  he  was  condemned  to  hear  the  public- 

JU  «L 

AB    '      recital  of  all  his  iniquities.    The  day  after  his 

i         '    arrival  at  Avignon  ha  was  introduced  into  the 

fall  Consistory  with  a  halter  round  his  neck :  he  threw 


*  Ha  fluwns  to  hare  reached  Trent 


by  Deo,  24  (1329),  before  the  artual 
dwtti  of  Frederick  of  Auitrta.—  BoeU- 


mar,  Kegeata. 


x.  Ittt*. 


1329,  xix,     Vllbmi, 


CHAT.  VH.         THE  AHTIPOPE'S  HUMILIATfnN.  427 


at  tlie  Pope's  fee^  imploring  mercy,  and  exe- 
crating his  own  impiety.  Nothing  more  was  done  on 
that  day,  for  the  clamour  and  the  multitude,  before 
which  the  awe-struck  man  stood  mute.  A  fortnight 
after,  to  give  tima  for  a  full  and  elaborate 
statement  of  all  his  offences,  he  appeared 
again,  and  read  his  long  self-abasing  confession.  No 
words  were  spared  which  could  aggravats  his  guilt  or 
deepen  his  humiliation.  He  forswore  and  condemned 
all  the  acts  of  the  heretical  and  schismatic  Louis  of 
Bavaria,  the  heresies  and  errors  of  Michael  di  Ceaena, 
the  blasphemies  of  Marsilia  of  Padua  and  John  of 
Jaudun.  Pope  John  wept,  and  embraced  as  a  father 
his  prodigal  son.  Peter  di  Corvara  was  kept  in  honour- 
able imprisonment  in  the  Papal  palace,  clusely  watched 
and  secluded  from  intercourse  with  the  world,  but 
allowed  the  use  of  books  and  all  the  services  of  the 
Church.  He  lived  about  three  years  and  a  half,  and 
died  a  short  time  before  his  triumphant  rival.11 

Louis  of  Bavaria,  now  in  undisturbed  possession  of 
the  Empire  by  the  death  of  Frederick  of  Austria  (the 
Pope  had  in  vain  sought  a  new  antagonist  among 
the  German  princes),  weary  of  the  strife,  dispirited  by 
his  Italian  discomfiture,  still  under  ^communication, 
though  the  excommunication  waa  altogether  disregarded 
by  the  ecclesiastics  aa  well  as  by  the  lay  nobles  of  Ger- 
many, was  prepared  to  obtain  at  any  sacrifice 
the  recognition  of  his  title.  Baldwin,  Arch- 
bishop  of  Treves,  and  the  King  of  Bohemia,  undertook 
the  office  of  mediation.  They  proposed  terms  so  humi- 
liating as  might  hava  satisfied  any  one  but  a  Pope  like 
John  XXII.  Louis  would  renounce  the  Antipope,  ror 


Real  the  Confession  of  the  Antipope,  vol.  11. — Aptad  Bahizium,  p.  14ft 


428  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BooKXIL 

vote  his  appeal  to  a  General  Council,  rescind  all  acts 
hostile  to  the  Church,  acknowledge  the  justice  of  his 
excommunication.  The  one  concession  was  that  he 
should  remain  Emperor.  The  Pope  replied  at  length, 
and  with  contemptuous  severity.0  The  books  of  Marsilio 
of  Padua  and  John  of  Jaudun  had  made  too  deep  a 
wound:  it  was  still  rankling  in  his  heart.  Nor  these 
alone — Michael  di  Ceaena,  Bonagratia,  William  of  Otik- 
ham,  had  fled  to  Germany :  they  had  been  received  with 
respect.  The  Pope  examines  and  scornfully  rejects  all 
the  propositions : — "  The  Bavarian  will  renounce  the 
Antipopa  after  tho  Antipope  has  deposed  himself,  and 
sought  the  mercy  of  the  Pope.  He  will  revoke  his 
appeal,  but  what  right  of  appeal  has  an  excommuni- 
cated heretic?  He  will  rescind  his  acts,  but  "what 
atonement  -will  he  make  for  those  acts?  He  will 
acknowledge  the  justice  of  his  excommunication,  but 
•what  satisfaction  does  lie  offer? — what  proof  of  peni- 
tence? By  what  title  would  he  be  Emperor? — his  old 
one,  which  has  been  HO  often  annulled  by  the  Pops? — 
Jniyai,  ty  some  new  title? — he,  an  impious,  sacri- 
im-  legious,  heretical  tyrant?"  The  King  of  Bo- 
hemia is  then  exhorted  to  take  immediate  steps  for  the 
election  of  a  lawful  Emperor. 

But  Louis  of  Bavaria  continued  to  bear  the  title  and 
to  exercise  at  least  some  of  the  functions  of  Emperor. 
Once  indeed  he  proposed  to  abdicate  in  favour  of  his  son, 
but  the  negotiation  came  to  no  end.  The  restless  ambi- 
tion of  John  of  Bohemia  was  engaged  in  an  adventurous 
expedition  into  Italy,  where  to  the  Guelfs  he  declared  that 
his  arms  were  sanctioned  by  the  Pope — -to  the  GhibeUinofli 
that  he  came  to  re-establish  the  rights  of  the  Empire, 


Haiiene,  Tltoumriu,  jj, 


CHAJ.  VIT  HERESY  OF  THE  POPE.  429 

The  Pops  was  more  vigorous,  if  not  more  successful, 
in  the  suppression  of  the,  spiritual  rebels  against  hia 
power.  The  more  turbulent  and  obstinate  of  the  Fran- 
ciscan Order  were  spread  throughout  Christendom,  from 
England  to  Sicily.  The  Queen  of  Sicily  was  suspected 
of  favouring  their  tenets.  Wherever  they  were,  John 
pursued  them  with  his  persecuting  edicts.  The  Inquisi- 
tion was  instructed  to  search  them  out  in  their  remotest 
sanctuaries;  the  clergy  were  directed  to  denounce  them 
on  every  Sunday  and  on  every  festival. 

On  a  sudden  it  was  bruited  abroad  that  the  Papa 
himself  had  fallen  into  heresy  on  a  totally  dif-  Heresy  of 
ferent  point.  John  XXII.  was  proud  of  his  thfl  pDpe* 
thsologic  learning;  he  had  indulged,  and  in  public,  in 
perilous  speculations;  he  had  advanced  the  tenet,  that 
till  the  day  of  Judgement  the  Saints  did  not  enjoy  tha 
beatific  vision  of  Uod.  At  his  own  Court  some  of  the 
Cardinals  opposed  him  with  polemic  vehemence.  Tha 
mors  absolutely  the  question  was  beyond  the  boundary 
of  human  knowledge  and  revealed  truth,  the  more  posi- 
tive and  obstinate  were  the  disputants.  The  enemies 
of  the  Pope — those  who  already  held  him  to  be  a  heretic 
on  account  of  his  rejection  of  absolute  poverty — raised 
and  propagated  the  cry  with  zealous  activity.  It  was 
either  his  assertion,  or  an  inference  from  his  doc- 
trines, that  the  Apostles,  that  John  and  Peter,  even  the 
Biassed  Virgin  herself,  only  contemplated  the  humanity 
of  Christ,  and  beheld  not  his  Grodhead.d 

About  the  same  time  jealousies  had  begun  to  grow  up 
between  the  Pope  and  the  Court  of  Fran  ce.  A  new  race, 
that  of  Valois,  was  now  on  the  throne.  The  Pope,  while 
from  hia  residence  at  Avignon  he  might  appear  the 

4  Villuu.    That,  n»  doubt,  was  tlis  popular  view  of  the  doctrine, 


430  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  XII. 

vassal,  in  fact  had  become  the  master  of  his  Sovereign. 

He  ruled  by  a  kind  of  ostentatious  parental  authority, 

by  sympathy  with  all  their  superstitions,  and  by  foster- 

Pbmpiia      insr  their  ambition,  as  soaring  to  the  Imperial 

Vfl-loUklng         °  TV,  .,-          „  TT  T    .  .       ,    ,       .,          , 

of  France,  crown.  Phmp  of  valois  aspired  to  the  cha- 
racter  of  a  chivalrous  monarch.  He  declared  hia  deter- 
mination to  organise  a  vast  crusade,  first  against  the 
Moors  in  Spain :  his  aims  extended  to  the  conquest  of 
Syria.  But  the  days  were  past  whBn  men  ware 
content  with  the  barren  glory  of  combating  for 
the  Cross,  when  the  high  religious  impulse  was  the  in- 
spiration of  valour,  the  love  of  Christ  with  the  hope  of 
heaven  the  sole  motive  and  the  sole  reward.  Philip  was- 
no  Si  Louis.  There  was  more  worldly  wisdom,  more 
worldly  interest,  in  hia  plan.  He  submitted  certain 
propositions  to  the  Pops  as  the  terms  on  which  he  would 
condsacend  to  engage  in  holy  warfara  for  the  Cross : — 
The  absolute  disposal  of  all  the  vast  wealth  in  the  Papal 
treasury,  laid  up,  as  always  had  been  said,  for  this  sacred 
purpose;  the  tenths  of  all  Christendom  for  ten  years; 
the  appointment  to  all  the  benefices  in  his  realm  for 
three  years ;  the  re-erection  of  the  kingdom  of  Ajflss 
in  favour  of  his  son ;  tha  kingdom  of  Italy  for  his. 
brother,  Charles  Count  of  Alenpon.r  The  Pope  and  the 
Cardinals  stood  aghast  at  those  demands.  The  ava- 
ricious Pope  to  surrender  all  his  treasures  I — A  new 
kingdom  to  be  formed  which  might  incorporate  Avignon 
within  its  limits !  They  returned  a  cold  answer,  with 
vague  promises  of  spiritual  and  temporal  aid  when  the 
King  of  France  should  embark  on  the  crusade, 

This  menaced  invasion  of  his  treasury,,  and  tha  design 
of  creating  ft  formidable  kingdom  at  his  gates,  caused 


t  RaynaMun,  *ub  nun,  1883. 


CHAP  VII.  THE  BEATIFIC  VISIOX.  431 

grave  apprehensions  to  the  Pope.  He  had  IID  inclina- 
tion to  sink,  like  his  predecessor,  into  a  tame  ^nHnm 
vassal  of  the  King  of  France.  He  hegan,  if  not  iwuVa! 
seriously  to  meditate,  to  threaten  and  to  prepare,  a 
retreat  into  Italy,  not  indeed  to  liome.  Home's  humble 
submission  had  not  effaced  the  crimes  of  the  coronation 
of  the  Bavarian,  and  the  inauguration  of  the  Antipope ; 
and  Rome  was  insecure  from  the  raging  feuds  of  the 
Drsinia  and  the  Dolonnaa.  The  Cardinal  Legate,  Poyet, 
the  reputed  son  or  nephew  of  the  Pope,  after  a  succes- 
sion of  military  adventures  and  political  intrigues,  was 
now  master  of  Bologna.  He  was  Count  of  Komagna, 
Marquis  of  the  March  of  Ancona.  He  announced  the 
gracious  intention  of  the  Pope  to  honour  that  city  with 
his  residence.  HB  began  to  clear  a  vast  space,  to  raze 
many  houses  of  the  citizens,  in  order  to  build  a  palare 
for  the  Pope's  reception ;  but  this  palace  had  more  the 
look  of  a  strong  citadel,  to  awe  and  keep  in  submission 
the  turbulent  Bolognese. 

Meanwhile  the  King  of  France  seemed  still  intent 
on  the  crusade,  Ha  had  rapidly  corns  down  in  his 
demands.  He  would  be  content  with  the  grant  of  the 
tenths  throughout  his  realm  for  six.  years.  But  the  rest 
of  Christendom  was  not  to  escape  this  sacred  tax :  th& 
tenths  were  to  be  levied  for  the  Popa  during  the  same 
period.  The  King  solemnly  pledged  himself  to  embark 
in  three  years  for  Syria ;  but  he  stipulated  that  if  pre- 
vented by  any  impediment,  the  validity  of  his  excuse 
Vras  to  be  judged  not  by  the  Pope,  but  by  two  Prelates 
of  France  designated  for  that  office. 

Yet  even  the  stir  of  preparation  for  the  crusade,  some- 
what abated  by  menacing  signs  of  war  between  Tne  BWUIID 
JFrance  and.  England,  was  absorbed  not  only  viam' 
among  the  clergy,  but  among  the  laity  also,  by  the  dis- 


432  LATIN  OHBISTIANITT.  Coon  XII. 

cussions  concerning  the  Beatific  Vision,  which  rose  again 
into  engrossing  importance.  The  tenet  ha  I  become  a 
passion  with  the  Pope.  He  had  given  instructions  to 
the  Cardinals,  Bishops,  and  all  learned  theologians, 
to  examine  it  with  the  most  reverent  attention;  but 
benefices  ani  preferments  were  showered  on  those  who 
inclined  to  his  own  opinions — the  rest  were  rewarded 
with  coldness  and  neglect.  Ths  Pope  himself  collected 
a  chain  of  citations  from  the  Scriptures  and  the  Fathers, 
in  which,  without  absolutely  determining  the  question, 
he  betrayed  his  own  views  with  sufficient  distinctness. 
Paris  became  the  centre  of  these  disputes.  The  Pope 
was  eager  to  obtain  the  support  of  ths  University,  in 
theology,  as  in  all  other  branches  of  erudition,  of  the 
highest  authority.  The  General  of  the  Franciscans, 
Gerald  Otho»  a  fellow-countryman  of  the  Pope,  and  ad- 
vanced by  his  favour  to  that  high  rank  on  the  degrada- 
tion, of  Michael  di  Cessna,  was  zealous  to  display  his 
gratitudB.  He  preached  in  public,  denying  the  Beatific 
Vision  till  the  day  of  Judgement,  The  University  and 
the  Dominicans,  actuated  by  their  hostility  to  the  Fran- 
ciscans, declared  the  authority  of  their  own  irrefragable 
Thomas  Aquinas  impeached,  They  broke  out  in  indig- 
nant repudiation  of  such  heretical  c onclusions.  The  King 
rushed  into  the  contest:  he  declared  that  his  realm  should 
not  ba  polluted  with  heresy;  he  threatened  to  bum  the 
Franciscan  as  a  Paterin ;  he  uttered  even  a  more  oppro- 
brious nams ;  he  declared  that  not  even  the  Pope  should 
disseminate  such  odious  doctrines  in  France.  "If  the 
Saints  behold  not  the  Godhead,  of  what  value  was  their 
intercession?  Why  address  to  them  useless  prayers?" 
The  preacher  fled  in  all  hast  a ;  with  equal  haste  came 
the  watchful  Michael  di  Cessna  to  Paris,  to  inflame  and 
keep  alive  the  ultra-Papal  orthodoxy  of  King  Philip. 


H.  DEATH  OF  JDH^  XXJJ  433 

Tha  King  of  France  and  the  King  of  Naples  were 
estranged  too  by  the  doubtful  conduct  of  the  Pope 
towards  the  King  of  Bohemia.  The  double-mind  si 
Pontiff  was  protesting  to  the  Florentines  that  he  had 
given  no  sanction  to,  and  disclaimed  aloud  all  con- 
nexion with,  the  invasion  of  Italy  by  the  Bohemian ; 
but,  as  was  well  known,  John  of  Bohemia  was  too  useful 
an  ally  against  Louis  of  Bavaria  for  the  Pope  to  break 
with  him  ;  and  the  Cardinal  Legate,  Bernard  de  Poyet, 
was  in  dose  alliance  with  the  Bohemian/ 

The  Kings   spoke  the  language    of  strong  remon- 
strance; the  greater  part  of  the  Cardinals  admitted, 
with  sorrow,  tha  heterodoxy  of  the  Pope.     His  ad- 
versaries, all  over  Christendom,  denounced  his  grievous 
departure  from  holy  truth.    Bnnagratia,  the  Franciscan, 
wrote  to  confute  his  awful  errors.     Even  John  XXII. 
began  to  quail:  he  took  refuge  in  the  cautious  Tiwrnpe 
ambiguity  with  which  he  had  promulgated  his  nUnne" 
opinions.    He  sought  only  truth ;  he  had  not  positively 
determined  or  defined  this  profound  question. 

But  tha  time  was  now  approaching,  when,  if  a  Pontiff 
fio  worldly  and  avaricious  might  he  admitted  among  the 
Saints,  he  would  know  the  solution  of  that  unrevealed 
secret.  John  XXII.  was  now  near  ninety  years  old: 
the  last  year  of  his  life  was  not  the  least  busy 

"  AiT>,  1334. 

and  unquiet.     The  Greeks,  through  succours 
from  the  Pope  and  the  King  of  Naples,  had  obtained 
some  naval  advantages  over  the  Turks ;  but  the  Cardinal 
Legate,  expelled  from  Bologna,  either  fled  for  refuge  or 
was  unwilling  to  be  absent,  if  not  from  the  deathbed  of 


Chalk* 


'  Compare  the  umious  autoliingia- 
pWcal  account  of  this  eYjieditinn  toy 
Charles,  the  snu   uf  John  uf  litilic- 
VOL.  VII. 

1111,1,  nftprwimltt  the 
)V.—  Uochmci,  I'Vuit 

271). 
2 

±34  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Boon  XII. 

his  parent,  from  the  conclave  which,  should  elect  his 
successor.  Against  Louis  of  Bavaria,  though,  in  tha 
hope  of  liia  surrender  of  the  Empire  to  his  brother,  Pope 
John  had  taken  a  milder  tone,  he  now  resumed  all  his 
immitigable  rigour :  on  the  condition  of  th9  unqualified 
surrender  of  the  Empire,  and  that  alone,  could  Louis  be 
admitted  into  the  bosom  of  the  Church.  The  Pope  had 
continued  to  urge  the  suppression  of  the  Fratbelli  by 
the  stake.  But  his  theological  hardihood  forsook  him.8 
He  published  on  his  deathbed  what  his  enemies  called  a 
lukewarm  recantation,11  but  a  recantation  which  might 
have  satisfied  less  jealous  polemics.  He  had  no  intention 
to  infringe  on.  the  decrees  of  the  Church,  All  he  had 
preached  or  disputed  he  humbly  submitted  to  the  judge- 
ment of  the  Church  and  of  his  successors,1 

But  if  the  doctrinal  orthodoxy  of  John  XXII.  was 
thus  rescued  from  obloquy,  the  discovery  of  the  enor- 
mous treasures  accumulated  during  bis  Pontificate  must 
have  shaken  the  faith  even  of  those  who  repudiated  tho 
extreme  views  of  Apostolic  poverty.  The  brother  of 
Villani  the  historian,  a  banker,  was  ordered  to  take  the 
inventory.  It  amounted  to  eighteen  millions  of  gold 
florins  in  specie,  Haven  millions  in  plate  and  jewels, 
"Tha  good  man,"  observes  the  historian,  "  had  forgotten 
that  saying,  f  Lay  not  up  your  treasures  upon  earth ;' 
but  perhaps  I  have  said  more  than  enough—perhaps 
he  intended  this  wealth  for  the  recovery  of  the  Holy 
Land."k  This  was  beyond  and  above  the  lavish  ex- 


Haynald. sub  arm. 
Tapldom  recaatatlonem/'—Mfno- 


1  Villani.    This  mi  dated  Dec,  3. 
He  died  Dec.  4. 


*  "He  lored  our  city,"  say»  VU- 
lani,  "whan  we  ware  obedient  to  tha 
Legate;  whoa  not  no,  he  WM  our 
anemy," 


CHAI?.  VII. 


HIS  DHAKACTER. 


435 


penditure  on  the  Italian  wars,  the  maintenance  of  hia 
martial  son  or  naphew,  the  Cardinal  Legate,  at  the 
head  of  a  great  army,  and  his  profuse  provision  for 
other  ralatiTBa.m  One  large  source  of  hia  wealth  was 
notorious  to  Christendom.  TJndRr  the  pretext  of  dis- 
couraging simony,  he  seized  into  his  own  power  all  the 
collagiata  benefices  throughout  Christendom.  Besides 
this,  by  tha  system  of  Papal  reserves,  he  never  con- 
finned  the  direct  promotion  of  any  Prelate;  but  by  his 
skilful  promotion  of  each  Bishop  to  a  richer  bishopric 
or  archbishopric,  and  so  on  to  a  patriarchate,  as  on  each 
vacancy  the  annates  or  first  fruits  wers  paid,  six  or  more 
fines  would  accrue  to  the  treasury.  Yet  this  Pope- 
though  besides  his  rapacity,  ha  was  harsh,  relentless,  a 
cruel  persecutor,  and  betrayed  his  joy  not  only  at  tha 
discomfitura,  but  at  the  slaughter  of  his  enemies" — 


**  A  large  portion  of  this  revenue 
rose  from  the  system  of  i  esBi'vutions, 
carried  to  its  height  by  John  XXII, 
HB  began  tlua  eaily.  "  Joannes  XXII,, 
Pontifieatua  Bui  anno  prim  a  imervuvlt 
sum  et  Scclis  Apostolicffl  collation!, 
omnia  beueficia  ecclesinsticu,  qua;  fue- 
runfc  et  quoBUnque  nomine  censeantur, 
ubiouni|ue  ea  vacara  eontigent  par 
acceptioneia  alteriua  benafidi,  pra>- 
textu.  gratia  ab  eodam  D.  Papi  factoe 
vel  facieiidBB  acceptata,  niihique  Guu- 
celmo  VlcccancEllario  BUD  pi'secepit .  ,  . 
quol  hxE  ledigaiem  in  scrip turam."— 
Boluz  Vit,  P.  Arin.  i.  p.  722.  Thoss 
vacancies  weie  extended  to  other  caaQs. 
He  amplified  in  the  sum  a  manner  the 
Papal  piovlaiDiia.  "  That  all  these 
graces  -would  be  sold,  and  that  this 
wtu  the  object  of  their  enactment,  was 
H  little  a  secret  aa  the  wealth  they 


binuglit  into  the  Papal 
Eichhoi-n,  Ueutaclie  Bechtj  1.  ii,  p, 
507.  This  is  truly  said,  John,  by  a 
Bull  unilei  the  specious  pretext  of  an- 
nulling tha  execrable  usage  of  plurali- 
ties (the  Bull  JB  entitled  "  Execrabtlfe"), 
commanded  all  plurnlista  to  dionse 
one,  and  one  only,  of  their  bunefic™ 
(the  Dai-dlnala  were  excepted),  and  to 
surrender  tha  rest,  to  -whiuh  the  Tops 
wofl  to  appoint,  as  reserves,  "  QLIIM 
omnia  et  wngula,  Leneficia  vncatum, 
lit  picGmittitur,  vel  dimiflsa,  uuhtiiii 
et  Sedia  AposlohctB  diNpnsibioni  rc- 
flcivnmus,  inhlbcutoB  ne  quifl  prirtcr 
Koinauum  1'untifmDin  .  ...  do  Jiu- 
juamoii  bcnGfiuia  iliaponcro  piaiBii- 
mat." 

"  "  Hallcgrnvftai  oltre  a  niodn  d* 
uccisions  B  mcrte  du'  netuiei,"-<-Vil< 
kni,  xi.  20, 

t»  P  2 


136 


LATIN  CHRISTIANITY. 


BOOK  XIl. 


had  great  fame  for  piety  as  wall  as  learning,  aroaa 
eyaiy  night  to  pray  and  to  study,  and  every  morning 
attended  Mass." 


0  Boehmer,  who  warps  everything 
to  the  advantage  of  tha  Pope,  ends 
with  this  sentence :  "Er  war  neunzig 
jiihiw  alt,  und  hinterlieu  oiuen  Schatz 


Ton  fUuf  and  zwanzig  Milhonen 
gold  gulden."  Well  might  ha  re- 
pudiate the  absolute  laverLjr  of 
Chrull 


71U. 


BENEDICT 


437 


CHAPTEli    VTIL 


Benedict  XII. 

JOHN  X7TTT.  had  contrived  to  crowd  the  Conclave  with 
French  Prelates.  Twenty-four  Cardinals  met;  the 
general  suffrage  was  in  favour  of  the  brother  of  the 
Count  of  Comminges,  Bishop  of  Porto,  but  the  Cardinals 
insisted  on  a  solemn  promise  thatDe  Comminges  would 
continue  to  rule  in  Avignon.  "  I  had  sooner,"  he  said, 
"yield  up  tha  Oardiualate  than  accept  ths  Popedom 
on  such  conditions."  All  fell  off  from  the  intractable 
Prelate.  In  the  play  of  votes,  now  become  usual  in  the 
Conclave,  all  happened  at  once  to  throw  away  their 
suffrages  on  one  for  whom  no  single  vote  would  have 
been  deliberately  given."  To  his  own  surprise,  1^^ 
and  to  that  of  the  College  of  Cardinals  and  of  1334f 
Christendom,  the  White  Abbot,  the  Cistercian,  James 
Fournisr,  found  himself  Pope.  "  You  hays  chosen  an 
ass,"  he  said  in  humility  or  in  irony.  He  took  the  name 
of  Benedict  XII. 

Benedict  XII.  did  himself  injustice:  he  was  a  man 
of  shrewdness  and  sagacity;  he  had  been  a 

,-n  ,„,.  °         iji  -I,      BenedlctXJU. 

great  Pope  if  his  courage  had  been  equal  to 
his  prudence,     His  whole  Pontificate  was  a  tacit  re- 
proach on  the  turbulence,  implacability,  and  avarice  of 
his  predecessor.     His  first  act  was   to   disperse   the 


•  "Et  wee  in  election u  ,  . .  tot  car- 
fiinalibus  quad  insclia,  sub  altercatione 
•Iwtuseititit."  "EgoM.  nomino  ilium, 


qui  ai  csie  nun  poterit,  nommo  Blancutn, 
quod  reportura  esfc  a  duobus  pnrtibus 
nominatvvm."— Albert.  Argnat.  p,  125, 


438  LATIN  DHRiaTIAiaT*. 

throng  of  greedy  expectants  around  the  Court  at 
Avignon.  He  sent  them  back,  each  to  his  proper 
function.  HB  declared  against  the  practice  of  heaping 
beneficea — held,  according  to  tha  phrase,  in  com- 
mendam — on  the  favoured  few:  he  retained  that  privi- 
lege for  Cardinals  alone.  He  discouraged  the  Papal 
reserves ;  would  not  create  vacancies  by  a  long  ascend- 
ing line  of  promotions.  The  clergy  did  not  forgive  him 
his  speech,  "that  he  had  groat  difficulty  in  finding  men 
worthy  of  advancement."  He  even  opened  the  c offers 
of  his  predecessor:  he  bestowed  100,000  florins  on  the 
Cardinals.  Ho  sought  for  theological  peace.  Ho  with- 
JulyB(  draw  to  the  picturesque  sources  of  the  Sorga, 
133S-  not  yet  famed  in  Petrarch's  exquisite  poetry, 
to  meditate  and  examine  the  arguments  (ho  was  a  man 
of  learning)  on  the  Beatific  Vision,  HB  published  a  full 
Jtun.30,  an^  orthodox  determination  of  the  question, 
1338<  that  the  saints  who  do  not  pass  through  Purga- 
tory immediately  behold  the  Godhead.  The  heresy  of 
John  XXII.  was  thus  at  the  least  implied.  He  had 
soms  thought  (he  wanted  courage  to  carry  out  his  own 
better  designs)  of  restoring  the  See  of  St.  Peter  to 
Italy;  but  Bologna  would  not  yield  up  her  turbulent 
independence,  and  was  averse  to  his  reception.  Rome 
vras  still  in  a  state  of  strife;  and  perhapa  iUobort  of 
Naples  did  not  wish  to  be  overshadowed  by  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  the  Pope.15  Benedict  even  made  the  first 
advance  to  reconciliation  with  Louis  of  Bavaria, 

But  Benedict  XII,  was  under  the  hard  yoke  of  the 
Bang  of  France.  He  soon  abandoned  all  design  of  eman- 
cipation from  that  control,  The  magnificent  palace 


*  Letter  written  from  the  bridge  over  tha  Sorga  to  King  llilllp,  July  31, 
1535.— Raynald,  nub  aim, 


CHAP.  VIIL 


LOTUS  OF  BAVAHIA. 


439 


which,  out  of  the  treasures  of  Pops  John,  he  began  to 
build,  looked  like  a  deliberats  determination  to  fix  the 
Holy  SBB  for  ever  ou  the  shores  of  the  Rhone.  Avignon 
was  to  become  the  centre  and  capital  of  Christendom. 
The  Cardinals  began  to  erect  and  adorn  their  splendid 
and  luxuriant  villas  beyond  the  Ehone.  The  amicable 
overtures  to  Louis  of  Bavaria  were  repressed  by  Boms 
irresistible  constraint.  The  Emperor,  weak,  weary,  worn 
out  -with  strife,  would  have  accepted  the  most  abasing 
terms.  His  own  excommunication,  ths  interdict  on  the 
Empire,  weighed  him  down.  He  was  not  without  super- 
stitious awe ;  his  iays  were  drawing  on ;  he  might  die 
unabsolved.0  Where  the  interdict  was  not  observed  (in 
most  cities  of  G-ermany),  there  was  still  some  want  of 
solemnity,,  something  of  embarrassment  in  the  services 
of  the  Church ;  in  a  few  cities,  where  the  zealous  monks 
or  clergy  ondeavoured  to  maintain  it,  ware  haartburn- 
ingS;  strife,  persecution.  He  would  have  submitted  to 
swear  fealty  to  the  Pope  in  as  ampla  terms  as  any 
former  Emperor,  and  to  annul  all  his  acts  against  Pope 
John,  all  acts  done  as  Emperor ; d  he  would  revoke  all 
proceedings  and  judgements  of  Henry  of  Luxemburg 
against  Robert  of  Naples,  all  the  grants  and  gifts  which 
he  had  made  at  Home;  he  would  agree  to  accept  no 
oath  of  fealty,  recognition,  or  any  advocacy,  or  grant 
any  fief  in  Boms  or  in  the  territories  of  the  Church, 
If  he  broka  this  treaty,  the  Pope  had  power  to  depose 
him  from  all  his  dignities,  or  to  inflict  heavier  penalties, 
without  citation  or  solemnity  of  law,6  He  would  submit 


"  Schmidt,  Geschichte,  b,  vii.  1.  7, 
p.  324. 

*  "  QuiEcuiKjae  alia  titulo  imperil 
ilctavel  facta  per  nos  existuut  . .  .  ita 
HI  Dtuma  iri'ita  si  nulla  pi  nnunciamus." 
— Apul  Raynnliam,  1336,  o.  ivui. 


•  "Litarura  Bit  Romans  Pontifiei 
ad  alias  poBuoa  pronedere  contra  HDS, 
privando  etiam  nos,  BI  tibi  videtntur, 
imperisili,  r?gii  et  qufl/libet  nli^  digni- 
tatc,  abfliua  alift  Yocatione  rel  jnrll 
fioleinnitato." — Ibid. 


44  D  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  boo*  XU 

to  a  second  coronation  in  Home,  on  a  day  appointed  b} 
tha  Pope,  and  ijuit  the  city  the  day  after.  The  Pope 
was  to  be  the  absolute  judge  of  the  fulfilment  of  the 
treaty. 

No  sooner  had  the  rumour  of  these  negotiations 
spread  abroad,  than  Benedict  XII.  was  besieged  with 
rude  and  vehement  remonstrances.  Ambassadors  ar- 
rived at  Avignon  from  the  Kings  of  France  and  of 
Naples.  The  Kings  of  Bohemia  and  Hungary  were 
known  to  support  then1  protest.  "Would  the  Pope," 
they  publicly  demanded,  "maintain  a  notorious  heretic? 
Let  him  take  heed,  lest  he  himself  be  implicated  in  the 
heresy."  Benedict  replied,  "  Would  they  destroy  tha 
Empire?"  "Our  sovereigns  speak  not  against  the 
Empire,  but  against  a  Prince  who  has  done  so  much 
wrong  to  the  Church."  "Havs  we  not  done  more 
wrong  ?  If  my  predecessor  had  so  willed,  Louis  would 
have  come  with  a  staff  instead  of  a  sceptre,  and  cast 
himself  at  their  feot.  He  has  acted  under  great  pro- 
vocation." t(  We  could  not,"  ha  subjoined,  "  hava 
exacted  harder  terms,  if  Louis  of  Bavaria  had  been  a 
prisoner  in  one  of  our  dungeon  towers.'  But  Benedict 
could  speak,  he  could  not  act,  truth  and  justice:  l\i» 
words  are  a  bitter  satire  on  his  own  weakness.  Tin* 
King  of  France  took  summary  measures  of  compulHion: 
he  seized  all  the  estates  of  tho  CurrlimilH,  most  of  them 
The  King  uf  French  Prelates,  within  his  realm.  The  Car- 
Avignon,  dinals  besifiged  the  Court;  tho  King  of  Franco 
himself  visited  Avignon.  He  made  &,  pompous  journey, 
partly  to  survey  tho  cities  of  his  kingdom,  partly  from 
devotion  for  the  recovery  of  his  son,  Prince  John,  Ha 
was  accompanied  by  the  Kings  of  Bohemia  and  Navarre: 


'  Albert,  Argentm,  Chron,,  ji,  136. 


CHAP.  VIII.  Kl^U  PHILIP  AT  AVIGNDN.  441 


he  was  met  by  the  King  of  Arragon.  Ha  took  up  hia 
abode  in  the  Villeneuve  beyond  the  Rhone,  in  his  own 
territory,  where  the  Cardinals  had  their  sumptuous 
palaces.  The  Pope,  on  Grood  Friday,  preached  so 
moving  a  sermon  (disastrous  news  had  arrived  from  the 
East)  that  tha  King  renewed  hia  vows  of  embarking  on 
the  crusade.  The  other  Kings,  numberless  Dukes, 
Counts,  anl  Knights,  with  four  Cardinals,  were  seized 
with  the  same  contagious  impulse.  Orders  were  actu- 
ally sent  to  prepare  the  fleets  in  all  the  ports  of  the 
south  of  France  ;  letters  were  written  to  the  Kings  ot 
Hungary,  Naples,  Cyprus,  and  to  the  Venetians,  to 
announce  the  determination.*  At  Avignon  the  King  of 
France  charged  Louis  of  Bavaria  with  entering  into  a 
league  with  the  enemies  of  France  :  as  though  he  him- 
self had  not  occupied  cities  of  the  Empire  under  pre- 
tence of  protecting  them  from  the  pollution  of  heresy, 
or  as  though  a  league  with  the  enemies  of  France  was 
an  act  of  hostility  to  the  Pope.  And  who  were  these 
enemies  ?  The  war  with  England  had  not  begun.  The 
obsequious  Pope  coldly  dismissed  the  Imperial  ambas- 
sadors,11 

But  even  success  against  his  enemies  raised  not  Louis 
of  Bavaria  from  his  stupor  of  religious  terror.  He  had 
wreaked  his  vengeance  on  his  most  dangerous  foe,  the 
King  of  Bohemia  ;  wrested  from  him  Carinthia  and 
the  Tyrol  by  force  of  arms,  and  awarded  them  to  tne 
Austrian  Princes,  "You  tell  me,"  said  the  Pope,  "that 
ho  is  abandoned  by  all  ;  but  who  has  yet  been  able  to 
deprive  him  of  his  crown?"1  Still  Louis,  though  re- 
pulse!, looked  eagerly  to  Avignon  ;  but  BO  completely 

*  IVoJssart,  i,  SB. 

•  Letter  of  the  Pope  to  Louia  uf  Bavaria.—  Apui  RaynalcL 
1  Albert.  Argi-ntln,  p.  12  P,  apuil  Urutisiura. 


442 


LATIN  CHRISTIANITY. 


BooKXIL 


did  Philip  ruls  the  Cardinals,  the  Cardinals  the  Pope, 
that  he  took  the  desperate  measure  of  proposing  an 
allianca  with  the  King  of  France.  Pliilip  could  not 
but  in  courtesy  consult  the  Pope;  the  Pope  could  only 
sanction  an  alliance  with  a  Prince  undsr  excommuni- 
cation when  he  had  sought  and.  obtained  absolution. 
Perhaps  ha  thought  this  the  best  course  to  gain  per- 
mission to  absolve  Louis;  perhaps  ha  was  alarmed  at 
the  confedsracy.  But  Philip  would  condescend  to  this 
alliance  only  on  his  own  tsrms.  The  Emperor  was  to 
pledge  himsslf  to  enter  into  treaty  with  no  enemy  of 
France  (no  doubt  lie  had  England  in  view).  The  nego- 
tiations dragged  slowly  on :  the  ambassadors  of  Louis 
at  Avignon  grew  weary  and  left  tlio  city.  Already  the 
Pope  had  warned  the  King  of  Franco,  that  if 

p  '  he  still  persisted  in  his  haughty  delay,  still 
exacted  intolerable  conditions,  Louis  would  throw  him- 
self into  the  arms  of  England.  The  Pope  was  pro- 
foundly anxious  to  avert  the  damnation  which  hung 
over  the  partisans  of  Louis  in  Germany  and  Italy.16 

War  was  now  imminent,  inevitable,  between  France 
and  England.  The  Pope  had  interposed  his  mediation, 
but  in  vain.m  Edward  III.  treated  with  outward  respect, 
but  with  no  more,  the  Pope's  solemn  warning  not  to  be 
guilty  of  an  alliance  with  Louis  of  Bavaria,  the  contu- 
macious rebel,  and  the  excommunicated  outcast  of  the 
Church.,*  The  English  clergy  were  with  the  King.  Tho 


k  latter  from  tha  Pope  to  Philip,— 
Baynidd,  1887,  c,  11. 

*  Thaw   are  Kraal  Utters  MS., 
B,  M,,  in  this  mubject, 

•  MS,,  B,  M.    A  latter  lateil  July 
20,  1887,  dammnoea  thj  whim  of 

of  Bavaria,  hi*  offenoes  againnt 


Jnhn  XXII.,  hlfl  connortlng  with  do- 
tovious  herebica  In,  Italy,  his  elevation 
of  Peter  of  Carvara  to  ths  Antipope- 
dom,  Benedict,  who  had  treated  him 
with  mildneea  In  hope  of  his  penitence, 
uttered  into  negotiation*  with  him. 
King  Edwwd  i»  urged  to  withdrew 


CHAP.  VIII. 


MOVEMENT  IN  GERMANY. 


443 


Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  the  Bishops  of  London  and 
"Winchester,  disregarded  the  Pope's  letters,  and  opposed 
his  Legates.  The  Emperor  rose  in  importance.  The 
Pope  reproached  him  afterwards  -with  breaking  off  the 
negotiations  at  Avignon,  withdrawing  his  ambassadors, 
and  not  appearing  at  the  appointed  day,  Michaelmas." 
Yet  all  his  conduct  showed,  that  if  he  had  hoped  for 
absolution,  Louis  of  Bavaria  would  have  bought  it  at 
any  price  of  degradation.  He  might  seem  ready  to 
drink  the  last  dregs  of  humiliation.  He  had  made, 
before  this,  another  long  appeal  to  the  Pope;  he  had 
excused  himself,  by  all  kinds  of  pitiful  equivocations,  for 
all  his  damnable  acts  in  tha  usurpation  of  the  Empire, 
and  ths  creation  of  the  Antipope;  he  forswore  all  his 
bold  partisans,  Marsilio  of  Padua,  John  of  Jauiun ;  de- 
clared himself  ignorant  of  the  rsal  meaning  of  their 
•writings ;  threw  off  Michael  of  Cesena  and  the  Spiritual 
Franciscans;  assarted  himself  to  hold  the  orthodox  doc- 
trine on  the  poverty  of  Christ.  This  had  been  OBt%  3B( 
his  sixth  embassy  to  the  Court  of  Avignon,*  133B> 
Now,  however,  Louis  took  a  higher  tone :  he  threatened 
to  march  to  Avignon,  and  to  extort  absolution  by  force 
of  arms.  For  not  only  was  his  alliance  eagerly  solicited 
by  England :  Grernmny  was  roUBel  to  indignation.  Diet 
after  Diet  met,  evermore  and  more  resolved  MnvEmimtin 
to  maintain  thsir  independent  right  to  elect  fro1™"1*- 
the  Sovereign  of  the  Empire.  Henry  of  Virnaburg  had 
been  forced  by  the  Pope  on  the  reluctant  Chapter  and 
reluctant  Emperor  as  Archbishop  ofMentz;  but  Henry 


from  all  recognition  of  Louis  us  Em- 
peror, till  ha  should  have  made  full  sa- 
tisfaction to  the  Church.  See,  follqwing 
tetters,  His  dread  of  Edward's  alliance 
"cum  Theutonic.s,"  Nov.  13,  1338. 


The  Pope  deduces  the  Empirj  vacant, 
the  full  right  of  eo  oriaming  in  tha  Pope. 

0  Lit.  ad  Archepiftc.  Colon.,  apu'l 
Raynnld.  131)8,  c.  3. 

*  Dehleasuhlagei1,  Uikuutlen,  Irri. 


444  LATIN  RIlHiaTJANIlT.  LOOK  XII. 

was  now  in  direct  opposition  to  the  Pope,  under  exeom- 
munication.     Hs  summoned  an  assembly  of 
tUa  Prelates  ani  clergy  at  Spiers.     With  tha 
utmost  unanimity  bhey  agreed  to  send  letters,  by  tho 
Bishop  of  Coire  and  Count  Cerlach  of  Nassau,  to  de- 
mand the  reconuilmtion  of  Louis  of  Bavaria  (they  did 
not  call  him  Emperor)  with  the  Church,  and.  so  the 
deliverance  of  the  German  churches  and  clergy  from 
their  wretched  state  of  strife  and  confusion.     The  Pope 
openly  refused  an  answer  to  theae  ambassadors;  but  yet 
it  was  believed  in  Germany  that  he  had  whispered  into 
their  ears,  not  without  tears,  that  he  would  willingly 
grant  the  absolution,-  but  that  if  he  did,  the  King  of 
July  i.     Franca  had  threatened  to  treat  him  with  worse 

lMBi  indignity  than  Philip  the  Fair  had  treated 
Boniface  VIII.*1  To  the  excommunicated  Archbishop 
of  Monte  he  deigned  no  reply;  but  to  the  Archbishop  of 
Cologne  he  spoke  in  milder  language,  but  threw  the 

niBto.       whole  blame  of  the  rupture  on  the  Bavarian. 

May  IH/    Four  other  Diets  were  held  of  Prelates,  Princes, 

AUK- a?'  Nobles,  at  Cologne,  Frankfort,  Ehenas  near 
Ooblentz,  again  at  Frankfort, 

At  Frankfort  the  Emperor  appeared,  ani  almost  in 
tears  complained  of  the  obduracy  of  tho  Pope,  and 
charged  the  King  of  Franco  with  preventing  tho  recon- 
ciliation in  order  to  debase  and  degrade  the  Imperial 
•crown.  He  repeated  the  Lord's  Prayer,  the  Ave-Mari», 
And  the  Apostles'  creed,  to  prove  his  orthodoxy.  The 
assambly  declared  that  he  had  done  enough  as  satis- 
faction to  the  Pope:  they  pronounced  all  the  Papal 
proceedings,  even  the  excommunication,  null  and  void* 
If  the  chrgy  would  not  celebrate  the  divine  services, 

«  Albertiu  Argentiu. 


CHAP.  VIII.   DEOLABATION  OF  THE  STATES- GENERAL.     445 


July  IB. 


they  must  he  compelled  to  do  so.  The  meeting  at 
Ehense  was  more  imposing.  Six  of  the  Electors,  all 
but  the  King  of  Bohemia,  "were  present.'  It 
is  called  the  first  meeting  of  the  Electoral 
College.  They  solemnly  agreed  that  the  holy  Roman 
Empire  and  they,  tha  Prince-Electors,  had  been  assailed, 
limited,  and  aggrieved  in  their  honours,  rights,  customs, 
and  liberties ;  that  they  would  maintain,  guard,  assert 
those  rights  against  all  and  every  one  without  excep- 
tion ;  that  no  one  would  obtain  dispensation,  absolution, 
relaxation,  abolition  of  his  vow;  that  he  should  bs,  and 
was  declared  to  be,  faithless  and  traitorous  before  God 
and  man  who  should  not  maintain  all  this  against  any 
opponent  whatsoever.  The  States-General  at  Frankfort 
passed,  as  a  fundamental  law  of  the  Empire,  a  declara- 
tion that  the  Imperial  dignity  and  power  are  from  God 
alone ;  that  an  Emperor  elected  by  the  concordant 
suffrage  or  a  majority  of  the  electoral  suffrages  has 
plenary  Imperial  power,  and  does  not  need  the  appro- 
bation, confirmation,  or  authority  of  the  Pope,  or  the 
Apostolic  Sea,  or  any  other.8 

This  declaration  was  the  signal  for  an  active  contro- 
versy :  for  daring  acts  of  defiance  on  the  Papal  side,  of 
persecution  by  the  Imp  erial  party.  The  Pope's  ban  of  ex- 
communication was  nailed  upon  the  gate  of  the  Oathedral 
at  Frankfort.  At  Frankfort  all  the  Canons  and  Domi- 
nicans, in  many  cities  on  the  Bhine  the  Dominicans  and 
all  known  partisans  of  the  Pope,  all  those  who  refused  to 
celebrate  tliB  service,  were  expelled  from  their  convents. 


*  Chrome  on  Vintaluvan.  apud  Ec- 
cnrd,  i.  p.  1844.     Dhrunicon  Petren. 
apud  Menckenlum,  iii,  337.    KaynalJ. 
I33B,  c-viii. 

*  "Nee  Fapffi  eive  Sedia  Apoato- 


IIC«B  but  alicujus  alterius  approba 
tione,  confirroatione,  aucboritate  indigo 
vel  confienau."— OehlenBchlftger,  Not, 
Ixvui,  Ibbdorf,  Annnl.  apud  Frehei 
i.  618. 


S  LATIN  OHBlBTlAJNm.  BOOK  XII, 

At  a  Diet  at  Coblentz  the  Emperor  and  the  King  of 
ith  England  mst  Two  thrones  were  raised  in  the 
1  market-place,  on  which  the  monarchs  toot 
Septa.  their  seata.  The  Emperor  held  ths  sceptre  in 
his  right  hand,  the  globe  in  his  left:  a  knight  stood 
•with  a  drawn  sword  over  his  head.  Above  17,000  men- 
at-arms  surrounded  the  assembly.  The  King  of  Eng- 
land recognised  the  Emperor  excommunicated  by  the 
Pope.  Before  the  Chief  Sovereign  of  Christendom, 
Edward  arraigned  Philip  of  France  as  unjustly  with- 
holding from  him  not  only  Normandy,  Anjou,  and 
Arjuitaine,  but  the  throne  of  France,  his  maternal  in- 
heritance. The  Emperor  then  rose.  He  accused  Philip 
of  refusing  homage  for  the  fiefs  held  of  the  Empire. 
He  declared  Philip  to  have  forfeited  those  fiefs,  to  bo 
out  of  the  protection  of  the  Empire,  till  he  should  have 
restored  the  kingdom  of  Francs  to  its  rightful  owner, 
the  King  of  England.  He  declared  the  King  of  England 
Imperial  Vicar  over  all  ths  provinces  west  of  the  Rhine, 
and  from  Cologne  to  the  sea.  All  the  Princes  of  the 
Low  Countries  became  thus  his  allies  or  vassals,  The 
Emperor  and  the  King  of  England  sent  their  common 
defiance  to  the  King  of  France.  Pope  Benedict,  it  was 
said,  rejoiced  at  that  defiance.* 

Yet  all  this  ostentation  of  dnfianco  and  scorn,  this 
display  of  German  independence,  ths  determination  of 
the  electors  to  maintain  their  own  rights,  this  confede- 
racy of  prelates  and  nobles  and  the  States-General  to 
repel  the  pretensions  of  the  Pope,  as  to  any  control 
over  the  election  of  the  Emperor,  the  popular  excite- 
ment against  the  papalising  clergy  and  monks,  the 


>  "Da  qpift  fflffldatione,"  says  Albert  Argantln  (he  was  a  anpendent  on  the  Bishop 
tf  SthMtwg),  "Pupa  Benedletw,  eft  Intellect!,  tnultum  joeundnbntur,"— -P.  123, 


CHAP.  VIII.         WEAKNESS  Ol1  THE  EMPEROfi. 


447 


elaborate  arguments  of  the  advocates  of  tlia  Imperial 
power,  the  alliance  with  England — could  not  repress 
the  versatility  of  Louis  of  Bavaria,  nor  allay  his  terror 
of  the  Papal  censures.  On  the  first  excuse  he  began  to 
withdraw  his  feeble  support  from  the  King  of  England, 
to  revoke  his  title  of  Imperial  Vicar.a  He  listened  to 
the  first  advances  of  Philip,  who  lured  him  with  hope  of 
reconciliation  to  ths  Roman  See.  Two  years  had  not 
passed  when  Pope  Benedict  beheld  at  his  Court  at 
Avignon  three  Imperial  ambassadors  (not  the  first  since 
the  treaty  with  England),  the  Duke  of  Saxony,  the 
Count  of  Holland,  and  the  Count  Hohenberg,  renowned 
for  his  legal  knowledge.  They  wars  accompanied  or 
met  by  an  ambassador  from  the  King  of  France,  sup- 
plicating the  Pope  to  grant  absolution  to  the  orthodox, 
pious,  and  upright  Louis  of  Bavaria.  His  letters  were 
somewhat  colder  and  less  urgent.  They  pressed  the 
abrogation  of  censures,  which  endangered  such  count- 
less souls,  as  far  as  might  be  consistent  with  the  honour 
of  the  Church.  Even  a  Pope  in  Avignon  could  not 
submit  to  this  insolent  dictation,  and  from  a  King 
of  France,  embarrassed,  as  Philip  now  was,  by  such 
formidable  enemies.  Benedict  replied  with  dignity, 
mingled  with  his  characteristic  shrewdness  and  sarcasm, 
"that  he  could  not,  according  to  the  good  pleasure  of 


*  MS.,  B.  M.  The  Pope,  who  liati 
mode  new  proposals  of  peace  between 
Franoe  and  England,  verges  Edward  to 
give  up  the  Vicariata  tux  spied  from 
the  excommunicated  Louis  of  Bavaria, 
Oct.  12,  1330.  Benedict's  exertions 
for  peace  between  Franca  and  England 
were  Constant,  earnest,  snhmn.  There 
if  a  letter  on  Edward's  assumption 
of  «ny  pretensions  to  the  throne  of 


Franca ;  the  crown  does  not  descend  in 
the  female  line;  if  it  did,  thaie  ma 
newer  heirs  than  Edward;  lot  him 
nab  trust  to  Germans  siud  Flemings, 
March  3,  1340.  BED  Edwaid's  ela- 
borate auswei.  Edward  is  admonished 
not  to  I) a  too  proud  of  his  victories, 
Out.  27,  1340.  The  King  of  Frnnca 
had  agieai  to  accept  tha  Pope's  media* 
"pel rana  privata." 


448  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BooicXn 

the  King  of  France,  hold  Louis  of  Bavaria  DTIB  day  for 
a  heretic,  the  next  for  an  orthodox  believer:  Louis  must 
make  his  submission,  and  undergo  canonical  penance." 
The  world  saw  through  both ;  it  was  thought  that  the 
King  of  France  pretended  to  wish  that  which  he  did 
not  wish ;  the  Pope  not  to  wish  that  which  iu  fact  was 
his  real  wish.* 

Benedict  XII.  lid  not  live  to  fulfil  his  peaceful  de- 
signs. HB  died,  leaving  his  reputation  to  be  disputed 
with  singular  pertinacity  by  friends  and  foes.  He  was 
a  man  wiser  in  speech  than  in  action,  betraying  by  his 
keen  words  that  he  saw  what  was  just  and  right,  but 
dared  not  follow  it.y  Yet  political  courage  alone  was 
wanting.  He  waa  resolutely  superior  to  the  papal  visa 
of  nepotism.  On  one  only  of  his  family,  and  that  a 
deserving  man,  he  bestowed  a  rich  benefice.  To  the 
rest  he  said :  "  As  Jamsa  Fournier  I  knew  you  well,  as 
Pope  I  know  you  not.  I  will  not  put  myself  in  the 
power  of  the  King  of  France  by  encumbering  myself 
with  a  host  of  needy  relatives,'*  He  had  the  moral 
fortitude  to  incur  unpopularity  with  the  clergy  by  per- 
sisting in  his  slow,  cautious,  and  regular  distribution  of 
benefices ;  with  the  monka  by  rigid  reforms.  He  hated 
the  monka,  and  oven  the  Mundicant  Orders.  He  showed 
his  hatred,  as  they  said,  by  tho  few  promotions  which  he 
bestowed  upon  them;  and  hatred  so  shown  was  euro  to 
meet  with  hatred  in  return.  His  weaknesses  or  vises 
were  not  likely  to  find  much  charity.  He  was  said  to 
be  fond  of  wine,  to  like  gay  and  free  conversation,  A 
Utter  epitaph  describes  him  as  a  Nero,  as  death  to  the 


*  Albert,  Argentin.  p.  139,  Yin- 
todiinra,  p.  1963.  Benedict  Vit.  vili. 
*pud  Bsluzlum, 

f  Bw  the  very  curious  account  of  a 


parson  nUnterviowwhiuh  Albert  of  Strug* 
burg  h&i  with  the  Pope,  which  show* 
tit  once  his  leaning  toward*  the  Emperoi 
and  hi»  jesting  disposition,—?,  129. 


CHAP.  VIII. 


DHAEADTBK  OF  BENEDICT  XII. 


449 


laity,  a  viper  to  the  clergy,  without  truth,  a  mere  cup 
of  wine.*  Yet  of  this  Nero  there  is  not  one  recorded 
act  of  cniBlty  (compare  him  with  John  XXH.)  ;  he  was 
guiltless  of  human  blood  shed  in  war.  He  may  have 
shown  a  viper's  tooth  to  the  clergy ;  ha  was  too  apt  to 
utter  biting  and  unwelcome  truths.  The  justice  of  the 
other  charges  may  be  fairly  estimated  by  the  injustice 
of  thesB.  The  last  was  most  easy  of  exaggeration  ; 
another  tradition  ascribes  to  the  habits  of  Benedict  the 
coarse  proverb,  "  as  drunk  as  a  Pope."  Another  more 
disgraceful  accusation  has  been  preserved  or  invented 
on  account  of  the  fame  of  one  whose  honour  was  in- 
volved in  it.  He  is  said  to  have  a  educe  cl  and  kept  as  a 
concubine  a  sister  of  Petrarch.  But  this  rests  on  the 
unsupported  authority  of  a  late  biographer  of  the  Past* 


•  lllo  full  NOTO,  inlelB  more,  vlpera  clem, 

JJavluH  &  VQTO,  cuppa  replota  mcro," 

•  It  ia  nbaolntely  without  contem- 
porary authority  01  allusion,  oven  in 
tha    later    biographies   m   Baluzius, 
which,  perhaps  written  Ly  wine  of 
the  unpreferred  clorgy  or  monks,  care- 


fully record  all  the  othar  charges.  It 
fiist  appem-ed  in  Squarzafico's  "  Life  ot 
Petrarch."  If  De  Sade  ia  tight  in  aup 
posing  Petrarch's  letter  to  refer  to  Bene- 
iicbXIL,  heapeaksoFhimaa  "niadidiu 
mcro,"  lut  there  Is  not  a  word  about 
Intention*  manners.— De  Sod>, 


VOL.  vn. 


450  LATIN  nHHTBTLLXlTY.  BOOK  XII. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Dlemsnt  VI. 

THE  French  Cardinals  were  all-powerful  in  the  Conclave. 
The  successor  of  Benedict  XII .  was  Cardinal 
Peter  Roger,  of  a  nobla  houso  of  Mimnont  in 
tha  Limousin.  He  had  been  prior  of  St.  Banclille  at 
Nismos,  Abbot  of  Fecamp,  Bishop  of  Arras,  Archbishop 
of  Seng,  Archbishop  of  Rouen.  A  Frenchman  by  birth, 
inclination,  character,  at  his  inauguration  all  was  French, 
For  ihe  Emperor,  for  the  Senator  of  Home,  for  the 
Orsinis,  Oolonnas,  Annibaldis,  his  stirrup  was  held  by 
the  Duks  of  Normandy,  son  and  heir  of  tha  King  of 
France,  with  the  Dukes  of  Bourbon  and  Burgundy,  and 
the  Dauphin  of  Yienne.  He  took  the  namo  of  Clement 
VI. ;  it  might  almost  seem  an  announcement  of  the 
policy  which  was  to  distinguish  his  popedom.  If  Bene- 
dict XII.  stood  in  every  respect  in  strong  contrast  to 
John  XXII.,  the  rule  of  Clement's  administration  might 
seem  to  bo  the  studious  reversal  of  that  of  his  prede- 
Hia ant  cessor.  All  the  benefices,  which  the  tardy  and 
Mt8'  hasitating  conscientiousness  of  Benedict  had 
left  vacant,  were  filled  at  once  by  the  lavish  and  hasty 
grants  of  Clement,  He  declared  a  great  number  of 
bishoprics  and  abbacies  vacant  as  Papal  reserves,  or  as 
filled  by  void  Blections ;  he  granted  them  away  with 
like  prodigality,  It  was  objected  that  no  former  Pope 
had  assumed  this  power.  "  They  knew  not,"  he  answered, 


CHAP.  IX.  dLEMENT  VI.  451 

"how  to  act  as  Pope.""1  He  issued  a  Brief  that  all  poor 
clergy  who  would  present  themselves  at  Avignon -within 
two  months  should  partake  of  his  bounty.  An  eye- 
witness declared  that  100,000  greedy  applicants  crowded 
the  streets  of  Avignon.13  If  Clement  acted  up  to  hia 
maxim,  that  no  one  ought  to  depart  unsatisfied  from 
the  palace  of  a  prince,  how  vast  and  inexhaustible  must 
have  been  the  wealth  and  preferment  at  the  disposal  of 
the  Pope !  The  reforms  of  the  monastic  orders  were 
mitigated  or  allowed  to  fall  into  disuse.  The  clemency 
of  the  Pope  had  something  of  that  dramatic  show  which 
characterises  and  delights  his  countrymen.  A  man  of 
low  rank  had  in  former  days  done  him  some  injury. 
The  man,  in  hopes  that  he  and  his  offence  had  been 
forgotten,  presented  a  petition  to  the  Pope.  Dlement 
remembered  both  too  well.  Twice  he  threw  down  the 
petition  and  trampled  it  under  foot.  He  was  then 
heard  by  his  attendants  to  murmur,  "Devil,  tempt  me 
not  to  revenge  1 "  He  took  up  and  set  his  seal  to  the 
petition,0 

If  Clement  was  indulgent  to  others,,  he  was  not  less. 
BO  to  himself,  Tha  Court  of  Avignon  became  the  most 
splendid,  perhaps  the  gayest,  in  Christendom,  The- 
Provencals  might  almost  think  their  brilliant  and 
chivalrous  Counts  restored  to  power  and  enjoyment* 
The  papal  palace  spread  out  in  extent  and  magnificence. 
The  young  art  of  painting  was  fostered  by  the  encou- 
ragement of  Italian  artists,1  The  Pope  was  more  than 
royal  in  the  number  and  attire  of  his  retainers.  Tha 
papal  stud  of  horses  commanded  gsneral  admiration, 
The  life  of  Olement  was  a  constant  succession  of  eccle- 


•  Vit.iii.  etT.    Clement  VI.  ftpud  I     «  Vit.  i,  p.  204. 
Bahizium,  pp.  284,  321.  I      d  Sets  Kughr.     Giotto  had.  pamteif 

fc  Ytt,  i.  p,  2B4,  I  frr  Clement  V.,  1, 123, 

2  a  2 


4,52 


LATIN  CHRISTIANITY. 


BOOK  Xll. 


Biaatical  pomps  and  gorgeous  receptions  and  luxurious 
banquets.  Ladiea  were  admitted  freely  to  the  Court," 
the  Pope  mingled  with  easa  in  the  gallant  intercourse, 
If  John.  XXII,,  and  even  the  more  rigid  Bane  diet,  did 
not  escape  the  imputation  of  unclerical  licence,  Cle- 
ment VI.,  who  affected  no  disguise  in.  his  social  hours, 
would  hardly  be  supposed  superior  to  the  common 
freedom  of  the  ecclesiastics  of  his  day.  The  Countess 
of  Turenne,  if  not,  as  general  report  averred,  actually 
so,  had  at  least  many  of  the  advantages  of  the  Pope's 
mistress  —  tha  distribution  of  preferments  and  benefices 
to  any  extant,  which  this  woman,  as  rapacious  as  she  was 
handsome  and  imperious,  sold  with  sham  3!  BBS  publicity.' 
A  voluptuous  Court  was  not  likely  to  raise  the  moral 
condition  of  the  surrounding  city.  Petrarch  had  livei 
for  some  time  at  Avignon,  under  the  patronage  of  the  Car- 
dinal Colouna,  and  of  James  Coltmna,  Bishop  of  Lombsa. 
His  passion  for  Laura  had  begun  in  a  church;  and 
though  her  severe  and  rare  virtue  gave  that  exquisite 
unattainted  purity  to  his  love  verses  ;  though  as  a  poet 
his  tenderness  nsver  melts  into  earthly  passion;  his 
highest  raptures  are  Platonism  ;  yet  Petrarch  was  not 
altogether,  though  he  became  Canon  of  Lombes  ami 
Archdeacon  of  Parma,  preserved  from  the  contagion  of 
Morals  of  hi8  ttSB  *  h0  llad  *wo  natural  children.  But  of 
A.vigo<m.  flje  morai  corruption  of  Avignon  he  repeatedly 
epoaks  with  loathing  abhorrence}  Borne  itself  in  com- 
parison was  the  seat  of  matronly  virtue  :  by  his  account 
it  was  one  vast  brothel,  H0  fled  to  the  quiet  and  nn- 
vitiated  seclusion  of  Vaucluse.* 


•  "Mull arum  et  Innarum  et  paten- 
tisa  etiplfru  . . .  Ipsa  Fr&nulB  Fmwnw 
fflrnntflr  sdhcealt,"-* Albert.  Argentin. 
p.  182* 


'  Matteo  Villoni. 

f  Thia  repulsive  mbject  cannot  be 
fully  wnieraiot>d  without  tlie  rtudf  of 
PBtrarch'i  letter*,  umecWlT  the  VooV 


CHAP.  IX. 


EMBASSY  FROM  HOME. 


453 


Clement  VI.,  with  his  easy  temper,  was  least  likely  to 
restrain  that  proverbial  vice  of  the  Popes,  which  has 
formed  for  itself  a  proper  name — Nepotism.  On  his 
brothers,  nephews,  kindred,  relatives,  compatriots,  were 
accumulated  grants,  benefices,  promotions.  One  nephew, 
at  the  age  of  eighteen,  was  Notary  of  the  Apostolic 
Court  and  Cardinal.11 

Scarcely  had  Clement  ascended  the  throne,  when  the 
Roman  people  sent  a  deputation  to  his  Holiness  Embassy 
to  urge  him  to  return  to  his  See.  Petrarch,  fromJion»" 
who  had  been  crowned  at  Home,  had  acquired  the 
rights  of  a  Roman  citizen,  and  was  one  of  the  eighteen 
ambassadors.  Among  the  rest  lurked  undistinguished 
Nicola  Rienzi,  the  future  Tribuna.  Petrarch,  as  the 
crowned  Poet  of  Borne,  addressed  the  Pope  in  a  long 
piece  of  Latin  verse.  Borne,  the  aged  female,  besought 
the  return  of  the  Pope;  she  tempted  him  with  the 
enumeration  of  her  countless  religious  treasures,  her 
wonder-working  reliques,  her  churches,  her  apostolic 
slirinea. 

The  Pope,  as  usual,  put  off  this  supplication,  with,  fine 


"  Sine  Titulo,"  Avignon  was  the  sink 
of  Christendom,  "  Nee  tarn  propter 
se  quam  pi  opter  concurrentes  et  coactaa 
ibi  eoncvatanque  orbls  sordea  ec  nequi- 
tias  hie  locus  a  principle  multia  atque 
ante  alips  xnihi  peeaimiu  omnium  visua 
EHt."— Sen.  1,  ID,  ep.  2.  But  this 
wickedness  was  nob  only  among  the 
laWi  the  letamera  of  tha  Chinch,  or 
tha  gown.  "  Tarn  calidi,  tam.q.UB  pne- 
dpi  tea  in  Vcneiem  eenes  aunt,  tanta 
eus  uctatiB  et  status  et  riiium  cepit 
ubliviOj  air.  in  libitlines  inardeacunt, 
tic  in  omne  ruunt  liedccua,  quasi  amnla 
Kirum  gloria,  nan  in  cruce  ChiiGti  sit, 
wod  la  oomessntiDiubus,  et  cbrietatibus, 


et  lute  brec  sequuntur  in  cublltbua, 
impuientiU  .  .  .  Spectat  heec  Sathan 
ridena  atqua  in  pari  tripadio  delecta- 
tuB,  atque  inter  decrepitoa  BO  puelUu 
Btbiter  Bedena,  stupet  plus  illoa  agere, 
quam  se  hortari."  I  must  break  off. 
41  Mitto  stupra,  raptus,  inuBBtUB,  adul- 
teria,  q.ui  jam  Pvntificulia  lull  laaoi- 
vlaa  aunt/'^-P.  730,  Ed.  Baa.  Again 
I  must  pauao ;  I  dare  nob  quote  even 
the  Latin.  It  is  not  enough  to  say  that 
Pati-nrch  waa  on  Italian,  and  eager  to 
restore  the  Papacy  to  Rome,  or  to  treat 
such  passages  as  satiric  declamation. 

t  Vib.  i.  p.  265.    Mutt  ED 
apud  Muratorl,  xiv.  1.  iti.  c.  43, 


454 


DHBlSTlANITi'. 


BOOK  XII. 


words,  "but  he  granted  one  request.  The  Jubilee  appointed 
by  Pope  Bonifacs  far  every  hundred  years  -was 

.  ,J ,       *         ,.   ,   ,,        .          ,     J         ,  .     ,     J  „ 

but  a  partial  blessing  to  mankind ;  very  few 
indeed  lived  to  that  period.  Clement  ordained  that  it 
should  be  celebrated  at  the  end  of  fifty  years. 

Qua  man  alone  was  excepted  from  the  all-embracing 
ixraiBnf  clemency  of  tha  Pope — Louis  of  Bavaria,  Al- 
izarin, realty  as  Archbishop  of  Rouen,  Clement  had 
preached  before  tha  Kings  of  Franca  and  Bohemia  a 
furious  and  abusive  declamation,  in  which  ha  played  on 
tho  name  of  the  Bavarian.  Louis  had  not  merely  joined 
in  the  persecution  Qf  those  ecclesiastics  or  monies  who 
obeyed  the  papal  interdict;  he  had  done  an  act  of 
usurpation  on  the  ecclesiastical  authority,  which,  besides 
its  contempt  of  the  Pope,  had  inflamed  against  him  the 
implacable  resentment  of  the  King  of  Bohemia.  Of  his 
imperial  authority  he  had  dissolved  the  marriage  of 
Margaret  of  Carinthia,  heiress  of  great  part  of  the 
Tyrol,  and  sanctioned  her  repudiation  of  her  husband,  a 
younger  son  of  the  King  of  Bohemia.1  He  had  then 
given  a  dispensation  for  her  marriage  with  his  own  son, 
within  tho  prohibited  degrees.11  The  bold  and  faithful 
asSertRrs  of  the  imperial  power,  Marsilio  of  Padua  and 
William  of  Ockham,  bad  been  again  his  counsellors ; 
they  declared  the  power  of  dissolving  marriages,  and  of 
dispensations,  to  be  inherent  in  tho  imperial  crown. 
Yet  on  the  accession  of  Clement.  Louis  sent  a  sub* 


i  Albert  of  Stroaburg  given  a 
strange  account  of  this  111-oaaorted 
Wedlock.  "  CumquB  Joannes  Comes 
Tyralia*  fillua  Boheml  impolena,  ux- 
oj-ttD  «oara  esmtfatwm  plurlmum  mo- 
inter  alia,  ^u»  mordsnio 


Albert  (p,  UO)  calls  the  act  ot 
mconauetum  et  bori'iblla.  0 
idolovutn  ftervitus  avuritin,  qute  tantw 
princlpea  ounfudwti,  ex  qulbus  itenun 
inter  Bohemo*  et  Prluclpem  et  filiw 
suo$  nan  Immsrlto  Uvor  «dax  et  odlt 
BUBcltftntur," 


CHAP,  IX.         CLEMENT  AND  LDTTIS  OF  BAVABIA.  455 

missive  embassy  to  the  Pops,  to  demand  absolution. 
At  the  same  time  KB  reminded  Philip  of  France  of  his 
(solemn  oath  to  interpose  his  friendly  mediation.  The 
Pope  sternly  answered  that  Louis  must  first  acknowledge 
his  gins  and  heresies,  entreat  pardon,  lay  down  his  im- 
perial power  at  the  Pope's  feet,  and  restore  the  Tyrol  to 
its  rightful  lord. 

During  the  same  year  Clement  published  a  new  Bull 
of  excommunication  throughout  Christendom,  Aprt]12, 
which,  if  Louis  did  not  abdicate  all  his  im-  1343- 
perial  authority  within  thrse  mouths,  and  appear  to 
receive  judgement  before  the  papal  tribunal,  threatened 
him  with  still  heavier   and  worldly  penalties.     The 
Archbishops,  Henry  of  Mentz  and  Baldwin  of  act,  11,  IMS. 
Treves,  were  ordered  immediately  to  take  steps  for  the 
election  of  a  King  of  the  Romans. 

Louis  was  constantly  vacillating  between  the  most 
haughty  defiance  of  the  Pope  and  the  meanest  v^u^nou 
submission,  At  one  time  he  alarmed  the  ofL°nla- 
religious  fears  of  his  boldest  partisans  by  his  lofty  pre- 
tensions ;  at  another,  disquieted  them  by  his  abject 
humiliation.  He  now  threatened  not  to  recognise 
Clement  as  Pope;  he  gave  away  bishoprics  an i  benefices 
to  which  the  Pope  had  already  presented;  ha  seized  the 
money  which  the  Pope's  collectors  were  exacting  for  a 
crusade.  But  no  sooner  had  the  Pope's  order  to  the 
Archbishops  to  summon  the  electors  to  discuss  a  new 
election,  and  the  publication  of  the  papal  excommunica- 
tion throughout  Germany,  produced  some  effect — no 
sooner  had  the  electors  met  at  Khense,— than  Louis 
hastened  to  entreat  their  forbearance,  to  promise  his 
utmost  endeavours  to  obtain  reconciliation  with  the 
Pope,  and  to  bo  guided  altogether  by  their  counsel. 

Not  content  with  this,  Louis  plunged  desperately  and 


456  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  XII. 

at  once  into  the  lowest  depths  of  humiliation.  The 
Pope  at  the  close  of  the  three  months  had  held  a  con- 
sistory, It  was  proclaimed  in  Latin  and  in  German, 
"Does  any  one  appear  for  Louis  of  Bavaria?"  None 
replied.  Ha  was  pronounced  in  contumacy.  At  the 
same  time  came  the  answer  of  the  King  of  France. 
"He  had  not  sought  ths  favour  of  the  Pope  in  a  be- 
coming manner."  m 

And  now  even  the  Pope  himself  was  astonished  by  a 
lu-groiung  proposal  from  Louis,  that  he,  Clement,  should 
n-pWy  absolutely  dictate  the  form  of  submission :  the 
L.JUIB,  ambassadors  of  Louis  would  receive  full  powers 
to  subscribe  to  whatever  conditions  the  Pope  might  be 
pleased  to  impose.  Now  was  executed  a  procuration 
the  most  disgraceful,  the  most  rigorous,  that  Louis 
ought  not  to  have  signed  had  he  been  in  the  Pope's 
prison."  It  might  seem  to  tax  the  ingenuity  of  the 
Pope's  pride  and  enmity  to  frame  more  degrading  con- 
ditions. Louis  was  to  acknowledge  and  repudiate  all 
his  transgressions  committed  against  John  XXII,  or  his 
legates  in  the  election  of  an  Antipope,  the  protection  of 
Harsilio  of  Padua  and  his  fellows,  his  appeal  to  the 
Counuil ;  he  was  to  condemn  and  declare  accursed  all 
the  errors  of  Marsilio  and  his  partisans,  As  penance 
for  these  offences,  Louis  was  to  undertake  a  crusade, 
build  churches  and  monasteries,  and  do  all  other  acts  to 
the  satisfaction  of  tlie  Pope ;  he  was  to  entreat  pardon 
mid  absolution  for  all  his  crimes,  to  lay  aside  uncondi- 
tionally the  imperial  title  assumed  at  Borne ;  to  confess 
that  he  had  borne  it  heretically  and  unlawfully;  to 
surrender  lus  whole  powsr  into  the  hands  of  the  Pope; 


*  ABwrt,  Argentin. 

*  Somites  the  author  of  tha  PmUponuiut.-- Chronic,  UnpwgeiM,  ])„  271. 


CHAP. 


DKGBA.DAT101S  OP  LDUIS. 


4J>7 


AS  regarded  the  Kings  of  France  and  Bohemia,  to  con- 
form himself  entirely  to  the  Pope's  Trill;  humbly  to 
beseech  the  Pope  to  restore  him  to  that  state  in  -which 
he  was  before  his  condemnation  by  Pope  John;  formally 
to  take  the  amplest  oath  of  allegiance  ever  taken  by 
his  predecessors  to  the  Pope,  to  confirm  all  grants,  to 
swear  never  to  assail  the  papal  territory,  and  be  in  all 
things,  even  the  most  severely  trying,  absolutely  ani 
entirely  obedient  to  the  Pope;  to  surrender  his  whole 
power,  stats,  will,  judgement,  to  the  free  and  unlimited 
disposition  of  the  Pope."  The  imperial  ambassadors, 
the  Dauphin  of  Vienne,  the  Bishops  of  Augsburg  and 
Bamberg,  and  Ulric  of  Augsburg,  had  full  authority  to 
sign  these  terms,  which  Henry  IV.  might  J(ML1344 
almost  have  been  ashamed  of  at  Canoaa.  They 
swore  ou  the  Gospels  and  by  the  soul  of  the  Emperor, 
that  he  would  truly  observe  them.  They  signed  them 
in  full  consistory,  in  the  presence  of  twenty-three  Car- 
dinals and  numbers  of  French,  Italian,  ani  GrBiman 
prelates. 

But  even  yet  the  insatiate  pretensions  of  the  Eomaw 
See  had  not  reached  their  height,  The  Emperor  had 
drunk  the  very  lees  of  humiliation ;  the  Empire  itself 
must  be  prostrate,  as  of  old,  at  the  feet  of  the  Popedom : 
one  more  precedent  must  be  furnished  for  the  total 
subordination  of  the  temporal  to  the  spiritual  power. 
New  articles  were  prepared ;  the  Emperor  was  to  sweat- 
that  all  acta  hitherto  done  by  himself  or  in  his  name 
were  invalid;  he  was  to  entreat  the  Pope,  when  he 
removed  the  ban  of  excommunication,  to  give  validity 


•  "  Res,  Btatum,  veils  et  nolle,  nihil 
sill  poprio  arbitrio  retmenib,  abso- 
lute et  hberoliter  in  manlbus  dicti 


Domini  noatrl  Papas."— -Lwl  IV.  Sub- 
misaio,  in  Baluz.  Mlscellan.  n,  273i 
278. 


458  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOR  X1L 

to  such  acts;  he  was  to  make  oath,  not  only  not  to 
attack  the  territory  of  the  Church,  but  especially  the 
three  dependent  kingdoms,  Sicily,  Sardinia,  Corsica; 
that  he  would  enter  into  no  alliance  with  heretics, 
whether  men,  princes,  or  kings  j  that  he  would  issue  no 
ordinance  as  Emperor  or  King  of  the  Humans  without 
special  permission  of  the  Roman  See;  that  he  would 
supplicate  the  Pope,  after  absolution,  to  grant  him  the 
administration  of  the  empire  ;  that  ha  would  make  the 
States  of  the  empire  swear  by  word  and  by  writing  to 
stand  by  the  Church.  If  he  should  not  fulfil  all  these 
terms,  should  any  doubt  arise  concerning  these  articles, 
the  Pope  alone  was  to  judge  thereof. 

Louis,  without  appeasing  his  enemies,  had  sunk  into 
the  most  abject  contempt  with  his  rightful  partisans: 
this  contempt  would  not  condescend  to  disguise  or  dis- 
sepLiaw.  sembb  itself,  At  a  Diet  at  Frankfort  the 
indignation  Emperor  ventured  to  appear,  and  to  submit 
of  tommy.  \Q  faQ  States  of  Germany  his  own  shame  and 
the  shame  of  the  Empire,  Some  lingering  personal 
respect  for  Louis  and  for  his  high  office  constrained  the 
assembly;  but  though  ho  had  forfeited  his  own  dignity, 
they  would  maintain  theirs.  Wicker,  the  Proto-notary  of 
Treves,  in  a  long  and  skilful  speech,  showed  the  usurp- 
ation of  the  Pope  on  the  rights  of  the  Empire.  An 
embassy  was  determined  to  represent  to  Pope  Clement 
that  the  conditions  to  which  Louis  had  submitted  could 
not  be  fulfilled  without  -violating  his  oath  to  the  States. 
In  other  quarters  there  were  loud  murmurs  that  an 
Emperor  who  had  so  debased  the  holy  office,  ought  to 
be  compelled  to  abdicate:  the  throne  had  been  so 
degraded  by  the  Bavarian,  that  no  Bavarian  should  ever 
hereafter  be  raised  to  the  throne. 

The  Pope,  after  some  time,  took  a  strong  aggressive 


CHAP.  IX.         LOUIS  Alt AIN  EXCDMMUSU DATED.  459 

measure.     Henry  of  Yirneburg,  Archbishop  of  Mentz, 
was  deposed  by  his  aole  authority.11     Grerlach,  Aprll  u 
a  brother  of  the  powerful  Count  of  Holland,  131S' 
whose  estates  ware  in  the  neighbourhood,  was  elevated, 
though  but  twenty  years  old,  to  the  Metropolitan  See. 

The  Pope  scrupled  not  to  break,  if  hs  could,  iha 
bruised  reed,  A  new  Bull  of  exoommunica-  Aprais, 
tion,  on  the  pretence  that  Louis  had  betrayed  131Bl 
reluctance  or  tardiness  in  the  fulfilment  of  the  treaty, 
was  promulgated,  which  in  the  vigour  and  fury  of  its 
rursea  transcended  all  that  had  yet,  in  the  wildest  times, 
issued  from  the  Eoman  See.  "  We  humbly  implora  the 
Divins  power  to  confute  the  madness  and  crush  the  pride 
uf  the  aforesaid  Louis,  to  cast  him  down  by  the  might  qf 
the  Lord's  right  hand,  to  deliver  him  into  the  hands 
of  his  enemies,  and  of  those  that  persecute  him.  Let 
the  unforeseen  snare  fall  upon  him !  Bs  he  accursed  in 
his  going  out  and  his  coming  in!  The  Lord  strike 
him  with  madness,  and  blindness,  and  fury!  Kay  the 
heavens  rain  lightning  upon  him  1  May  the  wrath  of 
Almighty  God,  and  of  the  blessed  apostles  Si  Peter 
and  St.  Paul,  turn  against  him  in  this  world  and  in  the 
world  to  come !  May  the  whole  world  war  upon  him ! 
May  the  earth  open  and  swallow  him  up  quick !  May 
his  name  be  blotted  out  in  his  own  gen  oration,  his 
memory  perish  from  the  earth!  May  the  elements 
be  against  him,  his  dwelling  be  desolate  1  The  merits 
of  all  ths  Saints  at  rest  confound  him  and  exBcuta 
vengeance  on  him  in  this  life !  Be  his  sons  cast  forth 
from  their  homes  and  be  delivered  before  his  Byes  into  the 
hands  of  his  enemies  1 " *  The  Electors  were  called  upon 
to  proceed  at  once  to  tie  creation  of  a  new  Emperor. 


•  Albert.  Argentin.  p.  135.  *  RuynaHus,  sub  nun.  . 


1ATIN  CafllSTIANITT.  BOOK  XII. 

Of  these  electors  two  only,  his  son  the  Margrave  of 
Brandenburg,  and  the  deposed  Archbishop  of  Mentz. 
adhered  to  Louis.  Tha  three  ecclesiastical  electors, 
including  Grerlach  of  Mentz,  the  King1  of  Bohemia,  the 
Duke  of  Saxony,  were  arrayed  against  Mm.  The  Elector 
Palatine  vacillated  between  the  parties.  John,  the 
King  of  Bohemia,  the  rival  of  Louis,  now  embittered 
by  tlia  affair  of  the  Tyrol,  was  blind,  and  BO  disqualified 
chari™ or  f°r  tha  Imperial  crown-  His  son,  Charles  of 
Moravia  MomYia  (Of  the  age  of  thirty-six),  was  the 
representative  of  the  house  of  Luxemburg.  The  Pope, 
not  without  fierce  debates  in  the  consistory,  had  deter- 
mined to  put  forward  Charles.  The  French  cardinals, 
headed  by  the  Cardinal  Perigord,  the  Gascons  by  the 
Cardinal  de  Commingea,  came  to  high  words  in  the  pre- 
sence of  the  Pope,  Each  charged  the  other  with,  treason 
to  the  Church.  Be  Comminges  accused  Talleyrand  de 
Perigord  as  implicated  in  the  murder  of  Andrew,  King  of 
Naples.  The  Pope  had  refused  to  hear  the  ambassadors 
of  the  King  of  Hungary,  when  they  demanded  vengeance 
for  that  murder.  The  dispute  almost  came  to  a  personal 
conflict,  Talleyrand  rose  up  to  strike  Ds  Comminges; 
the  Pope  and  the  other  cardinals  parted  them  with  diffi- 
culty, They  retired  in  sullen  wrath ;  each  fortified  his 
palace  and  armed  his  retainers.  It  was  long  before  they 
were  brought  even  to  the  outward  show  of  amity,' 

Charles  obtained  not  the  support  of  the  Pope  without 
hard  and  humiliating  conditions.  He  swore  to  those 
conditions  before  the  Conclave,  Eight  days  after  his 
election  he  was  to  ratify  his  oath.  He  was  to  rescind 
all  the  acts  of  Louis  of  Bavaria;  he  was  90  religiously 
to  respect  the  territories  of  the  Church  to  their  widest 


*  Raynalilus,  tab  mua* 


CHAP.  IX.  BATTLE  OF  CEECT.  4  SI 

extent,  that  he  was  only  to  enter  Bome  for  his  corona- 
tion, and  on  tha  day  of  his  coronation  to  depart  again 
from  the  city. 

The  Electors  met  at  Khense;  the  Empire  was   de- 
clared long  vacant;  Charles  of  Moravia  wag  proclaimed 
King  of  the  Eoiuana.    But  Frankfort  had  shut  her  gates 
against  the  Electors.      Aix-la-Chapelle   shut  J^H, 
her  gates  against  the  new  Emperor.    Louis,   mb- 
low  as  ha  had  fallen,  almost  below  contempt,  had  still 
partisans ;  Germany  at  least  had  partisans,    An  assem- 
bly at  Spires  declared  the  B! action  at  Rhense  void;  and 
denied  tha  right  of  the  Fcipe  to  depose  an  Emperor. 

War,  a  terrible  civil  war,  seomed  inevitable.  But 
gratitude,  kindred,  the  unextinguished  passion  for  chi- 
valrous adventure,  led  the  blind  John  of  Bohemia, 
accompanied  by  his  son,  the  elected  Emperor,  to  join 
the  army  of  the  King  of  France,  now  advancing  to  repel 
the  invasion  of  Edward  III.  of  England.  The  Battle  or 
blind  King  fell  nobly  on  the  Sold  of  Crecy,  Augauajn. 
His  Imperial  son  was  the  first  to  fly;  he  was  of  thi' 
few  that  escaped  the  carnage  of  that  disastrous  day. 
Charles  was  thus  King  of  Bohemia.  As  King  of  the 
Komana,  though  Aix-la-Ohapelle  and  Cologne  still 
closed  their  gates,  he  was  crowned  at  Bonn.  But  Ger- 
many scoffed  at  tha  Priests'  Empar or;  the  ally  of  the 
•discomfited  King  of  France,  the  fugitivs  of  Crscy,  madi* 
but  slow  progress  either  by  arms  or  by  policy.  The 
unexpected  death  of  Louis  of  Bavaria  left  him  D^U,  of 
without  rival.  Louis  died  the  last  Emperor  JSiria! 
excommunicated  by  the  Pops ;  the  Emperor,  Dctober- 
of  all  those  that  had  been  involved  in  strife  with  the 
Papacy,  who  had  demeaned  himself  to  the  lowest  base- 
ness of  submission. 

Yet  Germany  would  not  packnowl(3rlj>'c  an 


482 


LATIN  CHRISTIANITY. 


JlODK  111. 


nominated  "by  the  Pope.     The  Empire  was  offered  to 
Edward  of  England;   it  was  declined  by  him.     The 
rauntber  or    election  then  fell  on  Gunther  of  Schwarzen- 
burg  IMS.    burg."    His  resignation  and  his  death  relieved 
Charles  from  a  dangerous  rival ;  but  Charles  was  obliged 
to  submit  to  a  new  election  at  Frankfort.    His 
™IH>      'coronation  at  Aix-la-Chapelle  at  length   esta- 
blished his  right  to  tha  throiiB.     Still  IIB  was  recognised 
not  aa  appointed  by  the  Pope ,  but  raised  by  tho  free 
choice  of  Germany  to  the  kingdom  of  the  Romans.* 
In  Italy,  tragical  and  wonderful  events  marked  the 
Pontificate  of  Clement  VI.    In  Naples,  King 
Eohert  had  closed  his  long  and  busy  reign. 
The  crown  had  descended  to  his  granddaughter,  tho 
heiress  of  tho  Duke  of  Calabria.    Joanna  -was  wedded 
in  fter  eftrly  youth  to  her  kinsman.  Andrew, 
of  the  royal  house  of  Hungary.    Joanna,  now 
stood  arraigned  before  the  world  BIB  an  adulteress j  if  not 
as  an  accomplice,  as  having  connived  at  the  murder  of 
her  huaband.u    Louis,  King  of  Hungary,  invaded  the 
kingdom  with  a  strong  force  to  avenges  his  brothor's 
jan  ID,     death,  and  to  assert  his  right  to  the  throne 
W47-        as  heir  of  Charles  MurtoL     Joanna  iled  to 
Avignon ;  she  was  for  a  time  placed  under  custody ;  but 
tho  Pope  granted  a  dispensation  for  her  marriage  with 
her  kinsman,  Louis  of  Toronto.    She  returned  to  Naples, 
having  sold  to  the  Pope  the  city  of  Avignon,  part  of  her 
kingdom  of  Provence.*    Tho  Pops  thus  recognised  her 


*  Schmidt,  GeBchkhte,  p.  359, 

*  Httvortvon  Hohsnburg  published 
WO  lianud  works,  in  defence  of  Louis 
frf  Bomta  ogAlnit  Bzoviuft,  the  eon- 
tlniutrt  of  BWDEIUS.    They  contain 


Htounone,  1,  xxlil. 


is  favouvable  to  the  character  uud  abi- 
Utioa  of  Joanna. 

*  Vit,  Clamant  Vt.  apuil  Baluzium. 
Tho  price  waa  30*000  florins  of  gold 
uf  Flormce.  Lunig,  quoted  in  Gian« 
none,  xxlti,  1. 


CDAP.  IX,  JOANNA  OP  NAPLES.  4B3 

title ;  ha  became  henceforth,  the  lord  anil  owner  of 
Avignon.  "War  continued  to  rage  in  Naples  "between 
the  Hungarian  faction  and  that  of  Joanna  and  Louis  of 
Tarento.  At  length  the  determination  of  the  contest 
(the  cause  haying,  as  mil  appear,  been  heard  on  his 
tribunal  by  Nicolo  Bienzi  at  Borne)  was  referred  to  the 
Pope,  tha  lord  paramount  of  the  kingdom  of  Naples. 
After  a  year's  examination  by  three  Cardinals,  Joanna 
pleaded  that  she  was  under  a  magic  spell,  which  com- 
pelled her  to  hats  her  husband.  Against  such  a  plea 
•who  would  venture  to  deny  her  innocence  ?  And  in 
this  justification  tha  Pope,  and  on  the  Pope's  authority 
the  world,  acquiesced.  The  award  of  Clement  absolved 
Joanna  from  the  crime:7  with  her  husband,  PeaMta 
Louis  Prince  of  Tarento,  she  was  restored  to  1351- 
tha  throne.  Peace  was  established  between  Naples 
and  Hungary.  Borne,  meantime,  had  beheld  the  rise 
and  fall  of  Bienzi, 


r  The  King  of  Hungary  openly  aerated  the  Cardinal  Talleyrand  Perigord  AS 
m  accomplice  in  the  murder, 


LATIN  CHRISTIANITY  BOOK  XII. 


CHAPTER  X. 

liienzi. 

ROME  for  nearly  forty  years  had  been  deserted  by  the 
Popes .  she  had  ceased  to  be  the  religious  capital  of  the 
world.  She  retained  the  shinies  and  tha  relitjues  of 
the  great  apostles  and  the  famous  old  churches,  the 
Lateran,  St.  Peter,  and  St.  Paul;  sums  few  pilgrims 
flume  from  all  parts  of  Europe  to  the  fcity  still  hallowed 
by  these  sacred  monuments,  to  the  Jerusalem  of  the 
Weak  But  the  tide  of  homage  and  tribute  which  had 
flowed  for  centuries  towards  the  shrine  of  the  successors 
of  St.  Peter  had  now  taken  another  course.  All  the 
ecclesiastical  causes  and  the  riches  they  poured  into  tho 
papal  treasury;  the  constant  influx  of  business  -which 
created  large  expenditure ;  the  thousands  of  strangers, 
which  year  after  year  us  ad  to  be  seen  in  Borne  from 
motives  secular  or  religious,  naw  thronged  tho  expanding 
streets  of  Avignon-  Borne,  thus  degraded  from  her  high 
•ecclesiastical  position,  was  thrown  back  more  forcibly 
than  ever  on  her  older  reminiscences,  She  had  lost  her 
new,  she  would  welcoma  with  redoubled  energy  whatever 
might  recall  her  ancient  supremacy.  At  the  height  of 
the  Papal  power  old  Borne  had  been  perpetually  breaking 
•out  into  rebellion  against  younger  Borne.  Her  famous 
titles  had  always  seemed  to  work  like  magic  on  her  ear. 
It  was  now  Republican  and  now  Imperial  Borne  which 
threw  off  disdainfully  the  thraldom  of  the  Papal  dominion. 
The  Qonsul  Grescentuis,  the  Senator  Brancaleone,  Arnold 


CHAP.  X 


EIENZl'S  PAEENTAGE. 


465 


of  Brescia,  the  Othos,  the  Fredericks,  Henry  of  Luxem- 
burg, Louis  of  Bavaria,  had  proclaimed  a  new  world- 
ruling  Itoman  republic,  or  a  new  world-ruling  Roman 
Empire.  Dante's  universal  monarehy,  Petrarch's  aspi- 
rations for  the  independence  of  Italy,  fixed  the  Beat  of 
their  power,  splendour,  liberty,  at  Borne. 

The  history  of  Bienzi  may  now  bs  related  almost  in 
Rienzi's  own  words,  and  that  history,  thus  re- 
v Baled,  shows  his  intimate  connexion  not  only 
\uth  Roman  and  Papal  affairs,  but  is  strangely  moulded 
up  with  the  Christianity  of  his  tims.*  His  autobiography 
ascends  even  beyond  his  cradle.  The  Tribune  disdains 
the  vulgar  parentage  of  the  Transtsverine  innkeeper 
and  ths  washerwoman,  whom  Rome  believed  to  be  the 
authors  of  his  birth.  With  a  kind  of  proud  shameless- 
ness  he  claims  descent,  spurious  indeed,  from  the  Impe- 
rial housa  of  Luxemburg.  His  account  is  strangely 
minute,  "  When  Henry  of  Luxemburg  went  up  to  be 
crowned  (May,  1312)  at  Rome,  the  church  of  St.  Peter, 
in,  which  tha  coronation  ought  to  have  been  celebrated, 
was  in  the  power  of  his  enemies,  the  Roman  Gruelfs  and 
tha  King  of  Naples.  Strong  barricades  and  defences,  as 
well  as  the  desp  Tibsr,  separated  the  two  parts  of  the 
city.  Henry  was  therefore  compelled  to  hold  his  coro- 
nation in  the  church  of  St.  John  Lateran.  But  tha 


*  These  documents,  unknown  to 
Gibbon  and  to  later  writers,  were  pub- 
lished ty  Dr.  Papencordt,  "Cola  di 
Paenzi  und  eeiua  Zeit,"  Hamburg  and 
Gothtt,  1B41.  (Com jure  Quarterly 
Review,  vol.  hi*,  p.  346,  toy  the 
author.)  They  arc  ohidtty  latteia  ad- 
dreBBQd  by  Rienzi  to  Chavlce,  Emperar 
and  King  of  Boliemia,  »nd  ia  the 
ArchbUhup  of  Pi  ague,  written  during 

VOL.  YII. 


his  residence  in  Bohemia  after  liin  fust 
Ml,    They  throw  a  ittiDiig,  if  not  tv 


do  cum  ants  were  Ihst  diacoveml 
and  made  uae  of  by  Pelzcl,  the  hibtoi  ian 
of  Bohemia.  The  original  MS.  in  nut 
to  be  fuund,  but  the  copy  nrnik1  by 
Pulzcl  foi  hia  own  vise  la  in  thi!  lilniu  y 
of  CountThiin  titTeUuheti,  It  wai]tul^ 
IJshed  almost  entire  by  Dr.  ViiiiMicwi.il, 


45(5  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY. 

religious  Emperor  was  very  anxious,  before  he  left  Borne, 
to  pay  his  devotions  at  the  shrine  of  St.  Peter,  and  to 
see  the  church,  which  had  witnessed  the  coronation  of  BO 
many  Emperors,  He  put  on  the  garb  of  a  pilgrim,  and 
in  this  diaguisBj  with  a  single  attendant,  found  his  way 
into  the  church  of  St.  Peter.  A  report  spread  abroad 
that  the  Emperor  had  passed  the  barriers  in  secret ;  the 
gates  and  bridges  were  instantly  closed  and  jealously 
watched ;  and  a  herald  was  sent  to  put  the  Gruelfb  faction 
on  their  guard,  and  tt>  offer  a  large  reward  for  his  capture 
As  soon  as  the  Emperor  and  his  attendant  perceived 
this  movament,  they  stole  hastily  along  a  street  by  the 
bank  of  the  river,  and,  finding  all  the  passages  closed, 
they  took  refuge,  under  pretence  of  going  in  to  drink,  in 
the  hostel  or  small  inn  kept  by  Bienzi's  supposed  father. 
There  they  took  possession  of  a  small  chamber,  and  lay 
hid  for  ten  or  fifteen  days.  The  Emperor's  attendant 
stow  of  w«  'wen^  ou*  to  proeurQ  provisions:  in  the  mean 
wrtfi.  ^m0)  B,iBnai'fl  mother,  who  was  young  and 
handsome,  ministered  to  the  Emperor  (Rieiizsi's  own 
words !), '  as  their  handmaids  did  to  holy  bavid  and  to 
the  righteous  Abraham.'"  Houry  afterwards  escaped 
to  the  Aventino,  retired  from  Boino,  and  died  in  tho 
August  of  that  year,  "But  as  there  is  nothing  hidden 
that  does  not  como  to  light,  when  his  mother  found  out 
the  high  rank  of  her  lovor,  she  could  not  help,  like  a 
veiy  woman,  tailing  the  secret  of  her  pregnancy  by  him 
to  her  parti  sular  friend  j  this  particular  friend,  Hke  a 
woman,  told  it  to  another  particular  friend,  and  BO  on, 
till  the  rumour  got  abroad.  His  mother,  too,  on  her 
deathbed,  confessed  the  whole,  as  it  was  her  duty,  to  the 
prisst  Bienzij  after  his  mother's  death,  was  sent  by  his 
father  to  Anagni,  where  ho  remained  till  his  twentieth 
yew  On  his  return,  this  marvellous  story  was  related 


CHAP.  X. 


HIS  STUDIES. 


4G1 


to  him  by  same  of  his  mother's  friends,  and  by  the  priest 
who  attended  her  deathbed.1*  Out  of  respect  for  his 
mother's  memory,  Bienzi  was  always  impatient  of  the 
scandal,  and  denied  it  in  public,  but  he  believed  it  in. 
his  heart,0  and  the  imperial  blood  stirring  in  his  veins, 
he  began  to  disdain  his  plebeian  life,  to  dream  of  honours 
and  glories  far  above  his  lowly  condition.  He  sought 
every  kind  of  instruction ;  he  began  to  read  and  study 
history,  and  the  lives  of  great  and  good  men,  till  he 
became  impatient  to  realise  in  his  actions  the  lofty 
lessons  which  he  read."  Was  this  an  audacious  fiction, 
and  when  first  promulgated?  Was  it  after  Ms  fall,  to 
attach  himself  to  the  imperial  house  when  ha  offered 
himself,  as  will  hereafter  appear,  as  an  instrument  to 
reinstate  the  Caasarsan  power  in  Italy  ?d 

Be  this  as  it  may,  the  adolescence  of  Rienzi  was  passed 
in  obscurity  at  Aiiagni.  He  then  returned  to  Borne,  a 
youth  of  great  beauty,  with  a  smile  which  gave  a  peculiar 
and  remarkable  expression  to  his  countenance.  He 
married  the  daughter  of  a  burgher,  who  brought  him  a 
dowry  of  150  golden  florins ;  he  had  three  children,  one 


b  Tb«  priest  must  bare  heard  it  eub 
elgtllo  oonfasalonis ;  tut  Roman  priests 
in.  thooa  day*  may  not  have  teen  over 
Btriut, 

«  There  are  strong  obvioiu  objections 
to  this  story.  The  German  writers 
know  nothing  of  Henry's  ten  or  fifteen 
days'  absence  from  his  camp,  which 
couU  haidly  have  been  concealed,  ns  it 
must  hiwe  caused  gimt  alarm.  Con- 
Hidar  too  Ricnzl's  long  suHpiciouH 
silence,  though  ho  labours  to  account 
for  it,  HB  endeavoured,  ne  avcra,  to 
nupprws  the  report  at  the  tuna  of  hifl 
greatness,  becimsB  any  km  J  of  Herman 
would  h&vfl  been  highly  un- 


popular in  Eoma ;  but  that  the  rumour 
prevailed  among  many  pel  sons  of  both 
sexes  and  all  ages,  Kienzi,  on  the  other 
hand,  appeals  to  a  Roman  noble,  who 
at  the  uom't  of  Louis  of  Bavaria  had 
spoken  freely  of  his  gruat  Bncret,  "Turn 
Bibi  nuam  sula  ut  audlvi  doimftUcin 
hanc  oonditionam  rneiim  Hllji  conni'inin 
revelavit." 

d  De  Sade  had  picked  up  what  may 
seem  a  lon«e  iDniiniacDnce  of  tlia  htory, 
The  mothi'i  uf  Kienzi,  he  8uyn,  wai 
reported  to  be  the  daughter  of  a  bustarn 
of  King  Henry.  Thin  could  nut  be, 
The  whoh  w  m  the  Urkuiulu  ut'  l>r, 
Pupencordb,  p.  x<\\i. 

li  u  2 


468  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  SII 

son  and  two  (laughters.  He  embraced  the  profession  of 
a  notary.  But  his  chief  occupation  was  poring  over  those 
sacred  antiquities  of  Rome,  which  cssrcisEi  so  powerful 
an  influence  on  his  mind.  Home  had  already  welcomed 
the  first  dawn  of  those  classical  studies,  publicly,  proudly, 
in  the  coronation  of  Petrarch.6  The  respect  for  the 
ancient  monuments  of  Rome,  and  for  her  famous  writers, 
which  the  great  poet  hail  endeavoured  to  inculcate  by 
liis  language  and  by  his  example,  crept  into  the  depths 
of  Ricnzi's  soul.  The  old  historian,  Fortefiocca,  gives 
as  his  favourite  authors  Livy,  Cicero,  Soneca,  Valerius 
Maximus  j  but  "  the  magnificent  deeds  and  words  of  the 
groat  Cocsar  were  his  chief  delight."  His  leisure  was 
paused  among  the  stupendous  and  yet  august  remains, 
the  miiis,  or  as  yet  hardly  ruins,  of  elder  Home.  He 
was  not  lets  deeply  impregnated  with  the  Biblical  lan- 
guage and  religious  imagery  of  his  day,  though  ho 
declares  that  his  meditations  on  the  profound  subjects 
of  providence,  foreknowledge,  will,  and  fate,  were  not 
drawn  from  the  holy  wisdom  of  Gregory  or  Augustine, 
but  wero  droppings  from  the  less  dtsep  and  transparent 
springs  of  the  Roman  patricians,  Boethiua  and  Sym- 
machus,  Livy,  Cic oro,  anrl  Son B  i-u.  Even  now  n  religious 
has  begun  to  minglo  with  tlio  Roman  ftmaticiHUi  of  the 
youth, 

Already,  too,  had  Rienzi  learned,  to  contrast  the 
miserable  and  servile  stats  of  his  countrymen  with  that 
of  their  free  and  glorious  ancestors,  "  "Where  are  those 
old  Romans  ?  Where  their  justice  ?  Would  tliat  I  had 
lived  in  their  times  I" r  Tho  sense  of  peraonal  wrong 
was  wrought  up  with  these  more  lofty  and  patriotic 
Ilia  younger  brother  was  murdered;  and 


ApuJ  Mnratorlj  B.  I,  S,  J  The  pannage  IB  quoted  Ly  Papencortd. 


ClUP.X, 


RIENZI  AT  A.YIBNDN, 


4B9 


Bienzi,  unable  to  obtain  redress  from  the  partial  and 
disdainful  justice  of  the  nobles,  vowed  vengeance  for  the 
innocent  blood.  And  already  had  he  assumed  the  office 
of  champion  of  the  poor.  As  the  heads  of  the  mercantile 
guilds,  or  tha  Boman  Schools,  called  themselves  by  the 
proud  name  of  Consuls,  so  Bienzi  took  the  title  of  Consul 
of  the  orphans,  the  widows,  and  the  indigent. 

Bianzi  must  have  attained  some  fame,  or  some 
notoriety,  to  have  bsen  either  alone  or  among  BUnztat 
the  delegates  of  the  people  sent  on  the  public  Avlsoon. 
mission  to  Clement  YI.  at  Avignon/  These  ambassadors 
were  instructed  to  make  three  demands,  some  of  them 
peremptory,  of  the  Pope : — I.  To  confirm  the  magistracy 
appointed  by  the  Bomans.  II,  To  entreat  his  Holiness 
at  least  to  revisit  Borne,  III.  To  appoint  the  Jubilee 
for  every  fiftieth  year.  The  eloquence  of  Bienzi  so 
charmed  the  Pope  that  he  desired  to  hear  him  every 
day.  He  enthralled  the  admiration  of  a  greater  than 
tha  Pope :  Petrarch  here  learned  to  know  him  whose 
fame  was  to  be  the  subject  of  one  of  his  noblest 
odes,b 

Bienzi  wrote  in  triumph  to  Home.1  The  Pope  bad 
acceded  to  two  of  the  demands  of  the  people:  he  bad 
granted  the  Jubilee  on  the  fiftieth  yearj  he  had  pro- 
raised,  when  the  affairs  of  Borne  should  permit,  to  revisit 
Home,  Bienzi  calls  on  the  mountains  around,  and  on 


*  there  seem  to  hava  been  two  em- 
bossies,  successive  or  uimultanaoufl,  one 
headed  by  Stephen  Colonnn,  and  two 
•ther  nubles,  with  Petrarch;  another 
(perhaps  latai),  In  which  Rienzi  signed 
himself  "  NicolausLaurentiij  Romanus, 
consul  orphanorum  viiuarum  etpau- 
peram,  unicus  popularis  legatua." — 
Hobbouse,  "  IllustiationB  of  Childe 


Harold." 

*  Tha  "Spii-to  gentll."  I  cannot 
doubt  that  this  canzone  was  addressed 
to  Rletiii. 

1  These  httBi-a  were  published  from 
the  Tuiin,  MSS.  by  Mr,  HobhouM 
(Lord  Broughton),  in  his  "  lllusti-a- 
tiona  of  Childe  Harold." 


470  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOR  XIL 

the  hills  and  plains,  to  break  out  into  joy.  "  May  the 
Koman  city  arise  from  liar  long  prostration,  ascend  tha 
throne  of  her  majesty,  caat  off  the  garment  of  her  widow- 
hood,  and  put  on  the  bridal  purple.  Let  the  crown  oi 
liberty  adorn  her  head,  and  rings  of  gold  her  neck;  let 
her  reassume  tha  sceptre  of  justice ;  and,  regenerate  in 
every  virtu  B,  go  forth  in  her  wedding  attire  to  meet  her 

bridegroom Behold  the  moat  merciful  Lamb  of 

God  that  confoundeth  sin  !  The  most  Holy  Pontiff,  tho 
father  of  the  city,  the  bridegroom  of  the  Lord,  mover! 
by  the  cries  and  complaints  and  wailings  of  hia  bride, 
compassionating  her  sufferings,  her  calamities,  and  her 
ruin — astonished  at  the  regeneration  of  the  city,  tho 
glory  of  the  people,  the  joy  anrl  salvation  of  the  world-— 
by  the  inspiration  of  tho  Holy  Grhost — opening  tho 
bosom  of  his  clemency — has  pledged  himself  to  havo 
upon  us,  and  promises  grace  and  redemption  tc» 
whole  world,  and  to  the  nations  retmisaion  of  sins," 
After  all  this  vague  and  high-flown  Scriptural  imagery, 
Rienzi  passes  to  his  classical  rBminiscuncBS : — "  What 
Scipio,  what  Caesar,  or  Metelhis,  or  Marcellua,  or  Fabiiw, 
can  bo  so  fairly  deemed  the  deliverer  of  their  country, 
or  so  justly  honoured  with  a  statue?  They  won  hard 
victories  by  the  calamities  of  war,  by  the  bloodalu-d  of 
citizens:  lie,  unsolicited,  by  one  holy  and  triumphant 
word,  has  achieved  a  victory  over  the  present  and  future 
disasters  of  his  country,  re- established  the  Roman  com- 
monwealth, and  rescued  the  despairing  people  from 
death." 

Whether  Pop  a  Clement  was  conscious  that  he  was 
deluding  tho  ardent  Rienzi  with  falsa  hojma,  while  the 
ej^tt&ncfi  of  JRienzi  palbd  in  the  ears  of  the  French 
Papal  Court ;  whether  llieuzi  betrayed  his  siwph'ionfi  oi 
the  Pope's  sincerity,  or  the  Cardinal  Colonna 


Cnu».  X  B.IENZ1  AT  HOME.  471 

jealous  of  his  influence  with  the  Pope,  he  soon  fell  inte 
disfavour.  At  Avignon,  he  was  redur.od  to  great  poverty, 
and,  probahly  from  illness,  was  glai  to  take  refuge  in  a 
hospital.1*  The  Cardinal,  however,  perhaps  from  con- 
temptuous compassion,  reconcile!  him  with  the  Pope. 
Rienzi  returned  to  Kome  with  the  appointment  of  Notary 
in  the  Papal  Court,  and  a  flattering  testimonial  to  hiq 
character,  as  a  man  zealous  for  the  welfare  of  the 
city, 

At  Borne,  Rienzi  executed  his  office  of  Notary  by 
deputy,  and  confined  himself  to  his  studies,  numaHa 
and  to  his  profound  and  rankling  meditations  Bom9 
on  the  miseries  and  oppressions  of  the  people.  The 
luxury  of  the  nobles  was  without  check ;  the  lives  of  the 
men  and  the  honour  of  the  women  seemed  to  be  yielded 
up  to  their  caprice  and  their  lust,  All  this  Eienzi 
attributed,  in  a  great  degree,  to  th.3  criminal  abandon- 
ment of  his  flock  by  the  Supreme  Pontiff.  "Would 
that  our  pastor  had  been  content  with  this  scandal  alone,, 
that  he  should  dwell  in  Avignon,  having  deserted  his- 
flock  1  Bub  far  worse  than,  this ;  he  nurses,  cherishes, 
and  favours  those  very  wolves,  the  fear  of  which,  as  h& 
pretends,  keeps  him  away  from  Borne,  that  their  ijeeth 
and  their  talons  may  be  stronger  to  devour  his  sheep. 
On  the  Orsini,  on  the  Oolonnas,  and  on  the  other  nobles 
whom  he  knows  to  be  infamous  as  public  robbers,  the 
destroyers,  both  spiritual  and  temporal,  of  his  holy  epis- 
copal city,  and  the  devourers  of  hia  own  peculiar  flock, 
he  confers  dignities  and  honours;  he  even  bestows  on 
them  rich  prelacies,  in  order  that  they  may  wage  those 
wars  which  they  have  not  wealth  enough  to  support, 
from  ths  treasures  of  the  Church ;  and  when  he  has  been 


Foitpfioeea,  apud  Muvatorl. 


472  1ATIK  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  XII. 

perpetually  entreated  by  the  people  that,  as  a  compas- 
sionate father,  he  would  at  least  appoint  some  good  man, 
a  foreigner,  as  ruler  ovar  his  episcopal  city,  he  would 
never  consent;  but,  in  contempt  of  the  petitions  of  the 
people,  hfi  placed  the  sword  in  the  hands  of  some 
madman,  and  invested  the  tyrants  of  the  people  with 
the  authority  of  Senators,  for  tha  sob  purpose,  as  it  ia 
credibly  known  and  proved,  that  the  Boman  flock,  thus 
preyed  on  by  ravening  wolves,  should  not  have  strength 
or  courage  to  demand  the  residence  of  their  Pastor  in 
his  episcopal  seat."  m 

Kienzi,  thus  despairing  of  all  alleviation  of  the 
calamities  of  the  people  from  the  ecclesiastical  powor, 
aat  brooding  cvtir  his  hopes  of  reawakening  the  old 
Boman  spirit  of  liberty,  In  this  high  design  he  pro- 
ceeded with  wonderful  courage,  address,  and  resolution, 
He  submitted  to  every  kind  of  indignity,  and  assumed 
every  disguise  which  might  advance  his  end.  He  stooped 
to  be  admitted  as  a  buffoon  to  amuse,  rather  than  as 
a  companion  to  enlighten,  tho  haughty  nobles  in  ths> 
Colonna,  Palacs.  He  has  been  call  ad  the  modern 
Brutus;  n  he  alleges  higher  examples,  "I  confess  that, 
drunken  after  the  parching  fever  of  niy  soul,  in  order  to 
put  down  the  predominant  injustice,  and  to  persuade 
the  people  to  union,  I  often  feigned  and  dissembled  j 
made  myself  a  simpleton  and  a  stage-player  j  was  by 
turns  serious  or  silly,  cnnning,  earnest,  and  timid,  aa 
occasion  re^uirad)  to  promote  my  work  of  love,  David 
danced  before  the  ark,  and  appeared  as  a  madman, 
before  the  King  j  Judith  stood  before  Holofernes,  bland, 
crafty,  and  dissembling  j  and  Jacob  obtained  his  blessing 


Ttawfce  wrote  Ww  to  th»  AwhbMiop  of  Prague.—  Papenfiordlt,  Udarnto, 
fa  "  By  Gibbon.   See  Urkun4«»,p,  xlfc, 


.  X,  ALLEGOEICAL  PAINTING.  473 

by  cunning:  so  I,  when  I  took  up  the  cause  of  tha 
people  against  their  worst  tyrants,  had  to  deal  with  no 
frank  and  open  antagonists,  but  with  men  of  shifts  and 
wiles,  the  subtlest  and  most  deceitful,"  Once  in  the 
assembly  of  the  people  ha  was  betrayed  by  his  indigna- 
tion into  a  premature  appeal  to  their  yet  uuawakened 
sympathies.  He  reproached  his  fellow  representatives 
with  their  disregard  of  the  sufferings  of  the  people, 
and  ventured  to  let  loose  his  eloquence  on  the  bless- 
ings of  good  order.  The  only  answer  was  a  blow  from  a 
Norman  kinsman  of  the  Uolonnas ;  in  the  simple  language 
of  the  historian,  a  box  on  the  ear  that  rang  again." 

Allegorical  picture  was  the  language  of  the  times. 
The  Church  had  long  employed  it  to  teach  or  to  enforce 
Christian  truth  or  Christian  obedience  among  the  rude 
and  unlettered  people.  It  had  certainly  been  used  for 
political  purposes.5  Dante  may  show  how  completely 
the  Italian  mind  must  have  been  familiarised  with  this 
suggestive  imagery.  Many  of  the  great  names  of  the 
time — tha  Orsini,  the  Mostini,  the  Oani,  the  Lucehi — 
either  lent  themselves  to  or  grew  out  of  this  verbal 
symbolism.  Eienzi  seized  on  the  yet  unrestricted 
freedom  of  painting,  as  a  modern  demagogue  might 
on  the  freedom  of  the  press,  to  instil  his  own  Auaeoricai 
feelings  of  burning  shame  at  th&  common  W0**- 
degradation  and  oppression.  All  the  historians  have 
dwelt  on  tha  masterpiece  of  his  pictorial  eloquence  :— 
On  a  sinking  ship,  without  mast  or  sail,  sat  a  noble  lady 
in  widow's  weeds,  with  dishevelled  hair  and  her  hands 
crossed  over  her  breast.  Above  was  written,  "  This  is 
Borne."  She  was  surrounded  by  four  other  ships,  in 


*  "Un  Bonnnte  gotata," — Forlefiowa. 

*  Dr.  Papencorit  cites  nuvny  osomplei. 


474  IAT1N  3HH1ST1AN1TY,  BOOK  XII. 


which  sat  women  who  personated  Babylon,  Carthage, 
Tyre,  Jerusalem,  "  Through  unrighteousness/'  ran  the 
legend,  "  these  fell  to  ruin."  An  inscription  hung  above, 
"Thou,  0  Boms,  art  exalted,  above  allj  we  await  thy 
downfall."  Three  islands  appears!  beside  the  ship ;  in 
one  was  Italy,  in  another  four  of  the  cardinal  virtues,, 
in  the  third  Christian  Faith.  Each  had  ita  appro- 
priate inscription.  Dver  Faith,  was  written,  "  0  highest 
Father,  Ruler,  and  Lord !  when  Rome  sinks,  where  find 
I  refuge  ?  "  Bitter  satire  was  not  wanting.  Four  rows 
of  winged  beasts  stood  above,  who  blew  their  horns,  and 
directed  the  pitiless  storm  against  the  sinking  vessel. 
The  lions,  wolves,  and  bears  denoted,  as  the  legend  ox- 
plained,  the  mighty  barons  and  traitorous  senators; 
tho  dogs,  the  swine,  and  the  bulls,  were  the  counsellors; 
the  base  partisans  of  tho  nobles;  the  sheep,  the  ser- 
pents, and  foxes,  were  the  officers,  the  false  judges,  and 
notaries ;  the  hares,  cats>  goats,  and  apes,  the  robbers, 
murderers,  adulterers,  thieves,  among  tha  people.  Above 
was, "  Grod  in  his  majesty  come  down  to  judgement,  with 
two  swords,  as  in  tho  Apocalypse,  out  of  his  mouth." 
>St  Peter  and  St.  Paul  wore  beneath,  on  either  side,  in 
the  attitude  of  supplication, 

Bicnzi  describes  another  of  his  well-known  attempts 
to  work  upon  tha  populace,  and  to  impress  thr»m  with 
the  sense  of  the  former  groatnesa  of  Borne.*  The  great 
bronco  tablet r  containing  the  decree  by  whiuh  the 
Senate  conferred  the  Empire  upon  Vespasian,  had  been 
employed  by  Boniface  V1IL,  out  of  jealousy  to  tho  Em- 
peror, as  Bienzi  asserts/  to  form  part  of  an  altar  in  the 


«  Lrtter  to  the  Archbishop  of  Prague, 
In  Pflpeaoordt, 

*  The  fox?  r«gfa*  Impedum,  This 
tablet  It  itlll  in  the  Cnpitollne  Muwura, 


This  was  written  whan  Knuri'a 
was  to  obtain  favour  with  the 
Emperor  (Chii'lai)  at  the  expense  of 
thePojw. 


CHAP.  X. 


REVOLUTION. 


475 


Feb.  is. 


Lateran  Church,  with  the  inscription  turned  inward,  so 
that  it  could  not  be  read.  Eienzi  brought  forth  this 
tablet,  placed  it  on  a  kind  of  high  scaffold  in  the 
Church,  and  summoned  the  people  to  a  lecture  on  its 
meaning,*  in  which  he  enlarged  on  the  former  power 
and  dominion  of  Borae.u 

Bienzi's  hour  came  at  length,  Throughout  his  acts 
the  ancient  traditions  of  Pagan  Borne  mingled 
with  the  religious  observances  of  the  Christian 
capital.  The  day  after  Ash  Wednesday  [A.D.  1347)  a 
scroll  appeared  on  the  doors  of  the  Church  of  St. 
Greorge  in  Velabro :  1C  Ere  long  Borne  will  return  to  her 
gnod  estate."  Nightly  meetings  were  held  on,  the 
i-Ventine  (Bienzi  may  have  learned  from  Livy  M^ugm 
the  secession  of  the  people  to  that  hill).  Bienzi  *' A»»*» 
spoke  with  his  most  impassioned  eloquence.  He  com- 
pared the  misery,  slavery,  debasement  of  Borne,  with 
her  old  glory,  liberty,  universal  dominion.  H swept; 
his  hearers  mingled  their  tears  with  his.  He  summoned 
them  to  freedom.  There  could  be  no  want  of  means ; 
the  revenue  of  the  city  amounted  to  300,000  golden 
florins.  He  more  than  hinted  that  the  Pope  would  not 
disapprove  of  their  proceedings.  All  swore  a  solemn 
oath  of  freedom, 

On  the  Vigil  of  Pentecost,  the  Festival  of  iihe  Effusion 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  Boman.  people  were  Mnya0w 
summoned  by  the  aound  of  trumpet  to  appear  ltevolutl()n- 
imarmsd  at  the  Capitol  on  the  following  day,    All  that 
night  Bienzi  was  hearing,,  in  the  Church  of  St.  Angel o, 
the  Thirty  Masses  of  the  Holy  G-hoat.     "  It  was  the 


1  ThieprutmblywriB  Boraowh«tli\ter. 

"  It  was  in  this  apeech  thathennvde 
the  whimsical  antiquarian  bhuulei, 
vrWoh  GiWbn  takes  oredib  for  detecting 


HE  rendered  "  ptima>riuin,"  of  winch 
he  did  not  know  themenning,  ns  "  po- 
maricm,"  and  made  Italy  the  yarder 
of  Home. 


476  LAT-N  CHRISTIANITY. 

Holy  Grhost  that  inspired  this  holy  deed."  At  ten 
o'clock  in  the  morning  he  came  forth  from  the  Church 
in  full  armour,  with  his  head  bare:  twenty-five  of  the 
sworn  conspirators  were  around  him.  Three  banners 
went  before — tha  banner  of  freedom,  boms  by  Cola 
Gkiallato,  on  which  appeared,  on  a  red  ground,  Home 
seated  on  her  twin  lions,  with  the  globe  and  the  pahn- 
branch  in  hsr  hand.  The  second  was  white  ;  on  it  St, 
Paul  with  the  sword  and  diadem  of  justice:  it  was  borne 
by  the  Notary,  Stefan ello  Magnacuccia.  On  the  third 
was  St.  Peter  with  tha  keys.  By  th0  side  of  Bionzi  was 
Baimond,  Bishop  of  Orvieto,  tli3  Pops's  Vicar ;  around 
was  a  guard  of  one  hundred  horsemen.  Amid  the 
acclamations  of  the  thronging  multitudes  they  ascended 
the  Capitol.  The  Count  di  Cecca  Maneino  was  com- 
manded to  read  the  Laws  of  the  Good  Estate.  These 
laws  had  something  of  the  wild  justice  at  wild  times. 
All  causes  wore  to  be  determined  within  fourteen  daya  ; 
every  murderer  was  to  suffer  death,  the  false  accuser 
the  punishment  of  the  crime  charged  against  the  mun- 
cwnt  man.  No  hoiiso  was  to  bo  pulled  down}  those 
that  fell  escheated  to  the  State,  Each  Bione  (there 
were  thirteen)  was  tr>  maintain  one  hundred  men  on 
foot,  twonty-iivo  horao:  theso  received  a  whiulA  and 
moderate  pay  from  the  State ;  if  they  full  in  tho  publfc 
service,  their  heirn  recaivo.1,  those  of  tha  foot  ono 
hundred  livres,  of  the  horse  one  hundred  florina.  The 
treasury  of  the  State  was  ehurgdd  with  tha  support  of 
widows,  orphans,  convents.  Kach  Biono  was  to  have  itn 
granary  for  corn;  tho  revenues  of  the  city,  the  hearth- 
money,  salt-tax,  tolls  on  bridges  and  wharves,  were  to 
be  administered  for  tha  public  gooi  The  fortresses, 
bridges,  gates,  were  no  longer  to  be  guarded  by  the 
Barons,  but  by  Captains  ohoeen  by  the  people*  Nc 


CHAP.  X.  AWE  OF  THE  NOBLES  477 

Baron  might  possess  a  stronghold  within  the  city ;  ah 
were  to  he  surrendered  to  tha  magistrates.  The  Barons 
wore  to  ha  responsible,  under  a  penalty  of  one  thousand 
marks  of  silver,  for  the  security  of  the  roads  around  the 
city.  The  people  shouted  thair  assent  to  the  new  con- 
stitution. The  senators  Agapito  Colonna,  Eoberto 
Orsini,  were  ignominiously  dismissed.  Eienzi  was  in- 
vested in  dictatorial  power — power  over  life  and  limb, 
power  to  pardon,  power  to  establish  the  Good  Estate  in 
Home  and  her  domain.  A  few  days  later  he  took  the 
title  of  Tribune.  "  Nicolas,  by  the  grace  of  Jesus 
Christ,  the  Severe  and  Merciful,  Tribune  of  Freedom, 
Peace,  and  Justice,  the  Deliverer  of  the  Raman  Re- 
public," 

Tha  nobles,  either  stunned  by  this  unexpected  revo- 
lution, of  which  they  had  despised  the  signs  AWBOftho 
ancl  omenH,  or  divided  among  themselves,  NnblBB- 
looked  on  in  wondering  and  sullen  apathy,  Some  oven 
professed  to  disdain  it  as  some  new  public  buffoonery  of 
Eianzi.  The  old  Stephen  Colonna  was  opportunely 
absent  from  tho  city ;  on  hia  return  he  answered  to  the 
summons  of  the  Tribune,  "  Tell  the  fool  that  if  he 
troubles  me  with  his  insolence,  I  will  throw  him  from 
th&  windows  of  the  Oapitol  I "  The  tolling  of  tha  bell 
of  th&  Capitol  replied  to  the  haughty  noble.  Kome  in 
all  her  quarters  was  in  arms,  Colonna  fled  with  diffi- 
culty to  one  of  Ms  strongholds  near  Palestrina.  The 
younger  Stephen  Colonna  appeared  in  arms  with  his 
partisans  before  the  Capitol,  where  the  Tribune  was 
seated  on  the  bench  of  justice.  The  Tribune  advanced 
in  arms  to  meet  him.  Colonna,  either  overawed,  or 
with  somo  respect  for  the  Eoman  liberty,  swore  on  the 
Holy  Eucharist  to  take  no  hoatile  measure  against  the 
Good  Estate.  All  tho  Colonnas,  the  Orsini,  the  Savelli, 


478  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  XII. 

were  compelled  to  yield  up  their  fortress-palaces,  to 
make  oath  that  they  would  protect  no  robbers  or  male- 
factors, to  keep  the  roads  secure,  to  supply  provisions  to 
the  city,  to  appear  in  arms  or  without  arms  at  the 
summons  of  the  magistracy.  All  orders  of  the  city 
took  the  same  oath — clergy,  gentry,  judges,  notaries, 
merchanta,  shopkeapers,  artisans :  they  swore  to  main- 
tain the  laws  of  the  Good  Estate. 
Within  fifteen  days,  BO  boasts  Kienzi,  the  old,  in- 
veterate  prida  of  this  barbarous  Patriciate  was 
prostrate  at  the  feet  of  the  Tribune.  History 
may  record  in  his  own  words  the  rapidity  with  which 
he  achieved  this  wonderful  victory.  "By  the  Divine 
grace  no  King,  or  Duke,  or  Prince,  or  Marquis  in  Italy 
ever  surpassed  me  in  the  shortness  of  the  time  in  which 
I  rose  to  legitimate  power,  and  earned  fame  which 
reached  even  to  the  Saracens.  It  was  achieved  in 
flsven  months,  a  period  which  would  hardly  suffice  for 
a  king  to  eubdua  one  of  the  Roman  nobles.  On  the 
first  day  of  my  tribunate  (an  office  which,  from  tho 
time  that  the  Empire  sank  into  decrepitude,  had  been, 
vacant  under  tyrannical  rule  for  moro  than  five  hundred 
years)  I,  for  God  was  with  mo,  scattered  with  my  con- 
suming breath  before  my  face,  or  rather  boforo  the  fact) 
of  God,  all  these  nobles,  theso  haters  of  ft  ml  and  of 
justice.  And  thus,  in  truth,  on  the  day  of  Pentecost, 
was  that  word  fulfilled  which  is  chanted  en  that  day  in 
honour  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  ( Let  God  arise,  and  let  his 
enemies  bts  scattered/  and  again,  'Send  forth  thy  Holy 
Ghost»  and  thou  ehalt  renew  the  face  of  the  earth.' 
Certainly  hitherto  no  Pontiff  or  Emperor  had  been  able 
to  expel  the  nobles  from  the  city,  who  had  in  general 
rather  triumphed  over  than  submitted  to  Popes  and 
Emperors ;  and  yet  these  npblea,  thus  terribly  expelled 


CHAP.  X.  JUSTICE  DF  BIENZL  4=79 

and  exiled,  when  I  cited  them  to  appear  again  in  fifteet 
days,  I  had  prostrate  at  my  feet,  swearing  obedience  to 
my  decrees."*  The  old  historian,  in  his  own  graphic 
phrase,  confirms  tha  words  of  Rienzi,  "  How  stood  they 
trembling  with  fear."  y 

The  primary  laws  of  the  new  Bepublic  had  provided 
for  financial  reforms.  The  taxes  became  more  pro- 
ductive, less  onerous:  the  salt-duty  alone  increased 
five  or  six  fold,  The  constitution  had  regulated  the 
military  organisation.  At  the  sound  of  the  bell  of 
the  Capitol  appeared  in  arms  from  the  thirteen  Eioni 
of  the  city  three  hundred  and  sixty  horse,  thirteen 
hundred  foot.  The  open,  patient,  inexorable  justice  of 
Bienzi  respected  not,  it  delighted  to  humiliate,  the 
haughtiest  of  the  nobles.  It  extended  not  only 
throughout  the  city,  but  to  all  the  country  around. 
The  woods  rejoiced  that  they  concaalcd  no  robbers; 
the  oxen  ploughed  the  field  undisturbed  ;  tho  pilgrims 
crowded  without  fear  to  the  shrines  of  the  saints  and 
the  apostles ;  the  traders  might  leave  their  precious 
wares  by  the  road-aide  in  perfect  safety  j  tyrants  trem- 
bled; good  men  rejoiced  at  their  emancipa-  j^^^t 
tion  from  slavery.58  The  Tribune's  hand  fell  mauA- 
heavily  on  the  great  houaae.  Petruccio  Frangipani,  Lord 
of  Oivita  Lavigna,  anil  Luca  Savelli,  were  thrown  into 
prison ;  the  Golonnas  and  the  Orsini  bowed  for  a  time 
their  proud  heads ;  the  chief  of  the  Orsini  was  con- 
demned for  neglecting  the  protection  of  the  highways; 
a  mule  laden  with  oil  had  been  stolen.  Pater  Agapito 
Colonna,  the  deposed  senator,  was  arrested  for  soma 
nrime  in  the  public  streets,1  Borne  was  summoned  ta 


xxxi v.  *  "  Deli  die 

Urkunde.  «•  Fortefioaa,  p.  41 


480  LATIN  OHEISTIANITT  BOOK  XII 


the  ignominious  execution  of  Martin  o  Graetani, 
nephew  of  two  Cardinals,  but  nswly  married,  for  tha 
robbery  of  a  stranded  ship  at  ths  month  of  tha  Tiber. 
The  Tribune  spared  not  the  sacred  persona  of  the 
clergy  :  a  monlt  of  S.  Anastasio  was  hanged  for  many 
crimes.  Eienzi  boasted  that  he  had  wrought  a  moral 
aa  well  as  a  civil  revolution.  All  who  had  been  banished 
since  134D  were  rccallad,  and  pledged  to  live  in  peace. 
"It  was  hardly  to  be  believed  that  tho  Eoman  people, 
till  now  full  of  dissension  and  corrupted  by  every  kind 
of  vice,  should  be  so  soon  reduced  to  a  state  of  una- 
nimity, to  so  great  a  IOVB  of  justice,  virtue,  and  peace; 
that  hatred,  assaults,  murder,  and  rapine  should  ba 
subdued  and  put  an  end  to.  There  is  now  no  person  in 
the  city  who  dares  to  play  at  forbidden  games  or  blas- 
phemously to  invoke  God  and  his  saints  ;  there  is  no 
layman  who  keeps  his  concubine  :  all  enemies  ara 
reconciled;  even  wives  who  had  been  long  cast  off 
return  to  thoir  husbands."11 

The  magic  effect  of  the  Tribune's  sudden  apparition 
at  the  head  of  a  new  Boman  Bepublie,  which  seemed 
to  aspire  to  the  sway  of  ancient  Homo  over  Italy,  if  not 
over  all  tho  world,  in  thus  glowingly  described  in  his 
own  language  :  this  shows  at  least  the  glorious  ends  of 
liienai'a  ambition,  "Did  I  not  restore  peace  among 
the  cities  which  were  distracted  by  factions?  Did  I 
not  duurea  that  all  the  citizens  who  were  banished  by 
party  violence,  with  their  wretched  wives  and  children, 
should  be  readmitted?  Had  I  not  begun  to  extinguish 
the  party  names  of  Guolf  and  Grhibellina,  for  which 
numberbsa  victims  had  perished  body  and  soul,  and  to 
reduce  the  city  of  Borne  and  all  Italy  into  one  har* 


Litter  to  a  frUnd  tt  Avignon,  front  tha  Turin  MS,— Hothoow*  p.  597, 


CHAP.  X.  HIENZI'S  ACHIEVEMENTS.  4B1 


peaceful,  holy  confederacy?  The  sacred 
standards  and  banners  of  all  the  cities  were  gathered, 
and,  as  a  testimony  to  our  hallowed  association,  conse- 
crated and  offered  with  their  golden  rings  on  ths  flay  of 
the  Assumption  of  our  Blessed  Lady  .....  I  received 
the  homage  and  submission  of  the  Counts  and  Barons, 
and  of  almost  all  the  people  of  Italy.  I  was  honoured 
by  solemn  Embassies  and  letters  from  the  Emperor  of 
Constantinople  and  the  King  of  England.  The  Queen 
of  Naples  submitted  herself  and  her  kingdom  to  the 
protection  of  the  Tribune,  The  King  of  Hungary,  by 
two  stately  embassies,  with  great  urgency  brought  his 
cause  against  the  Quean  and  her  nobles  before  my 
tribunal,  And  I  Centura  to  say  further  that  the  fame 
of  the  Tribune  alarmed  the  Soldan  of  Babylon.  The 
Christian  pilgrims  to  the  Sepulchre  of  our  Lord  related 
all  tho  wtmik'rfnl  and  unheard-of  circumstances  of  the 
reformation  in.  Home  to  the  Christian  and  Jewish  in- 
habitants of  Jerusalem  ;  both  Christians  and  Jews  cele* 
brated  the  event  with  unusual  festivities.  Whan  the 
Soldan  in  quired  the  causa  of  these  rejoicings,  an  cL  receive! 
this  answer  about  Borne,  he  ordered  all  the  towns  and 
cities  on  the  coast  to  be  fortifbd  and  put  in  a  state  of 
defence,"  * 

Nor  was  this  altogether  an  idle  boast.  The  riyal 
Emperors,  Louis  of  Bavaria  and  Charles  of  Bohemia, 
regarded  not  his  summons  to  submit  their  differences  to 
the  arbitration  of  Borne.  But  b  afore  the  judgement- 
seat  of  Bisnzi  stood  tha  representatives  of  Louis  of 
Hungary,  of  Quean  Joanna  of  Naples  and  Louis  Prince 
of  Tarento,  ths  husband  of  the  Queen,  and  of  Charles 


•  I  hare  pat  togather  two  passages;  the  latter  fhm  hia  letter  to  blu  Em 
,— Paponeordt,  Urkonilfl,  * 

VOL.  vn.  2  i 


152  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY. 

of  Durazzo  who  claimed  tha  throne  in  right  of  his  -wife, 
Joanna's  sister.  They  were  prepared  to  obey  the  award 
of  the  Tribunej  "who  applied  to  himself  the  words  of  the 
Psalm,  "He  shall  judge  the  people  in  equity."  An 
Archbishop  pleaded  before  the  tribunal  of  Rianzi.  The 
kingdom  of  Naples,  hold  in  fee,  as  long  asserted,  of 
the  Pops,  Bsemcd  to  submit  itself  to  the  Seignoralty 
of  the  Tribuna  of  Rome. 

It  is  impossible  to  determine  whether,  as  Paenai 
juona-B  himself  in  one  place  admits,  it  was  mere 
titlM-  vanity  or  a  vague  and  not  impolitic  desire  to 
gather  round  his  own  name  all  the  glorious  reminiscences 
of  overy  period  of  Roman  history,  and  BO  to  rivet  liis 
power  on  the  minds  of  men,  whiuh  induced  llisnzi  to 
accumulate  on  himself  KD  many  lofty  but  discordant 
appellations.  The  Roman  Republic,  the  Roman  Empire 
in  its  periods  of  grandeur  and  of  daclme,  the  Church, 
and  the  Chivalry  of  the  middle  ages,  were  bl  ended 
together  in  the  strange  pomp  of  his  ceremonies  and  tho 
splondiel  array  of  his  titles.  He  was  tho  Tribune  of 
the  people,  to  remind  tlicm  of  the  days  of  their  liberty. 
Hii  called  himmilf  Augustus,  and  chose  to  bo  crowned 
in  the  ninuth  of  August'.,  bnciuiso  that  month  was  called 
uftov  HID  "great  Emperor,  the  conqueror  of  Cleopatra."*1 
Ho  L-allcd  himsolf  finvorp,  not  mrjroly  to  IIWQ  tho  noble 
maloontcmts  with  the  stem  terrors  of  his  justice,  but 
in  respect  to  th3  philosopher,  tho  last  of  tho  Romans^ 
Severinus  Boethius.  He  was  knighted  according  to  the 
full  ceremonial  of  chivalry,  having  bathed  in  tho  por- 
phyry vessel  ia  which,  according  to  the  legend,  Pope 
Silvester  cleansed  Constantine  the  Great  of  his  leprosy, 
Among  the  banners  which  ho  bestowed  on  the  cities  of 


fi,  xl,  ondlxv, 


CHIP.  X.  EESPECT  FOR  THE  CHURCH.  483 

Italy,  which  did  him  a  kind  of  homage,  that  of  Perugia 
was  inscribed  "Long  live  the  citizsns  of  Perugia  and 
the  memory  of  Constantino."  Sienna  receivsi  the 
anna  of  ths  Tribune  and  those  of  Rome,  the  wolf  ani 
her  twin  founders.  Florence  had  tha  banner  of  Italy, 
in  which  Home  was  represented  between  two  other 
females,  designating  Italy  and  the  Christian  faith, 

Rienzi  professed  the  most  profound  respect  for  reli- 
gion: throughout  lie  endeavoured  to  sanction  Heaped  for 
and  hallow  his  procBedings  by  the  ceremonial  *•<*•"*• 
of  tha   Church.     He  professed  the  most  submissive 
reverence  for  the  Pop  a.    The  Papal  Vicar,  tha  Bishop 
of  Orvieto,  a  vain,  weak  man,  was  flattsred  by  the  idle 
honour  of  being  his  associate  without  any  power  in  the 
government.    Though  many  of  the  Tribune's  measures 
encroached  boldly  on  the  prerogatives  of  the  Pontiff, 
yet  ho  was  inclined,  as  far  as  possible,  to  encourage  the 
notion  that  his  rise  and  his  power  were,  if  not  autho- 
rised, approved  by  his  Holiness.    II a  asserts,  indeed, 
that  ha  was  the  greatest  bulwark  of  the  Church.  «  Who, 
in  tha  memory  of  man,  among  all  the  sovereigns  of 
Rome  or  of  Italy,  ever  showed  greater  lore  for  eccle- 
siastical persons,  or  ao  strictly  protected  ecclesiastical 
rights?    Did  I  not,  above  all  things,  respect  monas- 
teries,  hospitals,   and    other  temples   of   God,   and, 
whenever  complaint  was  made,  onforua  the  peaceful 
restitution  of  all  their  estates  and  properties  of  which 
they  had  been  despoiled  by  the  Nobles  ?     This  resti- 
tution they  could  never  obtain  by  all  the  Bulls  and 
Charters  of  the  Buprema  Pontiff;  and  now  that  I  am 
deposed,  they  deplore  all  their  former  losses.    I  wish, 
that  the  Supreme  Pontiff  would  condescend  to  promote 
me  or  put  me  to  dcatb,  according  to  the  judgement  of 
all  religious  persons,  of  tho  monks,  and  the 

2  i  2 


484  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  XII. 

clergy."  Ths  Tribune's  language,  asserting  himself  tt> 
be  unier  the  spatial  influence  of  tha  Holy  Ghost,  which 
from  the  first  awoke  the  jealousy  of  tha  Pope,  he 
explains  away,  with  more  ingenuity,  perhaps,  than 
ingenuousness.6  "No  power  but  that  of  the  Spirit  of 
Grod  could  have  united  the  turbulent  and  dissolute 
Eoman  peopb  in  his  favour.  It  was  their  unity,  not 
his  words  and  aotionSj  which  manifestly  displayed  the 
presence  of  the  Holy  Ghost."  At  all  events,  in  the 
proudest  days  of  his  ceremonial,  especially  on  that  of 
his  coronation  with  the  seven  crowns,  all  the  most 
distinguished  clergy  of  Borne  did  not  scruple  to  ofE- 
ciutB. 

These  days,  tha  1st  and.  15th  of  August,  beheld 
ftienzi  at  the  height  of  his  power  and  splendour. 
Roman  tradition  hallowed,  and  still  hallows,  the  1st  of 
August  as  tha  birthday  of  the  empire:  on  that  day 
Ootavius  took  Alexandria,  and  ended  the  civil  war.  It 
became  a  Christian,  it  is  still  a  popular,  festival/  On 
the  vigil  of  that  day  set  forth  a  procession  to  the 
Lateran  Ohureh — tho  Church  of  Donatantine  tho  Great. 
It  was  headed  by  the  wife  of  Ilienzi,  hot  mother,  with 
500  ladies,  escorted  by  200  horsemen,  Then  came 
Rienzi  with  his  iron  staff,  as  a  sceptre ;  by  his  side  the 
Pope's  Yicar.  The  naked  sword  glittered  and  the 
banner  of  tha  city  waved  over  his  head.  The  ambassa- 
dors of  twenty-six  cities  were  present  ,•  those  of  Perugiu 
and  Oorneto  stripped  off  their  splendid  upper  garments 
and  threw  them  to  tha  mob.  That  night  Rienzi  passed 
m  the  church,  in  the  holy  preparations  for  Ma  knight- 
food.  The  porphyry  font  or  vessel  in  which  Son* 


*  Written  to  the  AwhbWhop  of 


'  ft Ii«tlU  called F 


gu»to,  Murator.  Ant.  Ital,  din,  nx, 
tow,  v«  12,  Ntebakr  in  Rom  B* 
,  I".  2*  235. 


.  CORONATION  OF  EIENZI.  485 

stantlne,  in  one  legend  was  baptised,  in  another  cleansed, 
from  the  leprosy,  was  his  bath.  In  the  morning  pro- 
clamation was  made  in  the  name  of  Nicolas,  the  Severe 
and  Merciful,  the  Deliverer  of  the  City,  the  Zealot  for 
the  freedom  of  Italy,  the  Friend  of  tha  World,  the 
August  Tribune.  It  asserted  tha  ancient  indefeasible 
title  of  Bom 9  as  the  head  of  tha  world  and  the  founda- 
tion of  the  Christian  faith,  to  universal  sovereignty ;  the 
liberty  of  all  the  cities  of  Italy,  which  were  admitted 
to  the  rights  of  Roman  citizenship.  Through  this 
power,  and  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  Eome  had  the 
sole  prerogative  of  the  election  of  the  Emperor.  It 
summoned  all  Prelates,  Emperors  elect  or  Kings,  Dukes, 
Princes,  and  Nobles,  who  presumed  to  contest  that  right, 
to  appear  in  Borne  at  the  ensuing  Pentecost.  It  sum" 
ononed  specially  the  high  Princes,  Louis  Duke  of 
Bavaria  and  Charles  King  of  Bohamia,  tha  Dukes  of 
Austria  and  Saxony,  the  Elector  Palatine,  the  Margrave 
of  Brandenburg,  the  Archbishops  of  Mentz,  Cologne, 
Trfeves.  Though  the  proclamation  ssemed  to  save  the 
honour  of  the  Pope  and  the  Cardinals,  the  Pope's  Vicar 
attempted  to  interpose;  hi*  voice  was  drowned  in  the 
blare  of  tha  trumpets  and  the  shouts  of  the  multitude. 
In  the  evening  there  was  a  splendid  banquet  in  the 
Lateran  Palace.  Tournaments  and  dances  delighted 
the  people.  The  horse  of  the  famous  statue  of  Marcus 
Aurelins  poured  wine  from  his  nostrils.  The  cities 
presented  sumptuous  gifts  of  horses,  mules,  gold,  ailverr 
precious  stones. 

The  pride  of  Bienzi  was  not  yet  at  Its  full,    Fourteen 
days  after,  on  the  Feast  of  the  Assumption  of  ^»ionol 
the  Virgin,  there  was  another  ceremony  in  the  wswi. 
Church  of  Santa  Maria  Maggiora.    Seven  distinguished 
ecclesiastics  or  nobles  placsij  seven  crowns  on  the  head 


480  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  Xlt 

of  the  Tribune,  of  oak,  ivy,  myrtle,  laurel,  olive,  silver, 
gold.  Of  these  the  laurel  crown  had  the  emblems  of 
religion,  justice,  peace,  humility.  Together  the  seven 
crowns  symbolised  the  seven  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
The  Tribune  spoke,  and  among  his  words  were  these : 
"  As  Christ  in  his  thirty-thiri  year,  having  overthrown 
the  tyrants  of  Hell,  went  up  crowned  into  Heaven,  so 
God  willed  that  in  the  same  year  of  my  life,*  I,  having 
conquered  the  tyrants  of  the  city  without  a  blow,  and 
alone  given  liberty  to  the  people,  should  be  promoted  to 
the  laurel  crown  of  the  Tribune."  This  was  the  day  of 
his  highest  magnificence.  Never,  ho  confesses  in  his 
humiliation,  was  he  environed  with  so  much  pomp  or 
elated  by  so  much  pride.  It  was  now,  after  he  had 
made  the  profane  comparison  between  himself  and  tho 
Lord,  that  was  uttered  the  awful  prediction  of  his  down- 
fall.11 la  the  midst  of  ths  wild  and  joyous  exultation  of 
the  people,  one  of  his  most  zealous  supporters,  Fra 
Gulielmo,  in  high  repute  for  sanctity,  stood  aloof  in  a 
corner  of  tlia  church,  and  wopt  bitterly.  A  domestic 
prophecy  or  chaplain  of  Bionzi  inquired  the  causa  of  his 
LI*  feu.  sorrow.  "  Now^'  replied  tho  servant  of  God, 
"is  thy  master  cast  down  from  Heaven.  Never  saw 
I  man  so  proud  1  By  the  aid  of  tho  Holy  Ghost  he  has 
driven  the  tyrants  from  the  city  without  drawing  a 
sword;  the  cities  and  tho  sovereigns  of  Italy  have 
acknowledged  his  power.  Why  is  he  so  arrogant  and 
ungrateful  against  the  Most  High  ?  "Why  does  he  seek 
earthly  and  transitory  rewards  for  his  labours,  and  in 
wanton  speech  liken  himself  to  the  Creator?  Tell  thy 


v  Thto  la  «t  wtaan  frith  the  story 
of  hlitttjp«i*l  birth.  Henry  of  Luiem- 
burg  ftifc  to  RWM  in  May  end  JUBB, 
lit  Aug,  1847,  Rlenzl 


hare  been  In  hit  34th  w  85th  yMft 


See  tho  latter  to  th«  ArchblAop  «f 


CHAP.  X.  IiDMAJ*  PEUl'LE.  4.87 

master  that  he  can  atone  for  this  only  by  streams  of 
penitential  tears."  In  the  evsning-  the  chaplain  com* 
municated  this  solemn  rebuke  to  the  Tribune :  it 
appalled  him  for  a  time,  but  was  soon  forgotten  in  the 
tumult  and  hurry  of  business. 

Power  hai  intoxicated  Eienzi;  but  the  majestic 
edifice  which  he  had  built  was  based  on  a  Boam, 
quicksand.  In  the  people  this  passion  of  people' 
virtue  was  too  violent  to  last ;  they  were  accustomed  to 
paroxysmal  bursts  of  liberty.  It  would  indeed  have 
been  a  social  and  religious  miracle  if  the  Romans,  after 
centuries  of  misrule,  degradation,  slavery,  superstition, 
had  suddenly  appeared  worthy  of  freedom;  or  able  to 
maintain  and  wisely  and  moderately  to  enjoy  the  bless- 
ings of  a  just  and  equal  civilisation.  They  had  lived 
too  long  in  tha  malaria  of  servitude.  Of  the  old  vigorous 
plebeian  Roman,  they  had  nothing  but  the  turbulence ; 
the  frugality,  tha  fortitude,  ths  discipline,  the  love  of 
order,  and  respect  for  law,  are  virtues  of  Blow  growth. 
They  had  been  depressed  too  long,  too  low.  In  victims  of 
the  profligacy  and  tyranny  of  the  nobles,  submission  to 
eucli  outrages,  how&ver  reluctant,  however  east  off  in  an 
access  of  indignation,  is  no  school  of  high  and  enduring 
dignity  of  morals,  that  only  safeguard,  of  sound  republi- 
can institutions.  The  number,  wealth,  licence  of  the 
Boman  clergy  were  even  more  fatally  corruptive.  Still, 
as  for  centuries,  the  Eomans  were  a  fierce,  fickle  populace. 
Nor  was  Rierizi  himself,  though  his  morals  were  blame- 
less, though  he  incurred  no  charge  of  avarice  or  rapacity, 
a  model  of  the  sterner  republican  virtues.  Hs  wanted 
simplicity,  solidity,  self-command.  His  ostentation,  in 
aome  respects  politic,  became  puerile.  His  processions, 
of  which  himself  was  still  the  centre,  at  first  ax  cited,  at 
length  palled  on  tha  popular  feeling.  His  luxury  —for 


488  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY. 

his  table  became  sumptuous,  his  dress,  his  habits  splen- 
did—was costly,  burthensame  to  the  people,  as  well  as 
offensive  and  invidious  j  the  advancement  of  his  family,. 
the  rock  on  which  demagogues  constantly  split,  unwise. 
Even  his  religion,  the  indispensable,  dominant  influence 
in  such  times,  was  showy  and  theatrical ;  it  wanted  that 
depth  and  fervour  which  spreads  by  contagion,  hurries 
away,  and  binds  to  blind  obedience  its  unthinking  par- 
tisans, Fanaticism  brooks  no  rivals  in  the  human  heart. 
From  the  first  the  Papal  Court  had  watched  the  pro- 
ceedings of  Eienziwith  sullen  jealousy.  There  waa  cold 
reserve  in  their  approbation,  or  rather  in  the  suspension 
of  their  condemnation :  an  evident  determination  not  to 
commit  themselves.  Kisnzi  was  in  the  sams  letter  the 
humble  servant,  the  imperious  dictator  to  the  Pope. 
As  his  power  increased,  their  suspicions  darkened;  the 
influence  of  his  enemies  at  Avignon  became  more  for* 
midable.  And  when  the  courtiers  of  the  papal 
chamber,  the  clergy,  especially  the  French 
clergy,  the  Cardinals,  almost  all  French,  who  preferred 
the  easy  and  luxurious  life  at  Avignon  to  a  disturbed 
and  dangerous  residence  at  Homo  (perhaps  with  a  severe 
republican  censorship  over  their  morals) ;  when  all 
these  hoard  it  not  obscurely  intirnatml  that  the  Tribune 
would  refuse  obsdiance  to  any  Pope  who  would  not  fix 
his  saat  in  Borne,  the  intrigues  became  more  active,  the 
Pope  and  his  representatives  more  openly  adverse  to 
the  new  order  of  things,  Petrarch  speaks  of  tlio  poison 
of  deep  hatred  which  had  infected  tha  souls  of  the  cour- 
tiers; they  looked  witli  the  blackest  jealousy  on  the 
popularity  and  fame  of  Borne  and  Italy,1  The  Cardinal 
Talleyrand  Porigord  was  furious  at  the  interposition  of 


CHAP.  X. 


NOBLES  IN  ROME. 


439 


Rienzi  in  the  affairs  of  Naples.  The  Nobles  of  Eome 
had  powerful  relatives  at  Avignon.  The  Cardinal 
Colonna  brought  dangerous  charges  against  Rienzi,  not 
less  dangerous  because  untrue,  of  heresy  ,k  even  of  un- 
lawful and  magical  arts. 

Power  had  intoxicated  Eienzi,  but  it  had  not  inspired 
him  with  the  daring  recklessness  which  often  jfoUEjin 
accompanies  that  intoxication,  and  is  almost  BomB> 
necessary  to  the  permanence  of  power.  In  the  height 
of  his  pride  he  began  to  betray  pusillanimity,  or  worse. 
He  could  condescend  to  treachery  to  bring  his  enemies 
within,  his  grasp,  but  hesitated  to  crush  them  when 
beneath  his  feet.  Twice  again  the  Tribune  triumphed 
over  the  Nobles,  by  means  not  to  be  expected  from 
Bianzi,  onre  by  perfidy,  ones  by  force  of  arms.  The 
Noblr»s,  Oolonnas  and  Orsinis,  had  returned  to  Borne. 
They  BBemctl  to  have  sunk  from  ths  tyrants  into  the- 
legitimates  aristocracy  in  rank  of  the  new  republic. 
They  had  taken  the  oath  to  the  Constitution,  the  oli 
Stephen  and  the  young  John  Oolonua,  Rinaldo  and 
Giordano  Orsini.  At  the  Tribune's  command  the 
armorial  bearings  had  vanished  from  the  haughty 
portals  of  Colonnaa,  Orsinis,  SavsllisJ*  No  OHB  was  to 
be  called  Lord  but  the  Pope.  They  were  loaied  with 
praise,  with  praise  bordering  on  adulation,  by  the 
Tribune,  not  with  praise  only,  with  favour,  A  Colonna 
and  an  Orsini  were  entrusted  with,  and  aceepted,  the 
command  of  the  forces  raised  to  subdue  the  two  tyrants, 
who  held  out  in  the  Campagna,  John  de  Yico,  the  lord 
of  Viterbo,  in  the  strong  castle  of  Hespampano,  and 


*  Kiimzi'a  constant  appeal  to  the 
Holy  Chart  would  Bound  peculiarly  akin 
to  th«  prophetic  videos  of  the 


«  All  this  he  commanded,  "  a  fa 
fatto."  Cgiwpwre  Du  Cwwm,  Yte  di 
Rienzi,  p,  63. 


490  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  XII. 

Gaetano  Cercano,  lord  of  Fondi.  Nicolas  Drsini,  Captain 
of  the  Castla  of  St.  Angela,  with  Giordano  Drsini,  com- 
manied  against  John  de  Vico. 

On  a  sudden  (it  was  a  month  after  the  last  August 
Arraatof  festivity)  ,  Rome  heard  that  all  these  nobles 
Mubiea.  na[j  DBen  arrested,  and  were  in,  the  prisons  of 
tie  Tribune.  Rienzi  has  told  the  history  of  the  avent.n 
"Having  Entertained  some  suspicion"  (he  might  per- 
haps entertain  suspicion  on  just  grounds,  but  he  deigns 
not  to  state  them)  "of  designs  among  the  nobles 
against  myself  and  against  the  people  ;  it  pleased  Gocl 
that  they  full  into  my  hands."  It  was  an  act  of  the 
basest  treachery!  He  invited  them  to  a  banquet. 
fc  L  M  They  came,  the  old  Stephen  Colonna,  Fetei* 
Agapito  Colonna,  lord  of  Genazzano  (once 
senator),  John  Cobnna,  who  had  commandad  the  troops 
against  the  Count  of  Fondi  j  John  of  the  Mountain, 
Rinaldo  of  Marino,  Count  Berthold,  and  his  BOIIH, 
the  Captain  of  the  Castle  of  St.  Angelo,  all  Qrsink 
Luca  Sayelli,  ths  young  Stephen  Colonna,  Giordano 
Marini  alono  lay  hid  or  escaped.  The  Tribune's  BUS* 
picions  were  confirmed,  Thus  writes  lliunzi:  "I 
adopted  an  innocent  artifice  to  reconcile  them  not  only 
with  myself  but  with  Goi;  I  procure!  them  the  in- 
estimable blessing  of  making  a  devout  ponfubgion,"  The 
Confessor,  ignorant  of  the  Tribune's  merciful  designs, 
pr&pored  them  for  death.  It  happened  that  just  at 
that  moment  the  bell  was  tolling  for  the  assembly  of 
the  people  in  the  Capital,  The  Nobles,  supposing  it 


*  Thil  letter  wu  tnuwlated  with   who  luid  not  teen  ths  original, 
tolwrnbl*  «ounwy,  by  Du  Ccrccau,   on  it,  that  it  dbpfcy»  In  genuln* 

yAtnn  the  mixture  of  the  knars  and 
the  tnadmnn.  It  wai  dHmwlj  meant 
to  be  communicated  to  the  Pnpo, 


(In  OhapsaTille,  Hut. 
,).    It  WM  adctowfld 
to  «n  Qrdiiili  tmsn.i>t  Ll*g»,    aiVbo&i 


CtUP.  X.  THE  NOBLES  ABKESTED.  491 

the  death-knell  for  their  execution,  confessed  with,  tha 
profoundaat  penitence  and  sorrow. 

In  the  assembly  of  the  people,  Rienzi  suddenly  veered 
round:   not  only  did  he  pardon,  he  propitiated  the 
people  towards  the  Nobles;   ha  heaped  praise  upon 
them ;  he  restored  their  honours  and  offices  of  trust. 
Ho  made  them  swear  another  oath  of  fidelity 
to  the  Holy  Church,  to  the  people,  and  to 
himself;  to  maintain  against  all  foes  the  Good  Estate. 
They  took  the  Blessed  Sacrament  together. 

Rienzi  must  have  strangely  deluded  himself,  if  he 
conceived  that  he  could  impose  upon  Borne,  upon  the 
Pope,  and  upon  the  Cardinals  by  this  assertion  of 
religious  solicitude  for  the  captive  nobles;  still  more 
if  ho  could  bind  them  to  fidelity  by  this  ostentatious 
show  of  mercy.  Contemptuous  pardon  is  often  the 
most  galling  and  inexpiable  insult.  His  show  of  mag- 
nanimity could  not  cancel  his  treachery.  He  obtained 
no  credit  for  sparing  his  enemies,  either  from  his 
enemies  themselves  or  from  the  world*  The  Nobles 
remembered  only  that  he  had  steeped  them  to  the 
lips  in  humiliation,  and  brooded  on  vengeance.  Both 
ascribed  his  abstaining  from  blood  to  cowardice,  The 
times  apeak  in  Petrarch.  The  gentle  and  high-souled 
poet  betrays  his  unfeigned  astonishment  at  the  weak- 
ness of  Ilienzi;  that  when  his  enemies  were  under 
his  feet,  he  not  merely  spared  their  lives  (that  cle- 
mency might  have  done),  but  left  such  publio  par- 
ricides the  power  to  become  again,  dangerous  foes  of 
the  state.0 

The  poet  was  no  bad  seer.  In  two  months  the 
Colonnas,  the  Orsinis  were  in  arms.  From  their  fast- 


Petwrrh'i  letter,  quoted  P«  !»*'*•  ftf  P«T«MOTtUlii  Uikumlc. 


492  LATIN  CHBISTIANITY.  BOOK  XIL 

nesses  in  Palestrina  and  Marino  they  were  threatening 
the  city.  The  character  of  Rienzi  rosa  not  with  the 
danger,  He  had  no  military  skill;  ha  had  not  even 
the  courage  of  a  soldisr.  Nothing  less  than  extra- 
ordinary accident,  and  tha  senseless  imprudenc9  of  his 
Defeat  Df  tiw  adversaries,  gay Q  him  a  victory  as  surprising 
ooiomiaa.  to  himaeif  as  to  others ;  and  hig  mind,  which 
Nov.aa.  kad  jjeBn  pitifully  depreased  by  adversity, 
was  altogether  overthrown  by  unexpected,  undeserved 
success.  The  young  and  "beautiful  John  Colonna  had 
striven  to  force  his  way  into  ths  gates;  he  fell;  the 
father,  at  the  sight  of  his  maimed  and  mangled  body, 
checked  tha  attack  in  despair.  All  was  panic;  four 
Oolonnas  perished  in  the  battle  or  the  flight ;  eighteen 
others  of  the  noblest  names,  Orsinia,  Frangipanifl, 
Savellis,  the  lords  of  Civita  Vecohia,  Viterbo,  Tosca* 
nella.'  Eienzi  tarnished  his  fame  by  insulting  the 
remains  of  the  dead,  His  sprinkling  his  sou  Lorenzo 
with,  the  water  tainted  by  the  blood  of  his  Qnainies,  and 
saluting  him  as  Knight  of  Victory,  was  an  outburst  of 
pride  anl  vengeance  which  shocked  his  most  ardent 
admirora,1* 

Bi3Mi  might  seem  by  this  victory,  however  obtained, 
by  the  death  of  the  Colonnas,  the  captivity  of  his  other 
foes,  secure  at  the  height  of  his  greatness.  Not  a 
month  has  passed ;  he  is  a  lonely  exile.  Everything 
seems  suddenly,  unaccountably,  desperately  to  break 
down  beneath,  him ;  the  bubble  of  his  glory  bursts,  and 
becomes  thin  air. 

Bienzi  must  speak  again.   He  hod  dark  and  inward 


the  lift  of  tba  ulaln  and 
RJanad'n  account,— Papen- 
wwdt,  note,  p.  182, 

HocwmJoi  (p,  600),  or  In 


Dn  Cerceau  (p.  22S),  hli  ktUr  at 
triumph :  »  Thte  b  iis  d«y  ttdt  tbr 


CHAP,  X.         BIENZrS  MENTAL  PBOSTBATIQN1.  498 

presentiments  of  his  approaching  fall.  The  prophecy 
at  his  coronation  recurred  in  all  its  terrors  to  nienzi'a 
his  mind,  for  the  sama  Fra  Gulislmo  had  Smind!011 
foretold  the  death  of  the  Dolonnas  by  his  hand  and 
by  the  judgement  of  God.  The  latter  prophecy  the 
Tribune  had  communicated  to  many  persons;  and 
when  tho  four  chiefs  of  that  house  fall  under  the  walla 
of  Borne,  the  people  believed  in  a  Divine  revelation. 
His  enemies  asserted  that  llienzi  kept,  in  the  cross  of 
his  sceptre,  an  unclean  spirit  who  foretold  future  events. 
(This  had  been  already  denounced  to  the  Pope.)  "When 
I  had  obtained  the  victory,*'  he  proceeds,  "  and  in  the 
opinion  of  men  my  power  might  seem  fixed  on  the  most 
solid  foundation,  my  greatness  of  mind  sank  away,  and 
a  sudden  timidity  came  over  me  so  frequently,  that  I 
awoke  at  night,  and  cried  out  that  the  armed  enemy 
was  breaking  into  my  palate ;  and  although  what  I  say 
may  soem  ludicrous,  the  night-bird,  culled  tlia  owl,  took 
the  place  of  thu  dovo  on  the  pinnacle  of  the  palace, 
and,  though  constantly  scared  away  by  my  domestics, 
as  constantly  flew  back,  and  for  twelve  nights  kept  me 
without  sleep  by  its  lamentable  hootings.  And,  thus 
he  whom  the  fury  of  the  Banian  nobles  and  the  array 
of  Ms  armed  foes  could  not  alarm,  lay  shuddering  at 
visions  and  the  screams  of  night-birds.  Weakened  by 
want  of  sleep,  and  these  perpetual  terrors,  I  was  no 
longer  fit  to  bear  arms  or  give  audience  to  the  people."  * 
To  this  prostration  of  mind  Bisnzi  attributes  his 
hasty  desperate  abandonment  of  his  power,  But  there 
were  other  causes.  The  Pope  had  at  length  declared 
against  him  in  the  strongest  terms.  During  tho  last 
period  of  his  power  Bienzi  had  given  many  grounds 

*  From  tlyj  ume  letter. 


494  LATIN  DEBISTIANITY.  BOOK  XU. 

for  suspicion,  that  he  intended  to  assume  the  empire, 
He  had  asserted  the  choice  of  the  Emperor  to  be  in  the 
Roman  people;  though  in  his  condescension  he  had 
offered  a  share  in  this  great  privilege  to  the  cities  of 
Italy.  The  bathing  in  the  porphyry  vessel  of  Con- 
stantino was  not  forgotten.  When  the  Papal  Legate, 
Bertrani  da  Deux,  had  appeared  in  Borne  to  condemn 
his  proceedings  and  to  depose  him  from  his  power, 
Bienzi  returned  from  hia  camp  noar  Marino  (he  was 
then  engaged  against  John  de  Vico),  and  confronted 
the  Legate,  clad  in  the  Dalmatica,  the  imparial  mantlo 
worn  ut  the  eoronation  of  the  Emperors,  which  he  had 
taken  from  the  sacristy  of  St.  Peter's,  Tho  Legate, 
appalled  at  the  demeanour  of  the  Tribune  and  tho 
martial  music  which  clanged  around  him,  could  not 
utter  a  word,  Itionzi  turned  his  back  contemptuously, 
and  returned  to  hia  camp.  Upon  this,  in  a  letter  to 
his  "beloved  sons,"  the  Boman  people,  the  Pops  exhaled 
all  hia  wrath  against  the  Tribune."  He  was  denounced 
under  all  those  torrifio  appellations,  perpetually  thun- 
dered out  by  the  Popes  against  their  enemies.  He  was 
'*tt  BelHlmi«a,r,  {ho  wild  ass  in  Job,  a  Lucifer,  a  fore- 
ThePojK''*  runner  of  Antichrist,  a  man  of  sin,  a  son  of 
tafciuiuo.  potion,  a  son  of  tUo  Devil,  full  of  fraud  and 
falsehood,  and  lilco  the  Buast  in  tho  Kcvclations,  over 
whoso  head  was  written  ' Blasphemy ,'"  Ho  had  in- 
suited  tho  Holy  Catholic  Church  by  declaring  that 
tha  Church  arid  State  of  Roino  wore  one,  and  fallen 
into  other  errors  against  the  Catholic  faith,  and  incurred 
the  suspicion  of  horesy  and  schism, 

After  his  triumph  over  tho  Colonnas,  Kienzite  pride 
had  become  even  moro  offensive,  and  Ids  magnificence 

TM* latter  WM  printed  by  Fatal; 


CHAP.  X.  COUNT  PEPIN  IS  ROME.  435 

still  more  insulted  the  poverty  and  necessities  of  the 
people.  He  was  obliged  to  impose  taxes ;  the  gabelle 
on  salt  was  raised.  He  had  neglected  to  pursue  his 
advantage  against  tlie  Nobles:  they  still  held  many 
of  the  strongholds  in  the  neighbourhood,  and  cut  off 
the  supplies  of  corn  and  other  provisions  from  the  city. 
The  few  Barons  of  his  party  ware  rapidly  estranged; 
the  people  were  no  longer  under  the  magic  of  his  spall; 
liia  hall  of  audience  was  vacant;  the  allied  cities  began 
to  waver  in  their  fidelity.  Bienzi  began  too  late  to 
assume  moderation.  He  endeavoured  again  to  associate 
tha  Pope's  Vicar,  the  Bishop  of  Orvieto,  in  his  rule. 
He  softened  his  splmdid  appellations,  and  retained 
only  tho  modest  title,  the  "  August  Tribun  B  ! "  He  fell  to 
"Knight  and  Stadtholder  of  tha  Pope."  Amid  an 
assembly  of  clergy  and  of  the  people,  after  the  solemn, 
chanting  of  psalms,  and  the  hymn,  "Thine,  0  Lord, 
is  Uae  kingdom,  arid  the  power,  anl  tho  glory,"  he 
suspended  before  the  altar  of  the  Virgin  his  silver 
orownj  his  iron  sceptre  and  orb  of  justice,  with  the  rest 
of  tho  insignia  of  his  Tribunate. 

All  was  in  vain,  Pepin,  Palatine  of  Altamura  and 
Count  of  Minorbino,  marched  into  the  city,  amntp*Pia 
and  occupied  one  of  the  palaces  of  the  Colonnas  inBnm6- 
with  an  armed  force.  Ths  bell  of  the  Capitol  rang 
unheeded  to  summon  the  adherents  of  Rienzi.  He 
Colt  that  his  hour  was  coma.  Ha  might,  he  avers, 
(jawily  havn  resisted  tho  sedition  excited  by  Count 
Pepin,,  but  ha  was  determined  to  shad  no  more  blood. 
Ho  calbd  an  assembly  of  tha  Romans,  solemnly  abdi- 
cated his  power,  and  departed,  notwithstanding,  h& 
says,  the  reluctance  and  lamentations  of  the  people. 
After  his  soccseionj  it  may  well  be  believed  that,  under 
the  mnrtated  tyranny  of  tho  Nobles,  hie  government 


19  B  LATIN  OHE1STIANJTT.  BOOK  XII. 

was  remembered  with  regret;  but  when  the  robber 
chief,  whom,  he  had  summoned  before  his  tribunal,  first 
entered  Home  and  fortified  tha  Dolonna  Palace,  Bienzi's 
tocsin  had.  sounded  in  vain;  the  people  flocked  not  to 
his  banner,  ani  now  all  was  silence,  desertion.  Even 
with  tha  handful  of  troops  which  hs  might  have  col- 
lected, a  man  of  bravery  and  vigour  might  perhaps 
have  suppressed  the  invasion;  but  all  his  energy  was 
gone :  ha  who  had  protested  so  often  that  he  would 
lay  down  his  life  for  the  libsrtiea  of  the  psople  did  not 
show  the  courage  of  a  child.4  His  enemies  could  hardly 
believe  their  easy  victory :  for  three  days  th&  Nobles 
without  the  city  did  not  venture  to  approach  the  walls; 
Eienzi  remained  undisturbed  within  the  castle  of  St. 
Angalo,  Ho  made  ono  effort  to  work  on  the  people  by 
his  old  arts.  He  had  an  angel  painted  on  tha  walla 
of  the  Magdalen  Church,  with  the  arms  of  Borne,  and 
a  cross  surmounted  with  a  dove,  and  (in  allusion,  no 
doubt,  tu  the  well-known  passage  in  the  Psalms) 
trampling  on  an  asp,  a  basilisk,  a  lion,  and  a  dragon, 
piigut of  Mischievous  boys  sruuared  the  picture  with 
(XT,  u  w  IE  miul.  Kienzi,  in  the  disguise  of  a  monk,  saw 
it  iu  this  a  tut  t3,  ordered  a  lamp  to  be  kept  burning 
before  it  for  a  year  (as  if  to  iutimato  his  triumphant 
return  ut  that  time),  and  then  ilcd  from  Bomb, 

His  retreat  was  in  the  wild  Apennines  which  border 
on  tin)  kingdom  of  Naples.  There  the  auatorost  of  the 
austere  Jb'raurciijcims  dwelt  in  their  solitary  cells  la  tlio 
deep  ravines  and  on  the  mountain  sides,  the 
Spiritualists  who  adored  the  memory  of  Cosles- 
tlue  V,,u  despised  the  worldly  livt's  of  their  leas  recluse 


B»  write*  On  old  Roman  biographer. 
l  at  oft*  time  declared  that 
vftl.  *$pMred  to  him  in  a, 


vifllun.    All  that  in  any  my  might 
tend  to  tha  glory  of  Rotnt 
weleom»  iu  hU  mlud, 


,  X,  THE  PL  A  HUE.  497 

brethren,  and  brooded  over  tha  unfulfilled  prophecies 
of  the  Abbot  Joachim,  John  Peter  Oliva,  tha  Briton 
Merlin,  all  which  foreshadowed  tha  coming  kingdom, 
the  final  revelation  of  tha  Holy  Grhoat.  The  proud  vain 
Tribune  exchanged  his  pomp  and  luxury  for  the  habit 
of  a  tertiary  of  the  Order  (hia  marriage  prohibited  any 
higher  rank);  ha  wors  the  single  coarse  gown  and 
cord;  hia  life  was  a  perpetual  fast,  broken  only  by 
the  hard  fare  of  a  mendicant.  He  was  enraptured 
with  this  holy  society,  in  which  were  barons,  Nobles, 
even  some  of  the  hostile  house  of  Cobnna.  "  0  life 
which  anticipates  immortality!  0  angels'  life,  which 
the  fiends  of  Satan  alone  could  disturb !  and  yet  these 
poor  in  spirit  are  persecuted  by  the  Pop  a  and  the  In- 
quisition 1 " 

For  two  years  and  a  half  Kienzi  couched  unknown,  aa 
he  asserts,  among  this  holy  brotherhood.  They  134B>  i34B. 
were  dismal,  disastrous  years.  Earthquakes  Ttapla«aB- 
shook  the  cities  of  Christendom.  Pope  Clement,  in 
terror  of  the  plague  which  desolated  Europe,  shut  him- 
self up  in  hia  palace  at  Avignon,  and  hurned  large  fires 
to  keep  out  the  terrible  enemy.  The  enemy  respected 
the  Pope,  but  his  eufy'ects  around  perished  in  awful 
numbers,  It  is  said  that  three-fourths  of  the  population 
in  Avignon  died:  in  Narbonne,  thirty  thousand;  of 
twelve  Consuls  of  Montpellier,  ten  fell  victims,  It  was 
called  the  Black  Plague;  it  struck  grown-up  men  and 
women  rather  than  youths.  After  it  had  abated,  the 
women  seemed  to  become  wonderfully  prolific,  so  as  to 
produce  a  new  race  of  mankind.  As  usual,  causes 
beyond  the  ordinary  ones  were  sought  and  found.  The 
wells  had  been  poisoned,  of  course  by  unbelievers. 
The  Jews  wp-re  everywhere  nmssacred.  Pope  Clement 
displayed  a  better  title  to  the  Divine  protection  than  bis 

VOL.  VII,  *  2  K 


498  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  XII 

precautions  of  seclusion  and  his  fires.  He  used  his 
utmost  power  to  arrest  the  popular  fury  against  these 
unhappy  victims.1  The  Flagellants  swarmed  again 
through  all  the  cities,  scourging  their  naked  bodies,  and 
tracing  their  way  by  their  gore.  Better  that  fanaticism, 
however  wild,  should  attempt  to  propitiate  God  by  its 
own  blood,  rather  than  by  that  of  others ;  by  self-torturu 
rathsr  than  murder  ly 

The  wild  access  of  religious  terror  and  prostration 
gave  place,  when  the  year  of  Jubilee  began,  to 
'*  as  wild  a  tumult  of  religious  exultation.  Borne 
again  swarmed  with  thousands  on  thousands  of  wor- 
shippers, Bienzi  had  meditated,  but  shrank  in  fear 
from,  a  pilgrimage  to  the  Holy  Land.  It  is  said  that  he 
stole  into  Borne  in  disguise ;  tho  Tribune  was  lost  in  the 
multitude  of  adoring  strangers. 

Suddenly  after  his  return,  in  His  retreat  on  Monte 
Magello,  he  was  accosted  by  the  hermit.  Fra 

Fri  Angels,       .     D  ,     '  ,  i    T      i     t          n      .» 

Angel o,  a  man  acknowledged  by  all  the 
brethren  as  a  prophet.  Angolo  pronounced  his  name, 
which  Biwnzi believed  had  been  a  profound  secret.  The 
prophet  hail  borm  Ifd  to  Bienzi's  dwelling  by  Divine 
revelation ; — "  Bienzi  had  laboured  enough  for  himself; 
he  muflt  now  labour  for  the  good  of  mankind.  The 
universal  reformation,  foreseen  by  holy  men,  at  tho 
urgent  prayer  of  the  Virgin,  waa  at  hand :  God  had  sent 
earthquake  and  great  mortality  on  earth  to  chastise  th& 


«  This  plagua  hot  ft  ringulw  relation 
with  the  history  of  letttm    Among 


lit  victinu  wns  Potravdi'H  Lnnra.    It  mil   terror  of  inch  « 


but  baen  usually  cnlled  the  trlagni!  of 
Flweuce,  bccaiuw  dwelled  in  tlie 
DedDMron  of  Bocca«elo;  just  u  tlie 
coBfttmnBI»itllenee  of  Europe  is  «iid  to 
b«  that  of  Atheni,  IWICMIM  «kt«d  ly 


TlnicydiJa.     Singular   priviltg*  of 
gcnlun,  to  concentre  All  the  lateral 


calamity  on  one  spot  I 

r  Bpe,  Continimtor  of  Nan^»j  and 
the  very  curious  account,  wpectally  of 
the  Flngt'llnnti,  In  Altwtoi  Argwti* 
iwn*i»»  p.  150. 


.  X.  HIENZI  IN  PRAGUE.  49  U 

sina  of  mer..  Such  had  been  his  predetenmnatB  will 
before  the  coming  of  the  blessed  Francis.  The  prayers 
of  St.  Francis  and  St.  Dominic,  who  had  preached  in 
the  spirit  of  Enoch  and  Elias,  had  averted  the  doom." 
But  "since  there  is  now  not  one  that  doeth  good,  and 
the  yery  Elect  (the  Dominicans  and  Franciscans)  hava 
cast  off  their  primitive  virtues,  God  has  prepared,  is 
preparing,  vengeance.  After  this  the  Church  will  resume 
her  primal  holiness.  Thera  will  ba  peace  not  only 
among  Christians,  but  among  Christians  and  Saracens. 
The  age  of  the  Holy  G-host  is  at  hand.  For  this  end 
a  holy  man,  chosan  of  God,  is  to  ba  made  known  to 
mankind  by  Divine  revelation,  who,  with  the  Elect 
Emperor,  shall  raform  the  world,  and  strip  the  pastors 
of  the  Church  of  all  temporal  and  fleeting  super- 
fluities." 

Riunzi,  from  doubt,  fear,  perhaps  some  lingering 
touch,  as  he  says,  of  his  old  arrogance,  hesitated  to 
undertake  the  mission  to  the  EmpBror  Charles  IV. 
imposed  upon  him  by  the  prophet.  Fra  Angelo  un- 
folded, with  much  greater  distinctness,  tha  secrets  of 
futurity:  he  showed  him  prophecies  of  Spiritual  men — 
of  Joachim,  of  Oliva,  of  Merlin — already  fulfilled. 
Rienzi  deemed  that  it  would  be  contumacy  to  Grod  to 
rssist  the  words  of  the  prophet," 

In  tha  month  of  August  appeared  in  the  city  of 
Pruguo  a  man  in  a  strange  dress,  He  stopped  AU*I, 

j   .LI      i  P       -ni          j.-  xi  i     possibly  In 

at  the  house  of  a  Florentine  apothecary,  and   faiy. 
asked  to  be  presented  to  my  Lord  Charles   Prague, 
the  Emperor  Elect:  he  had  something-  to  communi- 
cate to  his  honour  aud  advantage. 

Rienzi,  admitted,  to  the  presence  of  the  King  of  tha 


*  All  thio  i«  frum  liiarzi's  own  Utters  in  Papencordt,  with  the  Uikunde, 

*  9   -K-   0 

£    K    a 


BOO  LATIN  DIIRISTIANITT.  BOOK  XII. 

Romans,  annoimced  liia  mission  from  the  prophet,  Pra 
Angela.  Hs  had  been  commanded  to  deliver  this  mes- 
sage : — "  Know  ye,  Sire  and  Emperor,  that  Brother 
Angelo  has  sent  me  to  say  to  you,  that  up  to  this, 
time  tho  Father  has  reigned  in.  this  world,  and  God 
his  Son.  Tho  power  has  now  passed  from  him,  and 
is  given  to  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  shall  reign  for  the  time- 
to  come."  The  Emperor,  hearing  that  he  thus  sepa- 
rated and  set  apart  the  Father  and  Son  from  the  Holy 
Ghost,  said,  "  Art  than  the  man  that  I  suppose  you 
to  be  ?"tt  Ho  answered,  "Whom  do  ye  suppose  mo  to 
be?"  Tho  Emperor  said,  fll  suppose  that  you  are  tho 
Tribune  of  Borne."  Tina  tho  Emperor  conjectured, 
having  hoard  of  the  heresies  of  the  Tribune,  and  he- 
answered,  "  Of  a  truth  I  am  he  that  was  Tribune,  and 
have  boon  driven  from  Borne,"  The  Emperor  sat  in 
mute  astonishment,  while  Bienzi  exhorted  him  to  tho 
peaceful  and  bloodless  conquest  of  Italy: — "In  this 
great  work  none  could  be  of  so  much  service  as  him- 
wolf.  Ho  alouo  could  overcome  the  rival  Orsinis  and 
CrJoimaH,"  Ho  offered  hia  son  as  a  hostage:  "ho  was 
pn»iuiral  to  HucrificjD  his  Isaac,  his  only  begotten,  for  tho 
wt'HUro  of  tho  people,"  lie  demanded  only  the  Imperial 
Tiiuip.tion.  "Every  one  whn  presumes  to  take  tho  nilo 
in  Homo  whan  tlm  MJmpiro  in  not  vacant,  without  L'ovo 
of  tho  EmpMW,  u  tm  adulterer." 

He  WUH  admitted  to  ft  fincoiul  interview.  The  Arch- 
bund  inter-  bishop  of  Troves,  twr>  other  JliHhops,  the 
****•  ambassadow  of  tho  King  of  Kttotliuul,  many 
other  nobles  and  docton,  tut  around  King  Gharliu 
Bienzi  was  commanded  ID  repeat  liirf  message.  lie 


*  1  km  mauMed  legethsr  the  account  in  tii«  blutoiUn  Polintoiv,  wi 
RlBjtirt'l  ow  W  It  appeal*  in  the  Urkunde.  Theft  tt  no  wmM  dlwr«j?«noy. 


CKAP.X  BIENZI  IN  CUSTODY.  501 

spoke  on  some  points  more  at  length : — "  Another  mes- 
senger had  been  sent  to  the  Pope  at  Avignon:  him  tha 
Pope  would  burn.  The  people  of  Avignon  would  rise 
and  slay  the  Pope;  then  would  he  chosen  an  Italian 
Pope,  a  poor  Pope,  who  would  restore  tha  Papacy  to 
Home.  ITe  would  crown  the  Emperor  with  the  crown 
of  gold,  King  of  Sicily,  Calabria,  Apulia  ;  himself, 
Kienzi,  King  of  Home  and  of  all  Italy.  The  Pope 
would  build  a  temple  in  Roma  to  the,  Holy  Ghost,  more 
Hpleuilid  than  that  of  Solomon.  Men  would  corns  out  of 
Egypt  and  the  East  to  worship  there.  The  triune  reign, 
the  peaceful  reign,  of  the  Emparor,  of  Rienzi,  and  of 
the  Pope,  would  he  an  earthly  image  of  that  of  the 
Trinity." 

Tli  3  Archbishops  and  Bishops  departed  in  amazement 
and  horror.    Hi enzi  was  committed,  as  having     mmziin 
uttru-od    language    bordering    at    least   upon     Bn8tadT 
heresy,  to  safe  custody  under  the  cars  of  the  Archbishop 
of  Prague,    He  was  commanded  to  put  his  words  in 
writing,    3?rom  his  prison  he  wrote  a  long  elaborats 
address,   He  now  revealed  the  secret  of  his  own  Imperial 
birth ;  he  protested  that  he  was  actuated  by  no  fantastic 
or  delusive  impulse ;  he  was  compelled  by  God  to 
approach  the  Imperial  presence ;  he  had  no  ambition  j 
he  scorned  (would  that  he  had  ever  done  so  I)  the  vain 
glory  of  the  world  5  h&  despised  riches;  he  had  no  wish 
but  in  poverty  to  establish  justice,  to  deliver  the  people 
from  the  spoilers  and  tyrants  of  Italy.    "But  anna  I 
Jovo,  arma  I  seek  and  will  seek ;  for  without  arms  there 
is  no  justice,"     "Who  knows/'  he  proceeds,  "whether 
God,  of  his  divine  providence,  did  not  intend  me  as  the 
jweurBor  of  tho  Imperial  authority,  as  the  Baptist  was 
of  Christ?1*    Tor  this  reason  (he  intimates)  he  may 
have  been  regenerated  in  the  font  of  Constantine,  and 


502  LATIN  OHB1STIANITT.  BOOK  XII. 

this  baptism  may  have  been  designed  to  wash  away 
tha  stains  which  adhered  to  the  Imperial  power.  He 
exhorts  the  Emperor  to  arise  and  gird  on  hig  sword, 
a  sword  which  it  became  not  the  Supreme  Pontiff  to 
assume.  He  concludes  by  earnestly  entreating  his 
Imperial  Majesty  not  rashly  to  repudiate  his  humble 
assistance;  above  all,  not  to  delay  his  occupation  of  the 
city  of  Kama  till  his  adversaries  had  got  possession  of 
the  salt-tax  and  other  profits  of  tha  Jubilee,  which 
amounted  to  ona  hundred  millions  of  florins,  a  sum 
strictly  belonging  to  the  Imperial  treasury,  and  sufficient 
to  defray  the  expenses  of  an  expedition  to  Italy. 

Charles  of  Bohemia  was  no  Otho,  no  Frederick,  no 
Ati»ww  of  Henry  of  Luxemburg ;  his  answer  was  by  no 
«IB  Emperor.  meailg  encouraging  to  the  magnificent  schemes 
of  the  Tribune.  It  was  a  grave  homily  upon  lowliness 
and  charity*  It  repudiated  altogether  the  design  of 
overthrowing  the  Papal  power,  and  protested  against 
the  doctrine  of  a  new  effusion  of  tha  Holy  Q-host.  As 
to  the  story  of  Bienzi's  imperial  descent,  ho  leaves 
that  to  GrDtl,  and  reminds  tha  Tribune  that  ws  are  all 
the  children  of  Adam,  and  all  return  to  dust,  Finally, 
ho  urges  him  to  dismiss  his  fantastic  viowa  and  earthly 
ambition;  no  longer  to  bo  stiff-neukorl  and  atony- 
hearted  to  I3o(l>  but  with  a  humble  and  rrmtrito  spirit 
t<>  put  on  tlio  holmut  of  miration  unil  tho  sliiolil  of 
faith. 

Baffled  in  his  uttomptu  to  work  on  tho  praoiml 
AKUdihop  ambition,  of  tlio  Empnnir,  tho  portinat-ions 
afftwio.  Ejenssi  had  recourse  to  hintwo  most  influential 
counsellors,  John  of  Noumnrk,  nftorwards  Chancellor, 
and  Ernest  of  rarbubitz,  Ardibiahnp  of  Prague.  John 
of  Neumark  professed  a  love  of  letterw,  and  Kienzi 
him  a  brief  epistle  on  which  h&  lavished  all 


Out.!.        BIENZrS  OFFER  TD  THE  EMPEEDR.  503 

his  flowers  of  rhetoric.    John  of  Neumark  repaii  him  in 
the  same  coin.     The  Archbishop  was  a  prelate  of  dis- 
tinction and  learning,   disposed  to  high   ecclesiastical 
views,  well  read  in  the  canon  law,  and  not  likely  to  be 
favourable  to  the  frantic  predictions,  or  to  the  adven- 
turous schemes  of  Eienzi,     Yet  to  him  Rienzi  fearlessly 
addressed  »  long  "libel,"  in  which  hs  repeated  all  his 
charges  against  the  Pope  of  abandoning  his  spiritual 
duties,  leaving  his  sheep  to  be  devoured  by  wolves,  and 
of  dividing,  rending,  severing  the  Church,  the  very  body 
of  Christ,  by  scandals  and  schisms.    The  Pope  violated 
every  precept  of  Christian  charity ;  Rienzi  alone  main- 
tained no  dreamy  or  insane  doctrine,  but  the  pure,  true, 
sound  apostolic  and  evangelic  faith.    It  was  the  Pop& 
who  abandoned  Italy  to  her  tyrants,  or  rather  armed 
thoso  tyrants  with  his  power.    Eienzi  contrasts  his  own 
peaceful,  orderly,  and  just  administration  with  ths  wilcl 
anarchy  thus  not  merely  unsuppressed,  but  encouraged 
by  the  Pope  j  he  asserts  his  own  more  powerful  pro- 
tection of  the  DJmrcli,  his  enforcement  of  rigid  morals. 
"And  for  these  works  of  love  the  Pastor  calls  me  a 
schismatic,  a  heretic,  a  diseased  sheep,  a  blasphemer  of 
the  Church,  a  man  of  sacrilege,  a  deceiver,  who  deals 
with  unclean  spirits  kept  in  tha  Cross  of  the  L&rd,  an 
adulterator  of  the  holy  body  of  Christ,  a  rebel  and  u 
persecutor  of  the  Church ;  but '  whom  the  Lord  loveth 
ha  ehasteneth  j'  as  naked  I  entered  into  power,  so  naked 
I  went  out  of  power,  the  people  resisting  and  lamenting 
my  departure,"1* 

*  A  little  further  on  he  gives  this 
piece  of  Watery  •  "  We  rend  In  the 
CbrouJdM  that  Jullui,  th*  first  Ctonr, 
Wgry  *t  the  low  of  torn  a  battle,  wu 


his  own  life ;  bub  OuUTiaimn,  hit  gvaofr 
ion,  thft  fiwt  Augustus,  rbUntly 
wrtated  the  sword  from  hln  hand,  andf 
tared  Cax&r  fern  his  own  frantic  Imnl. 


Mj  v  < 

JM»  maA  w  to  rn(t*  M<  •woi'rf  ugainst^  Cctrnv,  rrturninB  In  lui  senser, 


504  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOR  m 

He  iBiterates  his  splendid,  offer  to  the  Emperor  for 
the  subjugation  of  Italy.  "If  on  the  day  of  the  Eleva- 
tion of  the  Holy  Cross  I  ascend  up  into  Italy,  unim- 
peded by  tha  Emperor  or  by  you,  before  Whitsuntide 
next  ensuing  I  will  surrender  all  Italy  in  peaceable 
allegiance  to  the  Emperor."  For  the  accomplishment 
of  this  he  offered  hostages,  whose  hands  were  to  be  cut 
off  if  his  scheme  was  not  fulfilled,  in  the  prescribed 
time  ;  and  if  he  failed,  ho  promised  and  vowed  to  return 
to  prison  to  be  dealt  with  as  the  Emperor  might  decide. 
HB  repeats  that  his  mission,  announced,  by  the  prophetic 
hermit,  is  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  peaceful  entrance 
of  the  Emperor,  to  bind  the  tyrants  in  chains,  and  the 
nobles  in  links  of  iron.  "So  that  Ceosar,  advancing 
without  bloodshed,  not  with  the  din  of  arms  and  German 
fury,  but  with  psalteries  and  sweet-Bounding  cymbals, 
may  arrive  at  the  Feast  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  occupy 
his  Jerusalem,  a  more  peaceful  and  securer  Solomon. 
For  I  wish  this  Oiesar,  not  secretly  or  as  an  adulterer, 
like  his  ancestor  of  old,"  to  enter  the  chamber  of  my 
mother,  the  city  of  Home,  but  gladly  and  publicly,  like 
a  bridegroom,  not  to  bo  introduced  into  my  mother's 
chamber  by  a  single  attendant,  in  disguise  and  through 
guarded  butriurs ;  not  as  through  the  ancestor  of  Stephen, 
Colonna,  by  whom  he  was  betrayed  and  abandoned,  but  by 
til  9  whole  exulting  people,  finally,  that  the  bridegroom 
shall  not  find  his  bride  and  my  mother  an  humble  hostess 
and  handmaid,  but  a  free  woman  and  a  queen  j  and  the 
home  of  my  mother  shall  not  be  a  tavern  but  a  church." " 


Stately  adopted  OctKvtanua  M  hi*  ion, 
wfcom  tht  Roman  poqilo  afterword* 
appointed  hla  tuoowur  In  the  umpire. 
%ta,  tthnt  I  have  wrertal  the  frantic 
*#$£  fa>m  'hit  hand,  tha  Supwaw 
Pontiff  will  «ll  tn«  Kb  feithfrl  «*," 


«  Henry  of  Luxemburg.  What  cbe« 
thl»  atcsnge  confusion  of  alluifoa  «!«&  t 

»  There  ore  several  mora  ktfcnn  ta 
the  ArchbUhop  in  tbfttanu  flMKptpdl^iI 
ton«.*nd  iplrlt, 


JHAP.  X.  PETBAECH'S  LETTER.  505 

The  reply  of  the  Archbishop  waa  short  and  dry.  He 
jould  not  but  wonder  at  his  correspondent's  protestations 
)f  humility,  SD  little  in  accordance  with  the  magnificent 
;itles  which  he  had  assumed  aa  Tribune;  or  with  his 
issertion  that  he  was  tinder  the  special  guidance  of  thu 
Holy  Ghost.  "  By  what  authority  did  Bienzi  assert  for 
,he  Boman  people  the  right  of  electing  the  Emperor  ?  " 
HB  was  amazed  that  Bienzi,  instead  of  tha  authentic 
prophecies  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  should  consult  the 
wild  and  unauthorised  prophets  Methodius  and  Cyril 
The  Archbishop  ends  with  the  words  of  Gamaliel,  that 
"  if  the  Tribune's  schemes  are  of  God  they  will  succeed, 
however  men  may  oppose  them." 

Was,  then,  Bienzi  in  earnest  in  his  behalf  in  all  thesu 
mad  apocalyptic  visions  ?  Was  he  an  honest  tomtit*  ? 
Does  his  own  claim,  during  all  his  early  career,  to  tho 
Hjjecial  favour  of  the  Holy  Ghost  intimate  an  earlier 
connexion,  or  only  a  casual  sympathy  and  aixordimue 
with  the  Franciscan  Spiritualists?  A  letter  to  Kra 
Angelo  is  that  of  a  passionate  believer,  prepared,  he 
iwaertH,  to  lay  down  his  imperilled  life,  entreating  flu* 
pray  era  of  the  brethren,  warning  them,  that  they  may  be 
rxpuHi'd  to  persecution  *  Or  was  it  that  in  the  obstinacy 
of  his  hopes,  the  fertility  of  hia  resources,  thn  versatility 
of  hia  Ambition,  llimm  doliburattily  throw  himself  on 
tliin  wild  religious.  (sntlmaioHin  and  on  Ghibelliuism,  to 
iu-hii'vo  that  which  ho  had  failed  to  accomplish  in  hie 
nobler  way  ?  Would  ho  desperately,  rather  than  abundon 


•  Th«r«  i«  i  tttauif*  v«Hnf«  ukrnt 
hid  wif«>  this  Luna,,  whieh  might  Krnti 
to  tJ»  tiwpicioii  lh«t  «htt  had  town  ear- 


tit* 


by  torn  of  bin  atmta  ttmotig 


tad  will  became  Hkters  ttf  St, 


bin  *on,  wlioiu  he  cnnoigtii  td  the 
of  U 


VOL,  VII, 


,  p.  74, 

#• 


DUG  LAT1U  OHHISTIAJSTITV.  MOOK  XII 

the  liberty,  the  supremacy  of  Borne,  enlist  in.  his  aid 
Grerman  and  Imperial  interests,  ImpBrial  ambition? 
The  third  and  lost  act  of  Ms  tragic  life,  which  must  await 
the  Pontificate  of  Innocent  YL,  may  almost  warrant  this 
view,  if,  in.  truth,  the  motives  of  men,  especially  of  such 
men.  as  Bienzi,  are  not  usually  mingled,  clashing,  seem- 
ingly irrBConcileabla  impulses  from  contradictory  and 
successive  passions,  opinions,  and  aims. 

During  all  Bienzi's  residence  at  Prague,  the  Pope  had 
been  in  constant  communication  with  the  Emperor,  and 
demanded  the  surrender  of  this  son  of  Belial,  to  be 
dealt  with  as  a  suspected  heretic  and  a  rebel  against  the 
Holy  See,  The  Emperor  at  length  complied  -with  his 
request,  Bienzi's  entrance  into  Prague  has  been  de- 
scribed in  the  words  of  an  Did  historian;  his  entrance 
into  Avignon  ia  thus  portrayed  by  Petrarch.  The  poet's 
whole  letter  is  a  singular  mixture  of  Ha  old  admiration, 
and  even  affection  for  Kienzi,  with  bitter  disappointment 
at  the  failure  of  his  splendid  poetic  hopes,  and  not 
without  some  wounded  vanity  and  more  timidity  at 
having  associated  his  own  name  with  one,  who,  however 
formerly  glorious,  had  sunk  to  a  condition  so  con- 
temptible. One  of  Bienzi's  first  acts  on  his  arrival  at 
Avignon  was  to  inquire  if  his  old  friend  and  admirer  was 
in  the  city,  "Perhaps,"  writes  Petrarch,  <(h&  supposed 
that  I  could  be  of  service  to  him;  he  knew  not  hovv 
totally  this  was  out  of  my  power;  perhaps  it  was  only  a 
feeling  of  our  forme*  friendship."  "  There  came  lately 
to  this  court—I  should  not  say  came,  but  was  brought 
as  a  prisoner— Nholos  Laureutius,  the  once  formidable 
Tribune  of  Borne,  who,  when  he  might  have  died  in  the 
Capitol  with  so  much  glory,  endured  imprisonment,  first 
by  a  Bohemian  (the  Emperor),  afterwards  by  a  Limousin 
(Pope  Clement),  so  as  to  make  himself,  as  well  as  the 


A*.  X.  RIENZI  IMPBISONED.  507 

ime  and  .Republic  of  Borne,  a  laughing-stock.  It  is 
>rhaps  more  generally  known  than  I  should  -wish,  how 
uch  my  pan  was  employed  in  lauding  and  extorting 
us  man.  I  loved  his  virtue,  I  praised  his  design ;  I 
mgratulated  Italy :  I  looked  forward  to  the  dominion 

*  the  beloved  city  and  the  peace  of  the  world 

ome  of  my  epistles  are  extant,  of  which  I  am  not  alto- 
ether  ashamed,  for  I  had  no  gift  of  prophecy,  and  I 
'Qiildthat  he  had  not  pretended  to  the  gift  of  prophecy ; 
ut  at  the  time  I  wrote,  that  which  he  -was  doing  and 
ppeared  about  to  do  was  not  only  worthy  of  my  praise, 
•ut  that  of  all  mankind.     Are  these  letters,  then,  to  be 
^ncelled  for  one  thing  alone,  because  he  chose  to  live 
wisely  rather  than  die  with  honour?    But  there  is  no 
IBB  in  discussing  impossibilities ;  I  could  not  destroy 
.ham  it'  I  would;  they  are  published, they  are  no  longer 
in  my  power.    But  to  my  story.    Humble  and  despicable 
that  man  entered  the  court,  who,  throughout  the  world, 
had  made  the  wicked  tremble,  and  filled  the  good  with 
joyful  hop  B  and  expectation ;  he  who  was  attended,  it  is 
said,  .by  the  whole  Roman  people  and  the  chief  men  of 
the  cities  of  Italy,  now  appeared  between  two  guards, 
and  with  all  the  populace  crowding  and  eager  to  see  the 
face  of  him  of  whose  name  they  had  heard  so  much." 

A  commission  of  three  ecclesiastics  was  appointed  to- 
examine  what  punishment  should  be  inflicted  on  Rienzl, 
That  he  deserved  the  utmost  punishment  Petrarch 
declares,  *  not  for  his  heresy,  but  for  having  abandoned 
his  enterprisa  whan  he  had  conducted  it  with  so  much 
BUCOBBS  ;  for  having  betrayed  the  cause  of  liberty  by  not 
crushing  the  enemies  of  liberty,"  Y&t,  after  all,  every- 
thing in  this  extraordinary  man's  Ufa  seems  destined  to 
lie  strange  and  unexpected,  "Bieazi  could  sc 
far  any  sentence  but  death,  death  at  the 


508  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  BOOK  X1J, 

audacious  heretic,  or  perpetual  imprisonment.  He  was 
at  first  closely  and  ignominiously  guarded  in  a  dungeon. 
He  had  few  friends,  many  enemies  at  Avignon.  He  was 
even  denied  the  aid  of  an  advocate.  Yat  the  trial  by 
the  three  Cardinals  was  not  pursued  with  activity* 
Perhaps  Clement's  approaching  death  inclined  him  to 
iaaa  indifference,  if  not  to  mercy ;  then  his  dscease 
and  the  election  of  a  new  Pope  distracted 
public  attention.  The  charge  of  heresy  seems  to  have 
quietly  dropped.  Petrarch  began,  to  dare  to  feel  interest 
iu  his  fate ;  he  even  ventured  to  write  to  Borne  to  urgt 
the  intercession  of  the  people  in  his  behalf.  Borne  wag 
silent;  hut  Avignon  seemed  suddenly  moved  in  his 
favour*  Humour  spread  abroad  that  Bienzi  was  a  great 
poet  j  and  the  whole  Papal  court,  the  whole  city,  at  tkfe 
first  dawn  of  letters,  seemed  to  hold  a  poet  aa  a  sacred^ 
almost  supernatural  being,  "  It  would  be  a  sin  to  put 
to  death  a  man  skilled  in,  that  wonderful  art."  Bienzi 
was  condemned  to  imprisonment  j  but  imprisonment 
neither  too  ignominious  nor  painful,  A  chain,  indeed, 
around  hia  lag  was  riveted  to  the  wall  of  his  dungeon. 
But  law  meals  were  from  the  remnants  of  the  Pope's 
table  distributed  to  thejj^^  Bible  and  his 

Livy,  perhaps  yet  |]SsKiS^^|ij9jsiof  future  dis- 
tinction, whioh  atmKS&mm&f  came  toi  trass,