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Mooted  Questions  of  History 


Mooted  Questions 
of  History 

REVISED     EDITION 


HUMPHREY  J.  DESMOND 

Author     of     "The     Church     and     the 
Law,"    "Outlooks    and    Insights,"    etc. 


BOSTON     •     MABLIEB    AND 
COMPANY,   Limited     •  MDCCCCTI 


Copyright,  1895,  1900, 
by  H.  J.  DESMOND 


Second  Impression 

SPRECKELS 


PREFACE 

THE  plan  pursued  in  the  following  pages 
is  to  give,  under  each  topic,  a  succinct  state- 
ment of  the  facts,  —  embodying  the  lead- 
ing points  of  information  necessary  to  a 
clear  view ;  and  to  follow  this  with  quo- 
tations from  some  well-known  historians, 
indicating  briefly  their  judgment  upon  the 
whole  case,  or  upon  controverted  points 
thereof. 

Several  new  chapters  and  some  fifty 
quotations  have  been  added  in  the  re- 
vision. It  has  not  been  deemed  advis- 
able to  enlarge  the  treatment  of  any  of 
the  topics,  inasmuch  as  the  merit  sought 
for  the  book  is  brevity.  'A  number  of  foot- 
notes, however,  have  been  added. 


109966 


CONTENTS 


HISTORICAL  ATTITUDES,  PAST  AND  PRESENT    .  1 

I.   THE  "DARK  AGES"  ......  16 

II.    CHRISTIANITY  AS  A  CIVILIZER   ...  37 

III.  "  THE  MONKS  OF  OLD  "      ....  52 

IV.  THE  PAPAL  POWER    ......  65 

V.   THE  CRUSADES  ........  84 

VI.   PREMATURE  PROTESTANTISMS      ...  95 

VII.    SAVONAROLA      ........  107 

VIII.    BIBLES  BEFORE  LUTHER  .....  117 

IX.    THE  REVIVAL  OF  LEARNING     .     .     .  128 

X.   INDULGENCES     ........  140 

•    XI.    THE  CAUSE  AND  SUCCESS  OF  PROTES- 

TANTISM    ....          ....  153 

XII.    CHARACTER  OF  THE  REFORMERS     .     .  164 

XIII.  THE    REFORMATION    AND    RELIGIOUS 

LIBERTY     .........  171 

XIV.  THE  REFORMATION  AND  CIVIL  LIBERTY  186 
XV.   Two    POLITICAL    THEORIES    OF    THE 

REFORMATION   TIME      .....  197 

XVI.   THE  REFORMATION  AND  LITERATURE  .  201 


viii  CONTENTS 

PAGE 
XVII.    ' '  BLOODY  MARY"  AND  ' '  GOOD  QUEEN 

BESS" 211 

XVIII.   THE  INQUISITION 218 

XIX.   THE  JESUITS 230 

*    XX.    THE  MASSACRE   OF   ST.   BARTHOLO- 
MEW'S DAY 249 

XXI.   THE  EDICT  OF  NANTES      ....  261 

XXII.    THE  PERSECUTION  OF  THE  IRISH       .  268 

XXIII.  GALILEO 285 

XXIV.  THE  GUNPOWDER  PLOT      ....  296 
XXV.    THE  "POPISH  PLOT" 303 

XXVI.   THE  LORD  GORDON  RIOTS      ...  309 

XXVII.    MARYLAND  LED  THE  WAY  313 


OF  THE 

(  UNIVERSITY  ) 


MOOTED    QUESTIONS    OF 
HISTORY 


HISTORICAL  ATTITUDES,  PAST  AND 
PRESENT 

IN  an  essay  which  he  contributed  to  the 
"  Edinburgh  Review  "  nearly  seventy 
years  ago,  Macaulay  indicates  his  con- 
ception of  the  good  historian  by  suggesting 
that  if  Lord  Clarendon,  instead  of  filling 
hundreds  of  folio  pages  with  copies  of  state 
papers,  had  condescended  to  be  "the  Bos- 
well  of  the  Long  Parliament,"  he  would 
have  proven  not  only  more  interesting  but 
also  more  accurate.  In  a  subsequent  essay 
written  in  review  of  Hallam's  "  Constitu- 
tional History  of  England,"  Macaulay  says 
that  the  ideal  history  is  "a  compound  of 
poetry  and  philosophy,'*  something  which 
calls  into  play  the  imagination  as  well  as 
the  reason.  These  are  the  opinions  of  a 
1 


2      MOOTED   QUESTIONS   OF    HISTOBY 

comparatively  recent  historian,  and  yet  they 
present  a  decided  contrast  with  current  con- 
ceptions of  what  good  historical  writing 
should  be. 

Macaulay,  who  will  perhaps  be  remem- 
bered more  as  an  essayist  than  as  an  historian, 
said  enough,  in  the  article  to  which  I  have 
alluded,  to  make  clear,  even  to  the  historians 
of  his  own  age,  the  prime  necessity  of  greater 
accuracy  ;  yet  such  is  not  the  lesson  that  he 
particularly  enforces.  With  him,  it  is  still 
a  question  of  style  rather  than  of  facts,  of 
ability  to  interest  rather  than  the  ability  to 
separate  the  chaff  of  legend  from  the  grain 
of  truth.  The  modern  essayist  reviews 
the  ancient  historians,  but  his  criticism  is 
not  that  they  are  deficient  either  in  rhetoric 
or  interest :  Herodotus  manufactures  the 
speeches  he  puts  in  the  mouths  of  Aristides 
and  Gelon.  History  as  written  by  Thucy- 
dides  "  calls  into  play  the  imagination  quite 
as  much  as  the  reason."  Xenophon  places, 
on  the  pages  of  his  sober  chronicles,  dreams, 
omens,  and  prophecies  for  which  he  asks 
equal  credence.  As  for  Livy,  "  no  historian 
with  whom  we  are  acquainted  has  shown 
so  complete  indifference  to  truth,"  says 


HISTORICAL   ATTITUDE*  3 

Macaulay.  And  so  on  with  the  rest 
of  the  ancients.  "  Nothing,"  says  Profes- 
sor Mahaffy,  "  shows  more  clearly  the  won- 
derful importance  of  style  and  literary 
genius  than  the  way  in  which  such 
authors  as  Tacitus  and  Thucydides  blind 
modern  commentators  in  questions  of  evi- 
dence. Tacitus  has  been  clearly  proven 
from  his  own  statements  thoroughly 
untrustworthy." 

As  for  the  modern  historians,  Macaulay 
thinks  that  the  best  of  them  have  been 
"  seduced  from  truth  not  by  their  imagina- 
tion but  by  their  reason."  Hume  he  re- 
gards as  an  accomplished  advocate,  with 
all  the  vices  of  the  special  pleader.  Robert- 
son and  Gibbon  are  little  better.  President 
Adams  of  Wisconsin  University,  in  a  "  Man- 
ual of  Historical  Literature,"  published 
some  years  ago,  continues  these  rather  un- 
favorable judgments  on  well-known  histo- 
rians. For  instance,  he  thinks  that  for 
the  purpose  of  strict  historical  information 
the  account  which  Hume  gives  of  a  partic- 
ular period  of  history  is  of  no  more  value 
than  the  account  of  Sir  Walter  Scott  in 
"The  Fortunes  of  Nigel."  The  likes  and 


4     MOOTED    QUESTIONS    OF    HISTORY 

dislikes  of  Froude  are  too  intense  ever  to 
allow  him  to  be  strictly  judicial.  Indeed, 
during  an  interchange  of  amenities,  Pro- 
fessor Freeman  has  intimated  that  Froude 
was  constitutionally  unable  to  tell  the  truth. 
Kinglake,  who  may  be  said  to  have  held  a 
brief  against  Napoleon  Third,  writes  as  "  an 
energetic  hater."  As  for  Macaulay  him- 
self, while  the  consummate  art  of  his  "  His- 
tory of  England"  as  a  literary  creation  is 
conceded,  yet  he  is  always  the  victim  of  an 
intense  partisan  spirit,  and  therefore  all  of 
his  writings  have  "  something  of  the  flavor 
of  a  political  pamphlet." 

Of  Yon  Hoist's  "  Constitutional  History 
of  the  United  States,"  which  enforces  so 
gloomy  a  view  of  our  institutions,  Pres- 
ident Adams  says :  "  If  the  judicious 
pecuniary  support  given  to  the  author 
for  the  prosecution  of  his  investigation  by 
the  Royal  Prussian  Academy  of  Sciences, 
and  alluded  to  in  the  preface  of  the  third 
volume,  had  been  granted  for  the  express 
purpose  of  subsidizing  a  systematic  at- 
tempt to  undermine  the  foundation  of 
republican  institutions  and  throw  ridicule 
upon  them  in  the  eyes  of  the  royalists, 


HISTORICAL,   ATTITUDES  5 

the  academy  would  have  abundant  rea- 
sons to  be  satisfied  with  the  result." 

"  What  is  history,"  asked  Napoleon,  "but 
merely  fable  agreed  upon  ?  "  De  Maistre  did 
not  hesitate  to  indict  all  the  history  of  the 
last  three  centuries  as  a  conspiracy  against 
truth.  "As  time  rolled  on,"  to  use  the  words 
of  Ignatius  Donnelly,  "  it  was  seen  that  the 
greater  part  of  history  was  simply  recorded 
legends ;  while  all  the  rest  represented  the 
passions  of  factions,  the  hates  of  sects,  or 
the  servility  and  venality  of  historians." 

But  at  last  we  reach  an  epoch  when  it  is 
increasingly  true  that 

u  The  legendary  tales  that  pleased  of  yore 
Can  charm  an  understanding  age  no  more." 

A  new  science  of  history  has  come  into  be- 
ing with  the  present  generation.  The  in- 
terest that  we  have  in  the  historians  of  the 
past  becomes  chiefly  a  literary  interest. 

History  perhaps  can  never  become  an 
exact  science ;  the  human  element  will  in- 
evitably assert  itself  to  some  extent.  Race 
and  religious  sympathies  will  warp  human 
judgments ;  but  if  we  have  more  faith- 


6     MOOTED    QUESTIONS   OF   HISTORY 

fulness  to  scientific  methods  of  investiga- 
tion—  a  more  careful  application  of  the 
rules  of  evidence  in  reviewing  old  au- 
thorities and  new  testimony,  with  truer  and 
broader  perspectives,  —  there  are  grounds 
for  expecting  excellent  results  in  the  future! 
We  may  mention,  as  points  of  excellence  in 
the  history  that  the  present  age  is  writing : 
first,  the  disposition  to  look  for  the  best 
means  of  information,  to  consult  and  to 
weigh  adequately  documentary  sources; 
second,  the  disposition  to  discuss  and  in- 
vestigate facts  more  critically,  to  revise  pre- 
viously held  judgments,  and  to  gain  a  true 
perspective  of  events ;  and  third,  greater 
impartiality  and  a  more  sincere  disposition 
to  seek  and  publish  truth  for  truth's  sake. 

The  more  scientific  method  of  historical 
writing  owes  its  beginning  to  the  disposi- 
tion on  part  of  historians  to  go  to  the  best 
documentary  sources  for  their  facts.  Pos- 
sibly we  may  say  that  the  Bollandists  in 
the  compilation  of  the  "  Acta  Sanctorum  " 
were  the  real  originators  of  this  method. 
Their  care  and  erudition  in  throwing  the 
chaff  of  legendary  miracles  and  wonder- 
working out  of  the  lives  of  the  saints 


HISTORICAL   ATTITUDES  7 

whom  they  commemorated,  had  about  it 
many  of  the  methods  of  the  best  modern 
historians. 

Michelet,  in  1836,  claims  to  have  been 
the  pioneer  of  the  "documentary  age"  of 
history;  but  at  that  time  most  of  the 
archives  were  still  closed  to  the  investi- 
gator. The  new  epoch  really  began  in 
1859.  Then,  Italy  leading  the  way,  most 
of  the  other  governments  of  Europe  threw 
open  their  archives.  As  late  as  June,  1895, 
Lord  Acton  said  in  an  address  at  Oxford : 
"  We  are  still  at  the  beginning  of  the 
documentary  age  which  will  tend  to  make 
history  independent  of  historians."  Kanke, 
one  of  the  most  careful  as  well  as  the  most 
colorless  of  historians,  did  most  of  his  work 
prior  to  the  documentary  age,  and  all  of  his 
seventy  volumes,  in  the  opinion  of  Lord 
Acton,  might  be  rewritten  to  advantage. 
President  Adams,  in  discussing  Hazlitt's 
Life  of  Napoleon,  says  that  all  histories  of 
the  Napoleonic  epoch  written  prior  to  the 
publication  of  "the  Napoleon  Correspond- 
ence "  must  be  regarded  as  incomplete  and 
imperfect.  As  illustrating  the  influence  of 
the  introduction  of  new  documentary  evi- 


8    MOOTED   QUESTIONS   OF    HISTORY 

deri'ce  upon  accepted  historical  opinions,  we 
may  mention  the  unfavorable  impression 
which  the  recent  publication  of  the  Me- 
moirs  of  Barras  has  had  on  the  reputation 
of  Josephine.  The  throwing  open  of  the 
Spanish  archives  discovered  the  letters'  of 
De  Quadra,  an  envoy  of  Spain  to  the  court 
of  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  these  letters  threw 
new  light  on  one  of  the  dark  deeds  of  the 
reign,  —  the  suspected  murder  of  Amy 
Robsart.  As  the  wife  of  Lord  Dudley  she 
stood  in  the  way  of  his  ambition  to  wed 
the  queen.  All  evidence  of  the  suspected 
crime  had  been  removed  so  far  as  the  Brit- 
ish state  papers  went,  —  as  indeed  they 
might,  for  this  tragedy  of  guilty  love  was 
enacted  almost  at  the  steps  of  the  throne. 
But  here,  after  four  hundred  years,  comes 
testimony  showing  that  even  in  high  court 
circles  the  advisability  of  poisoning  the 
neglected  wife  was  considered  some  time 
in  advance  of  her  death. 

Especially  with  reference  to  the  view 
which  historians  have  taken  of  the  middle 
ages  have  later  researches  worked  a  revolu- 
tion. Palgrave  says  that  for  years  a  "  dead- 
set  "  was  made  against  those  ages  as  periods 


HISTORICAL   ATTITUDES  9 

of  darkness  and  superstition.  This  conspir- 
acy against  the  middle  ages  received  a  set- 
back in  the  scholarly  work  of  Hallam,  but 
upon  other  grounds  even  Hallam  has  be- 
come obsolete.  "  Researches  in  France  and 
Germany,"  says  President  Adams,  "have 
added  so  much  to  the  fund  of  mediaeval 
history  that  very  little  of  what  has  been 
written  thirty  years  ago  can  now  be  re- 
garded as  conclusive  authority."  As  to 
the  influence  of  more  careful  and  impartial 
criticism  of  later  historians,  many  instances 
might  be  furnished  of  old  errors  dispelled 
and  truer  conceptions  arrived  at.  The  ap- 
plication of  the  rules  of  evidence  to  methods 
of  historical  research  is  finely  illustrated  in 
the  discussion  by  John  Fiske  of  the  William 
Tell  myth ;  or  in  the  discussion  by  Baring- 
Gould  of  the  story  of  the  alleged  female 
Pope  Joan.  The  William  Tell  myth  had 
found  its  way  for  years  into  respectable  his- 

x^tory  unquestioned.  Swiss  patriotism  swore 
by  it.  Indeed,  one  adventurous  writer  who 
doubted  this  interesting  story  was  con- 

A  demned  in  1760  by  the  Canton  of  Uri,  in 
Switzerland,  to  be  burned  to  death. 

The  story  of  the  female  Pope  Joan  re- 


10  MOOTED    QUESTIONS   OF   HISTORY 

ceives  credence  even  in  so  pretentious  a 
work  as  Mosheim's  "  Ecclesiastical  History." 
Both  myths  appear  to  have  originated  some 
two  hundred  years  after  the  time,  it  is 
alleged,  Pope  Joan  and  William  Tell,  re- 
spectively, lived.  Both  stories  were  repeated 
time  and  time  again  in  different  countries, 
and  grew  in  detail  as  they  grew  in  age. 
Modern  historians  have  found  both  entirely 
unsupported  by  any  credible  testimony. 
Fiske  shows  how  the  William  Tell  story 
makes  its  appearance  in  Denmark,  Iceland, 
and  the  Rhine  country,  every  detail  being 

'  identical,  even  to  the  passage  where  Tell 
explains  that  the  arrow  was  hidden  "to  kill 
thee,  tyrant,  had  I  slain  my  son." 

Referring  to  contemporary  accounts  of 
the  famous  "Popish  plot,"  Macaulay  indi- 
cates something  of  the  hereafter  of  partisan 
history  by  remarking  :  "  These  stories  [one 
of  which  represented  that  the  Catholics 
started  the  great  London  fire  of  1666]  are 
now  altogether  exploded.  They  have  been 
abandoned  by  statesmen  to  aldermen,  by 
aldermen  to  clergymen,  by  clergymen  to  old 

N  women,  and  by  old  women  to  Sir  Harcourt 
Lees." 


HISTORICAL   ATTITUDES  11 

There  are  other  stories  which  have  also 
gotten  down  to  the  credulity  of  Sir  Har- 
court  Lees  or  his  counterparts  in  our  gener- 
ation. It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  allude  to 
them  here ;  they  have  passed  from  history 
to  controversy,  from  controversy  to  legend- 
ary, and  from  legendary  to  a  place  beside 
the  narratives  of  Baron  Munchausen  and 
the  escapades  of  Little  Red  Riding  Hood. 
There  are  historical  traditions,  however, 
that  are  in  the  process,  and  not  so  far  ad- 
vanced as  these.  Aldermen  yet  believe 
them.  Clergymen  (sad  to  say)  tell  them. 
Or,  if  given  up  in  such  quarters,  old  women 
still  pin  their  faith  to  them,  and  make  them 
the  material  for  nursery  yarns  to  bias  the 
minds  of  children,  and  unconsciously  affect 
the  adult  judgment  in  after  years. 

Of  course  there  is  some  iconoclasm  about 
this  sifting  of  the  old  legends.  We  are  de- 
prived of  some  picturesque  incidents.  Doubt 
is  thrown  upon  the  "  winged  words  "  of  many 
historical  figures.  We  can  no  longer  be 
sure  that  Louis  XIV.  said  "  I  am  the  state," 
or  that  Galileo  declared,  "  It  still  moves," 
or  that  Wellington  said  at  Waterloo,  "  Up, 
guards,  and  at  them."  But  these  interest- 


12    MOOTED    QUESTIONS   OF   HISTORY 

ing  episodes  may  be  still  preserved.  The 
classification  is  wrong,  It  is  only  necessary 
to  transfer  them  from  the  department  of 
history  to  that  of  fiction. 

In  the  matter  of  gaining  a  truer  perspec- 
tive of  the  past,  the  modern  historian  is 
also  at  an  advantage.  In  the  earlier 
years  of  the  century  the  historians,  who  in- 
structed the  English-speaking  races,  made 
Napoleon  and  Wellington  of  equal  stature. 
Time  has  left  Bonaparte  still  monumental, 
but  Wellington  has  dwindled  in  the  great 
Corsican's  shadow.  In  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury Brutus  was  the  pet  of  the  liberty-lov- 
ing orators  and  publicists ;  in  the  nineteenth 
century  this  judgment  is  reversed,  and  it  is 
perceived  that  Caesar  was  the  real  friend  of 
the  democratic  movement,  and  Brutus  but 
a  heroic  reactionary.  There  was  recently 
published  Babbington's  "  Fallacies  of  Race 
Theories/'  wherein  such  carelessly  accepted 
opinions  as  that  of  Tacitus  on  the  ancient 
Germans  and  that  of  Mommsen  on  the 
ancient  Gauls  are  subjected  to  analysis  and 
found  wanting.  Tacitus  was  never  in  Ger- 
many, yet  because  he  praised  the  Germans 
as  a  chaste  and  virtuous  people  he  has  be- 


HISTORICAL   ATTITUDES  18 

come  a  race  authority.  Mr.  Babbington 
says :  "  The  Germans,  who  assume  to  be  our 
teachers  in  history  as  in  everything  else, 
make  the  cause  of  their  ancestors  a  personal 
one,  ransack  all  the  writers  of  antiquity  to 
prove  the  virtues  of  the  Teutons  and  the 
vices  of  the  Romans,"  and  as  a  consequence 
"  the  measure  of  liberty  and  virtue  modern 
nations  possess  is  attributed  to  the  influence 
of  German  blood  and  German  ideas  ;  "  which 
position  is  not  at  all  so  certain  when  we  go 
back  of  the  race  eulogists  and  re-examine 
the  facts. 

The  truth  of  history  is  most  commonly 
tampered  with,  not  by  pure  inventions,  but 
rather  in  matters  of  more  or  less  plausibil- 
ity concerning  the  details  —  which  color 
events  ;  of  going  to  the  question  of  motives 
—  which  determine  the  credit  or  the  guilt 
of  acts  and  occurrences.1 

1  As  Professor  Prothero  truthfully  said  at  Edinburgh 
University  :  "  Take  any  great  movement  you  please  — 
the  Crusades,  for  instance,  or  the  Reformation  ;  analyze  it 
as  minutely  as  possible,  ascertain  all  its  conditions,  its  gen- 
eral causes,  its  immediate  occasions  —  there  remains  the 
incalculable  human  element,  which  defies  the  processes  of 
exact  science.  We  cannot  be  certain  of  this  man's  mo- 
tives, nor  measure  the  influence  which  that  man  exerted. 


14  MOOTED   QUESTIONS   OF   HISTORY 

A  careful  sifting  process  is  necessary  to 
get  at  the  undoubted  facts  in  all  contro- 
verted cases,  and,  as  the  ordinary  reader 
cannot  afford  the  time  or  expense  of  origi- 
nal investigation  and  research,  it  seems  a 
more  practical  course  to  call  in  the  repu- 
table historians  of  all  schools  and  sects,  and 
from  their  testimony  to  get  as  near  to  the 
truth  as  possible.1 

We  must  not  permit  ourselves  to  be  the 
dupes  of  those  fierce  partisans  who  lived  in 
other  ages  and  wished  their  opponents  to  be 
misjudged  by  posterity.  We  are  not  prop- 
erly part  of  this  elder  age  of  the  world 
unless  we  share  its  maturer  judgment, 
and  unless  we  possess  its  ability  of  seeing 
through  the  one-sided  details  presented  by 
the  skilled  apologists  of  parties  and  sects, 
in  less  instructed  centuries,  to  defend  their 
actions  or  to  asperse  the  conduct  of  their 
adversaries. 

The  human  element  in  the  subject  calls  out  the  human 
element  in  the  student.  Not  only  is  the  investigation 
obscured,  but  the  sympathies  of  the  investigator  are 
aroused,  and  his  judgment  is  liable  to  be  warped  at  every 
turn.  History  alone  suffers  from  this  doubly  distorting 
medium.  Other  sciences  are  free  from  its  effects." 

1  "  Historic  truth  never  can  be  elicited  save  by  com- 
parison," says  Sir  Francis  Palgrave  ("History  of  Nor- 
mandy and  England,"  Preface). 


HISTORICAL   ATTITUDES  15 

Neither  do  we  want  to  inherit  the  parti- 
san prejudices  of  conflicts  waged  in  former 
centuries.  Our  condition  for  a  cooler  and 
more  deliberate  judgment  is  better,  and  our 
perspective  for  giving  the  facts  their  just 
importance  is  also  better.  We  must  not 
have  the  opinions  of  angry,  uncharitable, 
unwise  men  forced  upon  us ;  but  we  must 
seek  for  ourselves  the  broad,  dispassionate, 
accurate  view  that  alone  can  make  the 
lessons  of  the  past  helpful.  Our  loyalty  to 
Truth  is  above  all  loyalty  to  any  institution 
or  party,  past  or  present. 

In  a  survey  of  a  series  of  controverted 
historical  topics,  this  will  occur  as  a  safe 
method  of  procedure : 

1.  What   are  the  facts  of  the  case,  as 
fairly  conceded  by  all  sides  ? 

2.  What  is  a  just  estimate  from  a  gen- 
eral survey  of  the  matter,  on  the  basis  of 
these  facts  ? 

3.  Is   this   estimate   borne   out    by  the 
opinions  of  historians  who  are  ranged,  so 
far  as  the  general  issue  goes,  on  the  other 
side  ?     If  that  be  the  case,  then  the  facts 
and  the   conclusions   may  be  regarded   as 
reasonably  certain. 


I 

THE  "DARK  AGES" 

"I  know  nothing  of  those  ages  which  knew 
nothing."  .  .  .  /  have  often  thought  I  should 
have  liked  to  ask  him  how  he  came  to  know  so 
curious  and  important  a  fact  respecting  ages 
of  which  he  knew  nothing.  — MAITLAND. 

IT  has  been  pertinently  said,  that  the 
"  darkness  "  of  certain  mediaeval  cen- 
turies is  all  in  the  minds  of  the  per- 
sons applying  the  term.  From  those  distant 
shores  of  the  past,  very  few  echoes  reach 
us  in  these  first  years  of  the  twentieth  cen- 
tury. Superficial  observation  has  concluded 
that  there  was  "  little  going  on/'  and  that 
the  entire  population  was,  as  the  phrase 
is,  "  sunk  in  ignorance,"  not  to  mention 
"  superstition  "  and  "  barbarism." 

De  Maistre's  notion  that  history  is  "  a 
conspiracy  against  truth"  receives  some 
illustration  in  this  attitude  towards  the 
middle  ages.  "  A  dead  set,"  says  Sir  Fran- 


THE   "DAKK   AGES"  17 

cis  Palgrave,  "has  been  made  against  the 
middle  ages  as  periods  immersed  in  dark- 
ness, ignorance,  and  barbarity.  But,  most 
of  all,  have  these  censures  been  directed 
against  mediaeval  Christianity." l  Fleury 
indicates  that  this  conspiracy  to  blacken 
the  middle  ages  began  with  the  Humanists 
of  the  Renaissance  period.  Their  move- 
ment was  a  reaction  against  the  old  learn- 
ing ;  to  commend  the  new  tone  they  wished 
to  impart  to  civilization,  it  was  necessary 
to  deprecate  the  old.  The  Reformation 
readily  adopted  the  same  unfavorable  view ; 
and  the  sceptical  writers  of  the  eighteenth 
century  had  a  natural  antipathy  to  ages 
dominated,  as  the  mediaeval  centuries  were, 
by  Christianity.  The  more  researchful  his- 
torian of  the  nineteenth  century  has  been 
disturbing  this  censorious  judgment  against 
the  middle  ages,  by  manifesting  a  disposi- 
tion to  go  over  the  ground  again  in  a  more 
scientific  spirit. 

The  term  "  dark  ages  "  has  been  deemed 
comprehensive  enough  to  cover  the  ninth, 
N  tenth,  eleventh,  twelfth,  and  thirteenth  cen- 
turies.    The   masses    in   those   ages   could 

1  History  of  Normandy  and  England  (Preface). 
2 


18  MOOTED   QUESTIONS   OF   HISTORY 

neither  read  nor  write.  We  find  in  legal 
instruments  of  the  time :  "  And  the  afore- 
said lord  hath  declared,  that  he  does  not 
yknow  how  to  sign  his  name,  owing  to  the 
fact  of  his  being  a  nobleman."  And  a 
knight  being  asked  to  read  the  Scriptures, 
retorted :  "  I  am  not  a  clerk ;  I  have  a 
family  to  support." l 

Illiteracy,  however,  is  not  ignorance.  Nor 
would  inability  to  read  mean  as  much  in 
the  ninth  century  as  it  does  in  the  twen- 
tieth. Let  the  world  of  to-day  lose  the 
"  art  preservative  of  the  arts,"  —  printing ; 
let  the  newspaper  vanish  from  the  land, 
and  the  cheap  school  book  be  a  thing  of 
the  past;  throw  us  back  to  the  condition 
of  manuscript  books,  multiplied  slowly  and 
painfully,  —  and  instead  of  five  million  illit- 
erates, such  as  we  have  to-day  in  this  land 
of  light  and  progress,  we  might  have  twenty 
or  thirty  millions. 

The  illiterate  people  in  the  ages  previous 
to  the  invention  of  printing  were  more 
intelligent,  for  their  time,  than  are  the  illit- 
erate of  to-day.  To  be  unable  to  read 

1  Maitland,  however,  inclines  to  think  that  illiteracy  was 
not  so  common  as  these  instances  might  seem  to  indicate. 


THE   "DARK   AGES'*  19 

nowadays  means  backwardness,  neglect  of 
opportunities,  and  stupidity.  Quite  the 
contrary  in  the  mediaeval  epoch :  illiteracy 
was  excusable,  and,  in  a  certain  sense, 
fashionable,  inasmuch  as  it  was  a  common 
condition.  The  naturally  intelligent,  who 
in  our  day  would  be  "  common-schooled," 
were,  in  that  epoch,  illiterate. 

Another  consideration  that  must  be  borne 
in  mind  in  instituting  comparisons  between 
the  ninth  and  the  nineteenth  century  is 
the  circumstances  of  mediaeval  civilization. 
For  over  three  centuries  (to  A.  D.  750)  civi- 
lized Europe  was  the  field  of  successive 
waves  of  barbarian  conquest.  Franks, 
Goths,  Visigoths,  Ostrogoths,  Yandals,  Alans, 
Huns,  and  Lombards  followed  each  other 
with  destructive  incursions.  One  .wave 
pushed  the  other  further  on.  The  barba- 
rians apparently  did  not  conquer  for  the 
purpose  of  occupying  the  soil  and  building 
up  empires,  but  for  the  purpose  of  plunder. 
The  condition  was  consequently  one  of  con- 
tinued commotion  through  several  genera- 
tions. The  case  of  the  Vandals  is  in  point : 
they  pushed  through  France  and  settled  for 
a  time  in  Spain ;  later,  eighty  thousand  of 


20  MOOTED    QUESTIONS    OF    HISTORY 

them  crossed,  under  Genseric,  to  Carthage, 
where  a  Vandal  empire  was  established  for  al- 
most a  century ;  and  the  Vandals,  organized 
as  pirates,  came  down  upon  the  commerce 
of  the  Mediterranean  and  even  returned  to 
desolate  Rome.  Attila  inflicted  himself  as' 
the  "  scourge  of  God  "  upon  Christian  Europe. 
The  Northmen  broke  the  calm  after  the 
other  barbarians  had  subsided,  and  the 
Moslem  invasion  from  the  South  was  only 
checked  by  Charles  Martel  after  a  desperate 
battle  (A.  D.  732).  The  assimilation  of  ten 
successive  waves  of  northern  barbarians, 
and  the  blow  such  invasions  meant  to  exist- 
ing and  civilizing  institutions  made  the 
task  of  mediaeval  society  most  difficult  and 
gradual. 

Civilization  had,  in  fact,  to  be  begun  over. 
We  do  not  call  a  boy  decrepit  because  he 
lacks  the  strength  of  a  man.  Neither 
ought  we  to  slur  the  society  of  the  tenth 
century  as  "  dark  "  and  "  ignorant "  because 
it  did  .not  rapidly  attain  the  standards  of  our 
day.  There  is  no  responsibility  where  the 
conditions  are  natural  and  inexorable.  The 
mediaeval  centuries  were  constantly  forcing 
the  civilization  and  culture  of  European 


THE   "DARK   AGES"  21 

society  forward.  It  was  the  germinating 
epoch  of  the  modern  world.  There  was  no 
standing  still,  no  retrogression.  There  was 
constant  advance.  In  the  epoch  that  in 
the  retrospect  seems  most  hopeless  and  un- 
progressive,  i.  e.,  about  the  close  of  the 
tenth  century,  several  conspicuous  inventions 
were  made  that  the  modern  world  finds  of 
indispensable  value  :  clocks  were  constructed 
by  the  monk  Gerbert,  the  musical  scale  by 
the  monk  Guy,  and  another  monk  in  1285 
devised  spectacles.1  Common  schools  for 
the  masses  date  even  a  little  earlier,  and 
some  of  the  great  universities  of  modern 
Europe  were  founded  in  the  spirit  of  im- 
provement that  strongly  evinced  itself. 

The  nineteenth  century  goes  back  to  the 
eleventh  to  admire  the  magnificent  Gothic 
architecture  that  flourished  in  that  epoch, 
leaving  monuments  that  are  copied  in  the 
finest  temples  of  to-day.2  And  the  state  of 

1  Gunpowder    was   invented    about  the  year    1278. 
Arabic  notation  came  into  use  about  the  year   1275. 
Paper  was  manufactured  from  rags  early  in  the  twelfth 
century.     In  the  same  century  the  mariner's  compass 
came  into  use. 

2  Under  the  influence  of  Pugin,  the  second  quarter  of 
the  nineteenth  century  saw  a  revival,  especially  in  Eng- 


22  MOOTED    QUESTIONS    OF   HISTORY 

architecture  has  been  shrewdly  accepted  by 
historians  as  one  of  the  safest  gauges  of  the 
progress  attained  in  the  other  arts. 

Out  of  a  library  of  the  literature  of  the 
middle  ages,  consisting  of  great  folios  of 
"the  Fathers/'  tomes  of  historical  annals 
and  "  monkish  chronicles,"  and  a  whole  de- 
partment of  poetry  and  fiction,  three  great 
books  have  come  down  to  us  from  those 
centuries,  each  bearing  the  stamp  of  immor- 
tality. Thomas  Aquinas  (1224-74)  left  to 
the  world  the  "  Summa  Theologica,"  which 
has  for  six  hundred  years  been  the  standard 
authority  on  the  teachings  of  the  great 
church  of  Christendom. 

Dante  (1265-1321)  wrote  the  "Divina 
Coinmedia,"  which  has  won  him  a  name  in 
the  world  of  literature  unsurpassed  by  any 
writer  of  the  Christian  era,  Shakespeare 
alone  excepted. 

Thomas  a  Kempis  (1380-1471)  wrote  the 
"  Imitation  of  Christ,"  which  has  been 
translated  into  more  languages  than  any 
other  book  except  the  Bible.  In  the 

land  and  America,  of  the  Gothic  architecture  of  the 
fifteenth  century.  It  had  been  discarded  for  three  hun- 
dred years,  but  now  it  was  enthusiastically  revived. 


THE    "DARK   AGES"  23 

Cologne  library  there  are  samples  of  six 
hundred  editions  of  this  work,  brought  out 
in  the  nineteenth  century  alone. 

HALL  AM:    Limits  of  the  epoch 

"It  is  not  possible  to  fix  accurate  limits  to 
the  middle  ages ;  though  the  ten  centuries 
from  the  fifth  to  the  fifteenth  seem,  in  a 
general  point  of  view,  to  constitute  that 
period." 

Hallam,  The  Middle  Ages,  pref .  to  first  edition. 

GOLD  WIN  SMITH:  "Ages  of  light" 

"Hume  and  Robertson,"  says  Gold  win 
Smith,  "have  long  been  consigned  to  dis- 
grace for  their  want  of  accurate  erudition, 
especially  in  relation  to  the  middle  ages, 
which  to  them  are  merely  the  dark  ages : 
while  to  the  medievalist  of  our  day  they 
appear  to  be  the  special  ages  of  light/' 

PALGBAVE:   Unjust  disparagement  of  the 
middle  ages 

"Abstractedly  from  all  the  influences 
which  we  have  sustained  in  common  with 
the  rest  of  the  civilized  commonwealth,  our 
British  disparagement  of  the  middle  ages 


24  MOOTED    QUESTIONS   OF   HISTORY 

has  been  exceedingly  enhanced  by  our  griz- 
zled ecclesiastical  or  church  historians  of 
the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries.  .  .  . 
These  6  standard  works/  accepted  and 
received  as  Canonical  Books,  have  tainted 
the  nobility  of  our  national  mind.  An  ade- 
quate parallel  to  their  bitterness,  their 
shabbiness,  their  shirking,  their  habitual 
disregard  of  honor  and  veracity,  is  hardly 
afforded,  even  by  the  so-called  '  Anti-Jaco- 
bin' press  during  the  revolutionary  and 
Imperial  wars.  The  history  of  Napoleon, 
his  generals,  and  the  French  nation,  col- 
lected from  these  exaggerations  of  selfish 
loyalty,  rabid  aversion,  and  panic  terror, 
would  be  the  match  of  our  popular  and 
prevailing  ideas  concerning  Hildebrand,  or 
Anselm,  or  Becket,  or  Innocent  III.,  or 
mediaeval  Catholicity  in  general,  grounded 
upon  our  ancestral  traditionary  '  standard 
ecclesiastical  authorities,'  such  as  Burnett's 
'  Reformation,'  or  Fox's  '  Book  of  Martyrs.' 
.  .  .  The  scheme  of,  and  intent  of,  me- 
diaeval Catholicity  was  to  render  faith  the 
all-actuating  and  all-controlling  vitality.  .  .  . 
So  far  as  the  system  extended,  it  had  the 
effect  of  connecting  every  social  element 


THE   "DARK   AGES"  25 

with  Christianity.  And  Christianity  being 
thus  wrought  up  into  the  mediseval  system, 
every  mediaeval  institution,  character,  or 
mode  of  thought  afforded  the  means  or  vehi- 
cle for  the  vilification  of  Christianity.  Never 
do  these  writers,  or  their  School,  whether  in 
France  or  in  Great  Britain,  Voltaire  or 
Mably,  Hume,  Robertson,  or  Henry,  treat 
the  Clergy  or  the  Church  with  fairness, 
not  even  with  common  honesty.  If  histori- 
cal notoriety  enforces  the  allowance  of  any 
merit  to  a  priest,  the  effect  of  this  extorted 
acknowledgment  is  destroyed  by  a  happy 
turn,  a  clever  insinuation,  or  a  coarse  innu- 
endo. Consult,  for  example,  Hume,  when 
compelled  to  notice  Archbishop  Hubert's 
exertions  in  procuring  the  concession  of  the 
Magna  Charta ;  and  Henry,  narrating  the 
communications  which  passed  between 
Gregory  the  Great  and  Saint  Austin." 

Sir  Francis  Palgrave,  History  of  Normandy  and 
England.  London:  Macmillan  &  Co.,  1878.  (Pref- 
ace, pp.  xiv-xviii.) 

EMERSON:    Human    thought    never    more 
active 

"  In  modern  Europe  the  middle  ages 
were  called  the  Dark  Ages,  ten  centuries, 


26  MOOTED   QUESTIONS   OF    HISTORY 

from  the  fifth  to  the  fifteenth.  Who  dares 
to  call  them  so  now  ?  They  gave  us  deci- 
mal numbers,  gunpowder,  glass,  chemistry, 
and  Gothic  architecture;  and  their  paint- 
ings are  the  delight  and  tuition  of  our 
age.  .  .  .  The  darkness  of  those  times 
arises  from  our  own  want  of  information, 
not  from  the  absence  of  intelligence  that 
distinguished  them.  Human  thought  was 
never  more  active  and  never  produced 
greater  results  in  any  period  of  the 
world." 

Emerson,  "  Progress  of  Culture,"  in  Letters  and 
Social  Aims,  p.  204.     Boston,  1895. 

C ABL YLE :  Shakespeare  the  flowerage  of  the 
middle  ages 

"  This  glorious  Elizabethan  era,  with  its 
Shakespeare  as  the  outcome  and  flowerage 
of  all  which  had  preceded  it,  is  itself  at- 
tributable to  the  Catholics  of  the  middle 
ages.  The  Christian  faith,  which  was  the 
theme  of  Dante's  song,  had  produced  the 
practical  life  which  Shakespeare  was  to 
sing." 

Carlyle,  "  Hero  and  Poet." 


THE   "DARK   AGES"  27 

MAITLAND:    Our    grandsires   of    the    dark 
ages 

"  I  cannot  help  wishing  that  the  reader 
who  has  formed  his  idea  of  the  dark  ages 
only  from  some  modern  popular  writers  — 
I  do  not  mean  those  who  have  written  pro- 
fessedly on  the  subject  —  could  be  at  once 
fairly  thrown  back  into  the  midst  of  them. 
I  cannot  help  thinking  that  he  would  feel 
very  much  as  I  did  the  first  time  that  I 
found  myself  in  a  foreign  country.  A  thou- 
sand novelties  attracted  my  attention.  .  .  . 
Well,  and  these  old  folks  of  the  dark  ages 
were  our  grandfathers  and  grandmothers ; 
and,  in  a  good  many  points,  vastly  like  our- 
selves, though  we  may  not  at  first  see  the 
resemblance  in  the  few  smoky  family  pic- 
tures which  have  come  down  to  us ;  but 
6  had  they  not  eyes  ? '  '  had  they  not  hands, 
organs,  dimensions,  senses,  affections,  pas- 
sions, fed  with  the  same  food,  hurt  with 
the  same  weapons,  subject  to  the  same 
diseases,  healed  by  the  same  means, 
warmed  and  cooled  by  the  same  winter 
and  summer '  as  we  are  ?  '  Yes ;  but  they 
knew  nothing.'  Well,  then  it  is  strange  to 


28  MOOTED    QUESTIONS   OF    HISTORY 

think  how  they  could  do  and  say  so  much 
as  they  did  without  any  knowledge." 

Maitland,  The  Dark  Ages,  pp.  30-31.  London: 
John  Hodges,  Pub.,  1890. 

BLACKSTONE  in  error 

The  professors  of  law  in  the  Universities 
of  Cambridge  and  Oxford,  collaborating  on 
a  "  History  of  English  Law  before  the  Time 
of  Edward  I./'  conjointly  declare:  "Black- 
stone's  picture  of  a  nation  divided  into  two 
parties  —  '  the  bishops  and  clergy '  on  the 
one  side  contending  for  their  foreign  juris- 
prudence ;  ( the  nobility  and  the  laity '  on 
the  other  side  adhering  '  with  equal  perti- 
nacity to  the  old  common  law '  —  is  not  a 
true  one.  It  is  by 6  Popish  clergymen  '  that 
our  English  law  is  converted  from  a  rude 
mass  of  customs  into  an  articulate  system  ; 
and  when  the  '  Popish  clergymen/  yield- 
ing at  length  to  the  Pope's  commands,  no 
longer  sit  as  the  principal  justices  of  the 
king's  court,  the  golden  age  of  the  common 
law  is  over." 

STOKES :   The  task  of  the  Church 

Frederick  Stokes,  in  his  Introduction  to 
Maitland's  "  Dark  Ages,"  thus  sums  up  the 


THE    "DARK   AGES"  29 

situation  :  "  Almost  every  vestige  of  civiliza- 
tion had  perished  under  the  attacks  of  the 
Teutonic  invaders.  The  work  of  founding 
a  polity  and  a  civilization  had  to  be  recom- 
menced, and  this  is  one  of  the  salient  facts 
to  be  borne  in  mind  in  judging  of  the  Dark 
Ages.  The  men  of  those  ages  had  to  re- 
create the  political  and  social  world.  They 
had  to  rebuild  almost  from  the  foundation. 
Not  quite ;  for  Christianity,  the  basis  of 
European  civilization,  had  not  only  sur- 
vived the  storms  of  the  age  of  invasion,  but 
had  to  a  large  extent  converted  the  barba- 
rians themselves." 

HALL  AM:  What  the  Church  did 

"  It  was  no  crime  of  the  clergy  that  the 
Huns  burned  their  churches,  or  the  Nor- 
mans pillaged  their  monasteries.  It  was 
not  by  their  means  that  the  Saracens  shut 
up  the  supply  of  papyrus,  and  that  sheep- 
skins bore  a  great  price.  Europe  was  al- 
together decayed  in  intellectual  character, 
partly  in  consequence  of  the  barbarian 
incursions,  partly  of  other  sinister  influences, 
acting  long  before.  We  certainly  owe  to 
the  Church  every  spark  of  learning  which 


30  MOOTED    QUESTIONS    OF    HISTORY 

then  glimmered,  and  which  she  preserved 
through  that  darkness  to  rekindle  the  light 
of  a  happier  age." 

Hallam,  Middle  Ages,  ch.  ix.  (Notes). 

SCHLEGEL :  Achievements  of  the  time 

"  In  the  middle  age,  however,  as  in  anti- 
quity, the  era  of  the  foundation  of  states 
and  nations,  the  era  of  legislation  preceded 
that  of  the  arts  and  of  general  refinement. 
...  Of  ignorance,  however,  and  defective 
civilization,  it  is  scarcely  possible  to  ac- 
cuse an  age  wherein  the  Mediterranean  was 
covered  with  ships  as  richly  laden,  and  its 
coasts  by  commercial  cities  as  prosperous 
and  powerful,  as  the  most  flourishing  epoch 
of  Greece  ...  an  age  wherein  architecture 
soared  with  a  new  flight  and  painting  at- 
tained such  high  and  hitherto  unparal- 
leled development  and  perfection ;  an  age 
wherein  philosophy  almost  too  widely  cul- 
tivated became  an  affair  of  state  and 
practical  life,  wherein  all  the  historical 
and  literary  knowledge  which  was  at  that 
time  by  any  channels  accessible  was  pur- 
sued with  passionate  eagerness  and  desire, 
when  natural  science  and  mathematics 


THE   "DARK   AGES  31 

were  investigated  and  studied  with  untir- 
ing eagerness,  until  at  last  the  two  grand 
discoveries  by  which  the  mind  of  man 
attained  its  majority,  the  discovery  of  the 
new  hemisphere  and  planetary  motions, 
that  is,  of  the  true  magnitude  of  the 
heaven  and  earth,  crowned  the  research 
and  labors  of  centuries." 

Course  of  Lectures  on  Modern  History,  by  Frede- 
rick Schlegel  ;  edition  of  Bohn's  Library,  London, 
1849,  Lectures  9  and  10,  pp.  118-119. 

HALL  AM:  Mediaeval  common  schools 

"  The  praise  of  having  originally  estab- 
lished schools  belongs  to  some  bishops  and 
abbots  of  the  sixth  century.  They  came  in 
place  of  the  Imperial  schools,  overthrown 
by  the  barbarians.  In  the  downfall  of  that 
temporal  dominion,  a  spiritual  aristocracy 
was  providentially  raised  up,  to  save  from 
extinction  the  remains  of  learning  and  of 
religion  itself.  Some  of  these  schools  seem 
to  have  been  preserved  in  the  south  of 
Italy,  though  merely,  perhaps,  for  elemen- 
tary instruction.  .  .  .  The  cathedral  and 
conventual  schools,  created  or  restored  by 
Charlemagne,  became  the  means  of  pre- 


32   MOOTJB1>    QUESTIONS    OF    HISTORY 

serving  that  small  portion  of  learning 
which  continued  to  exist.  They  flourished 
most,  having  had  time  to  produce  their 
fruits,  under  his  successors,  Louis  the 
Debonair,  Lothaire,  and  Charles  the  Bald." 

Hallam,  Introd.  to  Lit.  of  Europe,  vol.  i.  p.  27. 
New  York :  Harper  Bros. 

MAITL  AND :  Churchmen  well  read 

"If  the  modern  ecclesiastic  should  ever 
meet  with  a  crop-eared  monk  of  the  tenth 
century,  he  may,  if  he  pleases,  laugh  at  him 
for  not  having  read  Virgil ;  but  if  he  should 
himself  be  led  to  confess  that,  though  a 
priest  of  Christ's  Catholic  church,  and 
nourished  in  the  languages  of  Greece  and 
Rome  till  they  were  almost  as  familiar  to 
him  as  his  own,  he  had  never  read  a  single 
page  of  Chrysostom  or  Basil,  of  Augustine 
or  Jerome,  of  Ambrose  of  Hilary  —  if 
he  should  confess  this,  I  am  of  the  opin- 
ion that  the  poor  monk  would  cross  him- 
self, and  make  off  without  looking  behind 
him." 

Maitland,  The  Dark  Ages,  p.  207.  London: 
John  Hodges,  Pub.,  1890. 


THE   "DARK   AGES"  33 

FKOUDE :  The  Mediaeval  clergy 

"Never  in  all  their  history,  in  ancient 
times  or  modern,  never  that  we  know  of, 
have  mankind  thrown  out  of  themselves 
anything  so  grand,  so  useful,  so  beautiful  as 
the  Catholic  church  once  was ....  Wisdom, 
justice,  self-denial,  nobleness,  purity,  high- 
mindedness,  —  these  are  the  qualities  before 
which  the  free-minded  races  of  Europe  have 
been  contented  to  bow ;  and  in  no  order  of 
men  were  such  qualities  to  be  found  as  they 
were  found  six  hundred  years  ago  in  the 
clergy  of  the  Catholic  church." 

James  Anthony  Froude,  Lecture  I.  on  the  "  Times 
of  Luther  and  Erasmus"  (Short  Studies  on  Great 
Subjects,  vol.  i.)- 

BOSANQUET:  An  epoch  of  architecture 

"  We  speak  sometimes  of  the  '  Dark 
Ages/  and  in  matters  of  the  exact  science 
perhaps  they  were  dark  enough.  Yet  we 
must  deduct  something  from  our  youthful 
ideas  of  their  obscurity  when  we  find  that 
our  truest  lovers  of  beauty  fix  the  building- 
age  of  the  world  between  the  years  500 
and  1500  of  our  era.  Architecture,  more 
than  any  other  art,  is  an  index  to  the 


34   MOOTED    QUESTIONS   OF    HISTORY 

happiness  and  freedom  of  the  people ;  and 
during  this  period  of  a  thousand  years  an 
architecture  pure  in  its  principles,  reason- 
able in  its  practice  and  beautiful  to  the 
eyes  of  all  men,  even  the  simplest,  covered 
Europe  with  beautiful  buildings  from  Con- 
stantinople to  the  north  of  Britain.  In 
the  presence  of  this  manifestation  of  free 
and  productive  intelligence,  unmatched  even 
in  ancient  Greece  and  Rome,  and  utterly 
unmatchable  to-day,  we  may  usefully  re- 
flect upon  the  expressive  and  constructive 
force  of  Christendom,  even  in  its  darkest 
hours.  The  more  closely  we  examine  the 
question,  the  less  ground  we  shall  find  for 
the  conception  of  the  middle  ages  as  a  long 
sleep  followed  by  a  sudden  awakening. 
Rather  we  should  consider  that  ancient 
Greece  was  the  root,  and  ancient  Rome 
the  stem  and  branches  of  our  life;  that  the 
Dark  Ages,  as  we  call  them,  represent  its 
flower,  and  the  modern  word  of  science 
and  political  freedom  the  slowly  matured 
fruit/' 

Bosanquet,    The    Civilization    of    Christendom, 
eh.  iii. 


THE   "DARK   AGES"  35 

FERGUSSON :  Excellence  of  mediaeval  archi- 
tecture 

"Not  even  the  great  Pharaonic  era  in 
Egypt,  the  age  of  Pericles  in  Greece,  nor 
the  great  period  of  the  Roman  Empire, 
will  bear  comparison  with  the  thirteenth 
century  in  Europe,  whether  we  look  to  the 
extent  of  the  buildings  executed,  their  won- 
derful variety  and  constructive  elegance, 
the  daring  imagination  that  conceived 
them,  or  the  power  of  poetry  and  of  lofty 
religious  feelings  that  is  expressed  in  every 
feature  and  in  every  part  of  them." 

Fergusson,  History  of  Architecture. 

HALLAM:  An  intellectual  impulse  in  1O7O 

"  About  the  latter  part  of  the  eleventh 
century  a  great  ardor  for  intellectual  pur- 
suits began  to  show  itself  in  Europe,  which 
in  the  twelfth  broke  out  into  a  flame. 
This  was  manifested  in  the  numbers  who 
repaired  to  the  public  academies  or  schools 
of  philosophy." 

Hallam,  Middle  Ages,  ch.  ix.  p.  604. 

DURTJY :  Greatness  of  the  thirteenth  century 

"  The  most  remarkable  period  of  the 
middle  ages  is  the  thirteenth  century. 


36   MOOTED    QUESTIONS    OF    HISTORY 

Two  great  popes,  Innocent  III.  and  In- 
nocent IV.,  then  occupied  the  chair  of  St. 
Peter  ;  a  saint  sat  on  the  throne  of  France, 
and  on  that  of  the  Empire  a  prince  upon 
whom  the  gaze  of  the  world  has  rested 
ever  since,  Frederick  II.  Italy  tempora- 
rily regained  her  independence.  England 
established  her  public  liberties,  wrote  her 
great  charter,  instituted  her  parliament. 
The  crusades  failed;  but  the  results  of 
these  great  enterprises  were  still  dazzl- 
ingly  manifest.  That  great  movement  of 
men  ]ed  to  a  great  movement  of  things 
and  ideas.  Commerce,  industry,  letters, 
the  arts  advanced  by  leaps  and  bounds; 
schools  multiplied;  studies  progressed;  na- 
tional literature  was  started;  great  names 
appeared  :  Albertus  Magnus ;  Thomas  Aqui- 
nas, Roger  Bacon,  Dante." 

History  of  France  (ch.  xv.)  by  Victor  Duruy, 
Member  of  the  French  Academy.  New  York : 
Thomas  Y.  Crowell  &  Co. 


II 

CHRISTIANITY  AS  A  CIVILIZER 

There  was  never  found  in  any  age  of  the 
world  either  philosophy,  or  sec/,  or  religion, 
or  law,  or  discipline,  which  did  so  highly  exalt 
the  good  of  the  community,  and  increase  pri- 
vate and  particular  good,  as  the  holy  Christian 
faith.  —  BACON. 

THE  moral  forces  in  society  were  all 
throughout    the   middle   ages   en- 
gaged  in  a   stupendous  labor  of 
regeneration. 

1.  In  the  pagan  world  slavery  was  an  es- 
tablished and  unquestioned  condition.  Plato 
made  it  the  topic  of  eulogy  in  his  "  Repub- 
lic." But  all  the  instincts  of  Christianity 
were  hostile  to  human  bondage.  "  It  is 
not  ordained,"  protested  St.  Augustine, 
"  that  man  should  rule  over  man ;  his  do- 
minion is  solely  over  brute  creation."  Reit- 
erated by  the  canons  of  the  Church  and  in 
the  writings  of  her  school-men,  these  ideas 
slowly  but  surely  undermined  the  custom 


38  MOOTED    QUESTIONS   OF    HISTORY 

of  slavery.  First  by  improving  the  condi- 
tion of  the  slave,  then  by  protecting  his 
freedom  when  manumitted,  and  finally  by 
making  it  a  meritorious  act  to  give  freedom 
to  serfs  and  to  ransom  captives,  the  Church 
accomplished  a  mighty  stride  in  the  path  of 
human  equality. 

2.  The  elevation  of  woman  proceeded 
on  a  similar  principle.  Marriage  was 
made  a  sacrament,  and  chastity  a  virtue. 
Monogamy  was  prescribed;  polygamy  de- 
nounced. From  being  an  inferior,  the  wife 
was  raised  to  the  position  of  a  companion  and 
an  equal.  So  transcendent  a  change  could 
have  come  only  through  powerful  religious 
conviction.1 

i  The  place  of  honor  assigned  by  the  Church  to  the 
Virgin  Mother  of  God,  and  the  sanctity  and  protection 
given  to  nuns  and  pious  women,  under  the  teachings 
of  the  Church,  silently  but  surely  elevated  the  whole 
mediaeval  conception  of  woman.  Mrs.  Jameson  says: 
*'  The  protection  and  better  education  given  to  women 
in  these  early  communities,  the  venerable  and  distin- 
guished ranks  assigned  to  them,  when  as  governesses  of 
their  order  they  became  in  a  manner  dignitaries  of  the 
Church ;  the  introduction  of  their  beautiful  and  saintly 
effigies  clothed  with  all  the  insignia  of  sanctity  and 
authority  into  the  places  of  worship  and  books  of 
devotion,  did  more,  perhaps,  for  the  general  cause 
of  womanhood  than  all  the  boasted  institutions  of 
chivalry." 


CHRISTIANITY   AS   A   CIVILIZEB     39 

3.  Chivalry  was  the  efflorescence  of  this 
religious  sentiment  under  the  conditions 
of  feudalism.  Its  cardinal  principles  were 
courage,  gentleness  of  manner,  and  respect 
for  sacred  things.  Undoubtedly  it  oper- 
ated as  a  most  potent  solvent  against 
barbarism  and  the  attributes  of  the  rude 
warrior.1 

1  The  four  qualities  of  true  knighthood  were  valor, 
loyalty,  courtesy,  and  munificence,  that  is,  a  disdain  for 
money,  and  a  disposition  generously  to  relieve  distress 
and  reward  service.  Burke's  description  of  chivalry 
is  familiar ;  he  speaks  of  it  as  "  the  unbought  grace  of 
life,  the  cheap  defence  of  nations,  the  nurse  of  manly 
sentiment  and  heroic  enterprise."  "  Never,  nevermore," 
he  says,  "  shall  we  behold  that  generous  loyalty  to  rank 
and  sex,  that  proud  submission,  that  dignified  obedience, 
that  subordination  of  the  heart,  which  kept  alive  even  in 
servitude  itself  the  spirit  of  an  exalted  freedom : "  and 
he  adds,  "  that  sensibility  of  principle,  that  chastity  of 
honor  which  felt  a  stain  like  a  wound,  which  inspired 
courage  whilst  it  mitigated  ferocity,  which  ennobled 
whatever  it  touched,  and  under  which  vice  itself  lost  half 
its  evil  by  losing  all  its  grossness." 

"  A  very  fascinating  picture  of  chivalous  manners  has 
been  drawn  by  a  writer  of  considerable  reading  and. 
still  more  considerable  ability,  Mr.  Kenelm  Digby,  in  his 
*  Broad  Stone  of  Honor.'  The  bravery,  the  courteous- 
ness,  the  munificence,  above  all,  the  deeply  religious 
character  of  knighthood  and  its  reverence  for  the  Church, 
naturally  took  hold  of  a  heart  so  susceptible  of  these 
emotions,  and  a  fancy  so  quick  to  embody  them.  St. 
Palaye  himself  is  a  less  enthusiastic  eulogist  of  chivalry, 


40  MOOTED    QUESTIONS   OF   HISTORY 

,  4.  The  "  Truce  of  God,"  originating  in 
France  about  1050,  and  spreading  into  Ger- 
many and  England,  was  another  device  of 
the  Church  against  the  ferocity  of  the  age. 
It  was  made  ground  for  excommunication 
to  do  battle  on  four  days  of  the  week 
(Thursday,  Friday,  Saturday,  and  Sunday), 
corresponding  with  the  passion  and  resur- 
rection of  Christ.  Council  after  council 
reiterated  this  decree.  A  wonderful  cessa- 
tion of  feudal  strife  and  bloody  knight 
errantry  ensued  as  a  consequence. 
v  5.  The  establishment  of  trade  unions, 
guilds,  and  corporations  was  one  of  the 
most  progressive  steps  in  the  history  of  the 
middle  ages.1  Religion  had  much  to  do  with 

because  he  has  seen  it  more  on  the  side  of  mere  romance, 
and  been  less  penetrated  with  the  conviction  of  its 
moral  excellence."  —  Hallam,  Middle  Ages,  part  ii.  ch. 
ix.  page  597  (note). 

1  Referring  to  the  trade  corporations  of  the  middle 
ages,  Duruy  says :  "  The  members  of  a  corporation  ob- 
tained from  it  mutual  protection,  and  aid  for  old  men, 
widows,  and  orphans.  Each  had  a  patron  saint,  festi- 
vals, and  a  treasury.  The  chiefs  prevented  frauds  and 
watched  over  the  observance  of  the  regulations.  These 
regulations  required  a  long  and  strict  apprenticeship, 
and  assured  to  the  members  of  the  corporation  the 
monopoly  of  their  industry  ;  so  that  for  each  profession 
the  number  of  masters  was  fixed  by  the  corporation 


CHRISTIANITY   AS   A   CIVILIZEB     41 

these  associations ;  they  bore  the  names  of 
saints  and  respected  certain  church  holidays. 
Sandi,  in  his  "  Civil  History  of  Venice/' 
counts  over  sixty  trade  corporations  in  that 
city  at  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  cen- 
v^tury.  The  Hanseatic  League  was  modelled 
after  religious  communities,  even  to  the 
extent  of  enjoining  celibacy. 

6.  The  influence  of  the  Church  was  nat- 
urally exerted  in  favor  of  the  poor  and  the 
decrepit.1     Hospitals   were   placed   by   the 
secular  governments  under  the  charge   of 
bishops  and  religious  orders,  and  asylums 
were  respected  as  Church  property. 

7.  The  mitigation  of  the  criminal  code, 
the  restraint  of  tyranny,  the  protection  of 
the  weak  as  against  the  exactions  of   the 
strong,  and  the  inculcation  of  gentle  man- 
ners were  direct  consequences  of  Christian 
teachings.     The  Sermon  on  the  Mount  was 
the  great  text  of  the  mediaeval  preacher; 

itself.  The  result  was  that  there  was  no  competition, 
because  there  was  no  liberty,  and  prices  were  maintained 
at  a  high  rate.  But  this  severe  discipline  was  neces- 
sary to  an  infant  industry."  (Duruy,  History  of  France, 
ch.  xv.) 

1  See  Gasquet's  Henry  VTIT.  and  the  English  Mon- 
asteries, vol.  i.  p.  107  ;  vol.  ii.  pp.  95,  101. 


42  MOOTED   QUESTIONS   OF    HISTORY 

and,  indeed,  no  lessons  were  more  in  demand 
and  of  more  wholesome  effect. 

FISHER  :  The  Mediaeval  Church 

"  The  Church  of  the  middle  ages  I  do 
not  consider  a  mitigated  evil,  but  an  in- 
calculable benefit  to  society.  .  .  .  Even  the 
papacy,  as  is  shown,  was  in  the  medi- 
aeval period  in  many  respects  a  beneficial 
institution." 

Fisher,  History  of  the  Reformation,  prefatory 
note  to  2d  ed.,  1883. 

GIBBON:  A  salutary  antidote 

"  The  authority  of  the  priests  operated  in 
the  darker  ages  as  a  salutary  antidote.  They 
prevented  the  total  extinction  of  letters, 
mitigated  the  fierceness  of  the  times,  shel- 
tered the  poor  and  defenceless,  and  preserved 
or  restored  the  peace  and  order  of  civil 
society." 

Gibbon,  History  of  the  Decline  and  Fall  of  the 
Roman  Empire,  ch.  Ixi.  (vol.  vi.  p.  230,  Harper 
Bros.  ed.  1880). 

ADAMS :  Fusion  of  races 

"Here,  then,  is  the  work  of  the  middle 
ages.  To  the  results  of  ancient  history  were 


CHRISTIANITY   AS    A    CIVILIZER      43 

to  be  added  the  ideas  and  institutions  of  the 
Germans,  to  the  enfeebled  Roman  race  was 
to  be  added  the  youthful  energy  and  vigor 
of  the  German.  Under  the  conditions  which 
existed  this  union  could  not  be  made  a 
harmonious  and  homogeneous  Christendom, 
could  not  be  formed,  except  through  anarchy, 
ignorance,  and  superstition." 

Gr.  B.  Adams,  Civilization  during  the  Middle  Ages, 
Introd. 

GUIZOT :  Promoted  peace 

"  She  [the  Church]  combated  with  much 
pertinacity  and  perseverance  the  great  vices 
of  the  social  condition,  particularly  slav- 
ery. .  .  .  The  Church  did  not  labor  less 
worthily  for  the  improvement  of  civil  and 
criminal  legislation.  .  .  .  Finally,  she  en- 
deavored by  every  means  in  her  power  to 
suppress  the  frequent  recourse  which  at 
this  period  was  had  to  violence,  and  the 
continual  wars  to  which  society  was  so 
prone." 

Guizot,  History  of  Civilization,  Lecture  6. 

GUIZOT:  The  Church  overcame  barbarism 

"  No  society  ever  made  greater  efforts 
than  the  Christian  Church  did  from  the 


44  MOOTED    QUESTIONS   OF    HISTOKY 

fifth  to  the  tenth  century  to  influence  the 
world  about  it  and  to  assimilate  it  to  itself. 
When  its  history  shall  become  the  partic- 
ular object  of  our  examination,  we  shall 
more  clearly  see  what  it  attempted.  It 
attacked,  in  a  manner,  barbarism  at  every 
point  in  order  to  civilize  it  and  rule  over 
it." 

Gkiizot,  History  of  Civilization,  vol.  i.  Lecture  3, 
p.  75. 

MACAULAY:  The  Church  abolished  slavery 

"  Before  the  Reformation  came,  she  [the 
Church]  had  enfranchised  almost  all  the 
bondsmen  in  the  Kingdom  [England]." 

Macaulay,  History  of  England,  vol.  i.  p.  33. 

LECKY:  Passing  of  the  gladiator 

"  The  extinction  of  the  gladiatorial  spec- 
tacle is,  of  all  the  results  of  early  Christian 
influence,  that  upon  which  the  historian 
can  look  with  the  deepest  and  most  un- 
mingled  satisfaction." 

Lecky,  History  of  European  Morals,  vol.  ii.  ch.  iv. 
p.  38  (D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  1877). 


CHRISTIANITY    AS    A    CIVIL.IZJ3K     45 

DUBUY:  Manifold  work  of  the  Church 

"Before  even  thinking  of  constituting 
the  State  intelligently,  it  was  necessary  to 
elevate  the  individual  and  the  family ;  this 
double  task  was  the  work  of  the  middle  ages. 
The  Church  worked  at  it  energetically 
by  establishing  the  sanctity  of  marriage, 
even  for  the  serf ;  by  preaching  the  equality 
of  all  men  in  the  eyes  of  God  ;  by  proclaim- 
ing, through  its  maintenance  of  the  principle 
of  election,  the  rights  of  intelligence  in  the 
face  of  the  feudal  world  which  recognized 
only  the  rights  of  blood ;  by  raising  to  the 
chair  of  St.  Peter  a  serf  like  Adrian  IV.  or 
the  son  of  a  poor  carpenter  like  Gregory 
VII." 

History  of  France  (p.  125),  by  Victor  Duruy. 
New  York :  Crowell  &  Co.,  Publishers. 

LECKY:  The  Church  protected  the  people 

"The  relations  of  rulers  to  their  subjects,' 
and  of  tribunals  to  the  poor,  were  modified 
by  the  intervention  of  the  Church.  When 
Antioch  was  threatened  with  destruction  on 
account  of  its  rebellion  against  Theodosius, 
the  anchorites  poured  forth  from  the  neigh- 


46   MOOTED    QUESTIONS    OF    HISTORY 

boring  deserts  to  intercede  with  the  ministers 
of  the  Emperor,  while  Archbishop  Flavian 
went  himself  as  a  suppliant  to  Rome.  St. 
Ambrose  imposed  public  penance  on  Theo- 
dosius  on  account  of  the  massacre  of 
Thessalonica.  Synesius  excommunicated 
for  his  oppression  a  governor  named  An- 
dronicus  ;  and  two  French  councils,  in  the 
sixth  century,  imposed  the  same  penalty  on 
all  great  men  who  arbitrarily  ejected  the 
poor.  St.  Abraham,  St.  Epiphanius,  and 
St.  Basil  are  all  said  to  have  obtained  the 
remission  or  reduction  of  oppressive  imposts. 
To  provide  for  the  interest  of  the  widows 
and  orphans  was  part  of  the  ecclesiastical 
duty,  and  a  Council  of  Macon  anathematized 
any  ruler  who  brought  them  to  trial  with- 
out first  apprising  the  Bishop  of  the  diocese. 
A  council  of  Toledo,  in  the  fifth  century, 
threatened  with  excommunication  all  who 
robbed  priests,  monks,  or  poor  men,  or 
refused  to  listen  to  their  expostulations.  .  .  . 
As  time  rolled  on,  charity  assumed  many 
forms,  and  every  monastery  became  a  centre 
from  which  it  radiated.  By  the  monks  the 
nobles  were  overawed,  the  poor  protected, 
the  sick  tended,  travellers  sheltered,  prisoners 


CHRISTIANITY   A3    A   CIVILIZE  R     47 

ransomed,  the  remotest  spheres  of  suffering 
explored." 

Lecky,  History  of  European  Morals,  vol.  ii.  ch.  iv. 
pp.  83-84  (ed.  of  D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  1877). 

FISHER :  Saved  Europe  from  anarchy 

"  The  feudal  system  was  an  atomic  con- 
dition of  political  society.  In  this  state  of 
things  the  Church,  through  its  hierarchical 
organization  under  one  chief,  did  a  benefi- 
cent work  for  civilization,  by  fusing  the 
peoples,  as  far  as  its  influence  went,  into  a 
single  community  and  subjecting  them  to  a 
uniform  condition.  The  mediaeval  papacy, 
whatever  evils  may  have  been  connected 
with  it,  saved  Europe  from  anarchy  and 
lawlessness." 

History  of  the  Reformation,  by  George  P.  Fisher, 
D.D.,  Professor  of  Eccl.  Hist,  in  Yale  College, 
ch.  ii.  p.  32  (ed.  of  Chas.  Scribner  &  Sons,  1883). 

LECKY :  Christian  charity  in  the  middle  ages 

"  In  no  form  of  charity  was  the  beneficial 
character  of  the  Church  more  continually 
and  more  splendidly  exercised  than  in 
redeeming  captives  from  servitude.  .  .  . 
St.  Augustine,  St.  Gregory  the  Great, 


48   MOOTED    QUESTIONS    OF    HISTORY 

St.  Csesarius  of  Aries,  St.  Exuperius  of 
Toulouse,  St.  Hilary,  St.  Remy,  all  melted 
down  or  sold  their  church  vessels  to  free 
prisoners.  St.  Cyprian  sent  a  large  sum 
for  the  same  purpose  to  the  Bishop  of 
Nicomedia.  St.  Epiphanus  and  St.  Avitus, 
in  conjunction  with  a  rich  Gaulish  lady 
named  Syagria,  are  said  to  have  rescued 
thousands.  St.  Eloi  devoted  to  this  object 
his  entire  fortune.  St.  Paulinus  of  Nola 
displayed  a  similar  generosity.  .  .  .  When, 
long  afterward,  the  Mohammedan  conquests 
in  a  measure  reproduced  the  calamities  of 
the  barbarian  invasions,  the  same  unwearied 
charity  was  displayed.  The  Trinitarian 
monks,  founded  by  St.  John  of  Matha  in 
the  twelfth  century,  were  devoted  to  the 
release  of  Christian  captives,  and  another 
society  [Our  Lady  of  Mercy]  was  founded 
with  the  same  object  in  view  by  St.  Peter 
Nolasco  in  the  following  century.'7 

Lecky,  History  of  European  Morals,  vol.  ii.  ch.  iv. 
pp.  73-74  (ed.  of  D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  1877). 

FKOUDE :  The  Church  as  a  teacher 

"  Never,  in  all  their  history,  in  ancient 
times  or  modern,  never,  that  we  know  of, 


CHRISTIANITY   AS    A   CIVILIZEB      49 

have  mankind  grown  out  of  themselves  any- 
thing so  grand,  so  useful,  so  beautiful  as  the 
Catholic  Church.  In  these  times  of  ours, 
well-regulated  selfishness  is  the  recognized 
rule  of  action ;  every  one  of  us  is  expected 
to  look  out  for  himself  first  and  take  care 
of  his  own  interests.  At  the  time  I  speak 
of,  the  Church  ruled  the  State  with  the 
authority  of  a  conscience,  and  self-interest, 
as  a  motive  of  action,  was  only  named 
to  be  abhorred.  The  bishops  and  clergy 
were  regarded  freely  and  simply  as  the 
immediate  ministers  of  the  Almighty ;  and 
they  seem  to  me  to  have  really  deserved 
that  high  estimate  in  their  character.  Wis- 
dom, justice,  self-denial,  nobleness,  purity, 
high-mindedness  —  these  are  the  qualities 
before  which  the  freeborn  of  Europe  have 
been  contented  to  bow ;  and  in  no  order  of 
men  were  such  qualities  found  as  they  were 
found  six  hundred  years  ago  in  the  clergy 
of  the  Catholic  Church.  They  were  allowed 
to  rule  because  they  deserved  to  rule,  and 
in  the  fulness  of  reverence  kings  and  nobles 
bent  to  their  power,  which  was  nearer  to 
their  own.  Over  prince  and  subject,  chief- 
tain and  serf,  a  body  of  unarmed,  defence- 
4 


50  MOOTED    QUESTIONS    OF    HISTORY 

less  men  reigned  supreme  by  the  magic  of 
sanctity.  They  tamed  the  fiery  Northern 
warriors  who  had  broken  in  pieces  the 
Roman  empire.  They  taught  them  —  they 
brought  them  really  and  truly  to  believe  -r— 
that  they  had  immortal  souls,  and  that  they 
would  one  day  stand  at  the  awful  judg- 
ment bar,  and  give  account  of  their  lives 
there." 

Froude,  Short  Studies  on  Great  Subjects  (vol.  i.), 
"  Times  of  Erasmus  and  Luther,"  Lecture  1. 

HALL  AM:  On  chivalry 

"  The  best  school  of  moral  discipline 
which  the  middle  ages  afforded  was  the 
institution  of  chivalry.  .  .  .  The  spirit  of 
chivalry  left  behind  it  a  more  valuable 
successor.  The  character  of  knight  gradually 
subsided  in  that  of  gentleman;  and  the 
one  distinguishes  European  society  in  the 
sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries,  as  much 
as  the  other  did  in  the  preceding  ages.  A 
jealous  sense  of  honor,  less  romantic  but 
equally  elevated ;  a  ceremonious  gallantry 
and  politeness;  a  strictness  in  devotional 
observances ;  a  high  pride  of  birth,  and 
feeling  of  independence  of  any  sovereign 


CHRISTIANITY   AS   A   CIVILIZEB     51 

for  the  dignity  it  gave ;  a  sympathy  for 
martial  honor,  though  more  subdued  by 
civil  habits,  —  are  the  lineaments  which 
prove  an  indisputable  descent." 

Hallam,  Middle  Ages,  part  ii.  ch.  ix. 


Ill 

"THE  MONKS   OF  OLD" 

1  envy  them,  those  monks  of  old , 
Their  books  they  read,  their  beads  they  told. 
G.  P.  R.  JAMES 

/  like  a  church ;  I  like  a  cowl ; 

I  love  a  prophet  of  the  soul ; 

And  on  my  heart  monastic  aisles 

Fall  like  sweet  strains,  or  pensive  smiles. 

EMERSON 

WHATEVER  view  may  now  obtain 
respecting  monasteries,  there  can 
be  no  doubt  that  "  the  monks  of 
old  "  *  enjoyed  the  average  good  opinion  of 
their  age.     In  times  of  violence  the  mon- 
astery lands  were  held  inviolate  ;  the  monk 

1  St.  Anthony  (250-356)  is  regarded  as  the  founder  of 
monachism.  In  529  St.  Benedict  re-organized  monachism, 
and  the  Benedictine  rule  gradually  prevailed  in  the 
monasteries  all  over  western  Europe.  Waves  of  reform, 
such  as  those  inaugurated  at  Cluny  and  Citteaux, 
transpired  during  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries. 
In  the  thirteenth  century  the  Dominicans  and  Franciscans 
appeared. 


"THE   MONKS   OF   OLD"  53 

travelled  without  retinue.  The  avarice  of 
the  half-pagan  nobility  led  to  the  suppres- 
sion and  spoliation  of  the  rich  monasteries 
at  the  time  of  the  Reformation.  But  pop- 
ular favor  was  still  on  the  side  of  the 
monks.  We  have  an  instance  of  this  in 
English  history.  In  1536  all  the  northern 
counties  of  England  rose  in  rebellion  at  the 
suppression  of  the  lesser  monasteries.  This 
uprising  was  known  as  the  "  Pilgrimage  of 
Grace." 

What  are  now  called  "  the  extinct 
virtues  "  —  voluntary  poverty,  chastity,  and 
obedience  —  were  the  monastic  vows  chiefly 
insisted  upon  until  the  sixth  century.  Then 
St.  Benedict  added  the  requirement  of 
manual  labor,  and  among  the  rocks  of 
Subiaco,  forty  miles  from  Rome,  the  foun- 
dations were  laid  for  the  monasticism  of 
history. 

1.  The  old  monastic  maxim  which  Car- 
lyle  so  much  admired,  "  Labor  is  prayer," 
naturally  yielded  marked  results.  The 
monks  improved  the  rude  agricultural 
science  of  their  age,  bringing  to  their  tasks 
in  the  field  the  keenness  of  study  and  con- 
templation. Immense  tracts  of  land  in 


54  MOOTED    QUESTIONS   OF   HISTORY 

the  Hercynean  woods,  in  the  morasses  of 
Holland,  in  the  forests  of  Burgundy,  and 
the  fens  of  Lincolnshire,  were  caused  to 
bloom  as  a  garden  by  their  labor.  The 
most  populous  country  in  Europe  to-day 
stretches  between  St.  Omer  and  Liege.  It 
was  formerly  a  marsh,  transformed  by 
cowled  and  hooded  tillers. 

2.  Cities  and  centres  of  population  grew 
up   about   the   fortresses   of    industry   and 
peace    established   by   monks.     Under   the 
shadow  of  the  abbey,  the  husbandman  was 
free  from  feudal  rapacity.     The  etymology 
of  such  place-names  as  Munich  is  sufficiently 
significant. 

3.  The  poor  and  weak  were  the  especial 
solicitude    of    the    mediaeval    monasteries. 
England's  "  poor  laws  "  date  from  the  sup- 
pression of  the  abbeys.     Prior  to  that  time, 
this  social  burden  and  duty  was  discharged 
by  organized  church  agencies.  "  The  monks,' ' 
says  Edmund  Burke,  "  were  the  sole  channel 
through  which  the  bounty  of  the  rich  could 
reach  the  poor  in  any  continued  stream,  and 
the  people  turned  their  eyes  towards  them  in 
all  distresses." 

4.  In  times  of  barbarous  forays,  feudal 


"THE   MONKS   OF   OLD"  55 

warfare  and  social  violence,  the  peaceful, 
contemplative,  and  religious  mind  naturally 
sought  a  retreat  for  safety  and  kindred 
association.  Weariness  and  adversity  also 
craved  a  refuge.  In  this  respect  monas- 
teries were  an  inevitable  product  of  the  age. 
"  0  father  abbot,"  says  Wolsey  in  Shake- 
speare's play, 

"  An  old  man  broken  by  the  storms  of  state 
Is  come  to  lay  his  weary  bones  among  you; 
Give  him  a  little  earth,  for  charity." 

5.  Some  of  the  "  great  books "  of  the 
world  were  written  in  these  mediaeval  re- 
treats.    "  The  Imitation  of  Christ "  and  the 
"  Spiritual  Combat  "  breathe  of  the  solemn 
stillness  and  interior  peace  of  monastic  life. 
Our  world  may  aspire  to,  but  it  can  never 
quite   realize,   the  contemplative   spirit   of 
those  works. 

6.  The  literature  of  antiquity  was  safely 
stored  away  in  the  monasteries  until   the 
period  of  the  Renaissance.    It  was  the  labor 
of  years  to  multiply  the  classical  authors, 
but    even  in  an  age  of   manuscript  books 
rich  libraries  were  found  in  many  abbeys. 
The  thirty-two  thousand  manuscript  books 


56   MOOTED    QUESTIONS   OF   HISTORY 

in  the  great  library  at  Paris  are  almost 
entirely  in  the  handwriting  of  monks.  The 
Bible  was  copied  and  illuminated,  and  the 
annals  and  chronicles  of  every  country  were 
for  several  centuries  recorded  solely  by 
monks. 

7.  The  schools  of  the  middle  ages  were 
of   monastic    origin.      The  synods  of    the 
clergy  and  the  capitularies  of  Charlemagne 
directed  that  schools  should  be  opened  in 
connection  with  the  abbeys.     Free  common 
schools  were  an    invention   of  the  monks. 
The  universities  were  a  natural  outgrowth. 
That  of  Paris,  although  springing  from  a 
small  monastery  school,  had  thirty  thousand 
students  in   the    time    of    Abelard.      The 
majority  of  existing  European  universities 
date  from   the    thirteenth   and   fourteenth 
centuries.1 

8.  Quite    naturally,  minds   educated  in 
the  monasteries  began,  eventually,  to  rule 
in  the  affairs  of  Church  and  State.     Pope 
Gregory  VII.,  called  Hildebrand,  came  from 

1  The  growth  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge  universities 
in  England  synchronizes  with  "the  coming  of  the  friars." 
These  were  not  monastic  universities ;  nevertheless  the 
monastic  influence  built  them  up. 


"THE   MONKS    OF    OLD"  57 

the  monastery  of  Cluny  to  work  a  great 
revolution  in  ecclesiastical  polity.  Peter  the 
Hermit  drew  all  Europe  into  the  Crusades. 
Lanfranc,  Roger  Bacon,  and  Thomas  Aqui- 
nas exerted  influences  of  the  most  far- 
reaching  character  upon  the  thought  and 
temper  of  their  times. 

9.  Monopolizing  the  learning  of  the  age, 
the   monastery   generally   led    the  way  in 
science  and  material   progress.     Alchemy, 
medicine,  astronomy,  geography,  and  other 
natural  sciences  were  distinct  tendencies  of 
monastic  studies  in  the  fifteenth  century. 
The  numerous  inventions  made  by  monks  — 
clocks,  gunpowder,  the  musical  scale,  specta- 
cles, etc.  —  are  easily  recalled. 

10.  One  is  impressed  with  the  necessity 
of  organized  forces  in  the  work  of  civiliza- 
tion and  Christianization  accomplished    in 
the  middle  ages.     There  was  an  eternal  fit- 
ness that  the  monasteries  should  undertake 
this  mission.     Fortresses  of  culture  against 
barbarian  invasions,  they  subsequently  be- 
came centres  from  which  missionaries  issued 
forth  to  subjugate  the  world.     A  counter 
invasion    was     undertaken    by     surpliced 
monks  in    the  very   cradle   of    the   Goths 


58   MOOTED    QUESTIONS    OF    HISTORY 

and  Vandals.  They  penetrated  Russia  and 
Scandinavia,  and  built  their  outposts  in 
Iceland  and  Greenland. 

Abuses,  of  course,  crept  in.  Worldly- 
minded  abbots  were  installed  by  the  secular 
arm.  Great  wealth  carried  its  inevitable 
temptations,  and  religion  was  disfigured  by 
barbarism.  But  the  sum  total  was  progress, 
and  the  debt  of  society  must  be  paid  by  a 
favorable  and  a  liberal  judgment. 

FROUDE :  The  monastic  system 

"  Let  us  now  turn  to  another  vast  feature 
of  the  middle  ages  —  I  mean  the  monas- 
teries. .  .  .  The  monks,  as  the  brother- 
hoods were  called,  were  organized  in  different 
orders  with  some  variety  of  rule,  but  the 
broad  principle  was  the  same  in  all.  They 
were  to  live  for  others,  not  for  themselves. 
They  took  vows  of  poverty  that  they  might 
not  be  entangled  in  the  pursuit  of  money ; 
they  took  vows  of  chastity,  that  the  care  of 
a  family  might  not  distract  them  from  the 
work  which  they  had  undertaken.  Their 
efforts  of  charity  were  not  limited  to  this 
world.  Their  days  were  spent  in  hard  bod- 
ily labor,  in  study,  or  in  visiting  the  sick. 


"THE   MONKS    OF   OLD"  59 

At  night  they  were  on  the  stone  floors 
of  their  chapels,  holding  up  their  withered 
hands  to  heaven,  interceding  for  the  poor 
souls  who  were  suffering  in  purgatory. 
The  world,  as  it  always  will,  paid  honor 
to  exceptional  excellence.  The  system 
spread  to  the  furthest  limits  of  Christen- 
dom. .  .  .  And  gradually  lands  came  to 
them,  and  wealth,  and  social  dignity,  —  all 
gratefully  extended  to  men  who  deserved 
well  of  their  fellows;  while  no  landlords 
were  more  popular  than  they,  for  the  sanc- 
tity of  the  monks  sheltered  their  depend- 
ents as  well  as  themselves." 

James  Anthony  Froude,  Times  of  Erasmus  and 
Luther  (Short  Studies  on  Great  Subjects,  vol.  i. 
pp.  56-58,  Longmans,  Green,  &  Co.,  1884). 

MAITLAND :  What  the  monasteries  were 

"  It  is  impossible  to  get  even  a  superfi- 
cial knowledge  of  the  mediaeval  history  of 
Europe,  without  seeing  how  greatly  the 
world  of  that  period  was  indebted  to  the 
monastic  orders ;  and  feeling  that,  whether 
they  were  good  or  bad  in  other  matters, 
monasteries  were  beyond  all  price  in  those 
days  of  misrule  and  turbulence,  as  places 


60  MOOTED    QUESTIONS   OF   HISTORY 

where  ( it  may  be  imperfectly,  yet  better 
than  elsewhere)  God  was  worshipped  —  as 
a  quiet  and  religious  refuge  for  helpless  in- 
fancy and  old  age,  a  shelter  of  respectful 
sympathy  for  the  orphan  maiden  and  tfye 
desolate  widow  —  as  central  points  whence 
agriculture  was  to  spread  over  bleak  hills 
and  barren  downs  and  marshy  plains,  and 
deal  bread  to  millions  perishing  with  hunger 
and  its  pestilential  train  —  as  repositories 
of  the  learning  which  then  was,  and  well- 
springs  of  the  learning  that  was  to  be  —  as 
nurseries  of  art  and  science,  giving  the 
stimulus,  the  means,  and  the  reward  to  in- 
vention, and  aggregating  around  them 
every  head  that  could  devise  and  every 
hand  that  could  execute  —  as  the  nucleus  of 
the  city  which,  in  after  days  of  pride,  should 
crown  its  palaces  and  bulwarks  with  the 
towering  cross  of  its  cathedral." 

Maitland,  The  Dark   Ages,  p.  2  (John  Hodges, 
Pub.,  London,   1890). 

BRITISH  ENCYCLOPAEDIA :  Moiiachism  a 
deeply  seated  principle 

"  But   the  most    philosophical    mode  of 
viewing  .its  [monachism's]  relation  to  Chris- 


"THE   MONKS    OF    OLD"  61 

tianity  is  to  recognize  that  monachism  has 
made  a  part  of  every  creed  which  has  at- 
tained a  certain  stage  of  ethical  and  theo- 
sophical  development ;  that  there  is  a  class  of 
minds  for  which  it  always  has  had  a  power- 
ful attraction,  and  which  can  otherwise 
find  no  satisfaction ;  and  consequently,  that 
Christianity,  if  it  is  to  make  good  its  claim 
to  be  a  universal  religion,  must  provide  ex- 
pression for  a  principle  which  is  as  deeply 
seated  in  human  nature  as  domesticity 
itself,  albeit  limited  to  a  much  smaller  sec- 
tion of  mankind." 

Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  9th  ed.,  vol.  xvi.  p.  698. 

EMERTON :   Monks  led  the  age 

"  So  we  have,  over  and  over  again,  great 
waves  of  monastic  reform  sweeping  over 
European  society,  and  carrying  with  them, 
let  it  be  fairly  understood,  usually  all  that 
was  best  and  most  forward-looking  in  the 
community.  The  conclusion  we  have  to  draw 
from  this  fact  is  that  the  mediaeval  world 
was  right;  and  it  knew  its  own  needs,  and 
was  trying  to  provide  for  them  in  its  own 
way.  Our  business  is,  not  to  criticise  these 
means  of  social  improvement,  but  —  and 


62  MOOTED   QUESTIONS   OF    HISTORY 

this  is  far  more  difficult  —  to  understand 
them." 

Mediaeval  Europe,  p.  558,  by  Ephraim  Emerton, 
Prof,  of  History  in  Harvard  University.  Boston : 
Gmn  &  Co.,  1894. 


LECKY:     Industrial    advances    led    by    the 
monks 

"  Here,  again,  the  influence  of  the  Church 
was  exerted  with  unwavering  beneficence 
and  success.  The  fathers  employed  all 
their  eloquence  in  favor  of  labor;  but  it 
is  to  the  monks,  and  especially  to  the  Bene- 
dictine monks,  that  the  change  is  pre- 
eminently due.  At  a  time  when  religious 
enthusiasm  was  directed  towards  the  mo- 
nastic life  as  towards  the  ideal  of  perfection, 
they  made  labor  an  essential  part  of  their 
discipline.  Wherever  they  went,  they  re- 
vived the  traditions  of  old  Roman  agricul- 
ture, and  large  tracts  of  France  and  Belgium 
were  drained  and  planted  by  their  hands. 
The  monks  of  the  order  of  St.  Basil  devoted 
themselves  especially  to  painting,  and  all 
the  mediaeval  architects  whose  names  have 
come  down  to  us  are  said  to  have  been  ec- 
clesiastics, till  the  rise  of  those  great  lay 


"THE   MONKS   OF   OLD"  63 

companies  who  designed  or  built  the  cathe- 
drals of  the  twelfth  century.  A  great  num- 
ber of  the  towns  of  Belgium  trace  their 
origin  in  this  manner  to  the  monks.  .  .  . 
By  these  means  the  contempt  for  labor 
which  had  been  produced  by  slavery  was 
corrected,  and  the  path  was  open  for  the 
rise  of  the  industrial  classes  which  followed 
the  crusades." 

Lecky,  Rationalism  in  Europe,  vol.  ii.  pp. 
231-232. 

L.ECKY:  Monks  as  builders 

"  In  France,  the  low  countries,  and  Ger- 
many they  were  pre-eminently  agriculturists. 
Gigantic  forests  were  felled,  inhospitable 
marshes  were  reclaimed,  barren  plains  culti- 
vated by  their  hands.  The  monastery  often 
became  the  nucleus  of  a  city.  It  was  the 
centre  of  civilization  and  industry,  the  sym- 
bol of  moral  power  in  an  age  of  turbulence 
and  war." 

Lecky,  History  of  European  Morals,  vol.  ii.  eh.  iv. 
p.  184. 

Hallam :  Monasteries  preserved  books 

"  The  monasteries  were  subjected  to  strict 
rules  of  discipline,  and  held  out,  at  the  worst, 


64  MOOTED    QUESTIONS    OF   HISTORY 

more  opportunities  for  study  than  the 
secular  clergy  possessed,  and  fewer  for 
worldly  dissipations.  But  their  most  im- 
portant service  was  as  secure  repositories 
for  books.  All  our  manuscripts  have  been 
preserved  in  this  manner,  and  could  hardly 
have  descended  to  us  by  any  other  channel ; 
at  least  there  were  intervals  when  I  do  not 
conceive  that  any  royal  or  private  libraries 
existed." 

Hallam,  Middle  Ages,  ch.  ix.  part  i.  p.  484. 


IV 
THE  PAPAL  POWER 

Then  wakes  the  power  which  in  the  age  of  iron 
Burst  forth  to  curl  the  great,  andraive  the  low. 
Mark  where  she  stands —  around  her  form  I 

draw 
The  awful  circle  of  our  solemn  church. 

BULWER  LYTTON,  Richelieu,  IV.  2. 

I.    HILDEBRAND 

*    f'  |  "\HE  Bishop  of  Rome  was  so  much 

annoyed  by  Lombard  free-booters, 

-*-       towards  the  middle  of  the  eighth 

century,   that   he   called   upon   Pepin,   the 

French  king,  to  come  over  the  Alps  and 

establish  peace.     When  Pepin  subdued  the 

Lombards,  he  made  the  Pope  sole  ruler  of 

Rome  and  the  country  near  by.1 

i  During  the  pontificate  of  Gregory  I.,  known  as 
Gregory  the  Great  (590  to  604),  the  Pope  gradually 
became  the  political  ruler  of  Rome.  Nominally,  Rome 
was  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Exarchate  of  Ravenna, 
who  was  the  representative  of  the  emperor  at  Constanti- 
5 


66   MOOTED   QUESTIONS   OF    HISTORY 

This  was  a  great  advantage  to  the  spirit- 
ual head  of  the  Christian  Church.  It 
relieved  him  from  the  influence  and  annoy- 
ance of  petty  kings  and  princes.  But  the 
Papal  office  was  not  hereditary.  The  petty 
kings  had  an  opportunity  of  stepping  in  a't 
the  death  of  the  Pope  and  exercising  con- 
siderable influence  in  selecting  his  successor. 
For  their  busy  interference  they  claimed 
the  privilege  of  appointing  the  bishops  in 
their  neighborhoods,  and  controlling  the 
religious  patronage.  If  they  happened,  as 
they  frequently  did,  to  be  avaricious  per- 
sons, there  were  scandalous  sales  of  the 
best  bishoprics  and  other  unexemplary 
proceedings. 

During  the  tenth  century  good  men  bit- 
terly deplored  the  number  of  such  abuses. 
Some  of  the  Popes  were  appointed  as  the 
creatures  of  German  emperors.  Many  im- 
portant sees  were  filled  by  court  favorites 
utterly  unworthy  of  sacred  offices. 

The  Church  soon  made  a  stupendous 
effort  to  free  itself  from  such  worldly  vassal- 

nople.  When  Pepin  carne  to  Rome  to  repel  the  Lom- 
bards, he  gave  the  entire  Exarchate  (extending  east  to 
the  Adriatic)  to  the  Pope. 


THE    PAPAL    POWER  67 

age.  It  found  a  wise  and  adroit  Moses  in 
the  monk  Hildebrand.1  His  first  step  was 
to  advise  the  Pope  to  designate  a  college 
of  cardinals,  which  should  thereafter  have 
the  naming  of  Roman  pontiffs.  Later  on, 
Hildebrand  was  himself  chosen  Pope,  and 
took  the  name  of  Gregory  VII. 

A  ceremony  called  the  "  investiture "  of 
bishops,  or  the  conferring  upon  them  of  the 
ring  and  crosier  of  their  office  by  the  em- 

1  It  is  significant  of  the  social  power  of  the  Church, 
that  this  man  who  defied  kings  was  the  son  of  a  humble 
carpenter.  Born  in  Tuscany  A.  D.  1013  and  educated  in 
Rome,  he  became  a  monk  at  the  famous  monastery  of 
Cluny  in  France.  He  served  a  long  apprenticeship  in 
the  work  of  the  Church  before  he  was  called  to  the  high- 
est place  in  its  government.  He  was  virtually  the  ad- 
viser and  counsellor  of  five  of  the  Popes  who  preceded 
him,  influencing  them  all  towards  measures  which  re- 
formed and  elevated  the  Church  of  the  times.  It  was 
not  until  he  had  attained  his  sixtieth  year  that  Hilde- 
brand himself  became  Pope.  When  he  died  in  exile 
(A.  D.  1085)  he  said,  "  I  have  loved  justice  and  hated 
iniquity,  therefore  I  die  in  exile."  Newman  says : 
"  Gregory  thought  he  had  failed  :  so  it  is  ;  often  a  cause 
seems  to  decline  as  its  champion  grows  in  years,  and  to 
die  in  his  death ;  but  this  is  to  judge  hastily  ;  others  are 
destined  to  complete  what  he  began.  No  man  is  given 
to  see  his  work  through.  'Man  goeth  forth  unto  his 
work  and  to  his  labor  until  the  evening,'  but  the  evening 
falls  before  it  is  done."  —  Essays,  Grit,  and  Hist.,  vol.  ii. 
p.  316. 


68   MOOTED    QUESTIONS    OF    HISTORY 

peror,  had  grown  to  mean  more  than  a 
mere  formality.  The  substance  went  with 
it;  the  actual  selection  of  the  bishop  was 
implied  in  his  investiture.1  Henry  IV.  of 
Germany  had  been  particularly  insistent 
in  his  exercise  of  this  prerogative.  The 
Church  was  disgraced  by  the  "bishops" 
thus  thrust  upon  her. 

Gregory  VII.  cut  the  Gordian  knot  by 
prohibiting  the  investiture  and  censuring 
any  prince  who  kept  it  up. 

The  manner  in  which  the  emperor  met 
this  papal  act  illustrates  his  conception  of 
the  civil  ruler's  power.  He  called  a  meeting 
of  his  bishops  and  deposed  Gregory  from 
the  papal  office,  not  forgetting  to  set  up  one 
of  his  own  court  favorites  in  the  former's 
place. 

Gregory  VII.  saw  that  he  must  fight  the 
devil  with  fire.  His  counterblast  came  at 
once  (A.  D.  1076)  in  a  proclamation  absolv- 

1  "  The  ring  and  crosier,  it  was  asserted  by  the  Papal 
advocates,  were  the  emblems  of  that  power  which  no 
monarch  could  bestow  ;  but  even  if  a  less  offensive  sym- 
bol were  adopted  in  investitures,  the  dignity  of  the 
Church  was  lowered,  and  her  purity  contaminated  when 
her  highest  ministers  were  compelled  to  solicit  the 
patronage  or  the  approbation  of  laymen."  —  Hallam, 
Middle  Ages,  ch.  vii.  part  i.  p.  655. 


THE   PAPAL   POWER  69 

ing  the  German  people  from  allegiance  to 
Henry.  The  ground  taken  was  that  the 
emperor  had  broken  his  coronation  oath. 
That  oath  required  him  to  protect  the 
Church  and  respect  his  people's  liberties. 
It  happened  that  just  then  Henry  was  fail- 
ing in  both  particulars.  The  act  of  Gregory 
met  with  a  wonderful  response.  Every- 
where the  monks  and  friars  denounced 
Henry  as  no  longer  fit  to  rule.  The  lords 
gathered  and  repudiated  him.  He  was  a 
king  without  a  throne,  and  it  became  the 
highest  policy  on  his  part  to  repent. 

This  he  did  by  a  famous  journey  to 
Canossa.  The  Pope  forgave  him  too  easily, 
not  discerning  his  purpose  of  revenge,  for 
he  subsequently  drove  Gregory  from  Rome, 
and  the  aged  pontiff  died  in  exile.  But  the 
Papal  policy  was  fixed,  and  in  the  year  1122 
the  German  emperor  formally  resigned  the 
alleged  right  of  "  investiture/' 1 

Gregory  deposed  Henry  in  self-defence ; 
some  of  Gregory's  successors  kept  up  the 
war  in  Africa  with  the  same  object  in  view. 

1  This  was  by  virtue  of  the  famous  "Concordat 
of  Worms."  Meanwhile  Henry  V.  had  succeeded 
his  father  as  emperor  of  Germany. 


70   MOOTED    QUESTIONS   OF    HISTORY 

A  great  contest  with  Frederick  Barbarossa, 
Emperor  of  Germany,  was  ended  in  1177. 
The  Papal  authority  won  again.  A  few 
years  afterwards  King  John  of  England 
asked  the  Pope  to  order  the  French  king  to< 
give  Normandy  back  to  Britain,  —  implying 
that  authority  for  such  an  act  resided  in  the 
Roman  See.  Innocent  III.  did  not  do  so, 
but  he  afterwards  found  occasion  to  de- 
clare John's  throne  forfeited,  and  to  absolve 
the  English  from  their  allegiance. 

II.   THE  DEPOSING  POWER 

For  two  centuries  following  Hildebrand's 
struggle  with  Henry  IV.  it  seems  to  have 
been  the  generally  received  opinion  that  the 
Pope  might  depose  sovereigns  where  such 
valid  reasons  existed  as  oppression  of  the 
people,  heresy,  and  vice.  The  precise  basis 
of  this  opinion  is  not  clear.  Some  regard 
it  as  a  development  of  feudalism,  the  Pope 
being  recognized  as  the  suzerain  of  all  the 
sovereigns  of  Christendom.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  many  rulers,  at  different  times,  placed 
their  dominions  under  the  direction  of  the 
Pope,  or  invoked  the  papal  authority  to 


THE   PAPAL   POWER  71 

recover  their  possessions.  The  deposing 
power  may  also  have  developed  from  a 
disposition  to  regard  the  Pope  as  the  arbiter 
in  disputes  between  Christian  rulers.  Still 
another  view  regards  the  deposing  power  as 
the  received  public  law  of  the  middle  ages 
—  from  the  fact  that  Kings  and  Emperors 
in  order  to  reign  lawfully  had  to  profess 
the  Catholic  faith  and  be  in  communion 
with  the  Pope.  Fenelon  found  a  basis  for 
the  deposing  power  in  the  fact  that  the  Pope 
was  the  final  judge  of  all  political  contracts 
involving  "  allegiance."  He,  as  the  chief 
pastor  of  the  Church,  was  bound,  in  dis- 
puted cases,  to  instruct  people  consulting 
him  as  to  whether  they  were  obliged  to 
keep  their  oaths  of  fealty. 

It  seems  clear  that  the  deposing  power  of 
the  Pope  never  was,  and  is  not  now,  regarded 
as  an  article  of  Catholic  faith.  Pius  IX. 
in  a  sermon  quoted  by  Cardinal  Soglia, 
said  :  u  No  one  now  thinks  any  more  of  the 
right  of  deposing  princes,  which  the  Holy 
See  formerly  exercised,  and  the  supreme 
pontiff  even  less  than  any  one."  l 

1  Ferraris,  Papa,  quoted  in  Addis  and  Arnold's 
Catholic  Dictionary. 


72   MOOTED   QUESTIONS   OF    HISTORY 

It  was  a  species  of  international  law 
which  the  events  of  history,  religious  and 
political  upheavals,  have  practically  abro- 
gated. But  while  it  was  exercised,  and 
during  the  ages  when  people  recognized  it, 
it  undoubtedly  served  to  promote  liberty 
and  to  curb  the  cruelty  and  cupidity  of 
sovereigns. 

In  our  age  the  people  do  almost  every 
year  what  the  Popes  did  but  rarely.  The 
breed  of  kings  has  improved ;  there  were 
numbers  of  mediaeval  monarchs  who  ought 
to  have  been  deposed,  but  who  were  let 
alone.  The  Papal  anathemas  struck  men 
like  Henry  IV.  and  John  Lackland,  who 
richly  deserved  the  scaffold. 

HI.    MORAL   CHARACTER  OF   THE    POPES 

Of  the  two  hundred  and  sixty  Popes, 
seventy-nine  have  been  canonized  by  the 
Catholic  Church  as  saints,  pre-eminent  for 
their  holiness. 

Some  fifteen  or  twenty  of  the  remainder 
have  been  variously  accused  of  immorality, 
political  ambition,  and  criminal  intrigue.  It 
is  noteworthy  that  the  characters  of  several 


THE   PAPAL   POWER  73 

thus  accused  have  been  vindicated  by  Prot- 
estant biographers.  Voigt,  in  his  Life  of 
Gregory  VII.,  Hurter's  Innocent  III.,  Eich- 
horn,  Luden,  Mueller,  and  Leopold  Ranke 
have  cleared  up  much  fiction  and  partisan 
tradition  reflecting  upon  the  moral  charac- 
ter of  a  dozen  Pontiffs. 

An  instance  of  the  absurdity  of  some  of 
these  fables  is  found  in  the  story  of  Pope 
Joan.  A  learned  woman,  disguised  as  a 
man,  succeeded,  so  the  narrative  runs,  in 
deceiving  the  churchmen  and  securing  her 
own  selection  to  the  Papal  throne,  which 
she  occupied  for  nearly  three  years.  This 
story  is  traced  back  to  within  two  hundred 
years  of  the  alleged  date  of  the  female 
Pope's  pontificate.  It  is  found  wanting  in 
a  single  element  of  authenticity,  and  no 
modern  historian  gives  it  any  credence.1 

The  tenth  century  furnishes  us  the  most 
certain  instances  of  immoral  or  bad  Popes. 
Society  was  then  in  a  transitional  state. 
Rome  was  described  as  the  "hostelry  of 
nations."  The  "  bad  Popes  "  are  variously 
estimated  by  Catholic  writers  as  from  six 
to  twenty.  "  We  have  forty-three  virtuous, 

1  See  Baring-Gould's  Myths  of  the  Middle  Ages. 


74   MOOTED    QUESTIONS   OF   HISTORY 

to  one  bad  pope/'  says  Cardinal  Gibbons 
(Faith  of  our  Fathers,  chap.  xi.),  "  while 
there  was  a  Judas  Iscariot  among  the 
twelve  Apostles." 

Writers  like  Leopold  Ranke  (History  of 
the  Popes)  describe  the  Roman  Pontiffs  of 
the  first  ages  and  of  later  times  (since  the 
rise  of  Protestantism)  as  irreproachable  in 
their  moral  characters.  Yoigt  ( Gregory  VII., 
vol.  ii.  p.  98)  says :  "  The  Holy  See  was 
the  only  tribunal  that  could  set  any  limits 
to  imperial  despotism  as  a  second  defender 
of  humanity."  Roscoe  (Life  of  Leo  X.,  vol. 
i.  p.  53)  says :  "  The  Popes  may  in  general 
be  considered  as  superior  to  the  age  in 
which  they  lived." 

FISHER:  The  mediaeval  papacy 

"The  mediaeval  papacy,  whatever  evils 
may  have  been  connected  with  it,  saved 
Europe  from  anarchy  and  lawlessness." 

Fisher,  History  of  the  Reformation,  ch.  ii.  p.  32. 

!Lilly :  Hildebrand  an  apostle  of  liberty 

"  Gregory  (VII.)  was  the  savior  of  politi- 
cal freedom  too.  He  was  the  founder  of 


THE   PAPAL   POWER  75 

communal  liberty  in  Italy,  the  apostle  of 
Italian  independence." 

W.  S.  Lilly,  Chapters  in  European  History,  vol.  i. 
p.  183. 

SOTJTHEY:  The  savior  of  Europe 

"  If  the  Papal  power  had  not  been  adapted 
to  the  conditions  of  Europe,  it  could  not 
have  subsisted.  It  was  the  remedy  for  some 
of  the  greatest  evils.  We  have  to  look  to 
the  Abyssinians  and  Oriental  Christians,  to 
see  what  Europe  would  have  become  with- 
out the  Papacy.  It  was  morally  and  in- 
tellectually the  conservative  power  of 
Christendom.  Politically,  it  was  the  sa- 
vior of  Europe.  For,  in  all  probability, 
the  West,  like  the  East,  must  have  been 
overrun  by  Mohammedanism,  and  sunk  in 
irredeemable  degradation  if,  in  that  great 
crisis  of  the  world,  the  Church  had  not 
roused  the  nations  to  a  united  and  prodi- 
gious effort  commensurate  with  the  danger. 
In  the  frightful  state  of  society  which  some- 
times prevailed,  the  Church  everywhere  pre- 
sented a  controlling  and  remedial  influence." 

Southey,  Book  of  the  Church. 


76  MOOTED   QUESTIONS   OF   HISTORY 

WHEATON:  Papal  authority  a  blessing 

"The  influence  of  the  Papal  authority, 
though  sometimes  abused,  was  then  felt  as 
a  blessing  to  mankind ;  it  rescued  Europe 
from  total  barbarism ;  it  afforded  the  only 
asylum  and  refuge  from  feudal  oppression." 

Wheaton,  History  of  the  Laws  of  Nations,  p.  33. 

COMTE:  A  basis  of  judgment 

"  The  papal  hierarchy,"  says  Comte,  "  in 
fact,  constituted,  in  the  middle  ages,  the 
main  bond  among  the  various  European 
nations,  after  the  decline  of  the  Roman 
sway ;  and  in  this  view  the  Catholic  influ- 
ence ought  to  be  judged,  as  De  Maistre 
truly  remarked,  not  only  by  the  ostensible 
good  which  it  produced,  but  yet  more  by 
the  imminent  evil  which  it  silently  obvi- 
ated, and  which,  on  that  account,  we  can 
only  inadequately  appreciate." 

GUIZOT:  The  Papacy  and  liberty 

"  When  a  pope  or  bishop  proclaimed  that 
a  sovereign  had  lost  his  rights,  that  his  sub- 
jects were  released  from  their  oath  of  fidel- 
ity, this  interference,  though  undoubtedly 


THE   PAPAL    POWER  77 

liable  to  the  greatest  abuse,  was  often,  in 
the  particular  case  to  which  it  was  directed, 
just  and  salutary.  It  generally  holds,  in- 
deed, that  where  liberty  is  wanting  religion, 
in  a  great  measure,  supplies  its  place.  In 
the  tenth  century  the  oppressed  nations 
were  not  in  a  state  to  protect  themselves  or 
to  defend  their  rights  against  civil  violence 
—  religion,  in  the  name  of  Heaven,  placed 
itself  between  them/' 

Guizot,  History  of  Civilization,  vol.  i.  Lecture  5, 
p.  124,  3d  Am.  ed.  (Hazlitt's  Notes). 

COQUEREL:  Despotism  prevented 

"In  those ' dark'  ages  we  see  no  example 
of  tyranny  comparable  to  that  of  the  Do- 
mitians  at  Rome.  A  Tiberius  was  impos- 
sible then ;  Rome  would  have  crushed  him. 
Great  despotisms  exist  when  kings  believe 
that  there  is  nothing  above  themselves. 
Then  it  is  that  the  intoxication  of  un- 
limited power  produces  the  most  fearful 
crimes." 

Coquerel,  Essai  sur  1'Hist.  Generate  du  Chris- 
tianisme,  p.  75. 


78   MOOTED    QUESTIONS    OF    HISTORY 

ROBERTSON:  A  real  benefit 

"  The  Pontifical  monarchy  taught  the 
nations  and  kings  to  regard  themselves 
mutually  as  compatriots,  as  being  both 
equally  subject  to  the  divine  sceptre  of  re- 
ligion ;  and  this  centre  of  religious  unity 
has  been  throughout  many  ages  a  real 
benefit  to  the  human  race." 

Robertson,  Charles  V. 

SISMONDI :  The  Pope  defender  of  the  people 

"  In  the  midst  of  the  conflicts  of  jurisdic- 
tions, the  Pope  alone  proved  to  be  the  de- 
fender of  the  people,  the  only  pacifier  of 
great  disturbances.  The  conduct  of  the 
Pontiffs  inspired  respect,  as  their  benefi- 
cence merited  gratitude." 

Sismondi,  History  of  the  Italian  Republics. 

LiEIBNITZ :  Hindered  many  evils 

"  It  must  be  confessed  that  the  solicitude 
of  the  Popes  concerning  the  canons  and 
Ecclesiastical  discipline,  was  from  time  to 
time  most  beneficial ;  and  that,  by  influ- 
encing kings,  in  season  and  out  of  season, 
either  by  the  authority  of  their  office  or  by 


THE   PAPAL,   POWER  79 

the  threat  of  ecclesiastical  censures,  the 
Pontiffs  hindered  many  evils.  And  noth- 
ing was  more  common  than  that  kings 
should  subject  themselves,  in  their  treaties, 
to  the  censure  and  correction  of  the  Pope, 
as  in  the  treaty  of  Bretigny  in  1360,  and  in 
the  treaty  of  Staples  in  1492." 

Leibnitz,  De  actorum  publicorum  usu. 

LEIBNITZ:  The  Pope  as  umpire  among  the 
nations 

"  If  all  would  become  Catholics  and  be- 
lieve in  the  infallibility  of  the  Pope,  there 
would  not  be  required  any  other  umpire 
than  that  of  the  Vicar  of  Jesus  Christ.  If 
the  Popes  resumed  the  authority  which  they 
had  in  the  time  of  Nicholas  the  First  or 
Gregory  the  Seventh,  it  would  be  the  means 
of  obtaining  perpetual  peace  and  conducting 
us  back  to  the  golden  age." 

Leibnitz,  Id. 

LECKY:  Popes  who  saved  Home 

"  But  everywhere  amid  this  chaos  of  dis- 
solution we  may  detect  the  majestic  form  of 
the  Christian  priest  mediating  between  the 
hostile  forces,  straining  every  nerve  to 


80   MOOTED    QUESTIONS   OF   HISTORY 

lighten  the  calamities  around  him.  When 
the  Imperial  city  was  captured  and  plun- 
dered by  the  hosts  of  Alaric,  a  Christian 
church  remained  a  secure  sanctuary,  which 
neither  the  passions  nor  the  avarice  of  the 
Goths  transgressed.  When  a  fiercer  than 
Alaric  had  marked  out  Rome  for  his  prey, 
the  Pope  St.  Leo,  arrayed  in  his  sacerdotal 
robes,  confronted  the  victorious  Hun,  as 
the  ambassador  of  his  fellow-countrymen, 
and  Attila,  overpowered  by  religious  awe, 
turned  aside  in  his  course.  When,  twelve 
years  later,  Rome  lay  at  the  mercy  of  Gen- 
seric,  the  same  Pope  interposed  with  the 
Vandal  conqueror,  and  obtained  from  him 
a  partial  cessation  of  the  massacre." 

Lecky,  History  of  European  Morals,  vol.  ii.  ch.  iv. 

PALGBAVE :  A  Pope's  moral  courage 

"Hildebrand,  sparing  neither  the  bribed 
nor  the  bribers,  incurred  the  inveterate 
odium  of  all  the  delinquents.  Hildebrand 
had  no  respect  to  persons  or  judgment. 
Sin  levelled  emperors  and  beggars  before 
him." 

Sir  Francis  Palgrave,  History  of  Normandy  and 
England,  vol.  i.  p.  112. 


THE   PAPAL,   POWER  81 

SCHLEGEL:  Origin  of  the  Papal  power 

"  Hence  the  high  authority  which  Rome 
then  exercised  over  kings  and  emperors 
was  grounded,  first,  on  a  political  claim 
growing  out  of  the  circumstances  which 
accompanied  the  revival  of  the  western  em- 
pire ;  and  secondly,  on  the  general  opinion 
of  that  time  respecting  the  subordination  of 
the  temporal  to  the  spiritual  power." 

Schlegel,  Philos.  of  Hist.,  p.  137. 

LOTGABD  :  Kings  appealed  to  the  Pope 

"  This  doctrine,  hostile  as  it  might  be  to 
the  independence  of  sovereigns,  was  often 
supported  by  the  sovereigns  themselves. 
Thus,  when  Richard  I.  was  held  in  captiv- 
ity by  the  emperor,  his  mother,  Eleanor, 
repeatedly  solicited  the  Pontiff  to  procure 
his  liberation  by  the  exercise  of  that  au- 
thority which  he  possessed  over  all  tem- 
poral princes.  Thus,  King  John  Lackland 
(whose  excesses  afterwards  provoked  against 
himself  the  animadversion  of  the  Church) 
invoked  the  aid  of  the  same  authority  to 
recover  Normandy  from  the  King  of  France. 
At  first,  indeed,  the  Popes  contented  them- 

6 


82   MOOTED    QUESTIONS   OF    HISTORY 

selves  with  spiritual  censures  ;  but  in  an  age 
when  all  notions  of  justice  were  modelled 
after  the  feudal  jurisprudence,  it  was  soon 
admitted  that  princes,  by  their  disobedience, 
became  traitors  to  God ;  that  as  traitors 
they  ought  to  forfeit  their  kingdoms,  the 
fees  which  they  held  of  God  ;  and  that 
to  pronounce  such  sentence  belonged 
to  the  Pontiff,  vicegerent  of  Christ  upon 
earth." 

Lingard,  History  of  England,  vol.  iii.  of  the   3d 
London  ed./p.  35,  note. 


SCHLEGEL :  A  voice  against  despotism 

"  By  the  princes  themselves  was  the 
head  of  the  Church  first  called  upon  to  de- 
cide weighty  matters  of  state  and  to  exert 
influence  over  the  affairs  of  Europe.  .  .  .  We 
cannot  deny,  on  examining  closely  the  wants 
of  the  situation  and  the  spirit  of  those  times, 
that  it  accomplished  much  good ;  that  not 
seldom  it  protected  the  oppressed  cause  of 
justice.  ...  It  seemed  desirable  and  whole- 
some that  even  against  the  mightiest  rulers 
one  voice  dared  still  to  be  raised  alone  for 
justice  —  a  voice  of  which  he  should  stand 


THE   PAPAL,   POWER  83 

in  awe ;  which  he  could  not  silence  by  mere 
force." 

A  Course  of  Lectures  on  Modern  History,  by  Fred- 
eric Schlegel,  Bonn's  Popular  Library,  London, 
1849,  Lectures  6-7,  p.  88. 


THE  CRUSADES 

Then  blame  not  those  who,  by  the  mightiest  lever 
Known  to  the  moral  world,  imagination, 
Upheave  (so  seems  it)  from  her  natural  station 
All  Christendom ;  —  they  sweep  along  (was  never 
So  huge  a  host)  to  tear  from  the  unbeliever 
The  precious  tombs,  their  haven  of  salvation. 

WORDSWORTH 

RELIGIOUS  fervor  and  devotion  were 
not  the  only  causes  of  those  on- 
slaughts of  United  Europe  against 
Mohammedan  Asia,  called  the  Crusades. 
The  immediate  purpose  was  to  protect  the 
liberty  and  life  of  Christian  pilgrims  visiting 
Jerusalem.  There  was  a  continuous  breach 
of  international  rights  in  this  respect,  to 
redress  which,  any  spirited  modern  nation 
would  take  up  the  sword.  But  the  deep, 
underlying  motive  was  the  apprehension  of 
Christian  Europe  for  its  own  safety. 


THE   CRUSADES  85 

"Mussulman  impiety,"  said  the  contem- 
poraneous Pope  Urban  II.,1  "  has  overspread 
the  fairest  regions  of  Asia ;  Ephesus,  Nice, 
and  Antioch  have  become  Mohammedan 
cities;  the  barbarous  hordes  of  the  Turks 
have  planted  their  colors  on  the  very  shores 
of  the  Hellespont,  whence  they  threaten 
war  to  all  our  states  of  Christendom. 
Unless  you  oppose  a  mighty  barrier  to  their 
triumphant  course,  how  can  Europe  be 
saved  from  invasion,  how  can  the  storm  be 
averted  which  has  so  long  threatened  to 
burst  upon  our  countries  ?  "  2 

With  Christian  civilization  it  was  a  war 
of  self-preservation. 

1.  In  this  respect  the  Crusades  were  a 
notable  success.  Instead  of  waiting,  as  dis- 
united states,  to  receive  the  blow  of  Moham- 
medan invasion,  the  nations  of  Europe 
"  took  time  by  the  forelock,"  welded  them- 
selves into  unity,  and  made  the  aggressive 
move  themselves.  The  Saracens  and  Selju- 

1  He  addressed  a  great  council  at  Piacenza,  in  1095,  at 
which  two   hundred  bishops  and  nearly  four  thousand 
priests  were  present. 

2  Michaud,  History  of  the  Crusades,  vol.  i.    Michaud's 
work  continues   (despite  some  errors)  to  be  the  great 
standard  authority  on  the  Crusades. 


86   MOOTED    QUESTIONS   OF    HISTORY 

kians  were  beaten  to  the  ground.  The  issue 
for  supremacy  was  inevitable  between  the 
religion  born  at  Galilee  and  that  born  at 
Mecca.  Rome  saw  farthest  ahead.1 

The  first  (A.  D.  1090),  fifth  (A.  D.  1201), 
and  sixth  (A.  D.  1228)  Crusades  were  the 
most  important,  at  least  in  their  results. 

In  1099  the  first  Crusaders  captured 
Jerusalem  and  set  up  a  Christian  kingdom 
there  which  lasted  eighty-eight  years.  In 
1205  a  Latin  empire  was  established  in 
place  of  the  Greek  empire  at  Constantinople, 
and  the  Eastern  schism  appeared  to  be  at  an 
end.  But  this  union  of  the  Eastern  and 
Western  churches  lasted  only  until  1261, 
when  the  Latin  empire  was  overthrown. 
Jerusalem  again  came  into  the  possession  of 
the  Christians  by  treaty  in  1229  (as  a  result 
of  the  sixth  Crusade),  but  in  1242  the  hordes 
of  Jenghiz  Khan  again  swept  away  the 
Christian  dominion ;  nor  did  the  subsequent 
Crusaders  ever  get  as  far  as  the  Holy  City. 
The  last  or  ninth  Crusade  went  out,  A.  D. 
1270,  under  St.  Louis,  King  of  France. 

1  It  is  in  this  connection  that  Cardinal  Newman  re- 
marks that  those  who  in  our  time  speak  so  bravely 
against  the  Pope  owe  it  to  the  Pope  that  they  can  speak 
at  all. 


THE    CRUSADES  87 

Nazareth  was  taken,  but  there  the  enterprise 
ended.1 

2.  From  the  East  the  returning  Crusaders 
brought  back  new  inventions,  new  fabrics 
like   the   silk    manufacture,    alchemy,   the 
Arabic   notation,  and   all   the   impetus   to 
science  and  letters  that  came  from  contact 
with    Syria,    Greece,    and    other    strange 
lands.2     In  the  history  of  civilization  this 
alone  was  sufficient  to  compensate  for  the 
blood    and    treasure    expended    in    these 
movements. 

3.  The  Crusades  were  a  blow  at  feudalism, 
cutting  off  the  petty  nobility  and  securing 
more  orderly  government.     Travelling  be- 
came  easier.      The  enfranchised  boroughs 
and  the  free  cities  sprang  up  by  reason  of 
the  Crusades. 

4.  The  art  of  navigation  was  improved 
in  the  transport  of  armies.     Nations  built 

1  It  is  estimated  that  nearly  two  million  people  lost 
their  lives  in  the  two  centuries  of  the  Crusades.     The 
cessation  of   private  warfare  at  home  nearly  counter, 
balanced  this  loss. 

2  However  beneficial  attrition  with  other  civilizations 
proved,  we  must  not  fall  into  the  error  of  those  who,  in 
their  eagerness  to  disparage  Christianity,  imagine  that 
Moorish  or  Saracen  civilization  was  superior  to  the  Chris- 
tian civilization  of  the  middle  ages. 


88   MOOTED    QUESTIONS    OF    HISTORY 

navies.  The  mariner's  compass  was  brought 
into  use. 

5.  And  from  this  circumstance  came  the 
growth  of  commerce  and  the  upbuilding  of 
Venice,  Genoa,  Pisa,  and  Florence,  those 
great  mediaeval  marts  whose  trade  with 
Asia  and  Africa  was  of  world-wide  note, 
and  whose  population  of  bankers  and  mer- 
chants laid  the  foundation  of  our  modern 
commercial  law  as  we  read  it. 

Thus  a  movement  undertaken  in  what  to 
materialists  seems  a  spirit  of  fanaticism  and 
superstition,  justified  itself  even  in  their 
eyes  by  promoting  Europe's  material  growth. 

BISHOP  STUBBS :  The  Crusades  a  benefit  to 
society 

"The  Crusades  are  not,  in  my  mind, 
either  the  popular  delusions  that  our  cheap 
literature  has  determined  them  to  be,  nor 
Papal  conspiracies  against  kings  and  peoples, 
as  they  appear  to  the  Protestant  con- 
troversialist. .  .  .  They  were  the  first  great 
effort  of  mediaeval  life  to  go  beyond  the 
pursuit  of  selfish  and  isolated  ambition ; 
they  were  the  trial  feat  of  the  young  world 
essaying  to  use,  to  the  glory  of  God  and  the 


THE   CRUSADES  89 

benefit  of  man,  the  arms  of  its  new  knight- 
hood. .  .  .  That  in  the  end  they  were  a 
benefit  to  the  world  no  one  that  reads  can 
doubt ;  and  that  in  their  course  they  brought 
out  a  love  for  all  that  is  heroic  in  human 
nature  —  the  love  of  freedom,  the  honor  of 
prowess,  sympathy  with  sorrow,  persever- 
ance to  the  last,  and  patient  endurance 
without  hope,  —  the  chronicles  of  the  age 
abundantly  prove ;  proving  moreover  that 
it  was  by  the  experience  of  those  times 
that  the  former  of  these  virtues  were  real- 
ized and  presented  to  posterity." 

Lectures  on  Mediaeval  and  Modern  History,  p.  157, 
by  Wm.  Stubbs,  D.D. ,  Bishop  of  Chester,  Regius 
Prof,  of  Modern  History  at  Cambridge  and  Edin- 
burgh. Oxford,  at  the  Clarendon  Press,  1885. 

ADAMS :  A  universal  stimulus 

"  The  Crusades  had  a  most  profound  effect 
on  the  people  of  Europe.  The  age  was  one 
of  great  stir  and  stimulus.  Mind  was 
aroused.  The  crusaders  were  brought  into 
contact  with  better  civilization  than  their 
own  and  were  taught  that  they  had  many 
things  yet  to  learn.  Before  the  age  of  the 
Crusades  had  closed,  and  produced  at  least 


90    MOOTED    QUESTIONS    OF    HISTORY 

in  part  by  them,  there  occurs  the  great 
intellectual  epoch  of  the  thirteenth  century 
which  created  the  scholastic  system  in 
philosophy  and  founded  the  universities  of 
Europe.  .  .  .  An  even  more  immediate  effeqt 
of  the  Crusades  was  the  stimulus  which  they 
gave  to  commerce,  and  the  changes  which 
followed  in  this  direction  were  as  far  reach- 
ing and  profound  as  the  intellectual." 

European  History,  p.  217,  by  Geo.  B.  Adams,  Pro- 
fessor of  History  in  Yale  University.  New  York : 
The  Macmillan  Co.,  1899. 

ARCHBISHOP  TRENCH:  Moral  effects 

"  Such  a  purpose  and  aim  was  the  Cru- 
sades, during  well-nigh  two  centuries,  for 
Europe;  and  the  answer  which  Christian 
Europe  made  to  the  appeal  is  a  signal  testi- 
mony of  the  preparedness  of  the  middle 
ages  for  noble  thoughts  and  noble  deeds. 
To  the  high  thoughts  which  they  kindled 
in  so  many  hearts,  to  the  religious  consecra- 
tion which  they  gave  to  the  bearing  of 
arms,  we  are  indebted  for  some  of  the  fair- 
est aspects  of  chivalry,  as  it  lives  on  a 
potent  and  elevating  tradition  to  the  present 
day.  Thus  to  them  we  owe  the  stately 


THE    CRUSADES  91 

courtesies  of  gallant  foes  able  to  under- 
stand and  to  respect  one  another,  with 
much  else  which  has  lifted  up  modern  war- 
fare into  something  better  than  a  mere 
mutual  butchery,  even  into  a  school  of 
honor  in  which  some  of  the  gentlest  and 
noblest  men  have  been  trained/' 

Archbishop  Trench,  Lectures  on  Mediaeval  Church 
History. 

BRITISH  ENCYCLOPAEDIA:  Arrested  Mo- 
hammedanism 

"  They  [the  Crusades]  failed,  indeed,  to 
establish  the  permanent  dominion  of  Latin 
Christendom,  whether  in  New  Rome  or 
Jerusalem,  but  they  prolonged,  for  nearly 
four  centuries,  the  life  of  the  Eastern  Empire, 
and  by  so  doing  they  arrested  the  tide  of 
Mohammedan  conquests  as  effectually  as  it 
was  arrested  for  Western  Europe  by  Charles 
Martel  on  the  plains  of  Tours." 

Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  9th  ed.,  article  "  Cru- 
sades," vol.  vi.  p.  629. 

Cox:  Crusades  saved  Europe 

"We  must  not  forget  that  by  rolling 
back  the  tide  of  Mohammedan  conquest 


92   MOOTED    QUESTIONS    OF    HISTORY 

from  Constantinople  for  upward  of  four 
centuries  they  [the  Crusades]  probably 
saved  Europe  from  horrors  the  recital  of 
which  might  even  now  make  one's  ears 
tingle." 

G.  W.  Cox,  The  Crusaders,  ch.  xv.  p.  224. 

BRITISH      ENCYCLOPAEDIA :      Economic 
effects 

"The  Crusades  undoubtedly  produced  a 
powerful  economic  effect  by  transferring,  in 
many  cases,  the  possessions  of  the  feudal 
chiefs  to  the  industrious  classes,  whilst,  by 
bringing  different  nations  and  races  into 
contact,  by  enlarging  the  horizon  and  the 
conception  of  the  populations,  as  by  afford- 
ing special  stimulus  to  navigation,  they 
tended  to  give  a  new  activity  to  inter- 
national trade." 

Encyclopaedia Britannica,  9th  ed.,  vol.  xix.  p.  352. 

GUIZOT :  Enlarged  the  ideas  of  Europe 

"The  principal  effect,  then,  of  the 
Crusades  was  a  great  step  towards  the 
emancipation  of  the  mind,  a  great  progress 
towards  enlarged  and  liberal  ideas.  .  .  . 
Such,  in  my  opinion,  are  the  real  results  of 


THE    CRUSADES  93 

the  Crusades,  —  on  the  one  hand  extension  of 
ideas  and  the  emancipation  of  thought,  on 
the  other  a  general  enlargement  of  the 
social  sphere  and  the  opening  of  a  wider 
field  for  every  sort  of  activity:  they  pro- 
duced at  the  same  time  more  individual 
freedom  and  more  political  unity." 

Guizot,  History  of  Civilization,  vol.  i.  Lecture  8. 

LA  CBOIX:  Developed  commerce 

"  The  effect  of  the  Crusades  was,  never- 
theless, a  complete  revolution  in  the  man- 
ners and  customs  of  the  western  nations  :  the 
suppression  of  servitude,  the  founding  of 
the  free  towns,  the  alienation  and  the 
division  of  the  feudal  laws  and  the  develop- 
ment of  the  commercial  system." 

Military  and  Religious  Life  in  the  Middle  Ages, 
p.  134,  by  Paul  La  Croix,  Curator  of  the  Imperial 
Library  of  the  Arsenal,  Paris.  London :  Chapman 
and  Hall,  1874. 

ROBERTSON:   Promoted  chivalry 

"  The  same  spirit  of  enterprise  which  had 
prompted  so  many  gentlemen  to  take  arms 
in  defence  of  the  oppressed  pilgrims  of 
Palestine,  incited  others  to  declare  them- 


94   MOOTED   QUESTIONS    OF    HISTORY 

selves  the  patrons  and  avengers  of  injured 
innocence  at  home.  When  the  final  reduc- 
tion of  the  Holy  Land  under  the  dominion 
of  infidels  put  an  end  to  these  foreign 
expeditions,  the  latter  was  the  only  employ? 
ment  left  for  the  activity  and  courage  of 
adventurers.  To  check  the  insolence  of 
overgrown  oppressors  ;  to  rescue  the  help- 
less from  captivity ;  to  protect  or  to  avenge 
women,  orphans,  and  ecclesiastics,  who 
could  not  bear  arms  in  their  own  defence ; 
to  redress  wrongs  and  remove  grievances  — 
were  deemed  acts  of  the  highest  prowess 
and  merit.  Valor,  humanity,  courtesy,  jus- 
tice, honor,  were  the  characteristic  qualities 
of  chivalry." 

William  Robertson,  History  of  the  Reign  of  the 
Emperor  Charles  V. 


VI 

PREMATURE  PROTESTANTISMS 

1  would  rather  die  ten  times  over  than  make 
a  schism.  —  ERASMUS. 

IT  is  worthy  of  remark  that  six  of  the 
earlier  heresies  in  the  history  of  the 
Church  should  have  arisen  respecting 
the  divine  persons  of  the  Godhead.  The 
Arians  (325)  taught  that  Christ  was  infe- 
rior to  the  other  persons  of  the  Trinity.1 
The  Macedonians  (381)  taught  that  the 
Holy  Ghost  was  inferior.  The  Nestorians 
(431)  taught  that  there  were  tivo  persons 
(not  two  natures)  in  Christ.  The  Eutych- 
ians  (451)  taught  that  there  was  but  one 

1  The  Arians  constituted  by  far  the  most  consider- 
able heresy  of  the  early  ages.  Arius  died  in  336,  but 
Arianism  prospered  after  his  death.  The  West  Goths 
received  Christianity  in  the  Arian  form,  and  the  East 
Goths  and  Lombards  also  were  Arians.  This  heresy 
dominated  Spain  and  Africa  and  Northern  Italy  for 
more  than  a  hundred  years,  nor  did  it  decline  until  the 
end  of  the  sixth  century. 


96   MOOTED    QUESTIONS    OF    HISTORY 

nature  —  the  divine.  The  Monothelites 
(680)  held  that  Christ  had  no  human  will. 
The  Manichseans  (280-1215)  taught  that 
Christ  did  not  assume  a  real  human  body, 
but  merely  appeared  in  one,  like  the  angels 
of  the  Old  Testament. 

The  Pelagian  heresy  denied  the  doctrine 
of  original  sin.  The  Iconoclasts  opposed 
sacred  images.  And  the  heresy  of  Beren- 
garius  (1078)  denied  the  real  presence  of 
Christ  in  the  Eucharist. 

During  the  latter  middle  ages  the  most 
famous  heresies  .were  those  of  the  Albigenses 
and  Waldenses,  condemned  by  the  Council 
of  Lateran  in  1179;  and  the  teachings  of 
Wycliffe  and  his  disciple,  Huss,  condemned 
by  the  Council  of  Constance  in  1414. 

These  may  be  styled  premature  Protes- 
tantisms, from  the  fact  that  they  expressed 
the  religious  unrest  of  their  time.  The 
Calvinists  were  proud  to  trace  their  an- 
cestry to  the  Waldenses,  and  Wycliffe  is 
sometimes  styled  the  prototype  of  English 
Protestantism. 

The  Albigenses  were  so  styled  after  Albi, 
a  town  in  southern  France,  where  the  sect 


PREMATURE    PROTESTANTISMS     97 

became  numerous  about  1200.  Pope  Inno- 
cent III.  sent  Peter,  of  Chateau-neuf,  and 
three  other  monks  to  convert  them;  but 
they  murdered  Peter  and  terrified  his  fol- 
lowers. Count  Raymond  of  Toulouse  sided 
with  them,  and  they  carried  things  with 
a  high  hand.  The  murder  of  the  Pope's 
legate  was  the  occasion  of  a  crusade  against 
Toulouse  and  Albi,  led  by  Simon  of  Mont- 
fort,  at  the  head  of  a  French  army.  The 
war1  lasted  intermittently  from  1209  to 
1227,  and  finally  drifted  from  a  religious 
to  a  political  contest.  The  Albigenses  were 
utterly  crushed. 

Respecting  the  nature  of  the  Albigensian 
teachings,  contemporary  writers  agree  in 
connecting  them  with  the  Manichaeans. 

This,  too,  is  Bossuet's  opinion.  Hallam 
and  Mosheim  substantially  coincide  with 
him.  Identification  with  Manichaeism  is  re- 
garded as  a  damning  indictment  against 
the  Albigenses.  The  judicial  records  of  the 

1  The  battle  of  Murret  (1213)  decided  the  war  against 
the  Albigenses.  Raymond  of  Toulouse  was  then  de- 
posed, and  Simon  de  Montfort,  who  had  led  the  Crusa- 
ders, and  whose  son  figures  as  the  founder  of  the  English 
Parliament,  was  given  the  fiefs  that  formerly  belonged  to 
Raymond. 

7 


98    MOOTED    QUESTIONS    OF    HISTORY 

middle  ages  are  full  of  the  blackest  crimes 
attributed  to  this  sinuous  and  surreptitious 
sect. 

Mani,  a  Persian  teacher  of  the  third 
century,  compounded  Paganism  and  Chris- 
tianity into  a  system  of  doctrines,  which 
persisted  through  the  centuries  in  vari- 
ous forms  and  under  various  names.  One 
author  counts  over  seventy  Manichaean 
sects. 

The  popular  and  legal  dislike  towards  the 
Manichaeans  was  due,  not  so  much  to  their 
theological  vagaries  as  to  their  reputed 
immoralities.  They  were  described  as  Me- 
diseval  Mormons.  They  inculcated  devil- 
worship,  denied  the  divinity  of  Christ, 
rejected  the  Old  Testament,  and  repudiated 
the  observance  of  Sunday. 

Their  midnight  orgies,  their  hatred  of 
marriage,  their  incests,  fornications,  and 
suicides  were  the  scandals  of  the  middle 
ages.  They  united  secrecy  and  hypocrisy 
as  methods  of  covering  their  tracks. 

In  France  they  were  called,  from  their 
origin,  Bulgarians;  in  some  parts  of  Italy, 
Publicans,  a  corruption  of  the  word  Pauli- 
cians ;  in  the  provinces,  where  they  were 


PREMATURE   PROTESTANTISMS     99 

most  numerous,  Provincials,  or,  after  1208, 
Albigenses,  from  the  town  of  Albi  in  Lan- 
guedoc ;  in  the  Milanese  Territory,  Cathari, 
i.  e.,  the  Pure,  or  Paterenes  and  Paterinians, 
a  name  which  they  had  usurped  from  the 
anti-simoniacal  Catholic  Church  party  in 
Milan;  in  Belgium,  Piphiler  or  Weavers, 
from  the  trade  which  the  greater  number 
of  them  followed,  and  sundry  other  names ; 
but  the  generic  term,  Manichseans,  was 
given  to  them  universally,  and  was  accepted 
by  themselves  in  their  disputations  with 
Catholics. 

The  Albigenses  held  many  of  the  Mani- 
chaean  doctrines  and  rivalled  them  in  many 
points  of  violence  and  debauchery.  "  I 
have  seen  on  all  sides,"  says  Stephen, 
Abbot  of  St.  Genevieve,  describing  to  the 
King  of  France  the  condition  of  Albigen- 
sian  Toulouse,  "  churches  burned  and  ruined 
to  their  foundations ;  I  have  seen  the  dwell- 
ings of  men  changed  into  the  dens  of  wild 
beasts." 

The  Waldenses,  who  were  also  termed 
Yaudois  and  Poor  Men  of  Lyons,  were  fol- 
lowers of  Peter  Waldo,  a  merchant  of  Lyons. 


100    MOOTED    QUESTIONS    OF  HISTORY 

In  1160  Waldo,  affected  by  the  death  of  a 
fellow  merchant,  gave  his  property  to  the 
poor,  and  led  a  life  of  poverty.  In  teach- 
ing that  malefactors  ought  not  to  be  con- 
demned, but  should  be  allowed  to  go  at 
large,  —  after  the  manner  of  the  tares 
described  in  the  parable,  —  the  Waldenses 
came  into  conflict  with  the  civil  power. 
They  denounced  oaths  as  sinful,  and  advo- 
cated Communism.  The  Mass  and  Purga- 
tory were  eliminated  from  their  religion. 
They  thought  the  clergy  ought  to  hold  no 
property.  Ultimately  some  of  them  drifted 
into  the  immoral  and  pagan  customs  of 
the  Albigenses.  The  fact  that  they  existed 
about  the  time  and  in  the  neighborhood  of 
the  Albigenses  has  led  to  their  being  con- 
founded with  these  more  unworthy  sectaries. 

The  heresies  of  Wycliffe  (1324-84)  and 
John  Huss  (1375-1414)  bore  fruits  in  the 
Lollards  of  England  and  the  Bohemian 
Brethren  of  Prague.  Henry  V.  put  down 
the  former  on  the  charge  of  conspiracy,  and 
the  Bohemian  Brethren,  after  a  bloody  civil 
war,  expired  of  inanition. 

Wycliffe  continued  a  priest  of  the  Catholic 


PREMATURE   PROTESTANTISMS  101 

Church  to  the  time  of  his  death.  His 
divergence  from  Catholic  teaching  had  refer- 
ence to  the  supremacy  of  the  Pope  in  spirit- 
ual matters,  which  he  partly  controverted, 
and  to  certain  regulations  respecting  the 
authority  of  Bishops  over  priests.  He 
seems  to  have  recanted  his  views  prior  to 
his  death. 

Huss  followed  Wycliffe  in  most  points, 
but  was.  more  violent  in  his  methods.  He 
attended  the  Council  of  Constance  under  a 
safe  conduct  from  the  Emperor  Sigismund. 
The  council  condemned  his  teachings  as 
heretical,  and  heresy  being  at  that  time  a 
violation  of  the  civil  as  well  as  the  ecclesi- 
astical law,  the  secular  arm  took  hold  of 
Huss  after  the  council  had  got  through 
with  him.  He  was  burned  at  the  stake 
July,  1414. 

HALL  AM :  The  Albigenses  were  Manichaeans 

"  The  tenets  ascribed  to  them  [the  Albi- 
genses]  by  all  contemporary  authorities 
coincide  so  remarkably,  with  those  held  by 
the  Paulicians,  and  in  earlier  times  by  the 
Manichaeans,  that  I  do  not  see  how  we  can 
reasonably  deny  what  is  confirmed  by  sepa- 


102    MOOTED   QUESTIONS    OF    HISTORY 

rate   and   uncontradicted   testimonies,  and 
contains  no  intrinsic  want  of  probability." 

Hallam,  View  of  the  Middle  Ages,  ch.  ix.  part  ii. 

MILMAN:  Adverse  to  Christian  morals        , 

"  Western  Manichgeism,  however,  though 
it  adhered  only  to  the  broader  principles  of 
Orientalism,  the  two  co-equal  conflicting 
principles  of  good  and  evil,  the  eternity  of 
matter,  and  its  implacable  hostility  to  spirit, 
aversion  to*  the  Old  Testament  as  the  work 
of  the  wicked  Demiurge,  the  unreality  of 
the  suffering  Christ,  was,  or  became,  more 
Manichaean  than  its  Grecian  parent,  Pauli- 
cianism.  .  .  .  Western  Manichseism  is  but 
dimly  to  be  detected  in  the  eleventh  cen- 
tury. .  .  .  But  in  the  twelfth  century  Mani- 
ch  seism  is  rampant,  bold,  undisguised. 
Everywhere  are  Puritans,  Paterines,  Popu- 
lars,  suspected,  or  convicted,  or  confessed 
Manichseans.  .  .  .  The  chief  seat  of  these 
opinions  was  in  the  south  of  France.  .  .  . 
Their  religion  was  chivalry,  but  chivalry 
becoming  less  and  less  religious ;  the  mis- 
tress had  become  the  saint,  the  casuistry  of 
the  Court  of  Love  superseded  that  of  the 
confessional.  There  had  grown  up  a  gay 


PREMATURE   PROTESTANTISMS  103 

license  of  manner  adverse  not  only  to  the 
austerity  of  monkish  Christianity  but  to 
pure  Christian  morals." 

Henry  Hart  Milman,  History  of  Latin  Christian- 
ity, vol.  v.  ch.  viii.  pp.  159-163.  New  York: 
Sheldon  &  Co.,  1861. 

BRITISH  ENCYCLOPAEDIA  :  Their  creed 

"  The  descent  of  the  Albigenses  may  be 
traced  with  tolerable  distinctness  from  the 
Paulicians,  a  sect  that  sprang  into  existence 
in  the  Eastern  Church  during  the  sixth  cen- 
tury. The  Paulicians  were  agnostics,  and 
were  accused  by  their  enemies  and  persecutors 
of  holding  Manichsean  doctrines  which,  it  is 
said,  they  vehemently  disowned.  Their 
creed,  whatever  it  may  have  been  precisely, 
spread  gradually  westward  through  Europe. 
In  the  ninth  century  it  found  many  ad- 
herents in  Bulgaria,  and  three  hundred 
years  later  it  was  maintained  and  defended, 
though  not  without  important  modifications, 
by  the  Albigenses  in  the  south  of  France. 
.  .  .  They  [the  Albigenses]  inherited  and 
used,  as  has  already  been  said,  certain 
doctrines  of  eastern  origin,  such  as  the 
Manichaean  dualism,  diocetism  in  relation 


104   MOOTED  QUESTIONS    OF    HISTORY 

to  the  persons  of  Christ,  and  a  theory  of 
metempsychosis.  They  seem,  like  the  Mani- 
chaeans,  to  have  disowned  the  authority  of 
the  Old  Testament  ;  and  the  division  of  their 
adherents  into  the  perfecti  and  credences  is 
similar  to  the  Manichsean  distinction  between 
electi  and  aucKtori" 

Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  9th  ed.,  vol.  i.  p.  454. 


:  Manichsean  opinion  in  the  twelfth 
century 

"  Nothing  is  more  curious  in  Christian 
history  than  the  vitality  of  the  Manichsean 
opinions.  That  wild,  half-poetic,  half- 
rationalistic  theory  of  Christianity  appears 
almost  suddenly  in  the  twelfth  century,  in 
living,  almost  irresistible  power,  first  in  its 
intermediate  settlement  in  Bulgaria,  and  on 
the  borders  of  the  Greek  Empire,  then  in 
Italy,  in  France,  in  Germany,  in  the  remote 
West  at  the  foot  of  the  Pyrenees.  The 
chief  seat  of  these  opinions  was  in  the  south 
of  France." 

H.  H.  Milman,  History  of  Latin  Christianity, 
book  ix.  ch.  viii. 


PREMATURE    PROTESTANTISMS  105 

SCHAFF-HERZOG :  Their  violence 

"In  a  short  time  the  Albigenses  had 
congregations  with  schools  and  charitable 
institutions  of  their  own.  Then  they  drove 
away  the  Roman  Catholic  priests  from  the 
churches,  took  possession  of  the  buildings, 
and  elected  their  own  priests  and  bishops. 
.  .  .  This  state  of  things  caused,  of  course, 
great  alarm  at  Rome." 

The  Schaff-Herzog  Dictionary,  vol.  i.,  article  on 
Albigenses. 

STEPHEN :  Albigensian  immoralities 

"  The  imputations  of  irreligious  heresy  and 
shameless  debauchery,  which  have  been  cast 
with  so  much  bitterness  on  the  Albigenses 
by  their  persecutors,  and  which  have  been 
so  zealously  denied  by  their  apologists,  are 
probably  not  ill-founded,  if  the  word  Albi- 
genses be  employed  as  synonymous^  (with 
the  words  Provenceaux  or  Languedo^aans, 
for  they  were  apparently  a  race  among 
whom  the  hallowed  charities  of  domestic 
life,  and  the  reverence  due  to  divine  ordi- 
nances and  the  homage  due  to  divine  truth, 
were  often  impaired,  and  not  seldom  extin- 


106   MOOTED  QUESTIONS   OF  HISTORY 

guished  by  ribald  jests,  by  infidel  scoffing, 
and  by  heart-hardening  impurities.  Like 
other  voluptuaries,  the  Provenceaux  (as 
their  remaining  literature  attests)  were 
accustomed  to  find  matter  for  merriment  in 
vices  which  would  have  moved  wise  men  to 
tears." 

Sir  J.  Stephen,  Lectures  on  the  History  of  France, 
Lecture  7. 


VII 
SAVONAROLA 

They  never  fail  who  die 

In  a  great  cause.     The  block  may  soak  their  gore, 
Their  heads  may  sodden  in  the  swn,  their  limbs 
Be  strung  to  city  gates  and  castle  walls  ; 
But  still  their  spirit  walks  abroad. 

BYRON. 

ABOUT  the  time  that  Columbus  was 
setting  out  on  his  first  voyage  of 
discovery  (1492),  a  Dominican  friar, 
Jerome  Savonarola,  forty  years  of  age,  was 
rising  into  fame  as  a  moral  and  political 
leader  at  Florence. 

His  influence  began  as  a  pulpit  orator 
and  a  moral  reformer.  In  the  course  of 
events  he  became  a  law-giver  to  the  people 
of  Florence,  a  virtual  dictator  over  the 
politics  as  well  as  the  morals  of  the  city; 
and  then,  towards  the  years  of  his  down- 
fall, the  victim  of  a  bitter  partisan  struggle. 
Six  short  years  (1492-98)  saw  him  first  the 


108    MOOTED    QUESTIONS   OF   HISTORY 

idol  of  the  people  and  afterward  done  to 
death  under  a  cloud  of  popular  infamy  by 
the  same  fickle  populace  who  had  once 
idolized  him  and  whom  he  had  so  greatly 
served. 

He  had  come  to  Florence  in  1482 ;  ibut 
it  was  not  until  seven  years  later  that  he 
began  to  acquire  fame  as  a  preacher  in  that 
city.  His  sermons  were  jeremiads,  de- 
nouncing and  lamenting  the  vices  of  the 
age,  and  predicting  the  dire  punishments 
which  God  had  in  store  for  Florence.  He 
did  not  spare  the  rulers,  either  of  church  or 
state.  Lorenzo  de'  Medici  was  then  the 
the  autocrat  of  Florence,  where  the  Medicis 
had  ruled  for  half  a  century.  Savonarola 
was  uncompromising  in  his  opposition  to 
Lorenzo.  The  latter  induced  an  Augus- 
tinian  friar,  Mariano,  to  attack  Savonarola. 
Mariano  was  discomfited ;  and,  later,  retired 
to  Rome,  where  his  bitter  enmity  to  Savon- 
arola continued.  Lorenzo  died  in  1492  and 
was  succeeded  by  his  son  Piero.  The  moral 
and  political  condition  of  Florence  con- 
tinued to  degenerate  under  Piero  de'  Medici. 
As  a  result,  the  influence  and  power  of 
Savonarola,  as  a  censor  of  the  evil  moral 


SAVONAROLA  109 

condition  of  the  city,  increased.  He  became 
prior  of  St.  Mark's,  and  his  ecclesiastical 
jurisdiction  was  made  an  independent  one. 

In  1494  Charles  VIII.  of  France  in- 
vaded Italy  with  60,000  men.  Calamity 
and  misery  followed  his  march.  Savona- 
rola went  at  the  head  of  a  delegation  of 
Florentines  to  meet  the  French  king  at 
Pisa.  In  the  mean  time  the  Florentines 
expelled  Piero  de'  Medici.  Largely  through 
the  influence  of  Savonarola,  the  visit  of  the 
French  was  not  as  disastrous  as  it  might 
have  been.  A  new  government  was  set 
up  at  Florence  which  was  nominally  a  re- 
public. Savonarola  was  now  by  common 
consent  the  law-giver  to  his  people  as  well 
as  the  moral  censor  of  the  city.  The  years 
1494-97  were,  more  or  less,  years  of  a  rigor- 
ous puritanism  for  the  people  of  Florence. 

A  reaction  was  inevitable.  Savonarola's 
denunciations  had  offended  Pope  Alexander 
VI.  The  expelled  Medici  were  his  enemies. 
The  young  bloods  of  Florence  bridled  under 
his  rigorous  morality.  The  aristocratic 
party  opposed  him.  These  enmities  began 
in  1496,  and  their  machinations  finally 
effected  his  downfall.  Savonarola  was 


110    MOOTED   QUESTIONS    OF   HISTOKY 

forced  into  a  conflict  with  the  Pope ;  first 
by  his  refusal  to  visit  Rome,  then  by  his 
opposition  to  the  Pope's  order  uniting  the 
Florentine  and  Tuscan  Dominicans.  The 
Pope's  purpose  was  to  withdraw  Savonarola 
from  Florence.  Finally,  towards  the  middle 
of  1497,  Alexander  VI.  excommunicated 
Savonarola  ;  *  not  on  the  ground  of  heresy, 
however,  but  on  account  of  his  disobedience 
in  the  affair  of  the  union  of  the  Dominican 
congregations.  In  the  latter  part  of  that 
year  Savonarola  celebrated  mass  and  later 
resumed  preaching,  notwithstanding  the 
ban  of  excommunication.  Then  the  Pope 
threatened  to  issue  an  interdict  against  the 
city  of  Florence,  unless  the  Signory  or 
government  would  exclude  Savonarola  from 
the  pulpit  or  imprison  him  or  send  him  to 
Rome.  The  pressure  of  this  threat,  and  the 
final  preponderance  in  the  government  of 
Florence  of  the  party  opposed  to  him,  led 
to  Savonarola's  arrest,  his  trial  and  his 
death,  May  23,  1498.  He  was  first  hung, 
and  then  his  body  was  burned. 

1  Rev.  J.  L.  O'Neil,  O.P.,  in  a  recent  work,  "  Was  Savon- 
arola Excommunicated?"  (Boston:  Marlier,  Callanan  & 
Co.,  Publishers),  has  raised  an  interesting  question. 


SAVONAROLA  m 

Such  is  the  story  of  Savonarola.  His 
conflict  with  the  Pope  grew  out  of  political, 
moral,  and  disciplinary  issues  rather  than 
out  of  any  questions  of  doctrine.1  In  all 
his  difficulties  he  proclaimed  himself  "  a 
true  son  of  the  Church."  His  indiscretions 
and  his  faults  were  due  to  his  excessive 
earnestness  and  his  devotion  to  the  welfare 
of  the  people  who  put  him  to  death.  His 
motives  were  good  and  his  life  was  unself- 
ish. He  was  a  devout  and  holy  man, 
though  doubtless  at  times  an  enthusiast 
and  a  visionary. 

The  elements  of  opposition,  unable  to 
meet  him  directly  on  the  issue  of  good 
government  vs.  oligarchy  and  debauchery, 
pulled  wires  at  Eome.  They  sought  to  get 
him  disciplined  on  some  matter  of  ecclesias- 
tical regulation  or  procedure.  He  undoubt- 
edly erred  in  disobeying  the  commands  of 
his  superior ;  he  erred  in  the  more  impor- 
tant consequences  of  his  first  error,  by 
continuing  to  officiate  as  a  priest  after 

1  "  It  did  not  occur  to  him  to  doubt  the  institutions  of 
his  Church  or  to  question  her  authority,"  says  Mrs.  Oli- 
phant  (The  Making  of  Florence).  "  He  was  no  apostle 
of  reform  (as  understood  by  Luther),"  says  Symonds 
(Hist.  Renaissance). 


112    MOOTED   QUESTIONS   OF   HISTORY 

he  had  been  excommunicated.  His  enemies 
had  him  technically  in  the  wrong  —  as 
they  planned. 

History  has  since  reversed  the  judgment 
of  those  days.  Savonarola  is  now  generally 
regarded  as  a  great  and  good  man.  One  of 
the  later  Popes,  it  is  said,  contemplated 
canonizing  him  as  a  saint  of  the  Church. 
He  was  revered  by  St.  Philip  Neri  and 
many  other  saintly  men.  Raphael  painted 
him  among  the  doctors  of  the  Church. 
Fifteen  Italian  bishops  in  1898  took  part  in 
the  Savonarola  commemorative  exercises  at 
Florence. 

C ANTtT :  Savonarola's  career 

"  Savonarola *'  was  "  a  man  of  faith,  of 
superstition,  of  genius,  abounding  in  char- 
ity. Contrary  to  Luther,  who  confided  en- 
tirely in  reason,  he  believed  in  personal 
inspiration.  Arguments  in  his  favor,  as  well 
as  against  him,  may  be  drawn  from  his 
works,  which,  as  a  whole,  evidence  his 
attempt  to  harmonize  reason  with  faith, 
Catholicity  with  political  freedom.  ...  In 
no  wise  did  he  impugn  the  authority  of 
the  Roman  See,  although  he  resisted  one 


SAVONAROLA  113 

whom  he  believed  to  be  an  illegitimate  oc- 
cupant of  that  See,  and  against  whom  he 
tried  to  invoke  a  council  which  would  re- 
form the  Church  legitimately.  Pride  re- 
sulted from  popularity,  opposition  induced 
excess,  but  he  worked  with  a  pure  con- 
science and  without  personal  ambition.  His 
opinions  he  endeavored  to  propagate  by  ex- 
ample, and  not  by  force ;  he  believed  in  the 
efficacy  of  truth.  .  .  .  Thinking  to  guide  a 
mob  by  means  of  passion  and  of  the  hurly- 
burly  of  street  crowds,  he  fell  a  victim  to 
one  and  the  other,  as  commonly  happens. 
.  .  .  The  fame  of  Savonarola  remains  sus- 
pended between  heaven  and  hell,  but  all 
deplored  his  death,  and  especially,  perhaps, 
those  that  had  caused  it.  ...  Not  one  of 
the  followers  of  the  great  friar  figures 
among  the  disciples  of  Luther  or  among  the 
betrayers  of  his  country's  liberty.  Michel- 
angelo, who  raised  bastions  for  his  native 
city,  and  also  the  grandest  church  in  Chris- 
tendom, always  venerated  Savonarola." 

Cesare  Cantti,  Gli  Eretici  d'  Italia,  Torina,  1865, 
vol.  i.  pp.  234-235. 

8 


114   MOOTED   QUESTIONS   OF    HISTORY 

RANKE :  His  asceticism 

"  Among  these  rich,  influential,  educated, 
and  solemn  people  [the  people  of  Florence] 
a  Dominican,  Hieronymus  Savonarola  of 
Ferrara,  had  succeeded  in  making  himself 
universally  esteemed.  He  was,  it  is  true, 
strict  with  himself  and  others,  a  solitary 
walker,  a  monk  by  inclination,  and  a  man 
who  also  knew  how  to  control  his  harsh 
voice.  He  admonished  his  monasterial 
brethren  to  give  up  all  their  property.  He 
spared  no  one,  not  one  of  his  fellow-citi- 
zens, the  Brescians,  the  Florentines,  nor  his 
liege  lords,  the  Pope  and  Lorenzo  de'  Medici, 
and  all  this  could  not  help  securing  him 
a  certain  influence.  But  what  made  him 
really  powerful  were,  before  all  else,  his 
doctrines  and  his  prophetic  gifts." 

Von  Ranke,  History  of  the  Roman  and  German 
People,  p.  85. 

NEWMAN :  A  favourable  view 

In  his  sermon  on  the  mission  of  St.  Philip, 
Cardinal  Newman  depicts  Savonarola  as  "  a 
true  son  of  St.  Dominic  in  energy,  in  sever- 
ity of  life,  in  contempt  of  merely  secular 
learning  :  a  forerunner  of  St.  Pius  the  Fifth 


SAVONAROLA  115 

in  boldness,  in  resoluteness,  in  zeal  for  the 
honor  of  the  house  of  God,  and  for  the  res- 
toration of  holy  discipline.  It  was  the  truth 
of  his  cause,  the  earnestness  of  his  convic- 
tions, the  singleness  of  his  aims,  the  impar- 
tiality of  his  censures,  the  intrepidity  of 
his  menaces,  which  constituted  the  secret 
of  his  success." 

CREIGHTON:  The  lesson  of  his  career 

"  Savonarola's  fate  (says  Creighton)  is  a 
type  of  the  dangers  which  beset  a  noble 
soul  drawn  by  its  Christian  zeal  into  con- 
flict with  the  world.  More  and  more  he 
was  driven  to  fight  the  Lord's  battle  with 
carnal  weapons,  till  the  prophet  and  states- 
man became  inextricably  entangled,  and  the 
message  of  the  new  life  was  interwoven 
with  the  political  attitude  of  the  Florentine 
Kepublic.  Little  by  little  he  was  driven 
into  the  open  sea,  till  his  frail  bark  was 
swallowed  by  the  tempest.  He  encouraged 
Florence  to  adhere  to  an  untenable  position 
till  all  who  wished  to  bring  Florence  into 
union  with  Italian  aspirations  were  driven 
to  conspire  for  his  downfall." 

Creighton,  History  of  the  Papacy,  vol.  iii.  p.  247. 


116    MOOTED    QUESTIONS   OF   HISTORY 

CREIGHTON:  Later  attitude  of  churchmen 

"  Even  a  pope  so  purely  secular  as  Alexan- 
der VI.  is  said  in  latter  years  to  have  re- 
gretted Savonarola's  death.  Julius  II.  or- 
dered Raffaelle  to  place  him  among  the 
doctors  of  the  Church  in  the  great  fresco  of 
the  (  Disputa,'  and  his  claims  to  canoniza- 
tion were  more  than  once  discussed.  The 
Church  evidently  grieved  over  his  loss  when 
he  was  gone,  when  political  difficulties  had 
passed  away,  and  the  memory  of  the  fer- 
vent preacher  of  righteousness  remained." 

Creighton,  History  of  the  Papacy,  vol.  iii.  p.  248. 

Macaulay:  Savonarola  not  a  Protestant 

"  The  spirit  of  Savonarola  had  nothing  in 
common  with  the  spirit,  religious  or  politi- 
cal, of  the  Protestants  of  the  North." 

Macaulay's  Essays  (Von  Ranke) . 


VIII 
BIBLES  BEFORE  LUTHER 

"  Thou  hast  set  Thy  Word  as  a  light  to  my 
feet."  —  THOMAS  A  KEMPIS  (A.  D.  1425). 

IT  is  ascertained  that  at  least  twenty- 
two  versions,  or  different  translations, 
of   the   Bible   existed   in   the  various 
tongues  of  Europe  before  Luther  was  born. 
Over  seventy  editions  of  the  entire  Bible  in 
vernacular  tongues  were  printed  during  the 
seventy  years   intervening    from    1460   to 
1530.1    The  Bible  was  printed  twenty  times 
in  the   German  language   before   Luther's 
translation  appeared  (1530). 

Two  copies  of  a  German  Bible,  printed 
in  1466,  are  preserved  in  the  Senatorial 
library  at  Leipsic.  The  Mazarin  Bible  is 

1  The  "  Reportoriurn  Bibliographicum,"  printed  at 
Tubingen,  reckons  consecutively  ninety-eight  distinct  edi- 
tions before  the  year  1500,  independently  of  twelve  other 
editions  which,  together  with  the  Latin  text,  presented 
the  glossa  ordinaria  or  the  postillas  of  Lyranus." 


118   MOOTED   QUESTIONS   OF   HISTORY 

considered  the  earliest  complete  book  pub- 
lished. It  was  printed  in  Latin  about  14  5  5.1 

A  German  edition  of  the  Bible,  published 
in  1460,  is  the  earliest  book  printed  with 
metal  type  and  on  both  sides  of  the  leaf. 

Rev.  Dr.  Maitland,  a  learned  divine  of 
the  Church  of  England,  estimates  that  fifty 
Latin  editions  of  the  Bible  were  published 
before  Luther  was  born.  "  To  say  nothing 
of  parts  of  the  Bible  or  of  books  whose 
place  is  uncertain,  we  know  of  at  least  twenty 
editions  of  the  whole  Latin  Bible  printed  in 
Germany  alone  before  Luther  was  born."2 

Sickendorf,  a  biographer  and  disciple  of 
Luther,  mentions  three  German  editions  of 
the  Bible,  published  at  Wittenberg  in  1470, 
1483,  and  1490.3 

Menzel,  in  his  history  of  Germany,  says  : 
"  Before  the  time  of  Luther  the  Bible  had 
already  been  translated  and  printed  in  both 
High  and  Low  Dutch."  4 

Throughout  the  middle  ages  the  Bible 
was  the  great  popular  book  of  Europe. 
Dr.  Maitland  says  that  the  very  literature 

1  Hallam,  Literature  of  Europe,  vol.  i.  p.  96. 

2  Maitland,  The  Dark  Ages,  p.  469. 

8  Commentaries  on  Luther,  libr.  i.  sec.  51. 
4  Menzel,  vol.  ii.  p.  223. 


BIBLES    BEFORE    LUTHER         119 

of  the  time  is  written  in  the  words  and 
phrases  of  Scripture. 

Fragments  of  Bishop  Uphilas'  Scriptural 
translation,  written  in  the  fourth  century,  are 
our  oldest  specimens  of  the  Gothic  tongue. 
The  Venerable  Bede  and  King  Alfred  both 
contributed  Anglo-Saxon  translations  of 
parts  of  the  Bible.  In  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury John  de  Tarvisa  made  a  full  English 
translation. 

The  Protestant  biblical  scholar.  Bishop 
Usher,  states  that  the  first  French  transla- 
tion of  the  Bible  was  made  in  1478.  It 
was  successively  republished  sixteen  times 
before  1546.  A  Flemish  translation  by 
Merland,  in  1210,  is  also  mentioned  by 
Usher.  Seven  editions  of  this  version  were 
printed  before  Luther's  translation  appeared. 

The  complete  Bible  in  Spanish  was  edited 
by  Boniface  Ferrer,  in  1405.  The  Spaniards 
are  to  be  credited,  too,  with  the  first  poly- 
glot edition  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures.1  This 

1  Carranza.  the  celebrated  Archbishop  of  Toledo,  says 
in  the  Prologue  to  his  "Commentaries":  "Before  the 
heresies  of  Luther  appeared,  I  do  not  know  that  the 
Holy  Scriptures  in  the  vulgar  tongue  were  anywhere 
forbidden.  In  Spain  the  Bible  was  translated  into  Span- 
ish by  order  of  the  Catholic  sovereigns,  at  the  time  when 


120   MOOTED   QUESTIONS  OF    HISTORY 

edition  was  printed  in  six  different  lan- 
guages at  Madrid,  in  1515,  under  the 
auspices  of  Cardinal  Ximenes.  Italian 
translations  of  the  Bible  were  common 
throughout  the  middle  ages,  and  numerous 
editions  were  printed  at  Venice,  Florence, 
Naples,  and  Rome  prior  to  Luther's  time. 
A  Bohemian  Bible  was  published  at  Prague 
in  1488.  There  are  Danish  authorities  who 
state  that  the  Icelanders  had  an  entire 
translation  of  the  Scriptures  in  the  thir- 
teenth century. 

One  of  the  greatest  books  of  the  middle 
ages  is  the  "  Imitation  of  Christ "  by  Thomas 
a  Kempis,  published  about  the  year  1425. 

We  find  in  its  pages  the  best  evidence  of 
the  mediaeval  attitude  and^  practice  in  the 
matter  of  Bible-reading.  A  Kempis,  who 
was  a  monk  in  the  archdiocese  of  Cologne, 
had  himself  made  a  MS.  copy  of  the  Bible. 
In  the  first  book,  chapter  i.  of  the  "  Imita- 
tion," there  are  some  useful  directions  about 
reading  the  Holy  Scriptures :  — 

"  All  Holy  Scripture  should  be  read  in  the 

the  Moors  and  Jews  were  allowed  to  live  among  the 
Christians  according  to  their  own  law." 


BIBLES    BEFORE   LUTHER         121 

spirit  in  which  it  was  written.  Our  curiosity 
is  often  a  hinderance  to  us  in  reading  the 
Scriptures,  when  we  wish  to  understand  and 
to  discuss,  where  we  ought  to  pass  on  in 
simplicity.  ...  If  thou  wilt  derive  profit, 
read  with  humility,  with  simplicity,  with 
faith,  and  never  wish  to  have  the  name  of 
learning/' 

In  the  eleventh  chapter  of  the  fourth 
book  he  says :  — 

"  I  shall  have  moreover  for  my  consola- 
tion and  a  mirror  of  life  Thy  Holy  Books, 
and  above  all  Thy  Most  Holy  Body  for  my 
especial  remedy  and  refuge.  .  .  .  Whilst 
detained  in  the  prison  of  this  body  I 
acknowledge  that  I  need  two  things,  food 
and  light.  Thou  hast  therefore  given  to 
me,  weak  as  I  am,  Thy  Sacred  Body  for  the 
nourishment  of  my  soul  and  body,  and  Thou 
hast  set  Thy  word  as  a  light  to  my  feet. 
Without  these  two  I  could  not  live ;  for  the 
word  of  God  is  the  light  of  soul  and  Thy 
Sacrament  is  the  bread  of  life.  These  also 
may  be  called  the  two  tables  set  on  either 
side  in  the  storehouse  of  Thy  holy  Church." 

The  mediaeval  mind,  as  here  laid  bare, 
does  not  seem  to  raise  any  questions  as  to 


122    MOOTED   QUESTIONS   OF    HISTORY 

whether  it  is  wise  to  read  the  Bible  or  as  to 
whether  the  Bible  is  difficult  to  procure. 
These  matters  are  evidently  not  even  con- 
templated as  possible  issues ;  on  the  contrary, 
the  excellence  of  Scripture  reading  and  its 
necessity  as  "the  light  of  the  soul"  are 
dwelt  upon.  Be  it  remembered,  too,  that 
this  manual  of  A  Kempis  came  at  once  into 
the  hands  of  the  laity  as  well  as  of  the 
clergy,  for  it  went  into  the  vernaculars  of 
every  nation  in  Europe  only  a  few  years 
after  its  first  publication. 

In  1877  Mr.  H.  Stevens  published,  at 
South  Kensington,  a  "  List  of  Bibles  in  the 
Caxton  Exhibition,"  respecting  which  an 
English  paper  makes  this  comment :  "  This 
catalogue  will  be  very  useful  for  one  thing, 
at  any  rate,  as  disproving  the  popular  fable 
about  Luther '$  finding  the  Bible  for  the  first 
time  at  Erfurt  about  1507.  Not  only  are 
there  many  editions  of  the  Latin  Vulgate 
long  anterior  to  that  time,  but  there  were 
actually  nine  German  editions  of  the  Bible 
in  the  Caxton  Exhibition  earlier  than  1483, 
the  year  of  Luther's  birth,  and  at  least  three 
more  before  the  end  of  the  century." 


BIBLES    BEFORE    LUTHER         123 

HALLAM:  The  Bible  in  the  vernacular 

"  In  the  eighth  and  ninth  centuries,  when 
the  vulgate  had  ceased  to  be  generally 
intelligible,  there  is  no  reason  to  suspect 
any  intention  in  the  Church  to  deprive  the 
laity  of  the  Scriptures.  Translations  were 
freely  made  into  the  vernacular  languages, 
and,  perhaps,  read  in  churches.  .  .  .  Louis 
the  Debonair  is  said  to  have  caused  a  Ger- 
man version  of  the  New  Testament  to  be 
made.  Otfrid,  in  the  same  century,  rendered 
the  gospels,  or,  rather,  abridged  them,  into 
German  verse.  This  work  is  still  extant.'' 

Hallam,  Middle  Ages,  chap.  ix.  part  ii. 

BLUNT :  The  Bible  open  to  the  laity 

The  well-known  Anglican  writer,  Dr. 
Blunt,  in  his  "  History  of  the  Reformation  " 
(vol.  i.  pp.  501-502)  tells  us  that  "  there  has 
been  much  wild  and  foolish  writing  about  the 
scarcity  of  the  Bible  in  the  ages  preceding 
the  Reformation.  It  has  been  taken  for 
granted  that  the  Holy  Scripture  was  almost  a 
sealed  book  until  it  was  printed  in  English 
by  Tyndal  and  Coverdale,  and  that  the  only 
source  of  knowledge  respecting  it  before 


124   MOOTED    QUESTIONS    OF    HISTORY 

then  was  the  translation  made  by  Wycklrffe. 
The  facts  are  .  .  .  that  all  laymen  who 
could  read  were,  as  a  rule,  provided  with 
their  Gospels,  their  Psalter,  or  other  devo- 
tional portions  of  the  Bible.  Men  did,  in 
fact,  take  a  vast  amount  of  personal  trouble 
with  respect  to  the  productions  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures  ;  and  accomplished  by  head,  hand, 
and  heart  what  is  now  chiefly  done  by  paid 
workmen  and  machinery.  The  clergy  studied 
the  Word  of  God  and  made  it  known  to  the 
laity ;  and  those  few  among  the  laity  who 
could  read  had  abundant  opportunity  of 
reading  the  Bible,  either  in  Latin  or  Eng- 
lish, up  to  the  Reformation  period." 

MAITLAND:  The  Bible  in  the  dark  ages 

"  To  come,  however,  to  the  question,  Did 
people  in  the  dark  ages  know  anything 
of  the  Bible  ?  Certainly,  it  was  not  as 
commonly  known  and  as  generally  in  the 
hands  of  men  as  it  is  now,  and  has  been 
almost  ever  since  the  invention  of  printing 
—  the  reader  must  not  suspect  me  of  wish- 
ing to  maintain  any  such  absurd  opinion ; 
but  I  do  think  that  there  is  sufficient 
evidence  (1)  that  during  that  period  the 


BIBLES    BEFOKE    LUTHEK          125 

Scriptures  were  more  accessible  to  those 
who  could  use  them,  (2)  were,  in  fact,  more 
used,  and  (3)  by  a  greater  number  of  per- 
sons, than  some  modern  writers  would  lead 
us  to  suppose." 

Maitland,  The  Dark  Ages,  p.  220. 

MAITLAND:  The  Bible  in  Germany 

Dr.  Maitland  says  :  "To  say  nothing  of 
parts  of  the  Bible,  or  of  books  whose  place 
is  uncertain,  we  know  of  at  least  twenty 
different  editions  of  the  whole  Latin  Bible 
printed  in  Germany  only,  before  Luther 
was  born.  .  .  .  Before  Luther  was  born 
the  Bible  had  been  printed  in  Rome,  Naples, 
Florence,  and  Piacenza,  and  Venice  alone 
had  furnished  eleven  editions." 

Maitland,  The  Dark  Ages,  p.  469. 

KEUSS :  The  Bible  often  printed 

Reuss  says  :  "  No  book  was  so  frequently 
published,  immediately  after  the  first  inven- 
tion of  printing,  as  the  Latin  Bible,  more 
than  one  hundred  editions  of  it  being  struck 
off  before  the  year  1520." 


126    MOOTJSD    QUESTIONS  OF    HISTORY 

HAL  LAM:  The  First  German  Bible 

"  The  first  German  printed  Bible,  bearing 
the  arms  of  Frederick  III.,  issued  from  the 
Mainz  press  in  1462.  In  1462  Faust 
published  a  Bible  commonly  called  the 
Mentz  Bible." 

Hallam,  Introd.  to  Literature,  part  i.  Lecture  3. 

Another  version  appeared  in  1466,  two 
copies  of  which  are  still  preserved  in  the 
Senatorial  library  at  Leipsic.  Other  ver- 
sions were  published  rapidly. 

MAITL  AND :  A  fable  about  Luther 

"  Before  Luther  was  born  the  Bible  had 
been  printed  in  Rome,  and  the  printers  had 
the  assurance  to  memorialize  his  Holiness, 
praying  that  he  would  help  them  off  with 
some  copies.  It  had  been  printed,  too,  at 
Naples,  Florence,  and  Piacenza ;  and  Venice 
alone  had  furnished  eleven  editions.  No 
doubt,  we  should  be  within  the  truth  if  we 
were  to  say  that  beside  the  multitude  of 
manuscript  copies,  not  yet  fallen  into  dis- 
use, the  press  had  issued  fifty  different 
editions  of  the  whole  Latin  Bible;  to  say 
nothing  of  Psalters,  New  Testaments,  or 


BIBLES    BEFORE    LUTHER         127 

other  parts.  And  yet,  more  than  twenty 
years  after,  we  find  a  young  man  who  had 
received  "  a  very  liberal  education,"  who 
"  had  made  great  proficiency  in  his  studies 
at  Magdeburg,  Eisenach,  and  Erfurt,"  and 
who,  nevertheless,  did  not  know  what  a 
Bible  was,  simply  because  "  the  Bible  was 
unknown  in  those  days.  [This  refers  to 
the  absurd  story  —  as  told  by  D'Aubigne, 
—  of  Luther  "  discovering  "  a  Bible  for  the 
first  time  when  he  was  twenty  years  old]." 

Maitland,  The  Dark  Ages,  p.  506. 

NOTE.  —  Dr.  De  Costa,  in  the  "  Catholic  World  Maga- 
zine" for  August,  1900,  tells  the  story  of  the  chained 
Bible  at  Erfurt  in  1507: 

"No  doubt  there  was  a  chained  Bible  at  Erfurt  in  1507. 
Chained  Bibles  were  found  two  hundred  years  later, 
as  chained  directories  are  seen  to-day  in  hotels.  The 
preface  of  the  pre-Luther  German  Bibles  stated  that  the 
book  was  'for  the  use  of  unlettered  simple  folk,  lay  and 
spiritual.'  They  were  quoted  freely  in  sermons,  and 
when  Luther's  edition  appeared,  Zwingle,  a  fellow- 
reformer,  charged  Luther  with  changing  and  mutilating 
the  Word  of  God,  which  was  deliberately  done  in  the 
King  James'  translation,  as  the  revised  edition  now 
shows." 


IX 

THE  REVIVAL  OF  LEARNING 

Then  sculpture  and  her  sister  arts  revived, 
Stones  leaped  to  form  and  rocks  began  to  live, 
With  sweeter  notes  each  rising  temple  rang, 
A  Raphael  painted  and  a  Vida  sang. 

POPE. 

THERE  was  a  gradual  recovery  from 
barbarism  and  disorder  all  through- 
out the  middle  ages ;  but  the  epoch 
usually  referred  to  as  that  of  the  "  Revival 
of  Learning"  comes  towards  the  close  of 
mediaeval  history.  What  had  been  going 
on  at  a  slow  pace  during  the  thirteenth  and 
fourteenth  centuries  then  broke  into  a  canter 
and  a  gallop ;  and  the  rapidity  with  which 
new  things  came  into  use  —  inventions 
crowding  in  upon  each  other,  commerce 
broadening  into  discovery,  and  the  material 
comforts  of  the  people  vastly  improving  — 
tended  to  make  the  people  feel  a  new 
strength  and  take  a  more  cheerful  view  of 
life. 


THE    REVIVAL    OF    LEARNING     129 

Although  "  the  horologue  of  Time  does  not 
peal  out  the  passage  from  one  era  to  another," 
the  epoch  of  the  Revival  may  be  said  to  date 
from  the  invention  of  printing  in  1440.  It 
culminated  about  the  end  of  the  century,  in 
what  was  termed  "  the  Golden  Age "  of 
Pope  Leo  X.  Leo  was  one  of  the  Medici,  a 
Florentine  family,  justly  famed  for  its 
patronage  of  the  arts. 

The  manifestations  of  the  epoch  were  in 
its  literature,  its  discoveries,  and  its  politi- 
cal and  material  advances. 

The  nations  began  to  develop  their  ver- 
naculars. Poetry  and  history  were  writ- 
ten in  other  tongues  besides  the  scholastic 
Latin.  England  had  her  Chaucer,  and  Italy 
her  Petrarch.  Vigorous  German,  elegant 
French,  and  sonorous  Spanish  were  rounded 
and  polished  into  literature. 

The  rise  of  free  cities,  the  development 
of  commerce,  the  Hanseatic  league,  and  the 
spread  of  the  Italian  banking  system  were 
other  features  of  the  age. 

Marco  Polo,  the  famous  Venetian  naviga- 
tor, had  daring  competitors  in  Bartholomew 
Diaz  and  Vasco  da  Gama.  They  rounded 
the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  and  planted  Euro- 

9 


130   MOOTED   QUESTIONS   OF   HISTORY 

pean  outposts  in  the  Indies.  Finally  Co- 
lumbus comes  with  his  discovery  of  a  new 
world,  —  1492,  —  year  of  the  greatest  event 
in  the  Christian  era. 

The  cannon  booming  at  the  siege  of 
Constantinople,  in  1453,  was  a  clear  arid 
emphatic  announcement  to  the  world  that 
the  age  of  gunpowder  was  at  hand. 

1.  The  fall  of  that  city,  then  the  capital 
of   Greek   culture,   sent   scores   of   learned 
refugees  into  Italy,  Germany,  and  France, 
where  they  were  received  with  open  arms 
and  installed  as  teachers  in  the  universities.1 

2.  This,  and  the  invention  of  printing  — 
an   almost   contemporaneous   occurrence  — 
are  considered  the  two  great  causes  of  the 
revival  of  learning. 

The  Greeks  roused  a  new  interest  in 
classical  study.  Simultaneously  there  was 
a  new  interest  in  scientific  study,  partly  but 
not  entirely  due  to  contact  with  the  Arabs 
and  Moors.  The  literature  of  every  coun- 

i  "  The  drooping  Muses  then  he  westward  called, 

From  the  famed  city  by  Propontic  sea, 
What  time  the  Turk  the  enfeebled  Grecian  thralled  : 
Thence  from  their  cloistered  walks  he  set  them 
free." 

THOMSON. 


THE    REVIVAL    OF    LEARNING     131 

try  felt  the  impulse  of  this  awakened  con- 
verse. It  was  a  "new  birth"  to  letters, 
and  the  epoch  has  been  fitly  so  called,  —  the 
Kenaissance. 

As  for  printing,  it  is  easy  to  imagine  its 
vast  importance.1  It  went  into  immediate 
and  universal  use.  The  Bible  was  in  type 
A.  D.  1455.  Pamphlets,  political  screeds, 
satires,  lampoons,  caricatures,  and  popular 
songs  were  sent  into  circulation  by  the 
thousands.  Letters  were  brought  down  to 
the  masses. 

We  may  properly  add  as  other  and  more 
remote  causes  of  the  revival :  — 

3.  The  Crusades,  which,  the  more  they 
are  studied,  the  more  drastic  does  their  in- 
fluence on  European  civilization  appear. 

4.  The  great  universities,  founded  in  the 
twelfth,  thirteenth,  and  fourteenth  centuries, 
under  the  fostering  care  of  the  Church,  now 
efflorescing  under  the  ray  of  reflected  light 

1  u  Gutenberg,  without  knowing  it,  was  the  Mechan- 
ist of  the  New  World.  In  creating  the  communications 
of  new  ideas,  he  had  assured  the  independence  of  reason. 
Every  letter  of  this  alphabet  which  left  his  fingers  con- 
tained in  it  more  power  than  the  armies  of  kings  and  the 
thunder  of  pontiffs.  It  was  mind  which  he  furnished 
with  language."  —  LAMARTINE. 


132    MOOTED    QUESTIONS   OF    HISTORY 

let  in  from  the  East ;  —  stored  with  the  in- 
tellectual energies  of  the  preceding  ages  and 
conserving  the  libraries  of  Europe. 

The  larger  number  of  the  great  univer- 
sities of  modern  Europe  were  established  in 
the  middle  ages.  Those  of  Paris,  Oxford', 
Bologna,  and  Ferrara  were  in  existence  for 
a  century  or  more  prior  to  A.  D.  1000.  As 
to  the  age  of  the  others,  the  following  are 
the  most  generally  accepted  dates:  Sala- 
manca, 1200  ;  Cambridge,  1280 ;  Prague, 
1358;  Vienna,  1365;  Ingolstadt,  1372; 
Leipsic,  1408 ;  Louvain,  1425 ;  Basle,  1469; 
Alcala,  1517. 

Considering  the  population  and  condition 
of  Europe  at  the  time,  fifteen  universities 
was  a  generous  allowance;  and  it  hardly 
accords  with  the  popular  notion  of  the  cul- 
ture of  those  days  that  so  great  provision 
was  required  for  higher  education.  This  is 
especially  true  when  we  are  informed  that 
Oxford  had  a  larger  enrolment  during  the 
middle  ages  than  it  has  had  at  any  time  since, 
—  some  three  thousand  halls  being  required 
for  the  convenience  of  students,  and  the 
attendance  varying  from  5000  to  25,000. 
The  eloquence  of  Abelard  is  said  to  have 


THE    REVIVAL    OF    LEARNING     133 

drawn  nearly  30,000  students  to  the  Uni- 
versity of  Paris,  and  they  came  from  all 
parts  of  Europe.  The  reconquest  from 
barbarism  must  have  been  in  an  advanced 
stage,  when  the  mind  of  Europe  created 
such  emporiums  of  learning. 

HALLAM:  Mediaeval  universities 

"  At  Oxford,  under  Henry  III.,  it  is  said 
there  were  30,000  scholars, —  an  exaggera- 
tion which  seems  to  imply  that  the  real 
number  was  very  great.  A  respectable 
writer  asserts  that  there  were  fully  10,000 
at  Bologna  about  the  same  time.  ...  At 
the  death  of  Charles  VII.  in  1453,  it  [the 
University  of  Paris]  is  said  to  have  con- 
tained 25,000  students." 

Hallam,  View  of  the  Middle  Ages,  ch.  ix.  part  ii. 

ADAMS :  Scholasticism  organized  the  univer- 
sities 

"  In  another  direction  the  age  of  scholas- 
ticism exerted  a  permanent  influence  upon 
the  intellectual  history  of  the  world.  This 
was  in  the  organization  of  the  universities 
of  Europe.  The  intense  eagerness  to  learn 
which  characterized  the  times  seized  upon 


134   MOOTED    QUESTIONS  OF    HISTORY 

the  best  of  the  already  existing  schools  and 
transformed  them.  The  number  of  students 
grew  enormously,  and  at  the  same  time  the 
number  and  skill  of  the  teachers.  The 
branches  of  learning  began  to  be  differen- 
tiated from  one  another,  and  teachers  and 
students  to  specialize  in  their  studies.  New 
methods  of  study  were  also  introduced, — 
dialectics  in  theology  and  the  use  of  Jus- 
tinian's code  in  law.  With  the  increase  in 
numbers,  these  schools  took  on  a  more  defi- 
nite organization  and  became  great  self- 
governing  communities  of  a  democratic  cast, 
or  at  least  democratic  after  a  certain  stage  in 
the  course  of  education  had  been  reached. 
Together  they  formed  indeed  a  kind  of 
international  community  with  a  common 
language,  very  frequent  immigration  from 
one  to  another,  and  a  recognized  standing 
in  any  one  for  those  who  held  the  degrees 
of  another.  In  most  of  these  universities 
the  student  life  and  much  of  the  instruction 
centred  in  the  college  system,  which  survives 
to-day  in  the  English  universities." 

European  History  (p.  264),  by  Geo.  B.  Adams, 
Professor  of  History  in  Yale  University.  New 
York:  The  Macmillan  Co.,  1899. 


THE    REVIVAL,    OF    LEARNING     135 

SCHAFF:  Renaissance    matured   under  the 
Pope 

"  This  literary  and  artistic  movement  ex- 
tended from  the  fourteenth  to  the  middle 
of  the  sixteenth  century.  It  is  variously 
styled  the  Revival  of  Letters.,  the  age  of 
Humanism,  by  the  French  term  Renaissance, 
and  the  Italian  Rinascimento.  In  the  wid- 
est sense  the  Renaissance  comprehends  the 
revival  of  literature  and  art,  the  progress  of 
philosophy  and  criticism,  the  discovery  of 
the  solar  system  by  Copernicus  and  Galileo, 
the  extinction  of  feudalism,  the  development 
of  the  great  nationalities  and  languages  of 
modern  Europe,  the  emancipation  of  en- 
slaved intelligence,  the  expansion  and 
freedom  of  thought,  the  invention  of  the 
printing  press,  the  discovery  and  exploration 
of  America  and  the  East ;  in  one  word,  all 
the  progressive  developments  of  the  later 
middle  ages.  .  .  .  The  Renaissance  was 
born  in  the  Republic  of  Florence,  under  the 
patronage  of  the  Medici  family,  and  matured 
in  Rome  under  the  patronage  of  the  Pope. 
From  these  two  centres  it  spread  all  over 
Italy,  France,  Germany,  Holland,  and  Eng- 
land. It  ascended  the  papal  throne  with 


136   MOOTED  QUESTIONS   OF   HISTOKY 

Nicholas  V.  (1447-55),  the  founder  of  the 
Vatican  Library,  and  was  nurtured  by  his 
successor,  Pius  II.  (1458-64),  Sixtus  IV. 
(1471-84),  who  founded  the  Sistine  Chapel, 
Julius  II.  (1503-13),  who  called  Bramante, 
Michael  Angelo,  and  Raphael  to  Rome,  and 
Leo.  X.  (1513-22),  who  gave  them  the 
most  liberal  encouragement  in  their  works 
of  art.  The  Renaissance  was  the  last  great 
movement  of  history  in  which  Italy  and  the 
Popes  took  the  lead." 

The  Renaissance  (ch.  ii.  pp.  9-10),  by  Philip  Schaff , 
D.D.,  Prof,  of  Church  History  in  Union  Theological 
Seminary.  New  York :  G-.  P.  Putnam  &  Sons,  1891. 

PASTOR:  Encouraged  by  the  Church 

"  The  partial  and  short-sighted  view 
which  condemned  the  whole  Renaissance 
movement  as  dangerous  to  faith  and  morals, 
cannot  be  considered  as  that  of  the  Church. 
At  this  time,  as  throughout  the  whole  of 
the  middle  ages,  she  showed  herself  to  be 
the  patroness  of  all  wholesome  intellectual 
progress,  the  protectress  of  all  true  culture 
and  civilization." 

History  of  the  Popes  (since  the  close  of  the  Mid- 
dle Ages),  by  Dr.  Ludwig  Pastor,  Prof,  of  His- 
tory in  the  University  of  Innsbruck,  vol.  i.  p.  54. 
London:  John  Hodges,  Pub.,  1891. 


THE   REVIVAL   OF   LEARNING     137 

SYMONDS:  Italy  led  the  way 

"  The  reason  why  Italy  took  the  lead  in 
the  Renaissance  was  that  Italy  possessed  a 
language,  a  favorable  climate,  political 
freedom,  and  commercial  prosperity,  at  a 
time  when  other  nations  were  still  semi- 
barbarous.  It  was  at  the  beginning  of  the 
fourteenth  century,  when  Italy  had  lost 
indeed  the  heroic  spirit  which  we  admire  in 
her  Communes  of  the  thirteenth,  but  had 
gained  instead  ease,  wealth,  magnificence, 
and  that  repose  which  springs  from  long 
prosperity,  that  the  new  age  at  last  began." 

J.  A.  Symonds,  Renaissance  in  Italy,  Age  of  the 
Despots,  ch.  i. 

PASTOR:  Nicholas    V.  and    the  revival    of 
learning 

"  It  has  often  been  said  that  the  Renais- 
sance itself  ascended  the  Papal  Throne  with 
Nicholas  V.  Yet  it  must  not  be  forgotten 
that  the  great  Pontiff  was  throughout  on 
the  side  of  the  genuine  and  Christian  Re- 
naissance. The  founder  of  the  Vatican  Li- 
brary,  like  Fra  Angelico  whom  he  employed 
to  paint  his  study  in  that  palace,  knew  how 


138   MOOTED   QUESTIONS  OF    HISTORY 

to  reconcile  his  admiration  for  the  intellec- 
tual treasures  of  the  past  with  the  claims  of 
the  Christian  religion ;  he  could  honor  both 
Cicero  and  St.  Augustine,  and  could  appre- 
ciate the  grandeur  and  beauty  of  heathen 
antiquity  without  being  thereby  led  to 
forget  Christianity.  The  leading  idea  of 
Nicholas  V.  was  to  make  the  capital  of 
Christendom  the  capital  also  of  classical 
literature  and  the  centre  of  science  and  art. 
The  realization  of  this  noble  project  was, 
however,  attended  with  many  difficulties  and 
great  dangers.  If  Nicholas  V.  overlooked 
or  underestimated  the  perils  which  threat- 
ened ecclesiastical  interests  from  the  side  of 
the  heathen  revolutionary  Renaissance,  this 
is  the  only  error  that  can  be  laid  to  his 
charge.  His  aim  was  essentially  lofty  and 
noble,  and  worthy  of  the  Papacy.  The  fear- 
lessness of  this  large-hearted  man  in  face  of 
the  dangers  of  the  movement  —  a  fearless- 
ness which  has  in  it  something  imposing  — 
strikes  us  all  the  more  forcibly  when  we 
consider  the  power  and  influence  which  the 
Renaissance  had  at  this  time  attained  in 
Italy.  The  attempt  to  assume  its  guidance 
was  a  great  deed  and  one  worthy  of  the 


THE    REVIVAL   OF    LEARNING     139 

successor  of  the  Gregories  and  the  Inno- 
cents." 

Pastor's  History  of  the  Popes,  ch.  i.  p.  55. 

BRITISH  ENCYCLOPEDIA:  Began  in  Italy 

"  The  Renaissance  must,  indeed,  be  viewed 
mainly  as  an  internal  process  whereby  spirit- 
ual energies  latent  in  the  middle  ages  were 
developed  into  actuality  and  formed  a  men- 
tal habit  for  the  modern  world.  The  pro- 
cess began  in  Italy,  and  gradually  extended 
to  the  utmost  bounds  of  Europe,  producing 
similar  results  in  every  nation  and  establish- 
ing a  common  form  of  civilization." 

Encyclopedia  Britannica,  9th  ed.,  vol.  xx.  p.  238. 


1 


INDULGENCES 

Let  us  do  no  injustice  to  the  beliefs  of  our 
ancestors.  —  HINDOO  SAYING. 

iHE  word  "  indulgence/'  according 
to  Webster,  is  derived  from  the 
Latin  verb  indulgere,  "to  be  kind 
or  tender  to  one."  He  defines  an  indulgence 
to  be  :  "  Remission  of  the  temporal  punish- 
ment due  to  sins,  after  the  guilt  of  sin  has 
been  remitted  by  sincere  repentance  ;  abso- 
lution from  the  censures  and  public  penances 
of  the  Church."  1 

This,  though  not  fully  explicit,  does  not 
differ  greatly  from  the  definition  given  by 
Catholics  themselves  in  their  catechisms  and 
by  their  recognized  authorities,  both  before 

i  An  indulgence  is  thus  denned  by  the  Century  Dic- 
tionary :  "  A  remission  of  the  punishment  still  due  to  sin 
after  sacramental  absolution,  this  remission  being  valid 
in  the  court  of  conscience  and  before  God,  and  being 
made  by  an  application  of  the  treasure  of  the  Church  on 
the  part  of  a  lawful  superior."  This  definition  in  respect 
to  clearness  also  leaves  something  to  be  desired. 


INDULGENCES  141 

and  after  the  time  of  the  Protestant  Refor- 
mation. As  a  definition,  however,  it  may 
not  prove  so  clear  and  comprehensive  as  the 
average  reader  would  desire.  Indulgences 
have  played  a  part  in  history,  and  it  is  quite 
important  to  obtain  a  right  grasp  of  their 
nature  and  object. 

We  clear  the  ground  for  this  right  under- 
standing by  stating  what  indulgences  are 
not.  They  are  not  licenses  to  commit  sin ; 
neither  are  they  pardons  for  sins  already 
committed.  Having  disposed  of  these  mis- 
apprehensions, we  may  take  up  Webster's 
definition  and  examine  its  terms. 

An  indulgence  is  a  remission  granted  by 
the  Pope  or  Church  "  of  the  temporal  pun- 
ishment due  to  sins  :  " —  a  discharge  or  par* 
don  from  some  kind  of  punishment  which 
would  otherwise  have  to  be  endured. 

But  what  is  meant  by  "  temporal  punish- 
ment due  to  sins"  ?  In  the  Bible  (2  Kings 
xii.  13-14),  the  Prophet  Nathan  says  to 
David :  "  The  Lord  also  has  taken  away 
thy  sin ;  nevertheless,  because  thou  hast 
given  occasion  to  the  enemies  of  the  Lord 
to  blaspheme,  for  this  thing  the  child  that 
is  born  of  thee  shall  surely  die."  Though 


142   MOOTED   QEESTIONS   OF    HISTORY 

the  eternal  guilt  of  David's  sin  was  forgiven, 
the  temporal  punishment  was  still  to  be  ex- 
piated. The  Church  imposed  penances  upon 
its  repentant  children  as  a  commutation  of 
the  temporal  punishment  due  sin.  Among 
the  early  Christians,  severe  penances  were 
imposed  on  those  of  the  faithful  who  con- 
fessed to  grievous  sins.  Violation  of  the 
Sabbath  day,  by  any  servile  work,  for  in- 
stance, was  punished  by  three  days  on  bread 
and  water.  Perjury  was  punishable  by  the 
sinner  being  obliged  to  sell  all  his  goods  and 
give  the  proceeds  to  the  poor.  In  the 
course  of  time  it  became  a  more  general 
practice  to  remit  these  severe  penances  upon 
the  penitent  complying  with  certain  condi- 
tions, such  as  prayer  and  almsgiving ;  and 
this  mitigation  or  remission  was  regarded 
an  indulgence  on  the  part  of  the  Church. 

It  never  was  the  teaching  of  the  Church, 
nor  the  belief  of  the  Christians  in  any  age, 
that  an  indulgence  was  a  forgiveness  of  sin, 
much  less  a  license  to  commit  sin. 

Luther,  when  he  attacked  the  alleged 
traffic  in  indulgences,  did  not  question  the 
right  of  the  Church  to  grant  them,  nor  did 
he  say  that  they  were  not  of  great  spiritual 


INDULGENCES  143 

value.1  It  was  somewhat  later  in  his  career 
that  he  came  out  against  the  whole  teaching 
on  indulgences  ;  it  was  not  until  he  struck 
at  other  Catholic  teachings,  such  as  Papal 
supremacy,  priestly  celibacy,  and  the  neces- 
sity of  good  works  for  salvation. 

Prayer,  fasting,  and  almsgiving,  together 
with  confession  and  repentance,  were  the 
conditions  prescribed  in  the  famous  bull  of 
Leo  X.,  proclaiming  an  indulgence.  Even 
D'Aubigne'  says :  "  In  the  Pope's  bull  some- 
thing was  said  of  repentance  of  the  heart 
and  confession  of  the  lips."  2  Pope  Leo  X. 
desired  to  use  the  alms  thus  contributed  in 
completing  St.  Peter's  Cathedral  at  Rome,3 
than  which 

"  What  could  be 

Of  earthly  structures  in  His  honor  piled 
Of  sublimer  aspect  ?  Majesty, 
Power,  glory,  strength,  and  beauty,  all  are  aisled 
In  this  eternal  ark  of  worship  undefiled." 

1  He  did  not  as  yet  impugn  the  doctrine  of  indulgen- 
ces itself,  and  he  expressed  his  conviction  that  their  good 
father,  the  Pope,  must  be  altogether  unaware  of  the  ex- 
tent to  which  such  abuses  [sale  of  indulgences]  were  al- 
lowed to  prevail."  —  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  vol.  xx. 
p.  326. 

2  Vol.  i.  p.  214. 

8  St.  Peter's  was  begun  in  1506  and  completed  in 
1629.  It  cost  nearly  fifty  million  dollars. 


144    MOOTED    QUESTIONS  OF    HISTOKY 

John  Tetzel,  a  Dominican  friar,  was  com- 
missioned by  the  Archbishop  of  Mentz  and 
Magdeburg  to  preach  the  indulgence  in 
Germany.  Luther,  an  Augustinian  friar, 
was  moved  to  denounce  Tetzel's  methods 
and  to  point  out  his  mistakes.  At  first  the 
conflict  seemed  to  be  merely  a  "  monkish 
quarrel." 

As  to  what  Tetzel's  mistakes  were,  there 
is  a  mass  of  controversy.  It  was  charged 
that  his  way  of  presenting  the  advantages 
of  indulgences  to  the  people  partook  of  the 
nature  of  a  sale.  Still,  D'Aubignc?,  an  ultra- 
Protestant  historian,  tells  us  that  "  the 
hand  that  delivered  the  indulgence  could 
not  receive  the  money,  — that  was  forbid- 
den under  the  severest  penalties/'1  Con- 
fession and  repentance  were  always  made 
prerequisites. 

But  the  very  payment  of  money  as  a  part 
of  a  religious  duty,  whether  for  alms  or  for 
practical  good  works,  could  quite  easily 
take  on  the  appearance  of  a  purchase.  Es- 
pecially would  this  be  the  ease  if  the  other 
and  more  essential  requirements,  such  as 
true  sorrow,  humble  confession,  and  full 

i  Vol.  i.  p.  214. 


INDULGENCES  145 

reparation,  were  slurred  over  and  the  most 
stress  laid  upon  almsgiving. 

An  eminent  Catholic  authority  (Cardinal 
Gibbons  in  his  "  Faith  of  our  Fathers," 
page  393)  says :  "  Tetzel's  conduct  was 
disavowed  and  condemned  by  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  Holy  See.  The  Council  of 
Trent,  which  was  held  some  time  after- 
wards, took  effectual  measures  to  put  a 
stop  to  all  irregularities  regarding  indul- 
gences, and  issued  the  following  decree : 
(  Wishing  to  correct  and  amend  the  abuses 
which  have  crept  into  them,  and  on  oc- 
casion of  which  this  signal  name  of  Indul- 
gences is  blasphemed  by  heretics,  the  holy 
Synod  enjoins  in  general,  by  the  present 
decree,  that  all  wicked  traffic  for  obtaining 
them,  which  has  been  the  fruitful  source  of 
many  abuses  among  the  Christian  people, 
should  be  wholly  abolished.'  "  l 

Indulgences  as  defined  A.D.  15OO 

The  following  definitions  of  indulgences 
are  taken  from  popular  books  of  instruction 
that  were  current  in  Germany  at  the  end 

1  Sess.  xxv.,  Dec.  de  Indulgentiis. 
10 


146   MOOTED  QUESTIONS    OF    HISTOKY 

of  the  fifteenth  and  the  beginning  of  the 
sixteenth  century. 

The  Seelenfuehrer  says :  "  Know  ye,  that 
indulgence  does  not  forgive  your  sins,  but 
only  remits  the  punishment  which  you 
have  deserved.  Know  ye,  that  you  can 
obtain  no  indulgence  when  you  are  in  sin, 
and  have  not  confessed  and  truly  repented, 
and  really  determined  to  improve  your  life ; 
for  otherwise  all  is  to  no  purpose." 

The  Summa  Johannis,  of  the  year  1480, 
declares  that  "  only  he  who  sincerely  repents 
of  his  sins  can  gain  the  indulgence  ...  if 
the  man  be  in  a  state  of  mortal  sin  he  can- 
not gain  the  indulgence,  for  it  is  not  given 
to  sinners." 

"  To  those  who  said  that  indulgence  was 
forgiveness  of  sins  for  money,  and  therefore 
that  it  could  be  bought,"  the  explanation  of 
the  Articles  of  the  Creed  (A.  D.  1486),  re- 
marks :  "  That  it  was  a  question  of  the 
praise  and  honor  of  God,  and  not  of  the 
collection  of  money." 

Again,  "  The  indulgence  is  not  given  to. 
those  who  simply  contribute  to  the  building 
of  churches,  unless  they  are  in  a  state  of 
grace,  and  give  out  of  piety,  in  true  faith, 


INDULGENCES  147 

with  great  confidence  in  the  communion  of 
Saints,  and  their  merits,  in  whose  honor 
and  praise  the  churches  are  built,  and  with 
special  confidence  in  the  mercy  and  help 
of  God." 

See  Janssen,  History  of  the  German  People,  vol. 
i.  pp.  41-42. 

Documentary  Evidences 

For  a  full  and  scholarly  review  of  the 
documentary  aspects  of  the  indulgence  of 
1517  the  reader  is  referred  to  Janssen's 
"History  of  the  German  People,"  and  es- 
pecially to  the  fourteenth  letter  in  his  An 
mein  Kritiker  (To  my  Critics),  Freiburg, 
1882.  The  bull  proclaiming  the  indul- 
gence and  the  instructions  to  the  preachers 
of  the  indulgence  throughout  Germany  are 
quoted  to  show  that  confession,  sincere  re- 
pentance, and  fasting  were  conditions  to  be 
insisted  upon  with  much  emphasis  from  all 
who  sought  the  indulgence.  Even  Tetzel, 
in  his  anti-theses,  directed  against  Luther's 
theses,  is  quoted  as  explaining  that  no 
indulgence  can  be  gained  except  by  sincere 
repentance  and  confession.  No  alms  were 
to  be  demanded ;  contributions  were  to  be 


148   MOOTED    QUESTIONS   OF   HISTORY 

voluntary.  "  That  in  spite  of  the  strict  regu- 
lations of  the  instructions  to  the  preachers 
of  the  indulgence,  grievous  abuses  occurred, 
I  have,"  says  Janssen,  "  set  forth  in  my 
history  (vol.  ii.  p.  77)."  All  the  documents 
of  the  case  have  been  gathered  by  Kapp, 
a  Lutheran  authority  (Leipsic,  1721),  and 
Janssen's  citations  are  to  Kapp's  collection. 

Decrees  of  the  Council  of  Trent  (A.D.  1545) 

The  Council  of  Trent  asserts  that  the 
power  of  conferring  indulgences  was  given 
by  Christ  to  the  Church;  that  she  has 
always  used  this  power;  that  the  use  of 
indulgences,  as  being  most  salutary,  is  to 
be  retained  in  the  Church ;  that  those  are 
condemned  by  the  Council  who  say  that 
the  Church  has  no  power  of  granting  them. 
In  granting  them,  moderation  is  to  be  ob- 
served, lest  Church  discipline  be  enervated. 
Abuses  are  to  be  reformed.  All  evil  gains 
are  to  be  abolished.  Other  abuses,  that 
cannot  be  specially  prohibited,  are  to  be 
reported  in  the  Provincial  Synod  by  the 
Bishop,  reviewed  by  the  other  Bishops  in  the 
Synod,  and  referred  to  the  Pope,  "that  thus 
the  gift  of  the  holy  indulgences  may  be  dis- 


INDULGENCES  149 

pensed  to  all  the  faithful,  piously,  holily, 
and  incorruptibly." 

Sess.  xxv.  ch.  21,  Waterworks  translation,  p. 
277. 

"  It  is  decreed  that  these  heavenly  treas- 
ures of  the  Church  are  administered  not 
for  gain  but  for  godliness." 

Sess.  xxv.  ch.  9. 

CARDINAL  WISEMAN:  Defines  indulgences 

The  learned  Cardinal  Wiseman,  in  a 
pastoral  letter,  says :  "  Many  persons  will 
be  inclined  to  incredulity  when  I  tell  them 
that  an  indulgence  is  no  pardon  for  sin  of 
any  sort,  past,  present,  or  future.  It  is  no 
more  than  a  remission  by  the  Church,  in 
virtue  of  the  keys,  of  a  portion,  or  the 
entire,  of  the  temporal  punishment  due  to 


sin." 


Cardinal  Wiseman,  London  Tablet,  June  17, 
1854. 

CARDINAL  GIBBONS:  Defines  indulgences 

"  The  word  indulgence  originally  signified 
favor,  remission,  or  forgiveness.  Now  it  is 
commonly  used  in  the  sense  of  unlawful 
gratification,  and  of  free  scope  to  the 


150   MOOTED   QUESTIONS   OF   HISTORY 

passions.  Hence,  when  some  ignorant  or 
prejudiced  persons  hear  of  the  Church 
granting  an  indulgence,  the  idea  of  license 
to  sin  is  at  once  presented  to  their  minds. 
An  indulgence  is  simply  a  remission,  in 
whole  or  in  part,  through  the  superabun- 
dant merits  of  Jesus  Christ  and  His  saints, 
of  the  temporal  punishment  due  to  God  on 
account  of  sin,  after  the  guilt  and  eternal 
punishment  have  been  remitted.  It  should 
be  borne  in  mind  that,  even  after  our  guilt 
is  removed,  there  often  remains  some  pun- 
ishment to  be  undergone,  either  in  this  life 
or  in  the  next,  as  an  expiation  to  divine 
sanctity  and  justice." 

Cardinal  Gibbons,  Faith  of  Our  Fathers,  pp. 
384-385. 

WILMERS :  Definition  by  a  Jesuit  authority 

"  An  indulgence  is  a  remission  of  temporal 
punishment  due  to  sin  after  the  sin  itself 
has  been  remitted,  granted  outside  the  sac- 
rament of  penance.  In  the  sacrament  of 
penance  the  temporal  punishment  is  com- 
muted into  a  lighter  penance ;  by  indul- 
gence it  is  remitted  ;  not  simply,  however, 
but  by  the  application  of  the  satisfactions 


INDULGENCES  151 

of  Christ  and  of  the  saints  intrusted  to 
the  Church's  keeping.  .  .  .  Indulgences  are 
salutary,  not  only  because  they  remit  tem- 
poral punishment  due  to  sin,  but  also  be- 
cause they  encourage  sinners  to  become 
reconciled  to  God,  and  promote  the  fre- 
quentation  of  the  sacraments  and  the 
practice  of  good  works.  If,  at  times,  alms- 
giving is  prescribed  as  a  condition  for  gain- 
ing an  indulgence,  the  indulgence  is  in  that 
case  no  more  purchased  for  money  than 
heaven  is  purchased  by  any  other  alms  given 
with  a  view  to  eternal  salvation.'' 

Handbook  of  Christian  Religion  (pp.  360-362), 
by  Rev.  W.  Wilmers,  S.  J.  New  York:  Benziger 
Bros.,  Pub.,  1891. 

BRITISH  ENCYCLOPAEDIA:  The  Catholic 
teaching  stated 

"  Indulgence  in  Roman  Catholic  theology 
is  defined  as  the  remission,  in  whole  or  in 
part,  by  ecclesiastical  authority,  to  the  peni- 
tent sinner  of  the  temporal  punishment  due 
for  sin.  It  must  carefully  be  borne  in  mind 
that  in  Roman  Catholic  orthodoxy  indul- 
gence is  never  absolutely  gratuitous,  and 
that  those  only  can,  in  any  circumstances, 
validly  receive  it  who  are  in  full  communion 


152    MOOTED    QUESTIONS   OF  HISTORY 

with  the  Church,  and  have  resorted  to  the 
sacrament  of  penance,  in  which  alone,  after 
due  contrition  and  confession,  provision  is 
made  for  the  graver  penalty  of  sin." 

Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  vol.  xii.  pp.  846-847.    , 

ADAMS:  Money  was  given  as  alms 

"A  letter  of  indulgence  was  a  written 
document  granted  by  some  one  in  authority 
in  the  Church,  by  which,  in  view  of  some 
pious  act,  the  temporal  penalties  of  sin 
were  said  to  be  remitted  or  changed  in 
character  in  favor  of  the  holder.  The  letter 
itself,  which  was  written  in  Latin  as  an  of- 
ficial document  of  the  Church,  stated  that 
the  remission  was  of  no  avail  without  due 
repentance  and  forsaking  of  sin.  For  three 
centuries  or  more  it  had  been  customary  in 
the  Church  to  grant  these  letters  in  return 
for  donations  of  money  to  be  applied  to 
charitable  uses  or  to  advance  the  interests 
of  the  Church  on  the  theory  that  the  gift  of 
alms  was  a  pious  act  which  might  take  the 
place  of  penance  in  other  forms." 

European  History  (p.  302),  by  Geo.  B.  Adams, 
Professor  of  History  in  Yale  University.  New 
York:  The  Macmillan  Co.,  1899. 


XI 

THE   CAUSE   AND    SUCCESS    OF 
PROTESTANTISM 

For,  in  fact,  it  is  the  age  that  forms  the 
man,  not  the  man  that  forms  the  age.  .  .  .  If 
Luther  had  been  born  in  the  tenth  century,  he 
would  have  effected  no  Reformation.  If  he 
had  never  been  born  at  all,  it  is  evident  that  the 
sixteenth  century  could  not  have  elapsed  with- 
out a  great  schism  in  the  church. 

MACAULAY. 

CAUSE  and  pretext  are  two  different 
things.     The  occasion  for  the  out- 
break of  Lutheranism  in  Germany 
was   the   method   pursued   by   Tetzel    and 
other  monks  in  the  preaching  and  grant- 
ing of  indulgences.     As  well  might  we  at- 
tribute   the   American    Revolution   to   the 
destruction   of   the   gunpowder    stored    at 
Lexington  and  Concord,  where 

"  the  embattled  farmer  stood, 
And  fired  the  shot  heard  round  the  world," 


154   MOOTED  QUESTIONS   OF    HISTOKY 

as  to  make  Tetzel's  extravagance  and  abuse 
the  cause  of  the  Protestant  revolution.  The 
Lexington  gun  set  in  motion  multiform  and 
latent  causes  that  reached  back  for  a  gen- 
eration. The  fight  on  indulgences  broad- 
ened into  a  clash  of  authority  that  swept 
into  its  current  causes  existing  for  centuries. 

These  causes  existed  from  the  beginning 
of  the  Christian  era,  and  they  exist  to-day. 
During  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  cen- 
turies they  expressed  themselves  in  the 
heresies  of  Berengarius,  the  Albigenses, 
Peter  Waldo,  Huss,  and  Wycliffe.  They 
have  since  continued  to  operate  with  Prot- 
estantism, splitting  it  up  into  numbers  of 
warring  sects,  by  means  of  local  and  pro- 
vincial reformation-moves,  such  as  the 
Methodist  secession  from  the  Church  of 
England. 

The  Protestant  Reformation,  in  fact,  does 
not  differ  in  cause  from  the  great  heresies 
which  preceded  it.  All  had  their  source 
in  the  tendency  of  the  human  mind  to  set 
private  judgment  above  established  author- 
ity, whether  in  religion,  law,  or  letters. 

The  time  was  not  ripe  for  a  successful 
revolution  when  Wycliffe  wrote,  or  when 


PROTESTANTISM :  CAUSE  ;  SUCCESS  655 

Berengarius  preached ;  or  these  men  lacked 
Luther's  alternate  cunning  and  boldness ; 
or  they  failed  to  lay  hold  of  the  means  and 
methods  of  success  which  he  eagerly  grasped. 
Here  was  the  difference  :  it  was  not  in  cause, 
it  was  merely  in  circumstance  and  success. 

The  moral  and  material  condition  of  the 
Church  was  not  bad  at  the  epoch  Luther 
appeared.  It  was  worse  a  century  earlier 
—  at  the  time  of  the  "  great  schism."  The 
circumstances  of  the  Lutheran  movement, 
which  made  it  a  successful  revolution,  may 
be  briefly  stated  as  follows : 

1.  It  everywhere  sought  the  protection 
and  support  of  princes.  The  Emperor 
Maximilian,  Frederick,  Elector  of  Saxony, 
and  Philip  of  Hesse  were  Luther's  stead- 
fast friends.  In  the  first  instance,  they 
favored  him  because  of  their  dislike  of  the 
Papal  power.  Afterwards  he  made  it  their 
interest  to  join  forces  with  him.  He  flat- 
tered their  power.  He  taught  that  they 
were  rulers  by  divine  right,  and  that  un- 
questioning obedience  was  the  religious 
duty  of  the  subject.  He  made  them  the 
arbiters  on  ecclesiastical  questions.  A 
church  subservient  and  accommodating  to 


156   MOOTED    QUESTIONS   OF    HISTOKY 

the  civil  power  was  exceedingly  agreeable 
to  potentates  whose  absolutism  had  always 
been,  more  or  less,  interfered  with  by  bish- 
ops and  Popes.  In  Sweden,  Gustavus 
Vasa  patronized  the  Reformation  ;  in  Den- 
mark, Christian  II.  ;  in  England,  Henry 
VIII.,  for  a  time,  and  Elizabeth  ;  in  France, 
the  Court  of  Navarre  and  the  Prince  of 
Conde ;  in  the  Netherlands,  William  of 
Orange. 

2.  It  utilized  the  rich  lands  and  treas- 
ures of  the  monasteries  with  astute  policy. 
To  the  kings,  electors,  and  petty  princes 
the  reformers  virtually  said :  "  Embrace 
our  cause  and  we  will  give  you  the  wealth 
of.  the  monasteries  and  the  churches.  It 
will  pay  you  well.  It  will  fill  your  cof- 
fers, and  the  new  religion  will  put  a  salve 
upon  your  consciences  by  calling  this  expe- 
dition of  plunder  a  new  crusade,  —  a  stroke 
against  the  minions  of  Satan  and  the  dis- 
ciples of  anti-Christ."  The  bait  to  avarice 
worked  powerful  conversions  ;  the  adhesion 
of  princes  to  the  new  creed  being  followed 
by  a  public  profession  of  faith  by  way  of 
a  raid  on  the  convents.  The  Elector  of 
gaxony  filled  his  sideboard  with  vessels 


PROTESTANTISM :  CAUSE  ;  SUCCESS  157 

taken  from  the  sacristies  of  churches. 
Luther  remarked  with  shrewd  humor : 
"The  ostensories  of  the  churches  made 
many  converts  to  the  new  gospel."  Gus- 
tavus  Vasa,  in  Sweden,  Christian  of  Den- 
mark, and  Henry  VIII.  of  England,  made 
the  suppression  of  the  monasteries  the  first 
act  in  the  drama  of  the  Reformation. 

After  the  wealth  of  the  Church  had  gone 
to  the  kings  and  princes,  and  through  them 
to  the  court  favorites,  the  reformers  could 
sagely  say :  "  Our  fortunes  and  yours  are 
inseparable.  If  we  fall,  you  lose  your  new 
properties.  You  read  your  title  to  them 
through  our  teachings.  Let  the  old  re- 
ligion reconquer  and  there  will  have  to  be 
restitution." 

3.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  abolition 
of  celibacy  brought  to  the  Protestant  move- 
ment a  great  body  of  ex-monks  who  worked 
for  it  with  the  zeal  of  men  working  for  the 
gratification  of  desires  and  their  own  sal- 
vation from  social  obloquy.  The  Teutonic 
knights  went  over  in  a  body,  on  this  prin- 
ciple. The  vituperation  and  vigor  of  the 
new  gospel  came,  in  a  large  degree,  from 
this  following. 


158    MOOTED   QUESTIONS  OF    HISTORY 

4.  The  art  of  printing  was  another,  and, 
perhaps,  a  principal  reason  for  the  success, 
in  1517,  of  what  had  failed  in  the  previous 
centuries.  The  reformers  made  instant  and 
effective  use  of  this  means  of  sowing  broad- 
cast their  views.  They  multiplied  books; 
pamphlets,  satires,  burlesques,  caricatures, 
and  fiery  appeals.  These  methods  naturally 
moved  the  populace  and  won  partisans. 

BISHOP  STUBBS :  Won  by  force 

"  Where  Protestantism  was  an  idea  only, 
as  in  France  and  Italy,  it  was  crushed  out 
by  the  Inquisition ;  where,  in  conjunction 
with  political  power,  and  sustained  by 
ecclesiastical  confiscation,  it  became  a 
physical  force,  there  it  was  lasting.  It  is 
not  a  pleasant  view  to  take  of  the  doctrinal 
changes,  to  see  that  where  the  movements 
toward  it  were  pure  and  unworldly,  it  failed  ; 
where  it  was  seconded  by  territorial  greed 
and  political  animosity,  it  succeeded." 

Bishop  Stubbs,  Lectures  on  Mediaeval  and  Modern 
History,  p.  233. 

MACAULiAY :  Methods  of  the  Reformers 

"  We  cannot  but  remember  that  libels 
scarcely  less  scandalous  than  those  of 


PROTESTANTISM :  CAUSE ;  SUCCESS  159 

Hebert,  mummeries  scarcely  less  absurd 
than  those  of  Clootz,  and  crimes  scarcely 
less  atrocious  than  those  of  Marat,  disgrace 
the  early  history  of  Protestantism." 

Macaulay's  Essays  :  "  Burleigh." 

HAL.LAM :  Current  fallacies 

"  Whatever  may  be  the  bias  of  our  minds 
as  to  the  truth  of  Luther's  doctrines,  we 
should  be  very  careful,  in  considering  the 
Reformation  as  a  part  of  the  history  of 
mankind,  not  to  be  misled  by  the  superficial 
and  ungrounded  representations  which  we 
sometimes  find  in  modern  writers,  —  like 
D'Aubigne,  for  example.  Such  is  this,  that 
Luther,  struck  by  the  absurdity  of  the  pre- 
vailing superstitions,  was  desirous  of  intro- 
ducing a  more  rational  system  of  religion ; 
or,  that  he  contended  for  freedom  of  in- 
quiry, and  the  boundless  privileges  of  indi- 
vidual judgment ;  or,  what  others  have  been 
pleased  to  suggest,  that  his  zeal  for  learn- 
ing and  ancient  philosophy  led  him  to  at- 
tack the  ignorance  of  the  monks  and  the 
crafty  policy  of  the  Church,  which  with- 
stood all  liberal  studies.  These  notions 
are  merely  fallacious  refinements,  as  every 


160    MOOTED   QUESTIONS   OF    HISTORY 

man  of  plain  understanding  —  excepting, 
perhaps,  D'Aubigne —  who  is  acquainted 
with  the  writings  of  the  early  reformers 
or  who  has  considered  their  history,  must 
acknowledge.'* 

Hallam,  History  of  Literature,  vol.  i.  p.  165. 

MOSHEIM:  Much  violence 

"For  every  impartial  and  attentive  ob- 
server of  the  rise  and  progress  of  the  Refor- 
mation will  acknowledge  that  wisdom  and 
prudence  did  not  always  attend  the  trans- 
actions of  those  that  were  concerned  in  this 
glorious  cause ;  that  many  things  were  done 
with  violence,  temerity,  and  precipitation : 
and  what  is  still  worse,  that  several  of  the 
principal  agents  in  this  great  revolution 
were  actuated  more  by  the  impulse  of  pas- 
sions and  views  of  interest  than  by  a  zeal 
for  the  advancement  of  true  religion." 

Mosheim,  Ecclesiastical  History. 

HALLAM:  Force  used  in  England 

"  An  historian  whose  bias  was  certainly 
not  unfavorable  to  Protestantism  (Burnett, 
vol.  iii.  pp.  190,  196)  confesses  that  all  en- 
deavors were  too  weak  to  overcome  the  aver- 


PROTESTANTISM:  CAUSE;  SUCCESS  161 

sion  of  the  people  towards  reformation,  and 
even  intimates  that  German  troops  were  sent 
for  from  Calais  on  account  of  the  bigotry 
with  which  the  bulk  of  the  nation  adhered 
to  the  old  superstition.  This  is  somewhat 
an  humiliating  admission,  that  the  Protes- 
tant faith  was  imposed  upon  our  ancestors 
by  a  foreign  army.  It  is  certain  that  the 
re-establishment  of  popery  on  Mary's  acces- 
sion must  have  been  acceptable  to  a  large 
part  or  perhaps  the  majority  of  the  nation." 

Hallam,  Const.  Hist,  of  England,  vol.  i.  ch.  ii. 

MACAULAY  :  How  Protestantism  succeeded 
in  England 

"A  king  whose  character  may  be  best 
described  by  saying  that  he  was  despotism 
itself  personified,  unprincipled  ministers,  a 
rapacious  aristocracy,  a  servile  Parliament, 
—  such  were  the  instruments  by  which  Eng- 
land was  delivered  from  the  yoke  of  Rome. 
The  work  which  had  been  begun  by  Henry, 
the  murderer  of  his  wives,  was  continued  by 
Somerset,  the  murderer  of  his  brother,  and 
completed  by  Elizabeth,  the  murderer  of 
her  guest.'* 

Macaulay's  Essays  :  "  Hallam." 
11 


162   MOOTED    QUESTIONS  OF    HISTORY 

SMILES :  In  Ireland 

"  The  '  Reformation  from  Popery  '  was 
completed  in  Elizabeth's  reign.  The  history 
of  this  movement  in  Ireland  is,  throughout, 
one  of  merciless  persecution,  of  wholesale 
spoliation,  and  of  murderous  cruelty.  The 
instruments  by  which  it  was  accomplished 
were  despotic  monarchs,  unprincipled  min- 
isters, a  rapacious  aristocracy,  and  venal 
and  slavish  parliaments.  It  sprung  from 
brutal  passion,  was  nurtured  in  selfish  and 
corrupt  policy,  and  was  consummated  in 
bloodshed  and  horrid  crime.  6  The  work 
which  had  been  begun  by  Henry,  the 
murderer  of  his  wives,  was  continued  by 
Somerset,  the  murderer  of  his  brother,  and 
completed  by  Elizabeth,  the  murderer  of 
her  guest/  Such  was  the  e  Reformation/ 
and  such  were  its  instruments;  and  the 
consequences  which  flowed  from  it,  at  least 
in  Ireland,  were  of  a  kindred  character  for 
centuries  to  come." 

Samuel  Smiles,  History  of  Ireland  and  the  Irish 
People  under  the  Government  of  England. 

BRITISH  ENCYCLOPAEDIA:  In  Sweden 

"  In  Sweden  the  Reformation  was  estab- 
lished concurrently  with  the  political  revo- 


PROTESTANTISM:  CAUSE;  SUCCESS  163 

lution  which  placed  Gustavus  Yasa  on  the 
throne.  It  was,  however,  only  too  appar- 
ent that  the  patriot  king  was  largely  influ- 
enced by  the  expectation  of  replenishing  his 
exhausted  exchequer  from  the  revenues  of 
the  Church,  and,  as  in  Germany  and  Eng- 
land, the  assent  of  the  nobility  was  gained 
by  their  admission  to  a  considerable  share 
in  the  confiscated  property." 

Encyclopaedia   Britannica:   "  Reformation,"  vol. 
xx.  p.  336. 


fHARACTER  OF  THE  REFORMERS 

Reputation  is  an  idle  and  most  false  im- 
position ;  oft  got  without  merit,  and  lost  with- 
out deserving.  —  SHAKESPEARE. 

LUTHER  and  Melanchthon  were  the 
leaders  of   Protestantism  in   Ger- 
many,   Calvin   and    Zwinglius   in 
France  and  Switzerland,  and   John  Knox 
in  Scotland.     In  England  and  Sweden  the 
monarchs,  Henry  VIII.  and  Gustavus  Vasa, 
were  the  reformers. 

Luther  was  a  man  of  force,  audacity,  and 
great  power  of  expression.  He  is  criticised 
for  his  violence,  his  cunning,  and  his  roy- 
stering.  Melanchthon  was  the  scholar  of 
the  Reformation,  and  the  gentleman,  too, 
perhaps.  Beyond  the  charge  of  wavering 
in  his  doctrines  and  frequently  changing 
his  views,  he  is  the  least  assailed  of  any 
of  the  reformers.  Calvin  was  the  master 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  REFORMERS  165 

of  a  polished  and  logical  style.  His  char- 
acter was  grave,  gloomy,  and  despotic. 
Zwinglius  was  impetuous  and  warlike;  he 
died  at  the  head  of  a  band  of  soldiers  in 
15.31.  Knox,  who  has  been  termed  the 
"ruffian  of  the  Reformation,"  was  coarse, 
violent,  and  gloomy,  but  master  of  a  style 
of  rude  eloquence  that  swayed  what  he 
termed  the  "rascally  multitude." 

All  of  these  men,  except  Calvin  and 
Melanchthon,  had  been  ordained  priests 
prior  to  their  rupture  with  the  Church. 
Luther  married  a  nun ;  Knox  signalized  his 
revolt  from  Rome  by  taking  a  wife,  and  Cal- 
vin and  Zwinglius  married  wealthy  widows. 

Luther's  sermons  are  the  best  evidences 
of  his  style.  His  shrewd  adaptation  of 
doctrines  to  please  princes  and  conciliate 
powerful  magnates  shows  his  cunning  and 
astuteness.  He  permitted  Philip  of  Hesse 
to  have  two  wives,  but  he  enjoined  secrecy 
lest  the  "  rough  peasants  ''  might  also  claim 
that  privilege.  His  "Table  Talk"  purports 
to  be  a  collection  of  his  wit  and  wisdom 
delivered  at  the  Black  Eagle  tavern,  where 
he  met  boon  companions  and  drank  copious 
quantities  of  wine.  The  famous  saying,  — 


166   MOOTED   QUESTIONS    OF  HISTORY 

u  Who  loves  not  woman,  wine,  and  song 
Remains  a  fool  his  whole  life  long," 

is  Goethe's  rendering  of  a  sentiment  very 
generally  attributed  to  Luther.  Hallam 
seems  to  believe  the  supposition  "  almost 
justified  that  there  was  a  vein  of  insanity 
in  his  very  remarkable  character."  l 

Calvin's  vindictiveness  is  sufficiently 
shown  in  his  conduct  towards  Servetus. 
He  lured  his  victim  to  Geneva  and  then 
had  him  condemned  to  death.  Geneva  was 
governed  by  Blue  Laws  of  a  much  stricter 
kind  than  those  which  prevailed  in  the  New 
England  colonies.  At  times  the  sway  of 
Calvin  is  comparable  to  the  French  "  Reign 
of  Terror/'  and  the  character  of  Marat,  as 
drawn  by  Carlyle,  has  resemblances  to  that 
of  Calvin. 

FKOUDE:  An  unfavorable  view  of  the  Re- 
formers 

"  Lord  Macaulay  can  hardly  find  epithets 
strong  enough  to  express  his  contempt  for 
Archbishop  Cranmer.  Mr.  Buckle  places 

1  Constitutional  History  of  England,  vol.  i.  ch.  ii. 
p.  73  n. 


CHARACTER  OF   THE  REFORMERS  167 

Cranmer  by  the  side  of  Bonner,  and  hesi- 
tated which  of  the  two  characters  is  the 
more  detestable.  .  .  .  An  unfavorable  es- 
timate of  the  Reformers,  whether  just  or 
unjust,  is  unquestionably  gaining  ground 
among  our  advanced  thinkers. " 

James  Anthony  Froude,  Short  Studies  on  Great 
Subjects,  Times  of  Erasmus  and  Luther,  vol.  i.  p. 
48.  London:  Longmans,  Green  &  Co.,  1884. 

SCHAFF-HERZOG :   Condoned  bigamy 

"  Here  we  may  mention  his  [Luther's]  at- 
titude towards  the  second  marriage  of  Philip 
of  Hesse.  This  prince,  loving  another  woman 
than  his  wife,  secured  the  opinion  from 
the  Reformer  that  while  monogamy  was  the 
original  institution  of  God,  cases  might  arise 
to  justify  bigamy  ;  but  the  second  marriage 
should,  for  prudential  reasons,  be  kept 
secret.  The  marriage  took  place  March  3, 
1540,  in  the  presence  of  Melanchthon." 
Schaff-Herzog  Dictionary,  article  on  Luther. 

TYTLER:  A  dispensation  for  polygamy 

"While  the  tenets  of  Luther  were 
rapidly  gaining  ground  in  the  North,  the 
following  fact  will  convince  us  that  he  ar- 


168   MOOTED   QUESTIONS   OF   HISTORY 

rogated  to  himself  an  authority  very  little 
short  of  that  of  the  Pope  in  Germany. 
Philip,  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse  Cassel,  had 
taken  a  disgust  at  his  wife,  a  princess  of 
the  house  of  Saxony,  who,  he  alleged,  was 
intolerably  ugly  and  addicted  to  drunken- 
ness. The  secret  was  that  he  had  fallen  in 
love  with  a  young  lady  of  the  name  of 
Saal,  whom  he  wanted  to  marry.  Luther 
at  this  time,  with  five  of  his  followers,  was 
holding  a  kind  of  synod  at  Wittenberg,  for 
the  regulation  of  matters  regarding  the 
Church.  The  Landgrave  presented  to  him 
a  petition,  setting  forth  his  case,  in  which 
he  at  the  same  time  insinuated  that  in 
case  Luther  and  the  doctors  should  refuse 
him  a  dispensation  of  polygamy  he  should 
perhaps  be  obliged  to  ask  it  of  the  Pope. 
The  synod  were  under  considerable  diffi- 
culty. The  interest  of  the  Landgrave  was 
too  considerable  to  be  disregarded,  and  at 
the  same  time,  to  favor  him,  they  must  as- 
sume to  themselves  a  power  of  breaking  a 
law  of  Scripture.  The  temporal  considera- 
tion was  more  powerful  than  the  spiritual 
one.  They  agreed  to  give  Philip  a  dispen- 
sation for  polygamy,  and  he  accordingly 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  REFORMERS  169 

married  his  favorite,  —  even  with  the  con- 
sent of  his  former  wife." 

Tytler,  Universal  History,  vol.  iv.  book  vi.  ch. 
xx.  p.  290.  New  York :  Harper  Bros.,  Pub.,  1857. 

SCHAFF-HERZOG:  Calvin's  intolerance 

"It  is  idle  to  shield  Calvin  from  the 
charge  of  bringing  about  Servetus'  death, 
.  .  .  but  at  the  same  time  it  is  easy  to  ex- 
cuse him  on  the  ground  of  the  persecuting 
spirit  of  the  age.  Strange  as  it  may  seem, 
the  Protestants  who  had  felt  the  persecu- 
tions of  Rome  were  ready  to  persecute  all 
who  followed  not  with  them." 

Schaff-Herzog  Dictionary,  article  on  Calvin. 

HALLAM:  Knox  advocated  persecution 

"In  a  conversation  with  Maitland,  he 
[Knox]  asserted  most  explicitly  the  duty 
of  putting  idolaters  to  death.  Nothing  can 
be  more  sanguinary  than  the  Reformer's 
spirit  in  this  extraordinary  interview.  St. 
Dominick  could  not  have  surpassed  him. 
It  is  strange  to  see  men  professing  all  the 
time  our  modern  creed  of  charity  and  tolera- 
tion extol  these  sanguinary  spirits  of  the 
sixteenth  century." 

Hallam,  Const.  History  of  England,  vol.  i.  ch.  iil 
p.  147  n. 


170   MOOTED    QUESTIONS   OF    HISTORY 

JOHN  KNTOX:  A  reformer's  idea  of  tolera- 
tion 

"  While  the  posterity  of  Abraham/'  says 
Knox,  "  were  few  in  number,  and  while  they 
sojourned  in  different  countries,  they  were 
merely  required  to  avoid  all  participation 
in  the  idolatrous  rites  of  the  heathen;  but 
as  soon  as  they  prospered  into  a  kingdom, 
and  had  obtained  possession  of  Canaan,  they 
were  strictly  charged  to  suppress  idolatry, 
and  to  destroy  all  the  monuments  and  in- 
centives. The  same  duty  was  now  incum- 
bent on  the  professors  of  the  true  religion 
in  Scotland :  formerly,  when  not  more  than 
ten  persons  in  a  country  were  enlightened., 
it  would  have  been  foolishness  to  have  de- 
manded of  the  nobility  the  suppression  of 
idolatry.  But  now  when  knowledge  had 
been  increased,"  etc. 

Quoted  in  Dr.  M'Crie's  Life  of  John  Knox,  vol. 
ii.  p.  122. 


XIII 

THE  REFORMATION  AND 
RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY 

Decide  all  controversy  by 
Infallible  artillery ; 
And  prove  their  doctrine  orthodox 
By  apostolic  blows  and  knocks ; 
Call  fire  and  sword  and  desolation 
A  godly-thorough-Reformation. 

BUTLER:  Hudibras. 

TO  what  does  the  world  of  to-day  owe 
such  religious  liberty  as  it  pos- 
sesses ?  Certainly  to  no  principle 
or  tendency  born  of  the  religious  upheaval 
of  the  sixteenth  century.  The  Spanish 
Inquisition  was  not  abolished  until  1814. 
Catholic  emancipation  from  the  persecution 
of  English  Protestantism  did  not  transpire 
until  1829.  The  nineteenth  century  came, 
but  the  laws  of  Saxony,  disqualifying 
Catholics  from  holding  property,  still  per- 
sisted in  the  "  cradle  of  the  Reformation." 
Down  to  1850  it  was  still  a  capital  offence 


172    MOOTED   QUESTIONS    OF    HISTORY 

for  any  Catholic  clergyman  to  cross  the 
Danish  frontier ;  down  to  1876  only  Prot- 
estants could  hold  office  in  New  Hampshire  ; 
and  even  in  our  own  day  no  Catholic  may 
hold  an  office  of  trust  or  honor  in  Sweden. 
The  Protestant  Keformation  sought  to  sub- 
stitute one  form  of  orthodoxy  for  another. 
The  old  orthodoxy  fought  for  its  life ;  if 
Protestantism  triumphed,  it  knew  that  the 
rack  and  the  fagot  would  be  its  fate. 
Keligious  hate  and  suspicion  were  engen- 
dered, and  persecutions  followed  as  a  natural 
consequence.  Religious  liberty  came  only 
after  the  Reformation  movement  had  run 
its  course,  and  freedom  of  conscience  is  a 
reaction  rather  than  a  result. 

Luther  taught  and  preached  the  propriety 
and  need  of  religious  persecution.  So  did 
Calvin.  The  heavy  treatise  that  the  latter 
wrote  on  the  "Punishment  of  Heretics" 
may  still  be  consulted  by  any  reader  who 
wishes  to  study  the  arguments  justifying 
the  burning  of  human  beings  for  religious 
differences.  Luther  had  his  victim  in  Karl- 
stadt,  whom  he  banished  and  exiled.  Calvin 
had  his  victim  in  Serve tus,  whom  he  decoyed 
to  Geneva  and  burned. 


REFORMATION  AN1>  LIBERTY     173 

These  apostles  were  zealously  followed  in 
this  particular  by  all  their  disciples.  Beza, 
in  France,  and  the  leading  English  church- 
men, even  down  to  the  eighteenth  century, 
were  believers  in  the  right  and  duty  of 
persecution  for  religious  convictions.1 

The  policy  of  nations  was  guided  by  that 
belief.  The  first  condition  of  religious  in- 
tolerance —  a  union  of  Church  and  State  — 
was  taken  at  the  start  by  every  country 
which  adopted  Protestantism.  The  triumph 
of  the  Eeformation  was  always  marked  by 
the  immediate  promulgation  of  laws  against 
Catholics  and  dissenters.  This  was  the 
case  in  Hesse  and  Saxony ;  under  Gustavus 
Yasa  in  Sweden ;  under  Elizabeth  in  Eng- 
land ;  and  under  the  House  of  Orange  in 
the  Netherlands. 

The  colonists  of  Massachusetts,  fleeing 
from  religious  tyranny,  —  and  of  whom  we 
might  naturally  expect  they  would  spurn  that 

1  An  article  in  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith 
(CXX1I.  p.  86,  ed.  1845)  asserts  that  "  the  civil  magistrate 
hath  authority,  and  it  is  his  duty,  to  take  order  that  the 
truth  of  God  be  kept  pure  and  entire,  that  all  blasphemies 
and  heresies  be  suppressed,  all  corruptions  and  abuses  in 
worship  and  discipline  prevented  or  reformed,  and  all 
the  ordinances  of  God  duly  settled,  administered,  and 
observed." 


174   MOOTEI>  QUESTIONS    OF    HISTORY 

which  had  exiled  them,  —  were  yet  so  im- 
bued with  the  cult  of  the  Keformation  time 
that  they  re-enacted  on  American  soil  the 
odious  intolerance  of  their  mother  country. 
Quakers  were  imprisoned,  Baptists  were 
banished,  and  "  Papists  "  were  pilloried  and 
tortured.  Men  had  to  forget  the  unnatural 
feelings  born  of  the  Reformation  time,  and 
to  revert  to  natural  common-sense  before 
they  concluded  to  give  up  persecution. 
The  hates,  the  envies,  and  the  prejudices  of 
the  religious  upheaval  had  to  be  cleared 
away  before  men's  minds  could  calmly  arrive 
at  an  earnest  desire  for  toleration.  When 
there  is  an  outcropping  of  the  old  spirit,  we 
may  be  sure  that  it  is  a  reversion  to  what 
has  been  termed  the  "fury  of  the  Ref- 
ormation time."  * 

LECKY :  Catholic  and  Protestant  persecution 

"Catholicism   was   an    ancient    Church. 
She  had  gained  a  great  part  of  her  influ- 

1  "  It  is  very  strange  and  very  humiliating  for  human 
reason  that  when  the  middle  age  had  vanished  ;  when 
Charron  and  Montaigne  had  just  written  those  books  so 
impregnated  with  the  spirit  of  scepticism,  precisely  then, 
in  the  full  light  of  the  sixteenth  century,  persecution  of 
sorcerers  entered  on  the  most  violent  phase. "  (Rambaud, 
History  of  Civilization,  vol.  i.  p.  571,  Paris,  1883.) 


REFORMATION  AND  LIBERTY     175 

ence  by  vast  services  to  mankind.  She 
rested  avowedly  on  the  principle  of  author- 
ity. She  was  defending  herself  against  ag- 
gression and  innovation.  .  .  .  She  might 
point  to  the  priceless  blessings  she  had  be- 
stowed upon  humanity,  to  the  slavery  she 
had  destroyed,  to  the  civilization  she  had 
founded,  to  the  many  generations  she  had 
led  with  honor  to  the  grave.  She  might 
show  how  completely  her  doctrines  were 
interwoven  with  the  whole  social  system, 
how  fearful  would  be  the  convulsion  if 
they  were  destroyed,  and  how  absolutely 
incompatible  they  were  with  the  acknowl- 
edgment of  private  judgment.  These  con- 
siderations would  not  make  her  blameless, 
but  they  would,  at  least,  palliate  her  guilt." 
"  But  what  shall  we  say  of  a  church  that 
was  but  a  thing  of  yesterday;  a  church 
that  had  as  yet  no  services  to  show,  no 
claims  upon  the  gratitude  of  mankind;  a 
church  that  was  by  profession  the  creature 
of  private  judgment,  and  was  in  reality 
generated  by  the  intrigues  of  a  corrupt 
court,  which  nevertheless  suppressed  by 
force  a  worship  that  multitudes  deemed 
necessary  to  salvation ;  which  by  all  her 


176   MOOTED    QUESTIONS   OF   HISTOKY 

organs  and  with  all  her  energies  perse- 
cuted those  who  clung  to  the  religion  of 
their  fathers  ?  What  shall  we  say  of  a 
religion  which  comprised  at  most  but  a 
fourth  part  of  the  Christian  world,  and 
which  the  first  explosion  of  private  judg- 
ment had  shivered  into  countless  sects, 
which  was  nevertheless  so  pervaded  by  the 
spirit  of  dogmatism  that  each  of  these  sects 
asserted  its  distinctive  doctrines  with  the 
same  confidence,  and  persecuted  with  the 
same  unhesitating  violence,  as  a  church 
which  was  venerable  with  the  homage  of 
twelve  centuries  ?  ...  So  strong  and  so 
general  was  its  intolerance  that  for  some 
time  it  may,  I  believe,  be  truly  said  that 
there  were  more  instances  of  partial  toler- 
ation being  advocated  by  Roman  Catholics 
than  by  orthodox  Protestants." 

Lecky,  Rationalism  in  Europe,  vol.  i.  p.  51,  ed. 

1870. 

GUIZOT:  Violation  of  conscience 

"  The  Reformation  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury was  not  aware  of  the  true  principles 
of  intellectual  liberty.  ...  On  the  one 
side  it  did  not  know  or  respect  all  the 


REFORMATION  AND  LIBERTY     177 

rights  of  human  thought ;  at  the  very 
moment  it  was  demanding  these  rights 
for  itself  it  was  violating  them  toward 
others.  On  the  other  hand  it  was  unable 
to  estimate  the  rights  of  authority  in  the 
matters  of  reason." 

Guizot,  History  of  Civilization,  pp.  261-262. 

HAZLITT:  Protestant  persecution 

"  It  is  evident,  moreover,  .  .  .  that  the 
Reformers,  just  as  much  as  the  Papists, 
held  it  a  right  to  inflict  coercion,  physical 
pains,  and  death  upon  those  who  denied 
what  they  regarded  as  the  essential  faith ; 
it  was  a  century  and  a  half  before  Protest- 
ants learned  definitely  that  they  had  no 
right  to  inflict  death,  imprisonment,  stripes, 
or  fines  upon  heretics.  .  .  .  Calvin  burnt 
Servetus  for  heresy;  the  mild  Melanchthon 
approved  the  act ;  so  did  Bucer.  (Calv. 
Epist.  p.  147,  Genoa,  1575.)  Calvin,  in 
his  letter  to  the  Earl  of  Somerset,  Lord 
Primate  of  England  (Epist.  67),  speaking 
of  the  Papists  and  of  the  fanatic  sect  of 
"  Gospellers,"  says  expressively,  "  they  ought 
to  be  repressed  by  the  avenging  sword." 
Speaking  of  executions  in  England  for  re- 
12 


178   MOOTED    QUESTIONS  OF    HISTORY 

ligious  opinions,  Hazlitt  says  :  "  It  appears 
many  were  put  to  death  in  the  reign  of 
Henry  VIII. ;  some  in  the  time  of  Edward 
VI. ;  one  hundred  and  sixty  Roman  Catho- 
lics in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  ;  sixteen  or 
seventeen  in  that  of  James ;  and  more 
than  twenty  by  the  Presbyterians  and 
Republicans." 

Hazlitt,  notes  to  his  edition  of  Guizot's  History 
of  Civilization,  pp.  266-267. 

HALL  AM:  "The  deadly  original  sin" 

"  Persecution  is  the  deadly  original  sin  of 
the  reformed  churches ;  that  which  cools 
every  honest  man's  zeal  for  their  cause  in 
proportion  as  his  reading  becomes  more 
extensive.'' 

Hallam,  Constitutional  History  of  England,  vol.  i. ' 
ch.  ii.  p.  105. 

STRICKLAND :  Persecution  upheld  by  all 

"  It  is  a  lamentable  trait  in  human  nature 
that  there  was  not  a  sect  established  at  the 
Reformation  that  did  not  avow,  as  part  of 
their  religious  duty,  the  horrible  necessity 
of  destroying  some  of  their  fellow-creatures 


REFORMATION  AND  LIBERTY     179 

on  account  of  what  they  severally  termed 
heretical  tenets." 

Strickland,  Queens  of  England. 

BRYCE :  Inconsistency  and  intolerance 

"  The  will  of  the  sovereign,  as  in  Eng- 
land, or  the  will  of  the  majority,  as  in 
Holland,  Scandinavia,  and  Scotland,  im- 
posed upon  each  country  a  peculiar  form 
of  worship,  and  kept  up  the  practices  of 
mediaeval  intolerance  without  their  justifi- 
cation. Persecution,  which  might  be  at 
least  excused  in  an  infallible  Catholic  and 
Apostolic  Church,  was  peculiarly  odious 
when  practised  by  those  who  were  not 
Catholic,  who  were  no  more  apostolic  than 
their  neighbors,  and  who  had  just  revolted 
from  the  most  ancient  and  venerable  author- 
ity in  the  name  of  rights  which  they  now 
denied  to  others." 

Bryce,  Holy  Roman  Empire,  ch.  xviii.  p.  328. 

GIBBON:   Reformers  defended  persecution 

"  The  patriot  reformers  were  ambitious 
of  succeeding  the  tyrants  whom  they  had 
dethroned.  They  imposed,  with  equal  vigor, 
their  creeds  and  confessions ;  they  asserted 


180   MOOTED   QUESTIONS   OF    HISTORY 

the  right  of  the  magistrate  to  punish  the 
heretic  with  death." 

Gibbon,  Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire, 
ch.  liv. 

MACAUL.AY:    Dishonest    as   well   as   intol- 
erant 

"Rome  had  at  least  prescription  on  its 
side.  But  Protestant  intolerance,  despot- 
ism in  an  upstart  sect,  infallibility  claimed 
by  guides  who  acknowledge  that  they  had 
passed  the  greater  part  of  their  lives  in 
error,  restraints  imposed  on  the  liberty  of 
private  judgment  at  the  pleasure  of  rulers 
who  could  vindicate  their  own  proceedings 
only  by  asserting  the  liberty  of  private  judg- 
ment,— these  things  could  not  long  be  borne. 
Those  who  had  pulled  down  the  crucifix 
could  not  long  continue  to  persecute  for 
the  surplice.  It  required  no  great  sagacity 
to  perceive  the  inconsistency  and  dishonesty 
of  men  who,  dissenting  from  almost  all 
Christendom,  would  suffer  none  to  dissent 
from  themselves;  who  demanded  freedom 
of  conscience,  yet  refused  to  grant  it;  who 
execrated  persecution,  yet  persecuted ;  who 
urged  reason  against  the  authority  of  one 


REFORMATION  AND  LIBERTY    181 

opponent,  and  authority  against  the  reason 
of  another." 
Macaulay's  Essays,  "  Hampden." 

MACAULAY:    Protestants  persecuted  each 
other 

"In  the  Palatinate  a  Calvinistic  prince 
persecuted  the  Lutherans.  In  Saxony  a 
Lutheran  prince  persecuted  the  Calvinists. 
Everybody  who  objected  to  any  of  the  ar- 
ticles of  the  Confession  of  Augsburg  was 
banished  from  Sweden.  In  Scotland  Mel- 
ville was  disputing  with  other  Protestants 
on  questions  of  ecclesiastical  government. 
In  England  the  jails  were  filled  with  men 
who,  though  zealous  for  the  Reformation, 
did  not  exactly  agree  with  the  Court  on  all 
points  of  discipline  and  doctrine.  Some 
were  persecuted  for  denying  the  tenet  of 
reprobation;  some  for  not  wearing  sur- 
plices." 

Macaulay's  Essays  (Review  of  Von  Ranke's  Hist, 
of  Popes). 

LECKY:     Intolerance    of    the    Scotch    and 
Swedes 

"  When  the  Reformation  triumphed  in 
Scotland,  one  of  its  first  fruits  was  a  law 


182    MOOTED    QUESTIONS    OF    HISTORY 

prohibiting  any  priest  from  celebrating,  or 
any  worshipper  from  hearing  mass,  under 
pain  of  the  confiscation  of  his  goods  for 
the  first  offence,  of  exile  for  the  second, 
and  of  death  for  the  third.  That  the  Queen 
of  Scotland  should  be  permitted  to  hear 
mass  in  her  own  private  chapel  was  publicly 
denounced  as  an  intolerable  evil.  '  One 
mass/  exclaimed  Knox,  ( is  more  fearful  to 
me  than  if  ten  thousand  armed  enemies  were 
landed  in  part  of  the  realm.'  In  France, 
when  the  government  of  certain  towns  was 
conceded  to  the  Protestants,  they  immedi- 
ately employed  their  power  to  suppress 
absolutely  the  Catholic  worship,  to  prohibit 
any  Protestant  from  attending  a  marriage 
or  a  funeral  that  was  celebrated  by  a  priest, 
to  put  down  all  mixed  marriages,  and  to 
prosecute  to  the  full  extent  of  their  power 
those  who  had  abandoned  their  creed.  In 
Sweden,  all  who  dissented  from  any  article 
of  the  Confession  of  Augsburg  were  at  once 
banished.  As  late  as  1690  a  synod  was 
held  at  Amsterdam,  consisting  partly  of 
Dutch  and  partly  of  French  and  English 
ministers,  who  were  driven  to  Holland  by 
persecution,  and  in  that  synod  the  doctrine 


REFORMATION  AND  LIBERTY    183 

that  the  magistrate  has  no  right  to  crush 
heresy  and  idolatry  by  the  civil  power  was 
unanimously  pronounced  to  be  6  false,  scan- 
dalous, and  pernicious/  ' 

Lecky's  Rationalism  in  Europe,  vol.  ii.  pp. 
49-50. 

BUCKLE :  Scotch  bigotry  worse  than  French 

"  It  must  be  admitted  that  in  Scotland 
there  is  more  bigotry,  more  superstition, 
and  a  more  thorough  contempt  for  the 
religion  of  others,  than  there  is  in  France. 
And  in  Sweden,  which  is  one  of  the  oldest 
Protestant  countries  in  Europe,  there  is,  not 
occasionally  but  habitually,  an  intolerance 
and  a  spirit  of  persecution  which  would 
be  discreditable  to  a  Catholic  country,  but 
which  is  doubly  disgraceful  when  proceed- 
ing from  a  people  who  profess  to  base  their 
religion  on  the  right  of  private  judgment." 

Buckle,  History  of  Civilization  in  England,  vol.  i. 
p.  264. 

GREEN :  In  England 

"The  suffering  of  the  Protestants  had 
failed  to  teach  them  the  worth  of  religious 
liberty;  and  a  new  code  of  ecclesiastical 


184   MOOTED   QUESTIONS   OF   HISTORY 

laws,  which  was  ordered  to  be  drawn  up  by 
a  board  of  commissioners  as  a  substitute 
for  the  Canon  Law  of  the  Catholic  Church, 
although  it  shrank  from  the  penalty  of 
death,  attached  that  of  perpetual  imprison- 
ment or  exile  to  the  crimes  of  heresy', 
blasphemy,  and  adultery,  and  declared 
excommunication  to  involve  a  severance  of 
the  offender  from  the  mercy  of  God  and  his 
deliverance  into  the  tyranny  of  the  devil." 

Green,  History  of  the  English  People,  etc., 
book  vi.,  ch.  L,  "  The  Reformation,"  p.  226. 

GREEN :  "  Heretics  ought  to  be  put  to  death  " 

"  The  spirit  of  Calvinistic  Presbyterianism 
excluded  all  toleration  of  practice  or  belief. 
.  .  .  For  heresy  there  was  to  be  the 
punishment  of  death.  Never  had  the 
doctrine  of  persecution  been  urged  with 
such  a  blind  and  reckless  ferocity.  '  I 
deny/  wrote  Cartwright, '  that  upon  repent- 
ance there  ought  to  follow  any  pardon  of 
death.  Heretics  ought  to  be  put  to  death 


now/ 


Id.,  book  vi.,  ch.  v.,  "  England  and  the  Papacy." 


REFORMATION  AND  LIBERTY    185 

GREEN:    The  policy  of  the  Huguenots 

"  If  the  Protestant  lords  in  Scotland  had 
been  driven  to  assert  a  right  of  noncon- 
formity, if  the  Huguenots  of  France  were 
following  their  example,  it  was  with  no 
thought  of  asserting  the  right  of  every  man 
to  worship  God  as  he  would.  From  the 
claim  of  such  a  right,  Knox  or  Coligni 
would  have  shrunk  with  even  greater  horror 
than  Elizabeth.  What  they  aimed  at  was 
simply  the  establishment  of  a  truce  till,  by 
force  or  persuasion,  they  could  win  the 
realms  that  tolerated  them  for  their  own." 

Green,  History  of  the  English  People,  etc.,  book 
vi.,  ch.  iii.,  "  England  of  Elizabeth." 

FISHER:  Milton's  "liberality" 

"  Even  Milton,  it  may  be  observed  here, 
did  not  carry  his  doctrine  of  liberty  of 
conscience  so  far  as  to  lead  him  to  favor 
the  toleration  of  the  mass  and  other  cere- 
monies of  Roman  Catholic  worship,  which, 
as  being  idolatrous,  he  thought  should  be 
forbidden." 

Fisher,  History  of  the  Reformation,  ch.  xv. 


XIV 

THE  REFORMATION  AND  CIVIL 
LIBERTY 

The  splendid  empire  of  Charles  V.  [1546- 
1555]  was  erected  on  the  grave  of  liberty. 

MOTLEY. 

THE  denial  of  free  will  by  the  early 
Protestants,  and  Luther's  exaggera- 
tion of  the  obedience  due  princes, 
were   tendencies    adverse    to    progress    in 
civil  liberty ;  but  their  influence  was  slight 
compared  with  that  of  other  circumstances 
growing  out  of  the  conflict  of  creeds. 

No  inconsiderable  progress  had  been 
made  in  political  freedom  at  the  epoch 
when  Luther  appeared.  In  England, 
France,  Spain,  and  Germany,  we  find  Par- 
liaments, States  General,  Cortes,  and  Diets. 
The  people  had  acquired  representative 
forms.  The  ancient  liberties  of  England 
were  formulated  in  the  Magna  Charta; 


REFORMATION  AND  LIBERTY    187 

there  was  trial  by  jury  and  there  was  the 
habeas  corpus.  Free  cities  flourished ;  and 
in  Italy,  the  Republics  of  Genoa,  Venice, 
Sienna,  Florence,  and  Pisa  conserved  great 
popular  liberties.  With  the  natural  mo- 
mentum of  progress  and  the  art  of  print- 
ing, there  should  have  been  no  halt  or 
retrogression. 

Unhappily,  this  was  precisely  what  oc- 
curred after  the  Protestant  movement  was 
fairly  launched.  In  some  instances,  popu- 
lar excesses,  the  revolts  of  the  Anabaptists, 
and  the  anarchy  caused  by  the  new  teach- 
ing led  to  a  reaction  towards  strong  gov- 
ernment. In  other  places  the  reformers 
courted  the  support  of  the  princes  and 
kings  by  clothing  them  with  religious  au- 
thority taken  from  the  Pope.  The  prince, 
uniting  the  authority  of  head  of  the  State 
and  head  of  the  Church,  became  absolute 
and  uncurbed. 

This  was  the  case  in  England,  where  the 
Parliament  showed  itself  the  pliant  tool 
of  Henry  VIIL,  and  where  James  I.  pro- 
claimed the  doctrine  of  kingly  divine  right. 
It  explains  the  unequalled  absolutism  of  the 
Lutheran  princes  of  Germany  and  the  King 


188  MOOTED    QUESTIONS    OF    HISTORY 

of  Prussia,  even  as  late  as  the  eighteenth 
century.  The  same  train  of  events  blotted 
out  all  representative  forms  in  Denmark 
under  Frederick  III.  in  1669,  and  in 
Sweden  under  Charles  XI.  in  1680. 

In  fact,  Protestantism  and  absolutism 
were  simultaneous  eras.  A  century  after 
Luther,  representative  government  had 
fallen  into  decay.  Strong  centralized  mon- 
archies ruled  all  Europe,  —  in  France  by 
virtue  of  the  religious  wars,  and  in  Spain 
by  reason  of  contagious  example  abroad. 

The  liberty  of  the  press,  which  was  little 
restricted  during  the  first  half -century  of 
printing,  becomes  the  subject  of  close  sur- 
veillance in  the  epochs  of  religious  conflict 
ensuing.  The  freedom  with  which  Eras- 
mus criticises  princes  in  the  early  portion 
of  the  sixteenth  century  is  punished  as  se- 
dition in  the  seventeenth.  Milton  makes  a 
timid  and  unavailing  plea  for  more  liberty; 
yet  things  have  only  slightly  bettered  even 
a  hundred  years  after  Milton. 

We  might  naturally  expect  that  in  the 
turmoil  of  religious  conflict  there  would  be  a 
notable  loss  of  respect  for  life  and  property. 
The  persecution  of  recusants  and  the  confis- 


REFORMATION    AND    LIBERTY    189 

cation  of  church  property  were  not  without 
a  demoralizing  influence  on  the  safety  of 
human  life  and  the  security  of  all  kinds  of 
property.  Law  and  liberty  go  hand  in 
hand.  In  the  midst  of  civil  conflict  and 
religious  hatred  the  conditions  for  progress 
in  political  freedom,  were  decidedly  un- 
favorable. There  was  universal  regress, 
and  then  slow  recovery.  Civil  liberty 
made  greater  strides  in  the  first  thirty 
years  of  the  nineteenth  century  than  in  all 
the  three  hundred  years  preceding. 

GUIZOT:  Unfavorable  to  free  institutions 

"In  Germany,  far  from  demanding  po- 
litical liberty,  the  Reformation  accepted,  I 
shall  not  say  servitude,  but  the  absence  of 
liberty  [p.  259].  ...  It  rather  strength- 
ened than  enfeebled  the  power  of  princes ; 
it  was  rather  opposed  to  the  free  institu- 
tions of  the  middle  ages  than  favorable  to 
their  progress  [p.  258].  .  .  .  In  England  it 
consented  to  the  existence  of  a  church  as 
full  of  abuses  as  ever  the  Romish  Church 
had  been,  and  much  more  servile  [p. 
259].  ...  It  doubtless  left  the  mind  sub- 
ject to  all  the  chances  of  liberty  or  thral- 


190  MOOTEO    QUESTIONS    OF    HISTORY 

dom    which    might    arise    from    political 
institutions." 

Guizot,  History  of  Civilization,  pp.  258,  259. 

HALL, AM:  Withdrew  liberty  of  judgment 

"  The  adherents  to  the  Church  of  Rome 
have  never  failed  to  cast  two  reproaches 
on  those  who  left  them :  one,  that  the  Re- 
form was  brought  about  by  .intemperate 
and  calumnious  abuse,  by  outrages  of  an 
excited  populace,  or  by  the  tyranny  of 
princes;  the  other,  that,  after  stimulating 
the  most  ignorant  to  reject  the  authority  of 
their  Church,  it  instantly  withdrew  this 
liberty  of  judgment  and  devoted  all  who 
presumed  to  swerve  from  the  line  drawn  by 
law  to  virulent  obloquy  and  sometimes  to 
bonds  and  death.  These  reproaches,  it  may 
be  a  shame  to  us  to  own,  can  be  uttered 
and  cannot  be  refuted." 

Introduction  to  the  History  of  Literature,  vol.  i. 
p.  200,  sec.  34. 

BRYCE:  Excesses  of  fantastic  sects 

"  The  remark  must  not  be  omitted,  in 
passing,  how  much  less  than  might  have 


REFORMATION    AND    LIBERTY    191 

been  expected  the  religious  movement  did 
at  first  actually  effect  in  the  way  of  pro- 
moting either  political  progress  or  freedom 
of  conscience.  The  habits  of  centuries 
were  not  to  be  unlearned  in  a  few  years, 
and  it  was  natural  that  ideas  struggling 
into  existence  and  activity  should  work 
erringly  and  imperfectly  for  a  time.  By 
a  few  inflammable  minds  liberty  was  carried 
into  antinomianism,  and  produced  the  wild- 
est excesses  of  life  and  doctrine.  Several 
fantastic  sects  arose,  refusing  to  conform 
to  the  ordinary  rules  without  which  human 
society  could  not  subsist." 

Bryce,  Holy  Roman  Empire,  ch.  xviii.  p.  326. 

SCHLEGEL :   Luther  favored  absolutism 

"  Luther  was  by  no  means  an  advocate  for 
democracy  .  .  .  but  he  asserted  the  absolute 
power  of  princes,  though  he  made  his  ad- 
vocacy subservient  to  his  own  religious 
views  and  projects.  It  was  by  such  con- 
duct and  the  influence  which  he  thereby 
acquired,  as  well  as  by  the  sanction  of  the 
civil  power,  that  the  Reformation  was 
promoted  and  consolidated.  Without  this, 


192  MOOTED    QUESTIONS    OF    HISTORY 

Protestantism  would  have  sunk  into  the 
lawless  anarchy  which  marked  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  Hussites,  and  to  which  the  war 
of  the  peasants  rapidly  tended,  and  it  would 
have  been  inevitably  suppressed,  like  all 
other  popular  commotions." 

Schlegel,  Philosophy  of  History,  vol.  ii.  p.  205 : 
Appleton,  New  York,  Publisher. 

GREEN ;  Constitutional  guards  swept  away 

"The  one  great  institution  which  could 
still  offer  resistance  to  the  royal  will  was 
struck  down.  The  Church  became  a  mere 
instrument  of  the  central  despotism.  The 
people  learned  their  helplessness  in  rebellions 
easily  suppressed  and  avenged  with  ruthless 
severity.  A  reign  of  terror,  organized  with 
consummate  and  merciless  skill,  held  Eng- 
land panic-stricken  at  Henry's  feet.  The 
noblest  heads  rolled  on  the  block.  Virtue 
and  learning  could  not  save  Thomas  More  ; 
royal  descent  could  not  save  Lady  Salisbury. 
The  execution  of  queen  after  queen  taught 
England  that  nothing  was  too  high  for 
Henry's  ' courage'  or  too  sacred  for  his 
(  appetite.'  Parliament  assembled  only  to 


REFORMATION    ANI>    LIBERTY    193 

sanction  acts  of  unscrupulous  tyranny,  or 
to  build  up  by  its  own  statutes  the  great 
fabric  of  absolute  rule.  All  the  constitu- 
tional safeguards  of  English  freedom  were 
swept  away.  Arbitrary  taxation,  arbitrary 
legislation,  arbitrary  imprisonment  were 
powers  claimed  without  dispute  and  un- 
sparingly exercised  by  the  Crown." 

Green,  Hist,  of  the  English  People,  book  vi.  ch.  i. 

MACAULAY:   Absolutism  in  England 

"  The  immediate  effect  of  the  Reforma- 
tion in  England  was  by  no  means  favorable 
to  political  liberty.  The  authority  which 
had  been  exercised  by  the  Popes  was  trans- 
ferred almost  entire  to  the  King.  Two 
formidable  powers,  which  had  often  served 
to  check  each  other,  were  united  in  a  single 
despot.  If  the  system  on  which  the 
founders  of  the  Church  of  England  acted 
could  have  been  permanent,  the  Reforma- 
tion would  have  been,  in  a  political  sense, 
the  greatest  curse  that  ever  fell  on  our 
country." 

Macaulay's  Essays,  "  Hampden." 
13 


194    MOOTED    QUESTIONS    OF    HISTORY 
SCHJLEGEL :  Civil  liberty  suffered 

"  Not  only  freedom  of  thought,  but  civil 
liberty  also  suffered  much  in  many  states 
of  Europe,  and  especially  in  Germany  from 
the  religious  schism.  In  this  country  the 
revolt  of  the  peasants  and  the  discontent 
of  the  nobles  were  the  pretext ;  the  power 
of  the  princes,  so  augmented  by  the  confis- 
cation of  church  property  and  their  own 
close  alliance  with  each  other,  was  the 
cause  of  these  numerous  restrictions  upon 
ancient  freedom." 

Schlegel,  Lectures  on  Modern  History  (Lectures 
15  and  16),  p.  209. 


GREEN :   Political  chaos  in  England 

"All  that  men  saw  was  political  and  re- 
ligious chaos,  in  which  ecclesiastical  order 
had  perished,  and  in  which  politics  was 
dying  down  into  the  squabbles  of  a  knot  of 
nobles  over  the  spoils  of  the  church  and 


crown." 


Green,    Hist,    of   the   English  People,   book  vi. 
ch.  i.,   "  The  Reformation." 


REFORMATION  AND  LIBERTY     195 
ALLISON:  Evil  social  results 

Sir  A.  Allison,  in  his  "  History  of 
Europe/'  says :  "  The  great  sin  of  the  Ref- 
ormation was  the  confiscation  of  so  large 
a  portion  of  the  property  of  the  Church 
for  the  aggrandizement  of  temporal  am- 
bition and  the  enriching  of  the  nobility 
who  had  taken  a  part  in  the  struggle. 
Almost  all  the  social  evils  under  which 
Great  Britain  is  now  laboring  may  be 
traced  to  this  fatal  and  most  iniquitous 
spoliation,  under  the  mask  of  religion, 
of  the  patrimony  of  the  poor  on  the  occa- 
sion of  the  Reformation." 
Allison,  Hist,  of  Europe. 

GREEN:  Oppression  of  the  poor 

"  In  1549  Devonshire  demanded,  by  open 
revolt,  the  restoration  of  the  mass  and  the 
Six  Articles,  as  well  as  a  partial  re-estab- 
lishment of  the  suppressed  abbeys.  The 
Agrarian  discontent  woke  again  in  general 
disorder.  Enclosures  and  evictions  were 
going  steadily  on,  and  the  bitterness  of  the 
change  was  being  heightened  by  the  results 
of  the  dissolution  of  the  abbeys.  Church 


196  MOOTED    QUESTIONS    OF    HISTORY 

lands  had  always  been  underlet,  the  monks 
were  easy  landlords,  and  on  no  estates  had 
the  peasantry  been  as  yet  so  much  exempt 
from  the  general  revolution  in  culture. 
But  the  new  lay  masters,  to  whom  the 
abbey  lands  fell,  were  quick  to  reap  their 
full  value  by  a  rise  of  rents,  and  by  the 
same  processes  of  eviction  and  enclosure 
as  went  on  elsewhere." 

Green,  Hist,  of  the  English  People,  book  vi.  ch.  i. 

GREEN:  Anarchy  in  Ireland 

"While  the  reckless  energy  of  the  re- 
formers brought  England  to  the  verge  of 
chaos  it  brought  Ireland  to  the  verge  of 
rebellion." 

Id. ,  book  vi.  ch.  i. 


XV 

TWO  POLITICAL  THEORIES  OF  THE 
REFORMATION  TIME 

There  's  such  divinity  doth  hedge  a  king, 
That  treason  can  but  peep  to  what  it  would. 
SHAKESPEARE:  Hamlet. 

THAT  kings  hold  their  power  directly 
from  God,  and  consequently  are 
responsible  to  Him  only  for  their 
acts,  is,  in  substance,  the  doctrine  of  "  the 
divine  and  indefeasible  right  of  kings." 
The  teaching  of  the  Catholic  and  Papal 
theologians  made  monarchs  responsible  to 
the  people  from  whom  they  immediately 
held  their  authority.  Louis  of  Bavaria, 
in  his  struggle  against  the  Pope,  was  the 
first  strong  advocate  of  the  divine-right 
theory.  To  bolster  up  his  authority  against 
the  censures  of  Rome,  he  sought  to  read 
his  title  direct  from  the  Deity  rather  than 
through  the  good  graces  of  his  Christian 
subjects. 


198   MOOTED    QUESTIONS   OF    HISTOKY 

The  rise  of  the  great  monarchies  in  the 
sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  made 
this  mischievous  theory  really  formidable. 
When  James  I.  published  his  plea  for  what 
Pope  wittily  calls 

u  The  right  divine  of  Kings  to  govern  wrong," 

he  was  ably  answered  by  the  Jesuit  theo- 
logian Suarez.  The  theologians  saw  in 
the  divine  right  of  kings  a  piece  of  hypo- 
critical politics  aiming  at  the  destruction 
of  the  Church's  spiritual  independence  and 
the  substitution  of  Caesarism  and  absolutism. 
So  the  theory  operated  in  the  case  of 
Louis  XIV.,  with  his  autocratic  boast, 
"  L'etat  cest  moi."  He  made  it  the  basis 
for  usurping  Papal  prerogatives.  Finally, 
democracy  has  come  round  to  the  views 
of  the  churchmen  on  the  subject,  and  the 
people-king  is  the  only  custodian  of  divine 
rights  recognized  in  our  day. 

The  principle,  Cujus  regio,  ejus  religio, 
is  the  expressive  Latin  of  a  peace  plan 
adopted  at  the  treaty  of  Augsburg,  in  1555, 
and  indorsed  nearly  a  hundred  years  later 
at  the  treaty  of  Westphalia.  The  religion 


TWO  POLITICAL,  THEORIES        199 

of  the  prince  or  elector  of  a  state  was  to 
determine  the  religion  of  his  subjects. 
Menzel  describes  this  principle  as  "  a  result 
of  Luther's  well-known  policy."  The  re- 
formers succeeded  in  all  cases  by  winning 
the  civil  authority  on  their  side  at  the 
beginning.  To  enforce  the  religion  of  the 
prince  upon  his  subjects  always  brought 
on  a  struggle,  and  it  was  needful  to  lay 
hold  of  a  plan  like  that  asserted  in  Cujus 
regio,  ejus  religio.  In  one  instance  —  that 
of  Pf alz  —  the  religion  of  the  people  was 
changed  arbitrarily  four  times  within  eighty 
years  by  reason  of  this  principle.  Its  sur- 
vival in  Germany,  especially  among  the 
Lutheran  princes,  is  a  noticeable  circum- 
stance even  to-day.  Yet  there  never  was 
a  theory  more  odious,  both  in  the  light  of 
civil  and  of  religious  liberty. 

MAINE :  A  Kef ormation  theory 

"  It  is  notorious  that  as  soon  as  the 
decay  of  the  feudal  system  had  thrown  the 
mediaeval  constitutions  out  of  working 
order,  and  when  the  Reformation  had  dis- 
credited the  authority  of  the  Pope,  the 
doctrine  of  the  divine  right  of  kings  rose 


200  MOOTED    QUESTIONS   OF   HISTORY 

immediately  into  an  importance  which  had 
never  before  attended  it." 

Henry  Simmer  Maine,  Ancient  Law,  p.  334. 


MACAUL.AY:  Not  a  mediaeval  doctrine 

"In  the  middle  ages  the  doctrine  of 
indefeasible  hereditary  right  would  have 
been  regarded  as  heretical;  for  it  was  al- 
together incompatible  with  the  high  pre- 
tension of  the  Church  of  Rome." 

Macaulay,  History  of  England,  vol.  i.  p.  56. 

FISHER:  On  the  Protestant  side 

"It  is  remarkable  that  in  opposition  to 
these  novel  dogmas  [of  the  Jesuits]  there 
appeared  on  the  Protestant  side  a  theory  of 
the  divine  right  of  kings  and  the  related 
doctrine  of  passive  obedience.  .  .  .  The 
advocates  of  freedom  and  revolt  against 
spiritual  authority  are  equally  strenuous 
for  slavish  maxims  of  political  obedience." 

Fisher,  History  of  the  Reformation,  ch.  xiv.  pp. 
505-506. 


XVI 

THE  REFORMATION  AND 
LITERATURE 

To  the  universities  the  Reformation  brought 
desolation.  —  FROUDE. 

THE   revival  of  literature  was  well 
under  way  when  the  Protestant 
Reformation  burst  forth.     Print- 
ing, paper  manufacture,  the  fall  of  Con- 
stantinople, and  the  discovery  of  America 
were  four  important  impulses  to  progress 
that  had  transpired  during  the  latter  half 
of  the  fifteenth  century. 

In  literature  and  art  Europe  was  decid- 
edly moving  forward.  The  Reformation, 
largely  from  the  nature  of  the  case  and 
incidentally  by  reason  of  its  teachings, 
tended  to  retard  this  literary  and  intellec- 
tual advancement. 

1.  It  was  a  revolution  accompanied 
everywhere  by  turmoil  and  disorder. 
Force,  rather  than  reason,  decided  the 


202    MOOTED    QUESTIONS    OF    HISTORY 

fate  of  the  conflict.  Cabals  and  plots, 
surprises  and  coup  d'fitats,  wars,  sieges,  and 
massacres,  were  the  events  of  the  day. 
These  conditions  have  never  favored  literary 
and  intellectual  progress  at  any  period  of 
the  world's  history.  Men's  minds  are 
drawn  away  from  the  pursuits  of  peace, 
the  culture  of  the  arts  and  the  sciences, 
the  upbuilding  of  useful  knowledge.  There 
is  no  stability  of  national  desire.  The 
concern  of  every  man  is  for  the  protec- 
tion of  the  goods  he  has  —  life  and  prop- 
erty —  rather  than  for  acquisition  and 
improvement. 

2.  Such  literature  as  most  prevailed  in 
the  Reformation  period  was  of  the  contro- 
versial order ;   and   this,  not  scholarly  or 
valuable,  but  fashioned   after   the  pattern 
set   by  Luther,  —  rough,   violent,    disputa- 
tious, and  bad-tempered.     The  literary  field 
was  overgrown  with  this  kind  of  weed,  and 
seemingly  sterile  to  the  production  of  aught 
else. 

3.  For    nearly    fifty    years    (1520-70) 
England  produced  no  literature  of  notable 
value,   and   in  Germany  the  sterility  and 
blight   in   letters   lasted   for   two  hundred 


REFORMATION  AND  LITERATURE     203 

years  after  Luther.  Not  until  the  time  of 
Leibnitz  did  Germany  begin  to  repossess  a 
literature. 

4.  The  breaking  up  of  the  monasteries, 
which  constituted  the  common-school  sys- 
tem of  the  middle  ages,  had  an  unfavorable 
effect   on  literature    as  well   as   upon   the 
intelligence  of  the  masses. 

There  was  everywhere  a  falling  off  in 
the  attendance  at  the  universities.  The 
essential  importance  of  these  nurseries  of 
learning  was  never  greater,  relatively,  than 
at  the  time  of  the  Reformation.  Their 
injury  was  the  hurt  of  everything  intellec- 
tual throughout  Europe. 

5.  Certain  forms  of  Protestantism  were 
distinctly  unfavorable   to   literature.     The 
Anabaptists   burned   libraries   and   decried 
education.     Calvinism  warred  on  art  and 
poetry,  as  frivolous  and  diabolical.     Among 
the   Puritans   there  was  a  dislike   for  all 
kinds  of  human  learning  which  were  not 
Biblical  or  theological  in  their  purposes. 

The  theatre  was  an  abomination ;  and  the 
study  of  the  classics  —  to  which  England 
owed  her  literary  renaissance  —  was  likened 
unto  the  pursuit  of  false  gods. 


204  MOOTED    QUESTIONS   OF    HISTORY 

6.  Growing  out  of  the  suspicion  and 
hate  of  warring  creeds,  stricter  censorship 
was  established  over  the  press.1  Books 
were  condemned  and  suppressed.  Authors 
were  constrained  to  tell  half  truths.  Criti- 
cism was  gagged.  The  heterodox  in  poli- 
tics and  science  was  punished  equally  with 
the  heterodox  in  religion.  There  was  far 
greater  freedom  of  thought  and  speech  in 
the  Europe  of  the  fifteenth  century  than 
in  the  Europe  of  the  sixteenth  and  seven- 
teenth centuries. 

HALLAM:     Reformation    appealed    to    the 
ignorant 

"The  most  striking  effect  of  the  first 
preaching  of  the  Reformation  was  that  it 
appealed  to  the  ignorant." 

Hallam,  Int.  to  Literature  of  Europe,  vol.  i.  p.  181. 

i  There  were  many  curbs  on  the  liberty  of  the  press 
during  Elizabeth's  reign.  "In  1559,"  says  Strype,  "by 
the  Queen's  injunction,  no  one  might  print  any  book  or 
paper  whatever,  unless  the  same  was  first  licensed  by  the 
royal  council  or  by  the  ordinary.  By  a  decree  of  the 
Star  Chamber  no  one  was  to  print  under  the  penalty  of 
a  year's  imprisonment,  except  in  London  and  in  either 
of  the  two  universities.  No  one  was  to  print  any  book, 
matter,  or  thing  whatever,  until  it  shall  have  been  seen 
and  allowed  by  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  or  the 
Bishop  of  London,  and  every  one  selling  books  printed 
contrary  to  this  regulation  is  to  suffer  three  months' 
imprisonment." 


REFORMATION  AND  LITERATURE     205 

FROUDE:  Goethe's  opinion 

"A  greater  man  than  either  Macaulay 
or  Buckle  —  the  German  poet,  Goethe  — 
says  of  Luther  that  he  threw  back  the  in- 
tellectual progress  of  mankind  for  centuries 
by  calling  in  the  passions  of  the  multitude 
to  decide  on  subjects  which  ought  to  have 
been  left  to  the  learned.  Goethe  in  saying 
this  was  alluding  especially  to  Erasmus. 
Goethe  thought  that  Erasmus  and  men  like 
Erasmus  had  struck  on  the  right  track,  and 
if  they  could  have  retained  the  direction  of 
the  mind  of  Europe  there  would  have  been 
more  truth  and  less  falsehood  among  us  at 
this  present  time.  The  party  hatreds,  the 
theological  rivalries,  the  persecutions,  the 
civil  wars,  the  religious  animosities  which 
have  so  long  distracted  us,  would  have  been 
all  avoided  and  the  mind  of  mankind  would 
have  expanded  gradually  and  equably  with 
the  growth  of  knowledge." 

James  Anthony  Froude,  Lecture  on  the  Times 
of  Luther  and  Erasmus  (Short  Studies  on  Great 
Subjects),  vol.  i.  p.  48. 

GREEN:  In  England 

Among  the  effects  of  the  Reformation 
in  England  during  Edward  VI. 's  reign, 


206  MOOTED    QUESTIONS    OF    HISTOJRY 

Green  notes  that  "  divinity  ceased  to  be 
taught  in  the  universities;  students  had 
fallen  off  in  numbers ;  libraries  were  scat- 
tered and  burned;  and  the  intellectual 
impulse  had  died  away." 

Green,  Hist,  of  the  English  People,  book  vi.  ch.  i. 
p.  367. 

FROUDE :  In  Edward  VI.'s  reign 

"  Missals  were  chopped  in  pieces  with 
hatchets,  college  libraries  plundered  and 
burned.  The  divinity  schools  were  planted 
with  cabbages,  and  the  Oxford  laundresses 
dried  clothes  in  the  schools  of  art." 

Froude,  History  of  England,  vol.  v.  ch.  v. 

GREEN :  At  the  universities 

"  Classical  learning,  indeed,  all  but 
perished  at  the  universities  in  the  storm 
of  the  Reformation,  nor  did  it  revive  here 
till  the  close  of  Elizabeth's  reign." 

Green,  book  vi.  ch.  vii.  ("England  of  Shake- 
speare "). 

FISHER:  A  censorship  over  books 

"In  Protestant  countries,  after  the 
Reformation,  the  supervision  of  the  print- 
ing and  circulation  of  books  devolved  upon 


REFORMATION  AND  LITERATURE     207 

the  State.     A  tiring  and  meddlesome  cen- 
sorship and  sometimes  a  severe  penal  code 
were  established  by  various  governments." 
Fisher,  History  of  the  Reformation,  ch.  xv.  p.  527. 

MATTHEW  ARNOLD:  A  literary  estimate 

Matthew  Arnold  (Schools  and  Univer- 
sities of  the  Continent,  p.  154),  speaks  of 
the  Elizabethan  literature  as  the  work  of 
"  men  of  the  Renaissance,  not  men  of  the 
Reformation."  Taine,  in  his  "  History  of 
English  Literature,"  entitles  his  chapter  on 
the  Elizabethan  age  "  The  Pagan  Renais- 


sance." 


MOTLEY:  In  the  Netherlands 

Motley  describes  the  iconoclastic  move- 
ments of  the  Reformation  in  the  Nether- 
lands. "  The  Netherlands,'*  he  says, 
"  possessed  an  extraordinary  number  of 
churches  and  monasteries.  Their  exquisite 
architecture  and  elaborate  decoration  had 
been  the  earliest  indication  of  intellectual 
culture  displayed  in  the  country.  All  that 
science  could  invent,  all  that  art  could 
embody,  all  that  mechanical  ingenuity 
could  dare,  all  that  wealth  could  lavish,  — 


208  MOOTED    QUESTIONS    OF    HISTORY 

all  gathered  round  these  magnificent 
temples.  .  .  .  And  now,  for  the  space  of 
only  six  or  seven  days  and  nights,  there 
raged  a  storm  by  which  all  these  treasures 
were  destroyed.  Nearly  every  one  of  these 
temples  were  rifled  of  their  contents.  Art 
must  forever  weep  over  this  bereavement. 
.  .  .  The  mob  rose  in  the  night  in  Antwerp, 
and  began  by  wrecking  the  great  cathedral 
church  of  Our  Lady,  and  before  morning 
they  sacked  thirty  churches  within  the 
walls.  .  .  .  They  destroyed  seventy  chapels, 
forced  open  all  the  chests  of  treasure, 
covered  their  own  squalid  attire  with  the 
gorgeous  robes  of  the  ecclesiastics,  and 
burned  the  splendid  missals  and  manu- 
scripts. .  .  .  Hardly  a  statue  or  picture 
escaped  destruction.  The  number  of 
churches  desecrated  has  never  been  counted. 
In  the  single  province  of  Flanders  four 
hundred  were  sacked." 

Motley,  Rise  of  the  Dutch  Republic,  vol.  i.  ch.  vii. 

BUCKLE:  Unfavorable  to  learning- 

"For,  though  the  Protestant  Reforma- 
tion was  a  consequence  of  this  progress 
[revival  of  learning] ,  it  was  for  some  time 


REFORMATION  AND  LITERATURE     209 

unfavorable  to  it,  by  encouraging  the  ablest 
men  in  the  discussion  of  questions  inacces- 
sible to  human  reason,  and  thus  diverting 
them  from  subjects  in  which  their  efforts 
would  have  been  available  for  the  general 
purposes  of  civilization.  Hence  we  find 
that  little  was  really  accomplished  until 
the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century,  when 
the  theological  fervor  began  to  subside  in 
England  and  France,  and  the  way  was 
prepared  for  that  purely  secular  philosophy 
of  which  Bacon  and  Descartes  were  the 
exponents,  but  by  no  means  the  creators.'* 

Buckle,  History  of  Civilization  in  England,  voL  i. 
p.  329. 

ERASMUS:  "Literature  languishes" 

A  contemporary  of  Luther,  the  learned 
Erasmus,  testified  in  1528 :  "  Wherever 
Lutheranism  reigns,  there  literature  utterly 
perishes."  (Quoted  by  Hallam,  Lit.  of 
Europe,  vol.  i.  p.  165.)  In  the  same  year 
he  wrote  in  another  letter :  "  I  dislike  these 
gospellers  on  many  accounts,  but  chiefly 
because,  through  their  agency,  literature 
languishes,  disappears,  lies  drooping,  and 
perishes;  and  yet,  without  learning,  what 

14 


210  MOOTED    QUESTIONS   OP    HISTORY 

is  men's  life  ?  They  love  good  cheer  and  a 
wife;  for  other  things  they  care  not  a 
straw."  In  a  letter  to  Melanchthon  he 
states  that  "  at  Strasburg  the  Protestant 
party  had  publicly  taught,  in  1524,  that  it 
was  not  right  to  cultivate  any  science,  and 
that  no  language  should  be  studied  except 
the  Hebrew." 
Epistle  714. 

PBESCOTT  :    Iconoclasm  broke  loose 

"  The  loss  occasioned  by  the  plunder  of 
gold  and  silver  plate  might  be  computed. 
The  structures  so  cruelly  defaced  might  be 
repaired  by  the  skill  of  the  architect.  But 
who  can  estimate  the  irreparable  loss  occa- 
sioned by  the  destruction  of  manuscripts, 
statuary,  and  paintings  ?  It  is  a  melan- 
choly fact  that  the  earliest  efforts  of  the 
reformers  were  everywhere  directed  against 
those  monuments  of  genius  which  had  been 
created  and  cherished  by  the  generous  pat- 
ronage of  Catholicism." 

Prescott,  Philip  II. 


XVII 

"BLOODY  MARY"   AND  "GOOD 
QUEEN  BESS" 

1  think  the  truth  is,  she  was  not  half  so  good 
as  she  had  been  made  out  and  not  half  so  bad 
as  she  had  been  made  out.  —  DICKENS  (on 
Queen  Elizabeth). 

THESE  expressions  give  us  are  mark- 
able  illustration  of  how  religious 
animosity  may  color  history.    The 
unimpeachable  truth  is  that  Mary  was  at 
least  as  good  as  Elizabeth,  and  Elizabeth 
was  at  least  as  bloody  as  Mary. 

Both  royal  ladies  persecuted,  but  with 
this  difference :  Mary  persecuted  Protes- 
tants, and  Elizabeth  persecuted  Catholics. 
In  our  day  either  kind  of  persecution  is 
equally  wrong  and  reprehensible.  Not  so 
in  other  and  less  tolerant  days.  The  age 
that  coined  these  expressions  thought  Mary 
"bloody"  for  the  killing  she  did,  but  it 
thought  Bess  "  good "  because  she  did  her 


212  MOOTED    QUESTIONS    OF    HISTORY 

killing  on  the  other  side.  Judgments  which 
depend  upon  "  whose  ox  is  gored  "  are  of  no 
historical  value.  Adjectives  like  "  good  " 
and  "  bloody,"  based  on  such  judgments, 
are  little  better. 

The  victims  of  Mary's  persecution 
numbered  two  hundred  and  eighty-four, 
according  to  Burnett;  two  hundred  and 
eighty-eight,  according  to  Strype ;  "  above 
two  hundred,"  says  Miss  Strickland,  and 
"almost  two  hundred,"  according  to 
Lingard.  They  were  chiefly  laymen,  few 
clergymen  suffering  death. 

The  Catholic  victims  under  Elizabeth 
amounted  to  one  hundred  and  ninety-one 
according  to  Dodd,  and  to  two  hundred  and 
four  according  to  Milner.1  "  Many  others," 
says  Hallam,  "  died  of  hardship  in  prison." 
Lingard  ascertains  from  contemporary  lists 

1  "  It  is  probable  that  not  many  more  than  two  hun- 
dred Catholics  were  executed,  as  such,  in  Elizabeth's 
reign,  and  this  was  ten  score  too  many.  —  Dodd  reckons 
them  at  191 ;  Milner  has  raised  the  list  to  204.  Fifteen 
of  these,  according  to  him,  suffered  for  denying  the 
Queen's  supremacy,  126  for  exercising  their  ministry,  and 
the  rest  for  being  reconciled  to  the  Romish  Church. 
Many  others  died  of  hardships  in  prison,  and  many  were 
deprived  of  their  property."  —  J.  L.  Motley,  Hist,  of  the 
United  Netherlands,  ch.  xvdi.  with  footnote. 


BLOODY  MARY,  GOOD  QUEEN  BESS  213 

that  one  hundred  and  twenty-four  Catholic 
priests  were  executed.  Challoner  thinks 
that  the  number  of  priests  alone  who  suf- 
fered death  was  nearly  two  hundred.  Many 
hundred  recusants  died  in  prison. 

Mary's  persecution  lasted  four  years ; 
Elizabeth's,  forty-four.  The  fines  for 
recusancy,  the  banishments,  the  imprison- 
ments, and  torture  which  characterize 
Elizabeth's  reign  are  more  impressive  of 
the  horrors  of  persecution  than  even  the 
hangings  and  burnings  at  Tyburn.  Strype 
tells  us  that  at  one  of  the  assizes  in 
Hampshire  four  hundred  recusants  were 
presented,  and  at  another  in  Lancashire, 
six  hundred.  Bridge  water  states  that  at 
one  time  twenty  Catholic  recusants  died 
of  infectious  disease  in  York  Castle. 

"  The  rack  seldom  stood  idle  in  the  tower 
for  all  the  latter  part  of  Elizabeth's  reign," 
says  Hallam.  "  Such  excessive  severities," 
he  continues,  "  under  the  pretext  of  treason, 
but  sustained  by  very  little  evidence  of  any 
other  offence  than  the  exercise  of  Catholic 
ministry,  excited  indignation  throughout  a 
good  part  of  Europe."  l 

1  Const,  History  of  England,  vol.  i.  p.  201. 


214    MOOTED  QUESTIONS  OF  HISTOKY 

As  to  the  comparative  characters  of 
Mary  and  Elizabeth,  Miss  Strickland's 
%f  Queens  of  England "  seems  to  place  a 
much  higher  estimation  on  that  of  the 
former  than  on  the  latter. 

MACAULAY:  Mary  had  provocation 

"  The  Catholics  did  not,  at  the  time  of 
Elizabeth's  accession,  rise  in  arms  to  seat  a 
pretender  to  the  throne.  But  before  Mary 
had  given  or  could  give  provocation,  the 
most  distinguished  Protestants  attempted 
to  set  aside  her  rights  in  favor  of  the  Lady 
Jane.  That  attempt  and  the  subsequent 
insurrection  of  Wyatt  furnished  as  good 
a  plea  for  the  burning  of  Protestants  as 
the  conspiracies  of  Mary  against  Elizabeth 
furnish  for  the  hanging  and  embowelling  of 
Papists." 

Macaulay's  Essays,  "  Hallam." 

SOUTHEY:  Mary  had  some  excuse 

"  If  any  person  may  be  excused  for  hating 
the  Reformation,  it  was  Mary.  She  regarded 
it  as  having  arisen  in  this  country  from  her 
mother's  wrongs,  and  enabled  the  king  to 
complete  an  iniquitous  and  cruel  divorce, 


BLOODY  MARY,  GOOD  QUEEN  BESS  215 

It  had  her  exposed  to  inconvenience  and 
even  danger  under  her  father's  reign,  to 
vexation  and  restraint  under  her  brother; 
and,  after  having  been  bastardized  in  con- 
sequence of  it,  an  attempt  had  been  made 
to  deprive  her  of  the  inheritance,  because 
she  continued  to  profess  the  Eoman  Catholic 
faith/* 

R.  Southey,  Book  of  the  Church,  ch.  xiv. 

HALL  AM:    Mary's    respect  for   the    consti- 
tution 

"  It  is  due,  indeed,  to  the  memory  of  one 
who  has  left  so  odious  a  name,  to  remark 
that  Mary  was  conscientiously  averse  to 
encroach  upon  what  she  understood  to  be 
the  privileges  of  her  people.  A  wretched 
book  having  been  written  to  exalt  her 
prerogative  on  the  ridiculous  pretence  that, 
as  queen,  she  was  not  bound  by  the  laws  of 
former  kings,  she  showed  it  to  Gardiner, 
and  on  his  expressing  his  indignation  at 
the  sophism,  threw  it  herself  into  the  fire." 

Hallam,  Constitutional  Hist,  of  England,  vol.  i. 
p.  55. 


216    MOOTED    QUESTIONS   OF   HISTORY 

GREEIST :  In  Elizabeth's  reign 

"  To  modern  eyes  there  is  something  even 
more  revolting  than  open  persecution  in  a 
policy  which  branded  every  Catholic  priest 
as  a  traitor  and  all  Catholic  worship  as 
disloyal.  .  .  .  An  act  to  retain  the  Queen's 
Majesty's  subjects  in  due  obedience  pro- 
hibited the  saying  of  mass  even  in  private 
houses,  increased  the  fine  on  recusants  to 
twenty  pounds  a  month,  etc.  ...  If  we 
adopt  the  Catholic  estimate  of  the  times, 
the  twenty  years  which  followed  [1580- 
1600]  saw  the  execution  of  two  hundred 
priests,  while  a  yet  greater  number  perished 
in  filthy  and  fever-stricken  gaols  in  which 
they  were  plunged.  The  work  of  recon- 
ciliation with  Rome  was  arrested  by  this 
ruthless  energy." 

Green,  Hist,  of  the  English  People,  book  vi.  ch.  v., 
"  England  and  the  Papacy." 

MACATJLAr:  Mary  and  Elizabeth 

"  Being  herself  [Queen  Elizabeth]  an 
Adiaphorist,  having  no  scruple  about  con- 
forming to  the  Romish  Church  when  con- 
formity was  necessary  to  her  own  safety, 
retaining  to  the  last  moment  of  her  life 


BLOODY  MARY,  GOOD  QUEEN  BESS  217 

a  fondness  for  much  of  the  doctrine  and 
much  of  the  ceremonial  of  that  church,  she 
yet  subjected  that  church  to  a  persecution 
even  more  odious  than  the  persecution  with 
which  her  sister  had  harassed  the  Prot- 
estants. We  say  more  odious.  For  Mary 
had  at  least  the  plea  of  fanaticism.  She 
did  nothing  for  her  religion  which  she  was 
not  prepared  to  suffer  for  it.  She  had  held 
it  firmly  under  persecution.  She  fully  be- 
lieved it  to  be  essential  to  salvation.  If 
she  burned  the  bodies  of  her  subjects,  it 
was  in  order  to  rescue  their  souls.  Eliza- 
beth had  no  such  pretext.  In  opinion  she 
was  little  more  than  half  a  Protestant. 
She  had  professed,  when  it  suited  her,  to 
be  wholly  a  Catholic." 
Macaulay's  Essays,  "  Burleigh  and  his  Times." 


XVIII 
THE  INQUISITION 

In  the  heroic  days  when  Ferdinand 
And  Isabella  ruled  the  Spanish  land, 
And  Torquemada,  with  his  subtle  brain. 
Ruled  them,  as  Grand  Inquisitor  of  Spain. 
LONGFELLOW. 

TWENTY-TWO    thousand     persons 
suffered  death  for  theft  in  England 
during  the  thirty-eight  years  of  a 
single  reign.     The  justice  of  our  ancestors 
was  a  bloody  affair. 

Sir  James  Stephen,  in  his  "  History  of 
Criminal  Law  of  England  "  (p.  467),  says : 
"  If  the  average  number  of  executions  in 
each  county  were  twenty,  a  little  more 
than  a  quarter  of  the  executions  in  Devon- 
shire, in  1598,  this  would  make  eight 
hundred  executions  a  year  in  the  forty 
English  counties  "  —  or  eighty  thousand  in 
the  course  of  a  century.  Mackay,  in  a 
work  entitled  "  Curious  Superstitions  "  (p. 
237),  says  that  forty  thousand  witches  were 


THE  INQUISITION  219 

put  to   death   in   England   from   1600   to 
1680.1 

The  Spanish  Inquisition  dealt  with  po- 
lygamy, witchcraft,  treason,  heresy,  and  a 
variety  of  other  offences.  During  the  fif- 
teen years  that  Torquemada  was  Chief  In- 
quisitor, the  historian  Mariana  says  that 
two  thousand  executions  were  reported. 
Llorente  estimates  the  capital  punishments 
under  the  Spanish  Inquisition  at  thirty 
thousand,  during  the  three  centuries  of  its 
existence.  According  to  Llorente,2  the 
Spanish  tribunal  took  cognizance  of  many 
crimes  besides  heresy,  —  of  sins  against 
nature;  of  ecclesiastical  and  monastic  im- 
moralities; of  blasphemy,  usury,  and  sacri- 
legious theft;  of  all  crimes  connected  with 

1  Hefele  shows   that  at    Nordingen  —  a  Protestant 
town  of  Germany,  having  then  a  population  of  six  thou- 
sand—  the  authorities  burned  in  four  years  (1590-94) 
thirty-five    sorcerers.       Applying    these   proportions   to 
Spain,   where  sorcery  was  then    at   least  as  prevalent, 
there  should  have  been  in  four  years  fifty  thousand  sor- 
cerers executed  in  that  country ;  that  is,  twenty  thousand 
more  than  Llorente  assigns  as  victims  of  every  kind  to 
the  Spanish  Inquisition  during  its  career  of  three  hun- 
dred and  thirty  years. 

2  Llorente  was  an  ex-priest  and  a  discharged  official  of 
the  Inquisition.     He  had  a  motive  for  blackening  the 
institution  as  much  as  he  could. 


220    MOOTED    QUESTIONS    OF    HISTORY 

the  employes  or  affairs  of  the  tribunal ;  of 
traffic  in  contraband  of  war,  and  of  every 
kind  of  sorcery  and  superstition. 

There  are  positive  complaints  of  gross 
inaccuracy  against  Llorente,  and  some  glar- 
ing mistakes  are  pointed  out  in  his  history.1 

He  took  a  novel  method  of  making  an 
authority  of  himself.  Having  obtained  cus- 
tody of  the  archives  of  the  Inquisition  when 
Joseph  Bonaparte  captured  Madrid,  he  used 
select  portions,  chosen  with  the  avowed  in- 
tent of  blackening  its  record,  and  then  burnt 
the  original  documents  so  that  no  future  his- 
torian could  gainsay  him  from  the  records. 

The  Spanish  Inquisition  is  merely  a 
tangible  instance  of  the  civil  polity  that 
prevailed  contemporaneously  throughout 
Europe.2  There  was  also  a  Portuguese 

1  He  says,  for  instance,  "  that  during  the  first  year  of 
its  existence  [1481]  the  sole  tribunal  of   Seville  burned 
two  thousand,  all  of  whom  belonged  to  the  dioceses  of 
Seville  and  Cadiz."     In  support  of  this  charge  he  cites 
Mariana;  but  a  reference  to  Mariana  shows  that  the 
number  two  thousand  includes  all  the  persons  executed 
under  Torquemada,  and  throughout  his  entire  jurisdic- 
tion, —  that  is,  in  the  whole  of  Castile  and  Leon,  during 
fifteen  years  of  Torquemada's  inquisitorship. 

2  "  The  Spaniards  of  the  sixteenth  century  were  indis- 
putably the  noblest  nation  of  Europe ;  yet  they  had  the 
Inquisition  and  Philip  II."     (Carlyle.) 


THE    INQUISITION  221 

Inquisition  and  a  Roman  Inquisition. 
There  was  a  Protestant  Inquisition  in  Eng- 
land under  Henry  VIII.1  and  Elizabeth,  and 
a  Calvinistic  Inquisition  at  Geneva.  There 
was  an  American  colonial  Inquisition  dur- 
ing the  Salem  witchcraft.  The  civil  polity 
of  those  times  made  treason  to  faith  a 
crime  against  the  State. 

To  determine  whether  the  accused  was 
really  guilty  of  heresy,  a  tribunal  was  set 
up,  with  priests  among  the  judges.  They 
were  theological  experts  in  the  employ  of 
the  State.  The  tribunal  was  regarded  as 
a  political  institution.  Just  as  witchcraft 
came  before  the  courts  in  England  and 
America  as  a  crime  against  the  State,  so 
witchcraft  and  heresy  went  before  the 
tribunal  called  the  Inquisition, 

1  Victor  Duruy,  in  his  "  History  of  Modern  Times  " 
(Henry  Holt  &  Co.,  New  York,  1894),  says  that  under 
Henry  VIII.  *'  an  inquisition  more  terrible  than  that  of 
Spain  covered  England  with  funeral  piles.  Among  the 
victims  are  counted  two  queens,  two  cardinals,  three  arch- 
bishops, eighteen  bishops,  thirteen  abbots,  five  hundred 
priors  or  monks,  fourteen  archdeacons,  sixty  canons,  more 
than  fifty  doctors,  twelve  dukes,  marquises,  or  earls, 
twenty-nine  barons,  three  hundred  thirty-five  nobles, 
one  hundred  ten  women  of  rank;  in  all,  seventy-two 
thousand  capital  condemnations"  (p.  181.) 


222    MOOTED    QUESTIONS    OF    HISTORY 

The  Pope,  who  had  consented  to  the  es- 
tablishment of  the  Spanish  Inquisition, 
eventually  found  himself  at  variance  with 
it.  Sixtus  IV.  complained  of  its  severity, 
and  admonished  the  Spanish  monarchs  to 
be  more  merciful.  A  later  Pope  excommu- 
nicated the  Inquisitors  of  Toledo ;  and  Papal 
antipathy  kept  the  institution  out  of  Italy.1 
But  this  Church  hostility  did  not  persuade 
the  Spaniards  to  give  up  what  they  thought 
a  very  useful  political  machine.  The  spirit 
of  the  age  was  with  it.  It  was  founded  in 
a  moment  of  victory  over  the  Moorish  in- 
vaders, and  with  the  purpose  of  putting 
down  secret  plots  of  rebellion.  Jews,  pre- 
tending to  be  Catholic  converts,  but  con- 
tinuing their  ancient  religious  ceremonies 
in  secret,  and  cherishing  a  bitterer  hatred 
of  Christianity,  were  to  be  ferreted  out.  It 
was  argued  that  this  was  demanded  for  the 
sake  of  the  public  peace  and  security ;  and 
the  Inquisition  was  deemed  the  effective 
means  to  the  end. 

1  "  Moreover,  he  [the  Pope]  refused  to  allow  the 
Spanish  government  to  introduce  their  Inquisition  into 
Naples,  or  the  Milanese,  which  then  belonged  to  Spain, 
from  his  disapprobation  of  its  rigor."  —  Newman's 
Lecture  on  Catholicism  in  England,  p.  202. 


THE   INQUISITION  223 

The  inquisition  as  a  tribunal  to  exam- 
ine heretics  had  first  come  into  existence 
at  the  synod  of  Toulouse,  in  1229, 
when  the  Albigenses  had  been  put  down 
and  all  southern  France  was  in  a  state  of 
disorder.1  The  secret  crimes  of  the  Mani- 
chaeans  could  be  dealt  with  only,  it  was 
argued,  by  an  inquisitorial  tribunal  com- 
posed of  men  expert  in  detecting  the  hereti- 
cal opinions  which  prompted  such  crimes. 
Thus  the  first  Inquisition  commended  itself 
to  the  law  and  order  party  of  the  middle 
ages.  And  its  record  suggested  its  useful- 
ness, for  their  purpose,  to  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella,  when  the  task  of  consolidating 
their  reconquered  kingdom  presented  itself. 
It  continued  to  exist  in  Spain  until  abolished 

1  It  is  said  that  St.  Dominic  was  the  first  to  propose 
such  a  tribunal.  For  a  time  none  but  Dominicans  were 
appointed  inquisitors;  later,  the  Franciscans  were  also 
appointed.  The  Spanish  Inquisition  was  established  in 
1481. 

The  congregation  of  Cardinals,  known  as  "  The'  Holy 
Inquisition,"  was  instituted  by  Pope  Paul  III.  in  1542. 

In  France  the  Inquisition  was  virtually  a  state  court, 
until  the  time  of  the  Reformation.  The  Court  Inquisi- 
tor in  1530  was  found  to  be  a  Calvinist.  It  was  deemed 
well  therefore  to  transfer  the  powers  of  this  court  to  the 
bishops,  which  was  done  about  the  year  1560. 


224     MOOTED    QUESTIONS    OF    HISTORY 

by  Joseph  Bonaparte  early  in  the  present 
century. 

GUIZOT:  A  political  tribunal 

Guizot  remarks  :  "  The  Inquisition  was  at 
first  more  political  than  religious,  and 
destined  rather  for  the  maintenance  of 
order  than  the  defence  of  faith." 

History  of  Civilization,  Lecture  11. 

JBANKE :  The  Inquisition  a  state  court 

"  In  the  first  place,  the  inquisitors  were 
royal  officers.  The  kings  had  the  right  of 
appointing  and  dismissing  them.  .  .  .  The 
courts  of  the  Inquisition  were  subject,  like 
other  magistracies,  to  royal  visitors.  .  .  . 
( Do  you  not  know/  said  the  king  [to  Xime- 
nes] ,  6  that  if  this  tribunal  possess  jurisdic- 
tion, it  is  from  the  king  it  derives  it  ? '  .  .  . 

"  In  the  second  place,  all  the  profit  of  the 
confiscations  by  this  court  accrued  to  the 
king.  These  were  carried  out  in  a  very 
unsparing  manner.  Though  the  fueros 
(privileges)  of  Aragon  forbade  the  king 
to  confiscate  the  property  of  his  convicted 
subjects,  he  deemed  himself  exalted  above 
the  law  in  matters  pertaining  to  this  court. 


THE  INQUISITION  225 

.  .  .  The  proceeds  of  these  confiscations 
formed  a  sort  of  regular  income  for  the 
royal  exchequer.  It  was  even  believed, 
and  asserted  from  the  beginning,  that  the 
kings  had  been  moved  to  establish  and 
countenance  this  tribunal  more  by  their 
hankering  after  the  wealth  it  confiscated 
than  by  motives  of  piety.  .  .  . 

"  In  the  third  place,  it  was  the  Inquisition, 
and  the  Inquisition  alone,  that  completely 
shut  out  all  extraneous  interference  with 
the  state.  The  sovereign  had  now  at  his 
disposal  a  tribunal  from  which  no  grandee, 
no  archbishop,  could  withdraw  himself. 
As  Charles  knew  no  other  means  of  bring- 
ing certain  punishment  on  the  bishops  who 
had  taken  part  in  the  insurrection  of  the 
Communidades  (or  communes  that  were 
struggling  for  their  rights  and  liberties), 
he  chose  to  have  them  judged  by  the 
Inquisition.  .  .  . 

"  It  was,  in  spirit  and  tendency,  a  political 
institution.  The  Pope  had  an  interest  in 
thwarting  it,  and  he  did  so;  but  the  king 
had  an  interest  in  constantly  upholding  it." 

Leopold  Ranke.  The  Ottoman  and  Spanish  Em- 
pires, pp.  78-79.     (Ed.  Phila.,  1845.) 
15 


226  MOOTED    QUESTIONS    OF    HISTORY 
FISHER :  A  machine  to  repress  sedition 

"  The  Spanish  Inquisition,  in  its  peculiar 
form,  was  set  up  by  Ferdinand  and  Isabella, 
in  the  first  instance,  for  the  purpose  of 
discovering  the  converts  from  Judaism, 
who  returned  to  their  former  creed.  .  .  * . 
It  was  an  institution  for  stifling  sedition  as 
well  as  heresy.  Hence  it  was  defended  by 
the  Spanish  sovereign  against  objections 
and  complaints  of  the  Pope." 

Fisher,  History  of  the  Reformation,  ch.  xi.  p. 
403. 

BRITISH  ENCYCLOPAEDIA:  Its  purposes 

"  In  its  earlier  stage  the  Inquisition  was 
quite  as  much  a  civil  as  an  ecclesiastical 
tribunal,  being  especially  directed  against 
the  exclusive  privileges  and  immunities 
claimed  by  the  hereditary  nobility ;  and 
although  under  Cardinal  Ximenes  the  sup- 
pression of  heresy  became  one  of  its  chief 
functions,  it  was  long  regarded  with  no 
friendly  feelings  by  Rome." 

Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  vol.  xx.  p.  324. 


THE  INQUISITION  227 

BRITISH  ENCYCLOPAEDIA:  A  political 
machine 

"  It  was  easy  for  the  king  [Philip  II.  of 
Spain]  to  employ  the  forces  of  one  kingdom 
to  crush  the  liberties  of  the  others.  And 
Philip  possessed  a  formidable  weapon  in 
the  Inquisition,  which  he  did  not  scruple 
to  use  for  secular  purposes.  Political 
independence  was  crushed  with  the  same 
relentless  severity  as  religious  dissent." 
Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  9th  ed.,  vol.  xxii.  p.  829. 

SCHAFF-HEBZOG  DICTIONARY:  Less 
cruel  than  some  criminal  courts  of  the 
time 

"  Hefele,  in  his  '  Life  of  Ximenes/  and 
in  the  article  '  Inquisition/  in  Wetzer  and 
Welte,  has  shown  that  the  methods  of  the 
Inquisition  were,  in  some  respects,  less 
cruel  than  those  of  the  criminal  courts  of 
the  day." 

Schaff-Herzog  Dictionary,  article  on  "  Inquisi- 
tion." 

"  Heresy  "  in  Spain 

In  Nicholas  Eymerich's  "  Official  Direc- 
tory of  the  Inquisition"  (A. D.  1567),  one 
of  the  crimes  classed  as  "  heresy  "  is  selling 
arms  or  ammunition  to  the  French. 


228  MOOTED    QUESTIONS    OF    HISTOKY 

Adverse  to  the  Jesuits 

"  The  Jesuits  were  from  first  to  last 
obnoxious  to  the  Inquisitions  of  the  penin- 
sula. The  hostility  seen  in  the  arrest  of 
St.  Ignatius,  the  persecution  of  St.  Francis 
Borgia,  friend  of  Carranza,  the  arrest  of 
the  Provincial,  and  the  attempt  to  cen- 
sure the  whole  Order,  in  1586,  the  action 
against  the  Bollandists,  the  persecution  of 
Vieyra,  the  action  of  the  Portuguese  In- 
quisition against  the  Society  of  Jesus,  and 
the  burning  of  Father  Malagrida, —  the 
hostility  in  all  these  is  too  clear  and  posi- 
tive to  be  questioned.  And,  strange  as  it 
may  seem,  Jesuits  help  to  swell  the  num- 
bers of  the  sufferers  for  whom  Llorente, 
and  such  blind  followers  as  Rule,  evoke 
the  tears  of  Protestants.  ...  Of  canonized 
saints,  not  only  St.  Ignatius,  St.  Francis 
Borgia,  but  even  St.  Teresa  was  denounced 
by  the  Inquisition.  Nor  has  any  Grand 
Inquisitor  or  official  of  that  later  tribunal 
since  the  origin  of  Protestantism  been 
beatified  or  canonized  by  the  Church." 

The  American  Catholic  Quarterly  Review,  vol.  i. 
p.  629. 


THE  INQUISITION  229 

BRITISH    ENCYCLOPAEDIA:    It    did    not 
injure  Spain 

"  The  activity  of  the  Holy  Office  [of  the 
Spanish  Inquisition]  was  at  first  directed 
against  the  Jews  whose  obstinate  adherence 
to  their  faith,  in  spite  of  persecution,  was 
punished  by  an  edict  for  their  expulsion  in 
1492.  Their  departure  deprived  Spain  of 
many  industrious  inhabitants;  but  its  im- 
portance has  been  much  exaggerated  by 
authors  who  have  failed  to  notice  that  it 
was  followed  not  by  the  decline  of  Spain, 
but  by  the  period  of  its  greatest  prosperity." 

Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  9th  ed.,  vol.  xxii.  p. 
326,  "  Spain." 


THE  JESUITS 

Dr.  Johnson  was  asked  on  one  occasion  what 
was  meant  by  a  "Jesuit."  The  Doctor  not 
inaptly  replied:  "Every  one  who  is  cleverer 
than  one's  self." 

PROTESTANTISM  swept  everything 
before  it  during  the  first  forty 
years  of  its  existence.  It  acquired 
a  strength  and  an  expansion  that  it  has 
never  since  attained.  For  a  time  France 
was  debatable  ground.  An  ambassador  of 
Venice  reported  that  nine-tenths  of  the 
German  people  had  embraced  Protestant- 
ism (A.  D.  1558).  Scarcely  a  thirtieth  of 
the  population  of  Austria  remained  Catho- 
lics. In  Transylvania  the  people  confiscated 
all  the  church  property.  In  Poland  the 
Protestants  took  possession  of  the  parish 
churches  and  obtained  a  majority  in  the 
Diet;  in  Bohemia  and  Hungary  Protes- 
tantism was  in  the  ascendancy,  and  there 


THE  JESUITS  231 

were  hundreds  of  thousands  of  Belgian 
Calvinists.  "  There  remain  firm  to  the 
Pope/'  he  continued,  "only  Spain  and 
Italy  with  some  few  islands,  and  those 
countries  possessed  by  your  Serenity  in 
Dalmatia  and  Greece." 

A  Catholic  reaction,  or  "  counter-refor- 
mation," ensued  about  the  middle  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  and  by  the  year  1575 
the  reflux  wave  had  entered  southern  Ger- 
many. There  was  a  century  of  conflict, 
ending  with  the  treaty  of  Westphalia  in 
1648.  The  result  remains  to  this  day : 
The  entire  debatable  territory  was  won 
back  by  the  Catholic  party  ;  France  and 
Austria  were  confirmed  in  the  old  faith; 
Belgium,  Poland,  and  Southern  Germany 
were  reconquered. 

To  a  certain  extent  this  result  was  due 
to  a  natural  re-awakening  of  the  Catholic 
faith  among  the  people.  The  reconquest 
was  certainly  aided  by  princes  like  Duke 
Albert  of  Bavaria  and  the  Emperor  Fer- 
dinand of  Austria.  After  the  polity  of 
the  times,  these  rulers  did  not  scruple  to  use 
constraint.  But  the  fact  remains  that  the 
chief  element  of  the  victory  was  force  of 


232  MOOTED   QUESTIONS   OF   HISTORY 

conviction.1  And  the  teaching  and  preach- 
ing that  produced  the  result  were  largely 
that  of  the  Jesuits. 

This  new  order  has  its  place  in  the 
history  of  Europe  notably  on  account  of  its 
struggle  with  Protestantism.  The  original 
design  of  Loyola,  its  founder,  was  to  convert 
the  Saracens  and  establish  headquarters  at 
Jerusalem.  But  the  great  order  drifted 
from  the  outset  into  its  appointed  work. 

We  observe  that  there  was  no  hurry  in 
laying  the  foundations  of  the  "  Society  of 
Jesus."  After  he  had  conceived  the  notion, 
Loyola2  spent  several  years  attending  the 
Spanish  universities.  Here  he  was  annoyed 
by  the  Inquisition,  and  never  after  appears 
to  have  been  an  admirer  of  that  tribunal ; 
he  refused,  later  on,  to  allow  Jesuits  to 

1  As  to  this  matter,  Macaulay  says,  in  his  essay  on 
"  Von  Ranke's  History  of  Popes  "  :  "  It  is  moreover  not 
to  be  dissembled  that  the  triumph  of  the  Papacy  was  to 
be  chiefly  attributed  not  to  the  triumph  of  arms  but  to  a 
great  reflux  of  public  opinion." 

2  Ignatius  Loyola  was  the  youngest  of  thirteen  chil- 
dren.    He  was  born  in  1491   in   Spanish  Biscay.     His 
father  was  a  nobleman.     When  in  his  thirtieth  year  his 
thoughts  were  turned  towards  a  religious  life  by  reading 
the  Lives  of  the  Saints,  as  he  lay  suffering  from  a  wound 
received  during  a  gallant  defence  of  Pompeluna. 


THE  JESUITS  233 

serve  on  it.  The  year  1534  found  him  at 
the  University  of  Paris,  where  he  lived 
intimately  with  Peter  Faber  and  Francis 
Xavier.  They,  and  a  few  Spanish  students, 
were  his  first  recruits.  The  group  agreed 
to  separate  for  a  time  and  meet  in  Venice 
by  1537.  At  Venice,  Ignatius  worked 
among  the  poor  with  Father  Carraffa,  who 
afterwards  became  Pope.  The  order  was 
formally  approved  at  Rome  in  1540.  Strict 
obedience  to  the  Pope,  and  willingness  to 
serve  the  Church  wherever  he  appointed, 
were  elements  in  the  Jesuit  plan  that 
strongly  commended  it  to  the  Pontiff.  The 
Catholic  world  needed  such  an  order  at 
that  time. 

Once  approved  at  Rome,  the  new  organi- 
zation experienced  rapid  growth.  This,  too, 
notwithstanding  the  extended  special  train- 
ing required  of  its  members.  But  the  plan 
of  the  order  satisfied  the  best  and  most 
intelligent  religious  feeling  of  the  time.  At 
Louvain  University  eighteen  young  men, 
then  in  their  master's  degree,  joined  the 
Jesuits  the  first  year  of  its  foundation.  The 
order  at  once  developed  some  strong  leaders 
like  Francis  Borgia,  Duke  of  Gandia, 


234  MOOTED   QUESTIONS   OF   HISTORY 

Eoderigo  in  Portugal,  Peter  Canisius  in 
Germany,  and  Francis  Xavier.  When 
Ignatius,  who  was  its  first  general,  died  in 
1556,  there  were  thirteen  provinces  of  the 
order.  Jesuits  had  penetrated  the  forests  of 
Brazil,  and  nearly  a  hundred  followers  of 
Xavier  were  at  work  in  India  and  China.1 
The  personal  merit  of  the  members  was 
one  source  of  their  popularity  and  influence. 
The  education  they  provided  was  gratui- 
tous. Unquestionably,  their  methods  of 
teaching  were  a  great  advance  upon  those 
of  the  times.  Their  schools  obtained  that 
instant  prestige  which  the  world  knows  how 
to  give  meritorious  innovations.  Protestant 
pupils  left  their  own  universities  to  attend 
those  of  the  Jesuits.  They  educated  the 
cardinals,  the  bishops,  and  the  counsellors 
of  state,  but  refused  to  accept  any  of  these 
dignities  themselves.2  Their  preaching  drew 

1  In  1565  there  were  in  Europe  thirty-five  hundred 
Jesuits,  and  in  1580  there  were  over  five  thousand  of  the 
order  in  various  parts  of  the  world. 

2  Among  the  pupils  of  the  Jesuits  were  the  following : 
Popes  Gregory  XIII.,  Benedict  XIV.,  Pius  VII.,  St.  Fran- 
cis of  Sales,  Cardinal  de  Berulle,  Bossuet,  Cardinal  de 
Fleury,  Cardinal  Frederico  Borromeo,  Flechier,  Cassir.i, 
Seguier,  Montesquieu,  Malesherbes,  Tasso  Galileo,  Cor- 
neille,  Descartes,  Moliere,  Jean  Baptiste  Rousseau,  Gol- 


THE  JESUITS  235 

the  multitudes  to  their  churches.  Their 
care  of  the  sick  and  interest  in  the  poor 
conciliated  the  people.  Their  good  man- 
ners made  them  desired  in  higher  circles. 
They  became  confessors  to  the  nobles  and 
princes. 

The  "  counter-reformation  "  in  Germany 
was  won  by  calling  in  the  Jesuits.  At  first 
they  were  known  as  "Spanish  priests;  "  but 
they  established  universities  and  multiplied 
their  membership.  They  swarmed  at  every 
point  of  conflict.  In  one  year  forty  thou- 
sand converts  were  made  in  Austria.1  Ba- 
varia was  won  back  after  a  hard  struggle. 
The  Rhine  provinces  were  next  reconquered. 
A  Jesuit  was  chosen  King  of  Poland.2  They 
were  in  every  court  and  council  directing 


doni,  Tournefort,  Fontenelle,  Muratori,  Buffon,  Gresset, 
Canova,  Tilly  and  Wallenstein,  Conde* ;  the  Emperors 
Maximilian  and  Ferdinand,  many  princes  of  Savoy, 
Nemours,  and  Bavaria,  Don  John  of  Austria. 

1  In  1626  the  Emperor  of  Germany  ordered  an  exami- 
nation to  be  made  as  to  the  number  of  heretics  converted 
by  the  Jesuits  in  his  dominion.    The  number  was  placed 
at  one  million.      (Cretineau-Joly,  History  of  the  Society 
of  Jesus,  vol.  iii.  p.  210.) 

2  This  was  John  Casimir,  who  had  entered  the  order 
in  1643.     He  was  not  yet  a  priest  when  he  succeeded  to 
the  throne  in  1648. 


236    MOOTED    QUESTIONS    OF    HISTORY 

the  movements  of  Catholic  princes.  Prot- 
estantism everywhere  recognized  its  new 
foeraen.  Melanchthon,  on  his  death-bed, 
in  1560,  is  reported  to  have  said :  "Alas! 
What  is  this  ?  I  see  the  whole  world  being 
filled  with  Jesuits."  In  England  and 
Sweden  severe  and  sanguinary  treatment 
was  visited  upon  them.  During  one  year 
(1570)  the  Huguenots  put  forty  Jesuits  to 
death.1  But  the  Jesuits  were  not  deterred. 
"They  dare  everything,"  said  their  ad- 
mirers. They  entered  Russia  and  tried  to 
convert  Turkey.  Hallam,  in  his  "  Litera- 
ture of  Europe,"  notes  the  multitude  of  lead- 
ing names  that  the  Jesuits  furnished  in  all 
departments  of  thought  and  investigation 
during  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  cen- 
turies. They  wrote  the  books  of  Latin 
Europe. 

Francis  Xavier  and  his  followers  made  a 
million  converts  in  India.  There  were, 
in  1610,  seven  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
Japanese  Catholics.  Father  Nobili  assumed 
the  habit  of  the  priestly  caste  in  India  (the 

1  They  were  on  their  way  to  the  missions  in  Brazil 
when  they  were  captured  by  a  Calvinistic  pirate,  Jacques 
Sourie.  See  Cretineau-Joly,  History  of  the  Society  of 
Jesus. 


THE  JESUITS  237 

Brahmins),  and  induced  seventy  of  them 
to  labor  with  him.  In  Paraguay  the  Jes- 
uits built  up  an  Indian  nation  and  civilized 
it.  In  North  America  they  established  a 
chain  of  missions  stretching  from  Quebec 
to  New  Orleans. 

Yet,  after  the  lapse  of  two  hundred  and 
thirty-three  years,  the  same  authority  that 
founded  the  Jesuit  order  caused  it  to  be 
suppressed.  Pope  Clement  XIV.,  to  "  pro- 
mote concord  in  the  Church  "  and  peace 
among  the  nations,  abolished  the  order  in 
1773.  The  opinion  of  the  world  had 
changed.  Spain,  where  the  society  was 
cradled,  became  its  bitterest  opponent,  and 
Austria,  whose  fortunes  the  Jesuits  had 
served  in  trying  times,  concurred  in  the 
decree.  The  flood-tide  of  enmity,  which 
the  Jesuits  "had  been  encountering  for  many 
years,  then  had  its  way. 

The  order  was  either  too  united,  top 
virtuous,  too  astute,  or  too  able  to  be  an 
object  of  indifference.1  It  aroused  the 

1  It  is  difficult  to  find  an  inclusive  reason  for  the  fact, 
but  the  fact  remains  nevertheless,  that  from  the  begin- 
ning the  Jesuits  encountered  everywhere  opposition  and 
enmity.  At  Paris  in  1565  one  Jesuit  writer  says  that 


238    MOOTBb    QUESTIONS    OF    HISTOKY 

jealousy  of  other  orders.  Ambitious  men 
envied  the  power  it  obtained  in  the  civil 
governments.  The  "  spirit  of  the  age"  in 
the  eighteenth  century  was  schooled  against 
it;  the  Jesuits  stood  for  the  established 
conditions  in  Church  and  State.  The  wfyole 
force  of  social  and  political  innovation  was 
directed  against  them.  The  Jansenists  — 
an  able,  intellectual  sect  —  and  the  Ency- 
clopaedists, headed  by  Voltaire  and  D'Alem- 
bert,  fought  against  them.  Finally,  three 
great  political  ministers  combined  to  crush 
them,  —  Pombal  in  Portugal,  D'Aranda  in 
Spain,  and  Choiseul  in  France.  The  pres- 
sure of  the  Bourbon  courts  was  mainly 
responsible  for  their  suppression. 

Through  their  two  centuries  of  activity,  a 
mass  of  hostile  criticism  and  detraction  was 
accumulated  against  the  Jesuits.  They 
were  accused  of  complicity  in  the  assas- 


"  on  all  street-corners  were  placards  against  us,  and  not 
a  play  was  written  that  did  not  contain  a  satire  against 
us."     They  were  subject  to  insults  in  the  streets.     In      / 
1595  they  were  expelled  from  Paris  by  the  opposition  of    / 
the  University  and   Parliament.     They  were  banished 
from  Venice  in  1605.     These  are  but  a  few  of  a  long 
series  of  attacks  which  they  suffered  in  all  the  Catholic 
countries. 


THE  JESUITS  239 

sination  of  Henry  III.  of  France  ;  a  Jesuit 
(Father  Garnet)  was  among  those  who  paid 
the  penalty  of  the  Gunpowder  plot ;  Pom- 
bal  sought  to  implicate  them  in  an  attempt 
on  the  life  of  the  King  of  Portugal; 
D'Aranda  made  Charles  III.  of  Spain  believe 
that  they  were  conspiring  to  depose  him 
in  favor  of  his  brother.  The  Dominican 
order  accused  them  of  heretical  teachings 
with  regard  to  predestination  and  free  will, 
and  with  tolerating  Pagan  customs  in 
Chinar.  Pascal,  in  his  famous  "  Provincial 
Letters,"  attacked  them  as  lax  casuists. 
The  Parliament  of  Paris  —  their  inveter- 
ate foe  —  claimed  to  discover  among  their 
effects  a  book  called  the  "  Monita  Secreta," 
which  contained  alleged  rules  of  a  nature 
very  damaging  to  the  order's  reputation.1 

In  all  these  charges  there  was  more  or 
less  circumstantial  evidence,  but  a  thorough 
lack  of  conclusive  proof.  The  bankruptcy 
of  a  commercial  house  of  Martinique  served 
as  a  pretext  for  suits  against  the  order  in 
France  which  seriously  crippled  it. 

1  "  The  credit  of  the  order  was,  however,  far  more  seri- 
ously damaged  by  the  publication  at  Cracow,  in  1612,  of 
an  ingenious  forgery  .  .  .  entitled  Monita  Secreta."  —  Ency- 
clopaedia Britannica,  vol.  xiii.  p.  650. 


240    MOOTED    QUESTIONS    OF    HISTORY 

There  were  twenty-three  thousand  Jes- 
uits (of  whom  nearly  twelve  thousand  were 
priests)  at  the  time  of  the  suppression, 
in  1773.  The  order  was  re-established  in 
1814,  and  its  present  membership  is  said 
to  be  about  fourteen  thousand. 


MACAULAY:  Jesuits  led  the  counter  move- 
ment 

"  In  the  Order  of  Jesus  was  concentrated 
the  quintessence  of  the  Catholic  spirit ;  and 
the  history  of  the  Order  of  Jesus  is  the 
history  of  the  great  Catholic  reaction.  That 
order  possessed  itself  at  once  of  all  the 
strongholds  which  command  the  public 
mind,  of  the  pulpit,  of  the  press,  of  the 
confessional,  of  the  academies.  Wherever 
Jesuits  preached,  the  church  was  too  small 
for  the  audience.  The  name  of  Jesuit  on  a 
titlepage  secured  the  circulation  of  a  book. 
It  was  in  the  ears  of  the  Jesuit  that  the 
powerful,  the  noble,  and  the  beautiful 
breathed  the  secret  history  of  their  lives. 
It  was  at  the  feet  of  the  Jesuit  that  the 
youth  of  the  higher  and  middle  classes 
were  brought  up  from  childhood  to  man- 
hood, from  the  first  rudiments  to  the  courses 


THE  JESUITS  241 

of  rhetoric  and  philosophy.  Literature  and 
science,  lately  associated  with  infidelity  or 
with  heresy,  now  became  the  allies  of 
orthodoxy.  Dominant  in  the  south  of 
Europe,  the  great  order  soon  went  forth 
conquering  and  to  conquer.  In  spite  of 
oceans  and  deserts,  of  hunger  and  pesti- 
lence, of  spies  and  penal  laws,  of  dungeons 
and  racks,  of  gibbets  and  quartering-blocks, 
Jesuits  were  to  be  found  under  every  dis- 
guise and  in  every  country ;  scholars, 
physicians,  merchants,  serving-men;  in  the 
hostile  court  of  Sweden,  in  the  old  manor- 
house  of  Cheshire,  among  the  hovels  of 
Connaught;  arguing,  instructing,  consoling, 
stealing  away  the  hearts  of  the  young, 
animating  the  courage  of  the  timid,  hold- 
ing up  the  crucifix  before  the  eyes  of  the 
dying. 

"...  The  old  world  was  not  wide  enough 
for  this  strange  activity.  The  Jesuit  in- 
vaded all  the  countries  which  the  maritime 
discoveries  of  the  preceding  age  had  laid 
open  to  European  enterprise.  They  were 
to  be  found  in  the  depths  of  the  Peruvian 

mines,  at  the  marts  of  the  African  slave- 
is 


242    MOOTED    QUESTIONS    OF    HISTORY 

caravans,  on  the  Spice  Islands,  in  the  ob- 
servatories of  China.  They  made  converts 
in  regions  which  neither  avarice  nor  curios- 
ity had  tempted  any  of  their  countrymen 
to  enter ;  and  preached  and  disputed  in 
tongues  of  which  no  other  native  of  the 
West  understood  a  word." 

Macaulay's  Essays  ("  Review  of  Von  Ranke's 
History  of  Popes"). 

RANKE :  A  talented  order 

"  Such  a  combination  of  competent  knowl- 
edge and  indefatigable  zeal,  of  study  and 
persuasiveness,  of  pomp  and  asceticism,  of 
world-wide  influence  and  unity  in  the  gov- 
erning principle,  was  never  beheld  before 
or  since.  They  were  assiduous  and  vision- 
ary, worldly-wise  and  filled  with  enthusi- 
asm, were  competent  men  whose  society 
was  gladly  courted,  devoid  of  personal  in- 
terest, each  laboring  for  the  advancement 
of  the  rest." 

Ranke,  History  of  Popes,  book  v.  p.  169. 

MACKINTOSH:  Their  intellectual  record 

They  [the  Jesuits]  maintained  the  high- 
est station  as  a  religious  body  in  the  lit- 


THE  JESUITS  243 

erature  of  Catholic  countries.  No  other 
association  ever  sent  forth  so  many  disci- 
ples who  reached  such  eminence  in  depart- 
ments so  various  and  unlike.  While  some 
of  their  number  ruled  the  royal  penitents 
at  Versailles  or  the  Escurial,  others  were 
teaching  the  use  of  the  spade  and  the  shuttle 
to  the  naked  savages  of  Paraguay  ;  a  third 
body  daily  endangered  their  lives  in  an 
attempt  to  convert  the  Hindus  to  Christian- 
ity; a  fourth  carried  on  the  controversy 
against  the  Reformers  ;  a  portion  were  at 
liberty  to  cultivate  polite  literature;  while 
the  greater  part  continued  to  be  employed 
either  in  carrying  on  the  education  of 
Catholic  Europe,  or  in  the  government  of 
their  society,  and  in  ascertaining  the  ability 
and  disposition  of  the  junior  members,  so 
that  well-qualified  men  might  be  selected 
for  the  extraordinary  variety  of  offices  in 
their  immense  commonwealth.  The  most 
famous  Constitutionalists,  the  most  skilful 
casuists,  the  ablest  schoolmasters,  the  'most 
celebrated  professors,  the  best  teachers  of 
the  humblest  mechanical  arts,  the  mission- 
aries who  could  most  bravely  encounter 
martyrdom,  or  who  with  the  most  patient 


244   MOOTED    QUESTIONS   OF   HISTORY 

skill  could  infuse  the  rudiments  of  religion 
into  the  minds  of  ignorant  tribes  or  pre- 
judiced nations,  were  the  growth  of  their 
fertile  schools." 

Sir  Jas.  Mackintosh,  Review  of  the  Causes   of 
Revolution  of  1688. 


FISHER :  Their  political  ethics 

"In  the  theory  of  popular  sovereignty 
and  of  the  social  compact  the  peculiar 
tendencies  of  Catholic  theology  are  most 
apparent.  This  was  advocated  by  Lainez, 
the  second  General  of  the  Jesuits,  by  the 
eminent  Spanish  Jesuit  Mariana,  and  by 
Bellarmine.  It  is  the  doctrine  that  power, 
as  far  as  temporal  rule  is  concerned, 
originally  resides,  by '  the  gift  and  appoint- 
ment of  God,  in  the  people.  ...  It  is  curi- 
ous to  observe  the  widest  speculations  of 
Locke,  Eousseau,  and  Jefferson,  as  to  the 
origin  of  government  and  the  right  of 
revolution,  were  anticipated  by  the  Jesuitic 
scholars  of  the  sixteenth  century.  It  is 
remarkable  that  in  opposition  to  these 
novel  dogmas  there  appeared  on  the  Prot- 
estant side  a  theory  of  the  divine  right  of 
kings  and  the  related  doctrine  of  passive 


THE  JESUITS  245 

obedience.  .  .  .  The  advocates  of  freedom 
and  revolt  against  spiritual  authority  are 
equally  strenuous  for  slavish  maxims  of 
political  obedience." 

Fisher,  History  of  the  Reformation,  ch.  xiv. 
pp.  505-506. 

M2CKY:  Jesuits  favored  democracy 

"  They  [the  Jesuits]  saw,  what  no  others 
of  the  Catholic  Church  seemed  to  have 
perceived,  that  a  great  future  was  in  store 
for  the  people,  and  they  labored,  with  a  zeal 
that  will  secure  them  everlasting  honor,  to 
hasten  and  direct  the  emancipation.  By  a 
system  of  the  boldest  casuistry,  by  fearless 
use  of  their  private  judgment  in  all  matters 
which  the  Church  had  not  strictly  defined, 
and  by  a  skilful  employment  and  expansion 
of  some  of  the  maxims  of  the  school  men, 
they  succeeded  in  disentangling  themselves 
from  the  traditions  of  the  past,  and  in  giv- 
ing an  impulse  to  liberalism  wherever  their 
influence  extended." 

Lecky,  Rationalism  in  Europe,  vol.  ii.  p.  147. 

FISHER :  Their  educational  system 

66  Their  system  of  educational  training 
was  according  to  a  strict  method ;  but  their 


246  MOOTED   QUESTIONS   OF   HISTORY 

schools  were  pervaded  by  their  peculiar 
religious  spirit.  It  was  largely  through 
their  influence  that  the  profane  or  secular 
tone  of  culture  that  had  prevailed  in  the 
cities  of  Italy  was  superseded  by  a  culture 
in  which  reverence  for  religion  and  the 
Church  was  a  vital  element." 

Fisher,  History  of  the  Reformation,  ch.  xi.  p. 
413. 

FISHER:  Jesuit  scholars 

"  Among  the  members  of  this  society, 
and  among  their  pupils  who  were  learned 
by  it,  there  is  included  a  long  list  of  men 
who  are  distinguished  for  services  rendered 
to  science  and  learning." 

Fisher,  History  of  the  Reformation,  ch.  xv.  p. 
529. 

VOLTAIRE'S  testimony 

Voltaire,  a  pupil  of  the  Jesuits,  disliked 
them  and  labored  hard  for  their  suppression, 
yet  in  a  letter,  Feb.  7,  1746,  he  bears  this 
testimony:  "During  the  seven  years  that 
I  lived  in  a  college  of  the  Jesuits,  what 
have  I  seen  there  ?  Lives  the  most  frugal, 
the  hours  of  the  day  divided  between  their 


THE  JESUITS  247 

care  of  us  and  the  exercise  of  their  austere 
profession.  I  call  as  witnesses  the  thou- 
sands of  men  educated  as  I  was.  Therefore 
it  is  that  I  am  lost  in  astonishment  at  any 
one  daring  to  accuse  them  of  teaching  a 
relaxed  or  corrupt  morality.  ...  I  make 
no  scruple  in  proclaiming  that  there  is 
nothing  more  iniquitous,  more  shameful  to 
humanity  than  to  accuse  of  relaxed  moral- 
ity men  who  live  in  Europe  the  severest 
lives  and  who  go  seeking  the  most  cruel 
deaths  to  the  extremities  of  Asia  and 
America." 


WARD:   The  "Counter-Reformation" 

"  A  well-known  sentence  in  Macaulay's 
Essay  on  Ranke's  '  History  of  the  Popes ' 
asserts  correctly  enough  that  in  a  particu- 
lar epoch  of  history  the  Church  of  Rome, 
having  lost  a  large  part  of  Europe,  not 
only  ceased  to  lose  but  actually  regained 
nearly  half  of  what  she  had  lost.  Any 
fairly  correct  use  of  the  familiar  phrase 
'the  Counter-Reformation'  must  imply  that 
this  remarkable  result  was  due  to  a  move- 
ment pursuing  two  objects,  originally  dis- 


248  MOOTED    QUESTIONS   OF   HISTORY 

tinct,  though  afterwards  largely  blended, 
viz.,  the  regeneration  of  the  Church  of 
Rome  and  the  recovery  of  the  losses  in- 
flicted upon  her  by  the  early  successes  of 
Protestantism." 

A.  W.  Ward,  The  Counter-Reformation,  pp.  7,  8. 


XX 

THE  MASSACRE  OF   ST.   BAR- 
THOLOMEW'S DAY 

Assassination  has  never  changed  the  history 
of  the  world.  —  DISRAELI,  Speech,  1865. 

THE  word  Huguenot  (oath-bound)  in- 
dicates that  the  French  Protestants 
of  the  sixteenth  century  were  a 
closely  organized  community.  Their  reli- 
gious apostle  was  Calvin,  and  their  preaching 
and  actions  were  bold,  loud,  and  aggressive. 
That  the  adherents  of  the  new  and  the  old 
faith  should  come  to  blows  was  inevitable. 
There  were  not  wanting  political  reasons, 
such  as  the  jealousies  existing  between  the 
houses  of  Guise  and  Cond^,  to  bring  the 
quarrel  to  a  head.  The  court  of  Navarre 
was  Protestant ;  that  of  France  was  Catho- 
lic, and  under  the  influence  of  the  Duke  of 
Guise. 


250   MOOTED    QUESTIONS   OF    HISTORY 

In  1559  transpired  what  is  known  as  the 
"  Conspiracy  of  Amboise."  It  was  an  effort 
of  Conde*,  Coligny,  and  other  Huguenot 
leaders  to  seize  the  king  (Francis  II.)  and 
substitute  their  own  influence  over  him 
for  the  Guise  influence.  This  attempt  was 
checkmated,  but  it  left  both  factions  rest- 
ing on  their  arms. 

Three  Huguenot  rebellions  followed, — 
1562,  1567,  and  1568,  — in  all  of  which 
they  were  defeated.  The  conduct  of  the 
Huguenots,  however,  tended  to  exasperate 
the  great  majority  of  the  nation.  They 
gave  up  the  ports  of  Havre  and  Dieppe  to 
their  country's  hereditary  foes,  the  English; 
and  they  invited  German  guerilla  bands 
across  the  frontier  to  pillage  Normandy. 
A  Huguenot  emissary  from  Orleans  assassi- 
nated the  Duke  of  Guise.1  Once  again  an 
attempt  was  made  to  kidnap  the  King  of 
France  at  Monceau.  Besides  these  things 
there  were,  in  the  popular  mind,  num- 
berless instances  of  Huguenot  excess  and 
cruelty.  Brequimaut,  the  leader  of  the  re- 

1  The  Guises  accused  Coligny  of  complicity  in  this 
murder.  So  the  younger  Guise  was  only  too  ready  to 
assassinate  Coligny  in  1572.  It  was  a  vendetta. 


BARTHOLOMEW'S  DAY  MASSACRE    251 

formers,  in  1568,  wore  a  necklace  composed 
of  the  ears  of  assassinated  priests.  Baron 
D'Adrets,  after  taking  the  fortress  of  Mont- 
brison,  compelled  the  Catholic  prisoners  to 
leap  from  the  battlements  into  the  sur- 
rounding moats,  where  they  were  caught  on 
the  upraised  pikes  of  his  soldiers.  The 
Michelade,  a  massacre  of  the  Catholics  of 
Nismes,  occurred  in  1567  ;  and  similar  acts 
of  violence  were  perpetrated  at  Montauban, 
Valence,  and  even  in  Paris.  Evidences  of  the 
burning  of  churches,  plundering  of  monas- 
teries, and  hunting  of  priests  were  but  too 
common. 

These  facts  furnish  some  explanation  — 
though  no  justification  —  of  the  frenzy  and 
cruelty  of  the  scenes  which  transpired 
throughout  many  of  the  towns  of  France 
during  the  latter  days  of  August  and  part 
of  September,  1572.  Mobs  rose  and  fell 
upon  the  Huguenot  inhabitants  with  mur- 
derous effect.  According  to  Ranke,  twenty 
thousand  persons  perished.  Lingard  es- 
timates the  number  as  less  than  two 
thousand,  and  he  cites  the  reformed  mar- 
tyrologist,  who  procured  lists  from  the 
ministers  in  all  the  different  towns,  and 


252  MOOTED    QUESTIONS   OF    HISTORY 

published  the  result  in  1582,  showing  the 
names  of  only  seven  hundred  and  eighty- 
six  persons.  In  their  varying  estimates  of 
the  number  of  victims,  the  majority  of 
French  historians  do  not  go  above  ten 
thousand.  It  is  not  probable  that  the 
actual  number  was  much  over  three  thou- 
sand.1 


1  Massacres  are  precisely  the  events  of  history  over 
which  there  is  the  greatest  exaggeration.  There  have 
been  bloody  reprisals  of  this  kind,  like  the  Sicilian  Ves- 
pers (A.  D.  1282),  where  over  thirty  thousand  French 
were  massacred,  that  far  exceeded  in  fatality  that  of 
St.  Bartholomew.  Victor  Hugo  says  :  "  One  man  is 
killed  in  Paris  —  it  is  murder.  The  throats  of  fifty 
thousand  people  are  cut  in  the  East  —  it  is  a  question." 
The  Armenian  and  Bulgarian  atrocities  of  our  own  time 
have  cost  more  lives  than  many  of  the  much  advertised 
cruelties  of  religious  persecution.  Much,  in  fact,  de- 
pends on  who  are  killed  rather  than  on  how  many  are 
killed.  The  French  "  reign  of  terror "  killed  nobles 
with  relatives  whose  lamentation  roused  Europe.  Yet 
Carlyle  says:  "  This  convention,  now  grown  anti- Jaco- 
bin, did,  with  an  eye  to  gratify  and  fortify  itself, 
publish  lists  of  what  the  Reign  of  Terror  had  per- 
petrated, lists  of  persons  guillotined.  The  lists,  cries 
splenetic  Abbe  Montgaillard,  were  not  complete.  They 
contained  the  names  of  how  many  persons,  thinks 
the  reader?  Two  thousand,  all  but  a  few.  There 
were  above  four  thousand,  cries  Montgaillard."  — 
Carlyle,  French  Revolution,  "  The  Guillotine,"  book  vii, 
ch.  vi. 


BARTHOLOMEW'S  DAY  MASSACRE   253 

This  bloody  uprising  —  called  the  Massa- 
cre of  St.  Bartholomew's  Day  —  was  all  due 
to  the  apprehensive  malice  of  the  Queen 
regent,  Catharine  de'  Medici,  a  singular 
woman,  Catholic  in  name,  Atheist  in  belief, 
and  accustomed  to  having  Calvinistic  ser- 
mons read  to  her  during  meals.  She  it 
was  who  fired  the  mine  of  religious  hate 
which  otherwise  might  never  have  exploded 
in  so  sanguinary  a  fashion.  She  feared  the 
political  aspirations  of  Admiral  Coligny, 
the  Huguenot  leader;  and  by  her  insti- 
gation Charles  IX.  gave  the  word  that 
Coligny  should  die.  The  threats  of  the 
Huguenot  chiefs  at  this  outrage  were  so 
loud  that  a  dangerous  uprising  was  ap- 
prehended. It  was  then  resolved  to  ex- 
terminate Coligny 's  principal  followers, 
who  were  at  that  time  rendezvoused  at 
Paris.  This  was  done.  The  populace  joined 
in  the  work,  and  the  Massacre  of  St.  Bar- 
tholomew ensued. 

Charles  IX.  put  a  righteous  construction 
on  his  bloody  deed,  in  reporting  it  to  the 
courts  of  Christendom.  He  was  quick  to 
represent  it  as  a  stroke  of  self-defence 
whereby,  on  a  "  memorable  night,  by  the 


254     MOOTED  QUESTIONS  OF  HISTOKY 

destruction  of  a  few  seditious  men,  the 
king  had  been  delivered  of  immediate 
danger  of  death,  and  the  realm  from  the 
perpetual  terror  of  civil  war."  These  were 
the  words  of  the  envoys,  and  on  their 
strength  the  Pope  ordered  a  "  Te  Deunr" 
and  struck  a  medal  commemorating  the 
preservation  of  Charles  IX.'s  precious  life. 
Even  Queen  Elizabeth,  the  great  friend  of 
the  Huguenots,  was  apparently  satisfied  by 
the  insinuating  explanation  of  the  French 
ambassador. 

There  was  no  attempt  made  to  give  the 
massacre  anything  but  a  political  color. 
The  only  bright  circumstance  in  the  de- 
plorable occurrence  was  the  action  of  the 
Archbishop  of  Lyons  and  the  Bishops  of 
Lisieux,  Bordeaux,  Toulouse,  and  other 
localities,  in  sheltering  the  fleeing  Hugue- 
nots and  restraining  the  popular  violence. 

Instances  are  cited  of  the  occasion  being 
utilized  for  private  revenge  and  for  plunder. 
Not  a  few  Catholics  perished  as  a  conse- 
quence, among  them  a  priest  at  Bourges, 
and  a  canon  of  Notre  Dame  at  Paris. 
"  The  possession  of  wealth,"  says  Mezeray, 
"an  envied  position,  or  the  existence  of 


BARTHOLOMEW'S  DAY  MASSACRE    255 

greedy    relations,    stamped    a    man   as   a 
Huguenot."  l 

When  the  Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew 
was  first  reported  at  Kome,  the  event  was 
given  the  appearance  of  a  Huguenot  in- 
surrection against  the  king,  which  had  been 
fortunately  put  down.  Church  authorities 
naturally  exhibited  that  international  comity 
which  is  expected  between  friendly  powers 
when  one  nation  has  escaped  a  political 
disaster.  The  following  extract  from 
Guizot's  History  of  France  (vol.  iv.  ch. 
xxxiii.  p.  384),  ascribed  to  a  Catholic 
authority,  makes  it  very  clear  that  the 
Pope  did  not  sympathize  with  any  deed  of 
bloodshed :  "  When,  however,  later  on  a 
detailed  and  faithful  account  of  the  mas- 
sacre reached  the  Pontiff,  he  condemned  it 
at  once  and  left  no  doubt  as  to  his  horror 
at  the  deed.  When  asked  by  the  Cardinal 
why  he  wept,  Gregory  answered,  <I  weep 

1  Duruy  says  that  the  slaughter  was  continued  by  the 
dregs  of  the  population.  They  killed  their  own  creditors 
and  enemies  and  those  whom  they  wished  to  rob  or 
plunder.  This  bloody  affair  did  not  weaken  the  Hugue- 
nots. By  the  Peace  of  Rochelle  in  1573  that  party  ob- 
tained liberty  of  conscience.  The  next  year  Charles  IX. 
lied  a  miserable  death. 


256     MOOTED  QUESTIONS  OF  HISTORY 

at  the  means  the  king  used,  exceedingly 
unlawful  and  forbidden  by  God,  to  inflict 
such  punishment.  I  fear  that  one  will  fall 
upon  him,  and  that  he  will  not  live  very 
long.  I  fear,  too,  that  amongst  so  many 
dead,  there  died  as  many  innocent  'as 
guilty. " 

MAC AUL AY :  Huguenot  rebellion 

"  For,  beyond  all  doubt,  the  proceedings 
of  the  Huguenots,  from  the  conspiracy  of 
Amboise  to  the  battle  of  Moncontour,  had 
given  much  more  trouble  to  the  French 
monarchy  than  the  Catholics  have  ever 
given  to  the  English  monarchy  since  the 
Reformation ;  and  that  too  with  much  less 


excuse." 


Macaulay's  Essays,  "  Hallam." 

BUCKLE:  Huguenot  intolerance 

"It  is  on  account  of  these  things  that  we 
ought  not  to  be  surprised  that  during  many 
years  the  French  Protestants,  who  affected 
to  appeal  to  the  right  of  private  judgment, 
were  more  intolerant  of  the  exercise  of  that 
judgment  by  their  adversaries  than  were 
the  Catholics.  Thus,  while  the  Catholics 


BARTHOLOMEW'S  DAY  MASSACRE   257 

were  theoretically  more  bigoted  than  the 
Protestants,  the  Protestants  became  prac- 
tically more  bigoted  than  the  Catholics." 

Buckle,  History  of  Civilization,  vol.  ii.  pp.  52-53. 
London:  Longmans,  Green,  &  Co.,  1882. 

BUCKLE:  Forbearance  of  the  majority 

"  Whatever  may  be  the  popular  notion 
respecting  the  necessary  intolerance  of  the 
Catholics,  it  is  an  indisputable  fact  that 
early  in  the  seventeenth  century  they  dis- 
played in  France  a  spirit  of  forbearance 
and  a  Christian  charity  to  which  the 
Protestants  could  make  no  pretence." 

Buckle,  History  of  Civilization,  vol.  ii.  p.  65. 

DURUY:  As  to  the  number  of  victims 

"Accounts  differ  as  to  the  number  of 
the  slain.  Some  estimate  it  at  ten  thou- 
sand, some  at  four  thousand,  and  still  others 
at  two  thousand.  The  last  statement  is 
the  most  probable." 

Victor  Duruy,  History  of  France,  p.  348.  Trans, 
by  Mrs.  M.  Carey.  Pub.,  T.  Y.  Crowell  &  Co. 

LINGARD :  About  fifteen  hundred  victims 

"  The  reformed  martyrologist  adopted  a 
measure  of  ascertaining  the  real  number, 

17 


258     MOOTED  QUESTIONS  OF  HISTORY 

which  may  enable  us  to  form  a  probable 
conjecture.  He  procured,  from  the  ministers 
in  the  different  towns  where  the  massacres 
had  taken  place,  lists  of  the  names  of  the 
persons  who  had  suffered  or  were  supposed 
to  have  suffered.  He  published  the  result 
in  1582 ;  and  the  reader  will  be  surprised 
to  learn  that  in  all  France  he  could  discover 
the  names  of  no  more  than  seven  hundred 
and  eighty-six  persons.  Perhaps,  if  we 
double  that  number,  we  shall  not  be  far 
from  the  real  amount." 

Lingard,  History  of  England,  vol.  viii.  note  T. 

RANKE'S  estimate 

"According  to  the  most  moderate  cal- 
culation there  fell  two  thousand  persons  in 
Paris  alone,  and  the  number  massacred  in 
France  was  not  less  than  twenty  thousand/' 

Leopold  Ranke,  Civil  Wars  and  Monarchy  in 
France,  ch.  xv.  (last  paragraph). 

WHITE :  The  number  of  victims 

"  Probably  the  number  of  victims  [in 
Paris]  may  have  amounted  to  six  thousand, 
but  to  reduce  it  as  low  as  sixteen  hundred 
for  all  France,  which  Dr.  Lingard  has  done, 
is  monstrously  absurd.  All  that  we  know 


BARTHOLOMEW'S  DAY  MASSACRE  259 

positively  is  that  a  certain  number  of  bodies 
were  burned,  and  beyond  that  all  is  con- 
jecture. ...  If  it  be  necessary  to  choose 
from  these  haphazard  estimates,  that  of  De 
Thou  [twenty  thousand]  is  preferable,  from 
the  calm,  unexaggerating  temper  of  the  man. 
But  whatever  be  the  number,  not  all  the 
waters  of  the  ocean  can  efface  the  stain 
upon  the  character  of  those  concerned  in 
the  massacre.  A  few  of  the  murderers  — 
men  of  overheated  fanaticism  —  may  have 
truly  believed  they  were  doing  God  a 
service  by  putting  heretics  to  death.  For 
these  we  may  feel  pity  even  while  we  con- 
demn. But  the  majority  were  impelled  by 
the  lowest  of  all  possible  motives  —  jealousy 
and  ambition  filled  the  breast  of  Catharine 
de  Medicis;  Anjou  was  envious  of  merits 
and  virtue.  .  .  .  Guise  dreamed  but  of  re- 
venge. .  .  .  The  Massacre  of  St.  Bartholo- 
mew arose  out  of  the  paltriest  and  most 
selfish  of  motives.  .  .  .  The  plea  of  religion 
was  never  put  forward,  though  it  is  a  plea 
too  often  employed  to  extenuate  what  can- 
not be  justified." 

Henry  White,  The  Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew, 
pp.  459-462.     New  York:  Harper  Bros.,  1868. 


260   MOOTED   QUESTIONS   OF    HISTORY 

FLEURY :  The  clergy  and  the  massacre 

"  The  clergy,  in  spite  of  all  the  ill-usage 
they  had  received  from  the  heretics,  saved 
as  many  of  them  as  they  could  in  various 
places." 

Fleury,  torn.  xxxv.  ch.  xxxix.  p.  170. 


XXI 

THE  EDICT  OF  NANTES 

Then  sheathes  in  calm  repose  the  vengeful  blade 
For  gentle  peace,  in  freedom's  hallowed  shade. 

J.  Q.  ADAMS. 


THE  Edict  of  Nantes  (1598),  pro- 
claimed about  a  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury after  the  Massacre  of  St. 
Bartholomew,  was  something  more  than 
an  edict  of  religious  toleration.  It  was 
a  treaty  of  peace  which  established  the 
political  autonomy  of  the  Huguenot  party. 
To  obtain  peace,  Henry  IV.  felt  compelled 
to  barter,  oO  some  extent,  the  political  unity 
of  his  kingdom.  The  edict  consisted,  ac- 
cording to  Guizot,  of  ninety-one  open  arti- 
cles and  fifty-two  secret  articles.  The 
"  secret  articles  "  were  so  held  in  order  to 
allay  public  indignation. 

One  of  the  secret  articles  placed  fully 
two  hundred  towns  of  France  under  con- 
trol of  the  Huguenots,  and  provided  taxes 
for  the  garrison  thereof  by  Huguenot  sol- 


262   MOOTED    QUESTIONS  OF    HISTORY 

diers  and  their  fortification  against  the  rest 
of  France.  Guizot  speaks  of  this  state  of  af- 
fairs as  constituting  a  "Calvinistic  republic." 
The  king  proclaimed  that  his  motive 
was  "  to  arrange  matters  so  that  the  holy 
name  of  God  might  be  adored  by  all  'his 
subjects;  and  if  it  had  not  pleased  him 
to  enjoin  that  divine  worship  should  have 
but  one  form,  he  wished  that  it  should 
have,  at  least,  one  intention,  and  be  so 
regulated  that  it  should  cause  no  trouble 
among  his  people." 

Referring  to  Cardinal  Richelieu's  policy, 
which  began  a  quarter  of  a  century  after 
the  Edict  of  Nantes,  M.  Guizot  observes 
that  "  the  rebellion  of  the  reformers,  their 
irregular  political  assemblies,  their  alliance 
with  foreigners,  occupied  him  [the  cardi- 
nal] far  more  than  their  ministers'  teach- 
ings. ...  It  was  a  state  within  a  state 
that  the  reformers  were  seeking  to  found 
and  the  cardinal  wished  to  upset."  Guizot 
was  himself  a  French  Protestant. 

The  Huguenot  inhabitants  of  Rochelle, 
in  1627,  very  deliberately  invited  the  as- 
sistance of  England  as  against  their  own 


THE   EDICT    OF   NANTES  263 

king,  and  the  fleet  of  the  Duke  of  Buck- 
ingham was  welcomed  by  them  with  ac- 
claim. As  to  their  prohibition  of  Catholic 
worship,  Buckle,  in  his  "  History  of  Civil- 
ization/' says  :  "  The  Protestants  soon 
learned  to  despise  that  great  Edict  of 
Nantes,  by  which  their  liberties  were  se- 
cured, and  proceeded  to  rob  and  murder 
that  very  party  to  whom  they  owed  a  tol- 
eration which  had  been  reluctantly  conceded 
by  the  prejudices  of  the  age.  They  were 
not  content  to  exercise  their  own  religion 
unless  they  could  also  trouble  the  religion 
of  others.  At  La  Rochelle,  which  for  im- 
portance was  the  second  city  in  the  king- 
dom, they  would  not  permit  the  Catholics 
to  have  a  single  church  in  which  to  cele- 
brate what  for  centuries  had  been  the  sole 
religion  in  France,  and  was  still  the  religion 
of  an  enormous  majority  of  Frenchmen." 

Nearly  a  hundred  years  later  (1685) 
the  Edict  of  Nantes  was  revoked  by  Louis 
XIV.  So  far  as  the  revocation  did  away 
with  the  condition  of  affairs  whereby  the 
kingdom  was  weakened  and  divided  in  its 
political  jurisdiction,  it  was  undoubtedly 


264     MOOTED  QUESTIONS  OF  HISTORY 

wise  and  politic.  All  the  best  men  in 
France  praised  it.  So  far  as  it  interfered, 
as  it  did,  with  the  religious  liberty  of  the 
Protestants,  it  was  entirely  indefensible. 
Pope  Innocent  XI.,  who  was  then  Pope,  disap- 
proved of  the  revocation  (Gaillardin,  History 
of  the  Reign  of  Louis  XIV.,  vol.  v.  p.  111). 

It  may  be  observed,  in  explanation  of 
this  act  of  persecution,  that  France,  a 
Catholic  country,  was  at  that  time  alone 
in  Europe  in  tolerating  a  dissenting  faith. 
In  Holland  and  Sweden  Catholicity  was 
prohibited.  In  Ireland  Catholic  priests 
were  hunted  like  wolves,  and  Catholics 
were  forbidden,  by  law,  to  have  schools 
or  schoolmasters.  But  to  every  fair-minded 
person  in  our  age,  the  Revocation,  especially 
in  the  rigors  visited  upon  the  oppressed 
Huguenots  who  rose  in  rebellion,  seems  an 
utterly  cold-blooded  and  repellent  proceed- 
ing throughout. 

Madame  de  Maintenon  is  sometimes  un- 
justly accused  of  prompting  Louis  XIV.  to 
this  measure,  but  Voltaire  declared  :  "  She 
had  nothing  to  do  with  it ;  that  is  a  certain 
fact." 

Points  of  gross  exaggeration  occur  in  esti- 


THE   EDICT   OF   NANTES  265 

mating  the  number  of  Huguenots  who  fled 
from  France  on  account  of  Louis  XIY/s  revo- 
cation. Some  follow  Hume  in  placing  the 
figures  at  about  five  hundred  thousand.  The 
Duke  of  Burgundy,  a  pupil  of  Fenelon  and 
a  contemporary,  places  the  number  at  sixty- 
eight  thousand,  and  Benoit,  a  Protestant 
authority,  makes  it  two  hundred  thousand.1 

Without  any  new  tax,  the  revenues  of 
France  were  increased  in  the  years  follow- 
ing the  Huguenot  exodus,  and  there  was 
no  marked  commercial  or  industrial  de- 
pression, such  as  the  pride  of  the  Hugue- 
nots would  fain  have  the  world  believe. 
Any  one  of  Louis  XIV/s  many  wars  was 
more  costly  to  France  than  the  Huguenot 
exodus. 

Victor  Duruy,  the  French  historian,  tells 
us  that  before  the  revocation  there  were 
a  million  Protestants  in  France  (Modern 
History,  ch.  xxi.).  To-day  there  are  about 

i  "  The  only  historian  who  professes  to  have  pursued 
the  inquiry  in  exact  detail  is  Capefigue,  and  from  his 
minute  scrutiny  of  the  cartons  des  ge'ne'ralites,  as  pre- 
pared in  the  closing  years  of  the  seventeenth  century,  he 
obtains  a  computation  of  two  hundred  and  twenty-five 
thousand  or  two  hundred  and  thirty  thousand."  —  R.  L. 
Poole,  Hist,  of  the  Huguenots  of  the  Dispersion,  ch.  iii. 


266     MOOTED  QUESTIONS  OF  HISTORY 

seven  hundred  thousand  French  Protes- 
tants. This  act  of  persecution  failed  in 
the  purpose  of  extirpating  Protestantism 
in  France. 

ADAMS:  What  the  Revocation  was 

"  In  October,  1685,  the  Edict  of  Nantes 
was  formally  revoked.  The  Huguenots 
were  deprived  of  the  privilege  of  public 
worship  and  of  their  civil  rights.  The  new 
edict  did  not  deprive  them  of  their  religion. 
They  were  allowed  to  remain  Protestants, 
but  they  lost  all  legal  rights  and  were 
exposed  to  constant  danger  in  person  and 
property." 

Growth  of  the  French  Nation,  pp.  227-228,  by 
George  B.  Adams,  Professor  of  History  in  Yale 
University. 

DURUY :   How  the  Revocation  was  received 

"  This  disastrous  and  criminal  measure 
was  hailed  with  gratitude  by  a  great  part 
of  the  nation." 

History  of  France,  p.  443. 

GUIZOT :   The  Huguenot  exodus 

"  Yauban,  however,  remained  very  fur 
from  the  truth  when  he  deplored  in  1688 


THE   EDICT    OF    NANTES  267 

'the  desertion  of  one  hundred  thousand 
men,  the  withdrawal  from  the  kingdom  of 
sixty  millions  of  livres,  the  enemy's  fleet 
swelled  by  nine  thousand  sailors  the  best 
in  the  kingdom,  the  enemy's  armies  by  six 
hundred  officers  and  twelve  thousand  sol- 
diers who  had  seen  service.' ' 

Guizot,  Outlines  of  French  History,  p.  412. 

MARTIN :   The  number  who  left  France 

"The  amount  from  two  hundred  thou- 
sand to  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
from  the  Kevocation  to  the  commencement 
of  the  following  century  [1700]  seems  most 
probable." 

Martin,  History  of  France,  part  vii.  p.  53. 


XXII 

THE  PERSECUTION   OF  THE  IRISH 

They  bribed  the  flock,  they  bribed  the  son, 
To  sell  the  priest  and  rob  the  sire  ; 
Their  dogs  were  taught  alike  to  run 
Upon  the  scent  of  wolf  and  friar. 

Forbid  to  plead, 

Forbid  to  read, 

Disarmed,  disfranchised,  imbecile  — 

What  wonder  if  our  step  betrays 

Thefreedman  born  in  penal  days  f 

THOMAS  DAVIS. 

RELIGIOUS   persecution   in   Ireland 
lasted  longer  and  was  of  a  more 
sanguinary    and    bitter    character 
than  any  of  the  persecutions  of  history,  the 
persecutions  of   the  early  Christians  alone 
excepted. 

Prior  to  the  Reformation  there  had  been 
an  English  occupancy  and  settlement  of  a 
portion  of  Ireland,  characterized  by  much 
intermittent  border  and  feudal  warfare. 
But  the  "  iron  age  "  for  Ireland  began  with 
the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  and  it  lasted  nearly 


THE  PERSECUTION  OF  THIS  IK1SH   269 

three  hundred  years.  From  1560  religious 
animosity  motived  and  inspired  England's 
oppression  of  Ireland. 

In  other  instances  of  religious  perse- 
cution, the  oppressors  were  of  the  same 
nationality  as  those  whose  consciences  they 
violated,  and  this  circumstance  humanized 
(if  the  word  may  be  used)  and  limited  the 
duration  of  the  persecution.  But  in  the 
case  of  Ireland  the  persecuting  force  came 
from  a  foreign  nationality;  and  national 
prejudice  intensified  and  sustained  the  re- 
ligious animosity  of  the  persecution. 

There  were  superadded  to  this  persecuting 
spirit,  thus  intensified  by  national  prejudice, 
certain  other  attributes  which  further  in- 
creased its  hatefulness.  In  Austria  and 
France  Catholics  persecuted  Protestants 
for  the  purpose  of  converting  them.  In 
Sweden  Catholics  were  persecuted  with  the 
same  mistaken  zeal.  But  in  Ireland  the 
persecution  of  the  Catholics  was  undertaken . 
during  the  Elizabethan  period,  with  the  ul- 
terior purpose  of  robbing  them  of  their 
lands ; l  during  the  succeeding  reigns  this 

1  Dr.  Richey,  in  his  "  Short  History  of  Ireland,"  says 
of  the  causes  of  Irish  rebellion  under  Elizabeth:  "But  the 


270     MOOTED  QUESTIONS  OF  HISTORY 

religious  tyranny  was  kept  up  witli  the 
more  or  less  plainly  expressed  purpose  of 
exterminating  the  Irish  inhabitants,  as  a 
people  unregenerate  and  intractable ; l  and 
when  it  was  seen  that  massacre  and  banish- 
ment would  not  exterminate  them,  the1  per- 
secution was  continued  under  a  penal  code, 
which  sought  to  debase  them  socially  and 
degrade  them  intellectually,  —  not  that  they 

hatred  and  suspicion  of  all  that  was  Irish,  the  desire  to 
utilize  the  country  for  the  benefit  of  the  English,  and  the 
greed  for  grants  of  lands  and  forfeited  estates  in  this  as 
in  many  other  occasions,  influenced  the  conduct  of  the 
government,  the  miserable  results  of  which  form  the 
staple  of  our  subsequent  history." 

"  They  [the  English  Government]  believed  that  the 
one  effectual  policy  for  making  Ireland  useful  to  England 
was,  in  the  words  of  Sir  John  Davis,  "  to  root  out  the 
Irish  "  from  the  soil,  to  confiscate  the  property  of  the 
septs,  and  plant  the  country  systematically  with  English 
tenants.  .  .  .  Many  Irish  proprietors  were  executed  on 
the  most  frivolous  pretexts,  and  these  methods  of  obtain- 
ing confiscations  were  so  systematically  and  skilfully 
resorted  to,  that  it  soon  became  evident  to  chiefs  and 
people  that  it  was  the  settled  policy  of  the  English 
government  to  deprive  them  of  their  land."  —  Lecky,  A 
History  of  Ireland  in  the  Eighteenth  Century,  vol.  i. 
ch.  i.  p.  14. 

1  Joyce,  in  his  "  History  of  Ireland,"  ch.  xv.,  says  : 
"  I  fear  that  we  must  admit  that  during  the  reign  of 
Elizabeth  assassination  was  not  merely  a  thing  of  occa- 
sional occurrence,  but  a  recognized  mode  of  dealing  with 
Irish  chiefs." 


THE  PERSECUTION  OF  THE  IRISH    271 

might  be  converted,  but  that  "  Protestant 
ascendancy  "  (a  phrase  of  the  times)  might 
be  maintained  and  perpetuated. 

There  are  incidents  in  the  fearful  perse- 
cution to  which  the  Irish  were  subjected 
for  nearly  three  centuries,  that  parallel 
every  lurid  crime  in  the  history  of  persecu- 
tion, whether  political  or  religious.  At  the 
very  outset  (in  the  first  years  of  Elizabeth's 
reign)  there  was,  for  instance,  the  massacre 
of  Mullaghmast 1  —  beside  which  the  mas- 
sacre of  Glencoe  sinks  into  insignificance. 
The  devastation  with  fire  and  sword  of 
South  Ireland,  after  the  suppression  of  the 
Geraldine  revolt,  outrivals,  in  atrocity,  any- 
thing in  the  Thirty  Years'  War.2  The  mas- 

1  "The  massacre  of  Mullaghmast,  as  it  was  called, 
stands  out  in  the  Irish  annals  as  a  most  atrocious  deed 
of  blood.    If  the  story  be  even  partly  true,  Glencoe  was  a 
trifle  compared   to  it."  —  Cambridge  Historical  Series  : 
Ireland,  ch.  iv.,  by  Wm.  O'Connor  Morris. 

2  u  Great  tracts  were  deserts  of  a  more  hideous  aspect 
than  the  battlefields  of  a  Thirty  Years'  war."  —  Morris, 
Ireland,  ch.  iv.  p.  115. 

Edmund  Spenser  thus  describes  what  he  saw  in 
Monster  after  the  suppression  of  the  Geraldine  revolt : 
"  Out  of  every  corner  of  the  woods  and  glynnes  they 
came  creeping  forth  upon  their  hands,  for  their  legges 
could  not  bare  them,  they  looked  like  anatomies  of  death, 
they  spake  like  ghosts  crying  out  of  their  graves ;  they 


272     MOOTED  QUESTIONS  OF  HISTOKY 

sacres  and  forays  of  English  expeditions, 
which  provoked  and  signalized  the  first 
years  of  the  insurrection  of  1641,  destroyed 
more  people  than  the  massacre  of  St. 
Bartholomew's  Day.  Cromwell's  ruthless 
treatment  of  the  vanquished  people  of 
Drogheda  and  Wexford  is  a  bloodier  page 
than  the  sack  of  Magdeburg.1  The  twelve 

did  eate  the  dead  carrions,  happy  where  they  could  finde 
them,  yea  and  one  another  soone  after,  insomuch  as  the 
very  carcasses  they  spared  not  to  scrape  out  of  their 
graves  :  and  if  they  found  a  plot  of  watercresses  or  sham- 
rocks there  they  flocked  as  to  a  feast  for  the  time  :  that 
in  short  space  of  time  there  were  none  (that  is  people) 
almost  left,  and  a  most  populous  and  plentifull  country 
suddainely  left  void  of  man  and  beast." 

"More  men,  women,  and  children  were  killed  by 
starvation  in  pursuance  of  the  orders  of  the  Lord  Presi- 
dent [in  Elizabeth's  reign]  where  there  was  no  longer  an 
Irish  soldier  in  arms,  than  perished  in  the  three  French 
revolutions  by  the  crimes  of  the  Jacobins,  the  Reds,  and 
the  Communists.  The  persecution  of  English  Protestants 
by  Mary  had  been  merciless,  but  Elizabeth  murdered 
more  Irish  Catholics  in  a  week  in  Munster  than  Mary 
murdered  English  Protestants  in  her  entire  reign."  —  A 
Bird's  Eye  View  of  Irish  History,  by  Sir  Charles  Gavan 
Duffy,  K.  C.  M.  G.,  p.  61. 

1  "  He  besieged  Drogheda,  which  was  held  for  the 
king,  and  put  to  the  sword  the  entire  garrison,  and  the 
population  of  all  ages  and  both  sexes,  nobody  being 
spared.  The  massacre  continued  for  several  days  ;  it  is 
admitted  that  between  three  and  four  thousand  persons 
were  butchered  in  cold  blood ;  and  a  score  or  two  of  the 


THE  PERSECUTION  OF  THE  IRISH   273 

years  of  warfare  between  1641  and  1653 
had  been  characterized  in  Ireland  by  few 
pitched  battles,  —  that  of  Benburb,  where 
not  to  exceed  four  thousand  men  fell,  being 
the  most  conspicuous.  The  armies  in  the 
field  did  not  aggregate  over  forty  thousand 
men  on  either  side.  Yet  such  had  been  the 
butchery  and  devastation  committed  by  the 
victors,  that  one-third  of  the  people  (accord- 
ing to  English  authority)  were  killed  off.1 

inhabitants  who  alone  escaped  were  sent  as  slaves  to  the 
tobacco  plantations." — Duffy,  A  Bird's  Eye  View  of 
Irish  History,  p.  115. 

"  The  sieges  of  Drogheda  and  Wexford,  however,  and 
the  massacres  that  accompanied  them,  deserve  to  rank 
in  horror  with  the  most  atrocious  exploits  of  Tilly  or 
Wallenstein,  and  they  made  the  name  of  Cromwell  eter- 
nally hated  in  Ireland."  —  Lecky,  A  History  of  Ireland 
in  the  Eighteenth  Century,  vol.  i.  ch.  i.  p.  101. 

i  "  The  war  ended  at  last  in  1652.  According  to  the 
calculation  of  Sir  W.  Petty,  out  of  a  population  of 
1,466,000,  616,000  had  in  eleven  years  perished  by  the 
sword,  by  plague,  or  by  famine  artificially  produced. 
504,000,  according  to  this  estimate,  were  Irish,  112,000  of 
English  extraction." — Lecky,  A  History  of  Ireland  in 
the  Eighteenth  Century,  vol.  i.  ch.  i.  p.  104. 

"  One  of  the  Puritan  soldiers  [Colonel  Lawrence]  has 
left  us  a  picture  of  Ireland  under  the  rule  of  the  saints, 
which  bears  small  resemblance,  it  must  be  confessed,  to 
the  New  Jerusalem.  *  The  plague  and  famine  had  so 
swept  away  the  whole  counties,  that  a  man  might  travel 
twenty  or  thirty  miles,  and  not  see  a  living  creature,  either 
man,  beast,  or  bird,  they  being  all  dead,  or  had  quitted 
IS 


274     MOOTED  QUESTIONS  OF  HISTORY 

The  Irish  exodus,  after  Cromwell  laid  his 
mailed  hand  on  the  country,  exceeded  all 
the  Huguenot  exodus  after  the  revocation 
of  the  Edict  of  Nantes.  Thirty-four  thou- 
sand Irish  soldiers  alone  left  their  country, 
between  1650  and  1655,  to  enter  the  Ser- 
vice of  Catholic  countries. 

A  new  cruelty,  happily  not  imitated 
by  any  other  persecuting  power,  followed 
Cromwell's  conquest.  A  thousand  Irish 
boys  were  sold  as  slaves  to  the  Barbadoes, 
and  a  thousand  Irish  girls  under  fifteen  were 
sent,  as  slaves,  to  Jamaica.1  Sir  William 
Petty  says  that  over  six  thousand  Irish  were 
thus  herded  together  and  sold  into  slavery.2 

these  desolate  places.  Our  soldiers  would  tell  stories  of 
the  places  where  they  saw  smoke,  it  was  so  rare  to  see 
smoke  by  day,  or  fire  or  candle  by  night."  —  Duffy, 
A  Bird's  Eye  View  of  Irish  History,  p.  123. 

1  "  By  the  direct  agency  of  Cromwell's  son  a  rape  like 
Herod's  was  committed  on  the  children  of  the  poorer 
classes,  of  whom  he  caused  one  thousand  boys  to  be  sold 
as  slaves  and  one  thousand  innocent  Irish  girls  to  be 
sent  to  Jamaica,  to  a  fate  which  would  scarcely  be  ade- 
quately avenged  if  the  authentic  ruler  spent  an  eternity 
in  the  region  to  which  Cavalier  toasts  assigned  him. 
The  admitted  aim  of  the  Lord  Protector  was  to  extirpate 
the  Irish  race,  and  his  policy  is  still  known  among  them 
as  the  'Curse  of   Cromwell.'"  — Duffy,  A  Bird's  Eye 
View  of  Irish  History,  p.  120. 

2  "  Some   contemporary   accounts    made    the   whole 


THE  PERSECUTION  OF  THE  IKISH   275 

The  spoliation  of  the  persecuted  people 
proceeded  at  the  same  time.  Under  Eliza- 
beth and  James  I.,  a  fourth  of  the  island 
was  taken  from  the  Catholics  and  vested  in 
English  adventurers  and  land-grabbers. 
Cromwell's  spoliation  was  more  wholesale; 
he  appointed  a  day  when  all  the  native  and 
Catholic  population  were  required  to  take 
themselves  off  to  the  province  of  Connaught, 
under  penalty  of  death,  leaving  the  other 
provinces  of  Ireland  to  be  given  to  English 
Protestants.  The  penalty  for  any  Catholic 
who  was  found  east  of  the  Shannon  after  a 
day  named  was  death.  "  To  hell  or  Con- 
naught,"  was  Cromwell's  command  to  the 
conquered  people. 

The  era  of  the  Penal  Code,  which  lasted 
for  more  than  two  generations  during  the 
eighteenth  century,  was  virtually  an  effort 
on  the  part  of  the  persecuting  power  to 
debase  and  degrade,  intellectually  and  so- 
cially, a  people  whom  they  could  not  exter- 
minate. Four-fifths  of  the  Irish  continued 
to  be  Catholics.  The  Protestant,  or  "As- 
cendancy," party  constituted  an  English 

number  of  children  and  adults  so  transplanted  one  hun- 
dred thousand."  —  McGee,  History  of  Ireland,  vol.  ii. 
p.  55, 


276     MOOTED  QUESTIONS  OF  H1STOKY 

garrison  in  Ireland,  oppressing  the  people 
by  the  whole  power  of  England,  which 
stood  back  of  it.  Catholics  could  hold  no 
offices;  could  not  become  lawyers,  doctors, 
nor  teachers ;  could  not  purchase  land ; 
could  not  own  a  horse  valued  at  more  than' 
five  pounds ;  they  could  not  have  schools  of 
their  own,  nor  send  their  children  abroad 
to  be  educated.1  In  fact,  they  had  no  legal 
status  in  a  land  where  they  were  four-fifths 
of  the  population.  It  was  laid  down  from 
the  bench  of  justice  that  the  mere  existence 
of  the  "  Papist "  in  Ireland  was  not  to  be 
presumed.  The  law  sought  to  corrupt  their 
social  fealty  by  permitting  a  son  who  be- 
came a  Protestant  to  dispossess  his  father, 

1  "  One  statute  prohibited  a  Papist  from  instructing 
another  Papist ;  another  prohibited  a  Protestant  from 
instructing  a  Papist;  a  third  provided  that  no  Papist 
should  be  sent  out  of  Ireland  to  receive  instruction.  If 
these  three  laws  had  duly  been  capped  by  a  fourth  order- 
ing for  execution  every  Papist  who  neglected  to  provide 
a  first-class  education  for  his  children,  the  whole  edifice- 
would  have  been  beautifully  complete  and  symmetrical." 
—  Lectures  by  Professor  J.  W.  Barlow,  M.  A.,  Professor 
of  Modern  History  in  Trinity  College,  Dublin. 

The  Irish,  however,  in  many  cases  educated  their  chil- 
dren by  stealth  in  hedge  schools : 

"  Beside  the  lonely  rath,  beneath  the  mountain  fern, 
The  schoolmaster  and  scholars  met  feloniously  to  learn" 


THE  PEKSECUTIOJST  OP  THE  1K1SH  277 

and  an  unfaithful  wife  to  obtain  a  jointure 
by  giving  up  her  religion.  The  purpose  of 
this  code  was  to  enforce  illiteracy  among 
four-fifths  of  the  nation;  to  deprive  them 
of  the  name  of  religion ;  to  reduce  them  to 
the  position  of  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers 
of  water;  to  take  out  of  their  lives  all 
ambition  for  industrial  betterment  and  all 
faith  in  human  justice;  to  make  them 
savages,  outlaws,  and  pariahs.  And  this 
code  prevailed  and  was  enforced  beyond 
the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century ;  and 
its  last  vestiges  were  not  swept  away  even 
in  the  memory  of  living  men. 

LELAND:  A  policy  of  extermination 

"  The  favorite  object  of  Irish  governors 
and  the  English  Parliament  was  the  utter 
extermination  of  all  the  Catholic  inhabi- 
tants of  Ireland.  Their  estates  were  al- 
ready marked  out  and  allotted  to  their 
conquerors,  so  that  they  and  their  posterity 
were  consigned  to  inevitable  ruin/' 

Leland,  Hist,  of  Ireland,  vol.  iii.  p.  192. 


278     MOOTED  QUESTIONS  OF  HISTORY 

CARTE:  Puritan  hatred  of  the  Irish 

"  It  was  confidently  averred  that  Sir  John 
Clotworthy,  who  well  knew  the  designs  of 
the  faction  that  governed  in  the  House  of 
Commons  of  England,  had  declared  there 
in  a  speech,  'that  the  conversion  of  the 
Papists  in  Ireland  was  only  to  be  effected 
by  the  Bible  in  one  hand  and  the  sword  in 
the  other ; '  and  Mr.  Pym  gave  out  that  he 
would  not  leave  a  priest  in  Ireland.  To 
the  like  effect  Sir  William  Parsons,  out  of  a 
strange  weakness  or  a  detestable  policy,  pos- 
itively asserted,  before  many  witnesses  at  a 
public  entertainment  in  Dublin,  that  within 
a  twelvemonth  no  Catholic  should  be  seen 
in  Ireland." 

Carte,  Life  of  Ormonde,  vol.  i.  p.  235. 

LECKY:  The  alleged  massacre  of  1641 

"  It  has  been  asserted  by  numerous  writers, 
and  is  still  frequently  believed,  that  the 
Ulster  rebellion  began  with  a  general  and 
indiscriminate  massacre  of  the  Protestants, 
who  were  living  without  suspicion  among 
the  Catholics,  resembling  the  massacre  of 
the  Danes  -by  the  English,  the  massacre 


THE  PERSECUTION  OF  THE  IRISH   279 

of  the  French  in  the  Sicilian  Vespers,  or 
the  massacre  of  the  Huguenots  at  St.  Bar- 
tholomew. ...  As  is  almost  always  the 
case  in  a  great  popular  rising,  there  were, 
in  the  first  outbreak  of  the  Rebellion,  some 
murders,  but  they  were  few ;  and  there  was 
at  this  time  nothing  whatever  of  the  nature 
of  a  massacfe." 

Lecky,  A  History  of  Ireland  in  the   Eighteenth 
Century,  vol.  i.  ch  i.  pp.  46-47. 

MORRIS:   Ireland  under  Cromwell 

"Ireland  lay  prostrate  at  the  feet  of  Crom- 
well; the  doom  of  the  great  Puritan  was 
sternly  enforced.  Some  of  the  leaders  of 
the  Rebellion  of  1641  had  perished;  some 
remained  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  hang- 
man. The  religion  of  the  great  body  of  the 
Irish  people  was  proscribed,  as  idolatry  to 
be  purged  out  of  the  land ;  the  celebration 
of  the  Mass  was  made  a  crime ;  not  a  few 
priests  who  tried  to  live  among  their  flocks 
and  to  do  their  sacred  office  in  secret,  were 
carried  off  to  the  West  Indies  and  sold  as 
slaves.  This  was  the  fate,  too,  of  many  of 
the  Irishry  who  had  appeared  in  arms ; 
merchants  from  Bristol  contracted  for  the 


280     MOOTEl>  QUESTIONS  OF  HISTORY 

odious  traffic  of  shipping  them  to  Barbadoes 
for  the  planters ;  hundreds  were  doubtless 
thrown  to  the  sharks  on  the  voyage;  but 
the  descendants  of  the  exiles  are  still  known 
as  what  are  called  '  the  low  whites '  of  the 
island/7 

Ireland,  by  Wm.  O'Connor  Morris,  County  Court, 
Judge  of  the  United  Counties  of  Roscommon  and 
Sligo  (in  the  Cambridge  Historical  Series,  edited 
by  G.  W.  Prothero),  p.  153. 

BURKE:    The    meaning  of  "Protestant  as- 
cendancy " 

"  Protestant  ascendancy  is  neither  more 
nor  less  than  the  resolution  of  one  set  of 
people  in  Ireland  to  consider  themselves  as 
the  sole  citizens  in  the  commonwealth, 
and  to  keep  a  dominion  over  the  rest  by 
reducing  them  to  absolute  slavery  under  a 
military  power." 

Burke's  Works,  vol.  v.  p.  239. 

MORRIS :  Threefold  object  of  the  Penal  Code 

"  It  was  the  first  object,  however,  of  the 
Penal  Code  and  of  its  authors,  the  ruling 
Protestant  caste,  to  divorce  the  Catholics 


THE  PERSECUTION  OF  THE  IRISH   281 

as  completely  as  possible  from  the  land,  the 
source  of  wealth  and  political  power,  and 
to  deprive  them  even  of  the  remnant  they 
still  retained,  after  the  wrongs  they  had 
endured  for  ages.  The  second  great  object 
of  the  Penal  Code  was  to  shut  out  the  Irish 
Catholic  from  any  place  of  trust  in  the 
state,  nay,  from  the  pale  of  civilized  life. 
He  had  been  forbidden,  we  have  seen,  to 
have  a  seat  in  his  country's  Parliament ;  he 
was  erelong  deprived  of  the  elective  suf- 
frage ;  he  was  excluded  '  from  the  corpora- 
tions, from  the  magistracy,  from  the  Bar, 
from  the  Bench,  from  the  County  Grand 
Juries,  even  from  the  Parish  vestries ; '  he 
could  not  'be  a  Sheriff,  a  solicitor,  a  game- 
keeper, a  constable/  The  proscription 
went  even  lower  down ;  the  Irish  Catholic 
could  not  serve  in  the  Army  or  on  the 
Fleet;  he  could  not  possess  any  arms  or 
weapons ;  he  was,  in  a  word,  '  only  recog- 
nized by  law  for  repression  and  punish- 
ment/ and  disentitled  to  nearly  all  the 
rights  of  a  freeman.  And  while  this  people 
of  Pariahs,  who,  be  it  observed,  formed  the 
overwhelming  majority  of  the  community 
as  a  whole,  '  was  excluded  in  its  own 


282     MOOTED  QUESTIONS  OF  HISTORY 

country,  from  almost  every  profession  and 
from  every  government  office,  from  the 
highest  to  the  lowest/  the  Code  went  out 
of  its  way,  so  to  speak,  to  humiliate 
the  whole  body  of  the  Irish  Catholics,  to 
degrade  them,  in  a  word,  to  the  position,  of 
outcasts.  It  is  unnecessary  to  point  out 
how  the  laws  as  to  the  land  could  make 
the  life  of  a  Catholic  owner  wretched ;  a 
rebellious  son,  an  adulterous  wife  could 
defy  his  authority  and  simply  rob  him ;  and 
it  should  be  added  that  even  in  his  dying 
hour  he  could  not  commit  his  children  to 
the  care  of  a  guardian  of  his  own  faith,  he 
was  compelled  to  devolve  this  trust  to  a 
Protestant.  .  .  .  The  last  great  object  of 
the  Penal  Code  was  to  destroy  the  organ- 
ization of  the  Church  of  the  Irish  Catho- 
lics and  to  make  their  religion  a  byword 
and  a  reproach.  Catholic  Archbishops, 
bishops,  deans,  and  vicars-general  were 
doomed  to  exile ;  if  they  returned  to  Ire- 
land they  were  guilty  of  high-treason  and 
liable  to  the  frightful  penalties  annexed 
to  the  crime.  The  same  law  was  applied 
to  the  regular  clergy.  Monks,  friars,  and 
even  nuns  could  not  remain  in  Ireland ;  if 


THE  PERSECUTION  OF  THE  IRISH   283 

they  did  they  carried  their  lives  in  their 
hands." 

Ireland,  by  Wm.  O'Connor  Morris,  County  Court, 
Judge  of  the  United  Counties  of  Rosconimon  and 
Sligo  (in  the  Cambridge  Historical  Series,  edited 
by  G.  W.  Prothero),  pp.  203-205. 

LECKY:  The  Penal  Code 

"  It  was  directed  not  against  the  few,  but 
against  the  many.  It  was  not  the  persecu- 
tion of  a  sect,  but  the  degradation  of  a 
nation.  It  was  the  instrument  employed 
by  a  conquering  race,  supported  by  a  neigh- 
boring Power,  to  crush  to  the  dust  the 
people  among  whom  they  were  planted. 
And,  indeed,  when  we  remember  that  the 
greater  part  of  it  was  in  force  for  nearly 
a  century,  that  its  victims  formed  at  least 
three-fourths  of  the  nation,  that  its  degrad- 
ing and  dividing  influence  extended  to  every 
field  of  social,  political,  professional,  intel- 
lectual, and  even  domestic  life,  and  that  .it 
was  enacted  without  the  provocation  of  any 
rebellion,  in  defiance  of  a  treaty  which  dis- 
tinctly guaranteed  the  Irish  Catholics  from 
any  further  oppression  on  account  of  their 
religion,  it  may  be  justly  regarded  as  one 


284    MOOTED    QUESTIONS   OF   HISTORY 

of   the   blackest   pages   in   the    history   of 
persecution." 

Lecky,  A  History  of  Ireland  iu  the  Eighteenth 
Century,  vol.  i.  ch.  ii.  pp.  169,  170. 

BURKE:   A  diabolical  machine 

Edmund  Burke  says  that  "  the  Penal  Code 
was  a  machine  of  wise  and  elaborate  con- 
trivance, and  as  well  fitted  for  the  oppres- 
sion, impoverishment,  and  degradation  of  a 
people  and  the  debasement  in  them  of  hu- 
man nature  itself,  as  ever  proceeded  from 
the  perverted  ingenuity  of  men/' 

Burke's  Works,  vol.  iii.  p.  495. 

DR.   JOHNSON:   Irish    persecutions   unpar- 
alleled 

"  The  Irish,"  said  Dr.  Johnson,  "  are  in 
a  most  unnatural  state,  for  we  there  see 
the  minority  prevailing  over  the  majority. 
There  is  no  instance,  even  in  the  Ten  Per- 
secutions, of  such  severity  as  that  which 
the  Protestants  of  Ireland  have  exercised 
against  the  Catholics." 

Boswell's  Life  of  Johnson,  ch.  xxix. 


XXIII 
GALILEO 

Every  great  scientific  truth  goes  through  three 
stages:  fast,  people  say  it  conflicts  with  the 
Bible;  next,  they  say  it  has  been  discovered 
before;  lastly,  they  say  they  always  believed 
it.  —  AGASSIZ. 

NEARLY  two  centuries  before  Gali- 
leo, the  probability  of  the  earth's 
motion  around  the  sun  was 
broached  by  Cardinal  Cusa.1  But  the 
learned  world  merely  tolerated  the  supposi- 
tion, and  held  firmly  to  the  Ptolemaic  or 
geocentric  theory.  About  the  middle  of 
the  sixteenth  century  Copernicus,  a  Polish 
priest,  published  his  great  work  on  the 
revolution  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  and  the 
theory  was  then  called  the  Copernican 
theory.  The  learned  world  was  still  uncon- 

1  The  Copernican  theory  was  foreshadowed  centuries 
before  Copernicus.  An  Irish  scholar,  Virgilius,  Bishop 
of  Salzburg,  had  in  the  eighth  century  taught  the  exist- 
ence of  antipodes. 


286     MOOTED  QUESTIONS  OF  HISTORY 

vinced;  the  theory  was  looked  upon  as  a 
clever  piece  of  guesswork. 

In  1596  Kepler,  "the  founder  of  modern 
astronomy/'  then  teaching  at  the  Univer- 
sity of  Tuebingen,  offended  the  Lutheran 
theological  faculty  by  advocating  the  truth 
of  Copernicanism.  These  Lutheran  inquisi- 
tors condemned  the  theory  of  the  earth's 
motion  as  heretical;  and  Kepler  had  to 
quit  their  university  and  find  refuge  in  a 
Jesuit  college. 

Galileo  had  his  first  brush  with  the 
churchly  scientists  in  1615.  He  thought 
he  found  the  Copernican  theory  to  be  some- 
thing more  than  a  mere  probability,  and  he 
proceeded  to  advocate  it  as  an  established 
truth.  Especially  did  he  concern  himself 
with  explaining  away  the  eternal  Biblical 
nut  of  his  opponents,  —  Joshua's  order  com- 
pelling the  sun  to  stand  still.  This  brought 
him  into  the  full  stream  of  exegetical  dis- 
cussion, and  certain  churchmen  denounced 
his  writings  before  the  Eoman  Inquisition. 
We  can  only  remark  of  the  Roman  Inquisi- 
tion that  it  was  a  fallible  tribunal,  and  no 
wiser  than  its  day.  Secchi,  the  astronomer, 
tells  us  that  "  none  of  the  real  proofs  of  the 


GALILEO  287 

earth's  rotation  upon  its  axis  were  known 
at  the  time  of  Galileo."  Not  until  Reau- 
mur had  ascertained  the  velocity  of  light, 
and  Newton  the  laws  of  gravitation,  was 
the  scientific  truth  of  the  system  established. 
Bacon  in  England,  Descartes  in  France, 
Tycho  Brahe  in  Germany,  and  all  the  uni- 
versities of  Europe  were  contemporaneously 
sceptical  of,  and  prejudiced  against,  Coper- 
nicanism,  equally  with  the  conscientious 
Biblical  scholars  who  made  up  the  Roman 
Inquisition.  The  Inquisition  found  that  the 
earth's  moving  about  the  sun  was  an  idea 
at  variance  with  Holy  Writ,  and  they  placed 
the  book  of  Copernicus  on  the  Index.  Gali- 
leo was  admonished  to  let  the  subject  rest ; 
and  he  agreed  to  do  so. 

Subsequently,  in  1633,  the  matter  again 
came  before  the  Inquisition  because  of  a 
book  written  by  Galileo,  in  which,  con- 
trary to  the  command  of  the  Inquisition,  he 
had  again  argued  in  favor  of  Copernicanism. 
With  the  exception  of  being  threatened  with 
torture  unless  he  told  the  truth  as  to  his 
intentions  in  publishing  his  book,  Galileo 
was  well  treated  during  this  second  trial. 
The  Inquisitors,  with  such  wisdom  as  was 


288     MOOTED  QUESTIONS  OF  HISTORY 

current  in  their  day,  again  bolstered  up  the 
old  Ptolemaic  system  as  the  only  theory 
which  would  accord  with  Joshua's  com- 
mand to  the  sun,  and  condemned  Galileo's 
teaching  as  a  false  opinion,  opposed  to 
Scripture.1 

Galileo  was  at  the  time  well  liked  at 
Rome,  the  reigning  Pope  being  a  personal 
friend  of  his.  A  month  after  his  trial  he 
was  peacefully  living  at  home,  pursuing  his 
scientific  studies  and  occasionally  visiting 
his  daughters  at  a  convent  in  which  they 
were  cloistered  nuns.  Practically  the  only 
penalty  imposed  upon  him  was  a  periodic 
recitation  of  the  seven  Penitential  Psalms.2 
He  received  a  pension  from  the  Papal  gov- 

1  There  is  no  mention  of  papal  approval  in  the  origi- 
nal manuscript  of   Galileo's   trial,  published  by   Henri 
L'Epinois;    and  Von    Gebler,   who    thoroughly    studied 
the  question,  says  distinctly  there  was  no  such  approval 
or  confirmation.     (Von  Gebler,  Galileo  Galilei,  translated 
by  Mrs.  Joseph  Sturge,  p.  236.) 

2  The  actual  sentence  pronounced  upon  him  by  the 
Inquisition  is  expressed  in  these  words :  "  We  condemn 
you  to  the  formal  prison  of  the  Holy  Office,  for  a  period 
determinable  at  our  pleasure ;  and  by  way  of  salutary  pen- 
ance we  order  you  during  the  next  three  years  to  recite 
once  a  week  the  seven  penitential  psalms,  reserving  to 
ourselves  the  power  of  moderating,  commuting,  or  taking 
off  the  whole  or  part  of  the  said  punishment  and  penance." 


GALILEO  289 

eminent,  and  died  (1642),  as  he  had  lived, 
a  very  religious  man. 

Allegations  that  Galileo  was  tortured  by 
the  Inquisition,  or  cast  into  a  dungeon,  or 
sentenced  to  imprisonment,  are  without 
foundation ;  and  the  decrees  of  the  Roman 
Inquisition,  while  they  illustrate  the  falli- 
bility of  churchmen,  are  strenuously  objected 
to  by  Catholics  as  in  no  manner  constitut- 
ing the  action  of  the  Church,  since  they  were 
neither  the  decrees  of  a  general  council  nor 
the  ex  cathedra  promulgations  of  the  Pope.1 

WHE WELL :  Statement  of  the  case 

"  The  ecclesiastical  authorities  were  natur- 
ally adverse  to  express  themselves  in  favor 
of  a  novel  opinion,  startling  to  the  common 
mind,  and  contrary  to  the  most  obvious 

1  Muratori,  who  wrote  many  years  before  the  works  of 
Galileo  were  removed  from  the  Index,  says  that  the 
Copernican  system  was  condemned,  "  not  by  an  edict  of 
the  Supreme  Pontiff,  but  by  the  Congregation  of  the 
Holy  Office.  .  .  .  To-day  this  system  is  everywhere  in 
vogue,  and  Catholics  are  not  forbidden  to  hold  it." 
Tiraboschi  admires  the  "  Providence  of  God  in  favor  of 
His  Church ;  since  at  a  time  when  the  majority  of  theo- 
logians firmly  believed  that  the  Copernican  system  was 
contrary  to  the  Sacred  Scripture,  the  Church  was  not  per- 
mitted to  give  a  solemn  decision  on  the  matter." 

19 


290     MOOTED  QUESTIONS  OF  HISTORY 

meaning  of  the  words  of  the  Bible.  And 
when  they  were  compelled  to  pronounce  they 
decided  against  Galileo  and  his  doctrines. 
He  was  accused  before  the  Inquisition  in 
1615,  but  at  that  period  the  result  was  that 
he  was  merely  recommended  to  confine  him- 
self to  the  mathematical  reasonings  upon 
the  system  and  to  abstain  from  meddling 
with  the  Scripture.  .  .  .  But  in  1632  he 
published  his  Dialogo,  etc.  .  .  .  The  result 
was  that  Galileo  was  condemned  for  his  in- 
fraction of  the  injunction  laid  upon  him  in 
1615.  .  .  .  This  celebrated  event  must  be 
looked  upon  rather  as  a  question  of  deco- 
rum than  a  struggle  in  which  the  interests 
of  truth  and  free  inquiry  were  deeply  con- 
cerned. The  general  acceptance  of  the 
Copernican  theory  was  no  longer  a  matter 
of  doubt.  Several  persons  in  the  highest  au- 
thority, including  the  Pope  himself,  looked 
upon  the  doctrine  with  favorable  eyes,  and 
had  shown  their  interest  in  Galileo's  dis- 
coveries. They  had  tried  to  prevent  his 
involving  himself  in  trouble  by  discussing 
the  question  on  Scriptural  grounds.  .  .  . 
Throughout  the  course  of  the  proceedings 
against  him,  Galileo  was  treated  with  great 


GALILEO  291 

courtesy  and  indulgence.  He  was  con- 
demned to  a  formal  imprisonment  and  a 
very  light  discipline.  ...  It  has  some- 
times been  asserted  or  insinuated  that 
Galileo  was  subjected  to  bodily  torture,  .  .  . 
but  M.  Biot  more  justly  remarks  (Biogr. 
Universelle,  art.  '  Galileo ')  that  such  a  pro- 
cedure is  incredible.  To  the  opinion  of  M. 
Biot  we  may  add  that  of  Delambre,  who 
rejects  the  notion  of  Galileo  having  been 
put  to  torture." 

History  of  Inductive  Sciences,  vol.  i.  pp.  282-284, 
by  Wm.  Whewell,  D.D.,  Master  of  Trinity  College, 
Cambridge.  New  York:  D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  1869. 

Contemporary  opinion 

On  Jan.  10,  1634,  Descartes  writes  to 
Father  Marsenne :  "Of  course,  you  are  well 
aware  that  Galileo  has  been  up  before 
the  Inquisition,  and  his  opinion  about  the 
earth's  motion  has  been  condemned  as 
heretical.  But  as  I  have  not  yet  heard 
that  this  censure  has  been  authorized  by 
the  Pope  (that  is,  officially),  but  merely  by 
a  congregation  of  cardinals,  I  have  not  yet 
abandoned  all  hope."  Gassendi  says :  "For 
myself,  I  reverence  the  decree  whereby 


292     MOOTED  QUESTIONS  OF  HISTORY 

certain  cardinals  are  said  to  have  approved 
of  the  earth's  stationariness.  For  though 
the  Copernicans  maintain  that  these  texts 
of  Scripture  are  not  to  be  taken  literally  — 
nevertheless,  since  these  texts  are  explained 
differently  by  men  whose  authority  (as  is 
manifest)  is  so  great  in  the  Church,  for  that 
reason  I  stand  on  their  side,  and  do  not 
blush  on  this  occasion  to  hold  my  intellect 
captive.  Not  that  on  that  account  I  deem 
it  an  article  of  faith  ;  for  —  so  far  as  I  know 
—  that  is  not  asserted  by  [these  cardinals] 
themselves,  nor  is  it  promulgated  and  re- 
ceived throughout  the  Church."  In  1651 
Father  Riccioli,  S.  J.,  writes  :  "  It  is  not 
as  yet  of  faith  that  the  sun  moves  and  the 
earth  remains  stationary  by  reason  of  the 
Congregational  decrees,  inasmuch  as  neither 
the  Pope,  nor  any  council  approved  by  him, 
has  issued  a  definition  upon  this  point." 

Nature  of  the  Index 

"  The  Church  gives  her  decisions  of  doc- 
trine, not  through  the  declarations  of  any 
such  tribunals  as  the  Holy  Office  or  the 
Congregation  of  the  Index.  These  are  only 
subordinate  working  offices  or  bureaus  for 


GALILEO  293 

the  expediting  of  business.  They  are  not 
clothed  with  her  supreme  authority.  When 
she  defines  doctrines  it  is  through  her 
General  Councils  and  through  the  voice  of 
her  Supreme  Pontiff,  speaking  ex  cathedra" 

American  Cath.  Quar.  Review,  vol.  vii.  p.  104. 

The  decree  revoked  (A.D.  1752) 

"Galileo,  on  Feb.  26,  1616,  properly 
closed  his  case  then  before  the  Holy  Office. 
Another  congregation,  that  of  the  Index, 
had  taken  up  the  matter,  and  on  March 
5th  published  a  general  disciplinary  rule 
and  enactment  prohibiting  henceforth  books 
that  upheld  the  Copernican  theory  as  ab- 
solute truth,  that  theory  being  erroneous 
and  contrary  to  the  Holy  Scripture,  and 
also  requiring  that  such  books  already 
published  should  be  so  amended  as  to  pre- 
sent the  theory  in  an  hypothetical  form,  or 
mere  theory,  not  as  an  established  positive 
truth.  .  .  .  The  Congregation  of  the  Index 
acted  as  it  had  been  declared  it  would  act. 
In  1752  the  decree  of  1616,  against  teach- 
ing Copernicanism  as  an  absolute  truth, 
was  revoked." 

American  Cath.  Quar.  Review,  vol.  vii.  p.  94. 


294    MOOTED    QUESTIONS    OF    HISTORY 

"Let  alone"  the  better  policy 

"  Still,  we  may  regret  that  the  Congrega- 
tion of  the  Index  did  not  accept  the  wise 
counsels  of  Cardinal  Barberini,  and  of  others 
agreeing  with  him,  and  abstain  altogether 
from  enacting  the  decree." 

American  Cath.  Quar.  Review,  vol.  vii.  p.  113. 

SCHAFF-HERZOG :  Unfounded  statements 

"  The  published  documents  of  the  trial  do 
not  sustain  the  charge  that  he  [Galileo] 
was  tortured.  He  made  public  recantations 
the  next  day.  The  famous  legend  that,  on 
rising  from  his  knees  after  his  recantation, 
he  exclaimed,  '  E pur  si  muove  '  (And  yet 
it  does  move),  seems  to  have  no  adequate 
foundation." 

Schaff-Herzog  Dictionary,  article  on  "  Inquisi- 
tion." Philip  Schaff,  D.D.,  Editor,  Union  Theologi- 
cal Seminary,  N.  Y.  The  Christian  Literature  Co., 
Publishers,  N.  Y.,  1888. 

BRITISH  ENCYCLOPAEDIA:  "It  stiU 
moves  " 

"  The  legend  according  to  which  Galileo, 
rising  from  his  knees,  after  repeating  the  for- 
mula of  abjuration,  stamped  on  the  ground 


GALILEO  295 

and  exclaimed  'E  pur  si  muove/  is,  as  may 
be  readily  supposed,  entirely  apocryphal. 
The  earliest  ascertained  authority  for  it  is 
the  seventh  edition  of  an  Historical  Dic- 
tionary published  at  Caen  in  1789." 
Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  vol.  x.  p.  34. 


XXIV 
THE  GUNPOWDER  PLOT 

Vengeance  has  no  foresight.  —  NAPOLEON. 

THREE  lurid  episodes  in  the  history 
of  religious  persecution  in  Eng- 
land are  the  Gunpowder  Plot 
(1605),  the  "revelations"  of  Titus  Gates 
(1678-82),  and  the  Lord  Gordon  riots 
(1780).  Each  has  its  own  significance, — 
the  Gunpowder  Plot  illustrating  to  what 
desperate  straits  persecution  may  drive  bold 
men  ;  the  Gates  revelations  discovering  the 
almost  incredible  gullibility  of  a  bigoted 
nation  and  its  ruthless  readiness  to  revenge 
its  blind  fears  upon  the  weak  minority;  and 
the  Lord  Gordon  riots  forming  an  instance 
of  a  frequent  tendency  in  English  Protestant- 
ism to  assert  itself  in  mob  uprisings. 

There    were   scarcely   a   dozen    English 
Catholics  in  the  secret  of  the  Gunpowder 


THE    GUNPOWDEK   PL.OT  297 

Plot  (1605).  It  was  a  most  desperately 
formed  plan  to  blow  the  king,  lords,  and 
commons  of  England  into  eternity,  to  seize 
the  heir  to  the  throne,  and  to  proclaim  a 
Catholic  protectorate.  It  is  not  probable 
that,  in  any  event,  the  plot  could  have  gone 
further  than  the  explosion  of  the  thirty-six 
barrels  of  gunpowder  that  Guy  Fawkes 
was  prepared  to  fire  in  the  vault  under 
the  Parliament  building.  A  Catholic  peer, 
Lord  Mounteagle,  whom  the  conspirators 
wished  to  save  from  the  wreck,  was  warned 
not  to  attend  Parliament  on  the  day  ap- 
pointed; upon  which  information  he  took 
steps  to  frustrate  the  conspiracy.  But  the 
fact  that  a  rational  Catholic  thus  pre- 
vented this  murderous  plot  of  a  dozen  of 
his  frenzied  co-religionists  did  not  save  the 
whole  English  Catholic  community.  They 
all  felt  the  heavy  hand  of  Protestant  resent- 
ment. If  they  had  ground  for  complaint 
before  the  5th  of  November,  1605,  they 
were  given  double  ground  for  mourning 
after  that  date. 

They  had  expected  better  things  of  James 
I.  when  he  came  to  the  English  throne  in 
1603  ;  his  mother  (Mary  Queen  of  Scots) 


298     MOOTED  QUESTIONS  OF  HISTORY 

had  been  a  Catholic,  and  Catholics  had  bled 
in  her  defence.  James  might  at  least 
suspend  the  harsh  laws  against  the  poor 
Papists.  But  he  did  not.  All  the  fines 
for  not  attending  Protestant  worship  were 
freshly  enforced  against  them;  twenty 
pounds  a  month,  and  a  forfeiture  of  two- 
thirds  of  their  goods,  if  the  fine  remained 
unpaid,  was  the  penalty,  and  a  horde  of 
Scotch  court  followers  were  enriched  by  it. 
The  Catholics  of  England  were  pauperized. 
Every  man  connected  with  the  Gunpowder 
Plot  —  especially  Robert  Catesby,  the  real 
instigator  of  it  —  had  suffered  personally 
for  his  religion.  Disappointment,  despair, 
and  resentment  were  the  feelings  that  pos- 
sessed them.  Henry  IV.  of  France  advised 
James  that  while  these  men  must  be  pun- 
ished, he  should  recognize  the  evil  of  perse- 
cution in  driving  men  to  such  deeds,  and 
goad  the  Catholics  no  further.  This  wis- 
dom was  too  advanced  for  the  English 
Parliament  of  that  day.  It  enacted  addi- 
tional penal  laws,  debarring  Catholics  from 
the  practice  of  law  or  surgery,  from  residing 
in  London,  and  from  acting  as  executors. 
Catholic  parents  were  fined  a  hundred 


THE   GUNPOWDER   PLOT          299 

pounds  for  every  child  they  failed  to  have 
baptized  as  a  Protestant,  and  the  king  was 
empowered  to  seize,  if  he  desired,  two-thirds 
of  the  goods  of  Catholics  failing  to  attend 
Protestant  worship.  James  exercised  this 
power  by  granting  to  his  favorites  the  right 
of  "  making  profit "  out  of  certain  specified 
nobles.1  The  Earl  of  Northumberland  was 
fined  £300,000. 

One  feature  of  the  Gunpowder  Plot  was 
the  attempt  to  connect  the  Jesuits  with  it. 
The  Jesuit  provincial,  Father  Garnet,  was 
executed  because  it  appeared  that  he  had 
some  knowledge  of  the  existence  of  the  con- 
spiracy, indirectly  obtained  under  seal  of  the 
confessional.  It  was  claimed  for  him  that  he 
had  done  all  in  his  power  to  dissuade  the  des- 
perate men  from  their  purpose.  The  offence 
charged  against  him  was  his  being  privy  to 
the  plot  and  not  revealing  it ;  he  contending 
that  the  secrecy  of  the  confessional  obliged 
him  to  refrain  from  turning  informer.2 

1  The  very  words  used  in  one  of  the  state  papers  of 
the  time  are  these  :    u  A  list  of  such  recusants  as  his 
Majesty  hath  granted  liberty  to   his  servants  to  make 
profit  of." 

2  An  English   Catholic  priest,  Father   Gerard,  is  the 
author  of  a  book  published  a  few  years  ago  and  entitled 


300    MOOTED    QUESTIONS    OF    HISTORY 

The  charge  has  been  made,  and  there  are 
some  grounds  for  the  theory,  that  the  Gun- 
powder Plot  was  .concocted  by  James  I.'s 
prime  minister,  Robert  Cecil,  with  a  view  to 
solidifying  his  power.  Lord  Cobham,  for 
instance,  tells  us  that  King  James  was  in 
the  habit  of  speaking  of  the  5th  of  Novem- 
ber "  as  Cecil's  birthday."  (Advocate  of 
Conscience  Liberty,  p.  225,  A.  D.  1665.) 

Carte  the  historian  (History  of  England, 
vol.  iii.  p.  757,  London,  1747)  thinks  it 
not  improbable  that  Cecil  knew  all  about 
the  plot.  A  contemporary  Protestant  bishop 
of  Gloucester  says  of  Cecil :  "  The  great 
statesman  had  intelligence  of  all  this,  and 
because  he  would  show  his  service  to  the 
State,  he  would  first  contrive  and  then 
discover  a  treason,  and  the  more  odious 
and  hateful  the  treason  were,  his  service 
would  be  the  greater  and  more  acceptable." 
Bishop  Usher  is  quoted  as  holding  a  like 
view. 

"  What  was  the  Gunpowder  Plot  ?  "  in  which  he  argues 
"  that  the  true  history  of  the  Gunpowder  Plot  is  now 
known  to  no  man;  that  the  history  commonly  received 
is  certainly  untrue."  Father  Gerard  inclines  to  the 
opinion  that  the  plot  was  encouraged  by  Cecil. 


THE   GUNPOWDER   PLOT  301 

GARDINER:  Where  the  blame  rests 

"  The  blame  of  the  gunpowder  plot  does 
not  lie  with  '  the  Papists.'  It  lies,  at  the 
most,  on  a  small  body  of  conspirators,  and 
even  in  their  case  the  government  must 
bear  a  share  of  it,  not  because  it  invented 
or  encouraged  the  plot,  but  because  by 
reinforcement  of  the  penal  laws  it  irri- 
tated ardent  and  excited  natures  beyond 
endurance." 

Gardiner:  What  was  the  Gunpowder  Plot?  p.  8. 
Longmans,  Green,  &  Co.,  London,  1897. 

GARDINER:   Jesuits  did  not  originate  the 
plot 

"The  government  theory  that  Garnet 
and  the  other  Jesuits  had  organized  the  plot 
was  undoubtedly  false.  That  there  was  a 
plot  at  all  is  undoubtedly  owing  to  James's 
conduct  in  receding  from  his  promises." 

Gardiner:  What  was  the  Gunpowder  Plot?  pp. 
199,  200.  Longmans,  Green,  &  Co.,  London,  1897. 

GREEN:  Father  Garnet's  position 

"  Though  he  [Garnet]  had  shrunk  from 
all  part  in  the  plot,  its  existence  had  been 
made  known  to  him  by  another  Jesuit, 


302     MOOTED  QUESTIONS  OF  HISTORY 

Greenway,  and  horror-stricken,  as  lie  had 
represented  himself  to  have  been,  he  had 
kept  the  secret  and  left  Parliament  to  its 
doom." 

Green,  Hist,  of  the  English  People,  book  vii. 
ch.  iii. 


XXV 
THE  "POPISH  PLOT" 

The  rabble  gather  round  the  man  of  news 
and  listen  with  their  mouths  open;  some  tell, 
some  hear,  some  judge  of  news,  some  make  it, 
and  he  that  lies  most  loud  is  most  believed. 

DRYDEN. 

Of  all  things  wisdom  is  the  most  terrified  with 
epidemical  fanaticism,  because  of  all  enemies  it 
is  that  against  which  she  is  the  least  able  to 
furnish  any  kind  of  resource.  —  BURKE. 

THE  influence  of  the  Gunpowder  Plot 
affected  the  imagination  of  suc- 
ceeding generations  of  English- 
men. Jesuits  and  "  plotting  Papists  "  were 
credited  with  every  dire  and  damaging 
occurrence.  The  air  of  England  for  two 
centuries  was  surcharged  with  prejudice 
against  them.  When  two-thirds  of  London 
was  burned,  in  1666,  the  catastrophe  was 
placed  at  the  door  of  the  Catholics,  and  the 
pillar  erected  to  commemorate  the  great 


304     MOOTED  QUESTIONS  OF  HISTORY 

fire  bore  that  groundless  charge  against 
them  for  nearly  two  hundred  years.1  (It 
was  finally  erased  in  1830  by  order  of  the 
London  aldermen.) 

The  stories,  perpetrated  by  Titus  Gates  in 
1678  against  the  Catholics,  pandered  to  this 
deep-rooted,  gullible,  and  insensate  preju- 
dice. Gates  was  an  adventurer  of  bad 
character;  his  success  and  the  gratitude  he 
evoked  by  "  his  providential  disclosures  " 
induced  other  adventurers  to  follow  his 
example.  One  of  these  was  a  convict 
named  Bedloe ;  another  was  a  young  man 
named  Dangerfield,  who  had  been  convicted 
of  numerous  crimes  ;  there  were  a  dozen  in 
all,  some  of  them  imported  from  Ireland, 
to  prove  the  existence  of  a  Popish  plot 
there. 

All  united  in  alleging  that  there  was  a 
Catholic  conspiracy  to  murder  the  king, 
massacre  the  Protestants,  and  bring  in  a 
French  army  of  subjugation.  There  were 
numerous  variances,  contradictions,  and 


1  Pope  makes  reference  to  this  circumstance  in  these 
lines : 

"  Where  London's  column  pointing  to  the  skies 
Like  a  tall  bully,  lifts  its  head  and  lies." 


THE   "POPISH   PLOT"  305 

inconsistencies  in  the  testimony  of  these 
men;  but  their  explanations  that  they 
"  were  sick/'  or  "  did  not  recollect  clearly/' 
or  "  were  mistaken  in  the  details,"  were 
accepted  by  the  gullible  public.  The  kill- 
ing of  Godfrey,  a  magistrate  before  whom 
Gates  had  made  his  deposition,  was  the 
circumstance  which  first  gave  credibility 
to  the  disclosures.  It  was  never  discovered 
who  killed  Godfrey,  but  the  Jesuits  were 
immediately  blamed.  Then  began  a  series 
of  prosecutions  running  through  several 
years,  and  resulting  in  the  execution  of  a 
large  number  of  Catholics,  among  them 
twenty-four  priests  and  several  noblemen. 
The  evidence  against  these  men  is  now 
admitted  to  have  been  the  purest  fabrica- 
tion on  the  part  of  the  brood  of  informers 
whom  Oates's  success  had  stimulated.  At 
one  time  several  thousand  Catholics  were 
jailed,  and  nearly  thirty  thousand  of  them 
expelled  from  London.  The  Duke  of  York 
(subsequently  James  II.)  was  forced  into 
exile ;  the  Queen  herself  was  accused  by 
Gates ;  and  a  measure  was  passed  by  which 
the  Catholic  peers  were  excluded  from  the 
House  of  Lords,  to  which  they  did  not 
20 


306     MOOTED  QUESTIONS  OF  HISTORY 

again  return  for  one  hundred  and  fifty 
years. 

Political  leaders,  like  Shaftesbury,  fo- 
mented the  plot  for  partisan  reasons, 
whether  they  credited  it  or  not.  There 
were  undoubtedly  many  persons,  aside  from 
the  Catholics,  who  saw  the  entire  falseness 
of  the  imposture,  but  the  mob  spirit  carried 
them  off  their  feet  or  silenced  them.  Sir 
William  Temple  was  threatened  by  Lord 
Fairfax  for  doubting  the  justice  of  execut- 
ing certain  priests.  "  He  would  tell  every- 
body I  was  a  Papist,  affirming  that  the  plot 
must  be  handled  as  if  it  were  true,  whether 
it  was  so  or  no."  l 

Such  was  this  sanguinary  hoax  which 
for  five  years  imposed  on  the  English  nation, 
dealing  death  to  the  innocent  and  control- 
ling the  politics  of  the  court  and  commons. 
Gates  was  finally  brought  to  justice,  ex- 
posed, and  severely  punished ;  but  he  lived 
long  enough  to  be  pardoned  and  pensioned 
when  William  of  Orange  came  to  the 
throne. 

1  Temple,  vol.  ii.  p.  506. 


THE   "POPISH   PLOT'*  307 

FOX:  An  indelible  disgrace 

"Although,  .  .  .  upon  a  review  of  this 
truly  shocking  transaction,  we  may  be 
fairly  justified  in  imputing  to  the  greater 
part  of  those  concerned  in  it  rather  an 
extraordinary  degree  of  blind  credulity  than 
the  deliberate  wickedness  of  planning  and 
assisting  in  the  perpetration  of  legal  mur- 
ders; yet  the  proceedings  on  the  popish 
plot  must  always  be  considered  as  an  indeli- 
ble disgrace  upon  the  English  nation,  in 
which  king,  parliament,  judges,  witnesses, 
prosecutors  have  all  their  respective,  though 
certainly  not  equal,  shares." 

C.  J.  Fox,  History  of  the  Early  Fart  of  the  Reign 
of  James  II. 

MACAULAY :  The  nation  went  mad 

"The  capital  and  the  whole  nation  went 
mad  with  hatred  and  fear.  The  penal  laws, 
which  had  begun  to  lose  something  of  their 
edge,  were  sharpened  anew.  Everywhere 
justices  were  busied  in  searching  houses 
and  seizing  papers.  All  the  gaols  were 
filled  with  Papists.  London  had  the  aspect 
of  a  city  in  a  state  of  siege.  The  train- 
bands were  under  arms  all  night.  Prepa- 


308  MOOTED    QUESTIONS   OF   HISTORY 

rations  were  made  for  barricading  the  great 
thoroughfares.  Patrols  marched  up  and 
down  the  streets.  Cannons  were  planted 
round  Whitehall.  No  citizen  thought  him- 
self safe  unless  he  carried  under  his  coat  a 
small  flail  loaded  with  lead  to  brain  the 
Popish  assassins." 

Lord  Macaulay,  History  of  England,  vol.  i.  ch.  ii. 

GOLD  WIN  SMITH:  The  infamy  of  Oates 

"  Of  all  vile  informers  in  the  pillory  of 
history,  the  highest  stand  Titus  Oates  and 
Bedloe,  men  of  infamous  characters  and 
lives,  who  with  stories  of  Catholic  plots  for 
the  assassination  of  the  king,  the  invasion 
of  the  kingdom,  and  the  massacre  of  all 
Protestants,  —  monstrous  as  a  maniac's 
dream,  —  swore  away  the  lives  of  a  long 
train  of  Roman  Catholics,  ending  with 
the  aged  Lord  Stafford  and  the  blameless 
Archbishop  Plunkett." 

Goldwin  Smith,  United  Kingdom,  vol.  vi.  p.  42. 


XXVI 
THE  LORD  GORDON  RIOTS 

Bigotry  has  no  head  and  cannot  think,  no 
heart  and  cannot  feel.  When  she  moves  it  is  in 
wrath,  when  she  pauses  it  is  amidst  ruin ;  her 
prayers  are  curses,  her  God  is  a  de?non,  her 
communion  is  death.  — O'CoNNELL. 

IN  1778  the  British  Parliament  passed, 
without  any  serious  opposition,  a  bill 
relieving  Catholics  from  certain  severe 
disabilities,  under  a  statute  passed  in  the 
reign  of  William  III.  Papists  were  again 
permitted,  by  this  relief  measure,  to  inherit 
lands  and  to  sustain  schools  of  their  own. 
Immediately  bigotry  took  offence.  Prot- 
estant Associations  were  formed  throughout 
England  and  Scotland  to  repeal  the  Catholic 
relief  measure  and  to  rivet  the  shackles. 
Lord  George  Gordon  was  president  of  these 
associations.  Parliament  paying  little  at- 
tention to  their  petitions,  the  Protestant 


310     MOOTED  QUESTIONS  OF  HISTORY 

Associations  were  ordered  by  Gordon  to 
come  in  a  great  body  and  present  their 
petition  en  masse. 

Out  of  their  assemblage  developed  a  nu- 
merous London  mob  (June,  1780),  which, 
inflamed  by  fanatics  and  inspired  by  the 
pillage  of  liquor  stores,  started  to  purge 
London  of  the  Papists.  For  several  days 
the  mobs  had  the  metropolis  of  England 
more  or  less  in  their  power.  The  prisons 
were  opened,  and  the  thief,  the  robber,  and 
the  incendiary  came  out  to  aid  the  cause. 
At  one  time  thirty-six  fires  were  raging 
within  the  city  limits.  Houses  were  looted 
and  property  was  destroyed.1 

The  riots  were  finally  put  down  by  call- 
ing in  the  military  forces,  but  not  until  five 


1  Edmund  Burke  describes  the  mob  as  made  up  of 
dissolute  and  unruly  people.  He  himself  was  the  object 
of  attack  because  he  had  favored  the  law  relieving 
Catholics  of  their  disabilities.  The  leaders  of  the  mob 
called  him  a  Jesuit  in  disguise  and  nicknamed  him 
"Neddy  St.  Omers."  The  residence  of  Lord  Mansfield 
was  destroyed,  and  the  looting  of  Landale's  distillery 
furnished  the  mob  abundantly  with  liquor.  It  was  ne- 
cessary for  people  to  chalk  "  No  Popery  "  on  their  houses 
to  save  themselves  from  attack.  Even  the  Jews  put  up 
signs  on  their  homes,  such  as  "  This  is  the  House  of  a 
True  Protestant ! " 


THE   LORD    GORDON  RIOTS       311 

hundred  persons  were  killed  and  many  mil- 
lions of  property  destroyed.  Lord  Gordon 
went  free  of  punishment,  owing  to  the  skil- 
ful defence  of  Erskine.  His  erratic  career 
was  closed  with  his  conversion  to  Judaism 
in  1793,  just  prior  to  his  death  in  Newgate 
prison. 

LECKY  :  Gordon  and  his  movement 

"The  worst  part  of  the  persecution  of 
Catholics  was  based  upon  a  law  of  William 
III.,  and  in  1778  Sir  George  Savile  intro- 
duced a  bill  to  repeal  those  portions  of  this 
Act  which  related  to  the  apprehending  of 
Popish  bishops,  priests,  and  Jesuits,  which 
subjected  these  and  also  Papists  keeping  a 
school  to  perpetual  imprisonment,  and 
which  disabled  all  Papists  from  inheriting 
or  purchasing  land. 

"It  is  an  honorable  fact  that  this  Relief 
Bill  was  carried  without  a  division  in  either 
House,  without  any  serious  opposition  from 
the  bench  and  with  the  concurrence  of 
both  parties  in  the  State.  The  fanatical 
party  had  unfortunately  acquired  an  un- 
scrupulous leader  in  the  person  of  Lord 
George  Gordon,  whose  name  now  attained 


312   MOOTED    QUESTIONS    OF    HISTORY 

a  melancholy  celebrity.  He  was  a  young 
man  of  thirty,  of  very  ordinary  talents,  and 
with  nothing  to  recommend  him  but  his 
connection  with  the  ducal  house  of  Gordon. 
A  Protestant  association  consisting  of  the 
worst  agitators  and  fanatics  was  formed, 
and  at  a  great  meeting  held  on  May  29, 
1780,  and  presided  over  by  Lord  George 
Gordon,  it  was  determined  that  twenty 
thousand  men  should  march  in  the  Parlia- 
ment House  to  present  a  petition  for  the 
repeal  of  the  Relief  Act." 

W.  E.  H.  Lecky,  History  of  England  in  the  Eigh- 
teenth Century,  vol.  iii.  ch.  xiii. 

GOLD  WIN  SMITH:  "  A  Protestant  maniac  » 

"  A  great  anti-Catholic  association  was 
formed  under  Lord  George  Gordon,  a  Prot- 
estant maniac  who  ended  by  turning  Jew. 
For  three  days  the  great  city  was  in  the 
hands  of  an  infuriated  and  intoxicated 
rabble,  which  revelled  in  destruction,  arson, 
and  every  kind  of  outrage." 

Goldwin  Smith,  The  United  Kingdom,  vol.  ii. 
p.  230. 


XXVII 
MAEYLAND  LED   THE  WAY 

Such  was  the  commonwealth  founded  by 
a  Catholic  upon  the  broad  moral  law  I  have 
here  laid  down  —  that  faith  is  an  act  of  the 
will,  and  that  to  force  men  to  profess  what 
they  do  not  believe  is  contrary  to  the  law  of 
God,  and  to  generate  faith  by  force  is  mor- 
ally impossible.  —  CARDINAL  MANNING. 

IN  the  last  and  revised  edition  of  Ban- 
croft's History  of  the  United  States, 
that  sweeping  credit  which  he  gave 
to  Lord  Baltimore  and  the  Catholic  colonists 
of  Maryland,  as   the  first  to  establish  reli- 
gious toleration  and  freedom  of  conscience 
on    this   continent,   is    considerably  toned 
down. 

Bancroft  seems  to  have  been  more  or  less 
influenced  by  the  researches  and  arguments 
of  a  school  of  historical  writers  who  rather 
resented  the  disposition  of  Catholic  wri- 
ters to  plume  themselves  on  the  Maryland 


314     MOOTED  QUESTIONS  OF  HISTORY 

instance.  The  controversy  has  continued 
since  Bancroft's  death ;  and  there  are  now 
more  materials  available  upon  which  to  base 
a  fair  conclusion. 

Maryland  was  settled  in  1634 ;  Rhode 
Island  was  settled  in  1636,  —  the  former 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Catholic  Lord 
Baltimore,  the  latter  under  the  auspices  of 
the  expelled  Salem  preacher,  Roger  Wil- 
liams. The  Calverts  (who  founded  the 
Maryland  colony)  as  well  as  Williams  pro- 
ceeded in  their  new  enterprises  on  a  plan 
of  toleration ;  Williams' s  plan  being  some- 
what more  indefinite  though  broader  in  the- 
ory than  that  of  the  Maryland  proprietor, 
but  the  Maryland  experiment  having  the 
merit  of  being  a  practical  exhibition  of  tol- 
eration from  the  outset. 

In  both  colonies  a  condition  of  religious 
freedom  existed  from  the  first  settlement. 
Bancroft  says  in  his  last  edition  (vol.  i.  p. 
162),  in  speaking  of  the  Maryland  colony : 
"  Toleration  grew  up  in  the  colony  silently, 
as  a  custom  of  the  land."  Of  course, 
as  a  matter  of  chronology,  Maryland  being 
settled  A.  D.  1634  and  Rhode  Island  A.  D. 


MARYLAND   LED   THE   WAY       315 

1636,  the  credit  of  being  the  first  colony 
to  establish  religious  freedom  belongs  to 
Maryland. 

To  Maryland  also  belongs  the  credit  for 
the  first  duly  enacted  law  of  toleration 
(April  21,  1649). 

Both  colonies  had  earlier  declarations  on 
the  subject,  but  these  declarations  and 
directions  were  without  the  sanction  of 
direct  legislation. 

Thus  in  1633  (according  to  the  "Gal- 
vert  Papers  "),  Lord  Baltimore,  in  the  first 
article  of  his  instructions  to  his  Lieuten- 
ant-Go vernor,  Leonard  Calvert,  and  com- 
missioners, directed  that  "no  scandal  or 
offence  be  given  to  any  of  the  Protes- 
tants" who  were  among  the  colonists, — 
that  they  "treat  the  Protestants  with  as 
much  mildness  and  favor  as  justice  will 
permit."  (Browne's  George  and  Cecilius 
Calvert,  pp.  46-47,  27  Maryland  Hist.  Soci- 
ety, 32.)  In  1638  a  Catholic  was  fined 
for  speaking  disrespectfully  of  Protestants. 
"Thus  .  .  .",  says  Brown  (History  of  a  Pala- 
tinate, p.  70),  "the  principle  of  toleration 
was  enforced  and  placed  on  record."  In 
1639  the  second  assemblage  of  the  Colonial 


316    MOOTED   QUESTIONS   OF   HISTORY 

lawmakers  of  Maryland  "conferred  to  all 
Christian  inhabitants  of  Maryland  all  liber- 
ties which  an  Englishman  enjoyed  at  home" 
(Bancroft,  vol.  i.  p.  164) ;  and  in  1640  an- 
other enactment  was  "practically  inter- 
preted as  in  harmony  with  that  toleration 
of  all  believers  in  the  divinity  of  Jesus 
Christ  which  was  the  recognized  usage 
of  the  land "  (Bancroft,  vol.  i.  p.  165). 
(These  citations  are  from  the  last  edition 
of  Bancroft's  History.) 

The  compact  drawn  by  Roger  Williams 
in  1636  impliedly  rules  out  any  legislation 
on  matters  of  conscience  by  declaring  that 
the  settlers  bind  themselves  to  submit  to 
all  orders  of  the  governing  body  "  only  in 
civil  things."  In  1640  there  were  declara- 
tions by  the  town  of  Newport  that  "  none 
be  accounted  a  delinquent  for  Doctrine/' 
and  in  1641  that  "  liberty  of  conscience 
in  point  of  Doctrine  is  perpetuated." 
These  were  declarations  of  principles,  but 
of  course  not  specific  enactments. 

The  charter  of  1643  was  silent  on  the 
subject  of  religious  freedom.  It  was  not 
until  the  charter  of  1663  was  granted  that 
the  usage  of  toleration  in  Rhode  Island  was 


MARYLAND    LED    THE    WAY       317 

clearly  and  openly  intrenched  in  the  law. 
The  charter  declared  that "  no  person  should 
be  molested  or  disqualified  or  called  into 
question  for  any  difference  of  opinion  in 
matters  of  religion." 

How  Rhode  Island's  toleration  would 
have  stood  the  test  if  it  covered  a  condition 
of  affairs  which  found  Catholics  and  Prot- 
estants dwelling  side  by  side  (as  in  Mary- 
land), is  purely  a  matter  of  conjecture.1  Up 
to  1680,  according  to  Governor  Sanford, 
no  Catholics  had  settled  in  Rhode  Island 
(Chalmers'  Political  Annals,  p.  284) ;  but  in 
the  year  1719  a  law  was  enacted  (with 
very  little  danger  visible,  in  justification) 
excluding  Catholics  from  all  political  rights 
in  Rhode  Island. 

"  To  Jews  who  had  inquired  if  they  could 

1  The  mere  profession  of  a  belief  in  "  liberty  of  con- 
science "  did  not  in  those  days  mean  what  it  does  in  our 
days.  It  meant  just  what  it  might  be  interpreted  to 
mean.  Thus,  Cromwell  during  his  Irish  campaign,  in 
negotiating  for  the  surrender  of  an  Irish  fortress,  wrote 
the  Governor  of  Ross  to  say  that  he  "  would  not  meddle 
with  any  man's  conscience,"  but  added,  "  If  by  liberty  of 
conscience  you  mean  a  liberty  to  exercise  the  Mass  [the 
Catholic  form  of  worship],  I  judge  it  best  to  use  plain 
dealing  and  to  tell  you  now  that  where  the  Parliament  of 
England  have  power,  that  will  not  be  allowed  of." 


318     MOOTED  QUESTIONS  OF  HISTORY 

find  a  home  in  Rhode  Island,  the  assembly 
of  1684  made  answer :  '  We  declare  that 
they  may  expect  as  good  protection  here  as 
any  stranger  not  being  of  our  nation,  re- 
siding among  us,  ought  to  have/  '  (Ban- 
croft, vol.  i.  p.  365.) 

This  was  offering  the  Jews  hardly  any 
better  status  than  that  of  the  Indians,  and 
one  capable  of  any  sort  of  interpretation. 

The  Maryland  experiment  in  religious 
toleration  was  a  practical  one,  from  the  out- 
set, in  that  Catholics  and  Protestants  were 
settled  side  by  side,  and  also  in  that  the 
invitation  to  Protestant  settlers  was  express 
and  cordial.  There  is  testimony  to  the 
effect  that  a  majority  of  the  first  colonists 
(counting  the  servants)  were  Protestants. 
Johnson,  in  "  The  Foundation  of  Maryland" 
(p.  32),  says  of  the  first  colonists  of  Mary- 
land :  "  128  out  of  220  were  Protestants." 
The  freeholders,  or  freemen,  however,  were 
mostly  Catholics,  and  under  the  Charter 
only  the  freemen  exercised  political  rights. 
Browne,  in  his  "  History  of  a  Palatinate  " 
(p.  70),  concludes  that  down  to  1642  there 
was  no  Protestant  church  nor  Protestant 


MARYLAND    LED    THE    WAY       319 

minister  in  the  Maryland  colony.  Father 
White's  Relation  (p.  25)  informs  us  that  in 
1638  many  of  the  Protestant  settlers  had 
become  converts. 

Governor  Sharpe's  MS.  letter  book,  under 
date  of  Dec.  15,  1758,  states  that  "  a  ma- 
jority of  the  inhabitants  were  confirmed 
Papists  till  the  revolution  [of  1688]." 

Be  this  as  it  may,  there  is  no  doubt 
that  the  inspiring  influence  for  religious 
freedom  in  Maryland  proceeded  from  Lord 
Baltimore  and  his  Catholic  heirs  and  suc- 
cessors in  the  proprietary  government,  and 
that  the  controlling  power  under  which  reli- 
gious toleration  was  fostered  lay  in  the  Cath- 
olic majority  of  the  first  local  assemblages. 
From  the  very  outset  the  Protestants  were 
not  merely  free  to  exercise  their  religion, 
but  the  freemen  among  them  participated 
equally  with  the  Catholic  freemen  in  the 
offices  of  the  colony.  Captain  Thomas 
Cornwaleys,  a  Protestant,  was  one  of  the 
most  important  figures  from  the  first  years 
of  the  colony.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Council,  and  later  commander  of  the  forces 
and  Assistant  Governor.  Thus  we  have  in 
the  Maryland  colony  a  status,  not  merely  of 


320     MOOTED  QUESTIONS  OF  HISTORY 

toleration,  but  something  very  much  resem- 
bling religious  equality.  Lord  Baltimore,  in 
appointing  a  Protestant  governor  in  1648, 
prescribed  an  oath  containing  the  following 
significant  paragraph: 

"  Nor  will  I  make  any  differences  of  per- 
sons in  conferring  offices,  rewards,  or  favors 
proceeding  from  the  authority  which  his 
said  lordship  has  conferred  upon  me,  as  his 
lieutenant  here,  for  or  in  respect  of  their 
said  religion  respectively,  but  merely  as  I 
shall  find  them  faithful  and  well  deserv- 
ing of  his  said  lordship  and  to  the  best  of 
my  understanding  endowed  with  moral  vir- 
tues and  abilities  fitting  for  such  rewards, 
offices,  or  favors." 

The  famous  Act  of  Toleration  of  1649 
was  drafted  by  Lord  Baltimore  himself,  and 
approved  by  the  Colonial  Assembly  without 
any  alteration.  This  law,  although  not  com- 
paring with  our  present  status  of  religious 
equality,  was  far  in  advance  of  the  political 
ethics  of  the  day.  Its  leading  provision 
was  as  follows : 

"  Be  it  therefore  also  by  the  lord  pro- 
prietary, with  the  advice  and  assent  of  this 
assembly,  ordained  and  enacted,  except  as  in 


MARYLAND   LED    THE   WAY       321 

this  present  case  is  before  declared  and  set 
forth,  that  no  person  or  persons  whatsoever 
within  this  province  of  the  islands,  ports, 
harbors,  creeks  or  havens  thereunto  belong- 
ing, professing  to  believe  in  Jesu  Christ 
shall  from  henceforth  be  any  wise  troubled, 
molested  or  discountenanced  for  or  in  his 
or  her  religion,  nor  in  the  free  exercise 
thereof  within  this  province  or  the  islands 
thereunto  belonging,  nor  any  way  compelled 
to  beleefe  or  exercise  of  any  other  religion 
against  his  or  her  consent."  (See  Bacon's 
Laws  of  Mary]and,  1649,  vol.  i. ;  McMahon's 
History  of  Maryland,  p.  226  ;  Bozman's  His- 
tory of  Maryland,  vol.  ii.  p.  335,  and 
McSherry's  History  of  Maryland,  p.  65, 
"  Proceedings  and  Acts  of  Assembly ; " 
Maryland  Historical  Society  Publications, 
1883,  pp.  244-247 ;  Scharf 's  History,  vol. 
i.  pp.  174-177.) 

1  After  the  severe  penal  codes  of  the  times  the  Mary- 
land Act  also  enacts  punishment  of  death  against  any 
one  who  should  blaspheme  or  curse  God  or  deny  Christ 
or  the  Trinity.  By  the  law  of  Scotland  blasphemy  was 
punishable  by  death.  Any  one  convicted  for  the  third 
time  of  reasoning  against  the  persons  of  the  Trinity 
was  doomed  to  death  by  a  statute  passed  in  the  reign 
of  William  III.  (1695,  ch.  ii.). 

21 


322     MOOTED  QUESTIONS  OF  HISTORY 

The  comments  of  two  leading  American 
jurists  on  this  subject  are  here  subjoined; 
subsequent  research  has  not  materially  im- 
paired the  justice  of  their  observation. 

Mr.  Justice  Story,  in  his  "  Commentaries 
on  the  Constitution,"  said :  "  It  is  certainly 
very  honorable  to  the  liberality  and  public 
spirit  of  the  proprietary  that  he  should 
have  introduced  into  his  fundamental  policy 
the  doctrine  of  general  toleration  and  equal- 
ity among  Christian  sects  (for  he  does  not 
appear  to  have  gone  further),  and  have  thus 
given  the  earliest  example  of  a  legislator 
inviting  his  subjects  to  the  free  indulgence  of 
religious  opinion.  This  was  anterior  to  the 
settlement  of  Ehode  Island,  and  therefore 
merits  the  enviable  rank  of  being  the  first 
recognition  among  the  colonists  of  the  glo- 
rious and  indefeasible  rights  of  conscience." 

Kent,  in  his  "  Commentary  on  American 
Law,"  says :  "  This  legislative  act  of  Mary- 
land, in  favor  of  religious  toleration,  was 
prior  in  time  to  any  in  America,  if  not  in 
any  country  "(vol.  ii.  part  iv.  sec.  24,  p.  36). 
And  further :  "  The  charter  of  Rhode  Island 
of  1663  established  a  freedom  of  religious 
opinion  and  worship  with  extraordinary  lib- 


MARYLAND    LED    THE    WAY       323 

erality  for  that  early  period  of  New  Eng- 
land history." 

BKOWNE :  Maryland  first 

"  While  as  yet  there  was  no  spot  in  Chris- 
tendom where  religious  beliefs  were  free 
and  when  even  the  Commons  of  England 
had  declared  against  tolerations,  he  [Balti- 
more] founded  a  community  wherein  no 
man  was  to  be  molested  for  his  faith." 

W.  H.  Browne  (Librarian  of  Johns  Hopkins 
University),  History  of  a  Palatinate :  Maryland, 
ch.  iii.  p.  45. 

LODGE :  Toleration  from  the  outset 

"  Yet  there  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  fact 
of  religious  toleration  in  Maryland  at  the 
very  outset,  and  there  were  two  very  good 
reasons  for  its  existence.  The  all-powerful 
Lord  Proprietary  and  the  principal  men  in 
Maryland  were  Catholics,  and  Catholicism 
was  oppressed  and  hated  in  England.  To 
oppress  Catholics  would  have  been  great 
folly  on  the  part  of  Protestant  colonists,  and 
to  oppress  Protestants  would  have  been 
ruin  to  the  proprietary." 

Lodge,  History  of  the  English  Colonies  in  Amer- 
ica, New  York,  1882,  p.  97. 


324     MOOTED  QUESTIONS  OF  HISTORY 

FISKE:    Lord  Baltimore  himself   drew  the 
Act  of  Toleration 

"  This  famous  statute,  commonly  known 
as  the  '  Toleration  Act/  was  drawn  up  by 
Cecilius  [Lord  Baltimore]  himself,  and 
passed  the  assembly  exactly  as  it  came 
from  him  without  amendment." 

John  Fiske,  Old  Virginia  and  her  Neighbors,  vol. 
i.  p.  309. 

FISKE :  A  liberal  act  for  the  age 

"  Nevertheless  for  the  age  in  which  it 
was  enacted  this  statute  was  eminently 
liberal,  and  it  certainly  reflects  great  credit 
on  Lord  Baltimore.  .  .  .  Such  a  policy  as 
was  announced  in  this  memorable  Tolera- 
tion Act  was  not  easy  to  realize  in  the 
seventeenth  century." 

John  Fiske,  Old  Virginia,  vol.  i.  p.  811. 

JOHNSON :  Toleration  in  Maryland 

"  From  1634  until  1689  no  man  was 
ever  molested  in  Maryland  on  account  of 
his  religious  opinions,  except  in  the  short 
intervals  of  Ingle's  occupation,  the  sway  of 
the  Protector's  Commissioners,  and  Fendall'j 
brief  usurpation." 

Johnson,  The  Foundation  of  Maryland,  p.  156. 


MARYLAND   LED   THE   WAY       325 

BROWNE:  Religion  of  the  first   settlers  of 
Maryland 

"It  seems  probable  that  most  of  the 
6  gentlemen  adventurers/  as  they  were  called, 
were  Catholics,  and  most  of  the  laborers  and 
servants,  Protestants. " 

Browne,  Hist,  of  a  Palatinate :  Maryland,  p.  22. 

JOHNSON  :  Conclusions  of  fact 

"First:  That  Lord  Baltimore  did  not 
undertake  the  management  and  develop- 
ment of  this  Province  '  without  any  special 
sense  of  responsibility  to  the  community/ 
and  'that  religious  toleration  in  Maryland 
must  be  not  attributed  solely  to  the  very 
commonplace  motive  of  self-interest/ 

"  Second :  That  the  Act  concerning  reli- 
gion was  not  the  '  echo  '  of  any  British 
order,  or  ordinance  of  the  Long  Parliament, 
securing  or  declaring  Religious  Toleration, 
because  the  Puritans  in  England  always, 
and  on  every  occasion,  when  in  power,  per- 
secuted all  who  differed  with  them  in 
opinion,  nor  was  it  the  work  of  the  Protes- 
tant majority  in  the  Province,  because 
whenever  they  obtained  control  of  the 
Government,  they  immediately  followed  the 


326    MOOTED  QUESTIONS  OF  HISTORY 

example  of  their  fellows  at  home  in  perse- 
cuting all  others,  as  in  1645  under  Ingle, 
in  1654  under  Cromwell's  Commissioners, 
and  in  1659  under  Fendall,  the  renegade 
Governor  of  Baltimore."  (p.  157.) 

"  Cecil  Calvert  died  on  Nov.  30,  1675, 
and  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Charles,  who 
retained  the  control  of  the  Province  until  it 
was  wrested  from  him  by  the  Revolution  of 
the  Protestant  Association  in  1689.  The 
life  of  Cecil  was  spent  in  struggles  to  found 
and  maintain  the  institutions  of  liberty  in 
Maryland.  From  June  20,  1632,  until  his 
death,  more  than  forty- three  years,  he  had 
passed  through  the  most  eventful  epoch  of 
English  history.  He  saw  Parliamentary 
institutions  overthrown,  and  the  whole 
power  of  government  usurped  by  the  king. 
He  saw  the  monarchy  destroyed,  and  all 
governmental  functions  absorbed  by  the 
Parliament.  He  witnessed  the  expulsion  of 
the  Parliament  again,  and  liberty  and  law 
prostrate  under  the  dominion  of  the  sword, 
and  then  he  lived  to  see  the  ancient  balance 
of  the  Constitution  restored,  with  Kings, 
Lords,  and  Commons  re-established,  after  an 
interregnum  of  nearly  twenty  years,  and 


MARYLAND  LED  THE  WAY       327 

right  and  justice  once  again  trampled  upon, 
in  the  frenzy  of  a  political  and  religious  re- 
action. Under  all  these  extraordinary  con- 
vulsions of  society,  and  revolutions  of 
government,  he  succeeded  in  planting  and 
preserving  in  Maryland  the  rights  of  legis- 
lation by  the  freemen,  of  Habeas  Corpus,  of 
Trial  by  Jury,  of  Parliamentary  taxation,  of 
security  of  Martial  Law,  and  of  Liberty 
of  Conscience."  (pp.  154-155.) 

"  He  [Lord  Baltimore]  therefore  adopted 
and  declared  that  [Liberty  of  Conscience] 
to  be  the  principle  on  which  the  foundations 
of  Maryland  should  be  laid,  and  he  from 
the  first  intended  to  secure  all  those  rights, 
privileges,  and  franchises,  not  alone  to 
Koman  Catholics,  nor  yet  alone  to  English- 
men, but  to  all  Christian  people  of  all  the 
nations  of  all  the  world.  That  in  doing 
this  he  was  supported  by  the  whole  social 
influence  of  the  Roman  Catholics  of  Eng- 
land and  the  power  of  the  Society  of 
Jesus,  who  thereby  sought  to  secure  for 
members  of  their  Church  Religious  Lib- 
erty denied  them  in  England.  From 
the  landing  at  St.  Mary's  on  the  27th 
of  March,  1634,  to  this  day,  Liberty  of  Con- 


328     MOOTED  QUESTIONS  OF  HISTORY 

science  has  been  the  fundamental  institution 
of  Maryland.  Under  it  the  Puritans  settled 
at  Province,  the  Quakers  at  West  River, 
and  the  Presbyterians  on  the  Patuxent." 
(pp.  158-159.) 

Bradley  T.  Johnson,  The  Foundation  of  Mary- 
land and  the  Origin  of  the  Act  concerning  Religion, 
of  April  21,  1649. 


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