YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

DEPOSITED BY THE
LINONIAN AND BROTHERS LIBRARY

PREFACE.

The work, of which the following is a translation,
although published anonymously, is the production of
M. Daunou. This translation has been made from a
copy of the edition published at Paris in 1818 (in two
vols 12mo au Bureau du Censeur Europeen.) M. Du-
pin aine, a member of the Institute, (Acadamie Fran-
gaise) and recently a member of the French ministry,
calls it an historical work of the first order, (ouvrage
historique du premier ordre) and he gives it a place in
his BIBLIOTHEQUE CHOISIE des livres de droit
qu'il est le plus utile d'acquerir et de connaitre. (Ed.
Paris 1832, No. 2972.)
The author composed this work (which he modest
ly calls an essay) under peculiar advantages. The
archives of the Vatican, which had been removed to
Paris, were in his custody, at the time, by order of the
government, (says M. Dupin,) and subject to his in
spection. He appears to have been elaborate in re
search, and judicious in the selection of his authorities.
He is clear and methodical in the arrangement of
facts, philosophical and profound in his views, and
spirited in his composition. His purpose in composing
it was to prove, that the temporal power of the Ro
man pontiffs originated in fraud and usurpation ; that
its influence upon their pastoral ministry has been,
to mar and degrade it; that its continuance is danger
ous to the peace and the liberties of Europe ; and that
its constant influence and effects are to retard the ad-

IV PREFACE.
vancement of civilization and knowledge.* Among
the documents upon which he relies, are many which
he says, had never before been published.
In treating the subject, M. Daunou, very naturally
gives prominence to those passages in the history of
the Court of Rome which are particularly connected
with the affairs of his own country. The Liberties
of the Gallican Church, and the quarrels, which have
occurred between the kings of France and the Roman
pontiffs on account of those liberties, are set forth with
considerable detail. In connexion, with this part of
the subject, the author traces — and in some places
with considerable minuteness — the policy and con
duct of the Court of Rome towards other countries,
and the effect of that policy and conduct. It will oc
cur, however, to the reader that in a subject so vast,
the outlines of it only could be compressed within the
compass of so small a volume as this.
But while the temporal power of the popes is thus
treated, their supremacy in things purely spiritual,
and the claims of the Roman Catholic Church to de
termine authoritatively all matters of faith, are not only
fully admitted but positively asserted. The author is
decidedly a Roman Catholic.
This book, it is believed, contains matter of inte
resting and profitable instruction to various classes of
persons. The general student of history Jf he should
find nothing in it absolutely new to him, will have his
recollection refreshed upon a very interesting sub
ject. Those who do not already possess2 the informa
tion, which this book contains, will find it a useful
compendium; and it will furnish them with a conve
nient medium of investigating, with as much minute
ness as they may desire, the history of a power
unique in its character, and depending upon elements
which in no other case have ever been combined: 
of a power which as much deserves a distinct history,
* The author entitles his work "Essai historique sur la puissance
temporelle des papes et sur Tabus qu'ils ont fait de leur ministers
spirituel."

PREFACE. V
and a separate study as any of the merely temporal
kingdoms of the earth, whether its duration or the ex
tent or the kind of its influence be considered.
Much that belongs to the subject of this book, may
be read in Gibbon's history of the Decline and fall of the
Roman Empire. But Gibbon, it is well known, was
an infidel, and his work in many places exhibits evi
dence of the influence of his unhappy bias. Besides,
the subject, as treated by him, is mingled necessarily
with a large mass of matter, not connected with it.
Sismondi, in his history of the fall of the Roman Em
pire, is much more brief than Gibbon, but like him,
he mingles the facts which especially concern the Ro
man Court, with the general history of the period of
which he writes. An interesting and valuable chap
ter concerning the history of the ecclesiastical power,
is contained in Hallam's " View of the state of Eu
rope during the middle ages," but the plan of that
work did not admit of so much expansion as the sub
ject, to be adequately treated, requires. These au
thors also, entertained opinions adverse to the spiri
tual supremacy of the Roman pontiffs. Differing from
them in that particular, as M. Daunou does his con
currence with them in other matters of fact or of opinion
may be deemed a mutual confirmation, and a dis
agreement between them, a reason perhaps for fur
ther investigation.
The Statesman, and those who aspire to become
such, may be desirous to know the history of that
court which is the founder, and has been the princi
pal teacher of European diplomacy. It is well
known, that the Roman pontiffs, in former ages,
claimed to be the rightful distributors of crowns, and
(as the cardinal Commendon said to the emperor
Maximilian) in some sort the nomenclator of princes.
The ability and success, with which the popes, of
former ages, maintained this pretension is in some
measure shown by the titular distinctions of the
crowned heads of Europe at the present day. Even
Protestant England, does not disdain to retain for her
sovereign, the title of " Defender of the faith," con-
A2

VI PREFACE.
ferred by Leo X., upon Henry VIII.; a title, which, if
expounded by the history of its donation, is singularly
at variance with the actual ecclesiastical posture of
that country. At least, these titles evince, sufficient
ly perhaps in the judgment of those who have received
and retained them, the rightful prerogative of Rome
to be the fountain of royal honour : they are also, re
lics of a power and pre-eminence, which certainly are
quite sufficient to account for the influence which that
Court has exercised upon the rules of diplomatic in
tercourse between nations, — as well in respect
to matters of rank, dignity and ceremony as to
subjects of a more substantial and important cha
racter. The sentiments of the author, upon the important
topics of this book, are not unworthy of the attention
of the Roman Catholic citizens of the United States.
For a long period these topics have attracted the
attention of the politicians as well as of the clergy of
France. Several works have been published in that
country, relative to the temporal power of the popes,
among which may be mentioned a small volume, en
titled Origine, progres, et limites de la puissance des
papes etc., (Paris 1821) which possesses very consi
derable merit. The object of it is the same as that
of this. Its author devotes more than half of it to the
illustration of the four articles of-Liberties adopted
by the clergy of France in 1682 and to their defence
against the attacks of the Ultramontain party. He
speaks of these articles, as dear to the French nation.
Many people, he remarks in his preface, hear them
spoken of, who do not know much about them ; and
many ecclesiastics are deficient in information with
respect to them. His work, he says, " may be use
ful, not only to ecclesiastics, who ought to blush at
their need of instruction in that matter, but also to those
public men, who feel the necessity of maintaining the
Catholic religion, and at the same time, make it con
sistent with our liberties." The liberal party in
France (to which both these authors belong,) insist
upon the restoration of the Catholic religion to the

PREFACE- VII
simplicity and moderation of the ancient church, as
a measure which is indispensible to the civil and reli
gious liberties of that country. This simplicity has
been marred they say by the false decretals, the de
cree of Gratian, the decretals of the popes &c. and
the church (than which as it was in the early ages no
society could be more free) has, they affirm, become
an engine of intolerance and even of despotism. This
party is opposed by another, which contends for the
system as it is, notwithstanding the admitted spurious-
ness of the decretals, upon which the most objection
able parts of the system are founded. Their disputes
have given origin to many treatises of great learning
and ability, upon the subjects of the early discipline
of the church — of the liberties of the Gallican Church—
of the pragmatics — of the concordats &c. &c. It is
not an absurd supposition, that causes which, in times
past, have affected injuriously the public and indivi
dual interests of the people of France may, in times
future, affect in like manner the citizens of other
countries. On no other supposition can we, in any
case, with propriety invoke history, as a guide in pre
sent emergencies. That the doctrines of this book,
and the expedients proposed in it, are still accredited
and approved by Catholic Frenchmen, distinguished
for learning and talents, as well as by the popular
voice of that Country, is sufficiently shown by the
testimony of M. Dupin, to the merits of this book and
by the number of editions through which it has passed.
It is impossible, that the Roman Catholic laity of the
United States, should condemn, what the intelligence
and experience of the best minds in France decidedly
approve, or that they should deem that, to be trivial,
which, such men as the advocate general Talon,
M. Dupin, M. Daunou and many others not less distin
guished, have considered of the utmost importance to
the social and political interests of their country.
The author opposes, indeed with great earnestness
what he denominates Ultramontain principles. He
states very clearly what those principles are and de
signates the epoch at which they became in some

Vlll PREFACE.
quarters firmly established. He endeavours to show
that these principles are some of the results of changes
made in the ancient discipline of the church. What
the ancient discipline was and how it has been changed
he shows upon authorities which will not be disputed*
The object of these changes was to make bishopricks
and benefices and their incumbents, dependent upon
the See of Rome, and thereby create a channel, for
the sure transmission of such principles, as the Roman
pontiffs deem conducive to their own interests. The
expedient, he alleges, has been but too successful in
France as it respects the major part of the clergy,
and it has thereby subjected the other estates of the
nation to considerable and at times, very great diffi
culties in maintaining the liberties of their national
church. In ancient times the bishops, as well those of Rome,
as of other Episcopal Sees were elected by the peo
ple, and to such elections was applied, says Mezerai,
the saying Vox populi, Vox Dei. That such was the
custom, in respect to the See of Rome will appear
from the first four chapters of this book. It was un
der Nicholas II., that a rule was made, by which the
election was taken from the clergy, nobility and the
people, and given to the cardinal bishops of Rome
to whom were added afterwards the cardinal presby
ters or priests. The rule thus established was after
wards modified under Alexander II. That such was
the custom in respect to other Episcopal Sees is
affirmed, not only by Mezerai, but by the advocate
general Talon, and the President Henault. (Postea
chs. 9, and 10.) This custom prevailed in England
as well as in France and other countries.
But "the kings" says President Henault, "in found
ing benefices, and in receiving the church into the
State, succeeded to the right of election, which the
faithful originally exercised." This reason obvious
ly does not exist in this country; for here, there can
hardly be said to be any benefices in the modern ca
nonical sense of the word. But if we may so call
them, they are founded by the voluntary contribu
tions of the worshippers, to which sometimes are

PREFACE. IX
added the contributions of others, who must be sup
posed especially to intend their benefit. Here too, no
church is received into the state in the sense of this
expression. Here we have no king " upon whom,"
adopting the expression of Talon, " the subjects re
pose the government of the State, of which the church
is the noblest part." Why then, may not the Roman
Catholics of the United States return to what, the au
thor considers the ancient discipline of the church,
and exercise, as the faithful did in ancient times, the
right of selecting their own spiritual guides?
The only other objection mentioned bypresident He
nault (who sums them all up) is, that " Simony, intrigue
and ignorance prevailed at elections and gave to the
diocesses unworthy pastors. Without inquiring how
far this consideration was properly allowed to ope
rate during the dark ages — (and it was during that
period, the author proves this change of discipline
occurred) — it would not be very respectful to the in
telligence of the American catholic laity to suppose
them deficient in the knowledge requisite to the ex
ercise of a right which was enjoyed by the worship
pers during several of the first centuries of the
church. As to the fear of Simony and intrigue, it
can be founded only upon the supposition of a state
of morals, which, it is to be hoped, may never exist
in this country. Besides the fear of these evils is
proved to be groundless, by the experience of other
denominations, in the United States, and to persist in
witholding from the worshippers of the catholic com
munions, the right of election on the ground that it
is a necessary or proper precaution against abuses of
this nature, may be esteemed an injurious distinction,
as well as a departure from the ancient discipline,
for reasons which cannot be supposed any longer,
and especially in this country, to exist.
One effect of this restoration of the right of elec
tion would be to bring the ecclesiastical organization
of the American Roman Catholic church into more ap-
parentharmony with the other institutions of the coun
try. It would indeed be a false proposition to assert

PREFACE.

that the positive institutions of the apostles ought to
be modified, so as to conform to the ever varying in
stitutions of political states : Yet where it so happens,
that those institutions do closely resemble each other,
it is an additional reason, for abrogating any changes
in the former, which render them dissimilar, either in
respect of their exterior form, or the mode in which
pastors are appointed. The catholic body in the
United States is sufficiently numerous, to supply the
materials for its own organization, and the restora
tion to them of the elective franchise, as it was ex
ercised in the ancient church, would be an effectual
precaution against the mission or authoritative insti
tution of pastors whose principles or qualifications
may not be entirely approved by American Catho
lics, an occurrence which is certainly possible, even
if it should be thought improbable.
Our countrymen (and in this remark the catholic
portion of them are included) have occasionally be
trayed considerable jealousy of the influence of the
appointing power upon their political interests, and
some of the states have gone very far in rendering
certain employments under the general government,
incompatible with state offices. The influence which
the hope of promotion, as well as that of a depen
dant official station, has upon most men, and may
have upon very good men, is thought to be a suffi
cient reason for precautions of this nature. Experi
ence teaches, that influences of this kind are not con
fined to a single channel. They may reach to any
place which confers either distinction, influence, or
even a very moderate and precarious profit. Still,
these facts it is admitted, give rise to considerations
of mere expediency, which ought not by any means,
to over rule that which has been positively instituted
by the authority of the inspired teachers of Christi
anity. Yet, if the author is right in his views of the
primitive discipline of the church, the preventive for
any fears of this nature would be effectually supplied,
by a return to the ancient practice of election and to do
so, far from being either heretical or schismatical

PREFACE. XI
would be but a proper homage to the intelligence of
the American Catholics of the nineteenth century.
It might tend also to elevate the character of the
clergy by supplying motives for the cultivation of
those qualities which would render them more useful
and more acceptable to their flocks. The idea is en
tertained by many citizens, that this nation is ad
vancing more rapidly in improvement than any other
portion of the civilized world. It is supposed, that
the means and influences of melioration in every de
partment of the complex economy of a civilized and
Christian community, if not more abundant in the
United States, at least are here brought to bear upon
their appropriate objects, with fewer impediments to
their useful and immediate effect, than in any other
country. If this be so, every class of persons in the
American communities, must share more largely in
their influence, and of course be benefited by their
effects. Very intelligent persons, who have emigra
ted from different countries in Europe, and have set
tled in the United States, (and among them are some
eminent prelates,) have avowed a strong and very
decided approbation if not preference of the princi
ples of our social systems. If such praise be due to
the institutions of the country, their genial effects
upon the ecclesiastical bodies of the country must
necessarily be very important, and their benefits
could not fail to be applied by the practice of elec
tion. In this respect a return to the ancient disci
pline would be very auspicious.
Many more observations might be made upon this
topic, but they will readily occur to the reader. The
arguments, opinions and suggestions of M. Daunou are
of sufficient importance to be known. If they should
be deemed just, they may lead to an alteration in the
present organic arrangements of the American Catho
lic church. Perhaps they may also induce a declara
tion of liberties by the American prelacy similar to that
of the Gallican clergy in 1682. The American Roman
Catholic laity would, without doubt, unhesitatingly
concur in such an act, and give to it an abundantly

Xll PREFACE.
efficient effect, if the prelacy should need their aid
for such a purpose. Our author considers the de
claration of 1682 one of the noblest monuments of
the liberties of the church with which he is.con-
nected, as well as of his nation. Such an act, if not
necessary now, would be very proper, and may be
important hereafter as a monument of liberties. In
France the declaration of 1682, has been found on
many occasions eminently useful. Had it been made
earlier; in the time of Pepin-le-Bref, for example, or
at any time before the encroachment of the church
upon the civil power, had become inveterate, it might
have prevented many, if not all of the disasterous con
flicts which are narrated in the following pages.
If in any part of the work the author should be
thought to have imparted a stronger emphasis to his
language than is customary in historical narrative, it
will be found that the facts which he details and with
which he connects the historical evidence naturally
suggest impressive reflections. Besides, it would be
easy to select passages from the writings of Bossuet
and Fleury equally strong. At least the author's ec
clesiastical connexions will exonerate him from the
suspicion of intentional injustice.
If a judgment may be formed of the principles of
the American Roman Catholic prelacy by the occa
sional declarations of individual bishops, that body
will not be averse to indoctrinating their flocks in the
principles of this book. Undoubtedly, they would
pronounce it injurious, to represent them as less libe
ral and patriotic than the most liberal and enlightened
of their brethren in France, or even as less liberal
than the most liberal of the learned catholic laity of
that country. To anticipate therefore their opposi
tion to the principles of M. Daunou (or of that nu
merous class of authors to which he belongs) would
be nothing less, in effect, than to impute to them the
ultramontain doctrines which he opposes — doctrines,
the prevalence of which, it is the chief object of his
book to prove, is utterly inconsistent with civil
liberty and with progress in civilization and know-

PREFACE. Xlll
ledge. An imputation so serious, in the absence of
conduct, should not be made in opposition even to
the individual profession of opposite principles.
The protestant readers of this book will meet with
many remarks in which they will not concur: for
example, such as affirm the existence of a right in
the Roman pontiffs to spiritual supremacy, and such
as impute to the reformers and their early and later
followers heresy and schism. But in the author's
chief object they will probably concur; and they
may perhaps receive some instruction from the de-
velopement which he makes of the influence which
the spiritual power may have by means of canonical
appliances upon secular, social, and political in
terests. To expect more, from the learned labours
of an author, who differs from them upon the im
portant dogma, of the pope's supremacy in spiritual
things, would be unreasonable.
In a country where the political institutions repose
upon public opinion, it is vitally important, that all
opinions upon all subjects of interest, should be
formed in the light and under the influence of truth.
" That which it concerns governments and people to
know," the author remarks "is truth; that which harms
them is imposture." Truth always inspires a spirit
of soberness. It never does harm, and it can scarce
ly happen, that any sort of truth can be altogether
useless. Fanaticism is founded on error, or at best
upon a mixture of truth and error. It was with a
view to detect imposture and reveal the truth and
thereby to confer a benefit upon his countrymen, that
the author professes to have written the following
work. He does not write like a novice or like a
mere theorist ; but being full of his subject, and per
ceiving its bearings, and knowing, full well its impor
tance, from the experience of his countrymen he in
culcates lessons which may be read with advantage
even by those who are familiar with the writings of
Pithou or Bossuet.
A few references, chiefly to English and American
writers have been added to those of the author
B

XIV PREFACE,
cited in the margin : also occasionally an expla
natory note for the benefit of the Protestant reader,
and a few other remarks. They are not of sufficient
importance to require a separate designation. The
first two editions of this work were published in one
volume. The third edition was published in 1811 in
two volumes. The second volume contains ]. an
exposition of the principles of the Court of Rome since
the publication of the false decretals and particularly
since Gregory VII. 2. An exposition of the princi
ples of the Gallican Church from the time of St. Louis
until the 19th Century. 3. An exposition of the con
duct of Pius VII., who was elected pope on the 14th
March 1800, with some observations upon the effects
which it might produce. The first of these topics
comprises the period to which the first volume relates
and the subject is treated in connexion with the jus
tificatory documents upon which the author relies.
Among these are the Copia donationis Constantini
transcribed from the copy, found by the author,
among the archives of the Vatican, which, he says
does not entirely agree with that contained in the de
cree of Gratian — The letter of Stephen written in the
name of St. Peter to Pepin-le-Bref; of which some ac
count is contained in this volume, and the donation of
Louis-le-Debonnaire. There are several other docu
ments introduced for the same purpose, with which
the author connects his own observations, and those
of Bossuet, Fleury and others in relation to them.
The second of these topics, though instructive to all,
is peculiarly interesting to Frenchmen. The third of
these subjects has been transferred to the end of this
volume and forms the concluding chapter. It is mere
ly a continuation of the subject from the year 1800
to the time of the publication of the third edition.
In the opinion of M. Dupin it is the most important
part of the second volume. One or two other small
portions of the second volume have been transferred
to this and those portions are noted at the proper
place. Also a few notes have been added from the
Origine progres et limites &c, before mentioned.

( xv )

PREFACE
"TO THE FRENCH EDITIONS OF THIS WORK.
(February and May, 1810 and in 1811.)
The Spanish manuscript of which we publish a
translation, was sent to us from Saragossa, where
some Frenchmen discovered it in November, 1809.
We do not give the name of the author, because we
are not sufficiently positive that we know it; and be
ing ignorant of the place in Spain, at which he resides
at present, we do not wish to endanger his tranquilli
ty. The purity of the intentions which dictated this
work, deserve, at least, this caution; and our conjec
tures upon his name, his profession and his title, would
also be so entirely at random that the public can easi
ly forbear a regret for the want of them.
A note at the end of the last chapter, states that it
was completed Febuary 12, 1801. Other indications ;
such as the condition of the manuscript and even of
the work itself, induce us to suspect that the author
composed it with much precipitation. He was in
haste to finish and conceal this sketch, hoping, no
doubt, that more favourable circumstances would one
day, allow him to make it worthy of the regard of
his fellow citizens. After having hesitated upon the
use which we ought to make of such an, essay, we
concluded, that it would be more proper to publish a
literal translation of it, than to use it as the basis of a
more extended work upon the same plan, which per
haps, after all, we could have made only longer.
The translator, to whom we sent the manuscript

XVI PREFACE.
on the 8th December last, frequently suspended his
labour to come and talk to us about certain details,
which lack colour ; certain portions of the narrative
somewhat dry ; and many topics which are suscepti
ble of better development; but permission to perfect
or alter a work which did not belong to him, has been
inexorably refused. We recommended it to him to
be faithful and correct, and, if possible, as expeditious
as the author had been.
One of the most agreeable duties which, as the
editors of a Spanish book, on the temporal power of
the popes, we have to perform, is to bestow the tri
bute of our praise upon the French author of the
Tableau historique de la politique de la cow de Rome
which was published a few weeks since. The suc
cess of this judicious performance, would have de
terred us from our undertaking, if it had not been
already very much advanced. Besides the subject
is sufficiently important to attract the attention of the
public a second time; particularly, as one object is to
show, that in Spain and in France, the same re
searches have come to the same results.
Two thirds of the notes which the reader will find
at the bottom of the pages, belong to the Spanish
writer. The translator desired to add some, omit
some and modify some others, and we were unwilling
to deprive him of so slight a gratification. It is al
ways difficult to confine a translator to the pure and
simple function of an interpreter. He has, therefore,
suppressed the citations which he could not verify, —
being derived from books not common in France ; and
he has supplied their place by referring to sources
more accessible to most of our readers. He has
consented, though reluctantly, not to distinguish by
any particular mark, his own notes from those of the
author: — a trifling matter which, after all, would
have been of no importance, except to the transla
tor. By way of compensation for this loss, he has
drawn up a chronological table of the popes which,
in his opinion, will throw some light upon certain de-

PREFACE. XV11
tails of the work, and which will be found at the
end of the volume.
An Irishman, a very good catholic, who resided
a long time at Rome, and visited the archives of the
Vatican several times, between 1799 and 1809, has
just furnished us with some notes which contribute
to augment this fourth edition, and make it more cor
rect than the preceding.*
* This paragraph was added to the preface in the fourth edition
published in 1818.

B2

( xix )

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

Century J.-*-The kingdom of Christ not a temporal sovereignty. —
Hi3 disciples invested with no temporal authority. — Did not in
terfere in matters of state. — Their early successors pursued the
same course. — State of the church before Constantine. — Churches
permitted to hold landed property. — The donation of Constantine
a forgery. — Its antiquity. — Extracts from it. — Used by the popes
to establish their temporal power. — Its falsehood proved. — No po
litical authority exercised by the popes prior to the time of Char-
lemagne.i-Tbe fall of the Empire of the West. — -Barbarians in
vade Italy. — Sovereignty of the eastern emperors over Rome ac
knowledged by Odoacer and other popes  Lombards enter Italy.
The consent of the emperor dispensed with in the election of
Pope Pelagius II. — The reason of it. — Constans's visit to Rome.
How received by the pope. — Pope Leo II. calls the emperor his
lord. — Pope Constantine's obedience to the emperor. — The pon
tiff 's letter to the Duke of Venice.-fThe first indications of the
temporal power of the popes in the eighth century. — The causes
which led toit.^— The council of Toledo. — The first king deposed
by bishops. — The Greek emperors fond of dogmatical controver
sies. — Tendency of them favourable to the ambition of the popes.
The Iconoclasts. — The Emperor Leo puts himself at their head.
Image worship forbidden by law. — Letters of Pope Gregory II.
to Leo. — Leo's answer. — Revolt against Leo opposed by the pon
tiff. — Misunderstanding between Leo and Gregory. — Leo's re
venge. — Gregory's death. — Is succeeded by Gregory III., who
indirectly excommunicates the emperor. — Republic of the Ro
mans. — Republican Association, &c, terms much in vogue at
this time.— Cautious policy of the pope toward the emperor of
the east. — Design of this policy. — The provinces of Italy neglect
ed by the emperors of the east. — The effect of this neglect. —
Ambition of the popes to appear as the defenders of the people.
Pepin dethrones the Merovingian dynasty in France. — Obtains
absolution from the See of Rome. — -Astolphus and the Lombards.
Pope Stephen II. applies to the emperor for aid against them. —
Manner of address. — Emperor's reply. — The pontiff applies to
Pepin. — Pepin enters Italy. — Astolphus yields to his terms. — Pe
pin returns to France. — TThe pope's letter to Pepin written in the

XX CONTENTS.
name of St. Peter.— No mention made of the donation of Con
stantine, nor of Pepin.— Questions relative to Pepin's donation.™
Mode of answering. — Gradual prevalence of the power of the
popes. — Charlemagne enriches the Roman See — Renews the do
nation of Pepin. — Absence of testimonyJ- Venice acknowledges
the Greek emperors. — Benevento cedetrto the pope. — Difficulty
not solved  Charlemagne conquers the Lombards. — Receives the
homage of the pontiff. — Is in no hurry to invest him with tem
poral power. — Pope complains of delay — Medals of Charle
magne. — Created patrician of the Romans. — Leo III. succeeded
Pope Adrian. — Addresses a letter of homage to Charlemagne. —
Monument of the Greek emperors' supremacy over the Romans.
Charles proclaimed emperor. — The part taken by the pope in his
promotion  The termination of the authority of the eastern
emperor over Rome. — Charlemagne's apology, — Styles himself
the head of the Roman empire. — Stephen IV. succeeds Leo. —
Romans take the oath of fealty to Louis.-JPDonation from Louis
claimed by the pope^-Claim examined. — Opinion of Fleury 
Review of the chapter. - - - Page 1

CHAPTER II.
Century iX-rGifts to the church when disallowed by Charle.
magne^ — Paschal succeeds Stephen IV. — Installed without ask
ing the prince's consent. — Apologizes for so doing. — Remarks of
ecclesiastical historians respecting the power of the pope  Offi
cers of Lothaire put to death in the palace of the Lateran. — Sus
picions against the pope. — Attempts to remove them. — Murder
ers not delivered — Eugene II. dispenses with the confirmation
of the emperor. — Emperor complains.-APublishes a new consti
tution of nine articles.— The oath taken by the Romans!— Gre
gory III. requests the emperor to confirm his election. — Imperial
dignity humbled during his pontificate. — Louis calls a council
to decide in the case of his son's rebellion. — The policy of the
council — The emperor deserted by his troops. — Surrenders to
his sons. — Dethroned by the advice of the pope. — Degradation
of Louis. — Absolved and restored by the Pope. — Biography of
St. Dennis. — The King of Bavaria and Charles the Bald unite
against Lothaire, and apply to an assembly of bishops at Aix-la-
chapelle. — Their promise to the bishops. — The bishops' decision
Sergius II. succeeds Gregory without consulting the emperor 
Becomes alarmed at the dissatisfaction of the emperor, and sub
mits.— The emperor confirms his election— Leo IV. consecrated
without consulting the emperor. — His excuse. — Nicholas I. elect
ed pope. — Conduct of the emperor on the occasion  Improved
by the pope to his own advantage. — Venilon, archbishop of Sens
pronounces the deposition of the king of France.— Complaint of
Charles on the occasion.— The examination of Theutberge 

CONTENTS. XXI
Conduct of Nicholas.— His letter to Adventius, bishop of Metz.—
Complains to the king of Germany against Lothaire,— His advice
to Theutberge. — His instructions to the Bulgares. — Desires to
subject Constantinople and depose Photius. — Threatens Michael.
Basile assassinates Michael. — The conduct of Photius. — Photius
driven off. — Adrian II. — Lothaire goes to Rome. — Death of Louis.
John VIII. consecrates Charles the Bald emperor. — Normans in
vade France, — Death of Charles. — John applied to by several
competitors for the emperor's crown. — Three years without an
emperor. — Intrigues. — The pope visits France  His anathemas.
Sergius favours the Saracens. — Athanasius causes his brother's
eyes to be put out. — Conduct of the pope. — Gives the imperial
crown to Charles the Gross". — Death of the pope. — Ten popes in
eighteen years. — John IX. — Council of Ravenna  Decree of the
council. —Reservation of the popes, — Observations of Velly. Page 29

CHAPTER III.
Century X. — Luitprand the historian. — Opinion of Baronius con
cerning the popes.— The See of Rome reckoned among, the tem
poral powers in the tenth century". — Statistical table of Constan
tine Poulhyrogenetes  The tenth century divided into four
periods.fI?Rome begins to recognise her pontiff as her sove-
reign.4*rrivileges of the monks at the abbey of Cluni and the
West-«or Europe— Three patrician females, Theodora and her two
daughters. — Influence and policy of Theodora. — Her death. — Ma-
rozia,'her daughter, governs Rome during the pontificate of her
son, John XI. — Alberic the consul.— His behaviour towards the
popes  Causes of the establishment of the feudal system. — Hen
ry the fowler  The policy of Alberic— Pope John XII.— Otho,
king of Germany. — His promises to the pope. — Unites Italy to
Germany. — Confirms the donation of Constantine, of Charle
magne, and Louis I. — Quarrels with the pope. — Enters Rome. —
His letter to the pope. — The pope's answer. — John deposed. — Leo
VIII. elected. — Two parties.— John restored. — His cruelty. — His
death. — Benedict V. elected by the Romans.— Leo VIII. returns
to Rome.— Benedict submits  Otho's interference.— Rules for the
election of a pope. — Death of Leo and Benedict — John XIII.
elected. — Driven from Rome. — Otho returns to Rome. — His cru-
elty.-His ambition and policy—Convents multiplied.— Origine
of the Guelphs aud Ghibelines — Death of Otho.— Accession of
Hugh Capet to the throne of France.— Creseentius the consul.—
Boniface VIII. the usurper.— John XIV. put to death by Boni
face.— John XV.— Gregory V.— Intrigues of Conscentius.— His
death.— Robert, son of Hugh Capet, marries Bertha.— Obliged to
send her off. — France put under an interdict for the first time.—
Gerbert archbishop of Rheims.— Condemned by John XV.— His

XXII CONTENTS.

speech  Becomes pope under the name of Silvester IL— General
prevalence of ignorance. - - I»ge 54

CHAPTER IV.
Century XL— John the patrician.— Civil magistracy restored.—
Henry II.— Account of him by Baronius. — John XIX. succeeds
Benedict  Driven off by the Romans. — Re-established by Con
rad.  Benedict IX. elected pope at ten years of age — His disso
lute and shameful life.— Driven off by the people.— Succeeded by
Silvester III. — Benedict recalled. — Silvester yields to him. — Celi
bacy of the clergy becomes prevalent. — Stephen IX., at the insti
gation of Hildebrand forbids marriage to the priests. — Nicholas
II  Manner of electing popes changed. — Manner described.—
College of Cardinals founded. — Benefices how disposed of. — Lay
men forbidden to dispose of them. — Investitures, mode of bestow
ing — Changed by Hildebrand. — Death of Nicholas IL— Acces-
sion of Alexander II  Hildebrand made pope under the name
of Gregory VII. — His influence and character. —His twenty-se
ven maxims. — Requires homage from William the Conqueror.—
Reason for this. — Conduct of William.-— Forbids the English to
go to Rome. --Gregory writes to Demetrius, the Russian prince.
His behaviour to the Greek empifror, the king of Poland, of Hun
gary, and Philip I. of France.--7Matilda, countess of Tuscany.—
Her friendship for the pope.— Gives all her property\to the See of
Rome. — Proofs of this. — Its truth called in question! — Henry IV.
cited to appear at Rome. — Not regarded by Henry. — Insurrection
at Rome. — Gregory imprisoned, restored. — Deposed by the em
peror  Disregards the emperor. — Pretends to depose him, and
absolves his subjects from their allegiance  Civil war in Germa
ny. — Henry compelled to come to terms with the pope  Meets
him at Canossa. — Dressed in hair cloth, fasts three days before he
sees the pope. — The interview and sentence. — Rhodolphus nomi
nated emperor.— Henry IV. again excommunicated.— The sen
tence. .-Henry makes war against Rhodolphus, and is victorious,
Marches to Rome.— Takes and pillages the city.  Death of Gre
gory VII.— Succeeded by Victor III, who dies shortly after.— Suc
ceeded by Urban II.— Two popes at the same time, Urban and
Clement HI.— First crusade preached.— The policy of Gregory
VII. in encouraging the crusade.— Peter the hermit.— His success
in France.— The first crusade.— Review of the century. Page 73

CHAPTER V.
Century XII— Philip, king of France, asks absolution from the
pope.— Quarrel between Henry IV. and his son.— Henry retires
to the castle of Ingclheim.— His interview with the archbishops
sent by the Diet.— Their behaviour on the occasion.— Henry shut

CONTENTS. XX111
up in Louvain. — Falls into the hands of his enemies. — His reflec
tions on the influence of the popes  Escapes from prison. — His
misery and death.— Paschal II.— Christian burial refused to ex
communicated persons. — Quarrels and retaliations of Henry V.
and Paschal II. — Henry V. goes to Rome. — Kisses the feet of the
pope. — Paschal arrested and carried off to Sabina. — Signs a trea
ty. — Suffers the cardinals to annul his decrees. — Revokes the
treaty. — Henry V. advances toward Rome. — The pope retires. —
Henry crowned by Bourdin. — Bourdin excommunicated. — Gelasus
II. elected pope. — Obliged to leave Rome. — Gregory VIII. — Ca-
lixtus II. succeeds Gelasus.— Diet at Worms  Its decisions, —
Honorius II. — His quarrels with Rome. — Louis the Fat censured
by the prelates of his kingdom. — Honorius removes the censure.
Guelphs and Ghibelines, history of. — Frangipani, their history. —
Their rivals the descendants of a Jew named Leo. — Anaclet and
Innocent II. consecrated popes at the same time.  Innocent
takes refuge in France. — Victor II. succeeds Anaclet. — Abdicates.
End of the schism. — Conduct of Innocent toward the king of
France. — Lays France under an interdict. — Celestin II. his suc
cessor  Removes the interdict. — Lucius II. — Arnold of Brescia.
Romans attempt to restore their ancient liberty. — Invite Conrad
to come and take the imperial crown. — Lucius II. succeeded by
Eugene III. — Eugene arms the people of Tivoli against the Ro
mans. — Flies to France. — Divorce of Louis VII. — Its conse
quences*-. -Eugene III. approves the decree of Gratian  The de
cree, what. — History of. — Frederick Barbarossa. — Adrian IV.
an Englishman — Congratulated by Henry II. of England. —
John of Salisbury's remarks about the church of Rome.— Wil
liam the Bad makes war against the pope. — Their reconciliation.
First interdict over the Roman churches. — Arnold of Brescia
burnt at Rome  Frederick refuses to hold the pope's stirrup.—
Their quarrel  The pope requests the German bishops to use
their influence with Frederick — Their reply — Frederick pre
pares to enter Italy..— Legates visit him. — The pope's explana
tion  Bishops' acknowledgement to Frederick. — The pope's let
ter. — Frederick's reply. — Pope's death. — Alexander III. his suc
cessor  Four anti-popes. — Their quarrels. — England acknow
ledges Alexander III. — Thomas Becket, — His high handed mea
sures  Alexander's intrigues with the - emperor  Resides at
Anagni. — Returns to Rome. — France threatenedwith an interdict. Page 95

CHAPTER VI.
Century XIII. — InnocentHI. gives plenary power to three crowns. —
Venitians and the crusades. — Philip Augustus of France ordered
by Innocent to take back his wife Ingleburge whom he had re
pudiated. — France put under an interdict. — Philip Augustus
yields to the pope. — The pope interferes in the quarrel between

XXIV CONTENTS.
England and France. — Orders an assembly of bishops &c, to de.
cide on the terms of peace.— The reply of the French king.—
The kings of England.— (John) falls a victim to papal tyranny.—
The crown of England decreed by the pope to the king of'France —
The legate Pandolph John restored. — His oath. — The conduct
of the legate. — Returns to France. — The king of France highly
dissatisfied. — War in Flanders. — Success of the French. — Death
of John. — Innocent's attempts to humble the emperor of the West.—
Frederick II. — Philip of Swabia and Otho of Saxony named em
perors at the same time. — Intrigues of Innocent. — Philip assas-
sinated. — Innocent advocates the cause of Frederick. — Guelphs
and Ghibelines. — Battle of Bouvines. — Fall of Otho. — The cru
sade of 1203. — Quarrels of the crusaders. — Policy of the Pope. —
Preaches crusades to suit his purposes. — Raymond ofToulouse pro
tects the Albigenses. — Excommunicated for it.— Conduct of Ray
mond. — Interference of the pope. — Innocent establishes the in
quisition. — Raynier and Guy the first inquisitors known in history—
St. Dominick. — The Character of Innocent III.- — His death —
The story of St. Lutgarde. — Pope Honorius I II. — Succeeded by Gre
gory IX. — Pomp of his coronation. — Frederick II. forced to en
gage in a crusade. — Excommunicated three times. — Success
against the Sultan. — Returns to Europe. — Difficulties with his
son, with the pope.- — Excommunicated a fourth time. — His sub
jects absolved from their fidelity to him. — Quarrels with the
pope. — The pope writes to Louis IX. of France respecting Fre.
derick. — The reply of Louis. — Disliked by the pope and bishops
of France. — His firmness and decision. — Ecclesiastical code of
Raymond. — Called also the decretals of Gregory, — Sinibald elec
ted pope. — Assumes the name of Innocent IV. — Quarrels with
Frederick. — Flies to Genoa. — Applies to Louis for aid. — Does not
succeed. — Applies to the English with no better success.— The
remarks of tire pope. — Calls a general council at Lyons. —
Frederick deposed. — Remarks of a curate at Paris when announc
ing the anathema. — Louis disapproves of the proceedings of the
pope. — Holds a conference with him. — A second interview be
tween them. — Remarks of Louis. — The inflexibility of the pope. 
Remarks of the Sultan of Egypt  Death of Frederick.-  Suc-
ceededby Conrad. — Interference of the pope. — Preaches a crusade
against the sons of Frederick.— Death of Innocent.— Succeeded by
Alexander IV. — Extorts money from Henry III. of England. 
Establishes the Inquisition in France. — Louis favours its Estab
lishment. — Two mistakes of Louis.— Urban IV. succeeds Alexan
der.— Disturbances at Rome — Urban retires to Orvieto.— Succeed
ed by Clement IV.— Terms of treaty with ChaVles of Anjou.—
The oath of Charles.— Enters Italy  Revives the faction of the
Guelphs.— Hostility of Guelphs and Ghibelines.— Conradin van-
quished'by Charles.— Beheaded at Naples.— Bold decision of Cie-
ment.-|The pragmatic sanction — Summary of it.— IA truth de
nied by the Jesuit Griffet.— Proofs of its aulhenticityJ-Gregory
X. elected pope.— Re-establishment of the empire of the West —
Rodolph of Hapsburg elected emperor.— Martin IV. elected
pope.— His interdicts and excommunications.— Cardinal Caietan
elected pope— Assumes the name of Boniface VIII,— His violent

CONTENTS. XXV
measures. — Quarrel with Philip-le-Bel. — His bulls clericis laicos
and unam sanctam. — Philip's letter to the pope. — The ecclesiasti
cal code of Boniface. — Officials, what. — Their origin.— Legates,
different orders of. — Remarks of Fleury respecting them. — The
power of the popes at its greatest. height. - - Page 120

CHAPTER VII.
Century XIV.— Avignon the residence of the popes. — Observations
on the times. — The Turks take Palestine.— Ottoman their chief
founds the empire that bears his name. — The state of Europe at
this time. — The power and conquests of the Venitians. — The Ge
noese. — Contentions in the north of Italy. — The emperors of the
XlV. century. — Their characters. — The Visconti. — Guelphs and
Ghibelines. — Their contentions. — Germany and France rivals of
the Court of Avignon. — Anathemas no longer formidable. —
Canonical code called the Clementines. — Canon law of the mid
dle ages. — Pontifical Interregnum. — Letter of John XXII. — His
ambition. — Checked by Philip Valois. — J6hn annuls the election
of Louis of Bavaria. — Louis retaliates. — Death of John  His
great wealth. — Decision of the diets of Rensee and Francfort.— t
Bold demand of Clement VI. — Anathema against Louis. — Plague
in Italy. — Clement's expectations from it. — His intrigues. — His .
death  Picture of his morals. — Letter of the archbishop of Milan.
 Rienzi's advancement at Rome. — Subserviency of Charles IV. to
the pope. — Letter of Petrarch. — His opinion of the Court of Avig
non. — Urban VI. elected pope. — ClementVIII. elected soon af
ter. — France, Spain and Scotland acknowledge Clement. — The
rest of Europe Urban. — Boniface IX. succeeds Urban. — Bene
dict XIII. succeeds Clement. — Attempts to heal the division. — ¦
France particularly active. — Obstinacy of the popes.-- France
withdraws from both. — Take advantage of these dissentions to
restrict the power of the popes. — Schemes of Boniface to enrich
them.— General remarks. . Page 154

CHAPTER VIK.
Century XV. — Four Great councils. — Character of John XXIII —
Louis HI. contends for the throne of Naples. — Joanna II. — Ni
cholas V. succeeds Eugene, — His character. — Constantinople
taken.  Annates, what. — State of the Gallican church — Prag
matic sanction published at Paris.— Received with enthusiasm.—
State of Italy.— Calixtus III. preaches a crusade against the
c

XXVI CONTENTS.
Turks at Constantinople.— Succeeded by Pius IL— Eneas Syl
vius condemned by the pope.— Charles VII. adheres to the prag
matic sanction.— Protest of John Dauvct— Louis XI. succeeded
by Charles VII.— Abrogates the pragmatic sanction.— Rejoicing
of Pius. — Two conditions of the abrogation. — Pins- disregards
them. — Urges Louis to war against the Turks. — Pragmatic sanc
tion restored. — The pope's letter to Mahomet II.— Paul II. suc
ceeds Pius II. — Attempts, without success, to engage the Chris
tian against the Turks. — Cardinal Balue. — Cruelty of Paul. —
Platina writes a history of the popes.— Conspiracy of Pazzi. —
Sixtus IV  Montesccco, the assassin. — Death of Julian. — Ex
communication of Lorizo and the Florentines. — Cruelty and in-
trigues of Sixtus. — Character of Alexander VI. — Attempts to
poison prince Zizim. — Casser Borgia, the pope's son. — Carries
a bull to Louis of France. — Zeal of the popes to advance their
children and nephews. — The consequences of this policy. Pajre 173

CHAPTER IX.
Century XVI. — Important events. — The concordat — Conquest of
Egypt. — Establishment of the Jesuits. — Tho council of Trent. —
Accession of Elizabeth. — Luther and Calvin. — Acquisitions of the
French in Italy. — Julius II. attempts to subject Italy to the See
of Rome. — Partial success. — League of Cambray — Intrigues with
Venice, France, and England. — Medals of the pope. — Character
of Julius. — Leo X. patronizes Literature. — Eager to promote
the interests of his family. — Forms an alliance with Francis 1.
against Charles V. — Then with Charles V. against the French. —
His hatred of the French. — His death and character. — Francis I.
succeeds Louis XII. — Interviews between Francis and Leo X. —
The concordat— Its provisions. — Rejected at first by the parlia
ment of France — The exertions of Frr.ncis on its behalf.— Ulti
mately recorded. — Contentions about the bishoprick of Albi. —
Views of Francis end the parliament respecting the concordat. —
Views of the people concerning it. — Adrian VI. succeeds Leo X.
His views of the pope's infallibility. — Succeeded by Clement VII.
The Holy League. — Rome taken by Charles V. — The pepe sur
renders. — Escapes t-j Ovieto. — Is rtcoric'Icd to Charles. — Opposed
to the calling of a council. — Means us-ed to prevent it.— Henry
VIII. divorces his wife, Catherine.- — Is cxcommunic.-.tul by the
pope.— Paul III. convokes the council of Trent. — Favovrs the
Jesuits.— Publishes tho famous bull In cocva Damlt.i. — The re
monstrance of. the cardinals. — Death of Paul. — Julius III. ex
communicates Henry II. king of Frcncc— Henry's firmness. 
Character of Paul IV. — Abdication of Charles V — Succeeded
by his son, Philip II.— Elizabeth advanced to the throne of Eng
land — Paul mistakes her character.— His rudeness to her embas
sador.— His bull.— His death — rius IV. his successor  Termi
nation of the council of Trent  Decree;, of that council.— Opi-

CONTENTS. XXVII
nion f the French concerning it. — Cruelty of Pius V. — Puts
Palearius to death. — Excommunicates Elizabeth, — Joins with
Spain and Venice against the Turks. — Creates Como de Modieis,
Grand Duke of Tuscany. — Cardinal- Commcndon's remarks. —
Catherine de Medicis. — Gregory XIII. raised to the papal chair.
Missachre of St- Bartholomew's day. — Rejoicings on account of
it — Dissentions in France. — Sixtus V. succeeds Gregory. — Sixtus
bestows England to Philip, and excommunicates Elizabeth. —
Excommunicates the King of 'Navarre and the prince of Condi.
Consequences resulting from the course pursued by the pope. —
Henry III. assassinated. — Joy of the pope on the occasion — De
signs of Sixtus towards Philip II. and Elizabeth. — Death of Six
tus. — Ia succeeded by Urban VII. — Gregory XIII. succeeds Ur
ban, and Clement VII. succeeds Gregory. — Designs of Clement
toward Henry. — The. edict of Nantes  Henry assassinated. —
Lljath of Alphonso, Duke of Ferrara — The policy of the pojjes.
Tile sovereigns of Europe during the seventeenth century. — Ec
clesiastical writers. - Page 189

CHAPTER X.
Century XVII. — Causes of the decline of the power of the popes. —
The influence of the reformation. — James I. of England.— Rise
of the whigs and tories in England. — Charles I.— Cromwell the
protector  Restoration.— Indecisive policy of Charles II— James
II.— William, Prince of Orange.— Decline of the influence of the
See of Rome in England.—Causes of it — Independence of Hol
land.— Decline of the papal power in Germany.— Louis XIV.—
Intrigues of Cardinal Richelieu.— Louis XIV.— Revocation of the
edict of "Nantes.— Italy favours the cause of the popes.— Imbecility
of the popes.— Decline of the arts and sciences in Italy.— Quarrel
between the republic of Venice and Paul V — High handed mea
sures of Paul,— Jesuites banished from Venice.— Protest of the
Doge.— Circular letter of the senate.— Paul intrigues with the
courts of Europe against the Vcnitians— Effects of his intrigues.
— ?/Iiriana, Bellarmine, and. Suarez advocate the cause of the
Roman See— Ssrvin, Pasquier, Richer and others oppose them.—
Urban VIII. refuses to Louis XIII. and Louis XIV. the title of
King of Navarre  Scoti, the pope's nuncio, refused an audience
at Paris.— Decline, of the papal power.— Urban declares war
against the Duke of Parma.— Peace restored.— War renewed by
Innocent X  Castro destroyed.— Column erected on its ruins.—
Reflections.— John of Braganza King of Portugal.— Innocent re
fuse; to acknowledge him.— Policy of John.— Innocent gives up
the contest.— Intrigues with the Duke, of Guise.— The duke de
ceived.— Cardinals ordered to reside at Rome.— Interference of
France —Innocent abandons his project.— Treaty of Munster and
Oimbruck.— Innocent issues a bull against -it.— Policy of Ipno-
cent.— Decline of the inEuoneo of the pope during the eighteenth
century— Crc-qui, the French Ambassador, insulted at Rome.—

XXVIII CONTENTS.
Louis XIV. demands satisfaction.— Marches an army towards
Rome.— The pope makes acknowledgments.— Character of Alex.
ander VII.— Hostility of Innocent XI: to Louis XIV.— Quarrels
with him about the regalia. — Four articles of the regalia.— Bos-
suet engaged in this controversy.— The Franchises what.— The
proscription of the Calvinists reconciles the pope and Louis.-.
The bishop's letter to the pope—Talon tho advocate general of
France.— -The influence of his treatise on the authority of kings.
— Extracts from it. - • - - Page 217

CHAPTER XI.
Cenlury XVIII. — State of the papal power at the commencement
of the eighteenth century. — Three causes favourable to its con
tinuation. — Two bulls of Innocent the Vineam Domini and Uni-
genitus. — Clement XI. quarrels with the king of Sicily.— Abo
lishes a tribunal which had stood about 600 years. — Benedict
XIII. recanopizes Hildebrand. — Legend recounting his exploits.
— Opposition to this legend.— Influence of Cardinal Floury.—
The bull unigenilus registered by the parliament of France.—
Amiable character of Benedict XIV. — Narrow-minded policy of
his successor, Clement XIII.— His attachment to the Jesuites—
Attempt to murder the King of Portugal by the Jesuites.— The
Jesuites protected. — Ferdinand, duke of Parma, reforms some
abuses in the church.- Clement opposes these reforms. — France,
Spain, Austria, &c, advocate the cause of the duke. — Death of
Clement.— Judicious policy of his successor, Clement XIV.— Ab
rogation of the bull In caina Domini. — Suppression of the Jesuites,
—Character and policy of the Jesuits  Death of Clement. — Je- i
suits suspected of hastening it — Decline of the power of the pope,
— Pius VI.— Dark and feeble policy of Pius. — Bcrtrand, the French
engineer.--- Survey of the islands of the Rhone— Interference
of the vice-legate. — Death of Pius VI. . Page 24 J

CHAPTER XII.
Iiccapitulation.— Progress of Christianity during the first seven cen
turies.— Temporal power of the pope takes its origin in tire
eighth century.— Progresses gradually.— At first the popes seek
to bo independent.— In the ninth century they begin to menace 
In the tenth they become dissolute and scandalous.— Gregory X.
desires universal supremacy— After the middle of the fifteenth
century the popes attend particularly lo the aggrandizement of
their families.— Political revolutions, &c., which tended greatly
to advance the temporal power of the popes.— The effect of this
power.— The tendency of these effects to its ultimate destruction
—Henry IV. and the edict of Nant.— Effect of this edict  Tole-

CONTENTS. XXIX
ration in matters of religien. — Its effects. — Lesson to be learned
from the earlier history of the church. — Reforms require circum
spection. — Two abuses which deserve particular attention. — The
right of churches to exclude vicious members. — Origin of ana
themas. — How employed by the popes. — Kings and emperors
against whom they were directed. — Anathema disregarded at the
present day. — Cause of this. — Canonical institution. — Talon, the
advocate-general. — Bossuet's account of the origin of bulls. —
Scripture account of bishops. — Remarks of Zosimus. — Requisi
tion of Leo I. respecting bishops. — Decision of Galasius. — De
cision of the council of Toledo. — Prelates first bind themselves
by oaths in the eleventh century. — Another form introduced in
the thirteenth century. — Bishops not always appointed by the
popes. — Instances of this. — Opinion of De Marca on this subject.
Declaration of Father Thomassin relative to the appointment of
bishops in the early history of the church. - Page 252

CHAPTER XIII.

Century XIX. — Pius VII. elected. — Concordat between France and
the pope. — The pope at first pleased, but afterwards dissatisfied
with the concordat. — Objections of the pope to the concordat enu
merated. — The pope eager to have Romagna annexed to the Holy
See, and the principles declared by the clergy in 1682, retracted.
Obtains neither. — His conduct on his return from Paris to Rome.
Ambitious to make churches and rulers dependent on the See of
Rome. — Observations on the organic articles of 1802. — Marriage
a civil act. — Remarks on the subject of marriage. — How far a re
ligious ceremony. — -Eagerness of the pope to recover property in
Germanythat had been given to protestant princes, — Singular de
tails on the subject. — The events of 1805. — Memorable in the his
tory of Pius VII. — He refuses to acknowledge Joseph Bonaparte
as king of the two Sicilies. — Claims it as his own right to bestow
that crown  Cardinal Bayane. visits Paris. — The object of his visit.
Nothing effected by it. — The obstinacy of the court of Rome on
the subject of marriage. — Prevalence of the civil code in the dif
ferent countries of Europe. — Interference of the court of Rome.
Extracts from instructions sent to Poland in 1808. — Opinion of
the Bishop of Warsaw on the subjeet of marriage. — Answer of
the court of Rome  The mode in use prior to 1789. — Protesta
tion of Pius in 1808.— Decree of the 21st November, 1808. —
The pope's bull. — Provisions of the concordat. — Bull of the 10th
June, 1809. — France excluded from the bosom of the church.—
The pope's authority disregarded. — Bull of the 10th June — Not
proclaimed at Rome. — Causes which prevented its proclamation.
The pope leaves Rome. — His reception at Savona  Chapters of
modern establishment. — Cannot be traced beyond the middle ages,
1

XXX CONTENTS.
Warmly advocated by the popes.— A different course pursued by
Pius VIL— The senatus consulte of 1 7 February, 1810.— The
temporal power of the pope humbled. — Effect of the Senatus
consulte. — Placed the popes in their primitive condition. — Dissa-
tisfaction of Pius VII. — Not satisfied with authority over the
churches only. — Anxious to be a temporal prince. — Scheme to
effect his purpose.- — His manoeuvres not apparent at first. — Dis
closed in 1810. — Events which lead to this disclosure.— A re
markable despatch addressed to the pope.— Object of this des
patch. — Forms of brief which it contained — The pope's reception
of it. — His reply to his counsellor  Transcribes the forms of
brief he had received. — Sends them to the canons of Florence,
Asti, ah.d Paris. — Character of these briefs. — Do not mention the
concordat of 1802, nor of 1515  Cites the bulls of Clement VII,,
of Julius II., of Alexander, and a decretal of Boniface, VIII. —
Extravaganies, what  Eagerness of the pope to become univer
sal bishop, and to sustain his pretensions, that his authority
extended to the appointment of vicars in every diocese of
France.— Decretal addressed to the canons of Florence. —
Efforts of the pope's emissaries. — Policy of the court of
Rome from 1800 to 1810. — Was the same with that of Gre
gory VII., Innocent III. and Boniface VIII  Evident from the
opposition to the concordat, the maxims of the Gallican church,
and the articles of 1682. — Proved by the renewal of the anathe
mas against those articles. — By the declaration that the law of
1802 was in direct opposition to the interests of the church. —
By the course pursued relative to property in Germany, ceded to
protestant princes. — By instructions in relation to marriages. —
Arrogant claims of Pius. — Foundation of those claims. — Such
claims not surprising. — Naturally arise from the policy ofthe
Court of Rome. — Will always exist while its power exists. Page 268

A HISTORY

TEMPORAL POWER OF THE POPES.

CHAPTER I.
Origin of the Temporal Power oj the Popes.
Whoever has read the gospel, knows, that Jesus
Christ founded no temporal government, no political
sovereignty. He declared, that his kingdom is not
of this world,* and cautioned his apostles not to con
found the mission he gave them with the power,
which the princes of the earth exercise.f St. Peter
and his colleagues were sent, not to govern, but to
teach _;J and the authority with which they were in
vested consisted only in the light and the benefits
which they had to diffuse. Faithful to observe the
limits of so pure an apostolate, and far from setting
themselves up as rivals of the civil power; they pro
claimed, on the contrary, its independence and its
sacred rights.§ Obedience to sovereigns is one of the
first precepts of their sacred morals. Resistance to
governments, say they, is an offence against God.

* Regnum mevm non est de hoc mundo 
nunc autem regnum meum non est ftinc— John xviii. 36.
t Luke xxii. 25. t Matt, xxviii. 20.
§ Romans, 13.

2 A HISTORY OF THE
The successors of the apostles for a long time ob
served the same language : They admitted no power
but that of Divine Providence, superior to the power
of princes.* They subjected to kings all the ministers
of the altars— Levites, pontiffs, evangelists, and even
prophets-f God alone was the judge of sovereigns im
mediately; and without any interpreter. He alone could
condemn them. The church approached them with
supplications and respectful counsels-! She exercised
empire only by her virtues ;§ and possessed no other
riches or domain than the faith. || These are the very
expressions of the holy fathers, not only during the
first three centuries, but also after Constantine and
even after Charlemagne.
Every one knows, that before Constantino, the
Christian churches were only particular associations,
too often proscribed and always strangers to the poli
tical system. The popes,6!! in those times of persecu-
* Deum esse solum in cujus solius (imperalores) sunt potestate, a
quo sunt secundi, post quern primi ante omnes  Colimus
imperatorem ui hominem a Deo secundum, solo Deo Minorem. Ter-
tull. T Chrysostom comm. upon the Romans.
t Quod rex delinquit, soli Deo reus est. Cassiodor. — Si quis de
nobis, o rex, justitia tramitem transcendere voluerit, d te corrigi
potest : si vera tu excesseris, quis te corripiet, quis te condemnabit,
nisi is qui se pronunciavil esse jvstitiam / Gregor. Turon. ad
Chilpcricum. — Reges non sunt a nobis graviter exasperandi, divino
judicio sunt reservandi. Yvo Carnot. — See also the reflections of
Bossuet upon these different texts of the Bible ; and of the Fathers.
Defens. Cler. Gallic, part 3. lib. v. cap. 13, 18, 26, 31, 32, etc.
(j Pelag. I. Concilior, torn. v. .pag. 803 — Gregor. Magn. op. torn.
ii., pag. 675, 676, 677.
|| Nihil ecclesia sibi nisi Jidem possidet. Ambros. op. torn. ii.
pag. 837.
IT In the early ages of the church, all presbyters and bishops who
were exemplary in their lives and doctrines, were called popes,
(papa?,) as a mark of rospect. Of this there are many examples :
Jerome, in his epistles, calls Augustine, the Bishop of Hippo, pope:
Likewise Athanasius, Epiphanius, Evagrius, Alypius, Chromatius,
Theophihis are called popes by the same author. Martinus, bishop ot
Braga, (Bracara Augusta, the metropolis of ancient Gallicia, now
an archbishopriok of Portugal) is every where called pope by Gra-
tian; and the council of Pope Martin is frequently mentioned by
Gratian. Cyprian is often called pope, in the pontifical law. The
word pope or papa is of Greek origin, (*ttrfrfa?,) and by the an-

TEMPORAL POWER OP THE POPES. 3
tion and of fervour, certainly did not aspire to the
government of provinces. It was enough for them to
have the power of being virtuous with impunity.
They obtained upon earth no crown but that of mar
tyrdom. From the year 321, Constantine permitted the
churches to acquire landed property, and he allowed
individuals to enrich them by legacies. " This, per
haps," says President Henault,* "has given rise to
the supposition of the donation of Constantine." This
donation obtained belief so long, that in 1478, Chris
tians were burnt at Strasburg for having dared to
doubt its authenticity. In the twelfth century, Gra-
tian and Theodore and Balsamon, transcribed it, into
their canonical compilations, and St. Bernard even,
did not think it apocryphal.f It existed before the
tenth century, whatever has been said by critics to
the contrary: for about 776, Pope Adrian made use
of it in an exhortation to Charlemagne : — But in A. D.
755, Stephen II. had occasion to use it, as we shall
soon see; still, as he did.- not use it, nor mention it,
nor in any way refer to it, we must conclude that it
was unknown to him, as well as to all his predecessors.
It was then, after the middle and before the end of
the eighth century, that this instrument must have
been fabricated. The falsity of this piece, according
to FIeury,J is more generally admitted than that of
the decretals of Isidore ; and if the donation of Con
stantine should yet obtain any credit, it would be suf
ficient to transcribe it, in order to show it to be un
worthy of belief. The following are some passages
from it: —
" We ascribe to the see of St. Peter all dignity, —

cients was commonly used to signify father. In common parlance,
it is now, and for centuries has been, applied only to the Bishop of
Rome. Dvarenus De Sac. Ecc. Min. ac Ben., lib. i. cap. 10.
* Abr. Chronol. de l'Histoire de France ami. 753, 754, 755.
t De consider, ad. Eugen., I. iv. c. 4. Dante de monarchia, I. iii.,
proves that this donation could not bind the successors of Constan
tine. He declares it null, but does not contest its authenticity,
X Discours sur VHist. ecclesiast, n. 9.

4 A HISTORY OP THE
all glory— all imperial power  Besides, we give
to Sylvester and his successors, our palace of Lateran,
which is beyond question, the most beautiful palace
on earth, — we give him our crown, our mitre, our
diadem and all our imperial vestments, — we remit to
him the imperial dignity.. We give, as a pure gift, to
the holy pontiff, the city of Rome, and all the western
cities of Italy, as well as the western cities of the
other countries. In order to give place to him, wc
yield our dominion over all these provinces by remo
ving the seat of our empire to Byzantium, considering
that it is not right, that a terrestrial emperor, should
preserve the least power where God hath established
the head of religion."*
The respect due to the reader, forbids remark upon
such gross absurdities ; but we have thought it use
ful to refer to them here, because they give an idea
of the means employed in the eighth century to esta
blish the temporal power of the Popes. They furnish
also, a measure of the ignorance which prevailed dur
ing the following ages, in which this strange conces
sion, revered by people and even by kings, contributed
in fact, to the developement of the political power of
the holy See. It should be said, however, that on
the revival of learning, the first rays of light were
sufficient to dissipate so vain an imposture.
Laurentius Valla,f about the middle of the 15th cen
tury having demonstrated the falsehood of the donation,
the best writers of the sixteenth century, even those
of Italy, treated it with the contempt it deserved.
Ariosto expresses, with energy, the discredit into
which it had fallen, and reckons it among the chi
meras which Astolphus found in the moon.J
* In the second volume the reader will find a copy of this dona
tion. t Gibbon has given some account of the forgery of this donation
of Constantine in the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,
chap. 49. ¦t  or puzza forte;
Questo era il dono (se pero dir lece
Che Costantino al buon Silvestro fece
Orlando Fur, t. 34, st. 80,

TEMPORAL POWER OP THE POPES. 5
Four hundred and sixty three years elapsed from
the death of Constantine (in 337) to the coronation
of Charlemagne (800.) Now, during this period, an
epoch, a year, cannot be designated, in which the
Popes exercised sovereign authority. The first suc
cessors of Constantine reigned, as he did, over Italy,
and at the death of Theodosius, when two empires
arose in the place of one, Rome which was the me
tropolis of the western empire, was still governed im
mediately by an emperor. Then, as all history at
tests, the Popes exercised at Rome only Apostolical
functions. They were not reckoned among the civil
magistrates, although their election (the act of the
people and of the clergy) must needs be confirmed by
the Prince ; and while they claimed for their credit and
the exercise of their gospel ministry, an independance
which they had not always possessed, they gave ho
mage to that of the civil power and challenged none
of its attributes.
The empire of the west crumbles in 476. Augus-
tulus is dethroned ;* the Heruli, the Ostrogoths, and
other barbarians invade and tend Italy- Rome is
governed by Odoacer till 493, by Theodoric till 526,
and byTheodatus, Vitiges, Totila, or by generals of the
emperors of the East during the twenty seven follow
ing years. It is important to observe in this place,
that the sovereignty of these emperors over Italy
and especially over the city of Rome, was acknow
ledged by Odoacer, by Theodoric and sometimes even
by their successors-! But in 553 the victory of Narses
over Theia gave to the Greek emperors, immediate
domination over the Roman territory and the adja
cent countries. Thus terminated seventy seven
years of revolutions and of combats, during -which,
the popes neither obtained, nor aspired to the. exer
cise of any temporal authority. Theodoric in 498,

* Sismondi's Hist, of the Fall of the Roman Empire, pp. 158—
159-. (Ed. 1835, Phil.) Gibbon's Decline and Fall, &c. chap. 36,
sub. fin.
t Saint Marc. Abrege de Vhistoire d'ltalie torn. 1. p. 1, 129,
2*

b A HISTORY OF THE
confirmed the election of pope Symmachus,* and in
500, when this pontiff was acused by his enemies, the
judgment of the affair was referred to Theodoric.f
From 553 to the end of 557, Narses governed Ita
ly in the name of the emperors of Constantinople.
Shortly after his death, the Lombards, under the gui
dance of Alboin, took possession of the upper part
of Italy, and there established a kingdom, which
continued about two centuries. The other parts
of Italy still remained, more or less, subject to the
emperors of the East, who governed them by the
exarchs of Ravenna.J The exarch was a governor
general, to whom were subject the dukes, prefects,
or patricians, particular governors of certain terri
tories or towns. Application was made to the ex
arch and to the emperor to. ratify the election of each
bishop of Rome. The proof of this fact exists in an
ancient collection of forms of the Roman church.^
On one occasion, (the election of Pelagius II.JJ in
577,) the consent of the emperor was dispensed with,
because the Lombards had besieged Rome, and pre
vented communication with Constantinople. Paul,
the deacon, in speaking of Gregory the Great,"!! who
*Anastas. Biblioth. de vita Roman. Pontiff, p. 84.
t Fleury, Hist. Eccl. lib. xxx. p. 1.
tSee Sis mondi's Fall, chap. 10, ed. 1835, Phil. 206.
§ Liber diurnus Romanorum Pontificum. Gamier, the Jesuit,
published an edition of this work at Paris, in 1680., Ii had been
previously published by Holstenius, and suppressed by the Court of
Rome. II This pope rescinded the acts of John, bishop of Constantino
ple, in taking to himself the title of universal bishop. In 533, the
Emperor Justinian had addressed John II. in an epistle, calling
him the head of all the holy churches, and stating that he had
made haste to subject and unite to the seat of his holiness (vestra
sanctitatis) all tho priests of the whole East. Code Lib, 1, Tit. 1,
L. 8. Pelagius II., therefore, had the authority of civil law in his
favour. T Gregory the Great is the first of the pontiffs who took to him
self the title of servus servorum Dei. which has ever since been
retained, and is the appropriate and peculiar title of the Roman
pontiffs. The motive of this humility is supposed to have been, to
exhibit by way of contrast, the arrogance of the bishop of Con
stantinople, in assuming the title of Universal, or Oecumenical

TEMPORAL POWER OF THE POPES. 7
succeeded Pelagius II. in 590, says expressly, that
the installation of a pope was not allowed, without
the order of the Greek Emperor.*
A letter of Martin I. to the emperor, commences
thus ; " Martin, bishop, to the emperor, our most se
rene lord :" and it. ends with these words, " May
grace from on high preserve the very pious empire
of our lord, and subject to him the neck of all na
tions, "j-
Thus did a pope express himself who, being impri
soned, exiled, and unchaired by Constans, never con
tested the rights of the sovereign who treated him
with so much rigour and even injustice. When this
emperor, Constans, went to Rome in 663, the pope,
Vitalianus, gave him the homage of a faithful sub-
ject.J Two nuncios or apocrisiaries,§ the one at Constan
tinople, the other at Ravenna, offered to the emperor
and to the exarch the respects, good wishes and the
bishop. Yet, says the author of the Histoire des papes, he did not,
on that account, omit to take care of the universal church. The
reason he gave for- not taking the title universal, was, that it was
(un nom fastueux superbe,) a proud name, and not suitable to
Christian humility. Not that he did not know and acknowledge
truly that the popes were chiefs and sovereign pastors of the whole
catholic church. For he himself showed by several actions in this
same year (595) that he was the bishop of the universal world.
Hist, des papes, p. 339.
* Non enim licebat tunc temporis quemlibet in Romana civitate
ad pbntificatum promoveri, absque jussione imperatoris. Paul Diac
1. iii. c. 4. Gregory the great also rendered homage on several oc
casions to the civil authority : still, under his name, letters have
been fabricated, in which he is made to declare, that every king,
prelate, or judge, who shall neglect to maintain the privileges of
the three monasteries of Autun, and those of the Abbey of St.
Medard de Soissons, shall be deprived of his dignity, and con
demned, like Judas, to the bottom of Hell, unless he do penance,
and become reconciled to the monks. See Maimbourg, Traite his
torique des prerogatives de Veglise de Rome, ch. 29.
t Maim Hist, de Vorigine et des progres de la puissance des
papes p. 664.
t Fleury Hist. Eccles. liv. xxxix. n. 33.
§ This was the name given to the legates or nuncios of. patri
archs, archbishops, and particularly of the Roman Pontiffs at the
courts of princes, charged with the affairs of their churches. No
vell. 6. c. 2, vers. propterea sancimus, Nov. 123, Vicat. ad voc.

8 A HISTORY OP THE
tributes of the Roman pontiffs. Pope Leo IL, about
the year 683, writing to Constantine Pogonatus, calls
him his king, his lord.*
In 686 and 687, the elections of the popes, Conon
and Sergius, were confirmed ; the one by the exarch
Theodore, the other by the exarch Platys, who re
quired of Sergius a considerable sum, although this
kind of tribute had been abolished by the emperor,
under the pontificate of Agatho.f
In 710, Pope Constantine, being required by Jus
tinian II. to go to Constantinople, hastened to obey
the order.J
We cite but one proof more, namely, a letter writ
ten by the Roman Pontiff to the Duke of Venice, in
727. " The city of Ravenna, having been taken on
account of our sins, by the wicked nation of the
Lombards, and our excellent master, the exarch,
having retired, as we have been informed, to Venice,
we conjure your highness to join him, in order to
bring the city of Ravenna again under the imperial
domination; so that we may, with the help of the
Lord, remain inviolably attached to the service of our
masters, Leo and Constantine, the great emperors."^
The pope who used this language was Gregory IL,
one of those who may be suspected of having first
thought of extending the pontifical authority beyond
the limits of the Apostolate. His letter proves, at the
least, that the imperial sovereignty was, at that time,
a right universally allowed — a public and an incon-
testible fact.
It was, however, in the eighth century, and a little
after the date of this letter, that we perceive, not in
deed the establishment, but the first symptoms of the
temporal power of the Roman prelates. The differ
ent causes which were to terminate in this result,
* Morin Hist, de Vorigine et des progres de la puissance des
papes p. 664.
t Anast. Bibl. de vit. Rom. Pontif. pp. 147  9
t Fleury Hist. Eccl. xii. n. 22.
§ Baronius Ann. Eccles. torn. xii. p. 343.

TEMPORAL POWER OF THE POPES. 9
then began to be perceptible, and to acquire strength
by their concurrence.
The first of these causes was, the vast progress of
all the ecclesiastical institutions. Several of the popes,
and many of the other prelates, had deserved, by their
virtues and their talents, the respect of the nations
and the esteem of kings. They had obtained that
imposing reputation which, in times of trouble and
public disaster, is always the beginning of power.*
Zealous missionaries had carried the light of the gos
pel into most of the countries of Europe, and had
prepared the way for, and even advanced, by reli
gious instruction, the civilization of several barbarous
nations. Everywhere churches- and monasteries
arose and were enriched. The pious liberality of
princes and of private individuals everywhere in
creased the treasury of the clergy and their landed
estates, especially at Rome. These latter became so
ample that, insensibly, they were transformed into
principalities — a metamorphosis which is but too easy
under governments so feeble and legislation so va
cillating as those of that time were. Add to this the
frequency and the solemnity of councils — the general
interest which their decisions excited — the almost in
evitable collision in their debates, with the order and
disorder of political affairs: above all, we observe,
that at the commencement of the eighth century,
there was no other great empire but that of the
East, and even the power of the Greek emperors,
limited as it was in Asia by that of the Caliphs —
weakened at Constantinople by internal revolutions —
represented at Ravenna by incompetent or faithless
exarchs, could scarcely sustain itself in Italy against
* See the author's recapitulation in chap. xii. This observation
is important, but the causes which produced "this imposing repu
tation, which always is the beginning of power," deserve to be
more fully developed than has been done in this chapter. The ob
ject which the author has chiefly in view in this work, did not,
however, require it, and, perhaps, his views upon the subject of
church government, and state-established religions, would not al
low it.

10 A HISTORY OF THE
the arms of the Lombards, and sometimes stood in
need of being defended by the influence of the Roman
pontiffs. In the meantime, the new thrones which
here and there had been erected by some conquering
barbarians, began already to totter under their suc
cessors ; whose ignorance, often equal to that of their
people, seemed to invite the enterprises of the clergy,
Besides, the clergy, though better instructed than the
common people, were not enough so to discover, in
such circumstances, the limits of their proper func
tions, and to forego occasions of aggrandizing their
power. In 681, when a council at Toledo absolved the
subjects of Wamba from their obligations to him, the
five and thirty bishops who sat in that council did not
perhaps perceive either the temerity or the monstrous
disloyalty of such a sentence. Fleury does well to
call our attention to this first example of a king de
posed by bishops;* but he might have remarked that
a novelty so serious excited no scandal — kings did
not complain of it, and no obstacle was interposed to
the execution of this strange decree.
We must mention also, among the causes which
favoured the ambition of the popes, the foolish taste
of the Greek emperors, for dogmatical controversies
and the unfortunate part they never failed to take in
them. In this manner they provoked the resistance
of the Apostolic See, which, by its splendour and suc
cess, humbled in the eyes of the people the imperial
authority. The doctrine of the pontiff was seen to
triumph solemnly over the edicts of the prince; and
he, whose pastoral instructions, thus limited the civil
authority, must appear capable of exercising it, the
moment he should deign to-do so. A sect had re
cently been formed in Constantinople against images
which was discredited in some places, during a short
time, by the victories which the Mahometans had
gained over them. The emperor Leo the Isaurian
put himself at the head of the Iconoclasts, (or image
* Hist. Eccles. 1. xl. ,,. 34,— 3d Discours. u. 10.

TEMPORAL POWER OF THE POPES. 1 1
breakers.*) He published almost at the same time,
an edict, which abolished the worship of every image
and also a law for a new capitation upon the people
of Italy.. Pope Gregory II. having become the de
fender both of their interests and their creed, addressed
energetic, but respectful letters to the Emperor, invi
ting him to maintain in the churches a practice so
ancient and salutary. Leo answered by menaces the
most suited to strengthen in the hearts of the Italians
their love and veneration for the Pontiff — What does
Gregory? He appears unconcerned with his perso
nal danger. He implores for the people and the
prince, the Divine compassion. He thunders no ana
thema, but he recommends good works, and he gives
an example of them. Above all it is his wish that
every one should remain faithful to the head of the
Empire, notwithstanding the errors of Leo. He con
tinues to give him the names of "Emperor," and
" head of Christians. "f According to Gregory IL,
it is God himself who preserves the empire of Leo the
Iconoclast. J A pontiffhas not the right, says this pope,
to decree crowns ; his eyes should not penetrate the
palaces of Kings ; It does not belong to him to meddle
with political affairs, any more than it does to a
prince, to teach religious doctrine. §
The army, the people, Venice, Ravenna, all Italy, says
Paul the deacon, revolted against Leo the Isaurian,
and infallibly would have acknowledged some other
Emperor, if the, Roman pontiff had not opposed it.||
Anastasius relates the same facts, and shows Gregory
to us as occupied in retaining the provinces under the
* Sismondi's Hist, of the Fall of the Roman Empire, chap. 17,
pp. 335—6. (Ed. 1 835, Phil.)
t Imperalorem et caput Christianorum, Gregory II. Ep. ad.
Leonem. t Vestri a Deo conservati imperii (Greg. II. Ep. ad, Leonem.)
§ Pontifex introspiciendi in palatia potestatem non habet, ac dig-
nitales regias deferendi  Ecclesiis praepositi sunt a negotiis
reipublicae abstinentes, Greg. II. Ep, ad. Leonem.
|| Nisi eos prohibuisset pontifex, imperatorem super se consti-
tuere Juissent aggressi, Paul diac, de gest Longob.

12 A HISTORY OF THE
laws of their lawful sovereign.* It would be difficult
to ascertain at the distance of ten centuries, whether
Leo, several times attempted through his officers, to
take the life of Gregory ; but no one in Rome or in
Italy doubted it and these abortive plots, at length
excited indignation, or what is more dangerous, con
tempt. On the other hand, when the Duke Peter was
driven from Rome and when the exarch Paul was
killed at Ravenna, Gregory was so much an example
of moderation that no one thought of imputing to him,
these outrages. Yet Luitprand, king of the Lombards,
took advantage of these troubles to seize Ravenna
and several other places- It was at this crisis that
Gregory wrote to the duke of Venice, the letter, which
we have transcribed. Gregory did more : He nego
tiated with Luitprand : He appeased him : But the
king of the Lombards, when he abandoned the cities,
which he had conquered and pillaged, would not sur
render them to the officers of the Emperor. He
made a present of them to the Roman Church, which
abstained equally from an acceptance, and a refusal of
the offer. Disconcerted by so much wisdom, Leo
the Isaurian was obliged to be content with the re
venge of detaching from the patriarchate of Rome,
the churches of Illyricum, of Sicily, of the duchy of
Naples and of Calabria, in order to subject them to
the patriarchate of Constantinople : This was all the
evil which he could do to Gregory II. who died with
out deigning to complain.f Whatever Theophanes and
other Byzantine historians may have said,J and they
*Omnis Italia consilium iniit ut sibi eligerent imperatorem et
ducerent Constantinopolic, Sed compesnuit tale consilium pontifex,
sperams conversionem principis  Ne desisterent ab amore etfide
Romani imperii admonebat, Anastas. bibl. in vit Gregor.
t A desire to prove a late origin of the temporal power of the
popes may have biassed the author in his views of the character
and designs of Gregory II. Bossuet may also have been under
the same influence. The reader will find some account of this
matter in Gibbon's Decline and Fall, chap. 49, Also in Giannone,
1st. di Napoli, lib, 5, vol. i. Waddington's History of the Church,
chap xi. § vi. and the life of this pope in the Histoire des papes.
I Cedrenus, Zonaras.

TEMPORAL FOWER OF THE POPES. 13
have greatly decried this pontiff, there appears to have
been great moderation in his conduct ; and if it was
policy it was so profound that one is tempted to take
it for good faith.*
Gregory III. (his successor) thought himself ab
solved from such rigorous circumspection. At the
head of a council, he excommunicated the emperor,
not indeed by name, but by not excepting him from
the entire sect of Iconoclasts, and while Leo applied
to himself the anathema in the burst of wrath which
he displayed — while he confiscated in Sicily some
lands of the Roman church — whilst a fleet sent by
him against Italy perished by shipwreck, the pope
was labouring to create, in the midst of Rome, an
independent state or one that should become so.
Some authors perceive (from 726) under the pontifi
cate of Gregory II. the image of a Roman republic.

* Eossuet has well explained this part of the history of the
eighth century, Def. Cler. Gall. p. II, 1. vi. c. 11 to 27. " The
time was not come, it will be said, to display the pontifical power,
and it was expedient to try ways of conciliation and kindness, be
fore coming to violent means. " Very well," answers Bossuet, " but
if charity and Christian prudence did not allow Gregory to make
use of all his power, at least they should not have prevented him
from letting this proud prince see its extent, in order to prevent
him from executing his criminal designs ; foresee what the threats
of this emperor were, as this holy pope informs us. I will send to
Rome to break the image of St. Peter ; I will cause Pope Gregory
to be taken off and brought here in chains, as Constans dealt with
Martin." He proposed then to imitate the example of the hereti
cal emperors, and persecutors of the holy pontiffs ; we see, what
Gregory thought proper to answer to a prince, who formed such
impious projects, and who flattered himself that he could execute
them, by displaying the whole extent of his imperial power. Does
he (Gregory) say that he can wrest from him (the emperor) that
power when he pleased ? He does not think of it : his whole de
fence is, that he desires, with ardour, to receive the crown of the
martyrs, as did the blessed Pope Martin, whose memory all the
faithful honor. How far, then, was he from thinking of revolt—
from taking arms — from repelling force by force — in short, from
pronouncing sentences of deposition ! Perhaps our adversaries
will make the trivial answer, that the church was yet too feeble —
that it was not in a condition to display all its power. It was the
empire — not the church — that was feeble in Italy," &c, &c. See
also Natalis Alex, in sec. viii. Dissert. Prima. Le Beau, Hist, du
Bas-Empire, p. 368 — 9. 3

14 A HISTORY OF THE
But it was during the period between the years 731 and
741 — that is to say, during the pontificate of Gregory
III. that the expressions, " Republic of the Romans,"
"Republican Association," "Body of the Roman
Army," were most in vogue — expressions which did
not disappear till 800, and which during the seventy
preceding years were very often employed, either in
acts of interior administration,or in negotiationswith the
Lombard kings, or with the Maires du Palais of
France.* Still positive declarations, which would
have irritated the court of Constantinople, were
avoided. In cases of necessity, the supremacy of the
emperor was acknowledged — succour was asked of
him — his officers were received. And these homages
to imperial power are the reasons of the opinion of
those who deny the existence of this republic. Doubt
less it was a republic only in appearance, but the Ro
mans loved to appear under this title before the prin
ces of Western Europe. f
Such a course was, in fact, a method of entering
furtively into the number of independent states and
of attenuating more and more the thread by which
they were connected with the Byzantine Empire.
Commonly, the pope did not fill the first magistracy
of this republic. He abandoned the insignia of power
to a prefect, a duke, or to a patrician ; and prepared
himself to substitute soon, for indecisive forms a de
finitive and a pontifical form of government.
Another cause which brought on, and even justi
fied, the revolution about to take place in Italy against
the Greek emperors, was the almost entire abandon
ment in which, during two centuries, they had left
their provinces in that country. They maintained
no garrison at Rome, and that city, continually me-
* This office was formerly the first dignity of the realm. It
gave the greatest authority. The office was suppressed on account
of the ambition of the maires.
t GregoTy HI. sent two ambassadors to Charlss Martel (maire
du palate) to invite him to declare against the emperors of the
t-ast, m favour of the Roman republic. Baronius ascribes one of
those embassies to Gregory I I.-a serious mistake, which Bossuet
has exposed; Def. Cler. Gallic, p. II. liv. vi. c. 18.

TEMPORAL POWER OF THE POPES. 15
naced by the Lombards, invoked in vain, more than
once, through her dukes or pontiffs, the care of the
exarch and the power of the emperor. The Byzan
tine historians of this epoch scarcely speak of Italy.
One of them, (Theophylactus Simocatta) wrote
the history of the empire from 582 to 802, without
so much as once naming either Italy, Rome, or the
Lombards. Left by their masters, the Romans natu
rally would attach themselves to their, pontiffs, who,
at that time, were commonly Romans, and also al
most all praise-worthy men. The popes, as fathers,
defenders of the people, mediators between the great,
the head of the religion of the empire, combined those
various means of credit and of influence which riches,
benefits, virtues, and the supreme priesthood confer.
They conciliated or divided around them the princes
of the earth, and they could at their will confirm or
weaken, in the hands of others, that temporal power
which they did not yet possess themselves.
Things being thus situated, occasions calculated to
excite the ambition of the Roman pontiffs must infal
libly arise ; and for the attainment of secular great
ness, nothing was now necessary but a more ac
tive ambition. Whilst Zachary continued to ren
der homage to the sovereignty of the emperors,
Luitprand took possession of the exarchate of Ra
venna, and his successor, Rachis, stipulated imme
diately with the Romans a peace of twenty years.
Under the same pope, Pepin* dethroned in France the
Merovingian dynasty, proposed to the Holy See a
celebrated case of conscience, and obtained to it a
favourable answer, which, absolving in the eyes of
the people his audacious enterprise, fixed in his hands
a sceptre which they alone could bear.
Shortly after the response, so wise,f Astolphus, the
* See Sismondi's History of the Fall of the Roman Empire, for a
more full account of the usurpation of Pepin, and the part which
Pope Zachary took on the occasion. Chap, 16, pp. 307, — 310, (Ed.
1835, Phil.] Also Gibbon's Decline and Fall, chap. 49,
+ It was a response purely consultative : and Bcllarmin makes a
vain effort to transform it into an absolute decree which deposed

16 A HISTORY OF THE
successor of Rachis, broke the truce of twenty years,
conquered Istria, retook Ravenna, into which the
Greek officers had re-entered, and drove them away
for ever. Eutychius, the last of the exarchs, fled, re
tired to Naples, and every thing announced that the
power of the emperors was upon the point of extinc
tion in middle (as it was in northern) Italy. Astol
phus, in fact, turns his arms against this Roman
republic, in which the head of the empire still pre
served a shadow of sovereignty. The pope (then
Stephen II.) besought Constantine Copronymus,* to
succour the city of Rome — to send an army which
should put to flight the Lombards, — which should
maintain in Italy the integrity of the empire and the
honour of the imperial authority .f Evidently, Stephen
addressed Constantine as the sovereign of Rome, but
Constantine, being occupied with his war against
images, ordered Stephen to negotiate with Astol
phus; and if he found him untractable, then with
Pepin king of the French. The pontiff enters France,
and there, as minister of the Greek emperor, he
gives, in 753, to Pepin, and to his sons, the title of
Roman Patrician, which Charles Martel had borne
before him,J and receives, it is said, in exchange, the
gift of the provinces which Astolphus occupied, and
which the emperor (in whose name Stephen acted)
claimed. Pepin hesitated the less to give them, as he
was neither their sovereign nor possessor. Desirous,
however, of deriving some advantage from his title
Childerio III. Pepin owed the throne to his genius — to his for-
tune: He obtained it by the consent of the French, and not by
authority of the pope : See Natal Alex. Dissertat. secunda in secul
8. Dupin, Traite de la puissance Eccles. pag. 249. Bossuet Def.
Cler. Gallic, p. ii. 1. vi. c. 34. Eginhard says Missi sunt Bur-
chardus et Foldradus ut consulerent pontificem de causa regum, etc.
* See Sismondi's Hist, of the Fall of the Roman Empire, p. 312.
(Ed, 1835, Philadelphia.) Gibbons' Decline and Fall, chap. 49.
t Id cum ipsius imperio perniciosum turn nomini quoque apud
posterosfore turpissimum Sigonius Hist. regn. Ital. 1. iii. p. 197.
X Joannes Silentarius, a Constantino cum legatis pontificis rediit,
narrans imperatori placere ut ipse, ad regem proficiscens, quantum
precitms atque auctoritate, proficere posset experiretur, Sigon, ibid,

TEMPORAL POWER OF THE POPES. 17
of patrician, he passed the Alps in 754, besieged
Pavia, and forced Astolphus, to promise the restora
tion of the exarchate and the pentapolis, not to the
emperor of Constantinople, but tp St. Peter, to the
church and the Roman republic : — A vain -promise :
for scarcely had Pepin returned to France, before
the Lombard king, forgetting his oaths, ravaged the
environs of Rome and endeavoured to make himself
master of the city. It was at that time (in 755)
that the pope addressed to the French monarch seve
ral letters, one of which, (written in the name of St.
Peter,) " shows," says " Fleury, " the genius of the
age, and how far men, the most grave, could push a
fiction, when they thought it useful."
" Peter called to the apostolate by Jesus Christ,
son of the living God, etc.  As by me the
Roman church, of which Stephen is the bishop, is
founded upon the rock  I adjure you, most
excellent Pepin, Charles and Carloman, three kings,
and with you, the bishops, abbots, priests, monks, and
also the dukes, counts, and people  I adjure
you ; and the Virgin Mary, the angels, the martyrs,
and all the saints with me, conjure you, not to per
mit my city of Rome and my people to be any longer
a prey to the- Lombards : If you obey me promptly,
you shall receive for it a great recompense in this
life: you shall overcome your enemies, — you shall
live long, — you shall eat the good things of the earth,
and besides, you shall have life eternal : If you obey
me not, know ye, that by the authority of the Holy
Trinity, and of my Apostolate, you shall be deprived
of the kingdom of God."*
It is very important to remark, that this letter
makes no mention, either of the donation of Constan
tine, or of that which Pepin-le-bref is said to have
made in 753, and to have renewed in 754. This
* An exact and entire copy of this letter will be found in the se
cond volume.
Gibbon's remarks on this letter betray his infidel principles.
Decline and Fall, chap. 49. 3*

18 A HISTORY OF THE
omission is not the weakest of the arguments of those
who account the second of these donations, as well
as the first, a fiction : They add, that the original of
the donation of Pepin no where exists ; — an authentic
copy of it cannot be produced ; — its provisions are
not mentioned by cotemporaneous historians; they
"are known only through Anastasius, who compiled his
history of the popes, at the end of the ninth century —
a hundred and thirty years after the death of Stephen
II. The defenders of this concession reply only that
Anastasius declares that he had seen the original of
it, and they cite the fragment of an inscription,
preserved at Ravenna, without inquiring at what
time such a mutilated monument could have been
erected.* It will be inquired what was the nature of the con
cession, made by Pepin-le-bref to the popes : — Did he
give the absolute sovereignty, or the mere adminis
tration ? — a secondary, and delegated power, or only
the property or dominium utile as it is called 1 In the
absence of any political text, which might supply a
direct answer to these questions, we have no other
means of resolving them, than by continuing our ex
amination of facts relative to the government of Rome,
and the authority of the popes until 800. Now, it is
certain, as we have said, that during the last years of
the eighth century, the popes were never sovereigns,
and scarcely ever administrators. We have a suc
cession of letters in which they complain of the fai
lure of Pepin to fulfil his promises, and of the infide
lity of the Lombard kings who ravaged or retook the
possessions of the church.
Besides, Constantine Copronymus, never renounced
his rights: He offered to pay the expense of the vic
tories of the French army over the Lombards pro-
* Pipinus. plus, primus, amplificandai. ecclesim. viam, aperuit, et.
exarchatam. Ravenna, cum. amplissimis. Father le Cointe cites
this beginning of an inscription, and then completes it thus, Urbi-
bus. temtoriis. ac. reditibus. principi. aposlolorum. ejus. que.
demum. successoribus. lubens. ac. volens. concessit. Ann. Ecc Fr.
torn. v. p. 484.

TEMPORAL POWER OF THE POPES. 19
vided the places, which had been retaken should be
restored : Pepin, although, by no means forward to
satisfy these claims, avoided giving a character, or
a description of the power, which he exercised under
the title of patrician over the republic of the Romans ;
leaving it undecided whether he considered himself
to be there as sovereign, or as invested by circum
stances provisionally with the functions of sovereignty.
It is very remarkable, that in fixing the boundaries of
the States of this monarch, no French historians ex
tends them beyond the Alps.*
As to the popes, although their influence, almost al
ways prevailed over the authority of the commissaries
of the patrician, they did not, as yet, exercise any
civil magistracy properly so called, instituted and de
legated by authority. They continued to date from
the reign of the emperors of Constantinople, and to
call them, their lords and masters : This is observed
in a letter, written by Stephen II. a little before his
death ;f in a diploma, subscribed in the same year by
Paul I. the brother and successor of Stephen,! in a
regulation of the same Paul in 758,§ in anojher act
of the same Paul by which he referred to the empe
ror the right of judgment concerning a crime com
mitted in the duchy of Rome,|| and in 785, by an
epistle of Adrian to Constantine V. and to Irene his
mother. 1J Several of the cities, comprised in this pre
tended donation, were governed after the disposition
made of them by Pepin, by the Archbishops of Ravenna,
who appear to have supplied the place of the Exarchs
whose title was not revived.
* Antiquit. S, Dionysii I. II. c. 3.
Regnabant inter Rhenum Ligerimque primes (ante Car. Mag.)
Ad Bartam fuerat terminus Oceanus.
Australemque dabant, Balearica littora finem.
Alpes et tectce perpetuis nivibus,
t Antiquit. S. Dionysii, I. II. c. 5.
X Concil. torn. vi. p. 1689.
§ Concil. torn. vi.p. 1694.
|| Fleury, Hist. Eccles, I, xliv. n. 2.
If Asffrtotfaij fnfffSffartt-f.  KwfiKiwa Kcm 'Eiorp/v Av
yovatois, ASpi-cwoj SoiAoj iuv SovTmv tov ©eod concil, torn. vii.
p. 99.

20 A HISTORY OF THE
Charlemagne, being called by Adrian against Di-
dier, king of the Lombards, blocked up Pavia, and in
774 renewed, in Rome, the donation of Pepin. This
act is not better known to us, than those of 753 and
754. There is no original title, nor an authentic, or
even a uniform copy of it. It is Anastasius still who
comes, after the lapse of a century, to inform us of
its provisions.
To the donation of Pepin, Charlemagne added,
according to Anastasius, Corsica, Sardinia, Liguria,
Sicily, Venice, Beneventum, and laid the deed, or
charter, which enriched the Roman Church to such
a degree, upon the tomb of the holy Apostles, Peter
and Paul. Anastasius does not explain to us how
Charlemagne gave provinces which he did not pos
sess, and over which he had no right of sovereignty,
nor even of conquest. Sardinia and Sicily, were
not in his power: — Venice, though labouring more
and more for her independance still ackowledged,
in point of form, the sovereign rights of the Greek
Emperors. A duke governed Benevento which was
ceded to the Holy See, only in 1047, by Henry le-
JVoir. This cession of 1047 does not embrace the
whole Beneventine territory and, besides, the act at
testing it, is not very well authenticated. But what
we have to remark in this place, is that this act does
not renew the pretended donation of Charlemagne:
It does not mention it; On the contrary, it supposes,
that the Count of Rome, in 1047 for the first time, was
going to take possession of the city of Benevento.
There is another difficulty which Anastasius does
not resolve : — It is this, that after the year 774, the
popes did not undertake to govern, or administer
either Benevento, Venice, Sicily, Sardinia, the ex
archate, or the city of Rome : — Charlemagne the con
queror, and successor of the Lombard kings, added
the title of king of Italy, to that of Patrician of the
Romans: The sovereignty, or supreme administration,
remained in his hands — he exercised it either person
ally, or by delegates — received the homage of the
pontiffs — invested himself with the right of confirm-

TEMPORAL POWER OF THE POPES. 21
ing their elections, and so far made their possessions
and persons subordinate to his authority, that we
cannot suppose, that he ceded to them, any thing but
the right of property, or the dominium utile. The
duchy of Rome, the exarchate, the Pentapolis,* are
comprised by the historians of this prince in the table
of the states over which he reigned before 800.f And
Pagi thinks it proper to add Corsica to the number.J
In 778 the dispute, which arose between the pope
and the Archbishop of Ravenna, was referred to the
judgment of Charles. The Archbishop retained the
administration of the exarchate which Charlemagne
had tacitly authorised. In the code Caroline, are
collected several letters addressed to this monarch,
by Pope Adrian after 775. They prove, that Charles
was in no great hurry to invest the pope with tempo
ral power. The donation of Constantine is mentioned
in one of these epistles§ as we have already remarked.
The name, Constantine, is there promised to Charles,
if he would fulfil his engagements; but in 789, the
pope still complained of a delay of the gratification
which he had been induced to expect. He adverts
to the donation of Pepin, as an act without effect. It
appearsj however, that during the last six years of his
pontificate, Adrian had really exercised some power,
inasmuch as we find coined money, which bears his
name. But the dukes of Benevento, and the other
governors who acted by delegated authority, did the
same thing with the consent of their sovereigns. Many
more medals were struck at Rome, in the name of Charle
magne, and appeals were made to his officers from
the judgments rendered by the popes.|| Charlemagne,
* The pentopolis, or five cities referred to, were Rimini, Pesaro,
Fano, Osmo, and Ancona. Sismondi's Fall, chap. 10, (p. 206, Ed.
1835, Phil.)
t Egnili de car Mag. p. 91 — 96 of vol. v. of theRec. des Hist.de
France. X Grit. Ann. Baronii ad. Aun, 800, p. 11.
§ Cod. Carol. Ep. Adriani vi vol. v.. p. 530, of the Becneil des
Hist, de France.
|| Le Blanc Medailles de Charlemagne, &c, p. 17. Velly Hist,
de France, torn. i. in ] 2, p. 399.

22 A HISTORY OF THE
before the end of the eighth century, thought so little
of investing the popes with sovereign power, that he
avoided attributing to himself an absolute sovereignty
over the city and territory of Rome. He did not con
test the sovereignty of the Greek emperors, and al
though he governed without taking their orders, he
allowed them to believe that he considered himself
their Vicar. It is conjectured that in 781, he had
received letters which created him expressly Patri
cian of the Romans. When Paul the deacon says,
that Charles added Rome to his estates about the
year 774, it is according to D. Bouquet, a hyperboli
cal expression, since Charles was content at that time
with the simple title of Patrician.* Theophanes fixes
the year 799, as the beginning of the domination of
the French over the capital of Italy, and Theophanes
is incorrect, in other respects, inasmuch as he puts
down the absolute extinction of the sovereignty of the
Greek emperors over the Romans at too early a date
by one year, as we shall presently see.
In order to estimate the extent of the authority
which Charlemagne exercised in Rome, previously to
the year 800, we must form an idea of the dignity of
the patriciate with which he was invested.f Constan
tine, desirous of supplying the place of the ancient or
der of Patricians, adopted the personal title of patri
cian as that of the governor or chief magistrate of the
city of Rome. From the year 729 to the year 800,
that is to say, during the existence of the image of a
Roman Republic, the office of Patrician was often
conferred, by the clergy, the nobles and the people of
this city, almost always at the will of the popes, but
* Rhetorice hie et hyperbolice loquilice Paulus, Anno, enim, 774.
Roma neque a Longobardis oppressa fuit, neque a Carolo cum di-
tionibus suis unita sed a Longobardorum insultibus liberata et Ca
rolo jure patriciatus tanlum subdita. Rccueil des Historians des
Gaules et de la France, torn. v. p. 191, n. a..
t Gibbon, ch. 49, Decline and Fall, &e., gives some account of
the title and powers of the patrician. He refers to Du Cang. Glos
sary Lat. torn. v. p. 149—151 ; Critica A. D. 740 ; n. 6—11. Mu-
ratori Annali dTrilia torn. 6, pp. 308, 329. St. Marc. Abrege
chronologique S'ltalic, torn. I. pp. 379, 382.

TEMPORAL POWER OF THE POPEh. 23
never by them alone. The Greek Emperors, tacitly
ratified the election, choosing rather to suppose, that
he administered in their name, than to authorise the
belief, that he governed against their will. Several
barbarian kings, Visogoths, Ostrogoths and others re
ceived and bore this title; and Charlemagne himself,
did not disdain a dignity, apparently subordinate, but
in effect independent and which might conduce to
real sovereignty.
Leo III. succeeding Pope Adrian in 796, immediate
ly addressed to Charlemagne a letter of homage like
those which this prince received from his vassals,*
Notwithstanding, we have a monument of the supre
macy, which the emperor of the East preserved over
the Romans, in 797. It is a mosaic with which Leo
III. ornamented the hallof the palace of Lateran.f In it
we see a prince crowned, (whom the circumstances
prove to be Constantine.) A prince without a crown,
and a pope are represented kneeling and named by an
inscription, Charles andTheon. The emperor receives
a standard from the hand of Jesus Christ ; Constan
tine receives another from the left hand of St. Peter,
who gives, with his right, a pall to the Pope. This mo
saic is, at the same time, an emblem of the primacy
of the emperor; of the power of the Patrician, and of
the pretensions of the Pontiff.
In 799, a conspiracy was formed against Leo III.
He was accused before Charlemagne,J who appointed
commissioners to hear and determine the affair.^
This fact is sufficient to show how far the Pope was
from being a sovereign before the year 800.
On the 25th of December, of the year (800) Charles
was proclaimed emperor. || He was promoted to this

* Ann Lauresh Saint Marc. Abr. chr. de l'Hist. d'ltalic, torn. 1.
ann 796.
t Ciampini Vetera Monum,
X See Grannone's account of the trial and purgation of Leo, 1st.
di Nap. lib. 6. cap. 5.
$ Theophan chron. — Eginhard, ad. ann. 799. — Anast. vit. Leonis
III.— Fleury, Hist. Eccles, 1, xiv. n. 14.
II See Sismondi's Fall, chap. 17, p, 326—7. (Ed. 1835, Phil.) Gib-

24 A HISTORY OF THE
supreme dignity, not by the Pope alone, but by an as
sembly of the clergy of the nobility, and of the people1
of Rome.*
Here then is the precise epoch of the extinction, of
the sovereign rights of the Emperor of the East over
the city of Rome, Then it was, also, that, the" pa
triciate, properly so called, ceased ; and the pope, ac
knowledging no longer any intermediate power be
tween him and the Emperor of the West, became, in
fact, the first temporal magistrate of Rome and its
territory. Charlemagne, in order to wheedle the
court of Constantinople, pretended to have been pas
sive in the act of his coronation — that the imperial
crown was conferred on him without his knowledge—
that it was placed upon his victorious head against
his will; such, at least, is the account, which his
Chancellor, Eginhard, gives us of this event — an ac
count, which Sigoniusf and MuratoriJ have rejected'
as fabulous, and to which Father Daniel himself, .:
does not give implicit credit.
Charlemagne hastened to send ambassadors to
Constantinople. He received in return those of the
emperor, and concluded a treaty of alliance and
friendship which fixed the boundaries of the two em
pires without a formal acknowledgment, by the
Greeks, of the Emperor of the West. But the ab
solute sovereignty of Charles over the exarchate,
boil's Decline and Fall, chap. 49, (ad ann 800, Dec. 25.) Giannone,
1st. di Napoli lib. 6, cap. 5.
* Fleury, Hist. Eccles, 1. xiv. n. 14. See also what Anastasius,
the historian of the Popes, relates of the coronation of Charle
magne : Post haec adveniente die natali D. N. J. C, in jam dicta
basilica B. Petri Apostolic omnes iterum congregali sunt, "et tunc
venerabilis almificus pontifex, manibus suis propriis pretiosissima
corona coronavit eum. Tunc universifideles Romani  unanimiter
altisona voce, Dei nuto alque B. Petri clavigeri regni coelorum,
exclamaverunt : Carolo piissimo Augusto a Deo Coronato, Magno,
pacijico imperatori vita et victoria. Ante Sacram confessionerrt B.
Petri apostoli  Tcr dictum est, et. ab. omnibus constitutus est.
imperator. Romanorum. Illico Sanciissimus pontifex unxit aleo
sancto Carolum, etc, Anast. Bibl. in vita. Leonis, III.
t De regn. Hal. I. iv.p. 252.
X Annali d'ltalid, Aun. 800,

TEMPORAL POWER OF THE POPES. 25
over the Pentapolis and the Roman territory, became.
incontestible.* Pope Leo, in 803f and in 806,J dates from the
reign of the Emperor Charles. This prince denomi
nated himself the head of the Roman Empire,§ and
the limits of his states are, from that time, extended
to Calabria Inferior by Eginhard, and the other his
torians.]! Stephen IV., when but just elected to succeed Leo
* Bossuet says, that in combining these facts, it is easy to see
that Baronius rashly asserts, that the popes deposed the emperors
for heresy, and transferred their empire to the French. It is mani
fest, on the contrary, that in Italy, and at Rome, the popes, them
selves, had constantly acknowledged the Iconoclast-princes, as em
perors, and that the empire was not transferred to the French, until
after the accession of Irene, a very Catholic princess, and after she
had rejected the heresy. (See Gibbon's Decline, chap, 48 and 49.
Sismondi's Fall, Sjc, chap. 17, p. 334. 5 et, seq, Ed. 1835, Phila
delphia, Irene.)
It is not less evident that the Popes implored the help of the
French, not on account of the heresy of the emperors, but because
they had no other means of resisting the Lombards : that their af
fairs were entirely desperate, and no relief could be expected of
the emperors. None of the circumstances, however, were wanting
for which, as it is said, now-a-days, kings may be lawfully deposed.
These emperors were hereties, obstinate in error, cruel in their per
secutions, and besides, perjured and falsifiers — a circumstance
which, according to our adversaries, (that is the advocates of the ab
solutism of the Pope) rendered them even more worthy of deposi
tion, since it was directly against the church that they preached, in
violating the oath they had taken at the foot of the altars, to make
no innovation in religion. *
Notwithstanding the violation of these solemn promises, not only
the catholics honoured as emperor, the prince who persecuted
them, but they did all they could to restrain those who, under this
pretext, endeavoured to excite seditions and revolt against the em
pire. So true it is, that at that day, no one had the least idea of the
power in which, at present, the whole hope of the church is made
to consist, and which is regarded as the firm rampart of pontifical
authority. Def. Cler. Gallic p. II. 1. vi. c. 20.
t Imperante noslro domino Carolo piissimo a Deo coronato. Ug-
helli Hal. Sacr. torn. v. col. 1095.
X Concilior, torn., viii. p. 1120.
§ Carolus serenessimus Augustus  imperator Romanorum gu-
bernans imperium  datum idibus Junii. anno. III. imperii nostri.
et. xxxv. regni. nostri in Francia Le Cointe Ann. Eccles. Francor.
torn. vi. p. 814^
|| Italiam totam .... usque in Calabriam inferiorem. Egin
hard. 4

26 A HISTORY OF THE
IIL, caused the Romans to take the oath of fealty to
Louis le Debonaire, the successor of Charlemagne.*
Among the donations claimed by the Holy See, is one
which bears the name of this first Louis, dated 816
or 817.f It is pretended, that in confirming the con
cessions of Charlemagne and of Pepin, Louis ex
pressly reckoned Sicily in the number of provinces
which had been acquired by the Roman Court, and
further, that he renounced, for himself and his suc
cessors, the right of ratifying the election of the
popes. But we see this same Louis, in 827, examin
ing and approving the election of Gregory IV. —
Eginhard, and another historian of Louis le Debon-
naire,J attest this fact. As to Sicily, it did not be
long to Louis. He had not the possession of it. The
pope never thought of governing it: and it is so in
credible, that Father Morin,§ when sustaining the au
thenticity of the donation of Louis I., is obliged to
suppose that the name of this island has been inter
polated since. Besides, this donation was not known
to the colemporary writers; and it does not appear
in any history which was not written long after its
date. Supposititious pieces often occur in the history
of the temporal power of the popes. The donation
of Constantine was fabricated, as we have shown, be
tween 756 and 779 ; and it was about the same time
that Isodore Mercator or Peccator forged the decre
tals of the early popes, Anaclet, Clement, Euaristus,
and others, to the time of St. Sylvester. In the sixth
century, Dionysius the small was unable to collect the
decretals except from the time of Siricius, who died
at the end of the fourth century. Those of Isodore
are long, full of common-place topics, and all of the
same style, which, according to Fleury,|| is much
more like that of the eighth century than of the first
age of the church. "Their dates are almost all
* Theg. de gestis Ludovici Pii ann. 816.
t Baronius. Ann. Eccles. Ann. 817, Sigon. Hist. Hal. liv. iv.
X In the Rec des Hist, de France, torn. vi. p. 108.
(j Hist, de 1' ingine de la puissance, des porpes, p.' 627
|| Hist. Eccles. 1. xliv. n. 22.

TEMPORAL POWER OF THE POPES. 27
false," adds this historian, " and the matter of these
letters disclose their falsity. They speak of arch
bishops, primates, patriarchs; as if these titles had been
in use from the origin of the church.* They forbid
the holding of any council, even a provincial coun
cil, without the permisson of the pope ; and they
represent appeals to Rome as in common course."
These false decretals contributed to extend the
spiritual power of the popes, and to invest them with
political authority. Their disastrous effects have been
perfectly exposed by Fleury in his fourth discourse
upon Ecclesiastical History.
We think, that from the details which we have now
collected, it results clearly, that until 800 or later,
Rome , and the Popes always acknowledged either
the emperors of the East or of the West as their sove
reigns, and even particular governors, exarchs, patri
cians, kings of the Lombards, or of Italy .f The pope,
at ihe end of the reign of Louis le Debonnaire in 840,
was not yet a sovereign ; and, taking this word rigo
rously, that is, for supreme authority, (independent,
not delegated), it might be maintained, with certain
authors, that he was not so till 1355, when the Em
peror Charles IV., receiving at Rome the imperial
crown, renounced, in the most express manner, all
sorts of authority over the possessions of the See of
Rome. But without being sovereign, a power may be very
effective; and such was that of the popes, long before
1355, and even from the time of Charlemagne. A
temporal power of a very positive character, although
subaltern, (delegated or borrowed), existed from the
time of that emperor, in the hands of the bishops of
Rome ; and the continued wars between the priest
hood and the empire, since that period, have had
no other object than to enfranchise and increase that
* Giannone 1st. di Napoli lib. 2. cap. 8.— Opere Postume, vol, i.
Parte Seconda, cap. 5.
t Muratori arrives at these same results in the first three chap
ters of his work, entitled Plena esposizione de'diritti imperiali ed
Estensi Sopra Commachio, 1712, in-fol.

28 A HISTORY OF &C.
power. The first object was to make it independent;
and from the moment it was such, or pretended to be
such, then the object was to extend its attributes, its
rights, its limits, and to transform it into an univer
sal monarchy. Here we see the general cause of the
anathemas, the quarrels, the wars which we are now
about to sketch. Here is the secret of that incessant
struggle of the Court of Rome against most of the
European powers, and particularly against that which
obtained preponderance in Italy.

( 29 )

CHAPTER II.

Enterprises of the Popes cf the Ninth Century.
Charlemag\e had condemned gifts made to the
church to the prejudice of the children and the near
relations of the donor. In S16, a capitulary* of Louis
I. declared all gifts of this sort null. But far from
continuing to limit, by such barriers, the ambition of
the priesthood, Louis was destined to become one of
the first victims, and thereby one of the founders of
clerical power.
Pascal, who succeeded Stephen IV. in 817, did not
wait for the consent of the prince to his installation.
He merely sent legates and a letter of excuse, in which
he alleged that he had been forced to accept the dig
nity in haste. Some years afterwards, Pascal
crowned Lothaire, whom Louis, his father, had asso
ciated with him in the empire.
The pope, say the Ecclesiastical historians of the
ninth century, gave to the young prince the power
which the early emperors had enjoyed. They add
that with the consent, and by the will of Louis, Lo
thaire received from the soverign pontiff the benedic
tion, the dignity, and the name of emperor — remark
able expressions which have since been used for the
purpose of converting the pope, into the dispenser of
the imperial crown — as if Charlemagne and Louis
had not already worn it without being indebted to
the bishops of Rome — as if it was not contradictory
to pretend that these two princes laid the foundation
* Capitulary is the term applied to the collections of laws and
civil and canonical regulations made by the French kings of the
Merovingian and Carlovingian races, in the assemblies of the
bishops and nobles. In these capitularies, are to be found the fun
damental or primitive laws of the French monarchy.
4*

30 ENTERPRISES OF THE
of the temporal power of the popes, and at the same
time to pretend that they received from the same
popes the dignity of Emperors of the West.
Certain officers attached to Lothaire having been
put to death in the palace of Lateran, and the pope
having been accused of ordering the crime, he hast
ened to send nuncios to Louis, instructed to remove
such a suspicion. Louis received the nuncios un
graciously. He sent to Rome commissioners, before
whom Pascal was obliged to purge himself by oath.*
Pascal did not however deliver up the murderers, be
cause they belonged to the family of St. Peter; that
is to say, to the house of the pope. Louis le Debon-
naire followed his natural inclination for clemency,
says Fleury,f and notwithstanding the desire which
he had to punish this outrage, he consented to aban
don a procedure, the first acts of which proved, at
least, that he was acknowledged, in 823, as sove
reign of Rome and as the judge of the Roman
pontiff. Eugene IL, following the example of his predeces
sor, dispensed with the confirmation of his election
by the emperor. Lothaire complained loudly of it,
and went to Rome to discharge the functions of sove
reign authority. He decided a controversy between
the pope and the abbot of Farfa, from whom the
Court of Rome exacted an annual tribute. Not only

* This appears to have been the method usually or frequently
adopted in like cases. Thus, in the case of Leo III., Giannone re
lates (1st. di Napoli lib. 6, e. 5.) " that the prelates protested that
the holy see and the pope ought not to be judged by any, — that it
belonged to him to judge himself. Then the pontiff said, that, (se-
guendo le vestigia de'suoi Predecessori) following the footsteps of
his predecessors, he was ready to justify himself in the same way
that they had done more than once. Therefore, the day following,
ascending the tribune, and holding in his hand the book of the holy
gospels, in the sight of all, he, with solemn oath, purged himself as
innocent, protesting loudly, and swearing, that he was innocent of
all the crimes laid to his charge by his persecutors, whereupon, the
whole church resounded with the acclamations of so august an as:
sembly, which received the protest and the oath of the pope as an
oracle which assured them fully of his innocence."
t Hist, Eccles. 1. xiv. n. 57.

POPES OF THE NINTH CENTURY. 31
was the abbot exempted from the tribute, but the pope
was obliged to restore the goods which the Church of
Rome had unjustly taken. These are the words of the
charter of Lothaire.* This prince at the same time
published a new constitution in nine articles,! in
which the authority of the pope is indeed formally
established, but made subordinate to that of the em
peror. It is there provided, that complaints against
judges and other officers shall be made in the first in
stance to the pontiff, whose duty it is to provide a
remedy promptly, or give information thereof to the
sovereign, that he may make provision. This con
stitution is dated in 824. Of the same date is the
oath taken by the Romans to the following effect :J
" I promise to be faithful to the emperors Louis and
Lothaire, saving the faith which I have promised to
the pope, and not to consent to the election of a pope
unless it be canonical, nor to the consecration of a
pope elect, before he shall have taken, in the presence
of the commissioners of the emperor, an oath like
that which Pope Eugenius made by writing." The
clause " saving the faith which 1 have promised to the
pope," has induced arbitrary restrictions. Still this
formula evinces sufficiently the sovereignty of the
emperor. Besides in 827, Gregory IV. besought the empe
ror to confirm his election,§ which proves, as we have
observed, that Louis had not renounced this right in
819. If the prince, says De Marca, (De Concordia
Sacerdotii et imperii 1. VIII. ch. 14. n. 8,) had left to
the people and to the clergy the power of electing
the popes, their consecration, at least must be deferred
until the sovereign had consented to it. But not-
* Saint Marc, Abr. de VHist. d'ltal. torn. I. p. 469.
t Ibid. p. 472.
X Ibid. p. 475.
§ Loco illius (scil. valentini) Gregorius presbyter tituli sancli
Marci electus est dilata consecratione ejus ad consultum imperatoris.
Quo annuente et electionem cleri et populi probante ordinalus est
in loco prioris. Vii. Ludovic. Pii. imp. ann. 827. Gregorius pres
byter non prius ordinatus est, quam legatus imperatoris Romam ve-
niret et electionem populi examinaret. Eginhard, ad. ann. 827.

32 ENTERPRISES OF THE
withstanding this preliminary, the pontificate of Gre
gory IV. is one of the most memorable, for the humi
liations of the imperial dignity. It is true, that these
are to be ascribed, as much to the weakness of the
prince, as to the ambition of the pontiff. The first
fault of Louis le Debonnaire was the division of his
states in 817 among his three sons: In associating
Lothaire to the empire, he had given Aquitania to
Pepin, Bavaria to Louis ; and by these dispositions, he
had displeased his nephew Bernard, king of Italy.
Bernard revolted, and it was necessary to subjugate
and punish him. In commuting the punishment of
death pronounced against him, Louis ]e Debonnaire
nevertheless, caused his eyes to be put out, and this
cruel act cost the patient his life. Louis reproached
himself for this cruelty, and was ever more extrava
gant in his repentance than in his fault. He required
a public penance. To increase these difficulties,
Judith his second wife, having become the mother of
Charles afterwards called (le Chauve) the bald, de
manded a kingdom for this child. She obtained a
new division, which deranged the first, and roused
the three sons, who were provided for in 817. They
leagued together against their father. Vala, the abbot
of Corbie, a factious but revered monk, encouraged
their rebellion. He concurred with them' in heaping
invectives upon the emperor, his wife Judith, and his
minister, Bernard. Disconcerted by so much cla
mour, Louis convokes four councils, to whom he re
ferred the examination of his conduct, and of the
complaints which it had occasioned. These synods
favoured little enough the pretensions of the rebel
lious sons, but at them, a doctrine was professed upon
the rights of the clergy and the duties of princes
which would seem incredible at an epoch so near the
absolute power of Charlemagne, if the very object of
their convocation were not sufficient to explain and
even to justify the idea which they entertained of
their supreme authority. We shall transcribe in this
place a discourse which one of these councils pretend
ed was addressed by Constantine the Great to the

POPES OF THE NINTH CENTURY. 33
bishops. " God has given you power to judge us ;
but you cannot be judged by men ; God has estab
lished you as gods over us, and .it is not becoming
that men should judge gods. That belongs only to
Him of whom it is written, God is seated in the syn
agogue of gods, and He judges them." Here, cer
tainly, the question of the two powers is better illus
trated than ever it had been. It would be impossible
more plainly to reduce them to one.
While councils were inculcating such lessons upon
Louis ; whilst he was banishing Judith to the retire
ment of a cloister, and he himself was thinking of taking
the monastic frock, his sons and the abbot Vala were
endeavouring to constrain him to do so; and they
would have succeeded, if another monk, by exciting
discord between the three rebel princes, had not given
the father some moments of repose and vigour. Louis
recalled Judith, exiled Vala, stripped Lothaire of his
title of Emperor, and (always incapable of prudence)
gave himself up so far to the advice of his ambitious
and vindictive wife, that he disinherited Pepin in fa
vour of Charles, and disaffected even his minister,
Bernard. The revolt is immediately renewed ; and
here commences the part which Gregory IV. took in
these deplorable scenes. This pope allies himself to
the three princes — he enters France with Lothaire,
without the permission of his sovereign, which none
of the pontiffs, his predeeessors had dared to do. At
the first rumour of the anathema which he was about
to fulminate against the emperor, the French prelates
had the courage to proclaim, that if Gregory had come
to excommunicate, he should go back excommuni
cated himself.* But Agobard, bishop of Lyons, and
several of his colleagues, maintained that the pope
must be obeyed. Gregory, on his part, addressed to
the partisans of Louis a memorable letter, in which
the secular power, without any ambiguity, is declared
* Si excommunicaturus adveniret, excommunicatus abiret, cum
aliter se haberet antiquorum canonum autoritas . Vit. Ludov. PH. in
the Recueil des Hist, de France, torn. vi. p. 113.

34 ENTERPRIES OF THE
to be subject to the Holy See* " The term brother,"]
said he to the prelates, who had addressed him by
that name, " indicates equality. You owe to me the
title of father. Know ye, that my chair is above the
throne of Louis."
In the meantime, Lothaire and his two brothers
collected their troops in Alsace: Gregory is with
them, and quits them only to go, in- the character of
mediator, into the camp of Louis. What the pope did
is not known: but the very night he took leave of the
emperor, the emperors troops disbanded ; desertion
decomposed the army of Louis and doubled that of
his adversaries. Forced to surrender himself to his
sons, he is dethroned by the advice of the pope, says
Fleury,J and Gregory returned to Romegreatly afflict
ed according to the same historian, at the triumph of
the unnatural children whom he had just served. The
plain, where this matter was transacted, (between
Strasburg and Basle,) is yet called {Le Champ du
Mensonge) the field of Lies.§
It would be painful to trace the details of the well
known humiliations of Louis I. How Hebo, his crea
ture, and other bishops condemned him to a public
penance — how the son of Charlemagne showed him
self almost deserving of so great ignominy by submit
ting to it — how, upon his knees, before these prelates,
he recited publicly a confession of his crimes, among
which he enumerated the march of his troops during
the carnival, and the convocation of a parliament on
holy Thursday — how, dragged from cloister to clois
ter, to Compeigne, to Soissons, to Aix la Chapelle, to
Paris, to St. Denis, he seemed destined there, to ter
minate his days, when the excess of his misfortunes
excited the public pity, and aroused against his ene
mies, already divided, the indignation of the common
* Agobardi Opera, torn. II. p. 55,
t 2 Pet. 3 : 15.
X Hist. Eccles. 1. xlvii. n. 39.
§ See Sismondi's Fall, (ed. of 1835, Phil.) p. 360, 361, 345, 348.
chap. 18.

POPES OF THE NINTH CENTURY. 35
people and of the nobility.* Some of the nobility go
to render homage to him as their sovereign, but
Louis dares not to acknowledge himself as such, till
after canonical absolution. He resumes his sword-belt
only in virtue of the judgment and by authority of
the bishops. It was on this occasion that he desired
Hildwin to compose a biography of St. Denis, a le
gend which has since become so famous, and which
alone is sufficient to characterize the reign of Louis
I., or rather the empire of those gross superstitions
which he allowed to reign in his place. An assembly
was called at Thionville, half parliament, half coun
cil, which restored him to his throne. Having been
solemnly reinstated in the midst of the church of
Metz, he pretended that the deposition of Hebo, arch
bishop of Rheims, pronounced at Thionville, had need
to be confirmed by the pope. » Several prelates, ac
complices of this Hebo, took refuge in Italy, under
the protection of Lothaire and Gregory. Others, al
most as shameless in confessing the crime, as in com
mitting it, were pardoned. None of them suffered the
punishment due to so great an outrage. Louis carried
his clemency so far as to re-establish Agobard in the
see of Lyons and put no bounds to the deferential re
spect which the pope exacted. Baronius pretends
even, that it was by the authority of the pope that the
king reascended the throne; but Bossuetf has refuted
this assertion, which, in truth, is not supported by any
cotemporaneous testimony. Marianus Scotus, a chro
nicler of the twelfth century, cited by Baronius, makes
* A cotemporary historian writes of this Hebo, as follows: —
" Eligerunt tunc, unum impudicum et crudelissimum, qui dice-
batur Hebo Remensis episcopus qui erat, ex originalium servorum
stirpe. ....'.. Abstulerunt ei gladium de femore suo judicio ser
vorum suorum induentes eum cilicio. Tunc implclum est eloqvium
Jeremiae prophets', dicentis. Servi dominati sunt nostri. O qualem
remunerationem reddisti ei '. Fecit te liberum, non nobilem., quod
impossibile est post libertatem. Vestivit te purpura, et pallio — tu
induistir eum cilicio. Ille pertraxit te immeritum ad culmen pontifi-
cale — tu eum f also judicio voluisli expellere a solio patrum suorum.
 Patres tui fuerunt pastores caprarum, non consiliarii
principum, etc. Thegan de gestis Ludovic. Pii. torn. xliv.
t Defens. Cler. Gall. torn. ii. lvi. c. 21.

36 ENTERPRISES OF THE
no mention, in connexion with this subject, of Gre
gory IV. Under the year 835, he merely says, that
Pepin and Louis restored to their father the exercise
of the sovereign power.
In the meantime, the death of Lothaire, gave occa
sion to a new division of the States and to a new re
volt of Louis, king of Bavaria. Louis-le-debonnair
again took arms against this son, who was always re
bellious, when an affright inspired by an eclipse,*
notwithstanding the boasted astronomical knowledge
of this emperor, terminated (in 845) his deplorable
reign, which was altogether worthy of such an end.
Lothaire's ambition, having leagued against him the
king of Bavaria and Charles the Bald, they con
quered him at Fontenai; and in order to get posses
sion of his States, they applied to some bishops who
were assembled at Aix-la-Chapelle. " Do you pro
mise," said these bishops, " to govern better than Lo
thaire did ?" The princes promised. The bishops
added, " Reign then in his place — we give you per
mission; receive the kingdom by divine authority;
govern it according to the will of God; we exhort
you to do so; we command you to do so." But
Lothaire did not give his consent, and his brothers
found him formidable enough to treat with him and
allow him to retain, not only the title of emperor, but
his States.
After a series of acts which had so humbled the
imperial power, we are not surprised to see Sergius
II. succeed to the throne of Gregory IV. without wait
ing for the consent of the emperor Lothaire. Still, this
prince was so irritated by it, that he sent his son Louis
into Italy at the head of an army. The pontiff was
alarmed and endeavoured to calm the young prince
* Six centuries later the state of knowledge was no better. For
in 1456, a comet (now known by the name of Halley) appeared.
Its long tail spread terror through Europe, which was already in
consternation at the rapid success of the Turks. Calixtus III. or
dered public prayers, as well on account of the comet, as of the
Turks. So entirely ignorant were the best informed of that age,
that nature is subjected, by its author, to unchangeable laws.

POPES OF THE NINTH CENTURY. 37
by a profusion of honours and homages. Louis' ex™
amined the election of Sergius, and ratified it in the
midst of an assembly, in which the pontiff had been
judicially interrogated. His premature consecration
was allowed to pass as valid only upon condition that
greater regularity should be observed in future. The
pope and the assembly took the oath of allegiance to
the emperor.* This firmness of Lothaire invigorated,
for a time, the civil power, even in the States of
Charles the Bald. He held at Epernai a parliament,
into which the bishops were not admitted. The
canons, which limited the rights of the king and of
the nobles, were reprobated, and measures were
adopted to prevent the abuse of excommunications.
In 847, Leo IV. was consecrated before the empe
ror had approved of his election. The excuse this
time was, that the ravages of the Saracens, in the vi
cinity of Rome, compelled this course, and that there
was no intention of derogating from the fealty due to
the head of the empire. But in truth, Leo IV. was
the most worthy pontiff of the ninth century. He
fortified Rome; built that quarter of it which is called
the Leonine city, and without thinking about giving
trouble to other States, he laboured, during eight
years, for the prosperity of that which he governed.
But the same praise is not due to Nicholas I., who
occupied the see of St. Peter from 858 to 867, yet he
aggrandized the power of the pontiffs more than any
other man of his age.f
Having been elected in the presence and by the in
fluence of the Emperor Louis, son of Lothaire, he re
ceived from that prince, honours which had never be
fore been given. Louis appears to have thought that
he could honour his own creature without peril. The
emperor went on foot before the pontiff, served him
* Anastas. Biblioth. de vit. Roman pontiff, page 352.
t Nicolas has obtained the cognomen of Great. He was com
pared to Elias, Phineas, Daniel ob virtutum decora, ob inslituta Bul-
garorum, ob defensionem S. Ignatii C. P. et Pholii invasoris con-
demnationem. 5

38 ENTERPRISES OF THE
as an Esquire, led his horse by the bridle ; thus giving
reality to, and even surpasing one of the provisions of
the pretended donation of Constantine. Such cere
monies could not transpire without consequences:
and Nicholas was not negligent in finding occasions
to make use of them. The power of Charlemagne
was,- at that time, divided among numerous descend
ants. The emperor Lothaire had left three sons,
namely, Louis the heir of -the empire, Charles king of
Provence, and Lothaire king of Lorraine. Their
uncles, Louis and Charles reigned, the one in Ger
many, the other in France; whilst the sons of Pepin,
king of Aquitaine, having fallen from the throne of
their father, ascended it, only to descend again. All
these princes, being equally destitute of learning and
energy, and feeble by their number, were yet more
so, by their discord. Each made use of the greater
portion of his scanty power, against the others. Ni
cholas had nothing to do, to make himself their mas
ter, but to declare himself such, and this act he did
not omit to perform.
An Archbishop of Sens, whose name was Venilon,
upon whom Charles the bald had conferred many be
nefits, was excited against this prince, by Louis king
of Germany. Venilon collected in the palace of At-
tichi, some disaffected prelates and with them pro
nounced the deposition of the king of France ; absol
ving his subjects from their oaths of allegiance, and
declaring that his crown had devolved upon his bro
ther. This outrageous act, had but one remarkable
effect, namely, the strange complaint which Charles
the bald made in a council of Savonni&res in 857.
"Venilon" said he "consecrated me in the church of
the Holy Cross of Orleans. He promised that he
would not depose me from the royal dignity without
the concurrence of the bishops, who took part with
him, in my consecration. The bishops are the throne,
where God sits to render his decrees : I have always
been, and am yet disposed to submit to their paternal

POPES OF THE NINTH CENTURY. 39
corrections ; but, when they proceed therein regular
ly."* The better to establish this enormous authority of
the clergy, Charles the bald, invoked it against Louis.
He assembled some French prelates at Metz, who
signified to the king of the Germans, that he had in
curred excommunication ; and they prescribed to him
the conditions, upon which they suspended his pardon.
Thus, by the confession of the king of France, bishops
had the right to depose himself and to excommuni
cate a foreign prince. One day these bishops, at Sa-
vonnieres, solemnly agreed, that they would remain
united for the correction of kings, noblemen and the
common people, and Charles the bald, heard them,
and received their words with a degree of humility,
which would have been more becoming in those who
uttered them.
Nicholas, was far from checking these enterprises
of the bishops. He took pleasure, on the contrary, in
Contemplating the progress of their power, provided
it should remain subordinate to his. The quarrels,
which arose among the prelates, gave occasion for
the exercise of his supremacy, and those for whose
advantage he employed it, supported it with ardour.
Hincmar, Archbishop of Rheims, had deposed Rotade
bishop of Soissons ; and king Charles the bald,' exe
cuted the decrees of a council which had condemned
Rotade for contumacy, notwithstanding his appeal to
the Holy See. Nicholas annulled those decrees,
threatened Hincmar, and re-established the bishop
of Soissons. The king did not sustain Hincmar: on
the contrary, he protected Vulfade, who had also
been deposed by the Archbishop of Rheims, in another
council whose sentence also, Nicholas had annulled :
So far had the false decretals already extended the
jurisdiction of the Holy See.
But the affair in which Nicholas displayed his
power most signally, was that of Lothaire, king of
* Libellvs proclamations adversus Venilonem Concil. t. viii. pag.
679.

40 ENTERPRISES OF THE
Lorraine, who, after having repudiated his wife
Theutberge, and taken her again, determined finally
to quit her and espouse Valdrade. This opposition of
the popes to the divorces of princes has often been
renewed since ; but in this case, we have the first ex
ample. Charlemagne had repudiated Imiltrude, and
then again Ermengarde or Desiderate without any
obstacle on the part of the Roman pontiff.* But it
was Charlemagne, and his great grandson inherited
neither his talents nor so large a portion of his power
as would command respect.
Marriage is a civil act, which, in its nature, must
be subject to the civil laws. The rules or maxims of
religion which concern it, have no exterior force or
positive efficacy, except so far as they are adopted
expressly into the national codes. They were not
adopted into the civil codes of the ninth century,
and consequently the priesthood ought to have con
fined their ministry to recommending in secret and
without scandal the voluntary observation of those
rules or maxims. But a course of conduct so wise
and yet so natural, was foreign to the customs of a
clergy, whose false decretals had converted their
ministry into a power, and neither the kings nor the
people of that age were capable of the degree of at
tention necessary to acquire precise ideas of their
civil rights, or of their religious duties. Whilst Lo
thaire continued to be the husband of Theutberge,
and had Valdradef only as a concubine, the pope and
the bishops abstained from exhorting him to set an
example of a more regular and decent life. But from
the moment it was proposed to confer on Valdrade
the rights of a lawful wife, Nicholas was on the
alert, and ready to apply to this project of reform his
pontifical veto.
* Sismondi's Fall, chap. 16, (ed. 1835, Phil.) p. 314. Gibbons'
Decline and Fall, chap. 49. Character of Charlemagne. Ad ann.
768—814. t Waldrada soror fuit Guntharii, Archiepiscopi Coloniensis, et
Teutberga, soror Hugoberli, Abbatis. Accusata itaque Teutberga
incestus cum fratre Hugoberto.

POPES OF THE NINTH CENTURY. 41
In truth, Lothaire himself provoked the interven
tion of the clergy by making Theutberge appear be
fore a tribunal of bishops in order to undergo a course
of indecent interrogation. She confessed herself twice
guilty of incest, and inasmuch as the functions of the
Lorraine priests extended so far as to extort such ac
knowledgments in public, Nicholas, whom they recog
nized as their supreme head, might easily think him
self authorized to review the strange procedure. He
annulled the decision pronounced against Theutberge
by the councils of Aix-la-Chapelle and Metz : he de
posed two prelates, Gonthier and Theutgaud, whom
the latter of these councils had thought it right to de
pute to him- These prelates cursed the decree of the
pope in unmeasured terms ; they protested ; they pre
tended that Nicholas wished to make himself emperor
of the whole world.* The emperor Louis appeared
to have some such belief himself. He went to Rome
resolved to sustain his brother Lothaire against Ni
cholas, but a fast and some processions which the
pope ordered — a tumult which he did not prevent —
some profanations, about which a great noise was
made — the sudden death of a soldier accused of having
mutilated a miraculous cross — these unhappy pre
sages so frightened Louis, that he fell sick of a fever.
Add to this, while Louis was trying to protect Lo
thaire, Charles the Bald having declared against him,
took Theutberge under his protection. Hincmarf
himself wrote a treatise upon this divorce, (which
occupied the attention of all Europe) little favourable
to the interests of Valdrade. J Nicholas then enjoined
upon Lothaire to renounce the project of a second
marriage under pain of excommunication. A legate,
named Arsenius, went to compel the king of Lorraine
to take back his first wife ;§ and in order to detach
him more surely from Valdrade, this courtisan (for
* Fleury Hist. Eccles. L. 1., n. 33.
t Sismondi's Fall, chap. 19, p. 381. Ed. 1835, Phil.
t De divertio Lotharii, torn. i. Operum Hincmari.
§ Annul Metens. ad ann. 866. Annul. Fuld. ad ann. 865, 866.
Concil. Gall. torn. iii. pag. 279. 5*

42 ENTERPRISES OF THE
so she was called by the Holy See) was taken off by
the legate, who would have conducted her to Rome
if she had not escaped on the route. The holy father
who desired her conversion, could not do less than
excommunicate her. But he received from Lothaire
an humble letter, in which the prince, after having
affirmed that he had not seen Valdrade after she left
Arsenius, conjured the Court of Rome not to give the
kingdom of Lorraine to either of his rivals — a suppli
cation, which to us of the present day, seems the ex
cess, not to say the delirium of weakness, but which
was dictated by the fear of being deprived of his
States for the benefit of Charles the Bald, who ex
pected to obtain them from the Holy See.
Several of the letters of Nicholas upon this affair,
contain a precious development of his ideas of the
royal power and his own proper authority.
In a letter to Adventius, the bishop of Metz, he
wrote* — " You say that the apostle commands obedi
ence to kings. But examine, in the first place, if these
kings are really such, that is to say, if they are just,
if they behave themselves well, if they govern their
subjects properly : for otherwise we are bound to hold
them for tyrants and resist them. Be subject to them
for God's sake, says the apostle, and not against God."
Fleuryf observes, that here the pope makes the
bishops judges, whether kings are legitimate or ty
rants; whereas, the morality of the gospel requires
obedience to bad masters. Nero was the reigning
prince when the apostle wrote this command.
Nicholas wrote to the bishops to inquire whether
Lothaire fulfilled his promises, and whether they were
satisfied with his deportment towards his first wife.J
He addressed to the king of Germany new complaints
against Lothaire.§ " We learn," says he, " that he
proposes to come to Rome without our permission.
* Concilior, torn. viii. pag. 487.
t Fleury Hist. Eccles. L. 1., n. 35.
X Receuil des Hist, de France, torn. viii. p. 419.
§ Ibid, p. 428.

POPES OF THE NINTH CF.NTURY. 43
Prevent him from disobeying us. Furthermore, take
care to transmit to us, by safe ways, the revenues of
St. Peter, which we have not received from your
states these two years." He declared to Charles the
Bald*, that Theutberge, having had recourse to the
church, could not be any longer subject to secular
judgment. In another letter to the same Charles/f
he announces, that he wrote no, more to Lothaire,
because he had excommunicated him. Lothaire, al
though he had, in fact, taken back Theutberge, had
not , sufficiently renounced Valdrade ; and Nicholas
was not satisfied with merely seeming obedience. At
length, Theutberge, wearied with these long debates,
thought seriously of renouncing for ever her titles of
spouse and Queen ; but the pontiff would not allow
it. In order to dissuade her, he addressed to her a
long letter, in which he recommended perseverance
and intrepidity, and prescribes death rather than con-
cession.J The same principles upon the jurisdiction and in
dependence of the clergy, are contained in the in
struction of Nicholas to the Bulgares :§ " You lay
men," said he, " ought not to judge, either priests or
clerks ; all must be left to the judgment of prelates."
Thus, while the pope censures the conduct of kings,
annuls or confirms their civil acts, and disposes even
of their crowns all members of the clergy, even the
inferior clerks, are enfranchised from all secular ju
risdiction. That was the regime, to which Nicholas
purposed to subject the West and the East. Above
all, he desired to subject Constantinople, and his first
attempt was, to condemn and depose the patriarch
Photius, in spite of the Emperor Michael. He
threatened Michael, that he would burn, in the face
of nations, an energetic letter which this emperor
had written to him — excommunicate the ministers,
who had advised the step, and annul, in a council of
* Recueil des Hist, de France, torn. viii. p. 422,
t Ibid. p. 438.
X Concilior, torn. viii. p. 425.
§ Fleury, Hist. Eccles. L. 1., n. 51.

44 ENTERPRISES OF THE
the West, every thing which had been done in the
East on behalf of Photius. This quarrel, which was
prolonged under the successors of Nicholas, was the
prelude of the schism of the Greek church.
Basile Cephalas (or the Macedonian,) assassinated
his benefactor Michael, and took possession of the
throne of Constantinople. Photius, on this occasion,
took it into his head to imitate St. Ambrose.* He
ventured to say to Basile " Your hands are full of
blood — approach not to the holy mysteries." But
Basile did not imitate Theodosius. He drove off
Photius, and re-established Ignatius, whom Michael
had, with equal injustice, deprived of the patriarchal
see. Adrian II. took advantage of the disgrace of
Photius, to renew against him the anathemas of Ni
cholas. Photius thus condemned at Rome, was con
demned again in a general council held at Constan
tinople. Charles the Bald and Louis of Germany, impatient
to divide between them the states of their nephew,
Lothaire, hoped that Adrian II. would definitively ex
communicate hirn ; but it did not suit Adrian's views
to furnish the means of enlarging their domains.
He allowed Lothaire to go to Rome, — admitted him
to the holy table — feared not to absolve Valdrade
herself? and for so great condescension, he was sa
tisfied by the oaths and promises of the king of Lor
raine. The monarch swore that he had had no in-

* Theodorit lib. 5, relates that Ambrose, when bishop of Milan,
not only excluded the emperor Theodosius from the communion and
from entering the temple, but actually compelled him to lay aside
the purple and royal dress and undergo a public penance, because
by his orders several thousand men were put to death at Thessalo-
nica (indicia causa.) Ho also compelled him to make a law, which
is still extant among the imperial constitutions in the Justinian
code (tit. de poenis I. Sivindicati) in hcec verba, Si vindicari in aliquos
severius contra nostram consuetudinem pro causre intuitu jusseri-
mus, nolumus statim eos aut subire pcenam aut excipere scientiam :
sed per dies triginta super statu eorum, sors et fortuna suspensa sit.
Bingham relates the affair in his Antiquities of the Church. Cla-
ruit Ambrosius, A. D. 380, nearly five hundred years before Pope"
Nicholas and Photius of C. P. Rubens made this piece of history the
subject of a picture, which Vandyke copied with some variations.

POPES OF THE NINTH CENTURY. 45
tercourse with her during the time she had been ex
communicated, and engaged never more to see her.
Lothaire died at Placentia* a few days after this oath
and his death which was deemed a punishment of his
perjury ,f brought on the results which his uncles had
expected from his excommunication. They made a
division of his states between them without regard to
the rights which the Emperor Louis had acquired by
preceding treaties.
Adrian, of his own motion declared himself the ar
biter and guarantor of the respective rights of the
three princes. He adjudged the States of Lothaire
to the emperor, who had not yet claimed them. He
commanded Charles and Louis, under the ordinary
pain of ecclesiastical anathemas, to renounce the di
vision, which they had dared to make, and he threat
ened with the same chastisement, every bishop and
every lord, who should sustain their usurpation. But
neither the French nor the Germans were disposed
to obey. They despised his commands. Hincmar
Archbishop of Rheims answered in the name of the
nation, that the bishop of Rome was not the disposer
of the crowns- of Europe — that France would never
receive her masters from the hand of the pope — that
groundless anathemas fulminated from motives pure- -
ly political, did not alarm the king of France — that
before Nicholas, the popes wrote only respectful let
ters to the French princes. In one word, although
they revered the spiritual ministry of the Roman pon
tiff, they knew how to resist his enterprises, whenever
he wished to be both king and pope. j
This letter, which was worthy of a more enlight
ened age, excited in the soul of Adrian, the most vio
lent wrath : he knew that a son of Charles the bald,
called Carloman, had just revolted against this mo-
* See Sismondi's Fall, &., chap. 19, ad fienn. for an account of
Lothaire's death, and the chapter throughout for the whole contro
versy between Lothaire, his uncles and the popes.
t Ann. Metens. ad ann. 869. Rhegin. Chronic, ann. 869.
X Hincmari Op. torn. ii. 689. This letter is cited with praise by
Bossuet Def. Cler. Gall. p. ii. 1. vi. c. 23.

46 ENTERPRISES OF THE
narch. He knew, that another Hincmar bishop of
Laon, and nephew of the Archbishop of Rheims, had
taken side for Carloman, and had carried his temerity
so far, as to excommunicate the king. Adrian de
clared himself the protector both of Carloman and of
the seditious bishop: The latter, seeing his acts an
nulled by his uncle, who was his metropolitan, appeal
ed to the Holy See: "An impudent thing," says
Pasquier,* " a novelty, and contrary to the ancient de
crees, which do not allow causes to pass the limits of
the kingdoms in which they were commenced : — In
France, this appeal was annulled, and the appellant
deposed. Adrian was enraged again. He ordered
the king, by virtue of apostolical power, to send the
parties to Rome, to wait for judgment there. King
Charles replied with vigour: he protested, that the
kings of France, sovereigns of their own domains,
would never vilify themselves, by becoming the Lieu
tenants of a pope ; and he exhorted him, says Pas
quier, to desist from sending such letters in future to
him and his prelates, that they may not have occa
sion to refuse them. This letter of Charles, produced
the effect which always results from persevering firm
ness. The pope was softened, —excused himself,—
abandoned Carloman, — confirmed the deposition of
the bishop of Laon, — said no more about the division
which had been made of the states of Lothaire. He
wrote the king a letter, full of respect, praise and pro
mises, which he desired should be kept very secret;
but it became public and has remained so.f Adrian
died soon after this letter was written, and John VIII.
succeeded him in 872.
The ravages of the Saracens in Italy, and parti
cularly about Rome, obliged pope John to observe
discretion in his conduct towards the christian princes:
for example, he took care not to displease Basil, the
Greek Emperor, when he wished to replace Photius,

* Recherches sur la France, 1. iii. c. 12.
t Concilior. torn. viii. pag. 936. Rec. des Hist, di France, torn.
vii. pag. 456, 458.

POPES OF THE NINNH CENTURY. 47
with whom he had become reconciled, in the patri
archal see of Constantinople which had become va-.
cant by the death of Ignatius. John concurred, by
his legates and by his letters in the acts of a council
of Constantinople, which re-established Photius and
he carried his complaisance to the Greeks so far, as
to censure those who added the words filioque, (and
to the son,) to the symbol.
But the rivalries among the numerous heirs of
Charlemagne, afforded John more than one occasion,
of making himself the judge of their pretensions ; and
of obtaining in return for the services he rendered to
some of them, the right of humbling the others, and
of domineering over all of them.
The emperor Louis died in 875, and Charles the
bald, in order to acquire the imperial dignity, to the
prejudice of his elder brother, the King of Germany,
was obliged to have recourse to the pope. John VIII.
who did not expect to find in the German prince and his
sons defenders strong enough against the Saracens,
preferred Charles the bald, and made use of the emer
gency to dispose of the empire in favour of the king
of France. He consecrated him emperor, during the
solemnities of Christmas : " We have judged him,"
says he, " worthy of the imperial sceptre — -we have
elevated him to the dignity and power of the empire,
we have decorated him with the title of Augustus.*
Charles paid dearly for this ceremony of coronation.
He consented to date from that day, all charters,
which he should thereafter subscribe; and, as appears
probable, John drew from him considerable sums of
money which afterwards went to pay the tributes ex
acted by the Saracens. It is added, that Charles even
devested himself in favour of the pope, of his rights
over the city and territory of Rome. But the docu
ment evincing this cession does not exist ; and cotem-
poraneous historians, with one exception, say nothing
about it. And John VIII. himself makes no mention
of it in any letter of his which remains.
* Concilior. torn. ix. pag. 295.

48 ENTERPRISES OF THE
In 877, when Charles had so much difficulty in de
fending France against the Normans, John VIII. drew
him into Italy to fight the Saracens. , " Forget not,"
said he to him " of whom you hold the empire, and
do not compel us to change our opinions." Charles
the bald, survived this menace but a short time, and
the imperial crown which he had worn for so short a
time was sought at the hands of the sovereign pontiff,
by several competitors. On this occasion, John re
stricted himself to promises, in order to get the high
est price. During three years, there was no Emperor
of the West. No one of those who solicited it, was
sufficiently strong to acquire it without the interven
tion of the Court of Rome. Louis the stammerer, son
of Charles the bald succeeded his father, only in the
character of king of the French. The pope came into
France in the first year of this new reign, and pre
sided in a council at Froyes. Lie fulminated anathe
mas against Lambert, duke of Spoleto ; and against
Aldebert, marquis of Tuscany ; and against Gasfrid,
Count of Mans ; and against Bernard, marquis of
Septimany; and against Hugh, son of Lothaire and
Valdrade. It is decreed by one of the canons of this
council, that bishops shall be treated with respect, by
the secular powers ; and that none shall be so bold,
as to sit in their presence,* unless they shall be directed
to do so.f One of the projects of John VIII. was
to exercise over the affairs of France a more imme
diate and a more habitual .influence through the
ministry of a legate of the Holy See. Already had he
invested Angesise, Archbishop of Sens with this title:
but this novelty did not please the other prelates at
all, and it was not very agreeable to the monarch.
Hincmar especially, resisted it with ardour. He wrote

* By way of a supposed analogy, perhaps, between the offices of
kings and of deacons who were forbidden to sit in the presence of a
priest, because they were supposed to sustain the same relation to
the priests which the Levites did to the Aaconic priesthood. (See
Decret. Grat. 21, Distinc. u. 1. — c. pervenit — non oportet 93, Dis-
tinc.) t Concilior. torn. ix. pag. 308.

POPES OF THE NINTH CENTURY. - 49
a treatise, for the purpose of showing how pernicious
it was ; and his brethren, the bishops instructed by his
lessons, and encouraged by his example, obstinately
resisted the enterprise. The pope thought it best to
desist. In truth, he would have preferred to obtain
pecuniary and military help against the Saracens;
but that was rather promised than granted.
Sergius, duke of the Neapolitans, obstinately per
sisted in favouring the Saracens, notwithstanding the
anathemas of Rome and the remonstrance of his bro
ther Athanasius, bishop of Naples. Athanasius caused
the eyes of his brother to be put out and himself to be
proclaimed duke in his place. It is painful to state,
that the pope approved entirely of this crime ; or as
Fleury calls it, this proceeding.* The letters, which
John VIII. wrote upon this subject, have been pre
served,-)- and in these he praises Athanasius, for having
preferred God to his brother; and for having plucked
out according to the precept of the Gospel, the eye
which offended. This barbarous and almost derisory
(blasphemous) application of a sacred text, reveals the
character of John VIII. whose three hundred and
twenty letters speak so often of excommunication,
that the menace becomes an ordinary, and so to speak,
an indispensible (formula) form of speech.
In 880, John VIII. disposed of the imperial crown.
He gave it, on Christmas day, to Charles the Gross,
son of Louis of Germany, who, in 884, became king
of France, after the death of Louis III., and of Car
loman, son of Louis the Stammerer. The names of
these princes are enough to remind us of the decline
of the Carlovingian Dynasty. A bishop of France
once wrote to Louis ILL, "It is not you who have
chosen me to govern the church : it is I and my col
leagues who have chosen you to administer the realm
upon the condition of observing the laws."J And
the bishop who addressed such language to his king,

* Hist. Eccles. liv. Iii. n. 47.
t Joannis viii. Epist. 66 and 67.
t Millot elemens de VHist. de France, torn. i. p. 194.
6

50 ENTERPRISES OF THE
was that same Hincmar, bishop of Rheims, who had
so energetically resisted the audacious enterprises of
Adrian II. It seemed to be a settled point, that the
monarch should have, as his master, either the na
tional clergy, or the bishop of Rome; and being al
ready too feeble to contend against one only of those
powers, he inevitably succumbed when they united
against him.
John VIII. died in 882, and ten popes succeeded
him one after another in the eighteen remaining
years of the ninth century. Neither of them had
time enough to become illustrious by <*ery vast en
terprises : we shall remark only that the election of
Stephen V. in 885, was after his installation examined
and confirmed by Charles the Gross;* that the
deposition of this emperor in 887, was pronounced,
not by ecclesiastical authority, but by an assembly of
German and French lords ;t that Formosus, in taking
part in the difficulties between Eudes and Charles
the Simple, at the least was more evangelical, and
less haughty in his language than Nicholas I., Ad
rian IL, and John VIII. had been on similar occa
sions. Formosus crowned two emperors, Lambert,J
in 892, and Arnold, in 896 ; and at both ceremonies,
the Romans took the oath of allegiance to the prince
saving the faith promised to the Lord Formosus.§
This pope is famous only for the proceedings to
which his memory and his remains were subject, un-
* Art de verifier les dates, torn. i. p. 267.
t Muratori Annali d'ltalia, ann. 887.
X Lambert was the son of Wido, Duke of Spoletum. He was de
throned by Arnulph or Arnold in 896, and in 898 was killed by
Ugo, son of Manfred, in a hunt. Arnold died in 899, corpore ver-
mibus et pediculis putrefacto : Unde extat de illo, Epigramma.
"Normannos vicit, sed non animalia tetra
" A quibus, ut quondam Sylla, peresus obit."
The allusion is to what Aurelius Victor (de viris illustribus no
75) says of Cornelius Sylla, "Morbo, qui Phthirisis vocatur, inter-
iit." fyBiigMsit 4 $0il$ pediculus.
$ Luitpr. 1. i. c. 8. St. Marc. Abr. de V Histoire d'ltahe, torn. ii.
pag. 632.

POPES OF THE NINTH CENTURY. 51
der his successors — deplorable scenes, but foreign to
our subject.*
In 898 and during the pontificate of John IX., Arnold
was delckred an usurper of the imperial dignity, and
Lambert resumed the title of emperor. The pope held
on this occasion a council at Ravenna, in which the
sovereignty of the emperors of the West over Rome
and the ecclesiastical state was acknowledged by se
veral decrees.t The following is the most import
ant : " Seeing that at the death of a sovereign pon
tiff, the Roman church is exposed to great disorders,
when the new pope is consecrated without the know
ledge of the emperor, and without waiting for his com
missioners, whose authority would prevent the vio
lence and scandal which too often attends this cere
mony ; we will, that in future, the pope should be no
minated by the bishops and the clergy upon the pro
position of the senate and the people1 — that after
having thus solemnly and publicly elected him, the
consecration shall take place in the presence of the
commissioners of the emperor, and that no person
shall dare, with impunity, to require of him under
any pretext whatever, other promises or oaths than
those which are authorized by the ancient custom, so
that the church suffer neither scandal nor damage,
and the authority of the emperor receive no detri
ment." But in thus rendering homage to the imperial dig
nity, the popes seem to have reserved to themselves,
by way of compensation, the right of conferring it.
After the death of Lambert and Arnold, the bishops
and lords of Bavaria elected, in 899, Louis, a son of
Arnold, and prayed the pope to confirm this election,
excusing themselves for having made the election
without his knowledge on the ground that the pagans
* Boniface VI. succeeded Formosus, but held the chair only
fifteen days. Stephen VI. followed. It is said, he had the dead body
of Formosus taken up and stripped of the pontifical habit, and
clothed in a lay habit, and cut off the two consecrated fingers and
threw them into the Tyber. His acts were disapproved of by Ro-
manus his successor.
t St, Marc, ibid. 636, 640.

52 ENTERPRISES OF THE
(meaning the Hungarians) had cut off intercourse
with Italy. Neither John IX. nor his successor Be
nedict IV. were in haste to crown Louis. Following
the example of John VIII., they endeavourffd to ac
custom the Romans to dispense with an emperor.
The empire continued vacant till 901.
We perceive in the division of the states of Char
lemagne among the sons of Louis le debonnaire, and
in the ulterior subdivisions of the same states, the
chief cause of the degradation of the civil authority,
and of the metamorphosis of the pontifical ministry
into a formidable power. " Hence," says Velly,*
" these enterprises of the popes, who, regarding them
selves as the disposers of an empire, in which they
were only the first subjects, pretended, under colour
of a power purely spiritual, to dispose of states, as
sovereigns. Hence that authority of bishops, who,
after having dethroned the father, at the solicitation
of his children, thought they had the right to elect,
confirm, or depose their masters ; ambitious prelates,
more like warriors than ecclesiastics, scarcely able
to read, much less to write, formidable, nevertheless,
as much by the spiritual thunderbolt, which they of
ten (in the language of Pasquier) brandished without
discrimination, and too freely, as by the temporal
power, which they had usurped in their cities and
dioceses. Hence those almost independent principa
lities, which the monks had acquired for themselves
in countries, where, a few years before, they grubbed
with their own hands small parcels of land, which a
pious liberality had allowed for their use."
Although there had not yet been any authentic act
which- constituted the pope a sovereign, and which
enfranchised the authority which he exercised at
Rome and its environs from imperial supremacy, yet
his power, in effect, became independent ; and as by
consecrating the emperors he thought he made them,
and as he dared to speak of their dignity as a bene
fit, for which they were indebted to him, he had,
* Hist, de France, torn. ii. in 12, page 244.

POPES OF THE NINTH CENTURY. 53
doubtless, sufficient power to set bounds to the obe
dience which they might require of him. The em
perors, far from imposing laws upon him within his
proper states, often submitted to his in the exercise of
their civil rights and political powers. In the course
of the succeeding centuries, every thing will be found
to depend, not only upon the progress of ignorance,
or the return of knowledge, but also on the personal
energy of the several kings and pontiffs.

6*

( 54 )

CHAPTER III.
The Tenth Century.
Protestants take pleasure in painting the interior
of the Roman court during the tenth century, and in
extracting from Luitprand, a cotemporaneous author,
the unedifying details of which he has composed an
ecclesiastical and political history of this epoch.*
But without examining whether the recitals of this
author are faithful rather than satirical, we must say,
with Fleury,-)- that Rome, under those unworthy
popes, was still the centre of Christianity. We may
add, with other theologians, that the fact that so
many scandals, has not brought on, by their excess,
the fall of the Holy See, seems to manifest the care
which Divine Providence gives to the maintenance
of this focus of catholic unity. Besides, the private
life of the popes is not the subject which occupies us,
we are only considering their political relations with
the secular governments. Confining ourselves to
this study, it will not be necessary for us to unfold
the succession of thirty popes, who, during the
course of this century, occupied, with more or less
legality, the chair of' St. Peter. When we find con
curring two popes at the same time, we shall not be
obliged to decide which was the true pope: we shall

* Gibbon makes a similar remark (in chap. 49, Decline and Fall.)
But the assertion is too general. No man who is actuated by a phi
lanthropic, not to say, Christian spirit, can take pleasure in these
unedifying details. Protestants do not, however, adopt the infe
rence of Fleury, and many who are not Protestants have been led
by such facts, to entertain views unfavourable to the divine authen
ticity of Christianity. But they ought to have recollected the apos
tolic admonition. " Remember ye not that when I was yet with
you I told you these things." 2 Thess. ii. 5
t Fourth Disc. «. 13.

POPES OF THE TENTH CENTURY. 55
not decide between Baronius, (who will never ac
knowledge any but the more worthy, that is, the one
most canonically elected) and the authors who attach
themselves to the most effective, viz., to him who has
really exercised the pontifical power. These are de
licate questions, which would require long discussion
and the examination of a multitude of little facts, fo
reign to the history of the great contests between the
pontiffs and the kings. In the midst of these facts,
and of these vicissitudes, two points appear to us in-
contestible : first, that the Holy See was then reck
oned among the temporal governments; the second,
that being occupied with her own affairs, and the in
ternal troubles which agitated her, she lost a great
part of the influence and power which the preceding
century had bequeathed to her. The first of these
facts is admitted by Constantine Porphyrogenetes, the
Greek emperor, who, in the middle of the tenth cen
tury, made a sort of statistical table of the East and
of the West. In it he represents the popes as the
sovereigns of Rome,* and although this inexact ex
pression should be modified, still we must confess,
that this text at least places the bishops of Rome in
the rank of princes, who had the immediate govern
ment of a state. As to the second fact, it was almost
a necessary result. Pleasures deaden the activity of
ambition — discord trammels power — intrigues, which
give occupation within, suspend projects abroad ; and
he who is obliged to defend himself within the en
closure of his palace, does not meditate distant at
tacks. Excommunications, which were so familiar
to Gregory III. Nicholas I., and John VIII., menaced
less frequently during this century, the crowned
heads. Even theological opinions were less exposed
to anathemas. There was no general council held,
nor did any new heresy arise in the tenth century.
This century may be divided into four periods.
* Pcourjv  ihioxeo.'toeioj' j>v%e<,v xav Ss^7io^sg0ai,
xugwo; rtuCa *m-o; xovta, scatgoi' rtarta. De Themat. imp. 1. ii.
ch. 10, pag. 27.

56 ENTERPRISES OF THE
The first ended in 932. It was characterized by the
influence of Theodora and her daughters. The second
ended in 962, and was occupied by the administration
of Alberic and his son. The third begins with the
coronation of Otho as emperor, and terminated with
his death in 973. The consulate of Crescentius de
signates the fourth period.
The inhabitants of Rome had not ceased to foster
ideas of independence. Old habits brought them back
to republican forms. Their city did not belong to
the kingdom of Italy. Its only connexion was with
the imperial crown, over which the pontiff had such
control that he sometimes held it in reserve. We
have remarked examples of vacancy in the empire
under John VIII. and John IX. In 905, when the
eyes of Louis III. were put out, (who was for this
reason surnamed the blind), the Romans ceased to
inscribe his name in their public acts: and although
this unhappy prince still persisted in taking the title
of emperor, the empire really remained vacant till
the coronation of Berenger in 915.* During these
interregna, Rome became accustomed to recognize
her pontiff as her sovereign, or rather to regard her
own inhabitants, nobles, or priests, and perhaps, also,
her plebeians, as possessing the sovereignty. This
collective sovereign made popes, and sometimes un
made them. There were seven or eight elections or
revolutions of this sort in the course of the first four
teen years of the tenth century ; and on each occa
sion the two factions which, after the proceeding
against the memory of Formosus, divided the Roman
nobility, came into collision. Some authors discover,
at this epoch, the origin of the Guelphs and Ghibe
lines; but we must confess, that we can as yet only
see disputes between families for the papacy or their
influence as well upon elections as upon the elected.
Least of all do we see, in the midst of these troubles,
a party for the emperors of the West.
We rather remark a feeble tendency towards the
e St. Marc Abrege de I'histoire d'Halie, torn, ii, pag. 658,

POPES OF THE TENTH CENTURY. 57
Greek emperors — a tendency which became much
more perceptible at the close of the century. From
the year 907, Rome treated with favour Leo VI. who
was called the philosopher, and whose fourth mar
riage had been censured by the patriarch of Constan
tinople. The power of the clergy at that time was
more imposing at a distance from Rome than it was
in that capital of Christendom.
William of Aquitaine, in founding the abbey of
Cluni, about 910, declared that these monks should
not be subject to him or to his relations, or to his de
scendants, or to- any power on earth.*
In the western and northern parts of Europe, the
monks inherited from others, but no other person in
herited from them ; and the edifice of their formida
ble opulence arose rapidly. They made no such pro
gress in the Roman territory, where (under epheme
ral popes, the elective chiefs of a species of republic),
the intrigues incident to such a government occupied
every mind. In the midst of these political commo
tions, there arose three patrician females, endowed
with all the means of influence by which rank,
talents, and beauty could arm ambition. Theodora,
the mother of the two others, seduced the great,
calmed factions, subjected the church itself to her
empire — in one word, she softened manners by cor
rupting them. One of her lovers, at first only bishop
of Bologna, owed to her the archbishopric of Ra
venna, and afterwards the sovereign pontificate,
which he occupied from 914 to 928, under the name
of John X. We cannot say much for the sanctity of
this pope, but as the head of a state he deserves less
reproach. He did not contest the rights of other mo-
narchs : he acknowledged that it belonged to kings
to give investiture to their bishopsf — he reconciled
princes whose rivalries rent Italy : when he placed
the imperial crown on the head of Berenger, he
made an effort to ally him with the Greek emperor
* Concilior, t. ix. pag. 565. Bibl. Cluniac, pag. 2. Fleury Hist,
Eccles. liv. liv. n. 45.
t Concil. Gall. torn. iii. pag. 575.

58 ENTERPRISES OF THE
against the Saracens, their common enemy — he
marched himself against those Mahommedans, and
fought them with more valour than belongs to a
pope, and drove them from the neighbourhood of
Rome. It appears that Theodora died before 928. Maro-
zia, one of her daughters, having married for her
second husband, Guy of Tuscany, dethroned John X.
and cast him into prison, where he died soon after,
and doubtless by violence. His successors were one
Leo VI. and one Stephen VII. the creatures of Ma-
rozia. Finally John XI. a youth of twenty or five-
and-twenty years, a son of Marozia by pope Sergius
III, according to Fleury,* Baronius,-|- Sigonius,J and
many others who follow Luitprand :§ but Muratori,||
says that Alberic, the first husband of Marozia, was
the father of John XI. However this may be, Ma
rozia governed Rome under the pontificate of her
son until 932, which was the epoch of a new revolu
tion. Marozia had married for her third husband
Hugo, king of Provence, and the uterine brother of
Guy of Tuscany. This third husband, taking it into
his head to mal-treat Alberic, another son of Maro
zia, a party devoted to this young man put him at
the head of affairs. Hugo was driven from the city,
and John XI. continued to fill the chair of St. Peter
as a matter of form, but almost entirely without any
real power.
At this time commenced a period of about thirty
years of secular administration. Alberic, under the
title of consul or of patrician, chose the popes, go
verned them, and kept them dependent. Out of the
city, these popes possessed in reality only some terri
torial properties; and these even they had enfeoffed,
and derived from them only revenues. An armed
nobility covered their domains, which now no longer
* Hist. Eceles. 1. Iv. n. 5.
t Annul. Eccl. ad. ann.
X De rcgn. Hal. 1. vi . pag. 400.
§ Lib. iii. c. 12, pag. 410.
|| Annali d' Italia, ad ann. 931.

POPES OF THE TENTH CENTURY. 59
were their states ; and also places which never had
been subject to their control.
In these barbarous times, the art of administering
affairs at a distance, we mean the art of establishing
over large surfaces an energetic system of centrality,
of subordination, of correspondence, was unknown.
This art was perfected in our times; and the want
of it during the middle ages was perhaps one of the
principal causes of the establishment and progress
of feudal anarchy. The only feasible mode of manag
ing an empire of considerable extent then known
was, to divide it among vassals, and these would de
clare their independence whenever the personal weak
ness of the lord paramount gave them an opportunity
to become so. From 932 until near 956, the pope
was only bishop of Rome, without civil power, and
much restrained in his spiritual influence. Properly
speaking, also, the Emperor of the West had disap
peared; for Henry the Fowler did not take this title in
his diplomas.* He entitled himself Patron or Advocate
of the Romansf, and this vain title, inferior even to that
of patrician, established no authority, no function, no
political relation. Such was the independence with
which Alberic governed his fellow-citizens. He con
voked them periodically in national assemblies — he
preserved or renewed among them such republican
forms as he deemed conducive to the maintenance of
his personal magistracy. Alberic died in 954, and
his son, Qctavian, who succeeded him, thought it ne
cessary to fortify the civil authority by uniting to it
the pontifical dignity. He became pope in 956, and
took the name ofJohnXII.J This two-fold power
* See Sismondi's Fall, &c., chap. 23.
t Art. de verifier les dates, torn. ii. pag. 10.
X It is not agreed with which of the popes the custom of taking a
, new name, upon being elected to the pontificate, originated. Panvi-
sius ascribes it to Octavian, who took the name John XII. Others
ascribe it to Sergius. Nor is the reason of the practice agreed upon.
Some say it is in imitation of the change of St. Peter's name ; others
say it was practised by those chiefly whose names were not suitable
to the papal dignity, and that the pontiffs elected from Germany
contributed to confirm this custom, many of whom (such as Geb-

60 ENTERPRISES OF THE
would have sufficed to exalt the Holy See if the ex
treme youth of John XII. — the mediocrity of his
talents, and the enterprises of Berenger II. king of
Italy, had not brought "on the re-establishment of the
imperial dignity. John XII. having occasion for the
aid of Otho, king of Germany, against Berenger,
crowned Otho emperor in 962.
Berenger II. and his son Adalbert were deposed.
Otho united the kingdom of Italy to that of Germany
and to the imperial crown. In order to acquire so
great a power, he made magnificent promises to the
Roman Church, and received in return the oaths and
homage of the pope. These official acts of Otho and
of John XII. are still extant. Gratian has preserved
them in his canonical compilation. And if the au
thenticity of them is contested the foundation of them
is indubitable.* Otho confirmed the donation of Pe
pin — of Charlemagne — of Louis I: — he extended them
perhaps, but with the express reservation to himself
of the sovereignty of the city of Rome, and of all the
ecclesiastical domains — " saving " said he " fn all re
spects our power, and that of our son, and our de-
scendants."t The constitutions which required the
consent of the emperor, to the installation of a pope,

hardus, Bruno, Suidegerus, Anshelmus, Popus, Geberhardus, Hilde-
brandus) had names much less suited to the papal dignity than Oc-
tavianus. Polydorus Vergilius lepide hac de re inquit. Primus
honos Romano pontifici habctur, ut si minus pulchro honestetur
nomine, ei statim creato liceat illud mutare ; verbi gratia si
homo maleficus forte antea fuerit, Bonifacius appelletur ; Si timidus
Leo ; Si rusticus, Vrbanus ; Si improbus, Innocentius ;. Si ferox,
Clemens ; Si male audierit, Benedictus, ut saltern nomine pontif ex
ornamento sit dignitas. Banck adds, " Si ubique succubuerit, Vic
tor : Si omnis nequitije saeerdos, Pius : Si populum suppresserit
Nicolaus : Si tristi Hilarius : Si fortune ictibus expositus, Felix:
Si faeiem indecoram habeat, Formosus : Si semper torvus, Gelasivs
dicatur. But Hadrian VI. elected 1521, retained his name ; so did
Marcellus, the maternal uncle of Cardinal Bellarmin.
* Luitprand, 1. vi. c. 6. Pagi Crit. Ann Baron, ann. 962.
Fleury Hist. Eccles. 1. Ivi. n. 1.
t " This clause," says Fleury, " shows clearly that the emperor
reserved to himself the sovereignty and jurisdiction over Rome and
over all contained in this donation, and the sequel of the history
will verify it."

POPES OF THE TENTH CENTURY. 61
were renewed. Otho regarded himself, as even in
vested with the power of deposing the Roman pontiffs ;
and he did not long delay to exercise it.
Scarcely had he left Rome, when John XII. sur
veying with alarm the extent of the imperial power,
repented that he had re-established it, and conceived
the project of enfranchising himself from it. Berenger
and Adalbert, with whom he had promised to form
no relation, were to aid hiin in the enterprise. The
emperor, who was soon informed of it, received at
the same time, some reports concerning the private
life of the pontiff. They were not highly edifying.
Otho appeared to give but slight attention to these
stories. "The pope," said he " is a child ; the exam
ple of virtuous people will correct him. Judicious re
monstrances will withdraw him from the precipice,
upon which he has cast himself." John .received with
a very ill grace this paternal advice. He brought
Adalbert to Rome, — affected to receive him with
pomp — collected troops, and openly revolted against
the emperor, notwithstanding the approach of this
prince, at the head of his army. But their forces
were very unequal. John was obliged to flee to Ca
pua with Adalbert. Otho entered Rome, and after
having taken the oath of the Romans, not to acknow
ledge any pope, whom the emperor should not approve
of, he wrote to John a letter which Fleury* gives in
the following terms.
" Having come to Rome for the service of God, we
inquired of the bishops and cardinals, the cause of
your absence. They have alleged against you, shame
ful things, which would be unworthy of play actors.
All, (clerks as well as laymen,) have accused you of
homicide — perjury — sacrilege —of incest with your re
lations and with two sisters, and of having invoked in
a play Jupiter, Venus and other demons. We pray
you to come instantly to justify yourself against these
charges. If you fear the insolence of the people, we
* Hist. Eccles, 1. lvi. n. 6.
7

62 ENTERPRISES OF THE
promise you, with an oath that nothing shall be done
except in accordance with the canons."
The pope declared, (and this was the whole of his
answer,) that he excommunicated the bishops, who
should dare to co-operate in the election of another
sovereign pontiff. This threat however, did not pre
vent the council summoned by Otho, from deposing
John XII. nor from electing Leo VIII. Nevertheless,
several nobleman attached to the family of the Albe-
rics excited two seditions, one under the very eyes of
the emperor,— -the other, soon after his departure.
The second of these commotions replaced John XII.
upon the pontifical throne, which, on this occasion,
he dishonoured with horrible acts of vengeance. He
did not limit himself to excommunications. He killed
or mutilated those who had concurred in his deposi
tion. His sudden death interrupted the course of these
cruel executions. Lie died from a violent blow on
the temple, inflicted in the night* by a secret .enemy,
doubtless by one of the husbands which the holy fa
ther had outraged.f The Romans disregarding all
the oaths which they had taken to the emperors, elect
ed a successor to him named Benedict V. but Leo
VIII., who had retired to Otho, was soon brought
back to Rome by this prince, and Benedict V., the
true pope according to Baronius,J acknowledged him
self to be antipope at the feet of the head of the em
pire. He took off his pontifical dress and asked par
don for having dared to put it on ; in short he gave
homage to Leo VIII. as to the lawful successor of
Saint Peter.§ The German publicists, || do not at all
* Continuator Luithprandi, morluum Joannem XII. ait ex vul-
nere injticto cum node se cum uxore cujusdam viri oblectaret.
t Bellarmin says that John XII. was almost the most vicious of
the popes. Fuitfere omnium deterrimus. De Rom. Pontiff. 1. ii.
ch. 29.
t Ann. Ecc. ad ann. 944.
§ Luitprand 1. vi. c. ult. Vita Joannis XII. torn, iii, Rer. Italic,
p. ii. pag. 328.
|| See Pfeffel Abr. Chron. de Vhistoire et du droit public d'Alle-
magne ad ann. 964. Koch Tableau des revolutions de V Europe 3me
periode, etc.

POPES OF THE TENTH CENTURY. 63
question the authenticity of an act which Otho then
caused Leo VIII., the clergy and the people ofRome
to subscribe. It is stated in that act, that for the fu
ture, none shall have the right to elect a pope or any
other bishop, without the consent of the emperor.
That the bishops elected by the clergy and people
shall not be consecrated, before the emperor has con
firmed their election, with the exception of certain
prelatures, whereof the emperor had ceded the investi
ture to the pope and the archbishops: — that Otho,
king of the Germans, and his successors in the king
dom of Italy, should have in perpetuity the right of
choosing, who should reign after them, and that of
nominating the popes, as well as the archbishops and
bishops, who should receive investiture from these
princes, by the " crosier and the ring." With the ex
ception of these last words, the act is preserved in the
decree of Gratian.* Nevertheless, some Italian au
thors deem it Apocryphal, without alleging any other
reason for this opinion, than the exorbitant extent
which this constitution would seefn to give the impe
rial power .j- Yet, we will say in this place that even
if the authenticity of this text be not rigorously de
monstrated, the testimony of cotemporaneous historians
will, nevertheless, prove thatOtho compelled Leo VIII.
to subscribe a categorical recognition of the imperial
rights.J The recent revolt of John XII. was sufficient
to inspire the emperor with the desire of this new se
curity; and Leo, his creature, had no means of im
posing any restrictions. The transaction was just
such as Otho wished it, and this prince, being both
* Distinct. 63, can. 23.
f " Sono invenzione  alcuni decreli  nel quali si
trovano esorbitanti concessioni di autorila all' imperadore, si nello
spirituule che temporale delta chicsa Romana. H cardinale Baronio
(Ann. Eccles. ann. 964) il Padre Pagi (Crit. Baron.) ed allri han
saggiamente rigettate simili imposture. Muratori. Annali d'Halia,
ann. 964, torn. v. pag. 419.
X Luitprand, 1. vi. c. 6. See Yvo. Pannom. 1. viii. c. 136. Gra-
tiani Decretum dist. 63, can. 23. De Marea Concord. 1. viii. c. 12,
Saint Mare Abr. dc I'Hist, d'ltalie, torn. iv. pag. 1167, 1185,

64 ENTERPRISES OF THE
a conqueror and a benefactor, could not content him
self with an ambiguous form of expression.
Leo VIII. and Benedict V. died in the year 965,
and the commissioners of the Emperor caused John
XIII. to be elected, but the Jtomans revolted against
this new pope. They drove him off: Otho was ob
liged to pass into Italy again. He went to Rome, sub
dued the sedition and restored the pontiff. John XIII.
could not pardon any of his enemies. He signalised
his entry by atrocious acts of vengeance, of which
the emperor deigned to become the accomplice and
the instrument. They tarnished the glory of this
prince and justified the bad reception, which the
Greek emperor Nicephorus Phocas gave to one of
his envoys. " The impiety of your master" said the
sovereign of Constantinople to the envoy of Otho,
" does not allow me to receive you honourably. Thy
master has made himself the tyrant of the Romans,
his subjects. He has exiled some and deprived others
of their eyes. He has exterminated a part of his peo
ple by the sword and the scaffold." The ambassador
to whom this language was addressed, was the histo
rian Luitprand who reported it himself.* Still, Otho
did not possess a cruel disposition ; but he yielded in
this instance, to the impulse of the vindictive John
XIII. The success of Otho the Great — his journies to
Rome from 962 to 966, laid the foundation of the
power of the German emperors, his successors. It
was his purpose, that the imperial dignity should for
ever be inseparable from the kingdoms of Germany
and Italy— that the whole of Christendom should
form one republic, which should acknowledge the
emperor as its only temporal head — that it should be
long to this supreme head to convoke councils, com
mand the Christian armies, establish popes, depose
them, preside over and create kings. But to elevate
himself to that degree of greatness, he was obliged
* Luitprand Ann. 968. Fleury Hist. Eccles. 1. Ivi. n. 20,

POPES OF THE TENTH CENTURY. 65
to humour the German bishops, and they obtained
from him enormous concessions. He distinguished
the cities into prefectorial and royal, (afterwards im
perial) and confided the government of these last to
prelates, and they laboured to render them episcopal.
The bishops became counts and dukes, with royal
rights, such as supreme judicature, the coining of
money, the right of receiving customs or tolls, and
other public revenues. It was by the title of fiefs
and under the charge of following him in his military
expeditions, that Otho granted them so much power
and wealth. But these dangerous benefits, by dimi
nishing the domains of the crown, and the revenues
of the state, sowed the germs of anarchy and revo
lution. The clergy, as well secular as regular, ac
quired in most European countries a formidable de
gree of power,"which would have become even more
so, if some symptoms of rivalry between these two
classes of the clergy, had not impeded their common
aggrandizement. The convents multiplied daily, and
became rich almost beyond measure. It was be
lieved that the end of the world was very near.* The
term of a thousand years of the church was about
to expire, and donations to the church, especially to
the monasteries, was considered the most sure gua
rantee against eternal damnation. From the bosom
of cloisters arose imposing personages, before whom
the thrones of the earth bowed. Dunstan started
from the abbey of Glascow to govern Great Britain,
to practice severity against queens, and impose pe
nance on kings. Otho the Great was the only Chris
tian prince at this epoch, who was entirely predomi
nant over the ecclesiastical authority; and if there
remained among any people any ideas or habits of
civil independence, it was among the Romans at the
centre of Christendom.
The reign of Otho the Great is the epoch to which
we should choose to refer the origin of the two fac-

* See Sismondi's Fall, chap. 24, p. 468, ct seq. (ed. of 1835,
Phil.) 7*

66 ENTERPRISES OF THE
tions, papal and imperial, afterwards called the
Guelphs and Ghibelines ; but, in the tenth century,
the partisans of the pope were, at Rome, only citi
zens, desirous of reconquering the independence of
their city or republic, and of withdrawing their elec
tive chief from all foreign domination. Some- would
have preferred an administration purely civil, like
that of Alberic. They were rather united against
the emperor than in favour of the pontiff, elected
without his approbation, or against his will. Such
were the elements of the faction which revolted with
John XII., which nominated Benedict V., and which
resisted, as far as it could, Leo VIII. and John XIII.
The emperor had no friends at Rome, except his per
sonal agents, and a very small number of the inhabi
tants. The remainder were submissive only fq his
presence, and by force of his arms. Thus this fana
tic faction, which in the sequel appeared to maintain
the most monstrous excesses of pontifical ambition,
was originally only a republican party, which more
than once it would have been easy to employ for the
destruction of the temporal power of the popes, by
giving to the Romans and to some other Italian cities
a suitable government.
Otho died in 973, and between his death and the
pontificate of Gerbert, or Silvester IL, the most, re
markable events are the accession of Hugh Capet to
the. throne of France — the excommunication pro
nounced against his son Robert — the attempts of
Crescentius to enfranchise Rome from the yoke of
Otho II. and of Otho IIL, the feeble successors of
Otho the Great.
Crescentius was a son of Theodora and according
to Fleury,* of Pope John X. He governed Rome in
the character of Consul, about the year 980, but it is
probable that from the year 974 he exercised a great
influence. Stormy or feeble pontificates brought
back the civil magistracy. Benedict VI., successor
of John XIII. had been dethroned, imprisoned, stran-
* Hist. Eccles. 1. Ivi. n. 56.

POPES OF THE TENTH CENTURY. 67
gled, or condemned to die of hunger. One Boniface
VII, a usurper of the Holy See, after having robbed
the churches, fled with his plunder to Constantinople.
There was no hesitation in supplying his place, and
imperial influence determined the election of Bene
dict VII. who belonged to the family of the Albe-
rics, then counts of Tusculum, a. powerful family, by
which the emperor Otho II. and his agents strength
ened the German party. But this emperor being oc
cupied in a war against the Greeks in the duchy of
Beneventum, feared to displease the Romans, by
taking too much part in their affairs. He did not,
therefore, prevent Crescentius who had obtained their
confidence, from governing both their city and their
bishop. In 983, when Benedict VII. died, the consul
and the Romans elected . John XIV. In the mean
time, Boniface VII., returned from Constantinople,
and got possession of Rome and of John XIV., and
put him to death in a dungeon, and. maintained him
self during eleven months at the head of the city and
of the church. There is reason to believe that Cres
centius contributed to the fall of Boniface, whom a
sudden death removed from the vengeance of the
people. John XV. elected in 985, had disputes with
the consul, who exiled him, and would not consent to
see him again, until after the pope had promised to
respect the popular authority. Notwithstanding this
promise, Otho III. was called into Italy by John XV.
who endured with great reluctance the ascendency
of Crescentius. John died just at the time he expect
ed to see • himself delivered from this governor.
Otho III. designated a German for pope, who took
the name of Gregory V. This foreigner, elected
pontiff by the influence of the counts of Tusculum,
when the imperial army was approaching the city,
and for these reasons, odious to the Romans, dis
pleased them still more by his manners and his
haughty German airs.* It was, at that time that
* Bellarmin and other authors have attributed to Gregory V. the in
stitution of the seven electors of the empire. This absurd opinion

68 ENTERPRISES OF THE
Crescentius conceived the project of replacing Rome
under the authority of the Greek emperors, who
were lenient and distant masters, accustomed to re
spect the privileges of the people, and under whose
protection the Neapolitans and Venetians prospered,
or, at _ least, breathed. Some Greek ambassadors
came to Rome under pretext of a mission, which
they were going to discharge at the court of Otho
III. They conferred with the consul, who immedi
ately drove off Gregory V., and supplied his place by
a Greek, named Philagathus, who from being bishop
of Placentia, became pope or antipope under the
name of John XVI. But Otho III. came to Rome
and seized this new pontiff. Gregory V. condemned
him notwithstanding the prayers of St. Nil, to lose
his life by the most horrible torments. Crescentius
retired to the mole of Adrian. A negotiation with
him was commenced or feigned. They engaged to
respect his person, he trusted to the promise given by
the emperor, went out of the fortress, delivered him
self to Otho, and was instantly beheaded, together
with his most faithful partisans.*
John XV. occupied the chair of St. Peter when
Hugh Capet, in 987, dethroned the Carlovingian
race and made himself king of France. This prince
had the address to make this necessary revolution
agreeable to the nobles and bishops of France. It
took place without a shock, and, above all, without
the intervention of the Roman court. Hugh did not
address John XV, as Pepin had Zachariah ; and his
good fortune in not owing his elevation to the Holy
See, was doubtless one of the causes of the estab
lishment of Hugh, and of the long duration of his dy
nasty, and of the propagation of the maxims of in
dependence, which have distinguished and honoured
the Gallican church. These maxims were proclaimed
has often been refuted. See, for example, Natal. Alex. Dissert. 18
in secul. ix. etx. Maimbourg Hist, de la decadence do I' empire, L,
ii. etc. Dupin Traite de la puissance eccles. pag. 270.
* See Sismondi's Fall, &c, chap. 23, ad fin. Gibbon's Decline
and Fall, chap. 49. Giannone, 1st di Nap. lib. 8, cap. 4.

POPES OF THE TENTH CENTURY. 69
in the reign of Hugh, by a bishop of Orleans, and by
Gerbert, who had become Archbishop of Rheims.*
The question concerned an archbishop of this same
city of Rheims, named Arnoul,t who had committed
treason against the new king, and whom this prince
had caused to be deposed. John XV. was determined
to re-establish Arnoul, and~ to annul the election of
Gerbert : but the monarch held firm, and so long as he
lived, kept Gerbert in the See of Rheims and Arnoul
in the prison of Orleans.
Robert, son of Hugh, did not resist Gregory V. so
successfully. Robert had espoused Bertha", although
she was his relation in the fourth degree, and he had
been godfather to a son which she had had by the
Count of Chartres, her first husband. A cry was
raised against a marriage contracted in despite of
two such grave impediments. Greatly alarmed at
the clamour, Robert thought it best to re-establish
Arnoul, archbishop of Rheims. This complaisance,
by which he thought to conciliate the Court of Rome,
was an indication, of his weakness. The pope did
not hesitate to declare the marriage null. He ex
communicated both the husband and wife ; and Ro
bert, being forced to send off Bertha, married Con
stance. He has been much reproached for this compliance :
but, after having re-established Arnoul, persistance in
retaining Bertha would, almost infallibly, have had
fatal consequences. We must remember that Robert
was the second king of his race — that this new dy
nasty had reigned scarcely ten years — that Gerbert,
one of the most able men of the age, had left the
king of France to attach himself to Otho III. — -that
this emperor was present at the council in which
Gregory V. excommunicated the son of Hugh ; and
in fine, "that these anathemas were then so formidable
that we have difficulty in believing that their effects
* Velly Hist, de France, torn, ii. (in 12) page 275 and following.
X Arnulph, or Arnold,

70 ENTERPRISES OF THE
have not been exaggerated by the historians of the
age.* This was the first time that the Church of France
saw herself under an interdict, or received the in
junction to suspend the celebration of the divine
offices — the administration of the sacrament to adults
— the religious burial of the dead. We are informed,
that Robert, on being excommunicated, was aban
doned by his courtiers, his relations, his domestics;
and that the two servants who remained with him
passed through fire the things which he had
touched.f This Gerbert, of whom we have spoken, became
pope after Gregory V. under the name of Silvester
II. It was he who (being archbishop of Rheims, and
seeing himself condemned by John XV) had spoken
in the following terms. " If the bishop of Rome sin
against his brother, and, after having been admo
nished several times, if he obey not the Church, he
ought to be regarded as a publican. The higher the
rank the more serious is the fall. When St. Gregory
said that the flock ought to fear the sentence of the pas
tor, whether it be just or unjust, St. Gregory does not
pretend to advise this fear for bishops, who are not
the flock, but the heads and conductors of the flock.
Let us not give occasion to our enemies to suppose
that the priesthood, which is one in the whole Church,
is so far subject to a single sovereign pontiff that if

* " I know," says Bossuet, " that Peter Damien asserts that no
one had intercourse with the king, except two servants, for the. ne
cessaries of life; but cither those of whom the pious cardinal re
ceived this history, must have exaggerated it to him; or we must
suppose, at least, that the public officers continued to exercise their
duties ; for otherwise, the government could not have subsisted a
moment. Besides, if it be true, that the exercise of the public offi
ces had ceased during any time, all the historians would have men
tioned this species of interregnum and the disorder which would
have been its consequence. (Defens. Cler. Gall. p. ii. L. vi. c. 27.)
Bossuet also remarks that when Robert was visited with these terri
ble anathemas, no one thought of asserting or of thinking, that the
excommunication could weaken the sovereign authority of this
monarch. t Sismondi's Hist, de France, torn. iv. p. 103,

POPES OF THE TENTH CENTURY. 71
this pontiff suffers himself to be corrupted by money,
favour, fear, ignorance, that no one can be a bishop
without sustaining himself by such means. The
Church has, for its common laws the Scripture, the
canons, and the decrees of the Holy See, when
those decrees are in conformity with the canons and
the Scriptures."*
Driven from Rheims, Gerbert was received by
Otho III. who at first made him archbishop of Ra
venna, and afterwards, in 998, the head of the Church.
He died in 1002, after having, in the course of his
short pontificate, strengthened the imperial autho
rity at Rome as far as he could, and repressed the
movements towards independence which agitated the
Romans. We cannot leave the tenth century without de
ploring the deep ignorance in which Europe was
plunged. Possessions were regulated only by usage :
transactions of business were preserved only by
memory. Among people, nobles, and kings who
knew not either how to write or to read, the slight
est instruction was sufficient to enable the clergy to
get the controul of the greater part of civil affairs.
" The ecclesiastics," says Pasquier,-|- " shared among
themselves the keys of religion as well as of learn
ing ; although, to speak properly, they had not so
much of either as would more than suffice for their
own proper functions." They only, could spell out
the ancient writings, and trace a few letters. They set
themselves about the business of dictating testaments,
regulating marriages, contracts, public official acts :
they extorted legaciesj and donations — they enfran-
* Concilior. torn. ix. pag. 744. Under the name of Gerbert, has
sometimes been cited a discourse which Arnoul, Bishop of Orleans,
pronounced in the council of Rheims in 991 ; and which may be
seen in the history of this council written by Gerbert. This very
remarkable discourse is too long to be inserted in this place.
t Reserehes sur la France, L. viii. u. 13.
X In France, previously to the thirteenth century, the privation of
ecclesiastical burial was the punishment of those who died (decon-
fes) without confession, or intestate, or by suicide. The clergy
had declared that every good Christian was obliged to give some-

72 ENTERPRISES OF THE
chised themselves from the secular jurisdiction, and
made efforts to subject to their own jurisprudence all
persons and all things.*
thing in aid of the necessities of the church, and that these pious
liberalities must amount to, at least, a lithe of the estate or succes
sion. The omission of a deceased person to do so, was proof that he
was a reprobate and destined to everlasting destruction. The coun
cils ordered the clergy, under severe penalties, earnestly to exhort
dying persons to give this testimony of their orthodoxy ; and those
who were indocile, were deprived of absolution, of the viaticum, and
of burial in holy ground. Every testament which did not contain
this liberality to the church, was declared null, as being imperfect
and vicious. (See Velly, torn. 6, p. 1445.) The privation of burial
in holy ground was considered, in families, as a mark of infamy, and
the relations of the deceased were usually very solicitous to nego
tiate for such an interment. One of the contrivances resorted to for
this purpose was very singular. It consisted in making what was
called an ampliative testament in the name of the deceased in which
the omission to remember the church was repaired. If the relations
refused these terms, the punishment followed. Thomassiere, in his
Coutumes de Berri, transcribes one of the testaments loco defuncti.
It is curious enough, and it runs thus :
" Universis prasentes litteras inspecturis ; Alanus de Nouilla
miles, et Galtherus canonicus Remensis, salutem: Noverint universi,
quod nos fecimus testamentum pro Petro quondam fratre nostro,
sub hac forma; qudd legavlmus pro remedio animal suae monachis
de Nouilla, cappellanis nostris, tres modios vini, pro anniversario
suo, annuatim faclendo, et unum modium, curato de Nouilla, pro
anniversario prsedicti Petri; et volumus, qilod praedicli quinque
modii, capiantur ad vinagia de Nouilla, annuatim, donee emerimus
terram, ad valorem viginti librarum parisiensium. Ita quod fruc-
tuum terrse comparat;e, prffidicti monachi tres capient portiones pro
anniversario, et quartum pro cereo; dictusve.ro curatus, quintam
pro anniversario. Et quam cito emerimus terram preedictarn, vina
nostra de Nouilla de prsedictis quinque modiis simplieiter erunt libe-
rata. Item legamus decern libras pauperibns de Nouilla distribuen-
das, secundum quod nobis videbitur expedire. Item monialibus. . .
.... centum solidos pro pitenciO, fratribus, etc. Datum, Anno
Domini, 1261."
This abuse was maintained during the thirteenth century, Philip
le Bel abolished it in France, (Henrion de I'autorite Judiciare, chap,
26. Fournel Hist, des Avocats. liv. i. chap, xi.) , By one of the de
cretals of Alexander III,, wills made in a certain form were to be
established upon pain of anathema. Decretals, Greg. IX. lib. iii.
Tit, 26, sec. 10. Cum esses.
*' Velly Hist, de France, torn. II. (in 12) pag. 293.

( 73 )

CHAPTER IV.
Enterprises of the Popes of the Eleventh Century.
Soon after the death of Silvester II. Rome had
again a patrician, consuls, twelve senators, a prefect,
and popular assemblies.
A second Crescentius (son of the first, perhaps),
discharged the prefectorial functions. As to the
patrician, whose name was John, and who was the
chief author of the re-establishment of the civil ma
gistracy, we have express information that he was
the son cf the first Crescentius. But in 1013, Henry
II. went to Rome. He received from pope Benedict
VIII. the imperial crown; and the Romans once
more, notwithstanding their murmurs, lost their inde
pendence. Baronius* records a diploma in which
Henry II. confirms the donations of his predecessors.
It is added that Benedict VIII. before crowning the
emperor, made him swear that he would be faithful
to the pope, and that he would regard himself only
as the defender and patron of the Church of Rome.
Glaber,f a cotemporaneous historian, after having
narrated the coronation, says that it appears very
reasonable and well-established that no prince should
take the title of emperor except he whom the pope
shall have chosen and invested with the badges of
this dignity — words which seem much less to express
the particular reflection of the writer than the com
mon established opinion of his time. Nevertheless,
MabillonJ and Muratori§ deny the authenticity of
* Ann. Eccles. ad ann. 1014, torn. xi. pag. 48.
t Histor. L. i. c. ult.
X Annal. Bened. ann. 1014.
§ Annali d'ltalia, ann. 1014, torn. vi. pag. 45.
8

^4 ENTERPRISF.S OF THE
the diploma contained in Baronius; and we see, in
1020, when Benedict VIII. went to Henry in Ger
many, this prince did not confirm the donation of his
predecessors, except with the express reservation of
the imperial sovereignty.
John XIX., successor of Benedict, was driven off
by the Romans, and re-established in 1033 by the
emperor, Conrad, whom he had crowned in 1027.
After John XIX, who survived his restoration only a
short time, his nephew was elected pope, and he took
the name of Benedict IX. According to Glaber, he
was only ten years of age. The elevation of a child
to the pontifical throne is not probable: but circum
stances concur to show that Benedict IX. was a very
young man in 1033. He carried with him to the
chair of St. Peter the inconsiderateness and the ir
regularities of that age. He was accused of as many
robberies and assassinations as gallantries. He is de
scribed by Victor IIL, one of his cotemporaries and
successors in the chair, ns follows: "I am shocked to
tell how shameful was the life of Benedict IX. — how
dissolute — how detestable: so I shall not commence
my recital, but at the time when God took pity on
the church. After Benedict IX. had wearied the Ro
mans by his rofiberies — by his murders — by his abo
minations, his excessive wickedness became insup
portable, and he was driven off by the people, and
to supply his place, John, bishop of Sabine, was
elected by force or bribery, and in contempt of the
holy canons. He occupied the Holy See only three
months, under the name of Sylvester III. Benedict
IX., who descended from the consuls of Rome, and
whom a powerful party recalled, devastated the en
virons of the city, and with the aid of his soldiers,
constrained Sylvester to return ignominiously to his
bishoprick of Sabine. Benedict IX., upon resuming
the tiara, did not change his habits, but, odious as he
always had been to the clergy and to the people,
whom his irregularities continued to alienate, and be
ing frightened at the clamours which were raised
against his crimes ; besides, being wholly given up to

POPES OF THE ELEVENTH CENTURY. 75
pleasures, and more inclined to live like an epicurean
than like a pontiff, he took the course of selling the
pontificate to the archpriest John, who paid him a
considerable sum for it. This John, however, passed
in the city for one of their best ecclesiastics; and
while Benedict lived in houses of pleasure John under
the name of Gregory VI., governed the church two
years and three months, till the arrival of Henry III.
king of Germany." Such is the picture which a
pope has drawn of the condition of the Holy See un
der three popes, his predecessors, from 1033 to 1046.
It may be important to remark that Benedict VIII.
his brother John XIX. and their nephew, Benedict IX.
were of the house of the Alberics and counts of Tus
culum. It is one of the first examples of pontifical
nepotism, or the efforts of a family to perpetuate it
self in the Holy See.
We have seen, by the account of Victor IIL, that
in 1045 there were three popes at the same time,
namely, Benedict IX., who had retired to his castles,
Sylvester III. banished to his first bishoprick, and
Gregory VI., who had been sitting at Rome from
1044. This last pontiff, who had bought his place,
wished to reap the fruits of it, and -it was with pain
that he saw them considerably diminished by the
loss of several domains, which secular persons had
usurped from the Holy See. He took arms to regain
them, not neglecting, however, to excommunicate
the usurpers. These were the chief acts of his short
pontificate. He is represented to us as extremely
ignorant even for that age. It is doubted whether he
could read ; and history relates, that an adjunct was
- given him to discharge the pastoral functions, while
he was signalizing himself by exploits of war.*
There were three popes ;it Rome when Henry III.
arrived, namely, Benedict IX., at the palace of La-
teran, Sylvester III., at the Vatican, and Gregory
VI., or John, at St. Mary Major. Henry deposed
all three, without obstacle, and caused a fourth to be
* Amalrie Augerius de vitis pontificum, pag. 340.

76 ENTERPRISES OF THE
elected, namely, Suidger, bishop of Bamberg, who
took the name of Clement II. The successors of
this Clement were Damasus IL, Leo IX., and Vic
tor II. , who, like Clement IL, were the creatures of
Henry III. The ten years of this emperor form one
of the periods in which the Romans and the popes
were most decidedly subject to the imperial power,
Leo IX., a kinsman and subject of Henry, indem
nified himself against the obedience which he could
not withhold from this emperor by acts of authority
against other sovereigns. He went to Rheims to
hold a council in spite of Henry I., King of France.
He there proclaimed the pontifical supremacy, de
posed and excommunicated prelates and seculars.
In a council of Rome he decreed that the women,
whom the priests abused within the enclosure of the
city, should remain the slaves of the palace of Late-
ran.* This pontiff, who has been ranked among the
saints, might have obtained a rank among warriors.
He conducted an army against the Normans, who
vanquished him, and held him a prisoner at Beneven-
tum. His pontificate is memorable for the consum
mation of the schism of the Greek church, but the
religious discussions which belong to the history of
this schism, are not within the limits of our subject.
The chief political result of this division was, to ex
tinguish the already feeble influence of the emperors
of the East over the affairs of Italy.f
It was during the pontificate of Leo IX. that Hil
debrand, the most famous man of the age, began to
be distinguished. Born in Tuscany where, it is said,
his father was a carpenter, he studied in France, and
there embraced the monastic state. He then returned
to Italy to give counsel to Leo IX., to Victor IL, to
govern Stephen IX., Nicholas IL, Alexander IL, and
finally to succeed to the pontifical throne. The idea
* Fleury Hist. Eccles. lib. lix. n. 75.
+ Article Greek Church in the Encyclopcedia" Americana, vol. 6,
pag. 44, et seq. Waddington's History of tho Church, chap. xi.
for an account of this schism; also Mosheim's Eccles. Hist. Cent.
xi., Cent. xiii.

POPES OF THE ELEVENTH CENTURY. 77
of a universal theocracy, had taken, in his ardent and
severe mind, the character of a passion. His whole
life wa,s consecrated to this enterprise. In order to
ensure the_empire of the priests over the rest of man
kind, and the domination of the pope over all priests,
he felt the necessity of reforming their morals, of
concentrating their -relations, of isolating them more
narrowly, of erecting them into one great family, the
members of which should never more remember that
they once belonged to secular families. Ecclesiasti
cal celibacy was as yet only a general practice, intro
duced into and revered in almost all the churches, but
modified almost every where by exceptions or trans
gressions. Hildebrand resolved to make a more ri
gorous law. At his instigation, Stephen IX., in 1058,
declared marriage incompatible with the priesthood,
treated all the wives of priests as concubines, and
excommunicated them and their husbands, if their
union was not instantly broken. The clergy made
some resistance; the' Milanese priests, particularly,
alleged that permission had been given them by Saint
Ambrose, to marry once only, provided the marriage
was contracted with a virgin.* Hildebrand, to cut
short resistance, classed with heretics those who
were obstinate in their refusal.f
Under Nicholas IL, Hildebrand changed the man
ner of electing the popes. Until then, all the Ro
mans, the clergy, nobility, and people, had concurred
in these elections. The rule adopted was, that, for
the future, the elections should be made by the car
dinal bishops alone, to whom afterwards were added
the cardinal presbyters or priests: but the consent
of the other ecclesiastics and of the faithful, was re
quired to consummate the election. The cardinal
bishops, here mentioned, were no others than the se
ven bishops of the Roman territory. Nicholas, in
this same decree calls them his comprovincials (com-
* LanduTph Senior. Hist. Mediol. lib. iii. and iv. Rer. Italic torn.
iv. pag. 96 et seq. Corio Istori* Milanesi, p. i. pag. 6. etc.
t Baron. Ann. Eccles. ad ann. 1059.
8*

78 ENTERPRISES OF THE
provinciates episcopi.*) As to the cardinal presbyters
or priests, they were those who administered the
twenty-eight principal churches of the city of Rome.
Long before Nicholas, these twenty-eight priests and
these bishops had been designated by the name of
Cardinals, but here, for the first time, they were in
vested with the exclusive and positive right of nomi
nating the new popes. The rest of the clergy, and the
people retained, at most, only the right to reject the
person nominated. Such is the origin of the college of
cardinals, but which received at a later period, and
by degrees, its present organization.! Its first foun
der, we see, was Nicholas, or rather Hildebrand. We
cannot omit the clause with which this decree termi
nates. " Saving the honour and the respect due to
King Henry, the future emperor to whom the Apos
tolical See has given the personal privilege of con
curring in the election by consent. "j The rights of
the emperor were still too well established lo be
passed over in silence, and they were content to dis-
* Mabillon Mus. Italic, torn. ii. pag. 114. Fr. Pagi Brcviar, pon-
tif. Soman, torn. ii. pag. 374. Thomassin Discipl. vet et nov. lib. ii.
c. 115, 116. Muratori de origine cardinalatds. Ant. Ital. torn. v.
pag. 156.
t Gregory X. held a council at Lyons, which opened May 7, 1274.
The objects of it were various; one was to take measures for a new
crusade ; another was to bring back the Greek church to the com
munion of the Latin church; another, to adopt means for the refor
mation of the clergy. There were five hundred bishops present,
seventy abbots, and more than one thousand priests. The pope
presided, accompanied by fifteen cardinals. Ambassadors were
present from France, Germany, England, Sicily and from Michael
Paleologus, emperor of the Greeks. In fact, the greatest dignitaries
of all Europe were in attendance. At this council, the formality of
the conclave, for the election of the popes, was adopted. The con
clave was a new term, adopted to express the assembling of the car
dinals and locking them up, under one and the same key ; by which
they were not to be delivered from their confinement until they had
elected a pope. If, after three days confinement, they should not
agree, they were to have, during the five days following, but one
plate (or dish) each, at their repasts; and after the lapse of these
five days if they should not agree, they were to be allowed only
bread and water until they should elect a pope. Fournel Hist, des
Avocats, vol. i. p. 28, lib. i. sec. 2, chap. 1.
X Concilior, torn, ix. pag. 11. 35. Fleury, Hist. Eccles. lib. Ix.
n. 31.

POPES OF THE ELEVENTH CENTURY. 79
tort them, and present them in the form of a conces
sion, which the Holy See granted as a personal pri
vilege for the gratification of Henry.
At the foundation of ecclesiastical benefices,* the
kings and the lords reserved to themselves the right
of nominating to them. None could possess them un
til after having been invested therewith by the donor
or by his heirs. It was merely the application of a
feudal doctrine to ecclesiastical domains. But the
court of Rome complained, that this system led to bad
selections, and especially that it was the occasion of
bargainings between patrons and candidates. There
is no doubt, that a very great number of benefices
were sold. This traffic existed under every species
of regimen. The only question was, who should have
the benefit of it. Hildebrand armed himself with a
holy zeal against this scandal. To extinguish it, he
dared to dictate to Nicholas II. a decree which for
bade the receiving of a benefice from a layman, even
gratuitously.f This decree, pronounced in 1059 in
the same council, which claimed for the cardinals the
designation of the pope, was put forth, simply as a
particular regulation, against .Simony. Little atten
tion was paid to it at first. It was scarcely executed
at all ; but, we must remark it in this place, as the
prelude of the quarrel concerning investitures.}
* The name benefice was not heard of in the first ages of the
church ; at least it was not used in the ecclesiastical sense. It is
believed that the founding of benefices commenced in the ninth
century, (cir. 813.) In the Concilia Moguntino held that year,
cap. i. de Eccles. sedific.) they arc first mentioned. See Giannone
1st. di Nap. lib. xix. cap. v. see. 2. Encyc. Americ, word Investi
ture, -Giannone gives the history of them considerably at length.
Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity Book, v. (80.)
t Baronius, Ann. Eccles. ad ann. 1059, sec. 32 and 34.
X The single cause of investitures by the crosier and ring, cost
sixty-three battles and the lives of many millions of men. (De
Pradt. Hist, du Jesuitism Ancient and Modern, p. 77.) Fra Paolo
(Traite des Benefices) says, it cost eighty battles in Germany alone.
This question excited great troubles, particularly in Germany and
England; Henry IV. was excommunicated by three successive popes.
The quarrel lasted fifty-six years and through six different pontifi
cates. The Dictionaire des Sciences states, that it occasioned sixty
battles under Henry IV., and sixty-eight under Henry V. his sue-

80 ENTERPRISES OF THE
For a long time the kings and the lords had given
investiture to prelates by presenting them with a wand
or branch, in the manner practised for the investiture
of counts and knights. But the clergy, from the 10th
century, more than once took it into their heads to frus
trate the patrons of benefices of their rights, by proceed
ing without any delay, to the election and consecration
of a new prelate. It seemed agreed, that consecration
made the election irrevocable ; and if the lay patron was
not informed of either, he lost the opportunity of giving
or of selling a dignity. To escape from this stratagem,
the princes ordered, that immediately after the death
of a prelate, his ring and crosier should be brought to
them, which they would not part with except upon
giving investiture to his successor. Adam of Breme*
traces this form of investiture to the reign of Louis
le Debonnaire. It is far more probable, that it was
introduced in the reign of Olho the great after the
middle of the tenth century; but it was generally
established in the eleventh century.f Hildebrand
promised himself to abolish it; first, because it gua
ranteed to the laity their right of nomination or of
sale ; and further, because it caused two of the sym
bols of ecclesiastical power, to pass through their pro
fane hands.
So far. from consenting to the maintainance of a
ceremony, by which secular authority seemed to con
fer sacerdotal functions, he pretended, on the contrary,
to erect the head of the church, into the supreme dis
penser of temporal crowns. In 1059, he made, in
the name of Nicholas the first essay of this system.
Nicholas received the homage of the Normans and
created one of their chiefs, duke of Apulia, Calabria
and Sicily, under the condition and in the character

cessor, in which two millions of men were slain. Calixtns II. in
duced Henry V, to renounce the right of investiture, which he did
in 1 122. Lothaire the Saxon, was about to revive the claim in 1132 ;
but St. Bernard dissuaded him from it. Diet, des Sciences, au mot
Invesf.it.ure. * Hist Eccles. lib. i. c. 52.
t Humbert, lib. iii. contra Simoniacos, c. 7 et 11.

POPES OF THE ELEVENTH CENTURY. 81
of vassal of the Apostolical See. This chief, whose
name was Robert Guiscard, took an oath of fealty to
the Roman Church, and bound himself to pay, under
the, same title, an annual tribute and undertake the
same engagements for his successors.* Such was the
origin of the kingdom of Naples, and this strange con
cession deprived the emperors of Constantinople of
all the remains of sovereignty over Grecia Magna.-f
Nicholas IL died in 1061. The imperial consent to
the election and installation of his successor Alexan
der II. was not in any manner requested. The court
of Henry IV. then a minor was offended and caused
Cadalaus or Cadaloo to be nominated, who took the
title of Honorius II. Cadalaus vanquished the army of
Alexander II. and succeeded in establishing himself,
in the Vatican. But the duke of Tuscany drove him
off: — Alexander II. was acknowledged as the true
pontiff, and Hildebrand continued to reign.
Hildebrand did not personally occupy the chair of
St. Peter till 1073. We are surprised that he did not
do so sooner ; some authors think, that the haughti
ness and severity of his character, indisposed the elec
tors to him. It appears to us more probable, that he
did not, in fact, aspire to become pope, provided, the
pope could become the sovereign of kings. For if he
had coveted the tiara ; if he had laid his plans for it,
as he knew how to plan, how easily might he have
triumphed, after the year 1061, or even before, over
the feeble resistance, which would have been made.
It was the boundless aggrandisement of the pontifical
power, much more than his personal elevation, which
gave directions to his opinions and character. We
do not observe in his conduct, any of those artifices,
which private interest suggests. It has all the obstinacy
of an inflexible system, the entirety of which must not be
* Baronius Ann. Eccles. ad ann. 1060. Muratori Annali d'ltalia,
torn. vi. pag. 186.
f The lower part of Italy was formerly called Grtecia Major or
Magna, on account of the Grecian colonies which settled there.
And see Giannone Istoria di Napoli, lib. a., passim, for a more parti
cular account of this matter.

82 ENTERPRISES OF THE
compromised, by concessions or complaisance. His
zeal, which was not -only active, but audacious, ob
stinate, inconsiderate, was to him an incurable per
suasion. Hildebrand would have been a martyr for
the theocracy, if circumstances had required it; and
in fact they required of him but little less. Like all
rigid enthusiasts, he thought himself disinterested and
he was, without remorse, the scourge of the world.
It is true, that interests are the springs of human con
duct ; but the triumph of an opinion, is an interest, and
it is the destiny of some men, in every age to sacri
fice all other purposes to that. There are men, who,
while they are careful not to disturb any thing within
their influence, compromise only their own enjoyment;
and they are the more excusable, because it is per
chance for the sake of truth, that they offer so pure
and so modest a sacrifice. There are others who,
like Hildebrand, think, that by self-imposed privations,
they acquire the right to agitate and harass mankind.
The disasters of the earth are the price of their gloomy
errors. To Gregory VII. (the papal name of Hildebrand,)
are ascribed twenty seven maxims, which form a
complete declaration of the spiritual and temporal
sovereignty of the Roman pontiff.* Among them are
comprised the right to depose all princes- — to dispose
of all crowns — to reform all laws.f It is not quite
certain that he really reduced to form or dictated these
articles ; but the substance, or the development of them,
is found in his authentic letters. They may be called
the Spirit of Hildebrand : They were the rule of his
conduct; the symbol which he professed, and which
he purposed to impose upon Christendom. It is there
expressly asserted, that the pope never erred — that
he never will fall into any error; — that he alone can
nominate bishops, convoke councils, preside at them,
dissolve them: —that princes must kiss his feet, — that by

* Dictatus Papas Concilior. torn. 10, pag. 110. Baronius Ann.
Eccles. ad ann. 1076, sec. 24. De Marca lib. vii. c. 26, sec. 4,
t See post, chap. 13, ad fin. in note,

POPES OF THE ELEVENTH CENTURY. 83
him, subjects are absolved from their oaths of alle
giance ; in one word, that there is but one name in
the world, namely, that of the pope.*
It has been properly remarked how many circum
stances favoured the designs of Hildebrand. From
the death of Otho the Great, the empire of Germany
had constantly become more and more feeble. Italy
was divided into small states — a young king governed
France — the Moors devastated Spain — the Normans
had just conquered England — the kingdoms of the
North, but recently converted, were ignorant of the
true limits of pontifical authority, and they must needs
give an example of docility.
When Gregory VII. saw William the conqueror
established in England he required him, without he
sitation, to render homage for this kingdom to the
Apostolical See.-)- The pretext of this strange propo
sition, was an alms, called Peter pence, which the
English had paid to the church of Rome, during about
two centuries. The conqueror answered, that the
alms would be continued perhaps ; but, to demand ho
mage, of those from whom he received charity was
not a matter of course. At the same time, William
forbade the English to go to Rome or to acknowledge
any other pope than he should approve. This slight
difference was without any serious consequence, and
we speak of it here, only because it shows better than
* The author of the article, Gregory VII. in the Encyclopcedia
Americana, remarks that "Gregory must be considered as a great
spiritual conqueror, who rendered the clergy independent of the
temporal power, and secured their safety amid the scenes of violence
with which Europe was filled, thereby rendering them capable of
advancing the progress of civilization, which was in great danger of
being swallowed up in barbarism. The papal power, which he
rendered independent of the imperial, was for ages the great bul
wark of order amid the turbulence of the semi-civilized people of
Europe. In capaciousness and boldness of mind, he may be com
pared to Napoleon. His system undoubtedly became unsuitable,
like all other systems, to the wants of a more advanced age ; and the
good of mankind in the progress of time required that the temporal
powers should become again independent of the Roman See." The
reader, if curious to see the character of this pontiff by another
hand, may refer to Gibbon's Decline and Fall, chap. 49.
t Fleury Hist. Eccles. lib. lxii. n. 63.

84 ENTERPRISES OF THE
any thing else that Gregory VII. knew not how to
put any limit to the pretensions of the Holy See.
Perhaps he imagined that the recency of William's
power in England, would incline him to desire the
protection of Rome, and to buy it, by an act of vas
salage ; but this was judging very erroneously of the
affairs of the conqueror — of his force — his character
and of his ascendency over his new subjects. The
slightest reflection would have turned Gregory VII.
from a step at once ridiculous and shameful, because
useless. Sardinia,* Dalmatia,f and Russia were, in the eyes
of Gregory VII. only fiefs, which depended on the
tiara. " On the part of St. Peter," he wrote to the
Russian prince, Demetrius,J " we have given your
crown to your son, who is about to receive it from
our hands upon taking an oath of fealty to us." It
would be necessary to enumerate all the princes who
reigned during the time of this pope, in order to fur
nish the list of those who were smitten or menaced
by him with excommunication. Nicephorus Bota-
niates, the Greek emperor, whom he commanded to
abdicate the throne — (Concil. Rom. anno. 1078) —
Boleslas, king of Poland, whom he declared fallen,
adding that Poland should no longer be a kingdom,^
— Solomon, king of Hungary, whom he bid to go to
the Hungarian old men, and learn from them that
their country belonged to the Roman Church|| — the
Spanish princes, to whom he wrote that St. Peter
was their lord paramount, having the right to the
revenues of all their little states, and that it would be
better that Spain should fall into the power of the
Saracens, than not render homage to the vicar of Je-

* Gregory VII. Epist. lib. i. ep. 29, 41. Fleury Hist. Eecles. lib .
lxiii. n. 11.
t Gregory VII. Epist. lib. ii. ep. 4. ad Vezalin. Fleury, ibid.
X Ibid. ep. 14 ad Demetr. Fleury, ibid.
§ Dlugoss Hist. Polon. lib. iii. 295.
II Gregor. Epist. lib. ii. ep. 13, 63. Fleury Hist. Eccles. lib. lxiii,
n. 11.

POPES OF THE ELEVENTH CENTURY. 85
sus Christ* — Robert Guiscard, his vassal, whose
slightest disobedience he punished by anathemas-)- —
the duke of Bohemia, from whom he exacted the
tribute of a hundred marks of silver — Philip I. king
of France, whom he pretended to subject to similar
duties, and whom he denounced to the French
bishops as a tyrant, plunged in crime and infamy,
who did not deserve the name of monarch, and with
whom they would become accomplices if they did
not vigorously resist him. " Imitate the Roman
Church, your mother," said he to them ; " separate
yourselves from the service and from communion
with Philip if he continues hardened. Let the cele
bration of the holy offices be interdicted in the whole
of France ; and know ye, that by the help of God, we
wiH deliver the kingdom from such an oppressor. "J
But of all the sovereigns of Europe, the emperor
Henry IV. who had the principal influence over Italy,
was, upon that account, -most exposed to the thunder
bolts of Hildebrand.
Against so many potentates, and especially'against
Henry IV. Gregory Vii. had no other support, no other
ally than an Italian princess, of little capacity, but
very devoted. It was Matilda, Countess of Tuscany.
She had for him a generous and tender friendship.
He wrote to her, as her spiritual director, very af
fectionate letters. She had lived on bad terms with
Godfrey le Bossu, her first husband. From these
circumstances, and some others, conclusions have
been drawn which no positive fact justifies. §
* Fleury Hist. Ecc. lib. lxiii. n. 11.
t Gregor. Epist. lib. i. 25, 26, 52, 57. Fleury Hist. Eccles. lib.
lxii. n. 9.
X Gregor. VII. Epist. lib. ii. ep. 5. Fleury Hist. Eccles. lib. lxii.
... 16.
§ Apud omnes sanum aliquid sapienles, luce clarius constabat
falsa esse qua dicebantur. Nam et papa tam eximie tam apostolice
vitam instituebat, ut nee minimam sinistri rumoris maculam conver-_
sationis ejus sublimitas admilteret; et ilia in urbe celeberrima atque
in tanta obsequentium frequeniid abscmnum aliquid perpetrans la
tere nequaquam potuisset. Signa eliam et prodigia'quas per ora-
tiones papa frequenlius ficbant et zelus ejus ferventissimus pro Deo
et ecclcsiasticis legibus satis eum contra venenatas detractorum Un-
9

86 ENTERPRISES OF THE
Hildebrand can scarcely be reproached with the
tender passions, ahd the known results of his connec
tions with Matilda belong to the history of pontifical
ambition.* This princess gave all her property to the Holy See,
and no fewer than three proofs of this distinguished
liberality are cited. The first act subscribed by her
in 1077, is not extant. The second, which is pre
served at Rome, was signed twenty-five years later,
after the death of Hildebrand.f Finally, we are told
of a testament, which is not produced, but which, it
is said, confirms the two preceding donations. There
are many difficulties attending these three proofs.
Why was the first lost ? Why do historians tell us,
it was signed at Canossa, while it is mentioned in the
second, as having been subscribed at Rome. And
the second act, which divests her entirely of her
property, leaving to her only some life interests, how
is it to be reconciled with the fact that she continued
to enrich monks and canons with considerable do
mains from 1102 till 1115? Why was not her tes
tament published, which might have explained these
apparent contradictions ? To all these questions we
answer, that the act of 1102 subsists, that it express
ly renews that of 1077, and that of all the donations
to which the Holy See has laid claim, that of Ma
tilda is, without contradiction, the best authenticated,
as in truth it was the most rich. The Emperor Hen
ry V., the heir of the countess, did indeed take pos
session of all the property which she had possessed;
and it did not return to the court of Rome till a later

guas communiebant. Lambert. Schafn. ad ann. 1177. This chroni
cler, we see ascribes to Gregory VII. the gift of miracles, and thence
concludes that his intercourse with Matilda was always irreproach
able. " Nevertheless," says the Jesuit Maimbourg, " as the world,
by a certain malignity, which is natural to it, is more inclined to
believe evil than good, particularly in persons who have some repu
tation for virtue, it did not fail to produce a bad effect and to injure
Gregory at that time."
* Encyc. Amerie. Article Matilda.
t Dissert, de Saint Marc, pag. 1231, 1316 of the torn. iv. of the
Abr. de l'Hist. d'ltalie.

POPES OF THE ELEVENTH CENTURY. 87
period. But in time the popes received a part of this
heritage, and they called it the patrimony of St. Pe
ter. For it, they were under obligations to the cares
of Gregory VII.
Henry IV. was returning from a victory which he
had gained over the Saxons, when he was accosted
by two legates. They made known to him an order
to appear at Rome to answer certain accusations
preferred against him. The questions related to some
investitures which he had given by the crosier and
ring. He must obtain pardon for this fault, or un
dergo excommunication.* Henry, although he de
spised the threat, thought it best to excite troubles
for the pope in the city of Rome. An insurrection
broke out there, and Gregory VII. was seized, beat
en, imprisoned, and ransomed. The effect of this
bad treatment was to connect an interest with the
person of the pontiff, and to fortify him against more
serious acts of vengeance. The emperor in a coun
cil at Worms, deposed Gregory, who feeling quite
sure of the inefficacy of such a decree, answered
it by the following: " On the part of God Omnipo
tent, and by my plenary authority, L forbid Henry,
the son of Henry, to govern the Teutonic kingdom,
and Italy. I absolve all Christians from the oaths
which they have made to him, or which they shall
make to him. It is forbidden to every person to rea
der him any service as to a king."f We can hardly
believe it ; but it is averred that these extravagant
words ravished from the prince the fruit of all his
triumphs. A civil war was kindled in»the bosom of
Germany. An army of confederates was collected
* Lamb. Schafh. ad ann. 1074. Vita Greg. VII. Ap. Boll. torn.
xvii. pag. 148.
t Concilior. torn. x. pag. 356. " This," says Otho of Freisingen,
" is the first example of the deposition of a king by a pope."
" Lego et relego Romanorum regum el imperatorum gesta et nus-
quam invenio quemquam eorum ante hunc a Romano pontifice ex-
commnnicatum vel regno privatum. Otho. Fris. Chron. lib. vi. c. 35,
Quanta autem mala, quot bella, bellorumque discrimina inde subse-
euta sunt '. Quoties misere Roma obsessa, capta, vastata ! Ibid.
c. 36.

88 ENTERPRISES OF THE
near Spire: it surrounded Henry, opposed to him the
sentence of the pope, and made him agree to inter
rupt the exercise of his power, until judgment sheuld
be pronounced between him and the pope in a coun
cil at Augsburg, at which the pope was to preside.
To prevent a definitive decree, Henry determined
to ask pardon of Hildebrand. He went to find him
in the fortress of Canossa, where the pope was shut
up with his Countess Matilda. The prince presented
himself without guard and without a retinue. Being
stopped at the second enclosure, he submitted to be
stripped of his garments, and to be clothed in hair
cloth. Barefooted, in the month of January, 1077,
he waited in the middle of the court, for the answer
of the holy father. The answer was, that he should
fast three days, before being admitted to kiss the feet
of Hildebrand; and at the end of these three days,
he would be received and absolved under the pro
mise of perfect submission to the future decision to
be made at Augsburg. Gregory might have fore
seen that this excess of pride and tyranny would
excite the indignation of the Italians against him, by
whom he was already greatly disliked. His power,
(with respect to them,) had the disadvantage of not
being seen at a distance. Lombardy took up arms
for Henry IV., whom the Germans had abandoned;
and while Germany was engaged in electing another
emperor, Italy made another pope.*
Rhodolphus, Duke of Swabia, having been nomi
nated emperor, Gregory excommunicated Henry IV.
again. " I take from him the crown," said he, " and
I give the Teutonic kingdom to Rhodolphus." He
presented also to Rhodolphus a crown, around which
was written, in bad Latin, a verse, of which the fol
lowing is a translation: " The Rock has given to Pe
ter, and Peter gives to Rhodolphus this diadem."f
In the meantime, Henry IV. elevated to the papacy
* Fleury Hist. Eccles. 1074, 1080, lib. lxii. and lxiii.
t Petra dedit Petro, Petrus diadcma Rodolpho.
Some give the verse thus, "Petra dedit Romam Petro, tibi papa
coronam."

POPES OF THE ELEVENTH CENTURY. 89
Guibert, Archbishop of' Ravenna, and collected an
army against Rhodolphus. In vain did Gregory pro
phesy that Henry would be conquered ; that he would
be exterminated before St. Peter. It was Rhodol
phus who fell. He was killed in a fight . with God
frey de Bouillon, a nephew of Matilda. Henry
marched upon the city of Rome. After a long siege
he took it by assault, and Gregory, fortified in the
mole of Adrian, once more excommunicated the
conqueror. The agitations which were prolonged in Germany
obliged Henry IV. to make frequent journies. During
the siege of Rome, and after his entry into the ca-
pitol, he was absent more than once. ' Robert Guis-
card took advantage of one of these absences, to de
liver Gregory, but particularly to ravage and pillage
the city. He burnt a portion of it, (between St.
John of Lateran and the Coliseum) which has since
remained deserted, and he reduced to slavery a large
number of the inhabitants. To the Romans this was
the most memorable and the most durable result of
this pontificate.* Hildebrand being carried off by the
Normans to Salernum, terminated his career at that
place the 24th of May, 1085, excommunicating, as
usual, Henry IV., the anti-pope Guibert and their ad-
herentsf. Thus lived and died Gregory VII., whose
name, under Gregory XIII. (in the 16th century,)
was inscribed in the Roman Martyrology ; to whom
Paul V. (in the I7th century) decreed the honours of
an annual festival,J and for whom Benedict XIII., in
the eighteenth century, still claimed the homage of
all Christendom.^
But we shall see that the parliaments of France
opposed this project with an efficacious resistance.
The pope who canonized him after five hundred
* Vita Greg. VII. edita a card. Arrag. pag. 313. Landulph Sen.
lib. iii. o. 3, pag. 120. Rer. Italic, t. v. pag. 587.
t Pauli Bernried. Vita Greg. VII. c. 110. pag. 348. Sigeb. Chron.
ann. 1085.
t Fleury Hist. Eccles. lib. lxiii. n. 25, Act. Sanct. Boll. 25, Mail
§ Postea, chap. xi. 9*

90 ENTERPRISES OF THE
years' experience and study of his deplorable mis
conduct, deserved almost greater reproach than Gre
gory VII., deserved. For we cannot allege for his
panegyrists the feeble excuse which we may find for
his flagrant misconduct, in his enthusiasm, his igno
rance and in the thick darkness of his age. Pasquier
describes him with great reason* as " one of the
boldest defenders of the See of Rome; who omitted
nothing either by arms, by writing or by censure
which he thought would be advantageous to the pa
pacy or disadvantageous to sovereign princes.t"
The audacious Gregory VII. had a timid succes
sor in Victor III. This is the pope, whose words
we borrowed at the commencement of this chapter,
to depict the character of some of the preceding
popes. Victor III. occupied the pontifical See scarce
ly a year. Nevertheless, he confirmed in a council
at Beneventum the decrees made against investitures.
Urban IL, who succeeded him, was during ten years
a more worthy continuator of Hildebrand. He
excited against the emperor, Henry, his eldest son,
Conrad; encouraged this ungrateful son to calum
niate his father, and rewarded him for it, by crowning
him king of Italy. Christendom was, at that time,
divided between Urban II. and Guibert, who had

* Rechcrches sur la France, lib. iii. c. 7.
t Gregory VII. ascribed the origin of monarchies and principali
ties to the Devil. (See Labbe Concil, t. x. Epistol. lib. viii. Epistola
21 of Gregory VII. to Herimann, Bishop of Metz, pag. 269.) His
pretension to the right of dethroning princes and his strong efforts
to maintain it, were the occult motives of his canonization. Only
six of the bishops of France protested against the legend inserted
in the liturgy setting forth the great deeds of this pontiff, and of
these bishops ^iin: were reputed Jansenists. But on the 11th of De
cember, 1823, in a thesis in the Sorbonne, after stating the fact that
this pontiff attempted to dethrone the Emperor Henry IV. it is im
mediately added " this intrepid defender of ecclesiastical discipline
deserved to be numbered among the saints."- Primus, ejecto Hen
rico IV. imperatore, auctoritatis civilis aggreditur Gregorius VII.
qui disciplina? ecclesiastical propugnator acerrimus inter sanctos
meruit numerari. Histoire des Confesseurs par M. Gregory (Paris,
1824) pag. 190, 191. The reader need not be informed that the
Sorbonne is a name applied to the theological faculty of the Univer
sity of Paris.

POPES OF THE ELEVENTH CENTURY. 91
taken the name of Clement IIL, and whom Henry
IV. re-established in Rome in 1091. Urban, until
1096, was travelling in France, and in the north of
Italy. Philip, king of France, had repudiated Ber
tha, and espoused Bertrade. Philip was excommu
nicated in his own states by Urban', who was born
his subject, and to whom this king was then giving
an asylum.* But these travels of the pontiff are
above all memorable for the preaching of the first
crusade. Hildebrand was the first who conceived the idea
of these distant expeditions, which naturally would,
by aggrandizing the church, diminish the power of
the Greek emperors, or force them tp come under the
domination of the Holy See. He perceived in them
an occasion for governing all the movements of
Christian princes, and, at the same time, of making
himself the judge of the quarrels which might arise
among them ; of drawing them off from the govern
ment of their states, and of augmenting by their ab
sence, the habitual influence of the clergy over every
kind of affairs. The pilgrimages to the holy land
became more frequent under Gregory VII. than they
previously had been. The tales of the pilgrims must,
of necessity, sooner or later, provoke a general com
motion. The time did not arrive until the pontificate
of Urban II A person named Cucupietre, also called
Peter the Hermit, went to the pope with a lamenta
ble tale of the vexations which Christians experienced
in Palestine. He implored, however, succour for
them against the Mussulmans. Urban despatched
Peter to all the princes and to all the churches of
France and Germany. After time had been allowed
for this preacher to communicate his enthusiasm to
the people of those countries, a crusade was pro
posed in a council or assembly, in which the pope
presided, held not far from Placentia, in an open field.
There were collected at that place more than 30,000
laymen, besides -prelates and priests. The projected
* Velly Hist, de France, torn. ii. (in 12) pag. 423.

92 ENTERPRISES OF THE
expedition was universally applauded, but they
stopped with admiration. No one as yet became a
crusader.* Urban had more success in France. A
crusade was resolved upon at Clermont, in an assem
bly at which he presided, and which he harrangued.
They cried out, God wills it, and these words became
the device of the crusaders, whose numbers multiplied
beyond computation. The military history of this
expedition does not concern us.f We have only to
remark, that the first act of this army was to re
establish, (in passing) Pope Urban, in the city of
Rome, about the end of the year 1096. Henry IV.,
driven from Italy by the troops of the Countess Ma
tilda, retired to Germany. Urban died in 1099, and
the pontificate of his successor Paschal II. belongs
chiefly to the twelfth century.
The century of which we have now taken a rapid
survey, must remain famous in the history of the
popes. If they have not yet been acknowledged as
sovereigns — if their temporal power has not yet been
declared to be independent, still it in fact rivals and
threatens the throne to which it owes subjection. Al
ready the two Sicilies have become fiefs of the Holy
See; the donations of Matilda have extended over
almost the whole of middle Italy, the rights and the
pretensions of the court of Rome. Beside, where is
the importance of the limits or of the nature of these
temporal possessions, when the spiritual power is
without restriction ; when the evangelical ministry is
transformed into a universal theocracyj which affects
kings with disgrace, curses them, dethrones them,
and disposes of their crowns'? It is true that one man
only fully conceived this dreadful system, but the
opinions which (so to speak) go to make up the igno
rance of this man and of his cotemporaries, encou
raged the most monstrous of his enterprises; and
many political circumstances promised him the suc-
* Concilior. torn. x. p. 501 ; Bertold, ad. ann. 1094.
t Gibbon's Decline and Fall, chap. 58. Mackintosh Hist, of Eng.
(ed. 1836, Phil.) p. 57, 61.
X A secular government by priests, he means.

POPES OF THE ELEVENTH CENTURY. 93
cess of it. New dynasties had just arisen in France,
in England, and in other countries. The Greek em
perors who were threatened even at their own fire
sides, had lost all influence over Italy. It only re
mained to humble the emperor of the West. He
alone still counterbalanced the Holy See. In attack
ing him the pope could rely upon the concurrence or
neutrality of other monarchs. They were jealous of
his preponderance. Rome, by humbling them, had
prepared them to be soothed by the spectacle of the
more high handed outrage which she had reserved
for their corypheus. They childishly rejoiced at the
large share which he had in the common humiliation.
In the mean time, the ancient or the recent factions
which troubled Germany were turned against the
emperor. Their audacity and their force was dou
bled by the anathemas with which he was smitten,
and if so many efforts did not overwhelm, at least
they shook and weakened. Such was the w?r which
Hildebrand made upon the emperor Henry IV., then
the first, and, so to speak, the only representative of
the civil power in the West. In bequeathing this
war to his successors, Hildebrand, wholly vanquished
as he was, indicated the object, traced the plan, and
tempered anew the arms.* To accomplish the work,
in the course of the following age, there was want
ing, perhaps, at most, but two or three heirs of his
untractable enthusiasm. Giannone accuses him of
having forged the donations of Constantine, of Pepin,
of Charlemagne, and of Louis le Debonnaire. We
have seen that the first of these donations, was cited _
in the eighth century. The others are mentioned by
writers anterior to the eleventh. All these acts were
spoken of before Gregory VII. At most, therefore,
he could only have caused the texts of those dona
tions to be reduced to language more categorical and
more favourable to his pretensions. It is certain that
no means of establishing pontifical tyranny would
have alarmed his conscience. The most efficacious
* Giannone Istoria di Napoli, lib. a. c. 6,

94 ENTERPRISES OF THE POPES, &C
appeared to him for that very circumstance, to be
the most laudable. If some of his measures, (being
judged of by the event) appear to be as imprudent as
they were violent, we must remember that an enter
prise so enormous, could not be accomplished except
by extreme audacity.

( 95 )

CHAPTER V.
Quarrels between the Popes and the Sovereigns oj the
Twelfth Century.
To the pontifical power, such as Hildebrand con
ceived it to be, the mere failure to gain much was a
loss. It was not much aggrandized, however, under
the popes of the twelfth century. They did not know
how to gather the fruits of the labours of Gregory
VII. But Paschal IL, who reigned from 1099 till
1118, near twenty years, aspired very sincerely to a
universal monarchy. His intentions, thwarted by
circumstances, were yet more so by the weakness of
his character. The anti-pope, Guibert, who died in
1100, for a long time had successors. One Albert,
one Theodoric, one Maginulf — obscure personages,
whose pretensions though feeble, sustained by a small
number of partisans, were still sufficient to intimidate
Paschal. He was in no haste to excommunicate
Henry (I.) king of England, when the war of investi
tures was kindled between this monarch and Anselm,
archbishop of Canterbury.* If he showed himself
more bold against Philip, king of France, it was
doubtless because Urban II. had commenced the
quarrel; and the noise of the censures inflicted on
this prince did not allow him to recede. Paschal
therefore, was bold enough to send legates to France,
who excommunicated king Philip anew, and always
on account of his divorce. Indignant at the out
rageous conduct of these priests, William, Count of
Poitou and Duke of Aquitaine, did himself an honour
on this emergency which Philip did not imitate.
* Hume's Hist. Eng. Henry I.

96 QUARRELS BETWEEN THE POPES AND THE
Philip asked for absolution and obtained it from the
pope, upon swearing to renounce Bertr.ade. He
went barefooted, in the heart of winter, to take, in a
council at Paris, an oath which he did not at all ob
serve. We know of no well authenticated act which
confirmed the marriage of Bertradc with Philip, but
they continued to live together without being dis
turbed by the Church. The state and the rights of
their children were never contested.
Whilst Matilda renews her donation, Paschal II.
confirms the anathemas of his predecessors against
Henry IV.* He raised up an enemy to him in the
person of his ungrateful and ambitious son. In vain
did a paternal letter invite this son to repentance.t It
was answered that an excommunicated person could
not be acknowledged as a king or as a father. Ab
solved from his oaths and from his duties by the
sovereign pontiff, young Henry took up arms, and
caused himself to be elected emperor at Mayence.
Henry IV. retired to the castle of Ingelheim. Thither
went some archbishops, sent by the Diet, to summon
him to remit his crown and the other insignia of his
power into their hands. " Thou hast rent the church
of God," said they to him : " thou hast sold bishop
rics, abbeys, all ecclesiastical dignities : thou hast not
observed the holy canons. For all these causes, it
has pleased the pope and the German princes to drive
thee as well from the throne as from the Church."
" I adjure you," replied the monarch, " you, the
archbishops of Cologne and Mayence, who hold of
me your opulent prelatures, to declare what is the
price which you paid me for them? Ah ! if I exact-
*LHe wrote in these terms to Robert, Count of Flanders, " Pursue
every where, with all your might, Henry, the chief of heretics, and
his favourers. You cannot offer to God a more agreeable service, than
to fight him, who has risen against God ;— who is labouring to take
away the kingdom from the church; — who has been driven off by
the judgment of the Holy Spirit pronounced by the prince of the
apostles. We command you and your vassals to undertake this
enterprise for the remission of your sins and as a means of arriving
at the celestial Jerusalem."
t Velly Hist, de Fr. torn. ii. (in 12) p. 480.

SOVEREIGNS OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY. 97
ed from you only an oath that you would remain
faithful to me, wherefore have you become the ac
complices or the chiefs of my enemies ? Could you
not wait for the end of a life which so many misfor-.
tunes must abridge, and suffer me at least to place
my crown Upon the head of my much loved son?"
But Henry was not speaking to fathers — he was ad
dressing inflexible prelates. " Does it not belong to
us," cried one of them, " to instal kings and to de
throne them when we have made a bad choice ?"
At these words, the three archbishops rushed upon
their sovereign — tore the imperial crown from his
"head, and, while he declared to them that if he was
then suffering the punishment of the sins of his youth,
they would not escape the punishment of their sacri
legious disloyalty, they laughed at the menace ; and,
to insure the impunity of their crime by consum
mating it without delay, they hastened to Mayence,
to consecrate and bless, in the name of God, the par
ricide Henry V.*
Henry IV., shut up in Louvain, is surrounded by
an army of his faithful subjects. At their head he
gains a victory over the rebels ; but in the second
combat, being conquered without resource, he falls
into the power of his enemies — he is crushed under
the wrongs heaped upon him. " The hatred of
popes," wrote this wretched prince to Henry I. of
France,f " the hatred of popes has carried them so
far as to violate the rights of nature. They have
armed my son against me. This son, in contempt
of the fealty he had sworn to me as my vassal,
comes to invade my kingdom, and — what I would
gladly conceal — he has even attempted to take my
life." Having escaped from prison, though plunged
in extreme misery, the old emperor, is obliged to so
licit a subaltern employment in a church which had
* Otho Frising. Chron. lib. vii. u. 8, 12. Abb. Ursperg. Chron. p.
243. Sigon. de Regno italico, lib. ix.
t Sigeb. Gemblac. apud Struv. torn. i. p. 856. Otho Frising.
Chron. lib. vii. c. 12. Fleury Hist. Eccles. lib. Ixv. n. 42. See Si-
gonius de regno Italia?, lib. 9. 10

98 QUARRELS BETWEEN THE POPES AND THE
been built by his care, but he did not obtain it. He
dies — his remains are disinterred.
Paschal II. would not allow an excommunicated
corpse to repose in peace. During five years, the
ashes of an emperor, distinguished by sixty-six bat
tles, remain without burial. The clergy of Liege,
who dared to collect them, were punished for it by
anathemas ; and almost as late as our own time, a
Jesuit, named Lohguebal, has pronounced the fidelity
and the courage of this clergy inexcusable.*
History the most authentic has almost the air of a
moral fiction, when it represents to us Henry V. and
Pascal II. employed (after 1106) in avenging upon each*
other the wicked violence done by them in common
to the rights and to the repose of Henry IV. Henry
V. goes to Rome — kisses the feet of the pope, and
desires to be crowned emperor. Paschal deems it a
favourable opportunity to demand a formal renuncia
tion of the investitures which he had just condemned
in a council held at Troyes. But scarcely had he
uttered this pretension before he is arrested, taken off
to Sabina (il Sabio) and confined in a fortress. There
the pope was seized with such affright that he, toge
ther with sixteen cardinals, signs a treaty by which
he guarantees to the emperor the right of investi
ture provided he mingles no simony with it. He did
more — he bound himself never to excommunicate
Henry V., and also to consent to the burial of Henry
IV. In order to seal the compact upon the faith of
the most fearful mysteries, a host is divided between
the pope and the emperor. " As these two parts are
divided," said the pontiff, " so let him who shall vio
late this treaty be separated from the kingdom of
Jesus Christ." Such was the oath which Paschal
made, and which he renewed as soon as he recovered
his liberty.
From that time, his best resource was to be found
in the reproaches of the Roman clergy, and these
were multiplied as the emperor and his army with-
* Hist, de l'eglise Gallicane, torn. viii. pag. 187.

SOVEREIGNS OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY. 99
drew from Rome. Now" the head of the Church
suffers himself to be accused of double dealing. He
retires to Terracina to weep over his sin. He suf
fers the eardinals to annul his decrees and promises.
He is going (so he says) to abdicate the tiara. Hap
pily, this purpose is opposed; and such is the docility
of the pontiff, that he consents, with resignation^ to
retain the power, so that he may have the opportu
nity to make a better use of it. Finally, in a coun
cil, he rev-okes the treaty which he had the misfortune
to subscribe. Nevertheless, he refuses personally to
excommunicate Henry V. so great even yet, were
"his scruples to violate an engagement ! The cardi
nals — they pronounced this anathema in the presence
of Paschal. Not only did this council condemn in
vestitures — it branded as heretics all persons who did
not condemn them. Henry V. was not greatly
alarmed. He went in 1116 to receive, in Italy the
rich inheritance bequeathed by Matilda to St. Peter.
She had transmitted neither sovereign nor royal
rights nor fiefs, but merely territorial property which
the Roman Church must enjoy as the proprietary,
(jure proprietario).* But that was of no consequence.
The emperor asserted that the countess could not
dispose of those domains upon this title ; and during
the whole of the twelfth century, the popes were kept
out of this inheritance.
Henry V. advances towards Rome. A sedition
had just broken out there against Paschal, whose
long pontificate displeased the great, and whose per
son displeased the, common people. While the pope
fled to Mount Casino, and is shut up at Beneventum,
the excommunicated monarch enters as in a triumph
within the walls of Rome, and there receives the im
perial crown at the hands of Bourdin, archbishop of
Brague. Paschal II. excommunicated Bourdin, and
endeavoured to excite against Henry, at one time,
France, at another^ time, the Normans established in

* Chartula comptissa Mathildis, super concessione bonorum suo
rum Roman. Eccl. torn. v. pag. 381. Script, rer. Italic.

100 QUARRELS BETWEEN THE POPES AND THE
the lower part of Italy : and finally terminated his
inglorious career in January, 1 1 18.
His partisans elected Gelasus II. to succeed him ;
but the Frangipani — a family devoted to the empe
ror — would not acknowledge him. Gelasus, having
been arrested, then released, then pursued, fled, as
soon as he heard the approach of Llenry V. to Rome,
to his country, Gaete. Henry caused Bourdin to be
elevated to the papacy, who, having taken the name
of Gregory VIII., crowned the emperor again. As
soon as the emperor left Rome, Gelasus entered se
cretly; but, being pursued by the Frangipani, he
fled, then returned, then went off again, and retired
into Provence, and finally to Cluni, to die there. He
reigned one year, if indeed it can be said that he
reigned at all.
From the time of Gregory VII. to Gelasus II. in
clusively (1073 to 1119) almost all the popes, having
been taken from the shade of the cloister, carried
upon the throne, the obstinacy and the asperity of the
monastic spirit. Calixtus II. who took the place of
Gelasus, came from the house of the counts of Bour-
gogne. Being of kin to the emperor, and to seve
ral other monarchs, he had, at least, some notions of
the art of governing men, and of reconciling great
interests. He had the honour of putting an end to
the quarrel about investitures — A diet at Worms
enacted that for the future, prelates should be elected
only in the presence of the emperor, or of his lieute
nants — that, in case of dispute, the decision should
belong to the emperor, who should advise with the
bishops ; finally, that the prince should give investi
ture by the sceptre, and not by the crosier and the
ring.* Calixtus II. ratified this treaty in a general
council of Lateran, in 1123. This pope may also
be commended for having saved the life of his rival,
Bourdin. He was satisfied with exposing him to the

* Concilior. torn. x. pag. 885. Abb. Urspurg. Chron. p. 204. Mu-
ratori Antiq. Ital. med jevi, torn. vi. p. 72. Schilt. de libertate Ecc,
German, liv, iv. c. 4, pag. 545,

SOVEREIGNS OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY. 101
jeerings of the populace; with casting him irrevoca
bly into a dungeon, and causing a picture to be made
of himself in the attitude of trampling the antipope
under his feet.* This was generosity in those times.
Calixtus II. pressed the king of England to re-estab
lish a deposed bishop. I have sworn, said. the king,
never to let him enter again upon his See. " You have
sworn," said Calixtus, " well then, I am pope. I ab
solve you from your oath. The monarch replied,
How shall I believe the oaths of this bishop, or yours
if it needs only your will to abolish them V'
Honorius II. who occupied the Holy See from
1124 to 1130, is remarkable only for his quarrels
with Roger, count of Sicily, whom he wished to pre
vent from annexing Apulia and Calabria to his own
states; it being the inheritance which William II. his
father left him. The pope, fearing that Roger might
become strong enough to invade the ecclesiastical
lands, caused an army to march against him : the
army was conquered.
Louis the Fat, King of France, was under the
censure of the prelates of his kingdom. The sedi
tious conduct of the bishop of Paris, having required
repressive measures; this prelate, whose temporalities
had been seized, dared to lay his diocese and the
lands of the monarch under an interdict. The most
laudable action of Honorius II, was, that he removed
this interdict and gave but little support to St. Ber
nard, when this pious abbot, treating his king as an
impious person, — a persecutor, — a second Herod,' —
pressed the pope to bring the matter before the Holy
See. Louis the Fat owed the tranquility of the last
ten years of his reign to the prudence of Honorius
IL, whom St. Bernard accused of weakness.f It
was under the pontificate of this Honorius that the
two factions — imperial and papal — originating as we
have seen in the tenth century, assumed, in a man
ner, more distinct and positive, the denominations of
* Art de verefier les dates, torn, i, p. 283, 284.
t Velly Hist, de France, torn. iii. (in 12) pag. 73, 74. S, Bernard
Epist. 14, 15, 49, ad Honor. 10*

102 aUARRELS BETWEEN THE POPES AND THE
Guelfs and Ghibelines. These two names belong to
the two German houses which, upon the death of
Henry V., in 1125, disputed for the imperial crown.
One of these families, called, sometimes, Salique,
sometimes Gueibelinga, or Waiblinga, reigned in
Franconia, and had furnished the last four emperors.
It was distinguished by its long quarrels with the
church. The other family which came from Altfort,
possessed Bavaria, and many of its chiefs, devoted to
the pope, bore the names of Welf, or Guelfs,* Lo
thaire, duke of Saxony, having been chosen at May
ence, to succeed Henry V., hastened to manifest his
attachment to the house of the Guelfs, by marrying
the heiress of Henry, duke of Bavaria. Conrad,
duke of Franconia, was then in Palestine. He has
tily returned, fought Lothaire, aroused the partisans
of the house of the Ghibelines, and caused himself to
be crowned emperor by the archbishop of Milan ;
whilst Honorius II. declared himself in favour of Lo
thaire, who was allied to the house of the Guelfs.f
At Rome, another powerful family, the Frangipani,
had, for their rivals, the children of a Jew, named
Leo, who, being opulent, and having been converted,
became, on these accounts, as formidable as he was
famous. Peter de Leo, a son of this Jew, pretended
to succeed Honorius II. under the name of Anaclet.
The Frangipani elected Innocent II. to succeed Ho
norius II. The two popes were enthroned and con
secrated at the same time at Rome. But Anaclet
was the stronger. Innocent II. took refuge in France,
where St. Bernard had caused him to be acknow
ledged. He there held 'several councils, until 1133.
Having returned to Rome, he crowned the Guelf em
peror Lothaire, on his ceding to him the usufruct of
the domains of Matilda. Anaclet died: his succes-
* Mackintosh's Hist, of Eng. (Ed. 1836, Phil.) p. 71, reign of
Henry II. Encyc. Americ, art Guelphs, vol. vi.
t Otho Frising. Chron. lib. vii. c. 17. De gestis Frederici, lib. ii.
c. 2. Masc. Comment, de rebus imperii sub Lothario II. lib. i. sec.
1, 9, 25. Sub Conrado III. lib. iii. pag. 141." Chron. Weingartense
de Guelfis principibus ap Leibnitz, torn, i, p. 781.

SOVEREIGNS OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY. 103
sor, Victor IL, abdicated the tiara, and the schism
became extinct. Innocent II. then thought himself
sufficiently established upon the pontifical throne to
threaten count Roger and Louis the young, who was
king of France. Roger defied the troops of Inno
cent, who falling into the hands of the conqueror,
was constrained to confirm the title of king, which
had been given to Roger by Anaclet. Louis VII.
defended himself with less success. Making use of
a right which all his predecessors had exercised, he
refused to ratify the election of an archbishop of
Bourges. Innocent II. received the pretended arch
bishop, consecrated him, and sent him into posses
sion. He spoke of the king as a young man, who
must be instructed, and who must not get into the
habit of meddling with the affairs of the church.
Being indignant at the resistance of this prince, he
cast an interdict over the kingdom, which was. a sen
tence at that time so much the more terrible, because
being repeated by the French prelates, and sustained
by St. Bernard, it gave occasion to Thibault, count
of Champagne, a hypocritical and turbulant vassal,
to excite a civil war. Louis armed himself against
Thibault, entered Vitry, and dishonoured his victory
by committing to the flames three hundred of its
wretched inhabitants. This excess was afterwards
expiated by a crusade which also itself needed an
expiation. Celestin IL, successor of Innocent IL, took off the
interdict laid upon France. He refused to confirm
the treaties of his predecessors with Roger, king of
Sicily, and declared himself against Stephen, who
had taken possession of the throne of England. The
pontificate of Celestin IL, and that of Lucius IL,
which came next after it, scarcely occupy two years,
but they are memorable for the troubles which agi
tated the city of Rome and its environs.
Arnold of Brescia, an austere, eloquent, and sedi
tious monk, had denounced the ambition and the des
potism of the clergy. To maxims of independence,
which were denominated political heresies, he joined

104 QUARRELS BETWEEN THE POPES AND THE
certain errors less intelligible, which he derived from
Abelard his master and friend. Arnold being con
demned by the second council of Lateran, left Italy
in 1139, and took refuge in the territory of Zurich.
During his exile, the Romans, dissatisfied with Inno
cent IL, re-established a sort of image of their an
cient liberty, and these endeavours becoming more
bold under Celestin IL; became under Lucius, in fact
very serious matters. They created a patrician, — a
popular magistrate, — and president of a senate com
posed of fifty-six members. The patrician was the
brother of the antipope Anaclet. The thirteen quar
ters of Rome had concurred in the choice of the fif
ty-six senators. Deputies were sent by this senate
to Conrad IIL, whom the death of Lothaire had left
in full possession of the empire. The Romans in
vited Conrad to come and take the imperial crown
in the heart of their city. " Your wisdom should re
member," said they to him, " the bold acts of vio
lence committed by the popes against your august
predecessors. The popes, their partisans, and the
Sicilians, who now agree with them, are preparing
for you still greater injuries. But the Senate is re
established, the people have resumed their vigour :
This is the people and this the senate, by whom Con
stantine, Theodosius, and Justinian governed the
world, and whose vows and cries and efforts call you
to the same degree of power and glory." Conrad
understood perfectly the projects of independence
concealed under this language, and did not think it
proper to irritate Lucius II., who also had addressed
to him an epistle. Lucius, emboldened against his
enemies, who were abandoned by Conrad, and me
naced by Roger, advanced towards the capitol. He
marched, surrounded by his priests and his soldiers:
This array of all sorts of arms, spiritual and tempo
ral, was, however, useless. A shower of stones
crushed the double army of the pope, who received
himself a mortal wound. His party in great haste
elected a successor, named Eugene IIL, and he also
made haste to get out of Rome, through fear of being

SOVEREIGNS OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY. - 1 05
constrained to ratify the re-establishment of the po
pular magistracy.
Eugene III. armed the inhabitants of Tivoli against
the Romans ; he did not enter Rome, however, with
out acknowledging the Senate, only he obtained the
abolition of the dignity of patrician, and the re-estab
lishment of the prefect. These transactions did not
bring on a durable peace. Eugene again fled, went
to France, where, as far as he could, he aided St.
Bernard, the apostle of the fatal crusade of 1147.*
During the absence of Eugene, Arnold of Brescia
returned to Rome followed by two thousand Swiss.f
He proposed to re-establish the consuls, the tribunes
and the equestrian order of the ancient Roman re
publics. Not to allow the pope to exercise any civil
power, and to limit the power which they had been
obliged to leave to the emperor. Eugene III. ap
peared again in this capitol in 1149, but departed al
most immediately, and returned again in 1153,, to de
part no more. Imploring the succour "of Frederick
Barbarossa,J who had just been elected emperor, he
had offered to crown him, and he obtained from that
prince a promise to restore the pontifical authority in
Rome. About that time Louis VII. dissolved his marriage
with Eleonora of Aquitaine. This divorce, the only
one, perhaps, which has had disasterous results to
France, is also the only one which was not opposed
in any way by the church. Neither the pope, nor the
bishops, nor St. Bernard, complained of it. Suger,
who had advised against it, was dead. The French
prelates, whom Louis condescended to consult, ex
pressly approved of it, and the heiress of Guienne
and Poitou being repudiated under the ordinary pre
text of a distant relationship, disinherited the daugh
ters which she had borne by the king of France,
* This expedition does not belong to our subject except as it re
spects certain general considerations which we have already pre
sented to the reader.
t Chron. Corbeiens.
X Or jEnobarbus, so called from his red beard.

106 QUARRELS BETWEEN THE POPES AND THE
married Henry Plantagenet, and united two large
provinces to Maine and Avignon, already possessed
by Henry, who afterwards became king of England.
Here is one of the chief causes of the long rivalries
between these two kingdoms ; and if the clergy, who
had so long been accustomed to pass the bounds of
their ministry, had attempted to do so on this occa
sion, we should have cause, for once, at least, to be
thankful for the abuse of ecclesiastical functions.
That which must render the pontificate of Eugene
III. memorable in the history of the power of the
popes, is the approbation which he gave to the decree
of Gratian. This name decree (in this use of it) de
signates a canonical compilation, at first ^entitled The
Concord of Discordant Canons (Concordia discordan-
tium Canonum) which was completed in 1152 by a
benedictine monk, born in Tuscany, named Gratian.
The discovery of the Pandects of Justinian, then re
cent, had revived in Italy the study of jurisprudence.
The collection of Gratian became the text of eccle
siastical jurisprudence, and the first of these studies,
having very soon become subordinate to the last,
seemed to be nothing more than its appendix. This
collection of Gratian is divided into three parts — one
of which treats of general principles and of ecclesi
astical persons ; another of judgments ; and the third
of sacred things. Repetitions, impertinencies, disor
der, errors in proper names, mistakes in quotations,
are the least faults of the compiler. Mutilated pas
sages, chimerical canons, false decretals, all sorts of
lies, abound in this monstrous production. Its suc
cess was only the more rapid on that account. It
was explained in the schools, cited in the tribunals,
and invoked in treaties. It had almost become the
public law of Europe, when the return of light, dissi
pated by slow degrees the gross imposture. By it,
the clergy were held not to be amenable to answer
in the secular tribunals : the civil powers were sub
jected to ecclesiastical supremacy; the state of per
sons, and the acts which determine it, were regulated,
validated, or annulled absolutely, by the canons and

SOVEREIGNS OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY. 107
the clergy; the papal power was enfranchised from
all restrictions, the sanction of all laws of the church
was ascribed to the Holy See, that See itself being
independent of the laws published and confirmed by
itself. Such are the positive results of this jurispru
dence. Some of the churches, and especially the
church of France modified it, but it was preserved
pure and unaltered in the Roman church, which, du
ring the following centuries, made use of it to trou
ble empires. So early as the end of the eighth cen
tury, the decretals of Isodore had planted the germs
of pontifical omnipotence. Gratian gathered the
fruit of these germs, and made them still more fruit
ful. The court of Rome being represented as the
source of all irrefragible decision, as the universal
tribunal, -which decided all differences, dissipated all
doubts, cleared up all difficulties ; she was consulted
from all quarters by metropolitans, by bishops, by
chapters, by abbeys, by monks, by lords, by princes
even, and by the untitled faithful. There was no
limit to the pontifical correspondence but such as was
imposed by the tardiness of the means of communi
cation. The affluence of questions, multiplied bulls,
briefs, epistles ; and from those fictitious decretals
ascribed to the popes of the first ages, there sprung
up and multiplied, from the time of Eugene IIL, thou
sands of responses and decrees which were but too
authentic. All affairs, religious, civil, judiciary, do
mestic, then, were more or less embarrassed by pre
tended connexions with the spiritual power. Gene
ral interests, local controversies, individual quarrels,
all went in the last resort, and sometimes in the first
instance, to the pope; and the court of Rome ac
quired this influence over the details of human life,
(if we may so speak) which is of all others the most
formidable, precisely because each of its effects, iso
lated from others, appeared to be of no great import
ance. Isodore and Gratian transformed the pope
into a universal administrator.
Frederick Barbarossa was, at that time, the chief
obstacle to the progress of the pontifical power.

108 QUARRELS BETWEEN THE POPES AND THE
Young, ambitious, enterprising, he was connected by
ties of blood with both the families of Guelfs and
Ghibelines. He seemed destined to extinguish or
suspend the fury of the two factions. He announced
the design of strengthening the imperial power in
Italy ; and it could hardly be expected that he would
be drawn off from it by a new crusade so soon after
the disaster of that of 1147.
In the mean time Adrian IV., born in a village
near the abbey of St. Albans, mounted the chair of
St. Peter, in December, 1154.* The king of Eng
land, Henry II. , congratulated himself upon seeing
an Englishman at the head of the church. He asked
permission of him to take possession of Ireland, and
establish Christianity there in its primitive purity.
Adrian consented to it,f remarking, that all the isles
in which Christianity had been preached, belonged
undoubtedly to the Lloly See, as Henry himself had
acknowledged. The pope, therefore, was willing to
dispose of Ireland in favour of the king of England,
upon condition that the king would cause to be paid
to the church of Rome an annual rent of one penny
for each Irish house. Fleury J supposes that John of
Salisbury was one of the ambassadors sent by Henry
to the pontiff, to ask for the gift of Ireland; but Mat
thew Paris,§ names the deputies, without mentioning
John. Still he may have been commissioned to sup
port the request of Adrian, whose intimate friend he
was. They spent three months together at Beneven-
tum. It was there that Adrian, having asked John
of Salisbury what people said of the Roman church:
John replied, that she passed as the step-mother rather
than as the mother of other churches ; that the pope
himself put the world to heavy charges, that so much
violence, so much avarice and pride, was revolting
to Christendom. " Is that what you think of her your-
* Guilt. Nubrig. Rer. Angl. lib. ii, c. 6 and 9. Ciacon. de vitis
pont. Rom. Hadr. iv.
t Petri Bles. op. p. 252, 253. Concilior, torn. ix. pag. 1145.
X Hist. Eccles. lib. Ixx. n. 16.
§ Hist. Angl. ann. 1155.

SOVEREIGN'S OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY. 109
self?" said the pope. " I am greatly embarrassed
upon the point," replied John, " but since Cardinal
Guy Clement talks upon the matter as the world
talks, I can hardly be of a different opinion. You
are, most holy father, out of the right road. Why
exact of your children such enormous tributes ? Why
not give freely, that which you have received free
ly?"* The pope laughed, says Fleury ,f and to ex
culpate Rome, told the story of the members and the
stomach ; but, says the historian, to make the appli
cation just, the Roman church ought to have distri
buted among the other churches, benefits equal to
those she had received from them.
At that time, William, surnamed the Bad, was the
king of Sicily, who, being offended at being styled
by the pope lord only, instead of king, carried the
war into the ecclesiastical domains.J Adrian, after
having excommunicated him, excited against him
some lords who were his vassals, promising to sus
tain their rights with unflinching constancy, and re
store them to the possession of the inheritance of
which they had been despoiled. In the meantime,
the pope, shut up at Beneventum, was forced to ca
pitulate, and sacrifice the Sicilians, who had taken
arms for his defence. William of Tyre has blamed
him for it;§ but according to Baronius, he ought
rather to be pitied :|| for he wanted the ability to re
main faithful to his engagements ; and so far was he
from being free, he was forced to acknowledge, by
an authenticated act, that he enjoyed perfect liberty.
However this may be, William the Bad and pope
Adrian became reconciled, and the only malcontents
were the lords, who, upon the word of the pope, had
hoped never to be abandoned.
From the commencement of his pontificate, Adrian
* Joann. Sarisb. Polycrat. lib vi. c. 24, lib. viii. c. 22.
t Hist. Eccles. lib. Ixx. u. 15.
X Baronius Ann. Eccles. ann. 1154. Pagi Criti. ann. 1154, n. 4.
§ Lib. xviii. c 2, et seq.
II Ann. Eccles. ann. 1156. Concilior, torn. x. p. 1151.
11

110 QUARRELS BETWEEN THE POPES AND THE
got rid of Arnold of Brescia.* An interdict, cast for
the first time, over all the churches of Rome, fright
ened the people and obliged the senators to exile Ar
nold, who had scarcely got out of the city when he
was delivered by Frederic Barbarossa to the sove
reign pontiff, and burnt alive at day-break, without
the knowledge of the Romans. His ashes were cast
into the Tiber, for fear, says Fleury, that the people
would collect them as those of a martyr.f
But this service rendered by Frederick to the pope
did not prevent them from becoming enemies. As
early as the year 1155, when Frederick went to
Rome, to receive the imperial crown, the first germs
of their differences were perceived.J Frederick,
after having refused to hold the stirrup for the pope,
acquitted himself of this service with a very bad
grace. He observed, in the palace of Lateran, a
picture in which the emperor Lothaire was repre
sented upon his knees before the sovereign pontiff
with the inscription so well known, —
"Rex venit ante fores, jurans prius urbis honores
Post homo fit papat, sumit, quo dante, coronam."
that is, " The king presents himself at the gate, and,
after having acknowledged the rights of the city, be
came the vassal of the pope who gave him the crown."
Frederick complained of these two verses, as well
as of the picture which they explained. He ob
tained only a vague promise for their suppression
* Gibbon's Decline and Fall, chap. 69. Arnold of Brescia. Encyc.
Americ. article Arnold of Brescia, vol. i. p, 388. Mackintosh Hist.
of Eng. (Ed. 1836, Phila.) pag. 1836.
t Fleury Hist. Eccles. lib. xx. n. 4. Otho Frising de gest, Frider.
JJnobarb. lib. ii. c. 21. Vita Adriani papae ed. a card. Arrag. Berti
(Hist. Eccles. Breviarium seeulum, xii. cap. 3,) says Arnaldus of
Brixia contended that all temporal goods belonged to the laity and
were most unjustly detained by the clergy, — that bishops holding
royal rights and monks having possessions, could not obtain salva
tion. He adds, Arnaldus vero Roma expulsus sub Hadriano IV.
captus est in finibus Hetruriaa " Appensusque cruci flammaque ere-
mante solutus," ut lib. 3, de gestis Friderici, inquit Gunterus.
X Otho Frising. de gest. Frid. lib. ii. c. 14, 15, 20. Radev. de
gestis Frid. lib. i. c. 11. Bossuet Defens. Cler. Gallic, lib. iii. c. 18.

SOVEREIGNS OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY. Ill
in future. But they subsisted in April, 1157, when
some legates from the pope went to the emperor, who
was holding a court at Besangon,* and placed in his
hands a letter from Adrian IV. The subject of the
letter was, an act of violence done to the person of
the bishop of Lunden, in the states of the emperor.
" How," said the pope, " explain the impunity of such
a crime? Is it negligence? Can it be indifference?
Has the emperor forgotten the benefits which the
Holy See has heaped upon him ? Did not the sove
reign pontiff confer upon him the imperial crown of
his full free will ? Are there not other benefices
which he may be willing yet to grant him?"f This
language greatly displeased the princes who sur
rounded Frederick. They murmured — they threat
ened: and when one of the legates replied to them, —
" Of whom then does the emperor hold his crown, if
he does not hold it of the pope?" — one of these princes
could restrain his indignation no longer : he drew his
sabre, and infallibly would have cut off the head of
the legate, if Frederick had not hastened to prevent
this violence by his imperial authority. He sent the
envoys of the Holy See to their lodgings, ordering
them to depart the next morning very early, and re
turn to Rome by the shortest road, without stopping
either with bishops or abbots.
Adrian IV. wrote to the bishops of Germany. He
exhorted them to neglect no means of bringing Fre
derick back to more humble sentiments.J The an
swer of these prelates is extant :§ — it is firm and ju
dicious. " Your words," said they, " have offended
the whole court, and we cannot approve of them.
The emperor can never believe that he holds his dig-
¦nity of you. He swears that when the church
wishes to enslave thrones, that ambition comes not
from God. He speaks of images and subscriptions
among you which do dishonour to his power. He
* Radevic, lib. i. c. 8, 9, 10.
t Concilior, torn. x. pag. 1144.
X Concilior, torn. x. pag. 1145.
tj Radev. de gest, Friderjc. lib. i. c. 1 6,

112 QUARRELS BETWEEN THE POPES AND THE
says, that he will not endure such gross outrage. We
invite you to destroy these monuments of enmity be
tween the empire and the priesthood — we conjure
you to appease a Christian prince, by speaking to
him hereafter in language more in accordance with
the gospel."
While the bishops (on the one hand) wrote this let
ter, Frederick Barbarossa put himself in readiness to
pass into Italy.* Adrian then remembered William
of Sicily, and comprehended that it was time to show
some deference to the emperor. Legates more able
and supple went to Augsburg, and presented to Fre
derick, another letter of Adrian.f The pope explained,
in it the terms of his first letter, and the explanation
was equivalent to a retractation. " By the word be-
neftcium," said he "we understood not a benefice or
a fief but a benefit or a service. In speaking of your
crown we did not pretend to have conferred it upon
you, we only recalled to recollection the honour which
we had in placing it upon your august head : contuli-
mus that is to say imposuimus." This commentary,
which does not please Baronius at all,J satisfied the
emperor, and wrought a reconciliation between this
prince and the pope, but it was not of long duration.
In the month of October 1158§ Frederick held at
Roncaille, between Parma and Placentia, an assembly,
in which the bishops acknowledged, that they held
their royal lights of him. Displeased with this de
claration, and with the asperity, with which the offi
cers of the emperor exacted the right of forage upon
the lands of the Roman Church, Adrian IV. wrote
Frederick a letter, which has not been preserved, but
Radevic, who gives us an account of it,|| says that it
concealed under humble and bland forms, much bitter-
*Radev. lib. i.e. 17,23.
t Concilior. torn. x. p. 1147.
X Ann. Eccl, ann. 1158, 76. According to Bossuet we want only
this one letter of Adrian IV. to annihilate all the consequences
which the ultra-montains pretend to deduce from the ceremony of
the coronation of kings.
§ Radov. lib. ii. c. 1, 15,
|| Lib. ii. c, 18.

SOVEREIGNS OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY. 113
ness and pride. In replying to it, Frederick affected
to place, in the inscription, his name before that of the
sovereign pontiff* This was returning to an ancient
usage, for which forms, deemed more respectful, had
for some time been substituted. This trifle incensed
the pope, and history informs us, that letters were in
tercepted from him to the Milanese and some other
subjects of Frederick, exciting them to revolt. We
have not these letters : but the reply of Adrian to the
emperor has been transmitted to us.f " To place
your name before ours," says this servant of the ser
vants of Christ, " it is arrogance — it is insolence — and
to exact homage from bishops — from those whom the
scripture calls gods — sons of the most HighJ, it is to
be wanting to the faith which you have sworn to St.
Peter and to us. Hasten then, to correct yourself
lest, by attributing to yourself that which does not
belong to you, you lose the crown which we have
freely conferred upon you."
This letter did not remain unanswered — their minds
became heated : and notwithstanding, the negotiations
attempted in an assembly at Bologna in 1159, war was
about to break out : but the pope died the first of Sep
tember that year, at the very time says an historian,^
he was pronouncing the excommunication of Frede
rick. Alexander III. elected pope after Adrian IV. did
not die till 1181. This pontificate was the longest in
the twelfth century. But four antipopes, who suc
ceeded each other, in the course of these twenty two
years under the names of Victor III. Paschal IIL Ca
lixtus III. and Innocent III. disputed and weakened
the authority of the head of the church. Alexander,
who was one of the envoys of Adrian at Besaneon, found
a formidable enemy in Frederick Barbarossa. This
emperor, seeing that two successors of Adrian, Alex
ander and Victor, had been elected at the same time
* Radevic App. pag. 562.
t Concilior, torn. x.
X Ego dixit dii eslis etfilii excelsi omnes, Ps. 81, v. 6,
§ Abb. Ursperg. Chron. pag. 221. 11*

114 QUARRELS BETWEEN THE POPES AND THE
summoned them to appear at Pavia, where he would
decide between them in a council convoked by him
self. Victor appeared and was proclaimed the true
pontiff. Alexander, having been excommunicated by
the council, excommunicated Frederick and Victor;
absolved the subjects of the former from their oaths
of allegiance, and took refuge in France, the common
asylum of the popes when driven from Rome. Having
returned to that city, in 1165, after the decease of
Victor, he left it again in 1167, under the following
circumstances. The Romans being besieged by the
Germans, conjured him to sacrifice, for their safety,
the title which they refused to allow him. " No," he
replied " a sovereign pontiff is not subject to the judg
ment of any mortal, neither of kings — of people nor
of the church. Be it known, that no power shall make
me descend from the rank to" which God has raised
me." And while the cardinals were carrying to the
inhabitants of Rome this pontifical response, the pope
quietly made his escape.* Frederick at that time
was carrying on a famous war against almost the
whole of Italy, confederated under the name of the
Lombard league. Alexander III. became the head
of the Lombards and they gave the name of Alexan
dria to a city, built by them in 1168 at the confluence
of the Tanaro and the Bormida. The pope excited
Manuel the Greek emperor to take arms against the
emperor of the West and he tried to reconcile the
two churches which had been separated since the
time of Leo IX. But when Manuel asked that the
Holy See should be established at Constantinople, this
condition made both projects fall through. To occu
py a second rank in a capital, inhabited, possessed,
governed by a secular sovereign ; this subaltern exis
tence, which during five centuries, had suited the suc
cessors of St. Peter, was not so much as to be pro
posed to the successors of Gregory VII.
* Vit. Alex. III. edit, a card Arrag. pag. 458, Acerbus Morena,
pag. 1151. Baronius Ann. Eccl. ann. 1167, sec. 11.

SOVEREIGNS OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY. 115
England acknowledged Alexander III. as France
had done, notwithstanding the protection which he ap
peared to give to the insubordination of Thomas Bec
ket Archbishop of Canterbury. This prelate, having
been elevated by Henry II. his king to the most emi
nent dignities, dared to oppose the punishment of a
priest, who had been convicted of assassination, and to
decide that the convict should remain deprived of his be
nefice as his whole punishment. The king chose that
the common laws should be applied by the ordinary
tribunals to the crimes at that time frequent, which
were committed by clergymen. He purposed also,
that no bishop should, without his permission, go to
Rome, or appeal to the Holy See, or excommunicate,
or suspend any vassal or an officer of the crown. A
parliament at Clarendon had adopted these articles.
Becket after having at first rejected them without ex
amination, and then adopted them without reserve
accused himself, to the pope of having betrayed the
rights of the clergy ; he did penance for it, and re
nounced the exercise of his ministry, until the sove
reign pontiff* should absolve him. Being treated as a
seditious person by all the peers of Great Britain, as
well ecclesiastical as secular, the Archbishop of Can
terbury took refuge in France. He threatened Henry
with the fate of Nebuchadnezzar, and pronounced
anathemas, against the ministers and the most faith
ful subjects of the king of England. This prince un
dertook to recal Becket to reason and duty. For
that purpose he exhausted all means, even that of
taking his rival Louis, the young king of France, as
arbiter between therri. " Let the archbishop," said
he " conduct himself towards me as the holiest of his
predecessors have done with the least illustrious of
mine and I shall be content." An apparent reconci
liation brought Becket back to England : but he re
turned only to excommunicate again all the clerks,
curates, canons, and bishops, who had declared against
him. Henry lost patience: — He lost it so far, as to
cry out " Will none of my servants avenge me of the

116 QUARRELS BETWEEN THE POPES AND THE
most pragmatical— the most ungrateful of priests ?"*
In fact four assassins went after the archbishop. They
killed him in his church of Canterbury. Alexander
III. who had condemned the articles of Clarendon,
added Thomas Becket to the number of the holy
martyrs: and the king, whose imprudent language,
had made him culpable, both of the assassination and
canonization, completed the dishonour done to the
dignity and rights of his throne, by a most ignonimious
penance. This quarrel gave occasion to a multitude
of letters as well from Alexander III. as from several
English and French prelates: a deplorable corre
spondence, in which we see with what rapidity, the
unsocial maxims contained in the decree Gratian were
propagated.f In the mean time, Alexander III. was intent upon
strengthening himself. He feared the consequences
of a protracted war with the emperor. He separated
himself from the Lombard league, and in 1177 went
to Venice to offer Frederick a peace, which the re
verses of this prince must render useful and glorious
to the church. The pope reaped the first fruit of the ef
forts and combats of Italy. Frederick acknowledged
Alexander, kissed his feet, held the stirrup of his horse,
restored the. ecclesiastical property, without com
prising however the inheritance of Matilda and signed

* "Me miserum, non possum in meo regno pacem cum uno sacer-
dote habere ? nee quisquam meorum omnium est qui me hac molestid
liberare velit? Polydore Vergil Hist. Angl. lib. xiii. Henry II.
t Matth. Paris, Hist. Major, pag. 82, 83, 101, 104. Collier's Ec
clesiastical History, torn. i. sec. 12. Concil. Magnae Britannia, torn.
i. pag. 434. Epistols et vita Thorns Cautuar, etc. Brux, 1682, 2
vols, in 4to. Natalis Alex. sec. xii. Diss. 10, pag. 833. Velly Hist.
de France, torn. iii. (in 12) pag. 181, 198. Some English writers
say, that the four assassins, Fitz Ursc, Tracy, Britton and Morville,
so far from having received an order to kill Becket, did not dare to
appear again at court after they had committed the crime. Hume
adds, that the king, suspecting the design of these four gentlemen,
from some words which had escaped them, despatched a messenger
to forbid them to make any attempt against the person of the pre
late, but the messenger arrived too late. Mackintosh Hist, of Eng.
(Ed. 1836, Phil.) pp. 71 to 77, and the whole reign of Henry II.

SOVEREIGNS OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY. 117
a truce for six years.* During ten years, Alexander
had almost continually lived at Anagni. He had sel
dom appeared at Rome, where the seeds of sedition
had not ceased to germinate. He returned in 1178.
His entry was solemn. He received the homage of
the people, and the paths of the nobles, and in 1179
held the third general council of Lateran. A crown
sent by him to Alphonso Henriquez, king of Portugal
(that this conqueror might not reign without the con
sent of the Holy See) was paid for by an annual tri
bute of two marcs of Gold.f Such were the principal
results of the pontificate of Alexander III. to whom
the college of cardinals owes the exclusive right of
electing the popes. He made a rule, that the election
should be complete by the union of two thirds of the
votes upon the samecandidate. The memory of this
pope is dear to the Italians, who think they see in him
a defender of their liberty : but he showed yet more
zeal for the aggrandizement of the ecclesiastical pow
er. Praise is due to his ability and his constancy
rather than to his patriotism. He knew how to tri
umph over many obstacles, to sustain long reverses,
to weary out the fortune of Frederick Barbarossa and
to subject to pontifical authority the enemies of the
Italian republics.
Lucius III. the first pope that was elected in the
form established by Alexander, for that very reason dis
pleased the Romans. They forced him to retire to
Verona. After him, Urban III. and Gregory VIII.
proposed a third crusade, but it was not undertaken
before 1189 under Clement III. In order to draw
France and England into it, the quarrels which ever
since the divorce of Louis VII. had divided the two
kingdoms, must be extinguished. A legate from Cle
ment III. threatened France with a general interdict
if Philip Augustus did not make haste to become re
conciled with the English. " What is your interdict
* Muratori Antiq. Ital. med. avi, torn. iv. p. 249. Orig. Guelph.
torn. ii. p. 379.
t Millo*. H»st- Mod. torn. ii. pag. 104,

118 QUARRELS BETWEEN THE POPES AND THE
to me ?" answered Philip, " Does it become Rome lo
threaten or trouble my states, when I think it proper
to call rebellious vassals to account ? It is easy to
see that you have a taste for the sterlings of England."
Nevertheless, Philip joined in the crusade, as well as
Richard, who succeeded his father Henry, upon the
throne of England. Frederick Barbarossa, also took
the cross and died* in Armenia about 1190, leaving
the empire to his son Llenry VI. — Clement III. had oc
casion to occupy all minds with this distant expedi
tion. The papal authority had become weak again
under the short and feeble pontificates of his prede
cessors. The Romans had got possession again of
royal rights and restored them to the Holy See only
upon condition that the towns of Tusculum and Tivoli
should be delivered up to their vengeance. Tusculum
was sacked and reduced to ashes under Celestin III.
It took the name of Frascati (from the word Frasca
which signifies a bough or branch,) because the
branches of trees served to form asylums for the re
mains of the inhabitants.
Celestin III. elected in 1191, is the last pope of the
twelfth century. Innocent III. who reigned from 1198
to 1216, belongs rather to the thirteenth century. Ba-
roriiusf relates, that Celestin III. while consecrating
Henry VI. pushed the imperial crown with his foot.
MuratoriJ contests this assertion, which, according to
Baronius, proves the right which the pope has to de
pose the emperor. In truth there is no better reason
to be given for such a right. However this may be,
Celestin III. excommunicated the emperor Henry VI.
Leopold, duke of Austria and Alphonso X. king of
Leon, and he annulled the sentence of the French bi
shops, who had approved of the repudiation of Ingel-
burge, the second wife of Philip Augustus. - It is to
be remarked, that these anathemas, although formi
dable yet, had lost a great part of their disastrous
* -Mackintosh Hist, of Eng. (Ed. 1835, Phil.) p. 70, 71.
t Ann. Eccles. ann. 1191.
t Ann, d'ltal, ann. 1191,

SOVEREIGNS OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY. 119
efficacy. Philip took a third wife without any fur
ther opposition on the part of Celestin. This pope,
in consideration of some marcs of silver acknowledged
Frederick II. a child of three years, son of the empe
ror Henry VI. as the king of Sicily : — Henry VI. died
in 1197, and Germany was divided between Philip of
Suabia and Otho of Saxony. The simultaneous elec
tion of these twp emperors, became one of the causes
of the aggrandizement of the pontifical power. Di
visions in Germany, rivalries between France and
England,, new reigns in almost all the states of Italy,
expeditions to Palestine, the hostilities of the crusa
ders against the emperors of the East, the propaga
tion of the false decretals in the West ; all these things
concurred to promise splendid success to the pontiff,
who should join audacity to ability and should reign
long enough to conduct a vast enterprise. That pon
tiff was Innocent III.

( 120 )

CHAPTER VI.

> The power of the Popes of the Thirteenth Century.
Innocent III. in one year, of his plenary power gave
three crowns; that of Wallachia to Joannis ;* that of
Bohemia to Premislas: and to Peter II. that of Arra-
gon. Peter II. received his at Rome, and did homage
to the pope for his states-)- which became tributary to
the Holy See. J He conferred also that of Armenia.
But Innocent, the distributor of crowns signalized his
power much more frequently by anathemas. Venice,
France, England, the emperors, all the chief poten
tates of Europe, were smitten with his spiritual arms.
The Venetians, already powerful by their commerce,
entered upon the crusades only to extend it : — they
gained money and lands, while they merited indul
gences. Being alone capable of equipping large
fleets, they exacted eighty-five thousand crowns§ of
* Fleury Hist. Eccles. lib. lxxv. n. 14, liv. Ixxvi. n. 8.
t Busk's History of Spain and Portugal, book i. chap. 6.
t Fleury Hist. Eccles. lib. Ixxvi. n. 9 and 10.
'§ In the time of Edward I. and Edward II. of England (1272 to
1397) the value of money was very much greater than at present.
Twenty pence made an ounce of silver, and the price of provisions
was thus rated in a proclamation.
A fat ox, fatted with corn, 24s.
A fat cow, - - - 12s.
A fat hog, . 40d.
A fat mutton unshorn, . 20rf.
A fat mutton shorn, - - 14rf.
A fat hen, - . Id.
24 eggs, - Id.
Silver coins of England have been diminished in value during
the last five hundred years in the ratio of 3 1-1 lth to 1, and gold in
the ratio of 3 1-2 to 1 ; and the silver coins of France and Spain
have been debased during the same period in the ratio of about 17

OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY. 121
gold for transporting thechristian army into Palestine,
and by aid of the legions, which they carried, they
conquered important places in Dalmatia. Innocent
III. in order to arrest their progress, devised the plan
of excluding them from the bosom of the church.
But one of the effects of commercial prosperity, is to
weaken in the mind, the fear of ecclesiastical censure.
The Venetians took possession of the city and terri
tory of Zara. They continued to increase in strength
and greatness. The anathema fulminated against
their republic, had scarcely any consequence and the
pontiff forebore to renew it.
But he treated Philip Augustus with more rigour.
This king of France received an express order from
Innocent III. to take back Ingelburge, whom he had
repudiated, and put away Agnes or Maria of Me-
ranie, whom he married after the divorce. At first,
the monarch took an attitude sufficiently proud, but
the kingdom was under an interdict ; no more divine
offices, no more sacraments, no more marriages, in
junctions to let the beard grow, prohibitions to eat
meat and prohibitions to give the usual mutual salu
tations. In vain did Philip resist. He was obliged
to ask of the pope a new examination of the matter,
and he was even obliged to prevent the result of this
examination by declaring that he was going to recall
Ingelburge. She was, in truth, confined in a castle,
but with the title of queen and spouse. Emboldened
by this success, Innocent III. did not hesitate to erect
himself into a supreme judge between the kings of
France and of England, at that time in arms against
each other. He ordered them to assemble the bishops,
abbots, and lords of their states, to deliberate upon
peace, and advise upon the means of re-establishing
the churches and the abbeys which had suffered from
the war. Philip Augustus answered, that it did not
belong to the pope to meddle in the quarrels of kings,
least of all to signify to them such ordinances. Some

to 1. — [Report from the Secretary of the Treasury, May 4th, 1830 :
House of Representatives, U. S., May 2dth, 1830, p. 64.
12

122 THE POWER OF THE POPES
of the French lords added, that an order given by a
pope to make peace was only a reason for continuing
the war* But Innocent replied that an unjust war
was a sin, and as all sins are to be judged of by the
holy church, he discharged a pontifical function by
disarming the two kings. According to this princi
ple, says Fleury ,j- the pope was the judge of all wars.
among sovereigns, that is to say, properly speaking,
he was the only sovereign in the world. Llowever
this may be, Philip, after having resumed the course
of his conquests, thought it proper to consent to a
truce, and not to irritate too much a pontiff who had
determined upon the most audacious enterprises. In
this manner he delayed, but did not prevent excom
munication. An anathema against Philip Augustus
was one of the last acts of Innocent IIL, and one of
the effects of a new war kindled by this very pontiff
between the kings of England and France, whom he
had pretended to reconcile.
In fact, this same king of England, whom Innocent
IIL, in 1204, had appeared to sustain against the
French, became, a few years after, one of the victims
of pontifical despotism. The pope, having purposed
in contempt of tho canons and laws, to dispose of
the archbishoprick of Canterbury, in favour of Car
dinal Langton, John opposed it with a degree pf
fury, which revealed his weakness. Innocent IIL,
who knew how to use his power with more modera
tion, employed by degrees throe means of repressing
this indocility : first, an interdict upon the kingdom,
then personal excommunication of the monarch, last
* "Ego  notumfacio universis ad quos litter a prasentes
pervenerint qubd ego domino meo Ph. illustri regi Francorum con-
sului, ut neque pacem neque treugam faciat regi Anglia per violen-
tiam vel per coactiontm domini papa, aut alicujus papa. Quod si
dominus papa eidem domino regi super'hoc aliquam faceret violen-
tiam aut coactioncm concessi domino meo ligio et crcantavi super
omnia qua ab eo teneo quod ego super hoc ei essem in auxilium de
tola posse meo. Acts or declarations in this form, in the name of
Renald, Count of Bologne ; of Ralph, Count of Soissons; of Odo,
Duke of Bourgogne, &c., and all dated from 1202, are found in the
treasury of Charters.
t Hist. Eccles. lib. Ixxvi. n. 60, lib. Ixxix. n. 8.

OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY. 123
the deposition of the monarch so completely convict
ed of obstinacy in his disobedience to the Holy See.*
The English, who were already dissatisfied with
their sovereign, were absolved from the oaths they
had taken to him, and the crown of England was de
creed by the pope to Philip Augustus, who, being im
prudent enough to accept it, signified his gratitude by
withdrawing Ingelburge from the castle of Etampes,
and recalling her to the throne. But while Philip,
with arms in hand, was getting ready to reap the
fruit of the pontiff's liberality, a legate in England,
named Pandolph, took advantage of the fright of the
deposed prince, and offered him the means of recover
ing the sceptre by receiving it as a pure gift from the
hands of the church. John, upon his knees before
Pandolph, put his hands between those of this priest,
and pronounced, in the presence of the bishops and
lords of his kingdom, the following words: ''I, John,
by the grace of God, king -of England, and lord of
Ireland, for the expiation of my sins, of my free will
and with the advice of my barons, give to the Ro
man church, to the pope Innocent and his successors,
the kingdom of England and the kingdom of Ireland,
with all the rights attached to the one and to the
other. I will hold them hereafter of the Holy See, of
whom I will be a faithful vassal, faithful to God and
to the church of Rome, to the sovereign pontiff, my
lord, and to his successors lawfully elected. I bind
myself to pay every year a rent of a thousand marks
of silver, that is to say, seven hundred for England,
and three hundred for Ireland. "f Scarcely was the
recital finished, before the legate was presented with
the tribute promised to the pope. Pandolf feast the
silver on the ground and trampled it under his feet,
and satisfied with having thus expressed the worth-
lessness of secular treasures and powers, he gathered
it up again.J The sceptre and the crown remained
* Bossuet Defens. Cler. Gall. lib. iii- c. 21.
t Innocent III. epist. lib. xv. ep. 77. Rymor, Act publ. torn. i.
pag. 57.
t Velly Hist, do France, torn. iii. (in 12) pag. 473,

,124 .**V If THE POWER OF THE POPES
ittsjiands. He kept them five days, and after having
ktt new guaranties, he at length returned them.,
pretending, however, that they were received as a
pure gratuity. Lie immediately passed into France
to announce that which he had just accomplished in
England. Philip learns from Pandolph that John, the
vassal of the pope occupies the throne of England
under the protection of the Lloly See, and that every
enterprise thereafter against that kingdom, would be
punished by excommunication. Philip answered
that he had taken arms' only at the solicitation of the
pope; that his preparations had cost two millions;
that a fleet recently equipped was at anchor off Bou
logne, waiting for the troops destined to make an at
tack on Dover, and that it was too late now to re
cede.* In the mean time, the rebellion of a vassal
compelled the French monarch to carry the. war into
Flanders. Around this vassal, rallied tho king of
England, the emperor Otho IV., and almost all the
princes of Europe. But the victory which the French
gained at Bouvines dissipates the hopes of their ene
mies. Otho is no longer emperor except in name,
and John would have been already dethroned, if
Rome had not obtained for him a truce of five years.
In the meantime the English themselves contemning
the threats of Rome, pronounce their monarch de
posed, and offer his crown to Louis, son of Philip
Augustus. New decrees are now made by Innocent
IIL, forbidding the father and the son to invade the
state of a feudatory prince of the Apostolical See.
The father affects to disapprove of a conquest which
Rome has judged a sacrilege, yet furnishes all th6
means necessary to undertake it. The son embarks:
The sovereign pontiff, who sees plainly that the father
and son collude, excommunicates both. Louis is al
most in possession of England, when the death of

* See Mackintosh's Hist, of Eng. p. 93, 94. (Ed. 1836, Phil.) For
an account of this controversy between Innocent III. and King
John ; the whole reign of John,

V. "-
OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY-.-.' , 125
V;- •'.¦.•>-
John gives a different direction to the minds\of the,
English and to their affairs.*
The emperor of the West, inasmuch as he was
the sovereign of Rome, and enjoyed in Italy a trou
blesome preponderance, was most exposed to the
violent attacks of Innocent III. To humble the em
pire, it was, above all, important, to establish at
Rome, and in the ecclesiastical dominions, the ponti
fical authority. The pope began by making good
use. of the ascendancy, which his birth, his reputation,
and his talents gave him over the Romans. Lie abo
lished the consulate, and, arrogating to himself imperial
rights, he invested the prefect with his powers. He
installed public officers, and received the oaths of the
senators. It was at that time, says Muratori, the im
perial authority gave its last gasp at Rome.f Out of
Rome, Orbitello, Viterbia, Ombria, Romagna, the
Marched'Ancona (Picenus- Agar) acknowledged In
nocent III. as their sovereign. Reigning thus from
sea to sea, he conceived the hops of conquering Ra
venna, of getting fully the inheritance of Mathilda,
and of getting more into subjection to him the two
Sicilies ; above all, of preventing them from having
the head of the empire as their master. This last
was always a capital point in the policy of the Holy
See. When once he could govern immediately the
greater part of the Italian provinces, he would be
content with exercising elsewhere a spiritual supre
macy. In regard to states which he possessed not,
he was satisfied with the power of giving them, and
of taking them away, and of investing such princes
with them as made themselves worthy of them by
their constant docility. All conjunctures, as we have
stated, at the accession of Innocent IIL to the ponti
fical throne, favoured this plan. Frederick II. , whom
his father, Henry VI. had caused to be elected king
of the Romans, was an infant. His mother, Gon-

« Velly Hist, de Fr. torn. iii. (in 12) p. 468, 475.
f Spiro qua I'ultimo fiato t'autorita dcgli Augusti in Roma. Mu
ratori Ann. d'llal. ann. 1198. 12*

126 THE POWER OF THE POPES
stance, placed him under the protection, and even
the tutelage of the pope. One of the acts of this
tutor was to deprive his pupil of the title of king of
the Romans, as well as of the prerogatives attached
to the crown of Sicily. Philip of Swabia. and Otho
of Saxony, were simultaneously named emperors.
The former represented the Ghibeline house, and the
latter the Guelphs. Innocent III. took the part of
Otho, to the prejudice even of Frederick, whom he
considered the third competitor. It belongs, said he,
to the Holy See to judge definitively upon the rights
of these competitors to the empire. The fortune of
war favoured Philip of Swabia, with whom the pru
dent court of Rome was negotiating, when he was
assassinated. His daughter became the wife of Otho
IV., who, by this alliance, having united all rights
and all suffrages, thought himself strong enough to
refuse to the pope the inheritance of Mathilda. In
nocent then took the course of discharging his obli
gations as tutor. He set up his pupil, Frederick, in
opposition to the ungrateful Otho; excommunicated
this prince, whom he had himself crowned and ex
cited against him the northern part of Italy and a
part of Germany. On this occasion, Ghibelines were
armed by the pope against the emperor, whom the
Guelphs supported in his resistance to the pontiff; a
phenomenon in history which should not astonish us;
since we have observed already that these two par
ties, originally, were separated, rather by family in
terests than by opinions. We may add, that it is the
fate of permanent factions to take, in their progress,
unexpected directions; to change with circumstances;
to preserve their names and badges, rather than their
sentiments or purposes; in short, to have no invaria
ble interest or purpose, but that of remaining rivals,
and obstinate in opposition. It is sufficient to pre
serve them in existence, that they should be at war
with each other, no matter for what end. It was the
battle of Bouvines which, as we have remarked, de
termined the downfall of Otho IV. and the preponde
rance of the party of Frederick II. Innocent III.

OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY. 127
thus reaped a part of the fruits of the triumph of Phi
lip Augustus.
These quarrels were combined with the crus.ide
of 1203, which, like those of 1095, 1147, and 1189,
placed in the hands of the pope, the cords of all the
agitations of Europe. Each of these expeditions oc
casioned quarrels between the crusaders and the
Greeks ; and these appeared to Innocent III. an oc
casion upon which he might reconquer the Church
of the East, which, two centuries before, had escaped
the domination of the Court of Rome. The Greek
empire, weakened by wars and by factions, became
the prey of the crusaders ; who, not being able to re
main the masters of Jerusalem, took possession of
Constantinople. Baldwin, Count of Flanders, was
named Emperor of the East. After him, four other
Frenchmen occupied successively the same throne,
until the Greek emperors, taking refuge at Nice,
^reigned over only a few provinces. The palace and
temples of Byzantium were plundered. The booty
collected by the French lords was valued at a quan
tity of silver of the weight of two hundred thousand
pounds. It was found convenient thus to indemnify
themselves in Greece against the losses sustained in
Palestine. The vow they had taken not to fight any
except infidels, did not restrain their cupidity. The
re-establishment of the holy places was only a pre
text for plundering the rich places; and already they
ceased even to affect religious sentiments. " They
cast," says Fleury,* " the relicts into filthy places —
they spread upon the earth the body and blood of our
Lord — they employed sacred vessels for profane
uses: an insolent woman danced in the sanctuary,
and seated herself on the seat of the priests." Inno
cent IIL, who was not ignorant of these profanations,
and who complained of them, did not the less approve
of the conquest. " God," said he, " wishing to con
sole the Church by the union of the schismatics,
has caused the empire to pass from the proud, super-
* Hist. Eccles. lib. Ixxvi. n. 2.

128 THE POWER OF THE POPES
stitious, and disobedient Greeks to the humble, Catho
lic, and submissive Latins."*
Another advantage of the crusades was, the appli
cation of the name to many other leagues formed or
fomented by the Roman Church. — Innocent III. is the
inventor of this artifice — an artifice which discovers
great knowledge of the means of delusion, furnished
by the illusions of language. The enormous power of
one word, which, for one hundred and ten years, had
been sufficient to excite throughout Europe the most
active and the blindest enthusiasm, he made subser
vient to his various political designs. He preached a
crusade against England, when he resolved to de
throne John —a crusade against the Hungarians,
when he set himself up as the judge of their internal
dissensions — a crusade against the king of Norway,
when he wished to deprive him of his crown ; but
above all these, was the crusade against the Albigen-
ses, a sect diffused through the middle of France.
Raymond VI., Count of Tolouse, because he protect
ed theAlbigenses, who were his subjects, was excom
municated as the favourer of heresy. One of the le
gates who excited these troubles, received a mortal
wound. The Count was accused of this assassina
tion without any proof, and his states were declared
vacant, and devolved upon the first crusader who
should make himself master of them. In vain did
Raymond humble himself even to opprobium— in vain
did he, with shameful weakness, join in the crusade
against his own subjects. Simon de Montfort ob
tained these deplorable provinces at the price of tor
rents of blood with which he inundated them. Ray
mond took refuge with his brother-in-law, Peter, king
of Arragon, who, after having in vain interceded
with Innocent IIL, took arms against Simon de Mont
fort, and perished at the battle of Muret, in 1213.f
Two years afterwards, the pope, in a council of
* Innoe. III. epist. lib. viii. ep. 69.
t Busk's History of Spain and Portugal, book i. chap. 7.

OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY. 129
Lateran,* definitively dispossessed Raymond VI., and,
(granting to him a moderate pension), he granted his
states to Simon, whom he dared to surname Macha-
beus. Simon died in 1218, at the siege of- Toulouse.
We do not intend to exculpate the Albigenses from
all error. Many of them were found in the valleys
of Piedmont. ¦ They were also called Waklenses,
and sometimes " the good men ;" on account of the
regularity of iheir lives. But to exterminate thou
sands of good men because they "have committed
a self-delusion, and to dethrone him who governed
them because he did not persecute them enough, is
rigour to excess, and reveals the character, and ma
nifests the power of Innocent IILf
It is not without grounds that the honour of estab
lishing the Inquisition is given to this pope. In truth,
Lucius IIL, as early as 1184, had given the bishops
orders to search for heretics — to subject them to spi
ritual punishments, and to deliver them over lo the
secular arm ; but this first germ of an institution so
formidable was but slightly developed before the time
when Innocent III. purposed to send into Languedoc
two monks of Citeaux, commissioned to pursue the
Albisrenses — to excommunicate them — to denounce
them to the civil authority, which was obliged to con
fiscate their goods, or banish them, or proscribe them;
under pain of incurring itself the same ecclesiastical
censures. The friars Raynier and Guy, and the
archdeacon Peter of Castelnau, are the first inquisi
tors named and known in history. Innocent enjoined
it upon princes and people to obey them — upon
princes to proceed against the heretics, denounced
by these missionaries ; upon the people to arm them-
* Mackintosh Hist, of Eng. pp. 94, 95. (Ed. of Phila. 1836.)
Centuriators of Magdeburg. Century 13th.
t Velly Hist, de France, torn. iii. (in 12) pag. 430, 468. See
Mackintosh Hist, of Eng. (Ed. 1836, Phila.) pag. 153, 139. Hal-
lam's Middle Ages, chap. j. part 1; chap. ix. part. 2, pp. 29, 504,
505. (Ed. 1837. Harper's, N. Y. Gibbon's Decline and Fall, chap.
54, ad finem. Waddington's History of the Church, chaps. 18 and
28. Encyc. Araeric, art. Albigenses, vol. i. p. 135.

130 THE POWER OF THE POPES
selves against princes who were indocile, or had too
little zeal. These first ministers of pontifical ven
geance soon had co-workers ; among whom, ,St. Do
minic was distinguished. As early as 1215, their
functions had acquired consistency and lustre enough
to receive a solemn approbation in the council of
Lateran.* Without doubt, the inquisition, a species
of permanent crusade, was perfected and consoli
dated under the successors of Innocent IIL, but with
out the memorable trial of it which he had the ho
nour of making, it is doubtful whether it would have
flourished and fructified so terribly.
Among the three hundred popes or anti-popes,
whose names occur in history, we know of noiie
more imposing than Innocent III. His pontificate is
most worthy of the attention and study of the Euro
pean monarchs. There they may learn how tempo
ral power united to ecclesiastical functions, amplifies
them, and changes their nature: to what universal
supremacy the papacy aims; what tyranny, in
fact, it exercises over princes as well as over people,
when political circumstances favour sacerdotal am
bition but a little. " A pope," said Innocent, "a vicar
of Christ, is superior to man, if he is inferior to God.f
He is the light of day; the civil authority is but the
fading star of night." It was Innocent III. who disco
vered in the first chapter of Genesis, this celestial
theory of the two powers : and it was by such alle
gories^ — monuments of his own ignorance and of that
of his age, that he subjugated the West, agitated the
East, governed and imbrued the earth with blood.
"Sword! sword!" cried he, on learning the de
scent of the French upon England, " Sword ! leap
from the scabbard, — sword ! sharpen thyself for
extermination." Such was the text of his last dis
course^ In the midst of the anathemas which he
was pronouncing against Louis and Philip Augustus,
* Concil. tom.xi. p. 142. Direct Inquisitor, part i. u. 2.
t Minor Deo, major homine.
X Inn. III. S. M. de consecr. pontific, op. t. i. pag. 180,
§ Fleury Hist. Eccles. lib. lxxvii. n. 62,

OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY. ]31
he was seized with a fever, which, in a very few
days, brought on a paralysis, then a lethargy, and
finally the death of the proudest of the pontifls, and
the most able enemy of the kings. He had governed
the church, or rather, Europe, during eighteen.years
ten months and nine days. It is the most brilliant
period of the papal power. England, Poland, Por
tugal, and we know not how many states were his
tributaries. Historians relate,* that in a mysterious
vision, the female saint Lutgarde, saw Innocent III.
in the midst of flames, and the pious virgin having
asked him why he was thus tormented, he answered,
that he should continue to be so till the day of judg
ment, for three crimes, which would have plunged
him into the eternal fire of hell, if the holy virgin, to
whom he had dedicated a monastery, had not turned
the divine wrath. We ma)' doubt the vision ; but
the story proves, says Fleury ,f that persons of the
highest virtue were persuaded, that this pope had
committed enormous sins. What were the three of
which St. Lutgarde spoke? It would be extremely
difficult to make the selection in the life of Innocent.}
After having had in Honorius III. a very feeble
successor, his place was more worthily supplied by
Gregory IX. The latter announced his pretensions,
by the extraordinary pomp of his coronation. His-
torians§ describe the stately ceremony, in which no-
* Thorn. Cantiprat invita S. Lutg. virg. apud. Surium 16 Jun. —
Raynald ad- ann. 1216.
t Hist. Eccles. lib. lxxvii.n. 62.
X T_he author of the article " Innocent," in the Encyclopedia
Americana, vol. 7, p. 25, remarks, in relation to Innocent III.,
" Innocent was one of the greatest of popes and rulers. He acted
in accordance with the principles laid down in his writings. Ho
enforced purity of morals in the clergy, and was himself irreproach
able in private life  It may be said of his rule, as of that
Gregory VII., whom he most resembles, that in those times, the
power of the pope was salutary as a bond of union for Europe, in
which the stillfirmer bond of a common civilization and knowledge
did not exist. His attacks on the secular power are to be considered
as the struggle between the ecclesiastical and secular power which
wns natural and necessary in the development of European civiliza
tion. If he had not subdued the monarchs, they would have
crushed the papal power."
5 Fleury Hist. Eccles. lib. Ixxix. n. 21.

132 THE POWER OF THE POPES
thing was forgotten that could threaten Europe with
a universal monarchy. Frederick IL, upon receiving
the imperial crown from the hands of Honorius, had
granted the inheritance of Mathilda, and had placed
his son upon the throne of the Sicilies, so that this
kingdom might not remain united to the domain of
the empire. Notwithstanding these complaisances,
and although he was, in a certain sense, the foster
child of the Roman Court, Frederick IL* became the
chief victim of the enterprises of Gregory IX. Not
content with raising up against this prince a new
Lombard league; Gregory, being impatient to re.
move him from the centre of European affairs, re
quired him to fulfil a vow which he had made, to go
and fight the Infidels in Palestine. Frederick em
barked, but being forced back to Brundusium by a
disease, he was excommunicated as a perjured per
son. He resumed his route, and was then excom
municated again, because he departed without
having been absolved. He arrived in Palestine, and
compelled the sultan of Egypt to abandon to him Je
rusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth; and Sidon ; and be
cause he made a treaty with an infidel, and signed a
truce, he was excommunicated a third time. Having
returned to Europe, he found Apulia invaded; Italy
armed against the empire; his own son influenced by
the pontiff to rebellion and almost to parricide. Ne
vertheless, he triumphed over all these enemies; he
arrested and imprisoned his unnatural son, and took
advantage of a sedition at Rome against the pope.
Under Honorius the Romans had resumed their dis
position for independence. They drove off Gregory
IX., who, being forced to negotiate with the emperor,
consented to absolve him — stipulating, however, for
a large sum of money. But Gregory, among other
pretensions, set up a claim, to Sardinia, as one of the
domains of the Lloly See. Frederick claimed it. as a
fief of the empire. A fourth excommunication fol-
* Gibbon's Decline and Fall, chaps. 49 and 59, for some account
of Frederick II.

OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY. 133
lowed ; in which Gregory, by authority of the Fa
ther, Son, and Holy Ghost, and by authority of the
apostles and his own, anathematizes Frederick,
the self-styled emperor, — absolves from their oaths
those who have sworn fidelity to him, and forbids
them to recognize him as their sovereign.
This bull, which was sent to all the kings, lords,
and prelates of Christendom, was accompanied with a
circular letter, which ordered the publication of the
anathema, at the sound of the bells in all the churches.
Several writings of this pope* represent Frederick as
one of the monsters described in the Apocalypse. In
them are imputed to. this prince political and religious
wrongs of all sorts ; even that of having designated
Moses, Jesus, and Mahomet, as three impostors.
Frederick condescended to answer this torrent of ac
cusations and injuries, and in order that the apology
might correspond in all points with the accusation,
he treated Gregory IX. as Balaam, antichrist, the
great dragon, and the prince of darkness. By a par
ticular letter,-)- addressed to Louis IX., (or Saint
Ix>uis) king of France, the pope offered the empire
to the brother of this monarch, Robert, count of Ar-
tois, upon condition that the French would crusade
against Frederick. St. Louis answered,} that he
saw with surprise, a pope bold enough to depose an
emperor; that such a power belonged only to a ge
neral council; and to a council solely upon the sup
position of the acknowledged unworthiness of the
sovereign: that Frederick appeared to be irreproach
able ; that he had exposed himself to the perils of
the sea and of war for the service of Jesus Christ,
while Gregory, his implacable enemy, took advan
tage of his absence to deprive him of his states; that
the pope counting as nothing the waves of blood shed,
to satisfy his vengeance and ambition, wished to sub
jugate the emperor, only that he might enslave after-
* Concilior, torn. xi. pp. 340, 346, 357.
t Math. Paris, ann. 1239, pag. 444.
X Math. Paris, 1239, pag. 444. Dan. Hist, de France, torn. iii. p.
210. Bossuet Def. Cler. Gall. lib. iv, c. 6.
13

134 THE POWER OF THE POPES
wards and in succession all the other princes; that
his offers proceeded less from love to the French,
than from hatred to Frederick. Still he would ob
tain information concerning the orthodoxy of this
prince, and if he found him heretical, war should be
waged with the utmost rigour, as he should have no
fear, in such case, to make war upon the pope him
self. This epistle, doubtless, mingles very gross er
rors with the expression of the most generous pur
poses. What! an assembly of priests may have the
right to dethrone a sovereign ! What ! the religious
opinions of a prince would be a sufficient motive for
those who do not share in them, to declare war
against him! Yes, such were the undoubted results
of those decretals, of which the popes had com
pounded the public law of Christendom. But the
more we deplore this delirium, the greater is the re
spect due to a prince who, though entangled in the
meshes of so many prejudices, could yet find in his
excellent disposition a disinterestedness, a loyalty, a
courage, worthy of the most happy ages of history.
Louis IX. needed all the reputation of his exem
plary piety to escape the anathemas of Gregory IX.,
and even the sinister designs of the French bishops;
for he checked the prelates with energy, whenever
his information enabled him to perceive that they
abused their revered functions. They would, and
did, for the slightest temporal interest, shut up the
churches, and suspend the administration of the sa
craments. Experience had taught them the efficacy
of these means. They obtained by this species of
pouting, the different objects of their pretensions.
But a bishop of Beauvais and an archbishop of
Rouen, having employed these means with too little
prudence, and having thought it proper even to ex
communicate the royal officers, St. Louis caused their
temporalities to be siezcd, and obtained from the pope
a bull, which forbade them to lay an interdict upon
the royal chapels. " It was a maxim with him not
to yield a blind respect to the orders of the ministers
of the church ; that he knew they were subject to

OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY. 135
excesses of passion like other men." Thus father
Daniel expresses himself; the historian who is less
liable to suspicion than any other which can here be
cited. Joinville relates that the clergy complained
bitterly of the slight regard which the civil officers
paid to sentences of excommunication, and how
Louis IX. very plainly expressed his views of the ne
cessity of reviewing the justice of their sentences ;
and that the subject should not be mentioned to him
again. On one occasion this pious monarch directed
the seizure of the monies levied for the Holy See ;
not being willing that they should aid in the accom
plishment of the ambitious projects of Gregory IX.
The pontiff, to avenge himself, annulled the election
of Peter Chariot to the bishoprick of Nayou. The
person elected was a natural and legitimated son of
Philip Augustus. Louis IX. was immoveable. He
made it known that no other person should possess
this bishoprick. Gregory, although he exaggerated
his pontifical power, and protested that God had con
fided to the pope the rights of the earthly empire as
well as those of the heavenly, did not venture beyond
threats, and France was under obligations to its pious
sovereign for a firmness which he had occasion
again to manifest under the following pontificates.
The pontificate of Gregory IX., though memora
ble for the quarrels with the Emperor Frederick, is
still more so by the publication of an ecclesiastical
code, compiled by Raymond of Pennaforf, "the third
general of the Dominicans. Since the decree of
Gratian, the decretals and collections of decretals had
multiplied to a degree that produced confusion. Gre
gory caused his own decrees and those of his pre
decessors as far back as the death of Eugene IIL,
(A. D. 1153,) to be united. The result was a collec
tion of matters distributed into five books. A bad
Latin verse (Judex Judicium cleros sponsalia crimen)
which announced the distribution, may be but too
faithfully translated as follows : Judges, judgments,
clergy, marriages, and crimes. The canonists cite
this code under the name of The Decretals of Gre-

136 THE POWER OF THE POPES
gory IX., or simply " The Decretals," and sometimes
by the word Extra, that is to say, extra decretum, out
of the decree of Gratian, which decree had been
considered during a century the only source of eccle
siastical jurisprudence. These five books, which are
the fruits of the vast correspondence of Alexander
IIL, Innocent III., and Gregory IX., are, in all re
spects, the worthy sequel of the decree. They have
contributed with it, to the propagation of principles,
the most subversive of all civil government.
The election of Sinibald to the papacy, seemed to
promise some years of peace between the priesthood
and the empire. Sinibald had long been bound by
friendship, to Frederick. But the cardinal friend be
came a papal enemy, as the emperor himself had
predicted. Innocent IV. (that was the pontiff's name)
having annexed conditions to the absolution of Fre
derick, which he did not accept, the war was kindled
again, and the pope, being constrained to flee to Ge
noa, which was his country, went from thence to so
licit an asylum in France. Louis IX. consulted his
barons, who said that the court of Rome was always
a burthen to their hosts; that a pope would dim the
royal dignity, and form, in the bosom of the state,
another independent state:* Being rejected by the
king of France, and also by the king of Arragon,
Innocent IV. addressed the English, whose answer
was not more favourable. " What !" said they, "have
we not already Simony and Usury 1 Why have the
pope too, who would come in person to devour the
kingdom and our churches?" "Very well," said
the pontiff, feeling himself outraged by the triple af
front, " we must finish the affair with Frederick, and
when we shall have bruised or tamed the great dra
gon, these little serpents will no longer dare to raise
their heads ; we will trample them under foot.f To
accomplish this end, he held a general council at Ly
ons, a city, which, at that time, belonged neither to
* Velly, torn. iv. (in 12) 306, 307.
t Math. Paris, pag. 600.

OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY. 137
France nor to the empire. The archbishops had ap
propriated to themselves the sovereignty, and assert
ed that it had ceased to be a fief of the empire.*
There Frederick II. was deposed by virtue, said the
pope, of the power of binding and loosing, which Je
sus Christ has given to us in the person of St. Peter.
We deprive, by this decree, the self-styled emperor
Frederick, of all honour and' dignity. We forbid
all persons to obey him, or to regard him as empe
ror or as king, or to give him aid or counsel under
pain of excommunication, (ipso facto) by the act
itself.f To annihilate the house of Swabia, had
been for a long time the most ardent wish of the
popes ; it was, above all, that of Innocent IV.,
but he published a crusade against Frederick almost
without effect. There were, at that time, too many
real crusades, that is, expeditions into the East,
and the fugitive Innocent IV. had not inherited
the omnipotence of Innocent III. The lower or
ders of the clergy began to regard pontifical de
crees with something less than adoration. A cu
rate of Paris, when announcing to his parishioners
the decree which deposed Frederick, addressed
them in the following remarkable words. " I am
ignorant, my dearly beloved brethren, of the mo
tives of this anathema. I only know that there ex
ist between the pope and the emperor great disputes
and implacable hatred. VV hich of the two is in the
right I cannot inform you, but I excommunicate, as
far as in me lies, him, who is in the wrong, and I ab
solve him who is injured in his rights." This is the
most sensible homily so far as our knowledge extends,
that was preached in the thirteenth century.
Saint Louis, who disapproved of the deposition of
Frederick more highly than this curate did, went to
* While Innocent IV. was at Lyons, some prebends of the church
of that city became vacant, and he pretended to give them with
plenary power to some strangers, who were his relations. But the
people, and even the clergy of Lyons resisted him to his face and
compelled him to renounce the purpose.
t Fleury, lib. Ixxxi. n. 19. 13*

138 THE POWER OF THE POPES
Cluni. To that place he drew the pope, not being
willing that he should enter farther into the kingdom.
Their first conferences have remained secret. All
we can say is, that the obstinate pontiff was inacces
sible to the pacific counsels of the pious king. But
history* has transmitted to us a few more details
concerning the second interview between Innocent
IV. and Louis, which took place at Cluni also, the
year following. "The holy land is in danger," said
the king. " There is no hope of delivering it without
the concurrence of the emperor, who holds so many
ports and islands and coasts in his power ; most holy
father accept his promises, I pray you, in my own
name, in the name of these thousands of faithful pil
grims, in the name of the entire church, stretch out
your arms to him who asks mercy ; it is the gospel
which orders you to do so ; imitate the goodness of
him whose vicar you are." The pope, straightening
himself up, says Fleury,-)- persisted in his refusal.
Thus, these two personages, so to speak, changed
characters. It was the prince who spoke the chari
table language of the gospel ; it was the priest who
preserved the inflexible attitude of haughty power.
At the same time, Melic-Saleh, a sultan of Egypt,
also gave lessons of probity to this successor of St.
Peter. Being pressed by Innocent IV. to abandon
the emperor, contrary to the faith of treaties ; Me
lic-Saleh answered, " Your envoy has spoken to us
of Jesus Christ, whom we know better than you, and
whom we more worthily honour. You pretend that
peace among all people is the object of your wishes;
we desire peace no less than you ; but there exists
between us and the emperor of the West, an alliance,
a reciprocal friendship, winch took its origin in the
reign of the sultan our father; may God place him
in his Glory. We will not, therefore, conclude any
treaty without the knowledge of Frederick, and

* Math. Paris, 697. Velly Hist, de Fr. torn. iv. (in 12) pag. 469.
La Chaise Histoire de St. Louis, pag, 449.
t Hist. Eccles. lib. Ixxxii. n. 40.

OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY. 139
against his interests." In the mean time, after seve
ral fruitless attempts at reconciliation, and several
vicissitudes of successes and reverses, Frederick
died in 1250, perhaps of strangling, it is said, by his
son Manfred. At this intelligence, Innocent called
upon heaven and earth to rejoice. These are the
words of a letter* which he wrote to the prelates,
lords, and all the people of the kingdom of Sicily.
He called Frederick the son of Satan.
Conrad, the son of Frederick IL, was called to
succeed him, and, in the absence of Conrad, Man
fred, his brother, governed the two Sicilies. Inno
cent IV. declared, that the children of an excommu
nicated person can inherit nothing from their father.
He published a crusade against them. He induced
the Neapolitan Lords to revolt. Manfred succeeded
in reducing them to subjection. He took the city of
Naples by assault, and forced the pope to flee again
to Genoa. A new crusade is preaehed against the
sons of Frederick ; their kingdom is offered to an
English prince: dissensions soon arose between the
two brothers, which revived the hopes of the Roman
court. At the moment when the hopes of that court
were most lively, she is informed of the death of
Conrad. Manfred is suspected of fratricide: there
remains but one stem of the, house of Swabia to be
destroyed, viz: Conradin, son of Conrad, grandson
and the legitimate heir of Frederick II. , and he a
child of ten years. The pope did not hesitate to
make himself king of Naples. To sustain this title,
he raises an army, but this army has a legate at its
head; it is defeated by Manfred. Innocent IV. dies
of despair, just at the time he was entering upon a
negotiation with Louis IX., the object of which was
to deliver to the son or brother of that monarch, the
kingdom of the two Sicilies. This pope had also en
kindled a civil war in Portugal by deposing king
Alphonso II. already under an interdict by Gregory
IX., and by calling to the throne the count of Bou-
* Fleury Hist. Eccles. lxxxiii. n. 25, 26.

140 THE POWER OF THE POPES
logne, brother of Alphonso. Innocent IV. also had
quarrels with the English, who complained loudly of
his exactions, his violations of the laws and of trea
ties. " Peterpence does not satisfy him," said they;
" he exacts enormous contributions of all the clergy.
He assesses and levies general taxes, without the
consent of the king; contemning the rights of pa
trons, he confers benefices on Romans, who do not
understand the English language, and who export the
silver from the kingdom.*
We observe that Innocent IV. in publishing cru
sades against Frederick II. and against his son, at
* Fleury Hist. Eccles. lib. Ixxxii. n. 28. Fleury also relates,
lib. lxxxiii. n. 43, the reproaches which Robert, (Grosse-Tete)
Bishop of London, a learned and pious prelate, addressed to the
Court of Rome and particularly to Innocent IV. " The pope is not
ashamed to annul the constitutions of his predecessors, by a non
obstante, by which he shows too great a contempt of them, and seta
an example for annulling his own also. Although several of the
popes have greatly afilicted the church, this one has reduced it to a
greater servitude, principally by the usurers which he has intro
duced into England, and who are worse than the Jews. Besides,
he has ordered the preaching friars, and the minor friars, while
giving their attendance on dying persons, to persuade them to give
by their testaments for the succour of the holy land, and to take up
the cross themselves for the holy war, so as to frustrate the heirs of
their goods, whether they live or die. He sells crusaders to the laity,
as oxen and sheep were formerly sold in the temple ; and he mea
sures the indulgence in proportion to the money given to the cru
sade. Besides, the pope orders the prelates, by his letters, to provide
such a one with a benefice, (if he is willing to buy it) although he
may be a stranger, absent and entirely unworthy, without learning,
ignorant of the language of the country ; so that he can neither
preach, nor hear confessions, nor even assist the poor, because he is
not resident." Fleury adds, that Robert Grosse-Tete enlarged upon
the vices of the Court of Rome — particularly upon its avarice and
impurity. " To swallow every thing up, she has taken to herself
the goods of those who die intestate ; and, in order to plunder with
morefreedom, she divides the spoil with the king. The Bishop of
Lincoln complained, also, that the pope employed the learned and
virtuous mendicant friars to make his exactions — thus abusing
their obedience to make them enter again into the world which they
had quitted. He sent them into England with great powers— as
legates in disguise — as he could not openly send legates in form,
unless the king required it." Such, says Fleury, were the com
plaints of the Bishop of Lincoln; — severe indeed, — but too well
founded, as appears by the writings of the time, and even by the
letters of the popes.

OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY. 141
tached to them greater indulgences than to the expe
ditions into Palestine. The pope, said the French
lords, is extending his own domination by crusades
against Christians. He leaves it to our sovereign
to fight and suffer for the faith. St. Louis was at
that time in the holy land, and but just delivered from
his captivity. His mother, Queen Blanche, caused the
goods of the pope's crusaders against Conrad to be
seized. " Let the pope," said she, " maintain those
who are in his service, and who have gone never to
return."* It was thus the Guelph crusade fell through
in France, notwithstanding the urgency of the
preaching friars, and the minor friars, the zealous
servants of the Holy See. But from the time of the
accession of Gregory IX., Italy and Germany had
never ceased to be torn by the Guelphs and Ghibeline
factions, which resumed more and more their primi
tive directions; the second being against the pope;
the first against the emperor, and particularly against
the house of Swabia.
Alexander IV., who succeeded Innocent IV. in
1254, continued to fight Manfred. He cited him, ex
communicated him, marked him out as the victim of
a crusade which was never executed. The pope
succeeded only in extorting from Henry IIL, king of
England, fifty thousand pounds sterling. Henry had
made a vow to go to Palestine: this vow was com
muted for a contribution destined to sustain the war
against Manfred. To obtain so much money, Alex
ander promised the crown of Naples to prince Ed-
mond, son of Henry. But this did hot prevent the
continuance of the negotiation with Louis IX. and
his son Charles of Anjou. But Alexander IV. was
too little favoured by circumstances, and possessed
of too little energy for great success. He could
scarcely maintain himself within his own domains.
A sedition of the Romans compelled him to retire to
Viterbia, * Math. Paris, p. 713. Velly Hist, de France torn, v. (in 12) p.
102, 103,

142 THE POWER OF THE POPES
His reign of seven years had no very important re
sult, unless we regard the establishment of the Inqui
sition in France as such. It is painful to say, that St.
Louis solicited such an institution as a favour. It had
become completely systematized since the time of In
nocent III. In 1229, a council of Toulouse had de
creed that the bishops should depute, in each parish,
a priest and two laymen, to hunt after heretics, to
denounce them to the prelates appointed to judge
them, and to the lords who were charged with the
duty of punishing them. Gregory IX., in 1233, in
vested the dominicans or preaching friars, with these
inquisitorial functions. The church was decidedly
enriched by this new power, and St. Louis was so
unfortunate as not to preserve his subjects from it.
That monarch paid two enormous tributes to the ig
norance of his age — the crusades and the inquisition ;
and he came well nigh taking the dress of a Domi
nican, in order that he might become an inquisitor,
instead of a king.* We remark upon these details,
because all of them are the effects of the ascendency
of the popes ; of the unlimited extent which their
temporal royalty gave to their ecclesiastical authori
ty. Pope Alexander IV. was a zealous protector of
monks, and particularly of the mendicants. This
predilection made him unjust to the universities. .He
was the declared enemy of the University of Paris.
Egasse Boulay, the historian of that university, in
forms us that the death of this pontiff gave peace to
the Parisian muses.t
A Frenchman, born at Troyes, having become
pope under the name of Urban IV., advanced with
most success the negotiation with the count of An
jou. Impatient to exterminate Manfred, Urban saw
clearly that the proclamation of crusades, indul
gences, the equipment of pontifical troops, and all the
spiritual and temporal arms of the Holy See, would
be ineffectual without the active concurrence of a

* Velly Hist, de France, torn. v. pag. 193, 197.
t Hist. Univ. Paris, torn. iii. pag. 355.

OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY. 143
prince interested by the attraction of a crown, to
consummate the ruin of the house of Swabia. Po
pular commotions rendered a residence at Rome not
altogether commodious to the sovereign pontiff. Ur
ban retired to Orvieto, and there some mutineers
sent him back to Perusia: then he became urgent to
come to conclusions with Charles of Anjou, al
though this prince had seemed to detach himself from
the pope by accepting the dignity of a senator of
Rome. The treaty was about to be signed when
Urban IV. died. Clement IV., his successor, com
pleted the, undertaking.
The principal conditions of the treaty which called
Charles of Anjou to reign over the Neapolitans were
as follows-: the incompatibility of the Sicilian crown,
with the imperial crown : — also with the government
of Lombardy, and that of Tuscany ; the cession of Bene-
ventum and its territories to the Holy See :, — annual
tributes and subsidies to the church : — the acknow
ledgment of the immunities of the clergy of the two
Sicilies:— the reservation of the inheritance of this
kingdom to the descendants of Charles, and in default
of them, the pope was to have the power of choosing
their successors: Charles would have subscribed con
ditions yet more humiliating. He promised to abdi
cate his title of Senator of Rome within three years,
and as soon as he should achieve the conquest of the
kingdom, which the pope had deigned to grant him ;
and that he would neglect nothing which might dis
pose the Romans to place this dignity. at the disposi
tion of the sovereign pontiff. He agreed to submit to
an interdict, excommunication and deposition if he
broke his engagements. Finally, he pronounced an
oath expressed in the following terms : " I, doing full
vassalage and allegiance to the church, for the king
dom of Sicily, and for all the land which is this side
the Pharos to the frontiers of the ecclesiastical states,
for the present and for the future: — I will be faithful
to St. Peter, to the pope, my lord paramount, and to
his successors canonically elected; I will defend them
with all my power, I will not form any alliance against

144 THE POWER OF THE POPES
their interests, and if through ignorance, I shall have
the misfortune to form any such, I will renounce it
upon the first order which they shall make known to

me."* In order to obtain so precarious a crown, and to
usurp so degraded a throne, Charles of Anjou enters
Italy. He revives, by his presence the Guelph fac
tion, and embroils it from the Alps to iEtna with the
Ghibeline faction. The latter rallied more than ever
around Manfred, who, after some successes fell and
perished at the battle of Beneventum. Young Conra-
din, till then eclipsed by Manfred, and retained by his
mother in Germany, at length appears ; Every w here
the Ghibelines receive and sustain him, with energy
against the arms of Charles and the anathemas of Cle
ment IV. But he is conquered in the plains of Tag-
liacozzo :— he falls into the hands of his rival. Charles
is base enough to deliver a disarmed enemy to cor
rupted judges. Fear and vengeance borrow the forms
of justice. Conradin, at the age of eighteen years, is
beheaded at Naples, on the 26 of October 1268, and
the most faithful defenders of his incontestible rights
share in his fate. The Ghibelines are proscribed
throughout Italy, waves of blood, wash the steps of
the subaltern throne, where Charles seats himself un
der the feet of a pontiff. Some writers assert, that
Clement IV. disapproved of the assassination of the
young prince: — Others accuse him of having advised
it; and of having said that the safety of Conradin,
would be the ruin of Charles: — that the protection of
Charles required the death of Conradin.f However
this may be, it was the Holy See, which triumphed
by the extinction of the house of Swabia.
Clement IV. feeling his powerj decided that all ec-
* Velly Hist, de France, torn. v. pag. 326, 345. Giannone 1st.
di Nap. lib. xix. cap. ii.
t Vita Corradini mors Caroli ; Mors Corradini vita Caroli
Giannone Istoria di Napoli, lib. xix. c. 4.
X " Nothing proves more fully the influence of superstition," says
a modern author, " than the number of crusades preached by tho
order of Clement IV. A crusade in Spain against the Moors, whom
he wished to exterminate ; — a crusade in Hungary, in Bohemia and

OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY. 145
clesiastical benefices, were at the disposition of the
pope ; — that he could confer them whether vacant or
not, giving them, if not vacant by survivorship or, as
itwassaid,asexpectatives. Such audacity astonished
St. Louis; and the indignation which he conceived at
it, suggested to him, the Ordonnance known by the
name of the Pragmatic Sanction* of which the follow
ing is a summary.f
" The prelates, patrons and collators of benefices
shall fully enjoy their rights."
" The cathedrals and other churches of the kingdom
shall make their elections freely."
elsewhere against the Tartars, whoso invasions wore feared; — a
crusade in favour of the Teutonic knights, against the Pagans of
Livonia, of Prussia, and of Courland, over whom he wished to
reign ; — a crusade in England against the barons, whom Henry III. "
could not bring into subjection ;— a crusade in France and Italy, to
deprive the House of Swabia of the kingdom of Naples and Sicily ; — -
a" crusade everywhere for the conquest of the Holy Land. The cru
sades were often in opposition to each other. In that case, the vow
to perform the one was absolved when it was desired to press the
execution of the other. Indulgences were scattered at the will of
the pope. The expenses of war exhausted kingdoms, and bulls set
all Europe on fire." Millot. Elem. d'Hist. mod. torn. ii. pp.
184,185. * According to Fleury, the word pragmatic is derived from the
word pragmaticum, which, in jurisprudence, he says, signifies a
law or an edict of the emperor. The word sanction designates the
prohibitory and penal part of the law. Velly says, the word is de-
drived from pragma, which signifies a sentence or decree. This.
expression was in use long before the time of St. Louis. The Roman
emperors, in the time of St. Augustin, published pragmatic rescripts.
(See Du Cange ad voc pragma.) The diclionaire de Trevaux, de
rives the word from the Spanish pragmaticay-wh\ch signifies an ordi
nance or edict It is there defined, public; that which concerns the
state, or that which prescribes the forms to be pursued -in public
affairs, which are drawn up by (des gens pragmatiques,) practi
tioners, or persons well versed in affairs. M. Lunier, in his dic-
tionaire des Sciences, et des Arts, derives it from ^ayua-ixof
(pragmatikos,) (Greek) which signifies active, from Tt^aaoui
(prasso,) to do frequently, or practice. The word in France is ap
plied to the edicts of the first three centuries of the third race of
kings and to their constitutions and ordinances, made with the
advice of the peers of the kingdom relative to the public interests, or
the interest of a province or municipality. In Germany it is applied
to every constitution of the emperor, made with the advice of the
general diet of the Germanic body.
t Recueil des Ordonnances, torn. i. pag. 97.
14

146 THE POWER OF THE POPES
" The crime of Simony, shall be banished from the
whole kingdom."
" Promotions and collations, shall be made accor
ding to the common law and the decreessof the coun
cils." " The intolerable exactions, by which the Court of
Rome has miserably impoverished the kingdom shall
no longer take place, except for urgent necessities and
with the consent of the king and the Gallican Church."
" The liberties, franchises, immunities, rights, and
privileges, granted by the kings, to the churches and
to the monasteries are confirmed."
This act is so important and does so much honour
to LiOuis IX. that the Jesiut, Griffet,* contests its au
thenticity. To Griffet may[be opposed, the authority
of his brethren Labbe and Cosart,-)- also that of Bou-
chel, of Tillet, Fontanon, Pinson, Girard, Lauriere
Egasse of Boulay : — in short that of all the jurists,
historians and even theologians who have had occa
sion to speak of the Pragmatic of St. Louis. We
see it cited in 1491 by the University of Paris; — in
1483; in the states held at Tours; — in 1461 by the
Parliament :J in 1440 by Jean Juvenel des Ursins,
who, in addressing Charles VII. on the occasion of
the Pragmatic, published by this king, expresses him
self thus: "You are not the first, who has done such
things. If Saint Louis, who is a Saint and canonized,
did it, we must say he did, very well. Your father and
others have approved it." There is no doubt then,
that the most pious of the French Kings, was one
of the most zealous defenders of the liberties of the
Gallican Ghurch ; and the glorious resistance, which
he made in 1268 to Clement IV. expiates the unfor
tunate assent which he had just given to the treaty
between this pope and Charles of Anjou.
Thirty months elapsed, from the death of Clement IV.
* Note on the history of France, by Father Daniel, torn. iv. pag.
t Concil. torn, xi,
t Preuves des lib. de I'egl. gall. torn. i. p. ii. pag. 28, 50, 55, 76, p.
iii. pag. 41. Real Science du gouvernemCnt, torn, vii. pag. 72.

OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY. 147
before the election of Gregory his successor. Charles
of Anjou, took advantage of this interval, to acquire
greater power in Italy. He aspired to the govern
ment of the whole of Italy. Gregory X. who per
ceived it, hastened to oppose to it four obstacles; — a
new crusade; — the reconciliation of the church of the
East; — the re-establishment of the empire of the
West; — and the extinction of the Gueiph and Ghibe-
line factions. Since the death of Conradin, the con
troversy between the Ghibelines and the Guelphs was
almost without an object. It was continued by habit
and personal animosities, rather than by the opposi
tion of political interests. The Guelphs, becoming
daily more powerful, were going to re-establish the
jndependance of the Italian cities and perhaps unite
them under one head, who might not be the pope.
To prevent this danger, as well as to repress Charles
of Anjou, Gregory X. confirmed the election of a new
German emperor. He was Rodolphus of Hapsbourg
(of the stock of the Austrian house.) This Rodolphus
renounced in favour of the Roman Church, the inhe
ritance of Mathilda, but was nevertheless excommu
nicated, for having sustained his sovereign rights over
the cities of Italy, and for having neglected to take
up the cross for the holy war. Christendom, at length,
got weary of these expeditions to Palestine, where the
Christians driven fro"m the smallest villages, scarcely
retained any longer more than a single asylum. The
Greek Church, having become apparently reconciled,
at the second general council of Lyons did not conti
nue so, very long. The ultimate-result of the pontifi
cate of Gregory X. is reduced to the acquisition of the
county (or Comptat) of Venaissin in which, however
Philip the Bold, king of France reserved the city of
Avignon. Nicholas III. annulled the oath taken by the cities
of Romagna to the Emperor. He compelled Charles
of Anjou, to renounce the vicariate of the empire and
the dignity of Senator of Rome. He even excited
Peter of Arragon, to recover the kingdom of Si-
cilv, which belonged by right of inheritance, to his

148 THE POWER OF THE POPES
wife Constance. Upon this, it is proper to observe,
that Charles of Anjou, had refused to give in marriage,
one of his grand daughters to a nephew of Nicholas ;
and that this pontiff; who was of the house of the
Ursins, had taken it into his head, to divide between
his nephews, the crowns of Sicily, Tuscany, and
Lombardy. These projects did not succeed.
Martin IV. elected through the influence of Charles
of Anjou, cast an interdict upon the city of Viter-
bia. He excommunicated the inhabitants of Forli,
confiscating every thing they possessed at Rome.
He excommunicated Peter III., king of Arragon, and
he excommunicated, also, Michael Paleologus, the
emperor of Constantinople. A league between the
Venetians, Charles of Anjou, and the pope against
the Greeks, had but little success.. Another crusade
was undertaken against Peter of Arragon, who beat
the crusaders. They impute to this prince, and with
some appearance of truth, the Sicilian Vespers, a
horrible massacre in 1282, of which the French were
the victims, which Martin IV. and Charles of An
jou, by prudent conduct, might have prevented.*
Celestin V.,f yielding to the advice of Cardinal
Benedict Cajetan, abdicated the papacy. After
wards this cardinal succeeded him, under the name of
Boniface VIII.,J imprisoned him and disgraced the
chair of St. Peter, from 1291 to 1303. He excom
municated the family of the Colonna, confiscated
their property, and preached a crusade against them.
They were Ghibelines. Boniface VIII., who had be
longed to this faction, detested' it the more for that
reason. This pope- announced, in set terms, that the
Roman pontiff, being established by Providence over
kings and kingdoms, holds the first rank on the earth.
That he dissipates all evils by his sublime looks, and
from the height of his throne, judges tranquilly the
* Encyc. Amcric, Art. Sicilian Vespers. Giannone 1st. di Nap.
lib. xx. cap. 5. Also, Mezerai, Gibbon's Decline and Fall, chap. 62.
T See Dante Inferno, cant. 3.
t See Dante Inferno, cant. 19, 27. and Comment. Landini et Vellu,
tejli. Gian. 1st. di Nap. Jib. xxii, cap. 7,

OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY. 149
human race. You know, wrote he to Edward I.,
that Scotland belongs, of full right, to the Holy See.
He treated Albert of Austria, elected emperor in
1298, as a usurper. He summoned him to appear at
Rome, and absolved his subjects from their obliga
tions. But above all others, he threatened Philip IV.
of France, surnamed le-Bel.*
By the bull clericis laicos, Boniface VIII, had for
bidden, under pain of excommunication, every mem
ber of the clergy, whether secular or lay, to pay any
tax to their sovereigns, without the permission of the
pope, even under the name of a gratuity.
Philip-le-Bel answered this bull by forbidding the
transportation of any sum of money out of the king
dom, without his permission, signed by his hand.
This'Tneasure appeared at first to intimidate the pon
tiff, and by an interpretation which he put on his
bull, he authorised the contributions of the clergy in
the case of urgent necessity. But soon a legate
Came to brave Philip, and to require him to change
his conduct, if he would not expose his kingdom to a
general interdict. The seditious priest was arrested,
and his detention threw. the pope into a fury. " God
has established me over the empires to pluck up, to de
stroy, to ruin, to dissipate, to edify, to plant:" thus Bon
iface VIII. expresses himself in one ofhis bulls against
Philip IV. That which is known under the name of
Unam S an ctamy contains these words : " The temporal
sword ought to be employed by kings and warriors
for the church, according to the order and permis
sion of the pope. The temporal power is subjected
to the spiritual power, which institutes it, and judges
it, and which God alone can judge. To resist -the
spiritual power then, is to resist God, unless we ad
mit the two principles of the Manicheans." An
archdeacon, the bearer of these bulls,--enjoined it
upon the king, to acknowledge that he held the tem
poral sovereignty of the pope. Finally, Boniface
excommunicates Philip. He orders the confessor of
* Bossuet Def. Cler. Gall. lib. iii. c. 23, 24, 25.
14*

150 THE POWER OF THE POPES
this monarch to come to Rome to -render an account
of the conduct of his penitent. He destines the
crown of France to the emperor Albert ; the same
whom, but lately, he had treated like a criminal, but
who now acknowledged, by writing, " that the Apos
tolical See transferred the 'Roman empire from the
Greeks to the Germans, in the person of Charle
magne, and that certain ecclesiastical and secular
princes hold of the pope, the right to elect the king of
the Romans, who is destined for the empire, and
that the pope grants to kings and emperors the power
of the sword." Praise is due to the victorious firm
ness with which Philip-le-Bel opposed these extrava
gances. The commons and the nobility of France
supported him. The clergy, although imbued alrea
dy with ultra-montain principles, was influenced by
the ascendency of the two other orders. The pre
lates, however, adhered to the cause of the king only
with the saving of the fidelity due to the pope, and
thirty-four of them went to Rome in spite of Phi
lip IV.
A letter of this prince to Boniface VIII. com
mences thus; " Thilip, by the grace of God, king of
the French, to Boniface, the pretended pope, little pr
no health. May your exceeding great fatuity know,
&c." These injurious expressions, which were un
worthy of the individual who used them, would have
passed off very ill, if they had been addressed to a
pope who deserved them a little less than Boniface.
But his pretensions really bordered upon delirium,
and he was entirely destitute of the political ability,
necessary to make them triumph. Three men in the
course of the thirteenth century checked the threat
ening progress of pontifical power. Boniface VIII.,
by dishonouring it with his impotent extravagances,*
* Upon the morals andreligious opinions of this pope, see the
pieces published by Dupuy, p. 523 to 560 of the Histoire du differ
ent entre Boniface VIII. et Philip-k-bel. Many persons testify, that
Boniface spoke with derision of the sacrament, of the mysteries of
the gospel, and even of the immortality of souls. " We must talk
like the people," said he, " but we need not believe as they do."

OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY. 151
Philip IV., by proclaiming to the world this discredit,
by means of the acts of outrage which he' performed
with impunity, but above all, Louis IX., whose re
sistance, edifying, like his other good works, had
taken the character and the authority of the religion
of Jesus Christ against the worldly pride of the
popes. Gregory VII. and Boniface VIII. would infal
libly have excommunicated Louis IX., had his reign
concurred with theirs: the anathemas of the first
would have been formidable, those of the second
would have injured only the court of Rome.
Bonijace VIII. ordered the compilation of an ec
clesiastical code which bears the name of Sexlus, (or
Liber-Sextus-Decretalium Domini Bonifacii VIII.) be
cause it is considered as a sixth book added to the
decretals compiled under Gregory IX., by Raymond
de Pennafort. The sixth book is itself divided into
five parts, which correspond, as to the distribution of
the matters, with those of the collection of Raymond.
These five books contain the decretals of Boniface,
and those of his predecessors, to the time of Gregory
IX. When so many pontifical laws had been- ac
cumulated in these different codes, it became quite
necessary that there should be ecclesiastical tribunals
to apply them. Hence arose Officialities. The fa
ther Thomassin places the origin of them under the
pontificate of Boniface VIII.; and this opinion ap
pears more probable than that which traces the in
stitution to the twelfth century. By officials, we un
derstand judges, properly so called, attached to the
cathedrals, or to the Sees of archbishops, in order to
pronounce special decrees, civil, and even criminal.
Now these characters do not so clearly belong to
certain dignitaries mentioned in the writings of Peter
of Blois, and of whom he complained, in 1163, in a
council at Tours. But whether the epoch of the
establishment of the Officialities be the thirteenth or
the twelfth century ; it is certainly long posterior to
the publication of the false decretals and the change
in the ancient discipline of the church.

152 THE POWER OF THE POrES
The legates,* who were another instrument of pa
pal power, were divided into two classes. The first
were, taken in the- very places where they exercised
their functions, the second were sent from the bosom
of the court of Rome, and were like so many arms
which the pope stretched over Christendom. The
first class, also, was distinguished into those who re
ceived an express and personal mission, and those
who, being born legates, so to speak, held this title as
a part of the rights of the episcopal or metropolitan
See which they occupied. Of all these different mi
nisters or commissaries of the pontifical govern
ment, the most powerful would have been those
which were despatched from its proper centre, if the
excess of their power and their pride had not too of
ten humbled, in each kingdom, the prelates which
they came to eclipse and govern. Their magnifi
cence, defrayed in each place by the churches, the
monasteries and the people, excited rather murmurs
than admiration, and they were thought burthensome
even after the third council of Lateran, which limit
ed them to twenty-five horses. It was necessary to
sell sacred vessels to make them presents, and to buy
at enormous prices the decrees, responses, favours,
and warrants which it was necessary to ask of them.
" Legations," says Fleury,-)- " "were mines of gold to
the cardinals commonly they returned from them

* Legates are ambassadors extraordinary of tho pope, to whom he
gives power, ad tempus, almost equal to his own. The word legate
is preferred to the word ambassador, because it is supposed that the
pre-eminent grandeur of the pope- requires singularity in this, as
well as in other things. Legates are of different sorts. Some are cal
led legates born (nati.) Such for example (in France) are the arch-
bishbps of Rheims and of Aries. They are perpetual legates, (not
ad tempus) and the dignity belongs to them vi beneficii et non elec-
tione persona. But their power, though perpetual in respect of
time, is limited in respect of bounds. It does not transcend the
limits of their diocese; Other legates are called legates sent, (rnissi)
a latere. The powers of this kind of legates is very ample, though
given only for a time through fear, that, if they were perpetual,
there might be several heads or chiefs in the church. — (Traitisom-
maire des legats.)
t Fourth Disc, sur l'Hist. Eccles. n. 11.

OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY. 153
laden with riches." Their avarice was so famous
and so unvarying, that St. Bernard* speaks of a dis
interested legate as a prodigy; but their pride more
intolerable yet, showed kings too clearly the preten
sions of the court of Rome, and often provoked me
morable acts of resistance. At an early day, these
legates a latere were displeasing to France, and the
rule was established that they" should not be received
unless they had been asked for, and accepted by the
monarch. This is one of the articles of the Gallican
liberties. The thirteenth century is that in which the popes
arrived at the highest degree of power. Councils, cru
sades, anathemas, canonical codes, monastic orders,
legates, missionaries, and inquisitors: all the spiri
tual arms having been tempered anew and sharpened
by Innocent IIL, were, during this century, directed
against thrones, and they too often triumphed over
them. Innocent III. bequeathed a universal monar
chy to his successors : but they did not know how to
preserve this empire, without diminution. In 1300,
however, even a little wisdom would have sufficed to
make Boniface VIII. the first potentate of Europe;
yet, notwithstanding the dishonour incurred by this
last pontificate, the influence of the Holy See uni
formly domineered over that of the other courts.
* De consider, liv. iv. pag. 4, 5,

( 154 )

CHAPTER VII.
The Fourteenth Century.
The residence of the popes within the- walls of
Avignon, from 1305 until after the year 1370, and
the schism which, in 1378, divided the church, for a
long time between rival pontiffs, are the two great
facts in the ecclesiastical history of the fourteenth
century. Each of them contributed to the decline of
the pontifical empire. It is true, that the popes, by
deserting Italy, escaped some perils ; they were re
mote from the theatre of the troubles which their am
bitious policy excited and animated. It is also true,
that the fear of giving sanction to the vagabond ha
bits of bishops, by so great an example, was no lon
ger sufficient to arrest the steps of the sovereign pon
tiff. The time had gone by when the sacred laws
confined each pastor among his flock. Greater in
terests had reformed the humble manners, and had
dissipated the scruples of primitive times, But to
disappear from Italy, was to weaken the influence of
the Holy See over the most celebrated and, at that
time, the most enlightened country of Europe. It
was a desertion of the post, where so many victories
had been gained, of the centre, from which departed
all the threads of the power which had been ac
quired. It was to renounce the ascendency which
the name even of this city of Rome exercised ; a
city whose ancient glory was reflected upon the mo
dern pontificate, which seemed to continue it. In
fine, it was to displease the Italians, by depriving
them of the only relic of their ancient preponde
rance, and by particular rivalries, to prepare the way
for a general schism. We are surprised that this re-

OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY. 155
suit should have been delayed for seventy years. But
it was inevitable, and this schism, by denuding the
ambition of the pontiffs, by exhibiting to the multi
tude a picture of their scandalous quarrels ; by un
veiling through their reciprocal accusations the secret
of all their vices, dissipated for ever the imposture in'
which the power of their predecessors was' enve
loped The residence of the popes in the county (or comp-
tat) of Venaissin during seventy years, showed, at
least that the popes, could dispense with a residence
at Rome, and many other proofs were added to that
which demonstrated that any other city might become
the see of the first pastor of the church.* To annex
the papacy to a geographical point, is the same thing
as separating it, from those institutions, which are
necessary to Christianity ; because it is impossible,
without doubt that an article essential to the establish
ment of the Gospel should depend upon any particular
locality, which may be varied at the will of a thou
sand circumstances. Not one word in the Gospel, nor
even in the writings of the apostles indicates the city
of Rome as the indispensible capital of Christendom.
There is no place on the Globe, where a man may
not be a christian, a bishop, a patriarch or a pope-:
But this semi-theological discussion is not pertinent to
our subject : We return to the popes of Avignon.
To explain this part of the history of the papacy
and to supply the place of details, which would occupy
too much space, we shall offer in the first place, a
brief sketch of the political revolutions of the four
teenth century.
In theEast,the Turks are the masters of Palestine.
Ottoman, their chief, founds the empire which bears
* It has been disputed among Roman Catholics, whether the
primacy claimed for the Bishop of Rome, is annexed to the city,
which was the head of the empire, or whether it was given in honour
of the memory of Peter, who is said to have been the first pontiff,
or wliether it be the express institution of Christ. The last, per
haps, is the common opinion. See Duarenus de Sac. Ecc. Minist.
ac benef. lib. i. cap. 11.

156 THE POWER OF THE POPES
his name. He takes advantage of the discords of the
Persians, of the Saracens and of the Greeks: he deprives
them of some Asiatic and some European provinces.
The throne of Constantinople is on the brink of ruin.
Seditions in the city threaten it, conspiracies surround
the court, and often the sons of- the emperor are the
conspirators. The Russians are still barbarians. In
Denmark, Waldemar, taught by adversity, honours
and strengthens the throne. Under his daughter
Margaret, Sweden, Norway and Denmark, form a
single monarchy. Poland, which had long been. agi
tated by the Teutonic Knights,.enjoys a respite under
Casimir. The English depose Edward II. They se
cond the activity of Edward III. They condemn and
expel Richard. In Spain, Peter the cruel perishes at
the age of thirty-five years, the victim of Henry
Transtamar, who succeeds him. In France Philip-
le-Bel has for successors his three sons, Louis X. Phi-
lip-le-Long and Charles IV. feeble princes, the dupes
of their courtiers. After them, Philip of Valois and
his wretched son John, maintain unfortunate wars
against the English. In vain did Charles V. during fif
teen years, endeavour to repair so many evils. They
commenced again and were aggravated during the
minority of Charles VI. during his madness, and
during his whole reign, which was prolonged until the
fifteenth century.
From the time of the Sicilian Vespers, Sicily had
remained under the power of Peter III. king of Arra
gon, who in spite of the anathemas of Rome, trans
mitted it to his descendants. From the year 1282,
Charles of Anjou had reigned over Naples, only. Ro
bert, the grand son of Charles, contributed remarka
bly, to fix the popes in Avignon. By that means he
preserved a more direct and immediate influence over
the Guelphs, over Florence, over Genoa and over the
other cities which belonged to this party. The Holy
See had invested Robert, with the title of Imperial
Vicar, in Italy during the vacancy of the empire ; and
when the emperors, Henry VII. and Louis of Bava
ria, raised again the Ghibeline party, Robert counter-

of the Fourteenth century. 157
balanced them. Joanna, his grand-daughter, married
Andrew, king of Hungary, whom she is accused of
having put to death. She died, herself a victim of
Charles Durazzo, who having established himself upon
the throne of Naples after her, transmitted it to his
own children Ladislas and Joanna II.
The external power of the Venetians increased or
decreased, and their territory was extended or con
tracted, according to the variable results of their
continual wars with Hungary and Genoa. They take
Smyrna and Trevisio ; — ;They lose a part of Dalma
tia ; — They take possession of Verona, of Vincenza
and of Padua ; — They occupy, but cannot retain Fer-
rara. But they maintain, and consolidate the aristo-
cratical government which Gradenigo had given them,
and they punish the assault, which, Salierr would
make upon it. Liguria, on the contrary, having been
agitated for several ages, by interior vicissitudes, pre
sented, in the fourteenth century, a more changeful
scene than ever. It obeyed successively one captain,
two captains, sometimes Genoese, sometimes stran
gers ; — a council of twelve or twenty-four members —
a podestat (or governor ;) — a doge : And in the inter
vals of these ephemeralgovernments, they received and
threw off the yoke of the emperor, of the pope, of the
king of France, and of the Lord of Milan. This
last title, belonged to the family of the Visconti. As
early as the thirteenth century Otho, an archbishop
of Milan, became the Lord of this city, and had ob
tained for his nephew, Matthew, the title of Imperial
Vicar of Lombardy. Matthew at. the commence
ment of the fourteenth century, associated his son Ga-
leas with him. Having been defeated by the Torriani,
and re-established by Llenry III. and supported by
Louis of Bavaria, the Visconti resisted the pope, the
king of Naples, the Florentines, and all the Guelphs.
After the Emperor, Wenceslaus, had granted to John
Galeas, one of these Visconti, the title of Duke of Mi
lan, they became strong enough to defend themselves
even against the head of the empire. When Robert,
a successor of Wenceslaus, wished to deprive them of
15

158 THE POWER OF THE POPES
some cities, of which they had become the masters,
a decisive battle in 1401, strengthened their possession
and retarded their decline.
The emperors of the fourteenth century, were Al
bert of Austria, whose yoke, Helvetia threw off: —
Henry VII. of Luxembourg, who during a reign of
five years was beginning to impart some lustre to the
imperial crown : — Louis of Bavaria, the restless ene
my of the popes : — Charles IV. (of Luxembourg,) who
was their creature; and his son, Wenceslaus a vindic
tive monarch, who was deposed in 1400. Robert
belongs rather to the fifteenth century.
Thus the Visconti, by substituting themselves in
Italy, for the emperors, made themselves the chiefs of
the Ghibeline party : — while the Guelphs escaped from
the popes on receiving the influence of the house of
Philip-le-Bel, sovereign in France and at Naples. The
war was continued between the two Italian factions,
without the necessity of preserving any esteem or in
terest for their former chiefs. The pope was as little
esteemed among the Guelphs as the emperor was
among the Ghibelines. The latter took arms against
Charles IV. when this emperor allowed himself to be
drawn by the pope to the Guelph party, and against
Robert, when he declared war against the Visconti.
On the other hand the Guelphs, whom the weakness of
their chiefs, the pontiffs, the kings of France or kings
of Naples, abandoned more than once to their own
movements, in fact, fought onlyfor the independance
of their cities, Or for the general liberty of Italy. At
the end of the fourteenth century, Ghibelines and
Guelphs, animated by interests of the same kind, tend
ed nearly to the same end ; but they did not. know it ;
they would have been alarmed if they had perceived
it. For when their ancient discord was without rea
son, it was still preserved by mere force of habit.
From this sketch, it results that Germany and
France were the rivals of the Court of Avignon. —
Germany, which had retained the direction of the
Ghibeline party till near 1350 : — France, which, pro
tected the popes only for the purpose of getting the

OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY. 159
mastery over them, and which, by an effort, had ac
quired their Guelph party in Italy. The pope on the
one hand was obliged to observe moderation, and to
elude by intrigues the French influence : — On the
other hand he was obliged to' repress the imperial
power by anathemas: and when Charles IV. devoted
himself to the Holy See, he found it necessary to di
rect the thunders of the church against the Visconti.
Such at Avignon, were the cares of these supreme
pastors. They taught but little, and they edified less
— they were temporal princes and must reign.
Benedict XI. the immediate successor of Boniface
VIII. reigned but one year. He retired to Perouse,
to withdraw himself from the domination of the car
dinals and lords, who pretended to govern Rome.
The Colonne, proscribed by his predecessor, had re
turned thither. Philip-le-Bel aspired to the prepon
derance, out of Rome : — Connected at first with the
Ghibeline party by the anathemas of Boniface, after
wards absolved by Benedict XL, he made no con
cealment of his intention to domineer over the Holy
See. Benedict, was disturbed at it and ordered an
investigation, against the authors of the outrages
which Boniface VIII. had experienced. An excom
munication, which was hurled against the Florentines
on account of a political interest of trifling importance,
is the chief fault which Benedict had the opportunity
to commit. Some Italian authors have imputed the
premature death of this pontiff to Philip-le-Bel, but
without proof.
After an interregnum of nearly a year, Bertrand,
surnamed Gothus, was elected pope, and took the
name of Clement V. Philip-le-Bel, who had had oc
casion to complain of him, procured his "election.
Philip wished to choose a pope among his own ene
mies, who should entirely owe the tiara to him ; and
who should bind himself beforehand to pay dearly
for a benefit so little deserved. Gothus made six
promises to Philip which Clement V. did not wholly
fulfil. — For example, this pontiff dispensed himself
from condemning the memory of Boniface VIII. and,

160 THE POWER OF THE POPES
when the empire became vacant on the death of Al
bert L, the king of France, who interested himself
for a French prince, counted in vain upon the ser
vices of the pope. For while Clement supported in
a public letter the pretensions of this candidate, he
secretly lodged a brief in the hands of the electors to
exclude him.* It is certain,. that nothing but this
election was wanting to insure to the house of
France, already established in Naples, a universal
preponderance; particularly since Clement V., despair
ing to reduce the Romans to tranquil obedience, had
consented to fix his pontifical court at Avignon. . But
this pope served the king quite faithfully in the mat
ter of the Templars. As much, however, as sound
policy required the suppression of this military order,
justice and humanity, not the less earnestly, would
dissuade against so many juridical assassinations, f
When Clement V. annulled the decree of Henry
VII. against Robert, king of Naples — when he de
creed to this Robert the title of Vicar of the Empire,
he made himself, by express terms the sovereign of
it, and reckoned the emperor himself among his vas
sals. " Thus we do," said he, " as well in virtue of
the indubitable supremacy which we have over the
Roman Empire, as in pursuance of the full power
which Jesus Christ has given us to provide for sup
plying the place of the emperor during the vacancy
of the imperial throne."J He maintained, also, that
Ferrara belonged to the Holy See ; and the Vene
tians, having taken this place from the Llouse of Este,
he excommunicated them — declared the doge and all
the citizens infamous — fallen from all their privileges,
and incapable, as well as their children to the
fourth generation, of every ecclesiastical or secular
dignity.§

* J. Villani, lib. viii. c. 101. Pfeffel Abr. Chron. de l'hist d'Alle-
magnc, ann. 1308. Velly Hist, de France, torn. vii. pag. 392, 395.
t Encyclop. Americ. Art. Templars, vol. xii. p. 182, 184.
X Fleury Hist. Eccles. lib. xcii. n. 8.
§ Baluz. Vit. pap. Avenior, torn. i. pag. 69. Fleury Hist. Eccles,
lib. xci. n. 33.

OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY. 161
But these anathemas were no longer formidable.
The Italians, said a cardinal at that time, -no longer
fear excommunications. The Florentines despised
those of the Cardinal-bishop of Ostia— the Bolognese,
those of the Cardinal Orsini — the Milanese, those of
the Cardinal Pellagrue. The spiritual sword does not
frighten them if the material sword does not strike
them.* Clement V. published, a crusade also against
the Venetians. This same Cardinal Pellagrue, a re
lation of the pope, conducted an army against them.
They were conquered,, driven from Ferrara, and ab
solved. The decretals of Clement V., added to the decrees
of the general council at Vienna, held in 1313, form
a canonical code, which is denominated the Clemen
tines. The decretals of John XXII., the successor of
Clement V., are called extravagantes, that is to say,
placed (extra) out of the preceding codes. The name
of extravagantes communes is applied to a collection
of constitutions made by several popes, as well ante
rior as subsequent to John XXII.
Thus the canon law of the middle ages is composed
of the decretals forged by Isodore in the eighth cen
tury — of the decree compiled by Gratian in the
twelfth century — of the decretals of Gregory IX.,
collected in the thirteenth century, by Raymond of
Pennafort — of the Sextus of Boniface VIII. — of the
Clementines — of the extravagantes of John XXII. —
and of the extravagantes communes. To these we
may add the bullaria, in which are collected the
bulls published by the popes, in the. later centuries.
These are the sources of the modern jurisprudence
of the clergy: these, are the causes and the effects
of the temporal power of the pontiffs, and of the un
limited extent of their spiritual power: these are
the voluminous codes, which have taken the place of
the simple and pure laws of the primitive church —
* Henrici vii. Iter. Ital. torn. ix. Bt-r. Italic, p. 903.
15*

162 THE POWER OF THE POPES
laws which the Gallican Church, from the time of
St; Louis till 1682, never ceased to require.*
A pontifical interregnum of two years between
Clement V. and John XXII. embraces the whole of
the reign of Louis X, king of France, surnamed Ru
tin. Llis brother and successor, Philip the Long, re
ceived from John XXII. a pedantic and haughty

* Justinian was a great admirer of the ancient canons. He says,
" Se ita leges scribere ut sacros canones imitentur." But the civil
laws of the Roman empire were in their turn imitated by the pon
tiffs. Giannone, (lib. xix. cap. 4,) gives an account of the course of
papal legislation and the motives upon which it was founded. The
decretals of Gregory IX. he says, were in imitation of the Theodo-
sian and Justinian code, in which he says, there is much more for
the edification of processes than for the edification of souls. Dua-
renus (De Sac. Minist. Ecc. in pr«ef.) says, that at the time the de
cretal epistles were penned, the Roman pontiffs answered those
who consulted them more veterum imperatorum — that ecclesiastical
causes had lost their ancient simplicity, and were of that nature
that jurisconsulti et pragmaiici were employed to terminate them:
unde factum est,ut canonum peritus nisi idem juris civilis scientia
instructus, vulgari proverbio inter rudes et imperitos numeretur.
And again, the same author, in lib. ii. cap. 3, says, '> Jus canoni -
cum, sive pontificium, saltern id quo utimur, magna ex parte cum
jure civili conjunctum est ut absque eo commode tractari nequeat,"
The civil law, which is thus said to be necessary to form a skilful cano
nist, consist of four parts. (1.) The Institutiones, which are a com
pendium of the Roman law. (2.) The Pandecta sive Digesta,
which contain the opinions and decisions of the ancient jurists.
(3.) The Codex, which contains a compilation of the more useful of
the imperial constitutions between the times of Adrian and Justi-
nian. (4,) The Novella? (Constitutiones) ' or the new constitutions
of Justinian promulgated for the purpose of emending and correct
ing former laws. The Authentica were collected out of the No
vella, and are a summary of the new constitutions which derogate
from the code. As the popes, during many ages, drew within their
jurisdiction matters of temporal concern, their decretals (or decretal
epistles) embrace an almost infinite variety of cases. They form,
it is said, a very complete judicial code, and display great sagacity
in matters of detail, which was the fruit, no doubt, of experience.
From the ecclesiastical forum, the ecclesiastical practice was
transferred to the civil tribunals, especially on the continent and in
the chancery of England, and in that way it has reached the United
States to a greater extent than we might at first suppose. Van
Espen. (Jus. Ecclesiasticum, part i. tit. x.) treats de graduatis
canonicis. We are informed by that author, that graduates in the
canon law are equal to graduates in theology. Solent Graduati in
Theologia et jure canonico aquiparari. See also Fr. Duarenus,
ubi sup. lib. ii. cap. 3.

OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY. 163
letter,* which is sufficient to show what this se
cond pope of Avignon, in other times, would have
dared to do. He created bishopricks in France,
when authorizing the divorce of Charles-le-Bel, who
repudiated Blanche of Bourgogne. Lie conceived the
hope of subjecting by degrees, a government which
asked of him acts of complaisance. But Philip of
Valois, who perceived his ambitious designs, threat
ened to burn him;! anc^ ne provoked the famous dis
cussion upon the limits of the two powers. Peter de
Cugnieres, the king's advocate, maintained the rights
of the civil power, upon grounds which are not al
ways excellent, although much less deplorable than
those which the prelates made use of to perpetuate
the abuses of the ecclesiastical jurisdiction. " It is,"
said they, " by the exercise of this jurisdiction, that
the clergy are enriched. Now, the opulence of the
clergy — the splendour of the bishops and archbishops,
is one of the first interests of the king and of the
kingdom." Philip of Valois, not being very sensible
of this interest, ordered that abuses should be re
formed in the space of a year, without the interven
tion of the Court of Rome or of Avignon. This dis
cussion did not produce all the effects it ought. But
from it resulted appeals as in case of abuse, that is
to say, appeals from the ecclesiastical to the secular
tribunals.^ After the death of the emperor Henry VII.,
Frederick-le-Bel, duke of Austria, contended for the
empire against Louis of Bavaria, whose rights were
confirmed by a victory. Nevertheless, John XXII.
annulled the election of Louis. He maintained, that
it belonged to the sovereign pontiff to examine and
ratify the nomination of the emperors, and that during
the vacancy, the imperial government must return,
for the time, to the Holy See, from which it ema-
* Baluz. Vit. pap. Avenion, torn. i. pag. 153. Fleury Hist. Eccles.
lib. xcii. pag. 25.
t Millot. Hist, de France, torn. ii. pag. 84.
X Villaret Hist, de Fr. torn. viii. p. 234, 250. Henault Abr.
Chr. de l'Hist. de Fr. ann. 1329, 1350.

164 THE POWER OF THE POPES
nates.* The pope reproached Louis with protecting
the Visconti, who had been excommunicated as
heretics. We have seen that their heresy was, the
giving countenance to the Ghibeline party, and di
recting its movements. Louis resists. His invectives
against John XXII. were excessive. While John de
posed the emperor, the emperor caused the clergy,
nobility, and people of Rome to depose John. A
Franciscan, who took the name of Nicholas V.
mounted the pontifical throne; but the repentance
and abdication of this Nicholas V., injured the cause
of Louis of Bavaria to such a degree, that he con
sented to renounce the empire, when John XXII.
died, leaving in his coffers twenty-five millions of flo
rins. " This immense treasure," says Fleury,f was
amassed by the industry of the pope, who, as early as
1319, established reserves from all the benefices of
the collegia! churches of Christendom, saying, that
he did it to remove simony. Besides, in virtue of
these reserves, the pope scarcely ever confirmed the
election of any prelate, but he promoted a bishop to
an archbishoprick, and put in his place an inferior bi
shop ; whence it often happened that the vacancy of
an archbishoprick, or of a patriarchate, produced six
promotions or more, from which large sums of mo
ney came to the apostolical -treasury."
In 1338, Benedict XII., having refused absolution
to Louis of Bavaria, the diets of Rensee and of
Francfort declared that, by the ancient custom, the
vicariate of the vacant empire belonged to the Count
Palatine of the Rhine; that the pretensions of the
pope to supply the place of the emperor during an
interregnum could not be maintained; that the pope
had no sort of superiority over the German empire;
that it did not belong to him either to regulate or to
confirm the elections of the emperors ; that a plura
lity of the votes of the electoral college conferred
the empire, without the consent of the Lloly See; and
* Fleury Hist. Eccles. lib. xciii. n. 4, 12.
t Hist. Eccles. lib. xciv. n. 39.

OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY. 165
that to maintain the contrary should be high treason.
To this statute the Germans gave the name of Prag
matic sanction, and, at the same time, it was forbid
den to pay any regard to the censures fulminated
against the head of the empire, or to receive any
bulls from Avignon, or entertain any correspondence
with the pontifical court.*
Four years after the publication of this pragmatic,
came Clement VI. He required of the emperor a
perpetual edict, by which the empire should be de
clared a fief of the Holy See ; a benefice which none
could possess without the authority of the sovereign
pontiff. This Clement said, that none of his prede
cessors had known how to be a pope. Benedict XII.,
with much more modesty, said to the cardinals who
had elected him, you have just chosen an ass.f
Clement VI. renews the anathemas of John XXII.
against Louis of Bavaria. He added to them more
solemn imprecations. "May the Divine wrath,"
cried he, " may the anger of St. Peter and St. Paul
fall upon Louis in this world and in the other ;> — may
the earth swallow him up .alive ; — may all the ele
ments be contrary to him, and may his children pe
rish before the eyes of their father by the hands of
his enemies." But Clement VI., well knowing that
it was not sufficient to curse, excited a war in the
midst of Germany ; leagued the lords against Liouis
of Bavaria; deposed him again; named a vicar of the
empire of Lombardy, and caused the Margrave of Mo
ravia to be elected emperor in 1346, who took the name
of Charles IV. Louis of Bavaria, every where con
queror, died in 1347, and Clement VI. triumphed.
About this time a horrible plague desolated Italy.
The sovereign pontiff placed great expectations upon
this scourge. He was watching for the moment
when the petty Italian princes, being reduced to the
last degree of weakness, and no longer having an
army to oppose to anathemas, would come and ac-

* Pfeffel, ann. 1338.
t Fleury Hist. Eccles. lib. xciv. n. 60,

166 THE POWER OF THE POPES
knowledge and implore the pontifical authority. To
accelerate this result, and second the plague, Clement
VI. employed money, stratagem, and force, to over
come the cities and lords of Romagna. Above all,
he threatened the Visconti. But when he heard talk
of twelve thousand cavaliers and six thousand infan
try who must appear at the court of Avignon with
the lords of Milan, he took the course of negotiation
with this powerful family, and sold to it the investi
ture of Bologna for a hundred thousand florins. Lie
had just bought Avignon. Joanna, queen of Naples,
had ceded this place to him, stipulating for eighty
thousand florins, which, it is said, were never paid,
But Clement VI. declared Joanna innocent of the
murder of Andrew, her first husband; he recognized
her second husband ; he threw obstacles in the way
of Louis, king of Hungary, who, to avenge his bro
ther Andrew, was about to invade the kingdom of
Naples. Thus Clement paid for Avignon, and as this
city was a fief of the empire, the sale was confirmed
by Charles IV., who, being under obligations to the
sovereign pontiff for his crown, could refuse him no
thing. This pope died in 1352. A picture of his morals
has been drawn by Matteo Villani, a contemporary
historian, whose language Fleury* has translated and
softened in the manner following : " He maintained
his house in the style of royalty; his tables were
served magnificently; he had a large retinue of che
valiers and esquires; many horses, which he often
rode for his amusement. He took great pleasure in
aggrandizing his relations ; he bought large estates
for them in France ; he made several of them cardi
nals, but some of them were too young and too vi
cious: some of them he made cardinals at the re
quest of the king of France ; but among these were
also some too young. In these" promotions, he had
no respect either to virtue or to science. He had
himself a reasonable portion of science, but his man-
* Hist. Eccles. lib. xcvi. u. 13,

OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY. 167
ners were those of a gallant, and but slightly cleri
cal. While archbishop, he observed no restraint in
his intercourse with women. He went farther than
the young lords. But when he was pope, he knew
not how either to contain himself, or to conceal his
conduct in this respect. The great ladies went to
his chambers as the prelates did : among others, a
countess of Turenne, to whom he did many favours.
When he was sick the ladies served him, as relations
take care of secular persons."
A short time before his death Clement VI. received
a letter, written, it was said, by John Visconti, Arch
bishop of Milan. We give a few lines of it: "Le
viathan, prince of darkness, to pope Clement his vi
car. Your mother, Pride, salutes you. Your sis
ters, Avarice and Impudicity, and the four others,
thank you for your benevolence, which has made
them prosper so much.*
It was during this pontificate, that Colas, or Ni
cholas Rienzi or Rienzo,f a man of the people, raised
himseff at Rome to the highest degree of power.
Having been deputed to invite Clement VI. to return
to Rome, and not being able to persuade him to do
so, Rienzi returned to set up the standard of liberty
in the capitol. He proclaimed himself tribune, and
governed during some months the ancient capitol of
the world.
The emperor Charles IV. had promised to re
nounce all remains of sovereignty over Rome and
over the ecclesiastical domains. It was upon these
conditions that Clement had elevated him to the em
pire : Charles kept his promise. When he received
the imperial crown in 1355, he acknowledged the
absolute independence of the temporal power of the
popes. He swore that he would never set his foot
in Rome nor upon any place belonging to the Holy
See, without the permission of the pope ; abrogating
all acts of his predecessors contrary thereto, and

* Fleury lib. xcvi. n. 13. See Vie des papes, torn. iii. p. 461.
t Encyc. Americ, Art. Rienzi, vol. 11. p. 37.

168 THE POWER OF THE POPES
binding his successors under pain of deposition, to
maintain the engagements he had taken. This is
the first authentic act which constitutes the pope a
temporal sovereign, an independent monarch. Up
to that time he had been a vassal of the empire. In
nocent VI., who reigned in 1355, took advantage of
these circumstances to enrich his family.* Charles
IV., a prince as weak as he was ambitious, was vul
garly surnamed the emperor of the priests. " You
have then," wrote Petrarch to him, "you have pro
mised with an oath never to return to Rome. What
a shame to an emperor, that priests should have the
power, or rather the audacity, to constrain him to
such a denial ! What pride in a bishop, to deprive
the sovereign who is the father of liberty ! of liberty
itself! What a disgrace it is to him whom the world
should obey, not to be his own master ! to obey his
own vassal !
This same Petrarch, who saw the court of Avig
non but too clearly, compares it to a labyrinth in
which an imperious Minos casts into the fatal urn
the lots of men ; where a ravishing Minotour bel-
* Innocent VI. sent Philip of Cabassole into Germany, to levy
the tenth penny of all ecclesiastical revenues. Upon learning this
new exaction the Germans complained. " The Romans," said they,
" have always regarded Germany as a mine of gold, and they have
invented various means to exhaust it. What does the pope give to
this kingdom but letters and words? Let him be the master of all
benefices as it respects collation, but let him leavq the revenues to
those who perform the services. We send money enough to Italy
for different kinds of merchandize, and to Avignon for our children,'
who study there, or ask for benefices there, not to say buy them.
No one of you, lords, is ignorant of the fact, that large sums of
money are carried every year from Germany lo the court of tho
pope ; large sums of money for the confirmation of prelates, the
obtainment of benefices, the pursuit of process and of appeals to the
Holy See; — for dispensations, absolutions, indulgences, privileges
and otlier favours. Always have the archbishops confirmed the
election of the bishops, their suffragans. It was Pope John XXII.
who, in our time, took away the right by violence. And now, the
pope asks again from the clergy a new and an unheard of subsidy,
threatening with censures those who will not give it or who shall
oppose it. Arrest the beginning of this mischief, and allow not
this shameful servitude to be established. Vita 2a Innocent VI.
apud Baluz. Vita pap. Avenion. torn. i. p. 350.

OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY. 169
lows; where an immodest Venus triumphs. There,
there is no guide; no Ariadne there, to chain the
monster, to gain his hideous porter ; no other means
but gold. But there gold opens the heaven ! Gold
there buys- Jesus Christ!* And in this impious Ba
bylon the future life, immortality, the resurrection,
the final judgment, are reckoned, like Elysium, Ache
ron, and the- Styx, among the fables addressed to
stupid credulity."f
Although the weakness of the emperor Charles IV.
had opened a new career to pontifical ambition, yet
the return of some light ; the eternal agitations of the
city of Rome, which kept Innocent VI. at Avignon;
which forced Urban V. to return thither ;J which were
about also to send Gregory XL thither when he died ;
in fine, the schism by which the death of this pope
was followed; all these causes concurred to deprive
the Holy See of the -fruits of the policy and enter
prises of Clement VI.
In 1378 the cardinals being assembled to elect a
successor to Gregory XI. proclaimed Bartbelemi Preg-
nano pope, and he took the name of Urban VI. They
retired a few months afterwards to Fondi, where they
elected Robert of Geneva (Gebennensis) or Clement
VII. They pretended, that the election of Urban VI.
was a mere formality to appease the fury of the peo
ple, who wished to dictate their choice. Clement is
installed at, Avignon. France, Spain, Scotland and
Sicily acknowledge him. The rest of Europe adhered
to Urban, who resided at Rome, and who caused a
crusade to he published in England against France.
Urban died in 1389, and the cardinals of his party, sup
ply his place by Peter Tomacelli or Boniface IX.
* What impiety !
t Petrarch op. epist. s. tit. 7, ef,'10, 11, 15. Tre sonetti cpntro la
corte di Roma. De vit Solitar. lib. ii. sec. iv. c. 3.
X Urban V. when dying, uttered the following sentiments : " I
believe firmly all that the Catholic church holds and teaches, and if
I have ever advanced any propositions contrary to the doctrine of
the church, I retract them and subject them to its censure." Here,
says Fleury, is a pope who did not think himself infallible. Hist.
Eccles. lib. xcvii. n. 18. 16

170 THE POWER OF THE POPES
*
On the other side, Clement VII. having died in 1394,
the French cardinals elevated to the pontificate, Peter
de Luna, a Spaniard who was called Benedict XIII.
On all sides, means of conciliation were proposed,
and France showed herself particularly desirous of
extinguishing the schism. But neither pope would
yield the tiara, and the spiritual arms directed by each
pope against the other, became blunted in their hands.
We shall not undertake to relate what each did against
the defenders of his rivals : What dangers they run :
what cardinals, what kings, what cities they excom
municated : — How many threats, bulls, censures they
published; We shall merely remark, that the church
of France, after abortive efforts to re-establish peace,
at length (in 1398) withdrew from the obedience of
both the pontiffs : " We " said Charles VI. " we be
ing assisted in council by the princes of our blood and
by several others ; and with us, the church of our
kingdom, as well the clergy as the people ; we with
draw entirely from the obedience of pope Benedict
XIII. and from that of his adversary. We will, that
hereafter no person shall pay any of the ecclesiastical
revenues or emoluments to Benedict, or to his collec
tors, or to his other officers. We strictly forbid all
our subjects, to obey him or his officers in any way
whatever." VjUaret,* adds, that Benedict, having
spread a rumour, that the French wished to withdraw
from his obedience, in order to substitute a pope of
their nation, the king, in order to destroy such a sus
picion, declared in his letters, that any pope would be
agreeable to him, whether he be an African, Arab or
Indian, provided he would not dishonour, by his pas
sions, the chair of the prince of the apostles.
The French took advantage of these circumstances,
to check the exactions of the pontifical court. They
restored to the churches the right freely to elect their
prelates, and to the collators the disposal of other be
nefices. Boniface IX. perfected the art of enriching
the Holy See. He had, as Fleury observes, a two-
* Hist, de France, torn. xii. p. 270, 271,

OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY. 171
fold necessity for money: — for himself and also to sus
tain Ladislas at Naples, against the house of Anjou-
We ought- to read in Fleury* how the clergy, who
held the benefices at Rome, paid for the favour of be
ing examined ; how Boniface, during the second and
third years of his pontificate, dated the bulls conferring
benefices from the first year; what exactions he made
for such antedating — how he extended to prelacies,
the right of Annates ; that is, the reservation of the
revenue of the first year of each benefice : — how he
supported postsor couriers throughout Italy, to be in
formed, without delay of the sickness and death of
prelates or dignitaries, so that he might sell twice or
thrice the same abbey or the same church,: — how he
revoked, by clauses of preference, the reserves and
the expeclatives,f for which he had received the price,
and how he contrived, even to annul preferences al
ready paid for, by preferences of a higher value ; —
how, in short, this trafic, being promoted by the plague,
and the most rapid mortality of the beneficiaries,
brought into the coffers of the pope, innumerable con
tributions, from all those who obtained, or hoped for,
or eoveted a rich or a meagre ecclesiastical bene
fice- It was doubtless impossible that these scandalous
abuses, which, in passing through ages, from Hilde
brand to Boniface IX. and Benedict XIII. had increased
and become a vast accumulation, should not excite
the indignation of eorrect minds and virtuous hearts.
The French, who were mueh better christians in the
fourteenth century than the people of Italy, or of Ger
many, for that reason, showed more zeal to check the
irregularities and the excesses of the clergy. They
had supported Philip-le-Bel, againt Boniface VIIL —
* Hist. Eccles. lib. xcix. n. 26, 27, 28.
t " A custom has obtained," says- Duarenus, " which was alto
gether unknown to the ancients, of making out diplomas, by which
benefices, not yet vacant, are directed to be conferred upon certain
persons when they shall happen to become vacant. (Gratis expecta-
tiea vulgo dicuntur.) These are commonly called oxpcetative graces
or favours. Duaren, de Sac. Eccl. Minist- ac benefieiis, lib. iii.
cap. V

172 THE POWER OF THE POPES, &C
Under Philip of Valois, Peter de Cugnieres had ex
pressed their honourable wishes ; and under Charles
V. more than twenty years before their renunciation
of the authority of Benedict XIII. 'and of Boniface IX.
they had investigated the limits of the ecclesiastical
power. A monument of this discussion has been pre
served under the title of Songe du Vergier or the dis
putation of the clerk and the knight;* the author of
which work, is not well known, but which is ascribed
to John de Lignano or to Charles de Louviers, with
more probability than to any other person.
In it, the clerk claims for the successors of St. Pe
ter, the title and the rights of Vicar general of Jesus
Christ on earth. The knight divides the life of the
Saviour into two periods : — one of preaching and hu
mility before his death, the other of Glory and of
Power after his resurrection. St. Peter, according
to the declaration of the knight ; and the pope, as well
as St. Peter, represent Jesus as poor, modest, teaching
the gospel, not making any sort of pretensions to
thrones, and temporal things ) acknowledging that his
kingdom is not of this world, even submitting himself to
the civil power and rendering to Csesar the things
which belong to Csesar.
* The Songe du Vergier, one of the most ancient monuments of
French literature, and of the liberties of the Gallican church, fills
the half of a volume in folio, in the collection of the treatises and
proofs of these liberties.

( 173 )

CHAPTER VIII.

The Fifteenth Century.
Four great councils were held in this century,
and all before 1450.
The Council of Pisa in 1409. This is not regard
ed as oecumenical ; nevertheless it deposed, Gregory
XII. and Benedict XIII., and elected Alexander V.
to take their place. This did not extinguish the
schism. On the contrary, there were three popes at
one time.
The Council of Constance, in 1414. This has
greater authority. It caused John Huss and Jerome
of Prague to be burned. Besides, it proclaimed the
superiority of general councils over the popes — a
doctrine always reprobated at Rome, and to which
Martin V. did not adhere, though he was elected by
this same council of Constance.
But the Church had only two heads; — Martin V.
and the obstinate Benedict. XIII. — Gregory XIL sent
in his demise ; and John XXIIL, successor of Alex
ander V., was cast into a prison, from which he did
not come out except upon his acknowledging Martin
V. There is no vice, no crime with which the cotem-
porary historians and the council of Constance have not
reproached John XXIIL ¦' An act of accusation which
was drawn up against him," says one,* " contains, a
complete list of all mortal sins." It is pretended that
he seduced three hundred nunsf. According to The
odoric of Niem,J he had kept at Bologna two hundred
* Theod. de Niem. ap. Vonder Hart, torn. ii. p. 389.
T L'Enfant Hist, du Cone, de Constanee, lib. ii. p. 184.
J Invect. in Joann. lib. xxiii. p. 6.
16*

174 THE POWER OF THE POPES
mistresses. These exaggerations discover calumny.
The hospitable friendship with which the Florentines,
and particularly the Medicis — a family which, from
that time, has been distinguished — honoured a pontiff
so imperfectly established, are sufficient to weaken
and refute the accusations which his enemies and his
misfortunes heaped upon his memory. The weakness
of his character provoked acts of outrage from his
rivals ; and his misfortunes have occasioned the inju
ries done to him by historians. Deprived of his
states by Ladislas, king of Naples — betrayed by
Frederick, duke of Austria — pursued by the emperor
Sigrsmund ; John XXIIL made too much use of the
only resources which remained to him, viz. simony
and usury. He perfected, even after Boniface IX.,
the traffic in benefices* — and we read that a bill for
a thousand florins was made out in his favour, when
he lent only eight hundred for four months.f
The Council of Basle, in 1431. Theologians de
clare this to have been a general council only until
its twenty-fifth session.J It held forty-five sessions.
This council, also, very much reduced the papal au
thority ; and its decrees upon this head, together with
those of Constance, served for the compilation, in
France, of the celebrated Pragmatic Sanction, to
which we shall return presently. The fathers of
Basle deposed Eugene IV., the successor of Martin
V., calling him a disturber, a heretic, and a schis-

* Fleury Hist. Eccles. lib. ciii. u. 45.
t Theodor. Niem. Invect. p. 8.
X The council of Basle was opened 23d July, 1431. Eugene IV.,
the pope, was not present. Cardinal Julien presided from the open
ing until January, 1438 — he then retired to Ferrara. Cardinal St.
Angelo presided from 1438 until May, 1443, the date of its forty.
fifth and last session. The council continued near twelve years. Its
two chief objects were, (1.) The union of the Greek and Latin
churches. (2.) A general reformation of the church as well in its
head as members. Eugene IV. was so displeased with the acts of
that council, that in 1437, he issued a bull, which dissolved it or
transferred it, and he appointed another at Ferrara. The fathers
paid no regard to the bull, but continued to meet as before, Charles
VII. of France forbade the bishops of France to go to Ferrara. —
Paillet Droit Public, p. 92, 93.

OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY 175
matic. Pope Eugene IV. excommunicated this
third council, and held a fourth in 1439. There, an
attempt was madejfor reconciliation with the Greeks.
John Paleologus, emperor of the East, was present
at it — endeavouring, by the union, to strengthen his
tottering throne. But the priests of Constantinople
persisted in the schism.
Louis III. of Anjou had disputed with Joanna IL,
the daughter of Charles Durazzo, for the throne of
Naples. Joanna, having been delivered by Alphonso
V., king of Arragon, from Louis, adopted the mo
narch of Arragon; and her deliverer was to become
her heir. Afterwards, some differences having oc
curred between Alphonso and Joanna, she determined
to recur to Louis of Anjou, and to revoke, in his fa
vour, the- act of adoption obtained by Alphonso.
Joanna II. and Louis III. died. Two competitors for
the kingdom of Naples presented themselves ;* viz.
Alphonso V. and Renato, brother of Louis III. Pope
Eugene declares for Alphonso, precisely because
Renato, being most desired by the Neapolitans, and
by Italy in general, would have been too formidable
a neighbour for the Lloly See.
This is the principal purely political affair in which
this pontiff intermeddled. However, he also com
pelled Uladislas, king of Poland and Hungary, to
break a peace with the Turks, which had been sworn
to, upon the Gospels and the Koran — a rupture
both disastrous and disloyal ; which brought in its
train the defeat and death of Uladislas, near Varna,
in 1444.
Eugene IV. retained until his death the title of
pope, though the council of Basle had conferred it
upon Amadeus VIII., duke of Savoy, whose papal
name was Felix V. Afterwards, the duke abdicated
the tiara, and the Church at last had only one head.
Nicholas V. was the successor of Eugene. Nicholas
was a pacific prelate — a friend of learning — the
founder of the Vatican library, and one of the most
* Giannone 1st. di Napoli, lib. xxv, cap. 3, 4, 5^

176 THE POWER OF THE POPES
generous protectors of the learned Greeks, who had
taken refuge in Italy, after the capture of Constanti
nople, by Mahomet IL, in 1453.
We have seen, that during the first half of the fif
teenth century, the priesthood, being divided, had
scarcely any means by which they could seriously
threaten the great empires. This occasion ought to
have been improved to effectuate the reforms required
in consequence of the alterations to which the ancient
discipline of the Church had been subjected by the
false decretals.
The ancient canons left to the clergy, to the peo-,
pie, and to princes, an active part in the election of
bishops, and the modern law reserved to the pope
the institution of the beneficiaries. Excommunica
tions, once rare, and restrained to effects purely spi
ritual, were multiplied, after the tenth century,
against emperors and kings, whose power they weak
ened. The popes of the first eight centuries never
dreamed of exacting any tribute from bishops newly
elected ; but now the pope demanded of them an
nates, that is, the revenues of the first year. Before
the decretals, the ecclesiastics were amenable to the
secular tribunals in civil and criminal matters; after
the decretals, the pope claimed to be the supreme
judge of all members oc the clergy, in every descrip
tion of causes. Finally, dispensations, graces, re
serves, expectatives, and appeals to the Holy See, were
of daily occurrence ; these abuses, having become ex
cessive, were felt to be. a burthen, and particularly
in France.
After having withdrawn, as we have said, from
the obedience of both of the competitors for the pa
pacy, the Gallican Church undertook to govern her
self conformably to the primitive laws. She received
with transport the decrees of the councils of Con
stance and Basle, which limited the power of the
pope, and made it subordinate to that of the assem
bled Church. The council of Basle, when Eugene
IV. left it, sent its decrees to Charles VII., king of
France, who communicated them to the lords of

OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 177
his kingdom, as well secular as ecclesiastic, assem
bled for the purpose, in holy chapel at Bourges. *
The decrees of Basle and of -Constance, approved
and modified by this assembly of Bourges, composed
the Pragmatic Sanction, which was read and pub
lished, as an edict of the king, to the parliament of
Paris, July 3rd, 1439. It is decided, by this edict,
that general councils ought to be holden every ten
years— that their authority is superior to that of the
pope — that the number of cardinals shall be reduced
to twenty-four — that elections to ecclesiastical bene
fices shall be perfectly free — that the annates] shall
no longer be spoken of — that neither a reserve nor an
expeetative shall be admitted.J
All orders of the state received this pragmatic
with enthusiasm ; and the sequel of the history attests
how dear it was to the French.
In Italy the schism had insensibly wrought a revo
lution in political habits. Under the rival and doubt
ful semi-popes : under the feeble influence of the em
perors Robert, Sigismond, Robert II. and Frederick
III., the Guelph and Ghibeline factions were almost
extinct, either for want of chiefs or of standards, or
* The king presided in this assembly. Deputies of the pope and
also from the council of Basle were present. , The pragmatic was
drawn up on the 7th of July, It contains twenty-three articles. —
Paillet Droit Public, 93.
t By annates, is understood' the 'right which the pope claims to
have in all Christian kingdoms to the revenues (during the first
year) of every benefice becoming vacant. This right was strongly
contested at the council of Constance. The cardinals contended
stoutly for it, and proposed only a reformation of abuses. The
French protested, but the cardinals carried the point. But the
council of Basle decided against the right. — Paillet Droit Public
Francois, p. 96.
t " It is necessary to remark," says President Henault, " that in
1441, the king gave a declaration upon the subject of the pragmatic
sanction, purporting that his intention and that of the assembly of
Bourges was, that the agreement made between Eugene IV. and
his ambassadors should take effect from the date of the pragmatic,
without regard to the date of the decree made at Basle before the
date of the pragmatic. It is inferred from this document, that the
decrees of general councils, so far as they regard discipline, have no
force in France until after they have been adopted by edicts of our
kings."— Abrege Chronologique del' Histoire de France, ann, 1438,

178 THE POWER OF THE POPES
through weariness, after the lapse of four or five cen
turies of fury and misfortunes. The Visconti, having
become the leaders of the Ghibelines, grew weaker
and weaker, and disappeared. The Sforze were a
family which had just arisen, and like them, were
destined to combat for new interests. The Medici,
a family, not quite so recent, wer.e endeavouring to
calm the agitations which disturbed Florence, and
they conceived the hope of seeing liberty, the laws,
and learning flourish in the most beautiful country
which they could inhabit. Some other cities of Ita
ly, influenced by observing, their progress in the fine
arts, aspired to free themselves entirely from the Ger
manic yoke, and to exercise themselves an habitual
influence over the people to whom they were supe
rior. This national pride reconciled them in secret
to the papacy, and disposed them to consider it as
the centre of national power, and to regret the loss
of the former splendour of this terrible focus. The
middle of the fifteenth century is the true epoch at
which the doctrine, otherwise called ultra-montane,*
was confirmed and propagated in Italy ; a doctrine
which, since that time, has never ceased to be the
mask of the real or supposed political interests of
that nation. Since that time, the Italians have com
monly abstained from aiding the resistance which the
English, the Germans, and the French have never
ceased to make to the pretensions of the Roman Pon
tiffs ; to his earthly ambition ; to the abuse of his spi
ritual ministry. Already, in the councils of Con
stance and oc Basle, the Italian prelates were re
marked,! by the lukewarmness of their zeal for the
reform of ecclesiastical disorders. Frightened, doubt
less, by the rash audacityof Wickliffe, and many other
innovators, they did not perceive that the wisdom of
good morals and of laws would be the surest pre
servative against the alteration of doctrine, or ra-
* Ultra-montane situated beyond the mountains, that is, south of
the Alps, Italy.. Ultra-montane doctrine is that which teaches the
superiority or infallibility of the popes,
t Bossuet Defens. Declar. CI. Gallic,

OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 179
ther, creeds were not, in fact, the thing which they
desired most sincerely to secure. Such, then, was
the disposition which the successors of Nicholas V.
found in the clergy, in the learned men, and, conse
quently, in the common people ; and such were the
props upon which the levers of the pontificate were
about to renew their action.
Six popes after Nicholas V. governed the church
during the second half of the 15th century. Calix
tus IIL, from 1455 to 1458; Pius IL, till 1464; Paul
IL, till 1471 ; Sixtus IV., till 1484 ; Innocent VIII.,
till 1492 ; Alexander VI., during the' ten following
years ; Calixtus IIL, who preached in vain a crusade
against the Turks, established at Constantinople,
showed yet much more zeal for the particular inte
rests of his family. This pope had three nephews ;
two of them he elevated to the cardinalship, which
they dishonoured by the publicity of their miscon
duct. Upon the head of the third he accumulated
secular dignities. He made him duke of Spoletum ;
general of the troops of the HoJy See ; prefect of
Rome ; governor of Cactle St. Angelo. He wished to
to make him king of Naples, and thus end the strife
between Ferdinand, son of Alphonso ; John, son of
Renato, and some other competitors, the object of
whose rivalries was this kingdom. Calixtus endea
voured to arm the Milanese against Ferdinand, and
he forbade this prince, under pain of excommunica
tion, to take the title of king. But Calixtus reigned
only three'years, and his ambitious designs , had no
durable. effect.
After him came Pius IL, previously jEneas Syl
vius, who under this name acquired considerable lite
rary reputation. He had been the secretary of the
Council of Basle, and as such, a zealous partisan of
the supremacy of councils :* but at length having be-
* " Pontifex Vicarius Ecclesice, non Christi," said iEneas Syl
vius, at that time. " The pope is not the vicar of Jesus Christ,
but of the Church." When the Court of Rome distorted the sense
of some texts, in aid of their pretensions, " See," said the Secretary,
" these are interpretations which, like the pharisees, enlarge the
borders of their garments. Sunt interpretations paparum fimbrias
suas extendentium. iEn. Sylv. Act, Cone. Basil.

180 THE POWER OF THE POPES
come pope, he was from that time an ardent defend
er of the omnipotence of the . Holy See. He even
retracted in positive terms all he had written -under
the- instructions of the council, and by an express
bull, Pius II. condemned iEneas Sylvius.* His bull
execrabilis, anathematizes appeals to the general
council, and to such a council France appealed from
this very bull. Charles VII. yet reigned. He main
tained the pragmatic sanction, and these are the
terms in which the Procureur General protested
against the Execrabilis. " Since our holy father .the
pope, to whom has been given all power for the edifi
cation of the church, and not for its distinction, pur
poses to disquiet and do outrage to the king our lord,
to the ecclesiastics of his kingdom, and even' to his
secular subjects, I, John Dauvet, procureur general
of the king, solemnly declare the nullity of such judg
ments, or censures, according to the decrees of the
holy canons which, in many cases, declare such de
crees null; submitting, nevertheless, all things to the
judgment of the general council, to which our most
Christian king claims to have recourse, and to which
I appeal in his name.f
But Louis XI. succeeded Charles VII., in 1461 ;
and yielding to the solicitations of Pius IL, abrogated
the Pragmatic. Pius II. wept for'joy at the event,
and ordered public festivals, and caused the act of
the assembly at Bourges, to be dragged in the dirt of
Rome. Louis XI. had put two conditions to his com
plaisance ; one, that the pope should favour John of
Anjou, and proclaim him king of Naples ; the other,
that a legate, (a Frenchman by birth) should be com
missioned to institute beneficiaries in France. Pius
IL, who made these two promises, fulfilled neither ;
but he composed some verses in honour of the king,
* " Never," says Mezerai, " did a private individual labour more
than did jEneas Sylvius, to bring the power of the pope within the
terms of the canons, and never did a pope make greater efforts to
extend it beyond right and reason than did the same person when
he was Pius II. — Abr. Chron. t. iii. p. 436. Encyc. Americ. Art.
Piecolomini. t Preuves des libertes de l'e'glise Gallicane, torn. i. p. ii. pag, 40.

OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 181
and sent him a sword, garnished with diamonds, to
fight against Mahomet II. Louis XL, being deeply
irritated, secretly ordered the parliament to oppose
the edict which revoked the Pragmatic. It was not
difficult to obtain this opposition ; it was sufficient for
that purpose not to take measures to prevent it. The
parliament seized so rare an occasion fof obedience
in refusing to obey. Louis XI. did not arm himself
against the Turks ; but, in the meantime, Pius II. ex
cited the other kings of Europe to fight these new
masters of Constantinople. We will now see what
the holy father wrote to Mahomet II. " Do you de
sire to become the most powerful of mortals ? What
do you lack in order to be so to-morrow? Certainly
very little ; that which can be found without seeking
for it; a few drops of baptismal water, Prince, a lit
tle water, and we declare you emperor of the Greeks,
of the East, of the West also, if necessary. Long
since our predecessors, Stephen, Adrian, Leo, having
got rid of Astolphus and Didier, through the good
offices of Pepin and of Charlemagne, crowned their
liberators. Do as Charlemagne and Pepin did, and
we will do as Leo, Adrian, and Stephen did." We
observe that this style, is very perspicuous: it dis
guises nothing of the pontifical policy.*
To Pius II. succeeded Peter Barbus, or Barbo, a
Venetian, so beautiful and vain, that he was tempted
to take fhe name of Formosus.f He was content,
* Pii secundi ponlificis maximi ad illuslrem Mahumetum Tur-
carum Imperatorem epistola. Tarvisii Gerard de Flandria, 1475,
(in 4to.) We read, fol. iv. and v. : " Parva res omnium qui hodie
vivunt maximum et poteniissimum et clarissimum te reddere potest.
Queeris quid sit ? Non est inventu difficilis neque procul quarenda ;
Ubi gentium reperitur ; id est, aqua pauxillum quo bapiizeris. Id,
sifeceris, non erit in orbe princeps, qui te gloria super et aut aquare
potentia valeat. Nos te Gracorum et Orientis imperatorem appella-
bimus  Sicut nostri anlecessores Stephanus, Adrianus,
Leo, adversus Haistulphum et Desiderium gentis Longobarda reges,
Pipinum et Karolum magnum accersiverunl et, liberati de manu
tyrannicd, imperium a Gracis ad ipsos liberatores transtulerunt ;
ita et nos in ecclesia necessitatibus, patrocinio tuo uteremur el vicem
redderemus beneficii accepti."
t Art. de verifier les dates, torn. i. pag. 337. Formosus means
beautiful. 17

182 THE POWER OF THE POPES
however, with the name of Paul II. His efforts to
league the Christian kings against the Turks, and to
cause the parliament of Paris to register the abroga
tion of the pragmatic, were both without effect.
Other interests occupied the minds of the princes;
and the parliament was obstinate. In vain di'd Car
dinal Balue obtain from Louis XI. the dismissal of
John de St. Romain, (the procureur general) from
his office. The university joined the magistrates to
appeal to the future council. In the mean time, let
ters are discovered, which prove to Louis that he is
betrayed by Balue. The cardinal is imprisoned, but
Paul II. claims to be the only legitimate judge of a
prince of the church, and Balue, after a long deten
tion, in a cage of iron, is at length set at liberty.
In vain, also, did Paul II. purpose to get possession
of Rimini. In vain did he arm the Venetians against
Robert Malatesti, who occupied that place. Robert,
aided by the Medicis, opposed the Venetians with a
formidable army, which, under the command of the
Duke of Urbino, put that of the pope to flight.* The
pope received the conditions, which the conquerors
dictated. He inveighed against the Medicis and af
terwards made no war, except against men of learn
ing.! tie condemned many learned persons to horri
ble tortures, in order to extort from them the avowal
of pretended heresies, which they never professed ;
and after their constancy, in refusing to make false
confessions, and all indications and all testimony had
proclaimed their innocence, the pope declared that
they should not come out of their dungeons, until
they had completed an entire year, because he had
made a vow, upon arresting them, not to release
them within that term. Platina, one of the victims
of Paul IL, composed a history of the popes, in which
this pontiff is not spared in the least. Platina is,
doubtless, liable to suspicion upon this point, but as
the reverend Benedictine fathers judiciously observe,J
* Ammir. Istor. Fiorent. torn. iii. pag. 105.
t Muratori Ann. d'ltalia, torn. ix. p. 506.
X Art de verifier les dates, torn. i. p. 327.

OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 183
" his recital is supported by the testimony of James
Piccolimini, cardinal bishop of Pavia, a respectable
writer who, either in his commentaries, or in a letter
which he wrote to Paul himself, soon after his exalta
tion, or in that which he addressed to the cardinals
who had elected him, makes a very disadvantageous
portrait of this pope."
Two nephews invested, the one with the duchy of
Sora, the other with that of Imola ; a fruitless expe
dition against the Mussulmans; alternations of alliance
and enmity with the Venetians; troubles kept up at
Ferrara, at Florence, at Naples; — arms, craftiness,
anathemas, tried by turns against the enemies of the
Holy See; these different details of the history of Six
tus IV. would have more interest, if the conspiracy of
the Pazzi did not absorb all the attention which this
pontificate merits.
The Medicis had displeased Sixtus IV. by some
attempts to resist the elevation of his nephews and
against the appointment of the Archbishop of Pisa,
Salviati. Their power, which was the greater by
being blended at that time with the most honourable
renown, checked and chafed the pontiff, who aspired
to lord it over Florence, and the North of Italy. One
of the first attentions of Sixtus, was to take from the
family of the Medicis, the employment of Treasurer
of the Holy 'See, and to give it to that of the Pazzi.
Until then, no misunderstanding had been perceived
between these two illustrious houses. On the con
trary, they were united by alliances and by recipro
cal services. Florentine authors exhaust themselves
in trying to find motives or pretexts for the enmity of
the Pazzi to the Medicis: — To represent the latter as
tyrants, and to represent the conspirators as liberators,
is to contradict at once rational ethics and cotempo-
raneous history. No: — It is impossible to imagine
any other causes here, than the suggestions of the
court of Rome, and the hope offered to the Pazzi, of
invading the government of Florence under the pro
tection of the Holy See, if they would become, not
the rivals of the Medicis, but, at a blow, their assas-

184 THE POWER OF THE POPES
sins. To the Pazzi were joined, the cardinal Riario,
nephew of the count, — the Archbishop of Pisa, a bro
ther of that prelate, one Bandini, known by the ex
cesses of his misconduct: — Montesecco one of the
condottieri of Sixtus IV. and some other brigands and
some other priests. The plan was to poniard Lau
rence or Lorenzo and Julian de Medicis on Sunday the
26th of April in the church, at the middle of the mass at
the instant of the elevation of the host. These circum
stances, which added the character of sacrilege, to
the crime, frightened the conscience of Montesecco*
who, because he was the most accustomed of all of
them to assassination, had received the commission to
strike Lorenzo. Two ecclesiastics were then, charged
with this part of the business : But they acquitted
themselves with less ability than zeal, and Lorenzo
got out of their hands only wounded, while Julian ex
pires under the blows of Bandini and Francesco Paz
zi. The death of Julian is instantly avenged : — The
traitors are seized ; — The people exterminate them :
The Archbishop of Pisa was seen hanging at the side
of Francesco Pazzi, gnawing in agony, the corpse of
his- accomplice. Montesecco reveals at the foot of the
scaffold the tenebrous threads and the sacred origin of
the conspiracy. Bandini took refuge in Constantino
ple ;but having been sent back to Florence by Mahomet
II. he sufffered capital punishment. A Sultan would not
give an asylum to an assassin whom a -pope did not
hesitate to arm ; and while Lorenzo scarcely healed
of his wounds, laboured to restrain the popular indig
nation ; while he actually saves the cardinal Riario,
what does Sixtus IV. ? As if his connexion with the
conspiracy was not sufficiently revealed by Monte
secco, nor sufficiently shown by all the circumstances
of the crime, he proclaims it himself by the excom
munication of Lorenzo de Medicis and of the Floren
tines. He calls Lorenzo and the magistrates, the

* Disse che non gli bastarebbe mai I' animo commettere tanto
eccesso in chiesa, ed accompagnare il tradimento col sacrilegio,
JVJaphiav, Istor. Fior, Jib. viii,

OP THF. FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 185
children of perdition; — the' offspring of iniquity; —
He declares them and their successors born and to be
born, incapable of every public function ; — incapable
of receiving or transmitting any property by will or
by inheritance : — He summons the Florentines to de
liver Lorenzo up to him, and, as he could hope for no
such base treason, he levies troops against Florence :
He arms the Neapolitans : He determines to consum
mate, at any price, the crime, which the Pazzi con
trived only half to accomplish. In the mean time,
Italy, Germany and France espouse the interest of
the Medicis. Louis XI. himself, signifies that he will
re-establish the pragmatic, unless the pope will revoke
his anathemas. But it was necessary that the Turks
should descend upon Otranto; that they should call
the attention, the fears and the forces of the Courts
of Naples and of Rome, in order that the pontiff should
at length pardon a victim who had escaped both his
thunderbolts and his poniards.*
Sixtus IV. in order to associate in his vengeance
the Court of Naples, had abrogated a tribute which
that kingdom had paid to the Roman Court. Inno
cent VIII. pretended to re-establish it, as being neces
sary for the enterprises which he contemplated against
the Mussulmans. Upon the refusal of king Ferdinand,
the pope encouraged the Neapolitan barons to revolt.
They were the partisans of the duke of Calabria and
not well disposed towards the house of Arragon. He
made promises to them : — sent them troops : — excom
municated the king : — he deposed him : — he called
Charles VIIL king of France into Italy; but Innocent
not possessing ability nor much activity, was not
worthy of any success, and the eight years of his pon
tificate, have Jeft only common remembrances.
The private life of Alexander VI. is well known.
The nature of our subject dispenses us from the ne
cessity of running through the details which compose
* Ang. Politian. De hist conjurat. Paetianze comment. — Don.
Bossi Chron. ann. 1478. Machiav. Istor. Fiorent. lib. viii. Ammir
Istor. Fior. torn. iii. p. 118, etc. Valori, Vita Laurent. Med. — Fabr.
Vit, ejusd. — Muratori Ann. d'ltalia, ann. 1478, 1479, etc.
17*

186 THE POWER OF THE POPES
it. — Rapines, perjuries, revels, sacrilege, lewdness, in
cest, poisonings and assassinations. The question here,
concerns not his morals, but his policy. He persua
ded Charles VIII. to pass into Italy, in order to con
quer the kingdom of Naples, and while Charles was
getting ready to do so, Alexander was negotiating with
all the courts, even with that of the Sultan, to raise
up enemies to France. He wrote to Bajazet II. that
Charles was menacing Naples with the intention to
come down suddenly upon the Ottoman empire: He
attempted to deliver prince Zizim, the brother of Ba
jazet, to Charles; but to deliver him poisoned and re
ceive from the Sultan the price of this crime.
Such were the efforts of Alexander in his political ca
reer. His holiness, nevertheless, concluded a treaty
of alliance with Charles, and almost immediately
formed a league with Venice and the emperor Maxi
milian against this same Charles, whose chief fault
however was, without doubt, his opposition to the pro
ject of eighteen cardinals, who were already weary of
the excesses of Alexander and resolved to depose
him. The pope had a daughter named Lucretia and four
sons one of whom named Godfrey, we know but little
about. One other of them obtained from the king of
Naples the title of the Prince of Squillaci ; another,
became celebrated under the name of Cesar Borgia.
The eldest, was the duke of Candia and Beneventum.
To advance Cesar, who was only a cardinal, a pro
mise was made to Charles VIII. to favour a second
expedition of the French into Italy. Charles died
without undertaking it. Recourse was then had to
Frederick, king of Naples^ This prince was requested
to give his daughter to Cesar in marriage, who should
become prince of Tarentum. Frederick having re
jected these propositions, it was necessary to have re
course, for the third time to the French, whom Louis
XII. then governed.
Cesar arrives in France. He carried thither a bull,
which permitted Louis to dismiss his first wife. He
excites him to conquer Naples and Milan : — Naples,

OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 187
which from the time of Charles of Anjou, ought to
have continually belonged to the French princes ; —
Milan, where Louis XII. ought to recover the rights
which he held from Valentine Visconti, his grand mo
ther. In order that Louis might not be dissuaded by
any wise counsel, the cardinal of Arnboise, his minis
ter, is seduced with the hope of being some day the
successor of Alexander VI. Thus the best of kings,
having become the ally of the most perfidious of the
pontiffs, engages in a dangerous war, in which the
treacheries of Rome defraud the French of the fruit
of their victories. But the Cardinal Borgia, became
the duke of Valentinois; — the family of Borgia tri
umphed over'their enemies and was enriched with their
spoils ; — Alexander VI. at length had become the first
potentate of Europe when a poison, which he had
prepared for others, by a happy mistake, terminated
his abominable pontificate.*
This pope and his predecessors, from Calixtus, have
been reproached for their nepotism, or their zeal for
the elevation of their nephews, their children, and
their relations. Certainly, we do not pretend to jus
tify this abuse of the Apostolate ; this triumph of pri
vate interests over those of religion. But that we
may elucidate, as far as we can, by general observa
tion, a history, the details of which we cannot collect
in this place, we will say, that their nepotism tended
to weaken the effects of pontifical ambition and de
grade it — that the papacy, regarded as a means of
enriching or aggrandizing families, became, by that
very fact, less formidable to empires — that after the
extinction of the schism (from 1450 to 1500) the civil
authority would have suffered many serious attacks,
if these domestic cares, these family interests, had not
so often withdrawn the popes from those vast enter
prises which were necessary for the re-establishment
of the absolute power of the Holy See. Intent upon
humbling the kings, Innocent III. and Gregory Vii.
were not occupied at all with the exaltation of parti-
* Encyc. Americ. Art. Alexander VI., vol. i. p. 156, 157.

188 THE POWER OF THE POPES
cular families. They thought about the exercise of
universal supremacy and the transmission of it to
their successors.
Many circumstances, which we have indicated,
would have favoured, in the middle of the fifteenth
century, the re-construction of this enormous power,
if the popes had united the austere and disinter
ested enthusiasm of Hildebrand to the knowledge
which the co-temporaries of Angelo Politiano (and
almost of Machiavel) might have possessed. It was
not for want of talent in Pius IL, nor for want of
wickedness in Paul IL, nor' for want of perfidy in
Sixtus IV., nor for the want of any vice in Borgia :
But it is not sufficient for a pope to be perverse : He
must know how to take advantage of the errors of
others, and also of his own crimes.

( 189 )

CHAPTER VII.
Policy of the Popes of the Sixteenth Century.
Of all the ages of modern history, the sixteenth
century is most replete with storms, revolutions, and
catastrophies. It glitters with the splendour of Italian
literature — it is stained with as much blood as fana
ticism could shed in a hundred years. Each of the
epochs which divide this century, is a memorable
event: — The league of Cambray in 1508 — the con
cordat of Leo X. with Francis I. in 1515 — the con
quest of Egypt by the Turks — new expeditions into
the two Indies — the schism of England, and the esta
blishment of the Jesuits in 1540-~the abdication of
Charles V., and the accession of Elizabeth, in 1558
— the council of Trent, from 1545 to 1563 — the pro
gress of heresies — the Batavian confederacy — the
excesses of Philip II. — Saint Bartholomew's night, in
1575 — the League — the assassination of Henry III.
by Jacques Clement, in 1589 — the triumphs of Henry
IV., his abjuration, and the edict of Nantes, in 1598.
Fifteen popes governed the Church during these tra
gical scenes; almost all of whom were endowed with
distinguished talents, and some of them possessed an
energetic character. But the recollection of the
schism of Avignon — the permanent scandal of nepo
tism — the invention of printing — the discovery of the
new world — the general progress of knowledge — the
enterprises of Luther and of Calvin — the influence of
their doctrines — the propagation of their errors : so
many obstacles opposed the progress of pontifical
power, that the bishops of Rome had need of extreme
ability to retard its decline.
After the grants made by the emperor Charles IV,,

190 POLICY OF THE POPES
in 1355,* the German princes lost their ancient pre
ponderance in Italy ; and the French, by carrying
their arms thither, acquired considerable influence,
which was not so much disputed by the popes, as by
the Venetians, by the princes of Arragon, and the
powerful families which governed Florence and Mi
lan. Pope Julius IL, the nephew of Sixtus IV., re
solved to enfranchise Italy ; that is, to subject it en
tirely to the Roman Court, to drive away strangers,
sow the seeds of division between the rivals of the
Holy See, and take advantage of it, to regain in Eu
rope the supremacy which was the ambition of Gre
gory VII., and was actually exercised by Innocent
III. Among all the popes, the three who were the
most haughty enemies of kings, were Gregory VII.,
Innocent IIL, and Julius II.
After the death of Alexander VI., and during the
twenty-seven days of the pontificate of Pius IIL, the
Venetians regained some important places which had
been taken from their republic at the end of the fif
teenth century. They took possession of a part of
Romagna. Caesar Borgia took the other part of it,
and also several cities of the Marche d'Ancona, and
of the duchy of Urbino. The Baglioni possessed
Perugia.f The Bentivoglio possessed Bologna. Se
veral portions of the pontifical domain were there
fore to be recovered. Julius II. succeeded in dispos
sessing the Borgia, the Bentivoglio, and the Baglioni:
and in order to overcome the resistance of the Vene
tians, he concluded a treaty with the emperor, the
king of France, and the king of Arragon, against
them, famous under the name of the league of Cam-
bray. But the progress of Louis XII. soon disturbed
him : he fears also to run the risk of the success of the
emperor. He makes haste to negotiate with the Ve
netians — he promises to unite with them to repel the
barbarians, (for such he called the French, Spaniards,
and Germans), if they would restore Faenza and Ri-
* See ante.
t Which was the country of Dante,

OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 191
mini. The Venetians rejected these offers, and were
excommunicated', beaten, and absolved, upon their
submission to the pope. Then Julius II. leagued with
Venice against the French. He puts on the cuirass:
besieges in person, and takes Mirandola. Beaten by
Trivulce, the general of the French, he excommuni
cates Louis XII.; lays France under an interdict, and
endeavours strongly to arm England against her.
Apostolical legates labour to corrupt the French sol
diers — the title of defenders of the Holy See recom
penses the ravages of the Swiss — the Genoese are
excited to revolt — the states of John d'Albret, king
of Navarre, who was the ally of Louis XII., are
given by the Court of Rome to the first occupant.*
To crush France, overturn Florence, and despoil the
dukes of Ferrara; such was the design of Julius IL,
when he died in 1513, being the tenth year of his pon
tificate. Some medals, struck by his orders, repre
sent him with the tiara on his head, and with a
* " About this time," (1512) says Flec'iier, " Pcpe Julius II., be
ing offended with the French and their allies, and abusing the power
which God had given him, and making religion subservient to his
passions, went to the extremity of wishing to excommunicate kings,
and to deprive them of their kingdoms. The greatness of Louis
XII. shielded him from these vexations, and France, by her own
forces, sustained herself, without fearing either the violence of the
pope, or the ambition of those who wished to profit by it, in attack
ing this crown. The evil fell on Jean d'Albret, king of Navarre,
who, (being neither provident enough to guard against surprise,
nor strong enough to defend himself against a neighbour, who was
armed and attentive to all occasions of aggrandizing his monarchy)
had been excommunicated, because he had united with the king of
France, and was finally driven from his states, under the pretext,
that he had contributed to the convocation, and the holding of the
council of Pisa, against the Holy See. Ferdinand, in virtue of this
bull of excommunication, which it is believed the pope had sent to
him secretly, before he fulminated it, caused his troops to advance
without noise, and put himself in a situation to attack the King of
Navarre with whom he had lived on good terms, and who mistrust
ed nothing. He felt, in his conscience, that he was about to com
mit an act of injustice, and doubted not that he should be. re
proached for his invasion. He therefore sent to Cardinal Ximenes,
to come to him at Logrono, where he was, in order to authorize, by
his presence, at least in regard to his subjects, a war which was
otherwise ill founded." Vie du Cardinal Ximenes, pp. 358, 359 ,
edit, of 1693 in 4 to.

192 POLICY OF THE POPES
scourge in his hand, driving the French, and tramp
ling under foot the escutcheon of France. Julius II.
was so much like a temporal prince, that we can
scarcely find the bishop in him. The chief defect of
his policy was, that he observed the forms of the-
Apostolate too little.* It was, however, under his
pontificate, that the doctrine of the infallibility of the
pope was established. Julius II. , according to Guic-
ciardini,f did not merit the title of a great man. Lie
obtained it only from those who, appreciating impro
perly the value of words, supposed that a sovereign
pontiff" distinguishes himself less, in giving an exam
ple of the peaceable virtues, than in extending the
domains of the Church, by shedding the blood of
Christians. Leo X., although he reigned but eight years, gave
his name to the whole of his age — the never-failing
and just effect of great protection granted to learning,
when it is equally enlightened and generous. This
pontiff loved power less for itself, or on account of
the vast designs which it facilitates, than for the mag
nificence and pleasure which it procures. Being a
son of Lorenzo de Medicis, he made diligent use of
the means of securing to his family a permanent as
cendency over Italy. He-designed for his nephew the
sovereignty of Tuscany, and for his brother, the king
dom of Naples. Louis XII., being absolved from the
anathemas of Julius IL, was engaged to favour the

* John Lemaire, a contemporary author, makes the following ob
servation upon the warlike disposition of Julius II.: " We will
mention yet another wonderful difference ; it is the civility and the
tractability of the sultan towards the most Christian king, in com
parison with the rigour and obstinacy of a modern pope, who being
all martial and snappish in his harness, as if he were obliged to
make the world talk of his terrible and warlike arms, as they do
of the great Tamerlane, emperor and sultan of the Tartars, will al
ways persevere in war, which is as becoming to him as it is to a
monk to dance in the harness of a knight. '  Prologue
sur le Traite des schismes, p. 2.
Julius II. was detested even in Italy. Before his death, the in
habitants of Bologna beat down his statue, which was the work of
Michael Angelo.
t Storia d'ltalia, 1. xi., ann 1513.

OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 193
ambition of the Medici; who, in their turn, were to
sustain his pretensions to Milan. This alliance,
which was secretly formed,* not being prompt
enough in its effects, Leo X. bought from the empe
ror Maximilian the state of Modena, which it was
proposed to unite with those of Reggio, of Parma, of
Piacenza, and with that of Ferrara, if it could be done,
in order to endow the brother of the pontiff, or to en
rich the Court of Rome.
After having formed an alliance with Francis I.,
king of France, in order to compel Charles V. to let
go of the kingdom of Naples, which was said to be
incompatible with the empire, the pope formed an
alliance with this same Charles against the French,
whose threats had frightened him to that degree, that
he consented, in favour of Charles, to the union of the
two crowns. Leo took into his pay a body of Swiss
troops ; and from that time he vowed hatred against
the French — a hatred so violent, that when he heard
of their expulsion from Milan, he suddenly expired;
and it is pretended he died of joy. Lie was but forty-
six years of age ; and, notwithstanding the aberra
tions into which he was led by the pontifical policy,
we may well regret that he had not longer opportu
nity to aid the progress of the fine arts. He encou
raged them like a man who was worthy of cultivating
them. He cherished them with a constant and sin
cere love, which they never inspire in bad princes.
His internal administration- deserved the gratitude of
the Romans-t Their grief was deep when they lost
him ; and a few years before they offered to him as
pure a homage, when he escaped a conspiracy simi
lar to that of the Pazzi, and in which the same Cardi
nal Riario, formerly one of the accomplices of Sixtus

* Guicciardini, Storia d' Italia, I. xii. II re di Francia promelteva
ajutare ilpontefice ad acquistare il regno di Napoli o per la chiesa
o per Giulano suo fratello.
t They erected him a statue with this inscription ; Optimo, prin-
dpi. Leoni. X. Joan. Med. Pont. Max. ob. restilutam. restauratamq.
urbem. aucta. sacra, bonasq. artes. adscitos. patres. sublatum. vecti-
gal. datumq. congiarium. S. P. Q. R. P.
18

194 POLICY OF THE POPES
IV., was found. Guicciardini, and some other
writers, have judged Leo X. too severely. After all,
what pope would obtain praise, if praise be not due
to that one, who did more good to Rome than any
of his predecessors since Leo IV., (who died in 855),
and who did to Europe only a part of the evil of
which they had bequeathed to him the example and
tradition. The expense which the construction of the church
of St. Peter required, compelled Leo X. to engage
in the traffic of indulgences. The outcries of Lu
ther* against this commerce, were the prelude of a
vast revolution in Christendom. Leo X. excommu
nicated Luther and his followers. Bossuet thought
justly,f that the heresies and schisms of this century
would have been prevented, if the necessary reforms
had not been neglected. But in the history of this
pontificate, the matter which is most closely connect--
ed with our subject is the concordat, concluded in
1516, between Leo X. and Francis I.
In vain had Julius II. excommunicated Louis XII.,
and threatened to transfer the title of the most Chris
tian king to Henry VIIL, king of England, who was
soon to deserve it so little. In vain the fifth council
of Lateran had published a monitory against the par
liament of Paris : and all the favourers of the Prag
matic sanction, enjoining them to come to Rome and
give an account of their conduct, Julius II. died
without having moved Louis XII., and this excellent
prince himself died just as Leo X. was preparing to
deceive him. The crown of France belonged to
Francis I., of whom Louis XII. had often said : This
great boy will spoil every thing.
In fact, Francis I., in an interview with Leo X. at
Bologna, consented to make a concordat ;J and he

* Mackintosh's Hist, of Eng., p. 217, et seq. (Ed. 1836. Phil.) for
a more full account of Luther and his part in the Reformation.
f Hist, des Variat. 1. 1. a. 1, 3, 3.
X Concordat is a term applied to transactions or treaties between
the court of Rome and the political governments of Catholic coun
tries, relative to benefices and matters connected with them.

OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 195
commissioned his chancellor, Antoine du Prat, to
draw it up, with two cardinals named by the pope
for the purpose. The chief provisions of this con
cordat purport, that for the future, the chapters* of
Cathedral and Metropolitan Churches shall no longer
proceed to the election of bishops, but that the king
shall, within six months, counting from the day of
the vacancy, present to the pope a doctor or licen
tiate, of the age of twenty-seven yearrat the least,
who shall be invested with the vacant bishoprick by
the pope; that if the person presented shall not have
the requisite qualities, the king shall be bound to pro
pose another in three months, counting from the day
of the refusal ; that if not, the pope, without any pre
vious presentation, on the part of the king, may no
minate to bishopricks and archbishopricks, which
shall become vacant in the court of Rome. It is
proper to observe, that the pope, upon granting to
the king the nomination, received to himself the an
nates or the first year's revenue-f
Francis I. went in person to the parliament, to
cause the publication of this concordat, and thechan-
celor Duprat explained the motives which dictated
it The parliament refused to register it. The king
got angry. The parliament solemnly protested
through the bishop of Langres, that if the registry
took place, it would be by constraint, and that judg-

* Chapters (or Capituld) are ecclesiastical colleges. Churches
are either cathedral, conventual, or parochial. Cathedral is that
where the bishop sits; so called a cathedra, the chair or seat. The
conventual -consists of regular clerks professing some order of reli
gion, or of a dean and chapter or other college of spiritual persons.
Parochial is that which is -instituted for the saying of Divine ser
vice, and administering the holy sacraments to persons dwelling
within <i certain region or compass of ground near to it. The
chapters of the cathedral churches wore instituted under laws not
less severe than those of the religious orders. Their secularization
was made by bulls of the popes. During the vacancy of the epis
copal See, the care of governing the Diocese belongs to the chapter
of the cathedral.
t On this subject Mezerai remarks, " there never was a more sin
gular exchange. The pope, who is a spiritual power, takes the
temporal to himself, and gives the spiritual to a temporal prince."

196 POLICY OF THE POPES
ments thereafter would, notwithstanding, be given,
according to the pragmatic. At length it was regis
tered ; but with writing over the folds of the concor
dat, that it was read and published by the very ex
press command of the king several times reiterated.*
The bishoprick of Albi became vacant in 1519.
The chapter nominated according to the Pragmatic,
and the king according to the Concordat. The par
liament of Paris, in deciding between the two incum
bents, decided in favour of the person elected by the
Chapter of Albi. In 1521, a bishop of Condom,
elected by the chapter of this church, was also main
tained against the nominee of the king. All causes
of this description were adjudged in the same way,
till after the imprisonment of Francis I., and would
have continued to be so adjudged, if a declaration of
the 5th Sept. 1529, had not referred to the great
council, the cognizance of all process relative to bi
shopricks, abbeys, and other benefices, the nomina
tion to which, had been granted by pope Leo X. to
the king.
The president Henaultf collects all the reasons al
leged, in favour of the concordat. They may be re
duced to the two following: 1st, The kings, in found
ing benefices, and receiving the church into the state,
have succeeded to the right of election which the
first believers exercised. 2d, Simony, intrigue, igno
rance prevailed in elections, and gave unworthy pas
tors to Dioceses, J But in truth, the nominations by
* See in the Treasury of Charters twenty-six original pieces
upon the concordat of 1515, to wit : a minute of the memorial
which obliged the king, Francis I. to make this concordat : a
projet of the instructions to be given to M. de Barme, advocate of
the king, to go to the pope upon the subject of the concordat. A
minute of the powers given to M. de Barme : a projet, some articles
of which are signed by M. Du Prat; books (in original) containing
the concordat, bulls and letters patent which relate to it. An ap
peal of the University to the council ; projet of commissions of
the king to certain presidents or counsellors to proceed against the
oppo'sers of the concordat, &c.
t Abr. Chron. de l'hist. de France remarq. particul.
X " The worst was," says Brantome, " when they could not agree
jn their elections, they most frequently fought together, cuffed each

OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 197
the king were not the article, which most excited the
opposition of the parliament. They complained most
of the annates, and of the bull of Leo X, against the
pragmatic ; an exaction, which all the kings, from St.
Louis to Charles VII. had prohibited, and which the
early popes had declared abusive and simoniacal,
when they were exacted by emperors. They com
plained of the bull of Leo X., because it treated the
pragmatic as a public pest, an impious constitution,
though founded upon decrees of general councils,
was cherished by the nation, and promulgated by
sovereigns. This bull suspended, excommunicated,
and threatened with the loss of temporal possessions,
civil as well as ecclesiastical, those French prelates,
and even the lay lords who should require the re-esta
blishment of the pragmatic sanction of Charles VII.,
or should regret its loss. Finally, in this bull of Leo
X., he had the boldness to cite the bull of Boniface
VIIL, called Unam Sanctam, in which, the right to
destroy thrones, to take away and decree crowns, is
ascribed to the Roman pontiff. This is what pro
voked the resistance of the parliament, and we must
admit that it seems to have been neither unreasonable
nor contrary to the interests of the monarchy*. If
the object had been to substitute for the right of con
firming the elections, which the monarchs had long
before acquired, that of making them himself, there
is reason to think that the registry would not have
met with near so many difficulties.
The concordat, as it was made in 1516, could not
please a people who had received with enthusiasm
other, drew swords, wounded each other, and sometimes killed.
They commonly elected him, who was the best companion, the best
toper, in short, the most debauched; others elected, through pity,
some poor wretch of a monk, who secretly robbed them or made a
separate purse and starved his friars  The bishops
being elevated, and having attained these great dignities, God knows
what sort of lives they led ; a dissolute life, after dogs, birds, festi
vals, banquets, brotherhoods, weddings, &c. Some of them made
seraglios. ..... I would say more, but I do not wish to
scandalize. * Hist, de France torn, xxiii., p. 161, &c. Gaillard Hist, de
Francois I. torn. vi. p. 1 — 120. 18*

198 POLICY OF THE POPES
the Pragmatic of 1439. Under Francis I., and under
his successors Henry IL, Francis IL, Charles IX., and
Henry IIL, the universities and the parliaments took
every occasion to oppose this alteration of the funda
mental laws of the Gallican Church. The states of
Orleans, under Charles IX. — those of Blois, under
Henry III., expressed the same concern. ' The clergy
themselves have often asked for the restoration of
the Pragmatic. They said, in their remonstrances,
in 1585, that king Francis I., just before his death,
declared to his son, that there was nothing which
burdened his conscience more than the concordat.*
Adrian VI. succeeded Leo X. He was born of
very obscure parents. He occupied the chair of St.
Peter only twenty months. He had taught, when he
was a doctor at Louvain, that the pope was liable to
error in matters of faith ; and, far from retracting
this doctrine when he was pope, he caused a book to
be re-printed in which he had professed that doc-
trine.f Thereupon, a dialectician of Louvain might,
after the example of the old Greek sophist, have
argued thus: " If the pope is infallible, it follows that
Adrian VI. was so when he said he was not so.
Therefore, by this infallibility itself, it is proved, that
it does not exist. Either Adrian was mistaken, and
then the pope is not infallible, or he told the truth,
and then we must agree with him that the, pope may
be mistaken."!

* This manner of thinking upon the Pragmatic and the con
cordat was so national and so permanent, that even in 1789, the re
quests, drawn up for the holding of the states general, unanimously
called for the abolition of the concordat ; and the re-establishment
of the pragmatic sanction. See Resume des cahiers torn. i. pag. 33.
torn. ii. p. 277, torn. iii. pp. 409, 410
t See Bossuet Defens. Cler. Gall. Dissert, pracvia n. 28, page 23.
The text of Adrian runs thus : Dico quod si per Romanam Eccle-
siam intelligatur caput illius, puta pontifex, certum est quod possit
errare,eliam in is quae tangunt fidem, haeresim per suam determi-
nationem aut decretalem docendo; plures enim fuerunt pontifices
Romani haerelici, Idem et novissime fertur de Joanne xxii. etc. In
lib. iv. sentent.
X The Italians did not like this pope. Pallavicini, in his history
of the Council of Trent, 1. ii. c. 9. n. 1. says, that Adrian VI. had

OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 199
But (infallible or not) Clement VII. was elected
pope in 1523. He was a natural and posthumous
son of Julian de Medici, assassinated by the Pazzi, in
1478. At that time, the genius and the success of
Charles V. gave to his imperial dignity the former
splendour and preponderance in the affairs of Italy.
Clement VII. determined to place obstacles in the way
of Charles, and for that purpose formed against him
a league, called holy because the pope was at the
head of it. The other parties were — the king of
France, the king of England, the Venetians, and the
other Italian governments. But the Connetable* de
Bourbon, leaving Frangois I. for Charles V., conduct
ed a German army to Rome, chiefly composed of
Lutherans, who took the city, sacked it, and com
pelled the pope to retire to the castle of St. Angelo.
Clement VII. was not allowed to come out of it, ex
cept upon a promise to put this fortress into the hands
of the emperor, and to pay him three hundred and
fifty thousand ducats of gold. He bound himself
also to deliver Ostia, Civita-vecchia, Citta di Cas-
tello, and to cause the surrender also of Parma and
Placentia. The pope, not being able to comply with his en
gagements, escaped, disguised as a merchant, to Or-
vieto. Frangois I., touched with the extreme distress
of the pontiff, resolved to march to his relief; and he
made such arrangements as determined Charles V.
to be reconciled to Clement VII. This pontiff wished
to avoid the convocation of a council. The popes,
according to Pallavicini,| have always had a horror
of these assemblies. But the emperor made demands
in regard to this matter which it was difficult to an
swer by a categorical refusal. Cardinal Compeggi,

been indeed a very good pastor, but that he was a very indifferent
pope. * The Connetable in France was the first officer of the crown.
He had the command of the armies. Louis XIII., in 1627, sup
pressed the office. The corps of the marshals of France has been
substituted for the jurisdiction of the Connetable.
t Concilio sempre aborrito d& pontefici.

200 POLICY OF THE POPES
in a letter written from Germany, in 1530,* furnished
the pope with evasive means, such as these, viz: to
say that the consent of other princes should be pre
viously obtained — to postpone the time for calling it
¦ — to require that the council should be held at Rome,
which the Germans would not consent to — and, in
the meantime, new circumstances would suggest new
ideas. Charles, who was crowned emperor by Clement
in 1530, promised to re-establish the Medici at Flo
rence ; for the pontiff did not neglect the interests of
his family. He married his niece Catharine to the
son of Frangois I. — a lady quite too much celebrated
in the annals of France till 1589.
It was at these conjunctures that Henry VIIL, king
of England, meditated the divorce of his wife, Catha
rine of Arragon, the aunt of the emperor,f in order to
marry Anne of Boleyn. So long as the war continued
between the See of Rome and Charles V., Clement
VII. showed himself favourable to the designs of
Henry VIIL, and the bull of divorce was quite ready.
The reconciliation of the pope with the emperor,
brought about the opposite sentence. In vain did the
theologians of England, of France, and even of Italy,
declare that the marriage of a man with the widow
of his brother was null. j Charles V. dictates to Cle
ment VII., a decree which pronounces the validity
and the indissolubility of this marriage. Henry VIII.
is excommunicated if he persists in the divorce. The
monarch appealed to a general council. The English
clergy decided that, the bishop of Rome has no autho
rity over Great Britain. The parliament gave to the
king, the title of the Supreme Head of the Anglican
Church. Thus was consummated a schism which it
was the more easy to avoid, because Henry VIIL,
* Deposited in the archives of the Vatican.
t See Mackintosh Hist, of Eng chap. 10. for a more full account
of this matter.
X This was the else of Henry VIII. and of Catherine of Ar
ragon.

OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 201
abhorring the name of heretic,* and, being ambitious
of the glory of being a very zealous Catholic, had
written against Luther, and had obtained from Leo
X. the title of Defender of the Faith. Henry, being
cut off from the Church, set himself about perse
cuting equally the partisans of the pope and the Lu
therans. Paul IIL, who reigned from 1534 to 1549, confirmed
the excommunication of Henry VIIL He convoked
the council of Trent — he approved the new institution
of Jesuits, and was the first author of the bull In coend
Domini.\ Those who appeal from the decrees of the
pope to a general council — those who favoured the
appellants — those who maintained that a general
council is superior to the sovereign pontiff — those
who, without the consent of Rome, require contribu
tions of the clergy towards the necessities of the state
— the lay tribunals which presume to judge bishops,
priests, or persons who have received the tonsure,J.
or monks — chancellors, vice-chancellors, presidents,
counsellors, procureurs-general, who give judgment
in ecclesiastical causes; in short, all who refuse to
acknowledge the omnipotence of the Holy See, and
the absolute independence of the clergy, are anathe-
* See Mackintosh's History of Eng. p. 244. (Ed. of 1836, Phila
delphia. t It commences with these words : Consueverunt Romani ponti-
fices, and contains twenty-four paragraphs.-
X Tonsure is the crown, which is the exterior sign of the ecclesi
astical state or condition. It is performed by shaving the hair in
a circular form, from the superior and posterior part of the head.
By tonsure is also understood the ceremony of admission into the
ecclesiastical state. Not that tonsure is an order, but merely a pre
paration for orders ; the sign of having taken the clerical habit.
The diocesan bishop only has the right of conferring the tonsure
upon persons born in his diocese. Such at least is the rule in
France. The ceremony is this, the bishop cuts with scissors some
hairs from the head of the candidate ; the candidate repeats from
one of the Psalms, " Lord, thou art my portion; thou wilt give me
my heritage." Then he is covered by the bishop with a surplice.
The bishop- prays that God would clothe him with the new man.
No one can receive the tonsure who is not seven years of age ; has
not been confirmed ; or cannot read and write. Some bishops re
fuse to confer it on persons under 14 years of age. Benefices a
simple tonsure are these without cure of souls.

202 POLICY OF THE POPES
matized by this bull ; which, having been published,
for the first time, on Lloly Thursday of the year A. D.
1536, must be repeated annually on that day. For
this reason, it is called In coena domini, and the prac
tice of this annual publication has continued at
Rome, notwithstanding the just protestations of sove
reigns. The homage of respect is due to certain cardinals
and prelates, who addressed, although without effect,
a very judicious remonstrance to Paul III. " Your
predecessors" said they " and you know it ; have de
sired to be flattered. It was quite unnecessary, that
they should have desired it: they would have been
flattered enough, though they had not required it.
Adulation follows princes, as the shadow does the
body and austere virtue, has always found access to
the throne to be difficult. But your predecessors, that
they might be the more sure of it, surrounded them
selves with learned doctors, whose office they made
it, not to teach them their duties, but to justify their ca
prices. The talents of these doctors must needs find
that to be lawful, which was agreeable. Thus they de
clared, that the sovereign pontiff was the absolute pro
prietor of all the benefices in Christendom : and as it
is the right of a proprietor to sell his domains, they
concluded that the head of the church could not be
guilty of simony, and that in the matter of a benefice,
there could be simony only, when the seller of it, was
not the pope. By this reasoning and other of the same
kind, they arrived at the general proposition, which
it was their duty to establish ; namely, that whatever
pleases the pope is always lawful for him. " Hence,
Holy Father," added the remonstrant cardinals,
" hence is the source from which, as from the Trojan
horse, all the abuses, — all the scourges which afflict
the church have come."*
* Sanctitas tua probe noverat principium horum malorum indt
fuisse quod nonnulli pontijices tui praedecessores prurientes auru
bus, ut inquit apostolus Paulus, coacervaverunl magistros ad desi-
deria sua, non ut ab iis discerent quod facere deberent, sed eorum
ttudio et calliditate inveniretur ratio, qua liceret id quod liberet. hide

OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 203
Paul IIL designed for his grand son, Octavius Far-
nese, the states of Parma and Piacenza. Charles V.
who claimed to unite them to the duchy of Milan,
was threatened with the severest censures. After
wards, the pontiff determined to have Parma for the
Holy See, and he died, it is said, of grief, upon learn
ing that Octavius Farnese, was on the point of ac
quiring that duchy.
Julius III. in concert with the emperor refused in
vestiture to Farnese : But the king of France (Henry
II.) protected the duke and sent him troops. Upon
hearing it, Julius III. excommunicated the king of
France and threatened to put the kingdom under in
terdict. Henry II. was not frightened. He forbade
his subjects to take money to Rome, or to address
any upon ecclesiastical matters except the ordinary
prelates. This firmness softened the pope and he even
laboured to reconcile the emperor to the king of
France. After Marcellus II. who reigned twenty-one days,
John Peter Caraffa, was elected Pope. " He took the
name Paul IV. Although he was seventy-nine years
of age, his head," says Muratori "was like Mount
Vesuvius near which he was born: — Violent, chole-
rick, severe, inflexible; his zeal fjr religion was with
out prudence, and without bounds. His look which
was fierce, — his eyes, which were sunken, yet in
flamed and sparkling, prognosticated a very severe
government. Nevertheless, Paul commenced with acts of cle
mency and liberality, which seemed to falsify the fears
which his character had inspired. He lavished graces
effectum est, praeterquam quod principatum omnem sequitur adula-
tio, ut umbra corpus, difficillimusque semper fuit aditus veritatis ad
aures principum, quod confestim prodirent doctores, qui docerent
pontificem esse dominum omnium beneficiorum, et idea cum dominus
jure vendal quod suum est. necessario sequitur poatificem non posse
cadere in Simoniam ita quod voluntas pontificis, qualiscumque ea
fuerit, sit regula qua ejus operationes et actiones dirigantur ; ex
quo procul dubio efficitur ut quid quid libeat etiam liceat. Ex hoc
fonte, tanquam ex equo Trojano irrupere in ecclesiam Dei, tot abu
sus. Concil. Detector, cardin. de emendanda ecclesia.

204 POLICY OF THE POPES
and favours, at such a rate that the Romans erected
to him a statue in the capitol. But his natural hu
mour soon took its course — broke through all barriers
and verified the worst presages." Family interests
made him the enemy of Spain. Not only did he per
secute the Sforze, — the Colonne, and the otlier Ro
man -families attached to that power, but he entered
into a league with France, to deprive the Spaniards
of the kingdom of Naples. The cardinal de Lorraine,
and his brother the Duke de Guise, succeeded in spite
of the Connetable, Montmorency, -in drawing Henry
II. into this alliance. But Cardinal Pole, the minister
of Mary Queen of England, and wife of the Spanish
Philip, had the address to make the French monarch
sign a truce of five years with the court of Madrid.
Paul was provoked. His nephew, the Cardinal Ca-
raffa, went to France to complain of the treaty, which
the king had dared to make with Spain without the
knowledge of Rome. The duke of Alba, viceroy of
Naples, wished to make up the quarrel. He sent a
deputy to the pope whom the pope imprisoned. This
act of violence, compelled the viceroy to take up arms.
He took possession, in a short space of time, of a large
part of the Ecclesiastical States. Alarmed at the pro
gress of the duke of Alva, the Court of France sent
against him an army of twelve thousand men, under
the command of the duke of Guise : But in the mean
time, the French were defeated at St. Quentin. To re
pair the misfortune, it was necessary to recal Guise
and his troops, and the pope was compelled to come
to a treaty with the Viceroy.
Charles V. on uniting the imperial crown to that of
Spain and of the two Sicilies, had obtained, not only
in Italy, but in Europe, a preponderance which was
in vain disputed by Francis I. The abdication of
Charles V. in 1556 divided his power between his bro
ther Ferdinand, who became emperor, and Philip II.
his son, who reigned over Spain and Naples. But
notwithstanding this division, this house, during the
greater part of the sixteenth century, was that, which
most excited the jealousy of the sovereign pontiffs;

OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 205
and Paul IV. in declaring war against it, was governed
as well by the general policy of the Holy See, as by
family interests and private resentment. He refused
to confirm the election of Ferdinand to the empire
and maintained that Charles V. had not power to ab
dicate that dignity without the consent of the court of
Rome. Ferdinand had the wisdom to dispense with
the concurrence of the pope, and the succeeding em
perors followed his example. The surest means of
restraining the pontifical power within just limits was
in this method to suppress the formalities and the ce
remonies, which had so powerfully contributed to
magnify it.
Elizabeth who succeeded in 1558 her sister Mary
in England, was disposed* under the circumstances
in which she came to the throne, to observe a prudent
course of conduct towards the Catholics. The im
petuous Paul II. mistook her prudence for weakness
and fear.- He answered Elizabeth's ambassador, that
she was but a bastard and that England was but a
fief of the. Holy See: — That the pretended Queen,
must begin by suspending the exercise of her functions,
till the court of Rome, in her sovereign character,
had pronounced sentence. A bull declared, that all
prelates, princes, kings, emperors who fall into heresy,
are by that very act, fallen from their benefices, states^
kingdoms, empires, which belong to the first catho
lic, who will take possession of them ; so that the said
prelates or heretical princes can never be re-established
in them. From that moment Elizabeth determined
to cement and strengthen the Anglican schism.
She embraced, favoured and propagated the heresy.
No doubt, she was blameable for doing so ; but how
can we excuse a pope, whose violence drove her
to these extremities : who took part in all the con
spiracies planned against the authority and even
the life of this sovereign? When this pontiff died,
(after a reign of four years) the Romans broke his
* See Mackintosh Hist, of Eng. chap. 16. p. 315. (Ed. 1836, Ph-i-
adelphia. 19

206 POLICY OF THE POPES
statue and threw it into the Tiber. It was with dif
ficulty that his dead body was withdrawn from
the fury of the multitude. The prison of the inquisi
tion was burned. Paul IV. had made a horrible
use of this odious tribunal. He wrathfully re
proached the German princes for their lenity to the
heretics. Pius IV. at the suggestion, it is said, of Philip n.
king of Spain, who was the implacable enemy of the
Caraffa, exercised cruel vengeance upon the nephews
of Paul IV. The Queen of Navarre, was summoned
by this pope to appear at Rome, in six months, under
the ordinary penalties of excommunication, forfeiture
and degradation: — threats, almost as ridiculus as they
were criminal; — the only effect of which was to irri
tate the Court of France. But the pontificate of Pius
IV. is chiefly remarkable for the termination of the
council of Trent, which had continued eighteen years,
viz. from 1545 till 1563. At this last date, a letter
from the emperor to the pope,*- denounced the ma
noeuvres of the legates of the Court of Rome, for ex
ercising a despotic influence over the opinions of
the bishops. The dogmatical decisions of that Coun
cil, do not concern our present purpose : but we shall
say one word of its legislative decrees.
The council of Trent pronounces in certain cases,
excommunication, deposition and expropriation. It
attributes to bishops, the power to punish the authors
and printers of prohibited books; to interdict notaries;
to change the wills of testators ; to apply the revenues
of hospitals to other uses ; — It makes valid, the mar
riage of minors, contracted without the consent of
their relations ; — It permits ecclesiastical judges, to
carry into execution, their decrees againstlaymen, by
the seizure of their property, and by the imprisonment
of their persons ; — It withdraws from the secular ju
risdiction, all ecclesiastical persons, those even, who
have received only the tonsure ; — It enacts, that cri
minal process against bishops, shall be judged, only
by the pope ;— -It authorizes the pope to depose non-
* Archives of the Vatican.

OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 207
resident bishops and appoint successors to them ; —
In fine; the council submitted its own decrees to the
approbation of the sovereign pontiff, whose supre
macy, it admitted as absolute. Gregory VII. Innocent
III. Boniface VIII. and Julius II. had not aspired
to a more absolute theocracy, or one more subversive
of all civil authority and every social principle.* Con
sequently it has been agreed in France, that the
Council of Trent, though infallible in matter of doc
trine, is not so in legislation, and to avoid the. possi
bility of surprise neither its legislation nor its doctrine
was published. The parliament of Paris, since 1564;
the states of Blois in 1579 ; the states of Paris in 1614,
opposed with energy the publication required by the
popes, and which was solicited even by the clergy.
For we must confess that since 1560, the greater part
of the clergy, has not ceased (whatever may be said
of the fact) to confound its own interests, with those
of the Court of Rome ; and if, for a moment, they ap
peared to detach themselves from Rome, by the four
articles of 1682 (of which we shall speak presently,)
they have, by an abundance of complaisances and con
nivences, retraced a step, into which, a particular
conjuncture of circumstances, had drawn them.
Pius V. had been the grand inquisitor under Paul
IV. He was so, in fact, after he became pope. No
pontiff ever burned at Rome more heretics or persons
suspected of heresy. Among the victims of his zeal
«<r"-i"»'it jv.ii.ml learned persons and particularly
Palearius,f who had compared the inquisition to a
* Here we sec the immense accessions with which the ecclesias
tics had surrounded and enriched their pastoral ministry. " They
had," said Pasquier, " extended their spiritual jurisdiction to so
many affairs and matters, that the suburbs were thrice greater than
the city." Rech. sur la France, I. iii. c. 22.
t Two years before St. Bartholomew's day, the court of Rome
had caused Aonius Palearius to be burned, after having extorted
from him a declaration, in which he admitted, that the sovereign
pontiff had the right to order the punishment of heretics , and even
to kill them with his own hand. Palearius wrote this declaration
himself, and it is preserved among the archives of France. The
text is as follows : —
Credo et confiteor quidquid sacrum concilium Tridentinum defi.

208 POLICY OF THE POPES
poniard pointed against men of letters. Sicam dis-
trictam in juguld litteratorum. A bull of Pius V.
against certain propositions of Michael Baius*, was
the signal of a long and sad quarrel. This pope, upon
renewing and enlarging the bull In coena Domini of
Paul III. ordered the publication of it every Holy Thurs
day in all the churches : Until that time it had been
fulminated only at Rome.f It had been said, that
Pius V. determined to raise up against the Holy See,
the; princes who remained catholic ; and condemn
them to the alternative of renouncing the indepen-
dance of their crowns, or the faith of their ancestors.
Philip II. the most superstitious of the princes of his
time, forbade, under the most rigorous penalties, the
publication of this bull within his states. By another
bull, Pius V. excommunicated Elizabeth, — an anathe
ma at least superfluous — and which produced no other
effect, than the punishment of John Felton who dared
to post up the sentence at London. A league be
tween the pope and Spain, and Venice against the
Turks, had some success. Don Juan of Austria, dis
tinguished himself by the victory of Lepanto ; and the
pope, did not fear to apply to this warrior, who was a
nivitet quidquid sancta ecclesia catholica Romana credit et confite-
tur;. Insuper, particulatim confiteor haec:
1. Quod potestas secularis potest licite punire et occidere haere-
ticos ;
2. Quod ecclesia potest tradere potestati seculari licite haereticos
occidendos ;
3. Quod summus porcLifcx romanus poresxTnsuiuere mimstros qui
occidant haereticos.
4. Quo.d ipsemet summus pontifex, in casu aliquo, potest etiam
per se haereticos occidere, ut legimus de Samuele et Petro.
5. Quod per peccatum mortale non amittitur potestas, sed sum
mus pontifex etiam in peccato existens est vere summus pontifex, et
habet summi pon'tificis potestatem.
Ego Aonius Palearius Verulanus, fateor quod in his fuimus Con
cordes, et ita credo ut sunt haec scripta et subscripta mea manu.
Essai Hist, sur la puissance temporelle des papes. Vol. 2. p. 278.
* Encyc. Americ. Article Baius Vol. 1. p. 528.
t In 1580, several French bishops attempted to publish in their
Dioceses, the bull In Coena Domini : but upon the complaint of the
procureur general, the parliament of Paris ordered the seizure of
the temporal revenues of the prelates, who published this bull, and
declared that every effort to give it effect should bo deemed rebellion
and high treason.

OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 209
bastard son of Charles V. these words of the gospel;
" There was a man sent from God whose name was
John." Finally, by the power, which, he said, he
held of God'and in his character as pastor, charged
with the duty of examining who had merited, by great
zeal for the church, extraordinary honours,. Pius V.
decreed the title of Grand duke of Tuscany to Como
de Medicis. In vain did the emperor remonstrate.
Como, with his new title, caused himself to be crowned
at Rome, and took the oath between the hands of the
pontiff. But the most rem ar'iable thing in the affair,
is the motive given to Maximilian by the cardinal
Commendon to justify this pontifical act. Commen-
don said that the pope had degraded Childeric, — in
stalled Pepin, — transferred the empire from the East
to the West, — established electors, — confirmed and
crowned the emperors: whence he concluded, that
the pope was the distributor of thrones and of titles,
and in some sense the nomenclator or the name giver
of princes, as Adam was of the animals. Besides, the
feeble princes encouraged the ambition of Pius V. by
prostrating themselves at his knees. Catharine de
Medicis boasted of the devotion of her son Charles
IX. to the Holy Church ; and she asked money — a
good deal of money, — because the war against heresy
could not be waged without money. Alphonso d'Este
called himself the pope's servant and vassal, and prayed
that he might be pardoned, for the request which he
had presumed to make to the emperor.* We shall
remark, that this same Pius V. who, to vindicate cer
tain articles of the Catholic Faith, armed christians
against christians, wrote to the Persians and the Arabs,
that notwithstanding, the diversity of their religions, a
common interest should rally Asia with Europe, to
fight againt the Mussulmans. This apparent contra
diction, should surprise no person. We know, that
in religious dissensions, hatred is the,,more active in
proportion as opinions are less divergent.
•Letters of Catherine de Medicis and of Alphonso d'Este to Pius
V. dated 1570, Archives of the Vatican,
19*

210 POLICY OF THE POPES
Gregory XIIL, crowned pope, May 25th, 1572,
three months before the ever memorable St. Bartho
lomew's day,* had no sooner heard of this massacre,
than he celebrated it by fire-works and the discharge
of cannon.f He gave thanks to heaven in a religious
ceremony, for the victory : and history speaks of a
painting which attests the formal approbation which
the pontiff gave to the assassins of Coligni. Ponti
fex Colignii necem probat. In 1584, Gregory XIIL
approved also the plan of the league upon the expose
made of it by the Jesuit Mathieu,»who had been sent
to Rome for that purpose. " Finally," wrote this Je
suit, " the pope does not approve of an attempt upon
the life of the king, but if his person can be seized,
and he can be committed to hands which would hold
him in check, that would be approved." Gregory
XIIL avoided even to sign any writing upon which
the leaguers could rely for authority. He succoured
them, said the cardinal d'Este, only with the small
money of the Holy See. That money consisted of in
dulgences. The dissensions which rent France at that time
proceeded, no doubt, from different causes; but
among them, the abolition of the pragmatic, and the
establishment of the concordat, have not attracted
sufficient attention. On the one hand, so disastrous
a change in discipline, by irritating men's minds, dis
posed them to receive new doctrinal opinions, disap
proved of by the court of Rome. On the other hand
the ultra-montain maxims, which the concordat had

* Encyc. Americ. vol. i. p. 592.
t In a letter to the Pope, written on the 26th of August, 1572,
the second day after St. Bartholomew, preserved in the archives of
the Vatican, Louis de Bourbon felicitated himself upon the great
triumph, and particularly at the death of Coligny. (Encyc. Ame
ric. Article, Coligny, vol. 3. p. 315.) " The number of killed;" he
added, " is so great, that I should not know how to declare it." We
find, in the same depot, a letter, in which Charles IX., January,
1573, thanks the pope for a sword, which his holiness had been
pleased to send him. In 1577, Henry III. addressed i very warm
recommendation to the pope in favour of Maurevert, one of the as
sassins of the admiral. Archives of the Vatican.

OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 211
introduced, and which Catherine de Medicis had pro
pagated, inspired those who remained in the com
munion of the See of Rome, with sentiments of in
tolerance. The pragmatic, would have preserved
France alike from heresy and persecuting zeal. But
under the influence of the concordat, these two germs
of discord, each fertilizing the other, covered the
reigns of Charles IX. and of Henry III. with their
horrible fruits. The new interests which the concor
dat gave to the clergy of France, secured their de
votion to the See of Rome, and weakened more and
more the ties which ought to have bound them to the
state. Such were the efforts then made to revive
and maintain the maxims of the middle ages, that
Gregory XIIL was bold enough, in an enlightened
age, to republish the decree of Gratian.* But this
pope, by reforming the Calendar, performed a service
which the nations, separated from the Roman com
munion, were foolish enough, for a long time, not to
take the advantage of.
The successor of Gregory XIIL was the too fa
mous Sixtus V.,f a sanguinary old man, who knew
how to govern his states only by severities, and who,
without any advantage to the See of Rome, by his
bulls, excited the troubles which agitated other king
doms/ He professed great esteem for Henry IV. and
Elizabeth. He excommunicated both of them, for
consistency's sake, as it were, and because perform
ances of that kind were a part of the pontifical office.
He detested and feared Philip II., and would gladly
have deprived him of the kingdom of Naples. He
aided him against England. A solemn bull gave
England to Philip, and declared Elizabeth an usurper,
a heretic, and excommunicated ; it coriirnanded the
English to join the Spaniards to dethrone her, and
promised rewards to those who should deliver her to
* The common people were plunged in the grossest ignorance.
The inhabitants of Perpignan, in 1581, asked money of the pope to
rebuild their stone bridge, destroyed (they said) by high water, and
the demons; Archives of the Vatican.
t Encyc. Americ. vol. ii. p. 425. Article Sixtus V.

212 F0L1CY OF THE POPES
the Catholics to be punished for her crimes. Eliza
beth, with equal pomp, excommunicated the pope
and the cardinals, in St; Paul's church at London.
In the mean time, Philip failed in his enterprise, and
Sixtus V. rejoiced at it almost as much as Elizabeth.
He invited this princess to carry the war into the
heart of Spain.
Notwithstanding his contempt for the leaguers, he
anathematized the king of Navarre, and the prince of
Conde, calling them an impious and bastard race,
heretics, relapsed, enemies of God and religion, ab
solving their subjects, present and future, from all
oaths of allegiance; in fine, declaring these two
princes and their descendants divested of all rights
and incapable of ever possessing any principality.
This bull commences with an insolent display of pon
tifical authority, " superior to all the potentates of the
earth, instituted for the purpose of tearing from the
throne all the infidel princes, and of plunging them
into the abyss, as the ministers of Lucifer." The
king of Navarre (afterwards Llenry IV.) did as Eli
zabeth had done. He excommunicated Sixtus, the
self called pope, ard Sixtus praised him for his cou
rage. But these bulls, which their author treated
with derision, served, not the less, as the aliment of
civil wars. The fanaticism which they nourished in
the Catholics, compelled Llenry IV. to treat the Cal
vinists with rigour, and to command them either to
abjure (their religion) or leave the kingdom, while
the king of Navarre was obliged, for his part, to take
the severest measures against the Catholics. Henry
IIL, chafed more than ever between the two parties,
had neither the ability nor the strength which his po
sition required. Lie deprived the king of Navarre of
his right of succession to the throne of France, and
soon after cast himself into the arms of this generous
prince. This reconciliation provoked a monitory, in
which Sixtus V. required Llenry IIL to appear at
Rome in person, or by proxy, in sixty days, to give
an account of his conduct ; and he declared him ex
communicated, if he should disobey. " We must

OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 213
conquer," said the king, of Navarre to Henry IIL,
who was frightened at the anathema, " we must con
quer. If we are beaten, we shall be excommuni
cated, and threatened again and again with monito
ries." These censures had lost so much of their for
mer power, that a bishop of Chartres said they were
without force on this (the French) side of the moun
tains ; that they got frozen in passing the Alps. The
poniard of Jacques Clement was more efficacious.
Henry III. fell under the blows of this assassin ; and
if we may believe the leaguers, Sixtus V. was in ex-
tacy at so bold an enterprise, and compared it to the
incarnation of the Word, and the resurrection of
Jesus Christ.
If we were to explain the policy of this pontiff,
we should say, his real enemy, and the rival whom
he wished to overthrow, was Philip, whom he did
not excommunicate, and against whom he dared not
openly take any measure ; circumstances did not al
low it. Sixtus V. hoped, no doubt, that the commo
tions excited in England, and continued in France,
by pontifical anathemas, would be diffused over a
broader surface, and would terminate in some result
which would be fatal to Philip.* This parade of the
papal supremacy displayed against the kings of Na
varre and of England, menaced, in reality, the mo
narch of Spain, Portugal, Belgium, the two Sicilies,
* The correspondence of the Nuncio Caetan7Th 1589 and 1590,
s;,~- — . — ^ j^^w-.ra«mH)f all the commotions excited against
Henry IV. in Languedoc, at Lyons, at Paris, and particularly in
the Sorbonne. The court of Rome caused letters against this prince
to be addressed to itself, by Frenchmen and by foreign princes ; such
as the duke of Tuscany, Philip II., king of Spain, and others. On
the 22d of July, 1590, a congregation was held at Rome, upon the
affairs of France. It was there decided, that considering the pope
has no superior, and that he alone is the j Jdge of the spiritual qua
lities of princes, the right of choosing and nominating a king, be
longs to him, wherever there is none who has the conditions requi
site to reign. It was confessed, however, that the succession to the
throne being interrupted, the choice of a new monarch might belong
to the people, or to the electors, if the affair was purely temporal,
and without a mixture of the interests of the faith and of the
church. But the moment a mixture exists, it belongs to the pope to
call to the vacant throne whomsoever he pleases.

214 POLICY OF THE POPES
and a part of the new world, who surpassed in riches
and grandeur all other potentates. To declare Great
Britain a fief of the Roman church, was to retrace suf
ficiently the pretensions of this church to the kingdom
of Naples ; and when he made himself the sovereign
judge of the kings of the earth, he signified sufficient
ly that an error or a calamity would be enough to
produce the ruin of the most powerful of all. Un
happily, the catholicity of Philip could not be at
tacked. Henry IV. was contented with defending
himself against Spain ; and Queen Elizabeth chose
rather to strengthen her own throne, than shake the
thrones of others. In fine, Sixtus V. died too soon.*
After him Urban VII. reigned thirteen days ; Gre
gory XIV. ten months, and Innocent IX. eight weeks.
But Gregory XIV. reigned long enough to encourage
the leaguers, to excommunicate Henry IV. and to raise
at a great expense, an army of nobles who ravaged
some of the provinces of France.
Clement VIIL the last pope of the sixteenth century,
ordered the French to choose a king, catholic in name
as well as in fact. The sudden Catholicism of Henry
* In execution of a decree of the council of Trent pronounced
1546, Sixtus V. published in 1590, an official edition of the Vulgate,
and in a bull which supplied the place of a preface, he declared, ac
cording to his proper science, and with the plenitude of his power,
that it was the version consecrated by the holy council : ordering
j^-ooi-ju^tL,^ "f^^ n» r,:^ai^:.Ait^ln according to that ; forbidding
all persons to publish auy which was not exactly copied from this
model ; and all under the pain of the grontn. „,-„,„v™„„; „„?;„„ ;,.—•
facto. Who would believe, that after such a decree, this edition,
which had been expected forty-four years, would have been sup
pressed so soon after the death of Sixtus V., and supplied, in 1592,
by that which bears the name of Clement VIII. About two thou
sand variations are counted between these two bibles, the greater
part of which, in truth, are slight. But the edition of Clement
VIII. has prevailed in the catholic church, and it is received as the
real vulgate. We remark this fact as one of those which proves
that the general consent of the churches, even in matters of doc
trine, abrogates or ratifies the decisions of the popes. " It must be
confessed," says Dumarsais, " either that Clement VIII. was wrong
to revise the bible of Sixtus V., or that Sixtus V. erred in declaring
by a bull, that the edition made by his order was quite correct, and
in its purity. " Exposit. de la doct. de I'eglise Gall. p. 1 63, of vol. vii.
of the works of Dumarsais,

OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 215
IV. baffled the Court of Rome, the league, and the in
trigues of Spain. The pope chose rather to absolve
Henry than see him reign and prosper in spite of the
Holy See. In fact, the two representatives of the
king (Du Perron and D'Ossat) yielded, with great
complaisance, to the ceremony of absolution,* but
there was considerable difficulty in obtaining the sup
pression of the formula, We reinstate him in his roy
alty. The prince being absolved, took a decisive
step against the pretensions of the Court of Rome, in
guaranteeing to the Protestants by the edictf of Nan
tes the free exercise of their worship and the full en
joyment of their civil rights. When the catholic clergy
went to ask of him, the publication of the decrees of
the council of Trent, he avoided the proposition with
that ingenious and easy politeness which characterize
the manners of the French and which, in Henry IV.
adorned bravery, prudence and loyalty. Yet this
same Henry, whom the nation idolized, fanaticism
had secretly proscribed, and the Jesuits, whom the
poniards of Barriere and Jean Cbatel had poorly
served, sharpened that of Ravaillac.J
In 1597, Alphonso II. duke of Ferrara, having died
without leaving children, Clement VIII. resolved to
take possession of this duchy; and he made so good
use of his spiritual and temporal arms, that he suc
ceeded in the enterprise to the prejudice of Cassar
d'Este, the heir of Alphonso.§
This pope and his predecessors from the death of
Julius II. have often been reproached with a vacillating
policy and inconstancy in their enmities and alliances.
We must not take these variations however, as indi
cations of a want of skill. They attest only the dif-
* See Bossuet. Defens. Cler. Gallic. 1. iii. c. 28.
t See Mackintosh Hist, of the Revolution in England in 1618.
(Edition, 1835, Phila.) p. 223, 224.
X The inquisition, by a decree of the 9th of November, 1609,
condemned the decree of the parliament of Paris against Jean
Chatel. § At the moment of the excommunication of Caesar d'Este, the
state of the atmosphere was examined, and presages unfavourable
to this prince were thence derived.

216 POLICY OF THE POPES
Acuities of conjunctures, and the weakness, brought
upon the See of Rome, by the schism of Avignon, by
the progress of heresies, and the ascendancy of some of
the princes. If, during the sixteenth century the chair
of St. Peter was occupied by skilful pontiffs, this cen
tury, also presents us with celebrated sovereigns upon
most of the thrones, whom virtues or talents or ener
getic character variously recommend to history. For
example, Henry VIII. and his daughter Elizabeth in
England ;• — Louis XII. Francis I. and Henry IV. in
France : — Charles V. and Philip II. in Spain. No mo
dern age has been more fruitful in men, memorable
in every career of life. Yet the Court of Rome re
nounced none of her pretensions: — She maintained
the traditions of her own supremacy : — She continued
to speak the language of Gregory VII. and of Inno
cent III. What could she tlo more, among such pow
erful rivals 1 It was much to ride out the storms, and
to preserve herself for better times. But these times
have not come, and the popes of the seventeenth cen
tury, far inferior to those of the sixteenth; to such as
Julius II. Leo X. and Sixtus V. — have lost for ever the
hope of re-establishing in Europe the pontifical mo
narchy. Among the numerous writings published in this cen
tury upon the Liberties of the Gallican Church, those
of Pierre Pithou published in 1594 are distinguished.
Being reduced to eighty-three articles, they have the
form of a code, and have obtained nearly the authori
ty of a code. They are cited not only in law pro
ceedings but in the laws themselves.* The pragma
tic of St. Louis, in the thirteenth century ; — the Songe
du Vergier in the fourteenth century ; — the pragmatic
of Charles VII. in the fifteenth century :— the treatise
of Pierre Pithou in the sixteenth century and the four
articles of 1682, present, in respect of the French, a
constant tradition of sound doctrine upon, the limits of
the pontifical ministry.
* The article 50 of Pithon is cited in the edict of 1719.

( 217 )

CHAPTER X.
The Attempts of the Popes of the Seventeenth Century.
No pope, since 1600, has united to energetic ambi
tion, talents sufficient, properly to second it. Setting
out from this epoch, the Holy See is a power only of
the second order; which, being almost incapable of
bold aggressions, defends itself by intrigues ; and at
tacks only by obscure machinations. The reformers,
who separated from the Roman Church -a part of
Christendom, contributed- to deliver the rest of it from
pontifical tyranny. Every where the civil power is
consolidated; even commotions terminate in affran-
chizing and organizing it, or have that tendency.
The annals of the popes become more and more dis
connected with the general history of Europe, and
thus, lose their splendour and a great part of their in
terest. We shall have to collect in this chapter, there
fore, only a small number of facts after having consi
dered, under general points of view, the influence of
the Court of Rome in the seventeenth century upon the
principal states of Europe.
In England James I. the successor of Elizabeth,
his family also, and his parliament had escaped the
powder plot, which had been formed by the, Jesuits
and other agents of the sovereign pontiff. James, at
first prodigal, but soon indigent, saw two parties arise
in his kingdom, the Tories and the Whigs. The
house of Commons, in which the Whigs were predo
minant, resisted Charles I. Charles threatened, and
was insulted : — He took arms and was obliged to
flee : — He perished upon the scaffold, an ignoble vic
tim of a tragical decree. Cromwell,, the protector of
the English republic, tyranizes over it, but makes it
20

218 ATTEMPTS OF THE POPES
powerful. Cromwell dies, and Monk delivers Eng
land to Charles II. The inconstancy and contradic
tions, which occurred during this new reign, reveal
the indecisive influence of the Roman Court. The
catholics are tolerated, accused, protected, and exclu
ded from civil employments. Six Jesuits are beheaded.
The king prorogues the parliament and signs the
Habeas Corpus act. An antipapistical oath is required,
and the duke of York refuses to take it. Nevertheless,
he retains his office of Admiral, and soon, even suc
ceeds his brother Charles II. under the name of James
II. He wearies the patience of his subjects by bar
barous executions. James II. without friends, even
among the Catholics, whom he crowned with favours,
gives up and loses without combat a debased sceptre.
The English government is reorganized, and William
of Nassau, prince of Orange, and son-in-law of James
II. is called to the throne of Great Britain. William,
at the same time stadt-holder in Holland, and king of
England governs both stales with energy and tri
umphs over conspiracies, almost always fomented or
seconded by the See of Rome. Thus commotions
and crimes, — the weakening of Catholicism and the
restoration of the civil authorities — were the only re
sults, in England, of the dark manoeuvres of the Court of
Rome, during the seventeenth century. The peace of
Munster in 1648 proclaimed the independance of the
United Provinces. In spite of soil, climate and dis
cord ; Holland, now flourishing and free from the Spa
nish yoke, took a distinguished rank among the powers
which had escaped from the dominion of the Roman
See. The king of Spain, — Philip III, — also lost Ar-
tois, of which Louis XIV. took possession ; and Portu
gal, which conferred the crown upon the duke of
Braganza. One Charles II. a son of Philip IV. lost Franche Con-
te; — He died without children and bequeathed his
kingdom to a grandson of the king of the French.
The ascendency, which the popes exercised over Spain,
so fallen, and who seemed to place herself under
French influence, was but a feeble resourcefor them.

OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 219
In Germany, the catholicity of the emperors, Fer
dinand II. Ferdinand III. and Leopold did not pre
vent the progress of heresies. After the despotism of
Ferdinand LI. had alienated the Germans and the
north of Europe; the imperial authority visibly de
clined in the hands of Ferdinand III. and Leopold
who during seven and forty years, being governed
by ministers, by women, and by confessors, was a
useless friend of the popes, and maintained his posi
tion by force of the opinion which his impotency in
spired. After Henry IV. who fell by the hand of an- assas
sin in 1610, there were but two kings of France,
during the seventeenth century, viz. Louis XIII. and
Louis XIV. Louis XIIL exiles Mary de Medicis, his
mother ; then he recalls her, then he removes her
again. He offends against her, because he fears her.
He loves not Richelieu, who in fact palms himself upon
the king, both as minister and master. The Protes
tants, always threatened, and ill at ease, take up (irms.
La Rochelle,r their bulwark, capitulates after a long
siege. Richelieu publishes an -edict of grace. Lie
fears Rome and the' children of Loyola too much to
crush those of Calvin quite yet.* He is more solici
tous to humble the grandees. He terrifies them with
the punishment of Marillac, of Montmorency, of
Cinq Mars, and, by unworthy means accomplishing
the work, which Henry IV. had not time to finish, he
establishes the monarchical power in the interior of
France. His death ahd that of Louis XIIL bring on
a stormy minority. La Fronde repulses Mazarin.
Mazarin wearies La Fronde, and governs negligently
a frivolous people. What he neglects most, is the
education of the young king, — tlje education of that

* Richelieu resisted the solicitations of Urban VIII. who, in his
letters to Louis XIII, to Queen Anne, and Richelieu himself, never
ceased to advise the entire extermination of the Hugenots. Caete-
rum, cum scias qua curd custodiendi sint victoriarum' fructus, ne.
marcescant, nemo est qui ambigat a te reliquias onines haereticorum
in Gallica vined stabulantium propediem, prqfligalum iri. Urban
VIII., Epist. ad principes ann. vi. fol. 10. Archives of the empire.

220 ATTEMPTS OF THE POPES
Louis XIV. who from 1661 until 1715 reigned over
the- French, and at times domineered over Europe.
The revocation of the edict of Nantes in 1685 divides
this long reign into two parts. Benefits and triumphs
immortalize the first part : — Hypocrisy, fanaticism,
vain glory and reverses filled the other with intrigues,
proscriptions and lingering calamities. Still, what
ever may have been the ill fortunes of Louis XIV. the
most brilliant passages in the history of the French,
under the third dynasty, belong to this reign. The
nation to whom this monarch imparted a spirit of
haughtiness, excused the excesses of his own ; and so
many of the men, by whom he was surrounded, me
rited the epithet of Great, that he obtained it also for
himself. Other princes on the contrary extend their
personal grandeur over that which surrounds them.
The imposing authority of this monarch for a long
time repressed the ambition of the popes; but the in
fluence which they exercised during the last half of
his reign, turned out greatly to the detriment of France,
and to the advantage of the Roman Court.
The wars of the Venetians against the Turks — the
conspiracy of the Spaniards against Venice, in 1618 —
the sedition of Mazaniello, at Naples, in 1640, and the
enterprises of some of the Roman pontiffs, are the
principal events in the annals of Italy during this
century. Never before was this country more dis
posed to suffer the domination of the popes, and to
extend it. But the popes lacked the ability necessary
to draw a large party with them to aid this disposi
tion. They suffered the fine arts to languish and
decay around them,- while they sprung up or pros
pered elsewhere.. I,t was during this age that the
Italians ceased to be the most enlightened people of
Europe — a pre-eminence which they had need to
preserve, in order to prevent their being reduced to
an inferiority in almost every respect.
The most remarkable popes of the seventeenth
century were Paul V.,* Urban VIII. Innocent X.,
* Bartolommeo was condemned to death in 1609, for calling him,
self the son of this pope. Archives of the Vatican,

OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 221
Alexander VII., Clement IX., Innoceut XL, Alexan
der VIIL, and Innocent XII.
The republic of Venice had punished with death,
and without the intervention of the ecclesiastical au
thority, an Augustin monk, who had been convicted
of enormous crimes ; a canon and an &hbot were im
prisoned for similar causes. The senate forbade the
multiplication of convents and churches; without its
permission. These acts of independence irritated
Paul V. He excommunicated the Doge and the Se
nators, and cast an interdict upon the whole republic.
It was his pleasure that, in twenty-four days', they
should revoke their, decrees, and remit to the hands
of the nuncio, the-canon, and the abbot, whom they
retained as prisoners. If, after the twenty-four days,
the Doge and the Senate still persisted three days in
their obstinacy, the divine offices should cease, not
only in Venice, but in, all the Venetian domains, and
it was enjoined upon the patriarchs, archbishops,
bishops, vicars general, and others, under pain of
suspension, and of the deprivation of their revenues,
to publish. and post up in their churches this pontifi
cal sentence, which Paul V. pronounced, as he said,
by the authority of God, by that of the apostles, and
his own. The Capuchins, the Theatins,* and the Je
suits, observed this interdict, which was contemned
by all the rest of the Venetian clergy, as well as by
the. people. But little attention was given to the Ca
puchins and Theatins ; hut the Jesuits, being more
powerful and more culpable, were banished perpetu
ally. A protestation was addressed by the Doge, to
the ecclesiastical prelates against the anathemas of
Paul; and the senate wrote a circular letter upon the

* Theatins were an order of regular clerks or priests founded by
St. Gaetano,. (Peter Caraffa), who became pope under the name of
Paul IV. The-order was founded about 1524, and was confirmed
by'Clement, VII. They possess no property nor stated revenues.
They were the unwearied opposers of heretics, and were invested
by the tribunal of tho inquisition with important privileges. See,
also Encyc. Americ. vol. 12. p. 211. Article Theatines.
20* -

222 ATTEMPTS OF THE POPES
same subject, to all the cities and Communes ,of the
state. These two pieces are characterised by a calm
energy, without mixture of reproach or passion, but
expressing an unalterable resolution. We have ne
glected nothing, say the senators, to enlighten his ho
liness, but he has shut his ears to our remonstrances,
as well as to the lessons of Scripture, of the holy fa
thers, and of the councils. He has obstinately per
sisted in misapprehending the secular authority which
God hath committed to us : and the independence of
our republic and the individual rights of our citizens:
Shall we appeal to a future general council 1 Our
ancestors have done so under similar circumstances,
but there, injustice is so palpable, that a solemn re
clamation would be superfluous. Our cause is too
immediately connected with that of our subjects, of
our allies, of our enemies even, to allow such an ex
communication to disturb, for an instant, the interior
or the exterior peace of the republic.
In fact, the anathema was without effect, both
within and without the republic* In vain did the
pope employ the Jesuits to -excite or incline the courts
of Europe against the Venetians. Even in Spain,
where the intrigues of the Jesuits had a little more
success than elsewhere, the Venetian ambassador, not
withstanding the menaces of the nuncio, was admit
ted to all the ecclesiastical ceremonies. The gover
nor of Milan, the dukes of Mantua, and of Modena,
the grand duke of Tuscany, and the viceroy of Na
ples, openly espoused the interests of the excommu
nicated republic. Sigismund, king of Poland,^ de
clared that this cause was that of his kingdom/and
the duke of Savoy declared that it was the cause of
all the sovereigns of Christendom. The court of'Vi-
* The court of Rome, says Dumarsais, fears only those who do
not fear her, and she yields to those only who will not yield to her.
She is strong only through the weakness of those who do not know
their own rights, and who allow her to appropriate that to herself,
which she never would have dared to claim without their blind de
ference. Exp. de la doct, de Vegl. Gall. p. 228, of vol. 7. des
Oeuvres de Dumarsais.

OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 223
enna blamed the conduct qf the < pope, and invited
(Sorance) the Venetian ambassador to a procession
of the holy sacrament, in despite, of the apostolical
nuncio, who refused to take part in it. The nuncio,
Barberini. did not succeed better in France, when
he required that the Venetian ambassador, Priuli.
should be forbidden to enter the churches. The pope
being thus abandoned by all the courts, and being re
duced to his own spiritual and "temporal resources,
took the part of levying troops against Venice. For
tunately for this papal army, Henry IV. offered his me
diation, and put an end to the quarrel,* upon milder
conditions than Paul V. had. a right to expect; al
though he had formed a congregation of the war.
It was a committee of priests, invested with a kind
of sacerdotal functions entirely new.
Paul V. troubled England with two briefs, in which
he forbade the Catholics to take the oath of allegiance
to their king, James I.f He renewed the bull, In coend
Domini, and inserted it in the Roman ritual, enlarged,
however, by additional anathemas. J
. The pretensions of this pope gave occasion to se
veral treatises upon the pontifical power. On the 8th
of June, 1610, twenty-four days after the assassina
tion of Henry IV., the parliament of Paris condemned
to the flames a book in which -the Jesuit Mariana al
lowed and advised to take the life of indocile kings.
On the 28th of November following, justice was also
done to a treatise of Bellarmine, in which' he extended

* Bossuet Defens. Cler. Gallic. 1. iv. c. 12.
t It may be worthy of remark, that the Faculty of the Univer
sity of Louvain, in their answers to questions which had been put
to them in 1789, at the desire of Mr. Pitt, concerning the pope's
dispensing power, refer to the dissertation of His Majesty, King
James the First, against Bellarmine and- Du Perron, with approba
tion. They enumerate this royal author with Bosseut, De Marca,
the two Barclays, Goldastus, the Pithaeuses, Argentre Widrington.
Parnell's Hist, of the Penal Laws against the Irish Roman Catho
lics, p. 105, 106, (Lond. 1808.)
X Pasloralis Romani pontificis vigilantia. Such are the first
words of the bull In Coena Domini, renewed by Paul V. It has
thirty articles, that is to say, six more than the bull Consueverunt
of Paul III. see ante.

224 ATTEMPTS OF THE POPES
the spiritual power of the popes over the temporal
power of kings.* In 1614, the same parliament con
signed to the flames the not less- seditious book of the
Jesuit Suarez. The Court of Rome took a tender
interest in these three works. In the correspondence
which that Court maintained, in 1614, with the nun
cio resident in France, Suarez is most frequently
mentioned. By what right did the parliament judge
of points of doctrine? What did Suarez teach but
the. Catholic faith? What doctrine is more sacred
than that of the sovereignty of the popes over kings?
— a sovereignty which is direct in the matter of re
ligion, and not less efficacious, although indirect, in
matter of politics. Besides, if a few faults in preci
sion had slipped into the excellent book of Father
Suarez, did it not belong to the Holy See, and the
Holy See alone, to discover and correct them? Such,
during a whole year, was the substance of the letters
-written in the name of the pope, to his nuncio Ubal-
dini.f By means of this agent and of the Jesuits, the
Court of Rome, during the minority of Louis XIIL,
caused the pulpits of Paris to ring with this audacious
maxim — that the pope, the monarch of the Church,
could excommunicate, depose, and kill kings. Still
the «ivil authority had its defenders. Two Scotch
men, William Barclay and John Barclay, his son,
and afterwards Anthony de Dominis, who did not
spare the visible head of the Church; and at Paris,
Servin, the advocate-general, Stephen Pasquier,J and
above all, Edmund Richer, who combatted with
more moderation these ultramontane opinions. Ne
vertheless, he was the victim of his zeal for the liber
ties of the Gallican Church. k The nuncio, Benti-

* Bossuet Def ens,. Cler. Gallic. 1. iv. c. 16.
t Registro di lel-tere delta segretaria di Stato di Paolo V. al ves-
covo di Montepulciano, nuncio in Francia. 1613 and 1614. In the
Archives of France.
X In the correspondence of the Court of Rome, tho Recherches di
la France is frequently adverted to, as a book whoso abominable
principles are covered with a religious colouring.
§ Bossuet Def ens. Cler. Gallic. 1. vi. c. 25.

OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 225
voglio, distinguished still more the theologian Tilesac
as the enemy of the Jesuits,* adding, however, that he
was a good Catholic, and that if the Court of Rome
would deign to show him some esteem, they might
-succeed, perhaps, in giving him a better direction.
This Tilesac — one of the most fastidious compilers
of this age — aeserves no mention whatever, except
as a striking example of the mediocrity which com
manded' the attention of the nuncio, and as showing
how the, nuncio was careful to know all persons Who
could do either service or injury ; so that he, might
gain recruits and partisans from all quarters.
We pass over the quarrels of the pope with the
dukes of Parma and Savoy, with the republic ,of
Lucca, with the Ligurians, and with the Swiss ; also
the intrigues set on foot to sustain the inquisition at
Naples, and to favour the Jesuits in Spain. These
are --small details which,f speaking generally, only
prove the impotence of-pontifical ambition from 1605
to 1621.
Urban VIIL, who gave to the cardinals the title -of
Eminence, refused to Louis XIIL and Louis XIV, the
title of king of JVavarre. This refusal, of which there
are other examples, was founded upon the, excom
munication and deposition of Jean d'Albret, by Julius
* Letter dated 1619, (in the- Arctiives of the Vatican,) These
letters of Bentivoglio are very curious. In one of them which he
wrote in 1619, he complains of the residence of Monsignor Ru-
cieltai, a prelate, at Paris, whom he says, is full or luxury and sen
suality, (pieruy di lusso e di serisualitd*) A lady, he adds, has con
sumed for him 25,000 Roman crowns in one year.
t In 161 6, during the pontificate of- Paul V., Galileo received. a
prohibition from trie Roman inquisitors, not to believe or teach the
motion of the earth in any manner ; or the system of CopeVnicus,
that the sun is the-centre of the system, and that the earth .moves
around it. Cardinal Bellarmin was mainly instrumental in pro
curing that decree. About seventeen years afterwards, (22d June;,
1633,) and during the pontificate of Urban V1H., Galileo, having
been summoned to Rome, was compelled to abjure and renounce as
impious and heretical, the opinion which maintains, that the sun is
the centre and immoveable, and that the earth moves. Galileo at
that time was seventy years of age, . See Life of Galileo in Library
of Useful Knowledge, ch. 11, and 13. Encyclop. Americana, Art.
Galilei Galileo, vol. 5. p. 354, 356.

226 ATTEMPTS OF THE POPES
IL* In order to maintain the decree of Julius" IL,
the popes have omitted, whenever they could, the
qualification of king of Navarre when addressing the
kings of France, who were the heirs of Jean d'Albret.
The parliament refused to register several bulls in
which this omission was observed, and Urban VIII.
was particularly censured for it. This pontiff, having
formed the -purpose of intermeddling with the differ
ences which exisfed between the courts of France
and Spain on the subject of the Valteline,f he had the
displeasure to learn that these two powers had signed
a treaty without his knowledge. Nevertheless, he
succeeded in uniting to the See of Rome the duchy
of Ufbino with the (comtis) counties of Montefeltro
and of Gubio, the seignory of Pesaro and the vica
riate of Sinigaglia. These domains had been giyen
to him by the duke Frangois Maria, the last issue of
the house of Rovere. But the Cardinal of Richelieu
had his eye upon the projects of this pontiff. He re
fused audience to the nuncio Scoti, and gave him to
understand that the Court of France did not acknow
ledge her dependance on the' See of Rome. The
parliament caused a book of Santarelli, an Italian
Jesuit, to be burned. The book ascribed to the pope
the right of deposing kings, of condemning them to
temporal punishments," and of absolving subjects from
every oath of fealty.J The work of Peter de Marca
upon the concord of the priesthood and of the em
pire, appeared at this time, and so displeased the
Court of Rome, that she refused to confirm the nomi
nation of the author to a bishoprick. De Marca had
the -weakness to modify his opinions to suit that
Court. In the sequel, he coveted the hat of a cardi
nal, and a little before his death dictated to Baluze a
treatise upon the infallibility of the pope. Intriguing,
as he was erudite, he sacrificed his opinions to his
* See antea.
t A seignory of the Grisons, at the foot of the Alps, at Jhe en
trance of Italy, near the ComtS of Bormio.
X See Bossuet Defens. Decl. Cler. Gallic. 1. i. 6 1. <f. 3, 4, 5, 6,
1. iv. c. 16.

OF THE SF.VENTEENTH CENTURY. 227
interests. The books of. this writer are useful
only for the texts and the facts which they con
tain. The popes were no longer in a situation to declare
war except against the small princes. Urban VIII.
declared -war against the duke of Parma, who had
refused to his relations the price of some services
which the pope pretended they had rendered to the
duke. First the duke was cited — next he was ex
communicated — then possession was taken of his
duchy of Castro, which, after four years of debating
and combating, the pope, upon treaty, was obliged
to restore to him. But, this war, which was scarcely
extinguished, recommenced under Innocent X., the
successor of Urban.: and because the duke of Parma
was unable to pay soon enough .enormous sums of in
terest which- he owed to the Mount of Piety, Castro
was confiscated, sacked, and razed, by order of the
pontiff. On the ruins of this city was raised a column
with the inscription Qui Jn Castro, (Here was Cas
tro). Humanity shudders when, in an extensive
war, upon the collision of powerful nations or of
blind factions, such disasters occur, as sometimes
they do ; but that a mere pecuniary interest — an ob^
scure and petty quarrel between «uch feeble -rivals-1-
should result in the destruction of a. city, the disper
sion of' its inhabitants, and the desolation of families,
and that such useless ravages should be ordered in
cold blood by. the party who had conquered almost
without an effort, excites even more astonishment
than indignation ;. and one could hardly conceive
of such gratuitous severity in a prince, if that prince
were not a pontiff, and a successor of Boniface
VIII. Yet it is astonishing that the popes did not per
ceive how much it concerned their immediate inte
rest to spare the Italian cities, and attach them to
the Roman See by benefits, and make them, in short,
sufficiently prosperous and influential to contribute
effectually to the re-establishment of the pontifical
domination in Europe. Several popes of the six-

228 ATTEMPTS OF THE POPES
teenth century pursued this course of policy; and
it is because the popes of the fifteenth and seven
teenth centuries were too inattentive to it, that the
temporal power of the popes seems doomed forever
to perish.
A revolution had placed upon the throne of Portu
gal John of Braganza, (or John IV.) whose ancestors
had been despoiled by Philip IL, king of Spain.
Philip IV., who languished in a state of shameful in
activity, did not attempt to re-conquer Portugal by
arms. The. Court of Madrid had recourse to the
pope,' (Innocent' X.,) and he refused, bulls to the
bishops who were nominated by John of Braganza ;
declaring that he could never acknowledge this new
monarch. John consulted the universities of his
kingdom. They answered, that if the pope per
sisted in his refusal, that they would only have to do
Without his bulls. It was also the opinion of the as
sembly of the- clergy of France, who were interro
gated upon this point by the Portuguese ambassador.
This assembly did more. They wrote to the pope,
respectfully remonstrating, that it was proper to grant
bulls to the prelates named by John IV. ; in which,
perhaps, the clergy took too much part in a foreign
affair. But- we see by it what they thought of ca
nonical institution, and of the right to consider it as
in fact obtained, when it is capriciously refused. In
fine, Innocent X., at this conjuncture, feared France
and Portugal more than he feared Spain. He de
spatched the bulls,and ceased to contest the right of
John of Braganza to the title of king.
Innocent X. separated himself to such a degree
from the Spanish court, that in order to aid the Nea
politans, who had revolted, he invited the Duke of
Guise, (issue of the princes of Anjou, the ancient
kings of Naples,) to set up his right to this kingdom,
and attempt to reconquer it. But the pope, after se
ducing the duke, kept none of his promises, and his
want of fidelity was one of the causes which pre
vented the success of the expedition. We observe,
also, that at this time there was no sort of alliance or

OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 229
friendship between the courts of France and of Rome.
Innocent X. having ordered all the cardinals to reside
in the capital of Christendom, with a prohibition to
leave the territories of the Holy See, without the
permission of the sovereign pontiff, the parliament of
Paris annulled his decree as abusive, and Cardinal
Mazarin forbade that money should be sent from
France to the Roman court. The pope, in reflecting
upon this last measure, perceived that it was neces
sary for him to abandon the requisition respecting the
residence of the members of the sacred college ; but
he was consoled by acquiring the city of Albano from
the duke of Savelli.
The most remarkable passage, however, in the
pontificate of Innocent X. is the opposition he made
to the treaty of Munster and of Osnabruck. Long ri
valries and bloody wars had rent and almost exhaust
ed Europe. At last these treaties were about to ter
minate the train of disasters. But a bull arrives, in
which the pope protests against the peace of the
world ; in which he annuls, as far as it was in his
power, the concord of Christian nations. " Ecclesi
astical property," said he, "is to be delivered to the
Protestants ; reprobates are allowed to exercise civil
employments ; the number of electors is to be in
creased without the permission of the Holy See;
rights in the state are reserved to those who no lon
ger have any in the church ; the church abrogates
these odious articles, these rash concessions, these
heretical conventions:" Innocent X. doubtless saw
that war offered more chances to the court of Rome ;
that the ecclesiastical power had nothing to gain by
a peace which gave the secular governments more
consistency, more activity, more internal prosperity.
But he did not properly appreciate the character of
the time at which he published this bull. He did not
perceive that, pontifical ambition, long odious, was
then scarcely more than ridiculous ; but he learned
from this foolish step, which was scarcely noticed,
how scanty were the remains of the authority of his
predecessors. 21

230 ATTEMPTS OF THE POPES
As we have not undertaken a detailed history of
all the intrigues of the pontiffs, we shall take the li
berty of passing over the five propositions of Janse-
nius, condemned by Innocent X., and by his succes
sor, Alexander VIL, which required the signature of
a formulary, for a long time famous. These quar
rels, which were deplorable, at the end of the seven
teenth century, became, during the eighteenth centu
ry, so ignoble, that dishonour was the fruit of victo
ry as well as of defeat. These sad controversies, by
dividing the clergy into two parties, almost equally
disesteemed, weakened the influence, of the priest
hood, and consequently that of the chief pontiff. As
early as 1659, Alexander VII. might have discovered
the decline of his influence when, after having at
tempted to intermeddle with the negotiations between
France and Spain, he learned that they had con
cluded a treaty without him. Nevertheless, three
years after, he dared to displease the most powerful
monarch of that epoch. Crequi, the ambassador of
Louis XIV. at Rome, was insulted by the pontifical
guard, who killed one of his pages, and fired upon
the coach of his wife.* Obtaining satisfaction nei
ther from the pope, nor from his ministers, Crequi re
tired to the territories of Florence.^ The viceroy of
Naples addressed to Cardinal Chigi an energetic pro
test,! expressing astonishment that after fifteen days
had elapsed, the punishment of the soldiers guilty of
a crime, of which every court of Europe must com
plain, was still deferred. Louis XIV. demanded a
formal reparation, and finding that which he had
waited for four months insufficient, he ordered some
troops to march against Rome, and took possession
of the city and comtat (county) of Avignon, which

* In 1648, the Marquis of Fontenay was also insulted as he was:
going out of the city of Rome. His equipage was plundered.
t A letter written in Spanish, anno 1652, which is preserved
among the archives of the Vatican. The same place of deposit,
contains, under the same date, a. letter of the Prince of Massanaro,
offering to the pope the military services of his son against France
on the occasion of the difficulty with the Duke of Crequi.

OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 231
a decree of the parliament on the 26th of July, 1663,
annexed to the crown. Alexander VII. did not allow
this occasion of displaying his temporal and spiritual
arms against a great prince to escape, until after he
had in vain solicited the support and concurrence of
the catholic states, the rivals of France. Then the
Roman See prudently humbled itself, and Cardinal
Chigi, the nephew of the pope, went to Louis XIV.
to make all the reparation which that monarch re
quired. A high idea of the veracity of Alexander
Vii. was not, entertained in Europe. (Abbiamo un
papa che non dice mai una parola di verita. " We
have a pope who never says a word of truth," wrote
Renaldi, the ambassador at Florence at Rome.*
This pontiff died in 1667, leaving his family greatly
enriched, and the Roman people burthened with new
subsidies, besides the ancient ones, which had been
very scrupulously maintained.!
After Clement IX. had allayed for a short time, the
disputes excited by the formulary ; and Cardinal Al-
tieri, under the name of Clement X. had tranquilly
governed the church during six years, his unclej Odes-
* Memoirs of the Cardinal de Retz, vol. v. pag. 177, ed. 1718 in
French. In support of this testimony of Renaldi, the reader will
find in our second volume a secret writing in which Alexander
VII. gives the lie to his own public declarations. This writing (of
eight pages) is entirely from the hand of the pontiff, and is dated
by him the 18th of February, 1664.
t Friendly intercourse between the courts of France and Rome,
having been restored, Louis XIV. in 1665, wrote a letter, in which
he expressed his thanks " for the plans, which the Chevalier Beruin
had made for the construction of the Louvre, and requested that
this artist might come to make a survey of the places upon
which his work was to be consummated. As I expect that his ho
liness will cheerfully grant this order, I have sent mine in advance ;
so that, upon entering my kingdom, he will begin to receive marks
of the consideration which I entertain of his merits, by the manner
in which he will be treated."
X It appears, nevertheless, that a misunderstanding between
Louis XlV. and the Court of Rome had already again begun to
show itself: For, in 1674, Louis wrote to Clement X., complaining
bitterly of the offences committed by the- cardinal nephew against
the Duke d'Estrees, ambassador of France. Under the same date,
the Nuricio Spada, wrote from Paris, that the French' government
intercepted his correspondence with the Holy See, read his letters
and sent them back opened, and obliged him to seek for indirect
methods of correspondence. Archives of the Vatican.

232 ATTEMPTS OF THE POPES
calchi or Innocent XI. carried upon the chair of St.
Peter, more energy and ambition*. He felt for Louis
XIV. a personal enmity which he could not dissem
ble ; and which burst forth on two great occasions, —
that of the regalia and of the right of Franchise.
The regalia was a right which the kings of France
had enjoyed for several centuries. It consisted in the
taking of the revenues of vacant bishopricks and of
nominating to the benefices which depended upon the
bishop. Some churches, having attempted to free
themselves from this right, Louis XIV. by an edict,
in 1673 declared that it was applicable to all the bi
shopricks of the kingdom. Two bishops protested
against this edict — they were the bishops of Pamiers
and of Aleth, known by their opposition to the formu
lary of Alexander VII. These two prelates, refrac
tory to the decrees of the pope, — were sustained by
Innocent XI. in their resistance to the will and the
rights of their sovereign. An assembly of the clergy
of France, having adhered to the edict of the king,
and the pope having condemned their adhesion, the
warmth of the dispute led to an examination of the
rights and pretensions of the pope himself and the
four celebrated articles of 1682 were made.
The substance of these articles is, that the Eccle
siastical power, does not extend to the temporalities
of kings; — that a general council is superior to the
pope, as the fathers of the council of Constance de-
* John, King of Poland, in asking for the cardinalcy for Forbin
de Janson, Bishop of Marseilles at that time (1676) ambassador of
France at Warsaw, made use of these expressions, " Nominationem
meam  consuetudini et juri quod serenissimi pra decessori-
bus meis regnoque Polonia cum cateris semper commune fuit coro-
nis." The words are underlined in the original, and accompanied
with a note in Italian, which reserves to the pope the free nomina
tion of the cardinals. The note adds, that an answer was not given
to the king, until he had written a letter in which these ill-sounding
expressions were omitted, and which in fact exists, (written in
Italian) at the end of the first, in the archives of the Vatican. Inno
cent XI. accustomed the small princes to the most abject submis
sion. We remark the formula; humilissimus catulus et servus be
fore the signature of a letter addressed to this pope in 1684, by the
hereditary prince of* Ulyrium and of Dalmatia whom the Turks
had despoiled.

OF THE SF.VENTEENTH CENTURY. 233
cided ; that the judgment of the pope in matter of faith,
is not an infallible rule until after the consent of the
church and that the customs and laws received in the
Gallican Church, ought to be maintained. Innocent
XI. condemned them. He refused bulls to bishops
nominated by the king. He scarcely omitted any
thing which could provoke a schism. Already the
establishment of a patriarch independant of the Ro
man Court was talked of in France.* Bossuet took
the chief part in drawing up the four articles. The
Court of Rome, who endeavoured to oppose to him a
suitable adversary offered the cardinalcy to the cele
brated Arnauld, if he would write against these four
maxims.f Arnauld replied to this proposition as to

* La Fontaine alludes to Innocent XI., in these verses, addressed
to the Prince of Conti.
"Pour nouvelles de 1'Italie
Le pape empire tous les jours
Expliquez, seigneur, ce discours
Du cfite de la maladie.
Car aucun saint pere autrement
Ne doit empirer nullement
Celui-ci veritablement
West envers nous ni saint, ni pere, etc."
Racine in 1689, made allusion to the same pope in two verses in
the prologue of Esther.
" Et 1'enfer couvrant tout de ses vapeurs funebres
Sur les yeux les plus saints a jete les tenebres."
t Racine has recorded this fact in his history of Port Royal, part
first : " Great cardinals," says he, " have not concealed the fact,
that it depended on him, (Arnauld) alone, to be clothed with the
Roman purple, and that to arrive at a dignity which would have
gloriously washed away all the reproaches of heresy which his
enemies had dared to cast upon him, it would only have cost him
the labour of writing against the propositions of the clergy of
France, touching the authority of the pope. Far from accepting
this offer, ho even wrote against a doctor of Flanders, who had
treated these propositions as heretical. One of the ministers of the
king, who read this performance, was so charmed with the force of
his reasoning, that he proposed to have it printed at the Louvre ;
but the jealousy of M. Arnauld's enemies prevailed against him,
and the fidelity of the minister, and even the interest of the king."
It appeared that some of the Sorbonnists were disposed to sell them
selves. At least, Lauri, who discharged the functions of nuncio at
21*

234 ATTEMPTS OF THE POPES
an injury done him, and it was necessary to have re
course to defenders of a lower order : — to the Theo
logians of Louvain; — to. one Gonzales general of the
Jesuits ; — to the Dominican Roccaberti ; — to the Be
nedictine Sfondrati ; — to d'Aguirre another Benedic
tine who was rewarded with a red hat. Their wri
tings are forgotten, but the defence of the four articles
by Bossuet, remains in the number of his good works.
It should be remarked, that it was not printed until
1730 ; a delay which can be attributed only to the in
trigues of a part of the clergy, who already repented
of the courage they had shown in 1682. A more cor
rect edition of the book of Bossuet and a translation
accompanied with notes, appeared in 1745 without
privilege and purporting to be issues of the presses of
Amsterdam. No will of Louis XIV. if we except his
last will and testament, was worse executed than the
edict, by which he directed that the doctrine of the
four articles should be taught every year in each
school of Theology. The Jesuits have never professed
them and the project of abolishing them was often
conceived between the year 1700 and the end of the
ministry of the cardinal of Fleury ; and if they were
not abrogated, it was because they feared the remon
strances of the Jansenists, and foresaw the credit it
would give them, by making them the sole defenders
of the liberties of the Gallican Church.
In respect to the matter of the Franchises, Louis
XIV. might in truth be in the wrong. The other Ca
tholic monarchs had renounced this strange right of
Asylum, which the palaces of the ambassadors in
Rome and even the adjacent places, offered to male
factors against the pursuit of Justice. The king of
France declared, he had never taken the conduct of
others as the rule of his own; that on the contrary he
Paris, wrote (in 1684) as much. He pointed out particularly d'As-
toc, Roust, Chevilliers, Prcsselles, etci., as having but little zeal for
the articles of 1682, and as being obtainable by the court of Rome,
if benefices wore given to them, He annexed particular notes upon
each of these doctors.

OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 235
pretended to be an example for them.* His ambas
sador Lavardin, in 1687 went- to Rome to maintain
the franchises and affected to brave the pope by a
pompous entry. Some censures, which were cast
upon Lavardin, irritated Louis XIV. Avignon was
taken a second time, and these heated debates, would
have ended in an open rupture, had not conciliation
been possible by means of the rigour, which, from
1685 was exercised against the Protestants. In this
delicate conjuncture, the proscription of the Calvinists
reconciled the Court of France with the See of Rome.
Avignon was restored to Alexander VIIL, the suc
cessor of Innocent XL, who nevertheless condemned
the four articles of 1 682. Innocent XII., after him,
continued to refuse bulls to bishops who supported
the four articles, and obtained from them a letter
which he received as a recantation. The purport
was, " that every thing which might have been
deemed decreed, in 1682, upon the ecclesiastical
power, ought to be held as not decreed — considering
that no intention was entertained of making any de
cree, or of bringing prejudice to the churches" —
ambiguous words, and painfully involved,! but which
certainly do not tend to confirm the four articles. On
the contrary, they would be altogether insignificant
if they did not express a disposition to abandon
them. This letter, so little to their honour, is one of the
effects of the revocation of the edict of Nantes, one of
the symptoms of the decline of the character of Louis
the Great — and one of the proofs of that which we

* Archives of the Vatican. The narrative of the conferences be
tween the nuncio Varese and M. de Pomponne in 1676.
t D'Aguesseau says, that " the terms of this letter were so put
down, that it could be considered only as a testimony of the grief
of the bishops upon learning the prejudice of this pope against them
on account of what had passed in the assembly held at Paris in
1682. They did not acknowledge that these pretensions were well
founded." Memoires sur les affaires de I'eglise de France, torn.
xiii. des Oeuvres de d'Aguesseau, page 427. But whatever d'Agues-
seau may have said, the letter of these bishops does them but little
honour. It will be found in our second volume.

236 ATTEMPTS OF THE POPES
have elsewhere spoken of, viz. of the secret tendency
which, since 1560, had inclined the French clergy to
the ultramontane system.*
Happily the other orders of the state perseveringly
maintained the four articles of the clergy against the
clergy themselves ; and also the interests of the
throne, almost forgotten by the enfeebled monarch.
Among the magistrates to whom the Gallican Church
is indebted for the maintenance, at this time, of her
ancient doctrine, the advocate-general Talon is dis
tinguished. He was the author of a treatise upon the
authority of kings in the administration of the Church,
one of the best books which has been published upon
this subject. He had professed the same principles
in the exercise of his functions, and particularly in an
official discussion (requisitoire) pronounced in 1688.
We shall conclude this chapter with some extracts
from that performance.
" In an assembly held upon the occasion of the
regalia, the bishops, having been informed that the
ultramontane doctors and the emissaries of the Court
of Rome would omit no means of diffusing through
the kingdom new opinions concerning the infallibility
of the pope, and the indirect power, which Rome
is endeavouring to usurp over the temporalities of
kings. This assembly, we say, did not pretend to
form a decision of a doubtful controversy, but to give
a public and an authentic testimony to a constant
* We shall transcribe into the second volume the letter of Louis
XIV. to the pope, announcing that the edict of March, 1682, will
not be executed. The letter is dated (as well as that of the bishops)
the 14th Sept., 1693. In 1692, Madame de Maintenon wrote two
letters, one to the pope, the other to the cardinal secretary of state,
to thank him for a brief, (not designated) and to assure him of the
piety of the king and of his attachment to the Roman Church.
Louis XIV. in 1698, wrote with his own hand a letter to Innocent
XII., asking him to condemn as promptly as possible the book des
maximes des saints of Fenelon. Having obtained the censure, the
king thanked the pope for it in another letter : but at the same
time Innocent XII. was in correspondence with tho emperor Leo
pold, who was then engaged in devising means to humble the king
of France.

OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 237
truth, taught by all the fathers of the church, and
determined by all the councils, and especially by
those of Constance and Basle.
" Nevertheless, we have seen with astonishment,
that the pope has regarded this declaration as an in
jury done to his authority; so that the king, having
nominated to the episcopacy, some of those who took
part in that assembly, and who are as worthy of
commendation for their piety and virtue, as for their
science and erudition, of which they have given
proofs on diverse occasions ; they have been refused
bulls under pretext that they do not profess sound
doctrine. " This refusal, which is without the least appear
ance of reason, excites great scandals, and produces
disorders which cannot be expressed.
" Who could imagine that the pope, who is held
up to us as an image of holiness and of virtue, should
be so attached to his opinions, so jealous of the sha
dow of an imaginary authority, that he should leave
a third of the churches; of France vacant, because
we will not acknowledge that he is infallible.
" Can those who inspire the pope with these
thoughts, imagine that they can make us change our
sentiments'? Are they so blind as not to know, that
we are no longer in those wretched times, when
gross ignorance, aided by the weakness of govern
ment and false prejudices, made the decrees of the
popes formidable, however unjust they may have
been 1 and that these disputes and these quarrels, far
from augmenting their power, serve only to excite
inquiry into the origin of their usurpations, and dimi
nish the veneration of the people rather than in
crease it?
" We say more ; the bad use which the popes on many
occasions, have made of -the authority of which they
are the depositaries, by allowing it no limits, except
those of their own will, has been the source of the
almost incurable evils with which the church is af*

238 ATTEMPTS OF THE POPES
flicted, and the most specious pretext of the heresies
and schisms which occurred in the last century, as
the theologians assembled by order of Paul III. ac
knowledged in good faith: And even at present, the
single idea of infallibility and of indirect power over
the temporalities of Princes, which the complaisance
of the Italian Doctors attribute to the See of Rome,
is one of the greatest obstacles to the conversion, not
only of individuals but of entire provinces ; and it can
not be too much impressed upon the minds of men,
that these new opinions make no part of the doctrine
of the Universal Church.
" The thunders of the Vatican are not formidable :
they are transient fires, which vanish in smoke, and
which neither injure nor prejudice any but those who
hurl them.
" The refusal of the pope to grant bulls to all the
bishops nominated by the king, has produced a dis
order, which is constantly increasing, and which re
quires a prompt and efficacious remedy. The coun
cils of Constance and Basle, having laboured to limit
the usurpations of the Court of Rome and to prevent
the confusion which had occurred in the distribution
of benefices, the pragmatic sanction was composed
from the decrees of these Councils. But the popes,
perceiving that their authority was thereby diminished,
made use of all sorts of artifices to abolish it, and by
the Concordat made between king Francis I. and
Pope Leo X. the manner of providing for bishopricks
and abbeys was thereby regulated. To the pope was
granted, not only the right of taking them by devolu
tion, but the right of anticipation, and the power of
receiving resignations in favour, and many other ar
ticles quite onerous to the ordinary collators and en
tirely contrary to the ancient canons.
" Our fathers remonstrated long against this Con
cordat. The ordinance of Orleans had re-established
elections ; and it would be very advantageous, if all
ecclesiastical affairs, should be disposed of definitive-

OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 239
ly within the kingdom, without being obliged to have
recourse to Rome. In the sequel, however, the con
cordat was nevertheless, executed with good faith
upon our part : and it is impossible to conceive why
the pope should wish at this day to compel us, by his
invincible obstinacy, to take away from him the pro
fit which the Court of Rome derives from a treaty so
advantageous to it.
" After all, previously to the concordat, were not
those who had been elected by the clergy and the
people, and afterwards by the chapters, in presence
of a commissary of the king, ordained by the me
tropolitan, assisted by the bishops of the province,
their election having been approved by the king?
The right which the king acquired from the concor
dat, sanctioned, in this respect, by the tacit consent
of all the Gallican church, and confirmed by a pos
session of nearly two centuries, ought to be the less
liable to change or invasion; because, during the first
four centuries of the monarchy, nobody went to
Rome to ask for the grant of benefices. The bishops
disposed of all which became vacant within their
dioceses, and our kings almost always nominated to
the bishopricks ; and if they sometimes granted to
the clergy and people the liberty of electing a pastor,
they often reserved to themselves the choice ; and
without the interference of the pope in the matter, he
who had been chosen, was immediately consecrated.
What prevents our following these examples, which
are founded upon this excellent, reason, that the right
which all the faithful had at the beginning to appoint
themselves a chief, not being susceptible of being any
longer exercised in common, passed of necessity to
the person of the sovereign, upon whom the subjects
repose the government of the state, of whieh the
church is so noble a part ?"
" But in respect to the pope, since he refuses to
add the concurrence of his authority to the nomina
tion of the king, we may presume that he wishes to
get rid of a part of the painful burden which op-

240 ATTEMPTS OF THE POPES
.presses him ; and (his infirmities, not allowing him to
extend his pastoral vigilance over all parts of the
universal church) that the devolution, which some
times occurs in case of negligence from the superior
to the inferior, may well authorise the bishops to con
secrate, by the laying on of hands, those who shall
be nominated to prelacies by the king."

( 241 )

CHAPTER XI.
The Eighteenth Century.
The temporal power of the popes has subsisted
since the year 1701, merely because no one was in
terested to accelerate its inevitable fall. Situated be
tween Milan and Naples, as an obstacle to the pre
ponderance either of Austria or of the Bourbons in
Italy, the feeble states of the pope seem to enter into
the political system of Europe, and to contribute to
wards the maintenance of the general equilibrium.
Each prince having an interest not to allow any other
to invade them; all of them have concurred to re
tard a revolution which the progress of public intelli
gence would bring about soon enough ; and which
will spontaneously occur when means of prevention
shall no longer be employed, and which other cir
cumstances will, some day, render more suitable to
the condition of European affairs.
Besides the general cause which we have just
mentioned, three particular, causes contributed to
perpetuate the temporal sovereignty of the Roman
pontiffs during the eighteenth century : first, the blind
devotion of Louis XIV. between 1700 and 1715; se
cond, the influence of the Jesuits during these first
fifteen years: also during the ministry of Cardinal
Fleury from 1726 to 1743: finally, the wisdom of
the two popes Lambertini and Ganganelli, the first
of whom, governed the church from 1740 until 1758,
and the other from 1769 until 1774. If the other
popes of the eighteenth century, like these two, had
known how to circumscribe their power and use it to
advantage, they would have preserved, and perhaps
strengthened it. But they pretended to enlarge it.
22

242 THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
They continued to make use of their spiritual
arms, as the instruments of political ambition. They
dared to broach again the vain doctrines of suprema
cy and Infallibility ; and the Holy See, which might
have continued to be a power of the third rank, has
fallen even from that, by aspiring to regain the first
rank. Clement XL taking an improper advantage of the
circumstances of the king, of the government, of the
clergy, and of the people of France, published the
bull Vineam Domini, in 1705, and the bull Unigeni-
tus, in 1713. The uproar which this last excited is
well known.* The Holy See and the Jesuits had the
misfortune to triumph. A defeat would have been
less prejudicial 'to them, than such a victory. Ne
vertheless, Clement XI. conceived so high an idea
of his own power, that he engaged in a long quarrel
with Victor Amadeus, king of Sicily. He demand
ed of the Sicilians of the eighteenth century, certain
pretended rights which Urban IL, a pope of the ele
venth century, and almost the immediate successor
of the celebrated Hildebrand, had renounced. He
confirmed the act of the bishops of Sicily, excommu
nicating the magistrates of that country. By a con
stitution made in 1715, he abolished a tribunal, which
for six hundred years had exercised in that kingdom,
the right of deciding upon several kinds of ecclesi
astical matters without appeal. But this constitution
which attacked a prince, had not the same success
as the Unigenitus : a bull which a monarch had
pledged himself to support. Clement XI. died with
out having humbled Victor Amaedeus.
At the instigation of the Jesuits, Benedict XIILf
* The bull Unigenitus is one of those in which the king of
France is not entitled king of Navarre.
t Among the felicitations of Benedict XIIL upon his elevation
to the pontificate, those of the Marquis de Vasto are remarkable
This nobleman hoped that the new pope would annihilate Janse
nism, which had made great progress in Italy, and which had been
brought into the world under the escort of the philosophy of Des
Cartes, sotta la scorta di Cartesio. In 1724, Petit-Dldier, a Bene
dictine, requested of the pope the favours which he thought he ha.-

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. '243
recanonized in 1709 the very celebrated Hildebrand
whom Gregory XIIL and Paul V. had already in
scribed in the catalogue of the very blessed. The
liturgy was enriched with an office to celebrate in ho
nour of Saint Hildebrand or of Saint Gregory VII.
on the 25th of May every year. A legend inserted
in this office recounts the lofty deeds of this exempla
ry pontiff. " How he resisted, with a generous and
athletic intrepidity, the impious efforts of the empe
ror Henry IV ; how he defended the house of Israel,
like an impenetrable wall ; how he plunged this
Henry in the profound abyss of wo ; how he ex
cluded him from the communion of the faithful, — de
throned him, proscribed him, absolved his subjects,
who had sworn fidelity to him, from every duty."
Such are the Christian words which Benedict XIII.
appointed to be said or sung in the churches for the
edification of the faithful, and for the instruction of
kings. But the parliament of Paris did not get into
humour with this pious legend. They condemned it
as seditious, and prohibited the publication of it. The
parliaments of Metz, of Rennes, of Bordeaux, op
posed with equal earnestness the insertion of this
new method of prayer in the breviary. It met with
opposition, too, even from some of the French bi
shops, viz.: the bishops of Montpellier, Troyes, Metz,
Verdun, and Auxerre ; who would not receive this
supplement to the divine office, and they published
very express orders to refuse the worship of dulia,*
to Saint Hildebrand. It should be observed, that

merited by composing a treatise upon the infallibility of tho popes,
and their superiority to councils ; also, for his writings against Du
pin, one of. the enemies of the Holy See, and for his remarks upon
the council of Constance, from which the French derive their pre
tended Gallican liberties, &c. This Benedictine had, at first, de
clared himself against the bull Unigenitus, and had even composed
an apology (a thing quite superfluous) for the Provinciates de Pas
cal ; but he disowned this work, accepted the bull, and set himself
to combat all the maxims professed by his respectable congregation.
* The worship which is rendered to Almighty God is called by
the Roman Catholics latria ; that which is rendered to the Virgin
M&r%_hyperdulia ; that which is rendered to the saints dulia.

244 THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
the Cardinal de Fleury, who at that time governed
France, forebore to unite his voice to those who pro
tested against the canonization : nor, indeed, did he
openly undertake the defence of the Legend,* but he
found means to reach the refractory members of the
parliament, who had rejected it. He compelled them
to register, without modification, on the 3d of April,
1730, the bull Unigenitus, which did not please them
much better. France, then, got rid of the legend at
the price of this bull, and the government did not en
join the celebration of the holy pontiff, who had de-
*He contented himself with destroying, as far as he could, the
effects of the resistance of the bishops, and of the deliberations of
the parliament. On the 18th of Feb. 1730, he wrote to the king's
agents, " that it was sufficient in the present conjuncture, that the
essential, that is to say, the maxims of the kingdom should be d
convert. Prudence requires, said he, that we should not seek to ir
ritate the evil, rather than heal it. It is the king's pleasure above
all, that no mention should be made of the order of M. the bishop
of Auxerre. He. ought to have known that, before publishing it,
he should have ascertained the intentions of his majesty upon so de
licate a matter, and that he ought to have come to concert the man
ner of expressing himself." In a letter to the first president, dated
24th Feb. of the same year, Fleury expresses great joy that things
passed off so well in the parliament in regard to the arret concern
ing the briefs. The matter agitated was an arret, by which the
briefs of Benedict XIII. had just been condemned and suppressed.
But the cardinal adds, " I have forgotten that I had the honour to
represent to you that it will not be proper that this arret should be
cried by hawkers, on account of bad interpretations, and the noise
which evil disposed persons would excite." We cannot forbear the
remark, that on this occasion, the bishop of Auxerre and the parlia
ments defended the rights of the throne, and the independence of
the royal authority, and that they had for their adversary the first
minister of the monarch. Such was the peril to which a young
prince exposed himself, by granting to the cardinal such unlimited
confidence. The Cardinal Fleury had, in 1726, denounced the Hol
landers to the pope, who had tolerated and received the Jansenists.
It was his pleasure that those whom he had persecuted in France,
and whom he had forced to leave the country, should not find an asy
lum any where. It is the wish of all persecutors, — of those espe
cially, who, like the cardinal, (while they desire to preserve the ap
pearance of moderation and mildness,) excite the malevolence of
others to that degree of excess which they pretend to avoid them
selves. But Fleury was well known at Rome as the implacable
enemy of the Jansenists. In 1732, Clement XII. thanked both him
and Louis XIV. for having put a stop to the miracles of the deacon
of Paris.

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 245
throned an emperor. Benedict XIIL was obliged to
be content with establishing this devout practice in
Italy, where all the churches, every year, since 1729,
render religious homage to Gregory VII. The sove
reigns of Europe do not know it, or they do not deign
to complain of it.
After Benedict XIIL, Clement XII. reigned ten
years. He was an economical prince and a charita
ble pontiff, who did some good to his subjects and
but little evil to strangers. His successor, Lamber-
tini, or Benedict XIV. deserves higher praise. He
was one of the best men, and one of the wisest kings
which the eighteenth century produced. He ascended
the chair of St. Peter at the same time that Frede
rick II. succeeded to the throne of Prussia, and they
were, during eighteen years, the two monarchs of
Europe, most distinguished for their personal quali
ties. Frederick, though out of the communion of the
Holy See, gave to Benedict XIV. marks of esteem
which were equally honourable to both. Lambertini,
made the same impression upon the schismatic, Eli
zabeth Petrowna the empress of Russia; and the Eng
lish who were attracted to Rome, by the fame of this
pontiff, as well as by a taste for the arts which he
protected, praised him with enthusiasm, whenever
they wished to exhibit him in his true character.
His amiable disposition and his gentle manners were
the more highly commended as he knew how to
unite the talents and the graces of his age, to the aus
tere virtues of his condition and the practice of all re
ligious duties. Benedict XIV. had reconciled Europe
to the papacy. When looking at him, it was impos
sible to remember Gregory VII. or Alexander VI. or
even Benedict XIIL His evangelical tolerance gave
strength, in a reasoning age, to the pontifical throne,
which had been so much shaken by the restless ambi
tion of his predecessors, and it was only necessary for
his successors, to imitate him, in order to ensure their
temporal enjoyments by the benefits of their pastoral
ministry. His place was supplied, in 1758, by Rezzonico whose
22*

246 THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
narrow mind and incurable obstinacy plunged the
Court of Rome again into fatal discredit. He was
another Benedict XIIL — a pope of the middle ages,
who was thrown, as it were by a mistake, into the
light of modern intelligence, but was inaccessible to
its influence and incapable even of perceiving its pre
sence. When Portugal, Spain, France and Naples
loudly accused the Jesuits ; (though they got rid of
them too late,) Clement XIIL obstinately persisted in
maintaining them and in destroying himselfwith them.
He seemed to bind the cause of the Holy See to
that of a society, whose rebellion the sovereigns could
no longer endure. In Portugal, an attempt was made
upon the life of the king and three Jesuits were found
among the accomplices. The Court of Lisbon asked
permission of the Court of Rome to cause them to be
tried with the others by the ordinary tribunals. Cle
ment XIIL did not allow it. It was necessary to accuse
Malagrida, one of these three Jesuits of heresy, not of
high treason, and search his writings which had been
long published, for one can hardly tell what mystical
errors, some extravagant visions, and for these he
was delivered over to the Inquisition, who burned
him as a false prophet, without deigning to interro
gate him upon his criminal attack upon the life of the
monarch. It was impossible more completely to
amass all the iniquities which were calculated to raise
the indignation of Europe. Priests, violently suspect
ed of a horrible crime, escaped from the secular tri
bunals ; the throne was not avenged ; the inquisition
burned a visionary; Rome exacted impunity for a
parricide, and Malagrida without being judged, pe
rished as the victim of superstition and of an odious
policy. About this time, Ferdinand of Bourbon, duke of
Parma, reformed some inveterate abuses in the
churches, in the monasteries, and disregarded the
right which the pope arrogated, of conferring all be
nefices, and deciding almost all legal proceedings,
within the territory of Parma, of Piacenza, and of
Guastalla. Clement XIIL assembled the Cardinals,

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 247
and from their midst he condemned, as sacrilegious,
all Ferdinand's acts of administration. He declared
all that had been done as unlawful in a duchy, which
belonged to the Holy See. (in ducatu nostra,) He
annulled the edicts published by the duke ; He ap
plied the anathemas of the bull of holy Thursday.
(In coend Domini) to those who penned these edicts,
to those who executed them, and to those who should
adhere to them. Ferdinand, by new ordinances, sup
pressed the brief of the pope, and banished the Je
suits. Venice, Spain, Austria, France, — all Europe,
took up the cause of the duke of Parma against the
pope. The brief was dishonoured, as a criminal at
tack upon the independence of sovereigns. The par
liament of Paris extended this dishonour to the bull
of Holy Thursday. In the mean time, the king of
Naples took possession of Beneventum, and of Ponte
Corvo. Louis XV. also took possession of the com-
tdt Venaissin, as Louis XIV. had done. The parlia
ment of Aix declared that this territory belonged to
France,* and the Count of Rochechouart went to
say to the vice-legate, the governor of Avignon,
" Sir, the king commands me to remit Avignon into
his hand, and you are desired to retire." This was
the formulary used in such cases. There was talk of
compelling the pope also to restore Castro and Ron-
ciglione. Portugal proposed to appoint for herself a
patriarch. The Romans themselves murmured, and
very decisive measures would perhaps have been
taken, if Clement XIIL hadnot died, (an event which

* In the manifesto issued by the emperor of Germany, and the
king of Prussia, against the French revolution, it is said, " Avig
non belonged to the Holy See. The sovereignty of the pope over
this domain was founded on an incontrovertible title of acquisition,
and on possession which, among all nations, is equal to a title. The
usurping assembly united it to their territories by the sanguinary
right of utility and necessity; and compounding afterwards with
themselves and with justice, they offered an indemnity to the Holy
See. But if the sovereignty of tho pope were legal, they had no
right to deprive him of it ; and if they had a right to deprive him
of it, why did they offer him an indemnification ?" New Annual
Register for the year 1792, (London) public papers, p. 130.

248 THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
occurred on the 3d of Feb. 1769.) and if he had
not had the wise and modest Ganganelli as his suc
cessor.* The conduct of Ganganelli or Clement XIV. was
so judicious and so pure, that Avignon, Ponte-Corvo
and Beneventum were restored to him. The preju
dices, against the Court of Rome, which were too well
founded, yet once more were weakened in the minds
of kings and people, and the temporal power of the
* On the 19th of June, 1768, Clement XIIL wrote with his own
hand (di propria pugno) to Marie Therese, to implore the assistance
of this princess and of her son, Joseph II., against the other sove
reigns of Europe. Thanks to God, said he, we have resisted with
a sacerdotal heart, unworthy prevarications, and that is the only
cause why the swords with which sovereigns are armed for the
defence of the church aredirected against it; why the shepherd of
the flock of Jesus Christ is attacked with an armed force ; why the
people are withdrawn from the obedience of their only lawful sove
reign ; why our states are invaded, and the patrimony which is not
ours, but the patrimony of St. Peter, of the church, and of God. Per-
chergrazie a Dio, abbiamo resistito con petto sacerdotale, a si indeg-
na prevaricazione, e stata 1' unica causa per cui s'impugna contro la
chiesa la spada che cingono i sovrani per difenderla, s'insulta a
mano armata il pastore del gregge di Gesh Cristo, si sostraggono i
popoli dall' ubbidienza all' unico legittimo loro sovrano, e s'invadono
i nostri stati, ed il patrimonio che non e nostro ma di San Pietro, del-
la chiesa e di Did. The matters in controversy were Beneventum,
Ponte corvo, Avignon, etc., and these domains are here called in
plain terms, the patrimony x>f God. We transcribe these lines from
one of the ten authentic registers containing the letters of Clement
XIII. to the princes. These letters contain pleas or defences for the
Jesuits, of the bull, In coend domini, — of the omnipotence of the
Holy See : also invectives against the Jansenists, against the parlia
ments, and every kind of laical authority ; also many lamentations,
mysticisms and trifles. We shall publish in the second volume,
the allocution pronounced by this pope, in secret consistory, on the
3d of Sept. 1762, for the abrogation of all the acts of the parlia
ments of France against the Jesuits. This manuscript piece was
found enclosed in a scaled paper, upon which is written this note of
the Archivist Garampi.
Allocuzione che la Santita di N. S. tenne nel suo consistorio segre
to del 3 Settembre 1762, in abrogazione di tutti gli atti c procedure
dei parlamenti di Francia per l'espulsione de' jesuili, la quale mi
commandb di conservare sigillatta nell' archivio di castel S Angelo
con segreto del S. Uffizio, e che da niuno si possa aprire senza lo spe-
ciale oracollo della S. S. o de' suoi successori  In fide
questo di 24 Agosto 1763. Guiseppe C. Garampi 'prefetto dell' ar
chivio segreto Vatic, e di quelto di castel S. Angelo, manu pro
pria.

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, 249
popes again began to seem compatible with the tran
quillity of Europe. Two great acts in particular, did
honour to this pontificate : viz. the abrogation of the
bull In coend Domini and the suppression of the Je
suits. This society, which had been in existence for
two hundred and thirty years, had never ceased to
be the enemy both of kings and of the people. Their
individual interests attached them exclusively to the
Court of Rome. They embraced by their establish
ments all the countries which were subject to the
Holy See. No where did they acknowledge any
country but the church, nor any sovereign, but the
pope. Their ambition was to exercise under the pro
tection of Rome an active influence upon courts,
upon families, upon the clergy, upon youth and upon
learning. In 1610 having become odious by very
seriously criminal conduct, they felt the necessity of
mingling with their political intrigues, the show of
learned labours and literary functions. They devoted
themselves to public education and the cultivation of
all sorts of literature, but they obtained an eminent
renown in hardly any branch, although they produced
in almost all, a great number of men who. filled with
honour the^second ranks. This success elevated .the
society, and gave to it a degree of power which they
abused in a variety of ways, between 1685 and 1750 :
and the fall of that society, which was required by
the people and resolved upon by the kings, might have
drawn with it that of the temporal power of the popes,
if Ganganelli had not known how to detach the in
terests of the Holy See from those of the Jesuits, and
to consummate, at length, their abolition.* He died
* Benedict XIV. and Clement XII., also, Charles, king of Sicily
had previously proscribed, under severe penalties, a society called'
in Italy, De' Liberi Muratori, and in France Des Francs Morons'
(Free Masons.) Berti. in his breviary, says of them, " Secretos con-
ventus agunt, aliis prorsus ignotos, emisso jurejurando nemini con-
gressus sui instituta et eonsuetudines revelandi. Testantur tamen,
a se nunquam vel de Religione vel de Principibus pertraetari."
"Ut ut sit,, secreta hujusmodi conventicula, et juramenta impro-
bantur; ex his namque principes suspicari possunt molitiones in
Rempublicam et Ecclesiae praesules vitiorum errorumque fomcnta,"

250 THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
some months after their catastrophe, and they were
accused of shortening his days. If it be true that he
was the victim of their implacable resentments, as is
generally believed, they accelerated several years, by
this last crime, the extreme decrepitude and the last
hour of that pontifical power of which they had been
the supporters. Apparently, they were unwilling that
it should survive them. They immolated him who
had made it yet tolerable. Since 1774 that power
has faltered, wasted away, and is tending to death
and extinction.
The pontificate of Pius VI. supplies no great en
terprise; no ingenious effort; but a great number of
obscure manoeuvres, which are the resources of weak
ness. We scarcely dare presume to cite a single ex
ample. The French government, having directed in
1788, an engineer, whose name was Bertrand, to ex
amine the Islands of the Rhone and the newly made
land along this stream, for the purpose of fixing the
limits of the pontifical possessions around Avignon,
an inhabitant of Mornas, who had received this engi
neer into his house, was shamefully persecuted by the
Vice-Legate, and by his agent, whose name was Vignes.
The officers or pages, made an attack upon Salignon
(for that was the name of this inhabitant of Mornas,)
and proceeded to an information against him, and in
cited a girl to accuse him of lewdness. They de
creed his arrest, and banished him perpetually from
the place of his birth, and they even dared to decree
a personal citation against Bertrand. Montmorin
the intendant of Languedoc, in giving an account
of this affair to the minister, leaves no doubt as to
the injustice and motives of this persecution. "It is
useless," said he " to inform you, that the means of
ascertaining the truth, is not to address the Vice-Le
gate. You must come out loudly for Salignon, and
ask and require that the Sieur Vignes, the agent of
This author then cites St. John's Gospel ch. 3. 20. Omftis enim,
qui male agit, odit lucem, et non venit ad lucem, ut non arguantur
ejus opera,

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 251
the pope, should be deposed, The minister wrote to
the Cardinal of Bernis, who found but a slight dispo
sition in the government at Rome, to repress the ini
quities of their agents at Avignon. Such would be
the insignificant import of the details which must be
collected for a monument to the administration of
Pius VI. It was only with extreme timidity that he
resisted Joseph II. who was wrought upon by the in
telligence of the age, to make some salutary reforms
in the Pays Bas. From 1789, until 1798, Pius VI.
was the passive instrument of the great powers, par
ticularly of England. He served them with awk
wardness, when they employed him to hurl his ana
themas and to commit, or allow the commission of as
sassinations. But as far as the pusillanimity of his
character, the mediocrity of his talents and his taste
for pomp and pleasures allowed him, he persisted in
the profession of the ambitious maxims of his prede
cessors, as will be seen by his bull Autorem fidei, of
which we shall say something in our second volume.

( 252 )

CHAPTER XII.
Recapitulation.
During the first seven centuries, Christianity had
made almost all the progress it could ever make, be
fore any minister of the gospel thought of pretending
to be a temporal prince. This ambition took its
origin in the eighth century, after the dissolution of
the Roman empire — -after the ravages committed
upon it by barbarous nations : amidst ignorance and
commotions also, which overwhelmed Europe, and
especially Italy. But scarcely had the popes ob
tained a precarious exercise of civil power, when
becoming depraved by functions so foreign to their
apostolic ministry, and unfaithful vicars of Christ, as
well as of the temporal prince, they aspired, first to a
state of independence, and soon after to predomi
nance. In the ninth century, the pontifical court as
sumed the attitude of menace. In the tenth, it-became
dissolute, and lost, in part, its strength, by its scan
dalous vices ; when the austere Gregory VII. con
ceived the system of a universal government by
ecclesiastics — an audacious enterprise, which was
feebly sustained by most of the popes of the twelfth
century ; but to which Innocent III. gave reality and
effect at the beginning of the thirteenth. That was
the epoch of the full development of the spiritual and
temporal supremacy of the bishops of Rome. The
residence of the papal court at Avignon, in the four
teenth century, and the schism,, which was pro
longed until the middle of the fifteenth, humbled
the power of the popes, and even their ambition.
After the year 1450, the popes were attentive
chiefly to the aggrandizement of their personal families.

RECAPITULATION. 253
Julius II. then came, though too late, to attempt again
the subjugation of kings. His successors, during the
sixteenth century, had need of ability to avoid being
greatly humbled themselves — an ability which their
successors of the seventeenth century, did not inherit
from them, and the decline of the temporal power of
the popes, since 1700, has been retarded only by the
wise conduct of two pontiffs, and by the slight notice,
which the aberrations of some of the others have de
served. The political revolutions which followed the de
thronement of Augustulus — the accession of Pepin to
the throne of France, and of Charlemagne to the em
pire — the weakness of Louis-le-Debonnaire — the di
vision of his states among his children — the impru
dence of some Of the kings who invoked the thunders
of the. -Holy See against each other — the fabrication
of the decretals — the propagation of a canonical
jurisprudence, quite contrary to the ancient laws of
the church — the rivalries between. the two houses of
Germany^the projects of independence conceived by
several of the Italian cities — the crusades — the inqui
sition — the innumerable multitude of Monastic estab
lishments : — these are the causes which brought on,
established, aggrandized and so long sustained the
temporal power of the popes, and facilitated the abuse
of their spiritual functions.
The effects of this power were the corruption of
morals, the vices: of the clergy, heresies, schisms, ci
vil wars, perpetual disorders, extreme misery in the
provinces immediately governed by the popes and im
mense disasters in the states over which they aspired
to domineer. The popes of the first seven centuries
had almost all, shown an example of the christian and
sacerdotal virtues. The most of their successors, were
bad princes, without being edifying bishops. We
have bestowed praise upon some of them ; for exam
ple, upon Gregory II. in the eight century — upon Leo
IV. in the ninth century — upon Calixtus II. Honorius
II. and Alexander III. in the twelfth century — upon
Nicholas V. in the fifteenth century — upon Leo X. in
23

254 RECAPITULATION.
the sixteenth century and upon Benedict XIV. and
Clement XIV. in the eighteenth century. It would
have been agreeable to find more occasions of praise ;
but when we reflect upon this interminglingof the
sacred ministry with political power; upon this amal
gamation so well adapted to deteriorate both these
heterogeneous elements, we can be no longer sur
prised to find fewer good kings, by many, in the list
of popes than in any other list of sovereigns.
All these bitter fruits of pontifical domination con
tributed towards its destruction, and in the end so
many abuses, excesses and scandals could not but
excite the indignation of Christian Europe. But se
veral more immediate causes — (and which we have
remarked upon in succession) — have, since the mid
dle of the thirteenth century, shaken the edifice of
this intolerable tyranny to its centre. It is sufficient
to recapitulate in this place, only a few of them : —
such as the praise worthy resistance of Louis IX. —
the firmness of Philip-le-Bel — the madness of Boniface
VIII. — the vices of the Court of Avignon — the schism
of the West — the pragmatic sanction of Charles VII. —
the revival of learning — theinvention of printing* — the
nepotism of the popes of the fifteenth century — the bold
attacks of Sixtus IV. — the crimes of Alexander VI. —
the' ascendency of Charles V. — the progress of heresy-f
in Germany, in England and other countries — the
troubles of France under the sons of Llenry II. — the
wise administration of Henry IV. — the edict of Nantes,

* The art of printing was invented by some Germans. Three of
them took some specimens of the art (in 1430) into France, and
there they exercised their talents and ingenuity under the eyes of
the Sorbonne. The people, who were extremely ignorant, took them
for sorcerers. The copyists, who made their living by transcribing
the few ancient manuscripts which remained in France, presented to
the parliament a complaint against these printers. The parliament
directed the seizure and confiscation of all their books ; but Louis
XI, who knew how to do a good thing, when it was not his interest
to do a bad one, forbade the parliament to take, cognizance of the af
fair, and had it brought before his council, and directed that the Ger
mans should be paid the price of their works.
t The author means the progress of the Reformation.

RECAPITULATION. 255
the four articles of 1682 — the dissensions, which
grew out of the formulary of Alexander VII. and of
the bull (Unigenitus) of Clement XI. finally, the sense
less enterprises of such popes as Benedict XIIL Cle
ment XIII". and some other pontiffs of the eighteenth
century. The papal power cannot survive such
shame : its hour is come, and it remains to the popes
only to become, as they were during the first seven
centuries, humble pastors, edifying apostles. It is a
destiny sufficiently honourable.
Once delivered from the burthen of temporal af
fairs, and restored to the ministry of the gospel, they
will have so much the less temptation to abuse their
sacred office as there are efficacious means, of limit
ing their functions which have been taught by expe
rience. It would be quite superfluous to recur to the
decrees of the Councils of Constance, and of Basle or
to the pragmatic sanction of 1439. The four articles
of 1682 are quite sufficient.
Henry IV. king of France, furnished the example
of another kind of guarantee against pontifical aggres
sion; when, by the edict of Nantes, he allowed the
free exercise of a religion which was not that of the
state, the errors of whieh, he had the good fortune to
discover and to abjure.* The toleration of every form
of worship is a debt due by sovereigns to their sub
jects. The gospel which requires that the truth should
be taught, and that the self-deceived should be en
lightened, prohibits persecution by that very precept ;
because persecution, can only harden the heretic or
at most extort from him a mendacious abjuration,
which tends to depravity in morals and to. outrage in
religion. All christian kings who have harassed re^
ligious sects, have in their turn, been harassed by the
popes or they have been forced to resist them. Saint
Louis himself, did not escape this just retribution of
Providence. To ascertain how far any prince has

* See Encyc. Americ. article Henry IV. of France, vol. 6- p. 245.
Mackintosh Hist, of the Revolution- in 1688. (Ed. Phil. 1835.) p,
224. et, seq.

256 RECAPITULATION.
been brought under the yoke of the pontiffs, we have
only to inquire, how far he has interfered with the
consciences of his subjects. The measure of his own
independence is the religious liberty which he has left
to them. He must, if he would escape a personal
subjugation, inflexibly refuse to the priests and to the
prince of priests, the pope, the proscription of modes
of worship at variance with the dominant religion.
The liberty, or if the expression be preferred, the
toleration of these different forms of worship, presup
poses that those who have adopted them, have an in
violable privilege to enjoy all the rights, whether na
tural, civil or political, which are granted to other
subjects. Whence it follows, that legislation ought
to be separate entirely from the religious system ; that
the state (or civil condition) of persons, and conse
quently all civil acts appertaining to the birth, mar
riage, divorce, or the burial of persons: for these acts
concur, in determining their civil condition.
In these particulars, the ecclesiastical ministry is
limited to the recommendation of certain precepts or
religious counsels to the faithful, for their observation,
and to the offer of the use of liturgical and sacramen
tal ceremonies, instituted to hallow these various
epochs of human life. To civil legislation and to that
alone, belongs the establishment of the purely civil
functionaries whose duty it may be to record these
acts : — to invest them with the legal forms prescribed,
which are necessary to assure the public of their au
thenticity, and to guarantee their effects. Now, le
gislation of this sort is, in itself, one of the strongest
impediments to ecclesiastical usurpation, and to that
disastrous influence, which the head of the clergy,
would gladly exercise in the interior of empires and
of families.
The history of the first ages of Christianity would
point out, perhaps, some other preservatives against
pontifical ambition. The effort should continually
be made to substitute the ancient laws of the church
for the institutions of the middle ages, which were
invented by the clergy in order to give themselves

RECAPITULATION. 257
corporate interests,* and make themselves devotees
of the Court of Rome, by sundering almost all do
mestic and patriotic ties. We confess that these
delicate reforms should be prepared with foresight
and executed with circumspection. — Induced by a
general desire, and almost required by the public
opinion, they ought to be agreed upon and expected
for some time previously to their adoption. But there
are four measures which have already too long been
delayed — measures as easy of execution as they
would be salutary in effect. They are these: — to
subject all those acts which determine the civil con
dition of persons to a regime which is purely civil —
to tolerate all those modes of worship which are dis
posed to exist peaceably around the dominant reli
gion — -to give the four articles of 1682 a more solemn
authority; but above all, to abolish perpetually the
temporal power of the popes. No obstacle, no fear,
no anticipation, should induce to a longer delay :
and doubtless these will be sufficient to prevent,
for a long time, the chief abuses of the spiritual
ministry. Nevertheless, among these abuses, there are two
which deserve particular notice : the one consists in
excommunications, the other in the refusal of canoni
cal institution.
When the churches were nothing but private or
individual associations, they had the right, as they
ought, to exclude from their bosom vicious or disor
derly members, who troubled by scandals or dis
cord, the sacred harmony of these assemblies.
From this right, so natural, which for a long time
had been used with moderation and secrecy arose in
the middle ages, those outbreaking anathemas which
shook thrones to their centres and overturned em
pires. It was not vice or even error any longer,
which was excommunicated. The sacred thunders
were made use of to avenge the temporal interests
of the clergy and of the sovereign pontiff. Who
* InterUs de corps,
23*

258 RECAPITULATION.
can count up the number of emperors, monarchs an d
other princes, who were smitten with this frequently
formidable weapon between the eighth and the
eighteenth century? Among the most christian kings
of France, we may count between Charlemagne and
Louis the just, twelve sovereigns, who have incurred
ecclesiastical censures. In the ninth century Louis-
le-Debonnaire and Charles the bald; — in the tenth,
Robert ; — in the eleventh, Philip I. — in the twelfth,
Louis VII. and Philip Augustus — in the thirteenth,
Louis VIII. and Philip-le-Bel — in the sixteenth, Louis
XII. Henry II. Henry III. and Henry IV. Among
all these excommunicated kings, Henry IV. alone
could be accused of heresy; the orthodoxy of all
the others was without reproach. The controversy
turned upon their political relations with Rome, and
the independence which they claimed for their crown.
In this way the excessive — the profane use of these
anathemas has brought them into so great discredit
that at the present day, it would be almost as ridicu
lous to fear them as to renew them. We have seen
feeble kings turning these spiritual arms against their
rivals, and speedily the same arms turned against
themselves. And, experience of this nature, is quite
sufficient for ever to deter sovereigns from a kind of
war which is not more certain in its effects, than it
is generous. Besides, where can we now find a peo
ple, or even a populace, stupid enough to attach the
slightest importance to bulls of excommunication; —
who would not perceive, that they never expressed
any thing more than a pontifical caprice or spite, or
a puerile regret for some vain prerogative. In a
well ordered state, every condemnation is made in
the name of the prince, by officers specially ap
pointed to exercise this kind of judicial function, and
no public censure ought to emanate from an authority
independant of his own. We add, that from the
moment the church is incorporated into the state, it
ceases to be a private association. Christianity be
comes one of the institutions recognized by the laws
— acts of religious discipline from the moment that

RECAPITULATION. 259
publicity is required for them, come under the control
of the general administration. From that time though
it may still belong to the bishops and the pope to con
demn error of doctrine without the intervention of
the monarch, yet the persons of the individuals to be
affected, remain under his protection and they ought
never to be branded and disgraced. by authority, ex
cept according to the forms which the laws pre
scribe. It remains to speak of Canonical Institution. — *
That every bishop newly elected, should pay homage
to the head of the church is only to require an act of
communion with the Holy See which is quite com
mendable. That his nomination should be expressly
approved by the pope, would tend to increase the
ties which should bind the first pastor to all the
others; that the pope should make use of the occa
sion to examine the qualifications of the bishop elect
and object to him in case of a bad choice; this too
would be an additional guarantee of the honour of
the clergy and of the wise administration of the di-
-oceses ; it might be the means of enlightening the
conscience of the prince and of preventing mistake
or surprise: But that the pope should oppose the
installation! of a prelate, whom the prince perseveres
in regarding as irreproachable, or that he should, from
considerations foreign to the person of the bishop
elect — for motives merely political, and on account
* Institution (in the matter of benefices) is the act by which the
person nominated to a benefice, is put in possession of it by the supe
rior ecclesiastic upon whom the institution depends. The right of
collation is the right of conferring a vacant benefice, and collative
institution is the canonical collation or provision of a benefice. It
should be made to the person presented by the patron. But without
canonical institution, possession cannot lawfully be taken of a bene
fice. This practice iaone .of the fruits, perhaps we should say, ele
ments, of that imposing eminence," (of which our author speaks in
the first chapter) " which is the beginning of power." In vain shall
we search -for the name or the thing in the New Testament.
t Installation is the act by which an officer is put into the public
possession of the place in which he is to sit; quasi in stallum intro-
ductio. When an officer has. a superior, he addresses him to be in
stalled.

260 RECAPITULATION.
of differences between the prince and himself, obsti
nately refuse all canonical institution, is such an abuse
of a reputable function, as authorizes the resumption
of the ancient freedom of nominations.
We collected at the end of chapter X. the princi
ples professed upon this subject, by the advocate ge
neral Talon, near the close of the seventeenth centu
ry. About the same time, Bossuet investigated the
origin of bulls of institution, and showed them to be a
novelty. He says * as the pope gives bulls f for the in
stitution of bishops, Bellarmine has seized upon the fact
as an important proof in favour of his opinion, but he
does not condescend to observe, how modern the
usage is, and that the church has often united with
the Greeks and Orientals, leaving them to observe
their ancient customs, and without obliging them to
ask for bulls. The church of Carthage enjoyed the
absolute right of ordaining bishops depending upon
her; as well as the bishops of Ephesus, of Caesaria
* Def. of the clergy of France, 1. viii. e. 15.
t A bull in the canonical dialect, is a letter of the pope, written
on parchment, with a seal of lead attached, upon which are im
pressed, on the one side, the head of St. Peter at the right, and that
of St. Paul at the left; and on the other side, the name of the
reigning pope, and the year of his pontificate. Properly speaking,
it is the seal or lead pendant to which the name belongs ; because
it is that alone which gives authority to the writing. The bull is
the third species of papal rescripts ; the other two being tho brief
and the signature. The bull is used in matters of justice and of
grace or favour. It is comparable to the edicts or letters patent of
secular princes. When the bull relates to matters of grace, it is
attached to the parchment by silk ; when it relates to matters of
justice, and is executory, it is attached by a cord of hemp. It is
written in Latin, with the Gothic character. The brief is written
in the ordinary character ; it is so called from its brevity. It has
neither preface nor preamble. At the head of it is the name of the
pope separated from the first line, which commences with these
words: Dilecto filio salulem et apostolicam benedieiioncm. For
merly the word bull designated the seal attached to any instrument
or charter. They were of several sorts, viz,: the bulla aurea, the
bulla argentea, the bulla plumbea, the bulla cerea, (i.e. the golden,
silver, leaden, waxen.) The word is Latin, and often occurs in the
classics, and has various significations ; c. g. ornaments, which the
Roman nobility placed upon the doors of their houses, ornaments,
worn by free born Roman youths, — a bubble of water  orbicular
ornaments for camels and horses as well as boys. See Du Cange.
Merlin Rcpert.

RECAPITULATION. 261
in Cappadocia, and of Heraclea. Our churches of
France, and those of Spain, have enjoyed the same
right." These two authorities, Talon and Bossuet, would
be sufficient for our purpose, but it may not be use
less, to establish upon this important article, a series
of chronological facts, and testimonies.
We read in the Acts of the Apostles * that bishops
are established by the Holy Spirit to govern the
Church of God. Neither this passage of scripture
nor any other, makes mention of the pope, as a uni
versal pastor, by whom all others ought to be insti
tuted. In vain should we seek for the slightest ves
tige of a bull of institution, granted by the sovereign
pontiff, to the bishops of the first ages; for example
to Cyprian, to Chrysostom, to Basil, Ambrose or
Augustine. Cyprian, on the contrary, being involved
in an erroneous opinion, was scarcely in communion
with the pope. The Council of Nice f directs that
every diocesan, bishop should be confirmed by his
Metropolitan or Archbishop ;J a regulation which
leaves no pretext, for supposing that the bishop of
Rome, had in this matter the smallest function to ful
fil. Three popes of the fifth century, Zosimus, Leo the
great and Gelasius spoke of the installation of bishops
in claiming for the Metropolitan and for him alone,
the right to institute them.
Zosimus (Epist VII.) says that the apostolical see
itself ought to respect this prerogative of the Metro-

* Ch. 20. v. 28.
t Can. iv. Concil. Hard. torn. i. col. 783. Potestas sane vel con-
firmatio, pertinebit, per singulas provincias ad metropolitanum
episcopum. See a similar requisition in canon xii. of the council of
Laodicaea. X But metropolitans, primates, and patriarchs, were not known in
the church during the first three centuries. These dignities were
introduced in correspondence with the secular magistrates. This
is shown by Giannone (1st di Napoli lib. 2. cap. 8.) He cites Du
pin de Antiq. Eccles. discip. diss. 136, and Bingham Ang. Eccles.
lib. 9. cap. I. §. 5. and 6. and others. By whom, then, was canonical
institution conferred, previously to the epoch to which the author
refers ?

262 RECAPITULATION.
politans. All that Leo I*, requires is that the bishop
should be asked for by the people, elected by the cler
gy, consecrated by the bishops of the province under
the presidency of the Metropolitan. And finally Gelasi-
usf decides that when the metropolitan is dead, it be
longs to bishops of the province, to confirm and con
secrate his successor. A council of Toledo in 681
(Canon VI.) ascribes the same right to the bishop
of the metropolis: and this doctrine was so well es
tablished in Spain, that before the thirteenth century,
the bishops of that country had never asked of the
pope, any bull of institution, or of confirmation. J
* Epist. viii.
t Epist. ad epise. Dardan.
X Many authors place the origin of this pretension of the popes
under the pontificate pf Alexander III. (1159 — 1181). ' " It is easy
to conjecture," they add, " that the metropolitans of Germany, and
particularly those who were electors of the empire, endured very
impatiently this abridgement of their rights upon the subject of the
confirmation of new bishops elected in their respective provinces :
and the grievances drawn up at Constance, under the Emperor Si-
gismond, by the deputies of the provinces of the German nation,
and thence carried to the council of Constance, by the deputies of
the same nation, as Goldast relates, clearly show it. In the third
chapter we are told, that whenever it may become necessary to hold
elections, after they have been held, they must be examined accord
ing to the form of law, by the immediate superiors, and if they are
found to be canonical, they must be confirmed ; and that it is not al
lowable, in any manner, for the sovereign pontiff, to attempt the
smallest matter which may be contrary to them ; unless the persons
elected are immediately subject to him ; in which case he may sig
nify his prohibition : or unless it happen, that the proceeding has, in
some manner, been conducted contrary to the forms of law. For,
then, as he is bound to observe the law, so he is allowed, upon ob
serving what has-been done, or attempted contrary to the law, to
correct it, and even to correct and punish the transgressors. We
have already shown, that this last power belongs to the sovereign
pontiff, of common right. Although the council of Constance (Ses
sion 36) in order. to avoid troubling the peace of the church, ratified
the confirmation of bishop made by the popes, whom it soon de
posed, and ordered that the bulls should be made out and signed in
its name which had hot been given to the bishops, who had abdicated
or who were driven from their sees : nevertheless, the council seri
ously thought, at the same time, of reducing the confirmations of
bishops, to the terms of the ancient law; for in the decree "of the
40th session, it prescribes to future popes, by way of salutary
admonition, many points of great importance, which, in the se
quel, it would reduce to a better form. It inserted in the fifth arti.

RECAPITULATION. 263
Still, it is to the eleventh century, that we trace, in
many churches, the use of an oath by which every
prelate newly elected, binds himself " to defend the
domains of St. Peter against every aggressor; to
preserve, enlarge, increase the rights, honours,
privileges and powers of the lord pope and his suc
cessors;— to observe, and with all his powers to cause
to be observed, the decrees, ordinances, reserves, pro
visions, and dispositions, of whatever nature, which
emanate from the court of Rome; — to pursue and
combat, with the utmost rigour, heretics, schismatics,
cie, that of the confirmation of elections. But what the council of
Constance only premeditated, the- council of Basle we know effica
ciously did. For after having cut off the reserves, as well general
as particular, it allows only that in the case where the church or the
commonwealth may suffer damage, recourse may be .had to the
sovereign pontiff for the confirmation of canonical elections: add
ing, that if Rome refused confirmation, the new election should de
volve upon the chapter. Finally, it explicitly ordered, that elections
should be made without impediment; that they should be con
firmed after a hearing, according to the provisions of the common
law. The grievances drawn' up at Mayence after the' council of
Basle (1440) reported in Senckemberg under the name-of a project
of a concordat" — are in entire conformity with these complaints.
They develope the sense of the words according to the provisions of
the common law, when they inform us, that according to the provi
sions of the common law, the right of confirming elections ought
to be restored to the immediate superior. The election being made,
say they, the decree of election ought to .be presented to the imme
diate superior, to whom belongs the right of confirmation. The su
perior must, in this affair, examine the form of the election, the me
rit of the person elected, as well as all the circumstances ; so that
if the election need confirmation, it ought to be confirmed judicial
ly. The fathers of the diocesan synod of Frisingen in Bavaria,
adopted in the same year, (1440) these projets of the states of the
empire," &e.
Some French authors have remarked how the notorious and pub
lic dissensions, between pope Innocent XI. and Louis XlV. seemed
to give a favourable opportunity for restoring the ancient discipline,
and for cutting off this onerous subordination, which draws after it
the obligation of asking for and obtaining pontifical bulls for con:
sistof ial benefices. By that means, not only immense sums of mo
ney, which every year are sent to Rome, would remain in the king
doms, but the bishops would be restored to their ancient rights, and
the clergy both regular and secular, would be better regulated."
Du gouvernement de I'eglise translated from the Latin of Febro-
nius, vol. i. c. 4. § 3. This excellent book of Febronius greatly ir
ritated Clement XIII. The bishop of Bamberg was charged with
the business of procuring it to be seized.

264 RECAPITULATION
and every other, who shall not render to the soverign
pontiff all the obedience which the sovereign pontiff
shall require.* This oath, — who would believe it? —
has beenjaken by bishops, whose sovereigns were not
catholics. How is it possible to cqnceive that kings
whether catholic or not should have permitted their
subjects to take upon themselves engagements so con
trary to the public order of society! It was com
plained of in Hungary, in Tuscany, in the kingdom
of Naples, and the prelates of Germany made re
strictions upon this formulary. But, in itself, it is so
revolting, and besides, so foreign to the discipline of
the first ten ages of -the church that we cannot be
lieve any one. can seriously urge it as a proof of the
necessity of bulls of institution.
Another form was introduced in the thirteenth cen
tury, namely, that by which the prelates entitle
themselves bishops by the grace of the Holy Aposto
lical See. An archbishop of Nicosia first used it in
1251 and was imitated by his brethren. The bishops
of France did not adopt it until later, and some sup
pressed it as incorrect, abusive and a novelty. Bos
suet styled himself bishop by Divine permission.
At the end of the fourteenth century, when the Cas-
tilians had withdrawn their obedience from Peter de
*Upon this subject Bishop Purccll remarks, (in his debate with
Mr. Campbell, p. 317,-318) "The oath that the bishops take is not
a recognition of any temporal power of the pope out of his own ter
ritory, called the states of the church in Italy. We never take the
oath in the odious sense whieh my opponent would force upon it.
Hence, we assume no obligations by that oath, but such as God im
poses, and those to be discharged in his own divine spirit of meek
ness, charity, and good will. All the kings and states of Europe
protestant and catholic, know, that the bishops take that oath, and
yet in none of them is a bishop looked upon with distrust. In
Prussia, Sweden, Denmark, England, the government never molests
a bishop about an oath which is known to contain nothing at which
the most captious' statesman could justly take exception." And,
again, on p. 346, " Before I took that oath, I read it again and again,
and took the decisions of the bishops of America upon it. We all
agreed that there was nothing in it contrary to the allegiance due
to the United States." The oath to which these remarks were ap
plied was said to be contained in the Pontificale Rom. Edit. Ant
werp, A. D. 1626. Sec p. 280 of that debate.

RECAPITULATION. 265
Luna, Henry III. king of Castile ordered the arch
bishops to fnstitute the bishops.* The king of
France did as much at the same epoch, when
the Gallican church had resolved to acknowledge
neither of the two or three rival popes. In 1587,
the bishop ¦ of Coutances (Constantia) was conse
crated, installed, and put into full exercise of his
functions, ten years before he received bulls from Rome.
The advocate-general, Servin, attests this fact, in a
law-paper", in which he proves that by the ancient dis
cipline of the Church, these bulls may be rightfully
dispensed with. It was, as we have seen, the doc
trine of the French bishops when they were con
sulted by the Court of Portugal.f It was the doctrine
of Sirmond, of Peter de Marca, of Thomassin, as well
as of Talon and Bossuet. SirmondJ observes, that
before the fifth century, when Gaul was subject to
the Romans, the bishops, elected by the people and
by the clergy, were instituted only by the metropoli
tans. De Marca§ expresses the wish that the noval
opinion (unknown in the first twelve centuries) which
would have us believe that the bishops receive their
jurisdiction from the pope, were banished from
• Christian schools. He is of the opinion that various
circumstances may fully authorise the bishops to
neglect the modern usage of institutions called ca
nonical, and to return to the natural and divine law
without regard to the forms introduced by the new
law. And Father Thomassin|| assures us, that not
withstanding the efforts he has made to find in all
antiquity some vestiges of this institution, he has
found, on the contrary, that all the ancient bishops,
particularly those of the East, took possession of their
* Gonzales de Avila Hist, de las anliquedades de la ciudad de
Salamanca, 1. iii. c.-14.
t See antea. — (Ism. Bull) Libelli duo pro eccl. Lusitanieis Pari-
siis 1655 in 4to — Narratio  rerum quae acciderunt su
per confirmandis . . . . , episcopis Lusitaniae ; Ulyssip.
1667, in 4to.
X Praefat. ad append. Concilior. Gall. torn. ii.
§ De concord, sacerd. et imperii.
II Discip. Eccles. torn. ii. p. ii. 1. ii. c. 8.
24

266 RECAPITULATION.
sees without the pope's being even informed of it.
Finally, in 1718, the council of the regency con
sulted the Sorbonne upon this point, who declared
that circumstances and necessity might restore to
the churches the ancient liberty of installing prelates,
lawfully elected, without pontifical bulls; a liberty
which had been suspended only by particular con
cordats.*

* The re-establishment of the Metropolitans in their ancient
right's," said the bishop of Novare, " gives the means of providing
for vacant churches, without any prejudicial delay. It was with
this end in view, that the famous council of Nice ascribed to the
Metropolitans alone the ordination of bishops. None- of the subse
quent councils have been willing to acknowledge him as a bishop
Who has not been ordained by the decree of his Metropolitan. The
Roman pontiffs themselves maintained this general doctrine of the
church till 1051 ; and it has been religiously observed a' thousand
years and more. The bishop, consecrated by the Metropolitan and
by his suffragans, passed immediately to the government of his
church, and was installed by the clergy of the vacant See. Anti
quity never knew either canonical institution or the oath of fealty,
to which the popes, in later times, subjected the episcopacy ; and by
which they enchained its divine and original power. Such are the
true and invariable principles ; such the constant and pure doctrine
of the church." . Address of the bishop of Novare. to (S. A. I.) the
prince viceroy of Italy, Moniteur, 11 Feb. 1811.
TJie bishop of Forli professed the same principles. " The or- -
dinary power of bishops is derived immediately from Christ 
Wherever a bishop was found, whether at Rome, at Gubbio, at Con
stantinople, at Reggio, at Alexandria, at Tani, he has the same cha
racter, and enjoys the same authority. All are equally successors
of the apostles, as St. Jerome expresses himself. .... After
the abdication of Nectarius, the council of Epiiesus wrote to the
clergy of Constantinople to take care of this church, and give an
account to him who should, by the Divine will, be ordained accord
ing to the order of the emperor. During more than a thousand years,
neither canonical institution northe oath of fealty to the popes were
known: shackles which jiave been fatal to the ordinary episcopal
power." &c. Moniteur of the 16th Feb. 1811.
"I am deeply persuaded," soys the bishop of Verona, "that the
spiritual jurisdiction which a bishop exercises, is confided to him
immediately by God, and that he may be put into his See by the
competent power in virtue of the canonical decrees of the universal
church. The bishops are not the vicars of the sovereign pontiffs,
but the true ordinaries of their dioceses. At the council of Trent
the most learned doctors defended with force the prerogatives of
the episcopate." Moniteur, 1st March 1811,
M. Innoc. Liruti, bishop of Verona, whose words we have just
transcribed, published, about thirty years ago, a volume in 4to. en-

RECAPITULATION. 267
Enough doubtless has been said to demonstrate,
that these bulls are in no way necessary; — that at
the least, they may be considered as obtained, when
they are refused from motives not connected with
the personal qualities of the persons elected.*
The historical details which we have pointed out,
rather than developed fully, in this feeble and too ra
pid essay, give at least, a glimpse of the dangers of
the temporal sovereignty of the popes, and of the
limits which ought to circumscribe his spiritual au
thority. These limits must be put to it, if we are un
willing that limits should be put to the progress of
civilization and the de velopment of knowledge. That
which is most important to governments and to man
kind is truth. That which harms them is imposture.
The fact, which has been most fully demonstrated,
by all modern history, is, that the papacy, such as it
became in the ninth century, has been, from age to
age, the principal cause of the misfortunes of Europe.
In the present state of human knowledge if the pon
tifical power shall succeed in getting up again, it
must be by means of greater proficiency in cunning
and audacity than it has hitherto made and it would
devote future generations to still more horrible cala
mities.
titled De finibus Sacerdotii et imperii: a learnod and judicious
work, which the court of Rome very speedily condemned. ,
* In the United States, this matter, it is believed, is, at present,
managed thus: " The bishops of that church in the United States
consult together; they propose candidates for the vacant sees. They
send to Rome the names of three clergymen, marked, according to
their judgment, " worthy, Worthier, Worthiest." The pope, it is
said generally trusts to their wisdom and acquiesces in their choice.
When he approves of either, a brief or bull is expedited, in virtue
of which, the person selected by him is ordained a bishop. But
how is it in respect to the annates, reserves, and gratiae expecia-
tivae ? See p. 171, 176, 177, antea, and the bishop's oath antea. Bi -
shop Purcell's Debate with Mr. Campbell, p. 33. (Cincinnati, 1837.)

( 268 )

CHAPTER XIIL

The conduct of the Court of Rome since the year 1800.*
It remains for us to show, that even since the year
1800, notwithstanding the great light shed by the
church of France, upon all questions relative to the
papacy, the Court of Rome has redoubled her efforts
to regain, from kings and bishops, all the powers which
the popes of the middle ages had usurped.
Pius VII. elected the 14th March 1800, did not en
ter Rome till the end of June, after .the battle of Ma
rengo.! A concordat, negotiated between France
and the Holy See in 1801, was published in the month
of April 1802. J It became a law, and reorganized
the catholic clergy in France. Pius VII. appeared,
at first, to appreciate the value of this benefit. His
* This chapter has been transferred from the end of the second
volume. It is an addition to the work as it was . originally pre
pared and it appeared for the first time in the 4th edition, published
in 1818. The transfer is necessary to the continuity and com
pleteness of the narrative.
tWhich occurred June 14, 1800. Austrians were defeated by
Bonaparte with the loss of 18,000 killed
X In 1791, a schism occurred in the Gallican church. The na
tional assembly changed the limits of the episcopal dioceses, and
required an oath to the civil constitution of the clergy. But soon
after the infidel party got the ascendency, and made a terrible ha
voc with every filing good as well as with what was evil in the or
der of things. But in 1799, the Roman catholic religion was re
established in France, and it is said that thirty-four thousand
churches were re-opened in that year. This was, of course, pre
vious to the concordat. But the bishops, at the time the neo-o-
tiation of this concordat was concluded, held their titles by election
of the people, which was thought by them, or many of them,
(among whom was Gregory, bishop of Blois) perfectly proper— it
being merely a return to tho custom of the church of the first ages,
and perfectly distinct from doctrinal questions. See Memoirs of
Gregory of Blois.

CONDUCT OP THE COURT OP ROME, &.C. 26S
letters and his public discourses expressed his grati
tude in lively terms. He declared, as we have said,
that under God he owed every thing to Napoleon Bo
naparte.* * Placuit tandem patri misericordiarum Deo supplicum
preces audire, fecitque ut illustris vir . , . . . . illud ani-
mo conciperet effieeretque (ex quo ei summa praeter omnia cele-
britas apud omnem posteritatem erit futura) nimirum ut tot milli-
bus.millium hominum quos continet Gallia, avita majorum religio
atque una cum ea vera ac solidae felicitatis, ipsorum fundamenta.
restituerentur, Nos hie, ut videtis, primum reipublicae gallicanae
consulem indicamus Napoleonem Bonaparte. Sapienter ille ....
etc  Allocutio habita die 24 Mail 1802.
' Desideria et postulationes ejus viri, cujus opera ac studiis, post
Deum acceptum referimus, non modo furentes illos procellarum im-
petus ab ecclesia aversos, sed etiam catholicam religionem in tam
late dominante populo restitutam etc  Allocutio habita die 17
Januarii 1803. ¦
Cum enim tanto studio adfueris nobis, cum de religione in Gallic -
restituenda ejus seeuritate actum fuit, ita ut tibi secundum Deum
acceptum, referre debeamus quidquid ibidem  ad religionis
bonum constitutum fuit. Letter of the 4th June, 1803.
The convention between the French government and his holiness
was expressed in the following terms :
" The first consul of the French republic and his holiness, the
sovereign pontiff, Pius VII. have named for their respective pleni
potentiaries ;
The first consul, tho citizens, Joseph Bonaparte, counsellor of
state ; Cretet, counsellor of state; and Bernier, doctor in theology,
curate of St. Laud of Angers, invested with full powers :
His holiness, his eminence Monseigneur Hercules. Consalvi, cardi- ¦
nal of the holy Roman church, deacon of St. Agathe ad saburrarw
his secretary of state ; Joseph Spina, archbishop of Corinth, do
mestic prelate of his holiness, assistant of the pontifical throne, and
father Caseli, consulting theologian of his holiness, also invested
with full powers in good and due form ;
Who, after the exchange of their plenary powers respectively,
have agreed upon the following convention :
Convention between the French Government and his holiness
Pius VII.
The government of the French republic acknowledges that the
catholic, apostolic, and Roman religion, is the religion of the great'
majority of the French citizens.
His holiness acknowledges" also, that the same religion has de
rived, and expects at this moment the greatest good and the great
est splendour from the establishment of the catholic worship in
France, and from the particular profession which the consuls of
the republic make of it.
In consequence of this mutual acknowledgment, as well for the
good of religion as for the maintenance of- internal tranquillity,
they have agreed upon that, which follows :
24*

270 CONDUCT OF THE COURT OF ROME
Nevertheless, towards the end of 1803, the Court
of Rome complained of the organic laws published
with the concordat of 1802. It is important lo know,
Art. I. The catholic, apostolic, and Roman religion, shall be free
ly exercised in France. Its worship shall be public, in conforming
itself to the public regulations which the government shall judge
necessary for the public tranquillity.
II. A new circumscription of the French dioceses shall be made
by the Holy See in concert with the government.
III. His holiness shall declare to the titularies (incumbents) of
the French bishopricks that he confidently expects from them every
kind of sacrifices for the good of peace and unity, even that of
their sees.
If, after this exhortation, they refuse the sacrifice commanded
for the good of the church (a refusal, nevertheless, which his holi
ness does not expect,) provision shall be made by new incumbents,
for the government of the bishopricks according to the new circum
scription in the following manner :
IV. The first consul of the republic shall nominate, in three
months following the publication of the bull of his holiness, to the
archbishopricks and bishopricks of the new circumscription. His
holiness shall confer canonical institution, according to the forms
established in relation to France before the change of government.
V. The nominations to bishopricks which shall afterwards be
come vacant shall also be made by the first consul, and canonical
institution shall -be given by the Holy See in conformity with the
preceding article.
VI. The bishops before entering upon their functions, shall take
directly between the hands of the first consul, the oath of fealty
which was in use before the change of government expressed by
the terms following :
" I swear and promise to God, upon the holy gospels, to preserve
obedience and fidelity to the government established by the consti
tution of the French republic. I promise, also, that I will not have
any intelligence with, nor be present at any council, nor enter into
any league, either within or without (the country) which may be
contrary to the public tranquillity; and if in my diocese or else
where I learn that any thing is plotted to the prejudice of the state,
I will make it known to the government."
VII. The ecclesiastics of the second rank shall take the same
oath between the hands of the civil authorities designated by the
government. VIII. The form of prayer following shall be recited at the end
of the Divine office in all the catholic churches of France:
Domine, salvamfac rempublicam
Domine, salvos fac consales.
. IX. The bishops shall make a new circumscription of the pa
rishes of their dioceses, which shall not take effect until after the
consent of the government.
X. The bishops shall nominate to tho curacies.
But they shall not fix their choice upon persons not approved of
by the government.

SINCE THE YEAR 1800. 271
what were the objects of these first, but somewhat
tardy objections.
XL The bishops may have a chapter in their cathedrals, arid a
seminary for their diocese, without the government's obliging itself
to endow them.
XII. All the metropolitan, cathedral, parochial, and other
churches, not alienated, and necessary for worship, shall be remit
ted to the hands of the bishops.
XIII. His holiness for the good of peace and the happy re-estab
lishment of the catholic religion declares, that neither he nor- his
successors will ever, in any manner, trouble the acquirers of alien
ated ecclesiastical property, and that consequently the right to Such
property and the rights and revenues attached to it, shall be and
remain incommutable in their hands and the hands of their assigns.
XIV. The government will make suitable provision for the bi
shops and the curates, whose dioceses and parishes shall be com
prised within the new circumscription.
XV. The government will also take measures to enable the
French catholics, if they desire it, to establish foundations in fa
vour of churches.
XVI. His holiness acknowledges in the first consul of the French
republic the same rights and prerogatives which the former govern
ment enjoyed near him.
XVII. It is agreed between the contracting parties, that in the
case where one of the successors of the first consul acting, shall not
be a catholic, the rights and prerogatives mentioned in the article
above, and the nomination to bishopricks shall be regulated in re
spect to him by a new convention.
The ratifications shall be exchanged at Paris in the space of for
ty days.
Done at Paris the 26th Messidor, of the year IX.
We see that several articles of this concordat, and particularly
the XIHth,, gave full assurance to all the French citizens, whom
the news of a treaty with the court of Rome might have alarmed.
All opinions remained free; all interests were secured, whatever
vain efforts the Pope may have made to introduce into this conven
tion the principles of his predecessors, or whether he was himself
still imbued with the liberal ideas which he professed when lie was
bishop of Imola.
We shall cite in this place only one writing entitled, Omelia del
citadino cardinal Chiaramonti, vescovo d' Imola, diretta al popolo
della sua diocesi nella republica cisalpina, nelgiorno del santissimo
natale Imola ; nella stamperia della nazione. Vanno vi. della liberta .
Sixteen pages in 4to.
(In 1817, a work was published at Paris, by M. Hutteau, entitled
Des concordats de 1517, etc. et. de 1817, etc. of which M. Dupin
says, " This is a good book of history, which justifies its epigraph,
taken from the speech of M. Le Lievre, advocate general to-the Par
liament of Paris,- in 15] 6. " The concordat, by whatever name we
may please to decorate it, will never be any thing but a violent act
in which two powers have mutually ceded to each other that which
did not belong to them.")

272 CONDUCT OF THE COURT OF ROME
First, That Court complained of the provision,
which required the express authority of government
for the publication of bulls. The pope dared to re
quire, that these bulls should, of themselves, have the
force of law. This was contesting more openly than
ever, one of the ancient maxims of the Gallican
Church, relied upon at all times, proclaimed by Louis
XI. dear to Francis I. acknowledged by Leo X. cited
by Bignon and by D'Aguesseau, taught by all the
French jurists, from Pithou to D'Hericourt* ob
served in France even in respect to dogmatic bulls,
and which cannot be restricted except in regard to

* By letters patent of Louis XI. of 1475, it is ordered that all
bulls, letters, and other things coming from Rome, shall be visited
(examined) by the officers of the places on the frontiers, to see if
there is nothing contrary to the rights of the kingdom and liberties
of the Gallican church.
Francis I., in speaking of this right, said that it greatly concerned
the power and the pre-eminence of the king.
Pope Leo X. by several briefs , the last of which is signed by the
Cardinal Sadolet, begged the parliament of Provence, to authorize
the execution of his rescripts. Hortamur in Domino, ut debilae ex
ecutions demandare permiltatis.
Bulls or apostolical letters of executory, fulminatory, or other ci
tations, are not executed in France, without the pareatis, (Pareaiis
is a Latin word, which in this technical use, expresses a permission
to execute a decree or judgment in a place which is not within the
jurisdiction of the judges or tribunal, which pronounces the decree
or judgment) of the king or of his officers. The practice of exa
mining all bulls and despatches coming from the court of Rome, to
see if they contained any thing which might, in any way, prejudice
the rights and liberties of the church and the authority of the king,
has always been scrupulously observed. Pithou Liberies de I'cglise
Gallicane Art. 44 and 77.
The bulls arc not to be taken into consideration until letters patent
of the king have been obtained to require their verification in the
parliament. Reg du Parlement. 2d Jan. 1624.
The rescripts emanating from the pope, cannot bind the subjects
of the king, until they are invested with his power or with that
which he grants to sovereign bodies of his kingdom, Oeuvres de
d'Aguesseau, t ii- p. 604.
Although our kings do not undertake to decide questions of faith,
(the judgment of which they leave to the bishops) yet no dogmatic
bulls can be published without letters patent verified in parliament,
because dogmatic bulls may contain clauses contrary to the rights
of the crown, and of the church of France. D'Hericourt Lois ec
cles. de France, tri. ch. 15. no. 8,

SINCE THE YEAR 1800. 273
briefs of the penitenciary which do not admit of any
publicity.* Secondly, The pope objected to the organic arti
cle, which declares, that without the authority of the
government, no legate, nuncio or delegate of the Holy
See, could exercise power in France: a provision, de
rived as well from the soundest maxims of public law
as from the constant usage of the Gallican Church,
and from the articles 11, 12, 58, 59 and 60 of Pithou. f
Thirdly, His holiness objected to the article which
is thus expressed, " The- decrees of foreign synods,
even those of general councils, cannot be published in
France, before the government shall have examined
their form, their conformity with the laws, rights
and franchises of the state, and every thing, which in
their publication may disturb or concern the public
tranquillity." This is the maxim which Pithou has
expressed in the following terms. " The general
* It should be observed that this exception, if, in fact, it be one,
was expressly avowed by the minister des cultes in a letter to the
Legate of the Holy See.
t Art. 11. The pope does not send into France a legate & latere
except at the request of the most Christian king and with his con
sent. And the legate does not exercise his powers, until after
having given promise in writing under his seal, and sworn by his
holy orders, not to make use of his said powers, except so far and
so long as it shall please the king  without undertaking or
doing any thing prejudicial to the holy decrees, general councils,
franchises, liberties and privileges of the Gallican church.
(12.) Likewise, the legate, of Avignon  before making
use of his powers in countries subject to the' obedience and sove
reignty of the king, makes the like oath, and delivers a similar
promise in writing, and especially not to attempt any thing against
the secular jurisdiction, nor to disturb the subjects, nor interdict or
excommunicate the officers of the king, nor do any thing against
the liberties of the Gallican church, edicts, customs, statutes, and
privileges of the country.
58. The legate a latere cannot depute vicars or sub-delegates for
the exercise of his legation, without the express consent of the
"king. 59. He cannot use the power of conferring the benefices of this
kingdom, when he is in a country not subject to the obedience of
the king.
60. At his departure from the kingdom, he is bound to leave in
France a register of despatches (orders) made during the time of
his legation, etc.

274 CONDUCT OF THE- COURT OF ROME
councils are not received and published in France,
except by the permission and authority of the king."
No person can be ignorant of the fact, that in 1576,
1588 and in 1614, the states general opposed the pub
lication of the Council of Trent, and that, at several
times, the popes asked in vain for it of the sovereigns,
whose consent was admitted to be necessary by the
very act ofsolicitation.
Fdurthly, His holiness required the abrogation of
the article, which authorises recourse to the council
of state in case of the abuse of the ecclesiastical juris
diction. It was answered, that an appeal (as for an
abuse*) had been one of the most constant points of
our ancient jurisprudence, and that no pope or bishop
had ever obtained from our kings a rigorous deter
mination of the cases in which such recourse might
be had. Those who drew up the ordinance of 1667
acknowledged "that nothing was more contrary to
the laws of the kingdom than to limit appeals, (as
for an abuse) to certain cases ; that the ecclesiastics
having often requested it, the answer has uniformly
been, that these matters could not otherwise be de
fined than that every thing which was contrary to
the liberties of the Gallican Church, to the holy ca
nons received in France, to the laws of the realm, and
to the authority of the king was a ground of such ap
peal : that these general rules comprehended every
thing; but that if they were to descend to details, it
would be going contrary to the sentiments of all the
great men who have treated of the subject ; and that
by specifying certain cases, occasion would be given

* Appel comme d'abus is a technical phrase which, in this use, is
confined to ecclesiastical matters. It is designed to prevent en
croachments of the ecclesiastical upon the civil power. It is al
lowed upon any infraction by the tribunals of the church of the
acts of councils, or of the constitutions received in the Gallican
church, or the infraction of the rights, franchises, liberties, and
privileges of the Gallican church, or of the ordinances of the king,
or the laws of the state. This kind of appeal originated in a coa
lition of the French nobility in 1260, who appointed four of their
number to declare all excommunications of the pope null and void
which were contrary to justice and sound reason.

SINCE THE YEAR 1800. 275
to the ecclesiastics to maintain, that an infinitude of
cases, were not comprised, which arise every day,
and which absolutely require the interposition of the
royal authority." The cases of abuse can not then,
be more definitively determined than they are in the
organic law of 1802, which designates "the usurpa
tion or excess of power; the contravention of the laws
and regulations of the state; the infraction of the rules
consecrated by the canons received in France; attacks
upon the liberties, franchises and customs of the Gal
lican Church, and every enterprise or procedure,
which in the exercise of worship, may compromit the
honour of the citizens or trouble their consciences in
an arbitrary manner, degenerate into oppression
against them, or into injury or public scandal." It
was in nearly the same terms that Pithou expressed
his article 79 of our liberties. " Fourthly, by pre
cise appeals as for an abuse, which were said by our
fathers," to be when there is any enterprise (or en
croachment) of jurisdiction or any attempt against
the holy decrees and canons received in this kingdom,
rights, franchises, liberties, and privileges of the GaU
lican Church, concordats, edicts and ordinances of
the king, decrees of parliament, in short, against that
which is not only of common right, divine or natural,
but also the prerogatives of this kingdom and of its
church." Fifthly, The Court of Rome disapproved, also the
articles which declare that the catholic worship, shall
be exercised under the direction of archbishops, bishops
and curates, and that every privilege, purporting the
exemption or the attributing of episcopal jurisdiction,
shall be and remain abolished. The pope would be
the universal bishop, the immediate pastor of each
diocese, of each parish. He had the boldness to pro
pose the re-establishment of these privileges, of these
abusive exemptions, which according to Fleury, have
been only a source of divisions in the church.*
* Discours viii. sur l'histoire Ecclesiastique, no. 4. Thus much
can be said with truth, in this respect ; that no monastery, church,

276 CONDUCT OF THE COURT OF ROME
Sixthly, The pope maintained, that no monastic or
der could be suppressed in France without the con
currence of the Holy See, and he set up this incon
ceivable pretension against the article, which declares,
that establishments of this kind are for ever abolished
in the French empire. The opinion, that it belongs
to the ecclesiastical power to institute a religious or
der in the Church may be maintainable, but certainly,
it is by the temporal power and by that alone, that
this order can exist in the State, and if such order
could be maintained in the State, in spite of the tem
poral power, that power, in truth, would cease to ex
ist. Moreover the article in question, stated a fact
rather than a legislative regulation; inasmuch as the
monastic orders had been extinct in France during ten
years. Finally, Pius VII. opposed, with all his power, the
teaching of the four articles of 1682 ; which was or
dered by one of the provisions of the organic law of
the Concordat. This last protestation was that, upon
which it was insisted most vehemently in the name
of the pope. He brought it forward himself in all
circumstances which appeared to him to be occa
sions for abolishing or discrediting these four ar
ticles. During his residence at Paris, he required two
things above all others — the annexation of Romagna
to the states of the Lloly See, and ihe retraction of
the principles declared by the clergy in 1682. To
gain this second point, he was provided with the let
ter written by Louis XIV. to Innocent XII. in 13)
He seemed to have no doubt of his success. He
hoped, that upon returning to Rome, he might pro
claim himself the legislator of the Gallican Church 
the only and the infallible oracle of the universal
college, or other ecclesiastical body can be exempted from its ordi
nary, so as to say, that it depends immediately on the Holy See,
without the license and permission of the king. Pithou Liberies
de Veglise Gallicane Art. 71. Exemptions, said Talon, in 1670,
are contrary to the holy liberty of the canons of the church. See',
also, Fevret Traite de l'abus, 1. iii. c. 1, no. 12. etc.

SINCE THE YEAR 1800. 277
church — the. superior of councils and the sovereio-ri
of kings. For those were the titles \vhich the decla
ration of 1682 denied to him. Lie wished to abro
gate this declaration that he- might resume them.
Having obtained neither Romagna nor the aboli
tion of the four articles, the pope consoled himself
with a public protestation against the maintainance of
those maxims. After his return to Rome, he pro
nounced on the 26th June an allocution in which, af
ter having bestowed emphatic praise upon the emperor
cf the French* he fell into a digression quite foreign
to the subject of this discourse; but which, contained
under a thin disguise, a positive condemnation of the
doctrine of 1682. In fact, he bestowed a long eulo-
giam upon the pretended repentance of a bishop who,
said the pope, submitted himself, not only to the conr
stitutions of the Holy See against the errors of Baius
Jansenius, and of Qucsnel,f but particularly to the
dogmatic bull auctorem Jidei which condemns eighty-
five propositions of the council of Pistoia.J Llis holi
ness commends this bishop, particularly because he
disapproves of all these propositions and of each of
them, under the qualifications and in the sense which
the said bull expresses.^ Now it is well known, that
* Potentissimum Francorum Imperatorem cui roligionis 
in Gallia refiorescentis gloria debetur  cujus nomen fines
terrarum pervasit, et cujus opera Deus usus est ut Catholica religio
in Galliis publicam rursus in lucem emergeret  atque hie
sing gratissimi animi sensu eommemorare non possumus hilaritudi-
nem illam, comitatem, benevolentiam, animique propensionem, qua
nos apostolica libertate desideria nostra expromentes audivit et nos
tras  petitiones ex-cepit.
t It has become very difficult to meet with any person who deigns
to know in what, these error, consisted ; and it required a strong
desire to speak of them, thus to make them a propos to the pontifi
cal ceremony of the corronation of Bonaparte.
X An episcopal city of Tuscany in the ecclesiastical province of
Florence. § Formulam per venerabilem fratrem nostrum archiepiscopum
Philippensem ei missam legit, admisit, suaque manu signavit. Hac
ergo formula, quam reparando scandalo publicam in cognitionem
deduci concupivit, declaravit se pure et simpliciter, omninoque, ex
animo, recipere et venerari constitutiones a sede apostolica factas,
quibus Baii, Jansenii Q.uesnellii, et illorum qui eos sectati sunt, er-
rores proscribuntur, praesertifn vero bullam dogmaticam Auctorem
25

278 CONDUCT OF THE COURT OF ROME
one of the censures contained in the bull auctorem
fidei, falls upon the. approbation given by the council
of Pistoia to the four articles of the clergy of France.
Thus, it was that Pius VII. by confirming a decree
of Pius VI. in all its tenor, without entering into its
details, proscribed at his ease, the maxims of 1 his Gal
lican Church, into the bosom of which he justbeforehad
been honourably received. Here too, the reader may
observe one of the artifices quite familiar to the Court
of Rome. Ab una disce omnes.
What ! it will be said, was it possible that this court
in 1805 seriously thought of making all princes and
all churches dependent upon her in omnimodd subjec-
tione ! Yes, she did indeed contemplate it! That
may be learned from herself. It will be seen in the
instructions which that court addressed lo her nun
cios, what she thought of her rights and of the most
holy maxims of Hildebrand. But it remains to make
a few observations upon the organic articles of 1802,
which Pius VII. declared to be contrary to the laws
and the doctrine of the church. In his correspondence
with the French government, he has never designated
more than thirteen, namely, those to which we have
referred, and which, as the reader has seen, contain
nothing more than the ancient maxims, traditions and
usages of the church of France. The law of 1802
contains sixty-four articles, besides, the forty-four,
which relate to forms of worship, not catholic. We
are assured that there is not one of them, the ortho
doxy of which, cannot be fully justified by the decrees
of councils, by the texts of reputable writers and by
the practice of the best times ; in one word, by all
kinds of testimony and authority which hold the place

fidei qua 85 propositiones damnantur, e synodo Pistoriensi quam
ipse coegerat et publicari jusserat excerptae has propterea proposi
tiones omnes et singulas se reprobare et damnare iis qualificationi-
bus iisque sensibus qui in praefata bulla cxpressi suntf denique in
sanctae eeclesiae catholicae, apostolicae, Romanae, inque omnimoda
subjectione veraque obedientia nobis, nostrisque successoribus tan
quam in Petri cathedra sedentibus et Jesu-Christi vicariis velle se
vivere et mori.

SINCE THE YEAR 1800. 279
of proofs in such matters : and if an examination of so
many articles in succession -would not be tedious; if
there were not a very great number of indifferent or
useless provisions which regulate the small details, we
should not fear to go through with them one after the
other. The following are some of the more impor
tant. Art. 16. " One cannot be nominated bishop before
the age of thirty years, and if he is not a French
man by origin." This in respect of the age, is the
ancient discipline, and as to the other clause, it is the
thirty ninth maxim of Pithou. "No person of what
ever quality he may be, can hold any benefice either
by title or upon lease, unless, he is a native or has
letters of naturalization, or the express dispensation
of the king for this purpose and his letters have been
verified where he belongs.
Art. 20. "The bishops shall be bound to reside
within their diocess — they shall not go out of it, ex
cept by permission of the first consul." The court
of Rome well knew, that the canons prescribe resi
dence, and it maintains only, that the pope can dis
pense those from it, whom it is his pleasure to call
near him or send elsewhere. This is the article of
Pithou upon this point. (Art. 13.) The prelates of
the Gallican church although sent by the pope for any
cause whatever, cannot go out of the kingdom with
out the command or license or leave of the king.
Besides, see the proofs of the liberties of the Galli
can church.*
Art. 39. " There shall be but one liturgy and one
catechism for all the catholic churches of France."
The question did not concern the catechism which
had been made, but the provision which required
that there should be but one only. Now all the cler
gy of France had expressed this desire in 1789.
" The multiplied complaints, and real inconveniences,
which result from a diversity of festivals, of breviaries,
rituals and catechisms, rendering it highly desirable,
* Past. ii. p. 63. et seq. etc.

280 CONDUCT OF THE COURT OF ROME
that all these things should be uniform in the whole
kingdom, the states general will take this matter into
consideration.* Art. 41. " No festival, with the exception of Sun
day, shall be established without the consent of the
government." By festivals in this article, we are not to understand
the ceremonies or solemnities performed within the
churches, and which must be regulated by the bishops
alone, without the participation of the government;
the article is confined to holidays, which bring in
their train a cessation of public and individual labour.
The fifty two Sundays already cut off near one sixth f
of the annual products of the national industry. The
government has a good right not to allow that
this measure should be exceeded. Many festivals
were suppressed during the eighteenth century and
Pope Benedict XIV. with a very good grace under
took this reduction. The following are the remarks
of the Jesuits themselves upon this subject, in their
journal of Trevoux May 1754. " Many bishops of
Italy have thought that the Sundays and four or five
great solemnities are sufficient for the people; and
that it is not necessary to give them by the multitude
of other festivals the pretext or occasion to waste
their time, their money, their innocence and the be
nefit of pastoral instruction. Consequently reduc
tions have been made and after some small opposi
tion, which was the cry of custom rather than of
piety, the whole world has become satisfied.
We add, that there is scarcely one of the ecclesi
astical festivals, particularly of those not moveable,
which cannot and ought not to be fixed upon Sunday.
The reasons of fixing them upon other days depend
* Resume des cahiers de Vordre du clerge, p. 15.
t The Sabbath was made for man. He is physically incapable
of incessant labour, and so far is the observance of the weekly rest
from diminishing the products of national industry, it would be
found that a more strict observance of it, would greatly increase
them. This is true upon physical principles, to say nothing of its
moral influences upon temporal interests. The multiplication of
holidays by force of church legislation is quite another matter,

SINCE THE YEAR 1800. 281
upon certain false or uncertain dates, certain pre
tended anniversaries, which -the variations of calen
dars have very much deranged.
Art. 43. " All ecclesiastics shall be dressed in the
French fashion, and in black ; the bishops may add
to this costume, the pastoral cross and purple stock
ings; an article both useless and not observed, and
which, for the rest, contains nothing contrary to the
doctrine of the church, nor to its ancient laws; for it
would be easy to prove that the ecclesiastics of the
first five centuries were not distinguishable (out of
the temples and in common life) by any particular
dress, but only by a more modest exterior; that
during the middle ages they wore garments of every
form and of every colour, with appendages of luxu
rious extravagance; that during the last four centu
ries the priests have become distinguishable from the
laity because they have followed the variations of
fashion less and have retained the forms of preceding
times with more constancy. Finally, that a black
dress has been common and is so yet, among law
yers, physicians &c.
Art. 45. No religious ceremony shall take place
out side of the edifices consecrated to the catholic
worship in cities where there are temples devoted to
different forms of worship.
Processions were very numerous in the times of
Paganism, and it was one of the reproaches, which
the first apologists of Christianity cast upon the idola
ters. Christianity, at that time, was too simple and
too pure, to admit of any such ceremonies. It con
fined its entire liturgy to the interior of the temples.
By degrees nevertheless, it admitted of some public
processions ; those of the Rogations*, copied from the
* Rogations were public prayers for an abundant harvest. They
are renewed every year during three days, immediately preceding
the ascension. These days are observed also by abstinence from
animal food. The use of these prayers was introduced into France
in the year 511, and appointed by tbe council of Orleans. The
Ambervalia of the pagans were so called, because one of the prii}-
pal ceremonies practiced on the occasion was, to make a procession
25*

282 CONDUCT OF THE COURT OF ROME
Ambarvalia of the. Romans, are the most ancient.
The others were introduced later and chiefly during
the time of the crusades which were themselves great
processions. Those of the holy sacrament, date only
from the thirteenth century. Some were established
during- the middle ages, which were so indecent and
so ridiculous, that they have been suppressed. The
abolition of all the rest, does not infringe in any re
spect the doctrine of the church, if we are to under
stand by that, the gospel, the traditions and usages
of the first ages. These exterior ceremonies, in the
municipal towns, where different forms of worship
are practised, endanger the public tranquillity and the
liberty of conscience.
Art. 50. " Solemn preaching called sermons and
those known by the name of stations of the advent
and of Lent, shall be made only by priests, who shall
have obtained from the bishop a special authority for
that purpose." Fleury in order to establish the same
rule observes, that " at first preaching was not so com
mon a function of the priests, because the bishops
themselves gave instruction : after about four hun
dred years," he adds, " many priests, chiefly regu
lars, made this their capital function, preaching in
discriminately in all the churches, as they were called
to do so, whereas, previously the pastors only in
structed each his own flock.""* This function being
primitively and essentially that of the pastors, it has
been inferred that it must not be exercised without
the special permission of the bishop, and such has con
stantly been the order pursued in the churches of
France. Still, the preaching friars, or the domini
cans, instituted in the thirteenth century, claimed to
be invested by their founders and by the popes, with
the right of preaching in all the churches. The mi
nor friars or the Franciscans, created at the same
epoch, aspired to the same privilege. Hence arose
through the fields to ask for an abundant harvest, and to obtain the
fertility of the soil. They sacrificed a heifer after having led it in
the procession, The festival was in honour of Ceres.
* Institutions au droit, eccles. t. i. p. 110.

SINCE THE YEAR 1800. 283
long debates between the societies of religious and
the secular clergy. In this dispute the universities
and the parliaments undertook the defence of the
curates and bishops, and notwithstanding the efforts
of the court of Rome, it was admitted, at least in
France, that preaching was a part of the pastoral
ministry, and that it could not be allowed except to
those to whom the bishops gave the power. All these
particular questions hinge upon this ; to wit whether the
pope, (as Pius VII. pretends) is (il pastore della
chiesa universale) the pastor of the universal church.
Whether the ordinaries are his subaltern delegates ; —
whether he has an immediate jurisdiction over each
church. This question is resolved in France against
the pope and in favour of the ordinaries; as St Au
gustine, St Jerome and all the doctors of the first
ages of Christianity resolved it.
Art. 52. (The preachers) " shall not, in their in
structions, indulge in any inculpation direct or indi
rect, either against persons, or other modes of wor
ship." In 1524, March 4th. the parliament of Paris or
dered, that " M. Jean de Selves, the first president,
should send this very day to fetch the preachers, who
preach in this city to tell them, that they have to
preach wisely and discreetly and to provoke the peo
ple to devotion and friendship towards one another,
without charging or speaking evil of those who have
had and have the administration of the kingdom."
&c. In 1561, an ordinance of Charles IX. was made
which declares " we have forbidden and we do for
bid under pain of the halter all preachers, to use in
their sermons or elsewhere scandalous words and
tending to excite the people to commotion. But we
have enjoined them and we do enjoin them to con
tain themselves and to conduct modestly, to say no
thing which may not be for the instruction and edi
fication of the people and the maintaining of them in
tranquillity and repose."
In 1563, the same Charles IX. ordered the parlia
ment of Paris to send and cause to come, all the

284 CONDUCT OF THE COURT OF ROME
preachers, who are charged (accused) of having pro
ceeded in their sermons, by reproaches, injurious and
seditious words." In 1595 the parliament of Paris
sent for and imprisoned one, named Surgeres, for
having preached seditiously in the church of St. Me-
deric." Having entered into discourses very far
from his text, as well by injurious language against
the queen of England, upon the subject of the pre
tended reformed religion, as by admonitions to abstain
from going to the preaching of the ministers, for
which causes the court has condemned and does con
demn the said Surgeres to say and declare in the
chamber of the Tournelle (a court for criminal causes)
with his head bare and on his knees, that he very
rashly and indiscreetly held such discourse in his
preaching." The article of 1802 does not express
more than do these decrees and ordinances of the
sixteenth century, and it could be displeasing to none,
except those who were impatient to preach discord ;
to speak injuriously of persons, especially of those
who had acquired the national property and thus
shake the faith due to public engagements and pro
voke disobedience to the laws of the state.
In respect to the articles which concern the vicars
general, the cathedral chapters, and the other parti
cularities of the administration of the diocesses, one
must, in order to find any thing therein to gainsay, be
profoundly ignorant of the history of the church, and
transform into points of faith, into sacred rules, particu
lar, local and variable usages, which were introduced
after the tenth century, and reformed by degrees after
the fifteenth, as the principles of ecclesiastical go
vernment were better studied. In genera! this is due,
in justice, to those who drew' up the law of 1802, —
which is founded upon a precise knowledge of all the
details of the matter, — that they sought with good
faith, to renew the most sound traditions, and come
as near as possible to the constant practices of the
church of France. We believe it only remains to us
to examine the articles relative to marriage.

SINCE THE YEAR 1800. 285
We cannot too often repeat it* that marriage is a
civil act before being a sacrament. There are but
few theologians, so senseless as to pretend that mar
riage cannot exist out of the catholic church. Now
the contract, which we must admit exists between
the followers of another worship, does not change its
nature by the introduction of the church into the
state. Of all contracts which constitute and perpe
tuate society, marriage is the most strict, the most ne
cessary, and that which is most seriously recom
mended to the attention of the sovereign. Upon
such a matter the duties of the legislator are too
grave, to allow him to transfer his burthen to the
pontiff or to an assembly of unmarried priests.
Be it, that a few words may be collected from the
Bible by which it can be proved that the nuptial be
nediction is one of the seven sacrarnentsf of the New
Testament. It is a point of doctrine, which every
catholic should revere and upon which the civil au
thority ought to refer to the ministers of religion.
But that, in becoming a sacrament, marriage changes
its nature and loses the character of a civil contract;
that consequently the priests should claim the right of
making and changing the laws which concern it : —

* This and the seven following paragraphs have been transferred
from the general considerations on the court of Rome introductory
to the second volume, of which this chapter is the concluding piece.
It has been interpolated here in order to bring together all the au
thor has said upon the subject. Indeed, he refers in the text to his
preceding observations, and the interpolation became necessary to
appreciate fully the import of the writer's observation.
t In classical Latin, the word sacramentum signifies a sum of
money, or a pledge given in a court of justice ; and. sometimes the
oalb of fidelity given by a soldier to the commander of the army.
(Varro de lingua Latina lib. 4. sub. finem. Cicero, passim.) After
the decline of that language in purity, the word was used to signi
fy a mystery or secret. This is the usual sense of the word in the
writings of the early fathers, and in the Vulgate version of the
N. T.; as in Eph. 5. 32, where Paul,"after speaking of marriage,
adds, Sacramentum hoc magnum est. See, also, Eph. 1. 9. Rev. V7.
7. 1 Tim. 3. 16., in the Vulgate version. Augustine (Ep. 5.) says,
signa, cum ad res divinas pertinent, sacramenta appcllantur, (signs
or symbols when they refer to Divine things are called sacraments.)
This is one of the few words to which the author probably alludes.

286 CONDUCT OF THE COURT OF ROME
that they should take it into their heads, to create one
knows not what, impediments to the conjugal union ;
— that they should claim to be invested with the pow
er of preventing, dispensing, and of permitting;1 —
these are the ulterior limits of ambition in the clergy,
of ignorance in the people, and of patience in the
magistracy who tolerate such a revolting disorder.
We have not been able to read, without indignation,
the writings, in which Rome considers as null, the
marriages contracted according to the civil code, and
we know not of a more seriously criminal attack
against the laws, than that which consists in dis
allowing, the validity and sanctity of those compacts,
which they authorise and the necessary conditions of
which they determine. The ecclesiastical ministry,
ought, evidently, to confine itself to the offering of
moral instruction — of purely religious advice to the
persons espoused or joined in marriage, and when
they desire it, conferring upon the married persons
the seventh of the sacraments. But to wish to an
nex to these acts of piety, civil effects, is a gross
error, and a censurable usurpation and one of the
most, pernicious abuses which has been introduced
into Christianity. We have seen how the priests
transformed themselves into the framers and deposi
taries of the acts which determine the civil condition
of persons and thus every where laid the foundation
of the papal government.
But it must be admitted, that it was not ambition
alone, which created, maintained and perpetuated
these disorders. Avarice, also has had its share.
The clergy already endowed with rich domains, and
not content with adding to their revenues from their
real property, the direct impost (or tax) which they
called tithes, succeeded in subjecting the people to the
most vast system of indirect tributes, which has ever
yet been imagined; tributes, inevitable, which every
one pays at his birth, at his marriage, at his death.
Superstition and vanity has increased, in various ways,
the first and the third of these imposts ; but the se
cond, although all do not pay it, is still the most pro-

SINCE THE YEAR 1800. 287
ductive, not only because the same person may pay
it more than once, but above all, because they have
contrived to make it susceptible of progressive aug
mentations, according to the nature of circumstances;
the gravity of impediments called cononical and the
extent of dispensations. By this kind of industry, the
products became so considerable, that the Court of
Rome, could reserve to herself a great part of them.
We doubt not, that it is to the productiveness of this
impost, as much as to the theocratic pride of the bishops
of Rome that we ought to ascribe the unsocial and
truly anarchical doctrines which have more or less
vitiated, in almost all christian states, the laws rela
tive to marriage.
The civil code, which, by dissipating for ever these
pernicious errors, has restored to the conjugal union
its essential character, is a benefit of which the peo
ple cannot, as yet, feel the full value. The Court of
Rome perceives it well, as may be easily seen from
the bitter regrets, which she bestows upon the abuses
which have been uprooted by these laws ; by her ob
stinate efforts, to perpetuate, the senseless doctrine,
which these laws contradict, and finally by the
zeal with which she maintains certain ceremonies,
which are very much like public protestations against
these laws.
The ceremonies which we here speak of are not
sacramental ; but, that the reader may comprehend
what we have to say upon this important article we
are obliged to recur to an explanation altogether
scholastic. The theologians distinguish in the administration
of the sacraments, certain elements, certain acts and
certain words or formal expressions strictly necessary,
and without which, say they, the sacrament would
not be really conferred. They give the name of
matter to these substances or indispensible actions ;
and to the essential words or formal expressions, the
name of form. After which, all others substances,
actions, gestures and words employed in the celebra
tion of the sacraments are nothing more than acces-

288 CONDUCT OF THE COURT OF ROME
sory ceremonies, which may be omitted without the
danger of nullity.
This being laid down, we ask of the theologians,
in what consists the matter and form of the sacrament
of marriage; and if they shall not be perfectly agreed
in determining the one and the other, we will respect
as essential, all the different ceremonies which they
shall have had any reason to consider as belonging
to this form or this matter. But, when upon exa
mining the ceremonies allowed to be accidenlal, we
there discover, flagrant outrage against the civil au
thority; falsehood imputed to the law; language, in
short, which, presupposes or which articulately ex
presses the non-existence of a legal contract, already
declared to exist by the magistrate, in the name of
the law, doubtless, we shall be allowed to accuse such
accompaniments of being something more than super
fluous. We dare repeat it; they are maintained so
scrupulously only as protestations, and as public mo
numents of a papal system, whose future resurrection
is expected. *
In Germany, some ecclesiastical property had been
given as an indemnity to some of the protestant princes,
which the Holy See was unwilling should be disposed
of without her consent ; and especially the pope could
not endure, that any one should dare to make such a
use of it. It was the subject of many despatches from
Rome in 1803, 1804 and 1805, and particularly of the
instructions given to the Nuncio resident at Vienna ;
in which among other very singular details,! we read
the following: "Not only has the church succeeded
to prevent heretics from possessing themselves of
ecclesiastical property, but she has established
* The text in this chapter is now resumed.
t For example of imprecations against the peace of Westphalia,
la disastrosa pace di Westfalia, la pace di Westfalia segna un'epo-
ca sventuramente memorabile etc. Also for example this principle
that the pope is not the proprietor but the supreme administrator of
all ecclesiastical property. This proposition, the penman of these
instructions, proves by texts of Suarez and of Lessius, whom he
cites as the most accredited theologians. Questo e il sentimento
de' piu acoreditati teologi.

SINCE THE YEAR 1800. 289
the confiscation and the loss of goods, as the punish
ment of those guilty of the crime of heresy. This
punishment, as it respects the goods of individuals, is
decreed by a bull of Innocent III. and in respect to
principalities and fiefs, it is a rule of the canon law
(Chap. Absolulos XVI. de Haereticis,) that the sub
jects of an heretical prince are enfranchised from every
duty towards him and dispensed from all fealty and
all homage. However slightly one may be versed
in history, he cannot but know, that sentences of de
position have been pronounced by pontiffs and by
councils against princes obstinate in heresy. Indeed
we have fallen upon such calamitous times — times
of such humiliation to the spouse of Jesus Christ, that
it is not possible for her to practice, nor expedient to
invoke her most sacred maxims of just rigour against
the enemies and rebels of the faith. But if she can
not exercise her right of deposing heretics^ from their
principalities and of declaring their goods forfeited^
can she ever positively permit herself to be despoiled,
to add to them new principalities and new goods?
What occasion of deriding the church would not be
given to the heretics and unbelievers -themselves, who
insulting over her grief would say that means at length
had been found out to make her tolerant."*
* Ma non solamente la chiesa ha procurato d'impedire che gli
erctici non . occupassero 1 beni ecclesiastici, ha inoltre stabilito,
come pena del delitto dell' eresia, la confisca e perdita dei beni da-
gli eretici posseduti. Questa pena  e decretata per rap-
porto ai beni de' privati nella decretale d'lnnocenzo III,, riportata
nel capo Vergentis X. de Haeret. e per quel che riguarda i princi
pal, feudi e pure regola del diritto canonico nel cap Absolutes xvi.
de Haereticis, che sudditi di un principe manifestamente eretico ri-
mangono assoluti da qualunque omaggio, fedelta ed ossequio verso
del medesimo ; e niuno chesia alcun poco versato nella storia puo ig-
norare le sentenze di deposizione pronunciate dai pontefici e dai con-
cilj contro de' principi ostinati nell1 eresia: Se non che siamo ora
pur troppo giunti in tempi cosi calamitosi e di tanta umiliazione per
la sposa di Gesu Crislo, che siccome a lei non e possibile usare, cosi
neppure e spediente ricordarc queste sue santissime massime di
giusto rigore coiitro i nimici e i rebelli della fede. Ma se non puo
esercitare il suo diritto di deporrc da loro principati e di dichiarare
decaduti da loro beni gli eretici, potrebbe ella mai positivamente
permettorc per aggiungere loro nuovi principati e nuovi beni, d'es-
serne spogliata ella stessa ?  Quale occasione di deridere la
26

290 CONDUCT OF THE COURT OF ROME
Such then, in 1805 were the conduct and the prin
ciples of the Court of Rome. She did not publish a
new bull against the four articles of the Church of
France ; but she confirms a bull of 1794 in which they
are anathematized ; she does not proclaim her right
to depose sovereigns, to despoil them of their proper
ty, to withdraw the people from their obedience, but
far from renouncing these powers, she cherishes the
remembrance of them and complains of the conjunc
tures which at the moment forbid the use of them.
Let other conjunctures come and you will see what
she will do to shelter herself from every suspicion of
toleration. This year of 1805 and the following, are memora
ble in the history of the pontificate of Pius AIL We
leave to future historians the care of setting forth
events purely political. If they should be aware of a
long letter written entirely by the hand of the pope,
and addressed the 30th of August 1800 to cardinal
Caprara, they will see, that already he had forgotten,
that next to God he owed the most lively gratitude,
(gratissimi animi sensum) to the most potent empe
ror of the French (polentissimo Francorum impera-
tori.) It is not, that he refused to acknowledge the
brother of this emperor, as the king of the Two Sici
lies, and that this intrusion or usurpation appeared to
him otherwise deserving of condemnation ; but he
maintained that he alone could award this crown : —
that he must receive homage for it; and that the re
cipient must declare himself his vassal. For the rest,
more than one pope has said, to the aspirants after
this crown. "There is the kingdom of Naples. I
give it to you, if you become my servant : tibi dabo,
si cadens adoraveris me."
The new attempts at reconciliation which were
made in 1807, terminated in only a journey of Car
dinal Bayane from Rome to Paris. He came in the

chiesa non si darebbe agli eretici medesimi, ed agli increduli i
quali insultando al di lei dolore, direbbero esservi trovati finalmente
i mezzi onde farla divenir tollerante 1 etc.

SINCE THE YEAR 1800. 291
character of a negotiator, and one had a right to sup
pose, he was invested with full powers. But after
some useless conferences, it was perceived that he
was not authorized to conclude any thing, and that
the object of his mission was to gain time, that is, to
waste it. Far from giving to Cardinal Bayane suffi
cient powers, the pope withdrew those which Cardi
nal Caprara had exercised in France in the character
of legate a latere. The French bishops, who, until
then had obtained from the legate, answers directing
the transaction or despatch of their affairs, were
obliged to engage in a correspondence directly with
Rome; the tardiness of which, caused great embarrass
ments and inconveniences in the spiritual administra
tion of the diocesses. The matter particularly agita
ted was the faculty of granting certain dispensations ; a
faculty, no doubt inherent in the episcopacy and which '
the bishops of the first ages had immediately exer
cised ; but which the Court of Rome during the dark
ness of the middle ages, had found the secret of reser
ving to itself. Unhappily these difficulties had not
been foreseen in the concordat of 1802; and until
1807, during the legation of Cardinal Caprara, they
were not felt. When, therefore, there was no longer
a legate, the bishops addressed the pope, and they
asked of him powers as extensive as the circumstances
required. They begged of him not to refuse them
the faculty of fully discharging their duties. At Rome,
it was the subject of very many discussions, consulta
tions and tedious writings which would not surprise
us at all, if they were dated in the thirteenth century,
but which seem altogether irreconcileable with the
intelligence of the nineteenth. Thconly article which
would be worthy of remark in the midst of this trash,
is that which respects marriages. In that, we see the
obstinacy of the Court of Rome in regarding as null,
the civil -contracts declared by the magistrate, con
formably to the disposition of the civil code, and in
pretending, that there cannot exist any valid and real
marriage, except through the intervention of a priest;

292 CONDUCT OF THE COURT OF ROME
a folly not less disavowed by sound theology, than by
the most vulgar common sense.
Still, as the civil code, by degrees was introduced
into the different countries of Europe, the Court of
Rome every where sent her pretended instructions,
which contained nothing but the development of the un
social and immoral doctrine of which we have spoken.
The following are some passages from instructions
destined to Poland in 1808, where by a public act,
the sacramental benediction of the married pair, was
made to harmonize with the execution of the civil
laws. " Such a transaction, proposed by a catholic pre
late, to a royal minister, upon an object so sacred,
considered in its principles, in its consequences, in its
whole tenor, conducts directly to the end, which mo
dern sectaries have proposed, that is, to make the
catholics, the bishops, the pope himself confess that
the power of governing men is indivisible. For a ca
tholic bishop to acknowledge in catholic marriages,
civil publications, civil contracts, civil divorces, civil
judgments, prescribed by the civil law, is to grant to the
prince a power over the sacraments and over eccle
siastical discipline: — it is to allow, that he may alter
the form and the rites, derogate from the canons, vio
late ecclesiastical liberty, trouble consciences : — that
he has consequently absolute authority over things
and causes purely ecclesiastical, essentially privileged
and depending upon the power of the keys, that is to
say, that he can put his hand to the censor, and make
his laws prevail over the laws of the church. It was
necessary either to dissemble and tolerate a disorder
imposed by irresistible force, or if choosing to speak
ard enter into the matter, the bishop ought to have
informed the royal minister that the dispositions of
the code, so far as they respect marriage, cannot be
applied to catholic marriages in a catholic country.
If we survey the history of nations, we shall not find
a single example of a catholic prince, imposing or suf-

SINCE THE YEAR 1800. 293
fering to be imposed upon his subjects, the obligation
to publish and declare their marriage in the Commune
and to discuss the validity or nullity of their marriage
before the judge of the district. A large field would
have been open to the bishop to show the royal min
ister, that in a country where the catholic religion
is that of the state ; in a country governed by a ca
tholic prince, the laws of the code relative to marriage,
cannot be applied nor the observation of them by ca
tholics be required without great scandal ; that it
would be an unheard of outrage, a manifest revolt
against the laws of the church; a novelty leading to
error and schism. If these pastoral remonstrances
were insufficient, it would remain to the bishops to re
mit their cause and that of the church into the hands
of God, and to instruct the flock committed to their
care. 1st. That there is no marriage if it be not contract
ed in the forms which the church has established to
render it valid : 2d. That marriage having been once
contracted according to the forms established by the
church, no power on earth can dissolve its bond:
3d. That it remains indissoluble, notwithstanding
adultery and the inconveniences of cohabitation : 4th
That in case of a doubtful marriage, it belongs to the
church alone to judge of its validity or invalidity, so
that every other judgment, emanating from any other
power is incompetent and incapable of authorizing the
divorce and of making it lawful: 5th. That a mar
riage, to which there is no canonical impediment is
good, valid and consequently indissoluble whatever
impediment the laical power may oppose to it, unduly
without the consent and approbation of the universal
church, or of its Supreme head the Roman pontiff:
6th. That on the other hand, every marriage, con
tracted, notwithstanding a canonical impediment, al
though improperly abrogated by the sovereign is null
and void, and that every catholic ought, in conscience,
to regard such a marriage as null, until it shall have
been validated by a lawful dispensation granted by
26*

294 CONDUCT OF THE COURT OF ROME
the church, if indeed, the impediment which makes
it null, may be susceptible of a dispensation."*
* Una tranazione cosi fatta, proposta daun vescovo cattolico lun
regio ministro sopra un oggetto si sacro considerata ne'suoi principj,
nelle sue conseguenze e nel suo complesso, conduce direttamente alio
scopo che si sonoprefissi i moderni settarj, di far si che col fatto con
fessmo i cattolici ed accordinoj che confessi ed accordi il papa stes-
so non che i vescovi que le pouvoir de gouverner les hommes est in
divisible (Beaufort, projfitde reunion etc. Paris, 1806, p. 8) . . . . •
Subito che si conceda da un vescovo cattolico in ordine ai matri.
monj cattolici le publicazioni civili, i contratti civili, i divorzj ci
vili, i giudicj civili, prescritti da legge civile da legislatore cattolico
in uno stato cattolico, si concede che abbia questi podesta in ordine
ai sagramenti, in ordiiie alia disciplina ccclesiastiea e che possa al-
terare la forma ed i diritti, dcrogare ai canoni, violare la liberta ec-
clesiastic'a e perturbare le eoscienze ; e che abbia in conseguenza
l'assoluto potere nelle cose e cause puramente ecclesiastichc, som-
mamente privilegiate ed essenzialmente dipendenti a jure clavium.
Ch'e quanto dire che possa cgli por mano ali'incensiere, far preva-
lere le sue leggi alle leggi della chiesa  O bisognava dis-
simulare e tolerare un disordine che una forza irresistibile impone,
o, volendo parlare ed cntrar in materia, era neccssario che il vesco
vo facesse conoscere al regio ministro, che le disposizione del codice
in ordine al matrimonio non potevano applicarsi ai matrimonj cat
tolici in paese cattolico  Se si scorrano 1c storie delle na-
zioni non si trovera eseinpio che da un principe cattolico siasi mai
imposto ai sudditi cattolici n6 acconsentito che loro s'imponga l'ob-
bligo di fare, rispetto ai matrimonj, lo pubblicazioni nel eomune, le
congiunzioni nel eomune, e di discotere della validita. o nullita di tali
conguinzioni avanti il guidice del circondario. . . . Avrcbbe il ves
covo avuto un largo campo per farsi strada a dimostrare al ministro
regio che in un paese dove la religione cattolica e religione dello
stato, dominate da un principe cattolico, non si possano senza grande
scandalo applicare ai cattolici le leggi risguardanti il matrimonio
ne osigerne da essi 1'osservanza ; che sarebbe questo un attentato
inaudito e una manifestta rivolta contro le leggi della chiesa, una
novita inducente all crrore c alio schisma .... Che sc poi inutili
si rendessero queste rappresentauzc pastorali, altro non rimarebbe ai
vescovi, che mettere nelle mani di Dio la causa sua e della sua chie
sa, ed istruire il gregge alia loro cura commesso.
lo. Che non vi e matrimonio sc non sia contralto in quelle forme
chela chiesa hastabilitc per Ia sua validita; 2o. che contratto una
volta matrimonio secondo le forme dalla chiesa stabilite, non vi e
podesta in terra, che possa discioglierlo quanto al vincolo : 3o. che
resta questo indissolubile non ostante l'adulterib del conjugc o la
molesta coabitazionc ; 4o- che nel caso di dubbio matrimonio, alia
sola chiesa appartien giudicarc sul mcrito, di modo che ogni altro
guidizio di qualsivoglia altra podesta e giudizio incompetente, ed
incapace ad autorizzare o render lecito il divorzio ; 5o. che non os-
tando al matrimonio alcun impedimento canonico, e questo rato e
valido, e percib indissolubile, qualunque sia l'impedimento che vi
frapponga indebitamente la laica podesta senza ii consenso e Tap-

SINCE THE YEAR 1800. 295
The bishop of Warsaw had said that the provisions
of the civil code relative to marriage presented no
difficulty; that they directed nothing that was contrary
to the laws of God and of the church, and that conse
quently every one was bound to conform to them.*
To this reflection so judicious the Court of Rome an
swered in these terms :f
"Is not the article opposed to the law of God and
of the church, which declares that the divorced per
sons cannot unite themselves again in marriage, and
v/hich comprises in this rule those whose divorce is
an offence against the laws of the church and of God !
Is not that, a provision contrary to the laws of God
and of the church, which authorizes the marriage of
a young man under the age of sixteen years, and of
a young woman under the age of fifteen years, and
that too, not in those extraordinary cases in which
marriage becomes a necessary remedy ; an indispen-
sible obligation ! Is it not a principle, opposed to the
laws of the church and of God to reserve to the
government the power of dispensing from an absolute

provaziohe della chiesa udiversale o del supTemo suo capo il roma-
no pontefice ; 60. che al contrario e irrito c nullo qualsivoglia ma
trimonio contratto con impedimento canonico dirimente abrogato del
sovrano per solo abuso di podesta ; e pero doversi in coscienza con-
siderar, come nullo da ogni cattolico sino a che non sia rivalidato
mediante la dispensa legittima della chiesa, se pure l'impediment'o
che lo rende nullo sia capace di dispensa.
* Si attendamus ad leges civiles codicis Napoleonis quoad matri-
monium nulla obvcnit dimcultas, quia nihil mandant quod sit legi-
bus Dei et Ecclesiae contrarium, el consequenter quilibet eas ser-
vare tenetur.
t E non e un commando oposto alia legge di Dio e della chiesa,
quello che si fa a tutti quanti i divorziati di non poter piu fra di loro
riunirsi nel qual comando s'includono apche quelli che contro le leg
gi di Dio e della chiesa si fossero divorziati ! Non e un comando
contrario alle leggi di Dio e della chiesa, quello col quale s'inabilita
l'uomo a prender moglie prima dei 16 anni compiti, e la donna pri
ma dei 15 compiti, nel qual comando s'includono anche quelli che
prima di tale eta non avessero altro legittimo rimedio in coscienza
obbligati a contrario 1 E non e contraTio alle leggi di Dio e della
chiesa il riservare al governo le facolta di dispensare dall' impedi
mento dirimente di secondo grado d'affinita misto col primo ! E per
dir tutto, non e un offender Dio e la chiesa il far leggi che sovvertouo
la disciplina ecclesiastica in materia si gelosa I

296 CONDUCT OF THE COURT OF ROME
impediment, resulting from affinity in the second de
gree ! And to sum up all, is it not an offence to God
and the church, to make laws which subvert the ec
clesiastical discipline in a matter so delicate !
The court of Rome then declares, that it is an
error to regard marriage as a civil contract " parti
cularly, since under the evangelical law, marriage
has been elevated to the dignity of a sacrament ; —
that it has by that means become a sacred thing, in
dependent as to its nature and validity of every spe
cies of profane law. " It is so true," adds the Court
of Rome, " that the nature and value of marriage,
particularly under the evangelical law is independent
of every civil contract, established by the civil laws,
that the council of Trent declared every marriage
contracted without the forms which it prescribed,
null, both as a sacrament and as a contract; which
this council could not have done if marriage, in its
nature, contained two contracts, as is pretended ; two
contracts which depend on distinct powers ; the one
civil and depending on the civil laws for its validity ; —
the other religious and depending on the laws of the
church."* Here the penman of these ultramontain instructions
does not understand in what consists the reasonable
doctrine against which he declaims ; for it is not at
ali pretended, that there are two contracts in marriage.
There is but one, and it is not and cannot be anything
but a civil contract. The sacramental benediction-
which the married pair go to receive in the church,
has not the effect of a contract at all; it contributes,
* Spccialcmente dopo che e stato nella legge evangelica inalzato
alia dignita di sagramento, e reso per cio sacro e independente da
qualsivoglia legge profana  Ed e tanto vcro, che il valore
del matrimonio, specialmcntc nella legge evangelica e independente
da ogni contratto civile stabilito dalle legge civili, che il concilio di
Trento diebiarc- irrito e nullo, il matrimonio, e in ragione di sagra
mento c in ragione di contratto, sempre che si contraesse senza le
solennita da esso preseritto : cio che non! avrebbe potuto fare, sell
matrimonio includesse di sua natura due distinti contratti, come si
asserissce, da due distinte podesta dipendenti, l'uno civile dipen-
dente per la sua validita dalle legge civili, l'altro religioso, dipen-
dente per il suo valore, dalle leggi della chiesa.

SINCE THE YEAR 1800. 297
like all the other sacraments to the sanctification of
those who are worthy to receive it. Besides we can
not too often repeat, that the decrees of discipline
which emanated from the- council of Trent, have
never had the force of laws in Fiance, and one of the
strong motives, which have existed against allowing
them to be published, consists in the impossibility of
giving authority to the legislation of this council, re
lative to marriages; for example, it declares valid the
marriages of minor children contracted without the
knowledge of their relations ;* a provision which can
not be allowed in a state wisely governed. Upon
this subject, the question is reduced to this, whether
the sovereign must, because the nuptial benediction
is a sacrament, abandon to the priests all that part of
jurisprudence which relates to marriages.
Before 1789, the contract and the nuptial benedic
tion taking place at the same time, the priest was con
sidered as a civil officer with respect to the con
tract, and in this character, he was bound to conform
to the requisitions of the civil laws relative to mar
riage, especially to those of the edict of 1556, and
the ordinance of Orleans, of 1560; — the ordinance
of Blois, the edict of Melun, the edict of 1606; the
ordinance of 1639, and the edict of 1697. All these
laws, proceed upon the supposition, that it belongs
incontestibly to the civil power, to determine the con
ditions necessary to the validity of marriage; and
this matter had been made so plain by several works
* " A man before the age of eighteen years complete, aiid a wo
man before the age of fifteen years complete, cannot contract mar
riage." Code Civil [French) Art. 144. "Nevertheless, it is al
lowable for the king to grant dispensations of age, for weighty mo
tives. Art. 145. The propriety of nullifying such marriages may
well be questioned. We may say of them, Fieri non debent; sed
facta valent. The expedient resorted to in England and in the
United States, to prevent them, is to impose a penalty on the minis
ter or magistrate who lends his agency to the union of persons un
der age, without the consent of the parents or guardians. Still this
does not invalidate the argument of the author upon the main point,
viz.: the impropriety of the interference of the pope in such matters
out of his own dominions.

298 CONDUCT OF THE COURT OF ROME
even anterior to 1789,* that the instructions and bulls
of Rome will hardly succeed in making it obscure.
But since the government has, by a wise regulation,
which had become indispensible, left to the priest only
the sacramental benediction of the married pair, re
quiring an officer whose functions are purely civil to
reduce the act or civil contract to form and declare
it, the whole rqatter has been restored to the order
which the popes had subverted by their decretals and
by their anarchical codes.
In a protestation published in 1808, Pius VII.
taking the title of pastor of the universal church.t
maintains as a notorious fact, that even before the
reign of Pepin, the domains ofUrbino, of Ancona, of
Macerata, of Marino, belonged to the church of Rome,
and that the father of Charlemagne only restored
them to the sovereign pontiff,J We might extract se
veral assertions equally curious from the secret in
structions addressed by the pope, to the bishops, under
the dates of the 23rd and 29th of May, of the same
year. We should there see him, after the example
of his most famous predecessors, take a resolution,
from which he scarcely ever departed, that viz. of
* See Les conferences ecclesiastiques de Paris sur le marriage
imprimees par ordre du cardinal de Noailles redigee3 par Le Seme-
lier, Paris, 1712. 4 vol. in 12mo. ibid. 1715. ibid. 1728. 5 vol. in
12mo. Consultations canoniques sur les sacremens, S. P. Gibcrt,
Paris, 1725, en 12 vols, in 12mo. Examen des principes sur le
marriage par Manstrat, Paris, 17S9, 3 part, in 12mo. Du marriage
(par M Agier) Paris, an IX. 2 vols, in 8vo. Code du marriage par
Le Eidant (edition donnec par Camus) Paris 1770, 2 vols, in 4to etc.
1 11 .papn nun £ il simplice vescovo di Roma, come si 6 impropri-
amente asserito, ma il pastore insicme della chiesa universale, ed
ha pcrcio il diritto di sceglierc i ministri ed i cooperajtori del suo
apostolato fra tutte le nazioni dell' orbe. (The doctrine of the su
premacy of the pope in the supplying of vacant sees, is admitted,
it is believed, by the prelacy of the Roman catholic church of the
United States of America. See Bishop Purcell's debate with Mr.
Campbell, p. 116. (Cincinnati, 1837.)
X E noto ch'erano esse da un' cpoca assai piu remota in potore de'
Romani pontefici, per una libera dedizione dei popoli abbandonati
dagli impcradori dell' Oriente; che occupato poscia dai Lombardi
l'esarcnto di Ravenna e la Pentapoli, che comprendeva tali provin-
cie, Pippino illustro e pio genitore di Carlo Magno, lo ritorse dalle
loro manielo restituti con un atto di donazione al pontefice Stefano.

SINCE THE YEAR 1800. 299
employing his pastoral functions in support of his
temporal pretensions.
It was the custom to annex to each bull of cano
nical institution, a bull addressed to the sovereign to
implore his protection in favour of the new prelate.
Pius VII. who until that time, had conformed to that.
usage, dispensed with it upon instituting a bishop of
Troyes in the month of July 1808 ; but amid the
much more important events of that time, the French
government paid no attention to this pontifical inci
vility, and the bishop was put into possession.
A decree of the 21st November, 1808, having
erected the department of Tarn-et-Garonne and de
signated Montauban as the capital, it was proposed
to establish there a bishoprick, to the erection of which,
the pope was requested to subscribe. What did the
pope do? He issued a bull in which, of his own pro
per motion, and in the plenitude of his apostolical
power, in consideration of the request of the inhabi
tants ; the bishops of Toulouse, of Cahors and of
Agen consenting thereto, and not in consideration
of the Imperial' edict, he Created in France a new
bishoprick, repeating seven times that it was he who
erected it, (per nos, ut praeferlur erecta) and citing,
one can hardly tell what, decretal of Boniface VIII.
whom he called his predecessor of happy memory
(felicis recordationis.) The indecency of several
peevish expressions in the first lines of this bull, could
have been easily overlooked, but the bull itself was
too much at variance with the maxims of the church
of France, to allow* of its publication.f
Every one knows, that according to the articles
(4 and 5,) of the Concordat of 1802, the pope ought
* France is not the only Catholic state which observes precaution
against the Court of Rome. In all a permittatur or exequatur from
the civil authority is necessary previously to the publication of the
bulls, briefs, and rescripts, which come from the court. Origine et
progres etc.
t It should be remarked, however, that the pope did not of his
plenary power endow the bishoprick of Montauban. He did not
Bay Dotem constituimus in bonis stabilibus, redditibusque super reg
ni debito fundatis.

300 CONDUCT OF THE COURT OF ROME
not to give canonical institutions except in conse
quence of nominations made by the head of the
state; — also that until 1808, these nominations were
always mentioned in the bulls of Institution. But on
the 13th April 1809, the pope despatched, for the
archbishop of Malines, a bull in which no such men
tion was made, and which seemed rather to nominate
than institute, this metropolitan. The reigning power
being informed of this new encroachment, in order
to cut short these miserable contests, declared that he
would consent not to be named in the bulls of insti
tution, upon condition, that he should not for the fu
ture, sign the request for these bulls. It must be con
fessed, that this was quite too great condescension;
and the pope might have seized this, as an occasion
of augmenting his power; as an unhoped for means
of escaping from an unequal contest. Nevertheless,
and in spite of the solicitations of several cardinals,
and of twenty prelates, ever since that time, he has
obstinately refused canonical institution, to all the
bishops recently nominated in France. It is now se
veral years, that he has acted in the same manner in
respect to Germany, where he has nearly extinguished
the episcopacy; and because certain property, which
was once ecclesiastical, has been ceded to certain
protestant princes, who must be indemnified, he de
termined that the catholic churches should remain
without pastors. It is a strange way for a pope to
take of avenging himself.
By a bull of the 10th June 1809, the French were
more or less generally excluded from the bosom of
the catholic church over which Pius VIL no longer
desired to preside.* Europe has not condescended
to pay any attention to this anathema. It was not
remarked even in Rome, where however some sedi
tious persons posted it up at the doors of the three
* Pius VII. in his bull of excommunication against Bonaparte,
signed with the title "Vicar of God," a title which the author of
the Origine progres et li mites de la puissance des papes (p. 198)
says, "he did not take without design for that of " Vicar of Jesus
Christ," whose kingdom is not of this world.

SINCE THE YEAR 1800. 301
principal churches. It appears, that the bull of the
10th June, would have been proclaimed on St. Peter's
day, (the 29th) if the scheme had not been discovered,
and if the respect due to the chair of the prince of
the apostles and to the august temple which bears his
name (St Peter's) had not prevented so scandalous a
ceremony from being allowed. The pope left Rome
on the 6th July and went to Savona, where he was
received with all the magnificence which a prince
could claim; for he was so yet, and no one but him
self, had condemned him to relinquish the functions of
a prince. Still, it was not proper that the nominations, made
according to the concordat, should any longer remain
without effect. The prelates, whose institution the
pope so long deferred, might have been put into pos
session immediately, as had been done under Henry
III. Henry IV. and even under Louis XIII; but it
was preferred, to allow them to govern their diocesses
in the character of vicars general, or as administra
tors named by the chapters, which was done under
Louis XIV. Innocent XI. Alexander VIII. and Inno
cent XII. — had tacitly approved of this provisional
arrangement, of which in fact, the king only could
reasonably complain, because it seemed to lower the
royal prerogative.
Truth compels us to admit that the chapters are
modern establishments. Their rights ascend only to
the middle ages ; but the court of Rome, herself in
vokes and recommends the ecclesiastical regulations,
which in the course of the last few centuries, have
founded, maintained and extended the jurisdiction of
Cathedral chapters. It was to be expected therefore,
that Pius VII. following the example of his predeces
sors would forbear objections against a system in
consistency with that, which had been consented to.
But here again, expectations were disappointed, and
it remains to state, how a cardinal, having become
the oracle of the pope, strove, during the whole year
of 1810, to disturb the peace of the churches of
France. But these are sad details which cannot be
27

302 CONDUCT OF THE COURT OF ROME
too much abridged. The senatus consulte of the 17th
February 1810, humbled the temporal power of the
Roman pontiff. In our opinion, this senatus consulte
did but put an end to disorders and scandals: while
it delivered the popes from those worldly cares which
the gospel had forbidden them ; it fully reserved to
them the means of being venerable pontiffs and of
occupying with splendour, the chair of the first apos
tle, who did not reign, who did not aspire to reign,
and whose successors during eight centuries were not
princes of this world. But Pius VII. desired to be
a prince; his counsellors desired that he should be a
prince ; and it appeared to them that the most efficacious
method of recovering the throne, was to provoke a
schism in the Gallican church, or at least inspire the
government with the fear of that event. Still, their
manoeuvres did not begin to become apparent, till the
end of the year 1810, after the nomination of a new
archbishop of Paris, who was a personage of renown,
whose talents, services, and Catholicism, the court of
Rome had previously very much extolled ; but whom
through one of those chances which are brought
about by intrigue and the interests of the moment,
she no longer deemed worthy of the purple with
which she had been pleased to clothe him.
Invested with the same powers by the chapter,
which had previously been conferred upon another
cardinal, the Abbey Maury* received from the pope an
epistle which declared them null, and to which he had
no regard. A yet more remarkable despatch is that
which a member of the sacred college, addressed on
the 11th November to the pope, tracing the course of
conduct which he ought for the future to observe.
The chief object was, to put in opposition to the bi
shops nominated by the most potent emperor and au
thorised by the chapter, apostolical vicars, who should
erect altar against altar. To these instructions were
annexed the forms of briefs, which the pope was to
* See Encyclopedia Americana, vol. viii. Article, Maury Jean
Siffrein, p. 352.

SINCE THE YEAR 1800. 303
address to the bishops, — to the chapters and to these
vicars extraordinary, who were to be the future in
struments of schism. Pius VII. on the 30th Novem
ber replied to his counsellor, thanking him for these
evangelical lessons, and he set himself about trans
cribing the forms which we have just referred to, and
caused them to be sent to the canons of Florence, of
Asti and of Paris. These briefs make no mention of
the Concordat of 1802, nor even of the Concordat of
1515, but they cite the bulls of Clement VII, of Juli
us II, of Alexander V. and even a decretal of Boni
face VIII. of happy memory, inserted, they say, in
the collection of the Extravagantes. This, as we
have said, is the name of one of the canonical com
pilations, which the popes published during the middle
ages, the authority of which, has never been admit
ted in France. Such were the texts, cited by the
pope to transform himself into a universal bishop,
and in support of the pretension, that the dioceses of
France, ought to be governed by vicars holding, all
their powers from him. These vicars too, in the ex
ercise of their powers, were obliged always careful
ly to indicate their character and origin. They must
even entitle themselves expressly, the delegates of
the Holy See.* We dare affirm, that there is not in
the annals of the Gallican church, a time when such
a mode of government, has been tolerated, and we
know not that Hildebrand himself would have dared
to propose on this subject any thing more extraordi
nary. In addressing to the canons of Florence, the de>-
cretal which had been dictated to him; the pope sur
mised, that he had been consulted by the chapter of
that church. But all the canons who composed it
were unanimous in maintaining the archbishop nomi
nated by the emperor, in the functions of adminis
trator. The effort of the pope, with the chapter of
* Demum, conceduntur sub e'a. conditione, ut in exercitio cujus-
cumque ex commemoratis facultatibus expresse declaretis illas a
yobis concedi tamquam a sedis apostolicae delegatis, quae declara,
fio in ipso actds tenore inserenda erit,

304 CONDUCT OF THE COURT OF ROME
Asti, was not more successful; and at Paris only one
canon was found, with whom he had any success.
In a writing (entitled Des eveques nommes et de leur
envoi dans les eglises vacantes, pour en prendre pos
session) this canon said in broad terms that he was
commanded to trouble the peace of his fellow citizens;
and to fulfil as far as he could, this edifying mission,
he declared the bishops nominated by the Llead of
the state, and the chapters who confided to them the
administration of the diocesses, and whoever acknow
ledged them as having any spiritual authority, to be
schismatics. Other writings were despatched from Paris,
Lyons, and Semur, to the North and West of France.
Emissaries spent themselves in vain efforts, to organ
ize every where a sect of pretended pure catholics,*
who were to withdraw themselves from the bishops
and capitulary administrators, and hear only the
apostolical vicars. But all these agitations resulted
only in disturbing the understanding of a few forlorn
women who were out of employment and of some
young seminarists. In 1811 the influence of these
manoeuvres, was no longer discoverable except in a
small number of boarding schools which had fallen
into disrepute.
* In many dioceses there was formed a sect of Catholics pure,
who kept up clandestine worship, at which were present certain
priests, who escaping the vigilance of the bishops, gave no security
to the government for the principles or the morality which they
taught. Rapport de LL. EE, les cardinaux Fesch. Maury, Caselli,
dee Archeveques de Tours et de Malines, des eveques d'Erreux, de
Treves et de Nantes le 5 Mars. 1811.
The catholics pure, of whom the prelates, who made this report,
speak, must not be confounded with the catholics yet more pure,
who protested against the concordat of 1802, and probably against
concordats to come, as well as against the decrees of the constitu-
ant assembly : upon which we cannot but wonder at the number of
sects, into which the court of Rome, by its ambition and intrigues,
has succeeded in dividing the clergy of France. Jansenists and
Molinists ; Ultramontans and Gallicans ; Jurors (assermentes) and
Refractories; Primitives and Concordataries ; Partisans and adver
saries either of the bishops nominated by the head of the State,
and admitted by the chapters, or of the apostolical vicars immedi
ately sent by the pope, etc. etc.

SINCE THE YEAR 1800. 305
We omit many other details which are very de
plorable, and would be very unworthy of public atten
tion; Those which we have given, are sufficient to
prove the proposition which we have announced,
namely, that from 1800 until the end of 1810, the
principles of the court of Rome were the same as
those of Gregory VIL, of Innocent III. and of Boni
face VIII. oj happy memory.* In fact this proposi
tion is the result of the opposition to the organic law
of the Concordat ; — to the maxims of the Gallican
church, and above all, to the four articles of 1682.
It is proved by the positive renewal of all the ana
themas hurled against these same articles; by the ob
stinate persistance in declaring the law of 1802 con
trary to the laws and the doctrine of the church ; — by
the letters of instruction relative to the property in
Germany which was ceded to the protestant princes;
by the instructions relative to marriages and which
condemn the civil code; — by the document in which
Pius VII. maintains that even before Pepin, there
was a court of Rome which had domains and sub-

* Boniface VIII,, in his bull, Unam Sanctam, made it an article
of faith and necessary to salvation, that the temporal sovereignty
of the popes is above that of the kings. But Clement V. revoked
that bull. Origins et Progres, etc. 277. In the same book, p. 220,
the following is given as a part of the reasoning by which this arti
cle of faith was proven. " In principio deus creavit coelum et ter
rain : (In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.)
It is not in principiis, in the beginnings ; Therefore, there is but
one authority to govern the world. St. Peter said, " here are two
swords :" therefore, the pope, his successor, has two swords, that
is, two powers. At the time of the deluge, there was but one ark
and one Noah: therefore, there is but one church and one supreme
head in the world. The powers that be are ordained of God, says
St. Paul: therefore the temporal power is subjected to the spiritual
powers, that it may be ordained, or put in order : (which is, as if
one should say ; theology is more excellent than medicine ; there
fore medicine is made subject to theology )  It belongs to
the spiritual power to judge, whether the temporal power does well
or ill : therefore it can suspend and transfer it. Kings as well aa
subjects are subjected to the power of chiefs ; for they belong to
the flock; therefore the pope can depose them. Such is the reason
ing which Pope Boniface VIII published as pontifical oracles in a
bull— the bull Unam Sanctam." See Bossuet, Def. Decl. liv, 3,
chap. 23, 24, 25.
27*

^CONDUCT OF THE COURT OF ROME

the bull, in which he erects, of his own
motion, a new bishoprick in France, although
t disposing, as yet, of the domains and public
revenues to endow it; — by the canonical institutions,
which he gives to French bishops without making
mention of their nomination by the head of the state ;
— by the bull of excommunication of the 10th June
1809; — finally, by the briefs drawn up for the purpose
of substituting apostolical vicars for lawful pastors.
What is the import of all these pieces, except that
the pope can despoil and depose kings, annul the civil
laws, overturn the laws of the church, governimme-
diately or cause to be governed every diocese at his
own will: — That he is and that he ought to be, not
only a temporal prince, but the preceptor and the so
vereign of all princes, the universal bishop of Christ
endom ! If we had lost the twenty seven proposi
tions of Hildebrand* they might all be found in the
* The twenty-seven maxims which bear the name of Hildebrand,
and which he professed and practiced if he did not write them, are
these :
The Roman church is the only church which God has founded.
The title of Universal, belongs only to the Roman pontiff.
He alone can depose and absolve bishops. (The primacy of St.
Peter is inferred from the command given to him by our Lord " to
feed his sheep and to feed his Iambs." But these are metaphorical
expressions; and Peter himself admitted that this duty was com
mon to him with the other apostles. Feed the flock of God, which
is among you, and when the chief shepherd shall appear, ye shall
receive, &c., lst-Pet. 5. vs. 2, 4. "But," says Bossuet, " neither
the injunction of duty, nor the promise of recompense ensure, ei
ther the fidelity, or the infallibility of the pastors." Origine et pro-
gres, etc. p. 268.
His legate presides over all bishops in every council, and may
pass sentence of deposition against them.
The pope can depose the absent.
It is not lawful to dwell with those whom he has excommuni
cated. He may, according to the necessity of circumstances, make new
laws, create new churches, transform a chapter into an abbey, and
divide a rich bishoprick' into two.
He alone can invest himself with the attributes of empire.
All princes kiss his feet.
His name only is to be pronounced in the churches.
It is the only name in the world.
It is permitted to him to depose emperors.

SINCE THE YEAR 1800. ' «... ^97
"* ' ""
acts of Pius VII. This will not astonish those-' ,w;ho.
have studied the histo,ry of the court of Rome. Whiter
it exists, this court will have no other principles-.-.,
Scarcely will it be able to dissemble them, even in
times which require the most circumspection. We
shall without doubt see this court taking advantage
of all circumstances, which will allow her still to
maintain them, by anathemas, by wars, by catastro
phes and by vast proscriptions.* The only effectual
It is permitted to him to 'transfer bishops from one See to
another. He can, in every church, ordain a priest.
He whom he (the pope) hath ordained, can govern another
church, and cannot receive from any particular bishop a superior
rank. No council can style itself general, except by order of the pope.
No book is regarded as canonical without his authority.
No person can invalidate his decrees; he can abrogate those .of
the whole world.
He ought not to be judged by any.
All persons whatsoever are forbidden to condemn him who ap
peals to the apostolical See.
To this See ought the greater causes of all the churches to be
brought. The Roman church has never erred, and will never fall into
error. Every Roman Pontiff, canonically ordained, becomes a saint.
It is permitted to accuse when he permits it or when he orders it.
He can without a council depose and absolve bishops.
He is not a" catholic who is not united to the Roman church.
The pope can absolve the subjects of bad princes from every oath
of fealty. t
The same doctrine is found in the epistles of Gregory VII. print
ed a long time since from the original register, which remained in
the archives of the Vatican, but which is now deposited among the
archives of France. Essai Historique sur la puissance temporelle
des papes tomi. second,pp. 100, 102.
* The author of the Origine progres et limites de la puissance
temporelle des papes, terminates that work with the following para
graphs: " The court of Rome did not exist — at least as it has been
seen for ages, — when the bishops of the Roman church had only to
exercise the spiritual functions attached to the Holy See : but from
the time that the popes became the proprietors of large domains,
temporal lords, and finally sovereign princes, they have had a court
like the nobility, the kings, and the emperors. From that time they
have been surrounded by interested courtiers, Who have, as far as
they could, made religion subservient to their ambition. These sup
porters of the court of Rome having become flatterers by their con
dition, laboured with emulation to exalt the greatness and the power

308 CONDUCT OF THE COURT OF ROME, &C-
security against this kind of public calamity, consists
either in the absolute extinction of the temporal so
vereignty of the popes, or at least in the strict limi
tation of their spiritual jurisdiction, according to the
laws; the usages and the doctrine of the first seven
centuries of the church.
of the popes, in order to elevate and enrich themselves. They at
tributed to the popes perfections more than human. They omitted
no means to change the holy humility and the exemplary disinte
restedness of the first apostle, into an earthly glory. They even
measured the religion and the merits of the faithful by the degree
of their submissiveness to the sentiments and person of a master, to
whom, they pretended, every thing ought to be sacrificed.
This teaches us how strong is the inclination of men to exalt
power and grandeur to the elevation of their hopes. The leaven
of ambition insinuates itself into souls the most devoted to. religion ;
and ferments there, unperceived even by their own conscience.
Self-love, like the heart, beats within us incessantly ; though we
perceive not its movement. " Too often," says Fleury, " men en
ter into religion, and there aspire to the dignities and to the power
which religion and politics have learned to revere. The esprit du
corps, fortifies the impressions received by education ; and in every
profession, men adhere to useful prejudices."
'" The soul," says Montesquieu, " how much it delights to domi
neer over other's souls ! Even those who love goodness, love them
selves so strongly, that there is no person who is not so unhappy as
to have cause, to distrust his own good intentions."
Judicious readers, after these elucidations, founded upon incon-
testible facts, and the knowledge of the aberrations of the human
heart, and of the human understanding, are in a condition to ap
preciate the truth, and the importance of the four articles of the
clergy of France, which some new doctors, ecclesiastical as well as
laical, endeavour to decry."

( 309 )

CHRONOLOGICAL. TABLE

THE POPES.

y f'crttt>>-y I.
1. St. Peter, until the year 66.
2. Linus, son of Herculanus, born at Volterra in Tuscany. Died
ia78. 3. Anaclet, or Cletus, died in 91.
4. Clement, son of Faustinus, born at Rome, died in 100.
Century II.
5. Evaristus, born in Syria, died 109.
6. Alexanoer I., died in 119.
7. Sixtus I., or Xistus, born at Rome, died 127.
8. Telesiphorus, died in 139.
9. Hyginus, died in 142.
10. Pius I.,died in 157.
II. Anicetus, died in 168.
12. Soter, born at Fondi, died in 177.
13. Eleutherus, died the last day of the year 1 92.
14. Victor, died in 202. Century III.
15. Zephyrincs, died in 219.
16. Calixtus I., died 14 Oct. 222.

310 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE .
17. Urban I., died 25 May, 230.
18. Pontien, died 28 Sept. 235.
19. Antherus, died 3 Jan. 236.
20. Fabianus, died 20 Jan. 250.
21. Cornelius, died 14 Sep. 253.
22. Lucius I., died 4th or 5th March, 255.
23. Stephen I., died 2 Aug. 257.
24. Sixtus II., or Xistus II., died 6 Aug., 258.
25. Dionysius, died 26 Dee. 269.
26. Felix I., died 22 Dec. 274.
27. Eutyci-iianus, died 7th or 8th Dec. 283.
28. Caius, died22d April, 296.
29. Marcellinus, died 24 Oct. 304.
Century IV.
30. Marcellus, a Roman by birth, died 16 Jan. 310.
31. Eusebius, died 26 Sep. 310.
32. Miltiades, or Melehiades, died 10th or 11th Jan. 314.
33. Silvester I., born at Rome, died 31 Dec. 335.
Pretended Donation of Constantine. Council of Nice. 1st. Oe
cumenical in 325.
34. Marcus, son of Priscus, died 7 Oct. 336.
35. Julius I., Roman by birth, died 12 April, 352.
36. Liberius, died 24 Sept. 366.
Felix II., antipupe, died 22 Nov. 365.
37. Damasus, born at Rome, died 10th or 11th Dec. 384,
Council at Constantinople 2d Oecumenical, in 381.
38. Siricius, born at Rome, died 22 Nov. 398.
The first from whom we have an authentic decretal. The first who
made a law enjoining celibacy on the clergy.
39. Anastasius, born at Rome, died in 401 or 402.
Century V.
40. Innocent 1., died 12 March, 417.
41. Zosimus, born in Greece, died 26 Dec. 418.
42. Boniface I., Roman, son of the priest Jocundus, died 4th of
Sept. 422.
43. Celestinus I., born at Rome, died 30 July, 432.
Council of Ephesus,3d Oecumenical, in 431.
44. Sixtus III., Roman, died 18 Aug. 440.
45. Leo I., or the Great, born at Rome, died 4th or 5th Nov. 461,
declared a doctor of the Latin church, by Benedict XIV.

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 31.1
Council of Chalcedon, 4th Oecumenical, in 451.
46. Hilarius. born in Sardinia, died 21 Feb. 468.
47. Simplicius, a native of Tivoli, died 25 Feb. 483.
48. Felix III., Roman, died 24th or 25th Feb. 492.
49. Gelasius, born at Rome, died 19 Nov. 496.
50. Anastasius IL, died 17 Nov. 498.
Century VI.
51. Symmachus, born in Sardinia, elected in 498, died 19 July,
514, p. 6. - y
Theodoric Emperor, p. 6.
52. Hormisdas, born at Frusinone in Campania, died 6th of Au
gust, 523.
53. John I., a Tuscan, died 18 May 526.
54- Felix IV., a Samnite, died in 530.
55. Boniface II., born at Rome, a Goth by origin, died in 532.
56. John II., called Mercurius, born at Rome, died 27 May, 535.
(styled by the Emperor Justinian, the head of all the holy churches,
Novell, 131. Cod. Lib. 1. Tit. 1. L. 8.)
57. Agapitus, son of the priest Gordian. died 22 April, 536.
58. Silverius, native of Campania, son of the Pope Hormisdas,
(No. 52) died 20 June, 538.
59. Vigilius, son of the consul John, elected pope, in Nov. 537,
before the death of Silverius, died at Syracuse, 10 Jan. 555.
Second council of Constantinople, the 5th Oecumenical, held
in 553.
60. Pelagius I., died 1 March, 560.
61. John III., called Catelinus born at Rome, died 13 July 573.
62. Benedict BoNosus,died 3Q July, 577.
63. Pelagius II., died. 8 Feb. 590. p. 6.
64. Gregory I., or the Great, born at Rome, died 12 March, 604,
one of the fathers or doctors of the Latin church (the first that took
the title servus servorum Dei,) p. 6.
Century VII.
65. Sabinianus, died 22 Feb. 606.
66. Boniface III., died in 606 or 607.
The Emperor Phocas declared the Roman Church the head and mo
ther of all other churches.
67. Boniface IV., a native of Valeria, (apud Marsos) died 7th of
May 615.
68. Deus-Dedit, a Roman (son of Stephen the sub-deacon) died
3 Dec. 618.

312 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE.
69. Boniface V„ born at Naples, died 22 Oct. 625.
70. Honorius I., native of Campania, son of the Consul Petro-
nius, died 12 Oct. 638.
Interregnum of twenty months.
71. Severinus, born at Rome, consecrated near the end of May,
640, died 1 Aug. the same year.
72. John IV. of Dalmatia, died 11 Oct. 642.
73. Theodore I., born at Jerusalem, died 13 May, 649.
The first who styled himself sovereign pontiff.
74. Martin I., (of Tuscany) died 17 Sept. 654. p. 7.
75. Ecgenius I., Roman, died 1 June, 657.
76. Vitalianus, born at Segni, died 27 Jan. 672. p. 7.
77. Adeodatus, Roman, died in June, 676.
78. Donus, or Domnus, Roman, died 11 April, 678.
79. Agatho, a Sicilian, (and a monk) died 10 Jan. 682. p. 8.
A council at Toledo absolve the subjects of Wamba, p. 10. Third
Council of Constantinople, and 6th Oecumenical in 680, and
681.
80. Leo II., a Sicilian, died in 683 or 684.
81. Benedict II. Roman, died 7 May, 685.
82. John V. Syrian, died 7 Aug. 687.
83. Conon, born in Sicily, a Thracian, by extraction, died 21 Sep.
687. p. 8.
84. Sergius 1., born at Palermo, his parents from Antioch, died
8 Sept. 701, p. 8. Century VIII,
85. John VI., a Greek, died 9 Jan. 705.
86. John. VII., a Greek, died 17 Oct. 707.
87. Sisinnius, a Syrian, died 7 Feb. 708.
88. Constantine, a Syrian, died 9 April, 715.
89. Gregory II., a Raman, died 10 Feb. 731, p. 8, 11, 12.
Quarrel with the Emperor Leo the Isaurian, p. 11, 12.
90. Gregory III., a Syrian, died 27 Nov. 741. p. 13.
Excommunication of the Iconoclasts, p. 13. Roman Republic, page
91. Zacharias, a Greek, died 14 March, 752, p. 15.

GHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 313
Accession of Pepin the Short, page 15. One Stephen elected pope
in 752, died before being consecrated.
92. Stephen II. died 25 April 757, page 16.
Consecration and pretended donation of Pepin, page 18. The let
ter of St. Peter, Sfc, page 17.
According to Fleury, (Liv. 43. n. 18.) the donation of Pepin com
prised 22 cities or towns, viz.: Ravenna, Rimini, Pesaro, Fano, Ce-
sena, Sinigaglia, Jesi, Forlimpopoli, Forli, Castro-caro Monte-Fel-
tro, Acerragio, (which is now unknown) Monte-Lucari, (believed
to be Nocera) Serravale, S. Marigni,- Bobio, Urbino, Caglio, Luccoli
(near Candiano,) Eugubio, Commacchio and Narni. This enume
ration is copied from Anastasius.
93. Paul I., brother of the preceding pope, died 28 June, 767.
94. Stephen III., a Sicilian, died 1 February, 772.
95. Adrian I., son of Theodatus, duke of Rome, died 25 De
cember, 795, page 21.
Charlemagne in Italy. TJie second council at Nice, and the 7th Oe
cumenical, in 787.
96. Leo III., a Roman, died 11 June, 816, page 23.
Charlemagne crowned emperor, page 23,24. False Decretals, page
26, 27.

Century IX.
97. Stehhen IV., installed 22 June, 816, died 24 January, 817,
page 25, 26. Donation of Louis-le-Dehonnaire, page 26.
98. Paschalis I., a Roman, installed 25 January 817, died 11
May, 824, page 29.
99. Euge\e II., born at Rome, installed in 824, died in August,
827, page 30.
100. Vale.vtinus, born at Rome, installed and died in 827.
101. Gregory IV., installed at the end of 827, and died January,
844, page 31, 32, 33.
Humiliations of the Emperor Louis-le-Debonnaire, page 31, 36.
102 Sergius II., installed 27 January, 844, died 27 Jauuary, 847,
page 36, 37.
103. Leo IV., elected in 847. died 17 July, 855, page 37.

28

314 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE.
Leonine City, page 37.
104. Benedict III., installed 29 September, 855, died 8 April,
858. 105. Nicholas I., a Roman, installed 24 April, 858, died 13 No
vember, 867, page 37, 43.
Excommunication of Lothaire and Waldrade, page 39, 42. Depo
sition of the patriarch of C. P. Photius, page 43, 44.
106. Adrian II„ a Roman, installed 14 December, 867, died in
872, page 44, 46.
Fourth Council of Constantinople, the 8th Oecumenical in 869,
page 44.
107. John VIIL, installed 14 December, 872, died 15 December,
882, page 46, 50.
Charles the Bald crowned emperor in 875, page 47, and Charles tht
Fat in 880. Council at Troyes, page 48.
108. Marinus a Tuscan installed at the end of December, 882,
died in May 884.
109. Adrian III., a Roman, installed near the end of 884, died
in September, 885.
110. Stephen V., a Roman, installed in September, 885, died 7th
August, 891, page 50.
111. Formosus, installed in September, 891, died in April, 896,
page 50, 51,
112. Boniface VI-, installed and died in 896.
113. Stephen VI., installed 896, strangled 897.
114. Romanus, born at Rome, installed 20lh August, 897, (died
4 months afterwards in the beginning of 898.)
115. Theodore II., installed and died in 89S.
116. John IX., a native of Tibur or Tivoli, installed in July, 898,
died 30 November, 900, page 51.
Century X.
117, Benedict IV., elected December, 900, died in October, 903,
page 52.
118. Leo V, of Ardea, installed 28 October, 903, driven off in
November. 119. CimisToi-iioRus, a Roman, installed in November, 903, dri
ven off in June, 904.
120. Sergius III., installed in 905, Obiit August, 911.
121. Anastasius III., a Roman, installed Auirust, 911, Ob. Oc
tober, 913.
122. Landon, installed in 913,06. April, 914.
123. John X„ installed in the end of April, 914, Ob. in prison

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 315
928 ; the lover of Theodora, page 57 ; conqueror of the Saracens,
page 58 ; dethroned by Marosia, page 58,
124. Leo VI., installed in the end of June, 928, Ob. 3 February,
929, page 57, 58.
125. Stephen VIL, installed February or March, 929, Ob. March,
931, page 58.
126. John XL, son of Marosia, and, as it is said, of Sergius, III.,
born in 906, installed 20 March, 931, Ob. in prison January, 936,
page 58 ; a secular administration under Alberic, page 58, 59. ,
127. Leo VIL, installed January, 936, Ob. July 939.
128. Stephen VIIL, installed July, 939, 06. November, 942.
129. Martin III., a Roman, installed November, 942, 06. 25, Ja
nuary, 945.
130. Aagapitus II. , a Roman, installed March, 946, 06. about
the end of 955.
131. John XII., Octavian, born at Rome, in 938, of the patrician
Alberic, was patrician himself after 954, installed pope, January,
956, page 59, 62 ; driven off in 963, by the Emperor Otho the
Great, page 61, 62.
132. Leo VIIL, installed 6 December, 963, 05. 17 March, 965,
page 62, 64.
133. Benedict V., elected after the death of John XII., 14 May,
964, 06. at Hamburg, 5 July, 965, page 62, 64.
134. John XIIL, born at Rome, installed 1 October, 965, 06. 6
September, 972, page 64.
135. Benedict VI. installed in the end of 972, strangled in 974.
136. Boniface (Franco) son of Ferrucius, antipope under the
name of Boniface VIL. 06. 985, (page 67.)
137. Donus II. elected pope after the expulsion of Franco or
Boniface, 06. 25 December, 974.
138. Benedict VII., a Roman, nephew of Alberic the patrician,
installed 975, 06. 10 July 983, page 67- ;
139. John XIV., installed by the Emperor Otho II., November,
983, driven off by Franco or Boniface in March following, and put
to death 20 August, 984, page 67,

One John XV. who died July, 985, is not enumerated. He is a dif
ferent person from the following, who retained the name of
John XV.
140. John XV., a Roman, son of the priest Leo, installed July,
986, driven off by the consul Crescentius, in 987, restored by Otho
III., 06. 996, page 67, 69.

Hugh Capet, page 66, 68, 69.

141. Gregory V., Bruno, son of the Duke Otho, grandson of th«
Emperor Otho I., installed 3 May, 996, driven off by Crescentius,
in 997, page 67, 68.

316 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE.
Robert, son of Hugh Capet, page 69 ; First interdict on France,
page 70.
142. John XVI., Philagathus, a Greek, installed by Crescentius,
in 997 ; put to death in 998, by order of Gregory V., who died 9
February, 999, page 68. —
143. Silvester II., Gerbert, born at Auvergne, archbishop of
Rheims, afterwards of Ravenna, installed pope 2 April, 999, Ob.
11 May 1002, page 70, 71.

Century XI.
144. John XVII., Siceo or Secco, installed 9 June 1003, 06. 31
October, same year.
145. John XVIII., called Fasanus, born at Rome, of the priest
Orso, installed 26 December, 1003, abdicated at the end of May,
1009.06. 18 July following.
146. Sergius IV., Petrus Bucca Porci, installed in 1009, 05. in
1012. 147. Benedict VIIL, John of Tusculum, installed 5 July, 1012,
06, in 1024.
Coronation of the Emperor Henry II. in 1013, page 73.
148. John XIX., a Roman, of Tusculum, brother of the pre,
ceding, as first consul, duke, senator, installed pope August, 1024,
driven off by the Romans, re-established by the emperor Conrad,
06. in 1033, page 74.
149. Benedict IX., Thcophylact, of Tusculum, nephew of the
two preceding, installed in 1033 ; driven off and restored in 1038;
driven off again in 1044 ; restored again in 1047, and retires in
1048, page 74.
150. Silvester IIL, John, bishop of Sabine, pope in 1044, 1045,
1046, page 74, 75.
151. Gregory VI., John Gratian, pope in 1044, 1045, 1046,
page 75,

Benedict IX., Silvester III., Gregory VI., all three popes at the
same lime, were deprived of the office by the Emperor Henry IIL,
page 75.
152. Clement II. , Suidgerus, a Saxon, bishop of Bamberg, in
stalled pope, 25 December, 1046, 06. 9 October, 1047, page 76.
Benedict IX. returns.
153. Damasus II., Poppo, bishop of Brixen, installed pope, 17
July, 1048, at the time Benedict IX. retires, 06. 8 August, same
year, page 76.

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 317
154. Leo IX., Bruno, son of Hugh, count of Egesheim, in Alsa-
tia, born 1002, installed Pope, February, 1049, OA. 19 April, 1054
page 76.
The scMsm of the Greeks was consummated during the pontificate,
Page 76.
156. Stephen IX., Frederick, son of Gothelon, Duke of Lower
Lorraine, installed 3 August, 1057, 06. at Florence, 29 March,
1058. 157. Benedict X., John, bishop of Veletri,, elected pope 30 March,
1058, retires 18 January, 1059.
158. Nicholas II., Gerard, born in Burgundy, installed 18 Janu
ary, 1059, 06. 21 or 22 July, 1061, page 77, 81.

Election of the popes by the cardinals, page 77 ; Quarrel about in
vestitures, page 79, 80.
159. Alexander IL, Anselm Badage, a Milanese, installed 30
September, 1061,06.21 April, 1073, page 81.
Cadalaus, or Honorius II. antipope, page 81.
160. Gregory VIL, Hildebrand, born in Tuscany, elected pope
22 April, 1073, 05. at Salerno, 25 May, 1085, page 76 to page 90,
93,94.Quarrels with all the sovereigns, page 83, 84; Excommunication
and deposition of the Emperor Henry IV., page 87, 88, 89 ; Do
nation of the Countess Mathilda, etc., page 86 : See Hallam's
Middle Ages, chapter vii. Guibert, or Clement III., antipope,
page 90, 91,95 ; Between Gregory VII. and Victor IIL, the Holy
See was vacant one year.
161. Victor III., issue of the house of the dukes of Capua, elect
ed 24 May, 1086, 06. 6 September, 1087, page 90.
162. Urban IL, Otho or Odo, born at Rheims, bishop of Ostia,
elected pope 12 March, 1088. 06. 29 July, 1099, page 90, 92.

Excommunication of Philip, King of France, page 91 ; First Cru
sade in lt}S5,page 91, 92 ; Death of the antipope, Guibert, 1100,
page 95.

Century XII.

163. Paschal IL, Raynier, born at Bleda, diocess of Viterbia,
elected pope 13 August, 1099, 06. 21 January, 1118, page 92.

318 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE.
Philip, king of France, excommunicated again, page 95, 96 ; Dis
graces of Henry IV, Emperor, page 90 to 96 ; Quarrels of the
pope with Henry V., page 98, 100; Albert, Theodoric, Magmulj,
antipopes after Guibert, page 95.
164. Gelasius IL, John of Cajeta, elected pope 25 January,1118,
06. at Cluni, 29 January, 11 19, page, 100.
Bourdin or Gregory VIIL, antipope. page 100.
165. Calixtus IL, Guy, born atQuingey,of a Count of Burgun-
dy, archbishop of Vienna, elected Pope, 1 February, 1119, 06. 12 or
13 December, 1124, page 100,101.
End of the Quarrel about investitgres ; First Council of Lateran,
(Rome) The 9th Oecumenical in 1123.
166. Honorius IL, Lambert, born at Fagnano, installed 21 De
cember, 1124, 06. 14 February, 1130, page 101, 102.
Guelphs and Ghibelines, page 101, 102 : Frangipani,page 102.
167. Innocent II., Gregory, of the house of the Papi, elected 15
February, 1130, 06. 24 September, 1143, page 102, 103.
Quarrels with the king of France ; Louis the Young, page 103 ; Pe
ter de Leo, antipope, under tha name of Anaclet, and after him
Gregory, or Victor IV., page 102; Second Council of Lateran,
and 10th Oecumenical, in 1139.
168. Celestin II., Guy, a Tuscan, elected 26 September, 1143,
06. 9 March 1144, page 103.
169. Lucius IL, Gerard, born at Bologna, installed 12 March,
1144, 06. 25 February, 1145.
Arnold of Brescia, page 103, 104, 110.
170. Eugeve III., Bernard, born at Pisa, elected 7 February,
1145, 06. 7 July,1153, page 105.
Crusade of 1147, page 105; Decreeof Gratian, published in 1152,
page 106,107; Frederick Barbarossa, page 105,108.
171. Anastasius IV, Conrad, born at Rome, elected 9 July, 1153,
Oi. 2 December, 1154.
172. Adrian IV„ born at St. Alban, in England, elected 3 De,
cember, 1154, 06. 1 September, 1159, page 108.
Quarrels with the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. page 110, 1 13.
173. Alexander III., Roland of Sienna, issue of the house of

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 319
Bandinelli, elected 7 September, 1159, 06. 30 August, 1181, page

Octavian, vr Victor III., Paschal III., Calixtus IIL, Innocent IIL,
Antipopes, page 113.
Lombard league against Frederick Barbarossa, page 114; Alexan-
dria,page 114; Thomas Becket, etc., page 115, 116; 3d Council
of Lateran, and llth Oecumenical, in 1179.

174. Lucius IIL, (Humbold) or Ubald, born at Lucca, elected
1 September, 1181, 06. 24 November, 1185, page 117.
175. Urban III., Hubert Crivelli, elected 25 November, 1185,06.
at Ferrara, 19 October, 1187, page 117.
176. Gregory VIII., Albert, born at Beneventum, elected 20 Oc
tober, 1187,06. 17 December, same year, page 117.
177. Clement III., Paul, or Paulin Scolaro, born at Rome, elect
ed 19 December, 1187, 06. 27 March, 1191, page 117.

Crusade in 1189, page 117.
178. Celestin IIL, Hyacinth Boboeard, born in 1108, elected
pope 30 March, 1191, 06. 8 January, 1198, page 118, 119.

Century XIIL
179, Innocent IIL, Lotharius, of the family of the counts of
Segni, born in 1160, elected pope 8 January, 1198, consecrated 22
February following, 06.16 or 17 July, 1216.

Quarrels with the Venetians, page 121 ; with Philip Augustus
king of France, page 121, 122 ; with John, king of England
page 122, 124; with the Emperor Otho, page 124,126.
Crusade in 1203, taking of Constantinople by the crusaders, page
127.
Crusade against the Albigenses, page 128 ; Inquisition, page 122,
130.
4th Council of Lateran, and l%th Oecumenical, in 1215, page 130.
See Hallam's Middle Ages, chapter 7.
180. Honorius IIL, Cencio Savelli, a Roman, elected at Perusia,
18 July, 1216, consecrated 24th of same month, 05. 18 March, 1227,
page 131.
181. Gregory IX., Ugolino, of the family of the counts of Segni,
a native of Anagni, bishop of Astia, elected and installed pope, 19
March, 1227, Ob. 21 August, 1241, at the age of nearly 100 years,
page 131.

320 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE.
The Emperor Frederick II. excommunicated four times, page 132;
The decretals compiled by Raymond of Pennafert, page 135
136.
182. Celestin IV., Geoffrey-de Castiglione, a nobleman of Milan,
monk of Citeaux, bishop of Sabine, elected pope in the end of Oc
tober, 1241, 06. 17th or 18th November, same year.

Between Celestin IV, and Innocent IV. the Holy See remained va
cant 19 months.
183. Innocent IV. Sinibald, of Fiesco, a nobleman of Genoa,
elected pope at Anagni, 25 June, 1243, consecrated 29th sarao
month, died at Naples 7 December, 1254, page 136.
Council of Lyons, 13th Oecumenical, in 1245; Emperor Frederick
II. deposed; Conferences of Louis IX. and Imnocent IV., at Clu
ni ; Crusade against Conrad IV. and Manfred, son of Fre
derick. 184. Alexander IV., Raynald, of the family of the counts of
Segni, bishop of Ostia, elected Pope 12 December, 1254, 06. at Vi-
terbia, 25 May, 1261, page 141.
Excommunication of Manfred; Negotiation with Louis IX and
Charles of Anjou about the kingdom of Naples.
185. Urban IV., James Pantaleon, born at Troyes in Champao-ne,
archdeacon of Liege, bishop of Verdun, patriarch of Jerusalem
elected pope et Viterbia, 29 August, 1261, consecrated 4 September,
following, 05. 2 August, 1264, page 142.
186. Clement IV„ Guy, of Fnulques, (or Gui Foucand) born at
St. Gilles, on the Rhone, (near Narbonne, became a soldier, then a
lawyer, married, had children, lost his wife, became an ecclcsias-
lic,) was bishop of Puy, (in Velay) then archbishop of Narbonne,
cardinal (under the title of St. Albin, legate to England) bishop of
Sabine, elected pope at Perusia, 5 February, 1265, crowned 26th
same month at Viterbia, where he died 29 November, 1268 oae-e
143. ' V S
Charles of Anjou called to the throne of Naples, page 143 ; Death
of Conradin, 28 October, 1268, page 144; Pragmatic Sanction of
St. Louis, page 145, 146.
The Holy See remains vacant from 29 November, 1268 till 1
September, 1271.
187. Gregory X., Theald, or Thibaud, of the family of the vis
conti of Piacenza, canon of Lyons, archbishop of Liege elected
pope 1 September 1271. consecrated 27 November, same year,
died at Arezzo, 10 January, 1276, page 147,

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 321
Coronation and excommunication of the Emperor Rodolphus, of
Hapsbourg, §c. page- 147. 2d council of Lyons, and 14th Oecu-
menical, in 1274.
188. Innocent V., Peter of Tarantasia, (in Savoy) a dominican,
cardinal bishop of Ostia, elected pope at Arezzo, 20 February,
1276, crowned at Rome 23d same month, died 22 June, same year.
189. Adrian V., Ottoboni, a, Genoese, cardinal deacon, elected
pope, 11 July, 1276, died at Viterbia, 16 August following.
190. John XXL, Peter, a Portuguese, cardinal bishop of Tuscu
lum, elected pope at Viterbia, 13 September, 1276, crowned 20th
same month, 06. 16th or 17th May, 1277.
191. Nicholas IIL, John Cajetan, a Roman, of the family of the
Ursins, cardinal deacon, elected pope at Viterbia, 25 November,
1277, (after a vacancy of six months) crowned at Rome, 26 De
cember, same year, 06. 22 August, 1280, page 147, 148.
192. Martin IV., Simon, of Bria, cardinal priest, elected pope
at Viterbia/22 February, 1281, crowned at Orvietto, 23 March, same
year, 06. 28 March, 1285, page 148.
Sicilian Vespers in 1282, page 148.
193. Honorius IV., James Savelli, a Roman nobleman, cardinal
deacon, elected pope at Perusia, 2 April, 1285, consecrated at Rome,
4 May following, 06. 3 April, 1287.
194. Nicholas IV., Jerome, a native of Ascoli, minor friar, car
dinal, bishop of Palestine, elected pope in 1288, 06. 4 April. 1292.
Vacancy of two years.
195. Celestine V., Peter de Murro, native of Isernia, in the
kingdom of Naples, elected Pope at Perusia, 5 July, 1294, conse
crated 29 August following, abdicated 13 December same year, and
died 19 May, 1296, page 148.
Imprisoned and canonized by his successor.
196. Boniface VIIL, Benedict Cajetan, native of Anagni, cardi
nal legate, elected pope, 24 December, 1294, consecrated 2 January,
1295, 06. 11 October, 1303, page 148, 149.
Proscription of the family of the Colonne,page 148 ; Quarrels with
Philip-le-Bel, king of France, page 149; The Sexlus, or liber
Sextus, Officials, — Officialities, page 151 ; Legates, page 152.
Century XIV.
197. Benedict XL, Nicholas Bocasin, of Trevisia, son of a shep
herd, the ninth general of the Dominicans, cardinal, bishop, of Os
tia, elected pope, 22 October, 1303, crowned the 37th, died at Peru
sia, 6th or 7th July, 1304, page 147.
Vacancy of eleven months, page 147.
198. Clement V., Bertrand Gothus, born at Villandran, in the
diocess of Bordeaux, bishop of Comminges, archbishop of Bordeaux,
elected pope at Perusia, 5 June, 1305, crowned at Lyons, 14 Novem-
29

322 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE.
ber same year, died at Roquemaure, near Avignon, 20 April, 1314,
page 159.
The Holy See transferred to Avignon, page 160 .• Condemnation of
the Templars, page 160; Excommunication of the Venetians,
page 160; Clementines, page 161.
Council of Vienna, the 15th Oecumenical, in 1311, page 149; Ca
non law, page 161.
Vacancy of two years between Clement V. and John XXII., page
162.
199. John XXII., James Eusius, born at Cahors, cardinal, bishop
of Porta, elected pope at Lyons, 7 August, 1316, died 4 December,
1334, page 161.
Excommunication of Emperor Louis of Bavaria ; Peter de Corba-
ria, a Franciscan, antipope, under the name of Nicholas V., page
152.
Treasures of John XXII., page 152 ; his extravagantes, page 161.
200. Benedict XII. , James Fournior, born at Saverdun, in the
Comte de Foix, cardinal, elected pope, 20 December, 1334, crowned
at Avignon, 8 Jauuary, 1335, 06.25 April, 1342, page 164.
Pragmatic Sanction of the Germans, page 164, 165.
201 Clement VI., Peter Roger, born in the Diocess of Limoges
monk de la Chaise-Dieu, archbishop of Rouen, cardinal, elected
pope, 12 May, 1342, crowned the 19th, died at Ville-neuve, d'Avig-
non, 6 December, 1352, page 165.
Anathemas against Louis of Bavaria, page 165 ; Joanna II. , queen
of Naples, sells Avignon to the pope, page 166 ; Rienzi page 167;
Charles IV. renounces the sovereignty of Rome, and Petrarch's
letter to him, page 167,168; A plague prevails.
202. Innocent VI., Stephen d'Albcrt, born in the diocese of Li
moges, bishop of Noyon, of Clermont, cardinal, bishop of Ostia,
elected pope, 18 December, 1352, crowned the 30th, died at Avig
non, 12 September, 1362.
The grant of the Emperor Charles IV., and the commencement of the
sovereignty (authentic) of the popes in 1355, pages 167, 168.
203. Urban V., William son of Grimoaldus, lord of Grisac in Ge-
vaudan (Gebalicus pagus) a Benedictine elected pope in September
1362. Crowned 6 November, died 19 December 1370. He had been
forced to return from Rome to Avignon. '
204. Gregory XL, Peter Roger, born in the diocess of Limoges,
nephew of Clement VI., Cardinal elected pope 30 December 1370,
crowned 5 January 1371, died at Rome 27 March 1378.
After the death of Gregory XL, in 1378, schism of Avignon of the
West, page 169.
205. Urban VI., Bartholomew Pregnano, Neapolitan, elected

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 323
pope at Rome 9 April 1378, crowned the 18th, died 18 October
1389, page 169.
206. Clement VIL, Robert of the house of the Counts of Geneva,
canon of Paris, bishop of Therouane and Cambrai, cardinal legate,
elected pope at Fondi 21 September 1378, acknowledged in France
and in Spain, died 16 September 1394, page 170.
207. Boniface IX., Peter or Perrin Thomacelli called the cardi
nal of Naples, elected by fourteen cardinals, 2 November 1389, to
succeed Urban VI., died 1 October 1404, page 169.
208. Benedict XIII., Peter de Luna a Spaniard born in 1325,
cardinal deacon, elected 28 September 1394, to succeedClement
VIL, died at Rimini 18 October 1417, page 170.
France withdraws her obedience from both pontiff's, page 170.
Century XV.
209. Innocent VIL, Cosma di Meglioratl born at Sulmona, car
dinal, elected 17 October 1404 to succeed Boniface IX., crowned in
November of the same year, died 6 November 1406.
210. Gregory XII., Angelo Corrario, a Venetian, cardinal, elected
30 November 1406 to succeed Innocent VII. He abdicated 4 July
1415, and died at the age of 92 years at Rimini 18 October 1417,
page 173.
Council in Pisa in 1409, deposed Gregory XII., and Benedict XIII.
and elected Alexander V., page 173.

211. Alexander V., Peter Philagrius, born in the Island of Can-
dia, bishop of Vieenza of Novare, archbishop of Milan, cardinal,
elected pope at the Council of Pisa 26 June 1409, crowned 7 July
the same year, died at Bologna 3 May 1410, page 173.
212. John XXIIL, Balthasar Cossa born at Naples of a noble fa
mily, cardinal deacon, elected at Bologna by 16 cardinals the 17
May 1410 to succeed Alexander V. He is deposed by the Council
of Constance 29 May 1415, died 22 November 1419, pages 173, 174.
Council of Constance from 5 November 1414 until 22 April 1468,
the 16 Oecumenical, page 173.
213. Martin V., Otho Colonne a Roman, cardinal deacon, elected
pope at the Council of Constance the 11 November 1417, crowned
the 21st. He entered Rome 22 September 1420, died 21 February
1431. 214. Clement VIII., Gilles de Mugnos a canon of Barcelona,
elected by two cardinals in 1424 to succeed Benedict XIIL, or Peter
de Luna. He abdicated 26 July 1429.
215. Eugene IV., Gabriel Condulmerus a Venetian, cardinal bi
shop of Sienna elected in March 1431 to succeed Martin V., crowned
the 11th of the same month. He declared himself for the Ursins
against the Colonne. He was deposed by the Council of Basle 22
June 1433. He died 23 February 1447, page 175.

324 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE.
Council of Basle from July 23d 1431 till May 1443 and the 17th
Oecumenical, page 174.
Council of Florence from 26 February 1439 till 26 April 1442, and
the 18lh Oecumenical.
Pragmatic sanction of Charles VII., in 1439.
216. Felix V, Amadeus VIII. duke of Savoy elected pope by the
Council of Basle 5 November 1439, crowned 24 July 1440, renounced
the pontificate 9 April 1449, page 175.
217. Nicholas V., Thomas of Sazarne a Tuscan, bishop of Bo
logna elected 6 March 1447 to succeed Eugene IV., and crowned
pope 18th of the same month, died 24 March 1455, page 175, 179.
End of the schism of the West in 1449, page 175. Taking of Con
stantinople by the Turks in 1453, page 176.
218. Calixtus III., Alphonso Borgia, born in 1377, at Valentia,
in Spain,, cardinal, archbishop of Valentia, elected pope, 8 April,
1455, crowned the 20th, died 8 August, 1458, page 179.
219. Pius II. , Piccolomini, born in 1405, at Corsini, near Sienna,
a man of letters, whose name was Aeneas Sylvius, cardinal, bishop
of Sienna, elected pope in August, 1458, died at Ancona, July,
1464, page 179, 180.
Bull execrabilis, page 180 ; Abrogation of the Pragmatic under
Louis XI., page 180, 181; Letter of Pius II. to Mahomet IL,
S,-c.,page 181.
220. Paul IL, Peter Barbo, born at Venice, in 1417, cardinal of
St. Marc, elected pope, 31 August, 1464, crowned 16 September,
same year, died 28 July, 1473, page 181, 182.
Platina the historian, page 182.
221. Sixtus IV., Francis d'Albescola, de la Rovere, born in 1413,
at Cellcs, near Savone, a Franciscan, a cardinal, elected pope, 9 Au
gust, 1471, died 13 August, 1484, page 183.
Conspiracy of the Pazzi against the Medici, at Florence, in 1478,
page 183, 185.
222. Innocent VIIL, John Baptist Cibo, a Genoese nobleman
of Greek extraction, born in 1432, cardinal, elected pope, 29 Au
gust, 1484, and crowned 13 September, same year, died 25 July,
14-32, page 185.
223. Alexander VI., Rodrigues Borgia, born at Valentia, in
Spain, in 1431, cardinal, archbishop of Valentia, elected pope, 11
August, 1492, crowned the 26th, died the 18th August, 1503, he
betrayed Charles VI1I-, Louis XII., &c, page 185, 187. Nepotism,
its effects, 187, 188. Century XVI.
224- Pius III., Peter Piceolimini, nephew of Pius II. , cardinal of

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 325
Sienna, elected pope, 22 September, 1503, crowned 8 October, same
year, and died 18th of the same month, page 190.
225. Julius IL, Julian de la Rovere, born in 1441, near Savona,
nephew of Sixtus IV., bishop of Carpentras, of Albano, of Ostia, of
Bologna, of Avignon, cardinal, elected pope, 1 November, 1503,
crowned the 19th, died 21 February, 1513, page 190.
League of Cambrai, page 190; Louis XII. excommunicated, page
191 : 5th Council of Lateran, and the 19th Oecumenical, in 1512,
1517; Doctrine of the pope's infallibility established, page 192.
226. Leo X., John de Medici son of Lorenzo de Medici, born at
Florence in 1477, cardinal, deacon, elected pope 11 March 1513,
died 1 December 1521, page 192.
Excommunication of Luther, page 194, Concordat with Francis I.,
in 1516, page 195, 198.
227. Adrian VI., Adrian Florent, born in 1459, Cardinal, bishop
of Tortosa elected pope 9 January 1522, died 34 September 1523,
page.198. 228. Clement VIL, natural and posthumous son of Julian de
Medici born at Florence in 1478, archbishop of Florence, cardinal,
elected pope 19 November 1523, crowned the 25th, died the 26th
September 1534, page 199.
Holy league against Charles V.,page 199 Excommunication of Henry
VIIL, king of England, page 200.
229. Paul IIL, Alexander Farnese born at Rome in 1466, bi
shop of Ostia, dean of the sacred college, elected pope 13th of Oc
tober 1534, crowned 7 November, died 10 November 1549, page
201.Bull in cand Domini, page 201.
Council of Trent from 1545 till 4 December 1563. The 20th and
last Oecumenical council, page 201.
Jesuits (Society of) instituted, page 201.
230. Julius III., John Marie del Monte born at Rome 10 Sep
tember 1487. bishop of Palestine, archbishop of Siponte, cardinal
elected pope 8 February 1550, crowned the 22d and died 23 March
1555, page 203.
Excommunication of Henry II., king of France, page 203.
231. Marcellus IL, Marcellus Servinus, born at Monte Pulciano
cardinal elected pope 9 April 1555, crowned the 11, died 30th of the
same month, page 203.
232. Paul IV, John Peter Caraffa, a Venetian nobleman, born in
1476, cardinal, elected pope, 23 May, 1555, and crowned the 26th,
died 18 August, 1559, page 203, 204.
Enemy of Spain, page 204, Excommunication of Elizabeth, Queen
of England, page 205.
233. Pius IV., John Angelo de Medici, born at Milan, in 1499,
cardinal, elected pope the 26th December, 1550, crowned 6 Janua,
17, 1560, died 9 December, 1565, page 206.

326 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE.
He proscribed the nephews of his predecessor, page 206 ; Queen of
Navarre summoned to Rome, page 206 ; Council of Trent termi
nated, page 206.
234. Pius V., Michael Ghisleri, a Ligurian, born 17 January,
1504, a dominican, cardinal, elected pope, 7 January, 1566, crowned
the 17th, died the 1st May, 1572, canonized by Clement XI. in 1714,
page 207. *
Pius V. renewed the bull In coena Domini, page 208 ; He decreed
to Como de Medici the title of Grand Duke of Tuscany, page
209 ; Excommunicates Elizabeth, page 208.
235. Gregory XIIL, Hugh Buon-Compagni, born at Bologna,
in 1502, bishop of Vesti, cardinal, elected pope, 13 May, 1572,
crowned the 25th, died 10 April, 1585, page 210.
Massacre of St. Bartholomew, (24 Aug. 1572,) The league, page 210.
236. Sixtus V., Felix Peretti, born at Montalto, in the Marche
d'Ancona, 12 December, 1521, a herdsman, a cordelier, bishop of
Saint-Agathe, cardinal, elected pope, 24 April, 1585, died the 27th
August, 1590, page 211.
Anathemas against Elizabeth, page 211 ; against Henry IV., king
of Navarre, Sec, page 211; Henry III. assassinated by James
Clement, page 2i3 ; the power of Philip II. king of Spain, odious
to Sixtus V., page 211, 213.
237. Urban VIL, John Baptist Castagna, born at Rome in 1521,
of a Genoese gentleman, archbishop of Rossano, cardinal, elected
pope, 15 September, 1590, died the 27th of the same month, page
214. 238. Gregory XIV., Nicholas Sfondrate, born at Cremona, in
1535, bishop of Cremona, cardinal, elected pope, 5 December, 1590,
crowned the 8th, died 15 October, 1591, page 214.
Excommunicates Henry IV., page 214.
239. Innocent IX., John Anthony Facehinetti, born at Bologna,
in 1519, bishop of Nicastro, in Calabria, elected pope, the 29 Octo
ber, 1591, crowned 3 November, died 30th December, of the same
year, page 214,
240. Clement VIIL, Hippolytus Aldobrandino, born at Fano, in
1536, cardinal, elected pope, 30 January, 1592, crowned eight days
after, died in the month of March, 1605, page 214, 215.
Abjuration and absolution of Henry IV. etc., page 214; Treatise of
Pithou on the liberties of the Gallican church, published in 1594,
page 216; Assassination of Henry IV. page 215.
Century XVII.
241. Leo XL, Alexander Octavian do Medicis, born at Florence,
in 1535, cardinal, elected pope, 1 April, 1605, died 27th of April.

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 327
242. Paul V., Camille Borghese, born at Rome, cardinal, elected
pope, 16 May, 1605, crowned 29, died 28. Jan., 1621, page 221,223.
Excommunication of the Venetians, page 221 ; Disturbances ex
cited in England ; Bull In coena Domini, etc. page 223.
243. Gregory XV., Alexander Ludovisi, born 9 January, 1554,
at Bologna, archbishop of that city, cardinal, elected pope, 9 Febru
ary, 1621, died 3 July, 1623.
244. Urban VIIL, Maffeo Barberini, of an ancient family in
Florence, archbishop of Nazareth, cardinal, elected pope, 6 August,
1623, crowned 29 September, died 19 July, 1644, page 225, 227.
Excommunication of the Duke of Parma, page 227.
245. Innocent X., J. B. Pamphili, born at Rome, 7 May, 1574,
cardinal, in 1629, elected pope, 15 September, 1644, crowned the
29th. died 7 January, 11355, page 228, 230.
Destruction of Castro ; Refusal of bulls to the Portuguese bishops
nominated by John of Braganza; Duke of Guise called to Na
ples and betrayed; Bull against the peace of Munster, page 230.
246. Alexander VIL, Fabio Chigi, born at Sienna, 15 February,
1599, legate, nuncio, cardinal, in 1652, elected pope, 7 April, 1655,
died 22 May, 1667, page 230, 231 .
Formulary, page 230 ; The ambassador of Louis XIV. insulted at
Rome, page 230.
247. Clement IX., Julius Rospigliosi, born at Pistoia, in 1600,
cardinal in 1657, elected pope, 20 June, 1667, died 19 December,
1669, page 231.
248. Clement X., J. B. Emilius Alteri, born at Rome, in 1590,
cardinal, in 1669, elected pope, 29 April, 1670, died 22 July, 1676,
page 231.
249. Innocent XI. Benedict Odescalchi, born at Como in 1611, car
dinal in 1647, elected pope, 21 September, 1676, died 12 Aug. 1689.
The four articles of 1682, page 233.
250. Alexander VIIL, Peter Ottoboni, born at Venice, 19 April,
1610, bishop of Brescia, of Frascati, cardinal in 1652, elected pope,
in 1689. died 1 February 1691, page 235,
' 251. Innocent XII., Ant. Pignatelli, born at Naples, 13 March,
1615, archbishop of Naples, cardinal, elected pope, 12 July, 1691,
crowned 15th same month, died 27 September, 1700, page 235, re
fuses bulls, page 235, Advocate general Talon, page 236, 240.
Century XVIII.
252. Clement XL, John Francis Albani, born at Pesaro, 22 July,
, 1649, cardinal in 1690, elected pope, 23 November, 1700, conse
crated the 30th, died 19 Mareh, 1721, page 242.
Bull Vineam Domini, in 1705, Bull Unigenitus, in 1713, Quarrels
with the King of Sicily, Victor Amadeus, page 242.
253. Innocent XlH., Michael Angelo Conti, (Segni) born at

328 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE.
Rome, 15 May, 1655, bishop of Viterbia, cardinal in 1707, elected
pope, 8, May, 1721, and crowned the 18th, died the 7th March, 1724.
254. Benedict XIIL, Peter Francis • Orsini, born 2 February,
1649, a Dominican, cardinal,- archbishop of Beneventum, elected
pope, 29 May, 1724, crowned 4th of June, died 21 February, 1730,
page 243. Legend of Gregory VIL, page 243, 245.
255. Clement XII., Lorenzo Corsini, born at Rome, 7 April, 1 652,
cardinal, in 1706, bishop of Frascati, elected pope, 12 July. 1730,
crowned the 16th, died 6 February, 1740, page 245.
256. Benedict XIV., Prospero Lambertini, born at Bologna, 31
March, 1675, cardinal, in 1728, archbishop of Bologna, elected pope,
17 August, 1740, died 3 May, 1758, page 245.
Generally esteemed in Europe, page 245.
257. Clement XIIL, Charles Rezzonico, a Venetian nobleman,
bora 7th March, 1693, cardinal, in 1737, bishop of Padua, elected
pope, 6 July, 1758, crowned the 16th, died 2 February, 1769, page
245, 246.
Affair of Malagrida in Portugal, page 246; Quarrels with the
duke of Parma, page 246, 247.
t Anthony Ganganelli, born 31 Octo-
Rimini, a cordelier, cardinal, in
crowned 4 June same year, died

omini, page 249 ; Destruction of
page 249, 250.
259. PioS*Vii}-rftrrn?Sjrigelo Braschi, born at Cesena, 27 Decem
ber, 1717, cardinal, in 1773, elected pope, 15 February, 1775,
crowned 22d same month, died 29 August, 1799, page 250, 251.
Century XIX.
260. Pius VIL, Gregory Barnabas, Chiaramonti, born at Cesena,
in 1742, bishop of Tivoli, in 1785, cardinal and bishop of Imola,
elected pope, 14 March, 1800, died 6 July, 1823.
261. Leo XII., Annibale della Genga, born 2 August, 1760, car
dinal, 8 March, 1816, elected pope, 28 September, 1823, died in Fe
bruary, 1829.
262. Pius VIIL, Francis Xaviero Castiglione, born at Ciugolia,
in the states of the church, 20 November, 1761, passed through all
the orders of the hierarchy, was made cardinal by Pius VIL, and
elected pope, 31 March, 1829, died 30 November, 1830, after a pon
tificate of twenty months, marked by no important events.
263. Gregory XVI., Cardinal Mauro Capellari ; born at Belluno,
in 1765, received the cardinal's hat, in 1826, elected pope, 2 Febru
ary, 1831.

JOSEPH WHETHAM,

IMPORTER,
PUBLISHER AND BOOKSELLER,
22 South Fourth Street,
PHILADELPHIA.

COMMENTARIES OF
Gill, Clarke, Henry, Scott, D'Oyley, arid flfao$^Gpmpre;hensive, Col-
latteral, Cottage, Brown. Patr.ick.;JJovnh!arid''Vf]fit*yi'Bl|0.ddridge,
Bloomfield, Burkitt, McKnight,"-Cam.pbell, BrownellfHoage^Stuart,
Barnes, Newcombe, &c, &c. ¦ j;-. " * " '¦ - '¦¦-", V

STANDARD THEOLOGICAL WORKS.
THE WORKS of Baxter, Owen, Simeon, Lardner, Lightfoot,
Warburton, Charnock, Bingham, Bp. Hopkins, Hervey, Newton,
Skelton, Butler, Vicessimus, Knox, Reynolds, Jeremy Taylor, Bp.
Bull, Hawker, Edwards, Robt. Hall, Scott, (Thos.) Jay, Doddridge,
Witherspoon, Flavel, Barrow, Tyndale &. Frith, Seeker, Watts,
Barrington, Chillingworth, Magowan, Ambrose, Leighton, Haly-
burton, Tillotson, Jones of Nayland, Sherlock, Jortin and Hurd. -
THE SERMONS of Whitefield, Blair, Atterbury.Erskine, Lati
mer, M\ssilon, Pitman, Laud, Wesley, Davies, Faber, Saurin, and
Dwight. Bloomfield's Critical Digest, do. Greek Testament ; Burnet's His
tory of the Reformation, do. History of his Own Times ; Campbell on
the Gospels ; Harmer's Observations ; Hooker's Ecclesiastical Po
lity ; Lime Street Lectures ; Hall's Contemplations ; Knox's Refor
mation ; Milner's Church history ; Mosheim's do., Eusebius do.:
McCries' Knox, do., Melville ; Charnock on Attributes, Ridgely's
Divinity ; Hill's do.; Witsius on the Creed, &c, &c.

J. IT'S. PUBLICATIONS.

Dick's (Rev. John) Theology, 2v.
8vo.
Jones' Church History, 8vo.
Witsius on the Covenants, 2v-
8vo.
Neale's History of the Puritans,
3 vols. Svo.
Massilon's Sermons, 1 vol. 8vo.
Leland's Deistical Writers, 1 vol.
8vo.
Ellis on Divine Things, 1 vol.
12mo.
Fisher's Marrow of Divinity,
12mo.
Jenning's Jewish Antiquities,
8vo.
Cole on God's Soverignty, 12mo.
Howe's Delighting in Jesus,
12mo.
Calvin on the Romans, 12mo.
Calvin's Life, 12mo.
Memoir of Rev. John H. Rice,
12mo. Halyburton, 12rao.
Canon of Scripture, by Dr. Alex
ander, 12mo.
Gurnall's Christian Armour, 8vo.
Brown's Pastor's Manual, 12mo.
Alexander's Evidences, 12mo.

Miller (Dr.) on Baptism, 12mo.
Clerical Manners and Ha
bits, 12mo.
Pike and Hayward's Cases of
Conscience, 12mo.
Bridges on the 119th Psalm,
12mo.
The Nun, by Mrs. Sherwood, do.
Social Tales, by do do.
Faber on Infidelity, 12mo.
Mathews on the Divine Purpose,
18mo.
Companion to the Siek, by Rev.
S. G. Winchester, 18mo.
Test of Truth, by Mary Jane
Graham, 18mo.
Freeness of Grace, by do. 18mo.
Nulty's Elements of Geometry,
12mo.
Kennedy's Arithmetic, 18mo.
Smart's Horace, 2 vols. 18mo.
Drew on the Soul, 12 mo.
Resurrection, 12mo.
Ramsey's Missionary Journal,
12mo.
Evangelical Music.
Bp. Berkley's Works, 3 vols.
8vo.

3 9002 00586 6604