.^xsuafise*

/Zi

7

CLARK'S

FOREIGN

THEOLOGICAL LIBRARY.

VOLUME XXIV.

Neanfler's ffieneral ffiljurci) 3&t»ton>.
VOL. VII.

EDINBURGH :
T. & T. CLARK, 38 GEORGE STREET;
LONT30N : SEELEY AND CO. ; WARD AND CO. ; AND JACKSON AND WALFORD.
DUBLIN : JOHN KOBEKTSON. NEW YOKK : WILEY AND PUTNAM.
PHILADELPHIA : J. A. MOOKE.

MDCCCLI.

GENERAL LUSTOlti

CHRISTIAN RELIGION AND CHURCH :

FROM THE GERMAN OF

DR AUGUSTUS NEANDER.

TRANSLATED FROM THE LAST EDITION.

BY JOSEPH TOuiiEY",

PAOFKSSOR OF MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL PHILOSOPHY IN TIIR UNIVERSITY OF
VERMONT.

" I am come to send fire on the earth." Words of our Lord.
" And tlie fire shall try every man's work, of what sort it is " " But other foundation can no man lay th.in tliat
is laid, whicli is Christ Jesus." St Paul.

VOLUME VII.

EDINBURGH :
T. & T. CLARK, 38 GEORGE STREET.
LONDON: HAMILTON, ADAMS, & CO. ; SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO. ;
SEELEY & CO. ; WARD & CO. ; JACKSON & WALFORD, ETC.
DUBLIN : JOHN ROBERTSON.

PHINTED BY
M'COSH, PARK, AND D13WARS,
DUNDEE.

TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.

This volume completes the translation of the General History of the
Christian Religion and Church, as far as the work had been published
when its lamented author was called away from the scene of his earthly
labours. A sixth volume, as he himself intimates in the Preface to
his Tenth Part, was to have brought the history of the church down to
the times of the Reformation. What progress had been made by the
author in preparing this interesting portion of his work for the press,
I do not certainly know, though I feel strongly confident it must have
been such that the last labours of the eminent historian will not long
be withheld from the public. In a letter to the publishers of my
translation, dated April 9. 1848, Dr Neander writes that he was then
occupied with this sixth volume ; and it is well known, that one of the
last acts of his life was to dictate a sentence of it to his. amanuensis.
As he had therefore been employed upon it for as long a time, to say
the least, as had ever iutervened between tho dates of his earlier vo
lumes, it is not unreasonable to conjecture that the volume was left by
him in a sufficient state of forwardness to admit of being finished
without much labour. That it may be so finished, and the whole work
thus brought down to the epoch to which the author in his later
volumes was evidently looking forward as a resting-place, must appear
highly desirable to every one who is capable of appreciating the minute
and comprehensive learning, the scrupulous fidelity, the unexampled
candour and simplicity of spirit, the unobtrusive but pervading glow
-of Christian piety, which have thus far so eminently characterized
every portion of this great work.
If such a volume should soon be given to the world, the publisher
of the present translation will doubtless take measures to have it con
verted into English, and added as a necessary complement to their
edition of Neander's Church History.
J. TORREY.
Burlington, July 31. ]F51.

( vi )
DEDICATION
OF THE FIRST PART OF THE FIFTH VOLUME

TO MY DEAR AND HONOURED FRIEND.
DE BITSOHL,
BISHOP IN 9TKTTI.V.
Ever since I had the happiness to be thrown by official relations, when you
were still here amongst us, into closer contact with you, and through your exa
minations over the department of practical theology, as well as by cordial inter
course, to become more accurately acquainted with your peculiar spirit, your
way of interpreting the signs of these times, labouring with the birth-throes of a
new age ofthe world, and your judgment as to what the church in these times
needs before all things else, I felt myself related to you, not by the common tie
of Christian fellowship alone, but also by a special sympathy of spirit. And when
you left us, called by the Lord to act in another great sphere for the advancement
of his kingdom, your dear image still remained deeply engraven on my heart. In
your beautiful pastoral letters, I recognized again the same doctrines of Christian
wisdom, drawn from the study of the Divine Word and of history, to which I had
often heard you bear testimony before ; and when I had the pleasure of once more
seeing you face to face, it served to revive the ancient fellowship. Often has the
wish come over my mind of giving you some public expression of my cordial re
gard. To the bishop, who in his first pastoral letters so beautifully refers the
servants of the church to that which is only to be learned in the school of hfe, in
History, I dedicate a part of the present work, devoted to the history of the
kingdom of God. And I feel myself constrained to dedicate to the bishop of the
dear Pummrranian church, that volume of my work in particular which de
scribes the active operations of its original founder. That kindred spirit, even in
its errors, you will greet with your wonted benevolence.
May the Lord long preserve you by his grace for his church on earth, and
bless your work.
These times, torn by the most direct contrarieties, vacillating between licen
tiousness and servility, between the bold denial of God and the deification of the
letter, needs such men, who recognize* the necessary unity and the necessary
manifoldness, and who understand how to guide free minds with love and wisdom,
being themselves the disciples of eternal love and wisdom. May all learn from
you not to hunt after new things which are not also old, nor to cling to old things
which will not become new ; but, as you advise in your first pastoral letter, to
form themselves into such scribes as know how to bring out of their good trea
sures things both old and new, just as the truth which they serve is an old truth
and at the same time always now. With my whole heart, yours, A. XEANDER.
Eeklin, Mauch 5 1841

( vii )

AUTHOR'S PREFACE
TO THE FIRST PART OF THE FIFTH VOLUME.

I here present to the public the first part of the history of that important
period, so rich in materials, the flourishing times of the Middle Ages ; thanking
God that he has enabled me to bring this laborious work to an end, while engaged
in discharging the duties of a difficult calling.
1 must beg the learned reader would have the goodness to suspend his judg
ment respecting the arrangement and distribution of the matter till the whole
shall be completed. Notwithstanding that M. H  , in his recension of the
two preceding volumes, in the literary leaves of the Darmstadt Church Gazette,
has expressed himself so strongly, I have still thought proper, in this volume
also, to incorporate the history of Monachism with that of the church constitu
tion. No one, doubtless, except M. H  , will believe me to be so childish or
so stupid as to have done this merely because it is customary to speak also of a
constitution of Monachism. The reasons which have induced me to adopt the
plan I have chosen, will readily present themselves to the attentive reader ;
though I am free to confess that another arrangement is possible, and that the
reference to the Christian life is made prominent by me in the second section also,
as it belongs indeed to the special point of view from which I write my Church
History. I should have many things to answer to the above-mentioned reviewer,
if the judgment of a reviewer were really anything more than the judgment of
any other reader or non-reader. That the remark concerning Claudius of Turin,
was neither unimportant nor superfluous, every one may easily convince himself,
who takes the least interest in a thorough scientific understanding of the history
of doctrines. As to my theological position, I demand for that the condescending
tolerance of no man ; but shall know very well how to defend it on scientific
grounds. I regret that the second volume of Barthold's History of Pommerania did not
reach me till after the printed sheets of the whole section were already lying
before me.
I must direct the attention of the readers of my Church History, to the Atlas
of Ecclesiastical History, soon to be given to the world by Candidate Wiltsch, of
Wittenberg, which will prove a welcome present to every friend of the history of
the church.
In conclusion, I thank my worthy friend, the preacher elect, Selbach, for the
fidelity and care with which he has assisted me during the transit of my work
through the press, and wish him the richest blessing in his new. sphere of labour
in the kingdom of God. A. NEANDER.
Berlin, March 5. 1841.

( viii )
AUTHOR'S PREFACE
TO THE SECOND PART OF THE FIFTH VOLUME.

I rejoice that I am here able at length to present to the public the fruits of my
favourite studies for many years, — an exhibition of the Christian life, of the de
velopment of the theology and of the history of the sects during the flourishing
times of the Middle Ages. Would that the many new facts which ever and anon
have presented themselves as the result of my inquiries, may serve, as some of
my earlier labours have done, to call forth new investigations, which might tend
to promote the cause of science by confirming that which I have advanced, filling
up what I have left defective, cr stating the other side of facts where I have
stated but one side. I regret that my attention was drawn too late to Dr Giese-
ler's Programme on the Summas of Rainer, and that I received it too late to be
able to avail myself of it in treating the history of the sects. I regret it the
more, as I am aware how much the labours of this distinguished inquirer have
aided me in other investigations where our studies have happened to be directed
to the same subjects. It is a great pity that, by this custom of academical pro
grammes, many an important scientific essay, which published by itself or inserted
in some journal might soon be generally dispersed abroad, is to many entirely
lost, or at least escapeis their notice at the particular moment when they could
have derived the most benefit from it. The latest volume of Ritter on Christian
Philosophy, is a work also to which I could not of course have any regard. Also
the Essay of Dr Planck, in the Studien und Kritiken, J. 1844, 4tes Heft, on a
tract cited in my work, the Contra quatuor Galliae Labyrinthos of Walter of
Mauretania, is a production to which I must refer my readers, as having appeared
too late for my purpose.
I have to lament, that of the ten volumes of the works of Raymund Lull, there
are two which I have not been able to consult, as they are nowhere to be met
with. If it be the fact that these two missing volumes cannot be restored, it is
certainly desirable that some individual would do himself the honour of completing
the edition from the manuscripts in the Royal Library of Munich.
I have not compared my earlier labours on the subject of Abelard, with this
new representation of the man. By those Writings of his which Dr Rheinwald*
and Cousin have first presented to the world, an impulse has been given to many
a new inquiry and new mode of apprehending the character of that celebrated
individual. In continuation of the present work there will follow, if God permit, an account
of the times down to the period of the Reformation, in one volume.
I heartily thank Professor Schonemann, for the extraordinary kindness with
which, as Superintendent of the Ducal Library at Wolfenbiittel, he has commu
nicated its treasures for my use, without which it would have been out of my
power to complete many an investigation of which the results are to be found in
this volume. And in conclusion, I thank my dear young friend H. Rossel, not
only for the care he has bestowed, on the correction of the press, but also for the
pains and skill with which he has drawn up the Table of Contents and the Re
gister. A. NEANDER.
Berlin, Dec. 3. 1844.
•* The Archivarius not barely of " Modern Church History," to whom I wish the most abun
dant support of all kinds in the very important undertakings in behalf of literature in which
he is engaged, an edition of the collected writings of Valentine Andrea, one of thegreat pro
phetic men of Germany ; the Acta of the council of Basle, after the plan of the one which
Hermann of Hardt has furnished of the council of Costnitz ; and the continuation of Jiis Acta
Historico-Ecolesiastioa, a work which must prove so important for the present and for future
times.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

VOLUME SEVENTH.
FIFTH PF.RIOD OF THE HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH.
FROM GREGORY THE SEVENTH TO BONIFACE THE EIGHTH.
FROM A D. 1073 TO il.D. 1294.

[First Division.]'
SECTION FIRST.
EXTENSION AND LIMITS OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH.
1. Among the Heathen .
A. Europe
Pommerania. Unsuccessful missionary labours of partially converted Pohs,
and of tbe Spanish monk Bernard,  1
Early life of Otto ; his activity as bishop of Bamberg : bis call to be an apostle
among the Pommeranians  4
Otto's jonrney through Poland; his reception by the dukes of Poland and
Pommerania  8
Tbe first baptized converts in Pommerania. Pagan festival at Pyritz ; prepara
tory instruction and baptism of seven thousand; farewell exhortations  10
Favoarable dispositions of Wartislav and his wife. Successful operntious and
planting of the first church in Kamniin. Supposed divine judgment on'
account of breaking the Sabbath  .  .  11
Otto, and his timid companions, in the free city of Julin. Fury of tbe pagans ;
secret Christians there. Citizens agree to follow the example of Stettin  12
Arrival at Stettin. Religions condition ofthe pagan inhabitants. Embassy to
Poland. Otto's influence; upheld by a Christian family  14
Boleslav's letter. Otto's method in destroying the monuments of idolatry.
Death ofa heathen priest  .  ]R
Otto in Garz, Lebbehn. Julin converted and destined for a bishopric. Suc
cess in Clonoda (Gollnow), Naugard, Colberg, and Belgrade  __ 20

X TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Visitation-tour, and return of Otto to Bamberg  , 
Reaction of paganism in Pommerania. Otto's second missionary journey.
His influence upon Wartislav iu Demmin. Speech of the latter at the diet in
Usedom  „_  23
Influence of a pagan priest in Wolgast. Course of events there till Christianity
triumphs  .  26
Otto's successful labours in Gulzkow; his discourse at the dedication of a
church. Salutary example of Mizlav  „.  I  28
Boleslav's military expedition renounced. Otto's interview with vVartislav.
Otto's strong desire to visit Riigen. Attempts of Ulric to visit that island
defeated. Otto's treatment of his clergy  32
Stettin, a town partly pagan, partly Christian. Witstack's conversion. His
support of Otto. Otto's calmness amidst the infuriated pagans. Adoption of
Christianity resolved upon in an assembly of the people. Otto's treatment
of children. Dangers to which he exposed himself  34
Successful operations in Julin. Otto's return to Bamberg; be continues to be
interested in behalf of the Pommeranians. German clergy and colonists in
Riigen conquered by the Danes. Planting of the Christian church there by
Absalom  * 42
Wendish kingdom of Gottsbalk, under his successors. Spread of Christianity
there  „  43
Vicelin's earlier life. His zealous and painful labours, in connection with
Dittmar, among the Slaves. Religious societies and missionary schools  44
Liefland. Planting of the Christian church there. Missionary operations of
Meinhard (first church in Yxkiill). Crusades of Theodoric and Berthold
against the Lieflanders. Albert of Appeldern. Riga made a bishopric.
Brethren of the Sword. Estbland, Semgallen, Curland, christianized  48
Spiritual dramas. Theological lectures of Andrew of Lund. Sigfridin Holm.
Frederic of Celle martyred in Friedland. John Strick's behaviour during an
attack from tbe Letti. Impression produced by a spiritual song. Converts
to Christianity come to a consciousness of their equal rights and dignity as
men. Change in the character of the laws. Exhortations of William of
Modena  ,  __  52
Prussia. Missionary labours of Adalbert of Prague, and Bruno Boniface, till
their martyrdom. Gottfried of Lucina, and monk Philip. Christian's la
bours, sustained by Innocent the Third (through his letters and briefs).
Completion of the work by the German knights and brethren of the Sword.
Four bishoprics  55
Finland converted to Christianity  00
B. Asia..
Tartary. Activily of the Nestorians in spreading Christianity. Lpgend of
the Christian kingdom in Kera'it, under the priest kings John. Historical
basis of this story  gl
Mongols. Empire of Dschingiskhan. Religious condition of the Mongols.
Unsuccessful embassies of Innocent the Fourth  ,  6t
Influence of the Crusades. Embassy of Louis the Ninth. Statements of
William of Rubruquis. His conversations and participation in the religious
conference betwixt the different parties  68
The Mongol empire in Persia™  __.  75
Lamaism in the main empire of China. Report of Marco Polo, who enjoyed the
protection of Koblaikhan  „  _.„.  73

TABLE OK CONTENTS. XI
Missionary activity of John de Monte Carpino in Persia, India, China." His
successful labours in Cnmbalu (Pckin). The Nestorian prince George be
comes Catholic ; reaction of Nestorianism after his death  76
2. Among the Mohammedans in AJ) ica.
Relation of the MoLammedaus to Christianity during the Crusades. Francis
of Assisi in Egypt. Different accounts of him. Report of Jacob of Vitry  79
Science as an instrument for the spread of Cliristianity. Raymund Lull's
earlier life. His conversion, and his plan of labour. His Are generalis
opposed to two parties. Relation of faith to knowledge. Linguistio mis
sionary schools at Majorca. Lull's voyage to Tunis and its result. His
Tabula generalis and Necessaria demonstrate. His labours in Europe, and
second journey to North Africa (Bugia). His banishment; shipwreck near
Pisa. His labours as a teacher in Paris ; his threefold plan. Dies a martyr
in Bugia  _  „  „.  81
3. Relation ofthe Christian Church lo the Jews.
The monk Hermann on the treatment of the Jews. False reports concerning
them ; fanatical behaviour towards them. Bernard of Clairvaux defends
them, and puts down Rudolf. Peter of Cluny hostile to the Jews  96
The popes their protectors. Innocent tbe Second and the Third. Briefs of
Gregory the Ninth and of Innooent the Fourth _„  101
Points of dispute with the Christians. Objections stated by a Jew, and their
refutation by Gislebert  103
Doubts and conflicts ofthe convert Hermann  106

SECTION SECOND,
HISTORY OF THE CHURCH CONSTITU HON, 110— 2S9.
1. Papacy and the Popes, 110—265.
Corruption of the church, and reformatory reaction ; Hildebrand's idea ofthe
church as designed to govern the world  ]10
His course of development as conditioned by the times in which he lived.
Gregory the Seventh (1073) ; complaints in the first years of his reign  in
Principles of his conduct; Old Testament position on which he stood. Predi
lection for judgments of God. Veneration of Mary. Papal and royal autho
rity. Monarchical constitution of the church. Gregory and the laws. His
legates. Annual synods. Care for particular nations. Gregory's incorrupt
ible integrity. Persecution of witches forbidden. Gregory's views of penance,
of monachism, asceticism. His liberality  „  115
Different expectations from Gregory's government. The siory concerning
Henry the Fourth. Protests against his tlection. Letters missive for a
reformatory Fast synod (1074.) Opposition to the law of celibacy. Gregory's
firmness to bis principles in tbe case of the opposition at Mayence, etc. His
union with the laity and monks. His opponents. Letter to Cuuibert of
Turin. Separatist heretical movements. Complaints against Gregory  124
Lay investiture forbidden. Gregory's proceedings towards Philip the First and
Hermann of Bamberg  __„  „,_  ]35
Henry the Fourth obeys the pope in respect to simony. Idea of a crusade.
Henry violates the peace. Gregory's letter of admonition, and embassy.

Xll TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Gregory is impeached by Hugo Blancus. Gregory deposed at the council of
Worms (1076.) Henry's letter to Rome. Gregory's imprisonment by Cin-
tius, and liberation. Ban pronounced on Henry. Impression produced
on different parties. Gregory's justification of himself, refuted by Waltram.
Diet at Tribur  .  _~  •— 139
Henry's journey to Rome (1076-77.) Gregory's journey to Germany pre
vented. His relations with Mathilda. The penitents at Canossa. The host
used an an ordeal. The judgment to be formed respecting Gregory's recon
ciliation with Henry  l°"
Henry violates the peace. Rudolph of Suabia elected (1077.) Gregory's am
biguous mode of proceeding. New ban pronounced on Henry (1080.)
Gregory deposed and Clement tbe Third elected. Henry in Italy prepared
for peace. Gregory's firmness ; his death (1085) ; his Dictates  -~  157
Continuance of the contest after Gregory. Victor tbe Third. Urban the Se
cond. Philip the First's controversies concerning his marriage. Firm and
bold stand of Yves of Chartres, and his fate. Ban pronounced on Philip  162
Occasion of tbe Crusades. Peter the Hermit. Ecclesiastical assemblies at
Piacenza and Clermont  „.  166
Speech of Urban the Second. Enthusiasm called forth. Different motives of
the crusaders. Spiritual orders of knights. Pious frauds, together with
examples of faith  168
Papal authority incieased by the crusades. Change effected in Urban's situation
till his death. Death ofthe anti-pope Clement the Third  172
Continued contests of Henry the Fifth. Robert of Flanders stirred up by
Paschalis the Second. Bold letter of the clergy of Liege (by Sigibert of
Gemblours) to Paschalis  174
Disputes with Henry the Fifth about Investiture. Compact at Sutri, a.d. 1110.
New compact a.d. 1112. Reproaches brought against Paschalis the Second.
Gottfreid of Vendome representative of the sterner party. Milder judgment
of Hildebert of Mans and Yves of Chartres. John of Lyons. The tract of
Placidusof Nonautula. Paschalis before the Lateran council. New disputes
about investiture  „—.  .  .  „  ™™  180
Gelasius tbe Second, and the imperial pope Gregory the Eighth. Attempt to
restore peace by the monk Hugo. Neutral stand taken by Gottfried of Ven-
d6me. Concordat of Worms between Calixtus the Second and Henry the
Fifth, a.d. 1122  189
Tbe anti-popes. Innocent the Second and Anaclete the Second. Innocent,
in France, supported by Bernard; healing of a schism in tbe church by the
latter; his conduct towards William of Aquitania. Innocent triumphant in
Rome  „_  ,  193
Opposition of the laity to the secularized clergy. Influence of the disputes
about investiture  „_  106
Arnold of Brescia; his education, particularly under the influence of Abelard ;
his asceticism, and fierce invectives against tbe clergy. His hfe in exile  198
Arnold's principles in Rome. His return under Celestin the Second. Lucius
the Second. Antipapai letter of tbe Romans to Conrad the Third  201
Eugene the Third. Bernard's letter to bim. Eugene in France supported by
Bernard. .Great success attending his preaching ofthe crusades. His mode
rated enthusiasm. The awakening called forth. Twofold influence of Ber
nard. Opinions respecting the issue of the second crusade  ^ 201
Eugene's return to Home. Bernard's four books, De Consideratione, addressed
to him.™^  .  „.„._  .„,„.  „.  211
Continuation of the quarrels under Adrian tho Fourth. Letter of the Roman

TABLE OF CONTENTS. Xlll
nobles to Frederic the First. Fall of Arnold's party. Arnold's death exoused
by the Romau court  __  _  ~  '-16
Arnold's ideas continue to work. Conflict of tho Hohenstaufens with tbe bier- t ^
arohy. Fitst expedition of Frederic the First against Rome. Adrian's letter
to Krcdei'io respecting the term benejicium. Step taken by Frederic on the
other side. Reconciliation of tlie two parties in 1158. New difficulties.
Correspondence between the parties. Adrian dies 1159  218
Alexander tbe Third, and the imperial pope Victor the Fourth. The council of
Paris in favour of the latter in 1160. Victor's successors. Frederic the
First's reconciliation with Alexander, 1177. Tbe Lateran oouncil in 1179
determines the order of papal elections  __  „_  22"j
Thomas Becket made Archbishop of Canterbury 1162; bis difficulties with
Henry the Second ; his repentance at having signed the articles at Claren
don ; bis quarrel and reconciliation with Henry the Second ; his assassi
nation. Impression produced by what happened at his tomb. Henry's
penance  ,  .  ,  227
Arnold's principles propagated by the Hohenstaufens. Henry the Sixth, and
Celestin the Third  231
Government of Innocent the Third an epoch in the history ofthe papacy, 1198
— 1216. Motives to his great activity. Successful contest with John of
England, 1208—13. Voices against him  232
Innocent in favour of Otho tbe Fourth; opposed to the party of Philip; after
wards in favour of Frederic tlie Second  __„__„_  _.  237
Honorius tlie 1 hird. G-regory the Ninth. Frederic's crusade. Compact with
Gregory, and the issue of a new ban. Frederic's circular-letter. Gregory's
accusations. Frederic's ideas of reform, or rather his sceptical bent of mind.
Contest till the death of Gregory, 124L_  238
Celestin the Fourth. Frederic tbe Second's contests, till his death, with Inno
cent the Fourth. His circular letter after the ban passed upon him at Lyons 246
Robert Grosshead's discourse before the papal court at Lyons. His labours in
England, and his unchecked boldness towards Rome  2l8
Legend concerning the death of Innocent the Fourth; Alexander the Fourth;
Gregory the Tenth. Want of zeal for the crusades at Lyons, in 1274. Abbot
Joachim opposed to them. Arguments against the crusades combated by
Humbert de Romanis  252
Kaymund Lull's threefold plan in bis Disputatio. His view of the crusades,
and mode of procedure with infidels  ___„__„  256
Determinations with regard to papal elections by John the Twenty-First re
voked. Celestin tbe Fifth, as pope. His abdication  208
Result of the history of the papacy under Gregory the Seventh. Unsuccessful
efforts against the mischievous papal absolutism (interview of John of Salis
bury with Adrian the Fourth.) Bribery at tbe Romau court. Eugene the Third 260
2. Distinct Branches of I he Papal Government of tlie Church, 265 — 276.
Personal labours of the popes. Different modes of conduct pursued by their
legates. The Roman curia, as the highest tribunal. Capricious appeals to
Rome limited by Innocent the Third  ,  «fi5
Relative dependence of the bishops. The form of oath taken by them. Influ.
ence of the popes in appointments to benefices. Complaints about exemption
from, tbe authority of the bishops. Pragmatic sanction of Louis the Ninth 270
Collections of ecclesiastical laws. Study ofthe civil law at Bologna. The De-

XIV TABLE OF CONTENTS.
cretum Gratiani. Ancient and more modern ecclesiastical law enriched by
the decisions of tbe popes. Interpolated bulls. Raymund's decretals  273
3. Oilier Parts of tlie Church Constitution, 276—289.
Consequences of tbe Hildebrandian epoch of reform. Its slight moral influ
ence upon the clergy. Abuses in ecclesiastical preferments combated in vain 276
Reformation of the clergy. Norbert's congregation. Gerhob's Clericiregulares.
Difference amongst the secular clergy. The latter as preachers of repentance 279
Fulco of Neuilly ; his education, and influence as a preacher of repentance ; his
influence upon the clergy; his preaching of the crusades. Peter de Rusia,
a preacher of repentance in opposition to the system of the church  281
Archdeacons. Officiales in the more general and in the more restricted sense.
The bishops. Valuable labours of Peter of Moustier. Gerhoh opposed to
the secular sword in the hands of bishops and popes. Titular bishops  284
4. Proplietic Warnings against the Secularization ofthe Church, 289- 312.
Possession of Property injurious to the church. Prophetic element in the de
velopment of the church  „,„,  289
Hildegard. Great reverence with which she was regarded. Her admonitions
aud counsels ; her invectives against tbe clergy, and her prophecies  291
Abbot Joachim. His active labours ; his ideas; his genuine writings, and the
spurious ones attributed to him. His invectives against the corrupt court of
Rome ; against Paschalis the Second, and his sucessors. Worldly goods and
secular supports injurious to the church. Inward Christianity ; God, and
the apostolic church. The antichrist (Patarenes), tbe destined instrument
of punishment. The Hohenstaufens. The three periods of revelation, and
the three apostles representing them. Joachim's view of historical Chris
tianity. Form and essence of Christianity  296
5. History of Monachism, 312 -393.
Monachism, and the tendency of the times. Pious mothers, and other influ
ences which served to promote it. Worldly temper in the monasteries
brought about especially by the oblati. Salutary examples of such men as
Ebrard and Simon. Motives of those who embraced monachism. Pardoned
criminals gained, and other moral influences of tho monks_  312
Anselm on monachism and the worldly life. Early vows renounced. Various
influence of the monks. Their sermons on repentance. Religious aberra
tions and conflicts. Admonitions of Anslem and Bernard  318
Yves of Chartres, Raymund Lull, and Peter of Cluny on the eremite life.
Preachers of repentance. Worldly and hypocritical monks  324
Norbert founder of the Premonstratensians. His miracles. Education and la
bours of Robert of Arbrissel, The Pauperes Christi, and the nuns at Fons
Ebraldi. Robert's invectives against tbe clergy. Opinions respecting him 329
Cluniacensians. Predecessors of Mauritius. His exhortations against extra
vagant asceticism. His letters  ,  335
Robert, founder of the Cistercians. His successors. Bernard led to mona
chism. His rigid ascecticism. His influential labours in Clairvaux. His
relation to the popes. His miracles, judged by himself and others. His ex
hortation to the Templars. His theology of the heart. On love, and its
several stages. Constant reference to Christ. Different positions in Chris-
tianity. The spirit of calumny and self-knowledge  ,  338

TABLE OF CONTENT'S. XV
Differences betwixt tbe Cluniaceusiaus aud Cistercians. Bernard's Apologia.
Spiritual worship of the monks  _  „  _™  3j4
Bruno, founder of the order of tbe Carthusians. Their occupations, ami strict
mode of life. Carmelites, founded by Berthold  256
Societies formed to take charge ofthe leprous, aud other sick persons. Abuse
of Christian charity. Order of the Trinitarians  358
Law against new foundations. Mendicant monks, in their relation to the
church. Didacus and Domi nick in contest with the heretics of South
France. Order of tbe Dominicans continned  360
Conversion of Francis. His religious bent. Idea of the evangelical poverty ;
his reception with tbe pope and cardinals ; his mortifications ; sayings con
cerning asceticism, prayer, preaching. Mystical, sensuous element in his
characler. His love of nature. Marks of the wounds. Minorites. Order
of Clara. Tertiaries  364
Laborious and influential activity of the mendicants. Their relation to the
clergy. Their degeneracy. Their influence on tbe youth, on the learued,
and on men of rank. Louis the Ninth  372
Influence of the mendicant friars in the University of Paris. Checked by In
nocent the Fourth (his death) : favoured by Alexander the Fourth; attacked
by William of St Amour, who complains of their influence on Louis tbe
Ninth. Fapellards and Beguins  380
Defence of the mendicant monks by Bonaventura and Thomas. Fate of Wil
liam of St Amour. Bonaventura as a censor of his order. The stricter and
laxer Franciscans. Joachim's ideas as embraced by this order  385

CHURCH HISTORY.

FIFTH PERIOD. FROM GREGORY THE SEVENTH TO BONIFACE
THE EIGHTH. FROM THE YEAR 1073 TO THE YEAR 1294.

SECTION FIRST.
EXTENSION AND LIMITATION OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH.
Already, in the preceding period, we took notice of the re
peated but unsuccessful attempts to convert the Slavonian tribes
living within and on the borders of Germany. Such undertakings,
which, without respecting the peculiarities of national character,
aimed to force upon the necks of these tribes the yoke of a
foreign domination, along with that of the hierarchy, would ne
cessarily prove either a total failure or barren of all salutary in
fluences. The people would struggle, of course, against what was
thus imposed on them. Of this sort were the undertakings of
the dukes of Poland to bring the Pommeranians, a nation dwell
ing on their borders, under their dominion and into subjection to
the Christian church. The Poles themselves, as we observed in
the preceding period, had been but imperfectly converted ; and
the consequences of this still continued to be observable in the
religious condition of that people ; — it was the last quarter,
therefore, from which to expect any right measures to proceed
for effecting the conversion of a pagan nation. Back-Pommerania
having been already, a hundred years before, reduced to a condi
tion of dependence on the Poles, Boleslav the Third (Krzivousti)
VOL. VII. A

2 POLISH MISSIONARIES UNSUCCESSFUL IN POMMERANIA.
duke of Poland, in the year 1121, succeeded in compelling West
Pommerania also, and its regent, duke Wartislav, to acknowledge
his supremacy. Eight thousand Pommeranians were removed by
him to a district bordering immediately on his own dominions, in
order that they might there learn to forget their ancient customs,
their love of freedom, and their old religion, and be induced at
length to embrace Cliristianity. But the Polish bishops were
neither inclined nor fitted to operate as missionaries in Pommer
ania. It was much easier, in this period, to find among the
monks men who shrunk from no difficulties or dangers, but were
prepared to consecrate themselves, with cheerful alacrity, to any
enterprise undertaken in the service of the church and for the
good of mankind. The zeal of these good men, however, was
not always accompanied with correct views or sound discretion.
Often too contracted in their notions to be able to enter into the
views and feelings of rude tribes with customs differing widely
from their own, they were least of all fitted to introduce Chris
tianity for the first time among a people like the Pommeranians,
— a merry, well-conditioned, life-enjoying race, abundantly fur
nished by nature with every means of comfortable subsistence, so
that a poor man or a beggar was not to be seen amongst them.
Having had no experience of those feelings which gave birth to
monachism, they could not understand that peculiar mode of life.
The monks, in their squalid raiment, appeared to them a mean,
despicable set of men, roving about in search of a livelihood.
Poverty was here regarded as altogether unworthy of the priest
hood ; for the people were accustomed to see their own priests
appear in wealth and splendour. Hence the monks were spurned
with scorn and contempt. Such especially was the treatment ex
perienced by a missionary who came to these parts from the dis
tant country of Spain — the bishop Bernard.1 Being a native of
1 This fact is not stated, it is true, iu the most trustworthy account we have of this
mission, which is contained in the work of an unknown contemporary writer of the life
of bishop Otto of Bamberg, published by Canisius in his Lectiones Antiquse, t. iii., p.
2, but it is reported by the Bambergian abbot Andreas, who wrote in the second half of
the fifteenth century. The latter, however, in giving this account appeals to the testi
mony of Ulric, a priest in immediate attendance on bishop Otto himself. And what we
have said with regard to the missionary efforts of the monks generally is confirmed at
least by the more certain authority of the anonymous writer just mentioned. Speaking
of bishop Otto, be says: " Quia terram Pommeranorum opulentam audiverat et egenos
sive mendicos penitus non habere, sed vehementer aspernari, et jamdudum quosdam

POLISH MISSIONARIES UNSUCCESSFUL IN POMMIill ANI A. 6
Spain, he was unfitted already, by national temperament, to act
as a missionary among these people of the north, whose very
language it must have been difficult for him to understand. Ori
ginally an anchoret, he had lived a strictly ascetic live, when at
the instance of pope Paschalis the Second, he took upon himself
a bishopric made vacant by the removal of its former occupant.i
But finding it impossible to gain the love of his community, a
portion of whom still continued to adhere to his predecessor, he
abandoned the post for the purpose of avoiding disputes, to which
his fondness for peace and quiet was most strongly repugnant,
choosing rather to avail himself of his episcopal dignity to go
and found a new church among the Pommeranians- Accom
panied by his chaplain, he repaired to that country ; but with a
bent of mind so strongly given to asceticism, he wanted the neces
sary prudence for such an undertaking. He went about bare
foot, clad in the garments he was used to wear as an ancho
ret. He imagined that, in order to do the work of a mis
sionary in the sense of Christ, and according to the example
of the apostles, he must strictly follow the directions which
Christ gave to them, Matth. x. 9, 10, without considering that
Christ gave his directions in this particular form, with refer
ence to a particular and transient period of time and a pe
culiar condition of things, entirely different from the circum
stances of his own field of labour ; and so, for the reasons we have
alluded to, he very soon began to be regarded by the Pommer
anians with contempt. They refrained, however, from doing him
the least injury ; till, prompted by a fanatical longing after mar
tyrdom, he destroyed a sacred image in Julin, a town situated on
the island of Wollin, — a deed which, as it neither contributed to
remove idolatry from the hearts of men, nor to implant the true
faith in its stead, could only serve, without answering a single
good purpose, to irritate the minds of the people. The Pom
meranians would no longer suffer him, it is true, to remain
amongst them ; but whether it was that they were a people less
servos Dei praedicatores egenos propter inopiam contemsisse, quasi non pro salute ho
minum, sed pro sua necessitate relevanda, officio insisterent praedicandi."
1 It was at the time of the schism which grew out of the quarrel betwixt the emperor
Henry the Fourth and pope Gregory the Seventh, in which dispute this deposed bishop
may perhaps have taken an active part as an opponent of the papal system.
A 2

4 OTTO AS A TEACHER IN POLAND.
addicted to religious fanaticism than other pagan nations within
our knowledge, and Bernard's appearance served rather to move
their pity than to excite their hatred and stir them up to perse
cution ; or whether it was that they dreaded the vengeance of
duke Boleslav ; the fact was, they still abstained from all violence
to his person, but contented themselves with putting him on board
a ship and sending him out of their country.
Thus, by his own imprudent conduct, bishop Bernard defeated
the object of his enterprise ; still, however, he contributed in
directly to the founding of a permanent mission in this country ;
and the experience which he had gone through would, moreover,
serve as a profitable lesson to the man who might come after
him. He betook himself to Bamberg, where the severe austerity
of his life, as well as his accurate knowledge of the ecclesiastical
reckoning of time, would doubtless give him a high place in the
estimation of the clergy. And here he found in bishop Otto a
man that took a deep interest in pious enterprises, and one also
peculiarly well fitted, and prepared by many of the previous cir
cumstances of his life, for just such a mission.
Otto was descended from a noble, but as it would seem not
wealthy Suabian family. He received a learned education,
according to the fashion of those times ; but, being a younger
son, he could not obtain the requisite means for prosecuting his
scientific studies to the extent he desired, and especially for visit
ing the then flourishing University of Paris ; but was obliged to
expend all his energies, in the early part of his life, in gaining a
livelihood. As Poland, at this time, stood greatly in need of an
educated clergy, and he hoped that he should be able to turn his
knowledge to the best account in a country that still remained so
far behind others in Christian culture, he directed his steps to
that quarter with the intention of setting up a school there. In
this employment, he soon rose to consideration and influence ;
and the more readily, inasmuch as there were very few at that
time in Poland, who were capable of teaching all the branches
reckoned in this period as belonging to a scholastic education.
Children were put under his care from many distinguished families,
and in this way he came into contact with the principal men of
the land. His knowledge and his gifts were frequently called
into requisition by them for various other purposes. Thus he

HIS RISING FAVOUR WITH WLADISLAV AND HENRY. 5
became known to the duke Wladislav Hermann, who invited him
to his court, and made him his chaplain.1 When that duke, after
having lost his first wife, Judith, began to think of contracting a
second marriage, his attention was directed by means of Otto, to
Sophia, sister of the emperor Henry the Fourth ; and Otto was
one of the commissioners sent, in the year 1088, to the em
peror's court, to demand the hand of the princess. The mission
was successful, and the marriage took place. Otto was one ofthe
persons who accompanied the princess to Poland ; and he thus
rose to higher consideration at the Polish court. He was fre
quently sent on embassies to Germany, and in this way he be
came better known to the emperor, Henry the Fourth. That
monarch finally drew him to his own court, where he made him
one of his chaplains, and employed him as his secretary. Otto
got into great favour with the emperor.2 He appointed him his
chancellor, and when the bishopric of Bamberg, in the year
1102, fell vacant, placed him over that diocese. Now it would
be very natural to expect that a favourite of the emperor Henry
the Fourth, who had obtained through his influence an important
bishopric, would therefore be inclined, in the contests between
that monarch and pope Gregory the Seventh, to espouse the in
terests of the imperial party. But Otto was a man too strict
and conscientious in his religion to allow himself to be governed
in ecclesiastica] matters by such considerations. Like the ma
jority of the more seriously disposed clergy, he was inclined to
1 We follow here the more trustworthy account of the anonymous contemporary. The
case is stated differently by the abbot Andreas. According to the latter, Otto made his
first visit to Poland in company with the sister-of the emperor Henry the Fourth. He
calls her Judith, and says that Otto was her chaplain. After her death, according to the
same writer, Otto was taken into the service of a certain abboss, at Regensburg, where
the emperor became better acquainted with him and took him into his employment. But
Andreas himself confirms the statement of the facts by the anonymous writer, when,
after speaking of Otto's appointment to be court chaplain, he adds : " Nobiles quique et
potentes illius terrae certatim ei filios suos ad erudiendum offerebant." Accordingly,
the account given by this writer also presupposes that Otto had been master of a school
in Poland; and how he came to be so is best explained by the statement of the matter
in the anonymous writer, only the later author has fallen into a wrong arrangement of
dates. •2 Because, as the story went, be was careful to have the psalter always ready for the
emperor, who was a great admirer ofthe Psalms ; because he had an extraordinary facility
of repeating psalms from memory ; aud, more than all, because he once presented the
emperor with his own cast-oft' psalter, having first caused it to be repaired and set off
with a very gorgeous binding.

6 OTTO'S USEFUL LABOURS AT BAMBERG.
favour the principles of the Gregorian church government. His
love of peace and his prudent management enabled him, however,
for a while, to preserve a good understanding with both the em
peror and the pope ; though at a later period, he allowed himself
to become so entangled in the hierarchical interest as to be be
trayed into ingratitude and disloyalty towards his prince and old
benefactor, j
As a bishop, Otto was distinguished for the zeal and interest
which he took in promoting the religious instruction of the
people in their own spoken language, and for his gift of clear and
intelligible preaching.2 He was accustomed to moderate, with
the severity of a monk, his bodily wants ; and by this course, as
well as by his frugality generally, was able to save so much the
more out of the ample revenues of his bishopric for carrying for
ward the great enterprises which he undertook in the service of
the church and of religion. He loved to take from himself to
give to the poor ; and all the presents he received from princes
and noblemen, far and near, he devoted to the same object.
Once, 'during the season of Lent, when fish were very dear, a
large one, of great price, was placed on the table before him.
Turning to his steward, said he, " God forbid that I, the poor
unworthy Otto, should alone swallow, to-day, such a sum of
money. Take this costly fish to my Christ, who should be dearer
to me than I am to myself. Take it away to him, wherever thou
canst find one lying on the sick-bed. For me, a healthy man,
my bread is enough." A valuable fur was once sent to him as a
present, with a request that he would wear it in remembrance of
the giver. " Yes," said he, alluding to the well-known words of
our Lord, " I will preserve the precious gift so carefully, that
neither moths shall corrupt nor thieves break in and steal it,"- —
so saying, he gave the fur to a poor lame man, then suffering also
under various other troubles.11 He distinguished himself by the
active solicitude, shrinking from no sacrifice, with which he ex-

1 See farther on,— under the history of tbe church constitution.
2 The anonymous biographer says : " Huic ab omnibus sui temporis pontiflcibus in
docendo populum naturali sermone principatus minime negabatur ; quia disertus et
naturali pollens eloquio, usu et frequentia in dicendo facilis erat, quid loco, quid tempori,
quid personis competeret observans."
3 See Lect. Antiq 1. c. fob 90.

BOLESLAV S LETTER. 7
erted himself to relieve the sufferings of the needy and distressed,
during a great famine, which swept off large numbers of the peo
ple. He kept by him an exact list of all the sick in the city
where he lived, accompanied with a record of their several com
plaints, and of the other circumstances of their condition, so as
to be able to provide suitably for the wants and necessities of
each individual.1 He caused many churches, and other edifices,
to be constructed for the embellishment, or the greater security,
of his diocese. He especially took pleasure in founding new
monasteries, for in common with many of the more seriously dis
posed in his times, he cherished a strong predilection for the
monastic life.2 Governed by the mistaken notion, so common
among his contemporaries, that a peculiar sanctity attached itself
to the monastic profession, he expressed a wish, when attacked
by an illness that threatened to prove fatal, to die in the monk
ish habit ; and, on his recovery, intended actually to fulfil the
monkish vow which he had already made in his heart. It was
only through the influence of his friends, who represented to him
the great importance of his continuing to labour for the good of
the church, that he was deterred from executing this purpose.
Such was the man, whom bishop Bernard, on his return from
Pommerania, sought to inflame with a desire of prosecuting the
mission which he himself had unsuccessfully begun ; and he drew
arguments from his own experience to convince him that he
might confidently hope, if he appeared among the Pommeranians
with pomp and splendour, and employed his ample means in the
service of the mission, to see his labours crowned very soon with
the happiest results. Otto's pious zeal could easily be enkindled
in favour of such an object. At this juncture, moreover, came a
letter from duke Boleslav of Poland, inviting him in the most
urgent terms to engage in the enterprise ; whether it was that
the duke had been informed how Otto had been led, through
Bernard's influence, to entertain the idea of such a mission among
the Pommeranians, and now wrote him in hopes of bringing him

1 The unknown writer says: " Habebat cognitos et ex nominibus propriis notatos
omnes paralyticos, languidos, cancerosos, sive leprosos de civitate sua, modum, tempus,
et quantitatem languoris eorum per se investigans congruaque subsidia omnibus pro-
videbat et per procuratores."
2 For his views concerning the relation of monasteries to the world, see farther on.

o OTTO S DEPARTURE.
to a decision, — or that this prince, a son of Wladislav by his
first marriage, remembering the impression that Otto had made
on him when he knew him at the court of his father, felt satisfied
that he was the very man to be employed among such a people.
The duke earnestly besought him to come to Pommerania ; he
reminded him of their former connection whilst he himself was
yet a youth, at the court of his father.1 He complained that,
with all the pains he had taken, for three years, he had been
unable to find a person suited for this work among his own bishops
and clergy.2 He promised that he would defray all the expenses
of the undertaking, provide him with an escort, with interpreters,
and assistant priests, and whatever else might be necessary for
the accomplishment of the object.
Having obtained the blessing of pope Honorius the Second on
this work, Otto began his journey on the 24th of April, 1124.
Fondly attached as he was to monkish ways, the experience of
his predecessor in this missionary field taught him to avoid every
appearance of that sort, and rather to present himself in the full
splendour of his episcopal dignity. He not only provided himself
in the most ample manner with everything that was required for
his own support and that of his attendants in Pommerania, but
also took with him costly raiment and other articles to be used
as presents to the chiefs of the people ; likewise, all the neces
sary church utensils by which he could make it visibly manifest
to the Pommeranians that he did not visit them from interested
motives, but was ready to devote his own property to the object
of imparting to them a blessing which he regarded as the very
highest. Travelling through a part of Bohemia and Silesia, he made a
visit to duke Boleslav in Poland. In the city of Gnesen, he met
with a kind and honourable reception from that prince. The
duke gave him a great number of waggons for conveying the
means of subsistence which he took along with him, as well as
the rest of the baggage ; a sum of money of the currency of the
country to defray a part of the expenses ; people who spoke
1 " Quia in diebus juventutis tuae apud patrem meum decentissima te honestate con-
versatum memini."
2 "Ecce per triennium laboro, quod nullum episcoporum vel sacerdotum idoneorum
mihive affinium ad hoc opus inducere queo."

HIS RECEPTION IN GNESEN. HIS MEETING WITH WARTISLAV. 9
German and Slavic to act as his servants ; three of his own
chaplains to assist him in his labours ; and, finally, in the capa
city of a protector, the commandant Paulitzky (Paulicius), a man
ardently devoted to the cause. This commandant, or colonel,
knew how to deal with the rude people ; and he was instructed
to employ the authority of the duke for the purpose of disposing
the Pommeranians to a readier reception of Christianity. Having
traversed the vast forest which at that time separated Poland
from Pommerania, they came to the banks of the river Netze,
which divided the two districts.i Here duke AVartislav, who had
been apprized of their arrival, came to meet them with a train of
five hundred armed men. The duke pitched his camp on the
farther side of the river, and then with a few attendants crossed
over to the bishop. The latter first had a private interview with
the duke and the Polish colonel. As Otto did not possess a ready
command of the Slavic language, though he had learned it in his
youth, the colonel served as his interpreter. They conferred
with each other about the course to be observed in the conduct of
the mission. Meantime, the ecclesiastics remained alone with the
Pommeranian soldiers ; and probably their courage was hardly
equal to the undertaking before them. The way through the
dismal forest had already somewhat intimidated them ; added to
which was now the unusual sight of these rude soldiers, clad and
equipped after the manner of their country, with whom they were
left alone, in a wild uninhabited region, amid the frightful gloom
of approaching night. The alarm which they betrayed, provoked
the Pommeranians, who, though they had been baptized, were
perhaps Christians but in name, to work still farther on their
fears. Pretending to be pagans, they pointed their swords at
them, threatened to stab them, to flay them alive, to bury them
to their shoulders in the earth, and then deprive them of their
tonsure. But they were soon relieved from their great terror by
the re-appearance of their bishop in company with the duke,
whom, by timely presents, he had wrought to a still more friendly
disposition. The example of the duke, who accosted the ecclesi
astics in a courteous and friendly manner, was followed by his
1 According to the statement of Andreas, the frontier castle where they put up was
Uzda, at present., Uscz.

10

BAPTISM OF SEVEN THOUSAND.

attendants. They now confessed that they were Christians, and
that by their threats they had only intended to put the courage
of the ecclesiastics to the test. The duke left behind him ser
vants and guides ; he gave the missionaries full liberty to teach
and baptize throughout his whole territory, and he commanded
that they should be everywhere received in an hospitable manner.
On the next morning they crossed the borders and directed
their steps to the town of Pyritz. They passed through a district
which had suffered greatly in the war with Poland, and was but
just recovering from the terrors of it. The much- troubled people
were the moje inclined therefore to yield in all things to the
authority of the bishop, who was enabled in passing to administer
baptism to thirty in this sparsely-peopled region.
It was eleven of the clock at night when they arrived at Pyritz.
They found the whole town awake ; for it was a -great pagan fes
tival, celebrated with feasting, drinking, song and revelry ; and
four thousand men from the whole surrounding country were
assembled here on this occasion. Under these circumstances, the
bishop did not think it proper to enter the town. They pitched
their tents at some distance without the walls, and avoided every
thing that might attract the attention of the intoxicated and
excited multitude. They kept as quiet as possible, not venturin g
even to kindle a fire. On the next morning Paulitzky, with the
other envoys of the two dukes, entered the town, and called a
meeting of the most influential citizens. The authority of the
two dukes was here employed to induce the people to compliance.
They were reminded of the promise which under compulsion they
had before given to the Polish duke, that they would become
Christians. No delay was allowed for a more full deliberation
on the subject; as they were informed that the bishop, who had
forsaken all in order to come and help them, and in the most dis
interested manner devoted himself to their service, was near at
hand. So they yielded ; for they supposed their gods had shown
themselves unable to help them. When the bishop, with all his
waggons and his numerous train, now entered into the town, terror
in the first place seized upon all ; for they thought it some new
hostile attack. But having convinced themselves of the peaceful
intentions of the strangers, they received them with more confi
dence. Seven days were spent by the bishop in giving instruc-

PARTING DISCOURSE. FIRST CHURCH IN KAMMIN. 11
tion ; three days were appointed for spiritual and bodily prepara
tion to receive the ordinance of baptism. They held a fast and
bathed themselves, that they might with cleanliness and decency
submit to the holy transaction. Large vessels filled with water
were sunk in the ground and surrounded with curtains. Behind
these baptism was administered, in the form customary at that
period, by immersion. During their twenty days' residence in
this town, seven thousand were baptized ; and the persons bap
tized were instructed on the matters contained in the confession
of faith and respecting the most important acts of worship. Be
fore taking his leave of them the bishop, with the aid of an
interpreter, addressed a discourse to the newly baptized from an
elevated spot. He reminded them of the vow of fidelity which
they had made to God at baptism ; he warned them against relaps
ing into idolatry ; he explained to them that the Christian life is
a continual warfare, and then expounded to them the doctrine of
the seven sacraments, since by these were designated the gifts of
the Holy Ghost which were the appointed means of upholding and
strengthening the faithful in this warfare. When he spoke of
the sacrament of marriage, he explained that those who had
hitherto possessed several wives, ought from that time to retain
but one as the lawful wife. He testified his abhorrence of the
unnatural custom which prevailed among the women of destroy
ing at their birth children of the female sex, when their num
ber appeared too large. As it is evident, however, from the
whole history of the affair, that the reception of Christianity
was in this case brought about chiefly through the fear of
the duke of Poland, — a vast number had submitted to bap
tism within a very short time, a time altogether insufficient
to afford opportunity for communicating the needful instruc
tion to such a multitude, — so it was impossible that what was
here done should as yet be attended with any deep-working or
permanent effects.
From this place they proceeded to the town of Kammin. Here
resided that wife of duke Wartislav whom he distinguished above
all the rest, and whom he regarded as his legitimate consort.
She was more devoted to Christianity than she ventured to con
fess in the midst of a pagan population. Encouraged by what
she had heard about the labours of Otto in Pyritz, she declared

12

REMARKABLE EVENTS.

herself already, before his arrival, more openly and decidedly a
friend of Christianity. The bishop, therefore, found the popular
mind in a favourable state of preparation ; many were anxiously
awaiting the arrival of the ecclesiastics, from whom they desired
to receive baptism. During the forty days which they spent in
this place, their strength was hardly sufficient to administer bap
tism to as many as demanded it. Meantime, duke Wartislav
also arrived at Kammin. He expressed great love for the bishop,
and greater zeal in favour of Christianity than he had done be
fore. In obedience to the Christian law of marriage, he took an
oath, before the bishop and the assembled people, to remain true
to his lawful wife alone, and to dismiss four and twenty others
whom he had kept as concubines. This act of the prince had a
salutary influence on the rest of the people, who followed his ex
ample. Here Otto founded the first church for the Pommer
anians, over which he appointed one of his clergy as priest, and
left him behind for the instruction of the people. A remarkable
concurrence of circumstances on one occasion produced a great
impression both on the pagans and the new converts. A woman
of property, zealously devoted to the old pagan religion, stood
forth as a violent opponent of the Christians. She held that the
prosperity of the country and its people furnished evidence
enough of the power of their ancient deities. On Sunday, when
all rested from their labours and repaired to church, this woman
required her people, in defiance of the strange god, to work at ga
thering in the harvest ; and to set the example, went herself into
the field and grasped the sickle ; but, at the first stroke, she
wounded herself with the instrument. This occurrence was
looked upon as a manifest judgment of God, — evidence of the
power of the God of the Christians.
After having resided here in this manner forty days, the bishop
determined to push his missionary journey still onwards ; and two
citizens of Pyritz, Domislav, father and son, accompanied them
as guides. They directed their steps to one of the principal
places of the country, the island of Wollin ; but here, on account
of the warlike, spiteful character of the inhabitants, a people
strongly attached to their ancient customs, they had reason to
expect more determined opposition. The two guides, as they ap
proached the city of Julin, were struck with fear ; and the eccle-

ASYLUM IN JULIN. 13
siastics, as we have seen, were far from being stout-hearted mon.
But bishop Otto himself, amidst such companions, could not catch
the contagion of fear. There was nothing to disturb him in the
threatening prospect of death. Inclined to err at the opposite
extreme, earnestly longing to give up his life in his Saviour's
cause, he held danger too much in contempt. It required more
self-denial, — more self-control on his part, not to throw himself
into the midst of the pagan populace, but to try to avert, by wise
and prudent measures, the threatening storm. What Otto had
done iu Pyritz, must have been already known in the city ; and
the zealous devotees to the old Slavic religion could, therefore,
only look upon him as an enemy of their gods. From the fury
of the pagan populace, the rude masses of a seafaring people, the
worst was to be apprehended. The guides advised that they
should remain awhile concealed on the banks of the river, and
endeavour to enter the town unperceived by night. In this town,
as in the other cities, there was a castle belonging to the duke,
attached to which was a strongly-built inclosure, serving as a
place of refuge for such as might repair to it. To this place it
was proposed that they should remove, with all their goods.
Thus would they be protected against the first attacks of the in
furiate multitude ; and, waiting in their place of security until the
fury of the people had time to cool, might then come to terms
with them. The plan seemed a wise one, and was adopted. But
perhaps the peculiar character of the people had not been suffi
ciently weighed. This plan of stealthily creeping in by night,
which betrayed timidity and a want of confidence, might easily
lead to serious mischiefs. Whereas, had they come forward
openly, they might reckon on the effect which the bishop, appear
ing in all the pomp of his office, would be likely to produce, on
the respect of the people for the authority of the Polish duke, and
on the gradually-increasing influence of a secret Christian party :
for there was always to be found in this important seaport and
commercial mart, a respectable number of Christian merchants
from abroad ; by intercourse with whom, as well as with such
Christian nations as they visited for the purpose of trade, some
few had already, as it seems, been gained over to Christianity.
On the following morning, as soon as they were observed by
the people, stormy movements began. Even the asylum was not

14 FEARLESSNESS OF OTTO.
respected. A furious attack of the populace compelled them to
abandon it. The Polish colonel addressed the people, but his
words had no effect on the excited multitude. Surrounded by his
trembling companions, Otto, undaunted, cheerful, and ready for
martyrdom, walked through an angry crowd, that threatened
death to him in particular ; and he received several blows.
Knocked down in the press, amid the jostling on all sides, he fell
into the mire. Paulitzky, a man of courage and great physical
strength, covered him with his own body, and, warding off the
blows aimed at his life, helped him to regain his feet. Thus they
finally made out to escape unharmed from the city ; but, instead
of immediately abandoning this part of the country, they waited
five days longer for the people to come to their senses. The
secret Christians in the mean time paid a visit to the bishop.
The more respectable citizens also waited on him to apologize for
what had happened, which they said they could not hinder ;
laying all the blame on the populace. Otto required them to
become Christians. Taking advantage of these events to work
upon their fears, he threatened them with the vengeance of the
Polish duke, whose anger they had good reason to dread, after
having offered such an insult to his messengers. He informed
them that the only step by which they could hope to pacify the
duke, and to ward off the danger which threatened them, was to
embrace Christianity. After consulting together, they finally
declared that they must be governed by the course taken by
their capital town, Stettin ; and to this place they advised the
bishop to repair first. This advice he followed.
At Stettin, the reception he met with was at first unfavour
able. When he proposed to the chief men of the city that they
should put away their old religion and adopt Christianity, they
repelled the proposition very decidedly. The life and manners of
the nations that professed Christianity had brought it here, as
often happens, into discredit. The Pommeranians were now at
precisely that point of culture which the apostle Paul, in the
seventh of the Epistle to the Romans, describes as a life without
the law. Possessing the simplicity, openness, and innocence
of primitive manners, and enjoying a degree of temporal pros
perity which was the natural result of a favourable climate,1 soil,
The unknown author of the Life of Otto, after mentioning the plenty of game,

OPPOSITION ENCOUNTERED AT STETTIN. 15
and location, they were as yet ignorant of the conflicts between
law and lust, and of the strifes of contrary interests, and hence
exempt from the evils that grow out of them, as well as uncon
scious of many wants difficult to be satisfied, but very sure to be
called forth in a people making the transition from a state of
nature to civilization. Fraud and theft were crimes unknown
among them ; nothing was kept under lock and key. The hos
pitality which usually distinguishes a people at this stage of cul
ture, existed among them to an eminent degree. Every head of
a family had a room especially consecrated to the reception of
guests, in which was kept a table constantly spread for their en
tertainment. Thus the evils were here absent, by which man is
made conscious of the sin lurking in his nature, and thereby
brought to feel his need of redemption. If physical well-being
were man's highest end, they had the best reason for rejecting
that which would tear them away from this happy state of na
ture. Now, when from this point of view they compared their
own condition with that of the Christian nations of Germany, and
made up their judgment from the facts which were first presented
to them, as they could see nothing to envy in the condition of the
latter, so they saw nothing in the religion to which they attri
buted this condition that could recommend it to their acceptance .
Amongst the Christians — said the more respectable citizens of
Stettin — are to be found thieves and pirates. Some people have
to lose their feet, others their eyes ; every species of crime and
of punishment abounds amongst them ; Christian abhors Chris
tian : far from us be such religion. Still, Otto with his com
panions tarried more than two months in Stettin, patiently ex
pecting some change in their determination. As this, however,
did not take place, it was concluded to send a message to duke
Boleslav of Poland, with a detailed report of the ill success at
tending the mission. The citizens of Stettin, when they heard of
this, were alarmed. They now declared that it was their inten
tion to send with these delegates an embassy of their own to
the numerous herds of cattle, the abundance of wheat and of honey, remarks : " Si vitem
et oleum et ficum haberet, terram pu tares esse repromissionis propter copiam fructife-
rorum." 1 Tanta fides et societas est inter eos, ut furtorum et fraudum penitus inexperti,
cistas aut scrinia non habeant serata. Nam seram vel clavt m ibi non viderunt, sed ipsi
admodum mirati sunt, quod clitellas et scrinia episcopi serata viderunt.

16 BAPTISM OF TWO BROTHERS BY OTTO.
Poland, and, in case they could obtain a solid and permanent
peace, together with a diminution of tribute, they were willing on
such conditions to embrace Christianity.
In the mean time, bishop Otto was not idle. On the market-
days, which occurred twice a week, when numbers of country
people came into the town, he appeared in public, dressed in his
episcopal robes, with the crosier borne before him, and harangued
the assembled multitude on the doctrines of the Christian faith.
The pomp in which he appeared, and curiosity to hear what he
had to say, drew many around him ; but the faith gained no ad
mittance. He strove first of all, by his own example, the example
of a life actuated by the spirit of Christian love, to do away the
impression which the citizens of Stettin had received of the Chris
tian faith from looking at the life of the great mass of Christians;
to make it by this means practically evident to them, that there
was a still higher principle of life than any which man knows while
living in a state of nature, however felicitous in other respects.
With his own money he redeemed many captives, and, having
provided them with clothes and the means of subsistence, sent
them home to their friends. One event, however, contributed in
an especial manner to make the pious, benevolent life of the
bishop generally known, and to attract towards him the minds of
the youth.
Many secret Christians were living even in this part of Pom
merania, and among the number of these was a woman belonging
to one of the first families in Stettin. Having been carried away
captive in her youth from a Christian land, she had married a
man of wealth and consideration, by whom she had two sons.
Although remaining true to her faith, yet she did not venture, in
the midst of a pagan people, to appear openly as a Christian.
None the less sincere on that account was her joy, when bishop
Otto came to the city where she lived : these feelings, however,
she dared not express aloud ; nor to go over to him before the
face of the world. Perhaps it was not without the exertion of
some influence on her part, that her two sons were led to pay
frequent visits to the clergy, and to make inquiries of them re
specting the Christian faith. The bishop did not fail to make
the most of this opportunity, by instructing them step by step in
all the leading doctrines of Christianity. He found the young

INFLUENCE OF THIS CHRISTIAN KAMILY. 17
men had susceptible ininds. They declared themselves convinced,
and requested that thoy might be prepared for baptism. This
was done ; and the bishop agreed upon a day with them, when
they should return and receive baptism. They were baptized
with all the accustomed ceremonial of the church, without any
knowledge of the transaction on the part of their parents. After
this, they remained eight days in the bishop's house, in order to
observe, with due solemnity, their octave as neophytes. Their
mother, in the mean while, got notice of what had been done be
fore the whole time ofthe octave had expired. Full of joy, she
sent a message to the bishop, requesting to see her sons. He
received her, seated in the open air, on a bank of turf, surrounded
by his clergy, the young men at his feet, clothed in their white
robes. The latter, on beholding their mother at a distance, started
up, and bowing to the bishop, as if to ask his permission, hastened
to meet her. At the sight of her sons in their white robes of
baptism, the mother, who had kept her Christianity eoncealed for
so many years, overcome by her feelings, sunk weeping to the
ground. The bishop and his clergy hurried to her in alarm, —
raising the woman from the earth, they strove to quiet her mind,
supposing she had fainted from the violence of her grief. But as
soon as she could command herself, and find language to express
her feelings, they were undeceived. " I praise thee," — -were her
first words, — " Lord Jesus Christ, thou source of all hope and of
all consolation, that I behold my sons initiated into thy sacra
ments, enlightened by the faitli in thy divine truth." Then
kissing and embracing her sons, she added : " For thou knowest,
my Lord Jesus Christ, that for many years I have not ceased, in
the secret recesses of my heart, to recommend these youths to thy
compassion, beseeching thee to do in them, that which thou now
hast done." Next, turning to the bishop, she thus addressed
him : " Blessed be the day of your coming to this city ; for, if
you will but persevere, a great church shall here be gathered to
the Lord. Do not allow yourselves to grow impatient by any
delay. Behold ! I, myself, who stand here before you, do, by the
aid of Almighty God, encouraged by your presence, reverend
father, but also throwing myself on the help of these my children,
confess that I am a Christian, a truth which till now I dared not
openly acknowledge." She then proceeded to relate her whole
VOL. VII. B

18 INFLUENCE OF THIS CHRISTIAN FAMILY.
story. The bishop thanked God for the wonderful leadings of
his grace ; he assured the woman of his hearty sympathy, said
many things to strengthen and encourage her in the faith, and
presented her with a costly robe of fur. At the expiration of
the eight days, when the newly-baptized laid aside their white
robes, he made them a valuable present of fine raimeut, and, hav
ing given them the Holy Supper, dismissed them to go home.
This remarkable occurrence was immediately attended with
many important consequences. That Christian woman, who had
hitherto kept her religion a secret, now that she had taken the
first step and gathered courage, freely and openly avowed her
faith, and became herself a preacher of the gospel. Through her
influence, her domestics, also her neighbours and friends, and her
entire family, were induced to receive baptism. The two young
men became preachers to the youth. First, they spoke of the
bishop's disinterested love, ever active in promoting the good of
mankind ; then of the new, comforting, bliss-conferring truths
which they had heard from his lips. The youth flocked to tlie
bishop ; many were instructed and baptized by him. The young
became teachers of the old ; and numbers every day presented
themselves openly for baptism. But when the father of the two
young men who were first baptized came to be informed that his
whole family had become Christians, he was exceedingly troubled
and indignant at hearing it. The prudent wife, finding that he
was returning home in this state of feeling, dispatched some of
his kinsmen and friends to meet him with comforting and sooth
ing words, while she herself prayed incessantly for his conversion.
And when he got home, and saw so many of his fellow-citizens
and neighbours already living as Christians, his opposition
gradually gave way, till finally he consented to be baptized
himself. When thus, by influences purely spiritual, the way had been
prepared for the triumph of Christianity and the downfall of
paganism in Stettin, the messengers sent to the Polish duke
came back, announcing that they had accomplished the object of
their mission. The duke, in the very beginning of his letter, pro
claimed himself an enemy to all pagans ; at the same time he
assured them that, if they would abide faithfully by their promise,
and embrace Christianity, they might look for peace and amity

I.OLESLAV'S LETTER TO THE STETTlNERK, 19
on a solid foundation ; otherwise, they must expect to see their
territory laid waste by fire and sword, and to experience his eter
nal enmity. He first reproached them for the rude behaviour
which they had shown at the preaching of the gospel ; but de
clared that, notwithstanding all this, yielding to the earnest
desires of the ambassador, and especially of bishop Otto, he was
determined to forgive them, and to grant them peace on more
favourable terms than ever, provided that henceforth they would
faithfully observe the conditions they had themselves proposed,
and show docility to their religious teachers. The favourable im
pression produced by this reply was improved to the utmost by
the bishop. He proposed at once to the assembled people that,
inasmuch as the worship of the true God was incapable of being
united with the worship of idols, in order to prepare a dwelling
henceforth for the living God, all the monuments of idolatry
should be destroyed. But as they still clung to their belief
in the reality and power of these gods, and dreaded their ven
geance, he with his clergy proposed to go forward and set them
the example. Signing themselves with the cross, the true preser
vative from all evil, and armed with hatchets and pickaxes, they
would proceed to demolish all those monuments of idolatry ; and
if they remained unharmed, it should be a token to all, that they
had nothing to fear from the gods, but might safely follow the
example he had given them.
This was done. The first monument destroyed was a temple
dedicated to the Slavic god Triglav, containing an image of that
divinity, and decorated on its inner walls with various works of
sculpture and paintings in oil. In this temple were many pre
cious articles ; for the tenth part of all the spoils obtained in
war was consecrated to this deity, and deposited here. Abun
dance of costly offerings were here to be found ; goblets of horn
ornamented with precious stones, golden bowls, knives, and
poniards of beautiful workmanship. All these articles it was pro
posed to give to the bishop; but he declined receiving them.
" God forbid," said he, " that we should think of enriching our
selves out of what belongs to you. Such things as these, and
still more beautiful, we have already at home." Then, after
having sprinkled them with holy water and signed them with the
cross, he caused them to be distributed among the people. With
b 2

20 otto's PRUDENT ACCOMMODATION.
this proof of a disinterested love, that avoided the very appear
ance of selfishness, bishop Otto manifested also a singular liber
ality of Christian spirit, in refusing to give up to destruction that
which, innocent in itself, might be devoted to better uses for the
benefit of mankind. The only gift he consented to receive was
the image of Triglav ; of which, causing the rest of the body to
be destroyed, he preserved the triple head as a trophy of the vic
tory obtained over idolatry. This he afterwards sent to Rome,
in evidence of what he had done as a missionary of the Roman
church, for the destruction of paganism. Three other buildings
were next demolished, temples1 erected to idols where the people
were accustomed to meet for their sports and carousals, as well
as for deliberation on more serious matters. In destroying or
removing the monuments of the old idolatry, and everything con
nected with it, Otto did not, with heedless fanaticism, treat all
cases alike, but was governed in his mode of procedure .by a pru
dent regard to circumstances. It was an important point to dis
tinguish between those objects which, by constantly furnishing
some point of attachment for the old pagan bent, would serve to
keep it alive, and others where nothing of this kind was to be
feared. In the vicinity of each of those buildings dedicated to
the gods was to be found one of those ancient oaks, regarded
everywhere in Germany with religious veneration, and beside it
a fountain. The citizens besought the bishop that these oaks
might be spared. They promised to withhold from them all as
sociations of a religious character. They simply wished to enjoy
the pleasant shade and other amenities of these chosen spots ;
which indeed was no sin, and he complied with their request.
Among other objects, however, there was a horse considered sa
cred, which in times of war was employed for purposes of divina
tion.2 In demanding the removal of all such objects, Otto was
inexorably severe ; he would not allow one of them to remain ;
since he was aware of the influence which these superstitions

1 Concinas.
2 Nine javelins, each an ell long, were placed in a row. The horse was then led over
them, and if he passed without touching one of them, this was considered a favourable
omen. Horses were held sacred also amongst the ancient Germans, especially for the
purpose of prophecy. Vid. Tacit. Germania c. x.; Grimm's Deutsche Mythologie, s. 878,
u. d. f.

JULIN THE SEAT OF A BISHOPRIC. 21
were still wont to exert even long after tho destruction of pa
ganism. He insisted, therefore, that the sacred horse should be
sent into another country and sold. Notwithstanding these de
cided measures for the extirpation of paganism, not a man had
the boldness to stand forth in its defence, except the priest whose
business it was to tend and manage the sacred horse. But the
sudden death of this man, who had stood up alone for the honour
of the gods, was favourably construed as a divine judgment.
After the temples had been destroyed, the people were admitted
to baptism ; and the same order was observed here as at Pyritz,
numbers presenting themselves at a time, and receiving the ordi
nance, after a discourse had been preached to them on the doc
trines of faith. Having tarried here five months in the whole,
Otto departed from Stettin, leaving behind him a church with a
priest. From Stettin, he visited a few of the places belonging to the
territory of that city.1 He then went by water, down the Oder,
and across the Baltic sea, to Julin. The inhabitants of this town
having agreed with the bishop, that they would follow the ex
ample of the capital city, had already sent persons to Stettin, for
the purpose of obtaining exact information respecting the manner
in which the gospel was there received. The news they obtained
could not fail to make the most favourable impression ; and Otto
was received in Julin with demonstrations of joy and respect.
The activity of the clergy during the two months which they spent
in this place, scarcely sufficed to baptize all who offered them
selves. After the Christian church had thus been planted in the
two chief cities of Pommerania, the question arose where should
the first bishopric be founded. Otto and duke Wartislav agreed
that Julin was the most suitable place to be made the first seat
of a bishopric in Pommerania ; partly, because this city was so
situated as to form a convenient central point, and partly because
the rude people here, inclined by nature to be refractory and in
solent, and peculiarly exposed to the infection of paganism, espe
cially needed the constant presence and oversight of a bishop.2
1 The unknown author mentions two castles, Garticia and Lubinum, the first Garz,
the second Lebbehn, according to the probable conjecture of Kanngiesser. See bis
Geschichte von Pommem. p. 660.
2 " Ut gens aspera ex jugi doctoris praesentia mansuesceret," says Otto's com
panion.

22 JULIN THE SEAT OF A BISHOPRIC.
Two churches were here begun. From this place Otto went to a
city called Clonoda, or Clodona,1 where, taking advantage of the
abundance of wood, he erected a church ;2 next, he proceeded to
a city which had suffered extremely by the ravages attending the
war with Poland ;3 and from thence to Colberg. Many of the in
habitants of this place were now absent on voyages of traffic to
the coasts of the Baltic sea ; and those that remained at home
were unwilling 'to make a decision till a general assembly
could be holden of all the people : the bishop, however, finally
succeeded in inducing them to receive baptism. The city of
Belgrade was the extreme point of his missionary tour ; it be
came necessary far him to reserve the extending of the mis
sion to the remaining parts of Pommerania for a future day,
as the affairs of his own diocese now called him home. But
first, he felt bound to make a visitation-tour to the commu
nities already founded by him, and bestow confirmation on those
who had before been baptized. Many whom he had not met
with on his first visit, being then absent on voyages of trade,
now presented themselves for baptism, The churches, whose
foundations he had laid during his first residence in these
districts, had in the meantime been completed, and he was enabled
to consecrate them. The Christian Pommeranians now besought
him, the beloved founder of their churches, to remain with them
himself and be their bishop ; but he could not consent. Having
spent a year lacking five weeks in Pommerania, he hastened
back, that he might be with his flock at the celebration of Palm-
Sunday. He directed his course once more through Poland, where
he met duke Boleslav, and reported to him the successful issue of
his enterprise. As Otto could not hold the first bishopric him
self, Boleslav nominated to this post Adalbert, one of his chap
lains, who, by his direction, had accompanied bishop Otto as an
assistant. Otto himself left several priests in Pommerania to
prosecute the work which had been commenced : but they were
too few in number to complete the establishment of the Christian
church ; nor was it likely that any of them would possess the
1 According to Kanngiesser's interpretation, Gollnow.
2 " Quia locus nemorosus erat et amoenus et ligna ad aedificandum suppetebant."
3 Kanngiesser makes it probable, from the name and situation, that this place was
Naugard.

STATE OF THE MISSION DURING OTTO's ABSENCE. 23
ardour and courage of their leader. As the time lie was able to
pass in the several places was comparatively so short ; as ho was
obliged to employ an interpreter in his intercourse with the
people ; as political motives had co-operated, at least in the case
of many, to procure their conversion, so it may readily be con
ceived that this conversion of great masses was very far from
being a permanent and thorough work.
The Christian worship of God having now been introduced into
one half of Pommerania, whilst paganism • reigned in the other,
the necessary result was that a striking contrast presented itself
between the two portions ; and the example of ancient customs, of
the popular festivals of paganism, its amusements and its carousals,
among the pagans might easily entice back the others again into
their former habits. They would yearn after their old uncon
strained, national mode of life. The restrictions under which
Christianity and the church, with its laws concerning fastings,
laid their untutored nature, might be felt by them as an intoler
able yoke, which they longed to exchange for the enjoyment of
their ancient freedom ; and thus it might happen that, in the
districts where Otto had laid the foundation of the Christian
church, the pagan party would again lift up its head, and pagan
ism begin once more to extend its empire. Such fluctuations in
the conflict between Christianity and paganism — as in the early
history of Christianity, which, having made rapid progress at
first, immediately encountered a strong reaction of paganism — are
often found recurring in the history of missions. We may men
tion, as an example furnished by the modern history of missions,
the mission among the Society Islands of Australasia.
Gladly would Otto have gone earlier to the help of the new
church in its distress ; but various public misfortunes, and the
political affairs in which he became involved as an estate of the
German empire, prevented him for full three years from fulfilling
his wish. It was not till the spring of the year 1128, that he
could visit the field in person. But to avoid laying any further
burden on the dukes of Poland and Bohemia, he now chose another
route, which had been made practicable by the subjugation ofthe
Slavic populations in those districts. He directed his journey
through Saxony, Priegnitz, and the territories which were reckoned
as belonging to Leuticia, to the adjacent parts of Pommerania-

24 otto's SECOND VISIT TO POMMERANIA.
He determined also, in this second mission, to defray all his
personal expenses and those of his attendants out of his own
purse, and to take with him a large number of valuable presents.
To this end he purchased, in Halle, a quantity of grain and other
merchandise, intended for presents, all of which he placed on
board to be conveyed by the Saale to the Elbe and Havel, after
which the lading was conveyed onward by fifty waggons. He
arrived first at a part of Pommerania where the gospel had not
yet been preached, and entering the city of Demmin, found but
one old acquaintance, in the person of the governor. Here, on
the next day, he met his old friend, duke Wartislav. The duke
was on his return, laden with spoils, from a successful war with the
neighbouring Leuticians. Many sights were here presented to the
eyes of Otto, which could not fail to make a very painful impres
sion on his benevolent heart. The army of the duke had brought
away a number of captives ; these were to be divided in common
with the rest of the booty. Among them were to be found many
persons of weak and delicate constitutions. Husbands were to
be separated from their wives, wives from their husbands, parents
from their sons. The bishop interceded with the duke in their
behalf, and persuaded him to liberate the weakest, and not to
separate near kinsmen and relatives from each other. But, not
satisfied with this, he paid from his own funds the ransom-money
for many who were still pagans. These he instructed in Chris
tianity, baptized, and then sent back to their homes. Otto and
the duke showed every kindness to each other, and exchanged
presents. They agreed that, on Whitsuntide, now close at hand,
a diet should be held at Usedom, with a view to induce the
several states to consent to, and take an active part in, the estab
lishment of the Christian church. In the letter-missive, it was
expressly announced that the errand of bishop Otto was to
preach the Christian religion, and that this was the subject to be
brought before the diet. Otto next laded a vessel on the river
Peene with all his goods, which thus after three days arrived at
Usedom. He himself, however, with a few attendants, proceeded
leisurely along the banks of the Peene to that city, taking advan
tage of this jaunt to prepare the way wherever he went for the
preaching of the gospel.
In Usedom he found there were already some scattered seeds

DIET IN USEDOM. WARTISLAV'S SPEECH. 2i>
of Christianity, conveyed there by the priests he had left be
hind him. Still more was done by himself. At this place the
deputies of the states, in obedience to the summons of the
duke, now came together, composed partly of such as had always
remained pagans, and partly of those who had been previously
converted, but during Otto's absence had relapsed into pagan
ism. The duke presented to them the bishop — a man whose
whole appearance commanded respect. In an impressive dis
course, in which he invited them to set their people the ex
ample of embracing the worship of the true God, he bade them
remark that the excuse they had always offered would no longer
avail them, namely, that the preachers of this religion were a
needy, contemptible set of men, in whom no confidence could be
placed, and who pursued this business merely to get a living.
Here they beheld one of the highest dignitaries of the German
empire, who at home possessed everything in abundance — gold,
silver, precious stones ; a man on whom no one could fix a
suspicion that he sought anything for himself ; who, on the con
trary, had relinquished a life of honour and of ease, and applied
his own property to the object of communicating to them that
treasure which he prized as the highest good. These words had
their effect ; and the whole assembly declared themselves ready
to pursue any course which the bishop might propose to them.
The latter now began ; and, taking occasion from the festival of
Whitsuntide, spoke of the grace and goodness of God, of the for
giveness of sin, and of the communication of the Holy Ghost and
his gifts. His words made a profound impression ; the apostates
professed repentance, and the bishop reconciled them with the
church. Those who had always been pagans suffered themselves
to be instructed in Christianity, and submitted to baptism. A
decree of the diet permitted the free preaching ofthe gospel in
all places. Otto was occupied here a whole week. He then con
cluded to extend his labours still farther, and asked the advice
of the duke. The latter declared that, by virtue of the decree of
the diet, the whole country stood open to him. The bishop now
commenced sending his clergy, two by two, into all the towns
and villages, intending to follow them himself.
But although the decree of the diet possessed the validity of a
law, yet such was not the character and spirit of the people that

26 OPPOSITION IN WOLGAST.
obedience should necessarily follow in all cases. There were im
portant old cities who maintained a certain independence ; and
in many districts the ancient popular religion had a powerful
party in its favour, who were dissatisfied with this decree.
Among these cities was the town of Wolgast, a place to which
bishop Otto had determined to go first. A priest lived here,
who for a year had made it his business to resist the spread of
Christianity, to excite against it the hatred of the people, and to
enkindle their zeal for the honour of their ancient deities ;
though he had been unable as yet to procure the passage of a
public decree in reference to these matters. But now, when the
diet had passed a decree so favourable for the diffusion of Chris
tianity, this priest thought himself bound to make a final effort
to carry out by fraud and cunning what he could not accomplish
by persuasion. Repairing by night, in his sacerdotal robes, to a
neighbouring forest, he concealed himself on a hill, in the midst
of a thicket of brush -wood. Early the next morning, a peasant
passing along the road on his way to the city, heard a voice call
out to him from the dark forest, and bid him stop and listen.
Already terrified at the voice, he was still more amazed at be
holding a figure clothed in white. The priest, following up the
impression, represented himself as the highest of the national
gods, who had chosen here to make his appearance. He signified
his anger at the reception which the worship of the strange God
had met with in the country, and bade the man say to the inha
bitants of the city, that the man must not be allowed to live who
should attempt to introduce among them the worship of that
strange God. When the credulous peasant came to tell his
story in the city, the priest who had played this trick first put
on the air of a sceptic, with a view to draw out the peasant into
a new and more detailed account of what he had seen and heard,
so as to avail himself of the fresh impression of the story. Such
was the effect produced by it on the popular mind, that the citi
zens passed a decree ordaining that if the bishop or any of his
associates entered the city, they should instantly be put to death,
and that any citizen who harboured them in his house should suf
fer the like punishment.
These events had transpired, and such was the tone of the
popular feeling when the two missionaries sent before him by the
4

OTTO AND THE DUKE PROCEED TO WOLGAST. 27
bishop, Ulric and Albin — tho latter of whom, possessing a ready
knowledge of the Slavic language, was commonly employed by
him as an interpreter — arrived at AVolgast, without dreaming of
the danger to which they exposed themselves. Conformably to
the Pommeranian manners, they met with an hospitable reception
from the wife ofthe burgomaster, a woman who, though not a Chris
tian, was distinguished for a reverence quite free from fanaticism
towards the unknown God, as well as for her active philanthropy.
But when, after being entertained by the woman, they proceeded
to explain who they were, and the object of their visit, she was
struck with consternation, and informed them of the danger to
which they were exposed. Still, she was determined to observe
faithfully the laws of hospitality. She pointed the strangers to a
place of concealment in an upper part of her house, and caused
their baggage to be quickly conveyed to a place of safety, beyond
the walls of the city. It is true, the arrival of the strangers
whom she entertained soon awakened suspicion among the excited
multitude ; but as the practice of hospitality to strangers was so
common a tiling in Pommerania, she found no difficulty in evading
the questions of the curious, declaring that strangers were indeed
entertained by her, as oftentimes before, but that after taking
their repast they had left her ; and as the persons who inquired
saw no signs of their being still in the house, they gave up their
suspicions. The account of these movements had already reached Usedom ;
and the duke, therefore, thought it advisable to accompany the
bishop to AA'olgast with a large band of followers, among whom
.were some of the members of the diet, and several armed soldiers.
Three days had been spent by the two ecclesiastics in their place
of concealment, when by the arrival of so powerful a protector
they felt themselves perfectly safe, and at liberty to emerge from
their retreat. The bishop, thus sustained, was enabled to com
mence the preaching of the gospel. But when the authority of
the duke had restored quiet in the city, and the pagan party was
forced to keep still, a feeling of security took possession of some
of the ecclesiastics. They ridiculed the two priests when they
spoke of their narrow escape. They separated from the bishop
and the rest of the company, despising prudence as no better
than cowardice. Mingling fearlessly among the people, they

28 CHURCH FOUNDED IN WOLGAST.
attempted to slip into the temple. By this act, however, the
fury of the pagans was stirred up afresh ; especially as the sus
picion got abroad, that they were seeking an opportunity to set fire
to the temple. Troops of armed people began to assemble. The
priest Ulric, perceiving these signs of an impending tumult, said :
" I shall not consent to tempt my God so often," and returning
back to the bishop, he was followed by all the others except one
ecclesiastic, named Encodric, who had advanced too far, and al
ready had his hand on the door of the temple. The pagans now
rushed upon him in a body, intending to make him the victim of
their common vengeance against the whole party. Seeing no
other place of refuge, urged by the fear of immediate death, he
penetrated into the inmost parts of the temple ; and this des
perate movement is said to have saved him. Suspended in this
temple was a shield, wrought with great art and embossed with
gold, dedicated to Gerovit, the god of war, which was regarded
as inviolably sacred, and supposed to render the person of him
who bore it also inviolable. As the ecclesiastic, flying for his
life, ran round the temple looking for a weapon of defence or a
place of concealment, he descried this shield, and seizing it,
sprang into the midst of the furious crowd. Everybody now fled
before him. Not a man dared lay hands on him ; and thus,
running for his life, he got safely back to his companions. The
bishop took occasion from this incident to exhort his clergy to
greater caution. He continued his labours in this place, until
the people had demolished all their temples, and the foundation
was laid of a church, over which he set one of his clergy as the
priest. Without being accompanied by the duke, who probably had
hastened to his assistance solely on account ofthe occurrences at
Wolgast, Otto proceeded to Giitzkow. It agreed alike with his
temperament and his principles to accomplish the whole work
before him by no other power than that of love, which wins the
heart. He never made any use of his political connections except
for the purpose of securing himself in the first place against the
fury of the pagans. It was certainly most gratifying to him,
whenever he found he could dispense with the arm of secular
power. Having left the duke free to attend to his own affairs,
he felt more at liberty to decline the proposition of his old friend,

TRIUMPH OF CHRISTIANITY IN GUTZKOW; 29
the Margrave Albert of Biiren, afterwards founder of Mark Bran
denburg, who, on being informed of the popular movements at
Wolgast, offered by his envoys, that met the bishop at Gutzkow,
to assist him against the obstinate pagans. In Gutzkow, Otto
would have found easier access to the hearts of the people, had
he consented to spare a new and magnificent temple, which, con
sidered as a work of art, was reckoned a great ornament to the
city. Magnificent presents wero offered to him, if he would
yield. Finally, he was entreated to convert this temple into a
Christian church, as had been done aforetime ; but the bishop,
who, not without reason, feared the consequences which would
result from any mixture of Christianity with paganism, believed
it inexpedient, indulgent as he was in other respects, to give way
in this instance ;l and by a comparison drawn from the parables
of our Lord, he endeavoured to make the people understand, that
he could not, in consistency with their own good, comply with
their wishes. " AYould you think," said he to the petitioners,
" of sowing grain among thorns and thistles 1 No, you would
first pluck up the weeds, that the seed of the wheat might have
room to grow. So I must first remove from the midst of you
everything that belongs to the seed of idolatry, those thorns to
my preaching, in order that the good seed of the gospel may
bring forth fruit in your hearts to the everlasting life." And by
such representations, daily repeated, he finally overcame the re
sistance of these people, so that with their own hands they de
stroyed the temple and its idols. But on the other hand, to
indemnify the people for the loss of their magnificent building,
he zealously pushed forward the erection of a stately church ;
and as soon as the sanctuary with the altar was finished, seized
upon this occasion, since he could not remain among them till
the entire structure was finished, of appointing a splendid festival
for its dedication ; one which should outshine all their previous
pagan celebrations, and be a true national festival. When nobles
and commoners were all assembled at this celebration, and the
whole ceremonial of the church, customary on such occasions,
had been solemnly observed, he proceeded to explain to the as
sembled multitude the symbolical meaning of these observances,
l See vol. v., p. 18.

30 TEMPLE OF GOD IN THE BELIEVER'S SOUL.
and, directing their attention from the outward signs to the inner
substance, warned them against the delusive supposition that the
requisitions of Christianity could be satisfactorily met by mere
outward forms. He laboured to make it plain to them, that the
highest meaning of the consecration of a church had reference to
the consecration of God's temple in the soul of every believer,
since Christ dwells by faith in the hearts of the faithful. And
after having thus interpreted the several observances, he turned
to one of the duke's vassals, Mizlav, the governor of this district,
who had been a member of the assembly of the states lately
holden at Usedom, had then been baptized by him, and, as the
sequel shows, made an honest profession of Christianity. For
the purpose of bringing out in him the truth which each man
was to apply to himself, said he, " Thou art the true house of
God, my beloved son. Thou shalt, this day, be consecrated and
dedicated ; consecrated to God, thy Almighty Creator ; so that,
separated from every foreign master, thou mayest be exclusively
his dwelling and his possession. Therefore, my beloved son, do not
hinder this consecration. For little avails it to have outwardly
consecrated the house thou seest before thee, if a like consecration
be not made in thy own soul also." The bishop here paused ;
or perhaps Mizlav interrupted him.1 At any rate, Mizlav, who
felt these words, of which he well understood the import, enter
like a goad into his soul, demanded — What then was required on
his part in order to such a consecration of God's temple within
him ?. The bishop, plainly perceiving by this question that the
man's heart was touched by the Spirit of God, and resolved to
profit by so favourable an indication, and to follow up the lead
ings ofthe divine prompter, replied :2 " In part thou hast begun
already, my son, to be a house of God. See that thou art wholly
so. For thou hast already exchanged idolatry for faith by at
taining to the grace of baptism. It remains that thou shouldst
adorn faith by works of piety." And he required in particular,
that he should renounce and abandon all deeds of violeuce, all
rapacity, oppression, fraud, and shedding of blood. He exhorted
1 In the MSS. 1. c. iii,, v. 9, f. 79, Canis. lect. antiq. ed. Basnage, iii. 2, there is to be
found in this place a slight deficiency which leaves the meaning uncertain.
2 This is what the biographer doubtless intended to denote by the words, " In tell i-
gens adesse Spiritum Sanctum,"

TEMPLE OF GOD IN THE BELIEVER'S SOUL. 31
him to adopt the words of our Lord as his rule, never to do unto
others otherwise than he would be dono by. And that he might
carry out this rule into immediate practice, he called upon him
to set at liberty those persons whom he had confined for debt,
and who were now pining in prison ; or at least such of them as
were of the same household of faith. To this Mizlav replied :
" AA'hat you require of me is extremely hard ; for many of those
persons are owing me large sums of money." Upon this, the
bishop reminded him of the petition in the Lord's prayer, " For
give us our debts as we forgive our debtors." Only then would
he be certain of receiving the forgiveness of his sins from the
Lord, when he felt ready, in the name of the Lord, to release all
his debtors. " Well, then," said Mizlav, deeply sighing, " I do
here, in the name ofthe Lord Jesus, give them all their liberty ;
that so, according to your words, my sins may be forgiven, and
the consecration of which you spoke may be perfected in me this
day " This act of Mizlav spread joy all around, and an addi
tional interest was thus given to the festival. There was one
prisoner, however, of whom Mizlav had said nothing. A noble
man of Denmark, owing him five hundred pounds of gold, had
given his son as a security ; and this young man, bound in fet
ters, lay pining in a subterranean cell. A mere accident led to
the discovery of him, — the only individual who had not been set
free. One of the vessels needed for the consecration of the
church was missing ; and the ecclesiastics, while searching for it
in one corner and another, at length came upon the cell where
this youth lay confined. He implored them to help him. But as
Mizlav had already done so much, the bishop felt unwilling to
demand of him this final sacrifice. Still, it distressed him to
think that so joyful a festival should be saddened by the suffer
ings of one unfortunate being. He first resorted to prayer, and
fervently besought the Almighty that, to crown the joy of this
blessed festival, he would have compassion on the case of this
only unhappy individual. Then setting before his clergy how he
had already obtained so many self-denying acts from Mizlav that
he did not feel at liberty to press him any farther, he proposed
that they should speak to him : and after assuring him that the
bishop knew how to appreciate the sacrifices he had already
made, introduce the subject with all possible gentleness. This was

32 ANIMOSITY OF THE PAGANS OF RUGEN.
done : and finally Mizlav declared that he was ready to offer this
last and most difficult sacrifice. " Nay," said he to the bishop,
" I am ready, if required, to give up my person, and all that I
call mine, for the name of my Lord Jesus Christ." The example
of the principal man of the district had its effect on many others,
who strove, according to their means, to evince in like manner
the genuineness of the change they had experienced.
Subsequent to these events, bishop Otto endeared himself to
the Pommeranians, by his exertions to save them from a great
public calamity ; for it was by his intervention that a military
expedition, threatened by duke Boleslav of Poland, who had be
come irritated by the apostasy of a part of the Pommeranians
from Christianity, and by their neglect to fulfil certain articles of
an old treaty, was prevented. Soon after, he had a conference
with duke AVartislav at Usedom ; probably for the purpose of re
porting his transactions with the duke of Poland, and also of ad
vising with him about the policy of extending the missionary ope
rations and establishing some new stations. In regard to this
matter, however, animated as he certainly was by an ardent zeal
for the cause of Christ, he still failed to act with apostolic pru
dence. For notwithstanding that the work iu Pommerania went
on at present so prosperously, and everything depended on taking
advantage of favourable circumstances ; and notwithstanding so
much still remained for him to do here, he thought of abandoning
the field before he had fully taken possession of it, or provided
for its permanent occupation, to go in quest of another which
promised less success, and which might easily prove the means of
bringing all his earthly labours to a sudden termination. His
eye had fixed itself eagerly on the island of Riigen, about a day's
journey distant ; and an earnest longing beset him to appear
amongst the inhabitants of that island, a small warlike tribe
zealously devoted to heathenism, and preach to them the gospel.
The spread of Christianity among their neighbours the Pommer
anians, had roused the animosity of the pagan people on the
island of Riigen to a more extravagant pitch; and they threatened
death to the bishop if he ventured to approach them. Otto was
not to be deterred, however, by such threats, from attempting the
expedition ; on the contrary, his zeal was inflamed to exhibit the
power of faith in overcoming such difficulties, and even to offer

OTTO'S TREATMENT OF HIS CLERGY. 33
up his life for the gospel. In vain did the duke, and his own
friends, declare themselves opposed to the scheme ; assuring him
that he would, by attempting it, sacrifice his life for nothing, — a
life he was bound to preserve for labours that promised more suc
cess. Otto gave way, in this instance, to the impulse of his
feelings instead of listening to the voice of reason. But in his
own opinion, he reasoned more correctly than his friends, whom
he rebuked for their want of faith. " It is a much greater thing,"
said he, " to preach by actions than by words. And suppose we
were all to give up our lives for the faith ; yet even our death
would not be useless. By so dying we should set our seal to the
faith which we preach, and that faith would spread with the
greater power." While his friends strove to prevent Otto from
crossing over to Riigen, he himself was occupied in devising some
way of getting to the island unobserved. It was necessary, there
fore, to watch him closely. But whilst the rest of the clergy
blamed the rash zeal of their bishop, the priest Ulric felt himself
impelled to realize the darling thought of his superior. Having
first begged and received his blessing on the undertaking, Ulric
went on board a ferry-boat, taking with him such articles as were
necessary for the celebration of the mass. But wind and weather
were obstinately against him ; three several times he was
beaten back by the storm ; but no sooner did it remit its vio
lence than he again attempted to get over to the island. Thus
he struggled with the winds and waves for seven days ; many
times hovering between life and death. But the weather con
stantly proving unfavourable, and Ulric's boat getting to be leaky,
the bishop at length began to regard these unpropi tious events as
indications of the divine will, and forbade his beloved priest from
making any further attempts. The dangers he had run now be
came the subject of remark. Said one, " Suppose Ulric had
perished, who would have been to blame for it V Here the
priest Adalbert spoke out, plainly criminating the bishop him
self. " Would not the blame," said he, "justly fall on him who
exposed him to such dangers V — showing not only his own inde
pendent spirit, but also the gentleness of the bishop which would
allow one of his clergy to speak so frankly about him in his own
presence. Otto, instead of taking the remark unkindly, endea
voured to refute the implied charge by arguing that he had done
VOL. vii. c

34 OTTO'S TREATMENT OF HIS CLERGY.
rightly, though on such grounds as he would not have offered ex
cept under the influence of his present feelings. Said he, "If
Christ sent the apostles as sheep among wolves, was Christ to be
blamed if the wolves devoured the sheep ?"
That he might, in the shortest time, extend out his labours in
all directions, so as to fill up and complete the whole work begun
during his first residence in Pommerania, Otto determined to alter
his plan ; and, instead of keeping all his clergy about him, as at
first, and labouring in common with them from a single point, to
divide the field between them and himself by sending them to
different stations. Some he sent to Demmin ; he himself went
to Stettin, to combat the paganism which had again lifted up its
head there. But his clergy neither entered heartily into his plan
nor partook of his courageous faith. They trembled at the fury
of the pagan people in that place, and were not willing to ex
pose their lives. The bishop, however, since he could not over
come their opposition by expostulation, resolved to proceed on
the journey alone. Having spent a day in solitude and prayer,
to prepare himself for the undertaking, he stole away in the
evening, as soon as it grew dark, taking with him his mass-book
and the sacramental cup. The clergy knew nothing about it,
till they sent to call him to matins (the matutina.) Finding that
he was gone, they were struck with shame, and began to grow
alarmed for their beloved spiritual father. They hurried away
after him, and compelled him to return back. On the next
morning, they set out in company with him, and crossed over by
ship to Stettin.
In Stettin, Otto's earlier labours had proved by no means fruit
less. This appeared evident from the events which followed. A
reaction of those Christian convictions which had already been
deeply implanted in the minds of many, led, under a variety of
peculiar circumstances and favourable coincidences, to a new
triumph of Christianity over paganism. Christianity, as it seems,
had gained entrance especially among the higher and more culti
vated class of the people,1 and in their case, paganism found, at
its revival, but little matter to work upon. The priests, however,
who had submitted to baptism were still pagans at heart, and they
1 The Sapieutiores, as distinguished from the people,— a class frequently alluded to
by the unknown writer of Otto's life.

ZEAL OF A CONVERTED CITIZEN OF STETTIN. 35
lost too much by the change of religion to get easily over the pain
and vexation which that loss occasioned. They readily found
means of operating on the rude masses of the people, in whom,
during so short a period, Christianity had not yet struck its roots
deep. A famine, extending to men and cattle, accompanied with
unusual mortality, was interpreted by them as a sign of the anger
of the deities, — a thing easily made evident to the people. They
managed, such was their influence, to carry the matter so far, that
a mob assembled to destroy a Christian church. Yet there were
some who had felt the power of Christianity, though they had
not entirely loosened their hold of paganism. In this class there
was a struggle between the old and the new, or a commingling of
both. Before the time of Otto's second visit to Stettin, there was re
siding in that town a person of some note, who, after having ex
perienced various remarkable providences in the course of his life,
stood forth as a zealous witness for Christianity, thus preparing
the way by his influence for a better state of things. Witstack
was one of those belonging to the more consequential class of
citizens, who had been converted and baptized by Otto ; and al
though Christianity was by no means apprehended by him accord
ing to its pure spirit, yet he had within him the germ of a strong
and vigorous faith. The image of bishop Otto, the man whom
he had seen labouring with such self-denying love, such unshaken
confidence in God, this image seems especially to have become
deeply stamped on his mind. Since his conversion, he had uni
formly refused to take part in any warlike undertaking, except
against pagans. Fighting against these was one way, as he
thought, by which he could show his zeal for Christianity. He
joined a piratical expedition, probably against the Rugians; ex
periencing a defeat, he with others was taken captive and thrown
in chains. During his confinement, he resorted for consolation
and support to prayer. Once, after long-continued, earnest
prayer, falling asleep, he dreamed that bishop Otto appeared to
him and promised that he should be assisted ; soon after which,
by a remarkable turn of providence, he found means of escaping
from his confinement.1 Hastening to the seashore, he found a
1 The account by the unknown writer, whom we follow here also, is certainly deserv
ing of credit in its main points. We find, for the most part, in it that graphical mode of
c 2

36 AN INCIDENT REGARDED AS A MIRACLE.
boat, leaping on which he committed himself to the waves, and
favoured by the wind, in a short time got safely back to Stettin.
He looked upon his deliverance as a miracle. It seemed to him
a direct testimony to Otto's holiness,— a proof that Christianity
was the cause of God. He regarded it as a divine call, inviting
him to appear as a witness among his countrymen, for the Being
who had miraculously saved him, and to labour for the extension
of his worship among them.1 After his return, he caused the
boat to be hung up at the city gates, as a lasting memorial of his
deliverance and testimony in favour of the Being to whom he
owed it. With great zeal, he bore witness among his country
men, of the God whom bishop Otto had taught him to pray to,
and whose almighty power had been so clearly exhibited in his
own case ; he announced to the fallen the divine judgments which
would surely overtake them, unless they repented and returned
back to the faith.
Still another fact, which was likewise regarded as a miracle,
had made a favourable impression. In a popular tumult, got up
for the purpose of destroying the church which had been erected
in that town, it so happened that one of the persons actively en
gaged in the affair, when about to strike a blow with his hammer,
was seized with a sudden palsy ; his hand stiffening, let the ham
mer drop, and he himself fell from the ladder. It seems that he
was one of the relapsed Christians. Perhaps a reaction of the
faith, not yet by any means wholly extinguished in his soul, once
more came over him ; hence an inward struggle, a sudden access
of fear, which palsied his arm as he was about to join with the
rest in destroying a temple consecrated to the God of the Chris-
description, which bespeaks an eye-witness, — a simplicity quite remote from the exagge
rative style of Andreas,— few miraculous stories, and these, for tbe most part, of such a
character, that the facts at bottom may be easily separated from tbe mode of apprehending
and representing them as miracles, or that they may be easily reduced to a natural con
nection of events of the higher sort. But,: in this case, the report refers back to the. saying
of Witstack. In this report, drawn up from recollection long after the events, every
thing, in the lively feeling of gratitude to God, might receive a colouring ofthe wonderful.
But we are by no means authorized to measure all extraordinary psychological pheno
mena by tbe standard of ordinary experience, and the objective fact as it actually occurred
ever lies at bottom of the representation.
1 The historian already mentioned records the following words of Witstack to the
bishop, in reference to the boat which was the means of his salvation : " Haec cimba
testimonium sanctitatis tuae, firmamentum fidei meae, argumentum legationis meae ad
populum istum."

OTTO'S CONDUCT IN STETTIN. ASSISTED BY WITSTACK. 37
tians. Paganism, it is true, still maintained a place in his soul ;
he could not wholly renounce the worship of the ancient gods ;
but still, the God ofthe Christians, whose temple was being de
stroyed, appeared to him as one against whom no human power
could prevail ; as was manifest in his own case. He therefore
advised that, in order to preserve friendship with all the gods,
they should erect by the side of this church an altar to the national
divinities. Now, even this was something gained ; it was a point
in advance, that the God of the Christians should be recognized
by pagans themselves as a mighty being beside the ancient gods.
Thus, after such preparatory events, Otto's arrival at Stettin
fell at the right moment to bring the contest between Christi
anity and paganism, aroused by the influence of Witstack, to a
more open outbreak and final decision. However great his danger
might seem, when men contemplated from without the rage of the
pagan mass of the population, yet it would appear by no means
so great to him who could more closely examine, on the very
scene of events, the circumstances of the case ; for although the
pagan party, which was made up, for the most part, of people of
the lower class, were loud in their vociferations and violent in
their gestures, yet the Christian party, with whom the better
class of citizens seem to have tacitly arranged themselves, was
really the most powerful ; nor were they destitute of the means
of restoring quiet, provided only the first gust of anger, in which
there was more noise than efficiency, was suffered to pass by.
Besides, the pagan party had no leader combining superior in
telligence with hot-headed zeal ; and the large number of those
who, though they now took the side of the zealots for the restora
tion of paganism, had yet received some impression from Christi
anity, might, under a slight turn of circumstances, be easily led
to take another step towards the Christian faith. But to bishop
Otto this favourable preparation of the popular mind was wholly
unknown. He was expecting the worst from the tumultuous
frenzy of the Pagans ; and placing no reliance whatever on human
means, or any concurrence of natural causes ; trusting in God
alone, and resigned to his will, he went boldly forward to meet
the threatening danger, prepared with a cheerful heart to die the
death of a martyr. He at first found a place of refuge, for him
self and his companions, in a church that stood before the city.

38 OTTO'S CONDUCT IN STETTIN. ASSISTED BY WITSTACK.
As soon as this became known in the town, a band of armed men,
led on by priests, collected around this spot, threatening destruc
tion to the church, and death to those that occupied it. Had the
bishop given way to fear, or betrayed the least alarm, the furious
mob would, perhaps, have proceeded to fulfil their threats. But
the courage and presence of mind displayed by the bishop, put a
damper on the fury of the threatening mob. Having commended
himself and his friends to God in prayer, he walked forth, dressed in
his episcopal robes, and surrounded by his clergy, bearing before
him the cross and relics, and chanting psalms and hymns. The
calmness with which this was done, the awe-inspiring character
of the whole proceeding, confounded the multitude. All remained
quiet and silent. The more prudent, or the more favourably dis
posed to Christianity, took advantage of this to put down the
excitement. The priests were told that they should defend their
cause, not with violence, but with arguments;, and one after
another the crowd dispersed. This occurred on Friday, and the
Saturday following was spent by Otto in preparing himself, by
prayer and fasting, for the approaching crisis.
In the mean time, Witstack, stimulated by the bishop's arrival,
went forth among the people testifying, with more boldness than
ever, in favour of Christianity and against paganism. He brought
his friends and kinsmen to the bishop ; he exhorted him not to
give out in the contest, promised him victory, and advised with
him as to the steps which should next be taken. On Sunday,
after performing mass, Otto suffered himself to be led by Witstack
to the market-place. Mounting the steps, from whence the
herald and magistrates were accustomed to address the people,
after Witstack by signs and words had enjoined silence, Otto
began to speak, and the major part listened silently and with at
tention to what he said, as it was translated by the interpreter,
already mentioned, into the language of the country. Bnt now
a tall, well-habited priest, of great bodily strength, pressing for
ward, drowned the words of both with his shouts, at the same
time endeavouring to stir up the anger of the pagans against the
enemy of their gods. He called on them to seize upon this op
portunity of avenging their deities. Lances were poised ; but still
no one dared attempt any injury to the bishop. Well might the
confident faith and the courage that flowed from it, the perfect

CHRISTIANITY VICTORIOUS IN STETTIN. 3(J
composure manifested by tho bishop amid this tumultuous scene,
the imposing and dignified gravity of his whole demeanour, make a
great impression on the multitude, particularly on those who had
previously been in any way affected by the influence of Christi
anity, and had not as yet succeeded in wholly obliterating the
impression. Such a fact, in which we must certainly recognize
the power of the godlike, might in such a period soon come to be
conceived and represented more under the colour of the miracu
lous, and this representation would contribute again to promote
the belief in men's minds of the divine power of Christianity.
Otto immediately took advantage of the favourable impression
thus produced. Proceeding with the crowd of believers that now
surrounded him, to the church by which the pagan altar had
recently been erected, he consecrated it anew, and caused the
injuries it had received to be repaired at his own expense.
On the next day the people assembled to decide what course
ought to be taken with regard to the matter of religion. They
remained together from early in the morning until midnight. In
dividuals appeared who represented all that had occurred on the
day before as miraculous, bearing testimony with enthusiasm to
the active, self-sacrificing love of the bishop ; foremost among
these was that zealous Christian and admirer of Otto, Witstack.
A decree was passed accordingly, that Christianity should be in
troduced, and everything that pertained to idolatry destroyed.
Witstack hastened the same night to inform the bishop of all that
had transpired. The latter rose early the next morning to ren
der thanks to God,- at the celebration of the mass. After this he
called a meeting of the citizens, where he spoke to them words
of encouragement, which were received in the manner to be ex
pected after such a decree of the popular assembly. Many who
had apostatized requested to be received back into the community
of the faithful.
The winning kindness of Otto's manser, as well as his readi
ness to take advantage of the most trifling circumstances which
could be turned to account in his labours, is illustrated by the
following incident. One day, on his way to church, he saw a
troop of boys in the street at play, — kindly saluting them in the
language of the country, he retorted their jokes, and having
signed the cross over them, and given them his blessing, left

40 OTTO'S IMPRUDENT ZEAL AND DANGER.
them. After he had proceeded along a few steps, looking behind,
he observed that the children, attracted by the strange act, fol
lowed after him. He stopped; and, calling the little ones
around him, inquired who of them had been baptized 1 These he
exhorted to remain stedfast to their baptismal vow, and to avoid
the society of the unbaptized. They took him at his word, and
even in the midst of their play listened attentively to his dis
course.1 Still, the zeal of bishop Otto was not alway accompanied
with befitting prudence ; hence he often exposed himself to great
peril. While busied in destroying all the pagan temples and
monuments of superstition, resolved to let nothing remain which
was in anywise adapted so to impress the senses as to promote
idolatry, he came across a magnificent nut-tree, whose refreshing
shade was enjoyed by many, and which the people of the neigh
bourhood earnestly besought him to spare. But, as it was conse
crated to a deity, the bishop was too fearful of the dangerous
sensuous impression to yield to their wishes. Most indignant
of all was the owner of the estate on which the tree stood. After
he had stormed about in a phrenzy of passion, his anger seemed
at length to have spent itself. Suddenly, however, raising his
axe behind the back of the bishop, he would have dealt him a
fatal blow, had not the latter, at the same moment, inclined him
self a little on the other side. All now fell upon the man, and it
was the bishop who rescued him out of their hands. Again, dur
ing his passage from Stettin, he was threatened by an attack of
the pagan party, which, as it diminished in numbers, grew more
violent in rancour ; but he fortunately escaped. Accompanied
by his clergy, and a number of the more respectable citizens of
Stettin, he proceeded to Julin, where also, after such an example
had been set them by the capital, he laboured with good success.
Gladly, and without shrinking from a martyr's death s he would
have extended his labours also to the island of Riigen, had he not
been obliged, in the year 1128, by his engagements as a member
of the imperial diet, to return to Germany ; so, after paying an-
1 The unknown biographer introduces this anecdote, 1. iii. p. 85, before that popular
assembly which decided the question with regard to the introduction of Christianity into
Pommerania. But it is plain, from the connection of his own account, that it occurred
sometime afterwards. From this account, it appears also to have been by no means the
fact, — as might be inferred from what he says respecting tbe effect and consequences of
Otto's discourse, held after the above assembly,— that all directly submitted to baptism.

OTTO'S IMPRUDENT ZEAL AND DANGER. 41
other visit to the new communities, he shaped his course home
ward. But, even amidst the manifold cares of his civil and spi
ritual relations, he did not lose sight of tho Pommeranians. On
learning that certain Pommeranian Christians had been conveyed
into captivity among pagan hordes, he determined to procure
their release. He ordered a large quantity of valuable cloth to be
purchased in Halle, and sending the whole to Pommerania, where
these goods stood in high demand, appropriated a part as pre
sents to the nobles, with a view to secure their kind feelings to
ward the infant church ; and ordered the remainder to be sold
and converted into ransom money for those captives.
But in pushing forward with so much zeal and resolution the
mission among the Pommeranians, Otto neglected one thing, which
was of the utmost consequence in order to a settled enduring
foundation of Christian culture among the people ; and this was,
to make provision for the imparting of Christian instruction in
the language of the country. There was a want of German
clergy, well skilled in the Slavic language, there was a want of
institutions for the purpose of giving the native inhabitants an
education suited to the spiritual calling. No doubt both these,
owing to the short time employed in the conversion of the people,
were wants the supply of which would be attended with great
difficulties. But the consequence of it was, that ecclesiastics had
to be called out of Germany, who always remained, in national
peculiarities, language, and customs, too foreign from these
Wends, and had but little true love for them. What contributed
to the same evil was, that German colonists, in ever-increasing
numbers, were called in to replenish the territories which had
been laid waste and the cities which had been desolated by the
preceding wars. These foreigners met the AVends with a sort of
contempt. A feud sprung up between the new and the old in
habitants of the land, and the latter were induced to withdraw
themselves into the back parts of the country.1 The same injus
tice was here done to the aboriginals by the new race of foreigners
who settled down in the land as has often been done over again in
later times and in other quarters ofthe world.
Christianity had not as yet found admittance into the island of
Riigen, but its inhabitants still maintained their freedom, and
1 Thomas Kantzow's Chronicle of Pommerania, published by W. Bbhmer, p. 35.

42 BISHOP ABSALOM'S EFFORTS ON BEHALF OF RUGEN.
held fast to their ancient sacred customs. Thus the bond of
union was severed between these islanders and the Christian Pom
meranians. It was not until after repeated battles, that Walde-
mar king of Denmark at last succeeded, in the year 1168', to
subjugate the island ; and then the destruction of paganism and
the founding of the Christian church first became practicable.
The inspiring soul of this enterprise was bishop Absalom, of
Roeskilde, a man who conceived it possible to unite in himself
the statesman, the warrior, and the bishop ;L and who was there
fore the least fitted of all men to bring about the conversion of a
people in the proper sense. Through his mediation, a compact
was formed with the inhabitants of the capital town Arcona,
which compact laid the foundation for the subjection ofthe entire
island. They obliged themselves by this agreement to renounce
paganism, and to introduce among them Christianity, according to
the usages of the Danish church. The landed estates of the
temples were to devolve on the clergy. When the monstrous idol
of Svantovit was to be removed from the city, not a single native-
born individual dared lay hands on it, so dreaded by all was the
vengeance ofthe deity. But when the idol had been dragged off
to the camp of the Danes, without any of the anticipated dread
ful consequences, some complained of the wrong done to their god ;
while others considered the ancient faith as already overturned by
this experiment, and now ridiculed the monster they had before
adored. Still more must this impression have been strengthened
in their minds, when they saw the idol hewn in pieces, and the
fragments of wood used in the camp for cooking provisions. The
clergy living in the service of the nobles were sent into the town
to instruct and baptize the people according to the notions of
that period ; but among such a clergy, who at the same time
served as secretaries to the nobles, it is hardly to be supposed
that much Christian knowledge was to be found. The great
temple was burnt, and the foundations laid for a Christian church.
1 His ardent friend and eulogist, the famous Danish historian Saxo-Grammaticus,
Provost of Roeskilde, who, on his recommendation, undertook his work of history, calls
him "militiae et religionis sociato fulgore conspicuus ;" this historian and ecclesi
astic finding nothing offensive in such a combination. War with pagans for the
good of the church, seemed to him not a whit foreign to the character of a bishop.
" Neque enim minus sacrorum attinet cultui, publice religionis hostes repellere, quam
caeremoniarum tutelae vacare." Lib. xiv. p. 440, ed Klotz.

CHRISTIANITY AMONG THE WENDS. 43
The same course was pursued in other parts of the island. The
work was prosecuted by priests, whom bishop Absalom sent over
from Denmark, after the recall of those ecclesiastics, who were
only intended to supply the immediate want. Ho provided the
means for their subsistence, so that they might not be felt as a
burden on the people. Many incidents occurred here also by
wnich people were led to ascribe the cure of various diseases to
the prayers of the priests. But the historian of this period,
though he reports them as miracles, does not profess to consider
them as proving the holiness of these ecclesiastics, but only as
works of divine grace to facilitate the conversion of that people.1
We noticed, in the preceding period, the founding of a great
Christian empire of the Wends by Gottschalk. This empire
perished, however, with its founder, when he was assassinated ;
and paganism had revived again under Cruko, a prince very hos-
tilely disposed towards Christianity. Yet Gottschalk's son,
Henry, who had taken refuge in Denmark, succeeded, with the
help of Christian princes, in putting down the opposition of the
pagan Wends, and by his means, in 1 105, the Wendish kingdom
was restored. He endeavoured also to re-establish Christianity.
But when he died, in the year 1126, his two sons, Canute and
Zwentipolk, fell into a quarrel with each other, which could not
fail to operate disastrously on the interests of the Wendish people,
both in a political and in an ecclesiastical point of view. With
these two sons, the family of Gottschalk became extinct ; and the
people, who along with their liberties defended also their ancient
sacred customs, saw themselves abandoned without mercy to the
power of the Christian princes of Germany. It was not till after
the margrave Albert the Bear, and Duke Henry the Lion, had
wholly subdued the Wends, that the Christian church could estab
lish itself in this part of Germany on a solid foundation, and that
the bishoprics previously founded could be restored. But the
war-wasted districts were peopled by foreign Christian colonists
from other quarters of Germany ; and what the spirit of Chris
tianity required, namely, that the national individuality should
be preserved inviolate, and ennobled by true religion, should be
unfolded to a higher order of perfection, was left unaccomplished.
1 Saxo: " Quod potius lucrandae gentis respcctui, quam sacerdotum sanctitati divi
nitus concessum videri potest."

44 VICELIN'S LIFE, TILL HE BECAME A MISSIONARY.
It would be remote from the present design, to give an account
of wars, which could be of no real service in extending the king
dom of Christ among these tribes.
We pass on to mention one individual, who, in the midst of
disorder and destruction, endeavoured, with self-denying love, to
labour for the saving good of the nations. This was Vieelin.
Sprung from a family of the middle class at Quernheim, a village
on the banks of the Weser, and early deprived of his parents, he
found pity with a woman of noble birth, who took him to her
castle, Everstein, where she suffered him to want for nothing.
A question put to him by the envious priest of the village, with a
view to embarrass and shame him, brought him to the conscious
ness and confession of his ignorance, But this incident, which he
himself regarded as a gracious act of Divine Providence,1 turned
out to him a salutary incentive, and gave a new direction to his
life. Filled with shame, he immediately left the castle, and be
taking himself to the then flourishing school atPaderborn, applied
himself to study with so much diligence and application, that
Hartmann, the master of that school, had little else to do than to
check and moderate his zeal. In a short time, he made such pro
gress in the acquisition of knowledge that his master made him
an assistant in the school. Somewhat later, he was called him
self to take the superintendence of a school in Bremen. After
presiding over this institution for a few years with great zeal,
his earnest longing after a more complete education impelled him
to visit that far-famed seat of science, then filled with lovers of
learning from all parts of Europe, the Parisian University. Here,
it was not the predominant dialectic tendency, for which the Uni
versity of Paris was especially famous, but the simple biblical
tendency, by which he felt himself to be most strongly attracted.
After having spent three years at this University (A.D. 1125),
he thought he might venture on a step from which distrust in his
youth, still exposed to temptations, had hitherto deterred him,
and to receive the priestly consecration. Presently he was
seized also with a desire to convey the blessings of the gospel to
those parts where it was most greatly needed. The report of

1 Helmold, whose report we here follow, says of him, i. 142 : " Audivi eum saepe-
numero dicentem, quia ad verbum illius sacerdotis respexerit eum misericordia divina."

VICELIN'S LABOURS AMONG THE SLAVONIANS. 45
what the AA'endish king Henry was doing for the establishment
of the Christian church among his people, drew him to that quar
ter. Archbishop Adalbert of Bremen gave him a commission to
preach the gospel to the Slavonians. Two other ecclesiastics,
Rudolph, a priest from Hildesheim, and Ludolf, a canonical from
Verden, joined him as fellow-labourers in the sacred enterprise.
King Henry, to whom they offered their services, received them
readily, showing them great respect, and assigning to them a
church in Lubec, where he himself usually resided, as the seat of
their labours. Before they could commence them, however, the
king died ; and the ensuing wars between his sons rendered it im
possible for them to effect anything in that district. Vicelin now re
turned back to archbishop Adalbert of Bremen, whom he attended
on his tour of visitation in a diocese, the borders of which
were inhabited by Slavic tribes. It so happened that, in the
year 1126, when Vicelin was accompanying the archbishop on
such a tour of visitation, the inhabitants of the border town
Faldera,1 applied to the latter for a priest to reside amongst
them. A convenient centre was here presented to Vicelin for
his labours among the Slavonians, and he gladly accepted
the call. He found here a poor, uncultivated country, rendered
-desolate by many wars, numbers who were Christians only in
name, manifold remains of idolatry, groves and fountains conse
crated to the deities. He preached with energy and effect ; the
truths, which were as yet wholly new to the rude multitude, found
ready entrance into their minds. He destroyed the remaining
objects of idolatrous worship, travelled about in the northern dis
tricts of the Elbe, and made it the aim of his preaching not to con
vert the people into nominal Christians merely, but to lead them
to repentance and to a genuine Christian temper of mind. His
pious, indefatigable activity stimulated others to imitate his ex
ample. A free society was instituted of unmarried laymen and
ecclesiastics, who, under his guidance, entered into a mutual
agreement to devote themselves to a life of prayer, charity, and
self-mortification ; to visit the sick, to relieve the necessities of
the poor, to labour for their own salvation, and that of others,
and especially to pray and labour for the conversion of the Sla-
J-As it was named by the Wends; otherwise Wippendorf; at a later period Neti-
munster.

46 vicelin's labours among the Slavonians.
r
vonians. A spiritual society of this sort being one of the wants
of the time, belonging to that peculiar spirit of fraternization,
with which the awakening religious life readily united itself, gave
birth to many others, like those religious associations called the
apostolical. When the emperor Lothaire the Second, in the year
1134, visited the province of Holstein, Vicelin found that he took
a warm interest in his plan for -the establishment of the Christian
church among the Slavonians. By Vicelin's advice, the emperor
built a fortress at Segeberg to protect the country against the
Slavonians ; a proceeding which, it must be allowed, was hardly
calculated to make a favourable impression on that people ; for
the Slaves looked upon it as a new mode of infringing upon their
liberties. Here it was now proposed to erect a new church, which
was to be committed to the care of Vicelin. To him the emperor
entrusted also the care of the church in Lubec ; and consequently,
the entire direction of the mission among the Slavonians was
placed in his hands. At Segeberg and Lubec, he could now pro
ceed to establish a seminary for missionaries among that people ;
but by the political quarrels and disturbances, which followed the
death of Lothaire, in 1137, his labours here were again interrupted,
Those districts once more fell a prey to the fury of the Slavonians ;
the Christian foundations were destroyed, the clergy obliged to flee,
and the labours of Vicelin were again confined to Faldera alone.
But even this spot was not long spared from the ravages of the Sla
vonians. Vicelin took occasion, from these calamities, to direct the
attention of men from perishable things to eternal, teaching them
to find in the gospel the true source of trust and consolation in
God. After having passed several years under these distressing
circumstances, his outward situation was again changed for the
better by the establishment of the authority of duke Adolph of
Holstein in these districts, after the subjugation of the Slaves.
This new sovereign carried out the plans already contemplated
by the emperor Lothaire, in favour of Vicelin, not only restoring
the church at Segeberg, but also giving back the landed estates
which had been presented to it by the emperor. But to avoid
the bustle and confusion of the . fortress, Vicelin removed the
monastery to the neighbouring city of Hogelsdorf, a place more
favourably situated to secure the quiet necessary for the spiritual
life. When, at a later period, the war broke out afresh with the

VICELIN'S FARTHER LABOURS. PRIEST DITTMAR, 47
Slavonians, and in consequence of it a famine arose in those dis
tricts, Vicelin, by his exhortations and example, stirred up the
spirit of benevolence. Large bodies of poor people daily pre
sented themselves before the gates of the monastery at Hcigels-
dorf. Presiding over the monastery was a scholar of Vicelin's,
the priest Dittmar, a man of similar spirit, who had relinquished
a canonicate at Bremen, for the purpose of joining the pious
society. Dittmar exhausted all his resources in endeavouring to
alleviate the prevailing distress. Meanwhile, these Slavic tribes
were completely subdued by duke Henry the Lion ; and arch
bishop Hartwig of Bremen, having it now in his power to restore
the ruined bishoprics, consecrated Vicelin, in the year 1148, as
bishop of Oldenburg. But the man who, during this long series
of years, had freely laboured, according to his own principles,
serving only the pure interests of Christianity, instead of finding
himself now, in his old age, enabled to act more independently in
this higher dignity, saw himself cramped and confined in various
ways by a foreign spirit, and by other interests.1 As the duke
had already been vexed, because the archbishop had renewed
those bishoprics without his advice and concurrence, and nomi
nated Vicelin bishop of a city in his own territory, so he thought
he might at least demand that the latter should receive from him
the investiture. Vicelin, who by virtue of the genuine Christian
spirit which actuated him, rose superior to the interests of the
hierarchy and of the episcopal prerogative, would gladly have
yielded the point at once, in order to preserve a good under
standing with the duke, and to avoid being disturbed in his
spiritual labours ; but the archbishop of Bremen and his clergy
positively forbade it ; since they looked upon it as a pitiable dis
grace to the church that the bishop should receive the investi
ture from any other hands than those of the emperor.2 He was
now exposed, therefore, to suffer many vexatious and embarrass
ments from the duke. He could not get hold of the revenues
which belonged to him. Meanwhile, he did what he could, and
1 His friend Helmold says : " Videres virum antea magni nominis, possessorem liber-
tatis et compotem suimet post acceptum episcopale nomen, quasi innodatum vinculis
quibusdam et suplicem omnium."
2 Helmold says of these clergymen : " Nam et ipsi vaniglorii et divitiis adultae ecclesiae
saturi, honori suo hoc in facto derogari putabant, nee magnopere fructum sed numerum
suffraganearum sedium curabant."

48 SUFFERINGS AND DEATH OF VICELIN. MEINHARD.
in particular took great pains to perform the tours of visitation
in his diocese. He laboured earnestly in preaching the gospel to
the Slavonians, but he met with but little success among them.
Finding himself so much embarrassed in the discharge of his
official duties by his misunderstanding with the duke, he finally
resolved to sacrifice the respect due to his ecclesiastical superiors
to the higher interest of the welfare of souls. Therefore, he said
to the duke, " For the sake of him who humbled himself on our
account, I am ready to do homage to each one of your vassals, to
say nothing of yourself, a prince exalted to so high a station by
the Lord." By this concession, he involved himself in unpleasant
relations with his archbishop. At last, he had the misfortune to
lose the faithful friend, who laboured on in the same spirit with
himself, the priest Dittmar. During the last two years and a
half of his life, he saw himself completely shut out from all offi
cial labours ; for he was so severely affected by repeated shocks
of apoplexy, that he could neither move nor even controul his
organs of speech. All that remained in his power was to exert
himself for the edification of others by the tranquillity and pa
tience which he manifested under the severest sufferings. Like
the apostle John, and Gregory of Utrecht,, he had to be borne
to the church on the shoulders of his disciples. He died on the
13th of December, 1154.
The Christian church was again planted during this period
among the Slavic populations in the countries on the coasts of
the Baltic sea. This work we will now contemplate more in de
tail. The attempts made by the Danish kings to convert men
by force, had, in this region also, only served to diffuse more
widely the hatred against Christianity and the Christians. It
was by means of commerce that more peaceful relations came
finally to be established between the Lieflanders and Christian
nations. This was an important preparation for the work of
missions, by which more could be effected for the introduction of
Christianity and the well-being of the nations, than by any ofthe
attempts to combine the chivalric spirit with Christian zeal. In
the year 1158, merchants of Bremen began to form commercial
connections with the Lieflanders and the bordering tribes. Their
ships often visited the Dlina, where they established settlements
1 See vol. v., p. 94.

CHRISTIANITY IN LIEFLAND. THEODORIC. 49
for trade. The priest Meinhard, from the already-mentioned
monastery of Legeberg, in Holstein, a venerable old man, was
moved by a pious zeal, even in his old age, to embark in one of
the enterprises of these merchants, with the view to convey the
message of salvation to the pagan people. In the year 1186 he
arrived on the spot. He got permission from the Russian prince
Wladimir, of Plozk, to preach the gospel to the Lieflanders ; and
at Yxkiill, beyond Riga, where the merchants had already built
a fortress for the security of trade, he founded the first church.
A number of the first men of the nation consented to receive
baptism from him. On a certain occasion, when the Lieflanders
were attacked by pagan tribes from Lithuania, Meinhard directed
the measures for defence, and under his guidance the invaders
were repelled. By this transaction he won their confidence still
more. He taught them, moreover, how to guard against such
attacks for the future, instructing them in the art of fortification,
of which they were entirely ignorant. On their promising to
submit to baptism, he sent to Gothland for workmen and build
ing materials, and erected two fortresses at Yxkiill and Holm,
for the protection of the people. But more than once he was
compelled, by bitter experience, to find that those who had suf
fered themselves to be baptized only to obtain his assistance in
their bodily necessities, when they had secured their object, re
lapsed into paganism, and sought to wash away their baptism in
the waters of the Diina. Meinhard, in the mean while, was on
a journey to Bremen, where he went to make a report of the
success he had met with to his archbishop and to the pope.
Archbishop Hartwig of Bremen ordained him bishop over the
new church ; but very much still needed to be done before he
could discharge the functions of the episcopal office. After his
return, he found how grossly he had been deceived by those Lief
landers who had needed his assistance in temporal things.
To aid in sustaining this work, Theodoric, a Cistercian monk,
had come upon the ground and settled down at Threida (Tho-
reida.) But the pagans took a dislike to him ; for the superior
condition of his fields had aroused their jealousy. Already, they
thought of sacrificing him to their deities. Whilst they were
deliberating on the matter, he called upon God in prayer. The
omen which, according to Slavic custom, they took from the
VOL. VII. - D

50 CRUSADE AND DEATH OF BERTHOLD.
steppings of a horse which they kept for divination,1 turned out
favourably for him, and his life was spared. At another time,
he was brought into great peril by an eclipse of the sun, the
people attributing this terror-spreading phenomenon to his ma
gical arts. The rude pagans were easy to believe that one so
superior to themselves in knowledge and culture was able to do
anything ; so a wounded man once applied to him to be healed,
promising that, if he obtained relief, he would be baptized.
Theodoric had no knowledge of medicine ; but trusting in God,
whose assistance he invoked, he composed a mixture of crushed
herbs, and as the remedy was followed by a cure, the patient, one
of the principal men of the nation, submitted to baptism. This
example had its effect upon others. But it was with manifold
vexations, anxieties, and dangers, that Meinhard had to struggle
to the last. Sometimes the Lieflanders, when they had an object
to gain by it, or when they felt afraid that an armed force might
be coming to his assistance, were ready to promise anything ;
and when he was on the point of leaving them, strove to retain
him in their country ; at other times, they only mocked him.
Already, he had applied to the pope to assist him in this enter
prise, and the latter had promised to do so, when, in the year
1196, he died alone at Yxkiill, but not till he had obtained a
promise from the Lieflanders that they would consent to receive
another bishop. Berthold, abbot of the Cistercian monastery at
Lockum, was appointed his successor, and consecrated as a bishop
over the new church. It was his intention at first not to resort
to the sword, but to gain over the minds of the Lieflanders by
the power of the truth and of love ; he only failed to persevere
in this good resolution. He came to Liefland without an armed
force, called together, near the church at Yxkiill, the better dis
posed amongst the Christians and pagans, supplied them bounti
fully with food and drink, distributed presents among them, and
then said that, called by themselves, he came there to supply the
place of their departed bishop. At first they received him in a
friendly manner ; but soon he had to hear of plots among the
pagans, who were resolved to put him to death. The consequence
of this was an armed crusade, at the head of which the new bishop
1 See ante, p. 19.

ESTHLAND. 51
returned back to Liefland. He himself, it is true, fell in battle,
but the army was victorious. The Lieflanders sued for peace ;
they declared themselves willing to receive clergymen, and a
hundred and fifty of the people already consented to receive bap
tism. The army of crusaders was thus induced to leave the
country ; but nothing better was to be expected than that the
Lieflanders, when no longer restrained by fear, would soon return
to their old practices. Scarcely had the army of the Germans
left their shores than they again renounced Cliristianity ; two
hundred Christians were put to death ; the clergy barely made
out to save themselves by flight, and the Christian merchants
themselves could only purchase security for their lives by pre
sents to the principal men. The canonical priest, Albert von
Apeldern of Bremen, was appointed bishop of the new church,
and a fresh army accompanied him, in the year 1199, to Liefland.
After the successful termination of the new campaign, in order to
fix a stable seat for the Christian church on a spot more secure
and better situated for intercourse with the Christian world, the
town of Riga was built, in the year 1200, and the bishopric of
Yxkiill translated to this place. But it was necessary that an
armed force should be kept always at hand here, not only to
maintain possession of the place, and to secure the Christian
foundations, in a constant struggle with the pagan inhabitants of
the country ; but also to ward off the destructive inroads of
other pagan tribes in the neighbourhood, and to resist the Rus
sian princes on the border, who were impatient of any foreign
dominion in these parts. To this end, a standing order of
spiritual knights, formed in accordance with the spirit of these
times, by a union of knighthood with the clerical vocation, the
ordo fratrum militioe Christi, was instituted, which chose the
Virgin Mary, to whom the new bishopric had been dedicated, as
its patroness.
Not till after a war of twenty years was tranquillity secured.
From this point, the church was planted in Esthland and Sem-
gallen ; and at length Curland also, in the year 1230, submitted
to her sway ; not compelled by outward force, but yet driven by
fear. It would be foreign from our purpose to enter farther into the
history of these warlike enterprises. We will simply notice in
D 2

52 SPIRITUAL COMEDIES.
these movements, so alien from Christianity, such particulars as
present to our observation the least trace of the Christian spirit.
In the midst of these wars, men did not entirely neglect to em
ploy the method of persuasion, and to diffuse Christian know
ledge, though they did not adopt the most suitable means for this
purpose. Among these means, belonged the spiritual plays
which came into vogue in this period, and were designed to re
present historical scenes from the Old and New Testaments.
Thus during an interim of peace, in the year 1204, the opportu
nity was taken advantage of to exhibit, in the recently built city
of Riga, a prophetical play, designed to combine entertainment
and instruction for the new Christians and the pagans, and to fix
by sensuous impressions the sacred stories and doctrines more
deeply on their minds.1 By means of interpreters, the subjects
of these dramatical representations were more clearly explained
to them. When Gideon's troop attacked the Philistines, great
terror fell on the pagan spectators, as they supposed it applied to
themselves. They betook themselves to flight, and it was only
after much persuasion that their confidence could be restored.2
When again, after a bloody war and deliverance from great dan
gers, a time of peace once more returned, archbishop Andreas of
Lund, who came in company with the allied Danes, assembled, in
the winter of 1205, all the clergy in Riga, and during the whole
season, gave them theological discourses on the Psalter.3 Many
amongst the clergy, for which order men were fond of selecting
monks, devoted themselves in good earnest to the work of pro
moting the salvation of the Lieflanders. One of these was monk
Sigfrid, who presided as priest and pastor over the church at
Holm, and by his life of piety and devotion left a deep impres
sion on the minds of the people. At his death in the year 1202,
1 Thus a man, who was in part an eye-witness of these events, the priest Heinrich
der Lette, in the Chronicon Livonicum f. 34, published by G ruber, says: " Ut fidei
Cbristianae rudimenta gentilitas fide etiam disceret oculata."
2 The priest Heinrich expresses more truth than he seems himself to be conscious of,
when he considers this dramatical exhibition as a foretoken ofthe calamities ofthe fol
lowing years : " In eodem ludo erant bella, utpote David, Gideonis, Herodis. Erat et
doctrina veteris et novi testamenti, quia nimirum per bella plurima, quae sequuntur,
couvertenda erat gentilitas, et per doctrinam veteris et novi testamenti erat instruenda,
qualiter ad verum pacificum et ad vitam perveniat sempiternam."
3 The words of tbe above mentioned priest : " Et legendo in Psalterio totam hiemem
in divina contemplatione deducuntur." L. c. f. 43.

FREDERIC OF CELLE. 53
the new converts zealously went to work and made him a beauti
ful* coffin, in which they bore him, weeping, to the place of
burial.1 Over the church connected with the recently built fortress,
Friedland, was placed a priest ofthe Cistercian order, Frederic of
Celle. On Palm-Sunday of the year 1213 he had celebrated mass
with great devotion and then preached with much fervour on the
passion of Christ, closing his discourse with touching words of ex
hortation addressed to the new Christians. After having here
celebrated also the Easter festival, he was intending to cross over
with his assistants and a few of his new Christians to Riga. But
on the passage they were surprised by a vessel fully manned with
ferocious pagans from the island of Correzar (Ozilia), a haunt of
pirates, which had offered the stoutest and longest resistance to
the introduction of Christianity. Under the cruel tortures, with
which the exasperated pagans sought to put him to a lingering
death, he lifted his eyes to heaven, and with his disciples thanked
God that he had counted him worthy of martyrdom. l In the
year 1206, the Letti made a desolating irruption into Liefland,
and a village near Threida was suddenly attacked by them,
whilst the community were assembled in the church. When this
became known, the Lieflanders, in great consternation, rushed
from the church ; some succeeded in finding places of concealment
in the neighbouring forest ; others, who hurried to their dwellings,
were taken captive on the way, and some of them put to death.
But the priest, John Strick, supported by another priest and by
his servants, would not be disturbed in his devotions at the cele
bration of the mass ; but, consecrating himself to God as an offer
ing, committed his life into the hands of his Master, resigned to
suffer whatever he should appoint. And after they had finished
the mass, placing the several articles which belonged to the cele
bration of the office, in a heap together at one corner of the sa
cristy, they concealed themselves in the same spot. Three several
times the troops of the Letti broke into the sanctuary, but, seeing
the altar stripped of its furniture, they gave up the hope of find
ing the plunder they were in search of, that which was concealed
escaping their notice. When all had gone off, the priests
1 L. c. f. 26. 2 L. u. f. 97.

54 INFLUENCE OF SACRED MUSIC.
thanked God for their deliverance ; in the evening, they forsook
the church and fled into the forest, where, for three days, they
subsisted on the bread they took with them. On the fourth day
they arrived at Riga.1
In a fight between the converted Letti and the pagans of Esth-
land, which took place in the year 1207, a Lettian priest mounted
a redoubt, and sang a sacred hymn to the praise of God, accom
panying his voice with an instrument. The rude pagans, on
hearing the soft melody of the song and its accompaniment, a
thing altogether new to them, for a time left off fighting, and de
manded what the occasion was for such expressions of joy. " We
rejoice," said the Letti, " and we praise God, because but a short
time ago we received baptism, and now see that God defends
us."2 Amongst these people, the influence of Christianity was mani
fest again in the fact that it brought them to a conscious sense
of the equal dignity of all men, doing away amongst them the
arbitrary and false distinction of higher and lower races. The
Letti had, in fact, been hitherto regarded and treated as an in
ferior race of men ; but through Christianity they attained to the
consciousness of possessing equal worth and equal rights with all ;
the priests, therefore, to whom they were indebted for so great an
improvement of their condition, were received by them with joy.3
The only law that had hitherto been in force among the Lief
landers was club-law. By means of Christianity, they were first
made conscious of the need of a settled system of justice. The
inhabitants of Threida made a petition to their priest Hildebrand,
that the civil as well as the ecclesiastical law might be introduced
amongst them, and that their disputes might be settled by it.4
At the close of the war in 1224 pope Honorius the Third, in
ll.».f 49.
'¦* L. c. f. 57.
3 The words of the priest Heinrich: " Erant enim Letthi ante fidem susceptum hu-
miles et despecti, et multas injurias sustinentes a Livonibus et Estonibus, unde ipsi
magis gaudebant de adventu sacerdotum, eo quod post baptismum eodem jure et eadem
pace omnes gauderunt." L. c, f. 56.
4 L. c f. 46. The priest Heinrich says, that the Lieflanders were at first very well
satisfied with their judges, or so-called advocates ; namely, so long as pious men, who
were governed only by Christian motives, administered this office. But it turned out
otherwise, when laymen, who sought only how they might enrich themselves, obtained
these posts.

EXHORTATIONS OF WILLIAM OF MODENA. 55
compliance with the request of the bishop of Riga, sent William,
bishop of Modena, the papal chancellor, as a legate to Liefland.
This prelate spared no pains in dispensing amongst the ancient in
habitants of the country and their conquerors, such exhortations as
their respective circumstances required. The Germans he exhorted
to mildness iu their behaviour to the new converts ; charging them
to lay on their shoulders no intolerable burdens, but only the
light and easy yoke, and to instruct them constantly in the sacred
truths.1 He cautioned those who bore the sword against being
too hard oil the Esthlanders, in the collection of tythes and im
posts, lest they should be driven to relapse into idolatry "' These
exhortations to a mild, indulgent treatment of the natives, he
repeated, on various occasions, amongst the different classes.
AVith the establishment ofthe Christian churcli in these lands,
was closely connected its establishment also amongst another
Slavic people, the Prussians ; for that same order of spiritual
knights, which had been founded for the purpose of giving sta
bility to the Christian foundations in Liefland, formed a union
with another order for the accomplishment of this work. We
must now revert to many things strictly belonging to the preced
ing period, but which, for the sake of preserving the connection
of events, we reserved to the present occasion.
Adalbert of Prague,3 the archbishop who had to endure so
many hard conflicts with the rudeness of his people, betook him
self, after he had abandoned his bishopric for the third time, to
Boleslav the First, duke of Poland, expecting to find amongst
the pagans in this quarter a field of activity suited to the glowing
ardour of his zeal. He finally determined to go amongst the
Prussians. The duke gave him a vessel, and thirty soldiers to
protect him. Thus attended, he sailed to Dantzic,* as this was
the frontier-place between Prussia and Poland. Here he first
made his appearance as a preacher of the gospel, and he suc
ceeded in baptizing numbers. Then sailing from this place, and
landing on the opposite coast, he sent back the ship and her
1 "Ne Teutonici gravaminis aliquodjugum importabile neophytorum bumeris impo.
n^rent, sed juguin Domini leve ac suave, udeinue semper docerent sacramenta."
2 L. c. f. 173.
3 See vol. vi., p. 70.
1 Gedauia,

56 * ADALBERT OF PRAGUE.
crew. He desired to commit himself, as a messenger of peace,
wholly to God's protection. He did not choose to appear stand
ing under the protection of any human power, but would avoid
everything which might awaken suspicion amongst the pagans.
The only persons he kept with him were the priest Benedict and
his own pupil Gaudentius. It was an open beach where they
were set down ; and taking a small boat, they rowed to an island
formed at the mouth of the river Pregel.1 But the owners of the
land approached with cudgels to drive them away, and one dealt
him so severe a blow with an oar, that the psalter from which he
was singing dropped from his hand, and he fell to the ground.
As soon as he had recovered himself he said, " I thank thee,
Lord, for the privilege thou hast bestowed on me of suffering even
a blow for my crucified Saviour." On Saturday they rowed to
the other shore of the Pregel, on the coast of Samland. The lord
of the domain, whom they happened to meet, conducted them to
his village. A large body of people collected together. AVhen
Adalbert had given an account of himself, of the country he came
from, and of his errand, the people told him they wanted to hear
nothing about a foreign law, and threatened them all with death
unless they sailed off the same night. Compelled to leave these
coasts, they turned back again, tarrying five days in a village
where they brought up. Here, on the night of Thursday,- the
brother Gaudentius had a dream, which next morning he related
to the bishop. He saw standing in the middle of the altar a gol
den chalice half filled with wine. He asked permission to drink
from it, but the servant of the altar forbade him. Neither he nor
any other person could be allowed to drink from it, said he. It was
reserved against the morrow for the bishop, to give him spiritual
strength. " May the Lord's blessing," said Adalbert, on hearing
this, " bring to pass what this vision promises ; but we should
place no confidence in a deceitful dream." At the break of day
they proceeded on their journey, cheerily making their way
through the pathless woods, shortening the distance with spiritual

1 As may be gathered from the words of tbe ancient account of bis life, Mens. April
t. iii. c. vi. fob 186: "Intrant parvam insulam, quae curvo amne circumjecta formam
circuli adeuntibus monstrat." See Voigt's remarks, respecting these specified marks in
relation to the geographical situation of places, in his Geschichte von Preussen Bd. i.,
s. 267.

MARTYRDOM OF ADALBERT OF PRAGUE. 57
songs. About noon they came to some open fields. Hero
Gaudentius celebrated the mass : Adalbert received the cup,
then took some refreshment, and after they had proceeded a few
steps farther the three seated themselves upon the grass. Wearied
with travel, they all fell into a profound sleep, which lasted till
they were awakened by the noise of a tumultuous band of pagans,
who seized and bound them in chains. Said Adalbert to his
companions, "be not troubled, my brethren, we know, indeed, for
whose name we suffer. AVhat is there more glorious than to give
up life for our precious Jesus." Upon this Siggo, a priest, plunged
a lance through his body ; the others then vented their rage upon
him. Adalbert, streaming with blood, kept his head erect, and
his eyes fixed on heaven. This happened on the 23d of April
997.1 The second person who attempted to convert the Prussians
was Bruno, surnamed Bonifacius.3 He was descended from a
family of note in Querfurt, and became court- chaplain of the
emperor Otto the Third, who valued him highly on account of his
spiritual attainments. This monarch took him along with him
in a journey to Rome, where perhaps it was the sight of a picture
of Boniface, the apostle to the Germans, which led him to resolve
on withdrawing from court, becoming a monk, and conveying the
message of salvation to the heathen nations. Carrying this re
solution into effect, he became a monk of the order of St Bene
dict. He procured from Sylvester the Second fall powers to
engage in a mission to the heathen. This pope conferred on
him, for the same end, episcopal ordination, and the pall of an
archbishop. With eighteen companions he repaired, in 1007,
to Prussia ; but all perished by martyrdom on the 14th of Fe
bruary, 1008.
From this time two centuries elapsed, during which, so far as
we know, nothing farther was done for the conversion of the
1 We certainly cannot doubt that the circumstantial and simple narrative came from
the mouth of one of Adalbert's companions, who probably were redeemed from their
captivity among the Prussians by duke Boleslav; for the author of the second account
of Adalbert's life states, that the Prussians preserved his body with a view of afterwards
disposing of it for a large ransom to duke Boleslav.
2 This surname was the occasion of a mistake, two different persons having been made
out of these two names, and a missionary Boniface was invented, who is to be wholly
stricken out of the list of historical persons.

58 christian's success in Prussia.
Prussians. It was not until 1207, that any new attempt was
made for this purpose. At that time Gottfried, a Polish abbot,
from the monastery of Lukina, sailed down the Weichsel, in com
pany with Philip, a monk ; and they succeeded in gaining the
confidence of the heads of the people. Two of these, Phalet and
his brother Sodrach, embraced Christianity and received baptism.
At this point the work was interrupted, indeed, by the assassina
tion of monk Philip ; but some years later another man appeared,
who was far better calculated for such an enterprise, and who
began his work with more promising results. Christian, a native
of Freienwalde, in Pommerania, went forth at that time from the
monastery of Oliva, near Dantzic, where, perhaps, the reports he
heard concerning the Prussians and the first attempts which were
made to convert them, had served to call forth in him the desire
of conveying to them the message of salvation. With several
other monks, among whom one in particular is mentioned, named
Philip, he repaired, after having first obtained ample authority
for this work from pope Innocent the Third,1 to the adjacent
province of Prussia. The happy results of his labours in Prussia
induced him, perhaps in accordance with some agreement between
him and the pope, in the years 1209 and 1210, to make a jour
ney to Rome. Innocent the Third espoused this cause with
that active zeal and prudent forethought, embracing the interests
of the whole church, for which he was distinguished. He com
mitted to the archbishop of Gnesen, the pastoral care over this
mission and the new converts, till their number should be such
as to require the labours of a special bishop of their own. In
his letter addressed to this archbishop,2 he says, " Through the
grace of him who calls into being that which is not, and who out
of stones raises up sons to Abraham, a few of the nobles and
some others in that region have received baptism ; and would
that they might daily make progress in the knowledge of the
l As pope Innocent the Third, in his letter to the archbishop of Gnesen, epp. 1. xiii.,
ep. 128, says, expressly, concerning Christian and his companions : " Ad partes Prussiae
de noBtra licentia accesserunt;" and in the letter to tbe Cistercian abbots, 1. xv., ep.
147: " Olini de nostra licentia inceperunt seminare in partibus Prussiae verbum Dei,"
it is impossible to doubt, that the monks at the very beginning, either orally or by
Irtler, reported their project to the pope, and received from him ample powers for such an
enterprise. From this particular point of time it was also the first in which resort was
lindin such an enterprise to the bead ofthe church.
2 L. . . 1. xiii., ep. 138.

LETTER OF l'OPK. INNOCENT THE THIRD. 59
true faith." Christian and his companions returned and prose
cuted their labours with good success. But from one quarter
where they had every reason to expect countenance and support.
they experienced hindrances of all sorts in the prosecution of
their work. The Cistercian abbots grew jealous of the inde
pendent activity of these men ; they put them in the same class
with those vagabond monks, who had broken loose from all dis
cipline and order. They refused to acknowledge them as brethren
of their order, and denied them those kindly offices which in all
other cases the members of the order were wont to show to each
other. Therefore the pope issued in behalf of this mission, in
the year 1213, a letter addressed to the abbots of the Cistercian
chapter.1 With the cautious wisdom manifested by this pope on
other occasions, he intended, on the one hand, to restrain those
monks who merely wished to throw off the forms of legitimate
dependence, from roving about, uncalled, as missionaries ; and,
on the other, to provide that the preaching of the gospel should
not be hindered under the pretext of checking such disorders.
To secure these ends, the whole matter was placed under the
general oversight of the archbishop of Gnesen. He was to apply
the right rules for the trying of the spirits, and to furnish those,
whom he found qualified to preach and influenced by the spirit
of love, with testimonials of good standing and letters of recom
mendation. The pope commanded the Cistercian abbots to for
bear from hindering in their work such persons as were thus
accredited. Furthermore, the pope had heard complaints, that
the dukes of Pommerania and of Poland, turned the introduction
of Christianity into a means of oppressing the Prussians ; that
they laid on the Christians heavier burdens than they had pre
viously borne ; which, as had often been shown in the case of the
Slavic tribes, might end in making Christianity hateful to the
people, whose burdens it only served to increase, and to bring
about the ruin ofthe whole mission.2 He therefore sent to these

1 L. c. 1. xv , ep. 147.
2 " Quidam vestrum," says the pope, in his letter to them, 1. xv., ep. 148 — " minime
attendentes, et quaerentes, quae sua sunt, non quae Christi, quam cito intelligunt all
quos e gentilibus per Prussiam constitutis novae regenerationis gratiam suscepisse,
statim oneribus eos servilibus aggravant et venienles ad Christianae fidei libertatem
deterioris conditionis efficiunt quam cssent, dum sub jugo servitude pristinae perman-
serint."

60 CHRISTIANITY IN FINNLAND.
princes a letter, couched in firm and decided language, setting
before^them the unchristian character of such proceedings. " Al
though, in the words of the apostle, without faith it is im
possible to please God, still, faith alone is not sufficient for this
purpose ; but love is, in an especial manner, also necessary. As
the apostle says : though one may have faith so as to be able to
remove mountains, and though one may speak with the tongues
of angels and of men, and though one give his whole substance
to feed the poor, and have not charity, it profiteth him nothing.
Now, if according to the law of Christ, this love is to be extended
even to our enemies, how much more is it incumbent on all to
practice it towards the newly converted, inasmuch as they, if
hardly dealt with, may easily be led into apostacy." " We there
fore beseech and exhort you," continues the pope, " for the sake
of him who came to save the lost, and to give his life a ran
som for many, do not oppress the sons of this new plantation, but
treat them with the more gentleness, as they are liable to be
misled, and to relapse into paganism ; since the old bottles can
scarcely hold the new wine." We find from this letter, that In
nocent had empowered the archbishop of Gnesen to pronounce
the bann on the oppressors of the new converts in Prussia, if they
would not listen to reason.
So the monk Christian succeeded in overcoming these diffi
culties, and his work for the first time went prosperously onward.
Two princes whom he had converted made over to him their ter
ritory, as a possession for the new church. He travelled with
them to Rome ; they were there baptized, and Christian^was now
consecrated to the office of bishop. But after his return, a stormy
insurrection arose on the part of his pagan people, provoked per
haps, in part, by the conduct of the above-mentioned Christian
princes. Then similar enterprises followed to those which had
taken place in Liefland. The order of German knights, founded
during the crusades in the twelfth century, joined themselves for
the purpose of engaging in them with the order of the Brethren
of the Sword ; and it was not till after a long series of years, in
the year 1283, that the work was completed ; four bishoprics
having been previously, in the year 1243, founded for the Prus
sians: — Kulm, Pomesanien, Ermeland, and Sameland.
Nearly after the same manner was the church planted amongst
a

NESTORIANS IN ASIA. Gl
the Finns. King Eric, of Sweden, whose zeal for the church
caused him to be venerated as a saint, undertook for this purpose
— inasmuch as the Finns could not be induced to submit in a
peaceable manner — a crusade, in which he was accompanied by
bishop Heinrich, of Upsala. A characteristic trait, indicating
the point of religious development at which he stood, and the
strong inclination of his times to cling to external things, is re
lated of him. Kneeling down to thank God, after having won a
battle, he was observed to be profusely weeping : and being asked
the reason, confessed that it was for pity and commiseration at
the fate of so many who had fallen in the fight without being
baptized, and were consequently lost, when they might have been
saved by the holy sacrament.1
Let us now throw a glance at the spread of Christianity in
Asia. It lay in the power of the Nestorians to do the most for
this object ; for their communities were widely scattered over
eastern Asia ; they were more favoured by the Mohammedan
princes than any of the other Christian sects ;2 and were the most
familiarly acquainted with the languages and customs of the Asi
atic nations. Till within the ninth century, the Nestorian church3
still maintained flourishing schools for the education of their
clergy ; but after that time these schools seem to have declined.
What we learn concerning the Nestorian ecclesiastics who roved
about Asia, proves, that they were often greatly wanting in theo
logical culture, Christian knowledge, and sedateness of Christian
character. It is true, they were animated by a zeal for making
proselytes ; but they were also too often satisfied if people did
but profess Christianity outwardly, and observe a certain set of
Christian or ecclesiastical usages. We should be the more cau
tious, therefore, in receiving those reports which Nestorians, in
clined to speak extravagantly concerning the merits of their sect,
and habituated to the language of Oriental exaggeration, have
made respecting their labours for the conversion of pagan tribes.
They spread themselves over those districts of Asia, in which a
certain inclination to the mixing together of different religions

1 See the vitas, Erici. Mens. Maj. d. 18, c. i.
2 See, on this point, the extracts from Oriental sources in Assemani Bibliotheca
orientalis, t. iii., f. 95, etc.
See vol. iii. p. 300.

62 LEGEND CONCERNING A KINGDOM OF PRIESTS IN KERAIT,
always existed. A way was easily found of introducing many
things from Christianity into this medley ; and the Nestorians
might represent this as conversion to Christianity.
Thus, for example, we find, sometime after the twelfth cen
tury, a legend current in the Western church, respecting a power
ful Christian empire in Asia, whose Christian kings, it was said,
were at the same time priests, and bore the name of John. By
the concurrent testimony of all the accounts from Oriental sources1
and AVestern travellers of the thirteenth century, it is evident
beyond a doubt, that the kingdom of Kerait in Tartary, lying
north of Sina (China), whose residential capital was the city of
' Caracorum, was here meant. It may be more doubtful, what
opinion should be formed respecting the Christianity of this
people and of its princes, respecting the union of the sacerdotal
and kingly offices in the persons of the latter, and respecting the
name of John.
The Nestorian metropolitan Ebedjesu, bishop of Maru in
Chorasan, in Persia, relates, in a letter to his patriarch Maris,2
that a king of Kerait, in the beginning of the eleventh cen
tury, had been converted to Christianity by means of Chris
tian merchants, certainly Nestorians.3 The prince, it is said,
thereupon sent a request to the metropolitan, that he would
either come to him personally, or else send a priest to bap
tize him. The patriarch, to whom Ebedjesu reported this,
is said to have empowered him to send to that country two
priests, together with deacons and ecclesiastical vessels. Two
hundred thousand people of this nation are said to have em
braced Christianity ; the priest above mentioned, and his des
cendants, were known henceforth in the East by the name
of the priest-kings, John, (Prester John.) Various exagge
rated stories concerning the power of these princes, and the
extent of their empire, were spread abroad by monks in the
AVest. Envoys from them appeared in Rome, sent for the
1 See extracts in Assemani, 1. c. f. 486. Ssanang Ssetsen's Geschichte der Ostmon-
golen, translated from the Mongol language by Schmidt, p. 87. Petersburg, 1829.
2 See Assemani's Bibliothek, 1. c. p. 484.
3 This is ascribed to the apparition of a saint, who pointed out the right path to tbe
prince, when he had lost his way in a chase; whether tbe truth is, that some actual
occun-ence lies at the bottom of the story, or that this account is a mere imitation of
other similar ones, as that respecting the conversion of the Iberians, see vol. iii. p. 153.

EXAGGERATED ACCOUNTS OF THIS KINGDOM. G'A
purpose of establishing connections between these pretended
great monarchs and the West, through the mediation of the
pope. Not only have we every reason to doubt the truth of
these reports, but it is also quite questionable whether the persons
who represented themselves as envoys, were really authorized to
appear in that character ; whether, in fact, the whole is not to be
regarded as a work of fraud ; especially since we know, that
when the crusades had laid open a more free communication be
twixt the East and the West, the credulity of the West was often
imposed upon by such fraudulent pretensions. Still, we should
not be authorized on these grounds to call in question the exist
ence of such a line of sacerdotal kings passing under the common
name of John. It is possible, that Nestorians baptized the
king, and then gave him priestly consecration ; and that at bap
tism he received the name John, — particularly because this was
the name of the Nestorian patriarch at that time. Both name
and office may then have passed down to his successors. Occa
sion may have been given for associating the sacerdotal and kingly
offices together in one man by ideas and tendencies already exist
ing in those districts at an earlier period ; ideas and tendencies
which afterwards reappeared among this people, under another
form, in Lamaism. In recent times, however, a more careful
examination into the history and the relations of the Chinese
empire has led to a different interpretation of this story.1 The
kings of Kerait were vassals of the vast Chinese empire ; and as
such they bore, in addition to their proper names, the character
and title of " Vam," or " Vang." Now this latter title, joined
with the Tartaric " Khan," gave origin to the name " Vam-Khan,"
or " Ung-Khan." It is supposed then that the legend respect
ing these kings who all called themselves John, proceeded from a
misconception, or mutilation, of that twofold title ; while the
legend respecting their uniting the offices of priest and king may
have originated in a transfer of religious notions, already current
1 Schlosser's Weltgeschichte, iii., ii., 1, s. 269. Ritter's Geographie, ii., ii., Bd. 1, s.
257. Schmidt, in a note contained in the above-mentioned Geschichte der Ostmon-
golen, ». 283. Gieseler, who adopts this view, has endeavoured to make this derivation
probable, by supposing that the Nestorians confounded the foreign Tartarian words with
others of like souud in the. Semitic dialects, Jochanan and Chohen; see Studien u.
Kritiken, 1837, 2 h. s. 354.

64 HISTORICAL FOUNDATION OF THE WHOLE LEGEND.
among these nations at an earlier period into a Christian form.
Thus we might be led to regard the whole story concerning the
conversion of the princes of Kerait and their subjects, as a legend
which originated in misconception and exaggeration, without the
least foundation of historical truth. But as the report in the
above-mentioned letter of the Nestorian metropolitan, respect
ing the conversion of that Tartarian prince, is confirmed in all
essential points by the narratives of Western missionaries and
travellers belonging to the thirteenth century, who had, some of
them, long resided in those districts, and were not accustomed to
exaggerate ; so we regard the statement that princes of Kerait
were converted by Nestorians to Christianity, that is, led to the
outward profession of it, and to the adoption of Christian usages,
and that such a Christianity was transmitted in their families, —
as a fact sufficiently well established, however uncertain may be
the rest of the story.
At all events, an end was put to the empire of these so-called
sacerdotal kings, probably under the fourth of the dynasty, by
the great revolution in 1202, which, somewhat later, shook not
only Asia but Europe. The head of one of the subordinate
tribes under this empire, khan Temudschin, revolted. The king
of Kerait lost, in the struggle which ensued, his kingdom and his
life, and Temudschin became, under the name of Dschingiskhan,
founder of the great Mongolian empire. It is said, however, that
he married the daughter ofthe slain priest- king ; and that Rab-
banta,1 a Nestorian monk, rose to great authority and influence ;
but we ought not to attribute too much importance to statements
like these. The religious interest, as a general thing, was
amongst the Mongols an altogether subordinate concern ; their
only article of faith was the recognition of one Almighty God,
the Creator ofthe world, and ofthe great khan, his son, whom he
•set over all the kingdoms of the world, and whom all must obey.
This one fundamental article left room, indeed, for a great deal
besides, which might be taken from other quarters, and incorpo- ~
rated with it. The religion of these tribes was a rude monotheism,
which took but a slight hold on the religious interest ; the belief
1 Certainly not a proper name, but a mixture of two titles of honour from different
languages, viz. : the Syrian Babban, and the Turkish Atta, father. See Abel-Remusat
in the Memoires del' Academie des Inscriptions, t. vi., an. 1822, p. 413.

THE MONUOLS. 65
in one God who was held oft' at an immense distance, — a belief
affording but little to occupy the thoughts or feelings of the
human mind ; and into the void thereby left for the religious
nature, an entrance was loft open for all manner of superstition.
The religious need would necessarily strive to fill up the chasm
between that sublime and distant Deity, floating before the mind
in dim presentiment, and the life of man in all its contraction and
feebleness ; and it was precisely here that all forms of supersti
tion were enabled to find a foothold. Idols and amulets, fabri
cated by their own hands, laid stronger hold on the affections and
the imaginations ofthe people, than that vague belief in one God,
the creator ofthe universe. In this manner, it was possible that,
under the above-mentioned single article of faith, different reli
gions,1 that is, their forms and usages, with which a superstitious
sort of coquetry was practised, might subsist side by side. Indeed,
a frequent change of religious usages was particularly agreeable to
the taste of these tribes of men ; and thus it happened that Chris
tian, Mohammedan, and Buddhist rites and usages were after
wards admitted amongst them and tolerated together. Nesto
rian priests long wandered about among these nations ; and these
people required nothing more than such an adoption of Christian
forms, which they represented as an embracing of Christianity.
At the same time, the Mongolian princes, induced by motives of
political interest, and seeking to form alliances with Christian
nations against the Mohammedans, — often represented themselves
as more inclined to Christianity than they really were ; or else
with a view to flatter the Christian princes of the East, who in a
certain sense did them homage, accommodated themselves, in the
expression of their religious opinions, to the views of those whom
they addressed.
Under Oktaikhan, the successor of Dschingiskhan, the armies
of the Mongols threatened to deluge Europe, through Russia,
Poland, Bohemia, and Silesia ; while the Christian nations were
prevented from adopting common measures of defence, by the
quarrels between the pope and the emperor Frederic the Second.
This led pope Innocent the Fourth to send two embassies to the
1 The J. de Piano Carpini, shortly to be mentioned, makes concerning the Mongols
the correct remark : " Quiade cultu Dei nullem legem observant, neminem adhuc, quod
intelleximus, coegerunt suam fidem vel legem negare."
VOL. VII. E

66 ENVOYS OF THE POPE.
Mongols, one to charge them, in his name, to desist from their
warlike expeditions against the Christian nations, and the other
to make an attempt to convert them to Christianity. Both were
ill-judged ; for of what avail was such an injunction, backed up by
nothing else ; what signified the word of a pope amongst Mon
gols ? And as to the other object, of gaining them over to Chris
tianity, a single embassy could do nothing towards its accom
plishment ; while the instruments chosen by the pope for this
business, possessed neither the character nor the information ne
cessary for performing the task imposed on them. In the year
1245, four Dominicans are said to have visited the commander-
in-chief of the Mongols in Persia, and three Franciscans to have
repaired to the great khan himself. The former,1 at whose head
stood the monk Ascelin, were altogether unfitted for the business
they undertook, being utterly ignorant both of the manners and
of the language of these nations, as well as utterly destitute of
the versatility of mind necessary for acquiring such knowledge.
Offence was taken, in the first place, because they had not, ac
cording to the Oriental custom, brought presents with them.
Then, to obtain an audience from the commander-in-chief, it was
made a condition that they should pay obeisance to him by three
several prostrations. The scruple which they raised, that this
would be a mark of idolatrous homage, was removed, it is true,
by Guiscard of Cremona, a monk familiar with the manners ofthe
East, whom they met with at Tiflis ; and who explained to them
that nothing of this kind was associated with the act in the cus
toms of these nations. But when he informed them, at the same
time, that it would be a mark of homage paid by the pope and
the Church of Rome to the great khan ; they declared themselves
resolved to die rather than subject the Church of Rome and Chris
tendom to such a disgrace in the sight of the nations of the East.
The Tartars looked upon it as exceedingly strange, that, adoring
as they did the sign of the cross in wood and stone, they could
pay no such mark of respect to the great commander, whom the
khan would not hesitate to honour as he did himself. They looked
upon this refusal as a serious insult to the dignity of the khan, in
his representative ; and it was only by a fortunate turn of circum-
1 The report of their mission by one of the party, Simon of St Quintin, set forth in
Vincentius de Beauvais, speculum historiale, 1. xxxi.,c. 40.

THREE FRANCISCANS VISIT THE GREAT KUAN. 67
stances that the monks escaped being put to death. Finally,
they were required to go and meet the great khan himself, to
place in his hands the pope's letter, convince themselves, by their
own observation, of his unlimited power and matchless glory, and
draw up a report of the same to the pope. To this, Ascelin re
plied that, as his lord the pope knew nothing about the name of
the khan, and had not commanded him to inquire after that per
sonage, but to accost the first army of the Tartars whom he
should meet, so he was not bound, and neither was he inclined,
to make a journey to the khan. This style of expressing himself
with regard to the relation of the pope to the Tartarian monarch,
provoked afresh the displeasure of the Tartars. " Has the pope,
then," said they, " subdued as many kingdoms and vast empires
as the great khan, the son of God ? Has the name of the pope
spread as widely as that of the great khan, who is feared from the
East to the West ?" Upon this, Ascelin explained to them, that
the pope, as the successor of St Peter, to whom Christ had in
trusted the government of the entire church, possessed the highest
authority among men. But of such an authority the Tartars
could form no conception ; and in vain did Ascelin resort to va
rious illustrations and examples for the purpose of making the
thing plain to them.1
The letter of the pope was then translated first into Persian,
thence into the Tartarian language, and placed before the com
mander-in-chief. And the monks, after being detained for several
months, finally obtained permission to go home ; and at the same
time a brief, haughty reply to the pope's letter, was placed in
their hands. It ran thus : " Whereas, it is God's immutable de
cree, that all who come personally to show their submission to the
great khan, whom God has made lord over the whole world,
should remain on their own soil and territory, but the rest be
destroyed ; therefore, let the pope take care to inform himself of
this, if he wishes to retain his country." The Franciscans, with
whom went Johannes de Piano Carpini, an Italian,2 directed their
course to Tartary, and the great khan, through Russia ; and their
1 Ascelino multis modis et exemplis explanante, illi tanquam brutales homines nul
latenus intelligere valuerunt plenarie,
•^Extracts from his report in Vincentius de Beauvais, lib. 31. The same was first
published complete by D'Avezac. Paris, 1838.
E 2

68 THREE FRANCISCANS VISIT THE GREAT KHAN.
journey, lying through desolate regions and steppes, which they
had to traverse on horseback, often at the greatest speed and
without halting, was one attended with the severest deprivations
and hardships. These monks seemed to be better qualified for
their business than the first : Johannes de Piano Carpini, in par
ticular, by his extensive earlier travels, by the important offices
which he had filled in his order, and the superior tact he had
thereby acquired, seemed much better prepared for it. Less stiff
in their prejudices, they conld more easily enter into foreign cus
toms and modes of thinking ; and hence showed themselves quite
ready to make presents, after the Oriental fashion, of the few
articles they brought with them ; nor did they hesitate to go
through the ceremony of thrice bowing the knee, as a customary
mark of respect to those in power. When they arrived at" the
khan's court, Oktaikhan had died, and they were present at the
coronation of his successor, Gaiuk. They also found here Nesto
rian priests, who were maintained by the khan, and who per
formed their worship before his tents. But assuredly it was an
exaggeration, intended or unintended, on the part of the Chris
tians in immediate attendance on the khan, when they told the
monks that he himself would soon embrace Christianity.1 Be
sides giving them a letter to the pope, he proposed to send back
with them envoys of his own ; a proposal which, for various pru
dential reasons, they thought proper to decline. In other respects
this embassy proved as fruitless as the former.
The crusades, in various ways, brought the Christians of the
West into contact with the Mongols.2 The leaders of the Mon
gols were sometimes induced by motives of policy to court the
alliance of the western princes against their common enemy, the
Mohammedans ; or they ambitiously affected the distinction of
being acknowledged, even by those princes, as their liege lords
1 The words of J. de Piano Carpini, in the complete edition of his report, mentioned
in the previous note, § xii. p. 370: " Dicebant etiam nobis Christiani, qui erant de
familia ejus,Jquod credebant firmiter, quod debet fieri Christianus et de hoc habent sig-
num apertum, quoniam ipse tenet clericos christianos et dat eis expensas, Christianorum
etiam capellam semper habet ante majus tentorium ejus, et cantant pnblice et aperte, et
pulsant ad horas secundum morem Graecorum, ut alii Christiani, quantacunque sit ibi
multitudo Tatarorum vel etiam hominum aliorum, quod non faciunt alii duces."
2 See the Essay of Abel-Remusat : " Rapports des princes Chretiens avec le grand em
pire des Mongols," in the Memoires de l'Academie des Inscriptions, t. vi., p. 398,
1822.

WILLIAM DE RUBRUQUIS, AMBASSADOR TO TARTARY. 69
and masters. There were, however, roving about in the East,
many deceivers, who represented themselves as envoys from the
Mongols, as well as from others ; and, in their names, expressed
opinions, and made treaties, such as had never been dreamed of
by those rulers. At the same time, however, the Mongol princes
themselves, doubtless, contrived that many things should be said
in their name, whicli they afterwards refused to acknowledge as
having ever proceeded from them. Thus that pious king, Louis
the Ninth of France, while residing, in the time of his crusade,
on the isle of Cyprus, heard many exaggerated stories about the
inclination of the Mongolian princes to favour Christianity, which
induced him to send them ambassadors with presents.
Among these ambassadors, the most distinguished was the
Franciscan William de Eubrnquis, who undertook a journey of
this sort in the year 1253. He visited the Mongol general and
prince Sartach, his father Batu, and the great khan of the Mon
gols himself, the Mangu-khan. He penetrated as far as Caraco-
rum, the renowed capital of this empire, the ancient residential
city of the above-mentioned priest- kings. From his report of
this journey, we discover that he was a man less prone to credu
lity than other monks of his time, more inclined, and better qua
lified, to examine into facts ; and it is through him we receive
the first certain and accurate information respecting the religious
condition of these nations, and respecting their relation to Chris
tianity. In piety and Christian knowledge he was far superior
to the Oriental monks and ecclesiastics, who wandered about
among these tribes ; and his piety, his intrepidity, and his in
sight into the essence of Christianity, as viewed from the position
held by his own church, fitted him beyond others to act as a
missionary among these nations. When he came into those dis
tricts, where the kingdom of Prester John once had its seat, he
perceived how exaggerated had been the accounts given of that
kingdom by the Nestorians.1 He says that, with the exception
1 He says of Prester John, out of whom he makes a Nestorian priest, who had raised
himself to be king: " Les Nestoriens disaient de lui choses merveilleuses,raais beaucoup
plus qu'il n'y avait en effet, car c'est la coutume des Nestoriens de ces pays la, de faire
un grand bruit de peu de chose, ainsi qu'ils out fait, courir partout le bruit, que Sartach
elait Chretien, aussi bien que Mangu-Cham et Ken-Cham, a cause seulement, qu'ils font
plus d'honueur aux Chretiens, qu'a tous les autres, toutefois ilest Lrfes-certain, qu'ils ne
sont pas Chretiens." See his report in the collection of Bergeron, t. i., c. 19.

70 MIXTURE OF VARIOUS RELIGIONS AMONG THE MONGOLS.
of a few Nestorians there was nobody who knew anything about
Prester John. He found the Nestorians widely dispersed in
these regions, and filling important posts in the Tartarian court.1
But of the Nestorian clergy he gives a very sad account. " They
are," he observes, " thoroughly ignorant ; and though they repeat
the liturgical forms, and possess the sacred books in the Syriac
language, they understand nothing about them. They sing like
illiterate monks, that have no understanding of Latin. Hence
they are all corrupt in their morals, and wicked in their lives ;
great usurers,' and drunken sots. Some of them who live among
the Tartars keep, like the latter, several wives."2 It was quite
enough for such people if they could make their mechanical
prayers and ceremonies pass current at the Tartarian court, so
as to procure for themselves presents, the means of living, and
influence. The khan Mangu was accustomed to avail himself of
the opportunity furnished by the Christian, Mohammedan, and
pagan festivals, to give entertainments. On these occasions the
Nestorian priests first presented themselves in their clerical
robes ; offered up prayers for the khan, and pronounced a bless
ing over his cups : next, the Mohammedan priests did the same ;
last of all came the pagans,3 by which, perhaps, we are to under
stand the Buddhist priests ; for there are many indications that
Buddhism had already spread into these regions ; a thing, indeed,
which might have taken place even at amuch earlier period, through
missions and pilgrimages of the Buddhists, who were quite zealous
in spreading the doctrines of their religion.4 At this court he
met with a poor weaver from Armenia, who called himself a monk,5
and pretended before the people that he came from Palestine, in
obedience to a special divine revelation.6 By his sanctimonious
1 L. c. p. 31, 60, 67.
2 L. c. c. 28, p. 60.
3 Rubruquis writes, c. 36, p. 78 : " Tant les uns, que les autres suivent sa cour,
comme les mouches a miel font les fours, car il donne a tous et chacun lui desire toutes
sortes de biens et de prosperites, croyant etre de ses plus particuliers amis."
i Rubruquis says, c. 28. p. 60 : ¦' Les pretres idolatres de ce pays la portent de grands
chapeaux ou coqueluchons jaunes et il y a entre eux aussi, ainsi que j'ai oui dire, cer
tains hermites ou anachorites, qui vivent dans les forets et les montagnes, menant une
vie tres-surprenante et austere." In which characters we cannot fail to recognise a
Buddhist element.
j L. u. c. 38.
0 L. c. c. i% p. 133.

RUBRUQUIS IN CONVERSATION WITH THE MONGOLS. 71
airs, his quackery, aud boasted wonder-working medicines, this
person had contrived to acquire considerable influence and pro
perty at the court ofthe khan, especially among the women.1 In
the city of Caracorum, he saw twelve idol-temples belonging to
different nations, two mosques for Mohammedans, and one church.
In this Mongol capital he distributed the sacrament of the Sup
per, on Easter- Day, to a large number of Christians who had
met together here from various countries, and were eager to enjoy
that means of grace, of which they had long been deprived. To
more than sixty persons, moreover, he administered baptism.2
After having resided for some time at the court, he requested of
the great khan a decisive answer to the question, whether he
might be permitted to remain in the country as a missionary, or
whether he must return home. Iu consequence of this, on the
Sunday before Whitsuntide of the year 1253, he was, in the
name of the khan, closely questioned respecting the object for
which he had come, by certain officers of the khan's court, among
whom were to be found a few Saracens. After he had explained
the reasons which had led him to extend his journey so far, he
declared that the only object he had in view was to preach the
word of God to the Mongols, if they were willing to hear it. He
was asked what word of God he proposed to preach to them ; for
they supposed that by the word of God he meant certain predic
tions of good fortune, somewhat of the same sort with those with
which many of the wandering ecclesiastics and priests were ac
customed to flatter them. But he told them, " The word of God
is this, Luke xii. 48, ' Unto whomsoever God has given much,
of him shall much be required ; and unto whomsoever God has
intrusted less, of him less shall be required ; and he to whom
most is intrusted, is also loved most.' Now, on the khan God
had bestowed the most ample abundance of good things ; for, of
all that greatness and might of which he was possessed, he was
indebted for nothing to idols ; but for all to God, the creator of
heaven and earth, who has all the kingdoms of the world in his
hands ; and on account of men's sins, suffers them to pass over
from one nation to another. Therefore, if the khan loved God,
nothing would be wanting to him. But, if he conducted other-
1 L. c. p. 102, 133. 2 L. c. c. 42, p. 102.

72 RUBRUQUIS IN CONVERSATION WITH THE MONGOLS.
wise, he might be sure that God would call him to a strict ac
count for everything, even to the last penny." Here, one of the
Saracens asked, " Whether there was a man in the world who
did not love God 1" " He who loves God," replied Eubruquis,
""keeps his commandments ; and he who does not keep his com
mandments, does not love him." Upon this they asked him,
" Whether he had ever been in heaven, so as to know what God's
commandments are 1" " No," said he, " but God has communi
cated them from heaven to men, who sought after that which is
good ; and he himself came down from heaven, for the purpose of
teaching them to all men. In the sacred Scriptures, we have all
his words ; and we find out by men's works whether they observe
them or not." Upon this, they put him the ensnaring question,
" Whether he thought that Mangukhan kept God's command
ments, or not ?" But he adroitly evaded the dilemma, contriving,
while he said nothing but the truth, to avoid uttering a word
which could be interpreted to the khan's disadvantage. " He
wished," he said, " to lay before the khan himself, if he pleased,
all the commandments of God ; and then he could judge for him
self whether he kept them or not." The next day the khan
declared that, whereas there were scattered among his subjects
—Chiistians, Mohammedans, and worshippers of idols, and each
party held their own law to be the best ; therefore, it was his
pleasure that the advocates of the three religions should appear
before him, and each hand in a written account of his law ; so
that, by comparing them together, it might be determined which
was the best. " I thanked God," says Eubruquis.1 " that it had
pleased him to touch the khan's heart, and bring him to this
good decision. And, since it is written that a servant of the
Lord should be no brawler ; but gentle, showing meekness to all
men, and apt to teach ; therefore, I replied, that I was ready to
give an account of my Christian faith to any man who required
it of me." In the religions conference which followed, Bubruquis
showed immediately his great superiority to the Nestorians.
The Nestorians proposed that they should commence the dispu
tation with the Mohammedans. But Bubruquis thought it would
be much better to begin with the idolaters ; inasmuch as the
1 L. c. c. 45.

DISPUTATION BETWEEN DIFFERENT RELIGIOUS PARTIES. 73
Christians agreed with the Mohammedans in the faith in one
God, and could therefore, on this point, make common cause
with them against the idolaters. Furthermore, it was the in
tention of the Nestorians to prove the doctrine of one God,
against the idolaters, from Holy Writ. But Eubruquis explained
to them the impossibility of effecting anything in that way ; for
their opponents would deny the authority of the Scriptures ; and
would oppose to their testimony other authorities. As they had
shown themselves so inexpert in these preliminary matters, it
was agreed that he should speak first, and in case he were foiled
in the argument, they should follow him up and endeavour
to better it. On holy eve before Whitsuntide the disputation
was held. The khan had previously caused it to be announced,
that, on penalty of death to the transgressor, neither party should
dare to injure the other, or to excite disturbances. Three secre
taries ofthe khan, a Christian, a Mohammedan, and an idolater,
were to preside as umpires over the debate.
Eubruquis endeavoured to prove, in opposition to the idolaters,
the necessity of recognizing one Almighty God, the creator of all
things. They, on the other hand, being addicted to a certain
dualism, wished to have the difficulty solved, how evil could
possibly proceed from this one God. Eubruquis, however, re
fused to be drawn into that question ; " for," said he, " before
men can enter into any discussion respecting the origin of evil,
it would be necessary first to settle the question, What is evil ?"
Thus he compelled them to return to the main point. As to the
Mohammedans, they evaded the discussion, declaring that they
held the law of the Christians, and all that the gospel teaches,
to be true ; and as they acknowledged also one God, whom, in
all their prayers, they besought to give them grace to die like
the Christians, so they were not inclined to enter into any dis
pute with them. Perhaps the Mohammedans merely wished that
it should not appear before the idolaters, as if there were any dis
pute between the worshippers of one God ; and hence chose on
the present occasion to lay stress on that alone which they held
in common with the Christians. Perhaps Eubruquis put more
into their reply than it really contained.
He had already heard that the khan had determined to dismiss
him, and in a second audience, on the festival of Whitsuntide, the

74 INTERVIEW BETWEEN RUBRUQUIS AND THE KHAN.
decision was announced to him : " We, Mongols," said the khan
to him at this interview. '' believe there is but one God, by whom
we live and die, and to whom our hearts are wholly directed."
" God give you grace to do so," said Eubruquis, " for, without his
grace, it cannot be done." When, by means of his interpreter,
the khan gathered the sense of these words, as well as the former
could express it, said he, " As God has given many fingers to
the hand, so he has appointed different ways of salvation for man.
To the Christians he has given the Holy Scriptures, but they do
not strictly observe what is prescribed therein ; nor can they find
it written there that one class should censure others." He asked
Eubruquis whether he found that in the Scriptures. He said,
" No," and then added, " but I also told you, from the first, that
I would enter into controversy with no man." The khan then
proceeded : " I say, God gave you the Holy Scriptures, whose
commandments you do not keep. But to us he has given our
soothsayers :l we do whatsoever they prescribe to us, and live in
peace with one another." The khan was careful to avoid enter
ing into any farther conversation with Eubruquis, as the latter
wished, on religion ; but simply made known to him his command,
that he should now leave the country, for the purpose of convey
ing his answer to the letter of king Louis the Ninth. Eubruquis
declared his readiness to obey ; but at the same time begged
that he might be permitted, after having delivered the letters, to
return ; especially, as in the city of Bolak, there were many of his
subjects and servants, who spoke the French language, and who
were in want of priests to preach to them, and also to impart to
them and to their children the sacraments according to the
principles of their religion ; and he would be glad to settle among
them. The khan, avoiding a direct reply to this request, pro
posed a query. He asked Eubruquis if he felt certain then, that
his king intended to send him back again. To this Eubruquis
replied, that he did not know what the king's will might be ; but
he had perfect liberty from him to go wherever he thought it
necessary to preach the word of God ; and it seemed to him there
was an urgent need of his labours in these countries. The khan

1 A sort of people, who pretended to understand soothsaying, astrology, and magic,
vlio were consulted on all affairs of state, and directed all religious lustrations.
3

TWO MONGOL EMPIRES IN PERSIA AND CHINA. 75
dismissed him, however, without a definite answer to his request;
and silence here was tantamount to a refusal. Eubruquis con
cludes his account of this final interview with the remark, " I
thought that, had my God bestowed on me the gift to work such
miracles as Moses did, I might perhaps have converted the great
khan." By these Mongols, two great empires were founded, where their
government must have had an important influence on the situa
tion ofthe Christian church. One was the empire founded by the
khan's brother, Hulagu, after the year 1258, in Persia ; the other,
the principal Mongol empire in China. Within the former, in
deed, was the original seat of the Nestorian Church, where it had
already been favoured by the Mohammedans. The new conqueror
was induced by his wife, a Nestorian Christian, to favour Chris
tianity still more. Besides, there were matrimonial alliances of
the succeeding princes with the families of the Byzantine em
perors, and political interests which brought them into relation
with the European princes ; and they were sometimes led thereby
to represent themselves as still more inclined to Christianity than
was really the case. The popes, down to the close of the present
period, availed themselves of the opportunity furnished by these
relations, to send monks as missionaries to Persia. But the
favour thus shown to Christianity excited a jealousy so much the
more violent on the part of the Mohammedan class of the people ;
and a contest arose between them and the Christian party which
terminated in a complete victory on the side of the former, and
violent persecutions of Christianity.
As it regards the principal empire of the Mongols in China, it
is to be remarked that the religion of this people here obtained
for the first time a determinate shaping, in the form of Lamaism,
the creation of a hierarchy which sprang out of Buddhism. The
Mongols could not withstand the influence of the elements of cul
ture already existing in that country. Koblaikhan, the founder
of this empire, distinguished himself above the earlier Mongol
princes as a friend of edncation. In religion, he seems to have
fallen in with a certain eclectic tendency. He had a respect for
all religious institutions, and especially for Christianity ; though
he was very far from being himself a Christian.
His court was visited by two merchants belonging to the Vene-

76 MONTE CORVINO A MISSIONARY IN THE EAST.
tian family of the Poli. They were favourably received, and re
sided with him for some time. He finally sent them back to
Europe, in company with a man of his own court, with a commis
sion to procure for him, from the pope, a hundred learned men,
who should be well instructed in Christianity ; but their return
from Bome was delayed by the two years' vacancy which befell
the papal chair in 1272. Gregory the Tenth having been elected
pope in 1274, sent them back to China, with two learned Domi
nicans ; and one of the two Venetians took with him his son
Marcus, then fifteen years old. The young man made himself
accurately acquainted with the languages and customs of those
nations ; he gained the particular favour of Koblaikhan, was em
ployed by him on various occasions, and after his return, in 1295,1
composed his account of these regions, from which we obtain our
best knowledge respecting the state of Christianity in the same.
A person who professed to be a Christian (probably after the
Nestorian fashion) had rebelled against Koblaikhan. He mounted
the cross on his banner, and moreover employed several Christians
in his service. The Jews and Saracens in the army of Koblaikhan
took occasion from this, after that rebel had been conquered, to
attack Christianity : " Here," said they, " is seen the. weakness
of Christ. He could not procure his friends the victory." But
Koblaikhan, when the Christians complained to him of these
reflections, took their part. '¦' It is true," said he, "the rebel
did look for aid to the Christian's God ; but He, being a good
and righteous God, would not uphold wickedness ;" and he for
bade, for the future, all such calumnious remarks on the God of
the Christians, and on the cross.2
At the close ofthe thirteenth century, and in the beginning of
the fourteenth, a man laboured in these districts in whom we
recognize the pattern of a true missionary — the Franciscan, John
de Monte Corvino. He seems to have appeared first in Persia, in
the city of Tauris (Tabris.) From Persia he travelled, in the
year 1291, to India,3 where he remained thirteen months. He
was accompanied by the Dominican Nicholas de Pistorio, who
1 De regionibus orientalibus, libri iii.
2 See Marco Polo, lib. ii , c. 6.
3 Regiones sunt pulcberrimae, plenae aromatibns et lapidibus pietiosis sed de fruc-
tibus nostris parum habent.

HIS MODE OF CONDUCTING THE MISSION. 77
died there. In different districts, he succeeded in baptizing a
hundred persons ; and in the second letter which he wrote to
Europe, he declared it as his belief, that " great results might be
expected to follow the preaching of the gospel in those regions,
if substantial men ofthe order ofthe Dominicans or Franciscans
would come there." From India he travelled to China, and at
length settled down in the capital and residence of the great khan,
the city of Cambalu (Pekin.) In two letters written in the years
1305 and 1306, he drew up, for the members of his order, a brief
report of his adventures and labours.1 During eleven years he
had laboured entirely alone, when he was joined, in the year 1303,
by Arnold, a Franciscan from Cologne. In addition to other ob
stacles he had to encounter much opposition from the Nestorians,
who would not suffer any man to move a step if he refused to join
their party. They invented many false charges against him,
which were often the means of bringing him into great peril.
He was frequently obliged to defend himself before the courts,
till at length, by one confession, his innocence was clearly proved ;
and the khan (Koblai's successor, Timur-khan), provoked at his
false accusers, punished them with banishment. He found that
it was not in his power, indeed, to convert the Chinese emperor,
to whom he brought a letter from the pope ; but still that poten
tate treated him with favour, and did the Christians many acts of
kindness.2 This distinguished man, displaying the wisdom of a genuine
missionary, spared no pains in giving the people the word of God
in their own language, and in encouraging the education of the
children, as well as training up missionaries from among the
people themselves. He translated the New Testament and the
Psalms into the Tartar language, had these translations copied
in the most beautiful style, and made use of them in preaching.3
He purchased, one at a time, a hundred and fifty boys, under the
ages of seven and eleven, who were as yet utterly ignorant of any
religion ; baptized them ; gave them a Christian education, and

1 First published in Wadding's Annals, t. vi. ; then in Mosheim's historia eccles.
Tartaror. 2 Qui tamen nimis inveteratus est idolatria, sed multa beneficia praestat Christianis.
8 Quae feci scribi in pulcherrima Iitera eorum, et scribo et lego et praedico in patenti
et manifesto testimonium legis Christi.

78 MONTE COR VINO'S MODE OF CONDUCTING THE MISSION.
taught them Latin, Greek, and psalmody. Already during the
first years of his residence in Cambalu, he was enabled to build
a church, in which, with the assistance of those boys who had
been trained up by himself, he recited the liturgy, so that he
could truly say, " I hold divine service with a troop of babes and
sucklings."1 In this church he set up six pictures, representing
stories from the Old and New Testaments, together with explana
tory remarks in the Latan, Persian, and Tartar languages, for
the instruction of the uneducated people.2 It gave him great
satisfaction when he found it in his power to erect a second
church in the vicinity of the emperor's palace. A rich and pious
Christian merchant, whose acquaintance he had formed in Persia,
Peter de Lucalongo, purchased a piece of property on this site,
and made him a present of it. This church, which he built in
the year 1305, stood so near the walls of the palace,3 that the
emperor in his private cabinet could hear the church psalmody ;*
and the emperor took great deliglit in the singing of children.
Monte Corvino now divided the boys between the two churches.
He had, during his residence in this place, baptized from five
to six thousand ; and he believed that, had it not been for the
many plots laid against him by the Nestorians, he would have
succeeded in baptizing above thirty thousand. In the first years
of his residence in that place, he met with a certain prince, George,
a descendant of the priest-kings. This person was persuaded by
him to pass over from the Nestorian to the Catholic Church. He
conferred on him the inferior ecclesiastical consecration ; after
which, the prince assisted him, dressed in his royal robes, in per
forming divine worship. This prince had induced a large portion
of his people to embrace the faith of the Catholic Church, had
built a magnificent church, and caused it to be called after a Eo-
man name. It had also been his intention to translate the whole

1 Cum conventu infantium et lactentium divinum officium facio. Practice had to
supply the place of a breviary provided with notes. Et secundum usum cantamus, quia
notatum officium non habemus.
2 Ad doctrinam radium, ut omnes linguae legere valeant.
3 Inter curiam et locum nostrum via sola est, distans per jactum lapidis a porta Do
mini Chamis.
* In camera sua potest audire voces nostras, et hoc mirabile factum longe lateque
divulgatura est inter gentes et pro magno erit, sicut disponet et adimplebit divina de
mentia.

INFLUENCE OF THE CRUSADES. 79
Eoman liturgy into the language of his people, and introduce it
into his church ; but he died in the year 1299, too early to accom
plish his design. He left behind him a son, still lying in the
cradle. This son was baptized by Monte Corvino, who, as his
god-father, called him after his own name, John.
But the Nestorians now succeeded in once more obtaining the
mastery in this country ; and all that had been done by Monte
Corvino in the interest of the Catholic Church, fell to the ground.
" Being alone," he wrote, " and not permitted to leave the em
peror, it was out of my power to visit churches situated at a dis
tance of twenty-days journey ; nevertheless, if a few good helpers
and fellow-labourers should come, I hope in God, that all our
hopes will be made good, for I still retain the privilegium given
me by the deceased king George." For two years he had access
to the emperor's court, and as papal legate, was more honoured
by him than any other ecclesiastic.1 He was convinced, that
with two or three more assistants to stand by him, he might have
succeeded in baptizing the emperor himself. In his two letters
he urgently begged for such assistants, but they should be bre
thren, who would seek to stand forth as examples, and not to
make broad their phylacteries. Matthew xxiii. 5. " I am already
become old," says.he, in one of those letters, " but I have grown
grey by labours and hardships, rather than by the number of my
years, for I have lived but fifty-eight years." The pope made
this excellent man archbishop of Cambalu, and sent seven other
Franciscans to assist him in his labours.
The crusades promoted intercourse between the East and the
West, but the connection thus brought about between the Mo
hammedan and Christian races was not of such a kind as to pre
pare the way for the exertion of any religious influence on the
former : although that which Mohammedanism had already bor
rowed from Judaism and Christianity, as well as the intrinsic
contradictions contained within itself, might have furnished the
means and occasions for such an influence. Moreover the vicious
lives of a large portion of those who were led to the East by the
crusades, were but poorly calculated to produce on Mohamme-
1 Ego habeo in curia sua locum et viam ordinariam intrandi et sedendi sicut legatus
Domini Papae, et honorat me super omnes alios praelatos, quocunque nomine cen-
seatur.

80 FRANCIS OF ASSISI.
dans a favourable impression of the religion which these men
professed. But it is apparent from individual examples, how
much might have been effected here by the gospel if it had been
preached with Christian enthusiasm, and illustrated by holy living.
When a Christian army, in the year 1219, was besieging the
city of Damietta (not far from the present Damietta),1 in Egypt,
Francis of Assisi2 stood forth in that army as a preacher of re
pentance, and from thence he was impelled, by his burning zeal,
to go over to the Mohammedan army, which had arrived for the
relief of the city. He was dragged as a captive before Malek al
Kamel, the sultan of Egypt. The sultan, however, received him
with respect, allowed him to preach several successive days be
fore himself and his officers, and heard him with great attention.
He then sent him back, in the most honourable manner, to the
camp of the Franks, saying to him, as he took leave, " Pray for
me, that God may enlighten me, and enable me to hold firmly to
that religion which is most pleasing to him." This story we
have from an eye-witness, Jacob de Vitry/ bishop of Acco
(Ptolemais, St Jean d'Acre), in Palestine, afterwards cardinal,
who was then present in the army there assembled.4 In a letter
1 See Wilken's Geschichte der Kreuzzuge, Bd. vi. p. 186.
2 Of whom we shall speak more at large farther on.
3 a Vitriaco.
* See his Historia occidentalis, c. 32. Bonaventura, in his Life of St Francis, relates
that in tbe thirteenth year after his conversion, which would coincide very nearly with
the time mentioned in the test, Francis went to Syria, for the purpose of visiting the
sultan of Babylon, not fearing the danger, although at that time the price of «. gold
Byzantine was set upon the head of every Christian. When he was led before the sultan,
he spoke with such power, that tbe sultan was carried completely away by him, beard
him with the greatest pleasure, and requested him to remain longer with him. There
upon, Francis said to him, that if he and his people would embrace Cliristianity, he
would gladly consent, from love of the Saviour his Master, to remain with him. But if
he could not consent to this, then be might order a large fire to be kindled ; into this
be (Francis) would enter, along with tbe Mohammedan priests ; and so it would be de
termined by a judgment of God on which side the true faith was to be found. The
sultan objected that none of his priests would be ready for that. Whereupon Francis
declared, if the sultan would promise him that he with his people would embrace Chris
tianity in case be should come forth unharmed from the flames, he would enter the fire
alone; though, should he be devoured by them, it must be ascribed to his sins ; but if
the power of God delivered him, then they must recognise Christ as their God and Sa
viour. The sultan declared he could not venture to accept such a proposal for fear of an
uproar amongst the people. He offered Francis, however, many presents, and upon his
declining to receive them, requested him to distribute them, for the salvation of the
donor's soul, amongst the Christian poor and the churches ; but he refused to take them
even for this purpose. Something similar is related also by the disciple of Francis,

STORIES TOLD OF FRANCIS BY JACOB DE V1TKY. 81
written immediately after the capture of Damietta, in which he
drew up for the regular canonicals of Liege, to which order he
once belonged, a report of that important event, he gives at the
same time this account of the labours of Francis.1 He also states,
as an eye-witness, that the Mohammedans gladly listened to mis
sionaries of the Franciscan order, when they spoke of the Chris
tian faith, as long as they refrained from reviling Mohammed as
a false prophet. But no sooner did they fall into such abuse
than they exposed themselves to be severely treated, and even to
lose their lives, and were driven away.2 Had they, then, united
to their glowing zeal, a prudent spirit ; had they been able to ab
stain a while longer from rash polemical disputes ; their preaching
would perhaps have been followed with happier results.
Among the rare phenomena in the history of missions, may be
reckoned the combination of a scientific spirit with earnest zeal
for the cause of Christ ; the appropriation of science as a means
for promoting the spread of the gospel, as an instrument for at
tacking, on its own chosen grounds, some other form of culture
standing in hostility to Christianity. The example of the great
Alexandrian church-teachers, who had in this way done so much

Thomas de Celano, in his Life of St Francis, s. 57. Acta Sanctor. Mens. Octob. t. ii.,
f. 699. It is hardly to he doubted, that the same event is here alluded to which Jacob de
Vitry relates, the scene only being transferred from Egypt to Syria, and in place of the
sultan of Egypt the saltan of Babylon introduced, by which doubtless is meant the sultan
of Damascus, Malek al Moaddhem Isa, a fierce enemy of the Christians ; which substi
tution of persons might the more easily occur, because that sultan also had been to
Egypt. The more simple and exact account of the eye-witness is certainly the most
trustworthy. The two others, enthusiastic admirers of St Francis, followed more exag
gerated and inaccurate legends. The appeal to a Judgment of God is undoubtedly in the
spirit of Francis, and the sultan mi0rhc perhaps have returned such an answer to it. At
all events, the agreement of the three accounts in the essential point, vouches for the
truth of the fact lying at bottom.
1 Epistola Jacobi Acconensis episcopi missa ad religiosos, familiares et notos suos in
Lotharingia existentes, de captione Damiatae. Here he at last says of Francis : " Cum
venisset ad exercilum nostrum, zelo fidei accensus, ad exercitum hostium nostrorum ire
non timuit et cum multis diebus Saracenis verbum Domini praedicasset, et cum parum
profecisset, tunc Soldanus Rex Aegypti ab eo in secreto petiit, ut pro se Domino suppli-
caret, quantenus religioni, quae magis Deo placerct, divinitus inspiratus adhaereret."
Vid. Gesta Dei per Francos, ed. Bongars. t. ii., f. 1149.
2 The words ofJ.de Vitry in the Hist. Occident. 1. c. : " Saraceni autem omnes fratres
minores tam diu de Christi fide et evangelica doctrina praedicantes libenter audiunt,
quousque Mahometo, tamquam mendaci et perfido, praedicatione sua manifeste contra-
dicunt. Ex tunc autem eos impie verberantes, et nisi Deus mirabiliter protegeret paene
trucidantes, de civitatibus suis expellunt."
VOL. VII. F

82 RAYMUND LULL. HIS CONVERSION.
for the overthrow of that Hellenic culture which furnished a prop
for paganism, was forgotten or remained unnoticed. Nor was
there any call for this method among rude tribes, where it could
find no application. But there could be no question about the
advantage of employing it for the promotion of missions in those
parts where Christianity, in order to find entrance into the minds
of a people, must first enter into the contest with some existing
culture closely inwoven with a hostile system of religion. We
close this history of missions with an account of the labour of an
extraordinary individual who, by employing a method of this
kind, takes a prominent and peculiar place among the missionaries
of this period, and constitutes an epoch in the history of missions
generally, — a man distinguished for combining, though he may
not have conciliated into harmonious union, moral and intellec
tual traits very different in their kind, and seldom meeting toge
ther in the same person ; we mean Eaymond Lull, who was born
in the island of Majorca, in 1236.
Until the age of thirty, he had lived wholly to the world. A
stranger to all higher aspirations, he resided at the court of the
king of the Balearian islands, where he occupied the post of se
neschal. Even after his marriage, he continued to pursue plea
sures not altogether consistent with conjugal fidelity ; and the
theme of his poetical compositions was sensual love. But that
feeling of Christian piety which, as it moved his age and the
people among whom he lived, had been instilled also by education
into his early affections, and that not without success, brought on
a reaction against the hitherto-governing principle of his life.
One night, whilst sitting by his bed, occupied in composing a
love-sonnet, the image of Christ on the cross all at once pre
sented itself before his eyes. It made so powerful an impression
on him, that he could write no farther. At another time, when
he attempted to resume his pen, the same image reappeared, and
he was obliged to desist, as before.1 Day and night this image
l We here follow the treatise relating to a portion ofthe life of Raymond Lull, which
was composed, while Lull was still living, by a man who, as it seems, was accurately
acquainted with his subject,— perhaps the companion of his missionary journeys ;—
published in the Actis Sanctorum, at the 31st of June; Mens. Jun. t. v. f. 661. More
recent accounts (see Wadding's Annales Franciscan, t. iv. an. 1275, § 4) state, that an
unfortunate love affair with a lady who was married, and suffering under a cancerous
affection, was the first occasion of the change in his religious feelings. As, however, the

HIS MISSIONARY PLANS. 83
floated before his fancy ; nor could he find any means of resisting
the impression it made on him. Finally, he looked upon these
visions as sent for the purpose of warning him to retire from the
world, and to consecrate himself wholly to the service of Christ.
But now the question occurred to him, " How can I possibly
make the change from the impure life I have led, to so holy a
calling 1" This thought kept him awake whole nights. At last,
said he to himself, " Christ is so gentle, so patient, so compas
sionate ; — he invites all sinners to himself; therefore he will not
reject me, notwithstanding all my sins." Thus he became con
vinced it was God's will, that he should forsake the world and
consecrate himself, with his whole heart, to the service of Christ.
When this new life, this life animated by the love of God and the
Saviour, began to dawn within him, from that moment he was
conscious, for the first time, of a new elevation imparted to his
whole being. The latent powers of this extraordinary mind, now
first stirred in its depths, powers which had hitherto lain dor
mant, began to discover themselves. The man of warm and ex
citable feelings, of quick and lively imagination, could now -find
pleasure in the dry forms of logic ; but we must allow that this
fertile imagination could bring so much the more meaning into
those empty logical forms. And all, in his case, proceeded from
that one religious idea, which from this time forward actuated
his whole life, gave direction to all his plans, and -by which the
most heterogeneous aims and endeavours were united together.
Being now resolved to consecrate himself entirely to the ser
vice of the Lord, he next pondered upon the best method of
carrying this resolution into effect ; and he came to a settled con
viction that to the Lord Christ no work of his could be more
acceptable than that of devoting himself to the preaching of the
gospel ; in doing which his thoughts were directed particularly to
the Saracens, whom the crusaders had attempted in vain to sub
due by the sword. But now a great difficulty arose : how could
he, an ignorant layman, be fit for such a work 1 While perplexed
in labouring to resolve this difficulty, the thought suddenly oc
curred to him, that he might write a book serving to demonstrate
trustworthy narrative of the unknown writer just referred to mentions nothing of the
kind, and we do not know from what source this account was derived, it remains, to say
the least, doubtful.
F2

84 RAYMUND LULL. HIS MISSIONARY PLANS.
the truth of Christianity in opposition to all the errors of the in
fidels ; and with this thought, was afterwards connected the idea
of a universal system of science. The whole suggestion rose up
with such strength in his soul that he felt constrained to re
cognize it as a divine call. Nevertheless, he reasoned with him
self, even supposing he were able to write such a book, of what
use would it be to the Saracens, who understood nothing but
Arabic 1 Thus the project began already to unfold itself -in his
mind, of applying to the pope and to the monarchs of Christen
dom, calling upon them to establish in certain monasteries foun
dations for studying and acquiring the Arabic tongue, as well as
other languages, spoken amongst infidel nations. From such
establishments missionaries might go forth to all regions. Thus he
came upon the idea of founding linguistic schools for missionary
purposes. The day after these thoughts occurred to him, and took
so deep hold of his mind, he repaired to a neighbouring church,
where with warm tears he besought the Lord, that he, who by
his own Spirit had inspired these three thoughts within him,
would now lead him on to the execution of the contemplated work
in defence of Christianity, to the establishing of those schools for
missions and the study of the languages, and finally to the entire
dedication of his life to the cause of the Lord. This took place
in the beginning of the month of July ; but it was not all at once
that this new and higher direction of life could gain the absolute
ascendancy in his soul. Old habits were still too strong ; and so
it happened that, during the space of three months, Eaymund
Lull ceased to occupy himself any longer with these thoughts
upon which he had so eagerly seized at first. Then came the
fourth of October, dedicated to the memory of St Francis ; and in
the Franciscan church at Majorca, he heard a bishop preach on
St Francis's renunciation of the world. By this sermon his holy
resolutions were again called to mind. He resolved to follow at
once the example of St Francis. Selling his property, of which
he retained only as much as sufficed for the support of his wife
and children, he gave himself up wholly to the Lord Christ, and
left his home with the intention of never returning back to it.
His next step was to make pilgrimages to several churches then
standing in high consideration, for the purpose of imploring God's
blessing, and the intercession of the saints, that he might be

HIS SCIENTIFIC DEFENCE OF CHRISTIANITY. 85
euabled Tto carry out the three thoughts which had been sug
gested to him in so remarkable a manner.
He now proposed going to Paris, for the purpose of qualifying
himself by a'course of scientific studies for tlie accomplishment of
his plans ; but through the influence of his kinsmen and friends,
particularly of that famous canonist, the Dominican Eaymund de
Pennaforte, he was dissuaded from this project. Eemaining
therefore in Majorca, he there began his studies, having first ex
changed the rich attire belonging to his former station in life, for
a coarser dress. Purchasing a Saracen slave, he made him his
instructor in Arabic ; and we cannot but admire the energy and
resolution of the man, who, after having spent so many years of
his life in society and pursuits of so entirely different a nature,
and certainly never applied the powers of his mind to severe
thought, could throw himself, at so late a period, into the midst
of the driest dialectical studies, and even take delight in them.
At first, Eaymund Lull diligently employed himself in tracing
the leading outlines of a universal formal science. This was his
Ars major, or generalis, designed as the preparatory work to a
strictly scientific demonstration of all the truths of Christianity.
We perceive in it, how the religious, and especially the apologe
tical, interest gave direction to all his thoughts, and how closely
he kept his eye fixed on this one object, even when moving in the
driest tracts of formalism. He was for founding a science, by
means of which Christianity might be demonstrated with strict
necessity, so that every reasonable mind would be forced to admit
its truth. Perhaps he might be flattering himself that a certain
means would thus be secured for converting all unbelievers, par
ticularly those whom he chiefly had in view, the Mohammedans,
who were wrapped up in the prejudices of their Arabian philo
sophy. " If he but succeeded," he thought, " in refuting all their
objections to Christianity, then, since they would not be able to
refute the arguments which he could bring in defence of Chris
tian truth, they: learned men and sages must of necessity embrace
Christianity."1 l in the Introductio to the necessaria demonstratio articulorum fidei, he says: "Ro-
gat Raymundus reljgiosos et seculares sapientes, ut videant si rationes, quas ipse facit
contra Saracenos approbando fidem Catholicam habeant veritatem, quia si forte aliquis
solveret rationes, quae per Saracenos contra fidem Catholicam oppouuutur, cum tamen
ipsi rationes, quae fiunfpro eadem, solvere non valerent, fortificati Saraceni valde literati
et sapientes se facerent Christianos."

86 RELATIONS OF FAITH AND KNOWLEDGE.
There were two parties, against whom, from the vantage-
ground of his much-promising science, he zealously contended :
on the one side, against those who looked upon such a science as
derogatory to faith, which by the very act of renouncing every
attempt to comprehend, preserved its self-denying character and
had its merit ;* on the other, against those who, perverted by the
influence of a sceptically inclined Arabian philosophy, took ad
vantage of the supposed opposition between philosophical and
theological truth, and while they hypocritically pretended that rea
son was led captive to obedience of the faith, propagated their
dogmas, which were opposed to Christianity and to the doctrine
of the church, as philosophical truth. He maintained against
such, that although faith proceeded first from a practical root,
from the bent of will towards the things of God, and although
what was thus appropriated became a source of nourishment and
strength to the heart,2 yet having this faith, Christians were
then required to soar by means of it to a loftier position, so as to
attain a knowledge ofthe solid groundwork, the necessary truths
upon which faith reposes ; so that what had been, at first, only a
source of nourishment to the heart, would then prove a source of
nourishment also to the intellect.3 The intellect would always
be accompanied in its investigations by faith ; strengthened by
that, and emboldened to attempt higher flights, it would conti
nually mount upward, while faith would keep equal step, and ever
make incre'ase with the advance of knowledge.4 It is remarkable
that two men of so different a stamp, and both so original, Abe
lard,5 the man of sober understanding in the twelfth century, and
Eaymund Lull, who combined logical acumen with a profound
mysticism and the warm glow of religious sentiment, in the thir-
1 Dicunt, quod fides' non habet meritum, cujus humana ratio praebet experimentum et
ideo dicunt, quod non est bonum, probare fidem, ut 11911 amittatur meritum. Asserentes
autem ista et dogmatizantes, quanquam magnos se reputent, et quod pejus est ab aliis
reputentur, ostendunt se manifestissime ignorantes.
2 Ipsa fides, quae voluntatis firmiter earn credentium erat pabulum et fomentum.
3 Fides fundamenta, quibus innititur, necessarias scilicet rationes, ministrabit iisdem,
ut sint eorum pabulum intellectus.
4 Ipsa fides intellectum in se ipsa fundans eumque investigando continue concomi-
tans et confortans supra intellectus vires et potentiam excandescit, quiafatigari nesciens
semper nititur inteusius et altius ad credendum, propter quod fides in altius erigitur et
meritum credentium ampliatur.
5 See regarding him on a future page.

RELATIONS OF FAITH AND KNOWLEDGE. 87
teenth century, should in like manner defend the position of
science over against that of faith standing alone. In Lull, how
ever, it was the enthusiastic hope of finding a method of argu
mentation suited to convince all unbelievers of the truth of
Christianity, which constituted the moving spring of his philoso
phical inquiries.
As he believed it was by a divine suggestion, he was first im
pelled to search after a method capable of guiding all to a con
viction of the truth of Christianity ; so it was in the solemn hour
of devotion that the light first burst in upon him, and disclosed
the way in which he might conduct his search with success. He
had retired, for eight days, to a mountain, in order that he might
there devote himself without disturbance to prayer and medita
tion. While he was in this solitude, the idea of the' above-
mentioned Ars generalis burst all at once in a clear light upon
his soul. Leaving the mountain, he repaired to another spot,
and drew out a sketch of the work according to that idea, which
he looked upon as a divine revelation. After this, he returned
to the mountain ; and on the spot where the light first broke in
upon his mind, settled himself down as an anchorite, spending
above four months there, praying to God night and day, that he
would employ him, together with the Ars generalis which had
there been revealed to him, for his own glory and for the ad
vancement of his kingdom. He published his discovery at Mont-
pelier and at Paris ; he delivered lectures on the Ars generalis ;
he translated the work himself into Arabic. His labours in this
way extended through a period of nine years. Next, in the
year 1275, he prevailed on Jacob, king of the islands Majorca
and Minorca, to found on the former of these islands a monastery
for the express purpose of constantly supporting in it thirteen
Franciscan monks, who were to be instructed in the Arabic
language, with a view to labour as missionaries amongst the
Saracens. In 1286, he went to Eome for the purpose of per
suading pope Honorius the Fourth to approve his plan of esta
blishing such missionary schools in the monasteries everywhere ;
but when he arrived, that pope was no longer living, and the
papal chair was vacant. A second visit to Eome on the same
errand was attended with no better success.
Finding that he could not establish, as he wished, a plan of

88 RAYMUND EMBARKS FOR NORTH AFRICA.
united effort for the promotion of this holy enterprise, he now
felt constrained to embark in it by himself, and proceed wholly
alone, as a missionary among the infidels. For this purpose he
repaired, in the year 1287, to Genoa, and engaged his passage
in a ship bound to North Africa. As a great deal had already
been heard about the remarkable change which Eaymund Lull
had experienced, about his ardent zeal to effect the conversion
of the infidels, and about the new method of conversion which, in
his own opinion, promised such magnificent results ; so his pro
ject, when it became known in Genoa, excited great expectations.
The ship in which Eaymund was to embark, lay ready for the
voyage, and his books had been conveyed on board, when his
glowing imagination pictured ^before him, in such lively and
terrible colours, the fate which awaited him among the Moham
medans, whether it was to be death by torture or life-long im
prisonment, that he could not summon courage enough to go on
board. But no sooner had this passed over, than he was visited
with remorseful pangs of conscience, to think that he should
prove recreant to the holy purpose with which God had inspired
him, and occasion such scandal to believers in Genoa ; and a
severe fit of fever was the consequence of these inward conflicts.
While in this state of bodily and mental suffering, he happened
to hear of a ship lying in port, which was on the point of starting
on a voyage to Tunis ; and though in a condition seemingly
nearer to death than to life, he caused himself to be conveyed on
board with his books. His friends, however, believing he could
not possibly stand out the voyage in such a condition, and full
of anxiety, insisted on his being brought back. But he grew no
better, for the cause of his illness was mental. Sometime after
wards, hearing of another ship bound ' to Tunis, nothing could
hinder him now from taking measures to be conveyed on board ;
and no sooner had the ship got to sea, than he felt himself re
lieved of the heavy burden which oppressed his conscience ; the
peace he formerly enjoyed once more returned ;x for he found
himself in his proper element. He was engaged in fulfilling the
duty, which he recognized as obligatory on him 'by the divine
l The unknown author of his Life finely remarks : " Sospitatem conscientiae, quam
sub nubilatione supradicta se crediderat amisisse, subito laetus in Domino Sancti
Spiritus illustratione misericordi recuperavit una cum sui corporis languidi sospitate."

RAYMUND IN TUNIS AMONG THE MOHAMMEDANS. 89
calling. With the health of his soul, that of tho body was soon
restored ; and to the astonishment of all his fellow-passengers,
he felt himself, after a few days, as well as he had ever been in
any former part of his life.
Eaymund arrived at Tunis, near the close of the year 1291,
or the beginning of the year 1292, and immediately inviting
together the learned scholars among the Mohammedans, ex
plained to them how he had come for the purpose of instituting
a comparison between Christianity, of which he possessed an
accurate knowledge, as well as of all the arguments employed to
defend it, and Mohammedanism ; and if he found the reasons to
be stronger on the side of the doctrines of Mohammed, he was
ready to embrace them. The learned Mohammedans now came
around him in constantly increasing numbers, hoping that they
should be able to convert him to Mohammedanism. After he
had endeavoured to refute the arguments which they brought
forward in defence of their religion, said he to them, " Every
wise man must acknowledge that to be the true religion which
ascribes to God the greatest perfection, which gives the most
befitting conception of each single divine attribute, and which
most fully demonstrates the equality and harmony subsisting
among them all." He then sought to prove that without the
doctrine ofthe trinity, and ofthe incarnation ofthe Son of God,
men cannot understand the perfection of God, and the harmony
between his attributes.1 Thus he would prove to them that
Christianity is the only religion conformable to reason.
One of the learned Saracens, more fanatically disposed than
the rest, directed the attention of the king to the danger threat
ened to the Mohammedan faith, by Eaymund's zeal for making
converts ; and proposed- that he should be punished with death.
Eaymund was thrown into prison ; and already it was determined
that he should be put to death, when one of their learned men,
possessed of fewer prejudices, and more wisdom than the others,
interceded in his behalf. He spoke of the respect due to the in
tellectual ability of the stranger, and remarked ; that " as they
would praise the zeal of a Mohammedan, who should go among
the Christians for the purpose of converting them to the true
l The arguments by which he supposed that he had demonstrated this, we cannot
stop to explain till we come to the section which treats of doctrines.

90 CONCLUDING WORDS OF HIS DEMONSTRATION.
faith ; so they could not but honour in a Christian, the same
zeal for the spread of that religion, which appeared to him to be
the true one." These representations had their effect so far as
to save Eaymund's life ; and he was only condemned to banish
ment from the country. On leaving the prison, he was obliged to
endure many insults from. the fanatical populace. He was then
placed on board the same Genoese vessel in which he had arrived,
and which was now about to depart ; and at the same time he
was informed, that if he ever let himself be seen again in the
territory of Tunis, he should be stoned to death. As he hoped,
however, by persevering efforts to succeed in converting many
ofthe learned Saracens with whom he had disputed; he could
not prevail upon himself, with the earnest desire he felt for their
salvation, to abandon this hope quite so soon. Life was not too
dear to him to be sacrificed for such an object. Letting the ves
sel on board which he had been placed sail off without him, he
transferred himself to another, from which he sought a chance of
getting into Tunis again unobserved. While remaining in this
dangerous concealment, in the harbour of Tunis, he enjoyed suffi
cient composure to labour on a work connected with his system
of the Universal Science.1 Having tarried here three months
without effecting his main object, he finally sailed off with the
vessel, and proceeded to Naples. Here he loitered several years,
delivering lectures on his. new system ; till the fame of the pious
anchorite, who had lately become pope, under the name of Coe
lestin the Fifth, inspired in him the hope of being able at length
to carry into effect the plan for promoting missionary enterprises,
on which his heart had so long been set. But Coelestin's reign
was too short to permit this ¦; and his successor, Boniface the
Eighth, possessed but little susceptibility to religious ideas and
interests. During his residence at that time in Eome, in the year 1296,
he composed the work previously mentioned, on page 85, in which
he sought to show, how all the truths of the Christian faith could
be proved by incontestable arguments. In the concluding sen
tences of this work he expresses that enthusiastic zeal for the
1 In the month of September, 1292, he commenced writing, in the port of Tunis, his
Tabula generalis ad omnes scientias npplicabilis, as he himself states. See the Com-
mentarius praevius to bis life, in the Actis snnct. Mens. Jun. t. v. f. 646.

RAYMOND'S LABOURS IN EUROPE. 91
spread of the Christian faith, which had moved him to compose
it. " Let Christians," says he, " consumed with a burning love
for the cause of faith, but consider that since nothing has power
to withstand the truth, which by the strength of arguments is
mighty over all things, they can, with God's help and by his
might, bring back the infidels to the way of faith ; so that the
precious name of our Lord Jesus, which is in most regions ofthe
world still unknown to the majority of men, may be proclaimed
and adored ; and this way of converting infidels is easier than
all others. For, to the infidels, it seems a difficult and 'danger
ous thing, to abandon their own belief, for the sake of another ;
but it will be impossible for them not to abandon the faith which
is proved to them to be false and self- contradictory, for the sake
of that which is true and necessary." And he concludes with
these words of exhortation : " With bowed knee and • in all
humility, we pray that all may be induced to adopt this method ;
since of all methods for the conversion of infidels, and the re
covery of the promised land, this is the easiest and the one most
in accordance with Christian charity. As the weapons of the
Spirit are far mighter than carnal weapons, so is this method of
conversion far mightier than all others." It was on the holy eve
before the festival of John the Baptist, that he wrote the above ;
and hence he added : " As my book was finished on the vigils of
John the Baptist, who was the herald of the light, and with his
finger pointed to him who is the true light : so may it please our
Lord Jesus Christ to kindle a new light of the world, which may
guide unbelievers to their conversion ; that they with us may go
forth to meet the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be honour and
praise, world without end."
Being repulsed at Eome, he endeavoured, for a series of years,
to labour wherever an opportunity offered itself. He sought by
arguments to convince the Saracens and Jews on the island of
Majorca. He went to the isle of Cyprus, and from thence to
Armenia, exerting himself to bring back the different schismatic
parties of the Oriental church to orthodoxy. All this he under
took by himself, attended only by a single companion, without
ever being able to obtain the wished for support from the more
powerful and influential men of the church. In the intervals, he

92 RETURN TO AFRICA.
delivered^ lectures on his system in Italian and French universi
ties, and composed many new treatises.1
Between the years 1306 and 1307, he made another journey to
North Africa, where he visited the city of Bugia, which was then
the seat of the Mohammedan empire. He stood forth publicly
and proclaimed in the Arabic language, " that Christianity is
the only true religion ; the doctrine of Mohammed, on the con
trary, false : and this, he was ready to prove to every one.'' A
vast concourse of people collected around him, and he addressed
the multitude in an exhortatory discourse. Already many were
about to lay hands on him, intending to stone him to death;
when the mufti, who heard of it, caused him to be torn away from
the multitude, and brought into his presence. The mufti asked
him, how he could act so madly, as to stand forth publicly in op
position to the doctrines of Mohammed; whether he was not
aware that, by the laws of the land, he deserved the punishment
of death ? Eaymund replied : " A true servant of Christ, who has
experienced the truth of the Catholic faith, ought not to be ap
palled by the fear of death, when he may lead souls to salvation."
The mufti, who was a man well versed in the Arabian philosophy,
then challenged him to produce his proofs of Christianity as op
posed to Mohammedanism. Then Eaymund sought to convince
him that without the doctrine of the trinity, the self-sufficiency,
the goodness and love of God, could not be rightly understood;
that if that doctrine be excluded, the Divine perfections must be
made to depend on that creation which had a beginning in time.
The goodness of God cannot be conceived as inactive, said he —
but if you do not adopt the doctrine of the trinity, you must say,
that till the beginning ofthe creation God's goodness was inactive,
and consequently was not so perfect.2 To the essence of the
highest good, belongs self-communication ; but this can be under
stood as a perfect and eternal act, only in the doctrine of the
trinity. Upon this, he was thrown into a narrow dungeon ; the
intercession of merchants from Genoa and Spain procured for

1 It is to be regretted that only a small portion of his works has ever been published
and it is difficult to obtain much of what is published.
2 Tu dicis, quod Deu6 est perfecte bonus ah aeterno et in aeternum, ergo non indiget
mendicare et facere bonum extra se.

raymund's ARRIVAL IN PISA. 93
him, it is true, some alleviation of his condition ; yet ho remained
a close prisoner for half a year. Meanwhile, many attempts were
made to convert him to Moslemism. The highest honours and
great riches were promised him, on condition that he "would
change his religion ; but, to all these advances, he replied, " And
I promise you, if you will forsake this false religion, and believe
in Jesus Christ, the greatest riches and everlasting life." It was
finally agreed, at the proposal of Eaymund, that a book should
be written on both sides, in proof of the religion which each party
professed, when it would appear evident, from the arguments
adduced, which had gained the victory. While Eaymund was
busily employed in composing such a work, a command was issued
by the king, that he should be put on board a ship and sent out
ofthe country.1
The ship in which he sailed was cast away, in a violent storm,
on the coast not far from Pisa. Part of those on board perished
in the waves : Eaymund, with his companion, was saved. He
was received at Pisa with great honours, and after having passed
through so many hardships, he still continued, although far ad
vanced in years, to prosecute his literary labours with unremitted
zeal. At the age of sixty, he toiled on with the enthusiasm of
youth to secure the one object which, ever since his conversion,
had formed the central aim of his whole life. He says of him- '
1 We have from Raymund himself a brief notice of these occurrences in the liber, qui
est disputatio Baymundi Christiani et Hamar Saraceni; at the end of which book it is
stated that it was finished at Pisa, in the monastery of St Dominick, in April, a. d, 1308.
It was the Saracen Hamar, who, with several others, visited him in the dungeon at
Bugia, and disputed with bim concerning the advantages of Christianity and Mahom-
medauism. He says, near the close of this work, " Postquam Hamar Saracenus reces-
serat, Raymundus Christianus posuit in Arabico praedictas rationes, et facto libro, misi
episcopo Bugiae (the person at the head of tbe Mohammedan cultus) rogando, ut su i
sapientes viderent .b-unc librum, et ei responderent. Sed post paucos dies episcopus
praecepit, quod praedictus Christianus ejiceretur e terra Bugia et in continenti Saraceni
miserunt ipsum in quandam navem, tendentem Genuam, quae navis cum magna fortuna
venit anti portum Pisanum et prope ipsum per decern milliaria fuit fracta et Christianus
vix quasi nudus evasit et amisit omnes suos libros et sua bona et ille existens Pisis
recordatus fuit praedictarum rationnm, quas babuit cum supradicto Saraceno et ex illis
composuit hunc librum." H,e sent this book to the pope and the cardinals, that they
might learn what arguments the Mohammedans employed to draw away Christians from
their faith. He laments to say, that by such arguments, and by the promise of riches
and women, they win many to their religion. "Et quia Christiani non curant nee volunt
auxilium dare Saracenis, qui se faciunt Christianos, inde est quod si unus Saracenus fit
Christianus, decern Christiani et plures fiant Saraceni et de hoc habemus experimentum
in regno Aegypti, de quo dicitur, quod tertia pars militiae Soldani fuerit Christiana."

94 RAYMUND'S THREEFOLD PLAN.
self: " I had a wife and children ; I was tolerably rich ; I led a
secular life. All these things I cheerfully resigned for the sake
of promoting the common good, and diffusing abroad the holy
faith. I learned Arabic ; I have several times gone abroad to
preach the gospel to the Saracens. I have, for the sake of the
faith, been cast into prison and scourged. I have laboured forty-
five years to gain over the shepherds of the church and the princes
of Europe to the common good of Christendom. Now I am old
and poor ; but still I am intent on the same object. I will per
severe in it till death, if the Lord himself permits it." He sought
to found, in Pisa and Genoa, a new order of spiritual knights,
who should be ready at a moment's warning to go to war with the
Saracens and for the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre. He suc
ceeded in exciting an interest in favour of his plan, and in obtain
ing letters to pope Clement the Fifth, in which this matter was
recommended to the head of the church. Pious women and
noblemen in Genoa offered to contribute the sum of thirty thou
sand guilders for this object. He proceeded with these letters
to visit pope Clement the Fifth at Avignon ; but his plan met
with no encouragement from that pontiff. He next appeared as
a teacher at Paris, and attacked with great zeal the principles of
the philosophy of Averroes, and the doctrine it taught respect
ing the opposition between theological and philosophical truth.1
Meanwhile, the time having arrived for the assembling of the
general council of Vienne, a. d. 1311, he hoped there to find a
favourable opportunity for carrying into effect the plan, which for
so long a time had occupied his thoughts. He was intent on
accomplishing three objects ; first, the institution of those linguis
tic missionary schools, of which we have spoken on a former page;
secondly, the union of the several orders of spiritual knights in a
single one, which should not rest till the promised land was re
covered; thirdly, a speedy adoption of successful measures for
checking the progress of the principles of Averroes. To secure this
latter object, men of suitable intellectual qualifications should be
invited to combat those principles, and he himself composed a
new work for this purpose. The first, he actually obtained from
1 His Lamentatio seu expostulate philosophise o. duodecim principia philosophiae,
dedicated to the king of France, which he composed at Paris, in 1310, is directed against
tbe Averroists.

MARTYRDOM OF RAYMUND. !)")
the pope. An ordinance was passed, for the establishment of
professorships of the Oriental languages ; advising that, in order
to promote the conversion of the Jews and the Saracens, pro
fessional chairs should be established for the Arabic, Chaldee,
and Hebrew languages, in all cities where the papal court
resided, and also at the universities of Paris, Oxford, and
Salamanca. He now could not bear the thought of spending
the close of his life at ease in his native land, to which he had
returned for the last time. He desired nothing more than to
offer up his life in the promulgation of the faith. Having spoken,
in one of his works, of natural death, which he ascribed to the
diminution of animal warmth, says he, " Thy servant would
choose, if it please thee, not to die such a death ; he would pre
fer that his life should end in the glow of love, as thou didst, in
love, offer up thy life for us."1 '' Thy servant," says he, " is
ready to offer up himself, and to pour out his blood for thee.
May it please thee, therefore, ere he comes to die, so to unite him
to thyself that he by meditation and love may never be separated
from thee." On the 14th of August, 1314, he crossed over once
more to Africa. Proceeding to Bugia, he laboured there, at first
secretly, in the small circle of those whom, during his last visit to
that place, he had won over to Christianity. He sought to con
firm their faith, and to advance them still farther in Christian
knowledge. In this way he might, no doubt, have continued to
labour quietly for some time, but he could not resist the longing
after martyrdom. He stood forth publicly, and declared that he
was the same person whom they had once banished from the
country ; and exhorted the people, threatening them with divine
judgments if they refused, to abjure Mohammedanism. He was
fallen upon by the Saracens with the utmost fury. After having
been severely handled, he was dragged out of the city, and, by
the orders of the king, stoned to death. Merchants from Majorca
obtained permission to extricate the body of their countryman
from the heaps of stones under which it lay buried, and they con-
1 The'words of Raymund, in his work de Conteraplatione, c. cxxx. Distinct. 27, f. 299 :
" Homines morientes prae senectute moriuntur per defectum caloris naturalis et per
excessum frigoris et ideo tuus servus et tuus subditus, si tibi placeret, non vellet mori
tali morte, imo vellet mori prae amoris ordore, quia tu voluisti mori tali morte."

96 RELATION OF THE JEWS TO CHRISTIANITY.
veyed it back by ship to their native land. The 30th of June,
1315, was the day of his martyrdom.1
We must now cast a glance at the relation of the dispersed
Jews to the Christian church.
As it regards the Jews, who were scattered in great numbers
in the West, it is to be remarked that the frequent oppressions,
injuries, and persecutions which they had to suffer from the fana
ticism and cupidity of so-called Christians, were not well calcu
lated to open their minds to the preaching of the gospel ; though,
through fear, and to escape the sufferings or the death with
which they were threatened, they might be induced to submit to
the form of baptism, and to put on the profession of Christianity 2
Hermann, a monk of the twelfth century, from the monastery of
Kappenberg, in Westphalia, who himself had been converted from
Judaism to Christianity, speaking in the history which he has
given of his own conversion, of the praiseworthy conduct of an
ecclesiastic, from whom, when a Jew, he had met with kindly
treatment, goes on to say : " Let those who read my account
imitate this illustrious example of love ; and instead of despising
and abhorring the Jews, as some are wont to do, let them, like
genuine Christians, that is, followers of him who prayed for those
that crucified him, go forth and meet them with brotherly love.
For since, as our Saviour says, ' salvation cometh of the Jews,''
(John iv. 22), and as the apostle Paul testifies, ' through their
fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles,' (Eomans xi. 11), it is a
worthy return and well-pleasing to God, when Christians labour,
so far as it lies in their power, for the salvation of those from
whom they have received the author of their salvation, Jesus
Christ. And if they are bound to extend their love even to
those from whom they suffer wrong, how much more bound are
1 We cannot in this place go back to tbe reports of contemporaries, but in the later
accounts are to be found differences. According to one of them he met his death in
Tunis ; according to another, he first went to Tunis, and afterwards proceeded to Bugia.
If we may believe one account, the merchants, after having uncovered him from the
heap of stones, found a spark of life still remaining; they succeeded in fanning this
slumbering spark to the point of reanimation, but he died on board ship, when in sight
of his native land.
2 In the first crusade, the Jews in Rouen were, without distinction of sex or age,
barred up in a church, and all who refused to receive baptism murdered. See Guibert,
Novigentens, de vita sua, 1. ii. c v.

SPREAD OF FALSE REPORTS ABOUT THE JEWS. 97
they to show it to those through whom the greatest of all bless
ings has been derived to them > Let them, therefore, so far as
they can, cherish their love for this people, helping them in their
distresses, and setting them an example of all well-doing, so as to
win by their example those whom they cannot persuade by their
words : for example is really more effectual than words in pro
ducing conviction. Let them, also, send up fervent prayers to
the Father of mercies, if peradventure God may one day give
that people repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, 2 Ti
mothy ii. 25." By means of the only business allowed to them
in their state of oppression, traffic and usury, they acquired great
wealth ; thereby, sometimes, attaining to great influence, even
with monarchs ; but this wealth also excited the cupidity of the
great, and'exposed them to be still more hated and persecuted.
The fanaticism awakened by the crusades was often directed
against'the Jews, as the domestic enemies^of the Cross ; and
hundreds, nay thousands, fell victims to such animosity. Eu-
mours became current against the Jews, of the same description
as have prevailed at all times against religious sects persecuted
by popular hatred ; as, for example, against the first Christians,
who were charged with such crimes as flattered the credulous
fanaticism of the populace. It was said that they stole Christian
children for their passover festival, and, after having crucified
them with all imaginable tortures, used their entrails for magical
purposes/ If a boy, especially near the time of the feast of Pass
over, was missed by his friends, or if the corpse of a boy, con
cerning whose death nothing certain was known, happened to be
found, suspicion lighted at once upon the Jews of the district
where the accident had occurred. Men could easily discover
what they were intent on finding— marks of the tortures which
had been inflicted on the sufferers. It might doubtless happen,
too, that enemies of the Jews, or those wh<? gloated on their
1 The Jew introduced in Abelard's dialogue concerning the supreme good, inter pbi-
losophum, Judaeum et Christianum, observes, in drawing a lively picture of the wretched
situation ofthe Jews : " Unde nobis praecipue superest lucrum, ut alienigenis foenerantes,
hinc miseram sustentemus vitam, quod nos quidem maxime ipsis efficit invidiosos, qui
se in hoc plurimum arbitrantur gravatos." See this tract, published by Prof. Rhein-
wald, p. 11.
2 In the historical work of Matthew, of Paris, are to be found many stories relating
to persecutions of the Jews, which had been provoked by the circulation of such fables.
VOL. VII. G

98 THE JEWS DEFENDED BY BERNARD.
wealth, would disfigure the discovered bodies, in order to lend
the more plausibility to the accusations brought against Jews.
Hence a boy so found might sometimes be honoured by the people
as a martyr, and become the hero of a wonderful story.1 The
most extravagant of such tales might find credence in the exist
ing tone of public sentiment, and seem to be confirmed by an
investigation begun with prejudice, and conducted in a tumultuary
manner. If, at the commencement of such movements, wealthy
Jews betook themselves to flight, when they foresaw, as they
must have foreseen, the disastrous issue to themselves, this passed
for evidence of their gnilt and of the truth of the rumours.2 If
twenty-five knights affirmed, on their oath, that the arrested Jews
were guilty of the abominable crime, this sufficed to set the mat
ter beyond all doubt, and to authorize the sentence of death.3
Whoever interceded in behalf of the unfortunate victims, exposed
himself by so doing to the popular hatred, which looked upon all
such pity as suspicious. Thus, in the year 1256, pious Francis
cans in England, who were not to be deterred by the force of the
prevailing delusion, ventured to take the part of certain Jews,
accused of some such abominable crime, that were languishing in
prison ; and they succeeded in procuring their release, and saving
their lives. But now these monks, who had acted in the spirit
of Christian benevolence, were accused of having allowed them
selves to be bribed by money.4 Thus they lost the good opinion
of the lower class of people, who ever after refused to give them
alms.5 These pious monks, and also the most influential men of the
church, protested against such unchristian fanaticism. When the
abbot Bernard of Clairvaux was rousing up the spirit of the
1 See Matth. of Paris, at the year 1244. Ed. London, 1686, f. 567. In the case here in
question, men were forced to allow, that five wounds could iu nowise be made out in the
corpse discovered.
2 See 1. c.
8 See the account given by the above-cited historian, at the year 1256, f. 792.
t The above historian, Matthew of Paris, otherwise a violent enemy of the mendicant
monks, says, however, of this accusation : " Ut perbibet mundus, si mundo in tali casu
credendum est." He himself only finds fault with the interposition of those Franciscans,
since it is his opinion that those Jews had deserved death. But he honours in the Fran
ciscans their compassion, and their charitable hope that these Jews might still sometime
or other be converted.
5 a.d. 1256, f. 792.

Rudolph's fanaticism put down by Bernard. 99
nations to embark in the second crusade, and issued for this pur
pose, in the year 1146, his letter to the Germans (East-Franks),
he at the same time warned them against the influence of those
enthusiasts, who called themselves messengers of the Lord, and
strove to inflame the fanaticism of the people. He called upon
the Germans to follow the direction of the apostle Paul, and not
believe every spirit. He declaimed against the false zeal, with
out knowledge, which impelled them to murder the Jews, a
people who ought not even to be banished from the country. He
acknowledges their zeal for the cause of God, but requires that it
should ever be accompanied with correct knowledge. " The
Jews," says he, " are scattered among all nations as living me
morials of Christ's passion, and of the divine judgment. But
there is a promise of their future universal restoration, Eom. xi.
26. Even where no Jews are to be found, usurious Christians,
if such men deserve to be called Christians, and not rather baptized
Jews, are a worse kind of Jews. How could the promise concern
ing the future conversion ofthe Jews ever be fulfilled, if they were
utterly exterminated?" The same reasons, we must allow, ought
to have persuaded men rather to send missionaries to the Moham
medan nations than to attack them with the sword. And, per
haps, it may have occurred to Bernard himself that this principle
might be applied to the very crusade which he preached. To
guard against any such application, he adds, " If the same thing
could be expected also of other infidels, we ought certainly
to bear with them, rather than to persecute them with the sword.
But as they were the first to begin the work of violence, so it be
comes those who, not without cause, have taken up the sword, to
repel force with force. But at the same time it befits Christian
piety, while it strikes down the proud, to spare the humble (de-
bellare superbos, parcere victis.)" Such representations were
especially needed in this excitable period ; but these words writ
ten in the Latin language could never reach the overheated po
pular mind. In these times there had started up, in the districts
on the Ehine, a ferocious enthusiast, the monkEadulf(Eudolph),
who, representing himself as a called prophet of the Lord,

1 Ep. 363. Audivimus et gaudemus, ut in vobis ferveat zelus Dei, sed oportet omnino
temperamentum scientiae non deesse.

100 Rudolph's fanaticism put doavn by Bernard.
preached, along with the Cross, death to the Jews. Thousands
from Cologne, Mentz, Worms, Speiers, Strasburg, who had col
lected together for the crusades, turned their swords, in the first
place, against the defenceless Jews, and a great deal of blood was
shed.1 Rudolph would not be held back from obeying his ima
gined divine call by any authority of his ecclesiastical superior.2
The archbishop Henry of Mentz, who could do nothing himself
to counteract the influence of the enthusiast, applied for help to
the French abbot, whose wonderful power over the minds of men
was not unknown to him. Bernard, in his answer,3 took very
decided grounds against that monk. He found fault with his
conduct in three respects ; that he had taken it upon him to
preach without being called, that he set at naught the authority
of the bishops, and that he justified murder. This he called a
doctrine of devils. " Does not the church," said he, " obtain a
richer victory over the Jews, by daily bringing them over from
their errors and converting them, than if by the sword she de
stroyed them all at a blow V He appeals to the prayer of the
universal church for the conversion of the Jews, with which such
proceedings stood directly at variance. But it was not till Ber
nard went himself to Germany, and used his personal influence,
which was irresistible, that he could succeed in quelling the spirit
of fanaticism. The people attached themselves to that enthusiast
with so blind a devotion, that nothing but the veneration in which
Bernard was held could restrain them from disturbances, when
that leader was taken away from them. At Mentz, Bernard
had a meeting with the monk Eudolph, and produced such
an effect on him — which was indeed a marvel — by his expostula
tions, that the man acknowledged he had done wrong, and pro
mised for the future to confine himself obediently to his convent.
The celebrated abbot Peter of Cluny, who was distinguished for
1 The sufferings of the Jews have been depicted, after the account of a German Jew,
who, being then a lad of thirteen, was a witness of this bloody massacre of bis country
men and fellow believers, in a Jewish chronicle, in the Hebrew language, by Jehoscbua
Ben Meir, of the sixteenth centuiy. See Wilken's Geschichte der Kreuzziige, drifter
Theil, erste Abtheil, Beilage i. In this account, too, Bernard is honourably mentioned
as deliverer of the Jews, without whose interposition not one in these districts would
have escaped ; and he says in his praise, " he took no ransom-money from the Jews; for
he from his heart spoke good concerning Israel."
2 See Otto Frising. hist. Frederic the First, I. ii., c. 37.
3 Ep. 365

RELATION OF THE TOPES TO THE JEWS. 101
a mildness of disposition springing out of the spirit of Christian
love, even beyond Bernard himself — who showed so liberal and
so kindly a spirit in judging the different spiritual tendencies
among Christians, — even he can only look upon the Jews as a
race descended from the murderers of Christ, and filled with
hatred to him. " It the Saracens, who in respect to the faith in
Christ have so much in common with us, are still to be abomi
nated,'' he writes in his letter to king Louis the Seventh of
France,1 " how much more should we detest the Jews, who blas
pheme and ridicule Christ, and the whole Christian faith." It is
true, he declares himself opposed to the practice of massacring
the Jews : " we should let them live like the fratricide Cain, to
their greater shame and torment,' says he ; but he calls upon the
king to deprive them of their wealth, which they had acquired
unrighteously and at the expense of Christians,2 and to devote
the money justly extorted from them to the service of the holy
cause which they hated.
In particular, it was a ruling principle with the popes, after the
example of their predecessor, Gregory the Great,3 to protect the
Jews in the rights which had been conceded to them. When the
banished popes of the twelfth century returned to Eome, the
Jews in their holiday garments went forth with the rest in pro
cession, to meet them, bearing before them the thora ; and
Innocent the Second, on an occasion of this sort,. prayed for
them, that God would remove the veil from their hearts. Pope
Innocent the Third, in the year ] 199, published an ordinance,
taking the Jews under his own protection against oppressions
" Much as the unbelief of the Jews is to be censured," he wrote,
" yet, inasmuch as the Christian faith is really confirmed by them,
they must suffer no hard oppression from the faithful." He ap
peals here to the example of his predecessors, which he followed :
" No one should compel them by force to submit to baptism ; but
in case a Jew makes it known, that of his own free choice he has
become a Christian, then no hindrances whatsoever shall be
1 Lib. iv., c 36.
2 Non enim de simplici agricultura, non de legali militia, non de quolibet honesto et
utili officio horrea sua frugibus, cellaria vino, marsupia nummis, areas auro sive argento
cumulant, quantum de his, quae Ctiristicolis dolose subtiahunt, de bis quae lurtim a
furibus empta, viii pretio res carissimas comparant.
3 See vol. v., p. 18.

102 PAPAL BRIEFS IN FAVOUR OF THE JEWS.
thrown in his way to prevent him from receiving baptism ; for he
who comes to the ordinance of Christian baptism through con
straint, cannot be a true believer. No one should molest them
in the possession of their property, or in the observance of their
customs. In the celebration of their festivals, they should not be
disturbed by tumultuary proceedings."1 This pope was at much
pains to provide for the maintenance of Jews who embraced
Christianity, and who by so doing lost the means of living which
they before enjoyed.2 It might doubtless happen, however, that the
pope, when applied to for relief by converted Jews from distant
parts, would sometimes be deceived by false reports, stories of
miracles by which these persons pretended to have been con
verted. Still, he did not lend implicit confidence to such reports,
but caused more exact inquiries to be made respecting their
truth in the countries where such events were said to have oc
curred.3 When the Jews in France, in the year 1236, saw themselves
abandoned to the ferocious cruelty of the crusaders, they, too,
applied for help to the pope, then Gregory the Ninth. He in
consequence sent a letter to France, expressing in the most em
phatic language his indignation at such barbarity. " The cru
saders, instead of arming themselves, body and soul, for a war
which was to be carried on in the name of the Lord, instead of
manifesting in their behaviour so much the more fear of God and
love to God, as they were to fight in the cause of the Lord, had
executed godless counsels against the Jews. But, in so doing,
they had not considered that Christians must derive the evidences
of their faith from the archives of the Jews, and that the Lord
would not reject his people for ever, but a remnant of them should
be saved. Not considering this, they had acted as if they meant
1 Lib. ii., ep. 302.
2 E. g. 1. ii., ep. 234. Attenta est sollicitudine providendum, ne inter alios Christi
fideles media deprimantur, cum plerique horum pro indigentia necessariarum rerum post
receptum baptismum in confusionem non rnodicam inducantur, ita ut plerumque faciente
illorum avaritia, qui cum ipsi abundent, Christum pauperem respicerededignantur, retro
cogantur abire.
3 Like that extravagant tale of a Jew, who found in a chest of gold, in which a stolen
consecrated host had been deposited, the gold pieces converted into holy wafers. The
pope directed tbe bishop in the place where this Jew lived, at the same time that he re
commended him aud his family to his care, to make a full and careful examination with
regard to the truth ofthnt story, and return him afaithful report. Innocent.l. xvi., ep. 84.

POINTS OF DISPUTATION WITH THE JEWS. 103
to exterminate them from the earth, and with unheard of cruelty
had butchered two thousand and five hundred persons of all ages
and sexes. And in extenuation of this atrocious crime, they
affirmed they had done so, and threatened to do worse, because
the Jews would not be baptized. " They did not consider,"
writes the pope, " that while Christ excludes no nation and no
race from the salvation which he came to bring to all mankind ;
still, as everything depends on the inward operation of divine
grace, as the Lord has mercy on whom he will have mercy, no
man should be forced to receive baptism ; for as man fell by his
own free will, yielding to the temptation to sin, so with his
own free will he must follow the call of divine grace, in order to
be recovered from his fall."1 Pope Innocent the Fourth, to whom
the Jews of Germany complained, on account of the oppressions
and persecutions which they had to suffer from secular and spiri
tual lords, issued a brief, in the year 1248, for their protection.
In this brief he declared the story about the Christian boy
murdered for the celebration of the Jewish passover, a pure fiction,
invented solely for the purpose of hiding cupidity and cruelty,
and of getting Jews condemned without the formality of a trial.
Wherever a dead body happened to be found it was maliciously
made use of as a means of criminating the Jews.2
Again, the Jews would unavoidably be shocked and repelled
by those peculiarities in the shaping of the church at this time,
which, though grounded in an original Christian feeling, yet in
their extravagance bordered upon the pagan, as, for example, the
worship of saints and images. Pious ecclesiastics and monks
were always ready to enter into controversial discussions with
Jews, in the hope of convincing them by arguments ; although
laymen, in the zeal for their religious creed, were dissatisfied
with a mode of procedure which allowed the Jews so peacefully
to state all their objections to the Christian faith, and required

1 See Raynaldi Annales ad A. 1236, § 48.
2 Scriptura divina inter alia mandata legis dicente : non occides, ac prohibente illos
in sollennitate paschali quicquam morticinum contingere, falsa imponunt iisdem, quod
in ipsa sollennitate se corde pueri communicant interfecti, credeudo id ipsam legem
praecipere, cum sit legi contrarium manifeste, ac eis malitiose objiciunt hominis cadaver
mortui, si contigerit illud alicubi reperiri. Et per hoc et alia qnamplurima flgmenta
saevientes in ipsis eos super his non accusatos, nee convictos spoilant contra Deum et
justitiam omnibus suis, etc. Raynaldi Annales ad A. 1248, ^ 84.

104 POINTS OF DISPUTATION WITH THE JEWS.
others so patiently to listen to them. They, on the contrary,
were for deciding the matter at once, and punishing the unbelief
of the Jews with the sword.1 In such disputes the Jews levelled
their objections not only against the fundamental position of the
Christian system in itself considered, which to the fleshly Jewish
mode of thought clinging to the letter of the Old Testament, and
to sensual expectations, must at all times be alike offensive ; but
also against those excrescent growths so foreign to primitive
Christianity. And although Christian theologians, in the confi
dence and in the light of Christian faith, could say many excel
lent things about the relation of the Old and New Testaments,
and of their different comparative positions, still they were no
match for the Jews in the interpretation of the Old Testament ;
and their arbitrary allegorizing explications could not remove any
of the difficulties by which the Jews were stumbled in comparing
the Old Testament with the New, nor lead them away from the
letter to the spirit. A narrow slavery to the letter, and an arbi
trary spiritualization, here stood confronted.2 We hear a Jew,
for example, appealing to the eternal validity of the law. " A
curse is pronounced upon every man that observes not the whole
law," says he ; " what right or authority have you Christians to
make here an arbitrary distinction, to explain that some things
are to be observed, while others are done away with ? How is
l Joinville narrates, in-the Memoirs of Louis the Ninth: — Once a great controver
sial discussion started up in the monastery of Cluny, between the ecclesiastics and Jews,
when an old knight rose up and demanded that the most distinguished among the eccle
siastics and the most learned among the Jews should come forward. Then he asked
the Jew, whether he believed that Christ was born ofthe virgin ? When the Jew replied
in the negative, said the knight to him, you behave, then, very foolishly and presumptu
ously, in daring to come into a bouse consecrated to Mary — the convent. He dealt the
Jew so violent a blow, that he sunk to the ground, and the rest fled for their lives. The
abbot of Cluny now said to the knight : " Vous avez fait folie, de ce que vous avez ainsi
frappe." The knight, however, would not acknowledge this, but rejoined : " Vous avez
fait encore plus grande folie, d'avoir ainsi assemble les Juifs et souffert telles disputa
tions d'erreurs ;" for many good Christians had thereby been misled into infidelity. So
thought, too, king Louis the Ninth of France. None but learned theologians should
dispute with the Jews; nor should the laity ever listen to such blasphemies, but punish
them at once with the sword. " Que nul, si n'est grand clerc et theologien parfait, ne
doit disputer aux Juifs. Mais doit l'homme lay, quant il oy mesdire la foi chretienne,
deTendre la chose non pas seulement des parohs, mais a bonne epee tranchaiite et en
frapper les mesdisans a travers du corps, tant qu'elle y pourra entrer."
2 In the Disputatio Judaei cum Christiano de fide Christiana by the abbot Gislebert
(Gilbert) of Westminster, in the beginning ofthe twelfth century, which is founded on
a dispute actually held with u Jew,— in Anselmi Cant. opp. ed. Gerberon,f. 512.

REPLY TO JEWISH OBJECTIONS. 105
this to be reconciled with the immutability of God's word V He
finds in the Old Testament the prediction of a Messiah, but
nothing concerning a Godman. The doctrine concerning such a
being appeared to him a disparagement of God's glory. The
promises relating to the times of the Messiah seem to him not yet
fulfilled. " If it be true that the Messiah is already come, how
are we to reconcile it with the fact that nowhere, except among
the poor people of the Jews, is it said, ' Come let us go up to the
house of the God of Jacob ? Some of you say, let us go to the
house of Peter; others, let us go to the house of Martin. Where is
it that swords are turned into pruning-hooks ? Smiths enough can
hardly be found to convert steel into weapons of war. One na
tion oppresses, cuts in pieces another ; and every boy is trained
up to the use of weapons." The Christian theologian, abbot
Gislebert, replies to the last objection : " Neither to Peter nor
Paul do we build a house ; but in honour and in memory of Peter
or Paul we build a house to God. Nor can any bishop, in dedi
cating a church, say, ' To thee, Peter or Paul, we dedicate this
house or this altar;' but only, ' to thee, 0 God, we dedicate this
house or this altar for the glory of God.' " Next, he insists on
it that those promises concerning the times of the Messiah have
been spiritually fulfilled. " The law pronounces sentence of con
demnation on every man who kills, or rather, as Christ has added,
on every man who is angry with his brother. He, then, who is
transported with the passions of anger and hatred, cannot law
fully use the sword and lance. Far easier is it to turn the sword
into a ploughshare, the spear into a pruning-hook, than to turn
from a proud man into an humble one, from a freeman to a ser
vant ; to give up wife, children, house and court, arms, all earthly
goods, and very self. This, however, is a thing that you may
often see done ; for many, who once lived in the world, proud and
mighty men, constantly buckled for war, greedy after other men's
possessions, have for God's sake renounced all worldly glory, go
in voluntary poverty on pilgrimages to different holy places, seek
the intercession of the saints, or immure themselves in a convent.
And, in such a community of the servants of God, is fulfilled that
which God promised by the prophets concerning the peaceful liv
ing together of the lion and the lamb, etc. ; for, to the shepherd

106 CHRISTIAN IMPRESSIONS MADE UPON HERMANN.
of such a flock, obedience is alike paid by high and low, by the
mighty and the powerful, the strong and the weak."
An example, showing how the power of Christianity was still
present, even amid the foreign rubbish with which it was encum
bered, and could make itself be felt in the minds of the Jews, is
seen in the remarkable case of Hermann, afterwards a Premon-
stratensian monk, whose conversion, which he has given an ac
count of himself.1 was brought about by a singular train of pro
vidential occurrences.
He was born at Cologne, and strictly educated as a Jew-
When a young man he made a journey to Mentz, on commercial
business. It happened at the same time that Egbert, bishop of
Miinster,2 who had himself at some earlier period been dean of
the cathedral at Cologne, was there with the emperor's court-
camp. Being in want of money, the bishop negotiated a loan
with this Jew. But the latter took no security from him, which
was quite contrary to the practice of his people, who were accus
tomed to require a pledge to the amount of double the sum lent.
When he returned home, his friends reproached him for such
folly, and urged him to seek another interview with the bishop.
Fearing, however, the influence of the Christians on the young
man, they commissioned an old Jew, Baruch, to act as his over
seer. Thus he travelled back- to Miinster ; and here, as the bishop
could not immediately refund the money, he was obliged to tarry
five months. The young man, having no particular business on
his hands, could not resist the curiosity he felt to visit the
churches, which he had hitherto detested as temples of idols. He
here heard the bishop preach. Many things in the discourse at
tracted him, and he repeated his visits. Thus he received his
first Christian impressions. Christians, observing how atten
tively he listened, asked him, how he liked what he heard ; he
replied, "Many things pleased him, others not." They spoke
to him kindly : " Our Jesus," said they, " is full of compassion,
and, as he himself declares, ' No man that cometh unto him shall
be cast out.' " They held up to him the example of the apostle
Paul, who from a violent persecutor of Christianity became a
1 Published by Carpzov, after Raymund Martini's Pugio fidei.
2 Bishop of Miinster from 1127 to 1132.

CHRISTIAN IMPRESSIONS MADE UPON HERMANN. 107
zealous preacher of it. But the Jew saw pictures of Christ jn the
churches, and as this appeared to him like idolatry, he was filled
with abhorrence. Thus different impressions struggled together
in his soul. It so happened, that the universally revered abbot
Eupert of Deutz (Eupertus Tuitiensis, the author of a tract
against the Jews) came to Miinster, and to him Hermann ven
tured to disclose his doubts. The abbot received him in a friendly
manner, and sought to convince him, that the Christians were
very far from paying an idolatrous worship to images. " Images,"
said he, " are designed solely to supply the place of Scripture for
the rude people."
The bishop employed as the steward of his house a pious eccle
siastic named Eichmar, a man of strictly ascetic habits, who by
his kindly manners had won his way to the young man's heart.
Once the bishop sent a choice dish from his own table to this
churchman ; but he immediately gave it to the young Hermann
who sat by his side, while he himself took nothing but bread and
water. This made a great impression on the youth. As this
pious man, in many conversations with Hermann, had sought in
vain to convince him of the truth of Christianity, he finally con
ceived the hope that by the evidence of some miracle, a judg
ment of God, the ordeal of the red-hot iron,1 he might be able to
conquer the unbelief of the sign-seeking Jew. But the bishop,
his superior in Christian knowledge and wisdom, would allow of
no such experiment. Said he to his steward, " True, thy zeal is
praiseworthy, but it is not accompanied with knowledge. We
should not presume to tempt God in this way ; but we should
pray to him, that he, who wills that all men should be saved and
come to the knowledge of the truth, would be pleased, in his own
time and way, by his grace, to break the fetters of unbelief in
which this young man is bound captive, and set him free. But
it was not proper to require God to work a miracle for this pur
pose, nor even to be particularly anxious that he would ; since it
was perfectly easy for the Almighty even without a miracle, by
the secret operation of his grace, to convert whomsoever he
pleased ; and since, too, the outward miracle would be unavail
ing, unless he wrought after an invisible manner by his grace in
1 See vol. v., p. 167.
3

108 Hermann's strivings aftek. christian faith.
the heart of the man. Many had been converted without
miracles ; multitudes had remained unbelievers even after miracles
had been wrought before their eyes. The faith induced by
miracles had little or no merit in the sight of God ; but the faith
which came from a simple pious sense had the greatest," which
he sought to prove by examples from gospel history and from the
words of Christ himself.
When Hermann afterwards had an opportunity of visiting the
newly founded Premonstratensian convent at Kappenberg in
Westphalia, and here saw men of the highest and lowest ranks
unite together in practising the same self-denials, it appeared to
him a very strange sight ; as yet he knew not what to make of
it. Thus he was tossed one way and another by his feelings, till
his mind became completely unsettled. He prayed to God, with
warm tears, that if the Christian faith came from him, he would
either by inward inspiration, or by vision, or — which then ap
peared to him the most effective means — by some visible mira
culous sign, convince him of it. He who was said to have led a
Paul, even when he proudly resisted, to the faith, would as
suredly, if this were true, hear him, so humble a supplicant !
After his return home he spent three days, strictly fasting, in
prayer to the Almighty, and waiting in expectation of a vision
for the clearing up of his doubts ; when, exhausted by fasting
and by his inward conflicts, he retired to rest ; but the vision
which he sought, was not vouchsafed to him. He applied to
book-learned churchmen, and disputed with them ; yet to all the
arguments which they could bring, his doubts were invincible ;
although many of the remarks which fell from them left a sting
behind in his heart.
Meanwhile the Jews had long eyed him with suspicion ; and
they employed every means to deter him from embracing Christi-
auity. They prevailed upon him to marry ; and by the wedding-
feast and the dissipations connected with his new relation, he
was, in fact, diverted for a while from the subject which had so
long occupied and tormented him. But after passing three
months in a state of dreamy torpor, his old inward conflicts re
turned again. He once more sought the society of Christian
theologians, with whom he had many disputes. Once, after he
had long contended with one of these theologians in an assembly

Hermann's baptism and ordination. 109
of clergymen, said one of the number to the theologian who had
sought in vain to convince him : " Why spend your strength to
no purpose ! Surely you know that, as the apostle Paul declares,
even to this day. when to the Jews Moses is read, a covering
hangs before their hearts." This remark again made a deep im
pression on Hermann's mind. " Is my heart,'' thought he,
" really prevented by such a covering from penetrating to the
spirit of the Old Testament V Again, therefore, he had recourse
to prayer, and with many tears besought the Almighty that, if
this were so, he would himself remove the covering from his heart,
that he might with open eyes behold the clear light of truth.
And recollecting what Christians had said to him about the
power of intercessions, he commended himself to the prayers of
two nuns who stood in high veneration among all the Christians
in Cologne. They promised him, that they would not cease pray
ing until the comfort of divine grace should be given to him.
Becoming soon afterwards more clear in his views and feelings,
he believed himself to be especially indebted for this change to
the intercessions of these two pious nuns.1 He continued dili
gently to attend on the preached word, putting aside everything
else, and making the search after truth the great object of his
life. His inquiries and prayers conducted him at length to a
settled conviction. He submitted to baptism, entered the mo
nastery of Kappenberg, which on his first visit had made so
singular an impression on his mind, where he studied the Latin
language, and was consecrated a priest.
1 He says: "Ecce me, quem ad fidem Christi nee reddita mihi a multis de ea ratio,
nee magnorum potuit clericorum convertere disputatio, devota siroplicium feminarum,
oratio attraxit."

( 110 )

SECTION SECOND.
HISTORY OF THE CHURCH CONSTITUTION.
I. Popes and Papacy.
We commence this period in the history of the papacy, with a
crisis of world-historical interest. The great question was now
up, to be answered by the course of events : Whether the system
of the church theocracy, the spiritual universal monarchy, should
come off victorious in the contest with a rude secular power, or
should be laid prostrate under its feet. The key to the right
understanding of this new epoch is furnished us by the epoch with
which the preceding period closed. One continuous thread of
historical evolution ; a closely connected series of causes and
effects proceeds onward from the last times of the preceding
period into the beginning of the present. The corruption of the
church, threatening its utter secularization, had now reached its
highest pitch ; and that very circumstance had called forth a re
formatory reaction on the part of the church. Such a reaction
could, however, under the existing conditions, only proceed from
the side of this church theocracy ; since those who were most
zealous against the abuses that had crept in, were governed by
this spiritual tendency. The man of this party, he who was in
fact the guiding and animating soul of the reformatory reaction
in the last times of the preceding period, was that Hildebrand,
who now, as pope Gregory the Seventh, had become in name, as
he had long been secretly in fact, the ruling head of the Western
church. As this world-historical personage was, from the first,
the object of extravagant veneration with some, and of equally
extravagant hatred with others, so the same contrariety of
opinion with regard to him continued to prevail in the succeed
ing centuries.

THE FUNDAMENTAL IDEA OF THE PAPACY. Ill
Gregory was certainly inspired with some higher motive than
selfish ambition, a selfish love of domination. One predominating
idea inspired him ; and to this he sacrificed all other interests,
the idea ofthe independence ofthe church, and of the control to
be exercised by her over all other human relations, the idea of a
religious, moral dominion over the world, to be administered by
the papacy. This was not, indeed, the purely Christian idea of
dominion over the world, but a recasting of it under an Old Tes
tament form altogether foreign to Christianity ; and that, too,
not without some mixture of the idea of Eome's ancient imperial
sovereignty.1 This idea, however, was no invention of Gregory's;
but having sprung, as we have shown, out of the course of de
velopment which the church had taken, it had acquired, by the
reaction in favour of reform since the time of Leo the Ninth, a
new force over the minds of the better- disposed. There were
men, extremely prejudiced, it is true, yet animated by a warm
zeal for the welfare of the church and against the deep-rooted
abuses of the times, who expected, from this imperial sovereignty
of the church, wielded by the popes, the correction of all evils.
To them the church appeared as the representative of the divine
jurisdiction, by which all social relations were to be regulated,
all abuses to be removed. The church must by her equitable
decisions prevent wars ; or, if she could not effect this, bestow
communion and absolution on the party in the right, while she
excluded the one in the wrong from the fellowship of the church,
and refused it the privilege of ecclesiastical burial to the dead.3
1 Compare tbe poem by Alphanus, quoted in vol. vi., at the close of the second sec
tion, p. 172.
2 This idea is unfolded by that rigid censor of the clergy, a contemporary of Bernard
of Clairvaux, the sincerely pious provost Gerhoh (Geroch) of Reichersberg in Bavaria,
particularly in his commentary on the 64th Psalm, or his tract De corrupto ecclesiae
statu, where he sets it over against the then corrupt condition of the church, which
should be restored and improved according to this standard,— published by Baluz in the
fifth volume of his Miscellanea. The same tract of Gerocb is to be found abbreviated
in his commentary on the Psalms ; — an important work on account of the information
it gives us ofthe condition ofthe church iu these times, — published by Pez in the The
saurus anecdotorum novissimus, t. v. He looks upon it as a strange and unheard of thing,
that both the contending parties in a war should receive the communion : when in truth
justice could only be on one side, and the tribunal of the church therefore could decide
in favour of but one party. In omni militum vel civium guerra et discordia vel pars
altera justa et altera injusta, vel utraque invenitur injusta, cujus rei veritatem patefacere
deberet sacerdotalis doctrina, sine cujus censura nulta bella sunt movenda. Sic ergo
manifestata justitia pars justa sacerdotalibus tubis animauda et etiam communione do-

112 HILDEBRAND'S EARLY TRAINING.
The monk Hildebrand had certainly been seized with this idea,
and active in endeavouring to realize it, before he could have
entertained any thought of being elevated himself to the papal
throne. Educated as a monk at Eome, it was natural that, in a
man of his serious disposition, and situated as he was, the idea
of such a jurisdiction to be exercised by the church, should be
awakened in the fullest force.1 Well might his disgust at the
prevailing corruption in Eome and Italy have moved Hildebrand
the monk to retreat with his friend, the deposed pope Gregory
the Sixth, to the countries beyond the Alps ; and well might he
again, in the hope of being able, by virtue of his connection with
the popes, to counteract this corruption, have resolved to return
back to Eome ; as he says, in a remarkable letter to his friend,
the abbot Hugo of Cluny :2 " Were it not that I hoped to attain
to a yet better life, and to serve the cause of the church, nothing
would induce me to stay here in Eome, where, not by my own
choice, as God is my witness, I have already been compelled to
live through a period of twenty years." " God," he remarks,
" had brought him back to Eome against his will, and bound him
there with his own fetters. "3 In passing judgment on this great
man, we should not try him by the standard of a pure evangelical
minici corporis ante bellum et ad bellum roboranda est, quia panis iste cor hominis con-
firmat, quando pro defensione justitiae vel ecclesiae aliquis ad pugnam se praeparat, cui
pars iniqua resistens et pacto justae pacis acquiescere nolens anathematizanda et
etiam negata sibi sepultura Christiana humilianda est. But how is it at present,
when — one prince or one people waging an unjust war against another— the Lord's
body is given to both parties without examination of the merits of the case ?
Tanquam divisus sit Christus et possit esse in tam contrariis partibus. How
easily, he exclaims, by tbe united agreement of the bishops in one judgment, could
the madness of those princes and knights who make confusion in the Roman empire,
and spread devastation^througb the church, be curbed and restrained ? If he then, who
has been placed over the whole in order to preserve unity and to strengthen his brethren,
Luke xxii. 32, should in every just judgment anticipate the bishops by a circular letter
addressed to tbem— what monarch would dare to set himself up in opposition to such a
decision? Cum sit velut alter Jeremias, constitutus non solum super ecclesias, sed
etiam super regna, ut evellat et destruat, aedificet et plantet. See 1. c. in Pez. f. 1183.
1 Where he speaks of hH obligations to the apostle Peter, in a letter to king William
of England, 1. vii., ep. 23. Quia S. Petrus a puero me in domo sua dulciter nutrierat.
2 L. e. 1. ii., ep. 49. Gregory himself says to the Romans : " Vos scitis quod, ad sa-
cros ordineSjKon libenter accessi, sed magis invitus cum Domino Leone Papa ad ves.
tram specialem ecclesiam redii, in qua utcunque vobis servivi." Eccard scriptores rer.
Germ. ep. 150.
8 Si non sperarem ad meliorem vitam et utilitatem sanctae ecclesiae venire, nullo
modo Romae, in qua coactus, Deo teste, jam a viginti annis inbabitavi, remanerem — and
afterwards— eum, qui me suis alligavit vinculis ot Roman invitum reduxit.

HILDEBRAND'S EARLY TRAINING. 113
knowledge to which he could not possibly have attained by his
course of training. Seized- and carried away by the above-men
tioned dominant idea, he interpreted by that the testimonies of
the Bible and of history, and these would all seem to confirm the
same. But he who surrenders himself so entirely to one idea,
seen in one aspect, as to let it swallow up all other human in
terests, and all the feelings, implanted in man's nature, must be
come a slave to it. He who allows the zeal for such an idea to
usurp the place of a zeal for truth and justice, will soon have
formed within himself a particular conscience also which may
sanction many things, tending to the advantage of his party
bent, that a true conscience and the divine law would condemn.
He who believes himself the vicegerent of the divine will in the
government of mankind, will easily be misled, to set up his own
will in place of the divine, and then think himself entitled to take
many liberties for the realization of that divine will. With his
fanatical self-devotion to this one tendency, this energetic man
united a calculating prudence not always coupled with truth ; as
we have had occasion to see already in his treatment of that up
right follower of the interests of truth alone, Berengarius.
It is certain that Hildebrand's power in Eome had become so
great, he had so considerable a party in his favour, that no in
trigues were needed on his part to secure for him the papal dignity,
an eminence which he might have reached sooner, perhaps if he
had desired it ; for, as it was justly remarked of him in his own
time, " after having prepared everything to suit his wishes, he
stepped into the papal chair the moment he was ready."1 The
less to be credited, therefore, are the accusations which his op
ponents, even in published writings, had the boldness to bring

1 Preparatis ex sententia, quae voluit, Cathedram quando voluit ascendit. So speak
Gregory's opponents in the noticeable tract of Dieteric, bishop of Verdun, a.d. 1080, in
Martene et Durand thesaur. nov. anecdotorum, t. v. f. 217. Cited in the same place are
opposite views respecting Gregory's previous conduct and his election to the papacy.
One party says of him: Decedentibus patribus saepe eleclum et acciium, semper quidem
animi, aliquando etiam corporis fuga dignitatis locum decliuasse; at length he recog
nized in the universal voice, the will of God. Others, Gregory's ferocious enemies, say
many things hardly consistent with one another, and even self-contradictory, respecting
the manner in which he attained to tbe papal throne. The truth perhaps is contained
in their single remark, " quando voluit ;" but this circumstance is easily to be ac
counted for by his previous activity, and makes all the other explanations of his papal
election superfluous. VOL. VII. H

114 ELECTED POPE. MANNER OF HIS ELECTION.
against him.1 Still, some occasion was given for these accusations,
by the mode in which Gregory's election was conducted.
The death of pope Alexander was not followed by the distur
bances so common on such occasions among the Eoman people,
who were accustomed to manifest very soon their predilection for
this or that cardinal whom they chose to have pope. The college
of cardinals, therefore, supposed they had no interruption to fear
in their preparatory proceedings to the choice of a new pope,
and they ordered that, before they met to make arrangements for
the new election, prayers for illumination and guidance should be
addressed to the Almighty in connection with processions and
fasting during three days.2 Yet at the burial of Alexander, the
people loudly demanded that Hildebrand should be made pope.3
Although the legal form, therefore, was afterwards observed, and
a protocol adopted, certifying to Hildebrand's election, yet it is
manifest that the choice had already been made. Gregory de
clares, in the letters issued soon after his election, and later, that
he had been elevated to the papal dignity against his will, and
not without strenuous opposition on his part. Still, the sincerity
of such professions is always more or less liable to suspicion.
Even though it was Gregory's determination, after he had thus
far ruled by means of others, now to take the government of the
church into his own hands ; yet we may at all events believe
that he must have foreseen the difficult contests into which he
would be thrown ; and that, undertaking to exercise such a trust,
would turn out to him no idle affair ; and amid the multiplied
troubles and vexations of his later reign, he might well sigh after
the tranquil seclusion of the monastic life. In a letter to Duke

1 Cardinal Benno, in his invective against Gregory, says, thatwben pope Alexander,
sub miserabili jugo Hildebrandi, died one evening, Hildebrand was placed by his partisans
at once, and without the concurrence of the clergy and the community, upon tbe papal
throne, because it was feared that, if there were any delay, some other person would be
elected ; not one of the cardinals subscribed to it. (All which, however, is refuted by
the published protocol certifying his election.) To the abbot of Monte Cassino, who
arrived after the election was over, Gregory is said to have remarked : " Frater, nimium
tardasti," to which the abbot replied: Et tu, Hildebrande, nimium festinasti, qui non-
dum sepulto domino tuo papa, sedem apostolicam contra canones usurpasti.
2 As Gregory himself declares in the letters in which he made known his election.
3 He himself says : Subito ortus est magnus tumultus populi et fremitus, et in
me quasi vesani insHrrexerunt, nil dicendi, nil consulendi facultatis aut spatii relin-
quentes.

Gregory's complaints. 115
Gottfried, who had congratulated him on his election,! he com
plains of the secret cares and anxieties which oppressed him.
" Nearly the whole world is lying in such wickedness, that all, and
the bishops in particular, seem emulous to destroy rather than to
defend or to adorn the church. Striving only after gain and
honour, they stand opposed to everything which serves to promote
religion and the cause of God." ' In the second year of his reign,
he presented a picture of his troubles and conflicts, in a letter,
to his intimate friend, the abbot Hugo of Cluny." " Often have I
prayed God, either to release me from the present life, or through
me to benefit our common mother ; yet he has not delivered me
from my great sufferings ; nor has my life, as I wished, profited
the mother with whom he has connected me." He then describes
the lamentable condition of the church : " The Oriental church,
fallen from the faith, and attacked from without, by the infidels.
Casting your eye over the West, South, or North, you find scarcely
anywhere bishops who have obtained their office regularly, or
whose life and conversation correspond to its requirements, and
who are actuated in the discharge of their duties by the love of
Christ and not by worldly ambition ;3 nowhere, princes who pre
fer God's honour to their own, and justice before gain." " The
men among whom he lived," he said, "Bomans, Longobards,
Normans, were, as he often told them, worse than Jews and
pagans." " And when I look at myself," he adds, " I find my
self oppressed by such a burden of sin, that no other hope of sal
vation is left me, but in the mercy of Christ alone." And,
indeed, it is a true picture, which Gregory here draws of his
times. Before we follow out the acts of Gregory in detail, let us cast a
glance at the principles of his conduct generally, as they are
exhibited to us in his letters. Those persons assuredly mistake
him, who are willing to recognize nothing else, as his govern
ing principle, than prudence. Though it is, indeed, true, that
prndence formed one of his most distinguishing characteristics;
yet, believing as he did, that he acted in virtue of a trust
1 Ep. 9.
2 Lib. ii. ep. 49.
3 Vix legales episcopos introitu et vita, q'ii Christiannm populum Christi amore et
non seculari ambitioiie regant.
H 2

116 GREGORY'S PRINCIPLES OF ACTION.
committed to him by God, — it was a higher confidence, which
sustained and kept him erect through all his conflicts. It was
in perfect consistency with those views, which he had derived
from the Scriptures of the Old Testament, respecting the theo
cracy, that he should so readily allow himself to be guided
by supernatural signs, and judgments of God. He placed great
reliance on his intimate connections with St Peter and the
Virgin Mary.1 Among his confidential agents he had a monk,
who boasted of a peculiar intimacy with the Virgin Mary ; and
to this person he applied, in all doubtful cases, bidding him
seek, with prayer and fasting, for some special revelation by
vision, respecting the matter in question.2 To his friend, the
Margravine Mathilda, who honoured and loved him as a spiritual
father, he earnestly recommended, as a means of defence against
the princes of the world, that she should frequently partake of
the Holy Supper, and commit herself to the special protection of
the Virgin Mary. The peculiar bent of his own devotion, here
expresses itself : " I, myself," he writes, "have expressly com
mended thee to her, and will not cease commending thee to her,
till we shall behold her, as we long to do. She, whom heaven
and earth cease not to praise, though they cannot do it as she
deserves. But of this be firmly persuaded, that, as she is ex
alted, good, and holy above every mother, so too, and in the same
proportion, is she more gracious and gentle towards converted
sinful men and women. Put away, then, the disposition to sin,
pour out thy tears before her, prostrating thyself before her with

1 By this pope, a special office of devotion, addressed to the Virgin Mary, was intro
duced into the monasteries. See the above-mentioned work of Geroch, onthe Psalms, 1.
v. Sol. 794: " Et in coenobiis canticum novum celebratur, cum a tempore Gregorii septi
cursus beatae Mariae frequentatur." Also, in the above-cited letter of Dieleric of Verdun,
mention is made of divine visions which were attributed to Gregory; and it is said of
him, '• Juxta quod boni et fide digni homines attestantur, eum non parvam in oculis
Dei familiaritatis gratiam assecutum esse."
2 A writer of this time, the abbot Haymo, relates in his life of William, abbot of
Hirschau, that Gregory, being uncertain which of two candidates proposed to him
should be selected for a bishopric, directed a monk to pray that it might be revealed to
him, by the mediation of the Virgin Mary, which would be the best choice. See his
Life, § 22, in Mabillon's Acta Sanct. 0. B. t. vi., p. ii., f. 732. As this anecdote wholly
agrees with what we quoted, vol. vi., p. 331, from the mouth of Berengar, we are the less
warranted to entertain any doubt respecting this characteristic trait in the life of Gre
gory. Compare also vol. vi., p. 153.
3 Lib. i., ep. 47.

1I1S VIEWS OF PRIESTLY AND ROYAL POWER. 117
an humble and contrite heart ; and I promise it with certainty,
thou shalt find, by experience, how much more full of love and
kindness she will be to thee than thine own mother according to
the flesh. "i
Gregory decidedly avows the principle, that God had conferred
on Peter and his successors, not only the guidance of the whole
church in respect to spiritual affairs, but also a moral superin
tendence over all nations. To the spiritual, he maintains, every
thing else should be subordinated. All worldly interests aro
vastly inferior to the spiritual. How, then, should not the juri
dical authority of the pope extend over them h We find Gre
gory entertaining an idea, which is expressed also in other writ
ings of this party, according to which, the priestly authority
would appear to be the only oue truly ordained of God, — the
authority, by which everything was finally to be brought back
into the right train ; for the authority of princes grew originallj
out of sinful self-will, the primitive equality of mankind having
been broken up by the violence of those who, by rapine, murder,
and every other species of atrocity, elevated themselves above
their equals ;° — a view which might be confirmed, in the minds
of some, on contemplating the then rude condition of civil society.
Yet, in other places, when not pushed by opposition to this ex
treme, he recognizes the kingly authority as also ordained of
God ; only maintaining, that it should confine itself within its
own proper limits, remaining subordinate to the papal power,
1 Cui te principaliter commisi et committo et nunquam. committere, quousque illam
videamus, ut cupimus, omittam, quid tibi dicam, quam coelum et terra laudare, licet ut
meretur nequeant, non cessant ? Hoc tamen procul dubio teneas, quia quanto altior et
melior ac sanctior est omni matre, tanto clementior et dulcior circa conversos peccatores
et peccatrices. Pone itaque finem in voluntate peccandi et prostrata coram ilia ex corde
contrito et humiliato lacrimas effunde. Invenies illam, indubitanter promitto, prompti-
oreni carnali matre ae mitiorem in tui dilectione.
2 Lib. i., ep. 63. Petrus apostolus, quem Dominus Jesus Christus rex gloria© prin-
cipem super regna mundi constituit. Lib. vii., ep. 6, concerning Peter: Cui omnes
principatus et potestates orbis terrarum subjiciens (Deus) jus ligandi atque solvendi in
coelo et in terra tradidit In a letter to King William of England, in which the pope
certainly was inclined to lower rather than to elevate his tone : Ut cura et dispensatione
apostolicae dignitatis post Deum gubernetur regia.
3 In the famous letter to bishop Hermann of Mentz, 1. viii,, ep. 21 : Quis nesciat reges
et duces ab iis habuisse principium, qui L eum ignorantes, superbia, rapinis, perfidia,
homicidiis, poslremo universis paene sceleribus, mundi principe diabolo videlicet agi-
tante, super pares, scilicet homines, dominari caeca cupiditate et intolerabili praesum-
tione affectaverunt?

118 THE SUPREMACY OF THE POPE.
which is sovereign over all. He says that the two authorities
stand related to each other, as sun and moon, and compares them
with the two eyes of the body.1
We see by single examples, how welcome it would have been
to the pope, if all monarchs had been disposed to receive their
kingdoms as feofs of the apostle Peter. Thus he would have con
verted the sovereignty of Peter into an altogether secular empire ;
and he looked upon it as an insult to that sovereignty, that a
king of Hungary, who ought to have regarded himself as a king
dependent on St Peter, should place himself in a relation of de
pendence on the German empire. He considered it deserving of
reproach, that he should be willing to undergo the shame of mak
ing himself a dependent regulus on German kings, rather than to
enjoy the honour of being dependent alone on the first of the
apostles.2 And to this he referred the promise of Christ regard
ing the Eock, against which the powers of hell should never pre
vail ; that whoever would wrest his kingdom out of this relation
of dependence to the church of Eome, must experience, by the
loss of his inherited kingdom, the punishment due to his sacri
lege, in his own person. So Spain was held to have been from
the earliest times a feof of the Eomish church.3 From the
Eomish church, it was maintained, indeed, that all other spiritual
authority was derived, and all ecclesiastical authorities should
appear as organs of the pope ; yet among these authorities there
should subsist a regular subordination ; and all, through a certain
series of gradations, return back to the one common head.4 Gre-
l Lib i., ep. 19. Nam sicut duobus oculis humanum corpus temporali lumine regitur,
ita his duabus dignitatibus in pura religione concordantibus corpus ecclesiae spirituali,
lumine regi et illuminari probatur. Lib. vii., ep. 25, to king William of England : Sicut
ad mundi pulchritudinem oculis carneis diversis temporibus repraesentandam solem et
lunam omnibus aliis eminentiora disposuit luminaria, sic ne creatura, quam sui benig-
nitas ad imaginem suam in hoc mundo creaverat, in errorem et mortifera traheretur
pericula, providit in apostolica et regia dignitate, per diversa regeretur officia. Qua
tamen majoritatis et minoritatis distantia religio sic se movet Christiana, ut cura et dis-
pensatione apostolicae dignitatis post Deum gubernetur regia.
2 Lib. ii. ep. 70, to king Seusa of Hungary : Ubi contempto nobili dominio Petri
apostolorum principis, rex subdidit se Teutonico regi, et reguli nomen obtinuit, et ita si
quid in obtinendo regno juris prius habuit, eo se sacrilega usurpatione privavit. Petrus
a firma petra dicitur, quae portas inferi confringit atque adamautino rigore destiuit et
dissipat quidquid obsistit.
3 Lib. i., ep. 7.
4 Lib. vi., ep. 3D.

OFFICE OF THE LEGATES. 119
gory professed, it is true, in continuing the contest begun by the
popes at the close of the preceding period, that he acted as
defender of the ancient ecclesiastical laws ; yet, at the same
time, also, he expressly declared, that it stood in his power
to enact new laws against new abuses, which, when enacted,
imposed an obligation of universal obedience.1 Ashe frequently
made use of the Scriptures of the Old Testament, which, by
reason of his peculiar mode of apprehending the theocracy, would
be particularly acceptable to him, so his favourite motto, when
ever he spoke of maintaining, in spite of all opposition, the
validity of the church-laws, and of punishing abuses, was, " Cursed
be he that keepeth back his sword from blood," Jeremiah xlviii.
10." As the organs by which to extend and maintain his oversight
over all the churches, and to exercise everywhere his juridical au
thority, he determined to make use of the institution of legates,
which had been made a vital part of the papacy during the epoch
of reform, in the times of Henry the Third. Since he could not
be in all places at once, these legates were to act as his repre
sentatives and vicegerents, in upbuilding and destroying among
the distant nations ; and the bishops were to pay the same obe
dience to such legates as to the pope himself, and to stand by
them in all cases ; and he had the presumption to apply to this
relation the words of our Lord to his apostles, declaring, that in
them he himself was honoured or despised.3 At the same time,
1 Lib. ii., ep. 67. Huic sanctae Romanae ecclesiae semper licuit semperque licebit,
contra noviter increscentes excessus nova quoque decreta atque remedia procurare, quae
rationis et auctoritatis edita judicio nulli hominum sit fas ut irrita refutare. And
ep. 68: Non nostra decreta, quanquam licenter si opus esset possumus, vobis pro-
ponimus. 2 Lib. i. ep. 15: In eo loco positi sumus, ut velimus nolimus omnibus gentibus,
maxime Christianis, veritatem et justitiam annuntiare compellamur; and now the pas
sage : maledictus homo, qui prohibet gladium suum a sanguine, which he explains
thus: verbum praedicatiouis a carnalium increpatione.
3 Lib. v., ep. 2, regarding such a legate, whom he sent to Corsica : Ut ea, quae ad
ordinem sacrae religionis pertinent, rite exequens juxta prophetae dictum evellat et
destruat, aedificet etplantet. When, in Bohemia, the uuthority of these legates was dis
puted as an innovation, Gregory promptly gave them his Bupport. He thus writes on
this subject to the Bohemian bishops, 1. i., ep. 17 : Quidam vestrorum hoc quasi novum
aliquid existimantes et non considerantcs sententiam Domini dicentis : "qui vos recipit
me recipit, et qui vos spernit, me spernit." Legates nostros contemptui habent ac
proinde dum nullam debitam reverentiam exhibent, non eos, sed ipsam veritatis sen.
tentiam spernunt.

120 OFFICE OF THE LEGATES.
however, he did not allow these legates to act according to their
own pleasure, but exercised a strict control over all their proceed
ings.' He censured them in right good earnest, if they failed to
make an exact report of every matter to himself. He was a
despot, determined to rule everywhere himself.i The gold which
legates sent him, expecting by this means to pacify him, could
not move him to release them from obligation to give in an exact
account of all their transactions. To a certain legate, who contem
plated something of this sort, he writes : " The fact that he had
not personally brought in a report of all his proceedings admitted
of no excuse, unless he was hindered by sickness, or had no possi
ble means of returning." He reminded him of the fact, that he
must have long since found out, how small store he (the pope) set
by money, separate from the recognition of his authority.2 Fur
thermore, the annual synods, during the fasts preceding Easter,
which were attended by bishops from all parts of the Western
church, were to serve as a means of making the pope acquainted
with the condition of all the churches, and of helping him to
maintain an oversight of their affairs. It is plain from many ex
amples, how important he considered it to keep himself informed
of the peculiarities, the particular condition and wants, even of
the most distant nations, in order to meet their several necessi
ties. Thus, for instance, he wrote to the king of Sweden, re
questing him to send a bishop, or some ecclesiastic of suitable
qualifications, to Eome, who could exactly inform him respecting
the character of the country and the manners of the people, and
who, after being fully instructed, could more safely convey back
the papal ordinances to his native land.' To king Olov, of Nor
way, he wrote,2 " that it would give him great pleasure, were it in
his power, to send him qualified ecclesiastics for the instruction of
his people ; but as the remoteness of the country, and especially
1 Thus he took to task a legate whom he had sent to Spain, and who held a council
there, because be had not either in person, or by one of his associates,, made report
lo the pope (1. i., ep. 16): Quatenus perspectis omnibus confirmanda confirmaremus et
si qua mutanda viderentur, discreta ratione mutaremus.
2 Nam pecunias sine honore quanti prelii habeam,tu ipse optimedudum potuisti per-
pendere. Lib.vi i., ep. 1.
3 Two at least from each bishopric should take part therein. Lib. vii., ep. 1.
i. Lib. viii., ep. 1. Qui et terrae vestrae habitudiues gentisque mores nobis suggerere
et apostolica mandata de cunctis pleniter instructus ad vos ccrtius queat referre.
5 Lib. vi., ep. 13.

Gregory's frkedom from bribery. 121
the want ofa knowledge ofthe spoken language, rendered it ex
tremely diflicult to do this, he therefore requested him, as lie had
already done the king of Denmark, to send a few young people
of the higher class to Eome, for the purpose of being accurately
instructed there, under the protection of the apostles Peter and
Paul, in the laws of God, so that they might convey back to their
people the ordinances of the apostolical chair, and teach all they
had learned to their countrymen, in their own language." On
niauy occasions he showed how little he was to be influenced iu
the transaction of business by money. A certain count of Angers,
maintained an unlawful connection with a woman, and had for
this reason been excommunicated by his bishop, whom he there
fore persecuted ; at the same time, however, he sent presents to
the pope, hoping doubtless that by this course he should be able
to conciliate his favour. The pope sent them all back ; and
wrote to the count that, until he had put away his sin, the head
of the church could receive no presents from him, though he would
not cease praying God to have mercy upon him.1 The pious
queen, Matilda of England, wrote to him, that anything of hers
which he might wish, she was ready to give him. The pope an
swered her :2 " What gold, what jewels, what precious objects of
this world ought I to prefer to have from thee, rather than a
chaste life, beneficence to the poor, love to God and to thy neigh
bour 1" In a letter to the king of Denmark, the pope, with other
exhortations, urgently called upon him to put a stop to that
abuse, in his country, by which, during bad seasons and droughts,
innocent women were persecuted as witches who had brought
about these calamities.8 We have seen how a pope, by whom
the papal authority was greatly increased, was the first to declare
himself opposed to the employment of torture.4 We see in the
present case how the individual, by whose means the papal,
1 Lib.ix. ep. 2<i. Munera tua ideo recipienda non esse arbitrati sumus, quia divinis
oculis oblatio non acceptibilis esse probatur, quamdiu a peccata isto immunem te non
reddideris et ad gratiam omuipotentis Dei non redieris.
2 Lib. vii., ep. 26.
3 Lib. vii. ep. 21. In mulieres ob eandem ausern simili immanitate barbari ritus
damnatas quidquam impietatis faciendi vobis fas esse nolite putare, sed potius iscite,
divinae ultionis sententiam digne poenitendo avertere, quam in illas insontes frustra
feraliter ,-aeviendo iram Domini multo magis pro\ocarf.
4 Nicholas the F>r.,t, in his letter to the Bulgarian princes; sic vol. vi. p. S3.

122 Gregory's views of penance and monasticism.
monarchy was advanced to a still greater height than ever, declared
himself opposed to a superstition, to which, in later times, by the
trials for witchcraft, thousands must fall victims I1 In taking
the preparatory steps for a synod of reform, to be held under the
presidency of his legate in England, against certain abuses which
had crept in, he called upon the bisliops todirect their attention
and care particularly against the abuses of penance, and false
confidence in priestly absolution: "For if one who had been
guilty of murder, perjury, adultery, or any of the like crimes,
persisted in such sins, or made traffic of them, which could hardly
be done without sin, or bore weapons except for the protection
of his rights, or of his lord or friend, or of the poor, or for the
defence of the church ; or if one in so doing remained in posses
sion of another's property, or harboured hatred of his neighbour ;
the penitence of such a person should in nowise be considered as
real and sincere. That was to be called a repentance without
fruits, where one persisted in the same sin, or in a similar and
worse one, or a triflingly less one. True repentence consisted
in one's so turning back as to feel himself obliged to the faithful
observance of his baptismal vow. Any other was sheer hypo
crisy ; and on none but him who did penance in the former of
these ways, could he, by virtue of his apostolical authority, bestow
absolution." Highly, again, as Gregory prized monasticism, and the ascetical
renunciation of the world; yet his predilection for this mode of
life never moved him, in the case of such as could be more useful
in the discharge of their functions in the position where God had
placed them, and whose places could not easily be supplied, to
approve the choice of this mode of life. The standard of love, he
designated as the standard by which everything relating to this
matter should be estimated. Accordingly, he wrote to the Mar
gravine Beatrice and her daughter Mathilda :* " From lo.ve to
God to show love to our neighbour ; to aid the unfortunate and
the oppressed ; this I consider more than prayer, fasting, vigils,
1 We find also in Germany, even at this early period, the beginnings ofthe same mis
chief. In the year 1074, at Cologne, a woman whom people suspected to be a witch, was
precipitated from the city wall, and killed. See Lambert of Aschaffenburg, at this year ;
ed. Krause, p. 136.
2 Lib. vii., ep. 10.
a Lib.b.ep. 50.

IMPRESSION MADE BY GREGORY'S ELECTION. 123
and other good works, be they ever so many ; for true love is
more than the other virtues." " For," he adds, "if this mother
of all the virtues, whicli moved God to come down from heaven to
earth to bear our sorrows, were not my teacher ; and if there were
any one, who would come forward in your place to help the op
pressed churches, and serve the churcli universal ; then would I
exhort you to forsake the world with all its cares." In the same
temper, he rebuked abbot Hugo of Cluny1 for receiving a pious
prince to his order of monks. " Why do you not bethink your
self," he wrote, " ofthe great peril in which the church now stands?
Where are they who, from love to God, are bold enough to stand
firm against the impious, and to give up their lives for truth and
justice \ Behold ! even such as seem to fear or to love God, flee
from the battle of Christ, neglect the salvation of their brethren,
and, loving themselves only, seek repose." A hundred thousand
Christians are robbed of their protection. Here and there, no
doubt, God-fearing monks and priests are to be found ; but a good
prince is scarcely to be found anywhere. He admonishes him,
therefore, to be more prudent for the future, and to esteem the
love of God and of one's neighbour above all other virtues. The
superior liberality of his views is shown by Gregory,2 in the
judgment he passed on the controversy between the Greeks and
Latins, concerning the use of leavened or unleavened bread in the
Lord's supper.3 True, it is his will, that the Latins should hold
fast to their usage : yet he condemns not the Greeks, but applies
in this case the words of Paul, " To the pure all things are pure."4
As Gregory had already, when a cardinal, made himself well
known by principles so sharply defined, and so energetically
carried out/ so the commencement of his papal administration
1 Lib. vi., ep. 7.
2 We will, by way of addition, state this fact also: The abbot Hugo of Cluny had
inquired of the pope concerning Berengar. The answer could not perhaps be so easily
and briefly given, as it would have been iu case he eould have declared him at once a
false teacher : " De Berengario," he wrote in reply to abbot Hugo, " unde nobis
scripsistis, quid nobis videatur, vel quid disposuerimus, fratres, quos tibi renhttimus cum
praedicto cardinali nostro, nuntiabunt." Epp. Gregor. 1. v., ep. 21.
3 See vol. vi.,298— 320.
* Ipsorum fermentatum nee vituperamus nee reprobamus, sequentes apostolum dicen
tem mundis esse omnio munda. Lib. vii. ep. 1.
5 His name, Gregory VII., while it contains an expression of his enduring friendship,
implies also a protestation against the interference of tlie emperor in the^affairs of the
papacy.

124 IMPRESSION MADE BY GREGORY'S ELECTION.
would make a very different impression according to the relation
in which the two opposite parties stood to each other. One of
these parties expected from him the long-desired reformation of
the church ; the other dreaded the severe judge and punisher of
the abuses which had crept in : bishops and monarchs might
well tremble.1 If the numerous party of bishops, who were in
terested in the maintaining of old abuses, had had time for
that purpose, doubtless they would have opposed the election
of Hildebrand at every step, such reactions having already pro
ceeded from that party at the end of the preceding period.2
1 How he appeared to the pious men of his times, even such as did not belong to
the zealots of the papal party, we may see from the judgment that Odericus Vitalis of
the monastery of St Evreul, iu Normandy, passes upon him ; he says of him, ed. Du
Chesne, f. 039: A puero monachus omnique vita sua sapientiae et religioni admodum
studuit assiduumque certamen contra peccatum exercuit. Lambert of Ascbaffenburg,
mentions him while he was yet a cardinal : Abbas de sancta Panlo, vir et eloquentia et
sacrorum literarum eruditione valde admirandus ; and page 89, in tota ecclesia omni
virtutum genere celeberrimum.
2 Worthy of notice is the account of Lambert of Ascbaffenburg, p. 89. Gregory having
become well known on account of his ardent zeal for the cause of God (zelo Dei ferventis .
simus), the French bishops were filled with great anxiety, ne vir vehementis ingenii et
acris erga Deum fidei, districtius eos pro m gligentiis suis quandoque discuteret, and
they had therefore been very importuoate with king Henry the Fourth, that he should
declare the election which had taken place without his concurrence to be null and void ;
for, unless he anticipated the attack of the pope, the latter would come down upon no
one with more severity than himself. Henry, therefore, immediately sent count Eberhard
to Rome, with instructions to bring the Roman nobles to account for having, in con
trariety to ancient usage, set up a pope without the concurrence of the king; and
in case it happened that Gregory would not give the proper satisfaction, to insist upon
his abdication. The pope received him kindly, and called God to witness, that this
dignity was forced upon him by the Romans; at the same time, however, his ordination
was put off till lie should learn of the concurrence of the king and of the German princes .
With this explanation the king was satisfied, and so Gregory's consecration took place,
Were we warranted to give any credit to this account, then Gregory's adroitness iu
suiting his conduct to the circumstances would have descended in this case to actual
dishonesty; the end must have been thought by him to sanctify the means ; for as
suredly, according to Hildebrand's principles, the validity of a papal election could not
be dependent on any such circumstances. Certain it is that he was from the first de
termined to dispute such a position most decidedly. He must have yielded only for the
moment, because he did not believe himself as yet strong enough to maintain bis ground
in a quarrel with the imperial party, or wished at least to guard against a dangerous
schism We must admit it to be not at all improbable that such attempts might be made
on Henry the Fourth by the anti Hildebrandian party. But it is hardly possible to be
lieve that Gregory, after having under the preceding reign so decidedly repelled any such
concession, should have yielded so much as is here stated; for the consequences which
might be drawn from his conduct in such a case, could be plainly foreseen. Moreover, the
silence observed in the writings of the opposite party, which would not have failed to pro
duce this fact against Gregory, if there had been any truth in it, bears testimony against the
4

HIS LETTERS MISSIVE FOR A SYNOD AT ROM IS. 125
Gregory fulfilled these expectations. He convoked a synod to
meet at Eome on the first fast-week of the year, whose business
it should be to vindicate the freedom of the church, to promote
the interests of religion, and to prevent an irremediable corrup
tion whicli was coming upon the church. In the letters missive
for this council,1 he depicts in glaring colours, but in a way cer
tainly not differing from the truth, the then corrupt condition of
the church : that the princes, serving only their own selfish in
terests, setting all reverence aside, oppressed the church as a poor
miserable handmaiden, and sacrificed her to the indulgence of
their own desires. But the priests had entirely forgotten the
obligations under which they were laid, by their holy vocation,
to God, and to the sheep intrusted to their care ; by their spiri
tual dignities they only sought to attain to honour in the world ;
and the property, which was designed to subserve the benefit of
many, was squandered away by them on idle state and in super
fluous expenditures. And as the communities thus suffered under
an entire want of instruction and guidance in righteousness ; as,
instead thereof, they could only learn from the example of those
set over them what was contrary to Christianity, so they too gave
themselves up to all wickedness ; and not only the practical liv
ing out, but wellnigh all knowledge even of the doctrines of faith
was wanting.
At this fast-synod, in the year 1074, the principles were car
ried out, by which it had been already attempted, under the
reigns of the recent popes, to improve the condition of the church,
which had sunk so low. The repeated papal ordinances would
still seem, however, to have accomplished nothing ; in many
countries they seem to have been as good as not known, as ap
pears evident from the reception which the newly-inculcated laws
met with. Gregory not only repeated at this synod the ordi
nances against simony in the bestowment of benefices, and against
matrimonial connections of the clergy, which he plainly desig-
credibility of the story. Bishop Henry of Speier, who, in his ferocious letter against Gre
gory the Seventh (in Eccard. scriptores rer. Germ. t. ii. f. 762), would scarcely have
omitted to make use of this along with his other charges against him, brings it against
him simply that when a cardinal he had bound himself by oath to the emperor Henry the
Third never to accept the papal dignity, during his own or his son's lifetime, without
his consent, nor to suffer that any other person should become pope without the same.
1 Lib. i. ep. 42.

126 RESISTANCE TO HIS LAW OF CELIBACY.
nates as " fornication ;'" he declared not only that those ecclesias
tics who had obtained their offices in the way just mentioned, and
those who lived in such unlawful connections, were incapable
henceforth of administering the functions of their office ;J but he
also addressed himself anew to the laity with a view to stir them
up against the clergy who would not obey. " If, however, they
resolve to persist in their sins," says he of those clergy, " then
let no one of you allow himself to hear mass from them ; for
their blessing will be converted into a curse, their prayer into
sin, as the prophet speaks : ' I will curse your blessings,' " Mai.
ii. 12.2 It was the pope's design, as he himself even avowed, to
compel those ecclesiastics who would not obey from a sense of
duty, to do so by exposing them to the detestation of the people.3
Gregory, however, did not rest satisfied with merely having these
laws published at the Eoman synod ; he also transmitted them
to those bishops who had not been present at the synod, making
it at the same time imperative on them to see that they were put
in force ; and the legates, whom he sent forth in all directions,
served as his agents to promulgate them everywhere, and to take
care that they should be obeyed.
But the most violent commotions broke out in France and
Germany, on the publication ofthe law against the marriage of
the clergy. In this instance was displayed the resistance of the
German spirit, some symptoms of which had already been mani
fested at the time of the planting of the German church by Boni
face, against this attempt to curtail man of his humanity. It was
as if an entirely new and unheard of law was promulgated ; and
the German spirit was prepared even now to feel the contradic
tion between this law and original Christianity, to contrast the
declarations of Christ and the apostles with the arbitrary will of
the pope. Such remonstrances as the following were uttered
against the pope in Germany :4 " Forgetting the word of the
1 Si qui sunt presbyteri vel diaconi vel subdiaconi, qui in crimine fornicationis jaceant.
interdicimus iis ex parte Dei omnipotentis et S. Petri auctoritate ecclesiae introitum,
usque dum poeniteant et emendent.
2 This ordinance is cited in this form by Gerocb of Reichersberg, in Ps. x., Pez. 1. c
t. v. f. 157. Mansi Concil, xx. f. 434.
3 Ashe himself says, in his letter to bishop Otto of Constance: Utqui pro amore Dei
et officii dignitate non corriguntur, verecundia seculi et objurgatione populi resipiscant.
* Lambert of Ascbaffenburg, who did not himself belong to this anti-Hildebrandian

LETTER OF SIGFRID. 127
Lord (Matt. xix. 11), as well as that of tho apostle Paul (1 Cor.
vii. 9), he would force men, by tyrannical compulsion, to live as
the angels ; and by seeking to suppress the very dictates of na
ture, he was throwing open a wide door for all impurity of man
ners. Unless he withdrew these decrees they would prefer rather
to renounce the priesthood than their marriage-covenant ; and
then he, for whom men were not good enough, might look about
for angels to preside over the churches."
The archbishop Sigfrid of Mentz wished to prepare his clergy
by one step at a time. He allowed them half a year for consi
deration, exhorting them, however, to undertake voluntarily that
which they must otherwise do by constraint, and imploring them
not to put him and the pope under the necessity of resorting to
severer measures against them.. This indulgence, however, did
not help the matter, for when the archbishop, at a synod held in
Erfurt, in the month of October, required of the clergy that they
should either separate from their wives, or resign their places, he
met with the most violent resistance. In vain he declared to
them that he did not act according to his own inclination, but
was obliged to yield to the authority of the pope. They threat
ened him with deposition and death, if he persisted in carrying
this measure through. He saw himself forced to let the matter
rest for the present, and promised that he would make a report-
to the pope and try what could be done. Accordingly, he wrote
to the pope, excusing himself on the ground ofthe impossibility,
under the unfavourable circumstances, of showing obedience, as
he wished, in all that the pope required. In this letter he says,
" In regard to the chastity of the clergy and the crime of heresy,
as well as everything else which you propose to me, I shall ever,
so far as God gives me the ability, obey him and you. It would,
however, correspond to apostolical gentleness, and fatherly love,
so to modify your ecclesiastical ordinances, as that some regard
might be had to the circumstances of the time and to that which
is practicable in individual cases ; so that, while there shall be
no lack of strict discipline towards transgressors, there shall
party, in his Histoiy of Germany (at the year!074), expresses himself in the following
strong language : Adversushoc decretum protinus vehementerinfremuittotafactio cleri
corum hominem plane haereticum et vesani dogmatis esse clamitans.
See Lambert, p. 146.

128 THE POPE'S ANSWER.
neither be any want of a charitable compassion towards those
who are sick and need a physician ; and that the measure of
justice may not exceed the limits of apostolical prudence and
paternal love."1 But no excuses were availing with the pope.
In an answer to two letters,2 he replied to him3 that, " no doubt,
according to man's judgment, he had adduced weighty grounds
of excuse ; but nothing of all this could excuse him, however,
before the Divine tribunal, for neglecting that which was re
quisite for the salvation of the souls committed to his care, — no
loss of goods, no hatred of the wicked, no wrath of the powerful,
no peril even of his life ; for, to be ready to make all these
sacrifices, was the very thing that distinguished the shepherd
from the hireling." " It is a fact that must redound greatly to
our shame," said the pope, in conclusion, " that the warriors of
this world take their posts every day in the line of battle for
their earthly sovereigns, and scarcely feel a fear of exposing their
lives to hazard ; and should not we, who are called priests of the
Lord, fight for our king, who created all things from nothing,
who cheerfully laid down his life for us, and who promises us
eternal felicity ?" And he persisted in requiring that the laws
which had been passed respecting simony and the marriage of
the clergy should at any rate be carried into effect, rejecting
every modification on these points.* A second synod was held
at Erfurt, at which a papal legate was present to enforce obedi
ence. But he too came near losing his life in the tumult which
ensued, and could accomplish nothing. The archbishop con
tented himself with ordering that in future none but unmarried
persons should be elected to spiritual offices, and that at ordina-
1 Erit autem apostolicae mansuetudinis et patemae dilectionis, sic ad fratres mandata
dirigere ecclesiastica, ut et temporum opportunitates et singulorum possibilitatem dig-
nemini inspicere, ut et deviantibns et discolis adhibeatur disciplina, quae debetur, et
infirmis et opus habentibus medico compassio caritatis non negetur: saepeque exami-
natis negotiorum causis adhibeatur judicii censura, ut apostolicae discretions etpaternae
pietatis modum non excedat justitiae mensura. Mansi Concil. xx., f. 434.
2 In the second, he had excused himself on the ground that, under the existing cir
cumstances, and on account of civil disputes and disturbances, he could not hold the
required council of reform. *
3 Lib. iii., ep. 4.
4 Hoc autem tuae fraternitati injungimus, quatenus de simoniaca haeresi ac fornica-
tione clericorum, sicut ab apostolica sede accepisti, studiose perquiras et quidquid re-
troactum inveneris, legaliter punias et funditus reseces : ac ne quidquid ulterius fiat,
penitusjinterdicas .

GREGORY VIEWS SUPPORTED BY THE PEOPLE. 129
tion every candidate should obligate himself to observe the law
of celibacy.
The pope, who was soon informed of everything that trans
pired, by the multitudes who came from different regions to Eome,1
learned that Gebhard, archbishop of Salzburg, although he had
himself been present at the synod, yet let his clergy go on in the
old way. For this, the pope addressed him a letter of sharp
remonstrance.2 In like manner he testified his displeasure to
bishop Otto of Costnitz, about whom he had heard similar reports.
" How should an ecclesiastic, living in concubinage," he asks,
" be competent to administer the sacraments, when, in fact, such
a person is not even worthy of receiving them ; when the most
humble layman, living in such unlawful connection, would cer
tainly be excluded from the church-communion T'3 He constantly
assumed that marriage contracted by a clergyman, in defiance of
the ecclesiastical laws, was nothing better than concubinage.
Gregory reckoned upon being upheld by the people ; and he
might, without advancing another step, simply leave his ordi
nances to operate among the people ; here he would have found
the most powerful support. As it had happened already, at the
close of the preceding period,4 the cause of the papacy against a
corrupted clergy had now become the cause of the people. Gre
gory had, in fact, already appealed to the people, when he called
on them not to accept the sacerdotal acts from ecclesiastics living
in unlawful connections ; while he at the same time exhibited
their character in so hateful a light. He moreover made a direct
call upon powerful laymen for their active cooperation in en
forcing the obedience which should be rendered to those laws.
Thus he wrote to those princes, on whose submission and in
terest, in behalf of the cause of piety, he thought he might
safely rely.5 He exhorted them, in the most urgent manner, to
1 Lib. ix., ep. 1. Ab ipsis mundi finibus etiam gentes noviter ad fidem conversae
student annue tam mulieres quam viri ad eum (S. Petrum) venire.
2 Ut clericos, qui turpiter conversantur, pastorali vigore coerceas. Lib. i., ep. 30.
3 Nos si vel extremum laicura pellicatui adhaerentem aliquando cognoverimus, hunc
velut praecisum a dominico corpore membrum, donee poeniteat, condigne a Sacramento
altaris arcemus, quomodo ergo sacramentorum distributor vel minister ecclesiae debet
esse, qui nulla ratione debet esse particeps ? Eccard, scriptores rer. Germanicar. ii.,
ep. 142.
* See vol. vi.,p. 171.
5 Lib. ii., ep. 45.
VOL. VII. I

130 THE MONKS TAKE THE SIDE OF THE POPE.
refuse accepting any priestly performance at the hands of clergy
who had obtained their places by simony, or who lived in un
chastity.1 They were requested to publish these laws every
where ; and, if it should be necessary, hinder even by force such
ecclesiastics from administering the sacraments.2 They were not
to be put at fault, if the bishops neglected their duty and kept
silent, or even spoke against them., If it should be objected to
•them, that this did not belong to their calling, still, they should
not desist from labouring for their own and the people's salva
tion ; they should, on the contrary, appeal to the pope, who had
laid upon them this charge . He himself says : " Since, by so
many ordinances, from the time of Leo the Ninth, nothing has
been effected,5 it is far better to strike out a new path, than to
let the laws sleep, and the souls of men perish also."6 He had
allied himself with the pious laity against the corrupted clergy ;
he expresses his joy that he had done so ; and thanks God, that
men and women of the lay order, notwithstanding the bad ex
ample of the clergy, were ready to give themselves up to the
interests of piety. He calls upon such not to suffer themselves
to be alarmed by the cry of the latter, who thought themselves
entitled to despise such laymen, as ignorant persons.7

1 Vos officium eorum, quos aut simoniace promotos et ordinatos aut in criraine for
nicationis jacentes cognoveritis, nullatenus recipiatis.
2 Et haec eadem adstricti per obedientiam tam in curia regis quam per alia loca et
conventus regni notificantes ae persuadentes, quantum potestis, tales sacrosanctis
deservire mysteriis, etiam vi, si oportuerit, probibeatis.
3 Quidquid episcopi deliinc loquantur aut taceant.
4 Si qui autem contra vos quasi istnd officii vestri non esse, aliquid garrire incipiant,
hoc illis respondete : ut vestram et populi salutem non impedigntes, de injuncta vobis
obedientia ad nos nobiscum disputaturi veniant.
5 Concerning those laws: Quae cum sancta et. apostolica mater ecclesia jam a tem
pore b. Leonis papae saepe in conciliis tum per legates tum per epistolas in se et com-
niissas sibi plebes, utpote ab antiquioribus neglecta. renovare et observare commonuerit,
rogaverit et accepta per Petrum auctoritate jusserit, adhuc inobedientes, exceptis per-
paucis, tam execrandam consuetudinem nulla studuerunt prohibitione decidere, nulla
districtione punire.
6 Multo enim melius nobis videtur, justitiam Dei vel novis reaedificare consiliis,
quam animas hominum una cum legibus deperire neglectis.
7 Lib. ii., ep. 11. Quapropier quidquid illi contra vos imo contra justitiam garrhmt
et pro defendenda nequitia sua vobis, qui illiterati estis, objiciant, vos in puritate et
constantia fidei vestrae permanentes, quae de episcopis et sacerdotibus simoniacis aut
in fornicatione jacientibus ab apostolica sede accepistis, firmiter credite et tenete. In
a letter which is addressed to the bishop and the communities at the same time, he calls
upon both to labour together for the same object. Lib. ii.,' ep. 55.

CHARACTER OF THE ANTl-lllLDEBRANDIAN PARTY. 131
Again, Gregory found a peculiar kind of support in those
monks, who travelled about as preachers of repentance, had the
greatest influence among the people, and sided with the popes in
combating the prevailing corruption of manners, and the vicious
clergy. There were some among these, inflamed by the ardour
of genuine piety ; but there were others inspired only by fanati
cism or ambition.1 Hence, the monks drew upon themselves, as
a class, the hatred of the anti-Hildebrandian party. They were
represented by the men who stood at the head of that party, as
pharisees, promoters of spiritual darkness, and zealots for human
ordinances.'- In the anti-Hildebrandian party we must distin
guish two classes : those who, contending only for their own
personal advantage and the maintenance of old abuses, were
farthest removed from the interest of culture ; and those who
l When the decrees of that Roman council were made known at a synod held in
Paris, nearly all the bishops, abbots, and clergy protested against them, declaring,
importabilia esse praecepta ideoque irrationabilia. Walter, abbot of tbe monastery of
St Martin, near Pontisara (Pontoise), the fierce antagonist of simony, who fearlessly
told the truth to king Philip the First, was the only une who stood up for these laws, on
the principle ofthe respect which iu every case was due lo superiors. Churchmen and
people ofthe court attacked him on all sides ; but he was not to be moved by any autho
rity nor by any threats. See his Life, written by one of his disciples; c. ii., § 10, t, i.,
Mens. April, i. 700. Even down to the early part of the twelfth century, to the time of
pope Paschalis the Second, the papal laws of celibacy were so little observed in Nor
mandy, that priests celebrated their weddings openly, passed their livings to their sons
by inheritance, or gave them as a dowry to their daughters, if they had no other property.
Their wives, before they married, took an oath before their parents, that they would
never forsake their husbands. When, however, the monk Bernard (abbot of Tira in the
diocese of Chartres), itinerated at that time in Normandy as u preacher of repentance,
being a man of true piety, who had great influence on the people, he stood forth in
opposition to such ecclesiastics, and sharply rebuked them in his discourses. Some
gave heed to his exhortations, but the greater number continued to pursue their old
course of life. The wives of the priests with their whole retiuue, and the clergy them
selves, persecuted hira. They tried to bring it about that he should be forbidden to
preach. See the Life of this man, at April 14, c. vi., § 51, t. ii., f. 2.34.
- The fierce opponent of the tiildebrandian party, and zealous champion for the
cause of the emperor Henry the Fourth, bishop Waltram of Naumburg, attacked tbe
monks as pharisees ( Obscurantes) , who zea'ously contended for human traditions,
prevented instruction in their monasteries, aud sought to keep the youth, from the
fiist, in ignorance and stupidity. Mirandum est valde, quod nolunt aliqui, praecipue
autem monachi, quae praeclara sunt discere, qui ne pueros quidem vel adolescentes
permittunt in monasteriis habere studium salutaris scientiae, ut scilicet rude ingenium
nutriatur siliquis c'aemoniorum, quae sunt consuetudines humanaruin traditionum, ut
ejusmodi spurcitiis assuef'acti non possint gustare, quam suavis est Dominus, qui dicit
in evangeliode talibus : vae vobis scribae et pharisaei hypocritae, vos enim non intratis,
nee sinitis introeuntes intrare. Apolog. lib. ii., p. 170, in Goldast. Apol. pro. Henrico
Quarto. Hanoviae, 1611. i 2

132 CHARACTER OF THE ANTI-HILDEBRANDIAN PARTY.
strove for the cause of a well-grounded conviction,— representa
tives of a freer spirit,1 which they had contracted from the study
of the Bible, and of the older church-teachers, and which would
incite them to push their studies still further in the same direc
tion. To such, the monks contending for the Hildebrandian
system might well appear to be no better than Obscurantists.
Thus Gregory must unite himself with the monks against the
bishops as well as against the princes. We see how he takes
the part of the former against that free-minded bishop, Cunibert
of Turin ;2 and it may be a question on which side the right was
in this dispute ; whether the quarrei was not connected with the
universal contest about principles which agitated these times.
Eemarkable is the language which Gregory, in a threatening
tone, addresses to this bishop, that " the earlier popes had made
pious monasteries free from all relations of dependence on the
bishops, and bishoprics free from the oversight of the metropoli
tans, in order to protect them against the enmity of their supe
riors, so that they might ever stand free, and immediately con
nected, as more illustrious members, with the head, the apostolical
see.3 Here we discern that tendency of papal absolutism, which
was seeking to dissolve the existing legitimate gradation of the
church organism, and to procure organs everywhere which should
be immediately dependent on and serviceable to itself. It was
made, therefore, a special matter of reproach against Gregory the
Seventh by the defenders of the opposite system — that he paid no,,
regard whatever to the specific rights of any ecclesiastical autho
rity.*

1 Gerlioh of Reichersberg complains of the wresting of the Scriptures which the
defender of simony and of Nicolaitism (as the defence of the marriage of priests was
termed) resorted to : Ipsi Simoniaci et Nicolaitae obtinuerunt divitias corporales et
spirituales, nam possident ecclesias et sciunt scripturas et ideo de ipsis scripturis et
novi testamenti intenderunt arcum ad se detorquendo et flectendo sensum eorum juxta
errorem suum. It is evident, then, that the educated men of the anti-Hildebrandian
party took pains to study tbe Bible; and what Gerhoh calls wresting ofthe Scriptures,
was sometimes the right interpretation ofthe Bible.
2 See vol. vi., p. 150.
3 Lib. ii. ep. 69. Perpetua libertate donantes apostolicae sedi velut principalia capiti
suo membra adhaerere sanxerunt.
4 See the letter of the bishop of Speier against Gregory : Sublata quantum in te fuit,
omni potestate episcopis, quae eis divinitus per gratiam Spiritus sancti collata esse dinos-
citur,dum nemo jam alicui episcopus aut presbyter est, nisi qui hoc indignissima assen-
tatione a fastu tuo emendicavit. See Eccard,!. c. ii., f. 762.

FANATICISM OF THE PEOPLE. 133
But the passions of the people having once been excited against
the clergy, there arose to a still greater extent than we observe
on the like occasion in any former period, separatist movements,
and the passions of the people went beyond the limits fixed by
the popes. Laymen stood forth, who, while they declared the
sacraments administered by the corrupted clergy to be without
validity, took the liberty themselves to baptize. We may well
believe, too, the remark of a historian of this period,1 hostilely
disposed to this pope, that, in a state of the nations which still
continued to be so rude, the fanaticism excited by the pope
against the married clergy, manifested itself iu the wildest out
breaks, and even led to a profanation of the sacraments. Here
tical tendencies might easily spring up out of this insurrection
against the corrupted clergy and this separatism, or find in them
a point of attachment. It was an easy thing for all who under
stood how to take advantage ofthe excited feelings ofthe people,
to use them for their own ends, and as a means to obtain fol
lowers. Certain it is, that the heretical sects, which in the
twelfth century spread with so much power, especially in Italy,
were by this ferment not a little promoted,'2 as the sectarian
name of the Patarenes3 itself indicates. The demagogical ten
dency was especially objected to the pope by his adversaries ;
and it was said that he made use of the popular fury as a means
of procuring obedience to his laws.4 How easily the people, in a
1 See the remarks of Sigebert of Gemblours, cited below.
2 This may be gathered even from the remarkable account of the historian Sigebert
of Gemblours. Continentiam paucis tenenLibus, aliquibus earn modo causa quaestus ac
jactantiae simulantibus, multis incontinentiam perjuro (since they put themselves under
an obligation at their ordination to observe the laws of celibacy, and yet were not enabled
to keep it), cumulantibus ad hoc hac opportunitate laicis insurgentibus contra sacros
ordines, et se ab omni ecclesiastica subjectione excutientibus, laici sacra mysteria temc-
rant et de his disputant, infantes baptizant, sordido humore aurium pro sacro oleo et
eurismate utentes, in extremo vitae viaticum dominicum et usitatum ecclesiae obsequium
sepulturae a presbyteris conjugatis accipere parvi pendunt, decimaspresbyteris deputatas
igni cremant, et ut in uno caetera perpendas, laici corpus Eomini a presbyteris conjuga
tis consecratum, saepe pedibus conculcaverunt et sanguinem Domini voluntarie effude-
runt, et multa alia contra jus et fas in ecclesia gesta sunt, et hac occasione multi -pseudo-
magistri exurgentes in ecclesia, profanis novitalibus plebem ab ecclesiastica disciplina
avertunt. Although this account, as proceeding from an opponent of the Hildebrandian
party, might excite suspicion, yet certainly in all essential points it is in conformity with
the truth.
3 See vol. vi. p. 164.
* In the letter of Theodoric of Verdun : Legem de clericorum incontinentia per lai-

134 COMPLAINTS AGAINST THE POPE.
time of barbarism, might pass over from a superstitious venera
tion of the clergy to a fanatical detestation of them, may be seen
from the example in Denmark, which perhaps was connected
with these movements excited by the pope himself. The people,
on occasions of public calamity, a bad atmosphere, droughts, fai
lure of crops, were wont to complain of the clergy, and to rage
against them ; hence, the pope himself was under the necessity
of exhorting them to show a becoming reverence to the priests.1
All this now furnished grounds for various complaints against
the pope. Even those who approved the laws respecting celibacy,
in themselves considered, still could not approve the means which
he employed to enforce obedience to them ; and they thought he
ought to have been content to establish these laws on a firm
foundation for the future, and to enforce obedience to them in all
following time. But they found fault with him, because he
showed no indulgence to those clergymen who were already bound
by the ties of wedlock, because he was for having everything done
at once, and paid no regard to the weakness of mankind ; be
cause he did not copy the example of Christ, in bearing with the
infirmities of his disciples ; because he was for pouring the new
wine into old bottles, and stirring up the people so cruelly against
the clergy. By all the laws in the world, said they, that cannot
possibly be brought about by force which grace alone can effect
by working from within. Hence every good man should be more
ready to pray for the weak than to involve them in such perse
cutions.2

eorum insanias cohibenda, legem ad scandalum in ecclesia mittendum tartaro vomente
prolatam. Martene et Durand, thes. nov. anedotor. t. i., f. 219. And Henry, bishop
of Speier, says, in the letter above cited: Omnis rerum ecclesiasticarum administratio
plebej fitrori per te attribu a.
1 His h iy of doing this discovers in a characteristic manner the more Jewish than
Christian position ou which he stood. Quod quam grave peccatum sit, ex eo llquido
potestis advertere, quod Judaeis etiam sacerdotibus ipse salvator noster lepra purgatos
eis mittendo honorem exhibuerit caeterisque servaudum esse quae illi dixissent, praecepit,
qnum profecto vestri qualescunque habeantur, tamen' illis longe sint meliores. Lib.
vii. ep. 21.
a The words of priest Alboin, in his second letter against priest Bernold of Constance :
Nonne etiam ipse summus pontifex, qui coelos penetravit, non omnes hoc verbum cas-
titatis capere, neque etiam novum mustum in veteres uteres fundi convenire, insuper
rudes discipulos, quamdiu cum illis sponsus est, non jejunare profitetur, infirmitatibus
nostr misericorditer compati non dedignatur. As Christ, the great physician, received
publicans and sinners among his table companions. But one will say : Yes, after they

THE RIGHT OF INVESTITURE DENIED TO THE LAITY. 135
Furthermore, the manner in which Gregory had expressed him
self repecting the sacramental acts performed by unworthy eccle
siastics, gave occasio'n to the charge, that he made the validiiy
and force ofthe sacraments depend on the subjective character of
the priest : which stood at variance with the doctrine concerning
the objective validity ofthe sacraments recognized ever since the
controversies between Cyprian .and the Church of Eome.1
Although those first ordinances of the pope had already ex
cited so violent a ferment, he yet, unmoved by that circumstance,
proceeded to take another step. In order to cut off entirely the
fountain-head of simony, and to deprive the secular power of all
influence in the appointments to spiritual offices,2 the right of in
vestiture, by virtue of which the laity might always exercise a
certain influence of this sort, was to be wholly denied them. At
a second fast synod of reform, held at Eome the year 1075, he
issued the ordinance : " If any person in future accepts a bishopric
or an abbacy from the hands ofa layman, such person shall not be
regarded as a bishop or an abbot, nor shall he enter a church, till
he has given up the place thus illegally obtained. The same
thing should hold good also of the lower church offices. And
every individual, be he emperor or king, who bestows investiture
manifested repentance. Well, but who brought them to repentance ? Assuredly, Christ
alone. Profecto filius hominis, qui de coelo descendit, Zachaeo sui ocrulto inspiratioiie
adscensionem arboris persuasit. Sic etiam nunc, nisi ille omnia trahens ad se occullo
suae qraliae metu nos miseros trahat, procul dubio nostri Pupae auctoritas vaciliat. Ag-
num cum lupo vesci confiletur dextera excelsi. Proinde quemque piorum magis dectret
pro infirmis orare, quam in istis mabs diebus tot pcrscculorum super eos ju^um ducere.
Ed. Goldast. 1. c. pag 42.
1 See Waltram of Naumburg; 1. iii. c. 3. Gerhoh of Reichersberg takes great pairs
to defend the pope against the accusation of those who said: "Non potest pollui verbum
Dei, non potest impediri gratia Dei, quin suos effectus operetur, etiam per ministros,
Judae traditori similes. He grants this to be true ill reference to those whose vices are
not «ft openly kuown ; but the case is diflerent, he maintains, after such worthless
clergymen have been deposed I y the pope ; just as Judas, after he had become exposed,
and had left the ranks of the disciples, no longer took part with them in any religious
art. See 1. c. pag. 154, seq. We see from what he says, how much talk there was at
that time on this subject on both sides. In a much more able manner than Gerhoh,
Anselm of Canterbury defends atone andthe same time, the objective validity of the
sacraments and the papal law, the sense of which was not, quo quis ea, quae tractaut,
contemnenda, sed tractandos execrandos existimct, ut qui Deiut Angelorumpraesentiam
non reverentur, vel hominum detestatione repulsi, sacra contaminnre desistant. Lib. i.
ep. 56.
'2 See vol. vi , p. 148.

136 PROCEEDINGS AGAINST HERMANN OF BAMBERG.
in connection with such an office, should be excluded from
church-communion."1 Gregory and his party maintained that on
this point also they only restored to the ancient ecclesiastical
laws the authority which belonged to them ; that being reduced
to practice, which these laws had determined with regard to the
freedom of church elections. He was praised as the restorer of
free church elections ; and men were indebted to him for the res
cue of the church from utter ruin, which venality, and hence bad
appointments to all offices, from the highest to the lowest, must
have for their consequence.2 By the other party, however, it was
made out, in defence of the rights of monarchs, that if the bishops
and abbots were willing to receive from them civil immunities
and possessions, they must also bind themselves to the fulfilment
of the duties therewith connected. This was the beginning of
a long-continued contest between the papacy and the secular
power. The above-mentioned decrees the pope now sought to carry
into execution against princes and prelates. He threatened the
young Philip the First, of France, with excommunication, the in
terdict, and deposition, if he refused to reform. In a letter to
the French bishops," he describes the sad condition of France,
where no rights, human or divine, were respected, where rapine
and adultery reigned with impunity.4 He made it a matter of
severest reproach to the bishops, that they did not restrain the
1 See this decree in the work which that zealous defender of Gregory's course, An
selm, bishop of Lucca, wrote against his adversary Guibert. T. iii., p. i. lib. ii., f. 383.
Canis. lect. antiq. ed Basnage.
- Gerhoh of Reichersberg, who wrote after the middle of the twelfth century, reckons
tbe restoration of free ecclesiastical elections among the works of the Holy Spirit in
his times. Haec sunt pia de spiritu pietatis provenientia spectacula, cujus operationi
et hoc assignamus, quod in diebus istis magna est libertas canonicis electionibus epis
coporum, abbatum, praepositorum, et aliarum ecclesiasticarum personarum provehenda-
rum in dignitatibus, quas per multos annos paene a temporibus Ottonis primi, impera-
toris usque ad imperatorem Henricum quartum, vendere solebant ipsi reges vel impera-
tores regnante ubique simonia, dum per simoniacos episcopos in cathedra pestilentiae
positos mortifera ilia pestis dilata est usque ad infimos plebanos et capellanos, per quos
valde multiplicatos (see vol. iii., p. 109 and 412), ecclesia paene iotafoedabatur, usque
ad Gregorium septimum, qui se opposuit murum pro domo Israel reparando in ecclesia
canonicas electiones juxta pristinas canonum sanctiones. In Ps. xxxix. 1. c. f. 793.
3 Lib. ii. ep. 5.
4 Quod nusquam terrarum est, cives, propinqui, fratres etiam alii alios propter cupi-
ditate.m capiuntet omnia bona eorum ab illis extorquentes, vitam in extrema miseria
finire faciunt.

PROCEEDINGS AGAINST HERMANN OF BAMBERG. 137
king from such acts. They had not a shadow of excuse to plead.
They were much mistaken, if they supposed, that they acted
against the oath of fidelity which they had taken, when they
prevented him from sinning ; for it was a far greater act of
fidelity to rescue another against his own will from making ship
wreck of his soul, than by an injurious acquiescence to allow him
to perish in the vortex of his guilt. The plea of fear could not
excuse them in the least ; for if they were united in each other
in defending justice and right, they would have such power, that,
without any danger whatsoever, they might draw him from all his
accustomed vices, and at the same time deliver their own souls ;
although, to say truth, not even the fear of death should hinder
them from discharging the duties of their priestly vocation. If
the king would not listen to their representations, they should then
renounce all fellowship with him, and impose the interdict on all
France. And at the same time, Gregory declared, " Let every
man know that, should the king even then show no signs of re
pentance, he would, with God's help, take every measure within
his reach to wrest the kingdom of France from his hands."
Hermann, bishop of Bamberg, a man who lacked every other
qualification as well as the knowledge required by his office),2
formerly vice-dominus at Mentz, had in the year 1065, with a
large sum of money, procured for himself the episcopal dignity in
Bamberg.3 In vain did this man try to deceive the pope by pro
fessions of repentance. In vain did his friend, archbishop Sig-
frid of Mentz, go in person to Eome, and use all his influence to
soften the feelings of the pope towards him. He had to be con
tent that no worse punishment befell himself ; that he was not
himself put out of his office, because he had ordained that bishop.
The pope commanded him to withdraw himself from all fellow
ship with the bishop of Bamberg, to publish the papal sentence
of excommunication against him in all Germany, and to see to it,

1 Nulli clam aut dubium esse volumus, quin modis omnibus regnum Franciae de
ejus occupatione, adjuvante Deo, tentemus eripere.
2 A remarkable illustration of his ignorance is a case cited by Lambert of Aschaffen-
bnrg, a.d. 1075, p. 154. When tne clerus of Bamberg, taking advantage of the authority
of tbe papal legate, rose in resistance against their bishop, a young clergyman stood
forth and declared, that, if the bishop showed himself able to translate, word for word,
a single verse from tbe Psalter, they would acknowledge him as bishop on the spot.
3 See Lambert, 1. c. p. 44.

138 PROCEEDINGS AGAINST HERMANN OF BAMBERG.
that another should be elected as soon as possible. No other
hope now remaining to bishop Hermann, he proceeded himself,
with advocates to defend his cause, to Eome, intending to effect
his object by intrigue and bribery. But he clared not appear
personally before the pope.1 He endeavoured to carry on his
cause in Eome simply by his money and his lawyers. But he
found himself disappointed in his expectations. Gregory was in
accessible to such influences. And it is a proof of the power
which he exercised over all that were about him, that even at the
Eoman court, arts of bribery, which at other times had been so
common and so successful here, could now effect nothings No
other way, therefore, remained for him, but unconditional sub
mission to the irrevocable judgment of -the pope. He obtained
only the assurance of the papal absolution, on promising that,
after his return, he would retire to a monastery, for the purpose
of there doing penance. But when he came back, the manner in
which he had been treated by the pope excited great indignation
in the knights who espoused his cause. They called it an un
heard-of thing, that the pope, without any regular trial, should
presume to depose a high spiritual dignitary of the empire. The
bishop now threw himself upon these knights, who were his only
reliance, and treated the papal excommunication as null. Yet
all others avoided intercourse with him as an excommunicated
person. None would receive from him any sacerdotal act, and he
could only decide on questions of secular property. The pope
pronounced on him the anathema ; and as he finally succeeded in
having another bishop appointed, Hermann was obliged to yield.
The deposed bishop, driven by necessity, retired to the monastery
of Schwartzach in the territory of Wurzburg, and then went with
the abbot .of this convent to Eome. Now for the first time the
1 From Lambert's words, 1. c. p. 156, we should infer, it is true, that he himself had
come to Rome. But it is evident, from a letter of Pope Gregory, that he did not execute
this resolution. In the letter to king Henry, lib. iii., ep. 3: Simoniacus ille Heri-
inannus dictus episcopus hoc anno ad synodum Romam vocatus venire contemsit; sed
cum propius Romam accessisset, iu itinere substitit.
3 Lambert of Aschaffenburg says rightly : Sed PiOmani pontificis constantia et invictus
adversus avaritiam animus omnia excludebat argumenta humanae fallaciae, which is
confirmed by Gregory's way of expressing himself on the subject : Praemittens nuntios
suos cum copiosis muneribus noto sibi artificio innocentiam nostram et confratruin nos-
trorum integritatem pactione pecuniae atteutare atque, si fieri posset, oorrumpere moh-
tiis est. Qaod ubi praeter spem evenit, etc.

HENRY'S RECONCILIATION WITH THE POPE. 130
pope bestowed upon him absolution, aud gave him permission to
perform sacerdotal functions, with the understood condition, how
ever, that he was ever to remain excluded from the episcopal
dignity. King Henry, who most favoured the abuses attacked by the
pope by an administration wholly surrendered to arbitrary will,
was induced on account of his then political situation to yield
compliance. Through the mediation of his pious mother Agnes,
a reconciliation took place between him and the pope ; he dis
missed the ministers, on whom, because they encouraged simony,
excommunication had been pronounced, and expressed a willing
ness to obey the pope in all things, so that the latter signified his
entire satisfaction with him, and the best hopes for the future.
Already Gregory was employed, during this momentary interval
of peace, in sketching the outlines of a great plan, for the execu
tion of which he invited the co-operation of king Henry. The
idea of a crusade, first broached by Silvester tlfe Second, was now
taken up again by him. We have observed how Gregory la
mented over the separation of the Western from the Eastern
church, and the sad condition of Oriental Christendom, overrun
by the Saracens. He had been invited from the East to procure
the assistance of the West in behalf of the oppressed Christian
brethren of the East. The hope was opened out to him, of
liberating the holy places from the yoke of the infidels, of once
more uniting together the East and the West in one community
of faith and church-fellowship, and of thus extending his spiritual
prerogative over the former as well as the latter. Fifty thousand
men were already prepared to march under his priestly direction
to the East.i " Since our fathers," he wrote, " have, for the con
firmation of the Catholic faith, often trod those countries, so will
we, sustained by the prayers of all Christians, if under the lead
ing of Christ the way shall be opened to us,- — for it is not in man
that walketh to direct his steps, but the ordering of our ways is
of the Lord, — for the sake of the same faith and for the defence
of Christians go thither also." And in communicating this pur
pose to king Henry, he asked his counsels and support ; he would
1 Lib. ib ep. 31. Jam ultra quinquaginta millia ad hoc se praeparant, ut si me pos
sunt in expeditione pro duce ac pontifice habere, armata manu coulia inimicos Dei
volunt insurgere, et usque ad sepulchrum Domini ipso ducente pervenire.

140 CHANGE IN HENRY'S DISPOSITION.
during his absence commend the Eoman church to his protection.
But soon Gregory became involved in violent disputes, which no
longer permitted him to think of executing so vast a plan.
The young king Henry, following his own inclinations, would
be more ready to agree with the opponents of the Hildebrandian
system, than with its adherents ; for Gregory's severity could not
possibly be agreeable to him ; and men were not wanting who
wished to make use of him as a bulwark against the rigid, in
flexible pope, and these invited him to assert against the latter
his sovereign power. His uncertain political situation had pro
cured admission for the remonstrances of his mother and other
mediators. But after he had conquered Saxony, these restraints
vanished away. The pope heard, that the emperor continued, in
an arbitrary manner, to fill vacant bishoprics in Italy and Ger
many ; and that he had again drawn around him the excommuni
cated ministers. After Gregory found that he had been deceived
by many of Henry's specious words, he wrote him in the year
1075, as the last trial of kindness, a threatening letter, couched
in language of paternal severity, but at the same time tempered
with gentleness. The spirit in which he wrote was expressed
already in the superscription ¦} " Gregory to king Henry, health
and apostolical blessing ; that is, in case he obeys the apostolical
see, as becomes a Christian prince." With such a proviso — the
letter began — had he bestowed on him the apostolical blessing,
because the report was abroad, that he knowingly held fellowship
with persons excommunicated. If this were the case, he himself
must perceive, that he could not otherwise expect to share the
divine and apostolical blessing, than that he separated himself
from the excommunicated, inciting them to repentance, and ren
dered himself worthy of absolution by affording the satisfaction
that was due. If, therefore, he felt himself to be guilty in this
matter, he should quickly apply for advice to some pious bishop,
confess his fault to him ; and the bishop, with the concurrence of
the pope, could impose a suitable penance, and bestow absolution
on him/ He next complains of the contradiction between his
1 Lib. iii , ep. 10.
2 Qui cum nostra licentia congruam tibi pro hac culpa injungens poenitentiam te ab-
solvat, ut nobis tuo consensu modum poenitentiae tuae pei epistolam suam veraciter
intimare audeat.

THE POPE'S LETTER TO HENRY, AND ITS EFFECT. 141
fair professions and his actions. In reference to the law against
investiture, concerning which the pope had been informed that
the king had many difficulties,1 he declared, it is true, once more,
that he had merely restored the old ecclesiastical laws to their
rights ; yet he professed himself ready to enter into negotiations
on that subject, through pious men, with the king, and2 to miti
gate so far the severity of the law in compliance with their ad
vice, as could be done consistently with the glory of God and the
spiritual safety ofthe king.
The pope had said nothing in this letter which, according to his
mode of looking at things, could offend the king's dignity. He
looked upon it as a principle universally valid, that high and low
should in like manner be subject to his spiritual jurisdiction. He
could not foresee that Henry, after having so shortly before, at
least in his professions, acknowledged so entire a submission to
the papal see, would receive such a letter, in which he himself
held out his hand for peace, with such violent indignation.3 But
1 Decretum, quod quidam dicunt importable pondus et immensam gravitudinem.
2 Ne pravae consuetudinis mutatio te commoveret.
3 According to the account of the German historian, Lambert of Aschaffenburg, there
was, to be sure, something else of a special character, which so exasperated the feelings
of the king towards the pope, and which had in some sense compelled him, unless he was
willing to be completely humbled before the pope, to anticipate the blow which be was
to receive from Rome. The pope had sent an embassy to him, through which he cited
him to appear before tbe Roman synod of Lent, on the Monday of the second week of
Lent, d.a. 1076, where he was to clear himself of the charges which had been brought
against him, with the threat that, if he did not comply, the ban would be pronounced on
him the same day. The above-mentioned letter of tbe pope, however, contradicts the
supposition of any such embassy. Some important occurrence must have intervened,
which led the pope to deviate so for from the paternal tone which he had expressed in
this letter. The thing, after all, remains quite improbable. We may perhaps consider
the embassy mentioned by this historian as the same with that which was the bearer of
the above-mentioned letter ; and in this case, we must explain the contents of the mes
sage dtlivered by this embassy in accordance with the letter itself. From the letter, it
follows, to be sure, that if Henry did not act in the way required of him by tbe pope, he
had to expect excommunication ; and from this, the story just related may have grown.
Were the statement, as we find it given by this historian, tbe correct one, the defenders
of Gregory could never have appealed to the fact, that Henry had attacked the pope
without any previous provocation, and that this first violent step was the source of all
the ensuing evil. Thus, the language of Gebhard, bishop of Salzburg, to Hermann,
bishop of Metz, is: "The adherents of Henry could not excuse themselves on the
ground, that they at first had only adopted measures of defence against the pope." Nam
apostolicae animadversionis, qua se injuriatos caosantur, ipsi potius causa extiterunt, et
unde se accensos conqueruntur, hoc ipsi potius incenderunt ideoque injurias non tam
retulerunt quam intulerunt. Cum enim prunum ad initiandam hanc rem Wormatiae
confluxissent, ubi omnis, quam patimur, calamitas exordium sumsit, nullam adhuc Do-

142 HENRY'S BREACH WITH GREGORY.
as appears evident from the letter of the pope addressed to the
Germans themselves,1 he afterwards sent to him three men, na
tives of countries subject to the emperor, who were directed pri
vately to reprove him for his transgressions, exhort him to re
pentance, and represent to him, that if he did not reform, and
shun all intercourse with the excommunicated, he might expect
excommunication ; and that then, as a thing which, according to
the Hildebrandian notions of ecclesiastical law, followed neces
sarily upon excommunication, he would no longer be competent
to administer the government. Henry, iu his existing state of
mind, was little capable of enduring such a mode of treatment as
this. He dismissed the envoys in an insulting manner ; and an
accidental circumstance contributed perhaps to induce him to
venture on a step, which was by no means justified in the then
existing forms of law, but by which he hoped he might be able to rid
himself at once of so annoying an overseer. A certain cardinal,
Hugo Blancus, whom pope Alexander the Second, and indeed
Gregory himself, had employed on embassies, but who, for reasons
unknown, had become the pope's most bitter enemy, and whom
Hildebrand had deposed,'' came to the emperor and handed over
to him a violent complaint against the pope. The king now
issued letters missive for an assembly of his spiritual and secular
dignitaries, to be held at Worms on the Sunday of Septuagesima,
a.d. 1076. These letters invited them to corneto the rescue not
merely of his own insulted dignity, but also of the interests of
all the bishops, the interests of the whole oppressed church. In
this writing he even accuses the pope, probably on the ground

minus Papa excommunicationis vel anatbematis sententiam destinavit, sed ipsi, primi-
tiae discordiarum, ipso ignorante et nihil minus putaute, praelationi suae superba et
repentina temeritate abrenuntiaverunt. Gebhard then seeks to prove this by tbe chro
nology of events. When Henry celebrated the festival of St Andrew in Bamberg,
shortly before Christmas, there was still so good an understanding between the emperor
and the pope, that tbe former acted entirely according to the determinations of the latter
in displacing the bishop of Bamberg. Quid ergo tam cito intercidere potuit, ut ille, qui
in proximo ante nativitatem Domini tantae in ecclesia magnificentiae fuit. ut ad nutum
illius dignitutum mutationes fierent, idem paucis post nativitatem diebus iuconventus,
inauditus totius etiam ignarus dissensionis proscriberetur ? Ed. Tengnagel, pp. 28-29.
1 Praeterea misimus ad eum tres religiosos viros, suos utique fideles, per quos eum
secreto mouuimus, ut poenitentiam ageret de suis sceleribus.
v Lambert says: Quem ante paucos dies propter iueptiam et mores inconditos papade
statione sua amoverat.

GREGORY DEPOSED BY THE COUNCIL AT WORMS. 143
of the above-mentioned rumour, of having obtained possession of
the papal dignity in an unlawful manner.1 He requires of the
bishops, that they should stand by him in a distress, which
was not his alone, but the common distress of <all the bishops,
and ofthe whole oppressed church. It was the common interest
of the empire and of the priesthood ; for the pope had, notwith
standing Christ's direction that the two swords, the spiritual
and the secular, the two powers,'-' should be separated from each
other, sought to usurp both for himself. He meant to let no man
be a priest, who did not sue for it at his own footstool ; and be
cause the king regarded his royal power as received solely from
God, and not from the pope, he had threatened to deprive him of
his government and of his soul's salvation.
The council, which met on the Sunday of Septuagesima, Ja
nuary 24, 1076, on the ground of the charges brought against the
pope by the cardinal Hugo Blancus, pronounced sentence of de
position upon Gregory ; and, which shows to what extent these
bishops and abbots were willing to be employed as the blind tools
of power, and how much they needed a severe regent at the head
of the church, notwithstanding the irregular procedure of this
assembly, notwithstanding the scruples which, according to the
ecclesiastical views of that period, must have arisen against it in
the minds of the clergy, not a man amongst them all uttered a
word against it. Two only, Adalbero bishop of Wurzburg, and
Hermann bishop of Metz, protested against the irregularity of
this proceeding. They objected to it, in the first place, on the
general principle, that no bishop, without a previous regular
trial, without the proper accusers and witnesses, and without proof
of the charges brought against him, could be deposed ; and least
of all could this be done in the case of the pope, against whom no
bishop or archbishop could appear as an accuser.
It was considered a duty of loyalty to the king, to acquiesce in
this decision. In order to bind the members of the assembly,
Henry caused a written oath to be taken by each, that he would
1 Invasoris violentia.
2 Concerning the spiritual sword, it i9 said that, by means of it, men were to be com
pelled to obey the king next to God. The pope, therefore, ought to unite with the king
in punishing those who disobeyed the latter. Videlicet sacerdotali gladio ad obedientiam
regis post Dominum homine- constringendos.

144 CONSPIRACY OF CINTIUS.
no longer recognize Gregory as pope. This judgment having
been passed, Henry announced it to the pope in a letter, ad
dressed as follows : " Henry, king by the grace of God and not
by the will of man, to Hildebrand, no longer apostolical, but a
false monk ;" and the letter concluded with the words — " this
sentence of condemnation having been pronounced upon you by
us and all our bishops, descend from the apostolical chair you
have usurped ; let another mount the chair of Peter, who will not
cloak deeds of violence under religion, but set forth the sound
doctrines of St Peter. I, Henry, and all our bishops, bid you
come down, come down." Moreover, in this letter, it was alleged
against the pope that he had attacked the divine right by which
kings are appointed, and that he sought to degrade all prelates
to the position of his servants, and stirred up the people against
the clergy.1 At the same time, Henry addressed a letter to the
cardinals and to the Eoman people, calling upon them to acquiesce
in this sentence, and to sustain the election of a new pope. An
ecclesiastic of Parma, by the name of Eoland,' was selected to
convey these letters to Eome, and to announce to the pope the
iudgment passed upon him.
Shortly before this storm came upon the pope, he had been
delivered from a great danger, which gave him another oppor
tunity of showing his unconquerable fortitude. It was an after
effect of that wild, lawless condition which had prevailed at Eome
in the eleventh century (and to whicli an end was put by the popes
who ruled in the spirit of Hildebrand), that Cintius, a Eoman
nobleman of licentious morals, one who indulged himself in the
most extravagant actions and patronized the lowest crimes, was
permitted to occupy a strong citadel built in the heart of the city,
thus exercising a lordship of the very worst character. As Gregory
would not tolerate such a person, and his firm will threatened to
ruin this man's power, the latter determined to get rid of him by
a conspiracy which he formed with Gregory's numerous enemies.
The vigils in the night before Christmas, a.d. 1075, was the
1 Rectoris ecclesiae sicut servos sub pedibus tuis calcasti, in quorum conculcatione
tibi favorem ab ore vulgi comparasti. Laicis ministerium super sacerdotes usurpasti, ut
ipsi deponant vel contemnant, quos ipsi a manu Dei per impositionem mannum episco-
palium docendi acceperant.
2 By others called Eberhard.

Gregory's calmness. 145
time selected for the deed. At the public service, Gregory was
fallen upon and hurried away, wounded, to a tower in Cintius
castle. He remained calm and firm in the midst of all these in
sults and in the face of dangor ; not a word of complaint or of
supplication fell from his lips. There was displayed on this
occasion, too, a beautiful proof of the enthusiastic regard which
Gregory had inspired towards himself in the more serious minds.
A man and a woman, both of high rank, insisted on attending
the pope in his confinement ; the man endeavoured to keep him
warm with furs during the cold winter night ; the woman bound
up his wound. When, however, the next morning Gregory's
absence was observed, the most violent commotions broke out
among the people. The citadel of Cintius was stormed ; he saw
himself compelled to give the pope his freedom, and it was by
means of the latter alone that his life was saved from the fury of
the people.
As Gregory was about to open the Lent-synod, in the year
1076, the above-mentioned Eoland appeared, and in the name of
king Henry and the synod of Worms, announced the judgment
which had there been passed. There arose a common feeling of
bitter indignation, to which he would have fallen a victim, had
not Gregory interposed and saved him.1 The pope calmly heard
all : without betraying the least agitation, he held a discourse, in
which he distinctly set forth that men ought not to be surprised
at these contests foretold by Christ ; he declared himself resolved
to suffer anything for the cause of God, and exhorted the cardi
nals to do the same. Then he pronounced, in the name of the
apostle, the ban on king Henry : declared him (which was the
natural consequence of this act, according to his theory of eccle
siastical law,) incompetent to reign any longer, and forbade his
subjects to obey him for the future. He pronounced, also, sen
tence of excommunication on the bisliops from whom everything
1 We doubtless have the words of an eye-witness in tbe chronicle of Bernold of Con
stance : Quid ibi tumultus et conclamationis et in legatos illos non ordinatae incursi,
onis excreverit, noverint illi, qui praesto fuerunt. Hoc unum sit nostrum inde dixisse,
dominum apostolicum non sine sui ipsius corporis, magno satis pericnlo, quanquam vix-
eos Romanorum manibus semivivos eripuisse. Monumenta res Allemannicas illus-
trantia ed S. Bias, a 1792, t. ii. p. 30. That violent enemy of the pope, the princess
Anna Comnena. unjustly agcuses Gregory himself, of having treated the ambassadors
in a shameful and abusive manner. In Alexias i., 13.
VOL. VII. K

146 IMPRESSION MADE BY THE PAPAL BAN.
had proceeded in that assembly at Worms. He announced the
same punishment as awaiting the archbishop Sigfrid of Mentz,
William of Utrecht, and Eupert of Bamberg, unless they should
come to Eome and justify their conduct.
This sentence pronounced by the pope was the signal for a vio
lent and long-continued contest between the two parties, who
fought each other both with the sword and with arguments. The
men who were zealous for the cause of Henry, insisted on the sa-
credness of the oath, whose binding force no authority could
destroy. They called it, therefore, an act of consummate wicked
ness, that a pope, setting himself above all laws human and
divine, should have presumed to discharge subjects from their
sworn obligations towards their princes. They also considered the
power of princes as one founded in a divine order, and subsisting
independently by itself; they appealed to the duties, inculcated
in the New Testament, of obedience to those in authority, and
would concede to no power on earth the right of Annulling this
obligation. They appealed to the fact, that the apostles had
shown obedience even to pagan magistrates, and recommended
such obedience ; that the more ancient bishops and popes had
never entertained a thought of deposing even idolatrous and he
retical princes.1 The fulmination of the papal ban, it was said,
does not carry with it so much danger as it does fright. Human
affairs would be in truly a sad condition, if the wrath of God fol
lowed every ebullition of human passion.2 An unjust ban fell

1 So said the scholastic writer Guenricb, standing at this point of view, in the name
of bishop Theodoric of Verdun, when these disputes had already lasted for some time.
Martene et Durand thesaurus novus anecdotorum, t. i. Non est novum, homines se
culares seculariter sapere et agere, novum est autem et omnibus retro seculis inaudi-
tnm, pontifices regna gentium tam facile velle dividere. Nomen regum inter ipsa mundi
initia repertum adeo postea stabilitnm repentina factione elidere, Cbristos Dei, quoties
libuerit plebejos sorte sicuti villicos mutare, regno patrum suorum decedere jussos,
nisi confestim acquieverint, anathemati damnare The author of this letter appeals to
the precepts ofthe apostle Paul concerning duties to magistrates: Porro de ordinatis a
Deo potestatibus omni studio suscipiendis, omni amore dii igendis, omni honore reve.
rendis, omni patientia tolerandis tanta ubique sapientia disputat. Concerning the in
dissoluble obligation of au oath, it is here said : Sanctam et omnibus retro seculis apud
omnium gentium nationes inviolatam jurisjurandi religionem facillima, inquiunt, do-
mini papae rescindit absolutio, et quod tantum est, ut illud omnis controversiae finem
apostolus nominaret, Hebr. vi. 16, modo unius cartulae per qnemlibet bajulatorem por-
rectae levissima infringere juberetur lectione.
2 In the letter already cited: Hoc tonitrunm non tantum portendit periculum, quan-

GROUNDS OF DEFENCE. 147
back upon the head of its author. The other party agreed, it is
true, with all that was said with regard to the sanctity of an oath ;
but they maintained that an oath taken in reference to anything
at variance with the divine law, could have no binding force. No
oath given to the prince, therefore, could obligate subjects to obey
him in setting himself up against the one to whom is committed,
by God, the guidance of entire Christendom.1 If he who has
been expelled from the fellowship of the church became, by that
very circumstance, incapable of administering any civil office, and
if any man who continued to have fellowship with him, thereby
procured his own expulsion from the church-community ; if the
pope, as the director of entire Christendom, might call to account
all the rulers of the earth in case they abused their authority,
might bring them to punishment, and depose them from office,2
then it followed, as a matter of course, that to the king, on whom
the pope had passed such a judgment, lawful obedience could no
longer be rendered. The oath, moreover, by which the bishops
bound themselves, before their consecration, to obey the pope,
was contrary to the oath of homage given to the prince.3 And
when some appealed to the inviolable divine right of kings, the
other party maintained, on the other hand, that it was necessary
to distinguish between the rightful authority of princes and the
turn intendit terroris. Male profecto rebus humanis consultum esset, si ad qualescunque
animi concitati motus divina sequeretur damnatio, sicut illi uniuscujusque iracundia
dictare vellet, qui omnia dispensat, in mensura, et pondere et numero.
1 Thus archbishop Gebhard of Salzburg, in his letter written to bishop Hermann of
Metz, in defence of the cause of Gregory the Seventh. It is here objected to tbe oppo-
site party, that they brought forward such remarks as tbe following : Ad percutiendam
simpliciorem fratrum infirmam conscientiam, quatenus eis sub specie pietatis laqueum
injiciant et quasi vera dicendo fallant, diligentius autem intuentibus ad nostrae contro-
versiam causae nihil pertinere videntur. Nam quis sanae mentis perjurium grave
peccatum esse dubitet ? But from this, be says, it does not follow, ut quicquid quisque
juret, indifferenter et sine retractatione servandum sit.
2 Thus too writes Gerhoh of Reicbersberg : Ordo clericalis cujus nimirum est officium,
non solum plebejos, sed etiam reges increpare atque regibus aliis descendentibus, alios
ordinare. L. c. in Ps. xxix., f. 636.
3 Credimqs enim, memoriae illorum non excidisse, quod in sacro illo episcoporum et
cleri conventu ad promerendam promotionem suam beato Petro suisque vicariis et suc
cessoribus fidem et subjectionem se servaturos promiserunt. Quomodo ergo hoc pluris
faciunt, quod in cubiculo sive in aula regis inter Pa'latinos strepitus conspiraverunt,
quam illud, quod coram sacro altari sanctisque sanctorum reliquiis sub testimonia
Christi et ecclesiae professi sunt ?
K 2

148 GREGORY'S REPLY.
abuse of arbitrary will, between kings and tyrants. Princes de
prived themselves of their own authority by abusing it.1
No impression could be made on pope Gregory by the doubts
expressed respecting the lawfulness of his conduct by Hermann,
bishop of Metz.2 In the light of the principles which he main
tained, it appeared to him a thing absolutely settled, that the
pope might excommunicate a king, like any other mortal ; and
any doubt expressed on this point he could only look upon as a
mark of incredible fatuity.0 He appealed to the example of pope
Zacharias, who pronounced sentence of deposition upon the last
of the Merovingians, and absolved the Franks from their oath of
allegiance to him ; to the example of bishop Ambrose of Milan,
who in fact excommunicated an emperor.4 He asked whether
Christ, when he committed to Peter the feeding of his sheep, the
power to bind and to loose, made any exception in favour of
princes. If kings could not be excommunicated by the church,
it would follow that neither could they receive absolution from
the church. But to this, bishop Waltram of Naumburg, not
without reason, replied, that Ambrose had, it is true, once
excluded the emperor Theodosius from the communion of the
church, which was attended with the most salutary consequences
both to that emperor and to the common weal ; but he had not
the remotest intention of wish to disturb thereby the relation
subsisting between the emperor and his subjects. He had ren
dered to God the things that are God's, and to Caesar the things
that were Caesar's. Even towards Valentinan the Second and
his mother Justina, Ambrose had never, in all the disputes with
them, taken any such liberties.8 His reasoning is not so strong
1 So says Bernold of Constance, 1. c. p. 57 : Recte faciendo nomen regis tenetur,
alioquin amittitur, unde est hoc vetus elogium: rex eris, si recte facis, si non facis,
non eris.
2 See Gregory's letters, 1. iv. ep. 2.
3 Licet pro magna fatuitate nee etiam iis respondere debeamus.
4 See vol. hi., p. 241.
5 See Waltram Naumburgens. de unitate eccles. et imperii, 1. i., p. 66. Sed ipse
quoque sanotus Ambrosius ecclesiam non divisit, sed ea, quae Caesaris sunt, Caesari
et quae Dei, Deo reddenda esse docuit, qui Theodosium ecclesiastica coercuit disciplina,
etc. Ecce ilia excommunicatio quam utilis erat ecclesiae pariter atque ipsi imperatori
Tbeodosio, quae nunc prodeudi schisraatis ponitur exemplo, quo separentur principes,
vel milites reipublicae ab imperatoris sui consortio simul et obsequio !

DIFFERENT IMPRESSIONS MADE BY THE BAN. 149
with regard to the other example, of pope Zacharias. Ho says,
the pope did not by any means depose Childeric, nor absolve his
subjects from their oath of allegiance to him ; for Childeric
merely bore the name of king, without possessing the kingly
power. Of the latter, therefore, he did not need to be de
prived.1 Yet the ban pronounced by the pope produced a great effect
in Germany, which was increased by the prevailing dissatisfaction
with Henry's government. The bishop Udo of Triers, after his
return from Eome, avoided all intercourse with the spiritual and
secular counsellors of the emperor, who had been excommunicated
by the pope. He declared that, by holding fellowship with the
excommunicated king, one became involved in the same condi
tion ; that only at his special request, permission had been
granted him by the pope, of conversing with the king ; yet eveii
to him the communion of prayer and of the Lord's table, with
that monarch, had been forbidden. By the example and the
representations of Udo, many were induced to draw away from
the king. But the men of the other party sought, by the argu
ments above-mentioned, to confirm the king in his resistance to
the pope ; they maintained that an arbitrary, unjust ban, ought
not to be feared ; that, in such a case, religion was only em
ployed as a pretext to cover private passions, and private ends.
They called upon him to use the sword, which God had intrusted
to him as the legitimate sovereign for the punishment of evil
doers, against the enemies of the empire. Such language found
a ready ear on the part of the king. He was inclined already
to bid defiance to the papal ban, and to threaten with his kingly
authority those who sided with the pope's party. But as the
number of those who went over to that party was constantly
increasing, and he wanted power to carry his threats into exe
cution, he suddenly adopted quite another tone. He sought to
bend the minds of his opponents by negotiations ; but this also
proved fruitless ; and they were already on the point of proceed
ing to the extremest measures. \
1 Lib. i., p, 17. Quando qui idem ille Hilderichus nihil omnino regiae potestatis vel
dignitatis habuisse describatur, atque ideo comprobatur, quod non fuerit dominus ali-
quorum sive rector, qnoniam rex a regeudo dicitur;

150 DECISION AT TR1BUR. HENRY'S JOURNEY TO ROME.
In tlie year 1076, the Suabian and Saxon princes assembled
at Tribur. Before this assembly appeared, as papal legates, the
patriarch Sighard of Aquileia, and the bishop Altmann of Pas
sau, a man eminently distinguished for his strict piety. And
here we may notice how large a party stood up for the pope from
among those who felt a serious regard for religion. Several lay
men, who had renounced important stations and great wealth for
the purpose of devoting themselves to a strictly ascetic life, now
appeared publicly as advocates of the papal principles. These
refused to hold communion with any one who maintained familiar
intercourse with king Henry after his excommunication, till each
had personally obtained absolution from bishop Altmann, the
prelate empowered by the pope to bestow it. After a delibera
tion of seven days, it was resolved to proceed to the election of
a new king. Henry, after a variety of fruitless negotiations with
the opposite party, among whom partly the political, partly the
religious interest predominated, determined to give way. An
agreement was entered into, to the effect that the pope should
be invited to visit Augsburg on the festival of the purification of
Mary ; there, in a numerous assembly of the princes, all accusa
tions against the king should be presented, and then, after the
pope had heard what both parties had to say, the decision should
be left with him. If the king, by any fault of his own, remained
excommunicated a year, he should be considered for ever incap
able of holding the government. In the meantime, he should
abstain from all intercourse with the excommunicated, and live
in Speier, as a private man. Henry the Fourth agreed to all
the conditions proposed to him, severe as they were ; and as
everything was now depending on his being absolved from the
papal ban, in order that he might be able to negotiate on equal
footing with the princes, so he determined to pay a visit to the
pope himself in Italy, before the latter could come to Germany.
He was willing to risk everything to obtain absolution.
A few clays previous to Christmas, in the unusually cold winter
of 1076-77, he crossed the Alps with his wife and little son,
attended only by one individual, of no rank. Meantime, the
ambassadors ofthe German princes had come to the pope, and,
in compliance with their invitation, the latter set out on his

HENRY IN ITALY. 151
journey, expecting to reach Augsburg at the appointed time, on
the 2d of February, 1077 ;l although his friends advised him trot
to undertake this journey, probably because they feared the
power of Gregory's enemies in Italy. It had been agreed upon,
that, at a particular point of time, delegates from the princes
should meet him on the borders of Italy for the purpose of escort
ing him to Augsburg. Twenty days before the time appointed,
the pope set out ou his journey. Meanwhile came also the mes
sengers of king Henry, through whom the latter promised him
every satisfaction and amendment, and urgently begged for abso
lution. Gregory, however, would not meddle with the matter,
he only loaded him with severe reproaches for his transgres
sions.2 If, viewing the matter in the light of the pope's rigidly con
sistent system, we might perhaps approve of Gregory's conduct
towards the insolent Henry, yet we cannot fail to miss in his con
duct towards the humbled man, that spirit of love which proceeds
from a pure gospel ; we perceive in it nothing but the stiff firm
ness of a self-will, whicli, spurning all human feelings, goes straight
onward to the mark on which it has once fixed.
The promised escort from Germany found it impossible, on
account of the many difficulties they met with, to make their
appearance at the time appointed ; and Gregory's journey to
Germany was hindered by various circumstances. Meanwhile
Henry arrived iii Italy, and the reception he there met with stood
in melancholy contrast with his actual situation. A large party
exulted at his appearance : the numerous opponents of Gregory,
among the bishops and nobles, hoped to gain in the king a head
to their party ; and they were ready to do anything in his ser
vice. Gregory, being fully aware ofthe fickle-mindedness ofthe
young king, felt uncertain whether such a reception would not
produce a change in his disposition, and his mode of procedure.
Iu this uncertainty with regard to his own situation, he betook
1 It is evident fiom the words of Gregory himself in his letter to the Germans,
Mansi xx., f. 386, that this was the reason of his undertaking the journey to Lombardy.
The account given by Domnizo in his life of Mathilda, at the beginning ofthe second
book, is false therefore; namely, that Gregory came to Lombardy at tlie request of the
latter, who stood forth as mediator between the king and the pope.
2 Gregory himself says: Acritereum cle suis excessibus per omnes, qui intercurrebant,
rmuctos redarguimus.

152 GREGORY AND MATHILDA.
himself for a while to the castle of his enthusiastically devoted
friend, the powerful Margravine Mathilda of Tuscany.1
But Henry, for the present, had no other object in view than
to get himself absolved from the ban. Before him, went the ex
communicated bishops and nobles of Germany, in the habit of
penitents, barefoot and in woollen garments, to beg absolution
from the pope. The latter listened, it is true, to their petition ;
but he required of them such proofs of their repentance, as would
be calculated to leave a right lasting impression on men so in
ured to luxury. Each of the bishops was obliged to remain from
morn to evening shut up in a solitary cell, in his penitential
raiment, partaking only ofthe most meagre diet. Then he allowed
them to come before him and gave them absolution, after mildly
reproving them for their transgressions, and exhorting them to
guard against sucli conduct for the future. When they took their
leave of him he strictly charged them to abstain from all fellow
ship with king Henry, till he had become reconciled with the
1 The connection of the pope with this lady was certainly of the purest character ; and
so it appears in his correspondence with her. The enthusiastic devoteduess ofthe most
strict and pious persons of tbe age testifies in favour of Gregory. The accusations of
bis most violent enemies, who brought so many absurd charges against him, certainly
cannot be regarded as trustworthy evidence. It was natural, that they should avail
themselves of this connection of Gregory, for the purpose of throwing suspicion on the
character of this severe censor of the morals of the clergy with regard to this very point,
and thereby to place his zeal for the laws of tbe celibacy of priests in an unfavourable
point of light. That fierce opponent of the Hildebrandian party, bishop Waltram of
¦-Naumburg, intimates this suspicion against the pope, however, in such a way, that it is
easy to see how little reason he himself bad for regarding it as well-grounded. Apolog.
1. ii , u. 36. Mathilda ilia post octavum quoque annum, quo defunctus est Hildebrand
familiarus ejus, defendit promptissime contra sedem apostolicam (Guibert's party) et
contra imperatorem partem ipsius, qui propter frequens cum ea et familiare colloquium
generavit plurimis scaevae suspicionis scandalum. Henry, bishop of Speier, expresses
himself in stronger terms in his invective against Gregory, Eccard- 1, ii., in the collection
of letters of the Cod. Bamberg, ep. 162 : Qui etiam quasi foetore quodam giavissimi
scandali totam ecclesiam replesti de convictu et cohabitatione alienae mulieris famili-
ariori, quam necesse sit. Iu qua reverecundia nostra magis quam causa laborat, quum
haec generalis querela unicuique personuerit, omnia judicia, omnia decreta per feminas
in sede apostolica actitari, denique per feminas totum orbem ecclesiae administrari. The
impartial Lambert of Ascbaffenburg remarks concerning the relation of Mathilda to the
pope: Tanquam patri vel domino sedulum exhibebat officium. He then refers io the
misinterpretations put on this relation, which proceeded from the friends of Henry, and
particularly from the opponents of the laws of celibacy among the clergy, and says of
these : Sed apud omnes sanum aliquid sapientes luce clarius constabat, falsa esse, qua
dicebantur. Nam et papa tam eximie tamque apostolice vitam instituebat, ut nee mi-
nimam sinistri rumoris maculam conversationis ejus snblimatas admitlerat et ilia in
urba eeleberrima atqne in tanta obsequentium frequentia, obscoenum aliquid perpetrans
latere nequaquam potuisset.

henry's penance at canossa. 153
church ; only for the purpose of exhorting him to repentance they
might be allowed to converse with him.
But Gregory proceeded more harshly with the young king him
self. First, he repelled the urgent entreaties of that prince, and
the intercessions of Mathilda, of the abbot Hugo of Cluny who
was the king's god-father, and of many others, who implored his
compassion on the young monarch. He says himself, in his letter
to the Germans : " All were surprised at his unusual severity, and
many imagined they perceived in it a tyrannical cruelty."1 He
persisted in requiring that everything should be referred over to
the trial which was to be instituted at the appointed convention
in Germany. At length, he yielded to the entreaties and inter
cessions poured in upon him, but required of king Henry still
severer proofs of his repentance than he had demanded from those
bishops. The king, after having laid aside all the insignia of his
imperial rank, and clothed himself in the garb of a penitent, was
admitted into the sacred enclosure of the castle of Canossa, where
he waited fasting, during three days, in the rough winter at the
commencement ofthe year 1077, till at length, on the fourth day,
the pope admitted him to his presence. He gave him absolution
under the condition that he should appear before the proposed
general assembly in Germany, where the pope would listen to the
accusations .of his adversaries, and to what he had to say in
defence of himself, and give his decision accordingly. Till then,
he should utterly renounce the government, and, if he ob
tained it again, bind himself to support the pope in every
thing requisite for the maintenance of the ecclesiastical laws.
If he failed to observe this condition, he should again fall under
the ban.2. And the abbot Hugo of Cluny, and several per
sons present, of the spiritual and secular orders, pledged them
selves that the king would fulfil the conditions of the compact.
The pope then celebrated the mass in the presence of the king
1 Ut pro cc multis precibus et lacrimis intercedentibus, omnes quidem insolitam
mentis nostrae duritiam mirarentur, nonnuli vero in nobis non apostolicae severitatis
gravitatem, sed quasi tyrannicae feritatis crudelitatem esse clamarent.
2 In his letter to the Germans, Gregory appeals also to the fact that everything was
st hi undecided; that he was bound by no obligation to the king; adhuc totius negotii
causa suspensa est. Sciatis nos non aliter regi obligatos esse, nisi quod pure sermone
sicut nobis mos est ea diximus, quibus eum ad salutem et honorem siitm aut cum
justitia aut cum misericordia sine nostrae aut illius animaepcriculo adjuvare poshinms,

154 GREGORY RECEIVES THE HOST.
and of a numerous multitude. When he had consecrated the
host, he observed, while taking a portion of it, that he had been
accused by his enemies in Germany of many offences. True, he
could bring forward many witnesses of his innocence. But he
chose rather to appeal to the testimony of God than to that of
man; and for the purpose of refuting, in the shortest way, all
those charges, he here called on God himself to witness his in
nocence, while he now took, in averring it, the body of the Lord-
Let Almighty God now declare him free, if he was innocent, or
cause the partaking of the body of Christ to prove his immediate
destruction, if he was guilty. Gregory regarded this, like his
contemporaries, as a judgment of God ; and such an appeal to
the divine decision by a miracle was in perfect harmony with his
whole mode of thinking. With the greatest composure he par
took of the holy supper, which to him — since, according to his
own religious conviction, this was really subjecting himself to a
judgment of God — would have been impossible, if in his con
science he had felt that he was guilty. In very deed, therefore,
it was the testimony of a tranquil conscience, and on the assem
bled multitude (to whom this appeared as such a triumph of in
nocence as if the voice of God had spoken directly from heaven)
it must have made a most powerful impression. With a loud
shout of approbation it was accepted by the whole assembly ;
and praise to the God who had so glorified innocence, rung out
from every mouth. When the shouts of the multitude had some
what abated, the pope turned with the remainder of the host to
the young king, and invited him to attest his innocence of all the
charges brought against him from Germany, by doing the same.
Then there would be no occasion for the trial which it had been
proposed to hold in Germany ; for all human judicatories were
liable to error ; and then he himself would, from that moment)
stand forth as Henry's defender. But Henry was neither suffi
ciently sure of his own innocence nor sufficiently hardened against
religious impressions, to subject himself, uncertain of the result,
to such an ordeal. He turned pale at the proposal, whispered
with his attendants, sought evasions, and finally requested the
pope to leave everything to be decided by the trial to be had in
Germany. He pledged himself, by oath, to refer the settlement
of the disputes in Germany to the pope's decision, and to insure
2

henry's promises. 155
his safety, so far as it depended on himself, in his journey to Ger
many. At the close of the service, Gregory invited him to a re
past, conversed with him in a friendly manner, and then dismissed
him with serious admonitions.
The question here arises, whether the pope was perfectly sin
cere in effecting tins' reconciliation with king Henry ? The
enemies of Gregory charge him1 with having persecuted him
from the beginning, on a calculated plan of bringing about his
utter ruin, and of using everything as a means to accomplish this
end. If Henry obeyed, and refrained entirely from exercising his
kingly authority till that assembly could meet in Germany, then
he would, by that very act, render himself contemptible ; while
the power of the anti-emperor, about whose election men were
already busying themselves, would become more and more con
firmed. Or if he did not fulfil the condition, an opportunity would
be given the pope to accuse him of violating the agreement, and
again to pronounce the ban upon him. In what light would
Gregory, with this fine-spun plan of revenge, requiring him to
turn the most sacred acts into a means of deception, have to be
regarded ? If after having granted king Henry absolution, he^-
had still been able to say to the enemies of that monarch, who
were dissatisfied with this step, as he is represented to have said
in a letter, that " they should give themselves no trouble about
what he had done ; he was only going to send them back Henry,
loaded with deeper guilt,"2 what diabolical malice and hypocrisy !
Well might Waltram of Naumburg say, " he dismissed him in
peace ; but peace such as Judas pretended, not such as Christ
bestowed."3 With perfect justice might he exclaim, in view of
such an act of duplicity ; " This is not acting like a successor of
Peter ; this is not feeding Christ's sheep, to send one away loaded
with still heavier guilt, and one too who repented of his fault.
This was not acting like a priest of our Lord, who himself says
in the gospel, that in heaven there is more joy over one sinner
1 So bishop Waltram of Naumburg, in his Work De unitate eccleBiae et imperii, 1. i.
c. vi.
2 Ne sitis solliciti, quoniam culpabiliorem eum reddo vobis.
3 Concerning Henry: Dimissus est in pace, qualem scilicet pacem Judas simulavit;
non qualem Christus reliquit.

156 sincerity of Gregory's reconciliaiton with henry.
that repenteth, than over ninety and nine just men that need no
repentance."1 But we are listening to the words of a passionate antagonist.
The language of party-passion, on either side, is to be heard with
distrust. Who could penetrate into Gregory's heart, so as to be
sure of the disposition in which he acted ? The reasoning from
an actual result to a deliberate purpose is always most unsafe.
Even though Gregory had said what is laid to his charge, or
something like it, still, a great deal depends on the question, in
what connection he said it, and whether with some condition or
in an unconditioned manner. The dignity and self-respect which
Gregory ever exhibits in his public communications, render it ex
tremely unlikely, that he would suffer himself to be hurried by
passion -to utter words so much in contradiction with those
qualities. In granting king Henry absolution, Gregory assuredly
said nothing to him which could have been designed to deceive
him. He gave him plainly enough to understand, that all was
depending on his future behaviour. He even persisted in de
claring that the whole matter was reserved for the trial which
was to take place under his presidency in Germany ; earlier than
this, nothing was to be determined in relation to the settlement
of the government.'' By his own judicial decision, everything
should be set to rights in Germany ; and only in case he sub
mitted wholly to this, could Henry calculate on a lasting peace
with the pope. As to the fact, therefore, the remarks of Wal
tram with regard to the precarious position of the emperor, how
ever he might act, were correct ; though it cannot be said of the
pope that, from the first, he only became reconciled to Henry in
appearance, and had nothing else in view than his utter destruc
tion. He acted thus, impelled by that reckless and persevering
1 His words : Certe culpabiliorem facere aliquem, prarcipue autum regem, quem
praecipit Petrus apostolus honorificare, hoc non est oves Christi pascere. Culpabilio
rem, inquam, facere, praecipue eum, quem poeniteat culpabilem existere, hoc non est'
sacerdotem Domini esse, cum ipse in evangelio Dominus dicat, gaudium fieri in coelo
super uno peccatore poenitentiam agente, quam super nonaginta novem justis, qui non
indigent poenitentia.
2 As he says in his letter, in which he reported to the Germans his transactions with
Henry, ep. iv. 12. Ita adhuc totius negotii causa suspensa est, ut et adventus noster et
consiiiorum vestrorum unanimitas permaxime necessaria esse videantur, Comp. the
remarks already quoted, p. 1&3, in the note.

henry's breach WITH liREGORY. RUDOLPH of SUAI1IA. 157
resolution with which he followed out false principles. He sacri
ficed to his consistency the true interests of the misled king and
the well-being of the German people. It must be owned, how
ever, that it was Henry who, hurried on by the force of circum
stances, first broke the terms of the treaty.
When he returned back to his friends, and with them repaired
to the states of Lombardy, he found the tone of feeling there very
much altered. Men were highly indignant at the manner in
which he had been made to humble himself before the detested
Gregory. They were upon the point of renouncing him ; they
were for nominating his son emperor, and with the latter march
ing straight to Eome. As then Henry had so many enemies in
Germany, as he could not place any great reliance on the pope, and
as he here found a considerable party, who were willing to do
anything for him if he would place himself in their hands, he now
went over wholly to this side. He allied himself once more with
Gregory's enemies, acted once more as monarch, and resumed
once more the councillors whom the pope had excommunicated.
As the earlier-appointed assembly in Germany could not be
holden, the states, dissatisfied with king Henry, appointed another
assembly, to meet in the beginning of March 1077, and invited
the pope to be present for the purpose of restoring order and
tranquillity to Germany. But this also was prevented by Gre
gory's detention in Italy. Gregory sent to Germany two legates,
who reported to the assembly what causes had hindered him from
coming to Germany, and left it to them to provide, as they
deemed best, for the necessities of the empire. At this assembly
Eudolph duke of Suabia was elected king in Henry's place.
Although the pope was doubtless already resolved to renew the
ban against Henry, if the latter did not alter his conduct, yet he
still passed no definitive sentence. He declared himself, at first,
neutral between the two parties, and named both the princes
kings in his letters, and reserved it to himself, when he should
visit Germany, to decide which party had the right. Meanwhile,
in Germany, much blood was shed on both sides. The two par
ties persecuted each other with unrelenting ferocity. State and
church were rent in pieces by these quarrels, while Gregory quietly
looked on, and by his ambiguous declarations and acts kept up

158 new ban on henry.
the contest. He expressed his pain1 at seeing so many thousand
Christians fall victims to temporal and eternal death through the
pride of one man ; at seeing the Christian religion and the Eoman
church thereby prostrated to the ground. He did not declare,
however, whom he meant by. this individual. He only called upon
the Germans to renounce obedience to the proud man, who hin
dered him from coming to Germany ; on the other hand to obey
him who showed himself devoted to the apostolica] see. The
partisans of Eudolph fiercely reproached him with hindering, by
this ambiguous conduct, the decision of a quarrel, into which
they at least had suffered themselves to be drawn in obedience to
the papal see, when on the other hand, by a distinct declaration,
he could bring the matter to an end. But Gregory was not
moved by this language to depart from his plan. He exhorted
the Germans to fidelity, and testified his firmness by declaring
himself resolved to abide unswervingly by the principles on which
he had always acted, without regarding the voice of the multi
tude, by which king Henry was defended and he himself accused
of harshness towards that prince.2 When, however, in the year
1080, the weapons of Eudolph met with continual success, the
pope finally, at a Eoman synod, passed the definitive sentence.
He pronounced anew the ban on king Henry, because by his
means the assembly in Germany had been prevented from meet
ing, and he recognized Eudolph as emperor, sending him a crown,
inscribed with a motto in correspondence with the principles of
his consistent theocratical system, claiming to himself, as Peter's
successor, full power and authority to decide the contest concern-
the election of an emperor in Germany.3 But at the same time
he gave him also to understand, that he should not yield an iota
of the law against investiture.
1 Ep. 119 in Cod. Babenberg, Eccard. t. ii., f. 151.
2 Mansi Consil. vii. 3. Quotquot Latini sunt, omnes causam Henrici praeter admo.
dum paucos laudant ac defendunt et pernimiae duritiae ac impietatis circa eum me
redarguunt. 3 Inscription : " Petra dedit Petro, Petrus diadema Rudolpho." Plank, in his history
of the papacy (ii., 1. p. 198) says, certainly with injustice : " The pope, in this inscrip
tion, probably did not have half so much in his thoughts, as was attributed to him in the
issue." >What we have said above concerning the principles of this pope, as they are
made known to us in his letters, as well as what we know concerning the system of the
entire party, proves, beyond question, that Gregory had actually in his mind all that
these words literally contain.

GREGORY DEPOSED. 150
It was now, however, for the first time, that Gregory's firm
ness was really to be put to the test; for as, in this same year,
duke Eudolph lost his life in a battle on the Elster, although
again victorious, so Henry saw himself no longer prevented from
directing his course again to Italy. After sentence of deposition
had already been passed, at a previous council of Mentz, by a
small number of bishops of Henry's party, on Gregory the Se
venth, the same thing was repeated by a more numerous assem
bly, held at Brixen, of those dissatisfied with the Hildebran-
diau principles of government from Italy and Germany. Charac
teristic of the spirit of this assembly, are some of the charges
brought against Gregory ; that he boasted of being favoured with
divine revelations, of possessing the gift of prophecy, that he was
given to the interpretation of dreams, that he was a disciple of
Berengar.1 One of Gregory's opponents, Guibert, archbishop of
Eavenna, was chosen pope, under the name of Clement the Third.
But this arbitrary proceeding appeared too much like a political
movement to have the least influence on men's religious con
victions. The free-minded bishop Dieteric of Verdun, rendered
famous by his fidelity to king Henry, had been induced to take
a part in these proceedings of the above-mentioned assembly at
Mentz ; but he soon repented of it, his conscience reproaching
him for this step. He suddenly and in a secret manner forsook
the assembly, and felt impelled to seek absolution from Gregory
the Seventh, whom he recognized as the lawful pope/
King Henry himself felt a want of confidence in his cause. He
gladly offered his hand for peace, and declared himself ready, be
fore penetrating farther with his army into Italy, to enter into
negotiations for that purpose with the pope. But the latter
showed no disposition to yield anything, though his friends re
presented to him that all would go over to the side of the king
in Italy, and that no help was to be expected from Germany.
1 Catholicam atque apostolicam fidem de corpore et sanguine in quaestionem pouen-
tem, haeretici Berengarii antiquum discipulum, divinationum et somniorumcultorem.
2 He writes about his participation in the above-mentioned convention: Multipliciter
coactus sum ibi agere contra ordinem, cautra salutem meam, imo contra dignitatem ec-
clesiasticam, abrenuntiavi sedenti in sede apostolica, et hoc sine ratione aliqua, cum
praesens non audiretur, auditus discuteretur, discussus convinceretur. Abrenuntiavi
illi, cui in examine meae ordinationis professus fueram obedientiam, cui subjectionem
pollicitus eram, cui post b. Petrum suscepto regimine mihi commissae ecclesiae com -
missus fueram.

160 Gregory's conduct after the death of rudolph.
He replied that for himself it was not so very great a thing to be
left destitute of all help from men.i He exhorted the Germans
not to be in haste about the election of a new emperor after the
death of Eudolph. He prescribed to the new king, without tak
ing any notice of his own perilous situation, in an imperative
tone, a form of oath drawn up in accordance with his theocratic
system, whereby the king was to promise that he would faithfully
observe, as became a genuine Christian, all that the pope should
command in the name of true obedience,2 and consecrate himself,
as soon as he should have an opportunity of meeting him in per
son, a miles sancti Petri et illius.
It is deserving of notice that the pope, who had shown so
much strictness in his judicial sentences against married priests,
now yielded on this point, for the moment, to the force of cir
cumstances ; that because Henry's party gained an advantage
from the prevailing dissatisfaction with the laws respecting celi
bacy, and because the deficiency of ecclesiastics who would have
been competent, according to the rigid construction of those
earlier laws respecting celibacy, to administer the sacraments,
was too great, he deemed it best to recommend to his legates the
exercise of indulgence in this matter till more quiet times.3
The same inflexibility which Gregory opposed to king Henry
when that monarch was pressing towards Eome, he still main
tained, when besieged during two years in Eome itself. No force
could move him to enter into negotiations with the king, with
whom, if he had been willing to crown him emperor, he might
have concluded an advantageous peace. He despised the threats
of the Eomans. He chose rather, as he declared, to die as a
martyr, than to swerve in the least from the strict line of jus
tice.4 At length, in the year 1084, the Eomans, tired of the siege,
1 Quod (auxilium) si nobis, qui illius superbiam parvi pendimus, deficiat, non adeo
grave videtur. Mansi Concil. ix. 3.
2 Quodcunque mihi ipse papa praeceperit, sub his videlicet verbis, per veram obedien-
tiam, fideliter, sicut oportet Cbristianum, observabo.
3 Lib. ix. ep. 8. Quod vero de sacerdotibus interrogastis, placet nobis, ut in praeseu-
tiarum tum propter populorum turbatioues, tum etiam propter bonorum inopiam, scilicet
quia paucissimi sunt, qui fidelibus officia religionis persolvant, pro tempore rigorem ca-
noni um temperando debeatis suffere.
4 Lib. ix, ep. 11.

LAST DAYS OF GREGORY'S LIFE. HIS DEATH. 161
and discontented with the defiance of the pope, opened their
gates to king Henry, and received him with demonstrations of
joy, which he announced to his friends in Germany as a triumph
bestowed by God himself.1 Gregory was obliged to retreat into
the castle of St Angelo (domum Crescentii.) The emperor gave
orders for convoking a numerous public assembly, in which the
sentence of deposition on Gregory and the election of Clement
were confirmed.11 At the Easter festival the new pope Clement
consecrated Henry emperor, and the latter soon departed from
Eome. By the Norman duke, Eobert Guiscard, Gregory was at
length liberated from his confinement, and repaired to Cremona,
where he soon after died, on the 25th of May, 1085. His last
words are supposed to furnish evidence of his own conviction of
the goodness of his cause ; they were as follows : " I have loved
righteousness and hated iniquity, therefore I die in exile."3
These words harmonize at least with the conviction which Gre
gory in his letters, to the last moment of his life, expresses in
the strongest language ; and it will be much sooner believed
that he sealed the consistency of his life with such words than
that he testified on his deathbed, as another account reports/
his repentance at the controversy which he had excited, and re
called the sentence he had pronounced on his adversaries. At
all events, we recognize in these two opposite accounts the mode
of thinking which prevailed in the two hostile parties.
Under the name of this pope we have a number of brief
maxims relating to the laws and government of the church,

1 Thus the emperor writes from Rome to Dieteric, bishop of Verdun : Incredibile vi
detur, quod verissimum probatur, quod factum est in Roma, ut ita dicam, cum decern
hominibus in nobis operatus est Dominus, quod antecessores nostri si fecissent cum
decern millibus, miraculum esset omnibus.
2 The emperor writes, in the above-cited letter, after his departure from Rome : (Ro
mani) summo triumpbo et fide prosequuti sunt nos, in tantum ut in Domino fiducialiter
dicamus, quia tota Roma in manu nostra est, excepto illo casteiio, in quo conclusus est
Hildebrand, scilicet in domo Crescentii. Quem Hildebrandum legali omnium cardina-
lium (which ceriainly is exaggerated)' ac totius populi Romani judicio scias abjectum
et electum papam nostrum Clementem in sede apostolica sublimatum omnium Romano
rum acclamatione, nosque a papa Clemente ordinatum et consensu omnium Romano
rum consecratum in die s. Paschae in imperatorem totius populi Romani. Gesta Tre-
virorum ed. Wyttenbach et Mueller. Vol. i. p. 164, 1836.
3 Dilexi justitiam et odi iniquitatem, propterea morior in exilio.
* By Sigebert of Gemblours ad h. a. »
VOL. VII. L

162 PHILIP THE FIRST REPUDIATES HIS Q.UEEN.
called his dictates (dictatus.) Although these maxims did not
by any means proceed from himself, still, they contain the prin
ciples which he sought to realize in his government of the church,
the principles of papal absolutism — signalizing that new epoch
in the history of the papacy which is to be attributed to him as
the author, whereby everything was made to depend on the de
cision ofthe pope, and the jurisdiction over emperors and kings,
as over all the presiding officers of the church, was placed in his
hands. Most of these maxims may be confirmed by passages
from his letters.
A contest like that between the emperor Henry and Gregory
the Seventh, could not be brought to a termination by the death
of the latter ; for although the quarrel had at length become a
personal one, still there ever lay at bottom withal, a conflict of
opposite party tendencies and interests. Gregory was the hero
and the saint of the party zealous for the system of the church
theocracy. His death in misfortune appeared to that party a
martyrdom for the holy cause.1 He had, moreover, for his suc
cessors, men whom he himself would have selected as like-minded
with himself, and as persons of ability. After the first of these,
Victor the Third (Gregory's enthusiastic admirer the abbot De
siderius of Monte Cassino), had died, a.d. 1087, Otto, bishop of
Ostia, was chosen pope under the name of Urban the Second.
Though Urban was obliged to yield to the imperial party, which
made their own pope, Clement, sovereign in Eome ; still, events
by which public opinion was gradually gained over to his side,
were in his favour, so that, even when banished from the seat of
the papacy, he was still enabled to exercise the most powerful
influence. He could resume the position of a judge over princes ;
and the cause in which he did so, was one where the pope could
not fail to appear as the upholder of the authority of the divine
law, and of the sacredness of the marriage covenant ; and the
light in which he here exhibited himself, was necessarily reflected,
greatly to his own advantage, on the whole relation in which he
stood to his age. Philip, king of France, a prince accustomed to
give free indulgence to his passions, in the year 1092, repudiated
1 Thus the abbot and cardinal Gottfried of Vend6me, in speaking of the opposition to
lay investiture, says of Gregory tbe Seventh : Qui pro defensione hujus fidei mortuus
est in exilic Ep. 7.

YVES OF CHARTRES IMPRISONED. 108
his lawful wife, Bertha, with the intention of marrying another,
Berthrade, who had left her lawful husband, the count of Anjou.
He found bisliops cowardly and mean enough to serve as the in
struments of his will. But the truly pious bishop Yves of Char
tres, a prelate distinguished for the conscientious administration
of his pastoral office, accustomed boldly to speak the truth to
princes and popes, and zealous in contending for the purity of
morals as well as the sacred tenure of the marriage covenant,1 was
of another mind. When invited to attend the king's wedding,
he declared he could not consent to do so, until, by a general as
sembly of the French church, the lawfulness of his separation
from his first wife, and of the new marriage, had undergone a fair
investigation. " Whereas, I am formally summoned to Paris with
your wife, concerning whom I know not whether she may be your
wife,"2 he wrote to the king, "therefore be assured, that for con
science' sake, which I must preserve pure in the sight of God, and
for the sake of my good name, which the priest of Christ is bound
to preserve towards those who are without, I would rather be
sunk with a mill-stone in the depths of the sea, than to be the
means of giving offence to the souls of the weak. Nor does this
stand in the least contradiction with the fidelity which I have
vowed to you ; but I believe I shall best maintain that fidelity by
speaking to you as I do ; since I am convinced that for you to do
as you propose, will bring great injury upon your soul, and great
peril to your crown." Neither by threats and violence, nor by
promises, could the pious man be turned in the least from the
course which he considered right. He vehemently reproached
those bishops who neglected their duty. The king's anger against
him had for its consequence, that, by one of the nobles, his pro
perty was confiscated, and he himself put under confinement. The
first men of the city of Chartres now combined to procure the re
lease of their bishop by force ; but he remonstrated in the strongest
language against such a proceeding." " By laying houses in
ashes, and plundering the poor," he wrote to them, " ye cannot
propitiate God's favour, but will only provoke his vengeance ; and
without his favour neither can ye nor any man deliver me. I
1 See e. g. his letters, ed. Paris, 1610, ep. 5.
2 Ep. 15.
3 Ep. 20.
L 2

164 FIRMNESS OF YVES.
would not, therefore, that on my account ye should make the cry
of the poor and the complaint of widows go up to God's ear. For
neither is it befitting that I, who did not attain to the bishopric
by warlike weapons, should recover it again by such means, which
would not be the act of a shepherd, but of a robber. If the arm
of the Lord has stricken me, and is still stretched out over me,
then let me alone to bear my sorrow and the anger of the Lord,
till he vindicates my cause ; and wish not to augment my misery
by making others wretched. For I am determined not only to
suffer incarceration or the deprivation of my ecclesiastical rank,
but even to die, rather than that on my account one drop of blood
should be spilt." He called upon laity and clergy, instead of at
tempting to effect his liberation by such means, simply to pray
for him ; for prayer had procured the deliverance of Peter, Acts
xii. The king caused bishop Yves to be informed that he would
forbear doing him a great harm, and on the other hand bestow
on him great favours, if, by his intercession, he would obtain leave
for him to retain Berthrade a short time longer ; but Yves re
pelled the proposition with horror, saying, that neither bribes nor
deception could blot out any man's sin, while he resolved to per
sist in -it.1 He who resolved to persist in sin, could not redeem
himself from its guilt by alms or gifts.2 There was no help for
the king, except by abstaining from his sin, and submitting
himself by repentance to the yoke of Christ ; for God did not re
quire men's possessions but themselves as an offering in order to
their salvation.3 While Yves rejected all forcible, he employed
every lawful means which the existing constitution of the
church put into his hands, to procure victory to the side of the
righteous cause. He applied to pope Urban the Second, and
was strongly supported by him. This pontiff addressed a
severe letter of reproof to the French bishops who had suf
fered themselves to be used as mere instruments of the king's
pleasure, and threatened the king with the ban, if he did not
separate from Berthrade. He demanded, under the same threat,
t Ep. 47.
2 He writes to the Marshal of the royal court ( Dapifer) : Ex auctoritate divina hoc
caritati tuae rescribo, quia nulla redemptione vel commutatione quis peccatum suum
poterit abolere, quamdiu vult in eo permanere. Nemo in peccato suo perdurare volens
peccatum suum poterit aliqua eleemosyna vel oblatioue redimere.
3 Cum Deus non nostra, sed nos ad salutem nostram reqnirat.

BAN ON PHILIP THE FIRST. 165
the liberation of Yves. This demand was complied with ;
but the might of papal authority still could not do the work
thoroughly. A council, which assembled at Eheims in 1094,
once more allowed itself to be determined by its dependence on
the king, and cited bishop Yves, who was animated by a different
spirit, before its tribunal, to answer to the charge of high trea
son and of violating his oath of allegiance to the king. Yves
protested against the competency of this tribunal, and appealed
to the pope ; and in a letter relating to this matter,i he said,
" The charge of high treason fell with more justice upon those
who by their treacherous compliance had done the king most
harm, who had shrunk from applying sharper remedies for heal
ing the wound, when milder ones were unavailing."2 " If you
had, with me, held fast to this principle," he writes to them,
" you would have already restored our patient to health. Con
sider whether, so long as you neglect to do this, you evince that
perfect fidelity to the king which you are bound to show ; whe
ther you rightly discharge the duty of your calling. Let the
king, then," concluded this pious man, in a truly apostolical
spirit, " do towards me what, under God's permission, he may
please, and be able to do. Let him shut me up, or shut me out,
and deprive me of the protection of the law. By the inspiration
and under the guidance of the grace of God, have I resolved to
suffer for the law of my God ; and no consideration shall induce
me to participate in the guilt of those, in whose punishment I
would not share also." In the very same year the pope's threat
was executed on the king. At a council in Autun, a.d. 1094,
the archbishop Hugo of Lyons, as papal legate, actually pro
nounced the ban on the king, and not till the latter submitted
and made professions of amendment8 did the pope remove the
1 Ep. 35.
2 Quod, ut pace vestra dicam, recti us in eos recorqueri potest, qui vulnus fomentis
incurabile, tanquam pii medicii cauteriis compeLentibus dissimulant urerevel medicinali
ferro praecidere.
3 Yves warned the pope (ep. 46) not to let himself be deceived by the envoys ofthe
king, and induced to grant bim absolution. It was intended to alarm the pope by the
threat, that the king, if he were not pronounced free from the ban, would go over to the
pope ofthe imperial party. Yves wrote him : What hope of sinning with impunity will
be given hereafter to transgressors, if forgiveness is granted to the impenitent, is a
point on which I need not detain your wisdom, since it is especially your business not
to protect sinners but lo punish ihem.

166 CAUSES OF THE FIRST CRUSADE.
ban, which, however, on finding that he had been deceived, he
pronounced anew, at the council Of Clermont.
Meantime, there had been developing itself, among the West
ern nations, a great movement, which beyond every other could
not fail so to operate as to increase the authority of the pope
f nd exalt his dignity ; for he was called to place himself at the
head of a vast undertaking which grew out of and was conse
crated to the religious interest, which was seized with mighty
enthusiasm by the nations, and for which vast forces were leagued
together. This was an event upon which Urban could not have
made any previous calculation, — a long-prepared event, and hast
ened to its crisis by a circumstance in itself insignificant. Al
ready had Silvester the Second,1 and Gregory the Seventh,2
broached the idea of an expedition of Western Christendom for
the liberation of their fellow-believers in the East, and for the
recovery of the holy places : but the minds of men were not as
yet quite ripe for such a thought. There was need, in the first
place, ofa gradual preparation. Pope Victor the Third issued,
in the year 1086, an invitation for a crusade to be undertaken
under the banner of St Peter, against the Saracens in North
Africa, and promised to all who should take part in it a plenary
indulgence. After this, came pilgrims from the East, with most
distressing accounts of the insults and ill-treatment which Chris
tians had to suffer from the rude Mohammedans, and of the
manifold profanations of the holy places. Among these pilgrims,
one deserves particularly to be mentioned, the hermit Peter of
Amiens (Ambianensis.) This individual believed himself di
vinely called, by visions in which Christ appeared to him, to
invoke the assistance of Western Christians in recovering the
holy places and the original seats of Christianity ; and he brought
with him a letter of complaint, calling for help, written by the
patriarch of Jerusalem. He first sought an interview with pope
Urban ; and that pope was himself deeply affected, as well by
the personal narrative of the monk, as by the letter of which he
was the bearer. He commissioned monk Peter to travel through
the countries, and, testifying before high and low to the scenes
he had witnessed, call upon them to go to the rescue of the East,
1 See vol. vi., p. 140. 2 See this volume, p. 139.

CAUSES OF THE CRUSADE. 167
now groaning under so heavy a yoke, and of the Holy Sepulchre.
Peter the Hermit was a person of small stature and ungainly
shape ; but the fire of his eloquence, the strong faith and the
enthusiasm which furnished him with a copious flow of language,
made a greater impression in proportion to the weakness of the
instrument. It is to be remarked as a peculiar trait in the life
of these times, that men of mean outward appearance, and with
bodily frames worn down by deprivation, were enabled by a fiery
energy of discourse to produce the greatest effects. In a monkish
cowl, and a woollen gown or cloak over it, this Peter itinerated
the countries, barefoot, and riding on a mule. Immense crowds
of people gathered round him ; he was loaded with presents ; and
from these he bountifully distributed to the poor. His words
were received as the utterances of an oracle ; and he made many
a good use of the high influence he enjoyed. By his exhortations,
he wrought a change of character in abandoned women, for whom
he procured husbands, and then bestowed on them a dowry. He
reconciled contending parties to one another. He was venerated
as a saint ; men were eager to obtain from him something in
the shape of a relic ; were it but a hair from his mule. A con
temporary and eye-witness, who relates this, the abbot Guibert
of Nogent sous Coucy (Guibertus Novigentensis),1 says, that
he does not remember having ever witnessed the like venera
tion paid to any man. But he looks upon it as the effect which
the charm of novelty exercises on the minds of the multitude.2
Thus, by the labours of this individual, were the minds of men
already prepared, when Urban, in the year 1095, held the church
assembly at Piacenza, at which he first brought this matter
forward. The assembly was so numerous that no church could
contain it, and they were obliged to hold their sessions in the open
air.° At Clermont, in Auvergne, an assembly of men, of both the
1 In his Historia Hierosolymitana apud Bongars Gesta Dei per Francos, f. 482.
2 Quod nos non ad veritatem, sed vulgo referimus amanti novitatem.
3 Bernold of Constance, who relates this in his Chronicle, endeavours to show by
examples that this was nothing unbecoming: Hoc tamen non absque probabilis exempli
aucioritate, nam primus legislator Moses populum Dei in eampestribus legalibus prae-
ceptis Deo jubente instituit, et ipse Dominus non in domibus, sed in monte et in eam
pestribus discipulos suos evangelicis institutis informavit. Missas quoque nonnunqoam
extra ecclesiam satis probabiliter, necessitate quidem cogente, celebramus, quamvis
ecclesias earum celebrationi specialiter deputatas non ignoramus.

168 URBAN THE SECOND INVITES MEN TO JOIN THE CRUSADES
spiritual and secular order, was afterwards holden, which was
composed of still greater numbers, because it was known before
hand that this matter, which took such hold on the universal in
terest and sympathy, was to be the subject of discussion. The
pope, in a fiery discourse, described the importance of the city of
Jerusalem in its bearing on the Christian faith, the insults and
abuse which the residents of the place and the Christians sojourn
ing there as pilgrims were obliged to suffer. Next, he invited
the assembly to be zealous for the law and glory of God, and
impelled by the love of Christ to grasp the sword, and turn the
weapons which they had hitherto borne against Christians, and
which they had stained with Christian blood, against the enemies
of the Christian faith. The time was now come when, by parti
cipating in this holy work, they might atone for so many sins,
robbery, and murder, and obtain forgiveness of all.1 He announced
the fullest indulgence to all who, in the temper of true repentance
and devotion, would take part in this expedition. He promised
forgiveness of sin and eternal salvation to all who should die in
Palestine in true penitence, and he took all participators in this
expedition under his own papal protection. This discourse of the
pope produced a great effect on the already excited minds of men ;
and after the example of Ademar, bishop of Puy, to whom the
pope gave the guidance of the whole, many, on the spot, marked
their right shoulder with the sign of the cross, as the symbol of
the holy expedition, indicating their readiness to take upon them
the cross of Christ, and follow him.
From this council, and from the impression which the itinerant
monk Peter made 011 the multitude, proceeded an uninterruptedly
progressive enthusiasm of the nations. It was like a voice of God
to a generation given up to unrestrained passion and wild desires,
amidst the mutual feuds and violent deeds of princes and knights,
amidst the corruption which was only increased by that quarrel
between pope and emperor — a mighty religious shock — a new di
rection given to the imagination and to the feelings of men. So this
fire poured out upon the nations, with which was mingled some
portion at least of a holier flame, became one which, as it tended
1 It is a well known fact that we have several recensions of this discourse and no
verbally accurate record of it, so that we can only give with certainty the general
thoughts.

AMALGAMATION OF MONASTICISM AND KNIGHTHOOD. 169
to counteract the hitherto prevailing rudeness of the fleshly sense,
was considered, even by the pious and intelligent men of this age,
a refining fire.1 It needed no exhortations from the clergy; men
mutually stimulated one another; there was a mutual emulation.
People of every class, of all ages, from nations the most diverse,
hastened to the appointed spot. Everything required for the
journey was quickly collected together; though owing to bad
seasons provisions had become dear, yet of a sudden there was a
fall in the market, because all vied with each other in contribut
ing as they were able to promote the holy enterprise, as they also
recognized in the abundance of the following year a special provi
dence of God for the promotion ofthe crusade.2 Thus the extraor
dinary movement of mind produced by the preaching ofthe crusade,
owing to which that which seemed impossible was made possible,
appeared to contemporaries as a work of God not to be mistaken.3
Yet the unprejudiced, even amongst them, were obliged to confess,
that it was by no means the pure enthusiasm for a work undertaken
in the interest of Christian faith, which hurried all to take part in
it, but that a great variety of motives mixed in with this. Some
had been awakened by this call, out of a life stained with vices,
to repentance, and sought by joining the crusade to obtain the
forgiveness of their sins. While many, at other times, were led
by a sudden awakening to repentance from a life of crime to
embrace monasticism, there was now opened to them, in this
enterprise, a more convenient way, and one more flattering to
their inclinations. They might continue their accustomed mode
1 So says Guibert of Novigento, 1. i., iuit. : Quoniam omnium animis pia desinit in-
tentio et habendi cunctorum pervasit corda libido, instituit nostro tempore proelia sancta
Dens, ut ordo equestris et vulgus oberrans, qui vetnstae paganitatis exemplo in mutuas
versabantur caedes, novum reperirent salatis promerendae genus. — And William of
Tyre : Necessarius erat hie ignis purgatorius, quo praeterita, quae nimia erant, dilueren-
tur commissa et occupatio ista utilis, qua declinarentur futura.
2 Fulcher of Chartres, on the year which followed upon the council of Clermont : Quo
anno pax et ingens abundantia Irumenti et vini per cuncta terrarum climata exuberavit,
disponente Deo, ne panis inopia in via deficerent, qui cum crucibus suisjnxta ejusdem
praecepta eum sequi elegerant. In Bongars, 1. c. f. 384.
3 The men who looked upon this great movement of the nations as a work of God,
still do not fail to mark the disturbing elements of vanity, self deception, or intentional
fraud. Thus the abbot Balderic, afterwards bishop of Dole, after having cited examples
of this sort in his Histori.i Hierosolymitana, adds : Haec idcirco instruimus, ne vel
aliquid praeteriisse vidi amur, vol nostralibns in vanHatibns suis pepercisse redr.rguamur.
Bongars Gesta Dei per Franco's, t. i., f. 89. 3

170 PRETENDED MIRACLES AND PIOUS FRAUDS..
of life as knights, and still obtain indulgence or the forgiveness
of sin. Others meditated escaping in this way the civil punish
ments which threatened them, or delivering themselves from the
oppressive burden of debt. Others were hurried along by the
force of example and ofthe fashion. 1
If the religious awakening produced by the preaching of the
crusades took such a turn with many as that, to speak in the
language of those times, they preferred the pilgrimage to the
heavenly Jerusalem, through the contemplative life of monasti
cism, to the pilgrimage to the earthly Jerusalem, the spiritual
contest beneath the banner of the cross, to the bodily ; others,
on the contrary, rejoiced at the opportunity thus afforded them
of forsaking, to follow a holy vocation, the quiet and solitude of
monasticism, which had become irksome to them ; and even
monks believed themselves warranted to break away from their
confinement and grasp the sword ;2 till at length, from a neces
sity grounded in the life of the times, a blending together of
monasticism and knighthood afterwards shaped itself into the
spiritual order of knights. Under this prevailing tone of excited
feeling, men were easily disposed to fancy they saw miracles, and
stories of miraculous works, wrought for the furtherance of the
holy object, easily found credence, and were made the most of
to promote the same, on the principle of the so-called pious
fraud. Men and women stood forth from among the people, and
pretended that a cross had been miraculously stamped on their
bodies.* Many branded this sign upon their persons with a hot
1 William of Tyre, says, in Bongars, f. 611: Nee tamen apud omnes iu causa erat
Dominus, sed quidam, ne amicos disererent, quidam ne desides haberentur, quidam sola
levitatis causa aut ut creditoris suos, quibus multorum debitorum pondere tenebantur
obligati, dec.linantes eluderent. aliis se adjungebant.
2 Bernold of Constance attributes to this cause the misfortunes of a body of tlie first
crusaders : Non erat autem rairum, quod propositum iter ad Hierosolymam explere non
potuerunt, quia non tali humilitate et devotione, ut debere nt, illud iter ailorti sint.
Nam et plures apostatus in comitatu suo habuerunt, qui abjecto religionis habitu, cum
illis militare proposuerunt. L. c. p 171.— And another contemporary, Balderic. sLates,
in his Historia Hierosolymitana : Multi eremitae et reclusi et monachi, domiciliis suis
non satis sapienter relictis, ire viam perrexerunt, quidam autem orationis gratia ab ab -
batibus suis accepta licentia profecti sunt, plures autem fugiendo se subduxerunt. Bon-
gais Gesta Dei per Francos, t. i. f. 89
3 In the appendix to Balderic's Chronicle, ed. Le Glay, p. 373 : Portenta et signa in
coelo se videre multi nsserebaut.
i Multi de gente plebeja crucem sibi divinitus innatam jactando ostentabant, quod et

PRETENDED MIRACLES AND TIOUS FRAUDS. 171
iron, whether from zeal for the holy cause, or purely out of vanity. i
In the beginning of these movements, an abbot was living in
France who found himself unable, for want of means, to join the
expedition. To obtain these, instead of mounting the cross in
the usual manner, he made one, by some artificial process or other,
on his forehead, and then proclaimed among the people, that this
mark came from an angel who had appeared to him in a vision.
This story was easily believed by the people." Many rich pre
sents were bestowed on him ; he was enabled to accomplish his
purpose, and afterwards became archbishop of Caesarea in Pales
tine. In the latter part of his life he confessed the fraud, which
was forgiven him on account of his pious motives, though doubt
less there were some few who disapproved of this dishonesty.3
It is no matter of wonder that many who, in consequence of a
momentary paroxysm of contrition, engaged in this expedition,
hoping to find in it the forgiveness of their sins, should suffer
themselves to be so far misled by their false confidence as to let
down the watch over themselves, and thus to be drawn into vari
ous excesses, for which the expedition and the climate furnished
but too strong temptations.4 But there were also to be found
examples of genuine Christian faith : captives who gave up their
lives rather than deny their faith. A knight who had been dis
tinguished from his youth for a life of piety, strict morality, and
active benevolence, was taken prisoner by the Saracens, and his
life spared on condition of adjuring the faith. He begged that he
might be allowed time for reflection till the next Friday. When
Friday came, he declared, that far from him was the desire of
gaining a few days' respite for his earthly life ; he had only
wished to give it up on that day when his Saviour had offered
his for the salvation of all.s
idem quaedam ex mulierculis praesumserunt, hoc enim falsum deprehensum est omnino.
Baldric, histor. Hieros.l. c.
1 Tbe Balderic, just before mentioned, who relates this, says: Vol peste jactantiae
vel bonae suae voluntatis ostentations.
2 Indocile et novarum rerum cupidum vulgus, says Guibert, 1. ,-,. t. 007.
3 Guibert calls it an aeraulatio Dei, sed non secundum scientiam.
* Bernold says, in tbe place before cited: Sed et innumerabiles feminas secum ha
bere non timuerunt, quae uaturalem habitum in virilem nefarie mutaverunt, cum qui-
bus fornicati sunt, in quo Deum mirabiliter, sicut Israeliticus populus quondam, ofton-
derunt. 5 See Guibert, I. c. f.008. 2

172 URBAN'S CONFINED POSITION IN ROME.
The spirit which gave birth to these popular expeditions in the
name of the Christian faith, -was no other than that which had
stamped itself in the system of the papal theocracy ; and hence
the enthusiasm attending the former would necessarily give a
stronger impulse to this spiritual tendency ; and the light in
which Urban appeared as the leader of a popular enterprise
generally regarded as the work of God, could have no other effect
than to establish his papal authority. What was it in the power
of Guibert to do, who, supported by the forces of the emperor,
ruled in Eome, in opposition to such a moral force of public senti
ment as Urban had on his side ? It was not till near the close
of the year 1093, that the latter returned to Eome. The papal
palace (the Lateran) and the castle of St Angelo, were still in the
hands ofthe other party ; and Urban Was obliged to take shel
ter in the castle of Frangipani, a Eoman devoted to his service.
His party did not venture as yet to come forth openly in Eome,
and his friends from a distance visited him clandestinely. The
abbot Gottfried of Vendome, a man ardently devoted to Hilde-
brandian principles, who had just entered upon his office, found
the pope in circumstances of great distress and overwhelmed with
debt. The governor ofthe Lateran palace, who served the party
of Guibert, offered, it is true, for a stipulated sum of money, to
give up the palace ; but Urban, with his cardinals and bishops,
was unable to raise the amount. The zealous Gottfried of Ven
dome staked all his possessions to procure the sum required, and
thus Urban was finally enabled to take possession of the palace
which had so long been in the hands of the other party.1
1 Tbis abbot notices bis services in the cause, in a letter to the successor of this
pope, i. 8. Quasi alter Nicodemus in domuui praedicti Joannis (Fricapanis) nocte veni :
ubi eum paene omnibus temporalibus bonis nudatum et alieno acre nimis oppressum
inveni. Ibi per quadragesimam manBi cum illo, ejus onera, quantum potui, caritatis
humeris supportavi. Quiudecim vero diebus ante Pascha Ferruchius, quem Lateran-
ensis Palatii custodem Guibertus bcerat, per internuncios locutus est cum Domino
Papa, quaerens nb eo peeuniam, et ipse redderet illi turrim et donium illam. Unde
Dominus Papa cum Episcopis et Cardinalibus, qui secum erant, locutus, ab ipsis pe
euniam quaesivit, sed modicum quid apud ipsos, quoniam perseeutione et paupertate
simul premebantur, io venire potuit. Quem ego quum non solum tristem, verum etiam
prae nimia angustia lacrimantem conspexissem, coepi et ipse Here et flens accessi ad
eum dicens, ut securo iniret pactum; ibi aurum et argentum, nummos, mulos et equos
expendi, et sic Lateranense habuimus et intravimus palatium. Ubi ego primus oscuhi-
tus sum Domini Papae pedem, in sede videlicet apostolica, ubi longe ante calholicus
non sedcrat Papa.

CLEMENT DIES. TRIUMPH OF HENRY THE FOURTH. 173
Having accomplished such great things during his absence from
the city, Urban, in the year 1096,1 marched in a sort of triumph
to Italy and Eome, escorted by troops of crusaders, full of enthu
siasm for their cause, who had him pronounce a blessing on their
undertaking. Thus he obtained the victory over the party of Gui
bert, though in Eome it still continued to maintain its authority.2
And the pope, before so poor, now possessed wealth enough to
wrest from the party of Guibert their last prop in Eome, the
castle of St Angelo. He died in possession of the uncontested
supremacy, in the year 1099, after he had pronounced in a council
the ban on his adversaries. In the following year, died Clement,
and it deserves to be noticed that his adherents resorted to the
common expedient of miraculous stories, hoping by their means
to uphold his authority, and to procure a saint for the party of
Henry.3 Henry the Fourth, gradually sobered by his misfortunes,
persevered until his death in maintaining the quarrel with the
pope, and the latter might naturally enough be disposed to sanc
tion any means to bring about his destruction, — even encourage
the rebellion of the sons against their father,4 provoke the shed
ding of blood, and palliate assassination.5 The popes, who were
1 In Longobardiam cum magno triumpho et gloria repelavit, says Bernold.
2 Otto of Freisingen, in his Work of Universal History, 1. viii., u. vi. says : Auxilio
eorum, quos ad Hierosolymitanum iter accenderat, Guibertum ab urbe excepto castro
Crescentii ejecit. Fulcber of Chartres, who was himself among these crusaders, who
then came to Rome, relates how they were disturbed in their devotional exercises in the
church of St Peter, by the violent acts of Guibert's partisans ; and it may easily be con
ceived, that retaliation would be provoked on the other side, and bloody scenes ensue, in
which the crusaders must have conquered, being the majority. Yet from Fulcher's ex
pressions it is not to be inferred that Guibert's party was destroyed or driven away by
the sword of the crusaders, but rather the contrary; for he says: Satis proinde doluimus,
cnm tantam nequitiam ibi fieri vidimus, sed nil aliud facere potuimus, nisi quod a Do
mino vindictam inde fieri oplavimus.
3 See a report of this sort, Cod. Bamb. in Eccard. script, rer. Germ, ii., c. 173, f. 194.
i Those who were blinded by tbe hierarchical spirit looked upon the rebellion of the
sons against their father as a punishment brought on him for having rebelled against
bis spiritual father.
5 Men did not venture, it is true, to pronounce free from all blame those who were
moved by their fanaticism to shed the blood of persons excommunicated. They were to
submit to a church penance ; still, however, their crime was not looked upon as properly
murder. It is singular to observe the self-contradictory manner in which pope Urban
the Second expresses himself on a case of this sort, when calling upon bishop Gott
fried of Lucca, to require of the assassins of the excommunicated, according to the
custom of the Romish church, suitable satisfaction. Non enim eos homicidas arbitramur,
quos adversus excommunicatos zelo catholicae matris ardentes eorum quoslibet truci-

174 CRUSADERS IN FAVOUR OF THE PAPAL INTEREST.
ready to oppose the fanaticism of the crusaders, when it would
vent itself on the defenceless Jews, with admonitions in a ge
nuinely Christian spirit, felt no scruples, when blinded themselves
by a fanatical party-interest, in employing the same instrument
against the enemies of their papal authority, who appeared to
them as rebels against the church, and enemies of God. When
the emperor Henry, forsaken on all other sides, still had faithful
adherents in the dioceses of Liege and Cambray, pope Paschalis
the Second turned against them the zeal of count Eobert of
Flanders, who, in the year 1099, returned from the first crusade, in
which he had acted a prominent part. He exhorted him to per
secute Henry, that head of the heretics, and all his friends, to the
utmost extent of his power. He did not shrink from so abusing
the name of God, as to write to him, that he could not offer to
God a more acceptable sacrifice, than that of carrying war against
him, who had rebelled against God, and sought to rob the church
of its sovereignty. " By such battles," said he, in laying down
to Eobert and his knights the mode of obtaining forgiveness of
sin, " they should obtain a place in the heavenly Jerusalem.''
But while even bishops of true piety, as Bishop Otto of Bamberg
the apostle of the Pommeranians, through their entanglement in
a false system, so disregarded all other human feelings and duties,
could let themselves be so far misled, as to deny their obligations
of fidelity and gratitude to the emperor Henry, and to sanction
wickedness ; still, the Christian sense of truth asserted its rights
in opposition to the clamours of fanaticism and party-passion.
This was seen in the vote of the church of Liege,1 whose organ
was the free-minded, erudite monk Sigebert of Gemblours, who in
his Chronicle, where he refutes the letter addressed by pope
Gregory the Seventh to Hermann bishop of Metz, stood forth as
a bold and energetic opponent of the Hildebrandian system.2
dasse contigerit. Yet, in order to preserve the purity of church discipline, a suitable
penance should be prescribed for them : qua divinae simplicitatis oculos adversus se com*
placere valent, si forte quid duplicitatis pro humana fragilitate in eodem ftagiiio con-
traxerunt. Mansi Concil. xx., f. 713.
l See the epistola Leodiensium adversus Pasch. in Harduin. Cone. t. vi„ p. ii., f.
1770. 2 See concerning this person, the Commentatio recently composed by a promising
young historian, Dr Hirsch. Sigebert designates himself as the author of that remark
able letter near tho close of his tract, De scriptoribus ecclesiasticis, where he speaks of
himself. See Bibliotheca ecclesiastica ed. Fabric, f. 114.

LETTER OF THE CLERGY OF LIEGE TO PASCHALIS. 175
The clergy of Liege objected to the pope, that he had exchanged
the spiritual for the secular sword. " If our respect for the apos
tolical dignity may allow us to say it," they wrote to him, " we
would say, the pope was asleep, and his counsellors were asleep,
when they suffered the publication of such a mandate for the de
vastation ofthe communities of God. We pray him to consider
whether he leads a beloved son in the right way, when he pro
mises him an entrance into the heavenly Jerusalem by attacking
and desolating the church of God. Whence this new example,
that he who is called to be a messenger of peace should by his
oivn mouth, and another's hand, declare war against the church %
The laws of the church allow even clergymen to take up arms in
defence of the city and church against barbarians and God's
enemies. But nowhere do we read, that, by any ecclesiastical
authority, war has been proclaimed against the churcli. Jesus,
the apostles, and the apostolical men proclaim peace. They pu
nished the erring with all patience and admonition. The dis
obedient, Paul bids us to punish severely. And how this should
be done, Christ tells us, 'Let him be to thee as an heathen man
and a publican ;' and this is a worse evil than if he should be
struck by the sword, consumed by the flames, or thrown before
wild beasts. He is thus more severely punished when he is left
unpunished. Who now, would superadd to God's punishment, that
of man. But why should these clergymen be excommunicated \
Is it, perhaps, because they are devoted to their bishop, and
the latter to the party of his lord the emperor ? This is the
very beginning of all evil, that Satan should have succeeded to
sow discord between the church and the empire." They would
not presume to antedate the Lord's judgment, by which the good
fruit and the tares were finally to be separated from each other.
How much of the good fruit might he pluck away who could cull
out the tares before the harvest \ A gentle hint to the pope not
to condemn prematurely. " And who can rightly censure the
bishop that holds sacred the oath of allegiance he has sworn to
his sovereign 1 How grievous a sin perjury is, those very per
sons know who have brought about the recent breach betwixt
the empire and the church ; since they promise by their new
maxims dispensation from the guilt of perjury to those who have
violated the oath of fidelity to their sovereign." They object to

176 LETTER OF THE CLERGY OF LIEGE TO PASCHALIS.
the pope, the unapostolic harshness with which he treated them.1
They maintained, indeed, that princes might be respectfully ad
monished and corrected, but that they could not be deposed by
the popes.2 They doubted, in fact, the right of the popes to
pronounce the ban on princes. The jurisdiction over them, the
King of kings, who appointed them his vicegerents on earth, had
reserved in his own hands ; a position inconsistent, to be sure,
with the position maintained by the spirit of this age, and one
by which the theocratical jurisdiction of the church, restricted by
arbitrary limitations, would have wholly lost its importance ; so
that, in the end, it could only have reached the weak, while the
powerful, the very ones on whom it might prove most salutary,
would have remained wholly untouched. They defend, against the
principles established by the popes of these times, the old eccle
siastical law, and the authority of bishops, archbishops, and pro
vincial synods ; they maintain that only on graver matters (gra-
viora negotia) a report was to be made out to Eome. But they
declared strongly against the papal legates a latere, who did no
thing but travel up and down to enrich themselves ; from which
no amendment of life proceeded, but assassination and spoliation
of the church.3 They maintained, therefore, that they did not
deserve the reproaches ofthe pope, since they had only acted ac
cording to their duty. They took no part in politics. They
1 They speak thus strongly : Eructavit cor David regis verbum bonum, evomuit cor
Domini Pascbasii vile convicium, prout vetulae et textrices faciunt. Petrus apostolus
docet : non dominantes in clero, sed forma facti gregis. Paulus apostolus ad Galatas
delinquentes ait : Filioli, quos iterum parturio in Domino. Hos igitur attendat Domi
nus Paschasius pios admonitores, non impios conviciatores.
2 Concerning the papal ban against princes : Maledictum excommunicationis, quod
ex novella traditione Hildebrandus, Odardus (Urbanus Secundus) et iste tertius indis
crete protulerunt, omnino abjicimus et priores sanctos patres usque nunc veneramur et
tenemus, qui dictante Spiritu sancto, non animi motu in majoribuset minoribus potes
tatibus graviter delinquentibus quaedam dissimulaverunt, quaedam correxerunt, qnaedam
toleraverunt, .... Si quis deniquerespectu sancti Spiritus vetus et novum testa
mentum gestaque resolverit, patenter inveniet, quod aut minime aut difficile possunt
reges aut imperatores excommunicari et adhuc sub judice lis est. Admoneri quidem
possunt, increpari, argui a timoratis, et discretis viris, quia quos Christus in terris rex
regum vice sua coustituit, damnandos et salvandos suo judicio reliquit.
3 Illos vero legatos a latere Romani episcopi exeuntes et additanda marsupia discur
rentes, omnino refutamus, sicut temporibus Zosimi, Coelestini, Bonifacii concilia
Africana probaverunt. Etenim ut a fructibus eorum cognos camus eos, non morum cor
rectio, non vitae emendatio, sed inde hominum caedes et ecclesiarum Dei proveniunt
depraedationes.

LETTER OF THE CLERGY OF LIEGE TO P ASCII A LIS. 177
never attended the assemblies of the princes, but left the deci
sion of political questions to their superiors, to whose province it
belonged. The reproach fell with more justice on popes who
were actuated by mere worldly pride. That from the time of
pope Silvester to Hildebrand false popes had been judged by
emperors, the imperial authority was of greater force than the
papal ban.1 Our Lord says : If I have spoken evil, shew it me.
Paul boldly withstood Peter. " Wherefore, then, should the Ro
man bishops not be reproved for manifest error ? He who is not
willing to be set right is a false bishop."2 They would not enter
at present into any defence of their sovereign. " But even were
he such as the pope represents, still would we let him rule over
us, since we should regard it as a judgment of God hung over us
on account of our sins. Still, we should not be authorized to lift
up the sword against him ; but prayer would be our only refuge.
Why do the popes hand down to each other as an inheritance the
war against king Henry, whom they persecute with unjust excom
munications, when they are bound to obey him as their rightful
sovereign ? To be sure, he who is excommunicated by the judg
ment of the Holy Ghost, is to be repelled from the house of God.
But who would say that when one has been excommunicated with
injustice, in respect to his cause or in respect to his person, that
such an one has been excommunicated by the judgment of the Holy
Ghost 1 Gregory the Seventh expressed the principle and applied
it in practice, that the bishop of Rome can absolve one unjustly
excommunicated by another. And if the bishop of Rome can do
this, why should not God be able to absolve one unjustly excom
municated by the pope 1 For to no one can any real injury be
done by another, if he has not first injured himself." Finally,
they speak with the greatest abhorrence of the fact, that the
pope had promised the count forgiveness of sins on such condi
tions. " What new authority is this, by which impunity for sins
1 Potius depositu spiritu praesumptionis cum suis consiliariis sollerter recolligat,
quomodo a beato Siivestro usque ad Hildebranduni sedem Romanam olitinuerint, etquot
et quanta inaudita ex illius sedis ambitione perpetrata sint, et quomodo per reges et im-
peratores definita sint, et pseudo-papae damnati et abdicati sint et ibi plus valuit virtus
imperialis, quam excommunicatio Hildebrandi, Odardi, Pasehasii.
- Ergo remoto Romanae ambitionis typho, cur de gravibus et manifestis non repre-
hendantur et corrigantur Romani episcopi? Qui reprehendi et corrigi non vult pseudo
est sive episeopus sive clericus.
VOL. VII. M

178 CHARACTER OF PASCHALIS THE SECOND.
committed, and freedom for such as are to be committed here
after, is promised to the guilty without confession and penance \
How wide hast thou thus thrown open the doors for all iniquity V
Thee, 0 mother, may God deliver from all iniquity. May Jesus
be thy door, and open to thee that door. No one enters unless
he opens. Thee, and those who are set over thee, may God de
liver from such as betray the people." (Micah i.)
Urban's successor, Paschalis the Second, also followed, it is
true, the Hildebrandian system, like his predecessors ; but he
wanted Gregory's spirit, firmness, and energy.2 He reaped the
reward of his own iniquity in countenancing the inconsiderate
rebellion of Henry the Fifth against his father ; for that prince
showed himself obedient to the pope, only so long as he stood in
need of him for the attainment of his ends. But no sooner was
he in possession of the power than he revived the old quarrel
respecting the investiture, and, after threatening at a distance,
in the year 1110 entered Italy with an army. At Sutri a treaty
was concluded between the pope and the emperor, by which
treaty the contest which had continued so long was finally to be
settled. The imperial party had, in fact, in this contest always
insisted on the principle that to Csesar must be rendered the
things of Caesar, as well as to God the things that are God's ;
that if the bishops would retain the possessions and privileges
they had received from the empire, they should fulfil the obliga
tions due to the empire for them. If they refused coming to any
such understanding, they should restore back what they had re
ceived from the empire, and be content with that which the
church originally possessed. It might with justice be said that
the church, by usurping a province not her own, but belonging
to the secular power, made herself dependent on that power; that
the bishops and abbots had been misled thereby to lose sight of
their spiritual duties in attending to secular business. The pope,
in his letter to the emperor Henry the Fifth, might not without

1 Unde ergo haec nova auctoritas, per quam reis sine confessione et poenitentia af-
fertur praeteritorum peccatorum impunitas et futurorum libertas ? Quantam fenestram
malitiae per hoc pntefecisti hominibus ?
2 Guibert of Novigentum represents him as being a weak and imperfectly- educated
man in the third book of his autobiography. He says of him: Erat minus, quam suo
competeret officio, literatus. De vita sua, 1. iii., c. iv.

TREATY BETWEEN THE POPE AND THE EMI'EROU. 179
reason complain of it as an evil, that tho servants of the altar
had become servants of the curia ; that they had received from
the princes mints, castles, and cities ; whereby they were obliged
to appear at court, to take part in wars and in many other af
fairs incompatible with their vocation.1 Accordingly, those pos
sessions and privileges which, under Charlemagne, Louis the
Pious, and tlie Othos, had been bestowed on churches, should
now be restored back to the empire, in order that the bishops
might with less distraction attend to the spiritual welfare of
their communities.2 Upon this condition, Henry the Fifth might
be willing to renounce the right of investiture ; and Paschalis,
when he had done so, could bestow on him the coronation in
Rome. A treaty of this sort was concluded at Sutri. But at
that time things spiritual and secular in Germany had become so
jumbled together that a sudden separation of this sort could not
be carried into effect ; and men were not wanting who called it
sacrilege to think of depriving the church of that which belonged
to her by long years of possession. 3 The emperor may perhaps
already have foreseen' that the German bishops would not be in
clined to let secular matters alone ; and may have drawn up his
plan with reference to the expected issue. But Paschalis shows
himself in all these transactions a weak man, governed by the
1 Ep. 22. In vestri regni partibus episcopi vel abbates adeo curis secularibus occu-
pantur, ut comitatum assidue frequentare, et militiam exercere cogantur, quae nimirum
aut vix aut nullo modo sine rapinie, sacrilegiis, incendiis aut bomicidiis exhibentur. Mi-
nistri vero altaris ministri curiae facti sunt, quia civitates, ducatus, marcbionatus, mo-
netas, turres et caeteraad regni servitium pertinentia aregibus acceperunt. Unde etiam
mos ecclesiae inolevit, ut electi episcopi nullo modo consecrationem acciperent, nisi per
manum regiam investirentur. Also Gerhoh of Reichersberg remarks in opposition to
that mixing together of spiritual and secular concerns: Ducatus, comitatus, telonia,
moneta pertinent ad seculum. See his work, De aedilicio Dei, c. x. in Pez thesaurus
anecdot. t. ii. p. ii., f. 281.
2 Oportetenim episcopos curis saecularibus expeditos curam suorum agere populorum
nee ecclesiis suis abesse diutius.
3 When Gerhoh spoke in opposition to that mixing together of spiritual and secular
concerns by tbe German prelates, he was in fear that he should give offence to those
who said : Tales semel ecclesiis donata quacunque occasione ab illis auferentes sacrile-
gium committere, quoniam ecclesia rem semel acceptam et diutina possessions maneipa-
tam non potest amittere. In tbe work already cited, De aediflcio Dei. L. c.
4 Gerhoh of Reichersberg, in his book De statu ecclesiae, c. xxi., Gretser opp. t. vi., f.
251, says of the emperor : Haec sane promittens sciebat, non consensum iri ab episcopis
praecipue Germaniae et Galliae atque Saxoniae, sed per promissa speciem quandam
pietatis habentia ad perceptionem imperialis coronae per benedictionem Romani ponti-
ficis imponendae nitebatur.
m2

180 THE RIGHT OF LAY-INVESTITURE CONCEDED.
influences of passing events and the force of circumstances ; and
in the present case he acted without any calculation either of the
consequences or the practicability of the treaty. Accordingly,
when the emperor and the pope came together at Rome, a.d.
1111, and the treaty was made known to the German prelates,
they declined giving up the regalia. The emperor now, on his
part, would not consent to renounce the investiture, which he
had promised to do only under this condition, and yet he de
manded of the pope, since he had performed his part of the
treaty, the imperial coronation. As the pope declined, and re
fused to recall the old veto against the investiture, he with his
cardinals were arrested and imprisoned ; and for the purpose of
obtaining his liberty again, he concluded in the year 1112 a
treaty with the emperor, by virtue of which he conceded to him
the right of bestowing by staff and ring the investiture on bishops
and abbots elected freely and without simony.1 Had the pope
held out firmly in the contest with the emperor, he might have
reckoned upon the force of public opinion, which must have pro
tested strongly against such violence done to the person of the
head of the church. It is evident from the expression of Hilde
bert of Mans, who was by no means a zealot, how enormous a
crime this appeared.2 He would have been venerated as a
martyr. But the man who had hitherto so zealously served the
cause of the papacy, for that very reason lost so much the more
by yielding. Great must have been the impression made upon his
age when it was found that the pope, from motives of fear, proved
unfaithful to the system which he had before so earnestly de
fended, and for which Gregory the Seventh had perseveringly
fought, at the cost of everything, till his death. The name of
Paschalis, as the man who had cowardly betrayed the liberties of
the church, and made her dependent on the emperors, was
1 Ut regni tui episcopis vel abbatibus libere praeter violentiam vel simoniam electis
investituram virgar* etannuli conferas, post investitionem vero canonice consecrationem
accipiant ab episcopo, ad quem pertiuuerit.
2 See his 1. ii. ep. al. The same writer objects to Henry h;s double crime against his
real and against his spiritual father. Quis enim potest praeter eum inveniri, qui patres
suos, spiritualem pariter et carnalem subdola ceperit factione? Iste est, qui praeceptis
Dominicis in utraque tabula contradicit. Nam, ut de his, quae actu priora sunt, prius
dicam, patrem carnis suae non honoravit, sed captivuvit prius et deinceps expulit frau-
dulenter et in Deum postmodum et ejus ecclesiam insurrexit et de Sede Petri vicarium
usque in vincula perturbavit.

FAULT FOUND WITH PASCHALIS FOR YIELDING. 181
handed down from one generation to another through the twelfth
century. Thus, for example, in the prophecies of the abbot
Joachim of Calabria, towards the close of this century, where he
describes the growing corruption of the church, Paschalis holds a
prominent place in the picture.1 The abbot Gottfried of Ven-
dome loaded him with the severest reproaches,2 and expressed a
determination to renounce obedience to him, if he remained
faithful to that treaty. He held up before him the example of
the old martyrs, as well as that of the two apostles who laid the
foundations ofthe Roman church. If the successor of such men,
sitting on their seat, by acting contrary to their example, has
robbed himself of their glorious lot, then, said he in his letter to
the pope, he ought himself to annul what he has done, and, as a
second Peter, expiate the fault by tears of repentance. If through
weakness of the flesh he had from the fear of death wavered for
a moment, the spirit should keep itself pure by reforming the
works of the flesh ; nor should he himself wish to excuse by
pleading the latter, which at any rate must die, an act which he
might have avoided, and so gained a glorious immortality. Nor
could he excuse himself by pleading anxiety for the lives of his
sons the cardinals ; for he ought to have been much more con
cerned for the everlasting than for the temporal welfare of his
sons ; and instead of eking out a brief life to them, by exposing
the church to ruin and their souls to injury, he should by his own
example have fired them on to meet a glorious martyrdom ; for
the object, as it seemed to him, was worthy of such a sacrifice.
The lay-investiture, whereby the power was conceded to laymen
of conveying a spiritual possession, appeared to him as a denial
of the faith and of the freedom of the church, — as a veritable
1 Although he calls him Paschasius the Third, and says many things which do not
agree with an exact knowledge of history, yet we can conceive of no other Paschalis
that can be meant. In the Commentary on the prophet Jeremiah, we read : Libertas
ecclesiae ancillanda est et statuenda sub tributo a papa Paschasio tertio. Non est
plangendus, quia etsi captivus a duce Normannico (which title here is not correct),
ponere debuit animam pro justitia ecclesiae et non infringere lihertatem ejus et tradere
servituti, de qua collum non excutiet sic de levi. See the edition of Cologne, 1577, p.
312; and in another place : The servitude of the popes began in pope Paschalis, quem
dux Normannicus coepit et contra lihertatem ecclesiae privilegia fecit et indulsit invitus,
quae postea liberatus fregit. P. 259.
1 Ep. 7.

182 YVES OF CHARTRES EXCUSES PASCHALIS.
heresy. He begged the pope not to add to his fault by trying
to excuse it, but rather to amend it. He did not hesitate to tell
him that, although even a vicious pope must be tolerated, yet
the case stood quite otherwise with an heretical one. Against
such a pope, any man, who did but remain true to the faith him
self, might stand forth as an accuser.1
There were, among the adherents of the church theocratical
system, two parties ; one rigid and stiff, the other milder. The
former, of which we may consider the abbot Gottfried of Ven-
doine, in his then position, a representative, declared without
reserve, that maintaining the right of -lay-investiture was a
heresy, because thereby the right was attributed to laymen of
conveying a spiritual possession ; and according to the judgment
of this party, the pope, if he did not revoke that which he had
done through weakness, made himself liable to condemnation,
and men were authorized and bound to renounce obedience to
him as a promoter of heresy. Others judged the conduct and
the person of the pope more mildly, though they considered the
lay-investiture as unjustifiable. To this party belonged two
other distinguished men of the French church, Hildebert, bishop
of Mans, and Yves, bishop of Chartres. The former was not only
ready to excuse the pope's conduct, but even represented it as
exemplary. " The pope," says he, " has ventured his life for
the church, and yielded only for a moment to put a stop to the
effusion of blood, and to desolation. Another cannot so transport
himself into the critical and perilous situation of the head of the
church as to be entitled to judge him. It behooves not the
man living in comfortable ease to accuse the bleeding warrior of
fear.2 The pope," he thought, " was obliged to accommodate
himself to circumstances. The oftentimes misinterpreted and
misapplied example of the apostle Paul was employed, to the
great wrong of truth, in palliation of crooked courses. Where
we cannot know the heart, we ought to presume the best mo-
1 When, in another legal affair, he invited his assistance, he wrote to him (ep. 6) :
Non vos ultra modum afficiat, si qua fuit sinistra operatio, non perturbet oculum mentis
vestrae regis exactio, sed quanto fortius potestis, jura justitiae in rebus aliis teneatis
nunc ex deliberatione, ut quod regi fecit vestra humanitas, iecisse credatur pro vita Ali
orum paterna compassione.
2 Ep. 22. Delibntus unguentis omentum militem formidinis non accusal.

YVF.S OF CHARTRES EXCUSES PASCHALIS. 183
fives ; and no man should set himself up as judge over the pope,
who as universal bi.sliop is empowered to alter and rescind all
laws."i Yves of Chartres declared himself, it is true, in favour of the
principles promulgated by Gregory the Seventh, and Urban tlie
Second, against lay-investiture, but he also excused the forced
compliance of Paschalis. His advice was, that confidential; af
fectionate, letters should be addressed to the pope, exhorting
him to condemn himself or to retract what had been done.2 If
he did so, men would thank God, and the whole church rejoice
over the recovery of their head.3 But if the pope proved in
curable, still, it did not belong to others to pass judgment on
him. The archbishop John of Lyons, having called together a
council at which the subject of lay- investiture as an affair con
cerning the faith, and the treaty between the pope and the em
peror, were to be brought into discussion, Yves wrote to this
archbishop a letter,4 warning him against taking any irrevocable
steps in this matter, and recommending moderation. He sought
to excuse the pope, who had yielded only to force and for the
purpose of avoiding a greater evil, by holding up the examples
of Moses and of Paul, showing how the latter had allowed Timothy
to be circumcised, in order by this accommodation to gain the
Jews. " God has permitted the greatest and holiest men, when
they have given way to a necessity which seemed to exculpate
them, or have descended to a prudent accommodation, to fall into
such weaknesses, in order that they might thereby be led to a
knowledge of their own hearts, learn to ascribe their weaknesses
to themselves, and to feel their indebtedness to the grace of God
for all the good that is in them." He refused to assist in any
council met to deliberate on this affair, since it was out of the
power of any to judge the party against whom they would have
1 Quaecuuque nescimus quo animo fiant, interpretemur in melius. Universalis
episcopus omnium habet leges et jura rescindere.
2 Ep 233. Quia verendo patris debemus potius velare quam nudare, familiaribus et
caritatem redolentibus Uteris admonendus mihi videtur, ut se judicet aut factum suum
retractet. 3 Omnis ecclesia quae graviter languet, dum caput ejus laborat tanta dcbilitatum
molestia. 4 There were several eminent French bishops, in whose name this was written.
Ep. 236.

184 YVES, AND JOHN OF LYONS, ON LAY-INVESTITURE.
to proceed : for the pope was amenable to the judgment of no
man. Although he declared himself opposed to lay-investiture,
still, he would not concede to those who drove the matter to an
extreme, and drew rash conclusions, that the maintaining of lay-
investiture was a heresy, a sin against the Holy Ghost. " For
heresy," he thought, " had reference to the faith, and faith had
its seat within ; but investiture was an external thing.1 What
ever is founded on eternal law, could indeed never be altered ; but
in that which proceeded from no such law, but was ordered and
arranged with reference to certain necessities of the times, for the
honour and advantage of the church, something doubtless might
be remitted for the moment, out of regard to changing circum
stances.2 But if a layman claimed the power of bestowing, with
the investiture, a sacrament, or a rem sacramenti, such a person
would be a heretic, not on account of the investiture in itself, but
on account of the usurpation connected with it. The lay-inves
titure, as the wresting to one's self of a right belonging to another,
ought assuredly, for the sake of the honour and freedom of the
church, to be wholly abolished, if it could be done without dis
turbing the peace ; but where this could not be done without dan
ger of a schism, it must be suffered to remain for a while under a
discreet protest." The archbishop John of Lyons, however, in
his reply, expressed his regret to find that the pope would not
allow the weak spots which he had exposed to be covered.3 To
the remarks of Yves with regard to the mitigation of the judg
ment concerning lay-investiture, he replied : " It is true, faith and
heresies have their seat in the heart ; but as the believing man is
known by his works, so also is the heretic by his. Although the
outward act, as such, is not heretical ; still, it may be of such a
kind that something heretical lies at the bottom of it. If, there
fore, the outward act of investiture by laymen is in itself nothing
heretical, still, the maintaining and defending it proceeds from
heretical principles."
l Fides et error ex corde procedunt, investitura vero ilia, de qua tantus est motus, in
solis est manibus dantis et accipientis, quae bona et mala agere possunt, credere vel er-
rare in fide non possunt.
2 Cum ergo ea, quae aeterna lege sancita non sunt, sed pro honestate et utilitate ec
clesiae instituta vel probibita, pro eadem occasione ad tempus remittuntur pro qua
inventa sunt, non est institutorum damnusa praevaricatio, sed laudabilis et saluberrima
dispensatio. 3 Utinam ipse pater pudenda (ut dicis) ista pro voluntate nostra contegi pateretur.

REFUTATION OF REASONS FOR LAY-INVESTITURE. 185
Deserving of notice is the book which, amid these movements,
the prior Placidus of Nonantula wrote in defence of the honour of
the church,' as it is especially calculated to convey a knowledge
of the relation in which the different parties stood to each other.
This book is directed partly against those who defended the lay-
investiture with a view to the interests of the state ; partly against
those who, from the position of papal absolutism, maintained
that no one could set himself up as judge over the decision of the
pope. The former were led by the reaction against the theocracy,
whicli subordinated everything secular to itself, to give promi
nence to the purely spiritual idea of the church. " The church,"
said they, " is a thing purely spiritual ; hence of earthly matters
nothing belongs to it but the place in which the faithful are as
sembled, and which is denominated a church. The servants of
the church can, according to her laws, lay claim to no eaTthly pos
session ; nothing is due to them but the tythes, firstlings, and
oblations of the altar. Whatsoever more they desire to have,
they can only receive from the monarch. The church and its pre
cincts consecrated to God belong, it is allowed, to none but God
and his priests ; but what the church now glorified throughout the
whole world possesses, — cities, castles, public mints, etc.,3 all this
belongs to the emperor, and this the shepherds of the church
cannot possess, unless it be constantly bestowed on them, over
and over again, by the emperor. How should not the churches
be subject, on account of their earthly possessions, to him to
whom the whole land is subject ?* If, in order to the choice of a
1 Liber de honore ecclesiae. Pez thesaurus anecdotorum novissimus, t. ii., p. ii.,
f. 75.
2 Ecclesia spiritualis est et ideo nihil ei terrenarum rerum pertinet, nisi locus tantum,
qui consueto nomine ecclesia dicitur.
3 Ducatus, marchiae, comitatus, advocatiae, monetae publicae, civitates et castra.
* A comparison of our citations from this book with what Gerhoh of Reichersberg, in
his work, De statu ecclesiae. sub Henrico Quarto et Quinto imperatoribus et Gregorio
Septo, nounullisque consequentibus Eomanis Pontificibus, published by the Jesuit
Gretscr (t. vi., opp.), puts iu the mouth of the defenders of the cause of Henry (qui pro
parte erant regis ajebant), serves also to show that from these communications of Placi
dus we may learn what were the principles maintained by a whole party ; and we see of
how much importance this dispute about principles was. According to tbe quotation of
Gerhoh, the imperial parjy said : " If the bishops wished to remain heads of the empire,
then they must consent to be invested, like all others, by the emperor, with the concur
rence of the other members of the imperial diet." Non imperio condecet, ut aliquis
in principem, nisi ab ipto imperatore ex consilio aliorum prineipum a sumatur. L. c.
1.259. 2

186 REFUTATION OF REASONS FOR LAY-INVESTITURE.
shepherd, the agreement of the whole community is required, how
much more must this be the case in regard to emperors or
princes'!" This party, in order to defend lay-investiture, ap
pealed to the fact, that even the emperor was the Lord's anointed,
by virtue of the anointing with holy oil which was bestowed on
him. To these arguments Placidus replied : " To be sure, the
church is a spiritual society, the community of believers, which has
been adorned with the gifts of the Holy Spirit. But she should
also be honoured by her consecrated earthly gifts ; and what has
once been given to her, cannot again be wrested from her without
sacrilege. Just so the worship of God, though it has its seat in
the heart, — yet must appear outwardly, and present itself in a
visible manner ; and visible temples must be erected to his ho
nour. According to the promises of the prophets, the once per
secuted church should at length be outwardly glorified. As the
soul cannot, in this present life, subsist without the body, so
neither can the spiritual subsist without the corporeal, and the
latter is sanctified through its connection with the former." Many
whom Placidus calls " simplices," said, " If things go on in this
way, the church will in the end absorb all earthly interests into
itself." He replies, by quoting the words of Christ, " All men
cannot receive this saying (i.e. few are so far advanced in the
spiritual direction as to perceive how everything earthly should,
in fact, be consecrated to the church) ; for when would all give
their possessions to the church, if now they seek to deprive her
even of that which has been her property for ages ? The plenty
which is now in the hands of the church, belongs to her no less
than the little did which she once possessed. Both belong to her
for the same reason, because it is property consecrated to God.
The same Being who once formed her by want, has now enriched
and glorified her. What would be said of the man, who should
maintain, that the emperor has no right indeed to a house that
belongs to one of his subjects ; yet the possessions of the house
belong to the emperor, in the sense that no one has a right to
dispose of them, unless he receive it from the emperor ? Princes
should by no means be excluded from participating in the elec
tion of bishops ; but they should do so as members of the com
munity; as sons, not as lords, of the church, They should not
by their own authority give shepherds to the church, whether by

PLACIDUS ON THE OATH TAKEN BY PASCHALIS. 187
investiture, or by any other exercise of their sovereignty ; but
bishops should be appointed by the common choice of the clergy
and the concurrence ofthe communities, ofthe high andthe low,
among whom princes also belong. The emperor is anointed, not
that he may rule the church, but that he may faithfully govern
the empire."
He next proceeds to combat those who argued that the pope
could not take back his oath to the emperor, by which he con
ceded to him the right of investiture ; those who held that no
man could exalt himself over the pope, the supreme lawgiver of
the church ; that the laws enacted by him, although new, still
carried with them the obligation of obedience. He says, on the
other hand, pope Paschalis, with the cardinals, had been induced
by compassion to grant the emperor Henry the Fifth, a privilege
incompatible with the grace of the Holy Spirit and with the ec
clesiastical laws. The pope was not bound to abide by this com
pact ; but was bouud to correct the mistake with all zeal ;
following the example ofthe apostle Peter, who, after having denied
the Lord through fear, sought to make up the injury by greater
love. An oath, whereby one promises to do a wicked thing, can-
' not be binding. On the contrary, the promiser should repent for
having taken the name of the Lord in vain, by promising to do
what he ought not to do either with or without an oath. It must
be admitted, that the pope may enact new laws, but only respect
ing matters on which the holy fathers have determined nothing,
and especially on which nothing has been settled in the sacred
Scriptures. But wherever our Lord, or his apostles, and the holy
fathers succeeding them, had manifestly determined anything,
there the pope can give no new law, but is bound rather to defend
that which has been once settled, until he dies. Accordingly,
this Placidus calls upon every man to follow the example of all
who have fought for the kingdom of God, from the apostles to
Gregory the Seventh, and Urban the Second,1 and to give up
everything, even life itself, for the cause of righteousness.
1 Concerning Gregory tbe Seventh, he says : Pro honore sanctae ecclesiae dimicans,
multas et varias tempestates sustinuit, sed Recti non potuit, quia fuudatus erat supra
firraam petram. Concerning Urban the Second, who at first could find no spot in ihe
city of Rome where he could remain : Qui tamen non cessit, sed patienter ferens
Christo pro se obtinente, omnis haereticorum vis destructa et ipse sanctae ecclesiae
redditus apud Beatum Peirum in sua sede beato fine quievit.

188

REPENTANCE OF PASCHALIS.

It appears evident from these signs of the times, that if Pas
chalis had been disposed to abide faithfully by the treaty which
had been concluded, still, he could not have carried it out in op
position to the superior power of the Hildebrandian party in the
church. A new schism in the church would in all probability
have been the consequence of such an attempt.1 If the most zeal
ous defenders of the church theocratical system had hitherto been
zealous also for papal absolutism, they might now take another
turn, and be led by zeal for their principles to stand up against
the person of the pope ; so that from a party, of which under
other circumstances such a thing was least to be expected, might
proceed a freer reaction against the arbitrary will of the indivi
dual, who stood at the head of the church government.
But not only was Paschalis too weak to undertake to maintain,
against the force of such a spirit, the step he had taken, he was
also, at heart, too much affected by the same spirit himself, to
form any such resolution. Without doubt, he had only been in
duced to give way by a momentary impulse of fear and weakness ;
and he soon began to reproach himself for what he had done ;
as in fact he expressed his regret at the transaction in his letters
to foreign bishops. 2 He was desirous of retiring to private life ;
and of leaving it to the church to judge respecting what had been
done. He deserted the papal palace and retired to an island in
the Tiber, and could only be persuaded to return by the en
treaties ofthe cardinals and of the Roman people.3 It might be
1 Gerhoh of Reichersberg relates, that nearly all tbe French bishops (whicli doubtless
is exaggerated) bad formed tbe resolution together, to excommunicate the pope himself,
if he would not revoke what he had conceded to the emperor Henry the Fifth. Universi
paene Franciae episcopi consilium inierant, quatenus excommunicarent Paschalem,
tanquam ecclesiae hostem et destructorem, nisi privilegium idem ipse, qui dedit, damna-
visset. See the above-cited tract, De statu ecclesiae, chap, xxii., in Gretser opp. tome
vi. f.257.
2 Yves of Chartres says (ep. 233 and 236) of the pope: Postquarn evasit periculum,
sicut ipse quibusdam nostrum scripsit, quod jusserat, jussit, quod probibuerat, prohi.
buit. quamvis quibusdam nefandis quaedam nefanda scripta permiserit.
3 So Hildebert, at least, relates, in the above cited letter, following a rumour: Re-
nuncians domo, patriae, rebus, officio, mortiiicandus in carne, Pontianam insulam,
commigravit. Populi vocibus, et cardinalium lacrimis revocatus in catbedram. This
is confirmed by the account of a trustworthy historian among his contemporaries, the
abbot Suger of St Denis, in his account of the life of the French king Louis the Sixth.
Vita Ludovici Grossi, where he says of tho pope: Ad eremum solitudinis confugit
moramque ibidem perpetuam fecisset, si universalis ecclesia et Romanorum violentia
coactum non reduxisset. See Du Cliesne scriptores rer. Franc, t. iv., f. 291.

REPENTANCE OF PASCHALIS. 189
easier for the pope to reconcile to his conscience the non obser
vance of his oath, than the surrendering of any right belonging to
the church. In the year 1112, he declared, before a council as
sembled in the Lateran, that he had been forced to make that
treaty in order to save the cardinals and the city of Rome ; abid
ing by his oath, he would himself personally undertake nothing
against the emperor Henry ; but it was beyond his power to sur
render any of the liberties and rights of the church. He left it
to the assembly to examine the treaty ; and that body unani
mously declared that it was contrary to the laws of the church
and to divine right, and therefore null. The pope wished, by an
ambiguous mode of procedure, to save his conscience and his honour
at the same time ; and while he forbore personally and directly to
pronounce the ban on Henry the Fifth, still permitted this to be
done by his legates. Thus the contest respecting investiture
broke out anew ; and with it was again connected, we must admit,
the corrupt exercise of an arbitrary will in the filling up of spiri
tual offices by the court.1 The emperor had it in his power to
expel the popes from Rome, and to set up against Paschalis's
successor. Gelasius the Second, another, chosen by his own party,
the archbishop Burdinus of Braga, Gregory the Eighth.
The mischievous consequences of this schism in the churches,
in which both parties combated each other with ferocious ani
mosity, could not fail to call forth the more strongly, in all who
had at heart the welfare of Christendom, the wish for a restoration
of the peace of the church ; these, accordingly, set themselves to
devising means for bringing about a reconciliation of conflicting
interests and principles. Between the stiff Hildebrandian party,
and those who defended lay-investiture, there gradually rose up
a third intermediate party. These controversies led to some im
portant consequences. Various more profound investigations
were thereby occasioned, into the relation of the church to the
state, of ecclesiastical matters to political, of spiritual matters to
secular. Men of sobriety and moderation stood forth, who endea-
1 In the life ofthe archbishop Conrad the First, of Salzburg, it is related, how pious
ladies, at the emperor's court, bad the greatest influence in the distribution of ecclesi
astical preferments. See Pez thesaur. anecdot. nov. t. ii., p. iii., f. 204; — and Gerhoh
says in the above cited tract, De statu ecclesiae. u. xxii.: Spretis electionibus is apud
eum dignior caeteris episcopatus honore habitus est, qui ei vel familiarior extitisset vel
plus obsequii aut pecuniae obtulisset.

190 ATTEMPTS AT MEDIATION, BY MONK HUGO.
voured to soften the extravagant excesses of the Hildebrandian
zealots, in their fanatical deprecation of the civil power, and who,
instead of continually harping against lay-investiture, sought to
bring about an understanding on the question, as to what was
essential and what unessential in the points of dispute ; — as to
what should be held fast in order to secure the freedom of the
church, and what might be conceded to the state in order to the
conservation of its rights. We have already noticed, on a former
page, the milder views on this subject expressed by a Hildebert
of Mans, and Yves of Chartres.
By occasion of the disputes between the Norman princes of
England and the archbishops of Canterbury, the monk Hugo, be
longing to the monastery of Fleury, wrote his work for the recon
ciliation of church and state, of the royalty and the priesthood.1
He combated the Gregorian position, that monarchy was not, like
the priesthood, founded on a divine order, but that the former
sprang from man's will, and human pride ; and in opposition to
those who maintained this, he held up the apostle Paul's declara
tion concerning the divine institution of magistrates.2 He affirmed,
that the relations among men were, from the first, founded upon
such a subordination. He attacked the exaggerations on both
sides, and in opposition to them, held fast to the principle, that
to God must be rendered that which is God's, and to Ca?sar, that
which is Caesar s. The king should lay no restraint on the elec
tion of a bishop by the clergy and the community, to be held ac
cording to the ecclesiastical laws ; and should give his concur
rence to the choice when made. To the person elected, the king
ought not to give the investiture with staff and ring, which as
symbols of spiritual things belong to the archbishop ; but should
bestow the feoffment with secular appurtenances, and accordingly
select for this some other symbol.3 The cardinal abbot Gottfried
t De regia potestate et sacerdotali dignitate; in Baluz Miscellan. t. iv.
2 Scio quosdam nostris temporibus, qui reges autumant, non a Deo, sed ab bis habu
isse principium, qui Deum ignorantes superbia, rapinis, homicidiis et postremo paene
universis sceleribus in mundi principio diabolo agitante supra pares homines dominari
coeca cupiditate affectaverunt. Quorum sententja quam sit frivola liquet apostolico
documento : Non est potestas nisi a Deo, &c.
a Lib. i., k. v. Post electionem autem non anulum aut baculum a manu regia, sed
investituram rerum seculariu'm electiis antistes debet suscipere et in suis ordinibus per
anulum aut baculum animarum curam ab archiepiscopo suo.

MEDIATORY VIEWS OF GODFRIED OF VENDOME. 191
of Vendome, as we have seen above, had declared himself so
strongly against the concessions of pope Paschalis in the dispute
concerning the investiture, as to pronounce the maintaining of
the investiture by laymen a heresy. But he extricated himself
from these wearisome and ruinous controversies, and, by certain
notional distinctions, found a way of reconciling the antagonism
between the church and the secular power.1 He distinguished
between that investiture which makes the bishop a bishop, and
that which has reference to his temporal support ;'2 between that
which pertains to human and that which pertains to divine right.
The church held her possessions by human right, the right which
defines generally the mine and thine. Divine right we have in
the Holy Scriptures (the ecclesiastical laws being reckoned
thereto) : human right, in the laws of princes. Property, which
belongs to human right, God has given to the church through the
emperors and kings of the world. He protested against that
stern hierarchical bent, which would not allow princes to possess
what was their own. " If thou sayest," he remarks to the bishop^
" what have I to do with the king ; then call not the possessions
thine ; for thou hast renounced the only right by which thou
canst call them thine."3 While now, in accordance with this
distinction, he still declared the investiture by staff and ring,
practised by laymen and referring to spiritual matters, a heresy,
he still found nothing offensive in the fact that kings, after the
completion of a free canonical election, and after the episcopal
consecration, should, by the royal investiture, convey over the
secular possessions and their own protection along with them,4
and by what sign this might be done, was, he declared, a matter
of indifference to the Catholic faith. 5 Christ intended that the
l Opusc. iii., to Pope Calixtus, and his traciatus de ordinatione episcoporum et de
iuvestitura Laicorum, addressed to Cardinal Peter Leonis.
- Alia est investitura, quae episcopum perficit, alia vero, quae episcopum pascit.
3 Si vero dixeris: Quid mihi et rigi, noli jam dicere possessiones tuas, quia ad ipsa
jura, quibus possessiones possidentur, renuntiasti. Unde quisque possidet, quod pos-
sidet? Nonne jure humano ? Nam jure divino Domini est terra et plenitudo ejus.
Pauperes et divites Deus de uno luto fecit, et divites et pauperes una terra supportat.
4 Possunt itaque sine offensione reges post electionem canonicam et liberam conse
crationem per investituram regalem in ecclesiasticis possessionibus concessioner^
auxilium et defensionem episcopo dare.
5 Quod quolibet signo factum extiterit, regi vel poutifici seu catholicae fidei non
nocebit.

192 CONCORDAT OF WORMS, A.D. 1122.
spiritual and the secular sword should serve for the defence of the
church. But if one ofthe two beats back the other, this happens
contrary to his will. Thus arise bitter feelings and schisms, thus
arises corruption of the body and of the soul. And when empire
and priesthood contend one against the other, both are in danger-
The church ought to assert her freedom, but she ought also to
guard against disorganizing excesses.1 He calls it a work of
Satan, when, under the show of right, men cause the destruction
of an individual, who might have been won by indulgence/
The way having been prepared by investigations of this sort, a
treaty was brought about, after repeated negotiations, in the year
1122, between pope Calixtus the Second and the emperor Henry
the Fifth, which, concluded at Worms, afterwards confirmed at
the Lateran Council in 1123, was designated by the title of the
Concordat of Worms. The pope conceded to the emperor the
right to bestow on bishops and abbots, chosen in his presence,
without violence or simony, the investiture with regalia per
sceptrum. When by this concordat, the reconciliation between church and
state, after a conflict ruinous to both, which had lasted for more
than forty years, was finally effected, it was received with uni
versal joy, eveii by those who in other respects were devoted to
the Hildebrandian principles.3 There were, it is true, some stiff
zealots who were not satisfied even with this treaty ; who saw a hu
miliation ofthe priesthood in the requirement that a bishop should
do homage to a layman.4 Moreover, the Hildebrandian system

l Habeat ecclesia suam libertatem, sed summopere caveat, ne dum nimis emunxtrit
eliciat sanguinem et dum rubiginem de vase conatur evadere, vas ipsum frangatur.
2 Tunc enim a satana quis circumvenitur, quando sub specie justitiae ilium per
nimiam tristitiam perire contingit, qui potuit liberari per indulgentiam.
3 Among whom belongs the so often mentioned Gerocb, or Gerhoh, of Reichersbergi
He was Canon'cus at Augsberg, and master of the Cathedral school. Being a zealous
adherent of the papal party, be fell into a quarrel with his bishop, Hermann of Augsberg,
who defended the imperial interest. He was obliged to remove from this city, and to
retire into a monastery. He testifies his joy over the Concordat of Worms, whereby it
was made possible for him to become reconciled with his bishop. He says : Cessante
ilia commotione, in qua non erat Dominus, venit sibilus anrae lenis, in quo erat Do
minus, faciens utraque unum, concordia reparata inter sacerdotium et imperium. In
Ps. 133. L. c. f. 2039.
4 As the archbishop Conrad, of Salzburg, says : it is nefas and instar sacrilegii, manus
chrismatis unctione consecratas sanguineis manibus subjici et bomagii exhibitioue
potlui. See his life in Pez thesaurus. L. c. f. 228.

INNOCENT THE SECOND DEFENDED BV BERNARD. 193
had for its very object to effect the complete subjection of the
state under the theocratical power represented by the church : in
this effort of the church, and the natural counteraction of the
state, asserting its independence, was contained the germ of di
visions continually breaking out afresh.
The history ofthe papacy in the next following times, leads us to
take notice of a quarrel connected with the election of a pope
which was attended with consequences more lasting and more
important than usual ; — differing from all events of this kind
heretofore related, in that the schism in this case did not proceed
from the influence of opposite church-political parties, nor were
opposite principles of church government maintained by the two
competitors for the papal dignity. A schism of this sort might
have served, by the uncertainty touching the question as to who
was pope, to unsettle all faith in the papacy itself. Yet the most
influential voices decided too quickly in favour of one ofthe two
popes, to permit of any such result ; and by the way in which the
greatest men of the church laboured for the cause of this pope,
the papacy could only receive an accession of glory. It was
in the year 1130, that by a considerable party the Roman
cardinal Gregory was chosen pope, who assumed the name of
Innocent the Second. But the cardinal Peter Leonis had also a
large number of adherents. The latter was grandson of a very
rich Jewish banker, who had embraced Christianity ; and his
ancestors, during the contests of the popes with the emperors,
had been enabled to perform important services for the former by
means of their great wealth, with which they supported them
through their difficulties. By his money, he had himself also at
that time acquired great influence in Rome. He called himself, as
pope, Anaclete the Second. Innocent was compelled to yield to
his power in Rome ; nor was there any safety for him, even in Italy ;
for Anaclete possessed a powerful ally in Roger, king of Sicily.
He took refuge in France ; and in that country he acquired
greater power than he could have acquired in Rome ; for the two
heads of monasticism, who had the greatest influence on the public
sentiment among the nations, the abbot Peter of Cluny, and the
abbot Bernard of Clairvaux, espoused his interests with great zeal .
More than all, he was assisted by the moral power of the abbot
Bernard. This man stood then in the highest authority with the
VOL. VII. N

194 ILLUSTRATION OF BERNARD'S POWER.
French church. In all great ecclesiastical and political affairs his
voice was listened to ; and it went for much with the most consi
derable men of church and state. In a body enfeebled by the
ascetical efforts of his earlier youth, the force of his superior in
tellect triumphing over the frailty of its physical organ, was but
the more sure to accomplish whatever he undertook. The energy
of religions enthusiasm, contrasted with the pale, meagre, atte
nuated body, made so much the greater impression ; and people
of all ranks, high and low, were hurried along by it in despite of
themselves.1 Whatever cause he laid hold of, he espoused with
his whole soul, and spared no efforts in carrying it. Fondly as
he was attached to the quiet life of contemplation, he itinerated
about, notwithstanding, amidst the tumults of the nations, ap
peared before synods and in the assemblies of the nobles, and ex
pended his fiery eloquence in support of the cause, which he found
to be righteous. This energetic man now became a hearty cham
pion for the cause of Innocent ; for him he set everything in mo
tion, in and without France.
After Louis the Sixth, king of France, and the French church,
had already been induced through the influence of Bernard to
recognize Innocent as pope, the bishop Gerhard of Angouleme,
who stood up as legate for the cause of Anaclete, prolonged the
contention, and by his means one of the mighty nobles, count
William of Aquitaine, was gained over to the same. The latter
sought by forcible measures to make the party dominant in
whose favour he had declared, and persecuted all its opponents.
He expelled the adherents of Innocent among the bishops from
their offices. A characteristic illustration of the power which
the abbot Bernard could exercise over the minds of men, as well
as of the religious spirit of his times, is presented in the mode by
which he finally succeeded in putting an end to the schism that
had now lasted five years. Already had he brought tbe count to
acknowledge that Innocent was pope ; and that nobleman was
1 How Bernard appeared and what effect he produced as an orator is graphically des
cribed by an eye witness, the abbot Wibald of Stavelo : Vir ille bonus longo eremi
squalore et jejuniis ac pallore confectus et in quandam spiritualis formae tenuitatem
redactus, prius persuadet visus quam auditus. Optima ei a Deo concessa est natura,
eruditio summa.exercitium ingens,pronuntiatio aperta gestus corporis ad omnem dicendi
modum accommodatus. See his ep. 147. Martene et Durand collectio amplissimat. ii.,
f. 339.

ILLUSTRATION OF BERNARD'S PoWlilt. 195
now only resisting the demand that tho bishops should be re
stored to their places. After Bernard, in an interview with the
count at Partheney, had tried in vain every method to bring
about the object last mentioned, he repaired to the church to
hold mass, and the count remained standing by the door. Then
Bernard, filled with the consciousness of the greatest of all mi
racles, which he as an instrument of God's grace was privileged
by his priestly office to perform, elevated in the feeling of the
godlike above all earthly considerations,1 holding in his hand the
plate with the host — in which he saw uuder the figure of the
bread only the veiled body of the Lord — with flashing eye, not
beseeching, but commanding, stepped before the count, and said
to him : " We have entreated thee, and thou hast spurned us ;
the united band of God's servants have besought thee, and thou
hast spurned them. Behold, here comes the Head and Lord of
the church which thou persecutest. Here is thy judge, at whose
name every knee shall bow. Wilt thou spurn him as thou hast
done his servants V All that looked on were seized with a
shuddering awe, and bowing their heads in prayer, waited in
expectation of an immediate judgment from heaven. All wept.
The count himself could not withstand the impression. Trem
bling, and as if deprived of speech, he fell to the earth. He was
lifted up by his attendants, and again fell, foaming at the mouth,
to the ground. Bernard himself now approached him, reached
out his hand for him to rise, and bid the humbled man submit to
pope Innocent, and become reconciled with the deposed bishops.
The count dared not contradict. He embraced the bishop of
Poitiers, who was presented to him, one of those to whom he
had before been most inimical ; and Bernard, upon this, con
versed with him familiarly, exhorting him, as a father, never
again so disturb the peace of the church, and thus this schism
was ended.
Twice was Bernard called to Italy. Here also he exerted a
great and powerful influence on the minds of the nations ; a
great deal was said of his miracles. He reduced under the pope
the restless Lombard cities, and helped on the triumph of Inno-
1 As an eye-witness, the abbot Bernald, in the account of Bernard's life, vi. 38, in his
opp. ed. Mabillon the Second, f. 1107, characteristically says : Vir Dei jam non se agens
ut hominem.
n2

196 VOICES OF THE LAITY AGAINST THE CLERGY.
cent, at a synod in Pisa, in 1134. In the year 1136 the latter
was enabled to march triumphantly to Rome with the emperor
Lothaire the Second. Bernard also came there, and sought to
destroy the remains of the schism, of which king Roger, in par
ticular, still continued to be the support ; but he did not as yet
succeed. After Anaclete's death, in the year 1138, his party
chose, it is true, a successor ; but yet it was not with any view
of defending longer his claims to the papal throne, but only in
order to secure a treaty on more advantageous terms with the
other party ; and, in the year 1139, Innocent was at liberty to
hold a Lateran council for the purpose of sealing the peace of the
church. Yet precisely at this time a furious storm broke out, by which
the last years of the rule of Innocent, and the reigns of the next
succeeding popes, were disquieted ; events which were important
on account of their immediate consequences, and as symptoms of
a more deep-grounded reaction against the dominant church-sys
tem, for which the way was now preparing.
In order to find the origin of these commotions, we must glance
back and trace the consequences of earlier events. We saw how
the popes, ever since the time of Leo the Ninth, had placed them
selves at the head of a movement of reform, in opposition to the
corruption of the clergy ; how, by this movement, individual ec
clesiastics and monks of more serious minds had been incited to
stand forth as castigatory preachers against the secularized clergy.1
Not only such preachers, but the popes themselves, as for ex
ample pope Gregory the Seventh, had also stirred up the people
against the corrupt clergy.2 Thus there rose up from amongst

1 Of such, Gerhoh of Reichersberg, in his book : De corrupto ecclesiae statu, in Ba
luz. Miscellan. t. v. p. 205, where he places the conflicts which these men had to sustain
on a parallel with the earlier ones of the martyrs with pagan tyrants, remarks : Novis-
Bime diebus istis viri religiosi contra simoniacos, conducticios (tbe itinerant clergy hired
to perform mechanically the priestly functions, who were ready to strike a bargain with
any body) incestuosos, dissolutos aut, quod pejus est, irregulariter congregatos clericos
proelium grande tempore Gregorii Septi, habuerunt et adhuc habent.
2 Iu addition to tbe citations made before, we may notice what the abbot Guibert, in
his life written by himself, relates concerning the effects of the Hildebrandian laws of
celibacy : Erat ea tempestate nova super uxoratis presbyteris 'apostolicae sedis invectio,
unde et vulgi clericos zelantis tanta adversus eos rabies aestuabat, ut eos ecclesiastico
privari beneficio vel abstineri sacerdotio infesto spiritu conclamarent. Lib. i. c. vii., f.
462.

VOICES OF THE LAITY AGAINST THE CLERGY. 197
the laity severe censors of the corrupt clergy. Doubtless many,
who had ever contemplated the lives of these men with indigna
tion and abhorrence, rejoiced at now having it in their power,
under the papal authority, of giving vent to their long-reprossed
anger; and even those, who themselves led an immoral life, made
a merit of standing forth against the unchaste ecclesiastics, and
driving them off from their benefices i From this insurrection
of the laity against the secularized clergy proceeded also separa
tist movements, which did not restrict themselves to the limits
set up by the popes. In addition to this, came now the im
portant and lasting controversies concerning the investiture, by
means of which more liberal investigations had been called forth
respecting the boundaries between church and state, and their
respective rights. Pope Paschalis the Second had in fact himself
publicly avowed, that the regalia were to the church a foreign
possession, whereby its officers were drawn aside from their ap
propriate spiritual duties, and betrayed into a dependence on
the secular power. And there existed, as we'have already re
marked, an entire party who held this opinion ; who demanded
that the bishops and abbots, in order to be excused from taking
the oath of allegiance to the princes, should surrender back to
them the regalia, restoring to Caesar the things that are Caesar's;
in accordance with that precept ofthe apostle Paul, which required
the clergy not to meddle with secular business. In opposition to
the practice of mixing up together things spiritual and secular,
and in justification of the oath of allegiance sworn by the bishops
to the emperors, propositions like the following were already ad
vanced : If the clergy would be entirely independent ofthe secu
lar power, let them, like the clergy of the primitive church, be con
tent with the tythes and the free gifts of the communities.2
1 Something of tbe same kind is related by Guibert (1. c.) concerning a nobleman
of his district, who gave himself up to all manner of lust: Tanta in clerum super
praefato canone (tbe law concerning celibacy) bachabatur instantia, ac si eum sin-
gularis ad detestationem talium pulsaret pudicitia.
2 Gerhoh, in his book, De statu ecclesiae, published by Gretzer (see above p. 179)
says expressly: Qui pro parte regis erant suflicere ajebant ecclesiasticis debere decimas
et oblationes liberas id est nullo regali vel imperiali servitio obnoxias. — Satis, inquit,
apparet, sacerdotes regibus se per hominia obligante's Deo pro sui officii gradu sufli-
cienter placere non posse. Undsbut eiplaceant, cui6e probaverunt, militiam et caetera,
pro quibus hominia regibus debfntur, regno libera relinquant et ipsi vacent orationi-
bus ovibusqiie Christi pascendis invigilent, ad quid instituti sunt. Gretser, opp. t. vi.,

198 PRINCIPLES AT THE TIME OF ARNOLD OF BRESCIA.
It was a young clergyman of Brescia, by the name of Arnold,
who gave the first impulse to this new reaction against the secu
larization of the church, and against the power of the pope in
temporal things. From what we have said concerning the con
flict of spiritual tendencies in this age, and particularly concern
ing the causes and consequences of the controversies about in
vestiture, it is easy to explain how a young man of a serious and
ardent temperament, brought up in the midst of such events and
circumstances, might be carried away by this tendency; nor
should we need to trace the matter to any other origin. But
the account of a contemporary, which lets us into the knowledge
of another circumstance that had an important influence on the
development of Arnold's mind, is by no means improbable.i
When the great teacher Abelard assembled around him, in a
lonely region near Troyes, the youth that poured in upon him
from all quarters, and by his lectures fired them with his own en
thusiasm, Arnold, who in his early youth had been a reader in
the church at Brescia, was one of the many that did not shrink
from the meagre fare and various deprivations necessary to be
undergone in order to enjoy the privilege of listening to the voice
of that great master." The speculative vein in Abelard's style
and teachings did not, it is true, fall in with the peculiar bent of
Arnold's mind ; and perhaps even an Abelard would have found
it impossible to produce any essential change in a native tendency
which, as in the case of Arnold, was so much more practical than
speculative. But Abelard possessed a versatility of intellect,
which enabled him to arouse minds of very different structure on
different sides. From such of his writings as have been pre
served to us, we may gather that, among other qualities, an im
portant practical element entered also into his discourses ; that
f. 258. Here we have the principles set forth by Arnold, as they naturally shaped them-
selves out of the reaction, partly of the state interest, partly of the purer Christian spirit,
against the secularization of tbe clergy, and not as they were first excogitated by
Arnold. l Otto of Freisingen, in the 2d book of his History of Frederic the First, c. xx.: Pe-
trum Abaelardum olim praeceptorem habuerat.
2 In harmony with this is whnt Gunther Ligurinus, in his poem on the deeds of
Frederic the First, says concerning Arnold : Tenui nutrivit G allia sumptu edocuitquc
diu. These words, it is true, might, in consequence of tbe relation of ibis historian to
Otto of Freisingen, appear to be a mere repetition of flie report given by the latter; but
t: i e phrase, " tenui nutrivit sumptu," may doubtless point to some other source; they
agree very well with the time of his connection with Abelard,

Arnold's leading idea. 19!)
he spoke sharply against the worldly temper in ecclesiastics and
monks, and contrasted their condition as it actually was with
what it ought to be. It was the religious, ethical element in
Abelard's discourses, which left the deepest impression on the
warm and earnest heart of the young man,1 and, inflamed with
a holy ardour, he returned home to his native city.
It was observed that he had undergone a change, a thing not
uncommon among the young secular clergy, who, awakened by
some remarkable providence to a more serious religious turn of
mind, altered their dress and their entire mode of life, appeared
as regular canonicals, or monks, and now stood forth the bold and
open chastisers of worldly ecclesiastics.-' The inspiring idea of
his movements was that of a holy and pure church, a renovation
of the spiritual order, after the pattern of the apostolic church.
His life corresponded with his doctrine. Zealously opposing the
corruption of the worldly-minded clergy and monks, and requir-

1 This connection between Abelard and Arnold has been doubted in these modern
times. We allow, an authority so important as that of tbe abbot Bernard of Clairvaux,
seems to be against the correctness of this account ; for this abbot expresses himself as
if he had first made his appearance in away altogether independent of Abelard ; and had
not till later, when banished from Italy he came to France, espoused the cause of that
persecuted man. See Bernard, in his 189th letter to pope Innocent, § 3 : Sibilavit apis,
quae erat in Francia, api de Italia et venerunt in unum adversus Dominum; and ep.
195: Exsecratus a Petro apostolo adhaeserat Petro Abaelardo. We must suppose, then,
that Otto of Freisingen had been led, by what he had heard concerning the later con
nection between Arnold and Abelard, into the mistake of representing the former as a
pupil of the latter. Upon this hypothesis, we must suppose that Arnold had been led,
only at some later period, by the common interest of opposition to the dominant church-
system, to take sides with Abelard. The testimony, however, of Otto of Frei-ingen, who
bad himself pmsued his studies in France, is of importance; and we are by no means
warranted to accuse him of an anachronism, in his account ofa fact not in itself impro
bable. The less inward relationship there appears at first glance to have been between
the teachings of Abelard and those of Arnold, the less reason have we to call in doubt
an account which represents Arnold as having been a pupil of Abelard. The narrative
of Gunther, mentioned in the previous note, which enters into particulars, agrees with
the above. HoweaBily migbt it have escaped the notice of Bernard, however, who would
have taken but little interest in the earlier life of Arnold, that, of the great crowd of
yonng men who flocked to bear Abelard, Arnold was one ?
2 Tbe provost Gerhoh of Reichersberg, would be inclined, with the views he enter
tained, to judge more mildly concerning the man who agreed with him in bis attacks on
tbe secularized clergy, but did not restrain himself within the same limits. He says
of his teaching : Quae etsi zelo forte bono, sed minori scienlia prolata est. Which
words Gretser cites, in a fragment from the first book of the work written by Gerhoh :
De investigatione Antichristi, in the prolegomena to his edition ofthe Scriptores contra
scctam Waldensium, in his opp. t. xii., !'. 12.

200 Arnold's attacks on the clergy.
ing that clergymen and monks should follow the steps of the
apostles in evangelical poverty and chastity, he set the example
himself, by his dress, his entire mode of living, and the ascetical
severity with which he treated his own person, — a fact whicli even
his most violent adversaries could not but acknowledge.1 He
required that the bishops and abbots, in conformity with the
teachings of Holy Scripture, should wholly renounce their worldly
possessions and privileges, as well as all secular business, and
give all these things back to the princes. The clergy should be
content with whatever the love of the communities might bestow
on them for their support, — the oblations, the firstlings, and
tythes. The incontinent clergy, living in luxury and debauchery,
were no longer, he declared, true ecclesiastics — they were unfit to
discharge the priestly functions ; in maintaining which position,
he might perhaps expect to attach to his side the Hildebrandian
zealots. The corrupt bishops and priests were no longer bishops
and priests — the secularized church was no longer the house of
God.2 It does not appear, that his opposition to the corrupt
church had ever led him to advance any such remarks as could be
interpreted into heresy ; for, had he done so, men would, from
the first, have proceeded against him more sharply, and his oppo
nents, who spared no pains in hunting up everything which could
serve to place him in an unfavourable light, would certainly never
have allowed such heretical statements of Arnold to pass unno
ticed.3 But we must allow that the way in which Arnold stood
forth against the corruptions ofthe church, and especially his in
clination to make the objective in the instituted order, and in the
transactions of the church, depend on the subjective character of
the men, might easily lead to still greater aberrations.
Arnold's discourses were directly calculated by their tendency
to find ready entrance into the minds of the laity, before whose
1 Bernard savs of him, ep. 195, Homo est neque manducans neque bibens, qui utinam
tam sanae esset doctrinae, quam districtae est vitae.
2 Gerhoh of Reichersberg cites from him, in the work mentioned in the preceding
note, an assertion like the following: Ut domus Dei taliter ordinata domus Dei non sit
vel praesules eorum non sint episcopi, quemadmodum quidam nostro tempore Arnoldus
do»matizare ausus est, plebes a talium episcoporum obedientia dehortatus.
3 Only Otto of Freisingen, after having noticed that in which all were agreed, adds,
Praeter haec de sacramento altaris, baptismo parvulorum non sane dicitur sensisse. But
this account is too vague to be safely relied on.

Arnold's banishment. 201
eyes the worldly lives of the ecclesiastics and monks were con
stantly present,1 and to create a faction in deadly hostility to the
clergy. Superadded to this was the inflammable matter already
prepared by the collision of the spirit of political freedom with the
power of the higher clergy.
Thus Arnold's addresses produced in the minds of the Italian
people, quite susceptible to such excitements, a prodigious effect,
which threatened to spread more widely ; and pope Innocent felt
himself called upon to take preventive measures against it. At
the already mentioned Lateran council in the year 1139, he de
clared against Arnold's proceedings, and commanded him to quit
Italy — the scene of the disturbances thus far — altogether ; and
not to return again without express permission from the pope.
Arnold, moreover, is said to have bound himself by an oath to
obey this injunction ; which probably was expressed in such terms
as to leave him free to interpret it as referring exclusively to the
person of pope Innocent.2 If the oath was not so expressed, he
might afterwards have been accused of violating that oath. It
is to be regretted that the form in which the sentence was pro
nounced against Arnold has not come down to us ; but from
its very character it is evident that he could not have been
convicted of any false doctrine ; since otherwise the pope would
certainly not have treated him so mildly — would not have been
contented with merely banishing him from Italy, since teachers
of false doctrine would be dangerous to the church everywhere.
Bernard, moreover, iu his letter directed against Arnold, states
that he was accused before the pope of being the author of
a very bad schism. Arnold now betook himself to France ;
and here he became entangled in the quarrels with his old
teacher Abelard, to whom he was indebted for the first im
pulse of his mind towards this more serious and free bent
of the religious spirit. Expelled from France, he directed his
steps to Switzerland, and sojourned in Zurich. The abbot Ber
nard thought it necessary to caution the bishop of Constance
1 Giinther Ligurinus says of Arnold :
Veraque multa quidem, nisi tempora nostra fideles
Respuerent monitus, falsis admixta monebat.
2 Bernard's words, ep. 195 : Accusatus apud Dominum Papam schismate pessimo,
natali solo pulsus est, etiam et abjurare compulsus reversionem, nisi ad ipsius apostolici
permissionem.

202 extent of Arnold's influence.
against him. But the man who had been condemned by the
pope found protection there from the papal legate, cardinal
Guido ; who, indeed, made him a member of his household and
companion of his table. The abbot Bernard severely censured
that prelate, on the ground that Arnold's connection with him
would contribute, without fail, to give importance and influence
to that dangerous man. This deserves to be noticed on two
accounts ; for it makes it evident what power he could exercise
over men's minds, and that no false doctrines could be charged
to his account.
But independent of Arnold's personal presence, the impulse
which he had given continued to operate iu Italy ; and the effects
of it extended even to Rome. By the papal condemnation, pub
lic attention was only more strongly drawn to the subject. The
Romans certainly felt no great sympathy for the religious element
in that serious spirit of reform which animated Arnold. But the
political movements, which had sprung out of his reforming ten
dency, found a point of attachment in their love of liberty, and
their dreams of the ancient dominion of Rome over the world.
The idea of emancipating themselves from the yoke of the pope,
and of reestablishing the old republic, flattered their Roman
pride. Espousing the principles of Arnold, they required that
the pope, as spiritual head of the church, should confine himself
to the administration of spiritual affairs ; and they committed to
a senate, whom they established on the capitol,1 the supreme
direction of civil affairs. Innocent could do nothing to stem such
a violent current ; and he died in the midst of these disturbances,
in the year 1143. The mild cardinal Guido, the friend of Abelard
and Arnold, became his successor, and called himself, when pope,
Celestin the Second. By his gentleness, quiet was restored for
a short time. Perhaps it was the news of the elevation of this
friendly man to the papal throne that encouraged Arnold himself
to come to Rome.2 But Celestin died after six months, and
1 Gerhoh of Reichersberg says: Aedes Capitolina ohm diruta et nunc reaedificata
contra domum Dei. See bis Commentary in Ps. lxiv., ed. Pez. L. c, f. 1182.
2 Otto of Freisingen expresses himself, indeed, as if Arnold had first come to Rome in
tbe time of Eugenius ; but here he is hardly exact in his chronology. He only gathers
this from the disturbances which broke out in Rome in the time of Eugenius; and
the letters of the Romans lo the pope, which in truth may have been written already in
tbe time of Innocent, he places too late. The disturbances in Eome may themselves
3

LETTER OF THE ROMANS TO CONRAD THE THIRD. 203
Lucius the Second was his successor. Under his reign, the Ro
mans renewed the former agitations with more violence ;^.they
utterly renounced obedience to the pope, whom they recognized
only in his priestly character, and the restored Roman republic
sought to strike a league in opposition to the pope and to papacy
with the new emperor, Conrad the Third. In the name of the
!i Senate and Romau people," a pompous letter was addressed
to Conrad. The emperor was invited to come to Rome, that
from thence, like Justinian and Constantine in former days, he
might give laws to the world. Ccesar should have the things that
are Cresar's ; the priest the things that are the priest's, as Christ
ordained when Peter paid the tribute-money.1 Long did the
tendency awakened by Arnold's principles continue to agitate
Rome. In the letters written amidst these commotions, by indi
vidual noblemen of Rome to the emperor, we perceive a singular
mixing together of the Arnoldian spirit with the dreams of
Roman vanity, — a radical tendency to the separation of secular
from spiritual things, which, if it had been capable enough in
itself, and if it could have found more points of attachment in
the age, would have brought destruction on the old theocratical
system ofthe church. They said that the pope could claim no
political sovereignty in Rome ; he could not even be consecrated
without the consent of the emperor ; a rule which had in fact
been observed till the time of Gregory the Seventh. Men com
plained of the worldliness of the clergy, of their bad lives, of the
contradiction^between their conduct and the teachings of Scrip
ture. The popes were accused as the instigators of the wars.
" The popes," it was said, " should no longer unite the cup of
the eucharist with the sword ; it was their vocation to preach,
and to confirm what they preached by good works.2 How could
those who eagerly grasped at all the wealth of this world, and
corrupted the true riches of the church, the doctrine of salvation
obtained by Christ, by their false doctrines and their luxurious
furnish evidence of an earlier visit of Arnold, though we cannot attribute everything
which the Romans undertook, after tbe impulse bad been given to them by Arnold, to
his mode of thinking. 1 Caesaris accipiat Caesar, quae sunt 9ua praesul,
TJt Christus jusait Petro solvente tributum.
2 See Martene et Durand Collectio amplissima, t. ii., ep. 213, f. 399. Non eis licet
ferre gladiumet calicem, sed praedicare, praedicationem vero bonis operibus confirmare,

204 EUGENE THE THIRD. BERNARD'S LETTER TO HIM.
living, receive that word of our Lord — Blessed are the poor in
spirit, when they were poor themselves neither in fact nor in
disposition." Even the donative ofConstantine to the Roman
bishop Silvester, was declared to be a pitiable fiction. This lie
had been so clearly exposed, that it was obvious to the very day-
labourers and to women ; and that these could put to .silence the
most learned men, if they ventured to defend the genuineness of
this donative ; so that the pope, with his cardinals, no longer
dared to appear in public1 But Arnold was perhaps the only
individual in whose case such a tendency was deeply rooted in
religious conviction ; with many it was but a transitory intoxi
cation, in which their political interests had become merged for
the moment.
The pope Lucius the Second was killed as early as 1145, in the
attack on the capitol. A scholar of the great abbot Bernard, the
abbot Peter Bernard of Pisa, now mounted the papal chair, under
the name of Eugene the Third. As Eugene honoured and loved
the abbot Bernard as his spiritual father and old preceptor, so the
latter took advantage of his relation to the pope, to speak the
truth to him with a plainness which no other man would easily
have ventured to use. In congratulating him upon his elevation
to the papal dignity, he took occasion to exhort him to do away
the many abuses which had become so widely spread in the church
by worldly influences. " Who will give me the satisfaction," said
he in his letter,2 " of beholding the church of God, before I die>
in a condition like that in which it was in ancient days, when the
apostles threw out their nets, not for silver and gold, but for
souls. How fervently I wish thou mightest inherit the word of
that apostle whose episcopal seat thou hast acquired, of him who
said, ' Thy gold perish with thee,' Acts viii. 20. 0 that all the
enemies of Zion might tremble before this dreadful word, and
shrink back abashed ! This, thy mother indeed expects and re
quires of thee. For this, long and sigh the sons of thy mother,
small and great, that every plant which our Father in heaven has

1 Mendaoium vero illud et fabula haeretica, in qua refertur Constan tinum Siivestro
imperialia simoniace concessisse, in urbe ita detecta est, ut etiam mercenarii et mulier-
culae quoslibet etiam doctissimos super hoc concludant et dictus apostolicus cum suis
curdinalibus in civitate prae pudore apparere non audeant. Ep. 3tj4, f. 556. L. «,-.
!£p. 238.

BERNARD PROMOTES THE SECOND CRUSADE. 205
not planted, may be rooted up by thy hands." He then alluded
to the sudden deaths of the last predecessors of the popo, exhort
ing him to humility, and reminding him of his responsibility.
" In all thy works," he wrote, " remember that thou art a man ;
and let the fear of him who taketh away the breath of rulers, be
ever before thine eyes." Eugene was soon forced to yield, it is
true, to the superior force of the insurrectionary spirit in Rome,
and in 1146 to take refuge in France : but, like Urban and In
nocent, he too, from this country, attained to the highest triumph
ofthe papal power. Like Innocent, he found there, in the abbot
Bernard of Clairvaux, a mightier instrument for operating on the
minds of the age, than he could have found in any other country ;
and like Urban, when banished from the ancient seat of the
papacy, he was enabled to place himself at the head of a crusade
proclaimed in his name, and undertaken with great enthusiasm ;
an enterprise from which a new impression of sacredness would be
reflected back upon his own person. The news of the success
which had attended the arms of the Saracens in Syria, the defeat
ofthe Christians, the conquest of the ancient Christian territory
of Edessa.1 the danger which threatened the new Christian king
dom of Jerusalem, and the holy city, had spread alarm among the
Western nations, and the pope considered himself bound to summon
the Christians ofthe West to the assistance of their hard-pressed
brethren in the faith, and to the recovery of the holy places. By a
letter directed to the abbot Bernard, he commissioned him to ex
hort the Western Christians in his name, that, for penance and for
giveness of sins, they should march to the East, to deliver their
brethren or to give up their lives for them.2 Enthusiastic for the
cause himself, Bernard communicated, through the power of the
living word and by letters, his enthusiasm to the nations. He
represented the new crusade as a means furnished by God to
the multitudes sunk in sin, of calling them to repentance, and
of paving the way, by devout participation in a pious work, for
the forgiveness of their sins. Thus, in his letter to the clergy
I Gerhoh of Reichersberg writes in the year 1148: A. 1145, a Paganis capta civitate
Edessa ploratus et ululatus multus auditus est et exauditus in excelsis. In Ps. xxxix.,
ed. Pez. L. c, f. 794.
2 In Bernard's life of his disciple, the abbot Gottfried; — the third life in the edition
of Mabillon, t. ii., o. iv., f. 1120. It is here said, that he was to present the matter be
fore the princes and nations as the Romanae ecclesiae lingua.

206 BERNARD'S ENTHUSIASM AND PRUDENCE.
and people in East Frankland (Germany),1 he exhorts them
eagerly to lay hold on -this opportunity ; he declares that the
Almighty condescended to invite murderers, robbers, adulterers,
perjurers, and those sunk in other crimes, into his service as well
as the righteous. He calls upon them to make an end of waging
war with one another, and to seek an object for their warlike
prowess in this holy contest. " Here, brave warrior," he ex
claims, " thou hast a field where thou mayst fight without
danger, where victory is glory, and death is gain. Take the
sign of the cross, and thou shalt obtain the forgiveness of all
the sins which thou hast never confessed with a contrite heart."
By Bernard's fiery discourses, men of all ranks were carried
away.2 In France and Germany he travelled about, conquer
ing by an effort his great bodily infirmities, and the living words
from his lips produced even mightier effects than his letters.8 A
peculiar charm, and a peculiar power of moving men's minds, must
have existed in the tones of his voice ; to this must be added the
awe-inspiring effect of his whole appearance, the way in which
his whole being, and the motions of his bodily frame, joined in
testifying of that which seized and inspired him. Thus it admits
of being explained how, in Germany, even those who understood
but little or in fact nothing of what he said, could be so moved
as to shed tears, and smite their breasts ; could, by his own
speeches in a foreign language, be more strongly affected and agi
tated than by the immediate interpretation of his words by an
other.4 From all quarters, sick persons were conveyed to him,
by the friends who sought from him a cure ; and the power of his
faith, the confidence he inspired in the minds of men, might some-
i Ep. 363.
2 Gerhoh of Reichersberg writes, a year after this : Certatim curritur ad bellum sanc
tum cum jubilantibus tubis argenteis, Papa Eugenio Tertio, et ejus Nuntiis, quorum
praecipuus est Abbas Clarevallensis, quorum praedicationibus contonantibus et mira-
culis nonnullis pariter coruscantibus terrae motus factus est magnus. In Ps. xxxix,,
ed. Pez. L. c. f. 792.
3 How great was the force of bis eloquence, says the abbot Godfried, 1. c. c. iv., f.
1 119 : Nosse poterunt aliquatenus, qui ipsius legerint scripta, etsi longe minus ab eis,
qui verba ejus saepius audierunt. Siquidem diffusa erat gratia in labiis ejus et ignitum
eloquium ejus vehementer, ut non posset ne ipsius quidem stilus, licet exiuiius, totam
illam dulcedinem, totum retinere fervorem.
4 Verborum ejus magis sentire virtutem, says the biographer named in the preceding
note.

Bernard's enthusiasm and prudence. 207
times produce remarkable effects.1 With this enthusiasm, how
ever, Bernard united a degree of prudence and a discernment of
character such as few of that age possessed, and such qualities
were required to counteract the multiform excitements of the
wild spirit of fanaticism, which mixed in with this great ferment
of minds. Thus, he warned the Germans not to suffer themselves
to be misled so far as to follow certain independent enthusiasts,
ignorant of war, who were bent on moving forward the bodies of
the crusaders prematurely. He held up as a warning the example
of Peter the Hermit, and declared himself very decidedly opposed
to the proposition of an abbot who was disposed to march with a
number of monks to Jerusalem ; " for," said he, " fighting war
riors are more needed there than singing monks."' At an as
sembly held at Chartres, it was proposed that he himself should
take the lead of the expedition ; but he rejected the proposition
at once, declaring that it was beyond his power, and contrary to
his calling.0 Having, perhaps, reason to fear that the pope might
be hurried on, by the shouts of the many, to lay upon him some
charge to which he did not feel himself called, he besought the
pope that he would not make him a vietim to men's arbitrary will,
but that he would inquire, as it was his duty to do, how God had
determined to dispose of him. We have already narrated, on a
former page, how Bernard succeeded in assuaging the popular fury
against the Jews.
With the preaching of this second crusade, as with the invita
tion to the first, was connected an extraordinary awakening.
Many, who had hitherto given themselves up to their unrestrained
passions and desires, and become strangers to all higher feelings,
were seized with compunction. Bernard's call to repentance pe
netrated many a heart ; people who had lived in all manner of
crime, were seen following this voice, and flocking together in
troops to receive the badge of the cross. Bishop Otto of Freisin
gen, the historian, who himself took the cross at that time, ex-
1 Of which we shall say more further on.
2 Plus illic milites pugnantes, quam monacbos cantantes necessarios esse. Ep. 359.
3 Ep. 256, to pope Eugene the Third: Quis sum ego, ut disponam castrorum acies,
ut egrediar anti facies armatorum ? Aut quid tam remotum a professione mea, etiam si
vires suppeterent, etiam si peritia non deesset.
; Ne me humanis voluntatibus exponatis, sed, sicut singulariter vobis incumbit, divi-
num consilium perquiratis.

208 Bernard's influence on the minds of men.
presses it as his opinion, "that every man, of sound understand
ing, would be forced to acknowledge so sudden and uncommon a
change could have been produced in no other way than by the
right hand of the Lord."i The provost Gerhoh of Reichersberg,
who wrote in the midst of these movements, was persuaded that
he saw here a work of the Holy Spirit, designed to counteract the
vices and corruptions which had got the upper hand in the church.2
Many who had been awakened to repentance, confessed what they
had taken from others by robbery or fraud, and hastened, before
they went to the holy war, to seek reconciliation with their ene
mies.3 The Christian enthusiasm of the German people found
utterance in songs in the German tongue ; and even now the pe
culiar adaptation of this language to sacred poetry began to be
remarked. Indecent songs could no longer venture to appear
abroad.4 While some were awakened by Bernard's preaching from a life
of crime to repentance, and by taking part in the holy war strove
to obtain the remission of their sins ; others, again, who though
hitherto borne along in the current of ordinary worldly pursuits,
yet had not given themselves up to vice, were filled by Bernard's
words with loathing of the worldly life, inflamed with a vehement
longing after a higher stage of Christian perfection, after a life
of entire consecration to God. They longed rather to enter
upon the pilgrimage to the heavenly, than to an earthly Jerusa
lem ; they resolved to become monks, and would fain have the
man of God himself, whose words had made so deep an impres
sion on their hearts, as their guide in the spiritual life, and com-
1 De gestis Friderici i., c. xb: Tanta, mirum dictu, praedonum et Iatronum advolabat
multitudo, ut nuilus sani capitis banc tam subitam, quam insolitam mutationem ex
dextera excelsi pervenire non cognosceret.
2 His remarkable words are: Post haec invalescente multimoda impietate ac multi-
plicatis in ecclesia vel mundo fornicatoribus, raptoribus, homicidis, perjuris, incendiariis
non solum in saeculo, sed etiam in domo Dei, quam fecerunt speluncam Iatronum, ego
ecclesia (personification ofthe church) expectavi Dominum et intendit mihi et exaudi-
vit preces meas, quia ecce dum haec scribimus, contra nequitias et impietates manifestum
spiritus pietatis opus in ecclesia Dei videmus. In Ps. xxxix. L. c. f. 792.
3 Multi ex iis primitus ablata seu fraudata restituunt et, quod majus est, exemplo
Christi suis inimicis osculum pacis offerunt injurias ignoscuut. L. c.
* Gerhoh's noticeable words : In ore Christo militantium Laicorum laus Dei crebres-
cit, quia non est in toto regno Christiano, qui turpes cantilenas cautare in publico au
deat, 6ed tota terra jubilut in Christi laudibus, etiam per cantilenas linguae vulgaris,
maxime in Teutonicis, quorum lingua magis apta est concinnis canticis. L. <¦. 794.

ISSUE OF THE SECOND CRUSADE. 209
mit themselves to his directions, in the monastery of Clairvaux.
But here Bernard showed his prudence and knowledge of man
kind. He did not allow all to become monks who wished to do
so. Many he rejected, because he perceived they were not fitted
for the quiet of the contemplative life, but needed to be disci
plined by the conflicts and cares ofa life of action.1
But we here have occasion to repeat the same remark which
we made in speaking of the first crusade.' As contemporaries
themselves acknowledge, these first impressions in the case of
many who went to the crusades, were of no permanent duration,
and their old nature broke forth again the more strongly under
the manifold temptations to which they were exposed, in pro
portion to the facility with which, through the confidence they
reposed in a plenary indulgence, without really laying to heart the
condition upon which it was bestowed, they could flatter themselves
with security in their sins. Gerhoh of Reichersberg, in describing
the blessed effects of that awakening which accompanied the preach
ing of the crusader, yet says, " We doubt not that, amongst so
vast a multitude some became, in the true sense, and in all sin
cerity, soldiers of Christ. Some, however, were led to embark
in the enterprise by various other occasions, concerning whom it
does not belong to us to judge, but only to Him who alone knows
the hearts of those who marched to the contest either in the right
or not in the right spirit. Yet this we do confidently affirm, that
to this crusade many were called, but few were chosen."3 And
it was said that many returned from this expedition, not better
1 The monk Cesarius, ofthe monastery of Heisterbach, near Cologne, in the begin
ning of the thirteenth century, relates this in his dialogues, which, amidst much that is
fabulous, contains a rich store of facts relating to the history of Christian life in this
period, i. c. vi., for instance, concerning the effects of the preaching of the crusades in
Liege. When Bernard preached a crusading sermon at Costnitz, bis words made such
an impression on Henry, a very wealthy and -powerful knight, the owner of several
castles, that he wished to become a monk, and he was encouraged in this by Bernard.
He at once became the latter's companion, and, as he understood both the French and
the German language, acted as bis interpreter. But when one of the soldiers in the
service ofthe said knight proposed also to become a monk, Bernard declined to receive
him, and exhorted him rather to take part in the crusade. L u.
2 See above, p. 169.
3 Et quidem non dubitamus in tanta multitudine quosdam vere ac sincere Christo
militare, quosdam vero per occasiones varias, quos dijudicare non est nostrum, sed ip
sius, qui solus novit corda hominum sive recte sive non recte mil.tantmm. Hoc tamen
constanter affirmamus, quod multi ad hanc militiam vocati, pauci vero electi sunt. I . c.
f. 793. VOL. VII. o

210

ISSUE OF THE SECOND CRUSADE.

but worse than they went.1 Therefore the monk Cesarius of
Heisterbach, who states this, adds : " All depends on bearing
the yoke of Christ not one year or two years, but daily, — if a man
is really intent on doing it in truth, and in that sense in which
our Lord requires it to be done, and as it must be done, in order
to follow him."
When it turned out, however, that the event did not answer
the expectations excited by Bernard's enthusiastic confidence,
but the crusade came to that unfortunate issue which was brought
about especially by the treachery of the princes and nobles of the
Christian kingdom in Syria, this was a source of great chagrin to
Bernard, who had been so active in setting it in motion, and
who had inspired such confident hopes by his promises. He ap
peared now in the light of a bad prophet, and he was reproached
by many with having incited men to engage in an enterprise
which had cost so much blood to no purpose.2 But Bernard's
friends alleged in his defence, that he had not excited such a
popular movement single-handed, but as the organ of the pope, in
whose name he acted ; and they appealed to the facts by which his
preaching of the cross was proved to be a work of God, — to the
wonders which attended it.^ Or they ascribed the failure of the
undertaking to the bad conduct of the crusaders themselves, to
the unchristian mode of life which many of them led, as one of
these friends maintained, in a consoling letter to Bernard him
self,4 adding, " God, however, has turned it into good. Numbers
who, if they had returned home, would have continued to live a
life of crime, disciplined and purified by many sufferings, have
passed into the life eternal." But Bernard himself could not be
staggered in his faith by this event. In writing to pope Eugene
on this subject,5 he refers to the incomprehensibleness of the
1 Multi post peregrinationes deteriores fiunt et pristinis vitiis amplius se involvunt.
Cesar. Heisterb. i. c. vi.
2 Gottfried, in his life of Bernard, says (c. iv.) : Nee tacendum, quod ex praedicatione
itineris Hierosolymitani grave contra eum qnorundam hominum vel simplicitas vel ma-
lignitas scandalum sumsit, cum tristior sequeretur effectus.
3 Evidenter enim verbum hoc praedicavit, Domino cooperante et sermonem confir-
mante sequeutibus signis ; so says the biographer mentioned in the preceding note.
4 See ep. 386. The abbot, who was tbe writer of this letter, relates that many who ,
had returned from Palestine stated, quod vidissent multos ibi morientes, qui libenter se
mori dicebant neque velle reverti, ne amplius in peccatis reciderent.
5 Considerat. 1. ii., in the beginning.

eugene's return to rome. 211
divine ways and judgments ; to the example of Moses, who, al
though his work carried on its face incontestible evidence of being
a work of God, yet was not permitted himself to conduct the
Jews into the promised land. As this was owing to the fault of
the Jews themselves, so too the crusaders had none to blame but
themselves for the failure ofthe divine work.1 " But," says he,
" it will be said, perhaps, How do we know that this word came
from the Lord ? What miracle dost thou work, that we should
believe thee ? To this question I need not give an answer ; it
is a point on which my modesty asks to be excused from speak
ing." " Do you answer," says he to the pope, " for me and for
yourself, according to that which you have seen and heard."2 So
firmly was Bernard convinced that God had sustained his labours
by miracles.
Eugene was at length enabled, in the year 1149, after having
for a long time excited against himself the indignation of the
cardinals by his dependence on the French abbot, with the as
sistance of Roger, king of the Sicilies, to return to Rome ; where,
however, he still had to maintain the struggle with the party of
Arnold. The provost Gerhoh finds something to complain of, in
the fact that the church of St Peter wore so warlike an aspect
that men beheld the tomb of the apostle surrounded with bastions
and the implements of war !3
As Bernard was no longer sufficiently near the pope to exert
on him the same immediate personal influence as in times past,
he addressed to him a voice of admonition and warning, such as
the mighty of the earth seldom enjoy the privilege of hearing.
With the frankness of a love which, as he himself expresses it,
knew not the master, but recognized the son, even under the
pontifical robes,1 he set before him, in his four books5 " On Medi-
1 Quod si illi (Judaei) ceciderunt et perierunt propter iniquitatem suam, miramur
istos eadem facientes eadem passos ?
2 Responde tu pro me et pro te ipso, secundum ea quae audisti et vidisti.
3 Non immerito dolemus, quod adhuc in domo b. Petri desolationis abominationem
stare videmus, positis etiam propugnaculis et aliis bellorum instrumentis in altitndine
sanctuarii supra corpus b. Petri. Quod licet non audeamus judicare malum esse tamen
sine dubio judicamus esse n malo, eorum videlicet, qui suae rebellionis malitia cogunt
fieri talia. In Ps. lxiv., f. 1181.
* His words in the prologue to the work : De consideratione : Amor Dominum nescit
agnoscit filium et in infulis.
5 Of tbe fifth, we shall have occasion to speak hereafter.
o 2

212 Bernard's views of the pope's situation.
tation" (De Cousideratione), whicli he sent to him singly at dif
ferent times, the duties of his office, and the faults against which,
in order to fulfil these duties, he needed especially to guard.
Bernard was penetrated with a conviction that to the pope, as
St Peter's successor, was committed by God a sovereign power of
church government over all, and responsible to no other tribunal ;
that to this church theocracy, guided by the pope, the adminis
tration even ofthe secular power, though independent within its
own peculiar sphere, should be subjected, for the service of the
kingdom of God. But he also perceived, with the deepest pain,
how very far the papacy was from corresponding to this its idea
and destination ; what prodigious corruption had sprung and
continued to spring from the abuse of papal authority ; he per
ceived already, with prophetic eye, that this very abuse of arbi
trary will must eventually bring about the destruction of this
power. He desired that the pope should disentangle himself
from the secular part of his office and reduce that office within
the purely spiritual domain, and that above all he should learn to
govern and restrict himself. " From neither poison nor sword,"
wrote he to him, " do I so much dread danger to thee, as from
the love of rule."1 He reminded him of the shameful, spirit-
depressing slavery, which he endured from all quarters under the
show of rule, — he must be servant not of an individual, but of all.
Nor could he rightly appeal to that saying of the apostle Paul,
that he made himself the servant of all men, while the ambitious,
the seekers of gain, the practisers of simony, the incontinent,
and such like monsters, from the whole world, flocked to the
pope, seeking to acquire or to preserve, by his apostolical autho
rity, the places of honour in the church. That apostle, to whom
to live was Christ, and to die was gain, made himself a servant
to men, in order that he might win more souls to Christ, not in
order to increase the emoluments of cupidity. Much rather
should he ponder that saying of the same apostle : Ye are bought
with a price, be not the servants of men. "What is more a
servitude, what is more unworthy a pope, than that thou shouldst
busy thyself almost every hour with such things and for the ad
vantage of such men ? Finally, when is there time for prayer,
1 Nullum tibi venenum, nullum gladium plus formido, quam libidinem dominandi.
Lib. iii., c. i.

Bernard's admonitions to euoene the third. 213
to instruct the congregation, to edify the church, to meditate on
the divine law ? Aud yet we must admit the laws do daily make
themselves to be heard in the papal palace ; but what laws \ the
laws of Justinian, not those of the Lord." Gladly would he in
vite him, according to 2 Tim. ii. 4, to put far from him all these
secular affairs, so alien from his spiritual office, but he is very
sensible that the times were not capable of receiving such truths.
" Believest thou that these times would bear it, if thou shouldst
repel those people who are contending about an earthly inherit
ance, and seek a decision from thee, with the words of thy Mas
ter, Man, who has made me a judge over yoTi? How instantly
would they accuse thee of dishonouring thy primacy, and surren
dering somewhat of the apostolical dignity. And yet it is my
opinion, that those who so speak cannot mention the place where
any one of the apostles ever held a trial, decided disputes about
boundaries, or portioned out lands. I read, indeed, that the
apostles stood before judgment-seats, but not that they sat upon
them." This, he said, was not belittling the papal dignity or
authority ; on the contrary, he held it to be so exalted as to be
able to dispense with managing such worldly affairs. " Your au
thority has reference to sins, not to earthly possessions. On ac
count of the former, not the latter, have you received the keys of
the kingdom of heaven, with power to exclude men from it on
account of their sins, not on account of their possessions. These
earthly things have also their judges, the kings and princes of
the world. Why intrude into another's province V1 He laments
that the pope's appearance, mode of living, and occupations, so
little comported with the office of spiritual shepherd. He laments
the arrogance and superior airs affected by his attendants.2 He
labours to impress him, above all, with the duty of exercising his
spiritual office as amongst that intractable, corrupt people, the
Romans, who stood in especial need of it ; at least to make the
experiment, whether something could not be done for their con
version, and these wolves turned into lambs. " Here," said he,
" / do not spare thee, in order that God may spare thee. Deny
1 Habent haec infima et terrena judice suos, reges et principes terras. Quid tines
alienos invaditis ? Quid falcem vestram in alienam messem extenditis ?
2 Ita omne humile piobro ducirurinter Palatinos, ut facilius qui esse, quam qui ap-
parere humilisvelit, invenius.

214 Bernard's admonitions to eugene the third.
*
that thou art the pastor, the shepherd, of this people, or prove
thyself to be such. Thou wilt not deny it, lest he whose episco
pal seat thou possessest deny thee as his heir. It is that Peter,
of whom it is not known that he was ever loaded with precious
stones or silks, conveyed about covered with gold on a white
horse, surrounded by soldiers and bustling servants. In these
things thou hast not followed Peter, but Constantine." He ad
vises him, if he must endure such marks of honour for a short
time, yet to put in no claim to them, but rather seek to fulfil the
duties belonging to his vocation. " Though thou walkest abroad
clad in purple and gold, yet as thou art heir of the shepherd,
shrink not from the shepherd's toils and cares ; thou hast no rea
son to be ashamed of the gospel." Not the earthly sword, but
the sword of the word, should be used by him against the unruly
Romans. " Why dost thou again unsheath the sword, which the
Lord has bid thee put up in its sheath. True, it is evident from
this command, that it is thy sword still ; but one which is to be
drawn at thy bidding only, not by thy hand. Else, when Peter
said, Here are two swords, our Lord would not have answered, It
is enough : but there are too many ; therefore both swords, the
spiritual and the temporal, are to serve the church ; but the first
is for the church ; the second also, from the church ; the first is
wielded by the hand of the priest ; the second, in the hand of the
soldier, at the beck of the pope, by the command of the emperor."
It was then Bernard's idea that, although the pope busies him
self directly only with spiritual matters, yet he should exercise
a sort of superintendence also over the administration of the se
cular authority.
But while he recognizes the church government of the pope as
one to which all others, without exception, are subjected, he ad
vises that he should restrict himself; that he should respect the
other authorities existing in the church, and not usurp the whole
to himself. He presents before him the great evil which must
necessarily result from multiplied and arbitrary exemptions ; the
murmurings and complaints of the churches, which sighed over
their mutilations ; hence so much squandering of church property,
destruction of church order, and so many schisms. If his autho
rity was the highest ordained of God, yet he should not for that
reason suppose it the only one ordained of God. The text, Rom.

Bernard's four books, de consideuatlone. 21f>
xiii. 1, which was often misinterpreted and abused by the de
fenders of absolute arbitrary will, Bernard turns against them.
" Though the passage, ' Whosoever resisteth the power, resisteth
the ordinance of God,' serves thy purpose especially, yet it does
not serve it exclusively. The same apostle says : ' Let every soul
be subject unto the higher powers ;' he speaks not of one, but of
several. It is not thy authority alone, therefore, that is from
the Lord, but this is true also of the intermediate, of the lower
powers. And, since what God has put together, man should not
put asunder ; so neither should man level down what God has put
in a relation of supra-ordination and subordination. Thou pro-
ducest a monster, if thou disseverest the finger from the hand
and makest it hang directly from the head. So is it too, if thou
arraugest the members in the body of Christ in a different order
from that in which he himself has placed them." He refeis to
the order instituted by Christ himself, 1 Cor. xii. 28, Eph. iv. 16.
He refers to the system of appeals, so ruinous to the condition of
the church, as an example suited to show the direct tendency of
the abuse of the papal authority to bring it into contempt, and
also that the pope would take the best and surest means of meet
ing the latter evil by checking the former.1 He warns the pope,
by pointing him to God's judgments in history : " Once make the
trial of uniting both together ; try to be ruler and at the same
time successor of the apostle, or to be the apostle's successor
and at the same time ruler. You must let go of one or the other.
If you attempt to secure both at once, you will lose both. He
commends to his consideration the threatening language of the
prophet, Hosea viii. 4.2
But to the close of his life, in the year 1153, pope Eugene had
to contend with the turbulent spirit of the Romans and the in-

1 Lib. iii., c. ii , § 12. Videris tu, quid sibi velit, quod zelus vester assidue paene viii-
dicat ilium (contemptum), istam (usurpationem) dissimulat. Vis perfectius coercere
conlemptnm ? Cura in ipso utevo pessimae matris praefocari germen nequam, quod ita
fiet, si usurpatio digna animaJversione mulctetur. Tolle usurpationem, et contemptus
excusationem non babet.
'- Lib. ii., c. vi., § 11. I ergo tu et tibi usurpare aude aut dominans apostolatum aut
apostolicus dominatum. Plane ab alterutro prohiberis. Si utrumque simul habere voles,
perdes utrumque. Alioquin non te exceptum illorum numcro putes, de quibus qiieritur
Deus. Osea viii. 4.

216 DESTRUCTION OF THE ARNOLD PARTY.
fluences of the principles disseminated by Arnold ; and this con
test was prolonged into the reign of his second successor, Adrian
the Fourth. Among the people and among the nobles, a con
siderable party had arisen, who would concede to the pope no
kind of secular dominion. And there seems to have been a shade
of difference among the members of this party. A mob of the
people1 is said to have gone to such an extreme of arrogance as
to propose the choosing of an new emperor from amongst the Ro
mans themselves, the restoration of a Roman empire independent
of the pope. The other party, to which belonged the nobles,
were for placing the emperor Frederic the First at the head of
the Roman republic, and uniting themselves with him in a com
mon interest against the pope. They invited him2 to receive
the imperial crown, in the ancient manner, from the " Senate
and Roman people," and not from the heretical and recreant
clergy, and the false monks, who acted in contradiction to their
calling, exercising lordship despite of the evangelical and aposto
lical doctrine ; and in contempt of all laws, divine and human,
brought the church of God and the kingdom of the world into
confusion. Those who pretend that they are the representatives
of Peter, it was said in a letter addressed in the spirit of this
party to the emperor Frederic the First, " act in contradiction to
the doctrines which that apostle teaches in his epistles. How
can they say with the apostle Peter, ' Lo, we have left all and
followed thee,' and ' Silver and gold have I none V How can our
Lord say to such, ' Ye are the light of the world,' ' the salt of
the earth V Much rather is to be applied to them what our
Lord says of the salt that has lost its savour. Eager after
earthly riches, they spoil the true riches, from which the salva-
vation of the world has proceeded. How can the saying be ap
plied to them, ' Blessed are the poor in spirit ;' for they are nei
ther poor in spirit nor in fact V
Pope Adrian the Fourth was first enabled, under more favour-
1 Rusticana quaedam turba absque nobilium et rnaiorum scientia, as pope Eugenius
himself writes. Martene et Durand, collectio amplissima, t. ii., f. f 54.
2 Seethe letter, written iu the name of this party and expressing its views, by a certain
Wezel, to the emperor Frederic the First, in the year 1152, in the collection mentioned
in the note preceding, t. ii., f. 854,

gerhoh on Arnold's death. 217
able circumstances, and assisted by the emperor Frederic the
First,! to deprive the Arnold party of its leader, and then to
suppress it entirely. It so happened that, in the first year of
Adrian's reign, 1155, a cardinal, on his way to visit the pope,
was attacked and wounded by followers of Arnold. This in
duced the pope to put all Rome under the interdict, with a view
to force the expulsion of Arnold and his party. This means did
not fail of its effect. The people, who could not bear the suspen
sion of divine worship, now themselves compelled the nobles to
bring about the ejection of Arnold and his friends. Arnold, on
leaving Rome, found protection from Italian nobles. By the
order, however, of the emperor Frederic, who had come into
Italy, he was torn from his protectors, and surrendered up to the
papal authority. The prefect of Rome then took possession of
his person, and caused him to be hung. His body was burned,
and its ashes thrown into the Tiber, lest his bones might be pre
served as the relics ofa martyr by the Romans, who were enthu
siastically devoted to him.2 Worthy men, who were in other re
spects zealous defenders ofthe church orthodoxy and ofthe hier
archy, as, for example, Gerhoh of Reichersberg, expressed their
disapprobation, first, that Arnold should be punished with death
on account of the errors which he disseminated ; secondly, that
the sentence of death should proceed from a spiritual tribunal,
or that such a tribunal should at least have subjected itself to
that bad appearance. But on the part of the Roman court it was
alleged, in defence of this proceeding, that " it was done without
the knowledge and contrary to the will of the Roman curia."
" The prefect of Rome had forcibly removed Arnold from the
prison where he was kept, and his servants had put him to death, in
revenge for the injuries they had suffered from Arnold's party.
Arnold, therefore, was executed, not on account of his doctrines,
but in consequence of tumults excited by himself." It may be a

1 Pope Eugene had taken advantage of the above mentioned plan of one portion of
Arnold's party to represent that party to the emperor as detrimental even to the impe
rial interests. The words of Eugene, in tbe letter already mentioned in a preceding
note, addressed to the emperor's envoy, the abbot Wibald, are : Quod quia contra coro-
nam regni et carissimi filii nostri, Friderici Romanorum regis, boooreiu attentare prae-
sumunt, eidem volumus per te secretius nuntiari.
2 See Acta Vaticana, in Baronius, annal. ad. ». 1155, No. i. et iv., and Otto ot Freisin
gen de gestis, f. i , I. ii., c. xx.

218

GERHOH ON ARNOLDS DEATH.

question whether this was said with sincerity, or whether, ac
cording to the proverb, a confession of guilt is not implied in the
excuse. But Gerhoh was of the opinion, that in this case they
should at least have done as David did in the case of Abner's
death (2 Sam. iii.), and, by allowing Arnold to be buried, and his
death to be mourned over, instead of causing his body to be
burned, and the remains thrown into the Tiber, washed their
hands ofthe whole transaction.1
But the idea for which Arnold had contended, and for which he
died, continued to work iu various forms even after his death, —
the idea of a purification of the church from the foreign worldly
elements with which it had become vitiated, of its restoration to
its original spiritual character. Even the person who had given
over Arnold to the power of his enemies, must afterwards attach
himself — though induced by motives of a different kind, by the
interest of politics — to a tendency of this sort. With this em
peror begins a new epoch in the history of the papacy — the hun
dred years controversy of the popes with the emperors of the
Hohenstaufen family. It was not, as formerly, the contest of the
pope with princes who stood singly opposed to him, and acted
rather by momentary interests than according to a fixed plan ;
but a contest, which was perseveringly maintained by three
princes, following one after the other in immediate succession,
with all the power, energy, and craft of a consistent plan, —
which, after every momentary pause occasioned by particular cir
cumstances, was resumed with the same vigour as before. Here

1 Gerlioh's noticeable words concerning Arnold : Quem ego vellem pro tali doctrina
sua, quamvis prava, vel exilio vel carcere aut alia poena praeter mortem punitum esse
vel saltem taliter occisuin, ut Romana ecclesia seu curia ejus necis quaestione careret.
Nam, sicut ajunt, absque ipsorum scientia et consensu a praefecto urbis Romae de sub
eorum custodia, in qua tenebatur, ereptus ac pro speciali causa occisus ab ejus servis
est ; maximam siquidem cladem ex occasione ejusdem doctrinae (in which, therefore, it
seems to be implied that Arnold's principles had only given occasion to the tumult, not
that he himself had created it ), idem praefectus a Romanis civibus perpessus fuerat;
quare non saltem oh occisi crematione ac submersione ejus occisores metuemnt? Qua
tenus a domo sacerdotali sanguinis quaestio remota esset, sicut David quondam hones-
tas Abner exequias providit atque ante ipsas flevit, ut sanguinem fraudulenter effusum
a domo ac throuo suo removeret. Sed de his ipsi viderint. Nihil enim super his nostra
interest, nisi cupere matri nostrae, sanctae Romanae ecclesiae id quod bonum justum ct
honestum est. It was important for him to make this declaration : ne videatur neci
ejus perperam actae assensum praebere. See Gretser's Werke, t. xii., in the prolego
mena to the writings against the Waldenses, f. 12,

MARCH OF FREDERIC THE FIRST TO ITALY. 219
•
it was to be decided whether the papacy could be overturned by
any force from without, or must only come forth triumphant out
of such a conflict.
When Frederic came into Italy for the first time, ami Rome
was already filled with alarm, the issue showed that these fears
were groundless. The emperor sought to maintain a good un
derstanding with the pope, — whether it was that he had it in view
to establish his power on a firm footing in Italy, before he em
barked in this dangerous contest, or that he was disposed to try
whether he might not obtain the pope's co-operation in accom
plishing his objects.1 If the latter was his plan, he must at least
have soon convinced himself, that this thing was impossible.
The churchly theocratical system could tolerate no power beside
itself; but it required of every other, unconditional subjection.
Its unyielding pretensions Frederic soon came to find out, in dis
puting the question whether he was bound to hold the stirrup
for the pope,2 and in beholding those pictures and inscriptions in

l The remarkable words of John of Salisbury, who to be sure was very bostilely dis
posed towards the imperial interest, are (ep. 59): Scio quid Teutonicus moliatur. Eram
enim Romae praesidente b. Eugenio, quando prima legatione missa in regni sui initio,
tanti ausi impudentiam, tumor iutolerabilis, lingua incauta detexit. Promiltebat enim,
se totius orbis reformaturum imperium, urbi subjiciendum orbem, eventuque facili omnia
snbacturum, si ei ad hoc solius Romani pontificis favor adesset. Id enim agebat, ut in
quemcunque demutatis inimicitiis materialem gladium imperator, in eundem Romanus
pontifex spiritualem gladium exereret. Therefore the idea of a universal politico-spi
ritual monarchy.
2 The fabulous story was handed round that the emperor Constantine had done this
act of homage to pope Silvester, and good use was made of it in an uncritical age. We
take this from Gerhoh's words, in his Syntagma de statu ecclesiae, c. xxiv., Gretser, t.
vi. foi, 258 : Cui ad honoris cumulum et ipse Constantinu3 tenens frenum per civitatem
stratoris officium exhibuit. In another place, Gerhoh extols this triumph of the hier
archy in the following noticeable words : Regnis idololatris, schismaticis atque indisci-
plinatis usque ad sui festus defectum curvatis amplius glorificanda et coronanda erat
sacerdotalis dignitas, ita ut stratoris quoque officium pontifici Romano a regibus et im
peratoribus exhibendum sit. In bim we have a strikingly characteristic representative
of tbe spirit of this party, when intoxicated by his enthusiasm for the universally tri
umphant priesthood, he sees in the future a goal to be reached, where small princes of
inferior name should arise in place of the imperial dignity ; princes, who could undertake
nothing in opposition to the ehurch. Haec nimirum spectacula (says he after the pas
sage just cited), nunc regibus partim ablatis, partim diminuto eorum regno humilitatis,
et exaltato sacerdotio delectant spectatorem benevolum, torquent invidum, qui ut am
plius crucietur et pius oculus magis jucundetur, etc., succedet in saeculari dignitate
miuoris nominis potestas diminutis regnis magnis in tctrarchias aut minores etiam
particulas, ne premerc valeant ecclesias et ecclesiasticas personas. Iu Ps. Ixiv., 1. c. f.
1190. 3

220 IMPRESSION PRODUCED BY ADRIAN'S LETTER TO FREDERIC.
the papal palaces, which represented the pope as liege-lord of the
empire.1 The resolution was now matured in the emperor's mind, that
he would take advantage of the first opportunity to resist these
papal pretensions. Such an opportunity was soon furnished, per-
haps undesignedly, by the pope himself. A bishop of Lund, in
Sweden, when returning from a pilgrimage to Rome, was robbed
and taken captive by certain German knights. The pope com
plained to the emperor in a letter, ofthe year 1157, that he had
let this offence go unpunished, and had not taken the side ofthe
bishop. He reminded him of the gratitude which he owed to
the papal chair, of the services which that chair had rendered
him during his stay „at Rome, and mentioned, among other parti
culars, the bestowment of the imperial crown, as if this de
pended on the pope's determination. 2 Still, he added, the pope
would not have regretted it, had he received, if that were possi
ble, still greater benefits from him.3 When thi^ was read before
the emperor, in the diet held at Besangon, it produced a strong
and universal movement of surprise. Not without reason might
offence be taken at the language in which the pope spoke of the
bestowment of the imperial crown ; and — by putting this in con
junction with what was said about benefits, the emperor recollect
ing all the while those pictures and inscriptions which he had
seen at Rome,4 — the worst construction which could be put on
the word, " beneftcium," according to the use of language in
that period, as designating a feoffage, was put upon the pope's
language, though the connection was decidedly against any such
construction. The papal legates, who had brought the letter,
1 To paintings, which symbolically represented the principles of the papal system,
John of Salisbury also alludes, in the letter already referred to : Sic ad gloriam patrum
teste Lateraneusi palatio, ubi hoc invisibilibus picturis et laici legunt, ad gloriam pa
trum schismatic!, quos saecularis potestas intrusit, dantur pontificibus pro scabello.
2 Quantam tibi (Romana ecclesia) dignitatis plentitudinem contulerit et honoris et
qualiter imperialis insigne coronae libentissime conferens.
3 Si majora beneficia excellentia tua de manu nostra suscepisset, si fieri posset.
i The picture of the emperor Lothaire the Second, on whom the pope bestows the im
perial crown, with the inscription: —
Rex venit ante fores, jurans prius urbis honores
Post homo fit Papae, sumit quo dante coronam.
According to the account of the historian Radwic (i. 10), the pope had promised, in
reply to tlie friendly remonstrances of the emperor, that this picture should be removed.

Frederic's declaration against Adrian. 221
were little fitted by their temper to quiet the excited feelings of
the assembly. One of them, Cardinal Roland of Siena, chancel
lor of the church of Rome, on offence being taken at those words
of the papal letter, had the boldness to ask, " From whom then
did the emperor obtain the government, if not from the pope V
These words produced such an outburst of anger, that a terrible
vengeance would have lighted on the head of the speaker, if he
had not been protected by the emperor. The legates were dis
missed with disgrace ; they were commanded to return imme
diately to Rome, and to visit no bishop or abbot by the way, lest,
in travelling about the empire, they might find opportunity of
creating disturbances, or of exacting contributions.1 For the
same reason, the emperor laid a restriction upon that constant
and lively intercourse which had been hitherto kept up between
Germany and Rome, by means of pilgrimages and appeals. He
endeavoured to provide that his conduct towards the pope should
everywhere be seen in a favourable point of light. He therefore
caused to be published throughout the- whole empire, a document
setting forth what had been done, and the reasons which made
it necessary to take such a course. In this paper he styled
himself, in opposition to the papal pretensions, " the Lord's
anointed," who had obtained the government from that Almighty
power from which proceeds all authority in heaven and on earth.
" Since our government," he declared, " proceeds, through the
choice of the princes, from God alone ; «since our Lord, at his
passion, committed the government of the world to two swords,
and since the apostle Peter gave to the world this precept, ' Fear
God, and honour the king,' it is evident, that whoever says, ' we
received the imperial crown as a beneficium from the pope,' con
tradicts the divine order and the doctrine of Peter, and makes
himself guilty of a lie." The pope, first in a letter issued to the
1 The words in the emperor's letter, in which be notices this, and explains his motives :
Porro quia multa paria literarum apud eos reperta sunt et schedulae sigillatae ad arbi-
irium eorum adhuc scribendae (namely, blank leaves to which the pope's seal had been
affixed, which they were to fill up according to circumstances ; so great was the power
intrusted to them), quibus sicut bactenus consuetudiniB eorum fuit, per singulas eccle
sias Teutonici regni conceptual iniquitatis suae virus respergere, altaria denudare, vasa
domus Dei apportare, cires excoriare nitebantur. A description of the exactions made
by the papal legates, which we assuredly cannot regard as exaggerated, judging from a
comparison with other accounts of these times.

222 correspondence between the
German, bishops, complained bitterly of this procedure on the
part of the emperor, and called upon them to use the influence
they had with him, to bring him to his senses. But the bishops
were here of one and the same mind with the emperor. They
handed over this letter to him, and he communicated to them the
draft of a reply which he intended for the pope. In this, he de
clared that he was ready to pay all due respect to the head of
the church ; but he was also resolved to maintain the indepen
dence of his imperial throne. " It was by no means," he said,
" his design to hinder those who wished, from making the pil
grimage to Rome, or from visiting that city for any other good
reasons ; but he only intended to resist those abuses of which he
could justly say, that all the churches of his empire were bur
dened with them, and all the discipline of the monasteries des
troyed by them."1 " In the head city of the world," he writes,
" God exalted the church by means of the empire ; in the head
city of the world, the church now seeks, not through God, as we
think, to destroy the empire. She began with pictures ; from
pictures she proceeded to writings ; these writings would procure
for themselves the authority of law. Sooner will we lay down
our crown, than suffer it, together with ourselves, to be so de
graded. The pictures must be destroyed ; the writings must be
revoked, so that the monuments of the controversy between the
empire and the priesthood may not last forever."2 The bishops,
in transmitting this declaration of the emperor to the pope,
assured him that those words of his own letter had excited the
greatest displeasure amongst all the German princes, as well as
in the emperor ; that they themselves could not defend those
words, because of their ambiguity. They represented to him the
great danger which might grow out of this dispute, and besought
him earnestly, that he would seek to pacify the emperor by a con
ciliatory letter.
As the emperor now marched into Italy with an army, fear
added weight, in the pope's mind, to the representations of the
bishops- He sent a second legation to the emperor, for which he
1 Illis abusionibus, quibus omnes ecclesiae regni nostri gravatae et attentatae sunt et
omnis paene claustrales disciplinae emortuae et sepultae, obviare intendimus.
2 Picturae deleantur, scripturae retractentur, ut inter regnum et sacerdotium aeterne
inimicitiarum monumenta non remaneant,

POPE AND THE EMPEROR. 223
selected two cardinals who were free from that hierarchical ob
stinacy, and adroit men of the world. These envoys handed
over to the emperor another letter, which by a milder explana
tion of those words which had given offence, was designed to
pacify him. Against the construction which the emperor had
put on the word beneftcium, he could easily defend himself, by an
appeal to etymology, to the common Latin usus loquendi, and at
the same time to the Bible.1 In respect also to the other diffi
culty, he maintained that his language had been misconstrued,
but without entering into more distinct explanations.
Thus, for the present, the good understanding between the
emperor and the pope was again restored ; still, however, in a
case where interests and principles were so directly opposed, this
could not last long ; and the sojourn of the emperor in Italy, in
the year 1158, where with good success he was seeking to estab
lish his power on a firm foundation, could not fail to produce many
a collision between the two. The pope could not pardon it in the
emperor, that he insisted on his right of sovereignty over the city
of Rome, caused the bishops to take the oath of allegiance, placed
a limit on appeals to Rome, and sought to check the influence of
the papal legates in Germany. In this uneasy state of feeling,
he wrote to the emperor a short letter, complaining of his want of
respect to the apostle Peter and to the church of Rome. What
arrogance was it, that in his letter to the pope, he should place
his own name before that of the pope. How grossly he violated
the fidelity vowed to St Peter, when he required of those who are
all gods and sons of the Highest, the oath of allegiance, and took -
their holy hands into his. He reproached him with having shut
out the churches and states of his empire from the papal legates.
He exhorted him to repentance. In the reply to this letter a
mode of thinking expressed itself, which required the separation
of spiritual things from secular, in the case of the church of Rome
as well as of other churches. The very superscription itself
plainly indicated the emperor's views, in the wish there expressed,
that he might remain faithful and true to all that Jesus had taught

1 Hoc nomen ex bono et facto est editum et dicitur beneficium apud nos non feudum,
sed bonum factum.
2 Per hoc vocabulum (the offensive word "coutulimus)," nihil aliud intelleximus,
nisi quod superius dictum est imposuimus.

224 ALEXANDER THE THIRD AND VICTOR THE FOURTH.
by word and deed. He denied that the popes held worldly pos
sessions by divine right ; they were indebted for all they possessed
to the donations of monarchs, as Silvester first had received all
he possessed from the emperor Constantine. It was by ancient
right that, in his letters to the pope, he placed his own name
first ; and the pope was free to do the same thing in writing to
the emperor. He acknowledged the higher consecrated character
of the bishops ; but it seemed to him not in the least incompa
tible with this, that he should require them to take the oath of
allegiance ; and he appeals to the pattern of Christ : " Whereas
your Master and mine, who needed not that anything should be
given him by a king who was a man, but bestows every good upon
all, paid for himself and Peter the tribute-money to Caesar, and
also set the example of so acting, when he said, ' Learn of me,
for I am meek and lowly of heart,' so you therefore should leave
to us the regalia, — or, if you expect to derive advantage from it,
you should ' render to God the things that are God's, and to
Caesar the things that are Caesar's.' " The churches and coun
tries he had shut out from the cardinals, because they did not
come to preach, to make and to establish peace, but to plunder,
and to gratify their insatiable cupidity. Should such men come,
however, as the good ofthe church required that bishops should
be, he would not delay providing them with everything needful.
The emperor asked the pope to consider how incongruous it was
with the humility and meekness of which, as Christ's vicegerent.
he should set the example, for him to excite disputes about such
things ; and in what an unfavourable light he must place himself
thereby before the eyes of the world ! After long-continued ne
gotiations, the dispute between the pope and the emperor was as
far from being settled as ever. Already was Adrian on the
point of proceeding to more violent measures against that mo
narch, when, precisely at this critical moment, in the year 1159,
he died.
The death of Adrian at this point of time was necessarily fol
lowed by a schism in the choice of a pope ; for there were, as
usual, two parties among the cardinals ; one, who were deter
mined to maintain, at all hazards, the pretensions of the hierar
chical system ; and to employ for this purpose the strongest and
most violent measures ; the other, who were inclined to more mo-

ALEXANDER THE THIRD AND VICTOR THE FOURTH. 225
derate proceedings. The former, at whose head stood the de
ceased pope himself, were for uniting themselves with the ene
mies of the emperor in Italy and Sicily, and pronouncing the ban
upon him ; the other, to which those cardinals belonged who
already under the preceding reign had pushed forward the nego
tiations with the emperor, wished for a peaceable termination of
the difficulties. The first party chose as pope the cardinal Ro
land, of Siena, and he assumed the name of Alexander the Third ;
the second party chose the cardinal Octavian, who gave himself
the name of Victor the Fourth. The emperor could not doubt
for a moment which of these two parties was the most favourably
disposed to his own interest .; as the two popes themselves
plainly expressed their different principles by the different tone
in which they addressed him. But he was very far from being
disposed to intermeddle with the inner affairs of the church ; he
only meant to take advantage of this strife, so as to be able, after
the example of the Othos, and of Henry the Third, to hit upon
the legitimate measures for the removal of the present schism,
and the establishment of a universally-recognized pope. He an
nounced a church assembly to meet in the year 1160 at Pavia,
before which the two competitors should appear, in order that
their respective claims to the papal dignity might then be scruti
nized. But Alexander, without regard to any further scrutiny,
considered himself as the only regular pope, and declared it to be
an unheard-of pretension, that a layman should presume to set
himself up as a judge over such an affair. He looked upon the
council at Pavia as an altogether disorderly assembly. Victor,
on the other hand, recognized this tribunal. When the council
had assembled, the emperor declared he had now done all that
belonged to his vocation ; nothing else remained for him than to
await the decision of God, through those whom he had appointed
the judges in this matter ; whereupon he withdrew from the
transactions. The council recognized Victor as the regular pope,
and Frederic sought to promote his authority by every means of
power and of influence within his command. But although
Alexander was compelled to yield to the authority of the emperor,
and in the year 1162 to seek a refuge in France, yet he continu
ally gained more and more on his side the public opinion in the
church ; the heads of the clerical and of the monastic orders
VOL. VII. P

226 FREDERIC'S PEACE WITH ALEXANDER.
stood up for him, or demanded a true general council, as alone
competent to decide this controversy.1 All who were devoted to
the church theocratical system, saw in Alexander the champion of
a holy cause ; and in Victor, a tool of the imperial power.2 Alex
ander too, like his predecessors, was greatly indebted to the influ
ence of the monks. s
Still less authority than Victor's was enjoyed by his successors
nominated by the imperial party, Paschalis the Third (1164), and
Calixtus the Third (1168.) The tyranny which the emperor
exercised in Italy, the struggle ofthe Longobard states for their
freedom, procured allies for the pope, with whom he could con
stantly fortify himself more strongly against the emperor ; and
after the unfortunate campaign in Italy, in 1176, Frederic was
induced to conclude at Venice a peace with the pope, upon con
ditions prescribed by the latter. This victory was interpreted by
the adherents of the church theocratical system as a judgment of
God in favour of the papacy.4 The seal was set to this victory
1 So the provost Gerhoh, who calls the assembly at Pavia only a curia Papiensis, in
Ps. cxxxiii., f. 1042.
2 So Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, or John of Salisbury, in his name,
(ep. 48, in the letter of J. of Salisbury), in a letter to king Henry the Second, of Eng
land, whom the emperor was seeking to gain over to Victor : Absit, ut in tanto periculo
ecclesiae pro amore et honore hominis faciatis, nisi quod crederetis Domino placiturum,
nee decet majestatem vestram, si placet, ut in tota ecclesia regni vestri superponatis ho
minem, qui sine electione, ut publice dicitur, sine gratia Domini per favorem unius im-
peratoris tantum honorem ausus est occupare. Nam tota fere ecclesia Romana in parte
Alexandri est. Incredibile autem est, quod pars ilia possit obtinere, praevalere per ho
minem, cui justitia deest, cui Dominus adversatur. He then cites tbe example of the
popes, since the time of Urban the Second, who began in weakness, and after having
been acknowledged in France, triumphed over their opponents. John of Salisbury de
clares very strongly his opposition to the Council of Pavia : Dniversalem ecclesiam quis
particularis ecclesiae subjecit judicio ? Quis Teutonicos constituit judices nationum ?
Quis hanc brutis, impetuosis hominibus auctoritatem contulit, ut pro arbitrio principem
statuant super capita filiorum hominum ?
3 In the life of bishop Anthelm, by Bellay, in the Actis Sanctor, Jun. t. v,, e. iii., f.
232, it is stated that quum universa paene anceps ecclesia vacillaret, the Carthusian
order, at first, used their influence in favour of Alexander: Praecedentibus itaqne Car-
tusiensibus et Cisterciensibus Alexander papa ecclesiarum in partibus Galliae, Britan-
niae atque Hispaniae cito meruit obedientiam habere.
i Thus wrote John of Salisbury, who from this result entertained the hope that the
contest for the interest of the church in England would have a like issue (ep. 254) :
Nam quae capiti schismatis confurebant membra cointereunt eoque succiso corpus
totum necesse est interire. Vidimus, vidimus hominem, qui consueverat esse sicuti
leo in domo sua, dnmesticos evertens et opprimens subjectos sibi, latebras quaerere et
tanto terrore concuti, ut vix tutus esset in angulosis abditis suis. Ilium, ilium impera-
torem, qui totius orbis terror fuerat, utinam vidissetis ab Italia fugientem cum ignominia

HENRY THE SECOND AND THOMAS BECKET. 227
by the Lateran council, which Alexander, as universally acknow
ledged pope, held in the year 1179, and by which an ordinance
was passed in relation to papal elections, in order to prevent
similar schisms to those which had recently occurred. It was
thereby determined,1 that the individual chosen by the votes of
two-thirds of the cardinals should be lawful pope ; and in case
the person chosen by the minority, consisting of the other third,
should set himself up as pope in opposition, he and his adherents
should be liable to excommunication.
Still stronger did the power of the papacy exhibit itself in another
contest, between the secular power and the church, which arose
in another quarter, namely, England. Thomas Becket had come
as archdeacon to the court of king Henry the Second of England,
and, getting more and more into the confidence of that monarch,
was finally appointed chancellor, in which post his word became
law. Without doubt, the king supposed that he should most
certainly promote his own interest, if, availing himself of the
vacancy of the archbishopric of Canterbury, in the year 1162, he
proceeded to make his favourite, the man hitherto so devoted to
him, primate of the English church, while at the same time he
allowed him to continue in the same relations to himself, as his
chancellor. But he found himself altogether deceived in his ex
pectations ; for Thomas Becket from that moment changed en
tirely the whole mode of his life,3 and with still greater zeal
served the interest of the hierarchy, than he had before served
the interests of the king. It was to him an affair of conscience,
not to surrender a tittle of anything pertaining to the cause of
the church, and to the dignity of the priesthood, contemplated
from the hierarchical point of view which was common at that
sempiterna, ut his cautelam procuret aut ruinam, qui catbolicorum laborious insultabant
ex successibus et furore ejus. Ergo conceptam laudem Dei silere quis poterit ? Ipsi
enim est, qui facit mirabilia magna solus.
1 Can. i.
2 Still, owing to his ascetic zeal, he could not be induced to make any such altera
tions in his diet as were too much at variance with his previous habits : and when once,
at the common table of the clergy, a pheasant was placed before him, said he to one of
his companions at the table, who took offence at it: Truly, my brother, if I do not
mistake, thou eatest thy beans with more relish, than I do the pheasant set before me."
See his life by Heribert of Boseham (ed. sup.), with the letters of Thomas, in the col
lection of the four lives, p. 25.
p 2

228 PARLIAMENT AT CLARENDON, 1164.
time.1 When he resigned his post as chancellor, king Henry
regarded it as an indication of his change of views on political
and ecclesiastical interests, and was by tlnV circumstance first
prejudiced against him ; and his previous inclination in his fa
vour must have gone on continually changing into greater aver
sion, when he saw in the man in whom he had hoped to find a
grateful and zealous servant, his most resolute adversary. One
fact which proves what an injury great external privileges were
to the true interests of the spiritual order is this ; there were to
be found amongst the clergy of England, men who, by the com
mission of the worst crimes, had fallen under the jurisdiction of
the civil tribunals. The king demanded that such persons, after
having been divested in the usual form of their spiritual charac
ter, should be given over to the common tribunals, and suffer the
punishment appointed by the laws. He alleged in support of
this, that the loss of the clerical dignity was to such people no
punishment at all ; that the more they dishonoured by their
crimes the clerical profession, the severer ought to be their pun
ishment. By being suffered to go unpunished, such crimes spread
with fearful rapidity.2 Yet the archbishop, carried away by his
hierarchical delusion, thought himself bound to insist that, even
in these unworthy subjects, the clerical character and the juris
diction of the church should be respected. In the year 1164, the
king caused sixteen resolutions to be laid before an assembly
composed of spiritual and lay orders, at Clarendon, which related
to the securing of the civil power against the encroachments of
1 The bishop's zealous friend, John of Salisbury, expresses himself somewhat dissatis
fied with bis rough and stern proceedings at the outset : Novit cordium inspector, et
verborum judex et operum, quod saepins et asperius, quam aliquis mortalium corri-
puerim archiepiscopum de his, in quibus ab initio dominum regem et suos zelo quodam
incousultius visus est ad amaritudinem provocasse, cum pro loco et tempore et personis
multa fuerint dispensanda. By his opponents he was accused of covetousness and
nepotism, in procuring preferments for his relatives. The latter, certainly not without
good grounds, as may be gathered from the way in which his zealous friend Peter de
Blois defends him (in ep. 38.)
2 Which the king says : Per hujusmodi castigationes talium clericorum imo verius
coronstorum daemonum flagitia non reprimi, sed potius in dies reguum deterius fieri-
Ad nocendum fore prbinptiores, nisi post poenam spiritualem corporali poenae subdan-
tur. Et poenam parum curare de ordinis amissione, qui ordinis contemplatione a tam
enormibus manus continere non verentur et tanto deteriores esse in scelere, quanto sunt
caeteris ordinis privilegio digniores. Heribert. p. 33,

becket's TOMB. 229
the hierarchy. They were adopted, under oath, by all ; and
even Thomas Becket yielded to the prevailing spirit. But soon
his hierarchical conscience loaded him with the severest reproaches.
He put on the dress of a penitent ; he proposed to resign his
archbishopric, of which he had shown himself so unworthy ; to
withdraw into solitude and do penance, both on account of the
transgressions of his earlier life at court, and on account of this
last infidelity to the interests of the church. He drew up a re
port to the pope of what had transpired, and left the whole to
be disposed of by his decision. The pope confirmed him in his
resistance to those sixteen articles, and absolved him from the
obligation of his unlawfully given oath ; but encouraged him to
continue the administration of the archbishopric for the good of
the church. This was the signal for a fierce and wearisome con
test between the archbishop and the king. Becket sought a
refuge in France, where he spent nearly seven years in exile.
From both sides, delegates were sent to the pope ; Becket visited
him in person. But the affair lingered along, since the king and
his money had their influence also at the papal court ;l since, on
the one hand, there was an unwillingness to make a victim of the
bishop, who stood up so firmly and staked his all for the interest of
the hierarchy ; but on the other hand, too, there was great reason
to fear lest, in the contest then going on with the emperor Frederic,
the latter, and his pope, should procure an important ally in the
king of England, if he should be driven to an extreme. At
length, however, a treaty of peace seemed to have been brought
about ; and Becket, in 1170, returned back to England. But the
reconciliation was but transitory ; and as the archbishop pursued
the same principles with inflexible consistency, the quarrel could
not fail to break out anew. Becket was received by one party
with enthusiastic admiration, by the other with abhorrence ; since
they looked upon him as nothing better than a traitor to his king
and country. Four knights considered some remark which
escaped the king in a moment of violent anger, as an invitation
to revenge him on the archbishop, and the latter was murdered
1 Metuebat (Romanus pontifex), quod si ita omnino rex pateretur repulsam, majus in
ecclesia schisma faceret, quod et ipsi, qui missi. fuerant et praesertim laici minabantur.
In favour of the king was a majority of the cardinals, quibus ut principibus el magnati-
bus placeant, 6tudere mos est, aliis vero renitentibus. Heribert. p. 75.

230 ENTHUSIASM OF BECKET'S PARTY.
by them in the church. Yet, under these circumstances, his death
could not but serve directly to procure the most brilliant victory
for the cause for which he contended. He appeared to the people
as a martyr for the cause of God ; as a saint : crowds flocked to
pray before his tomb ; and soon divers stories got abroad about
the wonderful cures performed there. Men of all ranks bore tes
timony to their truth. John of Salisbury, a man of spirit and
intelligence, but we must add, too, the archbishop's enthusiastic
friend as well as fellow-sufferer, having served him in the capacity
of archdeacon and secretary, even he speaks of them with asto
nishment as an eye-witness ; so that striking appearances, pro
duced either by the ecstatic flights of a strong faith or by an ex
cited fancy, must certainly have occurred there.1 It was in vain
that Becket's opponents sought to suppress this enthusiasm by
outward force ; it only burst forth with the more violence.2 In
these facts, men saw a testimony from God mightier than the de
cisions of the pope. Instead of Becket's needing any testimony
from the pope, thought his party, these miracles wrought at his
tomb were much rather a testimony for the cause of pope Alex
ander himself against his adversaries ; for Becket had in truth
been a zealous adherent of the latter. He must have been a
schismatic, if it were not right to consider this person the lawful
pope ; and a* schismatic, God would not honour by miracles.3 King
1 Multa et magna miraculi fiunt, catervatim confluentibus praelatis, utvideant in aliis
et sentiant in se potentiam et clementiam ejus, qui semper in Sanctis suis mirabilis et
gloriosus est. Nam et in loco passionis ejus et ubi ante majus altare pernoctavit hu-
mandus et ubi tandem sepultus est, paralytici curantur, coeci vident, surdi audiunt, lo-
quuntur muti, claudi ambulant, evadunt febricitantes, arrepti a daemonio liberantur et a
variis morbis sanantur aegroti, blasphemi a daemonio arrepti confunduntur.— Quae pro
fecto nulla ratione scribere praesumsissem, nisi me super his fides oculata certissimum
reddidiseet. Ep. 286.
2 John of Salisbury says : Inhibuerunt nomine publicae potestatis, ne miracula, quae
fiebant, quisquam publicare praesumeret. Caeterum frustra quis obnubilare desiderat,
quod Deus clarificare disponit. Eo enim amplius purcrebuere miracula, quo videbautui'
impiis studiosius occultanda.
3 John of Salisbury, ep. 287. Dubitatur a plurimis, an pars domini papae, in qua
stamus, de justitia uiteretur, sed earn a crimine scbismatis gloriosus martyr absolvit,
qui si fautor esset scbismatis nequaquam tantis miraculis coruscaret. He thinks he
should have been very much surprised that the pope did not at once pronounce Thomas
Becket a saint, unless he had remembered what was done in the Roman senate on the
report of Pilate, ne deitas Christi, cujus nomen erat Judaeis et gentibus praedicandum,
terrenae potestate videretur obnoxia et emendicatam dicerent infideles.— Sic ergo nutu
divino a:bitror evenisse, ut martyris hujus gloria uec decreto pontificis nee edicto prin-
cipis attollatur, sed Christo praecipui auctore invalescat.

Arnold's opinions propagated. 231
Henry was deeply affected when he heard of Becket's death. He
did penance, because his words, though without intention on his
part, had given occasion for such a deed. He made every effort
to justify himself before the pope and procure his absolution.
He acquiesced in all the conditions prescribed, and yielded more
than Thomas Becket had ever been able to gain during his life
time. The king himself made a pilgrimage to his tomb, and there
submitted to exercises of penance.
Through the yielding ofthe emperor Frederic, to which he had
been moved by the force of circumstances and by considerations
of prudence, nothing in the relation of the two parties, — of which
one defended a papal absolutism, requiring entire subjection of
the states aud churches ; the other, the rights of independent
state authority, — nothing of all this had been changed. The
principles which had come under discussion in the controversies
about investiture, which had been placed in a still clearer light
and more widely diffused through the influence of Arnold of
Brescia, and to the promotion of which the study of the Roman
law begun with so much zeal, at the university of Bologna, had
contributed, — these principles we find expressed in the acts and
public declarations of the Hohenstaufen emperors. Gottfried of
Viterbo, who was secretary and chaplain to the emperors Conrad
the Third, Frederic the First, and Henry the Sixth, and had oppor
tunities enough to hear what was said at the imperial court, — this
writer, in speaking of the controversy between the imperial and
the papal parties, in his Chronicle, or Pantheon,1 quotes these de
clarations from the lips ofthe former. The emperor Constantine,
to whose donation to the Roman bishop Silvester, men were in
the habit of appealing, had by no means conceded to the popes an
authority of lordship in Italy ; but chosen them, as priests of the
Supreme God, for his spiritual fathers, and sought blessing and
intercession at their hands. Had he actually conceded to the
pope a right of sovereignty over Italy, he could not have left the
Western empire, of which Italy was a part, to one of his sons ;
and so, too, Rome went along with the Western empire to the
succeeding emperors. As he affirms, men appealed to the words
of Christ : " Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to
God the things that are God's ;" to the fact that Christ paid the
1 P. 16. Muratori scriptores rerum Italicaratn, t. \ii. f. 360,

232

INNOCENT THE THIRD.

tribute-money for himself and for Peter ; to the declaration of St
Paul concerning the respect due to those in authority ; and yet,
they added, this declaration had immediate reference to a Nero.
We here listen to well-known voices, which we already heard
speaking in the controversies which preceded, and which are
again re-echoed in the letters of Frederic the Second.
Nor had the emperor Frederic the First, by any means given
up the plan which he had hitherto followed in the contest with
the pope, but was making new preparations to prosecute it. He
had been at work to establish anew his authority in Italy. He
sought, by uniting the kingdom of the Sicilies with the imperial
crown, to oppose a twofold power against the popes, in their
own vicinity. This was accomplished by his son Henry the
Sixth, who was animated by the same spirit with his father. The
most difficult and unequal contest seemed to stand before the
papal power ; on one side, the emperor Henry the Sixth, in the
vigour of manhood, and at the summit of his power ; on the other)
the feeble old man Celestin the Third, now past his eightieth
year. But, by circumstances not entering into the calculations
of human wisdom, in which oftentimes the sudden turn of im
portant events compels us to recognize the guidance of an invisi
ble hand, a change was suddenly brought about of an altogether
opposite kind. The emperor Henry died in the year 1197 : in
the following year, died the pope ; and his successor was the
cardinal Lothario, of Anagni, one of the most distinguished men
who who were ever invested with the papal dignity, and now not
over forty years old.1 Innocent the Third united in himself the
three parts which Alexander the Third had required as necessary
to the right administration of the papal office ; zeal in preaching,
ability in church-governance, and skill in the management of
penance.2 He was, so far as the power of a correct judgment
was possible at his own point of view, well acquainted with the
relations and wants of the church in his time, and had been edu-
1 Hence the remark of the German poet Walter von der Vogelweide : "Owe der
babst ist ze June, hilf Pierre diner Kristenheit." P. 9, in Lachmann's Ausgabe,
v.35. 2 When some person had said to Alexander the Third : Domine bonus papa es,
quidquid facis papale est; he replied : Si scirem bien i (n) viar e bien predicar e
penitense donar, io seroie boene papo. See Petri Cantoris verbum abbreviatum pag.
171.

HIS GREAT ACTIVITY. 233
cated according to the system of theology taught in the universi
ties of that period, for he had studied at the university of Paris,
a fact of which he speaks with particular pleasure and gratitude.1
He was entirely filled with the idea of the papal monarchy over
the world, and contrived to make use of the conjunction of many
favourable circumstances with skill and energy for the realization
of that idea. His activity extended over a field of enormous ex
tent,2 — it reached to every quarter of the world. His watchful
eye observed everything that transpired in churches and states.
By his legates, he would make his presence everywhere felt, and
enforce obedience^ Over bishops and monarchs, in affairs eccle
siastical and political, which latter he believed he could bring
before his tribunal, in so far as they should be decided on reli
gious or moral principles, he asserted his supreme juridical autho
rity with energy and firmness. His numerous letters, the records
of his active guidance of the church, certainly evince that he was
animated, not solely by a zeal for the maintenance of the papal
authority and dominion, but also by a zeal for the true well-being
of the church. But devoted to that system of a spiritual mon
archy over the world, in which secular and spiritual matters were
already so confounded together, as a system founded in divine
right ; and feeling himself bound to defend this system as well
against reactions proceeding from a good, as those proceeding

1 In a letter to the king of France: Tibi et regno tuo specialiter nos fatemur teneri,
in quo nos recolimus in studiis literarum aetatem transegisse minorem ac divino mu
nere quantaecunque scientiae donum adeptos, beneficiorum impensam multiplicem sus-
cepi-se. See epp. lib. i., ep. 171.
2 In a letter in which, impressed with a sense of the difficulties and the responsible-
ness of his office, he implores an interest in the prayers of the abbots of tbe Cistercian
chapter, he notices the many kinds of business devolving on him, yet doubtless without
naming them all, as follows : Nunc ambigua quaestionum elucidans et certo inambiguis
usub responso, nunc difficile's nodos causarum justae diffinitionis manudissolvens, nunc
malignorum incursus refraenans, nunc humilibus clypeum apostolicae protectionis in—
dulgens. Lib. i., ep. 358.
3 His words : If the omnipresent God still makes angels Iris ministers, how should
the pope, who is a limited man, be able to extend bis activity to all countries in any
other way than by legates ?" Si ergo nos, quos humana conditio simul in diversis lo-
cis corporaliter esse non pati'.ur, hujusmodi naturae defectum per angelos nostros redi.
mere nequrverimus, quomodo judicium et justitiam et alia, quae ad surami pontificis of
ficium pertinent, in gentibus longe positis faciemus ? Lib. xvi., ep. 12.
* Ep. lib. i. ep. 324. Decision on the right of property in a lot cf land. Lib. i. ep. 249
that his legate should force the kings of Portugal and Castile, by ban and interdict, to re
main faithful to the league they had sworn to each other.
2

234 KING JOHN OF ENGLAND AND INNOCENT THE THIRD.
from a bad spirit, he was betrayed by his bad cause into the use
of bad means.
A proof of this is the history of his controversies with England.
King John, with whom he there had to contend, was a man
utterly destitute of moral worth, accustomed to follow all his lusts
and passions without restraint, and to yield himself to every
caprice. Fear alone could restrain him. Even to the religious
impressions, which had so much power in his times, his inherent
sensual barbarity was unsusceptible. He wavered betwixt a
brutal infidelity and a servile superstition. A dispute concerning
the filling up of a vacancy left by the archbishop of Canterbury,
gave the pope opportunity to guide the choice after his own will,
and he fixed upon an Englishman, cardinal Stephen Langton, to
occupy this post. The king thought he might complain that his
wishes had not been duly consulted in this affair, and perhaps
too he was averse to the man, who may have been one of the
worthier sort. At first, he repelled with blind defiance all the
representations and threats of the pope. The interdict under
which England was laid in 1208, could not break down his stub
born self-will, great as was the terror which elsewhere such a
measure at that time spread all around ; for the entire people,
innocent and guilty, must suffer, because the king would not obey
the pontiff; all must be deprived of the blessing of the church.
Of the sacraments, none but extreme unction, the baptism of
children, and confession were permitted. The bodies of the dead
were borne forth and buried without prayer or the attendance of
priests. There was one individual, however, who encouraged the king
to despise the interdict which filled so many minds with uneasi
ness. The man who possessed this influence with the king, a
theologian named Alexander, had not adopted this policy through
any interest for the truth, but solely induced by the most sordid
motives of gain. He courted the king's favour to promote his
own advantage, acting as the tool of his despotism in the contest
with papal absolutism. "This calamity," said he to the poor,
miserable monarch, " had not come upon England by the king's
fault, but on account of the vices of his subjects." The king
himself was the scourge of the Lord, and ordained of God to rule
the people with a rod of iron. As often happens, the same was

CENSURES ON INNOCENT THE THIRD IN ENCLAND. 235
said here to uphold the interest of political despotism, as had
been said by others to defend the interests of truth and piety ;
that over the possessions of princes and potentates, and over
civil governments, the pope had no jurisdiction whatever ; for to
the first of the apostles, to Peter, was committed by our Lord,
only a purely spiritual authority. This worthless individual was
overloaded by the king with benefices ; but he afterwards expe
rienced the just reward of his baseness ; for the very king whom
he had served afterwards gave him up to the pope ; and, stripped
of all his prebends, he saw himself reduced to the condition of a
beggar.1 The circumstance which at last, after a resistance of five years,
bowed the stubborn will of the king to submission, was not the
might of the spiritual weapons of the pope, but fear of a foreign
power which the pope managed to raise up against bim, under
the form of a crusade. King Philip Augustus, of France, wel
comed the opportunity which gave him a chance in executing on
king John the papal sentence of deposition, of making himself
master ofthe English crown. As the latter had the more occa
sion to dread such a war, because he had exasperated his sub
jects and excited discontent amongst his nobles ; so, in the year
1213, he humbled his tone from that of insolent defiance to an
equally slavish submission. He acknowledged the pope as his
liege lord, received the crown from his hands, swore subjection to
him like a vassal, and bound himself to assist in a crusade which
Innocent was then labouring with great zeal to set on foot. The
pope now became his protector, and adopted him at a penitent
prodigal. When the nobles of England, dissatisfied with the
self-degradation of their king, and with his many arbitrary acts,
sought to revive the old liberties of the realm, and to oppose a
firm check to despotism, it was the pope who now turned his
spiritual arms to fight the battles of such a king. But if the
popes, when they appeared as defenders of justice and of sacred
institutions and customs, as protectors of oppressed innocence,
could not fail thereby to present the pontifical dignity in a more
advantageous light to the nations, a proceeding of this sort,
where it was so plainly evinced that they were ready to sacrifice
1 See Matthew of Paris, at the year 1209, f. 193.

236 INNOCENT IN FAVOUR OF OTHO THE FOURTH.
everything else to their personal aggrandizement, could only pro
duce an impression injurious to their reputation on the public
conscience. In England it was already murmured : " Thou who,
as holy father, as the pattern of piety and the protector of jus
tice and truth, oughtest to let thy light shine before the whole
world, dost thou enter into concord with such a wretch — praise
and protect such a monster ? But thou defendest the tyrant,
who cringes before thee, that thou mayest draw everything into
the whirlpool of Roman cupidity ; yet such a motive directly
charges thee as guilty before God."i The city of London des
pised the ban and the interdict, whereby the pope sought to
compel obedience to the king. The papal bull was declared
null, for such things did not depend on the pope's decision, since
the authority bestowed on the apostle Peter by our Lord related
solely to the church. " Why does the insatiable avarice of Rome,"
it was said, " stretch itself out to us ? What concern have the
apostolical bishops with our domestic quarrels ? They want to
be successors of Constantine, not of Peter. If they do not fol
low Peter in his works, they cannot partake of his authority ;
for God treats men according to their true deserts. Shameful !
to see these miserable usurers and promoters of simony aiming
already, by means of their ban, to rule over the whole world.
How very different from Peter, the men who claim to possess his
authority !"2 And, in despite of the interdict, public worship
still continued to be kept up in London.
The present relations of the papal dominion to the German
empire were also favourable to it. The young prince Frederic
the Second, .a child only a few years old, left behind him by the
emperor Henry the Sixth, had been recommended by his mother
Constantia, on her deathbed, to the guardianship of the pope.
1 The free-spirited English historian, Matthew of Paris, quotes such words (f. 221)
¦from the lips of the English barons. It certainly appears, comparing it with other ex
pressions of his, that he cannot seriously mean what he himself says against this : Et
sic barones lacrimantes et lamentantes regem et papam maledixerunt, imprecantes inex.
piabiliter, cum scriptum sit; principi nou maledices, et pietatem et reverentiam trans-
gredientur, cum illustrem Joannem regem Angliae servum asseruerunt, cum Deo servire
regnare sit.
2 Matthew of Paris, who cites such voices, adds to be sure, what hardly could be his
honest opinion: Sic igitur blasphemantes, ponentes os in coelum ad interdicti vel ex-
communicationis sententiam nullum penitus habentes respectum, per totam civitatem
celebrarunt divina signa, pulsantes et vocibus altisonia modulantes.

INNOCENT IN FAVOUR OF OTHO THE FOURTH. 237
Frederic, it is true, was already elected king of Rome, but there
appeared to be no possibility of making his claims valid. His
uncle, Philip, duke of Suabia, and the duke Otho, of Saxony,
were contending with one another for the imperial dignity, and
this furnished the pope with another welcome opportunity of
placing the papal power high above every other subsisting
among men ; to appropriate to himself the supreme direction of
all human affairs, the right of deciding as to the disposition of
the contested imperial crown. Innocent, to prepare the way for
the decision of this dispute, drew up a writings in which, mak
ing use of various passages of Scripture, particularly from the
Old Testament, he brings together, in the usual scholastic form
of that time, the arguments for and against the choice of all
three — Frederic, Philip, and Otho. Against Philip he objected,
that he was descended of a race hostile to the church ; that the
sins ofthe fathers would be visited upon the children to the third
and fourth generations, if they followed their fathers' example.
In favour of Otho it was alleged, on the other hand, that he.
had sprung from a race constantly devoted to the church ;
and the pope concluded, after examining all the arguments on
both sides, that, if the German princes, when he had waited a
sufficient length of time, could not unite in the choice of any
one, he should give his voice for Otho. When, in pursuance of
this resolution, he, in the year 1201, caused duke Otho to be re
cognized by his legates as king of Rome, and pronounced ex
communication on all his opponents, he met with determined re
sistance from Philip's party, which constituted the majority. A
portion of it, including several bishops, issued a letter to the
pope/ in which they very strongly expressed their surprise at the
conduct of his legate. " Where had it ever occurred in the case
of any of his predecessors, that they so interfered in the election
of an emperor as to represent themselves either as electors, or as
umpires over the election ? Originally, no papal election could be
valid without the concurrence of the emperor ; but the magna
nimity of the emperors had led them to renounce this right. If,
now, the simplicity of laymen had given up, from a feeling of
reverence to the church, a right previously exercised by them,
l Register ed. Baluz. i., f. 697.
2 L. u. f. 715.

238 HONORIUS THE THIRD.
how should the sacredness of the papacy presume to usurp to
itself a right which it never possessed V Innocent replied to
this protestation, in a letter to the duke of Zahringen : " Far
was it from him," he wrote, " to take away from the princes the
right of election, which belonged to them by ancient custom, es
pecially since it was by the apostolical see itself, which had trans
ferred this right from the Greeks to the Germans, that the same
had been given them. But the princes should also understand
that to the pope belonged the right of trying the person elected
king and of promoting him to the empire, since it is the pope
who has to anoint, to consecrate, and to crown him. Suppose
then, even by an unanimous vote of the princes, the choice should
fall on an excommunicated person, on a tyrant, on a madman, or
on a heretic or heathen, — is the pope to be forced to anoint, con
secrate, and crown such a person V After the assassination of
duke Philip, in the year 1208, no power remained to oppose king
Otho ; and he continued to maintain a good understanding with
the pope, till he obtained from him the imperial crown. But as
he defended, against him, the rights of the empire, so he soon
fell into a quarrel with him ; which was finally carried to such a
length that the pope pronounced the ban upon him. And now
his choice fell on the prince whom he had at first endeavoured to
place at the farthest distance from the imperial throne, the young
prince Frederic the Second. It was not till the pope had examined
the choice of the princes at the Lateran council, in 1215, that he
ratified it.
The emperor Frederic might well adopt, from the first, the
spirit which animated his ancestry in their contest with the
popes ; nor were the teachings of his own experience, from his
earliest childhood,1 calculated to inspire him with much love for
them. Still, his natural prudence forbade him, in the outset, to
let his designs be inown publicly. As the getting up of a new
crusade was a favourite thought of Innocent's successor, Honorius
the Third, which lay nearer to his heart than the interest of the
papal hierarchy, so Frederic could take advantage of this humour
of the pope, and, by falling in with it, carry out many objects of
1 Frederic complains, 1. 1, ep. 20, de Vineis, of the bad treatment he had already re
ceived from pope Innocent the Third, to whose guardianship be had been committed by
his dying mother.

FREDERIC THE SECONDS CRUSADE. 239
his own, which under other circumstances would not have been
possible. He amused the pope, however, by putting off, from
one time to another, the fufilment of his promise to undertake a
crusade. When the last term had arrived, in which Frederic had
bound himself, under penalty of the ban, actually to engage in
his crusade, Honorius died. This was in the year 1227. His
successor, Gregory the Ninth, though now seventy-seven years
old, was still full of energy, and as the papal hierarchy was with
him a more important object than the cause of the crusades, the
emperor found it more difficult to satisfy him. Frederic seemed
disposed really to fulfil the promise given two years before. A
great army assembled near Brindisi, for the purpose of passing
by sea to the East. The emperor had already embarked ; when
compelled, as he said, by illness, he turned back, and the whole
expedition was broken up. The pope looked upon this as a mere
pretext ; and at the annual Roman Synod of Easter, he pro
nounced the ban on the emperor, and absolved his subjects from
their oath of allegiance. In a letter to the king of England,1
the emperor complained of the wrong done him by the pope ; he
solemnly avowed his innocence, and declared it to be his deter
mination to fulfil his vow as soon as it was possible. He sought
to show, that cupidity and ambition lay at the bottom of all the
machinations of the Roman court.2 " The primitive church,
founded in poverty and simplicity, had been fruitful of holy men ;
but through superabundance of earthly goods she had become
corrupted." He drew a picture of the extortions, which, to the
great injury of Christendom, proceeded from Rome ; he pointed
to the history of England in the times of Innocent the Third, as
a warning against papal ambition, which sought to make all em
pires dependent on itself ; and he called upon the princes to take
a lesson from his own example, and, according to the ancient pro
verb, " Look out for themselves, when their neighbour's house
was on fire."3
Still the emperor, doubtless, understood that he should always
have the public voice against him, till he had refuted, by his own
l Matthew of Paris, at tbe year 1228, fob 293.
2 Curia Romana omnium malorum radix et origo, non maternos, sed actus exercens
novercales, ex cognitis fructibus suis certum faciens argumentum.
3 In the words of Virgil : Tunc tua res agitur, paries quum proximus ardet.

240 CHARGES AGAINST FREDERIC BY GREGORY THE NINTH.
action, the reproachful charges of the pope.1 In the year 1228,
he undertook an expedition to Palestine. This, however, would,
in the eyes of the pope, only make the matter worse ; for it
appeared an unheard-of contempt of the authority of the church,
that Frederic should venture so to despise the ban pronounced on
him as to put himself at the head of so holy an enterprise. He
issued the command to Palestine, that no one should obey the
emperor, since he was an excommunicated person. He sought to
stir up enemies against him on all sides, and his states were
threatened. The emperor managed to render all these attempts
abortive. He hit upon the expedient of issuing his orders to the
army, not in his own name, but in the name of God and of Christen
dom. Through favourable political circumstances he succeeded in
concluding a peace of ten years with the Sultan of Egypt ; where
by, to be sure, the wishes of those who felt a deeper interest than
the emperor for the cause of Christianity in the East, were by
no means satisfied. At the holy sepulchre, he placed upon his
head the crown of the kingdom of Jerusalem, and in his letters
written to Europe, boasted, with a tone of triumph, of the great
tilings he had been able to accomplish in so short a time. " The
finger of God," he declared, " was manifestly in it." Then, in the
year 1229, he hastened back to Europe, to the relief of his hardly-
pressed states. Here he found very many enemies to contend
with ; and the pope endeavoured to get up a general crusade
against him. The emperor easily got the victory ; yet he under
stood too well the spirit of his age, to be disposed to push things
to an extreme. He concluded, in 1230, a treaty with the pope,
which was to the latter's advantage. He promised to obey the
commands of the church, on all the points with reference to which
he had been excommunicated. Yet, as both remained 'true to
their principles, this peace could not be of very long duration ;
and though they were apparently united, yet in secret they worked
in opposition to each other. When Frederic sought to subject
the cities of Lombardy, to extend and confirm his power in Italy,

l It was the emperor's true mode of thinking which he expressed, when he declared
among the Mohammedans, that he had undertaken this expedition, and was obliged to
acquire something by means of it, in order to restore his good fame in tbe West. See
extraits des historiens arabes relatifs aux guerres des Croisades, par M Reinauld, 1829,
page 429.

CHARGES AGAINST FREDERIC BY GREGORY THE NINTH. 211
but refused to accept the offered mediation of the pope, which
would go against his interests, the latter became still more alien
ated from him. He united himself with the liberty-loving cities
of Lombardy, which the emperor had exasperated by his despotic
conduct ; and, in the year 1239, he pronounced the ban ou him
anew, because he had stripped the church of many of her posses
sions, and because of the oppressive measures with which he had
burdened her. At the same time he threw in an accusation,
which, in this age, must have made a greater impression than all
the rest, that, " on account of his words and deeds, which were
known through the whole world, he was strongly suspected of
not thinking rightly about the Catholic faith." The emperor
thereupon issued a circular letter to the Christian princes and
cardinals, in which he was careful to distinguish the pope from the
Roman church and the papal see. While he testified his reverence
for the apostolical see, he declared Gregory only to be unworthy of his
office. He could not recognize as his judge a man who, from the first,
had shown himself to be his bitterest enemy. The moving spring of
his actions was nothing but a selfishness, which could not forgive
the emperor for being unwilling to leave in his (the pope's) hands
the management of Italian affairs. He appealed to the decision
of a general council. To wipe away the impression which this
declaration might create, the pope now came forth more openly
with the charge, which before he had but hinted at. He issued
a bull, in which he portrayed the emperor in the blackest colours
as an infidel. He accused him of having asserted that the whole
world had been deceived by three impostors, — Moses, Jesus, and
Mohammed ; that men should believe nothing but that which could
be made out on rational grounds, and explained from the forces
of nature. It was impossible to believe that God was born of a
virgin. The question here arises, whether these complaints against the
religious opinions of the emperor Frederic rest on any basis of
truth. Assuredly, the testimony of the pope against him cannot
be received as trustworthy. Respecting a prince, who contended
so powerfully against the hierarchy, and thus became involved in
contentions with the monks, who served as its instruments ; a
prince who rose above many of the prejudices of his times, and
who lived on very free terms with the Saracens, it was easy to
VOL. VII. Q

242 Frederic's ideas of reform.
set afloat disreputable stories of this sort. A pope so passion
ately prejudiced against the emperor was, doubtless, inclined to
believe everything bad of him ; and as' the emperor called him the
protector of the heretics in Milan, so he would be glad of an op
portunity to retort the accusation more severely in another form.
Even the historian Matthew of Paris notices the contradictions in
which men involved themselves by these charges against the em
peror. Sometimes he was accused of having declared all the
three founders of religion to be imposters ; sometimes of having
placed Mohammed above Christ. We might conceive that Fre
deric was led by his contest with the hierarchy, and by the clearer
discernment of his less prejudiced understanding, to detect the
falsifications of original Christianity, and the corruption of the
church which sprung from the mixing up of spiritual and secular
things. Judging from the public imperial declarations com
piled by the chancellor Peter de Vineis, it might appear, we ad
mit, that Frederic the Second aimed at a purification of the
church on this particular side ; as, in a circular letter to the
princes, appealing to the testimony of his conscience and to
God, he declares : " It had ever been his purpose to bring back
all the clergy, and especially the higher order, to the stand
ard of the apostolical church, when they led an apostolical life,
and imitated the humility of our Lord. For such clergymen are
used to behold the vision of angels, to shine by miracles, to heal
the sick, to raise the dead, and to subject princes to themselves,
not by arms, but by the power of a holy life." " But the clergy
at present," he then adds, " devoted to the world and to drunken
ness, are lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. In their
case, religion is choked by the superfluity of riches. To deprive
them of those hurtful riches, with which they are damnably bur
dened, is a work of charity. He would invite all the princes to
cooperate with him in this work, in order that the clergy, re
lieved of all their superfluities, may serve God, contented with a
little.1 The emperor here expresses a conviction, which we find
expressed in many a reaction of the Christian spirit against the
secularization of the church, since the time of Arnold of Brescia ;
in the prophecies of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries ; in the

Ep. 2.

evidences of Frederic's infidelity. 243
songs of the German national poets, and in the phenomena of
the history of sects. But the public declarations of a monarch
can hardly be taken as trustworthy sources from which to form a
judgment of his religious opinions ; and the rest of the emperor's
conduct by no means evinces that he was governed by any such
plan of impoverishing the clergy. He appears in his laws to
have been a violent persecutor of the sects to the advantage of
the hierarchy, although in many of them he must have observed
a like religious interest directed against the secularization of the
church. As to the remarks ascribed to Frederic the Second, by which
he is alleged to have placed the Jewish, Christian, and Moham
medan religions on one and the same level, such remarks1 may,
perhaps, have only been a current form among the people for
expressing a naturalistic mode of thinking. But although ex
pressions, — actually made by no one, — but which had become
stamped as the current phrase, to denote a deistic, naturalistic
mode of thinking, may have been wrongfully attributed to the
emperor Frederic, — yet it may be true, after all, that, from other
indications, men had reason to conclude that he was really given
to such a mode of thinking. Several other remarks, said to have
been uttered by him, and supposed to indicate a decided infi
delity, were circulated about ; as, for example, that once, on
seeing the host carried by, he observed, " How long shall this
imposture go on ]"3 It is remarkable that, among the Moham
medans, the emperor left the impression, during his stay in the
East, that he was anything but a believing Christian.3 It may
1 See further on, in the history of tbe scholastic theology.
2 See Matthew of Paris, at the year 1439, f. 408 ; and something more definite by the
contemporary Alberic, as Leibnitz (Access. Hist. t. ii., 568) relates. The emperor's
words, as the pyx was being carried by to a sick person, were : " Heu me : quamdiu
durabit truffa ista?"
3 Abulfeda repeats, from the mouth of a Mohammedan scholar, Gemel-ed-din, who
stood high in the estimation of Frederic's sons, an account of Frederic's inclination in
favour of the followers of Islam, which descended from him to his sons ; with which,
to be sure, the false story is joined, that, for this reason, Frederic was excommunicated
by tbe pope, tom. v., pp. 145—46. When the words of the Koran against Christianity
were proclaimed from the minaret of Omar's mosque in Jerusalem, the cadi, with whom
the emperor resided, was greatly annoyed. He contrived to have it stopped, lest tbe
emperor might be offended. The latter, surprised at no longer hearing the accustomed
cry from the minaret, asked the cadi tbe reason of it ; and the cadi explained the whole
matter. " You have done wrong," said the emperor, — " why should you, on my ac-
Q 2

244 Frederic's contest with Gregory the ninth.
be easily explained how, — by his passionate contests with the
popes, from whom he had experienced, ever since his earliest
childhood, in the name of religion and the church, so much evil ;
by his opposition to the acknowledged corruption of the church ;
by the incongruities between the reigning church doctrine and
his clear understanding, Frederic might be impelled to reject the
whole at once, destitute as he was of the religious sense which
would have enabled him to separate and distinguish the original
faith and the foreign elements with which it had become encum
bered. The influence of the learned Mohammedans, with whom
he was on terms of intimacy, might also have contributed to
promote such a tendency in him. We cannot be surprised that
Frederic's one-sided intellectual training, in which sincerity and
warmth of religious feeling had no part, should have led him to
an infidelity, which was called forth, in occasional paroxysms, at
least, by mere brutal rudeness, in the case of king John of Eng
land. We might indeed say, with the historian Matthew of
Paris, that the religious opinions of this emperor, concerning
which we can judge but from what others report, are certainly
known only to the Omniscient •} but if we compare all the ac
counts diffused among Christians and Mohammedans, we must
still be inclined to consider him as having been, to say the least,
a denier of revealed religion. The circumstance that the pope
did not make any further use of these criminations, by no means
makes it clear that they were all a fabrication ; for naturally, it
would have been found difficult, if not impossible, to establish
these charges on such grounds of evidence as were required, in
order to bring a process against him.
A conflict arose between Gregory the Ninth and the emperor
Frederic, for life or for death ; the old Gregory brought secular
and spiritual weapons to bear against the emperor ; he allied
himself with the cities of Lombardy, which were battling for
their freedom, and from all quarters sought to collect money to
count, be wanting to your duty, to your law, to your religion ?" See the book of
Reinauld, already referred to, p. 432. An official, attached to the mosque of Omar, who
conducted him about, related that the emperor's conversation showed sufficiently that
he believed nothing about Christianity; when he spoke of it, it was only to ridicule it.
L. c. p. 431.
1 Matthew of Paris says, concerning Frederic's accusers on the point of his ortho
doxy: Si peccabant, vel non, novit ipse, qui nihil ignorat. L. u. f. 527.

Frederic's contest with Gregory the ninth. 245
defray the expenses of the war, whence various complaints about
the corruption of the Roman court, and many a free speech in
opposition to it, would naturally bo provoked.1 The emperor
cleared himself publicly from the aspersions thrown upon him by
the pope, by a full profession of orthodoxy ; he contrived to pre
vent the introduction, into his states, of papal bulls, which wero
adverse to his interests ; and carried his point, in forbidding the
pope's interdict to be observed. Even at Pisa, mass was cele
brated in his presence. The monks and clergy, who consented
to be used as the pope's instruments, and refused to hold public
worship, were removed from his states. His weapons also were
successful. In the year 1239, his troops stood victorious before
the gates of Rome. The pope meanwhile sent letters missive
for a general council, to meet in 1241, and proposed to the em
peror a suspension of arms, in order that the meeting might be
held. Frederic, it is true, was inclined to peace ; but he well
understood the hostile intentions of the pope, who only wanted to
use the council as an instrument against him ; and he would not
be hindered by it in prosecuting his designs against the Lom-
bardian states. He therefore accepted the proposal of a cessation
of hostilities, but on the condition that the Lombardian states,
the allies of the pope, should have no share in it, and that no coun
cil should be assembled. The pope would not listen to this ; nor
yet would he suffer himself to be prevented from holding a coun
cil. He contrived so to arrange it, that a Genoese fleet should be
at hand for the protection of the prelates who might attend the
council. In vain were all the warnings given out by the emperor.
The Genoese fleet, however, was beaten by that of the emperor,
and many prelates fell into his hands as prisoners. Yet the pope,
advanced as he was in years, did not suffer himself to be moved
by this untoward event. He required of the emperor, to the last,
unqualified submission. Frederic now saw his predictions veri
fied, and he took no pains to conceal his joy at having penetrated
into the pope's designs. He also shut his eyes to all forbearance
towards the pope. In his proclamations, he dwelt on the con-

1 Matthew of Paris says : Adeo invaluit Romanae ecclesiae insatiabilis cupiditas
confundens fas nefasque, quod deposito rubore velut meretrix vulgaris et effrons omni.
bus venalis et exposita, usuram pro parvo, simoniam pro nullo inconvenienti reputavit.
L. c. f. 493.

246 contest of innocent the fourth" WITH FREDERIC
trast between such a pope and the apostle Peter, of whom he pre
tended to be the vicegerent. " When the pope is in drink," said
he, " he fancies himself able to control the emperor and all the
kingdoms of the world."1 The aged pope died, while thus hardly
pressed, in the year 1241.
After the sudden demise of Celestin the Fourth, who was
chosen next, followed a two years' vacancy of the papal chair ;
and the cardinals, by the tardiness of the election, which many
ascribed to their worldly views, to the ambition and the thirst for
power of individuals, drew upon themselves violent reproaches.2
Compelled by the emperor to hasten the election, they finally
made choice of cardinal Sinibald of Anagni, Innocent the Fourth.
The new government opened with peaceful prospects ; for a treaty
was set on foot between the emperor and the pope, and such an
one as would redound to the advantage of the latter. But when
the two principal parties came to meet for the purpose of ratifying
it, they showed a mutual distrust in each other's proceedings, and
the affair was spun out in length. Meantime, Innocent, who had
no intention to deal honestly with the emperor, escaped by flight
from a situation in which, besieged by the weapons of Frederic,
he could not act freely. According to a preconcerted plan, he
was conveyed by a Genoese fleet to Lyons. There he placed the
emperor once more under the ban. Next, he sent letters missive
for a general council to meet at Lyons in the year 1245, where,
also, Frederic was cited to appear and defend himself.3 The pope
1 Ep. 1. Tu ad hoc vivis ut concedas, in cujus vasis et scyphis aureis scriptum est:
bibo, bibis. Cujus verbi praeteritum sic frequenter, in mensa repetis et post cibum,
quod quasi raptus usque ad tertium coelum, Hebraice et Graece loqueris et Latino.
2 So the emperor writes to tbem (ep. 14) : Sedentes ut colubri non quae sursum sunt,
s/ipitis: sed quae ante oculos sita sunt, mundana, non spiritualiaintuentibus providetis.
Sitit enim quaelibet praesulatum et papalem esurit apicem. And in a letter of the king
of France (ep. 35) : Ecce nobilis urbs Romana sine capite vivit, quae caput est aliarum.
Quare ? Certe propter discordiam Romanorum ; sed quid eos ad discordiam provocavit?
Auri cupiditas et ambitio dignitatuin. He reproaches them on account of their fear of
the emperor,
8 A remarkable sign of the freer public sentiment, on which already the word of popes,
so manifestly governed by wordly passions and worldly interests, no longer had its for
mer power, is the anecdote told by Matthew of Paris : A priest in Paris was obliged, in
conformity with a command addressed to all, to publish the ban which had been pro
nounced against Frederic In doing this, he declared that he had received it in charge
to announce the ban with tapors burning and the ringing ofthe bells. He knew ofthe
violent contention, and the inextinguishable hatred between them both; but as to the
cause of it he knew nothing. He was aware, too, that one ofthe two was to blame and

CIRCULAR LETTER OF FREDERIC THE SECOND. 217
presented before this council many and violent charges against
the emperor ; and among these were charges of heresy, and of
suspicious connection with the Saracens. The imperial statesman,
Thaddeus de Suessa, who attended the council as Frederic's en
voy, the only individual who stood forth in his defence, replied to
these charges with a satirical allusion to the Roman court. One
thing, at least, spoke in the emperor's favour, said he ; in his
states, he tolerated no usurer.1 He at the same time declared,
however, that to the most serious charge, that of heresy, the em
peror himself alone must answer in person ; and he therefore so
licited a longer delay for him. With difficulty, the pope was pre
vailed upon to grant a respite of two weeks. But Frederic
declined appearing before a council, got up by a pope in open
hostility to him, as a thing beneath his own dignity and that of
the empire. The pope now proceeded in the most solemn man
ner to pronounce the ban and the sentence of deposition on the
emperor. Thaddeus himself was struck with awe and dismay ; on
the emperor alone it failed of making the least impression. On
hearing of what had been done, he sent for the imperial crown,
and placing it on his head, said : " I still possess this crown ; and
without a bloody struggle I shall not let it be plucked away from
me by the attack of any pope or council." He drew up a circular
letter, addressed to all the princes, in which he expressed himself
in much too strong and free a manner2 for the spirit of the times,
against the proceedings of the pope.3 " Would that we had
learned a lesson," said he, " from the example of the monarchs
before us, instead of finding ourselves compelled to serve, by what
we must suffer, as examples for those who come after us ! The
sons of our own subjects forget the condition of their fathers, and
wronged the other ; but whieh one it was, he did not know. But be pronounced the ban
on that one, whoever it was, who wronged the other, and he pronounced those free who
suffered the wrong which was so injurious to entire Christendom. See Matth. of Paris,
f. 575. l Matthew of Paris, f. 585.
2 Matthew of Paris says, concerning the impression which this letter made: Fridericus
lihertatem ac nobilitatem ecclesiae, quam ipse nunquam auxit, sed magnifici antecessors
ejus malo grato suo stabilierunt, toto conamine studuit annulare et de haeresi per id ip
sum se reddens suspectum, merito omnem, quem hactenus in omni populo igniculum
famae propriae prudentiae et sapientiae habuit, impudenter et imprudenter exstinxit
atque delevit.
3 Ep. 2.

248 CIRCULAR LETTER OF FREDERIC THE SECOND.
honour neither king nor emperor the moment they are consecrated
as apostolical fathers. What have not all the princes to fear
from this prince of the priests, if one of them takes such liberties
with the emperor ! The princes have none to blame but them
selves ; they have brought the mischief on their own heads by
their submissive obedience to these pretended saints, whose am
bition is large enough to swallow up the whole world." " 0,
if your simple credulity would only beware of this leaven of the
scribes and pharisees, which, according to the words of our Sa
viour, is hypocrisy, how many scandals of that Roman court you
would learn to execrate, which are so infamous that decency for
bids us to name them."1 The numberless sources of revenue, by
which they would enrich themselves at the expense of many an
impoverished state, made them crazy, as the princes themselves
must be well aware. He called upon them to unite with him
in wresting from the clergy this abundance of earthly goods,
which was only a source of corruption to them and to the church.
The fierce contest began anew ; and in vain did the emperor
at length, moved by an unfortunate turn of civil affairs, offer his
hand for peace. Innocent continued implacably to carry on the
war till the death of the emperor in 1250 ; and the popes never
ceased to persecute the descendants of the house of Hohenstaufen.
Thus the papal power came forth victorious, as to outward suc
cess, from these last violent contests ; but this very victory was
destined to prove its ruin. The power which could not be over
thrown by outward force, must, as Bernard had foretold, prepare
the way for its own destruction, by being abused. This very
age furnished an example to show how a man, with no other
weapons than those of piety and truth, might venture with im
punity to resist the abuse of that power which could humble
mighty monarchs
This man was Robert Grosshead (Capito), bishop of Lincoln;
a man who held also an important place among the learned theo
logians of his age. He was induced, by reason of a dispute with
the worldly-minded canonicals of his cathedral, to make a journey
to the Roman court, and thus he had an opportunity of learning,

1 0 si vestrae credulitatis simplicitas a scribarum et pharisaeorum fermento, quod est
hypocrisis, juxta sententiam salvatoris sibi, curaret attendere, quot illius curiae turpitu-
dines execrari possetis, quas honestas et pudor probibet nos effari.

GROSSUEAD'S DISCOURSE BEFORE THE PAPAL COURT. 249
by personal observation, the whole extent of the corruption which
prevailed at, and proceeded from, that court. In the year 1250,
he delivered before the papal court, at Lyons, a strikingly bold
discourse, iu which he portrayed at large the faults of the church,
and pointed out how far they" were chargeable to the Roman
court.1 "The bad shepherds," he says here, "are the cause of
the infidelity, schisms, false doctrines, and bad conduct through
out the whole world.-' As the great work of Christ, for which he
came into the world, was the salvation of souls, and the great work
of Satan is their destruction ; so the shepherds, who as shepherds
take the place of Jesus Christ, if they preach not the word of God,
— even though they should not lead vicious lives, — are anti-
Christ, and Satan, clothing himself as an angel of light." He
then goes on to describe the additional evil of a bad life in the
clergy. " And the guilt of the whole," says he, " lies at the
door of the Roman court, not simply because it does not root out
this evil, — when it alone is both able and bound to do so, — but
still more, because itself, by its dispensations, provisions, and col
lations appoints such shepherds ; and thus, in order to provide
for the temporal life of an individual, expose to eternal death
thousands of souls, for the salvation of every one of whom Christ
died. To be sure, the pope, being the vicegerent of Christ, must
be obeyed. But when a pope allows himself to be moved by mo
tives of consanguinity, or any other secular interest, to do any- •
thing contrary to the precepts and will of Christ, then he who
obeys him, manifestly separates himself from Christ and his body,
the church, and from him who fills the apostolical chair, as the
representative of Christ. But, whenever a universal obedience
is paid him in such things, then comes the true and complete
apostacy — the time of anti-Christ." He unconsciously predicts
the Reformation, when he says : " God forbid, that this chair
should at some future day, when true Christians refuse to obey
it in such things, attempt to compel obedience, and thus become
the cause of apostacy, and of an open schism."3 In opposition
1 This discourse, with other writings of Robert, is to bo found in the Appendix to tho
Fasciculus rerum expetendarum fugiendarumque, by Ortuinus Gratius, ed. Brown, in
the App. foi. 251.
2 Mali pastores causa infidelitatis, schismatis, haereticac pravitatis et vitiosae con
versationis per orbem uuiversum.
3 Absit et quod existentibus aliquibus aliquando vcraciter Christo cognitis non vo-
lentibus quocunque modo voluntati ejus contraire haec sedes et in ea praesidentes prae-

250 grossiiead's FIRMNESS IN THE CONTEST WITH ROME.
to the pope's practice of carrying on war with worldly weapons, he
says : " Those who are anxious for the safety of this chair, are
much afraid that the threatening words of our Lord will be
fulfilled on it, ' He who takes the sword, shall perish with the
sword.' "
This bishop, after his return to England, committed the whole
charge of managing the external affairs of his office to the hands
of another person, reserving to himself the purely spiritual duties,
which he could thus discharge to much greater advantage. He
entered heartily into the business of visiting the different parts
of his diocese, and laid himself out especially to preach the gospel
everywhere. Preaching, he looked upon, in general, as one of
the most important parts of his pastoral office, and took every
pains to stir up the zeal of his clergy in it. No consideration
would prevail upon him to induct clergymen, whom he did not
think qualified for the performance of this duty. An attempt was
made from Rome, to compel this excellent man to confer a bene
fice within his foundation on a mere boy, — one of those papal
favourites, who, besides being destitute of every spiritual qualifi
cation, could speak nothing but Italian. But he was steadfast
in refusing to obey a mandatum apostolicum of this sort, de
claring, " he was ready to pay filial obedience to the apostolical
mandates, as also, he contended against everything which was at
variance with the apostolical mandates ; to both, he was obligated
by the divine law ; for an apostolical mandate was only one which
agreed with the doctrine of the apostles and of our Lord Jesus
Christ, whose place was especially filled by the pope in the
church ; for Christ himself says, ' whosoever is not with me is
a<rainst me.' But the above document stood in no sort of con-
formity with the holiness of the apostolical chair ; for by such
papal ordinances, which, by the phrase ' non obstante,' super
seded all existing rules, the most shameless effrontery in lying and
deceiving was encouraged, to the great injury of the Christian life
and of social order, and all mutual confidence destroyed. Then
again, after the sin of Satan and of anti-Christ, there was none
more abominable than that of plunging souls to destruction by an
unfaithful discharge ofthe pastoral office. The apostolical chair, on
cipiendo talibus Christi voluntate oppositum causa sint discessionis aut scbismatis
apparentis. 4

GROSSHEAD'S FIRMNESS IN THE CONTEST WITH ROME. 251
which was conferred by our Lord all power for building up, not for
pulling down, neither ought, therefore, nor could possibly ordain
anything, which would lead to such a sin ; and no man, who was
truly obedient to that sacred chair, and had not cut himself off from
the body of Jesus Christ, could obey such commands ; but, even
though they should proceed from the highest class of angels,
must resist them with all his might." He repeated it at the
close of his letter : " The fulness of power means solely the power
of doing everything for the edification of the church ; by no
means that which tends to her destruction. Those papal provi
sions tended not to edification, but most evidently to destruction.
The apostolical chair could not therefore approve of such provi
sions ; for flesh and blood, which cannot be partakers of the
kingdom of God, have revealed this ; not the Father of Jesus
Christ, which is in heaven."1 Amidst positions and maxims of
church doctrine, the principle forces its way through, in this wit
ness of the truth, that faith clings only to Christ, and must
examine and prove everything by its relation to him, to his spirit
and laws. Zealous as the bishop was in defence of the papal
authority, he himself maintaining in the contest with the king of
England, that the pope must be supported with money during his
exile in France, still, his whole mode of action proceeds from the
principle, as its starting-point, that men are bound to obey the
pope only so far as they actually recognize in him the organ of
Christ ; so far as his commands harmonize with Christ's doc
trines. The pope, who was accustomed to triumph over the mightiest
princes, was greatly exasperated at this boldness of an English
bishop, and would have gladly made him feel at once the abso
luteness of his papal power. But some cardinals kept him back ;
for their bad consciences made them dread the force of the public
discontent, provoked by so many abuses proceeding from and
promoted by the Roman court, and the voice of truth, supported
by the personal authority of the worthy bishop. They held that
it would be better to keep still, and so prevent the sensation
which the affair might create.2
1 See Matthew of Paris, f. 570.
2 Deserving of notice is tbe presentiment of a fall of the Romish church, to be brought
about by this corruption proceeding from Rome, which expresses itself in the way in

252 LEGEND CONCERNING BISHOP GROSSHEAD.
A legend recorded by Matthew of Paris, in his historical work,
deserves to be noticed as characteristic of the times, and showing
the influence which the corruption of the Roman court had on
the public judgment. The pope is said to have intended to
avenge himself on the pious and free-spirited bishop after his
death, which shortly occurred, by causing his bones to be disin
terred ; but one night the bishop appeared to him, and, fixing on
him a stern and threatening look, struck him upon the side with
his crosier. This made so profound an impression on the pope,
that, from that day onward, pursued by one divine judgment after
another, he had not a moment's repose.1 So in the descriptions
generally, which the English historian, Matthew of Paris, gives of
the later popes of this century, and in the legends recorded by
him of their reappearance after death, we see what an unfavour
able influence the abuse of the papal power must have had on the
tone of public feeling ; and the indignation ofthe German people
against the popes already expressed itself strongly in the songs
and ballads of the thirteenth century.2
When pope Alexander the Fourth commenced his administra
tion with requesting that all Christians would pray for him, it
was hoped that this pontiff would distinguish himself advan
tageously from his predecessors. But his subsequent conduct,
the course he pursued in exacting contributions from the churches,
contradicted these hopes, and his earlier professions appeared to
be mere hypocrisy and a mask to cover a worldly spirit.3
The factions among the worldly-minded cardinals made it pos
sible to keep the papal chair vacant during a space of three years
from the year 1269. At length, in 1271, they agreed in the
which Matthew of Paris accounts for the concern expressed by many cardinals : Maxime
propter hoc, quia scitur, quod quandoque discessio est ventura.
1 Matthew of Paris, f. 760 : Et qui vivum noluerat audire corripientem, senserat mor-
tuum impingentem. Nee unquam postea ipse papa unum bonum diem vel prosperum
continuavit usque ad noctem vel noctem usque ad diem, sed insomnem vel molestam,
2 See passages of this sort collected in Staudlin's Archiv fur alte und neue Kircbenges-
chicbte, iv. 3tes St. § 549.
3 Matthew of Paris, f. 795 : Hypocrisin reputant et saecularitatis palliationern quam-
plurimi. Spes praeconcepta de sanctitate papae prorsus evanuit exsuffiata. In ex
cuse of the pope he says afterwards, that many things were done in his name, and by
deceiving him, of which he was entirely innocent : Veruntamen multorum auribus
veraciter instillatum est, quod de bulla decepto papa fraus committitnr multiformis : but
he adds immediately that tbe pope could not be excused on this ground : Sed haec ratio,
si tamen ratio est, papam non excusat.

ZEAL FOR CRUSADES EXTINGUISHED. 253
choice of au ecclesiastic from Liege, then absent at Ptolemais on
a crusade under prince Edward of England. He took the name
of Gregory the Tenth.
This pope had already bound himself to the cause of the cru
sades, while in the East. He therefore felt called upon to make
the preparation of another a special object of attention ; and this
was one of the objects for which he called together the general
council at Lyons, in the year 1274, the most important trans
action of his administration. But, in this century, the public
sentiment had already undergone a great change on the subject
of crusades ; after so many unsuccessful efforts, the zeal once so
easily enlisted in these undertakings had abated. The popes
of this century, when they raised their voice and fired the people
to embark in such wars, could no longer rely on the universal
confidence, which met their predecessors half-way in the twelfth
century. The exactions which they were in the habit of making,
under pretext of the crusades, had greatly injured those in
the public opinion.1 The repeated failures of the crusades led
many to doubt the goodness of the cause ; and the faith of
those who were accustomed to make up their judgments accord
ing to the dictates of a sensuous religion, received a violent
shock from the unfortunate issue of the cause which they had
regarded as a divine one, from the victory of Mohammedan
arms over the banner of the cross.2 Others, who had attained
to a higher position of Christian faith and knowledge, were either
led by the issue of the crusades, or else availed themselves of it,
to express the conviction .openly, that men must attack unbe
lievers with other weapons than these, aud employ the forces of
Christendom for other objects than these.
As early as the close of the twelfth century the abbot Joachim,
of Calabria, a man earnestly desirous for a better state of the
church, had spoken with remarkable freedom against the zeal for
1 Matthew of Paris says expressly, that the exactions of Gregory the Ninth did
permanent injury to the cause of the crusades in England. Quod fidelium circa nego-
tium crucis tepuit, imo potius caritas refriguit generalis. Unde negotium terrae
sanctae nunquam felix super hoc suscepit incrementum. At tbe year 1234, f. 340.
2 Matthew of Paris remarks, at the year 1250, f. C72: Coeperunt multi, quos firma
fides non roboraverat, desperatione contabescere. Et fides heu ! heu ! multorum coepit
vacillare, dicentium ad invicem : Ut quid dereliquit nos Christus, pro.quo et cui hactenus
militavimus ?

254 REASONS URGED AGAINST THE CRUSADES.
the crusades. " How many are there at the present time," said
he,1 " soliciting the pope that he would cause the badge of the
cross to be marked on the shoulders of Christians, and really
intending, under the pretext of going to the rescue of a desolate
and rejected Jerusalem, to draw gain and temporal advantage to
themselves out of piety. They consider not how bad it is for
men to oppose the divine counsels ; as when the restoration of
the walls of Jericho was forbidden with a curse ; 1 Kings xvi. 34 ;
Joshua vi. 26." He represents, therefore, the restoration of
Jerusalem as a project opposed to the declarations of Christ con
cerning the destruction of that city. He then adds : " Let the
popes see to it, and mourn over their own Jerusalem, that is, the
universal church, not built by the hands of men, which God has
redeemed with his own blood ; and not over the fallen Jerusalem.
But if the nations fight for the glorious sepulchre of our Lord,
let them understand that it is not this which the Lord will raise
to heaven, but rather the holy souls in whom the Lord, daily
buried, by the mystery of piety, reposes and dwells, till he shall
exalt them to the kingdom of his everlasting glory."2 And in
another place he complains of the popes that, by their means,
the nations and resources of Christendom are exhausted among
barbarous tribes, whither they are sent under the specious pre
texts of salvation and the cross.3
The objections urged against the crusades by a party who
were opposed to them at the time of the council of Lyons, are
known from the manner in which Humbert de Romanis, general
of the Dominican order, whom the pope had commissioned to
draw up a schedule of the matters to be handled at that council,
sought to refute them.4 They were such as follows : That it was
1 Commentar. in Jeremiam, p. 284.
2 Videant summi pontifices et doleant de sua Hierusalem, id est, ecclesia generali
non manu facta, quam Deus redemit sanguine suo, et non de ilia, quae cecidit desistont-
que ulterius illius muros erigere, quae quotidie morte fidelium ruit. Ac si pro sepulcro
glorioso de gentibus conteriditur, non est ipsum dominus translaturus in coelum ; sed
potius sanctas animas, in quibus dominus quotidie per pietatis mysterium sepelitur,
quiescit et manet, donee eas transferat et resurgant in regno claritatis aetemae.
3 Romani pontifices dissipant sepem imperii, imminuendis populis christianis et viri-
bus et mittendis ad barbaras nationes sub specie salutis et crucis. P. 292,
* Humbertus de Romanis de his quae tractanda videbantur in Concilio generali. The
first part, which consists of twenty seven chapters, de negotio ecclesiae contra Saracenos.
Extracts in Mansi, t. xxvi., f. 109. More full, in the first part of tbe Opusculum tripar-

REFUTATION OF THEM BY HUMBERT DE ROMANIS. 255
contrary to the examples of Christ and the apostles to uphold re
ligion with the sword, and to shed the blood of unbelievers. It
was tempting God ; because the Saracens were in all respects, in
numbers, in knowledge of the country, in being accustomed to the
climate, in means of subsistence, superior to the Christians.
Though Christians might be allowed to fight in self-defence, yet
it did not follow from this that they might attack the infidels in
their own countries. It was no more right to persecute those
Saracens, than it was to persecute the Jews, the idolaters, the
subjugated Saracens in Europe. These wars brought neither
spiritual nor temporal advantage. The Saracens were provoked
by them to blaspheme the Christian faith, instead of being con
verted to that faith ; but all of them that fell in battle sank to
perdition. Nor was any temporal advantage gained from them ;
for it was impossible to retain possession of the conquered terri
tories. The unhappy reverses which had been experienced
proved that these undertakings were not in accordance with the
divine will. Particularly deserving of notice is what Humbert
says in refutation ofthe first of these reasons, " That which was
right and proper at the time of the first planting of the church
is one thing ; that which is required in order to preserve the
church is another. To preserve the church, to defend it against
those who would utterly destroy it, the sword is required. The
condition of the first Christian communities, when as yet they had
no power, but could only propagate themselves by humility, is
quite different from the present condition of things, when the
Christian people are become mighty, and not without good rea
son bear the sword. In earlier times the church was defended by
the gift of miracles ; at present, when miracles fail, she must
have recourse to arms. What is said against the employment of
weapons has reference not to the outward act but to the temper
with which they should be used."1 While in former times the
crusades had been extolled as a means whereby the vicious who
embarked in them might obtain the pardon of their sins, Hum
bert, on the other hand, represented it as a main cause of the
titum, published by Brown, in the Appendix to the Fasciculus rerum expetendariim et
fugiendarum, f. 185, seqq.
1 Ad praeparationem animi, non ad executionem gladii.

256 RAYMUND LULL'S VIEW OF THE CRUSADES.
want of success, that precisely this class of persons had been em
ployed ; and he proposed that a competent number of pious war
riors should be constantly maintained in the East as a bulwark
against the Saracens.1
We have already, on a former page,2 described the glowing zeal
of that extraordinary man, Raymund Lull, for the conversion of
the infidels and the extension of the Christian church. The aim
of his first efforts was to bring it about, that missions and arms
should be conjoined for the accomplishment of these objects. In
a work which he composed at Pisa, soon after his return in April,
a.d. 1308, from North Africa,3 he recommended three things ;
first, that four or five monasteries should be founded, in which
learned and pious monks and secular clergymen might study the
languages of the infidels, and thus prepare themselves for
preaching the gospel in the whole world. Secondly, that out of
all the orders of spiritual knights, a single one should be formed
for fighting against the Saracens. But this order of knights
should not embark at once, as had been done before, in distant
enterprises, but should first attack the empire of the Saracens in
Granada, and take possession of their treasures ; next, proceed to
North Africa, and, last of all, buckle on their armour for the -
conquest of the Holy Land. Thirdly, the tenths from all the
churches should be applied to this object until the holy sepulchre
should be recovered. In another work,4 he introduces two eccle
siastics disputing on the question, whether it were better that
some mighty prince should be commissioned to bring about the
conversion of the heathen by force, or whether men should labour
for the spread of the faith, by means of persuasion, and by offer
ing up their lives, according to the example of Christ and of the
martyrs. Even at this period, he declared in favour of the latter
plan ; and to the close of his life he felt more and more convinced
that this was the only Christian mode of procedure, the only one
1 Ad quod eligerentur non homicidae aut pessimi sicut hactenus, sed homines a pec
catis abstinentes, quia nescit justitia Dei patrocinari criminosis, f. 119.
2 See ante, pp. 82— 96. I could not then as yet avail myself of the great collected
edition of tbe works of Raymund Lull, which appeared at Mayence. After the printing
of this section was finished, I first had the good fortune, during a residence in Munich,
of being able io study this work also, among the numerous and rare treasures of the
Royal library in that city.
3 Disputatio Raymuudi Christiani et Hamar Saraceni.
* Liber super Psalmum " quicunque vult."

RAYMUND LULL'S VIEW OF THE CRUSADES. 257
which any Christian could expect would be crowned with a bless
ing. In his great work, on the Contemplation of God,1 where he
makes all the ranks and callings of Christendom pass in review,
and seeks to point out the defects in each,2 he remarks in the
section concerning knights :3 " I see many knights going to the
Holy Land, in the expectation of conquering it by force of arms ;
but instead of accomplishing their object, they are in the end all
swept off themselves." " Therefore," says he, addressing Christ,
" it is my belief that the conquest of the Holy Land should be
attempted in no other way than as thou and thy apostles under
took to accomplish it, — by love, by prayer, by tears, and the
offering up of our own lives. As it seems that the possession of
the holy sepulchre and of the Holy Land can be better secured by
the force of preaching than the force of arms, therefore let the
monks march forth, as holy knights, glittering with the sign of
the cross, replenished with the grace of the Holy Spirit, and pro
claim to the infidels the .truth of thy passion ; let them from love
to thee exhaust the whole fountain of their eyes, and pour out all
the blood of their bodies, as thou hast done from love to them !
Many are the knights and noble princes that have gone to the
promised land with a view to conquer it ; but if this mode had
been pleasing to thee, 0 Lord, they would assuredly have wrested
it from the Saracens who possess it against our will. Thus is it
made manifest to the pious monks, that thou art daily waiting for
them, expecting them to do, from love to thee, what thou hast
done from love to them. And they may be certain that, if from
love to thee, they expose themselves to martyrdom, thou wilt hear
their prayers in respect to all that which they desire to see ac-
1 T. ix., opp. ed. Mogunt. 1722, fob
2 To finish which work, that he might then go to meet martyrdom, was bis most ar
dent wish ; as he remarks, «.-. cxxxi., f. 301: " As a hungry man makes despatch, and
takes large morsels, on account of his great hunger, so thy servant feels a great desire to
die, that he may glorify thee. He hurries day and night to complete this work, in order
that, after it is finished, he may give up his blood and his tears to be shed for thee, in the
Holy Land wbere thou didst pour out thy precious blood and thy compassionate tears.
0 Lord, my help, till this work is completed, thy servant cannot go to the land of the
Saracens, to glorify thy glorious name, for I am so occupied with this work, which I
undertake for thine honour, that I can think of nothing else. For this reason, I beseech
thee for that grace that thouwouldst stand by me, that I may soon finish it and speedily
depart to die the death of a martyr out of love to thee, if it shall please thee to count me
worthy of it."
3 Chap, cxii., f. 250.
VOL. VII. R

258 CONCLAVE OF CARDINALS.
complished in this world for the promotion of thy glory." And,
in another passage of this work,i he seeks to show, first, that the
schism of souls, the religious strife, between Saracens and Chris
tians, was the cause of the outward war, and of the many evils
therewith connected ;2 that by this war, Christians were hindered
from preaching the truth to the Saracens, whereby they might,
perhaps, succeed to convince them, and then, through the spi
ritual communion of one faith, bring them back to outward peace
also. He then concludes with the following prayer : " Lord of
heaven, Father of all times, when thou didst send thy Son to take
upon him human nature, he and his apostles lived in outward
peace with Jews, Pharisees, and other men ; for never, by outward
violence, did they capture or slay any of the unbelievers or of
those who persecuted them. Of this outward peace they availed
themselves to bring the erring to the knowledge of the truth, and
to a communion of spirit with themselves. And so, after thy ex
ample, should Christians conduct towards the Saracens. But
since that ardour of devotion which glowed in apostles and holy
men of old no longer inspires us, love and devotion through almost
the whole world have grown cold. Therefore do Christians ex
pend their efforts far more in the outward than iu the spiritual
conflict." At the above-mentioned council of Lyons, Gregory again in
troduced a new regulation with regard to papal elections, designed
to prevent such delay as that which had preceded his own ap
pointment. The cardinals should at least be compelled by hun
ger to agree in a choice. Each having his own particular cell,
should remain there without liberty of leaving it until they were
prepared to proceed to the election. After three days the quan
tity of food and drink should be diminished, and if at the expira
tion of eight days they had not yet agreed in their choice of a
pope, they should be allowed nothing but bread, wine, and water.
This ordinance, after great resistance on the part of the cardinals,
was adopted ; and as it was exceedingly annoying to them, they
1 T. ix, I. iii. Distinct. 29, c. cciv., f. 512.
2 Quia Christiani et Saraceni pugnant intellectual iter in hoc, quod discordent et con-
trarientur in fide, propterea pugnant sensualiter et ratione hujus pugnae multi vulneran-
tor et captivantur et moriuntur et destruuntur, per quam destructionem devastantur et
destruuntur multi principatus et multae divitiae et multae terrae et impedinntur multa
bona, quae ficrent, si non esset talis pugna.

THE HERMIT POPE, CELESTIN THE FIFTH. 259
made the greater despatch, such persons being selected as were
not expected to live long, and iii whose choice it was the most
easy to unite. In the single year 1276, three popes followed in
quick succession one after the other. The third of these, John
the Twenty-First, was, by the influence of the cardinals, induced
to suspend an arrangement ofthe conclave which they felt to be so
inconvenient. The consequence was that, in the year 1292, the
election of a pope was delayed by parties among the cardinals
two years and a quarter. At length, compelled by the influence
of Charles the Second, king of Naples, and to get rid of a dis
graceful dependence on him, in which they found themselves
placed, they resolved to choose somebody, and, as they could
agree on no one else, their choice fell on a man, who under any
other circumstances they would hardly have thought of, and who
formed a direct contrast to his predecessor. This was Peter of
Marone, a pious anchoret, who lived not far from Sulmone, in
the Neapolitan territory, — an old man, who from his twentieth
year had led a solitary life, devoted to prayer and religious con
templation,1 and had composed a few small tracts on ascetica.1
subjects, and on ecclesiastical law.2 Against his wishes, he was
obliged to exchange the tranquillity of the contemplative life for
a sphere of action of the most enormous extent and full of unrest.
He called himself Celestin the Fifth. Even when pope, he still
wore his monkish dress under the papal insignia. His appear
ance and deportment, forming so striking a contrast with that of
the other popes of this time, procured for him the more respect
and veneration. Seated upon an ass, which the kings of Sicily
and Hungary led by the bridle, he made his entry into the city
of Aquila. Thousands flocked about him, not as they did around
other new popes, to obtain rich benefices, but to receive his
blessing. The shouts of the multitudes, who gathered from city
and country, compelled him to show himself frequently at the
window and bestow his blessing.3 But when Celestin, the feeble
1 He himself wrote an account of his youth, his inward conflicts and visions, in the
commencement of his spiritual career : See Acta Sanctor. Maj. t. iv., f. 422.
2 These writings, which are of no particular importance, are published iu the Bibl.
patr. Lugdunens. t. xxv.
3 Benedict Cajetan relates this in his life of Celestin: Tantus fuit concursus ad
ipsum de villis et castris, quod stupor erat videre, quia magis veniebant ad suam ob-
tinendam benedictionem, quam pro praebendae acquisitione, unde oportebat eum saepius
R 2

260 VOICES OPPOSED TO PAPAL ABSOLUTISM.
old man, came to be placed in circumstances so little conformable
to his habits and temperament ; when he was set down in the
midst of a vast circle of business with which he was entirely un
acquainted ; he soon brought affairs into the most vexatious per
plexity. Always following the direction of the papal officials, he
subscribed and affixed the papal seal to rolls of parchment, negli
gently read or even not written on, which could be filled up- at
pleasure ; he made himself dependent on king Charles the Second,
who persuaded him to fix his seat in his own residential city.
The cardinals grew tired of him ; it was easy for them to excite
scruples of conscience in his mind ; and, besides, he longed to be
restored to his former quiet. Gladly would he have resigned his
seat. But on the principles of the church constitution and of the
ecclesiastical laws as then understood, it was very difficult to see
how the pope, who was invested with the highest dignity ou
earth, could be divested of his office, or could voluntarily resign
it. Yet cardinal Benedict Cajetan, than whom no one could be
more unlike this pope in temper and disposition, and who himself
aspired to the papal dignity, strengthened him in his inclination ;
so, after having published, by the advice of the latter, an ordi
nance, purporting that it was allowable for a pope to abdicate
his office, he laid down his own in the year 1294, and returned
to his former mode of life.
It will be evident from this history of the papacy that, from
the time of Gregory the Seventh, it had come into a new relation
with the rest of the church. Not only was it assumed, as it had
been already in the Pseudo- Isidorian decretals, that the form of
the government of the church is monarchical ; but the govern
ment became an unlimited monarchy ; — the triumph of papal
absolutism was complete. All other ecclesiastical authority was
but the pope's organ, was valid only to the extent he might
choose. No longer tied by the old ecclesiastical laws, he could
render them powerless by dispensations, explanations, and laws
newly enacted. There were, indeed, distinguished men, and
zealous for the well-being ofthe church, who — much as they were
devoted in other respects to the interest of the papacy, or rather
because they were so — often took pains to remind the popes, that
ad fenestram accedere, ad benedicendum populum victus ipsorum clamoribus, quod et
ego vidi et praesens fui quando ista fiebant. See Acta Sanctor. Maj. t. iv., f. 427.

VOICES OPPOSED TO PAPAL ABSOLUTISM. 261
they must fix limits to their own authority, which had not been
limited from without, by reason of the end for whicli such autho
rity had been conferred. Thus, for example, bishop Yves of
Chartres, declared, " That the Roman church had received no
authority from God for injustice, — no authority to take away
from any man his guilt, but only to bind what ought to be bound,
and to loose what ought to be loosed. "1 The abbot Gottfried of
Vendome, also, against whom Yves had cited this principle, be
cause in a particular case he would acknowledge dependence only
on the Roman church, admitted the same as an undeniable
truth.'- " One thing only," he said, " might be disputed, namely,
whether, in the particular case in question, the pope had made
such arbitrary use of his authority." The abbot Peter of Cluny
reminded pope Innocent the Second,3 that if he ruled over all, it
should be his glory to be ruled himself only by reason.'' We
have already quoted the sayings of abbot Bernard of Clairvaux
on this subject, namely, that popes were created not to dissolve
the ecclesiastical laws, but to see that theynwere executed. John
of Salisbury, that zealous champion of the hierarchy, wrote thus
to pope Alexander the Third, in the name of the archbishop of
Canterbury :5 " Undoubtedly, to the pope, all things are allow
able ; that is, all things that belong by divine right to ecclesi
astical authority. He is free to make new laws and to do away
the old ones. Only it is not in his power to change anything
which, by the word of God, has eternal validity. I might venture
to assert that not even Peter himself can absolve any one from
his guilt who perseveres in sin or in the will to sin ; that even
he has received no such key as gives him power to open the door
of the kingdom of heaven for an impenitent person."
Still, in such voices, it was but a force of moral sentiment that
opposed itself to the arbitrary will of the pope. There was no
1 Nullam injustam potestatem, fidem violandi videlicet debita sua cuique non red-
dendi; sed tantum, quae sunt Uganda ligandi et quae sunt solvenda solvendi. See
ep. 195.
2 Quis enim insanus credere vel cogitare audeat, bonum Deum aliquid unquam in-
juste dedisse aut ejus sanctam ecclesiam quicquam ab eo injuste accepisse. Epp. 1. ii.,
ep. 11.
3 Ep. ii., 28.
* Cum jure majestas apostolica omnibus dominetur, soli tantum rationi subjici glo.
riatur. 8 Ep. 193.

262 MISCHIEVOUS INFLUENCES OF PAPAL ABSOLUTISM.
higher authority, which the popes were obliged to respect, which
presented to them checks from without, and could have jurisdic
tion over them. The general councils, which constituted the
highest tribunal and the highest legislative authority in the an
cient church, had themselves become converted into blind tools
of the popes. Such authority in the hands of a single man,
standing at the head of the whole Western church, might un
doubtedly, in the then rude condition of the nations, be produc
tive of much good, as a check on the trifling caprices of secular
rulers, and as a terror to the vast multitude of negligent bishops ;
but even in the best use of that authority, the free original de
velopment could not fail to suffer a check. This check, in the
best use of the papal power, would of necessity become the
stronger, inasmuch as, in such a case, the reaction favourable to
the upward struggle of freedom would be less powerfully called
forth. Naturally, however, such power in the hands of an indi
vidual was liable to manifold abuses. In order that the papacy
might ever subserve the end for which it was designed, an har
monious combination of the highest mental and moral powers,
purity of heart united with great intellectual superiority, was ab
solutely required ; and such a combination could not often occur.
Add to this that, already in the twelfth century, a too-powerful
secular tendency had grown up within the pale of the papacy,
which threatened to swallow up the spiritual interest. Already
must the provost Gerhoh of Reichersberg complain that the ec
clesia Romana had become a curia Romana,1 and we have
already heard the complaints of the abbot Bernard on the secu
larization of the papacy. Every corrupt practice which was ac
customed to prevail in courts reigned at the Roman court ;2 and

1 The provost Gerbob of Reichersberg had, as be says, laid at the feet of pope Eugene
the Third, bis Essay on the Confusion between Babylon and Jerusalem, from which
grew afterwards his work so often cited : " De corrupto ecclesiae statu," or " expositio
in Ps. lxiv." in Baluz, Miscellan. t. v. Hac intentione, ut curia ilia semetipsam atten-
deret seseque pariter et ecclesiam totam, quam regere debet, aconfusione Babylonica dis-
tinctam exhibere satageret sine macula et ruga neque enim vel hoc ipsum carere macula
videtur, quod nunc dicitur curia Romana, quae antehac dicebatur ecclesia Romana, c.
lxiii. 2 John of Salisbury, who stood on terms of intimacy with pope Adrian the Fourth,
relates a remarkable conversation which he once had with that pope. Tbe pontiff in
quired of bim respecting the general tone of feeling towards the Romish church, and
towards himself; and he frankly stated to him the complaints concerning the exactions

BRIBERY PRACTISED AND TOLERATED AT ROME. 263
if the Hildebrandian tendency of reform had aimed to bring back
the church to its purely spiritual character, to deliver it from the
yoke of secularization, yet this secularization sprung up again in
another form, from the mixing up together of court and churcli in
Rome. The complaints about the corruptibility of the Roman
court, of the officials by whom the judgment of the popes was in
fluenced or determined— -these complaints, which we have already
noticed as existing in the preceding periods, only went on multi
plying with the increased influence of the papacy. It must have
appeared strange that on the very spot where simony, as prac
tised by the princes and bishops, was so vigorously combated,
the same thing, though under more specious names, should pre
vail to no less au extent. When the odious charge was issued
from Rome against bishop Yves of Chartres, that simony reigned
openly in his church, he replied : " He had not as yet been able
to do anything towards suppressing the ancient custom by which
the candidates for a canonry must pay something to the deans
and the cantor ; for men appealed to the example of the Romish

that proceeded from the church of Rome. Sicut enim dicebatur a multis Romana eccle.
sia, quae mater omnium ecclesiarum est, se non tam matrem exhibet aliis, quam nover-
cam. Sedent in ea scribae et Pharisaei, ponentes .onera importabilia in humeris homi
num, quae digito non contingunt. Concutiunt ecclesias, lites excitant, collidunt clerum
et populum, laboribus et miseriis affiictorum nequaquam compatiuntur, ecclesiarum lae-
tantur spoliis et quaestum omnem reputant pietatera. Omnia cum pretio hodie, sed nee
eras aliquid sine pretio obtinebis. Nocent saepius et in eo daemones imitantur, quod
tunc prodesse putantur, cum nocere desistunt exceptis paucis, qui nomen et officium
pastoris implent. The pope calmly listened to all he had to say, and thanked him for
his frankness; and after having conceded some things and justified others, concluded
with an apology like the following: All the members of the body complained ofthe sto
mach, that whilst they were all obliged to labour for that, the stomach was idle, and did
r.othiug but consume what was furnished to it by the labour of all the other members.
They declared it the enemy of all, and determined to punish it, to rest from their labours
and starve it out.. Thus passed several days, till all the members had become quite faint,
and were no longer able to perform their appropriate functions. They were now under
the necessity of holding another consultation; they found out that in consequence of
withholding everything from the stomach, that organ had been unable to supply them
any longer with what was requisite to give them streugth and vigour. They found
themselves compelled, therefore, to restore back to it all they had withheld, and now
the members were strong and vigorous again, and peace was restored to the whole. So
it was with those who ruled in the church or in the state. Although they required much,
yet it was not for their own advantage, but for the good of the whole. If they were not
rich and mighty'themselves, they could not help the members. Noli ergo neque nos
trum neque saecularium principum duritiam metiri, sed omnium utilitatem attende. See
Job. Saresberiensis Policraticus sive de nugis curialium et vestigiis philosophorum, I.
vi. u. xxiv.

264 BRIBERY PRACTISED AND TOLERATED AT ROME.
church itself, where the cubicularii and ministri sacri palatii
demanded no small sum of money for the consecration of bishops
and abbots, under the specious names of an oblatio or a be'nedic-
fio."1 Not the stroke of a pen, not a sheet of paper was to be had
for nothing. He knew not how to answer those who brought
this matter against him, except in the words of Christ : " All
whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do ; but do
not ye after their works." Matt, xxiii. 3. Disputes about elec
tion in churches and convents, carried up to Rome for decision,
were welcomed there by those whose only object was money, be
cause the contending parties must resort to gold in order to effect
their object.2 The officers of the papal court were bribed by
presents or promises, and then sought to mislead the judgment
ofthe pope. This was the ordinary way of gaining a badcause.3
Surrounded by such a swarm of corrupt courtiers, it was not
enough, therefore, that the individual who stood at the head
should be rigidly incorruptible and disinterested. Eugene the
Third is extolled as a model in this respect.4 But he should
also possess the power of control over the corrupt creatures around
1 Quae oblationis vel benedictionis nomine palliantur. Ep. 133
2 We present a few examples. Near the close of the twelfth century, Peter de Blois
complains of the fact that a homo illiteratus et laicus, sed in emendis honoribus circum-
spectus, was endeavonring by means of his gold to establish in Rome his illegal claims
to an abbot's place in Canterbury. He was there received in afriendly manner by those,
qui sicut scitis gratius acceptant hominum munera, quam merita personarum. Spera-
bant enim, quod promotio ejus esset rixae materia et majoris emolumenti occasio. His
party exerted themselves to the utmost to make themselves friends of tbe mammon of
unrighteousness at the Roman court, and thereby to nullify the just charges brought
against this man (opinionis et infamiae vulneribus vinum et oleum infundere.) Ex-
haustis itaque Flandriae mercatoribus in argento, a Romanis tandem infinitam multitu-
dinem auri, mutuavit. Ep. 158. The abbot Guibert, of Novigentum, says in his auto
biography, in the beginning of the twelfth century, 1. iii. a. iv., f. 498, concerning the
palatinis Papae: Quibus moris est, ut audito auri nomine mansuescant. A bishop who
was suspected, on good reasons, of having committed a murder for the sake of re
venge, found means to clear himself, adulatione donorum, at the Roman court, under
pope Paschalis the Second.
3 Ep. 87. Of bishop Yves of Chartres, John of Salisbury writes (ep. 222) : Romauos
amicis verba dare jam nemo miratur, quia percelebre est, et innotuit universis, quod
apud eos, quantum quisque nummorum habet in area, tantum habet et fidei, et plernm-
que obliquata mente legum et canonum, qui munere potior est, potentior est jure.
4 A prior, whose case he had not yet examined, once pressed him to-accept from him
a mark of gold, as a testimony of regard; but he declined, saying, " Thou hast not as
yet stepped into the house, and already wouldst thou bribe the master ?" Joh. Sare.sb.
Policnit. 1. v., cxv.

ACTIVITY OF THE PAPAL LI'.GATES. 265
him, and wisdom to detect the fraudulent acts by which truth
was kept back from him. Bernard had good reason, therefore,
for remarking to this very Eugene :l " Of what avail is the good
disposition of the individual, when still the bad disposition of
others predominates !"
We shall now proceed to consider the several branches of the
papal authority, as they were separately exercised by them
selves.

II. DISTINCT BRANCHES OF THE PAPAL CHURCH GOVERNMENT.
Important effects undoubtedly resulted from the fact that the
popes visited particular countries in person, and spent some time
in them.a We have seen how the events which compelled them
to take refuge in France, operated in giving a new spring to
their authority. Still, the cases were quite rare in which they
could obtain, by their personal presence, a knowledge of the con
dition of particular nations and churches, counteract abuses "which
had crept in, and lend force to their laws. There was need of a
permanent and general order of men, to serve as a substitute for
the immediate personal presence of the pope. To this end served
the cardinals, or other persons from the clergy, clothed with
plenary powers, who, under the name of legates, were sent to all
quarters of the world. To be sure, a legate whose knowledge of
the country was only such as could be derived from a transient
residence in it, and from superficial observation, might easily be
deceived by appearances. For which reason, Yves of Chartres
wished that the popes would, as was sometimes done indeed, ap
point as their legates the bishops in the countries themselves,
who would be accurately acquainted with the region and its rela
tions.3 Against this well-meant proposal, however, it might be
l See on a former page, 204.
2 This subject, the influence which proceeded from the journeyings of the popes in
the Middle Ages, deserved certainly to be more accurately investigated in a fuller
Monography than Johann von Muller's Essay, von den Reisen der Piipste.
3 Cum enim a latere vestro mittitis ad nos cardinales vestros, quia in transitu apud
nos sunt, non tantum non possunt curanda curare, sed nee curanda prospicere ; hence,
ut alicui transalpine legationem sedis apostolicae injungatis, qui et vicinius subrepentia
mala cognoscat et ea vel per se vel per relationem ad sedem apostolicam maturius curare
rraevaleat. Ep. 109.

266 DIFFERENT MODES OF ACTION OF THE LEGATES.
objected, that native legates were more exposed than foreign ones
to the influence of impure motives and considerations, — which
difficulty might be illustrated by examples.
Much could be effected in these times by a legate, who, as
Bernard required, should interest himself for the people and the
poor in their spiritual and bodily necessities, steadfastly oppose
himself to the arbitrary will of the mighty, and everywhere pro
mote the supremacy of order and of law.1 Bernard cites examples
of such legates, who avoided the very appearance of self-interest.
A certain cardinal, Martin, returned back from a distant country
to Italy so poor that, in Florence, he found himself without money
or means to continue his journey except on foot ; whereupon, the
bishop of Florence made him a present of a horse. He next met
with this bishop in Pisa, where the papal court then resided ;
and here being told that the bishop had a process going on and
was depending upon his vote, he gave the horse back to ' him on
the spot. Bishop Gottfried of Chartres refused to accept from a
priest the present of a costly fish, except on condition that he
taight be allowed to pay the price of it. But' Bernard, in relat
ing these facts, could not help exclaiming, " Does it not seem
like a story of some other world, that a legate should return with
his purse empty of gold, from the very land of gold V He had
himself to complain of a legate, who, in Germany and France,
left everywhere behind him the marks of his wickedness,2 every
where sought to place beautiful boys in high offices in the church,
and everywhere made such exactions, that many preferred pur
chasing a release from him, that he might not near them. Bishop
Yves of Chartres invites pope Urban the Second to send on a
legate, because there was special need of a person clothed with
such authority, when arbitrary will everywhere ruled supreme,
when there was nothing which any man might not dare to do, and
dare with impunity ; but at the same time, he asked for a legate
of good name and reputation, who would seek not his own, but
the things of Jesus Christ." The same bishop wrote to a legate
1 Qui vulgus non spernant, sed doceant, divites non palpent, sed terreant, minas
principum non paveant, sed contemnant, gloriantes, non quod curiosa seu pretiosa
quaeque in terrain attulerint, sed quod reliquerint pacem regnis, legem barbaris, quietem
monasteriis, ecclesiis ordinem, clericis disciplinary De considerat. 1. iv. c. iv.
2 Virapostolicus replevit omnia non evangelio, sed socrilegio. Ep. 290.
3 Ep. 12.

MISCHIEFS OF INDISCRIMINATE APPEALS TO ROME. 267
a beautiful letter,, reproving him for his inconsistency in zealously
contending against lay-investiture, while he did not give himself
the least concern with many openly prevailing vices. " He
wished," he said, " with many pious men, that the servants of
the Romish church would, like experienced physicians, seek first
to heal the greater disorders, and not give occasion for their
banterers to say that they strained at gnats and swallowed
camels." Under this head belongs, again, the authority exercised by the
Roman curia, as the highest tribunal ; a tribunal to which appeal
could be made from the whole of Western Christendom, in all
matters that stood in any relation whatsoever to the church.
Salutary as this branch of the papal authority, rightly used, might
have proved, it would in the same proportion turn out hurtful,
when every appeal was received without discrimination at Rome ;
and corruption by bribes, partiality, zeal, — not for justice and
law, — but only for ambitious projects aud the dignity of the church
of Rome, prevailed there ; when, as men were forced to complain
was really the case, he who appealed to the ecclesiastical laws
instead of leaving everything to depend solely on the plenary
power of the pope, was already put down as an enemy of that
church.2 In this way, appeals would necessarily result in effects
directly contrary to the end for which they were instituted. They
no longer served the purpose of procuring protection for the weak
and oppressed against the will of the mighty, but much more of
securing for arbitrary power a convenient handle by which to
thwart the execution of the laws and defeat the ends of justice.
Every sentence, however just and lawful, could, by an arbitrary
appeal on the part of him whose selfish interests it opposed, or
whose sole object it was to revenge himself on an enemy, be either
reversed, or at least seriously retarded in its execution. As early
as the year 1129, Hildebert, bishop of Mans, found cause for de
claring, in a free-spirited letter to pope Honorius the Second,
that all church discipline would come to an end, all vices must

1 Ep. 60.
2 Yves of Chartres, ep. 67, Peter of Blois, ep. 158 : Leges et canones et quicquid de
sacro eloquio ad nostrae partis assertionem poteramus inducere, funestum et sacrilegum
reputabant nosque hostes Eomanae ecclesiae publice judicabant. Men were not to cite
any canones, or leges, but only (papal; privilegia.

268

OATHS BY BISHOPS.

get the upper hand, if, as the case had hitherto been, every ap
peal should without distinction be admitted at Rome ; he calls
upon him to provide, that appeals without good reasons assigned,
and that aimed only to procure a delay of justice, should be wholly
rejected.1 Bernard advised pope Eugene the Third not to listen
to every man's story, but sometimes to strike in with the rod.2
Men came at length to perceive, therefore, in Rome itself, the ne
cessity of setting limits to arbitrary appeals. The eminent wis
dom of Innocent the Third as a ruler, was shown in this matter
as well as in others ; while at the same time, however, his ordi
nances testify of the enormous abuses which were practised in the
matter of appeals.3 He directed, at the fourth Lateran council,
a.d. 1215, that bishops should not be hindered, by any appeal,
from punishing the transgressions of their subjects, and from the
reformation of their dioceses, unless they had violated the legal
forms.' As by the Hildebrandian system, the whole government ofthe
church was placed in the hands of the pope, and the bishops were
to exercise some part of it only as his instruments ; so it was but
a consistent application ofthe principles contained in that system,
when bishops, by the act of their institution, by the predicates
they bestowed on themselves, came to be placed more and more
in a relation of dependence on these unlimited rulers of the church.
Had it not been for the reaction of the old ecclesiastical laws,
which were still valid in church practice, the consequences flow
ing out of that system would have been realized much earlier
than they were. That no choice of a bishop could be valid
without the pope's confirmation was, properly, but a necessary
deduction from that system ; still, however, it came to be so con
sidered only by slow degrees. Disputes on the choice of bishops
furnished occasion, for the most part, for the practice of the indi-
1 Moratorias appellationes et superfluas omnino a vestra elongendas esse audientia.
F.p. 41.
2 Non semper praebere aurem, quae audiat, sed aliquando et flagellum quod feriat.
3 E. g. epp. ii. 13. Benignitate juris plurimi hodie abutentes in sui erroris defen-
sionem assumunt, quod in gravaminum fuerat revelationem inventum, et ut suorum
superiorum correctionem eludant, sine causa frequenter ad apostolicam sedem appellant.
cf. i. 237 ; ii., 99 ; v. 23.
i Ut correctiones et reformationis officium libere valeant exercere, decernimus, nt
exsecutionem ipsorum nulla appellatio valeat imped ire, nisi formam excesserintin talibus
observandam, u. vii.

FILLING OF CHURCH OFFICES. 260
viduals elected going themselves to Rome to secure the confirma
tion of their election ; and thus this papal confirmation came
more and more into use in the course of the thirteenth century.
The formulary which designated bishops as appointed by the
grace of God, was increased by adding, " and by the grace ofthe
apostolical chair.' At length, they were bound by oath to such
obedience to the popes as vassals paid to their liege lords. This
oath was similar to the one whicli Boniface first took to the pope.1
From the time of Gregory the Seventh, the Italian metropolitans
immediately subordinate to the Church of Rome, placed them
selves under such an oath ; next, it was required of all metropoli
tans that received the pall from Rome ; finally, of all bisliops
whatsoever. They bound themselves thereby to appear at every
synod when cited by the popes ; to keep secret whatever might
be communicated to them either orally or in writing, by the
popes ; to treat the Roman legates with honour and respect ; to
provide them with everything they needed, and in all cases of
necessity to stand by the popes with force of arms.
The popes, who at first contended against arbitrary appoint
ments to church offices by princes, afterwards became chargeable
themselves with the same arbitrary mode of procedure, to the
great injury of the churches. It was first in the twelfth century,
that they recommended by way of petition, to vacant benefices,
individuals who had done eminent service for the Romish church.
(Their recommendations still appear, under the modest name of
preces ; hence the persons recommended are called precistae.)
But in the beginning of the thirteenth century these preces were
changed into mandata ; and finally, the popes of this century
took the liberty to supersede all other rights (by the formula
" non obstante,'') and to promote their favourites to vacant bene
fices in whatsoever country they might be found ; insisting, with
a threat of the ban, that their commands should be obeyed, as we
have seen in the case of Robert, bishop of Lincoln. Thus could the
most unfit and the most unworthy men be promoted to such offices ;
boys under age, or at least such as were entirely ignorant of the
language and* manners of the people, where their field of action
was assigned ; men, who carried with them, wherever they went,
1 Vol. v., p. 60.

270 PRIVILEGES OF EXEMPTION.
all the Roman corruption of morals ; or who if they preferred to
enjoy, as absentees, the revenues of the benefices, hired under
lings, who performed the spiritual functions in an altogether me
chanical manner. The best use which the popes made of this
authority was, when they provided in this way, for men who
had done good service in the cultivation of letters, an appoint
ment free from cares, which they could not otherwise have ob
tained. We have seen already in the preceding period, how the papal
power was advanced by the selfish interests of subordinate eccle
siastical authorities, who sought to make themselves independent
of their immediate superiors. But when the popes, instead of
keeping every other authority confined within its appropriate
limits, and placing themselves in opposition to all arbitrary pro
cedures, now sought to grasp all other power for themselves ;
when, to secure this end, they eagerly complied with the demands
of those who wished to be freed from the troublesome oversight of
their immediate superiors, the inevitable result was the destruc
tion of all ecclesiastical order, and the promotion of all licentious
ness. Thus abbots procured for themselves the insignia of the
episcopal office, — sandals, mitre, and crosier ; and privileges of
exemption in respect to the diocesan authority of the bishops.
Thus was taken away from the bishops the means of watching over
all that transpired in their dioceses ; and of punishing everything
bad in them. We have seen on a former page,1 how Bernard
warned the pope against this arbitrary extension of his authority ;
and many other influential voices were heard in like manner to pro
test against these exemption-privileges. Thus Yves, bishop of
Chartres,2 complains to pope Urban the Second, of a monastery
which sought to free itself by such an exemption from the dio
cesan oversight of the bishop of Paris, in order that it might suffer
no disturbance in its licentious doings.3 Richard, archbishop of
1 See page 204.
2 Ep. 65.
8 Latiniacensis abbas et monachi ejus, que nescio qua nova libertate suos excessus
tueutur, et subjectionem Parisiensi ecclesiae debitam et hactenus exhibitam contra ca-
nonicam institutionem de cervice sua excutere moliuntur. Hae autem personae hujus
modi sunt, quibus magis necessaria est subjectio quam libertas, qui libertate in occa-
sionem carnis abutuntur, quibus si decern millia paedagogorum in Christo ad custodiam
deputarentur, vix tamen sic regularis continentiae legibus ligarentur.

COMPLAINTS CONCERNING EXEMPTION. 271
Canterbury, in a letter filled with similar complaints, addressed to
pope Alexander the Third,1 quotes the language of one of theso
abbots who was striving to throw off the regular dependence on
his bishop. He said : " The abbots, who do not annihilate the
authority of the bishops, are poor creatures ; for, by the annual
payment at Rome of an ounce of gold, they might obtain exemp
tion." " The abbots," says that archbishop, " exalt themselves
above their primates and bishops ; and not a man of them is
willing to pay due regard to his superior. Thus abbots and monks
would abandon themselves to all their lusts, with none to remind
them of their duty, and every species of disorder would spread
through the monasteries." If a speedy remedy were not applied
to this evil, it was to be feared, that as the abbots were exempted
from the oversight of the bishops, so the bishops would be ex
empted from that of the archbishops, and the deans and arch
deacons from that of their superiors." " To express our own
opinion freely," says he, " it does little honour to the pope's jus
tice, for him to confer a benefit on one person at the cost of ano
ther ; to take what is mine, and render himself chargeable with
doing, in ecclesiastical affairs, that which no secular power would
take the liberty of doing in secular affairs." He reminds him, as
Bernard had reminded pope Eugene,3 of the precept ofthe apostle
Paul (Rom. xiii. 1), that every man should be subject to the
powers that be. " In the human body, one member does not de
cline serving another. Among the angels, one desired exemption
from the divine authority ; and, from an angel, he became a
devil." He acknowledges, that such exemptions had been origi
nally granted to the monasteries to secure quiet for them, to
protect them against the tyranny of bishops ; but the matter had
now taken an opposite turn. Manywere at the present time brought
to ruin by these extraordinary liberties. To be sure, one who so
firmly resisted the arbitrary proceedings of Ronle, would neces
sarily draw upon himself the charge of presumption, for daring to
1 Ep. 68. Among the letters of Peter of Blois.
2 Abbates exterius curam carnis in desideriis agunt, non curautes, dummodo laute
exhibeentur, et fiat pax in diebus, eorum claustrales vero tanquam acepbali otio vacant
et vaniloquio, nee enim praesidem habent, qui eos ad frugem vitae melioris inclinet.
Quodsi tumultuosas eorum contentiones audiretis, claustrum non multum differre puta-
retis a foro.
8 See above, page 204.

272 COMPLAINTS CONCERNING EXEMPTION.
attack the sacred authority of the pope.1 Peter of Blois congra
tulates his brother, an abbot, who had received from the pope
those badges of the episcopal dignity, together with the exemp
tion, on the promotion he had obtained ; but at the sametime ex
presses his dissatisfaction that he should consent to wear the
signs of a dignity which belonged only to the bishop, and which,
on another functionary, savoured of vanity and arrogance.2 He
tells him that disobedience to his lawful superior was not to be
excused, even by the papal privilegium ; for a privilege bestowed
by a man could avail nothing against the divine order.3 That
pious theologian of Paris, who- was so zealous in opposing the
abuses of the church, near the close of the twelfth century,
Peter Cantor, expresses a fear that such partial exemptions and
partitions, would pave the way for the universal downfall of the
spiritual empire of Rome, which was to take place in the last
times.4 It is singular, however, at the same time, to observe
how this man, otherwise so liberal-minded, — in intimating, that
by such a mode of procedure the whole ancient constitution of the
church was overthrown, and everything made solely and directly
dependent on the supreme authority of the pope, — yet, at the
same time, feels constrained to defend himself against the charge
of violating the papal majesty ; declaring that, beyond a doubt,
no person was competent to judge over the pope, and that the
apostolical chair, which could not err, may perhaps have acted in
such things by a particular illumination. We might be almost
tempted to regard such declarations as irony, if the whole tone of
the work, and of the passage in question, did not contradict such
a supposition.
l De facto summi pontificis disputasseet sacrilegium commisisse dicemur; verumta
men non est aequa disputatio, ubi sustinenti respondere non licet.
2 Insignia episcopalis eminentiae in abbate nee approbo nee accepto. Mitra enim et
annulus atque sandalia in alio quam in episcopo quaedam superba elatio est et prae-
sumptuosa ostentatio libertatis. Ep. 90.
3 Nee blandiatur sibi aliquis, quod per privilegium Romanae ecclesiae ab inobedientia
excusetur. Si enim praecipit Deus et aliud indulget et praecipit homo, obediendum est
Deo potius quam homini.
4 Verendum est, ne hae exemptiones et divisiones particulares universalem faciant
divisionem a Romano regno spiritual!, quae facta est jam ex parte a Romano regno
materiali. 2 Thess. ii. 3. See Petri Cantoris verbum abbreviatum. Montibus, 1639,
p. 114.
s Sed dicetur mihi, Ps. lxxii. Os tuum ponis in coelum, Respondeo : non. Hoc au
tem non asserendo, sed opponendo induco. Non enim licet mihi dicere domino papae :

ECCLESIASTICAL LAWS. STUDY OF LAW BY IRNERIUS. 273
Iu France, some after-effects of that spirit of church freedom,
which we observed there in the earlier centuries, still manifested
themselves in the way in which the church of this country sought
to preserve itself by the so-called pragmatic sanction, enacted
by king Louis the Ninth, in the year 1268, against several of
the oppressive and restrictive measures which have just been
mentioned. The change whicli had taken place in the supreme government
of the church, necessarily brought along with it a change also in
many things connected with legislation, in all parts of the church ;
and hence, the old collections of ecclesiastical laws no longer met
the existing wants. Ever since the pseudo-Isidoriau decretals
began to be received as valid, men would already come to be
sensible of this. The collision between the old and the new
church legislation would occasion considerable embarrassment.
Since the establishment ofthe validity of those decretals, several
new collections of ecclesiastical laws had, it is true, been formed ;
as, for example, that of Regino, abbot of Priim, in the tenth, and
that of Burkhard, bishop of Worms, and that of Yves, bishop of
Chartres, in the eleventh century ; but still, these collections did
not prove adequate to do away that contrariety. Add to this,
that the new papal church system needed some counterpoise
against a tendency which threatened to become dangerous to it.
In the twelfth century, great enthusiasm was excited for the
renewed study of the Roman law, by the famous Irnerius (Guarne-
rius), at the university of Bologna ; and this study led to investi
gations and doctrines which were quite unfavourable to the inte
rests of the papacy. Even Irnerius stood forth as an ally of the
imperial power, in the contest with the papacy,i and it was, in
fact, the famous teachers of law at that university, who were em
ployed by the emperor Frederic the First, to investigate and de
fend his rights at the diet of Roncala. The more eager, there-
Cur ita facis ? Sacrilegium euim est, opera ejus redarguere et vituperare. Verumtamen
horum solutionem vel qua ratione iis obvietur, non video. Scio autem, quia auctoritate
canonis veteris vel novi non fit hujusmodi divisio et exemptio in ecclesia sed speeiali
auctoritate sedis apostolicae, quam non patitur Domiuus errare. Forte enim instinctu
etfamiliari consilio Spiritus sancti legeque privata ductahoc facit, sicut Sampson se cum
hostibus occidit, sed sic sublati'sunt consules et proconsules de medio, ut pauca vel
nulla imperent et omnia Caesar sit, qui omnia sicut omnibus imperet.
1 Landulph. Junior, hist. Mediulun. u. xxx. Muratori scriptor. rer. Italicar. t. v., f,
502. VOL. VII. S

274 OLD AND NEW ECCLESIASTICAL LAW.
fore, would be the hierarchical party to oppose that hostile
tendency, by setting up another, in defence of their own interests
and principles, through the study of ecclesiastical law, from an
opposite point of view, Thus it came about that' — at the famous
seat itself of the study of the Roman law — at Bologna, about the
year 1151, a Benedictine, or according to another account, a Ca-
maldulensian monk, Gratian, arranged a new collection of eccle
siastical laws, better suited to the wants of the church, and to the
scientific taste of these times. As the title itself indicates,
" Concordia discordantium canonum," old and new ecclesiastical
laws were here brought together, their differences discussed, and
their reconciliation attempted, — a method similar to that em
ployed by Peter Lombard in handling the doctrines of faith. This
logical arrangement and method of reconciliation, supplied a wel
come nutriment to the prevailing scientific spirit. From that time
the study also of canon law was pursued with great zeal, and the
two parties called the Legists and the Decretists arose, — Gratian's
collections of laws being denominated simply the " Decretum
Gratiani." The zeal with which the study of civil and ecclesi
astical law was pursued had, however, this injurious effect, that
the clergy were thereby drawn away from the study of the Bible,
and from the higher, directly theological, interest, and their whole
life devoted solely to these pursuits.1
But still, the contrariety between the old and the new eccle
siastical laws could not be got rid of by this attempt at reconci
liation. Many doubts and difficulties arose from this cause ; and
the popes were applied to for a decision of the contested ques
tions which resulted therefrom. In the laws enacted by them,
the ecclesiastical law received great additions ; as, for example,
in the decisions of Innocent the Third, in particular, which formed
a rich storehouse for that code. But a twofold injury resulted.
An intermediate authority was wanting, to introduce the new
papal laws at once into the practice of the church ; and, in the
twelfth century, many bulls were interpolated, under the name of
the popes, to subserve particular interests. People returning from
a pilgrimage to Rome, brought with them interpolated bulls, and
1 Peter Cantor complains in his verbum abbreviatum, c. li. : Omissis artibus liberali-
bus coelestibusque disciplinis omnes codicem legunt et forensia quaerunt, ut gloriam et
lucrum mendicent. Compare, in the letters of Peter de Blois, epistles 76 and 140.

FORGED BULLS. 275
put them in circulation.1 In the time of Innocent the Third, a
forger of this sort had the boldness to appear in Sweden, in the
character of a papal legate.2 There were ecclesiastics who had
acquired a peculiar knack in imitating papal bulls, and pushed a
lucrative business in that line.3 Thus many bad things could be
done in the name of the popes, for which they were not in the
least responsible, — an evil of which Innocent the Third felt it ne
cessary to complain.4 In England, near the close of the twelfth
century, the ban was for this reason publicly pronounced on falsi
fiers of the bulls.0 In order to suppress these pernicious acts of
imposture, Innocent the Third enacted laws, whereby such im
postors were condemned to severe punishments, and the marks
of distinction between genuine and ungenuine bulls accurately
defined.6 Hence, the still greater need of a new and duly ac
credited collection for ecclesiastical law, in which the genuine
laws might be found brought together. After many previous
attempts to supply this want, pope Gregory the Ninth, in the
year 1234, caused such a digest to be formed by the general of
the Dominicans, Raymund a Penneforte.7
1 Innocent the Third, epp. 1. ii., ep. 29.
2 L. c. 1. vi., ep. 10.
3 Jacob of Vitry (see ante, page 80), names among the bad monks and clergy, who
took all sorts of liberty to gratify their cupidity, those qui falsariornm crimen pessimum
incurrentes, falsis Uteris et bullis furtivis in perditionem uti no a verentur. Hist, occi
dental, c. xxix.
4 Innocent III. (1. i. ep. 235) says : Dura saepe mandata et institutiones interdum ini-
quas a sede apostolica emanare multi arguunt et mirantur et in hoc ei culpam imponunt,
in quo sinceritas ejus culpae prorsus ignara per innocentiam excusatur.
5 Letters of Peter de Blois, ep. 53. It is here said, in an ordinance issued by Richard,
archbishop of Canterbury : Quoniam in bis partibus publica falsariorum pestis obrepsit,
qui bullis adulterinis et Uteris calumnias innocentibus movent et statum juste possi-
dentium subvertere moliuntur. And ep. 68 : Falsariorum praestigiosa malitia ita in
episcoporum contumeliam se armavit, ut falsitas in omnium fere monasleriorum exemp-
tione praevaleat. In the letters of John of Salisbury, ep. 83 : Hujus sigilli corruptio
universalis ecclesiae periculum est, cum ad unius signaculi notam solvi et claudi
possint quorumlibet ora pontificum et culpa quaelibet impunita pertranseat et inno-
centia condemnetur. Unde in eos, qui hoc attentare praesumunt, animadvertendum
est sicut in hostes publicos et totius ecclesiae, quantum in ipsis est, subversores. On
the traffic pursued with these forgeries, see, further on, the letter of Stephen of Tournay,
ep. 221.
6 Epp. I. i., ep. 235 and 349, and tbe other epistles of this pope already referred to.
7 Decretalium, libri v. ; the Decretals, simply so called.
S 2

276 HILDEBRANDIAN EPOCH OF REFORM.

REMAINING PARTS OF THE CHURCH CONSTITUTION.
It was by the degeneracy of the clergy and the confusion ex
isting in all parts ofthe church-constitution, that the reforming
tendencies of the Hildebrandian epoch had been called forth. A
part of the abuses which had crept in, those which the rude
arbitrary proceedings of monarchs had introduced, were very
thoroughly counteracted by the triumph of the Hildebrandian
system ; a great zeal for the reformation of the clergy and of the
church life, after the pattern of the primitive apostolical church,
as it presented itself to the imagination of the men of this period,
commenced from this epoch. A bond of union was here pre
sented between all the opponents of the reigning corruption, all
men in all the churches who were zealous for a strict severity of
morals among the clergy, and the worthy celebration of the offices
of worship. The provost Gerhoh of Reichersberg represents, as
a work of the same spirit, the enthusiasm for the crusades ; the
zeal of monasticism now carried to an unusual height, and for the
renovated canonical mode of living together; the multitudes who
contended with secular, and the other multitudes who contended
with spiritual weapons for the same holy object .1 From this
epoch began a fierce struggle between the smaller number of the
more strict ecclesiastics who were disposed to favour reform, and
the great majority who followed only their pleasures.
But the measures applied by Gregory the Seventh and his
successors, were by no means calculated to produce a lasting
effect on the vast multitude who were not themselves affected by
this spirit of reform. By laws of celibacy, chastity and purity of
manners could not be forced on the clergy : men contented them
selves with a seeming obedience, and those to whom a regular
marriage was not allowed, abandoned themselves, in private, to
excesses so much the worse, — sought in gorgeous apparel, out-
1 He says : Est grande spectaculum, videre hinc milites in campo pugnantes duce
Josua, bine vero beatum Augustinum quasi alterum Aron stipatum Levitis et sanctum
Benedictum quasi Hur, Exod. xvii. 12, stipatum religiosis monachis orantes; — and
again : Hinc post longum simoniae hiemem vernali suavitate spirante reflorescit vinea
Dominica, constituuntur coenobia et xenodochia et nova crebrescunt laudum cantica.
In Ps. xxxix, Pez thesaurus anecdotor. novissimus, t. v., f. 794.

FATE OF THE WELL-DISPOSED CLERGY. 277
ward splendour,1 revelry, and noisy amusements, an indemni
fication for the enjoyments of domestic life, which were forbidden
them. The dissolution of the canonical life continually went on
increasing. The prebends were by many considered as only a
means of good living, aud they either did not concern themselves
at all about the ecclesiastical functions incumbent on them, or
performed them in a mechanical way, without devotion or dignity,
or else got them performed by hireling2 job-working substitutes.*
Those who would not follow the example of the rest, who exhi
bited in their whole manner of life a seriousness corresponding to
their vocation, who dared to converse about spiritual things, were
decried by the latter as singular fellows and pietists ;4 or, if they
ventured to stand forth as censors, exposed themselves to hatred
and persecution ; for men dreaded a spirit of reform supported
by popes and monarchs which might bring down a severe chas
tisement on the heads of the corrupt clergy. " Behold," said the
others, " how this man departs from our customs ; he wants to
convert us into monks. We must at once take our stand against
him. If we do not, it will go with us as it has done with others
before us. The pope and the king will unite against us, they
will deprive us of our livings, and other fashions will be intro
duced here. We shall become a laughing-stock to all the
people."5 When the popes had succeeded in banishing the direct and
l In opposition to these, see, r. g. the abbot Bernard of Clairvaux, ep. 2, § 11 : Con-
ceditur tibi, ut si bene deservis, de altario vivas, non autem, ut de a'tario luxurieris, ut
de altario superbias, ut inde compares tibi frena aurea, Bellas depictas, calcaria deargen-
tata, varia griseaque pellicea a collo et manibus ornatu purpureo diversificata.
2 We have an example in a church at Gubbio in the twelfth century, in the account of
the life of bishop Ubald, written by his successor Tebald : Nulla tunc temporis ordinis
observantia, nulla prorsus religionis colebatur memoria. Mercede annua erat conductus,
qui campanas pulsaret in hora officiorum et quia clericorum unusquisque in domo propria
epulabatur et dormiebat, tota fere observantia ecclesiastiei cultus custodiebatur in pulsu
nolamm. See Acta Sanctor. Mens. Maj. t. iii., f. 631.
2 Clerici conductores and conductitii, as Gerhoh says in his Dialog, de differentia
clerici saecularis et reguloris. Pez thes. anecd. noviss. t. ii., f. 482.
* Si non facio, quod caeteri, de singularitate uotabor. Bernard, ep. 2, § 11.
6 See life ofthe abbot William Roskild, who belonged to the times of pope Innocent
the Third, in the Actis Sanctor. M. April, t. i., f. 625; and what Jacob of Vitry says of
those corrupt ecclesiastics: Hi autem, qui inter eos viri justi et timorati super abomi-
nationibus eorum lugent et contristantur, ab iis irridentur. Hypocritas et superstitiosos
dicunt, reputantes pro magno crimine, quod divinae scripturae verbum vel ipsum Dei
nomen inter eos ausi sunt nominate. Hist, occidental, c. xxx.

278 LAWS AGAINST ABUSES OF NO EFFECT.
arbitrary influence of the princes on ecclesiastical appointments,
another not less pernicious mode of arbitrary proceeding often
took the place of that which had been suppressed. The bishops
and chapters of the cathedral often suffered themselves to be de
termined by family interests and worldly considerations more than
by any concern for the good ofthe church. The older ecclesiasti
cal laws respecting the canonical age were neglected, and boys
under age promoted to the first offices of the church.1 Canonical
priests made it a rule amongst themselves, that none but persons
of noble birth should join their class,2 and so the ostentatious
display and luxurious modes of living practised in the higher ranks,
were introduced amongst the clergy. Nepotism, and the spirit
of gain, led to the accumulation of several benefices often involv
ing the duties of incompatible callings on one person. Respect
ing the so-called plurality of benefices, and the non-residence of
clergymen near the church with which their official duties were
connected, various complaints were offered. Peter Cantor, in the
work wherein he combats the ecclesiastical abuses of his times,8
resents it that, in a respectable church, the five offices of greatest
income had been given to absentees.4 The popes Alexander the
Third and Innocent the Third, passed laws at the Lateran gene
ral councils, in the years 1179 and 1215, for the suppression of
the above-mentioned abuses ; but, by all the outward measures
that were applied,- little could be effected, so long as the sources
of the evil were still left behind ; and the bad example which the
arbitrary proceedings of succeeding popes presented, would only
contribute to promote, such abuses. Bishops, who had the good
1 The words of Bernard in his tract, De officio episcoporum, c. xii,: Scholares pueri
et impuberes adolescentes ob sanguinis dignitatem promoventur ad ecclesiasticas dig-
nitates et de sub ferula transferuntur ad principandum presbyteris, laetiores interim,
quod virgas evaserint quam quod meruerint principatum. The complaints in Peter de
Blois, ep. 60 : Episcoporum nequitia, qui circa porentum promotionem sun£adeo singu-
lariter occnpati, ut nihil aliud affectent aut somnient, atque indigentiam scholarium vel
in modica visitatione non relevent. Purpurata incendit parentelapontificum et elatade
patrimonio crucifixi in superbia et in abusione ad omnes vitae saecularis illecebras se
effundit. 2 'See e. g. Yve's letters, ep. 126.
3 The Verbum Abbreviatum, already several times referred to.
4 Pro quibus (reditibus) perceptis in ea nee per vicarium nee per alium servitur.
Non dico, non eantatur, uon legitur tantum, sed nee etiam consiliis ejus assistitur,
quippe nulla per6onarum quinque semel in anno praesens iu ea invenitur. 1. c. c.
xxxiv.

CLERICI REGULARES AND SAECULARES. 279
of their communities at heart, as, for example, Robert Grosshead,
we hear complaining bitterly on this subject.1
In the contest with the great mass of the secularized clergy
stood forth, in the twelfth century, men who sought to bring back
the old canonical life to a still greater degree of strictness, to re
form the.clerical body still more according to the pattern of the
monastic life. Such a man was Norbert, the founder of a new
and peculiar congregation, which became a place of refuge for
. many who were dissatisfied with the then existing condition of
the clergy. Of him we shall have to speak more at large in the
history of monasticism. But there were also other men of the
more rigid tendency, who professed no wish of founding a new
institution, but only desired to bring back the clergy to a mode
of life and of association corresponding to their original destina
tion. Among these the individual of whom we have so often
spoken as an enthusiastic champion of the Hildebrandian system,
the provost Gerhoh of Reichersberg, deserves particularly to be
mentioned. The greatest part of his life was spent in struggling
for the reformation of the clerus ;2 and the storms which agitated
that body proceeded from this very cause ; he is in this respect to
be compared with Ratherius.3 The apostolical community of
goods, as men conceived it, was to him the type ofthe union which
ought to exist amongst the clergy. The rule ascribed to Augus
tin, he represented as the law for the community of the clergy ;
they should own no sort of properity ; strangers to all luxury and
splendour, they should be contented with the simple necessaries
of life. It was what Arnold of Brescia wanted to bring about,
only in a more liberal spirit. To the clerical rule drawn up at
1 See his letter to his archdeacon, ep. 107, in Brown, in which he calls upon him to
exercise severity towards tbe clergy who neglected their duty, and complains of their
incontinent lives, their worldly pursuits, and their trifling amusements : Ex relatu fide
digno audivimus, quod plurimi sacerdotes archidiaconatus vestri horas canonicas aut non
dicunt aut corrupte dicunt, et id quod dicunt sine omni devotione aut devotionis signo,
imo magis cum evidenti ostensione animi indevoti dicunt nee horam observant in
dicendo, quae commodior sit parochianis ad audiendum divina sed quae eorum plus
consonat libidinosae desidiae. Habent insuper suas focarias, quod etsi nos et nostros
lateat cum inquisitiones super ejusmodi fieri fecimus, his per quos fiunt inquisitiones
perjuria non timentibus, non debet tamen vos sic latere.
2 He has himself related the history of his contests with bishops, canonicals, and
princes, in his Commentary on the Psalms. See Pez thes. anecd. noviss. t. v. 2039.
? Vol. vi., p. 265.

280 CLERICI REOULARES AND SAECULARES.
Aix-la-Chapelle,i Gerhoh referred back, as a lax rule, originating
in the court of a prince, not in the church/ Considered from this
point of view, those ecclesiastics alone, who subjected themselves
to this stricter rule, were recognized as genuine canonicals, as
clerici regulares ; all the rest were placed in the class of irregu-
lares saeculares, secular clergymen. But among the la4ter, too,
there was a great diversity as to their habits of living. This,
even the zealous advocate ofthe stricter rule, the provost Gerhoh,
little as he was inclined to allow them due justice, was forced to
acknowledge.3 There were amongst the secular clergy men of
spiritual feelings ; and a distinction is to be made between those
whom the love of freedom, and those whom an inclination to
licentiousness led to choose this mode of life ; of which latter
Jacob of Vitry says, that they were very properly called canonici
saeculares, because they belonged entirely to the saeculum, to
the world, but that they were incorrectly styled canonici, for they
led a life altogether without rule or law.*
It so happened in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, that,
from the body of these secular clergymen, came individuals
awakened to repentance by peculiar impressions upon their
minds ; filled with abhorrence of the worldly pursuits of the
clergy, they turned all at once to an entirely different mode of
life. The duties of the spiritual calling, their guilt in having
hitherto so neglected them, pressed with their whole weight upon
their consciences. They felt constrained to exert themselves the
more earnestly to make good their own deficiencies, and to exhort
clergy and laity to repentance and to a serious Christian deport
ment. They travelled round as preachers of repentance ; by their
words of exhortation, coming warm from the heart, many were
moved, awakened to remorse for their sins and to resolutions of
amendment ; though the powerful impressions of the moment did
1 Vol. vi„ p. 194.
S Illam clericorum regulam, non in ecclesia, 6ed in aula'regis dictatam. In Ps. livii.
Pez thes. t. v. f. 1352
8 He says : Non eos omnes damnamus, cum ex ipsis agnoscamus aliquos, Ii?et pan-
cos, esse ita discipliuatos, ut licet habeant propria, quasi non habentes, habeant ea et
studeant in sectanda morum disciplina. In Ps, Ixvii., I.e. f. 1353.
* From that better class be distinguishes these : Multi autem temporibus istis repe-
riuntur canonici vero nomine saeculares, quorum regula est, irregulariter vivere. ,c.
XXX.

FULCO'S EDUCATION. niS TREACIIING. 281
not always endure. A circle of young men was formed around
them, and they became the objects of enthusiastic veneration ;
by which, however, such of them as lacked firmness of Christian
character might easily be intoxicated, and quitting the paths of
humility and discretion, be led into dangerous self-delusions ; so
that what had begun in a holy enthusiasm might gradually be
come vitiated by the intrusion of impure motives.
Near the close of the twelfth century, a great stir was produced
in France by a person named Fulco. He was one of the ordinary,
ignorant, worldly-minded ecclesiastics, the priest and parson of a
country town not far from Paris. Afterwards he experienced a
change, of the nature we have described ; and as he had before
neglected his flock, and injured them by his bad example, so now
he sought to build them up, by his teaching and example. But
he soon became painfully sensible of his want of that knowledge
which he had taken no pains to acquire, but which was now in
dispensable to him in order to instruct his community. In order
to supply as far as possible this deficiency, he went on week-days
to Paris, and attended the lectures of Peter Cantor, a theologian
distinguished for his peculiar scriptural bent and Lis tendency to
practical reform ; and of the knowledge here acquired he availed
himself, by elaborating it into sermons, which he preached on
Sundays to his flock. These sermons were not so much distin
guished for profoundness of thought, as for their adaptation to the
common understanding and to the occasions of practical life. He
was a man of the people, and the way in which he spoke made
what he said still more impressive than it would otherwise have
been. Hence, when others delivered his copied discourses over
again, they failed of producing the same effects.1 At first, neigh
bouring clergymen invited him to preach before their congrega
tions. Next, he was called to Paris, and he preached not only in
churches, but also in the public places. Professors, students,
people of all ranks and classes, flocked to hear him. In a coarse
cowl, girt about with a thong of leather, he itinerated as a
preacher of repentance through France, and fearlessly denounced
the reigning vices of learned and unlearned, high and low. His
words often wrought such deep compunction, that people scourged
1 See the words of Jacob of Vitry: Quae tamen non ita sapiebant in alterius ore nee
tantum fructificabant ab aliis praedicata. Hist, occidental, p. 287.

282 FULCO'S PREACHING.
themselves, threw themselves on the ground before him, confessed
their sins before all, and declared themselves ready to do anything
he might direct in order to reform their lives, and to redress the
wrongs which they had done. Usurers restored back the interest
they had taken ; those who, in times of scarcity, had stored up
large quantities of grain to sell again at a greatly advanced price,
threw open their granaries. In such times he frequently ex
claimed : " Give food to him who is perishing with hunger, or
else thou perishest thyself." He announced to the corn-dealers
that before the coming harvest they would be forced to sell cheap
their stored-up grain ; and cheap it soon became in consequence
of his own annunciation. Multitudes of abandoned women, who
lived on the wages of sin, were converted by him. For some he
obtained husbands ; for others he founded a nunnery. He ex
posed the impure morals ofthe clergy; and the latter, seeing the
finger of every man pointed against them, were obliged to sepa
rate from their concubines. A curse, that fell from his lips, spread
alarm like a thunderbolt. People whom he so addressed were seen
to fall like epileptics, foaming at the mouth and distorted with
convulsions. Such appearances promoted the faith in the super
natural power of his words. Sick persons were brought to him
from all quarters, who expected to be healed by his touch, by his
blessing ; and wonderful stories were told of the miracles thus
wrought.1 Men were so eager to obtain a fragment of his cloth
ing, in order to preserve it as a miracle-working relic, that the
very garments he wore on his person were often rent in pieces by
the multitude. It required strong qualities of mind for a man not
to be hurried by such extravagant veneration paid to himself,
into self-forgetfulness and spiritual pride. Pressed by the multi
tude, in danger of being crushed, Fulco would swing his staff
with such violence around him as to wound many within its
sweep. But the wounded never uttered a murmuring word ; they
kissed the blood as it streamed' forth under the blow, as if they
had been healed by the rough touch of the holy man. A person
having once rent a fragment from his garment, said he to the
multitude : " Tear not my apparel which has not been blessed,"
1 Deserving of notice are tbe words of Jacob of Vitry: Tanta infirmorum et eorum
qui eos afferebant, erat fides et devotio, quod non solum servi Dei meritis, sc(\ fervore
spiritus et fidei non haesitantis magniludine plures sanarentur.

FULCO's INFLUENCE ON THI! CLERGY. PETER DE RUSIA. 283
and signing the cross, he pronounced a blessing on the raiment
ofthe individual who had torn the fragment from his own, and
this was now immediately divided up into small pieces, which
were looked upon as relics. At length he stood forth as a preacher
of the crusades. A great deal of money was sent to him, which
he divided amongst the crusaders ; yet the vast collections which
he made injured his reputation.1
The personal influence of this man, who stood prominent nei
ther by his talents nor his official station, gave birth to a new
life ofthe clergy, a greater zeal in discharging the duties of the
predicatorial office and of the cure of souls, both in France and in
England. Young men, who, in the study of a dialectic theology at
the University of Paris, had forgotten the obligation to care for the
salvation of souls, were touched by the discourses of this unlearned
itinerant, and trained by his instrumentality into zealous preachers.
He formed, and left behind him, a peculiar school ; he sent his
disciples over to England, and his example had a stimulating
effect even on such as had never come into personal contact with
him. " Many," says Jacob of Vitry,2 " inflamed with the fire of
love, and incited by his example, began to teach and to preach,
and to lead not a few to repentance, and to snatch the souls of
sinners from destruction."
One man of learning, in particular, belonging to the University
of Paris, the magister Peter de Rusia (or de Rossiaco), attached
himself, as a preacher of repentance, to Fulco, and produced great
effects. But his preaching procured for him rich presents and great
marks of honour ; he proved unfaithful to his missionary calling by
accepting a place as canonical priest and chancellor of the church
at Chartres. Such a change in this man made an unfavourable
impression on those who were accustomed to reverence in Fulco's
disciples only preachers glowing with love for the salvation of the
souls of their brethren. An historian of these times remarks, in
speaking of the great activity of the above-mentioned preacher,
" He who would know in what temper each man preached, must

1 Jacobus de Vitriaco hist, occidental, c. vi., etc.; where we find the story related in
full. Rigord de gestis Philippi Augusti, at the year 1195, and the following. Matthew
of Paris, year 1197, f. 160.
2 Hist occidental, c. ix.

284 CONDUCT OF ARCHDEACONS.
look to the end ; for the end most clearly reveals the disposition
of the man."1
These preachers of repentance and reform, who came forth from
the very body of the clergy, might be led on by their pious zeal
to examine into the grounds and causes of the corruption which
they attacked, and to inquire more profoundly into the gospel
truth which was opposed to it. In this way a class of men might
be raised up who would attack the reigning church system, as we
shall see in the fourth section, relating to the history of sects.
We must here repeat what we have already said in an earlier
period, concerning the exactions and tyranny ofthe archdeacons,2
who endeavoured to build up an authority independent of the
bishops ;3 although there were those, too, who distinguished
themselves by self-denying love in a devoted and assiduous dis
charge of the duties of their calling, by unwearied zeal and disin
terestedness in making their tours of visitation amongst the
communities intrusted to their care; men who expended their
regular incomes in works of beneficence, and who remained poor
in very profitable offices ; men who, staff in hand, travelled over
their dioceses on foot, preaching the word in every place. To
oppose, however, the arbitrary proceedings of those archdeacons
who abused their authority, the bishops, in the course of the
twelfth century, employed other proxies in the administration of
their jurisdictions, under the name of officiates. This title was
applied at first in a more general sense, to denote those who,
under various relations, served as deputies and agents of the
bishops, and had to manage5 various kinds of business in their
names.,; Somewhat later, those who served as deputies of the
1 Sed qui scire desiderat, qua intentione quisque praedicavit, finem attendat, quia finis
intentionem hominum manifestissime declarat. Rigord de gestis Philippi ad a 1198.
* Vol. v. p. 142.
8 E. g. John of Salisbury, ep. 80, concerning tbe rabies arcbdiaconorum : Aliorum
tristitia in eorum gaudium cedit, in quorum manibus iniquitates sunt, et sinistra eorum
aut repleta est muneribus ant inbiat. Haec enim hominum monstra dextras non ba.
bent. Sicut enim quidam in virtutis exercitio ambidextri sunt, sic isti ambilaevi convin-
cuntur ab avaritia et repina.
i As is related of an archdeacon, Mauritius, in the diocese of Troyes, near the begin
ning of the thirteenth century, by Thomas Cantipratenns, in his Bonum Universale,
c. i., p. 6.
5 As appertaining to the officium episcopi.
6 On this point, a passage in the Verbum Abbreviatum of Peter Cantor is particularly

EXTORTIONS PRACTISED BY THE OFF1CIALES. 285
bishops in the care of souls,1 and in the proper spiritual jurisdic
tion—such officers as Iuuocent the Third, at the fourth Lateran
council, in 1215, ordered to be appointed for the benefit of the
larger dioceses neglected by the worldly-minded bishops2 — were
distinguished under the name of uicarii, from the officiates, so
called in the narrower sense, to whom was intrusted a coercive
jurisdiction. But though a check was thus placed ou the arbi
trary authority which the archdeacons had arrogated to themselves,
and the authority of the bishops preserved against encroachments,
yet the communities gained nothing thereby. In place of the
exactions, which the archdeacons had taken the liberty to make
on their own score, came others of a different sort, which were
practised by the officials, as the organs of the bishops, for the
enriching of themselves ; so that Peter of Blois, in the last times
of the twelfth century, could call these officials by no better
name than bishops' bloodsuckers ;3 and Peter Cantor complains
that the bishops gave themselves but little concern about the
men to whom they committed the care of souls, but looked more
sharply after those officials in the more limited sense ofthe word,
by whom their coffers were filled. From this, it was quite evident
how little they loved the souls of men, and their Saviour and upper
Shepherd ; how much, on the other hand, they loved money.4
weighty, c. xxiv. He distinguishes tria genera offlcialium : 1, confessor, cui episcopus
vices suas in spirituahbus, in audiendis confessionibus et curandis animabus committit ;
2, quaestor palatii sui, decanus, arcbipresbyter et hujusmodi, qui incrementis et profec-
tibus causorum et negotiorum episcopi per fas et nefas invigilant; 3, praepositus ruralis
primus. He designates as quaestor and praepositns, such as had to administer the
coercive jurisdiction of the bishop, and who were afterwards called ufjiciules in tbe
stricter sense ofthe word.
1 Those whom Peter Cantor designates with the title of confessores.
2 Praecipimus tam in cathedralibus, quam in aliis conventualibus ecclesiis viros ido-
neos ordinari, quos episcopi possint coadjutores et cooperatores habere, non solum in
praedicationis officio, verum etiam in audiendis confessionibus et poenitentiis injun-
gendis ac caeteris, quae ad salutem pertinent animarum, c. x.
3 Tota officialis intentio est, ut ad opus episcopi suae jurisdictioni commissas miser-
rimas oves quasi vice illius tondeat, emungat, excoriet. Isti sunt episcoporum sanguis-
ugae. Ep. 25.
4 I will, for the benefit of the learned reader, place here the entire passage which is
so important a source for tbe history of these relations: Praepositus ruralis primus, licet
Deo dignior, episcopo tamen est vilior. Cum isto ei est rams sermo, rara consuliatio
super reddenda rations villicationis suae, super regimine animarum, in quo patet, quan
tum amabat eas et redemptorem et summum pastorem earum. Cum tortore autem et
praeposito frequens ei est sermo, ratioeinatio et cousultatio. In quo patot, quantum

286

ACTIVITY OF THE BISHOPS.

He pronounces it an abominable thing that the places of such
officials should be farmed out by the bishops for a stipulated sum
of money ; for these people practised every species of extortion
in order to indemnify themselves for the sums they had ad
vanced.1 The bishops, with the great powers bestowed on them, might
be instruments of much good, or they might occasion a great
deal of mischief. We find examples of both kinds ; for along
with the great majority of bad bishops, there was a choice set of
very good ones, men profoundly penetrated with the spirit of
genuine piety, and ready to offer themselves up in every way for
the good of their communities. Among the qualities belonging
to the exemplary discharge of the bishop's calling, were reckoned
zeal in preaching, in caring for souls, and in making church-
visitations ; impartiality ; the union of severity and gentleness
in the trials conducted by him ; inflexibility to the threats of
power in administering punishment to the bad ;2 activity in pro
viding for the poor and sick ; burial of the poor ; restoration of
peace among contending parties. Peter, bishop of Moustier en
Tarantaise, in Savoy, who administered this office from the year
1142 to 1175, performed all these duties with great diligence in
a poor and mountainous diocese. He sought to bring it about
that each church of his diocese might possess a silver cup for the
communion. Where other means failed, he got an egg to be of
fered weekly from each house ; these eggs he caused to be col
lected together and sold, till finally the necessary sum was ob-

dilexerit pecunium. Sed et, quod detestabilius est, primum mittit ad officii sui execu-
tionem sine magna fldelitatis ejus examinatione praehabita, sine sacramento jurisjurandi
de fidelitate ei servanda in regimine animarum interposito. Secundum autum et tertium
discutit usque ad unguem, si bene noverint bursas pauperum emungere et cum asportato
lucro ad Dominos suos redire, quibus tute.Iam pecuniae sine juramento interposito non
committit, Horum autem duornm, scilicet quaestoris et praepositi, violentior est quaes
tor. Praepositus enim saepius poena certa et definita reum punit. Quaestor vero incerta
et voluntaria, pro modica culpa maximam poenam infligens.
1 Quod mirabilius est et execrabilius, illis quaesturam, torturam et exactionem et
praelaturam vendit, ad pretium certum committit. Qui ne damnum et detrimentum pro-
priae pecuniae incurrant, per omne nefas exactionum, calumniarum, rapinarum laxant
retia sua in capturam pecuniarum praedones effecti potius quam officiales,
8 Accordingly, it was said of such an one : Nihil ea in re nee minis principum nee
tyrannorum saevitia absterritus. See, e.g., the life of William archbishop of Bourges
in the beginning of the thirteenth century, in the Actis Sanct. Mens. Januar. t. i., c. ii.
and iii., f. 629.

PETER OF SAVOY. 287
tained for purchasing a cup for the church where this was done.
On his tours of visitation he took but few companions with him,
and those only, such as, like himself, would seek to be as little
burdensome as possible to the communities. He begged those
who entertained him and his companions to give all which they
left untouched to his brethren the poor. His house always re
sembled a poorhouse — as his biographer relates — especially dur
ing the three months before harvest, when, amongst those barren
rocks, the means of subsistence were most difficult to be obtained
A multitude flocked in daily, whom he supplied with bread and
herbs, and every year he made a grand and general love-feast.
He took pains to search out those who were too infirm to labour,
those who were suffering under incurable disorders throughout
his whole diocese — or to cause them to be sought out by others
whom he could trust — aud provided them with food and raiment.
Those who had no dwellings, no relatives to care for them, he took
care to place under the guardianship of faithful and pious per-
sous, with whom they found everything necessary for their com
fort. When, in rough winter weather, poor people met him on
the mouutains, destitute of suitable clothing to protect them from
the cold, he shared with them, in case of necessity, the raiment
he wore on his own body. In those Alpine regions, where there
were no houses to receive wandering travellers, as, for example,
on Mount St Bernard, on the Jura, and on a third mountain un
named, he caused such shelters to be erected at his own expense,
and took care that every pains should be taken to make them
solid and durable. Wherever it was necessary to preach before
the better educated, he turned the duty on others ; but he made
it a special object of attention himself to preach intelligibly to
the common people. He was wont to apply to himself the words
of the apostle Paul, 1 Cor. xiv. 19, " I had rather speak five words
with my understanding, that I might teach others also, than ten
thousand words in an unknown tongue." Being a zealous ad
herent of Alexander the Third, he had to oppose the emperor
Frederic the First, in the contested papal election ; yet this mo
narch, who looked with contempt on the clergy that were sur
rounded with worldly pomp and splendour, felt constrained to
honour and spare a spiritual shepherd like him.i
1 Acta. Sanctor. Mens. Maj. t. ii., f. 324.

288 GERHOH AGAINST THE SECULAR SWORD OF BISHOPS,
We have already, on several occasions, remarked of the Ger
man bishops that by their political position, as important mem
bers of the empire, they became entangled in a great deal of
business foreign to their spiritual office as shepherds, so as to be
drawn off by secular affairs from the proper duties of their call
ing.1 Gerhoh of Reichersberg looked upon it as a grave viola
tion of the ecclesiastical laws, that bishops should plan cam
paigns — deliberate with monarchs on worldly affairs ; especially,
that they should assist at capital trials. He called it a wretched
hypocrisy in these bishops when, in order to show an apparent
respect for the ecclesiastical laws, they absented themselves a
short time before the close of those bloody trials, after every ar
rangement had already been made for the sentence which was
to be passed. " They do like the Jews," says he, " who de
clared before Pilate, ' It is not lawful for us to put any man to
death,' " John xviii. 31, — meaning that the Roman soldiers should
crucify Christ. According to his view of the church theocracy,
the church should exercise only a moral oversight over secular
affairs, contend only with the sword of the Spirit ; and she
would be irresistible, as he supposed, if she made use of this
weapon alone. She enfeebled herself and her authority, when
she laid aside the spiritual sword for the secular. Nor did he
even spare the popes, whose example might be appealed to in
justification of the bishops. Happening to meet pope Eugene
the Third, who had returned for the last time to Rome, at Vi
terbo — when that pope complained to him of the unfavourable
treaty of peace, which after a large expenditure of money he had
been obliged to conclude with the Romans,3 — he remarked to him,
that " even such a peace was better than the war carried on by
him; for," said he, "when the pope prepares to make war with
the aid of hireling soldiers, I seem to see Peter before me, draw
ing his sword from its sheath. But when he comes off the worst

1 The words ofa Parisian ecclesiastic : " I can believe almost anything; but I can
hardly believe that a German bishop will be saved." The reason stated is, that German
bishops, almost without exception, bear tbe secular along with the spiritual sword; bold
bloody courts ; wage war, and feel more solicitude about the pay of their troops than the
salvation of souls. See Caesar. Heisterbac. Dial, distinct, ii., c. xxvi. Bibl, Cisterc. t.
ii„ f. 44.
2 De aedificio, c. xxxv., Pez. t. ii., p. ii., f. 359.
3 See Ante, p. 211.

COMPLAINTS OF THE WORLDLY WEALTH OF THE CHURCH. 289
in such a contest, I think I hear the voice of Christ, saying to
Peter, ' Put up thy sword in its sheath.' "l
As those German bishops must have felt themselves burdened
by the duties of their double sphere of action, as their dioceses
were of vast extent, and as secular business often occupied more
of their time and thoughts than spiritual, so they would naturally
welcome any opportunity that might offer itself of procuring such
assistants as had received episcopal ordination, and were there
fore in a condition to act as their substitutes in the performance
of episcopal functions. This opportunity was presented to them
by a peculiar train of events in the thirteenth century. When
the successful issue of the first crusades, and the conquest of Con
stantinople, had extended the empire of the Western church in
the East, the popes proceeded to erect bishoprics in those coun
tries. But with the loss of those possessions, the bishoprics also
had to be abandoned. Yet the popes would not relinquish their
claims to them ; but still continued to appoint and consecrate bi
shops for those lost churches ; though in reality they were bishops
only in name (episcopi in partibus inftdelium). Now, in these
titular bisliops, the German prelates found the very kind of help
which they wanted. These ecclesiastics were sent to them as
coadjutores, suffragan bishops (suffraganei) ; and as pious men
were frequently appointed to those places from the Dominican
and Franciscan orders, so the arrangement operated advanta
geously for the cause of religious instruction and the care of souls
in those German dioceses.

IV. PROPHETIC WARNINGS AGAINST THE SEC ULARIZ ATION OF
THE CHURCH.
The church having arrived at the summit of power, the convic
tion continually gained force on the minds of men, that the super
fluity of earthly goods would work ruin to the church itself; that
through this secularizing spirit she was becoming estranged from
her true calling. The complaints of the Hohenstaufen emperors,

1 See Gerhoh's letter to pope Alexander the Third, published by Fez Thes. anecdot.
noviss. t.. v., f. 540.
VOL. VII. T

290 PROPHETIC ELEMENT IN DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHURCH.
and of an entire party which attached itself to them j1 the voices
of the German national bards,2 and of the prophets that rose up
to oppose the corruption of the church, as well as of the sects that
contended' against her ; all were agreed in attributing her dege
neracy to the riches that had been lavished on her. A certain
faculty of prophecy seems implanted in the spirit of humanity ;
the longing heart goes forth to meet beforehand great and new
creations, which it needs in order to the attainment of its objects ;
undefined presentiments hasten to anticipate the mighty future.
Especially does the kingdom of God, in the course of its deve
lopment from beginning to end, form a connected whole, and it
strives towards its completion according to sure and certain laws.
The germ of the unknown future is already contained in the past.
The spirit of the kingdom of God begets, therefore, in those who
are filled with it, a prophetic consciousness, — presentiments in
reference to the grand whole ofthe evolution, which are different
from the prediction of individual events, not necessarily connected
with that whole. Although the appearance of Christ, as the great
turning-point in man's history, would above all be necessarily
preceded by prophecy and anticipation, yet, to the still further
evolution of the kingdom of God, even after it has left its first
envelopment, and come forth to the open light, belongs also a
prophetic element ; as many an important epoch and turning-point
still remains to be unfolded in its history, till it arrives at the
ultimate goal. Out of the consciousness of the corruption of the
church sprang the presentiment of a future regeneration, for which
the way must be prepared by some violent process of purification.
To longing hearts, a contemplation of the corruption of the secu
larized church served as a sort of foil, enabling them to picture
1 The Gottfried of Viterbo mentioned on page 231, speaking of Constantine's dona
tion to Silvester, says : Ego autem, ut de sensu meo loquar, utrum Deo magis placeat
gloria et exaltatio ecclesiae, quae hoc tempore est, aut humilitatio, quae primitus fue
rat, confiteor me ignorare. Videtur multis quidem primus ille status sanctior, iste felicior.
He does not venture to decide on the point, since Christ promised the church freedom
from error. Caetera super his questionibus, majoribus nostris solvenda relinquimus.
Pantheon, p. xvi., in Muratori script, rerum Italicar. f. 361.
2 E.g. in Walter von der Vogelweidc, the legend of the threefold woe, which the
angels had announced at the donation made by Constantine to Silvester : " Once,
Christianity was beautiful ; a poison has now fallen on it; its honey has been turned
to gall; great sorrow will come from this upon -the world." Edition of Lacbmann,
p 25.

THE ABBESS HILDEGARD. 291
forth, by the rule of contraries, the image of the better future.
Accordingly, we may recognize in phenomena of this kind, be
longing to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, foretokens, —
premonitions, ofthe Reformation; and perhaps, also,t>f epochs of
development lying still more remote. Not the Christian spirit
alone, however, but the antichristian also, has its divination. We
see already budding forth, in antagonism with the false objectivity
and externalization of the church, the tendency to a false inward
ness and subjectivity ; a tendency whicli aimed at, and predicted,
the dissolution of everything positive in religion, and, conse
quently, the dissolution of Christianity itself; premonitions of a
spiritual bent, which, after mining for centuries in the heart of
European civilization, was destined finally to burst through all
the established boundaries of its social order.
As representatives of the first-described direction of the pro
phetical spirit, we may mention the abbess Hildegard and the
abbot Joachim. The predictions ofthe latter, however, were af
terwards taken up by the second of the above-mentioned direc
tions, and interpreted in accordance with its own sense. We
will now proceed to take a nearer view of these two important
personages. Hildegard, who was born in 1098 and died in 1197,1 founded,
and presided as abbess over, the Rupert convent near Bingen.
Her visions, which were held to be supernatural, — the revelations
which she claimed herself to have received from Heaven, — her
plain, frank, and moving exhortations, made her an object of
great veneration. Especially after the abbot Bernard of Clair
vaux, — while sojourning in Germany on the business of preaching
the crusade, — and pope Eugene the Third, had both recognized
the divinity of her mission, did she attain the highest summit of
her reputation. Persons of all ranks applied to her for advice,
for the disclosing of future events, for the decision of disputed
questions, for her intercessions, and her spiritual consolations.
Amongst those who consulted her were to be reckoned abbots
and bishops, popes, kings, and emperors. If many complained
ofthe obscurity of her sayings,2 others might suppose they found
1 The collections on the history of their lives, in the Actis Sanctorum, 17th Sept.
2 Thus we bear of au abbot Berthold : Licet consolationibus verborum vestrorum
factus sum saepe laetior, obscuritatibus tamen eorum eo quod non plene intellectui
T 2

292 CHRISTIAN EXHORTATIONS OF THE
a deeper wisdom in the darkness ofthe response. Parents long'
ing to obtain children had recourse to the intercessions of Hilde
gard ; and to such applications she replied : " This depends on
the7power and will of God, who alone knows to whom he grants
children, and from whom he takes them away ; for his judgment
is not according to man's liking, but according to his own wis
dom. Because you have besought me, I will beseech God for
you ; but let him do what, according to his grace and mercy, he
has determined to do."1 Many of her exhortations and responses
betoken, on the whole, a Christian wisdom superior to the preju
dices of her times. Pointing to the inward temper alone, as the
important thing in Christian life, she declared herself opposed to
all over-estimation of outward works, and all excessive asceticism.
To an abbess she wrote, cautioning her against such delusion :
" I have often observed that, when a man mortifies his body by
extreme abstinence, a sort of disgust steals over him, and from
this disgust he is more apt to plunge into vice than if he had
allowed due nourishment to his body."2 In the name of God,
she gave to another this response : " What I have given man to
eat, I do not take from him ; but food that excites disgust I
know not, for vanity goes with it. Believe not that by immo
derate abstinence any soul can fly to me ; but avoiding all ex
tremes, let the man devote himself to me, and I will receive
him."3 To another much respected nun of this period, Elizabeth
of Schonau, who also supposed herself favoured with heavenly
visions, she gave the following exhortation : " Let those who
would do the work of God, be ever mindful that they are earthen
vessels, that they are men. Let them ever keep before their
eyes what they now are, and what they shall be ; and let them
commit heavenly things to him who is in heaven, for they are
themselves at a far distance from their home, and know not the
things of heaven."4 To an abbess, who begged an explanation

meo paterent, factus sum tristior. Martene et Durand Collectio amplissima, t. ii., f.
1017. l Martene et Durand Collectio ampl. t. ii , f. 1029. Ep. 11.
2 Saepe video, quando homo per nimietatem abstinentiae corpus suum affligit, quod
taedium in illo surgit, et taedio vitio se implicat, plus quam si illud juste pasceret. L,
o. f. 1068.
3 L. c. f. 1060.
I Hildegard. epistolae, page 115. Colon. 1566.

ABBESS HILDEGAKD. 293
of some anxiety by which she was troubled, she replied : " Thou
shouldst hold fast to the sacred Scriptures, in which we come to
the knowledge of God by faith. We should not tempt God, but
reverentially adore him. Oftentimes, man impatiently desires
from God a solution of some difficulty which it is not granted him
to understand, and is thereby misled to forsake God's service.
Give thyself no concern about thoughts rising up involuntarily in
thy soul. Satan often shoots such arrows into man's heart, in
order to create distrust of God. This should serve as an exercise
for self-denial ; everything depends on not giving way to such
thoughts. Blessed is the man who by so doing lives, though
constantly girt around, as it were, by the pains of death."1 To
an abbot, harassed by many inward conflicts, who applied to her
for comfort and for her intercessions, she replied : " There is in
thee a breath of God, to which God has communicated an endless
life, and to whicli he has given the wings of reason. Rise, there
fore, with them, through faith and pious aspirations, to God.
Know him, as thy God, who knew thee first, and from whom thy
being proceeds ; therefore, beseech him that, by the breath of his
Spirit, he would teach thee what is good, and deliver thee from
evil. Trust in him, that thou mayest not be ashamed to appear
before him with all thy works ; and pray to him, as a son does
to a father, when punished by him because he has erred, that he
would remember his own child in thee."2 In the time of the
schism between pope Alexander the Third and Victor the
Fourth, a certain abbot applied among others to Hildegard, to
inform him what he ought to do, so long as it remained doubt
ful which was to be considered the true pope ?3 She advised
him to say in his heart to God, " Lord, thou, who knowest
all things, in my superiors I will obey thee, so long as they
oblige me to do nothing contrary to the Catholic faith." He
1 Beatus homo, qui ea nee facere vult, nee eis consentit, sed sicut cum passione mor
tis in eis vivit. Martene et Durand Collectio ampl. t. ii., f. 1075.
2 Martene et Durand Collectio ampl. t. ii., f. 1053.
8 The abbot, speaking of tbe pernicious consequences of a schism of this sort, which
every man would take advantage of as a pretext for disobedience, had said: Quoniam
ecclesia, ad quod caput suum respiciat, veraciter ignorat, quia quisque vagus inde ex-
emplum sumens religionem bonae conversationis abhorret, hi qui spiritu Dei aguntur,
non minime sollicitantur, qui finis eorum in voluntate Dei esse debeat. L. c. f. 1055.

294 hildegard's bold language to the clergy.
should place his hope in God alone, who would never forsake
his church. i To an abbess, who applied to her for comfort,
and for her intercessions, she wrote : " Abide in communion
with Christ; seek all good in him; to him reveal thy works,
and he will bestow on thee salvation ; for without him salva
tion is sought in vain from man ; for grace and salvation are
attained, not through any man, but through God." She boldly
stood forth against the arbitrary will of an ambitious clergy.
In the cemetery of her convent one was buried; who, it was
said, had been excommunicated ; but those who performed the
obsequies maintained that he had obtained absolution. The
spiritual authorities of Mayence caused the body to be dug up,
and laid the convent under an interdict, because ecclesiastical
burial had been granted to an excommunicated person. Hilde
gard thereupon issued a letter, addressed to the clergy of May
ence,2 in which she represented to them how grievously they had
sinned by such an arbitrary proceeding. " All prelates were
bound to avoid taking a step, except after the most careful exa
mination of reasons, which would prevent any community, by
their sentence, from singing God's praise or administering and
receiving the sacraments. They should be very certain that they
were moved to such a step only by zeal for God's justice, and not
by anger or revenge." She assured them that she had heard a
divine voice, saying : " Who created heaven ? God. Who opens
heaven to his faithful 1 God. Who is like unto him ? No
man." The clergy generally she severely rebuked on account of their
corrupt morals ; their ambition and thirst for lucre ; their un
holy traffic with sacred things ; their occupations, which were so
utterly inconsistent with the spiritual calling— such as bearing
arms, singing ludicrous songs.4 She reproaches them for neglect
ing, in their devotion to worldly pursuits, the peculiar duties of
their calling — the instruction of the people in God's law, offering
1 Tu ergo spe tua ad unum Deum tende, quia ipse ecclesiam suam non derelinquet.
2 Martene et Durand Collectio ampl. t. ii., f. 1058.
8 Hildegard, epistolae, p. 121.
4 L. u. p. 160, to the clergy in Cologne : Interdum milites, interdum servi, interdum
ludilicantes cantores existitis ; sed per fabulosa officia vestra muscas in aestate aliquando
abigitis.

HILDEGARD S PROPHECIES. 295
the idle excuse that it cost too much labour.i They rendered
themselves chargeable, by this neglect and by their bad example,
with the guilt of ruining the laity, who lived according to their
lusts ; before whom they ought rather to shine as pillars of light.
She announced to the clergy a divine judgment, which would de
prive them of the riches that served to corrupt them ; a judgment
from which the clergy was to come forth tried and refined. The
then spreading sects of the Catharists and the Apostolici,2 ap
peared to her the antetype of a party which would be used by
the Almighty as an instrument of this judgment for the purifica
tion of the church.3 " A troop led astray, and commissioned by
Satan, shall come, with pale countenances and all appearance of
sanctity ; and they shall combine with the mightier princes of
the world. In mean apparel shall they go ; full of meekness and
of composure of mind shall they appear ; by stimulating the
strictest abstinence and chastity, shall they draw after them a
-numerous train of followers ; and to the princes shall they say
concerning you, Why tolerate these people among you, who pol
lute the whole earth with their sins 1 They live in drunkenness
and revelling, and, unless you drive them forth, the whole church
will go to destruction. These people shall be the rod which God
will make use of to chastise yon, and they shall continue to per
secute you until you are purified from your sins. When this is
done, then shall the princes discover the hypocritical character of
these persecutors of the clergy, and fall upon them. Then shall
the morning dawn of righteousness arise, and the clergy, purified
by affliction, shine as the finest gold.4
The predictions of Hildegard were widely diffused and much
read ; and they gave matter for reflection on the nature of that
process of purification which awaited a corrupted church. New
prophetic visions were called forth by them.
Far more graphically depicted did the image of the future pre
sent itself in the soul of the abbot Joachim, who, at first, presided
1 Nee subditos doctrinam a vobis quaerere permittitis, dicentes; omnia elaborare non
possumus. 2 Of whom we shall speak in the fourth section.
3 Per quendam errautem populum, pejorem erranti populo, qui nunc est, super vos
praevaricatores ruina cadet, qui ubique vos persequetnr et qui opera vestra non celabit
sed ea denudabit. L. c. p. 160.
i Hildegard, epistolac, p. 169.

296

THE ABBOT JOACHIM.

over the monastery at Corace (Curatium) in Calabria, at length
founded the monastery of Floris, and a peculiar congregation of
monks, and died between the years 1201 and 1202. He was re
verenced in his time as a prophet, and stood in high considera
tion with popes and princes.1 He was an enthusiastic friend of
monasticism and of the contemplative life, from which he looked
for the regeneration of the secularized church. He opposed the
mystical to the scholastico-dialectic theology. As the reigning
corruption seemed to him to spring from secularization and the
fondness for dry and meagre conceptions of the understanding, so
he expected from religious societies who should renounce all
earthly goods, and live only in piaus contemplation, a new and
more glorious epoch of the church in the latter days. We must
transport ourselves back to the times in which he lived. It was
near the close of the twelfth century ; the papacy had been seen
to come forth victoriously out of the contest with the emperor
Frederic the First ; but new and violent storms might still be
expected to burst from the side of that powerful house. The
Calabrian regarded Germany with detestation ; and he was in
clined to look upon the imperial power of Germany as the one to
be employed in executing judgment on a corrupted church ; but
neither could he forgive it in the popes that they had taken re
fuge in France. Grief over the corruption of the church, longing
desire for better times, profound Christian feeling, a meditative
mind, and a glowing imagination, such are the peculiar charac
teristics of his spirit and of his writings. His ideas were presented
for the most part in the form of comments and meditations on
the New Testament ; but the language of the Bible furnished
him only with such hints as might turn up for the matter which
he laid into them by his allegorizing mode of interpretation ; al
though the types which he supposed he found presented in the
Scriptures, reacted in giving shape to his intuitions. As his
writings and ideas found great acceptance in this age among
those who were dissatisfied with the present, and who were
longing after a different condition of the church ; and the Fran
ciscans, who might easily fancy they discovered, even in that
1 See tbe records and collections on the history of his life in the Actis Sanctor, 29th
of May. Comp. Dr Engelhardt's Essay, on the Abbot Joachim andthe Everlasting
Gospel, p. 32, in his Kirchengescbichtlichen Abhandlungen.

HIS GENUINE AND SPURIOUS WHITINGS. 297
which is certainly genuine, in Joachim's writings, a prophecy re
ferring to their order, so a strong temptation arose to the forging
of works under his name, or the interpolating those which really
proceeded from him. The loose connection of the matter in his
works, made it easy to insert passages from other hands ; and
this character of the style renders a critical sifting of them dif
ficult.1

1 The three works referred to byliimself in the prologue to his Commentary on the
Apocalypse, namely: This Commentary, the Concordiae Veteris ac Novi Testamenti,
and the Psalterium decern Chordarum, are certainly genuine. In reference, however,
to tbe Commentary on Jeremiah and Isaiah, my own opinion would be confirmatory of
the suspicions expressed by EngelharJt. These books are not cited in the list given by
Jeacbim himself, although the Commentary on Jeremiah purports to have been written
in the year 1197, and the Commentary on the Apocalypse, to which the above-mentioned
prologue belongs, was composed in the year 1200. Moreover, in the preface to his
Psalterium decern Chordarum, he mentions only those three works as belonging to one
whole. The prediction of two new orders of monks, who should appear for tbe glorifi
cation of the church in tbe last times, and which were supposed to be fulfilled in tbe
Lominican and Franciscan orders, certainly doe6 not warrant us to entertain tbe
suspicion, at once, that they were of later origin; for the contemplative life of monasti
cism was assuredly regarded by the abbot Joachim as the highest of all ; and a renovation
of that mode of hfe could not but appear to him as one of the essential marks of the
glory ofthe last age of the church. But then again, tbe idea of a double order of monks
presented itself to him of its own accord, —of an order, whose labours in tbe way of
preaching was to bring about the last general conversion of the nations ; an order which
should represent the highest Johannean stage of the contemplative life. Thus, no doubt,
it may be explained that, eveu without being a prophet, he might hit on the thought of
sketching forth a picture of two such orders ; since we find something like this in the
writings which undoubtedly belong to bim. But still, many descriptions of the Fran
ciscans are too striking not to excite the suspicion that they have been foisted in by
some Franciscan ; as, for example, Commentar. in Jerem., p. 81, the praedicatores and
tbe ordo minorum ; and the way in which the author expresses himself in this place
makes it certainly more probable that the title minores, already existing, led him to the
explications which there occur, than that be had been led by those explications so to
designate this order of contemplatives. Next occur, particularly in the Commentary on
Isaiah, as they do not in Joachim's undoubtedly genuine works, certain prophecies,
which seem to have arisen post factum. Page seventh contains the remarkable pas
sage concerning Amalric of Bena, Revelation ix. 2, thus interpreted: Sive Almericus
sive aliquis alius in Liguria doctor magnus fuerit, qui detexerit profundum scientiae
saecularis, cumregio ilia adeo infecerit erroribus circumpositas regiones, ut de hujus
modi locustis et lamiis ipsa mater ecclesia tabescat. Page 28, Col. ii., the predictions
concerning the power of the Mongols ; how the Tartars would turn their arms against
the Mohammedans. To be sure, the spurious character of such single passages is no
evidence of the Bpuriousness of the entire work, in which, moreover, the current ideas
of Joachim may easily be discerned : and in the Commentary on Jeremiah, we also find
many single passages which do not favour the hypothesis of its having been composed
at some later period. Would a Franciscan, instead of referring all to the two mendi
cant orders, have so expressed himself as on page 85 ; In tertio vero statu retorquendum
est lotum ad Cisterciences et alios futuros religiosos, qui post antichristi ruinam multi-

298 JOACHIM, ON THE EXACTIONS OF THE ROMAN CHURCH.
Let us now consider, more in detail, what is expressed in these
remarkable writings concerning the present and the future.
In his commentary on the prophet Jeremiah,1 Joachim com
plains of the exactions of the Roman church : " The whole world
is polluted with this evil. There is no city nor village where the
church does not push her benefices, collect her revenues. Every
where she will have prebends, endless incomes. 0 God, how long
dost thou delay to avenge the blood of the innocent, which cries
to thee from beneath the altar of the Capitol V'2 He calls the
church of Rome3 the house of the courtezan, where all practise
simony, all are stained and polluted ; where the door is thrown
open to every one who knocks. He speaks against the legates,
who travel about the provinces, impudently preach, acquire bene
fices and prebends, snatch to themselves the dignity of the pre
lates. He complains of the deification of the Roman church :
" Some have so exalted the church in Rome," says he,4 " that a
man was held up as a heretic, who did not visit the threshold of
Peter. Their guilty mistake lay in this, that they bid men visit
the holy material temple, when the truth is, that in every place
every Christian is a temple of God, if he leads a good life."5 He
speaks against indulgences dispensed from Rome : " Many place
so much confidence iu the absolution of the church, as never once
to think that they need to leave off sinning ; but siuk deeper
and deeper in all manner of wickedness." He is full of zeal
against the proud and fleshly-living cardinals and prelates." He

plicandi sunt ? Page 151, the successor of Celestin is compared with Herod the Great,
and a persecution of tbe spirilualis iulelligentia, proceeding from bim, is predicted.
Designat Herodes summum pontificem post Coelestinum futurum, quicunque sit ille
It is easy to see how Joachim, writing near the end of the reign of Celestin, might have
been led by bis typical expositions, flights of imagination, and bis tone of character, to
predict such tbings ofCelestiu's successor; but it is difficult to believe, that a man be
longing to one of tbe two monkish orders, afterwards Innocent the Third, would be so
designated. 1 Page 61,
2 A play on words : 0 Deus, quousque non viudicas singuiuem innocentumsub altari
clamantium Romani Capituli, immo Capitolii ?
3 Page 98.
4 Page 108.
6 Quia invitabant ad templum sanctum materiale arguuntur, quia in loco omni qui-
libet christianus templum Dei est, dummodo bonus faciat vias suas.
i> Praelatos et cardinales superbe carnaliterque viventes. Comment, in Jcrem. p,
262. 2

PROGRESS OF THE POPES TO ABSOLUTE POWER. 299
predicts a divine judgment on the Roman curia, because litigious
processes and exactions were worse in that court than in all other
judicatories.1 He announces that Christ is about to grasp the
scourge, and drive sellers and buyers out of the temple. He does
not stop with accusations against the church of Rome, but attacks
also the prevailing corruption in all other parts of the church."
" The church of Peter," says he, " the church of Christ, which
was once full, is now empty ; for, although she now seems full
of people, yet they are not her people, but strangers. They are
not her sons, the citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem, but the
sons of Babylon. What profits the name of Christ, where the
power is wanting I The church is, as it were, widowed : there
are but few or no bishops, who, to save the flocks, expose them
selves a prey to the wolves. Every man seeks his own, and not
the things of Jesus Christ."* " Where," says he,a " is there
more contention, more fraud, more vice and ambition than among
the clergy of our Lord ? Therefore must judgment Begin from
the house of the Lord, and the fire go forth from his sanc
tuary, to consume it, in order that the others may perceive
what will be done with them, when he spares not even his
sinning children." Ofthe Romish church, to which he frequently
applies the name Babylon, he says, " She should not plume her
self upon her faith, when she denies the Lord by her works.'" He
is fond of marking the course of history ; particularly the history
of the papacy. He describes pope Leo the Ninth as the repre
sentative of a reforming tendency in the church.5 Pope Paschalis
the Second he represents as the traitor of the church, who had
reduced her to servitude.6 He accuses the popes of conniving at
1 Tron'cen'Mt papale praetorium cunctas curias in calumniosis litibus et quaestibus
extorquendis. Comment, in Esaiam, p. 39.
2 De concordia novi et veteris testamenti, p. 54, therefore in a writing undoubtedly
genuine. 3 L. u. p 53.
* In Jerem. p. 65.
5 Ut ambularent in novitate spiritus in came viventes.
6 See above, p. 3, f. Compare also the commentary on the apocalypse, p. 7 : In tem
pore ecclesiae quinto et maxime a diebus Henrici primi imperatoris Alamannorum
mundani principes, qui christiani dicuntur, qui primo videbantur venerari clerum,
deterias prae gentibus quaesieruui libtrtatem ecclesiae et, quantum ad eos pertinet
abstulisse noscuntur. It is noticeable that Henry tbe Fifth is retem-d to as primus ; and
so he is always designated in the commentary on Jeremiah ; as Henry the Sixth is there
called secundus.

300 PROGRESS OF THE POPES IN ABSOLUTE POWER.
wickedness in order to gain temporal advantages from princes,
and of having made themselves slaves to princes, because they
wished to rule by secular power. " After the popes began to
contend with worldly princes, and to be intent on reigning over
them by worldly pride, they have been obliged ever since the time
of pope Paschalis to fall beneath them. Their successors, down
to the present time, have sacrified the liberties of the church to
the German monarchs ; and, for the sake of temporal things, have
tolerated many an offence in the church of God. Because they
perceived that the temporal things after which they lusted be
longed to the Roman empire, they were willing rather to do
homage for a while to secular princes, than to go against the
stream." "Although," says he,2 "the secular princes have
wrested many things by violence from the church, as for example
the Kingdom of the Sicilies ; and, although they hinder the
freedom of the church, yet even the popes themselves have
wrested many things from the princes, which they never should
have longed after nor taken. And as every man seeks his own,
force is met by force ; the church attacks the state, the greedy
prelates receive not the word of Christ, " Render unto Caesar
the things that are Cesar's ;" thus the old bottles will burst,
and the pope will not only long after temporal things, as belong
ing to him, but also after spiritual things, which do not belong to
him (the sense is, he will arrogate to himself all spiritual authority,
even that which does not belong to him.) Thus will it come to
pass, that he will seat himself in the temple of God, and, as a
god, exalt himself above all that is called God, that is, above the
authority of all prelates."3 In the commentary on Isaiah, he
remarks : " When the chair of Peter drew the temporal sword in
compliance with a forbidden ambition, and his sons, like cattle
for the slaughter, exposed themselves to doubtful chances, he con
sidered not what the Scriptures say, ' He that takes the sword
shall perish by the sword. '* It is the incredulity of human weak-
l In Jorem., p. 830.
8 In Jerem., p. 81U.
3 Non tantum sua Romanus praesesexiget quasi temporalia (it should doubtless read:
temporalia quasi sua), sed etiam spiritualia, quae non sua. L. c. p. 310.
*' Ubi pro terrenis ambitionibus sibi prohibits temporolem gladium exeunt, et filios
suos eventibus dubiis, velut oves occisionis exponit, nonrevolvens animo quod scriptura
praeloquitur, p. 7. i

CONFIDENCE OF THE CHURCH IN WORLDLY SUPPORTS. 301
ness," says he,1 " which leads the popes to place more confidence
in men than in God ; and hence it happens by a just judgment,
that destruction comes from the very quarter where they looked
for help. Surely, when we turn our eye to the root of this evil,
it must be plain to us that the church, founded upon the lowly
Christ, ought to keep far from pride ; and she has reason to fear,
that if she strives after earthly riches, these will finally be driven
away like chaff before the wind. The church ought, in these
times, when she is oppressed by those of her own household, to
place her confidence, not in worldly goods, but in the power of
God. If believing princes have offered some gifts to the poor
Christ, still, the spiritual order, waxen fat with abundance, must
not give themselves up to pride, but rather distribute their super
fluous wealth to the poor, and not to the giants, who have helped
to build the tower of Babel (the high prelates, by whom the
secularization of the church is promoted). Gold was brought to
Christ, that he might have the means of fleeing to Egypt ; myrrh
was offered him, as if in allusion to his death ; incense, that he
might praise God, not that he might rise up against Herod, or
fall as a burden upon Pharaoh ; not that he might give himself
up to sensual delights, or reward benefits received with ingrati
tude. The vicegerents of Christ, in these latter times, care nothing
for the incense ; they seek only the gold ; in order that, with
great Babylon, they may mingle the golden goblets, and pollute
their followers with their own uncleanliness." " Because the
cardinals, priests, and different orders of the clergy, who at pre
sent are very seldom followers of the lowly Christ, use the goods
of the churches in the service of their lusts ; therefore the princes
of the world, who behold the disgrace of the sanctuary, stretch
out their hands to the property of the church, believing that
by so doing they render a service to the Most High."2 " The
church," says he,3 " can and could retire into solitude, lead a
spiritual life, abide in communion with Christ, her bridegroom ;
and through her love to him she would become mistress of the
world, and perhaps no longer be subject to pay quitrent. But,
alas ! in loving the friendship of secular princes, and grasping
without shame after earthly incomes, she is humiliated, in the
1 In Jerem., p. 370. 2 In Esaiam, p. 28. 3 I0 Jerem., p. 56.

302 CONFIDENCE OF THE CHURCH IN WORLDLY SUPPORTS.
same proportion as she lowered herself down to such familiarity
and concupiscence." As Joachim believed the popes were paving
the way for the overthrow of their own power, by seeking to hold it
up with worldly props, instead of confiding solely on the power
of God, so he looked upon it as one evidence of the weakness they
had brought upon themselves, that they must in the twelfth cen
tury so often seek a refuge in France. He warns them " to see
to it, lest that French power might prove to them a broken reed."
Joachim was full of zeal for the essential matter of an inward,
living Christianity ; and hence he decried that confidence in ex
ternals, which tended to render men secure in their sins, and to
draw them away from true penitence. " Many of the laity," says
he,1 " expect to be saved by the offerings of the priests and the
prayers of the regular clergy, even while they give themselves up
to sin. But in vain look they to such gods for help. Their in
cense is an abomination to God."2 " That which is represented
outwardly in the sacraments," says he, " can be of no saving be
nefit whatever to a man if in his daily actions he does not strive
to live conformably to what is thus outwardly represented." " For
why wast thou baptized unto Christ, if thou wilt not be pure 1
Why art thou buried in baptism, if thou wilt continue to live in
sin ? Why dost thou partake of the body of Christ, that was
offered for thee, if thou are not willing to die for Christ, if it be
necessary U The sacraments, then, do nothing for those that
abuse them ; they benefit those only who so live as the sacra
ments signify." Against sanctimonious monks he says :5 " They
pass current for living men with those who are carnal and car
nally minded, those who look merely on the outside, the visible
appearance, and cannot see the idols within. Thus, they allow
themselves to be deceived, praise and extol these miserable crea-
1 L. c. p. 104.
2 Notandum est, quod laici quidam putant se sanari victimis sacerdotum et orationi-
bus regularium, cum ipsi mala committant. Sed frustra tales dii eos adjuvant nam
incensum abomi initio est mihi, holocaustomata nihilominus reproba esse demonstrant.
3 In Apocalyps. p. 91.
i Licet baec omnia in sacramento fidelibus data sint, non potest tamen tenere ilia,
nisi id explere student moribus, quod sacramenti similitudo docet esse tenendum. Non
igitur sacramenta conferunt aliquid abutentibus eis, sed bis, qui ita vivunt, quomodo
sacramenta significant.
5 L. „. p. 78.

JUDGMENT ON THE CORRUPTED CIIUItCH. 303
tures, in whom there is nothing to praise, and hope for the for
giveness of their sins through the merits of those whose souls at
the end ofthe present life sink to perdition." Concerningfleshly
representations of the divine Being, he says : " A God like this
is not the God of believers, but of unbelievers, an idolatrous
image of the human mind and not God."1 The jealousies sub
sisting between the different ranks in the church, and the dif
ferent orders of monks, seemed to him most directly at variance
with that pattern of the apostolic church which was constantly
present to his mind. " In those times," says he, " there were
manifold forms of life corresponding to different gradations of the
development of the Christian life ; but all were united together
in the organism of the body of Christ, as harmonizing parts of
one whole. "'
Joachim agreed with Hildegard in announcing a terrible judg
ment that was coming upon the corrupted church, from which,
however, she was to emerge purified and refined. It was also a
characteristic point in the prophetical picture which floated before
his imagination, that the secular power was to combine with
the heretical sects in combating the church. As in Italy and
Sicily, the name " Patarenes"3 was a popular and current name
applied to sects, so the Patarenes, according to him, were to be
the instrument for the execution of the divine judgment, — fore
runners of the antichrist, from whom the latter himself was to
proceed ; — a king, and probably, in conjunction with him, a false
pope also. A pope, springing up from among the Patarenes, and
armed with a seeming power of working miracles, would league
himself with the antichrist of the secular power in the attack on
the church, and stir up the latter against the faithful, as Simon
Magus is said to have incited Nero to the persecution of the
Christians.4 He was inclined to represent the antichrist as an in-
1 Deus, qui talis ist, non est Deus fidelium, sed infidelium, idolum animarum et non
Deus. P. 101, in the Tractatu= de coucordia veteris et novi testamenti.
3 Quam vero longe sit omnis moderna religio a forma ecclesiae primitivae, eo ipso in-
telligi potest, quod ilia apostolo0 et evangelistas, doctores et virgines, et zelantes vitam
continentem et conjugatos veluti unus cortex mali Punici divisis tamen cellulis man-
sionum conjugebat in unum et conjunctis membrorum soeciebus efficiebat ex omnibus
unum corpus. Nunc autem alibi corpus et membra, singula pro seipsis, non pro aliis
sunt sollicita. L. c. p. 71.
3 See above, p. 133, and the passages there cited.
* In Jerem. p. 123. The secta falsorum christianorum et haereticorum, quorum caput

304 joachim's prophecies concerning henry the sixth.
carnation of Satan, through whom the great enemy of all good would
seek to accomplish against the church what he had hitherto at
tempted in vain. All the previous machinations of Satan against
the church were but a preparation for this final attack, in which
all preceding wickedness was to be concentrated ; in which Satan,
foreseeing the last judgment near at hand, would expend his
rage in a last desperate effort.1
The house of Hohenstaufen hold a prominent place in his de
scription of the judgment that was to come upon the secularized
church. In the details, we meet with a great deal which is vague
and self-contradictory ; moreover, it admits of a question whether
his predictions at this point may not have been interpolated so as
to agree with the issue of events.2 When, in the year 1197,3 at
the particular invitation of the emperor Henry the Sixth, 'he
wrote his commentary on the prophet Jeremiah, he expresses
himself in one place* as uncertain whether or not another emperor
would yet intervene between him and his heirs.5 Such an inter
vening emperor did in fact come in, after the death of Henry, in
the same year. He foretold, though without intimating that the
event was so near at hand, that Frederic the Second would re
main under the tutelage of his mother Constantia, and that — if
the Roman see did not care to preserve for him the empire which
another6 would make himself master of — he would stand forth as
ruler and pour out upon the church a mortal poison . Some-
erit anticbristu0, et forsitan pseudopapa ,erit adjutus et fultus antichristo reipublicae;
and p. 143 we find, as tbe seventh and last persecutor of the church, the autichristus,
rex Patarenorum.
1 Et sciendum, quod in primis temporibns proeliatus est diabolus in membris suis,
in extremis vero temporibus proeliabitur in illo, qui erit caput et primus omnium re-
proborum, in quo et babitabit special ins ac si in vase proprio per seipsum, ut malum,
quodprinceps daemonum nequivit explere, ipse quasi magnus et potens expleat in furore
fortitudinis suae. In the concordia 130, 2.
s In the commentary on Isaiah, p. 4, is cited a vatacinium SilveBtri de Frederico Se
cundo, et ejus posteris : Erit in insidiis sponsae agni, quam praesules dilaniant et
absorbent. 3 Commentar. in Jerem. p. 33.
4 L. c. p. 86. He says to him : Et jugum patris tui vix pontifices potuerunt portore
et minimus digitus tuus lumbis est grossior patris tui.
5 Utrum inter Henricum hunc et haeredem alius surgat, illi videbunt, qui supererunt.
L. c. p. 86.
s Otho the Fourth.
7 L. c. p. 299. Sub nomine viduae tangit consortem tuam Constantiam, cujus pupil-
us filius erit. Puto quoque, si Romana sedes post te de manu calumuiatoris posita

PERIODS OF REVELATION : PETER, PAUL, AND JOHN. 305
times the year 1200, sometimes 1260, is mentioned as one which
would constitute an epoch in history.
Joachim, as we have said, was an opponent of the prevailing
dialectic tendency in theology. Hence the latter days of the
church, when it should have come forth glorified out ofthe refin
ing process, appeared to him as a time of all-satisfying contem
plation, taking the place of that learning which dwells on the
letter and finite conceptions of the understanding, when the in
spiration of love, that meditation on divine things which can
solve all problems, would follow an imperfect, fragmentary, con
ceptual knowledge. Connected with this is a division of the dif
ferent periods of revelation and of history, which from this time
onward recurs repeatedly under various phases,— a division con
formable to the doctrine of the trinity. Although, by virtue of
their essential unity, all the three persons ever work together,
and somewhat belonging properly to each person is to be found
in every period, yet, at the same time, in relation to the distinc
tion of persons, the predominant activity of some one amongst the
three is to be distinguished according to the measures of three
principal periods. The times ofthe Old Testament belong espe
cially to God the Father ; in it, God revealed himself as the Al
mighty, by signs and wonders ; next, followed the times of the New
Testament, in which God, as the Word, revealed himself in his
wisdom, where the striving after a comprehensible knowledge of
mysteries predominates ; the last times belong to the Holy Spirit,
when the fire of love in contemplation will predominate.1 As the
letter of the Old Testament answers to God the Father, the letter
of the New Testament more especially to the Son, so the spiritual
understanding, which proceeds from both, answers to the Holy
accessoris regnum liberare neglexerit, versa vice pupillus mutatus iu regulum super
earn mortalia venena diffundet. He says that, under him, tbe fastigium imperiale would
decline, protendetur vita ejus, quasi vita regis in 60 annis. He announces, in the year
1197, the persecution proceeding from the Hohenstaufen house against the Romish
church, in 64 annos deteriores prioribus. L. c. p. 331.
l The words in John v. 17, according to the Vulgate: " Pater meus usque modo ope
ratur, et ego operor," he explains as follows: " Till now the Father has worked; from
henceforth I work." When accused of Tritheism on this account, he retaliated by ac
cusing his opponents of Sabellianism: Non attendentes, quod sicut vere in personis
proprietas est et in essentia unitas, ita quaedam sint, quae propter proprietatem person-
arum proprie adscribantur patri, quaedam, quae proprie adscribantur filio, quaedam quae
proprie spiritui sancto, et quae propter unitatem essentiae ipsamet communiter referantur
ad omnes. Introduct. in Apocalyps, p. 13.
VOL. VII. U

306

PRACTICAL AGE (OF PETER),

Spirit. j As all things were created by the Father through the
Son ; so in the Holy Spirit, as love, all were to find their comple
tion.2 To the working of the Father, — power, fear, faith, more
especially correspond ; to the working ofthe Son, — humility, truth,
and wisdom ; to the working of the Holy Spirit, — love, joy, and
freedom. In connection with this must be considered the way in
which he contemplates the three apostles — Peter, Paul, and John
— as representatives of the three periods in the process of the de
velopment of the church. John represents the contemplative
bent, and as he laboured where Peter and Paul had already laid
the foundation, and survived the other apostles, so the Johannean
contemplative period would be the last times of the church, cor
responding to the age of the Holy Spirit. As the Father re
vealed himself in the Old Testament, and the Son, after the
completion of the Old, introduced the New ; so this relation cor
responds to that of Paul to Peter ; since Paul did not labour on
the foundation which Peter had laid, but opened for himself an
independent field of action ; and as then the completion was given
to the whole by John, so in the last Johannean period, that which
the Son began will be carried to its completion by the Holy
Spirit. Then will the promise of the Lord be fulfilled ; that h&
had yet many things to say which his disciples could not then
bear ; that this Spirit should guide into all truth. In the words
spoken by Christ to John (John xxi. 23), " If I will that he tarry
till I come, what is that to thee V he finds an intimation of the
fact that the Johannean period would be the last. He says of

1 Ut litera testamenti prioris proprietate quadam simili tudinis videtur pertinere ad pa-
trem, litera testamenti novi pertinere ad filium, ita spiritolis intelligentia, quae procedit
ex utraque, ad spiritum sanctum. L. u. p, 5,
2 Quoniam sicut a patre omnia sunt et per filium omnia, ita et in spiritu sancto, qui
est caritas Dei, consummanda sunt universa. In Apocalyps. p. 84.
3 Nonnulla specialius attribuuntur patri, sicuti potentia, timor et fides, nonnulla filio,
ut humilitas, Veritas et sapientia, nonnulla spiritui sancto, ut caritas, gaudium et IiBer-
tas. L. c. p. 48.
* Et illud diligenter observa, quod quando inter Petrum et Joannem interponitur
Paulus, tunc Petrus designat personam patris, Paulus filii, Joannes spiritus sancti, et
quia Paulus non superaedificavit a principio in his, quae Petrus fundavit, fundavit au
tem ipse per se (et superaedificavit Joannes), unigenitum Dei patris in hoc ipso designat,
qui consummate veteri testamento, quod specialius pertinebat ad patrem, inchoavit testa
mentum novum, quod specialius pertinet ad seipsum, superveniet autem spiritus sanctus,
consummaturus, quae inchoata sunt ct fundata a filio.
5 Significat electos tertii status. In Apocalyps. p. 84.

CONTEMPLATIVE AGE (OF JOHN). 307
John, " What he himself had drunk out of the heart of Christ,
that he has given the chosen to drink ; the living water, which he
had drunk from the fountain of life ; for the living water is the
Holy Scriptures, in their spiritual sense, which was nat written
with ink, pen, and paper, but by the power of the Holy Ghost, in
the book of man's heart."1 John is the representative of the
contemplative, as Peter, of the practical tendency ; the latter pre
figures the clerical, the former the monastic, order. When Peter
(John xxi. 21) supposes that John also was to be a martyr, by
this is signified the jealousy of the practical class towards the
contemplative : they reproach the latter with leading so easy and
quiet a life, and taking no share in their toils : they do not con
sider that it costs quite as much self-denial to human nature, pa
tiently to wait the revelation of God, and to give one's self up
entirely to the contemplation of divine things, as to pursue bodily
labour; to sit in one spot, as to be driven about in a multiplicity
of employments. As after the martyrdom of Peter, John alone
remained, so when the order of the clergy shall have perished
in martyrdom, following Christ, in the last conflict with antichrist,
the order of the contemplative, genuine monks shall alone remain,
and the entire succession of St Peter pass over into that. The
order of genuine contemplatives and spiritales, prefigured by
Jesus himself, might perhaps — he supposes, in his Commentary
on the Apocalypse — be already existing in the germ ; but as yet
it could not be observed, because the beginnings of a new crea
tion are ever wont to be obscure and contemptible. The abbot
Joachim was filled with that same idea, — an idea called forth
by the antagonism to the secularization of the church, — which
had seized many serious minds of the twelfth and thirteenth
centuries, and which gave birth to the first societies of the Wal
denses as well as of the Franciscans. Accordingly, he must be
a prophet for all appearances of a kindred character.
1 In Apocalyps. p. 3.
2 Relinqnatar pars ilia electorum, quae designata est in Joanne, ad quam oportet
transire totam Petri snccessiouem, deficiente parte ilia laboriosa, quae designata est in.
Petro, data ubique tranquillitate amatoribus Christi. In tempore nempe illo erit Domi
nus unus et nomen ejus unum. L. c. p. 77.
3 Qui videlicet ordo prae multis aliis, qui praecesserunt eum, amabilis et praeclarus
infra limitem quidem secundi status initiandus est, si tamen, usque adhuc non est in
aliquibus initiandus, quod tamen mihi adhuc non constat, quia inilia semper obscura et
contemptibilia sunt. In Apocalyps. p. 83, o. 2.
U 2

308

THE THREE PERIODS OF REVELATION.

Each of the three great apostles had his peculiar gift of grace,
conformable to the peculiar position which he took in the process
of the development of the church. And, as this process was
thereby prefigured, so each period in the history of the church
has its peculiar gift of grace, belonging to this peculiar position.
We should not expect to find everything, therefore, in every age.
Peter represents the power of faith which works miracles ; Paul,
knowledge ; and John, contemplation.1
In these last times was to be concentrated every divine element
from the earlier periods. The planting and sowing of many years
would be collected together at one point,— a period, though short
in compass, yet greatest in intrinsic importance in reference to
the fulness of grace there accumulated.2 In the first period, the
fathers laid themselves out in announcing God's great work of
the creation ; in the second, it was the effort of the Son to lay
the foundation of hidden wisdom. When man, by means of the
two Testaments, had now come to know how God had finished
all things in wisdom, what still remains (for the third age) except
to praise God, whose works are so great. The Father comes, as
it were, when from the things that are made we come to the
knowledge of the Maker, when in the contemplation of his al
mighty power we are filled with reverence ; the Son comes to us,
when we explore into the depths of doctrine in the discourses of
him who is the Father's wisdom. The Holy Ghost comes and
reposes in our hearts, when we taste the sweetness of his love, so
that we break forth into songs of praise to God rather than keep
silence.3 Then will ensue the time of an Easter jubilee, in which
all mysteries will be laid open, the earth will be full ofthe know
ledge of the Lord, and it will be scarcely possible any longer to
l Etsi Petro, apostolorum primo, data est praerogativa fidei ad facienda signa in typo ¦
eorum, qui dati sunt in fuudamentis ecclesiae, non ideo tamen parvi pendenda est clavis
scientiae, quae data est Paulo, apostolorum novissimo, baud dubium quin in typo eorum,
qui dandi erant iu fine ad superaedificandam ecclesiam. Novit nempe ille, qui pro tem-
porumivarietate dona distribuenda partitur, quid illis atque illis expediat, ita ut pro
tempore existimandum sit, quid cui praeferatur, et illud pro tempore magis eorum quod
utile et non quod sublimius judicandum. L. u. p. 88.
2 Etsi,spatium illius temporis breve erit, gratiarum tamen copiosius caeteris, ut mul-
torumjannorum segetes congregentur in uno. In Apocalyps. p. 84.
3 Spiritus sanctus ad corda nostra venire et requiescere dicitur, cum dulcedo amoris
ejus quam suavis sit degustamus, ita ut psallere magis libeat, quam a Dei laude taccre.
L. c. p. 85.

JOACHIM'S APPARENT IDEALISM. 309
find a man, who will dare deny that Christ is the Son of God.1
The Spirit will stand forth free from the veil of the letter. It is
the gospel ofthe Spirit, the everlasting gospel ; for the gospel of
the letter is but temporary."
It was this doctrine of the abbot Joachim which was afterwards
apprehended and applied in so many different ways ; which in
fact, at a later period, came to be so interpreted, by a one-sided
rationalistico -pantheistic party, as to make Christianity itself,
which was considered but a transient form of religious develop
ment, cease, and give place to a higher position, a purely inward
religion of the Spirit, consisting of some intuition of God that no
longer needed an intermediate organ. Joachim was very far
from holding Christianity in itself to be a transient form of the
manifestation of religion. The knowledge, transcending all doubt,
of Jesus as the Son of God, he considered indeed, as we have
seen, as something distinguishing those last times of the Holy
Spirit ; he taught expressly3 that two Testaments only were to
be received ; for the last revelation of the Holy Spirit was in fact
to serve no other purpose than to make men conscious of the
hidden spiritual meaning of both Testaments, and to let the
spirit unfold itself out ofthe covering ofthe letter. Yet at the
same time we must admit that the ideal, pantheistic interpre
tation above mentioned, found a point to fix upon in several of
Joachim's expressions ; for instance, when he described the hu
mility of self-debasement in the form of a servant as the pecu
liarity of the Son, the abiding in his spiritual exaltation, the
purely spiritual revelation, as the peculiarity of the Holy Spirit,
and hence assigned the advanced position of perfect freedom to
the agency of the Holy Spirit ;* when he represented that posi
tion as a subordinate one, to which the divine must be brought
1 L. c. p. 9.
2 Evangelium aeternum, quod est in spiritu, quoniam utique evangelium, quod est in
litera, temporale est, non aeternum. In Apocalyps. p. 95.
3 Haec est causa, pro qua non tria testamenta, sed duo esse scribuntur, quorum con-
cordia manet integra. L. c. p. 13.
4 His words : Et quia aquae natura gravis est et humilia petit, ignis pro levitate sua
ad superiora recurrit, quid est, qnod frcquentius filius assimilauir aquae, spiritus vero
sanctus crebrius igni, nisi quia, quod non fecit spiritus sanctus, filius semetipsum ex-
inanivit, formam servi accipiens, spiritus autem sanctus, de quo dicitur : ubi spiritus,
ibi libeitas, nequaquam eo modo, quo filius humilialus est, sed in majestatc gloriae suae,
non assumta carne permansit. In Apocalyps. p. 00,

310 joachim's apparent idealism.
nigh, by the revelation of God to sense in the incarnation of
the Son, and by the instrumentalities corresponding thereto ;
and, on the other hand, that of the spiritales, who needed no
such sensible medium, as the highest. " Say not, I have no
teacher to explain to me in detail what I read. Where the
Spirit is the teacher, a little spark increases to an immea
surable flame, and because the Word became flesh and dwelt
amongst us, and he who by reason of the simplicity of his es
sence was invisible, dignified man's nature by appearing visibly
in it, so he would be preached by visible men under the veil
of the Word, that they who were unable by contemplation to
penetrate into the mysteries of the divine essence, might through
visible emblems soar upward to the exalted. But with spi
ritual men it is not so : but the purer their hearts are, the
more do they by God's invisible operations, which are nearer
to them, stretch the vision of their spiritual eyes to the Creator
of all."1 But such language merely expresses, though in an ori
ginal and forcible manner, the chosen position of mysticism,
which gives special prominence to the work of the Holy Spirit in
men's hearts ; and such passages can by no means furnish any
foundation for the charge, that he would speak disparagingly of
historical Christianity. Yet we must allow that at the bottom
of the whole mode of intuition set forth in his works lies the
thought, that the entire revelation of the Old and New Testa
ments contains, indeed, immutable truth, and that Christianity
is in itself a complete and immutable thing ; but yet, at the same
time, this does not hold good of the different forms of its mani
festation. The overthrow of the particular ecclesiastical form
then existing, and a new, more complete development of Chris
tianity in the consciousness of mankind, in which the inner re
velation ofthe Holy Spirit will take the place of outward autho
rity, is predicted by him. This is in fact already implied in what
he says, in his own way, concerning the transition of the Petrine
position into that of John, the dissolution of the clerical gover-
1 Qui erat iuvisibilis pro suae simplicitate naturae, per humanae assumptionem sub
stantias visibilis fieri dignatus est, voluit per visibiles homines vocis mysteria personari
ut hi qui arcana divinitatis penetrare contemplando non poterant, visibilibus ad sublimia
raperentur exemplis. Non sic autem spiritales, non sic, sed quo illorum corda mun-
diora sunt, eo per invisibilia Dei opera, quae sibi viciniora sunt, in ipsum, qui creator
est omnium, spiritalium oculorum aciem intellectualiter figunt. In Apocalyps. p. 49.

harmony between the old and new testaments. 311
nance of the church and its rehabilitation in the community of
the contemplative life. Doubtless he supposes, as the peculiarity
of those last times, a direct and unmediated reference of the re
ligious consciousness of all men, to God manifested in Christ, so
that there would be no more need of an order of teachers.1 Then
the prophecy of Jeremiah, that God himself would be the teacher of
men, and would write his law in the hearts of all, would meet
with its fulfilment ; but as all earthly greatness must come to
shame, when the sublimity of things heavenly revealed itself, so
it was only by humbling himself that man could become capable
of beholding such divine glory.2
Especially deserving of notice are the following words in the
book written by abbot Joachim, on " The Harmony between the
Old and New Testaments," (Concordiae Veteris ac Novi Testi-
menti ;) in which, speaking of the relation of changeable forms
to the unchangeable essence in the revelation of divine things,
he thus expresses himself.3 " The Holy Spirit is the fire which
consumes all this. Why 1 Because there is nothing durable on
earth ; for so long as we see through a glass darkly, it is neces
sary for us to cling to those symbols, and so long are we un
able to come to the knowledge of that truth which is represented
in symbols. But when the Spirit of truth shall come and. teach
us all truth, what further need shall we then have of symbols 1*
For as with the communion of the body of Christ the partaking
of the paschal lamb was done away, so when the Holy Ghost
shall reveal himself in his glory, the observation of symbols will
cease ; men will no longer follow figures but the truth — which is
the simplest, and which is symbolized by fire — as the Lord says,
' God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him
in spirit and in truth.' Dust and water, such is the historical
1 Quasi per alios pascuntur oves, cum ad docendas subditorum ecclesias pastores in
populis eliguntur, cum autem veritatem evangelicam clarificat per spiritum suum ad
complendam prophetiam Jerem. xxxi. 33, 34; quasi jam non per alios Dominus, sed
ipse per semetipsum requiret oves suas, sicut visitat pastor gregem suum in die, quando
fuerit in medio ovium suarum dissipatarum.
2 Et quia mirabilis est Deus in Sanctis suis et longe mirabilior in majestate sua,
necesse est, ut semetipsum dejiciat, qui videre tantam gloriam existimatur dignus, quia
nimirum terrena altitudo confunditur, cum celsitudo coelestium aperitur. In Apocalyps.
p. 45.
3 L. c. p. 103.
* Quid nobis ulterius de figuris ?

312

RELATION OF FORM AND ESSENCE.

letter of the two Testaments — whicli letter was given by-the
Holy Spirit for the purpose of pointing thereby to something else,
rather than for the sake ofthe literal historical sense itself; that
is, that thereby the spiritual understanding, which is the divine
fire, by virtue of which the spiritual man judges all men and is
judged by none, might be presented to us ; for neither the par
taking of bread and meat, nor the drinking of wine and water,
nor the anointing with oil, is anything eternal, but that is eternal
which is signified by these acts. If, then, the things themselves
and their use are perishable, but that which is represented by
them, thejthing which endures for evermore ; then, with good
right, is the former consumed by the fire, while the fire itself
lives alone, without depending on anything sensible, in the
hearts ofthe faithful, and abides for ever. And, although there
are many visible things, which will eternally remain, as they are
revealed^to us in the letter of the two Testaments, yet they will
not remain for ever in the same form, but rather in the form ap
pointed for the future. For amongst the rest, that which accord
ing to the Catholic faith shall remain for ever, the body of Christ
— which shall ever remain as it is taken up into unity with his
person — is to us especially an object of veneration. And yet
our Lord himself declared the spirit maketh alive, the flesh pro
fiteth nothing. Hence the apostle Paul also says, The letter
killeth, but the spirit maketh alive. But if, in reference to the
body of Christ himself, the letter is consumed by the spirit, how
much more will this be the case with other things. Far be it
from us, then, to say that the things themselves will be consumed
as to their whole essence ; but we say that they themselves, that
is, their symbols, must pass over to represent something spiritual,
in order that we may elevate ourselves, through the scripture of
visible things, as through a glass, to the intuition of invisible
things."

HISTORY OF MONASTICISM.
The reaction of this prophetic spirit against the secularization
ofthe church proceeded fiom monasticism, as did many an ap
pearance of the same kindjiown to the time of Luther ; nor was

DIFFERENT CAUSES LEADING TO MONASTICISM. 313
this au accidental thing, but connected with the essential charac
ter of monasticism itself; for we may regard it generally as a
reaction, though one-sided, of the Christian spirit, against the
secularization of the church and the Christian life. It is true,
monasticism was itself seized, and borne along, by the current of
secularization ; but even then, it ever gave birth to new reactions
of reform against the encroaching tide of corruption. This form
of the manifestation of Christian life and of Christian society be
longs among the most significant and the most influential facts of
these periods, in which the very good and the very bad are found
so often meeting together.
Monasticism stood forth against the wild life ofthe knights, and
the corruption of a degenerate clergy ; and many were impelled
to fly for refuge from the latter to the former. The Hildebran
dian epoch of reform, near the close of the eleventh century, was
accompanied with the outpouring of a spirit of compunction and
repentance on the Western nations. It was the same spirit,
which in different directions, promoted the crusades, monasticism,
and the spread of sects that contended against the hierarchy.
By the political storms which broke up the interior organization
of the nations, by the ruinous contests of this age between church
and state, many were impelled to seek in the monasteries a quiet
retreat for the cultivation of the Christian life. Thus it hap
pened in Germany, amidst the ferocious contests between the
party of Henry the Fourth and that of Gregory the Seventh. An
extraordinary multitude of men, of the first rank, retired from
the world ; and the three monasteries, in which the greater num
ber congregated, St Blazen in the Black Forest, Hirsau, and the
convent of St Salvator in Schaffhausen, had not room enough to
contain them all, so that it was necessary to make great addi
tions to the old structures. Men of the first rank were here to
be seen among the monks, selecting from preference and engag
ing with delight in the most menial employments, and serving as
cooks, bakers, or shepherds.1 The impulse to community, — the
1 Berthold. Constant. Chronicon, at the year 1083, in Monumenta res Alemannorum
illustrantia, t, ii., p. 120. Quanto nobiliores erant in saeculo, tanto se contemtibiliori-
bus officiis occupari desiderant, ut qui quondam erant comites vel marchiones in saeculo
nuncincoquinavel pistrino fratribus servire vel porcos eorum in campo pascere pro
summis deliciis compuient.

314 WORLDLINESS OF THE MONASTERIES.
characteristic of energetic, creative times, belongs among the
peculiar features of this time, and such communities easily formed
themselves around any man that showed an enthusiasm for reli
gion, that spoke and acted in the power of faith, and in love ;
and then took the form of monasticism.
But the causes differed widely in their nature, whicli led men
to choose this mode of life ; and for this very reason the direc
tions of life in monasticism would also be different. Oftentimes
the deep piety of mothers, patterns of Christian virtue in the
family circle, stood out in striking contrast with the mere worldly
pursuits of their husbands in the knightly order, or in the life at
court. When such mothers looked forward to the birth of their
first child, or when they had much to suffer and great peril was
before them, they would vow before the altar, to devote the child,
in case it should be a male, wholly to the service of God ; that
is, to destine him for the spiritual or the monastic order, — as we
see in the examples of the mother of the abbot Guibert of Nogent
sous Coucy, near the beginning of the twelfth century,1 and ofthe
mother of the abbot Bernard of Clairvaux. The boys were trained
up under the influence of these sincerely pious mothers, in the so
ciety of devout clergymen and monks; the love for a life consecrate
to God was instilled into their youthful minds ; and although they
might afterwards, in the age of youth, be drawn aside by a dif
ferent sort of society, by the wild spirit of the times, or by the
prevailing enthusiasm for the new paths struck out in science, —
from the inclination excited in them in the years of childhood, —
still, the deep impression would subsequently be revived again
with new force, and so, under peculiar circumstances, recalling the
feelings and purposes of former days, the res6lution of devoting
themselves wholly to monasticism would ripen to maturity in
them. Thus were formed the great men of the monastic life.
But it so happened too, that children, — either on occasions like
those just mentioned, or else to lighten the expense of a nume
rous family, were delivered over to convents as oblati ; and by
such persons, who had not chosen this mode of life of their own
1 See his Life, c. iii. When death threatened her and ber children, initur ex necessi
tate consilium et a I dominicae matris altare concurritur, et ad earn, quae sola sive etiam
\ ngOjSemper futura pepererat, hujusmodi vota promuntur, ac oblationis vice arae impo-
nitur, quod videlicet si partus ille cecisset iu masculum, Deo et sibi obsecuturus cleri-
catui traderetur, 3

MOTIVES OF THE MONKS. 315
impulse, or from their own disgust with a world lying in wicked
ness, it was followed, only because it favoured idleness and easy
living. The abbot Guibert complains that, towards the close of
the eleventh century, worldly living had, through the multitude
of such oblati, got the upper hand in the monasteries, whose
possessions were wastefully squandered by these monks.1 When
persons who had lived from their childhood in absolute depen
dence and complete retirement from the world, were sent away
by their abbots on foreign business, they were the more inclined
to abuse a liberty which they now enjoyed for the first time.2 It
was a matter of general remark, that young men who turned monks
out of penitence for their sins, became afterwards the most distin
guished for zeal in their profession ; while others, who had not
been impelled to the choice of this life by any such powerful in
ward impulse, and any such deep-felt need, either failed altogether
of possessing the right zeal, or else lost what they once had.3
Men of the first rank, struck, by the force of momentary impres
sions, or by sudden reverses of fortune, reminded of the uncertain
nature of earthly goods, the nearness of death, the vanity of all
worldly glory, retired to solitude as anchorets, or entered a mo
nastery ; and a single example of this sort would be followed by
multitudes. This effect was produced by the example of a certain
count Ebrard (Everard) of Bretuel, in Picardy, near the end of
the eleventh century. He was a young man of noble parentage,
and possessed of an ample fortune, who, struck with a sense of
the emptiness of all his pleasures, and seized with the craving
after some higher good, forsook all, and joined himself with a
number of others, who travelled about as itinerant charcoal-
l Nostris monasteria vetustissima numero extenuata temporibus, rerum antiquitus
datarum exuberante copia, parvis erant contenta conventibus, in quibus perpauci reperiri
poterant, qui peccati fastidio saeculum respuissent, sed ab illis potissimum detinebantur
ecclesiae, qui in ei6dem parentum devotione contraditi, ab ineunte nutriebantur aetate.
Qui quantum minorem super suis, quae nulla sibi videbantur egisse, malis metum ba-
bebant, tanto intra coenobiorum septa remissiore studio victitabant. See his Life, c.
viii. 2 Qui administrationes ac officia forastica cum pro abbatum aut necessitate aut libitu
sortirentar, utpote voluntatis propriae avidi exterioresque licentias minus experti, eccle-
siasticas occasione facili dilapidare pecuniae.
3 The words of Caesarius of Heisterbach, Distint. i. c iv. : Raruni esse, quod pueri
vel juvenes ad ordinem venientes, quorum conscientias pondus peccati non gravat,
ferventes sint, vel in ordine tepide et minus bene vivunt vel ab ordine prorsus rece-
dunt.

316

INFLUENCE OF MONASTERIES

burners, thus earning their daily bread. " In this poverty,"
says the writer of the narrative, " he believed that he first found
the true riches." Somewhat later, he retired with his companions
to a convent, having become sensible of the dangers which beset
the Christian life, in the anchorite condition j1 one of his contem
poraries, Simon, also descended from a very rich and powerful
family, was so struck at beholding his father's corpse — a man
who but just before held a high place in the world — as to con
ceive a disgust of all earthly glory. He at once left his family,
and became a monk in some foreign country. When he returned
afterwards to his native district, his appearance and words made
so strong an impression on men and women, that numbers fol
lowed his example. The Cistercian monk, Caesarius of Heister
bach, in the first half of the thirteenth century, sets forth, in a way
that deserves to be noticed, the different causes which led people to
embrace the monastic life. What he felt constrained, in the case
of some, to attribute to an awakening by divine grace, he found
reason, in the case of others, to ascribe to the instigation of an
evil spirit ; while in still others, he traced it to fickleness of tem
per ; as, for example, in the case of those who, following the im
pulse of a momentary and transient interest, mistook their own
nature, and neglected to consider whether it was the fear of hell
or the longing after a heavenly home that operated upon their
feeling. Countless numbers were driven to this step by circum
stances of distress ; sickness, poverty, imprisonment, shame,
remorse following the commission of crime, and the present fear
of death.2 When attacked by fatal diseases many put themselves
under a vow that, in case they recovered, they would become
monks ; or they enshrouded themselves at once in monkish robes,
persuaded that by so doing they would be more likely to obtain sal
vation. And such persons, if they recovered, actually became
monks.* Those who had been driven to this step by the fear of death,
1 How the monastic life was introduced by him from France, and brought into a
flourishing state in these districts, is related by the abbot Guibert, Vita, c. ix.: Cum ad
ens (the monks) pretii vix ullus accederet, ad excitandas plurimorum mentes emersit.
2 Distinct, i., a. v. Caesarius of Heisterbach cites individual examples to show how a
canonicus became a monk, because be had played away his clothes, i. 9, c. xii. A young
man belonging to a wealthy family thought of turning monk, without the knowledge c f
bis parents, because Iih had gambled away a large sum of money ; but be gave up tbe
notion when a friend came forward and paid up his debts, c. xxviii.
3 L. c. o. xxv.

AND MONKS UPON MORALS. 217
did not always, however, remain true to a purpose thus conceived ;
and there were complaints, that in changing their garb they had
not altered their manners.1 It happened not unfrequently that
criminals, on whom sentence of death had been passed, were,
through the influence of venerated abbots who condescended to
intercede for them, first pardoned, and then committed to the
care of their deliverers, with a view to try what could be done for
them under the discipline of the monastery ; and as in these
times, many were hurried into crimes by the impulses of a sen
suous and passionate nature, which had never felt the wholesome
restraints of education and religious instruction, it was possible
that such, by judicious teaching, by the force of religious impres
sions, and the severe discipline to which they were subjected in
a cloister, under the direction of some wise abbot, might be really
reformed — as examples, in fact, show that they sometimes were.2
When Bernard of Clairvaux was once going to pay a visit to his
friend, the pious count Theobald of Champagne, he was met by
a crowd of men conducting to the place of execution a robber who,
after committing many crimes, had been condemned to the gal
lows. He begged it as a favour of the count that the criminal
might be given up to him. He took the man along with him to
Clairvaux, and there succeeded in transforming him into a pious
man. This reformed criminal died in peace, after having spent
thirty years in the cloister as a monk.3 Thus the monasteries
proved in some instances to be houses of correction for abandoned
criminals ; and the spirit of Christian charity, which proceeded
from pious monks, first strove to abolish the punishment of death.
Another monk, Bernard, founder of the congregation of the monks
of Tiron, in the diocese of Chartres, a.d. 1113, had settled him
self down near the close of the eleventh century as a hermit, on

1 Orderic. Vital, hist. 1. iii., f. 468, says of a priest, who had led a trifling life, and iu
sickness had put on the monkish garb, but afterwards relapsed into his former vicious
habits: Habitum, non mores mutavit.
2 An example of this sort is stated by Caesarius, c. xxxi., of a predatory knight, who,
after having been condemned to death, and reprieved at the request ofthe abbot Daniel of
Scbonau, was permitted to enter the Cistercian order to do penance for his sins; and
he adds : Frequenter buic similia audivi, scilicet ut homines flagitiosi pro suis ariminibus
variis suppliciis deputati, beneficio ordinis sint liberati.
8 Vitae 1. vii., u. xv., ed. Mabillon, t. ii., f. 1204.

318 MONASTICISM IN RELATION TO
the island of Causeum (Chaussey), between the island of Jersey
and St Malo. It so happened while he was there, that pirates
landed on the beach with a merchant vessel which they had
captured. Bernard laboured earnestly, but in vain, for the
conversion of these barbarians; in vain did he strive to move
their pity for the crew, whom they had taken and bound in
chains ; but when they left the shore, he still did not cease
praying both for pirates and prisoners. Soon after, there came
up a great storm ; the pirates saw nothing before them but
shipwreck and death. Struck with alarm and remorse of con
science, they set free the captives, mutually confessed to each
other their sins ; and vowed, if they should be saved, to amend
their lives, and go on pilgrimages to various shrines. But one
of them, on whose heart the words of Bernard had made an
indelible impression, reminded the others of this holy man :
" They should only vow," said he to them, " that if the Lord
would conduct them to the good hermit, they would implicitly
follow his directions, and by his mediation they might be saved
from death." All united in taking the vow. Four of the ships
were foundered ; the fifth got safely to the island. The pirates,
awakened to repentance, fell down before monk Bernard, and
besought him to listen to the confession of their sins, and to im
pose on them such penance as he thought fit. Some he bade per
form their vow of a pilgrimage ; others continued to remain under
his spiritual direction on the island.
In the beginning of the twelfth century, when the enthusiasm
for the new dialectic inquiries in France had seized hold on num
bers, — and among the rest, of such as merely followed the current
without any call or talent for such studies ; many of these soon
became disgusted with the idle pursuit, and by this very disgust
were led to take a serious spiritual direction in monasticism.2
How monasticism was regarded, in its relation to the worldly life,
we find expressed in the following remarks of Anselm of Canter
bury, where he is exhorting one of his friends to become a monk :3

1 See the account of tbe life of Bernard of Tiron, by one of his scholars, o. iv., Mens.
April, t. ii. f. 229.
2 Deprehendentes in se et aliis praedicantes, quia quicquid didicerant, vanitas vani-
tatum est et super omnia vanitas. Metalog. 1. i., c. iv., of John of Salisbury.
» Lib. ii., ep. 29.

THE WORLDLY LIFE. 319
" Whatever glory of this world it may be whicli thou wouldst
aspire after, yet remember its end, and the fruit, at the end ; and
then consider, on the other hand, what the expectations of those
are, who despise all the glory of this world. Dost thou say, it is
not monks only who are saved 1 I admit it. But who attains to
salvation in the most certain, who in the most noble, way ; the
man who seeks to love God alone, or he who seeks to unite the
love of God with the love of the world ? But perhaps it will be
said, even in monasticism there is danger ! 0, why does not he
who says this, consider what he says 1 Is it rational, when danger
is on every side, to choose to remain where it is greatest 1 And
if he who seeks to love God alone perseveres to the end, his sal
vation is secure. But if he who is determined to love the world,
does not alter his plan of living before the end, there remains for
him either no salvation at all, or else a doubtful or a less one."
Yet here, it is all along presupposed that an objective contrariety
exists between the inclination to the world and the inclination to
God ; and not that all activity in relation to the world should be
taken up and absorbed in the inclination to God, and animated
by that tendency. Men compared monasticism with baptism, as
a purification from sin, a renunciation of the world and regenera
tion to a new and higher life. It was a prevailing opinion that,
by entering upon the monastic life, one was released from the
obligation to make a pilgrimage, to go on a crusade, or to per
form any other vow, — an opinion, grounded at bottom on the
Christian view, that the ruling bent of the heart, submission to
God's will, was more than external and isolated acts. " Whoever
vows, when living in the world, to make a pilgrimage to Jerusa
lem, or to Rome, and after this becomes a monk," says Anselm
of Canterbury,1 " has performed all his vows at once; for single
vows, signify only a partial submission to God, with respect to a
single matter; but monasticism embraces the whole. After a man
has thus embraced the whole, he will not restrict himself again
to individual parts."'' An Englishman, who had set out on a
1 Lib. iii., ep, 116.
2 Qui voverunt se itnros Romam vel Hierusalem in saeculo, ei ad ordinem nostrum
venermt, omnia vota sua compleverunt. Quippe qui se in partem Dei per vota tradi-
derant, postquam se Deo totoa tradiderint, totam in partem postmodum non habent
redigere. Comp. 1. iii., ep. 33.

320 SALUTARY INFLUENCE OF MONKS.
pilgrimage to Jerusalem, came to Clairvaux ; and, attracted by
the spiritual society which he there met with, turned monk, and
gave up his pilgrimage. The abbot justified this step, in opposi
tion to his bishop, declaring that to "persevere in a bent of the
heart towards the heavenly Jerusalem was more than to take
one hasty and transient glance of the earthly Jerusalem."1 The
abbot Peter of Cluny wrote to a knight who had promised to be
come a monk in Cluny, but afterwards determined to go on a
pilgrimage to Jerusalem : " It is greater to serve the true God in
humility and poverty, than to travel in a showy and luxurious
manner to Jerusalem. If there is something good in visiting
Jerusalem, where the feet of our Lord have trod, still, it is a far
better thing to strive after that heaven where we shall see the
Lord himself, face to face."
The influence of monasticism was various and widely extended .
Venerated monks were called upon to give their advice with re
gard to the most weighty affairs. Persons of the highest standing,
both of the secular and spiritual orders, noblemen and princes,
got themselves enrolled as members of monasteries and monkish
orders, for the purpose of sharing in the privileges of prayer and
good works (fratres adscripti or conscripti) ; by which means
these societies were brought into various influential connections.
Any recluse, who had become known for his pious and strict mode
of life, was soon looked up to by men of all ranks, from far and
near, and was enabled by his counsels and exhortations to make
himself widely useful. Such a recluse was Aybert in Hennegau
who lived near the beginning of the twelfth century. So great
was the number of people continually flocking to him for the pur
pose of confessing their sins, that he had scarcely a moment's rest.
He gave them spiritual counsel ; but not till after they had pro
mised to lay their confessioii before their ordinary ecclesiastical
superiors. Only if they declared themselves resolved not to open
their breasts to any other confessor, he yielded to their impor
tunity, lest they might be driven to despair. At length, he re
ceived orders from the pope to hear the confessions of all, and
prescribe to them the appropriate penance." Whoever could get
near enough to his person tried to tear off a piece of his dress
1 Ep. 61. a Lib. ii. ep. 15 .

MONKS AND NUNS STRUGGLING WITH RELIGIOUS DOUBTS. 321
and bear it away as a relic, whilst he, resisting, exclaimed : " I
am a poor sinner, and by no means what you think me to be."i
Monks travelled about as preachers of repentance, and often col
lected great crowds around them, who, awakened to repentance
by their impressive words and their severely strict mode of living,
confessed their sins to them, and avowed their readiness to do
anything they might prescribe for the reformation of their lives.
They stood to the people in place of the worldly-minded clergy,
who neglected their duties. They restored peace between con
tending parties, reconciled enemies, and made collections for the
poor. The monasteries were seats for the promotion of various
trades, arts, and sciences. The gains accruing from the union of
the labours of many were often employed for alleviating the dis
tresses of many. In great famines, thousands obtained from mo
nasteries of note the means of support, and were rescued from
threatening starvation^
Those, however, who took refuge in the monastery, or even in
the retreat of the anchoret, from the temptations of the outward
world, were still threatened by dangerous temptations of another
kind, when, impelled by the first glow of their zeal, they engaged
in extravagant self-mortifications. Changes in the tone of feeling
would still occur even after some considerable time had been spent
in this mode of life. Too deeply absorbed in their subjective
feelings, they would waste themselves away in reflecting on these
changeable moods. They felt dearth, emptiness, in their inward
being; they failed of experiencing delight, animation in prayer.
Evil thoughts gained the advantage in proportion as they allowed
themselves to be troubled with them, instead of forgetting them
selves in some nobler employment which would tax all the ener
gies of the soul. Thus such men, becoming their own tormentors,
fell into despair, and, unless better directed by prudent and expe
rienced abbots, might even be tempted to commit suicide. Or
moments of uncommon religious enthusiasm and fervour would be
followed by a reaction of the natural man, hankering after the
things of sense, or ofthe understanding, limited to the conscious-
1 Acta Sanctorum M. April, t. i., f 678.
2 In the year 1117, when there was a great famine, by which many died of hunger, the
monastery of Heisterbach, near Cologne, distributed in one day fifteen hundred alms.
Meat, herbs, and bread were distributed amongst tbe poor.
VOL. VII. X

322 anselm's and Bernard's exhortations.
ness of this world ; and hence arose moods of scepticism and un
belief.1 There was much need, therefore, in the men who pre
sided over these communities, of a peculiar love and wisdom, in
order to exert a salutary control over these monks, to manage
them according to their different temperaments and states of feel
ing, and to protect them from the dangers to which they were
exposed. But when so qualified, these superiors, in exercising
such a watch over the welfare of souls, might obtain a rich har
vest of Christian experience. They would have first to become
acquainted, by their own interior religious experience, with the
truths which they afterwards used for the benefit of others. Such
wisdom derived from experience we discern in an Anselm of Can
terbury. To certain persons who had requested of him a direc
tory to the spiritual life, he thus writes :2 " On one point, namely,
1 We will illustrate this by a few examples related by Caesarius, in his Dialogues. A
young female, belonging to a wealthy and reputable family, had become a recluse con
trary to the wishes of her friends. But she had been deceived with regard to herself;
she fell inte a state of great depression, and doubted of everything which before had been
certain to her. When the abbot to whose care her spiritual concerns had been intrusted
by the bishop, visited her, and asked her how she did ? She answered, " Not well ;" and
when he inquired other the reason, she said," She did not know herself, why she was
shut up there." When he told her that it was for the sake of God and ofthe kingdom of
heaven, she replied : " Who knows whether there is a God, whether there are angels,
whether there are immortal souls, and a kingdom of heaven 1 Who has seen them; who
has come from the other side and told us about them?" In vain were all the conversa
tions of the abbot; she only begged that she might be released, since she could endure
no longer this life of a recluse. But the abbot exhorted her to remain faithful to her
purpose, and at least wait seven days longer, at tbe end of which period he would visit
her again. Certainly, a very hazardous step to be taken with a person in her condition,
which might easily have been followed with the most melancholy consequences, as ap
pears evident from other examples. But, in this instance, the effect was favourable ; and
when the abbot, who in tbe mean time had caused many prayers to be offered in her be
half, again visited her at the time appointed, he found the tone of her feelings entirely
changed. An extraordinary elevation had followed that season of depression. In a vi
sion, which she saw while in a state of religious excitement, all her doubts bad vanished
8Way. — Another aged nun, who had previously been distinguished for her pious walk
and conversation, doubted of everything she had believed from the time of her childhood.
She would not be spoken to ; she maintained that she could not believe, since she be
longed among the reprobates. She could not be induced to take part in the holy commu
nion. The prior was indiscreet enough to say, for the purpose of exciting her fears, that
if she did not desist from her unbelief, be would after her death cause her to be buried
in the fields. To escape this lot, she threw herself into the Moselle, but was taken out
before she perished.— Another person, who had from bis youth up led an unblameable
life, fell into absolute despair, utterly doubting that his sins were forgiven, since he could
not pray as he bad been wont to do : he finally threw himself into » pond and was
drowned. L. c. f. 94, etc., 100.
•i iii. 133.

anselm's and Bernard's exhortations. 323
how you may be able to get rid of an evil will, or evil thoughts,
take from me this little piece of advice. Do not contend with
the evil thoughts or inclinations of the will, but get yourselves
right earnestly engaged with a good thought or purpose, till those
evil thoughts vanish ; for, never will a tliought or volition be ba
nished out of the heart, unless it be by one of an opposite cha
racter.1 Manage yourselves, therefore, with reference to unpro
fitable thoughts, so as to turn your minds with all your power of
control over them to the good, so as not to pay the least atten
tion to the others. But if you would pray, or occupy yourselves
with a pious meditation, and then such thoughts become trouble
some to you, still, by no means desist from your pious occupation,
but vanquish them in the way described, by contempt. And, as
long as you can thus despise them, let them not trouble you, lest
by occasion of this anxiety they come up again, and torment you
anew. For such is the nature of the human soul, that it more
often recalls what has given it joy or pain, than what it judges
to be unworthy of its attention/ Nor should you fear that such
motions or thoughts will be imputed to you as sins, provided your
will does not go with them ; for there is no condemnation in them
to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh
but after the Spirit." Against a mistake of this sort Bernard
also strove to put his monks on the guard. " I exhort you,
my friends," says he to them,3 " to exalt yourselves some
times above an anxious remembrance of your past conduct to a
contemplation of the divine goodness, that you who are abashed
by the contemplation of yourselves may breathe again by looking
away to God. True, pain about sin is necessary ; but it should
not be a pain that lasts for ever. Let it be interrupted by the
more joyful remembrance of divine grace, that the heart may not
become hardened by grief or wither in despair. The grace of
God abounds over every sin. Hence the righteous man is not a
self-accuser to the end, but only at the beginning, of prayer ;
1 Nunquam enim expellitur de corde, nisi alia cogitatione et alia voluntate, quae illis
non concordat.
2 Similiter se debet habere persona in sancto proposito studiosa, in quolibet motu in
decent* in corpore vel anima, sicuti est stimulus carnis aut irae, aut invidiae aut inanis
gloria. Tunc enim facillime extinguuntur, cum et illos velle sentire, aut de illis cogitare,
aut aliquid illorum suasione facere dedignamur.
3 See xi. on Solomon's Song, ii., JE. 1296.
x2

324 YVES OF CHARTRES, ON THE ANCHORITE LIFE.
but he ends with ascribing praise to God." Accordingly, he
exhorted his monks, from his own experience, not to suffer them
selves to be kept from prayer by any momentary feeling of spi
ritual barrenness. " Often we come to the altar with lukewarm,
barren hearts, and address ourselves to prayer. But if we per
severe, grace is suddenly poured in upon us, the heart becomes
full, and a current of devotional feelings flows through the soul."1
So he warns beginners especially against the excesses of asceti
cism. " It is," says he to them, " your self-will, which teaches
you not to spare nature, not to listen to reason, not to follow the
counsel or example of your superiors. You had a good spirit ;
but you do not use it rightly. I fear that you have received
another instead, which, under the appearance of the good, will
deceive you ; and that you, who began in the Spirit, will end in
the flesh. Know you not that a messenger of Satan often clothes
himself as an angel of light ? God is wisdom ; and he requires
a love which, instead of surrendering itself merely to pleasant
feelings, unites itself also with wisdom. Hence the apostle,
Bom. xii.. 1, speaks of a service of God which is reasonable.
If you neglect knowledge, the spirit of error will very easily
lead your zeal into wrong directions ; and the cunning enemy
has no surer means of banishing love from the heart, than when
he can get men to walk in it improvidently and not according to
reason."2 Those dangers of the interior life would especially beset the
anchorets, who were left to their own feelings, who could find
neither counsel nor encouragement in society, and could not be
led back from their wanderings to the right path by the guidance
of an experienced mind. Hence it was thought necessary to
warn men of the dangers to which this kind of life was pecu
liarly exposed. Thus Yves, bishop of Chartres,3 took ground
against those who, puffed up by the leaven of the Pharisees,
boasted of their spare diet and bodily mortifications, whereas,
according to the declarations of the apostle, 1 Timoth. iv. 8,
bodily exercise profiteth little ; and the kingdom of God, Rom.
xiv. 17, consisteth not in meat and drink, but in righteousness,
peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. The solitude of groves and
l In Cantica canticorum, n. *.. $ 7. 2 L. c. s. xx., § 7. 3 Ep. 192.

YVES OF CHARTRES, ON Till! ANCHORITE LIFE. 325
of mountains cannot make a man blessed, unless he brings with
hiui that solitude of the soul, that sabbath of the heart, that
elevation of the spirit, without which idleness and storms of dan
gerous temptation attend every solitude ; and the soul never
finds rest, unless God hush to silence these storms of temptation.
" But if you have his grace with you," he writes, " be assured of
blessedness in whatever place you may be ; in whatever order, in
whatever garb, you may serve God."1 A certain monk proposed
to exchange the life of the convent for that of solitude ; but he
warned him not to do so." He bid him remember that Christ
left the wilderness to engage in public labours. Hence he de
clared the life of the anchorite inferior to that of the monastery ;
because in the former the man is abandoned to his self-will and
his own troublesome thoughts, which disturb the quiet of the
soul. This he had learned from the experience of many, who
had before led a blameless life, but, after becoming anchorets,
fell into lamentable aberrations. That warm and hearty devotee
to the work of missions, Eaymund Lull, complains of it as a
great evil, that pious monks retired into solitudes, instead of
giving up their lives for their brethren, and in preaching the
gospel among the infidels. " I behold the monks," says he,
"dwelling in the country and in deserts, in order to avoid the
occasions of sin amongst us ; I see them ploughing and cultivat
ing the soil, in order to provide the means of support for them
selves, and to supply the necessities of the poor. But, far as I
can stretch my eyes and look, I can see scarcely an individual
who, from love to thee, goes forward to meet the death of the
martyr, as thou didst from love to us." He longs for the time,
which he describes as a glorious day, when pious monks, skilled
in the languages of foreign nations, shall follow the example of
the apostles, and, betaking themselves amongst the infidels,
stand ready to lay down their lives in preaching the faith. Thus
would the holy zeal of the apostles return.3 The abbot Peter of
1 L. c.
2 Ep. 256.
3 0 gloriose Domine, quando erit ilia benedicta Dies, in qua videam, quod suneti re-
ligiosi velint te adeo laudare, quod eant in terras exteras ad dandam laudem de tua sancta
trinitate et de tua sancta unitate et de tua benedicta incarnatione et de tua gravi pas-
sione ? Ilia dies esset dies gloriosa, et dies, in qua rediret devotio, quam sancti apostoli
babebant in moriendo pro suo Domino Jesu Christo. In the magnus liber contempla-
tionis in Deum, opp. t. ix., f. 246.

326 PETER OF CLUNY, ON THE LIFE OF A RECLUSE.
Cluny, writes to a recluse,1 that " his outward separation from
the world would avail him nothing, if he was destitute of the
only firm bulwark against besetting sins within the soul itself.
This bulwark is the Saviour. By union with him, and by fol
lowing him in his sufferings, he would be safe against the attacks
of all enemies, or able to repel them. Without this protection,
it was not of the least use for one to shut himself up in solitude,
mortify the body, or travel to foreign lands ; but he would only
expose himself thereby to more grievous temptations. Every
mode of life, that of laymen, of clergymen, of monks, and par
ticularly that of anchorets and recluses, has its peculiar temp
tations. First of all, the temptations of pride and of vanity.
The anchoret takes delight in picturing to his fancy what he is
by this mode of life more than others. The solitary, uniform
life, in inactive repose, he cannot bear ; and yet he is ashamed
to abandon a mode of living which he has once chosen.2 The
repressed impulses seek room for play, therefore, in some artifi
cial manner. Thousands flock to consult him as an oracle, and to
ask his advice about everything. They make confession of their
sins to him, and implore his spiritual counsel. They invite him
to aid them by his intercessions in a great variety of matters,
and offer him presents. Thus both his ambition and his avarice
are gratified. While he exhorts people to give to the poor, he
may amass great treasures for himself." After the manner here
described, persons who had begun as strict anchorets, might
soon, through the excessive veneration which was shewn them,
and the numerous presents which they received, be turned away
from the course which they had chosen. Many monkish institu
tions, governed by the strictest rule, degenerated in this way.
Impostors, too, would sometimes take advantage of the popular
credulity, contrive to render themselves famous as strict ancho
rets, and thus make themselves rich. 3 The monks, who roved

1 Lib. i., ep. 20.
2 Prae taedio dormitando, ipsius miserabilis taedii non in Deo, sed in mundo, non in
se, sed extra se quaerit remedium. Nam quia semel assumptum propositum eremitam
deserere pudet, quaeritur occasio frequentis alieni colloquii, ut qui multa de se tacens
tormenta patitur, aliorum saltem confabulatiouibus relevetur.
3 Thus it is related in the life ofthe abbot Stephen, of Obaize, in the province of Li
mousin, in the firBt half of tbe twelfth century, that a person bad settled down there as
an anchoret, and built himself an oratory. He gladly received whatever the people

ABELARD ON THE WORLDLY SPIRIT OF THE MONKS. 327
about as preachers of repentance, might produce great effects
amongst the uneducated and neglected people. But when power
ful compunctions, showing themselves outwardly by sensible signs,
resulted from these impressions, and an excitement of this kind,
accompanied with strong sensuous ekments, seized irresistibly
on the multitude, it required consummate wisdom to give the
right direction to such a movement of the affections, so that no
thing impure might intermingle, so that the sensuous element
might not prevail over the spiritual, and give birth to a fanati
cism which would even run into immorality, as it was said to have
done in the case of a certain Eobert of Arbrissel.1 Amongst the
vast multitude of monks, there were many who embraced this
mode of life only for the purpose of obtaining consideration and
an easy living, while they spent their time in idleness ; and if,
on the one hand, there were pious monks who exerted a powerful
and wholesome influence on the religious feelings and the religious
education of multitudes, so there proceeded, on the other hand,
from the ranks of the uneducated or hypocritical monks, active
disseminators of every kind of superstition. Abelard was one
who stood forth as a stern reprover of this class of monks. He
describes how those who had retired from the world became cor
rupted by the veneration in which they were held, fell back again
into the world, paid court to the rich, and, instead of speaking
to their consciences, lulled them to security in their sins by
teaching them to depend on their intercessions.2 He applies to
such the words in Ezek. xiii. 18 : " Woe to you that sew pillows
to all armholes, and make kerchiefs upon the heads of young and
old, to catch souls !" " What other meaning has this than that
we pacify the consciences of worldly people by our sweet words,

brought him, and what he could make no use of himself he converted into money. Once
he appointed a day on which they were to assemble there together to hear a mass. Many
came in the morning, but found him no longer there. He had absconded with all he
possessed. Hence there was a want of confidence in that district, towards all who
represented themselves as anchorets. See 1. i., c. iv., in Baluz. Miscellan. t. iv., p. 78.
1 See farther onward.
2 Sint, qui longa eremi conversatione et abstinentia tantum religionis nomen adepti
sunt, ut a potentioribus saeculi vel saecularibus viris sub aliqua pietatis occasione sae
pius invitentur et sic diabolico cribro more paleae ventilati, de eremo removeantur in
saeculo. Qui multis adulationum favoribus dona divitum venantes tam suam, quam
illorum jugulant animas.

328 JOACHIM ON WICKED MONKS.
instead of improving their lives by our honest reproofs V'1 In like
manner Hildebert, of Mans, boldly unmasked the hypocritical
monks. " Let his pale, haggard countenance," says he, " excite
reverence ; let him stand forth in coarse and squalid raiment, the
stern censor of manners ; yet for all this he is far astray from
the path that leads to life."2 Eaymund Lull, in one of his books,
where he relates the wanderings of a friend of that true wisdom
which begins in the love of God (philosophia amorisj, describes,,
how, in his search after this true love, he comes to a monastery
that stood in the highest reputation for piety. Eejoiced at be
holding so many united together in offering praise to God, he
thinks he has at last-found the dwelling of true love. Soon,
however, he observes a monk with a patched cowl ; but he was a
hypocrite ; for though he fasted, preached, laboured, and prayed
abundantly, yet he did it only for the sake of being regarded as
a saint by the others. Beside him stood another, who fasted
and prayed still more. He did so, however, because he supposed
that God would certainly make him so holy that he might be able
to work miracles, and so be venerated as a saint after his death.4
Here the joy of the lover of true wisdom vanished ; for he could
not help seeing how much he was dishonoured by such conduct,
who alone should command the love of all. Even that enthusi
astic friend of the contemplative life of the monk, abbot Joachim,
declared that while a monk who stands firm under temptations
attains to the highest degree of the spiritual life, so one that
yields to them becomes the worst of men. " Let a monk once
become wicked," said he, " and there is not a more covetous and
ambitious creature than he is."5
l Quid est autem pulvillos cubitis vel cervicalia capitibus supponere, nisi saecularium
hominum vitam blandis sermonibus demulcere, quam nos magis aspens increpationibus
oportebat corrigere. Quorum dona quum sustulerimus, eos utique de suffragio nostra-
rum orationum confidentes, in suis iniquitatibus relinquimus securiores. De Joanne
baptista sermo, opp. Abaelardi, p. 954.
2 Ut in eo adoretur osseus et exanguis vultus, ut sermo censorius ei sit et cultus in-
cultior, extra viam est, quae ducit ad vitam. Ep. 11.
3 In his Arbor philosophiae amoris, opp. t. vi., f. 66.
* Hoc faciebat ideo, quia habebat opinionem, quod Deum ipsum deberet facere tam
sanctum, quod etiam posset facere miracula, et cum esset mortuus, quod de ipso singulis
annis fieret sollenne festum.
6 Nee putes ambitione monachum non es6e tentandum, quia mortuus est mundo,
quia nihil, si malus est, ambitiosius monacho, nihil avarius invenitur. ln tbe Concor
dia veteris et novi testamenti, c. ii., p. 109.

NORBERT S CONVERSION. ,'29
Casting a glance at the various monastic societies, which sprang
up within this period, we notice, in the first place, those which
derived their origin from efforts of reform amongst the clergy ;
and which may, therefore, be regarded as a medium of transition
from the clerus to the body of monks. Among these belongs the
order of Praemonstrants, whose founder, Norbert, was born in
the city of Xantes, in the dukedom of Cleves, between a.d. 1080-
1085. Descended from a family of note, he lived at first after
the manner of the ordinary secular clergy, sometimes at the
court of the archbishop Frederic the First, of Cologne, some
times at that of the emperor Henry the Fifth. But in the year
1114, being caught by a storm, while riding out for his pleasure,
a flash of lightning struck near him and prostrated him to the
earth. On recovering his breath and coming to his senses, he
felt admonished by the thought of the sudden death from which
he had been saved as by a miracle, and resolved to begin a more
serious course of life. From this incident he was led to compare
the history of his own conversion with that of the apostle Paul,
and to represent it as partaking of the miraculous. He laid aside
his sumptuous apparel for a humbler dress, and after a season of
earnest spiritual preparation, entered the order of priests. In
Germany and in France he itinerated as a preacher of repentance,
and by his admonitions and reproofs restored peace between con
tending parties. He rebuked the worldly-minded clergy, and the
degenerate canonical priests. By this course, however, he made
himself many enemies, and was accused of preaching where he
had no call to preach. He found a protector in pope Gelasius
the Second, who gave him full power to preach wherever he chose.
He was everywhere received with great respect. Whenever he
entered the vicinity of villages or castles, and the herdsmen saw
him, they left their cottages and ran to announce his arrival. As
he proceeded onward the bells rang ; young aud old, men and
women, hastened to church, where, after performing mass, he
spoke the word of exhortation to the assembled people. After
sermon he conversed with individuals on the concerns of the soul.
Towards evening he was conducted to his lodgings, all were
emulous of the honour and blessing of entertaining him as a
guest. He did not take up his residence, as was customary with
itinerant ecclesiastics and monks, in the church, or in a monastery,

330

THE PREMONSTRATENSIANS.

but in the midst of the town, or in the castle, where he could
speak to all and bestow on such as needed, the benefit of his
spiritual advice. Thus he made himself greatly beloved among
the people. In the year 1119, he visited pope Calixtus the Se
cond, in Eheims, where that pope had assembled a council. This
pope confirmed the full powers bestowed on him by his prede
cessor, and recommended him to the protection of the bishop of
Laon. The latter wished to employ him as an instrument for
bringing back his canonical priests to a life corresponding to their
rule. But meeting here with too violent an opposition, Norbert
withdrew from the field ; as the bishop, however, wished to re
tain him in his diocese, Norbert chose a desert region in it, the
wild valley of Premonstre ( P raemonstratum Pratum monstra-
tum) in the forest of Coucy, as a suitable spot for a retreat. Such
was the first foundation of a new spiritual society, which, attach
ing itself to the so-called rule of Augustin, aimed to unite preach
ing and the cure of souls with the monastic life. From this spot
he travelled in every direction to preach — to France, to Flandersj
and to Germany, at the invitation of ecclesiastics, communities,
and noblemen. The pious count Theobald of Champagne pro
posed uniting himself, and all he possessed, with the new spiri
tual foundation. But Norbert dissuaded him from his purpose
by showing him how much good of which he might be the instru
ment as a prince, would thus be prevented. "Far be it from
me," said he to the count, "to harbour a wish of disturbing the
work which God is doing through you." When, finally, he be
came archbishop of Magdeburg (1126), he sought, but not without
violent opposition, to introduce his order there. He died a.d.
1134. Norbert was one of the number also, about whom marvellous
stories were circulated. But if the veneration of the multitude,
and the enthusiasm of some of his disciples, attributed miracles
to him, yet, the more critically examining, and we must add,
inimically disposed Abelard, accuses him of ambitiously seeking
after this reputation, of obtaining it by deceptive arts ; and when
his promises were not fulfilled, of ascribing the failure to the un
belief of others.1
1 Thus, when others told of Norbert, that, not long before bis death, he called the dead
to life, Abelard ridiculed his vain attempts to raise the dead. Ad majora ilia veniam et

USEFUL LABOURS OF ROBERT OF ARBRISSEL. 331
We should here mention also, as belonging to the same age,
Eobert of Arbrissel. He had been carried away, in his youth, by
both tendencies ofthe enthusiasm of his times, tho scientific and
the religious. After having pursued his studies with great zeal
at Paris, he gained considerable celebrity by his attainments iii
science, and also by his strictly ascetic and pious life. The bishop
of Eennes, who was possessed of a zeal for reform — induced by
the high reputation of the young man, drew him to his church,
where he laboured four years as priest. He attached himself to
the Hildebrandian movement for the reformation of the church,
and was zealous in opposing the corruption of morals in the clergy,
and in upholding the severity of the laws of celibacy, and against
simony. He was a forcible preacher, and his discourses produced
many of those effects, which we have already noticed as attending
the influential preachers of these times. After the death of his
bishop, he betook himself to the solitary life. His reputation
attracted to him numbers of both sexes, who wished to train
themselves under his direction in the way of spiritual living.
Pope Urban the Second conferred on him the dignity of apostolic
preacher, by virtue of which he might travel about everywhere
and call sinners to repentance, and restore peace between con
tending parties. He exercised an astonishing power over men
and women. Vicious persons were so influenced by it, as to
make full confession of their sins to him, and promise amend
ment. Others, who had led an upright life in the world, were
persuaded wholly to forsake it. Such, for example, was the
effect produced by the society of this man on the mother of the
famous abbot Peter of Cluny, who entertained him for a while in
her house. She secretly vowed that she would become a nun, and
resolved to execute her vow as soon as her husband died, or
summa ilia miracula de resuscitandis quoque mortuis inaniter tentata. Quod quidem
nuper praesumsisse Norbertum et coapostolum ejus Farsitum mirati fuimus et risimus.
Qui diu pariter in oratione coram populo prostrati et de sua praesumtione frustrati, cum
a proposito confusi diciderent, objurgare populum, impudentercoeperunt, quod devotioni
suae et constanti fidei fidelitas eorum obsisteret. Sermo de Joanne baptista, p. 967. It
is worthy of note that the Praemonstranst, who wrote Norbert's life, makes no mention
of his having raised tbe dead, and that in bis prologue he declares : Many things must
be passed over on account of the infideles et impii, qui quidquid leguut et audiunt, quod
ab eorum studiis et conversationibus sit alienum, falsum continuum et coufictum esse
judicarenonmetuunt, ea duntaxat breviter attingens, quae omnibus nota sunt neque
ipsi ulla improbitate audeant difiiteri. Acta Sanctor. Mens. Jun. t. i., f. 819.
5

332 PAUPERES CHRISTI. NUNS OF FONS EBRALDI,
would permit her to do so., It was said of his sermons, that
every individual who heard them, felt the words to be aimed at
himself as much as if they were addressed to him personally and
with design.2 There was formed under his direction a religious
society composed of persons of both sexes, and of ecclesiastics
and laymen, whom be denominated the Pauperes Christi. His
admirers were disposed to regard the moral effects that resulted
from his labours as something beyond miracles ; and it deserves
notice that, although he produced such powerful impressions by
his preaching, yet during his lifetime not a single miracle was
ascribed to him, — the reason of which may doubtless be found in
the peculiar spirit of his labours ; for on this point the enthu
siastic admirer who wrote his life, says, that miracles wrought
within men's souls are more than those performed on their
bodies.3 The enduring monument of his activity was the order of
nuns at Fontevraud (Fons Ebraldi), a convent not far from the
town of Candes in Poitou. It is impossible to mistake the marks
which show that this man was actuated by a glowing zeal for the
salvation of souls ; though we must confess that, as in the case of
many powerful preachers of times so given to the eccentric, his
zeal may not have been accompanied with a spirit of prudence,
nor exempt from fanatical excesses ; and some of the bad effects
which attached themselves to the great results of his labours, may
doubtless have proceeded from these causes. His enthusiastic
admirers will not allow us, it is true, to perceive any mixture of
lights and shades in the picture they have drawn of him ; but the
way in which the abbot Gottfried of Vendome, and bishop Hil
debert of Mans, or Marbod of Eennes, describe his labours, con-
1 Words of the abbot Peter of Cluny, concerning his mother: Famosa illi Roberto
de Brusello ad se venienti et secum aliquamdiu moranti impulsa violento aestu animi
se in monaeham ignorante viro redderet, ut eo defuncto vel concedentestatim ad fontem
Ebraudi, si viveret, demigraret. Epp. 1. ii., ep. 17.
2 Bishop Baldric, in the account of his life, at tbe 25th of February, u. iv.. § 23 :
Tantam praedicationis gratiam ei Dominus donaverat, ut cum communem sermocina-
tionem populo faceret, unusquisque quod sibi conveniebat, acciperet.
3 This is evident, from the beautiful words in the account of his life, a. iv., § 23: Ego
audenter dico, Robertum in miraculis copiosum, super daeraones imperiosum, super
principes gloriosum. Quis euirn nostri temporis tot languidos curavit, tot leprosos
mundavit, tot mortuos suscitavit? Qui de terra est.de terra loquitur et miracula in
corporibus admiratur. Qui autem spiritualis est, languidos et leprosos, mortuos quoque
convaluisse testatur, quando quilibet animabus lauguidis et leprosis suscitandis consulit
et medetur.

Robert's character as judged by his opponents. 333
tain features too characteristic to leave it possible for us to con
ceive that they should have been pure inventions, and they more
over agree with other kindred examples of these times. t If the
squalid raiment in which he travelled about as a preacher of re
pentance, contributed to procure for him the reverence of the
multitude, — and he is said to have given it himself as a reason
for wearing them, that they drew more veneration from the sim
ple ; yet there were others who blamed him for attempting to dis
tinguish himself in this way, and complained that he did not dress
according to his station, as a canonical ecclesiastic and priest.
They styled it only a species of vanity, and assured him that, to
reasonable people, he must appear like a crazy man.2 By cen
suring the worldly-minded clergy in which he followed altogether
the spirit ofthe Hildebrandian party, he drew after him the mul
titude, who delighted in such things. On the other hand, it is
said in the letter above noticed, " of what use is it to censure the
absent? So far from being of any use, it must seem to his ig
norant bearers, as if he gave them liberty thereby to sin, — hold
ing up to them, as he does, the example of their superiors, whose
authority they might plead. By such censures the absent would
rather be excited to indignation than persuaded to amendment.
Of some advantage, however, it was perhaps, to himself, to make
every other order of the church contemptible in the eyes of the
multitude, so that he and his followers might stand alone in their
esteem. Such cunning, however, savours of the old man ; it is
something diabolical. It accords not with his calling, with his
1 Even if the persons mentioned were not the authors of these letters, if one or tbe
other of them was written by Roscelin, a truth of this kind may have been lying at
bottom. This Roscelin, when a canonical priest, was an adversary of Robert of Arbris.
sei, who seemed desirous of transforming the regular clergy into monks. Abelard says
of him (ep. 21 ) : Hie contra egregium ilium praeconem Christi Robertum de Arbrosello
conturaacem ausus est epistolam confingere.
2 Ep. Marbod. among the letters of Hildebert, f. 1408: De pannosi habitus insolentia
plurimi te redarguendum putant, quoniam nee canonicae professioni, sub qua militare
coepisti, nee sacerdotali ordini, in quem promotus es, convenire videtur. Est enim
singulis quibusque professionibus sive ordinibus apta quaedam et congrua distinctio
habenda, quae si permutetur, publicum offendit judicium. Videamus ergo, ne ista, per
quae admirationem parare volumus, ridicula et odiosa sint. That he went about in a
cowl full of boles, barefoot, and with a long beard, as a novel sight for all, ut ad orna
tum luuatici solam tibi jam clavam detsse loquantur. Haec tibi non tam apud
simplices, ut dicere soles, auctoritatem, quam apud sapientes furoris suspicionem com
parand *

334 Robert's character as judged by his opponents.
itinerant wanderings, with the squalid dress he wears. The con
gregations leave their priests, whom they are taught to look upon as
worthless ; they despise their intercessions, and will no longer sub
mit to church penance from them ; will no longer pay them tithes
and firstlings. To him and his followers they flock in crowds ; and
to him and his, pay the honour which they owe to their own
priests. Yet these poor people are not influenced by the love of
religion, but manifestly by that love of novelty, which is ever a
ruling passion with the multitude ;x for nobody can perceive any
amendment in their lives." It was now objected to him generally,
that he placed too much reliance on momentary feelings of com
punction, and made no further inquiry into the temper of those on
whom his discourses had produced an effect. He was accused of
saying, that he was satisfied could he prevent a man from sinning,
even for a single night. He was accused of accepting at once
every man, who, after some such superficial impression, expressed
a wish to retire from the world. Hence, people of this class fell
afterwards into a worse state than ever. He was accused of a
pharasaical zeal to make proselytes. " So great is the number
of his disciples," said these adversaries, " that they may be seen
with their long beards and their black dresses, running in troops
through the provinces ; wearing shoes in the country, going bare
foot in the towns and villages. And if these people are asked,
why they do so, the only reply they have to make is, ' They are
the people of the Master.' " Especially was he censured for his
manner of operating upon the female sex ; for his too free inter
course with them, and for his renovation of the dangerous fanati
cism of the subintroductae.v He is said to have allowed himself
to be influenced in his conduct towards the female sex too" much
by whim and caprice; to some, being too lenient ; to others, too
severe ; imposing on them too harsh modes of penance. Gottfried
of Vendome, — who intimates, however, that this charge against
Eobert of Arbrissel came by no means from credible sources,3
— represents to him how tenderly the weaker sex should be dealt

1 Quos tamen, ut manifestum est, non religionis amor, sed ea, quae semper vulgo fa-
miliaris est, curiositas et novorum cupiditas ducit,
2 2ui/E«r<zKTos, vol. i., 378, and vol. iii. 200,
-3 Quod si ita est, iv. 46. t

PETER MAURITIUS OPPOSED TO EXCESSIVE ASCETICISM. 335
with ; how easily many might by his mode of treatment be reduced
to despair.1
We noticed, at the close of the preceding period, the origin of
the order of Cluny ; and we have described the high consideration
it attained through tho merits of the men who stood at its head.
In the beginning of this period, the friend of Gregory the Seventh,
abbot Hugo, joined himself to it ; but so much the more mis
chievous in its influence on the order was the bad administration
of his successor, Pontius, who was finally obliged, in the year
1122, to resign his post. Soon afterwards the place was filled
by one who is to be numbered among the most distingushed men
of the church in his times, the abbot Peter Mauritius, to whom
even his contemporaries gave the title of Venerable. By him,
the order was once more raised to distinction. He was descended
from a family of consideration in Auvergne, and is to be reckoned
among the many great men of the church on whose development
the influence of Christian training, by pious mothers, had a last
ing effect. The character of his mother, who later in life became
a nun, was delineated by his own pen with filial affection, soon
after her death.2 Under him the order took a different direction
from that in which it had originated. As this man, distinguished
for his amiable and gentle spirit, strongly sympathized with
everything purely human, so, under his guidance, the monastery,
before consecrated alone to rigid asceticism, became a seat also
of the arts and sciences.3 A Christian delicacy of feeling, far
removed from the sternness and excess which we elsewhere find
in monasticism, forms a characteristic trait in the character of
this individual. To a prior, who was not disposed to relax in
the least from the zeal of an over-rigid asceticism, he wrote :
" God accepts no sacrifices which are offered to him contrary to
his own appointed order." He held up to him the example of
Christ : "The devil invited Christ to cast himself down from the
pinnacle of the temple ; but he who came to give his life for the
1 Fragilis est multum et delicatus sexus femineus et idcirco necesse est, ut pietatis
dulcedine potius quam nimia severitate regatur, ne forte abundantiori tristitia absor-
beatur, et qui eum rege.re debet, sic a satana circumveniatur.
2 Lib. ii. ep. 17.
3 Lib. iii. ep. 7. He praises «. monk who diligently devoted himself to scientific
studies: Monachum longe melius Cluniaci, qbam quemlibet philosophum in academia
philosophantem stupeo.

336 MAURITIUS ON TRUE SOLITUDE. HIS LETTERS.
salvation ofthe world, refused to end it by a suicidal act, — thereby
setting an example, which admonishes us that we are not to push
the mortification of the body to self-destruction.1 So Paul also
(1 Timothy v. 23), following the example of Christ, exhorts his
disciple, that he should provide for his body with moderation, not
that he should destroy it." He blames him for not heeding the
affectionate remonstrances of the pious brethren amongst his in
feriors. " When a man pays no regard to those who speak such
words of love, he despises the love itself which prompted such
words. And he who despises love, can have none himself. But
of what avail is all the fasting in the world, and all mortifications
ofthe flesh, to him who has no love] (1 Cor. xiii.) Abstain,
then, from flesh and from fish ; push thy abstinence as far as thou
wilt ; torture thy body, allow no sleep to thine eyes ; spend the
night in vigils, the day in toils ; still, whether willing or unwill
ing, thou must hear the apostle : ' Even if thou givest thy body
to be burned, it profits thee nothing.'" Far removed from this
monkish estrangement from humanity, he was aware that the sup
pression of man's natural feelings stood at variance with the
essence of Christianity ; on which point he thus expresses him
self in a beautiful letter to his brother, on the occasion of their
mother's death : " The feelings of nature, sanctified by Chris
tianity, should be allowed their rights in the free shedding of
tears. Paul (1 Tbess; iv. 13), does not object to sorrow generally,
but only to the sorrow of unbelief, the sorrow which contends
against Christian hope."2 To a monk, who thought himself bound
to keep away from his native country, lest he should be attracted
by some earthly tie, he wrote :* " If pious men must abhor their
country, Job would not have remained in his; the devout Magians
would not have returned to theirs ; our Lord himself would not
have rendered his own illustrious by his miracles. The pious,
then, are not obliged to fly from their country, but only from its
customs, if they are bad. Neither ought the good man to fly from
his relations and friends, from fear of the contamination of wicked-
1 Ut doceret, utiliter quidem carnem esse mortificandam, sed non more bomicidarurn
crudeliter perimendam.
2 Non noster talis dolor, quem generat non fidei defectus, sed nulla lege prohibitos
mutuae germanitatis affectus. Non noster talis fletus, quem fundimus, non futurorum
desperatione, sed naturae compassioue.
3 Lib. ii., ep. 22.

HIS FREEDOM WITH THE POPES. 337
ness ; rather, he should endeavour to win them to salvation by
wholesome admonitions; he should not be afraid of their earthly
affections, but rather seek to communicate to them his own
heavenly affections. I myself," said he, " would gladly retire into
solitude ; bnt, if it is not granted me, or until it is granted me,
let us follow the example of him who, amidst the crowd, in royal
banquets, and surrounded by gilded walls, could say, he dwelt in
solitude (Ps. Iv. 8. according to the Vulgate.) And such a soli
tude we can construct in the recesses of the heart, where alone
the true solitude is found by true despisers of the world, —
where no stranger finds admittance ; where, without bodily utter
ance, is heard in gentle murmurs the voice of our discoursing
Master. In this solitude, let us, my dearest son, so long as we
are in the body, and dwell as strangers on the earth, — even in
the midst of tumults, — take refuge ; and what we would seek in
distant countries, find in ourselves ; for the kingdom of God is
indeed in us." His letters evidence the intimate communion of
spirit which he cherished with those of kindred disposition
amongst the monks. Thus he writes to one of them : " When I
would search with thee into the mysteries of the Holy Scriptures,
'thou didst always come and join me with the greatest delight.
When I would converse with thee on matters of worldly science,
though still under the guidance of divine grace, I found in thee a
ready mind and an acute discernment. 0, how often, with the
doors shut, — and him alone for our witness who is never absent
where thought and discourse dwell on him, has awful converse
been held by us, on the blindness and hardness of man's heart ;
on the various entanglements of sin, on the manifold snares of
wicked spirits, on the abyss of the divine judgments ; how have
we, with fear and trembling, adored him in his counsels respect
ing the children of men, — when we considered, that he has mercy
on whom he will have mercy, and hardens whom he will ; and
that no man knows, whether he deserves love or hatred ; on the
uncertainty of our calling ;x when we meditated ou the economy
of salvation, by the incarnation and sufferings of the Son of God ;
on the dreadful day of the last judgment !"2 With great bold
ness, he told even the popes their faults. Thus he wrote to
1 We perceive here the influence of tlie Augustinian doctrine.
2 Lib. ii., ep. 22.
VOL. VII. Y

338

CISTERCIANS.

Eugene the Third ;i " Though you have been set by God over
the nations, in order to root out and to pull down, to build and
to plant (Jerem. i. 10) ; still, because you are neither God, nor
the prophet to whom this was said, you may be deceived, be
trayed, by those who seek only their own. For this reason, a
faithful son, who would put you on your guard against such dan
gers, is bound to make known to you what has been made known
to him, and what you perhaps may still remain ignorant of."
When the Clnniacensian order had thus departed from its an
cient austerity, and when milder principles prevailed in the
Benedictine monasticism generally, there sprung up, out of a
certain tendency to reform, an enterprise by which the strictness
of the older models was to be again revoked to life. Robert,
who came from a noble family in Champagne, had, in his child
hood, been presented by his parents as an oblatus to a monastery.
But as monasticism nowhere came up to his high requisitions, he
joined himself to a society of anchorites, who led a strict life in
the forest of Moslesme. The high consideration which this
society attained to by its strict mode of living, procured for it
unsought rich gifts ; and the increase of earthly goods was fol
lowed as usual by relaxation. Hence Eobert, together with
twenty of the most zealous of these recluses, was induced to
separate from the rest. With his companions he retired to a
lonely district, called Citeaux (Cistercium), in the bishopric of
Chalons, not far from Dijon. Here was formed, sometime after
the year 1098, a society of monks, over which Eobert presided.
But he could not carry his work here to its full completion ; for
the monks of Moslesme contrived to obtain an order from pope
Urban the Second, by virtue of which the abbot Eobert was
obliged to return, and assume the direction of that monastery.
He left his disciple Alberic at the head of the new establishment.
Pope Paschalis the Second, confirmed the rule of the new monas
tic order, which had been drawn up after the Benedictine rule,
but with greater severity. The new monasteries presented a
picture of the extremest poverty, and in this respect stood in
striking contrast with the monasteries of Cluny, which in some
cases were distinguished for the embellishments of art. The de-
1 Lib. vi., ep. 12.

BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX. 339
fenders of the hitherto current form of the Benedictine monasti
cism objected, however, to the abbot Eobert that he clung
tenaciously to the letter of the Benedictine rule as the Jews to
the letter of the law ;l aud they maintained, in opposition to
him, that the strictness of ancient monasticism had been properly
modified, with a due reference to the difference of climate.2 Under
the third abbot of Citeaux, Stephen Harding, this new order of
monks had but few members left, its excessive severity having
frightened numbers away. It was first by means of an ex
traordinary man, who belonged amongst the most influential of
his times, that this order attained to higher consideration, and '
became more widely spread. This was the abbot Bernard of
Clairvaux, whose spirit, life, and labours, we must here consider
more in detail.
Bernard was born in the year 1091, at Fontaines, in Bur
gundy, not far from Dijon. His father was a respectable knight ;
and on his education, as in so many other cases, a pious mother,
Aleth, exerted the greatest influence. All her seven children,
six sons and a daughter, she brought, as soon as they saw the
light, to the altar, and consecrated to God. The third of these
sons, Bernard, already exhibited while a child a predominant
religious bent, which, under the influence of such a mother, de
veloped itself at a very early period.3 After the death of his
mother, the young man fell into a kind of society by which he
was drawn away from that earlier bent. Yet this had been too
deeply ingrained into his disposition not to put forth in the end
a mightier reaction against all the impressions made on him at
a later period, and he determined to break loose from all worldly
ties and become a monk. His brothers, not pleased with this

1 See the words of the worthy English Benedictine, Ordericus Vitalis, Hist, eccles.
1. viii., f. 713, where, speaking of those who retired with Robert to Cistereium, he says :
Qui sancti decreverant regulam Benedicti, sicut Judaei legem Mosis ad literam servare
penitus. 2 Orderic. Vital, hist, eccles. 1. viii., f, 712.
3 Suffering when a lad under severe headaches, a woman came to him, and promised
to cure him by incantations and amulets; but he repelled her proposal with great indig
nation. Once, on Christmas-eve, he was at church, and having waited longer than
usual for the commencement of service, fell asleep, and had a vision of Christ, who ap-
peared to him as a child. See the account of Bernard's life by one of his disciples, the
abbot William, in Mabillon, 1. i., c. ii., $ 4.
Y 2

340 Bernard's earlier life.
design, tried to dissuade him from it, and to counteract the love
of monasticism by another of the nobler tendencies of these times,
the enthusiasm for science, which now began to manifest itself,
especially in France. This attempt was not altogether unsuc
cessful ; but the memory of his mother revived in him the impres
sions of his childhood ; he often saw in fancy her image before
him, and heard her admonishing voice. Once, when on his way
to pay a visit to his brother, who was a knight, and then engaged
in beleaguering a castle, — he was so overwhelmed with these re
collections as to feel constrained to enter a church, on the road,
where, with a flood of tears, he poured out his heart before God,
and, solemnly consecrating himself to his service, resolved to
execute the above-mentioned plan of life. And it is character
istic ofthe man, that he chose at once as his ideal the strictest
monasticism of this period, by which so many others were fright
ened away from it. By the invincible fervour of his zeal, which
expressed itself in the force of his language and in his whole de
meanour, several of his relatives and friends, and all his brothers
except the youngest, who was still a child,1 were immediately car
ried away, and induced to join him in his resolution. In the year
1113, he entered, with thirty companions, into the monastery of
Citeaux. He was a monk with his whole soul. In bodily labours as well
as in spiritual exercises, he sought to come fully up to the ideal
of the monastic life. He himself was compelled afterwards to la
ment that, in the first years of his life as a monk, he had so en
feebled his body by excessive asceticism, as to find himself after
wards disqualified from completely fulfilling the duties of his
station.2 But his wide and diversified labours show to what ex
tent the energy of a mind actuated by a sense of the highest
interests could find ways of making even so frail a vessel service-

1 The following incident illustrates one characteristic feature in the life of this period.
The eldest of these brothers, Guido, happening to see the youngest, Nivard, playing with
other boys in the street, called out to him, and said : " You are now owner of all our pro
perty." To which the lad replied, " What ! you have heaven, and I the earth 1 That is
no equitable division."
2 In the account of his life already cited (c. viii. § 41), it is said of him : Non con-
fundilur usque hodie se accusare, sacrilegii arguens semetipsum, quod servitio Dei et
fratrum abstularit corpus suum, dum indiscreto fervore imbecille illud reddiderit ac paene
inutile.

MONASTERY OF CLAIRVAUX. 341
able, and of overcoming the obstacles of a sickly constitution.1
And, in these times, his very looks, which bore the marks of this
rigid self-discipline, only created for him the greater respect.
The fiery energy, with which he spoke and acted, contrasted with
the weakness of his bodily frame, only produced so much the
mightier effects.2
In the three years during which he remained at Citeaux, he
gained in this way so high a reputation, that at the early age of
five and twenty he was placed himself at the head of a monastery.
In a desert and wild valley enclosed by mountains, lying within
the bishopric of Langres, which, in earlier times, having been a
nest of robbers, was called the Valley of Wormwood (Vallis ab-
sinthialis), and afterwards, when cleared of them, Clear Valley
(Clara vallis), it was proposed to found a new monastery of Cis
tercians ; and this, from its location, received the name of Clara-
vallis, or Clairvaux. Bernard was made abbot of it in the year
1115, and this monastery became thenceforth the seat of his mul
tifarious labours, which extended abroad from this point through
the whole of Europe. From that time, men of all ranks and sta
tions, knights and scholars, were attracted to the Cistercian order.
The strictness which had hitherto kept back so many, now acted
as a charm on others. Monasteries after the pattern of Clair
vaux sprang up in the deserts, whose very names were intended
to denote what the interior life could gain in them.3 Within
l When, during the schism under pope Innocent the Third, he was under the neces
sity of journeying to Italy: Instantissima postulatione imperatoris apostolicoque man-
dato nee non ecclesiae ac principum precibus flexi dolentes ac nolentes, debiles atque
infirmi, et, ut verum fateor, pavidae mortis pallidum circumferentes imaginem, trahimur
in Apuliam. Ep. 144, § 4.
2 In the first account of his life, I.e. : Quis nostra aetate, quautumvis robusti cor
poris et accuratae valetudinis tanta aliquando fecit, quanta iste facit et facit moribundus
et lacguidus ad bonorem Dei et sanctae ecclesiae utilitatem ? And from immediate ob
servation, his biographer could say : Virtus Dei vehementius in infirmitate ejus reful-
gens extunc usque hodie digniorem quandam apud homines ei efficit reverentiam et in
reverentia auctoritatem et in auctoritate obedientiam.
3 Ordericus Vitalis, the friend of the old man, says : Multi nobiles athletae et profundi
sophistae ad illos pro novitate 6ingularitatis coneurrerunt et inusitatam districtionem
ultro complexantes in via recta laeti Christo hymnos laetitiae modulati fuerunt. In
desertis atque silvestribus locis monasteria proprio labore condiderunt et sacra illis no
mina solenti provisione imposuerunt, ut est Domus Dei, Claravallis, Bonus mons, et
eleemosyna et alia plura hujusmodi, quibus auditores solo nominis nectare invitantur
festinantur experiri, quanta sit ibi beatitudo, qiiaP tam speeiali deuotetur vocabulo-
Hist, eccles 1. viii., f. 714.

342

MONASTERY OF CLAIRVAUX.

thirty-seven years, the number of convents subordinate to the
abbot of Citeaux was increased to sixty-seven.
Under Bernard's direction, the above-named monastery, situ
ated in an uncultivated region, earned so much by the hard labour
of the monks, that during a severe famine in Burgundy, when
crowds of famishing poor poured in from all quarters to the gates
of the convent, two thousand selected from the multitude, and
marked by a peculiar badge attached to their persons, were sup
plied for several months with all they needed for their sustenance,
while others at the same time received indiscriminate alms.1 The
monastery of Clairvaux became the model of monasticism ; and
colonies from it, to found other establishments after the same
pattern, were demanded from all quarters ; so that the abbot Ber
nard sometimes found himself unable to comply with all the in
vitations that were sent to him. To all parts of France, Italy,
Spain, Switzerland, Germany, England, Ireland, Denmark, and
Sweden, monks must be sent from Clairvaux for the purpose of
founding new monasteries or of reforming old ones f and thus
Bernard, at his death, in 1153, left behind him one hundred and
sixty monasteries, which had been formed under his influence.
Hence he had connections and correspondents with all these
countries ; and the establishments which had thus arisen ever
regarded him as their father and teacher. Hence his letters and
his influence would be widely diffused through all these lands.
He was the counsellor of noblemen, bishops, princes, and popes.
As we have seen, he was often summoned to their assistance, to
settle disputes, to quiet disturbances ; insomuch that he was con
strained to lament over the little opportunity that was left him,
in the multiplicity of external business, to lead the kind of life
which became a monk. The general enthusiasm demanded him
for bishop in many of the more important cities — such as Lan
gres, Chalons sur Marne, Eheims, Genoa, and Milan ; but he de
clined every such invitation.4 Before princes and nobles he stood
up as an advocate for the unfortunate, and for the victims of in-
1 See the account of the life of John Eremita the Second, 6, in his wcrks, ed. Mabil
lon, f. 1287.
2 See the second account of his life by Bernald, iv. 26, and tbe third, vii. 22.
3 Amici, qui me quotidie de claustro ad civitates pertrahere moliuntur. Ep. 21-
i See the second account of his life by Bernald, iv. 26.

BERNARD ON OBEDIENCE TO THOSE IN AUTHORITY. 313
justice ; he stimulated those who attached themselves to his
person, to benevolent enterprises, and directed them in such
undertakings by his counsel. Amongst the latter belonged par
ticularly the count Theobald of Champagne. He directed that
nobleman in establishing a fund for the support of poor people,
the interest of which should go on continually increasing, and
thus secure a permanent and accumulating capital for relieving
the wants of the needy.1 Although a religious interest, based on
his view of the church theocracy, as we have unfolded it on a for
mer page, induced him to enter the lists in defence of the papal
authority ; and, although he was a zealous instrument in pro
moting the higher objects of the popes ; yet he was no advocate
ofa blind obedience to them, and boldly exposed to them the
wicked acts perpetrated in their name, so that his interference in
public affairs was sometimes extremely irksome to the more im
portant personages near the papal court. Strongly as he recom
mended in general, as a monk, obedience to superiors, yet he
also declared himself opposed to too broad an interpretation of
this duty. " Were a blind and implicit obedience, submitted to
without examination, to become the general rule," says he, " the
words we hear read at church : ' Prove all things, hold fast
that which is good,' would be without meaning. We should have
to expunge from the gospel the words : ' be wise as serpents,' and
retain only, ' be harmless as doves.' True, I do not say that
the commands of superiors ought to be examined by subordinates
where nothing is commanded which is contrary to the divine law ;
but I affirm that wisdom is also necessary to detect whatever
may be commanded contrary to those laws ; and freedom to re
gard every such command with contempt.2 Say, suppose one
should place a sword in your hand, and bid you point it against
his own throat, would you obey him ? Or, if he bid you plunge
into the flames or into the flood 1 Would you not be yourself a
partaker of the crime, were it in your power to prevent another
from so doing and you failed to exert it V'6 This principle he
1 L. c. viii. 52 Eleemosynas ea sagacitate disponere, ut semper fructificautes redivi-
vis et renascentibus accessionibus novas semper eleemosynas parturirent.
2 Nee dico, a subditis mandata praepositorum esse dijudicanda, ubi nihil juberi depre-
heuditur divinis contrarium institutis, sed necessariam assero et prudentiam, qua adver-
tatur, si quid adveisatur et lihertatem, qua et ingenue contemnatur.
3 Ep. 7, $ 12.

344 STORIES OF BERNARD'S MIRACULOUS CURES.
applies, in the letter where it is expressed, to the relation of men
to the pope ; and he sets the command of Christ, the high priest
of all, over against such a supposed command of the pope. His
own conduct was ever in accordance with this principle. He
shrunk not from writing to Innocent the Second, that the popes
themselves had contributed most to injure their own authority
by abusing it.1 It was the unanimous voice of all who presided
over the communities with a sincere regard for their well-being,
that justice iu the church was falling to decay ; the power of the
keys reduced to nothing ; the episcopal authority losing all re
spect : — since no bishop was allowed to punish wickedness in his
own diocese, and this, owing to the action of the pope and the
Eoman court ; for, men said, whatever good thing the bishop
may devise, it is sure to be frustrated there ; whatever evil they
have rightly removed, is sure to be again introduced. All the
vicious, the quarrelsome who have been expelled by them from
the communities, from the body of the clergy, or of the monks,
run up to Eome and boast of the protection which they there
find."2 We have already spoken of the great power exercised by Ber
nard over the minds of men, when, in the name of pope Eugene,
he preached up the crusade in France and Germany. Though at
that time many deceptions, whether intentional or undesigned,
were mixed in,3 under the name of miraculous cures, yet we can
not suppose the former in the case of such a man as Bernard ;
and unintentional deception would not suffice to explain the ge
neral belief of Bernard's miraculous powers, nor the several
stories so circumstantially narrated.4 Whether it was that the

1 Quid vobis vires minuitis ? Quid robur vestrum deprimitis ? Ep. 178.
2 Quique flagitiosi et contentiosi de populo, sive de clero aut ex monasteriis pulsati
currunt ad vos, redeuntes jactant et gestiunt, se obtinuisse tutores, quos magis ultores
sensisse debuerant.
3 Abelard, who with critical understanding examined into the tales of miraculous
cures in his times, speaks of it: Non ignoramus astutias talium, qui cum febricitantes
a lenibus morbis curare praesumunt, pluribus aliqua vel in cibo vel in potu tribuunt, ut
curent, vel benedictiones vel orationes faciunt. Hoc utique cogitant, ut si quoquomodo
curatio sequatur, sanctitati eorum imputetur. Sin vero minime, infidelitati eorum (i.e.,
of those on whom the cure had been performed) vel desperationi adscribatur, De Joanne
baptista, opp. p. 967.
4 Concerning a boy born blind, to whom he restored sight, in tbe district of Liege, we
find the following account by the monk Gottfried, of Clairvaux, in 1. iv., vi. 34. Trans-

BERNARD'S MIRACLES. 345
confident faith excited by the strong impression which ^this ex
traordinary man everywhere made produced so great effects, and
the religious susceptibility of the times, in which the element of
a critical understanding was so repressed by that of immediate
religious feeling, came to his assistance ; or whether he possessed
some natural magnetic power of healing (a supposition which I
see no reasons for adopting) ; the fact was, Bernard himself
avowed the conviction, that God did perform miracles by him ;
as, for example, in that letter to pope Eugene the Second, already
quoted, where he refers to what he had accomplished in rousing
up Europe to engage in the crusade.1 So, after fighting down
the heretics in the south of France, he appeals, in a letter to the
citizens of Toulouse, to the fact,'-' that he had revealed among
them the truth, not merely by word, but also by power.3 As soli
tary workings of that higher power of life which Christ introduced
into human nature, these facts might perhaps be properly regarded,
wherever they appeared in connection with a genuinely Christian
temper, actuated by the spirit of love. Evidence for this reason
in favour of the entire truth of the doctrines promulgated, they
at the same time certainly were not ; for that higher power of
life, whose fountain-head is union with Christ, does not necessarily

poited at the first ray of light, to him before wholly unknown, the boy cried out, " I see
day, I see everybody, I see people with hair," and, clapping his hands for joy, he ex
claimed, " My God, now I shall no more dash my feet against the stones I" In Cambray
be cured a deaf and dumb boy ; and, as soon as he could speak, the multitude set him
on a wooden bench, that he might salute the people with his new gift of speech, and his
first words were received with a shout of joy. This mouk relates still another case of
which he was an eye-witness, 1. u. § 39 (e plurimis sane, quae in ejusdem apostolici viri
facta sunt comitatu, duo scribimus, quae nos oblivisci ipsa, quam vidimus magnitudo
laetitiae non permittit.) At Charlerie, a country town not far from the city of Provins,
a boy ten years old, who had been for a year so lame in all his limbs as to be unable to
move a single member, not even his head, was presented to him as be passed along the
street, by the lad's parents and other relations. Bernard touched him, and signed the
crose over him ; when, at his bidding, he rose up and walked. The lad was now un
willing to leave his benefactor who had given him the use of his limbs, till Bernard
obliged him to do so. His younger brother embraced him as if he had been restored
from the dead, and many were moved to tears. Four years afterwards bis mother brought
him again to Bernard, as he happened to be passing through the town a second time;
and she bade her son kiss his feet, saying to bim, " This is the man who restored life to
you and you to me."
1 Page 206.
2 Ep. 242.
3 Veritate nimirum per nos manifestata non solum in sermone, sed etiam in virtute.

346 Bernard's miracles.
exclude^errors ; and, moreover, the supposed miracles may have
belonged to the Old Testament position of this period.
Still there were, even then, persons who, in the conflict with
the prevailing spiritual tendencies of their times, doubted or de
nied the truth of those miraculous stories ; persons, to be sure,
who cannot be regarded as unprejudiced witnesses, — who were not
at all less biassed than his enthusiastic admirers, though on a
different side, — the representatives of that critical bent of the
understanding which was most directly opposed to the spirit of
Bernard, — Abelard and his disciples. These seem not to have
acknowledged Bernard's miraculous gifts. Abelard, it is true, in
a passage already quoted,1 does not speak of his miracles, pre
cisely after the same manner in which he does of the miracles of
others, which he directly pronounces a delusion ; nor does he
mention him by name. But proceeding as he does on the general
assumption that miracles were no longer wrought in his age, he
seems to make no exception of the case of Bernard ; — and the
way in which Abelard's talented but haughty disciple, Berengar,
expresses himself, would lead us to infer from the whole tone of
his remarks, though he nowhere disputes the truth of those mira
culous stories, yet his own incredulity with regard to them.2
He himself, for that matter, was far from over-estimating the
value of such miraculous gifts, which he describes as something
rare in this time and difficult of attainment. He advises that
men should rather bend all their efforts in striving after those
Christian virtues without which the church cannot exist, and,
above all, charity, than to be very anxious after these things, —
which served only as an ornament to the church, — which were
not necessary to salvation, and which were attended with many
dangers.3 1 Page 344.
2 He says, manifestly with sarcasm, Jamdudum sanctitudinis tuae odorem ales per
orbem fama dispersit, praeconizavit merita, miracula declamavit. Felicia jactabamus
moderna saecula tam corusci sideris venustata nitore mundumque jam debitum perdi-
tioni tuis meritis subsistere putabamus. Sperabamus in linguae tuae arbitrio coeli sitam
clementiam, aeris temperiem, ubertatem terrae, fructuum benedictionem. Sic diu vixisti,
ut ad semicinctia tua rugire daemones autumaremus et beatulos nos tantulo gloriare-
mui' patrono.
3 Istiusmodi ligna in opus laquearium ad decorem Domus Dei (quae magis noscuntur
Bpta ornatui, quam necessaria fore saluti), quoniam istiusmodi ligna constat et labo-
riose qnaeri et difficile inveniri et periculose elaborari (nam et rara ea praesertim his
temporibus terra nostra producere roperitur). Sermo xlvi., in Cantica canticor. § 8.

internal experience A SOURCE OF KNOWLEDGE. 347
Connected with Bernard's participation in the crusades, was
the part he took also in an undertaking designed for the promo
tion of the same object, the order of Knight Templars. This
order of spiritual knights had been already founded nine years,
but consisted only of eighteen members; when, through Bernard's
co-operation, it received a newly modified rule, at the council of
Troyes, in 11 27, and Bernard's participation in it gave the whole
affair a new impulse. In compliance with the wish of its first
master, Hugo de Paganis, he wrote a discourse of exhortation and
encouragement for the use of the members : " Exhortatio ad milites
tenipli." He extols this order as a combination of monasticism
and knighthood, contrasting it with the common knighthood,
which was only subservient to wicked ends, and inspired by sin
ful desires and passions. He describes the design of it as being
to give the military order and the knighthood a serious Christian
direction, and to convert war into something which God might
approve. " Even infidels," says he, " should not be put to
death, if in any other way they could be prevented from perse
cuting and oppressing Christians ;"x and, as in favour of the cru
sades generally, so also in favour of this order of knights devoted
to the same object, he make it a prominent argument, that Chris
tendom would thereby be relieved from a multitude of mischievous
men, that these men would be called to repentance and rendered
serviceable to the church.
What pre-eminently distinguished this great man was, that to a
bent of mind profoundly contemplative, a rich inward experience,
he united such a many-sided activity directed on the outward world.
As in his own case religious knowledge proceeded from interior
experience, so he endeavoured to guide his disciples and contem
poraries to this fountain-head of the knowledge of divine things,
as opposed to a predominantly scientific direction of the Chris
tian mind.3 Monasticism was so highly valued by him, because he
1 Non quidem vel pagani necandi essent, si quo modo aliter possent a nimia infesta-
tione seu oppressione fidelium cohiberi. ii. 4.
2 Quodque cernitur jocundins et agitur commodius, paucos admodum in tanta multi-
tudine hominum illo conflare videas, nisi utique sceleratos et impios, raptores et eacri-
legos, homicidas, perjuros et adulteros. Sic Christus, sic novit ulcisci in hostem suos,
ut non solum de ipsis, sed per ipsos quoque frequenter soleat tanto gloriosiiiK, quanto et
potentius triumphare, § 10.
3 Which we shall describe more exactly in the fourth section.
4

348 INTERNAL EXPERIENCE A SOURCE OF KNOWLEDGE.
considered it a school of this theology of the heart. Thus he
wrote to a scholastic theologian, whom he invited to become a
monk.1 " Thou, who busiest thyself with the study ofthe prophets,
understandest thou what thou readest ? If thou dost understand
it, then thou knowest that the sense of the prophets is Christ.
And, if thou wouldst have him, know that thou wilt succeed far
better by following him, than by reading. Why seekest thou in
the word that Word, which stands already before thine eyes as the
Word become flesh ? He who has ears to hear, let him hear him
crying in the temple : ' If any man thirst, let him come unto me
and drink ;' and, ' Come unto me, all ye that are weary and
heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' 0, if you had but a taste
of the rich marrow of the grain with which the heavenly Jerusa
lem is satisfied, how gladly wouldst thou leave those Jewish
scribes to nibble their crusts of bread." Then, he adds, " Be
lieve one who has experience, thou wilt find more in the forests
than in books. Woods and stones will teach thee what thou
canst not learn from the masters."2 It was one of Bernard's in
spiring thoughts, that the right knowledge of divine things was
only such a knowledge as proceeds from the interior life, from the
impress of the- divine upon the disposition. Planting himself
upon the words, " The 'fear of the Lord is the beginning of wis
dom," he says : -" Knowledge makes men learned, the disposition
makes them wise."3 The sun does nor warm all upon whom it
shines. So wisdom does not inflame all whom she teaches what
to do, with the desire to do it. It is one thing to know about
many treasures ; another to possess them ; and it is not the
knowledge, but the possession, that makes one rich. So it is one
thing to know God, and another to fear him. And it is not the
mere knowledge, but the fear of God, which moves the heart,
makes one wise." Knowledge is to him but a preparation for
true wisdom. It leads to the latter only when that which is
known is taken up into the heart, and the heart is moved by it.
" Yet pride," he imagines, " is very apt to proceed from mere
knowledge where the fear of God does not present a counter
poise." l Ep.106.
2 Experto crede, aliquid amplius invenies in silvis, quam in libris. Ligna et lapidcs
docebunt, quod a magistris audire non possis.
3 Instructio doctos reddit, afiectio sapientes. S. xxiii., in Cantica canticor., § 14,
3

PRINCIPLE OK LOVE, OR CHARITY. 340
But it was especially the principle ofa love exalted above fear
and the desire of reward, which he was accustomed to regard,
and to recommend to his monks as the soul of Christian perfec
tion. Hence pre-eminently above every other pious man of his
times, he was called the man of love;1 though, in a practical
view, Peter of Cluny might undoubtedly claim this title in prefer
ence to all others. When he was called to Italy, in the contest
for the cause of the pope, and was compelled to travel far, and
undergo much fatigue, he wrote to his monks,2 that amid all his
toils, he found the greatest consolation in reflecting that he
laboured and suffered in his cause, for whom all things live. " I
must, whether willing or unwilling, live for him, who has acquired
a property in my life, by giving up his own for me." To have
their lives also consecrated solely to him, was his exhortation to
his monks.3 " To whom," he wrote, " am I more bound to live,
than I am to him whose death is the cause of my living. To
whom can I devote my life with greater advantage than to him
who promises me the life eternal ? To whom, with greater ne
cessity, than to him who threatens the everlasting fire ? But I
serve him with freedom, since love brings freedom.4 To this,
dear brethren, I invite you ; serve in that love which casteth out
fear, feels no toils, thinks of no merit, asks no reward, and yet
carries with it a mightier constraint than all things else. No
terror so spurs one on, no reward so strongly attracts, no demand
of a due so pressingly urges. This love binds you inseparably
with me, this love makes me ever present with you, especially in
the hours when I pray." Touching the essence of disinterested
love, Bernard says :5 " Not without reward is God loved, though
he should be loved without respect to a reward. True love pos
sesses enough in itself; it has a reward ; but it is nothing other
than the very object that is loved." He distinguishes, however,
four stages in the progressive development of love. The lowest
stage is where the man is drawn away from selfish interests, by
means of self-love, to the love of God. Sufferings are ordained,

l Acta Sanctor. M. Jun. t. i. f. 826.
? Ep. 144, §"3.
3 Ep. 143.
4 Sed servio voluntarie, quia caritas lihertatem donat.
5 De diligendo Deo, c. vii.

350 FOUR STAGES IN THE PROGRESSIVE DEVELOPMENT OF LOVE.
to the end that man may be awakened to the consciousness of
dependence on God, and, by the seeking after help in distress, be
led away to God. But must not his heart be harder than iron or
stone, who, after having often turned to God in distress and found
help from him, does not become so softened that he must begin to
love him for his own sake ? Thus he attains to the second stage,
where God is loved no longer merely as a helper in distress, but
on account of the experience which has been had of the blessed
effects of communion with himself. As those Samaritans said to
the woman, who had informed them of the coming of the Lord :
" Now, we believe ; not because of thy saying, for we have heard
him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Sa
viour of the world ;" so we, too, may rightly say to the flesh :
" Now, we love God, not on account of thy distress, but because
we ourselves have experienced and know that the Lord is gra
cious. Thus, by degrees, we attain to the third stage, which is
to love God, not only on account of the way in which he has
manifested himself to ourselves, but for his own sake ; to love
him, as we are loved ; we, too, seeking not our own, but the
things of Jesus Christ, as he sought our good, or rather us, and
not his own. From this is developed, finally, the fourth and
highest degree of love, where self-love passes wholly up into the
love of God, and the man loves even himself only for God's
sake." Bernard finds this stage of love described in Ps. lxxiii.
26 : " My flesh and my heart faileth ; but God is the strength
of my heart and my portion for ever." " Blessed and holy,"
says he, " would I call him, to whom it is granted in this mor
tal life rarely, occasionally, or even but once, and that only
for a moment, to experience something of this kind; for so
to lose thyself, thine /, so to renounce thyself, this is heavenly
converse, and not feeling, after the ordinary manner of man.
As the glory of God is the end of all creation, so the point to
wards whicli all progress in religion strives, is to do all things
only for God's sake. This ground-tone of the soul is, properly
speaking, transformation into the image of God. But here below
man can sustain himself but for a few moments in these heights.''
" I know not," says Bernard, " whether by a"ny mortal this fourth
attainment has been completely realized in the present life. Let
them maintain that it has who have experienced it : to me it

DIFFERENT STAGES OF CHRISTIANITY. 351
seems impossible. Without doubt, however, it is then to be
realized when the good and faithful servant shall enter into the
joy of his Lord."
It is everywhere apparent that the reference to Christ consti
tuted with him the soul of the Christian life. " Thus," he says,i
" Dry is all nutriment of the soul, if it be not anointed with this
oil. When thou writest, nothing touches me, if I cannot read
Jesus there. When thou conversest with me on religious sub
jects, nothing touches me, unless Jesus chimes in. But he is
also the only true remedy. Is any one among you troubled ?
Let Jesus enter into his heart ; and lo ! at the rising light of his
name, every cloud is dispersed and serenity returns. Here is a
man full of despondency, running to entangle himself in the snares
of death. Let him but call on the name of life, and will he not
at once recover the breath of life 1 Where did ever hardness of
heart, indolence, or ill-will abide the presence of this holy name 1
In whom does not the fountain of tears begin at once to flow more
copiously when Jesus is named \ In what man, that trembled
at danger, does not the invocation of his name of power at once
infuse confidence? In what man, that wavered in doubt, does
not the light of certainty beam forth at the invoking his glorious
name 1 In whom, that grew faint-hearted in misfortune, was
there ever lack of fortitude, when that name whispered, I am with
thee ? Certainly, these are but diseases of the soul ; but this is
the remedy. If, for example, I name Jesus as man, I present to
myself the meek and lowly of heart ; the man radiant with all
virtue and holiness ; the same who is also Almighty God ; who
can heal me by his example, and strengthen me by his grace.
Of all this, the name of Jesus at once reminds me. From the
man, I take my example ; from him who is mighty, my help ; and
of both I compound a remedy for my case such as no physician
could provide for me."
But as the discrimination of the different stages of religious
progress, suggested by his own rich spiritual experience, and by
observation derived from watching over the souls of others, dis
tinguished Bernard, so he went on to mark differences of degree
in the love to Christ, as he had done before in the love to God.
S. xv. in Cantica canticor. % 6.

352 ON CALUMNY.
At one stage, he placed the love possessed by such as are still
governed by the outward senses, — love excited by sensible im
pressions ; at another, the love of those who are capable of rising
above the appearance in the flesh to the divine in itself, and live
in that. " Eemark," says he,1 " that this love of the heart is
still, in some measure, a fleshly one, when it is moved chiefly by
a regard to Christ manifest in the flesh, to what he did and com
manded in the flesh. He who is full of this love is easily bowed
down with contrition at the mention of Christ. When he prays,
the holy image ofthe God-man stands before him, — born, teaching,
dying, rising again, or ascending up to heaven ; and whatsoever of
this sort may present itself to his soul must either enkindle the
soul to the love of the virtues, or expel the vices of the flesh, and
quell its impulses. I think this especially to have been the rea
son why the invisible God was pleased to manifest himself in the
flesh, and to hold intercourse with man as a man ; it was, that he
might first draw all the inclinations of the carnal men, who can
love only carnal things, to the soul-saving love of his own flesh,
and thus to elevate them by degrees to a spiritual love. At this
stage, were still to be found those who said, ' Lo, we have left
all and followed thee,' Luke xviii. 28. Assuredly, it was love of
his bodily presence alone which had induced them to leave all ;
and hence they could not patiently hear the announcement of his
approaching sufferings which were to bring salvation. But Christ
pointed them to a higher stage of love when he said, ' It is the
spirit that quickeneth ; the flesh profiteth nothing.' To this
higher stage he doubtless had already attained, who said, ' Though
we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know
we him no more.' " Bernard marks the difference between a
Christian who is easily touched by the remembrance of Christ's
sufferings — and, by the blessed experience of these pious feelings,
is incited to aspire after all goodness — and the Christian who,
more and more purified and ennobled by such feelings, has finally
attained to a steadfast zeal for righteousness and truth, — who,
becoming a stranger to all vainglory, abhors calumny, knows no
thing about envy, despises all human glory, avoids as it were in
stinctively all sin, and embraces everything good.
1 S. xx., in Cantica canticor. § 6.

OX SELF-KNOWLEDGE. 353
True humility in judging of one's self, ho declared to be more
than prolonged fastings, lato vigils, and any bodily exercise, —
the true godliness which is profitable unto all things, 1 Tim. iv
S.1 As it turned out with many who embraced tho monastic
life, that their corrupt inclinations broke out with the more force
in proportion to the narrower room left for the indulgence of them,
so Bernard found it necessary to rebuke the odious practice of
slandering the character of others under some hypocritical form
of piety. In what he says, he discovers his profound knowledge
of mankind : " First, we hear, as the premonitory £ ign, a deep
sigh ; then, with a certain dignity, with a certain hesitation,
with a sorrowful look, with a lamenting tone — behold ! the calumny
is uttered ; and the word spoken gains the more power of be
getting conviction, because the hearers believe it has been uttered
unwillingly, and more out of pity and sympathy than out of
malice. ' It gives me great pain,' says one, ' for I love the man,
sincerely, and never could cure him of this fault,' Says another,
'I knew that of him very well ; yet by me it was never divulged
to any one ; but how it has been told by somebody else, I cannot
deny its truth ; with pain I say it, the fact is really so.' And he
adds, ' a great pity, for in most other respects he is without a
fault; but on this point, to confess the truth, he is altogether in
excusable.' "2 " The first thing for every man," says Bernard,
" is self-knowledge ; the first, because every man is his own
neighbour ; the most profitable, because such knowledge does
not puff up, but humbles, and prepares the way for edification, —
for the spiritual building cannot stand firm unless it rests on the
solid foundation of humility. But nothing is better calculated to
lead the soul to humility than a knowledge of itself as it is."3
" If a soul," says he in another place,* " has once learned and ob
tained from the Lord, the power of turning inward upon itself, of
panting in its inmost depths after God's presence, of continually
seeking the light of his countenance, — I know not whether such
1 Ep. 142.
2 xxiv., in Cantica canticor, § 4. It is tbe same thing as was objected by Berengar,
Abelard's disciple, to the Carthusians: Quid prodest, fratres exire in eremum et in
eremo habere cor Aegyptium? Quid prodest, Aegypti ranas vitare et obscoenis de.
tractionibns concrepare ? Opp. Abaelard. p. 326.
3 S. xxxvi., in Cantica canticor. § 5.
i L. c. S. xxxv., § 1.
vol. vir. z

354 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CISTERCIANS AND CLUNIACENSIAS.
a soul would consider the suffering of hell itself, for a season, as a
greater punishment than, — after having once tasted the bliss of
this spiritual direction, to be turned back again to the allure
ments, — say rather, to the hardships, of the flesh."
As the Cistercian order gave a new impulse to strict monasti
cism, so it rapidly extended itself, — thus exciting the jealousy of
the older monkish societies, over which it threatened to elevate
itself.1 Hard feelings grew up, especially between the old order
of the Cluniacensians and the new one of the Cistercians. The
Cistercians were distinguished already, by their white cowls, from
the Cluniacensians, who still retained their black ones. The
Cistercians stood pre-eminent for the severity of their asceticism,
— while it was undoubtedly the case that into the Cluniacensian
order there had been introduced, under the former administration,
a sort of luxury which was very much disapproved of by the abbot
Peter himself, and which he held it necessary to keep in check.2
The two heads of these monkish orders, Bernard of Clairvaux
and the abbot Peter, were strangers to those little jealousies of
the monks, which kept them in a state of mutual hostility. The
complaints of the Cluniacensian abbot William, led Bernard
to compose a tract on the relation in which these two orders of
monks stood to each other. He laid it down, in the first place,
that the unity of the church must present itself under mani
fold forms of life and of institutions. But, through love, every
thing becomes, in a sense, common to all ; each appropriating all
to himself that proceeds from the same spirits As to outward
labours, he belonged, it is true, to but one order ; but by love he
felt united to all. Nay, by love, one possesses more than he
does that performs the very work, if it be not done in the spirit
of love. Then he severely censures the Cistercian monks who
set up themselves as judges over another man's servants ; who dis-
1 Thus says Ordericus Vitalis, f. 714 : Novae institutionis aemulatores dispersi sunt
in Acquitania, Britannia, Gasconia, et Hibernia. Mixti bonis hypocritae procedunt,
candidis seu variis indumentis amioti homines illudunt et populis ingens spectoculum
efficiunt. Veils Dei cultoribus scbemate, non virtute, assimilari plerique gestiunt
suique multitudine intuentibus fastidium ingerunt et probatos cocnobitas, quantum ad
fallaces hominum obtutus despicabiliores faciunt.
2 L. vi., ep. 15.
3 The Apologia ad Guilelmum Abbatem.
4 The pluralis unitas and una pluralitas of the ecclesia militans.

SPIRITUAL WORSHIP CALLED FOR IN MONKS. 355
cerned the mote in another's eye, but saw not the beam in their
own eyes ; who, in the matter of external observances, accused
others of violating the Benedictine rule, while they did not hesi
tate to violate that rule themselves, in regard to the more essen
tial matters belonging to the spiritual life ; for the kingdom of
God is one within us ; consisting, not in meat and drink, but in
righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, — not in word
but in power. Why should they concern themselves so much
about the external matter ofthe monkish dress; why neglect the
weightier matter, — the soul's interior dress, piety and humility \
Those outward observances ought not by any means, indeed, to
be lightly esteemed ; to him they appeared to be the necessary
means of training for the spiritual life. Yet the mere form,
without the animating spirit just spoken of, was unmeaning.1
Next, he censures the misgrowths of monastic life, to be found in
many branches of the Cluniacensians that had degenerated into
luxury ; the pomp and state affected by many abbots ; the splen
dour and excessively gorgeous art in the churches, chapels, and
monasteries ; the pictures, which fastened the eyes of the wor
shippers, calling forth the admiration of art and repressing the
feelings of devotion.3 He sees something Jewish in this, — some
thing derogatory, therefore, to the peculiar essence of that purely
spiritual worship of God which Christianity brings with it.3 He
looks upon it as a masterly device of cupidity ; for by the
admiration of pictures, in the loftier style of art, and in great
variety, men were very easily drawn to make donations. Men
flock in crowds to kiss the decorated images of saints, and
they are enchained by their admiration of the beautiful, more
than by a reverence for the saints.4 The bishops were obliged
to let themselves down to the different degrees of culture among
the men whom they had to deal with ; to them, therefore, he
conceded the right of employing such sensuous means, to ex
cite the devotion of the sensuous multitude. But it was other-
1 Neque haec dico, quia haec exteriora negligenda sunt, cum potius spiritualia,
quanquam meliora, nisi per ista aut vix aut nullatenus vel acquiruntur vel obtineantur
sicut scriptum est, non prius quod spirituale, sed quod animale, deinde quod spirituale.
2 Quae dum orantium in se retorquent adspectum, impediunt et affectum.
3 Mihi quodammodo repraesentant antiquum ritum Judaeorum.
4 Ostenditur pulcherrima forma sancti vel sanctae alicujus ct eo creditur sanctior, quo
coloratior. Currunt homines ad osculandum, invitantur ad donandnm et magis miran
tur pulchra quam venerantur sacra.
z z

356 CARTHUSIAN ORDER.
wise with the monks, who, dead to the sensible world, ought no
longer to need such outward means of excitement, but should
strive rather to reach the ideal of the purely spiritual worship of
God. Thus Bernard recognizes in the rest of the church a still
predominating element of Jewish sensualism ; and he represents
monasticism as destined to prove the chief means of emancipating
the Christian life from this contamination, and of presenting
Christianity in its pure spirituality. The abbot of Cluny also
holds to the position, that the church cannot exist without the
unity of the Spirit in the manifoldness of customs and regula
tions ; and that love should reconcile all differences, — love,
without which all mortification of the flesh is a thing of naught.1
Among the societies of anchorets, the order of Carthusians de
serves particularly to be noticed. Its founder was Bruno, a pious
ecclesiastic of Cologne,2 distinguished as a scholar ; afterwards,
master of the cathedral school at Eheims. Over this church pre
sided at that time one of those worldly-minded men, who valued
the spiritual office only as a means of gain, and of gratifying their
love of pomp and luxury. This was the archbishop Manasseh, a
man whose character is aptly set forth by one of his own remarks :
" The archbishopric of Eheims would be a fine thing, were it not
necessary to hold mass in order to enjoy its revenues."3 It was
the impression which this profanation of holy things, and a mode
of life so utterly at variance with the spiritual' calling, made on
the more serious minds, that induced Bruno, along with several
others like-minded, to seek after a strictly ascetic life in solitude.
In the wild valley of Chartreux (Cartusium), not far from Gre
noble, he settled himself down, about the year 1084, with twelve
companions.4 They built a monastery, indeed, in which they
held their meetings ; but instead of taking up their residence in
it, they lived in separate cells by the side of it, where each indi
vidual spent the whole day by himself, in silence, occupied with
devotional exercises, spiritual studies, or corporeal labour. They
despised all pomp and ornaments, even in what belonged to the
1 iv. 17. vi. 3.
2 Born in the year 1040.
3 Bonus esset Remensis archiepiscopatus, si non missas inde cantari oporteret. Gni-
bert. Novig. de vita sua, 1. i., c. xi.
i ffe follow here the credible narratives of the contemporary Guibert, without paying
any regard to legends of much later origin.

STRICT PRINCIPLES. 357
service of tho churcli. They refused to accept of gold or silver ;
only the communion-cup might be of silver. The abbot Guibert
of Nogent sous Coucy, gives a remarkable example, showing how
tenaciously they clung to these principles. A pious count, at
tracted by the fame of their strict mode of life, once paid them a
visit, and earnestly exhorted them to abide faithfully by their
principles. He warned them of the degeneracy which usually
followed the first strict life of the monks, when the fame of their
strictness had brought them into the possession of property. The
impression left on him, however, by observing their singular mode
of life, induced him afterwards to expose them to a temptation
quite inconsistent with his own exhortations. He sent them a
costly vase and cups of silver. The monks immediately sent
them back, declaring that " they wanted gold and silver neither
to give away, nor to decorate their church ; to what use could
they put it, then V The count, upon this, sent them bales of
parchment, which they needed much ; for as other occupations did
not comport with their quiet, solitary mode of life, they preferred
to employ their leisure hours in transcribing books ; and they
made themselves useful by multiplying copies of the Bible, and
old theological works. The greatest treasure which they pos
sessed was their library ; and the Carthusians distinguished
themselves above all the other monastic orders in that they con
tinued to maintain unaltered their strict mode of living and their
contemplative habits, when their order came to be more generally
respected, and their monasteries more splendidly endowed.1
1 The (perhaps German) monk Nigellus Witeker, who, in a satirical work directed
against the follies of all classes in his times, und entitled Brunellus, or Speculum Stul-
torum, — a work composed in the beginning of the thirteenth century, and which did not
spare even the monks, — cannot reproach the Carthusians, as he does tbe others, with
hypocrisy and effeminacy. SpeakiDg of a visit which he proposed making to their order,
he says : — Cella mibi dabitur, quam solam solus habebo
Nemo mibi socius, nemo minister ei it.
Solus enim psallam solusque cibaria. sumam :
Et sine luce meum solus adibo thorum.
Carnis in aeternum cuncti probibentur ab esu
Praetur euro, si quem tabida lepra tenet.
Ad fora non veniunt : quo litem scire resolvant :
Nee populi vanum depopulantur ave,
Hospitis advenfcu gaudent mutantque diaetam.
Dant quod habent bilari pectore, voce, manu.
Which passage, besides being found in the complete editions of this poem, is printed also
in the Extracts by Martene and Durand: Amplissima collectio, t. vi. f. 7.

358 MONKISH SOCIETIES FOR
There was another order of anchorets, who came from the East,
and obtained from their original seat the name of Carmelites.
Mount Carmel, in Palestine, had from the earliest times been an
object of peculiar veneration and worship on account of its con
nection with the prophets Elijah and Elisha (1 Kings xviii. 19 ;
2 Kings ii. 25, iv. 25). The cave where, according to tradition,
the prophet Elijah had lived, was visited by many, and anchorets
settled down upon spots in the vicinity. When, in the year 1185,
the Greek monk and priest Johannes Phocas visited these re
gions,1 he found there the ruins of an old and extensive monas
tery ; and he reports that, a short time before, an old monk and
priest from Calabria, had, in consequence of a vision of the pro
phet Elijah, chosen this spot, erected upon it a tower and a small
church, which he occupied with about ten companions. This per
son from Calabria is supposed to have been a certain Berthold.
From these small beginnings rose up the order of the Carmelites,
who, near the commencement of the thirteenth century, obtained
a rule from the Latin patriarch, Albert of Jerusalem. This rule
transplanted to the West, would necessarily be subjected to many
alterations. The Christian love which led men to undergo every self-deny
ing sacrifice with cheerfulness and joy, and which overcame every
feeling of disgust, gave birth to many societies of monks, having
it for their object to provide physical and spiritual relief for the
unfortunate, and those who were cast off by all the world. Among
the dreadful plagues of the Middle Ages belonged especially the
sacred fire, or St Anthony's fire, — a disorder which, after inflict
ing the most painful sufferings, carried off multitudes, or else left
them to wear out the remainder of their days with a body ren
dered helpless by distortion or incurable lameness ;3 another was
leprosy. The first-mentioned fearful disorder raged especially in
the eleventh and twelfth centuries.4 During the time when this
1 As he states in his report concerning tbe holy places, published by Leo Allatius, in
tlie Collection of Symmicta.
2 See the accounts collected in tbe Actis Sanctorum, at the 8th April.
3 Vol. vi., p. 1H4, note.
4 Sigebert of Gemblours, an. 1089: Annus pestilens maxime in occidentali parte
Lotbaringiae, ubi multi sacro igne interiora consumente computrescentes exesis mem-
bris instar carbonum ingrescentibus aut miserabiliter moriuntur aut manibus ac pedi-
bus putrefactis truncati miserabiliori vitae reservantur, multi nervorum contractione
distorti tormcntantur.

HOSPITALS AND THE LEPROSY. 359
plague was making its most extensive ravages, Gaston, descendod
from a family of consideration amongst the French nobility, in
gratitude for his own recovery and that of his son, which he at
tributed to the mediation of St Anthony, founded and consecrated
to that saint a society, of which the express object was to furnish
nurses for persons sick with that disorder."- Societies were
formed of laymen and ecclesiastics, who following the so-called
rule of Augustin, under the direction of a superior (magister),
spent their time in taking care of the sick in hospitals ; and still
other societies of men, who devoted themselves more especially to
taking care of the leprous, and founded large establishments for
the express purpose of receiving and nursing them. The eccle
siastics in such societies attended to the religious wants of pa
tients ; preached to them, gave them the benefit of their pastoral
care, and the sacraments. The laymen undertook to do every
thing necessary for their bodily relief and comfort ; also, to pro
vide for the decent burial of the dead, according to the usual
forms. The Dominican Humbert de Eomanis, who lived near
the close of the thirteenth century, remarks, with regard to the
care of the leprous, that, " owing to the danger of infection, the
impatience and the ingratitude of the victims of this disease, it
was one of the most forbidding labours to wait upon them.
Amongst thousands but very few were to be found who could be
induced to live with them ; for with many, nature herself revolts
at it. And had there not been some who, for God's sake, fought
down the repugnance of nature, they would have been left abso
lutely deprived of all human assistance."2 Jacob of Vitry3 says,
concerning the persons who devoted their lives to this arduous
work of Christian charity : " For Christ's sake they bring them
selves to endure, amidst filth and disgusting scents — by driving
themselves up to it — such intolerable hardships that it would
seem as if no sort of penitential exercise which man imposes on
himself deserved a moment to be compared with this holy martyr
dom — holy and precious in the sight of God."* Female societies.
having the same object in view, were also formed.
1 See the Collections, at the 17th January, in the Actis Sanctorum.
2 See the work of Humbertus de Romanis de eruditione praedicatorum, c. xii. Bibl.
patr. Ludg. t. xxv., f. 476.
3 See concerning bim, p. SO.
4 See Hist, occidental, p. 338,

360 IMPOSTORS. ORDER OF THE TRINITARIANS.
But that which began in the spirit of a Christian charity that
shrunk from no sacrifice, was, like so many other noble under
takings, imitated and abused in the thirteenth century by a
worldly spirit that masked itself under the seemly guise of re
ligion. Jacob of Vitry was forced to make the bitter complaint
that many who pretended to devote their lives to this nursing of
the sick, only used it as a cover under which to exact, by various
and deceptive tricks from the abused sympathies of Christians,
large sums of money, of which but a trifling portion was expended
on the objects for which it had been bestowed.1 Pope Innocent
the Second passed an ordinance against such fraudulent collectors
of alms for Spitals.2
Among the foundations for benevolent purposes is to be
reckoned the order of Trinitarians. John of Matha, a Parisian
theologian, but a native of Provence, and Felix de Valois, after
living for some time as anchorets at Certroy, in the province of
Meaux, joined together and founded a society of monks, the prin
cipal object of which was to procure the redemption of Christians
who had fallen captive to the infidels.3 In the year 1198, they
submitted their plan to pope Innocent the Third, who ratified it.
The society subsisting under one superior (generalis minister)
was to be consecrated to the Trinity (Fratres domus sanctae
trinitatis), and a third part of their revenues was to be appro
priated to the redemption of Christians held in bondage amongst
infidels on account of their faith.4
Down to the thirteenth century the different orders of monks
had multiplied to such an extent that pope Innocent the Third
was induced, at the Lateran eouncil in 1215, to enact a law
to the following effect : " Whereas the excessive diversity of
these institutions begets confusion, no new foundations of this
sort must be formed for the future ; but whoever wishes to be
come a monk must attach himself to some one of the already
existing rules.'"' And yet it was but shortly after this time that
1 L. c, p. 339.
2 See epp. lib. i., ep. 450.
3 The accounts collected in Du Boulay, hist, univers. Paris, t. ii., f. 521.
* Ad redemptionem captivorum, qui sunt incarcerati pro fido Christi a paganis. Epp.
Lib. i., ep. 481.
0 In tbe thirteenth canon of the fourth Luteran council of the year 1215: Ne nimia

RELATION OF FRIAKS TO THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. 361
the two monastic orders were constituted which exercised by far
the most powerful and most widely diffused influence ; to wit, the
two mendicant orders of the Dominicans and the Franciscans.
In these two foundations, especially in the latter, we may observe
the renascent power of that idea of following Christ and the
apostles in evangelical poverty, and the absolute renunciation of
all earthly goods, which from the times of the twelfth century we
saw coming up under various shapes, in the doctrine of Arnold of
Brescia, in the prophecies of the abbot Joachim, It could easily
come about, indeed, that from this idea a tendency might spring
up hostile to the dominant church ; but it might also give rise to
such spiritual societies as would devote themselves to the service
of the church. For, according to the idea of the Catholic church,
at its present stage, points of view and modes of life, in the
greatest variety, and even opposed to one another, might subsist
together, one supplying the other's defects, and the church unite
all these antagonisms together in a higher unity ; they would be
come heretical only then when one of these tendencies came to
exclude all the others, and to set up itself as the only right one.
Thus, after the same manner as the married life, the family, sub
sisted side by side with the unmarried life as a higher stage of
Christian perfection, those religious societies that renounced all
worldly possessions and property, might be tolerated and favoured
beside the splendour of the papacy and of the hierarchy. The
founder ofthe order of Dominicans was born in the year 1170, at
Calarugna, a village in the diocese of Osma in Castile. Even
while a young man, pursuing his studies at the Spanish uni
versity in Palenza, he was distinguished for his self-sacrific
ing Christian love. In a time of great famine he sold his
books and furniture, in order to provide himself with the means
of mitigating the sufferings of the poor, and by his example
he excited many to do the same. Didacus, bishop of Osma,
was a man of severe character, and ardently devoted to the
good of the church. He sought to bring back his canonical
clergy to the strictness of the ancient rule, and similarity of dis~
position united him with Dominick, whom he received into this
religionum diversitas gravem in ecclesia Dei confusionem inducat, firmiter prohibemus,
ne quis de caetero novam religionem inveniat, sed quicunque volucrit ad religionem
converti, unam de appiobatis assumat, r

362 SECTS IN THE SOUTH OF FRANCE. DEATH OF DIDACUS,
body. A journey which he made with him, in the service of his
king, to the south of France, gave both an opportunity of ob
serving the great danger which there threatened the church from
those heretical sects which were spreading with great rapidity,
and they were excited by what they saw to direct all their at
tention and their energies to this one point. In the year 1208,
they came for the second time into these regions, after pope
Innocent the Third had despatched twelve Cistercian abbots,
under the direction of the papal legate, to put down the sects.
A council was held at Montpellier, to deliberate on this matter,
and bishop Didacus was invited to assist at it. When the latter
observed the great state affected by the papal legate and others
who had been sent on this errand, he told them they could hardly
succeed, in this way, to oppose any effectual check to the heretics.
They would come off still more triumphantly in their attacks on
the church, and point to all this pomp as evidence of the truth
of what they had said about the worldly lives of the clergy ; they
would compare their own strict and abstemious mode of living,
in utter poverty, as the true followers of Christ and the apostles,
with the splendour and luxury that surrounded those who stood
up for the interests of the dominant church, and thus gain the
popular feeling over to their side. He invited them to take the
opposite course, to renounce all state, and by a strict and needy
life, place themselves on an equality with the persons extolled in
those sects ; thus would they accomplish more by their living,
than they could do by their words. His advice was adopted ;
and everything that could be spared sent away. Bishop Didacus
was intrusted with the direction of the whole movement, and,
travelling on foot, in voluntary poverty, they went from place to
place, preaching and disputing with the sects. After having
laboured in this way for three years, this bishop set out on his
return to Spain. It was his intention to recommend to the pope
the appointment of a certain number of men who should labour
for the conversion of the sects ; but his death, which took place
on his journey homeward, in the year 1206 or 1207,1 prevented
l The death of bishop Didacus, according to the Life of Dominicus, by his disciple
Jordanus, the second general of this order (the authority which we here follow),- took
place ten years before the Lateran council under Innocent the Third, $ 30, Mens.
August, t, i., f. 549. A tempore obitus episcopi Oxomensis usque ad Lnteranense con-

THE ORDER OF DOMINICANS. 363
him from carrying his plan into execution ; and it remained for
Dominick, to whom no doubt the experience which he gained in
these tours had suggested the idea of his order, to realize the
project which had been conceived by his bishop. The latter, on
leaving the south of France, had placed him at the head of the
whole spiritual undertaking. After the death of the bishop,
however, he retained but few of his companions. When armed
troops were called in to follow up the work of preaching and dis
puting, and, in the year 1209, the horrible crusade against the
Albigenses was commenced, Dominick still went on with his
labours, and the cruelties resorted to for the extirpation of heresy
were approved and promoted by him, — a bad precedent, fore
tokening already the history of an order which in after times was
to exercise such cruel despotism under the name of charity. He
found a few still remaining here like-minded with himself, who
joined with him in forming a society consecrated to the defence
ofthe church. Several pious men in Toulouse entered heart and
hand into his scheme, and placed their property in his hands, to
purchase books for the society, and provide them with what they
needed. Fulco himself, the bishop of Toulouse, favoured the
undertaking, and, in the year 1215, went in company with Do
minick to Eome, for the purpose of obtaining the sanction of
pope Innocent the Third, to a spiritual society devoted to the
office of preaching. True, the canon enacted this very year by
the Lateran council, forbidding the institution of any new order
of monks,1 stood in the way of a compliance with this demand ;
but, at the same council,2 it had also been expressed as an urgent
need of the church, that the bishops should procure able men to
assist them in the office of preaching, and in their pastoral la
bours. Now, the supply of this want — a want so sensibly felt
on account of the great number of ignorant and worldly-minded
clergymen — was the very purpose and aim of the scheme sub
mitted by Dominick to the pope. Innocent, therefore, accepted
cilium anni fluxere ferme decern. If we take this strictly, it would be in the year 1205 ;
but this supposition is attended with other chronological difficulties ; and the ferme still
renders tbe calculation inexact. It is very difficult to fix here the exact determination
of time. See the chronological inquiries in the preliminary remarks to the Life of
Dominicus, at the 4th August.
1 See above, p 360.
2 See above, p. 258.

364 FRANCIS OF ASSISI.
the proposition, making only one condition, that Dominick should
attach himself to some one of the orders of monks already exist
ing. Dominick selected the so-called rule of Augustin, with a
few modifications aiming at greater strictness. The order was
to accept of no property that needed to be managed, but only
the incomes from the same ; lest it might be diverted by the
cares of secular business from its spiritual vocation. Pope Ho
norius the Third confirmed the establishment ofthe order in 1216 ;
and it was styled, in accordance with the object to which it was
especially consecrated, Ordo predicatorum. In the first chapter
of its articles, it was settled that it should hold neither property
in funds nor income.1 It is evident from many examples,2 that
great efforts were made to enlarge and extend the society by
energetic preachers amongst its earliest members. Many young
men at the universities and in other cities were carried away by
the fervent appeals of the preaching friars, and finally devoted
themselves to this foundation.
The founder of the second order, Francis, was born at Assisi,
in the year 1182. His father, called Peter of Bernardone,
was a merchant of some consideration in the above-mentioned
city. Devoted to mercantile pursuits, Francis lived at first
after the ordinary manner of the world ; though even at this
time he was remarkable for his susceptibility to religious im
pressions, and for his benevolent disposition. A severe fit of
sickness which befel him when he was about the age of twenty-
four, is said to have left on him a decided impression, whicli
eventuated in an entirely new turn of life. It would be a mat
ter of some importance could we be more exactly informed with
regard to the nature of his disease, and the way in which it
affected his physical and mental constitution. Perhaps it might
assist us to a more satisfactory explanation of the eccentric
vein in his life, that singular mixture of religious enthusiasm
with a fanaticism bordering on insanity ; but we are here left
wholly in the dark. After his health was restored, he felt more
and more drawn away from earthly things, and impelled by an
indescribable craving after a divine life. He thought himself
admonished by Christ in dreams and visions ; and in accordance
1 See c. iii., § 63.
'I Which are cited in the Life ofDominicus, already mentioned, c. li, and lv.

1113 RliLIGIOUS DIRKCTION. 3C5
with his habit at that time, of referring everything to sense, he
was inclined to interpret his visions after a sensuous manner,
until he was afterwards taught to understand them spiritually.
On one occasion he beheld in a vision, or dream, a vast palace
full of weapons, each having on it a sign of the cross ; and in
quiring to whom they all belonged, he was answered : " To thee
and thy soldiers." Taking this literally, he was already prepar
ing to go and offer his services to a certain noble count, with the
expectation of rising to the highest honours iu the profession of
arms, when another vision held him back. Once, after long
roaming about and meditating in the fields, he stepped into an
old church falling to ruins, for the purpose of prayer. He pros
trated himself in deep devotion before a crucifix, and, as he looked
up to it with eyes full of tears, he thought he heard thrice com
ing from it the following words addressed to himself: "Go
re-build my house, which, as thou seest, is falling to ruins."
These words he understood at first as referring to the restoration
of the ruined building where he was ; and he set about procuring
money to repair it : though long afterwards they were interpreted
by himself and his followers as referring to the spiritual renova
tion of the church.1 The change which he had experienced, and
the extravagant austerities to which he subjected himself, caused
him at first to be ridiculed as a madman ; but as he could not be
induced to swerve from his purpose or alter his mode of life by
any ridicule or any insult, as in truth there was something in him
too exalted for ridicule, and capable of attracting more profound
and earnest minds, so it was certain that he must come off vic
torious in the end. It was an age in which the exaggerated and
caricature-like, if it only had at bottom some profound idea har
monizing with the tone of many minds, would be more certain to
further than to check the influence of the individual who pos
sessed it. Like many of his times, he united with a deep mys
tical element, a religious tendency that clung to the outward, for
which tendency this outward itself became transformed through
reference to this mystical element, just spoken of, into something
that savoured of the magical. Thus, for example, he regarded
1 Bonaventura, in his Life of St Francis, c. ii.: Licet principalior intentio verbi ad
earn ferretiir (ecclesiam), quam Christus sanguine suo acquisivit, sicut eum Spiritus
sanctus edocnit et ipse postmodum fratribus revelavit.

366 RULE OF FRANCIS ADMITTED BY POPES AND CARDINALS,
churches with a peculiar sort of veneration, and exerted all the
powers of his heart-stirring eloquence in making collections for
the purpose of re-building such as were falling to decay. Among
these churches may be noticed particularly the church dedicated
to Mary, at Portiuncula. This was his favourite place of abode,
where he loved to give himself up to prayer and religious con
templation, and it afterwards arose to great consequence among
this order. Once, while attending mass, he heard recited the
words of Christ to the apostles, when he first sent them forth :
" Provide neither gold nor silver," &c, Matth. x. 9, 10. He
took it as a voice from heaven addressed to himself. This was
the idea of evangelical poverty, which had already vaguely floated
before his mind ; and, assuming the dress described in Christ's
direction, he from that moment travelled about preaching repen
tance, and one by one gathered around him several followers.
When Francis, in the year 1210, first presented himself before
pope Innocent the Third, for the purpose of submitting to him
his rule, drawn, as he thought, after the pattern of the apostolic
mode of life, he is said to have met with an unfavourable recep
tion. The pope, who was walking in his palace, plunged in
thought, regarding him as unworthy of notice, motioned him away
with contempt. But he was led, as it is said, by a vision which he
had at night, to entertain a different opinion of the man. We
know not what foundation of truth there may be for this story.
Even if it were true that Innocent paid him but little notice at
first, troubled as he no doubt too often was by the rude impor
tunity of many of similar pretensions, still, the penetrating glance
of this great man would not be long in discovering of itself to what
valuable purpose such an enthusiasm might be turned, if taken
into the service of the church, so hard pressed in these times by
the sects. Such an idea— the idea of a society of spiritual pau
pers, placed alongside that of the church doing homage to worldly
power and glory — might command respect, even from him ; and
he was taught by the example of the Waldenses,1 how easily the
enthusiasm for such an idea, if it did not attach itself to the
church, might give birth to a tendency in opposition to the church.
It admits of a question, too, whether the report is a true one,
1 Of whom we shall speak in the 4th sect.

FRANCIS ON ASCETICISM. 367
that the rule of Francis met at the beginning with much opposition
from several of the cardinals, on the ground that it seemed an un
heard-of thing, a project surpassing the powers of man ; till another
cardinal observed, If the observance of evangelical perfection is
held to be a thing unheard of, impracticable, and unreasonable,
such an opinion is a calumny against the gospel and the author
of it, Christ himself. We may understand, at least, from the
language attributed to this cardinal, in what way this age repre
sented to itself the ideal of following after Christ,
The zealous striving after perfect purity of heart,1 impelled
Francis, impatient at every motion of sinful lust which he dis
cerned in himself, to every sort of mortification, by which he
could hope to subject the body entirely to his higher aspirations.
The meditation on every such stirring of ungodly impulses, brought
him perhaps into contact with various temptations ; and his
imagination pictured it out into a conflict with evil spirits. It is
singular to observe how the power of truth in his own conscious
ness testified against himself. Once, when engaged at night in
prayer, he thought he heard a voice saying to him : " There is
not a sinner in the world whom God would not forgive, if he turned
to him. But he who destroys himself by severe exercises of
penance, will never find mercy.'"' This was an admonition of
the Holy Spirit ; just as when, once, he was thinking over with
pain some of the scenes of his earlier life, the assurance of the
forgiveness of all his sins was given him, and joy filled his heart,
so that, resigning himself to the objective grace,3 he is said to
have desisted from further self-mortification. But now the voice
of the Holy Spirit appeared to him as a voice of some wicked
spirit. Tet, in the labour and constant activity which he recom
mended to his disciples, he recognized an important means for
preventing inward temptations and likewise the waste of time
in unprofitable talk.4
He himself, however, at a later period of life, attributed no
1 As it is expressed in tbe words of Francis : Tolerabilius viro spirituali fore, mag
num sustinere frigus in carne, qnam ardorem carnalis libidinis vel modicum sentire in
mente. 2 Bonaventura, c. v.
3 L. c. c. iii.
4 His words: Volo fratres meos laborare et exercitari, ne otio dediti per illicita corde
aut lingua vagentur. L. c. c. v.

368 FRANCIS' SERMONS.
value to self-mortification, in itself considered, but regarded it
solely as a means for overcoming sensual desires, and for promot
ing purity of heart. Love appeared to him to be the soul of all.
Once, when one of the monks, who had carried his fasting to ex
cess, was deprived by it of his sleep, and Francis perceived it, he
brought him bread with his own hands, and exhorted him to eat ;
and as the monk still shrunk from touching it, he set him the
example, and ate first. On the next morning, when he assembled
his monks, he told them what he had done, and added : " Take
not the eating, but the love, my brethren, for your example."
Later in life, he did not shrink from preaching before the pope
and the cardinals. " His words," says Bonaventura, " pene
trated, like glowing fire, to the inmost depths of the heart."
Once, when he was to preach before the Eoman court, for which
occasion he had committed to memory a carefully written dis
course, he felt all of a sudden as if he had forgotten the whole,
so that he had not a word to say. But after he had openly avowed
what had occurred to him, and invoked the grace of the Holy
Spirit, he found utterance for words full of power, which produced
a wonderful effect on all present.1 Zeal to promulgate the gospel,
perhaps also a fanatical striving after martyrdom, prompted- him
to resolve on making a voyage to Morocco ; but he was prevented
from executing this purpose by sickness. Eespecting his mis
sionary efforts amongst the Saracens, we have already spoken on
a former page.2
The spirit which, in spite of all his fanaticism, animated and
inspired this man, which enabled him to exert so profound an in
fluence on so many minds, and to attract to him men of such im
portance as Bonaventura, — this spirit discovers itself to us in
many of his sayings. He constantly taught, that a heart fixed
on God is all that gives actions their real importance. In show
ing how men ought to despise the outside show of holiness, said
he : "A man is just so much and no more, as he is in the sight
of God."3 "No one," he often repeated to his monks, "should
value himself for that which the sinner can do as well. The sin-
1 Bonaventura, f. 294.
2 See page 81.
3 Quantum homo est in oculis Dei, tantum est et non plus. Bonaventura, c. \ i.

FRANCIS ON PREACHING. 369
ner can fast, pray, weep, and chastise his body. But there is
one thing he cannot do ; he cannot be faithful to his Lord. This
alone, then, is our true glory, when we give to the Lord his glory ;
when we serve him faithfully, and ascribe all to him which he
bestows on us nl He was, in some sort, at strife with himself, as
he told his monks, on the question whether he ought to devote
himself to prayer alone, or also to busy himself with preaching.
He thought that, as he was a simple, uneducated man, he had re
ceived a greater gift of prayer than of preaching. " By prayer,"
said he, " one improves himself in gifts of grace ; by preaching,
one communicates the heavenly gifts received to others. Prayer
tends to purify the affections of the heart, and to produce a
union with the true and highest good, and an increase of moral
strength. But preaching leads to a dissipation of the thoughts
on outward things. Finally, in prayer, we discourse with God,
and hear his voice, and, as companions of the angels, live an
angel-like life. In preaching, we must let ourselves down a good
deal to men, live among them like men, — think, see, discourse,
and hear like men. But one consideration seemed to him to out
weigh all the rest, and to turn the scale ; and this was, that the
Son of God came down from heaven, in order to form by his ex
ample the men whom he would redeem, and to preach to them
the word of salvation, reserving nothing to himself which he was
not ready to give up for our salvation. And as we should copy
his example in all things, so it seems more acceptable in the sight
of God, that we should renounce rest, and go forth to work."2
Accordingly, he declares the activity expended in seeking to win
souls to God, more precious to him, if it proceeds from true love,
than any offering. But that preacher is to be pitied, who seeks
not the salvation of souls, but his own glory ; or who destroys by
a wicked life what he builds up by the setting forth of pure
doctrine. To such a person the simple Christian is greatly to be
preferred, who lacks the gift of discourse, and yet, by his own
good example, promotes the cause of goodness.s He warned his
monks against overvaluing their own powers, when they thought
they saw great success attending their preaching. He spoke of
those who, when they saw that some had been edified or awakened

1 L. v. f. 283. Bonaventura, c. xii, S L. c. u. viii., f. 286.
VOL. VII. ^ A

370 MYSTICAL AND SENSUOUS ELEMENT
to repentance by their discourses, prided themselves upon it as
their own work, when perhaps they were only instruments of
others, living in secret, who had wrought these effects by their
prayers.1 " Blessed," said he, " is that servant, who no more
values himself on that which God speaks or works through him,
than he does on that which God speaks or works through an
other."2 To the vicar of his order, Elias, he wrote : " There is
only one mark by which I can know whether thou art a servant
of God ; namely, if thou compassionately bringest back wandering
brethren to God, and never ceasest to love those who grievously
err. "s He particularly recommended to his brethren itinerating
through the world, not to contend ; not to judge others; to be
meek, peace-loving, and humble.4 He admonished them not to
despise others who lived in better style, and went better dressed.
" Our God," said he, " is also their Master, and he is able to call
them to himself and to justify them."3 Moreover, he warned his
monks against excessive asceticism. " Each should consider his
own nature ; and if one required a less quantity of food, another.
who required more, ought not to imitate him in that ; but, having
regard to his own nature, he should give his body just what it
needed. For, as we ought to be on our guard against a super
fluity which is injurious both to soul and body, so, and still more,
ought we to be cautious of excessive abstinence, since God will
have mercy and not sacrifice."6 " We are called to this," said
he to his monks, " that we should heal the wounded, and reclaim
the wandering ; for many, who seem to you members of the devil,
will still be disciples of Christ."7 A characteristic trait in Francis,
growing out of that blending of the mystical element with the
sensuous, of whicli we have spoken, was his reverence for every
outward thing that struck him as ennobled by its reference to re
ligion ; for the clergy, for churches, and especially for the conse
crated bread and wine of the holy supper.s It was to him a
1 L. c. c. xvi., f. 325.
2 Opusc. ed. Wadding t. i., n. xvii., p 77.
3 L.c. t. i.,p. 20.
¦l L. c. t. ii., p. 17?..
•5 L.c. t. iii, p. 288.
6 L. c. p. 306.
7 L. c. p. 341.
8 His words in the Opuscnlis, p 360: Sublimitas humilis, quod dominus universita-
tis, Deus et Dei filius sic se humiliat, ut pro nostra salute sub modiea panis formula se
abscondat.

in francis' character. 371
matter of importance to be scrupulously careful that not a leaf on
which the name of our Lord was written should be suffered to
remain and be profaned in any unclean place ; but that every such
scrap should receive the due mark of homage. Again, as the as
cetic bent admits of being easily converted into a contempt of
nature, so we cannot but regard as the more remarkable that
love, pushed even to enthusiasm, with which Francis embraced
all nature as the creation of God ; that sympathy and feeling of
relationship with all nature, by virtue of its common derivation
from God as Creator, which seems to bear more nearly the im
press of the Hindoo than of the Christian religion ; leading him
to address not only the brutes, but even inanimate creatures as
brothers and sisters.1 He had a compassion for brute animals,
especially such as are employed in the sacred Scriptures as sym
bols of Christ. This bent of fanatical sympathy with nature fur
nished perhaps a point of entrance for the pantheistic element
which in later times found admission with a party among the
Franciscans. . As in general, the culminating point of the form
of Catholicism in that day exhibited itself in this order on a cer
tain side ; so from many other of the peculiar ideas which in
spired Francis, as the following after Christ, evangelical poverty,
— tendencies might proceed forth which were at variance with the
church system. Seized and emblazoned in the colours of a sen
suous fancy, that profoundly Christian idea of following after
Christ gave birth to the story of the five wounds/ said to have
been imprinted on Francis, after Christ had appeared to him in a
miraculous vision, two years before his death, in 1226. Eye
witnesses are appealed to, who saw these marks at the time. A
story, which assuredly did not proceed at first from any intention
to deceive, — but only from the seZ/"-deception of a fanatical bent
ofthe imagination, and -from fanciful exaggeration ; and a story
with regard to which it still needs and deserves inquiry to what
extent, in certain eccentric states of the system, a morbidly over
excited fancy might react on the bodily organism. It cannot be
doubted, however, that this story has contributed much to pro
mote a fanatical and excessive reverence of Francis, highly dero
gatory to the honour which is due to Christ alone.
1 E.g.: Mi frater ignis. 2 Quinque stigmata Christi.
2 A 2

372 ORDER OF CLARA. MENDICANT FRIARS.
Three spiritual orders were founded by him. The one already
mentioned, and which was the first, avoiding each proud name,
called itself the Society of Minor Brothers (Fratres minores, Mi
norites), and its rule, revised, was confirmed by pope Honorius the
Third. The second, was an Order of nuns. This started with a
young woman in Assisi, — Clara, whom a kindred bent of Christian
feeling, early communicated to her by education,1 conducted to
Francis ; and she was the first superintendent of the order called
after herself, the order of St Clara (at first, Ordo dominarum
pauperum). Next came the third order (Fratres ordines tertii,
tertiarii), by the founding of which, in the year 1221, Francis
furnished an opportunity for pious laymen, who would not or could
not renounce the family-life, to live together in a sort of spiritual
union, after one rule, and under a superior. They were also called
Fratres poenitentiae, inasmuch as this monk-like mode of life
was regarded as a life devoted to penance. Many pious societies,
which had proceeded from the order of laymen, might here find
a place of refuge and a common bond of union.
The peculiar regulation that distinguished the orders of the so-
called mendicants (Fratres mendicantes) from other orders, would
serve in a special manner to promote their more extensive spread
and more general influence. In order to their establishment in
any place, no endowed monasteries were required. Every coun
try, every village, stood open to them ; and they were contented
with whatever indifferent food might be offered them. The way
in which they subsisted brought them into the closest relations
with the lower class of people. As religious instruction and the
pastoral care were for the reasons already given most neglected
in their case, so the monks who interested themselves with self-
denying love in their spiritual wants, were received with the more
hearty welcome ; and, provided only pious men, well-instructed
in the doctrines of Christianity, were selected for that purpose,
much good might be done by their means. The men, animated
by pious zeal, who first, with a sort of enthusiastic love, seized
upon this mode of life, subjected themselves to sacrifices and de-
1 See the account of her life by a contemporary, at the 12th August. Her mother bad
distinguished herself by the zeal with which she made pilgrimages j she, in fact, un
dertook a journey to the holy sepulchre, and made it a point to visit all the holy places
in Syria.

THEIR HARDSHIPS AND DEPRIVATIONS. 373
privations truly great, when, in all weathers, defying the fiercest
cold in the north, and the fiercest heat in the south, they itine
rated through the countries, entering the meanest hovels, and
cheerfully putting up with any fare which the poor occupants
set before them to satisfy the most pressing momentary wants,
and at the same time sustained all the toil of preaching and fa
tigue of pastoral labours. Nor did they suffer themselves to be
driven off by insults and ridicule, whether from laymen, whose
utter barbarity of manners and the want of religious instruction
rnade^ them regard these men as unwelcome guests, or from jea
lous ecclesiastics. The Belgian Dominican, Thomas de Can-
tinpre, who lived in the thirteenth century, relating his own ex
perience in this way, describes how he and his companions, so
wearied out by a long journey which they had made on foot as to
be ready to sink to the earth, arrived at a certain village. They
went to the house of a parish priest ; but he refused to give
them even a morsel of the black bread on which he supported
himself and his domestics. After they had wandered over the
whole village, and applied in vain at every door, they came,
finally, near the end of it to a poor hut, where they were offered
a crust of bran-bread, — a very acceptable alms to persons in their
condition. They sat down under the sky and regaled them
selves on this fare ; and never had food tasted so pleasant to them
before as this bran-bread mixed with straw. " And not without
deep pain," says this man, who, from being a canonical priest at
Cantinpre, had turned Dominican, " did I compare myself, who
was not able to undergo so much at once in a single day, with
those deservedly-called blessed men who, in many places, and in
much worse circumstances, are obliged to endure greater hard
ships than these."
With good reason, if we compare such men with other monks,
1 See the words of Thomas Contipratenus, in his Bonum universale de apibus, 1. ii
c. x,: Numquid primo vides in praedicatorum ordine fratres, qui etsi studiis continuiset
vigiliis macerati,non habentes in zona aes, per lutosa et lubrica pedibus gradientes ter
ras praedicationibus circuire, imparata frequenter hospitia, cibos crodos, et duros, et
super omnia ingratitudinem hominum sustinere ? He relates iu the same chapter, page
164, an example from his own experience : Veni pedes iu villain ignotam mihi, longo
itinere fatigatus in tantum, ut prae debilitate nimia corde me deficere mox putarem.
Ingressi fratres domum presbyteri nee saltem frustum panis nigerrimi, quo familia ves-
cebatur, potuerunt obtinere. Inde digressi late per villam,!nihil prorsus, nisi in fine villae
a quadam paupercula fragmen panis furfurei babuerunt, donum satis magnum.

374 THE MENDICANT FRIARS AND THE CLERGY.
might it be said of them, that although they pursued no bodily
occupation to obtain a subsistence, yet they endured for other
purposes far greater labours and deprivations. t The Benedictine
Matthew of Paris, who, being an antagonist to both orders, is
certainly an unexceptionable witness, relates how the Francis
cans, directly after the. establishment of their order, were favoured
by pope Innocent the Third ; how they settled themselves down
in societies of ten or seven in the towns and villages ; how on
Sundays and festival days they came forth from their seclusion
and preached in the parish churches ; how they were contented
with anything that was offered to them for the satisfying of their
bodily wants ; and how they set before all men an example of hu
mility.2 By their strict mode of living, their deprivations, their
disinterested, indefatigable labours for the salvation of souls,
these monks would gain the love and respect of their contempo
raries, and so much the more as they were distinguished thereby
from the other worldly and degenerate monks of older founda
tions, who suffered themselves to be carried away by the tide of
corruption.3 Certainly, their efficiency as preachers and pastors
for the common people had a great influence and was attended
with the happiest results, so long as due care was taken to select
the right sort of men for the performance of these duties. It was
through the powerful preaching of one of these Franciscans. Dodo
of Friesland, who flourished in the first half of the thirteenth
century, that a stop was finally put to the practice of taking re
venge for bloodshed, which had continued to prevail in that coun
try down to his own times.4 Pious bishops, who were anxious for
the salvation of their flocks, sent of their own accord to procure
1 See 1. c.
2 At the year 1207 : Sub his diebus praedicatores, qui appellati suut minores, favente
papa Innocentio, subito emergentes terram repleverunt, habit-antes in urbibus et civita-
tibus deni et septeni, nihil omnino possidentes, in victu et vestitu paupertatem nimiam
praeferentes, nudis pedibus incedentes, maximum humilitatis exemplum omnibus prae-
buerant. Diebus autem dominicis et festivis, de suis habitaculis exeuntes, praedicaverunt
in ecclesiis parochialibus evangelium verbi, edentes et bibentes quae apud illos erant,
quibus officium praedicationis impendehant. Qui in rerum coelestium contemplatione
tanto perspicaciores sunt inventi, quanto a rebus praesentis saeculi et carnalibus deliciis
comprobantur alieni.
3 Complaints ofthe licentious manners and rude worldly lives of many among the
Benedictines, may be found in a letter of Robert of Lincoln, in the collection already "
cited on page 269, ep. 53, p. 343, and ep. 108, p. 382,
4 Thomas Cantipraten. t. i., c. i., p. 120.

THE FRIARS DEGENERATE. 375
men from these two monkish orders, to take the place of the vi
cious and ignorant clergy, in the office of preaching and the per
formance of pastoral duties. But the latter, finding that their
shameful deficiencies were exposed by these monks, and that the
people ran after the new preachers and confessors, became their
bitterest enemies. Eobert Groshead, bishop of Lincoln, for ex
ample, a prelate sincerely anxious for the spiritual prosperity of
his extensive diocese, was inclined to encourage in every way the
labours of the mendicant friars among his people. He was obliged
to complain that his clergy1 resorted to various bad arts, for the
purpose of drawing away the people from the new preachers
and confessors belonging to the two mendicant orders ; whilst
others, whose influence was most injurious to piety, but whose spi
ritual quackery brought gain to their employers, were welcomed
into the field.2 He bade the priests of his diocese take every pains
to persuade the people to attend diligently on the preaching of the
monks and to confess to them, but to have nothing more to do with
those quacks — those quaestuarii, or penny-preachers, as the same
class of people were called in the sermons of the'pious Franciscan,
Berthold, in the last times of the thirteenth century .3 He re-
1 On whom first he had to make requisitions of this sort, ut seiat unusquisque
saltem simpliciter articulos fidei et decern mandata. See his address to his clergy, I. c.
p. 260.
2 Sunt quidam rectores et vicarii et sacerdotes, qui non solum audire fastidiunt prae-
dicationes utriusque ordinis, sed sicut possunt, ne audiat eos populus praedicantes aut
iis confitentur, malitiose praepediunt, almittunt etiam, ut dicitur, praedicatores quaes-
tuarios ad praedicandum qui solum talia praedicant, qualia nummum melius extrahunt
See ep. 107 to his archdeacon.
3 In the letter just referred to. Among the treasures of the cathedral library of
Prague, a rich and important collection for everything pertaining to church history, are
to be found many other manuscript letters of tbe bishop of Lincoln, serving to illustrate
this point, which are not contained in the collection published by Brown. In a letter to
the pope, in which he laments over the corruption of the church and the great want of re
ligious instruction, he mentions the Dominicans as shining conspicuously over all other
nations throughout the whole land, luce praedicationis. Ep. 6. In a letter to the car
dinal de Ostia (ep. 7), he says: Fratres Minoritae per Angliam constituti sua salubri
praedicatione populum efficaciter illuminant ad veritatem. In a letter to a bishop, in
which he advocates the cause of the injured mendicant friars, he says of tbem : Verb'o
praedicationis et exemplo populum illuminant et supplent in hac parte defectum praela-
torum. During a short residence in Prague, in tbe year 1817, when, by the distin
guished kindness and liberality of a very worthy man, whom I hold in grateful remem
brance, the late archdeacon Pallas, I was allowed the privilege of consulting Jbese
treasures with the utmost freedom, I took these notes. May the example of that
excellent person, in allowing men of letters the freest access to those valuable trea
sures, shine forth as a light to all that come after him.

376 THE FRIARS DEGENERATE.
quested the general of the Dominicans to send him an assistant!
from his order ;2 since he stood in great need of help, his diocese
being large and more populous than any other in England. It
was his desire that the archbishop of Canterbury might have men
around him that were not only versed in the civil and canon laws,
but that had also studied divine wisdom in the sacred oracles, and
received it not merely into their minds, but also into their hearts)
and bore testimony of it by their daily walk ; but such men were
to be found only in the two orders.3 So agreeable to his views
were the renunciation of everything earthly, and the zeal for the
salvation of souls in those two orders, so much did he hope from
them as a means of good to the church, that he is said to have
seriously entertained the idea of entering into one of the orders
himself. At a synod held at Cologne, under the papal legate,
Conrad, a parish priest complained of the encroachments of the
Dominicans, who under the characters of confessors, had contrived
to win the favour of the people, and to monopolize everything to
themselves. The legate upon this, asked him how large his con
gregation was ; and being told that it consisted of nine thousand
souls, he severely rebuked the man who was willing to undertake
alone the responsibility of caring for so many souls, and did not
rather rejoice to find men, who were willing to assist him gra
tuitously in his formidable work.4
But the greater the influence exercised by the mendicant friars,
as preachers and confessors, and as persons who mixed familiarly
with all classes, upon the people — so much the more pernicious
would it prove when it came to be abused by ignorant and badly-
disposed men ; and of such there would be no want as the branches
of these orders extended and multiplied. The causes that had
introduced corruption amongst the other monkish societies, as
soon as they attained to eminence, were not inactive in the case of
these; and soon, many evils began to intermingle with the benefits
1 See above, p. 279.
2 Ideo nos pluri et efficaciore indigemus auxilio in verbi Dei praedicatione, confes-
sionum auditione, poenitentiarum injunctione, prudentiori quoque consilio in variorum
et novorum casuum quotidie emergentium secundum scripturarum intelligentiam sana
et salubri determinatione nee novimus tam efficacem in hac parte coadjutorem quam
fratrim, &c. Ep. 40, p. 334.
3 See ep. 114, p. 388, and Matthew of Paris, at the year VH7, f. 630,
i See Thomas Cantipraten , 1. i., u. ix., p. 30.

THE POPE AND THE FRIARS. 377
which flowed from them. As they enjoyed the special favour of
the popes, and, through their respective generals in Eome, stood
in close relations with the popes — they allowed themselves to be
employed by the latter as instruments for exacting money, and
for other bad purposes. The historian Matthew of Paris, who
had himself perceived and extolled the good influences of these
foundations at the time of their first appearance, complains of
the change which had taken place in the same monks after the
lapse of a few years ; how they erected sumptuous buildings, and
though it was against their wishes, yet consented to be employed
by the popes for exacting contributions.1 If we may credit him,
Eobert, bishop of Lincoln, who had hoped so much good from
them, denounced them shortly before his death, because his ex
pectations had in so many respects been disappointed.2 Men had
occasion to complain of the obtrusiveness of these monks, of the
tricks to which they resorted in order to slip into monasteries,
and there fix themselves, after they had once been voluntarily
received as guests. It was said that they sought to elevate them
selves at the expense of all other monks and ecclesiastics ; that
they took pains to represent their order as the only holy one;
that they bound the people exclusively to themselves ; and en
deavoured to instil into them distrust of their clergy, who, to be
sure, often furnished occasion enough for it. Easily might the
people be carried so far as to regard all other confessors — and
among the clergy there were but too many whose lives were
altogether scandalous— as worthless, and to run after these monks
alone.3 The enormous influence of these orders threatened to
overturn the whole previous constitution of the church, and to do
away the various gradations and intermediate links between the
pope and the other parts of which the church was composed.4
Partly by the force of the idea lying at the bottom of these
1 Papa de ipsis, licet invitis, suos fecit telonarios et multiformes pecuniarum exac-
tores. At the year 1250, f. 696; comp. the year 1234, f. 339.
2 See Matthew of Paris, year 1253, f. 752.
3 See Matthew of Paris, year 1236, f. 354.
4 Words of Matthew of Paris, year 1246, f. 608 : Multi praecipue nobiles et nobiliura
uxores, spretis propriis sacerdotibus et praelatis, ipsis praedicatoribus confitebantnr,
unde non mediocriter viluit ordinariorum dignitas et conditio et de tanto sui contemptu
non sine magna confusione doluerunt nee sine evidenti causa, videbant ordinem ecclesiae
jam enormiter perturbari. Comp. the documents of evidence furnished by Dr Gieseler
in the Studien und Kritiken, i,b, an. 1828, S. 100, and onward.

378 THEIR INFLUENCE ON THE YOUTH.
two orders, and having its deeper ground in the pious spirit of
the age — partly by the authority which individual preachers
exercised over the minds of men, the minds of the youth were
especially carried away. Young men of every rank entered,
sometimes, — as in the case of the far-famed Thomas Aquinas,
contrary to the will of their parents, into one of these orders.
Such as had been brought up in a luxurious manner were, by
enthusiasm for the church and for the salvation of souls, rendered
capable of enduring the greatest hardships.1 This influence on
the youth threatened to spread still more widely ; even at the
universities it seemed to be constantly on the increase. One
of the main directions of spirit in the thirteenth century — the
scientific speculative spirit, penetrated and imbued with reli
gious feeling — was powerfully influenced by the idea of these two
orders. Men of great acuteness and profundity, — destined to be
the teachers of their times and of succeeding centuries, proceeded
from these orders. By their means, too, a ready entrance was
procured for them into the universities ; and it was to be feared
that they would become masters of all the influence in these
establishments, — that these great institutions would have to
lose their freedom and independence. To be sure, the defenders
of these orders could appeal to the fact, that the teachers whom
they sent out had attained to such eminence by their superior
diligence and zeal, — since they were never drawn aside from their
work by worldly amusements, — while the professors, from the
order of the secular clergy, were wont to indulge in various dissi
pations, and bestowed much less care on their lectures.
Moreover, these monks contrived, by fair means or foul, to

1 Thomas Cantiprat. 1. ii., c. x., p. 171 : Vidimus maxime in initio ordinis praedi-
Catorum, vidimus et nunc juvenes inexpertos, delicatos, recenter a saeculo venientes,
circuire terras socialiter combinutos inter nocentes innocentes, simplices sicut colum-
bas inter astutissime maliguantes, prudenter tamen sicut serpentes in sui custodia
ambul antes.
2 Thomas Cantipratenus, who, we admit, wrote in the interest of his party, but still
could hardly be supposed to manufacture what he said out of whole cloth, reports, 1. ii.,
c. x., p. 281 : Videbant scholares, quod magistri saeculares sicut viri divitiarum dormie-
runt somnum suum, ducebantque in bonis dies suos, et quum vespere multiplicitate
ferculorum obruerentur et potuum et postea vigilare non possent, nee studere, et per hoc
nihil invenire in manibus, quod proferrent, sequent! mane solenuem diem constituebant,
auditoribus condensis, et sic per ineptas vacationes, quibus sua clerici expendere se
dolebant, optato piivabantur studio,

THEIR INFLUENCE AMONG THE LEARNED AND NOBLE. 379
establish their authority in the families of noblemen and princes,
as confessors and pastoral labourers.i Possessing so much in
fluence with the popes — who often chose their secretaries from
these orders — and with the potentates ofthe world, — whom men
from the same order frequently served as counsellors and agents,
— they were regarded by the other monks and by the clergy with
fear, and men took care how they got into quarrel with them.2
King Louis the Ninth of France, — whose piety, though it had a
monk-like taint, yet was something more than bare superstition
and ceremonial observance, — a piety truly penetrated by vital
Christianity, by the spirit of Christian love, — promoted, from
religious motives, with peculiar zeal, the interest of these two
orders of monks. Wherever he heard of zealous preachers, he
sent for them to come to him. While residing at Yeres in Pro
vence, he invited to his court a preacher of this class, the Fran
ciscan Hugo, who was creating a great sensation in those parts.3
He must also preach before the king ; he did so ; and told the
king that, if he wanted to enjoy a long life and happy reign, he
must practise justice ; by the contrary course, empires had sunk
to ruin, among believers and unbelievers. The king invited him
repeatedly to stay with him, as long as he remained in Provence ;
but the pious monk did not wish to be interrupted in his labours
amongst the people ; he excused himself, and spent only a day at
the court.4
The two orders of monks, countenanced and supported by such
1 Bishop Robert of Lincoln is said before his death to have objected to them that,
independent of all worldly considerations, as they had become, by their renunciation of
the world, and therefore in a condition to rebuke wickedness in the mighty ones of tbe
earth, they yet neglected to do so. See Matthew of Paris, at the year 1253, f. 752.
2 Matthew of Paris, year 1236, f. 354 : In multis cedebant iis religiosi, propter poten-
tum offendiculum. Erant enim magnatum conciliatores ct nuncii, etiam domini papae
secretarii, nimis in hoc gratiam sibi saecularum comparantes.
3 The following words of his last will, addressed to his son, characterize tbe man :
The first thing I recommend and prescribe to thee is, that thou shouldst love God with
all thy heart, and above all things ; for without this no man can be blessed. And take
good heed that thou doest nothing which may be displeasing to God; that is, that thou
committest no sin ; for sooner oughtest thou to be willing to suffer any torture, than to
allow thyself to be hurried into any mortal sin. If God sendest upon thee misfortune
accept it cheerfully, and thank bim for it; consider that thou hast well deserved it, and
that everything shall work together to thee for good. If he bestows on thee prosperity,
thank him with all humility, and take care that thou dost not from pride, or in any other
way, become the w orse for it."
4 This is stated by Joinville in the Memoires, ed. Petitot, t. ii., p. 384.
3

380

THE PARISIAN UNIVERSITY.

mighty powers, met with the most violent opposition from the
university of Paris, which vindicated against them its ancient
freedom. This university formed a society distinguished by its
independent spirit, a society which boldly maintained its rights
in the contest with popes and monarchs. When she believed
these were encroached upon, her teachers were accustomed to
suspend their lectures and sermons and shut themselves up in
retirement, which, by reason of the great influence this univer
sity exercised on the scientific culture of the times, — when the
youth resorted to it from all quarters of the world, — made no
small impression. This means of defence was also employed
by it during the present contests. It seemed at first that the
cause of the two orders must succumb ; for pope Innocent the
Fourth, moved by the complaints that came to him from all-
sides of the progress of the mendicants at the expense of the
old ecclesiastical order ; of the infringements on the rights of
bishops and parish priests, and the interruption of their la
bours, — issued a bull, in the year 1254, designed to protect
the latter in their rights, and to set limits to the all-absorbing
influence of the mendicant friars. He thereby drew upon him
self the hatred of the latter, — who interpreted his death,1 which
followed shortly afterwards, as a divine punishment, — and who
felt strong because they could rely upon the help of more than
one monarch.2 So much the more favourable to the mendi
cant friars was Innocent's successor, Alexander the Fourth,
who issued several bulls, deciding in their favour against the
Parisian university — where they continually sought to extend
1 Thomas Cantipratenus characteristically remarks : Eadem die paralysi percussus
obmutuit nee unquam postea invaluit aut surrexit. Qui etiam a quodam sanctissirao
viro extra muros orbis Romae manifestissime visus est mortuus dari Sanctis Dei Fran
cisco atque Dominico judicandus. L. c. 1. ii., ex., § 21, p. 174. Compare the alto
gether different manner in wliicb the free-spirited English Benedictine, Matthew of
Paris, judged concerning the death of this pope. See page 251,
'2 Thomas Cantipratenus says: "The princes, when they beard of a hostile bull
which was about to be fulminated by this pope against these two orders, swore that
they would seize the possessions and revenues of tbe secular clergy, if tbe pope meant
to destroy the two orders : ' for,' said they, ' these orders have been given as a special
blessing to the world, by virtue of the instruction they communicate and the example
they furnish to it," c. x., p. 174. The zealous defender and the fiercest opponent of the
two monastic orders agree together when William de St Amour says of the Benedic
tines: Principes illis favorabiliores provocant contra illos, qui eos non recipiunt aut
quos odiunt.

AVILLIAM DE ST AMOUR AGAINST THE MENDICANT ORDERS. 381
their influence and to monopolize more places. The rights of
this university were at that time defended by a man of great
firmness and resolution, possessed of a strongly-marked indivi
duality of character, and a clear understanding — the Parisian
Canonicus and Doctor of Theology, William of St Amour (Guilel-
mus de Sancto Amore.)1 In direct opposition to the mystico-
speculative tendency, represented by the more important theo
logians of the two orders of monks, clearness of understanding
constituted with him the predominant quality. In a writing
composed A.D. 1255, " De periculis novissimorum temporum,"
he described those monks, without naming them, as the pre
cursors of antichrist, as mock-saints and hypocrites, who, by va
rious wicked arts, sought to bring all influence in the church
under their own control. What is said in the gospels concerning
the pharisees, and in the pastoral epistles concerning the false
teachers of the last times, he applies to them. The same points
he set forth in his preaching ; and courageously defended, in
conversation and in letters, what he had asserted in that book.
The entire mode of life followed by these monks he represented
as one opposed to the spirit and essence of Christianity. He
brought against them the precept given by the apostle Paul in
first epistle to the Thessalonians, that every man should support
himself by the labour of his own hands. He who would gain his
livelihood by begging, is beguiled thereby into flattering, calum
niating, and lying. When the mendicant friars maintained that,
in following Christ, they strove to reach the highest perfection,
he replied : " It is a work of perfection, for Christ's sake, to
leave all and follow him, in the sense of imitating him in good
works. Christ invited men, Luke xviii. 22 (the passage usually
quoted in support of the consilium evangelicum of poverty), to
follow him in, doing that which is good, not by begging, for this
is a thing forbidden by the apostle Paul. He who has renounced
all earthly goods in order to strive after perfection, must either
support himself by the labour of his own hands or seek his main
tenance in a monastery. Christ and his apostles never begged ;
Christ carried about a purse with him ; he and his apostles had
women with them, who provided for their bodily wants. The
1 So called from his native city, then belonging to Burgundy.

382

WILLIAM DE ST AMOUR

apostles gained their subsistence by working at their trades, and
received freewill offerings only from those to whom they preached
the gospel," He does not hesitate to declare, that although this
mode of life, which was really at variance with the gospel, had
been erroneously confirmed by the church, yet this judgment of
the church should be revoked after the truth became known,
for even the judgment of the Eomish churcli was liable to correc
tion.1 He appeals to the authority of the Lateran council of
1215, and to its interdict against the multiplication of monkish
orders, quoted on a former page.2 " Yet why, after the promul
gation of this law, have so many new foundations of this kind
sprung up, unless — which far be it from us to say — this council
erred in enacting such a law ?"3 He not obscurely charges those
monks with pharisaical arrogance, when they appropriated the
name religio, a name which it was customary in the thirteenth
century to give to monasticism, to their mode of life ; and he ap-
lies to them the saying of Christ (Matt, xxiii. 15), with regard
to the proselyting spirit of the pharisees ; objecting to them
that persons who before had lived in simplicity, if they were per
suaded to embrace their so-called religion, turned at once into
arrant hypocrites. Among the artifices by which they sought
to increase their influence, he reckons those in particular by
which they endeavoured to draw over to their side young men of
fine parts at the universities.4 As they exercised so great an in
fluence by their preaching, he attacked them also on that score,
accusing them of having obtruded themselves uninvited into the
calling of preachers and pastors ; of seeking only to make a dis
play of their eloquence, their penetration and their learning, but
caring little about that which might minister to salvation.5 He
objected to them that, after having procured canonization for
men belonging to their order, they resorted to all possible means
of glorifying their festivals, extolled their miracles above those of
1 Cap. xih
2 Page 360.
3 Secta sua, quam religionem appellant, c. xiv.
* Plerumque circumeunt universitates, in quibus juvenesingeniosiet subfiles valeant
inveniri, quibus inventis circumeunt illos verbis compositis, commendantes suum sta-
tum et suas traditiones, p. 319.
5 Non ea quaerentes quae ad salutem suam et aliorum proficiant, sed ex quibus singu-
lariter eruditi apparent, p. 395.

UIAINST THE MENDICANT ORDERS. 3S3
the ancient martyrs and of the apostles, and even boasted of
spurious miracles ;' that they contrived, by auricular confession,
to make themselves acquainted with all the particular and per
sonal relations of individuals, and then availed themselves of this
knowledge to sway the minds of men, and to draw them off from
their ecclesiastical superiors.3
It deserves to be noticed that he hints at the possibility of a
schism of the church, to be brought about by their means. If
once the prelates should perceive it to be necessary to resist
their encroachments and their overgrown authority, they might
easily be tempted to go to the length of renouncing obedience to
them ; and the consequence would be, that men would also re
nounce obedience to the Eoman see, and the unity of the church
being thus broken up, the way would be prepared for the coming
of antichrist.'' It is worthy of notice, again, that he foretells
how, as opponents of the secularization of the clergy, as defen
ders of humility in the appearance of the church, they would
incite the monarchs to deprive the church of all her secular pos
sessions, on the ground that nothing but a purely spiritual juris
diction belonged to her.4 He spoke against a certain pietistic
bent, promoted by the influence of these monks, which led men
to look upon a course and squalid dress as a mark of humility.
He maintained, on the contrary, that one might wear even sump
tuous apparel, were it but appropriate to the station ofthe indi
vidual and to the customs of the land, aud not subservient to
pride ;5 and that pride may go in the dress of a beggar as well
as in costly robes. Pride in a beggarly garb was so much the
worse, because it carried hypocrisy along with it, which he proved

1 Page 413.
2 Cujuslibetjproprietates per confessiones rimando et sic populum multipliciter sibi al -
liciendo et a suorum praelatorum et doctorum veracium doctrina et consiliis avertendo, p.
208. 3 Page 209.
4 Sub eo etiam praetextu, quod sint humilitatis ecclesiae zelatores laudant et justifi-
cant principes saeculares, temporalem ecclesiae jurisdictionem coarctantes, dicentes
scilicet ac persuadentes dictis principibus, quod ecclesiae non debet habere jurisdictionem
temporalem, ut sic ad eos facilius recursum habeant in suis negotiis, p. 419.
5 He was charged with asserting, Quod pretiositas vestium non nocet vel juvat ad
saeculum. But he declared that he had expressed himself as follows: Quod licet uti
veste pretiosa, dum tamen non excedat homo vel mulier modulum personae suae vel
mores provinciae, vel non hoc faciat causa movendae concupiscentiae.

384 WILLIAM DE ST AMOUR AGAINST THE PAPELLARDI.
by quoting Matthew vi. 16. t Nor did he hesitate to attack the
direction which had been given by the influence of the mendicant
friars to the piety of king Louis the Ninth. He said4 among
other things, in one of his sermons, that it behooved kings2 to
clothe themselves in a manner corresponding to their exalted
station, since this was requisite in order to maintain their royal
dignity. It was not required of them that they should hear many
masses every day, or that they should attend early mass; but
that they should dispense justice, and faithfully fulfil their calling.
To put down the party of the Papellardi,4 (a term equivalent to
canters, pietists, in later times), among whom Louis the Ninth
was reckoned by worldly-minded people and the opponents of
monkish piety, he employed the following singular argument :
" Were it a sin to wear, under befitting circumstances, a costly
garment, Christ would not have worn that seamless coat (John
xix. 23), which, in relation to his poverty, must have been costly
enough."6 Accordingly, he warned men against that false humility
which is assumed for appearance sake ; and is said to have re-

1 Page 92.
2 King Louis the Ninth declared himself opposed to superfluity of ornament in dress ;
aud said that the money expended in this way had better be given to the poor. See
his life by Gottfried of Beaulieu, in Du Cbesne, script, hist. France, t. v., f. 447. It was
his wish to wear on Friday and several other days, for penance, a hair shirt (cilicium),
next bis body ; but bis own confessor told bim that such penance was not befitting a
person in his station ; he ought rather to be bountiful in bestowing alms, and to be
strict in administering justice to his subjects. L. c. f. 451. Yet Joinville, in his Me
moirs, cites a principle set forth by this Monarch : Que l'on se doit vestiren telle mani
ere et porter selou son estat, que les prudes du monde ne puissent dire : vous en faites
trop, n'aussi les jeunes gens : vous en faites peu. Ed. Petitot. p. 175.
3 King Louis heard daily two, frequently three or four, masses. To the nobles, who
murmured at this, he said, " If he only would-spend the same amount of time in throw
ing dice, or in hunting in the forest, nobody would have a word to object." See Gott
fried de Beaulieu, 1. c. f. 456. William de St Amour is doubtless referred to in what
Thomas Cantipratenus says (see page 373), in his Bonum Universale, 1. ii. o. lvii., § 64,
p. 588: Erubescebat theologicae cathedrae vilis ille praesumptor, qui praedicavit, ipsum,
de quo scripsimus regem, non debere communibus uti vestibus sed semper purpuratum
incedere, nee plures missas audire, quam unam. Moitaliter autem peccare dicebat omnes
illos, qui dictum regem inducerent ad hujusmodi devotionis et humilitatis exemplum.
4 The name denotes, etymologically, a person wholly devoted to the popes, the
parsons, the clergy. The Papellardi were, in tbe thirteenth century, most directly opposed
to the people of the world, Mundanis.
5 Rex papellardus. Vid. Thomas Cantipraten, 1. c. § 63. It is related that the Do
minicans almost persuaded the king to consent to be admitted into their order ; vid.
Ricberii Chronicon Senonense, 1. iv., u. xxxvii. D'Achery Spicileg, t. ii., f. 615.
o Page 97.

FRIARS DEFENDED BY BONAVENTURA AND THOMAS. 385
marked, in one of his sermons,1 " Were one now to put on so
costly a garment, the Papellardi would spit at him, as the phari-
sees spat in the face of our Lord Jesus Christ, when so clad."
And since the idea which lay at bottom of the orders ofthe men
dicant friars, was an idea widely prevailing ; since there were,
indeed, a number of societies of laymen, men and women, who
had associated for the purpose of engaging in a similar mode of
life ; and since it was the custom to call the persons thus asso
ciated, praying brethren (beghardi) and praying sisters (beguinae,
beguttae), William of St Amour could say, in defence of himself,
that " the mendicant friars had no right to regard his strictures
on the pietistic bent that belonged amongst the dangers of the
last times, as an attack upon their particular mode of life, —
which had been approved by the apostolic see ; for in truth all
his remarks applied to those pious associations which rested upon
no such high authority, but had been attacked from various quar
ters. He referred particularly to those young men and maidens
itinerating about in France, who, under pretence of living only
for prayer,2 had really no other object in view than to get rid of
work, and live on the alms of the pious.3 As he had attacked
none of those orders by name, whicli subsisted by authority of
the Eoman church, so whoever felt himself hit by what he had
remarked in a very general way, about uncalled preachers, can
ters, beggars, and vagabonds, would find that he was accused by
nobody but himself."4
The cause of these monastic orders was defended with spirit
and irigenuity by distinguished men of their own body ; such as
Bonaventura, Albertus Magnus, and Thomas Aquinas ; but yet,
not without a due share of that sophistry of party feeling, which
may be discerned on both sides. Their statements do, on the
one hand, really expose the injustice and extravagance of many
1 Yet it is not affirmed that he expressed himself in precisely these words.
2 Like those more ancient Euchites.
3 Propter quosdam juvenes, quos appellant bonos valetos et propter quasdam mulieres
juvenes, quas appellant beguinas per totum regnum jam diffusas, qui omnes, cum sint
validi ad operandum, parum certe aut nihil volent ouer,.ri, sed vivcre volunt de elee-
mosynis in otio corporali sub praetextu orandi, cum nullius sint relig'onis per sedem
apostolicam approbatae, p. 91.
i Si qui ergo praedicatores contra se specialiter dicta ex more suspicentur, etasserant
et ideo ea ferre non possint, sed contra ilia quasi ad suam defensionem se praeparent et
eorum praedicatores impugnent, videutur esse tales, qtiales supra dictum est, p. 440.
VOL. VII. 2 B

386 BONAVENTURA AND THOMAS DEFEND
things said by their antagonists ; but on the other, they are
obliged to testify, in spite of themselves, to truth which bore un
favourably on their own interests.
With the greatest justice the defenders of the mendicant friars
could affirm that the bad state of the clergy rendered such kind
of assistance as that which was furnished to the church by their
orders, a matter of necessity. Bonaventura maintained, that
" because sins within the church were continually on the increase,
and the bishops, occupied with external things, could not turn
their attention to spiritual affairs ; because few shepherds resided
with their churches, but the majority committed the guidance of
souls to hireling vicars, who were for the most part ignorant,
negligent, and impure in their lives, — therefore the pope, on whom
devolves the care of the whole church, has called us to the assist
ance of the clergy and the communities."1 How very necessary
it was that preaching and pastoral duties should be intrusted to
others besides the parish priests, Thomas Aquinas proves, by re
ferring to the incompetency of many priests, who in a large number
of districts were so ignorant as not even to understand the Latin
language. " Very few, indeed." he said, " had made themselves
acquainted with the Holy Scriptures, though a preacher of the
divine word should be well instructed in them." Again, many
communities were so large that a single parish priest, who did no
thing else in his whole life, would find it impossible to hear carefully
the confessions of all. Experience teaches, too, that if they had
none to confess to but their own parish priests, many would wholly
omit it. ; either from an unwillingness to confess their sins to
those with whom they daily associated, or becanse they looked
upon them as their enemies, or for various other reasons. They
whose business it was to care for the salvation of souls, should
be distinguished for their knowledge and their holy lives ; and
a sufficient number of men of this sort could not be found
to provide for the wants of the parish priests throughout the
entire world ; since, indeed, it was on account of the want of well-
informed men, that the ordinance of the Lateran council, of the
year 1215, that, in all the metropolitan churches, men should be
appointed capable of teaching theology, could not be carried into
1 See Determinationes circa regulam, S. Francisci, opp. t. vii.,ed. Lugd. f. 330.

THE MENDICANT FRIARS. 387
effect by the secular clergy. But by these monks the want was
supplied to a much greater extent than had been required by that
council ; so that, in the words of Isaiah, the land was full of the
knowledge of the Lord. Experience plainly showed how much
had been accomplished by these orders, founded for the support
of the priests who could not satisfy all demands. In many coun
tries heresy had by their means been extirpated ; many infidels
reclaimed to the faith ; many persons in various parts of the
world instructed in the law of God; very many awakened to re
pentance ; so that if anyone ventured to pronounce such establish
ments unprofitable, it could be clearly made out against him that
he envied them on account of the grace which wrought through
them, and made himself guilty of sinning against the Holy
Ghost.1 It might now be argued again in defence of these orders, that
if they were designed for the purposes above described, then it
became necessary for the members to pursue those studies which
were requisite to qualify them for their office ; that, in order to
get this education, and fit themselves for discharging the duties
of this vocation, they must not be required to support themselves
by the labour of their own hands. This, Bonaventura sets' forth
as follows : " No one amongst us," says he, " is allowed to be
idle, but the sick. Some busy themselves with study, in order to
qualify themselves for the business of instructing the faithful ;.
others, with the performance of divine worship ; others, with the
collecting of alms for the support of the community ; others be
stow their services, with which they are specially charged, on
the sick and the healthy ; those who have learned trades work
at them for the benefit of the brethren and of strangers ; others,
who are so directed, itinerate in different countries — since we
have nobody else to employ on such missions."2 The defenders
of these orders concede to William of St Amour, that many of
the bad things censured by him were really to be found in indi
viduals amongst them ; but they complain of the injustice he had
done them in accusing the whole for what was the fault tmly of a
1 Contra impugnantes religionem opusc. xvi. ed Venet. t xix. p. 341, et seqq.
2 L. c. f. 333.

388 BONAVENTURA AS A DEFENDER OF THE MENDICANT FRIARS.
few.1 " That which is bad," says Bonaventura, " swims on the
surface, and is easily noticed by every one. True holiness is a
hidden thing, and is to be found out only by certain marks.'"'
Thomas Aquinas objects to their opponents, that they took it
upon them to judge over the conscience, over the hidden things
of the heart, when they accused the monks of seeking after the
favour of the world ; after their own glory, and not the glory of
Christ, and of many such-like things. It was only presumption
or envy to judge thus. It was the common resort of such as
were disposed to decry and to censure rather than to correct.3
Yet it cannot be denied that these distinguished men betrayed
the too strong bias of a predilection for their order, when they
laboured so much to extenuate grievous faults, of which the mem
bers of their order were clearly convicted ; arguing that no man
in this world can live without sin, 1 John i. 8.4 If the monks
were eager to be received by the rich ; if they intermeddled with
matters which did not concern them, in order to secure for them
selves a comfortable maintenance ; if they sought temporal gain
among those for whom they preached — these were to be regarded
as slight failings, for which they ought not to be called sinners,
much less false apostles.5 Bonaventura,6 in defending these or
ders against the reproach that they fawned on the rich, says r
" We ought, certainly, to love all, in the Lord ; to long after
the salvation of the poor as well as of the rich, and seek to
promote it to the utmost of our ability, and in the way most
profitable for both. Therefore, if a poor man is better than a
1 Ut videlicet, quod ab uno vel duobus geritur, toti religioni imponere praesumant
sicut cum dicunt, quod non sunt cibis sibi appositis contenti, lautiora quaerentes, et
multa hujusmodi, quae etiam si ab aliquibus aliquando fiant, nullatenus sunttotali col
legio imponenda. Thomas Aquinas, opusc. xvi., p. 410.
2 L. c. f. 336.
3 Quod maxime faciunt, qui magis amant clamare et vituperare, quam corrigere et
emendare. Opusc. xvi., p. 411.
i When Thomas Aquinas brings it as a charge against his opponents that they
peccata le.via, quae etiam in quibuscnnque perfectis inveniuntur, quasi gravis exagge-
rant, he reckons among them, quod quaerant opulentiora hospitia, in quibus melius
procurentur, quod procurent aliena negotia, ut sic mereantur hospitia, quod rapiant
bona temporalia illorum, quibus praedicant et alia.
5 Quae etsi in vitium sonent, non tamen sunt tam gravia, ut pro eis diri possint pec
catores, qui haec comraittunt, nedum nt pro iis possint dici pseudapostoli.
6 L. c. f. 338.

FATE OF WILLIAM DE ST AMOUR. 389
rich man, we should love him more ; but we must honour the rich
man most, notwithstanding ; and this for four reasons : First, be
cause in this world God has placed the rich and mighty above the
poor in respect to their worldly circumstances ; so that, in honour
ing the rich, we concur with the divine order : Secondly, on ac
count ofthe weakness ofthe rich, who would be angry and sin if
we refused to pay them such honour, — they would oppress us, and
other poor people : Thirdly, because more good results from the
conversion of a rich man than from that of many poor men,' — for
the converted rich man edifies many by his example ; and through
him, much good may be done and much evil prevented."1 Justi
fications of this character serve, perhaps, rather to confirm than
to refute many of the objections brought by the Parisian theolo
gian against these two orders.
The unflinching advocate of the university of Paris, who had
long defended its rights against the most distinguished men of
the mendicant orders, before the court of Eome, William of St
Amour, finally had to succumb to the united spiritual and secular
powers, which acted under the influence of these monks. His
book, "De periculis novissimorum temporum," which on account
of the many remarks it contained, cautiously and forbearingly,
indeed, yet freely expressed, against the arbitrary proceedings of
the popes, could not make a very favourable impression at the
Eoman court, was condemned in the year 1255, by pope Alexan
der the Fourth. He had to resign his post, and was banished
from France.2 He retired to Burgundy, his native country. With
the successor of pope Alexander, Clement the Fourth, he found
means of becoming reconciled. He placed in the hands of the
latter a revised copy of the work which lay at the foundation of
his treatise " On the Dangers ofthe Last Tim£S ;" and consisted
of a collection of proof-texts from Scripture, relating to this sub
ject. He lived beyond the year 1270.8 Although these contests
died away, yet the same spirit of freedom was maintained in the
i L. c. f. 838.
2 In a poem belonging io these times, the so-called Roman de la Rose, it is said oi
him : — Estre bany de ce royaume,
A tort comme fut Maitre Guillcaume,
De St Amour, qu' hypocrisie
Fit exiler par grand' ennuie.
S Du Boulay, hist, univrrs. Paris, t. iii., f. 686.

390 BONAVENTURA ASA REPROVER OF HIS ORDER.
university of Paris, which had offered so determined an opposition
to the mendicant friars.
The effect of these fierce assaults on the mendicant orders of
monks would be to direct the attention of the well-disposed in
them to the points in which they had degenerated, and to call
forth efforts for reform. Although the pious Bonaventura, when
he had to defend his order against its antagonists, was too in
clined to play the part of an advocate, in palliating many of the
abuses, yet he expressed himself in an altogether different manner
when he addressed the superiors of the order themselves. He
now exhibits himself as the rigid censor ; and by his own stric
tures shows that there was foundation for many of the above-
stated charges. When, in the year 1256, he was appointed
general of his order, he issued a circular letter1 to the presiding
officers of the same in the several provinces, calling upon them in
the most urgent rnanner to do their utmost to remove the abuses
which had crept in. " The danger of the times," he writes to
them, " the violation of our own consciences ; the scandal of
worldly people, to whom the order, which should be to them a
mirror of holiness, has become an object of contempt and abhor
rence ; all urge us to action." He declares to them, that he had
examined into the causes by which the splendour of the order
had become dimmed, and had found that it was to be traced to
the fault of some of its own members. He then proceeds to
enumerate several particulars, which had brought the order into
bad repute. Cupidity, thau which nothing could more directly
be opposed to the poverty for which the order had been founded ;
costly and sumptuous buildings ; the monopolizing of funerals
and of the drawing up of wills,2 a thing which could not fail
to create great dissatisfaction amongst the clergy, and parti
cularly the priests. To this list, he added the enormous ex
pense occasioned by the itinerant brethren. " For, as they
1 Epistola ad ministros provinciales et eustodes, opp. t. vii.,ed. Lugdunens. f. 483.
3 See on this point, the treatise of Gieseler, referred to on page 377. The supersti
tious considered it a great privilege to be buried among the monks, in some one ot their
churchyards, a circumstance which the latter knew how to turn to their own advantage.
The Benedictine Richer says, in the Chronicle of the Dominicans, already noticed :
Illos, qui eis talia dona conferebant, quod Papa facere non potest, a peccatis rapinarum
et n'urarum absolvebant et mortuo9 iu coemeteriis suis solemniter sepeliebant. Chro.
nicon Senouense, 1. iv., c. xvi., 1. cf. 634.

BONAVENTURA AS A REPROVER OF HIS ORDER. 391
cannot be satisfied with a little," says he, " and as the love of
men has waxen cold, we have all become burdensome, and we
shall come to be still more so, if some remedy be not soon ap
plied. Though there are very many, whom such accusations
do not touch, still, the disgrace will come upon all, if the in
nocent have not courage enough to resist the guilty. So let
the ardour of your zeal burn forth ; and after you have purified
the house of our Father in heaven from those who make it
a house of merchandise, let it kindle in all the brethren the
fire of prayer and devotion." He recommends it to them espe
cially, in accordance with the rule of Francis, to proceed more
cautiously in admitting members into the order, and to limit the
number of those to be received. They should allow no man to
become a preacher or confessor without a previous rigid examina-
tion.j After the same manner he expresses himself in a special
letter to one of the provincial superiors. " In former times, the
observance of the evangelical perfection made us universally re
spected and beloved ; but, at present, when the multitude give
themselves up to their bad passions, and superiors cease to en
force the necessary strictness, it seems that many vices are steal
ing among us which make this venerable society burdensome and
contemptible to the people." He expresses great dissatisfaction
with those who, contrary to the rule of Francis, assault the
clergy in their sermons before the laity, and only sow scandal,
strife, and hatred ; with those who injure the pastors by mono
polizing to themselves the burial of the dead and the drawing
up of wills, and who had thereby made the whole order detested
by the clergy.2 " It is an abominable falsehood," he declares,
" for a man to profess the voluntary adoption of the most ex
treme poverty, while he is unwilling to suffer want in anything ;
for a man to be rich inside of the monastery, while outside of it
he begs like a pauper. All the brethren should be directed to be
careful and avoid every occasion of giving just cause of complaint
to the clergy. It should appear manifest to the whole world, that
they were not seeking their own advantage, but simply the win
ning of souls to Christ.
1 Officia praedicationis et confessionis cum multo examine imponatis.
^ Sepulturarum ac testamentorum litigiosa et avida quaedam invasio cum exclusione
illorum, ad quos aniuiarum cura spectare dinoscitur, non modicum nos clero toti fecit
exosos.

392 THE MILDER AND THE MORE RIGID FRANCISCANS.
But even before the death of Francis, there was formed within
the order the germ of an inward schism leading to important con
sequences ; the strife between a party who were zealous for the
literal observance ofthe so-called evangelical poverty, and another,
who retained only the appearance of it, but in the splendour of
monasteries and churches, as well as in other respects, allowed
themselves to depart, in manifold ways, from that original prin
ciple. The brother Elias, a disciple of Francis himself, who occa
sioned great disturbances in the order, stood at the head of this
laxer party. In opposition to him stood forth other important
men, and in particular the influential Anthony of Padua. Some
times general of the order, Elias fell and rose by turns, till
finally he was cast aside entirely and turned out of it. But the
quarrel between the two parties, in the order still went on. The
question was, how to unite any possession whatsoever necessary for
this life, with evangelical poverty. Men resorted to a distinction,
by which greater latitude of interpretation could be given to this
term. They distinguished between a right of property, and the
simple use of another's property for the satisfaction of the neces
sary wants of life. As property, the Franciscans should possess
nothing ; but the right of property in all goods administered by
them should be given to the pope.1 Thus arose the two parties
of the more strict (Zelantes, Spiritales) and the more mild
Franciscans. The popes, by their explanations of the Franciscan
rule, especially Nicholas the Third, by his bull issued in 12^7,
(called, from its commencing words, Emit qui seminat,") favoured
the principles of the milder party, and expressly confirmed the
distinction above stated. So the fanatical zeal of the Zelantes
was fanned into a conflict with the dominant church itself. Add
to this, that as the writings of abbot Joachim had found great
acceptance with this order generally, which believed that itself
had been predicted in them, so the more zealous party in parti
cular busied themselves a good deal with those writings — and the
1 See Bonaventura in the Determinationes quaestionum circa regulam Francisci Qu.
xxiv. : Praesul sedis apostolicae, qui est generalis omnium pauperum ecclesiae provisor,
specialiter nostri ordinis curam habet, omnium mobilium, quae ordini conferuntur, pro
prietatem sibi assumsit, exceptis his, quorum dominium sibi conferentes retinuerunt et
nobis usum earundem rerum solum concedit,ut semper alieno victuet vestitu ac tecto
*t aliis utensilibus absque propnetatis jure, ex ijsius coucessione utamur.

JOACHIM S IDEAS CARRIED OUT BY THE FRANCISCANS. 393
more, in proportion as they became dissatisfied with the existing
state of things, and as their fanatical enthusiasm was excited by
opposition. The idea of an ultimate perfection of religious life,
of the last times of the kingdom of God, of the age of the Holy
Ghost, of the everlasting gospel, was pushed by them to still fur
ther extremes ; and their extravagant notion of the perfection of
life without property, consecrated to contemplation alone, would
lead them into the mistake of regarding the whole appearance
and evolution of Christianity, thus far, as only a subordinate
thing in comparison with that highest stage of spiritual perfec
tion, for which they were to prepare the way. A spiritual pride
of mysticism would be ready to exalt itself above everything
positive and objective in religion ; and we have already pointed
out, on a former page, the point of support whicli such a tendency
might find, in several expressions of the abbot Joachim. Many
fanatical tendencies, which appropriated to themselves these ideas,
were diffused by the different kinds of Beghards, who found refuge
in the third order within the general order of Francis.
But here we stop — intending to reserve the more detailed ex
hibition of the remarkable facts, which are here merely hinted at,
for the Fourth Section of the present history.

END OF VOL. VII.

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1