THE PAPACY AND THE TEMPORAL POWERS IN THE LATER MIDDLE AGES
66. The Interdict Laid on France by Innocent III. (1200)
Two of the most effective weapons at the service of the mediaeval
Church were excommunication and the interdict. By the ban of
excommunication the proper ecclesiastical authorities could exclude a
heretic or otherwise objectionable person from all religious
privileges, thereby cutting him off from association with the faithful
and consigning him irrevocably (unless he repented) to Satan. The
interdict differed from excommunication in being less sweeping in its
condemnatory character, and also in being applied to towns, provinces,
or countries rather than to individuals. As a rule the interdict
undertook to deprive the inhabitants of a specified region of the use
of certain of the sacraments, of participation in the usual religious
services, and of the right of Christian burial. It did not expel men
from church membership, as did excommunication, but it suspended most
of the privileges and rights flowing from such membership. The
interdict was first employed by the clergy of north France in the
tenth and eleventh centuries. In the twelfth it was adopted by the
papacy on account of its obvious value as a means of disciplining the
monarchs of western Europe. Because of its effectiveness in stirring
up popular indignation against sovereigns who incurred the papal
displeasure, by the time of Innocent III. (1198-1216) it had come to
be employed for political as well as for purely religious purposes,
though generally the two considerations were closely intertwined. A
famous and typical instance of its use was that of the year 1200,
described below.
In August, 1193, Philip Augustus, king of France, married Ingeborg,
second sister of King Knut VI. of Denmark. At the time Philip was
contemplating an invasion of England and hoped through the marriage to
assure himself of Danish aid. Circumstances soon changed his plans,
however, and almost immediately he began to treat his new wife coldly,
with the obvious purpose of forcing her to return to her brother's
court. Failing in this, he convened his nobles and bishops at
Compiegne and got from them a decree of divorce, on the flimsy pretext
that the marriage with Ingeborg had been illegal on account of the
latter's distant relationship to Elizabeth of Hainault, Philip's first
wife. Ingeborg and her brother appealed to Rome, and Pope Celestine
III. dispatched letter after letter and legate after legate to the
French court, but without result. Indeed, after three years, Philip,
to clinch the matter, as he thought, married Agnes of Meran, daughter
of a Bavarian nobleman, and shut up Ingeborg in a convent at Soissons.
In 1198, while the affair stood thus, Celestine died and was succeeded
by Innocent III., under whom the papal power was destined to attain a
height hitherto unknown. Innocent flatly refused to sanction the
divorce or to recognize the second marriage, although he was not pope,
of course, until some years after both had occurred. On the ground
that the whole subject of marriage lay properly within the
jurisdiction of the Church, Innocent demanded that Philip cast off the
beautiful Agnes and restore Ingeborg to her rightful place. This
Philip promptly refused to do.
The threat of an interdict failing to move him, the Pope proceeded to
put his threat into execution. In January, 1200, the interdict was
pronounced and, though the king's power over the French clergy was so
strong that many refused to heed the voice from Rome, gradually the
discontent and indignation of the people grew until after nine months
it became apparent that the king must yield. He did so as gracefully
as he could, promising to take back Ingeborg and submit the question
of a divorce to a council presided over by the papal legate. This
council, convened in 1201 at Soissons, decided against the king and in
favor of Ingeborg; but Philip had no intention to submit in good faith
and, until the death of Agnes in 1204, he maintained his policy of
procrastination and double-dealing. Even in the later years of the
reign the unfortunate Ingeborg had frequent cause to complain of
harshness and neglect at the hand of her royal husband.
The following are the principal portions of Innocent's interdict.
Source--Martene, Edmond, and Durand, Ursin, _Thesaurus novus
Anecdotorum_ ["New Collection of Unpublished Documents"],
Paris, 1717, Vol. IV., p. 147. Adapted from translation by
Arthur C. Howland in _Univ. of Pa. Translations and Reprints_,
Vol. IV., No. 4, pp. 29-30.
[Sidenote: Partial suspension of the services and offices of
the Church]
Let all the churches be closed; let no one be admitted to them,
except to baptize infants; let them not be otherwise opened, except
for the purpose of lighting the lamps, or when the priest shall
come for the Eucharist and holy water for the use of the sick. We
permit Mass to be celebrated once a week, on Friday, early in the
morning, to consecrate the Host[530] for the use of the sick, but
only one clerk is to be admitted to assist the priest. Let the
clergy preach on Sunday in the vestibules of the churches, and in
place of the Mass let them deliver the word of God. Let them recite
the canonical hours[531] outside the churches, where the people do
not hear them; if they recite an epistle or a gospel, let them
beware lest the laity hear them; and let them not permit the dead
to be interred, nor their bodies to be placed unburied in the
cemeteries. Let them, moreover, say to the laity that they sin and
transgress grievously by burying bodies in the earth, even in
unconsecrated ground, for in so doing they assume to themselves an
office pertaining to others.
[Sidenote: How Easter should be observed]
[Sidenote: Arrangements for confession]
Let them forbid their parishioners to enter churches that may be
open in the king's territory, and let them not bless the wallets of
pilgrims, except outside the churches. Let them not celebrate the
offices in Passion week, but refrain even until Easter day, and
then let them celebrate in private, no one being admitted except
the assisting priest, as above directed; let no one communicate,
even at Easter, unless he be sick and in danger of death. During
the same week, or on Palm Sunday, let them announce to their
parishioners that they may assemble on Easter morning before the
church and there have permission to eat flesh and consecrated
bread.... Let the priest confess all who desire it in the portico
of the church; if the church have no portico, we direct that in bad
or rainy weather, and not otherwise, the nearest door of the church
may be opened and confessions heard on its threshold (all being
excluded except the one who is to confess), so that the priest and
the penitent can be heard by those who are outside the church. If,
however, the weather be fair, let the confession be heard in front
of the closed doors. Let no vessels of holy water be placed outside
the church, nor shall the priests carry them anywhere; for all the
sacraments of the Church beyond these two which are reserved[532]
are absolutely prohibited. Extreme unction, which is a holy
sacrament, may not be given.[533]
67. The Bull "Unam Sanctam" of Boniface VIII. (1302)
In the history of the mediaeval Church at least three great periods of
conflict between the papacy and the temporal powers can be
distinguished. The first was the era of Gregory VII. and Henry IV. of
Germany [see p. 261]; the second was that of Innocent III. and John of
England and Philip Augustus of France [see p. 380]; the third was that
of Boniface VIII. and Philip the Fair of France. In many respects the
most significant document pertaining to the last of these struggles is
the papal bull, given below, commonly designated by its opening words,
_Unam Sanctam_.
The question at issue in the conflict of Boniface VIII. and Philip the
Fair was the old one as to whether the papacy should be allowed to
dominate European states in temporal as well as in spiritual matters.
The Franconian emperors, in the eleventh century, made stubborn
resistance to such domination, but the immediate result was only
partial success, while later efforts to keep up the contest
practically ruined the power of the house of Hohenstaufen. Even Philip
Augustus, at the opening of the thirteenth century, had been compelled
to yield, at least outwardly, to the demands of the papacy respecting
his marriages and his national policies. With the revival of the issue
under Boniface and Philip, however, the tide turned, for at last there
had arisen a nation whose sovereign had so firm a grip upon the
loyalty of his subjects that he could defy even the power of Rome with
impunity.
The quarrel between Boniface and Philip first assumed importance in
1296--two years after the accession of the former and eleven after
that of the latter. The immediate subject of dispute was the heavy
taxes which Philip was levying upon the clergy of France and the
revenues from which he was using in the prosecution of his wars with
Edward I. of England; but royal and papal interests were fundamentally
at variance and as both king and pope were of a combative temper, a
conflict was inevitable, irrespective of taxes or any other particular
cause of controversy. In 1096 Boniface issued the famous bull
_Clericis Laicos_, forbidding laymen (including monarchs) to levy
subsidies on the clergy without papal consent and prohibiting the
clergy to pay subsidies so levied. Philip the Fair was not mentioned
in the bull, but the measure was clearly directed primarily at him. He
retaliated by prohibiting the export of money, plate, etc., from the
realm, thereby cutting off the accustomed papal revenues from France.
In 1297 an apparent reconciliation was effected, the Pope practically
suspending the bull so far as France was concerned, though only to
secure relief from the conflict with Philip while engaged in a
struggle with the rival Colonna family at Rome.
In 1301 the contest was renewed, mainly because of the indiscretion of
a papal legate, Bernard Saisset, bishop of Pamiers, who vilified the
king and was promptly imprisoned for his violent language. Boniface
took up the cause of Saisset and called an ecclesiastical council to
regulate the affairs of church and state in France and to rectify the
injuries wrought by King Philip. The claim to papal supremacy in
temporal as well as spiritual affairs, which Boniface proposed thus to
make good, was boldly stated in a new bull--that of _Ausculta
Fili_--in 1301. At the same time the bull _Clericis Laicos_ was
renewed for France. Philip knew that the Franconians and his own
Capetian predecessors had failed in their struggles with Rome chiefly
for the reason that they had been lacking in consistent popular
support. National feeling was unquestionably stronger in the France of
1301 than in the Germany of 1077, or even in the France of 1200; but
to make doubly sure, Philip, in 1302, caused the first meeting of a
complete States General to be held, and from this body, representing
the various elements of the French people, he got reliable pledges of
support in his efforts to resist the temporal aggressions of the
papacy. It was at this juncture that Boniface issued the bull _Unam
Sanctam_, which has well been termed the classic mediaeval expression
of the papal claims to universal temporal sovereignty.
In 1303 an assembly of French prelates and magnates, under the
inspiration of Philip, brought charges of heresy and misconduct
against Boniface and called for a meeting of a general ecclesiastical
council to depose him. Boniface decided to issue a bull
excommunicating and deposing Philip. But before the date set for this
step (September, 1303) a catastrophe befell the papacy which resulted
in an unexpected termination of the episode. On the day before the
bull of deposition was to be issued William of Nogaret, whom Philip
had sent to Rome to force Boniface to call a general council to try
the charges against himself, led a band of troops to Anagni and took
the Pope prisoner with the intention of carrying him to France for
trial. After three days the inhabitants of Anagni attacked the
Frenchmen and drove them out and Boniface, who had barely escaped
death, returned to Rome. The unfortunate Pope never recovered,
however, from the effects of the outrage and his death in October
(1303) left Philip, by however unworthy means, a victor. From this
point the papacy passes under the domination of the French court and
in 1309 began the dark period of the so-called Babylonian Captivity,
during most of which the popes dwelt at Avignon under conditions
precisely the reverse of the ideal which Boniface so clearly asserted
in _Unam Sanctam_.
Source--Text based upon the papal register published by P.
Mury in _Revue des Questions Historiques_, Vol. XLVI. (July,
1889), pp. 255-256. Translated in Oliver J. Thatcher and Edgar
H. McNeal, _Source Book for Mediaeval History_ (New York),
1905, pp. 314-317.
[Sidenote: An assertion of the unity of the Church]
The true faith compels us to believe that there is one holy
Catholic Apostolic Church, and this we firmly believe and plainly
confess. And outside of her there is no salvation or remission of
sins, as the Bridegroom says in the Song of Solomon: "My dove, my
undefiled, is but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is
the choice one of her that bare her" [Song of Sol., vi. 9]; which
represents the one mystical body, whose head is Christ, but the
head of Christ is God [1 Cor., xi. 3]. In this Church there is "one
Lord, one faith, one baptism" [Eph., iv. 5]. For in the time of the
flood there was only one ark, that of Noah, prefiguring the one
Church, and it was "finished above in one cubit" [Gen., vi. 16],
and had but one helmsman and master, namely, Noah. And we read that
all things on the earth outside of this ark were destroyed. This
Church we venerate as the only one, since the Lord said by the
prophet: "Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power
of the dog" [Ps., xxii. 20]. He prayed for his soul, that is, for
himself, the head; and at the same time for the body, and he named
his body, that is, the one Church, because there is but one
Bridegroom [John, iii. 29], and because of the unity of the faith,
of the sacraments, and of his love for the Church. This is the
seamless robe of the Lord which was not rent but parted by lot
[John, xix. 23].
[Sidenote: An allusion to the Petrine Supremacy]
[Sidenote: The proper relation of spiritual and temporal powers]
Therefore there is one body of the one and only Church, and one
head, not two heads, as if the Church were a monster. And this head
is Christ, and his vicar, Peter and his successor; for the Lord
himself said to Peter: "Feed my sheep" [John, xxi. 16]. And he said
"my sheep," in general, not these or those sheep in particular;
from which it is clear that all were committed to him. If,
therefore, Greeks [i.e., the Greek Church] or any one else say that
they are not subject to Peter and his successors, they thereby
necessarily confess that they are not of the sheep of Christ. For
the Lord says, in the Gospel of John, that there is one fold and
only one shepherd [John, x. 16]. By the words of the gospel we are
taught that the two swords, namely, the spiritual authority and the
temporal, are in the power of the Church. For when the apostles
said "Here are two swords" [Luke, xxii. 38]--that is, in the
Church, since it was the apostles who were speaking--the Lord did
not answer, "It is too much," but "It is enough." Whoever denies
that the temporal sword is in the power of Peter does not properly
understand the word of the Lord when He said: "Put up thy sword
into the sheath" [John, xviii. 11]. Both swords, therefore, the
spiritual and the temporal, are in the power of the Church. The
former is to be used by the Church, the latter for the Church; the
one by the hand of the priest, the other by the hand of kings and
knights, but at the command and permission of the priest. Moreover,
it is necessary for one sword to be under the other, and the
temporal authority to be subjected to the spiritual; for the
apostle says, "For there is no power but of God: and the powers
that be are ordained of God" [Rom., xiii. 1]; but they would not be
ordained unless one were subjected to the other, and, as it were,
the lower made the higher by the other.
[Sidenote: The superiority of the spiritual]
For, according to St. Dionysius,[534] it is a law of divinity that
the lowest is made the highest through the intermediate. According
to the law of the universe all things are not equally and directly
reduced to order, but the lowest are fitted into their order
through the intermediate, and the lower through the higher. And we
must necessarily admit that the spiritual power surpasses any
earthly power in dignity and honor, because spiritual things
surpass temporal things. We clearly see that this is true from the
paying of tithes, from the benediction, from the sanctification,
from the receiving of the power, and from the governing of these
things. For the truth itself declares that the spiritual power must
establish the temporal power and pass judgment on it if it is not
good. Thus the prophecy of Jeremiah concerning the Church and the
ecclesiastical power is fulfilled: "See, I have this day set thee
over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull
down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant"
[Jer., i. 10].
[Sidenote: The highest spiritual power (the papacy) responsible to
God alone]
Therefore if the temporal power errs, it will be judged by the
spiritual power, and if the lower spiritual power errs, it will be
judged by its superior. But if the highest spiritual power errs, it
cannot be judged by men, but by God alone. For the apostle says:
"But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is
judged of no man" [1 Cor., ii. 15]. Now this authority, although it
is given to man and exercised through man, is not human, but
divine. For it was given by the word of the Lord to Peter, and the
rock was made firm to him and his successors, in Christ himself,
whom he had confessed. For the Lord said to Peter: "Whatsoever thou
shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou
shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" [Matt., xvi. 19].
[Sidenote: Submission to the papacy essential to salvation]
Therefore, whosoever resisteth this power thus ordained of God
resisteth the ordinance of God [Rom., xiii. 2], unless there are
two principles [beginnings], as Manichaeus[535] pretends there are.
But this we judge to be false and heretical. For Moses says that,
not in the beginnings, but in the beginning, God created the heaven
and the earth [Gen., i. 1]. We therefore declare, say, and affirm
that submission on the part of every man to the bishop of Rome is
altogether necessary for his salvation.
68. The Great Schism and the Councils of Pisa and Constance
The "Babylonian Captivity"--begun in 1305, or perhaps more properly in
1309, when the French Pope, Clement V., took up his residence
regularly at Avignon--lasted until 1377. During these sixty or seventy
years the College of Cardinals consisted chiefly of Frenchmen, all of
the seven popes were of French nationality, and for the most part the
papal authority was little more than a tool in the hands of the
aggressive French sovereigns. In 1377, at the solicitation of the
Italian clergy and people, Pope Gregory XI. removed to Rome, where he
died in 1378. In the election that followed the Roman populace,
determined to bring the residence of the popes at Avignon to an end
once for all, demanded a Roman, or at least an Italian, pope. The
majority of the cardinals were French, but they could not agree upon a
French candidate and, intimidated by the threats of the mob, they at
last chose a Neapolitan who took the name Urban VI. A few months of
Urban's obstinate administration convinced the cardinals that they had
made a serious mistake, and, on the ground that their choice had been
unduly influenced by popular clamor, they sought to nullify the
election and to replace Urban by a Genevan who took the title Clement
VII. Urban utterly refused thus to be put aside, so that there were
now two popes, each duly elected by the College of Cardinals and each
claiming the undivided allegiance of Christendom. This was the
beginning of the Great Schism, destined to work havoc in the Church
for a full generation, or until finally ended in 1417. Clement VII.
fixed his abode at Avignon and French influence secured for him the
support of Spain, Scotland, and Sicily. The rest of Europe, displeased
with the subordination of the papacy to France and French interests,
declared for Urban, who was pledged to maintain the papal capital at
Rome.
France must be held responsible in the main for the evils of the Great
Schism--a breach in the Church which she deliberately created and for
many years maintained; but she herself suffered by it more than any
other nation of Europe because of the annates,[536] the _decime_,[537]
and other taxes which were imposed upon the French clergy and people
to support the luxurious and at times extravagant papal court at
Avignon, or which were exacted by ambitious monarchs under the cover
of papal license. In the course of time the impossible situation
created by the Schism demanded a remedy and in fairness it should be
observed that in the work of adjustment the leading part was taken by
the French. After the death of Clement VII., in 1394, the French court
sincerely desired to bring the Schism to an end on terms that would be
fair to all. Already in 1393 King Charles VI. had laid the case before
the University of Paris and asked for an opinion as to the best course
to be pursued. The authorities of the university requested each member
of the various faculties to submit his idea of a solution of the
problem and from the mass of suggestions thus brought together a
committee of fifty-four professors, masters, and doctors worked out
the three lines of action set forth in selection (a) below. The first
plan, i.e., that both popes should resign as a means of restoring
harmony, was accepted as the proper one by an assembly of the French
clergy convened in 1395. It was doomed to defeat, however, by the
vacillation of both Benedict XIII. at Avignon and Boniface IX. at
Rome, and in the end it was agreed to fall back upon the third plan
which the University of Paris had proposed, i.e., the convening of a
general council. There was no doubt that such a council could legally
be summoned only by the pope, but finally the cardinals attached to
both popes deserted them and united in issuing the call in their own
name.
The council met at Pisa in 1409 and proceeded to clear up the question
of its own legality and authority by issuing the unequivocal
declaration comprised in (b) below. It furthermore declared both popes
deposed and elected a new one, who took the name Alexander V. Neither
of the previous popes, however, recognized the council's action, so
now there were three rivals instead of two and the situation was only
so much worse than before. In 1410 Alexander V. died and the cardinals
chose as his successor John XXIII., a man whose life was notoriously
wicked, but who was far from lacking in political sagacity. Three
years later the capture of Rome by the king of Naples forced John to
appeal for assistance to the Emperor Sigismund; and Sigismund
demanded, before extending the desired aid, that a general church
council be summoned to meet on German soil for the adjustment of the
tangled papal situation. The result was the Council of Constance,
whose sessions extended from November, 1414, to April, 1418, and
which, because of its general European character, was able to succeed
where the Council of Pisa had failed. In the decree _Sacrosancta_
given below (c), issued in April, 1415, we have the council's notable
assertion of its supreme authority in ecclesiastical matters, even as
against the pope himself. The Schism was healed with comparative
facility. Gregory XII., who had been the pope at Rome, but who was now
in exile, sent envoys to offer his abdication. Benedict XIII.,
likewise a fugitive, was deposed and found himself without supporters.
John XXIII. was deposed for his unworthy character and had no means of
offering resistance. The cardinals, together with representatives of
the five "nations" into which the council was divided, harmoniously
selected for pope a Roman cardinal, who assumed the name of Martin V.
This was in 1417. The Schism was at an end, though the work of
combating heresy and of propagating reform within the Church went on
in successive councils, notably that of Basel (1431-1449).
Sources--(a) Lucae d'Achery, _Spicilegium, sive Collectio
veterum aliquot Scriptorum qui in Galliae Bibliothecis
Delituerant_ ["Gleanings, or a Collection of some Early
Writings, which survive in Gallic Libraries"], Paris, 1723,
Vol. I., p. 777. Translated in Thatcher and McNeal, _Source
Book for Mediaeval History_ (New York, 1905), pp. 326-327.
(b) Raynaldus, _Annales, anno 1409_ ["Annals, year 1409"],
Sec. 71.
(c) Von der Hardt, _Magnum Constantiense Concilium_ ["Great
Council of Constance"], Vol. II., p. 98.
(a)
_The first way._ Now the first way to end the Schism is that both
parties should entirely renounce and resign all rights which they
may have, or claim to have, to the papal office.
[Sidenote: Three possible solutions of the Schism offered by the
University of Paris]
_The second way._ But if both cling tenaciously to their rights and
refuse to resign, as they have thus far done, we would propose a
resort to arbitration. That is, that they should together choose
worthy and suitable men, or permit such to be chosen in a regular
and canonical way, and these should have full power and authority
to discuss the case and decide it, and if necessary and expedient
and approved by those who, according to the canon law, have the
authority [i.e., the cardinals], they might also have the right to
proceed to the election of a pope.
_The third way._ If the rival popes, after being urged in a
brotherly and friendly manner, will not accept either of the above
ways, there is a third way which we propose as an excellent remedy
for this sacrilegious schism. We mean that the matter should be
left to a general council. This general council might be composed,
according to canon law, only of prelates; or, since many of them
are very illiterate, and many of them are bitter partisans of one
or the other pope, there might be joined with the prelates an equal
number of masters and doctors of theology and law from the
faculties of approved universities. Or, if this does not seem
sufficient to any one, there might be added, besides, one or more
representatives from cathedral chapters and the chief monastic
orders, to the end that all decisions might be rendered only after
most careful examination and mature deliberation.
[Sidenote: Declarations of the Council of Pisa (1409)]
(b)
This holy and general council, representing the universal Church,
decrees and declares that the united college of cardinals was
empowered to call the council, and that the power to call such a
council belongs of right to the aforesaid holy college of
cardinals, especially now when there is a detestable schism. The
council further declares that this holy council, representing the
universal Church, caused both claimants of the papal throne to be
cited in the gates and doors of the churches of Pisa to come and
hear the final decision [in the matter of the Schism] pronounced,
or to give a good and sufficient reason why such sentence should
not be rendered.
[Sidenote: The Council of Constance asserts its superiority to even
the papacy]
(c)
This holy synod of Constance, being a general council, and legally
assembled in the Holy Spirit for the praise of God and for ending
the present schism, and for the union and reformation of the Church
of God in its head and in its members, in order more easily, more
securely, more completely, and more fully to bring about the union
and reformation of the Church of God, ordains, declares, and
decrees as follows: First it declares that this synod, legally
assembled, is a general council, and represents the Catholic church
militant and has its authority directly from Christ; and everybody,
of whatever rank or dignity, including also the pope, is bound to
obey this council in those things which pertain to the faith, to
the ending of this schism, and to a general reformation of the
Church in its head and members. Likewise it declares that if any
one, of whatever rank, condition, or dignity, including also the
pope, shall refuse to obey the commands, statutes, ordinances, or
orders of this holy council, or of any other holy council properly
assembled, in regard to the ending of the Schism and to the
reformation of the Church, he shall be subject to the proper
punishment, and, unless he repents, he shall be duly punished, and,
if necessary, recourse shall be had to other aids of justice.
69. The Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges (1438)
The Council of Basel, convened in 1431, had for its object a
thoroughgoing reformation of the Church, "in its head and its
members," from papacy to parish priest. Like all of the councils of
the period, its spirit was distinctly anti-papal and for this reason
Pope Eugene IV. sought to bring it under his control by transferring
it to Bologna and, failing in this, to turn its deliberations into
channels other than criticism of the papacy. While the negotiations of
Eugene and the council were in progress a step fraught with great
significance was taken in France in the promulgation of the Pragmatic
Sanction of Bourges.[538] France was the only country in which the
principles laid down by the councils--Pisa, Constance, Basel, and the
rest--had taken firm hold. In 1438 Charles VII. convened at Bourges an
assembly composed of leading prelates, councillors, and princes of the
royal blood, to which the Pope and the Council of Basel both sent
delegates. This assembly proceeded to adapt the decrees of the council
to the conditions and needs of France, on the evident assumption that
the will of the French magnates in such matters was superior to that
of both pope and council, so far as France was concerned. The action
at Bourges well illustrates the growing spirit of French nationality
which had sprung up since the recent achievements of Joan of Arc.
The Pragmatic Sanction dealt in the main with four subjects--the
authority of church councils, the diminishing of papal patronage, the
restriction of papal taxation, and the limitation of appeals to Rome.
Together these matters are commonly spoken of as the "Gallican
liberties," i.e., the liberties of the Gallic or French church, and
they implied the right of the national church to administer its own
affairs with only the slightest interference from the pope or other
outside powers; in other words, they were essentially anti-papal.
Louis XI., the successor of Charles VII., for diplomatic reasons,
sought to revoke the Pragmatic Sanction, but the Parlement of Paris
refused to register the ordinance and for all practical purposes the
Pragmatic was maintained until 1516. In that year Francis I.
established the relations of the papacy and the French clergy on the
basis of a new "concordat," which, however, was not very unlike the
Pragmatic. The Pragmatic is of interest to the student of French
history mainly because of the degree in which it enhanced the power of
the crown, particularly in respect to the ecclesiastical affairs of
the realm, and because of the testimony it bears to the declining
influence of the papacy in the stronger nations like France and
England. The text printed below represents only an abstract of the
document, which in all included thirty-three chapters.
Source.--Text in Vilevault et Brequigny, _Ordonnances des Rois
de France de la Troisieme Race_ (Paris, 1772), Vol. XIII., pp.
267-291.
[Sidenote: Charles VII. recognizes the obligations of the king
to the Church]
[Sidenote: Abuses prevalent in the French church]
The king declares that, according to the oath taken at their
coronation, kings are bound to defend and protect the holy Church,
its ministers and its sacred offices, and zealously to guard in
their kingdoms the decrees of the holy fathers. The general council
assembled at Basel to continue the work begun by the councils of
Constance and Siena,[539] and to labor for the reform of the
Church, in both its head and members, having had presented to it
numerous decrees and regulations, with the request that it accept
them and cause them to be observed in the kingdom, the king has
convened an assembly composed of prelates and other ecclesiastics
representing the clergy of France and of the Dauphine.[540] He has
presided in person over its deliberations, surrounded by his son,
the princes of the blood, and the principal lords of the realm. He
has listened to the ambassadors of the Pope and the council. From
the examination of prelates and the most renowned doctors, and from
the thoroughgoing discussions of the assembly, it appears that,
from the falling into decay of the early discipline, the churches
of the kingdom have been made to suffer from all sorts of
insatiable greed; that the _reserve_ and the _grace_
_expectative_[541] have given rise to grievous abuses and
unbearable burdens; that the most notable and best endowed
benefices have fallen into the hands of unknown men, who do not
conform at all to the requirement of residence and who do not
understand the speech of the people committed to their care, and
consequently are neglectful of the needs of their souls, like
mercenaries who dream of nothing whatever but temporal gain; that
thus the worship of Christ is declining, piety is enfeebled, the
laws of the Church are violated, and buildings for religious uses
are falling in ruin. The clergy abandon their theological studies,
because there is no hope of advancement. Conflicts without number
rage over the possession of benefices, plurality of which is
coveted by an execrable ambition. Simony is everywhere glaring; the
prelates and other collators[542] are pillaged of their rights and
their ministry; the rights of patrons are impaired; and the wealth
of the kingdom goes into the hands of foreigners, to the detriment
of the clergy.
[Sidenote: The decrees of Basel accepted with some modifications]
Since, in the judgment of the prelates and other ecclesiastics, the
decrees of the holy council of Basel seemed to afford a suitable
remedy for all these evils, after mature deliberation, we have
decided to accept them--some without change, others with certain
modifications--without wishing to cast doubt upon the power and
authority of the council, but at the same time taking account of
the necessities of the occasion and of the customs of the nation.
=1.= General councils shall be held every ten years, in places to
be designated by the pope.
=2.= The authority of the general council is superior to that of
the pope in all that pertains to the faith, the extirpation of
schism, and the reform of the Church in both head and members.[543]
=3.= Election is reestablished for ecclesiastical offices; but the
king, or the princes of his kingdom, without violating the
canonical rules, may make recommendations when elections are to
occur in the chapters or the monasteries.[544]
=4.= The popes shall not have the right to reserve the collation of
benefices, or to bestow any benefice before it becomes vacant.
=5.= All grants of benefices made by the pope in virtue of the
_droit d'expectative_ are hereby declared null. Those who shall
have received such benefices shall be punished by the secular
power. The popes shall not have the right to interfere by the
creation of canonships.[545]
=6.= Appeals to Rome are prohibited until every other grade of
jurisdiction shall have been exhausted.
=7.= Annates are prohibited.[546]
FOOTNOTES:
[530] The consecrated wafer, believed to be the body of Christ, which
in the Mass is offered as a sacrifice; also the bread before
consecration.
[531] Certain periods of the day, set apart by the laws of the Church,
for the duties of prayer and devotion; also certain portions of the
Breviary to be used at stated hours. The seven canonical hours are
matins and lauds, the first, third, sixth, and ninth hours, vespers,
and compline.
[532] That is, infant baptism and the _viaticum_ (the Lord's Supper
when administered to persons in immediate danger of death).
[533] Extreme unction is the sacrament of anointing in the last
hours,--the application of consecrated oil by a priest to all the
senses, i.e., to eyes, ears, nostrils, etc., of a person when in
immediate danger of death. The sacrament is performed for the
remission of sins.
[534] St. Dionysius was bishop of Alexandria about the middle of the
third century. He was a pupil of the great theologian Origen and
himself a writer of no small ability on the doctrinal questions which
vexed the early Church.
[535] Manichaeus was a learned Persian who, in the third century,
worked out a system of doctrine which sought to combine the principles
of Christianity with others taken over from the Persian and kindred
Oriental religions. The most prominent feature of the resulting creed
was the conception of an absolute dualism running throughout the
universe--light and darkness, good and evil, soul and body--which
existed from the beginning and should exist forever. The Manichaean
sect spread from Persia into Asia Minor North Africa, Sicily, and
Italy. Though persecuted by Diocletian, and afterwards by some of the
Christian emperors, it had many adherents as late as the sixth
century, and certain of its ideas appeared under new names at still
later times, notably among the Albigenses in southern France in the
twelfth century.
[536] Annates were payments made to the pope by newly elected or
appointed ecclesiastical officials of the higher sort. They were
supposed to comprise the first year's income from the bishop's or
abbot's benefice.
[537] The _decime_ was an extraordinary royal revenue derived from the
payment by the clergy of a tenth of the annual income from their
benefices. Its prototype was the Saladin tithe, imposed by Philip
Augustus (1180-1223) for the financing of his crusade. In the latter
half of the thirteenth century, and throughout the fourteenth, the
_decime_ was called for by the kings with considerable frequency,
often ostensibly for crusading purposes, and it was generally obtained
by a more or less compulsory vote of the clergy, or without their
consent at all.
[538] Pragmatic, in the general sense, means any sort of decree of
public importance; in its more special usage it denotes an ordinance
of the crown regulating the relations of the national clergy with the
papacy. The modern equivalent is "concordat."
[539] When the Council of Constance came to an end, in April, 1418, it
was agreed between this body and Pope Martin V. that a similar council
should be convened at Pavia in 1423. When the time arrived, conditions
were far from favorable, but the University of Paris pressed the Pope
to observe his pledge in the matter and the council was duly convened.
Very few members appeared at Pavia, and, the plague soon breaking out
there, the meeting was transferred to Siena. Even there only five
German prelates were present, six French, and not one Spanish. Small
though it was, the council entered upon a course so independent and
self-assertive that in the following year the Pope was glad to take
advantage of its paucity of numbers to declare it dissolved.
[540] The Dauphine was a region on the east side of the Rhone which,
in 1349, was purchased of Humbert, Dauphin of Vienne, by Philip VI.,
and ceded by the latter to his grandson Charles, the later Charles V.
(1364-1380). Charles assumed the title of "the Dauphin," which became
the established designation of the heir-apparent to the French throne.
[541] Under the _grace expectative_ the pope conferred upon a prelate
a benefice which at the time was filled, to be assumed as soon as it
should fall vacant. Benefices of larger importance, such as the
offices of bishop and abbot, were often subject to the _reserve_; that
is, the pope regularly reserved to himself the right of filling them,
sometimes before, sometimes after, the vacancy occurred. These acts
constituted clear assumptions by the popes of power which under the
law of the Church was not theirs, and, though the framers of the
Pragmatic Sanction had motives which were more or less selfish for
combatting the _reserve_ and the _grace expectative_, there can be no
question that the abuses aimed at were as real as they were
represented to be.
[542] Those who presented and installed men in benefices.
[543] These first two chapters reproduce without change the decrees of
the Council of Basel. The second reiterates, in substance, the
declaration of the Council of Constance [see p. 393].
[544] That is, the "canonical" system of election of bishops by the
chapters and of abbots by the monks. The Pragmatic differs in this
clause from the decree of the Council of Basel in allowing temporal
princes to recommend persons for election.
[545] This means that the pope is not to add to the number of canons
in any cathedral chapter as a means of influencing the composition and
deliberations of that body.
[546] Annates were ordinarily the first year's revenues of a benefice
which, under the prevailing system, were supposed to be paid by the
incumbent to the pope. The Pragmatic goes on to provide that during
the lifetime of Pope Eugene one-fifth of the accustomed annates should
continue to be paid.