THE AGE OF FAITH IN THE WEST--(_Continued_).
OVERTHROW OF THE ITALIAN SYSTEM BY THE COMBINED INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL
ATTACK.
_Progress of Irreligion among the mendicant Orders.--Publication of
heretical Books.--The Everlasting Gospel and the Comment on the
Apocalypse._
_Conflict between Philip the Fair and Boniface VIII.--Outrage upon and
death of the Pope._
_The French King removes the Papacy from Rome to Avignon.--Post-mortem
Trial of the Pope for Atheism and Immorality.--Causes and Consequences
of the Atheism of the Pope._
_The Templars fall into Infidelity.--Their Trial, Conviction, and
Punishment._
_Immoralities of the Papal Court at Avignon.--Its return to
Rome.--Causes of the great Schism.--Disorganization of the Italian
System.--Decomposition of the Papacy.--Three Popes._
_The Council of Constance attempts to convert the papal Autocracy into a
constitutional Monarchy.--It murders John Huss and Jerome of
Prague.--Pontificate of Nicolas V.--End of the intellectual influence of
the Italian System._
[Sidenote: "The Everlasting Gospel."] About the close of the twelfth
century appeared among the mendicant friars that ominous work, which,
under the title of "The Everlasting Gospel," struck terror into the
Latin hierarchy. It was affirmed that an angel had brought it from
heaven, engraven on copper plates, and had given it to a priest called
Cyril, who delivered it to the Abbot Joachim. [Sidenote: Introduction to
it by the General of the Franciscans.] The abbot had been dead about
fifty years, when there was put forth, A.D. 1250, a true exposition of
the tendency of his book, under the form of an introduction, by John of
Parma, the general of the Franciscans, as was universally suspected or
alleged. Notwithstanding its heresy, the work displayed an enlarged and
masterly conception of the historical progress of humanity. In this
introduction, John of Parma pointed out that the Abbot Joachim, who had
not only performed a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, but had been
reverenced as a prophet, received as of unimpeachable orthodoxy, and
canonized, had accepted as his fundamental position that Roman
Christianity had done its work, and had now come to its inevitable
termination. He proceeded to show that there are epochs or ages in the
Divine government of the world; that, during the Jewish dispensation, it
had been under the immediate influence of God the Father; during the
Christian dispensation, it had been under that of God the Son; and that
the time had now arrived when it would be under the influence of God the
Holy Ghost; that, in the coming ages, there would be no longer any need
of faith, but that all things would be according to wisdom and reason.
It was the ushering in of a new time. So spake, with needful obscurity,
the Abbot Joachim, and so, more plainly, the General of the Franciscans
in his Introduction. "The Everlasting Gospel" was declared by its
adherents to have supplanted the New Testament, as that had supplanted
the Old--these three books constituting a threefold revelation,
answering to the Trinity of the Godhead. At once there was a cry from
the whole hierarchy. [Sidenote: Attempts to destroy the book.] The Pope,
Alexander IV., without delay, took measures for the destruction of the
book. Whoever kept or concealed a copy was excommunicated. But among the
lower mendicants--the Spiritualists, as they were termed--the work was
held in the most devout repute. With them it had taken the place of the
Holy Scriptures. [Sidenote: The Comment on the Apocalypse.] So far from
being suppressed, it was followed, in about forty years, A.D. 1297, by
the Comment on the Apocalypse, by John Peter Oliva, who, in Sicily, had
accepted the three epochs or ages, and divided the middle one--the
Christian--into seven stages: the age of the Apostles; that of the
Martyrs; that of Heresies; that of Hermits; that of the Monastic System;
that of the overthrow of Anti-Christ, and that of the coming Millennium.
He agreed with his predecessors in the impending abolition of Roman
Christianity, stigmatized that Church as the purple harlot, and with
them affirmed that the pope and all his hierarchy had become superfluous
and obsolete--"their work was done, their doom sealed." [Sidenote:
Spread of these doctrines among ecclesiastics.] His zealous followers
declared that the sacraments of the Church were now all useless, those
administering them having no longer any jurisdiction. The burning of
thousands of these "Fratricelli" by the Inquisition was altogether
inadequate to suppress them. Eventually, when the Reformation occurred,
they mingled among the followers of Luther.
[Sidenote: Approaching difficulties of the Church.] To the internal and
doctrinal troubles thus befalling the Church, material and foreign ones
of the most vital importance were soon added. The true reason of the
difficulties into which the papacy was falling was now coming
conspicuously into light. It was absolutely necessary that money should
be drawn to Rome, and the sovereigns of the Western kingdoms, France and
England, from which it had hitherto been largely obtained, were
determined that it should be so no longer. They had equally urgent need
themselves of all that could be extorted. In France, even by St. Louis,
it was enacted that the papal power in the election of the clergy should
be restrained; and, complaining of the drain of money from the kingdom
to Rome, he applied the effectual remedy of prohibiting any such
assessments or taxations for the future.
[Sidenote: Peter Morrone becomes pope.] We have now reached the
pontificate of Boniface VIII., an epoch in the intellectual history of
Europe. Under the title of Celestine V. a visionary hermit had been
raised to the papacy--visionary, for Peter Morrone (such was his name)
had long been indulged in apparitions of angels and the sounds of
phantom bells in the air. Peter was escorted from his cell to his
supreme position by admiring crowds; but it very soon became apparent
that the life of an anchorite is not a preparation for the duties of a
pope. The conclave of cardinals had elected him, not from any impression
of his suitableness, but because they were evenly balanced in two
parties, neither of which would give way. They were therefore driven to
a temporary and available election. But scarcely had this been done when
his incapacity became conspicuous and his removal imperative. [Sidenote:
Celestine V. terrified into abdication.] It is said that the friends of
Benedetto Gaetani, the ablest of the cardinals, through a hole
perforated in the pope's chamber wall, at midnight, in a hollow voice,
warned him that he retained his dignity at the peril of his soul, and in
the name of God commanded him to abdicate. And so, in spite of all
importunity, he did. His abdication was considered by many pious persons
as striking a death-blow at papal infallibility.
[Sidenote: The miracle of Loretto.] It was during his pontificate that
the miracle of Loretto occurred. The house inhabited by the Virgin
immediately after her conception had been converted on the death of the
Holy Family into a chapel, and St. Luke had presented to it an image,
carved by his own hands, still known as our Lady of Loretto. Some angels
chancing to be at Nazareth when the Saracen conquerors approached,
fearing that the sacred relic might fall into their possession, took the
house bodily in their hands, and, carrying it through the air, after
several halts, finally deposited it at Loretto in Italy.
[Sidenote: Boniface VIII. elected pope.] So Benedetto Gaetani, whether
by such wily procurements or not, became Pope Boniface VIII., A.D. 1294.
His election was probably due to King Charles, who held twelve electoral
votes, the bitter personal animosity of the Colonnas having been either
neutralized or overcome. The first care of Boniface was to consolidate
his power and relieve himself of a rival. In the opinion of many it was
not possible for a pope to abdicate. Confinement in prison soon (A.D.
1296) settled that question. [Sidenote: Ascent of Pope Celestine to
heaven.] The soul of Celestine was seen by a monk ascending the skies,
which opened to receive it into heaven; and a splendid funeral informed
his enemies that they must now acknowledge Boniface as the unquestioned
pope. [Sidenote: Quarrel of Boniface and the Colonnas.] But the princely
Colonnas, the leaders of the Ghibelline faction in Rome, who had
resisted the abdication of Celestine to the last, and were, therefore,
mortal enemies of Boniface, revolted. He published a bull against them;
he excommunicated them. With an ominous anticipation of the future--for
they were familiar with the papal power, and knew where to touch it to
the quick--they appealed to a "General Council." Since supernatural
weapons did not seem to avail, Boniface proclaimed a crusade against
them. The issue answered his expectations. Palestrina, one of their
strongholds, which in a moment of weakness they had surrendered, was
utterly devastated and sown with salt. The Colonnas fled, some of them
to France. There, in King Philip the Fair, they found a friend, who was
destined to avenge their wrongs, and to inflict on the papacy a blow
from which it never recovered.
[Sidenote: Pecuniary necessities of Rome.] This was the state of affairs
at the commencement of the quarrel between Philip and Boniface. The
Crusades had brought all Europe under taxation to Rome, and loud
complaints were everywhere made against the drain of money into Italy.
Things had at last come to such a condition that it was not possible to
continue the Crusades without resorting to a taxation of the clergy, and
this was the true reason of the eventual lukewarmness, and even
opposition to them. But the stream of money that had thus been passing
into Italy had engendered habits of luxury and extravagance. Cost what
it might, money must be had in Rome. The perennial necessity under which
the kings of England and France found themselves--the necessity of
revenue for the carrying out of their temporal projects--could only be
satisfied in the same way. The wealth of those nations had insensibly
glided into the hands of the Church. [Sidenote: The King of England
compels the clergy to pay taxes.] In England, Edward I. enforced the
taxation of the clergy. They resisted at first, but that sovereign found
an ingenious and effectual remedy. He directed his judges to hear no
cause in which an ecclesiastic was a complainant, but to try every suit
brought against them; asserting that those who refused to share the
burdens of the state had no right to the protection of its laws. They
forthwith submitted. In the nature and efficacy of this remedy we for
the first time recognize the agency of a class of men soon to rise to
power--the lawyers.
[Sidenote: The King of France attempts it.] In France, Philip the Fair
made a similar attempt. It was not to be supposed that Rome would
tolerate this trespassing on what she considered her proper domain, and
accordingly Boniface issued the bull "_Clericis laicos_,"
excommunicating kings who should levy subsidies on ecclesiastics.
Hereupon Philip determined that, if the French clergy were not tributary
to him, France should not be tributary to the pope, and issued an edict
prohibiting the export of gold and silver from France without his
license. But he did not resort to these extreme measures until he had
tried others which perhaps he considered less troublesome. He had
plundered the Jews, confiscated their property, and expelled them from
his dominions. [Sidenote: Is abetted by the begging friars,] The Church
was fairly next in order; and, indeed, the mendicant friars of the lower
class, who, as we have seen, were disaffected by the publication of "The
Everlasting Gospel," were loud in their denunciations of her wealth,
attributing the prevailing religious demoralization to it. They pointed
to the example of our Lord and his disciples; and when their antagonists
replied that even He condescended to make use of money, the malignant
fanatics maintained their doctrines, amid the applause of a jeering
populace, by answering that it was not St. Peter, but Judas, who was
intrusted with the purse, and that the pope stood in need of the bitter
rebuke which Jesus had of old administered to his prototype Peter,
saying, "Get thee behind me, Satan; for thou savourest not of the things
that be of God, but of the things that be of men" (Mark viii. 33). Under
that authority they affirmed that they might stigmatize the great
culprit without guilt. So the king ventured to put forth his hand and
touch what the Church had, and she cursed him to his face. At first a
literary war ensued: the pope published his bull, the king his reply.
[Sidenote: and ably sustained by the lawyers.] Already the policy which
Philip was following, and the ability he was displaying, manifested that
he had attached to himself that new power of which the King of England
had taken advantage--a power soon to become the mortal enemy of the
ecclesiastic--the lawyers. [Sidenote: Device of the jubilee.] In the
meantime, money must be had in Rome; when, by the singularly felicitous
device of the proclamation of a year of jubilee, A.D. 1300, large sums
were again brought into Italy.
[Sidenote: The four enemies of Boniface.] Boniface had thus four
antagonists on his hands--the King of France, the Colonnas, the lawyers,
and the mendicants. By the latter, both high and low, he was cordially
hated. Thus the higher English Franciscans were enraged against him
because he refused to let them hold lands. They attempted to bribe him
with 40,000 ducats; but he seized the money at the banker's, under the
pretence that it had no owners, as the mendicants were vowed to poverty,
and then denied the privilege. As to the lower Franciscans, heresy was
fast spreading among them. They were not only infected with the
doctrines of "The Everlasting Gospel," but had even descended into the
abyss of irreligion one step more by placing St. Francis in the stead of
our Saviour. They were incessantly repeating in the ears of the laity
that the pope was Anti-Christ, "The Man of Sin." [Sidenote: Collision
between the French king and the pope.] The quarrel between Philip and
Boniface was every moment increasing in bitterness. The former seized
and imprisoned a papal nuncio, who had been selected because he was
known to be personally offensive; the latter retaliated by the issue of
bulls protesting against such an outrage, interfering between the king
and his French clergy, and citing the latter to appear in Rome and take
cognizance of their master's misdoings. The monarch was actually invited
to be present and hear his own doom. In the lesser bull--if it be
authentic--and the king's rejoinder, both parties seem to have lost
their temper. [Sidenote: The bull "_Ausculta Fili_."] This was followed
by the celebrated bull "_Ausculta Fili_" at which the king's indignation
knew no bounds. He had it publicly burnt in Paris at the sound of a
trumpet; assembled the States-General; and, under the advice of his
lawyers, skilfully brought the issue to this: Does the king hold the
realm of France of God or of the pope? Without difficulty it might be
seen how the French clergy would be compelled to act: since many of them
held fiefs of the king, all were in fear of the intrusion of Italian
ecclesiastics into the rich benefices. France, therefore, supported her
monarch. [Sidenote: The bull "_Unam Sanctam_."] On his side, Boniface,
in the bull "_Unam Sanctam_" asserted his power by declaring that it is
necessary to salvation to believe that "every human being is subject to
the Pontiff of Rome." Philip, foreseeing the desperate nature of the
approaching conflict, and aiming to attach his people firmly to him by
putting himself forth as their protector against priestly tyranny, again
skilfully appealed to their sentiments by denouncing the Inquisition as
an atrocious barbarity, an outrage on human rights, violating all law,
resorting to new and unheard-of tortures, and doing deeds at which men's
minds revolt with horror. In the South of France this language was
thoroughly understood. [Sidenote: William de Nogaret.] The lawyers,
among whom William de Nogaret was conspicuous, ably assisted him;
indeed, his whole movement exhibited the extraordinary intelligence of
his advisers. It has been affirmed, and is, perhaps, not untrue, that De
Nogaret's father had been burnt by the Inquisition. The great lawyer was
bent on revenge. [Sidenote: Action of the States-General.] The
States-General, under his suggestions, entertained four propositions: 1.
That Boniface was not the true pope; 2. That he was a heretic; 3. That
he was a simoniac; 4. That he was a man weighed down with crimes. De
Nogaret, learning from the Colonnas how to touch the papacy in a vital
point, demanded that the whole subject should be referred to a "General
Council" to be summoned by the king. A second meeting of the
States-General was held. William de Plaisian, the Lord of Vezenoble,
appeared with charges against the pope. [Sidenote: Accusations against
the pope.] Out of a long list, many of which could not possibly be true,
some may be mentioned: that Boniface neither believed in the immortality
nor incorruptibility of the soul, nor in a life to come, nor in the real
presence in the Eucharist; that he did not observe the fasts of the
Church--not even Lent; that he spoke of the cardinals, monks, and friars
as hypocrites; that the Holy Land had been lost through his fault; that
the subsidies for its relief had been embezzled by him; that his holy
predecessor, Celestine, through his inhumanity had been brought to
death; that he had said that fornication and other obscene practices are
no sin; that he was a Sodomite, and had caused clerks to be murdered in
his presence; that he had enriched himself by simony; that his nephew's
wife had borne him two illegitimate sons. These, with other still more
revolting charges, were sworn to upon the Holy Gospels. The king
appealed to "a general council and to a legitimate pope."
The quarrel had now become a mortal one. There was but one course for
Boniface to take, and he did take it. He excommunicated the king. He
deprived him of his throne, and anathematized his posterity to the
fourth generation. The bull was to be suspended in the porch of the
Cathedral of Anagni on September 8; but William de Nogaret and one of
the Colonnas had already passed into Italy. They hired a troop of
banditti, and on September 7 attacked the pontiff in his palace at
Anagni. The doors of a church which protected him were strong, but they
yielded to fire. The brave old man, in his pontifical robes, with his
crucifix in one hand and the keys of St. Peter in the other, sat down on
his throne and confronted his assailants. His cardinals had fled through
a sewer. [Sidenote: His seizure by De Nogaret, and his death.] So little
reverence was there for God's vicar upon earth, that Sciarra Colonna
raised his hand to kill him on the spot; but the blow was arrested by De
Nogaret, who, with a bitter taunt, told him that here, in his own city,
he owed his life to the mercy of a servant of the King of France--a
servant whose father had been burnt by the Inquisition. The pontiff was
spared only to be placed on a miserable horse, with his face to the
tail, and led off to prison. They meant to transport him to France to
await the general council. He was rescued, returned to Rome, was seized
and imprisoned again. On the 11th of October he died.
Thus, after a pontificate of nine eventful years, perished Boniface
VIII. His history and his fate show to what a gulf Roman Christianity
was approaching. His successor, Benedict XI., had but a brief enjoyment
of power; long enough, however, to learn that the hatred of the King of
France had not died with the death of Boniface, and that he was
determined not only to pursue the departed pontiff's memory beyond the
grave, but also to effect a radical change in the papacy itself.
[Sidenote: Poisoning of Benedict XI.] A basket of figs was presented to
Benedict by a veiled female. She had brought them, she said, from the
Abbess of St. Petronilla. In an unguarded moment the pontiff ate of them
without the customary precaution of having them previously tasted. Alas!
what was the state of morals in Italy? A dysentery came on; in a few
days he was dead. But the Colonnas had already taught the King of France
how one should work who desires to touch the popedom; the event that had
just occurred was the preparation for putting their advice into
operation. [Sidenote: Understanding between the king and the Archbishop
of Bordeaux.] The king came to an understanding with Bernard de Goth,
the Archbishop of Bordeaux. Six conditions were arranged between them:
1. The reconciliation between the Church and the king; 2. The absolution
of all persons engaged in the affair of Boniface; 3. Tenths from the
clergy for five years; 4. The condemnation of the memory of Boniface; 5.
The restoration of the Colonnas; 6. A secret article; what it was time
soon showed. A swift messenger carried intelligence to the king's
partisans in the College of Cardinals, and Bernard became Clement V. "It
will be long before we see the face of another pope in Rome!" exclaimed
the Cardinal Matteo Orsini, with a prophetic instinct of what was coming
when the conspiracy reached its development. [Sidenote: Removal of the
papacy to Avignon.] His prophecy was only too true. Now appeared what
was that sixth, that secret article negotiated between King Philip and
De Goth. Clement took up his residence at Avignon in France. The tomb of
the apostles was abandoned. The Eternal City had ceased to be the
metropolis of Christianity.
But a French prelate had not bargained with a French king for the most
eminent dignity to which a European can aspire without having given an
equivalent. In as good faith as he could to his contract, in as good
faith as he could to his present pre-eminent position, Clement V.
proceeded to discharge his share of the obligation. To a certain extent
King Philip was animated by an undying vengeance against his enemy, whom
he considered as having escaped out of his grasp, but he was also
actuated by a sincere desire of accomplishing a reform in the Church
through a radical change in its constitution. [Sidenote: Post-mortem
trial of Pope Boniface.] He was resolved that the pontiffs should be
accountable to the kings of France, or that France should more directly
influence their conduct. To reconcile men to this, it was for him to
show, with the semblance of pious reluctance, what was the state to
which morals and faith had come in Rome. The trial of the dead Boniface
was therefore entered upon, A.D. 1310. The Consistory was opened at
Avignon, March 18. The proceedings occupied many months; many witnesses
were examined. [Sidenote: The accusations against him.] The main points
attempted to be established by their evidence seem to have been these:
"That Boniface had declared his belief that there was no such thing as
divine law--what was reputed to be such was merely the invention of men
to keep the vulgar in awe by the terrors of eternal punishment; that it
was a falsehood to assert the Trinity, and fatuous to believe it; that
it was falsehood to say that a virgin had brought forth, for it was an
impossibility; that it was falsehood to assert that bread is
transubstantiated into the body of Christ; that Christianity is false,
because it asserts a future life, of which there is no evidence save
that of visionary people." It was in evidence that the pope had said,
"God may do the worst with me that he pleases in the future life; I
believe as every educated man does, the vulgar believe otherwise. We
have to speak as they do, but we must believe and think with the few."
It was sworn to by those who had heard him disputing with some Parisians
that he had maintained "that neither the body nor the soul rise again."
Others testified that "he neither believed in the resurrection nor in
the sacraments of the Church, and had denied that carnal gratifications
are sins." The Primicerio of St. John's at Naples, deposed that, when a
cardinal, Boniface had said in his presence, "So that God gives me the
good things of this life, I care not a bean for that to come. A man has
no more a soul than a beast. Did you ever see any one who had risen from
the dead?" He took delight in deriding the blessed Virgin; "for," said
he, "she was no more a virgin than my mother." As to the presence of
Christ in the Host, "It is nothing but paste." Three knights of Lucca
testified that when certain venerable ambassadors, whose names they
gave, were in the presence of the pope at the time of the jubilee, and a
chaplain happened to invoke the mercy of Jesus on a person recently
dead, Boniface appalled all around him by exclaiming, "What a fool, to
commend him to Christ! He could not help himself, and how can he be
expected to help others? He was no Son of God, but a shrewd man and a
great hypocrite." It might seem impossible to exceed such blasphemy: and
yet the witnesses went on to testify to a conversation which he held
with the brave old Sicilian admiral, Roger Loria. This devout sailor
made the remark, in the pope's presence, that if, on a certain occasion,
he had died, it was his trust that Christ would have had mercy on him.
To this Boniface replied, "Christ! he was no Son of God; he was a man,
eating and drinking like ourselves; he never rose from the dead; no man
has ever risen. I am far mightier than he. I can bestow kingdoms and
humble kings." Other witnesses deposed to having heard him affirm,
"There is no harm in simony. There is no more harm in adultery than in
rubbing one's hands together." Some testified to such immoralities and
lewdness in his private life that the pages of a modern book cannot be
soiled with the recital.
[Sidenote: Philip consents to abstain from the prosecution.] In the
meantime, Clement did all in his power to save the blackened memory of
his predecessor. Every influence that could be brought to bear on the
revengeful or politic king was resorted to, and at last with success.
Perhaps Philip saw that he had fully accomplished his object. He had no
design to destroy the papacy. His aim was to revolutionize it--to give
the kings of France a more thorough control over it; and, for the
accomplishment of that purpose, to demonstrate to what a condition it
had come through the present system. Whatever might be the decision,
such evidence had been brought forward as, notwithstanding its
contradictions and apparent inconsistencies, had made a profound
impression on every thinking man. It was the king's consummate policy to
let the matter remain where it was. Accordingly, he abandoned all
farther action. The gratitude of Clement was expressed in a bull
exalting Philip, attributing his action to piety, exempting him from all
blame, annulling past bulls prejudicial to him, revoking all punishments
of those who had been concerned against Boniface except in the case of
fifteen persons, on whom a light and nominal penance was inflicted. In
November, A.D. 1311, the Council of Vienne met. In the following year
three cardinals appeared before it to defend the orthodoxy and holy life
of Pope Boniface. Two knights threw down their gauntlets to maintain his
innocence by wager of battle. There was no accuser! no one took up the
gage; and the council was at liberty quietly to dispose of the matter.
[Sidenote: The religious condition of Pope Boniface.] How far the
departed pontiff was guilty of the charges alleged against him was,
therefore, never fairly ascertained. But it was a tremendous, an
appalling fact that charges of such a character could be even so much as
brought forward, much more that a succeeding pontiff had to listen to
them, and attribute intentions of piety to the accuser. The immoralities
of which Boniface was accused were such as in Italy did not excite the
same indignation as among the more moral people beyond the Alps; the
heresies were those everywhere pervading the Church. We have already
seen what a profound impression "The Everlasting Gospel" had made, and
how many followers and martyrs it had. What was alleged against Boniface
was only that he had taken one step more in the downward course of
irreligion. His fault lay in this, that in an evil hour he had given
expression to thoughts which, considering his position, ought to have
remained locked up in his inmost soul. As to the rest, if he was
avaricious, and accumulated enormous treasures, such as it was said the
banditti of the Colonnas seized when they outraged his person, he was no
worse than many other popes. Clement V., his successor, died enormously
rich; and, what was worse, did not hesitate to scandalize Europe by his
prodigal munificence to the beautiful Brunisard, the Countess of
Talleyrand, his lady.
[Sidenote: Its causes.] The religious condition of Boniface, though not
admitting of apology, is capable of explanation. By the Crusades all
Europe had been wrought up to a fanatical expectation, doomed
necessarily to disappointment. From them the papacy had derived
prodigious advantages both in money and power. It was now to experience
fearful evils. It had largely promised rewards in this life, and also in
the world to come, to those who would take up the Cross; it had
deliberately pitted Christianity against Mohammedanism, and staked the
authenticity of each on the issue of the conflict. In face of the whole
world it had put forth as the true criterion the possession of the holy
places, hallowed by the life, the sufferings, the death, the
resurrection of the Redeemer. Whatever the result might be, the
circumstances under which this had been done were such that there was no
concealing, no dissembling. In all Europe there was not a family which
had not been pecuniarily involved in the Crusades, perhaps few that had
not furnished men. Was it at all to be wondered at that everywhere the
people, accustomed to the logic of trial by battle, were terror-stricken
when they saw the result? Was it to be wondered at that even still more
dreadful heresies spontaneously suggested themselves? Was it at all
extraordinary that, if there had been popes sincerely accepting that
criterion, the issue should be a pope who was a sincere misbeliever? Was
it extraordinary that there should be a loss of papal prestige? It was
the papacy which had voluntarily, for its own ends, brought things into
this evil channel, and the papacy deserved a just retribution of
discredit and ruin. It had wrought on the devout temper of religious
Europe for its own sinister purposes; it had drained the Continent of
its blood, and perhaps of what was more highly prized--its money; it had
established a false issue, an unwarrantable criterion, and now came the
time for it to reap consequences of a different kind--intellectual
revolt among the people, heresy among the clergy. Nor was the pope
without eminent comrades in his sin. [Sidenote: Apostacy of the
Templars.] The Templars, whose duty it had been to protect pilgrims on
the way to Jerusalem--who had therefore been long and thoroughly
familiar with the state of events in Palestine--had been treading in the
same path as the pope. Dark rumours had begun to circulate throughout
Europe that these, the very vanguard of Christianity, had not only
proved traitors to their banner, but had actually become Mohammedanized.
On their expulsion from the Holy Land, at the close of the Crusades,
they spread all over Europe, to disseminate by stealth their fearful
heresies, and to enjoy the riches they had acquired in the service they
had betrayed. Men find a charm in having it mysteriously and secretly
divulged to them that their long-cherished opinions are all a delusion.
There was something fascinating in hearing privately, from those who
could speak with authority, that, after all, Mohammed was not an
impostor, but the author of a pure and noble Theism; that Saladin was
not a treacherous assassin, a despicable liar, but a most valiant,
courteous, and gentle knight. In his proceedings against the Templars,
King Philip the Fair seems to have been animated by a pure intention of
checking the disastrous spread of these opinions; yet William de
Nogaret, who was his chief adviser on this matter as on that of
Boniface, was not without reasons of personal hatred. It was said that
he divided his wrath between the Templars and the pope. They had had
some connexion with the burning of his father, and vengeance he was
resolved to wreak upon them. [Sidenote: They are arrested and tried.]
Under colour of the charges against them, all the Templars in France
were simultaneously arrested in the dawn of one day, October 13, A.D.
1307, so well devised were the measures. The grand master, Du Molay, was
secured, not, however, without some perfidy. Now were openly brought
forward the charges which struck Europe with consternation.
Substantiation of them was offered by witnesses, but it was secured by
submitting the accused to torture. The grand master, Du Molay, at first
admitted their guilt of the crimes alleged. After some hesitation, the
pope issued a bull, commanding the King of England to do what the King
of France had already done, to arrest the Templars and seize their
property. His declaration, that one of the order, a man of high birth,
had confessed to himself his criminality, seems to have made a profound
impression on the mind of the English king, and of many other persons
until that time reluctant to believe. The Parliament and the University
of Paris expressed themselves satisfied with the evidence. New
examinations were held, and new convictions were made. The pope issued a
bull addressed to all Christendom, declaring how slowly, but, alas! how
certainly, he had been compelled to believe in the apostacy of the
order, and commanding that everywhere proceedings should be instituted
against it. A papal commission assembled in Paris, August 7, A.D. 1309.
The grand master was brought before it. He professed his belief in the
Catholic faith, but now denied that the order was guilty of the charges
alleged against it, as also did many of the other knights. Other
witnesses were, however, brought forward, some of whom pretended to have
abandoned the order on account of its foul acts. At the Porte St.
Antoine, on many pleasant evenings in the following May, William de
Nogaret revelled in the luxury of avenging the shade of his father.
[Sidenote: Found guilty and punished.] One hundred and thirteen Templars
were, in slow succession, burnt at stakes. The remorseless lawyer was
repaying the Church in her own coin. Yet of this vast concourse of
sufferers all died protesting their innocence; not one proved an
apostate. Notwithstanding this most significant fact--for those who were
ready to lay down their lives, and to meet with unshaken constancy the
fire, were surely the bravest of the knights, and their dying
declaration is worthy of our most reverent consideration--things were
such that no other course was possible than the abolition of the order,
and this accordingly took place. The pope himself seems to have been
satisfied that the crimes had been perpetrated under the instigation or
temptation of Satan; but men of more enlarged views appear to have
concluded that, though the Templars were innocent of the moral
abominations charged against them, a familiarity with other forms of
belief in the East had undoubtedly sapped their faith. After a weary
imprisonment of six years, embittered by many hardships, the grand
master, Du Molay, was brought up for sentence. He had been found guilty.
With his dying breath, "before Heaven and earth, on the verge of death,
when the least falsehood bears like an intolerable weight on the soul,"
he declared the innocence of the order and of himself. [Sidenote:
Burning of Du Molay.] The vesper-bell was sounding when Du Molay and a
brother convict were led forth to their stakes, placed on an island in
the Seine. King Philip himself was present. As the smoke and flames
enveloped them they continued to affirm their innocence. Some averred
that forth from the fire Du Molay's voice sounded, "Clement! thou wicked
and false judge, I summon thee to meet me within forty days at the bar
of God." Some said that he also summoned the king. In the following year
King Philip the Fair and Pope Clement the Fifth were dead.
John XXII., elected after an interval of more than two years spent in
rivalries and intrigues between the French and Italian cardinals,
continued the residence at Avignon. His movements took a practical turn
in the commencement of a process for the recovery of the treasures of
Clement from the Viscount de Lomenie. This was only a part of the wealth
of the deceased pope, but it amounted to a million and three quarters of
florins of gold. The Inquisition was kept actively at work for the
extermination of the believers in "The Everlasting Gospel," and the
remnant of the Albigenses and Waldenses. But all this had no other
result than that which eventually occurred--an examination of the
authenticity and rightfulness of the papal power. With an instinct as to
the origin of the misbelief everywhere spreading, the pope published
bulls against the Jews, of whom a bloody persecution had arisen, and
ordered that all their Talmuds and other blasphemous books should be
burnt. [Sidenote: Marsilio's work, "The Defender of Peace."] A
physician, Marsilio of Padua, published a work, "The Defender of Peace."
It was a philosophical examination of the principles of government, and
of the nature and limits of the sacerdotal power. Its democratic
tendency was displayed by its demonstration that the exposition of the
law of Christianity rests not with the pope nor any other priest, but
with a general council; it rejected the papal political pretensions;
asserted that no one can be rightfully excommunicated by a pope alone,
and that he has no power of coercion over human thought; that the civil
immunities of the clergy ought to be ended; that poverty and humility
ought alone to be their characteristics; that society ought to provide
them with a decent sustenance, but nothing more: their pomp,
extravagance, luxury, and usurpations, especially that of tithes, should
be abrogated; that neither Christ nor the Scriptures ever gave St. Peter
a supremacy over the other apostles; that, if history is to be
consulted, St. Paul, and not St. Peter, was bishop of Rome--indeed, it
is doubtful whether the latter was ever in that city, the Acts of the
Apostles being silent on that subject. From these and many other such
arguments he drew forty-one conclusions adverse to the political and
ecclesiastical supremacy of the pope.
It is not necessary to consider here the relations of John XXII. to
Louis of Bavaria, nor of the antipope Nicholas; they belong merely to
political history. But, as if to show how the intellectual movement was
working its way, the pontiff himself did not escape a charge of heresy.
[Sidenote: The "beatific vision."] Though he had so many temporal
affairs on his hands, John did not hesitate to raise the great question
of the "beatific vision." In his opinion, the dead, even the saints, do
not enjoy the beatific vision of God until after the Judgment-day. At
once there was a demand among the orthodox, "What! do not the apostles,
John, Peter, nay, even the blessed Virgin, stand yet in the presence of
God?" The pope directed the most learned theologians to examine the
question, himself entering actively into the dispute. The University of
Paris was involved. The King of France declared that his realm should
not be polluted with such heretical doctrines. A single sentence
explains the practical direction of the dogma, so far as the interests
of the Church were concerned: "If the saints stand not in the presence
of God, of what use is their intercession? What is the use of addressing
prayers to them?" The folly of the pontiff perhaps might be excused by
his age. He was now nearly ninety years old. That he had not guided
himself according to the prevailing sentiment of the lower religious
orders, who thought that poverty is essential to salvation, appeared at
his death, A.D. 1334. He left eighteen millions of gold florins in
specie, and seven millions in plate and jewels.
[Sidenote: It is explained by Benedict XII.] His successor, Benedict
XII., disposed of the question of the "beatific vision:" "It is only
those saints who do not pass through Purgatory that immediately behold
the Godhead." The pontificate of Benedict, which was not without many
good features, hardly verified the expression with which he greeted the
cardinals when they elected him, "You have chosen an ass." His was a gay
life. There is a tradition that to him is due the origin of the proverb,
"As drunk as a pope."
[Sidenote: Voluptuousness of Avignon.] In the subsequent pontificate of
Clement VI., A.D. 1342, the court at Avignon became the most voluptuous
in Christendom. It was crowded with knights and ladies, painters and
other artists. It exhibited a day-dream of equipages and banquets. The
pontiff himself delighted in female society, but, in his weakness,
permitted his lady, the Countess of Turenne, to extort enormous revenues
by the sale of ecclesiastical promotions. Petrarch, who lived at Avignon
at this time, speaks of it as a vast brothel. His own sister had been
seduced by the holy father, John XXII. During all these years the Romans
had made repeated attempts to force back the papal court to their city.
With its departure all their profits had gone. But the fatal policy of
electing Frenchmen into the College of Cardinals seemed to shut out
every hope. [Sidenote: Rienzi.] The unscrupulous manner in which this
was done is illustrated by the fact that Clement made one of his
relatives, a lad of eighteen, a cardinal. For a time the brief glories
of Rienzi cast a flickering ray on Rome; but Rienzi was only a
demagogue--an impostor. It was the deep impression made upon Europe that
the residence at Avignon was an abandonment of the tomb of St. Peter,
that compelled Urban V. to return to Rome. This determination was
strengthened by a desire to escape out of the power of the kings of
France, and to avoid the free companies who had learned to extort bribes
for sparing Avignon from plunder. He left Avignon, A.D. 1367, amid the
reluctant grief of his cardinals, torn from that gay and dissipated
city, and in dread of the recollections and of the populace of Rome. And
well it might be so; for not only in Rome, but all over Italy, piety was
held in no respect, and the discipline of the Church in derision.
[Sidenote: Irreverence of Barnabas Visconti.] When Urban sent to
Barnabas Visconti, who was raising trouble in Tuscany, a bull of
excommunication by the hands of two legates, Barnabas actually compelled
them, in his presence, to eat the parchment on which the bull was
written, together with the leaden seal and the silken string, and,
telling them that he hoped it would sit as lightly on their stomachs as
it did on his, sent them back to their master! In a little time--it was
but two years--absence from France became insupportable; the pope
returned to Avignon, and there died. [Sidenote: The popes return to
Rome.] It was reserved for his successor, Gregory XI., finally to end
what was termed, from its seventy years' duration, the Babylonish
captivity, and restore the papacy to the Eternal City, A.D. 1376.
[Sidenote: Causes of the great schism.] But, though the popes had thus
returned to Rome, the effects of King Philip's policy still continued.
On the death of Gregory XI., the conclave, meeting at Rome--for the
conclave must meet where the pope dies--elected Urban VI., under
intimidation of the Roman populace, who were determined to retain the
papacy in their city; but, escaping to Fondi, and repenting of what they
had thus done, they proclaimed his election void, and substituted
Clement VII. for him. They were actually at one time on the point of
choosing the King of France as pope. Thus began the great schism. It
was, in reality, a struggle between France and Italy for the control of
the papacy. The former had enjoyed it for seventy years; the latter was
determined to recover it. The schism thus rested originally on political
considerations, but these were doubtless exasperated by the conduct of
Urban, whose course was overbearing and even intolerable to his
supporters. Nor did he amend as his position became more consolidated.
In A.D. 1385, suspecting his cardinals of an intention to seize him,
declare him a heretic, and burn him, he submitted several of them to
torture in his own presence, while he recited his breviary. Escaping
from Nocera, where he had been besieged, he caused the Bishop of Aquila
to be killed on the road-side. Others he tied in sacks, and threw into
the sea at Genoa. It was supposed, not without reason, that he was
insane.
[Sidenote: Pecuniary necessities of the rival popes.] If there had
formerly been pecuniary difficulty in supporting one papal court, it, of
course, became greater now that there were two. Such troubles, every day
increasing, led at length to unhappy political movements. There was an
absolute necessity for drawing money to Rome and also to Avignon. The
device of a jubilee was too transitory and inadequate, even though, by
an improvement in the theory of that festival, it was expedited by
thirty-three years, answering to our Saviour's life. At Avignon, the
difficulty of Clement, who was of amiable and polished manners, turned
on the French Church being obliged to support him; and it is not to be
wondered at that the French clergy looked with dislike on the pontifical
establishment among them, since it was driven by its necessities to prey
on all their best benefices. [Sidenote: Organization of simony.] Under
such circumstances, no other course was possible to the rival popes and
their successors than a thorough reorganization of the papal financial
system--the more complete development of simony, indulgences, and other
improper sources of emolument. In this manner Boniface IX. tripled the
value of the annates upon the papal books. Usurers or brokers,
intervening between the purchasers of benefices and the papal exchequer,
were established, and it is said that, under the pressing difficulties
of the case, benefices were known to have been sold, many times in
succession, to different claimants in one week. Late applicants might
obtain a preference for appointments on making a cash payment of
twenty-five florins; an increased preference might be had for fifty. It
became, at last, no unusual thing to write to kings and prelates for
subsidies--a proof how greatly the papacy had been weakened by the
events of the times.
[Sidenote: Indignation of religious Europe.] But religious Europe
could not bear with such increasing scandals. The rival popes were
incessantly accusing each other of falsehood and all manner of
wickedness. At length the public sentiment found its expression
in the Council of Pisa, called by the cardinals on their own
responsibility. This council summoned the two popes--Benedict XIII.
and Gregory XII.--before it; declared the crimes and excesses
imputed to them to be true, and deposed them both, appointing
in their stead Alexander V. [Sidenote: Three popes.] There were
now, therefore, three popes. But, besides thus rendering the position
of things worse than it was before in this respect, the council had
taken the still more extraordinary step of overthrowing the autocracy
of the pope. It had been compelled by the force of circumstances to
destroy the very foundation of Latin Christianity by assuming the
position of superiority over the vicar of Christ. Now might be
discerned by men of reflexion the purely human nature of the papacy.
It had broken down. Out of the theological disputes of preceding years
a political principle was obviously emerging; the democratic spirit
was developing itself, and the hierarchy was in rebellion against its
sovereign.
Nor was this great movement limited to the clergy. In every direction
the laity participated in it, pecuniary questions being in very many
instances the incentive. Things had come to such a condition that it
seemed to be of little moment what might be the personal character of
the pontiff; the necessities of the position irresistibly drove him to
replenish the treasury by shameful means. [Sidenote: Balthazar Cossa
made pope.] Thus, on Alexander's death, Balthazar Cossa, an evil but an
able man, who succeeded as John XXIII., was not only compelled to extend
the existing simoniacal practices of the ecclesiastical brokers'
offices, but actually to derive revenue from the licensing of
prostitutes, gambling-houses, and usurers. [Sidenote: Dissatisfaction in
England.] In England, for ages a mine of wealth to Rome, the tendency of
things was shown by such facts as the remonstrance of the Commons with
the crown on the appointment of ecclesiastics to all the great offices;
the allegations made by the "Good Parliament" as to the amount of money
drawn by Rome from the kingdom. They asserted that it was five times as
much as the taxes levied by the king, and that the pope's revenue from
England was greater than the revenue of any prince in Christendom. It
was shown again by such facts as the passage of the statutes of
Mortmain, Provisors, and Praemunire, and by the universal clamour against
the mendicant orders. This dissatisfaction with the clergy was
accompanied by a desire for knowledge. [Sidenote: Wiclif, the English
reformer.] Thousands of persons crowded to the universities both on the
Continent and in England. In a community thus well prepared, Wiclif
found no difficulty in disseminating his views. He had adopted in many
particulars the doctrines of Berengar. He taught that the bread in the
Eucharist is not the real body of Christ, but only its image; that the
Roman Church has no true claim to headship over other churches; that its
bishop has no more authority than any other bishop; that it is right to
deprive a delinquent Church of temporal possessions; that no bishop
ought to have prisons for the punishment of those obnoxious to him; and
that the Bible alone is a sufficient guide for a Christian man.
[Sidenote: He translates the Bible.] His translation of the Bible into
English was the practical carrying out of that assertion for the benefit
of his own countrymen. All classes of society were becoming infected.
The government for a season vacillated. It was said that every other man
in England was a Lollard. The Lollards were Wiclifites. But the Church
at last persuaded the government to let her try her hand, and the
statute "de heretico comburendo" was passed A.D. 1400. [Sidenote:
Burning of English heretics.] William Sautree, a priest who had turned
Wiclifite, was the first English martyr. John Badbee, a tailor, who
denied transubstantiation--accused of having said that, if it were true,
there were 20,000 gods in every corn-field in England--next suffered in
like manner at the stake, in presence of the Prince of Wales. Lord
Cobham, the head of the Lollards, who had denounced the pope as
Anti-Christ, the Son of Perdition, was imprisoned; but escaping, became
involved in political movements, and suffered at length the double
penalty for heresy and treason, being hung on a gallows with a fire
blazing at his feet. It is interesting to remark the social rank of
these three early martyrs. Heresy was pervading all classes, from the
lowest to the highest.
[Sidenote: The Council of Constance deposes the pope,] The Council of
Constance met A.D. 1415. It had a threefold object: 1. The union of the
Church under one pope; 2. The reformation of the clergy; 3. The
suppression of heresy. Its policy from the first was determined. It
proclaimed itself supreme. It demanded the abdication of the pope John
XXIII.; exhibited articles of accusation against him, some of them of
such enormity as almost to surpass belief, and justifying the epithet
that he was "a devil incarnate." The suffrage of the council was
changed. The plan of voting by nations, which reduced the Italians to a
single vote, was introduced. These incidental facts may indicate to us
that there were present men who understood thoroughly how to manage the
machinery of such an assembly, and that the remark of Aeneas Sylvius,
afterward Pope Pius II., respecting the Council of Basle was equally
true as to that of Constance, that it was not so much directed by the
Holy Ghost as by the passions of men. The influence that lawyers were
now exercising in social affairs--their habits of arrangement, of
business, and intrigue, is strikingly manifested in the management of
these assemblages; their arts had passed to the clergy, and even in part
to the people. But how vast was the change that had occurred in the
papacy from the voluntary abdication of Celestine to the compulsory
abdication of John!
[Sidenote: and murders John Huss.] To this council, also, came John
Huss, under a safe-conduct from the Emperor Sigismund. Scarcely,
however, had he arrived when he was imprisoned; this treachery being
excused from the necessity of conceding it to the reforming party. On
June 5th, A.D. 1416, Huss was brought in chains before the council. It
was declared unlawful to keep faith with a heretic. His countrymen, the
Bohemian lords present, protested against such perfidy, and loudly
demanded his release. Articles of accusation, derived from his works,
were presented. He avowed himself ready to defend his opinions. The
uproar was so great that the council temporarily adjourned. Two days
afterwards the trial was resumed. It was ushered in by an eclipse of the
sun, said to have been total at Prague. No one of the bloodthirsty
ecclesiastics laid to heart the solemn monition that, after his moment
of greatest darkness was over, the sun shone forth with recovered
effulgence again. The emperor was present, with all the fathers. The
first accusation entered on related to transubstantiation. On this and
on succeeding occasions the emperor took part in the discussions, among
other things observing that, in his opinion, the prisoner was worthy of
death. After a lengthy inquiry into his alleged errors, a form of
recantation was prepared for Huss. [Sidenote: Noble conduct of Huss.]
With modest firmness he declined it, concluding his noble answer with
the words, "I appeal to Christ Jesus, the one all-powerful and all-just
Judge. To him I commend my cause, who will judge every man, not
according to false witnesses and erring councils, but according to truth
and man's desert." On July 1st the council met in full session. Thirty
articles against Huss were read. Among other things, they alleged that
he believed the material bread to be unchanged after the consecration.
In his extremity the prisoner looked steadfastly at the traitor
Sigismund, and solemnly exclaimed, "Freely came I here under the
safe-conduct of the emperor." The conscience-stricken monarch blushed.
Huss was then made to kneel down and receive his sentence. It condemned
his writings and his body to the flames.
[Sidenote: He is burnt.] He was then degraded and despoiled of his
orders. Some of the bishops mocked at him; some, more merciful, implored
him to recant. They cut his hair in the form of a cross, and set upon
his head a high paper crown on which devils were painted. "We devote thy
soul to the devils in hell." "And I commend my soul to the most merciful
Lord Christ Jesus." He was then led forth. They passed by the bishop's
palace, where Huss's books were burning. When they fastened him with a
chain to his stake, the painted crown fell off, but the soldiers
replaced it. "Let him and his devils be burned together." As the flames
closed over him, he chanted psalms and prayed to the Redeemer. Can that
be true which requires for its support the murder of a true man?
[Sidenote: It murders, also, Jerome of Prague.] So acted without a
dissenting voice the Council of Constance. It feared the spread of
heresy, but it did not fear, perhaps did not consider, that higher
tribunal to whose inexorable verdict councils, and popes, and emperors
must submit--posterity. It asserted itself to be under the inspiration
of the Holy Ghost. It took profit by a shameful perfidy. It was a
conclave of murderers. It stifled the voice of an earnest man, solemnly
protesting against a doctrine now derided by all the intellect of
Europe. The revolution it was compassing it inaugurated in blood, not
alone that of John Huss, but also of Jerome of Prague. These martyrs
were no common men. [Sidenote: His singular eloquence.] Poggio
Bracciolini, an eye-witness, says, in a letter to Leonardo Aretino,
speaking of the eloquence of Jerome, "When I consider what his choice of
words was, what his elocution, what his reasoning, what his countenance,
his voice, his action I must affirm, however much we may admire the
ancients, that in such a cause no one could have approached nearer to
the model of their eloquence."
John XXIII. was compelled to abdicate. Gregory XII. died. Some time
after, Benedict XIII. followed him. The council had elected Martin V.,
and in him found a master who soon put an end to its doings. [Sidenote:
What the council did.] It had deposed one pope and elected another; it
had cemented the dominant creed with blood; it had authorized the
dreadful doctrine that a difference in religious opinion justifies the
breaking of plighted faith between man and man; it had attempted to
perpetuate its own power by enacting that councils should be held every
five years; but it had not accomplished its great object--ecclesiastical
reform.
[Sidenote: The Council of Basle.] In a room attached to the Cathedral of
Basle, with its roof of green and parti-coloured tiles, the modern
traveller reads on a piece of paper this inscription: "The room of the
council, where the famous Council of Basil was assembled. In this room
Pope Eugene IV. was dethroned, and replaced by Felix V., Duc of Savoie
and Cardinal of Repaile. The council began 1431, and lasted 1448." That
chamber, with its floor of little red earthen flags and its oaken
ceiling, witnessed great events.
The democratic influence pervading the Church showed no symptoms of
abatement. The fate of Huss had been avenged in blood and fire by the
Bohemian sword. Eugenius IV., now pontiff, was afraid that negotiations
would be entered upon with the Hussite chiefs. Such a treaty, he
affirmed, would be blasphemy against God and an insult to the pope. He
was therefore bent on the prorogation of the council, and spared no
means to accomplish his purpose. Its ostensible object was the
reformation of the clergy; its real intent was to convert the papal
autocracy into a constitutional monarchy. [Sidenote: It declares the
pope in contumacy.] To this end it cited the pope, and, on his
non-appearance, declared him and seventeen of the cardinals in
contumacy. He had denounced it as the Synagogue of Satan; on its part,
it was assuming the functions of the Senate of Christendom. It had
prepared a great seal, and asserted that, in case of the death of the
pope, the election of his successor was vested in it. It was its firm
purpose never again to leave that great event in the hands of a conclave
of intriguing Italian cardinals, but to intrust it to the
representatives of united Christendom. After a due delay since he was
declared in contumacy, the council suspended the pope, and, slowly
moving towards its object, elected Amadeus of Savoy, Felix V., his
successor. It was necessary that its pope should be a rich man, for the
council had but slender means of offering him pecuniary support. Amadeus
had that qualification. And perhaps it was far from being, in the eyes
of many, an inopportune circumstance that he had been married and had
children. [Sidenote: Its real intentions.] We may discern, through the
shifting scenes of the intrigues of the times, that the German hierarchy
had come to the resolution that the election of the popes should be
taken from the Italians and given to Europe; that his power should be
restricted; that he should no longer be the irresponsible vicar of God
upon earth; but the accountable chief executive officer of Christendom;
and that the right of marriage should be conceded to the clergy. These
are significantly Teutonic ideas.
[Sidenote: Cause and close of these troubles.] We have pursued the story
of these events nearly as far as is necessary for the purpose of this
book. We shall not, therefore, follow the details of the new schism. It
fell almost without interest on Europe. Aeneas Sylvius, the ablest man of
the day, in three words gives us the true insight into the state of
things: "Faith is dead." On the demise of Eugenius IV., Nicolas V.
succeeded. An understanding was had with those in the interest of the
council. It was dissolved. Felix V. abdicated. The morality of the times
had improved. The antipope was neither blinded nor murdered. The schism
was at an end.
[Sidenote: End of the intellectual influence of the papacy.] Thus we
have seen that the personal immoralities and heresy of the popes brought
on the interference of the King of France, who not only shook the papal
system to its basis but destroyed its prestige by inflicting the most
conspicuous indignity upon it. For seventy years Rome was disfranchised,
and the rivalries of France and Italy produced the great schism, than
which nothing could be more prejudicial to the papal power. We have seen
that, aided by the pecuniary difficulties of the papacy, the rising
intellect of Europe made good its influence and absolutely deposed the
pope. It was in vain to deny the authenticity of such a council; there
stood the accomplished fact. At this moment there seemed no other
prospect for the Italian system than utter ruin; yet, wonderful to be
said, a momentary deliverance came from a quarter whence no man would
have expected. The Turks were the saviours of the papacy.
At this point is the true end of the Italian system--that system which
had pressed upon Europe like a nightmare. The great men of the
times--the statesmen, the philosophers, the merchants, the lawyers, the
governing classes--those whose weight of opinion is recognized by the
uneducated people at last, had shaken off the incubus and opened their
eyes. A glimmering of the true state of things was breaking upon the
clergy. No more with the vigour it once possessed was the papacy again
to domineer over human thought and be the controlling agent of European
affairs. Convulsive struggles it might make, but they were only
death-throes. The sovereign pontiff must now descend from the autocracy
he had for so many ages possessed, and become a small potentate,
tolerated by kings in that subordinate position only because of the
remnant of his influence on the uneducated multitude and those of feeble
minds.