THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE AND THE PAPACY
OUTLINE: I.--Decline of the Empire under the later
Carolingians. II.--Preparations to restore the Empire on a
German basis. III.--Otto the Great creates the Holy Roman
Empire. IV.--Holy Roman Empire attains its height under Henry
III. V.--Results of the creation of the Holy Roman Empire.
VI.--Sources.
The Empire created by Charles the Great rapidly declined under the later
Carolingians. The causes for this dissolution were:
1. The principle of division of rule, which was practised before the
time of Charles the Great, and endorsed by him, produced five divisions
of the Empire within thirty years. This was fatal to stability and
permanency.
2. The disintegration of the Empire into national states resulted from
the growing differences of race, language, institutions, and
laws.[384:1]
3. Powerful feudal dukedoms arose such as Bavaria on the Danube, the
barrier against the East; Swabia on the upper Danube and Rhine;
Franconia on the Rhine and Main north of Swabia; Saxony on the Ems,
Weser, and Elbe north of Franconia; Burgundy, a kingdom south-west of
Swabia; Aquitania in southern France; Brittany in north-western France;
Normandy in northern France; and others.
4. The rulers who succeeded Charles the Great were, as compared with
him, men of very inferior ability.
5. The poor roads made it almost impossible to keep in touch with all
parts of the wide Empire. The well-built roads of the Romans had
generally fallen into decay, simply because there was no longer a corps
of trained engineers to keep them up.
6. The scarcity of money likewise prevented the ruler from securing the
services of a great body of able officers, and also made it impossible
for him to support a standing army to enforce his will everywhere.
7. The barbarian invasions from the east and the north brought in the
Northmen, Slavs, and the Hungarians, while the Saracens were attacking
Italy and southern France.[385:1]
Before the ninth century closed, the territorial unity of the Empire of
Charles the Great was broken up. Charles the Bald (875-877) ruled France
as king, held Italy as Emperor, and sought to gain control of Germany
but was prevented by death from doing so. Charles the Fat (881-888) held
Germany as king, controlled Italy as Emperor, and was invited to assume
the French crown because Charles the Simple, a weak-minded boy of six,
could not cope with the marauding Northmen. Charles the Fat, the last
legitimate East Frankish male descendant of Charles the Great, accepted
the proffered throne (885) and thus reunited all the parts of the Empire
of Charles the Great except Burgundy. But Charles the Fat was too weak
to hold the reins of government over so vast an area. He bought off the
Northmen by a disgraceful treaty (886) to the disgust of the French, was
driven out of Italy (887), and then, deposed and deserted by his German
subjects, he crawled off to an unregrettable death on his Swabian
estates (888).[386:1] This was the last union of France and Germany
under one ruler until Napoleon the Great carved out his vast Empire in
western Europe.
When the line of the Carolingian rulers, called into existence by papal
coronation in 800, ended with the death of the last legitimate
descendant in the male line, Charles the Fat, in 888, a new problem
confronted western Europe. The right of appointing a new Emperor
reverted to Rome and the Pope. The Empire of Charles the Great fell
asunder and from it emerged four kingdoms.[386:2] West France chose Odo
of Eudes as king. East France, or Germany, elected Arnulf. The kingdom
of Burgundy was divided between two rival rulers. Italy, except the
southern part which was still loyal to Constantinople, was also divided
between the parties of Berengar of Friuli[386:3] and Guido of
Spoleto.[386:4] The former was chosen king by the estates of Lombardy,
the latter was crowned Emperor by the Pope Stephen VI. and not long
afterwards, to insure the permanency of the imperial title in his
family, had his son Lambert crowned co-Emperor in 894 by Pope
Formosus.[386:5]
Of all the various knights who appeared in different parts of the
Empire immediately after 888, the strongest and most able was Arnulf, a
bastard nephew of Charles the Fat, but a warrior of renown, who was
raised on the East Frankish throne by the disgusted nobles in 888. A
descendant of Charles the Great, he was, for a very brief period, looked
upon as the head of the Carolingian Empire. Odo of Eudes, the Count of
Paris, placed his royal crown in the hands of Arnulf and received it
back as a royal vassal. Berengar of Italy also did homage to Arnulf and
received his kingdom as a fief. Soon, however, local kings set up by the
people arose and Arnulf restricted his rule to Germany and Italy.[387:1]
He defeated the predatory Northmen, checked the inroads of the warlike
Magyars, and by storming Rome compelled the Corsican Pope Formosus to
crown him as Emperor (896).[387:2] Then he turned his attention to the
boy Emperor in Italy, the Duke of Spoleto, but was smitten by disease
and hastened back to Germany (d. 899).[387:3] Italy was thus left to
sixty years of tumult and anarchy. With the death of his son, Louis the
Child, in 911, the Carolingian dynasty passed away in Germany. In 987
the powerful French barons set aside the Carolingian heir and elected
Hugh Capet, the Duke of France, as king of the feudal monarchy and the
Archbishop of Rheims crowned him.[387:4] The Carolingian Empire was at
an end. For more than half a century now the imperial crown was a
reward in the Pope's hands to be bestowed upon this or that Italian
noble for "value received."[388:1]
The first half of the tenth century seemed to be the very nadir of
political order and conscious culture. It is almost impossible for a
modern mind to comprehend the torrents of barbaric destruction sweeping
in over western Europe from all sides. As compared with the Teutonic
invasion of the Roman Empire five centuries before, the onslaught was
more sudden and fiercer while the internal resistance was much more
poorly organised and consequently weaker. For several centuries these
forces had been gathering. Charles the Great had held the torrent in
check. But not long after the dissolution of his Empire the onslaught
began. The merciless Saracens roamed the Mediterranean Sea as its
masters, laid waste the Christian seacoast towns, and even sacked Rome
itself, the seat of Empire and Christian rule. The Danes and Northmen
swept the North Sea, the English Channel, the Atlantic coast, and
pierced France and Germany by their rivers, almost to the heart,
killing, robbing, and taking captives. They even boldly passed Gibraltar
into the Mediterranean and fell upon Provence and Italy, where they left
an indelible impression.
Meantime on land the Slavic barbarians, the Wends, the Czechs, and the
Obotrites, rebelled against the German yoke and threatened the whole
north-eastern border of the Empire. Behind them were the Poles and
Russians. Farther south came the unruly Hungarian tribes which "dashed
over Germany like the flying spray of a new wave of barbarism, and
carried the terror of the battle-axes to the Apennines and the
ocean."[389:1] These blows from all sides knocked out the foundations of
the imperial structure, already weakened to the point of dissolution by
internal decay, and it fell. As a result reliance for protection on a
common defence and imperial organisation was abandoned. Feudalism
replaced the Empire. The strong built fortress castles, the weak became
their vassals. Local authorities--counts, dukes, lords, bishops, and
abbots--saw new duties and new opportunities. They took a firmer hold,
converted a delegated into an independent power, a personal into a
territorial jurisdiction. Recognition of a distant, weak imperial or
royal authority was only nominal and feeble at that. The grand dream of
a mighty, universal Christian Empire was being rapidly lost in the
decentralising forces, and in the increasing localisation of all powers.
During this period of weakness and confusion, the mediæval Church,
instead of standing forth as the source of strength and intelligence,
instead of making further gains of a political and ecclesiastical
character for the See of St. Peter, seemed to fall into "a death-sleep
of moral and spiritual exhaustion."[389:2] The Papacy as a religious
organisation almost disappears from view. The commanding spirits of
Gregory the Great and of Nicholas the Great were utterly forgotten. The
victories gained through the Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals were not
followed up. A really great Pope at this time might easily have realised
all the dreams of Innocent III., but none such wore the papal tiara.
With the death of Louis the Child (911), Germany was confronted by a
serious problem.[390:1] Would the powerful German dukes set up
independent kingdoms? Or would they invite Charles the Simple, the
genuine Carolingian sovereign of France, to include Germany in a
reunited Frankish empire? Or would they create a German monarchy on an
independent basis? The German nobles met at Forchheim to consider the
situation. Charles the Simple was not even thought of--a significant
fact, because it showed that the imperial idea was at a low ebb in
Germany. The instinct of nationality was beginning to be felt. The
nobles urged the beloved and honoured old Duke of Saxony, Otto, to
accept the crown of a feudal monarchy, but he declined and urged the
election of Conrad of Franconia. Conrad accepted the responsible honour
and was crowned and anointed by the Archbishop of Mainz without
reference to the papal power. His reign (911-918) was filled with wars
against the powerful dukes who objected to the rigid enforcement of his
royal rights and the consequent curtailment of their prerogatives. The
clergy, on the contrary, upheld the king because they clearly saw that
their interests would be best cared for by a simple, strong government.
When Conrad died (918) he had made little headway toward the creation of
a powerful centralised monarchy.[390:2]
The nobles of Saxony and Franconia met in 919 and chose Henry, the son
of Conrad, Duke of Saxony, as king (919-936).[390:3] To the Archbishop
of Mainz, who wanted to crown him, Henry said: "Enough for me that I am
raised so far above my sires as to be chosen and called king through
the grace of God and your devotion; let the sacred unction and crown be
for better men than I." Had he seen too much of kings crowned and ruled
by priests? At least his action pleased the whole assembly. By wise
concessions he forced Swabia and Bavaria to accept him as king and rewon
Lorraine as a part of the German kingdom. He thrust back the terrible
Magyars, conquered the Danes, and humbled the Bohemians. He reformed and
reorganised the military system and protected the kingdom by building
fortified towns along the northern and eastern frontiers. When he died
all the German people were under one rule, peace reigned throughout the
kingdom, feudalism had received a check, trade was flourishing, the
position of the freemen was improved, and the German kingdom had been
established on a firm basis independent of the Empire. But death alone,
perhaps, prevented him from claiming the imperial crown.[391:1]
Under Otto the Great, however, the old Empire was to revive and become
very active, but on a German foundation. The traditions of the
Carolingian house, the Italian puppet Emperors, the Papacy, and the law,
philosophy, theology, and education of the day all helped to keep the
idea of Empire alive.[391:2] Otto, born in 912, was the son of the Saxon
king Henry I. and Matilda, who traced her descent to Charles the Great.
He spent his youth at the court and in the wars of his father, and was
regarded as haughty, overbearing, and ambitious. He married Edith, the
daughter of the King of the Anglo-Saxons (929).
When Henry I. died in 936 the nobles and bishops met at Aachen in the
old cathedral and formally elected Otto I. as King of Germany. As Otto
entered the cathedral a few weeks later to be coronated the Archbishop
of Mainz cried out: "The man chosen by God, nominated by our master
Henry, and declared king by all the princes." He was then crowned,
anointed, and girded with the royal sword by the Archbishop. In the
coronation festival that followed the German dukes for the first time
acted as the king's servants. The coronation was very significant
because it showed Otto's attitude toward the Church, indicated the lofty
position of the royal crown and the subjection of the dukes, revealed
the possibility of a strong, united German kingdom under right
management, and proved the popularity and opportunity of Otto I. as King
of the Germans.[392:1]
Otto took Charles the Great as his model and sought to transform the
loose federal state of his father into a strong, compact monarchy by
reducing the power of his vassals. By quelling the various rebellious
dukes Otto made them his own appointees, and was recognised as the
master of the German nation. The name "Deutsch" began to be applied to
his subjects and their tongue. He manifested no less activity in foreign
affairs as is shown in his invasion of France to compel homage from Hugh
the Great, his son-in-law; in his conquest of the Slavs between the Elbe
and the Oder; and in his reduction of the unstable Danes to submission.
Otto was ready now to give his attention to Italian affairs. Adelaide,
the beautiful young widow of the son of King Hugh of Provence, had
refused to marry Adalbert, the son of Berengar II., King of Lombardy,
hence was cast into prison and cruelly treated. She escaped with the
aid of the Bishop of Reggio and appealed to the mighty German sovereign
for deliverance.[393:1] Otto, touched with chivalrous sympathy, and
seeing an opening for the realisation of imperial ambitions, marched
with a great force into Lombardy (951). Berengar was forced to hold his
kingdom as a vassal of the German crown. Otto, a widower at this time,
then married his fair protégée. Civil war in Germany compelled him to
give up his journey to Rome, however, and instead to return home. Otto's
son, Ludolph, who feared that his father's recent marriage with the fair
widow might deprive him of the German crown, plotted with the old
Archbishop of Mainz and discontented German nobles, to secure the
throne. The resulting war involved the whole kingdom and shook Otto's
power and ability to the roots. The approach of a common foe, however,
the terrible Magyars, led the nation to rally around Otto. In the
decisive battle of Lechfeld (955) the Huns were effectively checked and
began to settle the lands which they still occupy.[393:2] Otto was now
unquestionably the most powerful monarch in Europe. Such rulers as Louis
IV. of France and the King of Burgundy sought his friendship and aid.
His own people began to call him "The Great."
The way seemed to be open at last for the realisation of Otto's imperial
dreams. He was a descendant of Charles the Great in the female line. He
was the complete master of a large part of the Empire with the northern
capital in it. He had already taken the crown of Lombardy. On the
battlefield of Lechfeld (955) his victorious troops saluted him as
"Imperator Augustus, Pater Patræ."[394:1] He had likewise proved himself
a most worthy champion of the Church by allowing the Church to crown
him; by enriching the German Church, giving it a better organisation,
and subjecting it to his will; and by labouring zealously to convert the
heathen on his borders.[394:2]
Italian affairs called him thither a second time. Berengar after
recovering his throne was ruling as a tyrant in the north and had
violated a portion of the patrimony of St. Peter. Mohammedan corsairs
were devastating the south. The rest of Italy was full of anarchy and
desolated by the feuds of a crowd of petty nobles most of whom were
scrambling for the imperial crown. A row of inferior Popes had brought
the Papacy itself into disrepute. Thus the solicitations of his family,
the approval of his people and nobles, the cry of the oppressed
Italians, the expectation of the nobility, and the request of Pope John
XII. and influential churchmen, all impelled him to realise his own
wish.
Therefore, in 957, Otto sent Ludolph with a large force against
Berengar. The Crown Prince died in the midst of victory. Then Otto had
his little son crowned as Otto II. in 961 and crossed the Alps with a
big army. All resistance vanished before this new Charles the Great. In
a general diet of the Lombard kingdom Berengar was deposed and at Pavia
the German monarch was formally crowned "King of Italy." Early in 962 he
triumphantly entered the Eternal City. The Pope gave him hearty
greeting, held services of thanksgiving, and gave a great feast in his
honour. On the following Sunday the imperial coronation occurred in the
church of St. John Lateran.[395:1] The King promised to protect and
defend the Church[395:2]; the Pope to be an obedient subject of the
Emperor; and the people to choose no future Pope without Otto's consent.
Otto was then anointed by the Pope, the imperial crown was put on his
brow, the imperial robe was adjusted, and the imperial sword was buckled
on while the populace shouted "Long live Otto, Emperor Augustus." The
head of that race which Charles the Great had converted by the sword had
revived the Empire, the policy, and the traditions of that renowned
ruler.
The papal policy of Emperor Otto I. was soon revealed. He granted to the
Church the most famous and the most important "constitution" since that
of Lothair (824) in which all the grants of Pepin, Charles the Great,
and Louis the Pious were confirmed and the rights of the Emperor in
papal elections clearly defined.[395:3] Otto had no sooner reached
northern Italy to subdue the irrepressible Berengar and his sons,
however, than Pope John renounced his allegiance to his new master,
conspired with Berengar, and even incited the heathen Magyars to invade
Germany.[395:4] The Emperor refused to believe these plots until
confirmed by his own messengers and even then excused the young Pontiff
by remarking: "He is only a boy; the example of good men will reform
him."[395:5] He then hastened to Rome to begin that work.
Pope John at once sent legates to Otto promising amendment and accusing
the Emperor of having broken his solemn promise. Otto excused his
actions and, after the custom of the age, challenged the Pope to settle
the dispute either by the wager of a solemn oath or by the ordeal of
battle. Both offers were refused and Otto took Rome. John "seized most
of the treasures of St. Peter and sought safety in flight."[396:1] Otto,
at the request of the Roman clergy and people, called an ecclesiastical
council in St. Peter's to try him (963). John XII. was proved guilty of
the whole category of mediæval crimes: celebrating mass without
communing himself, ordaining a bishop in a stable, accepting bribes for
ordination, consecrating a ten-year-old bishop, neglecting the repair of
churches, being guilty of adultery and incest, making the Lateran a
brothel, going out hunting with the nobles, putting out the eyes of his
own godfather, Benedict, cruelly murdering the archdeacon John, setting
fire to houses like Nero, wearing the armour of a warrior in Rome,
drinking to the devil's health, neglecting matins and vespers, never
signing himself with the cross, and even invoking the aid of Venus,
Jupiter, and other demons when gambling.
Thrice John was summoned to appear before the council in order to clear
himself of the charges. At the request of the council the Emperor wrote
a letter addressed to the "Pontiff and Universal Pope John" asking him
to appear:
Having arrived in Rome on the service of God, and having
inquired of your sons the bishops and clergy, and of the
people of your Church, why you have forsaken them, such
scandalous and obscene things have been reported to us
concerning you, that if the like had been told us of a common
mountebank we should have hesitated to repeat them. But that
you may not be wholly ignorant of what it is that is said of
you, we will specify a few of these things only; for if we
would enumerate all, the daylight would fail before we would
make an end of writing. Know, then, that you are accused--not
by individuals but by the unanimous voice of clergy and
laity--of homicide, sacrilege, perjury, and incest. It is also
said of you, that in your sports you have called upon the
names of Jupiter, Venus, and other demons of the old world. We
therefore do earnestly entreat your paternity that you delay
not to return to Rome, and to purge yourself from these
heinous crimes, and if perchance you should stand in fear of
the rude multitude, we are ready to pledge our oath that
nothing contrary to canonical rule and order shall be done
against you.[397:1]
But the fiery young Pope contemptuously replied: "John, bishop, the
servant of all the servants of God, to all the bishops: We hear that you
design to elect a new Pope. If you do, in the name of Almighty God I
excommunicate you and forbid you to confer orders or to celebrate mass."
In a spicy answer Otto asked John to mend both his Latin and his morals,
and promised him a safe conduct to the council, but "the Pope was gone
out hunting" and did not receive it. The council then formally deposed
John as a "monster of iniquity" and unanimously chose the papal
secretary, a layman, as Pope Leo VIII.[397:2] Thus the new Emperor had
deposed one Pope, by what must certainly be pronounced an illegal
method, and had elected another--a power never claimed by Charles the
Great.[398:1] This, apparently, was Otto's interpretation of his oath to
protect the Holy See. The ancient relation of the Empire to the Papacy
was thus re-established.
The Romans, fickle as usual, soon wearied of a German yoke, and, at a
favourable opportunity, broke out in furious rebellion against the
Emperor and his Pope, but were subdued with terrible revenge. When at
length Otto left Rome to capture Berengar's son Adalbert, they at once
attacked the defenceless Pope and recalled John XII., who wreaked sweet
and cruel vengeance on the leaders of the imperial faction. An
obsequious synod reversed all the decrees of deposition. When John XII.
was killed in crime, the Romans, without consulting the Emperor as they
had promised, at once elected Pope Benedict V. Once more Otto appeared
before Rome with a huge army to assert his rights and to enforce his
policy. The city surrendered, the new Pope begged for mercy, and was
banished to Germany. Leo VIII. was recalled. "When I drop my sword, I
will drop Leo," boasted the Emperor. The Emperor's sword had come to be
the basis of papal power. A Church council was summoned and declared
that the Emperor had a full right to the kingdom of Italy, that he could
name his successor, and that the election of a Pope must accord with his
will. After that great victory Otto returned to Germany, where his
approval was soon asked for the election of Leo VIII.'s successor, the
respectable John XIII. Again the customary rebellion against the new
occupant of St. Peter's chair recalled Otto to Rome. There he remained
five years and won a distinct victory for both his papal, and his
imperial policy.
Otto's foreign policy as Emperor was not unlike that of his great
predecessor, Charles the Great, and his renowned successor, Napoleon the
Great, namely, to unite the East and the West. The hand of an eastern
princess was wooed for himself but without success.[399:1] His son
proved a better lover and married the ambitious Theophano (972).[399:2]
The Empire was extended by conquests. Lotharingia was won without war.
The restoration of the West Franks to the Empire was attempted. Burgundy
became a vassal kingdom.[399:3] The Danes, Slavs, and Magyars were held
in subjugation. An effort was made by Otto to extend his sway over
southern Italy.
Like Charles the Great, Otto gave considerable attention to education.
Germany, at that time being on the frontier, was inferior in culture to
Italy, Spain, France, and England. Otto, who knew the Frankish and
Slavic dialects, attempted to learn Latin late in life. He attracted a
number of educated men and celebrated wits to his court such as
Widukind, the historian; Ratherius, the theologian; Luitprand, the
humourist and diplomat; Gerbert, the omniscient scholar; Archbishop
Bruno, Otto's brother and a great classical scholar; and John of Gorz,
the grammarian and Bible student.[399:4] Learning was not appreciated,
however, and these scholars were looked upon with jealousy and
suspicion.[399:5]
The resemblances and differences between Otto the Great and Charles the
Great were very striking. Both were Teutons--one a Frank, the other a
Saxon. Both as kings carved out the foundations for an Empire with the
sword. Both were coronated as Emperor at Rome by the Pope and posed as
champions of the Church. Both assumed the Italian crown. Both used the
same method in propagating Christianity among the heathen on their
borders. Both assumed the right to rule the Church from Pope to priest.
Both subjected the powerful nobles and established an absolute, personal
government, though Otto's position in Germany and Europe was less
commanding and less autocratic than his predecessor's. Both produced an
intellectual renascence. Both deserve to be called the "Great." But
neither their kingdoms nor their Empires were coterminous, though their
capitals were identical, namely, Rome and Aachen. Otto's Empire was
founded on narrower geographical limits, hence had a less plausible
claim to be the heir of Rome's universal dominion. Charles tried one
Pope, while Otto deposed two and had his own candidates elected. Otto
took more pains to preserve his Empire than Charles. Otto's Empire was
less ecclesiastical and also less Roman. Charles ruled all the Franks
and Italy, Otto only the Eastern Franks and Italy. Charles ruled over
Latin Christendom, while Otto only a portion of it. Charles was head of
the "heerban"; Otto of a feudal state. Otto produced no great
capitularies like Charles. Otto's Empire was less splendid, but more
peaceful, prosperous, and lasting, because placed on a better social
basis. Otto's own life and court were on a far loftier plane than was
true of Charles, yet Charles was both the greater warrior and the
greater statesman. The Roman Empire of Charles after one hundred and
fifty years was revised as the Holy Roman Empire of Otto. The latter was
substantially as well as technically the continuation of the former.
Otto I., before making his journey to Rome in 961, had his son Otto II.
crowned King of Germany at Aachen.[401:1] Six years later (967) he was
coronated at Rome as Emperor. He was educated by Ekkehard of St. Gall,
the court chaplain, in literature, history, and science, and by Count
Huodo in knightly accomplishments. For the age his moral character was
exceptionally high and he possessed refined, scholarly tastes. In 971 he
married Theophano, a royal princess of the Eastern Empire.[401:2] When
Otto I. died in 973 in the Saxon monastery at Memleben, Otto II., at the
age of eighteen, became sole king and Emperor for ten years.
Otto II. continued his father's domestic policy of breaking down the
power of the German dukes. In foreign affairs he subdued the rebellious
Danes (974), held the Bohemians in check, invaded France and took
Lorraine (978), subjected Poland to German rule (979), and attempted to
drive the Greeks and Saracens out of southern Italy; but his early death
prevented the fulfilling of his threat to reunite Sicily with the
Empire.
His papal policy was a continuation of that of his father. When the
papal usurper Boniface VII. imprisoned and strangled Pope John XIII. and
then fled with the Church treasures to Constantinople (974), young Otto
set Benedict VII. on the chair of St. Peter and assured him a quiet
reign for nine years. Upon the Pope's death (983) the youthful Emperor
elevated the Bishop of Pavia to the papal throne as John XIV. When Otto
II. died at the premature age of twenty-eight in Verona after "a short
and troubled reign,"[402:1] Boniface VII. returned from the East to
Rome, murdered the Pope, and reassumed the papal tiara unresisted. The
usurper died in eleven months, however, and then the cowardly Romans
avenged themselves on his dead body.[402:2]
Otto II. left behind him a son of three and a very active widow. The
young heir to the honours and burdens of the German crown and to the
imperial throne likewise had his mind filled with the glorious history
of Greece and the Eastern Empire by his Grecian mother. John the Greek
inspired within him a love for the classics. Bernard, a German monk,
gave him a monastic education which showed itself during the remainder
of his life. Gerbert, a Clugniac monk, the greatest scholar of his day,
taught him history, literature, rhetoric, and science, and fired him
with a holy, ascetic zeal to become a great, just Christian Emperor.
During Otto III.'s minority (983-996) the government was wielded by his
mother Theophano (984-991) and his grandmother Adelaid (991-996). At the
age of sixteen the last of the Ottomans, half Saxon and half Greek, the
plaything of women, scholars, and monks, the pious young dreamer of a
world Empire, started for Rome to be crowned Emperor (996). His father
had had him elected king at Verona in 983 and coronated at Aachen. On
his way now to the Eternal City, accompanied by a coterie of German
nobles and churchmen, he stopped at Pavia to receive the homage of the
Lombard princes. At Ravenna a messenger from the Roman clergy, senate,
and people announced the death of Pope John XV. and asked Otto to name a
successor--a very significant fact. The young ruler appointed his cousin
and court chaplain, Bruno, who became the first German Pope. Bruno was
only twenty-four, but noted for his piety, austere morals, and fiery
temper. He hastened to Rome and was installed with great joy as Gregory
V. "The news that a scion of the imperial house, a man of holiness, of
wisdom and virtue, is placed upon the chair of Peter," wrote Abbo of
Fleury to a friend, "is news more precious than gold and costly
stones."[403:1] This was the first instance where a northerner, a
German, was elevated to the See of St. Peter. A few weeks after the
papal coronation Otto entered Rome and received the imperial crown from
the youthful Pontiff. He held a council to settle Church affairs and
called a diet of civil authorities to settle the government and then
returned to Germany.
Within a year, however, a rebellion in Rome against Gregory V. recalled
Otto III. (997). The Pope had fled to Pavia, called a council, and
excommunicated the leader of the insurrection, Crescentius. An anti-Pope
had been elected, John XVI., formerly the Emperor's teacher and a court
favourite. Otto reached Rome with a large army, caught the fleeing papal
usurper, deposed him, put out his eyes, cut off his nose and ears, and
sent him through the streets of Rome on an ass. Crescentius was
beheaded, and with him a dozen conspirators.[404:1] Gregory V. was
restored to his dignity only to die within a year (999). As his
successor Otto chose Gerbert, his old teacher, who became Sylvester II.,
the idealist and reformer.[404:2]
Otto III. was occupied a great deal with dreams about a world Empire. He
inherited from his mother the ambition to rule the East and from his
father the right to rule the West. His teachers inspired him with a
desire to become the Christian Emperor of the world with the Pope as his
chief assistant, and coloured his whole career by giving him a monastic
view of life. He made frequent visits to sacred shrines where he
remained weeks at a time. In Rome he built his palace purposely beside a
monastery. The idea of a holy crusade to Jerusalem was in his mind. He
felt called upon to reform the Papacy, which he enriched by large grants
and strengthened by privileges, and he selected most of his chief
officials from the churchmen. He called himself the "servant of Jesus
Christ" and the "servant of the Apostle."
After having taken Rome and appointed two Popes, Otto attempted to put
his imperial fancies into practice. Rome was made his permanent
residence and capital from which to rule the world as "Emperor of the
Romans." On the Aventine a great palace was built--a thing not even
thought of by Charles the Great. The ceremonies of the Byzantine court
were introduced--a long retinue of servants, an imperial guard, and a
very formal etiquette. The young ruler refused to eat with his nobles
and loved to sit proudly on a gaudy throne arrayed in costly purple
while his servants meekly satisfied every whim. He likewise aped the
Roman Emperors in magnifying the office of patrician and city prefect,
by calling himself "Consul" and by thinking of reviving the senate.
Dreaming of conquests beyond the seas, he appointed a naval prefect.
Germany and Italy were united under one chancellor and each ruled with
troops from the other. Germany,[405:1] Lombardy, Greece, Naples, and the
rest of the world were to be reduced to subject provinces of the
restored Empire. To receive the sacred sanction of his most renowned
predecessor, Charles the Great, for these mighty ideas, Otto III. opened
his tomb in the cathedral at Aachen in the year 1000 and from the body
of the powerful Teuton carried away holy relics.[405:2]
Early in 1000 the turbulent Romans broke out in a fresh rebellion and
the world Empire was destroyed about as easily as a child's house of
blocks. Besieged for three days in his palace, Otto at last addressed
the discontented mob in these words:
Are you my Romans? For you I left my country and my friends.
For love of you I have sacrificed my Saxons and all the
Germans, my blood. I have adopted you as my sons; I have
preferred you to all. For you I have had stirred up against me
the envy and hatred of all. And now you have rejected your
father; you have destroyed my friends by a cruel death; you
have excluded me whom you should not exclude, because I will
never suffer those to be exiled from my affections whom I
embrace with paternal love.[406:1]
Soon he fled from Rome never to return, and tried to raise an army in
Germany but failed. The Germans refused to sacrifice their blood and
wealth for a useless chimera and even threatened to elect a new king.
Then he appealed to Italy for assistance, but Venice alone promised aid
and that was small. Otto III.'s universal rule dwindled to the little
mountain of Paterno--like Napoleon's St. Helena--and there he died in
1002 in the arms of the faithful Sylvester II. at the age of 22,
childless and deserted, and his body was carried over the Alps to rest
by the side of Charles the Great. And the youthful Pope survived the
young Emperor just a twelvemonth.
The direct line of Otto the Great was at an end. Henry II., the Saint,
who was in Otto III.'s service in Rome (1001) and received the royal and
imperial insignia at the young Emperor's death pending a new election,
claimed the German throne as the next in descent.[406:2] By satisfactory
promises to the lay and secular princes he defeated his rivals and was
crowned German King at Mainz (1002).
In his political policy Henry II. followed in the path already formed.
He subdued the strong internal foes in Germany, pacified the
neighbouring peoples, provided for the union of Burgundy with Germany,
assumed the iron crown of Lombardy, and accepted the imperial crown at
Rome in 1014. His ecclesiastical policy was very pronounced. He was a
devout and ascetic champion of the Papacy and stood stoutly for reforms
such as the abolition of simony, the denunciation of the marriage of
priests and the correction of monastic abuses. He urged the enforcement
of these necessary changes through a general council and laboured for
peace. In all these endeavours he had the sincere co-operation of Pope
Benedict VIII. The bishopric of Bamberg was created during this rule.
Conrad II. (1024-1039) aimed to build up a powerful centralised Germany
and through it to rule the Empire. Though compelled to fight formidable
internal conspiracies all his life, yet he succeeded in making the crown
the recognised and respected authority in Germany. Like Otto I. he used
the lesser nobles to curb the power of the greater nobles. He forced
obedience to his royal laws everywhere. To perpetuate his rule and to
establish the principle of kingly heredity he had his son and heir,
Henry III., crowned and coronated at Aachen (1028). Since political
power depended largely upon landed wealth Henry III. received both the
Duchy of Bavaria (1029) and the Duchy of Swabia (1038).
The foreign policy of Conrad II. was equally wise. He made friends of
the powerful King Canute and his Danes by marrying Henry III. to
Canute's daughter. The Polish King was reduced to a vassal duke and
Bohemia and Lucatia were won back, while the Bulgarians were effectually
held in check. He assumed the crown of Burgundy, which became an
integral part of Germany (1032) and gave the crown to his son (1038).
Early in his rule (1026) Conrad had entered Italy and assumed the iron
crown of Lombardy. Then he made his way to Rome in 1027 on Easter day
and was there crowned Emperor by Pope John XIX. in the presence of a
great multitude of Romans and Germans. Through the Normans he then
extended his imperial sway over southern Italy, but ten years later he
was forced to make a journey to Rome to reconquer that part of his
Empire.
In Germany Conrad II. ruled the clergy with a rod of iron, filled
bishoprics for purely political ends, and used the Church to build up
his royal powers. In Lombardy he won over the clerical party at that
time hostile to the Pope, and thus smoothed his march to Rome. In John
XIX. he found one of the worst examples of the utter worldliness into
which the successors of Peter could degenerate. John XIX. before his
election had been only a business man, but he was a brother of the
presiding Pontiff Benedict VIII., and a member of the powerful Tusculan
family. By dint of money[408:1] he won the office and in one day was
hurried through all the clerical orders and installed into power (1024).
Hoping for a powerful ally, John XIX. had invited Conrad II. to Rome. A
great Lateran Synod followed the coronation of Conrad II. on Easter
day,[408:2] but apparently nothing was said about reforms in the Church,
although badly needed. When Conrad died in 1039 the German Empire had
reached its pinnacle of greatness. No sovereign since Charles the Great
had exercised such powers, for the German and Italian princes were
subject to the imperial crown and the clergy were dependent upon it.
Henry III. (1029-1056) came to the German throne with brighter prospects
than any of his predecessors. What a field for an Alexander, a Cæsar, or
a Napoleon! What an opportunity to cut Germany loose from the Empire
and make her the greatest power in Europe! The Polish monarchy was
falling to pieces; Hungary was rent by the pagan and Christian parties;
Canute's northern empire had broken down; Italy, chronically subdivided,
was awaiting a master; and the young king was also Duke of Bavaria,
Franconia, and Swabia. Hindesheim, a contemporary, declared that no one
in the Empire mourned the loss of Conrad because such better things were
expected of his son, one of the most highly cultured young men of the
age.[409:1]
Henry III. continued the policy of Otto I. by seeking to increase the
power of the crown at the expense of the petty rulers. Hence duchies
were given to his relatives or to loyal vassals. The lesser nobility and
the commons were used to counteract the influence of the lords and
princes. His reign, in consequence, was disturbed by no serious
insurrections. The border states were subdued--Bohemia in 1041 and
Hungary in 1044.[409:2] To keep the peace and put down feuds the Truce
of God was proclaimed in 1041 throughout Germany. All feuds were to
cease from Wednesday eve till Monday morning and absolution from sin was
the reward for keeping the Truce.[409:3] Those who purposely broke it
were penalised. Burgundy extended it to the periods between Advent and
Epiphany, and from Septuagesima to the first Sunday after Easter. Henry
III. soon made himself master of Italy and like many a predecessor
assumed the iron crown of Lombardy and then established his supremacy
over the Normans in the south. Out of a rule of seventeen years he
spent but sixty-four weeks in Italy. In 1046 he was coronated Emperor
at Rome and made Patrician.
Like Charles the Great and Otto the Great Henry III. assumed the
headship of the Church. The Papacy, at that time, was a three-headed
monster which needed a Hercules to slay it. Benedict IX., another member
of the Tusculum family, elected Pope when a boy of eighteen (1033), had
led a life of indescribable crime and, in consequence, had been driven
from the city (1044) but returned and in 1046 held the Vatican.[410:1]
Sylvester III. was elected anti-Pope when Benedict IX. was driven out
and lived in St. Peter's. Gregory VI. literally bought the papal throne
of Benedict IX. (1045) for 1000 pounds of silver and bribed the people
into approval. He took up his residence at St. Maria Maggiore.[410:2]
Learning of these disorders, Henry III. went to Italy and in 1046 held
the Council of Sutri in which Gregory VI. acknowledged his guilt,
divested himself of his papal insignia and begged forgiveness. Benedict
IX. and Sylvester III. were declared usurpers, simoniacs, and intruders,
hence they were deposed. Benedict IX. hid himself for future trouble,
Sylvester III. returned to his bishopric and Gregory VI. was sent into
exile in Germany. The Bishop of Bamberg, a German, was chosen Pope in a
council held in Rome and assumed the title of Clement II. (1046) and
immediately coronated Henry III. and his wife with the imperial
honours.[410:3] This is the beginning of a series of German Popes who
were to do much to purify and strengthen the Church. Before Henry died
three such Popes were elected. Clement II. soon assembled a council in
Rome to extirpate simony and to that end had several canons enacted. But
his reign of less than a year, was too short to accomplish much. Henry
III. died in 1056 with his great Empire full of trouble from border wars
and rebellious nobles. The Empire was on the wane and his son took up a
crown of difficulties.
On Germany the effects of the creation of the Holy Roman Empire were
very marked. It established the recognised right of the German King to
wear the Italian and imperial crowns and made Aachen, Milan, and Rome
the coronation cities. It tended to weaken the allegiance of the Germans
to their king when he became Emperor and spent most of his time,
together with German wealth and blood, in Italy. It fused the German
King and the Roman Emperor into a product different from either and
effected the whole subsequent history of both Germany and the Empire.
The two systems were very different: one was centralised, the other
local; one rested upon a "sublime theory," the other grew out of
anarchy; one was ruled by an absolute monarch, the other by a limited
monarch; one was based on the equality of all citizens, the other
founded on inequality. As a result of the fusion both offices lost and
won certain attributes and the product was a "German Emperor" who was
the necessary head of feudalism which became so deeply rooted that it
took ages to throw it off. To help on the process of disintegration Otto
the Great allowed the five great duchies to be subdivided and thus
created a second order of nobility and greatly increased the number of
nobles. In short Germany was weakened, impoverished, divided, and
stunted. The denationalisation of Germany was continued until 1870.
What might not have been the splendid career of Germany had Otto the
Great and his successors devoted their time and talent to the creation
of a powerful German national state as did the French and English kings?
It must be added, however, that this peculiar relation with Italy opened
the way for learning, art, and a more refined civilisation in the North
and that, in turn, Germany became the schoolmaster of Poland and Bohemia
and perpetuated the language, literature, and law of Rome.
On Italy the Holy Roman Empire left a deep and permanent impression. It
gave Italy a long line of foreign rulers who seldom cared much for her
real interests and only sought to exploit her for selfish ends. It
prevented the establishment of a powerful national state as a republic,
or as a monarchy, under some native noble, or a Pope, until 1859. On the
contrary it encouraged decentralisation and local division of the
people. Italy became the scene, cause, and victim of countless wars and
invasions by foreign rulers; or of innumerable local contests which
sapped the nation of all strength and ambition.
On the Empire the results were plainly seen. The Empire of the Cæsars
and of Charles the Great was revived on a German basis with a German
Emperor and kept alive till 1806 when Napoleon dealt it a death-blow.
Its earlier extent and later claims were never realised. It was forced
into a continual struggle for its existence with the Italian republics
and German dukes, with the Papacy, and with the national states of
Europe. The three theories about the relation of the world-empire to the
world-church received final development.
1. The Holy Empire, or ideal theory, united the Church and the state,
the cross and the sceptre, to attain their legitimate boundaries,
namely, the world. Hence the Papacy and the Empire were but two sides of
the same thing and their two heads co-operated to rule the same regions
and peoples, but in different spheres. The Pope ruled the souls of men;
the Emperor their bodies; but both were necessary, equal, and
established by God. It was a confusion of these two powers and ideas
that produced such mediæval anachronisms as churchmen who were worldly
princes with large estates, who led their flocks to war, and who became
the prime ministers of kings; and secular rulers who appointed Church
officials and called and presided over councils. This was the theory
held by dreamers and theorists, but it was never realised.
2. The papal theory made the Pope alone God's representative on earth
and maintained that the Emperor received his right to rule from St.
Peter's successor. For historical proof of the genuineness of this
position attention was called to the power of the keys, the Donation of
Constantine, the coronation of Pepin, the restoration of the Empire in
the West. Such figures as the sun and the moon, the body and the soul,
etc., were used with telling effect by the clerical party who advanced
this theory. It was upheld by Nicholas I., Hildebrand, Alexander III.,
Innocent III., and culminated with Boniface VIII. at the jubilee of 1300
when, seated on the throne of Constantine, girded with the imperial
sword, wearing a crown, and waving a sceptre, he shouted to the throng
of loyal pilgrims: "I am Cæsar--I am Emperor."
3. The imperial theory put the Emperor above the Pope as God's
vice-regent on earth and reduced the Pope to the position of chief
bishop in the Empire. It was held that historical evidence to support
this position could be found in the Jewish theocracy; the words of Jesus
and the apostles about civil power; the seniority of the Empire over the
Papacy; the attitude of Constantine and later Emperors; the work of
Charles the Great, Otto the Great, and their illustrious successors.
This theory was defended by the Emperors, kings, civil lawyers, and
members of the imperial party.
So far as the Papacy was concerned the Holy Roman Empire created a rival
world-ruler with whom for five hundred years the Popes were in almost
endless strife. Under powerful rulers like Otto the Great the Papacy was
subjected to the Empire more absolutely than in the day of Charles the
Great. Under the great German Emperors much was done to reform the
Church and to advance its interests and influence in the world. Each
Emperor took a coronation oath to defend and protect the Church against
heretics, schismatics, infidels, pagans, and all other enemies, and that
obligation was as a rule faithfully and loyally kept. But all things
considered was the Papacy stronger or weaker, better or worse, for the
creation of the Holy Roman Empire? Does the fact that the Papacy
declined with the decay and death of the Empire suggest a necessary
dependence of the former on the latter?
SOURCES
A.--PRIMARY:
I.--IN ENGLISH: The materials available in English are scarce
and very unsatisfactory. A few documents will be found
in the following:
1.--Balzani, U., _Early Chronicles of Italy_. Lond., 1883.
2.--Henderson, _Select Historical Documents of the Middle
Ages_.
3.--Ogg, _Source Book of Mediæval History_.
4.--Robinson, _Readings in European History_, i., ch. 12.
5.--Thatcher and McNeal, _A Source Book for Mediæval History_.
6.--Univ. of Penn., _Translations and Reprints_.
II.--IN FOREIGN LANGUAGES: The primary sources not in English
are very extensive.[415:1] The chief collections are:
1.--Altmann, W., and Bernheim, E., _Ausgewählte Urkunden zur
Erläuterung der Verfassungsgeschichte Deutschlands im
Mittelalter_. Berl., 1891.
2.--Baronius, _Annales_, vols. xiii.-xix. Luca, 1738. 35 vols.
3.--Boehmer, J. F., _Fontes rerum Germanicarum_. Stuttg.,
1843-68. 4 vols.
4.--_Die Geschichtsschreiber der deutschen Vorzeit._ 2d ed.
Berl. and Leipz., 1885 _sqq._ 90 vols.
5.--Doeberl, M., _Monumenta Germaniæ selecta ab a. 768 usque
ad a. 1250_. Munch., 1889-90.
6.--Jaffé, P., _Bibliotheca rerum Germanicarum_. Berl.,
1864-73. 6 vols. _Regesta Pontificum Romanum_ (to 1198).
Berl. 1851.
7.--Lehmann, H. O., _Quellen zur Deutschen Reichs-und
Rechtsgeschichte_. Berl., 1891.
8.--Mansi, _Sacrorum Conciliorum Collectio_, xviii.
9.--Migne, vol. 142. Glaber, _Historia sui temporis_.
10.--Mirbt, _Quellen zur Geschichte des Papsttum_.
11.--Muratori, _Rerum Italicarum Scriptores_. Med., 1723-51. 28
vols.
12.--Pertz, et al., _Monumenta Germania Historica_, 1826 _ff._
13.--Pflugh-Harttung, _Acta Pontificum Romanorum_. Tub.,
1881-8. 3 vols.
14.--_Scriptores rerum Germanicarum in usum Scholarum._
Hanover, 1840 ff. 42 vols.
15.--Stumpf, K. F., _Die Kaiserurkunden des X., XI., und XII.,
Jahrhunderts Chronologisch verzeichnet_. Innsb., 1865-83.
16.--Waitz, G., _Urkunden zur Deutschen Verfassungsgeschichte
im 11 und 12 Jahrhundert_. Keil, 1886.
B.--SECONDARY:
I.--SPECIAL:
1.--Bryce, J., _The Holy Roman Empire_. Rev. ed., 1904.
2.--Döllinger, J. J. I., _The Empire of Charles the Great and
His Successors_. Lond., 1894.
3.--Dunning, W. A., _History of Political Theories_. N. Y.,
1901. Vol. i.
4.--Emerton, E., _Mediæval Europe_. Bost., 1896.
5.--Fisher, H. A. L., _The Mediæval Empire_. Lond., 1898. 2
vols.
6.--Gierke, O., _Political Theories of the Middle Ages_.
Camb., 1900.
7.--Greenwood, A. D., _Empire and Papacy in the Middle Ages_.
Lond., 1896.
8.--Greenwood, T., _Cathedra Petri_. Lond., 1859-72. 6 vols.
9.--Gregorovius, F., _History of the City of Rome in the
Middle Ages_. Lond., 1903. Vol. iii.
10.--Lea, H. C., _Studies in Church History_.
11.--Maitland, S. R., _The Dark Ages_. 2d ed. Lond., 1845.
12.--Oman, C., _The Dark Ages_. Lond., 1898.
13.--Tout, T. F., _The Empire and the Papacy_. Lond., 1898.
14.--Turner, S. E., _Sketch of the Germanic Constitution_. N.
Y., 1888. 26-80.
Bibliographical Note:--Some of the best books on this subject
are in German. So far no translations have appeared.
Among many may be mentioned:--Dresdner, _Kultur- und
Sittengeschichte der italienischen Geistlichkeit_ 1890.
2.--Giesebrecht, W. V., _Geschichte der deutschen
Kaiserzeit_. Braun., 1895. i.-ii. 6 vols. 3.--Hauck, A.,
_Kirchengeschichte Deutschlands_. Leip., 1887-1900. Vol.
iii. 4.--_Jahrbücher der Deutschen Geschichte._ Berlin,
1862 ff. 5.--Langen, _Geschichte der römischen Kirche_.
Vol. iii. 6.--Richter, G., and Kohl, H., _Annalen der
Deutschen Geschichte im Mittelalter_. Halle, 1873-90.
7.--Waitz, G., _Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte_. Kiel,
1844 _ff._ 8 vols. 8.--Watterich, _Pontificum romanorum
vitæ ab aequalibus conscriptae_. 1862. 2 vols.
II.--GENERAL:
Adams, ch. 7, 8, 10. Alzog, ii., 107-111. Butler, ch. 31,
55-57, 62. Chantrel, ch. 3. Coxe, Lect. 4, sec. 20-25. Crooks,
ch. 33. Darras, ii., 358, 580. Döllinger, iii., ch. 4, sec. 1;
ch. 5, sec. 2-3. Fisher, pd. 5, ch. 2; pd. 6, ch. 2. Gibbon,
ch. 49. Gieseler § 21, 22, 24, 27. Gilmartin, i., 31. Hallam,
ch. 1, pt. 1; ch. 3, pt. 1. Hardwick, ch. 4, sec. 2; ch. 10,
sec. 2. Hase, sec. 170-192. Hore, ch. 12. Kurtz, i., 436-438,
483-495, ii., 25-52. Milman, bk. 5, ch. 7, 11, 12, 13.
Moeller, pd. 2, ch. 2. Mosheim, cent. 9, 10. Neander, pd. 4, §
2. Schaff, pd. 4, ch. 4.
FOOTNOTES:
[384:1] See Strassburg oaths (842), and treaties of Verdun (843) and
Meersen (870). Given in Thatcher and McNeal, No. 16-19; Ogg, § 24.
[385:1] Robinson, _Readings_, i., 158 _ff._; Thatcher and McNeal, No.
20, 21.
[386:1] Pertz, i., 405.
[386:2] See Thatcher and McNeal, No. 22.
[386:3] He was a great-grandson of Charles the Great through his mother
Gisela, a daughter of Louis the Pious.
[386:4] He was by birth a Neustrian Frank and also claimed descent from
Charles the Great. He had large estates in Lorraine as well as central
Italy.
[386:5] Pope Formosus had a rather checkered career. He was Bishop of
Porto and papal legate. John VIII. had excommunicated him for political
motives. Marinus restored him to power. He was the first Pope to be
elevated from another see to that of Rome. Moeller, ii., 172.
[387:1] Thatcher and McNeal, No. 22.
[387:2] _Ibid._, No. 23.
[387:3] Emerton, _Med. Europe_, 94.
[387:4] Robinson, _Readings_, i., 195; Ogg, § 29.
[388:1] Bryce, _Holy Rom. Emp._, ch. 6, p. 83.
[389:1] Bryce, _Holy Rom. Emp._, 79.
[389:2] Greenwood, bk. viii., ch. 1.
[390:1] Robinson, _Readings_, i., 245.
[390:2] _Saxon Chronicle_, quoted in Emerton, _Med. Europe_, 102.
[390:3] Robinson, _Readings_, i., 247.
[391:1] Bryce, _Holy Rom. Emp._, 77; Thatcher and McNeal, No. 26.
[391:2] Bryce, _Holy Rom. Emp._, ch. 7.
[392:1] Thatcher and McNeal, No. 27; Robinson, _Readings_, i., 249.
[393:1] Pertz, iv., 328, 330.
[393:2] Thatcher and McNeal, No. 28.
[394:1] Pertz, iii., 459.
[394:2] Hauck, _Kircheng. Deutschl._, i., 69.
[395:1] Bryce, 88. Fisher, _Med. Emp._, i.; Thatcher and McNeal, No. 29.
[395:2] Thatcher and McNeal, No. 53.
[395:3] _Mon. Ger. Hist. Leges_, ii., 177; Watterich, i., 675; Thatcher
and McNeal, No. 54.
[395:4] Robinson, _Readings_, i., 253.
[395:5] Luitprand, _Hist. Ottonis_, ch. 5.
[396:1] Thatcher and McNeal, No. 29.
[397:1] Greenwood, bk. viii., 477; Gregorovius, _Rome in M. A._, bk.
vi., 346.
[397:2] Thatcher and McNeal, No. 55.
[398:1] Greenwood, bk. viii., 483.
[399:1] Henderson, _Select. Hist. Docs._, 442, gives the highly amusing
account of the ambassador Luitprand.
[399:2] Bryce, ch. 9.
[399:3] Thatcher and McNeal, No. 30, 31.
[399:4] Maitland, _Dark Ages_, 499.
[399:5] Hauck, iii., 333. Archbishop Bruno was thought to be in league
with the devil. William of Hirschau wrote an elaborate apology for
classical learning as an appendix to his work on astronomy.
The trick played by Henry II. on Bishop Meinwerk of Paderborn
illustrates the prevailing ignorance of Latin. Henry II. had "fa" erased
from the mass for the dead. The Bishop did not understand Latin so
offered up a prayer for he and she mules.--Fisher, _Med. Emp._, ii., 90.
[401:1] Uhlriz, _Otto II. und Otto III._; _Jahrb. d. Deutsch. Reiches_.
[401:2] Bryce, ch. 9; Henderson, 442.
[402:1] He was buried in St. Peter's and is the only German Emperor
sleeping on Roman soil.
[402:2] Milman, _Lat. Christ._, iii., 189; Greenwood, bk. viii., 497.
[403:1] Mabillon, _Act. Ord. St. Benedict_, vi., 30; Robinson,
_Readings_, i., 259.
[404:1] Milman, ii., 481.
[404:2] See Chap. XVIII.
[405:1] Thacher and McNeal, No. 289.
[405:2] Hodgkin, _Italy and her Invaders_, viii., 273; Mombert, _Charles
the Great_, 485.
[406:1] Fisher, _Med. Emp._, ii., 203; Mombert, _Charles the Great_.
[406:2] Henry II. was the great-grandson of Otto I.
[408:1] Glaber, I., i., ch. 4.
[408:2] Rudolph, King of Burgundy, and Canute, King of England and
Denmark were both present at the coronation.
[409:1] Steindorff, _Jahrb. d. Deutsch. Reichs unter Heinrich III._
[409:2] Thatcher and McNeal, No. 32.
[409:3] Thatcher and McNeal, No. 242, 243.
[410:1] Schaff, iv., 298; Milman, ii., 505.
[410:2] Muratori, iii., 2, p. 345; Hefele, iv., 707; Giesebrecht, ii.,
643.
[410:3] Thatcher and McNeal, No. 57.
[415:1] See Potthast, _Wegweiser_.