this Capitulary, which so strikingly reveals the organizing system of
the Carlovingian polity. Carried out by the rare intelligence and vigor
of Charlemagne, it gave a precocious development of civilization to
Europe, transitory because in advance of the age, and because it was
based on the intellectual force of the ruler, and not on the virtue and
cultivation of a people as yet too barbarous to appreciate it.
The organization of the church, moreover, received at the same time
an efficient impulse by the institution of the order of canons,
founded virtually in 762, the year in which St. Chrodegang, Bishop
of Metz, promulgated the Rule for their government. This Rule of
course entirely forbids all intercourse with women, and endeavors to
suppress it by punishing transgressors with stripes, incarceration,
and deposition.[300] The lofty rank of St. Chrodegang, who was a cousin
of Pepin-le-Bref, and the eminent piety which merited canonization,
gave him wide influence which doubtless assisted in extending the new
institution, but it also had recommendations of its own which were
sufficient to insure its success. By converting the cathedral clergy
into monks, bound by implicit obedience towards their superiors, it
brought no little increase of power to the bishops, and enabled them to
exert new authority and influence. It is no wonder therefore that the
Order spread rapidly and was adopted in most of the dioceses.
* * * * *
For a century we hear nothing more of sacerdotal marriage—and yet it
may be doubted whether clerical morality had really been improved
by the well-meant reforms of Boniface. These were followed up by
Charlemagne with all his resistless energy, and the importance which
he attached to the subject is shown by an epistle of Adrian I. denying
certain assertions made to the Frankish sovereign, inculpating the
purity of the Roman clergy. Adrian, in defending his flock, assumes
that the object of the slanders can only have been to produce a quarrel
between himself and Charlemagne, who must evidently have made strong
representations on the subject to the Pontiff.[301] Under such pressure
perhaps there was something less of shameless licentiousness; the
episcopal chairs were no longer defiled by the cynical lubricity of
unworthy prelates; but in the mass of the clergy the passions, deprived
of all legitimate gratification, could not be restrained in a race so
little accustomed to self-control, and unchastity remained a corroding
ulcer which Charlemagne and Louis-le-Débonnaire vainly endeavored
to eradicate. The former, indeed, we find asking in 811 whether the
only difference between clerk and layman is that the former does not
bear arms and is not publicly married;[302] while Ghaerbald, Bishop
of Liége, a few years before had ordered that all priests maintaining
intercourse with their wives should be deprived of their benefices and
be subjected to penitence until death.[303]
It would be an unprofitable task to recapitulate the constantly
repeated legislation prohibiting the residence of women with the
clergy and repressing the disorders and irregularities of the monastic
establishments. It would be but a reiteration of the story already
related in previous centuries, and its only importance would be in
showing by the frequency of the edicts how utterly ineffectual they
were. When Louis-le-Débonnaire, in 826, decreed[304] that the seduction
of a nun was to be punished by the death of both the partners in guilt;
that the property of both was to be confiscated to the church, and that
the count in whose district the crime occurred, if he neglected its
prosecution, was to be degraded, deprived of his office, undergo public
penance, and pay his full wer-gild to the fisc, the frightful severity
of the enactment is the measure of the impossibility of effecting its
purpose, and of the inefficiency of the reformation which had been
so elaborately prepared and so energetically promulgated by Louis in
817.[305]
But perhaps the most convincing evidence of the debased morality of the
clergy, and of the low standard which even the most zealous prelates
were forced to adopt, is to be found in a curious fabrication by the
authors of the False Decretals. The collection of decretals which they
put forth in the names of the early popes embodied their conception
of a perfect church establishment, as adapted to the necessities and
aspirations of the ninth century. While straining every point to
throw off all subjection to the temporal power, and to obtain for the
hierarchy full and absolute control over all ecclesiastical matters and
persons, they seem to have felt it necessary to relax in an important
point the rigor of the canons respecting sacerdotal purity. Gregory the
Great had proclaimed in the clearest and most definite manner the rule
that a single lapse from virtue condemned the sinner to irrevocable
degradation, and rendered him forever unfit for the ministry of the
altar.[306] Yet “Isidor Mercator” added to a genuine epistle of Gregory
a long passage elaborately arguing the necessity of forgiveness for
those who expiate by repentance the sin of impurity, “of which, among
many, so few are guiltless.”[307] The direct testimony is notable, but
not less so is the indirect evidence of the prevalent laxity which
could induce such a bid for popularity on the part of high churchmen
like those concerned in the Isidorian forgeries.
Evidence, also, is not wanting, that the denial of the appropriate and
healthful human affections led to the results which might be expected
of fearful and unnatural crimes. That the inmates of monasteries,
debarred from female society, occasionally abandoned themselves to the
worst excesses, or, breaking through all restraint, indulged in less
reprehensible but more open scandals, is proclaimed by Charlemagne, who
threatened to vindicate the outrage upon religion with the severest
punishment.[308] Nor were the female convents more successfully
regulated, for the council of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 836, states that
in many places they were rather brothels than houses of God; and it
shows how close a supervision over the spouses of Christ was thought
requisite when it proceeds to direct that nunneries shall be so built
as to have no dark corners in which scandals may be perpetrated out of
view.[309] The effect of these efforts may be estimated from a remark
in a collection of laws which bears the name of Erchenbald, Chancellor
of Charlemagne, but which is rather attributable to the close of the
ninth century, that the licentiousness of nuns commonly resulted in
a worse crime—infanticide;[310] and, as this is extracted textually
from an epistle of St. Boniface to Ethelbald, King of Mercia,[311]
it is presumable that the evil became notorious simultaneously with
the reform under the early Carlovingians, and continued unabated
throughout their dynasty. One device to subjugate nature, adopted in
the monasteries, was to let blood at stated intervals, in the hope
of reducing the system and thus mitigating the effects of prolonged
continence—a device prohibited by Louis-le-Débonnaire, but long
subsequently maintained as part of monastic discipline.[312] As regards
the secular clergy, even darker horrors are asserted by Theodulf,
Bishop of Orleans, and other prelates, who forbade to their clergy the
residence of mother, aunt, and sister, in consequence of the crimes so
frequently perpetrated with them at the instigation of the devil;[313]
and the truth of this hideous fact is unfortunately confirmed by the
declarations of councils held at various periods.[314]
If, under the external polish of Carlovingian civilization, such utter
demoralization existed, while the laws were enforced by the stern
vigor of Charlemagne, or the sensitive piety of Louis-le-Débonnaire,
it is easy to understand what was the condition of society when the
sons of the latter involved the whole empire in a ceaseless tumult of
civil war. Not only was the watchful care of the first two emperors
withdrawn, but the state was turned against itself, and rapine and
desolation became almost universal. The royal power was parcelled out,
by the rising feudal system, among a crowd of nobles whose energies
were solely directed to consolidating their position, and was chiefly
employed, as far as it affected the church, in granting abbeys and
other ecclesiastical dignities to worthless laymen, whose support
could only be secured by bribes which the royal fisc could no longer
supply. Pagan Danes and infidel Saracens were ravaging the fairest
provinces of the empire, and their blows fell with peculiar weight on
the representatives of a hated religion. For seventy years previous
to the treaty of Clair-sur-Epte no mass resounded in the walls of the
cathedral church of Coutances, so fierce and unremitting had been the
incursions of the Northmen. It is therefore no wonder that, as early
as 845, the bishops assembled at the council of Vernon confess that
their ecclesiastical authority is no longer sufficient to prevent the
marriage of monks and nuns and to suppress the crowds who escaped from
their convents and wandered over the country in licentiousness and
vagabondage. To restrain these disorders they are obliged to invoke
the royal power to cast into prison these reprobates and force them to
undergo canonical penance.[315]
During this period of anarchy and lawlessness, the church was
skilfully emancipating itself from subjection to the temporal power,
and was laying the foundation of that supremacy which was eventually
to dominate Christendom. While its aspirations and ambitions were
thus worldly, and its ranks were recruited from a generation trained
under such influences, it is easy to believe that the disorders which
Charlemagne himself could not repress, grew more and more flagrant.
Even the greatly augmented power of the papacy added to the increasing
license, although Nicholas I. in 861 had ordered the deposition and
degradation of all priests convicted of immorality,[316] for the
appellate jurisdiction claimed by Rome gave practical immunity to
those against whom the enforcement of the canons was attempted. About
the year 876, Charles-le-Chauve, in a spirited argument against the
pretensions of the popes, calls attention specially to the exemption
thus afforded to unchaste priests, who, after due conviction by their
bishops, obtained letters from Rome overruling the judgments; the
distance and dangers of the journey precluding the local authorities
from supporting their verdicts by sending commissioners and witnesses
to carry on a second trial beyond the Alps.[317]
This shows that the effort to enforce purity was not as yet
abandoned, however slender may have been the success in eradicating
an evil so general and so deeply rooted. The nominal punishment for
unchastity—loss of benefice and deposition—was severe enough to induce
the guilty to hide their excesses with care, when they chanced to have
a bishop who was zealous in the performance of his duties. Efforts at
concealment, moreover, were favored by the forms of judicial procedure,
which were such as to throw every difficulty in the way of procuring
a conviction, and to afford, in most cases, practical immunity for
sin, unless committed in the most open and shameless manner. Hincmar,
Archbishop of Rheims, the leading ecclesiastic of his day, whose
reputation for learning and piety would have rendered him one of
the lights of the church, had not his consistent opposition to the
innovations of the papacy caused his sanctity to be questioned in Rome,
has left us elaborate directions as to the forms of prosecution in such
matters. Notwithstanding his earnest exhortations and arguments in
favor of the most ascetic purity, he discourages investigation by means
of neighbors and parishioners, or irreverent inquiries on the subject.
Only such testimony was admissible as the laws allowed, and the laws
were very strict as to the position and character of witnesses. In
addition to the accusers themselves, seven witnesses were necessary.
Of these, one was required to substantiate the oaths of the rest by
undergoing the ordeal, thus exposing himself and all his fellows to
the heavy penalties visited on perjury, upon the chance of the red-hot
iron or cold-water trial, administered, perhaps, by those interested
in shielding the guilty. If, as we can readily believe was generally
the case, these formidable difficulties could not be overcome, and the
necessary number of witnesses were not ready to sacrifice themselves,
then the accused could purge himself of the sins imputed to him by
his own oath, supported by one, three, or six compurgators of his
own order; and Hincmar himself bears testimony to the associations
which were formed among the clergy to swear each other through all
troubles.[318] Even simpler, indeed, was the process prescribed not
long before by Pope Nicholas I., who ordered that when legal evidence
was not procurable, the accused priest could clear himself on his own
unsupported oath.[319]
Under these regulations, Hincmar orders an annual investigation to be
made throughout his province, but the results would appear to have been
as unsatisfactory as might have been expected. In 874, at the Synod of
Rheims, he complains that his orders have been neglected and despised,
and he warns his clergy that proof of actual criminality will not be
required, but that undue familiarity with women, if persisted in, will
be sufficient for condemnation when properly proved.[320]
In the presence of facilities for escape such as were afforded by the
practice of ecclesiastical law as constructed by the decretalists,
and as expounded by Hincmar himself, the threats in which he indulged
could carry but little terror. We need not wonder, therefore, if we
meet with but slender indications of priestly marriage during all this
disorder, for there was evidently little danger of punishment for
the unchaste priest who exercised ordinary discretion in his amours,
while the penalties impending over those who should openly brave the
canonical rules were heavy, and could hardly be avoided by any one who
should dare to unite himself publicly to a woman in marriage. Every
consideration of worldly prudence and passion therefore induced the
priest to pursue a course of illicit licentiousness—and yet, as the
century wore on, traces of entire neglect or utter contempt of the
canons began to manifest themselves. How little the rule really was
respected by the ecclesiastical authorities, when anything was to be
gained by its suppression, is shown in the decision made by Nicholas
I., the highest of high churchmen, when encouraging the Bulgarians to
abandon the Greek church, although the separation between Rome and
Constantinople was not, as yet, formal and complete. To their inquiry
whether married priests should be ejected, he replied that though such
ministers were objectionable, yet the mercy of God was to be imitated,
who causes his sun to shine on good and evil alike, and as Christ did
not dismiss Judas, so they were not to be dismissed. Besides, laymen
were not to judge priests for any crime, nor to make any investigation
into their lives, such inquiries being reserved for bishops.[321] As
no bishops had yet been appointed by Rome, the answer was a skilfully
tacit permission of priestly marriage, while avoiding an open avowal.
It need awaken no surprise if those who united recklessness and power
should openly trample on the canons thus feebly supported. A somewhat
prominent personage of the period was Hubert, brother of Teutberga,
Queen of Lotharingia, and his turbulent conduct was a favorite theme
for animadversion by the quiet monastic chroniclers. That he was an
abbot is perhaps no proof of his clerical profession, but when we find
his wife and children alluded to as a proof of his abandoned character,
it shows that he was bound by vows or ordained within the prohibited
grades, and that he publicly violated the rules and defied their
enforcement.[322]
The earliest absolute evidence that has reached us, however, of
marriage committed by a member of the great body of the plebeian
clergy, subsequent to the reforms of Boniface, occurs about the year
893. Angelric priest of Vasnau appealed to the synod of Chalons,
stating that he had been publicly joined in wedlock to a woman named
Grimma. Such an attempt by a priest, the consent of the woman and
her relatives, and the performance of the ceremony by another priest
all show the prevailing laxity and ignorance, yet still there were
found some faithful and pious souls to object to the transaction, and
Angelric was not allowed to enjoy undisturbed the fruits of his sin.
Yet even the synod was perplexed, and unable to decide what ought to be
done. It therefore only temporarily suspended Angelric from communion,
while Mancio, his bishop, applied for advice to Foulques of Rheims,
metropolitan of the province, and the ignorance and good faith of all
parties are manifested by the fact that Angelric himself was sent to
Foulques as the bearer of the letter of inquiry.[323]
With the ninth century the power, the cultivation, and the civilization
of the Carlovingians may be considered virtually to disappear, though
for nearly a hundred years longer a spectral crown encircled the brows
of the ill-starred descendants of Pepin. Centralization, rendered
impossible in temporal affairs by feudalism, was transferred to the
church, which, thenceforth, more than ever independent of secular
control, became wholly responsible for its own shortcomings; and the
records of the period make only too plainly manifest how utterly the
power, so strenuously contended for, failed to overcome the ignorance
and the barbarism of the age.
X.
THE TENTH CENTURY.
The tenth century, well characterized by Cave as the “Sæculum
Obscurum,” is perhaps the most repulsive in Christian annals. The last
vestiges of Roman culture have disappeared, while the dawn of modern
civilization is as yet far off. Society, in a state of transition, is
painfully and vainly seeking some form of security and stability. The
marauding wars of petty neighboring chiefs become the normal condition,
only interrupted when two or three unite to carry destruction to
some more powerful rival. Though the settlement of Normandy relieved
Continental Europe to a great extent from the terror of the Dane, yet
the still more dreaded Hun took his place and ravaged the nations from
the Danube to the Atlantic, while England bore the undivided fury of
the Vikings, and the Saracen left little to glean upon the shores of
the Mediterranean.
When brutal ignorance and savage ferocity were the distinguishing
characteristics of the age, the church could scarce expect to escape
from the general debasement. It is rather a matter of grateful surprise
that religion itself was not overwhelmed in the general chaos which
engulfed almost all previously existing institutions. When the crown
of St. Peter became the sport of barbarous nobles, or of a still more
barbarous populace, we may grieve, but we cannot affect astonishment at
the unconcealed dissoluteness of Sergius III., whose bastard, twenty
years later, was placed in the pontifical chair by the influence
of that embodiment of all possible vices, his mother Marozia.[324]
The last extreme of depravity would seem attained by John XII., but
as his deposition in 963 by Otho the Great loosened the tongues of
his accusers, it is possible that he was no worse than some of his
predecessors. No extreme of wickedness was beyond his capacity; the
sacred palace of the Lateran was turned into a brothel; incest gave
a flavor to crime when simple profligacy palled upon his exhausted
senses, and the honest citizens of Rome complained that the female
pilgrims who formerly crowded the holy fanes were deterred from coming
through fear of his promiscuous and unbridled lust.[325]
With such corruption at the head of the church, it is lamentably
ludicrous to see the popes inculcating lessons of purity, and urging
the maintenance of canons which they set the example of disregarding
so utterly. The clergy were now beginning to arrogate to themselves
the privilege of matrimony; and marriage, so powerful a corrective of
indiscriminate vice, was regarded with peculiar detestation by the
ecclesiastical authorities, and awoke a far more energetic opposition
than the more dangerous and corrupting forms of illicit indulgence. The
pastor who intrigued in secret with his penitents and parishioners was
scattering the seeds of death in place of the bread of life, and was
abusing his holy trust to destroy the souls confided to his charge,
but this worked no damage to the temporal interests of the church at
large. The priest who, in honest ignorance of the canons, took to
himself a wife, and endeavored faithfully to perform the duties of his
humble sphere, could scarcely avoid seeking the comfort and worldly
welfare of his offspring, and this exposed the common property of all
to dilapidation and embezzlement. Disinterested virtue perhaps would
not be long in making a selection between the comparative evils, but
disinterested virtue was not a distinguishing characteristic of the age.
Yet a motive of even greater importance than this rendered matrimony
more objectionable than concubinage or licentiousness. By the
overruling tendency of the age, all possessions previously held by
laymen on precarious tenure were rapidly becoming hereditary. As the
royal power slipped from hands unable to retain it, offices, dignities,
and lands became the property of the holders, and were transmitted from
father to son. Had marriage been openly permitted to ecclesiastics,
their functions and benefices would undoubtedly have followed the
example. An hereditary caste would have been established, who would
have held their churches and lands of right; independent of the central
authority, all unity would have been destroyed, and the collective
power of the church would have disappeared. Having nothing to gain from
obedience, submission to control would have become the exception, and,
laymen in all but name, the ecclesiastics would have had no incentive
to perform their functions, except what little influence, under such
circumstances, might have been retained over the people by maintaining
the sacred character thus rendered a mockery.
In an age when everything was unsettled, yet with tendencies so
strongly marked, it thus became a matter of vital importance to the
church to prevent anything like hereditary occupation of benefices
or private appropriation of property, and against these abuses its
strongest efforts were directed. The struggle lasted for centuries, and
it is indeed most fortunate for our civilization that sacerdotalism
triumphed, even at the expense of what at the moment may appear of
greater importance. I cannot here pause to trace the progress of
the contest in its long and various vicissitudes. It will be found
constantly reappearing in the course of the following pages, and for
the present it will suffice to group together a few evidences to show
how rapidly the hereditary tendency developed itself in the period
under consideration.