Every proof or disproof of statements continually made with regard to
the extravagant titles assumed, or complacently received, by the bishops
of Rome being both interesting and important, the inquiry of J.B. (Vol.
ii., p. 167.) is well deserving of a reply. Speaking of a passage cited
by Joannes Andreæ, in his gloss on the preface to the Clementines, he
asks, "who is the Anglicus Poeta?" and "what is the name of his poem,"
in which it is said to the pope, "Nec Deus es nec homo, quasi neuter es
inter utrumque?"
"Poetria nova" was the name assigned to the hexameter poem commencing,
"Papa stupor mundi," inscribed, about the year 1200, to the reigning
Pope, Innocent III., by Galfridus de Vino salvo. Of this work several
manuscript copies are to be met with in England. I will refer only to
two in the Bodleian, Laud. 850. 83.: Ken. Digb. 1665. 64. Polycarp
Leyser (_Hist. Poem. medii Ævi_) published it in 1721; and Mabillon has
set forth another performance by the same writer in elegiac verse (_Vet.
Analect._ pp. 369-76., Paris, 1723). In the latter case the author's
name is not given, and accordingly he is entered merely as "Poeta vetus"
in Mr. Dowling's _Notitia Scriptorum SS. Pat._, sc. p. 279., Oxon.,
1839. Your correspondent may compare with Andreæ's extract these lines,
and those which follow them, p. 374.:
"Papa brevis vox est, sed virtus nominis hujus
Perlustrat quiequid arcus uterque tenet."
Galfridus evidently derived his surname from his treatise on vines and
wine; and he has been singularly unfortunate in the epithet, for I have
never seen VIN-SAUF correctly printed. It varies from "de Nine salvo" to
"_Mestisauf_." Pits and Oudin call him "Vinesalf" and Fabricius and
Mansi change him into "Vine fauf."
The question now remains, Are the Roman Pontiffs and their Church
answerable for the toleration of such language? Uncertainty may on this
occasion be removed by our recollection of the fact, that a "Censura"
upon the glosses of the papal canon law, by Manriq, Master of the Sacred
Palace, was issued by the command of Pope Pius V. in 1572. It was
reprinted by Pappus, Argent. 1599, 12mo., and 1609, 8vo., and it
contains an order for the expurgation of the words before quoted,
together with the summary in the margin, "Papa nec Deus est nec homo,"
which appears in every old edition; for instance, in that of Paris,
1532, sig. aa. iij. So far the matter looks well, and the prospect is
not hopeless. These glosses, however, were revised by another master of
the Apostolic Palace, Sixtus Fabri, and were edited, under the sanction
of Pope Gregory XIII., in the year 1580; and from this authentic
impression the impious panegyric has not been withdrawn. The marginal
abridgment has, in compliance with Manriq's direction, been
exterminated; and this additional note has been appended as a
palliative:--
"Hæc verba sano modo sunt accipienda: prolata enim sunt ad
ostendendum amplissimam esse Romani Pontificis
potestatem."--Col. 4. ed. Paris, 1585.