constitution of the Church was regularly organized throughout
France. The diocese comprised the territorial boundaries which
the Roman administration had established in the provinces for the
civil government of the vicars and the counts, and most of these
dioceses were kept, within about the same limits, down to 1789. The
ecclesiastical province, of which the metropolitan or the archbishop
was head, was made up of several dioceses or suffragan bishoprics, and
when a provincial council took place, it assembled in the metropolis
under the presidency of the archbishop. Above the metropolitans there
were the patriarchs and the primates, dignitaries occupying the
principal apostolic sees, such as Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch,
Jerusalem, Cesarea, and Heraclea in the East, and in the West, Milan,
Lyons, Rheims, Trèves, and Mayence--which latter city became, under
Pope Zacharias (741–752), the metropolis of all Germany. The supremacy
of Rome was acknowledged by the universal Church from the days of the
Apostles, as is attested by all the Fathers, and especially by St.
Irenæus, whose spiritual father was Polycarp, a disciple of St. John.
[Illustration: Fig. 227.--Ceremony of robing a Bishop for his
consecration.--From the “Rationale Divinorum Officiorum” of
William Durand (Manuscript of the Fourteenth Century), Library of
M. Ambroise Firmin-Didot.]
History has handed down to us the form of oath of allegiance to the
pope taken by the apostle of Germany in the eighth century, Wilfred,
better known by the name of Boniface, who, in the course of a few
years, made more than a hundred thousand converts. So far from being
exalted with pride at the success of his mission, he continued to go
for advice to Pope Gregory II., and to submit to his decision any
intricate matters which might occur in the course of his ministry.
The following translation of the form which he signed when raised to
the dignity of bishop, will give an idea of his deference and spirit
of submissiveness; it forcibly exhibits the power of the hierarchy at
this epoch:--“In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, who has saved us,
Leo the Great being Emperor, the seventh year of his consulate, and
the fourth of his son Constantine the Great, Emperor,--I, Boniface, by
the grace of God bishop, promise to thee, blessed St. Peter, Prince
of the Apostles, and to thy vicar, the blessed Gregory, as well as to
his successors, in the name of the indivisible Trinity, the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and by his most holy body here present,
to observe in purity and fidelity the Catholic Faith, and, with God’s
assistance, to persevere in the unity of this same Faith upon which
indubitably depends the salvation of all Christians. I also promise
never to yield to any instigation contrary to the unity of the common
and universal Church, but faithfully and sincerely to devote all my
strength to thee and to the interests of thy Church, which has received
from the Lord the power of binding and loosing, and also to thy Vicar
and his successors. If I find any prelate living in disobedience to
the ordinances of the holy Fathers, I undertake not to hold any kind
of communion with him, but to win him back if I can; if not, to send a
faithful report of his conduct to my lord the successor of the Apostle.
And if (which may God forfend!) I should attempt to infringe the
terms of this declaration, at any time or in any manner whatsoever, I
acknowledge myself guilty of eternal punishment, and deserving the fate
of Ananias and Sapphira, who were guilty of fraud in the declaration
of their goods. I, Boniface, a humble bishop, have written with my own
hand the text of this oath, which I lay upon the most holy body of
St. Peter, in the presence of God who is my witness and judge; I have
taken, as is herein stated, the oath which I undertake to observe.” It
is worthy of notice that this formula was already in use in the time of
Pope Gelasius, in the fifth century.
[Illustration: Fig. 228.--Solemn Reception of a Bishop. Arrival
of St. Gêry at Cambrai, where he was appointed bishop, in 589.
View of the city, the ramparts, and the church dedicated to
St. Médard, and founded by St. Gêry.--Miniature
from the “Chroniques du Hainaut” (Manuscript of the Fifteenth
Century), Burgundian Library, Brussels.]
[Illustration: Fig. 229.--St. Wulfram, Bishop of Sens, clad in
his pallium; died in 720 at the Abbey of St. Wandrille.--From a
Miniature in the “Chronicon Fontinellense” (Manuscript of the
Ninth Century), Havre Library.]
From the sixth century, the influence which the bishops enjoyed
under the Roman empire went on increasing. Chilperic I. was alarmed
at its progress, declaring that “the bishops alone were supreme in
the cities.” Each one administered the affairs of his diocese with
sovereign authority (Fig. 228), and, by means of the councils convoked
by the kings, they governed the whole of the kingdom. In Gaul, there
were twenty-five councils during the fifth century, fifty-four in
the sixth, and twenty in the seventh, all of which were composed of
bishops, supplemented by a few abbots and priests who were either
well-known masters of ecclesiastical law, or eligible upon other
grounds. From the diminution in the number of councils dates the
decline of the authoritative influence of the French episcopacy;
during the eighth century, in the first half of which there were only
two councils, it declined still further, because the intrusion of the
_leudes_ in several bishoprics had brought about a great change
in the austere morals of the ancient Church, replacing the cultivated
spirit, the orderly conduct, and the charitable habits of the first
prelates (Fig. 229) by a display of gross ignorance and unbridled
barbarism. Three successive councils, held respectively in Germany,
Belgium, and at Soissons (742, 743, 744), aimed at a reformation of
the morals of the clergy, which were thoroughly perverted, as is
evident from the decrees of these councils, forbidding the priests
to follow the chase with hounds, falcons, and sparrowhawks. Other
provincial councils of the same epoch condemned simony, the traffic
in the immunities and privileges of the Church, and the plurality of
benefices. This last abuse went beyond all bounds; the same prelate
would hold three or four bishoprics at once, several abbeys, and the
revenues of numerous parishes left without a pastor. On the other
hand, many lay lords, who had usurped the property of the Church,
and appropriated to themselves benefices, monasteries, and episcopal
revenues, especially since the days of Charles Martel, created great
confusion in the temporal economy of each diocese.
Charlemagne applied himself to the reformation of these abuses.
That illustrious monarch at all times displayed the most respectful
deference for the clergy, from amongst whom he selected his principal
ministers and most trusted councillors. Two-thirds of his Palatine
Academy were ecclesiastics; the _missi dominici_, the official
inspectors appointed to visit the provinces, the churches, the
presbyteries, and the hospitals, to render justice upon appeal, to
suspend or dismiss the fiscal agents, were all, or nearly all, bishops
and priests. Royalty was looked upon by Charlemagne as a kind of
priesthood, and his mission was to give the people greater facility
for practising the Gospel, and to bring it within the reach of the
idolatrous nations. The capitulars say, “The king must walk uprightly,
as his name signifies (‘Rex a _recte_ agendo vocatur’). If he
acts with piety, justice, and clemency, he deserves the name of king;
otherwise he is not a king, but a tyrant. The special duty of royalty
is to govern the people of God, but to govern them with equity and
justice; for _the king is above all_ the defender of the churches,
of the servants of God, of the widows, the other poor, and all who
are in distress.” These rules, laid down in the time of Charlemagne,
were adopted by all Europe. The king who did not observe them was to
be deposed; his judges were the bishops, the councils, and the pope,
as head of the Church (Charlemagne, in a capitular from Thionville,
in 805, submitted his own sons to be judged by the bishops). If they
refused obedience, they were condemned to be driven from their palaces,
deprived of their dignities and goods, declared infamous, and sent into
exile. This is why, during the unhappy dissensions that broke out
between the sons of Louis the Good-natured, each one endeavoured to
procure the deposition of his rival by sentence of the council.
[Illustration: Fig. 230.--Bas-relief on the Tomb of Hincmar,
Archbishop of Rheims, in the Church of St. Remigius in that city.
Monument of the Tenth or Eleventh Century.--Hincmar, upon his
knees, and followed by the Abbot of St. Remigius, is thanking
Charles the Bald for his pious donations; the king holds in his
hand a model of the church on which he bestowed his largesses.]
Hincmar, Archbishop of Rheims, the noblest representative of the
Western Church at this epoch, constituted himself the defender of the
throne (Fig. 230). He endeavoured to arrive at an equitable settlement
as to the respective limits of the two great powers--the Church and the
Crown. Commenting upon, but not receding from, the ideas expressed by
Charlemagne, he declared, “When it is said that the king is not subject
to the laws or judgment of any man, but only of God, the statement is
true if he be a king indeed, as his name indicates. He is called king
because he reigns and governs; if he governs himself according to the
will of God, if he directs the good in the right path, and corrects
the wicked to draw them from their evil way, then he is king, not
subject to the judgment of any man (Fig. 231 and 232); but if he be
an adulterer, a homicide, an iniquitous person, a ravisher, then he
must be judged, in secret or in public, by the bishops, who are God’s
representatives.” It is necessary to bear well in mind these ideas,
inculcated in the Middle Ages, if we would understand the important
functions of the secular clergy.
[Illustration: Fig. 231.--Consecration of Philip Augustus at
Rheims, November 1st, 1179, by his uncle, William, Archbishop of
Rheims.--Manuscript 9232 of the Fourteenth Century, Burgundian
Library, Brussels.]
[Illustration: Fig. 232.--Coronation of Henry of Anjou as King
of Poland, February 22nd, 1573, in the Church of St. Stanislaus
at Cracow. At the termination of the consecrating ceremony the
Archbishop of Gnesen, Primate of Poland, places the crown upon
the prince’s forehead.--Bas-relief on a French coffer of the
Sixteenth Century belonging to M. Achille Jubinal (fac-simile of
its present condition).]
At this early period of society, civilisation was, beyond all doubt, in
the hands of the ecclesiastics. Public education, which the Church had
established, and which was given in one or several episcopal schools
in each diocese, under the direction of the archdeacon, was subject,
like judicial proceedings, to hierarchical regulations. Although the
bishop was free to extend or to limit certain branches of instruction,
all the clerks admitted to follow the courses of these schools had
to go through the series of studies prescribed and specified in the
capitulars of Charlemagne. Thus, at Metz and Soissons, for instance,
the school of singing was an imperial institution, and the bishop, no
matter what authority he might have in other matters, had no power
to suppress it. The same was the case with the courses on law and
medicine, which had been founded, since the days of Charlemagne, in
various episcopal cloisters at Paris, Rheims, Lyons, Metz, Trèves,
Canterbury, Milan, &c. Roman chanting, grammar, Holy Scripture, the
Liturgy, and calligraphy, formed the classical basis of clerical
education. Other studies were looked upon as accessories, without being
absolutely prohibited. At the same time, to the superficial study of
Latin, was added that of Greek or of German, or of the vulgar idiom of
the Latin, Teutonic, or Sclavic tongues, when deemed useful for the
purposes of popular preaching. In certain cases, and for the exclusive
service of the Church, the clerks were taught the rudiments of
architecture, painting, mechanics, agriculture, and hygiene, but it was
more especially at the Palatine school, which was always open, and in
the large abbeys, that this literary and scientific course of education
prevailed.
Clerical discipline, though continually being reformed, was incessantly
needing fresh changes. The usurpation of the Church’s domains by the
monarchs, the princes, and the great lay lords, contributed to the
disorder which prevailed in many abbeys. In some churches an intruder
would thrust himself into a canonry, usurp the abbatial seat, or live
at the expense of the community. The bishops were often powerless to
get rid of these false abbots, canons, and monks, who set them at
defiance. Ecclesiastical cures and prebends were formed, like many
public bakehouses and mills, sometimes as dowers for daughters about
to marry, and even for new-born infants. Severe measures were adopted
at several provincial councils (in 860, 863, 888, 895) against the
disorderly acts committed, to the detriment of the Church.
A diploma issued by the Emperor Henry III. (May 12th 1052), confirmed
the doctrine of the Roman Church, declaring that the episcopal
jurisdiction was entirely independent of the civil jurisdiction. By
this diploma, all judges and officers of justice were prohibited from
exercising their authority in the churches, castles, villages, and
parishes which formed the temporal domain of the diocesan chapter.
[Illustration: Fig. 233.--Treaty of Arras, concluded in 1191,
by the interposition of William of Champagne, Archbishop of
Rheims, between Baldwin V., Count of Hainault, and Matilda of
Portugal, Widow of Philip, Count of Flanders.--Miniature from the
“Chroniques de Hainaut” (Fifteenth Century), Burgundian Library,
Brussels.]
When the Crusades brought about the concord, or rather the calm, of
which the Church had so long been deprived, its progress became more
regular, more marked, and more easy; it also suffered less from the
encroachment of laymen upon its rights and privileges (Fig. 233), but
the enormous expenses of these distant expeditions had ruined it.
There was not, indeed, a single diocese where the property was not
loaded with mortgages, nor where the services were not crippled by
the reduction of the diocesan revenues. This penury, coupled with the
absence of a great number of the most esteemed ecclesiastics, who
had taken up the cross, left many important churches almost without
resources or guidance; hence arose a general relaxation of morals on
the part of the clerks, whose misconduct was in some cases so flagrant
that it became necessary to expel them from the religious houses and
parishes which had been committed to their charge. The abuses of
authority, the uncertainty in point of faith, and the Vaudois heresy,
which shot through Western Europe like a poisoned barb, gave rise to
frequent dissensions amongst the faithful, the disputes being carried
on even amongst members of the same family, whilst in many localities
the people, attracted by a form of worship where the chanting and
the prayers were recited in the vulgar tongue, deserted their parish
church for the heretic priest; this was the origin of an infinity
of disturbances and tumults in the large towns, especially in those
governed by a municipality.
And yet the bishops had contributed in a material degree to the
establishment of the communes; for, if history tells us of some towns
being at war with their ecclesiastical lord, in order to declare
themselves independent, we find, on the other hand, that a great number
of the charters of enfranchisement were due to the initiative of the
bishops. The two most interesting of these documents which have been
preserved to us in their integrity, are the charter and the law of
Beaumont-en-Argonne, formerly a fortified place, but almost forgotten
in the present day, until brought into prominence by the war of 1870.
This town had the satisfaction, not of imposing its law, but of seeing
it adopted by numerous communes, amongst which may be cited Nancy,
Lunéville, Verdun, Luxemburg, and Longwy, together with all the Duchy
of Bar, Montmédy, &c. A lord-bishop, William, whose love of equity
earned him the appellation of William the White-handed, was the author
both of this law and of this charter, in the twelfth century (Fig.
234). By the charter, the lord-bishop made all the inhabitants of
the commune of Beaumont proprietors of a sufficient quantity of land
to give them the means of subsistence, with the use of the woods and
water-courses; every precaution was taken to prevent fraud in commerce
and trade, especially in regard to the millers, the bakers, and the
butchers; and the administration of the commune was entrusted to so
many burghers elected by the most notable citizens; while intrigue was
powerless in its attempts to bias the free and independent suffrages
of the burgher-electors. The time that the Beaumont law has lasted is
a proof of its merits, for, notwithstanding the vicissitudes of time,
five hundred communes were being governed by it in the eighteenth
century.
[Illustration: Fig. 234.--Reduced fac-simile from the
commencement of the Charter of William the White-handed,
Archbishop of Rheims (Twelfth Century).--From the work of M.
Defourny.]
In the communes which adopted the Beaumont law, the burghers, exempt
from all military burdens, were only compelled to take arms in the
event of a sudden invasion of their territory, and this forced service
was only of twenty-four hours’ duration. After that, the lord had to
provide for the ordinary protection of the inhabitants in return for
the trifling taxes which they paid him. In the commune of Escombes,
for instance, which, being a frontier village, was very exposed
to attack, the right of safe-guard (_le droit de sauvement_)
consisted of two measures of oats, a hen, and a French denier for
each burgher. A charter of an archbishop of Rheims, successor of
William the White-handed, recounts how a good chevalier, in return
for the gift of a piece of land belonging to the bishopric, undertook
to bring together, train, and maintain a body of armed men for the
protection of the burghers of Beaumont, who were thus enabled safely
to carry on the tillage of the land and their commercial operations.
Towards the close of the fourteenth century, the Archbishop of Rheims
exchanged with the King of France the sovereignty over the towns of
Mouzon and Beaumont-en-Argonne against the lordship of Vailly and its
dependencies; but the law of Beaumont was respected, and by letters
patent, “given at Montargis in the month of September, the year of
grace one thousand three hundred and seventy-nine,” King Charles V.
solemnly recognised and sanctioned all the advantages which the law
of Beaumont assured to the inhabitants. “By these presents,” said
the king, “we approve and confirm all their charters and liberties,
franchises, usages, privileges, and customs which they have been
granted by our above-mentioned Archbishops of Rheims in times past, to
enjoy and use without deducting, innovating, or diminishing anything,
and in the same manner and fashion as they have formerly enjoyed and
used them before our acquisition.”
Throughout nearly all France, justice, which had been for eight
centuries episcopal, became almost entirely civil; but the bishop still
levied a part of the fines imposed, and when the citizens of a town or
district were brought together to settle some grave dispute, it was the
prelate of the diocese, or the dean of the chapter, or the precentor,
who had the right of naming the day and the place of the meeting,
which they had no power to prevent. Louis IX., great as was his piety,
undertook the task of forming a lay magistracy capable of rendering
justice. To avoid a conflict with the national clergy, he obtained
from Innocent IV. a dispensation from the ordinary jurisdiction
for the person of the King of France, for his consort, and his
heir-presumptive. He solicited the intervention of the Pope to reform
numerous abuses that had crept into the Church in France, especially in
respect of the right of asylum, and the excessive immunities accorded
to the ecclesiastical tribunals. Towards the end of the thirteenth
century the jurisdiction of the clergy was, with the exception of the
episcopal court, confined to the vassals of the bishops’ temporalities.
Throughout the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the episcopal power
was engaged in a ceaseless struggle with a turbulent bourgeoisie
(Fig. 235), whose spirit of opposition drove it into open and armed
rebellion. In order to obviate this, and to order an effective
resistance to the civil authority, itself overpowered by the populace,
several diocesan chapters formed a league with the clergy and with the
monks; but this did not bring them any increase of strength to combat
the lay magistrates, because the bishop often deserted their cause
or showed himself indifferent to it. Hence arose excommunications,
imprisonments, proscriptions, and acts of seizure which only led to
increased scandal. The schism which desolated the Christian world since
the death of Gregory IX. (1378), the struggle for influence between the
anti-pope Urban VI. and Pope Clement VII., were not calculated to allay
the internal troubles of the Church.
[Illustration: Fig. 235.--Title of the Concordat of Cambrai,
agreed upon in 1466 by the bishop, the chapter, and the commune
of the town, for the maintenance of peace. This charter commences
with the word _NOUS_ in illuminated letters. The first
letter (N) encircles an angel holding the escutcheon of Bishop
John of Burgundy; the Latin inscription signifies, “Glory to
God in the Highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”
The letter O represents the arms of the chapter, surmounted
by Notre-Dame des Flammes, with the words in Latin, “Peace I
leave with you, my peace I give unto you.” The third letter (U)
is symbolic of the commune of Cambrai, and also expresses a
peaceful idea in the motto, “His abode is an abode of peace.”
Amongst the witnesses, numbering more than a hundred, who signed
this Concordat, was the Chronicler of Cambrai, Enguerrand de
Monstrelet.--Fac-simile of the original, preserved in the
Archives du Nord, at Lille, and the text of which was published
by M. L. Dancoisne, at Hénin-Liétard. (The illuminated letters in
this engraving are one-fourth the size of the original.)]