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BERNARD, SAINT
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See also:BERNARD, See also:SAINT .)
At the very moment when the papacy thus attained omnipotence, symptoms of discontent and opposition arose. The Resistance bishops resisted centralization. See also:Archbishop See also:Hildebert to thePapal of See also:Tours protested to See also:Honorius IL against the exactions appeals to See also:Rome, while others complained of the and exactions of the legates, or, like See also: He was at a loss to justify the unheard-of luxury of the Roman court. " I do not find," he said, " that St See also:Peter ever appeared in public loaded with See also:gold and jewels, clad in See also:silk, mounted on a See also: Indeed, a great See also:part of his See also:life was passed in See also:hearing pleadings and pronouncing judgments, and few sovereigns have ever worked so industriously or shown such solicitude for the impartial exercise of their judicial functions. It is difficult to comprehend Innocent's extraordinary activity. Over and above the See also:weight of political affairs, he See also:bore resolutely for eighteen years the overwhelming burden of the See also:presidency of a tribunal before which the whole of See also:Europe came to plead. To him, also, in his capacity of theologian, the whole of Europe submitted every obscure, delicate or controverted question, whether legal problem or See also:case of See also:conscience. This, undoubtedly, was the part of his task that Innocent preferred, and it was to this, as well as to his much overrated moral and theological treatises, that he owed his enormous contemporary prestige. As a statesman, he certainly committed See also:grave faults—through excess of See also:diplomatic subtlety, lack of forethought, and sometimes even through ingenuousness; but it must with See also:justice be admitted that, in spite of his reputation for pugnacity and obstinacy, he never failed, either by temperament or on principle, to exhaust every peaceful expedient in settling questions. He was averse from violence, and never resorted to bellicose acts or to the employment of force See also:save in the last extremity. If his policy miscarried in several quarters it was eminently successful in others; and if we consider the sum of his efforts to achieve the See also:programme of the See also:medieval papacy, it cannot be denied that the extent of his See also:rule and the profound See also:influence he exerted on his times entitle him to be regarded as the most perfect type of medieval pope and one of the most powerful figures in See also:history. A superficial glance at Innocent's See also:correspondence is sufficient to convince us that he was pre-eminently concerned for the See also:reformation and moral welfare of the Church, and The See also:Fourth was animated by the best intentions for the re-estab- Lateran lishment in the ecclesiastical See also:body of See also:order, See also:peace and See also:council, respect for the hierarchy. This was one of the prin-1215. cipal See also:objects of his activity, and this important side of his See also:work received decisive See also:sanction by the promulgation of the decrees of the fourth Lateran Council (1215). At this council almost all the questions at issue related to reform, and many give See also:evidence of great breadth of mind, as well as of a very acute sense of contemporary necessities. Innocent's letters, however, not only reveal that See also:superior See also:wisdom which can take into See also:account See also:practical needs and relax severity of principle at the right moment, as well as that spirit of tolerance and See also:equity which is opposed to the excess of zeal and intellectual narrowness of subordinates, but they also prove that, in the See also:internal government of the Church, he was See also:bent on gathering into his hands all the See also:motive threads, and that he stretched the absolutist tradition to its furthest limits, intervening in the most trifling acts in the lives of the See also:clergy, and regarding it as an See also:obligation of his See also:office to See also:act and think for all. The heretic peril, which increased during his pontificate, forced him to take decisive measures against the Albigenses in the south of France, but before proscribing them he spent ten years (1198–1208) in endeavouring to convert the misbelievers, and history should not The forget the pacific See also:character of these See also:early efforts. It Albigensian was because they did not succeed that See also:necessity and See also:crusades the violence of human passions subsequently forced him into a course of See also:action which he had not chosen and which led him further than he wished to go. When he was compelled to See also:decree the Albigensian crusade he endeavoured more than once to discontinue the work, which had become perverted, and to curb the crusading ardour of See also:Simon de See also:Montfort. Failing in his See also:attempt to maintain the religious character of the crusade, he wished to prevent it from ending secularly in its extreme consequence and logical outcome. On several occasions he defended the cause of moderation and justice against the fanatical crusaders, but he never had the See also:energy to make it prevail. It is very doubtful whether this was possible, and an impartial historian must take into account the insuperable difficulties encountered by the medieval popes in their efforts to See also:stem the See also:flood of fanaticism. It was more particularly in the definitive constitution of the temporal and political power of the papacy, in the extension of Papal what may be called Roman imperialism, that See also:chance Imperialism favoured his efforts and enabled him to pursue his under conquests farthest. This imperialism was undoubt-Innecentlll. edly of a See also:special nature; it rested on moral authority and political and See also:financial power rather than on material and military strength. But it is no less certain that Innocent attempted to subject the kings of Europe by making them his tributaries and vassals. He wished to acquire the mastery of souls by unifying the faith and centralizing the priesthood, but he also aspired to possess temporal supremacy, if not as See also:direct owner, at least as suzerain, over all the See also:national crowns, and thus to realize the See also:idea with which he was penetrated and which he himself expressed clearly. He wished to be at once pope and See also:emperor, See also:leader of See also:religion and universal sovereign. And, in fact, he exercised or claimed suzerain rights, together with the political and pecuniary advantages accruing, over the greater number of the See also:lay sovereigns of his See also:time. He was more or less effectively the supreme temporal See also:chief of the See also:kingdom of See also:Sicily and See also:Naples, See also:Sardinia, the states of the Iberian See also:peninsula (See also:Castile, See also:Leon, See also:Navarre and See also:Portugal), See also:Aragon (which, under Peter II., was the type of See also:vassal and tributary kingdom of the Roman power), the Scandinavian states, the kingdom of See also:Hungary, the Slav states of Bohemia, See also:Poland, See also:Servia, Bosnia and See also:Bulgaria, and the See also:Christian states founded in See also:Syria by the crusaders of the 12th century. The success of Roman imperialism was particularly remarkable in England, where Innocent was confronted by one of the See also:principal potentates of the See also:West, by the See also:heir of the power that had been founded by two statesmen of the first See also:rank, See also: As far as the Empire was concerned, chance at first favoured Innocent. For ten years a See also:Germany weakened and divided by the rivalry of See also: But from this enormous increase of territory and influence arose a whole See also:series of new and difficult problems. The court of Rome had to substitute for the old Greek hierarchy a hierarchy of Latin bishops; to force the remaining Greek clergy to practise the beliefs and See also:rites of the Roman religion and See also:bow to the supremacy of the pope; to maintain in the See also:Greco-Latin Eastern Church the necessary order, morality and subordination; to defend it against the greed and violence of the nobles and barons who had founded the Latin Empire; and to compel the leaders of the new empire to submit to the apostolic power and execute its commands. In his endeavours to carry out the whole of this programme, Innocent III. met with insuperable obstacles and many disappointments. On the one See also:hand, the Greeks were unwilling to abandon their religion and national cult, and scarcely recognized the ecclesiastical supremacy of the papacy. On the other hand, the upstart Latin emperors, far from proving 698 submissive and humble tools, assumed with the See also:purple the habits and pretensions of the sovereigns they had dispossessed. Nevertheless, Innocent left his successors a much Vaster and more See also:stable political dominion than that which he had received from his predecessors, since it comprised both East and West; and his five immediate successors were able to preserve this ascendancy. They even extended the limits of Roman impetial-1sm by converting the pagans of the Baltic to See also:Christianity, and further reinforced the work of ecclesiastical centralization by enlisting in their service a force which had recently come into existence and was rapidly becoming popular—the mendicant orders, and notably the See also:Dominicans and See also:Franciscans. The The Friars Roman power was also increased by the formation and the of the universities—privileged corporations of See also:Universities, masters and students, which escaped the local power of the See also:bishop and his See also:chancellor only to place themselves under the direction and supervision of the Holy See. See also:Mistress of the entire Christian organism, Rome thus gained See also:control of inter-national See also:education, and the mendicant monks who formed her devoted See also:militia lost no time in monopolizing the professorial chairs. Although the ecclesiastical monarchy continued to gain strength, the successors of Innocent III. made less use than he of their immense power. Under See also:Gregory IX. (1227—1241) and Innocent IV. (1243–1254) the conflict between the priesthood and the Empire was revived by the enigmatic Frederick II., the polyglot and lettered emperor, the friend of See also:Saracens, the See also:despot who, in youth styled "See also: Towards the end of the 13th century the See also:directors of the Christian world occupied the throne of St Peter for too short a time to be able to make their See also:personal views prevail or to execute their political projects at leisure after ripe meditation. Whatever the merit of a Gregory X. or a See also:Nicholas III., the brevity of their pontificates prevented any one of these ephemeral sovereigns from being a great pope.
But other and far more important See also:differences characterize this period. Although there was no theoretical restriction to Influence of the temporal supremacy and religious power of the the Power papacy, certain historical facts of great importance of France. contributed to the fatal diminution of their extent. The first of these was the preponderance of the See also:French monarchy and nation in Europe. Founded by the conquests of Philip Augustus and See also: (1261–1264) who called See also: A Frenchman before everything, he abased the papal power to such an extent as to excite the indignation of his contemporaries, often slavishly subordinating it to the exigencies of the domestic and See also:foreign policy of the Angevins at Naples and the reigning See also:house at See also:Paris. But he was prevented from carrying out this policy by an unforeseen See also:blow, the Sicilian See also:Vespers (See also: The See also:war which ensued between the pope and the king of France ended in the complete defeat of the papacy, which was reduced to See also:impotence (1303), and though the See also:storm ceased during the subjection nine months' pontificate of Benedict XI., the See of o the St Peter recovered neither its normal See also:equilibrium Papacy to nor its traditional character. The See also:accession of the France. first See also:Avignon pope, Clement V., marks the final subjection of the papal power to the Capetian government, the inevitable result of the European situation created in the preceding century. In other respects the papacy of this period found itself in a very inferior situation to that which it had occupied under Innocent III. and the popes of the first half of the 13th century. The fall of the Latin Empire and the retaking of Constantinople by the Palaeologi freed a great part of the Eastern world from the political and religious direction of Rome, and this fact necessarily engaged the diplomacy of Urban IV. and his successors in an entirely different direction. To them the Eastern problem presented a less complex aspect. There could no longer be any serious question of a collective expedition of Europe for the recovery of the Holy Places. The ingenuous faith of a Louis IX. was alone capable of giving rise to two crusades organized privately and without the influence or even the approval of the pope. Although all these popes, and Gregory X. especially, never ceased theoretically to urge the Christian world to the crusade, they were actuated by the desire of remaining faithful to tradition, and more particularly by the political and financial advantages accruing to the Holy See from the preaching and the crusading expeditions. The European See also:state of mind no longer See also:lent itself to such enterprises, and, moreover, under such brief pontificates, the attenuated Roman power could not expect to succeed where Innocent III. himself had failed. The See also:main preoccupation of all these popes was how best to repair the injury done to orthodox Europe and to Rome by the destruction of the Latin Empire. Several of them thought of restoring the lost empire by force, and thus giving a See also:pendant Council of to the fourth crusade; but the Curia finally realized See also:Lyons, 1274. the enormous difficulties of such a project, and con-Relations vinced themselves that the only practical See also:solution of with the the difficulty was to come to an understanding with Eastern the Palaeologi and realize pacifically the long-dreamed Church. union of the Greek and Latin Churches. The negotiations begun by Urban IV. and continued more or less actively by his successors were at last concluded in 1274 by Gregory X. The Council of Lyons proclaimed the union, which was destined to be effective for a few years at least and to be prolonged precariously in the midst of unfavourable circumstances. The Greek mind was opposed to the union; the acquiescence of the Byzantine emperors was but an ephemeral expedient of their foreign policy; and the peace between the Latins and Greeks settled on Byzantine soil could not endure for long. The principal obstacle, however, was the incompatibility of the popes' Byzantine and Italian policies. The popes were in favour of Charles of Anjou and his dynasty, but Charles was hostile to the union of the two Churches, since it was his intention to seize the Byzantine Empire and substitute himself for the Palaeologi. Almost all the successors of Urban IV. were compelled to exert their diplomacy against the aggrandizing aims of the man they had themselves installed in southern Italy, and to protect the Greek emperor, with whom they were negotiating the religious question. On several occasions between the years 1271 and 1273 the Angevins of Naples, who had great influence in See also:Achaea and See also:Albania and were solidly supported by their See also:allies in the See also:Balkan Peninsula, nearly carried out their project; and in 1274 the opposition of Charles of Anjou came near to compromising the operations of the council of Lyons and ruining the work of Gregory X. The papacy, however, held its ground, and Nicholas III., the worthy continuer of Gregory, succeeded in preserving the union and triumphing over the Angevin power. The Angevins took their revenge under Martin IV., who was a stanch supporter of the French. Three See also:weeks after his See also:coronation Martin excommunicated the Greek emperor and all his subjects, and allied himself with Charles of Anjou and the Venetians to See also:compass his downfall. In this case, too, the Sicilian Vespers was the See also:rock on which the hopes and pretensions of the sovereign of Naples suffered shipwreck. After Martin's death the last popes of the 13th century, and notably Boniface VIII., in vain thought to find in another Capetian, Charles of Valois, the man who was to re-establish the Latin dominion at See also:Byzantium. But the East was lost; the union of 1274 was quickly dissolved; and the reconciliation of the two Churches again entered into the See also:category of chimeras. During this period the papal institution, considered in its internal development, already showed symptoms of decadence. The diminution of religious faith and sacerdotal Decay of the prestige shook it to its very foundations. The papacy. growth of the lay spirit continued to manifest itself among the burgesses of the towns as well as among the feudal princes and sovereigns. The social factors of See also:communism and nationalism, against which Innocent III. and his successors had struggled, became more powerful and more hostile to theocratic domination. That a sovereign like St Louis should be able to See also:associate himself officially with the feudalism of his See also:realm to repress abuses of church See also:jurisdiction; that a contemporary of Philip the Fair, the lawyer See also:Pierre See also:Dubois, should dare to suggest the secularization of ecclesiastical See also:property and the See also:conversion of the clergy into a class of functionaries paid out of the royal See also:treasury; and that Philip the Fair, the adversary of Boniface VIII., should be able to rely in his conflict with the leader of the Church on the popular consent obtained at a See also:meeting of the Three Estates of France—all point to a singular demoralization of the sentiments and principles on which were based the whole power of the pontiff of Rome and the entire organization of medieval Catholicism. Both by its attitude and by its governmental acts, the papacy of the later 13th century itself contributed to increase the discredit and disaffection from which it suffered. Under Urban IV. and his successors the great moral and religious See also:sovereignty of former times became a purely bureaucratic monarchy, in which the main preoccupation of the See also:governors appeared to be the financial exploitation of Christendom. In the registers of these popes, which are now being actively investigated and published, dispensations (licences to violate the laws of the Church); indulgences; imposts levied with increasing regularity on universal Christendom and, in particular, on the clerks; the See also:settlement of questions See also:relating to church debts; the granting of lucrative benefices to Roman functionaries; the See also:divers processes by which the Curia acquired the immediate disposal of monastic, See also:capitulary and episcopal revenues—in short, all financial matters are of the first importance. It was in the 14th century more especially that the Apostolic Chamber spread the See also:net of its fiscal See also:administration wider and wider over Christian Europe; but at the See also:close of the 13th century all the preliminary measures had been taken to procure for the papal treasury its enormous and permanent resources. The continued efforts of the popes to drain Christian gold to Rome were limited only by the fiscal pretensions of the lay sovereigns, and it was this financial rivalry that gave rise to the inevitable conflict between Boniface VIII. and Philip the Fair. By thus devoting itself to material interests, the papacy contemporary with the last Capetians lost its moral greatness Abuse of and See also:fell in the opinion of the peoples; and it did the Papal itself no less injury by the abnormal extension of Power. the See also:bounds of its See also:absolutism. By its exaggerated methods of centralization the papal monarchy had absorbed within itself all the living forces of the religious world and suppressed all the liberties in which the Church of old had lived. The subjection of the secular clergy was complete, while the episcopate retained no See also:shadow of its independence. The decree of Clement IV. (1266), empowering the papacy to dispose of all vacant bishoprics at the court of Rome, merely sanctioned a usage that had long been established. But the control exercised by the Roman Curia over the episcopate had been realized by many other means. It was seldom that an episcopal See also:election took place without a See also:division in the See also:chapter, in which resided the electoral right. In such an event, the competitors appealed to the Holy See and abdicated their right, either voluntarily or under See also:coercion, in minibus patine, while the pope took See also:possession of the vacant see. Nominations directly made by the court of Rome, especially in the case of dioceses long vacant, became increasingly numerous. The principle of election by canons was repeatedly violated, and threatened to disappear; and at the end of the 13th century the spectacle was common of prelates, whether nominated or confirmed by the pope, entitling themselves " bishops by the See also:grace of the Holy See." The See also:custom in force required bishops established by papal authority to take an See also:oath of fidelity to the pope and the Roman Church, and this oath bound them in a particular See also:fashion to the Curia. Those bishops, however, who had been elected under normal conditions, conformably to the old law, were deprived of the essential parts of their legitimate authority. They lost, for example, their jurisdiction, which they were seldom able to exercise in their own names, but in almost every case as commissaries delegated by the apostolic authority. The regular clergy, who were almost wholly sheltered from the power of the diocesan bishops, found themselves, even more than the secular priesthood, in a state of complete dependence on the Curia. The papacy of this period continually intervened in the internal affairs of the monasteries. Not only did the monks continue to seek from the papacy the See also:confirmation of their privileges and property, but they also referred almost all their disputes to the See also:arbitration of the pope. Their elections gave rise to innumerable lawsuits, which all terminated at the court of Rome, and in most cases it was the pope himself who designated the monks to fill vacant posts in the abbeys. Thus the pope became the great ecclesiastical elector as well as the universal See also:judge and supreme legislator. On this extreme concentration of the Christian power was employed throughout Europe an See also:army of See also:official agents or officious adherents of the Holy See, who were animated by an irrepressible zeal for the aggrandizement of the papacy. These officials originally consisted of an obedient and devoted militia of mendicant friars, both Franciscans and Dominicans, who took their orders from Rome alone, and whose efforts the papacy stimulated by lavishing exemptions, privileges, and full sacerdotal powers. Subsequently they were represented by theapostolic notaries, who were charged to exercise throughout Christendom the gracious jurisdiction of the leaders of the Church and to preside over the most: important acts in the private lives of the faithful. These tools of Rome, both clerks and laymen, continued to increase in every See also:diocese. They were not invested with their office until they had been examined by a papal See also:chaplain, or sometimes even by the See also:vice-chancellor of the Curia. The sovereign direction of this enormous monarchy belonged to the pope alone, who was assisted in important affairs by the See also:advice and collaboration of the See also:College of Cardinals, who had become the sole See also:electors to the papacy. Towards the close of the 13th century the necessity arose for an See also:express ruling on the question of the exercise of this electoral right. In 1274 Gregory X., completing the measures taken by Alexander III. in the 12th century, promulgated the celebrated constitution by which the See also:cardinal-electors were shut up-in See also:conclave and, in the event of their not having designated the new pope within three days, were constrained to perform their See also:duty by a progressive reduction of their See also:food-See also:allowance (see CONCLAVE). But at the head of this vast body there existed a See also:constant tendency which was opposed to the absorption of all the power by a single and unbridled See also:wills In the last years of this period fresh signs appeared of a reaction that emanated from the Sacred College itself. The cardinal-electors endeavoured to derive from their electoral power a right of control over the acts of the pope elect. In 1294, and again in 1303, they laid themselves under an obligation, previously to the election, to subscribe to the political engagements which each promised rigorously to observe in the event of his becoming pope. In general, these engagements bore upon the See also:limitation of the number of cardinals, the See also:prohibition to nominate new ones without previous notification to the Sacred College, the sharing between the cardinals and the pope of certain revenues specified by a See also:bull of Nicholas IV., and the obligatory consultation of the consistories for the principal acts of the temporal and spiritual government. It is conceivable that a pope of Boniface VIII.'s temperament would not submit kindly to any restriction of the discretionary power with which he was invested by tradition, and he endeavoured to make the cardinals dependent on him and even to dispense with their services as far as possible, only assembling them in See also:consistory in cases of extreme necessity. This tendency of the Sacred College to convert the Roman Church into a constitutional monarchy, in which it should itself See also:play the part of See also:parliament, was a sufficiently grave symptom of the progress of the new spirit. But throughout the ecclesiastical society traditional bonds were loosened and anarchy was rife, and this at the very moment when the enemies of the priesthood and its leaders redoubled their attack. In See also:fine, the decadence of the papal institution manifested itself in an irremediable manner when it had accomplished no more than the half of its task. The growth of national kingdoms, the See also:anti-clerical tendencies of the emancipated middle classes, the competition of lay imperialisms, and all the other elements of resistance which had been encountered by the papacy in its progress and had at first' tended only to shackle it, now presented an insurmountable barrier. The papacy was weakened by its contest with these adverse elements, and it was through its failure to triumph over them that its See also:dream of European dominion, both temporal and spiritual, entered but very incompletely into the field of realities., (A. Lu.) The accession of the Gascon Clement V. in 1305 marks the beginning of a new era in the history of the papacy; for this pope, formerly archbishop of See also:Bordeaux, remained clement v. in France, without once See also:crossing the See also:threshold of 1303^-1314. the Eternal See also:City. Clement's motive for this reso- Settlement lution was his fear that the independence of the atAvignoa. ecclesiastical government might be endangered among the frightful dissensions and party conflicts by which Italy was then convulsed; while at the same time he yielded to the pressure exercised on him by the French king Philip the Fair. In March 1309, Clement V. transferred his See also:residence to Avignon, a See also:town which at that time belonged to the king of Naples, but was surrounded by the countship of Venaissin, which as early as 1228 had passed into the possession of the Roman See. Clement V. remained at Avignon till the day of his death, so that with him begins the so-called Babylonian See also:Exile of the popes. Through this, and his excessive subservience to Philip the Fair, his reign proved the See also:reverse of salutary to the Church. The pope's subservience was above all conspicuous in his attitude towards the proceedings brought against the order of the See also:Temple, which was dissolved by the council of See also:Vienne (see See also:TEMPLARS). His possession of See also:Ferrara involved Clement in a violent struggle with the See also:republic of Venice, in which he was ultimately victorious. His successor John XXII. a native of See also:Cahors, was elected as the result of very stormy negotiations, after a two years' John XXIl. vacancy of the see (1316). Like his predecessor 1316-1334. he fixed his permanent residence at Avignon, where he had formerly been bishop. But while Clement V. had contented himself with the hospitality of the Dominican monastery at Avignon, John XXII. installed himself with great state in the episcopal palace, hard by the See also:cathedral. Characterof The essential features of this new epoch in the the Avignon history of the papacy, beginning with the two popes Papacy mentioned, are intimately connected with this lasting separation from the traditional seat of the papacy, and from Italian soil in general: a separation which reduced the head of the Church to a fatal dependence on the French kings. Themselves Frenchmen, and surrounded by a College of Cardinals in which the French See also:element predominated, the popes gave to their ecclesiastical administration a certain French character, till they stood in mqre and more danger of serving purely national interests, in cases where the obligations of their office demanded complete impartiality. And thus the prestige of the papacy was sensibly diminished by the view, to which the See also:jealousy of the nations soon gave currency, that the supreme dignity of the Church was simply a convenient See also:tool for French statecraft. The See also:accusation might not always be supported by facts, but it tended to shake popular confidence in the head of the universal Church, and to inspire other countries with the feeling of a national opposition to an ecclesiastical regime now entirely Gallicized. The consequent loosening of the ties between the individual provinces of the Church and the Apostolic See, combined with the capricious policy of the court at Avignon, which often regarded nothing but personal and See also:family interests, accelerated the decay of the ecclesiastical organism, and justified the most See also:dismal forebodings for the future. To crown all, the See also:feud between Church and Empire See also:broke out again with unprecedented violence. The most prominent leaders of the opposition to the papacy, whether ecclesiastical or political, joined forces with the German king, Louis of See also:Bavaria, and offered him their aid against John XXII. The clerical opposition was led by the very popular opposition to thePapacy. and influential Minorites who were at that time engaged in a remarkably See also:bitter controversy with the pope as to the practical See also:interpretation of the idea of evangelical poverty. Their influence can be clearly traced in the See also:appeal to a general council, issued by Louis in 1324 at Sachsenhausen near See also:Frankfort-on-the-Main. This document, which confused the political problem with the theological, was bound to envenom the See also:quarrel between emperor and pope beyond all remedy. Side by side with the Minorites, the spokesmen of the specifically political opposition to the papacy were the Parisian professors, Marsilius of See also:Padua and John of Jandun, the composers of the " Defender of the Peace " (defensor pacis). In See also:conjunction with the Minorites and the Ghibellines of Italy, Marsilius succeeded in enticing Louis to the fateful expedition to Rome and the revolutionary actions of 1328. The conferring of the imperial crown by the Roman populace, the deposition of the pope by the same body, and the election of an anti-pope in the See also:person of the Minorite Pietro da Corvara, translated into acts the doctrines of the defensor pacis. The struggle, which still further aggravated the dependence of the pope on France, was waged on both sides with the utmost bitterness, and the end was not in sight when John XXII. died, full of years, on the 4th of See also:December 1334. Even the following pope, Benedict XII., a man of the strictest morality, failed, in spite of his mild and pacific disposition, to adjust the conflict with Louis of Bavaria and the Be xH See also:eccentric See also:Fraticelli. King Philip 1334-1 VI. and the See also:car- 13314ct342. . dinals of the French party worked energetically against the projected peace with Louis; and Benedict was not endowed with sufficient strength of will to carry through his designs in the See also:teeth of their opposition. He failed, equally, to stifle the first beginnings of the war between France and England; but it is at least to his See also:honour that he exerted his whole influence in the cause of peace. His efforts in the direction of reform, moreover, deserve recognition. In Avignon he began to erect himself a suitable residence, which, with considerable additions by later popes, See also:developed into the celebrated papal See also:castle of Avignon. This enormous edifice, founded on the cathedral rock, is an extra-See also:ordinary mixture of castle and See also:convent, palace and fortress. It was Benedict XII. also who elevated the doctrine of the beatific See also:vision of the See also:saints into a See also:dogma. Benedict XII. was again succeeded, in 1342, by a Frenchman from the south, Pierre See also:Roger de See also:Beaufort, who was See also:born in the castle of Maumont, in the diocese of See also:Limoges. He assumed the See also:title of Clement VI. In contrast with his peace-loving predecessor, and in accordance with his own more energetic character, he pursued with decision and success the traditions of John XXII. in his dealings with Louis of Bavaria. With great dexterity he turned the feud between the houses of See also:Luxemburg and See also:Wittelsbach to the destruction of Louis; and the death-struggle between the two seemed about to break out, when Louis met his untimely end. To all appearances the victory of the papacy was decisive: but it was a Pyrrhic victory, as events were quickly to prove. In Rome there ensued, during the pontificate of Clement, the revolutions of the visionary Cola di Rienzo (q.v.) who restored the old republic, though not for long. By his See also:purchase of Avignon, and the creation of numerous French cardinals, the pope consolidated the close connexion of the Roman Church with France: but the interests of that Church suffered severely through the riches and patronage which Clement lavished on his relatives, and through the princely luxury of his court. His generosity—which degenerated into prodigality—compelled him to open fresh See also:sources of See also:revenue; and in this he succeeded, though not without serious detriment to the interests of the Church. It was fortunate for the Church that Clement VI. was followed by a man of an entirely different temperament—Innocent VI. This strict and upright pope appears to have taken /nnocent vr. Benedict XII. for his example. He undertook, 1352-1362. though not with complete success, a reformation of ecclesiastical abuses; and it was he who assisted in restoring the Empire at last to some measure of stability. But the culminating See also:glory of his reign was the restoration of the almost ruined papal dominion in Italy, by means of the highly-gifted Cardinal See also:Albornoz. The restoration of the Apostolic See to its See also:original and proper seat was now possible; and the need for such a step was the more pressing, since residence in the castle at Avignon had become extremely See also:precarious, owing to the ever-increasing confusion of French affairs. Innocent VI., in fact, entertained the thought of visiting Rome; but See also:age and illness prevented his doing so. The intention of Innocent was put into See also:execution by his successor—the learned and pious Urban V. Two events of the first magnitude make his reign one of the most memorable in the century. The first of these was 1362: v f362-d370. the return to Rome. This was an See also:object which the emperor Charles IV. had prosecuted with all his energies; which alone could revive the languishing reputation of the papacy, Clement VI. 1342-1352. 702 by withdrawing it from the turmoils of the Anglo-French War, and bring within the bounds of possibility the much-needed Temporary reformation in ecclesiastical affairs. In 1367 it Return to became an accomplished fact. Turning a See also:deaf See also:ear Rome. to the remonstrances of the French king and the French cardinals, the pope quitted Avignon on the 13th of See also:April 1367; and on the 16th of See also:October he entered Rome, now completely fallen to ruin. The ensuing See also:year, after his return to the Eternal City, witnessed the second great landmark in the reign of Urban V.—the Roman expedition of Charles IV., and the renewal of amicable relations between the Empire and the Church. Unfortunately, the pope failed to See also:deal satisfactorily with the highly complicated situation in Italy; and the result was that, on the 27th of See also:September 1370, he returned to Avignon, where he died on the following 19th of December. It was the opinion of See also:Petrarch that, had Urban remained in Rome, he would have been entitled to rank with the most distinguished men of his era; and, if we See also:discount this single act of weakness, he must be classed as one of the noblest and best of popes. Especial See also:credit is due to his struggles against the moral corruptions of the day, though they proved inadequate to eliminate all traces of the prevalent disorders. Gregory XI., though equally distinguished for his erudition and pure morals, his piety, modesty and wisdom, was fated to Gregory X/.,pay dearly for the weakness of his predecessor in 13704378. abandoning Rome so early. He lived to see the national spirit of Italy thoroughly aroused against a papacy turned French. The disastrous See also:error of almost exclusively appointing Provencals, foreigners ignorant of both the country and the people, to the government of the Papal States, now found a terrible See also:Nemesis: and there came a national upheaval, such as Italy had not yet witnessed. The feud between Italian and Frenchman broke out in a violent form; and it was in vain that St See also:Catherine of See also:Siena proffered her See also:mediation in the bloody strife betwixt the pope and the Florentine republic. The letters that she addressed to the pontiff, on this and other occasions, are documents, which are, perhaps, unique in their See also:kind, and of great See also:literary beauty. It was also St Catherine who prevailed on Gregory XI. to return to Definite Rome. On the 13th of September 1376 he left Return to Avignon; on the 17th of See also:January 1377 he made his Rome. entry into the city of St Peter. Thus ended the exile in France; but it left an evil See also:legacy in the schism under Gregory's successor. Gregory, the last pope whom France has given to the Church, died on the 27th of March 1378, after taking measures to ensure a speedy and unanimous election for his successor. The conclave, which took place in Rome, for the first time for 75 years, resulted iii the election of Bartolomeo Prignano Urban VI., (April 8, 1378), who took the name of Pope Urban VI. 1378-1389. Canonically the election was perfectly valid;l so that the only popes, to be regarded as legitimate, are the successors of Urban. It is true that his election was immediately impugned by the cardinals on frivolous grounds; but the responsibility for this rests, partially at least, with the pope himself, whose reckless and inconsiderate zeal for reform was bound to excite a revolution among the worldly cardinals still yearning for the fleshpots of Avignon. This revolution could already be foreseen with tolerable certainty, when Urban embroiled himself even with his political friends—the See also:queen of Naples and her See also:husband, See also:Duke Otto of Brunswick. Similarly, he quarrelled with See also:Count Onorato Gaetano of See also:Fondi. The cardinals, excited to the highest See also:pitch of irritation, now knew where they could look for support. Thirteen of them assembled at Anagni, and thence, on the 9th of See also:August, issued a passionate manifesto, announcing the invalidity of Urban's election, on Election of the ground that it had been forced upon the conclave Anti-pope by the Roman populace. As soon as the rebellious clement v// cardinals were further assured of the See also:protection of the French king, Charles V., they elected, with the tacit consent of the three Italian cardinals, See also:Robert of See also:Geneva as anti-pope I See Pastor, Geschichte der Pdpste, i., 121. [1305=1590 (Fondi, See also:Sept. 20). Robert assumed the See also:style of Clement VII.; and thus Christendom was brought See also:face to face with the worst misfortune conceivable—the Great 'Schism (1378-1417). The chief responsibility for this rests with the worldly College of Cardinals, who were longing to return to France, and thence See also:drew their See also:inspiration. This college The Great was a creation of the Avignon period; which must Schism. therefore, in the last resort, be considered respon- sible for this appalling calamity. Severe censure, moreover, attaches to Charles V., of France. There may be See also:room for dispute, as to the extent to which the king's See also:share in the schism was due to the instigation of the revolted cardinals; there can be not the slightest doubt that his attitude was the decisive See also:factor in perpetuating and widening the See also:breach. The anti-pope was recognized not only by Charles of France, but by the princes of the Empire dependent on him, by See also:Scotland and See also:Savoy, and finally by the See also:Spanish dominions and Portugal. On the other hand, the emperor Charles IV. and his son See also:Wenceslaus, the greater part of the Empire, England, Hungary, Poland, See also:Denmark, See also:Norway and See also:Sweden, together with the See also:majority of the Italian states—Naples excepted—remained loyal to the pope. Urban, in fact—who meanwhile had created a new College of Cardinals with members of different nationalities—enjoyed one great advantage; his See also:rival failed to hold his own in Italy, with which country the actual decision virtually lay. Unfortunately, in the time that followed, Urban was guilty of the grossest errors, pursuing his personal interests, and sacrificing, all too soon, that universal point of view which ought to have governed his policy. The struggle against his powerful See also:neighbour on the frontier, Queen See also:Joanna of Naples, rapidly became his one guiding motive; and thus he was led into a perfect See also:labyrinth of blunders. He excommunicated the queen as a stiff-necked adherent of the French anti-pope, and in 1381 conferred Naples on the ambitious Charles of Durazzo, with whom he was soon inextricably embroiled; while, a little later, he fell out with his new College of Cardinals. On the 15th of October 1389, he died, with few to lament him. After the death of Urban VI., fourteen cardinals of his obedience assembled, and after long negotiations elected . the See also:scion of a See also:noble Neapolitan family, Cardinal PietroBoniface/x., Tomacelli (Nov. 2, 1389). The title which .he tooki389-i404. was that of Boniface IX. The new pope—a man• of high moral character, great sagacity, eloquence, and of a kindly disposition—at once instituted an entirely different policy from that pursued by his predecessor. This was especially the case in his treatment of Naples. In May 1390 See also:Ladislaus, the son of Charles of Durazzo, who had been assassinated in the See also:February of 1386, received the royal crown at the hands of a papal See also:legate. To his cause Boniface IX. closely attached himself; and his support of the king against the Angevins cost him enormous sums, without which Ladislaus could not have secured his victory over the French claimant. By these means, the schism was averted from Italy, and Naples won for the Roman obedience. The situation in the papal state, which Boniface found in the greatest confusion, was at the outset far more difficult to deal with. But here also he attained in time a considerable measure of success, although the methods employed were scarcely above See also:criticism. His greatest success, however, was gained in the Eternal City itself; for he contrived, after many vicissitudes, to induce the See also:Romans to annul their republican constitution and acknowledge the papal supremacy, even in municipal matters. To give this supremacy a firmer basis, Boniface fortified the Vatican and the Capitol, and restored the castle of St Angelo—which had previously been used as a quarry—providing it with walls and battlements, and erecting a See also:tower in the centre. This castle, indeed, yielded a safe shelter to the pope in January 1400, when the Colonnas made their attempt to surprise Rome. However, the See also:adventure failed; and by the aid of Ladislaus, the castles of the Colonnas in the vicinity of Rome were destroyed. In 1401 this powerful family made its submission, accepting the favourable terms which the pope had had the See also:good sense to offer. Henceforward quiet prevailed, and Boniface ruled as a stern master in Rome. But he was soon confronted with an extremely dangerous enemy, in the person of Duke Gian Galeazzo Visconti of See also:Milan, who was aiming at the sovereignty of all Italy. In See also:July 1402 he made himself master of See also:Bologna; and his death in September of the same year was a stroke of good See also:fortune for the pope. Bologna was now recovered for the Church (Sept. 2, 1403), and soon afterwards See also:Perugia also surrendered. Thus Boniface IX., as a secular See also:prince, occupies an important position; but as pope his activity must be unfavourably judged. Even if See also:Dietrich of See also:Niem frequently painted him too See also:black, there is no question that the means which Boniface employed to fill the papal treasury seriously impaired the prestige of the highest spiritual office and the reverence due to it. His nepotism, again, casts a dark shadow over his memory: but most regret-table of all was his indifference towards the ending of the schism. Yet it should be See also:borne in mind, that, when Clement VII. died suddenly on the 16th of September 1394, and the Avignon cardinals immediately elected the Spaniard Pedro de See also:Luna as anti-pope (under the title of Benedict XIII.), Boniface IX. was left face to face with an extraordinarily skilful, adroit, and unscrupulous antagonist. On the death of Boniface (Oct. 1, 1404), the Roman cardinals once more elected a Neapolitan, Cosimo dei Migliorati, who, at Innocent the age of 65, assumed the name of Innocent VII. 1404- Innocent, who was animated by a great love for the 1406. sciences and all the arts of peace, enjoyed only a brief pontificate, but his reign is not without importance, if only as an example of the generous patronage which the papacy—even in its darkest days—has lavished on literature and See also:science. Significant also is the foothold gained at this time in the Curia itself by the humanists—Poggio, See also:Bruni and others. The See also:appointment of these skilled humanist writers to the Chancery was a consequence of the difficult conditions of the time. The crisis which the Catholic Church underwent, during this terrible epoch, was the greatest in all her history: for while everything was thrown into the utmost confusion by the life and death struggles of the rival popes, while the ecclesiastical revenues and emoluments were used almost exclusively for the See also:reward of See also:partisan service, while everywhere the worldliness of the clergy had reached its highest pitch, heretical movements, by which the whole order of the Church was threatened with overthrow, were gaining strength in England, France, Italy. Germany and especially in Bohemia. The crisis came to a head in the pontificate of Gregory XII. This pope, so distinguished in many respects, owed his election Gregory mainly to the circumstance that he was considered XII.,1406.. a zealous See also:champion of the restoration of unity within 1415. the Church: and he displayed, in fact, during the earlier portion of his reign, an exalted See also:enthusiasm for this great task. Later his attitude changed; and the protracted negotiations for a See also:conference with Benedict XIII. remained fruitless. The result of this change in the attitude of Gregory was the formation of a strong malcontent party in the College of Cardinals; to counteract whose influence, the pope—faithless to the conditions attached to his election—resorted to the See also:plan of creating new members. Stormy discussions at See also:Lucca followed; but they failed to prevent Gregory from nominating four fresh cardinals (May 9, 1408). The sequel was that seven of the cardinals attached to Gregory's Roman Curia withdrew to See also:Pisa. At the same period, the relations of Benedict XIII. with France suffered a significant modification. In that country, Benedict it became more and more manifest that Benedict mu. and had no genuine desire to heal the schism in the France. Church, in spite of the ardent zeal for union which he had displayed immediately before and after his election. In May 1408 France withdrew from his obedience; and it was not long before French policy succeeded in,effecting a reconciliation and understanding between the cardinals of Benedict XIII. i and those who had seceded from Gregory XII. Precisely as See also:Iif the Holy See were vacant, the cardinals began to act as the actual rulers of the Church, and issued formal invitations to a council to be opened at Pisa on the Feast of the See also:Annunciation (March 25) 1409. Both popes attempted to See also:foil the disaffected cardinals by convening councils of their own; but their efforts were doomed to failure. On the other hand, the council of the cardinals—though, by the strict rules of canonical law, its See also:convocation was absolutely illegal—attained the utmost importance. But these rules, and, in fact, the whole Catholic doctrine of the primacy were almost entirely obscured by the schism. Scholars like Langenstein, See also:Gerson and Zabarella, evolved a new theory as to ecumenical councils, which from the point of view of Roman Catholic principles must be described as revolutionary. At the See also:synod of the dissident cardinals, assembled at Pisa, views of this type were in the ascendant; and, although protests were not lacking, the necessities of the time served as a pretext for ignoring all objections. That the council was merely a tool in the hands of the ambitious and adroit Baldassare See also:Cossa, was a fact unsuspected by its members who were animated by a fiery enthusiasm for the re-establishment of ecclesiastical unity; nor did they pause to reflect' that an action against both popes could not possibly be lawful. Since whole universities and numerous scholars had pronounced in favour of the new theories, the See also:Pisan synod dismissed all canonical scruples, and unhesitatingly laid claim to authority over both popes, one of whom was necessarily the legitimate pope. It was in vain that Carlo di Malatesta, a stanch adherent of Gregory, sought at the See also:eleventh See also:hour to negotiate a See also:compromise between Gregory and the synod. It was in vain that this cultured prince, imbued with the principles of See also:humanism, represented to the cardinals that this new path would See also:lead quickly to the See also:goal, but that this goal could not be unity but a triple schism. The council declared that it was canonically convened, ecumenical, and representative of the whole Catholic Church; then proceeded immediately to the trial and deposition of Benedict XIII. and Gregory XII. The synod grounded its See also:procedure against the rival popes on a fact, ostensibly patent to all, but actually believed by none—that they were both supporters of the schism, and not merely this, but heretics in the truest and fullest sense of the word, since their attitude had impugned and subverted the See also:article of faith concerning the one Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. On the ground of this extremely dubious See also:declaration, designed to compensate for the See also:absence of any See also:authentic and See also:firm See also:foundation in ecclesiastical law, the Pisan See also:assembly on the 5th of See also:June announced the deposition of Gregory XII. and Benedict XIII., as manifest heretics and partisans of the schism. Alexander The next step was to elect a new pope; and on the v., 1409- 26th of June 1409 the choice fell on the See also:venerable /'"6'• cardinal-archbishop of Milan, the Greek Petros Filargis, who assumed the title of Alexander V. The premature and futile character of these drastic and violent proceedings at Pisa was only too speedily evident. The powerful following which Gregory enjoyed in Italy and Germany, and Benedict in See also:Spain and Scotland, ought to have shown from the very first that a See also:simple decree of deposition could never suffice to overthrow the two popes. Thus, as the See also:sentence of Pisa found recognition in France and England, as well as in many parts of Germany and Italy, the synod, which was to secure the restoration of unity, proved only the cause for worse confusion—instead of two, there were now three popes. Alexander V., the pope of the council, died on the 3rd of May 1410. The cardinals at once elected his successor—Baldassare Cossa, who took the name of John See also:XXIII. Of all the consequences of the disastrous Pisan council, 14b John XXl/l., =1415. the election of this man was the most unfortunate. True, it cannot be demonstrated that all the fearful accusations afterwards levelled at John XXIII. were based on fact: but it is certain that this cunning politician was so far infected with Council of Pisa. the corruption of his age that he was not in the least degree fitted to fulfil the requirements of the supreme ecclesiastical dignity. From him the welfare of the Church had nothing to See also:hope. All eyes were consequently turned to the energetic German king, See also:Sigismund, who was inspired by the best motives, Council of and who succeeded in surmounting the formidable See also:Constance. obstacles which barred the way to an ecumenical council. It was mainly due to Sigismund's indefatigable and magnificent activity, that the council of Constance met and was so numerously attended. It is remarkable how fortune seemed to assist his efforts. The See also:capture of Rome by King Ladislaus of Naples had compelled John XXIII. to take See also:refuge in See also:Florence (June 1413), where that dangerous See also:guest received a not very friendly welcome. Since John's most immediate need was now protection and assistance against his terrible opponent Ladislaus, he sent, towards the close of August 1413, Cardinals Chalant and See also:Francesco Zabarella, together with the celebrated Greek See also:Manuel Chrysoloras, to King Sigismund, and commissioned them to determine the time and place of the forthcoming council. The agreement was soon concluded. On the 9th of December John XXIII. signed the bull convening the council at Constance, and pledged his word to appear there in person. He might have hoped that his share in convening the synod would give him a certain right to regulate its proceedings, and that, by the aid of his numerous Italian prelates, he would be able to influence it more or less according to his views. But in this he was greatly deceived. So soon as he realized the true position of affairs he attempted to break up the council by his See also:flight to See also:Schaffhausen (March 20-21, 1415)—a project in which he would doubtless have succeeded but for the sagacity and energy of Sigismund. In spite of everything, the excitement in Constance was unbounded. In the midst of the confusion, which reigned supreme in the council, the upper hand was gained by that party which held that the only method by which the schism could be ended and a reformation of ecclesiastical discipline ensured was a drastic limitation of the papal privileges. The limitation was to be effected by the general council: consequently, the pope must be brought under the jurisdiction of that council, and—in the opinion of many—remain under its jurisdiction for all time. Thus, in the third, fourth and fifth general sessions it was enacted, with characteristic precipitation, that an ecumenical council could not be dissolved or set aside by the pope, without its consent: the corollary to which was, that the present council, notwithstanding the flight of John XXIII., continued to exist in the full possession of its powers, and that, in matters pertaining to belief and the eradication of schism, all men—even the pope—were bound to obey the general council, whose authority extended over all Christians, including the pope himself. By these decrees—which created as the supreme authority within the Church a power which had not been appointed as such by See also:Christ 1—the members of the council of Constance sought to give.their position a theoretical basis before proceeding to See also:independent action against the pope. But these declarations as to the superiority of an ecumenical council never attained legal validity, in spite of their See also:defence by Pierre d'See also:Ailly and Gerson. Emanating from an assembly without a head, which could not possibly be an ecumenical council without the assent of one of the popes (of whom one was necessarily the legitimate pope)—enacted, in opposition to the cardinals, by a majority of persons for the most part unqualified, and in a fashion which Deposition was thus distinctly different from that of the old of John councils—they can only be regarded as a coup de XX//L main, a last resort in the universal confusion. On the 29th of May the council deposed John XXIII. The legitimate pope, Gregory XII., now consented to resign, but under strict See also:reservation of the legality of his pontificate. Here of course the author speaks of the papal supremacy and not of papal See also:infallibility in matters of faith and morals—a doctrine which was formally declared a dogma of the Church only at the Vatican council in 187o.[ED.] By consenting to this, the synod indirectly acknowledged that its previous sessions had not possessed an ecumenical character, and also that Gregory's predecessors, up to Resignation Urban VI., had been legitimate popes. In presence of Gregory of the council, reconstituted by Gregory, Malatesta XII announced the resignation of the latter; and the grateful assembly appointed Gregory legatus a latere to the See also:marches of Ancona—a dignity which he was not destined to enjoy for long, as he died on the 18th of October 1417. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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