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BONIFACE VIII

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Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 207 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BONIFACE VIII . (Benedetto Gaetano), See also:pope from 1294 to 1303, was See also:born of See also:noble See also:family at Anagni, studied See also:canon and See also:civil See also:law in See also:Italy and possibly at See also:Paris. After being appointed to canonicates at See also:Todi (See also:June 126o) and in See also:France, he became an See also:advocate and then a See also:notary at the papal See also:court. With See also:Cardinal Ottoboni, who was to aid the See also:English See also:king, See also:Henry III., against the bishops of the baronial party, he was besieged in the See also:Tower of See also:London by the rebellious See also:earl of See also:Gloucester, but was rescued by the future See also:Edward I., on the 27th of See also:April 1267. Created cardinal See also:deacon in 1281, and in 1291 cardinal See also:priest (SS. Sylvestri et See also:Martini), he was entrusted with many See also:diplomatic See also:missions and became very influential in the Sacred See also:College. He helped the ineffective See also:Celestine V. to abdicate, and was him-self chosen pope at See also:Naples on the 24th of See also:December 1294. Contrary to See also:custom, the See also:election was not made unanimous, probably because of the hostility of certain See also:French cardinals. Celestine attempted to See also:rule in extreme monastic poverty and humility; not so Boniface, who ardently asserted the lordship of the papacy over all the kingdoms of the See also:world. He was crowned at See also:Rome in See also:January 1295 with See also:great pomp. He planned to pacify the See also:West and then recover the See also:Holy See also:Land from the infidel; but during his nine years' reign, so far from being a peacemaker, he involved the papacy itself in a See also:series of controversies with leading See also:European See also:powers. Avarice, lofty claims and frequent exhibitions of arrogance made him many foes.

The policy of supporting the interests of the See also:

house of See also:Anjou in See also:Sicily proved a See also:grand failure. The See also:attempt to build up great estates for his family made most of the See also:Colonna his enemies. Until 1303 he refused to recognize See also:Albert of See also:Austria as the rightful See also:German king. Assuming that he was overlord of See also:Hungary, he declared that its See also:crown should fall to the house of Anjou. He humbled See also:Eric VI. of See also:Denmark, but was unsuccessful in the attempt to try Edward I., the conqueror of See also:Scotland, on the See also:charge of interfering with a papal See also:fief; for See also:parliament declared in 1301 that Scotland had never been a fief of Rome. The most noted conflict of Boniface was that with See also:Philip IV. of France. In 1296, by the See also:bull Clericis laicos, the pope forbade the levying of taxes, however disguised, on the See also:clergy without his consent. Forced to recede from this position, Boniface canonized See also:Louis IX. (1297). The hostilities were later renewed; in 1302 Boniface himself drafted and published the indubitably genuine bull Unam sanctam, one of the strongest See also:official statements of the papal See also:prerogative ever made. The See also:weight of See also:opinion now tends to deny that any See also:part of this much-discussed document See also:sale the last See also:sentence bears the marks of an infallible utterance. The French See also:vice-See also:chancellor See also:Guillaume de See also:Nogaret was sent to See also:arrest the pope, against whom See also:grave charges had been brought, and bring him to France to be deposed by an See also:oecumenical See also:council.

The See also:

accusation of See also:heresy has usually been dismissed as a See also:slander; but See also:recent investigations make it probable, though not quite certain, that Boniface privately held certain Averroistic tenets, such as the denial of the See also:immortality of the soul. With Sciarra Colonna, Nogaret surprised Boniface at Anagni, on the 7th of See also:September 1303, as the latter was about to pronounce the sentence of excommunication207 against the king. After a nine-See also:hours' truce the See also:palace was stormed, and Boniface was found lying in his See also:bed, a See also:cross clasped to his See also:breast; that he was sitting in full See also:regalia on the papal See also:throne is a See also:legend. Nogaret claimed that he saved the pope's See also:life from the vengeful Colonna. Threatened, but not maltreated, the pope had remained three days under arrest when the citizens of Anagni freed him. He was conducted to Rome, only to be confined in the Vatican by the See also:Orsini. He died on the rith or 12th of See also:October 1303, not eighty-six years old, as has commonly been believed, but perhaps under seventy, at all events not over seventy-five. " He shall come in like a See also:fox, reign like a See also:lion, See also:die like a See also:dog," is a gibe wrongly held to be a prophecy of his unfortunate predecessor. See also:Dante, who had become embittered against Boniface while on a See also:political See also:mission in Rome, calls him the " See also:Prince of the new See also:Pharisees " (Inferno, 27, 85), but laments that " in his See also:Vicar See also:Christ was made a cap tive," and was "mocked a second See also:time" (See also:Purgatory, 20, 87 f.). AurnoRITIEs.—Digard, Faucon and See also:Thomas, See also:Les Registres de Boniface VIII (Paris, 1884 ff.) ; Wetzer and Welte, Kirchenlexikon, vol. ii. (2nd ed., See also:Freiburg, 1883), 1037–1062; See also:Herzog-Hauck, Realencyklopadie, vol. iii. (3rd ed., See also:Leipzig, 1897), 291-300, contains an elaborate bibliography; J.

Loserth, Geschiclzte See also:

des spateren Mittelalters (See also:Munich, 1903), 206-232; H. Finke, Aus den Tagen Bonifaz VIII. (See also:Munster, 1902) is dreary but See also:epoch-making; Gottingische gelehrte Anzeigen, Jahrgang 166, 857-869 (See also:Berlin, 1904) ; R. Scholz, Die Publizistik zur Zest Philipps des Schonen and Bonifaz VIII. (See also:Stuttgart, 1903) ; K. See also:Wendt, " See also:War Bonifaz VIII. ein Ketzer?" in von See also:Sybel's Historische Zeitschrift, vol. xciv. (Munich, 1905), 1-66. See also:Special literature on Unam Sanctam: C. Mirbt, Quellen zur Geschichte des Papsttums (2nd ed., See also:Tubingen, 1901), 148 f.; Kirchenlexikon, xii. (1901), 229-240, an exhaustive discussion; H. Finke, 146-190; J. H.

See also:

Robinson, Readings in European See also:History, vol. i. (See also:Boston, 1904), 346 if. On Clericis laicos: See also:Gee and See also:Hardy, Documents Illustrative of English See also:Church History (London, 1896), 87 if. (W. W.

End of Article: BONIFACE VIII

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