The lives of the popes

CHAPTER X.-An interdict in Rome-Martyrdom of Arnold-The emperor Barbarossa does homage to the pope-Origin of Guelfs and Ghibbelines-ALEXANDER III.-Ineffectual struggles of Barbarossa, and final submission to the pope-Murder of Thomas à BecketTimid policy of Henry 11, of England-Papal arrogance and persecution-LUCIUS III.-URBAN III.-GREGORY VIII. CLEMENT IIICELESTINE III.-A third Crusade-Foolish arrogance of Celestine CHAPTER XI.-Noonday of papal power-INNOCENT III.-Persecution of heretics-Origin of the Inquisition-Albigenses and Waldenses-New Crusades-Capture of Constantinople-Crusade of the children-Minority of the emperor-Papal policy-Pope forbids the marriage of the French king-Confers royal titles-And humiliates John, king of England

. 107 CHAPTER XII.-HONORIUS III.-Another crusade-Mendicant orders established-St. Francis-St. Dominic-GREGORY IX.-Pomp of his inauguration-CELESTINE IV.-INNOCENT IV.-His warlike temper and great power

CHAPTER XIII.-Thirst of the popes for temporal power-ALEXANDER IV. Turbulence of the barons-URBAN IV.-Quarrels with Manfred of Naples-CLEMENT IV.-Battle of Grandella--Termination of the struggle between popes and emperors-GREGORY X.-His zeal for the Crusades- INNOCENT v.- ADRIAN v.-JOHN XXI.NICHOLAS III.-His crafty policy

CHAPTER XIV.-MARTIN IV.-The "Sicilian Vespers "-HONORIUS IV. NICHOLAS IV.-Singular character of CELESTINE v. His resignation-BONIFACE VIII.-Assumes the double crown-Gives away kingdoms Quarrels with Philip the Fair - Institutes jubileesClaims submission from Philip-Boniface suddenly captured-Dies insane-Dante's allusions to him

CHAPTER XV.-Decay of papal authority-BENEDICT XI.-CLEMENT v.--Removal of papal court to Avignon-Exterminates the Templars -JOHN XXII.-Ilis avarice-BENEDICT XII.-His moderation and good intentions-CLEMENT VI.-His licentiousness-Rienzi the tribune-Joanna of Naples and the pope-Another jubilee

120

130

141

. 154

CHAPTER XVI.-INNOCENT VI.-URBAN V. is persuaded by Petrarch to restore the papal court to Rome-He fails-It is accomplished by GREGORY Xi.-Growth of corruption-Symptoms of popular discontent.

165

CHAPTER XVII.-Commencement of the "Great Schism"-URBAN VI. His harshness and violent temper-BONIFACE IX.-His avarice -The indulgence-mongers-INNOCENT VII.-GREGORY XII.-His perjury-The council of Pisa elect ALEXANDER V.-Three popes at once 171 CHAPTER XVIII.-JOHN XXIII. succeeds Alexander-THE COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE-All the popes set aside-Huss summoned before the council-His trial and martyrdom-That of Jerome of PragueElection of MARTIN V.-Who dissolves the council-His pontificate and death-General review

180

THE

LIVES OF THE POPES.

CHAPTER I.

EFFORTS OF THE ROMAN PRIESTHOOD TO REFORM

THEMSELVES.

A.D. 1046-1052.

HISTORY affords us few instances of renovated empires. Their progress from decay to ruin is usually more certain than their advance from incipient vigour to dominant maturity. The power of resisting decay is indeed very unequal, but even the old Roman empire, long as it struggled for existence, fell at last beneath the inevitable pressure of time. The papal power affords, however, a remarkable exception to the general rule. From a state of inanition that threatened instant death, it arose again to astonish the world by its might, and to win even a greater dominion. The secret of its strength lay in the moral weakness of mankind. It had already paralysed by its touch the minds of men. As religion is the strongest motive to high and noble deeds, so is superstition,

or the perversion of religion, the most powerful chain wherewith to bind and fetter the soul. The authority that wields it and rivets it upon our moral nature may securely exult in the slavish subserviency and degrading thraldom of its victims. In the middle ages superstition had its mightiest hold on the European mind, binding and swathing into helpless subjection all the institutions of society. The pope's was the hand that held and tightened at will the cords of bondage; and we shall accordingly see, in the further progress of our narrative, how the pontiff's power increased with the strengthening of superstition, and how it rapidly declined when superstition relaxed its grasp at the bidding of advancing civilization, and above all of reviving religion.

The eleventh century opened amidst general murmurs of discontent at the profligacy and impiety of the clergy. Too faithfully copying the example of their papal head, the inferior orders of the priesthood bought and sold the sacred office without the faintest attempt at secrecy, or the least discovery of shame; using it when purchased not at all for the benefit of souls, but to their lasting injury, by making it merely an instrument to worldly and licentious ends. "The world," says a witness of their own, "lay in wickedness; holiness had disappeared, justice had perished, and truth had been buried; Simon Magus lorded it over the church, whose bishops and priests were devoted to luxury and vice."

To check these growing evils had been the main concern of the emperor Henry II., when, at the council of Sutri, in 1046, he deposed the three rival popes, Benedict Ix., Gregory vi., and Sylvester m., appointing in their stead his faithful subject and hearty coadjutor in ecclesiastical reform, pope CLEMENT II.

Neither Henry, however, nor Clement, nor any other influential leader of that age appears to have had a just view of the reform that was really wanting. Religion had, in truth, already fled away in disgust from the society that called itself The Church, and had taken refuge in the sequestered valleys of Piedmont and the south of France; and she was not to be lured back to the busy world by men who would either keep her in intolerable bondage to secular control, as the emperors designed, or compel her to become the mere handmaid of priestly ambition, as Clement and the reforming clergy would have made her. Neither the imperial party nor the reforming churchmen seemed aware of the sad truth, that religion herself would stand aloof equally from both, shocked at the presumption of the one, and the hypocrisy of the other. The fundamental error on both sides was the prevalent mistake of the age, the supposing that religion consisted in the formal discharge of sacerdotal functions by a peculiar class of men, rather than in a vital and soul-subduing faith in the great Highpriest-the Divine Redeemer of mankind.

The immediate effect of Henry's interference

« Previous Continue »

Books

The lives of the popes, Volumes 1-2