Page:A history of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, volume 3.djvu/649

 DEMORALIZATION OF THE CHURCH. £33 the Archbishop of Narbonne, describing the utter demoralization of the clergy of his province, so lately purified of heresy by the tireless labors of the Inquisition.* Benedict's well-intentioned effort at reformation was fruit- less, and after his death matters only became worse, if possible. Under Clement VI. vices of all kinds flourished more luxuriantly than ever. In 1351 a Carmelite, preaching before the pope and cardinals, inveighed against their turpitude in terms which terri- fied every one, and caused his immediate dismissal. Shortly after- wards a letter was affixed to the portals of the churches addressed to the pope and his cardinals. It was signed Leviathan, Prince of Darkness, and was dated in the centre of hell. He saluted his vicar the pope and his servants the cardinals, with whose help he had overcome Christ ; he commended them for all their vices, and sent them the good wishes of their mother, Pride, and their sis- ters, Avarice, Lust, and the rest, who boast of their Avell-being through their help. Clement was sorely moved, and fell danger- ously sick, but the writer was never discovered. When Clement died, the next year, a majority of the cardinals were disposed to cast their votes for Jean Birel, Prior of the Grande Chartreuse, but the Cardinal of Perigord warned them that their favorite had such zeal for the Church, and was a man of such justice, equity, and disregard of persons, that he would speedily bring them back to their ancient condition, and that in four months their coursers would be converted into beasts of burden. Frightened at this prospect, they incontinently elected Innocent VI. f These stories are verified by Petrarch's descriptions of the papal court at Avignon, wherein even his glowing rhetoric fails to satisfy the vehemence of his indignation, while the details which he gives to justify his ardor are unfit to repeat. It is the West- ern Babylon, and nothing which is told of Assyria or Egypt, or even of Tartarus, can equal it, for all such are fables by compari- son. Here you find Nimrod and Semiramis, Minos and Rhadaman- thus, Cerberus consuming all things, Pasiphae under the bull, and Planet. Eccles. Lib. n. Art. vii. — Baluz. et Mansi, III. 24-5. t Chron. Glassberger ann. 1335.— Albert. Argentinens. Chron. ann. 1351. — Hist. Ordin. Carthus. (Martene Ampl. Coll. VI. 187).
 * Marsil. Patav. Defensor Pacis it. xi. Cf. cap. xxiii., xxiv. — Alvar. Pelag. de