Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/521

Rh POPEDOM 501 gory arion

the Roman pontiff of deposing even kings received the im plicit sanction of a general council. The empire, worsted in Italy, broke down in Germany. In 1268 Conradin, the grandson of Frederick and the last representative of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, was cruelly put to death by Charles of Anjou, and the long contest of the empire with the popedom came to an end. The policy of GREGORY X. (1271-76), a man of ability and moderation, deserves the praise of having apparently aimed at the general good of Christendom, so far, at least, as not incompatible with the overweening pretensions which he continued to uphold. Gregory endeavoured to compose the bitter jealousies and long-continued strife of the Italian states by the establishment of a general pro tectorate under Charles of Anjou, king of Naples, and to reconcile Guelf and Ghibelline by concessions to the leaders of the latter party. He effected a temporary agreement with the Eastern Church ; and he sought to put an end to the abuses and rivalries which now almost invariably accompanied each election to the pontificate by intro ducing a new method of proceeding on such occasions. In the meantime, the growing spirit of nationality had already received a striking exemplification in France by the enact ment of the Pragmatic Sanction (1268). Of this measure, which has been described as the foundation of the Gal- lican liberties, it will here suffice to say that it consists of a series of enactments expressly directed against all those encroachments of the popedom with respect to collations to benefices, elections to bishoprics, simoniacal practices, ecclesiastical promotions, imposts, and other forms of exaction, such as we have already noted in their gradual growth. Shielded from criticism by the fact that it was sanctioned by the pious Louis IX., the loyal son of the church, the Pragmatic Sanction passed at the time unchal- ^ en g ec - ev en by the papacy itself. Of the extent to which the latter was becoming more and more a political institu tion we have striking evidence in the brief pontificate of CELESTINE V. (1 294). A hermit of the Abruzzi, of austere and holy life, he had been elected pope in the hope that his reputation for virtue might in some measure restore the character of his office. Something more, however, than mere sanctity and blamelessness were now necessary for the discharge of the duties of a position which by its associa tions demanded the exercise of statecraft, political intrigue, and a wide knowledge of affairs. In less than six months Celestine resigned an office for which by lack of experience and ability he was altogether unfitted, but leaving behind him a tradition of self-devoted and holy life which found expression in the institution of a new religious order, that of the Celestinians, afterwards blended with the Fraticelli, or Spiritual Franciscans. Upon BONIFACE VIII. (1294-1303) the signs of the times and the development of a spirit and of institutions incompatible with the pre tensions of his predecessors were altogether lost. A man of considerable abilities, indomitable will, and imperious nature, he enunciated in yet more uncompromising terms the theory of the papal supremacy. In the memorable bull Unam sanctam Ecclesiam (18th Nov. 1302), he de clared that the church could have but one head a two- headed church would be a monstrosity; and he explained away the traditional interpretation of the symbolic mean ing of the two swords, by affirming that the temporal sword wielded by the monarch was borne only at the will and by the permission of the pontiff (ad nutum et patientiam sacerdotis). Dazzled by the apparent success which at tended his first measures, he was only confirmed in his policy by the resistance he encountered in France and England. In Philip the Fair, however, he was matched with an antagonist as resolute and unscrupulous as him self and one who better understood the tendencies of the age. In the struggle that ensued Philip had the whole French nation, including the episcopal order, on his side ; the pontiff was worsted, and his humiliation and sense of defeat hastened his end. With the death of Boniface fell also the papacy of the Fall of Middle Ages, both in theory and in fact: in theory, the through the ascendency of counter views such as those put me(liaeval forth in the De Monarchia of Dante, and in the writings of ^Egidius Colonna and John of Paris, which enforced the reasonableness and necessity of the supremacy of the political power ; in fact, from the manner in which the French monarch succeeded not only in repelling the papal pretensions but in eventually reducing the Roman see itself to be a mere instrument of his will and a submissive agent in the furtherance of his policy. The origin, the growth, the characteristics, the assump tions, and the downfall of the mediaeval papacy having now been traced out, it remains to note, as concisely as practicable, the chief features in the later history of the institution. In the year 1305 CLEMENT V. (1305-14), The an Aquitanian by birth, was elected after long contention popes at to the pontificate. He was invested with the tiara at ^ig 11011 - Lyons, and subsequently (1309) transferred his court from Rome to Avignon. The pressure put upon him by King Philip is generally assigned as the cause of this step, but it is not improbable that he was only too glad to escape from the strife then waging between the two great fac tions, the Orsinis and the Colonnas, at Rome. At Avignon, for a period of nearly seventy years, derisively styled the &quot; Babylonian captivity,&quot; pope after pope held his court. Degraded to a state of splendid vassalage to France, their Their luxury, pride, rapacity, and avarice became a bye-word in subser- Europe, while their complete subservience to the political aims of the French crown effectually alienated from them the good will and sympathy of England and Germany. When JOHN XXII. (1316-34) sought to interfere in a double election to the empire, the diet at Frankfort de nounced his whole policy in terms that startled Europe by their boldness; and the electoral union at Rense in 1338 passed a resolution declaring that &quot; whoever was chosen by the electors became at once both king and emperor, and did not require that his election should be approved and sanc tioned by the apostolic see.&quot; Other causes contributed effectually to lower the papacy in the estimation of Europe. Clement V. concurred in the infamous devices by which Philip procured the suppression of the Order of the Templars, and the barbarous cruelties inflicted on the Growth noble victims produced in the popular mind a feeling of of abuses deepest aversion for the authors of those proceedings. &quot;? the The traffic in benefices was now again developing into a gigantic scandal and abuse. Annates and Peter s pence were exacted with an insatiable rapacity. Italy itself, in deed, torn between contending parties and impoverished by the interruptions to commerce, offered but a barren field for plunder, but in the countries north the Alps the pope s emissaries were everywhere to be seen, ever intent on their errand of exaction. The wealth thus acquired was partly devoted towards extending the territorial pos sessions of the see ; and Avignon and the county of Venais- sin, purchased in 1348 from the crown of Provence, remained papal until the French Revolution. It is not a little significant that this increase in wealth and territory should have been concomitant with the sinking of the moral influence of the papacy to its lowest ebb. In Eng land the civil power endeavoured to check this system of extortion by re-enacting the Statutes of Prsemunire and Provisors. In Germany the deep discontent to which it gave rise formed an important contributing element in the causes which brought about the Reforma tion. In France the luxury and gross immorality of the