Page:History of Freedom.djvu/397

 DÖLLINGER ON THE TEMPORAL POWER 353

Chãrlemagne came to an end, the Roman clergy had no defence against the nobles, and the Romans did all that (nen could do to ruin the Papacy. There was little remaining of the state which the Popes had formed in conjunction with the emperors. In the middle of the tenth century the Exarchate and the Pentapolis were in the po\:ver of Berengarius, and Rome in the hands of the Senator Alberic. Alberic, understanding that a secular principality could not last long, obtained the election of his son Octavian, who became Pope John XII. Otho the Great, who had restored the empire, and claimed to exercise its old prerogative, deposed the new Pope; and when the Romans elected another, sent him also into exile beyond the Alps. For a whole century after this time there was no 'trace of freedom of election. Without the emperor, the Popes \vere in the hands of the Roman factions, and dependence on the emperor was better for the Church than dependence on the nobles. The Popes appointed under the influence of the prelates, \vho were the ecclesias- tical advisers of the Imperial Government, were preferable to the nominees of the Roman chiefs, who had no object or consideration but their o\vn ambition, and were inclined to speculate on the worthlessness of their candidates. During the first half of the eleventh century they recovered their predominance, and the deliverance of the Church came once more from Germany. A succession of German Popes, named by the emperor, opened the way for the permanent reform which is associated with the name of Gregory VII. Up to this period the security of the freedom of the Holy See was the protection of the emperor, and Gregory was the last Pope who asked for the imperial confirmation. Between the middle of the ninth century and the middle of the, eleventh the greater part of the Roman territory had passed into the hands of laymen. Some por- tions \vere possessed by the emperor, some by the great Italian families, and the revenues of the Pope \vere derived from the tribute of his vassals. Sylvester II. complains that this \vas very small, as the possessions of the Church 2A