Page:Outlines of European History.djvu/575

 The Medieval Church at its Height 491 Against this impartial system Boniface protested in the famous The bull, bull, Clericis laicos (1296). He claimed that the laity had always of Bonifaee''*' been exceedingly hostile to the clergy, and that the rulers were ^'^^^' ^^^6 now exhibiting this hostility by imposing heavy burdens upon the Church, forgetting that they had no control over the clergy and their possessions. The Pope, therefore, forbade all church- men, including the monks, to pay, without his consent, to a king or ruler any part of the Church's revenue or possessions upon any pretext whatsoever. He likewise forbade the kings and princes under pain of excommunication to presume to exact any such payments. It happened that just as the Pope was prohibiting the clergy Boniface from contributing to the taxes, Philip the Fair had forbidden Hj^ited right the exportation of all gold and silver from the country. In that ^^^^^^^j^^j^ way he cut off an important source of the Pope's revenue, for the Church of France could obviously no longer send anything to Rome. The Pope was forced to give up his extreme claims. He explained the following year that he had not meant to inter- fere with the payment on the clergy's part of customary feudal dues nor with their loans of money to the king.^ In spite of this setback, the Pope never seemed more com- The jubilee pletely the recognized head of the western world than during the first great jubilee, in the year 1300, when Boniface called together all Christendom to celebrate the opening of the new century by a great religious festival at Rome. It is reported that two millions of people, coming from all parts of Europe, visited the churches of Rome, and that in spite of widening the streets, many were crushed in the crowd. So great was the influx of money into the papal treasury that two assistants were kept busy with rakes collecting the offerings which were deposited at the tomb of St. Peter. Boniface was, however, very soon to realize that even if Christendom regarded Rome as its religious center, the na- tions would not accept him as their political head. When he 1 See Readings^ chap. xxi.