SOURCES.

FOOTNOTES:

[545:1] Thatcher and McNeal, No. 105; Henderson, 420.

[545:2] Barry, The Papal Monarchy, 287, calls him "a Roman with Northern blood in his veins."

[546:1] He wrote: De contemptu mundi, sivi de miseria humanæ conditionis (Migne, vol. 217. Part tr. in Greenwood, v., 349); Mysteriorum Evangelicæ Legis et Sacramenti Eucharistiæ; De Quadrioartita Specia Nuptiorum (lost).

[547:1] Hurter, vol. i., 89-90; Greenwood, vol. v., 371.

[547:2] Gesta Inn. III., sec. ii., p. 3, 4.

[547:3] Ep. Inn. III., lib. i., ep. 117, 335.

[549:1] Gesta, sec. 8; Ep. i., 23, 577; Hurter, i., 125; Thatcher and McNeal, No. 123.

[550:1] Greenwood, v., 376; Ep., i., 410. A papal bull declaring Sicily a papal fief was accepted without opposition.

[550:2] Gesta, sec. ii.

[550:3] Ibid., sec. 9, 10.

[550:4] Creighton, i., p. 21.

[550:5] Thatcher and McNeal, No. 130.

[551:1] Mon. Ger., ii., 224; Greenwood, v., 510; Thatcher and McNeal, No. 135, 136.

[552:1] Ogg, § 66.

[552:2] Gesta, sec. 58.

[552:3] Ep. i., 99, 249, 446.

[552:4] Greenwood, v., 456; Thatcher and McNeal, No. 118.

[552:5] Henderson, 11.

[552:6] Lee, Source-Book of Eng. Hist., sec. 66.

[553:1] Ep. v., 66.

[553:2] See Roger of Wendover's Chronicle, for facts about life of Langton, and Hook, Lives of Archbishops of Cant., ii., 657.

[553:3] Cf. Roger of Wendover, Chronicle, tr. by Giles. Lee Source-Book, sec. 67; Colby, No. 29.

[554:1] Lee, Source-Book, sec. 68, 69.

[554:2] Ibid., sec. 71.

[554:3] Greenwood, v., 587; Ep., xvi., 77; Lee, Source Book, sec. 72, 73, 74. Gee and Hardy, No. xxv.

[554:4] Roger of Wendover, Chronicle, tr. by Giles, ii., 304. Lee, Source-Books.

[554:5] Rymer, i., 135; Thatcher and McNeal, No. 129.

[555:1] Gesta, par. 60, 61; Ep., i., 353, 354.

[555:2] Ibid., 109, 110.

[555:3] Ibid., 68, 70.

[556:1] Thatcher and McNeal, No. 286.

[556:2] Transl. and Reprints, iii., No. 1, p. 2-8.

[556:3] Gesta, sec. 83, 85, 87.

[556:4] Ibid., sec. 89; Ep., vii., 164; Transl. and Reprints, iii., No. 1, p. 20.

[556:5] Gesta, sec. 93.

[557:1] Gesta, sec. 98; Thatcher and McNeal, No. 288; Robinson, Readings, i., 338.

[558:1] Ep., i., 494.

[558:2] See Munro, "The Ren. of the Twelfth Cent.," in An. Rep. of Am. Hist. Assoc., 1906, i., 45.

[558:3] Lea, Hist. of Inq., i., ch. 2.

[558:4] Ibid., i., 64.

[558:5] Ibid., 66.

[559:1] Lea, Hist. of Inq., vol. i., 68.

[559:2] Ibid., 69.

[559:3] Ibid., 72.

[559:4] Robinson, Readings, i., 380.

[560:1] Lea, Hist. of Inq., i., 76.

[560:2] Ibid., 89; Robinson, Readings, i., 381.

[560:3] Robinson, Readings, i., 385.

[560:4] Ep., i., 94.

[560:5] Ibid., 79, 80.

[560:6] Ibid., 94.

[561:1] Ep., vol. ii., 335.

[561:2] Ibid., i., 94.

[561:3] Ibid., x., 149.

[562:1] Greenwood, v., 641, 644. Lea, Hist. of Inq., i., 314, 320.

[562:2] Gesta, sec. 41, 42.

[562:3] Ep., i., 335, 349, 399.

[563:1] Greenwood, v., 651.

[563:2] Ep., i., 130.

[563:3] Gesta, sec. 133.

[563:4] Ep., i., 79, 80.

[563:5] Ibid., xvi., 30-34. Lea, Hist. of Inq., i., 41, 46.

[563:6] Matt. Paris, an. 1215; Murat, vii., 893; Raynaldus, an. 1215.

[564:1] Lea, Hist. of Sac. Celib. By the thirteenth century celibacy was generally recognised as a canon all over the Latin Church, but secret alliances continued as an unmitigated evil.

[565:1] Ep., i., 205, 217, 250, 292, 294, 388, 416, etc.

[565:2] Gesta, sec. 34-45.

[566:1] Greenwood, v., 666.

[566:2] Raynaldus, an. 1216, sec. 11; Fleury, H. E., xvi., 426.

[566:3] Gesta, sec. 134.

CHAPTER XXIII
THE MEDIÆVAL CHURCH AT ITS HEIGHT

Outline: I.—Characteristics of the thirteenth century. II.—Territorial extent and wealth of the Church. III.—Organisation of the papal hierarchy completed. IV.—The legal system of the Church. V.—The official language and ritual of the Church. VI.—The sacramental system. VII.—The employment of art. VIII.—The Church moulded the civilisation of Europe. IX.—Sources.

The thirteenth century was an age "of lofty aspirations unfulfilled, of brilliant dreams unsubstantial as visions, of hopes ever looking to fruition and ever disappointed. The human intellect awakened, but as yet the human conscience slumbered, save in a few rare souls who mostly paid in disgrace or death the penalty of their precocious sensitiveness."[569:1] The thirteenth century left as a legacy to the fourteenth century vast activity in intellectual progress, but a spiritual desert. Society was harder, coarser, and more worldly than ever.

Everywhere in western Europe the Church seemed to have attained the extreme limits of its claims. The papal theory was triumphant. Temporal rulers were everywhere subservient to the ecclesiastics. Locally the clergy ruled the masses in morals and religion; they controlled education and intelligence; and they practically settled all social and industrial questions.

At the same time the spirit of asceticism was never more pronounced than in the early Cistercians, Carthusians, Dominicans, Franciscans, and other orders. Mysticism stood like a stone wall to stem the tide of worldliness, of wickedness, and of disbelief.[570:1] When St. Bernard preached to the students at Paris on the vanity of study and induced twenty of them to follow him into the cloister at Clairvaux he was attempting a very significant social revolution which culminated in St. Dominic and St. Francis. Nevertheless, in the very face of the ascendancy of the Roman hierarchy and notwithstanding the spiritual revival within the Church, there appeared a vast amount of heresy, of irreverence, and of independence. The spirit of individuality was abroad. Men became less obedient to authority and began to doubt the truth of what was taught them. This wide-spread distrust led to a shifting from one authority to another, rather than an entire rejection of all authority.[570:2]

The wealth and power of the clergy and nobility had decreased; the burghers had advanced to a position of influence and self-consciousness. Guilds, the awakened spirit of nationality, and self-governing communes were democratic factors to be taken into account. The rise of the lower classes, and the consequent decline of the upper classes, show that a new era is dawning over Europe. The bourgeois literature reveals a mocking contempt for nobles and bishops alike. There was a great deal of flippant wit which spared no topic and no individual. "God and the devil, Aristotle

and the Pope, canon and feudal law, Cistercians and priests were held up to ridicule."[571:1] The subjects of popular songs are no longer exclusively the virtues of asceticism and humility, obedience to God and the feudal lord; but love of woman and the carnal joys of life have become popular themes. Villains achieve paradise by trickery. Men continually outwit Satan. A famous jongleur even shakes dice with St. Peter, and beats him at the game. Verily a new chapter was opening in the history of Europe.

Severe criticism of the iniquity and depravity of the clergy, their greed for wealth and position, and particularly their contempt for their sacred obligations, came from several sources.

(1) The best men in the Church, among whom are Popes, bishops, abbots, priests, and monks. Their letters and sermons reveal flagrant abuses and an earnest cry for reform.

(2) The acts of Church councils and synods show the general recognition among the clergy of the presence of grave irregularities and evils, and also a consciousness of their destructive tendencies.

(3) The general impression of selfishness and wickedness, which the Church officials made, soon was reflected in the satirical poems of the popular troubadours and by the sprightly versifiers of the courts.[571:2]

(4) The laity of course were not slow to understand conditions and became scathing critics. These lay censors in many instances went far beyond the

clerical reformers. While the better clergy urged the elimination of current abuses not one of them dreamed of denying the fundamental doctrines of the Church or the efficacy of its ceremonies. On the contrary, the lay leaders became very extreme. They declared that the Church was the creation and home of the devil; that no one ought to believe any longer that salvation came only through sacerdotal ministrations; that all theatrical ceremonies were of no avail; that the masses, relics, holy water, and indulgences were mere priestly tricks for money-making purposes and not certain means of gaining paradise. These extreme opponents of the Church soon gained followers all over Christendom, from all social classes and on account of a great many reasons.

From the standpoint of ecclesiastical law, however, these drastic critics who questioned the teachings of the Church, and proposed to repudiate it, were guilty of the grave crime of heresy. The attempt to crush the wide-spread heresies of the thirteenth century forms an awful chapter in the history of the mediæval Church. The rise of the Albigenses, the Waldenses, and other heretical sects forced the Church to take drastic measures against these dangerous foes. Before the close of the twelfth century secular rulers were induced to take measures against heresy. In England Henry II. in 1166 ordered that no one should harbour heretics, and that any house in which they were received should be burned. In Spain the King of Aragon in 1194 decreed that any one who should listen to the Waldensians, or even give them food, should have his property confiscated and suffer death. These measures began a series of merciless decrees which even

the most enlightened rulers of the thirteenth century passed against heretics and their abettors.[573:1]

The Church was not slow to utilise this power. A determination to extirpate these dangerous heretics with the sword produced the crusade against the Albigensians. The Inquisition was also organised to ferret out secret heretics and to bring them before inquisitorial tribunals for punishment. The unfairness of the trials and the heartless treatment of suspects have rendered the name of the Inquisition infamous.[573:2]

From an early day the Church exercised a censorship over all books.[573:3] The first specific instance was that of a synod of bishops in Asia Minor about 150 A.D. which prohibited the Acta pauli. After that the condemnation of books was not at all uncommon.[573:4] The first papal Index was issued in 494 by Pope Gelasius I., who made a definite catalogue of works prohibited. Councils condemned books as heretical, while Popes prohibited their use, destroyed them, and punished those who violated the law. This policy was continued throughout the Middle Ages. Naturally the Church was just as desirous of getting rid of heretical books as of suppressing the obnoxious authors.[573:5]

In territorial extent the Roman Church of the thirteenth century included Italy and Sicily, Spain except the southern part, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, England, Ireland, and Scotland, Scandinavia and Iceland, the Eastern Empire, though but temporarily, and Palestine for a short period. In size, therefore,

it surpassed the old Roman Empire at its greatest height. The boundary lines of this great papal Empire were widened still further by the zealous missionary work encouraged by the Supreme Pontiff in Europe among the Slavs, Prussians, Finns, and Mohammedans in Sicily and Spain; in Asia among the Tartars, Mongols, and Moslems; in Africa among the Mohammedans[574:1]; in America among the inhabitants of Iceland, Greenland, and "Vineland"—possibly even on the New England coast. These fruitful labours were conducted chiefly by the Franciscans and the Dominicans.

The wealth of the Church at this time consisted of lands and buildings; Church furniture, utensils, and ornaments; and money derived from Church lands, the sale of privileges, the gifts of the pious, tithes, and the fees for various kinds of religious service. In the United States churches must rely wholly upon voluntary support. It was not so with the mediæval Church. The tithes were regular taxes and those persons upon whom they were levied had to pay them just as taxes imposed by governments must be paid to-day. Wide-spread complaint came from both clergy and laity that these taxes were unjust. The Church actually owned about one third of Germany, nearly one fifth of France, the greater part of Italy, a large section of Christian Spain, a big portion of England, perhaps one third, and important regions in Scandinavia, Poland, and Hungary. The papal states in Italy, running diagonally across the peninsula, were ruled by the Pope as a temporal prince. These extensive territorial possessions together with the great wealth made the Church the mightiest secular power

in the world and put into the hands of the Church thousands of lucrative sinecures, coveted and too often secured by persons wholly unfitted for the spiritual functions of the office. Through these extensive possessions the Church was beyond all question the greatest economic and industrial power in Europe. The Church was led to adopt feudalism and thus the Pope became the most powerful feudal overlord in Europe. Furthermore, the Church, because of its vast domains and enormous income, was enabled to support itself by its own perpetual wealth. In consequence many evils and abuses sprang up,[575:1] or were introduced, which led to the decline of the Church and the numerous demands for reformation. It must be said, however, to the credit of the Church that these resources were used to excellent advantage in furthering charity of all sorts and in caring for the poor and unfortunate.

During this period the organisation of the papal hierarchy was perfected. At the head stood the all-powerful and absolute Pope as God's agent on earth; hence, at least in theory and claim, he was the ruler of the whole world in temporal and spiritual affairs. He was the defender of Christianity, the Church, and the clergy in all respects. He was the supreme censor of morals in Christendom and the head of a great spiritual despotism. He was the source of all earthly justice and the final court of appeal in all cases. Any person, whether priest or layman, could appeal to him at any stage in the trial of a great many important cases. He was the supreme lawgiver on earth, hence he called all councils and confirmed or rejected their decrees.

He might, if he so wished, set aside any law of the Church, no matter how ancient, so long as it was not directly ordained by the Bible or by nature. He could also make exceptions to purely human laws and these exceptions were known as dispensations.[576:1] He had the sole authority to transfer or depose bishops and other Church officers. He was the creator of cardinals and ecclesiastical honours of all kinds. He was the exclusive possessor of the universal right of absolution, dispensation, and canonisation. He was the grantor of all Church benefices. He was the superintendent of the whole financial system of the Church and of all taxes. He had control over the whole force of the clergy in Christendom, because he conferred the pallium,[576:2] the archbishop's badge of office. In his hands were kept the terrible thunders of the Church to enforce obedience to papal law, namely, excommunication and the interdict.

Excommunication meant for a private person that he was a social outcast, excluded from all legal protection and deprived of the sacraments which were "the life blood of the man of the Middle Ages." His property might be confiscated without the possibility of recovery. Death and hell were sure to be his doom if repentance and absolution did not occur. And these same terrible results might even be extended to his descendants. Excommunication for a king meant, in addition to the same treatment as a private individual, the deprivation of all authority and the absolution of subjects from all obedience.

Excommunication was the greatest moral power in all history and effective simply because the Christian opinion of the age responded to it and enforced it. By its use the Pope subjected to his will such powerful personages as Henry IV. of Germany, Henry II. of England, Philip (IV.) Augustus of France, Frederick II. of Germany, John of England, and countless lesser persons all over Christendom.[577:1] The power of excommunication was exercised by the Pope for the whole Church, by the bishop for his diocese, and even by subordinate Church officials. The formula and ceremony for excommunication were not uniform either in time or place but varied greatly.[577:2]

The interdict was directed against a city, a region, or a kingdom. It was used for the purpose of forcing a city or a ruler to obedience, as for example the interdict laid on Rome in 1155, and that on England, which lasted six years three months and fourteen days, to subdue the obstinate King John; or to enforce the ban of excommunication[577:3]; or to collect debts[577:4]; or to wreak vengeance for the death or maltreatment of a son of the Church.[577:5] The interdict was proclaimed in a papal bull and read by the clergy of the region affected to the congregations every Sunday for some weeks before it went into operation. Then all religious rites and sacraments ceased except baptism, confession, and the viaticum.[577:6] All the faithful were ordered to dress like penitents and to pray for the removal of the cause

of the curse. Thus the interdict resembled a raging pestilence and made a deep impression on the ignorant masses. It practically stopped all civil government, for the courts of justice were closed, wills could not be made, and public officials of all kinds were forbidden to act. Naturally it led to many very superstitious tales. For instance, the valley of Aspe in Béarn was cursed for seven years and during that time it was said that women bore no children, cattle gave no increase, and the land produced no crops or fruit.[578:1]

The use of such powerful weapons as excommunication and interdict was soon greatly abused. Popes and bishops employed this power out of spite, or hatred or for ambitious ends.[578:2] Scheming rulers enlisted papal, or episcopal, help of this sort to humble political rivals and for purely secular ends such as enforcing laws and collecting obligations.[578:3] In fact so wide-spread was the employment of these powers that by the fourteenth century half of the Christians in Europe were under the ban.[578:4] It was taught, moreover, that however illicit or apparently unfair or unwarranted, still the ecclesiastical mandates were to be obeyed. Hence Popes even granted the right not to be excommunicated without good cause.[578:5] Before long these religious curses degenerated to the point where they were applied to animals and inanimate objects, of which there are many illustrations. For instance two of St. Bernard's monks cursed the vineyard of a rival monk and it became

sterile until St. Bernard himself removed the blight.[579:1] A certain priest, noticing that the fruit of a neighbouring orchard had a stronger attraction for the children of his congregation than the divine service, excommunicated the orchard, whereupon it remained barren until the ban was taken off.[579:2] At the request of the farmers, the Bishop of Comminges cursed the weeds in their fields with the desired result.[579:3] St. Bernard, however, capped the climax of these absurdities when he solemnly excommunicated the devil.[579:4] After the thirteenth century the same weapons were used against leeches, rats, grasshoppers, snails, bugs, and pests of all kinds. In fact as late as 1648 a similar formula was given based on the forty-ninth psalm and the eleventh chapter of Luke.[579:5]

The efficacy of excommunication was likewise brought into service to protect property. For instance the Archbishop of Campostella in the twelfth century excommunicated any one who should steal or mutilate the manuscript history of his diocese. The Abbot of Sens in 1123 cursed on his death-bed any successor who should sell, lend, or lose any of the twenty volumes in the abbey library. Clement III. encouraged Bologna University by anathematising any person who should offer a higher rent for rooms used by students or teachers. Later, copyrights were protected by the same power and stolen property was recovered.[579:6] Letters bestowing the power of excommunication were soon purchased and used for all sorts of mercenary purposes.[579:7] John

Gerson of the University of Paris denounced Pope Martin V. for saying that as Pope he congratulated himself because he was no longer in danger of excommunication.[580:1] Gradually there came to be drawn up a list of no less than one hundred sins which were ipso facto followed by excommunication. Many of these are of the most trifling character, like that of collecting toll from a priest on crossing a bridge.[580:2] But this evil was offset by the ease with which one could purchase absolution.

The papal court, or curia, by the thirteenth century included an enormous number of persons both secular and ecclesiastic with all kinds of duties. The financial section was in many ways the most important one.[580:3] All members of the curia, which resembled the court of an Emperor, were directly responsible to the Pope. The cardinals were the most dignified and powerful members. Papal legates from the court swarmed over all Europe commissioned with unlimited authority to execute papal commands and to uphold papal claims. They ranged from primates to petty priests and monks, were directly subject to the Pope, and were feared and hated by the clergy and laity alike.

The College of Cardinals created in 1059 had come to play a marked rôle in ecclesiastical affairs in addition to their original duties. Their office ranked next to that of the Pope and they were called the "Holy and Sacred College." Foreigners were first appointed as cardinals in the thirteenth century. A distinct dress was assumed. The red hat was given by Innocent IV. (1245); the purple robe was bestowed by Boniface

VIII. (1297); the white horse, red cover, and golden bridle were added by Paul II. (1464); and the title of "Eminence" was created by Urban VIII. (1630). These cardinals were shrewd politicians for the most part and hence divided into French, German, and Italian parties. They secured their appointments ofttimes through favouritism or nepotism, hence were not always men of the most sterling worth. As members of the papal court they lived at Rome and were supposed to be occupied with ecclesiastical affairs in the capital or busy on important diplomatic missions. They were easily won away, however, from their lofty duties by secular princes and became involved in all sorts of questionable intrigues. It is not a matter of surprise, therefore, to find the best men of the day like Dante and Petrarch denouncing them in unmeasured terms.

Below the cardinals in the hierarchy came the metropolitans, archbishops, and primates. The archbishops were the most numerous but the lowest in rank. The metropolitans ranked next and were found in the great cities. The primates had the highest rank but were comparatively few. It is doubtful whether altogether the archbishops in the thirteenth century numbered more than twenty-five. The primates, who had charge in a general way of what might be called the national churches, confirmed the election of bishops and archbishops in their dioceses, called and presided over national synods, held the superior ecclesiastical courts, performed the coronation ceremonies of kings and queens, and had general control of their districts. The archbishops ruled over a distinct province including several bishops, whose election and consecration they superintended, called and presided over provincial synods, inflicted censures and punishments on the

bishops for breaches of discipline, acted as court of appeal above the episcopal courts, and exercised general oversight concerning all Church affairs of the districts. The metropolitans, whose historical significance was practically lost by the thirteenth century, had essentially the same office as that of archbishop. Under the leadership of the higher ecclesiastics there was a tendency to form national churches. The primates and archbishops defended these national churches even against the Pope and frequently sided with the kings against the supreme Pontiffs. In Germany they helped elect the Emperor, played an important political rôle, and saved Germany from ruin again and again.[582:1] In France and England they were the trusted counsellors and advisers of the sovereign. Almost without exception they came from the nobility and were large landed proprietors as well as secular rulers.

The bishops, who came next in the scale of the hierarchy, were elected originally by the people and the clergy but that right was gradually usurped by the metropolitans and the secular rulers. The mitre and crosier were the emblems of the episcopal office. The Concordat of Worms in 1122 settled long disputes by giving both Pope and ruler a share in the election. By the thirteenth century, however, the Pope had come to have the upper hand in these ecclesiastical preferments. The total number of bishops in the thirteenth century was approximately 700.[582:2] The duties of the bishop were both spiritual and temporal. His office was one of the most important in the mediæval

Church. He ruled over a diocese of any number of parish churches, but had his own especial church, which was called the cathedral, and usually surpassed all other churches of the diocese in size and beauty. He saw to it that public services were conducted in the proper manner. He overlooked the administration of charity. He tried to secure efficient subordinates who would fulfil all their duties, and he alone could ordain new priests or degrade the old. He enforced discipline and canon law. He exercised the rights of confirmation and holy orders, and consecrated res sacræ like churches and shrines. He usually supervised the monastic houses in his diocese.[583:1] And he himself conducted religious services of a special character in his cathedral or domus dei. He assumed judicial power over his clergy and in case of misbehaviour punished them by deposition or confinement in a cloister. He passed judgment on all questions of marriage, wills, oaths, usury, and similar subjects. In general each bishop, under the authority of the representative of St. Peter, was a little pope over that section of the Church which was under his jurisdiction[583:2] and he was regarded as the direct successor of the Apostles. On the temporal side the bishop was a landlord, governed a large estate, and performed those governmental duties which the king, particularly in Germany, thrust upon him. He did not own the land, but only used it. He himself was often a vassal, had a large number of vassals and sub-vassals under him, collected feudal dues from his inferiors, paid feudal tributes to his superiors, and was an integral part of the feudal system.

His installation to office was invariably accompanied by the ceremony of feudal investiture. Indeed from many standpoints he was more of a feudal lord than a churchman. It is easy to see, therefore, what a powerful factor the bishop was in both secular and ecclesiastical affairs, and how sweeping was his influence.

There were several deviations from the regular office of bishop. The chor-bishop or "country bishop," who was little more than an assistant of the city bishop, had gradually died out by the thirteenth century.[584:1] The honorary bishop, or titular bishop, a title first applied to missionary bishops, still existed in Europe but with no regular diocese. The progress of Mohammedanism drove many regular bishops away from their episcopal seats in Asia, Africa, and Spain. But they were allowed to retain their titles and functions even though deprived of their dioceses, and successors were regularly elected. Again during the Crusades many bishoprics were established in the East. Through the failure of the Crusades, however, these bishops lost their dioceses, but they too were permitted to retain their titles in the hope of eventually recovering their possessions. They likewise served as assistants to bishops in western Europe and their successors were regularly appointed by the Pope. They became very independent and often caused the regular bishops much trouble. Efforts were made later to get rid of them but without success.

Connected with each bishop's cathedral was a chapter which probably grew out of the original college of presbyters who assisted the bishop in his spiritual and secular duties. As time passed and the Church

grew these presbyters came to be attached to the cathedral as a distinct body of the clergy. By the ninth century these clergy came to be known as a chapter and consisted of either the "seculars," i.e., the clergy not bound by monastic vows and living in separate houses, or the "regulars," i.e., the clergy living as monks in a common building. Thus the chapter came to have a regular organisation with officers whose duties were more or less clearly defined. At the head stood the bishop; then the dean, the real acting head; and after him the precentor, or chanter, who was a musical director; the chancellor, who had charge of the education of younger members, the library, correspondence, and the delivery of lectures and sermons; the treasurer, who was responsible for the funds of the church, the sacred vessels, the altar furniture, and the reliquaries; the sub-dean, the sub-chanter, and vice-chancellor; and the archdeacons, whose number depended on the size of the diocese, who executed episcopal orders, who acted as inspectors and had minor judicial functions, and who became so independent and powerful that the office was abolished in the twelfth century.[585:1] The remaining members of the chapter were called canons or prebendaries. During the absence of the canons their duties were performed by substitutes called vicars.

Each chapter had its own laws, endowments, fees, revenues, and jurisdiction over lands. The chapters often came into open conflict with the bishops[585:2] and tended to form alliances with Popes and rulers against the episcopal authorities. It was not uncommon,

either, to find chapters practically independent of the bishops with members appointed directly by the Pope. These bodies exercised great powers—they called councils, they tried clerical cases, they even excommunicated, and as little Colleges of Cardinals, usually at the king's suggestion, elected bishops.[586:1] Membership in a chapter was regarded as a fat berth and hence eagerly sought by leading families of nobility.

At the bottom of the hierarchical scale stood the priests who presided over the parishes, which were divided into city, village, and rural parishes, and were the lowest divisions of the Church. As a rule a parish contained at least ten families and varied from that to a considerable village, or a large section of a town. The appointment of the priests was made by the "Patron" of the parochial church, i.e., the person who owned the church property, whether a layman or a clerical person. The appointee was confirmed by the bishop. Churches were thus frequently handed about from one owner to another like any feudal property and consequently the tendency was to secularise the priests as well as the higher clergy. Seeing this evil the monastic orders sought to reform the abuse by bringing priests under their control. The income of the priest was derived from lands belonging to the parish church, from tithes, and from contributions, but as a rule it was scarcely more than enough to meet his scanty needs.[586:2] The priest was the only Church officer who came continually into direct touch with the masses of the people and, consequently, he it was who really controlled the destiny of both their bodies and

souls. In addition to conducting the regular services, he could administer or withhold the sacraments so necessary to salvation, and hence the destiny of all men rested in his hands. He absolved, baptised, married, and buried his parishioners. He monopolised the auricular confession and through it regulated the conscience, determined conduct, and cured the soul of sin. If advice and penance failed to keep the incorrigible sinner in the path of righteousness, his case could be carried to the spiritual court of the bishop, who had practically unlimited power. Each priest had not only certain duties to perform, but also possessed distinct rights and privileges, and a supernatural character which put him and his property above the common level of humanity. No longer a citizen of a state, the Church was his country, his home, and his family. No matter what crime he committed, the secular power could not arrest him—only a religious tribunal could try him and such bodies never shed human blood. Hence punishments for misdemeanours were comparatively light.

The parish church was the unit of mediæval civilisation and the priest was looked up to as the natural guardian of the community. He cared for both the souls and bodies of his flock. In addition to using every agency to induce his members to lead godly lives, it was his business to see that no dangerous characters lurked in the villages—heretics, sorcerers, or lepers.

The clergy were separated from the laity by a very pronounced differentiation. The sacred character imparted to the priesthood by the sacrament of ordination, the holy calling of the man of God who held in his hands the power of spiritual life and death,

and the enforcement of the canon of celibacy after a bitter struggle of more than a century, all tended to emphasise and magnify the wide gulf between the clergy and the laymen. The sacerdotal office was most highly respected as the certain avenue to social service, to fame, and to honour. It is no surprise, therefore, to see men of all ranks entering the ministry of the Church. For those of humble birth, the opportunity thus offered was about the only means of promotion in Europe. Once in the Church, talent and energy could always overcome lowly origin, and attain elevation to a high place. The annals of the hierarchy are full of the examples of those who rose from the meanest social ranks to the most commanding positions. Many of the greatest and best Popes had that experience.[588:1] Thus the Church constantly recruited its ranks with vigorous fresh blood. Not even the lot of the prince was envied by the priest. "Princes," asserted John of Salisbury, "derive their power from the Church, and are servants of the priesthood." Honorius of Autun wrote, "The least of the priestly order is worthier than any king." A great thing it truly was for the future of Europe that in those rough ages there existed a moral force superior to noble descent, to blue blood, and to martial prowess to point out the correct path, to uphold right, and to sanction eternal justice.

The corpus juris canonici, or canon law, which regulated all the workings of the hierarchy, included all the rules enacted by the Church for its relation with the secular power, for its own internal administration, and for the duties and conduct of its members. It differed

from the jus ecclesiasticum, or ecclesiastical law, in having the Church for its source, while the latter had the Church for its subject. The Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals continued to be the constitution of the Church. Various commentaries, all based upon the Decretals as the chief repertory, were made by prominent churchmen.[589:1] Gratian, a Camaldolensian monk, a professor in Bologna University, in 1250 first taught canon law as a distinct and complete system like Roman law. He published the Decretum Gratiani, a scientific digest of all canon laws, which soon superseded all other codifications and became the basis for many later commentaries.[589:2] Canon law was studied in all the mediæval universities. Regular faculties of canon law were established, which granted the degree of doctores decretorum after a course of six years' study. It was not long, therefore, until the Church was given a class of keen, well-drilled lawyers who gradually extended ecclesiastical jurisdiction over all religious duties; over baptisms, marriages, and deaths, and hence over legitimacy and succession; over all persons under religious vows, and consequently over the clergy, crusaders, widows, orphans, and minors; over heresy, blasphemy, and sacrilege; and over adultery, bigamy, fraud, and perjury. The canon law of the Church must also be given credit for laying the foundation for international law and serving as a model for constitutional law.

The papal penitentiary, or court, grounded on the

"power of the keys," possessed original and appellate powers of first instance and last resort. It originated in 1215 at Rome and consisted of a body of canonists and theologians who acted as a unit under powers granted by the Pope.[590:1] It attempted to decide all cases of morals and discipline, oftentimes in virtual ignorance of the facts. During the thirteenth century penitentiaries were appointed in every bishopric to take cognisance of cases. Thus the eagle eyes of the supreme court of Rome were fastened on every breach of law throughout Christendom. Naturally many abuses were connected with such a system. In 1022 the Council of Seligenstadt complained that Rome had extended her jurisdiction even over the laity.[590:2] Through local representatives the papal penitentiary practically nullified the discipline of bishops and granted virtual immunity to offenders. Venality was an accompanying evil from the beginning. Absolution could easily be secured by the rich and influential and dispensations were sold for money. Of course this condition produced disastrous effects on morals. "Rome was a fountain of pardon for all infractions of the decalogue." Bishop Grosseteste declared about 1250 that the low morality of the priesthood was due to this system. Pardon was granted to both sides of the controversy. A priest stole a book from his own church, pawned it for money, and then excommunicated the unknown thief. He was discovered but pardoned on the ground that he could not interdict himself. Monks and nuns bought their way into convents and then purchased absolution for the act.

By the thirteenth century the Roman ritual in the Latin language was practically in universal use. The Slavish liturgy had disappeared and in Spain alone the old national liturgy still lingered, though even there the Roman ritual was permitted. Latin had become the general official language of the Church. But it was not uncommon to give in the vernacular, besides the regular announcements, the confession of faith, the confession of sin with the general absolution, intercessions for the living and the dead, and the Lord's Prayer.

At this period of the Church's greatest power there was a noticeable revival of preaching caused by the monastic reformers like the Clugniacs, Cistercians, Dominicans, and Franciscans who earnestly preached repentance, and also by the tremendous crusading enthusiasm. All the heroes of monasticism, scholasticism, and the papal hierarchy were forceful preachers.[591:1] To accommodate these preachers pulpits were built against a pillar or in a corner of a nave. To the masses on popular occasions, and even in the regular services, they spoke in the vernacular, but all stately addresses in synods and councils were delivered in the speech of Rome. Popes and councils urged the importance of rearing a race of learned clergy who could give the Church intelligent leadership. The synod of Treves in 1221 went so far as to forbid uneducated and inexperienced priests to preach, because it caused more harm than good. As a result of this wide-spread preaching the Church was given a unity of doctrine and feeling which it had not enjoyed before.

The number of sacraments was generally recognised by the thirteenth century as seven.[592:1] Peter Lombard's Sentences first outlined them and Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274) practically established them, although they were not officially adopted until the Council of Florence in 1439. Theoretically the sacraments were believed to confer grace, "the fulness of divine life," upon the recipients and to make them different persons with new characters. This change was produced by God through the Church and was based upon the idea that this life should be consecrated and sanctified by religion in all its various relations. Hence baptism suggested birth to a new spiritual life free from the sin due to Adam's fall; the Lord's Supper gave nutriment to preserve life and strength; penance indicated a recovery to health after sickness incident to sin; confirmation marked the growth of righteous life to maturity; extreme unction suggested diet and exercise in convalescence and purified and refreshed the spirit of the dying; ordination marked a promotion to a higher consecrated life and to new duties; and marriage meant the assumption of new social relations which could never be severed. The Church held that all these sacraments were instituted by Jesus and used by him personally, although baptism and the Lord's Supper were the most important. Peter Lombard said that if Christ did not employ them, the Apostles at least did. Baptism, confirmation, and ordination, it was held, imparted an indelible character, therefore could not be repeated. All consecrations and blessings were looked upon as different from the sacraments and were called "Sacramentalia." It was asserted also that the

administration of the sacraments in the hands of a bad priest was valid.

The mass continued to be the heart, life blood, and very centre of all worship. It was believed to be a propitiatory sacrifice offered to God for the sins of the world whenever the sacrament was celebrated. Christ was recrucified as on the cross at each mass. The eucharist gave spiritual nourishment to the communicant, averted evils and brought blessings, and, with penance, removed the guilt of sin. Transubstantiation became a fixed dogma in the thirteenth century. Up to the ninth century the Church unanimously believed that the real body and blood of Christ were administered to those who received the sacrament of the eucharist, but Christians differed widely as to the nature and manner of their presence and no Pope or council had settled the question. In 831 Radbert wrote a famous book on the subject in which he held that after consecration only the figure of bread and wine was present and that the rest was literal body and blood and that this body and blood was the same as that born of Mary, crucified, and raised from the dead. This work created a warm discussion which lasted for four centuries and provoked many bitter individual quarrels. Innocent III. in 1215 settled the dispute by making the dogma of transubstantiation a part of the constitutional law of the Church and at the same time ordered all the laity to go to confession and to partake of the eucharist at least once a year. The dogma did not pass unquestioned, although the common people had no difficulty in believing it.[593:1] As a result it led to the deification of the bread and wine, to the use of beautiful golden or silver

urns and cups for them, to the construction of a costly tabernacle in which to keep the sacred elements, to lamps and decorations, to solemn processions, to a pompous ceremony, to bowing the knee before the host in the church and on the streets and to prayer to the host as the most important part of worship, and to the celebration throughout the whole Church of an annual festival of the Holy Sacrament (1264). The cup was withheld from the laity[594:1] and given only to the priests after the eleventh century because it was feared that the wine might be spilled and also because it was believed that the body and blood of Jesus were fully present in both elements.[594:2] Wafers, called the host, were substituted for the broken bread. The mass soon became an object of commerce. Private masses for the living and particularly for the dead, begun in the eighth century, were very common in the thirteenth, so much so, in fact, that certain priests had no other function than that of saying masses for the dead. All over Christendom endowments were given for these masses and an army of priests did nothing else. By refusing mass the clergy could exert strong pressure on individuals and governments. The mass was held to be absolutely necessary to salvation, and the eucharist was even given to little children, although in the thirteenth century it was restricted to children under seven. It also had a marked effect upon church architecture by increasing the number of altars in the church in order to accommodate the increasing number of private masses. All the physical and metaphysical

education of the age turned upon the question of the mass.[595:1]

Penance played a very important part in the Church in the thirteenth century and received its final form in the Council of Florence in 1439. As early as the fifth century a regular criminal code developed in the Church and in the seventh century a Grecian monk who was archbishop enacted a body of severe laws for penitential discipline which remained in authority until the twelfth century. The climax was reached in the thirteenth century when every diocese had its own penitential code and public penance had been replaced by private penance. Penance was simply the punishment prescribed by the priest to remove the guilt of sin, and usually consisted of fasts, prayers, pilgrimages, and acts of charity and mercy. The Church early permitted penance to be paid by substituting money payments for some pious enterprise.[595:2] Furthermore, it was generally held that penance afflicted on one person could be paid by another; for example, a penance of seven years could be accomplished in seven days by a sufficient number of co-workers.[595:3] Even Thomas Aquinas said that as long as the debt was paid it mattered little who paid it. Indulgences and papal pardons paralleled the history of penance. The power to show leniency, or to shorten or to lengthen the character or the time of penance, was early recognised to be in the bishop's hands.[595:4] From this idea there gradually arose a regular system of commutation which reached the highest point during

the crusade movement. The theory was most fully stated by Thomas Aquinas[596:1] and Alexander of Hales.[596:2] They asserted that after the remission of the eternal punishment due for sin there still remained a temporal punishment to be undergone either in this life or in purgatory; that temporal pain might be remitted by the application of the superabundant merits of Christ and the saints out of the treasury of the Church. The hierarchy was the custodian of that prerogative. But indulgence could be granted only to those who were in full communion with the Church and who manifested a contrite heart, made confession, and submitted to penance.[596:3] Penances were either general or local, or plenary or partial. The use of indulgences was very much abused since they were often granted only for money and because they were employed for trivial and secular purposes like building bridges[596:4] and improving roads.[596:5] They were even applied to the dead.[596:6] The doctrine of purgatory had developed by the twelfth century and was generally accepted in the thirteenth.[596:7]

Auricular confession, which seems to have been fully developed by the time of Innocent I.,[596:8] was required by Innocent III. after 1216 of all Church members at least once a year under penalty of exclusion from the Church. It was an essential part of the sacrament

of penance and gave the priests a tremendous power over the people which was used both for good and ill. The synod of Toulouse in 1229 insisted on compulsory confession at Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost. Any breach of the confessional was visited by the fourth Lateran Council with excommunication, deposition, and imprisonment for life in a monastery. Confession was the bridle by means of which the laity were guided by the priesthood, hence the Church laid more and more importance upon the necessity of the practice as a duty.

Absolution grew up as a necessary part of auricular confession. Before the thirteenth century the priest acted ministerially and used the form: domus absolvat te—misercatur tui omnipotens deus et dimittat tibi omnia peccata tua. These words are still found in the Greek Church and are also allowable in the Roman Catholic service. After the thirteenth century, however, the priest acted judicially and said: ego absolvo te. The priest's forgiveness was God's forgiveness. The requisites for absolution were: contrition of heart, promise of amendment of life, and reparation.

Extreme unction as a sacrament came into use rather late. Peter Lombard gave it fifth place among the seven sacraments. Original sin was atoned for in baptism, actual sins by penance, and extreme unction wiped away all remaining sins which would hinder the soul from entering its perfect rest. Hence it was given only to those who were mortally ill. In case of recovery, however, it could be repeated.[597:1] The eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hands, loins, and feet (except

of women) were anointed with holy oil consecrated by the bishop on Maundy Thursday. Confession and communion preceded the rite. These three together constituted the viaticum of the soul on its long journey.

From the time when private meeting places gave way to places of public worship, throughout its whole career, the Church has employed art for purposes of utility and instruction. The transitional character of the thirteenth century along social, ecclesiastical, intellectual, and political lines was also strongly marked in art. In the conflict between feudalism and royalty, monarchy gradually gained ground. The problem of human right appeared along with the problem of human might. Out of the composite struggle of kings, feudal barons, popes, bishops, abbots, and free cities emerged the recognised supremacy of papal authority as the one power above and behind all others. The episcopacy stood for the rights of the Pope, on the one hand, and the rights of the people, on the other. Next to the papal supremacy, stood the kingly prerogative. Under the double patronage of the Church and the state ecclesiastical art advanced with rapid strides.

Gothic architecture reached its highest development during the thirteenth century. Europe was covered with magnificent churches, cathedrals, and monasteries. Architecture was the dominant art of the Middle Ages. The church building occupied a unique place in the community. Everybody was a member of the Church and attended the one sacred edifice in the parish. The erection and beautifying of a new church was a matter of interest to all. Local pride was deeply touched. A strong rivalry soon developed, which led each village and city to outdo their neighbours by erecting larger, more expensive, and more beautiful

chapels and cathedrals. The church of that day was the centre not alone of religious activity, but also of local politics, of community business, of social gatherings, of education, and of the fine arts. It was the very heart of all life, and, hence, members lavished their affection, their time, and their wealth on it. Nothing in our community life to-day can be well compared with the church of that day. It was the town hall, art museum, club, public library, school, and church all in one. With us the religious interest of every community is divided among various denominations, while the differentiation of our other institutions has destroyed the earlier unity of interest.

The Gothic churches with pointed arches and flying buttresses lightened the masonry of the hitherto massive walls, pierced them with great, beautiful stained glass windows, and allowed the sunlight to stream into the dark interiors. Then mosaics, sculpture, fresco, and painting were used to enrich and decorate the inner parts. Mouldings and capitals, pulpits, altars, side chapels, choir screens, the wooden seats for the clergy and choristers, the reading desk, and the tombs were literally covered with carvings of leaf and flower forms, of familiar animals and grotesque monsters, of biblical scenes and ordinary incidents. The exteriors of these wonderful structures, which were marvels of lightness and delicacy of detail, were usually ornamented with an army of statues representing apostles, saints, donors, and rulers. Is it a matter of surprise that the bishops and clergy, who ruled over these Christian temples erected in love, in prayer, and in self-sacrifice, should be honoured and obeyed? These wonderful houses of religion were the glad free-will offerings of a devout and believing people to the mighty Roman

Catholic Church of which they were the proud, privileged members.

A splendid picture of the beautiful devotion of the people of a region in the erection of a magnificent cathedral is found in Chartres, France. That wonderful edifice was begun in 1194 and completed in 1240. To construct a building that would beautify their city and satisfy their religious aspirations the citizens contributed of their strength and property year after year for nearly half a century. Far from home they went to the distant quarries to dig out the rock. Encouraged by their priests they might be seen, men, women, and children, yoked to clumsy carts loaded with building materials. Day after day their weary journey to and from the quarries continued. When at night they stopped, worn out with the day's toil, their spare time was given up to confession and prayer. Others laboured with more skill but with equal devotion on the great cathedral itself. As the grand edifice grew year by year from foundation stone to towers, the inhabitants watched it with pious jealousy. At length it was completed; not, however, until many who had laboured at the beginning had passed away. Its dedication and consecration marked an epoch in that part of France.

Most historians are prone to dwell upon the evils of the Church in this period, as if they far outweighed the good. Many bishops were worldly and wicked, therefore the conclusion is drawn that all bishops were of that character, whereas out of the 700 bishops in Europe a very large proportion were comparatively faithful shepherds who were striving with all their might to realise the high ideals for which the Church stood. Many of the clergy were guilty of gross

immorality, hence comes the sweeping assertion that all the clergy were unfit for their high and noble calling, while as a matter of fact, thousands of the priests obeyed the laws of the Church, led model God-fearing lives, and continually pointed out to their people the high and certain path to salvation. Abuses, corruptions, extortions, did exist in every quarter of Christendom. Bad clergymen did use their high prerogatives for base purposes. Many bishops, abbots, and priests were no more worthy to be given extensive powers in trust than the unscrupulous politicians who often secure high places in our municipal, state, and national governments. The sinecures and benefices of the Church offered the same temptations to money-making and to questionable methods that our civil offices do to-day to the dishonest and unscrupulous office-holders. But all of the officials in the Church in the thirteenth century were no more guilty of these evils than are all public men in the United States to-day addicted to the practices of the base political tricksters. It seems to be a universal fact that one bad man in the Church attracts more attention and creates more comment than a multitude of good men.

The fundamental causes of the numerous evil practices in the Church are found in the wealth and power of the Roman ecclesiastical organisation, on the one hand, and the comparatively low moral standards of civilisation, on the other. Throughout its whole remarkable career of thirteen hundred years, the Catholic Church had denounced the bad and taught the good. Unfortunately in attempting to realise the kingdom of God on earth through that organisation which was assumed to be of divine origin, life and practice did not always harmonise with the doctrines

inculcated. The ideal and the real are seldom brought to coincide in any human institutions and it would be expecting a realisation of the well-nigh impossible to hope to see the consummation of that desirable condition in the mediæval Church when all the contradictory factors and forces are taken into account. But it can be safely asserted, when all debits and credits of baneful and beneficial are given just consideration, that the mighty Church at its height was the most powerful force in Europe for justice, for mercy, for charity, for peace among men, for honesty, for temperance, for human rights, for social service, for culture, for domestic purity, for obedience to law and order, and for a noble, helpful Christian life both for individuals and states.

The sublime foundations on which the Church rested,[602:1] the marvellous history it could point to, its peerless organisation, its vast wealth, its strong grip on the faith of the people, its close alliance with the state, all combined to make its officers, the clergy, the most influential social class in Europe. In their hands were the keys of heaven and without their permission no one could hope to enter; since they were about the only educated class, they wrote the books and directed all advance along intellectual, literary, and artistic lines. In short they moulded the progress of that day. They wrote public documents and proclamations for rulers, sat in royal councils, and acted as governmental ministers.[602:2] They dominated

every human interest, regulated more or less every phase of life in the Middle Ages, and conferred inestimable benefit upon Europe of that day and this.

The Church in this age was the dominant factor in European civilisation. It fashioned laws and dictated the policy of governments; it controlled education and intelligence; it influenced occupations and industries; it moulded social ideas and customs; and it set the standards of morality and determined the life and conduct of both this world and that to come. The Church was divided into two sharply defined classes: the laity and the priesthood. "The great division of mankind, which . . . had become complete and absolute, into the clergy . . . and the rest of mankind, still subsisted in all of its rigorous force. They were two castes, separate and standing apart as by the irrepealable law of God. They were distinct, adverse, even antagonistic, in their theory of life, in their laws, in their corporate property, in their rights, in their immunities. In the aim and object of their existence, in their social duties and position, they were set asunder by a broad, deep, impassable line."[603:1] The priesthood, with an indelible character, married to the Church, stood between God and man and tended to become "The Church."

The Church was essentially an organised state, thoroughly centralised, with one supreme head and a complete gradation of officials; with a comprehensive system of law courts for trying cases, with penalties covering all crimes, and with prisons for punishing offenders. It demanded an allegiance from all its

members somewhat like that existing to-day between subjects and a state. It developed one official language, the Latin, which was used to conduct its business everywhere. Thus all western Europe was one great religious association from which it was treason to revolt. Canon law punished such a crime with death, public opinion sanctioned it, and the secular arm executed the sentence.

The Church Militant was thus an army encamped on the soil of Christendom, with its outposts everywhere, subject to the most efficient discipline, animated with a common purpose, every soldier panoplied with inviolability and armed with the tremendous weapons which slew the soul. There was little that could not be dared or done by the commander of such a force, whose orders were listened to as oracles of God, from Portugal to Palestine and from Sicily to Iceland.[604:1]

History records no such triumph of intellect over brute force as that which, in an age of turmoil and battle, was wrested from the fierce warriors of the time by priests who had no material force at their command, and whose power was based alone on the souls and consciences of men. Over soul and conscience their empire was complete. No Christian could hope for salvation who was not in all things an obedient son of the Church, and who was not ready to take up arms in its defence; and, in a time when faith was a determining factor of conduct, this belief created a spiritual despotism which placed all things within reach of him who could wield it.[604:2]

In the thirteenth century the mediæval Church was a completed institution and at the height of its power. Its rise from humble beginnings, by a multitude of explainable causes and forces, to this lofty

position is a well-nigh incredible miracle. It was very different from all modern churches whether Catholic or Protestant, yet was the mother of all of them. Both theoretically and legally all persons in western Europe belonged to it and were ruled by it, except those who were expelled from it, and thus formed one mighty religious society, the like of which has not again appeared in Christendom. Unable during subsequent centuries to meet the demands of new and higher phases of civilisation, the mediæval Church broke up into the various Christian sects of to-day.