[238] S. Francis. Colloq. 27.—Th. de Eccleston de Adventu Minorum Collat. 1, 2.
[239] Philip. Bergomat. Supplem. Chronic. Lib. XIII. ann. 1215.—Bonavent. Vit. S. Fran. c. IV. No. 5; c. XI—Regula Fratrum Sororumque de Pœnitentia.—Potthast Regest. No. 6736, 7503, 13073.—Chron. Magist. Ordin. Prædicat. c. 2, 9.—Raynald. Annal. ann. 1233, No. 40.—Nicolai PP. IV. Bull. Supra montem, ann. 1289.
[240] Chron. Augustens. ann. 1250.—Matt. Paris. ann. 1252.
[241] Pierre de Fontaines, Conseil, ch. xxi. art. 8.—Le Grand d’Aussy, Fabliaux, II. 112-3.—The existence of the “droit de marquette” has been questioned, but without reasonable ground. The authorities may be found in the author’s “Sacerdotal Celibacy,” 2d Ed. p. 354.
[242] Matt. Paris ann. 1251 (pp. 550-2).—Guillel. Nangiac. ann. 1251.—Amalrici Augerii Vit. Pontif. ann. 1251.—Bern. Guidon. Flor. Chronic. (Bouquet, XXI. 697). A similar extraordinary movement took place in 1309 (Chron. Corn. Zanflict ann. 1309), and another, on a larger scale, in 1320 (Guill. Nangiac. Contin. ann. 1320.—Grandes Chroniques V. 245-6.—Amal. Auger. Vit. Pontif. ann. 1320).
[243] Monach. Paduan. Lib. III. ann. 1260.—Chron. F. Francisci Pipini ann. 1260.—Gesta Treviror. Archiep. c. 268.—Closener’s Chronik (Chron. der deutschen Städte, VIII. 73, 104).—Lami, Antichità Toscane, p. 617.—Verri, Storia di Milano, I. 264.
[244] Potthast Regest. No. 8324, 8326, 9775, 10905, 11169, 11296, 11319, 11399, 11415.—Ripoll. I. 99.—Matt. Paris ann. 1234 (pp. 274-6).—Wadding. Annal. ann. 1295, No. 18.—Mag. Bull. Roman. I. 174.—Ripoll II. 40.
The exemption of the Mendicants from all local jurisdiction save that of their own Orders was a source of almost inconceivable trouble in every portion of Christendom. When, for instance, in 1435, the legates of the Council of Basle were on their way to Brünn to settle the terms of pacification with the Hussites, they were called upon in Vienna to silence a Franciscan whose abusive sermons created disorder, and it was with much trouble that they forced him to admit that, as representing a general council, they had authority to discipline him. On their arrival at Brünn they found the public agitated over a dreadful scandal, the Dominican provincial having seduced a nun of his own order. The woman had borne a child to him, and no steps had been taken against him. The ordinary judicial machinery of the Church was utterly powerless to deal with him, and the precautions which the legates deemed it prudent to take before they ventured to commence proceedings show how arduous and dangerous they felt the task to be, though when they got to work they sentenced him to deposition and imprisonment for life on bread and water.—Ægidii Carlerii Liber de Legationibus (Monument. Concil. General. Sæc. XV. T. I. pp. 544-8, 553, 555, 557, 563-6, 572, 577, 587, 590, 595). This, however, seems to have been a mere brutum fulmen, as there is no allusion to any attempt to execute the sentence.
[245] Potthast No. 11040, 11041:—The usefulness of the Mendicants in aiding the papacy to unlimited domination is seen in the condemnation, by the University of Paris, in 1429, of the Franciscan Jean Sarrasin for publicly teaching that the whole jurisdiction of the Church is derived from the pope. He was forced to admit that it was bestowed by God on the several classes of the hierarchy, and that the authority of councils rested, not on the pope, but on the Holy Ghost and the Church (D’Argentré, Coll. Judic. de nov. Error. I. ii. 227).
[246] Richard, de S. Germano Chron. ann. 1229, 1239.—Potthast Regesta No. 10725, 13360.—Ripoll I. 158, 172.—Hist. Diplom. Frid. II. T. VI. pp. 405, 699-701, 710-11. Waddingi Annal. ann. 1246, No. 4; ann. 1253, No. 35-6.—Martene Ampliss. Coll. II. 1192.—Barbarano de’ Mironi, Hist. Eccles. di Vicenza, II. 73.