Letters conceived in the same spirit are extant, addressed to the principal laymen of Chiusi in Tuscany, to the Count and Countess of Flanders, &c. (Lib. II. Epist. 47; Lib. IV. Epistt. 10, 11.)
[547] Martene et Durand. Thesaur. I. 218.—Hugon. Flavin. Chron. Lib. II. ann. 1079.—Cf. Chron. Augustinens. ann. 1075. Theodoric was naturally forced in the end to take a decided stand against Gregory. See his letter in Goldastus, T. I. p. 236, and the account of his episcopate in the Gesta Trevir. Archiep. (Martene Ampl. Collect. IV. 175-8).
[548] Udalr. Babenb. Cod. Lib. II. cap. 162.
[549] Annalista Saxo, ann. 1076.
We have already seen (p. 142) that Nicholas I., in the ninth century, had expressly forbidden any popular interference with married priests, and it is a little singular to observe that his decretal on the subject is extracted by Ivo of Chartres (Decreti P. II. cap. 82) and presented as valid law, in less than a generation after the death of Gregory VII.
[550] The writer indignantly adds—“Si autem quæris talis fructus a qua radice pullulaverit, lex ad laicos promulgata, qua imperitis persuasum est conjugatorum sacerdotum missas et quæcumque per eos implentur mysteria fugienda esse, in reipublicæ nostræ ornatum illud adjecit.”—Martene et Durand. Thesaur. I. 230-1.
[551] Sigebert. Gemblac. ann. 1074.
[552] Pauli Bernried. Vit. Gregor. VII. No. 81, 107.
[553] Ibid. No. 105, 106, 107.
[554] Gregor. VII. Regist. Lib. IV. Epist. 20.