[852] Concil. Melfitan. ann. 1284 c. v. (Martene Ampl. Coll. VII. 285-6).
[853] Giannone, Apologia cap. XIV.—Ancarono gave his name to one of the most celebrated colleges of law in Bologna.—Bruni Vita Gabrielis Palæoti c. 4 (Martene Ampl. Coll. VI. 1390).
[854] Gobelinæ Personæ Cosmodrom. Ætat. VI. c. 92, 93.—How utterly monastic discipline was neglected in Germany is shown by the fact that a century earlier, in 1307, a council of Cologne found it necessary to denounce the frequency with which nuns were seduced, left their convents, lived in open and public profligacy, and then returned unblushingly to their establishments, where they seem to have been received as a matter of course.—Concil. Colon. ann. 1307 c. xvii. (Hartzheim IV. 113). That this had little effect is proved by a repetition of the threats of punishment, three years later (Concil. Colon. ann. 1310 c. ix.; Hartzheim IV. 122). In 1347, John van Arckel, Bishop of Utrecht, was obliged to prohibit men from having access to the nunneries of his diocese, in order to put an end to the scandals which were apparently frequent (Hartzheim IV. 350). In 1350, the Emperor Charles IV. felt called upon to address an earnest remonstrance to the Archbishop of Mainz concerning the unclerical habits of his canons and clergy who spent the revenues of the church in jousts and tourneys, and who, in dress, arms, and mode of life, were not to be distinguished from laymen (Ibid. IV. 358). How little was effected by these efforts is manifest when, in 1360, William, Archbishop of Cologne, was obliged to refute the assertions of those monks and nuns who alleged in their defence that custom allowed them to leave their convents and contract marriage (Ibid. IV. 493).
[855] Henke, Append. ad Calixt. pp. 585-6.
[856] Trithem. Chron. Hirsaug. ann. 1128.—Platina sub Honor. II.
[857] Arnulphi Lexoviens. de Schismate cap. iii. (D’Achery I. 156).
[858] Anacleti Antipapæ Epist. X. (Martene Ampliss. Collect. I. 702).
[859] Matt. Paris ann. 1251.
[860] Matt. Paris Hist. Angl. ann. 1253.—The same author preserves a legend that when Innocent IV. heard of the death of Grosseteste, he ordered a letter to be prepared commanding Henry III. to dig up and cast out the remains of the bishop. The following night, however, Grosseteste appeared in his episcopal robes and with his crozier inflicted a severe castigation on the vengeful pope, who thereupon abandoned his unchristian purpose.—Ibid. ann. 1254.
[861] Portions of Petrarch’s descriptions are unfit for transcription; the following, however, will give a sufficient idea of his experience. “Veritas ibi dementia est, abstinentia vero rusticitas, pudicitia probrum ingens. Denique peccandi licentia magnanimitas et libertas eximia, et quo pollutior eo clarior vita, quo plus scelerum eo plus gloriæ, bonum nomen cœno vilius, atque ultima mercium fama est.... Taceo utriusque pestis artifices, et concursantes pontificum thalamis proxonætas.... Quis, oro, enim non irascatur et rideat, illos senes pueros coma candida, togis amplissimis, adeoque lascivientibus animis ut nihil illuo falsius videatur quam quod ait Maro ‘Frigidus in Venerem senior.’ Tam calidi tamque præcipites in Venerem senes sunt, tanta eos ætatis et status et virium capit oblivio, sic in libidines inardescunt, sic in omne ruunt dedecus, quasi omnis eorum gloria non in cruce Christi sit, sed in commessationibus et ebrietatibus, et quæ has sequuntur in cubilibus, impudicitiis: ... atque hoc unum senectutis ultimæ lucrum putant, ea facere quæ juvenes non auderent.... Mitto stupra, raptus, incestus, adulteria qui jam pontificalis lasciviæ ludi sunt,” etc. (Lib. sine Titulo Epist. xvi.).