The universal dominion of the Church proved useful and even necessary in feudal times, when kings were weak and nobles were strong. The Church of the early Middle Ages served as the chief unifying force in Europe. When, however, the kings had repressed feudalism, they took steps to extend their authority over the Church as well. They tried, therefore, to restrict the privileges of ecclesiastical courts, to impose taxes on the clergy, as on their own subjects, and to dictate the appointment of bishops and abbots to office. This policy naturally led to much friction between popes and kings, between Church and State.
PONTIFICATE OF BONIFACE VIII, 1294-1303 A.D.
The Papacy put forth its most extensive claims under Boniface VIII. The character of these claims is shown by two bulls which he issued. The first forbade all laymen, under penalty of excommunication, to collect taxes on Church lands, and all clergymen to pay them. The second announced in unmistakable terms both the spiritual and the temporal supremacy of the popes. "Submission to the Roman pontiff," declared Boniface, "is altogether necessary to salvation for every human creature".
BONIFACE AND PHILIP THE FAIR
Boniface had employed the exalted language of Gregory VII in dealing with Henry IV, but he found an opponent in a monarch more resolute and resourceful than any Holy Roman Emperor. This was Philip the Fair, [2] king of France. Philip answered the first bull by refusing to allow any gold and silver to be exported from France to Italy. The pope, thus deprived of valuable revenues, gave way and acknowledged that the French ruler had a limited right to tax the clergy. Another dispute soon arose, however, as the result of Philip's imprisonment and trial of an obnoxious papal legate. Angered by this action, Boniface prepared to excommunicate the king and depose him from the throne. Philip retaliated by calling together the Estates-General and asking their support for the preservation of the "ancient liberty of France." The nobles, the clergy, and the "third estate" rallied around Philip, accused the pope of heresy and tyranny, and declared that the French king was subject to God alone.
ANAGNI, 1303 A.D.
The last act of the drama was soon played. Philip sent his emissaries into Italy to arrest the pope and bring him to trial before a general council in France. At Anagni, near Rome, a band of hireling soldiers stormed the papal palace and made Boniface a prisoner. The citizens of Anagni soon freed him, but the shock of the humiliation broke the old man's spirit and he died soon afterwards. The poet Dante, in the Divine Comedy, [3] speaks with awe of the outrage: "Christ had been again crucified among robbers; and the vinegar and gall had been again pressed to his lips". [4] The historian sees in this event the end of the temporal power of the Papacy.
THE "BABYLONION CAPTIVITY," 1309-1377 A.D.
Soon after the death of Boniface, Philip succeeded in having the archbishop of Bordeaux chosen as head of the Church. The new pope removed the papal court to Avignon, a town just outside the French frontier of those days. The popes lived in Avignon for nearly seventy years. This period is usually described as the "Babylonian Captivity" of the Church, a name which recalls the exile of the Jews from their native land. [5] The long absence of the popes from Rome lessened their power, and the suspicion that they were the mere vassals of the French crown seriously impaired the respect in which they had been held.