[67]. In the war which he had with Theobald, count of Champaign. See page 41 of this work.
[68]. Philip, the king’s brother, being appointed bishop of Paris, thought the place beneath him; he resigned it to Peter Lombard, who, according to Zuinger, A. D. 1160, made use of his episcopal authority to have all the priests and monks of his diocese shaved.
Frederick I. surnamed Redbeard, was not exempted from the common law; the colour of his beard, the example of two princes, and the strong solicitations of the clergy, prevailed on him to be shaved; and this emperor, who had courageously refused to hold the stirrup to pope Adrian IV. to kiss his feet, and lead his Spanish genet by the bridle, had not the resolution to withstand the priests on this occasion.
When the clergy had succeeded to shave the principal princes of Europe, they might justly expect to see a great many imitators among the rest of the people. Far better than violence, the example would have triumphed over the remaining beards; but the priests of those days of ignorance were strangers to all moderate means.
Godfrey, bishop of Amiens, saying mass Christmas-day, 1105, formed the design of unmercifully stripping all the bearded chins; those, who came to the offering with long beards, were turned back. Frighted at this cruel refusal, most of the men were eager to cut off the hair of their chins, hastily laying hold of scissars, and even knives, in order to be able to present themselves immediately before their bishop with a better grace.[[69]]
[69]. See le Mercure de France for January, 1732.
Never was reason the motive of such indecencies. It seems as if truth had revenged itself on these silly, superstitious times at the expense of decorum.
Envy, under the imposing cloak of religion, had just scattered its venom; vengeance had its fill; every chin was shaved, and the Church enjoyed its triumph. Time moderates all things, even the anger of votaries; they forgot that beards had been anathematized: the successors of those very popes, who had looked upon a bearded priest as guilty of a shameful sin, were in a little time no longer afraid to sin themselves, and publicly appeared with long beards. Such were Henry III. Alexander IV. Adrian V. John XX. Nicholas III. &c. &c.
This calm was enjoyed but a short time, before a new storm arose against sacerdotal beards, stirred up by envy and ignorance, to destroy the work of peace and reason. The vicissitude of human things respects nothing. Lewis V. in Germany, Peter the Cruel in Spain, and Philip of Valois in France, had let out their beards, and the mode gained ground throughout Europe. Priests are not blessed with a character that shelters them from the influence of fashion; several were slaves to that which brought beards again in vogue. The popes themselves did not disdain it, though a number of provincial councils stood up against the new bearded chins: in 1323, clergymen, by a synodal statute of the church of Orleans, were forbidden to wear long beards, under pain of excommunication. Meanwhile, according to the quality and condition of the persons,[[70]] other synodal statutes of the church of Beziers ordered the priests of the diocese to cut off their beards and hair of their heads, except just the crown, in order that they might apply themselves with more diligence to their studies and functions.[[71]] A provincial council of Paris, and another of Sens, ordered the same; a council of the same town of Beziers, under archbishop Peter Narbonne, in 1351, canon xi. forbids wearing long beards; and as a punishment for such temerity, it is there said: We condemn the offender, if a canon, to be deprived of his daily distribution, and if an incumbent, to pay twelve deniers for the use of the church.[[72]] The custom of wearing beards was condemned likewise by a synodal statute of the church of St. Malo, in 1370, and all sacerdotal beards were shorn off.
[70]. Statuta synodalia ecclesiæ Aurelianensis, anno 1323. Amplissima Collectio veterum Scriptorum, &c. vol. i. by Martenne and Durand.