[371] See this brought out with great force in the very interesting work of Padre Tosti, Prolegomeni alla Storia Universale della Chiesa, from which I quote one passage, which bears directly on the matter in hand: 'Il grido della riforma clericale aveva un eco terribile in tutta la compagnia civile dei popoli: essa percuoteva le cime del laicale potere, e rimbalzava per tutta la gerarchia sociale. Se l'imperadore Sigismondo nel concilio di Costanza non avesse fiutate queste consequenze nella eresia di Hus e di Girolamo di Praga, forse non avrebbe con tanto zelo mandati alle fiamme que' novatori. Rotto da Lutero il vincolo di suggezione al Papa ed ai preti in fatti di religione, avvenne che anche quello che sommetteva il vassallo al barone, il barone al imperadore si allentasse. Il popolo con la Bibbia in mano era prete, vescovo, e papa; e se prima contristato della prepotenza di chi gli soprastava, ricorreva al successore di San Pietro, ora ricorreva a se stesso, avendogli commesse Fra Martino le chiavi del regno dei Cieli.'—vol. ii. pp. 398, 9.
[372] It was not till the end of the eleventh century that transubstantiation was definitely established as a dogma.
[373] See the passages quoted in [note m, p. 98]; and [note g, p. 110].
[374] Henry VIII of England when he rebelled against the Pope called himself King of Ireland (his predecessors had used only the title 'Dominus Hiberniæ') without asking the Emperor's permission, in order to shew that he repudiated the temporal as well as the spiritual dominion of Rome.
So the Statute of Appeals is careful to deny and reject the authority of 'other foreign potentates,' meaning, no doubt, the Emperor as well as the Pope.
[375] Matthias, brother of Rudolf II, reigned from 1612 till 1619.
[376] De Ratione Status in Imperio nostro Romano-Germanico.
[377] Even then the Roman pontiffs had lapsed into that scolding, anile tone (so unlike the fiery brevity of Hildebrand, or the stern precision of Innocent III) which is now seldom absent from their public utterances. Pope Innocent the Tenth pronounces the provisions of the treaty, 'ipso iure nulla, irrita, invalida, iniqua, iniusta, damnata, reprobata, inania, viribusque et effectu vacua, omnino fuisse, esse, et perpetuo fore.' In spite of which they were observed.
This bull may be found in vol. xvii. of the Bullarium. It bears date Nov. 20th, A.D. 1648.
[378] The Imperial Chamber (Kammergericht) continued, with frequent and long interruptions, to sit while the Empire lasted. But its slowness and formality passed that of any other legal body the world has yet seen, and it had no power to enforce its sentences. The Aulic council was little more efficient, and was generally disliked as the tool of imperial intrigue.