neracy. It is truly asserted and believed that the holy fathers instituted that life, and that they softened the rigour of the rule in respect to weaker brethren, to the end that more might be saved therein. But I cannot bring myself to believe that they either prescribed or permitted such a crowd of vanities and superfluities, as I now see in very many monasteries. It is a wonder to me whence this intemperance, which I observe among monks in their feasting and revels, in their vestures and couches, in their cavalcades and the construction of their edifices, can have grown into a practice so inveterate, that where these luxuries are attended with the most exquisite and voluptuous prodigality, there the order is said to be best preserved, there religion is held to be most studiously cultivated. For behold! frugality is deemed avarice; sobriety is called austerity; silence is considered as moroseness. On the other hand, laxity is termed discretion; profusion, liberality; loquacity, affability; loud laughter, pleasantness; delicacy and sumptuousness in raiment and horses, taste; a superfluous change of linen, cleanliness; and then, when we assist each other in these practices, it is called charity. This is a charity indeed which destroys all charity; it is a discretion which confounds all discretion; it is a compassion full of cruelty, since it so serves the body, as mortally to stab the soul.' Again What proof or indica

tion of humility is this, to march forth with such a pomp and cavalcade, to be thronged by such an obsequious train of long-haired attendants, so that the escort of one abbot would suffice for two bishops? I vow that I have seen an abbot with a suite of sixty horsemen and more*. To see them pass by, you would not take them for fathers of monasteries, but for lords of castles; not for directors of souls, but for princes of provinces.' . . St. Bernard then proceeds to censure the show of wealth which is exhibited within the monasteriest, and subsequently exposes the secret motive of such display. 'Treasures are drawn towards treasures; money attracts money, and it happens that where most wealth is seen, there most is offered. When the relics are covered with gold, the eyes are struck, and the pockets opened. The beautified form of some Saint is pointed out, and the richer its colours the greater is deemed its sanctity. Men run to salute it-they are invited to give, and they admire what is splendid more than they reverence what is holy. To this end circular ornaments are placed in the churches, more like wheels than crowns, and set with gems which rival the surrounding lights. We behold inventions like trees erected in place of candlesticks, with great expense of metal and ingenuity, also shining with brilliants as gaily as with the lights

Cluni. St. Bernard did not lose that opportunity of generally inveighing against monastic abuses.

* Mentior,' says the holy abbot, 'si non vidi abbatem sexaginta equos et eo amplius in suo ducere comitatu. Dicas, si videas eos transeuntes, non patres esse monasteriorum, sed dominos castellorum; non rectores animarum, sed principes provinciarum.'

+Omitto Oratorium immensas altitudines, immoderatas longitudines, supervacuas latitudines, sumptuosas depolitiones, curiosas depictiones, quæ dum orantium in se detorquent aspectum impediunt et affectum, et mihi quodammodo repræsentant antiquum ritum Judæorum. Sed esto—fiant hæc ad honorem Dei. Illud autem interrogo monachus monachos, quod in gentilibus gentilis arguebat

Dicite, Pontifices, in sancto quid facit aurum ?

Ego autem dico, Dicite Pauperes! Non enim attendo versum sed sensum-Dicite, inquam, pauperes, si tamen pauperes, in Sancto quid facit aurum ?'-Loc. Citat. It seems probable that St. Bernard, in the interval of his theological labours, had studied the Roman Satirists with pleasure, and not without advantage.

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they hold. Say, whether of the two is the object in these fabrications-to awake the penitent to compunction, or the gazer to admiration? Oh vanity of vanities, and as insane as it is vain! The church is resplendent in its walls, it is destitute in its poor. It clothes its stones with gold-it leaves its children naked. The eyes of the rich are ministered to, at the expense of the indigent. The curious find wherewithal to be delighted— the starving do not find wherewith to allay their starvation.**

Such was the Abbot of Clairvaux; in profession and habits a monk-in ecclesiastical polity at once a reformer and a bigot-in piety a Christian. His single example (if every page in history did not furnish others) would suffice to show that a very great preponderance of excellence is consistent with many pernicious errors; and that innumerable ensamples of purity and holiness have flourished in every age, as they doubtless still flourish, in the bosom of the Roman Catholic Church. Because many Popes were ambitious and many prelates profligate, it would be monstrous to suspect that righteousness was nowhere to be found in that communion; it would be unreasonable to suppose that the great moral qualities, which distinguished St. Bernard, were not very common among the obscurer members and ministers of his church. His genius, indeed, was peculiarly his own. The principles which least became him were derived from his church and his age; but his charity and his godliness flowed from his religion, and thus they found sympathy among many, respect and admiration among all. These were the crown of his reputation; and while they fortified and exalted his genius, they also gave it that commanding authority which, without them, it could never have acquired. From this alliance of noble qualities St. Bernard possessed a much more extensive influence than any ecclesiastic of his time-more, perhaps, than any individual through the mere force of personal character has at any time possessed; nor is it hard to understand, if we duly consider the imperfect civilization of that superstitious age, that monarchs, and nobles, and nations should have respectfully listened to the decisions of a monk, who gave laws from his cloister in Burgundy to the Universal Church.

CHAPTER XVIII.

The Pontificate of Innocent III. ·

[From 1198 to 1216.]

Prefatory facts and observations-Circumstances under which Innocent ascended the chair-Col. lection of Canons-Condition of the clergy-Ecclesiastical jurisdiction-by what means extended -Innocent's four leading objects-(1.) To establish and enlarge his temporal power in the city and ecclesiastical states. Office of the Prefect-Favourable circumstance, of which Innocent avails himself-his work completed by Nicholas IV.-(2.) To establish the universal pre-eminence of papal over royal authority. His claims to the Empire-His dispute with Philippe Auguste of France-he places the kingdom under interdiet-submission of Philippe-His general assertions supremacy-particular applications of them-to England and France, Navarre, Wallachia and Bulgaria, Arragon and Armenia-His contest with John of England-Interdict-the Legate Pan. dulph-Humiliation of the King-(3.) To extend his authority within the church. Italian clergy in England-his general success in influencing the priesthood-Power of the Episcopal OrderThe fourth Lateran Council. Canons on transubstantiation-on private confession-against all

*O vanitas vanitatum, sed non vanior quam insanior. Fulget ecclesia in parietibus, et in pauperibus eget. Suos lapides induit auro et suos filios nudos deserit. De sumpti bus egenorum servitur oculis divitum. Inveniunt curiosi quo delectentur, et non inveniunt miseri quo sustententur.'

heretics (4.) To extinguish heresy. The Petrobrussians-their author and tenets. Various other sects, how resisted. The Cathari-supposition of Mosheim and Gibbon-the more probable opinion-The Waldenses-their history and character-error of Mosheim-Peter Waldus-his persecution. The Albigeois or Albigenses-their residence and opinions-attacked by Innocent-St. Dominic-title of Inquisitor-Raymond of Toulouse-holy war preached against them-Simon de Montfort-resistance and massacre of the heretics-Continued persecution of the AlbigeoisDeath of Innocent-Remarks on his policy.

DURING the period of one hundred and thirteen years, which intervened between Gregory VII. and Innocent III., the progress of ecclesiastical power and influence was very considerable; and the latter ascended the pontifical chair unembarrassed by many of the difficulties which impeded the enterprises of the former. The principal causes of that progress may be traced, perhaps, in a few sentences. In the first place, new facilities to learning had been opened during the twelfth century, of which the clergy had availed themselves very generally, and which the laity had as generally neglected. It is true that the kind of learning then in fashion possessed, for the most part, no substantial or permanent value; still it was a weapon as powerful, perhaps, for the government of the ignorant, as if its polish had been brighter, or its edge more keen; and, as its real ineffieiency was unknown, it equally answered the end of exciting a blind respect for those who had the exclusive use of it. In the next place, the discipline of the church had undergone an important reformation, the honour of which we are bound to ascribe to the vigorous exertions of Gregory, imitated, with more advantage perhaps, by feebler successors. Three Lateran Councils (the first General Councils of the Western Church) were held during the twelfth century; and the second and third of these, assembled respectively in 1139 and 1179, by Innocent II. and Alexander III., more particularly directed their attention to the extirpation of ecclesiastical abuses, to the confirmation of ancient canons, and the introduction of such others as might amend the discipline and consolidate the interests of the church. This object was materially advanced by the labour of a monk of Bologna, named Gratian, who published, in 1151, his celebrated Collection of Canon Laws*. And this branch of study, thus facilitated, received further encouragement from Eugenius III., who instituted the degrees of Bachelor, Licentiate, and Doctor in that science. By the advance of learning among the sacred profession, by the greater precision and more general knowledge of the canons of the church, and by the rigour with which they were frequently enforced, the morals of every rank of the clergy were essentially improved. The two notorious scandals of the former age, concubinage and simony, if not effectually removed, were at least restrained within more decent limits; and the extreme licence, in some other respects, which had prevailed for at least two centuries before Gregory VII., was checked and repressed. So that Innocent was called to the command of a more enlightened, a more orderly, a more moral, and therefore a more influential priesthood.

It may be true, as Mosheim asserts, that the revenues of the Pope had received no considerable augmentation between the ninth

century and the time of Innocent; but those of the clergy, Ecclesiastical and especially of the monastic orders, had been swelled property. during the same period by the most abundant contributions. Indeed, in most countries the territorial domains of the church

*The accidental discovery of the Pandects of Justinian, in 1137, may have furnished to Gratian the notion, as it certainly supplied the model, of his work.

were at that time spread so widely, as almost to justify the complaint that they comprehended half the surface of Europe; nor should we omit to mention that the clergy, though in some kingdoms liable to annual donatives, and to arbitrary plunder in all, were still legally exempt from taxation, and From such from every regular contribution to the service of the state. immunity, though it was occasionally violated, and the violation usually attended with outrage, they must, nevertheless, have reaped great advantage, and especially in peaceful periods. But such partial profits have always a drawback in the jealousy which the distinction occasions, and which exposes those who enjoy it to the distrust and dislike of their fellowsubjects.

We have already observed how extensive, and, at the same time, how indefinite, were the rights of jurisdiction, which were Ecclesiastical partly conferred on the church and partly confirmed to jurisdiction. it by Charlemagne,—rights, which were scarcely less important to the general influence of the clergy, than their learning or their revenues. During the tumults of the three following centuries, they were transgressed or exceeded as the civil or ecclesiastical portion of the state happened in any country to preponderate; but they appear to have sustained no permanent alteration, either in abridgment or increase, until the beginning of the twelfth century. About that time the ecclesiastical tribunals commenced a system of encroachment, which made great progress even before the pontificate of Innocent, and was carried by that Pope and his successors to still greater excess, and seemed to threaten the entire subversion of the secular courts*. It was the first step in this usurpation to multiply the number of persons subject to the jurisdiction of the church; the next, to extend almost without limit the offences of which it took cognizance. The first of these objects was accomplished by the indiscriminate Tonsure, which we have before mentioned to have been so generally given by the bishops. This sign of the clerical state did not indicate ordination or any spiritual office; but it conferred the use of the ecclesiastical habit, and with it the various privileges and immunities enjoyed by that order, without the restraint of celibacy†, to which it was liable. This very numerous class, though for the most part engaged in secular professions and occupations, was subject to no other than the episcopal tribunals; and we may remark, that all the moveable property of this body fell under the same jurisdiction§.

Another very large class, under the denomination of miserabiles personæ' (persons in distress), was also exclusively subjected to the episcopal courts. It comprehended, even in the first instance, a multitude of the lowest orders; and it was presently so enlarged as to include orphans and widows, the stranger and the poor, the pilgrim and the leper. Again;

*Tirate tutte le cause d' appellazione in Roma, si proccurò d' ampliare la giurisdizione del Foro Episopale, è stendere la conoscenza de' Giudici Ecclesiastici sopra più persone ed in più cause, sicchè poco rimanesse a' magistrati secolari d' impicciarsene. Giannone, Ist. di Napoli, lib. xix., c. v., sect. iii.

In this respect, those persons were placed in the condition of the priests of the Greek church: they were allowed to marry once only, and a virgin.

In the kingdom of Naples, under the dynasty of Anjou, this matter afterwards went so far (says Giannone), that even the concubines of the clergy enjoyed immunity from secular jurisdiction.

§ In conseguenza di quella massima mal intesa, mobilia sequuntur personam.—Giann. loc. cit.

We refer to the seventh chapter of Mr. Hallam's Middle Ages. It is a bold and, in most respects, an accurate disquisition on papal history.

the opportunity offered by the Crusades was not neglected in the progress of usurpation; and in this case the arm of ecclesiastical justice extended itself not only over all who engaged in the expedition, but over those too who had bound themselves by the vow.

A great facility was also afforded for enlarging the boundaries of ecclesiastical jurisdiction, by the want of definiteness in the nature of the offences subject to it. These were designated by one name, spiritual; but it is clear that, in an ignorant age, that term might be so extended by an artful priesthood as to embrace every sin and almost every crime; since there are no sins* and few crimes which do not indicate some disease of the soul, and touch its eternal safety.

The general term, under which ecclesiastics contrived to comprise the greatest number of causes, was Bad Faith; as being unquestionably a sin, yet such, that an action could seldom occur, in which both parties were clear from the suspicion of it. Thus they claimed for their tribunals all trials on executions of contracts, because the contract was founded on oath. They also claimed to be natural interpreters and executors of all wills and testaments, as being matters peculiarly connected with the conscience; and thus they gradually extended the spiritual net over the entire field of civil litigation †. But they forgot that that which properly belonged to them was censure, not jurisdiction; or they affected artfully to confound the office of penal chastisement with that of penitential correction. The encroachments of the church were aided by the negligence, as they were almost justified by the incompetence, of the lay tribunals; and they had already made considerable advances, with little apparent opposition, and acquired extensive conquests in the domains of secular jurisdiction, at the time when Innocent III. took possession of the pontifical chair.

From the above circumstances, we have reason to presume that in actual authority, not less than in moral influence, the church had

*Si peccaverit frater tuus, dic Ecclesiæ.' This seems to have been the text on which ecclesiastical jurisdiction was mainly founded. It had a much better foundation in the superior intelligence and moral principles of ecclesiastics.

Having once interfered in the matter of wills, the bishops proceeded in some countries to arrogate the power of making wills for the laity, ad pias causas; and the interests of the church were advanced by that piety. Some were found who even claimed the property of all intestate persons. Again, when the interests of a clerk were involved in connexion with those of laymen, the decision was claimed by the Ecclesiastical Court. So also, when the cause was very difficult in point of reason, in case of the incompetence, negligence, or suspiciousness of the lay judge, the matter was referred to the Episcopal Tribunal. So likewise, under the name of forum mixtum, it claimed its share in all cases of bigamy, usury, sacrilege, adultery, incest, concubinage, blasphemy, sortilege, perjury, as in those of tithes and pious legacies. So in all causes arising from marriage, as being a Sacrament of the church. And lastly, there were some Roman doctors who maintained that every condemned person in every country should be sent to Rome for punishment; seeing that Rome was the common country and metropolis of all men, that the world was Roman, and all its inhabitants citizens and subjects of Rome.-Giannone, loc. cit. The following lines were intended to comprehend the jurisdiction of the spiritual court :— ̧, Hæreticus, Simon, foenus, perjurus, adulter, Pax, privilegium, violentus, sacrilegusque ; Si vacat Imperium; si negligit, ambigit, aut sit Suspectus judex; sit subdita terra, vel usus, Rusticus et servus, peregrinus, feuda, viator. Si quis pæniteat, miser! omnis causaque mistaSi denunciat Ecclesiæ quis, judicat ipsa.

We shall take a future opportunity of recurring to the subject of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction.