PART II. and aspiring genius, and is said in many things CENT. IX. to have anticipated the famous Descartes in the manner of investigating truth.f CHAPTER II. CONCERNING THE DOCTORS AND MINISTERS OF THE CHURCH, AND ITS FORM OF GOVERNMENT DURING THIS CENTURY. tion of the 1. THE impiety and licentiousness of the greatest The corruppart of the clergy arose at this time to an enormous clergy. height, and stand upon record, in the unanimous complaints of the most candid and impartial writers of this century." In the east, tumult, discord, conspiracies, and treason, reigned uncontrolled, and all things were carried by violence and force. These abuses appeared in many things, but particularly in the election of the patriarchs of Constantinople. The favour of the court was become the only step to that high and important office; and as the patriarch's continuance in that eminent post depended upon such an uncertain and precarious foundation, nothing was more usual than to see a prelate pulled down from his episcopal throne by an imperial decree. In the western provinces, the bishops were become voluptuous and effeminate to a very high degree. They passed their lives amidst the splendour of courts, and the pleasures of a luxurious indolence, which corrupted their taste, f Le Beuf Memoires pour l'Histoire d'Auxerre, tom. ii. p. 481. Acta Sanctorum, tom. iv. M. Junii ad d. xxiv. p. 829, et ad d. xxxi. Jul. p. 249. For this philosopher has obtained a place among the saintly order. See Agobardus, De privilegiis et jure Sacerdotii, § 13, p. 137, tom i. opp. ed. Baluzii. PART 11. CENT. IX. extinguished their zeal, and rendered them incapable of performing the solemn duties of their function; while the inferior clergy were sunk in licentiousness, minded nothing but sensual gratifications, and infected with the most heinous vices, the flock, whom it was the very business of their ministry to preserve, or to deliver from the contagion of iniquity. Beside, the ignorance of the sacred order was in many places so deplorable, that few of them could either read or write; and still fewer were capable of expressing their wretched notions with any degree of method or perspicuity. Hence it happened that when letters were to be penned, or any matter of consequence was to be committed to writing, they had commonly recourse to some person who was supposed to be endowed with superior abilities, as appears in the case of Servatus Lupus. The causes tion. II. Many circumstances concurred, particularly of this corrup- in the European nations, to produce and augment this corruption and licentiousness, so shameful in an order of men, who were set apart to exhibit examples of piety to the rest of the world. Among these we may reckon, as the chief sources of the evil under consideration, the calamities of the times, even the bloody and perpetual wars that were carried on between Lewis the Meek and his family, the incursions and conquests of the barbarous nations, the gross and incredible ignorance of the nobility, and the affluence and riches that The reader will be convinced of this by consulting Agobard, passim, and by looking over the laws enacted in the Latin councils for restraining the disorders of the clergy. See also Servatus Lupus, Epist. xxxv. p. 73, 281, and Steph. Baluz. in Adnot. p. 378. See the works of Servatus Lupus, Epist. xcviii. xcix. p. 126, 142, 148, as also his Life. See also Rodolphi Bituricensis Capitula ad Clerum suum, in Baluzii Miscellaneis tom. vi. p. 139, 148. PART II. flowed in upon the churches and religious semi- CENT. IX. naries from all quarters. Many other causes also contributed to dishonour the church, by introducing into it a corrupt ministry. A nobleman, who, through want of talents, activity, or courage, was rendered incapable of appearing with dignity in the cabinet, or with honour in the field, immediately turned his views toward the church, aimed at a distinguished place among its chiefs and rulers, and became, in consequence, a contagious exam. ple of stupidity and vice to the inferior clergy. The patrons of churches, in whom resided the right of election, unwilling to submit their disorderly conduct to the keen censure of zealous and upright pastors, industriously looked for the most abject, ignorant and worthless ecclesiastics, to whom they committed the cure of souls.' But one of the circumstances, which contributed in a particular manner to render at least the higher clergy wicked and depraved, and to take off their minds from the duties of their station, was the obligation they were under of performing certain services to their sovereigns, in consequence of the possessions they derived from the royal bounty. The bishops and heads of monasteries held many lands and castles by a feudal tenure; and being thereby bound to furnish their princes with a certain number of soldiers in time of war, were obliged also to take the field themselves at the head of these troops," and thus to act in a sphere that was utterly inconsistent with the nature and duties of their sacred character. Hincmarus, Oper. Posterior. contra Godeschalcum, cap. xxxvi. tom. i, opp. p. 318. Servatus Lupus, Epist. lxxix. p. 120. Agobardus, De privilegiis et jure Sacerdotum, cap. xi. p. 841, tom. i. opp. B Steph, Baluzii Appendix Actor. ad Servatum, p. 508. Muratori Antiq. Ital. medii ævi, tom, ii. p. 446, Mabillon, Annal. Benedict. tom. vi. p. 587. Fresne, ad Joinvilli Hist. Ludovici S. p. 75, 76. PART II. CENT. IX. Beside all this, it often happened that rapacious princes, in order to satisfy the craving wants of their soldiers and domestics, boldly invaded the possessions of the church, which they distributed among their armies; in consequence of which the priests and monks, in order to avoid perishing through hunger, abandoned themselves to the practice of violence, fraud, and all sorts of crimes, which they looked upon as the only means they had left of procuring themselves a subsistence." The Roman pontiffs. II. The Roman pontiffs were raised to that high dignity by the suffrages of the sacerdotal order, accompanied by the voice of the people; but, after their election, the approbation of the emperor was necessary in order to their consecration. There is indeed yet extant an edict, supposed to have been published in the year 817, by Lewis the Meek, in which he abolishes this imperial right, and grants to the Romans, not only the power of electing their pontiff, but also the privilege of installing and consecrating him when elected, without waiting for the consent of the emperor. But this grant will deceive none who inquire into this matter with any degree of attention and diligence, since several learned men have proved it spurious by the most irresistible arguments.1 It must » Agobardus, De dispens, rerum Ecclesiast. § 4, p. 270, tom. i. opp. Flodoardus, Histor. Eccles. Rhemensis, lib. iii. cap. ix. Servatus Lupus, Epist, xlv. p. 87, 437, &c. Muratori, tom. vi. Antiq. Ital. medii ævi, p. 302. Lud. Thomassin, Disciplina Ecclesiæ vet, et novæ circa beneficia, pars ii. lib. iii. cap. xi. These corrupt measures prevailed also among the Greeks and Lombards, as may be seen in the Oriens Christianus of Lequien, tom. i. p. 142. • See De Bunau, Histor. Imper, German. tom. iii. p. 28, 32. ▸ Harduini Concilia, tom. iv. p. 1236. Le Cointe, Annales Eccles. Francor. tom. vii. ad A. 817, § 6. Baluzii Capitular. Regum Francor. tom: i, p. 591. 9 Muratori Droits de l'Empire sur l'Etat Ecclesiast. p. 54, and Antiq. Ital, medii ævi, tom. iii. p. 29, 30, in which that learned man con PART II. however be confessed, that after the time of Charles CENT. IX. the Bald, a new scene of things arose; and the important change abovementioned was really introduced. That prince having obtained the imperial dignity by the good offices of the bishop of Rome, returned this eminent service by delivering the succeeding pontiffs from the obligation of waiting for the consent of the emperors, in order to their being installed in their office. And thus we find, that from the time of Eugenius III. who was raised to the pontificate, A. D. 884, the election of the bishops of Rome was carried on without the least regard to law, order, and decency, and was generally attended with civil tumults and dissensions, until the reign of Otho the Great, who put a stop to these disorderly proceedings. IV. Among the prelates that were raised to the pontificate in this century, there were very few who distinguished themselves by their learning, prudence, and virtue, or who were at all careful about acquiring those particular qualities that are essential to the character of a christian bishop. On the contrary, the greatest part of them are only known by the flagitious actions that have transmitted their names with infamy to our times; and they all, in general, seem to have vied with each other in their ambitious efforts to extend their authority, and render their dominion unlimited and universal. It is here that we may place, with propriety, an event, which is said to have interrupted the much vaunted succession of regular bishops in the see of Rome, from the first foundation of that church to the present times. Between the pontificate of Leo IV. who died in the year 855, and that of Bene jectures that this edict was forged in the eleventh century. Bunau, Hist. Imper. German. tom. iii. p. 34. The partisans however of the papal authority, such as Fontanini and others, plead strenuously, though ineffectually, for the authenticity of the edict in question. The frauds practised by the pontiffs to increase their power. |