'Quid faciant populi quos ingens alluit Hister,Quos Rhenus Rhodanusque rigant, Ligerisve, Padusve,Quos omnes dudum tenuit concordia nexos,Foedere nunc rupto divortia moesta fatigant.'[97]Witukind,Annales, in Pertz. It may, however, be doubted whether the annalist is not here giving a very free rendering of the triumphant cries of the German army.[98]Cf. esp. the'Libellus de imperatoria potestate in urbe Roma,'in Pertz.[99]'Licet videamus Romanorum regnum in maxima parte jam destructum, tamen quamdiu reges Francorum duraverint qui Romanum imperium tenere debent, dignitas Romani imperii ex toto non peribit, quia stabit in regibus suis.'—Liber de Antichristo, addressed by Adso, abbot of Moutier-en-Der, to queen Gerberga (circaA.D.950).[100]From the money which Otto struck in Italy, it seems probable that he did occasionally use the title of king of Italy or of the Lombards. That he was crowned can hardly be considered quite certain.[101]'A papa imperator ordinatur,'says Hermannus Contractus.'Dominum Ottonem, ad hoc usque vocatum regem, non solum Romano sed et pœne totius Europæ populo acclamante imperatorem consecravit Augustum.'—Annal. Quedlinb., ad ann. 962.'Benedictionem a domno apostolico Iohanne, cuius rogatione huc venit, cum sua coniuge promeruit imperialem ac patronus Romanæ effectus est ecclesiæ.'—Thietmar.'Acclamatione totius Romani populi ab apostolico Iohanne, filio Alberici, imperator et Augustus vocatur et ordinatur.'—Continuator Reginonis. And similarly the other annalists.[102]I do not mean to say that the system of ideas which it is endeavoured to set forth in the following pages was complete in this particular form, either in the days of Charles or in those of Otto, or in those of Frederick Barbarossa. It seems to have been constantly growing and decaying from the fourth century to the sixteenth, the relative prominence of its cardinal doctrines varying from age to age. But, just as the painter who sees the ever-shifting lights and shades play over the face of a wide landscape faster than his brush can place them on the canvas, in despair at representing their exact position at any single moment, contents himself with painting the effects that are broadest and most permanent, and at giving rather the impression which the scene makes on him than every detail of the scene itself, so here, the best and indeed the only practicable course seems to be that of setting forth in its most self-consistent form the body of ideas and beliefs on which the Empire rested, although this form may not be exactly that which they can be asserted to have worn in any one century, and although the illustrations adduced may have to be taken sometimes from earlier, sometimes from later writers. As the doctrine of the Empire was in its essence the same during the whole Middle Age, such a general description as is attempted here may, I venture to hope, be found substantially true for the tenth as well as for the fourteenth century.[103]Empires like the Persian did nothing to assimilate the subject races, who retained their own laws and customs, sometimes their own princes, and were bound only to serve in the armies and fill the treasury of the Great King.[104]Od. iii. 72:—ἢ μαψίδιως ἀλάλησθε,οἷά τε ληϊστῆρες, ὑπεὶρ ἅλα, τοίτ' ἀλόωνταιψυχὰς παρθέμενοι, κακὸνἀλλοδαποῖσιφέροντες;Cf. Od. ix. 39: and the Hymn to the Pythian Apollo, I. 274. So in II. v. 214,ἀλλότριος φώς.[105]Plato, in the beginning of the Laws, represents it as natural between all states:πολεμὸς φύσει ὑπάρχει πρὸς ἁπάσας τὰς πόλεις.[106]See especially Acts xvii. 26; Gal. iii. 28; Eph. ii. 11, sqq.; iv. 3-6; Col. iii. 11.[107]This is drawn out by Laurent,Histoire du Droit des Gens; and Ægidi,Der Fürstenrath nach dem Luneviller Frieden.[108]'Romanos enim vocitant homines nostræ religionis.'—Gregory of Tours, quoted by Ægidi, from A. F. Pott,Essay on the Words 'Römisch,' 'Romanisch,' 'Roman,' 'Romantisch.'So in the Middle Ages,Ῥωμαῖοιis used to mean Christians, as opposed toἝλληνες, heathens.Cf. Ducange,'Romani olim dicti qui alias Christiani vel etiam Catholici.'[109]As a reviewer in theTablet(whose courtesy it is the more pleasant to acknowledge since his point of view is altogether opposed to mine) has understood this passage as meaning that 'people imagined the Christian religion was to last for ever because the Holy Roman Empire was never to decay,' it may be worth while to say that this is far from being the purport of the argument which this chapter was designed to state. The converse would be nearer the truth:—'people imagined the Holy Roman Empire was never to decay, because the Christian religion was to last for ever.'The phenomen may perhaps be stated thus:—Men who were already disposed to believe the Roman Empire to be eternal for one set of reasons, came to believe the Christian Church to be eternal for another and, to them, more impressive set of reasons. Seeing the two institutions allied in fact, they took their alliance and connection to be eternal also; and went on for centuries believing in the necessary existence of the Roman Empire because they believed in its necessary union with the Catholic Church.[110]Augustine, in theDe Civitate Dei. His influence, great through all the Middle Ages, was greater on no one than on Charles.—'Delectabatur et libris sancti Augustini, præcipueque his qui De Civitate Dei prætitulati sunt.'—Eginhard,Vita Karoli, cap. 24.[111]'Quapropter universorum precibus fidelium optandum est, ut in omnem gloriam vestram extendatur imperium, ut scilicet catholica fides... veraciter in una confessione cunctorum cordibus infigatur, quatenus summi Regis donante pietate eadem sanctæ pacis et perfectæ caritatis omnes ubique regat et custodiat unitas.'Quoted by Waitz (Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte, ii. 182) from an unprinted letter of Alcuin.[112]A curious illustration of this tendency of mind is afforded by the descriptions we meet with of Learning or Theology (Studium) as a concrete existence, having a visible dwelling in the University of Paris. The three great powers which rule human life, says one writer, the Popedom, the Empire, and Learning, have been severally entrusted to the three foremost nations of Europe: Italians, Germans, French.'His siquidem tribus, scilicet sacerdotio imperio et studio, tanquam tribus virtutibus, videlicet naturali vitali et scientiali, catholica ecclesia spiritualiter mirificatur, augmentatur et regitur. His itaque tribus, tanquam fundamento, pariete et tecto, eadem ecclesia tanquam materialiter proficit. Et sicut ecclesia materialis uno tantum fundamento et uno tecto eget, parietibus vero quatuor, ita imperium quatuor habet parietes, hoc est, quatuor imperii sedes, Aquisgranum, Arelatum, Mediolanum, Romam.'—Jordanis Chronica;ap.SchardiusSylloge Tractatuum. And see Döllinger,Die Vergangenheit und Gegenwart der katholischen Theologie, p. 8.[113]'Una est sola respublica totius populi Christiani, ergo de necessitate erit et unus solus princeps et rex illius reipublicæ, statutus et stabilitus ad ipsius fidei et populi Christiani dilatationem et defensionem. Ex qua ratione concludit etiam Augustinus (De Civitate Dei, lib. xix.) quod extra ecclesiam nunquam fuit nec potuit nec poterit esse verum imperium, etsi fuerint imperatores qualitercumque et secundum quid, non simpliciter, qui fuerunt extra fidem Catholicam et ecclesiam.'—Engelbert (abbot of Admont in Upper Austria),De Ortu et Fine imperii Romani(circ. 1310).In this'de necessitate'everything is included.[114]Seenote f, p. 32.[115]This is admirably brought out by Ægidi,Der Fürstenrath nach dem Luneviller Frieden.[116]See the original forgery (or rather the extracts which Gratian gives from it) in theCorpus Iuris Canonici,Dist.xcvi. cc. 13, 14.'Et sicut nostram terrenam imperialem potentiam, sic sacrosanctam Romanam ecclesiam decrevimus veneranter honorari, et amplius quam nostrum imperium et terrenum thronum sedem beati Petri gloriose exaltari, tribuentes ei potestatem et gloriæ dignitatem atque vigorem et honorificentiam imperialem.... Beato Sylvestro patri nostro summo pontifici et universali urbis Romæ papæ, et omnibus eius successoribus pontificibus, qui usque in finem mundi in sede beati Petri erunt sessuri, de præsenti contradimus palatium imperii nostri Lateranense, deinde diadema, videlicet coronam capitis nostri, simulque phrygium, necnon et superhumerale, verum etiam et chlamydem purpuream et tunicam coccineam, et omnia imperialia indumenta, sed et dignitatem imperialem præsidentium equitum, conferentes etiam et imperialia sceptra, simulque cuncta signa atque banda et diversa ornamenta imperialia et omnem processionem imperialis culminis et gloriam potestatis nostræ.... Et sicut imperialis militia ornatur ita et clerum sanctæ Romanæ ecclesiæ ornari decernimus.... Unde ut pontificalis apex non vilescat sed magis quam terreni imperii dignitas gloria et potentia decoretur, ecce tam palatium nostrum quam Romanam urbem et omnes Italiæ seu occidentalium regionum provincias loca et civitates beatissimo papæ Sylvestro universali papæ contradimus atque relinquimus.... Ubi enim principatus sacerdotum et Christianæ religionis caput ab imperatore cœlesti constitutum est, iustum non est ut illic imperator terrenus habeat potestatem.'The practice of kissing the Pope's foot was adopted in imitation of the old imperial court. It was afterwards revived by the German Emperors.[117]Döllinger has shewn in a recent work (Die Papst-Fabeln des Mittelalters) that the common belief that Gregory II excited the revolt against Leo the Iconoclast is unfounded.So Anastasius,'Ammonebat (sc.Gregorius Secundus) ne a fide vel amore Romani imperii desisterent.'—Vitæ Pontif. Rom.[118]Of this curious seal, a leaden one, preserved at Paris, a figure is given upon the cover of this volume. There are very few monuments of that age whose genuineness can be considered altogether beyond doubt; but this seal has many respectable authorities in its favour. See, among others, Le Blanc,Dissertation historique sur quelques Monnoies de Charlemagne, Paris, 1689; J. M. Heineccius,De Veteribus Germanorum aliarumque nationum sigillis, Lips. 1709; Anastasius,Vitæ Pontificum Romanorum, ed. Vignoli, Romæ, 1752; Götz,Deutschlands Kayser-Münzen des Mittelalters, Dresden, 1827; and the authorities cited by Waitz,Deutsche Verfassungs-geschichte, iii. 179, n. 4.[119]'Præterea mirari se dilecta fraternitas tua quod non Francorum set Romanorum imperatores nos appellemus; set scire te convenit quia nisi Romanorum imperatores essemus, utique nec Francorum. A Romanis enim hoc nomen et dignitatem assumpsimus, apud quos profecto primum tantæ culmen sublimitatis effulsit,'&c—Letter of the Emperor Lewis II to Basil the Emperor at Constantinople, fromChron. Salernit. ap.Murat.S. R. I.[120]'Illam (sc.Romanam ecclesiam) solus ille fundavit, et super petram fidei mox nascentis erexit, qui beato æternæ vitæ clavigero terreni simul et cœlestis imperii iura commisit.'—Corpus Iuris Canonici,Dist.xxii. c. 1. The expression is not uncommon in mediæval writers. So'unum est imperium Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti, cuius est pars ecclesia constituta in terris,'in Lewis II's letter.[121]'Merito summus Pontifex Romanus episcopus dici potest rex et sacerdos. Si enim dominus noster Iesus Christus sic appellatur, non videtur incongruum suum vocare successorem. Corporale et temporale ex spirituali et perpetuo dependet, sicut corporis operatio ex virtute animæ. Sicut ergo corpus per animam habet esse virtutem et operationem, ita et temporalis iurisdictio principum per spiritualem Petri et successorum eius.'—St. Thomas Aquinas,De Regimine Principum.[122]'Nonne Romana ecclesia tenetur imperatori tanquam suo patrono, et imperator ecclesiam fovere et defensare tanquam suus vere patronus? certe sic.... Patronis vero concessum est ut prælatos in ecclesiis sui patronatus eligant. Cum ergo imperator onus sentiat patronatus, ut qui tenetur eam defendere, sentire debet honorem et emolumentum.'I quote this from a curious document in Goldast's collection of tracts (Monarchia Imperii), entitled 'Letter of the four Universities, Paris, Oxford, Prague, and the"Romana generalitas,"to the Emperor Wenzel and Pope Urban,'A.D.1380. The title can scarcely be right, but if the document is, as in all probability it is, not later than the fifteenth century, its being misdescribed, or even its being a forgery, does not make it less valuable as an evidence of men's ideas.[123]So Leo III in a charter issued on the day of Charles's coronation:'... actum in præsentia gloriosi atque excellentissimi filii nostri Caroli quem auctore Deo in defensionem et provectionem sanctæ universalis ecclesiæ hodie Augustum sacravimus.'—JafféRegesta Pontificum Romanorum, ad ann. 800.So, indeed, Theodulf of Orleans, a contemporary of Charles, ascribes to the Emperor an almost papal authority over the Church itself:—'Cœli habet hic (sc.Papa) claves, proprias te iussit habere;Tu regis ecclesiæ, nam regit ille poli;Tu regis eius opes, clerum populumque gubernas,Hic te cœlicolas ducet ad usque choros.'In D. Bouquet, v. 415.[124]Perhaps at no more than three: in the time of Charles and Leo; again under Otto III and his two Popes, Gregory V and Sylvester II; thirdly, under Henry III; certainly never thenceforth.[125]The Sachsenspiegel(Speculum Saxonicum, circ.A.D.1240), the great North-German law book, says, 'The Empire is held from God alone, not from the Pope. Emperor and Pope are supreme each in what has been entrusted to him: the Pope in what concerns the soul; the Emperor in all that belongs to the body and to knighthood.'The Schwabenspiegel, compiled half a century later, subordinates the prince to the pontiff:'Daz weltliche Schwert des Gerichtes daz lihet der Babest dem Chaiser; daz geistlich ist dem Babest gesetzt daz er damit richte.'[126]So Boniface VIII in the bullUnam Sanctam, will have but one head for the Christian people.'Igitur ecclesiæ unius et unicæ unum corpus, unum caput, non duo capita quasi monstrum.'[127]St. Bernard writes to Conrad III:'Non veniat anima mea in consilium eorum qui dicunt vel imperio pacem et libertatem ecclesiæ vel ecclesiæ prosperitatem et exaltationem imperii nocituram.'So in theDe Consideratione:'Si utrumque simul habere velis, perdes utrumque,'of the papal claim to temporal and spiritual authority, quoted by Gieseler.[128]'Sedens in solio armatus et cinctus ensem, habensque in capite Constantini diadema, stricto dextra capulo ensis accincti, ait: "Numquid ego summus sum pontifex? nonne ista est cathedra Petri? Nonne possum imperii iura tutari? ego sum Cæsar, ego sum imperator."'—Fr. Pipinus (ap. Murat.S. R. I.ix.) l. iv. c. 47. These words, however, are by this writer ascribed to Boniface, when receiving the envoys of the emperor Albert I, inA.D.1299. I have not been able to find authority for their use at the jubilee, but give the current story for what it is worth.It has been suggested that Dante may be alluding to this sword scene in a well-known passage of the Purgatorio (xvi. l. 106):—'Soleva Roma, che 'l buon mondo feoDuo Soli aver, che l' una e l' altra stradaFacean vedere, e del mondo e di Deo.L' un l' altro ha spento, ed è giunta la spadaCol pastorale: e l' un coll altro insiemePer viva forzu mal convien che vada.'[129]See especially Peter de Andlo (De Imperio Romano); Ralph Colonna (De translatione Imperii Romani); Dante (De Monarchia); Engelbert (De Ortu et Fine Imperii Romani); Marsilius Patavinus (De translatione Imperii Romani); Æneas Sylvius Piccolomini (De Ortu et Authoritate Imperii Romani); Zoannetus (De Imperio Romano atque ejus Iurisdictione); and the writers in Schardius'sSylloge, and in Goldast's Collection of Tracts, entitledMonarchia Imperii.[130]Letter of Lewis II to Basil the Macedonian, inChron. Salernit.in Mur.S. R. I.; also given by Baronius,Ann. Eccl.ad ann. 871.[131]'Ad summum dignitatis pervenisti: Vicarius es Christi.'—Wippo,Vita Chuonradi(ap.Pertz), c. 3.[132]Letter in Radewic,ap.Murat,S. R. I.[133]Lewis IV is styled in one of his proclamations,'Gentis humanæ, orbis Christiani custos, urbi et orbi a Deo electus præesse.'—Pfeffinger,Vitriarius Illustratus.[134]In a document issued by the Diet of Speyer (A.D.1529) the Emperor is called'Oberst, Vogt, und Haupt der Christenheit.'Hieronymus Balbus, writing about the same time, puts the question whether all Christians are subject to the Emperor in temporal things, as they are to the Pope in spiritual, and answers it by saying,'Cum ambo ex eodem fonte perfluxerint et eadem semita incedant, de utroque idem puto sentiendum.'[135]'Non magis ad Papam depositio seu remotio pertinet quam ad quoslibet regum prælatos, qui reges suos prout assolent, consecrant et inungunt.'—Letter of Frederick II(lib. i. c. 3).[136]Liber Ceremonialis Romanus, lib. i. sect. 5; with which compare theCoronatio Romanaof Henry VII, in Pertz, and Muratori's Dissertation in vol. i. of theAntiquitates Italiæ Medii Ævi.[137]See Goldast,Collection of Imperial Constitutions; and Moser,Römische Kayser.[138]The abbot Engelbert (De Ortu et Fine Imperii Romani) quotes Origen and Jerome to this effect, and proceeds himself to explain, from 2 Thess. ii., how the falling away will precede the coming of Antichrist. There will be a triple'discessio,'of the kingdoms of the earth from the Roman Empire, of the Church from the Apostolic See, of the faithful from the faith. Of these, the first causes the second; the temporal sword to punish heretics and schismatics being no longer ready to work the will of the rulers of the Church.[139]A full statement of the views that prevailed in the earlier Middle Age regarding Antichrist—as well as of the singular prophecy of the Frankish Emperor who shall appear in the latter days, conquer the world, and then going to Jerusalem shall lay down his crown on the Mount of Olives and deliver over the kingdom to Christ—may be found in the little treatise,Vita Antichristi, which Adso, monk and afterwards abbot of Moutier-en-Der, compiled (cir. 950) for the information of Queen Gerberga, wife of Louis d'Outremer. Antichrist is to be born a Jew of the tribe of Dan (Gen. xlix. 17),'non de episcopo et monacha, sicut alii delirando dogmatizant, sed de immundissima meretrice et crudelissimo nebulone. Totus in peccato concipietur, in peccato generabitur, in peccato nascetur.'His birthplace is Babylon: he is to be brought up in Bethsaida and Chorazin.Adso's book may be found printed in Migne, t. ci. p. 1290.[140]S. Thomas explains the prophecy in a remarkable manner, shewing how the decline of the Empire is no argument against its fulfilment.'Dicendum quod nondum cessavit, sed est commutatum de temporali in spirituale, ut dicit Leo Papa in sermone de Apostolis: et ideo discessio a Romano imperio debet intelligi non solum a temporali sed etiam a spirituali, scilicit a fide Catholica Romanæ Ecclesiæ. Est autem hoc conveniens signum nam Christus venit, quando Romanum imperium omnibus dominabatur: ita e contra signum adventus Antichristi est discessio ab eo.'—Comment. ad 2 Thess.ii.[141]Seenote z, page 119. The Papal party sometimes insisted that both swords were given to Peter, while the imperialists assigned the temporal sword to John. Thus a gloss to theSachsenspiegelsays,'Dat eine svert hadde Sinte Peter, dat het nu de paves: dat andere hadde Johannes, dat het nu de keyser.'[142]2 Thess. ii. 7.[143]St. Augustine, however, though he states the view (applying the passage to the Roman Empire) which was generally received in the Middle Ages, is careful not to commit himself positively to it.[144]Jordanis Chronica(written towards the close of the thirteenth century).[145]Compare with this the words which Pope Hadrian I. had used some twenty-three years before, of Charles as representative of Constantine:'Et sicut temporibus Beati Sylvestri, Romani pontificis, a sanctæ recordationis piissimo Constantino magno imperatore, per eius largitatem sancta Dei catholica et apostolica Romana ecclesia elevata atque exaltata est, et potestatem in his Hesperiæ partibus largiri dignatus est, ita et in his vestris felicissimis temporibus atque nostris, sancta Dei ecclesia, id est, beati Petri apostoli germinet atque exsultet, ut omnes gentes quæ hæc audierint edicere valeant, 'Domine salvum fac regem, et exaudi nos in die in qua invocaverimus te;' quia ecce novus Christianissimus Dei Constantinus imperator his temporibus surrexit, per quem omnia Deus sanctæ suæ ecclesiæ beati apostolorum principis Petri largiri dignatus est.'—Letter XLIX of Cod. Carol.,A.D.777 (in Mur.Scriptores Rerum Italicarum).This letter is memorable as containing the first allusion, or what seems an allusion, to Constantine's Donation.The phrase'sancta Dei ecclesia, id est, B. Petri apostoli,'is worth noting.[146]The church in which the opening scene of Boccaccio'sDecameronis laid.[147]So Kugler (Eastlake's ed. vol. i. p. 144), and so also Messrs. Crowe and Cavalcaselle, in theirNew History of Painting in Italy, vol. ii. pp. 85sqq.[148]Domini canes. Spotted because of their black-and-white raiment.[149]There is of course a great deal more detail in the picture, which it does not appear necessary to describe. St. Dominic is a conspicuous figure.It is worth remarking that the Emperor, who is on the Pope's left hand, and so made slightly inferior to him while superior to every one else, holds in his hand, instead of the usual imperial globe, a death's head, typifying the transitory nature of his power.[150]Although this was of course never his legal title. Till 1806 he was'Romanorum Imperator semper Augustus;''Römischer Kaiser.'[151]Pütter,Dissertationes de Instauratione Imperii Romani; cf. Goldast'sCollection of Constitutions; and the proclamations and other documents collected in Pertz,M. G. H.legg. I.[152]Pütter (De Instauratione Imperii Romani) will have it that upon this mistake, as he calls it, of Otto's, the whole subsequent history of the Empire turned; that if Otto had but continued to style himself'Francorum Rex,'Germany would have been spared all her Italian wars.[153]'Iohannes episcopus, servus servorum Dei, omnibus episcopis. Nos audivimus dicere quia vos vultis alium papam facere: si hoc facitis, da Deum omnipotentem excommunico vos, ut non habeatis licentiam missam celebrare aut nullum ordinare.'—Liudprand,ut supra. The 'da' is curious, as shewing the progress of the change from Latin to Italian. The answer sent by Otto and the council takes exception to the double negative.[154]'Cives fidelitatem promittunt hæc addentes et firmiter iurantes nunquam se papam electuros aut ordinaturos præter consensum atque electionem domini imperatoris Ottonis Cæsaris Augusti filiique ipsius Ottonis.'—Liudprand,Gesta Ottonis, lib. vi.[155]'In timporibus adeo a dyabulo est percussus ut infra dierum octo spacium eodem sit in vulnere mortuus,'says the chronicler, crediting with but little of his wonted cleverness the supposed author of John's death, who well might have desired a long life for so useful a servant.He adds a detail too characteristic of the time to be omitted—'Sed eucharistiæ viaticum, ipsius instinctu qui eum percusserat, non percepit.'[156]Corpus Iuris Canonici, Dist. lxiii.,'In synodo.'A decree which is probably substantially genuine, although the form in which we have it is evidently of later date.[157]Cf. St. Peter Damiani's lines—'Roma vorax hominum domat ardua colla virorum,Roma ferax febrium necis est uberrima frugum,Romanæ febres stabili sunt iure fideles.'[158]There was a separate chancellor for Italy, as afterwards for the kingdom of Burgundy.[159]Liudprand,Legatio Constantinopolitana.[160]'Sancti imperii nostri olim servos principes, Beneventanum scilicet, tradat,'&c. The epithet is worth noticing.[161]Liudprand calls the Eastern Franks'Franci Teutonici'to distinguish them from the Romanized Franks of Gaul or'Francigenæ,'as they were frequently called. The name 'Frank' seems even so early as the tenth century to have been used in the East as a general name for the Western peoples of Europe. Liudprand says that the Greek Emperor included'sub Francorum nomine tam Latinos quam Teutonicos.'Probably this use dates from the time of Charles.[162]Conring,De Finibus Imperii.[163]Basileus was a favourite title of the English kings before the Conquest. Titles like this used in these early English charters prove, it need hardly be said, absolutely nothing as to the real existence of any rights or powers of the English king beyond his own borders. What they do prove (over and above the taste for florid rhetoric in the royal clerks) is the impression produced by the imperial style, and by the idea of the emperor's throne as supported by the thrones of kings and other lesser potentates.[164]The coins of Crescentius are said to exhibit the insignia of the old Empire.—Palgrave,Normandy and England, i. 715. But probably some at least of them are forgeries.[165]Proclamation in Pertz,M. G. H.ii.[166]'Imperator antiquam Romanorum consuetudinem iam ex magna parte deletam suis cupiens renovare temporibus multa faciebat quæ diversi diverse sentiebant.'—Thietmar,Chron.ix.; ap. Pertz,M. G. H.t. iii.[167]Annales Quedlinb., ad ann. 1002.[168]Henry had already entered Italy in 1004.[169]Annales Beneventani, in Pertz,M. G. H.[170]SeeAppendix, Note A.[171]'Roma per sedem Beati Petri caput orbis effecta.'—Seenotei, p. 32.[172]'Claves tibiad regnumdimisimus.'—Pope Stephen to Charles Martel, inCodex Carolinus, ap. Muratori,S. R. I.iii. Some, however, prefer to read'ad rogum.'[173]Corpus Iuris Canonici, Dist. lxiii. c. 22.[174]Dist. lxiii. c. 30. This decree is, however, in all probability spurious.[175]'Nos elegimus merito et approbavimus una cum annisu et voto patrum amplique senatus et gentis togatæ,'&c., ap. Baron.Ann. Eccl., ad ann. 876.[176]'Divina vos pietas B. principum apostolorum Petri et Pauli interventione per vicarium ipsorum dominum Ioannem summum pontificem... ad imperiale culmen S. Spiritus iudicio provexit.'—Concil. Ticinense, in Mur.,S. R. I.ii.[177]Strictly speaking, Henry was at this time only king of the Romans: he was not crowned Emperor at Rome till 1084.[178]Letter of Gregory VII to William I,A.D.1080. I quote from Migne, t. cxlviii. p. 568.[179]'Gradum statim post Principes Electores.'—Frederick I's Privilege of Austria, in Pertz,M. G. H.legg. ii.[180]Hohenstaufen is a castle in what is now the kingdom of Würtemberg, about four miles from the Göppingen station of the railway from Stuttgart to Ulm. It stands, or rather stood, on the summit of a steep and lofty conical hill, commanding a boundless view over the great limestone plateau of the Rauhe Alp, the eastern declivities of the Schwartzwald, and the bare and tedious plains of western Bavaria. Of the castle itself, destroyed in the Peasants' War, there remain only fragments of the wall-foundations: in a rude chapel lying on the hill slope below are some strange half-obliterated frescoes; over the arch of the door is inscribed'Hic transibat Cæsar.'Frederick Barbarossa had another famous palace at Kaiserslautern, a small town in the Palatinate, on the railway from Mannheim to Treves, lying in a wide valley at the western foot of the Hardt mountains. It was destroyed by the French and a house of correction has been built upon its site; but in a brewery hard by may be seen some of the huge low-browed arches of its lower story.[181]A great deal of importance seems to have been attached to this symbolic act of courtesy. See Art. I of theSachsenspiegel.[182]Letter to the German bishops in Radewic; Mur.,S. R. I., t. vi. p. 833.[183]A picture in the great hall of the ducal palace (theSala del Maggio Consiglio) represents the scene. See Rogers' Italy.[184]Psalm xci.[185]Document of 1230, quoted by Von Raumer, v. p. 81.[186]Speech of archbishop of Milan, in Radewic; Mur. vi.[187]Frederick's election (at Frankfort) was made'non sine quibusdam Italiæ baronibus.'—Otto Fris. i. But this was the exception.[188]See alsopost, Chapter XVI.[189]'Senatus Populusque Romanus urbis et orbis totius domino Conrado.'[190]Otto of Freysing.[191]Later in his reign, Frederick condescended to negotiate with these Roman magistrates against a hostile Pope, and entered into a sort of treaty by which they were declared exempt from all jurisdiction but his own.[192]See the first note to Shelley'sHellas. Sismondi is mainly answerable for this conception of Barbarossa's position.[193]They say rebelliously, says Frederick,'Nolumus hunc regnare super nos ... at nos maluimus honestam mortem quam ut,'&c.—Letter in Pertz.M. G. H.legg. ii.[194]
'Quid faciant populi quos ingens alluit Hister,Quos Rhenus Rhodanusque rigant, Ligerisve, Padusve,Quos omnes dudum tenuit concordia nexos,Foedere nunc rupto divortia moesta fatigant.'
'Quid faciant populi quos ingens alluit Hister,Quos Rhenus Rhodanusque rigant, Ligerisve, Padusve,Quos omnes dudum tenuit concordia nexos,Foedere nunc rupto divortia moesta fatigant.'
'Quid faciant populi quos ingens alluit Hister,Quos Rhenus Rhodanusque rigant, Ligerisve, Padusve,Quos omnes dudum tenuit concordia nexos,Foedere nunc rupto divortia moesta fatigant.'
'Quid faciant populi quos ingens alluit Hister,
Quos Rhenus Rhodanusque rigant, Ligerisve, Padusve,
Quos omnes dudum tenuit concordia nexos,
Foedere nunc rupto divortia moesta fatigant.'
[97]Witukind,Annales, in Pertz. It may, however, be doubted whether the annalist is not here giving a very free rendering of the triumphant cries of the German army.
[98]Cf. esp. the'Libellus de imperatoria potestate in urbe Roma,'in Pertz.
[99]'Licet videamus Romanorum regnum in maxima parte jam destructum, tamen quamdiu reges Francorum duraverint qui Romanum imperium tenere debent, dignitas Romani imperii ex toto non peribit, quia stabit in regibus suis.'—Liber de Antichristo, addressed by Adso, abbot of Moutier-en-Der, to queen Gerberga (circaA.D.950).
[100]From the money which Otto struck in Italy, it seems probable that he did occasionally use the title of king of Italy or of the Lombards. That he was crowned can hardly be considered quite certain.
[101]'A papa imperator ordinatur,'says Hermannus Contractus.'Dominum Ottonem, ad hoc usque vocatum regem, non solum Romano sed et pœne totius Europæ populo acclamante imperatorem consecravit Augustum.'—Annal. Quedlinb., ad ann. 962.'Benedictionem a domno apostolico Iohanne, cuius rogatione huc venit, cum sua coniuge promeruit imperialem ac patronus Romanæ effectus est ecclesiæ.'—Thietmar.'Acclamatione totius Romani populi ab apostolico Iohanne, filio Alberici, imperator et Augustus vocatur et ordinatur.'—Continuator Reginonis. And similarly the other annalists.
[102]I do not mean to say that the system of ideas which it is endeavoured to set forth in the following pages was complete in this particular form, either in the days of Charles or in those of Otto, or in those of Frederick Barbarossa. It seems to have been constantly growing and decaying from the fourth century to the sixteenth, the relative prominence of its cardinal doctrines varying from age to age. But, just as the painter who sees the ever-shifting lights and shades play over the face of a wide landscape faster than his brush can place them on the canvas, in despair at representing their exact position at any single moment, contents himself with painting the effects that are broadest and most permanent, and at giving rather the impression which the scene makes on him than every detail of the scene itself, so here, the best and indeed the only practicable course seems to be that of setting forth in its most self-consistent form the body of ideas and beliefs on which the Empire rested, although this form may not be exactly that which they can be asserted to have worn in any one century, and although the illustrations adduced may have to be taken sometimes from earlier, sometimes from later writers. As the doctrine of the Empire was in its essence the same during the whole Middle Age, such a general description as is attempted here may, I venture to hope, be found substantially true for the tenth as well as for the fourteenth century.
[103]Empires like the Persian did nothing to assimilate the subject races, who retained their own laws and customs, sometimes their own princes, and were bound only to serve in the armies and fill the treasury of the Great King.
[104]Od. iii. 72:—
ἢ μαψίδιως ἀλάλησθε,οἷά τε ληϊστῆρες, ὑπεὶρ ἅλα, τοίτ' ἀλόωνταιψυχὰς παρθέμενοι, κακὸνἀλλοδαποῖσιφέροντες;
ἢ μαψίδιως ἀλάλησθε,οἷά τε ληϊστῆρες, ὑπεὶρ ἅλα, τοίτ' ἀλόωνταιψυχὰς παρθέμενοι, κακὸνἀλλοδαποῖσιφέροντες;
ἢ μαψίδιως ἀλάλησθε,οἷά τε ληϊστῆρες, ὑπεὶρ ἅλα, τοίτ' ἀλόωνταιψυχὰς παρθέμενοι, κακὸνἀλλοδαποῖσιφέροντες;
ἢ μαψίδιως ἀλάλησθε,
οἷά τε ληϊστῆρες, ὑπεὶρ ἅλα, τοίτ' ἀλόωνται
ψυχὰς παρθέμενοι, κακὸνἀλλοδαποῖσιφέροντες;
Cf. Od. ix. 39: and the Hymn to the Pythian Apollo, I. 274. So in II. v. 214,ἀλλότριος φώς.
[105]Plato, in the beginning of the Laws, represents it as natural between all states:πολεμὸς φύσει ὑπάρχει πρὸς ἁπάσας τὰς πόλεις.
[106]See especially Acts xvii. 26; Gal. iii. 28; Eph. ii. 11, sqq.; iv. 3-6; Col. iii. 11.
[107]This is drawn out by Laurent,Histoire du Droit des Gens; and Ægidi,Der Fürstenrath nach dem Luneviller Frieden.
[108]'Romanos enim vocitant homines nostræ religionis.'—Gregory of Tours, quoted by Ægidi, from A. F. Pott,Essay on the Words 'Römisch,' 'Romanisch,' 'Roman,' 'Romantisch.'So in the Middle Ages,Ῥωμαῖοιis used to mean Christians, as opposed toἝλληνες, heathens.
Cf. Ducange,'Romani olim dicti qui alias Christiani vel etiam Catholici.'
[109]As a reviewer in theTablet(whose courtesy it is the more pleasant to acknowledge since his point of view is altogether opposed to mine) has understood this passage as meaning that 'people imagined the Christian religion was to last for ever because the Holy Roman Empire was never to decay,' it may be worth while to say that this is far from being the purport of the argument which this chapter was designed to state. The converse would be nearer the truth:—'people imagined the Holy Roman Empire was never to decay, because the Christian religion was to last for ever.'
The phenomen may perhaps be stated thus:—Men who were already disposed to believe the Roman Empire to be eternal for one set of reasons, came to believe the Christian Church to be eternal for another and, to them, more impressive set of reasons. Seeing the two institutions allied in fact, they took their alliance and connection to be eternal also; and went on for centuries believing in the necessary existence of the Roman Empire because they believed in its necessary union with the Catholic Church.
[110]Augustine, in theDe Civitate Dei. His influence, great through all the Middle Ages, was greater on no one than on Charles.—'Delectabatur et libris sancti Augustini, præcipueque his qui De Civitate Dei prætitulati sunt.'—Eginhard,Vita Karoli, cap. 24.
[111]'Quapropter universorum precibus fidelium optandum est, ut in omnem gloriam vestram extendatur imperium, ut scilicet catholica fides... veraciter in una confessione cunctorum cordibus infigatur, quatenus summi Regis donante pietate eadem sanctæ pacis et perfectæ caritatis omnes ubique regat et custodiat unitas.'Quoted by Waitz (Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte, ii. 182) from an unprinted letter of Alcuin.
[112]A curious illustration of this tendency of mind is afforded by the descriptions we meet with of Learning or Theology (Studium) as a concrete existence, having a visible dwelling in the University of Paris. The three great powers which rule human life, says one writer, the Popedom, the Empire, and Learning, have been severally entrusted to the three foremost nations of Europe: Italians, Germans, French.'His siquidem tribus, scilicet sacerdotio imperio et studio, tanquam tribus virtutibus, videlicet naturali vitali et scientiali, catholica ecclesia spiritualiter mirificatur, augmentatur et regitur. His itaque tribus, tanquam fundamento, pariete et tecto, eadem ecclesia tanquam materialiter proficit. Et sicut ecclesia materialis uno tantum fundamento et uno tecto eget, parietibus vero quatuor, ita imperium quatuor habet parietes, hoc est, quatuor imperii sedes, Aquisgranum, Arelatum, Mediolanum, Romam.'—Jordanis Chronica;ap.SchardiusSylloge Tractatuum. And see Döllinger,Die Vergangenheit und Gegenwart der katholischen Theologie, p. 8.
[113]'Una est sola respublica totius populi Christiani, ergo de necessitate erit et unus solus princeps et rex illius reipublicæ, statutus et stabilitus ad ipsius fidei et populi Christiani dilatationem et defensionem. Ex qua ratione concludit etiam Augustinus (De Civitate Dei, lib. xix.) quod extra ecclesiam nunquam fuit nec potuit nec poterit esse verum imperium, etsi fuerint imperatores qualitercumque et secundum quid, non simpliciter, qui fuerunt extra fidem Catholicam et ecclesiam.'—Engelbert (abbot of Admont in Upper Austria),De Ortu et Fine imperii Romani(circ. 1310).
In this'de necessitate'everything is included.
[114]Seenote f, p. 32.
[115]This is admirably brought out by Ægidi,Der Fürstenrath nach dem Luneviller Frieden.
[116]See the original forgery (or rather the extracts which Gratian gives from it) in theCorpus Iuris Canonici,Dist.xcvi. cc. 13, 14.'Et sicut nostram terrenam imperialem potentiam, sic sacrosanctam Romanam ecclesiam decrevimus veneranter honorari, et amplius quam nostrum imperium et terrenum thronum sedem beati Petri gloriose exaltari, tribuentes ei potestatem et gloriæ dignitatem atque vigorem et honorificentiam imperialem.... Beato Sylvestro patri nostro summo pontifici et universali urbis Romæ papæ, et omnibus eius successoribus pontificibus, qui usque in finem mundi in sede beati Petri erunt sessuri, de præsenti contradimus palatium imperii nostri Lateranense, deinde diadema, videlicet coronam capitis nostri, simulque phrygium, necnon et superhumerale, verum etiam et chlamydem purpuream et tunicam coccineam, et omnia imperialia indumenta, sed et dignitatem imperialem præsidentium equitum, conferentes etiam et imperialia sceptra, simulque cuncta signa atque banda et diversa ornamenta imperialia et omnem processionem imperialis culminis et gloriam potestatis nostræ.... Et sicut imperialis militia ornatur ita et clerum sanctæ Romanæ ecclesiæ ornari decernimus.... Unde ut pontificalis apex non vilescat sed magis quam terreni imperii dignitas gloria et potentia decoretur, ecce tam palatium nostrum quam Romanam urbem et omnes Italiæ seu occidentalium regionum provincias loca et civitates beatissimo papæ Sylvestro universali papæ contradimus atque relinquimus.... Ubi enim principatus sacerdotum et Christianæ religionis caput ab imperatore cœlesti constitutum est, iustum non est ut illic imperator terrenus habeat potestatem.'
The practice of kissing the Pope's foot was adopted in imitation of the old imperial court. It was afterwards revived by the German Emperors.
[117]Döllinger has shewn in a recent work (Die Papst-Fabeln des Mittelalters) that the common belief that Gregory II excited the revolt against Leo the Iconoclast is unfounded.
So Anastasius,'Ammonebat (sc.Gregorius Secundus) ne a fide vel amore Romani imperii desisterent.'—Vitæ Pontif. Rom.
[118]Of this curious seal, a leaden one, preserved at Paris, a figure is given upon the cover of this volume. There are very few monuments of that age whose genuineness can be considered altogether beyond doubt; but this seal has many respectable authorities in its favour. See, among others, Le Blanc,Dissertation historique sur quelques Monnoies de Charlemagne, Paris, 1689; J. M. Heineccius,De Veteribus Germanorum aliarumque nationum sigillis, Lips. 1709; Anastasius,Vitæ Pontificum Romanorum, ed. Vignoli, Romæ, 1752; Götz,Deutschlands Kayser-Münzen des Mittelalters, Dresden, 1827; and the authorities cited by Waitz,Deutsche Verfassungs-geschichte, iii. 179, n. 4.
[119]'Præterea mirari se dilecta fraternitas tua quod non Francorum set Romanorum imperatores nos appellemus; set scire te convenit quia nisi Romanorum imperatores essemus, utique nec Francorum. A Romanis enim hoc nomen et dignitatem assumpsimus, apud quos profecto primum tantæ culmen sublimitatis effulsit,'&c—Letter of the Emperor Lewis II to Basil the Emperor at Constantinople, fromChron. Salernit. ap.Murat.S. R. I.
[120]'Illam (sc.Romanam ecclesiam) solus ille fundavit, et super petram fidei mox nascentis erexit, qui beato æternæ vitæ clavigero terreni simul et cœlestis imperii iura commisit.'—Corpus Iuris Canonici,Dist.xxii. c. 1. The expression is not uncommon in mediæval writers. So'unum est imperium Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti, cuius est pars ecclesia constituta in terris,'in Lewis II's letter.
[121]'Merito summus Pontifex Romanus episcopus dici potest rex et sacerdos. Si enim dominus noster Iesus Christus sic appellatur, non videtur incongruum suum vocare successorem. Corporale et temporale ex spirituali et perpetuo dependet, sicut corporis operatio ex virtute animæ. Sicut ergo corpus per animam habet esse virtutem et operationem, ita et temporalis iurisdictio principum per spiritualem Petri et successorum eius.'—St. Thomas Aquinas,De Regimine Principum.
[122]'Nonne Romana ecclesia tenetur imperatori tanquam suo patrono, et imperator ecclesiam fovere et defensare tanquam suus vere patronus? certe sic.... Patronis vero concessum est ut prælatos in ecclesiis sui patronatus eligant. Cum ergo imperator onus sentiat patronatus, ut qui tenetur eam defendere, sentire debet honorem et emolumentum.'I quote this from a curious document in Goldast's collection of tracts (Monarchia Imperii), entitled 'Letter of the four Universities, Paris, Oxford, Prague, and the"Romana generalitas,"to the Emperor Wenzel and Pope Urban,'A.D.1380. The title can scarcely be right, but if the document is, as in all probability it is, not later than the fifteenth century, its being misdescribed, or even its being a forgery, does not make it less valuable as an evidence of men's ideas.
[123]So Leo III in a charter issued on the day of Charles's coronation:'... actum in præsentia gloriosi atque excellentissimi filii nostri Caroli quem auctore Deo in defensionem et provectionem sanctæ universalis ecclesiæ hodie Augustum sacravimus.'—JafféRegesta Pontificum Romanorum, ad ann. 800.
So, indeed, Theodulf of Orleans, a contemporary of Charles, ascribes to the Emperor an almost papal authority over the Church itself:—
'Cœli habet hic (sc.Papa) claves, proprias te iussit habere;Tu regis ecclesiæ, nam regit ille poli;Tu regis eius opes, clerum populumque gubernas,Hic te cœlicolas ducet ad usque choros.'In D. Bouquet, v. 415.
'Cœli habet hic (sc.Papa) claves, proprias te iussit habere;Tu regis ecclesiæ, nam regit ille poli;Tu regis eius opes, clerum populumque gubernas,Hic te cœlicolas ducet ad usque choros.'In D. Bouquet, v. 415.
'Cœli habet hic (sc.Papa) claves, proprias te iussit habere;Tu regis ecclesiæ, nam regit ille poli;Tu regis eius opes, clerum populumque gubernas,Hic te cœlicolas ducet ad usque choros.'In D. Bouquet, v. 415.
'Cœli habet hic (sc.Papa) claves, proprias te iussit habere;
Tu regis ecclesiæ, nam regit ille poli;
Tu regis eius opes, clerum populumque gubernas,
Hic te cœlicolas ducet ad usque choros.'
In D. Bouquet, v. 415.
[124]Perhaps at no more than three: in the time of Charles and Leo; again under Otto III and his two Popes, Gregory V and Sylvester II; thirdly, under Henry III; certainly never thenceforth.
[125]The Sachsenspiegel(Speculum Saxonicum, circ.A.D.1240), the great North-German law book, says, 'The Empire is held from God alone, not from the Pope. Emperor and Pope are supreme each in what has been entrusted to him: the Pope in what concerns the soul; the Emperor in all that belongs to the body and to knighthood.'The Schwabenspiegel, compiled half a century later, subordinates the prince to the pontiff:'Daz weltliche Schwert des Gerichtes daz lihet der Babest dem Chaiser; daz geistlich ist dem Babest gesetzt daz er damit richte.'
[126]So Boniface VIII in the bullUnam Sanctam, will have but one head for the Christian people.'Igitur ecclesiæ unius et unicæ unum corpus, unum caput, non duo capita quasi monstrum.'
[127]St. Bernard writes to Conrad III:'Non veniat anima mea in consilium eorum qui dicunt vel imperio pacem et libertatem ecclesiæ vel ecclesiæ prosperitatem et exaltationem imperii nocituram.'So in theDe Consideratione:'Si utrumque simul habere velis, perdes utrumque,'of the papal claim to temporal and spiritual authority, quoted by Gieseler.
[128]'Sedens in solio armatus et cinctus ensem, habensque in capite Constantini diadema, stricto dextra capulo ensis accincti, ait: "Numquid ego summus sum pontifex? nonne ista est cathedra Petri? Nonne possum imperii iura tutari? ego sum Cæsar, ego sum imperator."'—Fr. Pipinus (ap. Murat.S. R. I.ix.) l. iv. c. 47. These words, however, are by this writer ascribed to Boniface, when receiving the envoys of the emperor Albert I, inA.D.1299. I have not been able to find authority for their use at the jubilee, but give the current story for what it is worth.
It has been suggested that Dante may be alluding to this sword scene in a well-known passage of the Purgatorio (xvi. l. 106):—
'Soleva Roma, che 'l buon mondo feoDuo Soli aver, che l' una e l' altra stradaFacean vedere, e del mondo e di Deo.L' un l' altro ha spento, ed è giunta la spadaCol pastorale: e l' un coll altro insiemePer viva forzu mal convien che vada.'
'Soleva Roma, che 'l buon mondo feoDuo Soli aver, che l' una e l' altra stradaFacean vedere, e del mondo e di Deo.L' un l' altro ha spento, ed è giunta la spadaCol pastorale: e l' un coll altro insiemePer viva forzu mal convien che vada.'
'Soleva Roma, che 'l buon mondo feoDuo Soli aver, che l' una e l' altra stradaFacean vedere, e del mondo e di Deo.L' un l' altro ha spento, ed è giunta la spadaCol pastorale: e l' un coll altro insiemePer viva forzu mal convien che vada.'
'Soleva Roma, che 'l buon mondo feo
Duo Soli aver, che l' una e l' altra strada
Facean vedere, e del mondo e di Deo.
L' un l' altro ha spento, ed è giunta la spada
Col pastorale: e l' un coll altro insieme
Per viva forzu mal convien che vada.'
[129]See especially Peter de Andlo (De Imperio Romano); Ralph Colonna (De translatione Imperii Romani); Dante (De Monarchia); Engelbert (De Ortu et Fine Imperii Romani); Marsilius Patavinus (De translatione Imperii Romani); Æneas Sylvius Piccolomini (De Ortu et Authoritate Imperii Romani); Zoannetus (De Imperio Romano atque ejus Iurisdictione); and the writers in Schardius'sSylloge, and in Goldast's Collection of Tracts, entitledMonarchia Imperii.
[130]Letter of Lewis II to Basil the Macedonian, inChron. Salernit.in Mur.S. R. I.; also given by Baronius,Ann. Eccl.ad ann. 871.
[131]'Ad summum dignitatis pervenisti: Vicarius es Christi.'—Wippo,Vita Chuonradi(ap.Pertz), c. 3.
[132]Letter in Radewic,ap.Murat,S. R. I.
[133]Lewis IV is styled in one of his proclamations,'Gentis humanæ, orbis Christiani custos, urbi et orbi a Deo electus præesse.'—Pfeffinger,Vitriarius Illustratus.
[134]In a document issued by the Diet of Speyer (A.D.1529) the Emperor is called'Oberst, Vogt, und Haupt der Christenheit.'Hieronymus Balbus, writing about the same time, puts the question whether all Christians are subject to the Emperor in temporal things, as they are to the Pope in spiritual, and answers it by saying,'Cum ambo ex eodem fonte perfluxerint et eadem semita incedant, de utroque idem puto sentiendum.'
[135]'Non magis ad Papam depositio seu remotio pertinet quam ad quoslibet regum prælatos, qui reges suos prout assolent, consecrant et inungunt.'—Letter of Frederick II(lib. i. c. 3).
[136]Liber Ceremonialis Romanus, lib. i. sect. 5; with which compare theCoronatio Romanaof Henry VII, in Pertz, and Muratori's Dissertation in vol. i. of theAntiquitates Italiæ Medii Ævi.
[137]See Goldast,Collection of Imperial Constitutions; and Moser,Römische Kayser.
[138]The abbot Engelbert (De Ortu et Fine Imperii Romani) quotes Origen and Jerome to this effect, and proceeds himself to explain, from 2 Thess. ii., how the falling away will precede the coming of Antichrist. There will be a triple'discessio,'of the kingdoms of the earth from the Roman Empire, of the Church from the Apostolic See, of the faithful from the faith. Of these, the first causes the second; the temporal sword to punish heretics and schismatics being no longer ready to work the will of the rulers of the Church.
[139]A full statement of the views that prevailed in the earlier Middle Age regarding Antichrist—as well as of the singular prophecy of the Frankish Emperor who shall appear in the latter days, conquer the world, and then going to Jerusalem shall lay down his crown on the Mount of Olives and deliver over the kingdom to Christ—may be found in the little treatise,Vita Antichristi, which Adso, monk and afterwards abbot of Moutier-en-Der, compiled (cir. 950) for the information of Queen Gerberga, wife of Louis d'Outremer. Antichrist is to be born a Jew of the tribe of Dan (Gen. xlix. 17),'non de episcopo et monacha, sicut alii delirando dogmatizant, sed de immundissima meretrice et crudelissimo nebulone. Totus in peccato concipietur, in peccato generabitur, in peccato nascetur.'His birthplace is Babylon: he is to be brought up in Bethsaida and Chorazin.
Adso's book may be found printed in Migne, t. ci. p. 1290.
[140]S. Thomas explains the prophecy in a remarkable manner, shewing how the decline of the Empire is no argument against its fulfilment.'Dicendum quod nondum cessavit, sed est commutatum de temporali in spirituale, ut dicit Leo Papa in sermone de Apostolis: et ideo discessio a Romano imperio debet intelligi non solum a temporali sed etiam a spirituali, scilicit a fide Catholica Romanæ Ecclesiæ. Est autem hoc conveniens signum nam Christus venit, quando Romanum imperium omnibus dominabatur: ita e contra signum adventus Antichristi est discessio ab eo.'—Comment. ad 2 Thess.ii.
[141]Seenote z, page 119. The Papal party sometimes insisted that both swords were given to Peter, while the imperialists assigned the temporal sword to John. Thus a gloss to theSachsenspiegelsays,'Dat eine svert hadde Sinte Peter, dat het nu de paves: dat andere hadde Johannes, dat het nu de keyser.'
[142]2 Thess. ii. 7.
[143]St. Augustine, however, though he states the view (applying the passage to the Roman Empire) which was generally received in the Middle Ages, is careful not to commit himself positively to it.
[144]Jordanis Chronica(written towards the close of the thirteenth century).
[145]Compare with this the words which Pope Hadrian I. had used some twenty-three years before, of Charles as representative of Constantine:'Et sicut temporibus Beati Sylvestri, Romani pontificis, a sanctæ recordationis piissimo Constantino magno imperatore, per eius largitatem sancta Dei catholica et apostolica Romana ecclesia elevata atque exaltata est, et potestatem in his Hesperiæ partibus largiri dignatus est, ita et in his vestris felicissimis temporibus atque nostris, sancta Dei ecclesia, id est, beati Petri apostoli germinet atque exsultet, ut omnes gentes quæ hæc audierint edicere valeant, 'Domine salvum fac regem, et exaudi nos in die in qua invocaverimus te;' quia ecce novus Christianissimus Dei Constantinus imperator his temporibus surrexit, per quem omnia Deus sanctæ suæ ecclesiæ beati apostolorum principis Petri largiri dignatus est.'—Letter XLIX of Cod. Carol.,A.D.777 (in Mur.Scriptores Rerum Italicarum).
This letter is memorable as containing the first allusion, or what seems an allusion, to Constantine's Donation.
The phrase'sancta Dei ecclesia, id est, B. Petri apostoli,'is worth noting.
[146]The church in which the opening scene of Boccaccio'sDecameronis laid.
[147]So Kugler (Eastlake's ed. vol. i. p. 144), and so also Messrs. Crowe and Cavalcaselle, in theirNew History of Painting in Italy, vol. ii. pp. 85sqq.
[148]Domini canes. Spotted because of their black-and-white raiment.
[149]There is of course a great deal more detail in the picture, which it does not appear necessary to describe. St. Dominic is a conspicuous figure.
It is worth remarking that the Emperor, who is on the Pope's left hand, and so made slightly inferior to him while superior to every one else, holds in his hand, instead of the usual imperial globe, a death's head, typifying the transitory nature of his power.
[150]Although this was of course never his legal title. Till 1806 he was'Romanorum Imperator semper Augustus;''Römischer Kaiser.'
[151]Pütter,Dissertationes de Instauratione Imperii Romani; cf. Goldast'sCollection of Constitutions; and the proclamations and other documents collected in Pertz,M. G. H.legg. I.
[152]Pütter (De Instauratione Imperii Romani) will have it that upon this mistake, as he calls it, of Otto's, the whole subsequent history of the Empire turned; that if Otto had but continued to style himself'Francorum Rex,'Germany would have been spared all her Italian wars.
[153]'Iohannes episcopus, servus servorum Dei, omnibus episcopis. Nos audivimus dicere quia vos vultis alium papam facere: si hoc facitis, da Deum omnipotentem excommunico vos, ut non habeatis licentiam missam celebrare aut nullum ordinare.'—Liudprand,ut supra. The 'da' is curious, as shewing the progress of the change from Latin to Italian. The answer sent by Otto and the council takes exception to the double negative.
[154]'Cives fidelitatem promittunt hæc addentes et firmiter iurantes nunquam se papam electuros aut ordinaturos præter consensum atque electionem domini imperatoris Ottonis Cæsaris Augusti filiique ipsius Ottonis.'—Liudprand,Gesta Ottonis, lib. vi.
[155]'In timporibus adeo a dyabulo est percussus ut infra dierum octo spacium eodem sit in vulnere mortuus,'says the chronicler, crediting with but little of his wonted cleverness the supposed author of John's death, who well might have desired a long life for so useful a servant.
He adds a detail too characteristic of the time to be omitted—'Sed eucharistiæ viaticum, ipsius instinctu qui eum percusserat, non percepit.'
[156]Corpus Iuris Canonici, Dist. lxiii.,'In synodo.'A decree which is probably substantially genuine, although the form in which we have it is evidently of later date.
[157]Cf. St. Peter Damiani's lines—
'Roma vorax hominum domat ardua colla virorum,Roma ferax febrium necis est uberrima frugum,Romanæ febres stabili sunt iure fideles.'
'Roma vorax hominum domat ardua colla virorum,Roma ferax febrium necis est uberrima frugum,Romanæ febres stabili sunt iure fideles.'
'Roma vorax hominum domat ardua colla virorum,Roma ferax febrium necis est uberrima frugum,Romanæ febres stabili sunt iure fideles.'
'Roma vorax hominum domat ardua colla virorum,
Roma ferax febrium necis est uberrima frugum,
Romanæ febres stabili sunt iure fideles.'
[158]There was a separate chancellor for Italy, as afterwards for the kingdom of Burgundy.
[159]Liudprand,Legatio Constantinopolitana.
[160]'Sancti imperii nostri olim servos principes, Beneventanum scilicet, tradat,'&c. The epithet is worth noticing.
[161]Liudprand calls the Eastern Franks'Franci Teutonici'to distinguish them from the Romanized Franks of Gaul or'Francigenæ,'as they were frequently called. The name 'Frank' seems even so early as the tenth century to have been used in the East as a general name for the Western peoples of Europe. Liudprand says that the Greek Emperor included'sub Francorum nomine tam Latinos quam Teutonicos.'Probably this use dates from the time of Charles.
[162]Conring,De Finibus Imperii.
[163]Basileus was a favourite title of the English kings before the Conquest. Titles like this used in these early English charters prove, it need hardly be said, absolutely nothing as to the real existence of any rights or powers of the English king beyond his own borders. What they do prove (over and above the taste for florid rhetoric in the royal clerks) is the impression produced by the imperial style, and by the idea of the emperor's throne as supported by the thrones of kings and other lesser potentates.
[164]The coins of Crescentius are said to exhibit the insignia of the old Empire.—Palgrave,Normandy and England, i. 715. But probably some at least of them are forgeries.
[165]Proclamation in Pertz,M. G. H.ii.
[166]'Imperator antiquam Romanorum consuetudinem iam ex magna parte deletam suis cupiens renovare temporibus multa faciebat quæ diversi diverse sentiebant.'—Thietmar,Chron.ix.; ap. Pertz,M. G. H.t. iii.
[167]Annales Quedlinb., ad ann. 1002.
[168]Henry had already entered Italy in 1004.
[169]Annales Beneventani, in Pertz,M. G. H.
[170]SeeAppendix, Note A.
[171]'Roma per sedem Beati Petri caput orbis effecta.'—Seenotei, p. 32.
[172]'Claves tibiad regnumdimisimus.'—Pope Stephen to Charles Martel, inCodex Carolinus, ap. Muratori,S. R. I.iii. Some, however, prefer to read'ad rogum.'
[173]Corpus Iuris Canonici, Dist. lxiii. c. 22.
[174]Dist. lxiii. c. 30. This decree is, however, in all probability spurious.
[175]'Nos elegimus merito et approbavimus una cum annisu et voto patrum amplique senatus et gentis togatæ,'&c., ap. Baron.Ann. Eccl., ad ann. 876.
[176]'Divina vos pietas B. principum apostolorum Petri et Pauli interventione per vicarium ipsorum dominum Ioannem summum pontificem... ad imperiale culmen S. Spiritus iudicio provexit.'—Concil. Ticinense, in Mur.,S. R. I.ii.
[177]Strictly speaking, Henry was at this time only king of the Romans: he was not crowned Emperor at Rome till 1084.
[178]Letter of Gregory VII to William I,A.D.1080. I quote from Migne, t. cxlviii. p. 568.
[179]'Gradum statim post Principes Electores.'—Frederick I's Privilege of Austria, in Pertz,M. G. H.legg. ii.
[180]Hohenstaufen is a castle in what is now the kingdom of Würtemberg, about four miles from the Göppingen station of the railway from Stuttgart to Ulm. It stands, or rather stood, on the summit of a steep and lofty conical hill, commanding a boundless view over the great limestone plateau of the Rauhe Alp, the eastern declivities of the Schwartzwald, and the bare and tedious plains of western Bavaria. Of the castle itself, destroyed in the Peasants' War, there remain only fragments of the wall-foundations: in a rude chapel lying on the hill slope below are some strange half-obliterated frescoes; over the arch of the door is inscribed'Hic transibat Cæsar.'Frederick Barbarossa had another famous palace at Kaiserslautern, a small town in the Palatinate, on the railway from Mannheim to Treves, lying in a wide valley at the western foot of the Hardt mountains. It was destroyed by the French and a house of correction has been built upon its site; but in a brewery hard by may be seen some of the huge low-browed arches of its lower story.
[181]A great deal of importance seems to have been attached to this symbolic act of courtesy. See Art. I of theSachsenspiegel.
[182]Letter to the German bishops in Radewic; Mur.,S. R. I., t. vi. p. 833.
[183]A picture in the great hall of the ducal palace (theSala del Maggio Consiglio) represents the scene. See Rogers' Italy.
[184]Psalm xci.
[185]Document of 1230, quoted by Von Raumer, v. p. 81.
[186]Speech of archbishop of Milan, in Radewic; Mur. vi.
[187]Frederick's election (at Frankfort) was made'non sine quibusdam Italiæ baronibus.'—Otto Fris. i. But this was the exception.
[188]See alsopost, Chapter XVI.
[189]'Senatus Populusque Romanus urbis et orbis totius domino Conrado.'
[190]Otto of Freysing.
[191]Later in his reign, Frederick condescended to negotiate with these Roman magistrates against a hostile Pope, and entered into a sort of treaty by which they were declared exempt from all jurisdiction but his own.
[192]See the first note to Shelley'sHellas. Sismondi is mainly answerable for this conception of Barbarossa's position.
[193]They say rebelliously, says Frederick,'Nolumus hunc regnare super nos ... at nos maluimus honestam mortem quam ut,'&c.—Letter in Pertz.M. G. H.legg. ii.
[194]