and who was elected pontiff by the order of Otho III. A. D. 996, met with a quite different treatment; for Crescens, the Roman consul, drove him out of the city, and conferred his dignity upon John XVI. formerly known by the name of Philagathus. This revolution was not however permanent in its effects; for Otho III. alarmed by these disturbances at Rome, marched into Italy, A. D. 998, at the head of a powerful army, and casting into prison the new pontiff, whom the soldiers, in the first moment of their fury, had maimed and abused in a most barbarous manner, he reinstated Gregory in his former honours, and placed him anew at the head of the church. It was upon the death of this latter pontiff, which happened soon after his restoration, that the same emperor raised to the papal dignity his preceptor and friend, the famous and learned Gerbert, or Silvester II. whose promotion was attended with the universal approbation of the Roman people."

of the pontiff's

VIII. Amidst these frequent commotions, and even amidst the repeated enormities and flagitious crimes of The influence those who gave themselves out for Christ's vice- and authority gerents upon earth, the power and authority of increase daily. the Roman pontiffs increased imperceptibly from day to day; such were the effects of that ignorance and superstition that reigned without control in these miserable times. Otho the Great had indeed published a solemn edict, prohibiting the election of any pontiff without the previous knowledge and consent of the emperor; which edict, as all writers unanimously agree, remained in force from the time of its publication to the conclusion of this century. It is also to be observed, that the same emperor, as likewise his son and grandson, who succeeded him in the empire, maintained, without interruption, their right of supremacy over the city of Rome, its territory, and its pontiff, as may be demonstrably proved from a multitude of examples. It is moreover equally certain, that the German, French, and Italian bishops, who were not ignorant of the nature of their privileges, and the extent of their jurisdiction, were, during this whole century, perpetually upon their guard against every attempt the Roman pontiff might make to

y The history of the Roman pontiffs of this period is not only extremely barren of interesting events, but also obscure and uncertain in many respects. In the accounts I have here given of them, I have followed principally Lud. Ant. Muratori's Annales Italia, and the Conatus Chronologico Historicus de Romanis Pontificibus, which the learned Papebrochius has prefixed to his Acta Sanctorum, Mensis Maii.

assume to himself alone a legislative authority in the church. But notwithstanding all this, the bishops of Rome found means of augmenting their influence, and partly by open violence, partly by secret and fraudulent stratagems, encroached not only upon the privileges of the bishops, but also upon the jurisdiction and rights of kings and emperors." Their ambitious attempts were seconded and justified by the scandalous adulation of certain mercenary prelates, who exalted the dignity and prerogatives of what they called the apostolic see, in the most pompous and extravagant terms. Several learned writers have observed, that in this century certain bishops maintained publicly, that the Roman pontiffs were not only bishops of Rome, but of the whole world, an assertion which hitherto none had ventured to make; and that even among the French clergy, it had been affirmed by some, that "the authority of the bishops, though divine in its origin, was conveyed to them by St. Peter, the prince of the apostles."

The bishops

and abbots enlarge also

IX. The adventurous ambition of the bishops of Rome, who left no means unemployed to extend their jurisdiction, exhibited an example which the infediction and rior prelates followed with the most zealous and prerogatives. indefatigable emulation. Several bishops and abbots had begun, even from the time that the descendants of Charlemagne sat on the imperial throne, to enlarge their prerogatives, and had actually obtained, for their tenants and their possessions, an immunity from the jurisdiction of the counts and other magistrates, as also from taxes and imposts of all kinds. But in this century they carried their pretensions still farther; aimed at the civil jurisdiction over the cities and territories in which they exercised a spiritual dominion, and aspired after nothing less than the honours and authority of dukes, marquises, and counts of the empire. Among the principal circumstances that animated their zeal in the pursuit of these dignities, we may reckon the perpetual and bitter contests concerning jurisdiction and other matters that reigned between the dukes and counts, who were governors of cities, and the bishops and abbots who were their ghostly rulers. The latter

z Several examples of these usurpations may be found in the Histoire du droit Eccles. Francois, tom. i. p. 217, cdit. in 8vo.

a Histoire Literaire de la France, tom. vi. p. 98.

h Histoire Literaire de la France, p. 186.

therefore seizing the favourable opportunity that was offered them by the superstition of the times, used every method that might be effectual to obtain that high rank that hitherto stood in the way of their ambition. And the emperors and kings to whom they addressed their presumptuous requests, generally granted them, either from a desire of pacifying the contentions and quarrels that arose between civil and military magistrates, or from a devout reverence for the sacred order, or with a view to augment their own authority, and to confirm their dominion by the good services of the bishops, whose influence was very great upon the minds of the people. Such were the different motives that engaged princes to enlarge the authority and jurisdiction of the clergy; and hence we see from this century downward, so many bishops and abbots invested with characters, employments, and titles so foreign to their spiritual offices and functions, and clothed with the honours of dukes, marquises, counts, and viscounts."

Simony and concubinage the principal

x. Beside the reproach of the grossest ignorance, which the Latin clergy in this century so justly deserve," they were also chargeable, in a very heinous degree, with two other odious and enormous vices, vices of the even concubinage and simony, which the greatest clergy. part of the writers of these unhappy times acknowledge and deplore. As to the first of these vices, it was practised too openly to admit of any doubt. The priests, and what is still more surprising, even the sanctimonious monks, fell victims to the triumphant charms of the sex, and to the imperious dominion of their carnal lusts; and entering into the bonds of wedlock or concubinage, squandered away in a most luxurious manner, with their wives and mistresses, the revenues of the church. The other vice

e The learned Louis Thomassin, in his book De Disciplina Ecclesiæ veteri et nova, tom. iii. lib. i. cap. xxviii. p. 89, has collected a multitude of examples to prove that the titles and prerogatives of dukes and counts were conferred upon certain prelates so early as the ninth century; nay, some bishops trace even to the eighth century the rise and first beginnings of that princely dominion which they now enjoy. But notwithstanding all this, if I be not entirely and grossly mistaken, there cannot be produced any evident and indisputable example of this princely dominion, previous to the tenth century.

d Ratherius, speaking of the clergy of Verona, in his Itinerarium, which is published in the Spicilegium of Dacherius, tom. i. p. 381, says, that he found many among them who could not even repeat the Apostles' Creed. His words are, Sciscitatus de fide illorum, inveni plurimos neque ipsum sapere Symbolum, qui fuisse creditur Apostoloe That this custom was introduced toward the commencement of this century, is manifest from the testimony of Ordericus Vitalis and other writers, and also from a

rum."

above mentioned reigned with an equal degree of impudence and licentiousness. The election of bishops and abbots was no longer made according to the laws of the church; but kings and princes, or their ministers and favourites, either conferred these ecclesiastical dignities upon their friends and creatures, or sold them without shame to the highest bidder.' Hence it happened, that the most stupid and flagitious wretches were frequently advanced to the most important stations in the church; and that, upon several occasions, even soldiers, civil magistrates, counts, and such like persons, were, by a strange metamorphosis, converted into bishops and abbots. Gregory VII. endeavoured, in the following century, to put a stop to these two growing evils.

to no

XI. While the monastic orders, among the Greeks and The monkish orientals, maintained still an external appearance discipline de- of religion and decency, the Latin monks, toward thing. the commencement of this century, had so entirely lost sight of all subordination and discipline, that the greatest part of them knew not even by name the rule of St. Benedict, which they were obliged to observe. A noble Frank, whose name was Odo, a man as learned and pious as the ignorance and superstition of the times would permit, endeavoured to remedy this disorder; nor were his attempts totally unsuccessful. This zealous ecclesiastic being created, in the year 927, abbot of Clugni, in the province of Burgundy, upon the death of Berno, not only obliged the monks to live in a rigorous observance of their rules, but also added to their discipline a new set of rites and ceremonies, which notwithstanding the air of sanctity that attended them, were in reality insignificant and trifling, and yet at the same time severe and burdensome." This new

letter of Mantio, bishop of Chalons in Champagne, which is published by Mabillon, in his Analecta veterum, p. 429, edit. nov. As to the charge brought against the Italian monks, of their spending the treasures of the church upon their wives or mistresses, see Hugo, De Monasterii Farfensis destructione, which is published in Muratori's Antiq. Ilal. medii ævi, tom. vi. p. 278.

f Many infamous and striking examples and proofs of Simoniacal practice may be found in the work entitled Gallia Christiana, tom. ii. p. 23, 37, tom. i. p. 173, 179. Add to this Abbonis Apologeticum, which is published at the end of the Codex Canon Pitheoi, p. 398; as also Mabillon, Annal. Benedict. tom. v.

g See Mabillon Annal. Benedict. tom. iti. p. 386, and Præf. ad Acta Sanct. Ord. Benedict. Sac. v. p. 26. See also the Acta Sanctor. Bened. Sæc. v. p. 66, in which he speaks largely concerning Berno, the first abbot of Clugni, who laid the foundations of that order, and of Qdo, p. 122, who gave it a new degree of perfection. The learned Heylot, in his Histoire des Ordres Religieuses, tom. v. p. 184, has given a complete and elegant history of the order of Clugni, and the present state of that famous monastery is described by Martene, in his Voyage Liter. de deux Benedict. part i. p. 227.

rule of discipline covered its author with glory, and in a short time was adopted in all the European convents; for the greatest part of the ancient monasteries, which had been founded in France, Germany, Italy, Britain, and Spain, received the rule of the monks of Člugni, to which also the convents newly established were subjected by their founders. And thus it was, that the order of Clugni arrived to that high degree of eminence and authority, opulence and dignity, which it exhibited to the Christian world in the following century."

XII. The more eminent Greek writers of this century are easily numbered; among them was Simeon, high treasurer of Constantinople, who, from his giving Greek writers. a new and more elegant style to the Lives of the Saints, which had been originally composed in a gross and barbarous language, was distinguished by the title of Metaphrast, or Translator. He did not however content himself with digesting, polishing, and embellishing the saintly chronicle; but went so far as to augment it with a multitude of trifling fables drawn from the fecundity of his own imagination.

Nicon, an Armenian monk, composed a treatise Concerning the Religion of the Armenians, which is not altogether contemptible.

Some place in this century Olympiodorus and Oecumenius, who distinguished themselves by those compilations which were known by the name of catena, or chains, and of which we have had occasion to speak more than once

h If we are not mistaken, the greatest part of ecclesiastical historians have not perceived the true meaning and force of the word order in its application to the Cistersian monks, those of Clugni, and other convents. They imagine that this term signifies a new monastic institution, as if the order of Clugni was a new sect of monks never before heard of. But this is a great error, into which they fall by confounding the ancient meaning of that term with the sense in which it is used in modern times. The word order, when employed by the writers of the tenth century, signified no more at first than a certain form or rule of monastic discipline; but from this primitive signification, another and a secondary one was gradually derived. So that by the word order is also understood an association or confederacy of several monasteries, subjected to the same rule of discipline under the jurisdiction and inspection of one common chief. Hence we conclude, that the order of Clugni was not a new sect of monks such as were the Carthusian, Dominican, and Franciscan orders; but signified only, first, that new institution, or rule of discipline, which Odo had prescribed to the Benedictine monks, who were settled at Clugni, and afterward that prodigious multitude of monasteries throughout Europe, which received the rule established at Clugni, and were formed by association into a sort of community, of which the abbot of Clugni was the chief.

i See Leo Allatius, De Symeonum Scriplis, p. 24. Jo. Bollandus, Præf. ad Acta Sanctorum Antwerp, § iii. P. 6.

k For an account of Oecumenius, see Montfaucon, Biblioth. Corsliniana, p. 274.