citizens, but even the common claims and privileges of humanity. This horrid opinion, which was a fatal source of wars, massacres, and rebellions without number, and which contributed more than any other means to augment and confirm the papal authority, was, unhappily for Europe, borrowed by Christians, or rather by the clergy, from the pagan superstitions.* VI. This prodigious accession to the opulence and authority of the clergy in the west began with their head, the Roman pontiff, and spread gradually from him among the inferior bishops, and also among the sacerdotal and monastic orders. The barbarous nations, who received the Gospel, looked upon the bishop of Rome as the successor of their chief druid, or high priest. And as this tremendous druid had enjoyed, under the darkness of paganism, VII. We observe, in the annals of the a boundless authority, and had been treated French nation, the following remarkable and with a degree of veneration, that, through its shocking instance of the enormous power that servile excess, degenerated into terror; so the was, at this time, vested in the Roman pontiff. barbarous nations, on their conversion to Chris-Pepin was mayor of the palace to Childeric tianity, thought proper to confer upon the chief III., and, in the exercise of that high office, of the bishops the same honours and the same possessed in reality the royal power and auauthority that had formerly been vested in thority; but, not content with this, he aspired their arch-druid.* The pope received, with to the titles and honours of majesty, and formsomething more than a mere spiritual delight,||ed the design of dethroning his sovereign. For these august privileges; and lest, upon any this purpose, the states of the realm were aschange of affairs, attempts might be made to sembled by Pepin, in 751; and though they deprive him of them, he strengthened his title were devoted to the interests of this ambitious to these extraordinary honours, by a variety of usurper, they gave it as their opinion, that the passages drawn from ancient history, and bishop of Rome was previously to be consult(what was still more astonishing) by argued, whether the execution of such a project ments of a religious nature. This conduct of was lawful or not. In consequence of this, a superstitious people swelled the arrogance of ambassadors were sent by Pepin to Zachary, the Roman druid to an enormous size, and the reigning pontiff, with the following quesgave to the see of Rome, in civil and political tion: Whether the divine law did not permit a affairs, a high pre-eminence and a despotic au- valiant and warlike people to dethrone a puthority, unknown to former ages. Hence, sillanimous and indolent monarch, who was inamong other unhappy circumstances, arose capable of discharging any of the functions of that monstrous and most pernicious opinion, royalty, and to substitute in his place one more that such persons as were excluded from the communion of the church by the pontiff himself, or any of the bishops, forfeited thereby not only their civil rights and advantages as *Though excommunication, from the time of Constantine the Great, was, in every part of the Christian world, attended with many disagreeable effects, yet its highest terrors were confined to Europe, where its aspect was truly formidable and hideous. It acquired also, in the laici rebellarent, illos posse excommunicationis auctori-eighth century, new accessions of terror; so that, from tate et potentiæ severitate compescere." This is, doubtless, the true reason why Charlemagne, who was far from being a superstitious prince, or a slave to the clergy, aug mented so vastly the jurisdiction of the Roman pontiff in Germany, Italy, and the other countries where he had extended his conquests, and accumulated upon the bishops such ample possessions. He expected more loyalty and submission from the clergy, than from the laity; and he augmented the riches and authority of the former, in order to secure his throne against the assaults of the latter. As the bishops were universally held in the highest veneration, he made use of their influence in checking the rebellious spirit of his dukes, counts, and knights, who were frequently very troublesome. For instance, he had much to fear from the dukes of Benevento, Spoleto, and Capua, when the government of the Lombards was overturned; he therefore made over a considerable part of Italy to the Roman pontiff, whose ghostly authority, opulence, and threatenings, were so proper to restrain those powerful and vindictive princes from seditious insurrections, or to quell such tumults as they might venture to excite. Nor was he the only prince who honoured the clergy from such political views; the other kings and princes of Europe acted much in the same manner, and from the same principles, as will appear evident to all who consider, with attention, the forms of government, and the methods of governing, that took place in this century: so that the excessive augmentation of sacerdotal opulence and authority, which many look upon as the work of su perstition alone, was, in many instances, an effect of political prudence. We shall consider, presently, the terrors of excommunication, which William of Malmesbury touches but cursorily in the latter words of the passage above quoted. * Cæsar speaks thus of the chief or arch-druid: "His omnibus druidibus præest unus, qui summam inter eos (Celtas) habet auctoritatem. Hoc mortuo, si qui ex reliquis excellit dignitate, succedit. At, si sunt plures pares, suffragio Druidum adlegitur: nonnunquam etiam armis de principatu contendunt." Jul. Cæsar, de Bello Gallico, lib. vi. cap. xiii. that period, the excommunication practised in Europe Si quis to themselves; for they managed matters so as to become, by degrees, masters of the Grecian provinces in Italy, which were subject to the exarch who resided at Ravenna. One of these monarchs, named Aistulphus, carried his views still farther. Elate with these accessions to his dominions, he meditated the conquest of Rome and its territory, and formed the ambitious project of reducing all Italy under the yoke of the Lombards. Stephen now addressed himself to his powerful patron and protector Pepin, represented to him his deplorable condition, and implored his assistance. The French monarch embarked with zeal in the cause of the terrified and suppliant pontiff; crossed the Alps, in 754, with a numerous army; and, having defeated Aistulphus, oblig worthy to rule, and who had already rendered || Their success, indeed, was only advantageous most important services to the state? The situation of Zachary, who stood much in need of the aid of Pepin against the Greeks and Lombards, rendered his answer such as the usurper desired. When this favourable decision of the Roman oracle was published in France, the unhappy Childeric was stripped of royalty without the least opposition; and Pepin, without the smallest resistance from any quarter, stepped into the throne of his master and his sovereign. Let the abettors of the papal authority see, how they can justify, in Christ's pretended vicegerent upon earth, a decision which is so glaringly repugnant to the laws and precepts of the divine Saviour.* This decision was solemnly confirmed by Stephen II., the successor of Zachary. He undertook a journey into France, in 754, in order to solicited him, by a solemn treaty, to deliver up to assistance against the Lombards; dissolved the obligation of the oath of fidelity and allegiance which Pepin had sworn to Childeric, and violated by his usurpation; and, to render his title to the crown as sacred as possible, anointed and crowned him, with his wife and two sons, for the second time.t VIII. This compliance of the Roman pontiffs proved an abundant source of opulence and credit to the church, and to its aspiring ministers. When that part of Italy which was yet subject to the Grecian empire, was involved in confusion and trouble, by the seditions and tumults which arose from the imperial edicts against the erection and worship of images, the kings of the Lombards employed the united influence of their arms and negotiations in order to terminate these contests. the see of Rome the exarchate of Ravenna, Pentapolis, and all the cities, castles, and territories which he had seized in the Roman dukedom. It was not, however, long before the Lombard prince violated, without remorse, an engagement which he had contracted with reluctance. In 755, he laid siege to Rome for the second time, but was again obliged to sue for peace by the victorious arms of Pepin, who returned into Italy, and, forcing the Lombard to execute the treaty he had so audaciously violated, made a new grant of the exarchate* and of Pentapolis to the pontiff and his successors. And thus was the bishop of Rome raised to the rank of a temporal prince. IX. After the death of Pepin, a new attack was made upon the patrimony of St Peter, by Dideric, king of the Lombards, who invaded the territories that had been granted by the *See Le Cointe, Mezeray, Daniel, and other Gallic and German historians, concerning this important event; but *See Car. Sigonius, de Regno Italiæ, lib. iii. p. 202, particularly Bossuet, Defens. Declarationis Cleri Gallicani, tom. ii. op.-Bunau, Historia Imperii Germanici, tom. part i. p. 225.-Petr. Rival, Dissertations Histor. et Criti-ii. p. 301, 366.-Muratori Annales Italiæ, tom. iv. p. 310. ques sur divers Sujets, Diss. ii. p. 70; Diss. iii. p. 156. Henr. de Bunau, Historia Imperii Germanici, tom. ii. p. 288. This remarkable event is not, indeed, related in the same manner by all historians, and it is generally represented under false colours by those who, from a spirit of blind zeal and excessive adulation, seize every occasion of exalting the dignity and authority of the bishops of Rome. Such writers assert, that it was by Zachary's authority as pontiff, and not in consequence of his opinion as a casuist or divine, that the crown was taken from the head of Childeric, and placed upon that of Pepin. But this the French absolutely and justly deny. Had it, however, been so, the crime of the pontiff would have been much greater than it was in reality. The real limits of the exarchate granted by Pepin to the Roman pontiff, have been much controverted among the learned, and have, particularly in our times, employed the researches of several eminent writers. The bishops of Rome extend the limits of this territory as far as they can with any appearance of decency or probability, while their adversaries are as zealous in contracting this famous grant within narrower bounds. See Lud. Ant. Murator. Droits de l'Empire sur l'Etat Ecclesiastique, cap. i. ii.;. as also his Antiquitat. Ital. medii Evi, tom. i. p. 64, 68, 986, 987. The same author treats the matter with more circumspection, tom. v. p. 790. This controversy can only be terminated with facility by an inspection of Pepin's grant of the territory in question. Fontanini, in his first Defence of the temporal Jurisdiction of the See of Rome over the City of Cominachio, written in Italian, intimates that this grant is yet extant, and even makes use of some phrases that are said to be contained in it (see the pages 242 and 346 of that work.) This, however, will scarcely be believed. Were it indeed true, that such a deed remains, its being published to the world would be, undoubtedly, unfavourable to the pretensions and interests of the church of Rome. It is at least certain, that, in the dispute between the emperor Joseph 1. and the Roman pontiff concerning Commachio, the partisans of the latter, though frequently called upon by those of the emperor to produce this grant, refused constantly to comply with this demand. On the other hand, it must be confessed, that Bianchini, in his Prolegom. ad Anastasium de Vitis Pontif. Rom., has given us, from a Farnesian maThe author has here in view the edicts of Leo nuscript, a specimen of this grant, which seems to carry Isauricus and Constantine Copronymus. The former the marks of remote antiquity. Be that as it may, a multipublished, in 726, a famous edict against the worship of tude of witnesses unite in assuring us, that the remorse images, which occasioned many contests and much dis- of a wounded conscience was the source of Pepin's libeturbance both in church and state; and the latter assem-rality, and that his grant to the Roman pontiff was the bled at Constantinople, in 754, a council of 358 bishops, superstitious remedy by which he hoped to expiate his who unanimously condemned, not only the worship but enormities, and particularly his horrid perfidy to his mas even the use of images. ter Childeric. Pepin had been anointed by the legate Boniface at Soissons, soon after his election; but, thinking that the performance of such a ceremony by the pope would recommend him more to the respect of his subjects, he desired that the unction should be administered anew by Stephen. Pepin was the first French monarch who received this unction as a ceremony of coronation, at least according to the reports of the most credible historians. His predecessors were proclaimed by being lifted up on a shield; and the holy phial of Clovis is now universally regarded as fabulous. The custom of anointing kings at their coronation was, however, more ancient than the time of Pepin, and was observed long before that period both in Scotland and Spain. See Edmund Marteune, de Antiq. Eccles. Ritib. tom. iii. cap. x.; and also Bunau, Historia Imperii Germanici, tom. ii. p. 301, 366. X. By this act of liberality, which seems to carry in it the contradictory characters of policy and imprudence, Charlemagne opened for himself a passage to the empire of the west, and to the supreme dominion over the city of Rome and its territory, upon which the western empire seemed then to depend.* He had, no doubt, been meditating for a considerable time this arduous project, which his father Pepin had probably formed before him; but the circumstances of the times obliged him to wait for a favourable occasion of putting it in execution. This was offered him in 800, when the affairs of the Greeks were reduced to extremity after the death of Leo III. and the barbarous murder of his son Constantine, and while the opportunity was seized with avidity by Charles, who set out for Rome, where he was received with lively demonstrations of zeal by the sovereign pontiff, who had entered into his views, and persuaded the people, elate at this time with high notions of their independence and elective power, to unite their suffrages in favour of this prince, and proclaim him emperor of the west. French monarch to the see of Rome. In this extremity, pope Adrian I. fled for succour to Charles, the son of Pepin, who, on account of his heroic exploits, was afterwards distinguished by the name of Charlemagne. This prince, whose enterprising genius led him to seize with avidity every opportunity of extending his conquests, and whose veneration for the Roman see was carried very far, as much from the dictates of policy as superstition, adopted immediately the cause of the trembling pontiff. He passed the Alps with a formidable army, in 774; overturned the empire of the Lombards in Italy, which had subsisted above two hundred years; sent their exiled monarch into France, and proclaimed himself king of the Lombards. These conquests offered to Charle-impious Irene held the reins of empire. This magne an occasion of visiting Rome, where he not only confirmed the grants which had been made by his father to that see, but added to them new donations, and ceded to the Roman pontiffs several cities and provinces in Italy, which had not been contained in Pepin's grant. What those cities and provinces were, is a question difficult to be resolved at this period, as it is perplexed with much obscurity, from the want of authentic records.* XI. Charles, on his elevation to the empire of the west and the government of Rome, seems to have reserved to himself the supreme dominion, and the inalienable rights of majesty, while he granted to the church of Rome a subordinate jurisdiction over that great city and its annexed territory.§ This grant was minion in Italy. Of this policy we have already taken notice, and it must appear manifest to all who view things with the smallest degree of impartiality and attention. * Charles, in reality, was already emperor of the west, that is, the most powerful of the European monarchs. He wanted, therefore, nothing more than the title of emperor, and the supreme dominion in Rome and its territory, both of which he obtained by the assistance of Leo. III. † Leo III. See the historians who have transmitted to us accounts of this century, and more especially Bunau, in his Hist. Imperii Romano-German. tom. ii. p. 537. The partisans of the Roman pontiffs generally maintain, that Leo III. by a divine right, vested in him as bishop of Rome, transferred the western empire from the Greeks to the Franks, and conferred it upon Charlemagne, the monarch of the latter. Hence they conclude, that the Roman pontiff, as the vicar of Christ, is the supreme lord of the whole earth, and, in a particular manner, of the Roman empire. The temerity of these pretensions, and the absurdity of this reasoning, are exposed with much learning and judgment by the celebrated Fred. Spanheim, de ficta translatione Imperii in Carolum M. per Leonem III. tom. ii. op. p. 557. * See Car. Sigonius, de regno Italiæ, lib. iii. p. 223, tom. ii. op.-Bunau, Historia Imperii Germanici, tom. ii. p. 368.-Petr. de Marea, de Concordia Sacerdotii et Im perii, lib. i. cap. xii. p. 67.-Lud. Anton. Muratori Droits de l'Empire sur l'Etat Ecclesiastique, cap. ii. p. 147.Conringius, de Imperio Roman. German. cap. vi. The extent of Charlemagne's grant to the see of Rome is as much disputed as the magnitude of Pepin's donation, between the partisans of the pope, and those of the emperor. They who plead the caus of the Roman see, maintain that Corsica, Sardinia, Sicil, the territory of Sabino, the duchy of Spoleto, and se eral other districts, were solemnly granted by Charlemagne to St. Peter and his successors. They, on the other hand, who assert the rights of the emperor, diminish as far as they can the munificence of Charles, and confine this new grant within narrow limits. The reader may consul upon this subject the authors of the present age, who have published their opinions of the pretensions of the emperors and the popes to the cities of Commachio and Florence, and the duchies of Parma and Placentia; but, above all, the learned Berret's excellent treatise, entitled, Dissertatio Chorographica de Italia medii Ævi, f. 33. The spirit of party seems, in this controversy, as in many others, to have blinded the disputants on both sides of the question; and this, together with the difficulty of avoiding mistakes upon a point involved in such deep obscurity, has, in many cases, rendered the truth invisible to both the contending parties. With respect to the motives that induced Charlemagne to make this grant, they are much less doubtful than the extent of the grant itself. Adrian affirms, that the monarch's view was to atone for his sins by this act of liberality to the church, as we see in a letter from that pontiff to Charlemagne, which is published in Muratori's § That Charlemagne, in effect, preserved entire his Scriptores Rerum Italicar. tom. iii. part ii. p. 265, and of supreme authority over the city of Rome and its adjacent which the following passage is remarkable: "Venientes territory, gave law to the citizens by judges of his own ad nos de Capua, quam beato Petro apostolorum principi appointment, punished malefactors, enjoyed the prerogapro mercede animæ vestræ atque sempiterna memoria tives, and exercised all the functions of royalty, has been cum ceteris civitatibus obtulistis." Is it not indeed im- demonstrated by several of the learned in the most ample probable, that Charlemagne, who affected that kind of and satisfactory manner, and confirmed by the most unpiety which was the characteristic of this barbarous age, exceptionable and authentic testimonies. To be convincmentioned this superstitious motive in the act of cession ed of this, it will be sufficient to consult Muratori's Droits by which he confirmed his donation to the church; but de l'Empire sur l'Etat Ecclesiastique, cap. vi. p. 77. such as are acquainted with the character of this prince, And, indeed, they must have a strange power of resisting and the history of this period, will be cautious in attribut- the clearest evidence, who are absurd enough to assert, ing his generosity to this religious principle alone. His as does Fontanini, in his treatise, entitled, Dominio della grand motive was, undoubtedly, of an ambitious kind; he S. Sede sopra Commachio, Diss. i. c. 95, 96, that Charles was obstinately bent upon adding the western empire to sustained at Rome the character of the advocate of the his dominions; and the success of this grand project de- Roman church, and not that of its sovereign or its lord, pended much upon the consent and assistance of the pope, the dominion of the pontiff being unlimited and univerwhose approbation, in those times, was sufficient to sanc- sal. On the other hand, we must acknowledge ingenutify the most iniquitious projects. Thus Charlemagne ously, that the power of the pontiff, both in the city of lavished gifts upon the bishops of Rome, that, by their Rome and its annexed territory, was very great, and that, assistance, he might assume, with a certain air of de- in several cases, he seemed to act with a princely authocency, the empire of the west, and confirm his new do-rity. But the extent and the foundations of that authori XII. While the power and opulence of the Roman pontiffs were rising to the greatest height by the events which we have now been undoubtedly suggested to him by the ambitious pontiff as a matter of sacred and indispensable obligation; and many fictitious deeds were probably produced to make out the preten-relating, they received a mortifying check in sions, and justify the claims of the church to consequence of a quarrel which broke out bethis high degree of temporal authority and tween those haughty priests and the Grecian civil jurisdiction. In order to reconcile the emperors. Leo the Isaurian, and his son Connew emperor to this grant, it was without stantine Copronymus, incensed at the zeal doubt alleged, that Constantine the Great, his which Gregory II. and III. discovered for the renowned predecessor, when he removed the worship of images, not only confiscated the seat of empire to Constantinople, delivered up treasures and lands which the church of Rome Rome, the old metropolis, with its adjacent possessed in Sicily, Calabria, and Apulia, but territories, commonly called the Roman duke- also withdrew the bishops of these countries, dom, to be possessed and governed by the and likewise the various provinces and churches church, with no other restriction, than that of Illyricum, from the jurisdiction of the Rothis should be no detriment to his supreme man see, and subjected them to the spiritual dominion; and it was insinuated to Charles, || dominion of the bishop of Constantinople. And that he could not depart from the rule estab-||so inflexibly were the Grecian emperors bent lished by that pious emperor, without incur- upon humbling the arrogance of the Roman ring the wrath of God, and the indignation of || pontiffs, that no intreaties, supplications, or St. Peter.* threats, could engage them to abandon their ty are concealed in the deepest obscurity, and have given purpose, or to restore this rich and signal poroccasion to endless disputes. Muratori maintains, in his tion of St. Peter's patrimony to his greedy sucwork above cited, p. 102, that the bishop of Rome dis- cessors.* .* It is here that we must look for the charged the function of exarch, or vicar, to the emperor; original source, and the principal cause of that an opinion which Clement XI. rejected as injurious to vehement contest between the Roman pontiff the papal dignity, and which, indeed, does not appear to have any solid foundation. After a careful examination and the bishop of Constantinople, which, in the of all the circumstances that can contribute toward the following century, divided the Greek and Latin solution of this perplexed question, the most probable ac-churches, and proved so pernicious to the incount of the matter seems to be this: That the Roman pontiff possessed the city of Rome and its territory, by the same right by which he held the exarchate of Ravenna, and the other lands granted by Charlemagne; that is to say, he possessed Rome by a feudal tenure, though charged with fewer marks of dependence than other fiefs generally are, on account of the lustre and dignity of a city which had been so long the capital of the empire. This opinion derives much strength from what we shall have occasion to observe in the following note, and it has the peculiar advantage of reconciling, the jarring testimonies of ancient writers, and the various records of antiquity relating to this point. sions. XIII. The monastic discipline was extremely relaxed at this time both in the eastern and western provinces, and, as appears by the con terests and advancement of true Christianity. These lamentable divisions, which wanted no new incident to foment them, were nevertheless augmented by a controversy which arose, in this century, concerning the derivation of the Holy Spirit, which we shall have occasion to mention more largely in its proper place. It is more than probable that this controversy would have been terminated with the utmost facility, had not the spirits of the contending Most writers are of opinion, that Constantine's pre- parties been previously exasperated by disputes tended grant was posterior to this period, and was forged founded upon avarice and ambition, and car. in the tenth century. It appears to me, on the contrary, that this fictitious grant was in being in the eighth cen- ried on, without either moderation or decency, tury; and it is extremely probable, that both Adrian and by the holy patriarchs of Rome and Constantihis successor Leo III. made use of it to persuade Charle-nople, in defence of their respective pretenmagne to that donation. In favour of this opinion we have the unexceptionable testimony of Adrian himself in his letter to Charlemagne, which is published in Muratori's Rerum Italicarum Scriptores, tom. iii. part ii. p. 194,|| and which is extremely worthy of an attentive perusal. In this letter, Adrian exhorts Charles, before his elevation to the empire, to order the restitution of all the grants and donations that had formerly been made to St. largiri dignatus est." So much for that part of the letter Peter and to the church of Rome. In this demand also that relates to Constantine's grant: as to the other donahe distinguishes, in the plainest manner, the donation of tions which the pontiff evidently distinguishes from it, Constantine from those of the other princes and empe- observe what follows: "Sed et cuncta alia quæ per dirors, and what is particularly remarkable, from the ex- versos imperatores, patricios, etiam et alios Deum timenarchate which was the gift of Pepin, and even from the tes, pro eorum animæ mercede et venia delictorum, in additions that Charles had already made to his father's partibus Tuscia, Spoleto, seu Benevento, atque Corsica, grant; whence we may justly conclude, that by the dona-simul et Pavinensi patrimonio, beato Petro apostolo conlion of Constantine, Adrian meant the city of Rome, and cessa sunt, et per nefandam gentem Longobardorum per its annexed territory. He speaks first of this grant in annorum spatia abstracta et ablata sunt, vestris temporithe following terms: "Deprecamur vestram excellentiam bus restituantur." (The pontiff intimates farther, that ... pro Dei amore et ipsius clavigeri regni cœlorum all these grants were carefully preserved in the office of ut secundum promissionem quam polliciti estis the Lateran, and that he sends them to Charles by his leeidem Dei apostolo pro animæ vestræ mercede et stabili- gates.) "Unde et plures donationes in sacro nostro scri tate regni vestri, omnia nostris temporibus adimplere ju- nio Lateranensi reconditas habemus, tamen et pro satisbeatis et sicut temporibus beati Silvestri Romani factione Christianissimi regni vestri, per jam fatos viros, pontificis, a sanctæ recordationis piissimo Constantino M. ad demonstrandum eas vobis, direximus, et pro hoc petiimperatore, per ejus largitatem (here Constantine's donamus eximiam præcellentiam vestram, ut in integro ipsa tion is evidently mentioned) sancta Dei catholica et apos- patrimonia beato Petro et nobis restituere jubeatis." By tolica Romana ecclesia elevata atque exaltata est, et po- this it appears that Constantine's grant was now in being testatem in his Hesperiæ partibus largiri dignatus est; among the archives of the Lateran, and was sent to Charita et in his vestris felicissimis temporibus atque nostris lemagne with the other donations of kings and princes. sancta Dei ecclesia germinet. ... et amplius atque amplius whose examples were adduced with a view of exciting his exaltata permaneat... quia ecce novus Christianissimus liberality to the church. Dei gratia Constantinus imperator (here we see Charles, who at that time was only a king, styled emperor by the pontiff, and compared with Constantine) his temporibus surrexit, per quem omnia Deus sanctæ suæ ecclesiæ ... * See Mich. Lequien's Oriens Christianus, tom. i. p. 96. Among the Greek writers also Theophanes and others acknowledge the fact; but they are not entirely agreed about the reasons to which it is to be attributed." nons, yet Chrodegangus, who, toward the middle of this century, subjected to this rule the clergy of Metz, not only added to their religious ceremonies the custom of singing hymns and anthems to God, at certain hours, and probably a variety of rites, but also, by his example, excited the Franks, the Italians, and the Germans, to distinguish themselves by their zeal in favour of the canons, to erect colleges for them, and to introduce their rule into their respective countries. XV. The supreme dominion, over the church and its possessions, was vested in the emperors and kings, both in the eastern and the western world. The sovereignty of the Grecian emperors, in this respect, has never been contested; and though the partisans of the Roman pontiff's endeavour to render dubious the supremacy of the Latin monarchs over the church, yet this supremacy is too manifest to be disputed by such as have considered the matter attentively; and it is acknowleged by the wisest curring testimonies of the writers of this century, had fallen into a total decay. The only monks who escaped this general corruption, were those who passed their days in the deserts of Egypt, Syria, and Mesopotamia, amidst the austerities of a wretched life, remote from all the comforts of human society: yet the merit of having preserved their discipline was sadly counterbalanced by the gross ignorance, the fanatical madness, and the sordid superstition that reigned among these miserable hermits. Those of the monastic orders, who lived nearer to cities and populous towns, frequently disturbed the public tranquillity by the tumults and seditions they fomented among the multitude, so that it became necessary to check their rebellious ambition by the severe laws that were enacted against them by Constantine Copronymus, and other emperors. The greatest part of the western monks followed, at this time, the rule of St. Benedict; though there were every where convents which adopted the discipline of other orders.* But, as they in-and most candid writers, even of the Romish creased in opulence, they lost sight of all rules, communion. Adrian I., in a council of bishand submitted, at length, to no other discipline ops assembled at Rome, conferred upon Charthan that of intemperance, voluptuousness, lemagne and his successors the right of elecand sloth. Charlemagne attempted, by vari- tion to the see of Rome; and though neither ous edicts, to put a stop to this growing evil; Charlemagne, nor his son Louis, were willing but his efforts were attended with little success. to exercise this power in all its extent, by XIV. This general depravity and corruption naming and creating the pontiff upon every of the monks gave rise to a new order of priests vacancy, yet they reserved the right of apin the west, a sort of middle order between proving and confirming the person who was the monks or regulars, and the secular clergy. elected to that high dignity by the priests and This new species of ecclesiastics adopted the people: nor was the consecration of the electmonastic discipline and manner of life, so far ed pontiff of the least validity, unless performas to have their dwelling and their table in ed in presence of the emperor's ambassadors.§ common, and to assemble at certain hours for The Roman pontiffs obeyed the laws of the divine service; but they entered not into the emperors, received their judicial decisions as vows which were peculiar to the monks, and of indispensable obligation, and executed them they were also appointed to discharge the minis- with the utmost punctuality and submission.|| terial functions in certain churches which were The kings of the Franks appointed extraordicommitted to their pastoral direction. These nary judges, whom they called envoys, to inecclesiastics were at first called fratres dominici,|| spect the lives and manners of the clergy, subut soon after received the name of canons.§perior and inferior, take cognisance of their The common opinion attributes the institution of this order to Chrodegangus, bishop of Metz; nor is this opinion destitute of truth;|| for though, before this time, there were in Italy, Africa, and other provinces, convents of ecclesiastics, who lived after the manner of the ca * See Mabillon, Præf. ad acta SS. Ord. Benedicti, Sæc. i. p. 24, and Sæc. iv. part i. p. 26. contests, terminate their disputes, enact laws concerning the public worship, and punish the crimes of the sacred order, as well as those of the other citizens. All churches also, and monasteries, were obliged to pay to the public treasury a tribute proportioned to their respective lands and possessions, except such as, by The author, mentioned in the preceding note, dis-iii. courses with a noble frankness and courage concerning the corruption of the monks, and its various causes, in the same work, Præf. ad Sæc. iv. part i. p. 64. See the Capitularia Caroli, published by Baluze, tom. i. p. 148, 157, 237, 355, 366, 375, 503. Laws so severe, and so often repeated, shew evidently that the corruption of the monks must have been truly enormous. See Le Bæuf, Memoires sur l'Histoire d'Auxerre, tom. i. p. 174, the Paris edition, published in 1743. See, for an account of Chrodegangus, the Histoire Literaire de la France, tom. iv. p. 128.-Calmet, Histoire de Lorraine, tom. i. p. 513.-Acta Sanctor. tom. i. Martii, p. 452. The rule which he prescribed to his canons, may be seen in Le Cointe's Annales Francor. Eccles. tom. v. ad An. 757, sect. 35; as also in the Concilia Labbei, tom. vii. 1444. He is not, however, the author of the rule which is published in his name, in the Spicilegium veter. Scriptor. tom. i. p. 565. Longueval, in his Histoire de l'Eglise Gallicane, tom. iv. p. 435, has given a neat and elegant abridgement of the rule of Chrodegangus. Murator. Antiq. Italicæ, tom. v. p. 185; as also Lud. Thomassin's Disciplina Ecclesiæ Vet. et Nov. part i. lib. The design of this institution was truly excellent. The authors of it, justly shocked at the vicious manners of a licentious clergy, hoped that this new institution would have a tendency to prevent the irregularities of that order, by delivering its members from the cares, anxieties, and occupations of this present life. But the event shewed how much these pious views have been disappointed. For an accurate account of the rights of the Grecian emperors in religious matters, we refer the reader to Lequien's Oriens Christianus, tom. i. P: 136. This act is mentioned by Anastasius; it has been preserved by Yvo and Gratian, and has been the subject of a multitude of treatises. § See Mabillon, Comm. in Ordinem Romanum, in Museo Ital. tom. ii. p. 113.-Muratori, Droits de l'Empire sur l'Etat Ecclesiastique, p. 87. This has been amply demonstrated by Baluze, in his Præf. ad Capitularia Regum Francorum, sect. 21. ¶ See Muratori Antiq. Ital., tom. i. Diss. ix. p. 470.Franc. de Roye, de Missis Dominicis, cap. x. p. 44; cap. viii. p. 118, 134, 168, 195. |