dreaded period had passed without the arrival || ever, hence conclude, that after this period the of any great calamity, they began to understand that St. John had not really foretold what they so much feared.* privilege of canonizing new saints was vested solely in the pontiffs;* for there are several examples upon record, which prove, that not only provincial councils, but also several of the first order among the bishops, advanced to the rank of saints such as they thought worthy of that high dignity, and continued thus to augment the celestial patrons of the church, with out consulting the pope, until the twelfth cer privilege of the bishops and councils, and placed canonization in the number of the more important acts of authority, which the sovereign pontiff alone, by a peculiar prerogative, was entitled to exercise. IV. The number of the saints, who were looked upon as ministers of the kingdom of heaven, and whose patronage was esteemed such an unspeakable blessing, had now an extraordinary increase; and the celestial courts were filled with new legions of this species of beings, some of which, as we have had former-tury. Then Alexander III. abrogated this ly occasion to observe, had no existence but in the imagination of their deluded clients and worshippers. This multiplication of saints may be easily accounted for, when we consider that superstition, the source of fear, had risen to such an enormous height in this age, as ren- V. The expositors and commentators, who dered the creation of new patrons necessary to attempted in this century to illustrate and excalm the anxiety of trembling mortals. Be-plain the sacred writings, were too mean in sides, the corruption and impiety that now their abilities, and too unsuccessful in their reigned with a horrid sway, and the licentious-undertakings, to deserve more than a slight ness and dissolution that had so generally infected all ranks and orders of men, rendered the reputation of sanctity very easy to be acquired; for, amidst such a perverse generation, it demanded no great efforts of virtue to be esteemed holy, and this, no doubt, contributed to increase considerably the number of the celestial advocates. All those, to whom nature had given an austere complexion, a gloomy temper, or enthusiastic imagination, were, in consequence of an advantageous comparison with the profligate multitude, revered as the favorites of heaven and the friends of God. and transient notice; for it is extremely uncertain, whether or no the works of Olympiodorus and Ecumenius are to be considered as the productions of this age. Among the Latins, Remi, or Remigius, bishop of Auxerre, continued the exposition of the Scriptures, which he had begun in the preceding century; but his work is highly defective in various respects; for he took very little pains in explaining the literal sense of the words, and employed the whole force of his fantastic genius in unfolding their pretended mystical signification, which he looked upon as infinitely more interesting than The Roman pontiff, who before this period their plain and literal meaning. Besides, his had pretended to the right of creating saints explications are rarely the fruit of his own geby his sole authority, gave, in this century, the nius and invention, but are, generally speakfirst specimen of this spiritual power; for in ing, mere compilations from ancient commenthe preceding ages there is no example of his tators. As to the Moral Observations of Odo having exercised this privilege alone. This upon the book of Job,§ they are transcribed specimen was given in 993, by John XV., from a work of Gregory the Great, which bears who, with all the formalities of a solemn ca- the same title. We mention no more; if, nonization, enrolled Udalric, bishop of Augs- however, any are desirous of an ample account burg, in the number of the saints, and thus of those who were esteemed the principal comconferred upon him a title to the worship and mentators in this century, they will find it in a veneration of Christians. We must not, how-book written professedly upon this subject by * Almost all the donations that were made to the church during this century, bear evident marks of this groundless panic that had seized all the European nations, as the reasons of these donations are generally expressed in the following words: "Appro"pinquante mundi termino," &c. i. e. "The end of "the world being now at hand," &c. Among the many undeniable testimonies that we have from ancient records of this universal delusion, that was so profitable to the sacerdotal order, we shall confine ourselves to the quotation of one very remarkable passage in the Apologeticum of Abbo, abbot of Fleury, adversus Arnulphum, i. e. Arnoul bishop of Orleans: which apology is published by the learned Francis Pithou, in the Codex Canonum Ecclesiæ Romanæ, p. 401. The words of Abbo are as follow: "De fine quoque mundi coram populo sermonem in ecclesia Parisiorum adolescentulus audivi, quod statim finito mille annorum numero Antichristus adveniret, et non longo post tempore universale judicium succederet; cui prædicationi ex evangeliis, ac apocalypsi, et libro Danielis, qua potui virtute restiti. Denique et errorem, qui de fine mundi inolevit, abbas meus beatæ memoriæ Richardus sagaci animo propulit, postquam literas a Lothariensibus accepit, quibus me respondere jussit. Nam fama pæne totum mundum impleverat, quod, quando Annunciatio Dominica in Parasceve contigisset, absque ullo scru. pulo finis sæculi esset. Notkerus Balbulus. VI. The science of theology was absolutely abandoned in this century; nor did either the Greek or Latin church furnish any writer who attempted to explain in a regular method the The Greeks were doctrines of Christianity. contented with the works of Damascenus, and the Latins with those of Augustin and Gregory, who were now considered as the greatest doctors that had adorned the church. Some added to these the writings of the venerable Bede and Rabanus Maurus. The moral science was still more neglected than that of theology in this wretched age, and was reduced to a certain number of dry and insipid homilies, and to the lives of the saints, which Simeon among the Greeks and Hubald, Odo, and This absurd opinion has been maintained with warmth by Phil. Bonanni, in his Numismata Pon: tif. Romanorum, tom. i. p. 41. † See Franc. Pagi Breviar. tom. ii. p. 260; tom. iii p. 30.-Arm. de la Chapelle, Biblioth. Angloise, tom x. p. 105.-Mabillon, Præfat. ad Sæc. v. Benedict p. 53. These were called the Causæ Majores. Stephen,* among the Latins, had drawn up || fourth marriages were absolutely prohibited, with a seducing eloquence that covered the and marriages for the third time were permitmost impertinent fictions. Such was the mi- ted on certain conditions; and thus the public serable state of morals and theology in this tranquillity was restored.* century; in which, we may add, there did not appear any defence of the Christian religion against its professed enemies. Several other contests of like moment arose among the Greeks during this century; and they serve to convince us of the ignorance that prevailed among that people, and of their blind veneration and zeal for the opinions of their CHAPTER IV. Concerning the Rites and Ceremonies used in the Church during this Century. have only to cast an eye upon the acts of the various councils which were assembled in England, Germany, France, and Italy. The number of ceremonies increased in proportion to that of the saints, which multiplied from day to day; for each new saintly patron had appropriated to his service a new festival, a new form of worship, a new round of religious rites, and the clergy, notwithstanding their gross stupidity in other matters, discovered, in the creation of new ceremonies, a marvellous fertility of invention, attended with the utmost VII. The controversies between the Greek and Latin churches, were now carried on with less noise and impetuosity than in the prece-ancestors. ding century, on account of the troubles and calamities of the times; yet they were not entirely reduced to silence. The writers therefore who affirm, that this unhappy schism was healed, and that the contending parties were really reconciled to each other for a certain I. In order to have some notion of the load space of time, have grossly mistaken the mat- of ceremonies under which the Christian reliter; though it be, indeed, true, that the tu-gion groaned during this superstitious age, `we mults of the times produced now and then a cassation of these contests, and occasioned several truces, which insidiously concealed the bitterest enmity, and served often as a cover to the most treacherous designs. The Greeks were, moreover, divided among themselves, and disputed with great warmth concerning the lawfulness of repeated§ marriages, to which violent contest the cause of Leo, surnamed the Philosopher, gave rise. This emperor, having buried successively three wives without having had by them any male issue, espoused a fourth, whose name was Zoe Car-dexterity and artifice. It is also to be observed, binopsina, and who was born in the obscurity that a great part of these new rites derived of a mean condition. As marriages contracted their origin from the various errors which the for the fourth time were pronounced impure barbarous nations had received from their anand unlawful by the Greek canons, Nicolas, cestors, and still retained, even after their conthe patriarch of Constantinople, suspended the version to Christianity. The clergy, instead emperor, on this occasion, from the commu- of extirpating these errors, either gave them a nion of the church. Leo, incensed at this Christian aspect by inventing certain religious rigorous proceeding, deprived Nicolas of the rites to cover their deformity, or by explaining patriarchal dignity, and raised Euthymius to them in a forced allegorical manner; and thus that high office, who, though he re-admitted they were perpetuated in the church, and dethe emperor to the bosom of the church, op- voutly transmitted from age to age. We may posed the law which he had resolved to enact also attribute a considerable number of the in order to render fourth marriages lawful. rites and institutions, that dishonored religion Upon this a schism, attended with the bitter-in this century, to absurd notions both conest animosities, divided the clergy; one part of which declared for Nicolas, the other for Euthymius. Some time after this, Leo died, and was succeeded in the empire by Alexander, who deposed Euthymius, and restored Nicolas to his eminent rank in the church. No sooner was this zealous patriarch re-instated in his office, than he began to load the memory of the late emperor with the bitterest execrations and the most opprobrious invectives, and to maintain the unlawfulness of fourth marriages with the utmost obstinacy. In order to appease these tumults, which portended numberless calamities to the state, Constantine Porphyrogeneta, convoked an assembly of the clergy of Constantinople, in 920, in which cerning the Supreme Being and departed saints; for it was imagined that God was like the princes and great ones of the earth, who are rendered propitious by costly presents, and are delighted with those cringing salutations, and other marks of veneration and homage, which they receive from their subjects; and it was believed likewise, that departed spirits were agreeably affected with the same kind of services. II. The famous yearly festival that was celebrated in remembrance of all departed souls, was instituted by the authority of Odilo, abbot of Clugni, and added to the Latin calendar toward the conclusion of this century.t Before this time, a custom had been introduced in many places of offering up prayers on certain days, for the souls that were confined in purgatory; but these prayers were made by each religious society, only for its own members, friends, and patrons. The pious zeal of *These facts are faithfully collected from Cedrenus, Leunclavius de Jure Græco-Rom. tom. i. p. 104, from Leo the Grammarian, Simeon the Treasurer and other writers of the Byzantine history. In the year 998. other absurd notions beside those which we have now mentioned, and that, after his death,|| his disciples formed a part of the sect that was afterwards known in France under the name of the Albigenses, and which is said to have adopted the Manichæan errors. IV. There were yet subsisting some remains of the sect of the Arians in several parts of Italy, and particularly in the territory of Padua; but Ratherius, bishop of Verona, had a still more enormous heresy to combat in the system of the Anthropomorphites, which was revived in 939. In the district of Vicenza, a considerable number, not only of the illiterate multitude, but also of the sacerdotal order, adopted that most absurd and extravagant notion, that the Deity was clothed with a human form, and seated, like an earthly monarch, upon a throne of gold, and that his angelic ministers were men arrayed in white garments, and furnished with wings, to render them more expeditious in executing their sovereign's orders. This monstrous error will appear less astonishing, when we consider that the stupid and illiterate multitude had constantly before || their eyes, in all the churches, the Supreme Being and his angels represented in pictures and images with the human figure. The superstition of another set of blinded wretches, mentioned also by Ratherius, was yet more unaccountable and absurd than that of the Anthropomorphites; for they imagined that, every Monday, mass was performed in heaven by St. Michael in the presence of God; and hence, on that day, they resorted in crowds to all the churches which were dedicated to that highly honoured saint.* It is more than probable that the avarice of the priests, who officiated in the church of St. Michael, was the real source of this extravagant fancy; and that in this, as in many other cases, the rapacity of the clergy took advantage of the credulity of the people, and made them believe whatever they thought would contribute to augment the opulence of the church. * Ratherii Epist. Synodica in Dacherii Spicilegio Script. Veter. tom. ii. p. 294.-Sigeberti Gemblacens. Chron. ad annum 939. THE ELEVENTH CENTURY. PART I. EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. CHAPTER I. Concerning the Prosperous Events which hap pened to the Church during this Century. I. In the preceding century some faint notions of the Christian religion, some scattered rays of that divine light which it administers to mortals, had been received among the Hungarians, Danes, Poles, and Russians; but the rude and savage spirit of those nations, together with their deplorable ignorance and their violent attachment to the superstitions of their ancestors, rendered their total conversion to Christianity a work of great difficulty, which could not be very rapidly accomplished. The zeal, however, with which this important work was carried on, did great honour to the piety of the princes and governors of these unpolished countries, who united their influence with the labours of the learned men whom they had invited into their dominions, to open the eyes of their subjects upon the truth. In Tartary, and the adjacent countries, the zeal and diligence of the Nestorians gained over considerable numbers, almost daily, to the profession of Christianity. It appears also evident * For an account of the Poles, Russians, and Hungarians, see Romualdi Vita in Actis Sanctor. tom. ii. Februar, Tartary is taken here in its most comprehensive sense, for between the inhabitants of Tartary, properly so called, and the Calmucs, Mogols, and the inhabitants of Tangut, there is a manifest difference. from a multitude of unexceptionable testimonumber of inferior bishops under their jurisdicnies, that Metropolitan prelates, with a greater tion, were established at this time in the provinces of Casgar, Nuacheta, Turkestan, Genda, and Tangut;* from which we may conclude, that, in this and the following century, a prodigious number of Christians lived in those very countries which are at present overrun with idolatry, or with the Mohammedan errors. All these Christians were undoubtedly Nestorians, and lived under the jurisdiction of * Marcus Paul. Venetus de Regionibus Orientalibus, lib. i. cap. 38, 40, 45, 47, 48, 49, 62, 63, 64, lib. ii. cap. 39.-Euseb. Renaudot, Anciennes Relations des Orient. Vatican. tom. iii. part ii. p. 502, &c. The Indes et de la Chine, p. 420.-Assemani Biblioth. successful propagation of the Gospel, by the ministry of the Nestorians, in Tartary, China, and the neighbouring provinces, is a most important event, and every way worthy to employ the researches and the pen of some able writer, well acquainted with oriental history. It must, indeed, be acknowledged, that, if this subject be important, it is also difficult on many accounts. It was attempted, however, notoph. Sigefred Bayer, who had collected a great quanwithstanding its difficulty, by the most learned Thetity of materials relative to this interesting branch of the history of Christianity, both from the works that have been published upon this subject, and from manuscripts that lie yet concealed in the cabinets of the curious. But, unhappily for the republic of letters, the death of that excellent man interrupted his labours, and prevented him from executing a design, which was worthy of his superior abilities, and his well known zeal for the interests of religion. the patriarch of that sect, who resided in || colony, and was afterwards created duke of Chaldæa. II. Among the European nations that lay yet grovelling in their native darkness and superstition, were the Sclavonians, the Obotriti,* the Venedi,† and the Prussians, whose conversion had been attempted, but with little or no success, by certain missionaries, from whose piety and zeal better fruits might have been expected. Toward the conclusion of the Apulia, encouraged by the exhortations of pope * preceding century, Adalbert, bishop of Prague, had endeavoured to instil, into the minds of the fierce and savage Prussians, the salutary doctrines of the Gospel; but he perished in the fruitless attempt, and received, in 996, from the murdering lance of Siggo, a pagan priest, the crown of martyrdom. Boleslaus, king of Poland, revenged the death of this pious apostle by entering into a bloody war with the Prussians; and he obtained, by the force of penal laws and of a victorious army, what Adal-preme authority in matters of religion, which bert could not effect by exhortation and argument. He dragooned this savage people into the Christian church; yet, beside this violent method of conversion, others of a more gentle kind were certainly practised by the attendants of Boleslaus, who seconded the military arguments of their prince by the more persuasive influence of admonition and instruction. A certain ecclesiastic of illustrious birth, whose name was Boniface, and who was one of the disciples of St. Romuald, undertook the conversion of the Prussians, and was succeeded in this pious enterprize by Bruno,|| who set out from Germany with a company of eighteen persons, who had entered with zeal into the same laudable design. These were, however, all barbarously massacred by the fierce and cruel Prussians; and neither the vigorous efforts of Boleslaus, nor of the succeeding kings || of Poland, could engage this rude and inflexible nation to abandon totally the idolatry of their ancestors.¶ III. Sicily had been groaning under the dominion of the Saracens from the ninth century; nor had the repeated attempts of the Greeks and Latins to dispossess them of that rich and fertile country, been hitherto crowned with the desired success. But in this century the face of affairs changed entirely in that island; for, in 1059, Robert Guiscard, who had formed a settlement in Italy, at the head of a Norman The Obotriti were a great and powerful branch of the Vandals, whose kings resided in the country of Mecklenburg, extending their dominion along the coasts of the Baltic from the river Pene in Pomerania to the duchy of Holstein. The Venedi dwelt upon the banks of the Weissel, or Vistula, in, what is at present called, the Palatinate of Marienburg. See the Acta Sanctor. ad d. xxii. Aprilis, p. 174. Solignac's Hist. de Pologne, tom. i. p. 133. Fleury differs from Dr. Mosheim in his account of Bruno, in two points. First, he maintains, that Boniface and Bruno were one and the same per son, and here he is manifestly in the right; but he maintains farther, that he suffered martyrdom in Russia, which is an evident mistake. It is proper farther to admonish the reader to distinguish carefully the Bruno here mentioned, from a monk of the same name, who founded the order of the Carthusi ans. T Ant. Pagi Critica in Baronium, tom. iv. ad annum 1008, p. 97.-Christ. Hartknoch's Ecclesiastical History of Prussia, book i. chap. i. is still vested in the kings of Sicily, within the limits of their own territories, and which is known by the name of the Sicilian monarchy; for pope Urban II. is said to have granted, in 1097, by a special diploma, to Roger and his successors, the title, authority, and prerogatives, of hereditary legates of the apostolic see. The court of Rome affirms, that this diploma is not authentic; and hence warm contentions, about the spiritual supremacy, have arisen even in our times between the popes and the kings of Sicily. The successors of Roger governed that island, under the title of dukes, until the twelfth century, when it was erected into a kingdom.t IV. The pontiffs, from the time of Sylvester II., had been forming plans for extending the limits of the church in Asia, and especially for driving the Moslems out of Palestine; but the troubles in which Europe was so long involved, prevented the execution of these arduous designs. Gregory VII., the most enterprizing and audacious priest that ever sat in the apostolic chair, animated and inflamed by the repeated complaints which the Asiatic Christians made of the cruelty of the Saracens, resolved to undertake in person a holy war for the deliverance of the church; and above fifty thousand men were speedily mustered to follow him in this bold expedition. But his quarrel with the emperor Henry IV., of which we shall have occasion to speak hereafter, and other unforeseen occurrences, obliged him to relinquish a personal invasion of the holy land. The project, however, was renewed toward the conclusion of this century, by the enthusiastic zeal of an inhabitant of Amiens, who was known by the name of Peter the Hermit, and who suggested to Urban II. the means of accomplishing what had been unfortunately suspended. This famous hermit, in a journey, which he had made through Palestine in 1093, had observed, with inexpressible anguish, the vexations and persecutions which the Chris * See Burigni's Histoire Generale de la Sicile, tom. i. p. 386. See Baronii Liber de Monarchia Siciliæ, tom. xi. Annal.; as also the Traite de la Monarchie Sicili. enne, by M. Du-Pin. Gregorii VII. Epist. lib. ii. 3, in Harduini Concil. tom. vi. |