cessors.*

X. John dying in 1334, new contentions || Avignon, which he purchased of Joan, queen arose in the conclave between the French and of Naples, to the patrimony of St. Peter. Italian cardinals, about the election of a pope; XII. His successor, Innocent VI., whose but toward the end of the year they chose name was Stephen Albert, was much more reJames Fournier, a Frenchman, and cardinal markable for integrity and moderation. He of St. Prisca, who took the name of Benedict || was a Frenchman, and before his election had XII. The writers of these times represent been bishop of Ostia. He died in 1362, after him as a man of great probity, who was not having governed the church for almost ten chargeable with that avarice, or that ambition, years. His greatest blemish was, that he prowhich had dishonoured so many of his prede-moted his relatives with an excessive partiality; He put an end to the papal quarrel but, in other respects, he was a man of merit, with the emperor Louis; and though he did and a great encourager of pious and learned not restore him to the communion of the men. He kept the monks closely to their duty, church, because prevented, as it is said, by the carefully abstained from reserving churches, and, king of France, yet he did not attempt any by many good actions, acquired a great and thing against him. He carefully attended to deserved reputation. He was succeeded by the grievances of the church, redressed them as William Grimoard, abbot of St. Victor at far as was in his power, endeavoured to reform Marseilles, who took the name of Urban V., the fundamental laws of the monastic socie- and was entirely free from all the grosser vices, ties, whether of the mendicant, or more opu- if we except those which cannot easily be sepalent orders; and died in 1342, while he was de-rated from the papal dignity. This pope, bevising the most noble schemes for promoting a yet more extensive reformation. In short, if we overlook his superstition, the prevailing blemish of this barbarous age, it must be allowed that he was a man of integrity and merit.

XI. He was succeeded by a man of a very different disposition, Clement VI., a native of France, whose name was Peter Roger, and who was cardinal of St. Nereus and St. Achilles, before his elevation to the pontificate. Not to insist upon the most unexceptionable parts of this pontiff's conduct, we shall only observe, that he trod faithfully in the steps of John XXII. in providing for vacant churches and bishoprics, by reserving to himself the disposal of them, which showed his sordid and insatiable avarice; that he conferred ecclesiastical dignities and benefices of the highest consequence upon strangers and Italians, which drew upon him the warm displeasure of the kings of England and France; and lastly, that by renewing the dissensions that had formerly subsisted between Louis of Bavaria and the Roman see, he exposed his excessive vanity and ambition in the most odious colours. In 1343, he assailed the emperor with his thundering edicts; and when he heard | that they were treated by that prince with the utmost contempt, his rage was augmented, and he not only threw out new maledictions, and published new sentences of excommunication against him, in 1346, but also excited the German princes to elect Henry VII., son of Charles IV., emperor in his place. This violent measure would infallibly have occasioned a civil war in Germany, had it not been prevented by the death of Louis, in 1347. ment survived him above five years, and died near the close of the year 1352, famous for nothing but his excessive zeal for extending the papal authority, and for his having added

ing prevailed on by the entreaties of the Romans, returned to Rome in 1367; but, in 1370, he revisited Avignon, to reconcile the differences that had arisen between the kings of England and France, and died there in the same year.

XIII. He was succeeded by Peter Roger, a French ecclesiastic of illustrious descent, who assumed the name of Gregory XI., a man who, though inferior to his predecessors in virtue, far exceeded them in courage and audacity. In his time, Italy in general, and the city of Rome in particular, were distressed with most outrageous and formidable tumults. The Florentines carried on with success a terrible war against the ecclesiastical state;* upon which,' Gregory, in hopes of quieting the disorders of Italy, and also of recovering the cities and territories which had been taken from St. Peter's patrimony, transferred the papal seat, in 1376, from Avignon to Rome. To this he was in a great measure determined by the advice of Catharine, a virgin of Sens, who, in this credulous age, was thought to be inspired with the spirit of prophecy, and made a journey to Avignon on purpose to persuade him to take this step. It was not, however, long before Gregory repented that he had followed her advice; for, by the long absence of the popes from Italy, their authority was reduced to so low an ebb, that the Romans and Florentines made no scruple to insult him with the grossest abuse, which made him resolve to return to Avignon; but, before he could execute his determination, he was taken off by death, in 1378.

XIV. After the death of Gregory XI., the cardinals were assembled to consult about Cle-choosing a successor, when the people of Rome, unwilling that the vacant dignity should be conferred on a Frenchman, approached the conclave in a tumultuous manner, and with great clamours, accompanied with outrageous menaces, insisted that an Italian should be advanced to the popedom. The cardinals, terrified by this uproar, immediately proclaimed

teen in specie, and the rest in plate, jewels, crowns, mitres, and other precious baubles, which he had squeezed out of the people and the inferior clergy during his pontificate. See Fleury, Hist. Eccles. liv. xciv. sect. xxxix.

* See the Fragmenta Histor. Roman. in Muratorii Antiquit. Ital. tom. iii. p. 275.-Baluzii Vit. Pont. Avenion. tom, i. p. 205, 218, &c.-Boulay, Hist. Acad. Par. tom. iv.

* See Colucii Salutati Epistolæ, written in the name of the Florentines, parti. See also the preface to the second part.

† See Longueval, Hist. de l'Eglise Gallicane, tom. xiv. p. 159, 192.

sequences, greatly conducive both to the civil and religious interests of mankind; for, by these dissensions, the papal power received an incurable wound; and kings and princes, who had formerly been the slaves of the lordly pontiffs, now became their judges and masters; and many of the least stupid among the people had the courage to disregard and despise the popes, on account of their odious disputes about dominion, to commit their salvation to God

Bartholomew Pregnano, who was a Neapolitan, || Nevertheless, these abuses were, by their conand archbishop of Bari, and assumed the name of Urban VI. This new pontiff, by his impolite behaviour, injudicious severity, and intolerable arrogance, had entailed upon himself the odium of people of all ranks, and especially of the leading cardinals. These latter, therefore, tired of his insolence, withdrew from Rome to Anagni, and thence to Fondi, where they elected to the pontificate Robert, count of Geneva, (who took the name of Clement VII.,)|| and declared at the same time, that the elec-alone, and to admit it as a maxim, that the tion of Urban was nothing more than a mere ceremony, which they had found themselves obliged to perform, in order to calm the turbulent rage of the populace. Which of these two we ought to consider as having been the true and lawful pope, is to this day, a doubtful point; nor will the records and writings, alleged by the contending parties, enable us to adjust that point with certainty.* Urban remained at Rome: Clement went to Avignon. His cause was espoused by France, Spain, Scotland, Sicily, and Cyprus, while all the rest of Europe acknowledged Urban as the true vicar of Christ.

prosperity of the church might be maintained, and the interests of religion secured and promoted, without a visible head, crowned with a spiritual supremacy.

XVI. The Italian cardinals, attached to the interests of Urban VI., on the death of that pope, in 1389, set up for his successor Peter Thomacelli, a Neapolitan, who took the name of Boniface IX.; and Clement VII., dying in 1394, the French cardinals raised to the pontificate Peter de Luna, a Spaniard, who assumed the name of Benedict XIII. During these transactions, various methods were proposed and attempted for healing this melancholy breach in the church. Kings and princes, bishops and divines, appeared with zeal in this salutary project. It was generally thought that the best course to be taken was, what they then styled, the Method of Cession: but neither of the popes could be prevailed on, either by entreaties or threats, to give up the pontificate. The Gallican church, highly incensed at this obstinacy, renounced solemnly, in a council holden at Paris, in 1397, all subjection and obedience to both pontiffs; and, on the publication of this resolution, in 1398, Benedict was, by the express orders of Charles VI., detained prisoner in his palace at Avignon.*

XV. Thus the union of the Latin church under one head, was destroyed at the death of Gregory XI., and was succeeded by that deplorable dissension, commonly known by the name of the great western schism. This dissension was fomented with such dreadful success, and arose to such a shameful height, that, for fifty years, the church had two or three different heads at the same time; each of the contending popes forming plots, and thundering out anathemas against their competitors. The distress and calamity of these times are beyond all power of description; for, not to insist upon the perpetual contentions and wars between the factions of the several popes, by XVII. Some of the popes, particularly which multitudes lost their fortunes and lives,|| Benedict XII., were perfectly acquainted with all sense of religion was extinguished in most the prevailing vices and scandalous conduct places, and profligacy rose to a most scanda- of the greatest part of the monks, which they lous excess. The clergy, while they vehe- zealously endeavoured to rectify and remove; mently contended which of the reigning popes but the disorder was too inveterate to be easily ought to be deemed the true successor of cured, or effectually remedied. The MendiChrist, were so excessively corrupt, as to be cants, and more especially the Dominicans and no longer studious to keep up even an appear- || Franciscans, were at the head of the monastic ance of religion or decency: and, in consequence orders, and had, indeed, become the heads of of all this, many plain well-meaning people, the church: so extensive was the influence who concluded that no one could partake of they had acquired, that all matters of imporeternal life, unless united with the vicar of tance, both in the court of Rome, and in the Christ, were overwhelmed with doubt, and cabinets of princes, were carried on under their plunged into the deepest mental distress. supreme and absolute direction. The multitude had such a high notion of the sanctity of these sturdy beggars, and of their credit with the Supreme Being, that great numbers of both sexes, some in health, others in a state of infirmity, others at the point of death, earnestly desired to be admitted into the Mendicant order, which they looked upon as a sure and infallible method of rendering Heaven propitious. Many made it an essential part of their last wills, that their carcasses, after death, should be wrapped in ragged Dominican or Francis

* See the acts and documents in Boulay, Hist, Acad. Paris. tom. iv. p. 463.-Luc. Wadding, Anna. Minor. tom. ix. p. 12. Steph. Baluze, Vit. Pontif. Avenion. tom. i. p. 442, 998.-Acta. Sanctor. tom. i. April. p. 728.

An account of this dissension may be seen in Pierre du Puy, Histoire Generale du Schisme qui a ete en l'Eglise depuis l'an. 1378 jusqu' en l'an. 1428, which, as we are informed in the preface, was compiled from the royal records of France, and is entirely worthy of credit. Nor should we wholly reject Louis Maimbourg's Histoire du grand Schisme d'Occident, though in general it be deeply tainted with

the leaven of party spirit. Many documents are to be met with in Boulay's Histor. Acad. Paris. tom. iv. and v.; and also in Martenne's Thesaur. Anecdotor. tom. ii. I always pass over the common writers upon this subject, such as Alexander, Raynald, Bzovius, Spondanus, and Du-Pin.

Of he mischievous consequences of this schism,

we have a full account in the Histoire du Droit pub. lic Eccles. Francois, tom. ii. p. 166, 193, 202.

*Beside the common historians, and Longueval's Histoire de l'Eglise Gallicane, t. xiv. see the acts of this council in Boulay's Hist. t. iv

can habits, and interred among the Mendi- || Mendicant orders, no one has been transmitted cants; for, amidst the barbarous superstition and wretched ignorance of this age, the generality of people believed that they might readily obtain mercy from Christ at the day of judgment, if they should appear before his tribunal associated with the Mendicant friars.

§ See Jo. Launoius, de Canone Omnis utriusque Sexus, tom. i. part i. op. p. 271, 287, &c.-Baluzii || neral.

ions, for which Wickliff had been prosecuted || the stigmas, or five wounds impressed upon by the monks, ten were condemned as heresies, Francis by Christ himself, on mount Alvernus, and thirteen as errors. * He himself, however, was worthy of credit, because matter of unreturned in safety to Lutterworth, where he doubted fact.* Nor was this all; for they not died peaceably in 1387. The latter attack was only permitted to be published, without any much more dangerous than the former; but by mark of their disapprobation, but approved, what means he got safely through it, whether and even recommended, an impious piece, by the interest of the court, or by denying or stuffed with tales yet more improbable and riabjuring his opinions, is to this day a secret. diculous than either of the above-mentioned He left many followers in England, and other fictions, and entitled, The Book of the Concountries, who were styled Wickliffites and formities of St. Francis with Jesus Christ, Lollards, which last was a term of popular re- which was composed, in 1385, by Bartholomew proach translated from the Flemish tongue Albizi, a Franciscan of Pisa, with the applause into English. Wherever they could be found, of his order. This infamous tract, in which they were terribly persecuted by the inquisi- the Son of God is put upon a level with a tors, and other instruments of papal vengeance. wretched mortal, is an eternal monument of In the council of Constance, in 1415, the me- the outrageous enthusiasm and abominable armory and opinions of Wickliff were condemn-rogance of the Franciscan order, and also of ed by a solemn decree; and, about thirteen the excessive imprudence of the pontiffs who years after, his bones were dug up, and pub- extolled and recommended it.† licly burned.

XXI. Although the Mendicants were thus vigorously attacked on all sides, by such a considerable number of ingenious and learned adversaries, they could not be persuaded to abate any thing of their excessive pride, to set bounds to their superstition, or to desist from imposing upon the multitude, but were as diligent as ever in propagating opinions highly detrimental to religion in general, and particularly injurious to the majesty of the Supreme Being. The Franciscans, forgetting, in their enthusiastic phrensy, the veneration which they owed to the Son of God, and animated with a mad zeal for advancing the glory of their order and its founder, impiously maintained, that the latter was a second Christ, in all respects similar to the first, and that their institution, doctrine, and discipline, were the true Gospel of Jesus. Yet, shocking as these foolish and impious pretensions were, the popes were not ashamed to patronise and encourage them by their letters and mandates, in which they made no scruple to assert, that the absurd fable of

*In the original, Dr. Mosheim says, that, of eighteen articles imputed to Wickliff, nine were condemned as heresies, and fifteen as errors. This contradiction, which we have taken the liberty to correct in the text, is an oversight of the learned author, who appears to have confounded the eighteen heresies and errors that were enumerated and refuted by William Woodford, in a letter to Arundel, archbishop of Canterbury, with the twenty-three propositions that had been condemned by his predecessor Courtenay at London, of which ten were pronounced heretical, and thirteen erroneous. the very curious collection of pieces, entitled, Fasciculus rerum expetendarum et fugiendarum Orthuini Gratii, published first at Cologne by the compiler, in 1535, and afterwards at London, in 1690, with an additional volume of ancient pieces and fragments, by the learned Mr. Edward Brown. The letter of Woodford is at full length in the first volume of this collection.

See

We have a full and complete History of the Life and Sufferings of John Wickliff, published at London, in 1720, by Mr. John Lewis, who also published, in 1731, Wickliff's English translation of the New Testament from the Latin version called the Vulgate. This translation is enriched with a learned preface by the editor, in which he enlarges upon the life, actions, and sufferings, of that eminent reformer. The pieces, relative to the controversies which were occasioned by the doctrines of Wickliff, are to be found in the learned work of Wilkins, entitled, Concilia Magnæ Britanniæ et Hibern. tom. iii. p. 116, 156.-See also Boulay's Hist. tom. iv. and Wood's Antiq. tom. i.

XXII. The Franciscans, who adhered to the genuine and austere rule of their founder, and opposed the popes who attempted to mitigate the severity of its injunctions, were not in the

*The story of the marks, or stigmas, impressed on Francis, is well known, as are also the letters of the Roman pontiffs, which enjoin the belief of it, and which Wadding has collected with great care, and published in his Annales Minorum, tom. viii. and ix. The Dominicans formerly made a public silence by the papal bulls, they are now obliged to dejest of this ridiculous fable; but, being awed into ride it in secret, while the Franciscans, on the other hand, continue to propagate it with the most fervent zeal. That St. Francis had upon his body the marks or impressions of the five great wounds of Christ, is not to be doubted, since this is a fact proved by a great number of unexceptionable witnesses. But, as he was a most superstitious and fanatical mortal, it is undoubtedly evident that he imprinted on him. self these holy wounds, that he might resemble Christ, and bear about on his body a perpetual memo||rial of the Redeemer's sufferings. It was customary in these times, for such as were willing to be thought marks of this kind, that, having thus continually more pious than others, to imprint upon their bodies before them a lively representation of the death of Christ, they might preserve a becoming sense of it in their minds. The words of St. Paul (Galat. vi. 17,) were sufficient to confirm in this wretched delusion an ignorant and superstitious age, in which the Scriptures were neither studied nor understood. A long list of these stigmatised fanatics might be extracted from the Acta Sanctorum, and other records of this and the following century: nor is this ancient piece of superstition entirely abolished, even in our times. Be that as it may, the Franciscan monks, having found these marks upon the dead body of their founder, took this occasion of making him appear to the world as honoured by Heaven above the rest of mortals, and invented, for this purpose, the story of Christ's having miraculously transferred his wounds to him.

† For an account of Albizi and his book, see Wadding, tom. ix. p. 158.-Fabricii Biblioth. Lat. medii Evi, tom. i. p. 131.-Schelhornii Aman. Liter. tom. iii. p. 160.-Bayle's Dictionary, at the article Francois, and the Nouveau Dictionnaire Hist. Crit. at the article Albizi. Erasmus Albert made several extracts from this book, and published them under the title of the Koran of the Franciscans, which was frequently printed in Latin, German, and French.

The conformities between Christ and St. Francis, are only carried to forty, in the book of Albizi: but they are multiplied to 4000, by a Spanish monk of the order of Observants, in a work published, in 1651, under the following title, Prodigiosum Naturæ et Gratia Portentum. The conformities mentioned by Pedro de Alva Astorga, the austere author of this most ridiculous book, are whimsical beyond expression. See the Bibl. des Sciences et des Beaux Arts, t. iv. p. 318.

extremely difficult to procure by begging the necessaries of life, to erect granaries and storehouses, where they might deposit a part of their alms as a stock, in case of want; and ordered that all such repositories should be under the inspection and management of overseers and store-keepers, who were to determine what quantity of provisions should be laid up in them. And, finally, in order to satisfy the Brethren of the Community, he condemned some opinions of Pierre d'Olive.* These proceedings silenced the monastic commotions in France; but the Tuscan and Italian Spirituals were so exceedingly perverse and obstinate, that they could not be brought to consent to any method of reconciliation. At length, in 1313, many of them, not thinking themselves, safe in Italy, went into Sicily, where they met with a friendly reception from Frederic, the nobility, and bishops.t

least wiser than those of the order, who ac- || knowledged the jurisdiction and respected the decisions of the Roman pontiffs. By those antipapal Franciscans 1 mean the Fratricelli, or Minorites, and the Tertiaries of that order, otherwise called Beghards, together with the Spirituals, who resided principally in France, and embraced the opinions of Pierre d'Olive. These monastic factions were turbulent and seditious beyond expression; they gave incredible vexation to the popes, and for a long time disturbed, wherever they appeared, the tranquillity both of church and state. About the beginning of this century,* the less austere Franciscans were outrageous in their resentment against the Fratricelli, who had deserted their communion;t upon which such of the latter as had the good fortune to escape the fury of their persecutors, retired into France, in 1307, and associated themselves with the Spirituals, or followers of Pierre d'Olive, in XXIV. Upon the death of Clement V. the Provence, who had also abandoned the society. tumult, which had been appeased by his authoSoon after this, the whole Franciscan order in rity, revived in France with as much fury as France, Italy, and other countries, formed two ever. For, in 1314, a hundred and twenty of parties. Those who embraced the severe dis- the Spirituals made a violent attack upon the cipline and absolute poverty of St. Francis, Brethren of the Community, drove them out were called Spirituals; such as insisted upon of the convents of Narbonne and Beziers by mitigating the austere injunctions of their force of arms, and inflamed the quarrel in a founder, were styled the Brethren of the Com-yet higher degree, by relinquishing their anmunity. The latter, being far more numerous and powerful, exerted themselves to the utmost, to oppress the former, whose faction was still weak, and, as it were, in its infancy; yet they cheerfully submitted to these hardships, rather than return to the society of those who had deserted the rules of their master. Pope Clement V., having drawn the leaders of these two parties to his court, took great pains to compose these dissensions; nevertheless, his pacific scheme advanced but slowly, on account of the inflexible obstinacy of each sect, and the great number of their mutual accusations. In the mean while, the Spirituals of Tuscany, instead of waiting for the decision of his holiness, chose a president and inferior officers; while those of France, being in the neighbourhood of Avignon, patiently expected the papal determination.‡

XXIII. After many deliberations, Clement, in a general council at Vienne in Dauphine, (where he issued the famous bull,§ Exivi de paradiso,) proposed an expedient for healing the breach between the jarring parties, by wise concessions on both sides. He gave up many points to the Spirituals, or rigid Franciscans, enjoining upon the whole order the profession of absolute poverty, according to their primitive rule, and the solemn renunciation of all property, whether common or personal, confining them to what was necessary for their immediate subsistence, and allowing them, even for that, a very scanty pittance. He, however, on the other hand, permitted the Franciscans, who lived in places where it was

cient habits, and assuming such as were short, close, and mean. They were soon joined by a considerable number from other provinces; and the citizens of Narbonne, where Olive was interred, enlisted themselves in the party. John XXII., who was raised to the pontificate in the year 1317, took great pains to heal this new disorder. The first thing he did for this purpose, was to publish a special bull, by which he ordered the abolition of the Fratricelli or Minorites, and their Tertiaries, whether Beguines or Beghards, who formed a body distinct from the Spirituals. In the next place, he admonished the king of Sicily to expel all the Spirituals who had taken refuge in his dominions,§ and then ordered the French Spirituals to appear at Avignon, where he exhorted them to return to their duty, and as the first step to it, to lay aside the short, close habits, with the small hoods. The greatest part of them obeyed; but Fr. Bernard Delitiosi, who was the head of the faction, and twenty-four of the brethren, boldly refused to submit to the injunction. In vindication of their conduct, they alleged that the rules prescribed by St. Francis, were the same with the Gospel of Jesus Christ; that the popes therefore had no authority to alter them; that the_pontiffs had acted sinfully in permitting the Franciscans to have granaries and storehouses; and that they added to their guilt in not allowing those habits to be worn that were enjoined by St. Francis. John, highly exasperated by this opposition, gave orders that these obstinate brethren should be

* Wadding, tom. vi. p. 194, 197, 199.

† Wadding, tom. vi. p. 213, 214.-Boulay, tom. iv. p. 152, 165.-Argentre, Collectio judicior. de novis error. tom. i. p. 392.

This law is called Sancta Romana, &c. and is to be found among the Extravagantes Johannis XXII. tit. vii. de religiosis domibus, tom. ii. Jur. Canon, p. 1112.

§ Wadding, tom. vi. p. 265