CENT. XII. of Italy, in process of time, and animated other European nations to imitate so wise an example. Hence arose a great revolution in the public tribunals, and an entire change in their judicial proceedings. Hitherto different systems of law had been followed in different courts; and every person of distinction, particularly among the Franks, had the liberty of choosing that code of law which was to be the rule of his conduct. But the Roman law acquired such credit and authority, that it superseded, by degrees, all other laws in the greatest part of Europe, and was substituted in the place of the Salic, Lombard, and Burgundian codes, which before this period were in the highest reputation. It is an ancient opinion, that Lotharius II. pursuant to the counsels and solicitations of Irnerius", principal professor of the Roman law in the academy of Bologna, published an edict enjoining the abrogation of all the statutes then in force, and substituting in their place the Roman law, by which, for the future, all without exception were to modify their contracts, terminate their differences, and regulate their actions. But this opinion, as many learned men have abundantly proved', is far from being supported by sufficient evidence.

Ecclesiasti

law.

VI. No sooner was the civil law placed in the cal, or canon number of the sciences, and considered as an important branch of academical learning, than the Roman pontiffs, and their zealous adherents, judged it, not only expedient, but also highly necessary, that the

h Otherwise called Werner.

i See Herm. Conringius de Origine Juris Germanici, cap. xxii. -Guido Grandus, Epist. de Pandectis, p. 21, 69, published at Florence, in 4to. in 1737.-Henry Brencmann, Historia Pandectar. p. 41.-Lud. Ant. Muratori, Præf. ad Leges Langobardicas, apud scriptor. rerum Ital. tom. i. part ii. p. 4, &c. Antiq. Ital. medii ævi, tom. ii. p. 285. There was a warm controversy carried on concerning this matter between George Calixtus and Barthol. Nihusius, the latter of whom embraced the vulgar opinion concerning the edict of Lotharius, obtained by the solicitations of Irnerius; of this controversy there is a circumstantial account in the Cimbria Literata of Mollerus, tom. iii. p. 142.

canon law should have the same privilege. There CENT. XII. existed, before this time, certain collections of the canons or laws of the church; but these collections were so destitute of order and method, and were so defective, both in respect to matter and form, that they could not be conveniently explained in the schools, or be brought into use as systems of ecclesiastical polity. Hence it was, that Gratian, a Benedictine monk, belonging to the convent of St. Felix and Nabor at Bologna, and by birth a Tuscan, composed about the year 1130, for the use of the schools, an abridgement, or Epitome of Canon Law, drawn from the letters of the pontiffs, the decrees of councils, and the writings of the ancient doctors. Pope Eugenius III. was extremely pleased with this work, which was also received with the highest applause by the doctors and professors of Bologna, and was unanimously adopted, as the text they were to follow in their public lectures. The professors at Paris were the first that followed the example of those of Bologna, which, in process of time, was imitated by the greatest part of the European colleges. But, notwithstanding the encomiums bestowed upon this performance, which was commonly called the decretal of Gratian, and was entitled, by the author himself, the re-union or coalition of the jarring canons', several most learned and eminent writers of the Romish communion acknowlege, that it is full of errors and defects m. As, however, the main design of this abridgement was to support the despotism, and to extend the authority of the Roman pontiffs, its innumerable defects were overlooked, its merits were exaggerated; and, what is still more surprising, it enjoys, at this day, in an age of light and liberty, that high degree of veneration and authority, which was

k Decretum Gratiani.

1 Concordia Discordantium Canonum.

m See, among others, Anton. Augustinus, De Emendatione Gratiani, published in 8vo. at Arnheim, A. D. 1678, with the learned observations of Steph. Baluze and Ger. a Maestricht.

CENT. XII. inconsiderately, though more excusably, lavished upon it in an age of tyranny, superstition, and darkness".

The state of

among the Latins.

VII. Such among the Latins as were ambitious philosophy of making a figure in the republic of letters, applied themselves to philosophy with the utmost zeal and diligence. Taken in its most extensive and general meaning, that study comprehended, according to the method which was the most generally received toward the middle of this century, four classes: it was divided into theoretical, practical, mechanical, and logical. The first class comprised natural theology, mathematics, and natural philosophy. In the second class were ranked ethics, œconomics, and politics. The third contained the seven arts that are more immediately subservient to the purposes of life, such as navigation, agriculture, hunting, &c. The fourth was divided into grammar and composition, the latter of which was subdivided into rhetoric, dialectics, and sophistry; and under the term dialectic was comprehended that part of the metaphysic science which treats of general notions. This division was almost universally adopted. Some, indeed, were inclined to separate grammar and mechanics from philosophy; a separation highly condemned by others, who, under the general term philosophy, comprehended the whole circle of the sciences".

n See Gerhard. a Maestricht, Historia Juris Ecclesiastici, sect. 293, p. 325. — B. Just. Hen. Bohmer's Jus Eccles. Protestant, tom. i. p. 100, and more particularly the learned Preface, with which he enriched the new edition of the Canon Law, published at Halle in 4to. in the year 1747. See also Alex. Machiavelli Observationes ad Sigonii Histor. Bononiensem, tom. iii. Oper. Sigonii, p. 128. This writer has drawn, from the Kalendarium Archi-Gymnasii Bononiensis, several particularities concerning Gratian and his work, which were generally unknown, but whose truth is also much disputed. What increases the suspicion of their being fabulous is, that this famous Kalendar, of which the Bolognese boast so much, and which they have so often promised to publish in order to dispel the doubts of the learned, has never yet seen the light. Besides, in the fragments that have appeared, there are manifest marks of unfair dealing.

• These literary anecdotes I have taken from several writers, particularly from Hugo a St. Victore, Didascali Libro ii. cap. ii.

phers.

- VIII. The learned, who taught or who cultivated CENT. XII. these different branches of study, were divided into Dissensions various factions, which attacked each other with the among the utmost animosity and bitterness". At this time, philosothree methods of teaching philosophy were practised by different doctors. The first was the ancient and plain method, which confined its researches to the philosophical notions of Porphyry, and the dialectic system, commonly attributed to St. Augustine, and in which was laid down this general rule, that philosophical inquiries were to be limited to a small number of subjects, lest, by their becoming too extensive, religion might suffer by a profane mixture of human subtilty with its divine wisdom. The second method was called the Aristotelian, because it consisted in explications of the works of that philosopher, several of whose productions, being translated into Latin, were now almost every where in the hands of the learned. These translations were, indeed, extremely obscure and incorrect, and led those who made use of them in their academical lectures, into various blunders, and often into such notions as were not more absurd than whimsical and singular. The third was termed the free method, employed by such as p. 7. tom. i. op. and from the Metalogicum of John of Salisbury.

P See Godof. de St. Victore, Carmen de Sectis Philosoph. published by Le Bœuf, in his Diss. sur l'Histoire Ecclesiast. et Civile de Paris, tome ii. p. 254.-Boulay, Hist. Acad. Paris. tom. ii. p. 562. - Ant. Wood, Antiq. Oxoniens. tom. i. p. 51., Jo. Sarisburiensis Metalog. et Policrat. passim.

9 Rob. de Monte, Append. ad Sigebertum Gemblacens. published by d'Acheri, among the works of Guibert, abbot of Nogent, ad annum 1128, p. 753. "Jacobus Clericus de Venetia transtulit de Græco in Latinum quosdam libros Aristotelis et commentatus est, scilicet Topica, Annal priores et posteriores et elenchos; quamvis antiquior translatio super eosdem libros haberetur." Thom. Becket, Epistolar. lib. ii. ep xciii. p. 454. edit. Bruxell. 1682, in 4to. "Itero preces, quatenus libros Aristotelis, quos habetis, mihi faciatis exscribi.-Precor etiam iteratâ supplicatione quatenus in operibus Aristotelis, ubi difficiliora fuerint, notulas faciatis, eo quod interpretem aliquatenus suspectum habeo, quia, licet eloquens fuerit alias, ut sæpe audivi, minus tamen fuit in grammaticâ institutus."

CENT. XII. were bold enough to search after truth, in the manner they thought the most adapted to render their inquiries successful, and who followed the bent of their own genius, without rejecting, however, the aid of Aristotle and Plato. Laudable as this method was, it became an abundant source of sophistry and chicane, by the imprudent management of those who employed it; for these subtile doctors, through a wanton indulgence of their metaphysical fancies, did little more than puzzle their disciples with vain questions, and fatigue them with endless distinctions and divisions'. These different systems, and vehement contests that divided the philosophers, gave to many a disgust against philosophy in general, and prompted them to desire, with impatience, its banishment from the public schools.

The contests

of the Dia

lecticians, Realists, and Nomi

nalists, de

scribed.

IX. Of all the controversies that divided the philosophers in this century, there were none carried on with greater animosity, and treated with greater subtilty and refinement, than the contest of the Dialecticians concerning universals. The sophistical doctors were wholly occupied about the intricate questions relating to genus and species, to the solution of which they directed all their philosophical efforts, and the whole course of their metaphysical studies; but not all in the same method, nor upon the same principles. The two leading sects into which they

See Jo. Sarisburiensis Policrat. p. 434, et Metalog. p. 814, &c.

John of Salisbury, a very elegant and ingenious writer of this. age, censures, with no small degree of wit, the crude and unintelligible speculations of these sophists in his book intitled Policraticon, seu de Nugis Curialium, lib. vii. p, 451. He observes, that more time had been consumed in resolving the question relating to genus and species, than the Cæsars had employed in making themselves masters of the whole world; that the riches of Croesus were inferior to the treasures which had been exhausted in this controversy; and that the contending parties, after having spent their whole lives upon this single point, had neither been so happy as to determine it to their satisfaction, nor to make, in the labyrinths of science where they had been groping, any discovery that was worth the pains they had taken. His words are: "Veterem paratus est solvere quæstionem de