XII. The attempts of Peter Waldus and his followers were neither employed nor intended to introduce new doctrines into the church, nor to propose new articles of faith to Christians. All they aimed at was, to reduce the form of ecclesiastical government, and the lives and manners both of the clergy and people, to that amiable simplicity, and that primitive sanctity, which had characterised the apostolic ages, and which appear so strongly recommended in the precepts and injunctions of the divine author of our holy religion. In consequence of this design, they complained that the Roman church had degenerated, under Constantine the Great, from its primitive purity and sanctity. They denied the supremacy of the Roman pontiff, and maintained that the rulers and ministers of the church were obliged, by their vocation, to imitate the poverty of the apostles, and to procure for themselves a subsistence by the work of their hands. They considered every Christian, as in a certain measure qualified and authorized

religious assemblies, first in France, and af-|| to instruct, exhort, and confirm the brethren terwards in Lombardy, whence they propa- in their Christian course, and demanded the gated their sect through the other provinces restoration of the ancient penitential discipline of Europe with incredible rapidity, and with of the church, i. e. the expiation of transgressuch invincible fortitude, that neither fire nor sions by prayer, fasting, and alms, which the sword, nor the most cruel inventions of mer-new-invented doctrine of indulgences had ciless persecution, could damp their zeal, or nearly abolished. They at the same time afentirely ruin their cause.* firmed, that every pious Christian was qualified and entitled to prescribe to penitents the kind and degree of satisfaction or expiation that their transgressions required; that confession made to a priest was by no means necessary, since the humble offender might acknowledge his sins and testify his repentance to any true believer, and might expect from such the counsels and admonitions that his case and circum stances demanded. They maintained, that the power of delivering sinners from the guilt and punishment of their offences belonged to God alone; and that indulgences, in consequence, were the criminal inventions of sordid avarice. They looked upon the prayers, and other ce remonies that were instituted in behalf of the dead, as vain, useless, and absurd, and denied the existence of departed souls in an intermediate state of purification, affirming, that they were immediately, upon their separation from the body, received into heaven, or sent down to hell. These and other tenets of a like nature composed the system of doctrine propagated by the Waldenses. Their rules of prac tice were extremely austere; for they adopted, as the model of their moral discipline, the sermon of Christ on the mount, which they interpreted and explained in the most rigorous and literal manner, and consequently prohibited and condemned in their society all wars, and suits of law, all attempts toward the acquisition of wealth, the infliction of capital punishments, self-defence against unjust `vio

his doctrine in the IXth century, and was the contemporary and chief counsellor of Berengarius. But the truth is, that they derive their name from their valleys in Piedmont, which in their language are called Vaux; hence Vaudois, their true name; hence Peter, or (as others call him) John of Lyons, was called in Latin, Valdus, because he had adopted their doc

trine; and hence the term Valdenses and Waldenses,

used by those who write in English or Latin, in the
place of Vaudois. The bloody inquisitor Reinerus
Sacco, who exerted such a furious zeal for the de-lence, and oaths of all kinds.*

XIII. The government of the church was committed, by the Waldenses, to bishops, presbyters, and deacons; for they acknowledg

that these three orders were instituted by Christ himself. But they deemed it absolutely necessary, that all these orders should resemble exactly the apostles of the divine Saviour, and be, like them, illiterate, poor, destitute of al! worldly possessions, and furnished with some laborious trade or vocation, in order to gain by constant industry their daily subsistence. The laity were divided into two classes; one of which contained the perfect, and the other the imperfect Christians. The former spontane

struction of the Waldenses, lived but about 80 years
after Valdus of Lyons, and must therefore be sup-
posed to have known whether he was the real
founder of the Valdenses or Leonists; and yet it is
remarkable that he speaks of the Leonists (mentioned
ed by Dr. Mosheim in this section, as synonymous
with Waldenses) as a sect that had flourished above
500 years, and even mentions authors of note, who
make their antiquity remount to the apostolic age.
See the account given of Sacco's book by the Jesuit
Gretser, in the Bibliotheca Patrum. I know not
upon what principle Dr. Mosheim maintains, that
the inhabitants of the valleys of Piedmont are to be
carefully distinguished from the Waldenses; and I
am persuaded, that whoever will be at the pains to
read attentively the 2d, 25th, 26th, and 27th chapters
of the first book of Leger's Histoire Generale des
Eglises Vaudoises, will find this distinction entirely
groundless. When the Papists ask us, where our
religion was before Luther, we generally answer, in
the Bible; and we answer well. But to gratify their
taste for tradition and human authority, we may add
to this answer, and in the valleys of Piedmont.

See the following ancient writers, who have given accounts of the sect in question; namely, Sachoni Summa contra Valdenses.-Monetæ Summa contra Catharos et Valdenses, published by Riccini.Tr. de Hæresi Pauperum de Lugduno, published by Martenne, in his Thesaur. Anecdot. tom. v. p. 1777.-Pilichdorfius contra Valdenses, t. xxv. B. Max. Patr.-Add to these authors, Jo. Paul Perrin, Histoire des Vaudois, published at Geneva in 1619.Jo. Leger, Histoire Generale des Eglises Vaudoises, liv. i. ch. xiv. p. 156.-Usher, de successione Ecclesiarum Occidentis, cap. viii. p. 209.-Jac. Basnage, Histoire des Eglises Reformees, tom. i. period iv. p. 329.-Thom. August. Riccini, Dissertat. de Valdensibus, prefixed to his edition of the Summa Monetæ, 7.36.-Boulay, Histor. Acad. Paris. tom. ii. p. 292.

* See the Codex Inquisitionis Tolosanæ, published by Limborch, as also the Summa Monetæ contra Waldenses, and the other writers of the Waldensian history. Though these writers are not all equally accurate, nor perfectly agreed about the number of doctrines that entered into the system of this sect, yet they are nearly unanimous in acknowledging the sincere piety and exemplary conduct of the Waldenses, and show plainly enough that their intention was not to oppose the doctrines which were universally received among Christians, but only to revive the piety and manners of the primitive times, and to combat the vices of the clergy, and the abuses that had been introduced into the worship and discipline of the church.

†The bishops were also called majorales or elders. The greatest part of the Waldenses gained their livelihood by weaving: hence the whole sect, in some places, were called the sect of weavers.

ously divested themselves of all worldly possessions, manifested their extreme poverty in the wretchedness of their apparel, and emaciated their bodies by frequent fasting. The latter were less austere, and approached the method of living generally received, though they abstained, like the graver sort of anabaptists in later times, from all appearance of pomp and luxury. It is, however, to be observed, that the Waldenses were not without their intestine divisions. Such as resided in Italy differed considerably in their opinions from those who dwelt in France and the other European countries. The former considered the church of Rome as the church of Christ, though much corrupted and sadly disfigured; they also acknowledged the validity of its seven sacraments, and solemnly declared that they would ever continue in communion with it, provided that they might be allowed to live as they thought proper, without molestation || or restraint. The latter affirmed, on the contrary, that the church of Rome had apostatized || from Christ, was deprived of the Holy Spirit, and was, in reality, the whore of Babylon mentioned in the Revelations of St. John.*

XIV. Beside these famous sects, which made a great noise in the world, and drew after them multitudes from the bosom of a corrupt and superstitious church, there were religious factions of less importance, which arose in Italy, and more especially in France, though they seem to have expired soon after their birth. In Lombardy, which was the principal residence of the Italian heretics, there sprang up a singular sect, known (for what reason I cannot tell) by the denomination of Pasaginians, and also by that of the circumcised. Like the other sects already mentioned, they had the utmost aversion to the dominion and discipline of the church of Rome; but they were, at the same time, distinguished by two religious tenets, which were peculiar to themselves. The first was a notion, that the observance of the law of Moses, in every thing except the offering of sacrifices, was obligatory upon Christians; in consequence of which they circumcised their followers, abstained from|| those meats, the use of which was prohibited under the Mosaic œconomy, and celebrated the Jewish sabbath. The second tenet that distinguished this sect was advanced in opposition to the doctrine of three persons in the divine nature; for the Pasaginians maintained that Christ was no more than the first and purest creature of God; nor will their adoption of this opinion seem very surprising, if we consider the prodigious number of Arians that were scattered throughout Italy long before this period.

*Monetæ Summa contra Catharos et Valdenses, p. 406, &c. They seem to have been also divided in their sentiments concerning the possession of worldly goods, as appears from the accounts of Stephanus de Borbone, apud Echardi Script. Dominican. tom. i. This writer divides the Waldenses into two classes, the poor men of Lyons, and the poor men of Lombardy. The former rejected and prohibited all sorts of possessions; the latter looked upon worldly possessions as lawful. This distinction is confirmed by several passages of other ancient authors.

† For an account of these obscure sects, see Stephanus de Borbone, apud Echardi Script. Dominican. toni. i.

See F. Bonacursi Manifestatio hæresis Catharo- ||

XV. A sect of fanatics, called Caputiati, from a singular kind of cap that was the badge of their faction, infested the province of Bur gundy, the diocese of Auxerre, and several other parts of France, in all which places they excited much disturbance among the people. They wore upon their caps a leaden image of the Virgin Mary; and they declared publicly, that their purpose was to level all distinctions, to abrogate magistracy, to remove all subordination among mankind, and to restore that primitive liberty, that natural equality, which were the inestimable privileges of the first mortals. Hugo, bishop of Auxerre, attacked these disturbers of human society in the proper manner, employing against them the force of arms, instead of arguments.*

The sect of the apostolics, whom St. Bernard opposed with such bitterness and fury, and who were so called, as that zealous abbot himself acknowledged, because they professed to exhibit, in their lives and manners, the piety and virtues of the holy apostles, were very different from the audacious heretics now mentioned. They were a clownish set of men, of the lowest birth, who gained their subsistence by bodily labour; yet, as soon as they formed themselves into a sect, they drew after them a multitude of adherents of all ranks and orders. Their religious doctrine, as St. Bernard confesses, was free from error, and their lives and manners were irreproachable and exemplary: but they were reprehensible on account of the following pecularities: 1. They held it unlawful to take an oath; 2. They suffered their hair and their beards to grow to an enormous length, so that their aspect was inexpressibly extravagant and savage; 3. They preferred celibacy to wedlock, and called themselves the chaste brethren and sisters; notwithstanding which, 4. Each man had a spiritual sister with him, after the manner of the apostles, with whom he lived in a domestic relation, lying in the same chamber with her, though not in the same bed.†

XVI. In the council assembled at Rheims, in the year 1148, in which pope Eugenius III. presided, a gentleman of the province of Bretagne, whose name was Eon, and whose brain was undoubtedly disordered, was condemned for pretending to be the Son of God. Having heard, in the form that was used for exorcising malignant spirits, these words pronounced, per Eum, qui venturus est judicare vivos et mortuos, he concluded, from the resemblance between the word Eum and his name, that he was the person who was to come and judge both the quick and the dead. This poor man should rather have been delivered over to the physicians than placed in the list of heretics. He ended his days in a miserable prison, and left a considerable number of followers and adherents, whom persecution and death in the most dreadful forms could not persuade to abandon

rum, in d'Acheri's Spicileg. Veter. Scriptor. tom. ip. 211. Gerard. Bergamensis contra Catharos et Pasagios, in Lud. Anton. Muratorii Antiq. Ital medii ævi, tom. v. p. 151.

Jaques Le Bœuf, Memoires sur l'Histoire d'Aux erre, tom. i. p. 317.

† Sti. Bernardi Serm. lxv in Canticum, tom. Sv op. p. 1495, edit. Mabillon

his cause, or to renounce an absurdity, which || markable example is sufficient to show, not one would think could never have gained credit, but in a receptacle of lunatics.* This re* Matth. Paris, Historia Major, p. 68. Guil. Neubrigensis, Historia Rerum Anglicarum, lib. i. p. 50.— Boulay, Historia Acad. Paris. tom. ii. p. 241.

THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY.

PART I.

THE EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH.

of Bavaria, and several other princes. After the lapse of a few months, Andrew returned into Europe. The remaining chiefs carried on the war with vigour, and, in 1220, made themselves masters of Damietta, the strongest city in Egypt; but their prosperity was of a short duration; for, in the following year, their fleet was totally ruined by that of the Saracens, their provisions were cut off, and their army reduced to the greatest difficulties. This irre parable loss, being followed by that of Dami

flattering prospects which their successful beginnings had presented to their expectations.*

ditions.* Innocent III., therefore, sounded the charge; but the greatest part of the European princes and nations were deaf to the voice of the holy trumpet. At length, however, after many unsuccessful attempts in different countries, a body of French nobles entered into an alliance with the republic of Venice, and set sail for the east with an army that was far from being formidable. The event of this new expedition was by no means answerable to the expectations of the pontiff. The French and Venetians, instead of steer-etta, blasted all their hopes, and removed the ing their course toward Palestine, sailed directly for Constantinople, and, in 1203, took that imperial city by storm, with a design of restoring to the throne Isaac Angelus, who implored their succour against the violence of his brother Alexius, the usurper of the empire. In the following year a dreadful sedition was raised at Constantinople, in which the emperor Isaac was put to death, and his son, the young Alexius, was strangled by Alexius Ducas, the ringleader of this furious faction.† The account of this atrocity no sooner came to the ears of the chiefs of the crusade, than they made themselves masters of Constantinople for the second time, dethroned and drove from the city the tyrant Ducas, and elected Baldwin, || count of Flanders, emperor of the Greeks. This proceeding was a source of new divisions; for, about two years after this, the Greeks resolved to set up, in opposition to this Latin emperor, one of their own nation, and elected, for that purpose, Theodore Lascaris, who chose Nice in Bithynia for the place of his imperial residence. From this period until the year 1261, two emperors reigned over the Greeks; one of their own nation, who resided at Nice; and the other of Latin or French extraction, who lived at Constantinople, the ancient metropolis of the empire. But, in the year 1261, the face of things was changed by the Grecian emperor, Michael Palæologus, who, by the valour and stratagems of his general, Cæsar Alexius, became master of Constantinople, and forced the Latin emperor to abandon that city, and save himself by flight into Italy. Thus fell the empire of the Franks at Constantinople, after a duration of fifty-seven years.‡

IV. Another sacred expedition was undertaken in 1217, under the pontificate of Honorius III., by the confederate arms of Italy and Germany. The allied army was commanded in chief by Andrew, king of Hungary, who was joined by Leopold, duke of Austria, Louis

*This is remarked by the writers of the twelfth century, who soon perceived the avaricious and despotic views of the pontiffs, in the encouragement they gave to the crusades. See Matth. Paris, Hist. Major.

The learned authors of the Universal History call this ringleader, by mistake, John Ducas.

See, for a full account of this empire, Du Fresne, Histoire de l'Empire de Constantinople sous les Empereurs Francois; in the former part of which we find the Histoire de la Conquete de la Ville de Constantinople par les Francois, written by Godfrey de Ville-Harduin, one of the French chiefs concerned in the expedition. This work makes a part of the Byzantine history. See also Claude Fontenay, Histoire de l'Eglise Gallicane, tom. x. Guntheri Monachi Histor. capta a Latinis Constantinopoleos, in Henr. Canisii Lect. Antiq. tom. iv.-Innocentii III. Epis

tol. a Baluzio edit.

V. The legates and missionaries of the court of Rome still continued to animate the languishing zeal of the European princes in behalf of the Christian cause in Falestine, and to revive the spirit of crusading, which so many calamities and disasters had almost totally extinguished. At length, in consequence of their lively remonstrances, a new army was raised, and a new expedition undertaken, which excited great expectations, and drew the attention of Europe so much the more, as it was generally believed that this army was to be commanded by the emperor Frederic II. That prince had, indeed, obliged himself by a solemn promise, made to the Roman pontiff, to undertake the direction of this enterprise; and what added a new degree of force to this engagement, and seemed to render the violation of it impossible, was the marriage that he had contracted, in 1223, with Jolanda, daughter of John, count of Brienne, and king of Jerusalem; by which alliance that kingdom was, to be added to his European dominions Notwithstanding these inducements, he post poned his voyage under various pretences, and did not set out until the year 1228, when, after having been excommunicated on account of his delay, by the incensed pontiff Gregory IX,† he followed with a small train of attendants the troops, who expected, with the most anxious impatience, his arrival in Palestine. No sooner did he land in that disputed kingdom, than, instead of carrying on the war with vigour, he turned all his thoughts toward peace, and, without consulting the other princes and chiefs of the crusade, concluded, in 1229, a treaty of peace, or rather a truce of ten years, with Malec-al-Camel, sultan of Egypt. The principal article of this treaty was, that Frederic should be put in possession of the city and kingdom of Jerusalem. This condition was immediately executed; and the emperor,

* See Jac. de Vitriaco, Histor. Oriental. et Marinus Sanutus, Secret. fidel. Crucis inter Bongarsianos de sacris bellis Scriptores, seu Gesta Dei per Francos. This papal excommunication, which was drawn up in the most outrageous and indecent language, was so far from exciting Frederic to accele rate his departure for Palestine, that it produced no effect upon him at all, and was, on the contrary, re ceived with the utmost contempt. He defended himself by his ambassador at Rome, and showed that the reasons of his delay were solid and just, and not mere pretexts, as the pope had pretended. At the same time, he wrote a remarkable letter to Henry III. king of England, in which he complained of the insatiable avarice, the boundless ambition, the perfidious and hypocritical proceedings of the Roman pontiffs. See Fleury, Histoire Ecclesiastique, liv lxxix. tom. xvi.

§ Among the various histories that deserve to be consulted for a more ample account of this last cru. sade, the principal place is due to the Histoire de S. Louis IX. du nom, Roy de France, ecrite par Jean All these circumstances are accurately related Sr. de Joinville, enrichie de nouvelles Dissertations and illustrated by the learned George Christ. Ge- et Observations Historiques, par Charles du Fresne, baureus, in his Historia Ricardi Imperatoris, lib. i. Paris, 1688. See also Filleau de la Chaise, Histoire p. 34.-It appears, however, by the Epistolæ Petri de de S. Louis, Paris, 1688, 2 vols. 8vo.-Menconis Vineis, that Richard was created, by Frederic, his Chronicon, in Ant. Matthæi Analect. veteris ævi, lord lieutenant of the kingdom of Jerusalem; and tom. iii.-Luc. Wadding, Annales Minorum, tom. iv. this furnishes a probable reason why Gregory used-Boulay, Hist. Acad. Paris. tom. iii.-Pierre Claude all possible means to retard Richard's voyage.