the Italians call, by way of derision, the Baby- || small, according to their fancy, by which they lonish captivity.*

V. There is no doubt, that the continued residence of the popes in France greatly impaired the authority of the Roman see. For, during the absence of the pontiffs from Rome, the faction of the Ghibellines, their inveterate enemies, rose to a greater height than ever; and they not only invaded and ravaged St. Peter's patrimony, but even attacked the papal authority by their writings. This caused many cities to revolt from the popes: even Rome itself was the grand source and fomenter of cabals, tumults, and civil wars; insomuch, that the laws and decrees sent thither from France were publicly treated with contempt by the populace, as well as by the nobles.† The influence of this example was propagated from Italy through most parts of Europe; it being evident, from a vast number of instances, that the Europeans in general were far from paying so much regard to the decrees and thunders of the Gallic popes, as they did to those of Rome. This gave rise to various seditions against the pontiffs, which they could not entirely crush, even with the aid of the inquisitors, who exerted themselves with the most barbarous fury.

*

soon amassed prodigious wealth. It was also under their government that reserves, provisions, expectatives, and other impositions of the like odious nature, which had seldom, (if ever) been heard of before, became familiar to the public ear, and filled all Europe with bitter complaints. These complaints exceeded all bounds, when some of these pontiffs, particularly John XXII., Clement VI., and Gregory XI., openly declared that they had reserved to themselves all churches and parishes within their jurisdiction, and were determined, in consequence of that sovereign authority and plenitude of power which Christ had conferred upon them, his vicars, to provide for them, and dispose of them without exception.† It was by these and other mean and selfish contrivances, which had no other end than the acquisition of riches, that these inconsiderate and rapacious pontiffs excited a general hatred against the Roman see, and thereby greatly weakened the papal empire, which had been visibly upon the decline from the time of Boniface.

VII. Clement V. was a mere creature of Philip the Fair, and was absolutely directed and governed by that prince as long as he VI. The French pontiffs, finding that they lived. William de Nogaret, the implacable could draw only small revenues from their enemy of the late pontiff, although he was unItalian dominions, which were now torn in der a sentence of excommunication, had the pieces by faction and ravaged by sedition, were boldness to prosecute his master's cause, and obliged to contrive new methods of accumu- his own, against Boniface, even in the pope's lating wealth. For this purpose, they not only court; an instance of assurance not easy to be sold indulgences to the people, more frequent-paralleled. Philip insisted, that the dead body ly than they had formerly done, whereby they made themselves extremely odious to several potentates, but also disposed publicly of scandalous licences, of all sorts, at an excessive price. John XXII. was remarkably shrewd and zealous in promoting this abominable traffic; for, though he was not the first inventor of the taxes and rules of the apostolic chancery, the Romish writers acknowledge that he enlarged and rendered them more extensively profitable to the holy treasury. It is certain, that the origin of the tribute paid to the popes under the name of Annates, a tax which is nerally affirmed to have been first imposed by him, is of a much earlier date. Beside the abuses now mentioned, these Gallic popes, having abolished the right of election, arrogated to themselves a power of conferring all the offices of the church, whether great or

of Boniface should be dug up and publicly burned; but Clement averted this infamy by his advice and intreaties, promising implicit obedience to the king in every thing else. In order therefore to keep his word, he was obliged to abrogate the laws enacted by Boniface, to grant the king a bounty of five years' tithes, fully to absolve Nogaret of all his crimes, on condition of his submitting to a light penance, (which, however, he never performed,) to restore the citizens of Anagni to their reputation and honour, and to call a gegeneral council at Vienne, in 1311, in order to condemn the Templars, on whose destruction Philip was most ardently bent. In this council every thing was determined as the king thought proper; for Clement, terrified by the melancholy fate of Boniface, durst not venture to oppose this intrepid and obstinate monarch.‡

*For an account of the French popes, consult chiefly Vitæ Pontif. Avenionensium, published by Baluze in 1693. The reader may also peruse, but it must be with the utmost caution, Longueval's His tory of the Gallican Church, and the continuation of that work. See more especially tom. xii. This Jesuit, and his successors, have shown great industry and eloquence in the composition of this history; but they, for the most part, artfully conceal the vices and enormities of the Roman pontiffs.

See Baluze, Pontif. Avenion. tom. ii. p. 290, 301, 309.-Muratori, Antiq. Ital. tom. iii. p. 397, 401, &c.-Giannone, Historia di Napoli, t. iii.

Jo. Ciampinus, de Vice-Cancellario Ecclesiæ Rom. p. 39.-Chais, Lettres sur les Jubiles, tom. ii. p. 673.

§ Bern. van Espen, Jus Eccles. universale, tom. ii. p. 876.-Boulay, Histor. Acad. Paris. tom. iv. p. 911.-Ant. Wood, Antiquit. Oxon. tom. i. p. 213. Guil. Franc. Berthier, Diss sur les Annates, tom. xii. Hist. de l'Eglise Gallic.

VIII. Upon Clement's death, which happened in 1314, fierce contentions arose in the conclave about choosing a successor, the French cardinals insisting upon a French, and those of Italy demanding an Italian pope.

*Steph. Baluzii Miscellan. tom. iii. p. 479, 518.Ejus Vit. Pontif. Avenion. tom. ii. p. 60, 74, 154.Gallia Christiana Benedictinor. tom. i. Append. p. 13.-Wood, Antiquit. Oxon. tom. i. p. 148, 201.Boulay, Hist. Acad. Paris. tom. iv. p. 411.

† Baluzii Pontif. Avenion. tom. ii. p. 873. tom. i. p. 285, 311, 681.-Ant. Matthæi Analecta vet. Evi, tom. v. p. 249.-Gallia Christiana, tom. i. p. 69, 1208.-Histoire du Droit Eccles. Francois, tom. ii. p.

129.

Beside the common writers already cited, see Guil. Fran. Berthier, Discours sur le Pontificat de Clement V. tom. xiii. Hist. Eccles. Gallic.-Colonia, Hist. Liter. de Lyon, tem i. p. 340.--Gallia Christi ana, tom. i. ii.

IX. The numerous tribes of the Fratricelli, Beghards, and Spiritual Franciscans, adhered to the party of Louis. Supported by his pa tronage, and dispersed through the greatest part of Europe, they boldly attacked the reigning pontiff, as an enemy to the true religion, and loaded him with the heaviest accusations, and the bitterest invectives, both in their writings and in their ordinary conversation. These attacks did not greatly affect the pontiff, as they were made only by private persons, by a set of obscure monks, who, in many respects, were unworthy of his notice; but, toward the conclusion of his life, he incurred the disapprobation and censures of almost the whole Catholic church: for, in 1331, and the succeeding year, he asserted, in some public discourses, that the souls of the faithful, in their intermediate state, were permitted to behold Christ as man, but not the face of God, or the divine nature, before their re-union with the body at the last day. This doctrine highly offended Philip VI., king of France, was opposed by the pope's friends as well as by his enemies, and condemned in 1333 by the divines of Paris. This favourite tenet of the pope was thus severely treated, because it seemed highly prejudicial to the felicity of happy spirits in their unembodi

After a contest, which continued two years, the French party prevailed, and, in 1316, elected James d'Euse, (a native of Cahors, and cardinal bishop of Porto,) who assumed the name of John XXII. He had a tolerable share of learning, but was crafty, proud, weak, imprudent, and covetous, which is allowed even by those writers who, in other respects, speak well of him. He is deservedly censured on account of his temerity, and the ill success that attended him, through his own imprudence, in many of his enterprises; but he is more especially blamed for that calamitous and unhappy war into which he entered against Louis of Bavaria. This powerful prince disputed the imperial throne of Germany with Frederic, duke of Austria; and they had been both chosen to that high dignity, in 1314, by their respective partisans among the electors and princes of the empire. John took it for granted, that the decision of this contest came under his spiritual jurisdiction. But, in 1322, the duke of Bavaria, having vanquished his competitor by force of arms, assumed the administration of the empire without asking the pope's approbation, and would by no means allow, that the dispute, already determined by the sword, should be again decided by the pontiff's judgment. John interpreted this re-ed state; otherwise the point might have been fusal as a heinous insult upon his authority, and, by an edict issued in 1324, pretended to deprive the emperor of his crown. But this impotent resentment was very little regarded; and he was even accused of heresy by Louis, who, at the same time, appealed to a general council. Highly exasperated by these and other deserved affronts, the pontiff presu:ned, in 1327, to declare the imperial throne vacant a second time, and even to publish a sentence of excommunication against the chief of the empire. This new mark of papal arrogance was severely resented by Louis, who, in 1328, published an edict at Rome, by which John was declared unworthy of the pontificate, deposed from that dignity, and succeeded in it by one of his bitterest enemies, Peter de Corbieri, a Franciscan monk, who assumed the name of Nicolas V., and crowned the emperor at Rome, in a solemn and public manner. But, in 1330, this imperial pope voluntarily abdicated the chair of St. Peter, and surrendered himself to John, who kept him in close confinement at Avignon for the rest of his life. Thus ended the contest between the duke of Bavaria and John XXII., both of whom, notwithstanding their efforts to dethrone each other, continued in the possession of their respective dignities.*

*The particulars of this violent quarrel may be learned from the Records published by Steph. Baluze in his Vit. Pontif. Avenion. tom. ii. p. 512.-Edm. Martenne, Thesaur. Anecdotor. tom. ii. p. 641.-Jo. Georg. Herwart, in Ludovico Imperatore defenso contra Bzovium, et Christ. Gewold. in Apologia pro Ludovico Bavaro, against the same Bzovius, who, in the Annals he had published, basely aspersed the memory of the emperor. See also Wadding, in Annalib. Minor. tom. vii. p. 77, 106, &c. Whoever attentively peruses the history of this war, will perceive that Louis of Bavaria followed the example of Philip the Fair, king of France. As Philip brought an accusation of heresy against Boniface, so did Louis with respect to John XXII. The French momarch made use of Nogaret and other accusers

yielded to a man of his positive temper, without any material consequence. Alarmed by these vigorous proceedings, he immediately offered something by way of excuse for having espoused this opinion; and afterwards, in 1334, when he was at the point of death, though he did not entirely renounce, he in some measure softened it, by saying he believed that the unembodied souls of the righteous 'beheld the divine essence as far as their separate state and condition would permit."* This declaration did not satisfy his adversaries: hence his successor, Benedict XII., after many disputes about it, put an end to this controversy by an unanimous resolution of the Parisian doctors, ordering it to be received as an article of faith, that the souls of the blessed, during their intermediate state, were capable of contemplating, fully and perfectly, the divine nature.† Benedict's publishing of this resolution could be in no way injurious to the memory of John; for, when the latter lay upon his death-bed, he submitted his opinion to the judgment of the church, that he might not be deemed a heretic after his decease.‡

against one pontiff Louis employed Occam and the Franciscans, in that quality against the other. Each insisted upon the convocation of a general council, and the deposition of an obnoxious pontiff. I omit other circumstances that might be alleged to render the parallel more striking.

*See Steph. Baluzii Vit. Pontif. Avenion. tom i. p. 175, 182, 197, 221, 786, &c.-Luc. D'Acherii Spicil. Scriptor. Veter. tom. i. p. 760, ed. vet.-Jo. Launoii Historia Gymnas. Navarreni, part i. cap. vii. p. 319. tom. iv. part i. op.-Boulay, Histor. Acad. Paris. tom. iv. p. 235, 250.-Wadding, Annal. Minor. tom. vi. p. 371; tom. vii. p. 145.-Echard, Scriptor. Prædicator. tom. i. p. 599, 608.

† Baluzii Vit. Pontif. Avenion. tom. i. p. 197, 216, 221.

All the heretical fancies of this pope about the Beatific Vision were nothing in comparison with a vile and most enormous practical heresy, that was found in his coffers after his death, viz. five and twenty millions of florins, of which there were eigh

XII. His successor, Innocent VI., whose name was Stephen Albert, was much more remarkable for integrity and moderation. He was a Frenchman, and before his election had been bishop of Ostia. He died in 1362, after having governed the church for almost ten years. His greatest blemish was, that he promoted his relatives with an excessive partiality; but, in other respects, he was a man of merit, and a great encourager of pious and learned men. He kept the monks closely to their duty, carefully abstained from reserving churches, and, by many good actions, acquired a great and deserved reputation. He was succeeded by William Grimoard, abbot of St. Victor at Marseilles, who took the name of Urban V., and was entirely free from all the grosser vices, if we except those which cannot easily be sepa

X. John dying in 1334, new contentions || Avignon, which he purchased of Joan, queer arose in the conclave between the French and of Naples, to the patrimony of St. Peter. Italian cardinals, about the election of a pope; but toward the end of the year they chose James Fournier, a Frenchman, and cardinal of St. Prisca, who took the name of Benedict XII. The writers of these times represent || him as a man of great probity, who was not chargeable with that avarice, or that ambition, which had dishonoured so many of his predecessors.* He put an end to the papal quarrel with the emperor Louis; and though he did not restore him to the communion of the church, because prevented, as it is said, by the king of France, yet he did not attempt any thing against him. He carefully attended to the grievances of the church, redressed them as far as was in his power, endeavoured to reform the fundamental laws of the monastic societies, whether of the mendicant, or more opulent 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 n civil war in Germany, had it not been prevented by the death of Louis, in 1347. Clement 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

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.

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 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

*See Colucii Salutati Epistolæ, written in the name of the Florentines, part i. 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 XV. Thus the union of the Latin church breach in the church. Kings and princes, under one head, was destroyed at the death of bishops and divines, appeared with zeal in this Gregory XI., and was succeeded by that de- salutary project. It was generally thought plorable dissension, commonly known by the that the best course to be taken was, what they name of the great western schism. This dis- then styled, the Method of Cession: but neither sension was fomented with such dreadful suc- of the popes could be prevailed on, either by cess, and arose to such a shameful height, that,|| entreaties or threats, to give up the pontificate. for fifty years, the church had two or three The Gallican church, highly incensed at this different heads at the same time; each of the obstinacy, renounced solemnly, in a council contending popes forming plots, and thunder- holden at Paris, in 1397, all subjection and obe ing out anathemas against their competitors.dience to both pontiffs; and, on the publication 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 of all this, many plain well-meaning people, who concluded that no one could partake of eternal life, unless united with the vicar of Christ, were overwhelmed with doubt, and plunged into the deepest mental distress.

* 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 apon this subject, such as Alexander, Raynald, Bzovius, Spondanus, and Du-Pin.

of this resolution, in 1398, Benedict was, by the express orders of Charles VI., detained prisoner in his palace at Avignon.*

orders, and had, indeed, become the heads of the church: so extensive was the influence they had acquired, that all matters of importance, both in the court of Rome, and in the cabinets of princes, were carried on under their 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 or der, 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

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' Histoire de l'Eglise Gallicane, t. xiv. see the acts of

Of he mischievous consequences of this schism, this council in Boulav'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.