ions, for which Wickliff had been prosecuted by the monks, ten were condemned as heresies, and thirteen as errors." * He himself, however, returned in safety to Lutterworth, where he died peaceably in 1387. The latter attack was much more dangerous than the former; but by what means he got safely through it, whether by the interest of the court, or by denying or abjuring his opinions, is to this day a secret. He left many followers in England, and other countries, who were styled Wickliffites and Lollards, which last was a term of popular reproach translated from the Flemish tongue into English. Wherever they could be found, they were terribly persecuted by the inquisitors, and other instruments of papal vengeance In the council of Constance, in 1415, the memory and opinions of Wickliff were condemned by a solemn decree; and, about thirteen years after, his bones were dug up, and publicly burned.

the stigmas, or five wounds impressed upon Francis by Christ himself, on mount Alvernus, was worthy of credit, because matter of undoubted fact.* Nor was this all; for they not only permitted to be published, without any mark of their disapprobation, but approved, and even recommended, an impious piece, stuffed with tales yet more improbable and ridiculous than either of the above-mentioned fictions, and entitled, The Book of the Conformities of St. Francis with Jesus Christ, which was composed, in 1385, by Bartholomew Albizi, a Franciscan of Pisa, with the applause of his order. This infamous tract, in which the Son of God is put upon a level with a wretched mortal, is an eternal nonument of the outrageous enthusiasm and abominable arrogance of the Franciscan order, and also of the excessive imprudence of the pontiffs who extolled and recommended it.†

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,

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 and which Wadding has collected with great care, ever in propagating opinions highly detrimental and published in his Annales Minorum, tom. viii. to religion in general, and particularly injuri- and ix. The Dominicans formerly made a public ous to the majesty of the Supreme Being silence by the papal bulls, they are now obliged to dejest of this ridiculous fable; but, being awed into The Franciscans, forgetting, in their enthusi- ride it in secret, while the Franciscans, on the other astic phrensy, the veneration which they owed hand, continue to propagate it with the most fervent to the Son of God, and animated with a mad zeal. That St. Francis had upon his body the marks or impressions of the five great wounds of Christ, is zeal for advancing the glory of their order and not to be doubted, since this is a fact proved by a its founder, impiously maintained, that the great number of unexceptionable witnesses. But, latter was a second Christ, in all respects simi- as he was a most superstitious and fanatical mortal, lar to the first, and that their institution, doc- it is undoubtedly evident that he imprinted on himself these holy wounds, that he might resemble trine, and discipline, were the true Gospel of Christ, and bear about on his body a perpetual memoJesus. Yet, shocking as these foolish and im-rial of the Redeemer's sufferings. It was customary pious 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

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 Waȧ. ding, tom. ix. p. 158.-Fabricii Bibliotn. 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 publish ed, in 1651, under the following title, Prodigiosum Nature et Gratie 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 dee Beaux Arts, t. iv. p. 318.

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 Provence, who had also abandoned the society. Soon after this, the whole Franciscan order in France, Italy, and other countries, formed two parties. Those who embraced the severe discipline and absolute poverty of St. Francis, were called Spirituals; such as insisted upon mitigating the austere injunctions of their founder, were styled the Brethren of the Community. 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

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.†

XXIV. Upon the death of Clement V. the tumult, which had been appeased by his authority, revived in France with as much fury as ever. For, in 1314, a hundred and twenty of the Spirituals made a violent attack upon the Brethren of the Community, drove them out of the convents of Narbonne and Beziers by force of arms, and inflamed the quarrel in a yet higher degree, by relinquishing their ancient 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 author. ity 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 Extravagar tes Joannis XXII. tit. vii. de religiosis domibus, tom. ii. Jur. Canon, p. 1112.

§ Wadding, tom. vi. r. 265

by the pope's order, apprehended as many of these people as they could find, condemned them to the flames, and sacrificed them without mercy to papal resentment and fury: s0 that from this time a vast number of those zeaviz. the Minorites, Beghards, and Spirituals, wore most barbarously put to death, not only in France, but also in Italy, Spain, and Germany." *

XXVII. This dreadful flame continued to spread till it invaded the whole Franciscan order, which, in 1321, had revived the old con tentions concerning the poverty of Christ and his apostles. A certain Beguin, or monk of the third order of St. Francis, who was apprehended this year at Narbonne, taught, among other things, "That neither Christ nor his apostles ever possessed any thing, whether in com mon or personally, by right of property or dominion." John de Belna, an inquisitor of the Dominican order, pronounced this opinion erroneous; but Berengarius Taloni, a Franciscan, maintained it to be orthodox, and perfectly con

proceeded against as heretics. And surely nothing could make them appear viler heretics in the papal eye, than their venturing thus audaciously to oppose the authority and majesty of the Roman see. As for Delitiosi, who is sometimes called Delli Consi, he was im-lous defenders of the institute of St. Francis, prisoned, and died in his confinement. Four of his adherents were condemned to the flames, in 1318, at Marseilles;* and this horrible sentence was accordingly executed without mercy. XXV. Thus these unhappy friars, and many more of their fraternity, who were afterwards cut off by this cruel persecution, suffered merely for their contempt of the decisions of the pontiffs, and for maintaining that the institute of St. Francis, their founder, which they imagined he had established under the direction of an immediate inspiration, was the very Gospel of Christ, and therefore ought not to be altered by the pope's authority. The controversy, considered in itself, was rather ridiculous than important, since it did not affect religion in the least, but turned wholly on these two points, the form of the habits to be worn by the Franciscan order, and their grana-sonant to the bull, Exiit qui seminat, of Nicolas ries and store-houses. The Brethren of the Community, or the less rigid Franciscans, wore long, loose, and good habits, with ample hoods; but the Spirituals went in short, scanty, and very coarse ones, which they asserted to be precisely the dress enjoined by the institute of St. Francis, and what therefore no power upon earth had a right to alter. And whereas the former, immediately after the harvest and vintage, were accustomed to lay up a stock of corn and wine in their granaries and cellars, the latter resolutely opposed this practice, as entirely repugnant to that profession of absolute poverty which had been embraced by the Fratricelli or Minorites. In order to put an end to these broils, the pope, in this very year, published a long mandatory letter, in which he ordered the contending parties to submit their disputes, upon the two points abovementioned, to the decision of their superiors.† XXVI. The effects of this letter, and of other decrees, were prevented by the unseasonable and impious severity of John, whose cruelty was condemned and detested even by his adherents. For the Spiritual Franciscans and their votaries, being highly exasperated at the cruel death of their brethren, maintained, that John, by procuring the destruction of these holy men, had rendered himself utterly unworthy of the papal dignity and was the true Antichrist. They moreover revered their four brethren, who were burned at Marseilles, as so many martyrs, paying religious venera-creed that those who held this tenet were no tion to their bones and ashes; and inveighed yet more vehemently than ever against long habits, large hoods, granaries, and store-houses. The inquisitors, on the other hand, having,

*Baluze, Vitæ Pontif. Avenion. tom. i. p. 116; tom ii. p. 341, et Miscellan. tom. i. p. 195, 272. Wadding, tom. vi. p. 267. Martenne, Thesaur. Anecdotor. tom. v. p. 175. Martinus Fuldensis, in Eccardi Corpore Histor. medii Ævi, tom. i. p. 1725, et Herm. Cornerus, ibid. tom. ii. p. 981. Histoire generale de Languedoc, tom. iv. p. 179. Argentre, Collectio Judicior. de novis errorib. tom. i. p. 294.

It may be seen in the Jus Canon. among the Extravag. communes de verbor. signif. See also Wadng, tom. vi.

III. The judgment of the former was approved by the Dominicans; the determination of the latter was adhered to by the Franciscans. At length the matter was brought before the pope, who prudently endeavoured to put an end to the dispute. With this view he called into his council Ubertinus de Casalis, the patron of the Spirituals, and a person of great weight and reputation. This eminent monk gave captious, subtle, and equivocal answers to the questions that were proposed to him. The pontiff, however, and the cardinals, persuaded that his decisions, however ambiguous, might contribute to terminate the quarrel, acquiesced in them, seconded them with their authority, and, at the same time, enjoined silence and moderation on the contending parties.†

XXVIII. But the Dominicans and Francis cans were so exceedingly exasperated agains each other, that they could by no means bu brought to conform themselves to this order. The pope, perceiving this, permitted them to renew the controversy in 1322; and he himself proposed to some of the most celebrated divines of the age, and especially to those of Paris, the determination of this point, namely, "Whe ther those were to be deemed heretics, who maintained that Jesus Christ, and his apostles had no common or personal property in any thing they possessed?" The Franciscans, who held an assembly in that year at Perugia, having gained intelligence of this proceeding, de

* Beside many other pieces that serve to illustrate the intricate history of this persecution, I have in my possession a treatise, entitled, Martyrologium Spiritualium et Fratricellorum, which was delivered to the tribunal of the inquisition at Carcassone, A. D. 1454. It contains the names of 113 persons of both sexes, who, from the year 1318 to the time of Innocent VI., were committed to the flames in France and Italy, for their inflexible attachment to the poverty of St. Francis. I reckon that from these and other records, published and unpublished, we may make out a list of two thousand martyrs of this kind. See Codex Inquis. Tolosanæ.

Wadding, tom. vi. p. 361. Baluzii Miscellan tom. i. p. 307. Ger. du Bois, Histor. Eccles. Paria 611.

p.

heretics, but maintained an opinion that was || edict, that all who maintained that Christ, and holy and orthodox, and perfectly agreeable to his apostles, had no common or special proper the decisions and mandates of the popes. They ty in any of their possessions, should be deemalso sent a deputy to Avignon, to defend this ed heretics, and corrupters of the true religion.* unanimous determination of their whole order Finding, however, that the Franciscans were against all opponents whatever. The person not terrified in the least by this decree, he pubwhom they commissioned for this purpose was lished another yet more flaming constitution, F. Bonagratia, of Bergamo, who also went by about the end of the year 1324, in which he the name of Boncortese, one of their fraterni- confirmed his former edicts, and pronounced ty, and a man famous for his extensive learning. that tenet concerning the expropriation of John, being highly incensed at this step, issued Christ and his apostles, 'a pestilential, erronea decree, wherein he espoused an opinion dia- ous, damnable, and blasphemous doctrine, hosmetrically opposite to that of the Franciscans, tile to the catholic faith,' and declared all such and declared them to be heretics, for obstinately as adhered to it, obstinate heretics, and rebels maintaining "that Christ and his apostles had against the church. In consequence of this no common or personal property in what they merciless decree, great numbers of those who possessed, nor a power of selling or alienating persisted in asserting that Christ and his aposany part of it." Soon after, he proceeded yet tles were exactly such mendicants as Francis farther, and, in another constitution, exposed would have his brethren to be, were apprehendthe weakness and inefficacy of those argu- ed by the Dominican inquisitors, who were imments, commonly reduced from a bull of Nico- placable enemies of the Franciscans, and comlas III., concerning the property of the Fran- mitted to the flames. The histories of France ciscan possessions being transferred to the and Spain, Italy and Germany, during this and church of Rome, whereby the monks were the following century, abound with instances supposed to be deprived of what we call right, of this atrocious cruelty. and were only allowed the simple use of what was necessary for their immediate support. In order to confute this plea, he showed that it was absolutely impossible to separate right and property from the lawful use of such things as were immediately consumed by that use. He also solemnly renounced all property in the Franciscan effects, which had been reserved to the church of Rome by former popes, their churches and some other things excepted. And whereas the revenues of the order had been hitherto received and administered by procurators, on the part of the Roman church, he dismissed these officers, and abolished all the decrees and constitutions of his predecessors relating to this affair.t

XXX. The zealous pontiff pursued this affair with great warmth for several years; and, as this contest seemed to have taken its rise from the books of Pierre d'Olive, he branded with infamy, in 1325, the Postilla and other writings of that author, as pernicious and heretical. The next step he took, was to summon to Avignon, some of the more learned and eminent brethren of the Franciscan order, of whose writings and eloquence he was par ticularly apprehensive, and to detain them at his court: and then, to arm himself against the resentment and indignation of this exasperated society, and to prevent their attempting any thing to his prejudice, he kept a strict guard over them in all places, by means of his friends XXIX. By this method of proceeding, the the Dominicans. Michael of Cesena, who redexterous pontiff entirely destroyed that boast-sided in Italy, and was the head of the order, ed expropriation, which was the main bulwark of the Franciscan order, and which its founder had esteemed the distinguishing glory of the society. It was therefore natural, that these measures should deterinine the Franciscans to an obstinate resistance. And such indeed was the effect they produced: for, in 1323, they sent their brother Bonagratia in the quality of legate to the papal court, where he vigorously and openly opposed the recent constitution of John, boldly affirming, that it was contrary to human as well as divine law. The pope, on the other hand, highly exasperated against this audacious defender of the Franciscan poverty, threw him into prison, and ordained, by a new

*I insert this caution, because I have observed

that some eminent writers, by not attending to this

circumstance, have taken these two names for two different persons.

†These constitutions are recorded in the Corpus Juris Canonici, and also among the Extravagantes, tit. xiv. de verbor. signific. cap. ii. iii. p. 1121. For an account of the transaction itself, the reader should chiefly consult that impartial writer, Alvarus Pelagius, de Planctu Ecclesiæ, lib. ii. cap. 60. as also Wadding, tom. vi. p. 334. Both the e authors blame pope John.

Wadding, tom. vii. p. 2, 22. -Alvar. Pelagius, de Planctu Ecclesiæ, lib. ii. p. 167.-Trithemius, Annal. Tirsaug. tom ii. p. 157.-Theod. de Niem, in Eccardi Cornore Histor. med. Evi, t. vii. p. 1491.

could not easily dissemble the hatred he had conceived against the pope, who therefore ordered him to repair to Avignon, in 1327, and there deprived him of his office.§ But, prudent as this rigorous measure might appear at first sight, it served only to inflame the enraged Franciscans more than ever, and to confirm them in their attachment to the scheme of absolute poverty. For no sooner did the bitter and well-known contest, between John XXII. and Louis of Bavaria, break out, than the principal champions of the Franciscan cause, such as Marsilius of Padua, and John of Genoa, fled to the emperor, and under his protection published the most virulent pieces imaginable, in which they not only attacked John personally, but also levelled their satire at the power

* Wadding, tom. vii. p. 26.-Contin. de Nangis, in D'Acherii Spicilegio, tom. iii. p. 83-Boulay, tem. iv. p. 205.-Benedictinor. Galia Christiana, tom. ii. p. 1515.

This constitution, and the two former already mentioned, are published among the Extravagantes, tit. xiv. de verbor. signif. Wadding, (t. vii. p. 36, vigorously opposed this last; which is rather extraor dinary in a man so immoderately attached to the cause of the popes as he was.

Wadding, tom. vii. p. 47.-Eccardi Corpus His tor. medii Evi, tom. i. p. 592, and 1491. § Wadding, tom. vii. p. 69, 74.

cus VII. obiit, p. 145, and others.-Eccardi Corpus Hist. t. i. p. 2103.-Boulay, t. iv. p. 220.

* Wadding, tom. vii. p. 94.-D'Acherii Spicilegium, tom. iii. p. 91.

† Argentre, Collectio Judicior. de novis erroribus, tom. i. p. 343.-Boulay, tom. iv. p. 281.-Wadding tom. vii. p. 313.

Wadding, tom. vii. p. 116, 126.-Argentre, tom. I