In the year 1227 Hugolin, bishop of Ostia, whose advanced age had not extinguished the fire of his ambition, nor diminished the firmness and obstinacy of his spirit, was raised to the pontificate, assumed the title of Gregory IX., and kindled the feuds and dissensions that had already secretly subsisted between the church and the empire, into an open and violent flame. He wrote to the emperor, Frederick II., exhorting him to fulfil the solemn promises which he had made to embark a sufficient army for the relief of the Christians in the east, adding the severest menaces if he should decline the undertaking. Frederick, obedient to the order, at length embarked for Palestine; but, not having sued for absolution before his departure, he was still the object of Gregory's resentment, who took every method to render his expedition fruitless, and to excite civil wars in his Italian dominions. Frederick, having received information of these perfidious and violent proceedings, returned into Europe in the year 1229, defeated the papal army, retook the places he had lost in Sicily and in Italy, and in the succeeding year made his peace with the pontiff from whom he received a public and solemn absolution. The peace, however, was but of a short duration; for the emperor could not tamely bear the insolent proceedings and the imperious temper of Gregory. He therefore broke all measures with that headstrong pontiff, which drew the thunder of the Vatican anew upon the emperor's head in the year 1239. Frederick was excommunicated publicly with all the circumstances of severity that vindictive rage could invent, and was charged with the most flagitious crimes, and the most impious blasphemies, by the exasperated pontiff. The emperor on the other hand defended his injured reputation by solemn declarations in writing, and appealed for a more efficient vindication to his sword. To extricate himself from his perplexities, the pope convened, in the year 1240, a general council at Rome, with a view of deposing Frederic by the unanimous suffrages of the cardinals and prelates that were to compose that assembly. But the emperor disconcerted that audacious project by defeating in the year 1241 a Genoese fleet, on board of which the greatest part of these prelates were embarked, and by seizing with all their treasures those reverend fathers, who were all committed to close confinement. This disappointment, together with the approach of the emperor and his victorious army, gave such a shock to the pope, that he was seized with an illness which put an end to his life in a few aays, after he had been at the head of the church nearly fifteen years. It was during this pontificate that the inquisition was established. See INQUISITION.

After the death of Clement IV., in 1268, the Roman see was vacant for nearly three years, owing to the intrigues of the cardinals, assembled at Viterbo, who all aspired to the dignity themselves and opposed the election of any other. They ultimately chose Theobald, who was at that time with the crusaders in the east. As he had been an eye witness of the miserable condition of the Christians in that country, he had nothing so much at heart as the desire of

contributing to their relief; and, immediately after his consecration, he summoned a council at Lyons in the year 1274, in which the relief and maintenance of the Christians in Palestine, and the reunion of the Greek and Latin churches, were the two points that were to come principally under deliberation. This assembly is acknowledged as the fourteenth general council, and is rendered particularly remarkable by the new regulations that were introduced into the manner of electing the Roman pontiff, and more especially by the famous law which is still in force, and by which it was enacted that the cardinal electors should be shut up in the conclave during the vacancy of the pontificate. Theobald, who had assumed the title of Gregory X., died soon after the termination of the council, having held the Roman see four years and four months. During sixteen years several popes successively occupied the papal chair, but nothing occurs in their history worthy of special notice. Innocent V., who succeeded Gregory, was, before his exaltation, an eminent divine and diligent writer, but died soon after his consecration. Adrian V. died at Viterbo before his consecration. Petro Juliani, formerly a learned physician at Lisbon, succeeded Adrian. He was killed by the roof of his apartment falling in upon him, A. D. 1277. After a delay of six months Nicholas III. was elected. He was a great patron of the Franciscans. To him succeeded Martin IV. a French cardinal, through the intrigue of Charles, king of Sicily, under whose influence his whole conduct was regulated. He died A. D. 1285. Honorius IV. now filled the vacant see; he was in no respect distinguished either by talent or fortune. He was succeeded, A. D. 1288, by the cardinal bishop of Preneste, and assumed the name of Nicholas IV., during whose pontificate the Holy Land which had been rescued by the crusaders from the Turks was now irrecoverably lost. The death of Nicholas IV. in 1292 was followed by a vacancy of two years in the see of Rome, in consequence of the disputes that arose among the cardinals about the election of a new pope. These disputes were at length terminated, and the contending parties united their suffrages in favor of Peter, surnamed De Murrone, from a mountain where he had hitherto lived in the deepest solitude, and with the utmost austerity. This venerable old man, who was in high renown on account of the remarkable sanctity of his life and conversation, was raised to the pontificate in the year 1294, and assumed the name of Celestine V. But the austerity of his manners being a tacit reproach upon the corruption of the Roman court, and nore especially upon the luxury of the cardinals, rendered him extremely disagreeable to a degenerate and licentious clergy; several of the cardinals therefore, and particularly Benedict Caietan, advised him to abdicate the papacy which he had accepted with such reluctance; and they had the pleasure of seeing their advice followed with the utmost docility. The good man resigned his dignity in the fourth month after his election, and died in the year 1296, in the castle of Fumone, where his tyrannic and suspicious successor kept him in captivity.

III. Decline of the papal power.-The acts of the papal omnipotence during its course, were the humiliation, urged to excess, of all Christian princes and people; rebels supported and encouraged every where against the legitimate authority, when that of the pope was in opposition to it; sovereigns dispossessed and excommunicated as well as their subjects; crowns taken away, given, sold, according to the interests or passions of the pontiff: the bishops and clergy of all the Catholic countries subjected to his will, receiving from him the investiture of their charges, and holding them almost exclusively of him; so that the hierarchy every where formed a state within a state, under the dominion of a foreign despotic chief, who by its means disposed of all the consciences, and of nearly all the riches of a country. The decline of this injurious power, like its progress, has been gradual and almost imperceptible. The commencement of this important change may be dated from the quarrel between the French king and Benedict Caietan, who, after persuading Celestine V. to resign, was advanced to the pontificate by the title of Boniface VIII. A. D. 1294. The beginning of the following year he was enthroned at Rome with great solemnity and parade; in the procession from St. Peter's, where he was consecrated and crowned, to the Lateran, for the purpose of being enthroned, he was mounted on a white horse richly caparisoned, with the crown on his head, whilst the king of Apulia held the bridle in his right hand, and the king of Hungary in the left, both on foot. His subsequent conduct corresponded to the haughty grandeur of his installation. From the moment that he entered upon his new dignity he laid claim to a supreme and irresistible dominion over all the powers of the earth, both spiritual and temporal; terrified kingdoms and empires with the thunder of his bulls; called princes and Sovereign states before his tribunal to decide their quarrels; augmented the papal jurisprudence with a new body of laws; declared war against the family of Colonna, who disputed his title to the pontificate; in a word exhibited to the world a lively image of the tyrannical administration of Gregory VII., whom he surpassed in arrogance. Boniface added to the public rites and ceremonies of the church the famous jubilee, which is still celebrated at Rome with the utmost profusion of pomp and magnificence. In the bull issued on this occasion it was enacted, as a solemn law of the church, that those who every hundredth year confessed their sins, and visited with sentiments of contrition and repentance the church of St. Peter and St. Paul at Rome, should obtain thereby the remission of their various offences. As this jubilee added to the splendor and augmented the revenues of the church, later popes have rendered its return more frequent, and fixed its celebration to every twenty-fifth year. The most important event, however, which transpired during this pontificate, was the contest with Philip the Fair, to which we have already alluded. This prince, who was endowed with a bold and enterprising spirit, soon convinced Europe that it was possible to set bounds to the overgrown arrogance of the

bishop of Rome, although many crowned heads had attempted it without success. Boniface sent Philip the haughtiest letters imaginable, in which he asserted that the king of France, and all other kings and princes, were obliged by a divine command to submit to the authority of the popes, as well in all political and civil matters as in those of a religious matter. The king answered him with great spirit, and in terms expressive of the utmost contempt. The pope rejoined with more arrogance than ever; and, in the famous bull unam sanctam, which he published A. D. 1302, asserted that Jesus Christ had granted a twofold power to his church, or, in other words, the spiritual and temporal sword; that he had subjected the whole human race to the authority of the Roman pontiff, and that all who dared to dispute it were to be deemed heretics, and excluded from all possibility of salvation. Irritated by the insolence of the pontiff, Philip caused him to be apprehended in his own states by a few soldiers under the conduct of the chancellor Nogaret. Boniface died a few weeks after of an illness occasioned by the rage and anguish into which these insults had thrown him. Benedict XI., who succeeded, learned prudence by the fatal example of his predecessor Boniface, and pursued more moderate and gentle measures. He repealed of his own accord the sentence of excommunication that had been thundered out against the king of France and his dominions. Benedict died A. D. 1304, upon which Philip, by his artful intrigues in the conclave, obtained the see of Rome for Bertrand de Got, archbishop of Bordeaux, who was accordingly elected to that high dignity on the 5th of June, 1305. Bertrand assumed the name of Clement V., and at the king's request remained in France, and removed the papal residence to Avignon, where it continued during the space of seventy years. There is no doubt that the continued residence of the popes in France greatly impaired the authority of the Roman see. The French pontiffs finding they could draw but small revenues from their Italian dominions, which were now torn in pieces by faction and ravaged by sedition, were obliged to contrive new methods of accumulating wealth. For this purpose they not only sold indulgences to the people more frequently than they had formerly done, whereby they made themselves extremely odious to several potentates, but also disposed publicly of scandalous licenses of all sorts at an excessive price. John XXII., who succeeded Clement, was remarkably shrewd and zealous in promoting this abominable traffic, and was the first to assume the triple crown; his reign was one continued scene of confusion and contention between him and Lewis_ of Bavaria, who claimed the imperial crown. To him succeeded Benedict XII., a man of great probity, who sought to correct the abuses and to redress the grievances of the church as far as practicable. His successor in 1342 was Peter Roger, who assumed the name of Clement VI. The character of this pontiff may be inferred from the bull of anathema issued against the emperor Lewis of Bavaria, in which he thus expresses himself:- May God strike him with imbecility

and madness; may heaven overwhelm him with its thunders; may the anger of God, with that of St. Peter and St. Paul, fall upon him in this world and in the next; may the whole universe revolt against him; may the earth swallow him up alive; may his name perish from the earliest generations; and may his memory disappear; may all the elements be adverse to him; may his children, delivered into the hands of his enemies, be crushed before the eyes of their father, &c.' Innocent VI., the successor of Clement, whose name was Stephen Albert, possessed more integrity and moderation. He was a Frenchman, and before his election had been bishop of Ostia. He made it his business to correct abuses, and also abolished the heavy impositions laid upon the clergy when preferred to any new benefice or dignity. He retrenched all the unnecessary expenses of the papal court, contenting himself even with a small number of attendants; he obliged the cardinals to follow his example, urging them to bestow the superabundance of their wealth in relieving the necessities of the poor. To Innocent succeeded Urban V., A. D. 1362, whose pontificate presents nothing worthy of notice. He is said to be the first who wore the triple crown. Gregory XI., nephew to pope Clement VI., earnestly desired to remove the seat of the papal see back from Avignon to Rome, but was prevented by the disturbances in Italy. He greatly opposed Wycliff; and in his will frankly acknowledged his fallibility; he died at Rome A. D. 1378. After the death of Gregory, 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, came in a tumultuous manner to the conclave, and with clamors, accompanied with outrageous menaces, insisted that an Italian should be advanced to the popedom. The cardinals, terrified by this uproar, immediately proclaimed Bartholomew Pregnano, who was a Neapolitan, and archbishop of Bari, and assumed the name of Urban VI. This new pontiff, by his impolitic behaviour, 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, a city in the kingdom of Naples, 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 election 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. Urban remained at Rome: Clement went to Avignon in France. His cause was espoused by France and Spain, Scotland, Sicily, and Cyprus, while all the rest of Europe acknowledged Urban to be the true vicar of Christ. Thus the union of the Latin church under one head was destroyed at the death of Gregory XI., and was succeeded by that memorable dissention 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 the space of 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 his competitors. During these dissensions the fires of persecution were not permitted to die away. In England archbishop Arundel, at the instigation of the popes, became both a persecutor and a traitor; he urged Henry IV., who had usurped the throne by the aid of the clergy, to pass a statute whereby all who propagated the doctrines of Wickliff, by preaching, writing, teaching, or discourse, were required to renounce their heresies, deliver in all their beretical books, and submit themselves to the church, on pain of being delivered over to the secular arm, and burnt alive. To give further efficacy to this bloody statute, Arundel set forth several provincial constitutions, whereby any persons preaching doctrines contrary to the determination of the church, or calling in question what the church had determined, were to be excommunicated, ipso facto, on the first offence, and declared heretics for the second. Whoever read the books of Wickliff or his disciples, without a licence from one of the universities, was to suffer as a promoter of heresy. The greater excommunication was to be incurred by advancing propositions, even in the schools, which tended to subvert the Catholic faith. It was declared heresy to dispute the utility of pilgrimages, or the adoration of images, and of the cross. The proceedings against offenders in this case were to be as summary as in cases of treason. And, because it was difficult to retain the true sense of Scripture in translations, whoever should translate it, or read such translations, particularly Wickliffe's, without the approbation of his ordinary, or of a provincial council, was to be punished as a promoter of heresy. That this statute was not suffered to become obsolete may easily be imagined, as may be seen, under the articles REFORMATION and WICLIFF. The hopes that Urban's death would end the divisions of the Romish church, or at least forward a reconciliation, were soon disappointed. The cardinals then in Rome chose Peter Iomacelli, a Neapolitan cardinal priest, who succeeded to the papacy as Boniface IX., whose determined resolution it was to maintain his dignity. and Clement renewed the excommunication against each other and their respective friends; and were more adverse to peace than any of their adherents. Many from a sense of the evils of this separation made proposals for restoring tranquillity. Among these were the proposals of the university of Paris, that both should resign; or that the matter should be left to arbitration; or that a general council should decide it. Neither of the rival pontiffs was inclined to this, though they acted very artfully towards each other, and endeavoured to deceive. one another. Boniface retired to Perusa; and Clement died at Avignon, A. D. 1394. The cardinals at Avignon proceeded to a new election, and bound themselves by oath that the newly elected pontiff should faithfully labor to restore peace, even by the method of cession, if that should be approved of by the majority of suffrages in the college of cardinals. Cardinal Peter de Luna,

He

who took the name of Benedict XIII., being promoted, so far from fulfilling the fair promises he had made though confirmed by an oath, defeated all pacific endeavours by an unparalleled obstinacy. After various changes of fortune, Benedict sent a legation to Boniface, with overtures towards an accommodation; but the death of the latter terminated the treaty. Upon the death of Boniface IX. the cardinals of his party raised to the pontificate, in the year 1404, Cosmo de Meliorate, who assumed the name of Innocent VII., and held that high dignity during the short space of two years only. After his decease Angelo Corraris, a Venetian cardinal was chosen in his room, and ruled the Roman faction under the title of Gregory XII. A plan of reconciliation was, however, formed, and the contending pontiffs bound themselves each by an oath to make a voluntary renunciation of the papal chair, if that step should be deemed necessary to promote the peace and welfare of the church; but they both scandalously violated this obligation. Benedict besieged in Avignon by the king of France, in the year 1408, saved himself by flight, retiring first into Catalonia his native country, and afterwards to Perpignan. Hence eight or nine of the cardinals who adhered to his cause, seeing themselves deserted by their pope, went over to the other side, and, joining publicly with the cardinals who supported Gregory, they agreed together to assemble a council at Pisa on the 25th of March 1409, in order to heal the divisions and factions that had so long rent the papal empire. This council, however, which was designed to close the wounds of the church had an effect quite contrary to that which was generally expected, and only served to open a new breach, and excite new divisions. Its proceedings indeed were vigorous, and its measures were accompanied with a just severity. A heavy sentence of condemnation was pronounced, on the 5th day of June, against the contending pontiffs, who were declared guilty of heresy, perjury, and contumacy, unworthy of the smallest tokens of honor or, respect, and separated, ipso facto, from the communion of the church. This step was followed by the election of one pontiff in their place. The election took place on the 15th of June, and fell upon Peter of Candia, known in the papal list by the name of Alexander V.; but all the decrees and proceedings of this famous council were treated with contempt by the condemned pontiffs, who continued to enjoy the privileges and to perform the functions of the papacy, as if no attempts had been made to remove them from that dignity. Benedict held a council at Perpignan; and Gregory assembled one near Aquileia, in the district of Friuli. The latter, however, apprehending the resentment of the Venetians, made his escape in a clandestine manner from the territory of Aquileia, arrived at Caieta, where he threw himself upon the protection of Ladislaus, king of Naples, and in 1412 fled thence to Remini.

Thus was the Catholic church divided into three great factions, and its government violently carried on by three contending chiefs, who loaded each other with reciprocal maledictions,

calumnies, and excommunications. Alexander V., who had been elected pontiff at the council of Pisa, died at Bologna in 1410, and the sixteen cardinals who attended him in that city immediately filled up the vacancy, by choosing as his successor Balthasar Cossa, a Neapolitan destitute of all principles both of religion and probity, who assuming the title of John XXIII. soon afterwards appealed to all Christian princes to appoint a general council, to put a stop to the reigning evils, and to unite the whole church under one head. The choice of the place was left to the emperor, who fixed on Constance. Here the council was opened on the 1st of November, 1414. The pope appeared in person, attended by a great number of cardinals and bishops at this famous council; which was also honored with the presence of the emperor Sigismund, and of a great number of German princes, and with that of the ambassadors of all the European states, whose monarchs or regents could not be personally present at the decision of this important controversy. After the members of the council had deliberated, some acknowledged the legality of the council of Pisa; while the greater number disowned it, decreeing at the same time that John XXIII. as well as Gregory XII. and Benedict XIII. should entirely renounce his claims to the pontificate. Thus was John mortified by disappointment at the moment he expected a triumph; but what inflicted a still deeper wound on his feelings was the resolution with which they vindicated the privileges of the council. Conscious of their strength, they declared that the representatives of the church, in general council assembled, were superior to the sovereign pontiff; not only when schism prevailed, but at all other times whatever. This was one of their earliest acts.

Although John was disheartened by this rigorous sentence, he yet prepared to appear before the council; and there to maintain that he could not be deposed except on the score of heresy. The dissuasion of his friends, however, altered his determination; at their instance, too, he was induced to resign the papal dignity, on condition that his competitors would do the same. A renunciation to this effect was accordingly drawn up by the council, publicly read, and subscribed in due form by himself. Notwithstanding this solemn act, by which he bound himself to God, and to the council, that he would voluntarily give peace to the church by his abdication of the pontificate, and not leave Constance before the council had concluded ts sittings, did he forswear himself, and violate his promise. John's flight from Constance in disguise created some consternation: his friends in the council maintaining that its functions ceased on the retreat of the pope; while the majority contended for the superiority of the council over every person, not even excepting the pope, in matters relating to faith, the extirpation of schism, and the general reformation of the church. Negociations ensued between the council and John, from which it appeared that his only object was to gain time; and that, if nothing favorable to his views occurred, he might engender strife amongst its members, and

cause its dissolution. The council, however, no way disconcerted, although worn out by his excuses, delays, and equivocations, issued citation after citation for John's appearance before them; and, at last, reduced him to a perfect submission to its authority, and to an acknowledgment that it could not err; and that he had no right whatever to the pontifical dignity! Gregory XII. withdrew his claims to the papal chair; while Benedict XIII. was deposed by a solemn decree of the council. After the extinction of this papal triumvirate, Martin V. became the object of their choice; against whose election, however, Benedict protested to the latest hour of his life. After the death of Benediet a new competitor was set up for the pontificate by two of the cardinals, under the title of Clement VIII. But he was afterwards prevailed on to resign, and to leave Martin in undisturbed possession. With his resignation the long disgrace and degradation of the church may be said to have terminated. The great purpose of holding the council of Constance was the healing of the schism by which the church had been so long disturbed, and this was happily accomplished. In the fourth and fifth sessions it was solemnly declared that the Roman pontiff was inferior and subject to a general assembly of the universal church. Before the meeting of this council there were great commotions in several parts of Europe, especially in Bohemia, concerning religious matters.

One of the persons principally implicated in these disputes was John Huss, who lived at Prague in the highest reputation, on account of the sanctity of his manners, the purity of his doctrine, and his uncommon erudition and eloquence. A fouler plot does not stain the page of history than the treatment which he received at the hands of the Constantian fathers. Whatever faults may be attributed to this eminent ecclesiastic-if manly independence in maintaining his opinions, and ardent zeal in exposing the vices which disgraced the conduct of the clergy can be considered faults-they vanish before the recollection of the death to which he was consigned. He was deemed a disobedient son of the church by refusing to renounce his eyesight, and to submit his will and judgment without reservation to the will and judgment of the holy mother. In a word, he refused to yield a servile obedience to ecclesiascal despotism, and therefore his doom was sealed. The leading charge against him was,—his requiring that the laity as well as the clergy should 'partake of the communion in both kinds. This it was which led him to the stake, where his friend, Jerome of Prague, shortly after perished, for having maintained the same principles. The safe conduct of the former was of the most unqualified description, Jerome's was not so; and therefore he had comparatively less cause of complaint, although this can never justify the cruel punishment to which he was subjected. The pretended safe conduct which the council sent him was so loosely worded, that the fathers could not be charged with a direct violation of faith. 'That no violence may be done to you,

we give you by these presents a plenary safeconduct, saving nevertheless justice, as far as it is incumbent on us, and as the orthodox faith requires.' Relying, however, on the principle of faith, so insidiously pledged by them, he inconsiderately repaired to Constance, where he soon paid the forfeit of his rashness in the tragical exhibition spoken of.

Before sentence had been pronounced against John Huss and Jerome of Prague, the famous Wickliff, whose opinions they were supposed to adopt, and who was long since dead, was called from his rest before this ghostly tribunal. On the 4th of May, in the year 1415, a long list of propositions, invidiously culled out of his writings, was examined and condemned, and an order was issued out to commit all his works, together with his bones, to the flames. On the 14th of June following the assembled fathers passed the famous decree which took the cup from the laity in the celebration of the eucharist; and ordered that the Lord's supper should be received by them only in one kind, i. e. the bread,' and rigorously prohibited the communion in both kinds. On the 19th of September of this council it was decreed that the safe-conduct granted to heretics by an emperor, king, or any other secular prince, shall not prevent any ecclesiastical judge from punishing such heretics, even if they come to the place of judgment relying on such safe-guard, and would not otherwise come thither.' After this specimen of the proceedings of the council of Constance, it cannot be a matter of surprise that its members separated without effecting the professed object of their meeting, the reforination of the church of Rome. Martin V., who succeeded John, was no sooner raised to the pontificate than he employed his authority to elude and frustrate every effort that was made to set this salutary work on foot; and made it appear most evidently, by the laws he enacted, that nothing was more foreign from his intention than the reformation of the clergy, and the restoration of the church to its primitive purity.

Thus this famous council, after sitting three years and six months, was dissolved on the 22nd of April, 1418, and the members postponed to a future assembly of the same kind, which was to be summoned five years after this period, their design of purifying the church. But not five years only, but almost thirteen, elapsed without the promised meeting. The remonstrances, however, of those whose zeal for the reformation of the church interested them in this event, prevailed at length over the pretexts and stratagems that were employed to put it off; and Martin summoned a council to meet at Ravia, whence it was removed to Sienne. This council had for its object the union of the Greek and Latin churches, and the reformation of the church, both in its head and members. One of the few decrees made by this synod was directed against the Hussites, Wickliffites, and other dissentients from the church of Rome; inasmuch as it granted indulgencies to such as extirpated heretics; all exemptions and safe-conducts, by whatsoever persons vouchsafed, to the contrary not