cessors had followed him with equal strides | vented these plans and efforts from impartor been capable of doing so, ignorance and ing that prosperity to learning, which the barbarism would have been expelled; and rank and power of the noble actors might indeed his example was partially imitated. lead us to expect. In the first place, the Lewis the Meek, copying after his father, wars which the sons of Lewis the Meek devised and executed several projects, waged with their father and afterwards suited to promote and advance the useful between themselves, interrupted very much arts and sciences.1 His son, Charles the prosperity of the countries subject to the Bald, went beyond his father in this the Franks. In the next place, the inmatter, for this emperor was a great patron cursions and victories of the Normans, of learning and learned men; he invited which afflicted a large portion of Europe men of erudition to his court from all quar- during the whole century, were such an ters, took delight in their conversation, obstruction to the progress of learning, enlarged the schools and made them re- that at the close of the century in most spectable, and cherished in particular the of these countries and even in France itself, Palatine or court school. In Italy his few remained who deserved to be called brother Lothaire, emperor after A.D. 823, learned men." What little, incoherent laboured to restore the entirely prostrate knowledge remained among the clergy was and languishing cause of learning by found- chiefly confined to the episcopal and moing schools in eight of the principal cities.3 nastic schools. But the more the priests But his efforts appear to have had little and monks increased in wealth and riches, effect, for during this whole century Italy the less they attended to the cultivation of scarcely produced a man of genius. In their minds. England King Alfred obtained great renown, by promoting and honouring literary enterprise.5 5. But the infelicity of the times pre neglected by you."-Schl. 6. And yet a large part of this century was adorned with the examples and the labours of men, who derived a literary spirit from Charlemagne and his institutions and laws. Among these, Rabanus Maurus held perhaps the first rank in Germany and France, and to his lectures the studious youth resorted in great numbers. As historians and not wholly without merit, ap 1 See the Hist. Littér, de la France, tome iv. p. 583, &c. [The palatine school continued to flourish under Lewis the Meck. Also many monasteries were reestablished or instituted anew in which the sciences were studied. From his Capitul. ii. (in Harduin, Concilia, tom. iv. p. 1251, No. 5) may be seen how desirous this emperor was of promoting learning and the esta-peared Eginhard, Freculphus, Theganus, blishment of schools. He there says to the bishops :- Haymo, Anastasius, Ado, and others. In "The institution of schools in suitable places for the education of children and the ministers of the church, poetry, Florus, Walafrid Strabo, Berthawhich you formerly promised us and which we enjoined rius, Rabanus, and others, distinguished upon you, wherever it has not been done must not be themselves. In languages and philology, Rabanus (who wrote acutely concerning the causes and origin of languages), Smaragdus, Bertharius, and others, possessed skill. Of Greek and Hebrew literature, William, Servatus Lupus, John Scotus, and others, were not ignorant. art of speaking and writing with elegance, In eloquence or the Servatus Lupus, Eginhard, Agobard, Hincmar, and others, were proficients.7 Conringius, Antiq. Academ. p. 320; Bulæus, list. Acad. Paris. tom. i. p. 178; Launoi, De Scholis Caroli M. cap. xi. xii. p. 47, &c; Hist. Littér. de la France, tome v. p. 483. 3 See his ordinance or Capitulare, which is published by Muratori, Rerum Italicar. Scriptor. tom. i. par ii. p. 151. [In this ordinance the emperor represents the cultivation of literature as wholly prostrate in the Italian states, in consequence of the negligence of the clergy and the civil officers; that he had therefore appointed teachers who should give instruction in the liberal arts, and whom he had directed to use all possible diligence to educate the rising generation. He also mentions the cities in which he had stationed these teachers-namely, Pavia, Ivrea, Turin, Cremona, Florence, Fermo, Verona, Vicenza, and Forum Julii or the modern Cividad del Friuli.- Schl. 4 See Muratori, Antiq. Ital. Medii Evi, tom. iii. p. 829, &c. 5 See Wood, Hist. et Antiq. Ozon. lib. i. p. 13, &c.; Bulæus, Hist. Acad. Paris. tom. 1. p. 211, and Nou veau Diction. Histor. Crit. tome i. article Elfred, page 234. [This excellent prince not only encouraged by his protection and liberality such of his own subjects as made any progress in the liberal arts and sciences, but invited over from foreign countries men of distinguished talents, whom he fixed in a seminary at Oxford, and of consequence may be looked upon as the founder of that noble university. Johannes Scotus Erigena, who had been in the service of Charles the Bald, and Grimbald, a monk of St. Bertin in France, were the most famous of those learned men who came from abroad; Asserus, Werforth, Plegmund, Dunwulf, Wulfsig, and the abbot of St. Neot's, deserve the first rank among the English literati who adorned the age of Alfred. See 7. The philosophy and logic taught in Collier's Eccles. Hist. vol. i. book iii. p. 165, 166, &c.; Macl. CHAPTER II. HISTORY OF THE TEACHERS, AND OF 1. THE ungodly lives of most of those entrusted with the care and government of the church, are a subject of complaint with all the ingenuous and honest writers of this age. In the East, intrigues, rancour, contentions, and strife, were everywhere predominant. At Constantinople or New Rome those were elevated to the patriarchal chair who were in favour at court; and upon losing that favour, a decree of the emperor hurled them from their elevated station. In the West, the bishops frequented the courts of princes, and indulged themselves in every species of voluptuousness;7 while the inferior clergy and the monks were sensual, and by the grossest vices corrupted the people whom they were set to reform. The ignorance of the clergy in many places was so great that few of them could read and write, and very few could head of these was John Erigena1 Scotus, i. e. the Irishman, a companion and friend of Charles the Bald, a man of superior genius, and not a stranger to either Grecian or Roman learning. Being acquainted with Greek he expounded Aristotle to his pupils, and also philosophized with great acuteness without a guide. His five books on The Division of Nature (De Divisione Natura) are still extant, an abstruse work, in which he traces the causes and origination of all things, in a style not disagreeable and with no ordinary acumen; and in which he so explains the philosophy of Christianity, as to make it the great aim of the whole system to bring the minds of men into intimate union with the Supreme Being. To express the thing in words better understood he was the first of those who united Scholastic theology with that which is called Mystic. Some have viewed him as not very far from the opinion of those who suppose God to be connected with nature as the soul is with the body. But perhaps he advanced nothing but what the Realists, as they were called, afterwards taught, though he expressed his views with less clearness. He did not so far as I know found a new sect. About the same time one Macarius, also an Irishman or Scot, disseminated in France that error concern-in the councils of the Latins; also Servatus Lupus, Epist. ing the soul which Averroes afterwards professed, namely, that all men have one common soul, an error which Ratram confuted. Before these men, and in the times of Charlemagne and Lewis the Meek, Dungal, a Scot and a monk, taught philosophy and astronomy in France with great reputation. Nearly contemporary with him was Heiric or Heric, a monk of Auxerre, a very acute man, who is said to have pursued his investigations in the manner of Des Cartes.5 Erigena signifies properly a native of Ireland, as Erin or Irin was the ancient name of that kingdom. Macl. 2 This book was published by Thomas Gale, Oxon. 1681, fol.; Heumann made some extracts from it and treated learnedly of Scotus himself in the German Acta Philosophorum, tom. iii. p. 858, &c. [See also respecting his philosophical opinions Brucker's Hist. Crit. Philos. tom. iii. p. 614-25, and in the Appendix or tom. vi. p. 573. His life and works are noticed in the next chapter.-R. 3 Sce Mabillon, Præf. ad Sæcul. iv. par. ii.; Acta Sanctor. Ord. Benedicti, sec. 156, p. 53, &c. [It is not to be supposed that Macarius held the numerical unity of all human souls, but only their specific unity or identity; i.e. their sameness of essence or sameness of nature. The doctrine of the sameness of all generals was often so stated as apparently to deny the separate existence of individuals, and even to approximate to pantheism. See Bayle, Dictionnaire, art. Spinoza, note P.-Mur. A Hist. Littér. de la France, tome iv. p. 493. [But Muratori, Hist. of Italy, vol. iv. p. 611; German ed. and elsewhere thinks this Dungal taught at Pavia in Italy, and not in the monastery of St. Denys, France. Mur. 5 Le Beuf, Mémoires pour l' Hist. d'Auxerre, tome ii. I p. 481; Acta Sanctor. tom. iv. m. Junii, ad diem xxiv. P. 829, et ad diem xxxi. Julii, p. 249. For this philosopher obtained a place among the saints. 6 See Agobard, De Privilegiis et Jure Sacerdo!ii, sec. 13, p. 137, tom. i. of his Opp. ed. Baluze. 7 See Agobard, passim; and laws (or canons) enacted xxxv. p. 73, 281, and the annotations of Baluze, p. 371. [The council of Pavia A.D. 850, canon third, says:"It is our opinion that bishops should be contented with temperate meals, and should not urge their guests to eat Let and to drink, but rather set examples of sobriety. all provocations to debauchery be removed from their conviviality; let no ludicrous shows, no vain garrulity, no buffoonery of wits, no scurrilous tricks, there find a place." Harduin, Concilia, tom. v. p. 25. In a subscquent canon they forbid bishops keeping hounds and hawks for hunting, and their having superfluous trains The council of Aix-la-Chapelle A.D. 836 forbade bishops of horses and mules and gaudy dresses for vain display. getting drunk. Harduin, Concilia, tom. iv. p. 1392, No. 6. And they state with reprobation the fact that some of their order neglected their charges and travelled here and there, not from necessity but to gratify their avarice or their love of pleasure. Ibid. p. 1393, No. 12. Of presbyters and the inferior clergy they complain that they kept women in their houses to the great scandal of the ministry; and this notwithstanding the attempts of former councils and princes to remove the evil. Also that presbyters turn bailiffs, frequent taverns, pursue filthy lucre, practise usury, behave shamefully and lewdly in the houses they visit, and do not blush to indulge in revelry and drunkenness. Ibid. p. 1397, No. 7, 8. They say of the nunneries that "in some places they seemed to be rather brothels than monasteries." Ibid. p. 1398, No. 12. The council of Mayence A.D. 888 decreed:-"That the clergy be wholly forbidden to have females resident in their houses. For although there were canons allowing certain females [mothers and sisters] to reside in clergymen's houses, yet what is greatly to be lamented we have often heard that by such permission numerous acts of wickedness have been committed; so that some priests cohabiting with their own sisters have had children by them. (Sæpe audivimus, per illam concessionem plurima scelera esse commissa, ita ut quidam sacerdotum cum propriis sororibus concumbentes, filios ex eis generassent.) And therefore this holy synod decrees that no presbyter shall permit any female to live with him in his house; so that the occasion of evil reports or of iniquitous deeds may be wholly removed." Ibid. vol. vi. p. 406, No. 10.-Mur. express their thoughts with precision and] clearness. Hence whenever a letter was to be penned or anything of importance was to be committed to writing, recourse was generally had to some one individual, who was supposed to excel common men by possessing some dexterity in such matters. The example of Servatus Lupus is evidence of the fact.' 2. In Europe various causes operated to produce and to foster this corruption among persons who ought to have been examples to others. Among the principal must be reckoned the calamities of the times, such as the perpetual wars between Lewis the Meek and his sons and posterity, the incursions and ravages of the barbarous nations, the gross ignorance of the nobility, and the vast wealth which was possessed by the churches and monasteries. To these leading causes others of less magnitude may be added. If a son of an illustrious family lacked energy and talent, an elevated place was sought for him among the rulers of the church. The patrons of churches, not wishing to have their vices exposed and reproved, gave the preference to weak and inefficient men for parish ministers and guardians of the souls of men. The bishops and heads of monasteries held much real estate or landed property by a feudal tenure; and therefore whenever a war broke out they were summoned to the field, with the quota of soldiers which they were bound to furnish to their sovereigns. Kings and princes moreover that they might be able to reward their servants and soldiers for their services, often seized upon consecrated property and gave it to their dependents; and the priests and monks who had before been supported by it, to relieve their wants now betook themselves to every species of villany, fraud, and imposition. 3 I See his Works; Epist. xcviii. xcix. p. 126, 148, 142; Capitula ad Clerum suum, in Baluze, Miscellanea, tom. vi. p. 139 and p. 148. also his Life. To these add Rodolphus Bituricensis, 2 Hincmar, Opus Posterius contra Godeschalcum, cap. Xxxvi. in his Opp. tom. i. p. 318; Servatus Lupus, Epist. lxxix. p. 120. 3 Agobard, De Privilegiis et Jure Sacerdotum, cap. xi. in his Opp. tom. i. p. 341. 4 Baluze, Appendix Actorum ad Servatum, p. 508; Muratori, Antiq. Ital. Medii Eci, tom. ii. p. 446, &c.; Mabillon, Annal. Benedict. tom. vi. p. 587; Du Fresne, ad Joinvillii Hist. Ludovici S. p. 75, 76. [Yet military service was not always required for church lands, some donations expressly granting exemption from it. See Mabillon, ubi supra.-Mur. 5 Agobard, De Dispens. Rerum Eccles. sec. xiv. Opp. tom. x. p. 270; Flodoard, Hist. Eccles. Rhemensis, lib. lil. cap. Ix.; Servatus Lupus, Epist. lxv. p. 87, 437, &c.; but especially Muratori, Antiq. Italica, tom. vi. p. 302, &c. and Thomassin, Disciplina Eccles. vet. et nova circa Beneficia, par. ii. lib. iii. c. xi. The custom prevailed also among the Greeks and the Lombards." See Le Quien, Oriens Christianus, tom. i. p. 142. 8 3. The Roman pontiffs were elected by the suffrages of the whole body of the clergy and people [at Rome], but the emperors must approve of their appointment before they were consecrated. There is indeed extant an edict of Lewis the Meek dated A.D. 817, in which this right of the emperors is relinquished, and power given to the Romans not only of electing a pontiff, but of installing and consecrating him without waiting for the consent of the emperor; but eminent men have shown by arguments entirely satisfactory that this document is a forgery. Yet I readily admit that after the time of Charles the Bald, who obtained the imperial dignity by the good offices of the Roman pontiff, the state of things was materially changed and the consent of the emperors was not asked by the Romans. It is at the same time true beyond a question, that from the time of Eugene III. who was placed in St. Peter's chair A.D. 884, the election of a pontiff was nearly destitute of any rule or order, and was for the most part tumultuous; and this irregularity did not cease until the times of Otto the Great. 4. Few of those who in this century were raised to the highest station in the church, can be commended for their wisdom, learning, virtue, and other endowments proper for a bishop. The greater part of them by their numerous vices, and all of them by their arrogance and lust of power, entailed disgrace upon their memories. Between Leo IV. who died A.D. 855 and Benedict III. a woman who concealed her sex and assumed the name of John, it is said opened her way to the pontifical throne by her learning and genius, and governed the church for a time. She is commonly called the papess Joan. During the five subse| quent centuries the witnesses to this extraordinary event are without number; nor did any one, prior to the reformation by Luther, regard the thing as either incredible But in the or disgraceful to the church. 10 See the illustrious De Bünau, Hist. Imperii German. tom. iii. p. 28, &c. 32, &c. 7 Harduin, Concilia, tom. iv. p. 1236; le Cointe, Annales Ecclesie Francor. tom. vii. ad ann. 817, sec. 6; Baluze, Capitular. Regum Francor. tom. i. p. 591. 8 Muratori, Droits de l'Empire sur l'Etat Ecclés. p. 54, &c. and Antiq. Ital. Medii Eri, tom. iii. p. 29, 30, where he conjectures that this document was forged in the eleventh century. Bünau, Hist. Imper. German. tom. ii. p. 34. And yet some popish writers, e. g. Fontanini and others, most carnestly defend this edict of Lewis, though ineffectually. [The evidence of the spuriousness of this edict is well summed up by Pagi, Critica in Faron, ad ann. 817, No. 7, vol. iii. p. 492.Mur. 9 Here is a mistake. It was Hadrian III. who became pope in the year 884, and not Eugene III. who was not raised to that dignity till A.D. 1145; l'on Einem. 10. The arguments of those who hold the story to be true are carefully and learnedly collected and stated by seventeenth century learned men not only among the Roman catholics but others also, exerted all the powers of their ingenuity both to invalidate the testimony on which the truth of the story rests, and to confute it by an accurate computation of dates.' But still there are very learned men who, while they concede that much falsehood is mixed with the truth, maintain that the controversy is not wholly settled. Something must necessarily have taken place at Rome, to give rise to this most uniform report of so many ages; but what it was that occurred docs not yet appear.2 Spanheim, in his Exercil. de Papa Formina, Opp. tom. translation better arranged and with various additions, ii. p. 577; and Lenfant has exhibited them in a French in a third ed. at the Hague, 1736, 12mo. 1 The arguments of those who deny the existence of a papess after David Blondell's appropriate treatise and some others, are ingeniously stated by Bayle, Dictionnaire, tom. iii. art. Papesse, p. 2162. See also Eccard, Hist. Francia Oriental. tom. ii. lib. xxx. sec. 119, &c. p. 436, &c. who however so far as we know has followed the reasoning of Leibnitz on the subject. Le Quien, Oriens Christianus, tom. iii. p. 777, and in the Lutheran church, Heumann, in his Sylloge Diss. Sacrar. tom. i. par. ii. p. 352, &c. The arguments on both sides of the question are neatly stated by Wagensiel, in Schelhorn's Amenitates Literar. par. i. p. 146, &c. and by Basnage, Hist. de l'Eglise, tome i. p. 108. The names of the other writers, who are very numerous, may be seen in Sagit 676, &c. and in the Billotheca Bremensis, tom. vili. par. v. p. 935. [See also Schroeckh, Kirchengesch. vol. xxii. p. 75-110; Schmidt, Kirchengesch. vol. iv. p. 274-279; and Bower's Lives of the Popes, vol. iv. p. 246-260.-Mur. tarius, Introductia in Hist. Eccles. tom. i. c. xxv. p. in this affair which deserves further investigation.— 2 So thought Sarpi, Lettere Italiane, lett. lxxxii. P. 452; Lenfant, Biblioth. Germanique, tome x. p. 27; Hascus, Biblioth. Bremens. tom. viii. par. v. p. 935; Pfaff, Instit. Hist. Eccles. p. 402, cd. 2. To whom might be added Wernsdorf, Boecler, Holberg, and many others. I will not undertake the office of judge in this controversy, yet I am of opinion there was something [Few if any in modern times admit the reality of a female pope, and among the English Pope Joan has becomo a proverbial epithet for a fictitious character too the contemporary writers mention such a pope, for the passage in Anastasius Bibliothecarius, who then lived at Rome and wrote the Lives of the Popes, is undoubtedly spurious. It was nearly two centuries before any writer affirmed the fact. But from that time to the reformation it was generally believed; yet not universally as Mosheim intimates. Platina (Lives of the Popes, John VII.) after relating the story says:-"Hæc quæ dixi, vulgo feruntur, incertis tamen et obscuris auctoribus: quæ ideo ponere breviter et nude institui, ne obstinate et pertinaciter omisisse videar, quod fere omnes affirmant." This surely is not the language of one who does not question the truth of the story. Yet Platina wrote before Luther was born. The history of this papess is briefly this, as stated by writers of the twelfth and following centuries. She was the daughter of an English missionary who left England to preach among the newly-converted Saxons. She was born at Ingelheim, and according to different authors was named Joanna, Agnes, Gerbert, Isabel, Margaret, Dorothy, and Jutt. She early distinguished herself for genius and love of learning. A young monk of Fulda conceiving a passion for her which was mutual, she eloped from her parents, disguised her sex, and entered the monastery of Fulda. Not satisfied with the restraints there, she and her lover eloped again, went to England, and then to France, Italy, and finally to Athens in Greece, where they devoted themselves to literary pursuits. On the death of the monk Joanna was inconsolable. She left Athens and repaired to Rome. There she opened a school, and acquired such reputation for learning and ridiculous to be mentioned in serious earnest. None of 5. Great as the vices and enormities of many of the pontiffs were, they did not prevent the growth of the pontifical power and influence both in church and state during these unhappy times. It does not indeed appear from any authentic documents, that they acquired any new territories in addition to those they had received from the bounty of the French kings. For what they tell us of the donations of Lewis the Meek is destitute of probability;3 nor is there more certainty in what many state that Charles the Bald in the year 875, when John VIII. had enabled him to gain the rank of emperor, relinquished all right and jurisdiction over the city of Rome and its territory, and bestowed various other gifts of immense value upon the pontiffs. Yet to all who read the history of those times it must be obvious, that the Roman pontiffs advanced in power, influence, wealth, and riches, from the age of Lewis the Meek onward, and especially after the commencement of the reign of Charles the Bald.' 6. Upon the decease of Lewis II. [A.D. 875] a violent war broke out among the descendents of Charlemagne, cach of them contending for the imperial dignity. The Roman pontiff, John VIII. and with him the Italian princes, cagerly scized this opportunity to exclude the voice of all foreigners, and make the election of emperors depend wholly on themselves. Hence Charles the Bald, King of the Franks, by a vast amount of money and other presents, and by still greater promises, induced the Roman pontiff and the other Italian princes, to proclaim him King of Italy and Emperor of the Romans in a public assembly A.D. 876. His successors in the kingdom of Italy and in the imperial feigned sanctity that on the death of Leo IV. A.D. 855, she was chosen pope. For something more than two years she filled the papal chair with reputation, no one suspecting her sex. But sho had taken one of her household whom she could trust, to her bed, and by him she became pregnant. At length, being nearer her time than she had supposed, she ventured on Whitsunweek to join in the annual procession with all her clergy. While passing the street between the church of St. Clement and the Amphitheatre she was scized with violent pains, fell to the ground amidst the crowd, and while her attendants were endeavouring to minister to her, was delivered of a son. The child died, and some say the mother too, on the spot. Others say she survived but was sent immediately to prison, the object of universal execration. See Bower and Platina, ubi supra.-Mur. [The student will see an excellent summary of the controversy in Gieseler, Lehrbuch, &c. Cunningham's Transl. vol. ii. p. 20, 21. This eminent historian and critic has no hesitation in characterising the story of Pope Joan as "a fabrication of later times." R. 3 See above sec. 3. 4 Bünau, Hist. Imp. German. tom. iii. p. 482, &c.; Eccard, Hist. Francia Oriental. tom. ii. lib. xxxi. p. C06, &c. [See Gieseler's Text-Book by Cunningham, vol. ii. p. 70, &c.-Mur. dignity, Carloman and Charles the Fat, were likewise chosen by the Roman pontiff and the Italian princes. Afterwards turbulent times came on, in which those who promised most or who gave most, generally ascended the royal and imperial throne by the aid of the pontiffs.' 7. The power of the Roman pontiffs in matters of a religious nature, was augmented with equal rapidity and success, and nearly from the same causes. The wisest and most impartial among the Roman Catholic writers acknowledge and prove, that from the time of Lewis the Meek, the ancient system of ecclesiastical law in Europe was gradually changed, and a new system introduced by the policy of the court of Rome. Kings and emperors suffered their rights in matters of religion, which had been handed down to them from Charlemagne, to be insensibly taken from them. The power of bishops to make regulations in matters of religion was prostrated, and the authority of ecclesiastical councils was diminished. For the Roman pontiffs, exulting in their prosperity and the daily accessions to their wealth, endeavoured to instil into the minds of all, and notwithstanding the opposition of the reflecting and of those acquainted with the ancient ecclesiastical constitution, they actually did instil into many the sentiment, that the bishop of Rome was constituted by Jesus Christ a legislator and judge over the whole church; and therefore that other bishops derived all their authority solely from him, and that councils could decide nothing without his direction and approbation.2 port of the Romish power, the so-called Decretal Epistles of the pontiffs of the early centuries hold perhaps the first rank. They were produced by the ingenuity of an obscure man who falsely assumed the name of Isidore, bishop of Seville. Some vestiges of these fabricated epistles appeared in the preceding century; but they were first published and appealed to in support of the claims of the Roman pontiffs in this century. Of similar origin and value are the decrees of a Roman council said to have been held under Sylvester (A.D. 324), but Lewis the Meek, were fabricated with the privity and lieve that the pontiffs, who made use of these writings during many ages to substantiate their authority and their prerogatives, would have ventured to confront kings, princes, ccclesiastical councils, and bishops, with the fictions and impositions of private individuals? In that age frauds for the benefit of the church and of God were deemed lawful: so that it is not strange that the Roman pontiffs should suppose they did no moral wrong, by permitting and approving the fabrication of such papers as would be a rampart and bulwark to the approbation of the Roman pontiffs. For who can be see of St. Peter. 4 That the author of these Epistles wished to be regarded as Isidore, a distinguished Spanish bishop of the sixth century, or to speak more definitely, that he wished See Fabricius, to their names the word peccator (sinner); hence the the assumed name of Isidore. Some of the transcribers, author of this forgery annexed the surname Peccator to ignorant of the ancient customs and literature, corrupted this signature by exchanging Peccator for Mercator. And hence the fraudulent compiler of the Decretal Epistles is called Isidorus Mercator. [On the whole subject of these Epistles, their origin, character, schafts- Verfass. vol. ii. p. 500-28; and Gieseler's TextBook by Cunningham, vol. ii. p. 64–69.—Mur. and effects, sce Planck's Gesch. d. Christl. Kirchl. Gesell 5 See Calmet, Hist. de Lorraine, tome i. p. 528; Böhmer, Praf. ad Novum Editionem Juris Canon. tom. i. p. 10, 19, Notes. [Fleury says of them that "they crept to light near the close of the eighth century."Fleury, in Hist. Eccles. Diss. iv. sec. 1; and in the History itself, livr. xliv. sec. 22.-Mur. 6 The spuriousness of these Epistles has been demonstrated, not only by the Centuriatores Magdeburgenses And 8. To bring men to listen and assent to this new system of ecclesiastical law, so very different from the previous system, there was need of ancient documents and records with which it might be enforced and and some others, but most learnedly and in an appro defended against the assaults of opponents.priate treatise by David Blondell, in his Pseudo- IsidoHence the Roman pontiffs procured the for-rus et Turrianus capulantes, Genev. 1628, 4to. gery, by their trusty friends, of conventions, acts of councils, epistles, and other documents; by which they might make it appear that, from the earliest ages of the church, the Roman pontiffs possessed the same autho-livr. xliv. sec. 22. rity and power which they now claimed.3 Among these fraudulent documents in sup This is illustrated by Sigonius, De Regno Italia, and by the other writers of German and Italian history. 2 See the excellent work of an unknown writer who signs himself D. B. entitled, Hist. du Droit Ecclésias. Publique François; first published, London, 1737, 2 vols. 8vo, and lately republished splendidly in a larger form. The author neatly and acutely points out the steps by which the Roman pontiff's advanced their power. Of the ninth century he treats in vol. i. p. 160, &c. [Bower's Lives of the Popes, vols. iv. and v.; Planck, Gesch. d. Christl. Kirchl. Gesellschafts-Verfas sung, vols. ii. and ii.-Mur. 3 It is no improbable supposition that these and other documents, such as the donations of Constantine and at the present day the friends of the Roman pontiff's |