an ancient Manuscript of the Life of S. Romanus he cast it into a more polite stile and made another of it in Verse which he presented to Hugh Archbishop of Roan as it appears by the Epistle Dedicatory publish'd by Father Mabillon in the first Tome of his Analects Of these Works there is only extant the Ancient Life of Romanus that he corrected and which was set forth by Monsieur Rigaud or Rigultius JOHN Abbot of Arnulphus at Metz. JOhn Monk of Gorze and afterward Abbot of S. Arnoud or Arnulphus at Metz flourish'd there in John Abbot of S. Arnulphus at Metz. the time of Adalberon who was Bishop of that City He wrote the Life of S. Goldefinda Abbess of Metz and the History of her Translation with the Life of S. John Abbot of Gorze his Patron dedicated to Thierry Bishop of Metz. Father Mabillon has inserted these Works in different Tomes of his Benedictine Centuries HELPERIC or CHILPERIC Monk of S. Gal. HElperic or Chilperic Monk of S. Gal compos'd in the year 980. a Treatise of the Calendar the Helperic or Chilperic Monk of S. Gal. Preface to which was publish'd by Father Mabillon in the first Tome of his Analects and which is entirely preserv'd in Manuscript in the Library of S. Germain des Prez BERTHIER Priest of Verdun Berthier Priest of Verdun BErthier Priest of Verdun wrote a Compendious History of the Bishops of that Church and dedicated it to Dado who was then Governour of that Country It was publish'd by Father Dachery in the Twelfth Tome of the Spicilegium He flourish'd about the year 987. This Work of Berthier was continu'd by an Anonymous Monk of S. Viton at Verdun down to A nameless Monk Thierry the Fourteenth Bishop of that City Afterward Lawrence Monk of Liege and at last of the same Monastery of S. Viton at Verdun made a Supplement and Continuation of that History to the time of Alberon that is to say to the middle of the Twelfth Century These Works are follow'd by another Continuation in the same Tome of Father Dachery's Spicilegium ADSO Abbot of Luxeüil THere were two Monks in the Tenth Century who bore the Name of Adso The first of these Adso Abbot of Luxueil Adso Abbot of Deuvres the Abbot of Luxeuil wrote about the year 960. a Treatise of the Miracles of S. Vaudalbert the third Abbot of Luxueil which is contain'd in the first Tome of the Benedictine Centuries The second Abbot of Deuvres in the Diocess of Bourges is the Author of the Life of S. Bercaire of that of S. Basole Confessor of the History of the Translation and Miracles of the latter of the Life of S. Frodbert Abbot of Celles of the History of the Translation of his Relicks and lastly of the Life of S. Mansuet the first Bishop of Toul All these Works except the last are in the second and fourth Benedictine Centuries of Father Mabillon the last was publish'd by Monsieur Bosquet This Author flourish'd about the year 980. and died in 992. LETALDUS Monk of S. Memin LEtaldus Monk of the Abbey of Micy or S. Memin in the Diocess of Orleans flourish'd about the Letaldus Monk of S. Memin end of the Tenth Century He wrote the History of the Miracles of S. Maximin or Memin the first Founder of that Monastery publish'd by Father Mabillon in the first Tome of his Benedictine Centuries and it is probable that he is the same with the Author of the Life of S. Julian Bishop of Mans. CHAP. IV. The History of the Churches of Germany THE Emperor Arnulphus the last of the Branch of the Carlian Stock who obtain'd Germany for The Revolutions of the Empire of Germany in the Tenth Century his Inheritance dying in the year 899. left but one lawful Son nam'd Lewis who being only eight years old was committed to the Care of Otho Duke of Saxony who married his Sister and of Hatto Archbishop of Mayence Soon after he became Heir of Lorrain of which Zuentibold his Bastard Brother was in possession But he was not able to subdue Italy nor to cause himself to be crown'd Emperor neither did he live long but dyed between eighteen and twenty years old A. C. 911. leaving only two Daughters named Placidia and Mathildis The first was married to Conrade Duke of Franconia and the other to Henry the Fowler Duke of Saxony and Son of Duke Otho The Estates of the Realm designing to confer the Crown upon that Otho he desired to be excus'd by reason of his old Age and advis'd them to chuse Conrade Duke of Franconia but his Son Henry Duke of Saxony whose Moderation was not so great claim'd a Right to part of the Kingdom as having married one of the Heiresses revolted against Conrade wag'd War with him and gain'd the Battle however this Advantage prov'd ineffectual and Conrade always remain'd in possession of the Throne till his death which happen'd in the year 918. When he left Henry Duke of Saxony his Heir and order'd the Lords to wait upon him with the Crown and the Royal Ornaments They perform'd his last Will and acknowledg'd Henry Duke of Saxony surnam'd the Fâ—wler as King of Germany This valâ—ant and prudent Prince kept in awe Arnulphus Duke of Bavaria defeated the Hungarians who ravag'd Germany overcame the Vandals subdu'd Bohemia and after having reign'd Seventeen years dyed A. C. 936. The Lords substituted in his place his eldest Son Otho afterwards surnam'd the Great against whom his Brother Henry made War but was defeated and mortally wounded in a Fight The Dukes Gilbert and Everard who were Authors of this Revolt perish'd in another Engagement near Andernac and left Otho in the quiet possession of his Dominions which he enlarg'd considerably and joyn'd to them the Kingdom of Italy with the Imperial Dignity which passed to his Son Otho and to his Grandson of the same Name as it has been already related Under these Emperors who were no less Religious than Valiant the Churches of Germany were in a flourishing Condition by the means of a great number of Reverend Bishops the Writings of several Authors and the propagation of the Gospel among the Northern People This is what we shall proceed to shew in giving an Account of such Persons illustrious for their Learning and Sanctity as Germany has produc'd in this Century S. ULRIC Bishop of Augsburgh WE shall begin with S. Ulric Bishop of Augsburgh He was descended from an Ancient Family in Germany the Son of Hugpaut and Thetpirga He began to study in the Monastery of S. S. Ulric Bishop of Augsburgh Gal and was taken from thence to be put under the Tuition of Adalberon Bishop of Augsburgh in the year 909. He made a Journey to Rome and during his residence there Adalberon died and left Hiltin his Successor after whose death Ulric was nominated Bishop of Augsburgh by King Henry A. C. 924. He was highly esteem'd by that Prince and the Emperor
admitted which was dedicated to the Novices of the Monastery of St. Sulpicius of the Cistercian Order These two Authors wrote in the end of the Century ZACHARY a Regular Canon as some say of the Order of Premontre in the Monastery of St. Martin at Laon or according to others Bishop of Chrysopolis wrote a Commentary on Ammonius's Evangelical Concord which was printed at Colen A. D. 1535. and in the Nineteenth Tome of the Bibliotheca Patrum We have no certain Account of the Life and Character of this Author or of the time when he flourish'd CHAP. XIII Of the Writers of Ecclesiastical History of the Twelfth Century THE Twelfth Century has produc'd so great a Number of Historians and Historical Works as well Ecclesiastical as Prophane that 't is in a manner impossible to give a particular Account of every one of them nevertheless we have endeavour'd to make a Catalogue of them and at least to represent the Authors and their Works in general In order to do which more conveniently and more methodically we have distributed them under several Articles and Divisions The Writers of General History FLORENTIUS BRAVO an English Monk of Winchester wrote a Chronicle from the Creation Florentius Bravo Monk of Winchest of the World to the Year of our Lord 1118. taken in part from that of Marianus Scotus printed at London A. D. 1595. and at Francfurt in 1601. as also a Genealogical Account of the Kings of England which is likewise annex'd to the London Edition He died A. D. 1119. ECKARD Abbot of Urangen in the Diocess of Wurtzburg flourish'd A. D. 1130. and left a Eckard Abbot of Urangen Chronicle to Posterity Trithemius makes mention of a Work of this Author call'd The Lantern of Monks there are also extant certain Letters and Sermons written by him HUGH a Monk of Fleury compos'd A. D. 1120. a Chronicle from the Creation of the World Hugh Monk of Fleury to the Year 840. which was printed at Munster in 1638. The same Author wrote two Books concerning the Royal Authority and the Sacerdotal Dignity which were dedicated to Henry I. King of England and publish'd by M. Baluzius in the Fourth Tome of his Miscellaneous Works ORDERICUS VITALIS born in England at Attingesham on the River Severn A. D. 1075. Ordericus Vitalis Monk of St. Evrou was sent at the Age of eleven Years to Normandy and plac'd in the Abby of St. Evrou where he assim'd the Habit of a Monk and compleated his Studies He likewise enter'd into Holy Orders and spent his whole Life in that Monastery leaving XIII Books of Ecclesiastical History from the Nativity of Jesus Christ to the Year 1142. which were publish'd by M. du Chesne in the Volume of the Historiographers of Normandy ANSELM Abbot of Gemblours in Brabant continu'd Sigebert's Chronicle from the Year 1112. to Anselm Abbot of Gemblours Otho Bishop of Frisinghen 1137. This Continuation with two others the first of which is extended to the Year 1149. and the second to 1225. was set forth by Albertus Miraeus and printed at Antwerp A. D. 1608. The Birth of OTHO Bishop of Frisinghen is no less illustrious than the Reputation he acquir'd by writing his History For he was the Son of Leopold Marquess of Austria and of Agnes the Daughter of the Emperor Henry IV. That Princess was twice marry'd viz. at first to Frederick Duke of Suevia or Schwaben to whom she brought forth two Sons namely Conrad the Emperor and Frederick Duke of Suevia But by her second Marriage with Leopold she had Leopold Duke of Bavaria Henry Duke of Austria Gertrude Dutchess of Bohemia Bertha Dutchess of Poland Ita Marchioness 〈◊〉 Montferrat Otho and Conrad These two last being design'd by their Father for the Ecclesiastical Functions Otho obtain'd the Government of a College which his Father had founded at Neuâ—…g and where he order'd himself to be bury'd But Otho soon resign'd his Office to Opoldus and being incited with an ardent desire of becoming Master of the Liberal Sciences went to Paris where he compleated his Studies Some Years after he turned Cistercian Monk in the Abbey of Morimond with Fifteen of his Companions In 1138. the Emperor Conrad his Brother conferr'd 〈◊〉 him the Bishoprick of Frisinghen in Bavaria and honour'd him with the Dignities of Chancellor and Secretary of State He accompanied that Prince in his Expedition to the Holy Land A. D. 1147. and at last in 1156. leaving his Bishoprick retir'd to the Abbey of Morimond where he died in the Month of September in the same Year This Prelate compos'd a Chronological History from the Creation of the World to his time divided into Seven Books and annex'd an Eighth concerning the Persecution to be raised by Anti-christ and the Resurrection of the Dead He wrote a very fine Style with respect to the Age in which he liv'd and much more politely than the other Historians of those Times He was well versed in Scholastical Divinity as also in Aristotle's Philosophy and was one of the first who as Radâ—ic has observ'd introduced that Science into Germany Upon which Account 't is not to be admir'd that he has been very favourable to Gillebert de la Porréc in the Dissertation prefix'd before his History It was first published by John Cuspinian and printed at Strasbourg A. D. 1515. afterwards at Basil in 1569. and among the German Historiographers at Francfurâ— in 1585. and 1670. Otho in like manner wrote two Books containing the History of the Actions of Frederick Barbeâ—ossa which are subjoyn'd at the end of his Chronicle Moreover Wolfgangus Lazius says that he saw an History of Austria compos'd by the same Otho but there has been no talk of it since neither has it as yet appear'd any where in Print GODFREY OF VITERBO so call'd from the Name of his Native Country who was a Godfrey of Viterbo Priest Almoner and Secretary of State to the Emperors Conrad III. Frederick I. and Henry VI. wrote an Universal Chronicle dedicated to Pope Urban III. and call'd Pantheon by reason of the great Variety of Occurrences contain'd therein It ends at the Year 1186. and is inserted among the Works of the German Historians collected by Pistorius and printed at Francfurt in 1584. It is reported that this Writer spent Forty Years in travelling that he made a prodigious Collection of all sorts of Observations during his Voyages and that he understood the Hebrew Chaldaick Greek and Latin Tongues Lambecius makes mention of another Work by the same Author which is to be seen in Manuscript in the Emperor's Library bearing this Title The Mirror of Kings or Genealogies of all the Kings and Emperors from the universal Floud to the time of Henry VI. ROBERT OF TORIGNY a Monk afterwards Prior of Bec Abbey and at last Abbot of St. Michael's Robert of Torigny Abbot of Mount St. Michael Mount compos'd a Supplement of Sigebert's Chronicle and a Continuation to the Year 11â—4 as also
make his escape is seiz'd and convey'd laden with Fetters to Thoulouse and deliver'd into the Bishop's Custody The Abbey of Baume is chang'd into a Priory by the Pope by reason of the contempt that the Monks of that Abbey had shewn of the Authority of the See of Rome nevertheless this Title is restor'd some time after A Council at Etampes held on Septuagesima-Sunday concerning the Expedition of the Holy Land and the Regency of the Kingdom of France which is given to Suger Abbot of St. Denis A Council at Auxerre held in the beginning of the Year A Council at Paris held on the Festival of Easter The Death of Waselinus Momalius Prior of St. Laurence at Liege 1148 IV. The Pope after having held several Councils in France returns to Italy X. VI. Lucas Chrysobergius according to some Writers is advanc'd this Year to the Patriarchate of Constantinople but as others will have it not till An. 1155. Eon de l'Etoile a Visionary Heretick is brought before Pope Eugenius in the Council at Rheims who condemns him to close Confinement so that he dies in Prison a little while after Gillebert de la Porrée being convicted by St. Bernard in that Council retracts his Errors The Pope performs the Ceremony of the Dedication of the Church of Toul He writes to St. Hildegarda Abbess of Mount St. Robert commending her Spirit of Prophecy St. Malachy who undertook a second Journey to Rome in order to obtain the Pall of the Pope dies by the way at Clairvaux November the 2d A Council at Rheims held in the Month of March against Gillebert de la Porrée Bishop of Poitiers A Council at Triers held in the presence of Pope Eugenius which approves the writings of St. Hildegarda  1149 V. XI The King of France returning from the Holy Land invests Henry the Son of Mathilda Countess of Anjou with the Dutchy of Nomandy VII Henry the Brother of the King of France and Monk of Clairvaux is made Bishop of Beauvais Gilbert Foliot Abbot of Leicester in England is ordain'd Bishop of Hereford  St. Bernard writes his first Book Of Consideration The Death of Amedeus Bishop of Lausanna 1150 VI. Eugenius after his return to Italy having sustain'd many shocks at last makes himself Mafter of St. Peter's Church XII Lewes the Young King of France divorces his Wife Eleonor the Daughter of William Duke of Guienne whom he had marry'd in 1137. VIII Hugh Abbot of Trois-Fontaines in Champagne is created Cardinal Bishop of Ostia Henry and Roland Monks of Clairvaux are likewise made Cardinals at the same Promotion Philip Arch-Deacon of Paris the Son of King Lewes the Gross is chosen Bishop of that City but he resigns this Bishoprick to Peter Lombard sir-nam'd Master of the Sentences Godeschalcus Abbot of St. Martin succeeds Alvisius in the Bishoprick of Arras Philip who had been depos'd from the Bishoprick of Taranto A. 1139. and who had afterward retir'd to Clairvaux there to take the habit of a Monk is made Prior of the same Monastery by St. Bernard John a Monk of the Isle of Oxia is advanc'd to the Patriarchate of tioch this Year Peter de Celles is made Abbot of Celles in the same Year  St. Bernard writes his second Book Of Consideration and sends it to Pope Eugenius Arsenius a Monk of Mount Athos makes his Collection of the Canons Otho Bishop of Frisinghen Serlo Abbot of Savigny Lucius Abbot of St. Cornelius Bartholomew de Foigny Bishop of Laon. Peter Lombard Bishop of Paris Falco Henry Arch-Deacon of Huntington Hugh Cardinal Bishop of Ostia Constantinus Manasses Constantinus Harmenopulus Robert Pullus Cardinal dies this Year The Death of William Abbot of St. Thierry in the same Year 1151 VII XIII IX The Pope confirms the Rights and Privileges of the Church of Colen Jourdain des Ursins Cardinal is sent Legate into Germany St. Bernard wrote his 190th Letter against this Prelate Geffrey Arthur Arch-Deacon of St. Asaph is ordain'd Bishop of the the same Church Bartholomew Bishop of Laon after having govern'd his Church 38 Years retires to the Abbey of Foigny and there turns Monk Gauterius Abbot of St. Martin at Laon succeeds him in that Bishoprick but he leaves it three Years after and becomes a Monk at Premontré Turoldus is chosen Abbot of Trois-Fontaines in the room of Hugh made Cardinal in the preceding Year The Death of Hugh who of Abbot of Pontigny had been ordain'd Bishop of Auxerre Whereupon many Contests arise about the Succession to that Bishoprick A Council at Beaugency held on the Festival of Easter which approves the Divorce between the King of France and his Wife Eleonor by reason of their being too near of kin Gratian compleats his Collection of Canons John Patriarch of Antioch Germanus Patriarch of Constantinople Andronicus Camaterius George Arch-bishop of Corfu Lucas Câ—rysobergius Patriarch of Constantinople Robert Arch-Deacon of Ostrevant Theobaldus a Monk of St. Peter at Beze Gauterius Canon of Terouane Herbert a Monk Haimo Arch-Deacon of Châlons Herman a converted Jew of Colen Nicetas Constantinopolitanus Teulfus a Monk of Morigny 1132 VIII The Death of Conrad FREDERICK I. succeeds him I. Stephen K. of England being deceas'd the Kingdom returns to Henry II. Duke of Normandy X. Odo Abbot of St. Cornelius at Compeigne is chosen Abbot of St. Denis in the place of Suger The Pope orders the Bishop of Saintes to permit a new Church to be built at Rochel He confâ—… the Primacy of â—â—â—â—do and enjoyns the Bishops of Spain to acknowledge it He likewise ratifies the Constitutions and Privileges of the Cistercian Order  The Death of Suger Abbot of St. Denis January 15. St. Bernard finishes his other Books Of Consideration John Monk of Marmoutier Alexander Abbot in Sicily Radulphus Niger Monk of St. Germer St. Elizabeth Abbess of Schonaw St. Aâ—â—â—ed Abbot of Reverby 1153 IX Eugenius dies July 8th at Tivoli ANASTASIUS IV. is chosen in his place two days after I. II. XI Pope Eugenius grants by a Bull to the Canons of St Peter at Rome the fourth part of all the Offerings that were made in that Church Alanus a Native of Burg de Reninghen near Ypres in Flanders and Abbot of Larivoir is ordain'd Bishop of Auxerre Henry Archbishop of York being dead this Year William his Competitor who had been Chosen and Consecrated Archbishop of that Church in 1140. but before whom Henry was preferr'd by Pope Innocent takes a Journey to Rome where he obtains of Pope Anastasius the confirmation of his Archiepiscopal Dignity and the Pall. However he does not long enjoy this Archbishoprick dying in the next Year The Cardinals Bernard and Gregory the Pope's Legates in Germany depose Hâ—â—â—y Archbishop of Mentz Robert Abbot of Dunes succeeds St. Bernard in the Abbey of Clairvaux  The Death of St. Bernard August 〈◊〉 1154 II. Anastasius dies Decemb. 4th having for his Successor ADRIAN IV. Reign of Henry II. his Successor according to the truest Opinion III. The
Council detain'd Prisoner and Depos'd on the 29th of May. Gregory XII Renounces the Papal Dignity by his Proctors An Agreement between the Emperor Sigismund and the K. of Arragon about the Deposition of Benedict XIII V. XXIV 1415. 45 Articles of the Doctrine of Wicklef Condemn'd in the Council of Constance on the 4th of May. The Process of John Huss is finished he is Condemned and Burnt the 15th of July Jerome of Prague arrives at Constance the 4th of May he endeavours to escape but is Apprehended He Retracts on the 23d of September The Proposition of John Petit Condemn'd in the Council of Constance on the 6th of July  John Dominici Cardinal of Ragusa Theodoric of Niem Leonard Aretin John Zachary Gabriel of Spoleto Peter Maurocenus John of Dendermonde Anthony of Genua 1416 A Process made against Benedict XIII Ferdinand IV. King of Arragon Dies on the 2d of April Alphonsus his Son succeeds him XXV Jerome of Prague is Accus'd a new Condemn'd in the Council of Constance and Burnt May the 30th The Troubles and Wars in Bohemia about Religion  Anthony of Parma John Capreolus Flourish'd 1417 The Deposition of Benedict XIII in the Month of July The Election of Martin V. on the 11th of November I. VII XXVI 1417  John Baptista Poggio spoke a Funeral Oration upon Cardinal Zabarella Thomas of Walsingham finished his larger History of England 1418 II. VIII XXVII 1418. An Assembly of the States of the Kingdom of France which Orders the Execution of the Edict made in 1406.  The Death of John Dominici Cardinal of Ragusa 1419 III. The Death of Gregory XII John XXIII escapes out of Prison and goes to meet Marin V. at Florence where he Dies Benedict XIII continues obstinate and is abandon'd by all those of his own Obedience except those in the City of Paniscole IX XXVIII John Manuel Palaeologus is associated with his Father Manuel in the Empire 1419 The Council of Constance ends on the 19th of April St. Vincent Ferrier Died April the 5th Augustine of Rome was made General of the Order of Augustines in the Month of August 1420 IV. X. XXIX 1420. The Institutiâ—n of the Order of the Anunciatiun by Amedaeus the 5th Earl of Savoy The Council of Saltzburg John de Courtecuise is chosen Bishop of Paris but he did not enjoy that Bishoprick Loup of Olivet Boniface Ferrier Anthoni Rampelogus Henry of Hesse Carthusians Flourish'd 1421 V. Martin V. enters into Rome Joan Queen of Naples craves the Assistance of Alphonsus King of Sicily and Arragon and Adopts him for her Heir Louis of Anjou and Alphonsus make War upon one another XI XXX Aâ—urath succeeds his Father Mahomet in the Empire of the Turks 1421. The beginning of the Negotiations between the Greeks and the Latines by Eudemon Joannes  Nicâ—las of Inâ—elspuel Iheâ—â—â—ric of Ingelhusa Herman Petri of Stutdorp Thomas Waldensis of Walden John of Imola VVilliam Lyndwood John Pleath John Dieppourg Henry Gulpen Rodolph of Brussels Flourish'd 1422 VI. XII Charles VI. K. of France dies October the 21st The Duke of Bedâ—â—rd causes Henry King of England his Nephew to be Proclaim'd King of France but Charles the VII Son to Charles the VI as Lawful Heir succeeded him and Retook afterwards the greatest part of his Kingdom which was possess'd by the English The Death of Henry V. King of England who left a Son of Catharine Daughter to Charles VI. King of France call'd Henry VI. XXXI The Emperor Manuel Palaeologus falls sick of a Palsie in the Month of October John Manuel begins to reign alone 1422. Massanus being sent from the Pope to Constantinople treats with the Greek Emperor  John de Courtecuise is made Bishop of Geneva and died the next Year Albert of Saâ—ciano spoke his Discourse about the Eucharist John of VValsingham finish'd the Abridgment of his History of England 1423 VII XIII I. 1423. The Council of Collen The General Council opened at Pavia June 22d and immediately translated to Siena where it is continued VVilliam Lindwood begun his Collection of the Constitutions of the Archbishops of Canterbury Thomas of Kempis is Ordain'd Priest Dennis Rickes enters into the Order of the Carthusians 1424 VIII The Death of Benedict XVII The Cardinals who were with him choose Giles Munion who assum'd the Name of Clement VIII XIV II. 1424 The Council of Siena translated to Basil.  1425 IX XV. III. 1425. The Negotiations with the Greeks are renew'd  The Death of Peter of Ailly Cardinal 1426 X. XVI IV. 1426. The Conclusion of the Faculty of Theology at Paris about the Observation of Sundays and Festivals  Julian Caesarin and Dominic of Caâ—ranica are advanc'd to the Degree of Cardinals Martin Poree dies September the 26th 1427 XI XVII V. 1427.   1428 XII XVIII VI. 1428.  Herman Petri of Stutdorp dies the 24th of April The Death of Henry of Hesse a Carthusian about this Year 1429 XIII Clement VIII Renounces the Papal Dignity and the Schism is perfectly extinguish'd XIX VII 1429. The Council of Paris The Council of Tortosa Alexâ—…r the Carpenter wrote his Treatise entituled Destructorium Vitâ—orum The Death of Simeon of Thessaâ—onica 1430 XIV XX. VIII 1430. A Censure of the Faculty of Theology at Paris against the Propositions oâ—… Sarrazin about Ecâ—lesiastical Power and the Hierarchy  VVilliam Lâ—ndwood finish'd his Collection of Constitutions Nicolas Auximanus St. Bernardin of Siena Raimund of Sabonde or Sebeide Peter of Jeremy Maphaeus Vegius Flourish'd Thomas VValdensis or of VValden died November the 3d. 1431 The Death of Martin V. February the 20th Eugenius IV. is chosen March the 4th I. Joan Quâ—en of Naples being at War with Alpâ—nâ—us King of Arragon Adopts Louis Duke of Anjou and makes him King XXI IX 1431. Eugenius IV. grants the King of Cyprus the 100th part of the Ecclesiastical Revenues of France Spain and England to set at Liberty the Hostages he had leâ—t with the Sultan The Institution of the Order of the Golden Fleece by Philip Duke of Buâ—guâ—dy The Opening of the Council of Basil July the 23d Macarius Macres died January 7th Ambrose the Camaldulian was admitted General of his Order Augustine of Rome is made Bishop of Cesena and some time after Archbishop of Nazareth John of Turrecremata is made Master of the Sacred College Giles Charlier is made Dean of Cambray in the Month of Octâ—ber 1432 II. Eugenius IV. is driven out of Rome and returns into it again five Months after XXII Sigismund is Crown'd Emperor at Rome X. 1432. A Conclusion of the Faculty of Theology at Paris about the Admonitions of Bishops Eugenius IV. has a mind to Dissolve the Council of Basil which continues to sit in spite of his Decree and proceeds against him Giles Charlier and John Nider are deputed by the Council of Basil to the Bohemians John Archbishop of Tarentum makes an Harangue in favour of the Pope in the Council of Basil. Henry of â—ande Nicolas of
Woman but his Wife That his Daughters remained Virgins and his Son was very Chaâ—t He says that the Apostles S. Peter and S. Philip were Married and that they had Children That even S. Philip married his Daughters and he adds also that S. Paul had a Wife wherein he is mistaken Tho' it is uncertain whether S. Paul was ever Married yet it is a rash thing to say positively he was not S. Clement alledges a Tradition in this Matter which might easily be conveyed entire down to his time It is plain that the true Yoke-fellow Philip. 4. 3. was a Woman which others of the Antients understood of his Wife besides S. Clement His Expostulating with the Corinthians and asserting that he had a Power to lead about a Sister or a Wife as well as S. Peter or any of the Apostles may as well prove that S. Paul justified his own Practice as that he thought the thing simply lawful especially since he is there making a Defence for himself The Question however is very far from being certain in the Negative and therefore at least ought to be left undetermined In the Fourth Book he treats of Martyrdom and Christian Perfection He shews the Excellency of Martyrdom and exhorts Christians to undergo it confuting the Hereticks who held that Martyrdom was no Vertuous Action He makes the perfection of Christianity to consist in the Love of God and our Neighbour He would have us love Sinners and yet detest their Sin that we should do good out of a principle of Love and not for Fear For that Man says he that abstains from Evil only out of a slavish Fear is not good voluntarily but for Fear-sake and he who would not have abstained but in Consideration of the Recompence cannot be said to be just with a good Heart For in the one 't is Fear and in the other the hope of a Reward which renders them Just or rather which makes them appear so to the Eyes of the World He says that God inflicts Punishments upon Men for Three Reasons First that the Man whom he Chastises may become better Secondly that those who are to be saved may take warning by these Examples Thirdly lest he should be despised by Men if he did not avenge Affronts and Injuries done to himself In the Fifth Book after having shewn that the way of instructing by Allegories and Symbols was very ancient not only among the Jews but also among the Philosophers he proves that the Greeks took the greatest part of the Truths which are in their Books from the Barbarians and principally from the Hebrews This Book is full of Citations from the Poets and the heathen Philosophers In the Sixth Book he speaks again advantageously of Philosophy Afterwards he begins to draw a Character of the True Gnostick that is to say to give the Idea of a Christian that is perfectly Good and Wise. These are the principal strokes of his Picture The True Gnostick has the Command over his Passions He is exactly Temperate and allows his Body no more than what is necessary He loves God above all Things and the Creatures for Gods-sake and the Relation they bear to him and nothing is able to separate him from this Love He bears with Patience all unfortunate Accidents He makes it his Business to know all things which relate to God without neglecting humane Learning His Discourses are regular and to the purpose full of Sweetness and Charity He is never overcome with Anger He prays continually by Charity that unites him to God First begging of him the Remission of his Sins and then the Grace not to sin any more but to do Good Afterwards S. Clement enlarges upon the Source or Spring from whence this Gnostick derives this true Knowledge and compleat Science He says that it is the Holy Scripture the Law and the Prophets and in particular the Decalogue which he briefly explains and Lastly the Doctrine of Jesus Christ foretold by the Prophets preached throughout the World and received notwithstanding all the Contradiction of Kings and the great Men of this World who opposed it with all their Might In the Seventh Book he goes on to describe the Vertues of his Gnostick he says that he employs himself entirely in honouring God in loving him in understanding hearing and imitating his WORD which was made Man for our Salvation that he does it not only upon certain days but during the whole Course of his Life that the Sacrifices by which he Honours him are the Prayers and the Praises which he offers up at all times and in all Places that he is Gentle Courteous Affable Patient Charitable Sincere Faithful and Temperate that he despises the good things of this World and that he is ready to suffer every thing for Jesus Christ that he does nothing either out of Ostentation or Fear or the Desire of being rewarded but out of pure Love to the Goodness and Justice of God Lastly that he is entirely Holy and Divine Afterwards S. Clement Answers several Objections of the Greeks and Jews who affirmed that the multiplicity of Heresies ought to hinder Men from the embracing the Religion of Jesus Christ. To which he Answers that this multitude of Sects is likewise to be found among the Heathens and the Jews that it was foretold by Jesus Christ that such a thing should happen among the Christians That it ought not to make us forsake the Truth but rather on the contrary to seek after it with the greater Care and Diligence That there is an infallible Rule to distinguish Truth from Falshood that this Rule is the Holy Scripture which being an incontestable Principle serves for a Proof of whatever we say That it must be Confessed that the Hereticks make use of it as well as the Catholicks But then first they do not make use of all the Sacred Books Secondly those which they do use are corrupted Thirdly they chiefly urge ambiguous Passages which they explain according to their own Fancy by departing from the true Sense and keeping only to Terms Hence he takes occasion to condemn in general all Hereticks who rejecting the Tradition of Jesus Christ and his Apostles and forsaking the Faith of the Church have made themselves the Authors of particular Sects by inventing new Doctrines and corrupting the Truth He says that there is but only One Catholick Church which is more ancient than all the Assemblies of the Hereticks that it was founded by Jesus Christ who dyed under Tiberius and established it in the World by the Apostles before the end of Nero's Region Whereas there was hardly so much as one Heresie older than Adrian's Time and that they all bore the Name of their Author or that of the Places and Countries where they first appeared or from the Doctrine they taught or the things which they honoured which sufficiently discovers their Falshood and Novelty He concludes by making the Description of these Books of the Stromata and by promising to begin
the Synod directed to Felix importing that Liberius and he should govern the Church of Rome as Co-partners But Liberius was no sooner return'd thither but Felix was forc'd to depart and when afterwards he endeavour'd to return by Force he was driven away with disgrace Now Liberius seeing himself in peaceable Possession of his See as he had Subscrib'd against his will to the Condemnation of St. Athanasius and the Creeds of the Arians so he quickly repented of what he had done made Profession of the Nicene Creed and reconcil'd himself to St. Athanasius He wrote one Letter to all the Bishops of the World in the Year 362 wherein he would have all those Bishops pardon'd who through surprize had approv'd of the Error of the Arians but he absolutely Anathematizes the Heads of their Party and those that would not return from their Error This Letter is set down in the Fragments of St. Hilary At last the Semi-Arians seeing themselves over-power'd by the Anomaeans who had more Interest in the Emperour Valens had recourse to Liberius and sent to him in the Year 366 Eustathius of Sebaste together with Sylvanus and Theophilus Bishops of Cilicia who presented him with Letters from the Council of Lampsacus Liberius at first would not receive them because he said they were of Arius's Faction but they perswaded him that they would retract that Error and profess that the Son is perfectly like his Father and of the same Substance yea they made Profession of the Nicene Creed it self approv'd the word Consubstantial and condemn'd the Creeds of Ariminum and Seleucia Liberius having exacted of them these Declarations wrote into the East in their favour and he died within a little time after in the Year 366 d He died in the Year 366. St Jerom and Marcellinus say so in their Chronicles The History which we have now given of Liberius informs us of the number of Letters that were written by this Pope as well as the time the occasion and subject of every one of them And therefore it will be sufficient here to give a Catalogue of them and to mark out those that are falsly attributed to him and in doing of it we shall follow the Order that is observ'd in the two Volumes of the last Edition of the Councils The 1st is that which was written to Hosius upon the Lapse of Vincentius of Capua publish'd by Baronius and taken from a Manuscript in the Vatican This appears to me to be Genuine and agrees with the History of that time The 2d is a Letter to Constantius at the End of Lucifer's Works and in the Fragments of St. Hilary The three following to Eusebius Verceliensis are taken out of the Acts of this Bishop and appear to me to be Ancient The 6th to the Confessors in Exile is in the Fragments of St. Hilary and in the Acts of which we have spoken already The 7th which was written to the Eastern Bishops after he had sign'd against St. Athanasius is taken out of the Fragments of St. Hilary and is very Genuine The 8th is that which is suppos'd to have been written to those in the East immediately after his Advancement to the Pontificate wherein he declares St. Athanasius Excommunicated But we have shown that 't is very doubtful though it is in the Fragments of St. Hilary The 9th written to Ursacius to Valens and Germinius and the 10th to Vincentius of Capua from the place of his Banishment after he had sign'd are Genuine and taken out of the Fragments of St. Hilary The 11th written to the Bishops of Italy after the Council of Ariminum is unquestionable and is preserved in the same place The 12th which is a Confession of Faith addressed to St. Athanasius is Supposititious as we have already prov'd when we discours'd of the Works of that Father among which it occurs The 13th which is suppos'd to be that which Eustathius and the other Deputy-Bishops from the East obtain'd of Liberius and presented to the Synod of Tyana agrees very well with the History of that time The 14th and 15th ought to be rank'd among those Letters that are forg'd by Isidore and are rejected by all the Criticks The three Decrees attributed to this Pope have not any respect to the Discipline of his time nor have they any Authority The Conference e The Conference 'T was rather an Examination which Liberius under-went in the Emperor's Council which he had with Constantius and Epictetus is preserved by Theodoret B. II. of his Hist. Ch. 6. and was by him drawn out of the Ancient Acts written in Liberius's time The Stile of Liberius is Simple and without Ornament but strong and clear His Conduct unblameable if he had not suffer'd himself to be overcome by the Love which he had for the City of Rome and his Church But he made amends for that Fault by the Constancy which he show'd after his Return St. HILARY St. HILARY was born in the City of Poictiers a Was born in the City of Poictiers St. Jerom in his Preface to B. II. of his Commentaries upon the Epistle to the Galatians says that St. Hilary was a Gaul born at Poictiers Fortunatus says also that he was of that City Pictavis residens qua sanctus Hilarius olim Natus in Urbe Pater The Names of his Parents are not known for we must not acquiesce in what Bollandus writes that the Tomb of his Father and Mother were found in a Village of Poictou where his Father was nam'd Francarius But there is some probability that he was of a good Family We need not now distinguish this Hilarius from several others of that Name of whom we shall speak afterwards whereof he was afterwards Bishop He was bred up in the Heathen Religion and applied himself in his Youth to the Study of Profane St. Hilary Learning He was Married and had one Daughter nam'd Apra b Apra The Author of the Life of this Saint which is attributed to Fortunatus is the only ancient Witness that we have of this Circumstance who does also observe that St. Hilary having left his Daughter and Wife at Poictiers when he was banish'd had a Revelation in the Place of his Banishment that a rich and potent young Man courted his Daughter to marry her but that he by his Prayers hindred her from taking any other Spouse but Jesus Christ and that he wrote a Letter to her which this Author recites The same Author adds at the end of B. I. of the Life of St. Hilary that returning from his Banishment and finding that his Daughter desir'd to marry he prayed God to take her out of the World that his Prayer was heard for his Daughter died and her Mother surviv'd her but a very little time This is reported by the Author of this Life who liv'd soon after King Cloüis towards the Year 580 and who appears to be different from Venantius Fortunatus St. Gregory of Tours cites this Life
of the Excellency of Virginity He shews That this Vertue comes from Heaven and that God is the Author of it That the Heathens neither knew it nor practis'd it as they ought That the Jews themselves did not esteem it and that it was not common amongst Men till Jesus Christ came into the World Afterwards he gives a Catalogue of the Advantages which Virginity has above the married State by comparing these Two Conditions I do not condemn Marriage says he but I will prove that Virginity is more Excellent Let us compare if you please the more considerable Advantages of married Women with the least Happiness of Virgins The married Woman may boast of her Fruitfulness which makes her happy in Children but the more she brings into the World the more Pain she suffers She may reckon upon the Comfort and Support she shall have from her Children but with this let her balance the troubles they bring upon her What might I not say of the troubles which Mothers must undergo both in Nursing Children and bringing them up and then in marrying of them What is more harsh than that Subjection or rather Slavery to which Wives are reduc'd What is more uneasy than those perpetual Complaisances which they must always use towards their Husbands Fears and Jealousies and a Thousand other Cares render them unhappy The Necessity and Slavery they undergo in dressing and adorning themselves is a perpetual Punishment But you O blessed Virgins know not what all this attiring means you have no other Ornament but Modesty and Chastity you court no other Beauty than that of Vertue a Beauty which cannot be shar'd with others nor taken away by Death nor defac'd by any Sickness you have none to please but God who loveth beautiful Souls tho' they be shut up in deform'd Bodies you are not troubled with the Inconveniences of Child bearing and of bringing forth Children and yet you have a very numerous Spiritual Off-spring St. Ambrose complains that there were so few Persons at Milan who profited by his Instructions whilst a great many Virgins not only from Bologna and Placentia but even from Mauritania came to receive the Veil at Milan He reproves Mothers who hindered their Daughters from coming to his Sermons lest they should embrace Virginity At last he commends those Virgins who devoted themselves to God without their Parents leave and relates the Example of a young Gentlewoman who being press'd by her Mother and Relations to Marry threw her self down before the Altars and would not stirr from thence till she had obtained the Consent of her Parents to her professing Virginity 'T is observable that St. Ambrose says That at length her Relations approv'd her Design and so she was not depriv'd of her Estate In the Second Book he undertakes to Instruct Virgins by some Examples which he proposes to them And because the Virgin Mary was undoubtedly the most perfect of all Virgins her Example is the First and most Illustrious St. Ambrose here proposes her Life as a Pattern which Virgins ought to imitate and represents her Vertues in a most Excellent manner From this Father Preachers and Devoto's may learn how to praise the Virgin in such a manner as is worthy of her without stuffing their Discourses with Apocryphal Stories Excessive Praises and False Notions The Picture which he draws of her represents her as she was and sets before our Eyes her Natural Beauty whereas some of the Devoto's of the latter Ages have changed and disfigured her by vain Ornaments which are no ways agreeable to her neither could she her self endure them St. Ambrose having propos'd to Virgins the Example of the blessed Mary as the Pattern of their Life sets before them also the Example of St. Thecla the Martyr to Instruct them how to die well He sub joyns the Example of a Christian Virgin of Antioch who being carried to the Stews because she would not Sacrifice to Idols was deliver'd from the Danger she was in by a Souldier who chang'd Clothes with her and sav'd her But when this came to be known the Souldier was carried to the place of Punishment where the Virgin also rendred her self and they both receiv'd the Crown of Martyrdom St. Ambrose describes this History in very lively and eloquent Figures and comparing it with the Fable of Damon and Pythias he proves that this Action was much nobler and greater than that which is related of those two famous Friends Towards the End he excuses himself for using so many Flowers and Figures of Rhetorick in relating these Examples of Virgins which he says he did not do to show his Eloquence but to win the Affection of Virgins by the Sweetness and Smoothness of his Discourse and to render their Condition the more Amiable by the Beauty of the Examples which he propos'd to them before he proceeded to the Precepts and Advices which might be less agreeable The Third Book begins with an Exhortation which Pope Liberius made to Marcellina St. Ambrose's Sister when he gave her the Veil at Rome in the Church of the Apostles on Christmas-Day There is no probability that this very Discourse should be Liberius's but it was certainly made by St. Ambrose and contains very useful Advices to Virgins consecrated to God After he has exhorted them to love their Divine Spouse he prescribes Rules concerning their principal Duties he enjoyns them to be very Sober to shun Visits from the People of the World to keep Silence and to be very Modest and Reserv'd in all their Actions When he has given these Precepts under the Name of Liberius he praises the Vertues of his Sister and chiefly her Fastings but he Counsels her to moderate them that she may apply her self more to other Spiritual Exercises and especially to Prayer He says That she should pray in the Morning when she awakes before she goes out before and after Meals towards Night and when she goes to Bed He advises her also to repeat in her Bed the Lord's Prayer and the Psalms either before she falls asleep or when she awakes And he thinks that she ought to repeat every Morning the Creed as the Seal of our Faith He add That she ought to weep and shun excessive Mirth the Pleasures of this World and particularly Dancing And to dissuade Christian Virgins from it he relates the Example of the Dancing of Herodias's Daughter and describes the fatal Consequences of it A fit Example says he to teach Wise and Christian Ladies that they ought not to suffer their Daughters to practise Dancing Lastly St. Ambrose answers the Question which Marcellina had put to him to know what was to be thought of Virgins who kill'd themselves or threw themselves head-long to shun falling into the hands of their Persecutors who sought to deprive them of their Faith and their Virginity He relates the Example of St. Pelagia who kill'd her self and of the Mother and Sisters of that Saint who threw themselves head-long into the
wonders he should ask such a Question of him That the bare Proposal of the thing discovered that it was forbidden That the Law of God forbidding the Marriages of Cousin-Germains does much more strongly imply a Prohibition of this tho' it was not by name forbidden in the Divine Law That the Civil Laws forbid it and that Theodosius forbad Marriages between Cousin-Germains That if this Law were dispens'd with yet it ought not to Authorize this sort of Marriages because a Dispensation is only for him that obtains it The reâ—son which 〈◊〉 alledges That his Son was not related to his Grand-Daughter by the Father's side but only by the Mother's side proves nothing since Marriage was equally forbidden between Brethren whether they were born of the same Father and Mother or of the same Mother and different Fathers Lastly he says That it would be more Advantageous to his Family that his Son and his Daughter should marry to others because by this means he should have in his Family Children both by his Son and his Grand-Daughter The Law of Theodosius which he cites is of the Year 38â— and therefore this Letter was written after that Year 'T is there said that Paternus possess'd a gâ—â—at Office which makes it to be placed in the Year 393 because the Law which we have cited discovers to us that in this Year he was Lord High Treasurer Comes Sacrarum â—…gitionum But he might have been â—o before The Letter 62 was written by St. Ambrose to the Emperour Theodosius immediately after the Death of the Tyrant Eugenius who was defeated and kill'd in the Month of September of the Year 394. St. Ambrose retir'd from Milan when he understood that Eugenius was coming thither that he might avoid meeting this Tyrant But assoon as he was gone out of Milan St. Ambrose returned in the Month of July Some time after the Emperour Theodosius having defeated Eugenius wrote to St. Ambrose to return thanks to God for his Victory This Saint made Answer in this Letter That he would do it with Joy and that he would offer up in his Name an acceptable Sacrifice to God he praises the Piety of this Emperour who did not seek after the Pomps of a vain Triumph but desired the Bishops to offer up Sacrifices of Thanksgiving He signifies to him That he had satisfied his desire That he had carried his Letter to the Altar and laid it upon the Holy Table That he held it in his Hand while he was offering Sacrifice To the end says he that your Faith might be made known by my Mouth and that your Majesties Letter might serve as Matter for an Episcopal Oblation Afterwards he praises God for having plac'd a Prince upon the Throne who surpass'd the greatest Princes in Glory and the holiest Bishops in Humility What can be wish'd for what can be desired more says St. Ambrose to him You possess Sir all Vertues you are a Prince of singular Piety and Clemency All that can be wished for is that God would encrease in you this Piety and that the Church which rejoyces that Innocent Men live in Peace and Tranquillity may receive also the Consolation of seeing the guilty absolv'd Show Favour at least to those who have not hitherto taken Arms against their Prince The 63d Letter address'd to the same Emperour followed quickly after the preceeding wherein St. Ambrose begs favour for those of Eugenius's Party who retired into the Church after the Death of this Tyrant The 64th is address'd to the Church of Verceilles which had lost her Bishop This was not Eusebius who died in the Year 370 but Limenius who was present in the Year 38â— at the Council of Aquileia If we believe the Acts of St. Gaudentius of Novara produced by Mambritius and Bollandus upon the 12th of January St. Ambrose a little before his Death made a Journey to Verceilles upon the Account of some Dissention which was in that Church which was probably about the Election of a Bishop and this makes some believe that this Letter was not written till the Year 394. But this coniecture is founded upon a very uncertain Ground for it supposes these two things which are not well proved First That what is related in the Acts of St. Gaudentius of Novâ—râ— is true Secondly That the Division which obliged St. Ambrose to go to Verceilles was about the Election of a Bishop It seems also that St. Ambrose needed not have written this Letter if he had been upon the place himself Some have said That this Letter was not St. Ambrose's because that Venice is named in it But if this Objection be of any force we must also for the same reason reject the Second Answer to Symmachus which is without all Controversy St. Ambrose's This Letter has his Stile and his Air of Writing he has inserted into it some entire Fragments of his own Commentary upon the Gospel of St. Luke and upon Psalm 119. He exhorts the People and the Clergy to put an end to the Divisions which distracted them about the Choice of a Bishop He admonishes them afterwards to beware of harkening to two Men called Sermation and Barbatianus who were gone out of a Monastery of Milan to go and lead a licentious Life at Verceilles where they preached That no Merit belonged to Abstinence nor any peculiar Grace to Virginity and that it was a folly for any one to Fast and Mortify himself St. Ambrose makes a long Digression to refute these Errors and to prove the Usefulness of Abstinence and Fasting and the Excellency of Virginity Afterwards he returns to his Subject and treats of the Qualities of the Person who ought to be chosen for a Bishop One of the Principal is that he has had but one Wife St. Ambrose extends this Prohibition to those also who had Contracted a first Marriage before their Baptism Thus he understands the Passage of the Apostle St. Paul and the Canon of the Council of Nice There is also another Condition observed by St. Paul concerning the Qualifications of a Bishop That he should not be a Novice or one lately Instructed in the Faith Because they transgressed this Rule in the Ordination of St. Ambrose he is forced to justify himself by saying That he was Ordained against his Will At last he says If great Care ought to be taken in the Choice of a Person who is to be plac'd upon any Episcopal Throne whatsoever it was a Matter of the greatest Importance to place a Person of singular Merit upon the Episcopal Throne at Verceilles because the Bishop of this Church was entrusted with the Care of a Monastery and a Church and should joyn the Practice of a Religious Life with the Vertues of a Bishop as St. Eusebius did who was the First that united these two things in the West by settling Monasteries in a City and governing his Church without renouncing a Monastick Life Here he enlarges upon the Praises of this Holy Bishop and of Denys
reason the Canon ordains That the Communion of the Church shall be refus'd her even at the point of Death The 11th Ordains That Baptism shall be delay'd for the space of Five Years to a Catechumeness who has married a Husband that had divorc'd his Wife without cause The 12th Canon denies Communion at death to Women who prostitute their Daughters The 13th subjects to the same Penalty the Virgins consecrated to God who spend their Life in Licentiousness but it grants Absolution at the Point of Death to those who do Penance for their Fault The 14th treats Virgins with much moderation who have lost their Virginity if they marry those who have abused them for it ordains That they should be restored to Ecclesiastical Communion at the end of One Year without being oblig'd to do Penance but then it imposes Five Years Penance if they have had to do with other Men. The 15th and 16th forbid the Faithful to bestow their Daughters in Marriage upon Pagans Jews or Hereticks how great soever the number of Virgins be among Christians and it Ordains That the Fathers who do it shall be separated from Communion for the space of Five Years The 17th denies Absolution even at the Point of Death to those who give their Daughters in Marriage to the Priests of False Gods The 18th forbids Bishops Priests and Deacons to leave their Churches to exercise Merchandise and go to Fairs but it allows them to Traffick in their own Province and to send their Children their Friends and their Servants to trade in Foreign Countries The 19th ordains That Communion shall be refused even at the Point of Death to Bishops Priests and Deacons who have committed Adultery The 20th declares That a Clergyman who is discovered to take Interest should be deposed and removed That the same Crime should be pardoned in a Layman if he promises to amend it but if he relapses he is to be cast out of the Church The 21st Canon is That if any Inhabitant in a City shall be absent from the Church for three Sundays together he shall be separated from Communion for some time to signify that he has been punished for his Fault The 22d declares That he who has abandoned the Church to go over to a Sect of Hereticks shall not be received back into the Church again till he has done Penance for Ten Years As for those who were Children when they were entred into an Heretical Sect and return to the Church the Canon Ordains That they shall be Received without any delay The 23d declares That the ordinary Fasts shall be observed except in the Months of July and August because of the weakness of some of the Faithful The 24th forbids those to be admitted to Sacred Orders who have been baptized out of their own Country because their Life is not known The 25th declares That Credit shall not be given to the Letters of a Confessor but only to Letters of Communion The 26th forbids Fasting on Saturdays The 27th forbids Bishops and Clergymen to have in their Houses strange Women The 28th forbids Bishops to receive Presents from those that are not in the Communion of the Church The 29th forbids to recite at the Altar the Names of those that are possess'd and does not permit them to make any Offering themselves in the Church The 30th Ordains That the Orders of Subdeacon shall not be given to those who have committed Adultery in their Youth lest they should rise to a higher Degree and that those who have been Ordained shall be degraded The 31st declares That those may be admitted to Communion who have committed Adultery after Baptism provided they have fulfilled their Canonical Penance The 32d declares That when any Persons fall sick they ought to be received into Ecclesiastical Communion by the Bishop but yet if the sickness be violent the Priest may grant them Communion and even the Deacon if the Bishop command him The 33d Canon prescribes Celibacy to Priests and Deacons The 34th Canon is very obscure It declares That Wax-Candles are not be lighted in the Coemiteries because we must not disturb the Spirits of the Saints Some understand by the Spirits of the Saints the Souls of the Dead I think that it is more natural to understand by it the Repose of the Spirits of the Faithful that are alive and may be troubled with a great multitude of Lights in the day-time The 35th redresses a dangerous Abuse it is set down in these Words We have thought fit to hinder Women from spending the Night in the Coemiteries because oftentimes under pretence of praying they commit in secret great Crimes The 36th has very much exercis'd Divines Thus it is expressed We would not have Pictures placed in Churches lest the Object of our Worship and Adoration should be painted upon the Walls Many Explications have been given of this Passage but to me it seems better to understand it in the plainest Sence and to confess that the Fathers of this Council did not approve the use of Images no more than that of Wax-Candles lighted in full day-light But these things are Matters of Discipline which may be used or not without doing any prejudice to the Faith of the Church The 37th Canon permits Baptism to be given at the Point of Death to those who are acted by an Evil Spirit and to Catechumens and does not deprive them of Communion if they be faithful Provided adds the Canon That they do not publickly light Lamps This Addition is very obscure and there is no great necessity of explaining it The 38th declares That a Christian who is neither Penitent nor Bigamist may baptize in a case of Necessity those who are on a Journey being at a great distance from a Church upon Condition that he present him to the Bishop if he survive to be perfected by Imposition of Hands The 39th ordains That Imposition of Hands shall not be deny'd to Pagans who desire it after they are fallen into some Disease provided they have led an honest Life This Canon must be understood of that Imposition of Hands by which Pagans were plac'd in the Rank of Catechumens which this Council calls making them Christians The 40th forbids Land-Lords to allow their Farmers or Receivers what they have given for Idols and if they do it it imposes upon them a Penance of Five Years The 41st declares That the Faithful must be admonished not to suffer Idols in their Houses The 42d ordains That those who give in their Names to be entred into the Church shall be baptiz'd two Years after if they lead a regular Life unless they are obliged to relieve them sooner upon the account of any dangerous Sickness or that it is judg'd convenient to grant them this Grace sooner because of the fervor of their Prayers The 43d forbids the Celebration of the Feast of Whitsunday before Easter The 44th allows a Woman to be received who has formerly led a lewd Life when she is
who had Children before the Law Continence in these Canons is to be understood of abstaining from the Rites of Marriage which the Bishops of Lusitania made upon this Subject They impose upon them no other Penalty but that they shall not be capable of rising to a higher Dignity The 2d Canon forbids the ordaining of a Person who has done publick Penance It adds That if necessity require he may be made a Porter or at most a Reader but upon Condition that he neither read the Epistles nor Gospels and that if any such Person has been ordain'd Deacon he shall be only in the rank of Sub-Deacons without being capable of laying on of Hands or touching Holy Things 'T is observed afterwards that a i. e. The Elements of the Eucharist Penitent is he who having done publick Penance after his Baptism for Murder or some other Crime of like Nature has been publickly reconcil'd at the Altar of God The 3d. Canon declares That if a Reader marry a Widow he cannot be advanc'd to higher Orders and that at most he shall only be a Sub-Deacon The 4th That a Sub-Deacon who marries again shall be put in the rank of Porters or Readers without being capable of reading the Epistles or Gospels That he who shall marry a third time shall be separated from the Church for the space of two Years and after he is reconcil'd he shall never rise higher than the rank of Lay-men The 5th deprives a Clergy-man of Ecclesiastical Orders who being design'd for the Service of some Church in the City or Country shall not be present at the Sacrifice which is made there every Day The 6th forbids Virgins consecrated to God to have any familiarity with Ecclesiastical Men who are not of their near Kindred The 7th gives leave to Clergy-men who have Wives that do not behave themselves well to bind them and shut them up in their Houses and forbids them to eat with them till they have done Penance The 8th excludes those from Holy Orders who have been in the Wars after they have received Baptism The 9th forbids Virgins and Widows to pray with Strangers in their Houses except in the presence of the Bishop a Priest or a Deacon The 10th declares That those must not be ordain'd who have a dependence upon some Family or who are engag'd in some Farm unless those upon whom they depend consent to it The 11th declares That if a Man in power has robbed a Clergy-man or a poor Monk and will not appear before the Bishop to give an account of what he has done he ought to be excommunicated till he restores the Goods which do not belong to him The 12th forbids to receive a Clergy-man from another Bishop unless he be a Schismatick and declares all those Excommunicated who separate from Catholicks to join with Schismaticks The 13th Ordains That those who come to Church and do not receive the Communion shall be admonish'd that they must either communicate or be put in the Rank of Penitents and if they will do neither they shall be excommunicated The 14th Ordains That he shall be driven away as a Sacrilegious Person which having received the Eucharist from the hand of the Bishop does not eat it The 15th declares That we must neither eat nor converse with a Lay-man or Clergy-man who is excommunicated The 16th imposes a Penance of 10 Years for Adultery The 17th declares That he who has a Concubine and a Wife both together ought to be excommunicated but that he ought not to be excommunicated who has only a Concubine so that it is necessary for every one that is a Member of the Church to satisfy himself either with one Wife or one Concubine This Canon may give some trouble to those who know not that the Word Concubine which is at present odious was formerly taken for a Woman to whom the Marriage-Promise was given tho' she was not married with all the Solemnities which the Laws required in Marriage as St. Austin has explain'd it in the 5th Chap. of the Book about the Advantages of Marriage The 18th declares That we ought not to communicate with the Widow of a Bishop a Priest or a Deacon if she marries again and that she ought not to be reconciled until the Point of death The 19th inflicts the same Penalty upon the Daughter of a Bishop a Priest or a Deacon who marries after she has been consecrated to God The 20th is expressed in these Words Altho it is observed almost every where not to consecrate Chrism without the Bishop yet because we are informed that in some places the Priests do consecrate it we have ordain'd that for the future none but the Bishop shall consecrate the Holy Chrism and that he shall send it through all his Diocess And to the end that this Canon may be put in execution every Church shall send to the Bishop a Deacon or Sub-deacon about Easter that he may fetch Chrism for that day 'T is certain that the Bishop can consecrate Chrism at all times which the Priests cannot do without the Authority and Permission of the Bishop The Deacons cannot administer the Holy Chrism 't is only lawful for the Priests to do it in the absence of the Bishop or by his Order if he be present These are the Ecclesiastical Canons which were made at the end of the Fourth Century and the beginning of the Fifth An Abridgment of the Doctrine of the Fourth AGE of the Church THO' there was nothing taught in the Fourth Age of the Church which was not believed in the Three First yet it must be confess'd that in it the chief Mysteries of Religion were very much clear'd up and explain'd As to the Divinity and Attributes of God there was nothing almost added to what was said by the ancient Fathers and they were even less handled in this Age than in the preceding But the Mystery of the Trinity as we have seen was the Subject of an infinite number of Books written by the Authors of this Age and of many Synodical Decisions The Divinity of the Son of God and the Holy Spirit was established It was proved That these Two Persons are of the same Substance with the Father Essence and Substance was carefully distinguished from the Person many Arguments were urged whereon to ground this Doctrine and the Objections which the Hereticks propos'd against it were answer'd There was some Difference among the Catholicks about the Word Hypostasis Some would have it said That the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit were Three Hypostases and others maintain'd that we ought to say That they were but one and the same Hypostasis but this seeming Difference consisted only in a Question about a Word which depended upon the signification of the Word Hypostasis which one Party took for the Person and the other for the Nature All the Fathers of this Age acknowledged that the Word was a Person distinguished from the Person of the
are written in a different Style S. Jerom mentions Five Epistles of Theophilus which he had translated into Latin The First was a Synodical Letter against Origen of the Year 399. The Second was a Paschal Epistle for the Year 401 and three other Paschal Epistles for the Years 402 403 and 404. We have not the Two first the other Three are among S. Jerom's Epistles The First is divided into four Parts according to the Observation of that Saint In the First Theophilus exhorts the Faithfull to celebrate the Feast of Easter worthily In the Second and Third he speaks against Apollinarius In the Last he adviseth Hereticks to repent In all the Three he shews his aversion to Origen accusing him with great vehemence of several Errors It is observed in the Last that the Christians of that time forbore in Lent the Use of Wine and Meat In these Discourses he intersperses some Moral Notions and endeth all his Epistles with giving notice of the Day when Lent shall begin and of Easter Day and Whit-sunday We have besides amongst S. Jerom's Epistles Three Letters of Theophilus One to S. Epiphanius wherein he exhorts him to assemble a Council against Origen and Two other Letters against the Origenists There are some Greek Fragments of the Paschal Letters cited by Theodoret in the Council of Ephesus and in that of Chalcedon which are among those that we have or else are taken out of other Letters of the same nature For the Council of Ephesus quoteth a Sixth Paschal Letter and Justinian in his writing against Origen produces a great part of the Synodical Letter against Origen and Two other fragments of a Letter and of a Treatise directed to the Monks of Scheta Facundus l. 6. ch 5. quoteth a Book of Theophilus against S. Chrysostom full of Invectives and Calumnies against that Saint whereof he gives some Instances which shew how much Passion and Rage had blinded him Lastly One may see in Zonaras's and Balsamon's Collections some Laws and Canonical Letters of this same Bishop The First is a Pastoral Letter wherein he saith that when Christmas Eve happens upon a Sunday some light Meat may be eaten that so we may not seem to follow the practice of Hereticks by eating nothing on the Sunday and yet not to break the Law of Fasting altogether The Second is a Letter containing some Rules for the Province of Lycopolis directed to Ammon The First concerneth those who had communicated with the Arian Bishops he ordereth that they should be deposed allowing them still leave to dwell in the place and to be dealt with as was appointed by the Bishops of Thebais The Second is upon the occasion of a Priest who was ordained after he had committed a crime with a Woman that was divorced from her Husband Theophilus determines that he ought to be Suspended from his Ministerial Function The Third is concerning a Priest who had been excommunicated by his Bishop Theophilus declares that the Priest that was Excommunicated by his Bishop ought to be esteemed Excommunicate till he had justified himself by the Law The Fourth concerneth a Deacon who was accused to have Married his Brother's Daughter Theophilus saith That if he Married her before Baptism and had not co-habited with her since he was Baptized he might continue in the Clergy but if he had co-habited with her after Baptism he ought to be degraded from the Clergy In the Fifth that relateth to an Accusation brought against a Reader Theophilus gives this Order That if he be convicted of Fornication he ought to be degraded but if this Accusation is grounded only upon suspicion no regard is to be had to it In the Sixth he sets down a Rule to be observed in Ordinations he saith That the Bishop is to Ordain none who is not chosen by the whole Clergy in the presence of the People and that the Bishop is to give his Approbation before he can be Ordained The Seventh appointeth That whatsoever is left of the Offering after Communion ought to be distributed to the Clerks and to the Faithfull and none of it to the Catechumens The Eighth is also concerning a Clerk that was accused of Fornication Theophilus affirms That if he be convicted of the Crime he ought to be deposed but if he gives a good account of his Behaviour and it cannot be proved that he committed the Fact they ought not to give him any trouble The Ninth Canon is about chusing a new Steward in the Church The Tenth enjoyns That the Poor the Widows and the Pilgrims should not be disturbed and that none should usurp the Church-goods The Second Letter contains a Rule whereby it is ordered conformably to the Canon of the Council of Nice That the Novatians who had a mind to come into the Church might receive Ordination The Third to Agatho was written upon occasion of a person who knowing not the Laws of the Church had contracted an unlawfull Marriage and being censured for it had left his Wife with her consent He adviseth the Bishop to whom he writeth to place them among the Catechumens if he thought fit and if he judged that they did it sincerely otherwise he will have him deal more severely with them The Last Letter is directed to Menna where he forbids him to admit into the Communion of the Church a Woman that had wrong'd another before she had made reparation Theophilus hath nothing in his Writings that can turn to his Commendation They are dark unintelligible full of false Reasonings and Reflections that do not concern his Subject He was a good Politician but an ill Author He knew better how to manage a Court-intrigue than to resolve a question of Divinity The only Rule of his Opinions was his Interest or his Ambition He was ready to embrace any Opinion or Party that could satisfie his Passion without examining much whether it was just or reasonable THEODORUS of Mopsuesta THEODORUS a Priest of Antioch Diodorus and Flavian's Disciple S. Chrysostom's Companion and as some have affirmed Nestorius's Tutor was chosen Bishop of Mopsuesta Theodorus of Mopsuesta about the beginning of the Fifth Century of the Church Many were the Works that he writ but the misfortune which they had to be condemned with his Person in the Fifth Council by the Intrigues of Justinian the Emperour caused them to be lost except the Titles and Fragments that were collected either by his Accusers or by his Defenders It is probable that he writ Commentaries upon the whole Bible Photius Vol. 25th of his Bibliotheca saith That he had read a Commentary of Theodorus upon Genesis divided into Seven Parts Facundus and the Fifth General Council mention Commentaries of Theodorus upon the Psalms the Book of Job the Canticles the Twelve lesser Prophets the Gospels of S. Matthew S. John and S. Luke upon the Acts the Epistle to the Romans and upon the Epistle to the Hebrews In these Commentaries he insisted most upon the Historical sence avoiding
even to the Heaven And it is for that reason that he makes use of the Term it moved which shews the Nature of the Air. Theodoret propounds also a multitude of other Questions that are curious such as these that follow Whether there be one only Heaven or many He seems to admit of no more than two He is not contented to give Solutions of his own but sometimes he relates other Mens as upon that famous Text of Genesis where it is said That Man was made in the Image and Likeness of God He cites some Passages out of Diodorus Theodorus of Mopsuesta and Origen to prove that it ought to be understood of the Soul of Man and he quotes them also tho' but seldom upon some other Questions if yet these Citations have not been added to the Text of Theodoret which is so much the more probable because they are not to be found in the Manuscript of the King's Library That he may give the true sence of Scripture he hath recourse often to the Versions of the ancient Greek Translators and likewise to the Hebrew Text which he read in the Hexapla of Origen and in the Interpretation of Hebrew words by that Father He doth not at all search into the Allegories but applies himself to the explication of the Letter and the History and ordinarily he pitches upon the most plain and natural sence As for Example when he explains what is meant by the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil he thinks it enough to say that these Names were given them upon the account of the Effects which they produced That the one preserved Life and the other made Man to know what Sin was To make it evident why our first Parents were not ashamed of their Nakedness he saith That they were like Infants being not yet defiled with Sin In sum That Custom did take away or diminish Shame as we see in Seamen who being accustomed to be Naked are not in the least ashamed when they strip themselves and as it is the fashion in Baths without which it would make some Impression He believes not That Man was created Immortal but he says That God did not pass the Sentence of Death upon him till after he had sinned That he might beget in him a greater hatred of Sin He saith That Adam being driven out of Paradise was sent into a place not much distant from it that the sight of the place might put him in mind of his Sin He quotes Theodorus who thought that by the Cherubims which were placed at the Gate of Paradise they ought not to understand Angels nor any Spiritual Essences but Apparitions and Phantoms which had the shape of Ghastly Creatures He doubts not but that Enoch was translated alive into some place to preach the Resurrection but that no Man ought to trouble himself to know where it is The Sons of God of whom it is said That they had familiarity with the Daughters of Men are not according to the Judgment of Theodoret Angels but the Posterity of Seth who marryed themselves to the Daughters of the Generation of Cain of whom were born those great Men to whom they gave the Names of Giants The reason why the first Patriarchs lived so long a time was That Mankind might be multiplied and for that reason it was That they married so many Women In the Questions upon Exodus he maintains That it was God and not an Angel which appeared to Moses in the Flaming Bush. He enlarges himself much upon these words The Lord hardned the Heart of Pharaoh that he might prove that it was Pharaoh himself that hardened his own Heart against all the Admonitions and Chastisements of God who treated him with Goodness and Mercy in sparing him And in explaining in what sence God may be said to harden his Heart he brings this familiar Example The Sun is said to melt Wax and harden Clay altho' there is but one Vertue only in it which is to make hot by the same Goodness and Patience of God two contrary Effects are wrought the one is profitable to some and the other renders others guilty which is as much as to say That it converts some and hardens others As Jesus Christ hath declared in his Gospel when he says that he came That those that see not might see and that they which see might be made blind The design of Jesus Christ was not to make those blind who could see for he wills That all Men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the Truth but he notes by this what happened For Man being a free Agent they who have believed secure their Salvation but on the contrary they who believe not are themselves the Authors of their own Damnation It is in this sence that Judas who could see as he was an Apostle became blind 't is in this sence also that S. Paul who was blind received his sight 't is in this sence likewise that the Jews are blinded and the Gentiles see yet the World may not be deprived of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ because some Men make an ill use of it Altho' Theodoret seldom expounds any Allegories he cannot avoid doing it sometimes In speaking of the Jewish Passover he there discovers the Relation it has to the new Law which he unfolds in a very natural way The Sacrifices and Ceremonies of the old Law afford him Subjects of Allegory in his Questions upon Leviticus He also referrs many to Morality and draws Instructions for Mens manners out of the greatest part of the Ordinances of Leviticus and the Book of Numbers He hath made many such like Reflections in his Questions upon Deuteronomy He confines himself more to the Historical and Literal sence in his Questions upon Joshua Judges and Ruth which make up the Octateuch and in those which he hath composed upon the 4 Books of Kings and 2 Books of Chronicles These last are a second part of his Work and have a special Preface in which he observes after what manner the Books of Kings and Chronicles were composed These are his own Words There were saith he many Prophets who have left us no Books and whose Names we learn out of the History of the Chronicles Every one of these Prophets wrote ordinarily what happened in their time For this reason it is that the first Book of the Kings is called by the Hebrews and Syrians The Prophecy of Samuel We need only to read it and we shall be convinced of the Truth of this They then that composed the Books of Kings wrote them a long time after from these ancient Memoirs For how could they that lived in the time of Saul or David write that which happened afterward under Hezekiah and Josiah How could they relate the War of Nebuchadnezzar the Siege of Jerusalem the Captivity of the People and the Death of Nebuchadnezzar It is then visible That every Prophet wrote what passed in
Canons of the First Council of Orange the Second of Arles and Anjou where only Deacons were obliged to Continence for the Decnee of the Council of Orange was only for the future It cost a great deal of Trouble to bring the Deacons to a Submission to that Law seeing that the Bishops were forced to renew it often It was afterwards enlarged to the Sub-Deacons in some Churches as appears by the Councils of Venice and Agatha but that Discipline was not general in all Churches of France as we learn by the Letter of Lupus of Troyes Tricassinus and Euphronius of Autun Augustodunensis â—o Thalasius Bishop of Anjou In the Fourth he declares That a Clergyman who gives his Daughter in Marriage to one that hath a Concubine ought not to be treated as if he had given her to a Person already married because Concubines cannot be counted lawful Wives nor the familiar Commerce with them Marriage at least they are not free endowed nor joyned together by publick Marriage In the Fifth he saith That the Daughters of those Parents who have married them to Persons that have Concubines do not sin in dwelling with those to whom they are married In the Sixth That it is not the Sin of Adultery but a vertuous Action for a Man to cast off his Concubine that he may live only with his Wife The Concubines which are spoken of in this Place are Slaves with whom Men lived as with their Wives without having any Commerce with others although they were not solemnly married to them In the Seventh he saith That they are much to be blamed for their Negligence I who attend Dying Persons to require Repentance of them but do not insist upon it when they are returned to Health again That they ought not to give over wholly their Design but bring them by frequent Exhortations to perform that which Necessity obliged them to require because we ought to despair of no Man so long as he is in this World and it often happens that Men do that in their riper Age which they have deferr'd through Distrust In the Eighth That those that die after they have undergone their Penance without being reconciled ought to be left to the Judgment of God and no signs of Communion be allowed them This Practice was contrary to that of the African French and Spanish Churches In the Ninth he speaks of those who having demanded Penance when Afflictions lay upon them would not undergo it when they were mitigated He saith That it may be this Dispâ—sition doth not proceed from a Contempt of Repentance but from a fear of Sinning and that it must not be deny'd them if they request it a second Time In the Tenth he saith That a Penitent ought not to go to Law before the Sâ—cular Judges but before the Ecclesiastical only because he ought to abstain from such Things as are permitted In the Eleventh he saith That although it is nothing but the Nature of Gain that excuseth oâ— condemneth Trading yet it is most convenient for a Penitent wholly to forbear it because it is hard to avoid Sin in Commerce either on the part of the Seller or on the part of the Buyer In the Twelfth he observes That it is contrary to the Laws of the Church to become a Soldier after a Man hath done Penance In the Thirteenth he says That he could wish that those who have done Penance when they were Boys would not marry yet he excuses young Men who do it when it is to avoid Incontinency In the Fourteenth he orders That the Monks who have married or listed themselves for Soldiers should be made to do Penance because they cannot leave that Profession without Sin when they have once embraced it but are obliged to perform their Vows In the Fifteenth he condemns the Virgins who married after they had voluntarily put on the Habit of Virgins and imbraced Virginity although they were not yet consecrated In the Sixteenth and Seventeenth he affirms That they must be baptized anew who have not any Proof that they have been already baptized although they remember that they have been heretofore in the Church In the Eighteenth he saith That it is sufficient to lay Hands upon and call upon the Holy Spirit over those that do remember that they have been baptized but know not in what Sect. In the Nineteenth and Last he saith That those Infants who after Baptism have Lived among the Heathen ought to be put to publick Penance if they have worshipped Idols or committed Sins but it is sufficient to purge them by Imposition of Hands and Fasting before 〈…〉 It 〈…〉 of these Questions haâ—e been determiâ—â—â— by the 〈◊〉 of the 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in which 〈◊〉 Bishop of 〈◊〉 was Presidâ—â—t 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That 〈◊〉 Bishopâ— of 〈◊〉 who was evil affâ—cted to that Bishop â—â—d rather â—ave 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bishop of Rome than to the Councils of his Province but thâ—se Decisions of S. Leo 〈…〉 the Customâ— of the Church of France as we have â—â—â—served 〈◊〉 may be 〈◊〉 by 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 of those Councils The Third Letter of S. Leo is directed to the Bishops of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 and other Proâ—â—nces Daâ—ed October the 〈◊〉 in the Year 443. S. Leo Observes in the beginning of this Letter That as the Order of the Churches was a Joy to him so he was troubled when any thing was done contrary to the Canons and Discipline of the Church He adds That if the Bishops did not restrain the disorders with all possible diligence since they are appointed to watch 〈◊〉 the Flâ—ck of Jesus Christ they are inexcusable tâ— suffer that the Body of the Church which they ought to keep in Purity should be deâ—â—â—ed and corrupted with Dissentions is a great 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 annexâ—s to this Adâ—…ion these following Canons In the First he forbids That such Persons be not received into the Clergy as are Slaâ—es as also Farmers oâ— Suâ—…s or any other who depend in any manner soever upon Masters at least that thâ—se upon whom they depend do not require it He gives Two Reasons for this Prohibition The First Because the Sacred Ministry is as it were made Contemptible by such sole of Persons And the Second is Because it doth an Injury to their Mistresses Pope 〈◊〉 allows the contrary in respect of the Farmers in his Ninth Epistle In the Second Caâ—â—n he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Ordinations of Persons that have been twice Married and commands by virtue of his Apoâ—â—â—lical Authorities that they be hindred from doing the Offices of their Ministry reserving to himself the Cognizance of the Cause of such as bring some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in and that no Man might pretend Ignorance altho 't is not sufferable for a Bishop to be Iâ—…ant of what is ordered by the Canons he tells them He had sent this Letter by Three Bishops which may be a reason to think that it was written in a Synod The Third and Fourth Canons are against Usurers
which perfects That for this reason the Catechumens are seven days in a white Habit that they are first baptiz'd and then anointed Justinian with Oyl and lastly made partakers of the precious Blood before the Bread be given them and upon this Subject he makes very mystical Reflexions Afterwards he gives three Reasons why Moses does not speak of the Creation of Angels The first is Because he wrote only for Men. The second Because he would make God known by the visible Creatures The third is Lest it should be thought that the Angels created the World He maintains that the Angels were not known till after the Promises which God made to Abraham The fourth and fifth Book contain only two Chapters wherein he endeavours to prove That it was more convenient that the Son should be made Man then the Father The sixth which begins at the 22th Chapter contains the Question Why the Titles of Creator Redeemer and Judge are attributed to the Son He says That they agree well enough to all the three Persons but by way of excellence they are appropriated to the Son He discourses of the Order of the Persons of the Trinity and of the Title Holy which is given to each Person He cites upon this Subject St. Gregory Nazianzen and the Books attributed to St. Denys the Areopagite In the seventh Book he observes three Changes of the World The first from Idolatry to the Knowledge of one God by the Law The second from the Law to the Gospel which Reveals the Son and the Holy Spirit And the third which gives a perfect Knowledge of the Trinity in another Life Upon this occasion he handles many Questions concerning the Names of the Father and the Son He gives many Reasons why the Son was not Incarnate from the beginning of the World He speaks of the knowledge of the Trinity which the Blessed shall have in another Life of the Obscurity of the Old Testament and the Mysteries which it covers under the Letter of the Law In the eighth he handles two Scholastical Questions The first is If it be a good proof that there is in God one Person of the Word because God cannot be without Reason why will it not follow from hence that there is in this Word another Word and so in infinitum Photius remarks That he endeavours to answer this Objection thirteen manner of ways but that they are weak and tho they may satisfie such Persons as are pious and religious yet they afford matter of raillery to those who are of a contrary Disposition In effect these kind of Questions and Arguments can never produce any good Effects but expose Religion to the Contempt of great Wits and the Scoffs of the Impious The other Question is no more useful altho it be at present more common 'T is demanded Why the Son and the Holy Spirit proceeding both from the Father the one is call'd the Son and the other the Holy Spirit and why they have not both the Title of the Son He could find no other Answer to this Question but that this is the Custom and that Men express as they can the Differences of the Divine Persons altho they comprehend them not This Answer is ingenuous very wise and reasonable In the ninth Book he treats of the Dignity and Graces of the Angels and Men compar'd together and applies to them the Parable of the Prodigal Child After this he enquires How it can be that Jesus Christ should die for all since there was an infinite number of Men dead before his Coming He answers to this Question That Jesus Christ preach'd the Gospel to the Dead and that all those who have lived well and believed in him are saved He enlarges here very much upon the Explication of another passage of Jesus Christ I came not to call the Righteous but Sinners to Repentance After this he treats also of the state wherein Angels and Man were created of the Fall of the one and the other of the Reasons for which God redeemed Man and not the Angels c. This is enough to discover to us that the Work of this Author was not very useful that he delighted to start difficult and intricate Questions that he gives extraordinary Sences to passages of Scripture that he maintains Propositions which are indefensible In a word that we ought not much to regret the loss of his Work whereof the Extracts related by Photius are but too long and very tedious JUSTINIAN THe Emperor Justinian may be justly rank'd amongst Ecclesiastical Writers for never Prince did meddle so much with what concerns the Affairs of the Church nor make so many Constitutions and Laws upon this Subject He was perswaded that it was the Duty of an Emperor and for the good of the State to have a particular care of the Church to defend it's Faith to regulate External Discipline and to employ the Civil Laws and the Temporal Power to preserve in it Order and Peace Upon this account he did not only make a Collection of the Laws made by the Princes his Predecessors about Ecclesiastical Discipline but he added many to them Here follows the Catalogue and the Substance of them The third Novel regulates the number of the Clergy of the great Church of Constantinople and fixes it to 60 Priests 100 Deacons 40 Diaconesses 90 Sub-deacons 110 Readers 25 Chanters and 100 Porters It contains also That it shall not be lawful for Clergy-men to remove from a lesser Church to a greater and that the Possessions of the Church shall be employed for the maintenance of the Poor and other pious Works The fifth Novel contains Regulations concerning the Monks and the Monasteries That a Monastery shall not be built until the Bishop comes to the place to Consecrate the Ground where it is to be built by Prayer and fixing a Cross in it That the Habit of a Monk must not be given to those who present themselves immediately after they are entred into the Monastery but that they ought to continue Probationers for three years in their Secular Habit that during this time it shall be lawful for those who redeem them as Slaves to take them back again and not after this time is past That the Monks ought to abide and lye in one and the same place except the Anchorets and Hesycastes who have attained a great perfection That a Monk who quits his Monastery shall lose all his Riches that he had at his entrance into it which shall belong henceforth to the Monastery That a Man or a Woman who enter into a Monastery may dispose of their Possessions before they enter into it but if they enter into it without disposing of them their Possessions belong to the Monastery except the fourth part which belongs to Children or the Portion of a Daughter if she be married and except that which they might have given That if any Person abandon his Monastery to go into the Militia he cannot enter into
and the 30th day and at the years end if they will That for the Laity they say Masses the 3d. the 9th and the 30th day That they ought to Fast 7 days for them That Masses are not to be said for Children unless they be 7 years old That tho' S. Denys says 'T is a Blasphemy to pray for a wicked Man yet S. Austin says The Sacrifice is to be offered for all those that are dead in the Communion of the Church That Presbyters and Deacons that will not or ought not to communicate are not to celebrate The Sixth Chapter is of Abbots Monks and Monasteries It is to this effect The Abbot may withdraw himself with the Bishop's leave the Abbot's Election belongs to the Monks the Abbot cannot change his place without the Bishop's consent and without leaving a Priest in the Church where he was for the Ecclesiastical Ministery Monks ought to have no Women with them and Nuns to have no Men among them A Monk cannot make a Vow without his Abbot's consent if he make any it is null A Monk chosen by his Society to be a Presbyter ought not to leave his Rule if he grows Proud he shall be deposed and become the last It is at the liberty of Monasteries to receive infirm and weak Persons It is also free for Monks to wash Lay-men's Feet unless it be on Holy Thursday It does not belong to Monks to impose Penances on the Laity The Seventh Chapter is of Womens Functions in the Church or Monastery They are forbidden covering the Altar with the Corporal laying the Oblations or the Chalice upon the Altar standing among the Clerks in the Church sitting at Meat with Presbyters imposing Penance But they are permitted to receive the Eucharist upon a black Veil according to the use of the Greeks they may make the Oblations that is the Loaves offered upon the Altar but not according to the practice of the Romans The Eighth Chapter is of the Customs of the Greeks and Latins These are observed there On Sunday the Greeks and the Romans do not ride on Horse-back nor in a Coach unless it be to go to Church they bake no Bread and do not go to the Bath the Greeks write no publick Acts they both set their Slaves to work on Sunday The Greek Monks have Servants waiting on them the Latin have none The Latins eat on Christmas-Eve after having said Mass at the 9th Hour The Greeks do all sup the Evening after the Mass. Both the Greeks and the Latins say they ought to assist the Sick of the Plague The Greeks do not give to Swine the Meat of strangled Beasts the Skin the Wool and the Horns of them may be taken One may wash his Head and Feet on Sunday but the Romans do not follow that practice The Ninth Chapter is of the Irish and Britains who differ from the Church about the keeping of Easter and their Tonsure It is said there That their Bishops shall be confirmed by the laying on of the hands of a Catholick Bishop That the Chrism or the Eucharist cannot be given them except they make Profession to re-unite themselves to the Church and that those are to be baptized who doubt of their Baptism The Tenth is of those who are possessed with the Devil or kill themselves If they were godly Men before they came to be possessed they may be pray'd for but if this Possession happened to them after a Despair or some other Passion they are not to be prayed for Masses cannot be said for Self-murderers but they may Pray and give Alms for them Nevertheless some say Mass for them that kill'd themselves being out of their Wits and having no use of their Reason The Eleventh contains many Questions about married Persons It is said there they ought to abstain from the use of Matrimony 3 days before the Communion 40 days before Easter 40 days before and after Child-bearing That a Man may leave his Wife guilty of Adultery and Marry another and that she may Marry again after two Years Penance But the Wife cannot leave her Husband tho' an Adulterer That a lawful * Marriage dissolved by the consent of both Parties or of one to withdraw into a Monastery The great Veneration and Honour which the Fathers of these Ages had for a single and a Monastick Life made them not only to have a mean Opinion of that sacred Institution of God Marriage but also approve of very slight Reasons of dissolving it So apt are Men to make void the Law of God to maintain their own Mat. 15. 6. Traditions whereas neither Celebacy it self is absolutely necessary for a Monastick Life many of the Monks in the more Athan Ep. ad Drac pure Ages being married nor if it were could the consent of one or both Parties dissolve the Bonds of it upon that account For what God hath so joined together Mat. 19. 6. no Man can put asunder unless it be for the only Cause allowed by God for Divorce Adultery Marriage cannot be dissolved but with the consent of both Parties but either of them may give his consent that the other withdraw into a Monastery and then that the other may Marry again if he had not been married again before If a Husband is made a Slave the Wife may Marry at the years end That a Deacon's Wife forsaken by him is not permitted to Marry That a Man may Marry again within one Month after his Wife's death and a Woman within one year after her Husband's Decease That a Woman that hath vowed Widowhood cannot Marry again notwithstanding if she should Marry again it shall be free for the Husband to let her fulfil her Vow or not That the Bishop may dispense with Vows That it is free for one baptized to keep or to put away his Wife being a Pagan If a Woman forsake her Husband within five years after he may take another Wife If she be carried away Captive he may Marry another one year after but if she cometh again he shall leave this last That it is lawful among the Greeks to Marry in the Third Degree and among the Romans in the Fifth only but Marriages contracted by Persons within the Third or the Fourth degree of Consanguinity are not disanulled Parents are bound to bestow their Daughter on him to whom they have betrothed her except she be unwilling Children are in the Power of their Father till they be 16 years old but that time being past they may enter into a Religious Order and the Father cannot Marry them against their Will I leave out some other Constitutions less important as also the 12th Chapter of Slaves as being now out of date The 13th Chapter is upon different Customs It is observed therein that there are Three solemn Fasts in the Year that is besides the ordinary Lent Forty Days before Christmas and Forty Days after Whitsunday It is said there That the Laity are bound to perform their Vows That
possess in the Diocess of another but not between Bishops of different Provinces The 35th Puts in an Exception as to Churches newly built and orders That altho' the old Church belongs to him who enjoyed it Thirty Years since notwithstanding the Church newly built shall belong to the natural Bishop of the place where 't is built The 36th Appoints the Bishop to visit every Year the Churches of his Diocess and if he cannot do it to commit the doing of it to some Priests and Deacons of known probity The 37th declares That Men are bound to pay what they promised to give for the performing some Ecclesiastical Service The 38th imports That seeing Presbyters are bound to assist the Poor if it fall out that they who have bequeathed something to some Church be brought to Misery they or their Children that Church is bound to help them The 39th Forbids Deacons to take place of the Priests and to place themselves in the highest place of the Quire whilst the Presbyters stand below The 40th Forbids Deacons having Two Stoles yea and having one of divers Colours or Embroidered with Gold The 41st Enjoins all Clerks to shave the whole Crown of their Heads leaving but a small Tuft of their Hair in the form of a round Circle or a Crown The 42d and 43d Forbids Clerks to dwell with Women not related to them and only permit them to live with their Mother Sister Daughter and Aunt The 44th appoints That Clerks Marrying Widows Divorced or Debauched Women shall be separated from them by their Bishop The 45th That Clerks taking up Arms shall be put to Penance in a Monastery The 46th That a Clerk found Robbing Sepulchres shall be Expelled out of the Clergy and put to Penance for Three Years The 47th declares That agreeably to King Sisenand's Order the Council decrees That Clerks shall be free from all publick Offices The 48th orders That all Bishops shall have Stewards to manage their Churches Revenue The 49th imports That a Monk may be made so by the Devotion of Parents or his own Profession That all they that are made Monks by either of these Two ways shall be obliged to continue Monks and that they are not permitted to return to the World The 50th Gives Clerks leave to become Monks The 51st Forbids Bishops abusing Monks but it preserveth them the Right which the Canons give them to exhort Monks to a good Life to instruct Abbots and other Officers and to correct what is done amiss contrary to the Rule The 52d orders That Monks leaving their Monastery to return into the World shall be Reproved and put to Penance The 53d Prohibits that sort of Religious persons which are neither Clerks nor Monks and enjoins Bishops to put them to the choice of either of those professions The 54th declares That they who being in danger of Death undergo Penance without confessing any particular Sin but saying only in general That they are Sinners may be prefer'd to the Ecclesiastical State but it is not so with them who have confessed some grievous Crime The 55th commands That those that yielded to undergo Penance and prepared themselves to do it shall be obliged to finish it and shall be constrained by the Bishop to it But if they leave it and refuse to take it again they shall be condemned as Apostates as also the Virgins or Widows which have put on the Religious Habit if they return to the World and Marry The 56th Distinguisheth Two sorts of Widows some Secular who do not leave the Secular Habit and other Religious which take a Religious Habit and declares it is not lawful for these to Marry The 57th Forbids to constrain the Jews to turn because Conversion ought to be wholly free yet as for those who were forced to turn under King Sisebut they will have them bound to continue Christians because they have received Baptism the Holy Chrism and Christ's Body and Blood The 58th Pronounces Excommunication against those that shall favour or uphold the Jews against Christians The 59th orders According to King Sisenand's advice those Christians that turned Jews shall be constrained to return to the Church and if they have Circumcised their Children they shall be separated from them The 60th decrees That the Children of the Jews shall be taken away from them by force to be Christianly brought up in Monasteries The 61st That the Children of the Jews who are become Christians shall not be deprived of their Father's Estate who are condemned for Apostasie The 62d Enjoins Christians to avoid Commerce with the Jews The 63d orders That Christian Women Married with Jews shall be separated from their Husbands if they will not be Converted The 64th That the Testimonies of Christians that turned Jews shall not be received The 65th Forbids the Jews bearing Publick Offices The 66th Forbids them having Christian Slaves The 67th Forbids the Bishops who give nothing to the Church to set at liberty the Slaves of their Churches The following Canons to the 75th contain some other Constitutions concerning the Slaves and the Free-Men which are now out of date The 75th and last Canon is concerning the Fealty due to Kings and the security of their Persons The Bishops detest there the Crime of those that violate the Faith they owe to their Prince and make a long discourse to create an abhorrence of it And to prevent any such thing in Spain they pronounce a solemn Anathema against all those that shall Conspire against Kings that shall attempt against their Life or usurp their Authority after having repeated that Anathema Thrice with terrible Execrations they promise Loyalty and Fidelity to King Sisenand and his Successors and at the same time they beseech him to Govern his People with Justice and Piety not to Judge alone in Criminal Causes but to cause them to be examined and judged by the ordinary Judges reserving to himself the Right of Pardoning They pronounce Anathema against the Kings that should abuse their Authority to do Evil and exercise a Tyrannical Power And they do particularly declare That by the consent of the whole Nation King * Suintilla Suintilan who deprived himself of the Kingdom and laid down his Authority by confessing his Crimes is fallen from his Dignity his Honour and his Lands as well as his Wife his Children and his Brother Council V. of Toledo held in 636. THIS Council was held in the same place with the former but it was composed but of Twenty Two or Twenty Three Bishops of several Provinces of Spain Council V. of Toledo The first Canon decrees That Litanies that is to say Publick Prayers shall be made Yearly during the space of Three Days which shall begin the next Day after the 13th of December yet so that in case one of the Three Days should happen to be a Sunday they shall be put off to the next Week The 2d Canon confirms all that was done in the Council held under
into Churches which have been invaded by the Barbarians the Dignity and Rank of Bishops and permits them to perform their Functions The 38th renews the 12th Canon of the Council of Chalcedon whereby it is ordained That the Disposition of Churches shall follow that of the Empire The 39th preserveth to the Metropolitan of Cyprus who was forced to withdraw by reason of that Island 's being taken by the Barbarians and was come to settle in the new Justinianopolis they preserve him I say the Right of Supremacy and the Government of the Churches of the Hellespont with the Right of being chosen by the Bishops subject to it ccording to the Ancient Custom They do also subject to him the Bishop of Cyzicum The 40th declares They may receive a Monk in the 10th Year of his Age. The 41st ordains That those who will be Recluses or Anchorets ought to have been three Years at least in a Monastery The 42d forbids to suffer Hermits to be in Towns The 43d imports That all kind of People may be admitted into Monasteries even the greatest Sinners by reason Monachism is a state of Penance The 44th is against Monks guilty of Fornication or Married The 45th forbids to dress with worldly Apparel and Ornaments the Virgins that consecrate themselves to God when they go to take the Religious Habit. The 46th forbids Friars and Nuns to go out of their Monastery without the Superior's Leave The 47th forbids Friars to lie in the Monasteries of Virgins and Virgins to dwell in the Monasteries of Friars The 48th ordains That the Wife of him who shall be made Bishop shall be put away from him and shall withdraw into a Monastery at a distance from the Bishop's Residence The 49th prohibits converting Religious Houses to profane uses The 50th forbids those of the Clergy and the Laity to play at any Games of hazard upon pain of Deposition and Excommunication The 51st forbids Jesters Dancers and Shews The 52d ordains That the * Missa praesanctificatorum was the Sacrament which was administred with Elements which were before consecrated oblatio prius oblati perfecti sacrificii sacrique Mysterii Balsam in hunc Can. Mass of the Pre-sanctified shall be celebrated every Day in Lent except Saturday and Sunday and Lady-day The 53d forbids them that stood Sureties for Children to marry the Mother of such Infants The 54th prohibits marrying the Uncle's Daughter Forbids a Father and a Son to marry the Mother and the Daughter or two Sisters as also a Mother and Daughter to marry the Father and Son or two Brothers upon Penalty of 7 Years Penance The 55th ordains That the Canon forbidding to fast on Saturday and Sunday shall be observed in the Church of Rome as well as in other Churches The 56th forbids eating Eggs and Cheese in Lent The 57th forbids offering Milk and Hony on the Altar The 58th forbids Laymen to give to themselves the Eucharist before a Bishop a Priest or a Deacon The 59th forbids baptizing in Domestick Chapels The 60th is against them that feign themselves to be possessed The 61st is against Superstitions The 62d against the Fooleries which were acted on New-year's-day The 63d condemns to the Fire the false Stories of Martyrs made by the Enemies of the Church The 64th imports That the Laity ought not to undertake to teach Religious Matters The 65th is against the Custom of kindling Fires before Houses on the New Moons The 66th ordains That Easter Week shall be spent in Prayer The 67th forbids eating the Blood of Beasts The 68th forbids burning tearing or giving to Victuallers the Books of the Gospels if they be not quite spoiled The 69th forbids the Laity to enter within the Rails of the Altar yet the Emperor is excepted who according to an Old Custom is permitted to enter in when he is willing to make some Oblation to the Lord. The 70th forbids Women to talk in the Time of the Holy Sacrifice The 71st is against some prophane Practices of Students in the Law The 72d declares the Marriages between an Orthodox Christian and an Heretick to be null and void The 73d ordains That Reverence shall be paid to the Cross and that Crosses shall not be suffer'd to be made on the Floor The 74th forbids making the Feasts call'd Agapae in Churches The 75th ordains That they shall sing in the Church without straining or Bawling modestly and attentively The 76th enjoyns That no Tavern or Tradesman's Shop shall be suffer'd to stand within the Inclosure of the Church The 77th That Men ought not to bathe with Women The 78th That they ought to instruct those that are to be baptized The 79th is against an Abuse of some who at Christmas made Cakes to the Honour of the Virgin 's Lying-in The 80th is against them that without Cause absent themselves for 3 Sundays together from their own Church whether they be of the Clergy or of the Laity The 81st pronounces Anathema to those that have added these Words to the Trisagion Thou that hast been crucified for us The 82d approves of the Pictures in which Christ is painted in the Form of a Lamb. The 83d forbids giving the Eucharist to the Dead The 84th orders them to be re-baptized who can bring no Witnesses nor certain Proofs that they have been baptized The 85th grants Liberty to the Slaves which their Masters have freed before two or three Witnesses The 86th condemns the infamous Company of debauch'd Women The 87th is against Divorces made without lawful Cause The 88th forbids bringing Horses into the Church without great Need and evident Danger The 89th shews That they ought to fast on Good Friday till Midnight The 90th renews the Law of not kneeling on Sunday The 91st Condemns to the Punishment of Murtherers those Women that procure Abortions The 92d is against Ravishers The 93d condemns the Marriages of those Men or Women who are not sure of the Death of their Wives or Husbands But after those Marriages have been contracted and when the first Husband comes again he is ordered to take his Wife again The 94th is against those that use the Oath of Pagans The 95th is of the Reception of Hereticks It ordains That the Arians Macedonians Novatians Continents Tesseradecatites and Apollinarists shall be received after they have made Abjuration in Writing by anointing their Fore-head Eyes Nostrils Mouth and Ears with the Holy Chrism pronouncing these Words This is the Seal of the Holy Ghost That the Eunomians Montanists and Sabellians shall be re-baptized That the Manichees Valentinians Marcionites and other Hereticks are also to abjure their Errors anathematizing all Hereticks by Name and making profession of the true Faith The 96th is against plating and curling the Hair The 97th forbids Husbands to co-habit with their Wives within the Enclosure of the Church The 98th prohibits marrying a Maid betrothed to another The 99th prohibits offering Roast Meats to Priests in Churches The 100th prohibits lascivious
executed his Orders concerning the Towns he was to deliver again to the Roman Church He says That Grimoaldus and the Greeks take from thence an occasion of insulting over him IV. 85. He writes an answer to Charles about the Bishops of Lombardy who did incroach upon the Diocesses of other Bishops about Ermanald's Daughter which married after having taken the Religious Habit and about Simony very rife in Italy and Tuscany He complains of the Disobedience of the People of Ravenna and the Pentapolis He desires Charles not to countenance them and not to receive those that are come to him without his Orders as he receives none of the King's Subjects that bring no Order from their Master V. 84. He acquaints him That according to his Orders he commanded the Venetian Merchants to be banish'd out of Ravenna and the Pentapolis He desires him to apprehend the Duke of Garenne who had possessed himself of some Lands belonging to the Church of Ravenna VI. 83. He recommends the Duke Paul who went to him to clear himself from the Accusations charged upon him and the Duke Constantine VII 82. He says He saith he hath sent him S. Gregory's Sacramentary VIII 81. He tells him He hath set up in the Church the Cross he sent him He prays him to send Commissioners to restore some Towns of the Dukedom of Beneventum to him with the Territories of Popolo and Roselle IX 80. He speaks of the Penance to be imposed upon the Saxons who being baptized had lapsed again into Idolatry X. 79. He intercedes for the Abbot of S. Vincent falsly accused to Charles XI 78. He forbids Bishops and Presbyters to bear Arms and gives him notice That upon his Recommendation he hath set at Liberty John the Monk accused of bearing false Witness XII 77. He says That Charles's Envoy could not procure the entire Restitution of the Territory of Sabina XIII 67. He speaks to him of the Presents he sent him XIV 66. He prays him to send a new Commissioner to cause the whole Territory of Sabina to be restored to him XV. 69. He requests him again to cause that whole Country to be restored to him XVI 68. He begs of him some Beams and Pewter and gives him notice of the War of Arichisius against the Amalphitans and of the Defeat of his Troops by the Neapolitans XVII 65. He assures him of the continuation of their Prayers for him He tells him That the Slaves sold to the Saracens were sold by the Lombards and the Greeks He says The Roman Priests are not guilty of the Crimes they are charged with XVIII 64. He says That the Neopolitans and the Greeks had made themselves Masters of Terracine by the Advice of Duke Arichisius He desires Charles to send Wolfini to retake that Town and the other Church-lands in the Neopolitan Territory XX. 62. He tells him he prays to God Night and Day for him XXI 61. He begs some Beams and Lead to repair the Church of S. Peter He says He durst not meddle with the Holy Corpse which Adon had begg'd of him and gives him a hint of one which was at the Archbishop Vulcharius's viz. the Body of S. Candidus the Martyr XXII 60. He gives him notice of the Emperor Constantine's Death He charges the Duke Clusus with seizing of Church-Lands and entreats Charles to remove him out of Tuscany XXIII 59. He acquaints him with a Plot made to besiege the City of Rome XXIV 92. He tells him That his Envoys fared worse for not following his Advice and that the Greeks were forming a Design to deprive Charles of his Dukedom of Beneventum XXV 58. He complains that King Charles's Commissioners had slighted him and that instead of coming to Rome they were gone to Spoleto and to Beneventum He desires Charles to put him in possession of the Dukedom of Spoleto as he had promised him XXVI He says No body did question but that the whole Country of Sabina should belong to him XXVII He congratulates the Victory he had lately obtained and recommends an Abbot and two Bishops to him XXVIII 54. He tells him That in Italy and Tuscany there were some Lombard Bishops who invaded the Diocesses of others that there are some Monks who lay aside their Habit to lead a Secular Life and to marry He speaks again of Ermenald's Daughter and desires Charles to stop these Disorders XXIX He complains of the Bishop of Ravenna's Impudence who detained the Towns of Aemilia and Pentapolis after Charles's Departure XXX 51. He sends him a Letter of the Patriarch of Grado and complains that the Bishop of Ravenna had open'd it and read it XXXI 51. He intreats Charles to remember his Promises to him and demands all the Countries which the Lombards did once possess XXXII 50. He complains That he hath waited in vain for the Commissioners that were to come with Andrew He complains That Leo Bishop of Ravenna did boast of having obtain'd of him the Towns of the Pentapolis and Aemilia XXXIII 93. He speaks of his Loyalty and Amity to him He rejoyces because he wrote to him that he would come into Italy He complains of his detaining his Legate Anastasius in France He accuses two Persons about him of being his Enemies XXXIV 49. He speaks of some Advantage gotten by the Persians upon the Greeks XXXV 76. He prays him to cause all the Lands which he pretends the Lombards had taken from the Roman Church to be restored to him XXXVI 77. He prays again That the Territory of Sabina be wholly put into his Hands again He rejects an Abridgment of the Council of Chalcedon which was brought to him XXXVII 75. He intreats him to continue his constant Affection to the Roman Church He accuses two private Persons who had fled to Charles and desires him to send them to him XXXVIII 74. He recommends the Deputies of the Monastery of S. Hilary to him and prays him not to suffer that the Hospitals built in the Road of the Alps be seized to entertain Travellers XXXIX 71. He answers him about the Elections of the Bishops of Ravenna that they ought to be performed by the Clergy and the People of the Town in the presence of the Emperor's Commissioners and with the Bishop of Rome's Consent XL. 72. He acquaints him How he hath composed the Differences of the Monks of S. Vincent and how that the Abbot Pothon was resolved to go to him with some Monks to purge himself from the things laid to his Charge XLI 71. He thanks Charles for all his Pains that he had been at to serve the Church of Rome XLII 70. He gives him notice that Adalgisius Desiderius's Son was come to Calabria and he desires Charles to make War on him and to constrain those of the Country of Benevent to obey him He cautions him not to make Grimoald Duke of Beneventum and demands of him the restitution of Ravenna Roselle and Pâ—polo XLIII He tells him That he hath received the Embassadors of Offa
That the Decree made against them shall be executed In the 2d he ordains by the advice of his Clergy and People That the Laity shall enjoy the Church-lands which they hold as Tenants at will upon condition that they shall pay a Penny for every House and when he that enjoys them comes to die they shall return to the Church yet so that if it be needful still for the good of the State or if the Prince orders it so they shall renew their Leases provided nevertheless that the Churches or Monasteries whose Lands are held by such a Title are not extream poor In the 3d Canon Adulteries Incests and illegitimate Marriages are prohibited Bishops are ordered to hinder and punish them It forbids also delivering Christian Slaves to Pagans In the 4th Carloman renews his Fathers Decree against them that observe Pagan Superstitions condemning them to a 15 Pence Fine These Canons in an ancient Collection are joined with an abjuration in the Tudesk Tongue a List of the most ordinary Superstitions and an Instruction about prohibited Marriages and about the prohibition of keeping the Sabbath-day This hath so much relation to the Canons of this Council that it may be rationally believed to have been part of it A Council of Rome held under Pope Zachary THIS Council was held An. 743. and composed of 40 Italian Bishops or thereabouts and of many Priests Zachary published there the following Canons which were written and Council of Rome approved by those that assisted at it The 1st decrees That Bishops shall not dwell with Women The 2d That Presbyters and Deacons shall have no strange Women in the House with them tho' they may have their Mother and near Relations The 3d That Priests and Deacons shall be decently clad and shall wear a Cloak in the Town The 4th That the Bishops ordain'd by the holy See shall every year in the Ides of May come to the Council if they be near if not they shall perform this duty by writing Letters The 5th anathematizeth those that marry a Priest's or a Deacon's Wife a Nun or a Religious Woman as also those who marry their God-mother The 6th forbids any person to marry his Cousin-german Niece Mother-in-law Sister-in-law and any near Relations The 7th anathematizeth those who steal Maidens and Widows to marry them The 8th is against those Clerks or Monks that let their Hair grow The 9th prohibits Feasting on New-years-day as the Heathens did The 10th anathematizes those who give their Daughters in Marriage to the Jews or sell Christian Slaves to them The 11th ordains That the times appointed by the Canons for Ordinations shall be observed that Persons twice married shall not be ordained That no Clerk of another Diocess shall be ordained or received without a dimissory Letter or permission from his Bishop The 12th Canon ordains That if Priests Deacons or other Clerks have any difference among themselves they shall apply themselves to the Bishop only to be judged and if they differ with their own Bishop they shall go to the next Bishop and if they will not refer the matter to him they shall go to the Holy See The 13th forbids Bishops Priests and Deacons to carry a Staff to the celebrating of the Mass or to step up to the Altar with the Head uncovered The Council of Soissons THIS Council was assembled by Pepin Prince and Duke of France the 2d year of Chilperick's Reign An. 744. March 2d It was composed of 28 Bishops of some Priests and Lords Council of Soissons Adalbert was condemned there After this Council Pepin published 10 Canons in his own and this Assembly's name By the 1st They own the Faith established in the Nicene Council and the Authority of the Canons of other Councils and they publish them in France that the Discipline which was corrupted there may be re-established It is ordain'd in the 2d That there shall be a Synod kept every year to procure the Salvation of the People and to prevent Heresies such as that of * Adelberts Heresy was that he taught That it was lawful to marry the Elder Brother's Wife according to the Custom of the Jews and that Jesus Christ when he went down into Hell did release as well the Wicked as Godly And for these Doctrines he was condemned in this Council Vid. Bon. Ep. ad Zach. in Us. Ep. Hib. Syl. Adalbert was who was condemned by 23 Bishops and several Priests with the Prince's and the People's consent In the 3d he declares That by the advice of the Bishops and great ones he hath put legitimate Bishops in the Towns of France and hath given them for Arch-bishops over them Abel and Ardorbert the former was Arch-bishop of Rheims and the latter of Sens to have recourse to their Judgments when it shall be needful both for the Bishops and the People to the end that the Monasteries may be regular and orderly that Monks and Nuns may peaceably enjoy their Revenues and the Clerks be not debauched not wearing secular Habits or going a Hunting By the 4th he forbids the Laity to commit Fornication Perjury and beat false Witness He enjoins Parish-priests to be subject to their Bishop to give him yearly in Lent an account of their management to demand the Holy Oil and the Crisme of him and to receive him when he is upon his visit The 5th forbids receiving Foreign Clerks and Priests before they be approved by the Bishop of the Diocess The 6th charges Bishops to endeavour the utter extirpation of Paganism The 7th orders the Crosses set up by Adalbert in his Diocess to be burnt The 8th forbids Clerks to have Women in their Houses except their Mother Sister or Niece The 9th forbids the Laity to have in their Houses Women devoted to God and also to marry another Man's Wife during the Life of her Husband because Husbands ought not to forsake their Wives but in case they have catched them in Adultery The last ordains That whoever shall violate these Laws made by 23 Bishops Servants of God with the consent of the Princes and the Grandees of France shall be judged by the Prince or by the Bishops or by the Counts The Second Council of Rome under Zachary THIS Council assembled An. 745. was composed of 7 Bishops and some Presbyters The Presbyter Deneardus sent by Boniface came before the Council Octob. 25. and declared That this Bishop had called a Synod in France in which Clement and Adalbert false schismatical and heretical Bishops had been deposed and then put in Prison by the Prince's order but that they would not obey this Sentence keeping their Dignity still and continuing to seduce the Council of Rome People He added he had * This Letter is extant in Usher's Ep. Hib. Syllog p. 31. a Letter of Boniface's upon this Subject It was read he demanded That those two Bishops should be kept in Prison and that no Body might speak with them He accuses Adalbert
with the Daughter and neither the Daughter nor he shall Marry others but the Mother may Marry another The 3d imports that if a Presbyter Marry his Niece he shall be obliged to leave her and loose his degree and if any body else Marry her he shall be oblig'd to leave her but shall have Liberty to Marry an other The 4th that a Maid in what manner soever she hath taken the Veil shall be obliged to keep it unless it was given her against her Will and in that case the Priest that Veil'd her shall be deposed If a Woman takes the Veil without her Husbands consent it shall be free for her Husband to let her keep it or to hinder her The 5th gives leave to the Husband whose Wife conspired his death to send her away and to Marry another The 6th gives leave to those who have Married Slaves whom they thought to be Free-born Women to Marry others The 7th permits Slaves who have a Concubine to leave her to Marry his Master's Maid-servant thô they do better if they keep the first The 8th permits the Master to oblige his Slave to Marry his Maid-servant if he hath had any Carnal knowledge of her The 9th imports that if men be forced to go away from the place of their Habitation and their Wives refuse to follow them without any other Reason but their Love to their own Country it shall be free for those Men whose Wives have thus left them to Marry others but not for the Wives to Marry again The 10th forbids him to Marry who hath layn with his Mother-in-Law and the Mother-in-Law likewise and permits the Father-in-Law to Marry another Woman The 11th inflicts the same punishment upon them who defile their Daughter-in-Law or Sister-in-Law The 12th Ordains that he that lies with two Sisters shall have neither thô the one of them were his Wife By the 13th He that marrieth a Bond Woman knowing her to be such is bound to keep her The 14th forbids ambulatory Bishops to Ordain any Priests and if any be found to have been thus Ordain'd and they deserve it they shall be Consecrated anew The 15th That a Priest degraded may Baptize in case of necessity The 16th forbids Clerks to bear Arms. The 17th Permits a Woman which complains that her Husband never did Cohabit with her to try the Proof of the Cross and if it appears by this Tryal that the thing is so then she may do what she pleaseth The 19th Ordains that Bond Slaves be exhorted not to Marry again if they be found to be sold severally The 20th imports that the Slave who is set at Liberty may put away his Wife being a Bond Woman and marry another The 21st forbids him who suffered his Wife to be defiled to marry another Regino recites some Articles more about the said matters which he ascribes to this Council of Verberie They may be seen in the Edition of the Capitularies of M. Baluz 19. 166. Vol. 1. The COUNCIL of VERNEUILLE THIS Council was held at Verneville upon Oise and not at Vernon as some have thought about July An. 755. by the Order of Pepin who confirm'd by his Edict and published Council of Verneville the Canons that had been proposed in this Council The 1st imports that there shall be a Bishop in every Great City The 2d That Obedience shall be paid to the Bishops made Metropolitans The 3d That the Bishop shall be empower'd to Correct the Regulars and Seculars in his Diocess The 4th That there shall be two Synods yearly kept in France one in March the other in Octob. The 5th That the Monasteries of Men and Women shall be regular otherwise the Bishop shall see to it and if he cannot do it himself alone he shall acquaint the Metropolitan with it if the Metropolitan cannot yet Correct and Order it he shall inform the Synod of it and if they slight the Synod they shall be Excommunicated The 6th That an Abbess shall have but one Monastery to govern that neither she nor any of her Religious Women shall go out without permission from the King that they shall send secular persons to the Prince or Synod to represent their Grievances that those that are not Veiled shall be put out of the Community and if they be willing to live regularly they shall be admitted after Tryal The 7th That no Baptistery shall be Erected without the Bishops Leave The 8th That the Priests shall be subject to the Bishops and that they shall neither Baptize nor Celebrate the Office without permission from him The 9th That they that communicate with Excommunicated persons shall be Excommunicated that Excommunicated Persons shall not enter into the Church that they shall not eat with any of the Faithful that no body may receive Gifts from them nor Kiss or Salute them The 10th That Monks shall not go to Rome nor out of their Monasteries unless the Bishop gives them Leave to go into a more strict Monastery The 11th imports that all Clerks shall live as Canons under the Bishops care or as Monks under an Abbot The 12th That Clerks not change the Church and that Clerks of another Church shall not be received 13th forbids Bishops to Ordain or Perform any other Episcopal Function out of their Diocess without the Bishops Order of the Diocess The 14th permits necessary Works such as dressing of Meat or making the House clean on Sunday but forbids the Works of Agriculture The 15th enjoyns both the Nobles and the Common people to be Married publickly The 16th renews the third Canon of the Council of Chalcedon which forbids Clerks to meddle with secular Affairs The 17th is the 25th of the Council of Chalcedon about the vacancy of Bishopricks The 18th renews the Ordinance of the 9th ch of the 3d Council of Carthage which forbid Clerks to come before the Tribunals of the Laity without the Bishops Leave The 19th is concerning the immunities of Churches The 20th Ordains that the Accounts of Monastery's Lands and Revenues if they be Royal shall be given up to the King if Episcopal to the Bishop this Canon was made in another Synod and perhaps the following Canons also The 21st That the Bishop shall have the Cures of his Diocess The 22d That no right shall be exacted from Pilgrims The 23rd That Counts and Judges shall hear the Causes of Churches Widows and Orphans preferably to others The 24th That no Mony shall be given to get into Holy Orders The 25th That Bishops Abbots and others shall take no Presents to Administer Justice The 26th is concerning the Rights of Portage The 27th The weight of Money The 28th Exemptions The 29th Secular Courts of Justice The 30th forbids Ecclesiastical Persons to go to Law with their Superiour without permission The COUNCIL of METZ THIs is another Synodical Assembly held under Pepin after the former An. 756. the Laws whereof were authorized and promulged by Pepin Council of Metz. The First is against the
he had Excommunicated at the Sollicitation of K. Charles coming to Rome with Judith cast himself at the Popes seet at which he was so much moved that he wrote several Letters to King Charles his Queen Hermentruda and the Bishops to obtain their Pardon by which means the King consented to the Marriage and so it ended As to the Wife of Boson Gonthierus wrote about her to Hincmarus An. 860. propounding the Question thus to him If this Woman come to me and tell me that she hath committed Adultery The business of Boson desiring that I would protect her from Death which she is afraid of from her Husband ought I to put her to publick Penance in my Diocess at a distance from her Husband or shall I send her again to her Husband making him promise that he will not put her to Death Hincmarus Answers That he ought not to put another Man's Wife to Penance who belongs to another Diocess nor Protect her That Boson doth not accuse her of Adultery but complains That she hath left him and promises that he will do her no harm So that all you can do upon this occasion is this That the King of the County whether she is fled should make her return to her Husband but withal taking such security of her Husband as is usual to be given for those who have put themselves under the Protection of the Church There was also another business of the like nature in which Hincmarus was engaged Count The business â—f Count Raimond Raimond had Marry'd a Daughter to a certain Lord Named Steven who would not live with her as his Wife under a pretence that she had had a Carnal knowledge of one of her near Relations but would not tell who it was E. Raimond wrote a Letter of Complaint about it to the Synod held at Toussi 860 whereupon Steven was Summoned to the Synod where he propounded the business and told them That whereas in his Youth he had had a Carnal Knowledge of one of the near Relations of the Daughter of Earl Raimond it happened that he desired to have her in Marriage and obtained it but afterward calling to mind what he had formerly done he went to a Confessor to know whether he might not do Penance for his Sin in private and Marry the Earls Daughter as they had agreed The Confessor Answered No and shewing him a Book which he said was a Book of Canons by which it was Decreed That he that hath had any Carnal Knowledge of the Womans Relations whom he would Marry must not Consummate the Marriage with her That afterward falling under the Displeasure of the King his Lord he was forced to leave the Kingdom without breaking of the Contract with Raimonds Daughter or Marrying her so that it was put off for some time That afterward he was constrained to Marry her publickly but for fear he should Damn his Soul he would not have any Carnal Knowledge of her This he assured the Council with an Oath that it was true and that he did not do it for Interest or because he loved another Woman declaring That he was ready to follow the Judgment of the Bishops if they could satisfy him that his Honour and Salvation might be alike secured in giving contentment to his Father-in-Law and Wife The Synod resolved that it was necessary to call a Council of Bishops and Lords at which the King himself should be present That the Lords should examine the business and the Bishops conclude it Steven accepted this condition and Hincmarus was employed by the Council to search into the Truth of the Matter by which he was obliged to write to the Archbishops of Bourges and Bourdeaux and the Bishops of their Provinces He tells them that they ought to bring Raimond's Daughter to the Assembly and inquire of her whether it was true that her Husband had no Carnal Knowledge of her That it ought to be searched into whether Steven did not say this that he might leave his Wife That he ought to Name the near Relation he had known That he ought to Swear it was true and if it did appear to be true that he had really done so with any of her near Relations they shou'd be parted and Steven should be put to publick Penance In 842 Nov. 1. Hincmarus held a Council at Reims with the Priests of his Diocess in which The Council of Reims 842. several very useful Consultations were made They Decreed and Ordered that all Priests should know how to explain the Creed and Lord's Prayer and be able to repeat by heart the Preface and Canon of the Mass and recite distinctly the Psalms Hymns and Athanasius's Creed That they should know how to Administer Baptism Absolve Penitents and Anoint the Sick That on every Sunday they should Consecrate Water and burn Incense after the Gospel and Offertory That they should distribute the Holy Bread to all those that would not Communicate That they should read the 40 Homilies of St. Gregory That they should know the Kalendar and how to Sing and should Sing the Service That they should take care of the Poor and Sick That they should not Pawn the Holy Vessels That they should not Bury any Man in the Church without permission from the Bishops and should demand nothing for Burials That they should take no Gifts of Penitents That when they meet at Feasts they should be sober That when they meet at Conferences they should not make any Feasts but be contented with Bread and two or three Glasses of Wine and no more That Fraternities should be upheld for Piety-sake and none should be suffered to promote Feasting and Revels And lastly That when any Priest Died no Man should get possession of his Church without the Bishops Order He gave also at the same time to the Prebends and Deans that were to visit his Diocess some Articles of Enquiry viz. What Titles every Priest had and by whom he was Ordain'd What is the Revenue of his Living and how many Houses in his Parish In what condition the Ornaments of his Church are and how the Relicks are Preserved If there be a place to throw the Water in with which the Vessels of the Altar and Ornaments are washed If the Holy Oils were kept Locked up If there be a Clergy man that keeps School In what case the Church is and whether it be in good Repair Whether the Tithes be divided into three parts and an Account be given of two of them to the Bishops Whether there be any Church Wardens Whether the Church Revenues be improved and no private advantage made of them If the Clergy live orderly and do not familiarly converse with Women frequent Ale-Houses How those that are vicious should be reproved and for what Crime they may be Condemned and Degraded In 857 which was the 12th Year of Hincmarus's Bishoprick June 9. he held another Synod A Syned of Reims in 857 874 in which
he added some other Rules which ordered That Publick Sinners should be put to Penance in Publick by the Authority of the Bishops to whom the Curates are obliged to send them That if they do not present themselves to receive them after they have been advertised of it by the Priests they shall be Excommunicated within 15 days That they shall require nothing for Burials and no Man shall Celebrate Mass but upon a Consecrated Altar or Table He also made some other Constitutions in 874 in July Commanding That Priests Curates and Prebends should reside in their Benefices and not retire into Monasteries That they should take nothing to make Church-Wardens and should allow those that are chosen a part of their Tithes to be employed about the Buildings and Ornaments of the Church That Priests should not be familiar with Women nor enrich themselves with the Revenues of the Church That they should give nothing to Patrons to be Nominated to any vacant Church These are the Constitutions which Hincmarus made for the Priests but lest the Archdeacons who are to put them in Execution in their Visits should not give them in Charge to the Curates he made July 877. an Order in which he forbids them to go their Visitations with many Attendants or Horses to require or exact any thing of them to stay long with them Not to meddle with the Division of Parishes to make the Ancient Churches to be still subject to their Parishes in which there have always been Priests to suffer no Man to have a Chapel without the permission of the Archbishop to Discharge no Penitents through favour before they have done their Penance nor to Ordain any Persons not duly qualified or to settle any Deans without the Authority of the Bishops After these Constitutions follows in the Works of Hincmarus a Recital of the Ceremonies and The Coronations of Kings Prayers used at the Coronation of Charles the Bald for the Kingdom of Lotharius Celebrated at Metz by Hincmarus Sept. 8. 869. as also at the Coronation of Lewis Dec. 8. 877. and of Judith the Daughter of Charles when she was Married to Ethelwolfe King of England An. 856. as also of Queen Hermentrude celebrated at Soissons Hincmarus also in a Letter to Charles the Bald gives various Instructions to Princes out of the Some Instructions of Hincmarus to Charles the Bald. Fathers which he lays down as undoubted Truths viz. That God makes good Kings and permits bad ones That a good Prince is the greatest Happiness of the People and a bad one their greatest Misfortune That a Wise Government is the greatest Proof of great Power That a King should choose Wise Experienced and Virtuous Men That nothing is better than for Rulers to know how they ought to Rule That it is most profitable that good Kings have the greatest Kingdoms That Necessity only should make them make War That War is Lawful if it be Just That God gives the Victory to whom he pleases That they ought to be Prayed for that Dye in Battels That Kings serve God by making Laws for his Honour That they are obliged to compel Men to do good and punish them justly That they may sometimes shew favour but they should be careful they do it not unfitly That they should be continually upon their Guard that they be not surprized by their Favourites or Flatterers They should have no Wicked Men about them nor Pardon their Relations That they ought to mix Justice with Mercy After he hath thus spoken of a Prince as endued with Kingly Powers he then lays down the Virtues of a Prince considered as a Christian which is nothing but a Collection of Texts of Scripture and Sentences of the Fathers concerning the Duties of a Christian Life He hath also a third Letter to the same King concerning the Nature of the Soul He holds that it is Spiritual not confined to a place and doth not move locally altho' it changes its Will and Manners He also moves this Question Whether we shall see God in another World by the Eyes of our Body or only by the Eyes of the Soul In the Year 858 Lewis Emperor of Germany entred Charles's Kingdom to Invade him while Hincmarus's Advice to Lewis of Germany he was gone to War against the Britans and Normans Hincmarus and the other Bishops of his Diocess whom he had told the States that they must stay a Reims sent a Remonstrance to him in which they tell him plainly That he was Unjust to his Brother in entring into his Kingdom in an Hostile manner exhorting him to make Peace with him to turn his Arms against the Pagans to preserve the Priviledges of the Church and suffer no Man to Rob it of its Revenues to restore those Monasteries of the Monks which are in the possession of Lay-men to take care that the Monks live according to their Rule and that the Revenues of Hospitals should be disposed of rightly by the Overseers with the Authority of the Bishops He then gives him some Directions how he ought to Live and Reign and how he ought to govern the General Synod of France In 859 Charles being ready to march against Lewis Hincmarus wrote to him to hinder the Disorders His Advice to King Charles and Pillaging which the Soldiers use to make He also admonishes the Church-men at Court by another Letter to hinder the Soldiers which were used to Pillage to do it again Lastly He admonisheth the Priests of the Diocess of Reims to Excommunicate them who after Admonition should continue to Pillage any In 875 after the Death of Lewis King of Italy and Emperor Charles the Bald being gone into A Remonstrance to Lewis of Germany Italy to be Crowned Emperor and possess himself of Italy Lewis of Germany falls upon France to give him a Diversion Hincmarus presents him with a long Petition full of Quotations of the Fathers to stop him in this Enterprize and was effectual The same Year John Bishop of Cambray was written to by Hincmarus who gave him Directions The manner of proceeding against a Priest how he should deal with the Priest Hunoldus who was suspected of an unlawful familiarity with a Woman He says That the Custom of the Province hath been to make inquiries about the Priest who is thus charged and defamed that their Witnestes must be Sworn and Interrogated concerning his frequent converse and familiarity with Women That after the Deposition of 6 Witnesses there ought to be a 7th to prove the Fact That if there be no Witnesses but it be only a Common report the Priest must clear himself by the Oath of 6 of his Neighboring Priests Some time after in 878 he condemned a Priest of his Diocess himself Named Goldbaldus The Condemnation of a Priest who was accused of conversing with a Woman the Fact was proved but the Priest fled from Judgment The Instrument of this Priest's Deposition is among Hincmarus's Works In the
Bishops should have some Priests or other Clergy-men witnesses of their most secret Actions In the Second That they should not neglect not onely to celebrate Mass publickly on Sundays and Festivals but if it be possible offer that Sacrifice every day in private In the Third they order that their Meals should be temperate and that they should entertain Pilgrims and Strangers at them whom they should entertain with Pious Discourses and Exhortations In the Fourth they forbid the Pleasures and Luxury of the World In the Fifth they advise them to Study the Holy Scripture to explain it to their Clergy and to Preach upon it to the people The Sixth imports that the Bishops should be careful that the Priests discharge their Duties well in the Government which is entrusted to them That the Arch-Priests should go to the Heads of Families to exhort publick Offenders to doe publick Penance That in difficult cases they should apply themselves to the Bishops and the Bishops should consult their Brethren The Seventh orders that the Priests should examine whether the Penitents perform the works of Penance That the Absolution of publick Penitents is reserved to the Bishops and that no Priest shall Absolve them but in the absence of the Bishop and with his Allowance because the Imposition of hands was reserved to the Apostles The Eighth engages them to Instruct the People in the saving nature of the Sacrament of Unction of which the Apostle St. James speaks c. 5. 14. and make them sensible that they can hope to receive the wished-for effects of that Mystery viz. Remission of sins and health onely when they desire it with a sound and full Faith That because it often happens that sick persons know not the force of that Sacrament or think their Distempers inconsiderable or forget to desire it because their Minds are taken up with the pains of their sickness the Priests of the place ought to put them in mind of receiving it and invite the Priests of his Neighbourhood to be present at the Administration But if the sick person be in a state of Penance he ought not to bestow it on him till he be reconciled to the Church because he that is not allowed to receive the other Sacraments is not in a capacity of receiving this The Ninth advises Fathers of Families to Marry their Daughters as soon as they are of Age and condemns them to Penance if they happen to be debauch'd either by their Negligence or Connivance and forbids that the Benediction be given them who Marry after they are Deflowered It also says that Marriage is forbidden those who are in a course of Publick Penance The Tenth is against Ravishers and declares that they cannot lawfully Marry the persons they have forced and allows such persons no Absolution but just at the point of Death The Eleventh orders that they who commit a publick crime in any place shall be excluded from Communion by the Bishop of that place and put to Penance and not be received to Communion by any other The Twelfth declares that they who are deprived of Communion and put to Penance for their Crimes may not exercise any publick Offices but can't be prohibited from taking care of their Domestick Affairs That such persons as refuse to doe Penance ought to be Excommunicated and Anathematized after all proper means is used to make them submit to their Duty Yet this is not to be done without the Judgment of the Metropolitan and Bishops of the Province The Thirteenth orders the Bishops to commit the care of Priests of smaller Parishes to the Arch-priests The Fourteenth commands those Bishops who have suffered the Monasteries of their Diocesses to be demolished to have them immediately repaired and re-built The Fifteenth imports that such Hospitals as are subject to Bishops shall be govern'd according to the Orders of their Founders That those that are under the protection of the Church shall be Govern'd by the Heirs of the Founders according to the Rules of their Institution who shall hinder all embezelling the Revenues and mis-employment of them The Sixteenth resolves that they will represent to the Princes the Misdemeanour of those Hospitals that are under their protection The Seventeenth orders that all Christians should pay their Tythes which shall be employed for the Maintenance of the Clergy and the Necessities of the Church according to the Disposal of the Bishop The Eighteenth importeth that they will not suffer any of those Priests or Clergy-men who are called Acephali not under the Discipline of any Bishop and that those Priests that celebrate Divine Service in Noble-mens Chapels shall be such as are approved by the Bishop or if they be out of other Bishopricks shall have Commendatory Letters from their own Bishop That they will not suffer wandring Clerks nor any other persons without a Mission The Nineteenth forbids putting Clergy-men upon Secular Employments The Twentieth imports that they shall be Excommunicated who suffer Jews to be either the Judges or Receivers of Tribute The One and twentieth forbids Usury and obliges such as have made advantage by it to Restitution The Two and twentieth imports that they who neglect the care of Orphans and Widows committed to their charge shall be admonished of it and exhorted to be very diligent and watchful for them but if they will not doe it they shall petition the King to appoint them other Guardians The Three and twentieth is against those Clergy-men and Monks who going up and down the Cities stir up unprofitable Questions and disperse Errors They order that such Men shall be apprehended by the Bishop of the place and carried to the Metropolitan and if it be found that they have vented such Doctrines through Ambition and not for the Instruction or Edification of the Faithful they shall be punished as the Disturbers of the Church's Peace The Twenty fourth forbids the ill practices of certain Peasants who Marryed their Sons very young to full grown Women to be abused by them and prohibits such Marriages The last condemns Magicians to very severe penance and deprives them of Absolution till the point of Death who boasted they could make persons Love or Hate one another by their Art and whom they suspected of having killed some Men by it The Council of Soissons Anno 853. THis Council hath Three parts 1. Some Canons 2. The Acts of Eight Sessions about the Affair of Ebbo and the Clerks Ordained by him 3. Some Constitutions published by the Emperour The Council of Soissons What is contained in the Acts of this Council we have related in the History of Hincmarus So that there remain onely the Canons and Imperial Constitutions The First is nothing else but an Abridgment of the Judgment given against Ebbo The Second is concerning Heriman Bishop of Nevers who being a Man of a weak Judgment had committed several Misdemeanors in his Office and notwithstanding that desired to continue in his Function They order Wenilo Arch-bishop of
Commerce a severe Penance shall be imposed upon this last because he did not tell his Brother of it after which they may Marry As to the Woman they revived upon her account the Law of the Council of Neocaesarea The Forty Fifth orders that he that lies with two Sisters and the Sister which lies with him last if she knows that he hath had Commerce with her Sister shall be put to Penance and obliged to live a single Life to their Death The Forty Sixth importeth that if a Woman be prosecuted at Law by her Husband for Adultery and she hath recourse to the Bishop he shall endeavour to obtain of her Husband not to put her to Death but if he can't prevail he shall not deliver her into her Husband's Power but send her whither she desires for her Safety The Fourty Seventh allows him who is God-father to a Man's Child to marry his Widow if she was not his God-mother The Fourty Eighth imports that if a Man by chance marry the Daughter of his God-mother he may keep her and live with her as with his Wife The Fourty Ninth forbids that such as have committed Adultery together should ever Marry Dwell or have Society together If they have any Estate it shall be preserved for the Adulterous Off-Spring The Fiftieth is against those who pervert Christians and destroy them by their evil Arts. The Fifty First repeats the Prohibitions made to an Adulterer to marry the Woman with whom he hath committed Adultery after her Husband's Death The Fifty Second leaves it in the Power of the Bishop to regulate the time of Penance for involuntary Man-slayers The Fifty Fourth to the Fifty Eighth which is the last appoint the time and manner of Penance for wilful Murtherers viz. Seven Years For the first Forty days the Guilty shall not go into the Church eat nothing but Bread and Salt and drink nothing but Water He shall go bare Footed having his Thighs only covered he shall not lie with his Wife he shall not converse with other Men after this he shall not enter into the Church for a whole Year all which time he shall abstain from Meat Cheese drinking Wine Metheglin and Beer unless upon Holidays or in a journey or in Sickness in which case he shall buy off the Fasts of Tuesday Thursday and Saturday by giving a Penny to the Poor and maintaining Three poor People After this year he may go into the Church with other Penitents but he shall observe the same Abstinences for the Second and Third Years saving that he may for all that time buy off the Three Days aforesaid In the Four last Years he shall make three Lents the one before Easter in which he shall abstain from Cheese Fish and Wine The Second before the Nativity of St. John Baptist and the Third before the Nativity of Christ in which he shall practise the same abstinences He may eat the rest of the year what he pleases on Tuesdays Thursdays and Saturdays and buy off Munday and Wednesday for a Penny but he shall keep a strict Fast on Friday When the Seven Years are over if he hath observed these Penances exactly he shall be reconciled as the Penitents are and be admitted to partake of the Communion The Council of Nantes THE Canons which bear the Name of the Council of Nantes are only a Collection of several Constitutions made at different places The Council of Nantes The First orders that the Priests on Sundays and Holy-days shall demand of the People before they say Mass whether there be any person of another Parish who is come to hear Mass in Contempt of his own Priest and if they find any they shall put them out of the Church and oblige them to return to their own Parish They shall also ask if there be any Person at Variance and in Quarrels and if they find any they shall cause them to be Reconciled immediately which if they refuse to be they shall also put them out of the Church till they shall be Reconciled because they cannot bring their Offering to the Altar till they be reconciled to their Brother This being done the Priest shall say Mass. The Second forbids all Priests to receive the Parishioners of another unless he be in a Voyage or come to some Court The Third forbids a Priest to have any Woman with him yea those that are accepted by the Canons It forbids also Women to approach the Altar officiate as Priests or to sit within the Rails The Fourth contains Directions what a Priest ought to do when he hears that any Person is sick in his Parish He ought to go immediately to see him and when he enters into his Chamber sprinkle Holy-Water singing the Anthem Asperges me Domine Thou shalt sprinkle me O Lord c. Psal. 51. 7. Then he shall say the Lord's Prayer the Seven Psalms and the Prayers for the Sick After this he shall cause all that are in the Chamber to go out and coming to the Bed of the Sick-Man he shall speak comfortably to him and exhort him to put his whole Trust in God to bear patiently the Afflictions he hath laid upon him to confess his Sins and to resolve fully upon a thorough Conversion if God restores him to his Health to promise that he will do Penance to dispose of his Goods and set his worldly affairs in order while he is of a sound Mind to redeem his Sins by Alms to pardon those that have injured him to make a Confession of the Faith of the Church and not to despair of the Mercy of God After he hath given him these Exhortations he shall give him his Blessing and then shall retire to leave the Sick Man to think of his Sins The Fifth imports that the Priest who shall receive the Confession of a Sick-Man shall not bestow Absolution upon him but upon Condition that if God shall restore him to his Health he will undergoe Penance proportionable to his Faults The Sixth forbids taking any thing for Burials and Burying in the Church near the Altar The Seventh forbids all Ministers of the Church to favour secret and clandestine Ordinations of any of the Clergy of another Diocess The Eighth forbids a Priest to have more than one Church unless he have other Priests under him in every of those Churches who shall recite the Office day and night and celebrate Mass in them every day The Ninth commands that the Bread be Blessed that is distributed to the People This is one of the Articles of Hincmarus's Constitutions made 852. The Tenth is about the Revenues of the Church what use they ought to be put to and how distributed into Four parts The Eleventh Orders that when the Bishop designs to make an Ordination he shall cause all those who are to be Ordained to come to the City the Wednesday before the Ordination with the Arch-Priests who are to present them That afterward he shall send some Priests and other
shall Teach the People the Creed and Lord's Prayer in Latin and their Mother-Tongue 3. That they shall Teach them to say the Responses after the Priest in Divine-Service 4. That the Priests shall understand the Nature of the Sacraments of Baptism Confirmation and the Lord's Supper and that by the Mysterious use of a Visible Creature the Salvation of the Soul is further'd 5. That they shall have Books necessary for their Office viz. A Book for Celebration of Sacraments a Book of the Lessons Anthems Administration of Baptism a Calendar and Homilies for all the year 6. That they shall recite S. Athanasius's Creed at the Prime 7. That they shall have notice of the Solemn time for Baptism as H. Saturday and the Saturday before Whitsuntide although in cases of necessity Baptism may be administred at all times He observes that they used Three Dippings and had in their Fonts a Vessel which they used onely to Baptize in 8. That they should know all the days in the year which they are to keep Holy viz. All the Sundays in the year from Morning to Night our Lord's Nativity St. Stephen's St. John's St. Innocent's Circumcision Epiphany Purification Easter Ascension H. Saturday Whitsuntide St. John Baptist the XII Apostles and chiefly St. Peter and St. Paul The Assumption of the Virgin Mary the Dedication of St. Michael's Church and all other Churches the Feast of every Saint in Honour of whom any Church is Founded That they ought to observe the Fasts appointed by the Prince but as to the Festivals of S. Remedius S. Maurice and S. Martin the People ought not to be forced to keep them nor hindred if their Devotion lead them to it 9. That Clergy-men ought not to have Women that are Related to them with them 10. Nor go to Taverns 11. Nor frequent Courts of Judicature nor be Bail nor go a Hunting 12. That they should know that none ought to be Ordained for Money and if any Man be he ought to be deposed as well as he that Ordained him 13. That no body ought to receive nor employ a Clergy-man of another Diocess without the consent of his Bishop 14. That they ought not to celebrate Mass in private Houses or Unconsecrated Churches unless in respect to the Sick 15. That Tithes ought to be paid the third part of which belongs to the Bishop according to the Council of Toledo that as for himself he was contented with a Fourth part according to the Constitutions of the Roman Bishops and the use of the Church of Rome 16. That Women ought not to come near the Altar nor doe any Offices about it That when they are to wash the Vessels and Church the Clerks shall take them from the Altar and deliver them to the Women at the Rails of the Altar whither they shall bring them again and the Priests shall also receive there the Offerings of the Women to carry them to the Altar 17. That Priests shall Preach both by their Word and Example That Men ought not to be Usurers 18. That no Clergy-man Ordained or to be Ordained shall go out of his own Diocess either to Rome or to Court or to obtain Absolution without the allowance of his Bishop and that they shall admonish them that will go to Rome out of Devotion that they ought not to go till they have confessed their sins in their Diocess because they ought to be bound or loosed by their own Bishop and not by a Stranger 19. That nothing shall be Sung or Read in the Church which is not taken out of Scripture or the Writings of the Orthodox Fathers That they shall not honour any unknown Angels but onely S. Michael S. Gabriel and S. Raphael That Priests shall all have one way of Administring Penance and shall impose it according to the nature of Mens Faults 20. That they shall put the Offerings of the Faithful to a Good Use. 21. That they shall not suffer a Contract of Marriage between Relations to the Fifth degree but nevertheless those that are Married in the Fourth degree shall not be parted but put to Penance so long as they continue together That it is not lawful to Marry the Relations of a First Husband or First Wife also a God-son or god-God-daughter at Baptism or Confirmation That they who have committed Fornication with a Relation in the First degree may not coâ—…nue together that they shall be put to penance and parted but they may Marry others That Slaves may not Marry without the consent of their Master and if they doe the Marriage is null 22. That Priests shall Teach their People to doe Works of Mercy Instruct them in Vertue and win them from Vice but chiefly from Perjury 23. That they shall Officiate in the Churches they are appointed and shall not fail to say the Canonical hours both by day and night 25. That they shall admonish God-fathers and God-mothers that they are obliged to make their God-sons and God-daughters when they are at Age of Discretion to be sensible of the Promise they have made for them These Constitutions shew how prudent and wise a Man this good Bishop Hatto was Being very Aged he laid down the Government both of his Diocess and Monastery which he had always held with it in 823 and lived a private Monk the rest of his Life He died in 836. He also Wrote a Relation of the Visions of St. Wettinus or Guettinus a Monk of the same Abbey which are also mention'd by Strabo This Tract is printed among the Visions of Hildegardes and other Religious Men at Paris 1513. and by F. Mabillon Saec. Benedict 4. p. 1. This is a proper place to Treat of the Writings of Agobardus which for the most part concern Agobard the Discipline of the Church The Life of this Author is very obscure some think him a Frenchman though they have no clear proof of it He was Coadjutor a Or rather a Suffragan We ought to Read Chorepiscopus in Ado as it is in the Chronicon of Hugo Flaviniaâ—ensis and not Co-episcopus because if he had been Co-episcopus or Coadjutor there had been no need of Ordaining him a-new when Leidradus retired And 't is certain there were at this time Suffragans in France or rather a Suffragan of Leidradus Arch-bishop of Lyons who being desirous to retreat into the Monastery of Soissons in the beginning of the Empire of Lewis the Godly Argobardus was put in his place by the consent of the Emperour and b A Whole Synod What Synod it was is not known M. Baluzius believes it was that of Mentz in 813. but this Synod was under Charles the Great and Leidradus did not retire and so Agobard could not be Ordained till the Reign of Lewis the Godly a whole Synod of France which approved of the Choice that Leidradus had made of him for his Successor But this Ordination was afterward found fault with because 't is against the Canons for a Bishop to
and propounds 3 Questions to the Learned Men of his time he is condemned in two Councils at Mentz and Queircy and imprisoned in the Abby at Haute Villium Two Councils at Mentz and Queircy against Gotteschalcus about the same time A Book of Gotteschalcus against Rabanus and two Confessions of Faith made by him in his Imprisonment Hincmarus wrote a Book against him Charles 849 III. VIII IX  Charles the Bald orders Lupus of Ferrara and Bertram to write about the Questions of Predestination and Grace and of the Nature of the Soul A Council at Paris Bertram wrote a Letter against Hincmarus's Book Prudentius wrote also upon the same Subject 850 IV. IX X.  The Controversie about Predestination Grace grows famous and many Writings pass on both sides A Dispute about the Eucharist between Paschasius and his Adversaries A Council of the Province of Sens which wrote a Letter to Arcantaus Hincmarus and Rabanus wrote against Gotteschalcus Lupus of Ferrara made a Treatise and two Letters upon the 3 Questions and wrote several other Letters Bertram and J. Scotus made their Treatises of Predestination Prudentius and Florus confute Scotus Amalanus's Letter to Eribald upon the Question of Stercoranism Hermanricus Rodolphus Hermantarius Milo and Vandalbert flourish 851 V. X. XI  Ebbo once Arch-bishop of Rheims dyed March 17.  Amolo Archbishop of Lyons wrote to Hincmarus Hincmarus wrote to the Church of Lyons 852 VI. XI XII Lotharius admits his Son Lewis to rule with him    The Church of Lyons send a sharp Answer to Hincmarus Hincmarus's Constitutions for his own Church published Nov. 1. 853 VII XII XIII  Hincmarus hath his 4 Articles confirm'd at Quiercy Prudentius opposes them Walfadus and the Clerks ordain'd by Ebbo are degraded at the Council of Soissons Councils at Soissons Apr. Verbery in Aug. Quiercy Sens to elect a Bishop of Paris Rome in December The Four Articles of Queircy Some Articles drawn up by Prudentius in opposition to those approv'd at Quiercy 854 VIII XIII XIV  The Church of Lyons opposes the Articles of Quiercy An Assembly of Bishops at Attigny The Church of Lyons cause Remigius the Archbishop to confute the Articles of Quiercy 855 IX Leo IV. XIV Michael XV. Lotharius Lotharius's Children The Decision of the Council of The Council of Valence The Treatise of Bertram and J. Scotus  dyed July 17th and Benedict 3 was chosen in his Place I. deposed his Mother Theodota by the advice of Barda whom he made Caesar retir'd into the Monastery of Prom and dyed Sept. 28. and Lewis II. succeeded him divide the Kingdom Lewis the eldest had Italy and the Empire Lotharius Lorraine Charles Provence Valence about the Questions of Predestination and Grace held in January about the Sacrament against Paschasins 856 II. XV. II. Judith Daughter of Charles the Bald married to Ethelwolf King of England The Canons of the Council of Valence The Letters of the Church of Lyons and J. Scotus's Propositions are deliver'd to Charles the Bald who gave them to Hinomarus to examine and answer them Benedict approv'd the Judgment given against the Clerks ordain'd by Ebbo An Assembly of Bishops at Bonnevil The Death of Râ—banus the Author of a great number of Works Herard Archbishop of Tours makes a Collection of Ecclesiastical Laws Hincmarus made a Treatise about Predestination and Free-will upon the occasion of the Canons of the Council of Valence Angelomus a Monk of Lexevil composed his Comments upon Holy Scripture 857 III. XVI III.   The Council of Quiercy in February A Synod of the Clergy at Rheims in June Some other Constitutions of Hincmarus for his own Church added to the former 858 IV. Benedict III. died April 8. Nicholas I made April 22. XVII IV.  Photius made Patriarch of Constantinople and Ignatius deposed about Christmas A Council at Quiercy in November Hincmarus's Advice to Lewis of Germany Photius a Person admirable for his Knowledge and Learning made several Works 859 II. XVIII V.  The Canons of the Council of Valence about Grace were presented to the Councils of Langres and Savonnieres for their Approbation but they put it off to a fuller Council Hincmarus Nephew of the Arch-bishop of Rheims made Bishop of Laon. Councils at Constantinople against Ignatius Langres Metz and Savonnieres in June Hincmarus's Exhortation to Charles the Bald. The Death of Eulogius the Martyr Alvarus his Brother writes Ado succeeds Augibrom in the Archbishop â—ick of Vienna 860 III. XIX VI.  Prudentius carries the Business to Rome and desires the Confirmation of Pope Nicholas of the Canons of the Council of Valence The Contest between Hincmarus and Bertram about the Words Trina Deitas Lotharius nulls his Marriage with Theutberga Gonthierus consults Hincmarus about Ingeltrude the Wife of Baldwin who had left her Husband Another Question of the Divorce between the Daughter of Earl Raimond and Steven Councils at Aix-la-Chapelle about the Divorce of Theutberga in February Coblentz Toussy near Toul in October Photius's Letter to Pope Nicholas and the Pope's Answer to it Hincmarus makes his last Treatise of Predestination The Treatises of Hincmarus and Bertram about the Words Trina Deitas Hincmarus's Treatise against the Divorce of Queen Theutberga Hincmarus's answer to Gonthierus about the parting of the Wife of Boson Another Letter of Hincmarus about the Separation of Earl Ramand's Daughter and Steven 861 IV. XX. VII  The Prosecution of Ignatius The Council of Constantinople of 318 Bishops in the Presence of Zachary and Rodoaldus who confirm'd Photius's Ordination and Ignatius's deposition Hugbaldus and Iso write 362 V. XXI VIII  Lotharius married Waldrada Councils at Sablonieres Piste Rome which declar'd Photius's Ordination void restor'd Ignatius and condemned Zachary and Rodoaldus Aix-la-chapelle about the Divorce of Theutberga Pope Nicholas's Letter in favour of Ignatius 363 VI. XXII IX  Hincmarus accuses Rothadus to the Council of Senlis but he appealed to the Holy See He was condemned the Pope engages for him A Council at Metz approves the Marriage of Lotharius with Waldrada Pope Nicholas in a Councildeclares the divorce of Queen Theutbarga null and excommunicates Councils at Metz about the Marriage of Waldrada Rome against the former Senlis against Rothadus       Waldrada deposing Gonthierus and Thietgaldus King Charles pardons Earl Baldwin for stealing his Daughter Judith   864 VII XXIII X.  Lotharius is forced by a Council to take Theutbrga but he used her so ill that she left him soon after A Council at Rome against Rodoaldus Pope Nicholas writes to Charles the Bald against Hincmarus and other Bishops in favour of Rothadus Hincmarus wriâ—es an Answer to justifie himself Paschasius writes a Letter to Frudegarius about the Expressions he found fault with in his Book of the Eucharist Scotus went into England 865 VIII XXIV XI  Rothadus went to Rome and was absolved there A Council at Rome to restore Rothadus
Emperor Arnulphus dy d about the end of the Year 899 and Guy of Spoleto died within a short time after so that Italy was disputed between Berenger Lewis the Son of Boson and Lambert the Son of Guy The Princes of Italy weary of the Government of Berenger especially Adalbert Marquis of Yvrea the Father of another Berenger who was afterwards King of Italy had called in Lewis but Berenger assisted by Adalbert Marquis of Tuscany having hemm'd him in obliged him to return and made him renounce his Pretensions to the Kingdom A while after Adalbert who had supported the Interests of Berenger re-called Lewis who re-took part of Italy but those who had invited him in soon betrayed him and delivered him into Berenger's hands who caus'd his Eyes to be put out Berenger swoln with his success comes to Rome and forces Pope John IX to Crown him Emperor But no sooner was he gone from Rome but the Pope sent for Lambert who resided privately in a corner of Italy and declar'd him Emperor Since by this Action he found himself oblig'd to acknowledge Formosus for Lawful Pope because it was he who had crown'd Lambert he held a Council wherein he cancell'd all The Council of Rome and Revenna in favour of Formosus the proceedings against that Pope After so bold an undertaking he durst not stay at Rome where the Interest of Berenger was most powerful but retir d to Ravenna where in another Council of 74. Bishops he confirm'd what had been done at Rome The Italians who love to have a great many Masters and to change the Government acknowledg'd Lambert and his Forces became so considerable that Berenger durst not attack him but retir'd to Verona All this happen'd in the year 904. The year after John IX dy'd and Benedict IV. succeeded him who was not upon the Chair above a year or thereabouts and did nothing of any note He who was set up in Benedict IV. his Room call'd Leo V. was Outed forty days after by one of his Domesticks nam'd Christophilus He did not enjoy this Dignity long for that Sergius whom we formerly Christophilus mentioned and who had been the Competitor of Formosus being come to Rome seiz'd on Christophilus put him in Prison and stepp'd himself into St. Peter's Chair The first thing he did was to condemn Formosus to declare his Ordinations Null and to cancel all that John IX had done in his favour Afterwards he degraded those whom Formosus had ordain'd Sergius condemns Formosus and either ordain'd them over again or ordained others in their stead This man is esteem d a Monster not only for his Ambition and the violent proceedings he was Guilty of but also upon the account of his loose Morals He had a Bastard by Marosia the Daughter of Theodora who being a long time before highly in the Favour of Adalbert bore a great Sway in Rome This Bastard Son of his was afterwards promoted to the Popedom by the Intrigues of this Marosia and took upon him the' name of John XI as we shall shew in the Sequel Sergius enjoy'd the See which he had usurp'd only three Years he died in the Year 910. After him Anastasius came of whom History is silent About this time Lambert was Anastasius The death of Lambert trayterously murder'd as he was hunting by a Count of Milan After his Death Adalbert whom he had taken prisoner some time before was set at Liberty and Berenger was the only man who pretended to the Title of King of Italy and Emperor The Popedom of Anastasius did not last above two years and some few months after whose Death Landon Landon an unworthy Pope was promoted to the Chair no doubt by the Interest of Theodora For that wicked woman made use of him to prefer one of her Favorites nam'd John to the Archbishoprick of Ravenna Let us see in what terms Luitprand relates this matter About this time says he Peter Archbishop of Ravenna which was esteem'd the chiefest Archbishoprick next to that of Rome sent frequently to Rome a Deacon of his Church call'd John to pay his due respects to the Pope Theodora that impudent Whore having seen him fell desperately in love with him prevail'd upon him to maintain a shameful familiarity with her While they liv'd thus lustfully together the Bishop of Bolognia dying this John was chose in his place But before he was consecrated the Archbishop of Ravenna dies also and Theodora prevails upon John to quit the Bishoprick of Bolognia and to accept of this Archbishoprick He thereupon returns back to Rome and was ordain'd Archbishop of Ravenna Within a while after the Pope namely Landon who had ordain'd him dies God calling him to give an account of his unjust Proceedings in ordaining John Theodora upon this that she might not be far from her Lover made him again to relinquish the Archbishoprick of Ravenna and to seize upon St. Peter's Chair Tho' John was so shamefully promoted to the Popedom yet he enjoy'd it a long time John X. very peaceably and was acknowledged as lawful Pope by all the Churches But as God never suffers the Crimes of men to go unpunish'd unless for a season thereby to make his Justice the more conspicuous so the conclusion of his Popedom was tragical and he fell by the same steps by which he had been advanc'd This Theodora we speak of had two Daughters more wicked and more debauch'd than her self call'd Marosia and Theodora The first of these after she had prostituted her self to Pope Sergius was marry'd to Guy the Son of Adalbert Marquis of Tuscany who aspiring to be as absolute in Rome as his Father had been before him took it ill that Pope John should prefer his Brother Peter and thought he gave him too great an Authority He thereupon resolv'd to divest him of it and taking the opportunity when the Pope was with his Brother in the Lateran Palace with a very few attendants he order'd an Assault to be made by the Souldiers he had rais'd who put the Pope into Prison having first kill'd his Brother before his face He there dy'd some time after either for Grief or rather by an untimely Death This happen'd in the year 928. Leo VI. who succeeded him had a design if Historians may be credited of restoring Leo VI. Italy and the City of Rome to its former Quiet but he had not time for it being upon the Chair no longer than six Months and fifteen days 'T is said he likewise dy'd in Prison Stephen VII as his Predecessor did before him Stephen VII who succeeded him enjoy'd the place but two years one month and a few days Marosia upon this vacancy of the Holy See thought there could be no better way of John XI A Monster of a Pope making her self absolute in Rome and raising her Family than by placing the Son she had by Pope Sergius upon the Chair Tho by reason of his
Peace between Hugh and Alberic but all to no purpose for both Odo and the Pope dy'd before it was concluded Marinus II. succeeded Pope Stephen in the year 943. who was reputed to be a man of Marinu II. singular Piety and we have an account in the life of St. Ulric Bishop of Ausbourg that he foretold to this Saint the Death of his Predecessor Adalberon and withal assur'd him that he should succeed him which happen'd thirty years before he was Pope All the time of his Popedom he was very serviceable to the Church of Rome in reforming the Clergy and the Monks in repairing Churches and in taking a particular care of the poor He did likewise what he could to promote Peace among the Christian Princes He concluded that between Alberic and Hugh and wrote several Letters in order to make up the breach between Otho King of Germany who endeavour'd to enter Italy and Lotharius the Son of Hugh who oppos'd his design He callâ—d to Rome the Prior of Mount Cassin and bestow'd on him the Government of the Monastery of S. Paul in Rome T is likewise said that he wrote a Letter to Sico Bishop of Capua wherein he charges him with his ignorance of the Canons with his want of Learning with his holding too great an intimacy with secular persons and with his having endeavour'd contrary to all form to confer a Benefice on one of his Deacons which belong'd to a Monastery He granted several Priviledges to the Benedictin Monks whom he favour'd in a great many instances Agapetus II. who succeeded Marinus was likewise a holy man who govern'd the Church Agapetus II. of Rome with a great deal of prudence He sent into France a Bishop whose name was Marinus to assist in the quality of a Legat in that Council held at Ingelheim in the year 948. about the Contests between King Lewis and Prince Hugh and Hugh of Vermandois and Artaldus pretenders to the Archbishoprick of Rheims The cause was there determin'd in favour of Artaldus who was confirm'd in that Bishoprick Hugh of Vermandois was declar'd an Intruder and excommunicated and a Letter was written to Prince Hugh the White in the name of the whole Council and to his Adherents to admonish them to return to their Allegiance under the pain of excommunication The Sentence of this Council was confirm'd the year following in a Council held by Agapetus wherein Prince Hugh was excommunicated till such time as he should give satisfaction to King Lewis Under this Popes Pontificate Italy felt another Revolution Adalbert Marquis of Ivrea The Wars between Hugh and Berenger had two Sons Berenger by Gilla the Daughter of Berenger King of Italy and Anschaire by Ermegarda Daughter of the Marquis of Tuscany These two Princes inherited the power of their Father and Grand-Fathers by the Mother's side and govern'd a part of Italy The first was prudent ingenious and politick the second was valiant and bold King Hugh had marry'd his Niece Villa the Daughter of Roson to Berenger but he began to be jealous of the growing Greatness of those two Brothers and resolv'd to put a stop to it He began with Anschaire whom he caus'd to to be set upon by Sarlio who having made the Spoletians and Camerines to revolt defeated the Troops he had rais'd for his own defence and kill'd him in the Skiâ—mish Berenger desirous to revenge the Death of his Brother conspir'd against King Hugh This Prince having intelligence thereof took up a resolution in his Council to send for him under pretence of making up a Reconciliation and then to put him to death but his young Son Lotharius who had been present in Council could not forbear advertising Berenger thereof who upon the receipt of this Intelligence fled forthwith to Herman Duke of Suabia who presented him to King Otho Hugh sent to demand him but Otho was so far from delivering him up that he took him under his Protection A while after Berenger returns to Italy at the head of some Troops and having laid Siege to a Fort which was held out by Adelard the Clerk of Manasses he became Master of it by promising the Archbishoprick of Milan to that Bishop and to the Clerk the Bishoprick of Cumae in case he should become Master of Italy Big with these hopes Manasses importunes the Princes of Italy in his behalf Milo Count of Verona was the first who declar'd for Berenger and receiv'd him into his City The Bishop of Modena soon follow'd his example as did likewise the City of Milan where the Princes of Italy came to wait on Berenger having deserted King Hugh who was retir'd to Pavia From this place he sent his Son Lotharius to Milan conjuring Berenger and the Princes of Italy to acknowledge him for their King and that for his own part he had taken a resolution to retire into Provence The people movâ—d with compassion towards Lotharius who was not then above fourteen or fifteen years old acknowledged him their King with the consent of Berenger and they wrote to Hugh acquainting him that he might if he pleas'd reside still in Italy This Berenger orderâ—d with a design of seizing upon his Treasures which he was carrying off to Provence for Hugh and Lotharius were only Titular Kings while the whole power of governing was lodg'd in the hands of Berenger Hugh could not bear this but cunningly retir'd into Provence where he dy'd a short time after leaving his Estate to his Niece Bertha the Widdow of Boson Count of Arles This Revolution happen'd about the year 945. Lotharius still retain'd the name of King of Italy but did not long enjoy it for about four years after whether out of grief to see himself slighted or whether by the means of some poison he fell mad and dy'd childless about the latter end of the year 949. Berenger presently caus'd himself to be proclaim'd King and to be crown'd with his eldeit Son Adalbert and that he might render his new Authority the stronger he sought in Marriage for his Son Adelaid the Widdow of Lotharius Daughter to Radulphus II. and Sister to Conrad Kings of Burgundy This Princess having refus'd the offer he besieg'd her in Pavia took her and sent her Prisoner to a Castle callâ—d le Garde however she escap'd thence by the help of a Priest and fled to Atho her Kinsman who undertook to defend her in the Fort of Canossa where she secur'd her self Berenger immediately sat down before the place with all his Forces But in the second year of the Siege this Queen seeing her self reduc'd to the last extremity sent to beg King Otho's Assistance and with her self offered hâ—…he Kingdom of Italy The love of Glory rather than Interest inclin'd this Prince to cross the Mountains He delivers Adelaid marries her and takes her along with him into Germany leaving his Army with Conrad Duke of Lorrain to make an end of the War Conrad pressed so hotly on Berenger and his
decide this difference of which he inform'd Charles the Simple in another Letter The two Competitors obey'd and came both to Rome where the Cause was decided in favour of Richerus who was ordain'd Bishop of Liege by the Pope and Hilduin was excommunicated This contest began in the year 920 and ended in the year 922. The third Letter of Pope John X. is directed to the Bishops of the upper Narbonnois The Church of Narbonne which was the Metropolis of that Country being vacant Agius had been elected into it according to the Canon but a powerful man named Gerard possess'd himself of that Archbishoprick having counterfeited Letters from the Pope John X. disowns them in this Letter and declares that he would not give him a grant thereof when he came to Rome tho he was ignorant of his Treachery and Knavery but that being since fully inform'd of the matter he orders them not to acknowledge him any longer for Bishop since he had been neither elected by the Clergy and Laity of that Town nor ordain'd by the Bishops of the Province By the same Letter he sends the Pall to Agius These three Letters of John X. are extant Concil Tom. IX p. 574. Leo VII WE have likewise three Letters remaining of Leo VII The First is directed to Hugh Duke of France and Abbot of S. Martin of Tours The Letters of Leo VII He therein enjoyns him under the pain of excommunication not to suffer any Women to stay or so much as enter within the inclosure of that Monastery The Second is directed to Gerard Archbishop of Lorch in Germany He grants him the Pall and permits him to make use of it not only on the days of consecrating the Holy Chrism and of the Resurrection of our Lord but also on the Festivals of Christmass of the Blessed Virgin of the Apostles of St. John the Baptist of St. Lawrence of St. Stephen and of all those Saints whose Bodies lay interr'd in his Church and on the Day of his own Consecration and of the Dedication of the Church during the consecration of Bishops and Priests and the Sermons to the new Converts He exhorts him to behave himself so as that the Sanctity of his Moâ—als may be suitable to the Dignity of that Ornament and afterwards makes a very edifying Moâ—al discourse upon that subject This Gerard came afterwards to Rome and consulted with the Pope about several Questions to which he gave an answer directed to the Bishops of France and Germany The first of these Questions is concerning Necromancers Magicians and Wizards whether they ought to be admitted to Penitence The Pope reply'd that the Bishops ought to bring them over to repentance by their exhortations that so they might live like Penitents rather than dye like Criminals He adds that if they slighted the censures of the Bishops they ought to be punish'd according to the Rigor of the civil Laws The second Question is whether the Bishops ought to say Pax Vobis or Dominus Vobiscum the Pope reply'd that they ought to act conformably to the custom of the Church of Rome wherein Pax Vobis was said on Sundays the principal Festivals and on the Festivals of the Saints on which days they likewise said Gloria in excelsis and that Dominus vobiscum was us'd in the time of Lent the Ember-Weeks the Vigil of Saints and â—n Fast-days The third Question is to know whether the Lords Prayer ought to be said at the benediction of the Table The Pope reply'd No because the Apostles recited it at the consecration of the Body and Blood of JESUS-CHRIST The fourth is whether a man might marry with his God-mother or god-God-daughter The Pope reply'd that such Marriages were forbidden The fifth has respect to those Priests who marry publickly The Pope orders that thâ—y shall be depriv'd of their Dignity but that their Children should not be endamaged thereby The sixth is whether Surfragan Bishops can consecrate Churches ordain Priests or Confirm The Pope prohibits it according to the tenth Canon of the Council of Antioch The seventh is concerning those who marry their Relations without knowing it and who afterwards upon the knowledge thereof confess it to the Priest the Pope orders that they shall be parted and enjoyn'd Pennance The last is concerning those who rob Churches the Pope declares that the Bishops ought to proceed against them with all the Authority God has put into their hands At the end of this Letter he adds that he constituted Gerard his Vicar in Germany and exhorts the Bishops to joyn with him in reforming those abuses which the Incursions of the Pagans and the persecution rais'd by false Christians had introduc'd These Letters of Leo are written in a pretty good Stile and full of good Maxims and confirm the Judgment which Flodoard has passed upon him that he was a great Servant of God His Letters are extant Concil Tom. IX p. 594. Agapetus II. WE have likewise a Letter of Pope Agapetus II. wherein he adjusts the difference which A Letter of Agapetus II. was then on foot between the Church of Lorch and that of Salzburgh concerning the Right of Metropolitanship by giving the Priority to the Archbishop of Lorch whose See was the most ancient Metropolitan together with a Jurisdiction over the Eastern Pannonia and over the Country of Avarois of the Moravians and Sclavonians and by granting to the Archbishop of Salzburgh whose See was rais'd to an Archbishoprick by Leo III the Right over the Western Pannonia There is another Letter of this Pope which is a Priviledge in favour of the Abby of Clâ—ny Both these Letters are extant Concil Tom. IX p. 618. John XII WE have two Letters of John XII One by which he grants the Pall to Dunstan The Letters of John XII Archbishop of Canterbury and the other whereby he excommunicates Issuard and his Adherents who had seiz'd upon the Lands and Estates belonging to the Abbey of S. Simphorien in Provence These Letters are extant Concil Tom. IX p. 641. John XIII THere are four Letters of John XIII The first is directed to the Bishops of Bretagne The Letters of John XIII whom he exhorts to acknowledge the Archbishop of Tours for their Metropolitan The second is directed to Edgar King of England wherein he promises him to turn out of the Church of Winchester such Prebendaries as lead a scandalous Life and to put some Monks into their places The third and fourth are two priviledges which he grants one to the Monastery built by Berenger Bishop of Verdun the other to the Monastery of S. Remy of Rheims These four Letters are extant Concil Tom. IX p. 663. Benedict VI. POpe Benedict VII by his Letter to the Bishops of France and Germany confirms the The Letter of Benedict VII Arbitration made in favour of the Church of Lorch by his Predecessor Agapetus and sends the Pall to Pilgrin who was Archbishop of the place This Letter is extant Concil
Arras and depos'd Gaucher Bishop of Cambray Sometime after the Arch-bishop of Rheims wrote to Lambert against a Lord who had Plunder'd and Burnt a Village belonging to the Church of Cambray This is the Subject Matter of the Letters we mention'd Pope Urban held several Councils the first at Rome in the Year 1089. wherein he confirm'd all that Gregory VII had done against Guilbert Several Lords propos'd to the The Council of Rome in the Year 1089. Emperor Henry to abandon Guilbert for the procuring of Peace to the Empire and the Church He was well enough inclin'd to it but was diverted from it by his Bishops who fear'd being depos'd as well as Guilbert The same year Urban held a Council at Melphi wherein he renew'd the Decrees against the Simoniacal and concerning the Celibacy of those who were in Holy Orders He therein The Council of Melphi in the Year 1089. enjoyns that none should be admitted into Holy Orders but such as had led chast Lives and had never been Marry'd to any more than one Woman That none should be ordain'd Sub-deacon before he was Fourteen years old nor Deacon before One and twenty nor Priest before Thirty He therein prohibits Laicks from granting the Donation of Churches without the Consent of the Bishop or the Pope And Abbots from exacting Mony of those who took upon them the Monastical Habit. He therein abolish'd the Custom of Exempt Clerks who either were in the Service of great Lords or depended on them He therein declares the Sons of Priests uncapable of entring into Holy Orders unless they have taken upon them the Monastical Habit and he advises Ecclesiasticks to behave themselves modestly This is the Subject Matter of the Sixteen Canons made in that Council which was held in the presence of Count Roger. The Legats of this Pope held a Council at Toulose in the Year 1090. wherein they made several Decrees about Discipline The Arch-bishop of Toulose clear'd himself in this The Council of Toulose in the Year 1090. The Council of Benevento in the Year 1091. Council and they there resolv'd to send Legats to Toledo for the re-establishing of the Faith In the Year 1691. August the 1st Urban held a Council at Benevento wherein he renew'd the Condemnations issu'd out against Guilbert and made Four Canons By the First he prohibits the Electing any one for Bishop who is not in Holy Orders that is according to his Explication who is not Deacon or Priest And with respect to Sub-deacons he enjoyns that they cannot be promoted to Episcopacy unless upon an extraordinary occasion and with the Permission of the Holy See In the Second he suspends ab officio the Chaplains who are nominated and paid by Lay-Patrons without the consent of the Bishop In the Third he prohibits the receiving Clerks who were Strangers without Letters Dimissory from their Bishop In the fourth Laicks are forbid the eating of Flesh after Ashwednesday and all the Faithful of both Sexs are enjoyn'd to put Ashes on their Heads on that Day It is likewise order'd that no Marriage shall be Solemniz'd from Septuagesima Sunday till after the Octave of Whitsontide and from the first Sunday in Advent till after the Octave of Epiphany In the Year 1093. he held a Council in a City of Apulia call'd Troyes wherein he renew'd The Council of Troyes in Apulia in the Year 1093. The Council of Constance in the Year 1094. The Council of Plaisance in the Year 1095. the Prohibitions against contracting Marriages between Kindred In the Year 1094. Gebehard Bishop of Constance his Legat in Germany held a Council in his City against incontinent and simoniacal Clerks He likewise order'd that Ember Week in March should be held the first Week in Lent and that in June the Whitson Week and that there should be no more than three Holydays at Easter and Whitsontide for till then they were us'd to keep Holyday all the Week long The Princess Praxedis Henry the Emperors Wife appear'd before that Council and discover'd a great many Enormities which she said she had been constrain'd by her Husband to commit She made the same Declaration before the Pope in the Council held at Plaisance in the Year 1095. during Lent which was so numerous that they were forc'd to hold the Assembly in the open Field Philip King of France sent his Ambassadors thither to excuse his not appearing The Pope allow'd him time till Whitsontide Hugh Arch-bishop of Lions was Suspended in this Council because he neither appear'd there himself nor sent any Deputy to excuse him The Pope gave audience to the Ambassadors of the Emperor of Constantinople who demanded assistance against the Infidels and he engag'd the Lords who were there present to promise to go into the East for that purpose This was the first step towards the CROISADE which was fully resolv'd upon in the Council of Clermont There were likewise several Rules of Discipline made in this Council by which it is order'd that those who will not part with their Concubines or pardon their Enemies or were habituated in any mortal Sin should not be admitted to the Holy Communion That the Priests shall admit none to Pennance but those who shall be referr'd to them by the Bishops That the Eucharist shall not be deny'd to those who shall confess themselves as they ought They renew'd likewise the Decrees against the Simoniacal and the Incontinent and the Judgments pass'd against the Heresy of Berenger against Guilbert and against those who were ordain'd by Schismaticks Urban going into France in November 1095. held a Council at Clerment in Auvergne The Council of Clermont in the Year 1095. which was compos'd of Thirteen Arch-bishops and a great many Bishops their Suffragans wherein he confirms the Decrees of the Council of Plaisance and made other new ones publish'd the CROISADE for the East excommunicated King Philip confirm'd the Primacy of the Arch-bishop of Lions and made a great many other Institutions These are the things we will speak of more particularly and will begin with the Excommunication of Philip I. King of France This Prince had put away his Wife Bertha the Daughter King Philip I. Divorc'd from Bertha of Florentius the chief Count of Holland and of Gertrude of Saxony for being too nigh a Kin to him This Divorce having been made in form by the Authority of the Church in the Year 1086. and in pursuance of a juridical Sentence the King banish d her to Monstrevil a Sea Port and look'd after another Wife At first he courted the Daughter of Roger Count of Sicily nam'd Emma who was carry'd to the Borders of Provence but the Match broke off perhaps because she did not think it safe to Marry a Prince who had another Wife Living Bertrade the Daughter of Simon of Montfert who had Marry'd Fulcus Rechinus Count of Anjou pleas'd the King and she made no scruple to part from her Husband and Marry him
of the Palsey whom our Saviour cur'd having regard to the Faith of those Persons who brought him into his Presence and that of the Canaanitish Woman who by Faith obtain'd a Cure for her Daughter give us to understand that the Faith of those who present an Infant to be Baptis'd may stand it in some stead Lastly he demanded of them for what reason they express'd so great contempt of the Sacraments of the Church who were so punctual in observing the Ceremony of washing their Feet Neither does he insist less on the second Article concerning the Mystery of the Eucharist of which he explains the Effects proving the real Presence of the Body and Blood of JESUS CHRIST and answering the Objections that was made about the impossibility that the same Body should be present in divers Places to which purpose he relates a great number of Miracles These Hereticks being convinc'd by his Discourse acknowledg'd their Error and sued for a Pardon The Bishop gave them some hopes of obtaining their Request and proceeded to the other Points of Discipline to which they had no regard viz. those that related to the Churches Altars Sacred Orders Unction Exorcisms Bells and Funeral Rites After having vindicated the Customs of the Church as to these Matters he endeavour'd to prove against them the usefulness of Pennance for the Living and that of Prayer good Works and Sacrifices for the Dead He shews That lawful Marriages is not forbidden by the Ordinances of the Gospel That the Confessours ought to be honour'd as well as the Martyrs That the singing of Psalms is not only allow'd of but also commendable That a due Veneration ought to be had for the Cross by referring that Worship to JESUS CHRIST That the use and adoration of the Images of our Saviour and of the Saints is profitable because the sight of them represents their Actions and puts us in mind of their Vertues He concludes with discoursing of the usefulness and distinctions of Sacred Orders and about the necessity of the Grace of JESUS CHRIST Upon the conclusion of this Discourse the Hereticks who were present declar'd That they acknowledg'd the Truths which the Bishop of Arras had explain'd to them insomuch that a Form of a Confession of Faith contrary to the Errors which were refuted by that Prelate was immediately drawn up and recited by him and the rest of the Clergy Afterward they caus'd it to be explain'd in the Vulgar Tongue by an Interpreter in favour of these Hereticks who did not well understand the Latin Then they approv'd and sign'd it and were dismiss'd in Peace after having receiv'd Benediction from the Bishop The said Gerard himself compil'd the Acts of this Synod and Dedicated them to one of his neighbouring Bishops whose name is mark'd by the Letter R prefix'd at the beginning of the Epistle which he wrote to him and who is apparently Reginald of Liege These Acts were publish'd by Father Luke Datchery in the thirteenth Tome of his Spicilegium and may well be esteem'd as one of the finest Monuments of those times The Council of Bourges held in the Year 1031. AIMO Arch-bishop of Bourges held a Council on the first day of November A. D. 1031. The Council of Bourges in 1031. in that City in which assisted the Bishops of Puy en Velay Clermont Alby Cahors and Mande with the Abbot of Micy and several others Pope John's 18th Letter was read concerning the Affair of St. Martial's Apostleship proper means were sought for to put a stop to the Civil Wars and to establish Peace in the Kingdom and the following Constitutions were rectify'd The First ordains That the Commemoration of St. Martial shall be made among the Apostles and not among the Confessors The Second That the Priest shall not keep the Body of Jesus Christ consecrated under the same Hosts longer than from one Sunday to another The Third imports That the Bishops shall not receive any Presents upon account of Ordinations nor even their Officers who were wont to take somewhat for Registring the Names of those Persons who were propos'd for Ordination The Fourth That none shall obtain an Arch-deaconry who is not a Deacon The Fifth That Priests who cohabit with their Wives shall only be Readers or Chanters for the future and that Deacons and Sub-deacons shall not be suffer'd to keep either Wives or Concubines The Sixth That the Bishops shall oblige them to take an Oath to that purpose at their Ordination The Seventh enjoyns That all those who are employ'd in the Ministerial Functions shall have Ecclesiastical Tonsure that is to say their Beards shav'd and the Crown made on their Heads The Eighth That the Sons of Deacons and Sub-deacons shall not be admitted into the Clergy The Ninth That Slaves shall not be ordain'd Clerks till they have obtain'd Freedom of their Masters The Tenth That such Persons shall not be look'd upon as the Sons of Clergy-men as were born after their Fathers quitted the Ecclesiastical State and return'd to that of Laicks The Eleventh That the Bishops shall declare at the time of Ordination that they excommunicate those who shall presume to present to them any Sons of Clergy-men or Slaves to be ordain'd and that Persons under such Circumstances who have got their Ordination by surprise shall be depos'd The Twelfth That nothing shall be exacted for the Administration of Baptism and Pennance nor for burying the Dead nevertheless that it shall be permitted to receive whatever the Faithful shall think fit to bestow Voluntarily upon those Occasions The Thirteenth orders That the Priests shall have the Offerings and the Funeral Torches which are presented to them but that the Paschal-Taper shall remain to give Light to the Altar The Fourteenth That Linnen Cloths which have serv'd to cover dead Bodies shall not be laid on the Altar The Fifteenth That no publick Meetings shall be held on Sundays for the Management of Secular Affairs unless they be call'd to perform Works of Charity to oppose the Insults of Enemies in case of danger or to transact Business upon some other emergent Occasion The Sixteenth ordains That those Persons who leave their Wives except upon account of Adultery shall not marry others as long as the former are living nor the Women other Husbands in the like Cases The Seventeenth That no Man shall take to Wife a Relation to the sixth or seventh Degree of Consanguinity The Eighteenth That none in like manner shall be permitted to Marry his Kinsman's Wife The Nineteenth That no Man shall give his Daughter in Marriage to any Priest Deacon or Sub-deacon nor to their Sons The Twentieth That none shall Marry their Daughters The Twenty first imports That Lay-men shall not enjoy Ecclesiastical Benefices The Twenty second That Laicks shall not put Priests in their Churches without the approbation of the Bishop The Twenty third That those Ecclesiastical Persons who renounce their Clerkship or Ministerial Functions shall be separated from the rest of the
an Expedition for the recovery of it out of the Hands of that implacable Enemy of Christianity He grants Indulgences to those who shall take upon them the Cross for the Holy War and renews in their favour the special Privileges that were allow'd by his Predecessors in the like Case In the Second Letter he ordains That to deprecate the Wrath of God the Faithful should be oblig'd to fast during five Years on all Fridays from Advent to Christmass and that they should abstain from Flesh on Wednesdays and Saturdays By a Third Letter he confirms the Orders that his Predecessors had given to all the Ecclesiastical Judges to determine the Law-suits of private Persons The Five first Letters of Clement III. relate to the Contest that arose between John and Hugh Clement III's Letters about the Bishoprick of St. Andrew in Scotland In the Sixth he confirms the Rights and Immunities of the Church of that Kingdom The Seventh is the Act for the Canonization of Otto Bishop of Bamberg The First Letter of Celestin III. is directed to the Prelates of England whom he orders to Celestin III's Letters excommunicate all those who shall refuse to obey William Bishop of Ely Legate of the Holy See and Regent of the Kingdom in the absence of King Richard who was engag'd in the Expedition to the Holy Land By the Second he takes off the Excommunication denounced by Geffry Arch-bishop of York against Hugh Bishop of Durham The Third is the Act for the Canonization of St. Ubald Bishop of Eugubio The Fourth is an elegant Exhortation to induce the Christian Princes to make Peace that they may be in a Condition to regain the Holy Land In the Fifth directed to the Bishop of Lincoln he gives him a Commission to take cognizance of the Misdemeanours and Crimes of which the Arch-bishop of York was accus'd The Sixth sent to the Dean and Arch-deacon of the Church of Lincoln is written on the same Subject In the Seventh he constitutes Hubert Arch-bishop of Canterbury his Legate in England and in the Eighth orders the Bishops of England to acknowledge and obey him in that Quality The Ninth is a Fragment of a Letter directed to the Arch-bishop of Sens in which he declares null the Divorce that Philip King of France had made with Queen Batilda the Daughter of the King of Denmark under pretence of nearness of Kin and enjoyns him to re-take her In the Tenth he entreats Hubert Arch-bishop of Canterbury to levy Recruits to be sent into the Holy Land to King Richard The Three following Letters are written about the Disorders caus'd in the Church of York by the Arch-bishop He commits the Care and Reformation of that Church to Simon Dean of the Chapter and forasmuch as the Arch-bishop had appeal'd to the Holy See before the Bishop of Lincoln exhibited an Information against him he allows him time to come to Rome till the Festival of St. Martin but in case he do not then appear he orders the Bishop of Lincoln to proceed against him and in the mean while suspends him from the Government of his Province In the Fourteenth he orders Hubert Arch-bishop of Canterbury to oblige those who had taken upon them the Cross for the Expedition to the Holy Land to set forward on their Journey at least unless they were prevented by a lawful Impediment This Letter is follow'd by that of Philip Bishop of Beauvais written to Pope Celestin in which that Prelate complains That the King of England enter d the Territories of Beauvaisis with his Forces in a hostile manner and took him Prisoner The Pope return'd an Answer in the following Letter That he had no reason to make a Complaint of the Misfortune that befel him since he presum'd to take up Arms contrary to the Duty of his Profession besides that the Conduct of the King of England ought not to be blam'd in regard that the King of France had unjustly taken from him divers Towns contrary to the solemn Promise that he had made to that Prince not to commit any Hostilities against him 'till his return to his Dominions That instead of performing that Promise he determin'd to take the advantage of his Confinement And that the King of England being at last set at Liberty had good reason to oppose the Enterprizes of the King of France In the Sixteenth he enjoyns the Arch-bishop of Canterbury the Bishop of Lincoln and the Abbot of St. Edmund to re-establish in one of the Churches of England the Monks that were turn'd out under colour of the Pope's Bull got by surprize upon a false Exhibition In the last directed to William King of Scotland he confirms the Rights and Privileges of the Churches of that Kingdom CHAP. X. A Relation of the several Contests that Thomas Becket Arch-bishop of Canterbury had with Henry II. King of England THOMAS BECKET was a Native of the City of London the Capital of England His Father was nam'd Gilbert and his Mother Matilda Gilbert in his Youth took The Life of Thomas Becket before he was Arch-bishop of Canterbury upon him the Cross for the Holy War but upon his arrival at Jerusalem he was taken Prisoner and made a Slave by the Saracens During his Imprisonment he found means to obtain the favour of the Admiral 's Daughter in whose House he was confin'd and she conceiv'd so great an Affection for him that Gilbert having at last made his Escape she travell'd to London on purpose to meet him was baptiz'd there and afterwards marry'd to Gilbert by whom she had our Thomas who was born A. D. 1119. Before his Birth Gilbert return'd to the Holy Land where he continu'd three Years and a half having left his Wife in England This Gentlewoman took great care of the Education of her Son who in the very first blooming of his Youth shew'd the marks of what might be expected from him in a riper Age. He began his Studies at London and after having lost both his Father and Mother compleated them at Paris Upon his return to England he was employ'd in the management of Affairs and put himself into the Service of Theobald Arch-bishop of Canterbury At that time Henry Bishop of Winchester Brother to King Stephen was Legate in England who abus'd his Quality and Authority treating the other Bishops and even his Metropolitan with intolerable Arrogancy Thomas advis'd Theobald to shake off the Yoke and was sent by him to Pope Celestin II. to obtain a Revocation of Henry's Commission insomuch that being arriv'd at Rome he negotiated that Affair so successfully that the Pope depriv'd Henry of his Dignity and conferr'd it on the Arch-bishop of Canterbury Thomas was no sooner return'd to England but Theobald entrusted him with the management of the Affairs of his Church made him Arch-deacon of it some time after and bestow'd on him many Benefices Afterwards King Stephen dying and Henry II. Duke of Normandy succeeding him Thomas was constituted
8. INNOCENT III. succeeds him I. VIII Philip Augustus King of France is Excommunicated Decemb. 6th by the Pope's Legate Peter of Capua and his Kingdom suspended from Divine Service because he refus'd to retake his Wife Batilda whom he had put away and to quit Mary the Daughter of the Duke of Aquitaine whom he had Marry'd nevertheless the Publication of this Sentence is deferr'd till after the Festival of Christmass IV. Pope Innocent reduces Dol and the other Bishopricks of Bretagne under the Jurisdiction of the Archbishoprick of Tours A Council at Sens which deposes the Abbot of St. Martin at Nevers suspends the Dean of the Church of that City who were accus'd of the Heresie of the Publicans and remits 'em both to the Judgment of the See of Rome Odo de Chitton John a Carthusian of des Portes Stephen de Chaulm a Carthusian Monk 1199 II. IX The Death of Richard King of England John sir-nam'd Without Land takes Possession of his Dominions to the prejudice of Arthur Duke of Bretagne the Son of Geffrey the elder Brother of the said John V. The King of France is freed from the Sentence of Excommunication which the Pope's Legate had publish'd against him by quitting the Daughter of the Duke of Aquitaine and retaking his former Wife However the forbears not to put her away again some time after  William le Petit a Regular Canon of Newbridge Gervase a Monk of Canterbury Gonthier a Monk of St. Amand. Theodorus Balsamon Oliver of Colen Radulphus de Diceto Gautier de Vinesauf Richard Abbot of Mount Cassin Elias of Coxie Saxo Grammaticus Joannes Camaterus Zacharias Chrysopolitanus Roger de Heveden The Death of George Xiphylin Patriarch of Constantinople A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE Ecclesiastical Writers IN THE TWELFTH CENTURY S. BRUNO FOunder of the Carthusian Order flourish'd at Rheims in the Year 1075. retir'd to La Grande Chartreuse or the Great Charter-House in 1086 went to Italy in 1090. died in 1101. LEO. Cardinal Deacon flourish'd under the Pontificate of Urban II. in the end of the preceeding Century PETRUS THEUTBODUS Flourish'd in the end of the XI Century and in the beginning of the XII A Nameless Italian AUTHOR Flourish'd in the end of the preceeding Century ROBERT A Monk of St. Remigius at Rheims flourish'd in the end of the preceeding Century DOMNIZON A Priest liv'd in the end of the XI Century and in the beginning of the XII RAINAUD or RAINOLDUS Of Semur Archbishop of Lyons born in the Year 1024. translated from the Abbey of Vezelay to the Archbishoprick of Lyons after 1104. dy'd in 1109. BAUDRY Bishop of Noyon and Terouanne ordain'd Bishop A. D. 1097. dy'd in 1112. SIGEBERT A Monk of Gemblours flourish'd in the end of the preceeding Century and in the beginning of the present XII dy'd in 1113. ODO Bishop of Cambray translated from the Abbey of St. Martin at Tournay to that See A. D. 1105. dy'd in 1113. YVES Bishop of Chartres made Abbot of the Regular Canons of St. Quentin at Beauvais A. D. 1078. made Bishop in 1092. dy'd in 1115. GISLEBERT or GILBERT CRISPIN Abbot of Westminster made A. D. 1106. dy'd in 1114. or 1115. LEO of Marsi Cardinal Bishop of Ostia made A. D. 1101. dy'd a little after in 1115. PETRUS ALPHONSUS A Spanish Jew converted A. D. 1106. STEPHEN Abbot of St. James at Liege flourish'd in the beginning of this Century about A. D. 1107. PASCAAL II. Pope advanc'd to that Dignity A. D. 1099. dy'd in 1118. ANSELM Dean of the Church of Laon flourish'd in the beginning of this Century ANSCHERUS Abbot of St. Riquier fllourish'd in the beginning of this present XII Century THEOFREDUS Abbot of Epternack flourish'd about the same time THEOBALDUS A Clerk of the Church of Etampes flourish'd and was Professor in the Divinity-Schools of Caën and Oxford at the same time RADULPHUS or RAOUL L'ARDENT Liv'd about the same time NICETAS SEIDUS Flourish'd at the same time HARIULPHUS A Monk of St. Riquier flourish'd at the same time HUGH Abbot of Flavigny liv'd about the same time ODO A Benedictin Monk of Ast flourish'd at the same time RAIMOND D' AGILES A Canon of Puy flourish'd at the same time TURGOT A Monk of Durham flourish'd about the same time JOHN PYKE An English Writer flourish'd about the same time WALTER Arch-Deacon of Oxford liv'd about the same time EUTHYMIUS ZYGABENUS A Greek Monk flourish'd about the same time PHILIPPUS SOLITARIUS A Greek Monk liv'd about the same time UDASCHALCUS A Monk flourish'd under Pope Pasehal II. in the beginning of this Century GELASIUS II. Pope chosen A. D. 1118. dy'd in 1119. FLORENTIUS BRAVO A Monk of Winchester flourish'd at the same time dy'd in 1119. WILLIAM de CHAMPEAUX Bishop of Châlons flourish'd in the beginning of this Century in the Divinity-Schools at Paris ordain'd Bishop A. D. 1113. dy'd in 1121. MARBODUS Bishop of Rennes flourish'd in the end of the preceeding Century made Bishop A. D. 1096. dy'd in 1123. BRUNO Bishop of Signi flourish'd in the beginning of Century dy'd in 1123. CALIXTUS II. Pope chosen A. D. 1119. dy'd in 1124. GUIBERT Abbot of Nogent Sous Couey elected A. D. 1104. dy'd in 1124. ERNULPHUS or ARNULPHUS Bishop of Rochester ordain'd A. D. 1114. dy'd in 1124. GAUTERIUS Bishop of Maguelone made A. D. 1103. dy'd in 1129. GEFFREY Abbot of Vendôme chosen A. D. 1093. took several Voyages into Italy dy'd in 1129. HONORIUS II. Pope elected A. D. 1124. dy'd in 1130. HILDEBERT Bishop of Mans and afterwards Archbishop of Tours made A. D. 1098. translated to Tours in 1125. dy'd in 1132. STEPHEN HARDING Abbot of Cisteaux made A. D. 1108. dy'd in 1134. PETRUS GROSOLANUS or CHRYSOLANUS Flourish'd A. D. 1120. EUSTRATIUS Archbishop of Nice flourish'd A D. 1120. STEPHEN Bishop of Autun made A. D. 1113. left his Bishoprick in 1129. to retire to Cluny dy'd in 1130. NICEPHORUS BRYENNIUS Of Macedonia flourish'd A. D. 1120. JOANNES ZONARAS Secretary of State to the Emperor of Constantinople flourish'd A. D. 1120. HONORIUS SOLITARIUS Professor of Scholastical Divinity of the Church of Autun flourish'd A. D. 1120. NICOLAS A Monk of Soissons flourish'd A. D. 1120. AELNOTHUS A Monk of Canterbury flourish'd A. D. 1120. THOMAS A Monk of Ely liv'd at the same time St. NORBERT Founder of the Order of Prémontré retir'd to that Monastery A. D. 1120. dy'd in 1134. RUPERT Abbot of Duyts flourish'd in the beginning of this Century dy'd in 1135. GUIGUE Prior of La Grande Chartereuse chosen A. D. 1113 dy'd in 1137. DROGO or DREUX Cardinal Bishop of Ostia translated from the Dignity of Prior of St. Nicasius at Rheims to that of Abbot of St. John at Laon A. D. 1128. and to that of Cardinal in 1136. PETER of LEON Anti-pope under the Name of ANACLETUS chosen A. D. 1130. dy'd in 1138. GEFFREY Bishop of Chartres chosen A D. 1115. dy'd in 1138. GEFFREY the Gross A Monk of Tiron wrote A. D. 1135. PETER
should be given in Marriage to Richard his Nephew In hopes to make this design succeed he sends three Legates into Germany who were present at an Assembly held at Northuse upon the Christmass-Holydays where the two Kings concluded a Peace Otho giving up the Empire to Philip on condition of marrying his Daughter and being his Heir Adolphus was in this Assembly absolved by the Legates and Bruno set at liberty by the Emperor Philip did not enjoy the Peace long for he was the next year kill'd at Bamberg by Otho Count Palatine of Witilspach who was incens'd against him for engaging himself to give that Daughter to another which he had before promised him in marriage Philip being dead without any consideration of the right that Frederick King of Sicily had to the Imperial Crown Otho was by universal consent of the Princes of Germany chosen Emperor No sooner was Otho rais'd to this Dignity but his old Adherents got the upper hand again Otho acknowledg'd Emperor and routed those that had been for Philip. Bruno reenter'd upon his Archbishoprick of Cologn and Adolphus was depos'd Sifroy took possession of the Archbishoprick of Mentz and drove out Lupold only Conrade Bishop of Spire who had been Philip's Chancellor retiring into a very strong Castle would not make his Peace with Otho nor pay him Allegiance but upon condition of continuing in his former Charge which Otho was forc'd to allow him Pope Innocent having notice of Otho's Election sent his Legates into Germany to invite Otho goes into Italy and there makes War him to Rome there to receive the Imperial Crown from his hands His Legates were receiv'd in an Assembly held at Wirtzburg in 1209 where they gave their Approbation of the Marriage that had been agreed upon between Otho and the Daughter of Philip. The same year Otho took a Journey into Italy and came to Rome where he was receiv'd by Pope Innocent III. and crown'd in St. Peters the 4th of October The Pope obliged him to take an Oath to defend the Patrimony of St. Peter and the Romans demanding of him what was customary for Emperors to give in this Ceremony there arose a Disturbance in which the Romans coming to blows with the Germans there were many kill'd on both sides which made Otho remove instantly from Rome and ravage all the Church-Lands as well to revenge the Affront as to mortify the Pope whom he began now to be jealous of Upon this the anger and hatred of the Pope broke out against Otho to that degree that he threatned to excommunicate and depose him if he did not cease those Hostilities but Otho was so far from regarding it that he took a resolution to seize upon Romagna and make himself Master of Sicily and Apuleia which belong'd to Frederick and whereof the Pope had had the Government ever since the death of Constantia the Mother of that Prince The Pope willing to put a stop to such designs as these excommunicated the Emperor and afterwards call'd a Council at Rome wherein he declared the Sentence of Excommunication out against Otho Empire void and all the Subjects of it free from their Oath of Fidelity to Otho forbidding them any more to acknowledg him for Emperor He made this Sentence be publish'd in Germany in the year 1211 by Sifroy Archbishop of Mentz who quickly repented of having done it for the Count Palatine the Duke of Brabant and some other Princes of the Empire entred the Territories of his Archbishoprick with an Army where they laid all waste forcing him to retire for safety into Thuringen The Disturbances that the Publication of this Sentence had made in Germany hastned Otho's return home He call'd an Assembly at Nuremburg about Whitsontide the same year wherein he declared War against Herman Count of Thuringen for protecting Sifroy Archbishop of Mentz and for refusing any longer to acknowledg him Emperor Straight he gathered his Troops entered Thuringen took two of the strongest Towns and put all the Country to Fire and Sword Being return'd to Northuse he celebrated his Marriage with the Daughter of Philip who died within few days after the Ceremony In the mean while Sifroy Archbishop of Mentz the King of Hungary the Archbishop of Frederick chosen Emperor goes into German 〈◊〉 Treves and the Count of Thuringen with some other Princes of the Empire resolve to revive the old Election of Frederick and to make him Emperor in the stead of Otho They brought their Resolution into practice and having made a solemn Election of him anew they sent two Deputies to carry him the Decree of his Election and to invite him to come and take possession of the Empire Frederick made no scruples but what he thought necessary to satisfy himself of their fidelity and being assur'd of that he parted for Germany He took Rome in his way and there desired Pope Innocent to crown him but was put off by him with an excuse that he would send a Cardinal into Germany with him in the Quality of a Legate to order the Princes of the Empire to relinquish Otho and acknowledg him Frederick went on his Journy till he arrived at Constance where a number of the German Princes especially those of Suabia came to meet him with their Troops Otho would fain have come and set upon him with his Army but his Troops by little and little dropping away from him he was forc'd to shift for himself Frederick on the contrary was kindly received every where and in a little time made himself Master of Mentz Cologn and Aix la Chapelle where he was crown'd Emperor in the year 1214. Afterward he enter'd into an Alliance with Philip Augustus King of France Otho who on his part was in league with John King of England Renaud Earl of Bologn and Ferdinand Earl of Flanders having raised a numerous Army against the King of France join'd Battel with him at Pont de Bowines in Flanders the 15th of July in the year 1214. King Philip's Person was there in great danger but the Confederate Army was entirely routed and Otho after having lost his whole Army forc'd to fly He with much ado got into Saxony where he died some say in the year 1216 others in 1218 never caring to meddle in State Affairs after this Defeat Otho by his death left Frederick in peaceable possession of the Empire This Prince made himself be crown'd a second time by the hands of Sifroy Archbishop of Mentz and again a third time by the Pope's Legate At this last Coronation he made a Vow to go to the assistance of the Holy Land and gave to the Holy See the Earldom of Fondi in the Kingdom of Naples Upon this Pope Innocent wrote to the Princes of Germany in his behalf and engaged Theodorick Archbishop of Treves to get that City to acknowledg him so that in 1215 Frederick saw himself in a peaceable possession of the whole Empire In the year 1220 he was crown'd Emperor
the Sollicitations of those of Ottogar King of Bohemia who thought the Empire had been assured to him tho some Historians say that he refused it Rodolphus was crowned the same year at Aix la Chapelle and the next was confirmed by the Pope in the Council at Lions and acknowledged in an Assembly at Nuremberg by all the Princes of Germany except Ottogar King of Bohemia who refused to be there Rodolphus declared him a Rebel and required him to deliver up Austria and many other Provinces which he pretended belonged to the Empire Ottogar refusing to deliver them Rodolphus declares War against him and lays siege to Vienna in 1276. Ottogar came with an Army to its assistance and the King of Hungary to that of Rodolphus but yet they did not come to a Battel the Princes of Germany interposing their Authority to make up these Differences 'T was agreed that King Ottogar should content himself with Bohemia and Moravia and should restore Austria Stiria Carinthia Carniola and the other Provinces to Rodolphus for the performance of which he should take his Oath and to the King of Hungary those Cities which he had taken from him as well as the Hostages and Treasures that he had of his This Peace did not last long for the King of Bohemia not caring faithfully to perform these Articles and being very angry that he should be thus forced to submit to Rodolphus provides a new Army and comes to set upon the Emperor but he lost the Battel and his own life Rodolphus took Moravia from Wenceslaus the Son of Ottogar about eight years old leaving him Bohemia under the Tuition of his Uncle Otho Marquess of Brandenburg He gave Austria to his eldest Son Albert whose Posterity took the name of Austria as more illustrious than that of Hapsburg The Establishment of Rodolphus lessen'd Charles the King of Sicily's Authority in Italy Pope Charles despoiled of his Authority by the Pope Nicholas III. took from him the Vicariate of Tuscany and the Quality of Senator of Rome and in recompence received of Rodolphus Romagna and the Lieutenancy of Ravenna which he gave to the Holy See leaving all the other States of Italy in a sort of liberty dependant upon the Empire But it would not content the Pope that he had deprived Charles of his Authority in the upper Italy he had a design to get the Kingdom of Sicily from him too and about this deals with Peter King of Arragon as Heir of the House of Suabia by his Mother Constantia the Daughter of Manfred This gave occasion to the Conspiracy that was laid by Sicily rebels against Charles The Sicilian Vespers Charles his defeat and death John Lord of the Island of Crocida whom Charles had rob'd of his Possessions against this Prince and all the French that were in Sicily which did not break out till after the death of Nicholas when the Sicilians massacred all the French in the Kingdom on Easter Sunday 1282. Charles coming to revenge this cruel Action the King of Arragon enters into Sicily with his Army and amuses Charles with a Truce His Admiral Soria lays siege to Naples in the year 1284 and having defeated Charles his Troops takes his Son Charles the Lame Prisoner and sends him into Arragon Charles had enough to do to keep Apuleia and Calabria and not being able long to survive his Misfortunes died at Foggia in Apuleia the 7th of January 1285 leaving his Son Charles the Lame his Heir who got out of Prison in 1287 but on condition that he should renounce all Pretences to Sicily Yet he was no sooner got out but he made himself The division of the Kingdom of Sicily be crowned at Rome King of Sicily and Apuleia on the 28th of May 1289. Alphonsus dying some time after Charles made up the matter with Dangianus his Successor the latter renouncing his Pretensions to the Kingdom of Sicily on condition that Charles of Valois should lay down his to Arragon Yet for all this Charles the Lame could not enjoy Sicily in peace for Frederick the younger Brother of Dangianus to whom Alphonsus by his Will had left this Kingdom got himself crowned King by the Sicilians so that Charles was never in possession of any but the Continent the Kingdom of Sicily as it is called being from that time divided into two one beyond the Pharos of Messina which is the Island of Sicily the other on this side of that Tower call'd the Kingdom of Naples The Emperor Rodolphus ended his days at Germesheim near Spire the last day of September The Reign of Adolphus 1291 having reigned eighteen years He laid the foundation of the prodigious Greatness of the House of Austria but he laid down as it were the Empire of Italy by neglecting to go thither as well as by selling his Power over many Cities of Tuscany Adolphus Earl of Nassaw was chosen into his place the 6th of January 1292 and crowned at Francfort He peaceably enjoyed the Empire for some years but the German Lords being discontented that he had not allow'd them a share in a sum of Mony that the King of England had given for help The deposing of Adolphus against France and seeing that he had not authority nor strength sufficient to maintain the peace of Germany deposed him in 1298 and in his stead elected Albert Duke of Austria Son of the Emperor Rodolphus Adolphus defended his right but the fortune of War quickly decided Election of Albert Duke of Austria the case in favour of Albert Adolphus being defeated and kill'd in the first Engagement near Worms in the month of July After his death Albert was elected anew and crowned at Aix la Chapelle and remain'd in peaceable possession of the Empire of Germany CHAP. II. The Life Letters and other Writings of Pope Innocent the Third INNOCENT the Third before he was raised to the Pontifical Dignity went by the The Life of Pope Innocent III. name of Lotharius He was born at Anagni being the Son of Thrasimond of the Family of the Earls of Signi and of Claricia a Roman Lady He studied at Rome Paris and Bologn and being upon his return to Rome was ordained Subdeacon by Gregory the 8th and when he was but 29 years old was made Chief Deacon by the Title of S. Sergius and S. Bacchius by Clement the 3d. His Learning and Merit made him be unanimously chosen by the Cardinals on the very day of Celestin the 3d's Death which happened on the 8th of January 1198 although he was then but very young and no more than Deacon He was consecrated Priest the 21st of February the same year and raised to the Pontifical Throne on the Sunday next after the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter at Antioch After having satisfied the People by the ordinary Largesses and received an Oath of Allegiance from them he made an Order forbidding all Officers in the Court of Rome to take any Fee or
the same Subject And in the sixtieth he declar'd That all the Presentations made in the Archbishoprick of York without the consent of that Archbishop upon pretence of his being suspended were nothing In the sixty first he determin'd That an excommunicate Person who before he died acknowledged his fault and designed to come to Rome to receive Absolution ought not to be denied Ecclesiastical Burial Here are the words of his Answer which may very well deserve your attention The Judgment of God is always founded on infallible Truth but the Judgment of the Church often depends upon an opinion which may be under a mistake Upon this account it sometimes happens that he who is bound before God is free before the Church and he that is free before God is bound by an Ecclesiastical Sentence The Chain wherewith the Sinner is bound before God is loosened by a Remission of the Fault but that wherewith he is bound in respect of the Church is loosen'd only by Absolution from the Sentence which appears in the Resurrection of Lazarus whom our Saviour first raises again and then orders the Apostles to untie him So the Man concerning whom he is talking having promised with an Oath to obey the Church and to give signs of his penitence might very well be absolved in the sight of God but not having received Absolution he is not so in respect of the Church Yet the Church could and ought to remedy this that is because his penitence was true by the plain marks he gave thereof while he lived it could give him Absolution after his Death And it signifies nothing that the power of binding and unbinding was not granted the Church in respect of dead men so that it cannot bind or unbind any but what are upon the Earth or as it is written cannot communicate with a man that is dead with whom it did not communicate while he was living for although it did not communicate with him yet it ought to have done it it not being any ill will to Religion but an inevitable accident which hindred him from receiving absolution And we read in the Canons that the Church has bound and unbound the dead He order'd that this Absolution be desired of the Holy See the case for which he was to be absolved being a reserved case that it should be performed with a penitential Psalm the Lord's Prayer and the Prayer used upon that occasion and that his Heirs should make satisfaction In the sixty second he order'd a certain Lord to reserve a Treasure which had been found in a Country of the Patrimony of St. Peter as belonging of right to the Holy See The sixty third is written to the Archbishop of Sens about the Dean of Nevers whom having been suspected of Heresy he sends back to him with orders to reestablish him after he had canonically cleared himself by the witness of fourteen Priests In the sixty fourth he confirm'd the Order made by the Bishop of Osma in Spain to have none but Regular Canons in his Church and some other Constitutions which he had made In the sixty fifth he wrote to the same Bishop and determin'd that such of the Clergy as were notoriously scandalous in keeping Concubines ought to be condemned without Witnesses or Accusers but that such whose Crime was not so notorious but that it might admit of some doubt could not be condemned but upon the deposition of Witnesses and not on simple Declarations In the sixty sixth he declar'd That those Laicks who keep any of the Clergy in prison incur excommunication as well as those who give them ill treatment That such as communicate with an excommunicated Person so as to partake of or contribute to his Crimes cannot be absolved of the Excommunication which they incur but by him who excommunicated the Person with whom they communicated or by his Superiour But if they communicated with them only so as to eat or drink with them or in any other manner without partaking of their Crimes then they might be absolved by their own Bishop or any other Priest Lastly he determin'd that not only those who have contracted two valid Marriages are to be accounted Bigamous but those too who have contracted such as were nulled because that although they were not in facto Bigamous for want of the Sacrament yet the Intention of being so was the same and there was a Fault committed besides therefore he would not have a Dispensation granted such as there is to other Bigamous Persons By the sixty seventh he confirm'd the Dean of Toledo in his Benefice and puts him under the protection of the Holy See By the next he confirm'd an Archdeacon in his Benefices The sixty ninth is a Confirmation of the establishment of the Abbey of St. Michael of the Order of Premontre In the seventieth he order'd that the Saracens should be forced to pay their Tithes to the Parishes By the seventy first he nam'd the Bishops of Lincoln and Ely with the Abbot of St. Edmund to make up the difference between the Archbishop and Monks of Canterbury or to give Judgment in it The 72d 73d 74th 76th 79th 89th 90th 92d 93d 98th 100th 101st 102d 108th 109th 110th 116th 153d and 274th are Confirmations of the Privileges of Monastries By the seventy fifth he order'd the Archbishop of Compostella to make use of Ecclesiastical Censures to oblige the King of Leon to put away the Daughter of the King of Castille whom he had married tho she was his kin within the prohibited degrees In the seventy seventh to the Archbishop of Tours he determin'd That a Metropolitan who is infirm or has any other reasonable excuse may commission another Bishop to consecrate his Suffragans In the seventy eighth he order'd the Bishop of Castellane to take off the Interdict pronounced against the Inhabitants of his City because they had submitted and rejected him whom they had chosen Governor of the City without the consent of the Pope In the eightieth he committed to the Abbot of Fertè and to the Archdeacons of Challons the ordering of the difference between the Church of Autun and the Monastry of Baume The eighty first contains the Judgment in a Process between the Monastry of St. Owen and that de la Croix-Saint-Leufroy His Judgment is in favour of the latter according to the first Sentence in this case tho there had been a second which seemed to contradict it The seven following Letters contain a famous Sentence in favour of the Archbishop of Tours against the Church of Dol by which the Bishop of Dol is declared his Suffragan and hath the Pallium taken from him In the ninety first after having first given his Judgment that the Monks of Citeaux had acted rashly in changing the Abbys of Regular Canons which were in the Islands of Hieres into Monastries of their Order he nominated the Bishops of Marseille and Agde to make a Reform among these Regular Canons The ninety fourth is a
forsaken his Bishoprick of Lesina and had done his Duty in the Archbishoprick of Zara The Chapter of Lesina had chosen in his place the Bishop of Spalatro The Pope puts off the execution of the matter till he was fully informed how things were and appoints Commissaries for that purpose The three hundred and first is the Confirmation of a Treaty between the Archdeacon of Paris and the Abbess of Chelles The three hundred and second is a Constitution which forbids using any force to make the Jews be baptized or doing them any injury or offering them any violence By the three hundred and third he granted Indulgences of forty days to the Monastry of Vezelai in which they say is preserved the Body of St. Mary Magdalen The three hundred and fourth is a Confirmation of the Privileges of the Church of Placentia The three hundred and fifth and last of the second Book is a Letter to the Clergy of Normandy exhorting them to contribute the fourth part of their Revenue towards the carrying on of the Holy War Mr. Baluze not being able to recover the third and fourth Books of the Letters of Pope Innocent has supply'd their place with a very antient Collection of the Decretals of this Pope made by Rainier Deacon and Monk of Pomposa It contains many Letters of the first and second Books and some of the following ranged under different Titles We have already made an Extract of the first and we have nothing left but to do the same with the latter That which is in the first Title of this Collection is of that number it contains a Resolution of some Difficulties about the expressions which are used in the Mysteries of the Holy Trinity and the Incarnation Here he takes notice that the Terms of Father Son and Holy Ghost signify the relative distinguishing Properties of the Divine Persons He distinguishes in the Father three Particulars his Innascibility Paternity and Emission Then he examines in what sense Jesus Christ may be called Man and having scholastically discust that Point and given the Solutions of it which are given in the Schools he remarks to the Archbishop of Compostella to whom this Letter is written that to answer in an Apostolical manner which is the plainest and best one may say that Men in this world cannot comprehend the true nature of God and have no proper words to express it by and therefore are forced to make use of Relative Terms The second Letter is a writing given to the Ambassadors of Philip Duke of Suabia by which he sets the Priesthood above the Imperial Dignity and pretends that it belongs to the Pope to decide the Difference about the Empire because it was he that brought the Eastern Empire into the West and crowned the Emperors In the third to the Emperor Alexis Comnenus he also extols the Sacerdotal Dignity and tells this Prince that he should not suffer the Patriarch of Constantinople to sit at his feet or on his left hand The other Letters of this Collection are almost all in the first and second Book and have nothing worth notice in them except some under the fortieth Title about Divorces and Poligamy In the first Letter of the fifth Book Innocent III. determined that such Nuns as have fought or have beaten any of their Sisters or of the Clergy may receive absolution of the Bishop who shall give it them in the name of the Pope The second is a Confirmation of the Statutes and Privileges of the Order of Grandmont The third is a Law made between the Clergy and Laicks of that Order The fourth is written to the Pisans against Marcovaldus By the fifth he gave Judgment in divers differences between the Bishop of Spoletto and the Prior and Clergy of the Church of St. Gregory of that City In the sixth he approved of the Translation of the Bishop of Imola to the Archbishoprick of Ravenna In the seventh he determined that the Son of a Godfather could not marry the Daughter of the Godmother to the same Child although he was born before they baptized the Child That if these two Persons had married they ought to be parted and that whosoever knew of any such thing ought to discover it In the eighth he wrote to the Cardinal Bishop of Palestrina his Legate in France to absolve ad cautelam the Archbishop of Magdeburg whom he had excommunicated for not appearing at Corbeil whither he had cited him upon condition that he should promise to make his appearance or send his Deputy if he had not appealed to the Holy See before excommunication By the ninth he confirmed the Privileges of a Chapter of Regular Canons of the Diocess of Magdeburg and by the next grants them the Privilege of eating meat because the Order of St. Austin which they made profession of did not oblige them to abridg themselves of it The eleventh Letter is to the Archbishop of Sens to absolve the Bishop of Nevers By the twelfth he nominated Commissaries to judg the Archdeacon of Chartres who was accused of Simony By the next he commissioned the Cardinal Bishop of Palestrina his Legate with the Abbots of Citeaux and Beaulien of the Diocess of Verdun to inform about the matters whereof the Bishop of Toul was accused by his Archdeacon In the fourteenth he confirmed the Election of Sifroy to the Archbishoprick of Mentz and rejected the demand of the Bishop of Worms his Competitor The following Letters have nothing in them worth taking notice of In the twenty second he declared that when those Persons the Judgment of whose Causes he had commited to his Commissiaries could not safely come to the place appointed they might then appeal to the Holy See tho the Letters of Commission excluded any Appeal The twenty third is written to the Bishop of Worcester against the Religious who made use of Appeals to hinder the Bishop from visiting their Monastry and to avoid correction He order'd him to take a course with them for all their Appeal He gave the same Order to the Bishop of Verona in the thirty second and thirty third Letters The twenty fourth and twenty seventh are written to the Chapters of Chalons and Anger 's about the Election of their Bishops In the twenty fifth and twenty sixth he nominated the Cardinal of St. Praxeda to be his Legate in the East with him of St. Marcellus and orders all the Faithful to obey them By the twenty eighth he acquainted the Chapter of Prague that he has absolved their Bishop The thirty fifth is addressed to the Archbishop of Bourges the Bishop of Nevers and the Abbot of Cluni whom he commissioned to examine the Inhabitants of an Hospital who were accused of Heresy and condemned by the Bishop of Auxerre tho they had acquitted themselves at Rome The thirty sixth is written about a Difference in the Election of a Prior of the Church of St. Austrillus of Bourges which he order'd the Theologal of Orleans to inquire into
This very much displeased the Pope But that which made the Pope and the King of France fall out downright was the Judgment which the former gave between the King the Earl of Flanders and the King of England by which he ordained that Philip the Fair should restore to the Earl his Daughter whom he kept Prisoner since the Year 1296. to Marry her as he pleased as also some Lands he had taken from him and that he should go into the East to make War upon the Infidels The Pope dispatch'd a Bull of this Judgment The Pope's Bull in favour of the Earl of Flanders and put it into the hands of the English Ambassador who carried it to Paris But when it was read in the Presence of the King of Charles Earl of Valois his Brother of Robert Earl of Artois and the Earl of Evreux the Earl of Artois snatched away the Bull in a rage and threw it into the Fire Swearing That it should not be so and the Pope should not revenge himself at the Cost of the Kingdom The King protested That he would not put in Execution what the Pope had Decreed but as soon as the Truce was expired he would begin the War afresh In the Year 1300. Boniface published a Jubilee in which he granted Plenary Indulgences The appointment of a Jubilee by Boniface to all who should visit the Churches of St. Peter and St. Paul at Rome decreeing that the same thing should be renewed every Hundred Years The opening of the Jubilee drew a great Concourse of People to Rome and Boniface to make the Soveraign Authority which he pretended to have over the Temporality to be owned appeared at the Ceremony one while in his Pontifical Habit and another in Imperial Robes and took for his Motto Ecce duo gladii The King not willing to quarrel with the Pope downright sent to him the same Year Boniface quarrels a-new with the King William of Nogaret Baron of Calvisson in Quality of an Ambassador to give him Advice of the Alliance he had made with the Emperor who on his part likewise sent him an Ambassador The Pope had no great regard to the one or the other blamed the Election of the Emperor and threatned him that he would cross it if he did not give him Tuscany said many disobliging things of the King and did all he could to break off the Alliance between the two Princes Nogaret who understood the ill Designs of the Pope upbraided him therewith to his Face which exasperated his Spirit and made him yet more a verse than before to the King's Interests Boniface proposed to the Christian Princes a Crusado to go into the East against the Infidels The Bishop of Pamiez Envoy to the King gives iâ—l Language and is Arrâ—sted He sent Bernard Saisset Bishop of Pamiez a Bishoprick he had Erected in the Year 1296. in spite of the King with Orders not only to set forward this Expedition with Philip the Fair but likewise to demand the Enlargement of the Earl of Flanders and his Children The King refusing to hearken to these Proposals the Bishop forgot the respect he owed the King telling him That he held nothing of his Majesty but that he owed all to the Pope whose Subject he was both as to Spiritual and Temporal Concerns threatned to Interdict the Kingdom and maintain'd the Pope's Temporal Power over Soveraign Princes The King offended at this Procedure caused this Bishop to be accused of divers Monopolies which he had exacted and of Rebellion and ordered him to be cited before the Parliament where appearing he was sent to Prison Boniface enraged at this Imprisonment in the Month of February in the Year 1301. sent James Norman Archdeacon of Narbonne to the King to order him to set this Bishop at Liberty The which the King did putting him nevertheless under the keeping of the Arch-bishop of Narbonne his Metropolitan to punish him for his Rashness according to the rules of the Canon Boniface not content herewith required that the King should set him at full Liberty and give him a Grant of all his Goods After that by a Bull of the 4th of December in the same Year he suspended the Favours A Bull against the King's Privileges and Privileges he had granted to the King of France and his Successors and to his Counsellors Clergy or Laity and particularly those he had granted for the Relief of the State and decreed that the Clergy without his consent should not Pay the King what he demanded under the Title of Tenths or Aid though he had consented to it and had given time till the 1st of November in the Year following to make Report of the Privileges to the Holy See to the end they might be Examined Two days after he set forth another Bull wherein he declares that God had established him A Bull of the Soveraignty of the Pope and against the Rights of the King over Kings and Kingdoms to pluck up to destroy to scatter to build that the King of France ought not to think he has no Superiour and is not Subject to the Pope that he who is of that Opinion is a Fool and an Infidel He therein Discourses with the King about the Summs of Money which he exacted of his Subjects He therein complains that he had fill'd the Benefices and Prebends vacant in the Court of Rome without the Pope's Leave that he had seized on the Goods of the Clergy that he vexed them with several Grievances particularly the Church of Lions though it be out of the Bounds of his Kingdom by receiving the Revenues of the Cathedral Churches during the Vacancy which he falsly calls a Right belonging to the Crown He orders the Prelates Chapters of Churches and Doctors of Divinity in the Kingdom to attend him in order to provide for the Reformation of the Realm He inveighs against the King's Evil Counsellors and exhorts this Prince to undertake the Holy War By another Bull of the same Date directed to the Prelates Chapters of Cathedrals and other Doctors of the Realm he writes to them that not being ignorant of the Oppressions which the Clergy suffer from the Kings his Officers Earls or Barons he has taken up a Resolution after he had communicated it to the Cardinals to Summon them to Rome He orders them to appear there on the First of November following with Powers and Instructions necessary and Promises them that Care should be taken for the Preservation of the Honour and Freedom of the Gallican Church and the Reformation of the State He writes the same thing to the Abbots in a Bull very like it But to the end his Bull might make the deeper Impression he made an Abridgment of it in these words Boniface the Bishop a Servant of the Servants of God to Philip King of France Fear God and keep his Commandments We will you to know that you are Subject to us both in Spirituals and Temporals
revoked all the Commendams of Cathedral Churches and Abbies granted by his Predecessors to all Persons whatsoever except Cardinals and Patriarchs He compelled all Bishops to reside in their Churches forbad plurality of Benefices made void all Favours Expectant which were not agreeable to the Rules of the Civil Law he deprived all Persons unworthy of their Benefices and carefully put in fit Persons where he had Power he abolished the use of several Dispensations remedied many Abuses and Clancular Dealings made use of in gaining Bulls employ'd rightly the Revenues of the Church of Rome by giving Alms and bestowing Charity on the Poor during the Famine He took great pains to unite the Christian Princes and did all he could to procure Peace with all Kings He revoked the Tax of Tenths which his Predecessor had granted to Philip King of France for his Voyage into the Holy Land because that Prince could not go through with his Design He shewed his Zeal to Justice by causing those Officers to be punished severely who had deliver'd the Ambassadors of Edward King of England which were come to Avignon to the King of France He made a Reformation among the Black-Monks as well as Cistertians who lived loosely he appointed persons of Merit and Learning to visit their Monasteries that they might inform him of such Abuses as ought to be amended and made Constitutions for the Reformation of them He had also made several Rules for the Friars Mendicants if he had not been prevented by Death He only ordered that such Monks as were in his Court without any permission obtain'd should return to the Monasteries and forbad them leaving their Order to go over to the Cistertians or Cluniacks without the express permission of the Pope Lastly That Pope lived in a way suitable to so great a Bishop keeping close to his Duty being Zealous for Religion and for the Discipline and Reformation of the Church Virtuous Charitable free from Ambition and wordly Interests He did not as several other Popes have done raise his Nephews and Relations to the great Offices and Dignities of the Church nor enrich them with the Goods of the Church or by impoverishing private Men. He preferred but One of his Relations whom he made Archbishop of Arles for his Merit which he did not do without some difficulty at the earnest Request of the Cardinals He married but one of his Neices whom he bestowed upon a Merchant refusing several great Lords who offered themselves as being above her Quality This is the Relation which all the Historians of his Time give of his Piety and Virtue who are more to be relyed on than some Modern Authors who will have him to have been a Man of a disorderly Conversation He died at Avignon April 25. 1342. which was the Eighth Year of his Papacy This Pope Composed several Works Rainaldus has published his Opuscula or small Tracts The Works of Benedict XII concerning the Poverty of JESUS CHRIST and his Apostles and about the Vision of God There is a more considerable Treatise of this Pope's in the Vatican Library upon the last of these Subjects He also made a large Commentary upon the Gospel of St. Matthew which is yet in MS. in Mr. Colbert's Library with Three other Treatises against Ockham Most of his Letters and Bulls are extant in the Annalists and Register of Bulls Clement VI. was chosen Pope May 7. 1342. and Crowned the 9th of the same Month. He The Election of Clement VI. was called before Petrus Rogerius Born in the Castle of Maumont in the Diocess of Limoges He was a Monk of the Abby of Casa-Dei in Auvergne and having taken his Degrees in Divinity he went to the Court of John XXII at Avignon This Pope gave him the Abby of Fescamp and made him afterward Bishop of Arras He received as much Favour at the Court of France as Avignon for there he was admitted into the Council of that King who had a particular respect for him insomuch that he was translated from the Bishoprick of Arras to the Arch-bishoprick of Sens and in the next Year to that of Rouen and lastly was raised to the Dignity of a Cardinal of the Title of S. Nereus and Achilleus by Benedict XII The First thing that he did after his rise to the Papal Dignity was to send his Legatees to Rules made by Clement about the Affairs of Italy make way for a Peace between the Kings of France and England He sent also a Cardinal-Legate into Italy to appease the Troubles and Wars which were in that Country Robert King of Apulia died about that time and his Kingdom fell to Jane his Daughter then an Infant who was married to Andrew King of Hungary The Pope took upon him the Government of that Realm till that Prince came to take Possession of it which he was scarce come to do but he was Slain by Treachery The Romans sent to the Pope 18 of their principal Citizens to desire Three Things of him I. To make the Senators Governor and other Magistrates of their City Friends who presented themselves to him as Petrus Rogerius and not as Clement VI. who was Pope for his Life only II. To come and make his Residence at Rome III. That since the Life of Man is so short that few lived to an Hundred Years to which Age Boniface VIII had annexed a Plenary Indulgence for those who visited the Church of S S. Peter and Paul at Rome he would please to reduce that time to the Fiftieth Year The Pope granted the First and Last of their Demands for he reconciled the Magistrates presented to him upon Condition that it should be no Prejudice to his Rights and brought the Jubilee to the 50th Year appointing That every 50th Year there should be a Jubilee but for the Second he put it off by declaring That the design which he had of coming to Rome he could not put in Execution for the present and he could not tell them when he should be able to do it Lewis of Bavaria used all his Endeavours in this Papacy to be reconciled to the Church and Lewis of Bavaria Excommunicated a-new by Clement prayed the King of France to intercede for him This Prince told him That he must submit himself and humbly beg Absolution The Ambassadors of Lewis desired such a Form as the Pope would accept but they gave him such an intolerably severe one that he would not subscribe it when he was in Prison for it signified that he gave Power to Humbertus the Dauphin's Uncle to the Provosts of Augsburg and Bemberg and to Henry his Arch-Chancellor to confess all the Errors and Heresies that he was accused of to make a Renunciation of the Empire with a Promise never to resume it but by the Pope's consent and to put his Children and Goods into the hands of his Holiness They annexed also other Clauses which concerned the Empire These Ambassadors approved of this Proposal but when
Assembly of Francfort held in August against the Proceedings of Joh. 22. Joannes de Janduno wrote his Treatise entitled an Information of the Nullity of the Process made by John 22. against the Emperor Lewis of Bavaria Bartholomew de St. Concordia wrote about this Year 1339 V. XXVI XII  The Council of Toledo May 19.  1340 VI. XXVII XIII Barlaam accuses the Palamites He is condemned in the Council of Constantinople The Council of Constantinople Alvarus Pelagius finishes his Treatise de Planctu Ecclesiae Henry Urinaria Robert Cowton Durand de Champeigne Clement of Florence Lupoldus de Bamberg Simon Fidatus de Cassia and Joannes Andreae flourished The Death of Nicholas Lyra Oct. 23 1341 VII XXVIII The Death of Andronicus jun. in May who left two Sons John and Manuel Palaeologus and made Cantacuzenus their Tutor Anne the Empress the Widow of Andronicus drives away Cantacuzenus who fled to Adrianople Cardinal Peter Bertrandus founded the College of Autun at Paris The Palamite compose a Synodical Writing about their Doctrine The Council of Constantinople against Acindynus The Council of London The Death of Petrus de Palude Jan. 31. Paul de Lyazares Lapu de Chastillon Albert de Bresse Herman de Schiloe William de Kayoth Paul de Perusia and Bernard de Parenzo flourished 1342 VIII Benedict XII dyed Apr. 25. and Clement VI. was chosen May 7. and crowned May 19. I. XXIX Cantacuzenus is proclaimed Emperour at Adrianople I. Pope Clement labors for the Peace of Italy and France Anne the Empress Widow of Andronicus propounds to the Pope the Union of the two Churches The Palamites are driven from Constantinople The Council of London held in October John de Malverne composes his Treatise of Visions Osbert a Carmelite John Olney Simon de Spires Joannes Saxo. John de Rupe-scissâ Gerhard de Savona flourished The Death of Guy de Parpignan Aug. 21 1343 II. XXX The Death of Robert King of Naples after which the Kingdom fell to his little Daughter who was married to Andrew King of Hungary II.  The Council of London held in January Philip Cabasselas is made Chancellor of Joan Queen of Sicily Fortanerius Vassalli is chosen the XIX General of the Grey-Friers Bartholomew an Augustin is made Bishop of Urbin Petrus Raimondus is made XV General of the Carmelites Francis Petrarch a Poet is crowned with Lawrels at Rome The Death of Michael Caesenas 1344 II. XXXI III. The Pope removes the Jubilee to the 50 Year at the Request of the Romans He accepts a Present of the Magistrates but refuses to go to Rome A Croisado against the Turks The Church of Prague made an Archbishoprick Palamas and Isidore are condemned in a Council of Constantinople by John the Patriarch The Council of Constantinople The Council of Noyon in July 26.  1345 III. XXXII Andreus King of Hungary is slain and Joan his Wifemarries Lewis Prince of Tarentum IV.   Holkot Robert Richard Hampole â—lourish'd Jacobus Tolquier dedicates his Viridarum Gregorianum to the Pope Thomas of Strasburg is chosen General of the Augustins 1346 V. XXXIII The Electors of Colen and Treves at the end of August chose Charles of Luxenburg Emperor and set him up against Lewis of Bavaria The Pope confirms this Election V. The Pope renews the Process against Lewis of Bavaria and deposes him Palamas is absolved and John Patriarch of Constantinople deposed The Council of Paris Mar 14. The Council of Constantinople  1347 VI. Lewis of Bavaria dyed Octob. 11. and Char. IV. gets possession of the Empire The Electors chose Gontherius Earl of Turingia who dyes the same year Charles is crowned Emperor at Aix La Chapelle holds the Empire Peaceably I. Cantacuzenus obtains Constantinople and makes Peace with Palaeologus whom he makes Emperor with him Isidore is chosen Patriarch of Constantinople and Palamas Archbishop of Thessalonica The Enemies of Isidore and Palamas condemn them in a Council of Constantinople The Propositions of John Mercourt condemned by the Bishop and Faculty of Divinity at Paris The Council of Toledo held at Complutum Apr. 24. The Council of Constantinople against Isidore and Palamas Richard Fitz-Ralph is made Bishop of Armagh and Fâ—…anerius Vassâ—â—li Arch-bishop of Ravâ—…a The Birth of S. Catharine of Sienna Bernard Abbot of Mont. Cassin dyed The Death of William Ockam 1348 VII Nicholas Laurentius having assumed the title of Roman Tribune endeavoured to make himself Master of Rome but was driven out of it II. VII A Recantation of the Doctrines delivered by Nicholas Utricourt made by the Order of the Faculty of Divinity at Paris  Simon Fidatus de Cassia dyed Feb. 11. Joannes Andreae July 7. Joannes Hensimius finished his Continuation of the History of the Bishops of Leige Thomas Bradwardin is chosen Archbishop of Canterbury and dyes 40 days after 1349 VIII III. VIII   The Death of Cardinal Peter Bertrandus June 24. The Death of Rich. Hampole Sept. 29 The Death of Gerhard Odonis The Death of Robert Holkot 1350 IX IV. The Death of Philip de Valois King of France Aug. 25. to whom his Son John succeeded who was crowned at Rheims Sept. 26. The Death of Alphonsus K. of Castile who left his Kingdoms to his Son Peter I. IX The Constitution of the Pope concerning the Conclave which allowed the Cardinals to have there two Clerks a piece and their several Lodgings The Emperor Cantacuzenus sends Ambassadors to the Pope about this year to treat of the Union of the two Churches  Albericus de Rosate Pet. de Paternis Adam Goddam or Woddam Nicholas Cabasilas Nicephorus Gregoras Theophanes Robert the Carmelite Mich. de Massâ Joan. Wilsgram Joannes Saxo. Joan. Brammart flourished The Death of Bartholemew d'Urbin 1351 X. V. X. A Recantation of some Doctrins delivered by Dr. Simon made by the Order of the Faculty of Divinity at Paris The Council of Lambeth The Council of Beziers Novemb 7. Peter a Monk of Claravallis wrote his Letter in the Name of Lucifer to the Worldlings Fortinerius Vassalli is made Patriarch of Grado 1352 XI Clement VI. dyed Dec. 6. and Innocent V. chosen Dec. 18. and crowned the 23. VI. XI   Henry and Joh Erford John Tacesphalus Nicholas Dorhm Tilman Peter Thomas Bartholomew a Grey-Frier flourished 1353 I. VII XII Two Grey-Friers burnt at Avignon for their Opinion about the Poverty of J. Christ.  Petrus de Claravalle wrote his Epistle in the Name of Jesus Christ to Innocent VI. 1354 II. VIII XIII A Recantation of certain Doctrines delivered by one Guy an Augustine Frier made by the Order of the Faculty of Divinity at Paris  Callistus a Monk of Mount Athos is made Patriarch of Constantinople 1355 III. IX The Emperor Charles is crowned at Rome on Easter-day Apr. 5. XIV A Dispute among the Greeks about the Light on Mount Tabor the Essence and the Operation of God decided by the Council of Constantinople A Council at Constantinople against the Enemies of Palamas The