[107] The word cardinal (Latin, cardinalis, principal) was applied to the priests of the various parishes in Rome, to the several deacons connected with the Lateran,—which was the cathedral church of the Roman bishopric,—and, lastly, to six or seven suburban bishops who officiated in turn in the Lateran. The title became a very distinguished one and was sought by ambitious prelates and ecclesiastical statesmen, like Wolsey, Richelieu, and Mazarin. If their official titles were examined, it would be found that each was nominally a cardinal bishop, priest, or deacon of some Roman church. The number of cardinals varied until fixed, in 1586, at six bishops, fifty priests, and fourteen deacons.
[108] The decree of 1059 is to be found in Henderson, Historical Documents, p. 361.
[109] For text of the Dictatus, see Readings, Chapter XIII. The most complete statement of Gregory's view of the responsibility of the papacy for the civil government is to be found in his famous letter to the Bishop of Metz (1081), Readings, Chapter XIII.
[110] For this letter, see Colby, Sources, p. 37.
[111] Reissues of this decree in 1078 and 1080 are given in the Readings, Chapter XIII.
[112] To be found in the Readings, Chapter XIII.
[113] Henry's letter and one from the German bishops to the pope are both in Henderson, Historical Documents, pp. 372–376.
[114] Gregory's deposition and excommunication of Henry may be found in the Readings, Chapter XIII.
[115] For Gregory's own account of the affair at Canossa, see Readings, Chapter XIII.
[116] For a fuller account of the troubles between Gregory and Henry, see Henderson, Germany in the Middle Ages, pp. 183–210; Emerton, Mediæval Europe, pp. 240–259.
[117] See Readings, Chapter XIII.
[118] For the emperors Lothaire (1125–1137) and Conrad III (1138–1152), the first of the Hohenstaufens, see Emerton, Mediæval Europe, pp. 271–282.
[119] Something will be said of the mediæval towns in Chapter XVIII.
[120] Reference, Emerton, Mediæval Europe, pp. 271–291.
[121] Reference, Emerton, Mediæval Europe, pp. 293–297.
[122] The origin of the name Ghibelline, applied to the adherents of the emperor in Italy, is not known; it may be derived from Waibling, a castle of the Hohenstaufens.
[123] The attention of the adventurous Normans had been called to southern Italy early in the eleventh century by some of their people who, in their wanderings, had been stranded there and had found plenty of opportunities to fight under agreeable conditions for one or another of the local rival princes. From marauding mercenaries, they soon became the ruling race. They extended their conquests from the mainland to Sicily, and by 1140 they had united all southern Italy into a single kingdom. The popes had naturally taken a lively interest in the new and strong power upon the confines of their realms. They skillfully arranged to secure a certain hold upon the growing kingdom by inducing Robert Guiscard, the most famous of the Norman leaders, to recognize the pope as his feudal lord; in 1059 he became the vassal of Nicholas II.
[124] For John's cession of England and oath of vassalage, see Henderson, Historical Documents, pp. 430–432. For the interdict, see Colby, Sources, pp. 72–73.
[125] For the career and policy of Innocent III, see Emerton, Mediæval Europe, pp. 314–343.
[126] An excellent account of Frederick's life is given by Henderson, Germany in the Middle Ages, pp. 349–397.
[128] The privileges of the crusaders may be found in Translations and Reprints, Vol. I, No. 2.
[129] For Peter the Hermit, see Translations and Reprints, Vol. I, No. 2.
[130] For the routes taken by the different crusading armies, see the accompanying map.
[131] For an account of the prowess of Richard the Lion-Hearted, see Colby, Sources, pp. 68–70.
[132] Heraldry may be definitely ascribed to the Crusades, for it grew up from the necessity of distinguishing the various groups of knights. Some of its terms, for example, gules (red) and azur, are of Arabic origin.
[133] References. For the highly developed civilization which the crusaders found in Constantinople, Munro, Mediæval History, Chapter X. For the culture of the Saracens, see the same work, Chapter IX.
[134] The law of the Church was known as the canon law. It was taught in most of the universities and practiced by a great number of lawyers. It was based upon the acts of the various church councils, from that of Nicæa down, and, above all, upon the decrees and decisions of the popes. See Emerton, Mediæval Europe, pp. 582–592.
One may get some idea of the business of the ecclesiastical courts from the fact that the Church claimed the right to try all cases in which a clergyman was involved, or any one connected with the Church or under its special protection, such as monks, students, crusaders, widows, orphans, and the helpless. Then all cases where the rites of the Church, or its prohibitions, were involved came ordinarily before the church courts, as, for example, those concerning marriage, wills, sworn contracts, usury, blasphemy, sorcery, heresy, and so forth.
[135] Many of the edicts, decisions, and orders of the popes were called bulls from the seal (Latin, bulla) attached to them.
[136] For an illustration of provinces and bishoprics, see accompanying map of France showing the ecclesiastical divisions. The seats of the archbishops are indicated by ; those of the bishops by .
[138] Except those monasteries and orders whose members were especially exempted by the pope from the jurisdiction of the bishops.
[139] Those clergymen who enjoyed the revenue from the endowed offices connected with a cathedral church were called canons. The office of canon was an honorable one and much sought after, partly because the duties were light and could often be avoided altogether. A scholar like Petrarch might look to such an office as a means of support without dreaming of performing any of the religious services which the position implied. For an account of the relations between the chapter and the bishop, see Emerton, Mediæval Europe, pp. 549–550.
[140] It should be remembered that only a part of the priests were intrusted with the care of souls in a parish. There were many priests among the wandering monks, of whom something will be said presently. See below, § 91. There were also many chantry priests whose main function was saying masses for the dead in chapels and churches endowed with revenue or lands by those who in this way provided for the repose of their souls or those of their descendants. See below, p. 213.
[141] For several centuries the Sentences were used as the text-book in all the divinity schools. Theologians established their reputations by writing commentaries upon them. One of Luther's first acts of revolt was to protest against giving the study of the Sentences preference over that of the Bible in the universities.
[142] All the sacraments,—e.g. orders and matrimony,—are not necessary to every one. Moreover, the sincere wish suffices if one is so situated that he cannot possibly actually receive the sacraments.
[143] Confession was a very early practice in the Church. Innocent III and the fourth Lateran Council made it obligatory by requiring the faithful to confess at least once a year, at Easter time. For sacraments, see Readings, Chapter XVI.
[144] See above, p. 183, and Translations and Reprints, Vol. IV, No. 4, for examples of the interdict and excommunication.
[145] The privilege of being tried by churchmen, which all connected with the Church claimed, was called benefit of clergy. See Readings, Chapter XVI.
[146] The bishops still constitute an important element in the upper houses of parliament in several European countries.
[147] For a satire of the thirteenth century on the papal court, see Emerton, Mediæval Europe, p. 475.
[148] It must not be forgotten that the monks were regarded as belonging to the clergy. For the various new orders of monks and the conditions in the monasteries, see Munro, Mediæval History, Chapter XII, and Jessopp, Coming of the Friars, Chapter III, "Daily Life in a Mediæval Monastery."
[151] Examples of these decrees are given in Translations and Reprints, Vol. III, No. 6.
[152] His son married an English lady, became a leader of the English barons, and was the first to summon the commons to Parliament. See above, pp. 146–147.
[153] For the form of relaxation and other documents relating to the Inquisition, see Translations and Reprints, Vol. III, No. 6.
[154] The whole rule is translated by Henderson, Historical Documents, p. 344.
[155] In Italy and southern France town life was doubtless more general.
[156] The peasants were the tillers of the soil. They were often called villains, a word derived from vill.
[157] The manner in which serfs disappeared in England will be described later.
[158] Reference, Munro, Mediæval History, Chapter XIV, where the subject of this chapter is treated in a somewhat different way.
[159] In Germany the books published annually in the German language did not exceed those in Latin until after 1680.
[160] Even the monks and others who wrote Latin in the Middle Ages were unable to follow strictly the rules of the language. Moreover, they introduced many new words to meet the new conditions and the needs of the time, such as imprisonare, imprison; utlagare, to outlaw; baptizare, to baptize; foresta, forest; feudum, fief, etc.
"Bytuene Mershe and Avoril
When spray beginneth to springe,
The little foul (bird) hath hire wyl
On hyre lud (voice) to synge."
[163] Of course there was no sharp line of demarcation between the people who used the one language and the other, nor was Provençal confined to southern France. The language of Catalonia, beyond the Pyrenees, was essentially the same as that of Provence. French was called langue d'oïl, and the southern language langue d'oc, each after the word used for "yes."
[164] The Song of Roland is translated into spirited English verse by O'Hagan, London, 1880.
[165] The reader will find a beautiful example of a French romance of the twelfth century in an English translation of Aucassin and Nicolette (Mosher, Portland, Me.). Mr. Steele gives charming stories of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries in Huon of Bordeaux, Renaud of Montauban, and The Story of Alexander (Allen, London). Malory's Mort d'Arthur, a collection of the stories of the Round Table made in the fifteenth century for English readers, is the best place to turn for these famous stories.
[166] An excellent idea of the spirit and character of the troubadours and of their songs may be got from Justin H. Smith, Troubadours at Home (G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York). See Readings, Chapter XIX.
[167] Reference, Henderson, Short History of Germany, Vol. I, pp. 111–121.
[168] See Steele's Mediæval Lore for examples of the science of the Middle Ages. For the curious notions of the world and its inhabitants, see the Travels, attributed to Sir John Mandeville. The best edition is published by The Macmillan Company, 1900. See Readings, Chapter XIX.
[169] The word miniature, which is often applied to them, is derived from minium, i.e., vermilion, which was one of the favorite colors. Later the word came to be applied to anything small. See the frontispiece for an example of an illuminated page from a book of hours.
[170] So called because it was derived from the old Roman basilicas, or buildings in which the courts were held.
[171] In France as early as the twelfth century.
[174] The origin of the bachelor's degree, which comes at the end of our college course nowadays, may be explained as follows: The bachelor in the thirteenth century was a student who had passed part of his examinations in the course in "arts," as the college course was then called, and was permitted to teach certain elementary subjects before he became a full-fledged master. So the A.B. was inferior to the A.M. then as now. After finishing his college course and obtaining his A.M., the young teacher often became a student in one of the professional schools of law, theology, or medicine, and in time became a master in one of these sciences. The words master, doctor, and professor meant pretty much the same thing in the thirteenth century.
[175] An example of the scholastic method of reasoning of Thomas Aquinas may be found in Translations and Reprints, Vol. III, No. 6.
[176] Reference, Green, Short History of the English People, pp. 161–169.
[180] Formerly it was supposed that gunpowder helped to decide the battle in favor of the English, but if siege guns, which were already beginning to be used, were employed at all they were too crude and the charges too light to do much damage. For some generations to come the bow and arrow held its own; it was not until the sixteenth century that gunpowder came to be commonly and effectively used in battles.
[181] For the account of Crécy by Froissart, the celebrated historian of the fourteenth century, see Readings, Chapter XX.
[183] Reference, Adams, Growth of the French Nation, pp. 116–123.
[184] For an example of the Statutes of Laborers, see Translations and Reprints, Vol. II, No. 5, and Lee, Source-book of English History, pp. 206–208.
[189] The title of Dauphin, originally belonging to the ruler of Dauphiny, was enjoyed by the eldest son of the French king after Dauphiny became a part of France in 1349, in the same way that the eldest son of the English king was called Prince of Wales.
[190] Reference, Green, Short History, pp. 274–281. For official account of the trial of Joan, see Colby, Sources, pp. 113–117.
[191] Descent of the Rival Houses of Lancaster and York
[192] References, Green, Short History, pp. 281–293, 299–303.
[194] Reference, Adams, Growth of the French Nation, pp. 121–123, 134–135.
[198] Reference, Adams, French Nation, pp. 136–142.
[200] The name recalled of course the long exile of the Jews from their land.
[202] For statutes, see Translations and Reprints, Vol. II, No. 5, and Lee, Source-book, pp. 198–202.
[204] Reference, Green, Short History, pp. 235–244. For extracts, see Readings, Chapter XXI; Translations and Reprints, Vol. II, No. 5; Lee, Source-book, for the treatment of the Lollards, as the followers of Wycliffe were called, pp. 209–223.
[205] The eighth and last of these eastern councils, which were regarded by the Roman Church as having represented all Christendom, occurred in Constantinople in 869. In 1123 the first Council of the Lateran assembled, and since that five or six Christian congresses had been convoked in the West. But these, unlike the earlier ones, were regarded as merely ratifying the wishes of the pope, who completely dominated the assembly and published its decrees in his own name.
[206] See above, pp. 202–203.
[209] For examples of the general criticism of the abuses in the Church, see Translations and Reprints, Vol. III, No. 6.
[210] This decree, Frequens, may be found in Translations and Reprints, Vol. III, No. 6.
[211] On account of an outbreak of sickness the council was transferred to Florence.
[213] This word, although originally French, has come into such common use that it is quite permissible to pronounce it as if it were English,—rẹ-nā'sens.
[217] In the year 1300 Milan occupied a territory scarcely larger than that of the neighboring states, but under the Visconti it conquered a number of towns, Pavia, Cremona, etc., and became, next to Venice, the most considerable state of northern Italy.
[218] A single example will suffice. Through intrigue and misrepresentation on the part of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, the Marquis of Ferrara became so wildly jealous of his nephew that he beheaded the young man and his mother, then burned his own wife and hung a fourth member of the family.