429 Cnutes Domas c. v. (Thorpe, I. 362). To appreciate the full weight of the privileges thus distributed, we should bear in mind how completely, in those times, the various classes of society were distinguished by the facilities afforded them of acquittal in cases of accusation, and by the graduated scale of fines established for injuries inflicted on them. These were most substantial advantages when the wer-gild, or blood-money, was the only safeguard guaranteed by law for life and limb, and were most important privileges of the aristocracy. This constitutes the thane-right alluded to in the council of Enham, and retained by the laws of Cnut, as attaching to priests who preserve their chastity. Thus “sacramentum presbyteri regulariter viventis tantumdem valeat sicut liberalis hominis” (Cnuti Leg. Sæcul. c. 128—ed. Kolderup-Rosenvinge)—the expression “liberalis homo” being, in this version, used for the “taynus” or thane of the other texts.
430 Cnuti Leg. Eccles. c. 8, 9. (Kolderup-Rosenvinge, Hauniæ, 1826, p. 12).
431 Institutes of Polity, &c., c. 16, 19, 23 (Thorpe, II. 325, 329, 337). It is observable that the words wif and cwene are used interchangeably to denote the consorts of priests.
432 Lives of Edward the Confessor, pp. 60-1 (Chron. & Memor. of Gr. Brit.). In the same curious collection there is another life of Edward by a follower of Queen Edith and dedicated to her, the writer of which freely attributes the worst motives to the intrigues of the Norman monks in separating her from the king. See, for instance, his account of her immurement in the abbey of Wilton (Op. cit. p. 403).
Edward’s virginity is likewise attested by the MS. Monast. Ramesiens. (Spelman. I. 637)—“Cœlibem pudicitiæ florem, quem inter regni delicias et inter amplexus conjugales ... conservarat, virtutemque perpetuo floribus immiscuit paradisi.” In this, however, Edward only imitated the asceticism ascribed to the Emperor St. Henry II. and his Empress St. Cunegunda, half a century earlier.
433 Chron. Centulens. Lib. IV. c. xxii. (D’Achery II. 345).
434 Orderic. Vital. P. II. Lib. iv. c. 10.—The testimony of William of Malmesbury (De Gest. Regum Lib. III.) is equally emphatic.
435 Lives of Edward the Confessor, p. 432.
436 Burchardi Decret. Lib. III. c. 108-116.
437 Synod. Ticinens. ann. 1022 c. 1, 2, 3, 4.
438 Respons Imperatoris in Synod. Ticinens.
439 Concil. Bituricens. ann. 1031 c. 5, 6, 8, 10.
440 Quoniam infelicem habuit introitum, infeliciorem persensit exitum. Horrendum quippe referri turpitudo illius conversationis et vitæ.—Rad. Glabri Lib. V. c. 5.
441 Johann. Chron. Angliæ, c. 47 (Ludewig Rel. Msctorum. XII. 145). Semper enim luxuriæ et carnalibus illecebris deditus fuit.
442 P. Damiani Opusc. VI. c. 18.
443 Annal. Barenses, ann. 1035.—Shortly after this, we hear of two bishops killed in battle (Ibid. ann. 1041).
444 P. Damiani, loc. cit.
445 Desiderii Dialog. de Mirac. S. Benedict. Lib. III. (Script. Rer. Italicor. V. 396).
446 John, a disciple of St. Peter Damiani, in alluding to the prevailing twin vices of simony and marriage, says: “Quæ videlicet pestes tam perniciosa consuetudine prævaluerant, tamque impune totam ferme ecclesiam in omni Romano orbe fædaverant, ut vix jam reprehensorem, tamquam licite, formidarent.”—Vit. S. P. Damiani c. 16.
447 Cosmæ Pragens. Chron. Boem. Lib. III. (Mencken. Script. Rer. German. III. p. 1782).
448 Batthyani Leg. Eccles. Hung. I. 335.
449 Adam. Bremens. Gest. Pontif. Hammaburg. Schol. ad cap. 29 Lib. III.
450 Perhaps as suggestive an illustration of the morals and manners of the age as can well be given is afforded by a deed executed in 1055 by a noble count of Catalonia on the occasion of his marriage. He pledges himself not to cast off his bride, except for infidelity—such infidelity not being plotted for by him—and to secure the performance of this promise he places in the hands of his father-in-law four castles, to be held in pledge, subject to forfeiture in case of his violating the agreement. (Baluz. Capit. Francor. Append. Actor. Vet. No. 148.)
451 Atton. Vit. S. Johannis Gualbert. c. 31.
452 The popular feelings which greeted his interposition are well conveyed in the jingling verse addressed to him by a holy hermit—
The invitation to interfere, however, was not needed. Henry’s prerogative as the representative of Charlemagne and Otho the Great was sufficient warrant, and his religious ardor an ample motive, without any special reference to his tribunal.
453 Anon. de Episcop. Eichstett. c. 34 (Patrolog. T. 146, pp. 1021-2).
454 It would be a work of supererogation to quote the innumerable evidences of this which crowd the pages of contemporary writers. The generalizing remark of Glaber will suffice—“Omnes quippe gradus ecclesiastici a maximo pontifice usque ad hostianum opprimuntur per suæ damnationis precium, ac juxta vocem Dominicam in cunctis grassatur spiritale latrocinium.”—Glab. Rodolph. Hist. Lib. V. c. 5.
455 Damiani Lib. VIII. Epist. 3.
456 Johannis Vit. B. P. Damiani c. 1.
457 Alex. II. Epist. 15.
458 Learning, on his death-bed, that he was not to be buried as a pope, he requested the prelates around him to place his coffin at the church-door securely fastened, and if the portals opened without human hands, it would be a sign that he should receive papal honors. It was done, when a gust of wind burst open the door and lifted the coffin from the bier (Martin. Fuldens. Chron. ann. 1046).
459 Martin. Fuldens. ann. 1050.
460 Damiani Opusc. VII. (Liber Gomorrhianus).—Some ten or twelve years later, Alexander II. obtained the manuscript from Damiani, under pretence of having it copied, but prudently locked it up and refused to return it. The saintly author complained bitterly of the deception thus practised upon him, which he unceremoniously characterized as a fraud (Damiani Lib. II. Epist. 6).
461 The world can never know the long and silent suffering endured in the terrible self-combat of ardent natures in the solitude of the cloister. If many succumb, the indignation which Damiani and his class so freely bestow on the victims should be transferred rather to the system which produces them. A monk of the period has left us a vivid and curious picture of his own tortures in the endless struggle with the tempter; and the mental torments to which his fellow-unfortunates were exposed are aptly condensed in the simple tale of the Abbess Sarah, who for thirteen long years maintained her ground without shrinking from the ceaseless assaults of the enemy by continually invoking the aid of God—“Da mihi fortitudinem Deus!” (Othlon. de Tentat. suis P. I.). The hagiology of the church is full of legends, more or less veritable, of the sufferings of these martyrs and of their triumphs over the flesh, from the time of St. Ammonius, who, when less decisive measures failed, bored his flesh in many places with red-hot iron, and thus vanquished passion by suffering. A collection of these stories, more curious than decent, may be found admiringly detailed by Giraldus Cambrensis in his Gemma Ecclesiastica, Dist. II.
462 Batthyani Leg. Eccles. Hung. I. 401.
463 Adami Bremens. Gest. Pontif. Hammaburg. Lib. III. c. 29.—Annalista Saxo, ann. 1048.
464 Adam. Bremens. loc. cit.
465 Tunc quippe in Neustria, post adventum Normannorum, in tantum dissoluta erat castitas clericorum, ut non solum presbyteri sed etiam præsules libere uterentur toris concubinarum, et palam superbirent multiplici propagine filiorum ac filiarum ... Tandem ... Leo Papa ... in Gallias A. D. 1049 venit ... Tunc ibidem (Remis) generale concilium tenuit, et inter reliqua ecclesiæ commoda quæ instituit, presbyteris arma ferre et conjuges habere prohibuit. Arma quidem ferre presbyteri jam gratanter desiere, sed a pellicibus adhuc nolunt abstinere, nec pudicitiæ inhærere.—Orderic. Vital. P. II. Lib. V. c. 15.—This portion of the work of Ordericus was written about the year 1125.
Ibi vero simoniaci, tam populares quam clerici, presbyterique uxorati, persuasione sancti Hugonis, a catholicorum communione et ab ecclesiis eliminati sunt.—Alberic. Trium Fontium Chron. ann. 1049.
466 Damiani Opusc. XVIII. Diss. ii. c. 7.—It was probably some vague recollection of this provision, combined with the regulations adopted at Pavia in 1022 (p. 178) that led Dr. Martin, one of the commissioners who presided at the trial of Archbishop Cranmer, to declare to that unhappy culprit that “his children were bondmen to the see of Canterbury.”—Strype, Memorials of Cranmer, Book III. chap. 27.
467 Herman. Contract. Chron. ann. 1051.
468 Muratori Annali, ann. 1053.
469 S. Leonis PP. IX. Mirac. (Migne’s Patrolog. CXLIII. 525 sqq.)
470 Humberti Card. contra Nicetam XXV. XXVI.
471 Lambert. Schaffnab. ann. 1054.—Martin. Polon. ann. 1057.
472 Leo. Marsic. Chron. Casinens. Lib. II. c. 97.
473 Damiani Opusc. XVIII. Diss. ii. c. 6.
474 Ibid.
475 Ut nullus missam audiat presbyteri quem scit concubinam indubitanter habere aut subintroductam mulierem.—Concil. Roman. ann. 1059 c. 3.
Singularly enough, this clause is omitted in the synodical epistle addressed to the Gallic clergy, as given by Hugh of Flavigny, Chron. Lib. II. ann. 1059.
476 How utterly this was opposed to the received dogmas and practice of the church can be seen from the decision of Nicholas I. on the same question—“Sciscitantibus vobis, si a sacerdote, qui sive comprehensus est in adulterio, sive de hoc fama sola respersus est, debeatis communionem suscipere, necne, respondemus: Non potest aliquis quantumcumque pollutus sit, sacramenta divina polluere, quæ purgatoria cunctarum remedia contagionum existunt.... Sumite, igitur, intrepide ab omni sacerdote Christi mysteria, quoniam omnia in fide purgantur” (Nicolai I. Epist. XCVII. c. 71). See also a similar decision in 727 by Gregory II. (Bonifacii Epist. CXXVI.).
The only adverse authority of this period that I have met with is the Penitential of Theodore of Canterbury, already referred to, prescribing rebaptism for those baptized by priests of known unchastity (Lib. II. cap. ii. § 12.—Haddan & Stubbs’s Councils, III. 192).
Damiani saw the danger to which a practice such as this exposed the church, and lifted up his voice to prevent the evil results—
and when, about the year 1060, the Florentines refused the ministrations of their bishop, whom they were determined from other causes to eject, he reproved them warmly, adducing the only reasonable view of the question, “quod Spiritus Sanctus per improbi ministerium dare potest sua charismata” (Opusc. XXX. c. 2).
Simoniacal priests as well as concubinary ones were included in the ban, and when, in 1049, Leo IX. commenced his vigorous persecution of simony, there arose a belief that ordination received at hands tainted with that sin was null and void. This was promptly stigmatized as a heresy, and Damiani’s untiring pen was employed in combating it. He argued the question very thoroughly and keenly when it was under debate by a synod, and succeeded in procuring its condemnation (Opusc. VI. c. 12).
The prohibition, first proclaimed by Nicholas II. and finally enforced by Gregory VII., caused no little trouble in the church. Towards the close of the century, Urban II. found himself obliged to discuss the question, and in an epistle to Lucius, provost of the church of St. Juventius at Pavia, he admits that the sacraments administered by guilty priests are uncorrupted, yet he approves of their rejection in order to stimulate the clergy to virtue, and even declares that those who receive them, except under instant and pressing necessity, are guilty of idolatry (“nisi forte sola morte interveniente, utpote ne sine baptismate vel communione quilibet humanis rebus excedat; eis, inquam, in tantum obsunt, ut veri idolatræ sint”—Urbani II. Epist. 273)—a decision the logic of which is not readily apprehended. St. Anselm of Canterbury assents to the doctrine, but places it in a more reasonable and practical shape—“non quo quis ea quæ tractent contemnenda, sed tractantes execrandos existimet” (Epist. VIII.). The consequences of such a system, however, if strictly carried out, would have been most disastrous to the church, and when the zeal of Hildebrand became forgotten his injunctions were overruled. The century was scarcely out before Honorius of Autun maintained most positively that Christ operates through the hands of the vilest as well as of the most holy ministers, provided only they are orthodox in faith (Eucharistion c. vi.—Pez, Thesaur. II. i. 355). About 1150, however, Geroch of Reichersperg declares that he considered Gregory’s commands as still in force, and that he paid no more attention to the masses of concubinary priests than if they were so many Pagans (Gerhohi Dial. de Differentia Cleri—Pez, Thesaur. II. ii. 463). Yet before the end of the twelfth century, Lucius III. had returned to the policy of Nicholas I.—“Sumite ergo ab omni sacerdote intrepide Christi mysteria, quia omnia in fide Christi purgantur” (Post Lateran. Concil. P. L. c. 38), the positiveness of which was not much affected by the subtle distinctions which he endeavored to draw between crimes notorious and tolerated. Yet St. Thomas Aquinas, on the other hand, affirmed that it was a mortal sin to assist at the Mass celebrated by a priest who was notoriously unchaste (Pontas, Dict. de Cas de Conscience II. 1445). The church, however, gradually returned to the old doctrine and practice. The policy of Gregory was condemned as a heresy when adopted by the followers of Arnold of Brescia (Bonacursi Vit. Hæreticorum—D’Achery I. 214) and an austere priest, Albero of Mercke, near Cologne, who taught it was promptly silenced (Anon. adv. Alberonis errores—Martene Ampl. Coll. IX. 1251). In 1292 the council of Aschaffenburg anathematized those who “præsumptione dampnabili” taught the heresy that priests in mortal sin could not perform the sacred mysteries, and it decided “licite ergo a quocumque sacerdote ab ecclesia tolerato, divina mysteria audiantur et alia recipiantur ecclesiastica sacramenta” (Concil. Schafnaburg. ann. 1292 can. i.—Hartzheim IV. 7). And when Wickliffe and Huss undertook to carry out the dicta of Nicholas II. and Gregory VII. to their legitimate conclusions, the policy was at once recognized as a heresy of the worst character and most destructive consequence. Thus in 1491 a Synod of Bamberg condemns as heretics those who refuse to receive the ministrations of sinful priests.—Synod. Bamberg. ann. 1491 Tit. xliv. (Ludewig. Script. Rer. German. I. 1241-2).
477 Quicumque sacerdotum, diaconorum, subdiaconorum ... concubinam palam duxerit vel ductam non reliquerit, ... præcipimus et omnino contradicimus, ut missam non cantet, neque evangelium vel epistolam ac missam legat, neque in presbyterio ad divina officia cum iis qui præfatæ constitutioni obedientes fuerint, maneat; neque partem ab ecclesia suscipiat.—Concil. Roman. ann. 1059 c. 3.
It is evident here that the opprobrious epithet “concubine” is applied to those who were as legally wives as it was possible to make them. Damiani, indeed, admits it, and even intimates that concubine was too honorable a word to be applied to the wives of priests—“Illorum vero clericorum feminas, qui matrimonia nequeunt legali jure contrahere, non conjuges sed concubinas potius, sive prostibula congrue possumus appellare” (Opusc. XVIII. Diss. iii. c. 2). After this period it will be found that the wives of priests were rarely dignified with the title of “uxores,” although ordination was not yet an impediment destructive of marriage.
It is as well to observe here that at this period and for some time later the position of the concubine had not the odium attaching to it by modern manners, and this should be borne in mind when reviewing the morals of the Middle Ages. The connection was a recognized and almost a legal one, following the traditions of the Roman law, by which it was legitimate and permanent, so long as the parties respectively remained unmarried. A man could not have a wife and concubine at the same time (Pauli Sentent. II. 20), nor could he legally have two concubines together (Novel. XVIII. c. 5). Not only were such regulations thus promulgated by Christian emperors, but the relationship was duly recognized by the Christian church. The first council of Toledo, in 398, enjoined upon the faithful “tantum aut unius mulieris, aut uxoris aut concubinæ, ut ei placuerit, sit conjunctione contentus” (Concil. Toletan. I. c. 17), showing that either connection apparently was legitimate, and this is quoted at the commencement of the tenth century, as still in force, by Regino (De Discip. Eccles. Lib. II. c. 100). A half century later, about 450, Leo I. was actually appealed to to decide whether a man who quitted a concubine and took a wife committed bigamy—which Leo reasonably enough answered in the negative (Leon. Epist. XC. c. 5). The principle of the Roman law was still the rule of the church in the 9th century, for a Roman synod held by Eugenius II. in 826 declared “Ut non liceat uno tempore duas habere uxores, uxoremve et concubinam. De illo vero qui cum uxore concubinam habet, præcipit, ut si admonitus eam a se abjicere noluerit, communione privetur.” (Pertz, Legum T. II. P. ii. p. 12.) The view entertained of the matter at the time under consideration may be gathered from a canon of the councils of Rome, in 1052 and 1063, suspending from communion the layman who had a wife and concubine at the same time (Concil. Roman. ann. 1059 c. 12: ann. 1063 c. 10)—whence we may deduce that a concubine alone was hardly considered irregular. During the latter part of the succeeding century we find the concubine a recognized institution in Scotland, for the laws of William the Lion, after stating that the wife was not bound to reveal the crimes of her husband, adds “De concubina vero et de familia domus non est ita; quia ipsi tenentur revelare maleficia magistri sui, aut debent a servitio suo recedere” (Statut. Willelmi c. XIX. § 9). In England, late in the thirteenth century, Bracton speaks of the “concubina legitima” as entitled to certain rights and consideration (Lib. III. Tract. ii. c. 28 § 1, and Lib. IV. Tract. vi. c. 8 § 4). In Spain, at the same period, the son of an unmarried noble by a concubine, was noble (Juan Perez de Lara, in Arch. Seld. 130, Bib. Bodl.), and in the Danish code of Waldemar II., which was in force from 1280 to 1683, there is a provision that a concubine kept openly for three years shall be held to be a legitimate and legal wife (Leg. Cimbric. Lib. I. cap. xxvii. Ed. Ancher); while the elaborate provisions for the division of estates between legitimate and illegitimate children, contained in the code compiled by Andreas Archbishop of Lunden, in the 13th century, show that certain legal rights were recognized in the latter (Legg. Scan. Provin. Ed. Thorsen pp. 110-2). Indeed, in the Norwegian law of that period, when the king left no legitimate sons the crown descended to illegitimates (Jarnsida, Kristendoms-Balkr, c. III.). In Bigorre, concubines, under the name of Massipia, were recognized by law, and formal notarial contracts were drawn up, as late as the close of the fifteenth century, specifying the price to be paid and the duration of the connection; and when the man was already married he sometimes engaged to marry the massipia in case of his wife’s death during the term (Lagrèze, Hist. du Droit dans les Pyrénées, Paris, 1867, p. 377). We must therefore bear in mind that, until the rule of sacerdotal celibacy became rigorously enforced, the “concubina” of the canons generally means a wife, and that for some time afterwards the concubine was by no means necessarily the shameless woman implied under the modern acceptation of the term.
478 Hujus autem constitutionis maxime fuit auctor Hildebrandus, tunc Romanæ ecclesiæ archidiaconus, hæreticis maxime infestus.—Bernaldi Chron. ann. 1061. Benzo declares, in his slashing way, stigmatizing Hildebrand as a Sarabite, or wandering monk, “De cetero pascebat suum Nicholaum Prandellus in Lateranensi palatio, quasi asinum in stabulo. Nullum erat opus Nicholaitæ, nisi per verbum Sarabaitæ” (Comment. de Reb. Henr. IV. Lib. VII. c. 2). The verses of Damiani on the influence of Hildebrand are too well known to quote.
480 Concil. Turon. ann. 1060 c. 6.
481 Porro autem nos contra divina mandata, personarum acceptores, in minoribus quidam sacerdotibus luxuriæ inquinamenta persequimur; in episcopis autem, quod nimis absurdum est, per silentii tolerantiam veneramur.—Damiani Opusc. XVII. c. 1.
482 Sanctis eorum femoribus volui seras apponere. Tentavi genitalibus sacerdotum (ut ita loquar) continentiæ fibulas adhibere.... Hujus autem capituli nudam saltem promissionem tremulis prolatam labiis difficilius extorquemus. Primo, quia fastigium castitatis attingere se posse desperant; deinde quia synodali se plectendos esse sententia propter luxuriæ vitium non formidant. ... Si enim malum hoc esset occultum, fuerat fortassis utcunque ferendum; sed, ah scelus! omni pudore postposito, pestis hæc in tantum prorupit audaciam, ut per ora populi volitent loca scortantium, nomina concubinarum, socerorum quoque vocabula simul et socruum ... postremo, ubi omnis dubietas tollitur, uteri tumentes et pueri vagientes etc.—Damiani Opusc. XVII.
483 Decret. Nicolai PP. c. 3, 4 (Baluz. et Mansi II. 118-9).
484 “Dogmatizatis enim sacri ministros altaris jure posse mulieribus permisceri ... Jam vero quod impudenter asseritis, ministros altaris conjugio debere sociari etc.”—Damiani Lib. V. Epist. 13.
485 Ad Cadaloum Lib. I. Epist. 20.
486 In 1060, Cardinal Humbert of Silva-Candida, in combating the prevailing vice of simony, made use of this argument, reasoning that an immoral priest may be suspended or may be tolerated in hope of amendment, but if he trenches on heresy, there can be neither hope nor mercy for him (Humbert. Cardinal. adv. Simoniac. Lib. III. c. 43). Damiani applied this to the defenders of marriage with all his vigor. “Qui nimirum dum corruunt, impudici; dum defendere nituntur, merito judicantur hæretici” (Opusc. XVIII. Diss. ii. c. 8). “Nam cum peccat homo, quasi in puteum labitur; cum vero peccata defendit, os putei super eum, ne pateat egressus, urgetur ... Hoc autem inter peccatorem et hæreticum distat: quia peccator est qui delinquit, hæreticus autem qui peccatum per pravum dogma defendit” (Opusc. XXIV. Præf.).
487 Opusc. XXVII. Diss. ii. c. 8.
488 Opusc. XVIII. Diss. ii. c. 3.
489 Obeunte igitur pellice, viduatus adjecit iterare conjugium. Quid plura? Confœderat sibi quasi tabularum lege prostibulum, amicorum atque confinium congregat nuptiali more conventum, epulaturis etiam totius affluentæ providet apparatum—Damiani Opusc. XVIII. Diss. ii. c. 6.
490 Nec vos terreat quod forte, non dicam fidei sed perfidæ, vos annulus subarrhavit: quod rata et monimenta dotalia notarius quasi matrimonii jure conscripsit; quod juramentum ad confirmandam quodammodo conjuii copulam utrinque processit. Totum hoc quod videlicet apud alios est conjugii firmamentum, inter vos vanum judicatur et frivolum—Opusc. XVIII. Diss. ii. c. 7.
491 Opusc. XVIII. Diss. ii. Præf.
492 Opusc. XVIII. Diss. ii.
493 Opusc. XVIII. Diss. iii. c. 1, 2.
494 Opusc. XVIII. Diss. iii. c. 3.
495 Opusc. XVIII. Diss. i.
496 Alex. II. Epist. 125.—Batthyani (Leg. Eccles. Hungar. I. 407) remarks that this lenity arose from the fact that otherwise divine service would have ceased—“omnes ecclesiæ a divinis officiis vacassent.”
It is also observable that subdeacons are not included in this prohibition—a remarkable exemption, since by this time their subjection to the law of celibacy had become a settled rule in the Roman church. I may here remark that I had collected considerable material to trace the varying practice with regard to the subdiaconate, but as it involves no principle, merely depending in earlier times upon the local custom as to the functions of that grade, the discussion would scarcely repay the space that it would occupy.
497 De manifestis loquimur; secretorum autem cognitor et judex Deus est.—Alex. II. Epist. 118.
498 Cenomanensem electum, pro eo quod filius sacerdotis dicitur, si cæteræ virtutes in eum conveniunt, non rejicimus; sed, suffragantibus meritis, patienter suscipimus; non tamen ut hoc pro regula in posterum assumatur, sed ad tempus ecclesiæ periculo consulitur.—Gratian. Dist. LVI. c. 13.
499 Nam pro eo quod filius sacerdotis dicitur, si cæteræ virtutes in eum conveniant, non rejicimus, sed suffragantibus meritis connivendo, eum recipimus.—Alex. II. Epist. 133. Baronius attributes to this the date of 1071.
The contrast between the weakness of Alexander and the unbending rigidity of his successor, Hildebrand, is well shown by comparing this unlimited acceptance of priestly offspring with the refusal of the latter to permit the elevation of a clerk requested by both his bishop and the King of Aragon, simply because he was illegitimate, although in other respects admitted to be unexceptionable (Gregor. VII. Lib. II. Epist. 50). We have already seen that even amid the license which prevailed during the early part of the century, some German bishops habitually refused orders to the sons of priests.
500 Alex. II. Epist. 112.
501 I think that there is too much concurrent testimony to this effect to admit a reasonable doubt that the Albigenses were Manichæans. I may return to them hereafter, and therefore will not discuss the point here. As regards the earlier heretics, however, I may mention the following contemporary authorities:—
With respect to those of Toulouse and Orleans, the “Fragmentum Historiæ Aquitaniæ” (Pithœi Hist. Franc. Script. p. 82) says: “Eo tempore decem ex canonicis sanctæ crucis Aurelianis probati sunt esse Manichæi, quos rex Robertus quum nollent ad Catholicam converti fidem, igne cremari jussit. Simili modo apud Tholosam inventi sunt Manichæi, et ipsi igne cremati sunt: et per diversas Occidentis partes Manichæi exorti per latibula sese occultare cœperunt”—and their errors are thus specified in the “Fragmentum Hist. Franc.” (Op. cit. p. 84) “Ii dicebant non posse aliquem in baptismate spiritum sanctum suscipere, et post criminale peccatum veniam non promereri; impositionem manuum nihil posse conferre; nuptias spernebant; episcopum affirmabant non posse ordinare, &c.”
In the Artesian synod, held in 1025 to condemn those of Cambrai, the tenth canon is directed against their hostility to marriage (Labbei et Coleti XI. 1177-8).—See also the prefatory letter of Gerard, Bishop of Cambrai—“Conjugatos nequaquam ad regnum pertinere”—(Hartzheim Concil. German. III. 68).
Concerning those executed at Goslar in 1052—“Ibique quosdam hæreticos, inter alia pravi erroris dogmata Manichæa secta omnis esum animalis exsecrantes, consensu cunctorum, ne hæretica scabies latius serpens plures inficeret, in patibulis suspendi jussit.”—Herman. Contract. ann. 1052.
About 1100 Radolphus Ardens describes the Manichæans who infested the territory of Agen, and recapitulates their doctrines as embracing dualism, abhorrence of animal food and of marriage, rejection of the Old Testament and part of the New, disbelief in the Eucharist, in baptism and resurrection, &c.—“Dicunt enim tantum flagitium esse accedere ad uxorem, quantum ad matrem vel ad filiam”—Radulf. Ardent. T. I. P. ii. Homil. 19.
The council of Toulouse, held by Calixtus II. in 1119, adopted a canon condemning those who objected to the Eucharist, priesthood, and legitimate marriage, showing that Manichæism was unextinguished in Languedoc.—Udalr. Babenb. Cod. Lib. II. c. 303.
In 1146 a synod at Cologne tried certain heretics, but before the examination was concluded the unfortunates were seized by the rabble and burned “et quod magis mirabile est, ipsi tormentum ignis non solum cum patientia, sed et cum lætitia introierunt et sustinuerunt.” Their Manichæism is manifested by their tenets concerning marriage—“De baptismo nostro non curant: Nuptias damnant.... In cibis suis vetant omne genus lactis, et quod inde conficitur, et quidquid ex coitu procreatur”—Narratio Everwini Præpositi (Hartzheim. III. 353-4). Cf. Bernardi Serm. 65, 66, in Cantica.
The accusations so freely disseminated against them for the purpose of stirring up popular indignation—such as that in their conventicles, after religious exercises, the lights were extinguished, and the congregation abandoned themselves to indiscriminate excesses—are, of course, without foundation. It is instructive to observe that precisely the same scandals were asserted of the early Christians (Tertull. Apologet. c. vii.)—so little does human nature change with the lapse of centuries.
502 It is scarcely worth while to more than refer to the assertion of mediæval Milanese chroniclers that Eriberto married a noble lady named Useria. Puricelli (Muratori Script. Rer. Ital. V. 122-3) has sufficiently demonstrated its improbability. He does not, however, allude to the argument derivable from the fact that Eriberto’s name is signed to the proceedings of the council of Pavia in 1022, where priestly marriage was so severely condemned.
503 Gualvaneo Flamma, Chron. Mag. c. 763.—Landulph. Senior. Mediolan. Hist. Lib. III. c. 2.
504 Landulf. Senior. L. II. c. 35.
The writer was a partisan of the married clergy; but his description is confirmed by the testimony which Damiani bears (ante, p. 203) to the good character of the married clergy of Savoy. Still, there may be some truth in the counter statement of an opponent, S. Andrea of Vallombrosa, a disciple of S. Arialdo—“Nam alii cum canibus et accipitribus huc illucque pervagantes, suum venationi lubricæ famulatum tradebant; alii vero tabernarii et nequam villici, alii impii usurarii existebant; cuncti fere aut cum publicis uxoribus sive scortis, suam ignominiose ducebant vitam.... Universi sic sub simoniaca hæresi tenebantur impliciti.”—Vit. S. Arialdi c. I. No. 7.
The Milanese defended their position not only by Scripture texts, but also by a decision which they affirmed was rendered by St. Ambrose, to whom the question of the permissibility of sacerdotal marriage had been referred by the pope and bishops. Of course the story was without foundation, but singularly enough, the Milanese clung to it long after the subject had ceased to be open to discussion. Puricelli has investigated the matter with his usual conscientious industry, and shows the repetition of the legend not only by Datius and Landulfus Senior in the eleventh century, but by Gualvaneo Flamma in the thirteenth, by the author of the Flos Florum, by Pietro Agario and by Bernardino Corio in the fifteenth, and by Tristano Calco in the sixteenth century—the two latter falling in consequence under the revision of the Index. (Script. Rer. Ital. V. 122-3.)