The Historians' History of the World 08

While the populace had sunk into almost heathen superstition, and expected their salvation from mere ceremonial observances, but half understood, the higher classes were manifesting opinions of a tendency altogether anti-religious. How profoundly astonished must Luther have been, on visiting Italy in his youth! At the very moment when the sacrifice of the mass was completed, did the priests utter blasphemous words in denial of its reality! It was even considered characteristic of good society, in Rome, to call the principles of Christianity in question. “One passes,” says P. Ant. Bandino,m “no longer for a man of cultivation, unless one put forth heterodox opinions regarding the Christian faith.” At court, the ordinances of the Catholic church, and of passages from Holy Scripture, were made subjects of jest—the mysteries of the faith had become matter of derision.

We thus see how all is enchained and connected—how one event calls forth another. The pretensions of temporal princes to ecclesiastical power awaken a secular ambition in the popes, the corruption and decline of religious institutions elicit the development of a new intellectual tendency, till at length the very foundations of the faith become shaken in the public opinion.f

FOOTNOTES

[107] [For an account of the origin of the order of Templars and its destruction see the previous history of the Crusades.]

[108] See Muratori,e ad ann. 1478. Innocent VIII had lived so shamefully before he mounted the Romish throne that he had sixteen illegitimate children to make provision for. Yet on the papal throne he played the zealot against the Germans, whom he accused of magic, in his bull Summis desiderantes affectibus, etc., and also against the Hussites, whom he well-nigh exterminated.

[109] [Though Von Rankef and others believe that Alexander VI was poisoned, Dr. Garnettg says: “His decease became the nucleus of a labyrinthine growth of legend and romance. Modern investigation has dispelled it all and left no doubt that his death was natural.”]

BRIEF REFERENCE-LIST OF AUTHORITIES BY CHAPTERS

[The letter a is reserved for Editorial Matter.]

Chapter I. Origin and Rise of the Papacy

b H. H. Milman, History of Latin Christianity.

c Leopold von Ranke, History of the Popes.

d Victor Duruy, Histoire du Moyen Age.

e O. J. Reichel, The See of Rome in the Middle Ages.

f J. Bass Mullinger, article on “Popedom,” in the Encyclopædia Britannica.

g Henry Stebbing, History of the Christian Church.

h John Wm. Draper, History of the Intellectual Development of Europe.

i Gregory of Tours, Annales Francorum.

j Andreas Thiel, Epistolæ Romanorum Pontificorum.

k Gregory the Great, Letters and Dialogues.

l Edward Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

Chapter II. “The Night of the Papacy”—Charlemagne to Otto the Great

b O. J. Reichel, op. cit.

c H. Stebbing, op. cit.

d Thomas Greenwood, Cathedra Petri.

e J. J. I. Döllinger, Die Papst Fabel des Mittelalters.

f Article on Pope “Joan,” in the Encyclopædia Britannica.

g H. H. Milman, op. cit.

h Charles Kingsley, The Roman and the Teuton.

i B. Platina, Vitæ Pontificum Romanorum.

j C. Fleury, Histoire Ecclésiastique.

k C. Baronius, Annales Ecclesiastici.

l Einhard, Vita Caroli Magni.

mChronicles of Moissiac.

n Marianus Scotus, Universal Chronicle from the Creation to the Year 1083.

o Sigebert of Gemblours, Chronique Universelle.

p Otto von Freysing, Chronik.

q Stephen de Bourbon, Chronicle.

r Martinus Polonus, Chronicon de Summis Pontificibus.

s Liutprand, Antapodosis.

Chapter III. The High Noon of the Papacy

b O. J. Reichel, op. cit.

c H. Stebbing, op. cit.

d J. B. Mullinger, op. cit.

e H. H. Milman, op. cit.

f V. Duruy, op. cit.

g James Bryce, The Holy Roman Empire.

h Roger of Hoveden, Historia post Bedam.

i K. F. Eichhorn, Deutsche Staats und Rechtsgeschichte.

j Ciacconius (Chacon), Vitæ Pontificanum.

k J. C. L. Gieseler, Compendium of Ecclesiastical History (translated by J. W. Hull).