cruell nor so great beyond opinion and beleefe which was vnfit for his terrible mind after some dayes sicknesse he was taken away by death c. Worthie of great praise if he had beene a secular Prince and attempted such things or if he had more care to exalt the Church in spirituall things by peaceable meanes than to make it great in temporall things by warre And yet is he desired aboue others but note of whom of them who the true names of things being lost and the distinction of them confused iudge that Popes are more to be praysed in this That by armes and shedding Christian bloud encrease the domination of the Apostolike See than labour by good examples of life to amend corrupt manners and take care for the saluation of those soules for whom they boast that they are ordained of Christ the Lord his Vicars on earth And did not the Emperour Maximilian lifting vp his eyes to heauen Joakimus Cureus Freistadiensis in Annalibus Gentis Silesiae Arnoldus Ferronius in vita Ludouici Gilberti Ducerij Epigramma worthily exclaime against the naughtie life of this Pope O eternall God if thou diddest not watch how ill it would be with the world which we gouerne I poore hunter and that wicked drunkard Iulius We read also that when a little after his election hee departed from Rome to make warre against Maximilian and Lewis passing ouer the bridge he cast the keyes into Tyber and holding a naked sword said with a lowd and high voyce That seeing Peters keyes would not suffice Paules sword should not be wanting Which gaue occasion of many Epigrams these among others Hic gladius Pauli nos nunc defendit ab hoste Quandoquidem clauis niliuvat ista Petri. Sith Peters keyes with foes doth nought preuaile This sword of Paul to saue vs shall not faile And In Gallum vt fama est bellum gesturus acerbum c. And hereupon Wicelius though a defender of Popes plainely saith of him Marti quam Christo propior That he was fitter for Mars than for Christ and indeed it was thought that in the space of nine yeares he had beene the occasion of the death of two hundred thousand men Whereas his predecessors were woont to graunt priuiledges to begging Friers he to the Cantons of the Switzers his confederats the principall executers of his high enterprises gaue the perpetuall title of Defenders of the Ecclesiasticall libertie with many Bulls Standards a Sword and golden Cap and other gifts that he might haue them readie at all his commaundements Neither was he for all that negligent in his Indulgences whereby hee might rake in money witnesse the Epigram Fraude capit totum mercator Iulius orbem Vendit enim coelos non habet ipse tamen c. By fraud the merchant Iulius rakes in pelfe For heauen he sells yet hath it not himselfe And this euidently ynough appeareth vnto vs by his Bulls especially by that dated in the yeare 1505 whereby being newly entred his Popedome hee ordayned That euerie fifteenth yere annuities should be paid for benefices And that he might reserue to himselfe all libertie to do all things by his own mere authoritie Bulla cuius initium Ex debito Pastoral officij alia cuius initium Suscepti regiminis cura sollicitat against the admonitions made vnto him from all parts he renewed the Bul of Pius the second against them that appealed from the Pope to a future Councell in such sort that the Appealants were judged excommunicated and their Appeals voyd and with these goodlie Prefaces Out of the duetie of our Pastorall office and the care of the gouernement vndertaken soliciting vs c. But with what face and faithfulnesse let the Reader judge vnlesse it bee with that sinceritie which this Epigram describeth Genua cui patrem genitricem Graecia Conradus Grebelius in Epigram partum Pontus vnda dedit num bonus esse potest Fallaces Ligures mendax est Graecia Ponto Nulla fides in te haec singula Iule tenes From Genua and Greece his parents bloud At sea he had his birth can he be good The Genowais be false Greekes lyers be Trustlesse the sea all this Iulius in thee Which truely he verified in effect in the whole course of his life I would willingly omit these other verses of the same Author but that all filthinesse with them is but a play Venit in Italiam spectatus indole rara Germanus redijt de puero mulier To Rome a German went of faire aspect But he return'd a woman in effect Which he speaketh of Iulius The same we find written by the Diuines of Paris of two young gentlemen violated or forced by him whom Queene Anne wife of Lewis the twelft had recommended to the Cardinall of Nantes to carrie with him into Italie Let vs adde this for conclusion That when he was besieged at Bononia by the Grand Master de Chaumont Generall of the armie of Lewis the 12 vnder colour of entertaining a treatie of peace brought into the citie for his succours certaine companies of Turks conducted by Chapin Vitelli and in the meane time he published by his Bull full pardon and large Indulgences to whomsoeuer should kill a Frenchman that is a Christian So that not without reason our French Church at that time called that full power of Popes a boisterous tempest and a diabolicall word And thus are we come to the yeare 1513. An. 1513. The Popedome of Iulius was imperious and barbarous The Cardinals who had felt his crueltie before they would proceed to election thought by prescribing conditions to the future Pope to bridle his authoritie but presently after saith Guicciardine they themselues did abrogat them almost all Guicciard l. 2. according as they were led some with feare and some with hope of fauour all vncapable of a better State This same was Iohn de Medicis Commaunder as Legat of the Popes armie who had beene taken in the battell of Rauenna and hauing made an escape away contrarie to his faith was presently after created Generall of the warre against the Florentines He was scarcely thirtie seuen yeares old when against custome by a new example hee was aduanced to the Popedome by the craft of the younger Cardinals In his first act he made manifest what was to be hoped of the reformation of the Church in his time for the pompe of his coronation was so excessiue Guicciard l. 2. as well of them of his house and Court as of all the Prelats that no man but would confesse That from the inundation of the Barbarians there had beene nothing seene more proud and stately seeing it is certaine that hee on that day had spent an hundred thousand ducats And the wiser sort iudged saith he that such a pompe was not fit for Popes Next he resolued to continue the Councell of Lateran and to extinguish that of Pisa which he easily did in reestablishing the fiue Cardinals which Iulius
fift booke they proue nothing but this That Iohn vpon the wrong which was done vnto him had recourse to Gregorie who made his cause to be reuiewed in a Synod and his confession being there found Orthodox Gregorie requested the Patriarch of Constantinople to receiue him againe with fauour as one which had beene abused and wronged by such as he had put in trust with the examination of his cause and intreated the Emperour to assist him therein all which sauoureth not of the nature of an Appeale but onely of that ancient recourse which the oppressed vsed to make to the chiefe Sees and which the Bishop of Rome vsed commonly to draw to a consequence of Soueraigntie and Dominion The like is to be said of the case of Adrian Bishop of Thebes whose processe as hee saith Gregorie read ouer for the Appeale there spoken of vpon the accusation which was mixt and partly Ciuile partly Ecclesiasticall belonged properly to the Ciuile Court in the point for which the Emperour in the first instance committed it to Iohn Bishop of Iustineana Prima and secondarily to the Ecclesiasticall Court in that which concerned his deposition And Gregorie there speaketh in verie proper tearmes when he saith That Adrian being wronged by his brethren and fellow Bishop as by his enemies fled to the citie of Rome And againe He is saith he Confugit come to Rome to complaine with teares And in like sort doth Baronius abuse the other examples which he alledgeth Fiftly he saith That Gregorie dealt about his Palls amongst the Archbishops of the East also making vs beleeue that this custome is as ancient as Christianitie is old And wheresoeuer the Bishop of Rome writing to any Bishop saith vnto him Vices tibi meas committo i. I make you my Vicar he inferreth presently That he sent him the Mantle or Pall withall which he bringeth in as if it had now suddenly sprung out of the ground it being a thing which former ages neuer heard of But let vs see vpon what credit though wee now come to enter into an age which was wholly set vpon new fangles and deuises For proofe hereof therefore hee citeth the 55 Epistle of Gregorie lib. 4. whence he collecteth That he bestowed this Mantle or Pall vpon Iohn Bishop of Corinth whereas yet his words are onely these You know saith he that heretofore this Pall was giuen for money but we haue taken a strict order in a Synod Pallium pro Commodo that neither this or any other order shall hereafter be disposed of either by money or by fauour And I see no reason but that by the same argument he might haue said That hee sent him his Orders also True it is that the two Bishops of Rome and of Constantinople pulled who could pull hardest to get all jurisdiction into their hands as if the Church had beene a prey betweene them two and this was the cause that Gregories letters slew so thicke as they did into Greece And so much bee said of the power which he chalenged ouer the Church As for the Emperour Maurice Baronius taketh pepper in nose against him a man otherwise well reported of and much commended by Historians His grieuance is onely this That according to the law of his predecessors he tooke vpon him to confirme Gregorie in his Popedome and is scarce friends with Gregorie himselfe for suffering it In the end he saith That the Emperour was a Tyran Baron vol. 8. an 590. art 2 3 4 sequent and Gregorie forced to doe what he did and that it was of this Maurice that he meant when vpon the fift Penitentiall Psalme he vsed these words That he is no King who maketh the Church a Chamber-maid whom God appointed to be free and Mistresse of the house if so then was Gregorie a notorious hypocrite neither is there any trusting of him seeing that he said one thing and meant another in all the dealings which he had with Maurice For doe but read the Epistle which he wrot vnto Maurice concerning that law which he had made to this effect That no souldier vntill he were dismissed no accomptant without his discharge first had and obtained should take the Frocke vpon him and enter into religion and then tell me whether it be possible for a man to vse greater submission than he there vseth He is answerable saith he for it before Almightie God whosoeuer is either in word or deed found faultie against his gracious Lords And so were I your most vnworthie seruant if in this case I should hold my peace c. Greg. li. 2. Epist 62. 65. Thou wert my good Lord before such time as thou wert Lord of all c. And when I thus presume to speake vnto my Lords what am I but dust and a verie worme of the earth c. Power is giuen from heauen vnto my Lords ouer all men c. and Christ shall one day speake vnto thee saying To thee haue I committed my Priests or Bishops c. And in the end I haue saith hee Meos Sacerdotes now in euerie poynt fulfilled my duetie seeing that I haue yeelded my obedience to the Emperour and haue not kept silence in that which was of my knowledge Who can read this and thinke him a Pope which wrot it And in like manner speaketh he to Theodore the Emperors Physitian My tongue saith he is vnable to expresse the good which I haue receiued of the Almightie and of my Lord the Emperour and what shall I giue againe for all this good but onely this Vestigia pure amare i. To loue the ground he goeth on in the same sence in which he elsewhere often saith Greg. li. 2. Epist 64. ad Dominorum vestigia transmisi i. I haue sent it to the feet of my Lords And at the foot of that Epistle he saith God hath not giuen him power to rule ouer souldiers onely Idem Epist 52. but also ouer Bishops where hee vseth the word Sacerdotibus meaning thereby All men of the Church And shall then Baronius his plea be admitted Baron an 593. art 15. when he saith That Gregorie spake as one which liued vnder a Nero or a Dioclesian especially when he maketh such open protestation That he speaketh the truth wholly without all reseruation and thereupon is so bold in the same Epistle as to say vnto him What wilt thou answer before the iudgement seat of God when he shall say vnto thee at that day Of Notarie I made thee Captaine of the gard of the Captaine of the gard Caesar of Caesar Emperour Was it feare or duetie which drew these words from him But if you will take a true view of the judgement which this man had of the Emperour then read the Epistle which he wrot without all passion to Anastasius Bishop of Antioch Whereas saith he men which are Orthodox in the faith are daily preferred to holie Orders wee haue great cause to render
of the Pope and inuestiture of the Bishops and declare his children to be no successors of his by right of inheritance for that he had euer in his mind And shortly after he sent vnto him in signe of his confirmation the Imperiall Crowne with this inscription Petra dedit Petro Petrus Diadema Rodolpho This change neuerthelesse was so odious that Sigefridus Bishop of Mence annoynting him the citizens rose in armes against them as traitors to their countrey and faith-breakers to their Prince and after much effusion of bloud on both sides Rodolph and his followers were compelled to saue themselues by flight in the night time and to retire themselues into Saxonie In the meane time Henrie partly instigated by this great dishonour the Pope had done vnto him and partly by those his followers whom to purchase his own grace he had left as a prey to the Pope resolues with himselfe to shake off this yoke calls his friends about him and by all the meanes he could reconciled himselfe to his câ—â—â—â—â—â—s and by the indignitie of the fact stirres vp all that had good minds and coâ—â—â—gious hearts to indignation and so shortly after brings his armie into the field â—â—â—ets Rodolph giues him battell puts him to flight and with a great slaughter of his men giues him the ouerthrow There dyed in the field amongst others Bernard Archbishop of Magdeburg the author of the ciuile warre the great Duke of Saxonie and Herman his vncle Sigefride the Bishop of Mence who consecrated Rodolph and Warnerus of Me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being dragged to the gallowes by the souldiers were freâ—d from their 〈◊〉 Henrie not suffering any man in so just a warre to be slaine the battell being ended From thence forward Rodolph not know◠〈◊〉 to renew his forces vpon the sudden Henrie is not idle in vsing his 〈…〉 welcome this newes was to Gregorie let the Reader judge who 〈◊〉 â—ing the Crowne to Rodolph vsed these words In our name of Saint Peter and Saint Paul I giue to all those that shall keepe faith and loyaltie to Rodolph remission and pardon of all their sins both in this life and in the life to come And as I haue deposed Henrie from his royall dignitie for his pride so I haue placed Rodolph for his humilitie and obedience in his throne And with this assurance he expressed his law in harder tearmes If any hereafter shall receiue a Bishopricke or an Abbotship or other Ecclesiastical dignitie of any lay man let him not be numbred among the Bishops or Abbots neither let any doe obedience vnto them as to a Bishop or Abbot and let him be interdicted the grace of Saint Peter and entrie into his house And if any Emperor King Duke Marquesse Earle or other secular power or person shall bestow any Bishopricke or other Ecclesiasticall dignitie let him be subiect to the same sentence At the humble intreatie therefore of Rodolph he excommunicateth Henrie againe vnder pretence That against his oath he had taken into his hands the ornaments or marks of the Empire All those that follow Rodolph he freeth from hell and placeth in heauen and whatsoeuer may make for the strengthening of their warres as fire and sword and the like he assureth vnto them but all that take part with Henrie and refuse to fall from him and to ioyne with his enemie he accurseth to hell and damnation c. But all this saith Auentinus to most of the Bishops and all learned and honest simple people except those that were of the conspiracie seemed a new doctrine and the most dangerous heresie that euer troubled the Christian Church On the other side there assembled together in the yeare 1080 the Bishops of Italie Germanie France An. 1080. at Brixen in Bauaria and condemne Hildebrand againe of ambition heresie impietie sacriledge Because say they he is a false Monke a Magitian a Diuiner an expounder of dreames and prodigious wonders hauing an ill opinion of Christian religion he hath bought the Popedome against the order of his auncestors and the wills of all good men and in despight of vs and as the Lord of the whole earth endeuoreth to keepe it c. He is a sworne enemie to the Commonwealth Empire and Emperour who hath oftentimes offered peace to him and his followers He lyeth in wait for the bodies and soules of men Diuine and humane lawes he peruerteth For truth he teacheth lyes allowes for good periurie falsehood homicide yea and commends them and giues incouragement thereunto According to his manner he defends a perfidious tyran sowes discord among brethren friends kindred Procures diuorcements betwixt maried couples Denies those Priests that are lawfully maried to chast and sober matrons to sacrifice and admits whoremasters adulterers and incestuous persons to the Altar We therefore by the authoritie of Almightie God pronounce him deposed and remoued from his Popedome And if whensoeuer he shall heare hereof he shall not willingly depart but refuse to obey this our Decree we iudge him excluded and withstand his entrance Sigonius reciting this Decree addeth He was a manifest Negromancer possessed with a Pythonicall spirit which is worth the noting because of that which shall hereafter be spoken of his 〈◊〉 But being famous in the art of Diuination the better to giue heart to 〈…〉 the Saxons he tels nay assures them as saith Sigebert Histor Saxon. that he knew by reuelâ—â—â—â—â— That the false King must this yeare dye whom he interpreted to be Henrie which 〈◊〉 it proue not to be true saith he and that this my prophesie haue not effect before the â—â—â—st aforesaid account not me for Pope Rodolph trusting to this Oracle makes warre the second time and the third and euer 〈◊〉 happie successe and the fourth time resoluing to trie the vtmost he is not onely ouerthrowne but his right hand by which hee had plighted his faith to the Emperour being cut off he 〈◊〉 his life Gregorie presently thinkes of a successor like vnto him and thereof 〈◊〉 writes to the Bishop of Passaw and the Abbot of Hirtzaugen his faithfull friends That they should with mature deliberation prouide that there should be no Prince chosen that was not true and faithfull to the Church of Rome An. 1081. or lesse true than he that was lately dead and withall sends the forme of an oath as followeth which they should enforce him to take From this houre and euer after Gregor li. 5. Epist 3. I will be faithfull in all true loyaltie to Saint Peter the Apostle and his Vicar Saint Gregorie who now liues and sits in his chaire and whatsoeuer he shall commaund me vnder these words Per veram obedientiam By true obedience I will faithfully as becomes a Christian obserue As touching the ordination of the Churches and the lands and reuenues which either Constantine the Emperor or Charles gaue to Saint Peter and all the Churches and lands that haue beene at any time offered or granted by any men or women
God than man which Saint Peter in the Acts spake to another sense At his returne into Italie finding himselfe more firmely setled in Rome in the yeare 1097 he caused those articles to be confirmed An. 1097. but yet strengthened with a notable reason Guill Malm. l. 4 Edinerus in vita Arnulini Archiepiscop Symeon Dunelmens l. 2. Chron. That it was too abhominable that those hands that by the signe create their Creator should be bound as handmaids to serue those that euerie day and houre pollute themselues with vncleanenesse Thus abusing the world with a shew of reuerence due to the holy Eucharist because then Transubstantiation began to take footing To conclude we read that in these times he made a shew vpon this occasion of his authoritie in France and England in France in that Geffrey Bishop of Chartres was not onely deposed by him for his many and grieuous offences but Iuon Abbot of S. Quintin put into his place of whom he made choyce being a man famous in those dayes that by his commendations he might the better countenance his owne vsurpation In England in that he persuaded Anselmus an Italian the disciple of Lanfrane being chosen Archbishop of Canterburie by the consent of King William the second to take his confirmation of him which being once admitted by the Primat of England was an example for all the rest to doe the like OPPOSITION But it is now time to consider what the state of the Christian world was especially in the time of these schismes which for the space of sixteene yeares filled it with fire and sword The Popes Cardinals Councels Decrees Excommunications being opposit the one against the other each part chalenging to themselues the true Church affirming that without it there was nothing but heretikes heresies Christ himselfe if you will beleeue them was personally present on both parts and yet not so much as his footsteps to be found in either In so much that many Christian States tooke part with neither of them but left the gouernement of the Church to their owne Bishops not so much as turning their eyes towards Rome out fathers hauing then learnt that the Church of God might subsist without Popes and that Christ without their Vicarship was able to gouerne the Church Germanie was the Theatre of this tragedie wherein it much grieued all sorts of people that such controuersies as should be decided by Scriptures were with a strange disorder of all things determined by ciuile warres And therefore in the yeare 1088 at the entrance of Pope Vrban An. 1088. the Bishops and Princes on both parts assembled in Councell at Garstunghen to find some course for peace to be proposed to Vrban before he were touched with the affections of his predecessors which he seemed neuerthelesse to succeed by right of inheritance There Conrade Bishop of Vtrecht layd open vnto them how necessarie a thing peace was and how detestable it was for any man vpon any pretence whatsoeuer to breake his plighted faith for whosoeuer did so contemned him by whom he sware since we are not so much to consider to whom we sweare as by whom and we are admonished by Christ and his Apostles to obey Tiberius Nero and the most wicked monsters that are how much more then good and lawfull Princes Ambitious therefore and proud are they who with a brasen face abuse the words of our Sauiour Whatsoeuer thou loossest vpon earth shall be loossed in heauen adulterating them by their interpretations enforce them to serue their owne appetites and like children and such as are vnskilfull in all things endeuour to deceiue vs as if saith he wee were ignorant that it is a familiar and common thing with the holie Prophets and Preachers of the word to call one and the same thing by diuers names according to the capacitie of the hearers and to expresse them sometimes figuratiuely sometimes simply according to the diuersitie of the effects Doubtlesse that which Christ Iesus spake more obscurely in one place he expresseth plainely in S. Iohn and most plainely in S. Mathew S. Marke and S. Luke Peace be vnto you saith he Auent l. 5. As my Father hath sent me so I send you Receiue ye the holie Ghost Whose sinnes ye remit shall be remitted and whose sinnes ye retaine shall be retained And to the end he might sow concord and shew himselfe to be the onely true shepheard he saith to one If thou loue me feed my sheepe that is goe into the whole world and preach the Gospell to all creatures And againe All power is giuen me both in heauen and in earth goe therefore and teach all nations And therefore this heauenly Doctor opened the minds of his Disciples that they might vnderstand the Scriptures Moses the Prophets and the Psalmes and commaund them in his name to preach repentance and remission of sinnes to all nations and to be witnesses of these things This good Bishop had not yet learnt that these places were to be restrained to one Pope to Peter onely excluding all the rest both Apostles and Bishops or that they were more to be applied vnto him than the rest And therefore he addeth For these causes Hildebrand is fallen headlong into ambition since he vsurpeth the power of the immortall God whose messenger he is such are the customs the times the men The Supreame and Soueraigne Maiestie had ill prouided for humane affaires if it had deliuered the sword into the hands of one mortall man whosoeuer For who can set limits to the boundlesse desires of man c. We haue no need to be taught after what manner Peter and his Collegues vsed the Spirituall power or to speake more truely the dispensation and procuration of the heauenlie food for we are the Butlers as it were and Yeomen of Gods garner It plainely appeareth in the booke of the Acts of the Apostles written by Saint Luke the Physitian that the armour of our warfare is the spirit not sword nor rapine nor murders nor periuries but our breastplate or helmet girdle sword buckler are peace loue righteousnesse hope truth the word of God faith all which our most Christian Emperour hath many times of his free will offered to Hildebrand but he hath refused them We denie not but he is a man and apt to sinne without which no man commeth into the world but it is his happinesse that the greatest are not layed to his charge He is giuen to the lusts of the flesh but yet that which nature hath permitted which as youth hath stirred vp in him old age is accustomed to correct I confesse that this is a great sinne but yet humane and such as many yea good men haue often committed And if we truely consider of this our Prince we shall find that whatsoeuer vices there are in him either by naturall inclination or by reason of his age they are ouer counterpoysed by his excellent vertues his readinesse in the execution of great
lust of the souldier to commit all manner of wickednesse whatsoeuer For we learne sufficiently out of histories what manner of men for the most part they returned from thence being all polluted with the abhominations of the Cananites To the same remedies they had euer recourse consecrating their children if they had any to the selfesame warres and giuing such goods as they had to expiat their sinnes On the otherside euerie vnskilfull souldier carried with a feruent desire of this warre fell vpon the Iewes against whom they had libertie as they thought to offer any violence and if they did not presently turne Christians to massacre them at their owne pleasures to the great scandall of Christian Religion as if there had beene no other meane to conuert them to the Faith of Christ And therefore in many Prouinces the souldiers preparing themselues to depart fell vpon the miserable people making their ruine to beare the charge of their voyage Insomuch that we read of tenne or twelue thousand slayne in one place an euident argument of that false and adulterat zeale wherewith they were carried and a manifest presage of an vnfortunat end We are not to forget by the way amongst other things that that Godfrey of Buloin that was the first who by assault entred Hierusalem was the selfesame who before vnder the commaund of the Emperour Henrie was the first that scaled the walls of Rome Let no man doubt that there wanted in those times wise men who looked more inwardly into the nature of this expedition Auentine beleeuing those that writ before him saith that it was a report spred amongst the common people Auent li. 5. that this voice was heard from heauen Deus vult God will haue it so whereupon all sorts of people from all parts ran to those warres some from their Kingdomes some from their Cities their Castles their flocks their Temples their families their wiues their children their fields their plonghes and into Asia past by flockes Captaines Gouernours Tetrarches Bishops Monkes who vnder a shew of Religion Berthold in Chron. committed all manner of wickednesse They carried a Goose saith he before them saying it was the holie An. 1096. Ghost and that Charles the great was come againe into the world As for the Iewes wheresoeuer they met them they slew them except they did presently conuert and whosoeuer refused to turne they spoyled of his goods Some of the Iewes out of their loue to their Law slew each other others for the time dissembling Christianitie relapsed from Christ to Moyses And these were the exploits of Peter the Hermit the authour and procuror of these warres Sigon de regno Jtaliae li. 9. A voyage whereof Sigonius himselfe in the middest of his panegyrique could not temper himself but that he gaue his judgement in these words Vrban saith he applied his mind to the recouerie of Hierusalem which had beene a long time held by the Sarasens an enterprise not so famous for the increase of pietie Gulielm Malmelsburiens li. 4. as renowned for the glorie therof in future times Which expedition to the end he might colour with some deuotion he ordayned that no Clergie or Lay man should eat flesh from Shrouetide to Easter Thus doth superstition alwayes increase with hipocrisie The controuersie touching the inuestiture of Bishops pretended by the Popes to the preiudice of Kings and Emperours did still continue though not without some difficultie and resistance Waltramus de inuestituris Episcoporum especially in Germanie Waltram therefore Bishop of Naumburg writ in his time of this matter against the Pope his reasons were That Hadrian in a full Councell was of opinion with Charles the great and his successours that it belonged to them to inuest Bishops yea and to confirme the Bishop of Rome except some certaine Bishops of Italie who by an auncient graunt from the Kings were to be consecrated by the Pope In which graunt he comprehendeth the Abbies and other regall dignities That Gregorie the great euen before this agreement had by Letters admonished Theodorick Theodobert Brunichild to inuest without simonie and that himselfe was not consecrated but by the consent of Mauritius the Emperour That Pope Leo and his successors obserued the same towads Otho and his and that vnder payne of excommunication And therefore it is verie strange that Gregorie the seuenth should go about to alter it and that vnder absolution That the Popes are to take good heed that God doe not vnbind in heauen what they bind vpon earth which many times comes to passe by the glorie of precedencie which sets mens spirits on fire when the successors goe about to change the Decrees of their predecessors And if any man reprehending them they shal answer that The iudgements of Rome are not to be reuoked why then doe they reuoke those of their auncestors that made for the Emperours why doe they scandall the little flocke of Christ why vnder the shaddow of Religion doe they gather euen with open hands all vnto themselues since that our Sauiour saith Giue vnto Caesar those things that are Caesars c That in Spaine Scotland England Hungarie the Kings vsed this right purely and entirely In France a long time before Hadrian the consecrated Kings and gouernors of the Palace inuested the Bishops that is to say Dagobert Sigebert Theodoricus Hildericus Pepinus Theodebertus by whom Remaclus Amandus Odemarus Antbertus Elisius Lambertus and other holie Prelats were inthronised and setled in their seats without respect of the maner of their inuestiture whether it were done by word or by the staffe the ring yet it was no matter But we must know that that homage that is done vnto the king vnder the name royaltie is before the consecration And that from the time of S. Peter to Siluester it was not so both because the Emperours were heathens and the Churches poore but afterwards being enriched by kings and endowed by other good men they made new laws especially hauing gotten into their possession Lands and great reuenues yea became Lords of Townes and Cities into which places they might withdraw themselues against the enemie That it fell out verie happily that the Emperors put themselues into the gouernement of the Church of Rome which had beene so often rent with schismes in the election of their Bishops and could neuer obtaine any setled peace without their mediation All this he saith with many other good reasons too long to rehearse Trithemius in lib. de scriptorib Ecclesiast And in the selfesame sence writ Venericus Bishop of Verseil in Italie dedicating his booke to the Pope himselfe which he intituled Of the discord of the Kingdome and Priesthood It was at this time also that we haue the Apologie of Sigebert Abbot of Gembloux for the Emperor Henrie mentioned by Auentine in his fift booke In France Vrban hauing ordained Yuo Abbot of S. Quintine An. 1072. bishop of Chartres by the deposition of Iefferay
gotten or come by But after this just judgement he fell into such a desperation and madnesse as some thirtie dayes after he yeelded vp his life giuing occasion of a prouerbe which did as it were epitomize his whole Popedome He entred like a Foxe liued like a Lyon and dyed like a Dog Some say thus much was presaged vnto him by Celestine in these words Ascendisti vt Vulpes Ranulph in Policronico l. 7. c. 39. Walsingham in histor Angl. thou didst ascend like a Foxe The Tuscan storie questionlesse deliuers it written That in the election of Popes it ranne by way of prophesie Intrabit vt Vulpes which the historie called Fasciculos Temporum notes to haue beene fulfilled in euerie respect This Pope grew to such an height of arrogancie as he would stile himselfe to be the Lord of all the world as well things temporall as spirituall and many things he did out of magnificence which at last failed most miserably Concerning matters of doctrine there flourished at this time in France one Robertus Gallus a man verie famous who of a Prelat became a Dominican and as it seemed he did not approue of the manners and customes of that Order There is a booke of his extant at Paris comming forth together with the prophesies of Hildegard wherein comprehending certaine visions of his owne in the fift chapter he calls the Pope Idolum an Idoll and he brings in God speaking in these words Who set this Idoll on my throne to command ouer my flocke he hath eares yet doth he not heare the clamor and crie of those that lament and descend downe into hell though their howlings drowne the sound of trumpets and the fearefull claps and reports of the thunder Eyes he hath and yet he sees not the abhominations of his people nor the exorbitancies of their pleasures what wickednes does his people performe daily in my presence yet he will not looke into it except he may gather money and coyne thereby A mouth he hath and yet speakes nothing for it is enough for him to say I haue appointed those shall speake good things to them it sufficeth that either by my selfe or others I doe good Accursed bee that ydoll and woe be to him that set it there for who can bee equall to this ydoll vpon earth For hee hath magnified his name vpon earth one sayd who shall bring me vnder Is not my familie linked with the most Noble of the earth I exceed them in all my sumptuous fare Knights and Nobles serue me that which was neuer done to my Fathers is done vnto me Behold my house is paued with siluer and gold and gemmes are the ornaments thereof Could that place of Zacharie be more fitly applied to the Pope O Pastor idolum O ydoll Shepheard In the first and twelfth Chapters in the figure of the Serpent he describes the Pope or Antichrist who extols himselfe aboue measure oppressing the godlie though they be but of a verie small number and beeing enuironed with many false Prophets who in contempt of God and Christ onely preach and magnifie him contrariwise obscuring and defacing the name of Iesus In conclusion deciphering the Roman Church I did pray saith he on my knees with my face towards heauen nere to the Altar of S. Iames at Paris on the right hand and I saw in the ayre before me the bodie of the onely high Priest clad in white silken Roabes and his backe was towards the East and his hands lifted vp towards the West Priests doe vsually stand while they say Masse I did not see head and beholding wistly whether he were altogether without an head or no I saw his head leane withered and as if it had beene all of wood and the spirit of the Lord sayd This signifies the state of the Roman Church that is to say wherein there is no bloud nor humour of life remayning That it might also signifie what maner of bread she distributed to her children Againe saith he intending the same worke another day I saw in the spirit And behold a man of the same habit went about bearing on his shoulders delicat bread and excellent wine and the bread and wine hung downe on his sides but he in his hands held a long hard stone gnawing it with his teeth as an hungrie man would doe bread but effecting nothing at all out of the stone came two Serpents heads and the spirit of the Lord instructed me saying Curious and vnprofitable questions are this stone on which the hungrie chew and gnaw omitting points substantiall for the saluation of soules And I sayd And what meanes those heads And he answered The name of one of them is Vayne glorie and of the other Difference of religion Was it possible in more significant words to expresse the Sophistries cauilations of these times which hauing the word of God readie at hand to distribute vnto the people for their nourishment they rejected this though this was a burthen layed vpon their shoulders continually liuing and dying in chewing and eating of idle and contentious questions The which in like manner the Prophet objects to the Iewes Esay 55. v. 2. Why lay you out your money for no sustenance and bestow your labour in a thing that affords no repletion As also in the vision before he thought that he saw the Church reformed I saw saith he a certaine cleare bright Crosse of siluer like the Crosse the Armes of the Counts of Toulouse but those twelue Apples which are in the extents of the Crosse were like certaine rotten corrupt Apples cast vp by the Sea and I sayd Lord Iesus what meanes this and the spirit sayd vnto me This Crosse which thou seest is the Church which through puritie and cleanenesse of lyfe shall be bright and resonant through the shrill voyce of the preaching of veritie and being inquisitiue I said What is meant by these rotten and corrupt apples and he sayd The future humiliation and digression of the Church The which crosse vndoubtedly did truely decipher the Church in that the crosse of Christ is the Churches saluation the true preaching of this crosse the exact reformation of diuine worship inuolued in humane traditions which doe but obscure the glorie of the Crosse and euen cast a blacke cloud ouer the Church Posseuinus in Apparatu tom 2. An. 1302. And yet Posseuine the Iesuite calls this Author An excellent preacher of the word of God Neither need we to doubt but that in such a general coherence of the French Clergie against Boniface there were many more who together with Robert discerned both the Popes tyrannie and the Churches deformitie For king Philip in the yeare 1302 when hee made his progresse through the Prouince of Narbon heard many complaints made to him against the Inquisitors of the Faith who participating in all forfeitures and confiscations they apprehended whom they thought good without due proofe condemning them whereupon the Vidame of Piquigni was constrained
or weakened the same especially the first and second which touch the deprauations and corruptions of Regulars and Seculars because our Sauiour himselfe being the foundation of the Church both by his owne and by the words of his Heraulds foretold expresly That this should come to passe in those times and that not onely in the Canonicall Scriptures but further as much hath beene exhibited to vs in the reuelations of the holie Church by many sacred persons of both sex and kind which the holie Popes with singular zeale and deuotion haue reserued in secret Records of the Apostolicall See Euen as saith he I haue seene and handled with these my hands in the soueraigne citie For the third point of the negligence and carelesnesse of the See Apostolicall That which our Sauiour Christ did in his owne time and would shortly againe performe might satisfie him he formerly did it in that he twice commaunded That the See Apostolicall should be taxed with a diabolicall Apostasie first vnder Boniface the eighth and lastly vnder Benedict the eleuenth and that sometimes with plenitude of directory light For saith he the denouncer declared first that the things he denounced proceeded not from himselfe neither was he stirred vp by any motiue of his owne to declare these things but by the illumination and precept of the Lord of lords And so he laid open vnto them both the place time and meanes he meant to make choyce of in the declaration of them Secondly he denounced vnto them a deceitful snare of Sathan layd for their seduction in so much that openly these two things were inculcated to them First That they had counsellors and assistants about them who were the Angels of Sathan who vnder shew of religion and a cloke of true zeale should endeuor to mislead them from the sifting clensing of the aboue mentioned Decrees Statutes Thirdly he declared to them That if they should neglect to execute this message God would make them tast a presagement of he eternall iudgement so as it was told Boniface in writing that he â—hould fall into such and such a danger and confusion and hee tooke no heed thereof till he tasted the same As also the like in writing was insinuated to Benedict That if hee neglected the same hee should swiftly bee throwne downe from his seat and from the day hee read this hee sat not aboue fiue and thirtie dayes more So as neither the things written to him nor the fearefull euents of his predecessour could moue him to beleeue but hee contemned all things Fourthly for illumination and motiue many diabolicall and abhominable deprauations were declared particularly vnto them of many of that state formerly mentioned which is to say That those things aboue expressed were verie seuerally layed open and moreouer other things in this forme Certaine pestilent men disseuer and rend the Citie of the celestiall Lambe especially in the State which so much glories of the hight of all Euangelicall perfection they subuert veritie Euangelicall and ouerthrow the edifice thereof in the people not onely by peruerse workes and examples but by corruption of doctrine in their Sermons and preachings For they preaching in the delusion and subtiltie of malignitie doe sometimes alledge indirectly otherwhiles impertinently and peruersly applie and sometimes sophistically distinguish and most improperly expound And thus the truth of the Scriptures was by them darkened and not clearely deliuered to the Auditors but Gods sayings they did adulterat and falsifie And in the spirit saith he of Antichrist they endeauour to diuert the people from excellent ordinarie Priests and to plucke the Sheepe from their owne proper Pastours by so many meanes and in such sort as particularly are expressed in the writings reserued to this day in the treasurie of the See Apostolicall Fiftly the same writings obiected vnto them the diuelish plague of the inquisitors of that State and others That is those who bought these offices in Prouinces not for the reducing of those that erred into the way but rather that by mere calumniation and slaunder they might thrust the man righteous and of good conuersation into the furious oppressions of diuels and Tyrans where hee enueyes mightily against diuers coinquinations which raigned commonly amongst them as also the frauds and deceipts wherein they maintayned themselues which being prolix and long I would rather referre to the Reader to peruse them in Arnold but yet these things ensuing by him prosecuted are no wayes to be omitted They burne and condemne the Scriptures saith he as superstitious and erronious expressing the veritie Euangelical declaring the mysteries of the sacred texts and touching too nerely to the quicke their transgressions and vncleanesse not vpon any erronious or false but onely for some ambiguous and doubtfull saying They forbid all the Colledges of that state to read or studie the foresayd holie Scriptures vnder payne of death and so by damming vp the well of the water of life they denie the vnderstanding of the holie Oracles and this water of life to those that are thirstie and crie out for the same Sixtly because the Popes were by this denunciation enjoyned to reueale these things in the behalfe of God vnto men which plainely appeares out of such writings which the holie Fathers left both at Rome and in the auntient Monasteries but they beeing wholly oppressed with spirituall lethargie would giue no eare to any good thing or to extirpat Christs opprobrie on earth but beeing bewitched as they were made choyce rather to embrace most palpable and euident lies than the mysterie of the truth and of the Gospell And therefore the whole Church was so infatuated by these seducers as that she tooke the disordered multitude which supplanted and rooted out the Gospell to be a Religion and Order Seuenthly That this denouncer exciting the vniuersall Church in these instigations That she would preuent the Gospels extirpation all notwithstanding out of consent and compact turne aside her eare either condemning the message or raging against the Herault That amongst them all not one arose vp endewed with Catholicall veritie armed with justice Euangelicall and encouraged by the equitie and righteousnesse of this celestiall warfare who would so much as say This man is zealous for the honour and glorie of Christs spowse and the saluation of soules Let vs therefore examine and diligently by experience make triall whether those things hee speakes and declares tend to the conuersation or corruption of the Gospell But the Senat was all mute and onely because he reuealed the blemishes and defects of the spowse vnto the Bride-groome out of a zeale obscuring and healing these wounds he was whipped And they that bore the colours of Euangelicall sanctitie persecuted him more cruelly than any other strangers not onely in renouncing the rules of equitie and charitie but moreouer laying apart the bridle of all humane modestie they laboured to pollute innocencie and to destroy the innocent He concludes notwithstanding That Fredederick should
before his consecration at Rome might execute all his authoritie and prerogatiues and whosoeuer thought otherwise were traitors and heretikes Of which kind also that information is De nullitate processu Iohan. 22 whether Marsilius Patauinus or Ockam be Authour thereof Wherein Lodouike appeales from a Citation vnduely made in Auignion vnto a generall Councell conuocated in some safe and secure place with due forme and according to the sacred Canons and after a lawfull Appeale hee auerres that no place remaines for any Excommunication or Interdict And thus it was enacted against Iohn the two and twentieth or according to Platina the three and twentieth Furthermore Trithemius in Chronic. Hirsaugiens the Diuines and Ciuilians of these times argued this question by way of Thesis De potestate Imperiali Papali earumque distinctione Of the Emperours and Popes power and their seuerall distinction For to omit what Vldarick the Emperour Lewis his Chancellor Apologia Ludovic 4. contra Ioh. 22. publicē proposita wrot to Iohn in certaine letters directed to him in his Masters name wherein amongst other things he calls him Bestiam illam de mari ascendentem That beast arising out of the sea of which mention is made in the Apocalyps an Apologie was publisht in Lodouikes behalfe by the Diuines whereby they stifly affirme Quod nullus Papa potestatis plenitudinem in temporalia sibi arrogare potest That no Pope could arrogate to himselfe any plenarie power in temporall things much lesse in the Empire and yet much more lesse such an one as Iohn a man most vnworthie of the Papall chaire as also that the Pope swaruing from the Faith might haue a superiour on earth which is the whole Church represented in a generall Councell which out of their authoritie may judge him and to which for this cause it was lawfull to appeale And the same we read printed at this day But beyond all others out of doubt William Ockam a Franciscan an Englishman borne being a verie wittie and learned Doctor assayles him verie stoutly Defend me Caesar saith he with thy sword against the Popes iniuries and I will by word writing and irrefragable reasons maintaine thee against him the which indeed he performed while he liued hee constantly auerring That the Pope was an heretike and schismatike whose censures were nothing at all to be esteemed From hence came those Dialogues of his Pro Ludouici defensione Liber nonaginta trium dierum pro Michaele Caesennate Generall of the Franciscans excommunicated for the same cause Errores Iohannis 22 Dialogus inter Clericum militem and other such like In which he debates this poynt with so vnanswerable arguments as no man need to call his opinion into doubt or question The principall heads were these That the Pope ex iure diuino hath no Primacie That Peter neuer had nor neuer sat at Rome and therefore the Pope cannot haue it That the Pope may erre yea and the whole Roman Church and therefore ought to be liable to a Councell Concerning the controuersie betwixt the Pope and the Emperour he discusseth eight seuerall questions First Whether the Imperiall and Pontificiall dignities might be joyntly discharged in one man Secondly Whether Caesar onely receiued his authoritie from God or from the Pope of Rome also Thirdly Whether by any authoritie from Christ the Pope and Church of Rome haue power to confirme Caesar and other kings in the exercise of royall jurisdiction Fourthly Whether Caesar being elected hath at the same instant absolute right to gouerne the Commonwealth Fiftly Whether other kings besides Caesar and the king of Romans being consecrated by Bishops receiue any authoritie from them Sixtly Whether such kings are in any sort subiect to those which consecrated them Seuenthly Whether if they should vse any other rite or solemnitie or assume another Diademe they lost in so doing their royall title and prerogatiue Eightly Whether the seuen Electors conferre as much right vpon the Emperour elected as other Kings and Princes haue by lawfull succession All which questions he arguing on both sides he determines in the greatest part for the ciuile Magistrat I meane for Kings and Princes vtterly ouerthrowing by the way the Extrauagants of Iohn the two and twentieth as false hereticall and by many condemned Whosoeuer thinke otherwise they may be numbred amongst them of those times whereof the Apostle to Timothie admonisheth vs 2. ad Timoth. c. 3. v. 3. 4. The time will be when they shall not giue eare to sound doctrine but according to their owne lusts they shall seeke out for teachers that may delight their eares which themselues shall stop against all truth and open wide vnto fables For this is the state of the present time that all men in a manner enquire not what was the doctrine of Christ of the Apostles or of the Fathers but onely they listen what the Pope wills and commaunds them Ascentius in his Preface sayes That he writ six other Tractats which he wittingly omitted because they were somewhat too sharpe and bitter against the Pope of Rome Editus Basiliae Marsilius Patauinus the Author of that golden Treatise whose title was Defensor Pacis of the authoritie of the Emperour and of the Pope writes much out of the same veine where out of the holie Scriptures the Lawes the Canons and both the sacred and ciuile historie he affirmes and auerres these propositions ensuing That Christ was the onely head and foundation of the Church and not Peter That he constituted none of the Apostles no not Peter himselfe Vniuersall Vicar and head of the Church and that by as good right any one else may vsurpe to himselfe this title That Peter was neuer Christs generall Vicar neither did Christ appoynt the other Apostles to be subiect vnto Peter How it was most probable that Peter was neuer at Rome much lesse that there hee held his seat who as the rest of the Apostles had no peculiar seat That the Pope labouring to confirme his Primacie by succession hath no right at all and therefore it is not validious That he hath no greater authoritie than other Bishops no not in that which appertaines to Indulgence and remission of sinnes and that otherwise by diuine right all men are equall with him the Bishops of Magunce Collen and Treuer are Primats as well as he That the plenarie power attributed to him was a manifest lye an execrable title and the verie originall of all euils and the vse thereof was to be interdicted the Popes by some good generall Councell But concerning temporall things Christ whose Vicar he would be thought to be neuer exercised any temporall authoritie vpon earth but contrariwise both himselfe and the Apostles submitted themselues to the ciuile Magistrat and after his ascention into heauen they both obeyed Princes and enioyned their disciples to this obedience and therefore that no temporall jurisdiction did any wayes belong to the Pope ouer any man much lesse ouer Princes