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039 - 8 The Rule of the Popes · Short History of the Christian Church

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  Speaker 1: Part two, Chapter eight of Short History of the Christian
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  Speaker 1: Church by John Fletcher Hurst. This LibriVox recording is in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain. Chapter eight. The rule of the Popes
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  Speaker 1: Leo the fourth eighty eight fifty five to Gregory the
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  Speaker 1: seventh eighty ten eighty five. The reign of the popes
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  Speaker 1: of Rome was never uniform. Where one was learned and
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  Speaker 1: was alive to the wants of his times, another was
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  Speaker 1: devoted entirely to the building up of his authority. The
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  Speaker 1: same absence of uniformity applies to their moral character. One
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  Speaker 1: might be virtuous and command the respect of the whole church,
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  Speaker 1: but his immediate successor might be just the opposite. The
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  Speaker 1: tendency was towards the evil side. The temptation was to
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  Speaker 1: resort to corrupt measures, not only to secure the office,
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  Speaker 1: but to administer it when secured. Between Leo the fourth
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  Speaker 1: eighty eight five fifty five and Benedict the Third, it
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  Speaker 1: was alleged that a female pope, Joanna, was elected and ruled.
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  Speaker 1: John the twentieth, for this reason, called himself John the
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  Speaker 1: twenty first. The chronicles of the thirteenth century were the
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  Speaker 1: first to make full mention of a female pope Protestant
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  Speaker 1: historians have been divided, some claiming that the proof is certain,
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  Speaker 1: while others hold that there are better means of proving
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  Speaker 1: the growing immorality of the papacy than the brief rule
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  Speaker 1: of a pope of another sex. We do not find
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  Speaker 1: sufficient proof in favor of a female pope. Nearly every
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  Speaker 1: competent authority at the present time looks upon the whole
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  Speaker 1: story as a fable. It was a Protestant historian, David
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  Speaker 1: Blondell sixteen forty nine, who was the first to subject
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  Speaker 1: the charge to a critical examination, and who destroyed all
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  Speaker 1: its claims to credence. But the moral methods in use
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  Speaker 1: were dark enough for that or any similar violation of
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  Speaker 1: ecclesiastical precedence. Nicholas the First, Hadrian the second, and John
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  Speaker 1: the seventh were involved in complications with the Frankish rulers.
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  Speaker 1: The new gift of temporal possessions was now bearing its
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  Speaker 1: legitimate fruit. It was easy to see that the attention
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  Speaker 1: of the popes was directed just as much towards political
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  Speaker 1: as spiritual matters. No period in the history of the
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  Speaker 1: papacy has been more corrupt than in the time of
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  Speaker 1: the pornocracy eighty nine O. Four to nine sixty two,
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  Speaker 1: Italy was divided between hostile factions. The noble families were
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  Speaker 1: arrayed against each other. The ruling pope was strong or
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  Speaker 1: weak according to the success of the nobles whose cause
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  Speaker 1: he had espoused for a half century. A wicked woman, Theodora,
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  Speaker 1: ruled the papacy. She was the daughter of a noble family.
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  Speaker 1: Her daughter Maria was almost her equal in genius and crime.
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  Speaker 1: These two women put into the papacy, whom they chose.
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  Speaker 1: Theodora caused John the tenth to assume the papacy after
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  Speaker 1: her death. He endeavored to throw off his dependence upon
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  Speaker 1: her daughter, but he failed. Maria was too strong for
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  Speaker 1: the ungrateful successor of Saint Peter. She put Peter the
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  Speaker 1: Pope's brother to death before the Pope's eyes, and then
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  Speaker 1: smothered the pope himself in the castle of Saint Angelo
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  Speaker 1: a d. Nine twenty eight. She immediately placed her son
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  Speaker 1: John the eleventh in the papal chair. We now come
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  Speaker 1: to the opposition of the German emperors to the papal authority.
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  Speaker 1: Henry the First was the first to assert a measure
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  Speaker 1: of independence, but the popes were constantly in need of
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  Speaker 1: help from the emperor's army. On the other hand, the
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  Speaker 1: emperor was in need of the pope's approval and coronation,
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  Speaker 1: because if the pope released the citizens from fealty to
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  Speaker 1: the emperor, the power of the latter was broken. The
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  Speaker 1: excommunication of an emperor by the pope was sure to
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  Speaker 1: bring untold evils to the former. There were generally competitors
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  Speaker 1: to the succession, and the man who had the pope's
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  Speaker 1: favor was almost sure to be winner. In the imperial game,
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  Speaker 1: the misconduct of certain popes was so flagrant that the
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  Speaker 1: people would not endure it. For example, Benedict the ninth,
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  Speaker 1: while a boy, became pope, but his crimes caused the
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  Speaker 1: people to eject him. They put Sylvester the Third in
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  Speaker 1: the papal chair. Benedict aimed to get it again, but
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  Speaker 1: he could not hold it and sold it outright to
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  Speaker 1: Gregory the sixth. There were now three rival popes. Henry
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  Speaker 1: the third of Germany was invited in to settle matters.
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  Speaker 1: Clement the second was elected, and he paid back his
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  Speaker 1: benefactor by crowning him Emperor of Germany and Patrician of Rome.
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  Speaker 1: Gregory the seventh was the son of a mechanic and
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  Speaker 1: arose from the humblest monastic life. He bore the name
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  Speaker 1: of Hildebrand. He could easily have been pope at an
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  Speaker 1: early period of his life, but chose to gain power
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  Speaker 1: and add to the papal authority by getting men of
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  Speaker 1: his choice in office. He was the warwick of ecclesiastical history,
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  Speaker 1: the maker of popes. On the death of Alexander the
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  Speaker 1: Second eighty ten seventy three, he was elected pope, though
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  Speaker 1: against powerful opposition. The time had come when he could
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  Speaker 1: safely throw off the mask. The people cried out, Hildebrand
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  Speaker 1: is Pope. Saint Peter has elected him. The strife between
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  Speaker 1: Gregory the seventh and Henry the fourth of Germany was
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  Speaker 1: one of the most bitter in the whole history of
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  Speaker 1: temporal and spiritual authority. The usual request for the imperial
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  Speaker 1: sanction was sent to Henry the last time that this
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  Speaker 1: custom was observed. Gregory determined to elevate the papacy at
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  Speaker 1: all hazards. His course brought him into collision with Henry
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  Speaker 1: fourth for oppressing the Saxons and permitting the sacred vessels
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  Speaker 1: to be despoiled of their jewels, which were now worn
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  Speaker 1: by the favorite women of Henry's court. Gregory threatened the
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  Speaker 1: Emperor with excommunication. Henry resented the insult with great promptness
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  Speaker 1: and spirit. It was now a struggle of authority. All
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  Speaker 1: Europe was interested in the duel. Henry called a synod
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  Speaker 1: at Vormes eight ten seventy six, which deposed the Pope
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  Speaker 1: as a violator of imperial rights. Gregory cast back upon
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  Speaker 1: the Emperor his anathema of excommunication and declared all his
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  Speaker 1: subjects released from allegiance. Henry's princes, who were fast losing
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  Speaker 1: respect for him, declared that they would have another sovereign
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  Speaker 1: if the anathema were not removed by the Pope by
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  Speaker 1: a certain time. The result of the strife was the
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  Speaker 1: division of the whole Western Church. Henry saw that the
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  Speaker 1: reigns of power were fast slipping away from him, and
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  Speaker 1: he resolved on penitents. He made a journey to Italy
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  Speaker 1: to regain the favor of the Pope. At Canosa eight
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  Speaker 1: ten seventy seven, he humiliated himself by doing the Pope
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  Speaker 1: the menial service of holding the stirrups of his saddle.
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  Speaker 1: The result was pardon, but the end was not yet.
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  Speaker 1: Henry repented of his repentance and withdrew it. Parchment depositions
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  Speaker 1: flew back and forth. Henry deposed the Pope, and in
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  Speaker 1: turn Gregory deposed Henry. The affair took a larger form
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  Speaker 1: than writs of ejectment to bloodshed. Armies were summoned, campaigns
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  Speaker 1: were conducted, and Italy and Germany swam in blood. Henry
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  Speaker 1: captured Rome eighty ten eighty four, and the Pope became
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  Speaker 1: a prisoner in the Castle of Saint Angelo, but Gregory
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  Speaker 1: spoke no word of surrender. He withdrew to Salerno, where
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  Speaker 1: he died eighty ten eighty five. His last words, which
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  Speaker 1: expressed the rectitude of his intentions, and which are engraved
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  Speaker 1: on his tombstone, were I have loved righteousness and hated iniquity.
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  Speaker 1: Therefore I die in exile. The outcome was a victory
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  Speaker 1: for political independence. The later fortunes of the papacy were fluctuating.
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  Speaker 1: The result of the long and bitter struggle between the
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  Speaker 1: empire and the Pope was to create an independent spirit
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  Speaker 1: north of the Alps. After Henry's triumph, the emperors were
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  Speaker 1: always disposed to assume more control and a larger independence
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  Speaker 1: of the papal authority. The charm of Rome's rule north
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  Speaker 1: of the Alps was broken forever. The ban of excommunication
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  Speaker 1: had lost much of its terror. Here in this long
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  Speaker 1: struggle between Henry of Germany and Pope Gregory the seventh
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  Speaker 1: lies the entering wedge of the Reformation. For six centuries
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  Speaker 1: there lingered in Germany a doubt of the papal authority.
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  Speaker 1: The political rulers never forgot the example of Henry. His
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  Speaker 1: capture of Rome and his disposition of Gregory were of
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  Speaker 1: great force in all the religious struggles of Germany. They
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  Speaker 1: proved a powerful example for the Saxon princes in their
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  Speaker 1: support of Luther and the Reformation. Six centuries after, Henry
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  Speaker 1: the fourth stood all night barefooted in the snow at
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  Speaker 1: Canosa before the Pope's palace, and held the stirrups when
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  Speaker 1: the august successor of Saint Peter chose to mount his horse,
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  Speaker 1: But atoned for it all by capturing Rome itself, deposing Gregory,
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  Speaker 1: and shutting him up in the castle beside the Tiber.
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  Speaker 1: End of Chapter eight