JOHN XXII TO URBAN V

[1Sidenote: [1316-1333 A.D.]]

2On the death of Clement, 1314, there were violent contests among the cardinals respecting the election of a successor, the French demanding a French pontiff and the Italians an Italian. After two years the French gained the victory; and in 1316, Jacques d’Euse of Cahors, cardinal of Porto, was made head of the church, and assumed the pontifical name of John XXII. He was not destitute of learning, but was crafty, insolent, weak, imprudent, and avaricious, as even those who honour his memory do not positively deny. He rendered himself notorious by many imprudent and unsuccessful enterprises, but especially by his unfortunate contest with the emperor, Ludwig of Bavaria. There was a contest for the empire of Germany between Ludwig of Bavaria and Frederick of Austria, each being chosen emperor by a part of the electors in the year 1314. John declared that the decision of this controversy belonged to him. But Ludwig, having conquered his rival in battle and taken him prisoner, in the year 1322, assumed the government of the empire, without consulting the pontiff, and refused to submit a cause which had been decided by the sword to another trial before the pontiff.

3John was greatly offended at this, and in the year 1324 divested the emperor of all title to the imperial crown. Ludwig, in return, accused the pontiff of corrupting the faith, or of heresy; and appealed to the decision of a council. Exasperated by this and other things, the pontiff, in the year 1327, again divested the emperor of all his authority and power, and laid him under excommunication. In revenge for this injury the emperor, in the year 1328, at Rome, publicly declared John unworthy of the pontificate; and substituted in his place Pietro di Corvara, a Franciscan monk, and one of those who disagreed with the pontiff; and he, assuming the name of Nicholas V, crowned Ludwig emperor. But in the year 1330, this imperial pontiff voluntarily abdicated his office, and surrendered himself into the hands of John, who kept him a prisoner at Avignon till his death. Thus John continued to reign in spite of the emperor, as did the emperor in spite of the pontiff.

4[Illustration: A PRIEST OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY]

5On the side of Ludwig stood the whole mass of the Fratricelli, the Beghards (or Beguins) of every description, and the Spirituals, or more rigid among the Franciscans; and these, being scattered over a large part of Europe, and supported by the protection of Ludwig, everywhere assailed John with reproaches and criminations, both orally and in books, and charged him with religious apostasy. The pontiff, however, was not greatly injured by these private attacks; but towards the close of his life he fell under the disapprobation and censure of nearly the whole church. For in the years 1331 and 1332, he taught in some public discourses that departed souls would indeed behold Christ, but would not see the face of God or the divine nature until their reunion with the body at the last day.

6With this doctrine, Philip VI, the king of France, was highly displeased; the theologians of Paris condemned it in 1333; and both the friends and the foes of the pontiff were opposed to it. For it appeared to them that the pontiff detracted much from the blessedness of departed spirits. To so great opposition John, though naturally pertinacious, had to give way. He therefore first apologised for the doctrine; and afterwards, when near the point of death, 1334, he did not indeed abandon it, but he qualified it by saying that he believed souls in the intermediate state saw the divine essence, as far as the state and condition of the disembodied spirit would permit. But this declaration did not satisfy his adversaries.

7Hence, after various disputes, his successor Benedict XII terminated the controversy, according to the decision of the Parisian doctors, by declaring the true faith to be that the souls of the blessed, when separate from the body, fully and perfectly behold the divine nature, or God himself. Benedict could do this without impeaching his predecessor; for John, when dying, submitted his opinion to the judgment of the church, lest, perhaps, he should after death be classed among heretics.

8[Sidenote: [1333-1362 A.D.]]

9On the death of John, 1334, new contests between the French and the Italians, respecting the choice of a pontiff, divided the college of cardinals. But near the close of the year, Jacques de Nouveau called Fournier, a Frenchman, cardinal of St. Prisca, was chosen, and assumed the name of Benedict XII. Historians allow him the praise of being an upright and honest man, no less free from avarice than from the lust of rule. During his reign the controversy with the emperor Ludwig was at rest. For although he did not restore him to church communion, being prevented, as is reported by the king of France, yet he did not attempt anything against him. He saw the existing evils in the church, and some of them, as far as he could, he removed; in particular he laboured to reform by decrees and ordinances the orders of the monks, both mendicant and opulent. But death removed him, when he was contemplating more and greater changes, in 1342. Overlook superstition, which was the common fault of his age, and we shall find nothing to prevent us from declaring this pontiff to have been a right-spirited man.

10Of a different spirit was his successor, Clement VI, who was likewise a Frenchman, named Pierre Roger, and cardinal of St. Nereus and St. Achilles. To say nothing of his other deeds, that are little to be commended, he trod in the steps of John XXII by his provisions and reservations of churches, which was evidence of a shameful avarice; further, he conferred the most important spiritual offices on foreigners and Italians, which produced controversies between him and the kings of France and England; and, lastly, he demonstrated the arrogance and pride of his heart, among other things, by renewing the war with Ludwig the Bavarian.

11For, in the year 1343, he hurled new thunders at the emperor; and finding these to be contemned by Ludwig, in the year 1346, he devoted him again to execration; and persuaded the princes of Germany to elect Charles IV, grandson of Henry VII, for their emperor. A civil war would now have broken out in Germany, had not the death of Ludwig, in 1347, prevented it. Clement followed him to the grave, in 1352, famous for nothing but his zeal for exalting the majesty of the pontiffs, and for adding Avignon, which he bought of Joanna queen of Naples, to St. Peter’s patrimony.

12[Sidenote: [1362-1378 A.D.]]

13There was more moderation and probity in Innocent VI, or Etienne d’Albert, a Frenchman, previously bishop of Ostia, who governed the church ten years, and died in 1362. He favoured his own relatives too much; but in other respects encouraged the pious and the well-informed, held the monks to their duty, abstained from reserving churches, and did many things worthy of commendation. His successor, Guillaume de Grimoard, abbot of St. Victor, at Marseilles, who assumed the name of Urban V, was also free from great faults, if we except those which are almost inseparable from the office of a pope. Overcome by the entreaties of the Romans, he removed to Rome in the year 1367, but returned again to Avignon in 1370, in order to make peace between the king of England and the king of France, and died there the same year.

14He was succeeded by Pierre Roger, a Frenchman of noble birth, under the pontifical name of Gregory XI. He was inferior to his predecessors in virtue, but exceeded them in energy and audacity. Under him great and dangerous commotions disturbed Italy and the city of Rome. The Florentines, especially, waged fierce war with the Romish church, and were successful in it. To restore the tranquillity of Italy, and recover the territories and cities taken from the patrimony of St. Peter, Gregory, in the year 1376, transferred his residence from Avignon to Rome. One Catherine, a virgin of Siena, whom that credulous age took to be a prophetess divinely inspired, came to Avignon, and by her exhortations greatly contributed to this measure. But Gregory soon after repented of his removal; for by their long absence from Italy the authority of the pontiffs was so fallen there that the Romans and the Florentines had no scruple to insult and abuse him in various ways. He therefore purposed to return to Avignon, but was prevented by death, which removed him from among living men in the year 1378.

15After the death of Gregory XI, the cardinals being assembled to provide a successor, the Roman people, fearing lest a Frenchman should be elected who would remove to Avignon, demanded, with furious clamours and threats, that an Italian should be placed at the head of the church without delay. The terrified cardinals proclaimed Bartolommeo Prignani, who was a Neapolitan by birth, and archbishop of Bari, to be elected pontiff; and he assumed the name of Urban VI. This new pontiff, by his coarse manners, his injudicious severity, and his intolerable haughtiness, alienated the minds of all from him, but especially the cardinals. These, therefore, withdrew to Fondi, a city in the kingdom of Naples, and there created another pontiff, Robert count of Geneva, who took the name of Clement VII, alleging that Urban was elected only in pretence, in order to quiet the rage of the people of Rome. Which of these was the legitimate and true pontiff still remains uncertain, nor can it be fully ascertained from the records and documents which have been published in great abundance by both parties. Urban continued at Rome; Clement removed to Avignon in France.

16Thus the unity of the Latin church, as existing under one head, came to an end at the death of Gregory XI; and that most unhappy disunion ensued, which is usually denominated “the great schism of the West.” For during fifty years the church had two or three heads; and the contemporary pontiffs assailed each other with excommunications, maledictions, and insidious measures. The calamities and distress of those times are indescribable. For besides the perpetual contentions and wars between the pontifical factions, which were ruinous to great numbers, involving them in loss of life or of property, nearly all sense of religion was in many places extinguished, and wickedness daily acquired greater impunity and boldness.

17The clergy, previously corrupt, now laid aside even the appearance of piety and godliness, while those who called themselves Christ’s vicegerents were at open war with each other; and the conscientious people, who believed that no one could be saved without living in subjection to Christ’s vicegerents, were thrown into the greatest perplexity and anxiety of mind. Yet both the church and the state received very considerable advantages from these great calamities. For the very sinews of pontifical power were cut by these dissensions, and no art could heal them any more; kings, too, and princes, who had before been in a sense the servants of the pontiffs, now became their judges and masters.

18Moreover, great numbers, possessing some measure of discernment, despising and disregarding pontiffs, fighting for dominion, committed themselves and their salvation to God alone, in full assurance that the church and religion might be safe and continue so, although without any visible head.[c]