EARLY EUROPEAN HISTORY

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DECREE AGAINST LAY INVESTITURE, 1075 A.D.

Two years after Gregory became pope he issued a decree against lay
investiture. It declared that no emperor, king, duke, marquis, count, or
any other lay person should presume to grant investiture, under pain of
excommunication. This decree was a general one, applying to all states of
western Europe, but circumstances were such that it mainly affected
Germany.

HENRY IV AND GREGORY VII

Henry IV, the ruler of Germany at this time, did not refuse the papal
challenge. He wrote a famous letter to Gregory, calling him "no pope but
false monk," telling him Christ had never called him to the priesthood,
and bidding him "come down;" "come down" from St. Peter's throne. Gregory,
in reply, deposed Henry as emperor, excommunicated him, and freed his
subjects from their allegiance.

CANOSSA, 1077 A.D.

This severe sentence made a profound impression in Germany. Henry's
adherents fell away, and it seemed probable that the German nobles would
elect another ruler in his stead. Henry then decided on abject submission.
He hastened across the Alps and found the pope at the castle of Canossa,
on the northern slopes of the Apennines. It was January, and the snow lay
deep on the ground. For three days the emperor stood shivering outside the
castle gate, barefoot and clad in a coarse woolen shirt, the garb of a
penitent. At last, upon the entreaties of the Countess Matilda of Tuscany,
Gregory admitted Henry and granted absolution. It was a strange and moving
spectacle, one which well expressed the tremendous power which the Church
in the Middle Ages exercised over the minds of men.

[Illustration: HENRY IV, COUNTESS MATILDA, AND GREGORY VII
From a manuscript of the twelfth century now in the Vatican Library at
Rome.]

CONCORDAT OF WORMS, 1122 A.D.

The dramatic scene at Canossa did not end the investiture conflict. It
dragged on for half a century, being continued after Gregory's death by
the popes who succeeded him. At last in 1122 A.D. the opposing parties
agreed to what is known as the Concordat of Worms, from the old German
city where it was signed.

TERMS OF THE CONCORDAT

The concordat drew a distinction between spiritual and lay investiture.
The emperor renounced investiture by the ring and crosier--the emblems of
spiritual authority--and permitted bishops and abbots to be elected by the
clergy and confirmed in office by the pope. On the other hand the pope
recognized the emperor's right to be present at all elections and to
invest bishops and abbots by the scepter for whatever lands they held
within his domains. This reasonable compromise worked well for a time. But
it was a truce, not a peace. It did not settle the more fundamental issue,
whether the Papacy or the Holy Roman Empire should be supreme.

167. POPES AND EMPERORS, 1122-1273 A.D.

FREDERICK I, EMPEROR, 1152-1190

Thirty years after the signing of the Concordat of Worms the emperor
Frederick I, called Barbarossa from his red beard, succeeded to the
throne. Frederick, the second emperor, of the Hohenstaufen dynasty [37]
was capable, imaginative, and ambitious. He took Charlemagne and Otto the
Great as his models and aspired like them to rule Christian Europe and the
Church. His reign is the story of many attempts, ending at length in
failure, to unite all Italy into a single state under German sway.

FREDERICK AND THE PAPACY

Frederick's Italian policy brought him at once into conflict with two
powerful enemies. The popes, who feared that his success would imperil the
independence of the Papacy, opposed him at every step. The great cities of
northern Italy, which were also threatened by Frederick's soaring schemes,
united in the Lombard League to defend their freedom. The popes gave the
league their support, and in 1176 A.D. Frederick was badly beaten at the
battle of Legnano. The haughty emperor confessed himself conquered, and
sought reconciliation with the pope, Alexander III. In the presence of a
vast throng assembled before St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice, Frederick
knelt before the pope and humbly kissed his feet. Just a century had
passed since the humiliation of Henry IV at Canossa.

PONTIFICATE OF INNOCENT III, 1198-1216 A.D.

The Papacy reached the height of its power under Innocent III. The
eighteen years of his pontificate were one long effort, for the most part
successful, to make the pope the arbiter of Europe. Innocent announced the
claims of the Papacy in the most uncompromising manner. "As the moon," he
declared, "receives its light from the sun, and is inferior to the sun, so
do kings receive all their glory and dignity from the Holy See." This
meant, according to Innocent, that the pope has the right to interfere in
all secular matters and in the quarrels of rulers. "God," he continued,
"has set the Prince of the Apostles over kings and kingdoms, with a
mission to tear up, plant, destroy, scatter, and rebuild."

INNOCENT AND KING PHILIP OF FRANCE

That Innocent's claims were not idle boasts is shown by what he
accomplished. When Philip Augustus, king of France, divorced his wife and
made another marriage, Innocent declared the divorce void and ordered him
to take back his discarded queen. Philip refused, and Innocent, through
his legate, put France under an interdict. From that hour all religious
rites ceased. The church doors were barred; the church bells were silent,
the sick died unshriven, the dead lay unburied. Philip, deserted by his
retainers, was compelled to submit.

INNOCENT AND KING JOHN OF ENGLAND

On another occasion Innocent ordered John, the English king, to accept as
archbishop of Canterbury a man of his own choosing. When John declared
that he would never allow the pope's appointee to set foot on English
soil, Innocent replied by excommunicating him and laying his kingdom under
an interdict. John also had to yield and went so far as to surrender
England and Ireland to the pope, receiving them back again as fiefs, for
which he promised to pay a yearly rent. This tribute money was actually
paid, though irregularly, for about a century and a half.

FREDERICK II, EMPEROR, 1212-1250 A.D.

Innocent further exhibited his power by elevating to the imperial throne
Frederick II, grandson of Frederick Barbarossa. The young man, after
Innocent's death, proved to be a most determined opponent of the Papacy.
He passed much of his long reign in Italy, warring vainly against the
popes and the Lombard cities. Frederick died in 1250 A.D., and with him
the Holy Roman Empire really ceased to exist. [38] None of the succeeding
holders of the imperial title exercised any authority outside of Germany.

INTERREGNUM, 1254-1273 A.D.

The death of Frederick II's son in 1254 A.D. ended the Hohenstaufen
dynasty. There now ensued what is called the Interregnum, a period of
nineteen years, during which Germany was without a ruler. At length the
pope sent word to the German electors that if they did not choose an
emperor, he would himself do so. The electors then chose Rudolf of
Hapsburg [39] (1273 A.D.). Rudolf gained papal support by resigning all
claims on Italy, but recompensed himself through the conquest of Austria.
[40] Ever since this time the Hapsburg dynasty has filled the Austrian
throne.

OUTCOME OF THE CONFLICT

The conflict between popes and emperors was now ended. Its results were
momentous. Germany, so long neglected by its rightful rulers, who pursued
the will-o'-the-wisp in Italy, broke up into a mass of duchies, counties,
archbishoprics, and free cities. The map of the country at this time shows
how numerous were these small feudal states. They did not combine into a
strong government till the nineteenth century. [41] Italy likewise
remained disunited and lacked even a common monarch. The real victor was
the Papacy, which had crushed the Empire and had prevented the union of
Italy and Germany.

[Illustration: Map, GERMANY AND ITALY During the Interregnum 1254-1273
A.D.]

168. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE MEDIEVAL CHURCH

THE CHURCH AND WARFARE

Medieval society, we have now learned, owed much to the Church, both as a
teacher of religion and morals and as an agency of government. It remains
to ask what was the attitude of the Church toward the great social
problems of the Middle Ages. In regard to warfare, the prevalence of which
formed one of the worst evils of the time, the Church, in general, cast
its influence on the side of peace. It deserves credit for establishing
the Peace and the Truce of God and for many efforts to heal strife between
princes and nobles. Yet, as will be shown, the Church did not carry the
advocacy of peace so far as to condemn warfare against heretics and
infidels. Christians believed that it was a religious duty to exterminate
these enemies of God.

THE CHURCH AND CHARITY

The Church was distinguished for charitable work. The clergy received
large sums for distribution to the needy. From the doors of the
monasteries, the poor, the sick, and the infirm of every sort were never
turned away. Medieval charity, however, was very often injudicious. The
problem of removing the causes of poverty seems never to have been raised;
and the indiscriminate giving multiplied, rather than reduced, the number
of beggars.

THE CHURCH AND SLAVERY AND SERFDOM

Neither slavery nor serfdom, into which slavery gradually passed, [42] was
ever pronounced unlawful by pope or Church council. The Church condemned
slavery only when it was the servitude of a Christian in bondage to a Jew
or an infidel. Abbots, bishops, and popes possessed slaves and serfs. The
serfs of some wealthy monasteries were counted by thousands. The Church,
however, encouraged the freeing of bondmen as a meritorious act and always
preached the duty of kindness and forbearance toward them.

DEMOCRACY OF THE CHURCH

The Church also helped to promote the cause of human freedom by insisting
on the natural equality of all men in the sight of God. "The Creator,"
wrote one of the popes, "distributes his gifts without regard to social
classes. In his eyes there are neither nobles nor serfs." It was not
necessary to be of noble birth to become a bishop, a cardinal, or a pope.
Even serfs succeeded to the chair of St. Peter. Naturally enough, the
Church attracted the keenest minds of the age, a fact which largely
explains the influence exerted by the clergy.

THE CLERGY AS THE ONLY EDUCATED CLASS

The influence of the clergy in medieval Europe was also due to the fact
that they were almost the only persons of education. Few except churchmen
were able to read or write. So generally was this the case that an
offender could prove himself a clergyman, thus securing "benefit of
clergy," [43] if he showed his ability to read a single line. It is
interesting, also, to note that the word "clerk," which comes from the
Latin _clericus_, was originally limited to churchmen, since they alone
could keep accounts, write letters, and perform other secretarial duties.

IMPORTANCE OF THE CLERGY

It is clear that priests and monks had much importance quite aside from
their religious duties. They controlled the schools, wrote the books,
framed the laws, and, in general, acted as leaders and molders of public
opinion. A most conspicuous instance of the authority wielded by them is
seen in the crusades. These holy wars of Christendom against Islam must
now be considered.

STUDIES

1. Explain the following terms: abbot; prior; archbishop; parish; diocese;
regular clergy; secular clergy; friar; excommunication; simony; interdict;
sacrament; "benefit of clergy"; right of "sanctuary"; crosier; miter;
tiara; papal indulgence; bull; dispensation; tithes; and "Peter's Pence."

2. Mention some respects in which the Roman Church in the Middle Ages
differed from any religious society of the present day.

3. "Medieval Europe was a camp with a church in the background." Comment
on this statement.

4. Explain the statement that "the Church, throughout the Middle Ages, was
a government as well as an ecclesiastical organization."

5. Distinguish between the _faith_ of the Church, the _organization_ of
the Church, and the Church as a _force_ in history.

6. How did the belief in Purgatory strengthen the hold of the Church upon
men's minds?

7. Name several historic characters who have been made saints.

8. Why has the Roman Church always refused to sanction divorce?

9. Compare the social effects of excommunication with those of a modern
"boycott."

10. What reasons have led the Church to insist upon celibacy of the
clergy?

11. Name four famous monks and four famous monasteries.

12. Could monks enter the secular clergy and thus become parish priests
and bishops?

13. Mention two famous popes who had been monks.

14. What justification was found in the New Testament (_Matthew_, x 8-10)
for the organization of the orders of friars?

15. How did the Franciscans and Dominicans supplement each other's work?

16. "The monks and the friars were the militia of the Church." Comment on
this statement.

17. Who is the present Pope? When and by whom was he elected? In what city
does he reside? What is his residence called?

18. Why has the medieval Papacy been called the "ghost" of the Roman
Empire?

19. In what sense is it true that the Holy Roman Empire was "neither holy
nor Roman, nor an empire"?

FOOTNOTES

[1] Webster, _Readings in Medieval and Modern History_, chapter x,
"Monastic Life in the Twelfth Century"; chapter xi, "St. Francis and the
Franciscans."

[2] In case of necessity baptism might be performed by any lay person of
adult years and sound mind.

[3] This doctrine is known as transubstantiation. In the Roman Church, as
has been noted (page 363), wine is not administered to the laity.

[4] Hence the term "Apostolical Succession."

[5] Latin sanctus, "holy."

[6] See page 234.

[7] See page 431.

[8] See pages 407, 418.

[9] The belief in Purgatory is not held by Protestants or by members of
the Greek Church.

[10] The so-called "canon law." See page 568.

[11] See page 420.

[12] For two instances of the use of excommunication see pages 459 and
461.

[13] For two instances of this sort see page 461.

[14] Latin _saeculum_, used in the sense of "the world."

[15] Latin _regula_, a "rule", referring to the rule or constitution of a
monastic order.

[16] See page 343.

[17] The tithe was a tenth part of the yearly income from land, stock, and
personal industry.

[18] See illustration, page 447.

[19] Latin _cathedra_.

[20] For the architecture of a medieval cathedral see pages 562-565.

[21] See page 474.

[22] See page 352.

[23] Latin _frater_, "brother."

[24] Latin _mendicare_, "to beg."

[25] In England the Franciscans, from the color of their robes, were
called Gray Friars, the Dominicans, Black Friars.

[26] Latin _papa_, "father."

[27] See the illustration, page 348.

[28] So called from the lead seal (Latin _bulla_) attached to papal
documents.

[29] Latin _legatus_, "deputy."

[30] Latin _cardinalus_, "principal."

[31] See page 311.

[32] See the plate facing page 591.

[33] See page 317.

[34] See page 418.

[35] A name derived from Simon Magus, who offered money to the Apostle
Peter for the power to confer the Holy Spirit. See _Acts_, viii, 18-20.

[36] The so-called _Dictatus papae_.

[37] The name of this German family comes from that of their castle in
southwestern Swabia.

[38] It survived in name until 1806 A.D., when the Austrian ruler, Francis
II, laid down the imperial crown and the venerable title of "Holy Roman
Emperor."

[39] Hapsburg as the name of a castle in northern Switzerland.

[40] See page 522.

[41] The modern German Empire dates from 1871 A.D.

[42] See pages 436-437.

[43] See page 444.

CHAPTER XX

THE OCCIDENT AGAINST THE ORIENT; THE CRUSADES, 1095-1291 A.D. [1]

169. CAUSES OF THE CRUSADES

PLACE OF THE CRUSADES IN HISTORY

The series of military expeditions, undertaken by the Christians of Europe
for the purpose of recovering the Holy Land from the Moslems, have
received the name of crusades. In their widest aspect the crusades may be
regarded as a renewal of the age-long contest between East and West, in
which the struggle of Greeks and Persians and of Romans and Carthaginians
formed the earlier episodes. The contest assumed a new character when
Europe had become Christian and Asia Mohammedan. It was not only two
contrasting types of civilization but also two rival world religions which
in the eighth century faced each other under the walls of Constantinople
and on the battlefield of Tours. Now, during the twelfth and thirteenth
centuries, they were to meet again.

NUMBER OF THE CRUSADES

Seven or eight chief crusades are usually enumerated. To number them,
however, obscures the fact that for nearly two hundred years Europe and
Asia were engaged in almost constant warfare. Throughout this period there
was a continuous movement of crusaders to and from the Moslem possessions
in Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt.

PILGRIMAGES TO THE HOLY LAND

The crusades were first and foremost a spiritual enterprise. They sprang
from the pilgrimages which Christians had long been accustomed to make to
the scenes of Christ's life on earth. Men considered it a wonderful
privilege to see the cave in which He was born, to kiss the spot where He
died, and to kneel in prayer at His tomb. The eleventh century saw an
increased zeal for pilgrimages, and from this time travelers to the Holy
Land were very numerous. For greater security they often joined themselves
in companies and marched under arms. It needed little to transform such
pilgrims into crusaders.

[Illustration: COMBAT BETWEEN CRUSADERS AND MOSLEMS
A picture in an eleventh-century window, formerly in the church of St.
Denis, near Paris.]

ABUSE OF PILGRIMS BY THE TURKS

The Arab conquest of the Holy Land had not interrupted the stream of
pilgrims, for the early caliphs were more tolerant of unbelievers than
Christian emperors of heretics. But after the coming of the Seljuk Turks
into the East, pilgrimages became more difficult and dangerous. The Turks
were a ruder people than the Arabs whom they displaced, and in their
fanatic zeal for Islam were not inclined to treat the Christians with
consideration. Many tales floated back to Europe of the outrages committed
on the pilgrims and on the sacred shrines venerated by all Christendom.
Such stories, which lost nothing in the telling, aroused a storm of
indignation throughout Europe and awakened the desire to rescue the Holy
Land from the grasp of the "infidel."

THE CRUSADES AND THE UPPER CLASSES

But the crusades were not simply an expression of the simple faith of the
Middle Ages. Something more than religious enthusiasm sent an unending
procession of crusaders along the highways of Europe and over the
trackless wastes of Asia Minor to Jerusalem. The crusades, in fact,
appealed strongly to the warlike instincts of the feudal nobles. They saw
in an expedition against the East an unequaled opportunity for acquiring
fame, riches, lands, and power. The Normans were especially stirred by the
prospect of adventure and plunder which the crusading movement opened up.
By the end of the eleventh century they had established themselves in
southern Italy and Sicily, from which they now looked across the
Mediterranean for further lands to conquer. [2] Norman knights formed a
very large element in several of the crusaders' armies.

THE LOWER CLASSES AND THE CRUSADES

The crusades also attracted the lower classes. So great was the misery of
the common people in medieval Europe that for them it seemed not a
hardship, but rather a relief, to leave their homes in order to better
themselves abroad. Famine and pestilence, poverty and oppression, drove
them to emigrate hopefully to the golden East.

PRIVILEGES OF CRUSADERS

The Church, in order to foster the crusades, promised both religious and
secular benefits to those who took part in them. A warrior of the Cross
was to enjoy forgiveness of all his past sins. If he died fighting for the
faith, he was assured of an immediate entrance to the joys of Paradise.
The Church also freed him from paying interest on his debts and threatened
with excommunication anyone who molested his wife, his children, or his
property.

170. FIRST CRUSADE, 1095-1099 A.D.

OCCASION OF THE FIRST CRUSADE

The signal for the First Crusade was given by the conquests of the Seljuk
Turks. [3] These barbarians, at first the mercenaries and then the masters
of the Abbasid caliphs, infused fresh energy into Islam. They began a new
era of Mohammedan expansion by winning almost the whole of Asia Minor from
the Roman Empire in the East. One of their leaders established himself at
Nicaea, the scene of the first Church Council, [4] and founded the
sultanate of Rum (Rome).

APPEAL OF EMPEROR TO POPE

The presence of the Turks so close to Constantinople was a standing menace
to all Europe. The able emperor, Alexius I, on succeeding to the throne
toward the close of the eleventh century, took steps to expel the
invaders. He could not draw on the hardy tribes of Asia Minor for the
soldiers he needed, but with reinforcements from the West he hoped to
recover the lost provinces of the empire. Accordingly, in 1095 A.D.,
Alexius sent an embassy to Pope Urban II, the successor of Gregory VII,
requesting aid. The fact that the emperor appealed to the pope, rather
than to any king, shows what a high place the Papacy then held in the
affairs of Europe.

COUNCIL OF CLERMONT, 1095 A.D.

To the appeal of Alexius, Urban lent a willing ear. He summoned a great
council of clergy and nobles to meet at Clermont in France. Here, in an
address which, measured by its results, was the most momentous recorded in
history, Pope Urban preached the First Crusade. He said little about the
dangers which threatened the Roman Empire in the East from the Turks, but
dwelt chiefly on the wretched condition of the Holy Land, with its
churches polluted by unbelievers and its Christian inhabitants tortured
and enslaved. Then, turning to the proud knights who stood by, Urban
called upon them to abandon their wicked practice of private warfare and
take up arms, instead, against the infidel. "Christ Himself," he cried,
"will be your leader, when, like the Israelites of old, you fight for
Jerusalem.... Start upon the way to the Holy Sepulcher; wrench the land
from the accursed race, and subdue it yourselves. Thus shall you spoil
your foes of their wealth and return home victorious, or, purpled with
your own blood, receive an everlasting reward."

"GOD WILLS IT!"

Urban's trumpet call to action met an instant response. From the assembled
host there went up, as it were, a single shout: "God wills it! God wills
it!" "It is, in truth, His will," answered Urban, "and let these words be
your war cry when you unsheath your swords against the enemy." Then man
after man pressed forward to receive the badge of a crusader, a cross of
red cloth. [5] It was to be worn on the breast, when the crusader went
forth, and on the back, when he returned.

PRELUDE TO THE FIRST CRUSADE

The months which followed the Council of Clermont were marked by an
epidemic of religious excitement in western Europe. Popular preachers
everywhere took up the cry "God wills it!" and urged their hearers to
start for Jerusalem. A monk named Peter the Hermit aroused large parts of
France with his passionate eloquence, as he rode from town to town,
carrying a huge cross before him and preaching to vast crowds. Without
waiting for the main body of nobles, which was to assemble at
Constantinople in the summer of 1096 A.D., a horde of poor men, women, and
children set out, unorganized and almost unarmed, on the road to the Holy
Land. One of these crusading bands, led by Peter the Hermit, managed to
reach Constantinople, after suffering terrible hardships. The emperor
Alexius sent his ragged allies as quickly as possible to Asia Minor, where
most of them were slaughtered by the Turks.

THE MAIN CRUSADE

Meanwhile real armies were gathering in the West. Recruits came in greater
numbers from France than from any other country, a circumstance which
resulted in the crusaders being generally called "Franks" by their Moslem
foes. They had no single commander, but each contingent set out for
Constantinople by its own route and at its own time. [6]

LEADERS OF THE CRUSADE

The crusaders included among their leaders some of the most distinguished
representatives of European knighthood. Count Raymond of Toulouse headed a
band of volunteers from Provence in southern France. Godfrey of Bouillon
and his brother Baldwin commanded a force of French and Germans from the
Rhinelands. Normandy sent Robert, William the Conqueror's eldest son. The
Normans from Italy and Sicily were led by Bohemond, a son of Robert
Guiscard, [7] and his nephew Tancred.

THE CRUSADERS IN ASIA MINOR AND SYRIA

Though the crusaders probably did not number more than fifty thousand
fighting men, the disunion which prevailed among the Turks favored the
success of their enterprise. With some assistance from the eastern emperor
they captured Nicaea, overran Asia Minor, and at length reached Antioch,
the key to northern Syria. The city fell after a siege of seven months,
but the crusaders were scarcely within the walls before they found
themselves besieged by a large Turkish army. The crusaders were now in a
desperate plight: famine wasted their ranks; many soldiers deserted; and
Alexius disappointed all hope of rescue. But the news of the discovery in
an Antioch church of the Holy Lance which had pierced the Savior's side
restored their drooping spirits. The whole army issued forth from the
city, bearing the relic as a standard, and drove the Turks in headlong
flight. This victory opened the road to Jerusalem.