ronation was performed by his successor; the voice CHA P. of God was confounded with that of the people; LXIX. and the public consent was declared in the accla

mations of "Long life and victory to our lord the

Pope! Long life and victory to our lord the Em"peror! Long life and victory to the Roman and "Teutonic armies!" The names of Cæsar and Augustus, the laws of Constantine and Justinian, the example of Charlemagne and Otho, established the supreme dominion of the Emperors; their title and image was engraved on the Papal coins t; and their jurisdiction was marked by the sword of justice, which they delivered to the præfect of the city. But every Roman prejudice was awakened by the name, the language, and the manners, of a barbarian lord. The Cæsars of Saxony or Franconia were the chiefs of a feudal aristocracy; nor could they exercise the discipline of civil and military power, which alone secures the obedience of a distant people, impatient of servitude, though perhaps incapable of freedom. Once, and once only, in his life, each Emperor, with an army of Teutonic vassals, descended from the Alps. I have described the peaceful order of his entry and coronation; but that order was commonly disturb

Exercitui Romano ef Teutonico! The latter was both seen and felt; but the former was no more than magni nominis umbra.

+ Muratori has given the series of the Papal coins, (Antiqu'tat. tom. ii. diss. xxvii. p. 548-554.). He finds only two more early than the year 800; fifty are still extant from Leo MI. to Leo IX. with addition of the reigning Emperor; none remain of Gregory VII. or Urban II.; but in these of Paschal II. he seems to have renounced this badge of dependence.

LXIX.

CHAP ed by the clamour and sedition of the Romans, who encountered their sovereign as a foreign invader; his departure was always speedy, and often shameful; and, in the absence of a long reign, his authority was insulted, and his name was forgotten. The progress of independence in Germany and Italy undermined the foundations of the Imperial sovereignty, and the triumph of the Popes was the deliverance of Rome.

Authority of the

Rome,

from affection;

Of her two sovereigns, the Emperor had precaPopes in riously reigned by the right of conquest; but the authority of the Popes was founded on the soft, though more solid, basis of opinion and habit. The removal of a foreign influence restored and endeared the shepherd to his flock. Instead of the arbitrary or venal nomination of a German court, the vicar of Christ was freely chosen by the college of cardinals, most of whom were either natives or inhabitants of the city. The applause of the magistrates and people confirmed his election; and the ecclesiastical power that was obeyed in Sweden and Britain, had been ultimately derived from the suffrage of the Romans. The same suffrage gave a prince, as well as a pontiff, to the capital. It was universally believed, that Constantine had invested the Popes with a temporal dominion of Rome; and the boldest civilians, the most profane sceptics, were satisfied with disputing the right of the Emperor, and the validity of his gift. The truth of the fact, the authenticity of his donation, was deeply rooted in the ignorance and tradition of four centuries; and the fabulous origin was lost in the real and permanent ef

fects.

fects. The name of Dominus, or Lord, was inscribed CHA P. on the coin of the bishops; their title was acknow. LXIX. ledged by acclamations and oaths of allegiance, and, right; with the free or reluctant consent of the German Cæsars, they had long exercised a supreme or subordinate jurisdiction over the city and patrimony of St Peter. The reign of the Popes, which gratified the prejudices, was not incompatible with the liberties of Rome; and a more critical inquiry would have revealed a still nobler source of their power; the gratitude of a nation, whom they had rescued from the heresy and oppression of the Greek tyrant. In an age of superstition, it should seem that the union of the royal and sacerdotal characters would mutually fortify each other; and that the keys of paradise would be the surest pledge of earthly obedience. The sanctity of the office might indeed be degraded by the personal vices of the man; but virtue; the scandals of the tenth century were obliterated by the austere and more dangerous virtues of Gregory the Seventh and his successors; and in the ambitious contests which they maintained for the rights of the church, their sufferings or their success must equally tend to increase the popular veneration. They sometimes wandered in poverty and exile, the victims of persecution; and the apostolic zeal with which they offered themselves to martyrdom, must engage the favour and sympathy of every Catholic breast. And sometimes, thundering from the Vatican, they created, judged, and deposed the kings of the world: nor could the proudest Roman be disgraced by submitting to a priest,

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LXIX.

CHAP. priest, whose feet were kissed, and whose stirrup was held, by the successors of Charlemagne. Even the temporal interest of the city should have protected in peace and honour the residence of the Popes; from whence a vain and lazy people derived the greatest part of their subsistence and riches. benefits. The fixed revenue of the Popes was probably impaired; ; many of the old patrimonial estates, both in Italy and the provinces, had been invaded by sacrilegious hands; nor could the loss be compensated by the claim rather than the possession of the more ample gifts of Pepin and his descendants. But the Vatican and capital were nourished by the incessant and increasing swarms of pilgrims and suppliants; the pale of Christianity was enlarged, and the Pope and cardinals were overwhelmed by the judgement of ecclesiastical and secular causes. A new jurisprudence had established in the Latin church the right and practice of appeals t; and, from the North and West, the bishops and abbots were invited or summoned to solicit, to complain, to accuse, or to justify, before the threshold of

the

See Ducange, Gloss. media et fimæ Latinitat. tom. vi. P. 364, 365. STAFFA. This homage was paid by kings to archbishops, and by vassals to their lords, (Schmidt, tom. iii. p. 262.); and it was the nicest policy of Rome, to confound the marks of filial and of feudal subjection.

The appeals from all the churches to the Roman Pontiff, are deplored by the zeal of St Bernard, (de Consideratione, 1. iii. tom. ii. p. 431-442. edit. Mabilon, Venet. 1750), and the judgement of Fleury, (Discours sur l'Hist. Ecclesiastique, iv. & vii.). But the saint, who believed in the false decretals, condemns only the abuse of these appeals; the more enlightened historian investigates the origin, and rejects the principles of this new jurisprudence.

the apostles. A rare prodigy is once recorded, CHA P. that two horses, belonging to the Archbishops of Mentz and Cologne, repassed the Alps, yet laden with gold and silver*; but it was soon understood, that the success, both of the pilgrims and clients, depended much less on the justice of their cause than on the value of their offering. The wealth and piety of these strangers were ostentatiously displayed; and their expences, sacred or profane, circulated in various channels for the emolument of the Romans.

stancy of

Such powerful motives should have firmly attach. Inconed the voluntary and pious obedience of the Roman superstipeople to their spiritual and temporal father. But tion. the operation of prejudice and interest is often disturbed by the sallies of ungovernable passion. The Indian who fells the tree, that he may gather the fruit †, and the Arab who plunders the caravans of. commerce, are actuated by the same impulse of savage nature, which overlooks the future in the present, and relinquishes for momentary rapine the long and secure possession of the most important blessings. And it was thus that the shrine of St Peter was profaned by the thoughtless Romans, who pillaged the offerings, and wounded the pilgrims, without

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Germanici.... summarii non levatis sarcinis onusti nihilominus repatriant inviti. Nova res! quando hactenus aurum Roma refudit? Et nunc Romanorum consilio id usurpatum non credimus, (Bernard de Consideratione, 1. iii. c. 3. P. 437.). The first words of the passage are obscure, and probably corrupt.

+ Quand les sauvages de la Louisiane veulent ils coupent l'arbre au pied et cueillent le fruit.

avoir du fruit, Voila le gouvernement despotique, (Esprit des Loix, 1. v. c. 13.); and passion and ignorance are always despotic.