corrupted men; the words of Pius IX. have met with the same fate from most of his contemporaries, who hurry blindfold to the abyss they will not see. 3 Dupanloup, Die Convention v. 15 Sept. und die Encyclica v. 8 Dec. 1861, ii. Th. § 5. As if,' says Tosi (Vorles. über den Syllabus Errorum, p. 4), ' mankind had to strive after two totally distinct aims; as if our supernatural destiny did not include and transform the natural elements of our development; and as if every form of life, whether of individuals or of the mass, ought not to be pervaded and purified by the spirit of Christianity.' § 22. The following is an example of the false suppositions under which this discussion is carried on: Berchtold says: We are certainly completely justified in basing our argument concerning the irreconcilable contradiction between the new Papal dogmas and the Bavarian State laws on the supposition that the Bulls 'Unam sanctam,' 'Cum ex Apostolatus,' &c., and in particular the propositions of the Syllabus are matters of faith in the new Catholic Church." But the Bull 'Cum ex Apostolatus,' as well as many others, contains no matter of faith. The Bull'Unam sanctam' has only defined one proposition to be an article of faith. The Syllabus is only a dogmatic judgment in a wide sense; moreover most of its propositions are misinterpreted, distorted, and never understood in their proper connection. Hence further arguments based on this supposition rest on a false foundation; they do not rise above the level of empty declamation, which repeats and repeats, but never proves. The Syllabus rightly understood is only a serious warning against the advancing decay and ruin of religious life and thought;2 also against the utter misconception of the object, signification, and nature of the Catholic Church, regarded nowadays as the ignorant regard without comprehending her old cathedrals and painted windows: 'Peep into the church from the market outside, And is anything else but gloom there-say? Our friend the Philistine peeps this way, And rightly enough he sniffs with pride, And sneers at the church till his dying day, But, ah-let him venture but once inside !"3-Goethe. 1 Berchtold, p. 15. Cf. p. 24 seq. Tosi, l.c.: Error is very liable to produce a spiritual miasma, a poisoned atmosphere, in which even the most healthy sicken, and the doctors themselves are at last attacked by the evil. Thus has the process of secularisation spread itself abroad; and some persons who, in consequence of their talents or position, have been chosen to represent the intelligence of the Church, have not been able entirely to divest themselves of this fatal influence. To prevent us all from falling victims to this contagion, the venerable old man who at the present time is governing the Christian community is obliged to raise his voice, in order, by the lightning of God's Word, to dispel the deceitful twilight of modern ideas. Praise and thanks be to the successor of the Apostle-princes; he has spoken the word, and put an end to the fluctuations of opinion.' ESSAY VI. FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF THE MIDDLE AGES. THE attacks of the enemies of the Church at the present day have mostly reference to her conduct in the Middle Ages, and in order thoroughly to reply to them we must closely examine the principles of those times, which differ fundamentally from the principles prevailing at the present day. How hard it is to many of our contemporaries to place themselves in the position to form a judgment on the relations of Church and State in the Middle Ages has been fully recognised and expressed by the clear-sighted John Frederick Böhmer,1 and it is also shown by a glance at the opinions on the subject prevailing amongst us. 'It is almost incredible,' writes Karl von Thaler with great truth, 'how few educated men know more of history than is taught in school-books." Only a thorough knowledge of the state of society in that day, of the principles of law and justice, and of the manner, condition, and wants of the people, taken in connection with their ever-advancing development,this knowledge alone can give us a right understanding of the immense influence gained and maintained through many hundred years by the Popes (and by Councils as well)3 over sovereigns and States, an influence which we at the present day find it hard to understand. I will endeavour to portray the leading features-(1) of the influence of the Church on social and political life; (2) of the power of the Papacy; and (3) of excommunication and its consequences in the Middle Ages. 1 J. Fred. Böhmer's Leben, Briefe und Kleinere Schriften, von J. Janssen, vol. i. p. 247 seq. Böhmer's Leben und Anshauungen, Freib. 1869, p. 278. Allgemeine Zeitung, Feb. 2, 1871. 3 Vide infra, esp. part iii. § 14 seq. PART I. INFLUENCE OF THE CHURCH ON SOCIAL AND § 1. The Church in the Germanic kingdoms. § 2. Elective and hereditary monarchies. § 3. Restriction of the royal power. § 4. The first duties of a king, those towards God. § 5. The oath of kings. § 6. Their coronation and anointing. § 7. Kinghood and knighthood. § 8. Power of the clergy, especially the bishops. § 9. State of society in that day. § 10. Close union between Church and State. § 11. Natural, divine, and positive law. § 12. Religion and freedom. § 1. With the entrance of Christianity into the world began the action of a new force, which necessarily and rightly led to new relations of national life. The kingdom of heaven thrown open by the Redeemer of the world was a grain of mustard-seed, which was to become a lofty tree; a handful of leaven which was to leaven all things (St. Matt. xiii. 31, 33; St. Luke xiii. 19, 21). No one can deny that Christianity made a change for the better in the civil, political, and social life of the Roman Empire. Its influence was, however, far greater with the German races, where there was no existing heathen civilisation to be purified, but where its work was to implant civilisation for the first time amongst a barbarous and savage people. The Church was the mediator and peacemaker between the conquered Romans and the victorious Germans; she protected the one and educated and moulded the other.5 She was the one source of culture, the one counterpoise to brute force, the one cultivated body throughout the whole human society." 1 Harless, Staat und Kirche, p. 2. * Chrys. Hom. 46 al. 47, in Matth. n. 2. * Bianchi, t. iii. c. iii. § 19, pp. 353-356. § 118, p. 13 seq. Migne, lviii. p. 178 seq. Neander, Kirchengeschichte, ii. p. 49, iii. ed. Dollinger, Lehrbuch d. Kirchengeschichte, i. § 44, p. 217. • Neander, 1.c. § 2. In most of the kingdoms raised upon the ruins of the Roman Empire in the West there was a combination of elective and hereditary monarchy, so that while the king had to be chosen from among the members of the reigning family, the choice of the nation might fall on any of the princes of the blood royal; no individual prince had by birth full and indisputable right to the throne; the right was only conferred upon him by the assembly of the nation, and especially by the chief men among them. All the sons of the late king had an equal right of succession; and either, with the consent of the nation, a division of the kingdom was made, or the assembly of those privileged to vote made choice of some member of the reigning family to be head of the State. This was the case especially in England,2 with the Visigoths in Spain,3 and with the Franks. Pipin made the Franks swear to him that they would never choose a king of any other blood, in order to give a great security to his dynasty. In the deeds of division of Diedenhofen (Feb. 8, 806), by which Charlemagne divided his kingdom between his three sons, it was stipulated that in case one of them should die leaving a son, and this son were chosen by the people as successor to his father, his uncles should acknowledge him as such.5 1 Guizot, Essais sur l'Histoire de France, essai iv. c. iii. pp. 219-223. Giesebrecht, Geschichte der Deutschen Kaiserheit, iii. dupl. i. p. 90. 2 Hallam, Europe in the Middle Ages. Lingard, History of England. Ranke, Englische Geschichte, i. pp. 14, 30 seq. 34 seq. See especially Freeman, Norman Conquest, vol. i. c. iii. 3 Hallam. Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, t. ii. p. 419. Perez Valiente, Apparat. Jur. Publ. Hispan. Matriti, 1751, t. ii. c. vi. vii. 21. Vertot, Dissert. sur la Succession à la Couronne de France (Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions, 4, t. v.). Guizot, l.c. p. 218. Cf. Greg. Turon. 1. ii. c. xii. Natal. Alex. H. E. saec. 5, P. ii. c. ult. a. 4, n. 5; saec. 7, c. vi. a. 4, n. 2; saec. 9, et 10, P. i. cap. vii. a. 4, 9. 5 Pertz, Leg. t. i. p. 140. § 3. In the Germanic kingdoms great regard was felt for the freedom and privileges of the individual,1 while the authority of the sovereign was limited by the general assembly of the nation. It was commonly the case that the nation in choosing a prince laid on him certain conditions, and could hold him answerable for his conduct.2 It was an understood condition that the king |