the edict for the immediate consecration of the pope were not that the exarch's ratification should be sufficient, without the necessity of referring the matter to Constantinople.h The political influence of the popes increased in proportion as the emperors were obliged by the progress of the Saracens to concentrate their strength for the defence of their eastern dominions, and to devolve on the bishops of Rome the care of guarding against the Lombards. The popes now possessed some fortresses of their own, and from time to time they repaired the walls of Rome. The Italians came to regard them more than the sovereigns of Constantinople; and such incidents as the rising of the soldiery against the attempt to carry off Sergius, a similar rising in the pontificate of John VI., and the refusal of the Romans to recognise the authority of Philippicus, are significant tokens of the which the bishops of Rome had acquired in their own city.m power The desolation of the churches of Palestine by the Saracens, and the withdrawal of the patriarchs from Antioch and Jerusalem to the enjoyment of a titular dignity within the empire, furnished the popes with a pretext for a new interference in the affairs of the east. A bishop of Joppa had taken it on himself, perhaps with the imperial sanction, to fill up some vacant sees. In opposition to him, Theodore of Rome commissioned Stephen bishop of Dor (whose name has occurred in the history of the Monothelite controversy)" to act as his vicar in the Holy Land. The execution of the commission was resisted by the influence of the patriarchs of Alexandria and Antioch; but similar delegations were afterwards given by other popes, although it does not appear with what effect." The differences between the popes and the court encouraged the archbishops of Ravenna to set up pretensions to independence, which they rested on the eastern principle that the civil importance of their city entitled it to such ecclesiastical dignity." The claim caused considerable difficulty to the popes, but was at length set at rest, in 683, by Leo II., who obtained an imperial order that the archbishops should repair to Rome for consecration. The schism of Istria, which had arisen out of the controversy on the Three Articles in the middle of the sixth century,' was, after many temporary accommodations, finally healed by Sergius in 698.* But in the Lombard kingdom, although Catholicism was established from the reign of Grimoald (A.D. 662-671), the church still remained independent of Rome, and the entire relations of the Lombards with the papacy were not of any cordial or satisfactory kind. X II. The history of the Spanish Church for a century after its abjuration of Arianism consists chiefly in the records of its synods. These assemblies did not confine themselves to the matters of ecclesiastical regulation, but also took an active concern in the affairs of state." As the sovereignty was elective, the voice of the bishops was influential in the choice of kings; and the kings, who, from the time of Recared, were solemnly crowned by the chief pastors of the church, were naturally desirous to fortify their throne by the support of the clergy. Hence the bishops acquired very great political importance: they were charged with the oversight, not only of the administration of justice, but of the collection of taxes. By this relation between the ecclesiastical and the secular powers, the Church became nationalised, and the connexion with Rome, in which the Catholic bishops had at first found a means of influence and strength, was gradually weakened during the lapse of time from the period of the reconciliation." Gregory had bestowed the pall on his friend Leander, bishop of Seville, but no record is found of its arrival in Spain; later bishops of Seville do not appear to have applied for it; and the primacy of Spain was transferred by the royal authority from that city to the capital, Toledo.c b a The most eminent men of the Spanish Church during this time were Isidore, bishop of Seville (Hispalensis), and Ildefonso, bishop of Toledo. Isidore, the brother and successor of Leander, held his see from 595 to 636, and was a voluminous writer. His works, which are very miscellaneous in character, are little more than compilations, and are valuable chiefly for the fragments of earlier writings which are preserved in them. But his learning and genius were in his own day admired as extraordinary, and his fame afterwards became such that in the ninth century his name was employed to bespeak credit for the great forgery of the Decretals. Ildefonso, who filled the see of Toledo in the middle of the seventh century, distinguished himself in asserting the perpetual virginity of the Saviour's mother. His exertions are said to have been rewarded by her appearing in splendour over the altar of his cathedral, and presenting him with a magnificent vestment, to be worn at the celebration of the Eucharist on her festivals.e A.D. 701 10. g In the first years of the eighth century, king Witiza forbade appeals to Rome, authorised the marriage of the clergy, and obtained for his measures the sanction of a synod held at Toledo in 701; and it is said that he threatened such of the clergy as should oppose these measures with death. This prince is described as a prodigy of impiety, tyranny, and vice; but it has been shown that the darkness of his reputation appears more strongly in later writers than in those who lived near his own time; and it has been conjectured that he may have only meant to prevent the recurrence of complaints against the immorality of the clergy by reviving the liberty of marriage, which had always existed during the Arian period of the Spanish Church. But, whatever may have been his motives or the details of his acts, the effects of these were soon brought to an end by the Arab conquest of Spain, which dethroned his successor Roderick. The mountaineers of the north alone retained their independence with their Christianity. The Christians who fell under the Mahometan dominion received the same humiliating toleration in Spain as elsewhere; and in their depressed condition they were glad once more to look for countenance to the see of Rome. A.D. 710-1. III. In France the disorders of the time tended to lessen the connexion of the Church with Rome. Such differences as arose were necessarily decided on the spot; and there is hardly any trace of intercourse with the papal see between the pontificates of d Mariana, iv. 209. See the collection of testimonies in his honour, Patrol. lxxxi. 198-205; lxxxii. 65-70. For the pseudo-Isidorian Decretals, see below, Book IV. c. i. s. 4. Cyrila, Vita Ildef. 7 (Patrol. xcvi.); Mariana, iv. 233-42. Mariana, iv. 305-6; Baron. 702. 12; Planck, ii. 703. The synod is doubtful. (Schröckh, xix. 463.) Hefele takes no notice of the law as to marriage ascribed to it. iii. 326. Mariana, iv. 308; Baron. 701. 11-2. h See Giesel. I. ii. 495. i Ib. 497. The vulgar story represents him as having sanctioned a Mahometan license as to the marriage both of clergy and of laity. Pseudo-Liutprand, Chron. 174, 181.(Patrol. cxxxvi.) k Isid. Pacens. Chron. Er. 749 (Patrol. xcvi.); Pagi, xii. 229; Gibbon, v. 155-7. m the first and the second Gregories. The same troubles which led to this effect caused a general decay of discipline both among the clergy and in the monasteries." When men of the conquering race began to seek after the emoluments and dignities of the Church-a change which is marked by the substitution of Teutonic for Roman names in lists of bishops from the seventh century they brought much of their rudeness with them, and canons against hunting and fighting prelates began to be necessary.P At the same time the wealth and temporal influence by which such persons were attracted into the ranks of the clergy were continually on the increase. Vast gifts of land and of money were bestowed by princes on churches and monasteries, sometimes from pious feeling, sometimes by way of compromise for the indulgence A.D. 628- of their vicious passions. Thus Dagobert, the last Mero638. vingian who possessed any energy of character, by the advice of St. Eligius, his master of the mint, enlarged a little chapel of St. Denys, near Paris, into a splendid monastery, furnished it with precious ornaments, the work of the pious goldsmith, and endowed it with large estates, which were partly derived from the spoil of other religious houses. This prince, "like Solomon," says Fredegar, "had three wives and a multitude of concubines;" and the chronicler seems to consider it as a question whether his liberality to the church were or were not sufficient to cover his sins. Another writer, however, not only speaks without any doubt on the subject, but professes to give conclusive information as to the fate of Dagobert. A hermit on an island in the Mediterranean, it is said, was warned in a vision to pray for the Frankish king's soul. He then saw Dagobert in chains, hurried along by a troop of fiends, who were about to cast him into a volcano, when his cries to St. Denys, St. Michael, and St. Martin, brought to his assistance three venerable and glorious persons, who drove off the devils, and, with songs of triumph, conveyed the rescued soul to Abraham's bosom." On the re-union of the monarchy under Dagobert's father, Clotaire II., the bishops were summoned to an assembly of the A.D. 614. A.D. 670. leudes, and seventy-nine of them appeared at it. The laws passed by the joint consent of the spiritual and temporal aristocracies show traces of ecclesiastical influence, not only in the increase of clerical privileges, but in the humane spirit which pervades them. From that time bishops appear mixing deeply in political strife. Saints become conspicuous objects of general interest." The severity of their lives acquires for them reverence and power, but this power is exercised in the rude contentions of the age. One of the most famous of these saints, Leodegar (or Leger), bishop of Autun, may be mentioned by way of example. Leodegar was sprung from or connected with the most powerful families of the Frankish nobility. He acquired great credit with Bathildis, the saintly Anglo-Saxon, who rose from the condition of a captive to be queen of Clovis II. and regent of Neustria, and by her he was promoted from the abbacy of St. Maixent to the see of Autun." He is celebrated for the austerity of his life, for his frequency in prayer, for. his eloquence as a preacher, for his bounty to the poor and to his church, and for his vigilant administration of his episcopal office." But he appears as the political chief of a powerful party of nobles; he takes the lead in setting up and in dethroning kings; and, if he did not actually bear the title of Mayor of the Palace, he for a time exercised the power of the mayoralty in the Neustro-Burgundian kingdom. After various turns of fortune, Leodegar fell into the hands of his rival Ebroin, who caused his eyes to be put out—an operation which he bore with perfect calmness, singing psalms during the execution of it. Two years later, by order of Ebroin, he was exposed to tortures, his lips were cut off, his tongue was cut out, and he was dragged over sharp stones with such violence, that for a time he was unable to stand. Notwithstanding the loss of his organs of speech, however, the bishop was able to speak as well as ever. His sufferings and his merits excited a general enthusiasm in his favour, and Ebroin, in alarm, resolved on his death. A great council of bishops was summoned, and Leodegar was accused before it of having been concerned in the death of Childeric II.-a prince who had owed his throne to him, but had afterwards imprisoned him in the monastery of Luxeuil, and, during Michelet, i. 364; Giesel. I. ii. 447. " Sismondi, ii. 56-8. * See the old Lives, by Ursinus and another, Patrol. xcvi.; also 'Vie de S. Léger,' by Dom Pitra, Paris, 1846; and Milman, ii. 158, seqq. y Vita Bathild. (Patrol. lxxxvii.); Ursin. 1; Pitra, 109, 244. 2 Vita Anon. 1. * Ib. 10. b Ib. 13; Pitra, 341. F |