changes which distinguish any age are thus too commonly ascribed to the passion or principle which may have predominated at the time. But in the present case, when we reflect that during the eleventh century-before the commencement of the crusades-the human mind had already revived and entered upon its certain career of improvement, we may indeed wonder that its progress was so slow, and its exertions so barren, during the two which followed; but it would be preposterous to attribute the few advantages, which may really have been introduced, to a cause which was in itself decidedly hostile to every moral melioration.

For, since knowledge is the only sure instrument for the elevation of man, can we imagine a condition of society more fatal to its progress than that which was regulated by the co-operation of superstitious zeal with military turbulence?-wherein two principles, separately so fruitful of mischief and misery, were leagued together against the virtue and happiness of mankind? What need we to pursue the inevitable consequences? War assumed a more frightful character by the impulse of fanaticism; and the ordinary barbarities of European strife were multiplied in the conflicts of the East. This necessarily grew out of the very nature of the contest. When the authority of Heaven is pleaded for the infliction of punishment, it creates an implacable and remorseless spirit; since it supersedes, by a stern necessity, all ordinary motives, and stifles the natural pleadings of humanity. The crusaders exclaimed, 'It is the will of God!' and in that fancied behest the fiercest brutalities, which the world had ever beheld, sought, not palliation, but honour, and the crown of eternal reward.

The spirit of religious persecution appears to have borrowed the peculiar features, which afterwards distinguished it, from the practice, and even from the principles, of the crusades. To destroy the votaries of a different faith was esteemed an act of religion; and that, too, not so much because they were dangerous, as because they differed. The principle, which was originally intended against Mahometans only, took root generally. The rude understandings of a superstitious race were perplexed. One sort of difference might be as offensive to Heaven as another. The word heresy was not less diligently and deeply stigmatized in the tablets of the church, than infidelity. To the Pope, the infallible interpreter of the spiritual oracles, the former was at least as formidable and as hateful as the latter. And thus the weapon which had been applied with so much praise of piety to chastise the one, might be turned, with the same salutary efficacy, to the extirpation of the other. Through such an inference, which then appeared not unreasonable, urged by the authority of a powerful pontiff, the practice of religious massacre was introduced into the church of Christ; and when the ministers of bigotry had once revelled in blood, they were not soon or easily compelled to relinquish the cup. Among the many evil consequences of the crusades, we may account this, perhaps, as the worst, that they put arms into the hands of intolerance, and finally kindled in the bosom of Europe the same fanatical passions, with which they had desolated the East.

We more particularly mean the practice of assaulting whole sects and districts of heretics, as such, by authorized military force. The religious wars between the Catholics and the Arians were of a very different character from those between the Church and the Albigeois, &c.; and from the Arian Controversy to the time of the Crusades, persecution, in the West, had never the opportunity, whether it had the will or not, of destroying by wholesale. The existence of the heresy of the Vaudois during that period, though not improbable, is not historically certain,

It we are to believe the contemporary historians, the heroes of the cross were remarkable for their contempt of every moral principle; and the cities of Palestine were peculiarly polluted by the prevalence of vice. If those who resorted to the birth-place of their religion were not touched even on that holy spot by its plainest precepts-if the women were involved with the men, the priest with the warrior, in equal and indiscriminate profligacy-there can be no doubt in which direction the moral system of Europe was influenced by the crusades; nor can we suppose that the habits acquired in Syria were forgotten or abjured by the returning pilgrim. Ecclesiastical writers are equally loud in their complaints, respecting the

corruption sustained through the same means by the disThe Plenary cipline of the church. The final cessation of canonical Indulgence. penance is ascribed to the introduction of the plenary indulgence. In uncivilized ages, the moderate use of the spiritual authority was unquestionably attended with advantage. The practice of prayer, of fasting, of alms-giving, under the superintendence of a pious confessor, was salutary to the offending individual and useful to society. It taught humiliation to the proud spirit; it taught the exercise of charity; and it may often have produced the genuine fruits of repentance. It is true that, in early times, some discretion had commonly been entrusted to the bishop, to mitigate and even, within certain limits, to commute the ordinary penalties; and it was not later than the eighth century, that even pilgrimages to certain specified places were substituted for the appointed penance. But before the times of the Crusades there was no mention of plenary indulgence. It had not hitherto been held out to the sinner that, by a single act, he might be discharged from all the temporal penalties imposed on him by the Divine Justice. This was an innovation exceeding the boldness of all former changes, and suited to the extraordinary occasion which called for it. But it is properly observed, that those who introduced it had forgotten the legitimate object of canonical penance; that it was enjoined to the sinner, not so much for his chastisement, as for the discipline and purification* of his soul. But what, after all, were the religious duties or merits, which took the place of the original system, and through which this full indulgence was acquired? To wear those arms, of which it had been penance indeed to be deprived; to turn them against a foreign, instead of a domestic foe; to engage in a mighty and soul-inspiring enterprise, instead of contesting the boundaries of a manor, or the fosse of a fortress. Such were the previous habits of the crusaders; and a system, which offered pardon on such easy terms, must have acted with many as a positive encouragement to sin.

As the process of canonical penance was commuted for the plenary indulgence, so was the indulgence itself directly and unreservedly † commuted for money. On the consequences of this second corruption we shall not further dwell, than to mention it among the causes which finally operated to quench the crusading ardour. So soon as absolutions were made matters of open traffic, the motive became too manifest; and thus

* Such was the original design of penance; but it is also true, that the idea of expia. tion, or an atonement for sin by suffering, very soon entered into the consideration, and very commonly took place of the first motive. That idea is at variance with the first principles of Christianity; and so far as it was prevalent, the penitential system was founded on a false principle, and its abolition can be no matter of regret to any true Christian.

Penances, as we have mentioned, had been previously commuted, and commuted for money too, when they were commuted for alms: only, that which had hitherto been sparingly and decently and indirectly practised, grew into an avowed, authorized, habitual abuse.

at length the preachers of crusades attracted so few listeners, that it became necessary to promise temporary indulgences-of days or even years -to any who would consent to attend their sermons *.

The evil did not expire with its occasion; and after the Crusades were at an end, the popes discovered for it a new, an easier, and perhaps a more profitable object. By the institution of the Jubilee (in the year 1300), the place of pilgrimage was skilfully changed from Jerusalem to Rome; and the Tombs of the Apostles supplied, in the popular infatuation, the Cross and the Sepulchre of the Saviour. A consoling compensation was thus made both to the avarice of the Vatican and the superstition of the people; and the indulgence was not abandoned, nor its venality at all restrained, until the insulted sense and piety of mankind at length revolted against the enormous abuse.

If, then, we are obliged to admit that the effects of the Crusades were generally pernicious; if it is true that they caused an useless waste of human life, that they increased the ferocity of war, that they gave a deadlier form to religious persecution, that they depressed the level of morality, that they introduced into the discipline of the church its mortal corruption,their good effects will be found insignificant in the comparison, even though we should account among them the aggrandizement of the sacred order; for one of their effects certainly was the immediate increase of the ecclesiastical revenues. The property of the crusaders was commonly placed, during the expedition, under the bishop's protection; and in case of his death, it often fell, without supposing any direct fraud, into the possession of the church. Again, though there were wanting neither priests nor monks who assumed the cross in person, yet the number of those was by no means proportionate to the wealth and multitude of the holy community; so that they suffered less severely than any other class the immediate evils of the conflict. But the tax which was imposed on them by Innocent did in effect much more than counterbalance those temporary gains; and even in the most sordid calculation of the sacerdotal interests, we may safely pronounce that they did not permanently profit by that commotion, which overthrew for a season the general welfare of society.

NOTE (A) ON PAPAL DECRETALS.

In the first ages of Christianity the letters written by the leading Fathers of the Church for the regulation of doctrine and discipline were called Decretals (Epistolæ Decretales). As the authority of the bishop of Rome gradually rose above that of other bishops and patriarchs, he also claimed an especial deference for his epistles; and in a synod held at Rome, in 494, under Pope Gelasius, the decretals of the Roman prelate were invested with the same authority as the canons of councils.

After the time of Charlemagne, the Popes, as they felt their growing power, proceeded not only to deny the necessity

of any confirmation of their decretals, but to dis- Collection of Gratian. tinguish and exalt them, so as to supersede the

canons of the church. As they increased in weight, they multiplied in number. Gratian, a native of Chiusi in Tuscany, a monk of St. Felix of Bologna, published his celebrated collection in 1151. Many had been previously put forth, but without obtaining any public authority. But that of Gratian was more favourably received, and was made the subject

*See Fleury's Discourse on the Crusades.

of the public lectures of the canonists. It was entitled the Book of Decrees, or simply The Decretal-Decretum*, and was divided into three parts. The first of these, called The Distinction, comprised one hundred and one articles, regarding chiefly the different descriptions of laws, ecclesiastical and civil; the authority of the canons and decretals; the ceremonies of ordination; the duties of the clergy; the power of the pope. The second-The Causes-contained thirty-six sections, relating to various matters of church discipline and jurisdiction;-simony, appeals, evidence, elections, censures, testaments, sepultures, usury; of the rights of monks and abbots; of commendams, oaths, war, heresies, sorcery, &c. The third part-On the Consecration-treated of the consecration of churches; of the celebration of mass and the divine offices; of the eucharist and other sacraments; of fasts and festivals, and some other subjects. The work abounded in errors, not only as it attributed to the false decretals and other fabrications the authority of genuine compositions, but also as it falsified many of the passages cited from unsuspected monuments. Nevertheless, it was received without hesitation; and, after furnishing alone the materials of canonical learning to the schools of Europe, it became a sort of basis on which new and additional decrees and commentaries were fixed and long supported. Another collection was made by Bernardo Circa, Bishop of Faenza, in the year 1191. This work was intended as a supplement to the Decretals of Gratian, and was therefore called the Book of Extravagants, i. e. of matters not comprised in the Decretals. But as this was a private compilation, it obtained no force; and accordingly, about the year 1210, Innocent III. caused a more perfect collection to be made, and gave it the seal of public authority. This was called the Roman Collection.

As circumstances changed, and edicts increased in multitude, fresh compilations were thought necessary; and Gregory IX.† availed himself of so favourable an occasion for establishing and extending the monarchy of his see. In that, which was published under his auspices, and which affected to be modelled on the code of Justinian‡, such former constitutions, as seemed to him unsuitable to the character of his own times, were fearlessly cut away, and others inserted, on the plenitude of his own authority, which were more congenial to the age and more favourable to pontifical usurpation. As the compilation of Tribonianus had been divided into five books, so was that of Gregory. This work was immediately published throughout all the schools and universities of Europe; and as it was composed with great diligence and enforced by the highest authority, it was very generally and even eagerly received.

To this collection Boniface VIII. added, about the year 1299, an additional book, commonly known as the Sixth (Liber Sextus), and containing

*The author admitted the object and difficulty of his work, when he called it Concordia Discordantium Canonum.

It is usual to reckon five different compilations of Decretals between Gratian and Gregory IX.-that of the Bishop of Faenza, three during the pontificate of Innocent III., and a fifth containing the Letters of Honorius III.-Dupin, Bibl. Nouv., S. XII. ch. iii. and x. Raimond de Pennafort was the person to whom Gregory committed the labour of his compilation. The effect of these successive collections (as even the moderate Roman Catholic Historians avow) was to complete the overthrow of the ancient law, to establish the absolute and unbounded power of the pope, and to create an infinity of suits and processes, to be decided by the venal justice of the court of Rome. They were extensions of the principles of Gratian, as Gratian had enlarged upon those of the false Decretals, in at least two important points-in exempting the pope from the authority of the canons, and the clergy universally from every sort of lay jurisdiction. See Fleury's Seventh Discourse. The MS. of the Pandect was discovered among the ruins of Amalfi, in 1137.

all the constitutions posterior to the pontificate of Gregory IX. This too was universally acknowledged, excepting perhaps in France. It was further augmented, in the following age, by the Clementines*; and they were succeeded by the Extravagants—a name adopted, probably, from the work of the Bishop of Faenza. These were the labours of the popes of Avignon; and as the Decretum was intended to correspond with the Pandects, and the Decretals with the Code, so the Extravagants had their model in the Novella of the imperial legislator. Under these heads the different branches of pontifical jurisprudence were, for a long period, comprised †, until they were further augmented by the much more modern addition of the Institutions.

NOTE (B) ON THE UNIVERSITY OF PARIS.

The numerous public schools or academies which had previously been formed in various parts of Italy and France, at Salamanca, at Cologne, and elsewhere, assumed the form by which they were afterwards characterised during the thirteenth century. The most celebrated was that of Paris. It was adorned more than any other by the multitude, the rank, and the diligence of its students, and by the abilities and various acquirements of its professors; and since, while other academies confined their instructions to particular branches of science, that of Paris alone pretended to embrace the entire range, it was the first which took the title of University. In its origin‡, in the century preceding, it had been composed of two classes of artists, who gave instructions in the arts and philosophy; and of theologians, who delivered expositions and commentaries, some of them on the Holy Scriptures (they were afterwards called Biblici); others (denominated Sententiarii) on Peter the Lombard's Book of the Sentences. These two appear to have been the earliest Faculties; nor is mention made of any others§ in the Constitutions delivered in 1215 by the legate of Innocent III. But the other two-law and medicine-were founded immediately afterwards; and in a letter addressed by the university, in 1253, to all the prelates of the kingdom, the four faculties are boldly compared to the four rivers of the terrestrial paradise. Over each of these societies a doctor was chosen to preside, during a fixed period, by the suffrages of his colleagues, under the title of doyen, or dean.

In the first instance, the members of the academy were divided into two classes only-masters and scholars. There were no distinctions in grade or title; no previous ceremonies were necessary for advancement to any office. But the introduction of various degrees, to be conferred after certain fixed periods of study, followed very soon; and four were expressly specified-those of bachelor, licentiate, master, and doctor-in the reform by which Gregory IX. gave a permanent character to the university. While some of the Italian academies may have been more

* John XXII. published, in 1317, the Constitutions of his predecessor, Clement V. They were divided, as was the Liber Sextus, into five books, and recommended by a bull to the most eminent universities.

In this short account we have chiefly followed Giannone, Stor. di Nap., lib. xix. cap. v. s. 1. See also Dupin, Nouv. Biblioth., Siecle XII. chap. xvii.

We refer not to its antiquity,-since it boasts to have been founded by Charlemagne, and augmented by Lewis the Meek and Charles the Bald. Its completion it certainly owed to the kings of the third race, especially Lewis the Young and his son Philippe Auguste. It had some celebrity at the end of the tenth century; but before that epoch, the academy at Rheims seems to have been in greater repute.

§ Dupin, Nouv. Biblioth., Siec. XIII, chap. x. Mosheim, Cent. XIII. p. ii. chap. i.