IV. From Gregory VII to tMe Reformation (1078- 1617).— The oppression of Christianity by the Turks called forth the crusades against the Saracens (1096- 1246), in order to deliver the Holy Land. See Cbu- SADES. Palestine was conquered and held for a short time, and several orders of Christian knights were es- tablished there for the protection of Christianity ; but towards the close of the 18th century it was recon- quered by the Saracens, by whom Christianity was barely tolerated. The oppression suffered by the Greek Church led to an attempt at a new union with the Roman, which, however, was soon given up as vm- practicable. The power of the popes reached its cU- max under Gregory VII and Innocent III, but it soon began again to decline, especially through the papal schism (1378-1414), during which two papal sees exist- ed— Rome and Avignon. The popes secured the right of the investiture of the bishops and abbots, and the exemption of the clergy, and enforced throughout the Church the celibacy (q. v.) ofthe clergy. The Bible was less and less appealed to as the rule of feith ; the fathers and tradition took its place. The pope be- came the sole legislator and judge in matters of feith. New doctrines and practices, such as auricular confes- sion, transubetantiation, and indulgences, together with new festivals (e. g. Corpus Christiy, were established. The Inquisition and the mendicant orders, especially the Franciscans and Dominicans, crushed out idl oppo- sition to the ruling Church. Public worship greatly degenerated. The Mass became its centre ; sermons became rare, and consisted mostly either in unintelli- gible scholastic lectures, or in comic invectives a^nst the follies of the times. The increasing corruption among the clergy, and still more the traffic with in- dulgences, undermined the piety of the people. At- tempts to stop the prevailing abuses were frequently made, both by individuals and by smaller and larger denominations, among which the Albigenses (q. v.), Waldenses (q. v.), and Hussites (q. v.) were promi- nent. At the request of the Church the secular gov- ernments proceeded against these sects, and crusades were preached for their extirpation. Most of them were extirpated ; but the Waldenses in Italy, the Mo-
rcnian Brethren in Germany, and the LMaris in Bag- land, survived to see and to share in the greaet Rsfo- mation of the 16th century. In (keoUigioid acacMe, Scholasticism arose, a system full of acute sabUcties, but entirely incapable of satisfying the rriigknts waats of the heart In opposition to the Scholastics (q. v.), many pious Mystics (q. v.) strove to maintain a pan Biblical Christianity, more by ignoring the antiscrip- tural doctrines of the Church than by openly rejectiiig them. In ecclesiastical architecture the Byzaadiae style was supplanted in France, England, Spam, aad especially in Germany, by the Germanic or Ciotfaic, which reached the highest stage of developDMot in the 18th and 14th centuries.
V. From the Reforwutdon until the pregesU Tine:— The controversies called forth by Wycliffie, Hon, ani other reformers of the Middle Ages, awakened in large circles the longing for a thorough reformation of the Church. The councils of Constance (q. v.) and Basie (q. V.) at first attempted to cany thrragh this relbr- mation, but they only diminished a few of the gromstt abuses, being both unable and unwilling to remedy them thorou^ly. The corruption of the Church not only continued, but certain abuses (e. g. the traffic in indulgences) became so flagrant that at the beginning of the 16th century contempt of the Church, her offi- cers, doctrines, and ordinances, became ahnoet genaal throughout Europe. When, therefore, Luther, Zwin- gle, and others raised the standard of a radical reftr- mation of the Church on the basis of the BlUe, mil- lions of Christians, especially in Germany, Switzer- land, Holland, England, Denmaik, Sweden, Pmaaia, at once rallied around it. See Reformation. Thoo^ the Reformers did not agree on all points of doctrine, they were unanimous in claiming the Bible as the mk of faith, decidedly rejecting everything which had crept into the Church in opposition to the Biblical doc- trine. The Roman Church made many nnsucceasfol attempts to suppress these reformatory movonents, and the new order of the Jesuits (q. v.), the most pow- erful and influential of all monastic institutions, was instituted for this special purpose. These attempts, which led to the war ofthe Huguenots in France, and the Thirty Years* War in Germany, were in vain. From some countries the Roman Church was entirely excluded, while in others it had at least to grant to Protestants equal rights and toleration. The Church saw itself also compelled to convoke a General Council [see TREirr], and to abolish at least a few of the gross- est abuses. A few futile efforts were made to bring about a union with the Protestants. The doctrine of the Roman Church received in the Council of Trent its final form, yet since that period several doctrinal controversies (e. g. Jansenism [q. v.] and Quietism [q. v.] in France, and the philosoi^y of Hermes [q. v.] and Gunther in Germany) have required new deci- sions of the Papal See. The Gallican Church (q. v.) in council, with Bossuct (q. v.) at its head (1682), and a number of distinguished bishops in Germany [see Fe- BRONius], Italy [see Ricci], and other countries, pro- tested against making the infallibility claimed by the popes a doctrine of the Church ;• yet, on the whole, tiie popes have been so successful in enforcing obedience to their doctrinal definitions and divisions, that in 1854 an entirely novel dogma [see Immaculatb Cokcep- tion] was proclaimed by Pope Pius IX, without the sanction of a General Council. Some princes, as Jo* seph II of Austria, Leopold of Tuscany, and otiiers, have attempted to restrict the absolute power claimed by the pope over clergy and people, mostly without success. StUl less successftil were certain attempts to establish national " Catholic"' churches independent of Rome (viz. the " French Catholic Church" in 1881, the «« German Catholics" in 1854). These movementi were not made on the ground ofthe Bible and of rs- vealed Christianity, and therefore necessarily were failures. The relation between the different states of