§ 46. THE EMPIRE AND PAPACY AT PEACE. 205
the Hohenstaufen.1 The establishment of peace by Rudolf's election is celebrated by Schiller in the famous lines : 2 —
" Then was ended the long, the direful strife, That time of terror, with no imperial lord."
Rudolf was a man of decided religious temper, was not ambitious to extend his power, and became a just and safe ruler. He satisfied the claims of the papacy by granting freedom to the chapters in the choice of bishops, by promising to protect the Church in her rights, and by renouncing all claim to Sicily and the State of the Church. In a tone of moderation Gregory wrote: " It is incumbent on princes to protect the liberties and rights of the Church and not to de prive her of her temporal property. It is also the duty of the spiritual ruler to maintain kings in the full integrity of their authority."
The emperor remained on good terms with Gregory's suc cessors, Innocent V., a Frenchman, Adrian V., a Genoese, who did not live to be consecrated, and John XXI., the only priest from Portugal who has worn the tiara. Their com bined reigns lasted only eighteen months. John died from the falling of a ceiling in his palace in Viterbo.
The second Council of Lyons, known also as the Fourteenth (Ecumenical Council, was called by Gregory and opened by him with a sermon. It is famous for the attempt made to unite the Greek and Western Churches and the presence of Greek delegates, among them Germanus, formerly patriarch of Constantinople. His successor had temporarily been placed in confinement for expressing himself as opposed to ecclesiastical union. A termination of the schism seemed to be at hand. The delegates announced the Greek emperor's
1 The ancient seat of the Hapsburgs was in Aargau, Switzerland, scarcely one hundred miles away from Zollern.
2 " Dann geendigt nach langem verderblichen Streit, War die kaiserlose, die schreckliche Zeit."
— Der Graf von Hapsburg.
206 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1216-1294.
full acceptance of the Latin creed, including the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Son and the primacy of the bishop of Rome. The Apostles' Creed was sung in Greek and Latin. Papal delegates were sent to Constantinople to con summate the union; but the agreement was rejected by the Greek clergy. It is more than surmised that the Greek emperor, Michael Palrcologus, was more concerned for the permanency of the Greek occupation of Constantinople than for the ecclesiastical union of the East and the West upon which the hearts of popes had been set so long.
Other important matters before the council were the rule for electing a pope, and the reception of a delegation of Mon gols who sought to effect a union against the Mohammedans. Several members of the delegation received baptism. The decree of the Fourth Lateran, prohibiting new religious orders, was reaffirmed.
The firm and statesmanlike administration of Nicolas III. checked the ambition of Charles of Anjou, who was plotting for the Greek crown. lie was obliged to abjure the senatorship of Rome, which he had held for ten years, and to re nounce the vicariate of Tuscany. Bologna for the first time acknowledged the papal supremacy. Nicolas has been called the father of papal nepotism,1 and it is partly for his generos ity to his relatives that, before the generation had passed away, Dante put him in hell : 2 —
" To enrich my whelps, I laid my schemes aside, My wealth I've stowed, — my person here."
Again, in 1281, the tiara passed to a Frenchman, a man of humble birth, Martin IV. Charles was present at Viterbo when the election took place and was active in securing it.3
1 See the elaborate art. Nepotismus in Wetzer-Welte, IX. 109 sqq.; and Haller in Literaturzeitung, see above.
2 Inferno, XIX. 72 sqq. The term " whelps " refers to the Orsini or bear clan, to which Nicolas belonged.
3 See the art, Martin by Knopfler in Wetzer-Welte, VIII. 919 sq.