772 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1049-1204.
descend upon Rome and remove pontiffs incompetent by rea son of youth or profligacy. On the other hand, Rome had no reputation as a centre either of piety or of letters. Convents became noted for religious warmth, and Bologna, Paris, and other localities acquired a fame for intellectual culture, but Rome's reputation was based solely upon her authority as a seat of ecclesiastical prerogative.
The sin of the popes was hierarchical pride, and yet we cannot help but be attracted by those imposing figures whose ideals of universal dominion equalled in ambition the boldest projects of the greater Roman emperors, but differed widely from theirs in the moral element which entered into them.1
In this period the loftiest claims ever made for the papacy were realized in Western p]urope. The pope was recognized as supreme in the Church over all bishops, and with some exceptions as the supreme ruler in temporal affairs. Protest there was against the application of both prerogatives, but the general sentiment of Europe supported the claims. To him belonged fulness of authority in both realms — plenitudo potestatis.
The Pope and the Church. — A favorite illustration used by Innocent III. to support the claim of supremacy in the Church was drawn from the relation the head sustains to the body. As the head contains the plenitude of the forces of the body, and has dominion over it, so Peter's successor, as the head of the Church, possesses the fulness of her pre rogatives and the right of rule over her. The pope calls others to share in the care of the Church, but in such a way that there is no loss of authority to the head.2 Innocent II., in opening the second Lateran Council, had used the same figure, and declared that no ecclesiastical dignity was lawfully held except by permission of the Roman pontiff. According
1 Ranke wrote, WeUgesch.,VIII. 410, that at "Rome the authorities put him on the Index because he did not regard the papacy as a divine institution. Nevertheless, he said, " I hold the papacy to be one of the mightiest of all institutions that have appeared in history, and one that is most worthy of in spiring us with wonder and admiration."
2 See Innocent's letter in Deer. Greg., III. 8, 5, Friedberg's ed., II. 489.
§ 123. PAPAL SUPREMACY IN CHURCH AND STATE. 773
to Gregory VII., he can depose and appoint bishops as he wills. The principle that the Apostolic see is subject to no human jurisdiction, stated by Gelasius, 493, was accepted by Bernard, though Bernard protested against the pope's mak ing his arbitrary will the law of the Church.1 The Roman church, said Lanfranc, 1072, is, as it were, the sum of all churches, and all other churches are, as it were, parts of it. The arrangement of all church matters is only authoritative when approved by Peter's successors.2
The Fourth Late ran formally pronounced the Roman Church the mother and teacher of all believers, and declared its bishop to be above the patriarchs of Constantinople, Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexandria in rank and authority. Leo IX., d. 1054, asserted this pretension against Cserularius, the patriarch of Constantinople.3 Innocent III. vindicated it by substituting a Latin patriarch for the Greek patriarch in that venerable see. The second council of Lyons, 1274, demanded that the Greeks should sign a document acknowl edging the "full primacy" of the Roman pontiff and his right to rule over the universal Church.
This theory of papal absolutism found full theological and canonical recognition from Thomas Aquinas and Gratian. Gratian declared that to disobey the pope is to disobey God.4 Thomas reasoned that, as the bishop is head of a diocese, so there must of necessity be a supreme head uniting all dio ceses and guaranteeing pure morals and teaching within the Church. The Church triumphant has one ruler, so also must the Church militant have one ruler, the pope. To the pope is committed the plenitude of power and the prelacy over the whole Church. To him belongs the right of deter mining what are matters of faith.5
1 Sedes apost. a nemine judicatur. For Bernard, see JEp., 213; de consid., III. 4. 2 See Gee and Hardy, Doc. of Engl. Oh. Hist., p. 53.
8 See Schwane, p. 531.
4 Causa, XXV. 1, 11, Friedberg's ed., I. 1009. Anathema apud deum, qui censuram Horn, pontificum violat.
8 Christi vicarius in totam eccles. univ. prcelationem obtinet. . . • Pontificem pertinet quce fidei sunt determinare. C. errores Grcec., II. 32, 36. Also Th. Aq., Summa, II. 2, q. I. 10.