780 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1040-1294.
We stand amazed at the vastness of such claims, but there can be no doubt that they were sincerely believed by popes who asserted them and by theologians and people. The supremacy of the Roman pontiff in the Church and over the State was a fixed conviction. The passage, Render unto Ciesar the things that are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's, quoted to-day for the separation of the two realms, was quoted then but with another interpretation. The Church was defined, as it had been denned by Augus tine, as the university of believers by Hugo of St. Victor,1 — universitas fidelium, — or as the congregation of the faithful confessing Christ and the arsenal of the sacraments by Alanus de Insulis.2 But the idea of the individual liberty of the Christian and his immediate responsibility to Christ, as revealed through the -New Testament, had no hold. As a temporary expedient, the fiction of papal sovereignty had some advantage in binding together the disturbed and warring parts of European society. The dread of the decisions of the supreme pontiff held wild and lawless temporal rulers in check. But the theory, as a principle of divine appointment and permanent application, is untenable and pernicious. The states of Europe have long since outgrown it and the Protes tant communions of Christendom can never be expected to yield obedience to one who claims to be the vicar of Christ, how ever willing they may be to show respect to any Roman bishop who exhibits the spirit of Christ as they did to Leo XIII.
§ 124. The Pope and the Curia.
LITERATURE: For the election of a pope. — The text of the laws of Nicolas II. and Gregory X. is given in MIRBT : Quellen, 57 sqq., 146, Friedberg's ed. of Gratian, I. 78 sq. — W. C. CARTWRIGHT : The Papal Con clave, Edinb., 18(38. — ZOPFFEL : D. Papstwahlen etc. vom 11-15. Jahrh., Gotting., 1871. — T. A. TROLLOPE : The Papal Conclaves as they were and as they are, Lond., 1876. — L. LECTOR: Le conclave, etc., Paris, 1894. — HEFELE-KNOPFLER, IV. 800-820; VI. 146 sqq. — SCHWANE: Dogmengesch.,pp. 522-589. — FRIEDBERG : Kirchenrecht, pp. 165 sqq. — HERGENROTHER : Kirchenrecht, pp. 267-302. — Artt. Papstwahl., in Herzog, XI. 213-217, by HINSCHIUS and WETZER-WELTE, IX. 1442-1461.
For the financial policy of the curia. — B. P. WOKER : D. kirchl. Finanz-
1 De sacr., II. 1, 2, Migne, 176. 141, etc. 2 Migne, 210. 613.
§ 124. THE POPE AND THE CURIA. 781
wesen d. Papste, Nordl., 1878. — FABRE : Le libre censuum de Veglisc Bomaine, Paris, 1892. — *M. TANGL : D. Taxenwesen der pdpstl. Kanzlei vom 13. bis zur Mitte des 15. Jahrh., Innsbr., 1892. — *J. P. KIRSCH : Die Finanzverwaltung des Kardinalkollegiums im XIII. und XIV. Jahrh., Minister, 1895. — *P. M. BAUMGARTEN : Untersuchungen und Urkunden uber die Camera Collegii Cardinalium, 1295-1437, Leip., 1898. — *A. GOTTLOB : D. pcipstl. Kreuzzugssteuern des 13. Jahrh., Heiligens., 1892; *D. Servitientaxe. im 13. Jahrh., Stuttg., 1903. — *0. JEN SEN: D. englische Peter spfenniy, Heidelb., 1903. — HALLER: Papsttum u. Kirchenreform, Berlin, 1903. — HURTER: Inn. III., IV. 151 sqq. — For add'l lit. bearing on the financial policy of the popes, especially in the 14th century, see Part II. of this vol. under John XXII.
The curia is the designation given to the cardinals and minor officials of the papal household. Its importance increased greatly in this period through the centralization of authority in Rome. The pope was forced to employ an army of notaries, advocates, procurators, and other officials to share with him the burdens of the vast amount of business brought to his attention.
In a restricted sense, the word " curia " is applied to the college of cardinals. This body came to sustain to the pope a relation similar to the relation sustained by the chapter to the bishop and a cabinet to a prince. At the (ecumenical councils of Lyons, 1245 and 1274, its members were given precedence over all other ecclesiastical dignitaries.
The legislation fixing the mode of choosing the pope origi nated in this period with Nicolas II., speaking through the council of Rome 1059, and Gregory X., speaking through the second council of Lyons, 1274. From the ninth cen tury, the emperor had claimed the right to confirm or veto papal elections, a right set aside under the influence of Gregory VII. The law of Nicolas, conforming to Gregory's views, confined the right of election to the cardinals, and this became their primary function. It marks an impor tant step in the complete independence of the papacy, though it was not strictly enforced till after its confirmation by Alexander III. at the Third Lateran, 1179. A majority of two-thirds of the cardinals was made necessary for an elec tion. An important provision made papal elections con ducted outside the city of Rome valid.