§ 4. BONIFACE VIII. AND PHILIP THE FAIR. 17
The conflict originated in questions touching the war_between France and England. To meet the expense of his armament against Edward I., Philip levied tribute upon the French clergy. 1 Thejrcarnecl their complaints to Ronie, and Bonifage jujitified their~CQJ|tPint,ion jp fhPi hull TJIp.ri/^is Jainoa^ 12<^. This document was ordered proraulged in England as well as in France. Robert of Winchelsea, archbishop of Canterbury, had it read in all the English cathedral churches. Its opening sentence impudently asserted that the laity had always been hostile to the clergy. The document went on to affirm the subjection of the state to the papal see. Jurisdiction over the persons of the priesthood and the goods of the Church in no wise belongs to the temporal power. The Church may make gratuitous gifts to the state, but all taxation of Church prop,erty wHhout the jpope's consent is to be resisted with excoijjmunication or interdicL
Imposts upon the Church for special emergencies had been a subject of legislation at the third and fourth Lateran Councils. In 1260 Alexander IV. exempted the clergy from special taxation, and in 1291 Nicolas IV. warned the king of France against using for his own schemes the tenth levied for a crusade. Honrfgne harl prp.nedpnt ^nongh f-^r hiR nt-tfran'^^^s But his bull was promptly^jnetJjyJPhilip with .an act of reprisal prohibiting the export of silver and gold, horses, arms, and other articles from his realm, and forbidding foreigners to reside in France^ This shrewd measure cut off French contributions to the papal treasury and cleared France of the ^'ope"'s emissaries. B,Qnif ace was forced to reconsid^ his position, and in conciliatory letters, addressed to the king and the French prelates, pronounced the interpretation put upon his deliverance unjust. Its purpose was not to deny feudal and freewill offerings from the Church. In cases of emergency, the pope would also be ready to grant special subsidies. The document was so offensive that the French bishops begged the pope to recall it altogether, a request he set aside. But to appease Philip, Boniface issued another^ bull, July 22, 1297, according thereafter tO-French kings, who had reached the age of 20, the right to judge whether a tribute from the clergy was
18 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 12'J4-lol7.
a case of necessity or not. A jnonth later he canonized Loms I'X., a further act of conciliation .
Boniface also offered toj,ct as umpire between France and. 1^1 w^land jn his personal capacity^asJ3enedict Gaetanu^s. The offer was accepted, but the decision was not agreeable to tlie French sovereign. The pope expressed a desire to visit Philip, but again gave offence by asking Philip for a loan of 100,000 pounds for Philip's brother, Charles of Valois, whom Boniface had invested with the command of the papal forces.
In 1301 the flame of controversy was again started by a documeiit, written probably by the French advocate, Pierre Dubois,^ which showed the direction in which Philip's mind was working, for it could hardly have appeared without his assent. The writer summoned the king to extend his dominions to the walls of Rome andjjeyond, and denied the pope's right to secular power. The pontiff's business is confined to the forgiving of sins, prayer, and preaching. Pliilip continued to lay his hand without^^ruple on Church property; Lyons, which had been claimed by the empire, he demanded as a part of France. Appeals against his arbitrary acts went to Rome, and the pope sent Bernard of Saisset, bisliop of Pamiers,Jii> Paris, with commission to summon the French king to apply the clerical tithe for its appointed purpose, a crusade, and for nothing else. Philip showed his resentment by having the legate^ arrested. He was adjudged by the civil tribunal a traitor, and his deposition from the episcopate demanded.
Boniface's reply, set f^orth in the bull Ausculta jili — Give ear, my son — issued Dec. 5, 1301, charged the king with high-handed treatment of the clergy and making plunder of ecclesiastical property. Xhg_£PPC announced_a_counciJl to be held j^n_Ilomp to which the French prelates were called and the king summoned to be present, either in person or by a representative. The bull declared that God had placed his earthly vicar above kings and kingdoms. To make the matter worse, a falsecopy olJ^oniface's bull was . circulated in France \inovfna& Deiun_time^ — Fear God, —
1 Siimmnrin hreins et cnmpendioRa doctrina felicis expeditionis et ahhreviationis giierrarum ac litium regni Francorum. See Scholz, p. 415.