§ 4. BONIFACE VIII. AND PHILIP THE FAIR. 21
tive attitude of defending^ the king and FreacJi rights to aji attack upon Boniface and his right tq^the pa^^al tlirone. In 20 articles it accused him of simony, sorcery, immoral intercourse with his niece, having a demon in his chambers, the murder of Ccelestine, and other crimes. It appealed to a general council, before which the pope was summoned to appear in person. Five archbishops and 21 bishops joined in subscribing to this document. The university and chapter of Paris, convents, cities, and towns placed themselves on the king's side.i
One more step the pope was about to take when a sudden stop was put to his career. He had set tlie^i^jith day o| September as the time when he would publicly,^injtlie chucijh of Anagni, and with all the solemnities known to the Churuh, pronounce the ban upon the jlisobedient king and release his subjects from allegiance. In the same edifice Alexander III. had excommunicated Barbarossa, and Gregory IX., Frederick II. The bull already had the papal signature, when, as by a storm bursting from a clear sky, the pope's plans were shattered and his career brought to an end.
During the two centuries and a half since Hildebrand had entered the city of Rome with Leo IX., popes had been imprisoned by emperors, been banished from Rome by its citizens, had fled for refuge and died in exile, but upon no one of them had a calamity fallen quite so humiliating and complete as the calamity which now befell Boniface. A plot, formed in France to checkmate the pope and to carry him off to a council at Lyons, burst Sept. 7 upon the peaceful population of Anagni, the pope's country seat. William of Nogaret^jirofessor of law at Montpellier and councillor of the king, was the manager of the plot and was probably its inventor. According to the chronicler, Villani,^ Nogaret's parents were Cathari, and suffered for heresy in the flames in Southern France. He stood as a representative of a new class of men, laymen, who were able to compete in culture with the best-trained
1 The university declared in favor of a general council June 21, 1303, Chartul. Univ. Par. II. 101 sq.
2 VIII. 63. See Scholz, pp. 363-375, and Holtzmann : W. von Nogaret.
22 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
ecclesiastics, and advocated the independence of the state. Witlijiiin^was joined Sciarra ColoiiJia, who, with other members of his family, liad found refuge in France, and was thirsting for revenge for their proscription by the pope. With a small body of mercenaries, 300 of them on horse, they suddenly appeared in Anagni. The barons of the Latium, embittered by the rise of the Gaetani family upon their losses, joined with the conspirators, as also did the people of Anagni. The palaces of two of Boniface's nephews and several of the cardinals were stormed and seized by Sciarra Colonna, who then offered the pope life on the three conditions that the Colonna be restored, Boniface resign, and that he place himself in the hands of the conspirators. The conditions were rejected, and after a delay of three hours, the work of assault and destruction was renewed. The palaces one after another yield.e.d, and the p_apal residence itself w;tis taken and entexiid. The supreme pontiff, according to the description of Villani,^ received the besiegers in high pontifical robes, seated on a throne, with a crown on his head and a crucifix and the keys in his hand. He proudly rebuked the intruders, and declared his readiness to die for Christ and his Church. To the demand that he resign the papal office, he replied, " Never; I am pope and as pope I will die." Sciarra was about to kill him, when he was intercepted by Nogaret's arm. The palaces were^ looted an,d_the_cath^draljmmt, and its relics, if not destroyed, went to swell the booty. One of the relics, a vase said to have contained milk from Mary's breasts, was turned over and broken. The pope and his nephews were held in confinement for three days, the
1 VIII. 03. Dollinger, whose account is very vivid, depends chiefly upon the testimony of three eye-witnesses, a member of the curia, the chronicler of Orvieto and Nogaret himself. lie sets aside much of Villani's report, which Reumont, Wattenbach, Gregorovius, and other historians adopt. Dante and Villani, who both condemn the pope's arrogance and nepotism, resented the indignity put upon Boniface at Anagni, and rejoiced over his deliverance as of one who, like Christ, rose from the dead. Dante omits all reference to Sciarra Colonna and other Italian nobles as participants in the plot. Dante's description is given in Paradiso, xx. 86 sqq.
"I see the flower-de-luce Alagna [Anagni] enter, And Christ in his own vicar captive made."