§ 5. LITERARY ATTACKS AGAINST THE PAPACY. 29
most unlikely one to be used as synonymous with temporal rulers. Boniface made the same assertion in a letter to the duke of Savoy, 1300, when he demanded submission for every mortal, — omnia anima. ^gidius Colonna paraphrased the bull in these words, "the supreme pontiff is that authority to which every soul must yield subjection." ^ That the mediaeval Church accepted this construction is vouched for by the Fifth Lateran Council, 1516, which, in reaffirming the bull, declared " it necessary to salvation that all the faithful of Christ be subject to the Roman pontiff." 2
§ 5. Literary Attacks against the Papacy.
Nothing is more indicative of the intellectual change going on in Western Europe in the fourteenth century than the tractarian literature of the time directed against claims made by the papacy. Three periods may be distinguished. In the first belong the tracts_called forth by the struggle of Philip the Fair and Bonifacejy^IIL^ with.the^year 1302 for its centre. Their distinguishing feature is the attack made upon the pope's jurisdiction in temporal af[airs. The second period opens during the pontificate of John XXII. and extends from 1320-1£40. Here the pope's spiritual supremacy was attacked. The most 'prominent writer of the time was Marsiglius of Padua. The third period begins with the papal ^schism toward the end of the fourteenth centuQ'. The writers of this period emphasized the need of reform in the Church and discussed the jurisdiction of general councils as superior to the jurisdiction of the po^.^
The publicists of the age of Boniface VIII. and Philip the Fair now defended, now openly attacked the mediaeval theory of the pope's lordship over kings and nations. The body of literature they produced was unlike anything which Europe
1 Summus pontifex . . . est ilia potestas cut oinnis anima debet esse siihjecta.
"^ Be necessitate esse salutis omnes Christi fideles romani pontifici subesse. The writer in Wetzer-Welte, XII. 229 sqq., pronounces the view impossible which limits the meaning of the clause to temporal rulers.
3 1 have followed closely in this chapter the clear and learned presentations of Richard Scholz and Finke and the documents they print as well as the documents given by Goldast. See below. A most useful contribution to the study of the age of Boniface VIII. and the papal theories current at the time would be the publication of the tracts mentioned in this section and others in a single volume.
30 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
had seen before. In the conflict between Gregory IX. and Frederick II., Europe was filled with the epistolary appeals of pope and emperor, who sought each to make good his case before the court of European public opinion, and more especially of the princes and prelates. The controversy of this later time was participated in by a number of writers who represented the views of an intelligent group of clerics and laymen. They employed a vigorous style adapted to make an impression on the public mind.
Stirred by the haughty assertions of Boniface, a new class of men, the jurisconsults, entered the lists and boldly called in question the old order represented by the policy of Hildebrand and Innocent III. They had studied in the universitie^^specially in the University of Parj^, and some of them, like Dubois, were laymen. The decision of the Bologna jurists on the field of Roncaglia was reasserted with new arguments and critical freedom, and a step was taken far in advance of that decision which asserted the independence of the emperor. The empire was set aside as an antiquated institution, and France and other states were pronounced soyereign within their own limits^ a-nd immune fromj^apal dominion over their temporal affgjrs. The principles of human law and the natural rights of man were_arrayed against dogmatic assertiong based upon unbalanced and false interpretations of Scripture. The method of scholastic sophistry was largely replaced by an aj^peal to common sense and regard for the practical needs of society. The authorities used to establish the new theory were Aristotle, the Scriptures and historic facts. These writers were John the Baptists preparing the way for the more clearly outlined and advanced views of ]\Iarsiglius of Padua and Ockam, who took tlie further step of questioning or flatly denying the pope's spiritual supremacy, and for the still more advanced and more spiritual appeals of Wyclif and Luther. A direct current of influence can be traced back from the Protestant Reformation to the anti-papal tracts of the first decade of the fourteenth century.
The tract_wxi.ters of the r^ign of Philip the Fair, whD defended the traditional theory of the pope's absolute suprem-