Whenever any set of people, by laying a constraint upon the natural appetites, seek to arrive at a degree of purity inconsistent with the welfare of society, they never fail to be guilty of crimes which society disclaims, and nature abhors; unless they relax the rigour of their institutions, or slide back, by a blameless corruption, into the more smooth but slippery paths of erring humanity.

The ignorance of the times, however, favoured by certain circumstances, continued the veneration for religious solitude, notwithstanding the licentiousness of the monks. Many new monastic orders were instituted in the eleventh century, under various rules of discipline; but all with a view to greater regularity of manners. And monks were called from the lonely cell to the most arduous and exalted stations; to fill the papal chair, and support the triple crown; or to discharge the office of prime minister in some mighty kingdom, and regulate the interests of nations. Though utterly ignorant of public transactions, their reputation for superior sanctity, which was easily acquired, by real or affected austerity, in ages of rapine and superstition, made them be thought fit to direct all things. This ghostly reputation even enab led them to trample upon the authority, and insult the persons of the princes whose government they administered; especially if the lives of such princes, as was very commonly the case, happened to be stained with any atrocious acts of lust, violence, or oppression. In order to stay the uplifted arm of divine justice, and render the Governor of the world propitious, the king knelt at the feet of the monk and the minister! happy to commit to the favourite of Heaven the sole guidance of his spiritual and temporal concerns". And if chival

ry

21. Beside the wealth and influence acquired by the monks, in con. sequence of the superstitious ignorance of the great, who often shared not only their power but the fruits of their rapine with their pious directors, a popular opinion which prevailed toward the close of the

tenth

ry, by awakening a spirit of enterprise, had not roused the human powers to deeds of valour, and revived the passion for the softer sex, by connecting it with arms, and separating it from gross desire, Europe might have sunk under the tyranny of a set of men, who pretended to renounce the world and its affairs, and Christendom have become but one great cloister.

LETTER XXII.

THE GERMAN EMPIRE AND ITS DEPENDENCIES; ROME AND THE ITALIAN STATES, UNDER CONRAD II. AND HIS DESCENDANTS OF THE HOUSE OF FRANCONIA.

WE now, my dear Philip, return to the great line of history, which I shall endeavour to trace as exact. ly as possible, that you may be able to keep in view the train of events, without which, you will neither be able to reason distinctly on them yourself, nor to understand clearly the reasonings of others. I shall therefore bring down the history of the German empire to the death of Henry V. when the quarrel between the popes and the emperors came to a stand, before I speak of the affairs of France and England; which, from the Norman conquest, became inseparably intervowen, but had little influence for some centuries on the rest of Europe.

Great disputes ensued on the death of Henry II. about the nomination of a successor to the empire; that

tenth century, contributed greatly to augment their opulence. The thousand years, from the birth or death of Christ, mentioned dy St. John in the book of Revelations, were supposed to be nearly accomplished, and the Day of Judgment at hand. Multitudes of Christians, therefore, anxious only for their eternal salvation delivered over to the monastic, orders all their lands, treasures, and other valuable effects, and repaired with precipitation to Palestine, where they expected the appear. ance of Christ on Mount Sion. Mosheim, vol. ii.

prince, as you have had occasian to see, dying without issue. The princes and states assembled in the open fields between Mentz and Worms, no hall

A. D. 1024.

being sufficient to hold them; and, after six weeks encampment and deliberation, they elected Conrad, duke of Franconia, surnamed the Salic, because he was born on the banks of the river Sala'.

The Lombards revolting, as usual, soon after the election of the new emperor, Conrad marched into Italy; and having reduced the rebels by force of arms, he went to Rome, here he was consecrated and crowned by A. D. 1027. Pope John XX. in presence of Canute the Great, king of England, Denmark, and Norway, and Rodolph III. king of Transjurane Burgundy. But his stay at Rome was short. Scarce was the coronation over, when he was obliged to return to Germany, on account of some insurrections raised in his absence. He took the precaution, however, before he attempted to humble the insurgents, to get his son Henry, then above twelve years of age, declared his successor, and solemnly crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle. The rebellion was soon after suppressed by the valour of Conrad. He defeated the authors of it in several engagements; in one of which, Ernest, duke of Suabia, who had been put to the ban of the empire, was slain".

The word ban originally signified banner, afterwards edict, and lastly, a declaration of outlawry, which was intimated thus "We declare thy wife a widow, thy chil"dren orphans; and send thee, in the name of the "devil, to the four corners of the earth." This is one of the first examples of that proscription.

The emperor next turned his arms against the Poles, and afterward against the Huns, and obliged both to subscribe to his own conditions. In the mean time Rodolph, king of Transjurane Burgundy, dying without issue, left

1, Annal. de l'Emp. tom. i.

2. Heiss lib. ii.

his dominions to Conrad. They were of small extent, but included the seignioral superiority over A. D. 1034. the Swiss, the Grisons, Provence, FrancheCompte, Savoy, Geneva, and Dauphine. Hence the lands on the other side of the Rhine are still called the Lands of the Empire; and all the noblemen of those cantons, who formerly held of Rodolph and his predecessors, now hold of the emperor3.

While Conrad II. was employed in taking possession of his new inheritance, the Poles revolted; and this rebellion was no sooner quelled than he had occasion to oppose another in Italy, headed by Hubert, bishop of Milan, whom he had loaded with favours. Conrad made so much haste, that Milan was taken by surprise. The bishop was condemned to perpetual banishment; and the emperor died soon after his return to Germany, leaving behind him the reputation of a just, generous, and magnanimous princes.

A. D. 1039.

Henry III. surnamed the Black, son of Conrad and Gisella of Suabia, was elected in consequence of his father's recommendation, and crowned a second time at Aix-laChappelle.

The first years of Henry's reign were signalized by successful wars against Bohemia, Poland, and Hungary; which, however, produced no memorable event. Rome and Italy, as usual, were involved in confusion, and distracted by factions, particularly those of the Pandolphi and the Ptolemei. The Pandolphi had thrust Benedict IX. a boy of twelve years of age, into the papacy. He was deposed by Ptolemei and the people, who substituted in his place Sylvester III. This new pope was deposed, in his turn, by the Pandolphi, and his rival A. D. 1044. re-established. Benedict, however, finding himself universally despised, voluntarily resigned in favour of John, archpriest of the Roman church: but afterwards repenting of his resignation, he wanted to resume his dignity.

3. Annal. de l'Emp. tom. i.

4. Heiss, lib. ii.

These

These three popes, supported by their several partizans, and living peaceably with each other, maintained themselves each upon a different branch of the holy see.' One resided at St. Peter's, another at Santa Maria Major, and the third in the palace of the Lateran, all leading the most profligate and scandalous lives. A priest, called Gratian, at last put an end to this singular triumvirate. Partly by artifice, partly by presents, he prevailed upon all three to renounce their pretensions to the papacy; and the people of Rome, out of gratitude for so signal a service to the church, chose him pope, under the name of Gregory VI.

Henry III. took umbrage at this election, in which he had not been consulted, and marched with an army into Italy. No emperor ever exercised more absolute authority in that country. He deposed Gregory, as having been guilty of simony, and filled the papal chair with his own chancellor, Suidger or Heidiger, bishop of Bamberg, who assumed the name of Clement II. and afterward consecrated at Rome, Henry and the empress Agness.

A. D. 1046.

This ceremony being over, and the Romans having sworn never to elect a pope without the approbation of the reigning emperor, Henry proceeded to Capua, where he was visited by Drago, Rainulphus, and A. D. 1047. other Norman adventurers; who, having left their country, namely the duchy of Normandy, at diffe rent times, had made themselves masters of great part of Apulia and Calabria, at the expense of the Greeks and Saracens. Henry entered into a treaty with them; and not only solemnly invested them with those territories which they had acquired by conquest, but prevailed on the pope to excommunicate the Beneventines, who had refused to open their gates to him, and bestowed that city and its dependencies, as fiefs of. the empire, upon the Norman princes, provided they took possession by

5. Muratori, Annal. d'Ital. Mosheim, Hist. Eccles. vol. ii.

force