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upon brute force, and as a school of moral discipline. The popes stood on a much
higher plane than the princes of their time. The spirit has a right to rule over the
body; the intellectual and moral interests are superior to the material and political.
But the papal theocracy carried in it the temptation to secularization. By the abuse
of opportunity it became a hindrance to pure religion and morals. Christ gave to
Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven, but he also said, "My kingdom is not of
this world." The pope coveted both kingdoms, and he got what he coveted. But he
was not able to hold the power he claimed over the State, and aspiring after
temporal authority lost spiritual power. Boniface VIII marks the beginning of the
decline and fall of the papal rule; and the seeds of this decline and fall were sown in
the period when the hierarchy was in the pride of its worldly might and glory.
In this period also, and chiefly as the result of the crusades, the schism between the
churches of the East and the West was completed. All attempts made at
reconciliation by pope and council only ended in wider alienation. The ruling
nations during the Middle Ages were the Latin, who descended from the old
Roman stock, but showed the mixture of barbaric blood and vigor, and the
Teutonic. The Italians and French had the most learning and culture. Politically,
the German nation, owing to its possession of the imperial crown and its
connection with the papacy, was the most powerful, especially under the
Hohenstaufen dynasty. England, favored by her insular isolation, developed the
power of self-government and independent nationality, and begins to come into
prominence in the papal administration. Western Europe is the scene of
intellectual, ecclesiastical, and political activities of vast import, but its arms and
devotion find their most conspicuous arena in Palestine and the East.
Finally this period of two centuries and a half is a period of imposing personalities.
The names of the greatest of the popes have been mentioned, Gregory VII.,
Alexander III., and Innocent III. Its more notable sovereigns were William the
Conqueror, Frederick Barbarossa, Frederick II., and St. Louis of France. Dante the
poet illumines its last years. St. Bernard, Francis d’Assisi, and Dominic, the
Spaniard, rise above a long array of famous monks. In the front rank of its
Schoolmen were Anselm, Abelard, Albertus Magnus, Thomas Aquinas,
Bonaventura, and Duns Scotus. Thomas à Becket and Grosseteste are prominent
representatives of the body of episcopal statesmen. This combination of great
figures and of great movements gives to this period a variety of interest such as
belongs to few periods of Church history or the history of mankind.
The Hohenstaufen Dynasty - Page 70 of 200