self with simple admonitions, but would employ every resource
of that power which God had intrusted to his hands. In this he
would suffer no danger, no storm, to appall him ; he beheld his
glory in the cross of Christ.'^

It has always been the maxim of the French Court that the
papal power is to be restricted by means of the French clergy,
and that the clergy, on the other hand, are to be kept in due limits
by means of the papal power. But never did a prince hold his
clergy in more absolute command than Louis XIV. A spirit of
submission without parallel is evinced in the addresses presented
to him by that body on solemn occasions. " We hardly dare
venture," says one of them,^ " to make requests, from the ap-
prehension lest we should set bounds to your Majesty's zeal for
religion. The melancholy privilege of stating our grievances
is now changed into a sweet necessity for expressing the praises
of our benefactor." The Prince of Conde declared it to be his
opinion that if it pleased the King to go over to the Protestant
Church, the clergy would be the first to follow him.

And certainly the clergy of France did support their King
without scruple against the Pope. The declarations they pub-
lished were from year to year increasingly decisive in favor of
the royal authority. At length there assembled the convocation
of 1682. " It was summoned and dissolved," remarks a Vene-
tian ambassador, " at the convenience of the King's Ministers,
and was guided by their suggestions.^ The four articles drawn

" Racine, " Histoire ecclesiastique," as is obvious by the proceedings of the

X. p. 328. Assembly in regard to the extension of

'' Brief of December 27, 1679. the * regale.' This convocation was

* " Remonstrance du clerge de France called together, directed, and dissolved
(assemblee ä St. Germain en Layeen at the convenience and suggestion of
I'annee 1680), faite au roi le 10. juillet the Ministers of State. Since the mem-
par I'illme. et revme. J. Bapt. Adheimar bers composing the Assembly look to
de Monteil de Grignan." — " Mem. du the King for their promotion and for-
clerge," tom. xiv. p. 787. tune, and are constantly influenced by

9 Foscarini, " Relatione di Francia, new hopes and aspirations, so they dis-

1648": "With a very similar depend- play more complacency to the sovereign

ence, the ecclesiastical order adheres to than do the laity themselves."
the maxims and interests of the court,



THE HISTORY OF THE POPES 121

up by this assembly have from that time been regarded as the
manifesto of the GalHcan immunities. The first three repeat
assertions of principles laid down in earlier times ; as, for ex-
ample, the independence of the secular power, as regarded the
spiritual authority ; the superiority of councils over the Pope ;
and the inviolable character of the Galilean usages. But the
fourth is more particularly remarkable, since it imposes new
limits even to the spiritual authority of the pontiff. " Even in
questions of faith, the decision of the Pope is not incapable of
amendment, so long as it is without the assent of the Church."
We see that the temporal power of the kingdom received support
from the spiritual authority, which was in its turn upheld by
the secular arm. The King is declared free from the interference
of the Pope's temporal authority ; the clergy are exempted from
submission to the unlimited exercise of his spiritual power. It
was the opinion of contemporaries, that although France might
remain within the pale of the Catholic Church, it yet stood on
the threshold, in readiness for stepping beyond it. The King
exalted the propositions above named into a kind of " Articles
of Faith," a symbolical book. All schools were to be regulated
in conformity with these precepts ; and no man could attain to
a degree, either in the juridical or theological faculties who did
not swear to maintain them.

But the Pope also was still possessed of a weapon. The
authors of this declaration — the members of this assembly —
were promoted and preferred by the King before all other can-
didates for episcopal offices ; but Innocent refused to grant
them spiritual institution. They might enjoy the revenues of
those sees, but ordination they did not receive ; nor could they
venture to exercise one spiritual act of the episcopate.

These complications were still further perplexed by the fact
that Louis XIV at that moment resolved on that relentless ex-
tirpation of the Huguenots, but too well known, and to which he
proceeded chiefly for the purpose of proving his own perfect
orthodoxy. He believed himself to be rendering a great service
to the Church. It has indeed been also affirmed that Innocent
XP*' was aware of his purpose and had approved it, but this
was not the fact. The Roman Court would not now hear of

1° Bonamici, " Vita Innocentii," in dersprechen," etc., "Thus, it is not to
Lebret, Magazin viii. p. 98; also Le- be denied," etc.
bret's note, " Also ist es nicht zu wi-



122 RANKE

conversions effected by armed apostles. " It was not of such
methods that Christ availed himself: men must be led to the
temple, not dragged into it." ^

New dissensions continually arose. In the year 1687, the
French ambassador entered Rome with so imposing a retinue,
certain squadrons of cavalry forming part of it, that the right
of asylum, which the ambassadors claimed at that time, not only
for their palaces, but also for the adjacent streets, could by no
means have been easily disputed with him, although the popes
had solemnly abolished the usage. With an armed force the
ambassador braved the pontiff in his own capital. " They come
with horses and chariots," said Innocent, " but we will walk in
the name of the Lord." He pronounced the censures of the
Church on the ambassador; and the Church of St. Louis, in
which the latter had attended a solemn high mass, was laid
under interdict.^

The King also then proceeded to extreme measures. He ap-
pealed to a General Council, took possession of Avignon, and
caused the nuncio to be shut up in St. Olon : it was even be-
lieved that he had formed the design of creating for Harlai,
Archbishop of Paris, who, if he had not suggested these pro-
ceedings, had approved them, the appointment of patriarch of
France. So far had matters proceeded: the French ambassa-
dor in Rome excommunicated ; the papal nuncio in France de-
tained by force ; thirty-five French bishops deprived of canon-
ical institution; a territory of the Holy See occupied by the
King: it was, in fact, the actual breaking out of schism; yet
did Pope Innocent refuse to yield a single step.

If we ask to what he trusted for support on this occasion,
we perceive that it was not to the effect of the ecclesiastical
censures in France, nor to the influence of his apostolic dig-
nity, but rather, and above all, to that universal resistance which
had been aroused in Europe against those enterprises of Louis

^Venier, "Relatione di Francia, 1639": the world; and besides, the time seemed

" In regard to the work of conversion unsuited for winning over heretics, when

attempted by the King, as relating to the the disputes with the Pope himself were

Huguenots, his Majesty was displeased more than ever violently pursued."

at not receiving the praises he expected ^ << Legatio Marchionis Lavardini Ro-

from the Pope; but the Pope took it ill mam ejusque cum Romano pontifice dis-

that this should have been undertaken sidium, 1697," a refutation of Lavardin,

without his consent, and conducted which investigates this affair with much

with the severities so well known, de- calmness and judgment: it belongs to

daring that missions of armed apos- the series of excellent political papers

ties were not advisable; that this new called forth by the pretensions of Louis

method was not the best, since Christ XIV in Germany, the Netherlands.

had not used such for the conversion of Spain, and Italy.



THE HISTORY OF THE POPES



123



XIV that were menacing the existence of its hberties. To this
general opposition the Pope now also attached himself.

He supported Austria in her Turkish war to the best of his
ability,^ and the successful issue of that conflict placed the whole
party, and with it the pontiff himself, in an altered position.

It would, without doubt, be difficult to prove that Innocent
was in direct alliance, as has been asserted, with William III, and
had a personal knowledge of his designs upon England ; * but
it may be affirmed, with the utmost confidence, that his Minister
was aware of them. The pontiff was informed merely that the
Prince of Orange would take the command on the Rhine, and
would defend the rights of the empire as well as those of the
Church against Louis XIV. Toward that purpose he engaged
to contribute considerable subsidies. But so early as the end
of the year 1687 the Pope's Secretary of State, Count Cassoni,
had positive information that the plan of the malcontent Eng-
lish was to dethrone King James and transfer the crown to the
Princess of Orange. But the count was not faithfully served :
the French had found a traitor among his household. From the
papers which this man had the opportunity of examining in his
master's most secret cabinet, the Courts of France and England
received the first intelligence of these plans. It was a strange
complication ! At the Court of Rome were combined the threads
of that alliance which had for its aim and result the liberation
of Protestantism from the last great danger by which it was
threatened in Western Europe, and the acquisition of the Eng-
lish throne by that confession forever.^ Admitting that Inno-
cent XI was not, as we have said, acquainted with the entire

* " Relatione di Roma di Giov. Lando, day said, shrugging his shoulders, "She
1691." The subsidies are here computed is but a woman." There may very
at 2,000,000 scudi. See Appendix, No. probably have been secret Roman de-
151. spatches.

* This assertion is also made in the ^ A document which is decisive in this
" Memoires sur le regne de Frederic affair has yet been but little remarked;
I., roi de Prusse, par le comte de it is the " Lettre ecrite par M. le CI.
Dohna," p. 78. The letters are said to d'Etrees, ambassadeur extraord. de
have passed through the hands of Queen Louis XIV." tom. vi. p. 497. This shows
Christina to his father, " who caused how early James II was informed on
them to be forwarded by the county of the subject. Norfolk, who was then
L'ppe. whence one Paget took them to in Rome incognito, instantly despatched
The Hague " ; but notwithstanding the a courier to him. Mackintosh (History
details of this account, it inust still be of the Revolution, ii. 157) believes that
considered doubtful, when it is remem- James was aware of the prince's views
bered that, during the whole of the on England early in May, 1688; but even
period in question. Queen Christina was on March loth or nth he remarked to
at variance with the Pope. From all the the papal nuncio, " that the prince's
relations to be gathered from her own chief aim was England." — " Lettera di
correspondence, I consider it impossi- Mons. d'Adda," ibid. p. 346. His mis-
ble that the Po'pe should have intrusted fortune was that he did not confide in
such a secret to her, of whom he one himself.



124 RANKE

purpose in contemplation, it is yet undeniable that he allied him-
self with an opposition arising from Protestant impulses, and
sustained for the most part by Protestant resources. His re-
sistance to the appointment of a candidate favored by France to
the archbishopric of Cologne, was set on foot in the interests of
that opposition, and contributed largely to the breaking out of
the war.

The consequences of this war turned out nevertheless, as re-
garded France, to be exceedingly favorable for the papal prin-
ciple. If the Pope had promoted the interests of Protestantism
by his policy, the Protestants on their side, by maintaining the
balance of Europe against the " exorbitant power," also con-
tributed to compel the latter into compliance with the spiritual
claims of the papacy.

It is true that when this result ensued. Innocent XI was no
longer in existence ; but the first French ambassador who ap-
peared in Rome after his death (August lo, 1689) renounced the
right of asylum : the deportment of the King was altered ; he
restored Avignon, and entered into negotiations.

And that was all the more needful, since the new Pope, Alex-
ander VIII, however widely he may have departed from the
austere example of his predecessor in other respects," adhered
firmly to his principles as regarded the spiritual claims of the
Church. Alexander proclaimed anew that the decrees of 1682 ^
were vain and invalid, null and void, having no power to bind
even when enforced by an oath. " Day and night," he declares
that, he thought of them " with bitterness of heart, lifting his
eyes to heaven with tears and sighs."

After the early death of Alexander VIII the French made
all possible efforts to secure the choice of a pontifif disposed to
measures of peace and conciliation ; ^ a purpose that was indeed
effected by the elevation of Antonio Pignatelli, who assumed the
tiara with the name of Innocent XII on July 12, 1691.

* See Appendix, No. 152, " Confession vis modo factorum et gestorum ac inde

of Pope Alexander VIII." secutorum quorumcunque tenores."

■^ " In dictis comitiis anni 1682, tarn August 4, 1690. Cocquel. ix. p. 38.

circa extensionem juris regalije quam » Domenico Contarini, " Relatione di

circa declarationem de potestate eccle- Roma," 1696: " The French gave their

siastica actorum ac etiam omnium et assistance to the election of this Pope,

singulorum mandatorum, arrestorum, because they had need of a pontiff suf-

confirmationum, declarationum, episto- ficiently placable and little-minded to

larum, edictorum, decretorum quavis be led into the modification of that

auctoritate sive ecclesiastica sive etiam bull which Alexander VIII had issued

laicali editorum, necnon aliorum quo- in his dying moments, as to the propo-

modolibet prrejudicialium priEfatorum in sitions of the French clergy in the As-

regno supradicto quandocunque et a qui- sembly of 1682." See Appendix, No.

busvis et ex quacunque causa et quo- 153.



THE HISTORY OF THE POPES



125



But this Pope was not by any means more inclined to com-
promise the dignity of the Papal See than his predecessors had
been, neither did there exist any pressing motive for his doing
so, since Louis XIV was supplied with the most serious and
perilous occupation by the arms of the allies.

The negotiations continued for two years. Innocent more
than once rejected the formulas proposed to him by the clergy
of France, and they were, in fact, compelled at length to declare
that all measures discussed and resolved on in the Assembly of
1682 should be considered as not having been discussed or re-
solved on : " casting ourselves at the feet of your holiness, we
profess our unspeakable grief for what has been done." ^ It
was not until they had made this unreserved recantation that
Innocent accorded them canonical institution.

Under these conditions only was peace restored. Louis XIV
wrote to the Pope that he retracted his edict relating to the four
articles. Thus we perceive that the Roman See once more main-
tained its prerogatives, even though opposed by the most power-
ful of monarchs.

But was it not a grievous disadvantage that assertions of so
decidedly hostile a character should, for a certain time, have
been sanctioned by the laws and government? The offensive
articles had been proclaimed with loud and ostentatious pub-
licity, as decrees of the empire ; but it was privately, and in
the most silent manner, that they were revoked ; in the form of
letters, that is, which were, moreover, the act of a few persons
only, individuals who were just then in particular need of favor
from the Roman Court. Louis XIV suffered these forms to
proceed, but no one ventured to believe that he really recalled
the four articles, although the affair was sometimes regarded in
that light in Rome. He would not endure at a much later period
that the Roman Court should refuse institution to the clergy

® It has been affirmed, and among French Court. Domenico Contarini says,

others Petitot (" Notice sur Portroyal," " a short time after the French took in

p. 240) is of opinion that this formula hand the aflfairs of the Church of

was invented by the Jansenists " for France, proposing various forms of dec-

the purpose of throwing ridicule on laration, a thing talked of for two

the new bishops " ; but, in the first years, and eventually concluded and

place, no other formula has ever been adjusted by that letter, written by the

brought forward by the opposite party; bishops to the Pope, and which has

and secondly, the above has been always been circulated in all quarters." This

acknowledged, at least indirectly, by letter is the very formula in question;

the Roman writers — by Novaes, for ex- no other has ever been known. Daunou

ample, " Storia de' Pontefici," torn. xi. also, " Essai historique sur la puissance

p. 117; and finally, it was universally temporelle des papes," ii. p. 196, com-

considered genuine at the time, and re- municates this letter as authentic,
ceived no contradiction even from the



126 RANKE

who adhered to the four articles. He affirmed that he had only
removed the obligation to teach them, but that there would be
manifest injustice in preventing those who desired it from ac-
knowledging those propositions.^" There is, moreover, another
observation to be made. It was in no wise by any power of its
own that the Court of Rome had maintained its ground ; that
consequence resulted solely from a great political combination ;
it occurred only because France had been forced on all hands to
retire within closer limits. What then was to be expected, sup-
posing these relations altered, and if the time should come when
there was no longer any power remaining, who would protect
the Roman See from its aggressors?



Section XVII. — The Spanish Succession

The fact that the Spanish line of the house of Austria became
extinct, was also an event of the utmost importance to the
papacy.

To the condition of rivalry constantly maintained between
France and the Spanish monarchy, and by which the character
of the European policy was chiefly determined, the papacy also
was finally indebted for the security of its freedom and inde-
pendence of action for a century and a half; the principles
adopted by the Spaniards had preserved the Ecclesiastical States
in peace. Whatever might be the general result, there was al-
ways danger to be apprehended when an order of things to
which all the usages of political existence were habitually re-
ferred, should be reduced to a state of uncertainty.

But the peril become much more urgent from the fact that
disputes arose with regard to the succession, which threatened
to burst forth in a general war ; a war, moreover, of which Italy

w The words of the King in his letter that I have dissented from the engage-
to Innocent XII, dated Versailles, ment taken by the letter which I wrote
September 14, 1693, are as follows: " I to his predecessor; for I have not com-
have given the orders needful to the pelled any man to maintain the propo-
effect that those things should not sitions of the clergy of France against
have force which were contained in my his wish; but I could not justly pre-
edict of March 22, 1682, relating to the vent my subjects from uttering and
declaration of the clergy of France, and maintaining their opinions on a sub-
to which I was compelled by past ject regarding which they are at liberty
events, but that it should cease to be ob- to adopt either one side or the other."
served." In a letter of July 7, 1713, It is obvious, then, that Louis XIV was
that we find in Artaiid, Histoire du not so devoted to Rome, even in his last
Pape Pie VII." 1836, torn. ii. p. 16, years, as is frequently assumed. He
are the following words: "It has been says, decidedly, "I cannot admit any
falsely pretended to him (Clement XI) compromise."



THE HISTORY OF THE POPES 127

must be the principal battle-ground. Even the Pope would with
difficulty secure himself from the necessity of declaring for one
of the parties, although he could not hope to contribute anything
essential toward the success of that he should espouse.

I find assertions ^ to the effect that Innocent XII, who had
become reconciled to France, had recommended Charles II of
Spain to appoint the French prince as his successor, and that the
provisions of the will, on which so much depended, had been
materially influenced by this advice of the holy father.

It is, at all events, certain that the policy adverse to France,
which had been almost invariably pursued by the Roman See
from the death of Urban VIII, was now relinquished. That
the monarchy should devolve without partition, on a prince be-
longing to a house which was at that time so pre-eminently
Catholic, may perhaps have been regarded as the less decided
change, the less important evil. Clement XI (Gianfrancesco
Albani, elected November 16, 1700) openly approved the de-
termination of Louis XIV to accept the succession. He sent a
letter of congratulation to Philip V, and granted him subsidies
raised on ecclesiastical property, precisely as if no doubt pre-
vailed with regard to his rights,- Clement XI might be con-
sidered the very creation and true representative of the Court of
Rome, which he had never quitted. The affability of his man-
ners, his literary talents, and irreproachable life had secured him
universal approbation and popularity.^ He had found means
to ingratiate himself with the three Popes, his successors, how-
ever diversified their characters, and even to make himself need-
ful to them, and had risen to eminence by practical and useful,
but never obtrusive or unaccommodating, talents. If, as he
once observed, he had known to give good advice as cardinal,
but that as Pope he knew not how to guide himself, this may
imply that he felt himself better qualified to seize and carry for-

1 Morosint, "Relatione di Roma, partition of tlie monarchy, and accepted

1707 " : "I will not venture to say it entire for his grandson." See Ap-

whether the Pope had hand or part in pendix. No. 155.

the will of Charles II nor is it easy to ^ Buder, " Leben und Thaten Clem-
ascertain the truth. I will but adduce ens XI.,' torn. i. p. 148.
two facts. The one is, that this secret ^ Erizzo, " Relatione di Roma, 1702 " :
was made known in a printed manifesto " He appeared in fact to be the very
in Rome, during the first months of my delight of Rome, nor was there a royal
entry on the embassy, and while war Minister or national ambassador in the
was proceeding on both sides as well court who did not believe Cardinal Al-
with arms as with papers. The other bani altogether his own." " So well,"
is that the Pope does not cease from he adds afterward, " did he know how
bestowing public eulogies on the most to feign different affctions, and to vary
Christian King for having declined the his language to suit all comers."



128 RANKE

ward an impulse already communicated, than to originate and
give effect to an independent determination. As an example of
this, it may be remarked that in taking up the jurisdictional
question with renewed vigor immediately after his accession, he
did no more than follow in the path previously traced by public
opinion, and by the interests of the Curia. In like manner he
gave his trust to the fortune and power of the " great king," and
had no doubt but that Louis XIV would ultimately obtain the
victory. The success of the French arms in the expedition un-
dertaken against Vienna by Germany and Italy in the year 1703,
and which seemed likely to bring all to a conclusion, occasioned
the Pope so much satisfaction, that the Venetian ambassador
assures us he found it impossible to conceal his gladness.*

But at that very moment fortune took a sudden turn. The
German and English antagonists of Louis, with whom Inno-
cent XI had been allied, but from whose party Clement XI had
gradually estranged his interests, achieved unprecedented vic-
tories: the imperial troops, conjoined with those of Prussia,
poured down upon Italy. Toward a pontiff whose proceedings
had been so equivocal, they were but little disposed to show for-
bearance, and the old pretensions of the empire, which had never
been referred to since the times of Charles V, were now again