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SKETCHES
SKETCHES
OF From A.D. 33 to the Reformation . BY THE LATE Rev . J. C. ROBERTSON, M.A. CANON OF CANTERBURY. PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE TRACT COMMITTEE. LONDON: SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE, NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, CHARING CROSS, W.C. 43, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, E.C. 26, ST. GEORGE'S PLACE, HYDE PARK CORNER, S.W. BRIGHTON: 135, NORTH STREET. New York : E. & J. B. YOUNG & CO. 1887....
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EXPLANATION OF THE MAP.
EXPLANATION OF THE MAP.
( To be read after Chapter XXII. ) The Map is meant to give the names of such places only as are mentioned in the History. The bounds of the patriarchates of Constantinople, Antioch, and Jerusalem are marked as they were settled at the Council of Chalcedon, in the year 451. Only the northern part of the Alexandrian patriarchate is seen, as the Map does not reach far enough to take in Abyssinia, which belonged to it. At the time of the Council of Nicæa ( A.D. 325) the bishop of Rome's patriarchat
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CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER I.
THE AGE OF THE APOSTLES. FROM A.D. 33 TO A.D. 100. The beginning of the Christian Church is reckoned from the great day on which the Holy Ghost came down, according as our Lord had promised to His Apostles. At that time, "Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven," were gathered together at Jerusalem, to keep the Feast of Pentecost (or Feast of Weeks), which was one of the three holy seasons at which God required His people to appear before Him in the place which He had chosen ( Deutero
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CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER II.
ST. IGNATIUS. A.D. 116. When our Lord ascended into Heaven, He left the government of His Church to the Apostles. We are told that during the forty days between His rising from the grave and His ascension, He gave commandments unto the Apostles, and spoke of the things pertaining (or belonging ) to the kingdom of God ( Acts i. 2, 3). Thus they knew what they were to do when their Master should be no longer with them; and one of the first things which they did, even without waiting until His prom
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CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER III.
ST. JUSTIN, MARTYR. A.D. 166. Although Trajan was no friend to the Gospel, and put St. Ignatius to death, he made a law which must have been a great relief to the Christians. Until then, they were liable to be sought out, and any one might inform against them; but Trajan ordered that they should not be sought out, although, if they were discovered, and refused to give up their faith, they were to be punished. The next emperor, too, whose name was Hadrian ( A.D. 117 to 138), did something to make
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CHAPTER IV.
CHAPTER IV.
ST. POLYCARP. A.D. 166. About the same time with Justin the Martyr, St. Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, was put to death. He was a very old man; for it was almost ninety years since he had been converted from heathenism. He had known St. John, and is supposed to have been made bishop of Smyrna by that Apostle himself; and he had been a friend of St. Ignatius, who, as we have seen, suffered martyrdom fifty years before. From all these things, and from his wise and holy character, he was looked up to
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CHAPTER V.
CHAPTER V.
THE MARTYRS OF LYONS AND VIENNE. A.D. 177. Many other martyrs suffered in various parts of the empire under the reign of Marcus Aurelius. Among the most famous of these are the martyrs of Lyons and Vienne, in the south of France (or Gaul , as it was then called), where a company of missionaries from Asia Minor had settled with a bishop named Pothinus at their head. The persecution at Lyons and Vienne was begun by the mob of those towns, who insulted the Christians in the streets, broke into thei
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CHAPTER VI.
CHAPTER VI.
TERTULLIAN—PERPETUA AND HER COMPANIONS. A.D. 181-206. The Emperor Marcus Aurelius died in 181, and the Church was little troubled by persecution for the following twenty years. About this time a false teacher named Montanus made much noise in the world. He was born in Phrygia, and seems to have been crazed in his mind. He used to fall into fits, and while in them, he uttered ravings which were taken for prophecies, or messages from heaven: and some women who followed him also pretended to be pro
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CHAPTER VII.
CHAPTER VII.
ORIGEN. A.D. 185-254. The same persecution in which Perpetua and her companions suffered at Carthage raged also at Alexandria in Egypt, where a learned man named Leonides was one of the martyrs ( A.D. 202). Leonides had a son named Origen, whom he had brought up very carefully, and had taught to get some part of the Bible by heart every day. And Origen was very eager to learn, and was so good and so clever that his father was afraid to show how fond and how proud he was of him, lest the boy shou
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CHAPTER VIII.
CHAPTER VIII.
ST. CYPRIAN. PART I. A.D. 200-253. About the same time with Origen lived St Cyprian, bishop of Carthage. He was born about the year 200, and had been long famous as a professor of heathen learning, when he was converted at the age of forty-five. He then gave up his calling as a teacher, and, like the first Christians at Jerusalem ( Acts iv. 34-5), he sold a fine house and gardens, which he had near the town, and gave the price, with a large part of his other money, to the poor. He became one of
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CHAPTER IX.
CHAPTER IX.
FROM GALLIENUS TO THE END OF THE LAST PERSECUTION. A.D. 261-313. Valerian, who had treated the Christians so cruelly, came to a miserable end. He led his army into Persia, where he was defeated and taken prisoner. He was kept for some time in captivity; and we are told that he used to be led forth, loaded with chains, but with the purple robes of an emperor thrown over him, that the Persians might mock at his misfortunes. And when he had died from the effects of shame and grief, it is said that
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CHAPTER X.
CHAPTER X.
CONSTANTINE THE GREAT. A.D. 313-337. It was a great thing for the Church that the emperor of Rome should give it liberty; and Constantine, after sending forth the laws which put an end to the persecution, went on to make other laws in favour of the Christians. But he did not himself become a Christian all at once, although he built many churches, and gave rich presents to others, and although he was fond of keeping company with bishops, and of conversing with them about religion. Licinius, the e
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CHAPTER XI.
CHAPTER XI.
THE COUNCIL OF NICÆA. A.D. 325. We might expect to find that, when the persecutions by the heathen were at an end within the Roman empire, Christians lived together in peace and love, according to their Lord's commandment; but it is a sad truth that they now began to be very much divided by quarrels among themselves. There had, indeed, been many false teachers in earlier times; but now, when the emperor had become a Christian, the troubles caused by such persons reached much further than before.
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CHAPTER XII.
CHAPTER XII.
ST. ATHANASIUS. PART I. A.D. 325-337. Alexander, the bishop of Alexandria by whom Arius had been excommunicated, died soon after returning home from the Council of Nicæa; and Athanasius, who was then about thirty years of age, was chosen in his stead, and governed the Alexandrian church for six-and-forty years. Every one knows the name of St. Athanasius, from the creed which is called after it. That creed, indeed, was not made by St. Athanasius himself; but, as the Prayer-book says, it is " comm
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CHAPTER XIII.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE MONKS. In the story of St. Athanasius, monks have been more than once mentioned, and it is now time to give some account of these people and of their ways. The word monk properly means one who leads a lonely life; and the name was given to persons who professed to withdraw from the world and its business that they might give themselves up to serve God in religious thoughts and exercises. Among the Jews there had been whole classes of people who practised this sort of retirement: some, called
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CHAPTER XIV.
CHAPTER XIV.
ST. BASIL AND ST. GREGORY OF NAZIANZUM. COUNCIL OF CONSTANTINOPLE. PART I. A.D. 373-381. Although St. Athanasius was now dead, God did not fail to raise up champions for the true faith. Three of the most famous of these were natives of Cappadocia—namely, Basil, his brother Gregory of Nyssa, and his friend Gregory of Nazianzum. But although Gregory of Nyssa was a very good and learned man, and did great service to the truth by his writings, there was nothing remarkable in the story of his life; s
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CHAPTER XV.
CHAPTER XV.
ST. AMBROSE. A.D. 374-397. The greatest bishop of the West in these times was St. Ambrose, of Milan. He was born about the year 340, and thus was ten or twelve years younger than St. Basil and St. Gregory of Nazianzum. His father had held a very high office under the emperors; Ambrose himself was brought up as a lawyer, and had risen to be governor of Liguria, a large country in the north of Italy, of which Milan was the chief city. The bishop of Milan, who was an Arian, died in the year 374, an
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CHAPTER XVI.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE TEMPLE OF SERAPIS. A.D. 391. In the account of Constantine, it was mentioned that the emperors after their conversion did not try to put down heathenism by force, or all at once. [11] For the wise teachers of the Church knew that this would not be the right way of going to work, but that it would be more likely to make the heathens obstinate, than to convert them. Thus St. Augustine (of whom I shall have more to tell you by-and-by) says in one of his sermons—"We must first endeavour to break
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CHAPTER XVII.
CHAPTER XVII.
CHURCH GOVERNMENT. By this time the Gospel had not only been firmly settled as the religion of the great Roman empire, but had made its way into most other countries of the world then known. Here, then, we may stop to take a view of some things connected with the Church; and it will be well, in doing so, to remember what is wisely said by our own Church, in her thirty-fourth article, which is about "the Traditions of the Church" (that is to say, the practices handed down in the Church):—"It is n
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CHAPTER XVIII.
CHAPTER XVIII.
CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. PART I . In the early days of the Gospel, while the Christians were generally poor, and when they were obliged to meet in fear of the heathen, their worship was held in private houses, and sometimes in burial-places under-ground. But after a time buildings were expressly set apart for worship. It has been mentioned that in the years of quiet, between the death of Valerian and the last persecution ( A.D. 261-303), these churches were built much more handsomely than before, and
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CHAPTER XIX.
CHAPTER XIX.
ARCADIUS AND HONORIUS. A.D. 395-423. The great emperor Theodosius was succeeded in 395 by his two sons, Arcadius, who was eighteen years of age, and Honorius, who was only eleven. Arcadius had the east, and Honorius the west; and after this division, the empire was never again united in anything like the full extent of its old greatness. The reigns of these princes were full of misfortunes, especially in the western empire, where swarms of barbarians poured down from the north, and did a vast de
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CHAPTER XX.
CHAPTER XX.
ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM. A.D. 347-407. PART I . At this time lived St. John Chrysostom, whose name is known to us all from the prayer in our service which is called "A Prayer of St. Chrysostom." He was born at Antioch about the year 347. While he was still a little child, he lost his father; but his mother, Anthusa, who was left a widow at the age of twenty, remained unmarried, and devoted herself to the training of her son. During his early years, she brought him up with religious care, and he was
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CHAPTER XXI.
CHAPTER XXI.
ST. AUGUSTINE. A.D. 354-430. PART I . The church in the north of Africa has hardly been mentioned since the time of St. Cyprian. [28] But we must now look towards it again, since in the days of St. Chrysostom it produced a man who was perhaps the greatest of all the old Christian fathers—St. Augustine. Augustine was born at Thagaste, a city of Numidia, in the year 354. His mother, Monica, was a pious Christian, but his father, Patricius, was a heathen, and a man of no very good character. Monica
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CHAPTER XXII.
CHAPTER XXII.
COUNCILS OF EPHESUS AND CHALCEDON. A.D. 431-451. Augustine died just as a great council was about to be held in the East. In preparing for this council, a compliment was paid to him which was not paid to any other person; for, whereas it was usual to invite the chief bishop only of each province to such meetings, and to leave him to choose which of his brethren should accompany him, a special invitation was sent to Augustine, although he was not even a metropolitan, [39] but only bishop of a sma
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CHAPTER XXIII.
CHAPTER XXIII.
FALL OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE. A.D. 451-476. The empire of the west was now fast sinking. One weak prince was at the head of it after another, and the spirit of the old Romans, who had conquered the world, had quite died out. Immense hosts of barbarous nations poured in from the north. The Goths, under Alaric, who took Rome by siege, in the reign of Honorius, have been already mentioned. [41] Forty years later, Attila, King of the Huns, who was called "The scourge of God," kept both the east and th
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CHAPTER XXIV.
CHAPTER XXIV.
CONVERSION OF THE BARBARIANS—CHRISTIANITY IN BRITAIN. As the old empire of Rome disappears, the modern kingdoms of Europe begin to come to view; and we may now look at the progress of the Gospel among the nations of the west. The barbarians who got possession of France, Spain, South Germany, and other parts of the empire, were soon converted to a sort of Christianity; but, unfortunately, it was not the true Catholic faith. I have told you [44] that Ulfilas, "the Moses of the Goths," led his peop
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CHAPTER XXV.
CHAPTER XXV.
SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. The only thing which seems to be settled as to the religious history of Scotland in these times, is, that a bishop named Ninian preached among the Southern Picts between the years 412 and 432, and established a see at Whithorn, in Galloway. But in the year of St. Ninian's death, a far more famous missionary, St. Patrick, who is called "the Apostle of Ireland," began his labours in that island. It is a question whether Patrick was born in Scotland, at a place called Kirkpatr
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CHAPTER XXVI.
CHAPTER XXVI.
CLOVIS. A.D. 496. The most famous and the most important of all the conversions which took place about this time was that of Clovis, king of the Franks. From being the chief of a small, though brave people, on the borders of France and Belgium, he grew by degrees to be the founder of the great French monarchy. His queen, Clotilda, was a Christian, and long tried in vain to bring him over to her faith. "The gods whom you worship," she said, "are nothing, and can profit neither themselves nor othe
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CHAPTER XXVII.
CHAPTER XXVII.
JUSTINIAN. A.D. 527-565. It would be wearisome to follow very particularly the history of the Church in the East for the next century and a half after the Council of Chalcedon ( A.D. 451). The most important reign during this time was that of the Emperor Justinian, which lasted eight-and-thirty years, from 527 to 565. Under him the Vandals were conquered in Africa, and the Goths in Italy. Both these countries became once more parts of the empire, and Arianism was put down in both. Justinian also
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CHAPTER XXVIII.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
NESTORIANS AND MONOPHYSITES. From the time of the Council of Chalcedon ( A.D. 451), to the end of Justinian's reign, the Eastern Church was vexed by controversies which arose out of the opinions of Eutyches. [50] On account of these quarrels, the Churches of Rome and Constantinople would have no intercourse with each other for five-and-thirty years ( A.D. 484-519). The party which had at first been called Eutychians (after Eutyches) afterwards got the name of Monophysites, (that is to say, Maint
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CHAPTER XXIX.
CHAPTER XXIX.
ST. BENEDICT. PART I. A.D. 480-529. Let us now look again at the monks. Their way of life was at first devised as a means of either practising repentance for sin, or rising to such a height of holiness as was supposed to be beyond the reach of persons busied in the affairs of this world. But in course of time a change took place. As the life of monks grew more common, it grew less strict; indeed, it would seem that whenever any way of life which professes to be very strict becomes common, its st
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CHAPTER XXX.
CHAPTER XXX.
END OF THE SIXTH CENTURY. PART I . We must not suppose that the conversion of the western barbarians was of any very perfect kind. They mixed up a great deal of their own barbarism with their Christianity, and, besides this, they took up many of the vices of the old and worn-out nations, whose countries they had conquered and occupied. Much heathen superstition lingered among them: it was even a common saying in Spain, that "if a man has to pass between heathen altars and God's Church, it is no
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CHAPTER XXXI.
CHAPTER XXXI.
ST. GREGORY THE GREAT. A.D. 540-604. PART I . Gregory was born at Rome, of a noble and wealthy family, in the year 540. In his youth he engaged in public business, and he rose to be prætor of Rome, which was one of the chief offices under the government. In this office he was much beloved and respected by the people. But about the age of thirty-five, a great change took place in his life. He resolved to forsake the pursuit of worldly honours, and spent all his wealth in founding seven monasterie
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CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER I.
MAHOMETANISM—IMAGE-WORSHIP. A.D. 612-794. Within a few years after the death of Gregory the Great, a new religion was set up by an Arabian named Mahomet, who seems to have been honest, although mistaken, at first, but grew less honest as he went on, and as he became more successful and powerful. His religion was made up partly from the Jewish, partly from the Christian, and partly from other religions which he found around him; but he gave out that it had been taught him by visions and revelatio
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CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER II.
THE CHURCH IN ENGLAND. A.D. 604-734. While the light of the Gospel was darkened by the Mahometan conquests in some parts of the world where it had once shone brightly, it was spreading widely among the nations which had got possession of western Europe. In England, the successors of St. Augustine converted a large part of the Anglo-Saxons by their preaching, and much was also done by missionaries from the island of Iona, on the west of Scotland. There, as we have seen, [63] an Irish abbot, named
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CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER III.
ST. BONIFACE. A.D. 680-755. Although the Church of Ireland was in a somewhat rough state at home, many of its clergy undertook missionary work on the Continent; and by them and others much was done for the conversion of various tribes in Germany and in the Netherlands. But the most famous missionary of those times was an Englishman named Winfrid, who is styled the Apostle of Germany. Winfrid was born near Crediton, in Devonshire, about the year 680. He became a monk at an early age, and perhaps
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CHAPTER IV.
CHAPTER IV.
PIPIN AND CHARLES THE GREAT. A.D. 741-814. PART I . Towards the end of St. Boniface's life, a great change took place in the government of the Franks. Pipin, who had succeeded his father, Charles Martel, as mayor of the palace, grew tired of being called a servant while he was really the master; and the French sent to ask the pope, whose name was Zacharias, whether the man who really had the kingly power ought not also to have the title of king. Zacharias, who had been greatly obliged to the Fra
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CHAPTER V.
CHAPTER V.
DECAY OF CHARLES THE GREAT'S EMPIRE. A.D. 814-887. Lewis, the son of Charles the Great, was a prince who had very much of good in him, so that he is commonly called the Pious. But he was of weak character, and his reign was full of troubles, mostly caused by the ambition of his own sons, who were helped by a strong party among the clergy, and even by Pope Gregory the Fourth. At one time he was obliged to undergo public penance, and some years later he was deprived of his kingdom and empire, alth
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CHAPTER VI.
CHAPTER VI.
STATE OF THE PAPACY. A.D. 891-1046. All this time the papacy was in a very sad condition. Popes were set up and put down continually, and some of them were put to death by their enemies. The body of one pope named Formosus, after it had been some years in the grave, was taken up by order of one of his successors (Stephen VI.), was dressed out in the full robes of office, and placed in the papal chair; and then the dead pope was tried and condemned for some offence against the laws of the Church.
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CHAPTER VII.
CHAPTER VII.
MISSIONS OF THE NINTH AND TENTH CENTURIES. It will be pleasanter to tell you something about the missions of those times; for a great deal of missionary work was then carried on. (1.) The Bulgarians, who had come from Asia in the end of the seventh century, and had settled in the country which still takes its name from them, were converted by missionaries of the Greek Church. It is said that, when some beginning of the work had been made, and the king himself had been baptized by the patriarch o
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CHAPTER VIII.
CHAPTER VIII.
POPE GREGORY THE SEVENTH. PART I . In the times of which I have been lately speaking, the power of the popes had grown far beyond what it was in the days of Gregory the Great. I have told you Gregory was very much displeased because a patriarch of Constantinople had styled himself Universal Bishop . [68] But since that time the popes had taken to calling themselves by this very title, and they meant a great deal more by it than the patriarchs of Constantinople had meant; for people in the East a
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CHAPTER IX.
CHAPTER IX.
THE FIRST CRUSADE. A.D. 1095-1099. PART I . The popes who came next after Gregory VII. carried things with a high hand, following the example which he had set them. They got the better of Henry IV., but in a way which did them no credit. For when Henry had returned from Italy to his own country, and had done his best, by many years of good government, to heal the effects of the long troubles of Germany, the popes encouraged his son Conrad, and after Conrad's death, his younger son Henry, to rebe
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CHAPTER X.
CHAPTER X.
NEW ORDERS OF MONKS.—MILITARY ORDERS. In the times of which I have lately been speaking, the monks did much valuable service to the Church and to the world in general. It was mostly through their labours that heathen nations were converted to the Gospel, that their barbarous roughness was tamed, and that learning, although it had greatly decayed, was not altogether lost. Often, where monks had built their houses in lonely places, little clusters of huts grew up round them, and in time these clus
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CHAPTER XI.
CHAPTER XI.
ST. BERNARD. A.D. 1091-1153. PART I . St. Bernard was mentioned a little way back, [78] when we were speaking of the Cistercian order. But I must now tell you something more specially about him; for Bernard was not only famous for his piety and for his eloquent speech, but by means of these he gained such power and influence that he was able to direct the course of things in the Church in such a way as no other man ever did. Bernard, then, was born near Dijon, in Burgundy, in the year 1091. His
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CHAPTER XII.
CHAPTER XII.
ADRIAN IV.—ALEXANDER III.—BECKET.—THE THIRD CRUSADE. A.D. 1153-1192. In the year of Bernard's death Adrian IV. was chosen pope; and he is especially to be noted by us because he was the only Englishman who ever held the papacy. His name at first was Nicolas Breakspeare; and he was born near St. Albans, where, in his youth, he asked to be received into the famous abbey as a monk. But the monks of St. Albans refused him; and he then went to seek his fortune abroad, where he rose step by step, unti
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CHAPTER XIII.
CHAPTER XIII.
INNOCENT THE THIRD. A.D. 1198-1216. PART I . The popes were continually increasing their power in many ways, although they were often unable to hold their ground in their own city, but were driven out by the Romans, so that they were obliged to seek a refuge in France, or to fix their court for a time in some little Italian town. They claimed the right of setting up and plucking down emperors and kings. Instead of asking the emperor to confirm their own election to the papacy, as in former times
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CHAPTER XIV.
CHAPTER XIV.
FREDERICK II.—ST. LEWIS OF FRANCE. A.D. 1220-1270. PART I . The popes still tried to stir up the Christians of the West for the recovery of the Holy Land; and there were crusading attempts from time to time, although without much effect. One of these crusades was undertaken in 1228 by Frederick II., an emperor who was all his life engaged in struggles against one pope after another. Frederick had taken the cross when he was very young; but when once any one had done so, the popes thought that th
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CHAPTER XV.
CHAPTER XV.
PETER OF MURRONE. A.D. 1294. In that age the papacy was sometimes long vacant, because the cardinals, who were the highest in rank of the Roman clergy, and to whom the choice of a pope belonged, could not agree. In order to get over this difficulty, rules were made for the purpose of forcing the cardinals to make a speedy choice. Thus, at a council which was held by Pope Gregory X. at Lyons, in 1274 (chiefly for the sake of restoring peace and fellowship between the Greek and Latin Churches), a
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CHAPTER XVI.
CHAPTER XVI.
BONIFACE VIII. A.D. 1294-1303. PART I . In Celestine's place was chosen Benedict Gaetani, who, although even older than the worn-out and doting late pope, was still full of strength, both in body and in mind. Benedict (who took the name of Boniface VIII.) is said to have been very learned, especially in matters of law; but his pride and ambition led him into attempts which ended in his own ruin, and did serious harm to the papacy. In the year 1300 Boniface set on foot what was called the Jubilee
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CHAPTER XVII.
CHAPTER XVII.
THE POPES AT AVIGNON.—THE RUIN OF THE TEMPLARS. A.D. 1303-1312. PART I . The next pope, Benedict XI., wished to do away with the effects of Boniface's pride and ambition, and especially to soothe the king of France, whom Boniface had so greatly provoked. But Benedict died within about seven months (June 27, 1304) after his election, and it was not easy to fill up his place. At last, about a year after Benedict's death (June 5, 1305), Bertrand du Got, archbishop of Bordeaux, was chosen. It was sa
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CHAPTER XVIII.
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE POPES AT AVIGNON ( continued ). A.D. 1314-1352. Pope Clement V. died a few months before Philip (April, 1314), and was succeeded by John XXII., a Frenchman, who was seventy years old at the time of his election, and lived to ninety. The most remarkable thing in John's papacy was his quarrel with Lewis of Bavaria, who had been chosen emperor by some of the electors, while others voted for Frederick of Austria. For the choice of an emperor (or rather of a king of the Romans) had by this time f
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CHAPTER XIX.
CHAPTER XIX.
RELIGIOUS SECTS AND PARTIES. While the popes were thus trying to lord it over all men, from the emperor downwards, there were many who hated their doctrines and would not allow their authority. The Albigenses and Waldenses, although persecuted as we have seen, still remained in great numbers, and held the opinions which had drawn so much suffering on them. The Albigenses, indeed, were but a part of a greater body, the Cathari , who were spread through many countries, and had an understanding and
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CHAPTER XX.
CHAPTER XX.
JOHN WYCLIF. (BORN ABOUT 1324. DIED 1384.) At this time arose a reformer of a different kind from any of those who had gone before him. He was a Yorkshireman, named John Wyclif, who had been educated at Oxford, and had become famous there as a teacher of philosophy before he began to show any difference of opinions from those which were common in the Church. Ever since the time when King John disgusted his people by his shameful submission to the pope, [87] there had been a strong feeling agains
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CHAPTER XXI.
CHAPTER XXI.
THE POPES RETURN TO ROME. A.D. 1367-1377. While the popes lived at Avignon, Rome suffered very much from their absence. There was nothing like a regular government. The great Roman families (such as the Colonnas, whom I have mentioned in speaking of Boniface VIII.) carried on their quarrels with each other, and no one attempted or was strong enough to check them. Murders, robberies, and violences of all sorts were common. The vast and noble buildings which had remained from ancient times were ne
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CHAPTER XXII.
CHAPTER XXII.
THE GREAT SCHISM. A.D. 1378-1410. Gregory XI. died in 1378, and the choice of a successor to him was no easy matter. The Romans were bent on having a countryman of their own, that they might be sure of his continuing to live among them. They guarded the gates, they brought into the city a number of rough and half-savage people from the hills around, to terrify the cardinals; and, when these were shut up for the election, the mob surrounded the palace in which they were, with cries of "We will ha
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CHAPTER XXIII.
CHAPTER XXIII.
JOHN HUSS. A.D. 1369-1414. It would seem that after a time Wyclif's opinions almost died out in England. But meanwhile they, or opinions very like them, were eagerly taken up in Bohemia. If we look at the map of Europe, we might think that no country was less likely than Bohemia to have anything to do with England; for it lies in the midst of other countries, far away from all seas, and with no harbours to which English ships could make their way. And besides this, the people are of a different
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CHAPTER XXIV.
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE. A.D. 1414-1418. PART I . The division of the Church between three popes cried aloud for settlement in some way; and besides this there were general complaints as to the need of reform in the Church. The emperor Sigismund urged Pope John to call a general council for the consideration of these subjects; and, although John hated the notion of such a meeting, he could not help consenting. He wished that the council should be held in Italy, as he might hope to manage it mor
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CHAPTER XXV.
CHAPTER XXV.
THE HUSSITES. A.D. 1418-1431. The news of Huss's death naturally raised a general feeling of anger in Bohemia, where his followers treated his memory as that of a saint, and kept a festival in his honour. And when the emperor Sigismund, in 1419, succeeded his brother Wenceslaus in the kingdom of Bohemia, he found that he was hated by his new subjects on account of his share in the death of Huss. But, although most of the Bohemians might now be called Hussites, there were great divisions among th
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CHAPTER XXVI.
CHAPTER XXVI.
COUNCILS OF BASEL AND FLORENCE. A.D. 1431-9. It had been settled at the council of Constance that regularly from time to time there should be held a general council, by which name was then meant a council gathered from the whole of the Western Church, but without any representatives of the Eastern Churches; and according to this decree a council was to meet at Basel, on the Rhine, in the year 1431. It was just before the time of its opening that Cardinal Cesarini was defeated by the Hussites of
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CHAPTER XXVII.
CHAPTER XXVII.
NICOLAS V. AND PIUS II. A.D. 1447-1464. The next pope, Nicolas V., was a man who had raised himself from a humble station by his learning, ability, and good character. He was chiefly remarkable for his love of learning, and for the bounty which he spent on learned men. For learning had come to be regarded with very high honour, and those who were famous for it found themselves persons of great importance, who were welcome at the courts of princes, from the Emperor of the West down to the little
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CHAPTER XXVIII.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
JEROME SAVONAROLA. A.D. 1452-1498. PART I . There is not much to tell about the popes after Pius II. until we come to Alexander VI., who was a Spaniard named Roderick Borgia, and was pope from 1492 to 1503. And the story of Alexander is too shocking to be told here; for there is hardly anything in all history so bad as the accounts which we have of him and of his family. He is supposed to have died of drinking, by mistake, some poison which he had prepared for a rich cardinal whose wealth he wis
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CHAPTER XXIX.
CHAPTER XXIX.
JULIUS II. AND LEO X. A.D. 1503-1521. Alexander VI. was succeeded by a pope who took the title of Pius III., and lived only six and twenty days after his election. And after Pius came Julius II., who was pope from 1503 to 1513, and Leo X., who lived to the year 1521. Julius, who owed his rise in life to the favour of his uncle Sixtus IV. (one of the popes who had come between Pius II. and Alexander VI.), was desirous to gain for the Roman see all that it had lost or had ever claimed. He was not
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CHAPTER XXX.
CHAPTER XXX.
MISSIONS.—THE INQUISITION. All through the times of which I had been speaking, missions to the heathen were actively carried on. Much of this kind was done in Asia, and, indeed, the heart of Asia seems to have been more open and better known to Europeans during some part of the middle ages than it has ever been since. But as those parts were so far off, and so hard to get at, it often happened that dishonest people, for their own purposes, brought to Europe wonderful tales of the conversion of E
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SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE.
SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE.
PUBLICATIONS ON The CHRISTIAN EVIDENCE....
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BOOKS.
BOOKS.
Christianity Judged by its Fruits. By the Rev. C. Croslegh , D.D. Post 8vo. Cloth boards The Great Passion-Prophecy Vindicated. By the Rev. Brownlow Maitland , M.A. Post 8vo. Limp cloth Natural Theology of Natural Beauty (The). By the Rev. R. St. John Tyrwhitt , M.A. Post 8vo. Cloth boards Steps to Faith. Addresses on some points in the Controversy with Unbelief. By the Rev. Brownlow Maitland , M.A. Post 8vo. Cloth boards Scepticism and Faith. By the Rev. Brownlow Maitland , M.A. Post 8vo. Cloth
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