CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Pope Boniface VIII

CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Pope Boniface VIII
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Pope Boniface VIII
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(B
ENEDETTO
AETANO
Born at
Anagni
about 1235; died at
Rome
, 11 October, 1303. He was the son of Loffred, a descendant of a noble
family
originally Spanish, but long established in
Italy
--first at
Gaeta
and later at
Anagni
. Through his mother he was connected with the house of
Segni
, which had already given three illustrious sons to the
Church
Innocent III
Gregory IX
, and
Alexander IV
. Benedetto had studied at
Todi
and at
Spoleto
in
Italy
, perhaps also at
Paris
, had obtained the doctorate in canon and
civil law
, and been made a canon successively at
Anagni
Todi
, Paris,
Lyons
, and
Rome
. In 1265 he accompanied Cardinal Ottobuono Fieschi to
England
, whither that
prelate
had been sent to restore harmony between Henry III and the rebellious barons. It was not until about 1276 that Gaetani entered upon his career in the
Curia
, where he was, for some years, actively engaged as consistorial advocate and notary Apostolic, and soon acquired considerable influence. Under
Martin IV
, in 1281, he was created
Cardinal-Deacon
of the title of S. Nicolò
in carcere Tulliano,
and ten years later, under
Nicholas IV
Cardinal-Priest
of the title of SS. Silvestro e Martino ai Monti. As
papal legate
he served with conspicuous ability in
France
and in
Sicily
(H. Finke, Aus den Tagen Bonifaz VIII, Münster, 1902, 1 sqq., 9 sqq.).
On the 13th of December, 1294, the saintly but wholly incompetent
hermit
pope
Celestine V
, who five months previously, as Pietro di Murrhone, had been taken from his obscure mountain cave in the wilds of the Abruzzi and raised to the highest dignity in
Christendom
, resigned the intolerable burden of the
papacy
. The act was unprecedented and has been frequently ascribed to the undue influence and pressure of the designing Cardinal Gaetani. That the elevation of the inexperienced and simple-minded
recluse
did not commend itself to a man of the stamp of Gaetani, reputed the greatest jurist of his age and well-skilled in all the arts of curial diplomacy, is highly probable. But Boniface himself declared through Ægidius Colonna, that he had at first dissuaded Celestine from taking the step. And it has now been almost certainly established that the
idea
of resigning the
papacy
first originated in the mind of the sorely perplexed Celestine himself, and that the part played by Gaetani was at most that of a counsellor, strongly advising the pontiff to issue a constitution, either before or simultaneously with his abdication, declaring the legality of a
papal
resignation and the competency of the
College of Cardinals
to accept it. [See especially H. Schulz, Peter von Murrhone--Papst Celestin V--in Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte, xvii (1897), 481 sqq.; also Finke, op. cit., 39 sqq.; and R. Scholz, Die Publizistik zur Zeit Philipps des Schönen und Bonifaz VIII, Stuttgart, 1903, 3.] Ten days after Celestine the Fifth's
gran rifuto
the
cardinals
went into
conclave
in the Castel Nuovo at
Naples
, and on the 24th of December, 1294, by a majority of votes elected Cardinal Benedetto Gaetani, who took the name of Boniface VIII. (For details of the election see Finke, op. cit., 44-54.) With the approval of the
cardinals
, the new
pope
immediately revoked (27 December, 1294) all the extraordinary favours and privileges which "in the fullness of his simplicity"
Celestine V
had distributed with such reckless prodigality. Then, early in January of the following year, in spite of the rigour of the season, Boniface set out for
Rome
, determined to remove the
papacy
as soon as possible from the influence of the
Neapolitan
court. The
ceremony
of his
consecration
and
coronation
was performed at
Rome
, 23 January, 1295, amid scenes of unparalleled splendour and magnificence. King Charles II of
Naples
and his son
Charles Martel
, titular king and claimant of
Hungary
, held the reins of his gorgeously accoutred snow-white palfrey as he proceeded on his way to St. John Lateran, and later, with their crowns upon their heads, served the
pope
with the first few dishes at table before taking their places amongst the
cardinals
. On the following day the pontiff issued his first encyclical letter, in which, after announcing Celestine's abdication and his own accession, he depicted in the most glowing terms the sublime and indefectible nature of the
Church
The unusual step taken by
Celestine V
had aroused much opposition, especially among the religious parties in
Italy
. In the hands of the Spirituals, or Fraticelli, and the
Celestines
--many of whom were not as guileless as their saintly founder--the former pontiff, if allowed to go free, might prove to be a dangerous instrument for the promotion of a
schism
in the
Church
. Boniface VIII, therefore, before leaving
Naples
, ordered
Celestine V
to be taken to
Rome
in the custody of the
Abbot
of
Monte Cassino
. On the way thither the
saint
escaped and returned to his hermitage near Sulmona. Apprehended again, he fled a second time, and after weary weeks of roaming through the woods of Apulia reached the sea and embarked on board a vessel about to sail for
Dalmatia
. But a storm cast the luckless fugitive ashore at Vieste in the Capitanata, where the authorities recognized and detained him. He was brought before Boniface in his palace at
Anagni
, kept in custody there for some time, and finally transferred to the strong Castle of Fumone at
Ferentino
. Here he remained until his death ten months later, 19 May, 1296. The detention of Celestine was a simple measure of
prudence
for which Boniface VIII deserves no censure; but the rigorous treatment to which the old man of over eighty years was subjected--whoever may have been responsible for it--will not be easily condoned. Of this treatment there can now no longer be any question. The place wherein Celestine was confined was so narrow "that the spot whereon the
saint
stood when saying
Mass
was the same as that whereon his head lay when he reclined" (quod, ubi tenebat pedes ille sanctus, dum missam diceret, ibi tenebat caput, quando quiescebat), and his two companions were frequently
obliged
to change places because the constraint and narrowness made them ill. (In this connexion see the very important and valuable paper "S. Pierre Célestin et ses premiers Biographes" in "Analecta Bolland.", XVI, 365-487; cf. Finke, op. cit., 267.)
Thoroughly imbued with the principles of his great and heroic predecessors,
Gregory VII
and
Innocent III
, the successor of
Celestine V
entertained most exalted notions on the subject of
papal
supremacy in
ecclesiastical
as well as in civil matters, and was ever most pronounced in the assertion of his claims. By his profound
knowledge
of the canons of the
Church
, his keen political
instincts
, great practical experience of life, and high talent for the conduct of affairs, Boniface VIII seemed exceptionally well qualified to maintain inviolate the
rights
and privileges of the
papacy
as they had been handed down to him. But he failed either to recognize the altered temper of the times, or to gauge accurately the strength of the forces arrayed against him; and when he attempted to exercise his supreme authority in temporal affairs as in spiritual, over princes and people, he met almost everywhere with a determined resistance. His aims of universal peace and
Christian
coalition against the
Turks
were not realized; and during the nine years of his troubled reign he scarcely ever achieved a decisive triumph. Though certainly one of the most remarkable pontiffs that have ever occupied the
papal
throne, Boniface VIII was also one of the most unfortunate. His pontificate marks in history the decline of the
medieval
power and glory of the
papacy
Boniface first endeavoured to settle the affiars of
Sicily
, which had been in a very distracted condition since the time of the
Sicilian Vespers
(1282). Two rivals claimed the island, Charles II, King of
Naples
, in right of his
father
Charles of Anjou, who had received it from
Clement IV
, and James II, King of
Aragon
, who derived his claims from the Hohenstaufen, through his mother Constance, the daughter of Manfred. James II had been
crowned
King of
Sicily
at Palermo in 1286, and had thereby incurred the sentence of
excommunication
for daring to usurp a fief of the
Holy See
. On his succession to the throne of
Aragon
, after the death of his brother Alfonso III, in 1291, James agreed to surrender
Sicily
to Charles II on condition that he should receive the latter's daughter, Blanche of
Naples
, in marriage, together with a dowry of 70,000 pounds of silver. Boniface VIII, as liege lord of the island, ratified this agreement 21 June, 1295, and further sought to reconcile the conflicting elements by restoring James II to peace with the
Church
, confirming him in his possession of
Aragon
, and granting him the islands of
Sardinia
and
Corsica
, which were fiefs of the
Holy See
, in compensation for the loss of
Sicily
. By these measures Boniface VIII merely adhered to the traditional policy of the
papacy
in dealing with
Sicilian
affairs; there is no evidence to show that, either before or shortly after his election, he had pledged himself in any way to recover
Sicily
for the House of Anjou.
Sicily
was not, however, pacified by this agreement between the
pope
and the kings of
Aragon
and
Naples
. Threatened with a renewal of the detested rule of the French, the inhabitants of that island asserted their independence, and offered the crown to Frederick, the younger brother of James II. In an interview with Frederick at
Velletri
, the
pope
sought to dissuade him from accepting the offer by holding out prospects of a succession to the throne of Constantinople and a marriage with Princess Catherine of Courtenay, granddaughter and heir of Baldwin II, the last Latin Emperor of the East. But the young prince would not be dissuaded. The
papal legate
was expelled from the island, and, against the protests of Boniface VIII, Frederick was
crowned
King of
Sicily
at
Palermo
, 25 March, 1296. He was at once
excommunicated
and the island placed under
interdict
. Neither the king nor his people paid any heed to the censures. At the instigation of the
pope
war
ensued, in which James of
Aragon
, as Captain-General of the
Church
, was compelled to take part against his own brother. The contest was brought to a close (1302) through the efforts of Prince Charles of Valois, whom the
pope
had called to his assistance in 1301. Frederick was to be absolved from the censures he had incurred, to marry Eleanora, younger daughter of Charles II, and to retain
Sicily
during his lifetime. After his death the island should revert to the King of
Naples
. Though frustrated in his hopes, Boniface VIII ratified the treaty 12 June, 1303, and agreed to recognize Frederick as vassal of the
Holy See
In the meantime Boniface VIII had directed his attention also to the north of
Italy
, where, during a period of forty years, the two rival republics of
Venice
and
Genoa
had been carrying on a bitter contest for commercial supremacy in the Levant. A
crusade
was wellnigh impossible without the active co-operation of these two powers. The
pope
, therefore, commanded a truce until 24 June, 1296, and ordered both the contestants to send ambassadors to
Rome
with a view to arranging terms of peace. The
Venetians
were inclined to accept his mediation; not so the
Genoese
, who were elated by their success. The
war
continued till 1299, when the two republics were
obliged
finally to conclude peace from sheer exhaustion, but even then the intervention of the
pope
was rejected.
The efforts made by Boniface VIII to restore order in
Florence
and
Tuscany
proved
equally futile. During the closing years of the thirteenth century the great
Guelph
city was torn asunder by the violent dissensions of the Bianchi and the Neri. The Bianchi or Whites, of
Ghibelline
tendencies, represented the popular party and contained some of the most distinguished men in
Florence
--
Dante Alighieri
, Guido Cavalcanti, and Dino Compagni. The Neri or Blacks, professing the old
Guelph
principles, represented the nobles or aristocracy of the city. Each party as it gained the ascendancy sent its opponents into exile. After a vain attempt to reconcile the leaders of the two parties, Vieri dei Cerchi and Corso Donati, the
pope
sent Cardinal Matteo d'Acquasparta as
papal legate
to mediate and establish peace at Florence. The
legate
met with no success and soon returned to
Rome
leaving the city under an
interdict
. Towards the end of 1300, Boniface VIII summoned to his aid Charles of Valois, brother of
Philip the Fair
. Appointed Captain-General of Church and invested with the governorship of
Tuscany
(in consequence of the vacancy of the empire), the French prince was given full powers to effect the pacification of the city. Valois arrived at Florence on 1 November, 1301. But instead of acting as the official peacemaker of the
pope
, he conducted himself as a ruthless destroyer. After five months of his partisan administration, the Neri were supreme and many of the Bianchi exiled and ruined--among them
Dante Alighieri
. Beyond drawing on himself and the
pope
the bitter
hatred
of the Florentine people, Charles had accomplished nothing. (Levi, Bonifazio VIII e le sue relazioni col commune di Firenze, in Archiv. Soc. Rom. di Storia Patria, 1882, V, 365-474. Cf. Franchetti, Nuova Antologia, 1883, 23-38.) It may be noted here that many scholars of repute seriously question
Dante's
famous embassy to Boniface VIII in the latter part of 1301. The only contemporary evidence to support the poet's mission is a passage in Dino Compagni, and even that is looked upon by some as a later interpolation.
While thus endeavouring to promote peaceful relations between various states in Northern and Southern
Italy
, Boniface had himself become engaged in a desperate struggle at
Rome
with two rebellious members of the
Sacred College
, Jacopo Colonna and his nephew Pietro Colonna. The Colonna
cardinals
were Roman princes of the highest nobility and belonged to a powerful
Italian
family
that had numerous palaces and strongholds in
Rome
and in the Campagna. The estrangement which took place between them and Boniface, early in 1297, was owing chiefly to two causes. Jacopo Colonna, upon whom the administration of the vast Colonna
family
possessions had been conferred, violated the
rights
of his brothers, Matteo, Ottone, and Landolfo, by appropriating the
property
rightfully belonging to them, and bestowing it on his nephews. To obtain redress they appealed to the
pope
, who decided in their favour, and repeatedly admonished the
cardinal
to deal justly with his brothers. But the
cardinal
and his nephews bitterly resented the
pope's
intervention and obstinately refused to abide by his decision. Moreover, the Colonna
cardinals
had seriously compromised themselves by maintaining highly treasonable relations with the political enemies of the
pope
--first with James II of
Aragon
, and later with Frederick III of
Sicily
. Repeated warnings against this alliance having availed nothing, Boniface, in the interests of his own security, ordered the Colonna to receive
papal
garrisons in
Palestrina
--the ancestral home of the
family
--and in their fortresses Zagarolo and Colonna. This they declined to do and forthwith broke off all relations with the
pope
. On the 4th of May, 1297, Boniface summoned the
cardinals
to his presence, and when, two days later (6 May), they appeared, he commanded them to do three things: to restore the consignment of gold and silver which their relative Stefano Colonna had seized and robbed from the
pope's
nephew, Pietro Gaetani, as he was bringing it from
Anagni
to
Rome
; to deliver up Stefano as a
prisoner
to the
pope
; and to surrender
Palestrina
together with the fortresses Zagarolo and Colonna. They complied with the first of these demands, but rejected the other two. Thereupon Boniface on the 10th of May, 1297, issued a
Bull
"In excelso throno", depriving the rebellious
cardinals
of their dignities, pronouncing sentence of
excommunication
against them, and ordering them, within a space of ten days, to make their submission under penalty of forfeiting their
property
. On the morning of the same day (10 May) the Colonna had attached to the doors of several Roman churches, and even laid upon the
high altar
of St. Peter's, a manifesto, in which they declared the election of Boniface VIII invalid on the ground that the abdication of
Celestine V
was uncanonical, accused Boniface of circumventing his saintly predecessor, and appealed to a
general council
from whatever steps might be taken against them by the
pope
. This protest compiled at Longhezza, with the assistance of
Fra Jacopone da Todi
and of two other Spirituals, had somewhat anticipated the
papal Bull
, in answer to which, however, the Colonna issued the second manifesto (16 May) containing numerous charges against Boniface and appealing anew to a
general council
. The
pope
met this bold proceeding with increased severity. On the 23rd of May, 1297, a second
Bull
, "Lapis abscissus", confirmed the previous
excommunication
, and extended it to the five nephews of Jacopo with their heirs, declared them schismatics, disgraced, their
property
forfeited, and threatened with the
interdict
all such places as received them. Boniface at the same time pointed out how the Colonna
cardinals
had themselves favoured his election (in the
conclave
they had voted for Gaetani from the first, as they had been among those who counselled Celestine's abdication), had publicly acknowledged him as
pope
, attended his
coronation
, entertained him as their guest at Zagarolo, taken part in his consistories, signed all state documents with him, and had for nearly three years been his faithful
ministers
at the altar. The rebels replied with a third manifesto (15 June), and immediately set about preparing their fortresses for defense.
Boniface now withdrew from
Rome
to
Orvieto
, where, on the 4th of September, 1297, he declared
war
and entrusted the command of the pontifical troops to Landolfo Colonna, a brother of Jacopo. In December of the same year he even proclaimed a
crusade
against his enemies. The fortresses and castles of the Colonna were taken without much difficulty.
Palestrina
(Præneste), the best of their strongholds, alone held out for some time, but in September, 1298, it too was forced to surrender.
Dante
says it was got by treachery by "long promises and short performances" as Guido of
Montefeltro
counselled, but the tale of the implacable
Ghibelline
has long since been discredited. Clad in mourning, a cord around their necks, the two
cardinals
, with other members of the rebellious
family
, came to
Rieti
to cast themselves at the feet of the pontiff and implore his forgiveness. Boniface received the captives amid all the splendours of the
papal
court, granted them pardon and
absolution
, but refused to restore them to their dignities.
Palestrina
was razed to the ground, the plough driven through and salt strewn over its ruins. A new city--the Città Papale--later replaced it. When shortly afterwards the Colonna organized another revolt (which was however speedily suppressed), Boniface once more proscribed and
excommunicated
the turbulent clan. Their
property
was confiscated, and the greater part of it bestowed on Roman nobles, more especially on Landolfo Colonna, the Orsini, and on the relatives of the
pope
. The Colonna
cardinals
and the leading members of the
family
now withdrew from the
States of the Church
--some seeking shelter in
France
, others in
Sicily
. (
Denifle
, see below, and Petrine, Memorie Prænestine, Rome, 1795.)
Early in the reign of Boniface, Eric VIII of
Denmark
had
unjustly
imprisoned
Jens Grand,
Archbishop
of
Lund
. Isarnus, Archpriest of
Carcassonne
, was commissioned (1295) by Boniface to threaten the king with spiritual penalties, unless the
archbishop
were freed, pending the investigation of the matter at
Rome
, whither the king was invited to send representatives. The latter were actually sent, but were met at
Rome
by Archbishop Grand, who had in the meanwhile escaped. Boniface decided for the
archbishop
, and, when the king refused to yield,
excommunicated
him and laid the kingdom under
interdict
(1298). In 1303 Eric yielded, though his adversary was transferred to Riga and his
see
given (1304) to the
legate
Isarnus. In
Hungary
Chambert or Canrobert of Naples claimed the vacant crown as descendant of
St. Stephen
on the distaff side, and was supported by the
pope
in his quality of traditional overlord and protector of
Hungary
. The nobles, however, elected Andrew III, and on his early demise (1301) chose Ladislaus, son of Wenceslaus II of
Bohemia
. They paid no heed to the
interdict
of the
papal legate
, and the arbitration of Boniface was finally declined by the envoys of Wenceslaus. The latter had accepted from the Polish nobles the Crown of
Poland
, vacant owing to the banishment (1300) of Ladislaus I. The solemn warning of the
pope
and his protest against the violation of his right as overlord of
Poland
were unheeded by Wenceslaus, who soon, moreover, allied himself with
Philip the Fair
In
Germany
, on the death of Rudolph of Hapsburg (1291), his son Albert, Duke of
Austria
, declared himself king. The electors, however, chose (1292) Count Adolph of Nassau, whereupon Albert submitted. Adolph's government proving unsatisfactory, three of the electors deposed him at
Mainz
(23 June, 1298) and
enthroned
Albert. The rival kings appealed to arms; at Göllheim, near Worms, Adolph lost (2 July, 1298) both his life and crown. Albert was re-elected king by the Diet of
Frankfort
and
crowned
at
Aachen
(24 August, 1298). The electors had sought regularly from Boniface recognition of their choice and imperial
consecration
. He refused both on the plea that Albert was the murderer of his liege lord. Very soon Albert was at
war
with the three Rhenish archbishop-electors, and in 1301 the
pope
summoned him to
Rome
to answer various charges. Victorious in battle (1302), Albert sent agents to Boniface with letters in which he denied having slain King Adolph, nor had he sought the battle
voluntarily
, nor borne the royal title while Adolph lived, etc. Boniface eventually recognized his election (30 Apr., 1303). A little later (17 July) Albert renewed his
father's
oath
of fidelity to the
Roman Church
, recognized the
papal
authority in
Germany
as laid down by Boniface (May, 1300), and promised to send no imperial vicar to
Tuscany
or
Lombardy
within the next five years without the
pope's
consent, and to defend the
Roman Church
against its enemies. In his attempt to preserve the independence of
Scotland
, Boniface was not successful. After the overthrow and
imprisonment
of John Baliol, and the defeat of Wallace (1298), the Scots Council of Regency sent envoys to the
pope
to protest against the
feudal
superiority of
England
. Boniface, they said, was the only judge whose
jurisdiction
extended over both kingdoms. Their realm belonged of right to the
Roman See
, and to none other. Boniface wrote to Edward I (27 June, 1299) reminding him, says
Lingard
, "almost in the very words of the Scottish memorial", that
Scotland
had belonged from ancient times and did still belong to the
Roman See
; the king was to cease all
unjust aggression
, free his captives, and pursue at the court of
Rome
within six months any
rights
that he claimed to the whole or part of
Scotland
. This letter reached the king after much delay, through the hands of Robert of Winchelsea,
Archbishop
of
Canterbury
, and was laid by Edward before a parliament summoned to meet at Lincoln. In its reply (27 Sept., 1300) the latter denied, over the names of the 104 lay lords, the
papal
claim of suzerainty over
Scotland
, and asserted that a king of
England
had never pleaded before any judge,
ecclesiastical
or secular, respecting his
rights
in
Scotland
or any other temporal
rights
, nor would they permit him to do so, were he thus inclined (
Lingard
, II, ch. vii). The king, however (7 May, 1301), supplemented this act by a memoir in which he set forth his royal view of the historical relations of
Scotland
and
England
. In their reply to this plea the representatives of
Scotland
re-assert the immemorial suzerainty of the
Roman Church
over
Scotland
"the
property
, the peculiar allodium of the
Holy See
"; in all controversies, they said, between these equal and independent kingdoms it is to their equal superior, the
Church
of
Rome
, that recourse should be had. This somewhat academic conflict soon seemed hopeless at
Rome
, owing to the mutual
violence
and quarrels of the weaker party (Bellesheim, "Hist. of the Cath. Church of Scotland", London, 1887, II, 9-11), and is of less importance than the strained relations between Boniface and Edward, apropos of the
unjust
taxation of the
clergy
In 1294, of his own authority, Edward I sequestered all moneys found in the treasuries of all churches and
monasteries
. Soon he demanded and obtained from the
clergy
one half their incomes, both from lay fees and
benefices
. In the following year he called for a third or a fourth, but they refused to pay more than a tenth. When, at the Convocation of
Canterbury
(November, 1296), the king demanded a fifth of their income, the
archbishop
, Robert of Winchelsea, in keeping with the new legislation of Boniface, offered to consult the
pope
, whereupon the king outlawed the
clergy
secular
and
regular
, and seized all their lay fees, goods, and chattels. The northern Province of York yielded; in the Province of
Canterbury
many resisted for a time, among them the
courageous
archbishop
, who retired to a rural
parish
. Eventually he was reconciled with the king, and his goods were restored, but as Edward soon after demanded in his own right a third of all
ecclesiastical
revenues, his recognition of the
Bull
"Clericis laicos" was evanescent.
The memorable conflict with
Philip the Fair
of
France
began early in the
pope's
reign and did not end even with the tragic close of his pontificate. The
pope's
chief aim was a general
European
peace, in the interest of a
crusade
that would break forever, at what seemed a favourable moment, the power of
Islam
. The main immediate obstacle to such a peace lay in the
war
between
France
and
England
, caused by Philip's
unjust
seizure of Gascony (1294). The chief combatants carried on the
war
at the expense of the
Church
, whose representatives they sorely taxed. Such taxation had often been permitted in the past by the
popes
, but only for the purpose (real or alleged) of a
crusade
; now it was applied in ordre to raise revenue from
ecclesiastics
for purely secular
warfare
. The
legates
sent by Boniface to both kings a few weeks after his elevation accomplished little; later efforts were rendered useless by the stubborn attitude of Philip. In the meantime numerous protests from the French
clergy
moved the
pope
to action, and with the approval of his
cardinals
he published (24 Feb., 1296) the
Bull
"Clericis laicos", in which he forbade the
laity
to exact or receive, and the
clergy
to give up,
ecclesiastical
revenues or
property
, without permission of the
Apostolic See
; princes imposing such exactions and
ecclesiastics
submitting to them were declared
excommunicated
. Other
popes
of the thirteenth century, and the Third and Fourth Lateran Councils (1179, 1215), had legislated similarly against the oppressors of the
clergy
; apart, therefore, from the opening line of the
Bull
, that seemed offensive as reflecting on the
laity
in general (
Clericis laicos infensos esse oppido tradit antiquitas,
i.e., "All history shows clearly the enmity of the
laity
towards the
clergy
,"--in reality a byword in the
schools
and taken from earlier sources), there was nothing in its very general terms to rouse particularly the royal
anger
. Philip, however, was indignant, and soon retaliated by a royal ordinance (17 Aug.) forbidding the export of gold or silver, precious stones, weapons, and food from his kingdom. He also forbade foreign merchants to remain longer within its bounds. These measures affected immediately the
Roman Church
, for it drew much of its revenue from
France
, inclusive of crusade moneys, whence the numerous
papal
collectors were henceforth banished. The king also caused to be prepared a proclamation (never
promulgated
) concerning the
obligation
of
ecclesiastics
to bear the public burden and the revocable character of
ecclesiastical
immunities
. (For the generous contributions of the French
clergy
to the national burdens, see the exhaustive statistics of Bourgain in "Rev. des quest. hist.", 1890, XLVIII, 62.) In the
Bull
"Ineffabilis Amor" (20 Sept.) Boniface protested vigorously against these royal acts, and explained that he had never meant to forbid
voluntary
gifts from the
clergy
or contributions
necessary
for the defence of the kingdom, of which necessity the king and his council were the judges. During 1297 the
pope
sought in various ways to appease the royal embitterment, notably by the
Bull
"Etsi de Statu" (31 July), above all by the
canonization
(11 Aug., 1297) of the king's grandfather,
Louis IX
. The royal ordinance was withdrawn, and the painful incident seemed closed. In the meantime the truce which in 1296 Boniface had tried to impose on Philip and Edward was finally accepted by both kings early in 1298, for a space of two years. The disputed matters were referred to Boniface as arbiter, though Philip accepted him not as
pope
, but as a private
person
, as Benedetto Gaetano. The award, favourable to Philip, was issued (27 June) by Boniface in a public consistory.
In the Jubilee of 1300 the high spirit of Boniface might well recognize a compensation and a consolation for previous humiliations. This unique celebration, the apogee of the temporal splendour of the
papacy
(Zaccaria, De anno Jubilæi, Rome, 1775), was formally inaugurated by the
pope
on the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul (29 June). Giovanni Villani, an eyewitness, relates in his Florentine chronicle that about 200,000
pilgrims
were constantly in the City. It was
necessary
to make an opening in the wall of the Leonine City, near the Tiber, so that the multitude might have a larger freedom of movement. Pilgrims came from every country in
Europe
and even from distant
Asia
. Ominously enough, if we except the elder son of the King of
Naples
, none of the kings or princes of
Europe
came to pay their respects to the Vicar of Christ. The second crown in the
papal
tiara
, indicative of the temporal power, is said to date from the reign of Boniface, and may have been added at this time.
In the meantime Philip continued in a merciless way his fiscal oppression of the
Church
, and abused more than ever the so-called
regalia,
or royal privilege of collecting the revenues of a
diocese
during its vacancy. Since the middle of 1297 the exiled Colonna had found refuge and sympathy at the court of Philip, whence they spread
calumnious
charges against Boniface, and urged the calling of a
general council
for his deposition. The royal absolutism was now further incited by suggestions of a universal
Christian
dominion under the hegemony of
France
. The new state was to secure, besides the Holy Land, a universal peace. Both empires, the Byzantine and the German, were to be incorporated in it, and the
papacy
was to become a purely spiritual
patriarchate
, its temporalities administered by the French king, who would pay the
pope
an annual salary corresponding to his office. Such was the new Byzantinism outlined in a work on the recovery of the Holy Land ("De recuperatione terræ sanctæ", in Bongars, "Gesta Dei per Francos", II, 316-61, ed. Langlois, Paris, 1891), and though only the private work of Pierre Dubois, a civil servant of Philip, it probably reflected some fantastic plan of the king (Finke, Zur Charakteristik, 217-18).
In the first half of 1301 Boniface commissioned Bernard de Saisset,
Bishop
of
Pamiers
(Languedoc), as
legate
to Philip. He was to protest against the continued oppression of the
clergy
, and to urge the king to apply conscientiously to a
crusade
the
ecclesiastical
tithes
collected by
papal indults
. For various reasons De Saisset was not a welcome envoy (Langlois, Hist. de France, ed. Lavisse, III, 2, 143). On his return to Pamiers he was accused of treasonable speech and incitement to insurrection, was brought to
Paris
(12 July, 1301), thence to Senlis, where he was found guilty in a trial directed by Pierre Flote, and known to modern historians (
Von Reumont
) as "a model of
injustice
and
violence
". De Saisset in vain protested his innocence and denied the competency of the civil court; he was committed temporarily to the care of the
Archbishop
of Narbonne, while Pierre Flote and
Guillaume de Nogaret
went to
Rome
to secure from Boniface the degradation of his
legate
and his delivery to the
secular authority
. Boniface acted with decision. He demanded form the king the immediate liberation of De Saisset and wrote to the
Archbishop
of Narbonne to detain the latter no longer. By the
Bull
"Salvator Mundi" he withdrew the
indults
by which the French king collected canonically
ecclesiastical
revenue for the defence of the kingdom, i.e., he re-established in vigour the "Clericis laicos" and in the famous
Bull
"Ausculta Fili"
(Listen, O Son) of 5 Dec., 1301, he stood forth as the mouthpiece of the
medieval
papacy
, and as the genuine successor of the Gregories and the Innocents. In it he appeals to the king to listen to the Vicar of Christ, who is placed over kings and kingdoms (cf.
Jeremiah 1:10
). He is the keeper of the keys, the judge of the living and the dead, and sits on the throne of
justice
, with power to extirpate all iniquity. He is the head of the
Church
, which is one and stainless, and not a many-headed monster, and has full Divine authority to pluck out and tear down, to build up and plant. Let not the king imagine that he has no superior, is not subject to the highest authority in the
Church
. The
pope
is concerned for the welfare of all kings and princes, but particularly for the house of
France
. He then goes on to relate his many grievances against the king, the application of
ecclesiastical
goods to secular uses, despotic procedure in dragging
ecclesiastics
before civil courts, hindrance of episcopal authority, disrespect for
papal
provisions and
benefices
, and oppression of the
clergy
. He will no longer be responsible for the protection (
custodia
) of the monarch's
soul
, but has decided, after consulting his
cardinals
, to call to
Rome
for 4 Nov., 1302, the
French
bishops
and
doctors
of
theology
, principal
abbots
, etc., to "dispose what is suitable for the correction of abuses, and for the reformation of the king and the kingdom". He invites the king to be present personally or through representatives, warns him against his
evil
counsellors, and finally reminds him eloquently of the royal neglect of a
crusade
. An impartial reader, says
Von Reumont
, will see that the document is only a repetition of previous
papal
utterances and resumes the teaching of the most esteemed
medieval
theologians
on the nature and extension of
papal
authority. It was presented to the king (10 Feb., 1302) by Jacques de Normans,
Archdeacon
of Narbonne. The Comte d'Artois tore it from the Archdeacon's hands and cast it into the fire; another copy destined for the French
clergy
was suppressed (
Hefele
, 2d ed., VI, 329). In the place of the
"Ausculta Fili"
, there was at once circulated a forged
Bull
, "Deum time" (Fear
God
), very probably the work of Pierre Flote, and with equal probability approved by the king. Its five or six brief haughty lines were really drawn up to include the fateful phrase,
Scire te volumnus quod in spiritualibus et temporalibus nobis subes
(i.e., We wish thee to
know
that thou art our subject both in spiritual and in temporal matters). It was also added (an odious thing for the grandson of St. Louis) that whoever denied this was a
heretic
In vain did the
pope
and the
cardinals
protest against the
forgery
; in vain did the
pope
explain, a little later, that the subjection spoken of in the
Bull
was only
ratione peccati,
i.e., that the morality of every royal act, private or public, fell within the
papal
prerogative. The general tone of the
"Ausculta Fili"
, its personal admonitions couched in severe Scriptural language, its proposal to provide from
Rome
a good and prosperous administration of the French Kingdom, were not calculated to soothe at this juncture the minds of
Frenchmen
already agitated by the events of the preceeding years. It is also improbable that Boniface was personally very popular with the
French
secular clergy
, whose petition (1290) against the encroachments of the regular orders he had rejected in his rough sarcastic manner, when
legate
at
Paris
(Finke in "Römische Quartalschrift", 1895, IX, 171; "Journal des Savants", 1895, 240). The national concern for the independence and
honour
of the French king was further heightened by a forged reply of the king to Boniface, known as "Sciat maxima tua fatuitas". It begins: "Philip, by the
grace of God
King of the
Franks
, to Boniface who acts as
Supreme Pontiff
. Let thy very great fatuity
know
that in temporal things we are subject to no one.…" Such a document, though probably never officially presented at
Rome
(Hefele), certainly made its way thither. After forbidding the French
clergy
to go to
Rome
or to send thither any moneys, and setting a watch on all roads, ports, and passes leading to
Italy
, Philip forestalled the
pope's
November council by a national assembly at
Paris
(10 April, 1301) in the
Cathedral
of Notre Dame. The forged
Bull
was read before the representatives of the three estates; the
pope
was
violently
denounced by Pierre Flote as aiming at temporal sovereignty in
France
; the king besought as their friend, and as their ruler commanded all present to aid him with their counsel. Nobles and burghers offered to shed their blood for the king; the
clergy
, confused and hesitating, sought delay, but finally yielded so far as to write to the
pope
quite in the sense of the king. The lay estate directed to the
cardinals
a defiant protest, in which they withheld the
papal
title from Boniface, recounted the services of
France
to the
Roman Church
, and re- echoed the usual royal complaints, above all the calling to
Rome
of the principal
ecclesiastics
of the nation. The letter of the
bishops
was directed to Boniface and begged him to maintain the former concord, to withdraw the call for the council, and suggested
prudence
and moderation, since the
laity
was prepared to defy all
papal
censures. In the reply of the
cardinals
to the lay estates, they assert their complete harmony with the
pope
, denounce the aforesaid forgeries, and maintain that the
pope
never asserted a right of temporal sovereignty in
France
In his reply Boniface roundly scourged the
bishops
for their cowardice, human respect, and selfishness; at the same time he made use, after his fashion, of not a few expressions offensive to the
pride
of
French
ecclesiastics
and poured sarcasm over the
person
of the powerful Pierre Flote (Hefele). Finally, in a public consistory (August, 1302) at which the envoys of the king were present, the
Cardinal-Bishop
of Porto formally denied that the
pope
had ever claimed any temporal sovereignty over
France
and asserted that the genuine
Bull
Ausculta Fili
) had been well weighed and was an act of
love
, despite the fatherly severity of certain expressions. He insisted that the king was no more free than any other
Christian
from the supreme
ecclesiastical jurisdiction
of the
pope
, and maintained the unity of
ecclesiastical
authority. The
Apostolic See
, he said, was not foreign territory, nor could its nominees be rightly called foreigners. For the rest, the
pope
had full authority in temporal matters
ratione peccati,
i.e., in as far as the morality of
human acts
was concerned. He went on, however, to say that in temporal
jurisdiction
one must distinguish the right (
de jure
) and its use and execution (
usus et executio
). The former belonged to the
pope
as Vicar of Christ and of Peter; to deny it was to deny an
article of faith
, i.e., that Christ judges the living and the dead. This claim, says Hefele (2d ed., VI, 346), "must have appeared to the French as quite destructive of the aforesaid limitation
ratione peccati
Gregory IX
had maintained (1232, 1236), in his conflict with the Greeks and with
Frederick II
, that
Constantine the Great
had given temporal power to the
popes
, and that emperors and kings were only his auxiliaries, bound to use the material sword at his direction (Conciliengesch., 2d ed., V, 102, 1044). This theory, however, had never yet been officially put forth against
France
, and was all the more likely to rouse opposition in that nation, since it was now a question not of a theory, but of a practical situation, i.e., of the investigation of Philip's government and the menace of his deposition." He refers to the closing words of the discourse with which Boniface supplemented that of the
Cardinal-Bishop
of Porto, viz., that his predecessors had deposed three French kings, and, though unequal to such
popes
, he would, however sorrowfully, depose King Philip,
sicut unum garcionem
(like a servant); he thinks it not impossible (Hergenröther, Kirche und Staat, 229; Hefele, IV, 344) that the present harsh conclusion of the discourse of Boniface is one of the numerous forgeries of Pierre Flote and
Nogaret
. In the first half of this discourse the
pope
insists on the great development of
France
under
papal
protection, the shameless forgeries of Pierre Flote, the exclusive
ecclesiastical
nature of the grant (
collatio
) of
benefices
, and the
papal
preference for
doctors
of
theology
as aginst lay nepotism in matters of
benefices
. He is wroth over the assertion that he claimed
France
as a
papal
fief. "We have been a doctor of both
laws
(civil and canon) these forty years, and who can believe that such folly [
fatuitas
] ever entered Our head?" Boniface also expressed his willingness to accept the mediation of the Duke of
Burgundy
or the Duke of Brittany; the efforts of the former, however, availed not, as the
cardinals
insisted on satisfaction for the burning of the
papal Bull
and the
calumnious
attacks on Boniface. The king replied by confiscating the goods of the
ecclesiastics
who had set out for the Roman Council, which met 30 Oct., 1302.
There were present four
archbishops
, thirty-five
bishops
, six
abbots
, and several
doctors
. Its acts have disappeared, probably during the process against the memory of Boniface (1309-11). Two
Bulls
, however, were issued as a result of its deliberations. One
excommunicated
whoever hindered,
imprisoned
, or otherwise ill-treated
persons
journeying to, or returning from,
Rome
. The other (18 Nov., 1302) is the famous "Unam Sanctam", probably the composition of Ægidius Colonna,
Archbishop
of
Bourges
and a member of the council, and largely made up of passages from such famous
theologians
as
St. Bernard
Hugo of St. Victor
St. Thomas Aquinas
, and others. Its chief concepts are as follows (Hergenröther-Kirsch, 4th ed., II, 593): (1) There is but one
true
Church, outside of which there is no
salvation
; but one body of Christ with one head and not two. (2) That head is Christ and His representative, the Roman
pope
; whoever refuses the pastoral care of Peter belongs not to the flock of Christ. (3) There are two swords (i.e., powers), the spiritual and the temporal; the first borne by the
Church
, the second for the
Church
; the first by the hand of the
priest
, the second by that of the king, but under the direction of the
priest
ad nutum et patientiam sacerdotis
). (4) Since there must be a co-
ordination
of members from the lowest to the highest, it follows that the spiritual power is above the temporal and has the
right
to instruct (or establish--
instituere
) the latter regarding its highest end and to judge it when it does
evil
; whoever resists the highest power
ordained
of
God
resists
God
Himself. (5) It is
necessary
for
salvation
that all men should be subject to the
Roman Pontiff
--"Porro subesse Romano Pontifici omni humanæ creaturæ declaramus, dicimus, definimus et pronunciamus omnino esse de necessitate salutis". (For a more detailed account of the
Bull
and several controversies concerning it see
NAM
ANCTAM
.)
Philip had a refutation of the
Bull
prepared by the
Dominican
Jean Quidort (Joannes Parisiensis) in his "Tractatus de potestate regiâ et papali" (Goldast, Monarchia, ii, 108 sq.), and the conflict passed at once from the domain of principle to the
person
of Boniface. The king now rejected the
pope
as arbiter in his disputes with
England
and
Flanders
, and gave a courteous but evasive answer to the Legate, Jean Lemoine, whom the
pope
sent (February, 1303) on a mission of peace, but with insistence, among other conditions, on recognition of the aforesaid
rights
of the
papacy
. Lemoine was further commissioned to declare to Philip that, in default of a more satisfactory reply to the twelve points of the
papal
letter, the
pope
would proceed
spiritualiter et temporaliter
against him, i.e., would
excommunicate
and depose him. Boniface also sent to Lemoine (13 Apr., 1303) two Briefs, in one of which he declared the king already
excommunicated
, and in the other ordered all
French
prelates
to come to
Rome
within three months.
In the meantime there was brewing at
Paris
the storm in which the pontificate of Boniface was so disastrously to close. Philip concluded peace with
England
, temporized with the Flemings, and made concessions to his subjects. Boniface on his side acknowledged, as aforesaid, the election of Albert of
Austria
, and brought to an end his hopeless conflict with the
Aragonese
King of
Sicily
. Otherwise he seemed politically helpless, and could only trust, as he publicly stated, in his sense of
right
and
duty
. Later events showed that in his own household he could not count on loyalty. In an extraordinary session of the French Council of State (12 March, 1303)
Guillaume de Nogaret
appealed to Philip to protect the Holy Church against the intruder and
false
pope
, Boniface, a
simonist
, robber, and
heretic
, maintaining that the king, moreover, ought to call an assembly of the
prelates
and peers of
France
, through whose efforts a
general council
might be convoked, before which he would prove his charges. Such an assembly was called for 13 June, and met at the Louvre in
Paris
. The
papal
messenger with the aforesaid Briefs for the
legate
was seized at
Troyes
and
imprisoned
; Lemoine himself, after protesting against such
violence
, fled. At this assembly, packed with friends or creatures of Philip, the
knight
Guillaume de Plaisians (Du Plessis) submitted a solemn accusation against the
pope
in twenty-nine points, offered to prove the same, and begged the king to provide for a
general council
. The Colonna furnished the material for these
infamous
charges, long since adjudged
calumnious
by grave historians (
Hefele
, Conciliengesch., 2nd ed., VI, 460-63; Giovanni Villani, a contemporary, says that the Council of Vienne, in 1312, formally absolved him from the charge of
heresy
. Cf. Muratori, "SS. Rer. Ital.", XIV, 454; Raynaldus,
ad an.
1312, 15-16). Scarcely any possible crime was omitted--infidelity,
heresy
simony
, gross and unnatural immorality,
idolatry
, magic, loss of the Holy Land, death of
Celestine V
, etc. The king asserted that it was only to satisfy his
conscience
and to protect the
honour
of the
Holy See
that he would co-operate in the calling of a
general council
, asked the help of the
prelates
, and appealed (against any possible action of Boniface) to the future council, the future
pope
, and to all to whom appeal could be made. Five
archbishops
, twenty-one
bishops
, and some
abbots
sided with the king. The resolutions of the assembly were read to the people, and several hundred adhesions were secured from chapters,
monasteries
, and provincial cities, mostly through
violence
and intimidation. The
Abbot
of
Cîteaux
, Jean de Pontoise, protested, but was
imprisoned
. Royal letters were sent to the princes of
Europe
, also to the
cardinals
and
bishops
, setting forth the king's new-found
zeal
for the welfare of Holy Church.
In a public consistory at
Anagni
(August, 1303) Boniface cleared himself on his solemn
oath
of the charges brought against him at
Paris
and proceeded at once to protect the Apostolic authority. Citations before the
Holy See
were declared valid by the mere fact of being affixed to the church doors at the seat of the
Roman Curia
, and he
excommunicated
all who hindered such citations. He suspended Archbishop Gerhard of
Nicosia
(Cyprus), the first signatory of the
schismatical
resolutions. Pending satisfaction to the
pope
, the
University of Paris
lost the
right
to confer degrees in
theology
and in canon and
civil law
. He suspended temporarily for
France
the right of election in all
ecclesiastical
bodies, reserved to the
Holy See
all vacant
French
benefices
, repelled as
blasphemies
the
calumnious
charges of de Plaisians, saying "Who ever heard that We were a
heretic
?" (Raynaldus,
ad an.
1311, 40), and denounced the appeal to a future general council which could be convoked by none other than himself, the legitimate
pope
. He declared that unless the king repented he would inflict on him the severest punishments of the
Church
. The
Bull
"Super Petri solio" was ready for
promulgation
on 8 September. It contained in traditional form the solemn
excommunication
of the king and the liberation of his subjects from their
oath
of fidelity. Philip, however, and his counsellors had taken measures to rob this step of all force, or rather to prevent it at a decisive moment. It had long been their plan to seize the
person
of Boniface and compel him to abdicate, or, in case of his refusal, to bring him before a
general council
in
France
for condemnation and deposition. Since April,
Nogaret
and Sciarra Colonna had been active in
Tuscany
for the formation, at Philip's expense, of a band of mercenaries, some 2,000 strong, horse and foot. Very early on the morning of 7 September the band appeared suddenly before
Anagni
, under the lilies of
France
, shouting, "Long live the King of
France
and Colonna!" Fellow-conspirators in the town admitted them, and they at once attacked the palaces of the
pope
and his nephew. The ungrateful citizens fraternized with the besiegers of the
pope
, who in the meanwhile obtained a truce until three in the afternoon, when he rejected the conditions of Sciarra, viz., restoration of the Colonna, abdication, and delivery to Sciarra of the
pope's
person
. About six o'clock, however, the
papal
stronghold was penetrated through the adjoining
cathedral
. The soldiers, Sciarra at their head, sword in hand (for he had sworn to slay Boniface), at once filled the hall in which the
pope
awaited them with five of his
cardinals
, among them his beloved nephew Francesco, all of whom soon fled; only a
Spaniards
, the
Cardinal
of Santa Sabina, remained at his side to the end.
In the meantime the
papal
palace was thoroughly plundered; even the archives were destroyed. Dino Compagni, the Florentine chronicler, relates that when Boniface saw that further resistance was useless he exclaimed, "Since I am betrayed like the Saviour, and my end is nigh, at least I shall die as Pope." Thereupon he ascended his throne, clad in the pontifical ornaments, the
tiara
on his head, the keys in one hand, a cross in the other, held close to his breast. Thus he confronted the angry men-at-arms. It is said that
Nogaret
prevented Sciarra Colonna from killing the
pope
Nogaret
himself made known to Boniface the
Paris
resolutions and threatened to take him in chains to
Lyons
, where he should be deposed. Boniface looked down at him, some say without a word, others that he replied: "Here is my head, here is my neck; I will patiently bear that I, a
Catholic
and lawful pontiff and vicar of Christ, be condemned and deposed by the Paterini [
heretics
, in reference to the
parents
of the Tolosan Nogaret]; I desire to die for
Christ's
faith
and His
Church
."
Von Reumont
asserts that there is no evidence for the physical maltreatment of the
pope
by Sciarra or
Nogaret
Dante
(Purgatorio, XX, 86) lays more stress on the moral
violence
, though his words easily convey the notion of physical wrong: "I see the flower-de-luce
Anagni
enter, and Christ in his own Vicar captive made; I see him yet another time derided; I see renewed the vinegar and gall, and between living thieves I see him slain." Boniface was held three days a close
prisoner
in the plundered
papal
palace. No one cared to bring him food or drink, while the banditti quarrelled over his
person
, as over a valuable asset. By early morning of 9 September the burghers of
Anagni
had changed their minds, wearied perhaps of the presence of the soldiers, and ashamed that a
pope
, their townsman, should perish within their walls at the hands of the
hated
Francesi
. They expelled
Nogaret
and his band, and confided Boniface to the care of the two Orsini
cardinals
, who had come from
Rome
with four hundred horsemen; with them he returned to
Rome
. Before leaving
Anagni
he pardoned several of the marauders captured by the townsmen, excepting the plunderers of
Church property
, unless they returned it within three days. He reached
Rome
, 13 Sept., but only to fall under the close surveillance of the Orsini. No one will wonder that his bold spirit now gave way beneath the weight of grief and melancholy. He died of a violent fever, 11 October, in full possession of his senses and in the presence of eight
cardinals
and the chief members of the
papal
household, after receiving the
sacraments
and making the usual profession of
faith
. His life seemed destined to close in gloom, for, on account of an unusually violent storm, he was buried, says an old chronicler, with less decency than became a
pope
. His body lies in the
crypt
of St. Peter's in a large marble sarcophagus, laconically inscribed B
ONIFACIUS
APA
VIII. When his
tomb
was opened (9 Oct., 1605) the body was found quite intact, especially the shapely hands, thus disproving another
calumny
, viz., that he had died in a frenzy, gnawing his hands, beating his brains out against the wall, and the like (
Wiseman
).
Boniface was a patron of the
fine arts
such as
Rome
had never yet seen among its
popes
, though, as Guiraud warns us (p. 6), it is not easy to separate what is owing to the
pope's
own initiative from what we owe to his nephew and biographer, the art-loving Cardinal Stefaneschi. Modern historians of
Renaissance
art (Müntz, Guiraud) date its first efficient progress from him. The "iodolatry" accusation of the Colonna comes from the marble
statues
that grateful towns, like
Anagni
and
Perugia
, raised to him on public sites, "where there once were idols", says a contemporary, an anti-Bonifacian
libel
(Guiraud, 4). The
Anagni
statue
stands yet in the
cathedral
of that town, repaired by him. He also repaired and fortified the Gaetani palace in
Anagni
, and improved in a similar way neighbouring towns. At
Rome
the Palace of the Senator was enlarged, Castel Sant' Anagelo fortified, and the
Church
of San Lorenzo in Panisperna built anew. He encouraged the work on the
cathedral
of
Perugia
, while that gem of ornamental Gothic, the
cathedral
of
Orvieto
(1290-1309), was largely finished during his pontificate. For the great Jubilee of 1300 he had the churches of
Rome
restored and decorated, notably St. John Lateran, St. Peter's and St. Mary Major. He called
Giotto
to
Rome
and gave him constant occupation. A portrait of Boniface by
Giotto
is still to be seen in St. John Lateran; in our own day M. Müntz has restored the original concept, and in it is seen the noble balcony of Cassetta, whence, during the jubilee, the pontiff was wont to bestow upon the vast multitude the blessing of
Christ's vicar
. In the time of Boniface the Cosimati continued and improved their work and under the influence of
Giotto
rose, like Cavallini, to higher concepts of art. The delicate French miniaturists were soon equalled by the
pope's
Vatican scribes; two glorious
missals
of Oderisio da Gubbio, "Agubbio's honour", may yet be seen at the Vatican, where lived and worked his disciple, likewise immortalized by
Dante
(Purg., XI, 79), who speaks of "the laughing leaves touched by the brush of Franco Bolognese". Finally,
sculpture
was
honoured
by Boniface in the
person
of
Arnolfo di Cambio
, who built for him the "Chapel of the Crib" in St. Mary Major, and executed (Müntz) the sarcophagus in which he was buried. Boniface was also a friend of the
sciences
. He founded (6 June, 1303) the
University of Rome
, known as the Sapienza, and in the same year the
University
of
Fermo
. Finally, it was Boniface who began anew the Vatican Library, whose treasures had been scattered, together with the
papal
archives, in 1227, when the Roman Frangipani passed over to the side of
Frederick II
and took with them the
turris chartularia,
i.e. the ancient repository of the documents of the
Holy See
. The thirty-three Greek
manuscripts
the Vatican Library contained in 1311 are pronounced by Fr. Ehrle the earliest known, and long the most important,
medieval
collection of Greek works in the West. Boniface
honoured
with increased solemnity (1298) the feasts of the four evangelists, twelve Apostles, and four
Doctors of the Church
(Ambrose,
Augustine
Jerome
Gregory the Great
egregios ipsius doctores Ecclesiæ
) by raising them to the rank of "double feasts". He was one of the most distinguished canonists of his age, and as
pope
enriched the general
ecclesiastical
legislation by the
promulgation
("Sacrosanctæ", 1298) of a large number of his own constitutions and of those of his predecessors, since 1234, when
Gregory IX
promulgated
his five books of
Decretals
. In reference to this the collection of Boniface was entitled "Liber Sextus", i.e., Sixth Book of Pontifical Constitutions (Laurin, Introd. in Corp. Juris can., Freiburg, 1889), being constructed on the same lines. Few
popes
have aroused more diverse and contradictory appreciations.
Protestant
historians, generally, and even modern
Catholic
writers, wrote
Cardinal Wiseman
in 1844, class him among the wicked
popes
, as an ambitious, haughty, and unrelenting man, deceitful also and treacherous, his whole pontificate one record of
evil
. To dissipate this grossly exaggerated and even
calumnious
view, it is well to distinguish his utterances and deeds as
pope
from his personal character, that even in his lifetime seemed to many unsympathetic. Careful examination of the sources of his most famous public pronouncements has shown that they are largely a
mosaic
of teachings of earlier
theologians
, or solemn reenforcements of the canons of the
Church
and well-known
Bulls
of his predecessors. His chief aims, the peace of
Europe
and the recovery of the Holy Land, were those of all preceding
popes
. He did no more than his
duty
in defending the
unity of the Church
and the supremacy of
ecclesiastical
authority when threatened by
Philip the Fair
. His politico-ecclesiastical dealings with the kings of
Europe
will naturally be blamed by Erastians and by those who ignore, on the one hand, the rapacity of an Edward and the wily vindictiveness and obtuse selfishness of a Philip, and on the other, the supreme fatherly office of the
medieval
pope
as the respected head of one mighty
family
of peoples, whose civil institutions were only slowly coalescing amid the decay of
feudalism
and ancient barbarism (Gosselin,
Von Reumont
), and who were long conscious that in the past they owed to the
Church
alone (i.e., to the
pope
) sure and swift
justice
, equitable courts and procedure, and relief from a
feudal
absolutism justified as yet by no commensurate public service. "The loftiest, truest view of the character and conduct of the popes has often been overlooked", says
Cardinal Wiseman
(op. cit.); "the divine
instinct
which animated them, the
immortal
destiny alloted to them, the heavenly cause confided to them, the superhuman aid which strengthened them could not be appreciated but by a
Catholic
mind, and are too generally excluded from
Protestant
historians, or are transformed into corresponding human capacities, or policies, or energies, or virtues." He goes on to say that, after examination of several popular assertions affecting the moral and
ecclesiastical
conduct of Boniface, this
pope
appeared to him in a new light, "as a pontiff who began his reign with most glorious promise and closed it amid sad calamities; who devoted, through it all, the energies of a great mind, cultivated by profound learning and matured by long experience in the most delicate
ecclesiastical
affairs, to the attainment of a truly noble end; and who, throughout his career, displayed many great virtues, and could plead in extenuation of his faults the convulsed state of public affairs, the rudeness of his times, and the faithless, violent character of many among those with whom he had to deal. These circumstances, working upon a mind naturally upright and inflexible, led to a sternness of manner and a severity of conduct, which when viewed through the feelings of modern times, may appear extreme, and almost unjustifiable. But after searching through the pages of his most hostile historians, we are satisfied that this is the only point on which even a plausible charge can be brought against him."
The memory of Boniface, curiously enough, has suffered most from two great poets, mouthpieces of an ultra-spiritual and impossible
Catholicism
, Fra
Jacopone da Todi
and
Dante
. The former was the "sublime fool" of spiritual
love
, author of the "Stabat Mater", and chief singer of the "Spirituals", or extreme
Franciscans
, kept in
prison
by Boniface, whom he therefore satirized in the popular and musical vernacular of the peninsula. The latter was a
Ghibelline
, i.e., a political antagonist of the
Guelph
pope
, to whom, moreover, he attributed all his personal misfortunes, and whom he therefore pilloried before the bar of his own
justice
, but in quivering lines of
immortal
invective whose malignant beauty will always trouble the reader's judgment.
Catholic
historians like Hergenröther-Kirsch (4th ed., II, 597-98) praise the uprightness of the
pope's
motives and that
courage
of his convictions which almost on the eve of his death made him count as straws all earthly rulers, if only he had
truth
and
justice
on his side (op. cit., II, 597, note 4). They admit, however, the explosive
violence
and offensive phraseology of some of his public documents, and the occasional imprudence of his political measures; he walked in the footsteps of his immediate predecessors, but the new enemies were more fierce and
logical
than the extirpated Hohenstaufen, and were quicker to pervert and utilize the public opinion of young and proud nationalities. A contemporary and eyewitness, Giovanni Villani, has left in his Florentine chronicle (Muratori, XIII, 348 sqq.) a portrait of Boniface which the judicious
Von Reumont
seems to consider quite reliable. According to it Boniface, the most clever canonist of his time, was a great-hearted and generous man and a lover of magnificence, but also arrogant, proud, and stern in manner, more feared than
loved
, too worldly-minded for his high office and too fond of money both for the
Church
and for his
family
. His nepotism was open. He founded the Roman house of the Gaetani, and in the process of exalting his
family
drew down upon himself the effective
hatred
of the Colonna and their strong clansmen.
Gröne
, a German
Catholic
historian of the
popes
, says of Boniface (II, 164) that while his utterances equal in importance those of
Gregory VII
and
Innocent III
, the latter were always more ready to act, Boniface to discourse; they relied on the Divine strength of their office, Boniface on the cleverness of his canonical deductions. For the process against his memory see
LEMENT
Sources
Original materials.
--The history of Boniface is best found in DIGARD, FAUCON, AND THOMAS,
Les registres de Boniface VIII.
(Paris, 1884, sqq.); DU PUY (Gallican),
Hist. du différend du pape Boniface VIII. avec Philippe le Bel
(Paris, 1655), with a very partial selection and arrangement of valuable, but badly edited, materials; BAILLET (violent Jansenist),
Hist. des désmelez du pape Boniface VIII. avec Philippe le Bel
(Paris, 1718). On the Roman side see: VIGOR,
Historia eorum qua acta sunt inter Philippe, Pulcher, et Bonif. VIII.
(Rome, 1639); RUBEUS,
Boniface VIII et Familia Caietanorum
(Rome, 1651). The earlier career and coronation of the pope are related (in verse) by CARDINAL STEPANESCHI (
STEPHANESIUS
) in
Acta SS.
(May, IV, 471). RAYNAULDUS,
Ann. Eccl.
(1294-1303), where many of the most important documents are given in full.
Contemporary Chroniclers.
--VILLANI,
Hist. Fiorentine,
in
Muratori SS. Rer. Ital.,
XIII, 348; DINO COMPAGNI,
Chronica,
ed. DE LONGO (Florence, 1879-87); the Italian chroniclers quoted in HERGENRÖTHER-KIRSCH (4th ed.) are in MURATORI,
Scriptores
. For the election of Boniface see HEFELE,
Conciliengesch.
; SOUCHON,
Die Papstwahlen von Bonifaz VIII. bei Urban VI.,
etc. (Brunswick, 1888); FINKE,
Aus den Tagen
etc., 44- 76; DENIFLE,
Das Denkschrift der Colonna gegen Bonifaz VIII., u. der Kardinäle gegen die Colonna,
in
Archiv für Litt. u. Kircheng. des M. A.
(1892), V, 493. For the Anagni incident see: KERVYN DE LETTENHOVE, in
Rev. der quest. hist.
(1872), XI, 411; DIGARD, ibid. (1888), XXIII, 557.
Catholic Biography.
--Besides the general historians, FLEURY (Gallican), ROSENBACHER, CHRISTOPHER, see CHANTREL,
Boniface VIII.
(Paris, 1862), and the excellent work of TOSTI,
Storia de Bonifazio VIII e de’ suoi tempi
(Monte Cassino, 1846). The most important modern critical contributions to the life of Boniface are those of FINKE, op. cit. (Munich, 1902), the result of new discoveries in medieval archives, especially at Barcelona, among the papers of the reign of James II, King of Aragon and contemporary of Boniface (reports of the royal agents at Rome, etc.). Cf.
Anal. Bolland.
(1904), XXIII, 339;
Rev. des quest. hist.
(1903), XXVI, 122;
Lit. Rundschau
(1902), XXVIII, 315; and
Canoniste Contemporain
(1903), XXVI, 122. See also FINKE,
Bonifaz VIII.,
in
Hochland
(1904), I; IDEM,
Zur Charakteristik Philipps des Schönen
in
Mittheil. des Inst. f. æst. Geschichtsforschung
(1905), XXIV, 201-14. An excellent apology is that of (CARDINAL) WISEMAN,
Pope Boniface VIII,
in
Dublin Review
(1844), reprinted in
Historical Essays
; HEMMER, in
Dict. de théol cath.,
II, i, 982-1003 (good bibliography); and the thorough study of HEFELE, op. cit. (2nd ed., Freiburg, 1890), VI, 281 passim; JUNGMANN,
Diss. selectæ in hist. eccl.
(Ratisbon, 1886), VI. The (non-Catholic) work of DRUMANN,
Geschichte Bonifaz VIII.
(Königsberg, 1852), is learned but partisan.
Political Situation and Attitude of Medieval Popes.
--See the solid work of GOSSELIN,
The Power of the Pope in the Middle Ages,
tr. KELLY (London, 1883); the erudite work of HERGENRÖTHER,
Kath. Kirche und christ. Staat
(Freiburg, 1873); Eng. tr. London, 1876); BAUDRILLARD,
Des idées qu'on se faisait au XIV
siècle sur le droit d'interven. du Souv. Pont. dans les affaires polit.,
in
Revue d'hist. et de litt. relig.
(Paris, 1898); PLANCK,
Hist. de la const. de la soc. eccl. chrét.
(1809), V, 12-154 (favourable).
The most notable of the modern French writers favourable to Philip are: LECLERCQ and RENAN, in
Hist. Litt. de la France au XIV
siècle
(Paris, 1865); [see RENAN,
Etudes sur la polit. relig. du règne de Philippe le Bel
(Paris, 1889)]; and LANGLOIS,
Hist. de France,
ed. LAVISSE (Paris, 1901), III, II, 127-73; cf. the equitable study of BOUTARIC,
La France sous Philippe le Bel
(Paris, 1861); also the fair narrative of VON REUMONT,
Gesch. der Stadt Rom
(Berlin, 1867), II, i, 614-71; GGEGOROVIUS (non-Catholic),
Gesch. d. Stadt Rom
(3d ed., Stuttgart, 1878), V, 501, tr. by Hamilton; HÖFLER,
Rückblick auf Papst Bonifaz VIII.,
in
Abhandl. d. bayrisch. Akad. d. Wiss. hist. Kl.
(Munich, 1843), III, iii, 32 sqq.; ROCQUAIN,
La Cour de Rome et l'esprit de réforme avant Luther
(Paris, 1895), II, 258-512; LAURENT,
L'Église et l'Etat, moyen âge et réforme
(Paris, 1866), violent and unjust.
Pamphlet Literature.
--For both sides, see SCHOLZ,
Die Publizistik zur Zeit Ph. des Schönen und Bonif. VIII.
(Stuttgart, 1903); also SCADUTO,
Stato e Chiesa negli scriti politici,
1122-1347 (Florence, 1847); and RIEZLER,
Die literarischen Widersacher der Päpste zur Zeit Ludwigs des Bayern
(Munich, 1874). Important new monographs concerning chief figures in the conflict are those of HOLTZMANN,
Wilhelm von Nogaret
(Freiburg, 1898); and HUYSKINS,
Kardinal Napoleon Orsini, ein Lebensbild,
etc. (Marburg, 1902). Among the latest studies, based on the above-described researches of Dr. Finke, are: SCHOLZ,
Zur Beurteilung Bonifaz VIII. und seines sittlich-religiosen Charakters,
in
Hist. Vierteljahrschrift
(1906), IX, 470-506; WENCK,
War Bonifaz VIII. ein Ketzer?
in
Hist. Zeitschrift
(1905), 1-66 (maintaining that Boniface was an Averroist), and the good refutation by HOLTZMANN,
Papst Bonifaz VIII., ein Ketzer?
in
Mittheil. d. Inst. f. æst. Gesch.
f(1905), 488-98; cf. WENCK's reply, ibid. (1906), 185-95.
The Bull "Unum Sanctam"
: BERCHTOLD,
Die Bulle Unam Sanctam, etc., und ihre wahre Bedeutung für Kirche und Staat
(1887); cf. GRAVERT in
Hist. Jahrbuch
(1887). MUMET, in
Rev. des quest. hist.
(July, 1887), abandoned his (and DANBERGER'S thesis that this Bull was a forgery (ibid., 1879), 91-130. On the exact sense of the much-disputed
instituere
(instruct or establish?) in "Unam Sanctam", see FUNK,
Kirchengesch. Abhandlungen
(Paderborn, 1897), I, 483- 89.
For the services of Boniface to the sciences and the fine arts, see EHRLE,
Zur Gesch. des Schatzes, der Bibl. und des Archivs der Päpste in 14. Jahrh.,
in
Archiv für Litt. u. Kircheng. des M. A.
(1885), I, i, 228; IDEM,
Hist. Biblioth. Avenionen.
(Rome, --); MOLINIER,
Inventaire du trésor du Saint-Siège sous Boniface VIII.,
in
Bibl. de l'Ecole des Chartes
(1882-85); the writings of the art-historian, MÜNTZ, and GUIRARD,
L'Église et les Origines de la Renaissancea
(Paris, 1904).
About this page
APA citation.
Oestereich, T.
(1907).
Pope Boniface VIII.
In
The Catholic Encyclopedia.
New York: Robert Appleton Company.
MLA citation.
Oestereich, Thomas.
"Pope Boniface VIII."
The Catholic Encyclopedia.
Vol. 2.
New York: Robert Appleton Company,
1907.
.
Transcription.
This article was transcribed for New Advent by WGKofron.
With thanks to Fr. John Hilkert, Akron, Ohio.
Ecclesiastical approbation.
Nihil Obstat.
1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.
Imprimatur.
+John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York.
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