Western Europe in the Middle Ages, 300-1475 [4th ed.] 0394330609, 9780394330600

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WESTERN

EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGES

300- 1475

WESTERN EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGES

300-1475 fourth edition

formerly entitled

A

History of the Middle Ages

284-1500

BRIAN TIERNEY: SIDNEY PAINTER

ALFRED New York

A.

KNOPF

Cornell University

THIS

IS

A BORZOI BOOK PUBLISHED BY ALFRED

A.

KNOPF, INC.

Fourth Edition 9 8 7 6

Copyright

©

1970, 1974, 1978, 1983 by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.

under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, without permission in writing from the publisher. All inquiries should be addressed to Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 201 East All rights reserved

No

part of this book

50th Street,

Knopf,

Inc.,

New York, N.V. New York, and

10022. Published in the United States by Alfred A.

simultaneously

Limited, Toronto. Distributed by

Random

in

Canada by Random House

House. Inc.,

New

of

Canada

York.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Tierney, Brian.

Western Europe

in

the Middle Ages,

W0

1475

Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1.

Middle A^'s

1902 I960.

II.

D117.T6 1982 ISBN 394 33060 Manufactured p.

ii:

History.

I.

Painter, Sidney,

Title.

940.1

in the

82 10034

AACR2

9

United States of America

Burgundian hunting

tapestry.

Crown Copyright,

Victoria

and Albert Museum

Formerly entitled A History of the Middle Ages, 284 1500, by Sidney Painter Copyright 1953 by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Published 1953; reprinted seven times.

Note on the Fourth

the

various editions of this book have

all

Edition

been based on

convictions about the writing of history. In the

first

a

few simple

place, historical dis-

it deals with complex themes — can almost always be presented "in the language of common sense" — plain, uncluttered

cussion—even when

is an essential form of historical writwhich good historians return as other fashions come and go. Finally, the purpose of historical writing is not merely to entertain (though there is no reason why it should be painfully dull); the historian's task is to understand and to explain. With this purpose in mind, a historian has to be sensitive to findings by scholars in other fields who, in different ways, deal with changing aspects of human society. For a medievalist, work in areas as diverse as comparative religion and historical geography is very important. Also relevant are studies in anthropology, archeology, demography, and other social sciences. In this edition I have incorporated more material from these neighboring fields. But I have tried to do so unobtrusively, so as not to change the character of the work. Apart from substantial rewriting throughout the text, this edition contains new material on the Late Roman Empire, the early Christian

English. Secondly, clear narrative ing, a

norm

to

church, the Germanic peoples, peasant society, and Italian city-states. Some of the sections have been reorganized and given new titles. Four new sections are included: "Land, Climate, Crops," "Inhabitants: Early Europeans," "Hellenistic Culture and Christianity," "Population and Climate."

Preface

*^idney

Middle Ages earned a great reputation and vigorous account of medieval life. Professor Painter did not try to write a completely balanced textbook but concentrated on those aspects of medieval society that interested him most — and his pages were alive with the learning and wit of a great scholar. In this new book I have tried to supplement Professor Painter's work. All his brilliant narrative and descriptive chapters on feudal politics, feudal warfare, and feudal society have been retained. The history of the early period from ad. 300 to A.D. 800 has been written afresh. In the later chapters much of the material on church history, law, political theory, philosophy, art, and literature is also new. All the material has been rearranged to bring out more clearly the chronological structure of medieval history. I hope that, in this revised form, the book will serve the needs of a new generation of students. The scope of the work is indicated in its title. Our central theme is the emergence of a distinctively Western civilization in medieval Europe, and we have tried to give the clearest possible account of this complex phenomenon. Accordingly, for the purposes of this book medieval Byzantium and medieval Islam are considered primarily as formative influences on the Western world at certain crucial stages of its development. But no student of the medieval West should forget that Byzantium and the lands of Islam also nourished great civilizations which merit further study in their own right. They cannot be adequately understood as mere subtopics in a course devoted primarily to medieval Painter's history of the

as a vivid

Europe. Most teachers of medieval history like to supplement textbook narrative with samples of original source material and with interpretive studies by modern historians. Accordingly, a two-volume paperback collection of medieval sources and modern readings has been prepared to accompany this book. References to Sources and Readings in the bibliographies at the ends of chapters in the following text refer to the work The Middle Ages: Vol. I, Sources of Medieval History ; Vol. II, Readings in Medieval History (New York, 1983). B.

Ithaca,

New

T

York

vn

Contents

Note on the Fourth Edition

v

Preface

vn

Introduction

3

FOUNDATIONS OF WESTERN HISTORY I.

Europe: Land and People 1.

2.

9

Land, Climate, Crops Inhabitants: Early Europeans

9

13

ROMAN, CHRISTIAN, BARBARIAN: THE ANCIENT WORLD TRANSFORMED II.

The Roman Empire 3. 4.

5.

III.

IV.

The

Rome: A Waning

19 Civilization

19

The Reforms of Diocletian and Constantine Economic, Social, and Cultural Life Christian

Church

26 29

37

8.

and Christianity Church and Roman State The Age of the Fathers—Jerome, Ambrose,

9.

Augustine Papal Leadership: Sylvester

6.

Hellenistic Culture

38

7.

Christian

44 49

to

Leo the

Great

55

The Barbarians

61

10. 11. 12.

The Germanic Peoples The Barbarian Invasions The German Successor States: Gaul, and Spain

61

66 Italy,

71

ix

CONTENTS

THE EMERGENCE OF EUROPE V.

Byzantium, Frankish Gaul, and 13. 14.

VI.

Byzantine Civilization The Kingdom of the Franks

15.

The Roman Church

The

Crisis of the

16.

Monasteries and Missions:

A New

111

Roman

North

111

123

17.

Islam:

18.

Byzantine Iconoclasm: The Frankish- Papal Alliance

The

First

85 85 94 104

Eighth Century

Christianity in the

VII.

Rome

Civilization

Europe

128

135

19.

The Empire of Charlemagne

135

20.

Carolingian Culture The West Besieged: Magyar, Muslim, and Viking Invasions

141

21.

144

EARLY MEDIEVAL EUROPE: A NEW SOCIETY VIII.

The Feudal World 22.

23. 24.

IX.

155 Politics

Agriculture and Rural Society Peasant Life and Rural Economy Social Organization: The Medieval

27.

Population Growth and Agrarian Expansion

Manor

Early Medieval Government 28.

France: The First Capetian Kings

29.

Saxons and Normans in England The Medieval Empire Borderlands of Europe: The Spread of

30. 31.

Christianity

159 166

173

26.

25.

X.

Origins of Feudalism Feudal Obligations and Feudal The Feudal Class

155

173 177 183

189 189 196 205

213

CONTENTS XI.

The Reform

Church

223

and Reform

223 229 236

of the

32.

Disintegration

33.

The Investiture Contest The Aftermath

34.

xi

THE FLOWERING OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY XII.

Expansion of Europe: The 35.

36. 37.

XIII.

First

Crusades

Spain and Sicily Byzantium, Islam, and the First Crusade The Crusaders and Their States, 1099-1204

Economic Revival and

Social

Change

40.

The Revival of Commerce and Guilds Social and Economic Attitudes: The

41.

Peasant Life

42.

Chivalry:

38.

39.

Cities

Bourgeoisie; the fews

XIV.

Social

Code

Religion and Learning 43. 44. 45.

XV.

A New

243 249 256

267 267 273

279 284 289

295

New

Religious Orders: Bernard of Clairvaux The Cathedral Schools: Anselm, Abelard, Peter Lombard The Revival of Law

The Feudal Monarchies: Empire and Papacy 47.

England: Normans and Plantagenets France: From Philip I to Philip Augustus

48.

Empire and Papacy

46.

243

295 302 308

317 317 328 333

THE HARVEST OF MEDIEVAL CIVILIZATION XVI.

The

Pontificate of Innocent III

345

49.

Papal Monarchy

50.

Albigensians and Waldensians Franciscans and Dominicans

345 353 364

51.

in Full

Flower

xii

CONTENTS

XVII.

The Development 52. 53. 54. 55.

56.

of Medieval

Government

The Hohenstaufen Empire The Mediterranean: Spain and Sicily France: The Growth of Royal Power England: The Development of Limited Monarchy Representative Government: Ideas and

The World

Thought

404

59.

of A ristotle Medieval Science and Technology

60.

Philosophy and Theology:

410 413 418

Thomas Aquinas

Architecture, Art, and Literature

62.

63. 64.

Culture: Architecture and Liturgy The Gothic Cathedral Latin Literature Vernacular Literature to Dante

An Age

427 433 444 449

IN CRISIS 463

of Adversity

65.

Problems of Medieval Civilization: Intellectual, Social, Economic, and Political

66. 67.

Population and Climate The Black Death

463 467 470

The

Failure of Papal Leadership

475

68.

The Popes and Medieval

69.

Conflicts of Church and State, 1295-1350 Critics of the Papacy: Secularists and

47b 479

70.

Politics

486

Mystics

XXII.

427

Romanesque

THE MEDIEVAL WORLD

XXI.

403

The First Universities Muslim and Jewish Thought: The Recovery

61.

XX.

388

58.

57.

XIX.

of

373 378 382

394

Institutions

XVIII.

373

The Hundred

Years'

War: Fourteenth-

Century Campaigns 71.

72. 73.

The Background The Conquests of Edward The French Recovery

493 III

493 500 508

CONTENTS XXIII.

Late Medieval 74. 75. 76.

77.

XXIV.

79.

A

Century of Schisms

England and the Last Plantagenets France Under the House of Valois The Papacy: Centralization and Schism Remnants of Empire: Italy and Germany

515 516 525 532 537

Economy, and Culture

545

Economic and Social Change Art and Literature

545 550

Society, 78.

Politics:

xiii

FROM MEDIEVAL TO MODERN EUROPE XXV.

The End 80. 81. 82.

XXVI.

84. 85.

XXVII.

Hundred

Years'

War

The English Attack on France Joan of Arc and the Victory of France The Art of War in the Late Middle Ages

The End 83.

of the

of the Great Schism

of National

563 568 572

577

The Conciliarists, Wyclif and Huss The Council of Constance The Victory of the Popes

The Growth

563

Monarchy

577 582 586

591

France, Burgundy, the Empire The Wars of the Roses in England

88.

The Beginnings of Modern Europe

592 598 604

89.

The Achievement of the Middle Ages

609

86. 87.

Epilogue

Appendix The Medieval Popes

612 615

Genealogical Tables

Index

follows page

634

1

Maps

Physical Features of Europe

The Roman Empire,

ca.

and North Africa

AD. 395

The Barbarian Kingdoms,

AD

ca.

1

20

500

72

The Empire After Justinian and the Western Kingdoms Anglo-Saxon England and

and Anglo-Saxon Cultural Centers

Irish

The Expansion of Islam to 750 138 The Carolingian Empire

AD

The Treaty of Verdun, Invasions of the Ninth

Saxon England,

ca.

124

843

147

and Tenth Centuries

France in the Reign of Philip

1060 1108

I,

England After the Norman Conquest

The Ottoman Empire,

ca.

First

196

201

207

960

The Spread of Christianity The Western Mediterranean,

The

148

198

885

214 ca.

246

1140

Crusade and Byzantium

257

Trade Routes, Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries

The Angeinn Empire and France

321

The Empire of Frederick Barbarossa Europe

in

Spain and

Italy,

ca.

1300

380

The French Royal Demesne, The Hundred

Years' War,

Germany,

1356

ca.

The Hundred Europe,

XIV

ca.

339

375

1250

Years'

1475

ca.

1360

1300

384

509

540

War, 1428 603

87

565

268

122

WESTERN EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGES

300- 1475

Introduction

I here are two reasons for studying medieval history. learn to understand medieval civilization for intrinsically

fascinating.

The second

to

is

modern world more deeply by exploring

its

its

own

The

first

sake, because

is it

to is

learn to understand our

medieval origins.

These are platitudes, but they were not always so. When Edward Gibbon wrote his great book, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, in the eighteenth century, it seemed natural to him to present the history of the medieval period as a gloomy story of degeneration and decay. Similarly, when Jacob Burckhardt wrote The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy a century later, he took it for granted that the emergence of the modern individual, the modern state, and modern civilization became possible only when Renaissance men turned their backs on the Middle Ages, which he saw as an era of "faith, illusion and childish prepossession." In these older views, the collapse of the Roman Empire in the West marked a disastrous setback in the progress of civilization and the revival of classical culture in the fifteenth century a dramatic resumption of that progress. In between stretched the stagnant

Middle Ages, a thousand

years of Gothic gloom, barbarism, violence, and monkish superstition.

This view of history involved two presuppositions. The the culture of the

Middle Ages was grossly

first

was

that

inferior to that of the ancient

world or the modern world. The second was that modern civilization grew directly from classical roots and that the life of the medieval world was essentially an aberration in the growth of modern society.

The

first

presupposition was rather naive, and the fact will seem

self-

evident to any twentieth-century man who has looked at a medieval cathedral or listened to medieval music or read the poetry of Dante and Chaucer. Fifty years ago, by way of reaction, a myth of a "golden Mid-

Age" grew

if possible, even more of an oversimplisought to correct. Perhaps, in the end, an evaluation of the esthetic achievements of medieval civilization in comparison with those of other cultures must be largely a matter of subjective taste. Some people will always prefer the cathedral at Chartres and

dle

up; but this was,

fication than the

view

it

INTRODUCTION

some

the Parthenon.

other hand,

is

The problem

of historical periodization, on the

a matter for rational analysis, and the view that medieval

was merely an aberration in the development of the modern West has come to seem less and less tenable in the light of recent civilization

research.

Any

student

who

seeks to understand the Middle Ages at

face this question of periodization. cal

one

for professional scholars.

orient ourselves in time,

The problem

all

involves the whole issue of

It

where we look

has to

not merely a techni-

is

how we

for a tradition that will help to

make the modern world intelligible. Many interrelated questions have to be considered. When did ancient civilization come to an end and the Middle Ages begin? And what are the criteria for answering such a question? When did the Western world begin to develop a distinctive religious tradition?

structures of

When and how

government

did Western

men come

to devise

radically different from those of the ancient

world and from the systems of Byzantium and Islam? When did the West begin to take (he- lead in technology? And what, if anything, persists of medieval achievements in all these spheres in the modern world? Such questions lead on inevitably to another problem of periodization. When did the Middle Ages end? Did the Reformation and the scientific revolution create a new world by abandoning medieval ways of thought or are such movements intelligible only as the endproducts of centuries of medieval development? Will the historians of some future civilization, looking on their past from a new perspective, perhaps think that twentieth-century men were still living in a "Middle Age"?

Hen we st

a iK

1 1

x tint

can only suggest an approach of a medievalist, the "fall of the

not only as the

end

of

to

such problems.

From

the

Roman Empire"

can be seen an old civilization but as the beginning of a new

one. The upsurge of Christianity and the settlement of barbaric peoples in the western provinces of the empire introduced a new dynamism into the Western world.

To

be sure, judged by almost all conventional stanat a far lower point in the centuries immediately after the fall of Rome than in the preceding period. For most men, life was brutish and short. Except for a few clergy, virtually all the

dards, European culture stood

people of Western Europe were illiterate. There was incessant warfare. yet this tough, savage society, with all its faults, contained an immeasurably greater potential for growth and adaption than the sterile

And

late classical civilization that

The

it

replaced.

and barbarian culMiddle Ages formed the seedbed of a new civilization. During the eleventh and twelfth centuries, a new distinctively Western culture emerged. Since then Western society has experienced a process of continuous change, and, indeed, the rate of change has continuously accelerated; but, since the twelfth century, there has been no sudden break, no universal relapse into barbarism, no inexplicable change of the age of the direction. The fifteenth and sixteenth centuries Renaissance and the Reformation were indeed a time of brilliant achievement and bold innovation, but so were the twelfth and thirteenth slow, painful fusion of classical, Christian,

tures in the early

—

—

INTRODUCTION

The continuities between late medieval and early modern civilization are at least as striking as the discontinuities. The whole point about studying the Middle Ages is that, in considering medieval civilization, we are not dealing with an alien culture that was "born" in some far-off era and then long ago "died." We are indeed far removed from our twelfth-century ancestors because eight cen-

centuries before them.

turies of accelerating change separate us from them. But our civilization has grown out of theirs. That is why medieval studies offer such a fascinating challenge to the historian. Medieval civilization is not so alien to us as to be merely irrelevant, but medieval men were so different from us that we must make a real effort of historical imagination to enter with sympathy into their ways of life and thought. Most students who make the effort find it well worthwhile.

READING SUGGESTIONS Some lists

general works dealing with medieval history are given below. Reading dealing with particular periods and particular topics are placed at the end of

each chapter. These older classics that

more an

all

lists

are necessarily selective.

They

include

some of

the

students should know, but generally give preference to

recent works and to books published in paperback editions (marked with

accompanying Readings and Sources will be found at Reading Suggestions list for each chapter. The standard bibliography of works on European medieval

asterisk). Citations to the

the beginning of the Bibliographies.

is J. L. Paetow, Guide to the Study oj Medieval History, rev. ed. (New York, 1931). For English history, see E. B. Graves, Bibliography of English History to

history

1485 (Oxford, 1974), and the bibliographies in the first six volumes of The Oxford History of England (Oxford, 1937-1961). Gray C. Boyce is producing a supplement to Paetow's work, which will cover writings of the period 1931-1966. For current bibliography from 1967 onward, excellent guidance the University of

Minnesota

is

provided by

series International Medieval Bibliography.

Translations. For translations of medieval works, see C. P. Farrar and A. P. Evans, Bibliography of English Translations from Medieval Sources (New York, 1946), supplemented by M. A. Ferguson, Bibliography of English Translations from Medieval Sources 1944-1963 (New York, 1973). Two particularly useful series of translations are Columbia Records of Civilization, Sources and Studies and Nelson 's

Medieval Select

Classics.

Translations of the Church Fathers are available in the older

Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers or in

Christian Writers

and The

Fathers of the Church.

two current

series, Ancient

Atlases. W. R. Shepherd, Historical Atlas, 9th ed. (New York, 1964), and G. Barraclough, The Times Atlas of World History (London, 1979) are particularly useful. Other good atlases are * E. W. Fox, Atlas of European History (New York, * 1957); * C. McEvedy, Penguin Atlas of Medieval History (Baltimore, 1961); R. R. Palmer, Historical Atlas of the World (Chicago, 1958). General Histories. The most massive, detailed account of the Middle Ages as a whole is The Cambridge Medieval History, J. B. Bury et al. (eds.), 8 vols. (Cambridge, 191 1-1936). On economic history, see The Cambridge Economic History, J. Clapham et al. (eds.), vols. I— III (Cambridge, 1941-1961). Two useful church histories are K. S. Latourette, A History of Christianity (New York, 1953), and P. Hughes, A History of the Church, 3 vols. (New York, 1935-1947). Good encyclopedias for religious history are The New Catholic Encyclopedia (New York,

INTRODUCTION

1967-1974), Encyclopedia of Islam (Leiden, 1960-1961), The Jewish Encyclopedia Encyclopedia Judaica (New York, 1971-1972). The standard large-scale work on political thought is R. W. and A. J. Carlyle, A History of Medieval Political Theory in the West, 6 vols. (London, 1903-1936). Detailed surveys of medieval philosophy and science are provided by M. de Wulf, History of Medieval Philosophy, 3 vols. (New York, 1925-1953), and L. Thorndike, History of Magic and Experimental Science, 6 vols. (New York 1923-1940). Joan Evans, The Flowering of the Middle Ages (London, 1966) is a splendid pictorial introduction to medieval civilization.

(New York, 1901-1906), and

\

FOUNDATIONS OF WESTERN HISTORY

.

chapter i

Europe: Land and People

a r

n one level

all

history

is

their natural environments.

a story of the interplay between people and

When

anthropologists deal with primitive,

can sometimes establish rather simple correlations between physical conditions and material culture, and then go on to show how material culture can shape complex patterns of social, religious, and political behavior. The task for historians of medieval Europe is rather different. They have to deal with many peoples, settled in a variety of terrains, living under different climatic conditions. For them a major problem is to explain how a single culture grew up from such diverse sources. Still, historians, like anthropologists, have to begin from the most basic realities land and people. isolated societies, they

—

1.

Land, Climate, Crops

The whole

of western Europe forms a peninsula, jutting out from the Eurasian land mass, bounded by the Mediterranean, the Atlantic, and the

North Sea.

No

great physical barrier defines

its

eastern,

landward

borders; in prehistoric times (and for long afterwards), the entire region

was open to settlement by successive waves of invaders moving westward from the steppes of south Russia and central Asia. The most obvious geographic division of Europe is between the Mediterranean basin and the lands of the north. The two regions are separated by high mountain ranges

— the Pyrenees, the Alps, and, further east, the Carpathians.

and the an obvious route for a Mediterranean power seeking to expand northward, or for northern invaders striking at the Mediterranean. Around most of the Mediterranean, mountains or deserts press close to the shore, leaving a relatively narrow area of fertile coastland for setIn southern France, however, a gap exists between the Pyrenees

Alps; there the

Rhone

valley provides

FOUNDATIONS OF WESTERN HISTORY

10

Much

many good form of early community that grew up in these conditions was the city-state, an urban settlement, usually on or near the sea, dominating the land for perhaps ten or twenty miles around. City inhabitants often owned land in the countryside and lived on its resources, supplemented by fishing and trade (or piracy). Few great navigable rivers, opening up the hinterland to exploration, drain into the Mediterranean. (The Nile is a notable exception.) But the sea, calm in the summer months compared with the boisterous Atlantic, was easily traversed in ancient times by sailing ships or galleys. The coastal cities often found it easier to communicate and trade with one another over long distances than to deal with inland peoples who were relatively close at hand. Cities that grew rich as trading centers, or as administrative capitals, became sizeable centers or population. Athens had over 100,000 people by the middle of the first millenium B.C., Rome perhaps a million at the height of its power. The character of Mediterranean life has always been influenced by the climate and soil of the region. In classical times, as nowadays, the winters were moderate 1\ cool and wet, the summers hot and dry. Since virtually all the rainfall came in winter, much everyday life in the cities was arried on outdoors during the warm summer months; the marketplace was a center for social activities and political assemblies as well as for commercial transactions. Mediterranean soil was mostly light and dry though here again the rich alluvial land of the Nile delta was exceptional and it supported a natural vegetation that included sc rub pines, dwarf palms, shrubs, and a variety of grasses. (The (actus often enc ountered nowadays was a later import from America.) Hardwood trees suitable for building flourished only in mountainous areas, and then- were already complaints of timber shortage in classical Greece. Hence, cities were built mainly of brick or tlement.

harbors.

A

of the coast

is

deeply indented, providing

typical


n

this principle,

Innoc ent

at fir st

supported the Welf, Otto,

young Frederick under crown of Sicily. real support, butjnl208

against Philip of Hohenstaufen, while taking the his protection

and upholding very bright and

Otto was not Ph-mp_was miird>'redj2y_a

,

p. 313.

tSources, no.

58

at first

had

little

and Otto quickly obtained control of G ermany 1209 he w as solemnly crowned emperor by the pope. But Inn^jcnt was s^"n rn" gilT^jgm-^ nhnm- hiv as cal ling himsdfjxch-bishop^elect. Thelang~wlmtto Canterbury in aline fur y^ and the terrified monks deniecTthe earTtei cle L tiun -^ncTobediently chose John de Grey, who in turn set out for Rome to seek confirmation of his election. ThusTnnocent was faced with a double election. He heard both

THE HARVEST OF MEDIEVAL CIVILIZATION

348

elec tions^ The election of the subprior was obwasTield by only part of the chapter, in secret, and without the king's permission. But once any election was appealed to Rome, no other could be held until the pope made a decision, and hence John de Grey's election was invalid. Innocent then directed all the interested parties to send delegates to Rome with power to act. Wh6n-Lh£_delegat^ion Jroni^e--e4tapj£ji_ajTiyed it was called into the popeJ^pjxsgjTce_aj]dj)nieredJx> elect an at^bishx>p>T4ie-delegatioTi split evenly between John de Grev and the subprior, Inno centthe h suggested tHe elecjioa^eF^SlepSeoJIang ton a canon of York, a noted theologian7 and a cardinal. The monks accepted this idejj^rid_jinjmjmously chose Stephen. When John's repJresentativelTwere asked to give thcTrOyaTassent, they stated that they had been authorized to give it only to John de Grey. Thejoc^cx* then wrote to J o h n a iijiojiricing-4h^-t4TTt4ojuan( asking him to_jicc£rjt_Jiier2heiT. To this the king replied in violent terms that Stephen was personally objectionable- and chosen without his assent. He stories

and annulled both

viously dubious as

it

,

,

1

also seni agents to

Canterbury who expelled the monks and seized the

property of the Christ Church abbey for the king.

w**^Tr co^^

In J±i«c-T_2IlJT-J

md

ar chbisho p

v

him J he pnllium Hc-4-h-ux c]uiIlenge^QC[ng John directly. The result was long and complicated struggle, which can only be ontlined here. In March [208, K mdjjuxLwas placed under interdict, and in Novejubcj. T209, Joh n_-_vyas_^£tmm«unic ated. It seems likely, ill

(

ia-utiu^H+pv-^

g ave

.1

cannot be proved, that late in 1212 Innocent issued letters though deposing John and ordering Philip Augustus of France to drive him from Ins realm. During all this tunc- there were continual negotiations between the- two parties. At first John insisted he would never accept Stephen, but by 1208 he had weakened a little. le wmnM ae< ep< Stephen cnistitutea precedent if he po nc_would agree jJj^4--tfaT^aTf a r^vvc yixJ—t tot and hat in he future no election oTan archbjshop of Cjanlerbury would be valid wi thout hekTn g's assent. This wjis7}cihjils^ayowed position during the- rest ol the- controversy Innocent was unwilling to grant John's demands JrZiiillT^anrbtfae king was^inn dTiurry to ha yg_the_guarrel settled. When the interdict was declared ^ he seiz ed all the property of the church and he clergy, a nd a^ong_a^jJic_stTjjggJeJait ed vast revenues mi earned" mto his coffenT Neither interdict nor excommunication botheTeHjiiiriJn the sli ghtes dej^ree^JiQwiver niuc h they might trouble his people. FinaTTy^jfTl 91 ^ wJT&rt-BKiUp-AMtriistiis was mustering a host acce^JTecTLangToTi and e acceprec to invade England, John gave way in style. He fTrted from the church. Then he surrenpromised to repay o dered his kingdom to the pope and received it back as a fief to be held from the papacy. On the rer tral^[ssM.e-U>^this famous controversy both Innocent and John were defending reasonable positions. ITwas tn~e~p6pe s duty to see thaT^worthy~men receiveHlnglrclTuTcia'offices. Stephen Langton was fully qualified for the post of archbishop of Canterbury. He was an Englishman, a distinguished scholar, and an able and devoted ecclesiastical statesman. His rival John de Grey was a pure courtier and civil servant. On the other hand, no king could agree that he had no control over the it

I

i

(

t

)

c

t

t

t

>

t

1

,

THE PONTIFICATE OF INNOCENT

III

349

The archbishop of Canterbury was an important political personage and the holder of a very large barony. The king had to insist that he be acceptable to him. On th e basis on w hich the choice of the primate of his realm.

won a resound ing yirtnry Jnb p^^pt^d Stephen wiThott^-eerrrdirions. Moreover, he ~greatly added to the prestige of the~papacyHby-b ecoining -it5-^ni5Sal. buEby_1213 JohnVneeTrs-had changed. His fJaTanyWeT eT^tTv^Ta n d h e fri h elSee d of sup rgm^rgarnst them." Here JohirTameout ahea d. Innocent f rmly suppor ted Turn against the Parous, and vvhciT~TJangton, who sympathized~wTtn~TrJe barons7Tresiiat i d tu t n force~the pope's orders agaTrTsTHlrem>Jie__was suspended~fiuui u ffi i e.* And Joh n neverTe~p~aicrany"~major~part oTTh~e~ mone y~1te~-rrad ta kcn-4Jma-4he7d^^ had-aoS^r unusually happy ending; botfTsides won.' quarrel started, Innocent

.

t

t

i

'

~TTTe se~Three grea t^cPgrro^rrsTeT^oWxlearly t he power wielded by Innocentlll He twice chose arTemperor, he^forcedPhilip Augustus to re_^ c eive Ingeborg as queenr aiitLU^-o igcd John to jmhmjt^ Thus he won major struggles involving the heads of the three chief states of Western Europe. The re were similar victo ries in lesser states. The king of Aragon b ecame a papal vas sal, and the pope obliged the king ol Portugal tcT recognizejiis preckccssoils homage to the Holy See. The king oTCasTTle" wasjbr£e^_ia_gi^^£-aip_jiis_wife beckus e ljf tu ujJrjse" blood re lationship, an d he also bec ame Innocent s vassal. While this vassalage to TKeTpapacy had little practical ettect, it incr eased the p restige of the pope and to somj^exte nt his reve nues as each vassal monlTrch was~expecTe d - tu pay an annual tribute. To be sure, even Innocent III had his setbacks. He n ever succeeded n lau nching a successful crusade against the~ infidels in the Holy Lana7 _ although he declared thaflhis wa^^3TTe Tif~l4Te^rmirrp^t^bjectives >r'ii of his pontificate. In 1204 he tried unsuccessfully to stop the fighting between Philip of Franc e and Joh n of England. He likewise faile d in~an_attempf to intervene in a succession dispute in Norway, where_Ki ng Sverr e defied the poj rtn-H»pu«ity. But these failures Were outweighed by his great^acKievements. Throughout his reign, Innocent III was the leader of Christendom to a greater degree than any previous pontiff had been. In the sphere of ecclesiastical reform, Inn ocen t's most lasting work was_ achieved in a great general council of the church (the Fourth" Lateran Council) that met at Rome in 121i).T It was a most impressive assembly allended by~niorc than four hunctfed bisho ps, eightjnmd red abbots, and represent at ives"ol all the great princes ofTurope. The coundogmatic decree cil eTiacteHlTgiearj^ rest ated the e ss entials ofjhe Cath olicjaith in order to refute various contemporary heresies^ The drn^FJcuL of fransu hstantiatirm in the~enrharTst was^solemnl y^clefined (that is, that the 'substance" of bread and wine changed to 7Re~~6ody and blood of Christ when consecrated by a priest). at least o nce_a Catholicsw ere requirje£L^o_jxmjjej>sjiiei^ ordeal participate in icial^ jud year. Priests were_forbicld en to s, so that devise more rational from this time onward secular courts had to vacancie s in bishopmethods of reaching verdicts. To avoid prolonged rics, it was decreed that, if a cajJaedraTchapterfailed to elect within three .

y

;

i

*See pp. 389-390. fSources, no. 59.

350

Detail IlI'M

io.

i)

i

THE HARVEST OF MEDIEVAL CIVILIZATION

a

>l

l)V (ilunder Innocent III and his mu cei.forK, The pa|mf-Ttiirhcery developed earlier and ui77re~7apidly than those'of the lay monarchies of Western Europe, and the monarchies used for a model to a great extent. Th e enlarged personnel and in r'-'rjsrd activity of thepafial-administration r aised its cost, a nd the popes were contjnjjalry'try-ing to find new ^niu^-sj^Trfjy^niif- and to imp rove the yield of the old As lord of the Patrimony of St. Peter, the states of the church, the pope had revenues similar to these of other temporal lords. Demesne manors and towns paid annual rents. There were tolls on bridges, sales_taxejL-at fairs, and the profits^oXj ust ice. Most of the~feudal vassals of the pope paid an an.

1

t

'

it

'

.

nual rent in addition to other services. When Innocent III recovered the papal lands that had been usurped by Frederick I and Henry VI, he organized the entire Patrimony and greatly increased the revenue drawn

from

it.

early popes had several sources ofin come^o utside their o wn Beginning in the nirtttT century, various monastic foundations asked for and received papal protection against lay or ecclesiastical lords. These houses, were taken under the permanent protection of the pope and paid an annual sum Jor_tJie_-pj4v*lege. As these'rents were usually small, the total income from this source was not great. C erta in countxiespaid the papacy an annual tax_c^llexLEe^er^Pence injjoeory

The

lands.

—

w THE PONTIFICATE OF INNOCENT

353

III

these, lands pnjH n prm-P ir. This tax was established England bv the tenth cen ury a nd is supposed to have been e xtended to DcjTmark_hy KjngCanute. An English cardinal serving aslegatlTTh Norway and SwedenirTtTie twelfth century probably established it in those countries. It was also paid in Poland. In England, at least, most of the tax was pocketed by the local collectors, and the pope received the very modest sum of th^y yv/^rp little n ^? Although comparatively few str ongest, this metho d, w^ n nobles actually joined the heretic sects, the majority of them, headed by the count of Toulouse, were extremely sympathetic toward them. Moreover, jhe heretics were so nu merous that thHr *Tt rrnirr»4^Qri wnlllfl i

*

-t

mean

the depopulation of the-1-and.

France turned a deaf ear situation existed in parts of

to the

Hence

tj

the feudal lords of southern

church's pleas.

A

Lombardy and Tuscany.

Cathari were the dominant power, and

in

somewhat similar some towns the

In

others they were far too

THE PONTIFICATE OF INNOCENT

III

359

numerous

to be destroyed by their fellow townsmen, even if the latter had not sympathized with them, as they frequently did. Another possibility was to c onvince the heretics of the error of their ways by argument. In the Tatter part of the twelfth century, many optimistic clerks tried to do this by holding disputations with the heretics, b ut needless to say, they ha d little success. Men who have consciously defied the clergy and deniecT the validity of their teachings were not likely to be won"over by arguments, no matter how logically or eloquently they might be presented. A more~promising method woul d ha ve been to remove the abuses criticized by the heretics by reforming the clergy. This too was attempted, especially under Innocent III. Given time and determination, the papacy might haver eformed the church in the affected reg ions by careful supervision of eccle siastical appointments, butTTwas extre mely difficult to remove a man once he was in office. It took Innocent III long years of bitter-struggle to remove an archBishop of Narbonne who did not even bother to reside in his diocese and completely neglected its affairs. A ny ra pid reform of the personnel of the ~ ch urch was out of the question. Therewas one other possible device. The church could not remove the unworthy clergy, but it could add to its or ganization m e n~who~'wcru4d-compete in-dhrcir~a"Sceticism with the per r fecti. In effect, the church could say, "We cannot have all the clergy lead apostolic lives, but we cherish and appreciate those who do." It was this j4^a tb^t lay ^^nH ^p foundation n f the Dominican order and proliF ably in fluenced Innocent III to recognize the Fran ciscans.* Whe n Innocent III ascended the pap al throne, he was determined to takej^ffective action against the heretics of southern France At first he tried peaceful means Preachers were sent nto th e_ region under the leadershlpofthe abbot ot Citeaux, several prelates, and a legate, Peter d e Casteln ajj. The preachers made no progress, and the legate could not persuade the great lords to take an interest in the problem. The chief potentate of the land, Raymond VI, count of Toulouse, was a luxuryloving prince who was well supplied with concubines and almost totally indifferent to religion. While he went through the forms required of a good Catholic and was generous to monastic foundations, he was well disposed toward the heretics and absolutely refused to take any action against them. His vassal Raymond Roger, viscount of Beziers and Carcassone, had the same point of view. The count of Foix was even more impartial. He, too, was a formal Catholic, but his wife and one of his sisters were Waldensians, while another sister was an Albigensian. By 1204 Innocent III was disco uraged and listened to_die_advice_jQf those who believed that onl yTorcecould crush the heretics. As the coun t of T niilouse_refused jo_suppry this force, it had to come_imm elsewhere-^Innocent appealed to Philip Augustus to lead an army against the heretics, but the French king was much too completely occupied with his war against John of England to consider other ventures. The appeal was repeated in 1205 and 1207, with equal lack of success. Meanwhile, a .

.

*See pp. 364-370.

crisis jiad a risen in

i

the south. In 1207 the legate Peter de CalteTrTaTrexfollowing year the legate

comnmnid*iel£^i--t^^

a

r

THE HARVEST OF MEDIEVAL CIVILIZATION

360

vvas

e

murdered by one of

dence^th at Count

the count's squires

Raymond had

f

Whilethj

o r dered th ejQayjng

thp rh^irrh was him responsi ble. Innocent III immediately counts excommunication and released his sutrj«ers_fram

naturally inclined to hold

confirmed the

him. The pope also ren e wed 4i isjr|)njia^ to Philip. was Augustus faced witTTa difficult decision. He was at the moment not actively' lighting John and couldlipare troops. But to attack the lands of a vassal without adequate provocation was a clear violation of feudal custom and might well alarm the other great lords of France. And Philip had no desire to see the principle that excommunication was sufficient cause for dispossession established. In short, the French king was n o devotee of the church who was willing to Fa kr nsks linr+T-rr^n ke, MT| d a cru sade agi nst 'he fount tif-TWiloiw* seemed an unwise enterprise politically. Philip did make an offer that he kne w was safeTTf the church \\()ulcr3^iiideiii«--^fH«u—Rii^niond_ as a heretic, P hilip, as_suzerain, would take over the custody of the county of T oulouse. But Raymond was not a herein and no one co uld prove that he was. Philip, however, had no objection if his vassals wanted to attack Toulouse as crusaders. Innocent had to be satisfied w ith what he could get. He preached the There crusade, and an army of knights gathere cHn, northe r n Franc were the archbishops of Reims. Sens, and Rouen; six bishops; the duke of Burgundy; the counts of Nevers and St. Pol; and Simon de Mont fort, lord of Montfort I'Amaury and titular earl of Leicester in England. Undei tin ge neral comm and of he new legate Arn old Anialric the crus ading army m oved south in the early summer of 1209" In July the ru sadeflTappeai n\ before the T own of B c~7,iers, a rich place that con lamed man) heretics. On July 21 the town was taken by assault and the entire population massai ml. As the crusaders were carrying the walls, someone suggeTnTTTTo the legate that many good Catholics lived in Bc/icrs. but his only reply was "Kill all! Kill all, for Cod will know his own." Seven thousand people were slaughtered in a single church in which they had taken refuge. The frightful fate of Be/.iers had the intheir oaths ot fealty to

Philip

.

e

t

,

c

tended

let ror into the hearts of the people of the region. n almost J mprt^rrabl surrende ed Carc assomw, stronghokL and himself became a prisoner on the promise of good treatment. ThcTTegate soon left the host. He w as elevated to th e archepjscopal se.it oT Na rbonne and soon was quarreli ng fiercely with th e crusaders

R aym

c

effee

>n d

t

;

it

Struck

Ro ger

—

over_ his temporal authority in that city and its vicin ity. Hi s place as l^Hp/~^/ag_t^.Lpn hy fsi rnon de Mon tfort. The ancestral lands oftlie

house of Montfort lay on both sides of the border between the royal demesne of the Capetian kings and the duchy of Normandy. The elder line, counts of Evreux, lost almost all their possessions by making bad guesses as to which side to support in the struggle between the Capetians and the Plantagenets. Simon had supported Philip Augustus and hence had kept his barony of Montfort I'Amaury, but he had never been able to get possession of his rich English earldom of Leicester. He was thus a minor baron. But he was a man of boundless ambition, blind devotion to the church, and great military capacity. Soon after the surrender of Car-

c

THE PONTIFICATE OF INNOCENT cassonne,

its

lord, the viscount

saders' prison.

The

Raymond

Roger, disappeared

leade rs nf'the host promptly elec te d

of B^ziers and_XIaxcass onn e>.

III

361

in the cru-

Simon wirmnn

t

He

then proceeded to reduce one by one the strongholds of the county of Toulouse. These^ccm quests were, of cour se, acccmipanied"tv^n enthusiastiFsIaughter of heretics or at least of those suspec ted of b eJjgTTeretici^gyl^ conquere^nm^Trre-rxrunty except for the_towns-of-T oul o use ^ancLMontauban. "Th"Ts~conque"st~was

madewith extremely modest forces. The main crusading army had gone home after the first victories, leaving Simon a few paid troops and some fiefs taken from the heretics. These were occaby small bands of fresh crusaders. The succe ss of Simon de Montfor t seriously disturbed Peter II king of Aragon and count of Barcelona". Peter was lord of 196-1213), (1 Montpellier and suzerain of the~"county ol Provence. In addition, he claimed suzerainty over the part of the county of Toulouse known as the duchy of Narbonne, which included the viscounty of Beziers, and over the counties of Foix and Commines. In 1213 he appealed to the pope to aid him in protecting his vassals from Simon's attacks. When heTounci~ that he could do nothing by"peaceful means, he~glu^erecrim~~aTTnyltnd niarxh^d-4fHo::iouXn£rn~France^ There he pitched "camp before the io~r z tress of Muret that was held by a garrison of Simon's troops. Simon promptly collected what troops he could, 240 knights and some 500 mounted sergeants, hastened to Muret, and threw his men into the castle to reinforce the garrison. He had no high opinion of his opponent. Peter was known as a cheerful, reckless knight who loved tournaments and pretty women. Simon had captured one of his couriers bearing a letter to a lady of the region, saying that the king's expedition was undertaken solely for love of her. Simon asked his men what need could there be to fear a man who declared war on God to please a wanton. The counts of Toulouse, Foix, and Commines, who were with Peter, had always shown a strong disinclination to fight pitched battles. Simon decided on a bold maneuver. He ord ered the gate o f_M_uret that faced TKeTiostile campTto be thrown open and hi s infantry to mass He gathere d his cavaIry_ji£arianother gate on the opposite sid e ns-rriefit of th e stronghold. Ashe had hoped, the king of Aragon immediately sent a fo rce under the count of Fo' Y tn force its way th ough th e open gat e. The re st nf the armv sat in th eir r amp "'af"h ng thi s assault. ^Mean while, Simonj^njMTJs cavalry s al lie d ^ut ™f Mi r p t h y th^ ^ther g a te ar> ^ r ode straight for the Aragonj&se-c-ajxux-TheJci ng and his followers had held high revel the night befo re and were stin jTongJjQO sober Peter nimself could hardly ride his horse. Moreover, they were not in line of battle and were completely absorbed in watching the count of Foix's attack on Muret. Simon's horsemen took the enemy c ompletely by surp rise an d routed them~eas ily. The king of Aragon diecfon the field; thecounts of Toulouse, Foix, and Commines tactfully departed at full speed before their situation grew too dangerous. After the battle, Simon and h is men spejrtapleasant few hours slaughtering the citizens of Toulouse whoTiacT come to~aTcnn"eir count an d weie helpless when rtTelr cavalry supporf" was driven off.

adventurers in search of sionally reinforced

i

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_

THE HARVEST OF MEDIEVAL CIVILIZATION

362

The

Simon de Montfort

victor^LnO^luret gave

effective jjosses sion of

the coimtyjifJTjjulouse with the exception of Toulouse

cru sade led by

Louis,

eTcfest ja&n

of Phifrp

itself.

InTTTlFa.

Augur tulT^ciiprmed Toulouse .

The Fourth Latexan-Gtrurrcil disposed^oT^He count y in that sameyear. Raymond VI lost all his lands, and his young son was placed in possession of his imperial fief, the Marquisate of Provence. Apparently this action of the council was not in accord with the wishes of Innocent III, who would have preferred to grant Raymond easier terms. The pope jrnplied that snme_Hay yoiing Raymond VII should Ji avp thp family lands if-he p roved^ worthy-^baJt for and turned

it

over

to, him.

legal possession of the

the jjme_bejrig--Si rnon lived.

Threeye ars

was coum^of^ Toulouse. His success was shortToulouse rose in r evolt and Simon

later the city of

,

attempting to recapture it. His son Amaury toolTo"ver the count y, but he w a s unable _to hold his own and surrendered the fief to the French crown. RaymondVll "eve ntualty~Tecovered the county of Toulqui&-at-the-pi ice ufTrumy uig his daughter and-+rerress to Alphonse, count of Poitou. younger brother of Lou is IX. At Alphonse's death, both Poitou and Toulouse were added to the royal demesne. The Albigensian crus ade served the purp ose it had bcenjnlejided for. The power ol he nobles ol southern France w FuThad projected the heretics was destroyed, and the her etics were left^at the mercy of the church. All that was need ed lor theif~extermination wasa n effective ecclesiastic al organizati on to~(iTs"covcr them and bring th" em to tr ial. This was supplied by the gradual development o f the Inquisition. U nder the canon raw "of the tweinfTcenlury, there were jwo-^ays of

was

killecTTn

t

bringinjrji case into th e ecclesiastical court: accusation

by the headjof the

court, usually the arc hdeacon, or accusation by a private individual.

This system d id not arc

work

we where he retics were numerous. The much heretic -hunting, and private in-

\ei\

hdea< mis were too busy to

ll