Charles Martel, who undertook to strip the clergy, found himself in a most happy
situation. He was both feared and beloved by the soldiery; he worked
for them, having the pretext of his wars against the Saracens. He was
hated, indeed, by the clergy, but he had no need of their
assistance.
[85]
The Pope, to whom he was necessary, stretched out his
arms to him. Every one knows the famous embassy he received from Gregory
III.
[86]
These two powers were strictly united, because they could not
do without each other: the Pope stood in need of the Franks to assist
him against the Lombards and the Greeks; Charles Martel had occasion for
the Pope, to humble the Greeks, to embarrass the Lombards, to make
himself more respectable at home, and to guarantee the titles which he
had, and those which he or his children might take. It was impossible,
therefore, for his enterprise to miscarry.
St. Eucherius, Bishop of Orleans, had a vision which frightened all
the princes of that time. I shall produce on this occasion the letter
written by the bishops assembled at Rheims to Louis, King of Germany,
who had invaded the territories of Charles the Bald;
[87]
because it will
give us an insight into the situation of things in those times, and the
temper of the people. They say
[88]
that "St. Eucherius, having been
snatched up into heaven, saw Charles Martel tormented in the bottom of
hell by order of the saints, who are to sit with Christ at the last
judgment; that he had been condemned to this punishment before his time,
for having stripped the church of her possessions and thereby charged
himself with the sins of all those who founded these livings; that King
Pepin held a council upon this occasion, and had ordered all the
church-lands he could recover to be restored; that as he could get back
only a part of them, because of his disputes with Vaifre, Duke of
Acquitaine, he issued letters called precaria
[89]
for the remainder, and
made a law that the laity should pay a tenth part of the church-lands
they possessed, and twelve deniers for each house; that Charlemagne did
not give the church-lands away; on the contrary, that he published a
capitulary, by which he engaged both for himself and for his successors
never to make any such grant; that all they say is committed to writing,
and that a great many of them heard the whole related by Louis the
Debonnaire, the father of those two kings."
King Pepin's regulation, mentioned by the bishops, was made in the
council held at Leptines.
[90]
The church found this advantage in it,
that such as had received those lands held them no longer but in a
precarious manner; and moreover that she received the tithe or tenth
part, and twelve deniers for every house that had belonged to her. But
this was only a palliative, and did not remove the disorder.
Nay, it met with opposition, and Pepin was obliged to make another
capitulary,
[91]
in which he enjoins those who held any of those
benefices to pay this tithe and duty, and even to keep up the houses
belonging to the bishopric or monastery, under the penalty of forfeiting
those possessions. Charlemagne renewed the regulations of Pepin.
[92]
That part of the same letter which says that Charlemagne promised
both for himself and for his successors never to divide again the
church-lands among the soldiery is agreeable to the capitulary of this
prince, given at Aix-la-Chapelle in the year 803, with a view of
removing the apprehensions of the clergy upon this subject. But the
donations already made were still in force.
[93]
The bishops very justly
add that Louis the Debonnaire followed the example of Charlemagne, and
did not give away the church-lands to the soldiery.
And yet the old abuses were carried to such a pitch, that the laity
under the children of Louis the Debonnaire preferred ecclesiastics to
benefices, or turned them out of their livings
[94]
without the consent
of the bishops. The benefices were divided among the next heirs,
[95]
and
when they were held in an indecent manner the bishops had no other
remedy left than to remove the relics.
[96]
By the Capitulary of Compigne
[97]
it is enacted that the king's
commissary shall have a right to visit every monastery, together with
the bishop, by the consent and in presence of the person who holds it;
and this shows that the abuse was general.
Not that there were laws wanting for the restitution of the
church-lands. The Pope having reprimanded the bishops for their neglect
in regard to the re-establishment of the monasteries, they wrote to
Charles the Bald that they were not affected by this reproach, because
they were not culpable;
[98]
and they reminded him of what had been
promised, resolved and decreed in so many national assemblies. In point
of fact, they quoted nine.
Still they went on disputing; till the Normans came and made them
all agree.
