The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1873-08-02

ASLNA
After the murder of Thomas a Beckett
King Henry II Of England declared his
country a fef Of the Holy See. He wrote
to the Pope: Il and my eldestson swear
that from Pope Alexander and his Cath
Ollie successors we have received and will
hold the Kingdom of England,n and la
ter same year: "The Kingdom Of Eng
land is yours; and [ am bound to you,
and you only, as my feudal superior.'
Later, when his sons Henry, Richard and
Godfrey were in revolt against him, he
again, to purchase the favor of Rome,
declared himself it's vassal, as we'll for
England as for Ireland, adding this re-
markable clause: eve and Our success
sors will hold ourselves for true Kings
of England, only as long as our lords,
the Popes, shall hold us for Catholic
Kings" In another letter he implores
Alexander III to defend his Kingdom
as a fief of the Roman church.
Innocent III wrote: "The Lord COM
mitted not only the Church universal;
but the whole world, to st. Peters rule"
He treated the Kings Of Portugal, Ara
gon and England as his vassals and made
them pay tribute. King John of Eng
land did homage to the Pope, and en-
gagged to pay him a yearly tribute OF a
thousand gold marks sterling. The
homage was made in the following
terms: johannes, Del grutiG rer An
qliG, There c0ncedimuS Dec ct SIS. ApOS-
tolls, &C domino nostrO Pdp9 InnOcentiO
ejuSdemQue Catholics succeSsOribuS tOtHm
regnum AngliG ct totum regnum H6erniG,
lila tdNQuam teOdGtGriUS feciplenteS."
This exasperated his barons in the high
est degree and made them, intheir COM
plant to him, use the following very
strong expressions: "ThOu, John, OF
evil memory forever, has taken upon
thee to make thy KingdOm-free from
the remOtest antiQuity-the handmade
of another, and from free ruler hast be-
come the tributary, the factor and the
vassal of Slavery The English barOns
were not correct in what they put forth
against John, for already his father'
Henry II, had declared his Kingdom a
fef Of the Pope; but they were dissat-
isied with the Roman Supremacy and
the 10Th of July, 1915, they compelled
the King to sign the famous Magma
ChGrtA.
Thus England had escaped the suzer-
ainty of the POntitf; but the rest Of Eu-
rope remained for many years yet, as it
were, dependent on the Pope i'll every
respect, the Kings were not much more
than his delegates. The first Kings of
France of the Capetian dynasty were,
more than any other European princes,
the Obsequious servants Of the Roman
Pontiffs. We meet with no opposition,
no protest to any orderfrom Rome till We
arrive at the reign of st. Louis TX.
In Germany it was entirely different.
The great Emperors Of the Swabian or
Hohenstauffen family, Frederick l Bar
barossa and principally his grandson,
Frederick II, tried to win back the as
tendency of the secular power, but in
vain they came too early. This heroic
family, this generation of vipers, as Pope
Honorius III called them, were finally
crushed in the gigantic struggle against
the overgrown power Of the Papacy,
Manfred, Frederick II son, killed in bat
tie against Charles Of Anjou and Cora
dino, Frederick's grandson, beheaded by
the order of Charles, were the last two
men of the Hohenstauffen family, but
two women still survived of whom we
will speak later.
The last Pope, whose power was at the
height, Gregory VII and Innocent III
had elevated it to, was Boniface VIII
When Albert of Austria declared him,
, self Emperor at the death of Adolph Of
Nassau, Boniface, in his rage, placedthe
crown on his own head, grasped a sword
and exclaimed:-"It is 1 who am Caesar
it is l who am Emperor, it is I who vii
= defend the rights of the Empire" II
the Jubilee of the year 1900, he showed
himself in the midst of this multitude Of
every nation, with the Imperial insignia
j, with the sword and the sceptre borne
before him on the globe, and preceded
! by a herald, crying: "Here are tive
swords; Peter, thou seest here thy sue,
+ cessor, and you, 0 Christ! regard you,
i, vicar"
The pretensiOns of the Pope had herr
= reached their utmost limit, and the in
/ fuence of the Papacy was verging to
3 ward it's fall. Thepower of the German
= Emperors, it is true, had been scattered
in the protracted struggle of the Hollen
=, s~taufRens against the Popes; but TIM
excess of pontifical daring invited new
i eAlfeaesfaaPiien fer h secular owe TO stel
: in the lists, if this was not to be e~ntirel,
absorbed by the Papacy. Already tn,
t pious Louis TX had opposed the extrav
s agant aspirations of the POpes, and hi
: grandson, the s~acrilegious Philippe "
I took up the glove BOniface threw t.
all kings and princes in his celebrated
bull-URGm SGnctGm-in the words
e 'sFo~ recognise two powers andtwoprin
f ciples, is to be a heretic.n The 0ldes
: son Of the Church, a bad son to his mothe
this one, won the battle. Boniface diet
: a raving maniac, driven to frenzy byth
t excess of his own rage over the indigni
ties Nogaret, Philippe's envoy, subjectet
him to, thus accomplishing Celestine '
prophetieal saying: "Thouhast climbe,
= 1 TsY-ZB - r. L. Il I-s - 1n -