Freaks of Fanaticism, and Other Strange EventsBaring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Religion
Freaks of Fanaticism, and Other Strange Events
Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
History; Mysticism; Patarines
[37] It is not mentioned in the epistle of the Florentines to the
Pope, narrating the ordeal and supposed miracle, which is given
by Andrew of Strumi and Atto of Pistoja.
A letter was then drawn up, appealing to the Pope in the most
vehement terms, to deliver the sheep of the Florentine flock
from the ravening wolf who shepherded them, and urging him, not
obscurely, to use force if need be, and compel by his troops the
evacuation of the Florentine episcopal throne. Peter of Pavia, the
bishop, a man of gentle character, yielded to the storm. He withdrew
from Florence, and was succeeded by another Peter, whom the people
called Peter the Catholic, to distinguish him from the Simoniac. But
Muratori adduces evidence that the former continued to be recognised
by the Pope some time after his supposed degradation. Thus ended
the schism of Florence in the entire triumph of the Patarines.
Hildebrand was not unobservant; he proved afterwards not to be
forgetful of the lesson taught by this schism,--the utilization of
the rude mob as a powerful engine in the hands of the fanatical or
designing. It bore its fruit in the canons of 1074.
II.
Anselmo de Badagio, Bishop of Lucca, had succeeded Nicholas II. to
the Papal throne in 1061. Cadalus of Parma had been chosen by the
German and Lombard prelates on October 28th, and he assumed the name
of Honorius II. But no Roman Cardinal was present to sanction this
election. Cadalus was acknowledged by all the simoniacal and married
clergy, when he entered Italy; but the Princess Beatrice and the
Duke of Tuscany prevented him from advancing to Rome. From Parma
Cadalus excommunicated Alexander, and from Rome, Alexander banned
Honorius. The cause of Alexander was that of the Patarines, but the
question of marriage and simony paled before the more glaring one,
of which of the rival claimants was the actual Pope.
The voice of Landulf Cotta was silenced. A terrible cancer had
consumed the tongue which had kept Milan for six years in a blaze
of faction. But his room was speedily filled by a more implacable
adversary of the married clergy--his brother, Herlembald, a stern,
able soldier. An event in Herlembald's early life had embittered his
heart against the less rigid clergy. His plighted bride had behaved
lightly with a priest. He was just returned from a pilgrimage to
Jerusalem, his zeal kindled to enthusiasm. He went to Rome, where he
was well received by Alexander II. He came for authority to use his
sword for the Patarines. The sectaries in Milan had said to him, "We
desire to deliver the Church, besieged and degraded by the married
priests; do thou deliver by the law of the sword, we will do so by
the law of God." Alexander II., in a public consistory, created
Herlembald "Defender of the Church," gave him the sacred banner of
St. Peter, and bade him go back to Milan and shed blood--his, if
necessary, those of the anti-Patarines certainly--in this miserable
quarrel.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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