[118] Of this curious seal, a leaden one, preserved at Paris, a figure is given upon the cover of this volume. There are very few monuments of that age whose genuineness can be considered altogether beyond doubt; but this seal has many respectable authorities in its favour. See, among others, Le Blanc, _Dissertation historique sur quelques Monnoies de Charlemagne_, Paris, 1689; J. M. Heineccius, _De Veteribus Germanorum aliarumque nationum sigillis_, Lips. 1709; Anastasius, _Vitæ Pontificum Romanorum_, ed. Vignoli, Romæ, 1752; Götz, _Deutschlands Kayser-Münzen des Mittelalters_, Dresden, 1827; and the authorities cited by Waitz, _Deutsche Verfassungs-geschichte_, iii. 179, n. 4. [119] 'Præterea mirari se dilecta fraternitas tua quod non Francorum set Romanorum imperatores nos appellemus; set scire te convenit quia nisi Romanorum imperatores essemus, utique nec Francorum. A Romanis enim hoc nomen et dignitatem assumpsimus, apud quos profecto primum tantæ culmen sublimitatis effulsit,' &c--_Letter of the Emperor Lewis II to Basil the Emperor at Constantinople_, from _Chron. Salernit. ap._ Murat. _S. R. I._ [120] 'Illam (_sc._ Romanam ecclesiam) solus ille fundavit, et super petram fidei mox nascentis erexit, qui beato æternæ vitæ clavigero terreni simul et cœlestis imperii iura commisit.'--_Corpus Iuris Canonici_, _Dist._ xxii. c. 1. The expression is not uncommon in mediæval writers. So 'unum est imperium Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti, cuius est pars ecclesia constituta in terris,' in Lewis II's letter. [121] 'Merito summus Pontifex Romanus episcopus dici potest rex et sacerdos. Si enim dominus noster Iesus Christus sic appellatur, non videtur incongruum suum vocare successorem. Corporale et temporale ex spirituali et perpetuo dependet, sicut corporis operatio ex virtute animæ. Sicut ergo corpus per animam habet esse virtutem et operationem, ita et temporalis iurisdictio principum per spiritualem Petri et successorum eius.'--St. Thomas Aquinas, _De Regimine Principum_. [122] 'Nonne Romana ecclesia tenetur imperatori tanquam suo patrono, et imperator ecclesiam fovere et defensare tanquam suus vere patronus? certe sic.... Patronis vero concessum est ut prælatos in ecclesiis sui patronatus eligant. Cum ergo imperator onus sentiat patronatus, ut qui tenetur eam defendere, sentire debet honorem et emolumentum.' I quote this from a curious document in Goldast's collection of tracts (_Monarchia Imperii_), entitled '_Letter of the four Universities, Paris, Oxford, Prague, and the "Romana generalitas," to the Emperor Wenzel and Pope Urban_,' A.D. 1380. The title can scarcely be right, but if the document is, as in all probability it is, not later than the fifteenth century, its being misdescribed, or even its being a forgery, does not make it less valuable as an evidence of men's ideas.