The Makers of Modern Rome, in Four BooksOliphant, Mrs. (Margaret)
History
The Makers of Modern Rome, in Four Books
Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret)
Rome (Italy) -- History -- 476-1420
"First having robbed me by an insolent procedure of the
hereditary dignity which was my right in Rome, you have
gone further--you have attempted by detestable artifices to
alienate from me the kingdom of Italy. Not content with
this, you have put forth your hand on venerable bishops who
are united to me as the most precious members of my body,
and have worn them out with affronts and injustice against
all laws human and divine. Judging that this unheard-of
insolence ought to be met by acts, not by words, I have
called together a general assembly of all the greatest in
my kingdom, at their own request, and when there had been
publicly produced before them things hidden up to that
moment, from fear or respect, their declarations have made
manifest the impossibility of retaining you in the Holy
See. Therefore adhering to their sentence, which seems to
me just and praiseworthy before God and men, I forbid to
you the jurisdiction of Pope which you have exercised, and
I command you to come down from the Apostolic See of Rome,
the superiority of which belongs to me by the gift of God,
and the assent and oath of the Romans."
The other letter ends with the following adjuration, which the king
prefaces by quoting the words of St. Paul: "If an angel from heaven
preach any other doctrine to you than that we have preached unto you,
let him be accursed":
"You who are struck by this curse and condemned by the
judgment of the bishops and by our own, come down, leave
the apostolic chair; let another assume the throne of St.
Peter, not to cover violence with the mantle of religion,
but to teach the doctrine of the blessed apostle. I, Henry,
king by the grace of God, and all my bishops, we command
you, come down, come down!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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