[81] The complaint was made at Worms (1521) that it was impossible for a German to secure a clear title to a benefice at Rome unless he applied for it in the name of an Italian, to whom he was obliged to pay a percentage of the income, a yearly pension, for a fixed sum of money for the use of his name (Wrede, _op. cit._, II, 712). [82] _Simony_--the sin of Simon Magus (Acts 8:18-20)--the sin committed by the sale or the purchase of an office or position which is normally conferred by a ritual act of the Church. In the ancient and earlier mediæval Church the use of money to secure preferment was held to invalidate the title of the guilty party to the position thus secured, and the acceptance of money for such a purpose was an offence punishable by deposition and degradation. The "heresy of Simon" was conceived to be the greatest of all heresies. The traffic in Church offices, which became a flagrant abuse from the time of John XXII (1316-1334), would have been regarded in earlier days as the most atrocious simony. [83] The _reservatio mentalis_ or _in pectore_ is the natural consequence of the papal theory that the right of appointment to all Church offices of every grade belongs to the pope (see above, p. 86, note 3). According to the theory of the canonists (Lancelotti, _Institutiones juris canonici. Lib. I, Tit._ XXVII) this right is exercised either _per petitionem alterius_, i. e., by confirmation of the election, appointment, etc., of others, or _proprio motu_, i. e., "on his own motion." In ordinary cases the exercise of the appointing power was limited by rules, which though bitterly complained of (see above, pp. 86 ff, and notes), were generally understood, but the theory allowed any given case to be made an exception to the rules. Of such a case it was said that it was "reserved in the heart of the Pope," and the appointment was then made "on his own motion." Hutten says of this _reservatio in pectore_ that "it is an easy, agile and slippery thing, and bears no comparison to any other form of cheating" (Ed. Booking, IV, 215). [84] For a similar instance quoted at Worms (1521), see Wrede, _op. cit._, II, 710. [85] The three chief centers of foreign commerce in the XV and the early XVI Century. The annual fairs (_Jahrmarkt_), held at stated times in various cities, brought great numbers of merchants together from widely distant points, and were the times when the greater part of the wholesale business for the year was done.; [86] Built by Innocent VIII (1454-1490). [87] See above, p. 93, note 2. [88] The Church law forbade the taking of interest on loans of money. [89] During the Middle Ages all questions touching marriage and divorce, including, therefore, the question of the legitimacy of children, were governed by the laws of the Church, on the theory that marriage was a sacrament. [90] i. e., By buying dispensations. [91] The sums paid or special dispensations were so called.