and so could not fulfill the promise given Pope Eugene at the Treaty of Constance
THE HOHENSTAUFENS 161
that protection would be accorded against the Normans, the Pope decided to act in his own right. Roger's successor, William I, was even a more ominous threat to the Papal states. Without taking counsel with Barbarossa, Hadrian had concluded with this common enemy of Empire and Roman See the Treaty of Benevent which greatly strengthened the Norman power. The tension grew still more marked when the Emperor delayed in obtaining the freedom of Archbishop Eskill, of Lund, who had been attacked and robbed in Burgundy on his return homeward, and did not avenge the mis- deed. A Papal letter which two cardinals, one of whom was Hadrian's Chancellor Roland Bandinelli, a future Pope, delivered into Frederic's hands at the Reichstag of Besangon in 1157, aroused the anger of the ruler as well as that of the assembled dignitaries by phrases which im- plied that the Imperial dignity was a grant from the Pope. Reinald of Dassel and Roland Bandinelli, representing as they did the Ger- man Church and the Roman Curia, opposed each other like generals of fighting armies. The Cardinal, who had previously been a cele- brated professor of law at Bologna, left no one in doubt that the spirit of Hildebrand, which had hovered over the peace signed with the Normans, lived on unabated. He asked from whom else the Emperor had obtained the Empire if not from the Pope? The Pfalzgrave Otto of Wittelsbach drew his sword against Roland in a fit of anger, and Frederic himself was compelled to intervene lest worse things happen. After he had ordered out of the Imperial territory delegates sent to make a visitation of the German Church (Roland too was among them) he protested in a letter to his people against the arrogance of the Curia* Then the Pope took umbrage at this; the Bishops of Germany, where circles favouring the Emperor were already fostering the idea of an independent National Church severed from Rome, with Trier as the See of its Primate, rejected Hadrian's complaint unani- mously. Two things, they said, dominated the Empire: the sacred laws of the Emperor, and the good customs of their ancestors; and they were unwilling as well as unable to disregard the boundaries thus set to the Church's authority. The free crown of the Empire was, indeed, to be ascribed to divine grace alone: "We will not permit, we will not endure" that Papal letters such as the one now under debate be given the status of law.
162 THE THRONE OF THE WORLD
The quarrel also divided the College of Cardinals, in which the friends of the Empire had already protested against the peace with the
The Avalon Project
The Vesancon Episode; 1157-1158
(Doeberl : " Monumenta Germaniae Selecta," vol. iv pp. 107-115.)
(a.) Letter of Adrian IV. to Barbarossa, Sept. 20th, 1157.
Bishop Adrian, servant of the servants of God, to his beloved son Frederick, illustrious emperor of the Romans -greeting and apostolic benediction. A few days ago we remember to have written to thy imperial Majesty recalling to thy Highness's memory that, as we believe, that horrid and execrable crime and impious deed of evil committed in our time in Germany had remained for some time investigated,-and observing, not without great wonder, that thou had'st allowed the barbarity of so pernicious a crime to pass until now without taking the severe vengeance that was fitting. For in what manner our venerable brother Eskill, archbishop of Lyon, while returning from the apostolic see, was captured in that land by certain impious and godless men-we cannot speak of it without great grief of mind,-and is at present kept in custody; how, moreover, in the aforesaid capture the impious men, the seeds of evil, the sons of crime did violently and with drawn swords rise against him and his followers; and how vilely and disgracefully they treated them, taking away all that they had:-thy serene Highness knows on the one hand, and, on the other, the fame of so great an outrage has already reached the most distant and most unapproachable regions. In vengeance of which most violent crime, as one to whom as we believe, good things are pleasing and evil ones displeasing, thou should'st have arisen with more steadfastness; and the sword, which was given thee by divine concession to punish evil-doers but to exalt the good, ought to have
Papacy and Empire: The Besançon Episode
The Besançon episode was another in the long string of imperial-papal conflicts which extended from the time of Pope Gregory VII until the mid-thirteenth century. The ostensible cause of conflict varied from episode to episode, but the underlying issue remained the same - who held supreme authority? Although the details may seem minor at times, the disputes clarified for western culture the distinction between church and state.
Although a historiographical account of the Besançon episode was left by Otto of Friesing, here the conflict is documented with the following original texts:
- A: Letter of Adrian IV. to Frederick Barbarossa, Sept. 20th, 1157.
- B: Manifesto of the Emperor, Oct. 1157
- C: Letter of Adrian IV. to the German Bishops
- D: Letter of the German Bishops to Adrian IV - including Frederick's defence of his position
- E: Letter of Adrian IV. to Frederick Barbarossa, Feb, 1158.
all from Doeberl: Monumenta Germaniae Selecta, vol. iv. pp. 107-115.
A: Letter of Adrian IV. to Frederick Barbarossa, Sept. 20th, 1157.
Bishop Adrian, servant of the servants of God, to his beloved son Frederick, illustrious emperor of the Romans, greeting and apostolic benediction.
In vengeance of which most violent crime, as one to whom, as we believe, good things are pleasing and evil ones displeasing, thou should'st have arisen with more steadfastness; and the sword, which was given thee by divine concession to punish evil-doers but to exalt the good, ought to have raged above the neck of the impious and most sternly to have destroyed the presumptuous. But thou art said so to have hushed this up - or rather to have neglected it - that they have no reason to repent of having committed the deed, inasmuch as they already feel that they have gained immunity for the sacrilege which they committed. As to the cause of this dissimulation or negligence we are entirely ignorant, since no scruple of conscience accuses our mind of having offended thy serene Highness in any respect; but we have always loved thy person as that of our most dear and special son, the most Christian prince, whose power we do not doubt to have been founded by the grace of God on the rock of the apostolic confession. And we have treated you always with the partiality of due benevolence. For you should, Oh most glorious son, bring before the eyes of your mind how graciously and how joyfully your mother the holy Roman church received you in a former year; with what affection of heart she treated you; what plenitude of dignity and honour she granted you; and how, most willingly conferring upon you the distinction of the imperial crown, she strove to cherish in her most bountiful lap you at the summit of your sublimity - doing nothing at all which she knew would even in the least be contrary to the royal will. Nor, indeed, do we repent having fulfilled in all things the desires of your heart, but would, not without right, rejoice if your excellency had received from our hand even greater benefices (beneficia), if that were possible knowing, as we do, what great increase and advantage can come through you to the church of God and to us. But now, since you do seem, to neglect and gloss over so monstrous a crime-which is known, indeed, to have been committed to the shame of the universal church and of thy empire-we suspect and likewise fear lest perhaps your mind has been led to this dissimulation and neglect for the reason that, at the suggestion of a perverse man sowing discord, you have conceived against thy most lenient mother the most holy Roman church, and against our own person, some indignation or rancour-which God forbid! On account of this, therefore, and of other matters which we know to be pressing upon us, we have seen fit at present to despatch to thy serenity from our side two of the best and most beloved men whom we have about us, our dear sons, namely, Bernard, cardinal presbyter of St. Clement, and Roland, cardinal presbyter of the title of St. Mark- and our own chancellor-as being men who are conspicuous for their religion and prudence and honesty.
And we most urgently request thy Highness to receive them honorably as well as kindly, to treat them fairly and to receive without hesitation, as though proceeding from our lips, whatever they say on our part to thy imperial Majesty concerning this matter and concerning other things which pertain to the honor of God and of the Holy Roman church, and also to the glory and exaltation of the empire. And do not doubt to lend faith to their words as though we ourselves had happened to utter them.