For a long time there was no thought in the
mind of the bishop of gaining for himself the functions of temporal
jurisdiction, but simply that the power of the count should be
restrained with regard to church property, that is, that he should not
be able to exercise his judicial control over lands belonging to the
church, except by the express permission, "per licentia data," and
with the concurrence of the bishop himself. This and nothing more is
what is meant by all of the charters of exemption granted by the
Carlovingian rulers, down to the time of Charles the Bald, when, as we
shall presently see, a change was introduced.
It would be useless for me to cite examples of such charters, for
their number is countless, and reference may be made to any of the
great collections of mediaeval documents for confirmation of what has
just been said; for during the reigns of the earlier Carlovingians,
the strong reverence for the church and respect for its officers which
characterized the Frankish nation from the beginning led to the
extension of these privileges to much the greater number of the
churches in the realm. Not all churches enjoyed such grants, and not
all those accorded were of the same liberal character, but the number
given and the amount of liberty to the church thereby bestowed was
sufficient to give to the clergy that degree of importance which
ultimately culminated in making them the great lords that we find them
in the tenth century.
Pages:
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106