But this was very far from being the
real principle of the Middle Ages; to these the authority of the
king or emperor was divine, because it was his function to secure
the establishment and maintenance of justice.
real principle of the Middle Ages; to these the authority of the
king or emperor was divine, because it was his function to secure
the establishment and maintenance of justice.
Thomas Carlyle
: "Prae-
terea, ne diceret aliquis : Transivi ad
gratiam Evangelii; liber sum: nulli
subditus esse debeo; propterea apos-
tolus, ut nihil suis auditoribus deesset,
propter bonum pacis, et concordise
subiecit: 'Omnis anima potestatibus
sublimioribus subdita sit. ' Ab excel-
lentiori parte id est anima, totus homo
designatur; sublimiores autem potes-
tates dicit imperatores, reges et prin-
cipes huius sseculi, quibus nos subditos
esse admonet propter bonum pacis, et
concordise, ne nomen Dei, aut doctrina
Christi blasphemetur. . . . 'Quae
autem sunt a Deo ordinate sunt,' a
bono quippe ordinatore nihil inordina-
tum relinquitur. Ostendit ergo his
verbis apostolus manifeste, quoniam
omnis potestas, tam apud paganos
quam apud Christianos, a Deo ordinata
est, sive propitio sive irato. "
2 Wippo, 'Vita Chunradi,' 'De Con-
secratione Regis,' 'Scriptum est enim:
Omnis potestas a Deo est': "Is omni-
potens rex regum, totius honoris auctor
et principium, quando in principes
terrss alicuius dignitatis gratiam trans-
fundit, quantum ad caturam principii
pura et munda. . . . Dominus qui te
elegit utesses rex super populum suum,
ipse te prius voluit probare, et post
modum regnare. . . . Ad summam
dignitatem pervenisti, vicarius es
Christi. "
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? CHAP. II. ] DIVINE NATURE OF POLITICAL AUTHORITY. 101
the need which each has of the other. 1 In another place
he draws out in some detail the complementary relation
between the spiritual and the temporal authorities. The
duties of the different members of the Church, for they are
both within the Church, are not the same. The duty of the
priest is to nourish and cherish all in mercy, the duty of
the judge is to punish the guilty, to deliver the innocent
from the power of the wicked, to be diligent in carrying
out the law, and in maintaining equity; he should always
remember the words of the apostle, "Wouldest thou have no
fear of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have
praise of him, for he is God's minister to thee for good. But if
thou doest evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain"
(Rom. xiii. 3, 4). 2 Peter Damian is clear that the authority of
the secular power in administering justice and punishing crime
is derived from God.
The writers whom we have just cited belong to the period
1 Peter Damian, Ep. , Bk. iii. 6:
"Sciebat enim {i. e. , the High Priest
Jehoiada) quoniam utraque dignitas
alternse iuvicem utilitatis est indiga,
dum et sacerdotium regni tuitione
protegitur, et regnum sacerdotalis
officii sanctitate fulcitur. . . . ut dum
regnum ac sacerdotium optata per vos
pace perfruitur, is, qui utriusque
dignitatis auctor est, pacis seteruse
digna vobis prsemia largiatur. "
2 Id. , 'Opusculum,' lvii. 1: "Non
omnia membra Ecclesise uno fungun-
tur officio. Aliud nempe sacerdoti,
aliud competit iudici. Ille siquidem
visceribus debet pietatis affluere, et
in matern1e misericordise gremio sub
exuberantibus doctrinse semper uberi-
bus Alios confovere. Istius autem
officium est, ut reos puniat, et ex
eorum manibus eripiat innocentes; ut
vigorem rectitudinis et iustitise teneat,
et a zelo sanctionum legalium non
tepescat; ut ab sequitatis linea non
declinet; ut legitimi vigoris genium
nou enervet. Memineat etiam semper
quod per apostolum dicitur; 'Vis non
timere potestatem? fac bonum, et
habebis laudem ex illa. Dei enim
minister est tibi in bonum. Si autem
malum feceris. time, non enim sine causa
gladium portat. '' In quibus utique
verbis (datur) intelligi, aliud esse
gladium principis, aliud infulam sacer-
dotis. Non enim ad hoc prsecingeris
gladio, ut violentorum mala debeas
palpare vel ungere: sed ut ea studeas
vibrati mucronis ictibus obtruncare.
Hinc est quod sequitur: 'Dei enim
minister est vindex in iram ei, qui
male agit. '"
Cf. id. , 'Liber Gratissimus,' 10:
"Regnum namque et sacerdotium a
Deo cognoscitur institutum, et ideo,
licet amministratoris persona prorsus
inveniatur indigna, officium tamen,
quod utique bonum est, competens
aliquando gratia comitatur. . . . Reges
enim et sacerdotes, licet nonnulli eorum
reprobi sint per notabilis vitse meri-
tum, dii tamen et christi dici rep-
? ? periuntur propter accepti ministerii
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? 102 POLITICAL THEORY: 11TH & 12TH CENTUKIBS. [part II.
before the great conflict had broken out, but the same principle
is maintained by writers of all shades of opinion during the
great struggle. It is needless to cite the declarations of the
extreme imperialist writers, for this principle is one of the
main foundations of their argument against the papalists, and
we shall presently have to consider some of their phrases in
detail, when we discuss the conclusions which some of them
wished to draw from this principle.
It is, however, very important to observe that this principle
was held with equal firmness by writers who did not belong to
the imperialist party, and even by the extremest papalists.
Gerhoh of Eeichersberg, one of the most important writers of
the middle of the twelfth century, was certainly no partisan of
the secular party, rather, vehemently maintained the liberty and
authority of the Church, but he was also very clear in asserting
the divine origin and authority of the secular power. In one of
his treatises he condemns in the strongest terms any attempt of
the ecclesiastic to draw to himself the secular authority, on the
ground that this would be to destroy the authority which had
been set up by God Himself. 1 Again, no writer of the Middle
Ages is clearer than John of Salisbury as to the limits and
conditions of the royal authority, and the right of resistance to
the tyrant, but he is equally clear that the authority of the
prince comes from God, and has the divine sanction. 2
1 Gerhoh of Reichersberg, 'De
Investigatione Antichristi,' i. 72:
"Quin etiam, sicut aliquando cesares
qusedam pontificalia et ecclesiastica
presumebant, ita iste de contra cum
sacerdotio quoddam in se cesareum
ac supercesareum imaginantur. . . .
Hoc autem quid est aliud, quam po-
testatem a Deo constitutam destruere et
ordinationi Dei resistere ? . . . Audiant
pontifices precipientem sibi Dominum:
'Reddite quse sunt cesaris cesari, et
quse sunt Dei Deo,' ut, si regalia
secclesie a regibus tradita tenere
volunt, regibus inde iustum ac de-
centem honorem exhibeant. Audiant
item apostolum. 'Deum timete, regem
honorificate. '"
2 John of Salisbury, 'Policraticus,'
iv. 1: 'Est ergo, ut eum plerique
diffiniunt, principis potestas publica,
et in tenis qusedam divinse maiesta-
tis imago. Procul dubio magnum quid
divinse virtutis declaratur inesse prin-
cipibus, dum homines nutibus eorum
colla submittnnt, et securi plerumque
feriendas prsebent cervices, et im-
pulsu divino quisque timet quibus ipse
timori est. Quod fieri posse non arbi-
tror, nisi nutu faciente divino. Omnia
etenim potestas a Domino Deo est, et
cum illo fuit semper, et est ante eum
Quod igitur princeps potest ita a Deo
est, ut potestas a Domino non recedat,
sed ea utitur per subpositam manum,
in omnibus doctrinam faciens clemen-
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? CHAP. II. ] DIVINE NATURE OF POLITICAL AUTHORITY. 103
We shall presently have occasion to examine in detail the
political theory of Manegold of Lautenbach, the most incisive
writer of the investiture controversy, and the most unsparing
critic in the Middle Ages of what he conceived to be the
illegitimate pretensions of the imperialists. While, however,
he emphatically repudiates what he held to be the false inter-
pretation of the apostolic doctrine of the divine nature of
secular authority, he traces this error to a confusion between
the office of the king, which he evidently conceives to be sacred,
and the position of an individual king who may have justly
forfeited his authority, and cannot then claim obedience in the
name of the apostolic authority. 1 And again in another passage
he quotes with approbation a sentence from a letter of Pope
Innocent I. , which asserted that the exercise of criminal justice
by the secular power was founded upon the authority of God
Himself. 2
And again the same principle is maintained by Honorius of
Augsburg. In his treatise entitled 'Summa Gloria,' which is
in the main a vindication of the greater dignity of the spiritual
tise aut iustitise suae. Qui ergo resistit
potestati, Dei ordinationi resistit, penes
quem est auctoritas conferendi eam,
et, cum vult, auferendi vel minuendi
eam. "
1 Manegold, 'Ad Qebehardum,' 43:
"In eo namque quod dicitur: 'Subditi
estote regi quasi prsecellenti,' et:
'Deum timete, regem honorificate,' et:
'Subditi estote dominis non tantum
bonis et modestis,' multum sibi aplau-
dunt sibique titulos victorise ascribunt
non intellegentes neque que locuntur
neque de quibus affirmant. Rex enim
non nomen est naturse, sed officii,
sicut episcopus, presbyter, diaconus.
Et cum quilibet horum certis ex causis
de commisso sibi officio deponitur, non
est quod erat, nec honor officio debitus
postea est impendendus. Quisquis ergo
amissse dignitatis postmodum sibi re-
verentiam impendit, potius prevaricator
quam legum servator existit. "
2 Id. id. , 39: "Unde sanctissimus papa
Innocentius in decretis suis cap. xxii.
hos, per quorum ministerium catholici
principes et pravos puniunt et pios
defendunt, a reatu immunes ostendit
dicens: 'Quesitum est super his etiam
qui post baptismum administraverunt
aut tormenta sola exercuerunt aut
etiam capitalem protulerunt senten-
tiam. De his nichil legimus a maiori-
bus difinitum. Meminerant enim a Deo
potestates has esse concessas et propter
vindictam noxiorum gladium fuisse
permissum et Dei ministerium esse in
huiusmodi datum vindicem. Quem-
admodum igitur reprehenderent
factum, quod auctore Deo viderent
esse concessum? De his igitur ita,
ut actenus servatum est, sic habe-
mus, ne aut disciplinam evertere aut
contra auctoritatem Domini venire
videamur. "
The passage is from Innocent I. ,
Ep. 6, and is also cited by various
? ? canonists. Cf. vol. ii. p. 147.
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? 104 POLITICAL THEORY : llTH & 12TH CENTURIES, [paet II.
as compared with the temporal authority, he held indeed that
the authority of man over man was not primittve, but estab-
lished to restrain men's sinful passions, but he is also clear
that it was established by God. 1 And in another chapter
of the same work he sets this out with great emphasis. The
royal authority is indeed inferior in dignity to the priestly, but
the royal authority must, in those matters which belong to it,
be obeyed, not only by the laity, but by the clergy; and he
quotes St Peter and St Paul as teaching plainly that it was
instituted by God for the punishment of the wicked and the
reward of the good. 2
1 Honorius Augustodunensis, ' Sum-
ma Gloria,' 26: "Deus natuque non
prefecit primnm hominem hominibus,
sed bestiis et brutis animalibus, quia
his qui irrationabiliter et bestialiter
vivunt, iudices tun tum prelati sunt,
quatenus eos per timorem revocent ad
insitse humanse masuetudinis tenorem.
Unde idem Deus per Noe Sem et Iafeth
peccantis filii posteritati prefecit, quia
nimirum peceantes sacerdotio et regno
subiecit. Unde et in evangelio, cum
discipuli dicerent: 'Domine, ecce duo
gladii hie,' hsec verba sua auctoritate
roboravit, quia ad regimen seecelesise
in presenti vita duos gladios necessarios
premoustravit; unu1u spiritalem, scili-
cet verbum Dei, quo saeerdotium uti-
tur ad vulnerandos peceantes, alterum
materialem, quo regnum utitur ad
puniendos in malis perdurantes. Necesse
est enim, ut hos regalis potestas subig'at
gladio materiali, qui legi Dei rebelles
non possunt corrigi stola sacerdotali. "
2 Id. id. , 24: "Quamvis igitur sacer-
dotium longe transcendat regnum,
tamen ob pacis concordise vinculum
monet evangelica et apostolica auc-
toritas, regibus honorem in secularibus
negotiis dumtaxat defereudum. Cum
enim quidam a Domino inquirerent,
utrum censum cesari dari liceret, ait:
'Reddite, quse sunt cesaris, cesari,
atque quse sunt Dei, Deo. ' Ergo in
his quse ad regni ius pertinent, oportet
clerum et populum regibus parere, in
his autem, quse ad ius divinse legis
epectant, Deo placere. . . . Beatus
quoque Petrus apostolus hortatur
honorem deferre regibus: 'Deum,' in-
quit, 'timete, reges honorificate. '
Et iterum: 'Subditi estote omui hu-
manse creatune propter Deum, sive
regi quasi pruecellenti, sive ducibus ab
eo missis ad vindictam malefactorum,
laudem vero bonorum. ' In quibusverbis
considerandum est, quod reges et iu-
dices ob solam vindictam malorum
constituuntur, qui laudem ferre bonis
dicuntur. Justi enim reges et iudices
solos impios et iniquo* puniunt, iustos
autem et bonos laudibus extollunt.
Beatus etiam Paulus ad subiectionem
principum hortatur dicens: 'Omnis
anima potestatibus subl1mioribus sub-
dita sit. ' Et ne putes potestates per
homines casu constitui, subiungit:
? ? 'Non est enim potestas nisi a Deo.
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? CHAP. II. ] DIVINE NATURE OF POLITICAL AUTHORITY. 105
There can really be no doubt whatever as to the normal con-
ceptions of the political theorists of the eleventh and twelfth
centuries as to the origin and nature of the temporal power.
The phrases of Gregory VII. in his letter to Hermann of Metz
are no doubt at first sight startling, and it is not surprising that
they have led to some misunderstanding, but it is clear that
they only represent one aspect of his own conception of the
state, and that an examination of his correspondence makes it
clear that he had no intention to deny that political authority
was derived from God. And we hope that it is now evident that
the political theorists of all schools of thought recognised that,
if man in a state of innocence would have needed no coercive
authority, man under the actual conditions of human nature
requires such an authority both for the suppression of wrong
and injustice and for the maintenance of righteousness.
runt. ' Et quod iudices ad malos mali. Vis autem non timere potesta-
tantum reprimendos, immo puniendos tem? Bonum fac, et habebis laudem
preficiantur, patenter subditur : ' Prin- ex ipsa. ' Eadem et Petrus dixit. "
cipes non sunt timori boni operis, sed
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? 106
CHAPTER III.
THE MORAL FUNCTION OF POLITICAL AUTHORITY.
The normal conception of the Middle Ages was then that the
temporal as well as the spiritual power derives its authority
from God. We must now observe that this principle found its
rationale in the moral purpose or end of temporal authority.
Such occasional and controversial phrases as those of Hilde-
brand might leave the impression that secular authority had no
other purpose than to minister to the ambitions and to satisfy
the desires of the ruler.
But this was very far from being the
real principle of the Middle Ages; to these the authority of the
king or emperor was divine, because it was his function to secure
the establishment and maintenance of justice.
It is true that St Augustine had entangled himself in a
position which in some places at least led him to deny that
the state must find its essential and distinguishing quality in
justice. 1 There is no trace of this conception in the writers of
the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries; the passages in St
Augustine's writings which support it are not, as far as we
have seen, ever quoted. On the contrary, the constant principle
set out by the mediseval writers is that the maintenance of
justice is the essential function of the ruler.
We can find this represented first in some references to the
beginnings of organised society. Such references are scanty and
contain nothing new or important, but, such as they are, they all
represent the beginning of the authority of man over man as due
to the need of order and of some method of restraint upon men's
evil tendencies. Gerbert (Silvester II. ), for instance, says that
1 St Augustine, ' De Civitate Dei,' xix. 21, 24. Cf. vol. i. pp. 165-170.
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? CHAP, 1ll. ] MORAL FUNCTION OF POLITICAL AUTHORITY. 107
it is certain that when our first parents abused their free will
by their transgression, man was set over his fellow-man in order
to restrain his unlawful desires, and that thus men are held in
check by civil and ecclesiastical laws. 1 Again, Othloh of St
Emmeran points out that it is impossible that men should
live together in peace unless there is some system by which
some are subjected to others. 2 Again, the history of the
Bishops of Cambrai, a work which belongs to the eleventh
century, commences with a brief account of the beginnings of
city life--men, as it was said, at first wandered about like the
wild animals, without any government of custom and reason,
pursuing blindly the satisfaction of their desires; it was
only when they began to come together into cities that they
learned to keep faith and to maintain justice, and to live in
obedience to each other. 3 These phrases obviously represent
formal literary traditions, and are not in themselves of much
importance, but they may serve as an introduction to our
consideration of the theory of the function or purpose of the
state.
We begin by observing that the principle of the just end of the
state, which was, as we have seen, very firmly maintained by the
1 Silvester II. (Gerbert), Ep. xi. :
'' Cum constat post primorum nos-
trorum parentum prsevaricationem in
liberi arbitrii abusionem genus homi-
num ei sententiae addictum, ut et homo
capitibus aliorum secundum Psalmo-
graphi vocem superponatur, ad com-
pescendos scilicet humanse voluptatis
illicitos appetitus, et legibus non
modo forensibus, verum etiam ecclesi-
asticis cohibeamur regulis ac rationi-
bus. "
2 Othloh of St Emmeran, 'Dia-
logus de Tribus qusestionibus,' 24:
"0. Ubi rogo, plures, vel saltim duo
homines simul commorantes, pacifici
possunt esse umquam, nisi alter alteri
subdatur?
H. Nusquam omnino.
0. Unde erat necesse ut homines,
etiam primi, redderentur pacifici et
subiicerentur alter alteri. "
* 'Gesta Pontificum Cameracen-
sium,' i. 1: "Urbibus quondam sedi-
ticantlis ea primum causa ab auctoribus
extitisse dicitur, ut homines passim
ritu ferarum oberrantes, quibus neque
mos, neque cultus ratione magistra
regebatur, nichilque divinum aut
humanum sapiebant, sed propter
errorem atque inscientiam cseca ac
temeraria dominatrix animi cupiditas
ad se explendam viribus corporis abute-
batur pernitiosis satellitibus; illi in-
quam homines instruct is urbium
moenibus in unum convenirent, fidem
colere et iustitiam retinere discerent,
et aliis parere sua voluntate consues-
cerent; ac non modo labores exci-
piendos communis commodi causa, sed
etiam'vitam amittendam estimarent. "
Cf. Alcuin, 'Dialogus de Rhetorica
et Virtutibus'; Cicero, Tusc, v. 2;
? ? and vol. i. p. 211.
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? 108 POLITICAL THEORY : 11TH & 12TH CENTURIES, [part II.
political writers of the ninth century, continued to be held in
the tenth and eleventh. In the ' Collectio Canonum'of Abbo,
the Abbot of Fleury, which is inscribed to Hugh and Robert,
Kings of the French (i. e. , before 997), he quotes as from a
Council of Paris a passage from that treatise 'De Duodecim
Abusivis Sseculi,' which was much used in the ninth century;
the justice of the king is to oppress no man by force, to judge
without favour of persons, to be the defender of strangers and
children and widows, to put down vice and crime, to maintain
the poor with alms, to set just men over the affairs of the
kingdom, to defend his country against its enemies, and to hold
the Catholic faith. 1
Ratherius of Verona gives a terse statement of the qualities
which make a true king, and without which he may have
the name but cannot have the reality of kingship; these are
prudence, justice, courage, and temperance, the man who
possesses these qualities, though he be but a peasant, may not
improperly be said to be a king, while the man who lacks them
though he held the universal monarchy of the world could not
1 Abbo, Abbot of Fleury, 'Col-
lectio Canonum,' iii. : "Unde ex
libris qui ex conciliis sui tetnporis
effecti sunt cum subiectione episco-
porum, quanta facile est reperiri,
expressim libro II. cap. I. post aliqua.
'Justitia regis est ueminem inuste
per potestatem opprimere, sine accep-
tione personarum inter virum et prox-
inum suum iudicare, advenis et
pupillis et viduis defensorem esse,
furta cohibere, adulteria punire, ini-
quos non exaltare, impudicos et his-
triones non nutrire, itnpios de terra
perdere, parricidas et peierantes vivere
non sinere, ecclesias defensare, pauperes
eleemosynis alere; justos super regni
negotia constituere, senes et sapien tes et
sobrios consiliarios habere, magorum et
hariolorum pythonissarumque super-
stitionibus non intendere, iracundiam
differre, patriam fortiter et iuste contra
adversarios defendere; per omnia in
Deo vivere, prosperitatibus non elevare
animam, cuncta adversa patienter fetre,
fidem catholiuam in Deu1n habere, filios
suos non sinere impie agere, certis
horis orationibus insistere, ante boras
congruas non gustare cibum. '"
This passage comes from the 9th
section of the treatise 'De Duodecim
Abusivis Sseculi,' to which reference is
made in vol. i. pp. 222-224. I am glad
to have the opportunity to draw the
attention of English students to the
excellent monograph upon this little
treatise which was published at Munich
in 1908 in 'Texte und Untersuch-
ungen,' 34, 1, by Siegmund Hellmann,
to which my friend Professor Souttar
of Aberdeen has kindly drawn my
attention. Hellmann has not only
provided us with an excellent text, but
has demonotrated the great probability
that it is an Irish work dating from
? ? between 630 and 700 a. d.
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? CHAP, 1ll. ] MORAL FUNCTION OF POLITICAL AUTHORITY. 109
rightly be called a king, for the man who governs wrongfully
loses his authority. 1
Wippo, in that life of Conrad the Salic to which we have
already referred, represents the Archbishop of Maintz, in crown-
ing him, as urging him to remember that he was the vicar of
Christ, and that no one but he who imitated Christ was a true
ruler, God required of him above all that he should do justice
and seek peace for his country, that he should be the defender
of churches and clergy, the guardian of widows and orphans. 2
These examples will suffice to show that the principles of the
political theorists of the ninth century continued to be held
until the time of the great conflict between the papacy and the
empire. They were not changed by that conflict. Neither the
imperialists nor the papalists had any doubt whatever that the
true function of the king was to maintain and set forward
justice. The papalists might use the principle to justify oppo-
s1tion and resistance to what they conceived to be an unjust
authority, and the imperialists to repel attacks upon what they
conceived to be the legitimate claims and authority of the
temporal ruler, but they were at one in maintaining that this
was the true purpose of all authority.
There is an excellent example of the principles of the im-
perialist writers in the work called 'De unitate ecclesise con-
servenda,' which was written against the Hildebrandine tradi-
1 Ratherius of Verona, 'Prseloquio-
rum,' iii. 1: "Rex es? Dignitas, rogo,
ipsa te dum delectat, instruat. Sunt
quaedam regalis ordinis insignia, quibus
sine, et si nomen utcunque, re tamen
vera certe non potest consistere dignitas
tanta. His ergo utere. his exereere, his
exornare. Esto prudens, iustus, fortis
et temperatus. . . . 2. Hae quatuor,
ita regales proprie noscuntur esse vir-
tu tes, ut cum his quilibetetiam rusticus,
rex non incongrue dici; sine his, nec
ipse universam pene u1onarchiam ob-
tinens mundi, quamquam abusive, rex
valeat iuste vocari; male enim im-
perando, ut ait qui supra, summum
imperium amittitur. "
a Wippo, 'Vita Chunradi,' 'De Con-
secratione Regis': "Ad summum digni-
tatem pervenisti, vicarius es Christi.
Nemo nisi illius imitator verus est
dominator; oportet ut in hoc eolio
regni cogites de honore perenni. . . .
Cum vero Deus a te multa requirat,
hoc potissimum desiderat ut facias
judicium et iustitiam ac pacem patrise,
quse semper respicit ad te; ut sis de-
fensor ecclesiarum et clericorum, tutor
viduarum et orphanorum; cum his et
aliis bonis firmabitur thronus tuus hie
et in perpetuum. "
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? 110 POLITICAL THEORY : llTH k 12TH CENTORIES. [part 11.
tion, in the last years of the eleventh century, possibly by
Waltram, Bishop of Naumburg. The author's treatment of the
questions concerning the relations of Temporal and Spiritual
power is important, and we shall have occasion to deal with
the treatise again in this connection, but for the moment it is
enough to observe that in discussing the nature of the State
he cites those passages from the 'De Civitate Dei,' in which
St Augustine has preserved Cicero's description of law as being
the embodiment of justice, and of the state as that which
exists to maintain law and justice. 1
1 'De unitate ecclesise conservanda,'
i. 17: "Res publica enim dicitur,
quod sit res populi, sicut scribit sanctus
Augustinus in ipso xviiii libro de
civitate Dei; sed populum esse definit
coetum multitudinis iuris consensu
vel utilitatis communione sociatum.
Quid autem dicat iuris consensum, dis-
putando explicit, per hoc ostendens geri
sine iustitia non posse rem publicam.
'Ubi ergo,' inquit, 'justitia vera non est,
nec ius potest esse ; quod enim iure fit,
profecto iuste fit, quod autem fit
iniuste, nec iure fieri potest; non enim
iura dicenda vel putanda quselibet
iniqua hominum constituta. Quocirca
ubi non est vera iustitia, iuris consensu
sociatus coetus hominum non potest
esse, et ideo nec populus; et si non
populus, nec res populi, sed qualis-
cunque multitudinis, quse populi
nomine digua non est. Ac per hoc, si
res publiea res est populi et populus non
est, qui consensu iuris sociatus non
est, non est autem ius, ubi nulla iustitia
est, procul dubio colligitur, ubi iustitia
non est, non esse rem publicam. Iustitia
porro est ea virtus, quae sua cuique dis-
tribuit. ' Et longe supra idem Augusti-
nus in libro ii de civitate Dei introdu-
ces sententiam vel Scipionis vel Tullii
de re publica: 'Sicut in fidibus,'
inquit, 'a tibiis atque cantu ipso ac
vocibus concentus est quidam tenendus
ex distinctis sonis, quem immutatum
atque discrepantem aures eruditse ferre
non possunt, isque concentus ex dis-
simillimarum vocum moderatione con-
cors tamen efficitur et congruus, sic ex
summis et infimis et mediis inter-
iectis ordinibus, ut sonis, moderata
ratione civitatem consensu dissimilli-
morum dicunt concinere; et quas
harmonia a musicis dicitur in cantu,
eam esse in civitate concord iam, ar-
tissimum atque optimum omni in re
publica vinculum incolumitatis, eamque
sine iustitia nullo pacto esse posse.
Populum autem non omnem coetum
multitudinis, sed coetum iuris consensu
et utilitatis communione sociatum esse
determinant, et dicunt, tunc esse rem
publicam, id est rem populi, cum bene
ac iuste geritur, sive ab uno rege, sive
a paucis optimatibus, sive ab universo
populo. Cum vero iniustus est rex,
quem tyrannum more Grseco appellant,
aut iniusti optimates, quorum consen-
? ? sum dicunt factionem, aut iniustus ipse
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? chap, 1ll. ] MORAL FUNCTION OF POLITICAL AUTHORITY. Ill
The same conception that the essential character of kingship
is to maintain justice is maintained in that treatise of Hugh of
Fleury to which we have already referred. 1 He has a very
high conception of the nature of the royal authority, he cites
both the Pauline doctrine that all authority is from God, and the
Gelasian principle that there are two powers by which the world
is ruled, the royal and the priestly, while Christ Himself was both
King and Priest,2 and he reproduces the phrases of Ambrosi-
aster and Cathulfus, that the king has the image of God the
Father, while the bishop has that of Christ, and maintains that
the king has authority over all bishops in his kingdom. 3 At
the same time he maintains very emphatically that the function
of the legitimate king is to govern his people in justice and
equity, to protect the widows and the poor; his chief virtues
are sobriety, justice, prudence, and temperance. 4
These illustrations will be sufficient to make it clear that
those who belonged to the imperialist party were quite clear
that the function or end of the temporal authority was to
maintain justice. It is more important to observe that the
same principle was firmly maintained by the papalists and
anti-imperialists. We have already seen that Manegold of
Lautenbach maintained the ultimate divine origin of the
temporal power, while, as we shall see presently, he held that
it was derived immediately from the community. He was
perhaps the most vigorous assailant of Henry IV. and the most
1 See p. 98.
2 Hugh of Fleury, 'Tractatus de
regia potestate et sacerdotali dignitate,'
i. 1, 2. Cf. vol. i. pp. 149, 215.
3 Id. id. , i. 3: "Verumptamen rex in
regni sui corpore Patris omuipotentis
optinere videtur imaginem, et episco-
pus Christi. Unde rite regi subiaeere
videntur omnes regni ipsius episcopi,
sicut Patri Filius deprehenditur esse
subiectus, non natura, sed ordine, ut
universitas regni ad unum redigatur
principium. " Cf. vol. i. pp. 149, 215.
4 Id. id. , i. 6: "Porro legitimi regia
officium est populum in iusticia et
sequitate gubernare et secclesiam sanc-
tam totis viribus defendere. Oportet
etiam eum esse pupillorum tutorem, et
viduarum protectorem, et pauperum
auxiliatorem, ut cum beato lob Domino
dicere possit: 'Oculus fui ceco et pes
claudo, et rem quam nesciebam dili-
genter investigabam. ' Debet proinde
Deum omnipotentem, qui multis homi-
num milibus eum prseposuit, toto mentis
affectu diligere, et populum sibi a Deo
commissum tamquam se ipsum. . . .
Debet etiam quattuor principalibus
maxime pollere virtutibus, sobrietate
videlicet, iusticia, prudentia ac
temperantia. " Cf. id. , o. 7.
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? 112 POLITICAL THEORY : llTH & 12TH CENTURIES, [part II.
radical theorist of the nature of government in the eleventh
century, he had as little respect for the arbitrary king as
any political writer of the seventeenth century or of the French
Revolution. But he founds his opinions, not on the theory that
secular authority was a thing illegitimate or improper, but on
the principle that as the royal authority excelled all other earthly
power in dignity, so it should also excel them all in justice and
piety. He who was to have the care of all, to rule over all,
should possess greater virtue than all, in order that he might
administer his power with the highest equity. The people
had not set him over them that he should act as a tyrant, but
that he should defend them from tyranny. 1 Again in another
passage Manegold urges that the chief distinction between
human nature and that of other living creatures is that it is
possessed of reason, and that therefore men consider not only
what they should do, but why they do it. No man can make
himself king or emperor; when therefore the people set one
man over them, they do it in order that he should give to
every man his due, that he should protect the good, destroy
the wicked, and administer justice to all. 2
Berthold of Constance in his Annals expresses the same
principle, but in terms derived ultimately from St Isidore of
Seville. The true king is he who does right, while the king
who does wrong will lose his kingship; or rather, he is no king,
but only a tyrant. 8 Lambert of Hersfeld, in his account of the
1 Manegold, 'Ad Gebehardum,' 30: et improbitate defendat. "
"Regalis ergo dignitas et potentia sicut 2 Id. id. , 47: "In hoc namque natura
omnes mundanas excellit potestates, humana ceteris prsestat animantibus,
sic ad eam ministrandam non flagitio- quod capax rationis ad agenda queque
sissimus quisque vel turpissimus est non fortuitis casibus proruit, causas
constituendus, sed qui sicut loco et rerum iuditio rationis inquirit nec
dignitate, ita nichilominus ceteros tantum, quid agatur, sed cur aliquid
sapientia, iusticia superet et pietate. agatur, intendit. Cum enim nullus
Necesse est ergo, qui omnium curam se imperatorem vel regem creare possit,
gerere, omnes debet gubernare, maiore ad hoc unum aliquem super se populus
gratia virtutum super ceteros debeat exaltat, ut iusti ratione inperii se
splendere, traditam sibi potestatem gubernet et regat, cuique sua dis-
summo equitatis libramine studeat tribuat, pios foveat, inpios perimat,
administrare. Neque enim populus omnibus videlicet iusticiam im-
ideo eum super se exaltat, ut liberum pendat.
terea, ne diceret aliquis : Transivi ad
gratiam Evangelii; liber sum: nulli
subditus esse debeo; propterea apos-
tolus, ut nihil suis auditoribus deesset,
propter bonum pacis, et concordise
subiecit: 'Omnis anima potestatibus
sublimioribus subdita sit. ' Ab excel-
lentiori parte id est anima, totus homo
designatur; sublimiores autem potes-
tates dicit imperatores, reges et prin-
cipes huius sseculi, quibus nos subditos
esse admonet propter bonum pacis, et
concordise, ne nomen Dei, aut doctrina
Christi blasphemetur. . . . 'Quae
autem sunt a Deo ordinate sunt,' a
bono quippe ordinatore nihil inordina-
tum relinquitur. Ostendit ergo his
verbis apostolus manifeste, quoniam
omnis potestas, tam apud paganos
quam apud Christianos, a Deo ordinata
est, sive propitio sive irato. "
2 Wippo, 'Vita Chunradi,' 'De Con-
secratione Regis,' 'Scriptum est enim:
Omnis potestas a Deo est': "Is omni-
potens rex regum, totius honoris auctor
et principium, quando in principes
terrss alicuius dignitatis gratiam trans-
fundit, quantum ad caturam principii
pura et munda. . . . Dominus qui te
elegit utesses rex super populum suum,
ipse te prius voluit probare, et post
modum regnare. . . . Ad summam
dignitatem pervenisti, vicarius es
Christi. "
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? CHAP. II. ] DIVINE NATURE OF POLITICAL AUTHORITY. 101
the need which each has of the other. 1 In another place
he draws out in some detail the complementary relation
between the spiritual and the temporal authorities. The
duties of the different members of the Church, for they are
both within the Church, are not the same. The duty of the
priest is to nourish and cherish all in mercy, the duty of
the judge is to punish the guilty, to deliver the innocent
from the power of the wicked, to be diligent in carrying
out the law, and in maintaining equity; he should always
remember the words of the apostle, "Wouldest thou have no
fear of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have
praise of him, for he is God's minister to thee for good. But if
thou doest evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain"
(Rom. xiii. 3, 4). 2 Peter Damian is clear that the authority of
the secular power in administering justice and punishing crime
is derived from God.
The writers whom we have just cited belong to the period
1 Peter Damian, Ep. , Bk. iii. 6:
"Sciebat enim {i. e. , the High Priest
Jehoiada) quoniam utraque dignitas
alternse iuvicem utilitatis est indiga,
dum et sacerdotium regni tuitione
protegitur, et regnum sacerdotalis
officii sanctitate fulcitur. . . . ut dum
regnum ac sacerdotium optata per vos
pace perfruitur, is, qui utriusque
dignitatis auctor est, pacis seteruse
digna vobis prsemia largiatur. "
2 Id. , 'Opusculum,' lvii. 1: "Non
omnia membra Ecclesise uno fungun-
tur officio. Aliud nempe sacerdoti,
aliud competit iudici. Ille siquidem
visceribus debet pietatis affluere, et
in matern1e misericordise gremio sub
exuberantibus doctrinse semper uberi-
bus Alios confovere. Istius autem
officium est, ut reos puniat, et ex
eorum manibus eripiat innocentes; ut
vigorem rectitudinis et iustitise teneat,
et a zelo sanctionum legalium non
tepescat; ut ab sequitatis linea non
declinet; ut legitimi vigoris genium
nou enervet. Memineat etiam semper
quod per apostolum dicitur; 'Vis non
timere potestatem? fac bonum, et
habebis laudem ex illa. Dei enim
minister est tibi in bonum. Si autem
malum feceris. time, non enim sine causa
gladium portat. '' In quibus utique
verbis (datur) intelligi, aliud esse
gladium principis, aliud infulam sacer-
dotis. Non enim ad hoc prsecingeris
gladio, ut violentorum mala debeas
palpare vel ungere: sed ut ea studeas
vibrati mucronis ictibus obtruncare.
Hinc est quod sequitur: 'Dei enim
minister est vindex in iram ei, qui
male agit. '"
Cf. id. , 'Liber Gratissimus,' 10:
"Regnum namque et sacerdotium a
Deo cognoscitur institutum, et ideo,
licet amministratoris persona prorsus
inveniatur indigna, officium tamen,
quod utique bonum est, competens
aliquando gratia comitatur. . . . Reges
enim et sacerdotes, licet nonnulli eorum
reprobi sint per notabilis vitse meri-
tum, dii tamen et christi dici rep-
? ? periuntur propter accepti ministerii
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? 102 POLITICAL THEORY: 11TH & 12TH CENTUKIBS. [part II.
before the great conflict had broken out, but the same principle
is maintained by writers of all shades of opinion during the
great struggle. It is needless to cite the declarations of the
extreme imperialist writers, for this principle is one of the
main foundations of their argument against the papalists, and
we shall presently have to consider some of their phrases in
detail, when we discuss the conclusions which some of them
wished to draw from this principle.
It is, however, very important to observe that this principle
was held with equal firmness by writers who did not belong to
the imperialist party, and even by the extremest papalists.
Gerhoh of Eeichersberg, one of the most important writers of
the middle of the twelfth century, was certainly no partisan of
the secular party, rather, vehemently maintained the liberty and
authority of the Church, but he was also very clear in asserting
the divine origin and authority of the secular power. In one of
his treatises he condemns in the strongest terms any attempt of
the ecclesiastic to draw to himself the secular authority, on the
ground that this would be to destroy the authority which had
been set up by God Himself. 1 Again, no writer of the Middle
Ages is clearer than John of Salisbury as to the limits and
conditions of the royal authority, and the right of resistance to
the tyrant, but he is equally clear that the authority of the
prince comes from God, and has the divine sanction. 2
1 Gerhoh of Reichersberg, 'De
Investigatione Antichristi,' i. 72:
"Quin etiam, sicut aliquando cesares
qusedam pontificalia et ecclesiastica
presumebant, ita iste de contra cum
sacerdotio quoddam in se cesareum
ac supercesareum imaginantur. . . .
Hoc autem quid est aliud, quam po-
testatem a Deo constitutam destruere et
ordinationi Dei resistere ? . . . Audiant
pontifices precipientem sibi Dominum:
'Reddite quse sunt cesaris cesari, et
quse sunt Dei Deo,' ut, si regalia
secclesie a regibus tradita tenere
volunt, regibus inde iustum ac de-
centem honorem exhibeant. Audiant
item apostolum. 'Deum timete, regem
honorificate. '"
2 John of Salisbury, 'Policraticus,'
iv. 1: 'Est ergo, ut eum plerique
diffiniunt, principis potestas publica,
et in tenis qusedam divinse maiesta-
tis imago. Procul dubio magnum quid
divinse virtutis declaratur inesse prin-
cipibus, dum homines nutibus eorum
colla submittnnt, et securi plerumque
feriendas prsebent cervices, et im-
pulsu divino quisque timet quibus ipse
timori est. Quod fieri posse non arbi-
tror, nisi nutu faciente divino. Omnia
etenim potestas a Domino Deo est, et
cum illo fuit semper, et est ante eum
Quod igitur princeps potest ita a Deo
est, ut potestas a Domino non recedat,
sed ea utitur per subpositam manum,
in omnibus doctrinam faciens clemen-
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? CHAP. II. ] DIVINE NATURE OF POLITICAL AUTHORITY. 103
We shall presently have occasion to examine in detail the
political theory of Manegold of Lautenbach, the most incisive
writer of the investiture controversy, and the most unsparing
critic in the Middle Ages of what he conceived to be the
illegitimate pretensions of the imperialists. While, however,
he emphatically repudiates what he held to be the false inter-
pretation of the apostolic doctrine of the divine nature of
secular authority, he traces this error to a confusion between
the office of the king, which he evidently conceives to be sacred,
and the position of an individual king who may have justly
forfeited his authority, and cannot then claim obedience in the
name of the apostolic authority. 1 And again in another passage
he quotes with approbation a sentence from a letter of Pope
Innocent I. , which asserted that the exercise of criminal justice
by the secular power was founded upon the authority of God
Himself. 2
And again the same principle is maintained by Honorius of
Augsburg. In his treatise entitled 'Summa Gloria,' which is
in the main a vindication of the greater dignity of the spiritual
tise aut iustitise suae. Qui ergo resistit
potestati, Dei ordinationi resistit, penes
quem est auctoritas conferendi eam,
et, cum vult, auferendi vel minuendi
eam. "
1 Manegold, 'Ad Qebehardum,' 43:
"In eo namque quod dicitur: 'Subditi
estote regi quasi prsecellenti,' et:
'Deum timete, regem honorificate,' et:
'Subditi estote dominis non tantum
bonis et modestis,' multum sibi aplau-
dunt sibique titulos victorise ascribunt
non intellegentes neque que locuntur
neque de quibus affirmant. Rex enim
non nomen est naturse, sed officii,
sicut episcopus, presbyter, diaconus.
Et cum quilibet horum certis ex causis
de commisso sibi officio deponitur, non
est quod erat, nec honor officio debitus
postea est impendendus. Quisquis ergo
amissse dignitatis postmodum sibi re-
verentiam impendit, potius prevaricator
quam legum servator existit. "
2 Id. id. , 39: "Unde sanctissimus papa
Innocentius in decretis suis cap. xxii.
hos, per quorum ministerium catholici
principes et pravos puniunt et pios
defendunt, a reatu immunes ostendit
dicens: 'Quesitum est super his etiam
qui post baptismum administraverunt
aut tormenta sola exercuerunt aut
etiam capitalem protulerunt senten-
tiam. De his nichil legimus a maiori-
bus difinitum. Meminerant enim a Deo
potestates has esse concessas et propter
vindictam noxiorum gladium fuisse
permissum et Dei ministerium esse in
huiusmodi datum vindicem. Quem-
admodum igitur reprehenderent
factum, quod auctore Deo viderent
esse concessum? De his igitur ita,
ut actenus servatum est, sic habe-
mus, ne aut disciplinam evertere aut
contra auctoritatem Domini venire
videamur. "
The passage is from Innocent I. ,
Ep. 6, and is also cited by various
? ? canonists. Cf. vol. ii. p. 147.
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? 104 POLITICAL THEORY : llTH & 12TH CENTURIES, [paet II.
as compared with the temporal authority, he held indeed that
the authority of man over man was not primittve, but estab-
lished to restrain men's sinful passions, but he is also clear
that it was established by God. 1 And in another chapter
of the same work he sets this out with great emphasis. The
royal authority is indeed inferior in dignity to the priestly, but
the royal authority must, in those matters which belong to it,
be obeyed, not only by the laity, but by the clergy; and he
quotes St Peter and St Paul as teaching plainly that it was
instituted by God for the punishment of the wicked and the
reward of the good. 2
1 Honorius Augustodunensis, ' Sum-
ma Gloria,' 26: "Deus natuque non
prefecit primnm hominem hominibus,
sed bestiis et brutis animalibus, quia
his qui irrationabiliter et bestialiter
vivunt, iudices tun tum prelati sunt,
quatenus eos per timorem revocent ad
insitse humanse masuetudinis tenorem.
Unde idem Deus per Noe Sem et Iafeth
peccantis filii posteritati prefecit, quia
nimirum peceantes sacerdotio et regno
subiecit. Unde et in evangelio, cum
discipuli dicerent: 'Domine, ecce duo
gladii hie,' hsec verba sua auctoritate
roboravit, quia ad regimen seecelesise
in presenti vita duos gladios necessarios
premoustravit; unu1u spiritalem, scili-
cet verbum Dei, quo saeerdotium uti-
tur ad vulnerandos peceantes, alterum
materialem, quo regnum utitur ad
puniendos in malis perdurantes. Necesse
est enim, ut hos regalis potestas subig'at
gladio materiali, qui legi Dei rebelles
non possunt corrigi stola sacerdotali. "
2 Id. id. , 24: "Quamvis igitur sacer-
dotium longe transcendat regnum,
tamen ob pacis concordise vinculum
monet evangelica et apostolica auc-
toritas, regibus honorem in secularibus
negotiis dumtaxat defereudum. Cum
enim quidam a Domino inquirerent,
utrum censum cesari dari liceret, ait:
'Reddite, quse sunt cesaris, cesari,
atque quse sunt Dei, Deo. ' Ergo in
his quse ad regni ius pertinent, oportet
clerum et populum regibus parere, in
his autem, quse ad ius divinse legis
epectant, Deo placere. . . . Beatus
quoque Petrus apostolus hortatur
honorem deferre regibus: 'Deum,' in-
quit, 'timete, reges honorificate. '
Et iterum: 'Subditi estote omui hu-
manse creatune propter Deum, sive
regi quasi pruecellenti, sive ducibus ab
eo missis ad vindictam malefactorum,
laudem vero bonorum. ' In quibusverbis
considerandum est, quod reges et iu-
dices ob solam vindictam malorum
constituuntur, qui laudem ferre bonis
dicuntur. Justi enim reges et iudices
solos impios et iniquo* puniunt, iustos
autem et bonos laudibus extollunt.
Beatus etiam Paulus ad subiectionem
principum hortatur dicens: 'Omnis
anima potestatibus subl1mioribus sub-
dita sit. ' Et ne putes potestates per
homines casu constitui, subiungit:
? ? 'Non est enim potestas nisi a Deo.
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? CHAP. II. ] DIVINE NATURE OF POLITICAL AUTHORITY. 105
There can really be no doubt whatever as to the normal con-
ceptions of the political theorists of the eleventh and twelfth
centuries as to the origin and nature of the temporal power.
The phrases of Gregory VII. in his letter to Hermann of Metz
are no doubt at first sight startling, and it is not surprising that
they have led to some misunderstanding, but it is clear that
they only represent one aspect of his own conception of the
state, and that an examination of his correspondence makes it
clear that he had no intention to deny that political authority
was derived from God. And we hope that it is now evident that
the political theorists of all schools of thought recognised that,
if man in a state of innocence would have needed no coercive
authority, man under the actual conditions of human nature
requires such an authority both for the suppression of wrong
and injustice and for the maintenance of righteousness.
runt. ' Et quod iudices ad malos mali. Vis autem non timere potesta-
tantum reprimendos, immo puniendos tem? Bonum fac, et habebis laudem
preficiantur, patenter subditur : ' Prin- ex ipsa. ' Eadem et Petrus dixit. "
cipes non sunt timori boni operis, sed
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? 106
CHAPTER III.
THE MORAL FUNCTION OF POLITICAL AUTHORITY.
The normal conception of the Middle Ages was then that the
temporal as well as the spiritual power derives its authority
from God. We must now observe that this principle found its
rationale in the moral purpose or end of temporal authority.
Such occasional and controversial phrases as those of Hilde-
brand might leave the impression that secular authority had no
other purpose than to minister to the ambitions and to satisfy
the desires of the ruler.
But this was very far from being the
real principle of the Middle Ages; to these the authority of the
king or emperor was divine, because it was his function to secure
the establishment and maintenance of justice.
It is true that St Augustine had entangled himself in a
position which in some places at least led him to deny that
the state must find its essential and distinguishing quality in
justice. 1 There is no trace of this conception in the writers of
the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries; the passages in St
Augustine's writings which support it are not, as far as we
have seen, ever quoted. On the contrary, the constant principle
set out by the mediseval writers is that the maintenance of
justice is the essential function of the ruler.
We can find this represented first in some references to the
beginnings of organised society. Such references are scanty and
contain nothing new or important, but, such as they are, they all
represent the beginning of the authority of man over man as due
to the need of order and of some method of restraint upon men's
evil tendencies. Gerbert (Silvester II. ), for instance, says that
1 St Augustine, ' De Civitate Dei,' xix. 21, 24. Cf. vol. i. pp. 165-170.
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? CHAP, 1ll. ] MORAL FUNCTION OF POLITICAL AUTHORITY. 107
it is certain that when our first parents abused their free will
by their transgression, man was set over his fellow-man in order
to restrain his unlawful desires, and that thus men are held in
check by civil and ecclesiastical laws. 1 Again, Othloh of St
Emmeran points out that it is impossible that men should
live together in peace unless there is some system by which
some are subjected to others. 2 Again, the history of the
Bishops of Cambrai, a work which belongs to the eleventh
century, commences with a brief account of the beginnings of
city life--men, as it was said, at first wandered about like the
wild animals, without any government of custom and reason,
pursuing blindly the satisfaction of their desires; it was
only when they began to come together into cities that they
learned to keep faith and to maintain justice, and to live in
obedience to each other. 3 These phrases obviously represent
formal literary traditions, and are not in themselves of much
importance, but they may serve as an introduction to our
consideration of the theory of the function or purpose of the
state.
We begin by observing that the principle of the just end of the
state, which was, as we have seen, very firmly maintained by the
1 Silvester II. (Gerbert), Ep. xi. :
'' Cum constat post primorum nos-
trorum parentum prsevaricationem in
liberi arbitrii abusionem genus homi-
num ei sententiae addictum, ut et homo
capitibus aliorum secundum Psalmo-
graphi vocem superponatur, ad com-
pescendos scilicet humanse voluptatis
illicitos appetitus, et legibus non
modo forensibus, verum etiam ecclesi-
asticis cohibeamur regulis ac rationi-
bus. "
2 Othloh of St Emmeran, 'Dia-
logus de Tribus qusestionibus,' 24:
"0. Ubi rogo, plures, vel saltim duo
homines simul commorantes, pacifici
possunt esse umquam, nisi alter alteri
subdatur?
H. Nusquam omnino.
0. Unde erat necesse ut homines,
etiam primi, redderentur pacifici et
subiicerentur alter alteri. "
* 'Gesta Pontificum Cameracen-
sium,' i. 1: "Urbibus quondam sedi-
ticantlis ea primum causa ab auctoribus
extitisse dicitur, ut homines passim
ritu ferarum oberrantes, quibus neque
mos, neque cultus ratione magistra
regebatur, nichilque divinum aut
humanum sapiebant, sed propter
errorem atque inscientiam cseca ac
temeraria dominatrix animi cupiditas
ad se explendam viribus corporis abute-
batur pernitiosis satellitibus; illi in-
quam homines instruct is urbium
moenibus in unum convenirent, fidem
colere et iustitiam retinere discerent,
et aliis parere sua voluntate consues-
cerent; ac non modo labores exci-
piendos communis commodi causa, sed
etiam'vitam amittendam estimarent. "
Cf. Alcuin, 'Dialogus de Rhetorica
et Virtutibus'; Cicero, Tusc, v. 2;
? ? and vol. i. p. 211.
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? 108 POLITICAL THEORY : 11TH & 12TH CENTURIES, [part II.
political writers of the ninth century, continued to be held in
the tenth and eleventh. In the ' Collectio Canonum'of Abbo,
the Abbot of Fleury, which is inscribed to Hugh and Robert,
Kings of the French (i. e. , before 997), he quotes as from a
Council of Paris a passage from that treatise 'De Duodecim
Abusivis Sseculi,' which was much used in the ninth century;
the justice of the king is to oppress no man by force, to judge
without favour of persons, to be the defender of strangers and
children and widows, to put down vice and crime, to maintain
the poor with alms, to set just men over the affairs of the
kingdom, to defend his country against its enemies, and to hold
the Catholic faith. 1
Ratherius of Verona gives a terse statement of the qualities
which make a true king, and without which he may have
the name but cannot have the reality of kingship; these are
prudence, justice, courage, and temperance, the man who
possesses these qualities, though he be but a peasant, may not
improperly be said to be a king, while the man who lacks them
though he held the universal monarchy of the world could not
1 Abbo, Abbot of Fleury, 'Col-
lectio Canonum,' iii. : "Unde ex
libris qui ex conciliis sui tetnporis
effecti sunt cum subiectione episco-
porum, quanta facile est reperiri,
expressim libro II. cap. I. post aliqua.
'Justitia regis est ueminem inuste
per potestatem opprimere, sine accep-
tione personarum inter virum et prox-
inum suum iudicare, advenis et
pupillis et viduis defensorem esse,
furta cohibere, adulteria punire, ini-
quos non exaltare, impudicos et his-
triones non nutrire, itnpios de terra
perdere, parricidas et peierantes vivere
non sinere, ecclesias defensare, pauperes
eleemosynis alere; justos super regni
negotia constituere, senes et sapien tes et
sobrios consiliarios habere, magorum et
hariolorum pythonissarumque super-
stitionibus non intendere, iracundiam
differre, patriam fortiter et iuste contra
adversarios defendere; per omnia in
Deo vivere, prosperitatibus non elevare
animam, cuncta adversa patienter fetre,
fidem catholiuam in Deu1n habere, filios
suos non sinere impie agere, certis
horis orationibus insistere, ante boras
congruas non gustare cibum. '"
This passage comes from the 9th
section of the treatise 'De Duodecim
Abusivis Sseculi,' to which reference is
made in vol. i. pp. 222-224. I am glad
to have the opportunity to draw the
attention of English students to the
excellent monograph upon this little
treatise which was published at Munich
in 1908 in 'Texte und Untersuch-
ungen,' 34, 1, by Siegmund Hellmann,
to which my friend Professor Souttar
of Aberdeen has kindly drawn my
attention. Hellmann has not only
provided us with an excellent text, but
has demonotrated the great probability
that it is an Irish work dating from
? ? between 630 and 700 a. d.
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? CHAP, 1ll. ] MORAL FUNCTION OF POLITICAL AUTHORITY. 109
rightly be called a king, for the man who governs wrongfully
loses his authority. 1
Wippo, in that life of Conrad the Salic to which we have
already referred, represents the Archbishop of Maintz, in crown-
ing him, as urging him to remember that he was the vicar of
Christ, and that no one but he who imitated Christ was a true
ruler, God required of him above all that he should do justice
and seek peace for his country, that he should be the defender
of churches and clergy, the guardian of widows and orphans. 2
These examples will suffice to show that the principles of the
political theorists of the ninth century continued to be held
until the time of the great conflict between the papacy and the
empire. They were not changed by that conflict. Neither the
imperialists nor the papalists had any doubt whatever that the
true function of the king was to maintain and set forward
justice. The papalists might use the principle to justify oppo-
s1tion and resistance to what they conceived to be an unjust
authority, and the imperialists to repel attacks upon what they
conceived to be the legitimate claims and authority of the
temporal ruler, but they were at one in maintaining that this
was the true purpose of all authority.
There is an excellent example of the principles of the im-
perialist writers in the work called 'De unitate ecclesise con-
servenda,' which was written against the Hildebrandine tradi-
1 Ratherius of Verona, 'Prseloquio-
rum,' iii. 1: "Rex es? Dignitas, rogo,
ipsa te dum delectat, instruat. Sunt
quaedam regalis ordinis insignia, quibus
sine, et si nomen utcunque, re tamen
vera certe non potest consistere dignitas
tanta. His ergo utere. his exereere, his
exornare. Esto prudens, iustus, fortis
et temperatus. . . . 2. Hae quatuor,
ita regales proprie noscuntur esse vir-
tu tes, ut cum his quilibetetiam rusticus,
rex non incongrue dici; sine his, nec
ipse universam pene u1onarchiam ob-
tinens mundi, quamquam abusive, rex
valeat iuste vocari; male enim im-
perando, ut ait qui supra, summum
imperium amittitur. "
a Wippo, 'Vita Chunradi,' 'De Con-
secratione Regis': "Ad summum digni-
tatem pervenisti, vicarius es Christi.
Nemo nisi illius imitator verus est
dominator; oportet ut in hoc eolio
regni cogites de honore perenni. . . .
Cum vero Deus a te multa requirat,
hoc potissimum desiderat ut facias
judicium et iustitiam ac pacem patrise,
quse semper respicit ad te; ut sis de-
fensor ecclesiarum et clericorum, tutor
viduarum et orphanorum; cum his et
aliis bonis firmabitur thronus tuus hie
et in perpetuum. "
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? 110 POLITICAL THEORY : llTH k 12TH CENTORIES. [part 11.
tion, in the last years of the eleventh century, possibly by
Waltram, Bishop of Naumburg. The author's treatment of the
questions concerning the relations of Temporal and Spiritual
power is important, and we shall have occasion to deal with
the treatise again in this connection, but for the moment it is
enough to observe that in discussing the nature of the State
he cites those passages from the 'De Civitate Dei,' in which
St Augustine has preserved Cicero's description of law as being
the embodiment of justice, and of the state as that which
exists to maintain law and justice. 1
1 'De unitate ecclesise conservanda,'
i. 17: "Res publica enim dicitur,
quod sit res populi, sicut scribit sanctus
Augustinus in ipso xviiii libro de
civitate Dei; sed populum esse definit
coetum multitudinis iuris consensu
vel utilitatis communione sociatum.
Quid autem dicat iuris consensum, dis-
putando explicit, per hoc ostendens geri
sine iustitia non posse rem publicam.
'Ubi ergo,' inquit, 'justitia vera non est,
nec ius potest esse ; quod enim iure fit,
profecto iuste fit, quod autem fit
iniuste, nec iure fieri potest; non enim
iura dicenda vel putanda quselibet
iniqua hominum constituta. Quocirca
ubi non est vera iustitia, iuris consensu
sociatus coetus hominum non potest
esse, et ideo nec populus; et si non
populus, nec res populi, sed qualis-
cunque multitudinis, quse populi
nomine digua non est. Ac per hoc, si
res publiea res est populi et populus non
est, qui consensu iuris sociatus non
est, non est autem ius, ubi nulla iustitia
est, procul dubio colligitur, ubi iustitia
non est, non esse rem publicam. Iustitia
porro est ea virtus, quae sua cuique dis-
tribuit. ' Et longe supra idem Augusti-
nus in libro ii de civitate Dei introdu-
ces sententiam vel Scipionis vel Tullii
de re publica: 'Sicut in fidibus,'
inquit, 'a tibiis atque cantu ipso ac
vocibus concentus est quidam tenendus
ex distinctis sonis, quem immutatum
atque discrepantem aures eruditse ferre
non possunt, isque concentus ex dis-
simillimarum vocum moderatione con-
cors tamen efficitur et congruus, sic ex
summis et infimis et mediis inter-
iectis ordinibus, ut sonis, moderata
ratione civitatem consensu dissimilli-
morum dicunt concinere; et quas
harmonia a musicis dicitur in cantu,
eam esse in civitate concord iam, ar-
tissimum atque optimum omni in re
publica vinculum incolumitatis, eamque
sine iustitia nullo pacto esse posse.
Populum autem non omnem coetum
multitudinis, sed coetum iuris consensu
et utilitatis communione sociatum esse
determinant, et dicunt, tunc esse rem
publicam, id est rem populi, cum bene
ac iuste geritur, sive ab uno rege, sive
a paucis optimatibus, sive ab universo
populo. Cum vero iniustus est rex,
quem tyrannum more Grseco appellant,
aut iniusti optimates, quorum consen-
? ? sum dicunt factionem, aut iniustus ipse
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? chap, 1ll. ] MORAL FUNCTION OF POLITICAL AUTHORITY. Ill
The same conception that the essential character of kingship
is to maintain justice is maintained in that treatise of Hugh of
Fleury to which we have already referred. 1 He has a very
high conception of the nature of the royal authority, he cites
both the Pauline doctrine that all authority is from God, and the
Gelasian principle that there are two powers by which the world
is ruled, the royal and the priestly, while Christ Himself was both
King and Priest,2 and he reproduces the phrases of Ambrosi-
aster and Cathulfus, that the king has the image of God the
Father, while the bishop has that of Christ, and maintains that
the king has authority over all bishops in his kingdom. 3 At
the same time he maintains very emphatically that the function
of the legitimate king is to govern his people in justice and
equity, to protect the widows and the poor; his chief virtues
are sobriety, justice, prudence, and temperance. 4
These illustrations will be sufficient to make it clear that
those who belonged to the imperialist party were quite clear
that the function or end of the temporal authority was to
maintain justice. It is more important to observe that the
same principle was firmly maintained by the papalists and
anti-imperialists. We have already seen that Manegold of
Lautenbach maintained the ultimate divine origin of the
temporal power, while, as we shall see presently, he held that
it was derived immediately from the community. He was
perhaps the most vigorous assailant of Henry IV. and the most
1 See p. 98.
2 Hugh of Fleury, 'Tractatus de
regia potestate et sacerdotali dignitate,'
i. 1, 2. Cf. vol. i. pp. 149, 215.
3 Id. id. , i. 3: "Verumptamen rex in
regni sui corpore Patris omuipotentis
optinere videtur imaginem, et episco-
pus Christi. Unde rite regi subiaeere
videntur omnes regni ipsius episcopi,
sicut Patri Filius deprehenditur esse
subiectus, non natura, sed ordine, ut
universitas regni ad unum redigatur
principium. " Cf. vol. i. pp. 149, 215.
4 Id. id. , i. 6: "Porro legitimi regia
officium est populum in iusticia et
sequitate gubernare et secclesiam sanc-
tam totis viribus defendere. Oportet
etiam eum esse pupillorum tutorem, et
viduarum protectorem, et pauperum
auxiliatorem, ut cum beato lob Domino
dicere possit: 'Oculus fui ceco et pes
claudo, et rem quam nesciebam dili-
genter investigabam. ' Debet proinde
Deum omnipotentem, qui multis homi-
num milibus eum prseposuit, toto mentis
affectu diligere, et populum sibi a Deo
commissum tamquam se ipsum. . . .
Debet etiam quattuor principalibus
maxime pollere virtutibus, sobrietate
videlicet, iusticia, prudentia ac
temperantia. " Cf. id. , o. 7.
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? 112 POLITICAL THEORY : llTH & 12TH CENTURIES, [part II.
radical theorist of the nature of government in the eleventh
century, he had as little respect for the arbitrary king as
any political writer of the seventeenth century or of the French
Revolution. But he founds his opinions, not on the theory that
secular authority was a thing illegitimate or improper, but on
the principle that as the royal authority excelled all other earthly
power in dignity, so it should also excel them all in justice and
piety. He who was to have the care of all, to rule over all,
should possess greater virtue than all, in order that he might
administer his power with the highest equity. The people
had not set him over them that he should act as a tyrant, but
that he should defend them from tyranny. 1 Again in another
passage Manegold urges that the chief distinction between
human nature and that of other living creatures is that it is
possessed of reason, and that therefore men consider not only
what they should do, but why they do it. No man can make
himself king or emperor; when therefore the people set one
man over them, they do it in order that he should give to
every man his due, that he should protect the good, destroy
the wicked, and administer justice to all. 2
Berthold of Constance in his Annals expresses the same
principle, but in terms derived ultimately from St Isidore of
Seville. The true king is he who does right, while the king
who does wrong will lose his kingship; or rather, he is no king,
but only a tyrant. 8 Lambert of Hersfeld, in his account of the
1 Manegold, 'Ad Gebehardum,' 30: et improbitate defendat. "
"Regalis ergo dignitas et potentia sicut 2 Id. id. , 47: "In hoc namque natura
omnes mundanas excellit potestates, humana ceteris prsestat animantibus,
sic ad eam ministrandam non flagitio- quod capax rationis ad agenda queque
sissimus quisque vel turpissimus est non fortuitis casibus proruit, causas
constituendus, sed qui sicut loco et rerum iuditio rationis inquirit nec
dignitate, ita nichilominus ceteros tantum, quid agatur, sed cur aliquid
sapientia, iusticia superet et pietate. agatur, intendit. Cum enim nullus
Necesse est ergo, qui omnium curam se imperatorem vel regem creare possit,
gerere, omnes debet gubernare, maiore ad hoc unum aliquem super se populus
gratia virtutum super ceteros debeat exaltat, ut iusti ratione inperii se
splendere, traditam sibi potestatem gubernet et regat, cuique sua dis-
summo equitatis libramine studeat tribuat, pios foveat, inpios perimat,
administrare. Neque enim populus omnibus videlicet iusticiam im-
ideo eum super se exaltat, ut liberum pendat.
