'Quae
autem sunt a Deo ordinate sunt,' a
bono quippe ordinatore nihil inordina-
tum relinquitur.
autem sunt a Deo ordinate sunt,' a
bono quippe ordinatore nihil inordina-
tum relinquitur.
Thomas Carlyle
And no doubt Hildebrand's
phrases are emphatic and startling. The best known of them
is to be found in his famous letter to Hermann, the Bishop of
Metz (1081): "Quis nesciat: reges et duces ab iis habuisse
principium, qui, Deum ignorantes, superbia, rapinis, perfidia,
homicidiis, postremo universis pene sceleribus, mundi principe
diabolo videlicet agitante, super pares, scilicet homines, dominari
cseca cupidine et intolerabili prsesumptione affectaverunt. "2
Beside these words we may put those of an earlier letter
written to the same Bishop (1076): "Sed forte putant, quod
regia dignitas episcopalem prsecellat. Ex earum principiis
colligere possunt, quantum a se utraque differunt. Illam
quidem superbia humana repperit, banc divina pietas in-
stituit. Illa vanam gloriam incessanter captat, hsec ad
ccelestem vitam semper aspirat. "3 These are indeed strong
phrases, and might well, to the unwary, seem to imply a
definite doctrine of the secular power, as representing not the
authority of God, but of evil.
In order, however, to arrive at the meaning of Hildebrand's
phrases, we must begin by observing that in other places he
speaks of the secular power in very different terms. In a
letter written to Eudolph, Duke of Suabia, in 1073, he speaks
of his hope that the "sacerdotium" and the "imperium" may
1 H. Reuter, 'Augustinische Studien. ' 3 Id. id. , iv. 2.
2 Gregory VII. , Registrum, viii. 21.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-19 10:42 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015002403882 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? CHAP. II. ] DIVINE NATURE OP POLITICAL AUTHORITY. 95
be united in concord, that, as the human body is ruled by its
two eyes, so the body of the Church may be ruled and en-
lightened when the two authorities agree in the true religion. 1
In a letter of 1074 to Henry IV. , he bids him to know that he
rightly holds the royal power, if he obeys Christ the King of
Kings and defends and restores the Church. 2 In a letter to
Sweyn, King of Denmark, in 1075, he prays him to administer
the authority entrusted to him, according to God, to adorn the
dignity of the royal title with the appropriate virtues, and to
make it manifest that that justice, in virtue of which he reigned
over his subjects, also ruled in his heart. 3 Again, in writing to
Harold, King of Denmark, in 1077, he admonishes him to keep
the honour of the kingdom committed to him by God with all
diligence, and to make his life worthy of it, in wisdom, justice,
and mercy, that God may be able to say of him, "By me this
King reigneth. "4 And again, in writing to Olaf, King of
Norway, in 1078, he describes the true function of his royal
authority as being to help the oppressed, to defend the widow,
and to love and defend justice with all his might. 6
Perhaps the most notable passage is contained in a letter
1 Id. id. , i. 19: "Quse (litterse)
nimirum inter cetera dulcedinis suse
verba illud nobis videbantur consul-
ere, per quod et status imperii glori-
osius regitur et sanctse ecclesise vigor
solidatur: videlicet ut sacerdotium et
imperium in unitate concordise con-
jungantur. Nam sicut duobus oculis
humanum corpus temporali lumine re-
gitur, ita his duobus dignitatibus in
pura religione concordantibus corpus
ecclesise spirituali lumine regi et il-
luminari probatur. "
'Id. id. , ii. 30: "Et tunc demum
regiam potesta tem recte te obtinere
cognoscas, si regi regum Christo ad
restaurationem defensionemque ecclesi-
arum suarum faciendam dominationis
tuse altitudinem inclinas et verba
ipsius dicentis cum tremore recogitas;
'Ego diligentes me diligo, et houorifi-
cantes me honorifico; qui autem me
contemnunt, erunt ignobiles. '"
3 Id. id. , ii. 51: "Rogamus igitur et
sincera te caritate monemus, ut com-
missa tibi regni gubernacula secundum
Deum ad minis trare studeas, et nomen
regalis excellentise congruse ac con-
sonanti virtutum proprietate geras,
quatenus eam, per cuius principa-
tum subiectis imperas, in corde tuo
semper regnare iustitiam ostendas. "
4 Id. id. , v. 10: "Monemus insuper,
karissime, ut tibi commissi a Deo
regni honorem omni industria, sol-
lertia, peritiaque custodias. Sit vita
tua digna, sapientia referta, iustitise
et misericordise condimento saleque
condita, ut de te vera sapientia quse
Deus est dicere queat: 'Per me rex
iste regnat. '"
6 Id id. , vi. 13: "Sit vestrsa potentise
usus et exercitatio: subvenire op-
pressis, defendere viduas, iudicare
pupillis, iustitiam non solum diligere
? ? sed etiam tota virtute defendere. "
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-19 10:42 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015002403882 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? 96 POLITICAL THEORY : llTH & 12TH CENTURIES, [part II.
in which Hildebrand urged upon William the Conqueror, in
1080, the duty of obedience to the papal authority, inasmuch
as the Pope would have to give account to God for him in the
day of judgment; he prefaced this exhortation to obedience by
a very explicit statement that God had appointed two authori-
ties greater than all others to rule the world, the apostolical
and the royal. 1
It is clear that if we are to arrive at a complete and just
view of the conception of kingship and secular authority held
by Hildebrand, we must not isolate the phrases of the two
letters to Hermann of Metz, but must consider them along
with the sentiments he expresses at other times. If, then, we
examine the circumstances under which the two letters to
Hermann were written, we find that the purpose of both was
to refute the arguments of those who maintained that it was
not lawful or proper for the Pope or any one else to excom-
municate the king or emperor. Hildebrand was primarily
concerned to demonstrate the absurdity of this view, and he
justifies his action by three considerations--first, the general
authority of binding and loosing given by Christ to Peter, from
which no one is exempt; second, the precedents which he cites
of such excommunications of kings in the past; and third, by
a comparison of the dignity and authority of the temporal
1 Gregory VII. , Registrum, vii. 25:
"Credimus, prudentiam vestram non
latere: omnibus aliis excellentiores
apostolicam et regiam dignitates huic
mundo, ad eius regimina, omnipoten-
tem Deum distribuisse. Sicut euim,
ad mundi pulchritudinem oculis car-
neis diversis temporibus reprsesentan-
dam, solem et lunam omnibus aliis
eminentiora disposuit luminaria; sic,
ne creatura, quam sui beuignitas
ad imaginem suam in hoc mundo
creaverat, in erronea et mortifera
traheretur pericula, providit, ut apos-
tolica et regia dignitate per diversa
regeretur officia. Qua tamen maiori-
tatis et minoritatis distantia religio
sic se movet Christiana, ut cura
et dispensatione apostolica dignitas
post Deum gubernetur regia. Quod
licet, fili karissime, tua non ignoret
vigilantia, tamen, ut pro salute tua
indissolubiliter menti tuse sit alli-
gatum, divina testatur scriptura, apos-
tolicam et pontificalem dignitatem
reges christianos cseterosque omnes
ante divinum tribunal reprsesentatu-
ram et pro eorum delictis rationem
Deo reddituram. Si ergo iusto iudici,
et qui mentiri nescit, creaturarum
omnium creatori, in tremendo iudicio
te sum reprsesentaturus, iudicet dili-
gens sapientia tua; an debeam vel
possim saluti tuse non diligentissime
cavere, et tu mihi ad salutem tuam,
ut viventium possideas terram, de-
beas vel possis sine mora non oboe-
dire. "
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-19 10:42 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015002403882 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? chap. II. ] DIVINE NATURK OF POLITICAL AUTHORITY. 97
powers. Tt is in this last connection that he discusses the
origin of secular authority, and urges that this had its origin
in the sinful ambition and love of power of men who desired
to make themselves the masters of their equals. That is,
Hildebraud in these phrases maintains that the origin of
secular authority is related to the vicious or sinful character
in human nature.
We have then here one aspect of Hildebrand's conception of
the nature of secular authority, stated sharply and without
qualification, but in a context which is highly controversial.
In the other passages which have been cited we have a very
different view. In these he describes secular authority as
being derived from God, and as finding its true character in
the defence and maintenance of justice, and he hopes that
there may be a true concord and agreement between the
"sacerdotium " and the "imperium," the two authorities which
God has appointed to rule over the world.
These two conceptions may seem at first sight, especially to
those who are unfamiliar with the Stoic and Patristic tradition,
inconsistent and irreconcilable, but this is merely a confusion.
For, in this tradition, government, like the other great institu-
tions of society, such as property and slavery, is the result
of sin, and represents sinful greed and ambition, and yet is
also the necessary, and, in the Christian conception, the divine,
remedy for sin. Men in a state of innocence would neither
need coercive government, nor would they claim to rule over
their fellow-men; while in the state of sin and ambition, men
desire lordship over each other, but also, in this condition, men
need control and restraint if any measure of justice and peace
is to be attained and preserved. And thus the institution of
government, which is the result of men's sinful passions, is also
appointed by God to restrain sin. 1
No doubt the phrases of Hildebrand in the two letters to
the Bishop of Metz express one side of the traditional theory
in a very harsh and crude fashion, and we have evidence that
1 Cf. Seneca, Ep. xiv. 2; Irenseus, Doctrina Christiana,' i. 28; and vol. i.
'Adv. Hser. ,' v. 24; St Augustine, p. 24, 126, 129.
'De Civ. Dei,' v. 19, xix. 15; 'De
VOL. III. G
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-19 10:42 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015002403882 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? 98 POLITICAL THEORY : llTH & 12TH CENTURIES, [part II.
they were resented even among those who were not prepared
to defend the investiture of bishops with ring and staff by the
secular authorities. For instance, Hugh of Fleury, in a treatise
addressed to Henry I. of England in the early years of the
twelfth century, protests indignantly against the phrases which
had been used by Hildebrand in these letters about the origin
and character of the royal authority, and maintains that such
opinions are absurd, and contrary to the apostolic doctrine that
all authority is from God, and that there is a divine hierarchy
of authority and obedience not only on earth, but also in
heaven. 1
The phrases of Hildebrand were resented, and, considering
their highly controversial context, this is not surprising. Is
there now any reason to think that the conception which is
expressed in these phrases was maintained by other writers of
this period as representing a complete and exclusive theory of
the origin and nature of temporal authority? There are a very
few passages in the contemporary literature which deserve our
attention.
In a fragmentary treatise written in the middle of the
eleventh century by a French churchman attacking the action
of the Emperor Henry III. with regard to the Papacy,
especially no doubt in view of the deposition of the Popes
at the Council of Sutri, the author severely condemns the
emperor as having claimed jurisdiction over the Pope, and
1 Hugo of Fleury, 'Tractatus de a Deo potestas regia in terris est
regia potestate et sacerdotali dig- ordinata sive disposita. . . . Unde
nitate,' i. 1: "Scio quosdam nos- nobis liquido claret Deum omnipoten-
tris temporibus qui reges autumnant tem non solum humanum corpus
non a Deo, sed ab his habuisse membrorum distinxisse lineamentis,
principium qui Deum ignorantes, sed et totum mundum certis gradibus
superbia, rapina, perfidia, homicidiis ac potestatibus, sicut illa cselestis
et postremo univereis pene sceleribus curia cognoscitur esse distincta, in qua
in mundi principio diabolo agitante ipse solus Deus pater omnipotens
supra pares homines dominari cseca regiam optiuet dignitatem, et in qua
cupiditate et inenarrabili affectaverunt post ipsum aDgeli, archangeli, throni
prsesumptione vel temeritate. Quorum et domiuationes et quseque cseterse
sententia quam sit frivola liquet apos- potestates sibi invicem prseesse mira-
tolico documento, qui ait: 'Non est bili et modesta potestatum varietats
potestas nisi a Deo. Quse enim sunt a noscuntur. "
Deo ordinate sunt. ' Constat igitur hac Cf. St Gregory the Great, Ep. v. 59,
sententia, quia non ab hominibus, sed and vol. i. p. 127.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-19 10:42 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015002403882 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? CHAP. II. ] DIVINE NATURE OF POLITICAL AUTHORITY. 99
urges that the emperor does not occupy the place of Christ,
but that it might rather be said that he holds that of the
devil, when he uses the sword and sheds blood. 1
Again, in a treatise written by a certain Bernald, apparently
in the last years of the eleventh century, he urges that if
the Popes have authority to depose Patriarchs, they have the
same authority over secular princes whose dignity seems to
have been created rather by men than by the divine institu-
tion. 2 Cardinal Deusdedit, in one of his treatises, speaks of
the royal authority as arising from human institution, with
the permission indeed of God, but not by His will, and he
refers to the demand of the Israelites for a king, as related
in 1 Samuel. 3
The first of these passages is very drastic, and if we had any
reason to think that it represented a generally current view,
would have considerable significance; but as we shall see
presently, some of the strongest papalists take the very
opposite view of the use of the temporal sword. 4 The phrases
of Bernald and of Deusdedit do not represent anything more
than the conception that the temporal power is not derived
immediately from God, but is directly the creation of human
will and authority.
What was, then, the normal view of these centuries as to the
source and nature of secular authority? There can really be
1 'De Ordinando Pontifice,' 'Auctor institutione videtur processisse. "
Gallicus': "Ubi enim inveniuntur im- 3 Deusdedit, 'Libellus contra in-
peratores locum Christi obtinere? Si vasores et symoniacos,' iii. 12: "Nec
verius liceat nobis dicere, potius offitio mirumsacerdotalemauctoritatem quam
diaboli surguntur (v. r. unguntur) in Deus ipse per se ipsum constituit, in
gladio et sanguine, ut, dum per peni- huiusmodi causis regiam precellere
tentiam eruantur vitia spirituali rese- potestatem, quam sibi humana prefecit
catione, ipsi insaniaat vel in cede vel adinventio, eo quidem permittente,
in membrorum carnali obtruncatione; non tamen volente. Nam de primo
quod secundum gratiam apud Deum rege populi sui, quem sibi petiit spreto
omnino est abhominabile. " prophetse principatu, ait ad eumdem:
2 Bernaldus, Libellus xii. , 'De 'Non te,' inquit, 'spreverunt, sed
Solutione Juramentorum': "Sicut me, ne regnem super eos' (1 Sam. viii.
autem Romani pontifices summos 7). Et iterum: 'Paenitet me, quod
patriarchas deponere possunt, ita et constituerim Saul regem'" (1 Sam.
inferiores, utpote mundi principes, xv. ii. )
quorum utique dignitas potius ex 4 See p. 103.
humane adiuventione, quam ex divina - -
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-19 10:42 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015002403882 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? 100 POLITICAL THEORY: 11TH & 12TH CENTURIES, [pabt II.
no doubt whatever about this to those who are at the pains
to make themselves familiar with the literature of those times.
The writers of these centuries are practically unanimous in
maintaining that the authority of the king or emperor is
derived from God. The principle is clearly expressed by those
who wrote before the development of the great conflict between
the Papacy and the Empire in the latter part of the eleventh
century, but we also find it maintained with equal clearness
during the great conflict both by imperialists and papalists.
In a commentary by Bishop Atto of Vercelli, which belongs
to the second half of the tenth century, we find a very interest-
ing and very emphatic statement of the divine authority of the
secular ruler, whether he was Christian or pagan. 1 Again, in
a report of the sermon of the Archbishop of Maintz at the
coronation of Conrad the Salic, which Wippo gives in his
life of Conrad, the Archbishop is represented as citing the
same phrases of St Paul, and as speaking of God as the
source of all human dignity, who had appointed Conrad to
be king over his people; the king is the vicar of Christ. 2
The same conception is maintained by Peter Damian, one
of the most illustrious of the reforming Italian churchmen
of the middle of the eleventh century. In a letter to
Archbishop Anno of Cologne, he speaks of the "regnum"
and "sacerdotium" as being both derived from God, and of
1 Atto of Vercelli, 'Exp. in Ep.
Pauli ad Romanes,' xiii. i. : "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. "
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-19 10:42 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015002403882 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? 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
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-19 10:42 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015002403882 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? 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-
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-19 10:42 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015002403882 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? 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.
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-19 10:42 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015002403882 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? 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.
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-19 10:42 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015002403882 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? 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
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-19 10:42 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015002403882 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? 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.
phrases are emphatic and startling. The best known of them
is to be found in his famous letter to Hermann, the Bishop of
Metz (1081): "Quis nesciat: reges et duces ab iis habuisse
principium, qui, Deum ignorantes, superbia, rapinis, perfidia,
homicidiis, postremo universis pene sceleribus, mundi principe
diabolo videlicet agitante, super pares, scilicet homines, dominari
cseca cupidine et intolerabili prsesumptione affectaverunt. "2
Beside these words we may put those of an earlier letter
written to the same Bishop (1076): "Sed forte putant, quod
regia dignitas episcopalem prsecellat. Ex earum principiis
colligere possunt, quantum a se utraque differunt. Illam
quidem superbia humana repperit, banc divina pietas in-
stituit. Illa vanam gloriam incessanter captat, hsec ad
ccelestem vitam semper aspirat. "3 These are indeed strong
phrases, and might well, to the unwary, seem to imply a
definite doctrine of the secular power, as representing not the
authority of God, but of evil.
In order, however, to arrive at the meaning of Hildebrand's
phrases, we must begin by observing that in other places he
speaks of the secular power in very different terms. In a
letter written to Eudolph, Duke of Suabia, in 1073, he speaks
of his hope that the "sacerdotium" and the "imperium" may
1 H. Reuter, 'Augustinische Studien. ' 3 Id. id. , iv. 2.
2 Gregory VII. , Registrum, viii. 21.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-19 10:42 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015002403882 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? CHAP. II. ] DIVINE NATURE OP POLITICAL AUTHORITY. 95
be united in concord, that, as the human body is ruled by its
two eyes, so the body of the Church may be ruled and en-
lightened when the two authorities agree in the true religion. 1
In a letter of 1074 to Henry IV. , he bids him to know that he
rightly holds the royal power, if he obeys Christ the King of
Kings and defends and restores the Church. 2 In a letter to
Sweyn, King of Denmark, in 1075, he prays him to administer
the authority entrusted to him, according to God, to adorn the
dignity of the royal title with the appropriate virtues, and to
make it manifest that that justice, in virtue of which he reigned
over his subjects, also ruled in his heart. 3 Again, in writing to
Harold, King of Denmark, in 1077, he admonishes him to keep
the honour of the kingdom committed to him by God with all
diligence, and to make his life worthy of it, in wisdom, justice,
and mercy, that God may be able to say of him, "By me this
King reigneth. "4 And again, in writing to Olaf, King of
Norway, in 1078, he describes the true function of his royal
authority as being to help the oppressed, to defend the widow,
and to love and defend justice with all his might. 6
Perhaps the most notable passage is contained in a letter
1 Id. id. , i. 19: "Quse (litterse)
nimirum inter cetera dulcedinis suse
verba illud nobis videbantur consul-
ere, per quod et status imperii glori-
osius regitur et sanctse ecclesise vigor
solidatur: videlicet ut sacerdotium et
imperium in unitate concordise con-
jungantur. Nam sicut duobus oculis
humanum corpus temporali lumine re-
gitur, ita his duobus dignitatibus in
pura religione concordantibus corpus
ecclesise spirituali lumine regi et il-
luminari probatur. "
'Id. id. , ii. 30: "Et tunc demum
regiam potesta tem recte te obtinere
cognoscas, si regi regum Christo ad
restaurationem defensionemque ecclesi-
arum suarum faciendam dominationis
tuse altitudinem inclinas et verba
ipsius dicentis cum tremore recogitas;
'Ego diligentes me diligo, et houorifi-
cantes me honorifico; qui autem me
contemnunt, erunt ignobiles. '"
3 Id. id. , ii. 51: "Rogamus igitur et
sincera te caritate monemus, ut com-
missa tibi regni gubernacula secundum
Deum ad minis trare studeas, et nomen
regalis excellentise congruse ac con-
sonanti virtutum proprietate geras,
quatenus eam, per cuius principa-
tum subiectis imperas, in corde tuo
semper regnare iustitiam ostendas. "
4 Id. id. , v. 10: "Monemus insuper,
karissime, ut tibi commissi a Deo
regni honorem omni industria, sol-
lertia, peritiaque custodias. Sit vita
tua digna, sapientia referta, iustitise
et misericordise condimento saleque
condita, ut de te vera sapientia quse
Deus est dicere queat: 'Per me rex
iste regnat. '"
6 Id id. , vi. 13: "Sit vestrsa potentise
usus et exercitatio: subvenire op-
pressis, defendere viduas, iudicare
pupillis, iustitiam non solum diligere
? ? sed etiam tota virtute defendere. "
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-19 10:42 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015002403882 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? 96 POLITICAL THEORY : llTH & 12TH CENTURIES, [part II.
in which Hildebrand urged upon William the Conqueror, in
1080, the duty of obedience to the papal authority, inasmuch
as the Pope would have to give account to God for him in the
day of judgment; he prefaced this exhortation to obedience by
a very explicit statement that God had appointed two authori-
ties greater than all others to rule the world, the apostolical
and the royal. 1
It is clear that if we are to arrive at a complete and just
view of the conception of kingship and secular authority held
by Hildebrand, we must not isolate the phrases of the two
letters to Hermann of Metz, but must consider them along
with the sentiments he expresses at other times. If, then, we
examine the circumstances under which the two letters to
Hermann were written, we find that the purpose of both was
to refute the arguments of those who maintained that it was
not lawful or proper for the Pope or any one else to excom-
municate the king or emperor. Hildebrand was primarily
concerned to demonstrate the absurdity of this view, and he
justifies his action by three considerations--first, the general
authority of binding and loosing given by Christ to Peter, from
which no one is exempt; second, the precedents which he cites
of such excommunications of kings in the past; and third, by
a comparison of the dignity and authority of the temporal
1 Gregory VII. , Registrum, vii. 25:
"Credimus, prudentiam vestram non
latere: omnibus aliis excellentiores
apostolicam et regiam dignitates huic
mundo, ad eius regimina, omnipoten-
tem Deum distribuisse. Sicut euim,
ad mundi pulchritudinem oculis car-
neis diversis temporibus reprsesentan-
dam, solem et lunam omnibus aliis
eminentiora disposuit luminaria; sic,
ne creatura, quam sui beuignitas
ad imaginem suam in hoc mundo
creaverat, in erronea et mortifera
traheretur pericula, providit, ut apos-
tolica et regia dignitate per diversa
regeretur officia. Qua tamen maiori-
tatis et minoritatis distantia religio
sic se movet Christiana, ut cura
et dispensatione apostolica dignitas
post Deum gubernetur regia. Quod
licet, fili karissime, tua non ignoret
vigilantia, tamen, ut pro salute tua
indissolubiliter menti tuse sit alli-
gatum, divina testatur scriptura, apos-
tolicam et pontificalem dignitatem
reges christianos cseterosque omnes
ante divinum tribunal reprsesentatu-
ram et pro eorum delictis rationem
Deo reddituram. Si ergo iusto iudici,
et qui mentiri nescit, creaturarum
omnium creatori, in tremendo iudicio
te sum reprsesentaturus, iudicet dili-
gens sapientia tua; an debeam vel
possim saluti tuse non diligentissime
cavere, et tu mihi ad salutem tuam,
ut viventium possideas terram, de-
beas vel possis sine mora non oboe-
dire. "
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-19 10:42 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015002403882 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? chap. II. ] DIVINE NATURK OF POLITICAL AUTHORITY. 97
powers. Tt is in this last connection that he discusses the
origin of secular authority, and urges that this had its origin
in the sinful ambition and love of power of men who desired
to make themselves the masters of their equals. That is,
Hildebraud in these phrases maintains that the origin of
secular authority is related to the vicious or sinful character
in human nature.
We have then here one aspect of Hildebrand's conception of
the nature of secular authority, stated sharply and without
qualification, but in a context which is highly controversial.
In the other passages which have been cited we have a very
different view. In these he describes secular authority as
being derived from God, and as finding its true character in
the defence and maintenance of justice, and he hopes that
there may be a true concord and agreement between the
"sacerdotium " and the "imperium," the two authorities which
God has appointed to rule over the world.
These two conceptions may seem at first sight, especially to
those who are unfamiliar with the Stoic and Patristic tradition,
inconsistent and irreconcilable, but this is merely a confusion.
For, in this tradition, government, like the other great institu-
tions of society, such as property and slavery, is the result
of sin, and represents sinful greed and ambition, and yet is
also the necessary, and, in the Christian conception, the divine,
remedy for sin. Men in a state of innocence would neither
need coercive government, nor would they claim to rule over
their fellow-men; while in the state of sin and ambition, men
desire lordship over each other, but also, in this condition, men
need control and restraint if any measure of justice and peace
is to be attained and preserved. And thus the institution of
government, which is the result of men's sinful passions, is also
appointed by God to restrain sin. 1
No doubt the phrases of Hildebrand in the two letters to
the Bishop of Metz express one side of the traditional theory
in a very harsh and crude fashion, and we have evidence that
1 Cf. Seneca, Ep. xiv. 2; Irenseus, Doctrina Christiana,' i. 28; and vol. i.
'Adv. Hser. ,' v. 24; St Augustine, p. 24, 126, 129.
'De Civ. Dei,' v. 19, xix. 15; 'De
VOL. III. G
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-19 10:42 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015002403882 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? 98 POLITICAL THEORY : llTH & 12TH CENTURIES, [part II.
they were resented even among those who were not prepared
to defend the investiture of bishops with ring and staff by the
secular authorities. For instance, Hugh of Fleury, in a treatise
addressed to Henry I. of England in the early years of the
twelfth century, protests indignantly against the phrases which
had been used by Hildebrand in these letters about the origin
and character of the royal authority, and maintains that such
opinions are absurd, and contrary to the apostolic doctrine that
all authority is from God, and that there is a divine hierarchy
of authority and obedience not only on earth, but also in
heaven. 1
The phrases of Hildebrand were resented, and, considering
their highly controversial context, this is not surprising. Is
there now any reason to think that the conception which is
expressed in these phrases was maintained by other writers of
this period as representing a complete and exclusive theory of
the origin and nature of temporal authority? There are a very
few passages in the contemporary literature which deserve our
attention.
In a fragmentary treatise written in the middle of the
eleventh century by a French churchman attacking the action
of the Emperor Henry III. with regard to the Papacy,
especially no doubt in view of the deposition of the Popes
at the Council of Sutri, the author severely condemns the
emperor as having claimed jurisdiction over the Pope, and
1 Hugo of Fleury, 'Tractatus de a Deo potestas regia in terris est
regia potestate et sacerdotali dig- ordinata sive disposita. . . . Unde
nitate,' i. 1: "Scio quosdam nos- nobis liquido claret Deum omnipoten-
tris temporibus qui reges autumnant tem non solum humanum corpus
non a Deo, sed ab his habuisse membrorum distinxisse lineamentis,
principium qui Deum ignorantes, sed et totum mundum certis gradibus
superbia, rapina, perfidia, homicidiis ac potestatibus, sicut illa cselestis
et postremo univereis pene sceleribus curia cognoscitur esse distincta, in qua
in mundi principio diabolo agitante ipse solus Deus pater omnipotens
supra pares homines dominari cseca regiam optiuet dignitatem, et in qua
cupiditate et inenarrabili affectaverunt post ipsum aDgeli, archangeli, throni
prsesumptione vel temeritate. Quorum et domiuationes et quseque cseterse
sententia quam sit frivola liquet apos- potestates sibi invicem prseesse mira-
tolico documento, qui ait: 'Non est bili et modesta potestatum varietats
potestas nisi a Deo. Quse enim sunt a noscuntur. "
Deo ordinate sunt. ' Constat igitur hac Cf. St Gregory the Great, Ep. v. 59,
sententia, quia non ab hominibus, sed and vol. i. p. 127.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-19 10:42 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015002403882 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? CHAP. II. ] DIVINE NATURE OF POLITICAL AUTHORITY. 99
urges that the emperor does not occupy the place of Christ,
but that it might rather be said that he holds that of the
devil, when he uses the sword and sheds blood. 1
Again, in a treatise written by a certain Bernald, apparently
in the last years of the eleventh century, he urges that if
the Popes have authority to depose Patriarchs, they have the
same authority over secular princes whose dignity seems to
have been created rather by men than by the divine institu-
tion. 2 Cardinal Deusdedit, in one of his treatises, speaks of
the royal authority as arising from human institution, with
the permission indeed of God, but not by His will, and he
refers to the demand of the Israelites for a king, as related
in 1 Samuel. 3
The first of these passages is very drastic, and if we had any
reason to think that it represented a generally current view,
would have considerable significance; but as we shall see
presently, some of the strongest papalists take the very
opposite view of the use of the temporal sword. 4 The phrases
of Bernald and of Deusdedit do not represent anything more
than the conception that the temporal power is not derived
immediately from God, but is directly the creation of human
will and authority.
What was, then, the normal view of these centuries as to the
source and nature of secular authority? There can really be
1 'De Ordinando Pontifice,' 'Auctor institutione videtur processisse. "
Gallicus': "Ubi enim inveniuntur im- 3 Deusdedit, 'Libellus contra in-
peratores locum Christi obtinere? Si vasores et symoniacos,' iii. 12: "Nec
verius liceat nobis dicere, potius offitio mirumsacerdotalemauctoritatem quam
diaboli surguntur (v. r. unguntur) in Deus ipse per se ipsum constituit, in
gladio et sanguine, ut, dum per peni- huiusmodi causis regiam precellere
tentiam eruantur vitia spirituali rese- potestatem, quam sibi humana prefecit
catione, ipsi insaniaat vel in cede vel adinventio, eo quidem permittente,
in membrorum carnali obtruncatione; non tamen volente. Nam de primo
quod secundum gratiam apud Deum rege populi sui, quem sibi petiit spreto
omnino est abhominabile. " prophetse principatu, ait ad eumdem:
2 Bernaldus, Libellus xii. , 'De 'Non te,' inquit, 'spreverunt, sed
Solutione Juramentorum': "Sicut me, ne regnem super eos' (1 Sam. viii.
autem Romani pontifices summos 7). Et iterum: 'Paenitet me, quod
patriarchas deponere possunt, ita et constituerim Saul regem'" (1 Sam.
inferiores, utpote mundi principes, xv. ii. )
quorum utique dignitas potius ex 4 See p. 103.
humane adiuventione, quam ex divina - -
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-19 10:42 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015002403882 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? 100 POLITICAL THEORY: 11TH & 12TH CENTURIES, [pabt II.
no doubt whatever about this to those who are at the pains
to make themselves familiar with the literature of those times.
The writers of these centuries are practically unanimous in
maintaining that the authority of the king or emperor is
derived from God. The principle is clearly expressed by those
who wrote before the development of the great conflict between
the Papacy and the Empire in the latter part of the eleventh
century, but we also find it maintained with equal clearness
during the great conflict both by imperialists and papalists.
In a commentary by Bishop Atto of Vercelli, which belongs
to the second half of the tenth century, we find a very interest-
ing and very emphatic statement of the divine authority of the
secular ruler, whether he was Christian or pagan. 1 Again, in
a report of the sermon of the Archbishop of Maintz at the
coronation of Conrad the Salic, which Wippo gives in his
life of Conrad, the Archbishop is represented as citing the
same phrases of St Paul, and as speaking of God as the
source of all human dignity, who had appointed Conrad to
be king over his people; the king is the vicar of Christ. 2
The same conception is maintained by Peter Damian, one
of the most illustrious of the reforming Italian churchmen
of the middle of the eleventh century. In a letter to
Archbishop Anno of Cologne, he speaks of the "regnum"
and "sacerdotium" as being both derived from God, and of
1 Atto of Vercelli, 'Exp. in Ep.
Pauli ad Romanes,' xiii. i. : "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. "
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-19 10:42 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015002403882 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? 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
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-19 10:42 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015002403882 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? 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-
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-19 10:42 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015002403882 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? 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.
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-19 10:42 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015002403882 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? 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.
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-19 10:42 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015002403882 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? 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
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-19 10:42 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015002403882 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? 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.
