History of the Christian Church, Volume VI: the Middle Ages
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History of the Christian Church, Volume VI: The Middle Ages. A.D. 1294-1517 Author(s): Schaff, Philip (1819-1893) Publisher: Grand Rapids, MI: Christian CLassics Ethereal Library Description: Philip Schaff©s History of the Christian Church excels at providing an impressive and instructive historical treatment of the Christian church. This eight volume work begins with the early Church and ends at 1605 with the Swiss Reforma- tion. Schaff©s treatment is comprehensive and in depth, dis- cussing all the major (and minor!) figures, time periods, and movements of the Church. He includes many footnotes, maps, and charts; he even provides copies of original texts in his treatment. One feature of the History of the Christian Church that readers immediately notice is just how beautifully written it is--especially in comparison to other texts of a sim- ilar nature. Simply put, Schaff©s prose is lively and engaging. As one reader puts it, these volumes are "history written with heart and soul." Although at points the scholarship is slightly outdated, overall History of the Christian Church is great for historical referencing. Countless people have found History of the Christian Church useful. Whether for serious scholar- ship, sermon preparation, daily devotions, or simply edifying reading, History of the Christian Church comes highly recom- mended. Tim Perrine CCEL Staff Writer Subjects: Christianity History i Contents Title Page 1 Preface 2 History of the Christian Church, Volume VI 4 Introductory Survey 4 The Decline Of The Papacy And The Avignon Exile 7 Sources and Literature 8 Pope Boniface VIII. 1294-1303 13 Boniface VIII. and Philip the Fair of France 18 Literary Attacks against the Papacy 29 The Transfer of the Papacy to Avignon 41 The Pontificate of John XXII 1316-1334 53 The Papal Office Assailed 61 The Financial Policy of the Avignon Popes 70 The Later Avignon Popes 81 The Re-establishment of the Papacy in Rome. 1377 89 The Papal Schism And The Reformatory Councils. 1378-1449 95 Sources and Literature 96 The Schism Begun. 1378 99 Further Progress of the Schism. 1378-1409 106 The Council of Pisa 115 The Council of Constance. 1414-1418 121 The council of Basel. 1431-1449 138 The Council of Ferrara-Florence. 1438-1445 147 Leaders Of Catholic Thought 152 Literature 153 Ockam and the Decay of Scholasticism 156 ii Catherine of Siena, the Saint 161 Peter d'Ailly, Ecclesiastical Statesman 169 John Gerson, Theologian and Church Leader 171 Nicolas of Clamanges, the Moralist 179 Nicolas of Cusa, Scholar and Churchman 183 Popular Preachers 186 The German Mystics 189 Sources and Literature 190 The New Mysticism 195 Meister Eckart 200 John Tauler of Strassburg 210 Henry Suso 215 The Friends of God 220 John of Ruysbroeck 223 Gerrit de Groote and the Brothers of the Common Life 227 The Imitation of Christ. Thomas à Kempis 232 The German Theology 240 English Mystics 242 Reformers Before The Reformation 244 Sources and Literature 245 The Church in England in the Fourteenth Century 249 John Wyclif 258 Wyclif's Teachings 267 Wyclif and the Scriptures 277 The Lollards 286 John Huss of Bohemia 293 Huss at Constance 303 Jerome of Prag 316 The Hussites 319 The Last Popes Of The Middle Ages. 1447-152 326 Literature and General Survey 327 Nicolas V. 1447-1455 333 iii Aeneas Sylvius de' Piccolomini, Pius II 339 Paul II. 1464-1471 347 Sixtus IV. 1471-1484 351 Innocent VIII. 1484-1492 356 Pope Alexander VI--Borgia. 1492-1503 362 Julius II., the Warrior-Pope. 1503-1513 379 Leo X. 1513-1521 389 Heresy And Witchcraft 402 Literature 403 Heretical and Unchurchly Movements 405 Witchcraft and its Punishment 417 The Spanish Inquisition 431 The Renaissance 447 Literature of the Renaissance 448 The Intellectual Awakening 453 Dante, Petrarca, Boccaccio 458 Progress and Patrons of Classical Studies in the 15th Century 469 Greek Teachers and Italian Humanists 476 The Artists 483 The Revival of Paganism 489 Humanism in Germany 498 Reuchlin and Erasmus 504 Humanism in France 517 Humanism in England 520 The Pulpit And Popular Piety 530 Literature 531 The Clergy 535 Preaching 542 Doctrinal Reformers 549 Girolamo Savonarola 553 The Study and Circulation of the Bible 577 Popular Piety 587 iv Works of Charity 602 The Sale of Indulgences 609 The Close Of The Middle Ages 617 Indexes 630 Subject Index 631 Index of Scripture References 632 Index of Citations 634 Index of Names 635 German Words and Phrases 636 French Words and Phrases 642 v This PDF file is from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library, www.ccel.org. The mission of the CCEL is to make classic Christian books available to the world. • This book is available in PDF, HTML, ePub, Kindle, and other formats. See http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/hcc6.html. • Discuss this book online at http://www.ccel.org/node/3457. The CCEL makes CDs of classic Christian literature available around the world through the Web and through CDs. We have distributed thousands of such CDs free in developing countries. If you are in a developing country and would like to receive a free CD, please send a request by email to [email protected]. The Christian Classics Ethereal Library is a self supporting non-profit organization at Calvin College. If you wish to give of your time or money to support the CCEL, please visit http://www.ccel.org/give. This PDF file is copyrighted by the Christian Classics Ethereal Library. It may be freely copied for non-commercial purposes as long as it is not modified. All other rights are re- served. Written permission is required for commercial use. vi Title Page Title Page HISTORY of the CHRISTIAN CHURCH1 by PHILIP SCHAFF Christianus sum. Christiani nihil a me alienum puto VOLUME VI. THE MIDDLE AGES From BONIFACE VIII., 1294 to the Protestant Reformation, 1517 by DAVID S. SCHAFF, D.D. 1 Schaff, Philip, History of the Christian Church. This material has been carefully compared, corrected¸ and emended (according to the 1910 edition of Charles Scribner's Sons) by The Electronic Bible Society, Dallas, TX, 1998. 1 Preface Preface PREFACE This volume completes the history of the Church in the Middle Ages. Dr. Philip Schaff on one occasion spoke of the Middle Ages as a terra incognita in the United States,—a ter- ritory not adequately explored. These words would no longer be applicable, whether we have in mind the instruction given in our universities or theological seminaries. In Germany, during the last twenty years, the study of the period has been greatly developed, and no period at the present time, except the Apostolic age, attracts more scholarly and earnest at- tention and research. The author has had no apologetic concern to contradict the old notion, perhaps still somewhat current in our Protestant circles, that the Middle Ages were a period of superstition and worthy of study as a curiosity rather than as a time directed and overruled by an all- seeing Providence. He has attempted to depict it as it was and to allow the picture of high religious purpose to reveal itself side by side with the picture of hierarchical assumption and scholastic misinterpretation. Without the mediaeval age, the Reformation would not have been possible. Nor is this statement to be understood in the sense in which we speak of reaching a land of sunshine and plenty after having traversed a desert. We do well to give to St. Bernard and Francis d’Assisi, St. Elizabeth and St. Catherine of Siena, Gerson, Tauler and Nicolas of Cusa a high place in our list of religious personalities, and to pray for men to speak to our generation as well as they spoke to the generations in which they lived. Moreover, the author has been actuated by no purpose to disparage Christians who, in the alleged errors of Protestantism, find an insuperable barrier to Christian fellowship. Where he has passed condemnatory judgments on personalities, as on the popes of the last years of the 15th and the earlier years of the 16th century, it is not because they occupied the papal throne, but because they were personalities who in any walk of life would call for the severest reprobation. The unity of the Christian faith and the promotion of fellowship between Christians of all names and all ages are considerations which should make us careful with pen or spoken word lest we condemn, without properly taking into consideration that interior devotion to Christ and His kingdom -which seems to be quite compatible with divergencies in doctrinal statement or ceremonial habit. On the pages of the volume, the author has expressed his indebtedness to the works of the eminent mediaeval historians and investigators of the day, Gregorovius, Pastor, Mandell Creighton, Lea, Ehrle, Denifle, Finke, Schwab, Haller, Carl Mirbt, R. Mueller Kirsch, Loserth, Janssen, Valois, Burckhardt-Geiger, Seebohm and others, Protestant and Roman Catholic, and some no more among the living. It is a pleasure to be able again to express his indebtedness to the Rev. David E. Culley, his colleague in the Western Theological Seminary, whose studies in mediaeval history and accurate scholarship have been given to the volume in the reading of the manuscript, before it went to the printer, and of the printed pages before they received their final form. 2 Preface Above all, the author feels it to be a great privilege that he has been able to realize the hope which Dr. Philip Schaff expressed in the last years of his life, that his History of the Christian Church which, in four volumes, had traversed the first ten centuries and, in the sixth and seventh, set forth the progress of the German and Swiss Reformations, might be carried through the fruitful period from 1050–1517.