, that we are about to fall into the
philosophical commonplace of anathematizing gold? You are mistaken.

In the thirteenth century gold meant progress. Until then nothing was
known but the soil. Gold was the soil converted into money, the
soil mobilized, exchangeable, transportable, divisible, subtilized,
spiritualized, as it were.

So long as the soil was not represented by gold, man, like the god
Thermes, that landmark of the fields, had his feet imprisoned by the
earth. Formerly the earth bore man, to-day man bears the earth.

But this gold had to be abstracted from its hiding-place, and it was
hidden far otherwise than in the mines of Chile or Mexico. All the gold
was in the possession of the churches and the Jews. To extract it from
this double mine it needed more than a king; it required a pope.

And that is why Philippe le Bel, that great exploiter of gold, resolved
to have a pope of his own. Benedict XI. dead, a conclave was held at
Perugia; at this conclave the French cardinals were in the majority.
Philippe le Bel cast his eyes upon the Archbishop of Bordeaux, Bertrand
de Got, and to him he gave rendezvous in a forest near Saint-Jean
d'Angely.

Bertrand de Got took heed not to miss that appointment.

The King and the Archbishop heard mass there, and at the moment when the
Host was elevated, they bound themselves by this God they glorified to
absolute secrecy. Bertrand de Got was still ignorant of the matter in
question. Mass over, Philippe le Bel said:

"Archbishop, I have it in my power to make thee pope."

Bertrand de Got listened no longer, but cast himself at the King's feet,
saying:

"What must I do to obtain this?"

"Accord me the six favors which I shall ask of thee," replied Philippe
le Bel.

"It's for thee to command and for me to obey," said the future Pope.

The vow of servitude was taken.

The King raised Bertrand de Got, and, kissing him on the mouth, said:

"The six favors which I demand of thee are these: First, thou shalt
reconcile me completely with the Church, and grant me pardon for the
misdeed that I committed toward Boniface VIII. Second, thou shalt
restore to me and mine the right of communion of which the Court of Rome
deprived me. Third, thou shalt grant me the clergy's tithe in my kingdom
for the next five years, to help defray the expenses of the war in
Flanders. Fourth, thou shalt destroy and annul the memory of Pope
Boniface VIII. Fifth, thou shalt bestow the digni