ore whose eyes the
worldly lives of the ecclesiastics and monks were constantly present,
and to create a faction in deadly hostility to the clergy. Superadded to
this was the inflammable matter already prepared by the collision of the
spirit of political freedom with the power of the higher clergy. Thus
Arnold's addresses produced in the minds of the Italian people, quite
susceptible to such excitements, a prodigious effect, which threatened
to spread more widely, and Pope Innocent felt himself called upon to
take preventive measures against it. At the Lateran Council, in the year
1139, he declared against Arnold's proceedings, and commanded him to
quit Italy--the scene of the disturbances thus far--and not to return
again without express permission from the Pope. Arnold, moreover, is
said to have bound himself by an oath to obey this injunction, which
probably was expressed in such terms as to leave him free to interpret
it as referring exclusively to the person of Pope Innocent. If the oath
was not so expressed, he might afterward have been accused of violating
that oath. It is to be regretted that the form in which the sentence was
pronounced against Arnold has not come down to us; but from its very
character it is evident that he could not have been convicted of any
false doctrine, since otherwise the Pope would certainly not have
treated him so mildly--would not have been contented with merely
banishing him from Italy, since teachers of false doctrine would be
dangerous to the Church everywhere.

Bernard, moreover, in his letter directed against Arnold, states that he
was accused before the Pope of being the author of a very bad schism.
Arnold now betook himself to France, and here he became entangled in the
quarrels with his old teacher Abelard, to whom he was indebted for the
first impulse of his mind toward this more serious and free bent of the
religious spirit. Expelled from France, he directed his steps to
Switzerland, and sojourned in Zurich. The abbot Bernard thought it
necessary to caution the Bishop of Constance against him; but the man
who had been condemned by the Pope found protection there from the papal
legate, Cardinal Guido, who, indeed, made him a member of his household
and companion of his table. The abbot Bernard severely censured the
prelate, on the ground that Arnold's connection with him would
contribute, without fail, to give importance and influence to that
dangerous man. This deserves to