Arnold and his friends. Arnold, on leaving Rome, found protection from
Italian nobles. By the order, however, of the emperor Frederick, who had
come into Italy, he was torn from his protectors and surrendered up to
the papal authority. The Prefect of Rome then took possession of his
person and caused him to be hanged. His body was burned, and its ashes
thrown into the Tiber, lest his bones might be preserved as the relics
of a martyr by the Romans, who were enthusiastically devoted to him.
Worthy men, who were in other respects zealous defenders of the church
orthodoxy and of the hierarchy--as, for example, Gerhoh of
Reichersberg--expressed their disapprobation, first, that Arnold should
be punished with death on account of the errors which he disseminated;
secondly, that the sentence of death should proceed from a spiritual
tribunal, or that such a tribunal should at least have subjected itself
to that bad appearance.

But on the part of the Roman court it was alleged, in defence of this
proceeding, that "it was done without the knowledge and contrary to the
will of the Roman curia." "The Prefect of Rome had forcibly removed
Arnold from the prison where he was kept, and his servants had put him
to death in revenge for injuries they had suffered from Arnold's party.
Arnold, therefore, was executed, not on account of his doctrines, but in
consequence of tumults excited by himself." It may be a question whether
this was said with sincerity, or whether, according to the proverb, a
confession of guilt is not implied in the excuse. But Gerhoh was of the
opinion that in this case they should at least have done as David did,
in the case of Abner's death, and, by allowing Arnold to be buried, and
his death to be mourned over, instead of causing his body to be burned,
and the remains thrown into the Tiber, washed their hands of the whole
transaction.

But the idea for which Arnold had contended, and for which he died,
continued to work in various forms, even after his death--the idea of a
purification of the Church from the foreign worldly elements with which
it had become vitiated, of its restoration to its original spiritual
character.

DECLINE OF THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE: RAVAGES OF ROGER OF SICILY

A.D. 1146

GEORGE FINLAY

(From the enthronement of the Commenian dynasty in A.D. 1081, which was
accomplished through a successful rebellion, attended by shameful
treachery and rapine, the Byzantine empire, and espec