intments within their own dominions; and he emphasised the
distinction between the priesthood, as a cast having divine authority,
and the laity, by enforcing with the utmost strictness the
ecclesiastical law of celibacy, which completely separates the churchman
from the normal interests and ambitions which actuate the layman.

In the contest between Gregory and the emperor, it seemed for the moment
as if the secular power had won the victory; but, in fact, throughout
the twelfth century; the claims which Gregory had put forward were
becoming practically effective partly from the great influence exercised
through the Crusades. These Papal pretensions reached their climax in
the great Pope Innocent III., who asserted with practical success the
right to pronounce absolutely on all disputes between princes or between
princes and their subjects, and to depose those who rejected his
authority. Throughout the thirteenth century Rome was once more mistress
of the world.

The Church derived great influence from the institution of mendicant
orders, especially those of St. Dominic and St. Francis which recovered
much of the esteem forfeited by the old Monastic orders. Another
instrument of Papal influence was the power of granting dispensations
both with regard to marriages and as to the keeping of oaths. If the
clergy were free for the most part from civil taxation, they were
nevertheless severely mulcted by the Papacy. The ecclesiastical
jurisdiction encroached upon the secular tribunals; the classes of
persons with respect to whom it claimed exclusive authority were
persistently extended, in spite of the opposition of such Princes as
Henry II. and Edward I.

At last, however, the Papal aggressor met his match in Philip the Fair.
When Boniface VIII. died, his successors first submitted to the French
monarchy and then became its nominees; while they resided at Avignon,
virtually under French control. The restoration of the pontificate to
Rome in 1375 was shortly followed by the Great Schism. For some years
there were two rival Popes, each of whom was recognised by one or the
other half of Western Christendom. This was terminated by the Council of
Constance, which incidentally affirmed the supremacy of general councils
over the Pope. The following council at Basle was distinctly anti-papal;
but the Papacy had the better of the contest.

_IV.--England_

The Anglo-Saxon polity limited the succession of the Crown to a
parti