the side that denied the indefeasible title
of kings. In France what was afterwards called the Gallican theory
maintained that the reigning house was above the law, and that the
sceptre was not to pass away from it as long as there should be princes
of the royal blood of St. Louis. But in other countries the oath of
fidelity itself attested that it was conditional, and should be kept
only during good behaviour; and it was in conformity with the public law
to which all monarchs were held subject, that King John was declared a
rebel against the barons, and that the men who raised Edward III. to the
throne from which they had deposed his father invoked the maxim _Vox
populi Vox Dei_.

And this doctrine of the divine right of the people to raise up and pull
down princes, after obtaining the sanctions of religion, was made to
stand on broader grounds, and was strong enough to resist both Church
and king. In the struggle between the House of Bruce and the House of
Plantagenet for the possession of Scotland and Ireland, the English
claim was backed by the censures of Rome. But the Irish and the Scots
refused it, and the address in which the Scottish Parliament informed
the Pope of their resolution shows how firmly the popular doctrine had
taken root. Speaking of Robert Bruce, they say: "Divine Providence, the
laws and customs of the country, which we will defend till death, and
the choice of the people, have made him our king. If he should ever
betray his principles, and consent that we should be subjects of the
English king, then we shall treat him as an enemy, as the subverter of
our rights and his own, and shall elect another in his place. We care
not for glory or for wealth, but for that liberty which no true man will
give up but with his life." This estimate of royalty was natural among
men accustomed to see those whom they most respected in constant strife
with their rulers. Gregory VII. had begun the disparagement of civil
authorities by saying that they are the work of the devil; and already
in his time both parties were driven to acknowledge the sovereignty of
the people, and appealed to it as the immediate source of power.

Two centuries later this political theory had gained both in
definiteness and in force among the Guelphs, who were the Church party,
and among the Ghibellines, or Imperialists. Here are the sentiments of
the most celebrated of all the Guelphic writers: "A king who is
unfaithful to his duty forfei