In the middle ages 121

human society is conceived as a single association

in which order prevails throughout.

Did the theory of the universal monarchy as

maintained by the legists, and the theory of the

omnipotence of the Pope as defended by the canon-

ists, remain nothing more than a subtle academical

thesis? Or did they descend from theory to living

practice? History gives the reply to these ques-

tions, and it is sufficient briefly to recall the facts.

Under the name of the Holy Roman Empire, the

Emperors of Germany sought to establish a hege-

mony over the peoples of the West. They main-

tained, as Dante teaches us," that they were the

heirs of Charlemagne, and that they were thus the

heirs of the Roman Caesars. Hence their claims to

the right of dominating Italy and of dictating to

the princelings (reguli) of the West. Hence also

the enforced claim, by the ambitious dynasty of the

Saxons, and by the even more ambitious dynasty of

the Hohenstaufen, of the right to nominate the

bishops, the abbots, and even the Pope.

Everyone knows what the result was. At Ca-

nossa (1077) Gregory VII breaks the power of

Henry IV, and delivers the bishops and the Papacy

from the will of the Emperors; a century later

Alexander III resists the claims of Frederic Bar-

barossa; a few years thereafter. Innocent III re-

verses the roles, and disposes of the imperial crown

to whomsoever he will. During the course of the

31 Ibid., Lib. II, III.

122 PHILOSOPHY AND CIVILIZATION

thirteenth century, the Emperor, in the person of

Frederic II, is definitely defeated. The kings of

Europe, however, continue vigorously their resis-

tance to the interference of the Emperors. And

even as late as the beginning of the fifteenth cen-

tury. Antoninus of Florence points to the same fact,

when he says: "Although all the secular lords and

kings should be subjected to the Emperor, there

are, however, many kings who do not recognize him

as their superior, invoking either a privilege or an-

other kind of right, or the simple fact, as for in-

stance the King of France, the doge of Venice and

certain other lords. "^^ It might be added, that the

German Emperor was not the only one who as-

serted a right to the title of heir of Charlemagne,

and that certain kings — for instance Louis VII of

France — laid claim, though in vain, to the same

right. At all events, the Hohenstaufen did not

succeed in playing the role of peacemakers, such as

Dante assigned to the universal monarch. Far

from being agents of peace, they passed their lives

in making wars in all possible directions. Pan-

germanic supremacy in the thirteenth centmy suf-

fered complete bankruptcy.

The fact was tliat the true agents of internation-

alism were the Popes, the representatives of the

32 "Quum omnes domini et reges seculares deberent esse sub Im-

peratore, miilti tamen reges non cognoscunt euni ut superiorcin

suum, tuentes se vel privilegio, sive alio jure vel potius de facto, ut

rex Franciae et dux Venetiarum et alii domini." Summa Theologica,

Titultis TIT. Dp dominis tempnriilibus, C. 1.