In the middle ages 123

theocracy, which attained during the thirteenth

century its greatest extent of authority. The kind

of internationaHsm imposed by the Popes upon

Christian nations, which were indistinguishable

from the civihzed world, was based upon the catho-

licity of the Christian faith and morality, and upon

the discipline of the Roman Church. Catholicity

means universality. One head recognized by all is

the guardian of the great ideal by which the society

of the time is guided. Gregory VII had already

planned the deliverance of Jerusalem and the re-

storation of the Church of Africa.^^ His successors

organized and encouraged the Crusades. Innocent

III made use of the new mendicant orders for in-

ternational and Catholic purposes. Doubtless

there were plenty of heresies after the middle of

the twelfth century; they underlaj^ society like the

ground-swell of the ocean, not breaking through

to the surface. The thirteenth century had not yet

heard the warnings of the great displacements

which were to come, and the Catholic faith pre-

served its internationalism, thanks to the prestige

of the Papacy.

As guardian of the faith and morality of the

time, the Pope was also absolute master of disci-

pline. The most autocratic form of the pontifical

authority was attained by Innocent III. He in-

33 Rocquain, La cour de Rome et I'esprit de Beforme avant Luther.

vol. I. "La Theocratic, apogee du Pouvoir Pontifical," Paris, Thorin,

1893, p. 48.

J

124 PHILOSOPHY AND CIVILIZATION

tei'vened time and again in the government of the

individual dioceses. All kinds of cases could be

brought before him; his decisions were universal

and supreme.^* Innumerable appeals were made

to his decisions. The moment came when Innocent

III thought he could restore the schismatic Church

of the Orient to his obedience. He could see upon

the episcopal throne of Constantinople a partriarch

who recognized his authority. The Serbs and the

Bulgarians did him homage, and it seemed for a

moment that the Russians would follow their ex-

ample.

At this point, it is clear that the Pope not only

affirmed his super-national role, as head of the

Church, but also his role as arbiter of European

politics, and as the guardian of international mo-

rality. He did not limit himself to the defense

and extension of the temporal patrimony, but pro-

claimed himself the sovereign of all Christendom,

by invoking the principle "that the church has the

supreme right over the countries upon which she

has conferred the benefit of Christian civilization."

"Christ," as Gregory VII wrote in 1075, "substi-

tuted his reign on earth for that of the Caesars, and

the pontiffs of Rome have ruled more states than

the Emperors ever possessed."^'' By virtue of this

doctrine, his successors recognize kings, or absolve

their subjects from their duties of obedience; they

3* /6m/., 54, 412; Rocquain, La pafauU au moyen dge, 1881, p. 162.

^^ Ep. II, 75. Cf. Iloquain, op. cit., p. 54.