tion, had forfeited all authority in the church. Besides these, there were the fanatical sects of the "Brethren and Sisters of the Free Spirit," 25 which is found in Spain, France, and Germany, and the Apostle-brethren 26 in the north of Italy from A. D. 1200 - 1307.

non haberent auctoritatem ligandi ac solvendi, et omnes isti seducerent et subduxissent homines. Item quod Sacerdotes in peccatis mortalibus constituti non possent conficere. Item quod nullus vivens, nec Papa, nec Episcopi, nec aliqui possint interdicere divina, et qui prohiberent, essent hæretici et seductores; et licentiaverunt in civitatibus interdictis, ut Missas audirent super animas ipsorum et Sacramenta ecclesiastica libere perciperent, qui ipsis perceptis mundificarentur a peccatis. Item quod Prædicatores et Fratres Minores perverterent Ecclesiam falsis prædicationibus, et quod omnes Prædicatores, et Fratres Minores, Cistercienses quoque, et omnes alii pravam vitam ducerent et injustam. Item quod nullus esset, qui veritatem diceret, et qui veram fidem opere servaret, nisi ipsi et eorum socii, et si ipsi non venissent, antequam Deus in periculo demisisset suam Ecclesiam, prius ipsos de lapidibus suscitasset, vel alios, qui Eccelesiam Dei vera doctrina illuminassent. Prædicaverunt etiam: Hucusque vestri prædicatores sepeliverunt veritatem, et prædicaverunt falsitatem; nos sepelimus falsitatem, et prædicamus veritatem. Et porro indulgentiam, quam damus vobis, non damus fictam vel compositam ab Apostolico vel Episcopis, sed de solo Deo et ordine nostro. Et sic : non audemus habere memoriam Papæ, quia ita perversæ vitæ est, et tam mali exempli homo, quod eum tacere oportet. Et blasphemando adjecit idem prædicator: Orate, inquit, pro Domino Friderico Imperatore, et Conrado, filio ejus, qui perfecti et justi sunt. Item dixit, quod Papa non haberet auctoritatem ligandi et absolvendi, quia non haberet vitam Apostolicam, et hoc probare vellet per quandam glossulam. Istos hæreticos fovit et defendit Conradus, filius Friderici, Imperatoris quondam, et Patrem suum per talia venena credidit defensare. Sed res lapsa est in contrarium, quia Catholicis prædicatoribus audacter resistentibus, et fideles exhortantibus liberi et ministeriales a Conrado cesserunt, ita quod quasi exul et profugus de Suevia in Bavaria moraretur. Krantz Metrop. lib. VIII. c. 18, and Saxon. 1. VIII. c. 16, gives only extracts from this passage. Fussli, Th. 2, S. 14, supposes these preachers, not improbably, to have been Waldenses. To judge of the effect they produced on the populace, we need only consider the impression made in the year 1283 by an impostor, who gave himself out to be Frederick II., and was burnt at the stake, in Greg. Hagens österreich. Chronik (Pezii Scriptt. Rer. Austr. T. I. p. 1105): Nu hub sich unter dem Volk ain groszer widertail. Etleich sprachen, er wer gewesen ain Nigromanticus; die andern sprachen, sie funden in dem Fewr nicht seines Gebaines, und chem her von Gotes chraft, daz Cheiser Fridreich lebte, und solt die Pfaffen vertreiben.

25 Concerning whom, see Mosheim institutt. hist. eccl. p. 551 seq. and Ejusd. de Beghardis et Beguinabus commentarius ed. Martini. Lips. 1790. They were probably the heretics who showed themselves as early as 1215 in Alsace and Thurgau (Hartmannus in Annalibus Eremi ad ann. 1215, in Füssli, Th. 2, S. 6 f.); after that they were confounded with the Beghards, namely, in Cologne and in Suabia (see above, § 71, note 10). In A. D. 1311 we find them in Italy (see Clementis V. Epist. ad Episc. Cremonensem in Raynaldus ad h. a. no. 66: he had found in nonnullis Italiæ partibus, tam Spoletanæ provinciæ, quam etiam aliarum circumjacentium regionum, nonnullos ecclesiasticos et mundanos, religiosos et sæculares utriusque sexus, -versari, qui novum ritum-introducere moliantur, quem libertatis spiritum nominant, h. e. ut quicquid eis libet, liceat). As to their doctrines, see the extracts from their own writings in Mosheim institutt. p. 552, note p, and 554, note s. See besides the Statuta Henrici I. Archiep. Coloniensis contra Becgardos et Becgardas et Apostolos vulgariter appellatos, A. D. 1306 (Mosheim de Beghardis, p. 211 seq.), the Bulla Clementis V. contra Beghardos in Alemannia A. D. 1311 (Clementin. lib. V. T. 3, c. 3, in Mosheim, 1. c. p. 618 seq.), and especially the ordinance of John, bishop of Strasburg, against this party, A. D. 1317 (in Mosheim, 1. c. p. 255 seq.). In this last they are described as those, quos vulgus Begehardos et Schwestriones, Brod durch Gott, nominant, ipsi vero et ipsæ se de secta liberi spiritus, et voluntaria paupertatis parvos fratres vel sorores vocant. Their errors as follows: I. Dicunt, credunt et tenent, quod Deus

sit formaliter omne, quod est. - II. Quod quilibet homo perfectus sit Christus per naturam. — III. Quod homo perfectus sit liber in totum, quod -non tenetur ad servandum præcepta Prælatorum, et statutorum ecclesiæ. (According to the Statutis Henrici I. Archiep. Colon. I. c. p. 216, they referred in support of this to Gal. v. 18; 1 Tim. i. 9.) IV. Quod quilibet Laicus bonus potest conficere corpus Christi, sicut sacerdos peccator; - quod corpus Christi æqualiter est in quolibet pane, sicut in pane sacramentali; quod confiteri sacerdoti non est necessarium ad salutem. - V. Quod judicium extremum non sit futurum, sed quod tunc est judicium hominis solum, cum moritur. Item quod non est infernus, nec purgatorium. Item quod mortuo corpore hominis, solus spiritus, vel anima hominis redibit ad eum, unde exivit, et cum eo sic reunietur, quod nihil remanebit, nisi quod ab æterno fuit Deus. VI. Errando contra Evangelia dicunt, se credere, multa ibi esse poëtica, quæ non sunt vera, sicut est illud: Venite benedicti, etc. Item quod magis homines debent credere humanis conceptibus, qui procedunt ex corde, quam doctrinæ Evangelicæ, etc. I should be inclined to hold this party for an offset from the Waldenses.

26 Chief sources: Historia Dulcini and Additamentum ad hist. Dulcini in Muratori Scriptt. Rer. Ital. T. IX. p. 425 seq.-J. L. v. Mosheims Gesch. des Apostelordens, in his Versuch einer unpartheyischen und gründl. Ketzergeschichte. 2te Aufl. Helmst. 1748. 4to. S. 193 ff. Notices of the later history of the party in Ejusd. de Beghardis et Beguinabus comm. p. 221 seq.. Its founder, Gerhard Segarelli, began about 1260 in Parma, as did St. Francis formerly, but was full of zeal against the worldliness of the hierarchy. Honorius IV. prohibited the Order A. D. 1286 (the Bull, see Bullar. Rom. T. 1. p. 158, and in Mosheims Gesch. d. Apostelord. S. 391); in the persecutions that ensued, Gerhard was burned at the stake A. D. 1300, in Parma, and was succeeded by the more powerful Dulcinus, who, by his prophecies, excited the party to an indescribable fanaticism.Extracts from his two prophetic letters of A. D. 1300 and 1303, in the Additamento ad hist. F. Dulcini in Muratorii Scriptt. Rer. Ital. T. IX. p. 450 seq. In the first he foretels for the year 1303, the beginning of that time, in quo ipse et sui publice apparebunt, et publice prædicabunt, omnibus suis adversariis exterminatis. He taught further, quatuor status Sanctorum fuisse in propriis modis vivendi, which were all at first good in their place, but all degenerated, and had been displaced by a new status. In primo fuerunt Patres Veteris Testamenti. - In the second Christ and the Apostles. Tertius status cœpit a S. Silvestro tempore Constantini Imp. in quo Gentiles cœperunt magis ac magis converti ad fidem Christi generaliter. Et dum sic convertebantur, et non refrigerabantur in amore Dei et proximi, melius fuit s. Silvestro Papæ et aliis successoribus suis possessiones terrenas et divitias suscipere, quam paupertas apostolica; et melius fuit regere populum, quam non regere, ad tenendum ipsum sic et conservandum. Sed quando incope. runt populi refrigerari a caritate Dei et proximi, et declinare a modo vivendi s. Silvestri, tunc melior fuit modus vivendi b. Benedicti.- Et quando Clerici et Monachi quasi ex toto a caritate Dei et proximi refrigerati fuerunt, et declinaverunt a priori statu suo, tunc melior fuit modus vivendi s. Francisci et s. Dominici : et quia modo est tempus in quo omnes tam Prælati, quam Clerici et Religiosi a caritate Dei et proximi et refrigerati sunt, et declinaverunt, est reformare modum vivendi proprium Apostolicum: et istum modum vivendi Apostolicum incœpit Fr. Gerardus, Et et durabit et perseverabit usque ad finem sæculi. iste est quartus et ultimus status, -et differt a modo vivendi s. Francisci et s. Dominici, quia vita illorum fuit, multas habere domus, et illuc mendicata deferre. Sed nos nec domus habemus, nec etiam mendicata portare debemus. Et propter hoc vita nostra est major, et ultima omnibus medicina. He then prophesied : Fredericus Rex Siciliæ debet relevari in Imperatorem, et facere Reges novos, et Bonifacium Papam pugnando habere, et facere occidi cum aliis occidendis. Tunc omnes Christiani erunt positi in pace, et tunc erit unus Papa sanctus a Deo missus mirabiliter et electus, et sub illo Papa erunt illi, qui sunt de statu apostolico, et etiam alii de Clericis et Religiosis, qui unientur eis, et tunc accipient Spiritus Sancti gratiam, sicut acceperunt Apostoli in ecclesia primitiva. As these prophecies were not fulfilled in the year 1303, he delayed their fulfilment in his second letter to the following year. The third letter is lost. These prophecies were, without doubt, taken from the writings of Joachim (see above, § 70), see Mosheim, S. 261 ff. The open war which the Apostle-brethren carried on

CHAPTER EIGHTH.

DIFFUSION OF CHRISTIANITY.

See Schröckh's christl. Kirchengeschichte, Th. 25, S. 186-327.

$88.

HISTORY OF THE CONVERSION OF THE WENDS.

[Continued from page 134.]

THE church had now become accustomed to rely on temporal weapons rather than spiritual, and to these it resorted also for the conversion of those nations which were still strangers to Christianity.

From the subjugation of East Pomerania by the dukes of Poland, about the year 997, the conquerors had never relaxed their efforts to establish Christianity in their new territories, and their object was at length attained by the defeat of the rebels in 1121, by Boleslaus III.2 In the course of the same year the West Pomeranians also were forced to submit to the Polish yoke, and adopt the new religion.3 Otho, bishop of Bamberg, was now summoned to complete the work, and under such circumstances found it an easy task. In a few months (A. D. 1224) the greatest part of the West Pomeranians were Christians, at

against the Roman church from A. D. 1304, was ended by the taking of the fortress on Mount Zebello in the bishopric of Vercelli, A. D. 1307.

1 Martinus Gallus (the oldest Polish historian about 1130, appended to Vinsentii Kadlubek Chron. Gedani. 1749. fol.), p. 56: Ad mare autem septemtrionale tres habet (Polonia) affines Barbarorum gentilium ferocissimas nationes, Seleuciam (i. e. Luticiam s. Leuticiam), Pomeraniam et Prussiam, contra quas regiones Polonorum Dux assidue pugnat, ut eas ad fidem convertat. Sed nec gladio prædicationis cor eorum a perfidia potuit revocari, nec gladio jugulationis eorum penitus viperalis progenies aboleri: sæpe tamen Principes eorum a Duce Polonia prælio superati ad baptismum confugerunt, itemque collectis viribus fidem Christianam abnegantes, contra Christianos bellum denuo paraverunt. P. F. Kanngiessers Geschichte von Pommern, Bd. 1, also with the title: Bekehrungsgeschichte der Pommern zum Christenthume, Greifswald. 1824. 8vo. S. 290 ff. See an account of Boleslaus' wars against the Pomeranians, in Kanngiesser, 1. c. S. 363 - 507.

3 Kanngiesser, S. 508-521.

4 Lib. III. de vita b. Ottonis, by an anonymous writer, nearly contemporary in Canisii lectionibus antiquis ed. Basnage, T. III. P. II. p. 35 seq. Andrea Abb. Bambergensis (1483 – 1502) de vita s. Ottonis, libb. IV. editi, cum libris comitis cujusdam s. Ottonis, quem Sifridum esse putant, collati a Valer. Jaschio. Colberg. 1681. 4to. (reprinted in Ludewig Scriptt. Rer. Episcoporum Bamberg. T. I. p. 193 seq.). Much information on these subjects is still to be found in the Bamberg Mss. See Jacks account of them in Oken's Isis, August, 1822. S. 827. — (J. Š. Sell) Otto Bisch. v. Bamberg, der Pommern Bekehrer. Stettin. 1792. 8vo. H. F. G. Kahlow de introductione religionis christ. in Pomeraniam diss. Gatting. 1806. 4to. A. C. F. Busch memoria Othonis Ep. Bambergensis, Pomeranorum Apostoli. Jenæ. 1824. 8vo. Besonders Kanngiesser, 1. c. S. 522 ff.

least in profession; and by another still shorter visit in the following year, the conversion of the whole country was completed. To give it consistency and permanence, the bishopric of Julin or Wallin 5 was founded.

The great kingdom of the Wends (see Div. II. p. 134) having been divided amongst a number of smaller principalities at the death of Canute (A. D. 1131), the work of conquest and conversion was much facilitated. Albrecht the Bear, Margrave of North Saxony from the year 1133, subdued the Luticians or Wiltzians, founded the Mark of Brandenburg, and restored the bishoprics of Havelburg and Brandenburg. The conversion of the Obotrites was conducted in a more apostolic manner by Vicelin 7 (A. D. 1121); though he could not fully succeed till the country had been conquered by Adolphus, count of Schaumburg-Holstein. Henry the Lion having established himself firmly in Saxony, A. D. 1142, the progress of the German arms and the Christian religion amongst the Wends became much more rapid. In A. D. 1149 the bishoprics of Oldenburg and Mecklenburg, and in 1154 that of Ratzeburg, were revived or founded; and in the year 1162 the entire subjugation of the Obotrites secured the final victory of Christianity.8

The country of the Wends had been depopulated to such a degree by these incessant wars, that it became necessary to carry thither German colonists. In this way the original inhabitants disappeared almost entirely, making the establishment of Christianity so much the

more secure.

Last of all the island of Ruegen, also, the strong hold of Heathenism, was subdued and Christianized. After having sustained many long wars, it was at length reduced by the Danish king Waldemar (A. D. 1168), the shrines laid in ruins, and the inhabitants baptized.9

5 Adelbert was appointed bishop by Boleslaus in 1125, though the bishopric was not established till towards 1140. See Kanngiesser, S. 681, 809–813.

Helmoldi († 1170) Chron. Slavorum (ed. Bangert. Lubec. 1659. 4to.), lib. I. c. 49, 50, 62 seq., 88. Gebhardi's Gesch. aller Wendisch-Slavischen Staaten, Bd. 1, S. 150 ff. - An account of the aversion of the Wends in Havelburg to Norbert, archbishop of Magdeburg in A. D. 1128, found in vita Ottonis in Ludewig Scriptt. Bamb. T. I. p. 495. Kanngiesser, l. c. S. 694 f.

7 Of Vicelin, bishop of Oldenburg from 1149, see J. E. de Westphalen Monumenta inedita Rer. Germ. præcipue Cimbricarum et Megapolensium, T. II. p. 234 seq. Præf. p. 33 seq. St. Vicelin, von F. Chr. Kruse. Altona. 1826. 8vo.

Of the conversion of these northern Wends generally, see Helmoldus, I. c. lib. I. c. 47-58, 68-87. Gebhardi, 1. c. S. 175 ff.

9 Helmoldus, 1. c. lib. II. c. 12, 13. child (1204) historia Danica (libb. lib. XIV. p. 295, 310 seq., 319 - 328. Danica diplomatici, Th. I. S. 404 ff.

Saxonis Grammatici (provost in RothsXVI. ed. St. J. Stephanius. Soræ. 1644. fol. Erich Pantoppidan's Annales Eccl. Gebhardi, 1. c. Bd. 2, S. 9 ff.

$89.

CONVERSIONS IN THE NORTH OF EUROPE.

In the year 1157 the Fins were conquered by Eric IX., king of Sweden, commonly called the Saint, and forced to adopt the Christian religion. Amongst the Esthonians a similar attempt proved wholly ineffectual (A. D. 1166).2

In Livonia a constant commerce had been carried on by the merchants of Bremen and Lubec ever since the middle of the twelfth century. In the year 1186 the canon Meinhard went thither to preach Christianity, and though he met with no great success, the archbishop of Hamburg and Bremen made him bishop of Yxkull (A. D. 1188). But the number of Christians still increasing very slowly, and the Livonians becoming rather distrustful of Christianity, the usual means of conversion were resorted to. Several crusades having been made against them from Westphalia and Lower Saxony (A. D. 1198 seq.), the third bishop Albrecht (A. D. 1198 - 1229), with the aid of the Order of the Sword (founded by him A. D. 1202),3 at length completed their conversion.4 Albrecht next directed his efforts against the Esthonians (A. D. 1211), and with the help of Waldemar II., king of Denmark, succeeded in reducing them A. D. 1218. A vexatious controversy between the Danish and German clergy for supremacy in this country, ended during Waldemar's imprisonment (A. D. 1123), in the victory of the latter, and the new bishopric was established at Dorpat.5 Semgallen having also been Christianized, A. D. 1218, and a bishopric founded in that country, the Courlanders, to escape from slavery, voluntarily submitted to baptism (A. D. 1230).6

In the year 1207 certain Cistercian monks from Poland began to preach Christianity in Prussia, and not without success. But the dukes of Poland and Masovia, attempting to make use of this success for the subjugation of the country, the enraged Prussians revenged themselves by ravaging the territories of the latter. Conrad, the reigning duke, at first sought aid from the crusaders; at last, how

Claud. Ernhjalmi hist. Sueonum Gothorumque eccles. (libb. IV. priores. Stockholm. 1689. 4to.) lib. IV. c. 4. Olof Dalin's Gesch. des Reichs Schweden, Th. 2, S. 82 ff.

2 Ernhjalmi, 1. c. lib. IV. c. 5. Dalin, 1. c. S. 105 ff. Gebhardi's Gesch. v. Liefland, Esthland, Kurland u. Semgallen (Allgem. Welthistorie, Th. 50), S. 309 ff.

3 See above, § 73.

♦ of the conversion of Livonia, see (Heinrichs, a Livonian priest about 1226) Origines Livoniæ sacræ et civiles, s. Chronicon Livonicum vetus, cum notis J. D. Gruberi. Francof. et Lips. 1740. fol. Gebhardi, l. c. S. 314 ff.

5 Origines Livon. p. 72 seq. Albertus Stadens. ad ann. Raynaldus ad ann. 1232, no. 3.

Gebhardi, S. 334 ff.

1229 (in Schilteri Scriptt. Rer. Germ. p. 306). Gebhardi, S. 307 ff.