Nov. 867. CHAPTER V. Hadrian II. Hincmar of Rheims. NICOLAS was succeeded by Hadrian II., a rigid and Hadrian II. lofty churchman, who, though his policy at first appeared doubtful, resolutely maintained, but not with equal judgement and success, the principles of his predecessor. Hadrian (he was now seventyfive years old) had been married before he became a priest; his wife was still living; and a tragic event, in which the son of another Prelate, Arsenius, the late legate in France, was involved, might suggest to the popular mind that the more absolutely the higher clergy were secluded from all domestic ties the better. Though the daughter of Hadrian was betrothed to another, she was carried off and married by Eleutherius, the son of Arsenius. Arsenius, implicated no doubt in the affair, fled with all his treasures to the court of the Emperor Louis. These treasures he placed in the hands of the Empress Ingelberga, probably to secure Death of the imperial protection for his son. He died the legate. suddenly, and so great was the hatred against him, that he was said to have been carried off while conversing freely with devils; at all events, he died without the sacrament, and of his eternal damnation no one had any doubt. Hadrian sent a mission to the Arsenius ■ Vit. Hadriani, c. 15. b b"Ut dicebatur, cum dæmonibus confabulans, sine communione abivit in suum locum."-Ann. Bertin., p. 99. Oct. 12, Emperor to demand that Eleutherius should be judged by the Roman law for the abduction of his daughter. Eleutherius in revenge, or despairing of the issue, murdered both his wife and her mother, the wife of the Pope. By the Emperor's command he suffered the penalty of his crimes. A.D. 868. Hadrian, whether softened by these domestic calamities, appeared at first to take a milder course than Pope Nicolas in the affair of Lothair. He sent back, indeed, Theutberga, who had arrived at Rome to implore the dissolution of the marriage on the plea of her own personal infirmity: but, at the intercession of the Emperor Louis, he took off the ban of excommunication from Waldrada, and restored her to the communion of the Church. A.D. 868. Feb. 12. By this lenity he might seem to lure King Lothair to the last act of submission. The King of Lorraine arrived in Italy. The Pope seemed to yield to the influence of Louis and the Empress Ingelberga; at least he accepted the munificent presents of the king. A.D. 869. From Monte Casino, where they first met, Lothair followed the Pope to Rome. There, instead Lothair at of being received as a king, and as one recon- Rome. ciled with the See of Rome, when he entered July 1-11. the church all was silent and vacant; not one of the clergy appeared: he retired to a neighbouring chamber, which was not even swept for his reception. The next day was Sunday, and he hoped to hear the mass chanted • Hincmari Ann. "Stephaniam was concerned, as was supposed, in uxorem ipsius pontificis et ejus filiam, this horrible business. The excomquam sibi rapuit, interfecit." Anas- munication, already issued against tasius the Librarian (not the biographer him, was confirmed and repeated by of the popes), the brother of Arsenius, Hadrian. before him. The Pope refused him this honour. He dined, however, the next day with the Pope, and an interchange of presents took place.d At length Hadrian consented to admit him to the communion. Towards the close of the holy office, holding the body and blood of Christ in his hands, the Pope thus addressed the king: "If thou avouchest thyself innocent of the crime of adultery, for which thou hast been excommunicated by the Lord Nicolas, and art resolved never again to have unlawful intercourse with the harlot Waldrada, draw near in faith, and receive this sacrament for the remission of thy sins. But if thou thinkest in thy heart to return to wallow in adultery, beware of receiving it, lest thou provoke the terrible judgement of God." The king shuddered, but did not draw back. Under a like adjuration, that they were not consentient to the guilt of the king with Waldrada, he administered the rite to the attendants on Lothair. Even Gunther, the contumacious Archbishop of Cologne, having drained to the dregs the cup of humiliation, was admitted to lay communion. What was the terror of Western Christendom when it became known that every one of these men had perished before the end of the year! A pestilence, so common among northern armies in Italy, especially at Rome, broke out. But a few, and those only, it is said, who had avoided that fatal communion, survived. Lothair himself was seized with the fever at Lucca, with difficulty reached Placentia, and there expired. Aug. 8. Pope Hadrian seized the occasion of the contest for d The Ann. Bertin. and Ann. Met. do not quite agree in the arrangement of these events. This scene is placed by the former at Monte Casino, sub ann. 869. This is the most probable time for the reconciliation of Gunther. terferes in of Lothair's the kingdom of Lothair to advance still more daring and unprecedented pretensions. But the world Hadrian inwas not yet ripe for this broad and naked the disposal assertion of secular power by the Pope, his kingdom. claim to interfere in the disposal of kingdoms. Directly he left the strong ground of moral and religious authority, from which his predecessor Nicolas had commanded the world, he encountered insurmountable resistance. With all that remained of just and generous sympathy on their side Popes might intermeddle in the domestic relations of kings; they were not permitted as yet to touch the question of royal succession or inheritance. The royal and the episcopal power had quailed before Nicolas; the fulminations of Hadrian were treated with contempt or indifference: and Hincmar of Rheims in this quarrel with Hadrian regained that independence and ascendancy which had been obscured by his temporary submission to Nicolas. the Bald. Charles the Bald his uncle, the son of Louis the Pious and the Empress Judith, seized at once the vacant dominions of Lothair, though the undoubted It is seized inheritance of the Emperor Louis II., as brother by Charles to the childless deceased sovereign. Charles June 28,870. was crowned at Metz; he rested his claim on the election of the people, and on his coronation by the bishops of the realm. The friendship of Louis the Emperor and King of Italy, then engaged in a successful war against the Saracens of Bari, was of greater importance to the Pope than that of Charles, now gathering almost the whole of the Transalpine empire under his sway. He espoused the claims of Louis with headlong ardour. The Emperor, he wrote significantly to the elder uncle # Hadriani Epist. ad Ludovic. German. apud Bouquet, p. 442. * Louis the Germanic, was warring, not like some other kings, against Christians, but against the sons of Belial, the enemies of the Christian faith; and he warned Louis against aggression on dominions which were not his own. "The hand of the Apostolic See will be strong on the side of this most pious Emperor; and the great Dispenser of battles, through the intercession of the chief of the apostles, will ensure triumph." Hadrian re In a letter to the nobles of the kingdom of Lorraine, June 28, 870. Hadrian threatened with excommunication sists in vain. all who, disregarding the mandates of the Apostolic See, should oppose the claims of his ally the Emperor. To the nobles of Charles's kingdom he declared, that any one who should assist in his diabolic usurpation, would fall under anathema, and be given up to the companionship of the devil. He summoned the bishops, on their allegiance to the Apostolic See, to dissuade Charles from his ambitious designs. By concurring in such detestable deeds they were preparing him for hell.h To Charles himself he wrote two letters; one before the invasion, reprehending him for refusing to receive the papal legates; the second after it, threatening him with interdict, and accusing him of perjury for violating, as he said, the treaty of Verdun. Hincmar had been specially summoned to break off all communion with King Charles, if he did not abandon his cause. Hincmar's answer shows that the doctrine of Wala, as to the inviolability of ecclesiastical fiefs, was not respected by such kings: "Should I do so, I 5 See the account of this campaign, 252. and one for the imprisonment of the Emperor by the Duke of Benevento, in Erchempert, c. 34, 35; Pertz, iii h" Et illi tam de estabilia faciendo gehennam paratis."—Hadrian. ad Episcop. Gall. ibid. |