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The Age of the Great Western Schism
THE fourteenth century of the Christian era was no dull and stagnant period of the world's history. It glows with life and power. The stage is filled constantly with men and scenes which stir the blood and fix the attention. Consequences which we feel now in religious and in political life had their causes then, and blows struck then for religious and social liberty cut so deeply that in this very hour we note their effects. There were dark tragedies and amusing comedies. There were splendid gatherings of clerics and of nobles, and there were battles where the cross of the merciful Saviour, Prince of Peace, was borne before the armies of either side, and was held to sanction causes in principle and practice directly opposed to the genius of Christianity.
In a book of this size many minor incidents must be omitted, many interesting episodes passed over. The political history will be considered only so far as it is interwoven with the history of the church, and it was only in the century we are considering that men began seriously to think that the two things could be at all separated and such a thing exist as a church and state untrammeled by each other. We have to consider in this volume: the tremendous blow that the papal pretensions received; the prestige which the Papacy lost by the transference of the seat of its power to Avignon; the vast consequences of the great Western schism; the noble efforts of the councils of Basel and Pisa and Constance to reform the church; the lives of Wycliffe and of Huss; and with these great questions others of less importance, such as the mysterious episode of the ruin of the Templars, the terrors of the Black Death, the story of the Flagellants, the career of Rienzi, and the victory of national languages over the Latin tongue.
When the curtain rises on the fourteenth century, the stage is occupied by two figures which dwarf all the rest, the Pope of Rome, Boniface VIII, and the King of France, Philip IV, surnamed “the Fair” on account of his personal beauty...
In a book of this size many minor incidents must be omitted, many interesting episodes passed over. The political history will be considered only so far as it is interwoven with the history of the church, and it was only in the century we are considering that men began seriously to think that the two things could be at all separated and such a thing exist as a church and state untrammeled by each other. We have to consider in this volume: the tremendous blow that the papal pretensions received; the prestige which the Papacy lost by the transference of the seat of its power to Avignon; the vast consequences of the great Western schism; the noble efforts of the councils of Basel and Pisa and Constance to reform the church; the lives of Wycliffe and of Huss; and with these great questions others of less importance, such as the mysterious episode of the ruin of the Templars, the terrors of the Black Death, the story of the Flagellants, the career of Rienzi, and the victory of national languages over the Latin tongue.
When the curtain rises on the fourteenth century, the stage is occupied by two figures which dwarf all the rest, the Pope of Rome, Boniface VIII, and the King of France, Philip IV, surnamed “the Fair” on account of his personal beauty...
330 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 22, 2014
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March 23, 2025Dnf. The blurb here on goodreads is the start of this book so if you don't like that you probably won't like this book.
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