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of a prophet: the Merovingian race disappeared from the earth; and Pepin was exalted on a buckler by the suffrage of a free people, accustomed to obey his laws and to march under his standard. His coronation was twice performed, with the sanction of the popes, by their most faithful servant St Boniface, the apostle of Germany, and by the grateful hands of Stephen the Third, who, in the monastery of St. Denys placed the diadem on the head of his benefactor. The royal unction of the kings of Israel was dexterously applied:" the successor of St. Peter assumed the character of a divine ambassador: a German chieftain was transformed into the Lord's anointed; and this Jewish rite has been diffused and maintained by the superstition and vanity of modern Europe. The Franks were absolved from their ancient oath; but a dire anathema was thundered against them and their posterity, if they should dare to renew the same freedom of chce, or to elect a king, except in the holy and meritorious race of the Carlovingian princes. Without apprehending the future danger, these princes gloried in their present security: the secretary of Charlemagne affirms, that the French sceptre was transferred by the authority of the popes;" and in their boldest enterprises, they insist, with confidence, on this signa and successful act of temporal jurisdiction.

II. In the change of manners and language the patricians of Rome 56 were far removed from the senate of Romulus, or the palace of Constantine, from the free nobles of the repub lic, or the fictitious parents of the emperor. After the recov

66 Not absolutely for the first time. On a less conspicuous theatre it had been used, in the vith and viith centuries, by the provincia) bishops of Britain and Spain. The royal unction of Constantinople was borrowed from the Latins in the last age of the empire. Constantine Manasses mentions that of Charlemagne as a foreign, Jewish, incomprehensible ceremony. See Selden's Titles of Honor, in his Works, vol. iii. part i p. 234-249.

57 See Eginhard, in Vitâ Caroli Magni, c. i. p. 9, &c., c. iii. p. 24. Childeric was deposed-jussû, the Carlovingians were establishedauctoritate, Pontificis Romani. Launoy, &c., pretend that these strong words are susceptible of a very soft interpretation. Be it so; yet Ezinhard understood the world, the court, and the Latin language.

58 For the title and powers of patrician of Rome, see Ducange, (Gloss. Latin. tom. v. p. 149-151,) Pagi, (Critica, A. D 74C, No. 611) Muratori. (Annali d' Italia, tom. vi. p. 308-329,) and St. Marc, (Abrégé Chronologique d' Italie, tom. i. p. 379-382.) Of these the Franciscan Pagi is the most disposed to make the patrician a lieutenant of the church, rather than of the empire.

ery of Italy and Africa by the arms of Justinian, the impor tance and danger of those remote provinces required the presence of a supreme magistrate; he was indifferently styled the exarch or the patrician; and these governors of Ravenna, who fill their place in the chronology of princes. extended their jurisdiction over the Roman city. Since the revolt of Italy and the loss of the Exarchate, the distress of the Romans had exacted some sacrifice of their independence Yet, even in this act, they exercised the right of disposing of themselves; and the decrees of the senate and people successively invested Charles Martel and his posterity with the honors of patrician of Rome. The leaders of a powerful nation would have disdained a servile title and subordinate office; but the reign of the Greek emperors was suspended; and, in the vacancy of the empire, they derived a more glorious commission from the pope and the republic. The Roman ambassadors presented these patricians with the keys of the shrine of St. Peter, as a pledge and symbol of sover eignty; with a holy banner which it was their right and duty to unfurl in the defence of the church and city.59 In the time of Charles Martel and of Pepin, the interposition of the Lombard kingdom covered the freedom, while it threatened the safety, of Rome; and the patriciate represented only the title, the service, the alliance, of these distant protectors. The power and policy of Charlemagne annihilated an enemy, and imposed a master. In his first visit to the capital, he was received with all the honors which had formerly been paid to the exarch, the representative of the emperor; and these honors obtained some new decorations from the joy and gratitude of Pope Adrian the First. No sooner was he informed of the sudden approach of the monarch, than he despatched the magistrates and nobles of Rome to meet him, with the

59 The papal advocates can soften the symbolic meaning of the banner and the keys; but the style of ad regnum dimisimus, or direx. imus, (Codex Carolin. epist. i. tom. iii. pars ii. p. 76,) seems to allow of no palliation or escape. In the MS. of the Vienna library, they read, instead of regnum, rogum, prayer or request (see Ducange;) and the royalty of Charles Martel is subverted by this important correc tion, (Catalani, in his Critical Prefaces, Annali d'Italia, tom. xvii. p 95-90)

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bu in the authentic narrative of this reception, the Liber Pontificalie observes--obviam illi ejus sanctitas dirigens venerabiles cruces, id est signa; sicut mos est ad exarchum, aut patricium suscipiendum Buna cum ngenti honore suscipi fecit, (tom. iii. pars i. p. 185,)

banner, about thirty miles from the city. At the distance of one mile, the Flaminian way was lined with the schools, or national communities, of Greeks, Lombards, Saxons, &c.: the Roman youth were under arms; and the children of a more tender age, with palms and olive branches in their hands, chanted the praises of their great deliverer. At the aspect of the holy crosses, and ensigns of the saints, he dismounted from his horse, led the procession of his nobles to the Vati can, and, as he ascended the stairs, devoutly kissed each step of the threshold of the apostles. In the portico, Adrian expected him at the head of his clergy: they embraced, as friends and equals; but in their march to the altar, the king or patrician assumed the right hand of the pope. Nor was the Frank content with these vain and empty demonstrations of respect. In the twenty-six years that elapsed between the conquest of Lombardy and his Imperial coronation, Rome, which had been delivered by the sword, was subject, as his own, to the sceptre of Charlemagne. The people swore allegiance to his person and family: in his name money was coined, and justice was administered; and the election of the popes was examined and confirmed by his authority. Except an original and self-inherent claim of sovereignty, there was not any prerogative remaining, which the title of emperor could add to the patrician of Rome."1

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The gratitude of the Carlovingians was adequate to these obligations, and their names are consecrated, as the saviors and benefactors of the Roman church. Her ancient patrimony of farms and houses was transformed by their bounty into the temporal dominion of cities and provinces; and the donation of the Exarchate was the first-fruits of the conquests of Pepin." Astolphus with a sigh relinquished his prey; the keys and the hostages of the principal cities were delivered

01 Paulus Diaconus, who wrote before the empire of Charlemagne, describes Rome as his subject city-vestræ civitates (ad Pompeium Festum) suis addidit sceptris, (de Metensis Ecclesiæ Episcopis.) Some Carlovingian medals, struck at Rome, have engaged Le Blanc to write an elaborate, though partial, dissertation on their authority at Rome, both as patricians and emperors, (Amsterdam, 1692, in 4to.)

62 Mosheim (Institution, Hist. Eccles. p. 263) weighs this donatico with fair and deliberate prudence. The original act has never been produced; but the Liber Pontificalis represents, (p. 171,) and the Codex Carolinus supposes, this ample gift. Both are contemporary records. and the latter is the more authentic, since it has been preserved, not in the Papal, but the In perial, library.

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to the French ambassador; and, in his master's name, he pre sented them before the tomb of St. Peter. The ample meas ure of the Exarchate " might comprise all the provinces of Italy which had obeyed the emperor and his vicegerent; but its strict and proper limits were included in the territories of Ravenna, Bologna, and Ferrara: its inseparable dependency was the Pentapolis, which stretched along the Adriatic from Rimin to Ancona, and advanced into the midland country as far as the ridges of the Apennine. In this transaction, the ambition and avarice of the popes have been severely condemned. Perhaps the humility of a Christian priest should have rejected an earthly kingdom, which it was not easy for him to govern without renouncing the virtues of his profes sion. Perhaps a faithful subject, or even a generous enemy, would have been less impatient to divide the spoils of the Barbarian; and if the emperor had intrusted Stephen to solicit in his name the restitution of the Exarchate, I will not absolve the pope from the reproach of treachery and falsehood. But in the rigid interpretation of the laws, every one may accept, without injury, whatever his benefactor can bestow without injustice. The Greek emperor had abdicated, or forfeited, his right to the Exarchate; and the sword of Astolphus was broken by the stronger sword of the Carlovingian. It was not in the cause of the Iconoclast that Pepin has exposed his person and army in a double expedition beyond the Alps: he possessed, and might lawfully alienate, his conquests: and to the importunities of the Greeks he piously replied that no human consideration should tempt him to resume the gift which he had conferred on the Roman Pontiff for the remission of his sins, and the salvation of his soul. The splendid donation was granted in supreme and absolute dominion, and the world beheld for the first time a Christian bishop invested with the prerogatives of a temporal prince; the choice of magistrates, the exercise of justice, the imposition of taxes, and the wealth of the palace of Ravenna. In the dissolution of the Lombard kingdom, the inhabitants of the duchy of Spoleto sought a refuge from the storm, shaved their heads

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68 Between the exorbitant claims, and narrow concessions, of interest and prejudice, from which even Muratori (Antiquitat. tom. i. p. 63-68) le not exempt, I have been guiled, in the limits of the Exarchate and Pentapolis, by the Dissertatio Chorographica Italiæ Medii Evi, tom, . p. 160-180.

Spoletini deprecati sunt, ut eos in servitio B. Petri reperet el

after the Roman fashion, declared themselves the servanta and subjects of St. Peter, and completed, by this voluntary surrender, the present circle of the ecclesiastical state. That mysterious circle was enlarged to an indefinite extent, by the verbal or written donation of Charlemagne," who, in the first transports of his victory, despoiled himself and the Greek emperor of the cities and islands which had formerly been annexed to the Exarchate. But, in the cooler moments of absence and reflection, he viewed, with an eye of jealous and envy, the recent greatness of his ecclesiastical ally. The execution of his own and his father's promises was respectfully eluded: the king of the Franks and Lombards asserted the inalienable rights of the empire; and, in his life and death, Ravenna," as well as Rome, was numbered in the list of his metropolitan cities. The sovereignty of the Exarchate melted away in the hands of the popes; they found in the archbishops of Ravenna a dangerous and domestic rival: the nobles and people disdained the yoke of a priest; and in the disorders of the times, they could only retain the memory of an ancient claim, which, in a more prosperous age, they have revived and realized.

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Fraud is the resource of weakness and cunning; and the strong, though ignorant, Barbarian was often entangled in the net of sacerdotal policy. The Vatican and Lateran were an arsenal and manufacture, which, according to the occasion,

more Romanorum tonsurari faceret, (Anastasius, p. 185.) Yet it may be a question whether they gave their own persons or their country. 65 The policy and donations of Charlemagne are carefully examined oy St. Marc, (Abrégé, tom. i. p. 390-408,) who has well studied the Codex Carolinus. I believe, with him, that they were only verbal. The most ancient act of donation that pretends to be extant, is that of the emperor Lewis the Pious, (Sigonius, de Regno Italiæ, 1. iv. Opera, tom. ii. p. 267-270.) Its authenticity, or at least its integrity, are much questioned, (Pagi, A. D. 817, No. 7, &c. Muratori, Annali, tom vi. p. 432, &c. Dissertat. Chorographica, p. 33, 34;) but I see no reasonable objection to these princes so freely disposing of what was not their own.

66 Charlemagne solicited and obtained from the proprietor, Hadrian I., the mosaics of the palace of Ravenna, for the decoration of Aix-la Chapelle, (Cod. Carolin. epist. 67, p. 223.)

6: The popes often complain of the usurpations of Leo of Ravenna (Codex Carolin. epist. 51, 52, 53, p. 200-205.) Si corpus St. Andreæ fratris germani St. Petri hic humasset, nequaquani nos Romani pontifice Bic subjugassent, (Agnellus, Liber Pontificalis, in Scriptores Rerum Ital. tom ii. pars i. p. 107.)

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