Barbarossa

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Excerpt from Barbarossa: An Historical Novel of the XII CenturyThese fundamental truths are well illustrated in the fol lowing pages. The special period of history chosen, serves to show dearly the real points of dispute. Even Voltaire acknowledged that it was the wisdom of Alexander III. That triumphed over the violence of Barbarossa. As the same writer observes Alexander revived the rights of the people and suppressed the crimes of Kings. A Pontifi' to whom such testimony is borne by Voltaire, cannot fairly be accused of ambitious designs. In his contest with Frederic, from the beginning to the end, he simply asserted the inde pendence of the Church. Antipope after antipope was op posed to him, all of them were puppets of the Emperor, but in the end, even Frederic was obliged to yield, and to acknowledge the patient but determined Alexander as the Vicar of Christ.The subserviency of these pretended Pontifi's is well de scribed by our author. There is no exaggeration here. These men were merely Victim of the Emperor, existing by his favor, the creatures of his breath. They cared little for the ratification of their decrees in Heaven, so that they knew that they pleased the rulers of this world! What the Em peror wished bound, they did bind, and what he wished loosed, they did loose, even the holy bonds of matrimony. Their degradation and that of the courtier bishops, so graphically depicted in these pages, is a practical proof of the great truth, that while there is no human greatness more exalted than the dignity of the ecclesiastical character, there is no fall lower than that of a churchman who, forgetful of his calling, makes himself the slave of the world's power, be it wielded by a crowned King or by an uncrowne'd mob.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.