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Infidels and Jews: Clement VI’s attitude to persecution and toleration

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2016

Diana Wood
Diana Wood*
Affiliation:
University of East Anglia
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Extract

Clement VI was a pope who appeared to face both ways. This impression is confirmed by the fact that some historians have hailed him as a humanist pope, if not the first humanist pope, whereas his conception of the Christian society and of papal sovereignty followed thoroughly traditional and authoritarian lines. A glance at his best known political sermon, that preached in 1346 to approve the future emperor Charles IV as king of the Romans, would suffice to show this. His attitude to infidels and Jews also appears paradoxical, for he persecuted the one and tolerated the other, and this despite the threat presented by both to the purity of the Faith. This is not to suggest that Clement was the only pope to exhibit this dichotomy, for it was a common enough one: it was just that his views on infidels and Jews were more extreme than those of others, and the contrast therefore more pointed.

Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in Church History , Volume 21: Persecution and Toleration , 1984 , pp. 115 - 124
Copyright
Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 1984

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References

1 Fournier, P., ‘Pierre Roger (Clément VI)’, Histoire littéraire de la France, 36 (1938) p 220 Google Scholar; Maier, A., ‘Zu Walter Burleys Politik-Kommentator’, Ausgehendes Mittelalter. Cesammelte Aufsàtze zùr Ceistesgeschkhte des 14 Jahrhunderts, 1 (Rome 1964) p 99 Google Scholar; Wrigley, J. E., ‘Studies in the Life of Pierre Roger (Pope Clement VI) and of Related Writings of Petrarch’, (unpub Ph D Pennsylvania 1965) p liii Google Scholar.

2 MGH Const VIII no 100 pp 143–63.

3 [Paris, Bibliothèque] S[ain]t[e] G[eneviève MS] 240, fols 336v-43v. On Louis de la Cerda see Daumet, G., ‘Louis de la Cerda ou d’Espagne’, Bulletin Hispanique, 15 (1913) pp 38–67 Google Scholar.

4 Innocent IV, [Commentaria in quinque libros Decretalium (Venice 1578)], ad Decretales III, xxxiv, 8 fol 176v. For discussion on papal jurisdiction over infidels see Ullmann, W., Medieval Papalism: the Political Theories of the Medieval Canonists (London 1949)Google Scholar; Wilks, [M. J.], The Problem [of Sovereignty in the Later Middle Ages (Cambridge 1963)] pp 413–22 Google Scholar; Muldoon, J., Popes, Lawyers and Infidels: the Church and the Non-Christian World, 1250–1530 (Philadelphia 1979)Google Scholar; Villey, [M.], [L’idée de la croisade chez les juristes du moyen âge’, Relazioni del X congresso intemazionale di scienze storiche 3 (Florence 1955)] pp 565–94 Google Scholar.

5 See Gay, J., Le pape Clément VI et les affaires d’Orient (Paris 1904) pp 15–31 Google Scholar.

6 St G 240 fol 337v.

7 Innocent IV, ad Decretales III, xxxiv, 8, fol 176v. Compare [Thomas] Aquinas, Summa Theologiae [Editiones Paulinae (Rome, 1962)] II, ii, q. x, art 1, p 1131.

8 St G 240 fol 337v: ‘Qui quando misit apostolos non solum misit ad unam provinciam, sed ad universam terram … Et deducit Apostolus ad Romanos x [18] “In omnem terram exivit sonus eorum et in fines orbis terrae verba eorum”’, and ibid fol 340r: ‘“Prima ratio est quia terre iste quandoque fuerunt Christianorum et ideo non possunt infideles ius habere. Quod autem quandoque fuerunt Christianorum videtur ex ratione generali pro auctoritatibus supra allegatis, scilicet”in omnem terram …”. Unde Apostolus … reputai valdefalsum quod sit aliqua pars que non audierit vocem Apostolorum et discipulorum. Unde dicit sed dicens num-quidnon audierunt. Hoc quidem “in omnem terram exivit sonus eorum, etc”.’

9 Ibid fol 340r. Compare Augustine, Ep 48 CSEL 33 pp 137–40.

10 Ibid fol 341r: ‘Quarta ratio est generaliter ratione fidelitatis. Forte enim infideles ratione infidelitatis merentur perdere omnem dominium, et possunt cogi ad suscipiendum fidem vel dimittendum terras quas possident’.

11 “Ibid fol 341’v: ‘Sedprosequendo de aliis infidelibus Thomas clare in secunda secunde q. x in corpore questionis dicit quod per sententiam vel ordinationem Ecclesie, auctoritatem Dei habentis dominium velprelatio infidelium super infideles tolli potest, quia infideles merito sue infidelitatis merentur potestatem amittere super fideles qui transferuntur in ftlios Dei’. Compare Aquinas, Summa Theologiae II, ii, q. x, art. 10, p 1138.

12 St G 240 fols 341v-42’: ‘Sedmaiusdubium estdedominio infidelis super infidelem. Sedhic tango aliqua conferendo. Et videtur quod per auctoritatem seu sententiam Ecclesie, que plenam potestatem habet, potest iuste statui et ordinari quod tale dominium ab eis tollatur sive in una regione sive in omnibus sicut ei visum fuit expedire’.

13 Raynaldus, [O.], [Annales Ecclesiastici] [(Lucca 1750)] caps 21–22 p 316 Google Scholar.

14 Theiner, A., Vetera Monumenta Poloniae et Lithuaniae 1 (Rome 1860) no 713 p 539 Google Scholar.

15 St G 240, fol 343r: ‘Nullum dominium debet esse sine uirtute. In infidelibus autem nulla est virtus sed ymago virtutis solum, ergo nee verum dominium’. Compare this with the radical view of Aegidius Romanus, De Ecclesiastica Potestate, ed Scholz, R. (Weimar 1929) bk ii cap 11 p 96 Google Scholar: ‘… nullam possessionem, nullum dominium, nullam potestatem possunt infideles habere vere et cum iusticia, sed usurpando et cum iniusticia’. For discussion see Villey pp 570–1.

16 Hostiensis, Commentaria in quinqué Decretalium libros (Venice 1581) 2, ad Decretales III, xxxiv, 8, fol 128v: ‘Mihitamen videturquodinadventum Christiomnishonoretomnis principatus et omne dominium et iurisdictio de iure et ex causa iusta … omni infideli subtractafuerit et ad fideles translata’. On extra imperium see Muldoon, J., ‘Extra Ecclesiam non est imperium: the canonists and the legitimacy of secular power’, SGra 9 (1966) pp 551–80 esp pp 578–9 Google Scholar.

17 Innocent IV, ad Decretales III, xxxiv, 8 fol 176v.

18 St G 240, fol 340r: ‘… ratio est quia isti peccant contra legem nature. Peccantes autem contra legem nature puniendi sunt per principem monarchie sicut est papa ad quem pertinet subditos cohercere ut vivant secundum rectam rationem’.

19 Ibid fol 343r

20 Ibid fols 342v—43r: ‘… scriptum est Dan ii° [34] quod lapis excisus de monte sine manibus, [et] percussit statuam … et comminuit quatuor regna … Isteenim lapis excisus sine manibus est Christus … cuius regni… non erit finis. Quod regnum datum est populo Christiana, et habet comminuere omnia regna infidelium. Unde sequitur quod iste lapis factus est mons magnus, et implevit universum terram. Debet enim eius regnum, scilicet Christianitas, totam terram implere. Item ad hoc videtur facere quod reges qui tales coegerunt ad fidem, ab Ecclesia commendatur … Item ad hoc videtur facere quod Romani pontifices similia fecerunt’.

21 Ibid fol 339v: ‘Sed videte quod hic concurrit unum dubium satis magnum iterum non placent Deo coacta servicia. Iterum non legimus aliquem in sacra scripturafuisse coactum.

22 Ibid fol 343r. Compare Romans 11: 25.

23 St G 240, fol 343r.

24 See, in general, Synan, [E. A.], [The Popes and the Jews in the Middle Ages (New York and London 1965 Google Scholar)]; Grayzel, [S.], [The Church and the Jews in the Thirteenth Century, rev ed (New York 1966 Google Scholar)]; Bardinet, L., ‘Condition civile des Juifs du Comtat Venaissin pendant le séjour des papes à Avignon, 1309–76’, RH 12 (1880) pp 1–47 Google Scholar.

25 Grayzel pt 2 no 5 p 92. See his comments on the indebtedness of Innocent to earlier popes at pp 76–8.

26 See Cutler, A., ‘Innocent III and the distinctive clothing of Jews and Muslims’, Studies in Medieval Culture 3 (Michigan 1970) pp 92–116 Google Scholar.

27 See John’s letter to the Archbishop of Narbonne, 19 June 1320, ed A. Coulon, Jean XXII, Lettres secrètes et curiales (1316–34) relatives à la France (Paris 1900–61) no 1104. See Ibid No 1284 describing the foundation of the chapel at Bédarrides, 4 September 1321. For discussion of John’s attitude see Synan pp 129–31.

28 Raynaldus, 5 cap 24 pp 137-S.

29 Prima Vita [dementis VI, in S. Baluzius, Vitae Paparum Avenionensium ed Mollat, G. (Paris 1914-27) 1] pp 251–2 Google Scholar; Sexta Vita [Clementis VI] ibid p 306.

30 Raynaldus 6 cap 33 p 477.

31 [Clement, VI, Lettres se rapportant à la France ed Déprez, E.], Glennison, [J. and Mollat, G. (Paris 1901-61)] no 3966 Google Scholar.

32 Ibid.

33 See Prima Vita pp 251–52; Sexta Vita pp 306–07. For the belief that they were performing God’s will see Fredericq, [P.], ‘Deux sermons [inédits de Jean du Fayt sur les Flagellants (5 octobre 1349) et sur le Grand Schisme d’Occident (1378)’ Bulletin de l’Academie royale de Belgique, Classe de Lettres (Brussels 1903) nos 9–10] pp 688–718 at p 691 Google Scholar. In general see Cohn, N., The Pursuit of the Millenium (London 1962) pp 124–48 Google Scholar.

34 Raynaldus 6 cap 21 p 495.

35 Ibid

36 Raynaldus 6 cap 33 p 477 and Déprez no 3966.

37 Déprez no 3966.

38 Raynaldus 6 cap 33 p 477.

39 Vatican MS Borghese 247 fol 143r: see A. Maier, Codices Burghesiani Bibliothecae Vaticanae, Studi e Testi 170 (1967) p 298.

40 Thorndike, L., A History of Magic and Experimental Science (Columbia 1934) 3 pp 309–10 Google Scholar.

41 Renouard, Y., Les relations des papes d’Avignon et des compagnies commerciales et bancaires de 1316 à 1378, BEFAR 151 (Paris 1941) p 106 Google Scholar n 58.

42 Augustine, Enarratio in Psalmum 58, CC 39 p 744.

43 Ed Fredericq, ‘Deux sermons’ pp 694–708. On Jean de Fayt see ibid pp 688–91 and Huyghebaert, N.-N., ‘Jean Bernier de Fayt’, DHCE 16 cols 780–82 Google Scholar. Clement VI commissioned Jean to compile three dictionaries of quotations for him from Aristotle, Augustine and Boethius.

44 Déprez no 3966.

45 3 Kings 1: 35: MGH Const Vili no 100 pp 143–63.

46 1 Kings 8: 5–6: MGH Const Vili no 100 p 155.

47 1 Paralipomenon 22: 10: MGH Const VIII no 100 p 152.

48 St G 240, fol 521v: 1 Maccabees 2: 55.

49 Leviticus 25: 8–13. See Clement’s bull Unigenitos Dei filius of 27 January 1349, Extravagantes communes V, ix, 2 [ed A. Friedberg, Corpus Iuris Canonici (Leipzig 1879) cols 1304–06]. See also Clement’s sermon on the jubilee year, Frankfurt Stadtbibliothek MS 71, fol 418r. On the Old Testament jubilee see North, R., Sociology of the Biblical Jubilee (Rome 1954 Google Scholar).

50 Extravagantes communes V, ix, 2.

51 MGH Const VIII no 376, p 420.

52 St G 240, fols 300v-301r. For the idea that Abraham was the prototype of the pope see Wilks, The Problem pp 538–9.

53 St G 240, fol 337v: ‘Unde videtur michi quod licet ante adventum Christi synagoga coartata fuisset in uno populo et in una transmigration, scilicet injudea … post mortem Christi Ecclesia non esset coartata, sed magis per totum orbem dilatata’.

54 Ibid: ‘Etpropter hoc in novo testamento non est Deus solum locutusfiliis Israhel inprophetis, sed locutus est toti mundo in filio quem constituit heredem universorum’.

55 Sermon on the feast of the circumcision (undated), ibid fol 413r: ‘Et ideo videtur michi quod quasi omnia facta sua voluit facere in medio. In medio duorum animalium bovis et asini, id est in medio populo gentilis et iudei nasci. Per bovem enim … populus Israheliticus … per asinum autem … populus gentilis’. Compare Innocent III, PL 217, 509.

56 St G 240, fol 413r: ‘Voluit sicut lapis angularis [Psalmum 118:22] in medio poni ut coniungeret utrumque pariter: iudeorum scilicet etgentilium’. Compare Innocent III, PL 217, 811.

57 Sermon on the feast of the Epiphany (Avignon, 6 January 1342) St G 240, fol 395v: ‘Et sicut ista duo animalia in presepi iacebant et ambobus alimentum commune ihesus prebobat, sic uterque populus in presepi hodie ecclesie pascitur et reficitur.