Boniface, which exercised within the
Church a salutary action. King Pepin, recognizing the services which the
archbishop of Mayence had rendered him, seconded his reformatory efforts
at one time by giving the support of his royal authority to the canons
of the councils, held often simultaneously with and almost confounded
with the laic assemblies of the Franks; at another by doing justice to
the protests of the churches against the violence and spoliation to
which they were subjected.
"There was an important point," says M. Fauriel, "in respect of which
the position of Charles Martel's sons turned out to be pretty nearly the
same as that of their father: it was touching the necessity of assigning
warriors a portion of the ecclesiastical revenues. But they, being more
religious, perhaps, than Charles Martel, or more impressed with the
importance of humoring the priestly power, were more vexed and more
anxious about the necessity under which they found themselves of
continuing to despoil the churches and of persisting in a system which
was putting the finishing stroke to the ruin of all ecclesiastical
discipline.
Pages:
642
643
644
645
646
647
648
649
650
651
652
653
654
655
656
657
658
659
660
661
662
663
664
665
666