John of Salisbury Quotes
At my solicitation [ad preces meas] he gave and granted Hibernia [Ireland] to Henry II, the illustrious King of England, to hold by hereditary right …. For all islands of ancient right, according to the Donation of Constantine, are said to belong to the Roman Church, which he founded
See {610517} for the Papal Bull which “gave” Ireland to England. There has been some dispute over whether this was a forgery to support the authenticity of the Papal Bull which itself was questioned.
John of Salisbury, c. 1115-1180, English Ecclesiastic & Scholar, Metalogicus, 1159
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
There are some who question the authenticity of this Bull. However, its existence was supported by John of Salisbury who claimed to be the emissary who arranged the Bull. See {611696}. However, those who are shocked that the Pope could have been so crass as to “give” a country to Henry II for money have claimed that the writing of John was also a forgery,
King Henry VIII had left the Roman Catholic church and taken England and Ireland out also. He replaced the Pope as the head of the English and Irish churches. There was much opposition in Ireland and the priests were the most assertive opponents to the change and were still loyal to the Pope. Queen Elizabeth continued to have problems with the Priests. James I, Elizabeth’s successor, became fed up by the Roman Catholic Priests and therefor issued this Proclamation.
He was the only English Pope. This was the authority that enabled English King Henry II to invade Ireland. Many historians consider it the beginning of the problems between the Ireland and England which persists to this day. See {610520}. Some scholars think that this bull was a forgery stating that the writing style was different from other bulls of Adrian IV. Opponents believe that a change in secretaries could easily have accounted for the difference.
Many of the Church wanted Wycliff excommunicated, but the King and Parliament seemed to like his writing and sermons. So he was protected in his lifetime. He died at the age of 60 of a stroke. After his death the Church burned all his books that had been banned, and exhumed his body. That was burned at the stake and his ashes scattered in a river. Martin Luther did not try to reform the Church in a vacuum. There had been various critics of the Church before Luther and Wycliff was one. The last statement in this quotation was the one that really hit the then mostly corrupt clergy where it hurt.
The Roman Catholic Church then maintained that salvation was dependent upon obedience to the Pope in all things civil and religious. See {595166} for the way that the Church at the time allowed some authority to civil authorities.
Some politicians then and later were not as religious as the leading clerics would prefer. The quotation shows that priests commonly married at that time even though the church had forbidden it.
He was the only English Pope. The act of invasion had been sanctified earlier in Adrian’s Papal Bull. See {610518}. Henry’s invasion was successful but the occupation and reform was a disaster which has ramifications to this day.
The letter was written at the behest of the Archbishop of Canterbury. The quotation appears to ratify the Pope’s unlimited power, but in actuality carves out an exception whereby the Pope’s authority might be challenged in the future. Specifically, it claims the Pope has not the authority to alter that which “by the word of God, has eternal validity.” Politically, this position put the pope in a box. By arguing against the proposition, the Pope would have to maintain that he should have the right to alter the word of God that had eternal validity which no pope wanted to state. By not challenging the doctrine, there was an opening by which the pope’s omnipotence could be challenged in the future.
William the Conqueror. This is one of the earliest government action separating some church functions from state functions.
Note the fact that the Vatican received a “fee” for in effect giving Ireland to Heny II. There are some people who doubt the authenticity of this particular bull. They argue that the English domination of Ireland was never sanctioned by the Church. Supporters of the authenticity however have the majority of the arguments. There are several Papal documents that refer to a Papal Bull sent to England’s king on the subject of Ireland. The “deal” with the cut for the church and the guarantee of church property was typical of deals made at the time. And there are copies of the bull that have been preserved (the original has never been found.)
A priest, friar or monk with this commission could and did, remove from the custody and control of the local judges, bailiffs and law enforcement officers clerics who had run afoul of the law. At the time the word “clerk” meant any churchman. The principle at the time was that the state could not judge or dispense justice or punishment to members of the church. Only the church could try and convict clerics and they did that persiant to cannon (religious) law. In theory, the bearer of this commission would take custody of an accused criminal who was a churchman, and bring him to the Bishop who would handle the case under Ecclesiastical Law. Often that meant, doing nothing or minor penitence for a crime that could even bring the death penalty under civil law. Historically there has been a major struggle in the West between the churches and civil governments that still goes on to this day in countries like Ireland. In America, the early 21st century saw the Roman Catholic bishops covering up crimes of sexual predation on the part of Priests. Many people were also outraged that the bishops did not report the Priests to the police, but this was unfortunately a throwback to this historical notion that the Church only can deal with the discipline and legal matters involving church personnel or property. Historically, reporting matters like this to civil authorities for handling is only about 200 years old, while the system illustrated by this quotation had been in place for about 1200 years before.
The Vatican & the Chinese Communist Government had been at odds for years with much of the Chinese church going underground. Fr. Jin had been jailed for a decade. Then the government allowed him and the Catholic Church and operate openly, but there were still Vatican conflicts over numerous issues including the right of the Government to approve senior appointments of church officials—a privilege the church claimed exclusively. The Vatican ordered Jin not to cooperate and especially not to reopen the national theological seminary which the government had ordered closed. There had been no training for Chinese priests and Jin wanted to reopen the national theological seminary but the Vatican refused cooperation waiting for the government to capitulate to the Vatican’s various demands. Fr. Jin defied the Vatican & reopened the seminary. Without officially admitting their failed tactics, the Vatican let the discipline issue against Jin drop & the national theological seminary thrived.
He was being pressured to recant some of his astronomical findings and demonstrations—especially the statement that the Earth revolved around the sun. (The church doctrine had it the other way around.) Here he seeks sympathy with his plight.
The Christian Roman Empire was split in two—a Western (Latin) Empire led by the Roman Catholic Church in Rome, and the Eastern (Greek) Roman Empire led by the Orthodox Church headquartered in Constantinople (Byzantium). The two churches were not only in a theological conflict but violence broke out and the armies of the two religious empires attacked each other now and then. In 1439, leaders of the two versions of Christianity met in Florence, and they agreed to reunuion in which the Eastern Orthodox would again acknowledge the authority of the Pope. This was not a popular agreement with the majority of the Eastern Orthodox people and some of the clerical leadership. Constantine, realizing that he did not have pubic support at home for the end to the schism and the acceptance of the authority of the Pope, kept stalling on officially announcing and implementing the unity treaty. The Pope’s patience was wearing thin. Constantine did not adhere to ther treaty and the two churches have been apart ever since.
As a result of Henry VIII establishing himself as the head of the Church in England and Ireland in place of the Pope, Henry’s heirs also became head of the Church. And that was the role that Queen Elisabeth had inherited in addition to the Crown. Many of those loyal to the Pope found most offensive the fact that a woman was making decisions for men and women on matters of faith. A Papal representative travelled with FitzGerald and probably helped him compose this document of which this is but 2 sentences. He may have drafted it completely. The Pope was a factor in many of the Irish rebellions against the English, and this caused great suspicion of all English Catholics whose loyalty to the Queen was in conflict with their loyalty to the Pope who was plotting for a Catholic takeover of England and Ireland.
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- Died: October 25, 1180
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John of Salisbury, who described himself as Johannes Parvus ("John the Little"), was an English author, philosopher, educationalist, diplomat and bishop of Chartres.
