14:0 THE FRATICELLI. quently sketched the manner in which the Holy Roman Empire had arisen, showing the ancient subjection of the Holy See to the imperial power, and the baselessness of the papal claims to confirm the election of the emperors. John XXII. had no hesitation in condemning the daring authors as heretics, and the protection which Louis afforded them added another count to the indictment against him for heresy. Unable to wreak vengeance upon them, all who could be supposed to be their accomplices were sternly dealt with. A certain Francesco of Venice, who had been a stu- dent with Marsiglio at Paris, was seized and carried to Avignon on a charge of having aided in the preparation of the wicked book, and of having supplied the heresiarch with money. Tried before the Apostolic Chamber, he stoutly maintained that he was igno- rant of the contents of the "Defensor Pads" that he had depos- ited money with Marsiglio, as was customar} r with scholars, and that Marsiglio had left Paris owing him thirteen sols parisis. Jean de Jandun died in 1328, and Marsiglio not later than 1343, thus mercifully spared the disappointment of the failure of their theo- ries. In so far as purely intellectual conceptions had weight in the conflict they were powerful allies for Louis. In the " Defen- sor Pads" the power of the keys is argued away in the clearest dialectics. God alone has power to judge, to absolve, to condemn. The pope is no more than any other priest, and a priestly sentence may be the result of hatred, favor, or injustice, of no weight with God. Excommunication, to be effective, must not proceed from the judgment of a single priest, but must be the sentence of the whole community, with full knowledge of all the facts. It is no wonder that when, in 1376, a French translation of the work ap- peared in Paris it created a profound sensation. A prolonged inquest was held, lasting from September to December, in which all the learned men in the city were made to swear before a notary as to their ignorance of the translator.*
- Altmayer, Les Precurseurs de la Reforme aux Pays-Bas, Bruxelles, 1886, I.
38. — Guillel. Nangiac. Contin. arm. 1326. — Fasciculus Rer. Expetendarum et Fugiend. II. 55, Ed. 1690.— D'Argentre, I. i. 304-11, 397-400.— Baluz, et Mansi II. 280-1. — Martene Thesaur. II. 704-16. — Preger, Kirchenpolitische Kainpf, pp. 34, 65. — Defensor. Pacis II. 6. The manner in which Fritsche Closener, a contemporary priest of Strassburg, speaks of the Defensor Pacis shows what an impression it made, and that even
