TWO PARTIES FORMED. 7 missal was done in his despite, for Elias was at the time engaged in an effort to heal the irremediable breach between the papacy and the empire. Certain it is that Elias at once took refuge with Frederic and became his intimate companion. Gregory made an effort to capture him by inviting him to a conference. Failing in this, a charge was brought against him of visiting poor women at Cortona without permission, and on refusing to obey a summons he was excommunicated.* Thus already in the Franciscan Order there were established two well-defined parties, which came to be known as the Spirituals and the Conventuals, the one adhering to the strict letter of the Rule, the other willing to find excuses for its relaxation in obedi- ence to the wants of human nature and the demands of worldli- ness. After the fall of Elias the former had the supremacy dur- ing the brief generalates of Alberto of Pisa, and Hay mo of Fever- sham. In 1244 the Conventuals triumphed in the election of Cres- cenzio Grizzi da Jesi, under whom occurred what the Spirituals reckoned as the " Third Tribulation," for, in accordance with their apocalyptic speculations, they were to undergo seven tribulations before the reign of the Holy Ghost should usher in the Millennium. Crescenzio followed in the footsteps of Elias. Under Hay mo, in 1242, there had been an attempt to reconcile with the Rule Greg- ory's declaration of 1231. Four leading doctors of the Order, with Alexander Hales at their head, had issued the Declaratio Quatuor Magistrorum, but even their logical subtlety had failed. The Or- der was constantly growing, it was constantly acquiring property,
- Jordani Chron. c. 62, 63 (Analecta I. 18-19).— Thomae de Eccleston Collat.
xii. — Chron. Glassberger, aim. 1239 (Analecta II. 60-1). — Huillard-Brgholles, In trod. p. Din. ; lb. VI. 69-70. Elias still managed to excite disturbance in the Order; he died excommuni- cate, and a zealous Franciscan guardian had his remains dug up and cast upon a dunghill. Fra" Salimbene gives full details of his evil ways, and the tyran- nous maladministration which precipitated his downfall. After his secession to Frederic II. a popular rhyme was current throughout Italy — " Hor attorna fratt Helya, Ke pres' ha la mala via." Salimbene Chronica, Parma, 1857, pp. 401-13. Affd, however, asserts that he was absolved on his death-bed. — Vita del Beato Gioanni di Parma, Parma, 1777, p. 31. Cf. Chron. Glassberger ann. 1243^4.
