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Political hiftucnce of the University of Paris 445 discord in the Church concerned the welfare of all the nations of western Europe ; kings as well as prelates were interested in the strife between the rival popes. Throughout the struggle, therefore, we find all kinds of politics intermingled, religious and secular, national and international. The University, as a great organ of the Church, was soon engaged in making zealous efforts to bring the Schism to an end, but its zeal was often leavened by the fiats of princes. Thus in 1379 Charles V. virtually coerced the rector and masters to declare for Clement VII.; in 1381 the Duke of Anjou, the regent of France, opposed their efforts to promote harmony by means of a general council ; in 1391 Charles VI. imposed silence upon them when they exhorted him to secure the union of the Church ; in 1394 the King permitted them to find some way of ending the Schism, and appointed deputies to confer with them on this subject.' In 1381 a contemporary poet exhorts the king to allow the masters greater freedom of speech in the discussion of the Schism : ,, Roy, leisse seurement les clercs de Paris fere Sermens, disputoisons au pour et au contraire." * In fact, at every stage of the great struggle secular as well as re- ligious politics are visible, and in the conciliar movement the Uni- versity, like a sovereign power, negotiates with the French crown, with the rival popes, and with continental princes. Now we ven- ture to suggest that its efforts in behalf of peace and reform in the Church would naturally prepare the way for the exercise of its influence in behalf of peace and reform in the kingdom of France during the dark days of Charles VI.: the semi-secular activity of the rector and masters in church politics would predispose them to participate in the purely secular politics of F"rance. Thus the disorders of the time of Charles VI., which threatened the kingdom of France and the University of Paris with ruin, coupled with the prominent role which the latter had already played in ecclesiastical politics, sufficiently explain its prominent role in public affairs during the first quarter of the fourteenth century. If these disorders and the impotence of the crown had continued under Charles VII. and Louis XL, the University would probably have held its place as an important factor in the political life of the na- tion. As the weakness of the papacy gave the University the op- portunity to assert its authority in the Church, so the weakness of the crown gave it the opportunity to assert its authority in the state. Charles Gross. ' Chartularium, III. 564, 583, 595, 603. For other illustrations see iHJ.^ III. 552-639; and Valois, La Fratue et Ic Gnuul Schisme (2 vols., Paris, 1896). 2Valois, I. 350. VOL. VI. — 30.