Untitled

Introduction & Contents

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[Music]
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welcome to the third video we are doing here at ooby petras as with our previous video the first
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half will be up for free on youtube while the entire video will be available to our subscribers on patreon
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the generous support of our subscribers is what allows us to continue producing more content like this and at more regular
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intervals why forge the deed to a house when you already own the house and have a valid
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deed why forge a marriage certificate when you already have a real one to prove you
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are lawfully married taken a step further if one were to forge papers of ordination
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wouldn't that person be universally suspected of being an imposter no one sensible would go
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through the trouble to forge documents if valid ones were available how much work is it to create a
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convincing forgery to try to rewrite history and why would one go through with it
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if the historical documentation already bears out the point you want to prove
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a forgery especially a convincing one is a substantial amount of work and materials as well as detrimental to
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one's reputation if caught creating forged materials the heavy amount of work needed to create a
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forgery guarantees that one only goes to the trouble of forgery when real evidence is lacking and
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because of this we can understand something of how the first millennium church interpreted and understood canonical literature and
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papal writings based on the material some of its more unscrupulous and ambitious members
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were willing to create for a lack of solid evidence in other words if all of those
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statements from popes like saint galasios st leo the great saint hormistas and
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saint gregory the great were understood to mean what satis cognitum and vatican 1 interpret them to mean
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there would have been no need to forge thousands and thousands of pages of quotations
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claiming what satis cognitum and pastor eternus claim this all looms large on the horizon
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whenever a discussion emerges regarding the development of the papacy from amir cenotal head
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who worked in concert and council with his fellow patriarchs all the way to a position of universal
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autocracy with no enforceable limits some forgeries took nearly a millennium
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to be exposed and several more centuries to be accepted as fakes but like the detonation of an explosive
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the effects of the forgeries remain long after they lack potency in this video we will discuss the major
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forgeries that slowly led to the great schism due to their initial influence upon the 9th century popes
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and culminating with the gregorian reforms in the 11th century the first of these the samakian
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forgeries also known as the pseudo-samakian forgeries of the late 5th and 6th centuries are
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now recognized to be the first major forgeries in the genre that we are discussing those will be followed by the first five
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centuries of biographies from the famous liber pontificalis a collection that slowly became more
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reliable as time went by but was created as a piece of papal propaganda shortly after the reign of
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pope simakis by his partisans following this we will delve into the mid to late 8th century document
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the donation of constantine finally we will move on to the four part collection known under the title
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the pseudo-isadore decreedles we will delve into how these forgeries were then utilized by the reformers in the
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gregorian reform and appeared in the massively influential decretium gratiani
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which formed a backbone of roman catholic canon law for centuries as well as how a roman catholic saint
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such as thomas aquinas bought into and recycled these forgeries in his papally commissioned polemic work
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against the errors of the greeks not stopping there we will discuss the appearance of these
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forgeries even in the catechism of the catholic church and current code of canon law for the
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catholic church with that we begin part 1
The Pseudo-Symmachian Forgeries
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the pseudo-symmachian forgeries on november 16th 498 a.d pope anastasios ii
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a sympathizer with the byzantine emperor's policy on the henotikon died in his two years as pope he had
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created a controversial legacy by re-entering communion with pro-henoticon clergy
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during the acacian schism and therefore causing a large faction in rome to decline communion from the pope
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six days after his death on november 22 the city of rome elected two popes the
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first a deacon of sardinian and probably pagan origin simakus was elected by the faction that
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had broken with the previous pope anastasius ii the second elected later that day by the
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pro-byzantine faction was the arch priest laurentius whose father had also been a priest
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and unlike the sardinian deacon had roots within rome violence immediately erupted but the two
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factions agreed to submit to the arbitration of theodoric the austrogothic king theodoric
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perhaps motivated by political considerations ordered samakos should be kept as pope
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because he had been elected prior to laurentius and by a larger faction what followed
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next was a series of four synods related to the papal election the first was held by pope simakus in
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march 499 and seems to have created peace by offering laurentius another sea
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the second synod was held in arminium in 501 when theodoric the goth ordered the pope
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there to stand trial after he was accused of celebrating easter on the wrong day upon arrival in arminium he learned he
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was also under investigation for corruption and an alleged affair with a nun pope
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simakus forsaking common sense made the least intelligent decision he could have
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and instead of standing trial before the judge who had previously shown him favor ran away to rome in reaction
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the pro-laurentian faction reasserted laurentius's claim to the papal throne and dragged him back to the eternal city
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the situation became so hideous that in 502 a.d theodoric appointed a
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new bishop peter of altineum as locum tenons of rome until a new synod would decide between samakus
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and laurentius that proposed synod the third one took place shortly after easter 502
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and was presided over by the bishops of ravenna milan and aquilea but it fell apart when peter
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of altineum the locum tenens of rome arrived at the council by order of king theodoric
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samakus enraged that the locum tenens had been installed in the first place
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because it insinuated sumakus was not the real pope refused to cooperate and violence
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erupted theodoric then ordered a second session to be held on september 1st
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502 which resulted in more riots and further loss of life due to this simakus barricaded himself
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within saint peter's church outside the city walls while the faction of laurentius seized all of the churches inside the
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city of rome the third session of the third synod was held in the middle of september 502
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and decided they could not stand in judgment of the pope as he was pope while the fourth session
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of the third synod was held at palma on october 23 502 and ruled that all allegations against
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samakus should be dropped the records of both these councils are highly suspect but if the records are
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accurate the synods themselves were clearly and severely influenced by these forgeries
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this is clear because had actual documentation existed demonstrating the first sea could not be
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judged there would have been no need to risk one's reputation and standing to invent it
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despite these synods the laurentians just went about what they were doing and continued to hold the churches in
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the city of rome while simakus was barricaded inside saint peter's outside of rome itself it was not until
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either 506 or 507 a.d that the aryan theodoric the goth
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in the midst of a dispute with the byzantines took an anti-byzantine stance and sent an official to remove the
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nearly 30 churches within the city of rome from the pro-byzantine laurentians and handed them over to samakus that the
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schism effectively ended quote for four years lawrence held the
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lateran and all the roman churches except saint peter's while sumakus was confined by street violence as a
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prisoner in the vatican it was only because by 506 theodoric was
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taking an anti-eastern political stand that he ordered the surrender of all the churches in rome to samakus
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lawrence tactfully withdrew end quote laurentius then retired to a farm owned
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by a senator who had been his patron where he lived peacefully in prayer and fasting until his death
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to bolster his position during the conflict with his rival laurentius the partisans of samakhus and perhaps
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samakus himself created a series of four main forgeries claiming prior precedent to essentially
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put him as pope above the law as the catholic encyclopedia states in its article on
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pope simakus quote the object of these forgeries was to produce alleged instances from earlier times to
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support the whole procedure of the adherence of samakus and in particular the position that the
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roman bishop could not be judged by any court composed of other bishops end quote
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in his work the invention of peter professor george democopolis states as much when he explains
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quote what makes these texts partisan within that pro-papal context is that they narrate the trials and
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tribulations of past papal sovereigns through thinly veiled comparisons to samakos's own troubles
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but they always do so in a way that both reinforces papal autonomy and exonerates simakus end quote
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he adds quote the pro-samakian party produced during the height of the controversy a number of imagined papal
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biographies that either related directly to the charges against sumacus or hoped to insulate him further by
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offering legendary accounts that emphasized the authority and autonomy of peter's successors
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although the stories are very different in content they contain a series of interrelated theses concerning the
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inability of anyone whether lay or ecclesiastic to judge the bishop of rome
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they also offer specific justifications for many of the accusations recently lodged against sumakus
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thus the heroes of these papal biographies all serve as proxies for samakian interests and demonstrate a
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new form of papal rhetoric born in the traditions of the hegemonic claims of the petrine toppos
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end quote in other words with each incident recorded in the life of pope simakus in the liber pontificalis
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there is a corresponding forgery meant to provide evidence as to why he should be acquitted and
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this is no coincidence and the first segment of the liber pontaficalis was written during this time
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this is why the primary editor of the first critical edition of the lieber the catholic priest father louis
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duchenne was also the primary editor of the first critical edition of the samakian
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forgeries now during this period four main forgeries were created by the partisans
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of symmachus entitled justa liberi justa cinodi sinoessene de marcelino
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constitutum silvestri and justa de percutione zesti et polychrony accusatione
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professor demicopoulos summarizes each of the four forgeries in his book the invention of peter as follows quote
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the gestali berry for example tells an apocryphal story of how pope liberius
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was exiled from rome by the heretical emperor constantius when easter approached and it was time
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for the pontiff to perform his annual baptism of catechumens the citizens of rome came to him on the
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outskirts of the city so he could perform the ritual in an austen cemetery
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not only does this text provide a papal precedent for performing baptisms outside of the
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city as symachus was doing at st peter's and claim that the orthodox catechumens of rome would seek to be baptized by the
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authentic pope it also emphasizes that liberius had performed these baptisms on the very
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same site that saint peter had performed baptisms when he was the bishop of rome in other words the justa lee berry
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carefully makes a narrative link between the baptisms of the historic peter a previously exiled but holy pope and
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sumakus who was at that time performing baptisms in the church that housed the relics of saint peter
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end quote symmachus barred from entering the city by the laurentians
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is forced to hold the yearly baptism of catechumens outside the city at a shrine and not in
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the city's main cathedral so a precedent was invented to explain why this was not only acceptable
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but preferable but it does not stop there quote in another of the samakian
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apocrypha the cenote sinusoine gesta we find a fictional tale of how pope marcellinus
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had been brought to a trial by a local synod for having offered incense to pagan idols during the diocletian persecution
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at the moment when the synod was about to pass judgment against the pope a miraculous voice was heard by all to
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proclaim prima cedes known you decapitor aquaculum the first sea will not be judged by
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anyone here again papal biography serves as a narrative weapon to
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insulate samakus from his enemies namely the first synod of 502 which had been ordered by theodoric to
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evaluate the charges against sumakus the biography invents the account of a divine voice proclaiming papal
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sovereignty because the reality of the present circumstances demonstrates just how limited sumaku's authority
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really was end quote you will remember that at the second and third sessions of the third
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synod mentioned above it was decided that the pope could not be judged what almost certainly occurred was
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either the synod acts or themselves forgeries which is possible or the synod was simply working off of
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the forgeries themselves and believed them to be authentic the reason it is one of either two of those
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options is synods make decisions based on prior precedent and as mentioned there would be no
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reason to create forgeries had there been real prior historical precedent for what those forgeries were
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claiming in other words why forge the deed to a house when you already own the house but not
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satisfied with just one forgery proclaiming the bishop of rome to be above the law the forgers doubled down on it and
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created a fictitious synod led by pope saint sylvester issuing 20 cannons and stating emphatically
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that the pope cannot be judged as demicopoulos states quote in the constitution
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silvestri yet another narrative proxy for somakian concerns we find a similar injunction nemo enum
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de judicet no one indeed can judge the first c
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which is designed to insulate the papacy from both secular and rival ecclesiastical interferences
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in this case the decree is put in canonical form authorized by hundreds of bishops pope
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sylvester and the emperor constantine the text maintains that a cleric can be accused
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only by a peer meaning a bishop can be accused only by another bishop not by a priest or deacon and that the
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pope can be accused by no one the text also stresses the importance of celebrating easter in
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unity and emphasizes the pope's role in determining the date of easter as with the other texts these matters
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relate directly to samakian concerns and offer a counter narrative to laurentian accusations and samakian
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humiliations end quote as pointed out earlier zamakus had been summoned by theodoric
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in 502 to answer accusations that he had celebrated easter on the wrong day
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using an older roman calculation he had actually celebrated it about a month prior to laurentius
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who was using the eastern or nicene calculation but you do not need calculations when
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the pope himself can simply determine the date and everyone must simply obey again
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if there were actual historical precedents for the first sea not being judged by anyone why were
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these not brought up as evidence why was forgery immediately resorted to
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the reason is because there were no historical precedents for it
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it should be noted that this statement the first c can be judged by no one first appears
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in the samakian forgeries despite claims that the same theme is found in pope saint galacious shortly
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before an inspection of his letters do not reveal anything like it as galacious is concerned was papaly
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ratified ecumenical councils being overturned the statement the first c can be judged
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by no one is then repeated in the pseudo-izadore de creedels the lieber pontificalis and then in
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various canonical collections to the point that it is part of roman catholic canon law to this very day
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at title 1404 as davis notes in the introduction to his translation
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of the first eight centuries of lives in the liber pontificales quote this material was forged about 502
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to support samakos's claim to the papacy against that of lawrence by producing with other matters
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historical precedence for the claim that councils were not competent to pronounce judgment on the incumbent
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of christendom's first sea simakis's refusal to accede to the council which attempted to depose him
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could thus be justified the principle enunciated prima cedes animene yudicator would be
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of considerable interest to later canon lawyers and the libre pontificalis is our proof
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that within a generation these forgeries had come to be accepted as genuine history
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end quote another accusation brought against symmachus that was to be addressed by the synod
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held by theodore the goth in 502 at romanium and before simakus ran away prior to
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defending himself was that he had been corrupt in his handling of church property
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and that he had been romantically involved with a nun democracy summarizes it thus quote
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in some cases the narratives of the samakian apocrypha are so similar to the accusations against
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samakus that one wonders if they ever fooled anyone the gesta dexisti pregation for example
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notes that pope sixtus iii had been accused by wealthy roman landowners of poorly
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managing church property and of having an adulterous affair with a nun during the trial that exonerates
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sixtus a trial in which the emperor valentinian iii presides accompanied by the entire senate and
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clergy of rome the body of the council once again refuses to pass judgment on the pontifex
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but more important the bishop of rome is made to be the emperor's proxy to literally sit on his chair and to
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serve as the city's leading moral and legal constituted authority in his absence
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end quote the samakian forgeries proved to be popular and rapidly spread the statement
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that the first see is judged by no one suddenly showed up during this time and in the writings of
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two saints anodius pavia and avitus of vienne they were both
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influenced by what they thought were genuine works but were in fact recent fabrications and simply parroted
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erik ibarra makes a big to-do about this in an article on his blog entitled the first c is judged by no one
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historical and critical review of bishop athanasius schneider's op-ed for rarati kali mr ibarra
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gets these from thomas william ayles's work the sea of peter in that article the quotation appears as
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this quote god perchance has willed to terminate the causes of other men
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by means of men but the prelate of that roman sea he has reserved without question to his
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own judgment it is his will that the successors of the blessed apostle peter
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should owe their innocence to heaven alone and should manifest a pure conscience to the inquisition of the
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most severe judge god do you answer such will be the condition of all souls in that
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scrutiny i retort that to one was said thou art peter
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and upon this rock i will build my church and again that by the voice of the holy
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pontiffs the dignity of his sea has been made venerable in the whole world since all the faithful everywhere are
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submitted to it and it is marked out as the head of the whole body end quote thus says saint anodius
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mr ibarra then follows with what is actually several snippets pasted together and not actually an entire quotation
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from a letter by saint avitus of vien on the same topic quote we were in a
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state of anxiety and alarm about the cause of the roman church inasmuch as we felt that our order the
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episcopate of gaul was endangered by an attack upon its head what license for accusation against the
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headship of the universal church ought to be allowed as a roman senator and a christian bishop
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i conjure you that the state of the church be not less precious to you than that of the commonwealth if you
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judge the matter with your profound consideration not merely is that cause which was examined
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at rome to be contemplated but as if in the case of other bishops any danger be incurred
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it can be repaired so if the pope of the city be put into question not a single bishop but the episcopate
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itself will appear to be in danger he who rules the lord's fold will render an account how he
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administers the care of the lambs he entrusted to him but it belongs not to the flock to alarm its own shepherd
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but to the judge god wherefore restored to us if it be not yet restored
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concord in our chief end quote mr ibarra then finishes with a quotation that
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in the work by ales is claimed to be from the council of 499 but the citation in monzi says
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immediately at the top that it is from the so-called palma synod which was the fourth session of
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the third synod held in october 502 as can be seen on the screen mr ibarra
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continues quote the person samakus who was attacked ought himself to have called
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the council knowing that to his sea in the first place the rank or chief ship of the apostle peter
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and then the authority of venerable councils following out the lord's command had committed a power without its like
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in the churches nor would a precedent be easily found to show that in a similar matter the prelate of the aforementioned sea
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had been subject to the judgment of his inferiors end quote two of these three statements were
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written after the council and the third was from the final council in 502 a.d the one in which the locum tenens
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appeared and sumachus refused to cooperate by that time the accusations against
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sumakus were nearly three years old in those three years the pseudo-samakian
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forgeries had more than enough time to spread throughout central italy influencing bishops in their wake after
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a long quotation from trevor jollins mr ibarra continues and expresses
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quote those who forged these samakian documents were appealing to even earlier centuries
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where popes were deemed above the judgment of all inferiors but they are held by historians to be
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spurious accounts i've not done any extensive studies on any particular claim of these
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end quote but this begs the same question we asked at the beginning of the video
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if you already own a house why forge the deed to it if popes were deemed above all judgment
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of inferiors in earlier centuries why not just quote those documents why
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forge brand new ones and then not appeal to the older ones you are claiming are there
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at no point in the samakian controversy did anyone appeal to anything said by popes like saint leo or saint galasios
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precisely because anything those saints may have said concerning papal octoritus
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never indicated to their contemporaries that the pope was above judgment instead it took forgeries to
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create that impression the samakian forgeries though were part of a much larger and much more
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involved effort to reinvent the papacy and were an initial piece in what was growing to become a
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propaganda war within rome itself part two
The Liber Pontificalis
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the lieber pontificalis much of the scholarship on the libre-pontificalis
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dates to the late 1800s and early 1900s when the french catholic priest father
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louis duchenne created the first critical edition of it and as mentioned previously
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father duchenne's interest in the libra was closely tied to his interest in the samakian forgeries
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because they were born out of the same events and same desires that is asserting papal autonomy
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now the first section of the libre-pontificalis is essentially just an imaginative creation
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of the first five centuries of papal history but created in the immediate wake of the somakian laurentian schism
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in the early 6th century as democracy notes quote if there was anything that the
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papal propagandists learned during the somakian laurentian schism it was how the production of papal
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biographies especially those that could be carefully linked to saint peter were an effective means of maintaining a
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narrative of papal hegemony in the face of empirical evidence to the contrary end quote
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in addition quote one of the key features of the liber pontificalis
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is its projection of papal sovereignty against all potential threats especially secular ones end quote
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in other words the entire point of the libra was to rewrite history to make it look as though popes were not
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as helpless and powerless as they really were in the 6th century but how do historians know the libra was
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first composed in the very late 5th or early 6th centuries quote signs that the original author
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has first-hand acquaintance with the events described begin only at the very end of the 5th
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century the lives from leo the first to anastasius ii contain some curious models which are
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best understood as material half remembered from oral tradition for instance the confused account of the council of
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calcidon and 451 and the various references to the schism of acacius patriarch of constantinople
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end quote but the authors got some of their information from previously existing lists of popes
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some containing sparse historical data as well as information regarding the possessions of the church of rome and those
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form the core of the leber from there the authors just improvised heavily and
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filled in the biographical data in its article on the libre the catholic encyclopedia states
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the compiler quote made use of two ancient catalogs or lists of the popes
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taking from them the order of succession the chronological data and also certain historical notes these
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lists were the so-called catalogues liberianus and a list of the popes that varies in
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length in the manuscripts and perhaps depends on the catalogue librionus for the period before the middle of the
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sixth century the catalogues liberianus is so called because it terminates with pope liberius
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it has reached us in the so-called chronographus ani an ancient manuscript that contains the
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valuable lists of the depositio martirum and the depositio episcoporum in the
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catalogus libirijanus there are already short historical notices of some popes
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peter pious pontianus fabianus cornelius lucius
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sistus marcellinus and julius which were taken over by the author of
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the lieber pontificalis for its list of the earliest popes the catalagus liberianus
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was able to draw on the papal catalogue given by hippolytus of rome in his liber genera tionus though even
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this list is not the oldest list of popes it is probable that from the beginning of the second century there was already
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a list of popes which contained short historical notices and was afterwards continued end quote one of those
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pre-existing corpuses the compiler can refer back to is the samakian forgeries
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speaking of the influence of them on the compiler of the libre davis writes quote our compiler inserts
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material from them with no discernible polemical motive at what he will have believed were the
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historically correct points in the lives of the 4th century marcelinus and sylvester hence the
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fictitious councils held under sylvester depicted in the murals at san sebastiano
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on the via appia outside of rome and in that of chistus iii
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the forged material contains various disciplinary canons supposed to have been passed by church
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councils the libra pontificalis is quite prepared to wrench these from their already
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fictitious context and scatter them on no apparent principle through a large number of the
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lives in addition he seems to have had more material of this kind not known to us or invented by himself
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this he treats in the same way the result is that no material of this kind in the libre-pontificalis
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before the 6th century can be trusted unless confirmed elsewhere end quote davis
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not phased by what most would consider bald-faced lying takes a much more lighthearted and
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humorous view of the libra's early authors and their willingness to lie saying quote
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there is no point in deploring the mendacity of a compiler who is prepared to invent material
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to fill the lives before his own time we should rather be thankful that he gave the lead to the continuators
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who would preserve analogous and genuine information in the later lives the historian thus has to discount a
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great deal of fiction in the earliest parts of the libra pontificalis but the material retains its value for
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bringing us into contact with beliefs held in the early 6th century by those of no great learning
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with the developments taking place in the genre of hegeographical literature and with the working methods of a
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chronicler at that time end quote the libra though forms a basis for later forgeries
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in that it creates the outline for the decretals in the pseudo-isidore quote and the false decreetles
31:34
themselves owe some of their inspiration and material to the libra pontificalis it is no
31:39
coincidence that the consular dates assigned in them to fictitious early papal letters are only genuine when the councils are
31:46
mentioned in the libre-pontificalis end quote part 3
The Donation of Constantine
31:53
the donation of constantine sometime in the mid-8th century perhaps
31:58
no later than 760 a.d an anonymous cleric either at the lateran in rome
32:04
or in the kingdom of the franks penned a two-part forgery this forgery depicted in 13th century
32:10
painting in the chapel of saint sylvester in the church of the four crowned saints in rome is probably the most famous of all
32:17
forgeries in church history and is known as the donation of constantine the catholic encyclopedia states quote
32:25
it is addressed by constantine to pope sylvester the first and consists of two parts in the first
32:31
entitled confessio the emperor relates how he was instructed in the christian faith by
32:36
sylvester makes a full profession of faith and tells of his baptism in rome by that
32:41
pope and how he was thereby cured of leprosy in the second part the donatio constantine is made to
32:48
confer on sylvester and his successors the following privileges and possessions the pope as successor of saint peter has
32:56
the primacy over the four patriarchs of antioch alexandria constantinople and jerusalem
33:03
also over all the bishops in the world the lateran basilica at rome built by
33:09
constantine shall surpass all churches as their head similarly the churches of saint peter
33:15
and saint paul shall be endowed with rich possessions moreover
33:20
the emperor makes a present to the pope and his successors of the lateran palace of rome and the provinces districts and
33:28
towns of italy and all the western regions the document goes on to say that for himself
33:34
the emperor has established in the east a new capital which bears his name and fever he removes his government
33:40
since it is inconvenient that a secular emperor have power where god has established the residence
33:46
of the head of the christian religion the document concludes with maledictions against all who dare to violate
33:52
these donations and with the assurance that the emperor has signed them with his own hand and placed them on the tomb of saint
33:59
peter this document is without a doubt a forgery fabricated somewhere between the years
34:05
750 and 850 a.d it is so clearly a fabrication that
34:10
there is no reason to wonder that with the revival of historical criticism in the 15th century
34:16
the true character of the document was at once recognized end quote
34:22
the sources for the documents are clear as the same section of the catholic encyclopedia notes
34:27
quote the narrative of the conversion and healing of the emperor is based on the apocryphal
34:33
acts of sylvester acta or justa silvestri yet all the particulars of the donatzio
34:39
narrative do not appear in the hitherto known text of that legend the distinctions conferred on the pope
34:45
and the cardinals of the roman church the forger probably invented and described according to certain
34:51
contemporary rites and the court ceremonial of the roman and byzantine emperors
34:56
the author also used the biographies of the popes in the libra pontaficalis likewise 8th century letters of the
35:02
popes especially in his account of the imperial donations end quote while the location of its
35:09
creation is speculated to be either the frankish kingdom or the city of rome itself and
35:15
compelling arguments can be made for each place the anonymous author is completely lost
35:20
to history the main argument behind the document being from the frankish realm is that it first appears there the main
35:27
argument behind the document being a roman invention is the papacy being the main benefactor of the forgery
35:34
as well as a desire by the papacy to reclaim papal holdings the franks had conquered from the lombards
35:39
who in turn had taken them from the popes no consensus has been reached regardless
35:45
nonetheless the documents soon took hold and appeared in canonical collections even in the east
35:51
with noted eastern canonists such as balsamon and blastaris considering it legitimate
35:57
and saint mark of ephesus considering it so as well no doubt balsamin blastares and others were
36:03
influenced to do so by the logic behind the donatio the emperor had given primacy to rome
36:10
because it was the head of the empire so the emperor could and did give primacy to constantinople
36:15
as first rome had been reckoned to have fallen away leaving only constantinople or new rome
36:21
as the sole inheritor of church leadership the donatio had such widespread
36:26
influence that it was quoted in a long passage by the gregorian reformer pope leo the ninth to michael carolarius
36:33
in 1054 as part of the argument as to why kellarius should kowtow to rome
36:39
it also appears often in an altered form in many manuscripts of the pseudo-izadore de creedels
36:45
and is even quoted within the decretals the work was so influential that when papam met the pope he
36:52
dismounted and led the pope's horse on foot as that is what constantine has claimed to have done in the acta silvestri and
36:59
donatio scenes from the donatio is painted in the chapel of saint sylvester
37:04
in the church of the four crowned saints in rome as well as again in the old saint peter's hall of constantine
37:09
pictured here and painted by giulio romano who had been a student of the famous painter and architect rafael
37:17
now the document is not long it is actually fairly short combined the two parts run only about 10
37:24
pages and a link to them can be found in the video description below figures as early as the holy roman
37:31
emperor otto iii in the 10th century as well as nicholas of cusa in the 13th century
37:37
john of torcamada in the 15th century and erasmus of rotterdam in the 16th
37:42
century had all expressed doubts about it but it was not until the year 1440 a.d
37:48
that renaissance humanist priest and scholar of classics lorenzo vala put forward the first
37:54
argument formally demonstrating the text to be a forgery via linguistic historical and textual
38:00
analysis and entitled it de falso
38:07
or discourse on the forgery of the alleged donation of constantine vala's book was put on the index of
38:14
forbidden books by the catholic church but later voices such as the roman catholic baronis in the 16th century
38:21
further forwarded vala's conclusions as the quotations above demonstrate the catholic church now regards the work
38:28
as a forgery part 4 the pseudo-isidore de creedels
The Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals
38:35
despite the donation of constantine being the most famous work of forgery it is not necessarily the most
38:40
influential that would go to the pseudo-izadore de creedels more commonly known as the false
38:46
decreedles though many works have been written on the false decretals among them the very
38:51
popular book by e.h davenport entitled rather unimaginatively the false decreedles a tremendous amount
38:59
of scholarship on them has been done since davenport published his work in 1916
39:04
and so the work we will be quoting from most extensively in this section is papal letters in the
39:10
early middle ages by detlev jasper and horst furman published in 2001. furman considered to be the
39:17
world's expert on the pseudo-izadorian decretals until his death in 2011 at the age of 85
39:23
was a medievalist and professor at the university of tubingen and the university of regensburg as well
39:29
as the president of the prestigious monumenta germane historica from 1971 to 1994
39:36
and president of the bavarian academy of sciences the austrian academy of sciences
39:41
the academy de inscription et beller and the medieval academy of america as
39:47
well as being a fellow of the british academy his voluminous writings on the topic
39:52
originally in german have slowly made their way into english and have formed the foundation for all
39:57
the recent work on the false decretals unlike the donation of constantine to
40:02
which no clue concerning the author's identity remain and heavy debate rages concerning the place of composition
40:08
for the false decretals various identities have been floated but more as a compiler and organizer of
40:14
the project than an actual scribe and these typically focus around various habits
40:19
such as pascasius radbertus but the location of the majority of the composition
40:24
is largely settled on the monastery at corby in north central france while the date of composition is almost
40:31
certainly between 847 and 852 a.d as for why it was done furman states
40:38
the academic consensus quote the most widely accepted opinion today holds that the forger or forgers are to
40:45
be sought in the circle of the adherences of or the opponents to hinkmar of reams and
40:51
that all so-called pseudo-izadorian forgeries originated at one place in the western frankish realm or in
40:58
connection with it end quote now the earliest traces of them are in 852
41:04
when they go of trier attempted to claim the role of primate over the other metropolitans
41:09
an office created by pseudo isidore again in 852 we see hinkmar of reams
41:16
gathering his clergy into council or promulgating statutes two of which are from the pseudo-isidore
41:22
from there popularity for the false decretals spread rapidly throughout gaul before winding up as far as can be told
41:30
directly in rome with little to no indication they appeared anywhere else prior to their discrete adoption
41:36
and usage by rome in the 860s though early polemics placed the composition solely in the lap of rome
41:43
the impetus for their creation seems fairly clear and that the rule of law had broken down in the frankish kingdoms
41:49
particularly under louis the pious it should be understood that under frankish inheritance laws
41:55
all property was equally divided among sons meaning that when a king died suddenly several successor states arose
42:02
out of the former unity and more often than not they began fighting one another
42:08
added into this major viking raids had begun in 841 with the sack of ruon and again in 845
42:15
with the siege of paris quote one speaks of the period after charlemagne as that of the dissolution
42:21
of the empire the central authority dwindled fragmentary realms arose
42:27
the insecurity of rights became a preoccupation and legal structures were increasingly being destroyed by the incursions of the
42:34
northmen powerful secular rulers on all levels intervened rigorously in ecclesiastic
42:40
organizations alienating the property of the church between 818 and 845 bishops in significant numbers
42:48
were deposed or driven from their seas and secular judges tried clerics in criminal trials
42:54
reforming synods achieved little with their calls for reform and no improvement could have been expected
42:59
after the breakup of the empire in 843 even the chief instrument of secular legislation the capitularies
43:06
which were supposed to have effect in the entire empire had grown weak end quote
43:13
another commentator the one of far less repute than furman and writing in the early 1900s e.h
43:19
davenport adds quote in those recurrent civil wars whenever a bishop found himself upon the
43:26
losing side he was inevitably robbed by the winning side moreover priests were sometimes murdered
43:32
and bishops often falsely accused and condemned by secular not ecclesiastical tribunals there was
43:39
as little respect for the church's servants as for its property end quote
43:44
the church men desperate to see the halt to the slaughter and kangaroo courts their fellow clerics were regularly put
43:50
through in the midst of what sounds like utter chaos and social upheaval invented the decretals in such
43:56
situations it is normal for an all-encompassing nostalgia for the simpler times to develop
44:02
and as the forgers had no real source for such nostalgia they simply invented it quote the
44:08
pseudo-izadorian forgeries are often placed in the context of a reform effort arising from a world awash with legal
44:15
uncertainty they concerned themselves with far more than ecclesiastical jurisdiction
44:20
they wrote about the liturgy the sacraments and marital law further sketching an image of the vita
44:26
primitiva which has been called a vision of a church in a golden age end quote in addition to the chaos
44:34
coming directly from the civil wars the power of the metropolitans was stifling to the point that all other
44:40
bishops were simply the metropolitan's lackeys davenport comments quote charlemagne
44:46
in reviving the old canon law which was replete with rules for the rights and duties of the metropolitan archbishop
44:53
may have given new life to the order itself but he was too autocratic to allow the
44:58
metropolitans to become powerful it was not until the weekly rule of louis the pious
45:04
that they found an opportunity for self-aggrandizement after which their rise to power was
45:09
rapid by the middle of the 9th century immediately prior to the false decreedles
45:14
they had become the life and soul of their provinces the two jurisdictions of synod and
45:20
metropolitan tended to merge the one within the other end quote the reason
45:25
for this was simple the metropolitans were appointed by the local civil authority and were therefore hard-pressed to go
45:32
against the decisions of the person to whom they owed their appointment if they did the result would be ugly
45:38
this meant that when a local ruler took issue with a bishop the metropolitan would likely take the
45:43
side of the local ruler while the bishop would be put through a kangaroo court the bishops in the eyes of the forgers
45:50
were the real victims as figureheads of ecclesiastical power the bishops were soon sold out by their
45:56
metropolitans from above while simultaneously being subverted by the chore episcopy from below
46:02
the forgers though had a solution for this quote in pseudo-izadore the growth of papal
46:08
power served to protect the position of bishops indeed it was not the pope but the bishops who
46:14
were called the keys of the church according to an understanding of cyprian and for whose invulnerability
46:20
all were to cooperate the lord had granted to them the power of binding and loosing
46:25
accusations against them were no longer to be handled by provincial and national synods cases that touched upon their
46:32
prerogatives were called cause maeros and reserved to the pope who alone had the right to confirm the
46:38
decisions of the councils papal rights were stressed when used to defend the suffragan's bishops
46:44
end quote he later adds quote the fact that these protections were
46:49
reinforced by the newly created office of primate as well as through an extensive strengthening of papal power
46:55
can only be understood from the desire of the forger to restrict the privileges of the metropolitan with papal authority
47:01
to the advantage of the bishops end quote for the forageries of pseudo-isidore the
47:07
bishops would have immediate access to the pope a person independent of the frankish rulers in this way
47:14
the forgers were able to remove the frankish rulers from the situation in an attempt to restore independence to
47:19
the local bishops that is as long as the pope was impartial further
47:24
as mentioned earlier when referring to thegoad of trier the false decreetals create a new office
47:29
above the metropolitan that of the primate and they state that in the largest city of each old roman
47:36
province the bishop there was to be named the primate and he would rule over the metropolitans and keep them
47:42
in check but in the minds of the forgers even the office of primate could be overruled by the pope of rome
47:49
pseudo-izadore also has an axe to grind with the chore episcopy whom he sees as contenders and
47:55
underminers of bishops which is why he relegates the chore episcopy to the rank of simple priests
48:00
thus nullifying the competition the lengths the forgers went to protect a bishop were stunning
48:06
quote a significant goal of the forgeries was to protect suffragin's bishops from intervention by the metropolitans
48:13
the provincial synods or the secular power trial procedure and the possibility of deposing bishops
48:20
are rendered immeasurably difficult for example no layman no subject no alien or freed
48:26
man no one who is an enemy of the bishop no one infamous could accuse the bishop particularly not
48:33
before a secular court end quote if an accusation were made against a bishop
48:39
it would take no less than 72 witnesses to condemn the bishop further at any point in the
48:44
investigation and trial the accused bishop could appeal to the pope who could overrule the current trial
48:50
and then set up his own this contradicts the sardican cannons which state that a bishop can only
48:55
appeal to rome after the verdict is given further according to the canons of sartica
49:02
rome's role was purely as a review court deciding whether or not the appeal deserved to be heard
49:08
if the answer was yes then the appeal would have to be sent to a province adjacent to the condemned bishop's own
49:14
province and be heard by bishops there perhaps with roman clerics joining the judges
49:19
another step pseudo isidore takes is known as the exceptio spoilie meaning that when a bishop is deposed
49:26
they cannot have their property taken from them nor can they be removed from their sea or imprisoned until rome has ruled on it
49:33
this however is not in the sardican canons at all which simply states that a bishop who appeals to rome
49:39
cannot be replaced by another bishop until rome has rejected his appeal or that the appeals court in the
49:46
adjacent province has twice condemned him now though we refer to pseudo-izadore as
49:52
he it was not just one forger who created the forgeries commonly known under the appellative pseudo-izadore
49:59
this was a concerted effort that required a team or perhaps several teams operating under the direction of a head
50:05
or committee as furman notes quote the vast extant and skilled preparation make it unlikely
50:12
that a single person created the forgeries instead we must assume a circle of forgers with access to a rich
50:19
library producing and distributing products of highly various types end quote furthermore what we call the
50:26
collection of forgeries commonly called pseudo-izadore is actually a group of forgeries
50:32
and it is the fourth part of these forgeries which is also the largest that is properly known as pseudo-isidore
50:38
due to that section's introduction claiming to be written by a certain isidore mercator
50:44
or isadore the merchant although there are manuscripts with the name written as
50:49
isidore peccator or isadore the sinner which has led some experts to believe
50:55
the appellative of mercator is purely a scribal error that simply gained ground
51:00
early on this isadore soon became associated with the 7th century bishop
51:06
saint isidore of seville for reasons that will be discussed later on but the collection commonly known as
51:12
pseudo-isidore is typically broken into four parts part 1 the collectio hispana gallica augusto
51:19
denensis part 2 the so-called capitula angel romney
51:24
part three the capitulary collection of benedictus levita and part four the
51:30
pseudo-isadorian decretals further evidence the forgeries were produced in the same place
51:36
or within a close vicinity and by teams answering to a head or a committee is that they appear in one another and
51:43
play off of one another as if they were all developed in conjunction being as each section of the
51:49
false decretals deserves its own description we will now delve into all four parts
51:54
the first section is known as the collectio hispana gallica augusto dunensis the spanish canon law
52:01
known as the collectio hispana began to circulate within frankish gaul and then became known as collectio
52:08
hispana gallica this then was used by the forgers who went through and edited it
52:13
both improving the latin occasionally removing cannons while adding others and adding to existing ones often times
52:20
through merging together different cannons and adding in small amounts of new material to make two or more cannons
52:27
appear as if they were discussing one cannon and the same topic thus giving a new meaning and intent to
52:34
said canons this new forged collection known as the collectio hispana gallica
52:40
augusto dunensis is the first of the four parts of the false decreetles
52:45
it should be noted that in the other three sections of the false decreetles whenever a writer cites cannons they are
52:51
recited from the forged hispana gallica augusto dunensis almost exclusively
52:57
the second section known as the capitula angel romney is named after bishop angoram of mets
53:04
and claims to be a letter sent to him by pope hadrian the first who died in 795 a.d and is therefore
53:11
also occasionally known as the capitula hadriani it is comprised of 71 or 72 sayings
53:18
that have been slightly adapted and is occupied with the question of how you deal with accusations against the
53:23
episcopate quote a major source of the capitula anger romney
53:28
is roman law specifically in its visigothic redaction among others this breviarium allora
53:35
sianum and its epitomi perisciences and agidi sentiente pauli but other sources are
53:42
the dionysio hydriana cassiodoruses historia tripartita
53:48
and other sources also drawn upon in the false to creedals end quote the third section called the
53:54
capitulary collection of benedictus levita also known as benedict the deacon
54:00
is a collection of three books and four additions and claims to be written by a deacon
54:05
benedict who is commissioned by archbishop otgar of mainz the compiler claims they found almost
54:11
all of their materials at the library at the church of mainz now about 25 of his material is actual
54:18
legitimate quotations with the other 75 percent being forgeries according to fuhrman the sources
54:24
consisted of quote the bible councils decreedles
54:30
roman law germanic codes penitentials writings of the fathers of the church
54:35
more recent theological writings the dionysio hadriana irish canon
54:41
collections and so on on the whole the circle of sources is smaller but in some cases
54:47
he used a broader body of material than the forgers of the pseudo-izadorian decretals drew upon
54:52
for example besides a series of synods that are not exploited in the false decreedles he used the breviatio canonum of
55:00
falgentius ferondus the collectio vetus gallica from which he took early frankish councils
55:06
extensive roman legal sources and capitula episcoporum which were surprisingly omitted by the
55:13
pseudo-isadorian decretals end quote the fourth and final section of the false decretals
55:19
is the pseudo-isidore de creedels and using the liber pontificalis as their backdrop the forgers were
55:25
trying to fill in the blanks quote the libre pontificalis in particular is exploited as a historical guide
55:32
insofar as pseudo-izadore creates decreedles for popes on the basis of the entries which he finds here
55:38
on the activities of individual popes and fills those to creedles with his constructions end quote
55:45
in other words when the libra pontificalis states a council was held by pope x in year y pseudo-izadore creates the
55:53
decrees of this council when the leber mentions pope x also wrote a letter to bishop z
55:58
pseudo-izadore creates said letter using snippets from the sources listed above
56:04
taking this into account it can be broken down as follows decretals from clement the first to
56:10
melchiottis consisting of 60 decretals of which 58 are forgeries from 30 popes
56:17
making up more than 220 pages these are followed by a treatise
56:22
entitled on the primitive church and the synod of nicaea and then a reworked version of the
56:28
constitutum constantini as found in the donation of constantine
56:33
followed by three shorter forgeries on nicaea and canons from 54 councils with copious reworking and outright
56:40
forgeries mixed in throughout finally several dozen papal decretals and decrees of councils consisting of 33
56:47
popes from the time of pope sylvester to pope gregory ii of this collection 36 decretals and
56:54
decrees are forgeries a further discussion on this can be found in pages 161
57:00
through 169 in jasper and furman's work entitled papal letters in the early medieval ages
57:07
quote the false decreedles comprehend primarily papal letters and councils from clement
57:12
the first and anacletus the first through gregory the first whose letters
57:17
are followed by the roman council of gregory ii in 721 a.d of all the medieval canon law
57:24
collections arranged in chronological order the pseudo-izadorian decretals were the most
57:29
widely distributed work being even more widely distributed than the dionysio hadriana end quote
57:36
not even the canonical collection of dionysius exegus which was commissioned by pope saint
57:42
hermistus and given the papal stamp of approval was as widely and as intensely circulated as the canons of
57:48
pseudo-izadore not only was it circulated far and wide but the sources the forgers used were
57:54
vast quote through considerable portions pseudo isidore did not forge his
58:00
materials freely but rather composed them of highly varied often heavily edited excerpts the number
58:07
of these excerpts pieced together like a mosaic could have amounted to more than ten thousand among the sources
58:15
he extensively exploited were the bible extensively partly in the vulgate form
58:21
partly in the vetis latina partly even in a version of his own varying from all known traditions
58:28
rulings of councils decreedless sources of roman law the germanic codes capitularies
58:36
penitentials writings and letters of fathers of the church bishops and private persons
58:41
the edict des recta fide of emperor justinian the first the constitutum constantini the liber
58:48
pontificalis and rules of monastic orders he used very few of these sources
58:54
in their original form end quote now it should be noted that davenport
59:00
writing in 1916 thought the forgeries had minimal influence upon the papacy
59:06
he states quote briefly the movement in the roman church towards universal primacy
59:11
was never due to the false decreedles because it was already making way before they came to rome
59:17
the false decreedles merely served as a fortuitous confirmation of certain of the papal principles
59:22
it was not till the latter half of the 11th century that they were openly welcomed the bishops of rome in the 10th treated
59:29
them with no little reserve end quote but is this actually true
59:35
according to furman quote the false decreedles appear to have reached rome and the papacy during the pontificate of
59:42
nicholas the first probably in a.d or 864
59:47
end quote we can actually see the gradual influence of pseudo-izadore
59:52
over pope nicholas the first case in point in 858 some bishops suspicious of a letter by
59:59
pope melchiotis in pseudo-izadore wrote to pope nicholas asking him for the full text of said letter
1:00:05
as it pertained to a case in which they desired to depose bishop hermann of nevers for insanity
1:00:12
nicholas responds but ignores the topic of the letter of melchiotis indicating he probably did not know
1:00:17
about it but was trying to save face fast-forward four years when bishop rotha the second of swa-song
1:00:24
appealed to pope nicholas the first after being deposed by hinkmar of reams and we suddenly see a series of
1:00:30
clear examples that nicholas had not only received the false decreetals but had embraced them fervently nicholas
1:00:38
responds to the frankish bishops using pseudo-izadori to explain that they were not allowed to depose a bishop without
1:00:44
first asking rome this theme appears again in the photian schism when pope nicholas claims
1:00:50
saint ignatius could not be deposed without the permission of the pope and that the pope could reopen any
1:00:56
episcopal trial without appeal this principle is nowhere
1:01:02
in the legitimate canonical literature of the first millennium but it is in pseudo-isidore
1:01:08
and it is repeated by pseudo isidore again and again it might be said that it is the entire
1:01:15
reason for his forgeries now one would be justified to assume
1:01:20
that rotha ii had appealed to rome according to the sardican cannons which allowed deposed clerics to appeal
1:01:27
to the pope who would then decide if said cleric deserved a re-trial and then kick it
1:01:32
back to a provincial synod in a province adjacent to the deposed bishops province but that is not the case in fact
1:01:40
during the proceedings pope nicholas reiterates four oft repeated themes in
1:01:46
pseudo-isadore the first is that at any point during a court case
1:01:52
the bishop on trial can appeal to rome the sardican cannons though make it clear the bishop must already be
1:01:58
deposed to do so second nicholas claims that calling a general counsel was a right only rome
1:02:05
has again this appears nowhere in the genuine canonical sources from the first
1:02:11
millennium as the calling of a general council was usually done by the emperor and in the case of nicea 2 by the
1:02:18
ecumenical patriarch of constantinople the third is that the deposition of
1:02:23
bishops was reserved for the pope again this is a new theme within
1:02:29
pseudo-izadore the fourth point pope nicholas repeats from pseudo-izadore
1:02:34
is that bishops can keep all of their property and their position until judgment is given by rome in the
1:02:40
sardican canons the bishop is indeed considered deposed and is no longer the bishop of their sea
1:02:46
but they cannot be replaced until either rome has decided to reject their appeal for retrial
1:02:52
or the re-trial twice finds them guilty of the original offense pope nicholas
1:02:58
never quotes sudo isidore directly but repeatedly alludes to the collection
1:03:04
quote they were those who have persisted in the catholic faith unto the last days of their lives whose
1:03:10
decreetals must always be preserved by the roman church and which the church has rightfully venerated in her archives and old
1:03:17
monuments without doubt nicholas is speaking of the decretals of martyr and professor
1:03:22
popes whose respect he demands in words bordering on a hymn papal decrees from the time of
1:03:28
persecution did not exist in the most widely distributed genuine chronological historical
1:03:34
collections either in the dionysio hadriana or in the hispana
1:03:39
the oldest decretal in either of these is the letter of pope cyrisius to the metropolitan hymerios of taragona
1:03:46
decrees by martyred popes and indeed tote tanta de cretalia statute were to be
1:03:53
found only in the decretal collection of pseudo-izadore end quote in fact midway through that
1:03:59
letter nicholas proclaimed the decretals of the bishop of rome must be received even when they are not
1:04:06
contained in the book of canons quote a question in its own right often posed
1:04:12
is whether pope nicholas himself knew the false decreedles or whether it was the papal librarian
1:04:17
anastasius who introduced the pope to pseudo-isadore as the scribe of the letters in question
1:04:22
or whether anastasius communicated his knowledge of the forgeries to nicholas a decision
1:04:28
in this matter is difficult and it does not contribute much as ernst perils
1:04:33
the editor of the letters of nicholas says the policy of pope nicholas and the writings issued under his name
1:04:40
when taken as a whole form a unity for our question which is the acceptance
1:04:45
of pseudo isidore in rome the significance of the pontificate of nicholas the first consists of the circumstances that the
1:04:52
false decreetals were probably brought to rome then it was essentially more significant that
1:04:57
nicholas's own concept of the church and the mission of the bishop of rome created assumptions that prepared the
1:05:03
way for many of the principles of pseudo-izadore the core of the ecclesiological
1:05:08
consciousness of nicholas the first was the responsibility of the roman bishop for the entire church
1:05:14
the pope is the apostolic sea and this is the ecclesia romana the summary of the universal church the
1:05:22
body is summarized in its head and must follow its direction to document this attitude and his decisions
1:05:28
nicholas did not need to resort to the forgeries but it was precisely due to their congruence with his concepts
1:05:35
that the pseudo-izadorian decretals entered rome not as a stranger but as a confirmation of many of the
1:05:41
papacy's own convictions end quote this lends credence to the idea that not only was nicholas
1:05:47
proposing something novel but that he was quite possibly aware the forgeries were indeed forgeries
1:05:53
but proceeded forward with them seeing that he could justify his own novel claims for jasper and furman the
1:05:59
first documented case of the decretals being known and used in rome was rethought the second's appeal to
1:06:04
pope nicholas in 863 a.d in 864 but as mentioned before
1:06:10
there is an even earlier example of it using identical standards and that is when pope nicholas attempted
1:06:16
to claim universal jurisdiction over episcopal depositions a concept found nowhere else except in
1:06:22
the pseudo-izadorian decretals during the dispute between saint ignatius and saint photius
1:06:28
in his book papal primacy from its origins to the present catholic priest and professor of church
1:06:35
history father klaus schatz writes quote it is certain that a decade or two later
1:06:41
pope nicholas the first knew the false decreedles and made use of them for example his conflict with patriarch
1:06:47
photius end quote in this particular instance we see nicholas write to emperor michael
1:06:53
demanding he send roman delegates to constantinople for the council there in 861
1:06:58
to review the case regarding the deposition of saint ignatius and installment of saint photius in fact
1:07:05
it was pope nicholas's lust for power that was a direct cause of the fodian schism when he
1:07:10
to the surprise and confusion of the eastern prelates disastrously insurgent himself into
1:07:15
constantinople's church politics throughout the history of the church many saints have exhibited
1:07:21
characteristics of hunger for power but ultimately used it for the good of the church such as saint constantine the great or
1:07:28
the emperor saint justinian but pope nicholas's lust for power had no benefit for the church
1:07:34
and perhaps for this reason he was deprived of canonization in the east pope hadrian makes even more allusions
1:07:41
to sudo isadore in a letter concerning a gathering in july 869 a.d in rome
1:07:47
regarding the marriage of king lothar ii two bishops who were deposed and then excommunicated
1:07:53
there are 38 citations to pseudo isidore cataloged that is 38 citations to
1:08:00
forgeries in just one papal letter keep in mind this acceptance and absorption of the
1:08:06
church's greatest forgeries is all going on before and during the fodian schism
1:08:12
when the pope was using pseudo-isidore to attempt to control the east quote it is probably that
1:08:19
hadrian ii in 868 a.d was the first pope to send a pseudo-isidorian work
1:08:25
as an instruction on canonical norms to prevent bishops and brittany from submitting themselves in the future to
1:08:31
secular courts rather than presenting such cases to the metropolitan or the pope he gave the capitul angel romney to
1:08:38
bishop akhtard of nant the accompanying letter to king solomon iii of brittany
1:08:44
was a clear indication of how the secular ruler was to conduct himself in the future end quote further evidence pope hadrian
1:08:51
ii was an enthusiastic user of pseudo-isidore came when quote one bishop had been
1:08:57
translated and another deposed both central pseudo-isadorian themes
1:09:02
the pope approved the transfer and cited a text of pope antaris that a change of bishops could take
1:09:08
place in response to pressing necessity and the desire of the congregation hadrian did not succeed in bringing the
1:09:14
deposition of the bishop under his jurisdiction and he had to accept the autonomy of the west frankish episcopate
1:09:20
end quote pope john viii who was bishop of rome during the pro-photian council
1:09:25
in 879 a.d which annulled the anti-photian synod of 869 was an enthusiastic user of the
1:09:32
decretals quote under pope john viii the pseudo-isadorian decretals
1:09:37
seem to be handled with a certain obviousness in this pope's letters are found some
1:09:42
citations of pseudo-isidore but something else is more important many of the legal concepts
1:09:48
that are formed or stressed in the false decreetals are clearly expressed by john the eighth hence the principle exception is played
1:09:55
upon in a trial the accused and the accuser should be present infamous persons should not be admitted
1:10:02
and the episcopal dignity should not suffer damage as sudo izadori had proclaimed the
1:10:08
equivalency and equal rank of the primate and the patriarch so too john viii proclaimed that
1:10:13
primatibus alius patriarcos novimus apillari this is an obvious reference to
1:10:20
pseudo-anclitus end quote as mentioned earlier pseudo isidore quickly became more popular
1:10:27
than even the collection created under dionysius exeggus and commissioned by pope hormistas
1:10:33
according to furman the reason for this was quote the very breadth of the pseudo-isadorian
1:10:38
decreedles was one reason for their success it is the most extensive collection of canon law arranged in a historical
1:10:45
chronological order end quote he adds to this later when writing quote the false to credel as well as the
1:10:51
capitularies of benedictus levita are presented as supplements to genuine works and they draw
1:10:57
extensively from common sources end quote in short the reasons why pseudo-izadori
1:11:04
became so popular had to do with the ease of use part 5 the gregorian reforms and beyond
The Gregorian Reforms and Beyond
1:11:13
after the tumultuous and morally bankrupt reign of pope benedict the ninth reformers within the roman curia began a
1:11:20
long journey towards ending corruption via vastly expanding papal power and jurisdiction
1:11:25
their main goals were the ending of simony clerical marriage and investiture that being the secular
1:11:31
authority handing to the bishop the symbols of their authority this movement typically known as the
1:11:37
gregorian reforms and named after pope gregory vii who reigned as pope from 1073
1:11:42
a.d to 1085 predated gregory vii in fact the first major
1:11:49
example of this was pope leo ix who upon taking office in 1049 immediately held a series of councils in
1:11:56
cologne aachen mainz saxony and reims in which clerical marriage and simony
1:12:02
were condemned when the patriarch of constantinople michael cerullarious
1:12:07
closed down latin churches in constantinople for using unleavened bread leo ix responded by sending a letter to
1:12:14
the byzantine emperor michael the first claiming cereal aryus had no right to do so
1:12:19
and bolstered his claim to his own universal reign by citing a gigantic section of text from the donation of
1:12:26
constantine even leo the ninth emissary cardinal humbert who placed the bowl of excommunication
1:12:33
onto the altar of the agiosophia during liturgy was himself an ardent supporter
1:12:38
of not just the reforms being pushed but the novel theology behind it this is clearly seen
1:12:45
in the work de sancta romana ecclesia by cardinal humbert father klaus schatz a catholic priest
1:12:53
and professor of church history in commenting on this work writes quote what is new here is not the set of
1:13:00
individual elements terms and associations but their ordering and the overall conception
1:13:06
their very concentration and complexity yields a new comprehensive picture in which the roman
1:13:12
church is no longer merely the center and bond of unity but the very source and origin of
1:13:18
all churches primacy has become the central point for understanding what the church is and at the same time the source of
1:13:25
the church's entire life end quote the next clear indication of the mounting reforms were in 1059 a.d
1:13:32
when pope nicholas ii after waging a war against his papal rival benedict the 10th
1:13:37
used the donation of constantine to give richard of aversa to kapua and robert guiscard with sicily appulia
1:13:44
and calabria and did so citing the donation of constantine nicholas ii's successor alexander ii
1:13:52
was another reforming pope and is most notorious for giving the papal blessing to william the conqueror
1:13:58
before his invasion of england in 1066 with william was sent a letter from the
1:14:03
pope to the english hierarchs ordering them to be obedient to the new norman rulers
1:14:08
immediately after the invasion pope alexander ii made his old teacher lon frank of beck
1:14:15
the new archbishop of canterbury it was lon frank of beck who in his role
1:14:20
as archbishop of canterbury introduced the pseudo-isadorian de creedels into england
1:14:25
there's no solid evidence of them in the british isles prior to lon frank taking up the primatial sea
1:14:31
in england with the death of alexander ii hildebrand of savannah was elected pope
1:14:37
in 1073 a.d and became known as gregory vii and it is to him that the appellative gregorian
1:14:44
reforms is typically attributed now gregory vii was not a newcomer to
1:14:50
the reform movement he had been closely associated with its members from his first years as a monk
1:14:55
in fact when leo ix was elected pope in his entourage that came to rum was
1:15:01
hildebrand hildebrand was also the head of the delegation to mainz that obtained
1:15:06
the election of pope victor ii while still the archbishop of milan and prior
1:15:11
to his election as pope alexander ii worked closely with both peter damien and hildebrand to end
1:15:17
simony and clerical marriage hildebrand despite being outside of rome on diplomatic work at the time of the
1:15:23
election was a key player in nicholas ii being named pope over and against his papal rival
1:15:29
benedict the ninth moreover when nicholas ii invested guisecard and aversa
1:15:35
with various territories in southern italy citing the donation of constantine hildebrand was present with him so
1:15:43
it should be stressed that hildebrand was very much an insider and very much involved with
1:15:49
several previous popes who were pushing the western church in a very specific direction
1:15:54
based largely on forgeries the difference between those previous popes and hildebrand
1:15:59
now gregory vii was how he packaged it and presented it father klaus schatz states quote
1:16:07
this is especially evident in gregory vii's conception of papal primacy an aggressive and compact expression of
1:16:14
his consciousness of his papal power appears in his didactus pape of 1075 a.d this document became a
1:16:21
virtually unrivaled symbol of a papacy whose claim to sovereign power caused it
1:16:26
practically speaking to appear as a replacement for christ in fact it inevitably produces this
1:16:33
impression on the reader the underlying tone of the entire document emerges in the statement
1:16:38
that the pope alone can do everything in the church without him nothing can be validly or
1:16:44
legally done there appear to be absolutely no limits to papal authority end quote
1:16:52
it should be noted that they came to this conclusion due to an imagined past forged
1:17:00
out of forgeries the increased usage of pseudo-izadore
1:17:05
usually via other canonical collections which in turn pass the forgeries onto other collections and so on
1:17:11
is evidence of this as noted earlier pseudo-izadore attempted to create an
1:17:17
imagined golden age in the past to which the contemporary church should aim for
1:17:22
the famous didactus pape of gregory vii a document broken into 27 titles 24 of
1:17:29
which focus on the papacy contains numerous borrowings and allusions to forgeries
1:17:34
titles 3 13 14 20 21 24 and
1:17:41
25 are direct borrowings or allusions to points in pseudo-isidore
1:17:46
while titles 8 9 11 12 22 26
1:17:53
and 27 are either directly or loosely from the donation of constantine the
1:17:59
same for titles 18 19 and 23 being from the samakian forgeries
1:18:05
in all at least 17 of the 27 titles are derived from forgeries so key were
1:18:12
forgeries for this that not only were the donation of constantine and pseudo-izadora used
1:18:17
but also pseudo-semakus you will recall that the statement quote the first c is judged by no one
1:18:25
end quote takes its root in the samakian forgeries that phrase shows up in the didactus
1:18:32
pape of gregory vii father klaus schatz notes quote
1:18:37
the peculiar statement about the holiness of the papal office by which the roman pontiff indubitably
1:18:43
becomes holy through the merits of blessed peter has been given widely differing interpretations
1:18:49
it first appears in the work of bishop enodius of pavia around 502 a.d in the context of the
1:18:55
controversies surrounding pope zamakas and the statement prima cedes anemone
1:19:01
you decatur anodius took simakis aside and declared that the pope could not be judged
1:19:06
because he had received peter's holiness along with his office end quote that along with material from
1:19:14
the donation of constantine was then fed into pseudo-isidore which in turn was fed into the major canonical
1:19:20
collections of the time we see this build up early on in the 890s with the collectio and zelmo
1:19:26
dedicata which has 1980 chapters and 507
1:19:31
are from pseudo-izadore in 1023 a.d we see the decree tomb of birchard of
1:19:36
worms which contains 1785 chapters and 141 are from pseudo-isidore
1:19:44
evo of shaatra who died in 1115 a.d wrote both the decretum and panormia and
1:19:50
of the 3 500 chapters 375 are from pseudo-isadore an immensely
1:19:58
important canonical collection during the gregorian reforms known as the sorum partum sentiente
1:20:05
has 315 titles and 124 were from pseudo-isadore the anonymous
1:20:12
but highly influential canonical collection known as the collection in 74 titles
1:20:17
compiled between 1050 a.d and 1075 is yet another the very first of the 74
1:20:24
chapters is dedicated to the supremacy of rome and provides 20 papal decretals concerning it but 8
1:20:31
of those 20 chapters are forgeries from the pseudo-isidore de credels the prolific canonist and nephew of pope
1:20:37
alexander ii anzelm the younger of lucca compiled the 12-volume work collect yo-kanan
1:20:44
between the years 1081 a.d and 1086 the first volume of which is completely
1:20:49
dedicated to roman supremacy but overall of the 1149 chapters in his
1:20:55
multi-volume work at least 264 chapters are taken directly
1:21:00
from pseudo-izadore likewise the collection of de ustedite has 1173 titles
1:21:07
and 143 are from pseudo-izadore because of this pope john the 19th and
1:21:14
benedict ix used pseudo-izadori specifically but were far outpaced by pope urban ii
1:21:20
who simply went crazy with them and it did not stop there either by the mid 12th century the topic
1:21:27
of canon law had become so dispersed and difficult to keep track of that a monastic jurist named gratian
1:21:33
organized the then current canons into what became known as the concordia discordantium canonum or
1:21:40
harmony of discordant canons due to the fact it attempted to harmonize contradictory
1:21:46
canons while providing commentary on them it is known more commonly as the
1:21:51
decretum it with five other texts is an integral part of the corpus
1:21:56
juris canonici and it too was infiltrated by forgeries
1:22:02
the decree tomb quotes popes who lived in the first four centuries 324 times and at least
1:22:09
313 of those quotations are from forged letters found in
1:22:15
pseudo-izadore nearly 97 of the quotations from popes
1:22:20
up until the year 400 a.d are completely made up the famous catholic priest and
1:22:26
professor of church history ignorance von dollinger in his work the pope and the council writes
1:22:32
quote the most potent instrument of the new papal system was gratian's decretum
1:22:37
which issued about the middle of the 12th century from the first school of law in europe the juristic teacher of the whole of
1:22:43
western christendom bologna in this work the isadorian forgeries were combined with those of the other
1:22:49
gregorian writers and with gratian's own additions his work displaced
1:22:55
all the older collections of canon law and became the manual and repertory not for canonists only but for the
1:23:01
scholastic theologians who for the most part derived all their knowledge of fathers and counsels
1:23:07
from it no book has ever come near in its influence in the church although there is scarcely another so
1:23:14
chock full of gross errors both intentional and unintentional end quote
Aquinas, Florence and Beyond
1:23:20
part 6 aquinas florence and beyond even thomas aquinas who has
1:23:27
praised for his studiousness fell victim to them in a work he composed in 1264 a.d
1:23:33
known as against the errors of the greeks aquinas used a floralegium of quotations
1:23:39
on the papacy composed by nicholas of cotrone and given to him by pope urban iv the
1:23:45
problem is almost all of the quotations are forgeries linked in the video description below
1:23:51
is an online copy of the work and sadly hardly any of the citations can be
1:23:56
traced back to legitimate sources roman catholic apologist james lacutus
1:24:01
though claims that for every one that was a forgery there are quote ten real ones end quote
1:24:07
that begs the question of where those ten real ones were when aquinas was attempting to prove the
1:24:13
papacy to the eastern orthodox why didn't he use those supposed real ones and why did he have to resort to
1:24:19
forgeries if it was already so clearly within the church fathers the reason is the crystal clear proofs
1:24:26
he needed were not available in legitimate quotations so he had to resort to fallacious sources
1:24:33
jean-pierre tyrell who wrote a multi-volume work entitled saint thomas aquinas the person and his
1:24:39
work writes that quote this floralegium interested thomas even though it was not critical enough
1:24:46
used doubtful attributions and amplified text with the personal glosses of the compiler
1:24:51
who bent the text in the direction of latin theology but owing to an ah priori confidence in
1:24:57
the greek father's teachings and matters of faith thomas abstained from contradicting them
1:25:02
and sought rather to detach the true doctrinal content from the sometimes doubtful assertions
1:25:08
the second part is unhappily compromised by its own priori confidence in the text
1:25:14
examining it more closely on four specific questions concerning the procession offilio
1:25:19
the primacy of the pope the eucharistic celebration with unleavened bread and purgatory thomas is clearly forced
1:25:26
to rely more on the texts that are closer to latin theology when in fact these are often only glosses foreign to
1:25:34
the fathers end quote marcus plusted the author of the book orthodox readings of aquinas
1:25:40
points out quote the contra errors grecorum is not as might appear from the title a
1:25:46
systematic treatise by thomas on the question it is rather thomas's expert opinion on
1:25:52
a rather poor collection of texts many of which are distorted or of dubious authenticity
1:25:58
produced by nicolas of catrone a native of what is now duras in albania nicholas a unionist
1:26:05
bishop produced the collection at the request of the emperor theodore lascaris
1:26:10
very likely he drew on earlier floralegia pope urban iv requested thomas's
1:26:16
judgment on the lybellas de fide sancte trinitatis about which he evidently harbored
1:26:22
suspicions it is much to be regretted that thomas did not exercise his customary care
1:26:27
for the accuracy of his sources in analyzing this tawdry work it may be that he took such a task to be
1:26:33
outside his brief end quote as a side note prior to giving that floralegium to aquinas
1:26:40
pope urban iv had used it when writing to byzantine emperor michael paleologus in an attempt to
1:26:46
convert him to catholicism but the influence of the forgeries did not end there
1:26:52
to cite ignorance von dollinger quote from the beginning of the 14th century
1:26:57
the spurious passages of saint cyril and forged canons of councils maintained their ground
1:27:02
being guaranteed against all suspicion by the authority of saint thomas but then the contest between the council
1:27:08
of basel and pope eugenius iv evoked the work of cardinal torkamata besides some others of less importance
1:27:16
torquamata's argument which was held up to the time of bellarmine to be the most conclusive apology of the papal system
1:27:23
rests entirely on fabrications later than the pseudo-izadore and chiefly on the spurious passages of
1:27:30
saint cyril the pope is infallible all authority of other bishops is borrowed or derived
1:27:37
from his decisions of councils without his ascent are null and void these fundamental principles of
1:27:44
torquemada are proved by spurious passages of anacletus clement the council of calcium saint
1:27:51
cyril and a mass of forged or adulterated testimonies in the times of leo the 10th and
1:27:57
plymouth iii the cardinals thomas avio or kajatan and jacobazi followed closely
1:28:03
in his footsteps melchior canoes built firmly on the authority of cyril attested by saint thomas and so did
1:28:10
bellarmine and the jesuits who followed him end quote forgeries again become key at the
1:28:16
council of florence where saint mark of ephesus often maligned for claiming the catholics were using forgeries
1:28:23
has ultimately been proven right catholic priest and head of saint cyril and methodius
1:28:28
byzantine catholic seminary father christian kappas writes quote
1:28:33
though there was no way to produce critical additions at the time the conflicts served to entrench mark in
1:28:39
his theological interpretation of the filioque and ultimately led to a general suspicion of all the latin patristic
1:28:46
authorities unavailable in greek in fact the second leading orator basarian
1:28:51
was only one over to the latin side through the citation of a spurious text attributed to the
1:28:57
authority of a fourth century pope end quote catholic apologists will often
1:29:02
times claim besserian's entire conversion to catholicism was due to a supposed unified witness of
1:29:08
church fathers east and west but father kappas a scholar is saying quite the opposite
1:29:14
he is pointing out it was a forgery that caused bisarian to give in to rome in the same paper father kappus also
1:29:21
points out that quote mark's suspicions of latin scholarship were also justified by
1:29:27
arguments of cardinal julian cesarini who claimed the addition of the filioque permissible
1:29:32
on the authority of an earlier pope alas it was this that proved to be the
1:29:38
turning point in the debate with the greeks the argument was made that because post-nicene popes added to
1:29:44
the creed this allowed for further innovations the greeks knew of no such text and were utterly
1:29:50
demoralized by supposed authenticity as it turned out the text was a fake end quote
1:29:58
what father kappus a catholic priest and scholar of church history in eastern christianity is saying
1:30:04
is it was forgeries that did it the merits of the catholic case were not defensible when based on legitimate
1:30:11
texts and so fallacious sources had to be resorted to the issue though is not simply the
1:30:17
removal of such texts and then everything goes back to normal but that catholic canon law and theology has been
1:30:23
built around the lens that these forgeries created in other words the catholic
1:30:29
church at least on a dogmatic level views legitimate sources through the lens
1:30:34
created by the illegitimate sources so simply removing the forgeries is not enough it would require a revamping of
1:30:41
their paradigm despite that one glaring forgery is still there in the catholic code of
1:30:47
canon law and is taken directly from the samakian forgeries quote the first c is judged by no one end
1:30:55
quote one must ask if this were truly found in legitimate canonical sources
1:31:02
why would they need to resort to the quotation of a known forgery
1:31:08
this concludes the second half of forged by forgeries the road to the great schism we here at
1:31:15
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