{"collection":"philosophy-ethics","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/wikisource_The_Mediaeval_Mind_Chapter_21/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/wikisource_The_Mediaeval_Mind_Chapter_21","id":"wikisource_The_Mediaeval_Mind_Chapter_21","license":"Public Domain / CC-BY-SA (see source)","rights_basis":"wikisource_site_inclusion_policy","source":"wikisource","source_url":"https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Mediaeval_Mind/Chapter_21","summary":null,"tags":["Headers_applying_DefaultSort_key","Subpages"],"text":"CHAPTER XXI\n\nTHE WORLD OF SALIMBENE\n\nAt the close of this long survey of the saintly ideals and actualities of the Middle Ages, it will be illuminating to look abroad over mediaeval life through the half mystic but most observant eyes of a certain Italian Franciscan. The Middle Ages were not characterized by the open eye. Mediaeval Chronicles and Vitae rarely afford a broad and variegated picture of the world. As they were so largely the work of monks, obviously they would set forth only what would strike the monastic eye, an eye often intense with its inner vision, but not wide open to the occurrences of life. The monk was not a good observer, commonly from lack of sympathy and understanding. Of course there were exceptions; one of them was the Franciscan Salimbene, an undeniable if not too loving son of an alert north Italian city, Parma.\n\nHumanism springs from cities; and it began in Italy long before Petrarch. North of the Alps there was nothing like the city life of Italy, so quick and voluble, so unreticent and unrestrained, open and neighbourly\u2014neighbours hate as well as love! From Cicero's time, from Numa's if one will, Italian life was what it never ceased to be, urban. The city was the centre and the bound of human intercourse, almost of human sympathy. This was always true; as true in those devastated seventh, eighth, and ninth centuries as before or after; certainly true of the tenth and eleventh centuries when the Lombards and other Teuton children of the waste and forest had become good urban Italians. It was still more abundantly true of the following centuries when life was burgeoning with power. Whatever other cause or source of parentage it had, humanism was a city child. And as city life never ceased in Italy, that land had no unhumanistic period. There humanism always existed, whether we take it in the narrower sense of love of humanistic, that is, antique literature, or take it broadly as in the words of old Menander-Terence: \"homo sum, humani nil a me alienum.\"\n\nNow turn to the close of the twelfth century, and look at Francis of Assisi. It is his humanism and his naturalism, his interest in men and women, and in bird and beast as well, that fills this sweet lover of Christ with tender sympathy for them all. Through him human interest and love of man drew monasticism from its cloister, and sent it forth upon an unhampered ministry of love. Francis (God bless him!) had not been Francis, had he not been Francis of Assisi.\n\nA certain gifted well-born city child was five years old when Francis died. It was to be his lot to paint for posterity a picture of his world such as no man had painted before; and in all his work no line suggests so many reasons for the differences between Italy and the lands north of the Alps, and also so many why Salimbene happened to be what he was, as this remark, relating to his French tour: \"In France only the townspeople dwell in the towns; the knights and noble ladies stay in their villas and on their own domains.\"\n\nOnly the townspeople live in the towns, merchants, craftsmen, artisans\u2014the unleavened bourgeoisie! In Lombardy how different! There knights and nobles, and their lovely ladies, have their strong dwellings in the towns; jostle with the townspeople, converse with them, intermarry sometimes, lord it over them when they can, hate them, murder them. But there they are, and what variety and colour and picturesqueness and illumination do they not add to city life? If a Lombardy town thronged with merchants and craftsmen, it was also gay and voluptuous with knights and ladies. How rich and fascinating its life compared with the grey towns beyond the Alps. In France the townspeople made an audience for the Fabliaux! The Italian town had also its courtly audience of knight and dame for the love lyrics of the troubadour, and for the romances of chivalry. In fact, the whole world was there, and not just workaday,\nsorry, parts of it.\n\nHad it not been for the full and varied city life in which\nhe was born and bred, the quick-eyed youth would not have\nhad that fund of human interest and intuition which makes\nhim so pleasant and so different from any one north of the\nAlps in the thirteenth century. A city boy indeed, and\nwhat a full personality! He was to be a man of human\ncuriosity, a tireless sight-seer. His interest is universal; his\nhuman love quick enough\u2014for those he loved; for he was\nno saint, although a Minorite. His detestation is vivid,\nilluminating; it brings the hated man before us. And\nSalimbene's wide-open eyes are his own. He sees with a\nfresh vision; he is himself; a man of temperament, which\nlends its colours to the panorama. His own interest or\ncuriosity is paramount with him; so his narrative will na\u00efvely\nfollow his sweet will and whim, and pass from topic to topic\nin chase of the suggestions of his thoughts.\n\nThe result is for us a unique treasure-trove. The story\npresents the world and something more; two worlds, if you\nwill, very co-related: macrocosmos and microcosmos, the world\nwithout and the very eager ego, Salimbene. There he is\nunfailingly, the writer in his world. Scarcely another\nmediaeval penman so na\u00efvely shows the world he moves\nabout in and himself. Let us follow, for a little, his autobiographic chronicle, taking the liberty which he always took,\nof selecting as we choose.\n\nIn the year 1221 Salimbene was born at Parma, into\nthe very centre of the world of strife between popes and emperors\u2014a world wherein also the renewed Gospel was\nbeing preached by Francis of Assisi, who did not die till five\nyears later. But St. Dominic died the year of Salimbene's\nbirth. Innocent III., most powerful of popes, had breathed\nhis last five years before, leaving surviving him that viper-nursling of the papacy, Frederick II., an able, much-experienced youth of twenty-two. Frederick was afterwards\ncrowned emperor by Honorius III., and soon showed\nhimself the most resourceful of his Hohenstaufen line of arch-enemies to the papacy. This Emperor Frederick, whom\nInnocent III., says Salimbene, had exalted and named \"Son\nof the Church\" \u2026 \"was a man pestiferous and accursed, a\nschismatic, heretic, and epicurean, who corrupted the whole\nearth.\"\n\nSalimbene's family was in high regard at Parma, and\nthe boy naturally saw and perhaps met the interesting\nstrangers coming to the town. He tells us that when he\nwas baptized the lord Balianus of Sydon, a great baron of\nFrance, a retainer of the Emperor Frederick's, \"lifted me\nfrom the sacred font.\" The mother was a pious dame, whom\nSalimbene loved none too well, because once she snatched up\nhis infant sisters to flee from the danger of the Baptistery\ntoppling over upon their house during an earthquake, and\nleft Salimbene himself lying in his cradle! The father had\nbeen a crusader, and was a man of wealth and influence.\n\nSo the youth was born into a stirring swirl of life.\nThese vigorous northern Italian cities hated each other\nshrewdly in the thirteenth century. When the boy was\neight years old a great fight took place between the folk\nof Parma, Modena, and Cremona on the one side, and that\nbig blustering Bologna. Hot was the battle. On the\nCarrocio of Parma only one man remained; for it was\nstripped of its defenders by the stones from those novel\nwar-engines of the Bolognese, called manganellae. Nevertheless\nthe three towns won the battle, and the Bolognese turned\ntheir backs and abandoned their own Carrocio. The\nCremona people wanted to drag it within their walls; but\nthe prudent Parma leaders prevented it, because such action\nwould have been an insult forever, and a lasting cause of war with a strong enemy. But Salimbene saw the captured\nmanganellae brought as trophies into his city.\n\nOther scenes of more peaceful rejoicing came before his\neyes; as in the year 1233, he being twelve years old.\nThat was a year of alleluia, as it was afterwards called,\n\n\"to wit a time of peace and quiet, of joy, jollity and merry-making, of praise and jubilee; because wars were over. Horse and foot, townsfolk and rustics, youths and virgins, old and young, sang\nsongs and hymns. There was such devotion in all the cities of\nItaly. And I saw that each quarter of the city would have its\nbanner in the procession, a banner on which was painted the figure\nof its martyr-saint. And men and women, boys and girls, thronged\nfrom the villages to the city with their flags, to hear the preaching, and praise God. They had branches of trees and lighted candles. There was preaching morning, noon, and evening, and stationes arranged in churches and squares; and they lifted their hands to God to praise and bless Him forever. Nor could they cease, so drunk were they with love divine. There was no wrath among them, or disquiet or rancour. Everything was peaceful and benign; I saw it with my eyes.\"\n\nAnd then Salimbene tells of all the famous preachers, and\nthe lovely hymns, and Ave Marias; Frater So-and-so, from\nBologna; Frater So-and-so from somewhere else; Minorite\nand Preaching friar.\n\nOne might almost fancy himself in the Florence of\nSavonarola. Like enough this season of soul outpour and\ntears and songs of joy first stirred the religious temper of\nthis quickly moved youth. These were also the great days\nof dawning for the Friars. Dominic was not yet sainted;\nyet his Order of the Preaching Friars was growing. The\nblessed Francis had been canonized; sainted had he been\nindeed before his death! And the world was turning to\nthese novel, open, sympathetic brethren who were pouring\nthemselves through Europe. Love's mendicancy, envied but\nnot yet discredited, was before men's eyes and in men's\nthoughts; and what opportunity it offered of helping people,\nof saving one's own soul, and of seeing the world! We can\nguess how Salimbene's temper was drawn by it. We know\nat least that one of these friars, Brother Girard of Modena,\nwho preached at this jubilee in Parma, was the man who made petition five years later for Salimbene, so that the\nMinister-General of the Minorites, Brother Elias, being then\nat Parma, received the seventeen-year-old boy into the\nOrder, in the year 1238.\n\nSalimbene's father was frantic at the loss of his heir.\nNever while he lived did he cease to lament it. He at once\nbegan strenuous appeals to have his son returned to him.\nSalimbene's account of this, exhibits himself, his father, and\nthe situation.\n\n\"He complained to the emperor (Frederick II.), who had come\nto Parma, that the brothers Minorites had taken his son from him.\nThe emperor wrote to Brother Elias that if he held his favour dear,\nhe should listen to him and return me to my father. Then my\nfather went to Assisi, where Brother Elias was, and placed in his\nhands the emperor's letter, which began: 'In order to mitigate the\nsighs of our faithful Guido de Adam,' and so forth. Brother\nIlluminatus, Brother Elias's scribe, showed me this letter long\nafterwards, when I was with him in the convent at Siena.\n\n\"When the imperial letter had been read, Brother Elias wrote\nat once to the brethren of the convent at Fano, where I dwelt, that\nif I wished it, they should return me to my father without delay;\nbut that if I did not wish to go with my father, they should guard\nand keep me as the pupil of his eye.\n\n\"A number of knights came with my father to Fano, to see the\nend of my affair. There was I and my salvation made the centre\nof the spectacle. The brethren were assembled, with them of the\nworld; and there was much talk. My father produced the letter of\nthe minister-general, and showed it to the brothers. When it was\nread, Brother Jeremiah, who was in charge of me, answered my\nfather in the hearing of all: 'Lord Guido, we sympathize with your\ndistress, and are prepared to obey the letter of our father. Behold,\nhere is your son; he is old enough; let him speak for himself.\nAsk him; if he wishes to go with you, let him in God's name; if\nnot, we cannot force him.'\n\n\"My father asked me whether I wished to go with him or not.\nI replied, No; because the Lord says, 'No one putting his hand to\nthe plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God.'\n\n\"And father said to me: 'Thou carest not for thy father and\nmother, who are afflicted with many griefs for thee.'\n\n\"I replied: 'Truly I do not care, because the Lord says, Who\nloveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. But of\nthee He also says: Who loveth son or daughter more than me is\nnot worthy of me. Thou oughtest to care, father, for Him who\nhung on the cross for us, that He might give us eternal life. For it is himself who says: I am come to set a man against his father,\nand the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law\nagainst her mother-in-law. And a man's foes are they of his\nhousehold.'\n\n\"The brethren wondered and rejoiced that I said such things\nto my father. And then my father said: 'You have bewitched and\ndeceived my son, so that he will not mind me. I will complain\nagain of you to the emperor and to the minister-general. Now let\nme speak with my son apart from you; and you will see him follow\nme without delay.'\n\n\"So the brothers allowed me to talk with him alone; for they\nbegan to have a little confidence in me, because of my words. Yet\nthey listened behind the wall to what we should say. For they\ntrembled as a reed in water, lest my father should alter my mind\nwith his blandishments. And not for me alone they feared, but\nlest my return should hinder others from entering the Order.\n\n\"Then my father said to me: 'Dear son, don't believe those\nnasty tunics who have deceived you; but come with me, and I\nwill give you all I have.'\n\n\"And I replied: 'Go away, father. As the Wise Man says in\nProverbs, Thou shall not hinder him to do right, who is able.'\n\n\"And my father answered with tears, and said to me: \u2019What\nthen, son, shall I say to thy mother, who is afflicted because of\nthee?'\n\n\"And I say to him: 'Thou shalt tell her from me; thus says\nthy son: My father and mother have forsaken me, and the Lord\nhath taken me up; also (Jer. iii.): Thou shalt call me Father, and\nwalk after me in my steps.\u2026 It is good for a man when he has\nborne the yoke from his youth.'\n\n\"Hearing all these things my father, despairing of my coming\nout, threw himself down in the presence of the brethren and the\nsecular folk who had come with him, and said: 'I give thee to a\nthousand devils, cursed son, thee and thy brother here who has\ndeceived thee. My curse be on you forever, and may it commend\nyou to the spirits of hell.' And he went away excited beyond\nmeasure; while we remained greatly comforted and giving thanks\nto our God, and saying to each other, 'They shall curse, and thou\nshalt bless.' Likewise the seculars retired edified at my constancy.\nThe brethren also rejoiced seeing what the Lord had wrought\nthrough me, His little boy.\"\n\nThis whole scene presents such a conflict as the\nthirteenth century witnessed daily, and the twelfth, and\nother mediaeval centuries as well. The letters of St. Bernard set forth situations quite as extreme or outrageous,\nfrom modern points of view. And Bernard can apply (or\nshall we say, distort?) Scripture in the same drastic fashion.\nBut these monks meant it deeply; and from their\nstandpoint they were in the right with their quotations. The\nattitude goes back to Jerome; that a man's father and\nmother, and they of his own household, may be his worst\nenemies, if they seek to hinder his feet set toward God.\nOf course we can see the sensible, worldly, martial father\nof the youth leap in the air and roll on the ground in rage;\nflesh and blood could not stand such turn of Scripture:\nTell my weeping mother (who so longs for me) that I say my father and mother have forsaken me, and the Lord hath taken me up! This came to the Lord Guido as a maddening gibe; but Salimbene meant simply that his parents did\nnot care for his highest welfare, and the Lord had received\nhim into the path of salvation. It is all a scene, which\nshould evoke our serious reflections\u2014after which it may be\npermitted us to enjoy it as we will.\n\nIn his conscience Salimbene felt justified; for a dream set the seal of divine approval on his conduct.\n\n\"The Blessed Virgin rewarded me that very night. For it seemed to me that I was lying prostrate in prayer before her altar,\nas the brothers are wont when they rise for matins. And I heard\nthe voice of the Blessed Virgin calling me. Lifting my face, I saw\nher sitting above the altar in that place where is set the host and\nthe calix. She had her little boy in her lap, and she held him out\nto me, saying: 'Approach without fear and kiss my son, whom\nyesterday thou didst confess before men.' And when I was afraid,\nI saw that the little boy gladly stretched out his arms. Trusting\nhis innocence and the graciousness of his mother, I drew near,\nembraced and kissed him; and the benign mother gave him to me\nfor a long while. And when I could not have enough of it, the\nBlessed Virgin blessed me and said: 'Go, beloved son, and lie\ndown, lest the brothers rising from matins find thee here with us.'\nI obeyed, and the vision disappeared; but unspeakable sweetness\nremained in my heart. Never in the world have I had such\nbliss.\"\n\nFrom this we see that Salimbene had sufficient mystic\nardour to keep him a happy Franciscan. It made the\notherworldly part of one who also was a merry gossip among his fellows. An inner power of spiritual enthusiasm and fantasy\naccompanied him through his life, giving him a double point\nof view: he looks at things as they are, with curiosity and\ninterest, and ever and anon loses himself in transcendental\ndreams of Paradise and all at last made perfect.\n\nAlthough the father had devoted his son to a thousand\ndevils, he did not cease from attempts, by persuasion and\neven violence, to draw him back into his own civic and\nmartial world. So the young man got permission from the\nminister-general to go and live in Tuscany, where he might\nbe beyond the reach of parental activities. \"Thereupon I\nwent and lived in Tuscany for eight years, two of them at\nLucca, two at Siena, and four at Pisa.\" He gained great\ncomfort from converse and gossip of an edifying kind, as he\nfell in with those loving enthusiasts who had received their\ncloaks from the hand of the blessed Francis himself. At\nSiena he saw much of Brother Bernard of Quintavalle who\nhad been the very first to receive the dress of the Order from\nthe hand of its founder. Salimbene gladly listened to his\nrecollections of Francis, who in this venerable disciple's words\nmight seem once more to walk the earth.\n\nYet Salimbene, still young in heart and years, could\nreadily take up with the companionship of the ne'er-do-well\nvagabonds who frequently attached themselves, as lay brothers,\nto the Franciscan Order. He tells of a day's outing with\none of whose character he is outspoken but without personal\nrepugnance:\n\n\"I was a young man when I dwelt at Pisa. One day I went out begging with a certain lay brother, a good-for-nothing. He was a Pisan, and the same who afterwards went and lived with the brothers at Fixulus, where they had to drag him out of a well which he had jumped into from some foolishness or desperation. Then he disappeared, and could not be found. The brothers thought the devil had carried him off. However that may have been, this day at Pisa he and I went with our baskets to beg bread, and chanced to enter a courtyard. Above, all about, hung a thick, leafy vine, its freshness lovely to see and its shade sweet for resting in. There were leopards there and other beasts from over the sea, at which we gazed long, transfixed with delight, as one will at the sight of the novel and beautiful. Girls were there also and boys at\ntheir sweetest age, handsome and lovely, and ten times as alluring\nfor their beautiful clothes. The boys and girls held violas and\ncytharas and other musical instruments in their hands, on which\nthey made sweet melodies, accompanied with gestures. There was\nno hub-bub, nor did any one talk; but all listened in silence. And\nthe song which they chanted was so new and lovely in words\nand melody as to gladden the heart exceedingly. None spoke to\nus v nor did we say a word to any one. They did not stop singing\nand playing so long as we were there\u2014and long indeed we lingered\nand could scarcely take ourselves away. God knows, I do not, who\nset this joyful entertainment; for we had never seen anything like\nit before nor could we ever find its like again.\"\n\nFrom the witchery of this cloud-dropped entertainment\nSalimbene was rudely roused as he went out upon the public\nway.\n\n\"A man met me, whom I did not know, and said he was from\nParma. He seized upon me, and began to chide and revile:\n'Away scamp, away,' he cried. 'A crowd of servants in your\nfather's house have bread enough and meat; and you go from\ndoor to door begging bread from those without it, when you have\nenough to give to any number of beggars! You ought to be riding\non a war-horse through Parma, and delighting people with your skill\nwith the lance, so that there might be a sight for the ladies, and\ncomfort for the players. Now your father is worn with grief and\nyour mother from love of you, so she despairs of God.'\"\n\nSalimbene fended off this attack of carnal wisdom with\nmany texts of Scripture. Yet the other's words set him to\nthinking that perhaps it would be hard to lead a beggar's life\nyear after year until old age. And he lay awake that night,\nuntil God comforted him as before with a reassuring dream.\n\nPretty dreamer as he was, Salimbene can often tell a\nribald tale. There was rivalry, as may be imagined, between\nthe Dominicans (solemnes praedicatores) and the Minorites.\nThe former seem occasionally to have concerted together so\nas to have knowledge of what their friends in other places\nwere about. Then, when preaching, they would exhibit\nmarvels of second sight, which on investigation proved true!\nA certain Brother John of Vicenza was a Dominican famed\nfor preaching and miracles perhaps, and with such overtopping\nsense of himself that he went at least a little mad. Bologna\nwas his tarrying-place. There a certain Florentine grammarian, Boncompagnus, tired of the foolery, made gibing\nrhymes about him and his admirers, and said he would do a\nmiracle himself, and at a certain hour would fly with wings\nfrom the pinnacle of Sta. Maria in Monte. All came together\nat that hour to see. There he stood aloft, with his wings,\nready, and the folk expectant, for a long time\u2014and then he\nbade them disperse with God's blessing, for it was enough\nfor them to have seen him. They then knew that they had\nbeen fooled!\n\nNone the less the dementia of Brother John increased, so\nthat one day at the Dominican convent in Bologna he fell\nin a rage because when his beard was cut the brothers did\nnot preserve the hairs as relics. There came along a\nMinorite, Brother God-save-you, a Florentine like\nBoncompagnus, and like him a great buffoon and joker. To this\nconvent he came, but refused all invitation to stay and eat\nunless a piece of the cloak of Brother John were given him,\nwhich was kept to hold relics. So they gave him a piece of\nthe cloak, and after dinner he went off and befouled it, folded\nit up, and called for all to come and see the precious relics\nof the sainted John, which he had lost in the latrina. So\nthey flocked to see, and were somewhat more than satisfied.\n\nNo need to say that this Salimbene had a quick eye for\nbeauty in both men and women; he is always speaking of\nso-and-so as a handsome man, and such and such a lady as\n\"pulcherrima domina,\" of pleasing ways and moderate\nstature, neither too tall nor too short. But one may win a\nmore amusing side-light on the \"eternal womanly\" in his\nChronicle, from the following: \"Like other popes, Nicholas\nIII. made cardinals of many of his relatives. He made a\ncardinal of one, Lord Latinus, of the Order of Preachers\n(which we note with a smile, and expect something funny).\nHe appointed him legate to Lombardy and Tuscany and\nRomagnola.\" Note the enactments of this cardinal-legate:\n\n\"He disturbed all the women with a 'Constitution' which he promulgated, to wit, that the women should wear short dresses reaching to the ground, and only so much more as a palm's breadth.\nFormerly they wore trains, sweeping the earth for several feet (per brachium et dimidium). A rhymer dubs them:\n\n'Et drappi longhi, ke la polver menna.'\n\n('The long cloaks that gather up the dust.')\n\n\"And he had this to be proclaimed in the churches, and\nimposed it on the women by command; and ordered that no\npriest should absolve them unless they complied. The which was\nbitterer to the women than any kind of death\u00a0! For as a woman\nsaid to me familiarly, that train was dearer to her than all the other clothes she wore. And further, Cardinal Latinus decreed that all women, girls and young ladies, matrons and widows, should wear\nveils. Which was again a horror for them. But they found a remedy for that tribulation, as they could not for their trains. For they made veils of linen and silk inwoven with gold, with which they looked ten times as well, and drew the eyes of men to lust all the more.\"\n\nThus did the cardinal-legate, the Pope's relative. And\nplenty of gossip has Salimbene to tell of such creatures of\nnepotism. \"Flesh and blood had revealed\" to the Pope\nthat he should make cardinals of them; says he with a sort\nof giant sneer; \"for he built up Zion in sanguinibus,\" that is,\nthrough his blood-relatives!\" There are a thousand brothers\nMinorites, more fit, on the score of knowledge and holiness,\nto be cardinals than they.\" Had not another pope, Urban\nIV., made chief among the cardinals a relation whose only\nuse as a student had been to fetch the other students' meat\nfrom market?\n\nIt was a few years after this that Salimbene returned to\nhis native town of Parma, near the time when that city\npassed from the side of the Emperor to that of the Pope.\nThis was a fatal defection for Frederick, which he set about to\nrepair, by laying siege to the turn-coat city. And the war\nwent on with great devastation, and the wolves and other\nwild beasts increased and grew bold. Salimbene throws\nEccelino da Romano on the scene, that regent of the emperor,\nand monster of cruelty, \"who was feared more than the\ndevil,\" and had once burned to death \"eleven thousand\nPaduans in Verona. The building holding them was set on\nfire; and while they burned, Eccelino and his knights held\na tournament about them (circa eos).\u2026 I verily believe that as the Son of God desired to have one special friend,\nwhom He made like to himself, to wit the blessed Francis,\nso the devil fashioned Eccelino in his likeness.\"\n\nSalimbene tells of the siege of Parma at much length,\nand of the final defeat of the emperor, with the destruction\nof the stronghold which he had built to menace the city, and\nof all his curious treasures, with the imperial crown itself\ntaken by the men of Parma and their allies. But before\nthis, while the turmoil of the siege was at its height, in 1247,\nhe received orders to leave Parma and set out for Lyons,\nwhere Innocent IV. at that time held his papal court, having\nfled from Italy, from the emperor, three years before.\nSetting out, he reached Lyons on All Saints Day.\n\n\"At once the Pope sent for me, and talked with me familiarly\nin his chamber. For since my leaving Parma he had received\nneither messenger nor letters. And he thanked me warmly and\nlistened to my prayers, for he was a courtly and liberal man; \u2026\nand he absolved me from my sins and appointed me preacher!\"\n\nOur autobiographic chronicler was at this time twenty-six\nyears old; his personality bespoke a kind reception\neverywhere. He soon left Lyons, and went on through the\ntowns of Champagne to Troyes, where he found plenty of\nmerchants from Lombardy and Tuscany, for there were\nmarkets there, lasting two months. So was it also in\nProvins, the next halting-place; from which Salimbene went\non to Paris. There he stayed eight days and saw much\nwhich pleased him; and then, going back upon his tracks,\nhe took up his journey to Sens, where he dwelt in the\nFranciscan convent, \"and the French brethren entertained\nme gladly, because I was a friendly, cheerful youth, and\nspoke them fair.\" From Sens he went south to Auxerre,\nthe place which had been named as his destination when he\nleft Parma. It was in the year 1248, and as he writes\n(how many years after?) there comes back to him the\nmemory of the grand wines of Auxerre:\n\n\"I remember when at Cremona (in 1245) Brother Gabriel of that place, a Minorite, a great teacher and a man of holy life, told me that Auxerre had more vines and wine than Cremona and Parma and Reggio and Modena together. I wouldn't believe him.\nBut when I came to live at Auxerre, I saw that he spoke the truth.\nIt is a large district, or bishopric, and the mountains, hills, and\nplains are covered with vines. There they neither sow nor reap\nnor gather into barns; but they send their wine by river to\nParis, where they sell it nobly; and live and clothe themselves\nfrom the proceeds. Three times I went all about the district with\none or another of the brothers: once with one who was preaching\nand affixing crosses for the Crusade of the French king (St. Louis);\nthen with another who preached to the Cistercians in a most\nbeautiful monastery; and the third time we spent Easter with a\ncountess, who set before the whole company twelve courses of food,\nall different. And had the count been at home, there would have\nbeen a still greater abundance and variety. Now in four parts of\nFrance they drink beer, and in four, wine. And the three lands\nwhere the wine is most abundant are La Rochelle, Beaune, and\nAuxerre. In Auxerre the red wine is least regarded and is not as\ngood as the Italian. But Auxerre has its white or golden wines,\nwhich are fragrant and comforting and good, and make every one\ndrinking them feel happy. Some of the Auxerre wine is so strong\nthat when put in a jug, drops appear on the outside (lacrymantur exterius). The French laugh and say that three b's and seven f's\ngo with the best wine:\n\n'Le vin bon et bel et blanc,\n\nFort et fer et fin et franc,\n\nFreit et fres et fourmijant.'\n\n\"The French delight in good wine\u2014no wonder! since it\n'gladdens God and men.' Both French and English are very\ndiligent with their drinking-cups. Indeed the French have blear\neyes from drinking overmuch; and in the morning after a bout,\nthey go to the priest who has celebrated mass and ask him to drop a\nlittle of the water in which he has washed his hands into their eyes.\nBut Brother Bartholomew at Provins has a way of saying it would\nbe better for them if they would put their water in their wine\ninstead of in their eyes. As for the English, they take a measure\nof wine, drink it out, and say: 'I have drunk; now you'\u2014meaning\nthat you should drink as much. And this is their idea of politeness;\nand any one will take it very ill if the other does not follow his\nprecept and example.\"\n\nWhile Salimbene was living at Auxerre, in the year\n1248, a provincial Chapter of the Franciscan Order was held\nat Sens, with the Minister-General, John of Parma, presiding.\nThither went Salimbene.\n\n\"The King of France, St. Louis, was expected. And the\nbrothers all went out from the house to receive him. And Brother\nRigaud, of the Order, Archbishop of Rouen, having put on his\npontifical trappings, left the house and hurried toward the king,\nasking all the time, 'Where is the king? where is the king?'\nAnd I followed him; for he went alone and frantically, his mitre on\nhis head and pastoral staff in hand. He had been tardy in dressing\nhimself, so that the other brothers had gone ahead, and now lined\nthe street, with faces turned from the town, straining to see the\nking coming. And I wondered, saying to myself, that I had read\nthat these Senonian Gauls once, under Brennus, captured Rome;\nnow their women seemed a lot of servant girls. If the King of\nFrance had made a progress through Pisa or Bologna, the whole\n\u00e9lite of the ladies of the city would have met him. Then I\nremembered the Gallic way, for the mere townsfolk to dwell in the\ntowns, while the knights and noble ladies live in their castles and\npossessions.\n\n\"The king was slender and graceful, rather lean, of fair height,\nwith an angelic look and gracious face. And he came to the\nchurch of the brothers Minorites not in regal pomp, but on foot in\nthe habit of a pilgrim, with wallet and staff, which well adorned his\nroyal shoulder. His own brothers, who were counts, followed in\nlike humility and garb. Nor did the king care as much for the\nsociety of nobles as for the prayers and suffrages of the poor.\nIndeed he was one to be held a monarch, both on the score of\ndevotion and for his knightly deeds of arms.\n\n\"Thus he entered the church of the brethren, with most devout\ngenuflections, and prayed before the altar. And when he left the\nchurch and paused at the threshold, I was next to him. And\nthere, on behalf of the church at Sens, the warden presented him\nwith a huge live pike swimming in water in a tub made of firwood,\nsuch as they bathe babies in. The pike is dear and highly prized\nin France. The king returned thanks to the sender as well as to\nthe presenter of the gift. Then he requested audibly that no one,\nunless he were a knight, should enter the Chapter House, except the\nbrethren, with whom he wished to speak. When we were met in\nChapter, the king began to speak of his actions and, devoutly\nkneeling, begged the prayers and suffrages of the brethren for himself, his brothers, his lady mother the queen, and all his companions.\nAnd certain French brothers, next to me, from devotion and piety\nwept as if unconsolable. After the king, Lord Oddo, a Roman\ncardinal, who once was chancellor at Paris, and now was to cross\nthe sea with the king, arose and said a few words. Then on behalf of the Order, John of Parma, the Minister-General, spoke fittingly, promising the prayers of the brethren, and ordaining\nmasses for the king; which, thereupon, at the king's request he\nconfirmed by a letter under his seal.\n\n\"Afterwards, on that day, the king distributed alms and dined\nwith the brethren in the refectory. There were at table his three\nbrothers, a cardinal of the Roman curia, the minister-general,\nand Brother Rigaud, Archbishop of Rouen, and many brethren.\nThe minister-general, knowing what a noble company was with the\nking, had no mind to thrust himself forward, although he was asked\nto sit next the king. So to set an example of courtliness and\nhumility, he sat among the lowest. On that day first we had\ncherries and then the very whitest bread; there was wine in\nabundance and of the best, as befitted the regal magnificence.\nAnd after the Gallic custom many reluctant ones were invited and\nforced to drink. After that we had fresh beans cooked in milk,\nfish and crabs, eel-pies, rice with milk of almonds and powdered\ncinnamon, broiled eels with excellent sauce; and plenty of cakes\nand herbs, and fruit. Everything was well served, and the service\nat table excellent.\n\n\"The following day the king resumed his journey, and I\nfollowed him, as the Chapter was over; for I had permission to go\nand stay in Provincia. It was easy for me to find him, as he\nfrequently turned aside to go to the hermitages of the brothers\nMinorites or some other religious Order, to gain their prayers. And\nhe kept this up continually until he reached the sea and took ship\nfor the Holy Land.\n\n\"I remember that one day I went to a noble castle in Burgundy,\nwhere the body of the Magdalene was then believed to be. The\nnext day was Sunday; and early in the morning came the king to\nask the suffrages of the brethren. He dismissed his retinue in the\ncastle, from which the house of the brothers was but a little way.\nThe king took his own three brothers, as was his wont, and some\nservants to take care of the horses. And when genuflections and\nreverences were duly made, the brothers sought benches to sit on.\nBut the king sat on the earth in the dust, as I saw with my eyes.\nFor that church had no pavement. And he called us, saying:\n'Come to me, my sweetest brothers, and hear my words.' And we\nmade a circle about him, sitting with him on the earth; and his\nown brothers likewise. And he asked our prayers, as I have been\nsaying. And when promise had been given him, he rose and went\nhis way.\"\n\nIs not this a picture of St. Louis, pilgrimaging from\nconvent to convent, to make sure of the divine aid, and\ntrusting, so far as concerned the business of the Holy Land, quite as much in the prayers of monks as in the deeds of\nknights? We have hardly such a vivid sight of him in\nJoinville or Geoffrey of Beaulieu.\n\nAfter this scene, the king proceeded on his way, to\nmake ready for his voyage, and Salimbene went to Lyons,\nthen down the Rhone to Aries, then around by sea to\nMarseilles, and thence to Areae, the present Hy\u00e8res, which\nlies near the coast. Here to his joy he met with Brother\nHugo of Montpellier whom he was seeking, the great\n\"Joachite,\" the great clerk, the mighty preacher and resistless disputer, whom he had not forgotten since the days,\nlong before, when he had been in Hugo's company and\nlistened to his preaching at Siena. Even then, Minorites,\nDominicans, and all men, had flocked to hear this small dark\nman, who seemed another Paul, as he descanted on the\nmarvels of Paradise and the contempt one should feel for\nthis world; but especially those Franciscans delighted in\nhis preaching who were of the \"spiritual\" party, which\nsought to follow strictly the injunctions of the blessed\nFrancis, and also cherished the prophesies of the enigmatical\nJoachim of Flora. To this Joachim was ascribed that long\nsince vanished but much-bespoken Evangelium eternum,\nwhich appears to have been written years after his death\nunder the auspices of John of Parma, Minister-General of\nthe Franciscan Order.\n\nThere was heresy in this book, with its doctrine of a still\nunrevealed, but everlasting Gospel of the Holy Ghost.\nUntil its appearance the genuine utterances of Joachim were\nnot prescribed, consisting as they did of prophecies, for\nexample, as to the life of that monster Frederick II., and of\ndenunciations of the pride and worldliness of ecclesiastics.\nThus they fell in with the enthusiasms of the \"spiritual\"\nFranciscans, who still lived in an ecstasy of love and\nanticipation; in the coming time some of them were to be\ndubbed Fratricelli, and under that name be held as heretics.\n\nJohn of Parma was, of course, a \"Joachite\"; and \"I was\nintimate with him,\" says Salimbene, \"from love and because\nI seemed to believe the writings of Abbot Joachim of the Order of the Flower.\" John was likewise a friend (so strong\na bond was the belief in the holy but over-prophetic Joachim)\nof Hugo of Montpellier, of whose manner and arguments\nwe shall now let Salimbene speak.\n\n\"Once Hugo came from Pisa to Lucca, where the brothers had\ninvited him to come and preach. He arrived at the hour for setting\nout for the cathedral service. And there the whole convent was\nassembled to accompany him and do him honour, and from desire\nto hear him too. And he wondered, seeing the brothers assembled\noutside of the convent door, and said: 'Ah God! what are they\ngoing to do?' The reply was, that they were there to do him\nhonour, and to hear him. But he said: 'I do not need such\nhonour, for I am not pope. If they wish to hear, let them come\nafter we have got there. I will go ahead with one companion, and\nI will not go with that band.'\"\n\nHugo was worshipped by his admirers, and hated by\nthose whom he disagreed with or denounced. Aside from\nhis disputations in defence of Joachim, a sample of which\nwill be given shortly, one can see what hate must have\nsprung from such invective as Salimbene reports him once to\nhave addressed to a consistory of cardinals at Lyons, where\nthe Pope then held court. Here is the story, quite too\nharsh for the respectable editors of the Parma edition of the\nChronaca:\n\n\"The cardinals inquired of Brother Hugo for news (rumores). So he reviled them, as asses, saying: 'I have no news, but a plenitude of peace in my conscience and before my God, who surpasses sense and keeps my heart and mind in Christ Jesus my Lord. I know that ye seek after news, and wait idle the live-long day. For ye are Athenians and not disciples of Christ. Of whom Luke says in the Acts: For all the Athenians and the strangers which were there had time for nothing else but to tell or hear some new thing. The disciples of Christ were fishers and weak men according to the world, but they converted the whole earth because the hand of the Lord was with them. They set forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them. But ye are those who build up Zion in blood (i.e. consanguinity) and Jerusalem in iniquity. For you choose your little nephews and relations for the benefices and dignities of the Church, and you exalt and make rich your clan, and shut out men good and fit who would be useful to the Church, and you prebendate children in their cradles. As a certain mountebank well has said: If with an accusative you would go to the Curia, you'll take nothing if you don't start with the dative! And\n\nanother says, the Roman Curia cares not for a sheep without wool.' \"\n\nAnd with such like, Hugo continues a considerable space.\n\n\"Hearing these things the cardinals were cut to the heart and\ngnashed their teeth at him. But they had not the hardihood to\nreply; for the fear of the Lord came over them and the hand of the\nLord was with him. Yet they wondered that he spoke to them so\nboldly; and finally it seemed best to them to slip out and leave\nhim, nor did they question him, saying, as the Athenians to Paul:\n'We will hear thee again of this matter.'\"\n\nHugo's invective is outdone by Salimbene's closing scorn.\n\nAnd now (to return to Salimbene's journey) here at\nHy\u00e8res in the year 1248 many notaries and judges, and\nphysicians and other men of learning, were assembled to\nhear Brother Hugo speak of the Abbot Joachim's doctrines,\nand expound Holy Scripture, and predict the future. \"And\nI was there to hear him; for long before I had been instructed\nin these teachings.\" But there came two Preaching friars,\nand abode at the Franciscan house, since the Dominicans\nhad no convent at Hy\u00e8res. One was Brother Peter of\nApulia, a learned man and a great speaker. After dinner a\nbrother asked him what he thought of Abbot Joachim. He\nanswered: \"I care as much for Joachim as for the fifth\nwheel of a coach.\"\n\nThereupon this brother hurried to Hugo's chamber, and\nexclaimed in the presence of all the notables there: \"Here\nis a brother Preacher who does not believe that doctrine\nat all.\"\n\nTo whom Brother Hugo: \"And what is it to me if he\ndoes not believe? Be it laid at his door; he will see it\nwhen trouble shall enlighten him. Yet call him to debate;\nlet us hear of what he doubts.\"\n\nSo, called, he came, very unwillingly, because he held\nJoachim so cheaply, and besides thought there was no one\nin that house fit to dispute with him. When Brother Hugo\nsaw him he said: \"Art thou he who doubts the doctrine of\nJoachim?\"\n\nBrother Peter replied: \"Indeed I am.\"\n\nThen said Brother Hugo: \"Hast thou ever read\nJoachim?\"\n\nReplied Brother Peter: \"I have read and well read.\"\n\nTo whom Hugo: \"I believe thou hast read as a woman\nreads the Psalter, who does not remember at the end what\nshe read at the beginning. Thus many read and do not\nunderstand, either because they despise what they read, or\nbecause their foolish heart is darkened. Now, therefore, tell\nme what thou wouldst hear as to Joachim, so that we may\nbetter know thy doubts.\"\n\nThereupon there is question back and forth regarding\nthe Scripture proofs of Joachim's prophecies, for instance,\nthose relating to Frederick's reign. Brother Hugo dilates on\nJoachim's holiness; explains the dark Scripture references,\nand brings in the prophecies of Merlin, anglicus vates, and\ntalks of the allegorical, anagogical, tropological, moral and\nmystical, senses of Scripture. The discussion waxes hot.\nPeter begins to beat about the bush (discurrere per ambages),\nand declares it to be heretical to quote an infidel like Merlin.\nAt which Hugo answers: \"Thou liest, as I will prove\nmultipliciter; for the writings of Balaam, Caiaphas, Merlin,\nand the Sybil are not spurned by the Church: 'The rose\ngives forth no thorn, although the thorn's daughter.'\"\n\nPeter then turns to the sayings of the saints and the\nphilosophers. But as Hugo was doctissimus in these, he at\nonce twists him up and finishes him (statim involvit eum et conclusit et). Hereupon Peter's brother Preacher, an old\npriest and a good, sought to come to his aid. But Peter\nsaid, \"Peace, be still.\" For Peter knew himself vanquished,\nand began to praise Brother Hugo for his manifold wisdom.\n\n\"At this moment came a messenger from the ship's captain, bidding the brothers Preachers hurry, and go aboard. When they had left, Brother Hugo said to the learned men remaining, who had heard the debate: 'Take it not for evil, if we have said some things which ought not to have been said; for disputants often roam the fields of licence. Those good men glory in their knowledge, and speak what is found in their Order's fount of wisdom, which is the Word of God. They also say that they travel among simple folk\nwhen they pass through the places of the brothers Minorites,\nwhere they are ministered to with loving charity. But by the grace\nof God these two shall no longer be able to say they have walked\namong the simple.'\n\n\"His auditors dispersed, edified and comforted, saying, We have\nheard wonderful things to-day. Later, that same day, the brothers\nPreachers returned, to our delight, for the weather proved unfit for\nsailing. After dinner, Brother Hugo conversed with them familiarly,\nand Brother Peter sat himself on the earth at Brother Hugo's feet;\nnor was any one able to make him rise and sit on the bench on the\nsame level with him, not even when Brother Hugo himself besought\nhim. So Brother Peter, no longer disputing or contradicting, but\nmeekly listening, heard honied words spoken by Brother Hugo, and\nworthy to be set down, but omitted here for brevity's sake, as I\nhasten to record other things.\"\n\nSo Salimbene passes on, both in his Chronicle and in his\njourney, but though his steps lead deviously through the\ncities of Provence, they bring him back once more to Hy\u00e8res\nand Hugo, at whose feet he sits and listens for a season in\nrapt admiration.\n\nAfter this happy season, Salimbene returned to Genoa,\nand from that time on spent his life among the Franciscan\nbrotherhoods of Italy. Henceforth his Chronicle is chiefly\noccupied with those wretched unceasing wars of northern\nItaly, Imperialists against Papists, and city against city\u2014and with the affairs of the Franciscan Order. The story is\nnow less varied, yet not lacking in picturesque qualities; and\nthrough it all we still see the man himself, although the\nman, as life goes on, seems to become more of a Franciscan\nmonk, and less of an observer of human life. But he\ncontinues na\u00efve. Thus he tells that one time, with some\ncompanions, he came to Bobbio, that famous book-lovers'\nfoundation of St. Columban, in the mountains north of\nGenoa: \"and there we saw one of those water-pots of the\nLord, in which the Lord made wine from water at the\nmarriage at Cana, for it is said to be one of those: whether\nit is, God knows, to whom all things are known and open\nand naked.\"\n\nAnd again, some one brings him news of the state of France in the year 1251, when King Louis was a captive in\nAfrica; and thus he tells it:\n\n\"In this year a countless crowd of shepherds came together in\nFrance, saying that they would cross the sea to kill the Saracens\nand free the King of France. Many followed from divers cities of\nFrance, and no one dared stop them. For their leader said it was\nrevealed to him of God that he must lead that multitude across\nthe sea to avenge the King of France. The common folk believed\nhim, and were enraged against the religious, especially the Preachers,\nbecause they had preached the Crusade and had 'crossed' men\nwho were sailing with the king. And the people were angry at\nChrist, so that they dared blaspheme His blessed name. And\nwhen the Minorites and Preachers came seeking alms in His name,\nthey gnashed their teeth at them and in their sight turned and gave\nthe sou to some other beggar, saying, 'Take this in Mahomet's\nname, who is stronger than Christ.'\"\n\nOf those Italian wars\u2014rather feuds, vengeances, and\nmonstrosities of hate\u2014Salimbene can tell enough. He\ngives a ghastly picture of the fate of Alberic da Romano,\nbrother of Eccelino, and tyrant indeed of Treviso.\n\n\"There he lorded it for many years; and cruel and hard was\nhis rule, as those know who experienced it. He was a limb of the\ndevil and a son of iniquity, but he perished by an evil death with\nhis wife and sons and daughters. For those who slew them tore\noff the legs and arms from their living bodies, in their parents'\nsight, and with them struck the parents' faces. Then they bound\nthe wife and daughters to stakes, and burned them; they were\nnoble, beautiful virgins, nor in any way in fault. But their innocence\nand beauty did not save them, because of the hatred for the father\nand mother. Terribly had these afflicted the people of Treviso.\nSo they came upon Alberic with tongs and \u2014\u2014\u2014\"\u2014\n\nthe sentence is too horrid for translation. But the\nchronicler goes on to tell that they destroyed his body\namid gibes and insults and torments.\n\n\"For he had killed a blood-relative of this one, and that one's father, son or daughter. And he had laid such taxes and exactions\non them, that they had to destroy their houses. The very walls and beams and chests and cupboards and wine-vats they put in boats and sent to Ferrara to sell them and redeem themselves. I saw those with my eyes. Alberic pretended to be at war with his brother Eccelino, so as to do his evil deeds more safely; and he\ndid not hold his hand from the slaughter of citizens and subjects.\nOne day he hanged twenty-five prominent men of Treviso, who had\ndone him no ill; because he feared they would! And thirty noble\nwomen, mothers, wives and daughters of these, were brought there\nto see them hanging; and he had these women stripped half naked,\nthat those who were hanging might see them so. The men were\nhanged quite close to the ground; and he forced these women to\ngo so close that their faces were struck by the legs and feet of those\nwho were dying in anguish.\"\n\nSuch was the kind of devil-madness that might walk\nabroad in Italy in the Middle Ages. Let us relieve our\nminds by a story our friend tells of a certain boy placed in\na Franciscan convent in Bologna, to become a monk.\n\n\"When asleep he snored so mightily, that no one could have\npeace in the same house with him, so horribly did he disturb those\nwho slept as well as those who were at their vigils. And they made\nhim sleep in the shed where wood and staves were stored, but even\nthen the brothers could not escape, so did that voice of malediction\nresound through the whole place. And all the priests and wise-acres among the brothers met in the director's chamber, to eject\nhim from the Order because of his insupportable offence: I was\nthere. It was decided to return him to his mother, who had\ndeceived the Order, since she had known his defect before letting\nhim go. But he was not returned to his mother, for the Lord\nperformed a miracle through Brother Nicolas [a holy brother\nthrough whom God had worked other miracles as well]. This\nbrother seeing that the boy was to be expelled for no fault,\nbut for a natural defect, called him at daybreak to assist at mass.\nWhen the mass was finished, the boy as commanded knelt before\nhim, back of the altar, hoping to receive some grace. Brother\nNicolas touched his face and nose with his hands, in the wish to\nconfer health upon him, if the Lord would grant it, and commanded\nhim to keep this secret. What more? The boy at once was\ncured, and after that slept as quietly as a dormouse without\nannoying any brother.\"\n\nThus we have this Chronicle, rambling, incoherent,\npicturesque, with its glimpses of all this pretty world, for\nwhich our Salimbene, despite his cowl, has an uncloistered\neye\u2014its keenness for incident and circumstance undeflected\nby the inner sight with which it could also look on the invisible world. When Brother Salimbene was young and\nan enthusiastic Joachite, a strong motive of his wish to live\non in the flesh was to see whether those prophecies regarding\nFrederick came true. Alas! for this purpose he lived too\nlong: Frederick died before the prophecies were fulfilled, and\nwith his death honest Salimbene had to put from him his\ndarling trust in the words of Abbot Joachim of the Order of\nthe Flower.","title":"The Mediaeval Mind/Chapter 21","tradition":"philosophy-ethics","translated_text":null,"word_count":9476}