登陆注册
5210200000010

第10章

subjects brought in hardly more than before.In order to satisfy mounting requirements, the noble masters resorted to the same means as were practised by the princes; the peasantry was being robbed by the masters with greater dexterity every year.The serfs were being wrung dry.The bondsmen were burdened with ever new payments of various descriptions upon every possible occasion.Serf labour, dues, ground rents, land sale taxes, death taxes, protection moneys and so on, were increased at will in spite of old agreements.

justice was denied or sold for money, and wherever the knight could not obtain the peasant's money otherwise, he threw him into the tower without much ado, and compelled him to pay ransom.

With the other classes, the lower nobility courted no friendly relations either.Vassal knights strove to become vassals of the empire;vassals of the empire strove to become independent.This led to incessant conflicts with the princes.The knighthood looked upon the clergy with their resplendent grandeur as upon a powerful but superfluous class.It envied them their large estates and their riches held secure by celibacy and the church constitution.With the cities, the knighthood was continually on the war path; it owed them money, it fed on plundering their territory, on robbing their merchants, on the ransom paid for prisoners captured in conflicts.The struggle of the knighthood against all these estates became more vehement as the estates themselves began to realise that the money question was a life problem for them.

The clergy, representatives of the ideology of mediaeval feudalism, felt the influence of the historic transformation no less acutely.The invention of the art of printing, and the requirements of extended commerce, robbed the clergy not only of its monopoly of reading and writing, but also of that of higher education.Division of labour was being introduced also into the realm of intellectual work.The newly arising class of jurists drove the clergy out of a series of very influential positions.The clergy was also beginning to become largely superfluous, and it acknowledged this fact by growing lazier and more ignorant.The more superfluous it became, the more it grew in numbers, thanks to the enormous riches which it still kept on augmenting by fair means or foul.

The clergy was divided into two distinct groups.The feudal hierarchy of the clergy formed the aristocratic group -- bishops and archbishops, abbots, priors and other prelates.These high church dignitaries were either imperial princes themselves, or they reigned as vassals of other princes over large areas with numerous serfs and bondsmen.They not only exploited their subjects as recklessly as the knighthood and the princes, but they practised this in an even more shameful manner.They used not only brutal force, but all the intrigues of religion as well; not only the horrors of the rack, but also the horror of excommunication, or refusal of absolution;they used all the intricacies of the confessional in order to extract from their subjects the last penny, or to increase the estates of the church.

Forging of documents was a widespread and beloved means of extortion in the hands of those worthy men, who, receiving from their subjects feudal payments, taxes and tithes, were still in constant need of money.The manufacture of miracle-producing saints' effigies and relics, the organisation of praying-centres endowed with the power of salvation, the trade in indulgences was resorted to in order to squeeze more payments out of the people.All this was practised long and with not little success.

The prelates and their numerous gendarmerie of monks which grew with the spread of political and religious baiting, were the objects of hatred not only of the people but also of the nobility.Being directly under the empire, the prelates were in the way of the princes.The fast living of the corpulent bishops and abbots with their army of monks, roused the envy of the nobility and the indignation of the people who bore the burden.Hatred was intensified by the fact that the behaviour of the clergy was a slap in the face of their own preaching.

The plebeian faction of the clergy consisted of preachers, rural and urban.The preachers were outside the feudal hierarchy of the church and participated in none of its riches.Their activities were less rigorously controlled and, important as they were for the church, they were for the moment far less indispensable than the police services of the barracked monks.Consequently, they were paid much less than the monks, and their prebends were far from lucrative.Being of a middle-class or plebeian origin, they were nearer to the life of the masses, thus being able to retain middle-class and plebeian sympathies, in spite of their status as clergy.While the participation of the monks in the movements of their time was the exception, that of the plebeian clergy was the rule.They gave the movement its theorists and ideologists, and many of them, representatives of the plebeians and peasants, died on the scaffold.The hatred of the masses for the clergy seldom touched this group.

What the emperor was to the princes and nobility, the pope was to the higher and lower clergy.As the emperor received the "common penny,"the imperial taxes, so the pope was paid the general church taxes, out of which he defrayed the expenses of the luxurious Roman court.In no country were his taxes collected with such conscientiousness and rigour as in Germany, due to the power and the number of the clergy.The annates were collected with particular severity when a bishopric was to become vacant.With the growth of the court's demands, new means for raising revenues were invented, such as the traffic in relics and indulgences, jubilee collections, etc.

同类推荐
  • 山权数

    山权数

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 明伦汇编人事典养生部

    明伦汇编人事典养生部

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 图画见闻志

    图画见闻志

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • Poems1

    Poems1

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 九歌

    九歌

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 清穿之太子妃

    清穿之太子妃

    简单的说就是穿越太子妃努力培养丈夫,生孩子逗包子的故事!她在一次行动为救人而死去,穿越到了清朝,成为太子妃瓜尔佳氏,她表示压力甚大!成为太子妃好处没有,每天过的比原来还忙还累!上要讨好公公婆婆们,家里要斗丈夫斗小妾逗包子,出门要斗弟弟斗弟媳斗侄儿侄女,岂是一个忙字能诠释的?为了不让丈夫再被废,为了不让自己跟孩子们成为悲剧,势必要培养她家太子爷成为明君!
  • 和顾少的1001个夜晚

    和顾少的1001个夜晚

    ”顾倾烟,你再走一步试试!“慕霆深怒吼道。”慕霆深,你就是个满脑子想着上床的疯子!”顾倾烟愤愤地转身,径直向别墅大门走去。“顾、倾、烟,我叫你站住听到没有!”慕霆深上前攥住她的手:“你有种出这个大门”语毕,他不给她再次出声的机会,抱住她盈盈一握的腰身,埋在她充斥着少女馨香的颈间,耳鬓厮磨:“顾倾烟,我慕霆深这辈子算是栽在你这女人手里了。”邪性总裁pk禁欲娇妻,漫漫情路,到底走什么路数?
  • 神医太子妃

    神医太子妃

    睁开发现,帅哥王爷出现在面前,明明是神医却被吻的差点窒息!狠心敲昏对方趁机逃走,不料对方寻上门,信誓旦旦污蔑自己不但误伤他,还被自己轻薄,厚颜无耻要求自己负责!捆绑回府后,夜夜衣衫不整的要和自己探讨医术!王爷变恶狼,夜夜贪欢……这句话如何破?【情节虚构,请勿模仿】
  • 万事吉祥通书(中国民间文化丛书)

    万事吉祥通书(中国民间文化丛书)

    本书主要内容包括以下几方面:住宅的吉祥、家居的吉祥、养花的吉祥、起名的吉祥、饮食的吉祥、睡眠的吉祥、保健的吉祥、日常的吉祥、处世的吉祥、用药的吉祥等。
  • 抚摸台湾

    抚摸台湾

    时光匆匆,人生短暂。以往听人说此话,自己也随声附和,却是秋风过耳,如今方有了刻骨铭心的体会。今年1月正式退出政界,还原为从乡村出发时的布衣平民了。这不突然,2002年从繁忙的岗位淡出,离现在的退出就差一步了。干脆就将淡出变为退出,一心一意侍弄文字,用刻下的话说是和退出零距离了。如今看来,这零距离太关键了,不是关键在省略了退位的突然,而是那时就给了我回家的感觉,回家的自在。
  • 证因亭

    证因亭

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 新房客

    新房客

    王栋刚打开车门,就远远地看见了那幢建筑,土红色的围墙,深蓝色的斜式屋顶,临正面的几扇窗户玻璃,在阳光的照射下反射出白色的光点。虽然离得太远,看得并不太真切,不过在这片旷野中这幢建筑尤为显眼,以至于王栋第一眼就发现了它。“应该就是这里吧。”王栋把行李从车尾箱中取了出来,然后掏出钱包点算车钱。那司机瞄了一眼王栋钱包里那叠厚厚的钞票后,干咳了一声笑道:“大哥,你看这前不着村后不着店的,又没有过路客,回城烧空车油,这个……能不能添点?”王栋看了他一眼,又多抽了五十递给他。
  • 重生商女季少加油

    重生商女季少加油

    新书发布:总裁我们隐婚吧,期待着大家的支持。她周佩,因为妹妹和前男友的欺骗而死于非命,然而,老天有眼,给她重生的机会。成了陆梓宣,更是回到了过去,她要逆天改命,改变自己命运。在季常达的帮助下,开始她的重生之路,贱女人,贱男人!此生……我来了!读者群号:140742890,有兴趣可以带上喜欢的主角名字来敲门。
  • 逆天废柴:至尊魔妻

    逆天废柴:至尊魔妻

    “她”,是无所不能的地下统领,狡诈,腹黑,强势。“他”,是一无是处的废柴少爷,呆板,单纯,懦弱。时空转换,她变成了“他”。玄力,战气两手抓,本少爷就要魔武双修!契约?本少爷绝对不告诉你们本少爷能无限契约!炼丹?本少爷早就玩腻了,喏,借你们一颗神品丹药观赏观赏!炼器?你们帮我瞅瞅这把神器肿么样?符咒?本少爷画个圈圈就能诅咒你!……他,是她逃不掉的宿命。“丫头,你若上天,我便劈开这天,你若入地,我便踏碎这地,上穷碧落下黄泉,丫头,你生生世世都逃不掉的!”某男妖孽的脸庞一汪深情,将人溺毙其中。某女感动得眼泪汪汪,面若桃花,窝在某男怀里使劲的磨蹭。“丫头你就快快到我碗里来吧!”某男眨着邪魅的桃花眸,笑的一脸风骚,脸上明晃晃的挂着求扑倒求蹂躏。“尼玛,给老子滚!”某女一脚踹开嘚瑟的红衣妖孽美男。某男眼见形势不好,贼笑一声,直接扑倒!他,是她最亲密的伙伴。“以吾之名,与尔签订至尊血契,永生相随,不离不弃。灵魂永伴,生生不息。如有背叛,违约者灵魂破灭,永世不得超生。”低沉而富有磁性的男声念起了远古的誓言,从此,两个人的命运紧密相连,一荣,俱荣,一损,俱损。他,是她最忠诚的骑士。“阿诺对天发誓,从此刻起,我,阿诺,今生只忠于萧羽一人,若违此誓,天打雷劈,不得好死,灵魂永受无间炼狱之苦!”阿诺单膝下跪,指天发誓。有她,他……他们是她可爱的亲友们,还有她,他……他们是她可恶的敌人们。“今朝,我,水冰羽,要活的精彩,活的潇洒!”水冰羽指天长啸。
  • 为谁结婚

    为谁结婚

    小说里写到的都是现在年轻人普遍遇到非常尖锐的现实问题——只能靠在外漂泊来获得生存;高房价对婚恋产生了巨大冲击;因为工作、房子等现实因素造成分居情况;因为房子、育儿、养老等问题,逃离北上广深。婚姻双方拉开差距后痛苦选择、艰难地处理相互间的关系;“责任”对于幸福的意义。