The revenues thus abstracted were not infrequently many times greater than those passing into the treasury of the local power.  Thus, on the occasion of Innocent IV. demanding provision to be made for three hundred additional Italian clergy by the Church of England, and that one of his nephews—­a mere boy—­ should have a stall in Lincoln Cathedral, it was found that the sum already annually abstracted by foreign ecclesiastics from England was thrice that which went into the coffers of the king.

While thus the higher clergy secured every political appointment worth having, and abbots vied with counts in the herds of slaves they possessed—­some, it is said, owned not fewer than twenty thousand—­begging friars pervaded society in all directions, picking up a share of what still remained to the poor.  There was a vast body of non-producers, living in idleness and owning a foreign allegiance, who were subsisting on the fruits of the toil of the laborers.  It could not be otherwise than that small farms should be unceasingly merged into the larger estates; that the poor should steadily become poorer; that society, far from improving, should exhibit a continually increasing demoralization.  Outside the monastic institutions no attempt at intellectual advancement was made; indeed, so far as the laity were concerned, the influence of the Church was directed to an opposite result, for the maxim universally received was, that “ignorance is the mother of devotion.”

The settled practice of republican and imperial Rome was to have swift communication with all her outlying provinces, by means of substantial bridges and roads.  One of the prime duties of the legions was to construct them and keep them in repair.  By this, her military authority was assured.  But the dominion of papal Rome, depending upon a different principle, had no exigencies of that kind, and this duty accordingly was left for the local powers to neglect.  And so, in all directions, the roads were almost impassable for a large part of the year.  A common means of transportation was in clumsy carts drawn by oxen, going at the most but three or four miles an hour.  Where boat-conveyance along rivers could not be had, pack-horses and mules were resorted to for the transportation of merchandise, an adequate means for the slender commerce of the times.  When large bodies of men had to be moved, the difficulties became almost insuperable.  Of this, perhaps, one of the best illustrations may be found in the story of the march of the first Crusaders.  These restraints upon intercommunication tended powerfully to promote the general benighted condition.  Journeys by individuals could not be undertaken without much risk, for there was scarcely a moor or a forest that had not its highwaymen.

An illiterate condition everywhere prevailing, gave opportunity for the development of superstition.  Europe was full of disgraceful miracles.  On all the roads pilgrims were wending their way to the shrines of saints, renowned for the cures they had wrought.  It had always been the policy of the Church to discourage the physician and his art; he interfered too much with the gifts and profits of the shrines.  Time has brought this once lucrative imposture to its proper value.  How many shrines are there now in successful operation in Europe?