and seemed inclined to leave to the religious orders no place in the
ministration of the Church, while on the other, some of the religious,
such as the Franciscan, John von Gorrel, wished to assert for
themselves complete independence of episcopal control. Various
attempts were made by Boniface VIII., Benedict XI., Alexander V., John
XXII., Calixtus III., Sixtus IV., and by the Councils of Constance and
Basle to settle these disputes, but without much permanent result. It
was only in the eleventh session of the Fifth Lateran Council (1516)
that Leo X. promulgated the decrees, which in substance hold good at
the present time, fixing the relation between the bishops and the
regular clergy.[11]

Many of the fanatical preachers anxious for reform were guilty of
undoubted exaggeration in the pictures which they painted of clerical
life at the time, as were also not a few of the Humanists, anxious to
cast ridicule on their opponents. But even when all due allowance has
been made for these exaggerations in such works as the /Onus
Ecclesiae/[12] of Bishop Berthold, the rhymed sermons of one of the
great Franciscan opponents of Luther, Thomas Murner (1475-1537), which
became popular in Germany under the titles of the /Narrenbeschworung/
and the /Schelmenzunft/, Faber's /Tractatus de Ruinae Ecclesiae
Planctu/, the /Encomium Moriae/ of Erasmus, the Dialogues of St.
German in England, the /Narrenschiff/ of Sebastian Brant, and the
petitions of the Spanish Cortes, enough remains to convince any
reasonable man that a reform of the clergy was an urgent necessity.

For many years the cry of reform of the Church in its head and members
had been heard in nearly every country of Europe. The justice of such
a demand was admitted universally, but the difficulties in the way
were so great that no Pope cared to risk a generous scheme of reform.