all contributed in varying degrees to the defeat of the Henries and the
Frederics. The German princes brought Henry IV to his knees at two
critical moments in the reign; the majority of them held obstinately
aloof from the Italian wars of Barbarossa; and Frederic II, who
endeavoured to buy their neutrality by extravagant concessions, found
himself confronted by German rebels and pretenders towards the close of
his career (1246-1250), when the Italian situation appeared to be
changing in his favour. The Normans intervened more than once in the
Wars of Investitures to shelter a fugitive Pope or rescue Rome from
German armies; the Lombards, as we shall relate elsewhere, were the
chief barrier between Rome and Frederic Barbarossa, between Frederic II
and Germany. Charles of Anjou was the latest and most efficient champion
of the papal cause; and he lives in history as the forerunner of the
conscienceless and shameless statesmanship of the Renaissance epoch. And
yet, when we have allowed for the utility of these alliances, the
question remains why radical communes, rebellious feudatories, and
adventurers in search of kingdoms, found it worth their while to enlist
in the service of the Church, and to endure the restrictions which such
a service inevitably entailed. The true strength of the Church lay in
her moral influence. It was a handful, even among the clergy, who
devoted themselves heart and soul to the ideal of society which she set
up. Still her ideal was in possession of the field; it might be
subjected to a negative and sceptical criticism by an isolated
philosopher, by a heretical sect, or by an orthodox layman smarting
under priestly arrogance; but when the forces of the Church were
mobilised, the indifferent majority stood aside and shrugged their
shoulders. The way of Rome might not be the way of Christ; but if the
Apostolic misinterpreted the lessons of Scripture and tradition, from
whom could a better rule of life be learned? An erring Church was better
than no Church at all. In the thirteenth century, when papal extortions