and Pope Leo the
Tenth, which, said they, by bringing so many bishops and other high
dignitaries to the court in quest of preferment, had corrupted the
characters of the prelates, while exposing their flocks to all the evils
which neglect is wont to breed. Unfortunately, the portraits of the
period preceding the revocation of the Pragmatic Sanction that have come
down to us dispel the Arcadian simplicity of manners which seems only to
have existed in the imagination of a few warm admirers of everything
ancient. If the prelates of France were dissolute after the introduction
of the concordat, we are assured by a writer by no means partial to the
"new doctrines," that the state of affairs was no better at an earlier
period. In their abbeys or bishoprics they were as debauched as those
who followed arms for their profession.[106] The bishops bought their
places with money, or with promises which were to be fulfilled after
preferment. "And when they had attained these high dignities," he adds,
"God knows what lives they led. Assuredly they were far more devoted to
their dioceses than they have since been; for they never left them. But
it was to lead a most dissolute life with their dogs and birds, with
their feasts, banquets, marriage entertainments and courtezans, of whom
they gathered seraglios.... All this was permitted, and none dared to
remonstrate or utter censure. Even more could be related, which is
passed over in silence through fear of creating scandal. Our present
bishops, if not better men, are at least more discreet hypocrites, and
more skilfully conceal their black vices."[107] Nor were the morals of
the monastic orders depicted in brighter colors. "Generally the monks
elected the most jovial companion, him who was the most fond of women,
dogs, and birds, the deepest drinker--in short, the most dissipated; and
this in order that, when they had made him abbot or prior, they might be
permitted to indulge in similar debauch and pleasure. Indeed, they bound
him beforehand by strong oaths, to which he was forced to conform either
voluntarily or by constraint. The worst was that, when they failed to
agree in their elections, they usually came to blows with fist and
sword, and inflicted wounds and even death. In a word, there was more
tumult, more faction and intrigue, than there is at the election of the
Rector of the University of Paris."[108] It was not strange, therefore,
that Francis, unable otherwise to recompen