Amid a fearful storm of protest, the order for priestly celibacy was
carried out in Germany. But the overwhelming power of Gregory VII. and
the weakness of the emperor, which drove the princes and bishops into
the arms of the Pope, lessened the resistance, though for centuries the
storm did not subside, and in the north of Germany it continued far into
the fourteenth century. Celibacy became a strong weapon in the hands of
the Papacy; it subjected the priesthood absolutely to the Church, and
withdrew its members from subjection to the secular power; but celibacy
did not at least during the first centuries redound to a higher morality
of the clergy. The complaints of their immorality increased with the
firm establishment of celibacy, and after the fourteenth century
actually fill the literature of Germany. These complaints are indeed one
of the primary forces and agencies in bringing about the great
revolution against the Church, known in history as the Reformation. It
is no less true, however, that, with the counter reformation within the
Ancient Church, a purifying influence was exerted upon the clergy, that
the Reformation was to the Church a blessing in disguise, and that no
doubt celibacy had its redeeming features, inasmuch as it made the
genuine, earnest, and honest part of the priesthood pure and independent
and fearless in their uplifting mission to the people of the Catholic
faith: a true ecclesia militans. But celibacy, like any other great
institution, is a two-edged sword! One needs only to trace the literary
and historical sources of those centuries to become convinced that, on
the whole, celibacy was a failure so far as the greater part of the
clergy was concerned, and a still greater failure in so far as it
affected the sphere of womanhood. The priestly farces
(_Pfaffenschwanke_), the popular wisdom as expressed in hundreds of
proverbs and sententious references, as well as the history of the time
in question, prove the truth of this assertion and testify to the low
moral status of both the clergy and the laity.

CHAPTER V

THE DAYS OF THE MINNESINGERS

With the extinction of the Franconian dynasty we approach the golden era
of the Hohenstaufen emperors. The ascent of that noble race was due to
that German loyalty which they had borne to Henry IV. in his distress.
Their home was the lofty Suabian Staufen which towered over the wooded
valley of the Rems and looked down on the beautiful land wit