latter retaliated by the issue of
bulls protesting against such an outrage, interfering between the king
and his French clergy, and citing the latter to appear in Rome and take
cognizance of their master's misdoings. The monarch was actually invited
to be present and hear his own doom. In the lesser bull--if it be
authentic--and the king's rejoinder, both parties seem to have lost
their temper. [Sidenote: The bull "_Ausculta Fili_."] This was followed
by the celebrated bull "_Ausculta Fili_" at which the king's indignation
knew no bounds. He had it publicly burnt in Paris at the sound of a
trumpet; assembled the States-General; and, under the advice of his
lawyers, skilfully brought the issue to this: Does the king hold the
realm of France of God or of the pope? Without difficulty it might be
seen how the French clergy would be compelled to act: since many of them
held fiefs of the king, all were in fear of the intrusion of Italian
ecclesiastics into the rich benefices. France, therefore, supported her
monarch. [Sidenote: The bull "_Unam Sanctam_."] On his side, Boniface,
in the bull "_Unam Sanctam_" asserted his power by declaring that it is
necessary to salvation to believe that "every human being is subject to
the Pontiff of Rome." Philip, foreseeing the desperate nature of the
approaching conflict, and aiming to attach his people firmly to him by
putting himself forth as their protector against priestly tyranny, again
skilfully appealed to their sentiments by denouncing the Inquisition as
an atrocious barbarity, an outrage on human rights, violating all law,
resorting to new and unheard-of tortures, and doing deeds at which men's
minds revolt with horror. In the South of France this language was
thoroughly understood. [Sidenote: William de Nogaret.] The lawyers,
among whom William de Nogaret was conspicuous, ably assisted him;
indeed, his whole movement exhibited the extraordinary intelligence of
his advisers. It has been affirmed, and is, perhaps, not untrue, that De
Nogaret's father had been burnt by the Inquisition. The great lawyer was
bent on revenge. [Sidenote: Action of the States-General.] The
States-General, under his suggestions, entertained four propositions: 1.
That Boniface was not the true pope; 2. That he was a heretic; 3. That
he was a simoniac; 4. That he was a man weighed down with crimes. De
Nogaret, learning from the Colonnas how to touch the papacy in a vital
point, demanded that the whole subject