¹⁸³ Otho. Frising. Chron. 1. 7. c. 22,27,31.—De Gest. Frid. re. 1. 1. e. 21, 22, 27,26.—Moscow de reb. imperii sub Con rado HI. 1. 3, pa. 114.
Eugenius armed against the Romans the inhabitants of Tivoli, and nevertheless re-entered Rome only by recognizing the senate. He obtained but the abolition of the dignity of patrician, and the re-establishment of the prefect. These transactions did not lead to a permanent peace; Eugeni us again took flight and passed into France, where he seconded as far as possible St. Bernard, the apostle of the fatal crusade of 1147¹⁸⁴ During the absence of Eugenuis, Arnauld of Brescia returned to Rome, followed by two thousand Swiss¹⁸⁵ he proposed restoring the consul, the tribunes, the equestrian order of the ancient Republic of Rome, to allow the pope the exercise of no civil power, and to limit the power they were obliged to leave in the emperor’s hands. Eugenius re-appeared in the capital in 1149, quitted again almost immediately, again returned in 1153 to quit it no more. Imploring the assistance of Barbarossa, who had been elected emperor, he offered to crown him, and obtained from this prince a promise to receive the pontifical authority at Rome. Louis VII. broke at this time his marriage with Eleanor of Aquitain: this divorce, the only one perhaps which has had fatal consequences for France, is also the only one which has not experienced on the part of the church, any sort of opposition. Neither the pope, nor the bishop, nor St. Bernard complained of it.
¹⁸⁴ This expedition is connected with our subject, only by general considerations, which we have already laid before oar readers—see page 116.
Suger, who had advised against it, no longer lived; the French prelates, whom Louis condescended to consult, expressly approved of it; and the heiress of Guienne and Poictou, repudiated under the usual pretext of distant consanguinity, disinherited the daughters whom she had by the king of France, married Henry Plantagenet, and added two large provinces to Maine and Anjou, already possessed by Henry, who became afterwards king of England. Here we behold one of the principal causes of the long rivalry of these two kingdoms; and if the clergy, for a long time accustomed to pass the limits prescribed by their profession, had attempted to trangress them on the present occasion, for once, at least, we should have been enabled to bless the abuse of their ecclesiastical functions.