DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.63447#0421
TRIUMPH OF THE TIARA.
405
a like answer, and meeting everywhere with obstacles, the
Pope finally selected Lyons, a free city of the Empire, for
his residence. This city, nominally under the supremacy
of an archbishop, was governed under communal juris-
diction, and was an independent state, free from imposts,
governed by its own freely-elected magistrates, and the
administration of justice and the command of the militia
were equally in its own hands.1
The Pope was detained for three months at Genoa by a
severe illness, brought on by the fatigues and hardships he
had undergone ; but he then set out, carefully guarded by
the friendly Guelphs, through the territories of the Mar-
quises Del Caretto and Montferrato. Asti and Alessandria
showed some hostility, but were speedily conciliated, and
even rallied to his cause. At Susa he rested for a few
days, and was joined by the cardinals who had accompa-
nied him from Sutri. The Duke of Savoy, the liegeman
of the Emperor, granted a safe conduct to the head of the
Church, and he finally reached Lyons December 1st,
1244, meeting with a respectable if not enthusiastic
reception.
The free burghers of that city soon found they had
incurred a very costly honour in the presence of the Pope.
They were expected to maintain him and all his Court at
their own expense ; and the canons of the cathedral com-
plained that several nominations to vacant prebends were
filled up by the Pontiff in favour of his own followers, and
without any consideration for their claims. The charac-
teristic comment of the affronted canons cannot be omitted:
“ That should the intruders be tempted to fill their offices,
the people could not be prevented, if they chose, from
pitching them into the Rhdne.”
Innocent, whose interest it was to remain in his good
quarters, refrained »from any resentment of these and
many other murmurs of discontent and petty insults.
Innocent, as we have seen, was a man of a powerful and
able cast of mind. He had been early a deacon, and had
1 Augustin Thierry, France Municipale; Histoire du Tiers Etat.
p. 280.
405
a like answer, and meeting everywhere with obstacles, the
Pope finally selected Lyons, a free city of the Empire, for
his residence. This city, nominally under the supremacy
of an archbishop, was governed under communal juris-
diction, and was an independent state, free from imposts,
governed by its own freely-elected magistrates, and the
administration of justice and the command of the militia
were equally in its own hands.1
The Pope was detained for three months at Genoa by a
severe illness, brought on by the fatigues and hardships he
had undergone ; but he then set out, carefully guarded by
the friendly Guelphs, through the territories of the Mar-
quises Del Caretto and Montferrato. Asti and Alessandria
showed some hostility, but were speedily conciliated, and
even rallied to his cause. At Susa he rested for a few
days, and was joined by the cardinals who had accompa-
nied him from Sutri. The Duke of Savoy, the liegeman
of the Emperor, granted a safe conduct to the head of the
Church, and he finally reached Lyons December 1st,
1244, meeting with a respectable if not enthusiastic
reception.
The free burghers of that city soon found they had
incurred a very costly honour in the presence of the Pope.
They were expected to maintain him and all his Court at
their own expense ; and the canons of the cathedral com-
plained that several nominations to vacant prebends were
filled up by the Pontiff in favour of his own followers, and
without any consideration for their claims. The charac-
teristic comment of the affronted canons cannot be omitted:
“ That should the intruders be tempted to fill their offices,
the people could not be prevented, if they chose, from
pitching them into the Rhdne.”
Innocent, whose interest it was to remain in his good
quarters, refrained »from any resentment of these and
many other murmurs of discontent and petty insults.
Innocent, as we have seen, was a man of a powerful and
able cast of mind. He had been early a deacon, and had
1 Augustin Thierry, France Municipale; Histoire du Tiers Etat.
p. 280.