On November 18, 1302, Pope Boniface VIII issued the Papal bull Unam sanctam ("The One Holy"), which historians consider one of the most extreme statements of Papal spiritual supremacy ever made. It arose due to the Pope's conflict with Philip IV of France over attempts of each to prevent the other from receiving money from taxes. November 18 is the 322nd day of the year (323rd in leap years), with 43 remaining. ... Events July 11 - Battle of the Golden Spurs (Guldensporenslag in Dutch), major victory of Flanders over the French occupier. ... Boniface VIII, né Benedetto Caetani (Anagni, ca. ... Papal bull of Pope Urban VIII, 1637, sealed with a leaden bulla. ... Philippe IV, recumbent statue on his tomb, Royal Necropolis, Saint Denis Basilica Philip IV the Fair (French: Philippe IV le Bel) (1268 – November 29, 1314) was King of France from 1285 until his death. ...

Content

Most significantly, the bull proclaimed, "outside of her (the Church) there is neither salvation nor the remission of sins". (See Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus.) The Ecclesiastical Latin phrase Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus (sometimes briefly Extra Ecclesiam), literally meaning outside the church there is no salvation, is a slogan that summarises the doctrine that one must be a member of the Roman Catholic church in order to be saved. ...

The bull also declared that the Church must be united, that the Pope was the sole and absolute head of the Church: "Therefore, of the one and only Church there is one body and one head, not two heads like a monster." The Bull also stated, "We are informed by the texts of the gospels that in this Church and in its power are two swords; namely, the spiritual and the temporal." Thus, it was concluded, the temporal authorities must submit to the spiritual authorities: "For with truth as our witness, it belongs to spiritual power to establish the terrestrial power and to pass judgement if it has not been good." For alternate uses of time, see Time (disambiguation) or see TIME (magazine). ... See: Spirituality Spiritual music Spiritual dance The Age of Spiritual Machines Spiritual possession This is a disambiguation page, a list of pages that otherwise might share the same title. ...

The bull ends "Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff." The original document is lost, but according to the Catholic Encyclopedia in the registers, on the margin of the text of the record, the last sentence is noted as its real definition: "Declaratio quod subesse Romano Pontifici est omni humanae creaturae de necessitate salutis'"; thus this phrase, like some in canonic scripture, may have moved from an original position as a marginal gloss to an integral part of the text as it has been accepted. A gloss is a note made in the margins or between the lines of a book, in which the meaning of the text in its original language is explained in another language. ...

Following custom, the premises are not based on logical reasoning, but on allegorical interpretations of images in scripture, drawn from the Hebrew bible as well as the New Testament. The bull is brief, and anyone interested in it should read what survives of the original text (see links).

Political context

The furious reaction of Philip and his ministry cannot be understood outside the context of a conflict between the increasing power of secular rulers in France and England (who had come to blows) with attempts to tax the clergy to support warfare that was no different from some of the "crusades" that had been authorized during the 13th century — against the king of Aragon for instance — save that the warfare had not been authorized by the Pope and the taxes were also to be levied on the clergy. Boniface's stringent reaction was the fierce bull Clericis laicos of 1296. (12th century - 13th century - 14th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 13th century was that century which lasted from 1201 to 1300. ... Clericis laicos was a Papal bull issued on February 25, 1296 by Pope Boniface VIII in an attempt to prevent the secular states of Europe, in particular France and England, from appropriating church revenues without the express prior permission of the pope. ... Events March 30 - Edward I stormed Berwick-upon-Tweed, sacking the then Scottish border town with much bloodshed. ...

In England, Edward I withdrew the protection of the English Common Law from the clergy, an action with fearful possibilities. Philip's ministers reacted with their own typical methods: they banished all non-French bankers from France and forbade the export of bullion from the King's territories, without exception. The supply of French money to the Roman curia dried up completely. The royal ministers and their allies circulated open letters asserting the sovereignty of the king within his realm and the duty of the Church to help in the defense of the realm. Edward I (June 17, 1239–July 7, 1307), popularly known as Longshanks because of his 6 foot 2 inch frame and the Hammer of the Scots (his tombstone, in Latin, read, Hic est Edwardvs Primus Scottorum Malleus, Here lies Edward I, Hammer of the Scots), achieved fame as the monarch... This article concerns the common-law legal system, as contrasted with the civil law legal system; for other meanings of the term, within the field of law, see common law (disambiguation). ...

Boniface made the tactical error of backing down from some positions. In September 1296 he sent an indignant protest to Philip headed Ineffabilis Amor, declaring that he would rather suffer death than surrender any of the rightful prerogatives of the Church; but he explained in conciliatory terms that his recent bull had not been intended to apply to any of the customary feudal taxes due the King from the lands of the Church. Look up September in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Events March 30 - Edward I stormed Berwick-upon-Tweed, sacking the then Scottish border town with much bloodshed. ...

Then came the Jubilee year of 1300, that filled Rome with the fervent masses of pilgrims and made up for the lack of French gold in the treasury. The following year, Philip's ministers overstepped their bounds. Bernard Saisset, the Bishop of Pamiers in Foix, the farthest southern march of Languedoc was recalcitrant and difficult. There was no love between the south, that had suffered so recently with the Albigensian Crusade, and the Frankish north. Pamiers was one of the last strongholds of the Cathars. Saisset made no secret of his disrespect for the King of France. Philip's ministry decided to make an example of the bishop. He was brought before Philip and his court, on October 24, 1301, where the chancellor, Pierre Flotte, charged him with high treason, and he was placed in the keeping of the archbishop of Narbonne, his metropolitan. Before they could attack him in the courts, the royal ministry needed the Pope to remove him from his See and strip him of his clerical protections, so that he could be tried for treason. Philip IV tried to obtain from the pope this "canonical degradation". Instead, Boniface ordered the king in December 1301 to free the bishop to go to Rome to justify himself. In the Bull, Ausculta Fili ("Give ear, my son") he accused Philip of sinfully subverting the Church in France, and not in terms that were conciliatory: The Jubilee in both the Jewish and Christian traditions is a year of celebration and forgiveness originally held every 50 years. ... Events Beginning of the Renaissance. ... Bernard Saisset (ca 1232 - ca 1311) was an Occitan bishop of Pamiers, in the County of Foix in the south of France, whose outspoken disrespect for Philip IV of France incurred charges of high treason in the overheated atmosphere of tension between the King and his ministry and Pope Boniface... Pamiers is a commune of the Ariège département, in southwestern France. ... Château des Comtes de Foix Foix river Foix is a small town and commune, the préfecture (capital) of the Ariège département in France. ... Mark or march (or various plural forms of these words) are derived from the Frankish word marka (boundary) and refer to an area along a border, e. ... Coat of arms of the province of Languedoc, now being used as an official flag by the Midi-Pyrénees region as well as by the city of Toulouse Languedoc (Lengadòc in Occitan) is a former province of France, now continued in the modern-day régions of Languedoc... The Albigensian Crusade (1209-1229) was a 20-year military campaign initiated by the Roman Catholic Church to eliminate the religion practiced by the Cathars of Languedoc, which the Roman Catholic hierarchy considered heretical. ... It has been suggested that Albigensians be merged into this article or section. ... October 24 is the 297th day of the year (298th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 68 days remaining. ... Events February 7 - Edward of Caernarvon (later King Edward II of England) becomes the first Prince of Wales End of the reign of Emperor Go-Fushimi, emperor of Japan Emperor Go-Nijō ascends to the throne of Japan Dante was sent into Exile in Florence. ... Look up December in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Events February 7 - Edward of Caernarvon (later King Edward II of England) becomes the first Prince of Wales End of the reign of Emperor Go-Fushimi, emperor of Japan Emperor Go-Nijō ascends to the throne of Japan Dante was sent into Exile in Florence. ...

"Let no one persuade you that you have no superior or that you are not subject to the head of the ecclesiastical hierarchy, for he is a fool who so thinks."

At the same time, Boniface sent out a more general bull Salvator mundi that strongly reiterated some of the same ground of Clericis laicos.

Then, at the end of the year, Boniface, with his customary tactlessness having criticized Philip for his personal behavior and the unscrupulousness of his ministry (that being an assessment with which many modern historians would agree), summoned a council of French bishops for November 1302, intended to reform Church matters in France— at Rome. Philip forbade Saisset or any of them to attend and forestalled Boniface by organizing a counter-assembly of his own, held in Paris in April 1302. Nobles, burgesses, and clergy met to denounce the Pope and pass around a crude forgery titled Deum Time ("Fear God"), which made out that Boniface claimed to be feudal overlord of France. The French clergy politely protested against Boniface's "unheard-of assertions." Boniface denied the document and its claims, but he reminded them that previous popes had deposed three French kings. Look up November in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Events July 11 - Battle of the Golden Spurs (Guldensporenslag in Dutch), major victory of Flanders over the French occupier. ... Look up April in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Events July 11 - Battle of the Golden Spurs (Guldensporenslag in Dutch), major victory of Flanders over the French occupier. ...

This was the atmosphere in which Unam sanctam was promulgated weeks later. Reading of the "two swords" in the Bull, one of Philip's ministers is alleged to have remarked, "My master's sword is steel; the Pope's is made of words."

The response to Unam sanctam

In response to the bull, Philip had the Dominican Jean Quidort issue a refutation. Pope Boniface reacted by excommunicating the king. Phillip then called an assembly in which twenty-nine accusations against the pope were made, including infidelity, heresy, simony, gross and unnatural immorality, idolatry, magic, loss of the Holy Land, and the death of Celestine V. Five archbishops and twenty-one bishops sided with the king. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Celestine V, né Pietro di Morrone (1215 - May 19, 1296) was pope in the year 1294. ...

Boniface VIII could only respond by denouncing the charges; but it was already too late for him. On 7 September 1303, the king's advisor Guillaume de Nogaret led a band of 2000 mercenaries on horse and foot. They joined locals in an attack on the palaces of the pope and his nephew at the papal residence at Anagni, the notorious "Outrage of Anagni". The Pope's attendants and his beloved nephew Francesco all soon fled; only a Spaniard, the Cardinal of Santa Sabina, remained at his side to the end. September 7 is the 250th day of the year (251st in leap years). ... // Events On the 20 April, Pope Boniface VIII founds the University of Rome La Sapienza Edward I of England reconquers Scotland (see also: William Wallace, Wars of Scottish Independence) The Khilji Dynasty conquers Chittor Births Saint Birgitta, Swedish saint (died 1373) Gegeen Khan, Mongol emperor of China (died 1323) Deaths... Guillaume de Nogaret (1260-70 - 1313) was councillor and keeper of the seal to Philip IV of France. ... Anagni, (Latin Anagnia) is an ancient town in Latium, Italy, in the hills east-southeast of Rome, famous for its connections with the papacy and for the picturesque monuments of its unspoiled historical center. ...

The palace was plundered and Boniface was nearly killed (Nogaret prevented his troops from murdering the pope). Still, Boniface was subjected to harassment and held prisoner for three days during which no one brought him food or drink. Eventually the townsfolk expelled the marauders and Boniface pardoned those who were captured. He returned to Rome on 13 September 1303. City motto: Senatus Populusque Romanus – SPQR (The Senate and the People of Rome) Founded 21 April 753 BC mythical, 1st millennium BC Region Latium Mayor Walter Veltroni (Left-Wing Democrats) Area  - City Proper  1285 km² Population  - City (2004)  - Metropolitan  - Density (city proper) 2,553,873 almost 4,300,000 1. ... September 13 is the 256th day of the year (257th in leap years). ... // Events On the 20 April, Pope Boniface VIII founds the University of Rome La Sapienza Edward I of England reconquers Scotland (see also: William Wallace, Wars of Scottish Independence) The Khilji Dynasty conquers Chittor Births Saint Birgitta, Swedish saint (died 1373) Gegeen Khan, Mongol emperor of China (died 1323) Deaths...

Despite his stoicism, Bonifice was clearly shaken by the incident. He developed a violent fever and died on 11 October 1303. In A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous Fourteenth Century, Barbara Tuchman states that his close advisors would later maintain that he died of a "profound chagrin". See Fever for the Kylie Minogue album; Fever is also a song by Otis Blackwell. ... October 11 is the 284th day of the year (285th in leap years). ... // Events On the 20 April, Pope Boniface VIII founds the University of Rome La Sapienza Edward I of England reconquers Scotland (see also: William Wallace, Wars of Scottish Independence) The Khilji Dynasty conquers Chittor Births Saint Birgitta, Swedish saint (died 1373) Gegeen Khan, Mongol emperor of China (died 1323) Deaths... A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century, published in 1978, is a work by American historian Barbara Tuchman, focusing on life in 14th century Europe. ... Barbara Wertheim Tuchman (January 30, 1912 – February 6, 1989) was an American historian and author. ...

External links

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Unam sanctam

• The Papal bull Unam sanctam
• Unam sanctam