Note 17 — Chapter I · THE CHURCH.
Reading edition
Concil. Lateran. III. ann. 1179 c. 13, 14; IV. ann. 1215 c. 29.—Innocent. PP. III. Regest. I. 82, 191, 471.—P. Cantor. Verb. abbrev. cap. 31, 32, 34. 80.—Honor. PP. III. Epist. ad Archiep. Bituricens. ann. 1219.—Urbani. PP. V. Constit. 1367 (Harduin. Concil. VII. 1767).—Isambert. Anc. Loix Franç. I. 252.—Matt. Paris. Hist. Angl. ann. 1246 (Ed. 1644 p. 483)—Wadding. Annal. Minor, ann. 1238, No. 8.—D’Argentré, Collect. Judicior. de Nov. Error. I. I. 143.
The correspondence of the papal chancery under Innocent IV., as preserved in the official register, for the first three months of 1245, embraces three hundred and thirty-two letters, and of these about one fifth are dispensations to sixty-five persons to hold pluralities (Berger, Registres d’Innoc. IV. t. I.). A considerable proportion of the remainder are licenses for violations of canon law, showing how exhaustless were the vices of the clergy as a source of profit to the curia. For the rapacity with which the benefices of the dying were sought and disputed, see ibid. No. 1611.