Note 282 — Chapter I · PENAL METHODS OF THE MIDDLE AGES
Reading edition
See Lingard, ii. 126.
After the appearance of the Collection of Ivo of Chartres (b. 1035, d. 1115),[283] and still more upon the compilation of Gratian’s Decretals (A.D. 1151), they began to rival, if not surpass, the Secular Courts in reputation and influence.[284] The Courts Christian were the defenders of dogma; in those times, without right believing nothing else profited. The Church Courts also enforced Christian morality. “The bishops,” says Archdeacon Cheetham,[285] “took cognizance, as was natural, of matters which were rather offences against the moral law than against the State, and sometimes succeeded in overawing even high-placed offenders.” “The doctrine of penance,” says Mr. Thrupp, “dealt with a series of immoralities which the laws disregarded.”[286]
J. Johnson, Laws and Canons, ii. p. 189, note F., ed. 1851.
N. Marshall, Penitential Discipline, p. 136.