Note 128 — Chapter III · TENTH CENTURY

Bellarmine and others, have attributed to Gregory V. the institution of the seven electorates of the empire: this absurd opinion has been often refuted. See for example, Natal. Alex. Dissert. 18, in secul, 9 and 10; Maimbourg’s Hist, of the decline of the empire, 1. 2, &c.; and Dupin’s Treatise on the ecclesiastical power, p. 270.