. The age of Hildebrand. vate life and renouncing all churchlyemoluments. Many preferred the latter, and wereconsequently embittered against Gregory. Hundredsof clergy were living in concubinage, and their chil- Orgies in St. Peter s. 77 dren and nephews were accustomed to inherit theirlivings. In St. Peters more than sixty married war-dens, wearing mitres, announced themselves as priests,said masses, promised prayers for money, and appro-priated the offerings brought for the pardon of held orgies by night in the church, and the stepsof the altar were polluted with fornication and mu
. The age of Hildebrand. vate life and renouncing all churchlyemoluments. Many preferred the latter, and wereconsequently embittered against Gregory. Hundredsof clergy were living in concubinage, and their chil- Orgies in St. Peter s. 77 dren and nephews were accustomed to inherit theirlivings. In St. Peters more than sixty married war-dens, wearing mitres, announced themselves as priests,said masses, promised prayers for money, and appro-priated the offerings brought for the pardon of held orgies by night in the church, and the stepsof the altar were polluted with fornication and mur-der. Gregory made bad blood by stopping theseperformances and forbidding all celebrations in thechurch before nine in the morning. Guibert, havingrallied these disaffected elements, now returned toRavenna, and Henry found in Italy, and in St. Petersitself, as much inflammable material as he could desire. CHAPTER VIII. THE INVESTITURE DECREE—CENCIUS ATTACKSTHE POPE—THE SYNOD OF WORMS—GREG-ORYS ABDICATION HE effect of all this appeared when thePope, towards the middle of June, under-took, with the promised help of Beatrixand Godfrey, his expedition against theNormans. Guibert had by this time ex-cited an uprising in Lombardy, which made it impos-sible for Mathilde and Beatrix to fulfil their promiseof aid, and Gregory was obliged to return to fresh instance of his audacity was given by hismemorial addressed, in September, to the entireFrench episcopate, based upon exaggerated reportsof the general prevalence of crime and declared that the King was mainly responsi-ble for this state of things ; that he had spent his wholelife in crime, and had thus by his example plungedhis people into ruin ; that only lately he had perpe-trated a flagrant act of extortion upon some mer-chants. The bishops were to blame for not rebukinghim. They must urge him to mend his ways underthreat of papal penalties; and if he remained obstin-ate they were to
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