The Mistery of Belicena Villca Ineffabilis amor , of September 21 , 1296 , and all available means would be devoted by the Church to end the Ghibelline threat in Italy and Sicily ; and as for the pretext of war with England , wielded by the King of France to justify his exactions , it would be neutralized by forcing the parties to make a peace agreement ; pure logic : without war , the King would have no reason to demand taxes or contributions to the clergy .
Ineffabilis amor is followed by the bulls Romana mater ecclesia and Novertis , in which he now threatens the King with the excommunication , now manifests his full approval of tithes , as long as the Kingdom was actually found in danger ; but what stands out in all of them is the arrogance with which he addresses the King , whom he considers a mere subject . These bulls would raise a wave of indignation in France , since they were read publicly by order of the King , and they would further predispose the French Bishops against the papal intransigence . It is they who meet in an assembly in Paris and request the Pope , the 1 st of February 1297 , the authorization to subsidize Philip IV , who faces at that time the betrayal of the Count of Flanders . This , indeed , had allied himself to the King of England , who was trying to recover the Guyenne , and threatened the North of France . Boniface VIII must yield to the facts and authorize the contributions , leaving Clericis laicos in dead letter .
In April 1297 , Boniface sent the Cardinals Albano and Praeneste to Paris carrying a new bull : in it he orders the monarchs in conflict to establish a one-year truce while the final peace treaty is agreed ; the negotiation would be in charge of the Pope . Philip receives them , but before allowing them to read the rescript makes the following warning : -- “ Tell the Pope that it is our conviction that only to the King corresponds the command of the Kingdom . That We are the King of France and do not recognize competition from anyone above ours to intervene in the Kingdom affairs . That the King of England and the Count of Flanders are vassals of the King of France and that We do not accept another advice other than the Voice of Honor to treat our subjects ”.
The bull was read , but Philip did not reply until June 1298 , when the fortunes of arms were adverse to him before the united forces of England and Flanders . He then accepted the arbitration of Boniface VIII but not as the Pope , but only as " Benedetto Gaetani ": in this way he avoided admitting the papal jurisdiction in the matters of the Kingdom .
By the way , the controversy over the legitimacy of Boniface VIII continued more alive than ever . In France , the Lords of the Dog were in charge of updating the debate , while in Italy the agitation was carried out by the Colonna : the preference for Boniface VIII or Celestine V had been transformed there in synonymous of Guelph or Ghibelline . The Colonna , receiving secret help from Philip IV , and now allies to King Fadrique of Sicily , son of Pedro III of Aragón and Constanza of Swabia , presented themselves in the view of the Pope as the firmer candidates for a Golen vendetta . They just needed one chance , and this one appeared when Stefano Colonna ' s anger led him to assault a Papal caravan transporting the pontificial treasure from Anagni to Rome . Stefano Colonna had not acted with the intention of robbery but with the certainty of rescuing the assets of the Church that were in the power of an usurper ; that is why he led the treasure by daylight to his Palestrina Castle .
The lesson that Boniface VIII would apply to the Colonna , and the Ghibellines , would be exemplary , though characteristic of the Golen mentality . He first introduced to the people of Rome the act of Stefano Colonna as an unspeakable crime , for which he held all his lineage responsible : -- “ Cardinal Pietro is the Chief of the Ghibellines and both he and Cardinal Jacopo are to blame for the papal election ' s delay for two years in Perugia . Now another member of that family dares to rise up against the authority of the Pope , the highest in the Universe , and dares to steal his treasure : that cursed lineage must be banned from the Church ”. It was in vain that the Cardinals Colonna proclaimed the illegality of Boniface VIII , that they contributed in favor of their accusations the doubts that the University of Paris argued about the resignation of Celestine V , or that they requested the formation of a General
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