Pope Boniface VIII, Unam Sanctam (1302)and

King Philip IV of France, General Assembly of Paris (1303)

In the thirteenth century, secular rulers throughout Europe sought to broaden their authority over people living within their lands, including the clergy. The pope vigorously resisted such efforts; as head of the universal church, the pope believed that he had exclusive jurisdiction over clerical matters. The documents below elucidate both sides of the argument against the backdrop of a bitter contest for power between Boniface VIII (r. 1294–1303) and King Philip IV of France (r. 1285–1314). The first is the papal bull Unam Sanctam issued by Boniface to counter what he regarded as Philip’s flagrant violations of clerical privilege. King Philip responded in kind by calling an assembly of his closest advisors to bring a host of charges against the pope, building on a strategy that he had already used in his conflict with Boniface. A year earlier, Philip had convened representatives of the clergy, nobles, and townspeople to garner support for his antipapal policies. His strategy succeeded in weakening the pope’s claim to universal authority while laying the groundwork for the development of representative institutions in France.

From Documents of the Christian Church, ed. Henry Bettenson (London: Oxford University Press, 1967), 115–16; and Medieval Europe, ed. Julius Kirshner and Karl F. Morrison (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986), 390–91.

Unam Sanctam

We are obliged by the faith to believe and hold—and we do firmly believe and sincerely confess—that there is one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, and that outside this Church there is neither salvation nor remission of sins. . . . In which Church there is “one Lord, one faith, one baptism.”¹ At the time of the flood there was one ark of Noah, symbolizing the one Church; this was completed in one cubit² and had one, namely Noah, as helmsman and captain; outside which all things on earth, we read, were destroyed. . . . Of this one and only Church there is one body and one head—not two heads, like a monster—namely Christ, and Christ’s vicar is Peter, and Peter’s successor, for the Lord said to Peter himself, “Feed My sheep.”³ “My sheep” He said in general, not these or those sheep; wherefore He is understood to have committed them all to him. . . .

And we learn from the words of the Gospel that in this Church and in her power are two swords, the spiritual and the temporal. For when the apostles said, “Behold, here” (that is, in the Church, since it was the apostles who spoke) “are two swords”—the Lord did not reply, “It is too much,” but “It is enough.”⁴ Truly he who denies that the temporal sword is in the power of Peter, misunderstands the words of the Lord, “Put up thy sword into the sheath.”⁵ Both are in the power of the Church, the spiritual sword and the material. But the latter is to be used for the Church, the former by her; the former by the priest, the latter by kings and captains but at the will and by the permission of the priest. The one sword, then, should be under the other, and temporal authority subject to spiritual. For when the apostle says “there is no power but of God, and the powers that be are ordained of God”⁶ they would not be so ordained were not one sword made subject to the other. . . .

Thus, concerning the Church and her power, is the prophecy of Jeremiah fulfilled, “See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms,” etc.⁷ If, therefore, the earthly power err, it shall be judged by the spiritual power; and if a lesser power err, it shall be judged by a greater. But if the supreme power err, it can only be judged by God, not by man; for the testimony of the apostle is “The spiritual man judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.”⁸ For this authority, although given to a man and exercised by a man, is not human, but rather divine, given at God’s mouth to Peter and established on a rock for him and his successors in Him whom he confessed, the Lord saying to Peter himself, “Whatsoever thou shalt bind,” etc.⁹ Whoever therefore resists this power thus ordained of God, resists the ordinance of God. . . . Furthermore we declare, state, define and pronounce that it is altogether necessary to salvation for every human creature to be subject to the Roman pontiff.

General Assembly of Paris

We, Philip, by God’s grace king of the French, have heard and understood the submissions and charges made by you, William of Plaisians, knight, and those previously made by our beloved and faithful Knight William of Nogaret, against Boniface, now presiding over the government of the Roman Church. We would gladly cover the shame of any father with our own mantle. Nevertheless, because of our fervor for the catholic faith, and the outstanding devotion we have for the sacrosanct Roman and universal Church, our mother and that of all the faithful, the spouse of Christ, following in the footsteps of our progenitors (who for the exaltation and the defense of ecclesiastical liberty and faith had no doubts at all about shedding their own blood), desiring to look after the interests of the faith and the state of the Church, in order to avoid the costs of a general scandal, we are unable under the pressure of conscience any longer to pass over said matters with closed eyes and pretended ignorance. Since Boniface’s reputation has more and more often been vehemently and prominently burdened by frequently repeated complaints on these accounts, driven home by trustworthy men of great authority, since, when our faith is being destroyed, our own negligence, that of anybody else, and especially that of the kings and princes of the earth, who we know have received the power conferred upon us by the Lord in order to exalt and augment the faith, must be reproved, we assent to your requests in this respect, out of reverence for the divine name, reserving in all respects due honor and reverence to the sacrosanct Roman Church. We are prepared, and gladly offer ourselves, to the extent to which it falls within our purview, to lend our support, and to do so effectively, to the convocation and congregation of the said council,¹⁰ so that in the said matters the truth may shine forth and all error recede, so that the state of the universal Church and of all Christendom, the faith, and the interests of the Holy Land may be taken thought for, and so that impending scandals and dangers may be countered. And we urgently request you archbishops, bishops, and other prelates here present, as sons of the Church and pillars of faith, called by the Lord to exercise your part of the solicitude for the exaltation, augmentation, and conservation of the faith, and we beseech you by the bowels of Jesus Christ’s mercy to devote every effort, as is fitting, to the convocation and congregation of the council, at which we are planning to be present in person, and to work in fitting ways and means effectively towards it.

There is need to ensure, however, that the said Boniface, who has already several times angrily and unlawfully threatened to proceed against us, will not, in trying to prevent his works of darkness, if there are any, from coming to light, directly or indirectly impede the convocation and congregation of the council, or, if he should fail in this endeavor, that he will not proceed against us, our state, churches, prelates, barons, and other faithful, vassals, and subjects, our lands or theirs, our kingdom and the kingdom’s state, in any respect, abusing the spiritual sword, by excommunication, interdict, suspension, or in any other way, with the effect that our position in the same council would no longer be quite sound. We therefore call for review and appeal in writing, for ourselves and our adherents, and those wishing to adhere to us, to said general council, which we urgently petition be convoked, and to the true and legitimate supreme pontiff-to-be, and to others to whom one should be required to appeal, without withdrawing the appeal registered by said William of Nogaret, to which we adhered then and still adhere, urgently requesting testimonial letters of dismissal from you prelates and notaries, and expressly protesting our right to alter these calls for review and appeals where, when, and before whom we may consider it expedient.

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