The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire · ¶247

I have not undertaken the ecclesiastical history of the schism; but Rome, the object of these last chapters, is deeply interested in the disputed succession of her sovereigns. The first counsels for the peace and union of Christendom arose from the university of Paris, from the faculty of the Sorbonne, whose doctors were esteemed, at least in the Gallican church, as the most consummate masters of theological science. Prudently waiving all invidious inquiry into the origin and merits of the dispute, they proposed, as a healing measure, that the two pretenders of Rome and Avignon should abdicate at the same time, after qualifying the cardinals of the adverse factions to join in a legitimate election; and that the nations should subtract their obedience, if either of the competitor preferred his own interest to that of the public. At each vacancy, these physicians of the church deprecated…

Edward Gibbon · Project Gutenberg #736 (Milman edition) — public domain
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