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to the Pope for aid; a synod of Lorraine bishops had shielded the adulterer and .sanctioned his marriage with Walrada, who became queen. Lothar also tried to win Nicholas over to his side with fawn- ing letters; and his brother, Emperor Louis, threatened Rome with an army. The only powerful defender of the inviolability of Thiet- berga's marriage was Hinkmar, Archbishop of Rheims and one of the illustrious men of the time. In all other respects a deep gulf lay be- tween the Pope and this protagonist of an episcopacy welded to the state. In one tract he spoke in behalf of the persecuted queen, and also referred to Rome as the seat of a judge who ranked above archbishops and kings. And indeed Nicholas was not to be cowed by royal threats. He condemned the dual marriage as a crime and excom- municated the bishops involved in the affair from their offices, their priestly functions and the Church. Once again Lothar was united with Thietberga, and again he broke the troth. Then the Pope im- posed the ban on Walrada, forbade the broken-hearted queen to give way to her rival, and threatened to excommunicate the guilty tor- mentors. It is true that he died before the close of what he himself termed "this sad drama*'; but his granite-like firmness had won a moral victory for the Papacy over the state church, and had sealed the triumph of a religious ideal over the demands of the flesh.
All the actions of this inflexible Pontiff were based upon a profound desire to transform the Imperial Church into a Papal Church. Whether he fought against Hinkmar of Rheims as the exponent of Gallican ecclesiastical individualism, whether he banned die Arch- bishop of Ravenna for having been guilty of rude excesses, or whether in a Byzantium long since the prey of jealousy he repelled the base flattery of Patriarch Photius, so anxious to secure the recognition of Rome, and removed his own papal legates from office for having taken bribes the point was always that even in his most daring utterances he was very much in earnest. He realized that he must be the con- science of his time, and literally made himself that conscience. To him the Papacy was the representative of God on earth, the founda- tion and norm of all order in human society. The Pope could, he held, judge all men, but could be judged by none save God, who would judge him more sternly than the rest. It is no wondet that his own
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