444 Outlines of European History The revenue from a great landed estate and the high rank that went with the office were enough to induce the members of the noblest families to vie with each other in securing church positions. The king or prince who possessed the right of inves- titure was sure of finding some one willing to pay something for important benefices. Origin of The sin of buying or selling church offices was recognized the term . ,, , . ,, i '^simony" as a most serious one. It was called "simony, ^ a name derived from Simon the Magician, who, according to the account in the Acts of the Apostles, offered money to the Aposde Peter if he would give him the power of conferring the Holy Spirit upon those upon whom he should lay his hands. As the aposde denounced this first simonist, — *' Thy silver perish with thee, because thou hast thought to obtain the gift of God with money " (Acts viii, 20), — so the Church has continued ever since to denounce those who propose to purchase its. sacred powers. Simony not Doubtlcss very few bought positions in the Church with the really the sale . ^ . . . i ,, t r ^ -i ,, 1 . , ,. . of church View of obtaining the " gift of God," that is to say, the religious offices office. It was the revenue and the honor that were chiefly coveted. Moreover, when a king or lord accepted a gift from one for whom he procured a benefice, he did not regard him- self as selling the office ; he merely shared its advantages. No transaction took place in the Middle Ages without accompany- ing gifts and fees of various kinds. Simony cor- The evil of simony was, nevertheless, very demoralizing, for lower clergy it Spread downward and infected the whole body of the clergy. A bishop who had made a large outlay in obtaining his office naturally expected something from the priests, whom it was his duty to appoint. Then the priest, in turn, was tempted to exact too much for baptizing and marrying his parishioners, and for burying the dead. So it seemed, at the opening of the eleventh century, as if the Church was to be dragged down by its property into the anarchy of feudalism described in a preceding chapter. 1 Pronounced stm'o-ny.
