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96 III. THE ROMANIZED CHURCH (A.D. 11301389).
ready to decide all questions on which men disputed. He
also claimed to be the fountain and source of all power, the
dispenser of all privileges, and the director of all troubled
consciences. The claim to be the source of power grew
step by step with the custom, which first appears in the
sixth century, of sending an honorary scarf, called pallium,
from Rome to metropolitans of various provinces, whom
the pope desired to attach to himself or to recognize as his
agents. The fact that this woollen scarf had rested for a
night on the tomb of St. Peter gave it a special sanctity,
and carried with it an idea of the delegation of some of the
Petrine power to the recipient. At first this was given as
a personal honour. Then in time it came to be the official
duty of every metropolitan to ask for it after his consecra
tion, and it was held that without it he was in some ways
in an irregular condition. From a gift to a metropolitan
after consecration it became a condition of his confirmation
before consecration, and thus the idea was gradually es
tablished that metropolitan power was held by delegation
from the pope. For a long time, certainly up to the thir
teenth century, and the fourth Lateran Council under
Innocent III., it was generally held that ordinary episcopal
appointments within a province were to be confirmed by
the metropolitan, with the assistance of the comprovincial
bishops. But whenever there was a disputed or disputable
election an appeal to Rome was open, and many bishops,
in order to gain favour with the pope or a stronger posi
tion at home, voluntarily asked for confirmation where
there was no dispute. In process of time all bishops
were expected to get confirmation from Rome, and
to pay heavy fees for it. The financial necessities of
the papacy, as well as the desire for power, co-operated
in the extension of this system, which greatly restrained
episcopal and local liberty. Further, as time went on,
every bishop was expected to travel to Rome, every three
years, or to be subject to a heavy fine. In this way every
bishop was brought into subordination to the central
power.
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