tempted to impose its autocracy upon them, there had been a strong reäction in all these churches. On the spur of this sentiment every thing had been sought out that could be laid at the door of the Roman Church, which by her bishops held herself out as the infallible guardian of sound doctrine. Michael Cerularius was only the interpreter of these complaints; he would never have had enough influence to impose his grievances, true or pretended, upon the whole Christian East; so that those who call him the consummator of the schism commenced under Photius, have but superficially understood the facts. What made the strength of Photius against the Papacy was, that all the churches of the East were with him, in spite of political intrigues, imperial influence, Papal violence, and the spite of relentless enemies. Therein lay the strength of Michael Cerularius also. This Patriarch possessed neither the learning, the genius, nor the virtues of Photius; but he spoke in the name of the East, and the East recognized its own sense in his protests against the innovations of Rome. The Emperor, jealous of the influence he had acquired, banished him, and was endeavouring to have him deposed by a council, when he heard of his death, (1058.)
After the death of the Patriarch Michael intercourse between Rome and Constantinople became even less frequent than before. We hear of one legate sent in 1071, by Pope Alexander II., but rather for a political object than from motives of religion. He thought that the Eastern Emperors might be of great help in the Crusades.
Gregory VII., who soon after ascended the Papal chair, (in 1073,) raised the Papacy to its greatest height, by skilfully taking advantage of the divisions caused by the feudal system, to extend the influence of the Church, which he summed up in the Bishop of Rome. But he did not use his influence to reconcile the
