Of the Election of Bishops and Abbots.
AS the church was grown poor, the kings resigned the right of nominating to bishopricks and other ecclesiastic benefices. The princes gave themselves less trouble about the ecclesiastic ministers; and the candidates were less solicitous in applying to their authorities. Thus the church received a kind of compensation for the possessions she had lost.
Hence if Lewis the Debonnaire left the people of Rome in possession of the right of chusing their popes, it was owing to the general spirit that prevailed in his time: he behaved in the same manner to the see of Rome as to other bishopricks.