ARNOLD or BRESCIA) an Italian monk, who, at an early period of life, travelled into France, and became the disciple of the celebrated Abelard. Having imbib ed' some of the heretical sentiments, and a of that freedom of thought, which distinguished his mas ter, he returned to Italy, and in the habit of a monk began to propagate his opinions in the streets of Bres cia. The zeal of this daring reformer was first directed against the wealth and luxury of the Romish clergy. In sisting that the kingdom of God is not of this world, he maintained that the temporal power of the church was an unprincipled usurpation of the rights of secular prin ces, and that all the corruptions which disgraced the Christian faith, and all the animosities which distracted the church, sprung from the power and overgrown pos sessions of the clergy. These bold truths were propa gated not as mere points of speculation, or as an expla nation of the various calamities which then afflicted the church : They were held as the foundation of a system of reform, which the people were excited to carry into execution ; and the clergy were called upon to renounce their usurped possession, and to lead a frugal and ab stemious life, on the voluntary contributions of the peo ple. The laity embraced, with eagerness, the political heresy, of the Brescia') monk, and it was recommended to every class of the people, by the eloquence, the zeal, and the integrity of Arnold. The inhabitants of Brescia were roused by the eloquent appeals of their country man. They revered him as the apostle of religious li berty, and rose in rebellion against their lawful bishop. The church took alarm at these dangerous commotions ; and in a general council of the Lateran, held in 1139 by Innocent II., Arnold was condemned to perpetual si lence. He sought for refuge beyond the Alps, and found an hospitable shelter in the canton of Zurich. Here he again began his career of reform, and had the ability to seduce from their allegiance the bishop of Constance, and even the pope's legate. The exhortations of St
Bernard, however, reclaimed these yielding ecclesias tics to a sense of their duty ; and Arnold was driven, by persecution, to hazard the desperate expedient of fix ing the standard of rebellion in the very heart of Rome.
Protected perhaps, if not invited, by the nobles, Ar nold harangued the populace with his usual fervour, and inspired them with such a regard for their civil and ec clesiastical rights, that a complete revolution was ef fected in the city. Innocent struggled in vain against this invasion of his power, and at last sunk under the pressure of calamity. His successors, Celestin and Lu cius, who reigned only a few months, were unable to check the popular frenzy. The leaders of the insurrec tion waited upon Lucius, demanded the restitution of the civil rights which had been usurped from the peo ple, and insisted that his holiness and the clergy should trust only to the pious offerings of the faithful. Lucius survived this demand but a few clays, and was succeed ed by Eugenius III., who, dreading the mutinous spirit of the inhabitants, withdrew from Rome, and was con secrated in a neighbouring fortress.
As soon as Arnold was acquainted with the escape of the pontiff, he entered Rome, and animated with new vigour the licentious fury of the populace. He called to their remembrance the achievements of their fore fathers ;—he painted, in the strongest colours, the suf ferings and oppression which sprung from ecclesiastical tyranny ; and he charged them, as men and as Romans, never to admit the pontiff within their walls, till they had prescribed the limits of his spiritual jurisdiction, and fixed the civil government in their own hands. Headed by the disaffected nobles, the frenzied populace attacked the cardinals and clergy, who still continued in the city. They set fire to the palaces, and forced the inhabitants to swear allegiance to the new system of things.