XXXI.13 On elections to bishoprics and abbeys

The chur­ches having become poor, the kings aban­do­ned elec­tions to bisho­prics and other eccle­sias­ti­cal bene­fi­ces.¹ Princes were less concer­ned with naming the minis­ters, and the clai­mants made less appeal to their autho­rity. Thus the Church recei­ved a sort of com­pen­sa­tion for its pro­per­ties that had been taken.

And if Louis the Debonaire left to the Roman peo­ple the right to elect the popes,² that was an effect of the gene­ral spi­rit of his time ; one gover­ned one­self with res­pect to the See of Rome as one did with res­pect to the others.