At Troyes, he could
dispose only of 197 curacies out of 372; at Boulogne, out of 180, he
had only 80, and this again because the chapter voluntarily abandoned
to him 16. Naturally, the eyes of all candidates turned towards the
collator; and, among the highest and most lucrative places, those
which gave the least trouble and afforded the most satisfaction, all
sinecures, ranks, simple benefices and large urban curacies,
probendaries and canonicates, most of the offices, titles, and incomes
that might tempt human ambition, were in the hands, not of the bishop,
but of the king or of the Pope, of an abbot or prior, of an abbess, or
of a certain university,[26] of this or that cathedral or college-body,
of a lay seignior, of a patentee, or of an indultaire, and often of the
titulary himself. Thus, the hold of the bishop on his clercs was feeble;
he did not hold them through the hope of a favor. And, on the other
hand, he had still less hold on them, no hold at all, through fear of
losing favor. They might displease him almost with impunity; his
faculty for punishment was much more restricted than his means of
recompense.
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