Chapter XVIII: Act 1837: (In re Blewitt, 1880, 5 P.D. 116) (3)

INNOCENT VIII. (Giovanni Battista Cibo), pope from the 29th of August 1484 to the 25th of July 1492, successor of Sixtus IV., was born at Genoa (1432), the son of Arano Cibo, who under Calixtus III. had been a senator of Rome. His youth, spent at the Neapolitan court, was far from blameless, and it is not certain that he was married to the mother of his numerous family. He later took orders, and, through the favour of Cardinal Calandrini, half-brother of Nicholas V., obtained from Paul II. the bishopric of Savona. Sixtus IV. translated him to the see of Molfetta, and in 1473 created him cardinal-priest of Sta Balbina, subsequently of Sta Cecilia. As pope, he addressed a fruitless summons to Christendom to unite in a crusade against the infidels, and concluded in 1489 a treaty with Bayezid II., agreeing in consideration of an annual payment of 40,000 ducats and the gift of the Holy Lance, to detain the sultan's fugitive brother Jem in close confinement in the Vatican. Innocent excommunicated and deposed Ferdinand, king of Naples, by bull of the 11th of September 1489, for refusal to pay the papal dues, and gave his kingdom to Charles VIII. of France, but in 1492 restored Ferdinand to favour. He declared (1486) Henry VII. to be lawful king of England by the threefold right of conquest, inheritance and popular choice, and approved his marriage with Elizabeth, the daughter of Edward IV. Innocent, like his predecessor, hated heresy, and in the bull _Summis desiderantes_ (5th of December 1484) he instigated very severe measures against magicians and witches in Germany; he prohibited (1486) on pain of excommunication the reading of the propositions of Pico della Mirandola; he appointed (1487) T. Torquemada to be grand inquisitor of Spain; and he offered plenary indulgence to all who would engage in a crusade against the Waldenses. He took the first steps towards the canonization of Queen Margaret of Scotland, and sent missionaries under Portuguese auspices to the Congo. An important event of his pontificate was the capture of Granada (2nd of January 1492), which was celebrated at Rome with great rejoicing and for which Innocent gave to Ferdinand of Aragon the title of "Catholic Majesty." Innocent was genial, skilled in flattery, and popular with the Romans, but he lacked talent and relied on the stronger will of Cardinal della Rovere, afterwards Julius II. His Curia was notoriously corrupt, and he himself openly practised nepotism in favour of his children, concerning whom the epigram is quoted: "Octo nocens pueros genuit, totidemque puellas:--Hunc merito poterit dicere Roma patrem." Thus he gave to his undeserving son Franceschetto several towns near Rome and married him to the daughter of Lorenzo de' Medici. Innocent died on the 25th of July 1492, and was succeeded by Alexander VI.

The sources for the life of Innocent VIII. are to be found in L.
Muratori, _Rerum Italicarum Scriptores_, vol. 3, and in Raynaldus, a.
1484-1492. See also L. Pastor, _History of the Popes_, vol. 5, trans.
by F. I. Antrobus (London, 1898); M. Creighton, _History of the
Papacy_, vol. 4 (London, 1901); F. Gregorovius, _Rome in the Middle
Ages_, vol. 7, trans. by Mrs. G. W. Hamilton (London, 1900-1902); T.
Hagen, _Die Papstwahlen von 1484 u. 1492_ (Brizen, 1885); S. Riezler,
_Die Hexenprozesse_ (1896); G. Viani, _Memorie della famiglia Cybo_
(Pisa, 1808); F. Serdonati, _Vita e fatti d'Innocenzo VIII._ (Milan,
1829). (C. H. Ha.)

INNOCENT IX. (Giovanni Antonio Fachinetti) was born in 1519. He filled the offices of apostolic vicar of Avignon, legate at the council of Trent, nuncio to Venice, and president of the Inquisition. He became cardinal in 1583; and under the invalid Gregory XIV. assumed almost the entire conduct of affairs. His election to the papacy, on the 29th of October 1591, was brought about by Philip II., who profited little by it, however, inasmuch as Innocent soon succumbed to age and feebleness, dying on the 30th of December 1591.

See Ciaconius, _Vitae et res gestae summorum Pontiff. Rom._ (Rome,
1601-1602); Cicarella, continuator of Platina, _De Vitis Pontiff.
Rom._ (both contemporaries of Innocent); Ranke, _Popes_ (Eng. trans.,
Austin), ii. 233 sq. (all brief accounts). (T. F. C.)

INNOCENT X. (Giovanni Battista Pamfili) was born in Rome on the 6th of May 1574, served successively as auditor of the Rota, nuncio to Naples, legate apostolic to Spain, was made cardinal in 1627, and succeeded Urban VIII. as pope on the 15th of September 1644. Throughout his pontificate Innocent was completely dominated by his sister-in-law, Donna Olimpia Maidalchini, a woman of masculine spirit. There is no reason to credit the scandalous reports of an illicit attachment. Nevertheless, the influence of Donna Olimpia was baneful; and she made herself thoroughly detested for her inordinate ambition and rapacity. Urban VIII. had been French in his sympathies; but the papacy now shifted to the side of the Habsburgs, and there remained for nearly fifty years. Evidences of the change were numerous: Innocent promoted pro-Spanish cardinals; attacked the Barberini, protégés of Mazarin, and sequestered their possessions; aided in quieting an insurrection in Naples, fomented by the duke of Guise; and refused to recognize the independence of Portugal, then at war with Spain. As a reward he obtained from Spain and Naples the recognition of ecclesiastical immunity. In 1649 Castro, which Urban VIII. had failed to take, was wrested from the Farnese and annexed to the Papal States. The most worthy efforts of Innocent were directed to the reform of monastic discipline (1652). His condemnation of Jansenism (1653) was met with the denial of papal infallibility in matters of _fact_, and the controversy entered upon a new phase (see JANSENISM). Although the pontificate of Innocent witnessed the conversion of many Protestant princes, the most notable being Queen Christina of Sweden, the papacy had nevertheless suffered a perceptible decline in prestige; it counted for little in the negotiations at Münster, and its solemn protest against the peace of Westphalia was entirely ignored. Innocent died on the 7th of January 1655, and was succeeded by Alexander VII.

For contemporary lives of Innocent see Oldoin, continuator of
Ciaconius, _Vitae et res gestae summorum Pontiff. Rom._; and _Palazzi,
Gesta Pontiff. Rom._ (Venice, 1687-1688) iv. 570 sqq.; Ciampi's
_Innoc. X. Pamfili, et la sua Corte_ (Rome, 1878), gives a very full
account of the period. Gualdus' (pseud. of Gregorio Leti; v. bibliog.
note, art. "SIXTUS V.") _Vita de Donna Olimpia Maidalchina_ (1666) is
gossipy and untrustworthy; Capranica's _Donna Olympia Pamfili_ (Milan,
1875, 3rd ed.) is fanciful and historically of no value. See also
Ranke, _Popes_ (Eng. trans., Austin), iii. 40 sqq.; v. Reumont,
_Gesch. der Stadt Rom._ iii. 2, p. 623 sqq.; Brosch, _Gesch. des
Kirchenstaates_ (1880) i. 409 sqq.; and the extended bibliography in
Herzog-Hauck, _Realencyklopädie_, s.v. "Innocenz X." (T. F. C.)

INNOCENT XI. (Benedetto Odescalchi), pope from 1676 to 1689, was born at Como on the 16th of May 1611. He studied law in Rome and Naples, entered the Curia under Urban VIII. (his alleged military service seems to be questionable), and became successively protonotary, president of the Apostolic Chamber, governor of Macerate and commissary of Ancona. Innocent X. made him a cardinal (1647), legate to Ferrara, and, in 1650, bishop of Novara. His simple and blameless life, his conscientious discharge of duty, and his devotion to the needs of the poor had won for him such a name that, despite the opposition of France, he was chosen to succeed Clement X. on the 21st of September 1676. He at once applied himself to moral and administrative reform; declared against nepotism, introduced economy, abolished sinecures, wiped out the deficit (at the same time reducing rents), closed the gaming-houses, and issued a number of sumptuary ordinances. He held monks strictly to the performance of their vows; took care to satisfy himself of the fitness of candidates for bishoprics; enjoined regular catechetical instruction, greater simplicity in preaching, and greater reverence in worship. The moral teaching of the Jesuits incurred his condemnation (1679) (see LIGUORI), an act which the society never forgave, and which it partially revenged by forcing, through the Inquisition, the condemnation of the quietistic doctrines of Molinos (1687), for which Innocent entertained some sympathy (see MOLINOS).

The pontificate of Innocent fell within an important period in European politics, and he himself played no insignificant rôle. His protest against Louis XIV.'s extended claim to regalian rights called forth the famous Declaration of Gallican Liberties by a subservient French synod under the lead of Bossuet (1682), which the pope met by refusing to confirm Louis's clerical appointments. His determination to restrict the ambassadorial right of asylum, which had been grossly abused, was resented by Louis, who defied him in his own capital, seized the papal territory of Avignon, and talked loudly of a schism, without, however, shaking the pope in his resolution. The preponderance of France Innocent regarded as a menace to Europe. He opposed Louis's candidate for the electorate of Cologne (1688), approved the League of Augsburg, acquiesced in the designs of the Protestant William of Orange, even in his supplanting James II., whom, although a Roman Catholic, he distrusted as a tool of Louis. The great object of Innocent's desire was the repulse of the Turks, and his unwearying efforts to that end entitled him to share in the glory of relieving Vienna (1683).

Innocent died on the 12th of August 1689, lamented by his subjects. His character and life were such as to suggest the propriety of canonization, but hostile influences have defeated every move in that direction.

The life of Innocent has been frequently written. See Guarnacci,
_Vitae et res gestae Pontiff. Rom._ (Rome, 1751), i. 105 sqq.;
Palazzi, _Gesta Pontiff. Rom._ (Venice, 1690); also the lives by
Albrizzi (Rome, 1695); Buonamici (Rome, 1776); and Immich (Berlin,
1900). Particular phases of Innocent's activity have been treated by
Michaud, _Loius XIV. et Innoc. XI._ (Paris, 1882 sqq., 4 vols.);
Dubruel, _La Correspond.... du Card. Carlo Pio_, &c. (see _Rev. des
quest. hist._ lxxv. (1904) 602 sqq.); and Gerin, in _Rev. des quest.
hist._, 1876, 1878, 1886. For correspondence of Innocent see Colombo,
_Notizie biogr. e lettere di P. Innoc. XI._ (Turin, 1878); and
Berthier, _Innoc. PP. XI. Epp. ad Principes_ (Rome, 1890 sqq.). An
extended bibliography may be found in Herzog-Hauck,
_Realencyklopädie_, s.v. "Innocenz XI." (T. F. C.)

INNOCENT XII. (Antonio Pignatelli), pope from 1691 to 1700 in succession to Alexander VIII., was born in Naples on the 13th of March 1615, was educated at the Jesuit College in Rome, entered upon his official career at the age of twenty, and became vice-legate of Urbino, governor of Perugia, and nuncio to Tuscany, to Poland and to Austria. He was made cardinal and archbishop of Naples by Innocent XI., whose pontificate he took as a model for his own, which began on the 12th of July 1691. Full of reforming zeal, he issued ordinances against begging, extravagance and gambling; forbade judges to accept presents from suitors; built new courts of justice; prohibited the sale of offices, maintaining the financial equilibrium by reducing expenses; and, an almost revolutionary step, struck at the root of nepotism, in a bull of 1692 ordaining that thenceforth no pope should grant estates, offices or revenues to any relative. Innocent likewise put an end to the strained relations that had existed between France and the Holy See for nearly fifty years. He adjusted the difficulties over the regalia, and obtained from the French bishops the virtual repudiation of the Declaration of Gallican Liberties. He confirmed the bull of Alexander VIII. against Jansenism (1696); and, in 1699, under pressure from Louis XIV., condemned certain of Fénelon's doctrines which Bossuet had denounced as quietistic (see FÉNELON). When the question of the Spanish succession was being agitated he advised Charles II. to make his will in favour of the duke of Anjou. Innocent died, on the eve of the great conflict, on the 27th of September 1700. Moderate, benevolent, just, Innocent was one of the best popes of the modern age.

See Guarnacci, _Vitae et res gestae Pontiff. Rom._ (Rome, 1751), i.
389 sqq.; Ranke, _Popes_ (Eng. trans., Austin), iii. 186 sqq.; v.
Reumont, _Gesch. der Stadt Rom._ iii. 2, p. 640 sqq.; and the
_Bullarium Innoc. XII._ (Rome, 1697). (T. F. C.)

INNOCENT XIII. (Michele Angelo Conti), pope from 1721 to 1724, was the son of the duke of Poli, and a member of a family that had produced several popes, among them Innocent III., was born in Rome on the 13th of May 1655, served as nuncio in Switzerland, and, for a much longer time, in Portugal, was made cardinal and bishop of Osimo and Viterbo by Clement XI., whom he succeeded on the 8th of May 1721. One of his first acts was to invest the emperor Charles VI. with Naples (1722); but against the imperial investiture of Don Carlos with Parma and Piacenza he protested, albeit in vain. He recognized the Pretender, "James III.," and promised him subsidies conditional upon the re-establishment of Roman Catholicism in England. Moved by deep-seated distrust of the Jesuits and by their continued practice of "Accommodation," despite express papal prohibition (see CLEMENT XI.), Innocent forbade the Order to receive new members in China, and was said to have meditated its suppression. This encouraged the French Jansenist bishops to press for the revocation of the bull _Unigenitus_; but the pope commanded its unreserved acceptance. He weakly yielded to pressure and bestowed the cardinal's hat upon the corrupt and debauched Dubois. Innocent died on the 7th of March 1724, and was succeeded by Benedict XIII.

See Guarnacci, _Vitae et res gestae Pontiff. Rom._ (Rome, 1751), ii.
137 sqq., 381 sqq.; Sandini, _Vitae Pontiff. Rom._ (Padua, 1739); M.
v. Mayer, _Die Papstwahl Innocenz XIII._ (Vienna, 1874); Michaud, "La
Fin du Clement XI. et le commencement du pontificat d'Innocent XIII."
in the _Internat. Theol. Zeitschr._ v. 42 sqq., 304 sqq. (T. F. C.)

INNOCENTS' DAY, or CHILDERMAS, a festival celebrated in the Latin church on the 28th of December, and in the Greek church on the 29th (O.S.) in memory of the massacre of the children by Herod. The Church early regarded these little ones as the first martyrs. It is uncertain when the day was first kept as a saint's day. At first it seems to have been absorbed into the celebration of the Epiphany, but by the 5th century it was kept as a separate festival. In Rome it was a day of fasting and mourning. In the middle ages the festival was the occasion for much indulgence to the children. The boy-bishop (q.v.), whose tenure of office lasted till Childermas, had his last exercise of authority then, the day being one of the series of days which were known as the Feast of Fools. Parents temporarily abdicated authority, and in nunneries and monasteries the youngest nun and monk were for the twenty-four hours allowed to masquerade as abbess and abbot. These mockeries of religion were condemned by the Council of Basel (1431); but though shorn of its extravagances the day is still observed as a feast day and merry-making for children in Catholic countries, and particularly as an occasion for practical joking like an April Fool's Day. In Spanish-America when such a joke has been played, the phrase equivalent to "You April fool!" is _Que la inocencia le valga!_ May your innocence protect you! The society of Lincoln's Inn specially celebrated Childermas, annually electing a "king of the Cockneys." Innocents' Day was ever accounted unlucky. Nothing was begun and no marriages took place then. Louis XI. prohibited all state business. The coronation of Edward IV., fixed for a Sunday, was postponed till the Monday when it was found the Sunday fell on the 28th of December. In rural England it was deemed unlucky to do housework, put on new clothes or pare the nails. At various places in Gloucestershire, Somerset and Worcestershire muffled peals were rung (_Notes and Queries_, 1st series, vol. viii. p. 617). In Northampton the festival was called "Dyzemas Day" (possibly from Gr. [Greek: dys-] "ill" and "mass"), and there is a proverb "What is begun on Dyzemas will never be finished." The Irish call the day _La Croasta na bliana_, "the cross day of the year," or _Diar dasin darg_, "blood Thursday," and many legends attach to it (_Notes and Queries_, 4th series, vol. xii. p. 185). In medieval England the children were reminded of the mournfulness of the day by being whipped in bed on Innocents' morning. This custom survived to the 17th century.

INNSBRUCK, the capital of the Austrian province of Tirol, and one of the most beautifully situated towns in Europe. In 1900 the population was 26,866 (with a garrison of about 2000 men), mainly German-speaking and Romanist. Built at a height of 1880 ft., in a wide plain formed by the middle valley of the Inn and on the right bank of that river, it is surrounded by lofty mountains that seem to overhang the town. It occupies a strong military position (its commercial and industrial importance is now but secondary) at the junction of the great highway from Germany to Italy over the Brenner Pass, by which it is by rail 109½ m. from Munich and 174½ m. from Verona, with that from Bregenz in the Vorarlberg, distant 122 m., by rail under the Arlberg Pass. It takes its name from its position, close to the chief bridge over the Inn. It is the seat of the supreme judicial court of the Tirol, the Diet of which meets in the Landhaus. The streets are broad, there are several open places and the houses are handsome, many of those in the old town dating from the 17th and 18th centuries, and being adorned with frescoes, while the arcades beneath are used as shops.

The principal monument is the Franciscan or Court church (1553-1563). In it is the magnificent 16th-century cenotaph (his body is elsewhere) of the emperor Maximilian (d. 1519), who, as count of the Tirol from 1490 onwards, was much beloved by his subjects. It represents the emperor kneeling in prayer on a gigantic marble sarcophagus, surrounded by twenty-eight colossal bronze statues of mourners, of which twenty-three figure ancestors, relatives or contemporaries of Maximilian, while five represent his favourite heroes of antiquity--among these five are the two finest statues (both by Peter Vischer of Nuremberg), those of King Arthur of Britain and of Theodoric, the Ostrogothic king. On the sides of the sarcophagus are twenty-four marble reliefs, depicting the principal events in the life of Maximilian, nearly all by Alexander Colin of Malines, while the general design of the whole monument is attributed to Gilg Sesselschreiber, the court painter. In one of the aisles of the same church is the Silver Chapel, so called from a silver Madonna and silver bas-reliefs on the altar; it contains the tombs of Archduke Ferdinand, count of the Tirol (d. 1595) and his non-royal wife, Philippine Welser of Augsburg (d. 1580), whose happy married life spent close by is one of the most romantic episodes in Tirolese history. In the other aisle are the tombs, with monuments, of the heroes of the War of Independence of 1809, Hofer, Haspinger and Speckbacher. It was in this church that Queen Christina of Sweden, daughter of Gustavus Adolphus, abjured Protestantism, in 1655. There are also several other churches and convents, among the latter the first founded (1593) in Germany by the Capuchins.

The university of Innsbruck was formally founded in 1677, and refounded (after two periods of suspension, 1782-1792 and 1810-1826) in 1826. It is attended by about 1000 students and has a large staff of professors, the theological faculty being controlled by the Jesuits. It has a library of 176,000 books, and 1049 MSS. The University or Jesuit church dates from the early 17th century. The Ferdinandeum is the provincial museum (founded in 1823, though the present building is later). The house known as the Goldne Dachl has its roof covered with gilded copper tiles; it was built about 1425, by Frederick, count of the Tirol, nicknamed "with the empty pockets," but the balcony and gilded roof were added in 1500 by the emperor Maximilian. Among the other monuments of Innsbruck may be mentioned the Pillar of St Anne, erected in 1706 to commemorate the repulse of the French and the Bavarians in 1703; the Triumphal Arch, built in 1765, on the occasion of the marriage of the future emperor Leopold II. with the Infanta Maria Louisa of Spain; and a fountain, with a bronze statue of Archduke Leopold V., set up in 1863-1877, in memory of the five-hundredth anniversary of the union of the Tirol with Austria.

The Roman station of Veldidena was succeeded by the Premonstratensian abbey of Wilten, both serving to guard the important strategical bridge over the Inn. In 1180 the count of Andechs (the local lord) moved the market-place over to the right bank of the river (where is the convent), and in 1187 we first hear of the town by its present name. Between 1233 and 1235 it was fortified, and a castle built for the lord. But it was only about 1420 that Archduke Frederick IV. ("with the empty pockets") built himself a new castle in Innsbruck, which then replaced Meran as the capital of Tirol. The county of Tirol was generally held by a cadet line of the Austrian house, the count being almost an independent ruler. But the last princeling of this kind died in 1665, since which date Innsbruck and Tirol have been governed from Vienna. In 1552 Maurice of Saxony surprised and nearly took Innsbruck, almost capturing the emperor Charles V. himself, who escaped owing to a mutiny among Maurice's troops. In the patriotic war of 1809, Innsbruck played a great part and suffered much, while in 1848, at the time of the revolution in Vienna, it joyfully received the emperor Ferdinand. (W. A. B. C.)

INNS OF COURT. The Inns of Court and Chancery are voluntary non-corporate legal societies seated in London, having their origin about the end of the 13th and the commencement of the 14th century.

Dugdale (_Origines Juridiciales_) states that the learned in English law were anciently persons in holy orders, the justices of the king's court being bishops, abbots and the like. But in 1207 the clergy were prohibited by canon from acting in the temporal courts. The result proving prejudicial to the interests of the community, a commission of inquiry was issued by Edward I. (1290), and this was followed up (1292) by a second commission, which among other things directed that students "apt and eager" should be brought from the provinces and placed in proximity to the courts of law now fixed by Magna Carta at Westminster (see INN). These students were accordingly located in what became known as the Inns of Court and Chancery, the latter designated by Fortescue (_De Laudibus_) as "the earliest settled places for students of the law," the germ of what Sir Edward Coke subsequently spoke of as our English juridical university. In these Inns of Court and Chancery, thus constituted, and corresponding to the ordinary college, the students, according to Fortescue, not only studied the laws and divinity, but further learned to dance, sing and play instrumental music, "so that these hostels, being nurseries or seminaries of the court, were therefore called Inns of Court."

Stow in his _Survey_ (1598) says: "There is in and about this city a whole university, as it were, of students, practisers or pleaders and judges of the laws of this realm"; and he goes on to enumerate the several societies, fourteen in number, then existing, corresponding nearly with those recognized in the present day, of which the Inns of Court, properly so-called, are and always have been four, namely _Lincoln's Inn_, the _Inner Temple_, the _Middle Temple_ and _Gray's Inn_. To these were originally attached as subordinate Inns of Chancery, Furnival's Inn, Thavie's Inn (to Lincoln's Inn), Clifford's Inn, Clement's Inn (to the Inner Temple), New Inn (to the Middle Temple), Staple's Inn, Barnard's Inn (to Gray's Inn), but they were cut adrift by the older Inns and by the middle of the 18th century had ceased to have any legal character (_vide infra_). In addition to these may be specified _Serjeant's Inn_, a society composed solely of serjeants-at-law, which ceased to exist in 1877. Besides the Inns of Chancery above enumerated, there were others, such as Lyon's Inn, which was pulled down in 1868, and Scrope's Inn and Chester or Strand Inn, spoken of by Stow, which have long been removed, and the societies to which they belonged have disappeared. The four Inns of Court stand on a footing of complete equality, no priority being conceded to or claimed by one inn over another. Their jurisdictions and privileges are equal, and upon affairs of common interest the benchers of the four inns meet in conference. From the earliest times there has been an interchange of fellowship between the four houses; nevertheless the Middle Temple and Lincoln's Inn, and the Inner Temple and Gray's Inn, have maintained a closer alliance.

The members of an Inn of Court consist of benchers, barristers and students. The benchers are the senior members of the society, who are invested with the government of the body to which they belong. They are more formally designated "masters of the bench," are self-elected and unrestricted as to numbers. Usually a member of an inn, on attaining the rank of king's counsel, is invited to the bench. Other members of long standing are also occasionally chosen, but no member by becoming a king's counsel or by seniority of standing acquires the right of being nominated a bencher. The benchers vary in number from twenty in Gray's Inn to seventy and upwards in Lincoln's Inn and the Inner Temple. The powers of the benchers are practically without limit within their respective societies; their duties, however, are restricted to the superintendence and management of the concerns of the inn, the admission of candidates as students, the calling of them to the bar and the exercise of discipline generally over the members. The meetings of the benchers are variously denominated a "parliament" in the Inner and Middle Temples, a "pension" in Gray's Inn and a "council" in Lincoln's Inn. The judges of the superior courts are the visitors of the inns, and to them alone can an appeal be had when either of the societies refuses to call a member to the bar, or to reinstate in his privileges a barrister who has been disbarred for misconduct. The presiding or chief officer is the treasurer, one of the benchers, who is elected annually to that dignity. Other benchers fulfil the duties of master of the library, master of the walks or gardens, dean of the chapel and so forth, while others are readers, whose functions are referred to below.

The usages of the different inns varied somewhat formerly in regard both to the term of probationary studentship enforced and to the procedure involved in a "call" to the bar by which the student is converted into the barrister. In the present day the entrance examination, the course of study and the examinations to be passed on the completion of the curriculum are identical and common to all the inns (see ENGLISH LAW). When once called to the bar, no hindrance beyond professional etiquette limits a barrister's freedom of action; so also members may on application to the benchers, and on payment of arrears of dues (if any), leave the society to which they belong, and thus cease altogether to be members of the bar likewise. A member of an Inn of Court retains his name on the lists of his inn for life by means of a small annual payment varying from £1 to £5, which at one or two of the inns is compounded for by a fixed sum taken at the call to the bar.

The ceremony of the "call" varies in detail at the different inns. It takes place after dinner (before dinner at the Middle Temple, which is the only inn at which students are called in their wigs and gowns), in the "parliament," "pension" or "council" chamber of the benchers. The benchers sit at a table round which are ranged the students to be called. Each candidate being provided with a glass of wine, the treasurer or senior bencher addresses them and the senior student briefly replies. "Call Parties" are also generally held by the new barristers; at the Middle Temple they are allowed in hall.

During the reign of Edward III. the Inns of Court and Chancery, based on the collegiate principle, prospered under the supervision and protection of the crown. In 1381 Wat Tyler invaded the Temple, and in the succeeding century (1450) Jack Cade meditated pulling down the Inns of Court and killing the lawyers. It would appear, moreover, that the inmates of the inns were themselves at times disorderly and in conflict with the citizens. Fortescue (c. 1464) describing these societies thus speaks of them: "There belong to the law ten lesser inns, which are called the Inns of Chancery, in each of which there are one hundred students at least, and in some a far greater number, though not constantly residing. After the students have made some progress here they are admitted to the Inns of Court. Of these there are four, in the least frequented of which there are about two hundred students. The discipline is excellent, and the mode of study well adapted for proficiency." This system had probably existed for two centuries before Fortescue wrote, and continued to be enforced down to the time of Sir Thomas More (1498), of Chief Justice Dyer (1537) and of Sir Edward Coke (1571). By the time of Sir Matthew Hale (1629) the custom for law students to be first entered to an Inn of Chancery before being admitted to an Inn of Court had become obsolete, and thenceforth the Inns of Chancery have been abandoned to the attorneys. Stow in his _Survey_ succinctly points out the course of reading enforced at the end of the 16th century. He says that the Inns of Court were replenished partly by students coming from the Inns of Chancery, who went thither from the universities and sometimes immediately from grammar schools; and, having spent some time in studying the first elements of the law, and having performed the exercises called "bolts," "moots" and "putting of cases," they proceeded to be admitted to, and become students in, one of the Inns of Court. Here continuing for the space of seven years or thereabouts, they frequented readings and other learned exercises, whereby, growing ripe in the knowledge of the laws, they were, by the general consent either of the benchers or of the readers, called to the degree of barrister, and so enabled to practise in chambers and at the bar. This ample provision for legal study continued with more or less vigour down to nearly the commencement of the 18th century. A languor similar to that which affected the church and the universities then gradually supervened, until the fulfilment of the merest forms sufficed to confer the dignity of advocate and pleader. This was maintained until about 1845, when steps were taken for reviving and extending the ancient discipline and course of study, bringing them into harmony with modern ideas and requirements.

The fees payable vary slightly at the different inns, but average about £150. This sum covers all expenses from admission to an inn to the call at the bar, but the addition of tutorial and other expenses may augment the cost of a barrister's legal education to £400 or £500. The period of study prior to call must not be less than twelve terms, equivalent to about three years. Solicitors, however, may be called without keeping any terms if they have been in practice for not fewer than five consecutive years.

It has been seen that the studies pursued in ancient times were conducted by means of "readings," "moots" and "bolts." The _readings_ were deemed of vital importance, and were delivered in the halls with much ceremony; they were frequently regarded as authorities and cited as such at Westminster in argument. Some statute or section of a statute was selected for analysis and explanation, and its relation to the common law pointed out. Many of these readings, dating back to Edward I., are extant, and well illustrate the importance of the subjects and the exhaustive and learned manner in which they were treated. The function of "reader" involved the holder in very weighty expenses, chiefly by reason of the profuse hospitality dispensed--a constant and splendid table being kept during the three weeks and three days over which the readings extended, to which were invited the nobility, judges, bishops, the officers of state and sometimes the king himself. In 1688 the readers were paid £200 for their reading, but by that time the office had become a sinecure. In the present day the readership is purely honorary and without duties. The privilege formerly assumed by the reader of calling to the bar was taken away in 1664 by an order of the lord chancellor and the judges. _Moots_ were exercises of the nature of formal arguments on points of law raised by the students and conducted under the supervision of a bencher and two barristers sitting as judges in the halls of the inns. _Bolts_ were of an analogous character, though deemed inferior to moots.

In the early history of the inns discrimination was exercised in regard to the social status of candidates for admission to them. Sir John Ferne, a writer of the 16th century, referred to by Dugdale, states that none were admitted into the houses of court except they were gentlemen of blood. So also Pliny, writing in the 1st century of the Christian era (_Letters_, ii. 14), says that before his day young men even of the highest families of Rome were not admitted to practice except upon the introduction of some man of consular rank. But he goes on to add that all barriers were then broken down, everything being open to everybody--a remark applicable to the bar of England and elsewhere in the present day. It may here be noted that no dignity or title confers any rank at the bar. A privy councillor, a peer's son, a baronet, the speaker of the House of Commons or a knight--all rank at the bar merely according to their legal precedence. Formerly orders were frequently issued both by the benchers and by the crown on the subject of the dress, manners, morals and religious observances of students and members. Although some semblance of a collegiate discipline is still maintained, this is restricted to the dining in hall, where many ancient usages survive, and to the closing of the gates of the inns at night.

Each inn maintains a chapel, with the accompaniment of preachers and other clergy, the services being those of the Church of England. The Inner and the Middle Temple have joint use of the Temple church. The office of preacher is usually filled by an ecclesiastic chosen by the benchers. The principal ecclesiastic of the Temple church is, however, constituted by letters patent by the crown without episcopal institution or induction, enjoying, nevertheless, no authority independently of the benchers. He bears the title of Master of the Temple.

It has already been stated, on the authority of Fortescue, that the students of the Inns of Court learned to dance, sing and play instrumental music; and those accomplishments found expression in the "masques" and "revels" for which the societies formerly distinguished themselves, especially the Inner Temple and Gray's Inn. These entertainments were of great antiquity and much magnificence, involving very considerable expense. Evelyn (_Diary_) speaks of the revels at the Middle Temple as an old and riotous custom, having relation neither to virtue nor to policy. The last revel appears to have been held at the Inner Temple in 1734, to mark the occasion of the elevation of Lord Chancellor Talbot to the woolsack. The plays and masques performed were sometimes repeated elsewhere than in the hall of the inn, especially before the sovereign at court. A master of the revels was appointed, commonly designated Lord of Misrule. There is abundant information as to the scope and nature of these entertainments: one of the festivals is minutely described by Gerard Leigh in his _Accedence of Armorie_, 1612; and a tradition ascribes the first performance of Shakespeare's _Twelfth Night_ to a revel held in the Middle Temple hall in February 1601. The hospitality of the inns now finds expression mainly in the "Grand Day," held once in each of the four terms, when it is customary for the judges and other distinguished visitors to dine with the benchers (who sit apart from the barristers and students on a daïs in some state), and "Readers' Feast," on both which occasions extra commons and wine are served to the members attending. But the old customs also found some renewal in the shape of balls, concerts, garden-parties and other entertainments. In 1887 there was a revival (the first since the 17th century) of the Masque of Flowers at both the Inner Temple and Gray's Inn. The Royal Horticultural Society's annual exhibition of flowers and fruit is held in May in the Temple Gardens. Plays are also occasionally performed in the Temple, Robert Browning's _Sordello_ being acted in 1902 by a company of amateurs, most of whom were either members of the bar or connected with the legal profession.

The _Inner_ and the _Middle Temple_, so far as their history can be
traced, have always been separate societies. Fortescue, writing
between 1461 and 1470, makes no allusion to a previous junction of the
two inns. Dugdale (1671) speaks of the Temple as having been one
society, and states that the students so increased in number that at
length they divided, becoming the Inner and Middle Temple
respectively. He does not, however, give any authority for this
statement, or furnish the date of the division. The first trustworthy
mention of the Temple as an inn of court is found in the _Paston
Letters_, where, under date November 1440, the Inner Temple is spoken
of as a college, as is also subsequently the Middle Temple. The Temple
had been the seat in England of the Knights Templars, on whose
suppression in 1312 it passed with other of their possessions to the
crown, and after an interval of some years to the Knights Hospitallers
of St John of Jerusalem, who in the reign of Edward III. demised the
mansion and its surroundings to certain professors of the common law
who came from Thavie's Inn. Notwithstanding the destruction of the
muniments of the Temple by fire or by popular commotion, sufficient
testimony is attainable to show that in the reigns of Edward III. and
Richard II. the Temple had become the residence of the legal
communities which have since maintained there a permanent footing. The
two societies continued as tenants to the Knights Hospitallers of St
John until the dissolution of the order in 1539; they then became the
lessees of the crown, and so remained until 1609, when James I. made a
grant by letters patent of the premises in perpetuity to the benchers
of the respective societies on a yearly payment by each of £10, a
payment bought up in the reign of Charles II. In this grant the two
inns are described as "the Inner and the Middle Temple or New Temple,"
and as "being two out of those four colleges the most famous of all
Europe" for the study of the law. Excepting the church, nothing
remains of the edifices belonging to the Knights Templars, the present
buildings having been almost wholly erected since the reign of Queen
Elizabeth or since the Great Fire, in which the major part of the
Inner Temple perished. The church has been in the joint occupation of
the Inner and Middle Temple from time immemorial--the former taking
the southern and the latter the northern half. The round portion of
the church was consecrated in 1185, the nave or choir in 1240. It is
the largest and most complete of the four remaining round churches in
England, and is built on the plan of the church of the Holy Sepulchre
at Jerusalem. Narrowly escaping the ravages of the fire of 1666, this
beautiful building is one of the most perfect specimens of early
Gothic architecture in England. In former times the lawyers awaited
their clients for consultation in the Round Church, as similarly the
serjeants-at-Law were accustomed to resort to St Paul's Cathedral,
where each serjeant had a pillar assigned him.

The _Inner Temple_, comprehending a hall, parliament chamber, library
and other buildings, occupies the site of the ancient mansion of the
Knights Templars, built about the year 1240, and has from time to time
been more or less rebuilt and extended, the present handsome range of
buildings, including a new dining hall, being completed in 1870. The
library owes its existence to William Petyt, keeper of the Tower
Records in the time of Queen Anne, who was also a benefactor to the
library of the Middle Temple. The greatest addition by gift was made
by the Baron F. Maseres in 1825. The number of volumes now in the
library is 37,000. Of the Inns of Chancery belonging to the Inner
Temple _Clifford's Inn_ was anciently the town residence of the Barons
Clifford, and was demised in 1345 to a body of students of the law. It
was the most important of the Inns of Chancery, and numbered among its
members Coke and Selden. At its dinners a table was specially set
aside for the "Kentish Mess," though it is not clear what connexion
there was between the Inn and the county of Kent. It was governed by a
principal and twelve rulers. _Clement's Inn_ was an Inn of Chancery
before the reign of Edward IV., taking its name from the parish church
of St Clement Danes, to which it had formerly belonged. Clement's Inn
was the inn of Shakespeare's Master Shallow, and was the Shepherd's
Inn of Thackeray's _Pendennis_. The buildings of Clifford's Inn
survive (1910), but of Clement's Inn there are left but a few
fragments.

The _Middle Temple_ possesses in its hall one of the most stately of
existing Elizabethan buildings. Commenced in 1562, under the auspices
of Edmund Plowden, then treasurer, it was not completed until 1572,
the richly carved screen at the east end in the style of the
Renaissance being put up in 1575. The belief that the screen was
constructed of timber taken from ships of the Spanish Armada (1588) is
baseless. The hall, which has been preserved unaltered, has been the
scene of numerous historic incidents, notably the entertainments given
within its walls to regal and other personages from Queen Elizabeth
downwards. The library, which contains about 28,000 volumes, dates
from 1641, when Robert Ashley, a member of the society, bequeathed his
collection of books in all classes of literature to the inn, together
with a large sum of money; other benefactors were Ashmole (the
antiquary), William Petyt (a benefactor of the Inner Temple) and Lord
Stowell. From 1711 to 1826 the library was greatly neglected; and many
of the most scarce and valuable books were lost. The present handsome
library building, which stands apart from the hall, was completed in
1861, the prince of Wales (afterwards Edward VII.) attending the
inauguration ceremony on October 31st of that year, and becoming a
member and bencher of the society on the occasion. He afterwards held
the office of treasurer (1882). The MSS. in the collection are few and
of no special value. In civil, canon and international law, as also in
divinity and ecclesiastical history, the library is very rich; it
contains also some curious works on witchcraft and demonology. There
was but one Inn of Chancery connected with the Middle Temple, that of
_New Inn_, which, according to Dugdale, was formed by a society of
students previously settled at St George's Inn, situated near St
Sepulchre's Church without Newgate; but the date of this transfer is
not known. The buildings have now been pulled down.

_Lincoln's Inn_ stands on the site partly of an episcopal palace
erected in the time of Henry III. by Ralph Nevill, bishop of
Chichester and chancellor of England, and partly of a religious house,
called Black Friars House, in Holborn. In the reign of Edward II.,
Henry Lacy, earl of Lincoln, possessed the place, which from him
acquired the name of Lincoln's Inn, probably becoming an Inn of Court
soon after his death (in 1310), though of its existence as a place of
legal study there is little authentic record until the time of Henry
VI. (1424), to which date the existing muniments reach back. The fee
simple of the inn would appear to have remained vested in the see of
Chichester; and it was not until 1580 that the society which for
centuries had occupied the inn as tenants acquired the absolute
ownership of it. The old hall, built about 1506, still remains, but
has given place to a modern structure designed by Philip Hardwick,
R.A., which, along with the buildings containing the library, was
completed in 1845, Queen Victoria attending the inauguration ceremony
(October 13). The chapel, built after the designs of Inigo Jones, was
consecrated in 1623. The library--as a collection of law books the
most complete in the country--owes its foundation to a bequest of John
Nethersale, a member of the society, in 1497, and is the oldest of the
existing libraries in London. Various entries in the records of the
inn relate to the library, and notably in 1608, when an effort was
made to extend the collection, and the first appointment of a master
of the library (an office now held in annual rotation by each bencher)
was made. The library has been much enriched by donations and by the
acquisition by purchase of collections of books on special subjects.
It includes also an extensive and valuable series of MSS., the whole
comprehending 50,000 volumes. The prince of Wales (George V.), a
bencher of the society, filled the office of treasurer in 1904. The
Inns of Chancery affiliated to Lincoln's Inn were Thavie's Inn and
Furnival's Inn. _Thavie's Inn_ was a residence of students of the law
in the time of Edward III., and is mentioned by Fortescue as having
been one of the lesser houses of Lincoln's Inn for some centuries. It
thus continued down to 1769, when the inn was sold by the benchers,
and thenceforth it ceased to have any character as a place of legal
education. _Furnival's Inn_ became the resort of students about the
year 1406, and was purchased by the society of Lincoln's Inn in 1547.
It was governed by a principal and twelve antients. In 1817 the Inn
was rebuilt, but from that date it ceased to exist as a legal
community and is now demolished.

The exact date of _Gray's Inn_ becoming the residence of lawyers is
not known, though it was so occupied before the year 1370. The inn
stands upon the site of the manor of Portpoole, belonging in ancient
times to the dean and chapter of St Paul's, but subsequently the
property of the family of Grey de Wilton and eventually of the crown,
from which a grant of the manor or inn was obtained, many years since
discharged from any rent or payment. The hall of the inn is of
handsome design, similar to the Middle Temple hall in its general
character and arrangements, and was completed about the year 1560. The
chapel, of much earlier date than the hall, has, notwithstanding its
antiquity, little to recommend it to notice, being small and
insignificant, and lacking architectural features of any kind. The
library, including about 13,000 volumes, contains a small but
important collection of MSS. and missals, and also some valuable works
on divinity. Little is known of the origin or early history of the
library, though mention is incidentally made of it in the society's
records in the 16th and 17th centuries. The gardens, laid out about
1597, it is believed under the auspices of the lord chancellor Bacon,
at that time treasurer of the society, continue to this day as then
planned, though with some curtailment owing to the erection of
additional buildings. Among many curious customs maintained in this
inn is that of drinking a toast on grand days "to the glorious, pious
and immortal memory of Queen Elizabeth." Of the special circumstances
originating this display of loyalty there is no record. The Inns of
Chancery connected with Gray's Inn are Staple and Barnard's Inns.
_Staple Inn_ was an Inn of Chancery in the reign of Henry V., and is
probably of yet earlier date. Readings and moots were observed here
with regularity. Sir Simonds d'Ewes mentions attending a moot in
February 1624. The Inn, with its picturesque Elizabethan front, faces
Holborn. It was sold by the antients in 1884 lor £68,000. It is in a
very good state of preservation, and it is the intention of the
purchasers, the Prudential Assurance Company, to preserve it as a
memorial of vanishing London. _Barnard's Inn_, anciently designated
Mackworth Inn, was an Inn of Chancery in the reign of Henry VI. It was
bequeathed by him to the dean and chapter of Lincoln. It is now the
property of the Mercer's Company and is used as a school.

The _King's Inns, Dublin_, the legal school in Ireland, corresponds
closely to the English Inns of Court, and is in many respects in
unison with them in its regulations with regard to the admission of
students into the society, and to the degree of barrister-at-law, as
also in the scope of the examinations enforced. Formerly it was
necessary to keep a number of terms at one of the Inns in London--the
stipulation dating as far back as 1542 (33 Henry VIII. c. 3). Down to
1866 the course of education pursued at the King's Inns differed from
the English Inns of Court in that candidates for admission to the
legal profession as attorneys and solicitors carried on their studies
with those studying for the higher grade of the bar in the same
building under a professor specially appointed for this
purpose,--herein following the usage anciently prevailing in the Inns
of Chancery in London. This arrangement was put an end to by the
Attorneys and Solicitors Act (Ireland) 1866. The origin of the King's
Inns may be traced to the reign of Edward I., when a legal society
designated Collett's Inn was established without the walls of the
city; it was destroyed by an insurrectionary band. In the reign of
Edward III. Sir Robert Preston, chief baron of the exchequer, gave up
his residence within the city to the legal body, which then took the
name of Preston's Inn. In 1542 the land and buildings known as
Preston's Inn were restored to the family of the original donor, and
in the same year Henry VIII. granted the monastery of Friars Preachers
for the use of the professors of the law in Ireland. The legal body
removed to the new site, and thenceforward were known by the name of
the King's Inns. Possession of this property having been resumed by
the government in 1742, and the present Four Courts erected thereon, a
plot of ground at the top of Henrietta Street was purchased by the
society, and the existing hall built in the year 1800. The library,
numbering over 50,000 volumes, with a few MSS., is housed in buildings
specially provided in the year 1831, and is open, not only to the
members of the society, but also to strangers. The collection
comprises all kinds of literature. It is based principally upon a
purchase made in 1787 of the large and valuable library of Mr Justice
Robinson, and is maintained chiefly by an annual payment made from the
Consolidated Fund to the society in lieu of the right to receive
copyright works which was conferred by an Act of 1801, but abrogated
in 1836.

In discipline and professional etiquette the members of the bar in
Ireland differ little from their English brethren. The same style of
costume is enforced, the same gradations of rank--attorney-general,
solicitor-general, king's counsel and ordinary barristers--being
found. There are also serjeants-at-law limited, however, to three in
number, and designated 1st, 2nd and 3rd Serjeant. The King's Inns do
not provide chambers for business purposes; there is consequently no
aggregation of counsel in certain localities, as is the case in London
in the Inns of Court and their immediate vicinity.

The corporation known as the _Faculty of Advocates_ in Edinburgh
corresponds with the Inns of Court in London and the King's Inns in
Dublin (see ADVOCATES, FACULTY OF).