ABSTRACT
According to the theory of the Roman Catholic Church, forgiveness is imparted to sinners in absolution after confession, by which the penitent is freed from guilt and eternal punishment in hell, but still remains liable to a milder punishment to be undergone in this life as penance, or in purgatory. The practice had arisen in the early Church of commuting this penance (not the pains of purgatory) in consideration of a good work such as a pilgrimage or a contribution to pious purpose. This was the seed of the indulgence which would never have grown to its later enormous proportions had it not been for the crusades. Mohammed promised his followers paradise if they fell in battle against unbelievers, but Christian warriors were at first without this comforting assurance. Their faith was not long left in doubt, however, for as early as 855 Leo I V promised heaven to the Franks who died fighting the Moslems. A quarter of a century later John V I I I proclaimed absolution for all sins and remission of all penalties to soldiers in the holy war, and from this time on the " crusade indulgence " became a regular means of recruiting, used, for example, by Leo I X in 1052 and by Urban I I in 1095. By this time the practice had grown up of regarding an indulgence as a remission not only of penance
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but of the pains of purgatory. The means which had proved successful in getting soldiers for the crusade were first used in 1145 or 1146 to get money for the same end — pardon being assured to those who gave enough to fit out one soldier on the same terms as if they had gone themselves.
