INTERDICT

(Lat.) In Ecclesiastical History, a spiritual weapon by which the Popes used in former times to reduce individuals or whole states to the most abject submi ion to their power. In the middle ages it was the most terrible blow which could be inflicted on the people or the prince. When an interdict was laid upon a kingdom all spiritual services ceased; the churches were shut up; the sacraments were no longer administered; no corpses were buried with funeral rites; and all the ministry of the church which was then believed to be the only channel of salvation was forbidden to be exercised. The first memorable occasion on which this method of warfare was adopted was the marriage of King Robert of France with Bertha his cousin, when Gregory V. in 998 i ued interdicts against the whole country, and compelled the sovereign to di olve his union. It had, however, been often used before by bishops; an instance is quoted by Moreri as early as ad. 870. (See Gieseler's Text Book, xi. 117., translation.) The ban under which England was laid in the reign of John by Innocent III. is well known in the history of this country. The latest pretensions to the exercise of this power were a umed by Pius VII., when he i ued an inefficient decree against Napoleon in 1809. Interdict. The technical term in Roman law for a decree of the praetor concerning the acquisition, retention, or recovery of property. For an elaborate article on this subject see the Penny Cyclopcsdia. [s. 618]