" In the
other poem he says of the priest:
He lies in a woman's arms all night,
And wakes--defiled--in the morning light
To proffer the sacred host.
Worse invectives even, no less forcible than those of later reformers,
he hurled against Rome. "In the flames and torments of hell is thy
place!... Thou hast the appearance of an innocent lamb, but inwardly
thou art a raging wolf, a crowned snake, begotten by a viper, the friend
of the devil!" Even the good-natured German minnesinger, Walter von der
Vogelweide, found bitter words against Rome: "They point our way to God
and go to hell themselves." Bernard of Clairvaux, the supporter of the
Church, sharply criticised the abuses of pope and clergy in his book,
_De Consideratione_: "The property of the poor is sown before the door
of the rich, the gold glitters in the gutter, the people come hurrying
up from all sides; but not to the neediest is it given, but to the
strongest and to him who is first on the spot.
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