Of the net receipts the financiers usually got about ten per cent.; an equal amount was given to the emperor or other civil ruler for permitting the pardoners to enter his territory, commissions were also paid to the local bishop and clergy, and of course the pedlars of the pardons received a proportion of the profits in order to stimulate their zeal.

On the average from thirty to forty-five per cent.

of the gross receipts were turned into the Roman treasury.
It is natural that public opinion should have come to regard indulgences with aversion.

Their bad moral effect was too obvious to be disregarded, the compounding with sin for a payment destined to satisfy the greed of unscrupulous prelates.

Their economic effects were also noticed, the draining of the country of money with which further to enrich a corrupt Italian city.