6. Period 1000 –
1100 CE
Count
Gregory
Sylvester II (999-1003) was noted for his learning. He is said to have introduced Arabic numerals into Europe. His next 3 successors, elected by dominant factions of the time, were undistinguished. The influential Count Gregory of Tusculum then stepped in and got his son Theophylact, a layman, elected as Pope Benedict VIII. He was soon ousted by a rival claimant, Gregory but was restored in 1014 by King Henry II of Saxony (Germany). The pope rewarded the King by crowning him Holy Roman emperor in 1022. Benedict was succeeded by his brother as Pope John XIX. About this time, King Canute of newly formed England visited Rome and was impressed. “A great assembly of nobles was present. I spoke with the Emperor himself and the Sovereign Pope about the needs of my people, English and Danes…”
Pope Benedict IX
In 1032, Count Gregory’s grandson, another Theophylact, became Pope Benedict IX. He was 14 (some say no more than 11). Six months later, a rival faction plotted to murder him in St Peter’s basilica but took fright when an eclipse of the sun occurred on the day, turning the interior and all faces an eerie ‘yellow and saffron’! The pope’s Tusculan supporters smuggled him out of Rome.
The young Benedict went through the motions of office: celebrating high mass at St Peters, appointing bishops, presiding over councils. But he led a dissolute life. St Peter Damian (1007-72), doctor of the church, said: “The wretch, from the beginning of his pontificate to the end of his life, has feasted on immorality.”
Eventually a Roman faction expelled him after 12 years in office as unfit to rule. A Bishop John was installed as Pope Sylvester III in 1045. He ruled for some three uneasy months when Benedict was restored by a Tusculan group. Sylvester fled to his tribesmen in the Sabine Hills.
Papacy sold
Opposition to Pope Benedict grew. He continued to be “devoted to pleasure” as Pope Victor II was to write and had plundered the church treasury. About 1045, he had set his eyes on a beautiful cousin but her father, Girard de Saxo, insisted that Benedict must abdicate as pope before he could marry her. He agreed but first decided to sell the papal office itself to his godfather, John Gratian. The price: about 1500 pounds of gold in weight. Gratian, a good Christian and head priest of St John’s church, had received innumerable complaints about Benedict’s conduct. Gratian’s money was his own, meant for the repair of Rome’s great churches. He paid it to Benedict in a desperate bid to save St Peters from total disrepute. His godson retired to the Alban Hills.
Gratian took over as Gregory VI in 1045. There was barely enough to pay for the day-to-day running of the court. Anarchy prevailed in Rome and the papal states, bandits thronged the roads and highways, clerical celibacy was observed more in the breach. Within a year, Sylvester III again laid claim to the papacy supported by his tribal faction. Benedict, rejected by his lady love, also decided to return. Late in 1046, Rome had three popes, each powerless to eject the other two.
In desperation, a group of Roman citizens and priests appealed to King Henry III to take over Rome and clear the mess. He arrived on 20 December 1046. Benedict promptly fled to Tusculum. Sylvester was imprisoned as an imposter while Pope Gregory VI admitted: “Simony had entered into my election…I must be deposed.” He was exiled to Germany.
Henry III appointed Clement II as the new pontiff who in turn obliged by making Henry Holy Roman Emperor. On Clement’s death in 1047, Benedict returned and reclaimed the papal office for the second time. In July 1048, Emperor Henry III again returned to Rome and this time Benedict fled for good and out of history. It is not clear how he died.
Benedict IX’s successor, Damascus II, died within a year and was succeeded by Pope Leo IX. The final year of Leo’s reign, 1054, is noted for the formal break between the Latin and Orthodox churches through mutual excommunications by the Pope in Rome and the Patriarch in Constantinople. The break or schism between East and West still stands. [A major point at dispute (hold your breath) is whether the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father or via his Son!]
Pope Gregory
VII
Hildebrand of Tuscany, chaplain to Gregory VI, had witnessed Emperor Henry III depose and humiliate him. The incident had etched deeply into his mind. He had accompanied Gregory into exile into Germany and rose to be prior at the Benedictine abbey of Cluny. His fame spread and he became advisor to four pontiffs, from Victor II to Alexander II (see Table). At the latter’s funeral in 1073, Hildebrand was publicly acclaimed as the new pope. He took the name Gregory VII. All papal appointments needed the Emperor’s approval and, much against his will, Gregory was forced to ask this of 17-year old Emperor Henry IV. He decided to end this prerogative of the emperors, all German, once and for all.
Are all Popes saints?
Gregory VII believed that, as a successor of St Peter’s, he had absolute power. He drew up a list (Dictatus) of 27 declarations about papal powers and privileges. Among them:
· No one on earth can judge the pope.
· The Roman church has never erred and never will until the end of time.
· The pope can depose bishops, emperors and kings…
· All princes must kiss his feet.
· A rightly elected pope is a saint.
The last statement meant that Gregory considered himself a saint as well as the lubricious Benedict IX whom he had met as Hildebrand.
Forgers at Work
Most of the declarations were based on forged documents kept in the Rome archives. Gregory is said to have engaged a whole school of forgers to touch up ancient texts, distorting or reversing their meaning as the occasion demanded. The best known forgeries were the 9th century Decretals consisting of 115 documents, supposedly written by the early bishops. More fragments were added and it was made to appear that the early bishops forbade any dealings with an excommunicated person.
Armed with this authority, Gregory set about destabilising kingdoms. He deposed the Greek emperor and the Polish king. A Synod was summoned in 1075 to deal with simony and clerical celibacy. It also called a halt to lay investitures. Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV was ordered to stop interfering in church appointments. Henry was furious and nullified the pope’s election. Gregory countered by excommunicating the emperor:
|
Table of Popes (140 - 158 ) |
|
|
140)
Sylvester II 999-1003 |
141)
John XVII 1003 |
|
142)
John XVIII 1004-09 |
143)
Sergius IV 1009-12 |
|
144)
Benedict VIII 1012-24
#
Gregory 1012 |
145)
John XIX 1024-32 |
|
146)
Benedict IX 1032-44,
1045, 1047-48 |
147)
Sylvester III 1045 |
|
148)
Gregory VI 1045-46 |
149)
Clement II 1046-47 |
|
150)
Damascus II 1048
152)
Victor II 1055-57 |
151)
Leo IX 1049-54
153)
Stephen X 1057-58 |
|
|
#
Benedict X 1058-59 |
|
154)
Nicholas II 1059-61 |
155)
Alexander II 1061-73 |
|
|
#
Honorius II 1061-72 |
|
156)
Gregory VII 1073-85 |
157)
Victor III 1086-87 |
|
#
Clement III 1080-1100 |
158)
Urban II 1088-99 |
|
|
|
“I forbid Henry to govern the kingdoms of Italy and Germany and excommunicate every person who shall serve him as king.”
Oddly, Henry’s mother backed the pope as did his influential cousin, Countess Mathilda. Princes began withdrawing their allegiance. Henry realised he had no option but make peace with the pope. Taking his wife, baby son Conrad and a small party, he crossed the Alps in the winter of 1077. He was 21. Making their way precariously through snowdrifts and ravines and losing most their horses, the party reached Canossa where the pope was ensconced in Mathilda’s triple-walled fortress.
Henry was left out in the cold in full view of pope. He was ordered to hand over his crown and royal regalia and publicly confess his unworthiness as emperor. Having agreed, Henry was stripped off all clothes and given a rough woollen tunic. He was left there teeth chattering, skin turning blue, knee-deep in snow begging for mercy for three days and nights. German princes murmured at the pope’s “heartlessness” and “barbaric cruelty” (pope’s own words). Only when Mathilda pleaded for Henry’s life, did the pope relent. Henry had to swear to abide by the pope’s will and do penance. On his return home, Henry appointed another pope, Clement III. In 1085, Henry marched into Rome, forcing Gregory to flee to Naples.
[Pope Gregory VII is held in high
regard by Catholics because of his ascetic ways and for disciplining the clergy
(most took bribes and kept mistresses). Churches had to conform to Roman rites
and use Latin. The pope’s title was upgraded from Vicar of St Peter’s to Vicar
of Christ. Gregory was declared saint in 1606.]
The next pope, Victor III, was kept out of Rome by Antipope Clement III. So was his successor, Urban II, for the first six years of his reign. For hundreds of years, pious Christians made pilgrimages to the Holy Land. In 638, the Muslims took over the region but allowed the pilgrims’ visits. Then in 1071, the Seljuk Turks took control of Asia Minor and reversed this policy.
Pope Urban II
called upon Christian Europe to wage a holy war and recapture the Holy Land. In
a famous sermon preached in 1095, Urban asked: “Can anyone tolerate that we do not even share the inhabited earth
equally with the Muslims? They have made Asia their homeland…They have forcibly
held Africa for over 200 years. There remains Europe, the third continent. How
small a part of it is inhabited by us Christians.”
500 years before, Mohamed had promised paradise to those slain in battle. Urban now promised forgiveness of sins to all those who joined to free the Holy Land.
The First Crusade lasted 1096-99. The first batch to respond was a fanatical mob from central Europe. Many were slaughtered on the way by the Hungarians and the rest by the Turks. Another group took Nicea and Antioch. In 1099, a better organised band of knights stormed into Asia Minor, massacred Muslims and Jews, and taking control of a part of Jerusalem.
REFERENCES
1.
Peter de Rosa,
Vicars of Christ, Corgi Books 1994
2.
Popes Through the Ages, J Brusher S J (New Advent. 1996)