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PAOLI, PASQUALE (1725-1807)
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See also:PAOLI, PASQUALE (1725-1807) , Corsican See also:general and patriot, was See also:born at Stretta in the See also:parish of Rostino. He was the son of Giacinto Paoli, who had led the Corsican rebels against Genoese tyranny. Pasquale followed his See also:father into See also:exile,
serving with distinction in the Neapolitan See also:army; on his return to See also:Corsica (q.v.) he was chosen See also:commander-in-See also:chief .of the See also:rebel forces, and after a See also:series of successful actions he drove the Genoese from the whole See also:island except a few See also:coast towns. He then set to See also:work to reorganize the See also:government, introducing many useful reforms, and he founded a university at See also:Corte. In 1767 he wrested the island of See also:Capraia from the Genoese, who, despairing of ever being able to subjugate Corsica, again sold their rights over it to See also:France. For two years Paoli fought desperately against the new invaders, until in 1769 he was defeated by vastly See also:superior forces under See also:Count de See also:Vaux, and obliged to take See also:refuge in See also:England. In 1789 he went to See also:Paris with the permission of the constituent See also:assembly, and was afterwards sent back to Corsica with the See also:rank of See also:lieutenant-general. Disgusted with the excesses of the revolutionary government and having been accused of See also:treason by the See also:Convention, he summoned a consulta, or assembly, at Corte in 1793, with himself as See also:president and formally seceded from France. He then offered the See also:suzerainty of the island to the See also:British government, but finding no support in that See also:quarter, he was forced to go into exile once more, and Corsica became a See also:French See also:department. He retired to See also:London in 1996, when he obtained a See also:pension; he died on the 5th of See also:February 1807.
See See also:Boswell's See also:Life of See also: Tommaseo, " Lettere di Pasquale de Paoli " (in Archivio storico italiano, 1st series, vol. xi.), and Della Corsica, £h'c. (ibid., nuova serie, vol. xi., parte ii.) ; Pompei, De L'etat de la See also:Corse (Paris, 1821) ; Giovanni Livi, Lettere inedite di Pasquale Paoli" (in See also:Arch. stor. ital., 5th series, vols. v. and vi.) ; See also:Bartoli, Historia di See also:Pascal Paoli (See also:Bastia, 1891) ; Lencisa, P. Paoli e la guerra d'indipendenza della Corsica (Milano, 189o) ; and See also:Comte de Buttafuoco, Fragments pour servir a l'histoire de la Corse de 1764 a 1769 (Bastia, 1859)•
PAPACY' (a See also:term formed on the See also:analogy of " abbacy" from See also:Lat. papa, See also:pope; cf. Fr. papaute on the analogy of royaute. See also:Florence of See also:Worcester, A.D. 1044, quoted by Du Cange s.v. Papa, has the Latin See also:form papatia; the New Eng. Dict, quotes See also:Gower, Conf. i. 258, as the earliest instance of the word Papacie), the name most commonly applied to the See also:office and position of the See also:bishop or pope of See also:Rome, in respect both of the ecclesiastical and temporal authority claimed by him, i.e. as successor of St See also:Peter and See also:Vicar of See also:Christ, over the See also:Catholic See also: Peter died there, in 64, without doubt, among the Christians whom See also:Nero had put to See also:death as guilty of the burning of Rome. Paul's career was also terminated at Rome by martyrdom. Other places had been honoured by the presence and See also:preaching of these great leaders of new-born See also:Christianity; but it is at Rome that they had See also:borne See also:witness to the See also:Gospel by the shedding of their See also:blood; there they were buried, and their tombs were known and honoured. These facts rendered the Roman Church in the highest degree sacred. About the time that Peter and Paul died in Rome the primitive centre of Christianity—that is to say, See also:Jerusalem—was disappearing amidst the disaster of the See also:war of the Roman See also:Empire with the See also:Jews. Moreover, the Church of Jerusalem, narrowed by Jewish Christian particularism, was hardly qualified to remain the See also:metropolis of Christianity, which was gradually gaining ground in the Graeco-Roman See also:world. The true centre of this world was the See also:capital of the Empire; the transference was.consequently accepted as natural at an See also:early 1 This See also:article is a general See also:history in outline of the papacy itself. See also:Special periods, or aspects are dealt with in See also:fuller detail elsewhere, e.g. in the See also:biographical notices of the various popes, or in such articles as CHURCH HISTORY ; ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH ; INVESTITURES; See also:CANON See also:LAW; ECCLESIASTICAL See also:JURISDICTION;See also:ULTRAMONTANISM ; or the articles on the various ecclesiastical See also:councils.687 date. The See also:idea that the Roman Church is at the See also:head of the other Churches, and has towards them certain duties consequent on this position, is expressed in various ways, with more or less clearness, in writings such as those of Clemens See also:Romanus, See also:Ignatius of See also:Antioch and See also:Hermas. In the 2nd See also:century all Christendom flocked to Rome; there was a See also:constant stream of See also:people—bishops from distant parts, apologists or heresiarchs. All that was done or taught in Rome was immediately echoed through all the other Churches; See also:Irenaeus and See also:Tertullian constantly See also:lay stress upon the tradition of the Roman Church, which in those very early days was almost without rivals, See also:save in See also:Asia, where there were a number of flourishing Churches, also apostolic in origin, forming a compact See also:group and conscious of their dignity. The great reception given to See also:Polycarp on his visit to Rome in A.D. 155 and the attitude of St Irenaeus show that on the whole the traditions of Rome and of Asia harmonized quite well. They came into conflict, however (c. A.D. 190), on the question of the celebration of the festival of See also:Easter. The bishop of Rome, See also:Victor, desired his colleagues in the various parts of the Empire to form them-selves into councils to inquire into this See also:matter. Barl The invitation was accepted by all; and, the See also:con- Authority of sultation resulting in favour of the Roman usage, the Roman Victor thought See also:fit to exclude the recalcitrant Churches Bishops. of Asia from the Catholic communion. His conduct in this dispute, though its severity may have been open to See also:criticism,2 indicates a very definite conception on his See also:part of his authority over the universal Church. In the 3rd century the same position was maintained, and the heads of the Roman Church continued to speak with the greatest authority. We find cases of their intervention in the ecclesiastical affairs of See also:Alexandria, of the See also:East, of See also:Africa, See also:Gaul and See also:Spain. Though the manner in which they wielded their authority sometimes meets with criticism (Irenaeus, See also:Cyprian, Firmilianus), the principle of it is never questioned. However, as time went on, certain Churches became powerful centres of Christianity, and even when they did not come into conflict with her, their very existence tended to diminish the See also:prestige of the Roman Church. After the See also:period of the persecutions had passed by, the great ecclesiastical capitals See also:Carthage, Alexandria, Antioch and See also:Constantinople, as secondary centres of organization centrifugal and See also:administration, See also:drew to themselves and kept in Forces in their hands a See also:share in ecclesiastical affairs. It was the catholic only under quite exceptional circumstances that any church. need was See also:felt for See also:oecumenical decisions. Further, the direction of affairs, both See also:ordinary and extraordinary, tended to pass from the bishops to the See also:state, which was now christianized. The Eastern Church had soon de facto as its head the Eastern emperors. Henceforth it receded more and more from the See also:influence of the Roman Church, and this centrifugal See also:movement was greatly helped by the fact that the Roman Church, having ceased to know the See also:Greek See also:language, found herself practically excluded from the world of Greek Christianity. In the See also:West also centrifugal forces made themselves felt. After Cyprian the See also:African episcopate, in proportion as it perfected its organization, seemed to feel less and less the need for See also:close relations with the apostolic see. In the 4th century the Donatist party was in open See also:schism; the orthodox party had the upper See also:hand in the time of Aurelius and See also:Augustine; the See also:regular See also:meeting of the councils further increased the corporate cohesion of the African Episcopal See also:body. From them sprang a See also:code of ecclesiastical See also:laws and a whole judicial organization. With this organization, under the popes See also:Zosimus, See also:Boniface and See also:Celestine the Roman Church came into conflict on somewhat trivial grounds, and was, on the whole, being worsted in the struggle, when the Vandal invasion of Africa took See also:place, and for nearly a century to come the Catholic communities were subjected to very hard treatment. The revival which took place under See also:Byzantine See also:rule (6th and 7th centuries) was of little importance; 2 Victor's conduct in this matter was not approved by a number of bishops (including Irenaeus), who protested against it (avroraparesA000vrat) in the interests of See also:peace and Christian love (See also:Eusebius, Hist. eccl. v. 24).—[ED.] but the See also:autonomy which had been denied them under Aurelius was maintained to the end, that is to say, up till the See also:Mahommedan See also:conquest. During the 4th century it is to be noticed that, generally speaking, the Roman Church played a comparatively insignificant The Roman part in the West. From the time of popes See also:Damasus Church In and See also:Siricius various affairs were referred to Rome
the 4th from Africa, Spain or Gaul. The popes were asked
century. to give decisions, and in See also:answer to those demands drew up their first See also:decretals. However, See also:side by side with the Roman see was that of See also:Milan, which was also the capital of the Western Empire. From time to tine it seemed as if Milan would become to Rome what Constantinople was to Alexandria. However, any danger that menaced the prestige of Rome disappeared when the emperor See also:Honorius removed the imperial See also:residence to See also:Ravenna, and still more so when the Western emperors were replaced in the See also:north of See also:Italy by See also:barbarian sovereigns, who were Arians.
In Spain, Gaul, See also:Brittany and the provinces of the See also:Danube, similar See also:political changes took place. When orthodox Christianity The church had gained the upper hand beyond the See also:Alps and the In the See also:Pyrenees, the episcopate of those countries grouped See also:Teutonic itself, as it had done in the East, around the Kingdoms. sovereigns. In Spain was produced a fairly strong religious centralization around the Visigothic See also: All of them, Restriction even down to the metropolitan See also:sees of Milan and of the See also:Aquileia, practised a certain degree of autonomy, and Papal in the 6th century this developed into what is called Authority. the Schism of the Three Chapters. With the exception of this schism, these episcopates were by no means in op-position to the See also:Holy See. They always kept up relations of some See also:kind, especially by means of pilgrimages, and it was admitted that in any disputes which might arise with the Eastern Church the pope had the right to speak as representative of the whole of the Western Church. He was, moreover, the only bishop of a great see—for Carthage had practically ceased to count—who was at that time a subject of the Roman emperor. This was the situation when St See also:Gregory was elected pope in 590. We may add that in See also:peninsular Italy, which was most clearly under his ecclesiastical jurisdiction, the See also:Lombards had spread havoc and ruin; so that nearly ninety bishoprics had been suppressed, either temporarily or definitively. The pope could See also:act directly only on the bishoprics of the coast districts or the islands. Beyond this limited circle he had to act by means of See also:diplomatic channels, through the governments of the Lombards, See also:Franks and Visigoths. On the Byzantine side his hands were less tied; but here he had to reckon with the theory of the five patriarchates which had been a force since Justinian. According to Byzantine ideas, the Church was governed—under the supreme authority, of course, of the emperor—by the five patriarchs of Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem. Rome had for a See also:long time opposed this See also:division, but, since some kind of division was necessary, had put forward the idea of the three sees of St Peter—Rome, Alexandria and Antioch—those of Constantinople and Jerusalem being set aside, as resulting from later usurpations. But the last named were just the most important; in fact the only ones which counted at all, since the monophysite See also:secession had reduced the number of the orthodox in See also:Syria and See also:Egypt practically to nothing. This dissidence See also:Islam was to See also:complete, and by actually suppressing the patriarchate of Jerusalem to reduce Byzantine Christendom to the two patriarchates of Rome and Constantinople. There was no comparison between the two from the point of view of the East. The new Rome, where the emperor reigned, prevailed over the old, which was practically abandoned to thebarbarians. She was still by See also:courtesy given the See also:precedence, but that was all; the See also:council in Trullo (692) even claimed to impose reforms on her. When Rome, abandoned by the Rome and distant emperors, was placed under the See also:protection of constan• the Franks (754), relations between her and the Greek tinopie. Church became gradually more rare, the chief occasions being the question of the images in the- 8th century, the See also:quarrel between See also:Photius and Ignatius in the 9th, the affairs of the four marriages of the emperor See also:Leo VI. and of the See also:patriarch See also:Theophylact in the See also:roth. On these different occasions the pope, ignored in ordinary times, was made use of by the Byzantine government to ratify See also:measures which it had found necessary to adopt in opposition to the See also:opinion of the Greek episcopate. These relations were obviously very different from those which had been observed originally, and it would be an injustice to the Roman Church to take them as typical of her relations with other Christian bodies. She had done all she could to defend her former position. Towards the end of the 4th century, when See also:southern Illyricum (See also:Macedonia, See also:Greece, See also:Crete) was passing under the authority of the Eastern emperor, she tried to keep him within her ecclesiastical obedience by creating the vicariate of Thessalonica. Pope Zosimus (417) made trial of a similar organization in the See also:hope of attaching the churches of the Gauls more closely to himself. It was also he who began the struggle against the autonomy of Africa. But it was all without effect. From the 6th century onwards the apostolic vicars of See also:Arles and Thessalonica were merely the titular holders of pontifical honours, with no real authority over those who were nominally under their jurisdiction. It was Gregory I. who, though with no premeditated intention, was the first to break this circle of autonomous or dissident Churches which was restricting the influences of the Gregory apostolic see. As the result of the See also:missions sent to the Great, .England by him and his successors there arose a 590-604. church which, in spite of certain Irish elements, was and remained Roman in origin, and, above all, spirit and tendency. In it the traditions of old culture and religious learning imported from Rome, where they had almost ceased to See also:bear any See also:fruit, found a new See also:soil, in which they flourished. See also:Theodore, See also:Wilfrid, See also:Benedict Biscop, See also:Bede, Boniface, See also:Ecgbert, See also:Alcuin, revived the See also:fire of learning, which was almost See also:extinct, and by their aid enlightenment was carried to the See also:Continent, to decadent Gaul and barbarian See also:Germany. The Churches of England and Germany, founded, far from all traditions of autonomy, by Roman legates, tendered their obedience voluntarily. In Gaul there was no hostility to the Holy See, but on the contrary a profound veneration for the great Christian See also:sanctuary of the West. The Carolingian princes, when Boniface pointed them towards Rome, followed him without their See also:clergy offering any resistance on grounds of principle. The question of reform having arisen, from the apostolic see alone could its fulfilment be expected, since in it, with the See also:succession of St Peter, were preserved the most See also:august traditions of Christianity. The surprising thing is that, although Rome was then included within the empire of the Franks, so that the popes were afforded special opportunities for activity, they showed for the most part no eagerness to strengthen their authority over the clergy beyond the Alps. Appeals and other matters of detail were referred to them more often than under the See also:Merovingians. They gave answers to such questions as were submitted to them; the machinery moved when set in See also:motion from outside; but the popes did not See also:attempt to interfere on their own initiative. The Frankish Church was directed, in fact, by the government of See also:Charlemagne and See also: But the circumstances were becoming difficult. See also:Europe was being split up under the influence of See also:feudalism; Christendom was assailed by the barbarians, Norse-men, See also:Saracens and See also:Huns; at Rome the papacy was passing into the See also:power of the See also:local See also:aristocracy, with whom after See also:Otto I. it was disputed from time to time by the sovereigns of Germany. It was still being held in strict subjection by the latter when, towards the end of the rrth century, See also:Hildebrand (Gregory VII.) undertook its enfranchisement and began the war of the investitures (q.v.), from which the papacy was to issue with such an extraordinary renewal of its vitality. In Eastern Christendom the papacy was at this period an almost forgotten institution, whose pretensions were always schism of met by the combined opposition of the imperial East and authority, which was still preponderant in the west. Byzantine Church, and the authority of the patriarchate of Constantinople, around which centred all that survived of Christianity in those regions. To complete the situation, a formal rupture had occurred in 1054 between the patriarch See also:Michael Cerularius and Pope Leo IX. In the West, Rome and her sanctuaries had always been held in the highest veneration, and the See also:pilgrimage to Rome was General still the most important in the West. The pope, Position of as officiating in these holiest of all sanctuaries, the Papacy as See also:guardian of the tombs of St Peter and St Paul in Theory• and the inheritor of their rank, their rights, and their traditions, was the greatest ecclesiastical figure and the highest religious authority in the West. The greatest princes. bowed before him; it was he who consecrated the emperor. In virtue of the See also:spurious donation of See also:Constantine, forged at Rome in the time of Charlemagne, which was at first circulated in obscurity, but ended by gaining universal See also:credit, it was believed that the first Christian emperor, in withdrawing to Constantinople, had bestowed on the pope all the provinces of the Western Empire, and that in consequence all See also:sovereignty in the West, even that of the emperor, was derived from pontifical concessions. From all points of view, both religious and political, the pope was thus the greatest See also:man of the West, the ideal head of all Christendom. When it was necessary to account for this position, theologians quoted the See also:text of the Gospels, where St Peter is represented as the See also:rock on which the Church is built, the pastor of the See also:sheep and See also:lambs of the See also:Lord, the doorkeeper of the See also:kingdom of See also:heaven. The statements made in the New Testament about St Peter were applied without hesitation to all the popes, considered as his successors, the inheritors of his see (.Petri sedes) and of all his prerogatives. This idea, moreover, that the bishops of Rome were the successors of St Peter was expressed very early —as far back as the and century. Whatever may be said as to its See also:historical value, it symbolizes very well the great authority of the Roman Church in the early days of Cbristianity; anauthority which was then administered by the bishops of Rome, and came to be more and more identified with them. The councils were also quoted, and especially that of See also:Nicaea, which does not itself mention the question, but certain texts of which contained the famous See also:gloss: See also:Ecclesia See also:romana See also:semper habuit primatum. But this See also:proof was rather insufficient, as indeed it was felt to be, and, in any See also:case, nothing could be deduced from it save a kind of precedence in See also:honour, which was never con-tested even by the Greeks. The Gospel and unbroken tradition offered a better See also:argument. In his capacity as head of the church, " and president of the Christian See also:agape," as St Ignatius of Antioch would have said, the pope was considered to be the supreme president and See also:moderator of the oecumenical assemblies. When the episcopate met in council the bishop of Rome had to be at its head. No decisions of a general nature, whether dogmatic or disciplinary, could be made without his consent. The See also:appeal from all patriarchal or conciliary judgments was to him; and on those occasions when he had to depose bishops of the highest See also:standing, notably those of Alexandria and Constantinople, his judgments were carried into effect. During the religious struggles between the East and West he was on a few occasions condemned (by the Eastern council of See also:Sardica, by Dioscorus, by Photius) ; but the sentences were not carried out, and were even, as in the case of Dioscorus, considered and punished as sacrilegious attacks. In the West the principle, " prima sedes a nemine judicatur," was always recognized and applied. In ordinary practice this theoretically wide authority had only a limited application. The apostolic see hardly ever interfered in the government of the local Churches. See also:Practical Save in its own metropolitan See also:province, it took no Applicapart in the nomination of bishops; the provincial dons of the or regional councils were held without its authori- Theory. zation; their judgments and regulations were carried out without any See also:suggestion that they should be ratified by Rome. It is only after the False Decretals that we meet with the idea that a bishop cannot be deposed and his place filled without the consent of the pope. And it should be noticed that this idea was put forward, not by the pope with the See also:object of increasing his power, but by the opinion of the Church with a view to defending the bishops against unjust sentences, and especially those inspired by the See also:secular authority. It was admitted, however, throughout the whole Church that the Holy See had an appellate jurisdiction, and recourse was had to it on occasion. At the council of Sardica (343) an attempt had been made to regulate the See also:procedure in these appeals, by recognizing as the right of the pope the See also:reversing of judgments, and the See also:appointment of fresh See also:judges. In practice, appeals to the pope, when they involved the annulling of a See also:judgment, were judged by the pope in See also:person. But the intervention of the Holy See in the ecclesiastical affairs of the West, which resulted from these appeals, was only of a limited, sporadic and occasional nature. Nothing could have been more removed from a centralized administration than the See also:condition in which matters stood with regard to this point. The pope was the head of the Church, but he exercised his authority only intermittently. When he did exercise it, it was far more frequently at the See also:request of bishops or princes, or of the faithful, than of his own initiative. Nor had any administrative body for the supreme government of the Church ever been organized. The old Roman clergy, the deacons and priests of the church at Rome (presbyteri incardinati, cardinales) formed the pope's council, and when necessary his tribunal; to them were usually added the bishops of the neighbourhood. The body of ecclesiastical notaries served as the See also:staff of the See also:chancery. The Roman Church had from a very early date possessed considerable See also:wealth. Long before Constantine we find her employing it in aid of the most distant churches, Territorial as far afield as See also:Cappadocia and See also:Arabia. Her real Possessions See also:property, confiscated under See also:Diocletian, was restored of the Holy by Constantine, and since then had been continually see. increased by gifts and bequests. In the 4th and 5th centuries, the Roman Church possessed property in all parts of the empire; but gradually, whether because the confiscations of the barbarian emperors had curtailed its extent, or because the popes had made efforts to concentrate it nearer to themselves, the property of the Holy See came to be confined almost entirely to Italy. In the time of St Gregory there subsisted only what lay in Byzantine Italy, the Lombards having confiscated the property of the Church as well as the imperial domains. During the quarrels between the papacy and the Byzantine Empire her domains in See also:lower Italy and See also:Sicily also disappeared as time went on, and the territorial possessions of the Roman Church were concentrated in the neighbourhood, of Rome. It was then, towards the See also:middle of the 8th century, that the pope, who already exercised a great influence over the Beginnings government of the See also:city and province of Rome, of the defending her peacefully and with difficulty against Temporal the advancing Lombard conquests, saw that he Power. was forced, short of the protection of the Greek Empire, to put himself under the protection of the Frankish princes. Thus there arose a kind of sovereignty, disputed, it is true, by Constantinople, but which succeeded in maintaining itself. Rome, together with such of the Byzantine territories as still subsisted in her neighbourhood, was considered as a domain sacred to the apostle Peter, and entrusted to the administration of his successor, the pope. To it were added the exarchate of Ravenna and a few other districts of central Italy, which had been recently conquered by the Lombards and retaken by the Frankish See also:kings See also:Pippin and Charlemagne. Such was the See also:foundation of the papal state. The higher places in the government were "occupied by the clergy, who for matters of detail made use of the See also:civil and military officials who had carried on the administration under the Byzantine rule. But these lay officials could not long be content with a subordinate position, and hence arose incessant See also:friction, which called for constant intervention on the part of the Frankish sovereigns. In 824 a kind of See also:protectorate was organized, and serious guarantees. were conceded to the lay aristocracy. Shortly afterwards, in the See also:partition of the Carolingian Empire, Italy passed under the rule of a prince of its own, Louis II., who, with the See also:title of emperor, made his authority felt in political matters. Shortly after his death (875) fresh upheavals reduced to nothing the power of the Carolingian princes; the clergy of Rome found itself without a See also:protector, exposed to the animosity of the lay aristocracy. The authority of the pontificate was seriously impaired by these circumstances. One of the great families of Rome, that of the vestararius Theophylact, took See also:possession of the temporal authority, and succeeded, in influencing the papal elections. After Theophylact the power passed to his daughter Marozia, a woman of the most debased See also:character; then to her son Alberic, a serious-minded prince; and then to Alberic's son Octavius, who from " prince of the Romans " became pope (John XII.) when yet a See also:mere boy. After Marozia and Alberic and the See also:rest another See also:branch of the same See also:family, the Crescentii, exercised the temporal See also:powers of the Holy See; and after them the same regime was continued by the See also:counts of See also:Tusculum, who were sprung from the same stock, which sometimes provided the Roman Church with the most unlikely and least See also:honourable pontiffs. The pope, like all the bishops, was chosen by means of See also:election, in which both the clergy and the laity took part. The latter
Election of were represented in the most essential functions
the popes. of the election by the aristocracy: at first by the
See also:senate, and later by the exercitus romanus, or rather
of its staff, composed of Byzantine See also:officers. It was the latter
which gave rise to the feudal aristocracy which we see appear-
See also:ing under the See also:Carolingians. The new pope was chosen by the
See also:principal members of the clergy and nobles, and then set before
the assembled people, who gave their decision by See also:acclamation;
and this acclamation was accepted as the See also:vote of the assembly
of the faithful. The pope-elect was then put in possession of
the episcopal See also:house, and after waiting till the next See also:Sunday his
See also:consecration was proceeded with. This ceremony was at first
celebrated in the Lateran, but from Byzantine times onwards it took place at St Peter's. It was also under the Byzantine regime that the condition was imposed that the pope should not be consecrated until the emperor had ratified his election. This had not been required under the old Latin emperors nor under the See also:Gothic kings, and it disappeared of its own See also:accord with the Byzantine regime. It was revived, however, by the emperor Louis the Pious, much to the disgust of the Romans, who resisted on several occasions. The Roman " princes " or " senators " in the loth century went still further: it was they who actually nominated the pope. The same was the case with the Saxon emperors (Otto I., II. and III.), and in the nth century of the lords of Tusculum, the latter nominating them-selves and choosing members of their own family for the pontificate. When the emperor See also: The popes of Tusculum did, at least, belong to the See also:country, while the See also:German kings See also:chose bishops from the other side of the Alps. Such was the state of affairs up to the time of Hildebrand. The entry of Hildebrand into the counsels of the papacy marks the beginning of a great See also:change in this institution. He cannot, however, claim the honour of having opened The Hildethe way which he impelled his predecessors to follow brandine even before following it himself. All See also:good Christians Reform. were calling for reform; bishops; princes, and monks were in agreement on this point when they spoke or acted according to their convictions. Many of them had tried to effect something; but these isolated efforts were often countermined by incompatible aims, and had produced no serious results. It is in the supreme head of the Church that the movement ought to have found its origin and See also:inspiration. There was no dispute as to his possessing the authority in spiritual matters necessary to impose reform and overbear the resistance which might arise; no one was better qualified than he to treat with the holders of the temporal power and obtain the support which was necessary from them. The Fathers of the Church had repeated times without number that the priesthood stands above even the supreme secular authority; the See also:Bible was full of stories most aptly illustrating this theory; nobody questioned that, within the Church, the pope was the Vicar of Christ, and that, as such, his powers were unlimited; as proof See also:positive could be cited councils and decretals—whether authentic or spurious; at any See also:rate all authorized by long usage and taken as received authorities. It only remained to take possession of this incontestable power and use it with firmness and consistency. The example of Nicholas I., two centuries before, had shown the position which a pope could occupy in Christendom; but for a long time past the man had come short of the institution, the workman of his See also:tool. Under Leo IX. (1048—1054) the pope suddenly came forward as the active and indefatigable See also:champion of reform; See also:simony and incontinence of the clergy were attacked by the one most qualified to purify the Church of them. Henceforth the way was open, and it became clear that, given good popes, the reform movement might be carried into effect. The choice of the pope was then subject to the See also:pleasure of the sovereign of Germany, against whom the Roman feudal lords, devoted as they were to the old abuses, were in constant revolt. In the midst of the frequent changes of pope which went on during these years, and the political vicissitudes of Italy, Hildebrand took such measures as enabled him to checkmate the opposition of the Roman barons by turning against them, now the armed force of the See also:Normans, now the influence of the German king.l
1On the 5th of See also:April io58, six days after the death of Pope See also:Stephen X., John, bishop of See also:Velletri, the nominee of the Roman nobles, was enthroned as Pope Benedict X. Hildebrand set up See also:Gerard, bishop of Florence, as a rival See also:candidate, won over a part of the Romans to his cause, and secured the support of the empress See also:regent See also:Agnes at the See also:Diet of See also:Augsburg in See also:June. Gerard was elected pope at See also:Siena (as Nicholas II., q.v.) by those cardinals who had fled from Rome on the See also:elevation of Benedict X. A See also:synod was held at See also:Sutri, at which the powerful See also:Godfrey, See also:duke of Lorraine and See also:Spoleto, and See also:margrave of See also:Tuscany, and the See also:chancellor Wibert were See also:present. Measures were here concerted against Pope Benedict, who was driven out of Rome in See also:January 1059, Nicholas II. being
Side by side with the general movement towards reform, he had set before himself the object of freeing the papacy, not only from its temporal oppressors but also from its protectors. He was successful at the council of 1059, the pontifical election was placed out of reach of the schemes of the local feudal lords and restored to the heads of the clergy; certain reservations were made with regard to those rights which the Holy See was considered to have conceded personally to Henry of Germany (the See also:young king Henry IV., son of the emperor Henry III.), but
nothing more.' At the election of See also: ' The work of reform was now in a good way; the freedom of the pontifical elections had been assured, which gave some Gregory promise that the struggle against abuses would be conducted successfully. All that now remained 1053-1085• was to go on following wisely and firmly the way that had already been opened. But this attitude was not likely to appeal to the exuberant energy of the new pope. Hitherto he had had to reckon with obstacles more powerful than those which were now See also:left for him to conquer, and, what was more, with the fact that his authority depended upon the will of others. But now that his hands were no longer tied, he could' act freely. The choice of the pope had been almost entirely removed from the See also:sphere of secular influence, and especially from that of the German king. Gregory claimed that the same condition should apply to bishops, and these were the grounds of the dispute about investitures—a dispute which could find no See also:solution, for it was impossible for the Teutonic sovereigns to renounce all See also:interest in a matter of such importance in the workings of their state. Since the time of See also:Clovis the German sovereigns had never ceased to intervene in such matters. But this question soon See also:fell into the background. Gregory's contention was that the secular sovereigns should be entirely in the power of the head of the Church, and that he' should be able to advance them or dispossess them at will, according to the estimate which he formed of their conduct. A terrible struggle arose between these obviously exorbitant demands and the resistance which they provoked. Its details cannot be described in this place (see INVESTITURES); we need only say that this See also:ill-fated quarrel was not calculated to advance the reform movement, but rather to impede it, and, further, that it ended in failure. Gregory died far away from Rome, upon which he had brought incalculable evils; and not only Rome, but the papacy itself had to pay the See also:penalty for the want of moderation of the pope. Great indeed was the difference between the state in which he received it and that in which he left it. We must not, however, let this mislead us. This struggle between spiritual and secular powers, owing to the tremendous sensation which it created throughout Christendom, showed the nations that at the head of the Church there was a great force for See also:justice, always able to combat iniquity and oppression, and sometimes to defeat them, however powerful the evil and the tyrants might seem. The See also:scene at See also:Canossa, which had at the moment a merely relative importance, remained in the memories of men as a See also:symbol which was hateful or comforting, according to the point of view from which it was considered. As to Gregory's political pretensions, zealous theorists were See also:quick to transform them into legal principles; and though his immediate successors, some-what deafened by the disturbance which they had aroused, seem to have neglected them at first, they were handed on to more distant heirs and reappeared in future struggles.
Gregory himself, in his last moments, seems to have felt that it was impossible to maintain them, for Didier, See also: Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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