The Rise of the Mediaeval Church / And Its Influence on the Civilization of Western Europe from the First to the Thirteenth Century

by Alexander Clarence Flick

the elevation of Gerhard, Bishop of Florence, to the papal chair and inaugurated him without difficulty, whereupon Benedict X. surrendered and was pardoned, though degraded and confined for life within the precincts of St. Maria Maggiore.[439:1] The new Pope, Nicholas II., practically allowed Hildebrand to dictate his policy. First he sought to free the Church from imperial domination and to elevate it above the state. The death of Henry III. (1056) and the coronation of his son of six as Henry IV. removed a powerful barrier to that object. Germany was divided into an imperial and anti-imperial party. In this condition Italian influence could be used as the determining factor in German politics, hence the states of Italy were forced to recognise the over-sovereignty of the Pope.

In the next place Nicholas II. endeavoured to regulate the papal elections so as to prevent a repetition of the election of Benedict X. and at the same time to eliminate the influence of the Emperor. The Lateran Council held April 13, 1059, attended by the Pope and one hundred and thirteen bishops,[439:2] many abbots, and a vast concourse of priests and deacons, after condemning Benedict X., prohibiting simony, denouncing lay investiture, and decreeing celibacy to be the law of the Church, created the College of Cardinals.[439:3] The election of the Pope was now put into the hands of the Roman cardinal-bishops,[439:4] who were to submit their nominee to the lower clergy and the people for approval.

This practically excluded both the Roman nobles and the Roman Emperor. This edict was the greatest revolution ever attempted in the hierarchy. It was an effort to give the Papacy a constitution which would make it independent. An election by any hands but the cardinals' could now be called unconstitutional or uncanonical. And any person who attempted to resist or impugn the regulation was to be smitten with an awful curse:

Let him be damned by anathema and excommunication, and be counted among the impious in the resurrection of condemnation; may the wrath of Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and the fury of the Apostles Peter and Paul, whose Church he shall dare to disturb, be poured out upon him in this life and in the life to come; may his habitation be made desolate, so that there may be none to inhabit his tents; may his children be made orphans, and his wife a widow; he and his sons; and may he beg his bread, and be driven out of his habitation; may the usurer consume his substance, and the stranger reap the fruit of his labours; may the world be at war with him, and all the elements array themselves against him; and may the merits of all the saints at rest confound him, and even in this life hold the sword of vengeance suspended over him.[440:1]

The history of the cardinals is very interesting. The word cardinal seems to come from cardo, a hinge, and contains the idea of principal or important.[440:2] The term was early applied to the priests of the first dioceses in Rome and in 308 there were twenty-five in the Eternal City. Under Gregory I. (604) the word was plainly and commonly used. Stephen IV. in 771 extended the title to suburban dioceses. Anastasius' life of Leo

III. (died 816) seems to indicate the germs of a College of Cardinals. It was not, however, until the time of Nicholas II. that the institution was definitely created. The number of cardinals varied greatly—thirty in the twelfth century, seven in the thirteenth century, twenty-four by the act of the Council of Basle, thirteen in 1516, seventy-six in 1559, and finally Sixtus V. fixed the number once for all at seventy to correspond with the seventy elders of Israel.[441:1] The number, however, was seldom complete.

The paternal solicitude and indefatigable labours of Nicholas II. for the restoration and maintenance of the unity and authority of the Church met with unexpected success. All western Europe, even distant countries like Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Iceland, felt the firm hand of this strong Pope. In Milan Peter Damiani humbled the mighty archbishop and lesser ecclesiastics to repentance for simony and immorality. Robert Guiscard, King of the Normans, acknowledged papal suzerainty.[441:2] From many standpoints he must be accounted the greatest Pope between Gregory the Great and Gregory VII.

The death of Nicholas II. (1061) gave the College of Cardinals an opportunity to employ the new method of electing the Pope. Hildebrand first sent Cardinal Stephen as a messenger to the Empress Regent to secure her approval of the election, but she refused to receive him because she felt that the royal prerogatives had been encroached upon by the Lateran Council and besides she hoped to carry out her own plans of election. Hildebrand, after waiting some time, resolved to take the initiative and summoned the College of Cardinals.

The right of the young king was tacitly waived and a new Pope called Alexander II. elected. The Empress called a counter-council at Basle in which the regulation creating the College of Cardinals was revoked, the election of Alexander II. was declared null, and in his place the Bishop of Parma was made Pope Honorius II. The German Pope attempted to take Rome by force (April, 1062), did gain an entry, but was soon defeated by Godfrey of Tuscany and forced to flee. A civil revolt in Germany soon led to the recognition of Alexander II. and the Empress Regent sought absolution from him and shortly afterwards entered a Roman convent. The continued quarrel between these two rival claimants of St. Peter's Seat gave a momentary check to reformation in the Church. But the battle over papal election had been won. The Church was no longer ruled by the state. Truly could it be said of Hildebrand "he found the Church a handmaid and left her free." The contest over simony, lay investiture, and celibacy, however, remained to be carried on by the great successor of Alexander II. It was this same Pope Alexander II. who gave William of Normandy the right to assume the crown of England, for which he exacted a yearly tribute. He also appointed the archbishops for England. Lanfranc of Canterbury ably seconded the reformatory exertions of the Pope and set himself firmly against the sale of benefices and the unchastity of the clergy. Nicholas II. likewise declared that papal bulls had the same force as acts of councils—the first expression of that kind. Peter Damiani was sent into France to correct the morals of the clergy and to enforce discipline in the Church. Later he made a similar trip to Germany. Had not death claimed Nicholas so soon (Apr. 21, 1073)

he would probably have carried out his intentions to reform the wicked young German king, who was called to Rome to answer for his conduct, and to punish his councillors, whom he did excommunicate. He bequeathed that difficult work, however, to one more able than he for its accomplishment.