553 Vigilius again seized, and sent to exile.
554 Pelagius I. 560, John III. 574, Benedict I. 578, Pelagius II.
FROM GREGORY THE GREAT TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE PAPACY AS A LEGISLATIVE POWER [590-867 A.D.]
590 Gregory (I) the Great elected pope. He raises the papacy to eminence and determines its future policy. Gregory’s work is of threefold character. (1) He perfects the church ritual and introduces a new mode of chanting, and organises the revenues of the church. (2) He exercises supreme authority over the churches of western Europe. The Lombards are converted from Arianism, 599, and Britain is converted by St. Augustine. (3) He makes the pope a temporal sovereign. By this time the bishop of Rome has become the largest landholder in Italy. The Lombard invasion has given the bishops opportunity for temporal control, and in Rome and its vicinity the people recognise Gregory at the head of affairs.
604 Sabinianus.
607 Boniface III. The emperor Phocas bestows title of universal bishop on Boniface, but the patriarch of Constantinople resumes it on Phocas’ death.
608 Boniface IV. He converts the Roman Pantheon into a Christian church.
615 Deusdedit.
618 Boniface V.
625 Honorius I. The monothelitic controversy begins.