GRROOKY II. 



GREGORY VII. 



188 



lota the ehurch. as well as for the propagation of Chri.tianity. Ho 

 TtMoHolinda, queen of the Loofobtrda, in converting that 

 to tb* CMholfc 61th. II* liktwi** wot mMonaries into Sar- 



. 



aS*k*nd MlooatyuMMitod the mtaion to England, where the king 

 of Kent .n.l ra.ny of th Anglo-Saxons had embraced Christianity. 

 It WM pifYious to hi* exaltation to the pontifical chair, that Moing one 

 day in the slave-market at Kome some Anglo-Saxon children exposed 

 for nle, and being struck by their comely appearance, he is Mud to 

 hare exclaimed: "They would be indeed not Angli but Angela, if 

 they wete Christians," and from that time he engaged his predecessor, 

 Petagiui, to send missionaries to England. John the Abutment, arch- 

 biahop of Constantinople, having aatumed the title of (Ecumenic, or 

 Unirmal Patriarch, Gregory wrote to him in 595 to induce him to 

 relinquish a title which gave offence to his brethren. " You know 

 that the council of Chaleedon," aays he in liU letter, "offered the 

 title of (Ecumenic to the biabop of Kome, but that all my prede- 

 eeaion have refuted an assumption full of pride and inconsistent with 

 the ancient discipline." Gregory himself adopted the denomination 

 of 'Senrus Servorum Domini, ('servant of the servants of the 

 Lord,') meaning the bishops, an appellation which the popes have 

 retained, ever since their assumption of universal supremacy. Gregory 

 exercised the jurisdiction of primate of Italy, and gave advice to the 

 other bishops, but not commands, lie lived in the most frugal and 

 simple stjle, although he had at his disposal the large wealth of the 

 Homan aee, which he distributed to the poor. He was averse from 

 persecuting heretics and Jews : he considered mildness and persuasion 

 as the only means to bring them to Christianity. 



He has been reproached with having wi itten to the usurper Phocas, 

 who had murdered the emperor Mauritius and had seized on his crown, a 

 letter in a flattering strain, apparently with a view of securing the 

 protection of the Eastern Empire in favour of Rome, then threatened by 

 the Longobard*. Another charge against Gregory is, that he destroyed 

 some gluti'i**! manuscripts, the remains of the Imperial library at 

 Rome ; but this charge was made many centuries after, and docs not 

 seem to rest upon clear evidence. Gregory manifested however an 

 aversion to the works of the heathen writers, especially those which 

 treated of mythology, and forbade their perusal He wrote numerous 

 works, which have been collected and published by the Benedictines 

 of St. Maur, 4 vols. foL, Paris, 1707. The most important are: 

 1 'Sloralium, librixxxiv.'; 2 ' De Cura Sacerdotal!,' being a pastoral 

 instruction on the duties of the parochial clergy ; 3, his ' Letters,' in 

 12 books, which coutain some interesting particulars on contemporary 

 history ; 4, his ' Dialogues,' which coutain many accounts of miracles, 

 a matter on which Gregory shows himself rather credulous. 

 Gregory died at Rome in 604, and was succeeded by Sabiniauus of 

 Volaterra. 



GREGORY II., a native of Rome, succeeded Constantino iu the 

 aee of Rome in 715, and was involved in disputes first with Luitpraud, 

 king of the Longobards, against whom he implored the assistance of 

 Charles Martel; and afterwards with Leo Isaurus, on the subject of 

 image-worship, which that emperor had proscribed. He convoked 

 two council*, one against the Iconoclasts, and another to forbid 

 marriage to persons who had once entered the monastic rule. It was 

 under his pontificate that Boniface went to preach Christianity in 

 Germany. Gregory died in 731. 



GREGORY 111., a native of Syria, succeeded Gregory II., and con- 

 tinued the controversy with Leo leaurus concerning image-worship. 

 He found himself likewise involved in a dispute with the Longobards, 

 and died in 741. He was succeeded by Zacbarias. 



GREGORY IV, a native of Rome, succeeded Valentinus in 827. 

 The coast near Rome being exposed to incursions from the Saracens 

 of Sicily, Gregory undertook to build a new town near Ostia, to which 

 he gave the name of Gregoriopolis. Pending the quarrel of Louis 

 le-Debonnaire and his revolted sons, Gregory proceeded to France to 

 conciliate matters ; but he drew upon himself the dissatisfaction of 

 both partiea, and even of the French bishops. H'e died at Kome in 

 844. He was succeeded by Sergius II. 



QBEGORY V., a German of the name of Bruno, and a relative of 

 Otho III, was elected pope through the influence of that emperor, in 

 997, after the death of John XV., whom some style XVI. Gregory 

 crowned Otho at Rome as emperor and king of Italy. After Otho's 

 departure, the patrician Creaoeutius, who had assumed the title of 

 consul, cxciU d the people against the new pope, and drove him out 

 of the city. Creacentius seems to have aspired to govern Rome under 

 nominal allegiance to the Eastern emperors. He procured the 

 election of an anti-pope in the person of John, bishop of Piaceuza, 

 who entered into his views; but in the following year Otho and 

 Gregory returned with an army to Rome, imprisoned John, who was 

 cruelly mutilated, and beheaded Creecentius, with twelve of hi* 

 pattiMoa. In tho year after, February 999, Gregory died, and wag 

 mooeeded by Sylvester II. 



GREGORY VI, a native of Romp, succeeded Benedict IX. after 

 hi* abdication, in 1044. He was disliktd by the Romans, who, being 

 accustomed to tho lioentiouancas and anarchy which hail prevailed 

 under the disgraceful pontificate of Benedict, could ill bear the 

 attcnipU of the new pope to enforce order. The emperor Henry III. 

 Mumnlid a council at Sutri, in 1046, which deposed all the three 

 pope*, Benedict, Sylvester IIL, and Gregory, and chose Clement II. 



Gregory is said to have willingly resigned his claims, and to have 

 retired to a monastery, where he ended his days. 



CHKGOHY VII, Hildebrand of Soano, in Tuscany, was of low 

 parentage, and became a monk in the convent of Cluny. Having 

 acquired a reputation for theological and canonical learning, and lor 

 fctrict regularity of conduct, he afterwords went to Rome with Bruno, 

 bishop of Toul, a relative of the emperor Henry III, who was elected 

 pope in 1049, under the name of Leo IX., chiefly through Hildebrand's 

 influence. From that time the monk Hildebrand became the main- 

 spring of the Roman hierarchy, and the intimate councillor of Leo, 

 and his successors, Victor II., Stephen IX, Nicholas II, and 

 Alexander II. He was sent to Germany on a mission to the Imperial 

 court by Stephen IX, and on his return he defeated tbo faction which 

 had rained to the papal throne Benedict X, and secured the election of 

 Nicholas II. After the death of Alexander II, iu 1073, Hildcbraud 

 was unanimously elected his successor by the clergy and peoj<lu of 

 Rome, but he did not assume hU title until he had received tho 

 approbation of the emperor Henry IV, to whom be despatched 

 messengers for the purpose. The emperor, pleased with this act of 

 deference, readily confirmed his election, and Hildebrand assumed the 

 name of Gregory VII. The great object of Gregory's ambition was, 

 as he expressed himself in a letter to Hughes, abbot of Cluny, to 

 effect a total reform of the Church, which certainly stood iu great 

 need of it. Simony prevailed throughout the Christian world, and 

 sees were openly sold or given by sovereigns to their favourites. Tlie 

 bishops raised by such meaus, caring little for their duties or their 

 flocks, but much for their worldly advantage and pleasures, sold the 

 beuefices at their disposal. Gregory determined to remove the evil 

 by taking away from the secular princes the right which they <:. 

 of disposing of the sees within their dominions. The emperor 

 Henry IV, licentious, ambitious, and at war with his revolted vassals, 

 and therefore continually in want of money, was one of the most 

 culpable in respect of simony. He disposed of sees and benefices in 

 favour of vicious or incapable men, and the bishops of Germany 

 readily entered into his views of making tho Church a sort of fviidul 

 dependant on the Imperial will. Gregory began by admonishing 

 Henry ; he sent legates to Germany, but to little purpose. Hia next 

 step was to assemble a council at Rome in 1074, which anathematised 

 persons guilty of simony, and ordered the deposition of those priests 

 who lived iu concubinage, under which name however were also 

 included those who lived in a state of matrimony, and it was decreed 

 also that no one should be admitted to holy orders unless he made a 

 vow of celibacy. This last regulation created great excitement, espe- 

 cially at Milan, where the custom of priests being married was still 

 prevalent, as in the Eastern Church. Gregory summoned another 

 council at Rome in 1075, iu which for the first time kings and other 

 lay princes were forbidden, under pain of excommunication, from 

 giving tho investiture of Bees and abbeys by conferring the ring and 

 the crosier. This was the beginning of the quarrel about the investi- 

 ture which distracted Europe for many years after, and which may 

 here require some explanation. In the early ages of the Christian 

 Church, it would appear that the body of the clergy, or presbyters, of 

 a town or district, together with the municipal cjuncil, or notables, 

 elected their bishop, or chief pastor, and the Christian emperors did 

 not interfere with the choice, except iu the case of the great patriarchal 

 sees, such as Rome and Constantinople, the candidate to which, after 

 being elected by the clergy and people, was required to wait for tho 

 Imperial confirmation. The Gothic kings of Italy followed tho same 

 system, as well as the exarchs of Ravenna after them, iu tho name ot 

 the Byzantine emperors. At Rome, and probably iu the rest of Italy 

 also, the laity participated in the election of their bishops till tho 10th 

 century ; in the east they appear to have been excluded from it sooner. 

 Charlemagne is said by some to have introduced the custom of putting 

 the ring and crosier into the hands of new-elected bishops, wliilo he 

 required from them the oath of fealty to himself. There seems no 

 doubt at least that the custom was prevalent under his successors of 

 the Carlovingian dynasty. The reason of this was, that the churches 

 having been richly endowed by various sovereigns with lauds and 

 other temporalities, the incumbents were considered iu the light of 

 feudal tenants. By thus keeping at their own disposal the tempo- 

 ralities of the sees, the sovereigns came gradually to appoint tho 

 bishops, either by direct nomination, or by recommending a candidate 

 to the electors. Gregory making no distinction between spii itualities 

 and temporalities, considered the investiture as a spiritual act, insist- 

 ing that the crosier was emblematic of the spiritual authority of 

 bishops over their flocks, and the ring was the symbol of their 

 mystical marriage with the Church ; although, Sarpi observes, iu his 

 ' Treatise upon Benefices," there was another ceremony, namely, the 

 consecration of the bishop elect by imposition of hands by the metro- 

 politan, which was the real spiritual investiture. But Gregory's object 

 was to take away from laymen all ecclesiastical patronage, and to 

 make the Church, with all its temporalities, independent of the state. 

 He would not admit of any symbols of allegiance to the state, and he 

 contended that the estates of tecs had become inseparably connected 

 with the spiritual office, and could no longer be distinguished; and 

 yet ho himself had waited for the confirmation of the emperor before 

 he was consecrated. 

 The emperor Henry IV. paid no regard to Gregory's councils and 



