GREGORY VII. 



GREGORY XL 



their decrees, and he continued to nominate not only to German but 

 !> Italian bishoprics. Among others he appointed a certain Tedaldo 

 archbishop of Milan, in opposition to Azzo, a mere youth, who had 

 been consecrated by Gregory's legate. But the quarrel of the investi- 

 ture, which had opened the breach between the pope and the emperor, 

 was lost sight of in the more extraordinary discussions which followed 

 between them. Gregory had been for some time tampering with 

 Henry's disaffected vassals of Saxony, Thuringia, and other countrie', 

 and he now publicly summoned the emperor to Rome to vindicate 

 himself from the charges preferred by his subjects against him. This 

 was a further and most unwarrantable stretch of that temporal 

 supremacy over kings and principalities which the see of Rome had 

 already begun to assume. Henry, indignant at this assumption of 

 power, assembled a diet of the empire at Worms, at which many 

 biahops and abbots were present, and which upon various charges 

 preferred against Gregory deposed him, and despatched a messenger to 

 Rome to signify this decision to the Roman clergy, requesting them 

 to send a mission to the emperor for a new pope. Upon this, Gregory, 

 in a council assembled at the Laterau Palace in 1076, solemnly excom- 

 municated Henry, and in the name of St. Peter, prince of the apostles, 

 declared him po facto deposed from the thrones of Germany and 

 Italy, and hi subjects released from their oath of allegiance. Gregory, 

 observes Platina, in bis 'Lives of the Popes,' was the first who assumed 

 the right of deposing the emperors, whose vassals he and bh prede- 

 cessors had been considered till then, and who had even exercised the 

 power of deposing several popes for illegal election or abuse of their 

 authority. This bold act of Gregory produced for a time the effect 

 which he had calculated upon. Most of Henry's subjects, already 

 ripe for rebellion, readily availed themselves of the papal sanction, 

 and a diet was assembled to elect a new emperor. Henry how- 

 ever obtained a delay, and the matter being referred to the pope, 

 he set off for Italy in the winter of 1077, and, passing the Alps of 

 SUM, met Gregory at the castle of Canossa, near Reggio in Lombardy, 

 which belonged to the Countess Mathilda, a great friend and supporter 

 of the pope. Gregory would not see .Henry at firt-t, but insisted upon 

 his laying aside all the insignia of royalty and appearing in the garb of 

 a penitent, in a coarse woollen garment and barefooted. In this pliant 

 Henry remained for three days from morning till sunset in an outer 

 court of the castle, in very severe weather. On the fourth day he was 

 admitted into Gregory's presence, and on confessing his errors received 

 absolution, bat was not restored to bis kingdom, the pope referring 

 him to the general diet. Henry soon after resumed the insignia of 

 royalty, and being supported by his Lombard vasla, and indignant 

 at the humiliating scene of Canopsa, recrossed the Alps, fought several 

 battles in Germany, and at last defeated and mortally wounded Rudolf 

 of Susbia, who had been elected emperor in his stead, and was sup- 

 ported by Gregory. Having now retrieved his affairs in Germany, lie 

 marched with an army into Italy in 1081 to avenge himself on the 

 pope, whom he had again deposed in another diet, having appointed 

 (iuibert, archbishop of Ravenna, as his successor, under the name of 

 Clement III. Gregory had meantime drawn to his party by timely 

 concessions Robert Guiscard, the Norman conqueror of Apulia and 

 Sicily, who however could not prevent Henry from advancing to the 

 walls of Rome; but the city was well defended, and the summer 

 heats obliged Henry to retrace his steps towards North Italy, where 

 his soldiers ravaged the territories of the Countess Mathilda. He 

 repeated the attempt against Rome in 1032, and again in 1083, but 

 without success. It was finally agreed that a general council should 

 decide the questions between the emperor and the pope. The council 

 assembled at Rome in 1088, and Gregory did not again excommunicate 

 the emperor, but negotiated with him without coming to any definitive 

 result. 



In the following year, 1034, Henry was invited by some ambassadors 

 from the Roman people, who were dissatisfied with the pope, to enter 

 the city, which he did on the 21st of March, and immediately took 

 possession of the Lateran, the bridges, and other important positions. 

 Gregory escaped into the castle of St. Angclo, and the antipope Gui- 

 bert was publicly consecrated on Palm Sunday by several bishops. 

 On the following K>ter Sunday Henry IV. was crowned by him as 

 emperor in St Peter's church. After the ceremony Henry ascended 

 the capitol and was publicly proclaimed, and acknowledged by the 

 Romans with acclamations. Hearing however that Robert Guiscard 

 was approaching to Rome with troops, he left the city and withdrew 

 towards Tuscany. Robert came soon after with his Norman and 

 Saracen soldiers, who under the pretence of delivering Gregory, who 

 was still shut up in the castle of St. Angelo, plundered Home and 

 committed all kinds of atrocities. Gregory having come out of his 

 stronghold, assembled another council, in which, for the fourth time, 

 he excommunicated Henry and the antipope Guibert. When Robert 

 left the city to return to his own dominions, the pope, not thinking 

 himself safe in Rome, withdrew with him to Salerno, where, after 

 consecrating a magnificent church built by Robert, he died in the 

 following year, 1085. His last words were, " I have loved justice and 

 bated iniquity, and therefore I die in exile : " and perhaps he believed 

 what he said. 



The character of Gregory VII. has not been justly estimated by the 

 generality of historians. He was at the outset no doubt sincere in his 

 wishes for ecclesiastical reform ; but in pursuing his favourite and, to 



a certain extent, legitimate object, he was led astray by the ambition 

 of exalting his see over all the dignities and powers of the earth, 

 spiritual as well as temporal. Not content with making, as far as in 

 litn lay, the church independent of the empire, and at the same time 

 establishing the control of the papal authority over the princes of 

 ;he earth, objects which he left to be completed by his successor 

 INNOCENT III.], Gregory determined to destroy the independence 

 of the various national churches. His object was to raise the pope to 

 supreme power over church and state throughout Christendom. By a 

 constitution of his predecessor Alexander II., which he dictated, and 

 which he afterwards confirmed, it was enacted for the first time that 

 no bishop elect should exercise his functions until he had received his 

 confirmation from the pope. The Roman see had already in the 9th 

 century subverted the authority of the metropolitans, under pretence 

 of affording protection to the bishops ; but now it assumed the right 

 of citing the bishops, without distinction, before its tribunal at Rome 

 x> receive its dictates, and Gregory obliged the metropolitans to attend 

 n person to receive the pallium. The quarrel of Auselm, archbishop 

 of Canterbury, with William Rufua, was owing to that monarch not 

 choosing to let him go to Rome, whither he had been summoned. 

 The practice of sending apostolic legates to different kingdoms as 

 special commissioners of the pope, with discretionary power over the 

 national hierarchy, originated also with Gregory, and completed the 

 establishment of absolute monarchy in the church in lieu of its original 

 popular or representative for.n. This doctrine of papal absolutism iu 

 matters of discipline was by prescription and usage so intermixed with 

 the more essential doctrines of faith, that it came to be considered as 

 a dogma itself, and has defied all the skill of subsequent theologians 

 and statesmen to disentangle it from the rest, while at the same tima 

 it has probably been, though at a fearful cost, the means of preserving 

 the unity of the Western, or Roman Church. 



GREGORY VIII., Alberto di Mora, a native of Benevento, suc- 

 ceeded Urban III. in October 1187, and died in the following December, 

 after having sent letters of exhortation to the Christian princes in 

 favour of a new crusade. He was succeeded by Clement III. Ho 

 must not be confouuded with an antipope of the name of Bourdin, 

 who assumed the name of Gregory VIII. in the schism against 

 Gelasius II. in 1118, and who is not reckoned in the series of legiti- 

 mate popes. 



GREGORY IX., Cardinal Ugolino, bishop of Ostia, a native of 

 Anagni, and a relative of Innocent III., whose haughty principles 

 concerning the papal prerogative he inherited, succeeded Honorius III 

 in March 1227. He insisted on Frederick II. setting off on a crusade, 

 and as the emperor delayed on the pretext of illness, the pope excom- 

 municated him. Frederick however set off for Palestine, where he 

 concluded a truce with the Sultan of Egypt, and then returned to 

 Europe, where his dominions of Apulia had been invaded by the papal 

 force*. After his landing he had an interview with Gregory, who 

 relieved him from the excommunicationj and Frederick afterwards 

 assisted the pope against the people of Home, who were in a state of 

 insurrection, and had driven him from their city. Frederick afterwards 

 discovering that the pope was tampering with the Lombard cities, who 

 were at war with the emperor, came again to an open rupture with 

 him; and on Palm Sunday of the year 1239 Gregory again excom- 

 municated him, released his subjects from their allegiance, and preached 

 a crusade against him. The emperor replied by a spirited manifesto 

 in his own j ustifi cation, which was written by his learned chancellor 

 Pietro delle Vigne, and copies of it were sent to the various courts of 

 Europe. The war continued during that and the following year in 

 Italy between Frederick and his Ghibeliue partisans on one side, and 

 the Guelphs, with the pope at their head, on the other. Frederick 

 took Benevento and threatened Rome, where he had many partisans. 

 The pope having convoked a council in 1241, the emperor arrested 

 all the prelates who were on their way to Rome by laud, while his fleet, 

 joined with his allies the Pisans, attacked and defeated a Genoese 

 squadron, on board of which were many bishops and abbots from 

 France and other parts, who were taken prisoners. In August of that 

 year Gregory died, after a stormy pontificate of nearly fourteen years , 

 and was succeeded by Celestine IV. 



GREGORY X., Tebaldo Visconti, a native of Piacenza, succeeded 

 Clement IV. in 1271, after an interregnum of nearly two years. He 

 convoked a general council at Lyon in 1274, which was very numer- 

 ously attended, and in which a reconciliation was effected with the 

 Greek Church, which however was of short duration ; several reforms 

 were made in matters of discipline, and among others the mode of 

 election of the popes by conclave was settled. Gregory endeavoured 

 also to rouse the ardour of the Christian princes for a new crusade, 

 but he failed. He died at Arezzo in January 1276. 



GREGORY XL, Pierre Roger, a Frenchman, son of William count 

 of Beaufort, succeeded Urban V. in 1370. He was a man of great 

 learning, and esteemed for his personal character. At the time of his 

 accession a papal court had been for nearly seventy years residing at 

 Avignon, and Rome and the rest of central Italy were left a prey to 

 faction and anarchy. Gregory resolved to transfer the papal see back 

 to Rome, which he did in 1377, to the great satisfaction of the Italians. 

 He fixed his residence in tho Vatican palace ; that of the Lateran, 

 which was inhabited by the earlier popes, having become sadly deterio- 

 rated during the Avignon captivity, as the Italians styled the absence 



