LEO IL (OP U01IEV 



LEO IX. (OP ROME). 



dte*d the doctrine eoncerniag the person of Chrixt By a eanou of 

 thi. wwnoil, which was oMumenic, or uniroml, both for the Kwt and 

 Wrt, UK Bishop of CoMUattooplo was declared to be next in place, 

 1liTT*jl equal in d^-nity, to the lluhop of Rome, and tha limit* of 

 their rwpeotive jurisdiction* wera determined, the patriarohatee of 

 Antioch and Alexandria bring plee<l under that of Constantinople ; 

 which canon passed the a**euibly, notwithstanding the oppo>ition of 

 the Koutan legato*. The itory of Leo flopping Attila on hii march, 

 and |nuading him -to spare the city of Home, is an embellishment ; 

 but it apptars that Leo was really sent by ValeutinUn on a mission 

 to Attila, who was then devastating Lombardy, and that Attila con- 

 sented to a truce with VaU utiuian, after which he recrossed the Alps. 

 Some years after, Lto did prevail upon Qenseric, who had landed at 

 the mouth < f the Tiber 455, to spare at leant the lives and the 

 buildings in Home, and not to allow his Vandals to set fire to that city 

 or slaughter the inhabitant*. Qenaerio was satisfied with the plunder 

 of Rome, and returned to Africa, Leo died in 461, and wa suc- 

 ceeded by Hilarius I. His writings, especially his Sermons and bis 

 Epistles, are useful for the history of the times. Quesnel has given a 

 full account of his life, as well as Maimbourg, ' Histoire du Pontifical 

 de St. Leon le Grand.' Father Cacciari published on edition of Leo's 

 works, 3 Tola, folio, Rome, 1751-55, in which he has charged Quesnel's 

 edition with great incorrectness. Leo's Sermons have been translated 

 into French by the Abbe" de BeUegarde, Paris, 1701. The Roman 

 church numbers him among its saints, and gives him also the epithet 

 of Magnus, or " St. Leo the Great" 



1.1--O II., a native of Sicily, succeeded Agathon in the see of Rome 

 in 682. lie put an end to the schism between the see of Ravenna 

 and that of Rome, it being agreed that the bishops of Ravenna should 

 receive their ordination at Home, but that they should be exempted 

 from the payment of money which had been exacted from them on 

 receiving the pallium. Leo died in 683, and was succeeded, after a 

 vacancy of nearly a year, by Benedict II. 



LEU III., a native of Rome, was elected after the death of Adrian I. 

 in 795. He immediately communicated his election to Charlemagne, 

 to whom lie, like bis predecessor, acknowledged allegiance. Charle- 

 magne replied by a letter of congratulation, which be entrusted to 

 the abbot Angilbertus, whom he commis-ioned to confer with the 

 new pontiff respecting the relations between the see of Rome and the 

 " Patrician of the Romans," for this was the title which Charlemagne 

 bad assumed. In 796 Leo sent to Charlemagne the keys of St. Petei 

 and the standard of the city of Rome, requesting the king to senc 

 some of his nobles to administer the oath of allegiance to the people 

 of Rome. Tho dominion of Charlemagne over the city and duchy o 

 Rome is attested by Paulus Diaconus, who says that " Charles adder 

 to his other sceptres that of the city of Romulus." In the year 799, an 

 atrocious assault, the motive of which is not clearly ascertained, was 

 committed on the person of the pope. While Leo waa riding on 

 horseback, followed by the clergy, and chanting the liturgy, a canon 

 of the name of Paschal and a sacristan called Campulus, accompanies 

 by many armed ruffians, fell upon him, threw him down from his 

 horse, and dragged him into the convent of St. Sylvester, when the; 

 stabbed him in many places, endeavouring to pull out his eyes and cu 

 out his tongue. lu this however it seems that they did not succeed 

 aa Leo was delivered by his friends from the hands of the assassins 

 and taken to Spoleti under the protection of the Duke of Spoleti 

 where he soon after recovered, and was enabled to travel aa far a 

 Paderborn in Germany, where Charlemagne then was, by whom the 

 pope was received with the greatest honours. Charlemagne sent him 

 back to Rome, with a numerous escort of bishops and counts, am 

 also of armed men. The pope was met outside of the city gates by 

 the clergy, senate, and people, and accompanied in triumph to th 

 Lateran palace. A court, composed of the bUhops and counts, pro 

 ceeded to the trial of the conspirators who had attempted the life o 

 the pope ; and the two chiefs, Paschal and Campulns, were exiled tc 

 France. From this very lenient sentence, and other concomitant cir 

 cumstances, it ap)>ears that Charlemagne had greatly at heart t 

 conciliate the Romans in general, in order to deter them from betakin 

 themselves again to the protection of the Greek emperor*. 



In 800 Charlemagne himself visited Italy, and was met at Nomeutum 

 ouu-ide of Rome, by the pope; and the next day he repaired to th 

 Banilica of the Vatican, escorted by the soldiers and the people 

 After a few days Charlemagne convoked a numerous assembly o 

 prelates, abboU, and other persona of distinction, Franks as well a 

 Romans, to examine certain charges brought against the pope by th 

 partisan* of Paschal and Campulus; but no proofs were elicited, an 

 Leo himself, taking the book of gos[>els in bis band, declared himsel 

 innocent On Christmas-day of that year the pontiff officiated in th 

 Basilica of the Vatican, in presence of Charlemagne and his numerou 

 retinue. As Charlemagne was preparing to leave the church, th 

 pontiff stopped him, and placed a rich crown upon hii head ; whil 

 the clergy and the people, at the same moment, cried out " Carol 

 piiseimo," "Augnato magno impcratoii," and other expressions an 

 acclamations wi.ich wen used in proclaiming the former Roman 

 emperors. Thiee times the acclamations were repeated, after whic 

 the pope was the first to pay homage to tbe new emperor. From tha 

 time Charlemagne left off the titles of king and patrician, and style 

 bimwlf Augustus and Kmperor of tbe Romans ; and he addressed th 



iperor of Constantinople by the name of brother. Thus was tbe 

 fotoro empire revived, 826 year* after Odoaoer had deposed 

 omulus Augustulua, the last nominal successor of the Cawan on 

 he throne of the West. From that time all claim of the Eastern 

 perors to the supreme dominion over the duchy of Home was at 

 n end ; and the popes from the same time assumed the temporal 

 utbority over the city and duchy, in subordination however t > 

 harlemagna and his successor* ; they began also to coin money, with 

 i* pontiff's name on one aide and that of the emperor on the other. 

 In the year 804 the pope went to pass the Christmas at tbe court of 

 Charlemagne at Aqaiagrana (Aix-la-Chapelle), after which he returned 

 o Italy. In the division which Charlemagne made by will of bis 

 ominions among his sons, the city of Rome wa* declared to belong to 

 im who should bear the title of emperor. Louis le Debonnaire was 

 fterwards invested with that title by Charlemagne himself, and we 

 nd him accordingly, after tha death of his father, assuming the 

 supreme jurisdiction over that city on the occasion of a freab eon- 

 piraoy which broke out against Leo, the heads of which were convicted 

 >y the ordinary courts at Home, and put to death. Louis found fault 

 with the rigour of the sentence and the haste of its execution, and he 

 irdered his nephew Bernard, king of Italy, to proceed to Home and 

 nvestigate the whole affair. Leo, who seems to have been alarmed at 

 his proceeding, sent messengers to the court of Louis to justify 

 itmself. Meauwhile he fell seriously ill, and the peoplo of Huuio 

 woke out into insurrection, and pulled down some buildings he ha I 

 n to construct on the confiscated property of the conspirators. 

 Phe Duke of Spoleti wa* sent for with a body of troops to suppress 

 he tumult. Leo died in 816, and Stephen IV. was elected in his place. 

 ..eo is praised by Auastaaius, a biographer of the same century, for 

 the many structures, especially churches, which he raised or repaired, 

 and the valuable gifts with which ho enriched them, lu his temporal 

 lolicjy he appears to have been more moderate and prudeut than his 

 >redecessor, Adrian I., who was perpetually soliciting Charlemagne in 

 iis letters for fresh grants of territory to his see. 



LEO IV. succeeded Sergius II. in 817. He was consecrated without 

 waiting for the consent of the Kmperor Lotharius, because of the 

 urgency of the circumstances. Rome was then threatened by tha 

 Saracens, who occupied part of the duchy of Benevento, and who a 

 short time before bad landed on the banks of the Tiber, and plundered 

 :he Basilica of St Peter's on the Vatican, which was outside of the 

 walls. In order to prevent a recurrence of this violence, Leo undertook 

 to surround the Basilica and tbe suburb around it with walU ; and this 

 being completed in four years, with the assistance of money sent by 

 the emperor, and the produce of a tax levied upon all property in the 

 duchy of Rome, the new town was called Leouiua, a name which it 

 has retained to this day. Leo also restored the town of Porto on the 

 Tiber, near its mouth, settling there some thousands of Corsicans, who 

 bad run away from their country on account of the Saracens. Towers 

 were built on both banks of the river, and iron chains drawn across to 

 prevent the vessels of the Saracens from ascending to Koine. The 

 port and town of Centum Cellie being forsaken on account of the 

 Saracens, Leo built a new town on the coast, about twelve miles distant 

 from the other, which was called Leopolis ; but no traces of it remain 

 now, as the modern Civita Vecchia is built on or near the site of old 

 Centum Cells;. Leo died in July 855, and fifteen days after his death 

 Benedict III. was elected in his place, according to the most authentic 

 text of Anastasius, who was a contemporary ; but later writers intro- 

 duced between Leo IV. and Benedict 111. the fabulous Pope Joan. 

 [JOAN, POPE.] 



LKO V., a Benedictine monk, succeeded Benedict IV. in 903. In 

 less than two mouths he was violently superseded and imprisoned by a 

 certain Christopher, who was his chaplain, and who assumed the pon- 

 tifical office. But Christopher himself did not retain it long, as a new 

 revolt of the Romans drove him from the usurped see, and put in his 

 place Sergius III., who was the favourite of the celebrated Marozia, a 

 powerful but licentious woman, who disposed of everything in Home. 

 The 10th century is the darkest era of the papacy. How the unfor- 

 tunate Leo died is not mentioned ; probably ho died in prison. 



LKO VI. succeeded John X. in l>28, and died seven months after- 

 wards; some say that he was put to death by Marozia, like his 

 predecessor. He was succeeded by Stephen VII. 



LEO VII. succeeded John XL, the eon of Marozia, in 937. He 

 mediated a peace between Alberic, duke of Rome, and Hugo, king of 

 Italy, who had offered to marry Marozia, in order to obtain by her 

 means the possession of Home, but was driven away by Alberic, 

 Marozia'a son. Leo a said to have beeu a man of irreproachable 

 conduct, but little else is known of him. He died in U'M, and was 

 succeeded by Stephen VIII. 



LEO VI II. succeeded John XII., who was deposed for his miscon- 

 duct, by a council assembled at Home, in presence of tbe Emperor 

 Otho I. in 963. But soon after Otho had left Home, John XII. came 

 in again at the head of his partisans, obliged Leo to run away, and 

 resumed the papal office, John however died shortly after, and the 

 Romans elected Benedict called V. Otho, returning with an army, 

 took the city of Rome, exiled Benedict, and reinstated Leo, who died 

 about 966, and was succeeded by John X11I. 



LEO IX., BBONO, Bishop of Toul, was appointed in 1049 to succeed 

 Damasus II. at the joint recommendation of the Emperor Henry III. 



