BEN 



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BEN 



name both of Silvester and of Gregory being John, has led 

 some writers into the error of inserting here a John XX. as 

 another Antipope. Henry III. having entered Rome, ac- 

 companied by the fathers of the Council of Sutri, the latter, 

 in conjunction with the clergy of Rome, elected Suidger 

 Bishop of Bamberg, who took the name of Clement II., and 

 was consecrated at Christmas, 1046. But in October of the 

 following year Clement fell suddenly ill and died, and, as 

 some suspected, of poison administered to him by the deposed 

 Benedict, who immediately after forced himself again into 

 the papal see, where he remained till the following July, 

 1048, when the Emperor Henry, at the request of the Ro- 

 mans, sent them Poppo Bishop of Brixen, who, on arriving 

 at Rome, was consecrated, and assumed the name of Da- 

 masus II. But twenty-three davs after his consecration he 

 died at Palestrina, upon which the see of Rome remained 

 vacant for more than half a year, until Bruno Bishop of Toul 

 in Lorraine was elected in 1049, and assumed the name of 

 Leo IX. What became of Benedict afterwards is not clearly 

 ascertained, nor the epoch of his death, but it is generally 

 believed that he died in some convent. (See Muratori, An- 

 ntili it Italia ; Puter Damianus, Baronius, and Pope Vic 

 tor lll.'s dialogue in the 16th vol. of the Lyons Bibliotheca 

 Patrum.) The last, who was a contemporary, says posi- 

 tively that Benedict's first election was obtained through 

 bribery ; that he followed the steps of Simon Magus instead 

 of tho.->e of Simon Petrus ; that his conduct while pontiff 

 was detestable ; and that he sold the pontificate to Gre- 

 gory VI. for a considerable sum of money. Gregory, after 

 being deposed, went into exile to Germany, where he died in 

 a convent. He was accompanied by the monk Hildebrand, 

 who became afterwards known as Gregory VII. 



BENEDICT X. (John Bishop of Velletri). a native of 

 Capua, was elected by a faction after the death of Stephen 

 IX., in 1058, but Hildebrand, Peter Damianus Bishop of 

 Ostia, and other prelates, supported by the Empress ASIIH-S, 

 assembled a council at Siena, which nominated Gerard 

 Bishop of Florence, who took the name of Nicholas II. 

 Benedict did not submit till the following year, when Ni- 

 cholas made his entrance into Rome. Pnnvinius and other 

 writers do not place Benedict among the legitimate popes, 

 but we find him in the chronological tables published in 

 Italy. 



BENEDICT XL (Nicholas, Cardinal of Ostia) was a 

 Dominican and native of Treviso. He was elected in 1303, 

 after the death of Boniface VIII. He excommunicated 

 those who had laid violent hands upon Boniface at Anagni, 

 but he soon after forgave the Colonna family, and arranged 

 the disputes of hig predecessor with Philip the Fair, Kin;,' 

 of France. He sent Cardinal di Prato IB Florence, to act 

 as mediator between the factions which distracted that city. 

 After a short pontificate of nine months, Benedict died at 

 Perugia in 1304. The contemporary historians, and Dino 

 Compagni in particular, speak highly of his character and 

 virtues. He was succeeded by Clement V., after an inter- 

 regnum of nearly eleven months, 



BENEDICT XII. (Jacques Fournier, a native of France) 

 succeeded John XXII. in 1334. The popes at that time 

 resided at Avignon. Benedict laboured in earnest to reform 

 the abuses and corruptions of the church, that had grown to 

 an alarming extent under his predecessor. He was also 

 inclined to accede to the entreaties of the Romans, and 

 transfer the papal see again to Rome, but was prevented by 

 the policy of the French King, Philip de Valois, supported 

 by the influence of the numerous French cardinals at the 

 papal court. His strictness in enforcing discipline among 

 the monastic orders excited many enemies against him, 

 who endeavoured to cast aspersions upon his character. He 

 died at Avignon in 1342, and was succeeded by Clement VI. 

 Several biographies of Benedict XII. are found in Baluze's 

 Lives of the Avignon Popes, and in Muratori, Rer. lta.1. 

 Scriptures. 



BENEDICT XIII. (Cardinal Orsini, Archbishop of Be- 

 nevento) succeeded Innocent XIII. in 1 724. He was simple 

 in his habits and manners, strict in his morality, generous 

 and charitable, and although zealous for maintaining the 

 prerogatives of hU ace, yet conciliating and unwilling to 

 resort to extremes. Unfortunately ho bestowed his confi- 

 dence upon Cardinal Coscia, a man of some abilities, but 

 covetous and ambitious, and who became hateful to the 

 Romans through bis avarice and his abuse of the pope's 

 favour. The people, however, knew how to distinguish be- 

 tween the favourite and his master, whom they respected 

 for his virtues, his good intentions, his disinterestedness, and 



for the acts of beneficence and justice which he performed. 

 The old dispute about the Bull Unigenitus still agitated 

 the Church of France. [See CLEMENT XL] Benedict suc- 

 ceeded in reconciling in some measure the dispute, by pre- 

 vailing on the Cardinal de Noailles, Archbishop of Paris, 

 to accept the Bull, and by issuing another Bull, called Pre- 

 tiosus, from its first word, in which he gave an explanation 

 of the former, and an exposition of the doctrine of grace. 

 In this pontificate King John V. of Portugal insisted on a 

 cardinal's hat being bestowed on the Nuncio Bichi, who had 

 been residing a long time at his court, but the congregation 

 of cardinals being unfavourable to the grant, John broke off 

 all correspondence with the court of Rome, drove away the 

 subjects of the pope from his dominions, and forbade the 

 remittance of the usual fees and tithes to Rome. The 

 ecclesiastical affairs of Sicily also were in a state of great 

 confusion, owing to the disputes between the Tribunal de 

 Monarchia and the court of Rome on matters of jurisdiction. 

 Benedict, by timely concessions, put an end to the quarrel. 

 He also exerted himself to settle the controversy with the 

 king of Sardinia respecting the right of nomination to several 

 abbacies and other benefices in Piedmont, which, however, 

 was not finally arranged till after his death. But he settled 

 the dispute concerning the island of Sardinia, by waiving 

 the pretensions of the papal investiture which had been put 

 forth by Clement XL He also obtained of the Emperor 

 Charles VI. the restoration of Comacchio and its territory to 

 the papal state. Lastly, Benedict showed himself anxious 

 for the preservation of peace in Europe : he favoured, by 

 means of his nuncios, the negotiations of/Paris and Soissons 

 in 1727-8, which led afterwards to the treaty of Seville in 

 1729 between France, Spain, England, and Holland, in 

 which the successions of Tuscany and Parma were finally 

 settled. Benedict increased the pension settled by his pre- 

 decessors on the Pretender James Stuart, who had fixed his 

 residence at Bologna. He died at the beginning of 1730, 

 and was succeeded by Clement XII. Benedict XIII. 's 

 works, including sermons written by him before his exalta- 

 tion, were published at Runm in 3 vols. folio, 1728. 



BENEDICT XIV. (Cardinal Prospero Lambert ini of 

 Bologna) succeeded Clement XII. in August, 1740. He 

 was already favourably known for his extensive learning 

 and for the suavity of his temper and manners. He began 

 his pontificate by finally adjusting the long disputes with 

 the court of Sardinia concerning the nomination to several 

 abbacies and other benefices, besides certain ecclesiastical 

 fiefs in Piedmont, which he gave up to the house of Savoy. 

 (Botta, Storia d Italia, lib. 41.) He restored likewise the 

 good understanding between Rome and Portugal, and with 

 the kingdom of the two Sicilies, which had been interrupted 

 under his predecessors. He saw that the times were changed, 

 and that the court of Rome could no longer enforce the ob- 

 solete pretensions of Gregory VII., or Innocent III. : he 

 therefore, in his intercourse with foreign powers, assumed a 

 tone moderate yet dignified, by which he won general con- 

 fidence and respect. During the war of the Austrian suc- 

 cession lie remained strictly neutral, and although he could 

 not prevent the Spaniards and the Austrians, who were 

 disputing the possession of the kingdom of Naples, from 

 marching through his territories, on which they even fought 

 a battle at Velletri, they stipulated not to enter his capital, 

 and to spare, as far as it lay in the power of the respective 

 commanders, the lives and properties of his subjects. Peace 

 being at length restored to southern Italy, Benedict was 

 enabled to turn his chief attention to the improvement of 

 his own dominions. He encouraged learning, and was 

 generous towards the learned. Rome became again in his 

 time the seat of science and of the arts. The mathema- 

 ticians Boscovich and Le Maire, the Cardinals Valenti, 

 Querini, and Passionei, the philologist Quadrio, the ar- 

 chitects Vanvitelli and Polani, and other distinguished 

 men, were employed or encouraged by this pope. He 

 embellished Rome, repaired churches, among others the 

 splendid one of Santa Maria Maggiore, constructed magni- 

 ficent fountains, that of Trevi among the rest, built the vast 

 granaries near the Therrnse of Diocletian, and dug out the 

 obelisk of the Campus Martius, which was afterwards raised 

 by Pius VI., founded chairs of physics, chemistry, and ma- 

 thematics in the University of Rome, added to the collection 

 in the Capitoline Museum, established a school of drawing, 

 enlarged the great hospital of S. Spirito, established acade- 

 mies for the instruction of the prelates of his court, in 

 ecclesiastical history, in the canon law, in the knowledge of 

 the rites and discipline of the church, &c. Nor did he 



