LEO. 
486 
attempt on the feftival of St. Mark, when the pope Was 
proceeding from the Lateran palace to join in an annual 
procsffion. As foon as he came to the monaftery of St. 
Stephen and Sr. Silvefter, a number of ruffians rufhed 
out of the neighbouring houfes, who furrounded the pope, 
and cruelly beat him till he was covered with blood. The 
fight of him in this miferable condition, it is faid, moved 
the confpirators to compaffion, and ftopt them from any 
further proceeding againft his life; but they put him into 
clofe confinement, in a prifon unknown to his friends. 
His firft chamberlain, however, having difcovered the 
place where he was, found means to effectuate his efcape, 
and to conceal him, till the duke of Spoleto, hearing of 
his fituation, baftened to Rome at the head of his army, 
and delivered Leo out of danger by carrying him into his 
own territory. 
From Spoleto the pope wrote to Charlemagne, to ac¬ 
quaint him with the cruel treatment which he had met 
with; and foon afterwards he fet out on a vifit to that 
prince, to folicit his protection. Charlemagne was now 
at Paderborn, in Germany, upon the point of entering 
Saxony, where he received Leo with the greateft marks of 
refpeCt and friendffiip, and, after affuring him of his pro¬ 
tection, fent him back to Rome, attended by feverai bi- 
fhops, fome of the chief lords of his court, and a fufficient 
force to guard him againft any further attempt of his ene¬ 
mies. With this retinue he entered the city amidft the 
loud acclamations of the people, and took poffefiion anew 
of the Lateran palace; where the nobles and bifhops who 
had accompanied him affembled, and fummoned the con¬ 
fpirators, and all who had any fubjefit of complaint againft 
Leo, to appear before them, being Commiffioned by the 
king to hear them, and to do them juftice, if in any re¬ 
fpeCt injured by the pope or his minifters. Some did ap¬ 
pear, and among the reft the nephews of pope Adrian ; 
who accufed him of feverai crimes ; but, not being able 
to make good their charge, were fent to prifon, and after¬ 
wards into banifhment. In the year 809, the difpute re¬ 
vived in France on thequeftion concerning the proceffion 
of the Holy Ghoft. By the firft council of Conftanti- 
nople, an addition was made to the fymbol of Nice, de¬ 
claring, “ that the Holy Ghoft proceeded from the Father.” 
In the fifth and fixth centuries the churches of Spain ad¬ 
ded to the fymbol of Nice and Conftantinople the words, 
“and from the Son Jiiioque ■, and their example was fol¬ 
lowed by moft of the Gallican churches. The queftion 
now debated was, whether the expreffion jilioque ought to 
be added to the fymbol, or omitted ? When Leo was con¬ 
futed on this fubjeft by envoys fent to him by Charle¬ 
magne, he gave it as his opinion that the expreffion Ihould 
be omitted 5 notwithftanding that he allowed the doClrine 
implied by it to be a neceffary article of faith, and would not 
communicate with any who held the oppofite opinion. The 
addition of that article, he obferved, were it received by 
the churches, would afford a fair plea for the addition of 
many other articles, of equal importance, which would 
fwell the fymbol to an immoderate length. To ffiow that 
he did not approve of it, he caufed two tables of filver to 
be fet up at the tomb of St. Peter, and the lymbol to be 
engraved in Greek on the one, and the other in Latin, 
without the words “ and from the Son,” which, however, 
were afterwards added to the fymbol by his fucceffors. 
Leo continued in tranquillity till the death of his great 
protestor and aggrandizer Charlemagne, in the year 814} 
when the relations of the late pope Adrian and their par- 
tifans formed a new confpiracy with the defign of depofing 
and murdering him. This plot he difcovered in 815, be¬ 
fore it was ripe for execution, and caufed all who were 
concerned in it to be apprehended, and put to death with¬ 
out mercy; and it is even faid, that he fatiated his re¬ 
venge by executing fome of them with his own hands. ' 
His feverity on this occafion excited the difpleafure of the 
new emperor Louis, furnamed the Gentle, who had fuc- 
ceeded his father in the empire of the weft ; and he was no 
fooner informed of it, than he commanded his nephew 
Bernard, king of Italy, to proceed immediately to Rome, 
and to take cognizance of the whole affair upon the fpot. 
According to the catholic hiftorians, the emperor was en¬ 
tirely fatisfied with Leo’s juftification of his conduct; but 
in the mean time, the pope being feized with a dangerous 
malady, the populace, incenfed againft his cruelty, broke 
out into infurre&ion, burnt his farm-houfes, plundered 
his farms and country feats, and would have committed 
great diforders in Rome itfelf, had they not been fup- 
preffed and difperled by a body of troops under the duke 
of Spoleto. The pope’s illnefs proved fatal in June 816, 
when he had prefided over the Roman church twenty 
years and between five and fix months. He is more ce¬ 
lebrated for having enriched the churches of Rome with 
coftly and valuable ornaments, by means of the vaft trea- 
fures which the generofity of Charlemagne beftowed upon 
him, than for his virtues as a Chriftian bifhop. Thirteen 
of his Letters may be feen in the feventh volume of the 
Collect. Concil. For further particulars as to the political 
hiftory of this and the other popes, fee the article Rome. 
LEO IV. (Pope), a native of Rome, was educated in 
the monaftery of St. Martin, ordained fubdeacon by Gre¬ 
gory IV. and prefbyterof the Roman church by Sergius II. 
Upon the death of Sergius in the year 847, he was called 
to the pontifical throne by the univerfal voice of the Ro¬ 
mans, but not ordained till between two or three months 
after his election, as he waited for the arrival of the impe¬ 
rial deputies to examine and confirm it. The firft objeft 
of his care was to reftore to their former fplendour, at an 
iminenfe expenfe, the churches of St. Peter and St. Paul, 
which had been defpoiled of all their valuable ornaments by 
the Saracens; and, in the next place, to fecure them againft 
the future attempts of fuch plunderers. With that de¬ 
fign he refolved to build a new city upon the Vatican, and 
to inclofe it, as well as the church of St. Peter, by a ftrong 
wall. This refolution met with the approbation of the 
emperor, who generoufly contributed himfelf, and pre¬ 
vailed upon his two brothers, Charles king of Neuftria, 
and Louis king of Bavaria, to fend liberal contributions 
towards carrying on fo great a work. The Roman nobi¬ 
lity alfo gave large fums on this occafion. Thus encou¬ 
raged, Leo provided the neceffary materials, and work¬ 
men from the different provinces of Italy, and then fet 
about the undertaking with the utmoft diligence and ar¬ 
dour, performing himfelf the daily office of overfeer, in 
all kinds of weather. During the year 849 he was obliged 
to interrupt the work for fome time, in confequence of 
receiving information that the Saracens were equiping a 
powerful fleet in Africa, with the defign of making a le- 
cond attempt upon Rome. In thefe circumitances the 
pope had the fatisfa&ion of being unexpectedly fupported 
by a fleet of armed veffels from Naples, Amalfi, Gaieta, 
and other maritime places, who confidered that their own 
fate was intimately connected with that of Rome. Soon 
after their arrival, the fleet of the Saracens appearing off 
Oftia, that of the Chriftians immediately put to fea, and 
an engagement commenced ; but the fleets were foon fe- 
parated by a violent ftorin, which drove the greateft of 
the enemy’s fliips on Ihore, where they were dallied in 
pieces, and all on-board perilhed. Almoft all the reft of 
the Saracens’ (hips either foundered at fea, or were taken, 
and their crews carried prifoners to Rome. There, as 
well as along the coaft, many of them were hanged, and 
left on the gibbets to ftrike terror into their countrymen ; 
and the reft were put in irons, and forced to labour on the 
pope’s new works. With this acceffion of llrength, Leo 
had the fatisfaiftion, in 852, of feeing his new city com¬ 
pleted ; which was called, after the name of its founder, 
the Leonine City, and confecrated with great folemnity on 
the 27th of June. During the following year Leo affem¬ 
bled a council at Rome, by which fome canons were if- 
fued calculated to reftore the ecclefiaftical difcipline, and 
to banifn many of the abufes which had infenfibly crept 
into the church. Before the council broke up, they de- 
pofed Anaftaflus, cardinal prelbyter of the church of St. 
Mar c ell us 
