NICHOLAS. 
throne, gave him the name of Benedict X. As, however, 
he had been chofen and confecrated without the know¬ 
ledge and confent of Henry IV. king of Germany, a de¬ 
putation was difpatched from fome of the chief citizens 
and clergy of Rome to the emprefs Agnes, with affu- 
rances that they had no concern in that uncanonical 
election, and that they were ready to acknowledge as 
pope the perfon whom the king fhould be pleafed to no¬ 
minate. This deputation was well received at the Ger¬ 
man court;and the king nominated the bifhop of Florence, 
as one who was equally acceptable to the Italians and 
Germans. Rome being now in tli,e poffeffion of Benedict 
and his party, the cardinals and the reft of the Roman 
clergy, who had retired from the city that they might not 
be forced to acknowledge Benedict, met at Sienna, where, 
in OCtober 1058, with the confent of the Roman people, 
they unanimoufly eleCted Gerard to the pontifical dignity. 
Immediately after his election, hefummoned a council to 
affemble at Sutri, in order to concert the proper meafures 
for expelling Benedict from the feat of the papal govern¬ 
ment. This council was attended by molt of the Italian 
bilhops, and by Godfrey duke of Tufcany, whom the 
king had ordered to efcort the new pope to Rome, and to 
fee him placed on the throne of St. Peter. The council 
with one voice declared Gerard lawfully eleCted; and 
then thundered out a fentence of excommunication 
againft Benedict. That anti-pope, fully fenfible of his 
inability to conteft for the tiara againft the powerful pro- 
teCtors of his opponent, as foon as he was informed of 
the fentence pronounced againft him, retired into privacy, 
and relinquifhed the field to his rival. Information of 
his retreat having been carried to Gerard, he came to 
Rome, attended by the bilhops of the council and duke 
Godfrey, where he was received with all pofiible marks of 
refpeCt and efteem, and folemnly enthroned in January 
J059, when he took the name of Nicholas II. A few days 
after this event, Benedict, being admitted into his pre- 
fence, threw liimfelf at his feet, acknowledging himfelf 
an ufurper, and entreating forgivenefs, protefting at the 
lame time, that he had never afpired at the pontifical dig¬ 
nity, but had been compelled to accept of it. Moved by 
his profelfions of repentance, Nicholas abfolved him from 
the excommunication, but diverted him of all his eccle- 
fiaftical functions, and obliged him to fpend the remain¬ 
der of his days in the church of St. Mary the Greater at 
Rome, where he was admitted only to lay-communion. 
In the firit year of his pontificate, Nicholas convened 
a council at the Lateran palace, to which all the bilhops 
of Italy, France, and Germany, were invited, in order 
to take into confideration the belt means for fupprefting 
the opinions of the famous Berenger relating to the eu- 
charift, who, notwithftanding his former recantations of 
them, ftill continued to teach them in private, and daily 
gained many followers. On this occafion, he fummoned 
Berenger himfelf to attend and maintain his opinions, 
giving him affurances that no violence fnould be offered 
to him. When the council met, the pope prefided at it 
in perfon ; and Berenger is faid to have defended his opi¬ 
nions for fome time, but at length to have made an ac¬ 
knowledgment of his error, and declared his readinefs 
to fign fuch a confeflion of faith as the pope and the coun¬ 
cil ftiould dictate to him. The council, pleafed at his fub- 
miflion, directed cardinal Humbert to draw up a formu¬ 
lary for his fignature, containing doCtrines direCtly oppo- 
fite to thofe for which he contended. This he fubfcribed 
in their prefence; and copies of it were ordered to be fent 
into all the countries where all his doCtrines had been pro¬ 
pagated, as teftimonies to his recantation; but, on his return 
to France, he re-abjured what he had fubfcribed, and 
zealoully taught and defended his former opinions. The 
pope wrote to him letters of exhortation, but to no pur- 
pole : the controverfy was prolonged by a multitude of 
writings on both fides, and the followers of Berenger 
increafed. 
By the fame council at the Lateran a decree was palled 
$5 
concerning the election of the pope, confining it to the 
cardinals ; and only leaving to the people, the clergy, and 
the emperor, the power of confirming the election 
which they had made. Several canons were alfo made in 
it againft fimony, inceftuous marriages, the marriages of 
priefts, and various abufes which preceding popes had 
endeavoured, in vain, to extirpate. During the fame year 
in which this council was held, the pope fent Peter Da¬ 
mian, cardinal-billiop of Oftia, and Anfelm, biihop of 
Lucca, with the character of his legates, to affift Guido 
archbilhop of Milan in correcting l'everal abufes which 
prevailed in that church, efpecially fimony and the incon¬ 
tinence of priefts; and, a few days after the council broke 
up, he fet out for Melfi, the capital of Apulia, where he 
prelided in perfon at a council which palled many fevere 
laws for the fame purpofe. While he was at Melfi, he 
received an embaffy from the famous Robert Guifcard, 
the Norman, who had made himfelf mailer of the whole 
of Apulia, and fpread his conquefts over the greateft part 
of Calabria. That warrior was 1 'enfible of the advanta¬ 
ges which he and his nation would derive from the coun¬ 
tenance and friendlliip of the fovereign pontiff, and en¬ 
treated for an interview with his holinefs, with a view to 
difcufs matters which were of the utmoft importance to 
both parties. To this requeft Nicholas readily acceded, 
being equally defirous with the Normans that a good un¬ 
demanding lliould be eftablilhed between fo warlike a 
nation and the apoftolic fee. Robert, therefore, and Ri¬ 
chard count of Averfa, attended by the flower of the 
Norman nobility, waited on the pope at Melfi, who re¬ 
ceived them with extraordinary marks of refpeCt and 
efteem. After a few conferences, it was agreed between 
them, that the pope lliould abfolve the Normans from 
the excommunication which they had incurred, and con¬ 
firm to Robert and his heirs the dukedoms of Apjulia and 
Calabria, which he had conquered from the Greeks, and 
alfo the illand of Sicily, after he ftiould expel the Greeks 
and Saracens out of it. It was alfo agreed, that the pope 
lliould confirm to Richard of Averla and his heirs the 
city and principality of Capua, out of which he had 
lately driven the lawful prince. On the other hand, 
Robert and Richard agreed to acknowledge themfelves 
vaflals of the apoftolic fee, to fwear an inviolable alle¬ 
giance to pope Nicholas and his fuccelfors, and to pay 
yearly tribute as a mark of their fubjeCtion. “ By what 
authority,” fays Dr. Mollieim, “Nicholas confirmed the 
Norman princes in the poffeffion of thefe provinces, is 
more than we know; certain it is, that he had no fort of 
property in the lands which he granted fo liberally to the 
Normans, who held them already by the odious right of 
conqueft. Perhaps the lordly pontiff founded this right 
of ceilion upon the fictitious donation of Conftantine ; or, 
probably, fed need by the artful and ambitious fuggeftions 
of Hildebrand, who had himfelf an eye upon the pontifi¬ 
cate, and afterwards filled it under the adopted name of 
Gregory VII. he imagined that, as Chrift’s vice-regent, 
the Roman pontiff was the king of kings, and had the 
whole univerfe for his domain. It is well known that 
Hildebrand had a fupreme afeendant in the counfels of 
Nicholas, and that the latter neither undertook nor exe¬ 
cuted any thing without his direction. Be that as it may, 
it was the feudal grant made to Guifcard by this pope, 
that laid the foundation of the kingdom of Naples, or of 
theTwo Sicilies, and of the fovereignty over that kingdom 
which the Roman pontiffs conftantly claim, and which 
the Sicilian monarchs annually acknowledge.” 
From Melfi the pope proceeded to Beneventum, where 
he held another council; and he then fet out on his return 
to Rome, attended by a numerous body of Normans, who 
obliged the inhabitants of Prtenefte, Tufculum, and Nc- 
mentum, to fubmit to the Pvoman fee, from which they 
had revolted; and thefe warriors glfo deftroyedthe llrong 
holds, and put an end to the power of the many petty • 
tyrants that furrounded the city of Rome on all fides. In 
the year 1060, Nicholas fent Stephen, cardinal-priert, into 
- v France,' 
