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Pope Alexander III

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Pope
Alexander III
Bishop of Rome
Alexander III bidding farewell to Thomas Becket (13th century miniature attributed to Matthew Paris, British Library )
Alexander III bidding farewell to Thomas Becket (13th century miniature attributed to Matthew Paris, British Library )
Church Catholic Church
Papacy began 7 September 1159
Papacy ended 30 August 1181
Predecessor Adrian IV
Successor Lucius III
Previous posts Cardinal-Deacon of Santi Cosma e Damiano (1150–51)
Cardinal-Priest of San Marco (1151–59)
Orders
Consecration 20 September 1159
by Ubaldo Allucingoli
Created cardinal October 1150
by Eugene III
Personal details
Born Rolando
c. 1100–05
Siena, March of Tuscany, Holy Roman Empire
Died 30 August 1181
Civita Castellana, Papal States
Other popes named Alexander

Pope Alexander III (c. 1100/1105 – 30 August 1181), born Roland (Italian: Rolando), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 7 September 1159 until his death in 1181.

A native of Siena, Alexander became pope after a contested election, but had to spend much of his pontificate outside Rome while several rivals, supported by Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa, claimed the papacy. Alexander rejected Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos' offer to end the East–West Schism, sanctioned the Northern Crusades, and held the Third Council of the Lateran. He canonized Thomas Becket and Bernard of Clairvaux. The city of Alessandria in Piedmont is named after him.

Early life and career

Rolando was born in Siena. From the 14th century, he was referred to as a member of the aristocratic family of Bandinelli, although this has not been proven.[1] He was long thought to be the 12th-century canon lawyer and theologian Master Roland of Bologna, who composed the "Stroma" or "Summa Rolandi"—one of the earliest commentaries on the Decretum of Gratian—and the "Sententiae Rolandi", a sentence collection displaying the influence of Pierre Abélard, but John T. Noonan and Rudolf Weigand have shown this to be another Rolandus.[2][3]

Rolando probably studied at Bologna, where Robert of Torigni notes that he taught theology.[4] In October 1150, Pope Eugene III created him Cardinal-Deacon of Santi Cosma e Damiano. Later he became Cardinal-Priest of St Mark.[5] In 1153, he became papal chancellor and was the leader of the cardinals opposed to Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa.[6] In 1156, he negotiated the Treaty of Benevento, which restored peaceful relations between Rome and the Kingdom of Sicily.[7] At the diet of Besançon in October 1157, he and Cardinal Bernard of San Clemente delivered a papal message that seemed to claim that Frederick I was a papal vassal, resulting in a serious diplomatic incident.[8]

Disputed election

Pope Adrian IV died 1 September 1159.[9] On 7 September 1159, Rolando Bandinelli was elected pope and took the name Alexander III.[10] A minority of the cardinals, however, elected the cardinal priest Octavian, who assumed the name of Victor IV and became Frederick's antipope.[10]

By 1160, faced with a papal schism, Alexander, and Victor, were summoned by Emperor Frederick to a council in Pavia.[11] Alexander refused, stating a pope can only be judged by God.[12] The council of Pavia met from 5 to 11 February and recognized Victor IV's election as pope.[13] On 13 February, Victor IV excommunicated Alexander.[14] Upon receiving the news on 24 March 1160, Alexander, who was at Anagni, excommunicated both Victor and Frederick.[14]

In 1161, King Géza II of Hungary signed an agreement and recognised Alexander III as the rightful pope and declared that the supreme spiritual leader was the only one who could exercise the rite of investiture.[15] This meant that Alexander's legitimacy was gaining strength, as soon proved by the fact that other monarchs, such as the king of France and King Henry II of England, recognized his authority. Because of imperial strength in Italy, Alexander was forced to reside outside Rome for a large part of his pontificate.[4] When news reached him of the death of Victor in 1164, he openly wept, and scolded the cardinals in his company for rejoicing at the end of the rival antipope.[16]

However, the dispute between Alexander III, Victor IV and Victor's successors Paschal III and Calixtus III (who had the German imperial support) continued until Frederick Barbarossa's defeat at the Legnano in 1176, after which Barbarossa finally (in the Peace of Venice of 1177) recognized Alexander III as pope.[5] On 12 March 1178, Alexander III returned to Rome, which he had been compelled to leave twice: the first time between 1162 and 23 November 1165. When Alexander was arrested by supporters of the imperialist Victor IV, he was freed by Oddone Frangipane, who sent him to safety in the Campania. Alexander again left Rome in 1167, travelling first to Benevento and later moving to various strongholds such as those of Anagni, Palestrina, Ferentino, Tusculum, and Veroli.[4]

Pontificate

Politics

Alexander III was the first pope known to have paid direct attention to missionary activities east of the Baltic Sea. He had created the Archbishopric of Uppsala in Sweden in 1164,[17] probably at the suggestion of his close friend Archbishop Eskil of Lund – exiled in Clairvaux, France, due to a conflict with the Danish king. The latter appointed a Benedictine monk Fulco as a bishop in Estonia. In 1171, Alexander became the first pope to address the situation of the Church in Finland, with Finns allegedly harassing priests and only relying on God in time of war.[18] In the bull Non parum animus noster, in 1171 or 1172, he gave papal sanction to ongoing crusades against pagans in northern Europe,[19] promising remission of sin for those who fought there. In doing so, he legitimized the widespread use of forced conversion as a tactic by those fighting in the Baltic.[20]

In 1166, Alexander received an embassy from the Byzantine emperor Manuel I. The Byzantine ambassador, the sebastos Jordan relayed that Manuel would end the Great Schism of the eastern and western churches if Alexander would recognize him as emperor. As emperor, Manuel would supply the pope with men and money to restore his authority in Italy. Alexander gave an evasive answer, but in 1168 he rejected outright the same proposal from a second Byzantine embassy. His stated reason amounted to it being too difficult. He appears to have feared Byzantine domination of Italy if the pope owed his position to its support.[21][22]

Besides checkmating Barbarossa, Alexander humbled King Henry II of England for the murder of Thomas Becket in 1170, to whom he was unusually close, later canonizing Becket in 1173.[23] This was the second English saint canonized by Alexander, the first being Edward the Confessor in 1161.[23] Nonetheless, he confirmed the position of Henry as Lord of Ireland in 1172.

Through the papal bull Manifestis Probatum, issued on 23 May 1179, Alexander recognized the right of Count Afonso Henriques to proclaim himself king of Portugal – an important step in the process of Portugal becoming a recognized independent kingdom. Afonso had been using the title of king since 1139.[24]

Efforts at reform

Even as a fugitive, Alexander enjoyed the favour and protection of Louis VII of France.

In 1163 Alexander summoned clergy and prelates from England, France, Italy, and Spain to the Council of Tours to address, among other things, the unlawful division of ecclesiastical benefices, clerical usury, and lay possession of tithes.[4]

In March 1179, Alexander held the Third Council of the Lateran, one of the most important mediaeval church councils, reckoned by the Catholic Church as the eleventh ecumenical council. Its acts embodied several of the Pope's proposals for the betterment of the condition of the Church, among them the law requiring that no one could be elected pope without the votes of two-thirds of the cardinals.[25] The rule was altered slightly in 1996, but was restored in 2007. The period from 1177, which saw the submission of both emperor Frederick and anti-pope Calixtus III, and this synod/council marked the summit of Alexander III's power.[26]

Nevertheless, soon after the close of the synod, the Roman Republic forced Alexander to leave the city, which he never re-entered, and on 29 September 1179, some nobles set up the Antipope Innocent III. By the judicious use of money, however, Alexander got him into his power, so that he was deposed in January 1180. In 1181, Alexander excommunicated King William I of Scotland and put the kingdom under an interdict.[27]

Ecclesial activities

Throughout his pontificate, Alexander elevated 68 cardinals in fifteen consistories which included two of his successors, Urban III and Clement III, and a cardinal whom he would later canonize as a saint.

Alexander beatified no one during his papacy but he did canonize ten saints which included notable figures of the age such as Bernard of Clairvaux, Thomas Becket, and King Edward the Confessor

Death

Alexander died at Civita Castellana on 30 August 1181.[28] It was one week short of twenty-two years since his election, the longest papacy since Adrian I in the 8th century.

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Pope Alexander III, 1150–81 (Orlando Bandinelli), born of a distinguished Sienese family; d. 3 August, 1181. As professor in Bologna he acquired a great reputation as a canonist, which he increased by the publication of his commentary on the "Decretum" of Gratian, popularly known as "Summa Magistri Rolandi." Called to Rome by Eugene III in the year 1150, his advancement was rapid. He was created Cardinal Deacon, then Cardinal Priest of the title of St. Mark, and Papal Chancellor. He was the trusted adviser of Adrian IV and was regarded as the soul of the party of independence among the cardinals, which sought to escape the German yoke by alliance with the Normans of Naples. For openly asserting before Barbarossa at the Diet of Besancon (1157) that the imperial dignity was a papal beneficium (in the general sense of favour, not feudal sense of fief), he incurred the wrath of the German princes, and would have fallen on the spot under the battle-axe of his life-long foe, Otto of Wittelsbach had Frederick not intervened. For the purpose of securing a submissive pontiff at the next vacancy, the Emperor despatched into Italy two able emissaries who were to work upon the weaknesses and fears of the cardinals and the Romans, the aforesaid Otto and the Archbishop-elect of Cologne, Rainald von Dassel, whose anti-Papal attitude was largely owing to the fact that the Holy See refused to confirm his appointment. The fruits of their activity became patent after the death of Pope Adrian IV (1 September, 1159). Of the twenty-two cardinals assembled, 7 September, to elect a successor all but three voted for Orlando. The contention made later, that the imperialist cardinals numbered nine, may be explained by the surmise that in the earlier ballotings six of the faithful cardinals voted for a less prominent and obnoxious candidate. In opposition to Cardinal Orlando, who took the immortal name of Alexander III, the three imperialist members chose one of their number, Cardinal Octavian, who assumed the title of Victor IV. A mob hired by the Count of Wittelsbach broke up the conclave. Alexander retreated towards the Norman south and was consecrated and crowned, 20 September, at the little Volscian town of Nympha. Octavian's consecration took place 4 October, at the monastery of Farfa. The Emperor now interposed to settle a disturbance entirely caused by his own agents, and summoned both claimants before a packed assembly at Pavia. He betrayed his animus by addressing Octavian as Victor IV and the true Pope as Cardinal Orlando. Pope Alexander refused to submit his clear right to this iniquitous tribunal, which, as was foreseen, declared for the usurper (11 February, 1160). Alexander promptly responded, from the ill-fated Anagni, by solemnly excommunicating the Emperor and releasing his subjects from their oaths of allegiance. The ensuing schism, far more disastrous to the Empire than to the Papacy, lasted for seventeen years and ended after the battle of Legnano (1176) with the unconditional surrender of the haughty Barbarossa in Venice, 1177. (See Frederick I.) The childish legend that the Pope placed his foot on the neck of the prostrate Emperor has done valiant service to Protestant tradition since the days of Luther. [See the dissertation of George Remus, Nuremberg, 1625; Lyons, 1728; and Gosselin, "The Power of the Pope during the Middle Ages" (tr. London, 1853) II, 133.] Alexander's enforced exile (1162–65) in France contributed greatly to enhance the dignity of the papacy, never so popular as when in distress. It also brought him into direct contact with the most powerful monarch of the West, Henry II of England. The cautious manner in which he defended the rights of the Church during the quarrel between the two impetuous Normans, King Henry and St. Thomas Becket, though many a time exciting the displeasure of both contestants, and often since denounced as "shifty", was the strategy of an able commander who, by marches and counter-marches succeeds in keeping the field against overwhelming odds. It is no disparagement of the Martyr of Canterbury to say that the Pope equalled him in firmness and excelled him in the arts of diplomacy. After Becket's murder the Pope succeeded, without actual recourse to ban or interdict, in obtaining from the penitent monarch every right for which the martyr had fought and bled.

To crown and seal the triumph of religion, Alexander convoked and presided over the Third Lateran Council (Eleventh Œcumenical), in 1179. Surrounded by over 300 bishops, the much-tried Pontiff issued many salutary decrees, notably the ordinance which vested the exclusive right of papal elections in a two-thirds vote of the cardinals. Throughout all the vicissitudes of his chequered career Alexander remained a canonist. A glance at the Decretals shows that, as an ecclesiastical legislator, he was scarcely second to Innocent III. Worn out by trials, he died at Cività Castellana. When we are told that "the Romans" pursued his remains with curses and stones, the remembrance of a similar scene at the burial of Pius IX teaches us what value to attach to such a demonstration. In the estimation of Rome, Italy, and Christendom, Alexander III's epitaph expresses the truth, when it calls him "the Light of the Clergy, the Ornament of the Church, the Father of his City and of the World." He was friendly to the new academical movement that led to the establishment of the great medieval universities (Rashdall, The Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages, Oxford, 1895, I. 283, 292; II. 138, 724). His own reputation as a teacher and a canonist has been greatly enhanced through the discovery by Father Denifle in the public library of Nuremberg of the "Sententiæ Rolandi Bononiensis," edited (Freiburg, 1891) by Father Ambrosius Gietl. The collection of his letters (Jaffé, Regesta RR. Pontif., Nos. 10,584–14,424) was enriched by Löwenfeld's publication of many hitherto unknown (Epistolæ Pontif. Rom. ineditæ, Leipzig, 1885). Even Voltaire regards him as the man who in medieval times deserved best from the human race, for abolishing slavery, for overcoming the violence of the Emperor Barbarossa, for compelling Henry II of England to ask pardon for the murder of Thomas Becket, for restoring to men their rights, and giving splendour to many cities (Œuvres, Paris, 1817, X, 998).

Artaud de Montor, Lives of the Roman Pontiffs (New York, 1867), I. 350–350; Hefele, Conciliengeschichte (2d. ed.) V, 520–720, Kirchmgesch. (ed. Kirsch., Freiburg, 1904), II. 447–462, Gregorovius, Gesch. d. Stadt Rom. (Stuttgart, 1890), IV: 525–565; Von Reumont, Gesch. d. Stadt Rom (Berlin, 1867) II. 449–457; Tosti, Storia della Lega Lombarda (Milan. 1866); Lib. Pont. (ed. Duchesne) II. 394–446 and præf. XLII–XLIII.

References

  1. Back to citation Maleczek, W. (1984). Papst und Kardinalskolleg von 1191 bis 1216 (in German). Wien. p. 233 note 168. ISBN 978-3-7001-0660-9.
  2. Back to citation See Noonan, John T. (1977). "Who was Rolandus?". In Pennington, Kenneth; Somerville, Robert (eds.). Law, Church, and Society: Essays in Honor of Stephan Kuttner. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 21–48. ISBN 978-0-8122-7726-5.
  3. Back to citation Weigand, Rudolph (1980). "Magister Rolandus und Papst Alexander III". Archiv für Katholisches Kirchenrecht. 149: 3–44. Reprinted in idem, Glossatoren des Dekrets Gratians [Goldbach: Keip, 1997], pp. 73*–114*, ISBN 3-8051-0272-0.
  4. Back to citation occurrence 4.0 Back to citation occurrence 4.1 Back to citation occurrence 4.2 Back to citation occurrence 4.3 Pennington, Kenneth. "Pope Alexander III", The Great Popes through History: An Encyclopedia, (Frank J. Coppa, ed.), Westport: Greenwood Press, (2002) 1.113-122 Archived 5 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  5. Back to citation occurrence 5.0 Back to citation occurrence 5.1 Loughlin, James. "Pope Alexander III." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 27 July 2015
  6. Back to citation J. P. Adams, Sede Vacante 1159, retrieved: 18 March 2017.
  7. Back to citation Robinson, I. S. (1990). The Papacy, 1073-1198: Continuity and Innovation. Cambridge University Press. p. 147. ISBN 978-0521319225.
  8. Back to citation John B. Freed (2016), Frederick Barbarossa: The Prince and the Myth, Yale University Press, pp. 201–214.
  9. Back to citation Duggan 2016, p. 17.
  10. Back to citation occurrence 10.0 Back to citation occurrence 10.1 Logan 2002, p. 135.
  11. Back to citation Morris 1989, p. 194.
  12. Back to citation Suger 2018, p. 178.
  13. Back to citation Freed 2016, p. 266.
  14. Back to citation occurrence 14.0 Back to citation occurrence 14.1 Freed 2016, p. 267.
  15. Back to citation Bodri Ferenc: Lukács érsek és kora. Kossuth, 2003
  16. Back to citation The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church-Momticelli; S. Miranda
  17. Back to citation Winroth, Anders (2002). "Papal Letters to Scandinavia and their Preservation". In Adam J. Kosto; Anders Winroth (eds.). Charters, Cartularies and Archives: The Preservation and Transmission of Documents in the Medieval West. Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies. p. 178. ISBN 9780888448170.
  18. Back to citation "Letter by Pope Alexander III to the Archbishop of Uppsala" (in Latin). National Archives of Finland. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007.
  19. Back to citation Fonnesberg-Schmidt 2007, p. 58.
  20. Back to citation Christiansen 1997, p. 71.
  21. Back to citation Tolstoy, Jonathan Harris Dmitri (2012). "Alexander III and Byzantium". In Anne J. Duggan; Peter D. Clarke (eds.). Pope Alexander III (1159–81): The Art of Survival. Ashgate. pp. 301–314. ISBN 978-0-7546-6288-4.
  22. Back to citation Rowe, John G. (1993). "Alexander III and the Jerusalem Crusade: An Overview of Problems and Failures". In Maya Shatzmiller (ed.). Crusaders and Muslims in Twelfth-Century Syria. Brill. p. 122. ISBN 978-90-04-09777-3.
  23. Back to citation occurrence 23.0 Back to citation occurrence 23.1 Norton, Christopher (2006). St. William of York. Rochester, NY: Boydell Press. p. 193. ISBN 978-1-903153-17-8.
  24. Back to citation Linehan, Peter; Laughland Nelson, Janet (2001). The Medieval World. Vol. 10. Routledge. p. 524. ISBN 9780415302340.
  25. Back to citation Kelly, Joseph F. (2009). The Ecumenical Councils of the Catholic Church: A History. Liturgical Press. p. 83. ISBN 9780814657034.
  26. Back to citation Thomas, P.C. (1993). General Councils of the Church: A Compact History. Mumbai: Bombay St. Paul Society. pp. 75–78. ISBN 8171091814.
  27. Back to citation Potter, Philip J. (2009). Gothic Kings of Britain: The Lives of 31 Medieval Rulers, 1016-1399. McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 148. ISBN 978-0786440382.
  28. Back to citation Hamilton 2000, p. 164.

Bibliography

  • Christiansen, Eric (1997). The Northern Crusades. London: Penguin Books. p. 71. ISBN 978-0140266535.
  • Duggan, Anne J. (2016). "Alexander ille meus: The Papacy of Alexander III". In Duggan, Anne J; Clarke, Peter D. (eds.). Pope Alexander III (1159–81): The Art of Survival. Routledge. pp. 13–50.
  • Freed, John (2016). Frederick Barbarossa: The Prince and the Myth. Yale University Press.
  • Fonnesberg-Schmidt, Iben (2007). The Popes and the Baltic Crusades: 1147-1254. Brill. p. 58.
  • Hamilton, Bernard (2000). The Leper King and His Heirs: Baldwin IV and the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781316347638.
  • Logan, F Donald (2002). A History of the Church in the Middle Ages. Routledge.
  • Morris, Colin (1989). The Papal Monarchy: The Western Church from 1050 to 1250. Oxford University Press.
  • Suger (2018). Selected Works of Abbot Suger of Saint Denis. Translated by Cusimano, Richard; Whitmore, Eric. The Catholic University of America Press.

Further reading

  • Myriam Soria Audebert, "Pontifical Propaganda during the Schisms: Alexander III to the reconquest of Church Unity", in Convaincre et persuader: Communication et propagande aux XII et XIIIe siècles. Ed. par Martin Aurell. Poitiers: Université de Poitiers-centre d'études supérieures de civilisation médiévale, 2007,
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