Pope Benedict VI
| Pope Benedict VI | |
|---|---|
| Bishop of Rome | |
| Church | Catholic Church |
| Papacy began | 19 January 973 |
| Papacy ended | June 974 |
| Predecessor | John XIII |
| Successor | Benedict VII |
| Previous post | Cardinal-Priest (964–974) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 950 Rome, Papal States |
| Died | June 974 Rome, Papal States, Holy Roman Empire |
| Other popes named Benedict | |
Pope Benedict VI (Latin: Benedictus VI; 950 – June 974) was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 19 January 973 to his death in 974. His brief pontificate occurred in the political context of the establishment of the Holy Roman Empire, during the transition between the reigns of Otto I and Otto II, incorporating the struggle for power of Roman aristocratic families such as the Crescentii.
Early life
The son of a Roman of German ancestry named Hildebrand,[1] Benedict was born in Rome in the region called Sub Capitolio (in what was the old 8th region of Augustan Rome, the Forum Romanum). Prior to becoming pope, he was the cardinal deacon of the church of Saint Theodore.[2]
Pontificate
On the death of Pope John XIII in September 972, the majority of the electors who adhered to the imperial faction chose Benedict VI to be his successor. He was not consecrated until January 973, due to the need to gain the approval of the Holy Roman emperor, Otto I.[3] Installed as pope under the protection of Otto I, Benedict was seen as a puppet of the emperor by the local Roman aristocracy who resented the emperor's dominance in Roman civil and ecclesiastical affairs.[4]
Record of Benedict VI's reign as pope is scant. There is a letter dated to Benedict's reign from Pilgrim of Passau, asking for Benedict to confer on him the pallium, and make him a bishop so that he could continue his mission to convert the Hungarian people to Christianity. However, the response from Benedict is considered to be a forgery.[5] Benedict VI is also known to have confirmed privileges assumed by certain monasteries and churches. At the request of King Lothair and Queen Emma of France, Benedict placed the monastery of Blandin under papal protection. There is also a papal bull from Benedict in which Frederick, archbishop of Salzburg, and his successors are named papal vicars in the former Roman provinces of Upper and Lower Pannonia and Noricum; however, the authenticity of this bull is also disputed.[6]
Overthrow
Otto I died soon after Benedict VI's election in 973, and with the accession of Otto II, troubles with the nobility emerged in Germany. With the new emperor so distracted, a faction of the Roman nobility opposed to the interference of the Ottonian emperors in Roman affairs, took advantage of the opportunity to move against Benedict VI. Led by Crescentius the Elder and Cardinal-Deacon Franco Ferrucci, who had been the preferred candidate of the anti-Ottonian faction,[7] Benedict was taken in June 974, and imprisoned in the Castel Sant'Angelo, at that time a stronghold of the Crescentii.[8] Ferrucci was then proclaimed as the new pope, taking the name Boniface VII.
Hearing of the overthrow of Benedict VI, Otto II sent an imperial representative, Count Sicco, to demand his release. Unwilling to step down, Boniface ordered a priest named Stephen to murder Benedict while he was in prison, strangling him to death.[9][10] Boniface VII is today considered an antipope, with Benedict VII as the legitimate successor of Benedict VI.
From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia
Pope Benedict VI — Date of birth unknown; d. August, 974 (see Ricobaldi of Ferrara, Compil. Chron., in Rer. Ital. SS. IX). Benedict, Cardinal-Deacon of St. Theodore, a Roman and the son of Hildebrand, was elected as the successor of John XIII, who died 6 September, 972; but the necessity of waiting for the ratification of the Emperor Otho delayed his consecration till 19 January, 973. Nothing is known of his deeds, except that he confirmed the privileges of some churches and monasteries. The most striking event of his pontificate is the tragic close. He was seized and thrown into the Castle of Sant' Angelo by a faction of the nobility headed by Crescentius and the Deacon Boniface VII. There, after a confinement of less than two months, he was strangled by their orders, to prevent his release by Sicco, an imperial envoy, sent to Rome by Otho II.
The most important source for the history of the first nine popes who bore the name of Benedict is the biographies in the Liber Pontificalis, of which the most useful edition is that of Duchesne, Le Liber Pontificalis (Paris, 1886-92), and the latest that of Mommsen, Gesta Pontif. Roman. (to the end of the reign of Constantine only, Berlin, 1898). Jaffé, Regesta Pont. Rom. (2d ed., Leipzig, 1885), gives a summary of the letters of each pope and tells where they may be read at length. Modern accounts of these popes will be found in any large Church history, or history of the City of Rome. The fullest account in English of most of them is to be read in Mann, Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages (London, 1902, passim).
References
- Back to citation Gregorovius, pg. 377
- Back to citation Mann, pgs. 306-307
- Back to citation Mann, pg. 307; Gregorovius, pg. 377
- Back to citation Roger Collins, Keepers of the keys of heaven: a history of the papacy, (Basic Books, 2009), 187.
- Back to citation Mann, pgs. 308-309
- Back to citation Mann, pg. 309
- Back to citation Gregorovius, pg. 378
- Back to citation Norwich, pg. 83; Mann, pg. 310
- Back to citation Richard P. McBrien, Lives of the Popes: The Pontiffs from St. Peter to Benedict XVI, (HarperCollins, 2000), 161.
- Back to citation Mann, pgs. 310-311
Bibliography
- Norwich, John Julius, The Popes: A History (2011)
- Gregorovius, Ferdinand, The History of Rome in the Middle Ages, Vol. III (1895)
- Mann, Horace K., The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages, Vol. IV: The Popes in the Days of Feudal Anarchy, 891-999 (1910)