Pope Paschal II
| Pope Paschal II | |
|---|---|
| Bishop of Rome | |
14th century miniature of Paschal II
| |
| Church | Catholic Church |
| Papacy began | 13 August 1099 |
| Papacy ended | 21 January 1118 |
| Predecessor | Urban II |
| Successor | Gelasius II |
| Previous posts | Cardinal-Priest of San Clemente (1073–78) Legate to France and Spain (1089–90) |
| Orders | |
| Created cardinal | 1073 by Gregory VII |
| Rank | Cardinal Priest (1073 - 1078) Cardinal Bishop (1078 - 1099) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Raniero Raineri di Bleda 1050–55 Bleda or Galeata, March of Tuscany, Holy Roman Empire |
| Died | 21 January 1118 (aged c. 63–68) Rome, Papal States |
| Other popes named Paschal | |
Pope Paschal II (Latin: Paschalis II; 1050 x 1055 – 21 January 1118), born Raniero Raineri di Bleda, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 August 1099 to his death in 1118. A monk of the Abbey of Cluny, he was created the cardinal-priest of San Clemente by Pope Gregory VII (1073–85) in 1073. He was consecrated as pope in succession to Pope Urban II (1088–99) on 19 August 1099. His reign of almost twenty years was exceptionally long for a medieval pope.
Early career
Ranierius was born in Bleda, near Forlì, Romagna. He became a monk at Cluny at an early age.
Papacy
Early pontificate
After Pope Urban II's death, Paschal reacted to the success of the First Crusade by preaching the penitential Crusade of 1101.[1]
During the early part of his pontificate, Paschal also continued to develop papal policy in the context of the ongoing Investiture Controversy. He zealously carried on the Hildebrandine policy in favor of papal privilege, though with only partial success.
Henry V, son of Emperor Henry IV, took advantage of his father's excommunication to rebel, even to the point of seeking out Paschal for absolution for associating with his father.[2]
The imperial Diet at Mainz invited Paschal to visit Germany and settle the dispute in January 1106, but the pope at the Council of Guastalla (October 1106) simply renewed the prohibition of investiture.[3]
In the same early phase of his pontificate, he brought to an end the investiture struggle in England, in which Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury, had been engaged with King Henry I, by retaining to himself exclusive right to invest with the ring and crozier, but recognizing royal nomination to vacant benefices and the oath of fealty for temporal domains.
Paschal also went to France at the close of 1106 to seek the mediation of King Philip I and his son Louis in the imperial struggle, returning to Italy in September 1107, his negotiations remaining without result. During this trip, he consecrated the Cluniac church of Notre Dame at La Charité-sur-Loire,[4] the second largest church in Europe at the time.
Investiture Controversy (1107–1111)
During the later phase of escalating conflict with Henry V, the dispute over investiture intensified.
When Henry V advanced with an army into Italy in order to be crowned, the pope agreed to a compact in February 1111 which stipulated that before receiving the imperial crown, Henry was to abjure all claims to investitures, whilst the pope undertook to compel the prelates and abbots of the empire to restore all the temporal rights and privileges which they held from the crown.
Preparations were made for the coronation on 12 February 1111, but the Romans rose in revolt against Henry, and the German king retired, taking the pope and Curia with him.
After 61 days of harsh imprisonment, during which Prince Robert I of Capua's Norman army was repulsed on its rescue mission, Paschal yielded and guaranteed investiture to the emperor. Henry V was then crowned in St. Peter's on 13 April 1111, and, after exacting a promise that no revenge would be taken for what had happened, withdrew beyond the Alps.
The Hildebrandine party was aroused to action, however; a Lateran council of March 1112 declared null and void the concessions extorted by violence; a council held at Vienne in October 1111 excommunicated the emperor; and Paschal sanctioned the proceeding.[5]
Post-crisis governance (1112–1116)
Following the crisis of 1111, Paschal continued to face unresolved tensions with both imperial and royal authorities.
During Paschal's papacy some efforts were made by the Byzantine Emperor Alexios I to bridge the schism between the Orthodox and the Catholic Church, but these failed, as Paschal pressed the demand that the patriarch of Constantinople recognise the pope's primacy over "all the churches of God throughout the world" in late 1112.[6]
Paschal issued the bull Pie postulatio voluntatis on 15 February 1113, bringing under Papal protection and confirming as a religious order the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, later known as the Knights Hospitaller and today known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. It also confirmed the order's acquisitions and donations in Europe and Asia and exempted it from all authority save that of the pope.[7]
Toward this same period, Paschal complained in 1115 that councils were held and bishops translated without his authorization, and he threatened Henry I with excommunication.
Matilda of Tuscany was said to have bequeathed all her allodial lands to the Church upon her death in 1115, but the donation was neither publicly acknowledged in Rome nor is any documentary record of the donation preserved. Emperor Henry V at once laid claim to Matilda's lands as imperial fiefs and forced the pope to flee from Rome.
In 1116, at the behest of Count Ramon Berenguer III of Barcelona, Paschal issued a crusade for the capture of Tarragona.[8]
Paschal also ordered the building of the basilica of Santi Quattro Coronati on the ashes of the one burned during the Norman sack of Rome in 1084.[9] It was restored and consecrated in 1116.[10]
Death
Paschal returned to Rome after the emperor's withdrawal at the beginning of 1118, but died within a few days, on 21 January 1118."
See also
From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia
Pope Paschal II, Pope (Rainerius), succeeded Urban II, and reigned from 13 Aug., 1099, till he died at Rome, 21 Jan., 1118. Born in central Italy, he was received at an early age as a monk in Cluny. In his twentieth year he was sent on business of the monastery to Rome, and was retained at the papal court by Gregory VII, and made Cardinal-Priest of St. Clement's church. It was in this church that the conclave met after the death of Pope Urban, and Cardinal Rainerius was the unanimous choice of the sacred college. He protested vigorously against his election, maintaining, with some justice, that his monastic training had not fitted him to deal with the weighty problems which confronted the papacy in that troublous age. His protestations were disregarded by his colleagues, and he was consecrated the following day in St. Peter's. Once pope, he betrayed no further hesitation and wielded the sceptre with a firm and prudent grasp. The main lines of his policy had been laid by the master minds of Gregory and Urban, in whose footsteps he faithfully followed, while the unusual length of his pontificate, joined to a great amiability of character, made his reign an important factor in the development of the medieval papal dominion. Urban II had lived to witness the complete success of his wonderful movement for the liberation of the Holy Land and the defence of Christendom. He had died a fortnight after Jerusalem fell into the hands of the crusaders. To continue the work inaugurated by Urban remained the fixed policy of the Holy See for many generations. Paschal laboured vigorously by synods and journeys through Italy and France to keep alive the crusading spirit. Of more vital importance was the Investiture Conflict (see Investiture, Conflict of). It was fortunate that the antipope, Guibert (Clement III), died a few months after the elevation of Paschal. Three other antipopes, Theodoric (1100), Aleric (1102), and Maginulf, who took the name of Sylvester IV (1105), were offered by the imperialistic faction; but the schism was practically ended. Two of these pretendants were sent by Paschal to do penance in monasteries; the third had little or no following. Henry IV, broken by his previous conflicts, had no desire to renew the struggle. He obstinately refused to abjure his claim to imperial investitures, and, consequently, was again excommunicated, and died at Liège, 7 Aug., 1106.
His death and the accession of his son were of dubious advantage to the papal cause; for although he had posed as the champion of the Church, he soon showed himself as unwilling as his father had been to relinquish any of the pretensions of the crown. Since the pope continued to denounce and anathematize lay investitures in the synods over which he presided, the chief of which were at Guastalla (1106) and Troyes (1107), and since Henry persisted in bestowing benefices at pleasure, the friendly relations between the two powers soon became strained. Paschal decided to change his proposed journey to Germany, and proceeded to France, where he was received enthusiastically by King Philip (who did penance for his adultery and was reconciled to the Church) and by the French people. Henry resented the discussion of a German question on foreign soil, though the question of Investitures was one of universal interest; and he threatened to cut the knot with his sword, as soon as circumstances permitted his going to Rome to receive the imperial crown. In August, 1110, he crossed the Alps with a well-organized army, and, what emphasized the entrance of a new factor in medieval politics, accompanied by a band of imperialistic lawyers, one of whom, David, was of Celtic origin. Crushing out opposition on his way through the peninsula, Henry sent an embassy to arrange with the pontiff the preliminaries of his coronation. The outcome was embodied in the Concordat of Sutri. Before receiving the imperial crown, Henry was to abjure all claims to investitures, whilst the pope undertook to compel the prelates and abbots of the empire to restore all the temporal rights and privileges which they held from the crown.
When the compact was made public in St. Peter's on the date assigned for the coronation, 12 Feb., 1111, there arose a fierce tumult led by the prelates who by one stroke of the pen had been degraded from the estate of princes of the empire to beggary. The indignation was the more intense, because the rights of the Roman See had been secured from a similar confiscation. After fruitless wrangling and three days of rioting, Henry carried the pope and his cardinals into captivity. Abandoned as he was by everyone, Paschal, after two months of imprisonment, yielded to the king that right of investiture against which so many heroes had contended. Henry's violence rebounded upon himself. All Christendom united in anathematizing him. The voices raised to condemn the faint-heartedness of Paschal were drowned by the universal denunciation of his oppressor. Paschal humbly acknowledged his weakness, but refused to break the promise he had made not to inflict any censure upon Henry for his violence. It was unfortunate for Paschal's memory that he should be so closely associated with the episode of Sutri. As head of the Church, he developed a far-reaching activity. He maintained discipline in every corner of Europe. The greatest champions of religion, men like St. Anselm of Canterbury, looked up to him with reverence. He gave his approval to the new orders of Cîteaux and Fontevrauld. On his numerous journeys he brought the papacy into direct contact with the people and dedicated a large number of churches. If it was not given to him to solve the problem of Investitures, he cleared the way for his more fortunate successor.
Duchesne, Lib. Pont, II, 296 sqq.; Gregorovius, The Historians of the City of Rome; Hefele, Concilieng., V, ed. von Reumont; Hergenröther, Kircheng., II, 378; Artand de Montor, Hist. of the Popes (New York, 1867).
- James F. Loughlin.
References
- Back to citation A History of the Crusades. Univ of Wisconsin Press. 1969. ISBN 978-0299048341.
- Back to citation McLaughlin, Megan (2010). Sex, Gender, and Episcopal Authority in an Age of Reform, 1000–1122. Cambridge University Press. p. 175. ISBN 978-0521870054.
- Back to citation Blumenthal, Uta-Renate (1988). The Investiture Controversy: Church and Monarchy from the Ninth to the Twelfth Century. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 167. ISBN 978-0812213867.
- Back to citation Suger (Abbot). "De La Venue En France Du Pape Pascal II (1107) / Of Pope Paschal II's Travel to France (1107)" (in French). Archived from the original on 26 September 2007. Retrieved 1 May 2016. “puis de Cluny à La Charité, où, au milieu d'un très grand concours d'archevêques, d'évêques et de moines, il dédia et consacra ce fameux monastère [...] 6) Le 9 mars 1107. Le monastère de la Charité-sur-Loire (Nièvre, arrondissement de Cosne) était un prieuré clunisien.”
- Back to citation "'Pope Paschal II'. New Catholic Dictionary. CatholicSaints. Info. 23 August 2013".
- Back to citation Hussey, Joan Mervyn (1986). The Orthodox Church in the Byzantine Empire. Clarendon Press. pp. 170–171. ISBN 978-0198269014.
- Back to citation Sire, H.J.A. (1996). The Knights of Malta. New Haven & London: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0300055023.
- Back to citation Reilly, Bernard F. (1995). The Contest of Christian and Muslim Spain: 1031–1157. Blackwell Publishing. p. 177. ISBN 978-0631199649.
- Back to citation Webb, Matilda (2001). The Churches and Catacombs of Early Christian Rome: A Comprehensive Guide. Sussex Academic Press. p. 93. ISBN 978-1902210582.
- Back to citation Kitzinger, Ernst (1982). "The Arts as Aspects of a Renaissance: Rome and Italy". In Robert L., Benson; Constable, Giles; Lanham, Carol Dana (eds.). Renaissance and Renewal in the Twelfth Century. Harvard University Press. p. 638. ISBN 9780802068507.
External links
- "Genealogia dei Raineri di Bleda". Digiland (in Italian).