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 BENEDICT

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BENEDICT

Church. Benedict was insuUeJ and imprisoned. Most of the clergy and people, however, remained true to him. and the missi had to yield. Benedict was accordingly consecrated on the 29th of Septem- ber, or 6th of October, 855, and though his rival was condemned by a sjmod, he admitted him to lay communion. Owing to dissensions and attacks from without, the kingdom of the Franks was in disorder, and the Church within its borders was oppressed. Benedict wrote to the Frankish bishops, attributing much of the misery in the empire to their silence (cf. "Capitularia regum Francorum", ed. Boretius, II, 424); and to lessen its internal evils endeavoured to curb the powerful subdeacon Hubert (Ep. Bened., in Mon. Germ. Epp., V, 612), who was the brother-in-law of Lothaire II, King of Lor- raine, and defied the laws of Ciod and man till he was slain, in 864. In an appeal made to Benedict from the East, he held the balance fair between St. Ignatius, Patriarch of Constantinople, and Gregory. Bishop of Syracuse. He was visited by the Anglo- Saxon King Ethelwulf with his famous son Alfred, and completed the restoration of the Schota Anglo- rum, destroyed by fire in 847. He continued the work of repairing the damage done to the churches in Rome by the Saracen raid of 846. He was buried near the principal gate of St. Peter's. One of his coins proves there was no Pope Joan between Leo IV and himself [Garampi, " De niunmo argenteo Bened. HI" (Rome, 1749)].

Benedict IV, Pope, date of birth unknown; d. in the summer of 903. The Popes Benedict from the fourth to the ninth inclusive belong to the darkest period of papal historj-. The reigns of several of them were very short, and verj' little is known about their deeds. The dates of their accession to the See of Peter and of their deaths are largely uncertain. Benedict IV, a Roman and the son of Mammalus, became pope in the first half of 900. His high birth, liis generosity, his zeal for the public good are loudly commended by the contemporarj' historian Frodoard, who gives him the title of "Great". The principal historic act of his reign was his cro-\vning Louis the Blind as emperor. He supported the decision of Pope Formosus, who had ordained him priest, in favour of Argrim's claim to the See of Langres (Jaflfe, "Regesta", 3527, 3528), upheld the cause of Stephen, Bishop of Naples (Auxilius ap. Diimmler, "Auxilius und Vulgarius", 96 sqq.), excommunicated the assassin of Fulk, Archbishop of Reims (Frodoard, Hist. Remensis, IV, 10), and offered practical si,Tnpathy to Malacenus, Bishop of -A.masia, who had been driven from liis see by the advances of the Saracens (Jaff^, loc. cit., 3530). Fulda and other monasteries received privi- leges from him. He was buried in front of St. Peter's near the gate of Guido.

Benedict V, Pope, date of birth unknown; d. 4 July, 965; was elected pope (May, 964) in verj- critical circumstances. The powerful emperor, Otho I, had forcibly deposed the unworthy John XII, and had replaced him by a nominee of his own wlio took the title of Leo VIII. But at the first oppor- tunity the Romans expelled Leo, and on the death (14 May, 964) of tlie lawful pope, John XII, elected the Cardinal-Deacon Benedict (known from his learning as Grammaticus — see Benedict of Soracte, xxxvii). Otho was furious, marched on Rome, seized Benedict, and put an end to his pontificate (23 June, 964. — Liutprand, Hist. Ottonis, xxi; Thietmar, Chron., II, IS). It is more probable that Benedict was degraded by force than that he voluntarily declared himself an intruder. After reinstating Leo, Otho left Rome and carried Benedict with him to Germany. Placed under the care of Adaldag, Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen, who treated him with great consideration, he was even

then acknowledged as pope by some of the German clergj-. His remains, first laid to rest in the cathe- dral at Hamburg, were afterwards translated to Rome (Adam of Bremen, Gesta, II, 10; IV, 39, 40; VI, 53).

Benedict VI, Pope, 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. Noth- ing is known of liis deeds, except that he confirmed the privileges of some churches and monasteries. Tlie most striking event of his pontificate is its tragic close. He was seized and thrown into the Castle of Sant' .^gelo by a faction of the nobility headed by Crescentius and the Deacon Boniface Franco, who afterwards become the antipope Boni- face 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.

Benedict VII, Pope, date of birth unknown; d. c. October, 983. Acting under the influence of Sicco (see Benedict VI), the Roman clergy and people elected to succeed Benedict VI another Benedict, Bishop of Sutri, a Roman and the son of David (October, 974). His autliority was opposed by Boniface VII, and. though the antipope himself was forced to fly, his party followed fiercely in his footsteps and compelled Benedict to call upon Otho II for help. Firmly established on his throne by the emperor, he showed himself both desirous of checking the tide of simony which was rising lugli in the Church, and of advancing the cause of monas- ticism, which then meant that of civiUzation. In response to a request of the people of Carthage "to help the wretched province of Africa", he consecrated the priest James, who had been sent to him for the purpose (see the letter of the papal legate, the Abbot Leo, to the Kings Hugh Capet and Robert). Though he did not die till about October, 983, our knowledge of his undertakings is not in proportion to the length of his pontificate.

Benedict VIII, Pope, date of birth unknown; d. 9 April, 1024. The first of the Tusculan popes, being the son of Gregorj^, Count of Tusculuni, and Maria, and brother of Jolm XIX, he was, though a layman, imposed on the chair of Peter by force (18 May, 1012). Nevertheless, dislodging a rival, he became a good and strong ruler. On the 14th of Februarj', 1014, he crowned the German king, Henrj' II, emperor (Thietmar, Chron., VI, 61), and ever kept friendly with him. The peace of Italy was promoted by his subjugating the Crescentii, defeating the Saracens, and allying himself with the Normans, who appeared in its southern parts in his time. Going to Germany, he consecrated the cathe- dral of Bamberg (Ann. Altahen. Majores, 1020; Chron. Cass., II, 47), visited the monastery' of Fulda, and obtained from Henrj' a charter confirmatorj' of the donations of Charlemagne and Otho. To restrain the vices of clerical incontinence and simony, he held, with the emperor, an important sjmod at Pavia (1022 — Labbe, Concilia, IX, 819), and supported the reformation which was being effected by the great monastery of Cluny. To further the interest of peace, he encouraged the "Truce of God" and countenanced the ecclesiastical advancement of Gauzlin, the natural brother of Robert, the Pious, King of France. This he did because, though ille- gitimate, Gauzlin was a good man, and his royal brother was very desirous of his promotion (cf. life of Gauzlin, in "Neues Archiv. ", III). Benedict VIII was one of the many popes who were called upon