Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 20.djvu/813

Rh 933-999.] K M E 789 Now too the feudal system was converting the officers of the empire into independent princes, and the new spirit of communal liberty was giving freedom to the cities. Otho once more united the empire and the church, Italy and Germany, in order to combat these new foes. But the difficulties of the enterprise at once came to light. John XII., finding a master in the protector he had invoked, now joined the discontented nobles who were conspiring with Berengarius against the emperor. But the latter hastened to Rome in November 963, assembled the clergy, nobles, and heads of the people, and made them take an oath never again to elect a pope without his consent and that of his son. He also convoked a synod presided over by himself in St Peter's, which judged, condemned, and deposed Pope John and elected Leo VIII. (963-965), a Roman noble, in his stead. All this was done at the direct bidding of the emperor, who thus deprived the Romans of their most valued privilege, the right of choosing their own pope. But the people had now risen to considerable importance, and, for the first time, we find it officially represented in the synod by the plebeian Pietro, surnamed Imperiola, together with the leaders of the militia, which had also become a popular institution since Alberic's reign. It was no longer easy to keep the lower orders in sub- jection, and by their junction with the malcontent nobles they formed a very respectable force. On the 3d January 964 they sounded the battle-peal and attacked the Vatican, where the emperor was lodged. The German knights repulsed them with much slaughter, and this bloodshed proved the beginning of an endless feud. Otho departed in February, and John XII., as the chosen pope of the Romans, returned with an army of followers and com- pelled the defenceless Leo VIII. to seek safety in flight. Soon afterwards Leo was deposed and excommunicated by a new synod, and many of his adherents were cruelly murdered. But on the 14th May 964 John suddenly expired ; the Romans, amid violent struggles and tumults, resumed their rights, elected Benedict V. .and procured his consecration in spite of the emperor's veto. Otho now appeared at the head of an army, committed fresh slaughter, besieged the city, reduced it by famine, and, after holding a council which deposed Benedict and sent him a prisoner to Hamburg, restored Leo VIII. to the papal throne. But, although the emperor thus disposed of the papacy at his will, his arbitrary exercise of power roused a long and obsti- nate resistance, which had no slight effect upon the history of the commune. Leo VIII. died in 965, and the imperial party elected John XIII. (965-972). Upon this the nobles of the national party joined the people, and there was a general revolt. The nobles were led by Pietro, prefect of Rome. As we have noted, this office seemed to be extinct during the Carolingian rule, but we again meet with it in 955, after an interval of a century and a half. The leaders of the people were twelve decarconi, a term of unknown derivation, but probably indicating chiefs of the twelve regions (dodecarchi, dodecarconi, decarconi). The new pope was seized and confined, first in Castle St Angelo, then in a fortress in the Campagna. But the emperor quickly marched an army against Rome, and this sufficed to produce a reaction which recalled the pope (November 966), sent the prefect into exile, and put several of the rebellious nobles to death. And shortly after the emperor sacked the city. Many Romans were exiled, some tortured, others, including the twelve decarconi, killed. John XIII. died in 972 and Otho in 973. All these events clearly prove how great a change had now taken place in the conditions of Rome. The people (plebs) had made its appearance upon the stage ; the army had become democratic; the twelve regions were regularly organized under leaders. Opposed to them stood the nobles, headed by the prefect, also a noble, precisely as in Florence the nobles and the podesta were later opposed to the guilds and the people. So far, it is true, nobles and people had made common cause in Rome ; but this harmony was soon to be interrupted. The feudal spirit had made its way among the Roman aristocrats, had split them into two parties and diminished their strength. It was now destined to spread, and, as it was always vigorously detested, and opposed by the people elsewhere in Italy, so the same consequence was inevitable in Rome. Another notable change, and a subject of unending con- Judices troversy, had also occurred in the administration of justice. dativi - So far there were the judices de clero, also known as ordinary or palatine judges, and the judices de militia, also styled consules or duces. These judges generally formed a court of seven, three being de clero, four de militia, or vice versa, under the presidency of the papal or imperial missi. In criminal cases the judices de militia had the prefect or the imperial missus for their president. But there was a third order of judges called pedanei, a consulibus creati. It seems clear that the duces, being distribute per judicatus, found themselves isolated in the provinces, and to obtain assistance nominated these pedanei, who were legal experts. In Rome, with its courts of law, they were less needed, but possibly in those sections of the city where cases of minor importance were sub- mitted to a single magistrate reference was made to the pedanei. But many changes were made under the Franks, and when the edict of Lothair (824) granted free choice of either the Roman or Germanic law, and the duces were replaced by comites and gastaldiones, chiefly of German origin, the use of legal experts became increas- ingly necessary. And the custom of employing them was the more easily diffused by being already common among the Franks, whose scabini were legal experts acting as judges, though not qualified to pass sentence. Thus the pedanei multiplied, came to resemble the scabini, and were designated judices dativi (a magistratu dati) or simply dativi. These were to be found in the exarchate in 838, but not in Rome until 961, when the judices de militia had ceased to exist. The great progress of the German legal procedure may then have contributed to the forma- tion of the new office. Meanwhile Pope John XIII. had been succeeded by Benedict VI. (973-974) and Otho I. by his son Otho II., a youth of eighteen married to the Byzantine princess Theophano. Thereupon the Romans, who had supported the election of another pope, and were in no awe of the new emperor, rose to arms under the command of Crescenzio, a rich and powerful noble. They not only seized Benedict VI. by force, but strangled him in Castle St Angelo. The national and imperial parties then elected several popes who were either exiled or perse- cuted, and one of them was said to be murdered. In 985 John XV. was elected (985-996). During this tur- moil, the national party, composed of nobles and people, led by Giovanni Crescenzio, son of the other Crescenzio Giovanni mentioned above, had taken complete possession of the Cres- government. This Crescenzio assumed the title of patri- cenzi - cian, and sought to imitate Alberic, although far his inferior in capacity. Fortunately for him the reigning pope was a detested tyrant, and the emperor a child entirely guided by his mother. But the new emperor Otho III. was backed by a powerful party, and on coming to Rome in 996 was able, although only aged fifteen, to quell the rebellion, oust Crescenzio from public life, and elect as successor to John XV. his own cousin, Pope Gregory V. (996-999). But this first German pope sur- rounded himself with compatriots, and by raising them to lofty posts even in the tribunals excited a revolt that