THE ITALIAN PRINCES (A HISTORY OF THE PAPACY FROM THE GREAT SCHISM TO THE SACK OF ROME Book 5)

Pope Boniface IX

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A history of the papacy from the great schism to the sack of Rome

By the end of the 1st century, however, his presence in the imperial capital was recognized by Christian leaders, and the city was accorded a place of honour, perhaps because of its claim to the graves of both Saints Peter and Paul. The Roman position of honour was challenged in the middle of the 3rd century when Pope Stephen I — and St. Assuming the title pontifex maximus , or chief priest , he made an important distinction between the person of the pope and his office, maintaining that the office assumed the full power bestowed on Peter.

Although the Council of Chalcedon —called and largely directed by the Eastern emperor Marcian in —accorded the patriarch of Constantinople the same primacy in the East that the bishop of Rome held in the West, it acknowledged that Leo I spoke with the voice of Peter on matters of dogma , thus encouraging papal primacy. This position, which was supported by Pope Pelagius I — , became an important part of medieval ecclesiology and political theory.

Although much about the early popes remains shrouded in darkness, scholars agree that the bishops of Rome were selected in the same manner as other bishops—that is, elected by the clergy and people of the area though there is some evidence that some of the early bishops attempted to appoint their successors. Elections were not always peaceful, however, and rival candidates and factions often prompted imperial intervention; eventually the emperors presided over elections.

After the collapse of the Western Empire in , the involvement of the Eastern emperor in papal affairs was gradually replaced by that of Germanic rulers and leading Roman families. As political instability plagued the old Western Empire in the early Middle Ages, popes were often forced to make concessions to temporal authorities in exchange for protection. After the demise of effective Byzantine control of Italy in the 8th century, the papacy appealed to the new Germanic rulers for support, serving as a symbol of imperial glory for them.

In this fashion he opened up the West to the papacy. The situation worsened in the 8th century after a new emperor, Leo III, restored sagging Byzantine fortunes by turning back an Arab assault from the east. Leo reorganized the empire and imposed new tax burdens on his Italian subjects. He also intervened in doctrinal matters by pronouncing, without papal approval, a policy of iconoclasm. The new imperial fiscal and religious policies and limited imperial support against the Lombards drove the papacy to find a new protector. In Pope Gregory III — sent an unsuccessful appeal for aid to the Frankish mayor of the palace the effective political power in the kingdom , Charles Martel.

In Stephen formally crowned Pippin, and the king marched south with his army in that year and again in to restore papal authority in central Italy. The king also issued the Donation of Pippin to establish the Papal States , which endured until These events probably also inspired the compilation of the Donation of Constantine later proved to be a forgery , which asserted that the first Christian emperor, Constantine , granted control of the Western Empire to Pope Sylvester I , who had baptized the emperor and cured him of leprosy.

It was later cited in support of papal claims of sovereignty in western Europe. By linking the fate of Roman primacy to the support of Pippin and the Carolingian dynasty , Stephen and his successors gained a powerful protector. Although the popes gained a measure of security from this relationship, they lost an equal measure of independence, because the Carolingians followed in the footsteps of their Byzantine and Roman predecessors by asserting considerable control over the Frankish church and the papacy itself.

On the other hand, the pope exercised influence in Carolingian affairs by maintaining the right to crown emperors and by sometimes directly intervening in political disputes.

As Carolingian power waned in the late 9th and the 10th century, the papacy once again found itself at the disposal of powerful local nobles, including the Crescentii family. Competition for control of the papal throne and its extensive network of patronage weakened the institution.

During the late 10th and the 11th century, problems in the papal court and political conditions in Italy reinforced the close ties between the papacy and the German emperors, especially in the case of Pope Sylvester II — and Otto III. Despite this alliance, the emperor was often absent from Rome, and local powers reasserted themselves.

At times, the papacy suffered from weakness and corruption. But even in the darkest times of the 10th and 11th centuries, Rome remained the focus of devotion and pilgrimage as the city of Peter and of the martyrs and saints. The 11th century was a time of revolutionary change in European society.

In Pope Leo IX —54 , joining a broad reform initiative that began in the early 10th century, introduced moral and institutional reforms at the Council of Reims, thus initiating the Gregorian Reform movement named after its most important leader, Pope Gregory VII [—85].

Reformers sought to restore the liberty and independence of the church and to firmly distinguish the clergy from all other orders in society. One important measure implemented by Pope Nicholas II —61 was the election decree of , which organized the cardinals into a papal advisory body and laid the foundation for the creation of the Sacred College of Cardinals. The new body was vested with the right to name new popes, thus encouraging the independence of papal elections and restricting imperial interference.

Further reforms emphasized the primacy of Rome and the subordination of all clergy and laity to the pope. Such assertions of papal primacy, however, worsened tensions between Rome and Constantinople and eventually brought about the Schism of between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Another significant development brought about by the papal reform begun in was the Investiture Controversy. This struggle between Pope Gregory VII and King Henry IV of Germany erupted when Henry claimed the long-standing royal right to invest an ecclesiastical office holder with the symbols of power, thereby effectively maintaining control of the selection and direction of bishops and local clergy.

The proper order of Christendom was at stake in the controversy.

Although Gregory was driven from Rome and died in exile, his ideals eventually prevailed, as claims of sacral kingship and royal intervention in church affairs were seriously curtailed. Throughout their history, the bishops of Rome enjoyed great respect and veneration because of the antiquity of their see, its historical orthodoxy, the relics of its martyrs including Saints Peter and Paul the Apostles , and the imperial and Christian history of the…. The 12th century was a period of growth and transformation during which the impetus of Gregorian Reform came to a close and the papacy adjusted to the new realities brought about by the events of the previous century.

Traditionally the spiritual centre of the church, the papacy evolved into a great administrative and bureaucratic institution. Indeed, the papal court became, in some ways, the highest court of appeals, exercising jurisdiction in a broad range of legal matters and creating legal machinery of great sophistication. Whereas all roads once led to Rome for spiritual consolation, now they also led there for the adjudication of legal disputes; not coincidentally, few popes in subsequent generations were listed among the ranks of the saints.

The papacy also adjusted to changing social, religious, and political conditions, some of which were of its own making. The new electoral procedures instituted by the Gregorians only partially resolved questions relating to papal succession, and, as a result, the papacy suffered two schisms in the 12th century, the Anacletan and the Alexandrine. The latter was caused by renewed tensions between the papacy and the emperor, Frederick I Barbarossa , who eventually yielded to the legitimate pope, Alexander III — The Alexandrine schism led to the decision of the third Lateran Council to require a two-thirds majority vote of the cardinals to elect a pope.

The papacy also faced challenges posed by the efforts of Italian cities to secure independence from imperial or episcopal control and by the growth of heresies, especially those of the Waldenses and the Albigenses.

The early papacy

Innocent III — responded with greater fervour to the challenges faced by the church. One of the youngest popes to ascend the throne, Innocent, a theologian and lawyer, reinvigorated the institution; as the vicar of Christ, he declared that the pope stood between God and humankind. He restored effective government over the Papal States, and during his reign England, Bulgaria, and Portugal all became papal fiefs. Innocent expanded papal legal authority by claiming jurisdiction over matters relating to sin, and he involved himself in the political affairs of France and the Holy Roman Empire.

He called the Fourth Crusade —04 , which led to the sack of Constantinople, and the Albigensian Crusade , which was intended to end heresy in southern France, and he approved legislation requiring Jews to wear special clothing. Focusing also on spiritual matters, he approved the orders of St. Francis of Assisi the Franciscan s; and St. Dominic the Dominican s; and presided over the fourth Lateran Council in , which instituted various reforms and approved the use of the term transubstantiation to describe the eucharistic transformation.

The popes carried out the Inquisition and pursued a vendetta against the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, Frederick II , bringing to a close a struggle that had begun in the 11th century and that undermined imperial power for generations to come. The centralization of administrative and jurisdictional power in the Roman Curia the body of officials that assists the pope , however, led to increasing financial and administrative difficulties.

Celestine was unequal to the task, however, and he resigned from the papal office in December of the same year he was one of only a few popes to do so willingly. The next election brought to power one of the most extreme advocates of papal authority, Boniface VIII — Although he was a brilliant lawyer, his obstinate personality led to a clash with the French king, Philip IV , which in turn brought about the collapse of the medieval papacy. Papal corruption and the humiliation of Boniface forced the papal court to move, under French influence, to Avignon in The Avignon popes, though skilled administrators, were not distinguished by their piety.

Indeed, John XXII —34 is best known for his battle with the Spiritual Franciscans and his questionable views on the Beatific Vision the experience of God in the afterlife ; and Clement VI —52 , who protected the Jews against persecution by those who blamed them for the Black Death , established a reputation as a patron of the arts. As the European world disintegrated into its component national parts, the universalism of the church and the papacy was challenged. The Italian Renaissance , sometimes dated from the death of Petrarch in , is generally seen as a break with medieval culture , but this was not entirely true, especially for the papacy, which witnessed the further development of many medieval themes.

Notably, the continued decline of the political power of the Holy See was accelerated by the Great Schism Western Schism ; — , in which rival factions of cardinals elected popes in both Rome and Avignon. The schism erupted as a result of the growing desire, voiced by Petrarch and by St. Catherine of Siena , among others, to see the papacy return to Rome. His successor, Urban VI —89 , acted in such a high-handed fashion that he alienated a considerable number of cardinals, who elected a new pope and returned to Avignon. Although Christians were divided in their loyalties, all of them recognized the dire nature of the situation.

Theologians responded with the doctrine of conciliarism , which holds that an ecumenical council has greater authority than the pope and may depose him. Although the conciliar movement ultimately collapsed under the weight of its own success, it did help to resolve the crisis. In the Council of Constance ended the schism by deposing or accepting the resignations of three rival popes one had been elected by the Council of Pisa in Under Pope Nicholas V —55 there was a revival of classical studies, which contributed to the development of humanism and the Renaissance.

Nicholas also envisioned the rebuilding of St. The vain and ostentatious Pope Paul II —71 , who had a virtual mania for gems and collectibles, built the magnificent Palazzo Venezia in Rome. His successor, Pope Sixtus IV —84 , proceeded with the beautification of the city. The secular outlook of the papacy reached a high point with the election of Rodrigo Borgia as Pope Alexander VI — and continued under Pope Julius II —13 , who proved a great patron of the arts.

As Renaissance Rome became a centre of art, science, and politics, its religious role declined; thus began the steps that provoked the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century. Small wonder that these Renaissance popes, most of whom were more involved in political and financial alliances than in pastoral work, proved unable to respond effectively to the crisis. Only later did the papacy attempt to reform the church by calling the Council of Trent —63 , instituting the so-called Counter-Reformation.

The theological and ecclesiastical decisions of this council largely determined the shape of the Roman Catholic Church until the second half of the 20th century. The popes of this period found their programs challenged by the growing power of the nation-states. Nevertheless, there were some positive developments, including reform of the College of Cardinals and the founding of new orders such as the Theatines , the Barnabites , the Capuchins , and, perhaps most important of all, the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits These orders played a crucial role in the revitalization of the church and in the growing influence of the papacy.

The establishment of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith in demonstrated the importance of the papacy in the missionary movement. The papacy also attempted to implement the policies of the Council of Trent but encountered political and diplomatic obstacles, as well as the reality that Christendom remained divided into competing states, whose religious aspirations were often subordinate to dynastic and national ambitions.

In the Papal States , Boniface IX gradually regained control of the chief castles and cities, and he re-founded the States as they would appear during the fifteenth century. Over the next few years, Boniface IX was entreated to abdicate, even by his strongest supporters: Pressure for an ecumenical council also grew as the only way to breach the Western Schism , but the conciliar movement made no headway during Boniface's papacy.

During the reign of Boniface IX two jubilees were celebrated at Rome. Several cities of Germany obtained the "privileges of the jubilee", as indulgences were called, but the preaching of indulgences led to abuses and scandal. The jubilee of drew to Rome great crowds of pilgrims , particularly from France, in spite of a disastrous plague.

Pope Boniface IX remained in the city nonetheless. In the latter part of there arose bands of self-flagellating penitents , known as the Bianchi , or Albati " White Penitents " , especially in Provence , where the Albigenses had been exterminated less than a century before. Their numbers spread to Spain and northern Italy. These evoked uneasy memories of the mass processions of wandering flagellants of the Black Death period, — They went in procession from city to city, clad in white garments, with faces hooded, and wearing on their backs a red cross, following a leader who carried a large cross.

Rumors of imminent divine judgement and visions of the Virgin Mary abounded. They sang the newly-popular hymn Stabat Mater during their processions. For a while, as the White Penitents approached Rome, gaining adherents along the way, Boniface IX and the Curia supported their penitential enthusiasm, but when they reached Rome, Boniface IX had their leader burnt at the stake, and they soon dispersed. In England the anti-papal preaching of John Wyclif supported the opposition of the king and the higher clergy to Boniface IX's habit of granting English benefices as they fell vacant to favorites in the Roman Curia.

The pope's agents also now sold not simply a vacant benefice but the expectation of one; and when an expectation had been sold, if another offered a larger sum for it, the pope voided the first sale. The unsympathetic observer Dietrich von Nieheim reports that he saw the same benefice sold several times in one week, and that the Pope talked business with his secretaries during Mass. There was resistance in England, the staunchest supporter of the Roman papacy during the Schism: Boniface IX was defeated in the face of a unified front, and the long controversy was finally settled to the English king's satisfaction.

Nevertheless, at the Synod of London , the English bishops convened to condemn Wyclif.

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In Boniface IX made the best of it by approving the deposition and recognizing Rupert. The universities of Ferrara and Fermo owe him their origin, and that of Erfurt in Germany , its confirmation Boniface IX died in after a brief illness. Boniface IX was a frank politician, strapped for cash like the other princes of Europe, as the costs of modern warfare rose and supporters needed to be encouraged by gifts, for fourteenth-century government depended upon such personal support as a temporal ruler could gather and retain.

All the princes of the late 14th century were accused of avaricious money-grubbing by contemporary critics, but among them contemporaries ranked Boniface IX as exceptional. Traffic in benefices, the sale of dispensations, and the like, did not cover the loss of local sources of revenue in the long absence of the papacy from Rome, foreign revenue diminished by the schism, expenses for the pacification and fortification of Rome, the constant wars made necessary by French ambition and the piecemeal reconquest of the Papal States.

Boniface IX certainly provided generously for his mother, his brothers Andrea and Giovanni, and his nephews in the spirit of the day. The Curia was perhaps equally responsible for new financial methods that were destined in the next century to arouse bitter feelings against Rome, particularly in Germany.

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Biography portal Christianity portal History portal. From the Close of the Middle Ages , vol. Popes and Anti-Popes of the Western Schism.

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