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Authors: Michael Walsh
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put John to death, but the new pope spared his life and got himself consecrated as swiftly as possible, without waiting for confirmation from the emperor.
That was a mistake. The Emperor Lothair was distinctly annoyed and sent an army (which set about pillaging the outskirts of Rome) and a troop of ecclesiastics to debate the validity of Sergius’s election. He was finally vindicated, but he had after all to swear allegiance to Lothair, though he refused point-blank to swear it to Lothair’s son Louis, who was King of the Lombards. To have sworn allegiance to Louis would have compromised the inde- pendence of the city of Rome from the Lombard kingdom surrounding it. This act of defiance, which Louis and Lothair accepted, much encouraged the Romans, but Sergius’s support melted away in the last part of his pontificate when his brother Benedict, of whom the papal chronicler does not have a good word to say (a boor, it said, always chasing after prostitutes, and a tra ffi cker in ecclesiastical o ffi ces), came to dominate the papacy. As Sergius lay dying in August 846, a party of Muslim invaders from
Descent into Chaos 43
North Africa, later known as Saracens, landed at Ostia, the port of Rome, and came so far into the city that they sacked St. Paul’s, and even St. Peter’s itself, two churches just outside the city walls. When they had recovered from their terror, the citizens of Rome thought that this incursion of Muslims was a visitation from God to punish them for the sins committed by Benedict.
But the Saracen raid taught another, long-term, lesson. People in Rome believed that King Louis had left the city to its fate. The Muslim invaders were put to flight not by him but by the troops of the Duke of Spoleto. Italians, the lesson went, had to look after themselves. Leo IV, elected unanimously possibly even before Sergius had died, waited for confirmation from the emperor, but when it was slow in coming went ahead with his consecration anyway. There was, he believed, another Saracen raid imminent, and he built the Leonine Walls, as they are still called, to safeguard St. Peter’s from future attack.
Leo was clearly in charge of the city and eager to preserve its independence. There were those, however, who thought other- wise, who wanted to have Rome incorporated into the Empire. They were men of learning, who dreamed of a restoration of the ancient Roman Empire; there was much talk of the myths of Rome’s foundation and the ancient vocabulary of senators and consuls came back into use. Not surprisingly the group had the backing of the Emperor Louis. They were mainly members of the lay nobility, but their leader was a Bishop Arsenius whose nephew, Anastasius, was a distinguished scholar. When Leo died there was an attempt by Louis to put Anastasius on the papal throne, which was forestalled by the Roman clergy, who proceeded promptly to an election of their own. Unfortunately for them their favored can- didate, the cardinal priest Hadrian, turned down the papacy, but they then chose Benedict III, who was also a cardinal priest and renowned as a man of learning.
Imperial approval was needed and envoys were sent to Louis. On their way, however, they were intercepted by Bishop Arsenius,
44 The Conclave
who persuaded them to back Anastasius instead of Benedict. More recalcitrant supporters of the pope were arrested, including Hadrian. So Anastasius arrived back in the city from which he had been exiled by Leo and proceeded to wreak vengeance on those who had backed Benedict. He also had the mosaic erected in St. Peter’s by the late Pope Leo, depicting Anastasius’s condemnation, torn down. This proved to be a mistake. The mosaics contained images of Christ and Mary and pulling them down smacked of iconoclasm – the destruction of images which had occurred in the East and which Rome had steadfastly opposed. Moreover, the bishops who traditionally consecrated the Bishop of Rome firmly refused to do so for
That was a mistake. The Emperor Lothair was distinctly annoyed and sent an army (which set about pillaging the outskirts of Rome) and a troop of ecclesiastics to debate the validity of Sergius’s election. He was finally vindicated, but he had after all to swear allegiance to Lothair, though he refused point-blank to swear it to Lothair’s son Louis, who was King of the Lombards. To have sworn allegiance to Louis would have compromised the inde- pendence of the city of Rome from the Lombard kingdom surrounding it. This act of defiance, which Louis and Lothair accepted, much encouraged the Romans, but Sergius’s support melted away in the last part of his pontificate when his brother Benedict, of whom the papal chronicler does not have a good word to say (a boor, it said, always chasing after prostitutes, and a tra ffi cker in ecclesiastical o ffi ces), came to dominate the papacy. As Sergius lay dying in August 846, a party of Muslim invaders from
Descent into Chaos 43
North Africa, later known as Saracens, landed at Ostia, the port of Rome, and came so far into the city that they sacked St. Paul’s, and even St. Peter’s itself, two churches just outside the city walls. When they had recovered from their terror, the citizens of Rome thought that this incursion of Muslims was a visitation from God to punish them for the sins committed by Benedict.
But the Saracen raid taught another, long-term, lesson. People in Rome believed that King Louis had left the city to its fate. The Muslim invaders were put to flight not by him but by the troops of the Duke of Spoleto. Italians, the lesson went, had to look after themselves. Leo IV, elected unanimously possibly even before Sergius had died, waited for confirmation from the emperor, but when it was slow in coming went ahead with his consecration anyway. There was, he believed, another Saracen raid imminent, and he built the Leonine Walls, as they are still called, to safeguard St. Peter’s from future attack.
Leo was clearly in charge of the city and eager to preserve its independence. There were those, however, who thought other- wise, who wanted to have Rome incorporated into the Empire. They were men of learning, who dreamed of a restoration of the ancient Roman Empire; there was much talk of the myths of Rome’s foundation and the ancient vocabulary of senators and consuls came back into use. Not surprisingly the group had the backing of the Emperor Louis. They were mainly members of the lay nobility, but their leader was a Bishop Arsenius whose nephew, Anastasius, was a distinguished scholar. When Leo died there was an attempt by Louis to put Anastasius on the papal throne, which was forestalled by the Roman clergy, who proceeded promptly to an election of their own. Unfortunately for them their favored can- didate, the cardinal priest Hadrian, turned down the papacy, but they then chose Benedict III, who was also a cardinal priest and renowned as a man of learning.
Imperial approval was needed and envoys were sent to Louis. On their way, however, they were intercepted by Bishop Arsenius,
44 The Conclave
who persuaded them to back Anastasius instead of Benedict. More recalcitrant supporters of the pope were arrested, including Hadrian. So Anastasius arrived back in the city from which he had been exiled by Leo and proceeded to wreak vengeance on those who had backed Benedict. He also had the mosaic erected in St. Peter’s by the late Pope Leo, depicting Anastasius’s condemnation, torn down. This proved to be a mistake. The mosaics contained images of Christ and Mary and pulling them down smacked of iconoclasm – the destruction of images which had occurred in the East and which Rome had steadfastly opposed. Moreover, the bishops who traditionally consecrated the Bishop of Rome firmly refused to do so for
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