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Authors: Michael Walsh
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Anastasius. Though Benedict had been seized in the Lateran and imprisoned, it became clear to the imperial representatives who were backing Anastasius that their cause was lost. Benedict was released from custody, mounted on the horse which had belonged to his patron Pope Leo, and returned to the papal quarters. The disgraced Anastasius might have expected at the very least imprisonment, if not having his eyes gouged out, but the imperial representatives managed to spare him that fate. He became abbot of the monastery attached to Santa Maria in Trastevere and was eventually rehabilitated, becoming the pope’s librarian and adviser, especially on the fraught relations with the church in Constantinople.
Benedict died on 17 April 858 after a pontificate lasting two and a half years. He was succeeded by Nicholas I, one of the most powerful personalities to govern the Western Church in the first millennium. Nicholas, however, was not the Romans’ first choice – that had again been Hadrian, who had for the second time turned down the o ffi ce. The Emperor Louis had hurried to Rome when he heard of Benedict’s demise; he was anxious to get a pope who was sympathetic to the imperial power, which he might have expected Nicholas to be after the “full and frank discussions” which the two held outside the city. Nicholas said he would not intervene in polit- ical matters, but such was his high conception of the papal o ffi ce
Descent into Chaos 45
and its authority, or “primacy” as ecclesiastical vocabulary puts it, over the Church that conflicts were inevitable. He also, in the Roman synod of November 861, condemned anyone who dared to deny that the election to the bishopric of Rome should not be left to the clergy and aristocracy of the city – no mention, by now, of the majority of Roman citizens.
Though it was peaceful enough, at least in Rome, Nicholas’s reign was strict, and his passing was greeted by disturbances in the city, which included an incursion into Rome by troops of the Duke of Spoleto and the plundering of the treasury in the Lateran by the leader of the Roman militia, who absconded with the papal funds. Bishop Arsenius, uncle of Anastasius the Librarian, once more intervened. He persuaded the emperor to back Cardinal Hadrian as his candidate for the papacy. Hadrian had already turned the o ffi ce down twice, but this time he accepted. He was old and mild mannered, but proved more intractable than Arsenius had expected. Supporters of Pope Nicholas, among them one Formosus, Bishop of Porto, persuaded Hadrian to follow the poli- cies of the late ponti ff rather than the pro-imperial strategy of Arsenius. Eleutherius, a nephew of Arsenius and brother of Anastasius, decided on drastic action to influence the new pope. When a deacon, Hadrian had married, and his wife and daughter apparently lived in the Lateran with him. Eleutherius proposed marriage to the pope’s daughter, but she refused. He then raped her and murdered both Hadrian’s daughter and his wife; the pope himself was wounded in the attack. Eleutherius was captured and executed; Arsenius fled to the safety of the emperor’s entourage; Anastasius was yet again excommunicated, though he protested his innocence in the a ff air and was soon returned to papal favor.
After one aged pope came another. Before his election in December 872, John VIII was the archdeacon of Rome. Old he might have been, but he was in good health and conducted an energetic pontificate for ten years. He was not unopposed – the opposition was led by Bishop Formosus – but at first Formosus
46 The Conclave
and his supporters appeared to ally themselves with the new pope. The crisis came only after the death of the Emperor Louis in 875. The Empire devised by Charlemagne was itself splitting apart, the French and the Germans both going their own ways. When it came to choosing a new emperor, Pope John favored Charles the Fat of France, but there was a powerful group of
Benedict died on 17 April 858 after a pontificate lasting two and a half years. He was succeeded by Nicholas I, one of the most powerful personalities to govern the Western Church in the first millennium. Nicholas, however, was not the Romans’ first choice – that had again been Hadrian, who had for the second time turned down the o ffi ce. The Emperor Louis had hurried to Rome when he heard of Benedict’s demise; he was anxious to get a pope who was sympathetic to the imperial power, which he might have expected Nicholas to be after the “full and frank discussions” which the two held outside the city. Nicholas said he would not intervene in polit- ical matters, but such was his high conception of the papal o ffi ce
Descent into Chaos 45
and its authority, or “primacy” as ecclesiastical vocabulary puts it, over the Church that conflicts were inevitable. He also, in the Roman synod of November 861, condemned anyone who dared to deny that the election to the bishopric of Rome should not be left to the clergy and aristocracy of the city – no mention, by now, of the majority of Roman citizens.
Though it was peaceful enough, at least in Rome, Nicholas’s reign was strict, and his passing was greeted by disturbances in the city, which included an incursion into Rome by troops of the Duke of Spoleto and the plundering of the treasury in the Lateran by the leader of the Roman militia, who absconded with the papal funds. Bishop Arsenius, uncle of Anastasius the Librarian, once more intervened. He persuaded the emperor to back Cardinal Hadrian as his candidate for the papacy. Hadrian had already turned the o ffi ce down twice, but this time he accepted. He was old and mild mannered, but proved more intractable than Arsenius had expected. Supporters of Pope Nicholas, among them one Formosus, Bishop of Porto, persuaded Hadrian to follow the poli- cies of the late ponti ff rather than the pro-imperial strategy of Arsenius. Eleutherius, a nephew of Arsenius and brother of Anastasius, decided on drastic action to influence the new pope. When a deacon, Hadrian had married, and his wife and daughter apparently lived in the Lateran with him. Eleutherius proposed marriage to the pope’s daughter, but she refused. He then raped her and murdered both Hadrian’s daughter and his wife; the pope himself was wounded in the attack. Eleutherius was captured and executed; Arsenius fled to the safety of the emperor’s entourage; Anastasius was yet again excommunicated, though he protested his innocence in the a ff air and was soon returned to papal favor.
After one aged pope came another. Before his election in December 872, John VIII was the archdeacon of Rome. Old he might have been, but he was in good health and conducted an energetic pontificate for ten years. He was not unopposed – the opposition was led by Bishop Formosus – but at first Formosus
46 The Conclave
and his supporters appeared to ally themselves with the new pope. The crisis came only after the death of the Emperor Louis in 875. The Empire devised by Charlemagne was itself splitting apart, the French and the Germans both going their own ways. When it came to choosing a new emperor, Pope John favored Charles the Fat of France, but there was a powerful group of
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