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Benedict
BENEDICT: The name of fourteen popes and one antipope.
Benedict I: Pope 574–578. He was a Roman by birth, the son of Boniface, and succeeded John III, who died July 13, 573, but was unable to be consecrated before June 3, 574, because the Lombards had cut off communication with Constantinople and the imperial confirmation could not be obtained. Owing to the troubles of the barbarian invasion and a great famine, which occupied his mind, the Liber pontificalis (ed. Duchesne, i, Paris, 1886, 308) finds scarcely anything to say of his acts. He died July 30 or 31, 578, during the siege of Rome by the first Lombard Duke of Spoleto.
Bibliography: Paulus Disconus, Historia Langobardorum, ii, 10, iii, 11 in MGH Script, rer. Langob., pp. 12–187, ed. Waitz, Hanover, 1878; Jaffé, Regesta, i, 137; Bower, Popes, i, 380–382; F. Gregorovius, Geschichte der Stadt Rom, ii, 19–20, Stuttgart, 1876, Eng. transl., London, 1895; L. M. Hartmann, Geschichte Italiens, ii, 48, 165, Gotha, 1903.
Benedict II: Pope 683–685. He was elected after the death of Leo II, which took place on July 3, 683, though the imperial confirmation was delayed for almost a year. The Liber pontificalis (ed. 39Duchesne, i, Paris, 1886, 363) asserts that the emperor Constantine Pogonatus conceded the right to proceed at once to consecration for the future; but this is very doubtful, as it would amount to a total renunciation of the right of confirmation, and it is certain that several successors of Benedict waited to obtain it either from the emperor himself or his representative, the Exarch of Ravenna. During the interval intervening before his consecration, Benedict signed himself with the designation presbyter et in Dei nomine electus sancté sedis apostolicé. Like his predecessor, he had at heart the complete recognition by the Western Church of the sixth ecumenical council (Third Constantinople, 680). With this end in view, Leo II had sent the notary Peter to Spain, and immediately after his election Benedict wrote to Peter to carry out his commission. His wish was gratified by the condemnation of monothelitism in the fourteenth Council of Toledo (Nov., 684). Even before his consecration, which finally took place June 26, 684, he espoused the cause of Wilfrid of York and wrote in recognition of his innocence and his rights. Benedict died May 8, 685.
Bibliography: The Vita is in ASB, 7th May, ii, 197–198. Consult Vita Wilfridi, chap. xlii sqq., in T. Gale, Historiæ Anglicanæ scriptores quinque, i, 74 sqq., Oxford, 1691; Mann, Popes, vol. i, part 2, pp. 54–63, Lond., 1902; Jaffé, Regesta, i, 241; J. Langen, Geschichte der römischen Kirche von Leo I bis Nikolaus I, p 579, Bonn, 1885; Hefele, Conciliengeschichte, iii, 322, Eng. transl., v, 215; Bower, Popes, i, 487–489; L. M. Hartmann, Geschichte Italiens, ii, 262–263, Gotha, 1903.
Benedict III: Pope 855–858. He was chosen immediately after the death of Leo IV by the clergy and people of Rome, but owing to the setting up of an antipope, Anastasius, by the emperor Lothair and his son Louis II, was not consecrated for more than two months (Sept. 29). Soon afterward the Saxon king, Ethelwulf, and his eon Alfred, visited Rome and made liberal gifts to the Church. In his relations with secular powers and important prelates, Benedict displayed the same unbending principle which was carried out by his famous successor Nicholas I, already a person of much influence. He confirmed the powerful Hincmar, archbishop of Reims, in his primacy, only on condition that the rights of the apostolic see should be safeguarded. In England he protested against the deposition of bishops by tyrannous lay nobles. The struggle with the Eastern Church in which Nicholas was involved had its origin in Benedict's pontificate, arising out of the case of the archbishop of Syracuse, who was deposed by the patriarch of Constantinople, Ignatius, and appealed to Leo IV and after his death to Benedict. Before Ignatius was expelled by a faction and replaced by the famous Photius, Benedict died (Apr. 7, 858).
Bibliography: Liber pontificalis, ed. Duchesne, ii, 140, Paris, 1892; Epistolé Nicolai I, in Mansi, Concilia, vol. xv; Jaffè, Regesta, i, 339–340; J. Hergenröther, Photius, i, 358 sqq., Regensburg, 1867; R. Baxmann, Die Politik der Päpste von Gregor I bis auf Gregor VII, i, 355 sqq., Elberfeld, 1868; J. Langen, Geschichte der römischen Kirche von Leo I bis Nikolaus I, p. 884, Bonn, 1885; Hefele, Conciliengeschichte, iv, 201; Bower, Popes, ii, 227–229.
Benedict IV: Pope 900–903. Owing to the scantiness of the sources for the history of the papacy at this period, the chronology is very uncertain; the exact date of Benedict's elevation can not be determined, though it is probably May, not later than June, 900. Like his predecessor, John IX, he recognized Formosus, by whom he was himself ordained priest, as a lawful pope at a Roman synod in August. When Louis of Burgundy (Louis III) made his victorious descent into Italy and wrested it from Berengar, Benedict crowned him as emperor in Feb., 901. He died in July or Aug., 903.
Bibliography: Liber pontificalis, ed. Duchesne, ii, 233, Paris, 1892; Jaffé, Regesta, i, 443; Hefele, Conciliengeschichte, iv, 570–571; Bower, Popes, ii, 304–305.
Benedict V (called Grammaticus): Pope 964. At the end of 963, the emperor Otto I deposed the dissolute John XII in a synod at Rome and caused a prominent Roman layman to be put in his place as Leo VIII, taking an oath of the people that they would thenceforth choose no pope without his consent and that of his son. He had scarcely left the city when John XII returned and drove out and anathematized Leo. The emperor came back to chastise this rebellion, but before he arrived John XII died (May 14, 964). A deputation met Otto and begged him not to replace Leo, but to permit a new election. In spite of his refusal, the Romans chose the cardinal deacon Benedict, a man of blameless life and great learning who had been one of the opponents of John's unworthy rule. He had pledged fidelity both to Otto and to Leo, but the fear of imperial domination of the Church had brought him to support John on the latter's return. The people were firm in their intention to defend Benedict against the emperor; but the pressure of famine forced them to give him up (June 23, 964). He was brought to trial before a synod. After asking the pardon of Otto and of Leo, and surrendering the insignia of his office to the latter, he was deprived of his episcopal and priestly functions, though allowed to retain those of deacon. To avoid any possibility of his changing his mind, he was sent to Germany, where he remained practically a prisoner, in the charge of the archbishop of Hamburg, until his death, which occurred not earlier than July 4, 966.
Bibliography: Liber pontificalis, ed. Duchesne, ii, 151, Paris, 1892; Jaffé, Regesta, i, 469; J. M. Watterich, Romanorum pontificum . . . vitæ, i, 45, Leipsic, 1862; A. von Reumont, Geschichte der Stadt Rom, ii, 289, Berlin, 1868; W. von Giesebrecht Geschichte der deutschen Kaiserzeit, i, 468, Brunswick, 1873; F. Gregorovius, Geschichte der Stadt Rom, iii, 364, Stuttgart, 1876; Bower, Popes, ii, 320–321; Hefele, Conciliengeschichte, iv, 619, 626; Hauck, KD, iii, 235–238.
Benedict VI: Pope 972–974. He was elected immediately after the death of John XIII (Sept. 6, 972), but was not consecrated until the 19th of the following January, apparently waiting for the emperor Otto's confirmation. After the death of Otto I, the affairs of the empire fell into disorder. Crescentius, the son of Theodore, conspired with the deacon Boniface to overthrow Benedict, who 40was imprisoned and, after Boniface had assumed the papal authority, was strangled in July, 974.
Bibliography: Liber pontificalis, ed. Duchesne, ii. 255, Paris, 1892; Jaffé, Regesta, i, 477; J. M. Watterich, Pontificum Romanorum . . . vitæ, i, 65–68, Leipsic, 1862; Neander, Christian Church, iii, 330–331 (reference to a letter of Benedict, given Mansi, Concilia, xix, 53); Hefele, Conciliengeschichte, iv, 632; Bower, Popes, ii, 324.
Benedict VII: Pope 974–983. He was a Roman by birth, said to have been a kinsman of the powerful Roman prince and senator Alberic. He was bishop of Sutri when, on the flight of Boniface VII, he was called to the papal throne, and confirmed by the emperor Otto II. As far as we know, his first act was to condemn Boniface in a synod at Rome. He displayed a great desire to maintain friendly relations with the German prelates; Archbishop Willigis of Mainz was appointed papal legate for Germany and Gaul, with the right of crowning the German kings. Benedict showed his subserviency to the emperor by agreeing to the suppression of the bishopric of Merseburg in a synod at Rome (Sept. 10, 981), without regard to the arguments brought against such a proceeding. He was a devoted friend of monasticism, as is shown not only by the numerous privileges bestowed upon monasteries, but by the restoration of that of Saints Boniface and Alexius on the Aventine and the building of the monastic church of Subiaco. He supported the reforming movement, condemning simony at a synod in March, 981. That he upheld the claim of the papacy to universal jurisdiction may be inferred from the fact that he sought to establish relations with places as distant as Carthage and Damascus, giving an archbishop once more to the North African Church, and appointing the metropolitan of Damascus, who had been driven out by the Arabs, abbot of St. Boniface. He died in Oct., 983.
Bibliography: Liber pontificalis, ed. Duchesne, ii, 258, Paris, 1892: Jaffé, Regesta, i, 479; J. M. Watterich, Romanorum pontificum . . . vitæ, i, 66, 686, Leipsic, 1862; A. von Reumont, Geschichte der Stadt Rom, ii, 294, Berlin, 1868; F. Gregorovius, Geschichte der Stadt Rom, iii, 372, Stuttgart, 1876; Bower, Popes, ii, 325; Hefele, Conciliengeschichte, iv, 633; Hauck, KD, iii, passim.
Benedict VIII (Theophylact): Pope 1012–24. He was the son of Count Gregory of Tusculum, chosen by his brothers' influence, after they had defeated, by force of arms, the Crescentian party, who set up another Gregory as antipope (see Gregory VI, antipope). Benedict was consecrated Apr. 20, 1012, and Gregory fled to the court of Henry II, who, however, recognized Benedict, and was rewarded by a promise of coronation in St. Peter's. He descended into Italy toward the end of 1013, and was crowned, with his wife Cunigunde, in the following February. Soon afterward a synod was held in his presence, at which, it is said at his suggestion, the Constantinopolitan Creed was made a part of the Roman liturgy; after this he left Pope Benedict to contend with his numerous enemies—the Crescentian faction, the Arabs, and the Greeks. The first he suppressed; the Mohammedan invaders, who threatened Italy from Sardinia, were defeated and driven out of the island in June, 1016, by the aid of the Pisans and Genoese; he supported those who were attempting to free southern Italy from the Byzantine rule, and gained them the help of a body of Norman knights, who conquered the Greeks, though only temporarily. He accepted Henry's invitation to meet him in 1020 at Bamberg, where the emperor renewed the "Ottonian privilege" to the Church, and gave up Bamberg to ecclesiastical rule. In the following year Henry crossed the Alps for the third time; Benedict met him at Benevento in 1022, and was present when he conquered the Greek fortress of Troja and broke the power of Pandulf IV of Capua, an ally of the Byzantines. These successes, again temporary, are less important than the synod held by the pope and emperor jointly at Pavia Aug. 1, 1022. Here Henry's reforming plans were extended to Italy. After a strong exhortation from the pope, the synod renewed the condemnation of clerical marriage and took measures to prevent the alienation of church property. Henry wished to carry his reforms into France also, and with this purpose met King Robert at Ivois in Aug., 1023. Another synod at Pavia was projected, but before it could be held both Benedict and Henry had died, the former Apr. 9, 1024.
Bibliography: Liber pontificalis, ed. Duchesne, ii, 268, Paris, 1892; Jaffé, Regesta, i, 506; J. M. Watterich, Romanorum pontificum . . . vitæ, i, 69, 700, Leipsic, 1862; A. von Reumont, Geschichte der Stadt Rom, ii, 329, Berlin, 1868; W. von Giesebrecht, Geschichte der deutschen Kaiserzeit, ii, 122 sqq., Brunswick, 1875; P. F. Sadee, Die Stellung Heinrichs II zur Kirche, Jena, 1877; Hefele, Conciliengeschichte, iv, 670; Bower, Popes, ii, 335–337; Hartmann, in Mittheilungen des Instituts für österreichische Geschichte, xv (1894), 482 sqq.; Hauck, KD, iii, 518 sqq.; P. G. Wappler, Papst Benedikt VIII, Leipsic, 1897.
Benedict IX (Theophylact): Pope 1033–48. He was the son of Count Alberic of Tusculum, and nephew of Benedict VIII and John XIX, the latter of whom he succeeded by his father's intrigues and violence, though he was only ten years old. His life was incredibly scandalous, and the strife of factions continued. A murderous assault upon him and his expulsion from Rome followed (the date can not be determined). He owed his restoration to the emperor Conrad II, who came into Italy in the winter of 1036. Benedict met him obsequiously at Cremona in the following June, taking no notice of the fact that he had broken the Church's laws by imprisoning Aribert, archbishop of Milan, and expelling the bishops of Piacenza, Cremona, and Vercelli from their sees; in fact, in Mar., 1038, he went so far as to excommunicate Aribert. By similar complaisances he won the favor of Conrad's successor, Henry III, for whom, in 1041, he obligingly excommunicated the Hungarian nobles, who had driven out their king, Peter. The Romans bore with these conditions until the end of 1044, when they rose and drove Benedict out, afterward electing John, bishop of Sabina, in his stead, under the title of Sylvester III. Benedict succeeded in leading John back to Sabina inside of two months; but, doubting his own ability to maintain his position, he decided to abdicate, adding one more shameless 41act of simony by selling the papacy (May 1,1045) to the archpriest John Gratian (who called himself Gregory VI) for the sum of a thousand pounds of silver and the continued enjoyment of the Peter's pence from England. Henry III came to Italy in the autumn of 1046, and decided to remove Gregory. He convened a synod at Sutri, which deposed Sylvester even from the priesthood and induced Gregory to resign his claims (Dec. 20, 1046); a few days later, another synod in Rome deposed Benedict also, and Suidger of Bamberg succeeded to an undisputed papacy as Clement II. When he died, however, nine months later, Benedict made an attempt to recover his see. He was soon put down by the imperial authority, and retired to Tusculum. When and where he died is not known.
Bibliography: Jaffé, Regesta, i, 519; J. M. Watterich, Romanorum Pontificum . . . vitæ, i, 71, 711, Leipsic, 1862; A. von Reumont, Geschichte der Stadt Rom, ii, 338, Berlin, 1868; O. Lorenz, Papstwahl und Kaisertum, p. 69, Berlin, 1874; F. Gregorovius, Geschichte der Stadt Rom, iv, 39, Stuttgart, 1877; Bower, Popes, ii, 340–343; Neander, Christian Church, iii, 375–377, 409, 445, 448; Hefele, Conciliengeschichte, iv, 706–707, 714; Hauck, KD, iii, 559, 569–571.
Benedict X (Johannes Mincius): Pope 1058–59. He was bishop of Velletri before, unwillingly, he was elected and enthroned in the night between Apr. 3 and 4, 1058, by the noble factions which had so long dominated the papacy and were soon to lose their power. Peter Damian and the other reforming cardinals fled; but before they left Rome they pronounced an anathema upon the new pope. Meantime Hildebrand was on his way back from Germany. At Florence he heard the news, and after conferring with the empress Agnes, regent for her son Henry IV, arranged for the election of a pope acceptable to the strict churchmen. At Sienna in December Gerard, bishop of Florence, was chosen and took the title of Nicholas II. In January he held a synod at Sutri which pronounced the deposition and excommunication of Benedict X. The latter was driven from Rome by the forces set in motion by Hildebrand, and finally found it expedient to abdicate, which he did formally at a synod in the Lateran, Apr., 1060. He is said to have lived twenty years longer as a prisoner in the monastery of St. Agnes. Gregory VII, in whose reign he died, permitted him to be buried with the obsequies of a rightful pope, as which, indeed, he was reckoned until the fourteenth century.
Bibliography: Liber pontificalis, ed. Duchesne, ii, 279, Paris, 1892; Jaffé, Regesta, i, 556; J. M. Watterich, Romanorum pontificum . . . vitæ, i, 203, 738, Leipsic, 1862; W. von Giesebrecht, Geschichte der deutschen Kaiserseit, iii, 24, Brunswick, 1875; F. Gregorovius, Geschichte der Stadt Rom, iv, 107, Stuttgart, 1877; J. Langen, Geschichte der römischen Kirche von Nikolaus I bis Gregor VII, p. 500, Bonn, 1892; Bower, Popes, ii, 340–343; Neander, Christian Church, iii, 387; Hefele, Conciliengeschichte, iv, 798, 828; Hauck, KD, iii, 679–681.
Benedict XI (Niccolo Bocasini): Pope 1303–1304. He was born in 1240 at Treviso, entered the Dominican order in 1254, and spent fourteen years in diligent study, which enabled him to write several Biblical commentaries. He became prior of his house, provincial of Lombardy, and in 1296 general of the order. Boniface VIII made him a cardinal priest in 1298, and soon after cardinal bishop of Ostia and Velletri. In 1302 he went to Hungary as papal legate. He remained true to Boniface VIII, and on his death was elected (Oct. 22, 1303) to succeed him. He found himself at once in difficulties as the heir to the policy and the enemies of Boniface (see Boniface VIII), but by a conciliatory prudence he found his way out of them. First he won back the powerful Colonna family, restoring to them their dignities and possessions under certain limitations which marked his sense of their misconduct. Frederick of Sicily was brought to a sense of his feudal obligations toward the papacy, which he had thought to escape. To Tuscany, Benedict sent Nicholas of Prato, his successor as cardinal bishop of Ostia, to make peace between the Bianchi and Neri factions in Florence. This mission was not very successful, but Benedict had better fortune with the most difficult task left to him by his predecessor, the effecting of a reconciliation with France. Philip the Fair was ready for peace, but apparently made the condition that a general council should be called to pass a post-mortem condemnation on Boniface. Benedict met him half way, and on Mar. 25, 1304, released him from his excommunication; then he annulled a number of other measures of his predecessor which had been specially felt as grievances in France, and on May 13 withdrew the sentences passed against Philip and his counselors, even those who had taken part in the outrage of Anagni, with the exception of the ringleader William of Nogaret. He, together with all the Italians who had taken part in the violence offered to Boniface, was excommunicated on June 7, and summoned to appear before Benedict to receive sentence. A few weeks later, however (July 7), Benedict died in Perugia, whither he had retired on account of turbulence in Rome. The rumor immediately spread that he had been poisoned, at the instigation, it was variously asserted, of Philip the Fair, of the Colonna, of the Franciscans (who were jealous of the favor shown to the Dominicans), of the opposition cardinals, or of William of Nogaret, who had most to gain by a change, and who, in fact, received his absolution from Benedict's successor.
Bibliography: Ptolemæus of Lucca, Vitæ pontificum Romanorum, in Muratori, Scriptores, xi, 1224; B. Guidonis, Vitæ pontificum Romanorum, ib. iii, 672; W. Drumann, Geschichte Bonifacius VIII, ii, 147, Königsberg, 1852; L. Gautier, Benoit XI, étude sur la papauté au commencement du xiv. siècle, Paris, 1863; C. Grandjean, Benoît XI, Paris, 1863; idem, Le Registre de Benoît XI, recueil de bulles, Paris, 1884–85; P. Funke, Papst Benedikt XI, Münster, 1891; Bower, Popes, iii, 56–58; Neander, Christian Church, v, 19; Hefele, Conciliengeschichte, vi, 375–390.
Benedict XII (Jacques Fournier): Pope 1334–1342. He was a native of Languedoc, of humble origin, and as a boy entered the Cistercian monastery of Bolbonne in the diocese of Mirepoix, migrating later to that of Fontfroide in the diocese of Narbonne, of which his uncle was abbot. The latter sent him to the University of Paris. Pope John XXII gave him the bishopric of Pamiers and later of Mirepoix, and made him cardinal in 1327. 42He was rather unexpectedly elected pope Dec. 20, 1334, and began his reign with reforming measures. The bishops and abbots who lingered at the court of Avignon were sent home, the system of petitions was regulated, and care was taken to select worthy men for vacant benefices. Benedict planned to restore the strict discipline of the Benedictines and Cistercians, as well as of the mendicant orders, and entirely avoided the reproach of nepotism. Soon after his elevation, the Romans begged him to return to them, and he promised to do so, but was prevented by the French majority in the Sacred College. Later he thought of removing to Bologna, but finally settled down in Avignon and began the building of a magnificent palace. His attitude toward theological and ecclesiastical controversies was a pacific one. He condemned the opinion so strongly held by his predecessor, that the souls of the just do not enjoy the Beatific Vision until after the last judgment. Negotiations took place with the Eastern Church looking toward reunion; in 1339 the emperor Andronicus sent ambassadors to Avignon, really with a view to gaining military aid against the Turks, but holding out prospects of ecclesiastical accommodation, which, however, came to little. He won a moral triumph in Spain by inducing Alfonso XI of Castile to break off his adulterous connection with Eleonora de Gusman, and rendered no slight service to the Christian cause in the peninsula by making peace between Castile and Portugal, and thus enabling the Christian forces to unite against the Mussulmans and to defeat them completely at Tarifa. The most difficult problem was the treatment of Louis of Bavaria. Benedict showed himself conciliatory, and Louis sent an embassy to Avignon (1335); but Philip VI, against whose interests this reconciliation would have been, prevented it then, and a second time in the autumn of the following year. This gave the alliance of Louis to Edward III of England against France. The electoral princes finally asserted their rights; on July 15,1338, they swore to defend the customs and liberties of the empire and to prevent any infringement of their electoral prerogative; the next day they declared that the king of the Romans chosen by them stood in no need of papal confirmation, and notified Benedict of their attitude. At the diet held in Frankfort (Aug. 8, 1338), Louis went even further, denying any connection between the coronation by the pope and the right to bear the title of emperor, at the same time asserting the invalidity of all the censures pronounced against himself and the empire by John XXII. None the less, in the following year he reopened negotiations with Benedict; and when he had an opportunity of concluding peace with Philip VI, he deserted his English ally, hoping to gain Philip's support with the pope. He spoiled his own case, however, by his encroachments on the Church's law of marriage and its power in such matters. In order to marry his son, Louis, margrave of Brandenburg, to Margaret, heiress of the Tyrol, he declared her previous marriage with Prince John of Bohemia null and void (following an opinion of Occam's), and on Feb. 10, 1342, in spite of the impediment of consanguinity in the third degree between the couple, had the marriage performed. Benedict had no opportunity to pass judgment upon these acts, as he died on Apr. 25 of the same year.
Bibliography: Liber pontificalis, ed. Duchesne, ii, 488, 527, Paris, 1892; eight accounts of his life are collected in E. Baluse, Vitæ paparum Avenonensium, i, 197–244, Paris, 1693; Muratori, Scriptores, iii, 527 sqq.; J. M. Watterich, Romanorum pontificum vitæ, i, 203–204, Leipsic, 1862; A. Pichler, Geschichte der kirchlichen Trennung zwischen dem Orient und Occident, i, 358, Munich, 1864; C. Müller, Der Kampf Ludwigs . . . mit der römischen Curie, vol. ii, Tübingen, 1880; A. Rohrmann, Die Procuratorien Ludwigs des Baiern, Göttingen, 1882; Bower, Popes, iii, 88–92; Pastor, Popes, i, 84–88; Benoit XII, Lettres closes, patentes et curiales se rapportant à la France, ed. G. Daumet, Paris, 1899; Hefele, Conciliengeschichte, vi, 636–653.
Benedict XIII: 1. The title was first borne by Pedro de Luna from 1394 to 1417, in the Great Western Schism. He came of a noble family in Aragon, studied in France, taught canon law at the University of Montpellier, and was made cardinal by Gregory XI.
Sides with Clement VII in the Great Schism.
When the schism broke out between the partizans of Urban VI and Clement VII, he took the latter's side, and went to Spain and Portugal as Clement's representative in 1379. In 1393, again, he appeared at a meeting of English and French dignitaries, in the hope of winning England away from the party of Boniface IX, the pope elected in Rome to succeed Urban VI. When the University of Paris in 1394 suggested three ways to end the schism—the resignation of both claimants, the submission of both to the decision of a tribunal agreed upon between them, or the calling of a general council—Clement sent him to Paris to prevent the choice of the first; but in fact he declared in favor of it, possibly with an eye to his own chances. Clement died the same autumn, and the cardinals of his party nearly all agreed that whichever of them might be chosen pope should do all in his power to end the schism, even by abdicating if necessary; and no voice was louder in this agreement than Pedro de Luna's. He was unanimously chosen on Sept. 28, consecrated and crowned Oct. 11. He reiterated his willingness to do anything for peace; but when the next year an embassy representing the king of France, a national synod, and the University of Paris approached him to urge the abdication of both popes, he declined, recommending rather a personal meeting of both to discuss the question. To this he adhered in spite of the opposite view of all his cardinals but one and of the personal entreaties of the dukes of Berry, Burgundy, and Orleans. Charles VI held a second national council at Paris (end of Aug., 1398), and tried to gain the support of the European sovereigns for his plan. In June, 1397, the ambassadors of France, England, and Castile pressed the necessity of abdication upon Benedict, who declined for himself while recommending it to Boniface IX. No more success attended a joint embassy (1398) from Charles and Wenceslaus, king of the Romans, headed by Pierre d’Ailly, bishop of Cambrai.
Course of Events in France.
Charles held a third council in May, 1398, which decided that France should withdraw from Benedict's obedience. When this decision received the 43royal assent and was promulgated (July 27), all the cardinals but three forsook Benedict, and open warfare broke out. Benedict, practically a prisoner in his palace, yielded so far (Apr., 1399) as to sign a solemn undertaking to abdicate whenever his rival would do the same or should die or be expelled from Rome; but he secretly protested that his promise was null and void, as having been given under compulsion. France was now practically without a pope; and the longer this anomalous condition continued, the more uneasiness it caused. Leading churchmen, such as Gerson and Nicholas de Clémanges, began to write in favor of a return to Benedict XIII. Finally Charles called a meeting of bishops and nobles (May, 1403), to reconsider the question. Before they met Benedict had contrived to escape from Avignon, and the city had declared for him, once he was free. It is not surprising, therefore, that the assembled magnates declared for a restoration of France to his obedience, though on condition that he should renew his promise in regard to abdication, and undertake to submit the question how to end the schism to a general council within a year. This left things much as they had been in 1394 and 1395. Boniface IX died soon after (Oct. 1, 1404); but his successor, Innocent VII, showed just as little inclination to abandon his claims. Benedict, still attached to his own plan of a personal conference, undertook a journey to Genoa, without any result except to produce fresh irritation in France, whose clergy were taxed to pay the expenses of the experiment. Another national council (1406) declared in favor of withdrawing his right to present the bishoprics and benefices; but the Duke of Orléans stood out for complete obedience and hindered the execution of this decision. New hopes were aroused, on the death of Innocent VII, by the choice (Nov. 30, 1406) of Gregory XII, who at once declared himself willing to take any measures, even that of abdication, to end the schism. A meeting was planned between the rivals for the autumn of 1407, but it fell through. In November Benedict lost a powerful friend by the murder of the Duke of Orléans, and was so unwise in 1408 as to attempt to enforce the observance of the French obedience by threats of excommunication. In May Charles proclaimed France absolutely neutral in the contest. Benedict, fearing for his safety, fled to his native Aragon.
The Councils of Pisa and Constance.
The cardinals of both factions deserted their respective popes and in June took counsel together with a view to calling a general council. This met in 1409 at Pisa, summoned both claimants before it, proceeded to hear testimony when they did not appear, and on June 5 declared both, as heretics, schismatics, and perjurers, not only deposed but excommunicated. Benedict still asserted his claims, and Spain, Portugal, and Scotland adhered to him. New negotiations with him were undertaken by the Council of Constance in 1414, but he stubbornly refused to yield, even to the persuasions of the emperor Sigismund. Finally the patience of his own supporters in Spain and Scotland was worn out, and they renounced him in the Concordat of Narbonne (Dec., 1415). He entrenched himself in the mountain fastness of Peñiscola, near Valencia, which belonged to his family, and proudly told the envoys of the council that the true Church was there only. On July 28, 1417, the Council of Constance once more deposed and excommunicated him; and he remained in his castle, with a court of but four cardinals, until his death at the age of nearly ninety in Nov., 1424.
2. Benedict XIII was also the name borne by Pietro Francesco d’Orsini-Gravina, pope 1724–30. He was born Feb. 2, 1649, at Gravina in the kingdom of Naples, and in 1867, renouncing his rights of succession to the ducal estates, entered the Dominican order at Venice, taking the name of Vincenzo Maria. He studied theology at Venice and Bologna, philosophy at Naples. In 1672 be was made a cardinal by Clement X, and archbishop of Benevento in 1686. After administering his diocese admirably for thirty-eight years, and spending his leisure in the composition of theological works, he was almost unanimously elected pope (May 29, 1724), after the death of Innocent XIII. At first he took the name of Benedict XIV, but changed it to Benedict XIII in the conviction that Pedro de Luna was a schismatic and not a legitimate pope. His pontificate began with an attempt to restrain the pomp and luxury of the cardinals, which was as vain as his similar attempts to reform the rest of the clergy. Though the prescriptions of the Lateran council of 1725 in this direction were not much heeded, it is memorable because in it Benedict confirmed the constitution Unigenitus, and thus aided the Jesuits. He had the satisfaction of receiving in 1728 the unconditional submission of De Noailles, archbishop of Paris, the head of the Gallican opposition. Weakness was the principal characteristic of his dealings with the secular powers of Europe. He left such matters almost entirely in the hands of his favorite Cardinal Coscia, whose interest it was to keep on good terms with the powers. Thus the emperor Charles VI obtained the privileges which he claimed in Sicily as the successor of the older rulers, who had been legati nati of the Holy See. Thus also the king of Sardinia got the best of a long contest with Rome; and only one state found the curia stubborn. The king of Portugal, John V, requested the red hat for Bichi, the papal nuncio at Lisbon, and when it was refused showed great hostility to the pope, even threatening in 1728 to break off all relations between the Church of Portugal and Rome, Benedict was unpopular in Rome, owing to the misgovernment of Coscia, who, when the pope died (Feb. 21, 1730), was obliged to flee in disguise, and later was imprisoned for ten years by Clement XII.
Bibliography: 1. Pedro de Luna: A Vita is found in É. Baluze, Vitæ paparum Avenoniensium, i, 561–568, Paris, 1693; the Eng. transl. of several original documents which are pertinent is given in Thatcher and McNeal, Source Book, pp. 325–329; Theodoric of Nieheim, De Schismate, ed. G. Erler, ii. 33 sqq., Leipsic, 1890; Chartularium Universitatis Paris, ed. H. Denifle, iii, 552 44sqq., Paris, 1894; Kehrmann, Frankreichs innere Kirchenpolitik, Jena, 1890; Bower, Popes, iii, 145–149, 152, 162–163, 205; Neander, Christian Church, v, 56, 62–77, 84, 105–107; Hefele, Conciliengeschichte, vi, 827–1031; Pastor, Popes, i, 165–201; N. Valois, La France et le grand schisme d’occident, 2 vols., Paris, 1896; Creighton, Papacy, i, 148–315, 374. 2. Pietro Francesco: His works were issued in 3 vols., Ravenna, 1728, and the bulls are in the Bullarium Romanum, vol. xxii, Turin, 1871. For his life consult A. Borgia, Benedicti XIII vita, Rome, 1752; A. von Reumont, Geschichte der Stadt Rom, iii, 652–853, Berlin, 1888; Bower, Popes, iii, 339; J. Chantrel, Le Pape Benoît XIII, 1724–30, Paris, 1874; M. Brosch, Geschichte des Kirchenstaats, ii, 61 sqq., Gotha, 1882; Ranke, Popes, vol. iii, No. 158.
Benedict XIV (Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini): Pope 1740–58. He was born [Mar. 31] 1675 at Bologna; at thirteen he entered the Collegium Clementinum at Rome, and after studies in theology and philosophy, took up the law, practising as advocate of the consistory, and as promotor fidei, in which office he laid the foundations of his famous work on beatification and canonization. Clement XI and Innocent XIII gave him several Roman dignities; Benedict XIII made him archbishop of Ancona (1727) and cardinal (1728); in 1731 Clement XII transferred him to the more important see of Bologna, where he found time to write his works on the mass, on the festivals, and Quæstiones canonicæ. After the death of Clement XII the conclave was at a deadlock for six months between the French, Austrian, and Spanish factions, and finally agreed on Lambertini as a compromise candidate (Aug. 17, 1740).
Friendly Relations with Other Rulers.
Benedict was a man of great learning and piety, and did much for the welfare of the Pontifical States, by the promotion of agriculture, commerce, and manufactures and by a decrease in taxation. His expressed principle that in him "the pope must take precedence of the temporal ruler" was carried out both in the strenuous efforts which he made to raise the tone of the clergy and in his efforts to remove all the misunderstandings which had existed between the curia and the European powers, even at the cost of considerable concessions. He was not able entirely to remove the antagonism between the eighteenth-century spirit and religion, but he composed more than one difference temporarily. Thus he appeased John V of Portugal by the privilege of enjoying the revenues of vacant bishoprics and abbeys in his kingdom, as well as by the title of Rex fidelissimus. In a concordat with Naples (1741) he went even beyond the concessions which Benedict XIII had made, and concluded another with the king of Sardinia which was still less favorable to the extreme claims of the Church. Still another was made with Spain in 1753, which went so far as to allow King Ferdinand VI the right of nomination to all the ecclesiastical benefices in his kingdom except fifty-two. Friendly relations were also maintained with the empire, and strict neutrality observed in the war of the Austrian Succession, although the contending armies not seldom crossed the boundaries of the Papal States. When Albert of Bavaria was elected emperor as Charles VII and applied to Benedict for confirmation, he gave him his hearty good wishes, but refused at first to recognize his successor, Francis I, who had neglected to observe this formality. He abandoned his opposition, however, and became an active ally of Austria in the contest with Venice over Aquileia. As a compromise measure, he finally divided the patriarchate into two dioceses, that of Görz, which was to be Austrian, and that of Udine, Venetian. Though he refused to confirm the guaranties which the landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, on becoming a Roman Catholic, was obliged to give for the preservation of the rights of his evangelical subjects, Benedict showed none of the temper of a persecutor, and had friendly personal relations with many Protestants. He was the first pope to concede the title of king of Prussia to the ruler whom the curia had previously styled margrave of Brandenburg; and he yielded to Frederick the Great's wishes so far as to allow the bishop of Brealau to decide all Catholic causes in Prussia, appeals to the pope being forbidden. In the Gallican controversy he took a wise and tolerant part, reversing a decision of De Beaumont, the archbishop of Paris, which made formal assent to the constitution Unigenitus a condition for receiving the sacraments; in an encyclical of Oct. 16, 1756, he laid down the rule that the ministrations of the Church should be refused only to those who had publicly contemned the bull.
The Jesuits.
Benedict's conciliatory temper made him little likely to sympathize with the Jesuits, with whom he dealt at the very beginning of his reign in a way that did not please them, deciding against them, in the controversy over the "Chinese rites," the question how far the principles of Christianity might be accommodated for the purpose of making more speedy conversions among the heathen, in two bulls—the Ex quo singulari of 1742, and the Omnium sollicitudinum of 1744 (see Accomodation, § 9). Though he was no partizan of the Jesuits, it was not until shortly before his death that he undertook (1758) the long-planned reform of the order, at least in Portugal, entrusting its execution to Saldanha, the patriarch of Lisbon.
In 1750 Benedict celebrated a jubilee with great pomp, and invited the Protestants also to attend—naturally with no other result than to call out a number of polemical replies. To the end of his life he found his chief diversion in the company of learned men, of whom a circle assembled round him once a week. During his pontificate he composed his most important work, De synodo diæcesana. He had a catalogue of the Vatican library drawn up by the learned Assemani, founded societies for the study of Roman and Christian antiquities and of church history, and cooperated in the foundation of the archeological academy with Winckelmann, who came to Rome in 1755. He died as he had lived, with cheerful, goodhumored words upon his lips, May 3, 1758.
Bibliography: His works were collected by Azevedo in 12 vols., Rome, 1747–51, more completely, 15 vols., Venice, 1767, and in 17 vols., Prato, 1839–46; vols. 15–17 of the Prato ed. contain the bulls; Briefe Benedicts XIV an Pier 45Francesco Peggi à Bologna, 1729–53, ed. F. X. Kraus, Freiburg, 1888; Opera inedita, ed. F. Heiner, St. Louis, 1904. Consult: R. de Martinis, Acta Benedicti XIV, 2 vols., Naples, 1884–85; A. Borgia, Vie de Benoît XIV, Paris, 1783; H. Formby, Life and Miracles of Benedict XIV, London, 1858; A. von Arneth, Geschichte Maria Theresias, ii, 178, iv, 54 sqq., Vienna, 1864, 1870; M. Brosch, Geschichte des Kirchenstaats, ii, 68, Gotha, 1882; Ranke, Popes, ii, 433–443, iii, No. 164.
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