Popes and the Hohenstaufen. By Ugo Balzani.

Preface

^ The historical period traversed by this book is certainly • one of the most striking in the history of the Papacy and the Empire, for their struggles far exceeded the thoughts and aims of the combatants and hastened in Europe a marvellous development of change and progress. The history of the relations between the Popes and the Hohenstaufen is one which cannot be easily kept within strict limits, but is apt to extend to that 3 of the whole of Europe and of much of the East. It 0 has been a difficult task to confine it within the small $ space of these pages, nor could this have been done ^"without rigorously excluding everything which did £ aot bear directly on the relations of the Papacy with J the House of Suabia, and on those historical events which exerted most influence over those relations, especially in Italy, where the great drama was chiefly acted. I have therefore tried to avoid all digressions as much as possible, keeping distinctly before me the object of the narrative, so as not to interrupt its thread.

It also seemed to me that the nature of the work vi Preface.

demanded great moderation in generalising with regard to the facts stated in it, and I have therefore endeavoured that these facts should speak for themselves as clearly as possible, and should suggest those reflections which present themselves spontaneously to the reader who follows carefully the course of human events and meditates upon them. But in order to obtain this result, and not lead the reader to erroneous conclusions, the writer needs a very accurate knowledge of his facts, and a painstaking selection of those which have a vital importance for the narrative, and of those alone. This can only be secured by a long and minute study of the original historical sources ; and hence, while making large use of the many valuable works which have preceded this little book, I have based my assertions throughout on original researches. In a very much larger and more detailed work on the same subject, which I hope at a not very distant day to publish in Italy, I propose to give the more complete result of these researches, and a scientific analysis of the facts and considerations which I have here put forward.

UGO BALZANI.

THE POPES AND THE HOHENSTAUFEN.

Chapter I. (1125-1138.)

INTRODUCTORY.

The great struggle for the investitures between the Papacy and the Empire had at last ended in the Concordat of Worms, and out of this struggle both the two great adversaries came exhausted, but neither of them entirely conqueror or wholly vanquished. The Papacy, though partially giving way in the question of the investitures, had gained ground, nevertheless, in matters of wider and more real importance. During the long period of the struggle, not only the men themselves had changed, but the very principles for which they were fighting were undergoing transformation, and the successors of Gregory VII. and Henry IV. moved in a different sphere of ideas from that which surrounded their great predecessors. The mere fact of having been able to hold out so firmly was a victory for the Papacy, and from the day in which Gregory had deposed Henry, and brought him to his knees at Canossa, all possibility had ceased of a h* a an imperial supremacy such as that exercised over the Popes by the Ottos and Henry III. Later, when the voice of Peter the Hermit, giving utterance to a cherished thought of the Eoman pontiffs, aroused in the nations of Christendom a wild enthusiasm for the crusade declared by Urban II., the relations between Church and Empire underwent still further change. To the imperial conception of universal power it was a distinct blow that the whole of the Christian community should for the first time be aroused and directed towards a far-off and arduous war without the Empire's co-operation and guidance. Nor was this all. Other elements, either unknown before or unnoticed, began to appear on the scene of history, and while the long contest was reaching its conclusion a new era had risen above the horizon. Europe, freed from the dark barbarism in which preceding ages had enveloped her, found herself confronted by other problems, and was preparing for new enterprises.

When in 1 1 2 5 the house of Franconia died out in the person of Henry V., Honorius II., who was then Pope, found himself very advantageously placed in regard to the Empire, and turned the opportunity to good account. On the 30th of August 1125, in the Diet of Mentz, the Duke of Saxony, Lothair of Supplinburg, was elected King of the Romans, but not without opposition, as another candidate for the throne was Frederick Duke of Suabia, who had many adherents, and was a near relation to the late Emperor. He was of the house of Weiblingen, and from one of their castles he and his family took the name of Hohenstaufen. Now, the Hohenstaufen would not acquiesce

Introductory, 3

in the election of Lothair, and there was war in Germany. The Saxon Lothair attached himself to the Pope, and Honorius openly supported him, but profiting by his weakness, imposed the authority of the Papacy on the Empire to which he was aspiring, and obtained from the needy monarch humble demonstrations of reverence and willing submission. Thus the imperial authority was waning before the papal in the eyes of men, while the Empire itself, intended for Lothair, was weakened by the discords which were rending Germany. Bohemia had given Lothair a great deal of trouble, and the Hohenstaufen were still powerful against him. Frederick of Suabia had given up his pretensions in favour of his brother Conrad, who now contested the crown, and in December 11 27 persuaded some of the princes to declare him king at Spires. He did not, however, meet with much favour, and especially the German clergy, whom Lothair flattered, were opposed to his usurping election. Conrad, seeing that he did not succeed in Germany, appealed to Italy, where, with the help of the Milanese archbishop, Anselm Pusterla, he was crowned with the iron crown at Milan, and in Tuscany put forward his pretensions to the inheritance of the Countess Matilda. These pretensions, and the traditions of his family, which were adverse to the Church, were in themselves enough to estrange from him Honorius, who remained a firm supporter of the pliant and legitimate Lothair. Conrad, excommunicated, and rendered for the time powerless, stayed on in Italy, protected rather than supported by isolated bishops or princes, and here and there by some municipality. It is a strange coincidence that he was always favoured by the commune of Milan, which was destined in time to become Italy's strongest bulwark against the attacks of the house of Suabia.

In the meantime Honorius died, and the election of his successor gave rise to a schism in the Church. Two cardinals were elected at the same time, both Romans. One was Gregory, of the Papareschi, who took the name of Innocent II., the other, Peter, of the powerful family of the Pierleoni, assumed the name of Anacletus II. Each had good reasons for asserting that his election was canonical, so that the question remained an open one, and the schism grew to such a height that it was impossible either to suppress or to compose it. Innocent and Anacletus both made great efforts to draw over Lothair to their side, but he, taken up with the discords in Germany, hesitated, and lost the opportunity of affirming his authority while the Papacy was enfeebled by internal divisions. Other forces, however, were making their influence felt in Europe, and they served to balance, and sometimes to rule, that power which hitherto was centred in the courts and councils of kings. In a thousand different forms, and in almost every direction, the universal conscience of the people was awaking to a greater activity, and often declared itself by the very voice of those who inspired it. A wonderful man, Bernard of Olairvaux, whose fiery soul felt all the mysterious fascination of his age, exercised an extraordinary influence over European thought by awakening in his contemporaries his own feelings. He saw clearly how disastrous for the Church at this critical moment any disunion must be, and, after a brief hesi-

Introductory. S

tation, ha threw himself resolutely into the contest. Espousing the cause of Innocent, he undertook his defence with that persevering, unflinching ardour peculiar to him ; nor did he cease to support him till success crowned his efforts. First he obtained from France the recognition of Innocent, who had taken refuge there from Eome, where the party of Anacletus was the strongest. The example of France was followed by the king of England, and finally by Lothair, who in 1 1 3 I met Innocent at Liege, and was crowned there by him.

Thus the schism might have been healed, but in Italy the difficulties were more numerous, and the interests involved were complex and various. In North and Central Italy the communes, which were slowly growing during the struggle between the Church and Empire, had now reached a state of great prosperity. Feudalism, weakened, and even in many places destroyed, was losing ground before the invasion of popular government, and so was the temporal authority of the bishops, first raised by the Ottos, and favoured by other emperors. As no emperor had shown himself in Italy for a long time, the cities had taken advantage of this absence to increase their independence and free themselves from every fetter, without disputing the sovereignty of the Empire, but merely letting its rights drop out of use and paying little attention to its claims. They prospered wonderfully, and being favoured by the nature of the soil, by the qualities of the people, and by the freedom they enjoyed, they added power to riches. So while the Venetian, Genoese, and Pisan ships were wandering over distant seas in search of commerce and colonies, in Lombardy and Central Italy cities were rising everywhere rich in industries and culture, and Milan was foremost among the many Lombard towns, while Bologna became a famous intellectual centre, and Florence, fostered first by the Countess Matilda, and now rising in power, was unfolding the first pages of her glorious history, destined to prove so full of variety and attraction.

Except at Milan, the Antipope Anacletus had not met with much support in these parts of Italy, which were generally friendly to Innocent, and were, moreover, distracted by their own private interests, and by the quarrels and jealousies which were continually setting one city against another, and wasting much of their strength. But Anacletus, strongly entrenched in Rome, turned for support towards the South. There the Normans, who had formed a strong monarchy, regarded with suspicion alike by the Emperors of the East and of the West as a threatened obstacle to their ambitious views, showed themselves friendly or hostile to the Popes according to political exigencies. Very obsequious in speech, but cunning and resolute in purpose, they had frequent misunderstandings with the Popes, owing to the claims of the pontiff to suzerainty over the whole kingdom, and to his absolute possession of Benevento and some other places. Roger I. shrewdly made use of the schism, and protected Anacletus, who was both the nearer and the weaker, receiving in exchange the recognition of the royal title he had assumed, the investiture of his kingdom, his claims to which were thus sanctioned, and other exemptions and

Introductory. 7

privileges, which, though only conceded to him by an Antipope, were to be later confirmed and recognised. The power of Roger, strengthened by these concessions, became threatening both for the interests of the Papacy and for those of the Empire, so that Lothair decided to „ visit Italy notwithstanding his difficulties and wars in Germany. He met with some opposition, not sufficient to stop him, but showing the spirit of the times which were approaching. On the plains of Roncaglia, near Piacenza, he and Innocent II. met and marched on together to Rome. There Lothair was received without hostilities, but was obliged, contrary to custom, to receive the imperial crown in the Lateran, because Anacletus and the Pierleoni faction held the right bank of the Tiber and were masters of St. Peter s.

On this occasion the Pope and the Emperor confirmed once more without substantial alterations the conditions of the treaty of Worms with regard to the investitures, but as for the claims which both put forward to the inheritance of the Countess Matilda, while the Pope yielded them for life and by feudal investiture to Lothair, he exacted at the same time a recognition of his rights over them and of his sovereignty. This was a great point gained, and the Popes were to make use of it later. A picture representing Lothair at the Pope's feet in the act of receiving the imperial crown was placed in the Lateran to commemorate this event, and under it were inscribed two lines expressing very clearly the idea of the Roman court, and destined later to excite discussions and discontent in Germany. The lines ran thus : —

Without attempting anything against Anacletus, who remained master of Rome, or against Roger of Sicily, Loth air soon returned to Germany, where things took a rapid turn in his favour, and even the Hohenstaufen submitted themselves to him. Grown more powerful in consequence, and invoked by the Pope and St. Bernard, Lothair made a second descent into Italy in 1 136. Here and there in the cities, growing more and more in vigour and independence, he met with opposition, which he baffled partly by force, partly by prudence. St. Bernard, in the meantime, in his persevering apostolate against the schism, had succeeded in separating Milan from the faction of Anacletus. Innocent, finding his position in Rome untenable, had taken refuge at Pisa, where he held a council attended by St. Bernard, and thence went to meet Lothair at Bologna. Then, instead of going to Rome, the Pope and Emperor decided to proceed to the South against Roger of Sicily, and the expedition proved successful. Lothair and his Germans, with the assistance on the sea-side of the Genoese and Pisan ships, marched victoriously across Italy, ravaging everywhere as they passed, and taking Capua, Salerno, and Bari, while Innocent entered and regained possession of Benevento. But shortly afterwards, in a question touching the Abbey of Montecassino and the Duchy of Apulia, the same reasons and claims which created dissensions between the Normans and the Popes, aggravated by the inevitable antagonism of papal and imperial authority, began to bring

Introductory. 9

about disagreement between Innocent and Lothair, which, however, had no serious or lengthened consequences. Lothair, suffering from age and infirmities, thought of returning home. In the monastery of Farfa, in Sabina, he separated from the Pope and started for Germany, but died on the journey in the Tyrol, the 3rd of December 1 137. His death cleared the way to the throne for Conrad of Hohenstaufen, who was elected King of the Komans on the 7th of March 1 1 38, and on the I 3th of the same month was crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle.

The Eoman faction of the Pierleoni had lost ground through the defeat of Eoger, and the Frangipani brought back Innocent to Home. He was now universally recognised as Pope, and the eloquence of St. Bernard was successful in detaching from Anacletus some of his staunchest and most influential supporters, and even in shaking Roger of Sicily, who, however, did not yield to the extent of closing a schism advantageous to himself. The deserted Antipope died shortly afterwards. A new Antipope arose under the name of Victor IV., but before long St. Bernard brought him a penitent to the feet of Innocent, and the schism was at an end. In a Lateran Council the acts of Anacletus were solemnly annulled, and a sentence of excommunication went forth against Roger, who had again got the upper hand, had reoccupied Apulia, and invaded the possessions of the Church. Innocent, not contenting himself with spiritual weapons, very imprudently made war upon him in person and entered his kingdom, but was soon surrounded and taken prisoner. The wily Norman was profuse in demonstrations of reverence and devotion io The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.

towards his prisoner, and thus obtained from him the investiture of the kingdom and the full confirmation of all that Anacletus had given up to him. After this reconciliation with Roger, Innocent returned, humbled and frustrated, to Rome, where fresh storms were gathering on the horizon.

( II )

Chapter II. (1138-1154.)

EUGENIUS III. AND CONRAD OF HOHENSTAUFEN— ELECTION OF FREDERICK I.

The great municipal movement which spread rapidly in Italy extended even to Rome, where perhaps a certain autonomy in civic government had never quite ceased, more or less marked according to the turn of events. It may be said that the life of the Roman municipality never died out, but through all the Middle Ages oscillated like the light of a lamp trembling in the wind, now flaring up, now to all appearance quenched. Certainly, while elsewhere the commune developed and grew strong, in Rome it always met with special hindrances. Rome, situated in the centre of a deserted plain, unfavourable to agriculture or commerce, was wanting in all those material resources which seconded the efforts of other cities. The middleclass had few means of increasing or strengthening their position, and had against them the powerful and quarrelsome nobles, who often divided the people into factions, and made use of these divisions to weaken them. The Papacy and the Empire, with their rights and claims of sovereignty, circumscribed the civic liberties, and through their political universality absorbed the public life of the city, rendering it impossible for it to expand. Besides, Rome was a hindrance to herself. Weighed down by her great name, she lost herself in the pursuit of brilliant dreams, and strove to reacquire a position which she could no longer reach. She thus lost ground instead of gaining it, and, in truth, all her political life was impoverished by the halo which surrounded her name.

Notwithstanding this, at the time of which I am speaking, a new and not inglorious period was opening in her history, and the commune, through a better organisation of its forces, was able in the last days of Innocent II. to affirm its independence with greater confidence. Disappointed by Innocent, who, instead of destroying their rival Tivoli, conquered by their arms, made her subject to himself, the Romans rose, and throwing off the papal yoke, formed themselves into a free republic. It was the year 1143. Old names, never entirely forgotten, were revived ; the Capitol was restored, the name of senator renewed, — memories and illusions which had been lovingly cherished through ages of fallen greatness. The great nobles, almost always hostile to any attempt to develop the Roman commune, this time for a moment did not oppose it, while it was especially favoured by a lesser nobility, who, issuing in a certain measure from the people, and bound to it, succeeded in holding the government of the city with a sufficiently firm hand, in as far as the times, full of hindrances and rapid changes, would permit.

EUGENIUS AND CONRAD. 1 3

Innocent II., overcome by the revolution and worn out, died shortly afterwards in September I 143 ; nor could Celestin II., who was Pope after him for only a few months, do anything towards subduing the Komans. His successor, Lucius II., was even more unfortunate. First he tried to oppose Roger of Sicily, refusing to confirm Innocent II.'s concessions ; but Roger threw a band of soldiers into the Campagna, who ravaged it as far as Ferentino, and occupied Terracina. The Romans meanwhile took the opportunity of abolishing the office of prefect, whose authority was exercised on the Pope's behalf, and renewed in his place the ancient dignity of patrician, with powers held from themselves. Having raised Giordano Pierleoni to this position, they intimated to the Pope to hand over to him all the royalties within and without the city. After having vainly invoked the aid of Conrad of Hohenstaufen, whose troubles at home prevented his giving any heed, Lucius II. attempted to seize the Capitol by force, but was repulsed. He died the 15th of February 1 1 45, some say from a wound inflicted by a stone during the unsuccessful assault on the Capitol.

To him succeeded Bernard, abbot of the monastery of St. Anastasius at the Three Fountains near the Ostian Basilica, a disciple of St. Bernard, who at first seemed alarmed at the election, expecting from the new Pope less aptitude for government than was afterwards shown by him. He took the name of Eugenius III. He reached the papacy in very stormy times, and had to commence by flight in order not to bow to the Roman senate, which threatened forcibly to prevent his consecration unless he would recognise the independence of the city. First he took refuge in the monastery of Farfa, where he was consecrated the 4th of March 1 1 4 5 , then went to reside at Viterbo, as it was impossible to return to Rome, where the republican constitution was daily being more and more firmly organised.

But these republican and reforming tendencies did not attack the idea of the Empire and Papacy, which in the mind of all Christendom was inseparable from the idea of human society. Rome only desired to shake herself free from the immediate rule of the Pope by creating a separate and popular government, and, in her confused love for all that was ancient, was disposed to amalgamate with the republic, and make again her very own that Empire which had now become essentially German, and retained nothing Roman but its name and its claims on a dominion over the city.

Characteristic of this is a letter which the Romans sent, a little later, to Conrad III., inviting him to Rome to receive from them the imperial crown, and take up his residence in the ancient metropolis of the world, whence he could far better rule over Italy and Germany. But the insuperable difficulties in the way of any such supremacy for them regarding the Empire as much as the Papacy soon showed themselves. Conrad did not even reply to the request of the Romans, and already the Pope had found support in the jealousies aroused by the new republic. Not satisfied with depriving the Pope of every dominion within the city, the Romans began now to attempt to do the

EUGENIUS AND CONRAD. I 5

same in the surrounding country, and to extend their own power. This attempt met with prompt resistance. The neighbouring cities, hated by Rome and hostile to her, and the great Roman nobles, fearing for their possessions in the Campagna, which were the sources of their power, united themselves with the Pope against Rome. The city had soon to yield, to receive the Pope within her walls, abolish the patrician, restore the prefect, recognise again the sovereignty of the Church, and promise to pay her tribute. The Pope celebrated the Christmas of 1 146 with all solemnity in Rome, but he was not strong enough to govern the city. The new republican order remained, and the authority of the senate continued as before. In reality, rather than a peace between subjects and sovereign, a truce had been concluded between two contending parties ; nor did the truce last long. Very soon fresh grounds for disagreement obliged Eu genius to leave Rome a second time, and the Romans were still free.

Henceforth it was clear that the Pope could not return to Rome with any prospect of security without the assistance of King Conrad, and Eugenius reiter ted his prayers that he should descend into Italy, restore order, and receive the imperial crown. The Lombard cities, arrogant, forgetful of their subjection to the Empire, and in continual broils among themselves, Rome in rebellion, the ever-increasing and menacing power of Roger of Sicily, all these were reasons for his coming. But Conrad delayed without refusing. He had too many anxieties in Germany to be able to leave it easily and throw himself into such an enterprise, and perhaps he secretly was not ill pleased at the dissensions between the Pope and the Romans. These even increased instead of diminishing, encouraged as they were by Arnold of Brescia, who was in Rome at this time, and the soul of the new republic.

That spirit of inquiry which with Anselm of Aosta had started from the standpoint of Faith to seek the reason of things, was now threading the opposite path with Abelard, working out dangerous problems, subtle, inquisitive, almost petulant, starting from Reason to scrutinise the mysteries of Faith. And Arnold, differing from his master Abelard in greater force of character, less speculative and more inclined to action, was like him in his impatience with what appeared to him false, and in his pugnacity in trying to overthrow it. His adversaries say that he loved popularity, and perhaps, man of the people as he was, he did love it, but his heart burnt with an apostolic zeal which left him no rest. He was pious, austere, eloquent ; persecutions, exile, his wandering life, all added fuel to the flame and energy to his character. In Lombardy first he had aroused enthusiasm, preaching against the immorality and riches of the clergy ; he was persecuted by Maifred, bishop of Brescia, and condemned by the Church, was obliged to go into exile, and took refuge in France towards the end of I I 39. The following year this ardent man appeared at the famous Council of Sens by the side of Abelard, true and steadfast against St. Bernard, his master's great enemy, and henceforth inexorably his own. And when Abelard gave way before the terrible monk, Arnold held out, and at St. Genevi&ve, where years before he had lis-

EUGENIUS AND CONRAD. 1 7

tened to his master's teaching, he undertook to lecture, and added perhaps on his own account violent invectives against the corrupt Church and her principal rulers. St. Bernard attacked him. They were two apostles, unspotted and tenacious, armed for the combat with equal ardour but unequal weapons. Bernard had on his side the spirit of his times, and was the stronger. Arnold was obliged to leave France, and withdrew to Zurich, where he gained followers, but, persecuted there also, he took refuge under the protection of a Cardinal Guido, who was then legate in Germany. With him he returned to Italy, and at Viterbo saw .Eugenius III., who absolved him on condition that he should do penance as a pilgrim at the Roman shrines, and Arnold accepted the condition, if we may trust a well-informed contemporary, John of Salisbury, the only one who reports this circumstance. But soon after Arnold reappears the same man as before, spreading his teaching of reform and freedom in Rome. To the republican movement of Lombardy, to the traditions of the Pataria, which had crept in among the common people of his native Brescia, and now betrayed an heretical tendency, to the philosophical movement in Paris, where Arnold had absorbed the teachings of Abelard, to all these influences was added a literary awakening which led men's intellects towards the pure sources of Latin writers, and was an early prelude of the Renaissance, arousing in all hearts the love and the memory of classic lore. As he gazed from the restored Capitol down on the broken columns of the Forum, how could he escape the silent charm of those scattered ruins ; and surrounded as he was by sacred C.ff, P memories of the primitive Church, her humility and holy poverty, how could he help inveighing against the worldliness and riches of the Church of his day ?

So the thunders of his voice aroused the Romans, who, eager for novelty, listened to him gladly, and gave him a large share in the councils and the government of their city, where, among other things, he helped to reorganise, under the old name of equestrian order, that militia composed of the lesser nobles and of the more conspicuous families of the people which formed the sinews of the army in the free republics of Lombardy. In the meantime, serious events were agitating Christendom, and for a moment took off the attention of Eugenius III. from Rome. The first Crusade had not broken the power of the Mussulman, and from the Eastern Christians came continual and persistent entreaties for help, and accounts of injuries suffered and dangers menaced. The Pope turned to the French for a new crusade, and King Louis VII. declared his readiness to undertake it. Eugenius then confided to St. Bernard the mission of proclaiming the holy war among the nations. His preaching aroused the greatest enthusiasm in all classes. The churches were too small to contain his hearers, and he was obliged to preach in the open air to the crowds who flocked to take the cross from the hands of this inspired man speaking in the name of God. From France Bernard passed into Germany, and at Mentz, Frankfort, and Spires, wherever he went, the excitement was the same. Conrad III. received the apostle of the cross with due honour, but, on the plea that the affairs of his kingdom would not allow of it, showed unwillingness to take part in the enterprise.

EUGEN1US AND CONRAD. 1 9

Popular feeling, however, was strong, and a more than usually eloquent sermon of St. Bernard's seemed to overcome his hesitation, so that, much moved and in tears, he interrupted the Saint in order to offer himself to God and take up the cross. Bernard regarded this as a miracle worked by God, nay, as he called it, the miracle of miracles ; but in his apostolic zeal he had far exceeded the prudent wishes of the Pope. Eugenius would have preferred that Conrad should have remained in Europe to look after Germany and to be free to come into Italy, receive the imperial crown, and restore papal authority in Borne. But it was not for the Pope to make difficulties in such a case. When Conrad had put the affairs of the kingdom into some sort of order, he had his youthful son Henry proclaimed king, and left him ruler of the state under a regency. Together with Conrad, a nephew of bis had taken the cross, Frederick, son of Frederick of Suabia, a young man of brilliant promise, who was to acquire his first reputation as a warrior in the East, and, after having filled Europe with his name, was to return there later to end a life full of glorious vicissitudes.