GREGORY
789
GREGORY
Temporal Sorereiffniy of the Popes, tr.; Pargoire, L'iglise
Byzantine. 527-847; Marin, Les Moines de Constantinople;
Maxv. Lire.i of the Popes in the Earhi Middle Ages (London,
1902). I, Pt. II. Horace K. M.^NN.
Gregory in, S.u.nt, Pope (7.31-711), wa.s the son of a Syrian named John. The date of his birth is not known. His reputation for learning and virtue was so great that the Romans elected him pope by acclamation, when he was accompanying the funeral procession of his predecessor, 11 Feb., 731. As he was not consecrated for more than a month after his election, it is presumed that he waited for the confirmation of his election by the exarch at Ravenna. In the matter of Iconoclasm.lie followed the policy of liis predecessor. He sent legates and letters to re- monstrate with the pensecuting emperor, Leo III, and held two synods in Rome (731) in which the image- breaking heresy was condemned. By way of a prac- tical protest against the emperor's action he made it a point of paying special honour to images and relics, giving particular attention to the subject in St. Peter's. Fragments of inscriptions, to be seen in the erj'pts of the Vatican basilica, bear witness to this day of an oratory he built therein, and of the special prayers he ordereti to be there recited.
Leo, whose sole answer to the arguments and apologies for image worship which were addressed to him from both East and West, was force, seized the papal patrimonies in Calabria and Sicily, or wherever he had any power in Italy, and transferred to the patriarch of Constantinople the ecclesiastical juris- diction which the popes had previously exercised both there, and throughout the ancient Prefecture of lUyri- cum. Gregory III confirmed the decision of his predecessors as to the respective rights of the Patriarchs of Aquileia and Grado, and sent the pallium to An- toninus of Grado. In granting it also to Egbert of York, he was only following out the arrangements of St. Gregorj' I who had laid it down that York was to have metropolitical rights in the North of England, as Canterbury had to have them in the South. Both Tatwine and Xothelm of Canterbury received the pallium in succession from Gregory III (731 and 736). At his request Gregory III extended to St. Boniface the same support and encouragement which had been afforded him by Gregory II. "Strengthened exceed- ingly by the help of the affection of the Apostolic See", the saint joyfully continued his glorious work for the conversion of Germany. About 737 Boniface came to Rome for the third time to give an account of his stewardship, and to enjoy the pope's "life-giv- ing conversation". At Gregorj^'s order the monk and great traveller, St. Willibald, went to assist his cousin St. Boniface in his labours.
The close of Gregory's reign was troubled by the Lombards. Realizing the ambition which animated Liutprand, Gregorj' completed the restoration of the walls of Rome which had been begun by his predeces- sors, and bought back Gallese, a stronghold on the Flaminian Way, from Transamund, Duke of Spoleto, which helped to keep open the communications be- tween Rome and Ravenna. In 739, Liutprand was again in arms. His troops ravaged the exarchate, and he him.self marched south to bring to subjection his vassals, the Dukes of Spoleto and Benevento, and the Duchy of Rome. Transamund fled to Rome, and Gregorj' implored the aid of the great Prankish chief, Charles Martel. At length ambassadors from the viceroy (siibregidus) of the Franks appeared in Rome (739). Their arrival, or the summer heats, brought a momentary peace. But in the following year, Liut- prand again took the field. This time the Romans left their walls, and helped Transamund to recover Spoleto. When, however, he had recovered his duchy, he would not or could not comply with Gregory's request, and endeavour to recover for the pope " the four cities of the Roman duchy which had been lost
for his sake." In the midst of all these wars and
rumours of war, Gregory died, and was buried in the
oratorj' of our Lady which he had himself built in
St. Peter's. He died in 741, but whether in November
or December is not certain. It is, however, on 28
November that he is commemorated in the Roman
martyrology.
Codex Caro'liniis in ]atfe, Monumenia Carolina (Berlin, 1867), or in Man. Germ. Hist.: Epp., Ill (Berlin, 1892). See also bibliography of article Gregory II.
Horace K. Mann.
Gregory IV, Pope, elected near the end of 827; d. Jan., S44. When Gregory was born is not known, but he was a Roman and the .son of John. Before his elec- tion to the papacy he was the Cardinal-Prie.st of the Basilica of St. -Mark, which he adorned with mosaics yet vLsible. For lus piety and learning he was ordained priest by Paschal I. This man, of'di.stinguLshed ap- pearance and high birth, was raised to the chair of Peter, despite his protestations of unfitness, mainly by the instrumentality of the secular nobility of Rome who were then securing a preponderating influence in papal elections. But the representatives in Rome of the Emperor Louis the Pious would not allow him to be consecrated until his election had been approved by their master. This interference caused such delay that it was not, seemingly, till about March, 828, that he began to govern the Church.
Throughout the greater part of hLs pontificate Greg- ory was involved in the quarrels between Louis and his sons which were to prove fatal to the domination of the Franks. Owing perhaps to a want of political insight or to an over-sympathetic or sanguine tem- perament, or, it may be, to a want of firmness of character, his efforts to promote domestic peace in the imperial family were not attended either with suc- cess or with glory. By a solemn deed, confirmed by Paschal I, Louis had made a division of the empire in favour of the three sons of his first wife, Lothair I, Pepin, and Louis the German (817). But on her death, he married the young and ambitious Judith, and was soon induced by her to devote himself wholly to furthering the interests of their son, afterwards known as Charles the Bald. Charles's half-brothers combined in arms against their father (830), seized and imprisoned him. and compelled him to confirm the Constitution of 817. The brothers, however, soon dis- agreed among themselves and Louis was restored to power by a diet at Nimwegen, and, by a decision of the pope, to his wife from whom he had been separated by force (Oct., 830). Untaught by experience, Louis con- tinued his policy of favouring his youngest son. The brothers again flew to arms, and the eldest, Lothair (who was ruling Italy), by argument, by deception, and perhaps by gentle pressure, induced Gregorj' to accompany him across the Alps. The appearance of the pope in the camp of the rebels made it appear that he was in their favour. Hence the bishops who re- mained faithful to the emperor, suspicious of the pope's good faith, would not come to him when he summoned them to his pre.sence. It was to no purpose that Gregory repelled their accusations. When at length he met Louis himself, he found that Louis also did not trust him. While these negotiations were in progress, Lothair, who was false to everyone, was suborning the allegiance of his father's soldiers. Betrayed in con- sequence. Louis once again fell into the hands of his sons. Lothair seized the empire, allowed Gregorj' to return to Rome a sadder and a wiser man, and de- graded his father (833). But next year witnessed a second fraternal quarrel, and a second restoration of Louis, who was weak enough to allow Lothair to retain the Kingdom of Italy. The result of his mistaken acts of clemency was not only that he had to protect the pope against Lothair's aggressions but that he had to face another rebellion of one of his sons. In marching to put it down, he died (June, 840).
