at Paris and Bologna, and, having been successively archpriest of St Peter’s, papal chaplain, cardinal-deacon of Sant’ Eustachio, cardinal-bishop of Ostia, the first protector of the Franciscan order, and papal legate in Germany under Innocent III., and Honorius III., he succeeded the latter in the papacy. He had long been on friendly terms with the emperor Frederick II., but now excommunicated him (29th of September 1227) for continued neglect of his vows and refusal to undertake the crusade. When Frederick finally set out the following June without making submission to the pope, Gregory raised an insurrection against him in Germany, and forced him in 1230 to beg for absolution. The Romans, however, soon began a very bitter war against the temporal power and exiled the pope (1st of June 1231). Hardly had this contest been brought to an end favourable to the papacy (May 1235) when Gregory came into fresh conflict with Frederick II. He again excommunicated the emperor and released his subjects from their allegiance (24th of March 1239). Frederick, on his side, invaded the Papal States and prevented the assembling of a general council convoked for Easter 1241. The work of Gregory, however, was by no means limited to his relations with emperor and Romans. He systematized the Inquisition and entrusted it to the Dominicans; his rules against heretics remained in force until the time of Sixtus V. He supported Henry III. against the English barons, and protested against the Pragmatic Sanction of Louis IX. of France. He sent monks to Constantinople to negotiate with the Greeks for church unity, but without result. He canonized Saints Elizabeth of Thuringia, Dominic, Anthony of Padua and Francis of Assisi. He permitted free study of the Aristotelian writings, and issued (1234), through his chaplain, Raymond of Pennaforte, an important new compilation of decretals which he prescribed in the bull Rex pacificus should be the standard text-book in canon law at the universities of Bologna and Paris. Gregory was famed for his learning and eloquence, his blameless life, and his great strength of character. He died on the 22nd of August 1241, while Frederick II. was advancing against him, and was succeeded by Celestine IV.
For the life of Gregory IX., consult his Letters in Monumenta Germaniae historica, Epistolae saeculi XIII. e regestis pontif. Roman. selectae (Berlin, 1883); “Les Registres de Grégoire IX,” ed. L. Auvray in Bibliothèque des écoles françaises d’Athènes et de Rome (Paris, 1890–1905); A. Potthast, Regesta pontif. Roman. (Berlin, 1875) and “Registri dei Cardinali Ugolino d’ Ostia et Ottaviano degli Ubaldini,” ed. G. Levi in Fonti per la storia d’ Italia (1890). See J. Felten, Papst Gregor IX. (Freiburg i. B., 1886); J. Marx, Die Vita Gregorii IX. quellenkritisch untersucht (1889); P. Balan, Storia di Gregorio IX e dei suoi tempi (3 vols., Modena, 1872–1873); F. Gregorovius, Rome in the Middle Ages, vol. 5, trans. by Mrs G. W. Hamilton (London, 1900–1902); H. H. Milman, Latin Christianity, vol. 5 (London, 1899); R. Honig, Rapporti tra Federico II e Gregorio IX rispetto alla spedizione in Palestina (1896); P. T. Masetti, I Pontefici Onorio III, Gregorio IX ed Innocenzo IV a fronte dell’ Imperatore Federico II nel secolo XIII (1884); T. Frantz, Der grosse Kampf zwischen Kaisertum u. Papsttum zur Zeit des Hohenstaufen Friedrich II. (Berlin, 1903); W. Norden, Das Papsttum u. Byzanz (Berlin, 1903). An exhaustive bibliography and an excellent article on Gregory by Carl Mirbt are to be found in Hauck’s Realencyklopädie, 3rd edition.
Gregory X. (Tebaldo Visconti), pope from the 1st of September 1271, to the 10th of January 1276, was born at Piacenza in 1208, studied for the church, and became archdeacon of Liége. The eighteen cardinals who met to elect a successor to Clement IV. were divided into French and Italian factions, which wrangled over the election for nearly three years in the midst of great popular excitement, until finally, stirred by the eloquence of St Bonaventura, the Franciscan monk, they entrusted the choice to six electors, who hit on Visconti, at that time accompanying Edward of England on the crusade. He returned to Rome and was ordained priest on the 19th of March 1272, and consecrated on the 27th. He at once summoned the fourteenth general council of the Catholic Church, which met at Lyons in 1274, with an attendance of some 1600 prelates, for the purpose of considering the eastern schism, the condition of the Holy Land, and the abuses in the church. The Greeks were persuaded, thanks to St Bonaventura, to consent to a union with Rome for the time being, and Rudolph of Habsburg renounced at the council all imperial rights in the States of the Church. The most celebrated among the many reform decrees issued by Gregory was the constitution determining for the first time the form of conclave at papal elections, which in large measure has remained ever since the law of the church. Gregory was on his way to Rome to crown Rudolph and send him out on a great crusade in company with the kings of England, France, Aragon and Sicily, when he died at Arezzo on the 10th of January 1276. He was a nobleman, fond of peace and actuated by the consciousness of a great mission. He has been honoured as a saint by the inhabitants of Arezzo and Piacenza. His successor in the papacy was Innocent V.
The registers of Gregory X. have been published by J. Guiraud in the Bibliothèque des écoles françaises d’Athènes et de Rome (Paris, 1892–1898). See K. J. von Hefele, Conciliengeschichte, vol. 5, 2nd edition (1873–1890); H. Finke, Konzilienstudien z. Gesch. des 13ten Jahrhunderts (Münster, 1891); P. Piacenza, Compendia della storia del b. Gregorio X, papa (Piacenza, 1876); F. Gregorovius, Rome in the Middle Ages, vol. 5, trans. by Mrs G. W. Hamilton (London, 1900–1902); H. Otto, Die Beziehungen Rudolfs von Habsburgs zu Papst Gregor X. (Innsbruck, 1895); A. Zisterer, Gregor X. u. Rudolf von Habsburg in ihren gegenseitigen Beziehungen (Freiburg i. B., 1891); F. Walter, Die Politik der Kurie unter Gregor X. (Berlin, 1894); A. Potthast, Regesta pontif. Roman. vol. 2 (Berlin, 1875); W. Norden, Das Papsttum und Byzanz (Berlin, 1903); J. Loserth, “Akten über die Wahl Gregors X.” in Neues Archiv, xxi. (1895); A. von Hirsch-Gereuth, “Die Kreuzzugspolitik Gregors X.” in Studien z. Gesch. d. Kreuzzugsidee nach den Kreuzzügen (Munich, 1896). There is an excellent article by Carl Mirbt in Hauck’s Realencyklopädie, 3rd edition.
Gregory XI. (Pierre Roger de Beaufort), pope from the 30th of December 1370 to the 27th of March 1378, born in Limousin in 1330, created cardinal-deacon of Sta Maria Nuova by his uncle, Clement VI., was the successor of Urban V. His efforts to establish peace between France and England and to aid the Eastern Christians against the Turks were fruitless, but he prevented the Visconti of Milan from making further encroachments on the States of the Church. He introduced many reforms in the various monastic orders and took vigorous measures against the heresies of the time. His energy was stimulated by the stirring words of Catherine of Siena, to whom in particular the transference of the papal see back to Italy (17th of January 1377) was almost entirely due. Whilst at Rome he issued several bulls to the archbishop of Canterbury, the king of England, and the university of Oxford, commanding an investigation of Wycliffe’s doctrines. Gregory was meditating a return to Avignon when he died. He was the last of the French popes who for some seventy years had made Avignon their see, a man learned and full of zeal for the church, but irresolute and guilty of nepotism. The great schism, which was to endure fifty years, broke out soon after the election of his successor, Urban VI.
See H. J. Tomaseth, “Die Register u. Secretäre Urbans V. u. Gregors XI.” in Mitteilungen des Instituts für österreichische Geschichtsforschung (1898); Baluzius, Vitae pap. Avenion. vol. I (Paris, 1693); L. Pastor, History of the Popes, vol. I, trans. by F. I. Antrobus (London, 1899); F. Gregorovius, Rome in the Middle Ages, vol. 6, trans. by Mrs G. W. Hamilton (London, 1900–1902); J. P. Kirsch, Die Rückkehr der Päpste Urban V. u. Gregor XI. von Avignon nach Rom (Paderborn, 1898); J. B. Christophe, Histoire de la papauté pendant le XIV e siècle, vol. 2 (Paris, 1853). There is a good article by J. N. Brischar in the Kirchenlexikon, 2nd edition.
Gregory XII. (Angelo Coriaro, or Correr), pope from the 30th of November 1406, to the 4th of July 1415, was born of a noble family at Venice about 1326. Successively bishop of Castello, Latin patriarch of Constantinople, cardinal-priest of San Marco, and papal secretary, he was elected to succeed Innocent VII., after an interregnum of twenty-four days, under the express condition that, should the antipope Benedict XIII. at Avignon renounce all claim to the papacy, he also would renounce his, so that the long schism might be terminated. As pope, he concluded a treaty with his rival at Marseilles, by which a general council was to be held at Savona in September, 1408, but King Ladislaus of Naples, who opposed the plan from policy, seized Rome and brought the negotiations to nought. Gregory had promised not to create any more cardinals, and when he did so, in 1408, his former cardinals deserted him and, together with the Avignon cardinals, convoked the council of
