Antipope Clement III
Antipope Clement III | |
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Roman claimant : Antipapal claimant : | |
Successor | Roman claimant :
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Opposed to |
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Other post(s) | Archbishop of Ravenna |
Personal details | |
Born | Guibert (or Wibert) c. 1029 |
Died | 8 September 1100 (aged 70–71) Civita Castellana |
Other popes and antipopes named Clement |
Guibert or Wibert of Ravenna (c. 1029 – 8 September 1100) was an Italian
Consecrated as Pope Clement III in Rome in March 1084, he commanded a significant following in Rome and elsewhere, especially during the first half of his pontificate, and reigned in opposition to four successive popes in the anti-imperial line: Gregory VII,
Early life
He was born into the noble family of the Correggio, probably between 1020 and 1030.
Guibert apparently continued to cultivate his contacts within the German court, for in 1072,
Quarrels with Pope Gregory
Shortly after Pope Alexander II died Hildebrand was proclaimed the next pope, being installed as Pope Gregory VII on 29 April 1073. Guibert attended the first Lenten Synods of Pope Gregory in March 1074 in Rome at which important laws were passed against simony and the incontinence of the clergy, and lay investiture. The Imperial appointed German bishops were the most important officials of the empire, and a means to balance the ambitions of the territorial princes.[8]
Guibert soon emerged as one of the most visible leaders of opposition to the
It was in this same year that Emperor Henry IV began his open conflict with Gregory.[11][12][13] At the synod of Worms in January 1076, a resolution was adopted deposing Gregory, and in this decision the pro-imperial bishops of Transalpine Italy joined. Among these must have been Guibert, for he shared in the sentence of excommunication and interdiction which Gregory VII pronounced against the Transalpine bishops at the Lenten Synod of 1076.
Shortly after, in April 1076, bishops and abbots of the imperial Transalpine party convened at Pavia under the presidency of Guibert and proclaimed the excommunication of Gregory VII; a messenger, bearing a caustic personal letter from Henry, was dispatched with the Pavian reply to the pope. In response to the action of Henry's 1076 Synod of Worms, Gregory excommunicated Henry IV. Gregory excommunicated Guibert by name at the Lenten Synod of February 1078 and with him his main accomplice Archbishop Tebaldo of Milan.[6]
Reign as Imperial Opposition Pope
During the next four years, the Emperor and the Pope reconciled but then quarreled again, and, facing a rebellion among the German nobles, Emperor Henry threatened to depose Pope Gregory. Carrying out his threats, Henry summoned his German and Transpadine partisans to a Synod at Brixen in June 1080, which drew up a new decree purporting to depose Pope Gregory VII,[14] and which Henry himself also signed, and then proceeded to elect Guibert, the excommunicated Archbishop of Ravenna, as pope in opposition to Pope Gregory, whom the Synod considered deposed; Guibert took the name Clement III.[15] Henry recognized Guibert as pope, swearing that he would lead him to Rome, and there receive from his hands the imperial crown.[16]
With
Henry entered Rome on 21 March 1084, and succeeded in gaining possession of the greater part of the city. Gregory took refuge in
However, with news of the approach of the
Gregory was liberated, but the people were incensed by the excesses of his Norman allies, and he was compelled to leave Rome. He withdrew to Monte Cassino, and later to the castle of Salerno by the sea, in 1084, where he died in the following year, 25 May 1085.[6]
The German
Victor III, who was elected after a prolonged vacancy caused by the critical position of the Church in Rome, was compelled, eight days after his coronation in St. Peter's on 3 May 1087, to flee Rome before the partisans of Guibert. The latter were in turn assailed by the troops of Countess Matilda, and entrenched themselves in the Pantheon. However, at the threats of the emperor, Victor was obliged to flee once more.[19]
The succeeding pope, Urban II (1088–1099), spent most of the first half of his pontificate in exile, in southern Italy and in France. Late in 1093 he managed to obtain a foothold in Rome, with help from the Frangipane family, and gradually expanded his power there.[20]
By 1089, Clement III was back in Rome, where in June, he held a Synod declaring invalid the decree of excommunication launched against Henry, and various charges were made against the supporters of Urban II, the pope of the anti-imperial party. Still, by the mid-nineties his power and authority began to wane. The greater part of the city of Rome was captured by an army under Count
In 1099, he repaired to Albano after the accession of Paschal II (1099–1118), hoping again to become master of Rome, but Norman troops compelled him to withdraw. He reached Civita Castellana, where he died 8 September 1100.[18] His followers elected a successor to Guibert, the Antipope Theodoric, who, however, was not a serious threat to the popes of the anti-imperial line, now considered canonical.
See also
Notes
- ^ Longo, Umberto. "A Saint of Damned Memory. Clement III, (Anti)Pope," Reti Medievali Rivista, 13/1 (Apr. 2012)
- ^ Sprenger, Kai-Michael. "The Tiara in the Tiber. An Essay on the damnatio in memoria of Clement III (1084–1100) and Rome’s River as a Place of Oblivion and Memory," Reti Medievali Rivista, 13/1 (Apr. 2012)
- ^ a b Dolcini, Carlo. "Clement III, antipapa", Enciclopedia dei Papi, Rome, 2000
- ^ Hayes 1911.
- ^ Coulombe, Charles A., Vicars of Christ: A History of the Popes, (Kensington Publishing Corp., 2003), 218.
- ^ a b c d e Kirsch, Johann Peter. "Guibert of Ravenna." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 1 August 2015
- ^ Coulombe 2003, p. 218.
- ^ Kampers, Franz. "Henry IV." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 2 August 2021 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ Falconieri, Tommaso di Carpegna. "Ceci n’est pas un pape", Reti Medievali Rivista, 13/1 (Apr. 2012)
- ISBN 9781461601814
- ^ Robinson, Ian Stuart. Henry IV of Germany 1056–1106 (Cambridge 1999)
- ^ Robinson, Ian S., "Pope Gregory VII, the Princes and the Pactum 1077–1080", The English Historical Review, 94/373 (Oct. 1979): pp. 721–756
- ^ Louis I. Hamilton, "Memory, Symbol, and Arson: Was Rome 'Sacked' in 1084?", Speculum, 78/2 (2003), pp. 378–399; Ernest F. Henderson(ed), Select Historical Documents of the Middle Ages (London: George Bell and Sons, 1896), transcribed in "Documents Relating to the War of the Investitures", The Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History, and Diplomacy (Yale Law School, Lillian Goldman Law Library)
- Herbert Edward John Cowdrey, Pope Gregory VII, 1073–1085, (Oxford University Press, 1998), 201–202.
- ^ Richard P. McBrien, Lives of the Popes, (HarperCollins, 2000), 424–425. On the choice of name and for related bibliography: Lila Yawn, "Clement's New Clothes. The Destruction of Old S. Clemente in Rome, the Eleventh-Century Frescoes, and the Cult of (Anti)Pope Clement III," Reti Medievali Rivista, 13 (apr. 2012), pp. 20–21, available at: <http://www.rmojs.unina.it/index.php/rm/article/view/urn%3Anbn%3Ait%3Aunina-3357 Archived 11 October 2021 at the Wayback Machine>.
- ^ Herbert Edward John Cowdrey, 227–228.
- ^ Oestereich, Thomas. "Pope St. Gregory VII." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 6. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. 2 August 2021 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ ISBN 9780199295814
- ^ Kirsch, Johann Peter. "Matilda of Canossa." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 10. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 2 August 2021 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ S. Cerrini, "Urbano II, beato," in Enciclopedia dei papi, Roma 2000, vol. 2, pp. 222–225; Matthias Thumser, "Die Frangipane. Abriß der Geschichte einer Adelsfamilie im hochmittelalterlichen Rom," Quellen und Forschungen aus italienischen Archiven und Bibliotheken, 71 (1991), pp. 112–115; Patrizia Carmassi, "Die hochmittelalterlichen Fresken der Unterkirche von San Clemente in Rom als programmatische Selbsdarstellung des Reformspapsttums. Neue Einsichten zur Bestimmung des Entstehungskontexts," in Quellen und Forschungen aus italienischen Archiven und Bibliotheken, 81 (2001), pp. 50–51;
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Guibert of Ravenna". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
References
- Hayes, Carlton Joseph Huntley (1911). . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 12 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 683.
- Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. .
Sources
- Coulombe, C.A. (2003). Vicars of Christ: A History of the Popes. Kensington Publishing Corporation. ISBN 978-0-8065-2370-5. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
External links
- Tommaso di Carpegna Falconieri, "Popes Through the Looking Glass, or "Ceci n'est pas un pape"," Reti Medievali Rivista 13/1 (2012).
- Umberto Longo, "A Saint of Damned Memory. Clement III, (Anti)Pope," Reti Medievali Rivista, 13/1 (2012).
- Kai-Michael Sprenger, "The Tiara in the Tiber. An Essay on the damnatio in memoria of Clement III (1084–1100) and Rome’s River as a Place of Oblivion and Memory," Reti Medievali Rivista, 13/1 (2012).