Pope Alexander II
Pope Alexander II (1010/1015 – 21 April 1073), born Anselm of Baggio,[1] was the head of the Roman Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 1061 to his death in 1073.
[7] He was one of the founders of the Pataria,[8] a movement in the Archdiocese of Milan, aimed at reforming the clergy and ecclesiastic government in the province, and supportive of Papal sanctions against simony and clerical marriage.
[9] Bishop Anselm attended the Roman council of Pope Nicholas II in the first half of April 1059, and another synod of uncertain date.
On 1 October 1061, they chose Bishop Anselmo de Baggio of Lucca, one of the leaders of the reform party, who took the name Pope Alexander II.
[disputed – discuss][17] Cardinal-bishops were the sole electors of the pope for the first time in the history of the Church, in accordance with Nicholas II's bull, In Nomine Domini.
[17] The German court nominated another candidate, Cadalus, bishop of Parma, who was proclaimed Pope at a council held at Basel under the name of Honorius II.
At length, after a palace coup which replaced Empress Agnes as regent with Archbishop Anno II of Cologne, Honorius was forsaken by the German court.
[20] As early as 1063 the Normans, taking advantage of the schism, successfully expanded their empire by attacking and seizing the city of Gaeta, an important port leading into the southern part of the Roman campagna.
The barons of the Roman campagna, too, saw an advantage to be gained (or at least revenge to be extracted) by joining the Normans against Alexander and the reform party of Hildebrand, which had robbed them of their rights in papal elections and the civil government of the Church.
[21] In the meantime, the frantic Cardinal Hildebrand repeatedly called upon Marquis Godfrey of Tuscany, who was with King Henry in Germany, to come to the aid of Rome.
A new treaty between the papacy and the Normans was negotiated, and at the synod held at Melfi by Pope Alexander on 1 August 1067, Prince Richard returned to his allegiance and was confirmed as Duke of Apulia and Calabria.
[24] In a letter of 15 May 1063, Pope Alexander ordered the archbishops of Reims, Sens, Tours, Bourges, and Bordeaux to obey his legate Cardinal Peter Damiani, Bishop of Ostia, "who is our own eye and the immoveable foundation of the apostolic see.
[27] In 1067, he made a tour of the southern cities of the Papal States and of the Kingdom of Naples, holding a synod in Melfi in October and then later in the year at Siponto.
[28] In this council held at Siponto, Pope Alexander deposed Bishop Lando of Nucerino, Landolf of Tortiboli, and Benedict of Biccari, all on accusations of simony.
[29] In an attempt to curtail simony (the buying and selling of sacred things or positions within the church), Alexander II sent out many legates and archbishops across Europe to enforce reform among local synods.
The pope also ordered that churches not be held by lay persons and that ecclesiastical goods not be transmitted from parents to children as though they were subject to the laws of inheritance.
[31] By 1071, the future Emperor Henry IV, though only 21 (and still only German King and Roman Patrician), was vigorously at work recovering the powers, privileges and properties which had been allowed to slip away from imperial control during his regencies.
[35] Pope Alexander also reformed the administration of the church of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme in Rome and of the Lateran Basilica, by replacing the monks of the Order of Montecassino with Canons Regular of the Congregation of S. Frediano of Lucca.
[36] In liturgical matters, Alexander II ended the practice of singing or reciting the "Alleluia" during the Latin Church's observance of Lent.
[38] In 1065, Pope Alexander II wrote to Béranger, Viscount of Narbonne, and to Guifred, bishop of the city, praising them for having prevented the massacre of the Jews in their district, and reminding them that God does not approve of the shedding of innocent blood.
Alexander therefore sent Bishop Ermenfried of Sion (Sitten in Switzerland) and two "clerici cardinales" to England, who, at Eastertide 1070, presided at the coronation at Winchester.
William then ordered the papal legates to go to Normandy, and convene a council of bishops, abbots, and nobles, to prevail upon Lanfranc to accept the king's offer.
Reluctantly, Lanfranc crossed to England, where he engaged in intense talks with William, who only persuaded him by invoking the recommendation which had been expressed by Pope Alexander.
[53] When Lanfranc wrote to Pope Alexander and to the Archdeacon Hildebrand that they defend him against the pretensions of the archbishop of York, and that they send him the pallium as his symbol of primacy, Hildebrand wrote a letter in reply, claiming that it was not the custom to send the pallium, but that the recipient come to Rome to have it bestowed; and besides, he and the pope wanted to confer personally with Lanfranc about pressing matters.
[54] Subsequently, Pope Alexander wrote to Archbishop Lanfranc, ordering him to see to the state of the monastery of Winchester, and expressing annoyance that he had not yet procured the release of the bishop (Stigand), perhaps out of negligence, perhaps out of disobedience, perhaps fearing punishment by King William.
Once appointed, Stanislaus was a highly assertive bishop who got into conflict with Polish king Bolesław II the Bold, pro suis actibus sceleratis ('because of his wicked deeds').
