Pope Leo IX had occupied the greater…

Pope Leo IX had occupied the greater part of 1049 in one of those progresses through Italy, Germany and France that form a marked feature in his pontificate.

After presiding over a synod at Pavia, he had joined Henry III in Saxony and accompanied him to Cologne and Aachen.

He had also summoned a meeting of the higher clergy in Reims in which several important reforming decrees were passed.

At Mainz, he had held a council at which the Italian and French as well as the German clergy were represented, and ambassadors of the Greek emperor were present.

Here too, simony and the marriage of the clergy had been the principal matters dealt with.

After Leo’s return to Rome, he holds another Easter synod on April 29, 1050.

It is occupied largely with the controversy about the teachings of Berengar of Tours.

In the same year, he presides over provincial synods at Salerno, Siponto and Vercelli, and in September revisits his native Germany.