Pataria

Pope Nicholas II succeeds Pope Stephen IX as the 155th Pope, installed in Rome in opposition to Antipope Benedict X on January 24, 1059.

Meanwhile, Peter Damian and Bishop Anselm of Lucca have been sent by Nicholas II to Milan to adjust the difference between the Patarenes and the archbishop and clergy.

The result is a fresh triumph for the papacy.

Archbishop Wido, in the face of the ruinous conflict in the Church of Milan, is forced to submit to the terms proposed by the legates, which involve the principle of the subordination of Milan to Rome; the new relation is advertised by the unwilling attendance of Wido and the other Milanese bishops at the council summoned to the Lateran palace in April 1059.

The organization of the senior priests of certain parish churches in Rome has, by the eleventh century, developed into the sacred college of cardinals.

Initially functioning as assistants and counselors to the popes, the cardinals become, in 1059, the papal electors as well, when, on April 13, Pope Nicholas II, with the agreement of the Lateran Council, issues the papal bull In nomine Domini making the College of Cardinals the sole voters in the papal conclave for the election of popes.

This council not only continues the Hildebrandine reforms by sharpening the discipline of the clergy, but marks an epoch in the history of the papacy by its famous regulation of future elections to the Holy See.

Previously, Papal elections had been effectively controlled by the Roman aristocracy, unless the Emperor was strong enough to be able to intervene from a distance to impose his will.

As a result of the battles with the Antipope Benedict X, Nicholas II wishes to reform papal elections.

At the synod held in the Lateran at Easter, 1059, Pope Nicholas brings 113 bishops to Rome to consider a number of reforms, including a change in the election procedure.

The electoral reform adopted by this synod amounted to a declaration of independence on the part of the church.

Henceforth, popes are to be selected by the Cardinals in assembly at Rome.

The cardinal bishops are the sole electors of the pope for the first time in the history of the Roman Catholic Church in the papal election following the death of Pope Nicholas II, held in San Pietro in Vincoli ("Saint Peter in Chains") in Rome on September 30, 1061, in accordance with Nicholas II's bull, In Nomine Domini.

Bishop Anselmo de Baggio of Lucca, a non-cardinal and one of the founders of the Pataria, is elected Pope Alexander II and crowned at nightfall on October 1, 1061, in San Pietro in Vincoli Basilica because opposition to the election makes a coronation in St. Peter's Basilica impossible.

The pataria is partially the result of church reform movements like the Peace and Truce of God and partially of the social situation in Milan.

The influence of southern French movements, such as the Peace and Truce, affect the pataria.

The subsequent popularity of the Cathar movement in Milan during the twelfth century will be a result of the pataria.

The chief targets of the patarini are the rich, secular, aristocratic landowners and the simoniacal and nicolaitan clergy.

They contest the ancient rights of the cathedral clergy of Milan and support the Gregorian reforms.

They join with the lesser clergy in opposition to the practices of simony and of clerical marriage and concubinage.

The morals of the clergy are attacked, too, as is monastic discipline.

The contrast between the impoverished lesser clergy and the magnates of the Church resurface as a point of contention.

The archbishop Guido da Velate had been a particular victim of the patarini.

On the death in 1045 of the warrior and prince-bishop Ariberto da Intimiano, the Milanese had requested the Emperor Henry III, who controlled the election of bishops in his realms, to choose from among four candidates deemed retti ed onesti (upright and honest): Anselmo da Baggio, Arialdo da Carimate, Landolfo Cotta, and Attone.

The Emperor's choice, however, had fallen upon the thoroughly worldly Guido, known for his support of the practice of clerical marriage and concubinage, which was generally accepted in rural areas and which was now being given the name "nicolaism", recalling a passage in the Book of Revelation (2:6, 14–15).

Guido, however, had not not fulfilled his vows to fight simony and had been forced to resign.

The patarini had initially protested the abuse by their refusal to accept communion at the hands of priests with unofficial wives or concubines.

Some churches had been emptied while others were packed with the faithful.

The movement formed behind its leaders, the four rejected "upright and honest" priests.

To defuse the situation, the emperor had named Anselmo da Baggio bishop of Lucca, which carried him securely away from Milan, and the archbishop had excommunicated the intractable Arialdo da Carimate and Landolfo Cotta.

Following the pontificate of Benedict IX, the papacy too began to sense the urgency of reform and Pope Leo IX had condemned both the practice of simony and concubinage among priests.

When Landolfo Cotta attempted to present the position of the Milanese patarini before Pope Stephen IX, the archbishop's ruffians had caught up with him at Piacenza and came near to killing him.

A second attack in 1061 was successful.

In 1060, Pope Nicholas II had sent a delegation to Milan under the direction of Peter Damiani and Anselmo da Baggio, and calm was restored to the city.

After Landolfo's death, his brother Erlembald had stepped in to take his place, and has transferred the movement from one primarily socioreligious to principally military.

The pataria at this moment receive the support of Popes Alexander II and Gregory VII while the Ambrosian see falls into schism and war.

Emperor Henry IV had been forced by the Saxon Rebellion to come to amicable terms with Gregory VII at any cost.

Consequently, in May 1074 he had done penance at Nuremberg—in the presence of the papal legates—to atone for his continued friendship with the members of his council who had been banned by Gregory in the two years since his election.

Taking an oath of obedience, he had promised his support in the work of reforming the Church.

This attitude, however, which had at first won him the confidence of the pope, had been abandoned as soon as he defeated the Saxons at the First Battle of Langensalza on June 9, 1075.

The tension between Empire and Church has culminated in the councils of 1074–75, which constitute a substantial attempt to undo Henry III's policies.

Among other measures, they deny secular rulers the right to place members of the clergy in office; this has dramatic effects in Germany, where bishops are often powerful feudatories who, in this way, are able to free themselves from imperial authority.

In addition to restoring all privileges lost by the ecclesiastics, the council's decision deprives the imperial crown of almost half its lands, with grievous consequences for national unity, especially in peripheral areas like the Kingdom of Italy.

Henry, suddenly hostile to Gregory, does not relent from his positions: after defeating Otto of Nordheim, he continues to interfere in Italian and German episcopal life, naming bishops at his will and declaring papal provisions illegitimate.

Henry now tries to reassert his rights as the sovereign of northern Italy without delay.

He sends Count Eberhard to Lombardy to combat the Patarenes; nominates the cleric Tedaldo to the archbishopric of Milan, thus settling a prolonged and contentious question; and …

Conrad’s rebellion against his father in 1093 has the support of Matilda and her husband, Welf V, along with the Patarene-minded cities of northern Italy (Cremona, …

…Lodi, …

…Piacenza, and …

…Milan).

He was instigated to revolt, according to Ekkehard of Aura, by "one of his father's ministeriales, who was likewise named Conrad".

This is perhaps the same person as the Count Conrad sent by the young king as an envoy to King Roger II of Sicily, according to Geoffrey Malaterra.

Ekkehard otherwise gives positive account of Conrad's motivation, describing him as "a thoroughly catholic man, most devoted to the apostolic see, inclining to religion rather than government or war ... well enough furnished with courage and boldness [yet] preferr[ing] to occupy his time with reading rather than with sports" (Robinson, Ian S. (2000). Henry IV of Germany. New York: Cambridge University Press., p. 288).

Other sources favorable to Conrad include the Annales sancti Disibodi and the Casus monasterii Petrishusensis.

Among sources unfavorable to him are the Annales Augustani and Henry IV's anonymous biography, the Vita Heinrici IV, which describes Conrad as a pawn in hands of Matilda of Tuscany.

Bernold of Sankt Blasien records that Henry was so abject after Conrad's rebellion that he attempted suicide, but this may be a hyperbole allusive to the suicide of the biblical King Saul. (Robinson 2000, p. 288.)

Conrad is captured in mid-March by his father through a ruse, but soon escapes.

Otho de Lagery, named cardinal-bishop of Ostia around 1080 by Pope Gregory VII, has been one of the most prominent and active supporters of the Gregorian reforms, especially as legate in Germany in 1084 and is among the few whom Gregory VII had nominated as papabile (possible successors).

After Desiderous’s short reign as Victor III, Otho had been elected Pope Urban II by acclamation at a small meeting of cardinals and other prelates held in Terracina on March 12, 1088.

He has taken up the policies of Pope Gregory VII, and while pursuing them with determination, shows greater flexibility and diplomatic finesse.

At the outset, he has to reckon with the presence of the powerful antipope Clement III in Rome, but a series of well-attended synods held in Rome, Amalfi, Benevento, and Troia support him in renewed declarations against simony, lay investiture, clerical marriages (partly via the cullagium tax), and in continued opposition to Emperor Henry IV.

In accordance with this last policy, the marriage of the Countess Matilda of Tuscany with Welf, or Guelph, of Bavaria is promoted; Prince Conrad of Italy is assisted in his rebellion against his father and crowned King of the Romans at Milan in late July 1093 by Archbishop Anselm III; and Henry IV's wife, the Empress (Adelaide), is encouraged in her charges of sexual coercion against her husband.

According to the historian Landulf Junior, he is also crowned at Monza, where the Iron Crown is being kept.

After Conrad's coronation, Anselm dies and the new king invests his successor, Arnulf II, on December 6, 1093, although many of the bishops present to celebrate his coronation refuse to attend the simoniacal investiture of Arnulf.

The papal legate who is present, probably to speak with Conrad, immediately declares Arnulf deposed.

The accusation might have been that Arnulf had performed undue service to Conrad to secure his investiture, or that he had been too obeisant, a charge of simony ab obsequio.

Conrad is at the height of his power in 1094, when his father is staying with Margrave Henry and Patriarch Udalric in the March of Verona, unable to enter Italy.

His antipope, Clement III, elected at the Synod of Brixen in 1080, who is traveling with him, even offers to resign so that Henry can negotiate with Pope Urban II if that is all that stands in the way.

A contemporary tract, Altercatio inter Urbanum et Clementum, argues the two popes claims should be adjudicated by a council.

The turmoil of these past several years has disrupted normal political life and made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem, finally captured by the Seljuqs in 1071, difficult and often impossible.

Stories of dangers and molestation reach the West and remain in the popular mind even after conditions have improved.

Further, informed authorities begin to realize that the revived power of the Muslim world now seriously menaces the West as well as East.

It is this realization that stimulates official and organized action.

By the time Alexios had ascended the throne in Constantinople, the Seljuqs had taken most of Asia Minor.

Alexios has been able to secure much of the coastal regions by sending peasant soldiers to raid the Seljuq camps, but these victories have been unable to stop the Turks altogether.

As early as 1090, Alexios had taken reconciliatory measures towards the Papacy, with the intention of seeking western support against the Seljuqs.

In March 1095, his ambassadors appear before Pope Urban II at the Council of Piacenza.

The Eastern Emperor’s appeal appeal for Western aid comes at a time when relations between the Eastern and Western branches of the Christian world are improving.

Difficulties between the two in the middle years of the century had resulted in a de facto, though not formally proclaimed, schism, and ecclesiastical disagreements had been accentuated by Norman occupation of formerly imperial areas in southern Italy.

Robert Guiscard's campaign against the Greek mainland has further embittered the imperial Greeks of Constantinople, and it is only after his death that conditions for a renewal of normal relations between East and West became reasonably favorable.

Envoys of the emperor thus arrive at the Council of Piacenza in 1095 at a propitious moment; and it seems probable that Pope Urban II views military aid as a means toward restoring ecclesiastical unity.

The Pope is impressed by Alexios's appeal for help, which speaks of the suffering of the Christians of the east and hints at a possible union of the eastern and western churches.

Pope Urban was concerned with increasing restlessness of the martial nobility in Western Europe, who, currently deprived of major enemies, are causing chaos throughout the countryside.

Alexios's appeal offers a means not only to redirect the energy of the knights to benefit the Church, but also to consolidate the authority of the Pope over all Christendom and to gain the east for the See of Rome.

Conrad attends the Council of Piacenza and confirms his stepmother Eupraxia's accusations that Henry IV is a member of a Nicolaitan sect, participates in orgies, and had offered Eupraxia to Conrad, stating that this was the reason for his turning against his father.