The Apostle Peter was considered as the first pope of the Catholic Church, but there was no formal process of selection for his successor after his death in the first century. According to tradition, Peter himself appointed his successors. This continued until the third century when Fabian was “elected” as pope after the people witnessed a dove settle on his head. They took this event as a sign that the Holy Spirit favored him, so he was chosen as the pope to succeed the deceased Anterus. This eventually led to the Great Decline of Papacy in 963 AD as recorded on the Bible Timeline Chart with World History.
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Senior priests continued to elect popes thereafter, but the path to succession became complicated during the Medieval Period as some papal candidates, and secular rulers used the election and the position to grab power for themselves. The line between the state and the church was blurred when Pope Gregory the Great became the sole ruler of Rome. This was after the city was abandoned by the Eastern Roman rulers during the invasion of the Lombards. Since then, the pope became the ruler of the city. The papacy then became a much-coveted position when its prominence and power increased.
The Saeculum Obscurum
A new kind of power emerged during the last years of the ninth century up until the middle of the tenth century when the family of Theophylact, the Count of Tusculum, rose to prominence. This period (904 to 963 AD) would be known as Saeculum Obscurum (Latin for ‘the dark age’)—a time when corruption, murder, and lust dominated the papacy. It was also the time of the papacy’s great decline. This followed the domination of the powerful and notorious Roman women of the same family. Namely the Count of Tusculum’s wife Theodora, and her daughters, Marozia and Theodora, which led to the period’s nickname: pornocracy.
“The family tree of Theophylact.”
This started with the rise of Theophylact I, Count of Tusculum, who first appeared in the deposition of Antipope Christopher in 904 (it was also rumored that Theophylact was involved in the murder of Christopher while he was imprisoned). Together with Alberic I, and the Duke of Spoleto, Theophylact supported the election of Sergius III to succeed Christopher. With Sergius III under their thumbs, Theophylact and Theodora began to appoint themselves the rulers of Rome.
Sergius III was a staunch supporter of his predecessor, Pope Stephen VI. He was one of the bishops who took part in the infamous Cadaver Synod that Stephen assembled in 897 AD against his enemy, Pope Formosus. Stephen was later killed by the angry supporters of Formosus. Sergius reinforced the decrees of the said synod when he acceded as pope in 904 AD. Sergius’ notoriety did not stop there as according to Bishop Liutprand of Cremona, he took Theodora’s daughter Marozia as his mistress and fathered Pope John XI. The Frankish chronicler Flodoard contradicted this with a claim that Marozia’s husband Alberic I of Spoleto fathered John.
All of the eleven popes who succeeded Sergius were either supported by or were members of Marozia’s family. The Popes John XI and John XII were direct descendants of the powerful family. Although their direct domination ended in 963 AD, they would continue to produce five more popes who became powerful until the eleventh century (namely Popes Benedict VII, John XIII, Benedict VIII, John XIX, and Benedict IX). The reign of the eleven popes who succeeded Sergius were brief and unremarkable because of the domination of Marozia’s corrupt son, Alberic II, who proclaimed himself the Prince of the Romans.
The last pope of the Saeculum Obscurum, John XII, was the son of Alberic II. This pope rose at the same time as the German king, Otto I. It seemed that the apple did fall far from the tree, as papal historians consider him as a corrupt and an inept ruler who reportedly kept women at the Lateran Palace. Rumors of his immorality and his disloyalty to Otto I led to his deposition, as well as death in 963 AD under mysterious circumstances.
References:
Mann, Horace K. The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages: The Popes in the Days of Feudal Anarchy. Vol. IV. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, &, 1910.
Partner, Peter. The Lands of St. Peter; The Papal State in the Middle Ages and the Early Renaissance. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1972.
Ullmann, Walter. A Short History of the Papacy in the Middle Ages. London: Methuen, 1972.
The Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII (Porphyrogenitus) was the son of Leo VI Sophos (the Wise) by his fourth wife, Zoe Karbonopsina. Because of some strange religious rule that only the Patriarch Nicholas Mystikos knew, the thrice-widowed Leo and his mistress Zoe were forbidden to marry. The emperor was eager to have a legitimate heir (his previous marriages did not produce any), so he had Zoe moved to the “purple room”—a room with porphyry walls where empresses usually delivered imperial children—before the delivery. He named the infant Constantine after the great Roman leader. Both acts were not-so-subtle attempts to force the imperial court’s assent to his son’s legitimacy (the attempts worked). In addition, the couple defied Nicholas Mystikos several months later when they married with great pomp in Constantinople and deposed the patriarch to get him out of their way. Constantine VII is recorded on the Bible Timeline with World History during 905 AD.
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Constantine VII ruled from 913 until 959 AD, but he spent many of these years under the shadow of his powerful father-in-law and co-emperor Romanos Lecapenus. Leo died in 912 AD, and Leo’s brother, as well as co-emperor Alexander, acceded to the throne as Constantine was just seven years old. Alexander spent much of his reign fighting the powerful Bulgar Khan Simeon, but he suddenly died of a stroke while he was in the middle of the preparations against the Bulgars. Alexander named his young nephew, Constantine VII, his heir before his death and established a council of regents headed by the deposed Nicholas Mystikos.
“Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos crowned by Christ, ivory, ca. 945”
Simeon took the moment to invade a number of Byzantine cities, and eventually came knocking at the gates of Constantinople itself. The reinstated Patriarch Nicholas Mystikos had a dilemma as he needed to support a child he denied legitimacy to some years before, but at the same time, he wanted to put up a united front against a common enemy. Nicholas’ solution was to offer the young Constantine in marriage to Simeon’s daughter in order to unite the two empires. He also took a page from Pope Leo III’s playbook and offered to crown Simeon as the Emperor of the Bulgarians which would elevate him as Constantine’s equal.
His plan outraged Zoe, so she had the patriarch removed from the palace and took up the regency for her son. Zoe also had the peace treaty Nicholas made with Simeon canceled, but this turned out to be a fatal mistake as the Bulgar Khan soon attacked Byzantines cities after his humiliation. In 917, Zoe assigned the general Leo Phokas (also rumored to be her lover) as commander of the troops who would go up against the Bulgars in a battlefield called the Plain of Diabasis. The Byzantine soldiers led by Leo Phokas were soundly defeated in this battle. Reinforcements from the naval commander Romanos Lecapenus did not arrive after news of the Byzantine defeat reached him while his fleet was at the Black Sea. Leo Phokas barely made it out of the battle alive. He attempted to fight the Bulgars again near Constantinople but the second fight ended in another disaster that virtually ended his career.
Leo Phokas’ failure did not bode well for him or the Empress, and when Romanos Lecapenus reached Constantinople, he ordered both to be banished from the palace. He, however, allowed the young Constantine to stay on as emperor and announced himself as the boy’s regent. Phokas retired to Chrysopolis in 919 AD, while the disgraced Zoe entered a nunnery. Romanos Lecapenus also took advantage of the situation to further legitimize his rule and arranged the marriage of Constantine VII to his daughter Elena. The persistent Nicholas Mystikos saw this as an opportunity to make another comeback, so he crowned Romanos as Constantine’s co-emperor. Romanos held the reins of power even after Constantine came of age, and even appointed his two sons and another grandson as co-emperors.
Constantine grew up in the shadow of the Lecapenus family for so long that he turned out to be an amiable but passive man. This was tempered by his wife’s ambitious personality. In 944, her brothers got tired of waiting for their 74-year-old father Romanos Lecapenus to die, so they arranged for him to be kidnapped and shipped off to a monastery where he died three years later. But there was another person who was also tired of waiting: Elena, Constantine’s wife. When her brothers came back to the city, she invited them to dinner but had them arrested as they sat down to eat. She had them shipped off to a far off monastery on an island. With the path to the throne now clear for her husband, Constantine VII started his solo rule.
Constantine was known as an intellectual who wrote several books about administration during his reign. Perhaps his temperament was better suited for a scholarly life as he had no major military accomplishments during his solo reign. One of the most significant events that happened during his reign was the conversion of the Kievan Rus warrior-queen Olga to Christianity during her state visit to Constantinople. She was later acclaimed as a saint and worked to spread Christianity among the Rus tribes.
Constantine VII was succeeded by his son Romanos II when he died on November 9, 959 AD.
Empress Theodora, the wife of the Byzantine Emperor Theophilos, secretly venerated icons even when she was married to a resolute iconoclast. Just like her female relatives, she kept icons inside her room. Her secret was revealed when a dwarf court jester named Denderis wandered into her room one night. Theodora had brought out her icons, and Denderis asked her what it was after he saw her kissing one. The empress replied that it was only a doll, and when dinner came, Theophilos asked Denderis where he went. The court jester answered that he just came from Theodora’s room and remarked that he saw the empress kissing a doll. It did not take long for Theophilos to realize that what the court jester saw was an icon. He stormed into Theodora’s room and asked for an explanation, but the empress only repeated what she said to Denderis. The emperor readily believed her or he just let the matter pass, and Theodora had the dwarf punished and threatened the next day. The definite decision for worship or veneration of images is recorded on the Bible Timeline Chart with World History at 842 AD.
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Theophilos died of dysentery on the 20th of January, 842 AD and as her son Michael III was just an infant. Theodora became the regent along with her uncle the Chief Magister Manuel and the Logothete of the Course Theoktistos. A year after Theophilos’ death, Theodora assembled a council to make a decision on the most important issue at that time: the controversial and unpopular imperial policy of iconoclasm. Her advisers told her that the restoration of the worship of idols was the only way to secure her son’s succession to the Byzantine throne. This was not an easy decision for her as there was a big chance for her husband to be anathematized in this council.
The council, which was presided by the prominent court spiritual adviser Methodius, assembled in March, 843 AD. The council deposed Patriarch John (who was then replaced by Methodius as Patriarch of Constantinople) while leading iconoclastic personalities were anathematized. Iconoclastic bishops and clergy were kicked out of their offices, and they were only allowed to remain if they repented in public. The deceased emperor Theophilos was the only exception thanks to Theodora’s earlier condition that he be exempted from condemnation. The empress later claimed that her husband repented in his deathbed. The veneration of pictures of icons was once again made legal starting in 843 AD. This legitimization did not cover sculptures that represented God, Jesus, and other saints.
References:
Picture By anonimus – [1], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4525711
Bury, J.B. A History of the Eastern Roman Empire: From the Fall of Irene to the Accession of Basil I (A.D. 802-867). London: Macmillan and, Limited, 1912.
Scylitzes, John. A Synopsis of Byzantine History, 811-1057. Translated by John Wortley. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
Shepard, Jonathan, ed. The Cambridge History of the Byzantine Empire. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Only a few women reached the zenith of power in the male-dominated world of the Byzantines. One of them was the 9th century Empress Theodora. She was a native of Paphlagonia near the coast of the Black Sea and a daughter of a military officer who came from a wealthy family. She married the Byzantine Basileus and Augustus Theophilos not long after his accession as co-emperor to his father Emperor Michael II. Empress Theodora and her son, Emperor Michael III are recorded on the Bible Timeline Poster with World History at 820 AD.
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One story dominated Theodora’s rise as Theophilos’ wife and empress of the Byzantines. She was certainly part of the bride-show organized by Theophilos’ mother Thekla or his stepmother Euphrosyne. But Theodora’s rise as Theophilos’ wife was only a postscript in the legendary contest of wits between the Byzantine intellectual Kassiani and Theophilos.
The star of this tale, Kassia, took part in the bride show at the same time as Theodora. She caught the eye of Theophilos immediately, but he told her that, “A woman was all fount and source of man’s tribulations” (he referred to Eve and the original sin.) To which the intelligent Kassia replied, “And from a woman sprang the course of man’s regeneration” (she referred to Mary’s birth of Jesus). Theophilos, taken aback by the rebuttal, rejected Kassia and chose Theodora as his wife instead.
“The Empress Theodora at the Colosseum”
Another less popular tale about Theophilos and Theodora’s marriage was that during the bride show, the future emperor gave out golden apples to the candidates and told them to come back to the palace the day after. Theodora was the only one who brought back the golden apple among the candidates and Theophilos handed her another golden apple as a sign that he had chosen her as his bride.
Her husband was known to be a capable and intelligent administrator after he spent eight years as Michael the Amorion’s co-emperor. His reign, although considered lackluster, brought relative stability to the empire. He then became a popular ruler because of his sense of justice. Before Michael III was born, the couple had four daughters and a son named Constantine. Theophilos elevated the boy to Augustus at a young age, but Constantine did not live long enough to succeed his father, so Theophilos appointed his son-in-law Alexios (husband of his daughter Maria) as Caesar. But Maria died soon after, and Alexios retired to a monastery following his wife’s death. Another son, Michael III, was born some time later.
Theophilos died of dysentery on January 20, 842 AD, but not before he secured Michael’s succession by ordering the death of a usurper, and appointing Manuel (Theodora’s uncle and Byzantine chief magister) and Theoktistos (Logothene of the Court) as regents for his son. As she was Michael’s mother, Theodora became her son’s automatic regent upon the death of Theophilos.
One of her first acts as empress was to convoke a synod that restored the veneration of icons and reinforced the decrees of the Second Council of Nicaea. The empire was relatively stable under Theodora, but her power was greatly hampered by her co-regents Manuel and Theoktistos. When Michael reached seventeen, Theodora decided it was time for her son to marry, so she assembled a bride show and chose a noblewoman named Eudokia Dekapolitissa as his wife. In truth, the mother was eager for her son to marry because she wanted to prevent him from marrying his long-time mistress, Eudokia Ingerina. Michael went on to marry Eudokia Dekapolitissa, and she was proclaimed as the Byzantine empress, but the emperor abandoned her almost immediately to go back to Eudokia Ingerina.
Michael turned eighteen in 856 AD, and two of his mother’s brothers, Bardas and Petronas, had risen to prominence at that time. In the same year, Bardas concocted a plot to get rid of Theodora so that Michael could rule alone, so the boy and his uncle conspired to get rid of the Empress’ most important ally, Theoktistos, who they had ordered stabbed. Theodora was now without an ally, and since the Senate had decreed that Michael was now of the right age to rule alone, she grudgingly handed the reins of power to her son.
Michael III
Theodora stayed in the palace for two more years, but during these years Michael never stopped hounding her to retire to a monastery. Michael first tried to coerce the Patriarch of Constantinople Ignatius to convince Theodora and his sisters to commit themselves to a monastery, but the patriarch refused—an act that resulted in his deposition and exile. The deposition of Ignatius and Michael’s choice of Photius as his successor resulted in the controversial Photian Schism which further severed Byzantine ties with the Pope. He finally succeeded in forcing his mother and his sisters to retire to a nunnery some time later and ruled with his uncle afterward.
Michael proclaimed Bardas as Caesar and next in line to the throne after Theodora retired. Bardas, for the most part, was a capable administrator who took on the reins of governing the empire when the pleasure-seeking Michael was busy elsewhere. Bardas was credited with a significant victory against the Saracens in 863 AD, as well as the conversion of Bulgarians to Christianity; the young emperor, meanwhile, sunk lower into the dissolute lifestyle and became known to drink too much that he later earned nicknamed ‘the Sot.’ He was known to be extravagant and frequently used public funds for personal expenses, but his greatest past time apart from drinking was horse racing. And this was where he met his future co-emperor Basil I the Macedonian.
The Rise of Basil the Macedonian
Basil was born around 812 AD from a poor Armenian family who lived in Adrianople during the height of Krum the Bulgar’s incursion into Byzantine territory. His family was settled in the Macedonian part of Krum’s territory which was why he was nicknamed as ‘the Macedonian.’ He escaped from Macedonia at the age of 25 and eventually found himself in Constantinople where he served as a groom for a man named Theophilitzes. It seemed Basil was a superbly talented horse whisperer or simply lucky as he found another benefactor, a rich woman named Danelis, who supported the groom and gave him some of her wealth.
Some time later, Michael received an untamed horse as a gift and Theophilitzes suggested for the emperor to summon his talented groom Basil to deal with the horse. Basil successfully tamed the horse which impressed Michael so much that the former groom was promoted to captain of the palace’s foreign guards as a reward. He soon became a strator, then a prostator, and finally rose to High Chamberlain when Bardas’ chamberlain was deposed.
Michael’s Crowded Domestic Arrangement
Meanwhile, Michael and Eudokia Ingerina still continued their relationship even when the emperor was still married to Eudokia Dekapolitissa. This complicated arrangement did not sit well with the conservative people of Constantinople, the noblemen, and the patriarchs. So Michael concocted a strange domestic arrangement to cover up his liaison. Since he and Basil were close friends, he had the former groom marry Eudokia Ingerina, but they still continued to see each other even after Basil and his mistress were married. To satisfy Basil, he summoned one of his sisters, Thekla, out of a nunnery to serve as Basil’s mistress. Meanwhile, Eudokia Ingerina gave birth to two sons that Basil acknowledged as his but many in Constantinople suspected as Michael’s.
The Fall of Bardas
Bardas’ importance and influence had diminished by this time, and Basil, eager to get rid of rivals, ordered him stabbed as they prepared for a war against the Saracens in Crete in 866 AD. With his uncle dead, Michael elevated Basil as Basileus and Augustus on May 26 of the same year, but this clever arrangement and their joint rule unraveled one year later because of Michael’s own impulsiveness.
Death of Michael III
In September, 867 AD, Michael dined with Basil, Eudokia Ingerina, and a patrician named Basiliskianos after a horse race. Basiliskianos showered Michael with compliments, so the emperor ordered their guest to remove the imperial boots from his feet and wear them. The patrician hesitated and looked to Basil for permission as this might offend him; Basil discreetly signed for Basiliskianos to decline but this did not escape Michael’s notice, and he berated both men for this. Michael then remarked to his guests that he could easily remove Basil from his position; Basil was enraged and proceeded to plot against the emperor.
On the 24th of September, Michael retired to his room after a night of heavy drinking, and Basil took advantage of this to have him murdered. Emperor Michael III was buried in a monastery in Chrysopolis, and he was mourned by his mother and sisters who outlived him.
References:
Picture By Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant – Art Renewal Center Museum, image 7554., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1848404
Bradbury, Jim. The Routledge Companion to Medieval Warfare. London: Routledge, 2004.
Bury, J.B. A History of the Eastern Roman Empire: From the Fall of Irene to the Accession of Basil I (A.D. 802-867). London: Macmillan and, Limited, 1912.
Scylitzes, John. A Synopsis of Byzantine History, 811-1057. Translated by John Wortley. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
Shepard, Jonathan, ed. The Cambridge History of the Byzantine Empire. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Leo V, also nicknamed as ‘the Armenian’ because of his ancestry, ruled as the Byzantine emperor from 813 to 820 AD. He is recorded on the Biblical Timeline with World History between 787 – 820 AD. The young Leo was born as a commoner and even grew up poor as well as illiterate in a military camp. His skills as a soldier did not go unnoticed by the Byzantine Emperor Michael I Rangabe. He later served as the second-in-command of the Anatolikon theme. Michael later promoted him to the rank of patrician. Later, he served as a high-ranking officer of the rebel Bardanes, alongside Thomas the Slav (Cappadocian) and Michael the Amorian (Phyrigian).
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A monk foretold his succession as Byzantine emperor during the last days of his predecessor, Michael I Rangabe. Michael was later ousted. He and his sons suffered the tragic fate of castration and exile which Leo himself led. It was said that Leo was initially unwilling to take on the role as emperor. His colleague, Michael the Amorian, threatened him with death if he did not enter Constantinople as emperor. He later rewarded Michael’s loyalty with promotion and wealth, while Thomas the Slav became the colonel of the foederati corps.
War with the Bulgars
“Proclamation of Leo as emperor”
The Bulgars who established their empire in the northwestern frontier were Byzantium’s longtime enemies and sometimes allies. The relationship between the two empires was not good during the time of Leo V. He inherited the conflict from the emperors who came before him. His first test against this formidable enemy was in 813 AD right after he was crowned as emperor. Krum, the Bulgar khan, decided to attack in the same year. So he sent his brother to besiege Adrianople while he and his troops continued on to Constantinople. He sacrificed men and animals outside the city, and proceeded to attack the neighborhood. These antics failed to impress nor horrify the inhabitants inside. Krum then offered to negotiate for peace in exchange for booty, but Leo saw this as the perfect opportunity to assassinate the khan.
Leo agreed to the negotiation the khan proposed and prepared a place near the shore where assassins were already positioned. The next day, Leo, Krum, and their men went down to the shore. Just as the negotiations started, Leo’s official sent the signal to the assassins to kill the khan. They succeeded in wounding him and killing his treasurer. He escaped and swore to avenge this treachery. The next day, the Bulgars attacked the suburbs around Constantinople and destroyed everything and everyone in their path. The khan also resettled the citizens of some Byzantine towns in his own territories to remind them of the emperor’s treachery.
The emperor had no choice but to negotiate for peace but Krum only rebuffed his effort. Leo decided to lead the attack against the Bulgars himself. The Byzantines won the first round, but when news that the Bulgars no longer had food reached him, Leo took advantage of the situation and led an ambush against them. Both the Bulgars and the Byzantines thought that Leo had abandoned his men, so the enemies thought that it would be a good time to attack the camp. They were thoroughly mistaken as the Byzantines annihilated them. Many Bulgar soldiers were imprisoned by the Byzantines, while Krum was temporarily humbled after this episode.
Revival of Iconoclasm
The monk Philomelion foretold Leo’s accession as emperor which was an event that he apparently never forgot. The emperor sent gifts to the monk to express his gratitude but Philomelion was dead by then. Another monk named Sabbatios had replaced him. When Leo’s representative arrived, he only saw Sabbatios who then took advantage of the opportunity to further the iconoclastic cause. The monk told Leo’s representative that the emperor was not worthy of his position because he venerated idols and warned him that the emperor would not stay in his position for long if he continued this.
This prophecy deeply troubled Leo. He confided to an officer named Theodotos Melissenos about this issue. The cunning Theodotos then told the emperor to consult a monk in Dagisthe about this matter. In truth, Theodotos had already contacted the monk and coached him to tell Leo the same things Sabbatios told the emperor’s representative. Through Theodotos, the monk in Dagisthe already knew that it was the emperor who approached him even though he was dressed like a commoner. He showed off his “prophetic gifts” to impress Leo. The emperor, apparently impressed with the monk’s “power” to know who he was even under disguise, followed the monk’s iconoclastic advise.
Leo V took a page from Leo III the Isaurian’s book and revived the harsh iconoclastic policy previously reversed (or toned-down) in the Second Council of Nicaea. His policy received mixed reactions from the Byzantines but the Patriarch Nicephorus refused to follow Leo’s command. He was exiled to the Marmara Island (Prokonessos). Leo replaced the deposed patriarch with the layman Theodotos Melissenos (Kassiteros) who then proclaimed those who venerated icons as heretics.
Fall of Leo V
Theophanes, the principal historian of this period in the Byzantine empire, did not have a positive view of Leo V. He described the emperor as increasingly cruel as the years passed. His zeal for iconoclasm and his fear of losing his throne led him to be extreme in his punishment of dissenters. Icon worshippers that his good administration and the stability of the empire he brought about during his reign were largely forgotten.
The last years of his reign were marred with the rebellion of his long-time friend and former kingmaker, Michael the Amorion. Leo had Michael tried on Christmas Day, 820. The man was sentenced to death by fire. Just as Michael the Amorion was being led to a furnace, Leo’s wife, the empress Theodosia, plead for him to postpone the execution as it was Christmas Day. Leo followed his wife and granted Michael a reprieve. This proved to be a fatal mistake as Michael later had the emperor assassinated as he attended a matins service. Michael had his assassins, who were disguised as monks, secure the church so that no one could get in and help Leo nor could he get out when they attacked. Leo fought them before they could successfully yet brutally kill him.
References:
Picture By from the Middle Ages, unknown – en:Madrid Skylitzes, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15203759
Bradbury, Jim. The Routledge Companion to Medieval Warfare. London: Routledge, 2004.
Bury, J.B. A History of the Eastern Roman Empire: From the Fall of Irene to the Accession of Basil I (A.D. 802-867). London: Macmillan and, Limited, 1912.
Scylitzes, John. A Synopsis of Byzantine History, 811-1057. Translated by John Wortley. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
Shepard, Jonathan, ed. The Cambridge History of the Byzantine Empire. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
One of the Byzantine Emperor Leo III the Isaurian’s lasting legacies was his imperial policy of iconoclasm or the rejection and destruction of religious icons—a policy that became so controversial it later earned him a threat of excommunication from the Pope and some violent riots in Byzantine cities. This was later restored by the Second Council of Nicaea during 787 AD according to the Bible Timeline with World History.
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Emperor Leo III instituted iconoclasm because of three primary reasons:
He was familiar with the second commandment laid out in the Old Testament which forbade the worship of images. Perhaps he was also influenced by Islam’s prohibition of the worship of images since he grew up in a region with a sizable Muslim population.
The inhabitants of Constantinople credited the Virgin Mary (or particularly, her icon) as the one who helped repel the Arabs during the Siege of Constantinople.
Leo took the earthquake that occurred near the island of Thera as a sign that God was angry with him and his people for their worship of icons, so he commanded his soldiers to remove the icons in his domain.
“Map of the Byzantine Empire with its themes ca. 717”
The Second Council of Nicaea
His son and successor, Constantine V, followed in his father’s footsteps and punished those who continued to worship icons. When Constantine died, his last wife and empress consort Irene of Athens stepped in to served as regent for her young stepson Leo IV. Constantinople still seethed from the iconoclastic controversy during her reign. In 786 she assembled a council in the city to settle the argument once and for all. But then a group of iconoclastic soldiers broke the council up, so she was forced to assemble the meeting in 787 in the city of Nicaea.
Up to 300 bishops and high-ranking clergymen attended the Second Council of Nicaea (the Pope sent his own representatives or legates). They met in eight sessions for more than one month. The council clearly drew the line between what was allowed and what was not when dealing with religious images. Pictorial representations of God, Jesus, the Virgin, and saints were allowed. However, these images should only be venerated, not honored with adoration, which was reserved only for God. The council also condemned the iconoclasts and issued twenty-two canons which the Frankish Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne rejected (he then convoked his own Synod of Frankfurt in 794). The Byzantine emperors who succeeded Irene continued the policy of iconoclasm despite the ruling of the Second Council of Nicaea.
Pope Nicholas, I was the son of a Roman citizen named Theodore, a regionarius (cleric or lay official responsible for the administration of a certain region in the city) of Rome. He is recorded on the Biblical Timeline Chart with World History at 858 AD. Just like his father, the young Nicholas developed a deep love for learning. The people who surrounded him knew that the boy was destined for great things. The boy’s brilliance did not escape the notice of Pope Sergius II who brought him to the Lateran Palace and appointed him as sub-deacon when he came of age. Pope Leo IV then promoted him to the position of deacon, but he was especially close to Pope Benedict III and became influential during his papacy. Nicholas, I was elected as Benedict’s successor when the pope died on April 17, 858 AD.
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Nicholas’ election was unanimous, but it seemed that he was neither ready nor willing to accept the position. He fled to St. Peter’s when his election was announced. He had to be taken back to the Lateran Palace so he could accept his election as pope. He was consecrated later on April 24, 858. The Carolingian emperor Louis II, Frankish noblemen, Italian aristocracy, and Roman citizens all attended his consecration. Nicholas was later crowned when they reached the Lateran Palace. Louis II supported his election, and both men parted on good terms after the celebration of his consecration.
Photian Schism
The issue of the Photian Schism in Constantinople dominated Nicholas’ reign as pope. However, it would be resolved only after his death. The relationship between the Eastern and Western churches had broken down since the fall of Italy to the Ostrogoths and the Lombards. This particular schism further drove a wedge between the two churches. Some of the factors in the breakdown of their relationship included the differences in languages used (the East used Greek in liturgy while the West used Latin), their disdain for each other (the East thought that the West’s Romanness had been diluted since the domination of the Ostrogoths and the Lombards. While the West thought the Eastern patriarchs were too much under the emperor’s thumb), and the controversial iconoclasm issue that dominated since the time of Emperor Leo III. The Italians also resented the fact that Constantinople shrank their dominion when they wrested Sicily and other papal lands after the fall of the Roman Empire.
“Pope Saint Nicholas I”
The Photian Schism was primarily a political issue which evolved into a religious spat. It involved the Byzantine emperor Michael III, Patriarch Photius (the East’s equivalent of an antipope), and Pope Nicholas I. It all started when Michael III’s father, the Emperor Theophilos, died in 842 AD at the age of 28. His widow, Empress Theodora, served as the young Michael III’s regent. She appointed her brother Bardas as co-ruler while a distant relative named Photius served as their secretary.
The root of the issue pointed to Bardas when he left his wife to live with his widowed daughter-in-law. Their relationship was not a secret to the citizens of Constantinople, including the Patriarch Ignatius who, upon learning of Bardas’ domestic issues, refused to let him take part in the Holy Communion during the Epiphany of 857 AD. Bardas became so enraged with the rejection that he plotted for years to have Ignatius removed from his role as patriarch. His opportunity finally came when his young nephew, Michael III, came of age. Michael, though married to Eudokia Dekapolitissa, had a relationship with another woman that his mother and the Patriarch Ignatius disapproved of. Bardas convinced the prince to get rid of their mutual enemies. To do away with his mother, Michael told the Patriarch Ignatius to order Theodora’s transfer to a convent where she would stay for the rest of her life. But Ignatius refused his order—an act which angered Michael and played into the hands of Bardas.
The pair finally succeeded in sending Theodora (as well as Michael’s sisters) into a convent in September, 857 AD. They brought up false charges against the Patriarch Ignatius who was then banished to the Prince Island on the 23rd of November in the same year. Bardas and Michael chose the layman and secretary Photius as Constantinople’s new Patriarch while they continued to convince Ignatius to sign his abdication. Although he consistently refused to sign his abdication, Photius had already been announced as patriarch on December 25, 857 AD.
Photius knew that his hold on the patriarchate was very weak as he only had Michael and Bardas as primary supporters. In a bid to legitimize his rule, he sent a letter to Nicholas I and requested the pope’s confirmation of his appointment. His envoys carried the letter to Rome. Although he left out Michael’s plot in ousting Ignatius, the Pope was not an idiot as it did not take long for him to figure out the charges against the former patriarch were all trumped up. The Pope sent the bishops of Porto and Anagni as papal legates (envoys) to Constantinople to investigate. He sent them two letters, one of which was addressed to Photius and the other was to the emperor Michael III. In his letter, he expressed his dismay to Photius for allowing himself to be appointed as a patriarch when he was just a layman before that and Nicholas regretted that he could not confirm his appointment.
The second letter was addressed to Michael III. In this letter, the Pope expressed his dismay that as the head of the church, he was not consulted during the deposition of Ignatius. Nicholas also reiterated his refusal to confirm Photius’ appointment. He ended the letter with an exhortation to Michael to restore Ignatius as patriarch (or at least, his patriarchal rights over Illyricum and Sicily). Displeased with Nicholas’ rejection, Michael and Photius threatened the two legates and had them imprisoned. They resisted for some time until Michael decided to bribe them. They sided with Photius thereafter.
The emperor and his accomplices convened a council on May, 861 AD at the Church of the Holy Apostles to legitimize the consecration of Photius. Michael, Photius, Ignatius, Nicholas’ legates, some bishops, and Byzantine senators attended this sham synod. They proceeded to put Ignatius on trial on false charges and announced his deposition. Ignatius told them that only the pope had the power to remove him from the office. He insisted on traveling to Rome to face the pope, but this protest was also ignored. In an attempt to lend legitimacy to the synod, Photius read an altered version of the pope’s letter and issued twenty-seven canons. They returned Ignatius to prison, while the legates returned to Nicholas with a sugarcoated version of the events in Constantinople. Photius also sent a letter to the pope telling him that he did not want the position of the patriarch in the first place, but he had no choice but to accept and proceeded to justify his acceptance of it. He also shredded Ignatius’ reputation in the letter.
It did not take long for the Pope to find out the truth. He publicly admonished the errant legates in a council in Rome in 862 AD. Sometime in spring of 862, Nicholas once again sent Michael, Photius, and the bishops of the Eastern churches a letter and admonished them in their roles in the controversy. Ignatius also sent the pope a letter and implored him to investigate the events in Constantinople. The beleaguered former patriarch still clung to his position around this time and consistently refused to sign his abdication.
Pope Nicholas assembled a council in the Lateran Palace in 863 to resolve the issue once and for all. The council agreed to deprive Photius of his priestly rights and threatened him with excommunication if he persisted in his claim as Patriarch of Constantinople. The council also issued the deposition and excommunication of the papal legates, the bishops of Porto and Anagni, for their part in the plot. Finally, they reinstated Ignatius as Patriarch of Constantinople—something that Photius, Michael, and Bardas only ignored when they learned of the council’s decrees.
When Nicholas heard that the trio ignored the council’s orders, he wrote another letter of admonishment to Michael and told him to refrain from interfering in church matters. The pope also summoned both Ignatius and Photius (as well as their supporters) to Rome. Around this time, Michael had his uncle Bardas killed and replaced him with his Macedonian groom Basil as co-emperor. Basil was crowned by no other than Photius himself.
Around 866, the frail Nicholas once again sent a letter to the East with another appeal to reinstate Ignatius. His letter never arrived in Constantinople after Byzantine imperial officers harassed his envoys when they tried to cross the border. They tried to get the papal envoys to sign a declaration of faith which listed the heresies of the West. The pope’s representatives refused and promptly turned back to Rome.
Photius later issued an encyclical against Rome in 867 AD, where he listed the East’s grievances against the West and discredited the West’s teachings as heresies. He then sent this encyclical to the bishops of the East and held another fake synod, wherein the contents of encyclical were confirmed by signatures of the bishops and by Emperor Michael (the signatures were forged, and Michael was said to be drunk when he signed the document). The synod also issued their own excommunication of Pope Nicholas. They sent the document to the most powerful ruler of the west at that time, Emperor Louis II, for additional recognition. Gifts accompanied this letter, but Michael’s envoys never reached the Frankish ruler. Constantinople had changed hands once again when Basil had his dissolute Michael III murdered on September, 24, 867. He also had Photius exiled in the same year. Nicholas did not live to see the end of this issue as he also died on November 13, 867 AD.
References:
Douglas, J. D., and Earle E. Cairns, eds. The New International Dictionary of the Christian Church. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Pub., 1974.
Mann, Horace K. The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages: The Popes During the Carolingian Empire. II ed. Vol. III. London: K. Paul, Trench, Tru虉bner, &, 1925.
Noble, Thomas F. X., and Julia M.H. Smith, eds. The Cambridge History of Christianity. Early Medieval Christianities, C. 600 – C. 1100. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2008.
The Holy Roman Emperor Otto I was the first monarch to appoint a pope after the rebellious John XII fled Rome with his ally, Adalbert. When he acceded the throne, Otto II continued his father’s policy of hand-picking a pope’s successor. However, his reign was cut short when he died while campaigning in southern Italy against the Byzantines. He left the throne to his three-year-old son, Otto III. He was then kidnapped by his father’s relative and longtime nemesis, the aptly-named Henry the Quarrelsome, Duke of Bavaria to keep him from being proclaimed as Holy Roman Emperor. Henry took advantage of the absence of the child’s mother, Theophanu, who had traveled to Italy to attend to her husband’s burial. These events led to the rise of Gregory V between 996 – 999 AD according to the Bible Timeline Chart with World History.
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The Duke kept the child away from his family, but the road to the domination of Germany was a rocky path for Henry. He lacked all the necessary backers for his cause. Finally, Lothair IV of Western Francia negotiated with Henry for the child to be returned to his mother. To which Henry agreed after he saw that he would never amass enough supporters from the German nobility. Otto III grew up with his mother Theophanu who served as his first coregent until her death and then by his grandmother Adelaide until he reached 14 years old.
Fresh from his victory over the Slavs, Otto III marched into Italy in 996 AD to crush the rebellion led by Antipope Boniface VII and his allies Crescentius the Elder, Crescentius II, and John Crescentius. They had deposed Pope John XIV, and Boniface VII took over the throne; when he died, the usurper Crescentius II chose John XV as the next pope. When Otto III reached Ravenna, the nobles of Northern Italy agreed to accept and proclaim him as their king. This made Northern Italy (including the territories of the Lombards) a part of Germany. He appointed his cousin, the 24-year old chaplain Bruno, as the new pope after the death of John XV in the same year. The new pope adopted the name Gregory V and started to rule in Rome in 996 AD.
Pope Gregory V
Gregory V
Bruno (Gregory V) was the son of Otto I, the Duke of Carinthia and Marquis of Verona, by his wife, Judith. He was also a grandson of Liutgarde of Saxony, the daughter of Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, which made the young pope a cousin of Otto III. His consecration as pope on the 3rd of May, 996 AD was welcomed by the Italians. Papal biographers described him as rich, handsome, and educated. The young pope was also described as eloquent and fluent in Latin, Italian, and German. Pope Gregory was considered to be the first German pope, and in return for his appointment as Bishop of Rome, Gregory crowned the 16-year old Otto III as the new Holy Roman Emperor in front of the Roman nobility.
Gregory V granted privileges to monasteries during his first few days as pope. On the 25th of May, he held a synod in Rome to settle some issues within the church and reinstated Arnulf to the See of Rheims in France. The synod also issued the deposition of Gerbert of Aurillac (the future Pope Sylvester) from the See of Rheims. Gregory V personally consecrated Herluin as the Bishop of Cambria after the conflict between Gerbert and Arnulf stood in the way of his consecration. Gregory V also issued a decree (papal bull) that prohibited any noblemen in his empire from interfering with the properties of the See of Cambrai.
Rebellion of Crescentius II
Gregory V and Otto III had the rebel leader Crescentius II summoned to face the synod. Otto wanted to have Crescentius exiled, but Gregory interceded on his behalf to have him pardoned in a bid to show his compassion and goodwill to the Romans. Otto granted his request, but Gregory paid heavily for this act of mercy later on as Crescentius started a plot against them right after his release. Otto left Italy and returned to Germany—an event that the Romans deeply resented because they felt the Emperor had abandoned them. Crescentius cleverly used their resentment to stoke the fires of rebellion.
As months passed by, Gregory’s suspicions that Crescentius was up to no good intensified. So he pleaded for his cousin to come back and help him. But Otto dismissed his cousin’s fears with a letter telling him that he had ordered the Italian noblemen including the Marquis of Tuscany and the Duke of Spoleto and Camerino to support and protect the pope. By 997 AD, Gregory suspicions were confirmed when Crescentius II launched a rebellion. The pope was unable to counter from of his lack of preparation.
Gregory fled to Pavia and pleaded once again for his cousin to send some military aid to Rome. Otto III probably did not realize the importance of the situation, or he was confident that his army would easily crush the rebellion, but he took his time in reaching Rome. It wasn’t until fourteen months that he and his troops arrived outside the city walls in early 998. By then, Crescentius had already appointed Johannes Philagathos as Pope John XVI (considered as an antipope).
Otto’s army must have been formidable as Crescentius fled to Castel Sant’Angelo and Pope John XVI fled from Rome the moment the troops arrived. Although the Romans simmered with resentment, they had no choice but to open the city gates to Otto III and his troops. Gregory came back from Pavia while Otto stayed for two more months in Rome and later had Crescentius executed for his rebellion. He had the antipope John XVI mutilated and paraded down the streets of Rome as punishment for his part in the dissent. Saint Nilus the Younger interceded for the emperor to save John’s life. The antipope was banished instead to a monastery in Fulda where he spent his last days.
Pope Gregory V died mysteriously on the 4th of February, 999 AD and was buried in St. Peter’s Basilica.
The city of Reims in northern France rose to prominence during the Medieval Period when the Frankish king Clovis had himself baptized in the city. Merovingian and Carolingian kings who succeeded Clovis held their coronations in Reims. The city later earned the nickname the ‘City of Coronations.’ Apart from its political legacy, Reims was also important to shaping the ecclesiastical heritage of France after the Synod or Council of Reims was held there in 991 AD. Because of this, the city was considered to be one of the most important cities in Medieval Period after Rome and Milan. The Synod of Reims is recorded on the Biblical Timeline Poster with World History during 991 AD.
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Gerbert (the future Pope Sylvester II) was born from commoner parents in the Auvergne region and educated in the monastery of St. Gerald of Aurillac where he eventually became a monk. His lowly birth did not stop him from rising to prominence as he was renowned as a very smart and politically savvy man. When Count Borrell II of Barcelona visited Aurillac, Gerbert asked to accompany him to Catalonia so he could study there. The Count agreed and upon reaching Spain, Gerbert studied in the monastery of Santa Maria de Ripoll in Catalonia. The scholarly Gerbert took to Catalonia like a duck to water and learned all he could during his stay there.
This was cut short when Count Borrell II took him to Rome on a pilgrimage. It was in the holy city where Gerbert met John XIII and Emperor Otto I. With the help of John XIII, Gerbert became Prince Otto II’s tutor when the emperor summoned him to his court in around 971 and 972 AD. Gerbert was so impressed with Gerannus (the renowned logician and ambassador of the Frankish king Lothair) when he visited Otto I’s court that he requested to come with the envoy to Reims to be his student.
“Arnulf, Archbishop of Reims at the Council of Reim”
Gerbert was promoted as the abbot of Bobbio Abbey in Italy. He left in 984 AD and returned to Reims in the same year where he joined a new mentor, the Archbishop Adalbero. In Reims, he worked with Adalbero to secure the throne of Otto III in Germany and Hugh Capet in France against the last Carolingian king Louis V the Lazy. Gerbert first became a secretary of Emma, Louis’ mother and aunt of Otto III, while his mentor Adalbero served as the queen’s adviser. Louis was never on good terms with his mother. He resented the clergymen’s support of the young Otto III, so he decided to attack Reims but later failed to take it. The humiliated king ordered the destruction of the archbishop’s properties in retaliation. The frightened Adalbero sent Gerbert to Theophanu, mother of Otto III, to ask her for help. Before the conflict could be resolved, Louis V died on the 21st of May, 987 AD.
The childless Louis V was the last of the Carolingians to rule the Franks. Hugh Capet, Duke of the Franks, succeeded him as king on the 3rd of July, 987 AD. Archbishop Adalbero had died before he saw the accession of Hugh Capet. Gerbert expected the new king to appoint him as archbishop in return for his support. Hugh Capet had other plans as he chose Arnulf, the son of the deceased Frankish king Lothair and nephew of Charles of Lorraine, as the Archbishop of Reims. Hugh Capet’s motive was simple: by choosing Arnulf, he sought to divide and weaken the remaining Carolingians by building an alliance with one of their own. He knew that this rejection would sting Gerbert’s feelings, so Hugh offered any position that he wanted except the Archbishopric of Reims.
He stayed on as Arnulf’s secretary, but it seemed Hugh’s strategy backfired as the newly appointed archbishop, as well as his uncle Charles of Lorraine, started to rule Reims without the king’s authorization. Gerbert, for a short period of time, sided with the Carolingians out of fear for his safety or perhaps his wounded feelings over the appointment. However, his conscience did not allow him to play the game for longer as he sided with Hugh once again after some time. Hugh Capet welcomed him back to his court in 990. Together they assembled a council in the city of Senlis to condemn “those who betrayed Laon and Reims.” Gerbert also wrote to Pope John XV and requested for him to condemn and depose Archbishop Arnulf. Nothing ever came out of this particular request.
Since the request did not get the intended effect from John XV, Hugh and Gerbert once again assembled a provincial council at the parish of St-Basle at Verzy (near Reims) in June, 991. This would later be known as the Synod or Council of Reims. When it was over, the council decreed the removal of Arnulf from his position as archbishop of Reims because he was elected via irregular means. Gerbert was “elected” by the council in the same position. The council described Arnulf as immature and ambitious, and therefore unfit for the position. Gerbert became the archbishop of Reims, but Arnulf was not really amenable to giving up his position. The issue dragged on over the years until the coming of age and reign of Otto III as Holy Roman Emperor, as well as the appointment of Pope Gregory V in Rome.
John XII was born in 936/937 AD where he recorded on the Biblical Timeline Chart with World History. He was a descendant of the powerful (as well as infamous) Theophylact family. Which included his great-grandmother Theodora, grandmother Marozia, and uncle John XI. According to the medieval chronicler Flodoard, he was the son of Alberic II, the duke of Spoleto by Alda, the daughter of Hugh of Provence after her father offered his daughter in marriage to Alberic in 936 as a way to pacify him. On the other hand, the Italian chronicler Benedict of Soracte asserted that John XII was the son of Alberic by his concubine.
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He was born in the Via Lata area of Rome between the Campus Martius and the Quirinal Hill. His parents named him Octavian (Octavianus) and his father compelled the Roman nobility to help his son be elected as pope upon the death of Pope Agapitus II. The young Octavian served as a cardinal-deacon of Santa Maria in Dominica on the Caelian Hill. When the old pope died on the 8th of November, 955 AD, the senior priests elected him as pope on the 16th of December in the same year.
The Young Pope
The 18-year old pope adopted the name John XI thereafter. He granted privileges to archbishops on the first few months of his rule. He also sent a letter to the German papal legate William of Mayence and exhorted him to condemn immoral people, as well as those who attacked the church. He then confirmed the possessions of the monastery of Saint Benedict in Subiaco on the condition that the monks and priests recite the Kyrie Eleison and Christe Eleison one hundred times for three days every week.
Pope John XII
Wars and Blunders
In 960 AD, John XII tried to reclaim the former papal lands now occupied by the dukes of Benevento and Capua. He was not brought up as a warrior, but for some reason, he convinced enough Romans, Spoletans, and Tuscans to march south and wage war against the dukes. In response, the dukes of Benevento and Capua called on Gisulf I of Salerno to help them against Pope John XII and his army. The alliance the dukes forged was effective as the Pope and his army promptly turned back and returned to their territories when they heard that Gisulf had joined the war. John later tried to pacify Gisulf by proposing an alliance with him. The powerful prince of Salerno agreed to a treaty, but the terms of this agreement were never made public.
In 960, Berengar II of Italy attacked the Papal States which prompted John to ask the German king Otto I for help. The king had been promoted to the patrician rank before Berengar’s attack, and the pope’s envoys told Otto I to either come to Rome and help John XII or give up his patriciate. Otto decided to help John and marched with his troops into Italy on the 31st of January, 962 AD. When news of Otto’s arrival reached him, Berengar and his followers backed down, fled the city, and sought refuge in their castles.
The grateful pope crowned Otto as the Holy Roman Emperor on February 2, 962 AD at Saint Peter’s Basilica while Adelaide, Otto’s second wife, was also proclaimed as empress. This act bound Germany and Italy together into the Holy Roman Empire, and in return, Otto took an oath called the Privilegium Ottonianum. In this oath, Otto promised the papacy full independence in the papal lands and the freedom to collect taxes from these lands. Even though Italy had technically been folded into Germany after John proclaimed him as Holy Roman Emperor. John and the Italian nobility also promised their loyalty to Otto who made them promise to refrain from helping Berengar and his son Adalbert in the future.
Otto also requested for John to confirm the archbishopric of Magdeburg and make Merseburg a subordinate bishopric. John granted both of these requests. He also sent the pallium to Archbishop Frederick of Salzburg, as well as threatened the prelate Herold with deposition to stop him from saying Mass as per Otto’s request. Otto left Rome on the 14th of February, 962 AD.
Although Otto promised John full independence on the Papal lands, the young pope never really ruled these territories. John’s situation only worsened when he negotiated with Berengar’s son, Adalbert, behind Otto’s back—a massive miscalculation on his side. News of the pope’s violation of their agreement soon reached Otto. He returned to Rome to confront John in 963 AD (Otto also wanted to confront John after news of his indiscretions in the Lateran Palace reached the emperor). John was initially defiant. He prepared his troops to fight Otto, but when he realized his mistake, the pope packed all the treasures he could and fled the city with Adalbert to Tivoli.
Otto I’s Appointment of a New Pope
When Otto arrived in Rome, he told the people to refrain from electing a pope without his consent. He then assembled a council to condemn the fugitive pope, had him deposed, and appointed John XII’s successor, Leo VIII. The German kings routinely appointed priests in their own territories, but this was the first time the Holy Roman Emperor appointed a pope. Otto stayed in Rome to wrap things up and returned to Germany after three months. When he felt that it was safe to return, John showed up in Rome and condemned Leo VIII as an antipope. This annoyed Otto who immediately returned to Rome. John once again fled the city in fear of the king’s wrath. The deposed pope tried to reconcile with Otto, but died on the 14th of May, 964 at the age of 24.
