Brandon Kalten TRS 324-01 Pope Gregory X Pope Gregory X, originally known as Teobaldo Visconti, was born sometime around 1210. Pope Gregory X was a member of the Secular Franciscan Order. He was not a cardinal or even a priest before his election as pope. He was pope from September 1, 1271 until he passed away on January 10, 1276. Pope Gregory X is important to the history of the papacy because he used all his power to protect the Holy Land, he convened the Second Council of Lyons, and he established many new regulations that lasted until altered by Pope Paul VI in the 20th century. Born as Teobaldo Visconti in Piacenza, Pope Gregory X was a member of the House of Visconti. Pope Gregory X’s papal conclave was the longest ever. The cardinals …show more content…
whom selected Teobaldo Visconti, hoped that he would do all in his power to save the Holy Land. Immediately following his consecration as pope, Gregory X began trying to solve problems regarding the restoration of peace between Christian nations and princes, the settlement of affairs in the German empire, the amendment of the mode of life among clergy people, the union of the Greek Church with Rome, and the deliverance of Jerusalem and the Holy Land. Pope Gregory X was elected at the conclusion of a papal election which ran from 1268 to 1271. It was the longest papal election in the history of the Roman Catholic Church. The papal election began after the death of Pope Clement IV in November 29, 1268, leaving the Holy See vacant for about three years. The cardinals were divided between the French and the Italian and met at Viterbo. They could not decide on the election of a candidate to the papacy. The head of Viterbo thought he could force the outcome by confining the cardinals in the episcopal palace. He deprived the cardinals of food and only gave them bread and water. The roof of the palace was torn off to bring them the inclement weather. The French and Sicilian kings helped to come to a final decision. They had six delegates meet on September 1, 1271 to concur their ballets in the choice of Teobaldo Visconti. Visconti was archdeacon of Liege and accompanied Cardinal Ottoboni on his mission to England. Visconti was off fighting the crusades when he was told by the cardinals to return home immediately. It took eight months to return home. After arriving home, Visconti declared his acceptance of the dignity and took the name Gregory X. He then traveled to Rome where he was ordained to the priesthood. His consecration as pope took place on March 27, 1272. (Knight). Pope Gregory X wanted to bring people together and solve as many issues as he could. Immediately following his consecration as pope, he jumped to solve issues regarding the restoration of peace between Christian nations and princes, the settlement of affairs in the German empire, the amendment of the mode of life among clergy people, the union of the Greek Church with Rome, and the deliverance of Jerusalem and the Holy Land. On the fourth day, Gregory X summoned a general council which sought to make peace between the Guelphs and Ghibellines. Whomever resisted these efforts was excommunicated. Along with making peace between so many, Pope Gregory X’s actions were always in interest of the Holy Land. He collected large sums from France and England. The Council of Lyons established a resolution where “one-tenth of all benefices accruing to all churches in the course of six years should be set aside for the benefit of the Holy Land.” (Knight). Pope Gregory X was always attracted by holiness and peace; he took great interest in preserving the Holy Land and keeping peace between people.
Before Gregory X was pope, he followed the Cardinal Giacomo de Pecorari because he was attracted by the Cardinal’s reputation of holiness. He was already Canon of the Basilica of S. Antonino and later became Canon of the Cathedral of Lyons. While Gregory IX was pope, the cardinals were often mistreated. Clearly the decision of the next pope was difficult to make. Eventually Pope Innocent IV offered the position to Gregory X, but he declined the position because he wished to continue to follow Cardinal Giacomo de Pecorari. Following Cardinal Giacomo de Pecorari’s death, Gregory X moved to Paris to study Theology. Although sometimes there were no results, Pope Gregory X was a great preacher. Even when he was not a priest, he made an effort to preach the crusade for the recovery of the Holy Land. After elected pope, Gregory X preached a sermon on the text from Psalm 136 (137). 5-6. “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.” (Riley-Smith). The cardinals hoped that pope Gregory X would do all in his power to save the Holy Land and immediately following his election, before even leaving Palestine to take up office, Gregory X preached this sermon to show his yearning to save the Holy Land. In a …show more content…
letter to Edward of England, he told how he hurried directly to the papal curia at Viterbo to immediately begin work on bringing aid to the Holy Land. Pope Gregory X didn’t even stop at Rome first. When Teobaldo Visconti was elected pope, the situation in the Holy Land was worse than at any time since Hattin. The crusades were a series of religious wars in effort to protect the Holy Land. Pope Gregory X made many efforts to launch the crusades and save the Holy Land. Pope Gregory X’s first act at Viterbo was to gather a group of cardinals and men that were familiar with the conditions in the East. They all had a conference where pope Gregory X decided to convoke a new general council with an effort to reform Christendom and promote a crusade. This is when pope Gregory X convened the Second Council of Lyon. During the Second Council of Lyon, Gregory X issued the Constitutiones pro zelo fidei, which was the most imposing crusade since the Ad liberandam constitution of 1215. Gregory X made an effort to raise money by taxing every temporal ruler one silver penny every year. His aim was to build up a huge reserve and his preparations were heroic. He did everything in his power to help the coming crusade. “Gregory was planning an Wastern crusade on a more ambitious scale than had ever dreamed of before, but he died on 10 January 1276.” (Riley-Smith). Gregory X made every effort to protect the Holy Land. Although these crusades were marred by war, Gregory X was still so important to the history of the papacy. Gregory X had intentions that would be directly related to history of the papacy, all the way back to Saint Peter. Gregory X was seen as a father figure of the Holy Land and of the church. Gregory X, like Innocent III and IV, contemplated the crusade as a justification for wide-ranging papal intervention in temporal matters. Gregory X was faced with rising expenses and had to create a means of radically increasing the funds available for disbursement to those who took the cross. Innocent III dealt with the same problem about sixty years earlier and adopted a threefold approach. He gave an extra effort to have paid deputies serve in the field, so that an individual could take the cross and still have the crusader’s privileges without serving in person. He also levied Church taxes for crusading. Both approaches were threefold and very similar. This shows a continuance of the papacy, sixty years apart. (Housley). Although many leaders have made huge efforts to support the crusades and protect the Holy Land, not all of them could succeed completely through. They all made efforts to get the crusades up off the ground and succeed in saving the Holy Land. Like Gregory X and Innocent III, many have helped a lot but did not succeed. Gregory X died during a critical point in crusade planning. It seems as though that a lot of rulers in the 1270’s were afraid of the financial implications regarding the crusades to the Holy Land. One of the memoirs written in response to Pope Gregory X’s plea of 1272 for advice on the crusade shows the importance of Gregory X to the history of the papacy.
Gregory X, for the most part, wanted to save the Holy Land. He did a lot more that is highly respected, but the crusades and his yearning to save the Holy Land was most remembered. Author of this memoir, Bishop Bruno of Olmutz, wrote “it was just as important to defend the Church in Eastern Europe from attack by pagans and schismatics, as it was to recover the Holy Land; otherwise, wishing to avoid Charybdis, the Christians would fall prey to Scylla.” (Housley). The crusades definitely should’ve been preached to further Christian cause in Eastern Europe, but the Church was under much danger and needed to be defended too. Gregory X is important to the history of the papacy because not only of what he has done and accomplished, but what he has not done too. Every pope there was that goes back to when St. Peter was chosen, has been recorded and studied. There is evidence of every pope there was. The author of this memoir believes that Gregory X is important to the papacy because the Church must always be defended along with the Holy
Land. Pope Gregory X is important to the history of the papacy because he used all his power to protect the Holy Land, he convened the Second Council of Lyons, and he established many new regulations that lasted until altered by Pope Paul VI in the 20th century. Immediately following Gregory X’s election, he read a psalm showing his enthusiasm to save the Holy Land. Gregory X was one of the greatest crusaders there was. During the 1270’s, many rulers were afraid of financial issues. Looking at records of Gregory X’s time in the papal office, one can see how the Holy Land needed to be recovered, but also that the Church needed to be defended too. Pope Gregory X was attracted to holiness, bringing people to peace, and launching crusades to recover the Holy Land. Pope Gregory X was very important to the history of the papacy. Whether his actions directly showed his importance, or the information recorded of his actions showed importance. Gregory X was one of the best crusaders there was. There were a lot of similar popes before and after Gregory X. Gregory X’s era showed the importance of not only the Holy Land, but the Church too.
The Pope has agreed to help defend the Byzantine Empire! After being appealed to by Emperor Alexius I Comnenus, in 1095, Pope Urban II assembled the Council of Clermont. In order to help the Byzantine Empire and ensure his power over the church he has decided to call for a military expedition to get back the Holy Land.
Pope Urban II, just like many popes before him, was a part of the Investiture Controversy, which stemmed from a dispute between King Henry IV and Pope Gregory VII. For the duration of the 11th and 12th centuries, religious leaders like Urban faced conflict with the ruling class of Europe, and this sense of contention impacted and fueled many of Urban’s decisions, including the choice he made to so strongly encourage the Crusades. Due to the fact that there were “political forces at work… since the Crusades were also tied to the Investiture Controversy” and because Urban attempted to and succeeded at “usurp[ing] the prerogative most secular rulers had claimed traditionally to declare an enemy and muster troops for battle,” it is undeniable that he was caught up in – and winning – a political battle, which means that he must have been acting with politics in the forefront of his mind (Crawford). Furthermore, Pope Urban II used the crusades as a way of undermining the king's authority while simultaneously increasing his own – now he was the one who was calling the shots and sending the European people off to war, when usually, that job belonged to the king. Although this may seem insignificant, the pope knew that if the king could not even control his own people, he would have no power left. The pope's decision to rally the people up for a crusade was a meticulously calculated one that effectively and purposefully resulted in him becoming the most politically powerful person in Europe, when previously almost all of his power stemmed from
The aristocracy of the period also led a very violent lifestyle: this crusade or ‘Holy War’ justified the use of violence as a means of abolishing the threat from Islam on the Christian World. Thirdly, the papacy was very keen on consolidating its political influence in Italy, France and Germany. The papacy wanted to keep the Christian parts of the world as large as possible and they also wanted to make sure that these areas would be completely Christian. Urban wished to expand the Church’s sphere of influence to those previously Christian parts of Europe and Northern Africa which had been overrun by the Islamic world..
Pope Urban II was sought by Alexius Comnenus, a Byzantine Emperor who wanted the papacy to help his army hold off the advancing Seljuk Turks in Asia Minor. The reason for Alexius Comnenus contacting the pope rather than another emperor or monarch wasn’t just the fact they were secular, but because the pope would have more power to persuade the people. The Gregorian movement in 1050-80 was ultimately was responsible for the new instilled power of the papacy’s position over nonreligious rulers. The pope agreed to aid the Byzantine emperor, but he also had his own agenda when it came to the military advances and the new power of his position. The papacy did not intend to only help the Byzantine Empire but to further save all of Christendom from being overrun.
Kings often struggled with the Church over power and land, both trying desperately to obtain them, both committing atrocities to hold onto them. Time and time again, the Popes of the postclassical period went to great extremes to secure the Church’s position in the world. Both the Crusades and the Inquisition are examples of this. D...
The emperor of the Byzantine Emperor was upset with Turks encroaching on his empire. He went to the Pope Urban II and complained. He made up atrocities about the Turks. In 1096, The Pope Urban II promoted the Crusade to reclaim the Holy Land from the barbaric Turks. These crusades lasted till the 13th century. In the process, Jews were persecuted and lots of looting took place. Many countries took interest in the Crusades because they were ready for travel and adventure. They wanted to expand trade with the Middle and Far East and so the Crusades gave them a chance to open up trade routes with those countries. They used Christianity to justify the Crusades. In reality, they wanted to expand trade and gain more territorial land.
Saint Gregory of Tours was born around the year 538 at Arverni, which is now Clermont-Ferrand. He belonged to the Gallo-Roman family, which was a very prestigious family. He was also related to the houses of Gaul. Gregory’s original name was Georgius Florentius. He took the name Gregory to honor his late grandfather who was named Gregory. His Grandfather was the Bishop of Langres. When Gregory was young, his father died and he went to live with his Uncle. His uncle, Gallus, was the Bishop of Clermont. Gallus educated him until his death in 554. Gregory’s mother left to live with friends in Burgandy and left her son to Avitus who became Bishop of Clermont after Gallus. Avitus taught Gregory all about the Scriptures. Gregory was not too impressed with the scriptures. Gregory got seriously ill and wasn’t supposed to recover. He did recover though and this made him more mindful of God and the scriptures. Gregory then became a friend with the Bishop of Tours whose name was Euphronius. Euphronius died in 573 and Gregory succeeded him as Bishop of Tours.
The Crusades were the first tactical mission by Western Christianity in order to recapture the Muslim conquered Holy Lands. Several people have been accredited with the launch of the crusades including Peter the Hermit however it is now understood that this responsibility rested primarily with Pope Urban II . The main goal of the Crusades was the results of an appeal from Alexius II, who had pleaded for Western Volunteers help with the prevention of any further invasions. The Pope’s actions are viewed as him answering the pleas of help of another in need, fulfilling his Christian right. However, from reading the documents it is apparent that Pope Urban had ulterior motives for encouraging engagement in the war against the Turks. The documents and supporting arguments now highlight that the Pope not only sought to recruit soldiers to help but also to challenge those who had harmed the Christians community and annihilate the Muslims. He put forth the idea that failure to recapture this lands would anger God and that by participating, God would redeem them of their previous sins.in a time of deep devoutness, it is clear this would have been a huge enticement for men to engage in the battle. Whether his motives were clear or not to his people, Pope Urban’s speeches claiming that “Deus vult!” (God wills it) encouraged many Christians to participate and take the cross.
The success and failures of the crusades “was closely related to the fortunes of the high-medieval papal monarchy” (454). The first crusade started when Pope Urban II called a plea of military aide to “free Jerusalem from Islamic control”. The first crusade was a “great early victory for the papal monarchy” (454-455). However, the crusades were not all victories for the papacy, the failures of the crusades ignited the decline of the papacy control. The crusades began when the Pope appealed to the people “to rescue the Holy Land from the infidels.”
In the book The Rule of Benedict, written by Saint Benedict, he provided outlines of how things should go in the monastery, and day to day life for monks. Saint Benedict uses biblical references and also his own thoughts. Through his writings, he believes that there should be very strict guidelines to follow, in order to be a good monk and/or person. Although Saint Benedict means well when he gives his thoughts on how things should be gone about, he sometimes seems arrogant, by giving the abbot so much power. In addition to this, at some points, it seems as if the abbot has more control and power over the people, than God himself. Three things stuck out to me when reading Saint Benedict’s thoughts. First, his use of violence, when disciplining.
Most scholars agree that one of the main reasons for the crusades was Pope Urban ii and a quest for political power. His presence as the Pope help cement the Crusading and set it on his path maybe not the path he intended but it was his presence and words that did it. according to P AUL E. C
During the Crusades, the Pope’s aspiration for power originated from political reasons. In 1095, there were many problems in the Christian land the Pope couldn’t do much about. For example, there was a great deal of fighting between knights and nobles, and the Pope had very little power (Visual, NA). When the Church tried to reform it by ordering a truce, it did not work. So when the Pope saw the holy land was controlled by Muslims that did not allow them to go there, he decided to use that as a way to restore order in the Church (Crusades, NA). He knew it would solve the problems he was faced with because it would send all the fighting knights away to war, and if they captured Jerusalem he would have control over the most sought out land, giving him power (Crusades, NA). He knew that many knights won’t want to leave the land when they can claim the land that another knight left when they went to war. So to ensure more knights’ participation, he promises remissions from all sins committed. However, the Pope knew he must convince more people than just knight to win Jerusalem and that reason is what Urban states in his speech. “Or rather the Lord, beseech you as Chris...
Pope Innocent the III reign from January 1198-July 1218 was an important time in history as many events occurred within his reign that no other popes before him could claim happened in there's. Pope Innocent was one of the most powerful and influential popes in Europe at the time as he stood at the center of all other kings and proclaimed his supremacy. Innocent the III was right in doing so as he was an integral part in supporting the Catholic Church reforms of ecclesiastical affairs through his letters and the Fourth Council of the Lateran. Throughout his tenor, Innocent the III had an excellent career as he refined canon law, organized the fourth crusade, among many other things.
Pope Gregory IX was an educated man who moved up the religious hierarchy swiftly. This Papal Inquisiton, which was started by Pope Gregory IX, led to many other important events in the church. It showed how the church was corrupt but there was still good in it. It showed that even with good intentions, actions can have bad consequences. Those consequences are not foreseeable or predetermined. Pope Gregory IX tried to eradicate heresy but could not partly because his own followers and inquisitors. Some inquisitors were not looking to cleanse the church but
A very surprising fact is that it was under force from his father that Gregory became a priest. He did not feel that he was pure enough to be in such a sacred office, because he had not yet finished learning. Several times he took sanctuary in a monastery. He was eventually made into the Bishop of Nazianzus, but a larger position was offered to him as the Bishop of Constantinople. He accepted the role, but unfortunately could not keep it, since one cannot be Bishop of two places, and the original "bishopship" should be the position kept (Catholic Online).