Alexander II (Pope)

Alexander II , previously Anselmo da Baggio (* around 1010 to 1015 in Baggio near Milan ; † April 21, 1073 in Rome ), was Pope from 1061 .

Career

Scene 36 on the Bayeux Tapestry shows William the Conqueror (center) probably with the banner sent by Pope Alexander II .

Anselmo da Baggio was ordained a priest around 1055, growing up in Milan and having been a member of the episcopal curia from an early age. He belonged to the reform party, which later supported him. From 1056 he was Bishop of Lucca . At the same time, as a papal legate, he promoted the militant reform movement of Pataria . For this purpose he traveled to Milan with Hildebrand in 1057 and with Petrus Damiani in 1060/1061 .

pontificate

On September 30, 1061, Anselm was elected Pope and enthroned the next day . His main sponsor was the archdeacon Hildebrand, who later became Pope Gregory VII. Alexander II was presumably elected in the Lateran, while the enthronement was to take place on the night of the same day in the church of San Pietro in Vincoli at the foot of Esquiline. The way there was blocked by opponents, which is why one had to gain access to the church by force of arms. Alexander was later reproached for this: like a thief in the night, it is said, he had seized the papal throne.

First, the imperial episcopate elevated Bishop Cadalus of Parma to the antipope, who called himself Honorius II . At the Synod of Mantua in 1064, Alexander II was finally generally recognized after he had taken military action against Cadalus with the help of Norman allies.

Under Alexander's pontificate , the Roman Church gained political influence on a European level. Alexander II supported the international besiegers of the Muslim city of Barbastro in northern Spain through envoys . Carl Erdmann suspected that in 1063 he had already sent this army a similar "Peter's flag" to the one he sent to the Norman Duke Wilhelm a few years later to support his ambitions for the English crown. William the Conqueror was a relative of the southern Italian Norman rulers Richard of Capua , Robert Guiskard and Roger of Sicily, allied with the papacy since 1059 . In political tensions, which were also caused by his ties to the Normans, the Pope, on the other hand, came to the imperial party in Germany, especially the young King Henry IV , whose plans to divorce his wife Bertha , Alexander strictly disapproved of.

literature

• Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz :  Alexander II, Pope. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 1, Bautz, Hamm 1975. 2nd, unchanged edition Hamm 1990, ISBN 3-88309-013-1 , Sp. 100-101.
• Georg Gresser : The synods and councils in the time of the reform papacy in Germany and Italy by Leo IX. to Calixt II. 1049-1123 , Paderborn 2006. ISBN 3-506-74670-7
• Tilmann Schmidt: Alexander II and the Roman reform group of his time , Stuttgart 1977 (Popes and Papacy, Volume 11). ISBN 3-7772-7704-5
• Cinzio Violante :  Alessandro II. In: Massimo Bray (ed.): Enciclopedia dei Papi. Rome 2000 ( treccani.it ).

Web links

Commons : Alexander II.  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Tilmann Schmidt: Alexander II and the Roman reform group of his time , Stuttgart 1977 (Popes and Papacy, Volume 11), p. 85.

predecessor	Office	successor
Nicholas II	Pope 1061-1073	Gregory VII