Sergius III.

Sergius III. († April 14, 911 in Rome ) was antipope in 898 and pope from January 29, 904 to April 14, 911.

Historical background

In the 10th century the papacy had become the plaything of Italian - especially Roman - noble families who strove to either occupy the chair of Peter with a family member of their own or at least to use its owner for their own politics. Major competitors for power in Italy included the Dukes of Spoleto , the Marquis of Friuli and the Counts of Tusculum .

Sergius possibly came from the House of Tusculum and was one of the most important supporters of the House of Spoleto in Rome, which was connected to it. Eight years before his pontificate began , the dispute between the supporters of the former Pope Formosus - who had favored the East Frankish King Arnulf of Carinthia as King of Italy - and Pope Stephan VI. , also a party member of the Dukes of Spoleto, escalated in the so-called synod of bodies .

Election to the Pope

Since the picture of Sergius III. is essentially handed down by the historian Liutprand of Cremona , who was loyal to the emperor , it is difficult to distinguish between historical truth and propaganda in the statements about him. According to Liutprand's testimony, Sergius was originally bishop of Caere . In 898 the party of the opponents of Formosus had him at the instigation of Duke Alberich von Spoleto as an antipope to John IX. used. However, the Formosians drove him out. After the fall of Pope Christopher , Sergius was re-elected Pope, this time in accordance with canon law.

pontificate

After Liutprand of Cremona, Sergius had his two predecessors killed and fathered a son with his mistress Marozia , who later became Pope John XI . While some historians dismiss these reports as propaganda directed against the Houses of Spoleto and Tusculum , others consider them to be entirely credible. Above all, the undeniable fact that Sergius reinstated the resolutions of the macabre synod of bodies of 897 and had the supporters of Pope Formosus persecuted casts a very unfavorable light on him. With the pontificate of Sergius the period of the later so-called pornocracy began , the "mistress rule".

Sergius' tenure also included the reconstruction of the Lateran Basilica, which was destroyed by an earthquake in 897 .

Conflict with the Eastern Church

With the Orthodox Church he came into conflict because he intervened in the so-called " tetragamy dispute ": The Patriarch of Constantinople , Nikolaos I. Mystikos , had the Byzantine Emperor Leo VI. banned because he had entered into a fourth marriage against canon law. Sergius, on the other hand, granted the emperor a papal dispensation . Although this action had no relevant influence on the attitude of the Eastern Church or the Byzantine Emperor, it did contribute to the deterioration of relations between the Latin and Greek Churches. The patriarch later participated in an intrigue against Leo VI. and was therefore exiled to the Galakrenai monastery near Chalcedon for five years .

literature

• Christiane Laudage: Fight for the chair of Petri. The history of the anti-popes. Herder, Freiburg (Breisgau) et al. 2012, ISBN 978-3-451-30402-6 .
• Rudolf Schieffer : Sergius III. In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages . Volume 7. (1995) Col. 1787.
• Bruno W. Häuptli :  Sergius III. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 22, Bautz, Nordhausen 2003, ISBN 3-88309-133-2 , Sp. 1255-1258.

Web links

Commons : Sergius III.  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Remarks

1. ↑ Liudprand, Liber antapodoseos III 43rd

predecessor	Office	successor
Leo V.	Pope 904-911	Anastasius III.