Synod of Sutri

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The Synod of Sutri (more precisely: Synod of Sutri of 1046 ) is a meeting of spiritual and secular dignitaries that took place on December 20, 1046 in Sutri in the Lazio region in today's Italy between representatives of the Empire and the Church and decisions about legitimacy who met popes who were to crown the German king emperor . A second meeting, also called the Synod of Sutri in historical studies, took place in January 1059instead and dealt also with the deposition and confirmation of competing popes. Both meetings are related to the implementation of the church reforms of the 11th century . The synod of 1046 is the historical reference date for its beginning.

Synod of Sutri of 1046

Starting position

King Henry III was on the way to Italy to find himself in Rome by Gregory VI. to be crowned emperor. After crossing the Alps, he held the Synod of Pavia as the first church assembly , met with Gregory and shortly afterwards learned of rumors that Pope Gregory had gained the papal see through simony (purchase of offices). In the understanding of the medieval church reform movement that emerged in the 11th century, “simony” meant any consideration, including money, that a beneficiary had provided or offered for the establishment of an ecclesiastical office. This also included practices and services that had been widespread and not very offensive until then, the exchange of which had been part of the foundations of the Ottonian and Salian church organization . All of this was now in the eyes of the church reformers, who based a broad concept of Simonia, as one of the worst sins a church official could commit, and made the appointment and exercise of office illegitimate and invalid in their eyes and the guilty even heretics .

procedure

Henry III. convened a meeting of bishops after Sutri to the rival claims of Popes Benedict IX. and New Year III. to clarify and the allegations against Gregory VI. to investigate. It was very important to him to be crowned emperor by a legitimately reigning pope in order to avoid any doubts about his imperial dignity. The place Sutri was chosen because it is directly on the way of Henry III. to Rome.

In the course of the negotiations, which began on December 20, 1046, Gregor was given the opportunity to defend himself against the charge of simony. Gregory, who attested his contemporary naivety, admitted during the synod that his predecessor in office Benedict IX was still alive. To have made compensation payments to compensate him for the waiver, but without malicious intent. In the eyes of the prosecutors, he admitted the charge of buying office and was now looking forward to the loss of his dignity as Pope. Under pressure from the Cluniacians , who most vehemently advocated the reformist doctrine of combating simony, he was declared deposed, stripped himself of his papal insignia and was banished to Germany, which was probably intended as a precautionary measure to rule out future claims. Gregory VI. was accompanied by Hildebrand, the future Pope Gregory VII, who adored him and later named himself after him, into his exile in Cologne .

The New Year's Eve, raised by the Roman noble family of the Crescentier as an antipope , was in the course of the synod of King Henry III. also deposed and sent back to his diocese of Sabina without further punishment . The third Pope, Benedict IX, who had already resigned, did not appear in Sutri. After his actual preferred candidate, Adalbert von Bremen, had refused the dignity (and possibly at his suggestion), the king now planned to appoint Bishop Suitger von Bamberg , who was also traveling in his entourage, as pope, who was to crown him emperor.

continuation

Directly after the church assembly in Sutri, another synod met in Rome on December 23, 1046 in St. Peter's Church , the Benedict IX. deposed as the third living Pope. In addition, Heinrich III. the title of Patricius Romanorum ("Protector of Rome") bestowed, with which he received a legitimate right of nomination in the papal election and could name Suitger as the new Pope. The Roman clergy and the people agreed to the decision in accordance with the papal election practices of the time, so that the election was considered valid. On the following day Suitger was consecrated and enthroned as Pope under the Pope's name Clemens II and in turn crowned Henry III. to the emperor .

Result and classification

With the appointment of a pope who did not come from the local aristocratic cliques, the Cluniacians and their supporters saw themselves strengthened in their ecclesiastical political goal of a radical “cleansing” of the ruling episcopate and the clergy. With his behavior, the emperor had enabled the internal church reform movement to spread to the papacy, which had been dominated by the urban Roman nobility. The German Pope Clemens II is considered by some historians, such as the Bamberg-born Georg Gresser , whose judgment, according to his reviewer Markus Knipp, is also locally patriotic, as the first reform pope of the High Middle Ages. However, the relationship between the North German clergy, who is at home in the structures of the imperial church and closely associated with the royal court, and the reform movement was perhaps less tension-free than is traditionally portrayed in German historiography. In any case, he was followed by a number of other popes , initially exclusively “German” , who also appeared as representatives of the church reform movement or adopted its demands. This was initially done by mutual agreement, but in later phases often in sharp conflict with the king or emperor as the highest secular ruler. In addition to combating “simony” and so-called “ Nicolaitism ” ( concubinates of clergy), the demand for libertas ecclesiae , the freedom of the church from secular influence, was one of the reformers' core concerns. For his sake, Pope Gregory VII , one of the most radical reformists of his time, triggered the so-called investiture controversy in 1075 when he opposed lay investiture . Gregory and his successors interpreted the freedom of the church in the sense of a supremacy of the papacy over secular power, which led to the conflict between Pope and Emperor that shaped the high Middle Ages.

For these reasons, the Synod of Sutri (1046) is considered to be a historic turning point and is sometimes seen as the beginning of the High Middle Ages .

Synod of Sutri of 1059

This meeting in January 1059, attended by representatives of the Empress Agnes , Henry's widow, and the Roman and German clergy, excommunicated the Tusculan Pope Benedict X , a representative of the Roman city nobility, who was not recognized by the Reform Party , and recognized that of reform-minded cardinals shortly beforehand elected reform pope Nicholas II .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gerd Althoff : "Blessed are those who practice persecution". Popes and violence in the High Middle Ages. Darmstadt 2013, p. 56.
  2. ↑ Egon Boshof: The Salians . Stuttgart et al. 2000, p. 127; Hanna Vollrath : Empire and patriciate in the beginning of the investiture dispute . In: Wolfgang Bienert et al. (Ed.): ZKG 85, Paderborn 1974, p. 14 f.
  3. ↑ Markus Knipp: Review of Georg Gresser: Clemens II. The first German reform pope, Paderborn, 2007 , in: Sehepunkte 8 (2008) No. 5, accessed on July 26, 2017.
  4. ^ Tilman Struve: Clemens III. (Wibert) . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA) . tape 2 . Artemis & Winkler, Munich / Zurich 1983, ISBN 3-7608-8902-6 , Sp. 2139–3140 (mentions the “Synod of Sutri (January 1059)” in column 2139).