THE BEGINNINGS OF THE TEMPORAL SOVEREIGNTY OF THE POPES

CHAPTER VII

 CHRISTOPHER THE PRIMICERIUS

From the foregoing account of the institutions of the little Roman State, it is not difficult to understand that the existing conditions contained the elements of an important internal crisis. There were two great rival bodies, the clergy and the army, and the transfer to the Church of the political supremacy, hitherto enjoyed by the army, did not tend to sweeten the relations between them. Affairs seem to have gone on calmly at first, and we hear of no definite resistance during Paul’s reign, except in the case of a priest called Marin. This man resided at the Frankish Court, and gave himself up to incessant plotting against the Pope. The latter might well have wished to be rid of him, through his promotion to a French bishopric, but when his parents were anxious to see him again, Paul formally requested that he should be sent back to Italy, promising to honor him with another ecclesiastical title. Marin, notwithstanding, remained in France during the rest of the Pope’s lifetime, apparently to the complete satisfaction of the latter.

If order continued to prevail at Rome, it was because Pope Paul ruled with a high hand. Even his biographer, while lauding the papal virtues, refers to the molestations practiced by his “iniquitous satellites”, and relates that the prisons often harbored prisoners under sentence of death. The Pope was accused of many extortions, and rapidly acquired a reputation for unjust severity. The power of the papacy, while having its advantages, was not without drawbacks. The army, ousted by the government, watched the flame of rebellion smoldering, and, if necessary, did what it could to fan it. In the early summer of 767 the Pope, who was living at that time in the neighborhood of St. Paul’s, was taken seriously ill. A reaction immediately followed.

Under these conditions any change of authority was not feasible, and the idea of a Byzantine restoration does not seem to have occurred to anybody. As at the accession of Stephen II, the emperor was too far away and the Lombards too close at hand to enable the Romans to dispense with the intervention of the Franks, who would hardly have consented to the transference of the political power from the Pope to the army. The best way out of the difficulty, they thought, would be to elect as Pope a member of the military aristocracy, who would be inclined to restore to the army at least part of what it had lost during the pontificates of the two brothers, Stephen and Paul. The clergy, realizing that a crisis was at hand, had already taken precautions, and felt safe as to the result of the election, provided that it was conducted in an orderly manner, and among the Roman inhabitants of Rome.

At this time the most important person in the ecclesiastical world was Christopher, the primicerius. From the time of Stephen II he had been a conspicuous figure, having accompanied the Pope on his Frankish mission in 753, in virtue of his office as district notary, or advocate. We hear of him again, three years later, as one of those engaged in negotiations for an alliance between Pope Stephen and Desiderius, the claimant to the Lombard throne. This time he bears the title of consiliarius. He was as devoted to Paul as he had been to his brother, and seems to have had no inconsiderable share in the most weighty transactions and correspondence of the time. At the court of Constantinople it was said that Pope Paul was nothing but a puppet, whom Christopher forced to dance to his piping, and that the latter was really responsible for the whole of the papal policy. It is, indeed, more than probable, that the primicerius was the chief promoter of the policy of the last few years, the instigator and mainstay of the Frankish alliance, as well as of the ecclesiastical supremacy.

The nobles, who were stronger in the outlying districts and the small towns than in the capital, promulgated the idea that as the Pope was now ruler of the whole duchy, it was only right that all his future subjects should have a voice in his election. Qui omnibus proesse debet ab omnibus eligatur. This old maxim of canon law was now applied to the episcopal instead of to the monarchical election. This was all the more natural, because the provincial governors formerly, and in later times the dukes, had gained their position by election.

How these ideas were translated into facts we shall now see.

Residing at Nepi, but also owning a house at Rome, was a certain Duke Toto (Theodore). He arranged to confer with his three brothers, Constantine, Passivus, and Pascal, and some confederates, and together they plotted to hasten the Pope’s death. Their evil designs were, however, thwarted by Christopher, who even succeeded in making Toto swear that the election should proceed in proper form. But the duke straightway broke his oath; he summoned around him all the troops of Roman Tuscia, and these, reinforced by a large number of peasants, presented themselves before the gate of St. Pancratius, which was not barred or bolted.

The rebellion was being organized in the city under the command of the new arrivals when the Pope suddenly expired on 25th June. A preliminary convocation was immediately held in the basilica of the Apostles, at which, thanks to Christopher’s influence, the clergy and the army met in a friendly spirit, and overwhelmed one another with mutual pledges of good-will. The outlook seemed promising, and, according to custom, the election was put off for a few days, when Toto and his followers forced their way into the Lateran and proclaimed, as Pope, Constantine, the eldest of the three brothers. He was not a cleric, but a military man, for they had ignored the old Roman custom, often set forth in the canonical writings, and honored by constant observance, which forbade such a choice. George, Bishop of Prenesto, whom they encountered in the vicedominium, was obliged, in spite of protests, to confer the tonsure on the newly appointed pontiff. Christopher was sought, in order that he might have a share in this usurpation, but he refused emphatically to have any connection with it.

The next day Constantine was ordained sub-deacon, and then deacon and priest, in the oratory of St. Lawrence at the Lateran; he was then inducted in due form, with the administration of a solemn oath. On the following Sunday, 5th July, he was consecrated Pope at St. Peter’s, again by the Bishop of Prenesto, who was assisted by his colleagues of Albano and Porto. After this ceremony, Christopher, and the most faithful of his adherents, were alone in refusing to recognize Constantine’s promotion. But Christopher was a force to be reckoned with. His influence over the two preceding Popes had been marked, and now the victorious party hoped to get rid of him and his followers. Duke Gregory, one of the latter, was assassinated, and the primicerius, feeling his own situation to be precarious, fled with his children to seek refuge at St. Peter’s. Nor could they be induced to emerge from its friendly shelter, until Constantine himself assured them that their lives were not in danger. In return, they undertook to remain quiet until after Easter, when they were to retire into monastic life. There was some slight amount of local opposition, but it was speedily over­come, and this severe treatment of Gregory and of Christopher and his family was the only conspicuous case of the kind. Those who had scruples awaited a safer opportunity to declare them. It was, however, related, with some consternation, that the Bishop of Prenesto, who was paralyzed in the right hand, had not been able to use it since he had stretched it forth at the consecration of Constantine. His death, which occurred shortly after, was looked upon as a token of divine displeasure.

The gratitude of the Frankish king had still to be procured. Constantine immediately wrote to him to announce the fact of his accession, but Pepin, who must have had some inkling of the state of affairs, seemed in no haste to reply. A second letter was dispatched in September, ostensibly to inform the prince of the arrival of oriental communications connected with the veneration of images. Constantine then proceeds to the subject of the election, attempting to plead extenuating circumstances. He speaks of his unworthiness, of the violence offered to him, of the decrees of Providence, in short, of all that might be urged in a parallel case. Pepin, at that time, was very much engaged with his war in Aquitaine, and although it is certain that he took no active measures against Constantine, there is no evidence that he made any exertions on his behalf. He appears to have held aloof from the whole affair, or, at least, not to have taken any serious notice of it. The Lombards, for their part, lay low, and made no attacks on the Roman State, a sign that they regarded the Frankish protection as including, if not the person of the new Pope, at any rate the domain consecrated to the Prince of the Apostles.

About the middle of April (768) Christopher the primicerius and his son, Sergius, who, under the last Pope, had held the office of saccellarius, were left free to embrace a religious career. For this purpose they selected the monastery of St. Saviour at Rieti, in the duchy of Spoleto. The abbot was sent for, and undertook the custody of the two novices. Once outside the Roman frontier, however, they succeeded in eluding his vigilance, and, upon reaching Spoleto, called on the duke for an escort to Pavia. Their plans were successful, and they carne to an understanding with the Lombard prince without the intervention of their protectors on the other side of the Alps. Desiderius was delighted at the chance of profiting by the disordered state of affairs, and assured the Roman dignitaries of his sympathy and support. He had them escorted back to Spoleto, bearing a message to the duke, who, acting upon his instructions, put an army at the disposal of Sergius. The latter, accompanied by the priest Waldipert, a Lombard ambassador, set out at the head of it, and they arrived at the Salarian Bridge on the evening of 7^th, July, exactly thirteen months after Constantine’s promotion to the Lateran. The next day they crossed the Anio and the Tiber, then, after an ineffectual attempt on the St. Peter’s gate, they tried the gate of St. Pancratius, which is at the top of the Janiculum, and commands a view over the whole town. Here confederates were awaiting them, the gate was opened, and Waldipert’s troops passed through into the city of Rome.

The Lombards had been in Italy for two hundred years. They had besieged Rome many times, but never before, even by treason, had they succeeded in gaining admittance to it. The new arrivals, consequently, hardly daring to believe in their good fortune, remained in trepidation on the fortifications, without venturing to descend into the town. Their hesitation gave the Romans time to flock together. Toto and Passivus went up to the gate of St. Pancratius and succeeded in making the Lombards beat a retreat. But treachery stepped in for the second time. Duke Toto was struck down from behind, and his death threw the defending party into disarray. Passivus hastened to the Lateran, and the unfortunate Constantine, quite broken-spirited, sought refuge in chapel after chapel; he was discovered with his brother Passivus, and the Bishop Theodore, his vidame, cowering in the oratory of the sacristy.

Christopher had stayed behind, evidently detained by some Lombard conspiracy. Waldipert, taking advantage of his absence, managed to divert the attention of Sergius, and the next day, which was Sunday, proclaimed, as Pope, a venerable priest named Philip, the superior of a monastery near the church of St. Vitus. He was not a cardinal, but the Lombards evidently thought him a suitable candidate for the papacy. He was acclaimed with the customary ceremony, conducted to the basilica and palace of the Lateran, and even followed the custom of giving a banquet to the most important of his electors, clerical or military.

This, however, was the only act of his pontificate. Christopher, who had arrived before the walls of Rome during the day, had another candidate in view; and he sent a message to the Romans, saying that he would not set foot in the town so long as Philip was at the Lateran. They submitted, and one of Toto’s assassins, Gratiosus, undertook the difficult task of conveying the Lombard Pope back to his monastery of St. Vitus.

Christopher was now master of the situation. The next day, 1st August, he assembled the clergy and the lay aristocracy, in fact, the whole population of Rome, in Tríbus Fatis, i.e. the ancient Forum, near the church of St. Hadrian, After some discussion, they finally settled to appoint the candidate of the primicerius. This was Stephen, priest of St. Cecilia, a man of about fifty years of age. He was a native of Sicily, and his knowledge of men and things had been limited to an experience of life within the monasteries, the episcopal palace, and the churches. His piety was an undoubted recommendation, and the weakness of his disposition was sufficient to justify Christopher and his family in their intention of holding the reins of power in their own hands. He was escorted to the Lateran, of which he took formal possession, and his episcopal consecration was celebrated on the following Sunday, 7th August.

But the victorious party did not wait for this ceremony before engaging in the most revolting acts of revenge. Those who had been captured on 30th July in the sacristy oratory were brought forth from their prison. Bishop Theodore and Passivus were incarcerated in monasteries, after having had their eyes put out. The wretched Constantine had first to undergo the humiliation of taking part in a mock cavalcade, and then, on the evening before Stephen’s consecration, he was brought before an ecclesiastical tribunal, and declared to have forfeited the papal dignity. Finally, a few days later, some of his enemies forced their way into the monastery of St. Sabas, where the unfortunate wretch was imprisoned, dragged him outside, and put out his eyes. The same fate befell others, among them the tribuno of Alatri, Gracilis, and Waldipert, the Lombard priest. The latter in vain sought refuge at Sta. Maria Maggiore behind a sacred image; he was torn from the sanctuary and cast into one of the Lateran prisons. Finally he was dragged to the open space in front of the palace, where his eyes were taken out. They took him to a neighboring hospital, but he expired almost immediately.

Such were the edifying circumstances under which the new Pope, Stephen III, entered upon his pontificate. For lack of further victims the disturbances were at last calmed down, and the victors now hastened to acquaint the Frankish king with their success. Sergius, who was chosen as the dele­gate, was well adapted to represent things in their most favorable light. When he arrived in France, he found that the great Pepin had just passed away, so he presented himself to Charles and Carloman, the two Frankish princes, and succeeded in convincing them of the urgent need for repairing the breach of canon law caused by the election of Constantine. In accordance with his demand, a deputation, consisting of certain members of the Frankish episcopacy, was sent to Rome. They were chosen for their familiarity with the Scriptures, and the “ceremonies of the holy canons”. First of all came Wilchar, the former Bishop of Nomentum, at that time Bishop of Sens, and bearing the title of Archbishop of the Gauls. Then came the Metropolitan Bishops of Mainz, Tours, Lyons, Bourges, Narbonne, and Rheims; and finally the Bishops of Amiens, Meaux, Worms, Würzburg, Langres, and Noyon. On their arrival in Rome these thirteen dignitaries met, together with about forty Italian bishops, both from Lombardy and the Roman district. After the Easter festivals (769) the council assembled in the Basilica of the Lateran. The first to appear before them was the unhappy Constantine, jam extra oculos. His defence turned upon the violence to which he had been subjected, and the reaction against Paul’s severity, which had culminated in his own election. The breach of ecclesiastical law upon which so much stress was being laid, had often occurred before for the benefit of others, he maintained. Prostrating himself on the ground, he implored mercy and forgiveness, but the priests were not to be moved. Following in the footsteps of Caiphas rather than of St. Gregory, they struck the poor blind pleader across the face, cast him outside, and ordered that his writ of election should be burned. Having performed these graceful acts, Pope Stephen, with his clerks and his faithful followers, abased themselves on the ground, confessing the sin they had committed in accepting Constantine, and beseeching penance for their misdeeds. The very angels must have smiled at the hypocritical litanies which were chanted over them,

But this was not all. The ordinations and enactments of Constantine were declared illegal, and he himself was condemned to a life of penance within a monastery.

In order to prevent any recurrence of these disturbances, it was decreed by the Council that cardinals or deacons should alone be eligible for election, and moreover, that “laymen, both military and civil”, and in particular, persons not belonging to the city of Rome, should henceforth be excluded from the electoral body, strictly speaking; though, after the Pope’s election and installation at the Vatican, the Roman laity would be allowed to go in and greet him, and confirm, by their signatures, the act of his election. This provision introduced a most important change, but though, as will be seen, it was in force for some time, it was eventually annulled.

Finally, the convocation ratified the veneration of the images, and reprobated the decisions of the iconoclastic Council of 754. All these decrees were made public, with much solemnity, at St. Peter’s, before a large audience of the clergy and people.

Between France and the Holy See, harmony was again established. The military party was subdued, and the lay aristocracy excluded from the papal elections. But Christopher and Sergius, the Pope’s advisers, and the virtual wielders of the papal authority, had given King Desiderius very grave cause for complaint. It was in virtue of his support that they had succeeded in overthrowing Constantine II, and in return for this friendly help, they had not only debarred his candidate from the papacy, but they had permitted the assassination of his envoy, Waldipert. It was no wonder, therefore, that Desiderius took umbrage. Besides, they did their utmost to strengthen the Frankish alliance by their influence on the papal policy. A good deal of correspondence bearing on the subject is pre-served in the Codex Carolinus. In it the Lombards are constantly accused of disregarding the satisfactions (justitias) due to St. Peter. One of these letters is written with the object of deterring the Frankish princes from a family alliance with King Desiderius. The popular gossip as to the leprous and malodorous conditions, and so on, obtaining among the Lombards, is brought forward as an argument against the match, which took place notwithstanding. Desiderata was the first legitimate, or rather official, wife of Charlemagne, though, after she had enjoyed the honor for a very short time, she was cast off by her royal consort, Bertrade, the Queen-mother, had herself come to Italy, to arrange the affair; she had even penetrated as far as Rome, where she seems to have reported to the Pope some favorable remarks of the Lombard king concerning the litigation between them.

Stephen III was beginning to weary of Christopher’s continual supervision. Desiderius, whose path had been prepared, more or less consciously, by Queen Bertrade, made up his mind to confer with the Pope in person. In Lent 771, he undertook a pilgrimage to Rome, orationis causa. He had some confederates in the pontifical circle, in particular a chamberlain, named Paul Afiarta. The news of the Lombard king’s pious intentions, did not fail to arouse the suspicions both of Christopher and Sergius. Summoning to Rome troops from the country, and even from the duchy of Perugia, they reinforced the gates, and prepared to show a good front. Carloman, the one of the two Frankish kings whose estates bordered on Italy, had at Rome a missus named Dodo, who took their part with great zeal. It was pretty well known against whom Desiderius’s animosity was directed. On his arrival at Rome, he took up his position near the Vatican, begging the Pope to come and confer with him. But instead of complying, Stephen proceeded to St. Peter’s, and then went back to the Lateran without taking any notice of the Lombard king. This was the signal for a most bitter contest.

Afiarta and Christopher were already at daggers drawn, and, as a result of their quarrels, Rome had for some time been divided into two factions. On the Pope’s return, Christopher and Sergius, suspecting treason, appeared at the Lateran with a strong escort, declaiming against their enemies. The Pope succeeded in pacifying them, and even swore a solemn oath in their favor. But no sooner had the agitators taken their departure, than he went back to the king, and by means of fresh promises on the justitiae S. Petri, he basely delivered over to him those to whom he owed his election. At his instigation two bishops repaired to the nearest gate, and called upon Chris­topher and his son Sergius to come to St. Peter’s, to yield themselves into the Pope’s hands. The two Roman nobles learned that day to what lengths cowardice and treachery can go. Their adherents forsook them, in order to listen to the voice of the Pope, who was morally a Lombard prisoner. The first to desert Christopher was no less a person than Gratiosus, the traitorous assassin of Toto (768), the initiator of attempts on the person of Constantine II, as well as of many other crimes, a man who owed his elevation in rank to the one against whom he now so ignobly turned. To hasten to the Pope’s summons he forced open the Porto gate, and this action gave a decisive turn to affairs. Sergius and Christopher, aghast at this sudden change of front, were misguided enough to commit themselves into the hands of the enemy. This took place in the middle of the night.

The next day the Pope celebrated mass in the presence of King Desiderius, and then returned into the city, leaving Christopher and Sergius in the basilica of St. Peter. According to his biographer, Stephen’s wish was that they should adopt a religious career, but he must have been aware that, in neglecting to bring them back with him, he was delivering them over to the discretion of those who bore them ill-will. Indeed, before nightfall Afiarta and his supporters had united with the king in a design against them. Christopher and Sergius, dragged from the most revered sanctuary in Christendom, were taken to the bridge of St. Angelo, where their eyes were torn out. As a result of this inhuman treatment, Christopher died, only three days later. Sergius was cast into the great prison of the Lateran, where he survived for more than a year. A week before the death of Stephen III, Afiarta, and John, the Pope’s brother, had him brought out of prison and assassinated. After being half strangled, he was buried, while still alive, under an arcade in the Via Merulana, quite near to the palace. Afiarta probably got rid of him thus, in the fear that he might be set free after the Pope’s death.

The unhappy Stephen III, after having betrayed his benefactors, realized with grief that he was being made a dupe of by Desiderius, who refused him the least compensation. “What”, said the king, “surely the Pope can expect no further concessions when I have relieved him of his guardians! He had better mind his own business and not fall out with me! Carloman is the champion of Christopher and Sergius, and he will require an explanation of their treatment. If I do not take Stephen’s part he will be ruined”.

The Pope undoubtedly recognized the correctness of this reasoning, for he refrained from writing to Carloman, who was little inclined to listen to him. But he wrote to Charles and the Queen-mother a letter which is still extant, setting forth the above-mentioned sad events, from the stand-point of his mentor Afiarta and the Lombard king, whom he describes as being full of enthusiasm for himself, as well as for the temporal concerns of the Holy See. He lays great stress on the part played by Dodo, basely making the most of the discord between the two brothers, although two years before it was he who exhorted them to reconciliation.

At the beginning of December (771) Carloman died, somewhat to the relief of the Pope and his new advisers. But their contentment did not last long. Only two months later, 3rd February 772, Stephen joined Christopher and Sergius, his sometime friends, in the unseen world. They had not been mistaken in their expectation of finding in him a submissive agent. But such agents, however convenient they may be, require much discretion in handling, and are by no means always to be relied upon.