§ 4. HILDEBRAND AND HIS TRAINING. 9
§ 4. Hildebrand and his Training.
THE history of the period begins with a survey of the papacy as the controlling power of Western Christendom. It embraces six stages: 1. The Hildebrandian popes, 1049- 10T3. 2. Gregory VIL, 1073-1085, or the assertion of the supreme authority of the papacy in human affairs. 3. From Gregory's death to the Concordat of Worms, 1122, or the settlement of the controversy over investiture. 4. From the Concordat of Worms to Innocent III., 1198. 5. The Pontificate of Innocent III., 1198-1216, or the papacy at its height. 6. From Innocent III. to Boniface VIII., 1216- 1294, or the struggle of the papacy with Frederick II. and the restoration of peace between the papacy and the empire.
The papacy had reached its lowest stage of weakness and degeneracy when at Sutri in 1046, under the influence of Henry III., two popes were deposed and a third was forced to abdicate.1 But the worthless popes, who prostituted their office and outraged the feelings of Christendom during the tenth and the first half of the eleventh century, could not overthrow the papacy any more than idolatrous kings could overthrow the Jewish monarchy, or wicked emperors the Roman Empire. In the public opinion of Europe, the papacy was still a necessary institution established by Christ in the primacy of Peter for the government and administration of the Church. There was nothing to take its place. It needed only a radical reformation in its head, which would be fol lowed by a reformation of the members. Good men all over Europe anxiously desired and hoped that Providence would intervene and rescue the chair of Peter from the hands of thieves and robbers, and turn it once more into a blessing. The idea of abolishing the papacy did not occur to the mind of the Christians of that age as possible or desirable.
At last the providential man for effecting this necessary i Vol. IV. § 66, pp. 299 sqq.
10 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1049-1073.
reformation appeared in the person of Hildebrand, who controlled five successive papal administrations for twentyfour years. 1049-1073, then occupied the papal chair himself for twelve years, 1073-1085, and was followed by like-minded successors. He is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, of popes, and one of the most remarkable men in history. He excited in his age the highest admiration and the bitterest hatred. Opinions about his principles and policy are still divided ; but it is impossible to deny his ability, energy, earnestness, and achievements.
Hildebrand was of humble and obscure origin, but fore ordained to be a prince of the Church. He was of small stat ure, and hence called " Hildebrandellus " by his enemies, but a giant in intellect and character. His figure was ungainly and his voice feeble; but his eyes were bright and piercing, bespeaking penetration, a fiery spirit, and restless activity. His early life is involved in obscurity. He only incidentally alludes to it in his later Epistles, and loved to connect it with the supernatural protection of St. Peter and the Holy Virgin. With a monkish disregard of earthly relations, he never mentions his family. The year of his birth is un known. The veneration of friends and the malice of ene mies surrounded his youth with legends and lies. He was the son of a peasant or goatherd, Bonizo, living near Soana, a village in the marshes of Tuscany, a few miles from Orbitello. The oft-repeated tradition that he was the son of a carpenter seems to have originated in the desire to draw a parallel between him and Jesus of Nazareth. Of his mother we know nothing. His name points to Lombard or German origin, and was explained by his contemporaries as hell-brand or fire brand.1 Odilo, the abbot of Cluny, saw sparks of fire issuing from his raiment, and predicted that, like John the Baptist, lie would be "great in the sight of the Lord."
1 The contemporary spellings are: Yldibrandus, Heldebrandus, Ildebrandus, Oldeprandus. William of Malmesbury calls him homuncio exihs stature.