§ 29. ALEXANDER III. IN CONFLICT. Ill
was the interest of the popes to keep them separated, and to foment division in Germany and in Italy, according to the maxim, "Divide et impera."
On the 7th of September, 1159, Cardinal Roland, the chan cellor of the Roman curia and a distinguished canonist, ascended the papal chair as Alexander III. He had previously been professor at Bologna, and written the first work on the Decretum Gratiani. He had been created cardinal by Eugene III. He had once offended Barbarossa by the ques tion : " From whom does the emperor receive his dignity if not from the pope ? " He had also advised Adrian to excom municate the emperor. He was a scholar, a statesman, and a vigorous champion of the Hildebrandian theocracy. He had an unusually long pontificate of twenty-one years, and is the most conspicuous pope between Gregory VII. and Inno cent III. He had a checkered career of fortune and misfor tune in a conflict with the emperor and four anti-popes ; but he consistently adhered to his principles, and at last triumphed over his enemies by moral force and the material aid of the Normans in the south and the Lombards in the north.
The election of Roland by fourteen cardinals was immedi ately followed by the election of Cardinal Octavian of St. Cecilia, the imperial anti-pope, who called himself Victor IV., and at once took possession of the Vatican. Roland was consecrated at Ninfa, Octavian in the convent of Farfa. They were quartered in the Campagna, a few miles distant from each other, and published contradictory reports with charges of disgraceful violence at the election.1
The emperor, who was then besieging the city of Cremona, being appealed to by both parties (though with different
1 Octavian, according to the report of his enemies, plucked the papal cope from the shoulders of Roland, and invested himself with such inde cent haste that the cope was reversed, and the back of it appeared on his breast. The mistake created derisive laughter, and was construed as a divine judgment.
112 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1123-1198.
feelings), and using a right exercised by Constantine, Theodosius, Justinian, Charlemagne, and Otto, summoned a coun cil at Pavia to investigate and decide the case, 1160. l The rival popes were invited by messengers to appear in person. Octavian, who was always an imperialist, accepted the invi tation. Roland distrusted the emperor, and protested against his right to call a council without his permission. He said that he honored him as a special defender of the Church above all other princes, but that God had placed the pope above kings.
The partisan council, which consisted chiefly of bishops from Germany and North Italy, after a grave debate, unani mously decided in favor of Octavian, and excommunicated Roland, Feb. 11, 1160. The emperor paid the customary honors to Victor IV., held his stirrup and kissed his toe. Alexander issued from Anagni a counter-excommunication against the anti-pope and the emperor, March 24, 1160. He thereby encouraged revolt in Lombardy and division in Germany. Another schism rent the Church.
The rival popes despatched legates to all the courts of Eu rope. France, Spain, and England sided with Alexander. He took refuge in France for three years (1162-1165), and was received with enthusiasm. The kings of France and England, Louis VII. and Henry II., walked on either side of his horse, holding the bridle, and conducting him into the town of Courcy on the Loire. Germany, Hungary, Bohemia, Norway, and Sweden supported Victor. Italy was divided: Rome and Tuscany were under the power of the emperor; Sicily favored the Gregorian pope; the nourishing commer cial and manufacturing cities of Lombardy were discontented with the despotic rule of Barbarossa, who was called the destroyer of cities. He put down the revolt with an iron hand; he razed Milan to the ground after a long and atro-
1 The document is given in Rahewin, Gesta Frid. IV. 64, and Mirbt, Quel- Icn, 121.