RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Benaiah Benedict
Duchesne, i, Paris, 1S86, 363) asserts that the emperor Constantine Pogonatus conceded the right to proceed at once to consecration for the future; but this is very doubtful, as it would amount to a total renunciation of the right of confirmation, and it is certain that several successors of Benedict waited to obtain it either from the emperor himself or his representative, the Exarch of Ravenna. During the interval intervening before his consecration, Benedict signed himself with the designation presbyter et in Dei nomine electus sanctcB sedis apostoliccB. Like his predecessor, he had at heart the complete recognition by the Western Church of the sixth ecumenical council (Third Constantinople, 680). With this end in view, Leo II had sent the notary Peter to Spain, and immediately after his election Benedict wrote to Peter to carry out his commission. His wish was gratified by the condemnation of monothelitism in the fourteenth Council of Toledo (Nov., 684). Even before his consecration, which finally took place June 26, 684, he espoused the cause of Wilfrid of York (q.v.) and wrote in recognition of his innocence and his rights. Benedict died May 8, 685.
(A. Hauck.)
Bibliography: The Vita is in ASB, 7th May, ii, 197-198. Consult Vita Wilfridi, chap, xlii sqq., in T. Gale, Historim Anglicancs scriptores quingue, i, 74 sqq., Oxford, 1691; Mann, Popes, vol. i, part 2, pp. 54-63, Lond., 1902; Jaffe\ Regesta, i, 241; J. Langen, Geschichte der romischen Kirchevon Leo I bis Nikolaus I , p. 579, Bonn, 1885; Hefele, Conciliengeschichte, iii, 322, Eng. transl., v, 215; Bower, Popes, i, 487-489; L. M. Hartmann, Geschichte Italiens, ii, 262-263, Gotha, 1903.
Benedict III: Pope 855-858. He was chosen immediately after the death of Leo IV by the clergy and people of Rome, but owing to the setting up of an antipope, Anastasius, by the emperor Lothair and his son Louis II, was not consecrated for more than two months (Sept. 29). Soon afterward the Saxon king, Ethelwulf, and his son Alfred, visited Rome and made liberal gifts to the Church. In his relations with secular powers and important prelates, Benedict displayed the same unbending principle which was carried out by his famous successor Nicholas I (q.v.), already a person of much influence. He confirmed the powerful Hincmar, archbishop of Reims, in his primacy, only on condition that the rights of the apostolic see should be safeguarded. In England he protested against the deposition of bishops by tyrannous lay nobles. The struggle with the Eastern Church in which Nicholas was involved had its origin in Benedict's pontificate, arising out of the case of the archbishop of Syracuse, who was deposed by the patriarch of Constantinople, Ignatius (q.v.), and appealed to Leo IV and after his death to Benedict. Before Ignatius was expelled by a faction and replaced by the famous Photius, Benedict died (Apr. 7, 858). (A. Hauck.)
Bibliography: Liber pontificalis, ed. Duchesne, ii, 140, Paris, 1892; Epistolm Nicolai I, inMansi, Concilia, vol. xv; Ja,B£, Regesta, i, 339-340; J. Hergenrother, Photius, i, 358 sqq., Regensburg, 1867; R. Baxmann, Die Politik der Papste von Gregor I bis auf Gregor VII, i, 355 sqq., Elberfeld, 1868; J. Langen, Geschichte der romischen Kirche von Leo I bis Nikolaus I, p. 884, Bonn, 1885; Hefele, Con- ^iengeschichte, iv, 201; Bower, Popes, ii, 227-229.
Benedict IV: Pope 900-903. Owing to the scantiness of the sources for the history of the papacy at this period, the chronology is very uncertain; the exact date of Benedict's elevation can not be determined, though it is probably May, not later than June, 900. Like his predecessor, John IX, he recognized Formosus (q.v.), by whom he was himself ordained priest, as a lawful pope at a Roman synod in August. When Louis of Burgundy (Louis III) made his victorious descent into Italy and wrested it from Berengar, Benedict crowned him as emperor in Feb., 901. He died in July or Aug., 903. (A. Hauck.)
Bibliography: Liber pontificalis, ed. Duchesne, ii, 233, Paris, 1892; J&&6, Regesta, i, 443; Hefele, Conciliengeschichte, iv, 570-571; Bower, Popes, ii, 304-305.
Benedict V (called Grammaticus): Pope 964. At the end of 963, the emperor Otto I deposed the dissolute John XII in a synod at Rome and caused a prominent Roman layman to be put in his place as Leo VIII, taking an oath of the people that they would thenceforth choose no pope without his consent and that of his son. He had scarcely left the city when John XII returned and drove out and anathematized Leo. The emperor came back to chastise this rebellion, but before he arrived John XII died (May 14, 964). A deputation met Otto and begged him not to replace Leo, but to permit a new election. In spite of his refusal, the Romans chose the cardinal deacon Benedict, a man of blameless life and great learning who had been one of the opponents of John's unworthy rule. He had pledged fidelity both to Otto and to Leo, but the fear of imperial domination of the Church had brought him to support John on the latter's return. The people were firm in their intention to defend Benedict against the emperor; but the pressure of famine forced them to give him up (June 23, 964). He was brought to trial before a synod. After asking the pardon of Otto and of Leo, and surrendering the insignia of his office to the latter, he was deprived of his episcopal and priestly functions, though allowed to retain those of deacon. To avoid any possibility of his changing his mind, he was sent to Germany, where he remained practically a prisoner, in the charge of the archbishop of Hamburg, until his death, which occurred not earlier than July 4, 966. (A. Hauck.)
Bibliography: Liber pontificalis, ed. Duchesne, ii, 151, Paris, 1892; Jaffe", Regesta, i, 469; J. M. Watterich, Romanorum pontificum . . vitce, i, 45, Leipsic, 1862; A. von Reumont, Geschichte der Stadt Rom, ii, 289, Berlin, 1868; W von Giesebrecht, Geschichte der deutschen Kaiserzeit, i, 468, Brunswick, 1873; F. Gregorovius, Geschichte der Stadt Rom, iii, 364, Stuttgart, 1876; Bower, Popes, ii, 320-321; Hefele, Conciliengeschichte, iv, 619, 626; Hauck, KD, iii, 235-238.
Benedict VI: Pope 972-974. He was elected immediately after the death of John XIII (Sept. 6, 972), but was not consecrated until the 19th of the following January, apparently waiting for the emperor Otto's confirmation. After the death of Otto I, the affairs of the empire fell into disorder. Crescentius, the son of Theodora, conspired with the deacon Boniface to overthrow Benedict, who
Benedict