RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Gregory I. -IV.
tion to Boniface and the nascent Germanic national churches of central and northern Europe. In regard to the first point, Gregory recognized from the beginning of his pontificate the danger offered by the Lombard kingdom to Rome and the Church; but for some time he contrived to maintain friendly relations with the court of Pavia, succeeding in gaining from Liutprand in 715 or 716 the restoration of a portion of the patrimony of Peter near Genoa, and in 728 the city and district of Sutri. The first outbreak of trouble was caused by the iconoclastic edict of Leo III., which caused all Italy to rise against the Byzantine overlordship. Even Ravenna opened its gates to the Lombards. But Gregory was forced to proceed against the emperor, and solemnly condemned the iconoclasts in a synod held about 729. The east coast from Venice to Osimo threw off the Byzantine rule, and the election of an Italian emperor was even discussed. Gregory, however, rightly perceived a greater danger in Liutprand than in Leo. When the eunuch Eutychius was sent as exarch of Ravenna about 730, he made common cause with the Lombards against the pope, whose opposition to the emperor was on purely ecclesiastical grounds, and even on those kept within the bounds of moderation. In these difficulties Gregory was comforted by the submissive reverence of the Western peoples, greater than they had shown to any of his predecessors. King Ina of Wessex founded the schola Saxonum at Rome and established the payment of Peter's pence in his kingdom for its support. Theodo of Bavaria came to Rome in 716 to consult the pope about the ecclesiastical organization of his dominions, and a few years later Gregory came into relations with Boniface, sending him to Thuringia in 719 and consecrating him bishop in 722 that he might go to the north as an ecclesiastical organizer in the interests of the Holy See (see Boniface, Saint; Papal States). No pope since Gregory the Great had done so much for the increase of the papal territory, for the elevation of the spiritual life of Rome, or for the promotion of monasticism, and none had followed with such intelligent force the path of development marked out by the first of his name. (H. Bohmer.)
Bibliography: His Epistolce et canones are in MPL, lxxxix. Consult: Liber pontificalis, ed. Duchesne, i. 249-257, Paris, 1886; Paulus Diaconus, Hist. Langdbardorum, vi. 40, ed. Waitz in MGH, Script, rer. Langob., i (1878), 12- 187; Jaffe', Regesta, i. 249-257; F. Kunstmann, Die lateinischen P onitentialbiicher der Angelsachsen, Mainz, 1844; A. von Reumont, Geschichte der Stadt Rom, ii. 213 sqq., Berlin, 1867; R. Baxmann, Die Politik der Papste, i. 195-209, Elberfeld, 1868; J. Langen, Geschichte der rbmischen Kirche, i. 602-618, Bonn, 1885; F. Gregorovius, Hist, of the City of Rome, ii. 215, 231-241, London, 1894; Schaff, Christian Church, iv. 231; Neander, Christian Church, in. 47-48 (his letter to Leo is on pp. 210-212); Mann, Popes, i. 141-202, and the letters to Leo, pp. 498- 502; Bower, Popes, ii. 20-69; Milman, Latin Christianity, ii. 311-317 et passim; Hauck, KD, i. 364-365 et passim; DCB, ii. 791-796.
Gregory III. : Pope 731-741. He was of Syrian origin, and was elected Mar. 18, 731, succeeding Gregory II. His first care was to establish better relations with Constantinople, and to induce Leo III. to abandon his iconoclastic position, though without success. The stubbornness of the em-
peror and the danger from the Lombards ultimately forced Gregory to widen the breach between new and old Rome. Of the measures which he took to strengthen himself against the Lombards, his alliance with the dukes of Benevento and Spoleto brought him into direct conflict with Liutprand, who appeared before Rome in the summer of 739. Gregory twice urgently besought the aid of Charles Martel; and although this was refused, and a combination of circumstances delivered him from the Lombard attack, it was clear that only in alliance with the Franks could the papal see maintain its independence (see Papal States). He was more successful in the province of ecclesiastical administration. He maintained the relations of his predecessor with Boniface, whom he made archbishop in 732 with the right to organize new dioceses as he saw fit in Germany, and in 738-739 induced him to give up his Saxon missionary plans and devote himself as papal vicar to the organization of the Bavarian and Alemannic churches (see Boniface, Saint). In the same spirit he attempted to draw closer the ties between himself and the Anglo-Saxon Church, to attach the North Italian bishops more firmly to Rome, and generally to extend the scope of the papal jurisdiction. After Gregory II., he was undoubtedly the most important pope of the eighth century.
(H. Bohmer.)
Bibliography: His Scripta are in MPL, lxxxix., and his Epistolce in MPL, xcviii. Consult: Liber pontificalis, ed. Duchesne, i. 415-425, Paris, 1886; Paulus Diaconus, Hist. Langobardorum, vi. 54-56, ed. Waitz in MGH, Script, rer. Langob., i (1878), 12-187; Fredegar, Chronicon, Continuationes, xxii., ed. Krusch in MGH, Script, rer. Merov., ii (1888), 168-193; Jarfe", Regesta, i. 257-262; R. Baxmann, Die Politik der Papste, i. 209-218, Elberfeld, 1868; J. Langen, Geschichte der romischen Kirche, i. 618-628, Bonn, 1885; F. Gregorovius, Hist, of the City of Rome, ii. 241-254, London, 1894; Neander, Christian Church, in. 50-67; Schaff, Christian Church, iv. 231-232; Mann, Popes, i. 203-224; Bower, Popes, ii. 69-76; Milman, Latin Christianity, ii. 323, 382-386; Hauck, KD, i. 468-469 et passim; DCB, ii. 796-798.
Gregory IV. : Pope 827-844. He was a Roman of noble birth and had been priest of the basilica of St. Mark. His election was the first at which the Constitutio Lotharii was carried out, the Roman proceres acting as electors, and an imperial missus confirming the choice before his consecration, to which another preliminary was the taking of an oath of fealty to the emperor. This dependence on the Frankish power lasted through the first years of his pontificate, and was only mitigated by the conflicts in the imperial family. Early in 833 he went to Germany at the summons of the young Lothair to work for peace in the imperial house and for the unity of the empire. But after efforts in which he was misunderstood by both parties his intervention proved fruitless, and he went back to Rome feeling that he had been tricked, and remained friendly to Louis as long as the latter lived, attempting again to work for peace upon his death, but with what success is not known. He labored with great liberality for the building and furnishing of churches and monasteries, and erected a strong fortress against the Saracens in the ruins of Ostia. He died in Jan., 844. (H. Bohmer.)
Gregory V -V1J..