AUTHORITIES.--(a) The principal ancient authorities for the life and works of Gregory are given in their chronological order. They are: Gregory of Tours, _Historia Francorum_, x. 1; _Liber pontificalis_, "Vita Gregorii Magni"; Isidore of Seville, _De vir. illustr._ 40, and Ildefonsus of Toledo, _De vir. illustr._ i.; an anonymous _Vita Gregorii_ (of English authorship) belonging to the monastery of St Gall, discovered by Ewald and published by F. A. Gasquet, _A Life of Pope St Gregory the Great_ (1904); Bede, _Historia ecclesiastica_, ii. c. 1; Paul the Deacon, _Vita Gregorii Magni_ (770-780); John the Deacon, _Vita Gregorii_ (872-882). (b) Recent Literature: J. Barmby, _Gregory the Great_ (1892); T. Bonsmann, _Gregor I. der Grosse, ein Lebensbild_ (1890); F. Homes Dudden, _Gregory the Great: his place in History and Thought_ (2 vols., 1905); G. J. T. Lau, _Gregor I. der Grosse nach seinem Leben und seiner Lehre geschildert_ (1845); C. Wolfsgruber, _Gregor der Grosse_ (1897). See also F. Gregorovius, _Rome in the Middle Ages_ (Eng. trans.) ii. 16-103; T. Hodgkin, _Italy and her Invaders_, v. cc. 7-10; H. K. Mann, _The Lives of the Popes_, i. 1-250; F. W. Kellett, _Pope Gregory the Great and his Relations with Gaul_; L. Pingaud, _La Politique de Saint Gregoire le Grand_; W. Wisbaum, _Die wichtigsten Richtungen und Ziele der Tatigkeit des Papstes Gregors des Grossen_; W. Hohaus, _Die Bedeutung Gregors des Grossen als liturgischer Schriftsteller_; E. G. P. Wyatt, _St Gregory and the Gregorian Music_; and the bibliographies of Gregory in Chevalier, _Repertoire des sources historiques du moyen age_, and A. Potthast, _Bibliotheca historica medii aevi_. (F. H. D.) GREGORY II., pope from 715 to 731, succeeded Constantine I., whom he accompanied from Constantinople in 710. Gregory did all in his power to promote the spread of Christianity in Germany, and gave special encouragement to the mission of St Boniface, whom he consecrated bishop in 722. He was a staunch adherent of the East Roman empire, which still exercised sovereignty over Rome, Ravenna and some other parts of Italy, and he impeded as far as possible the progress of the Lombards. About 726, however, he became involved in a conflict with the emperor Leo the Isaurian on account of the excessive taxation of the Italians, and, later, on the question of image worship, which had been proscribed by the government of Constantinople. Leo endeavoured to rid himself of the pope by violence, but Gregory, supported by the people of Rome and also by the Lombards, succeeded in eluding the emperor's attacks, and died peacefully on the 11th of February 731.