The Church and the Empire: Being an Outline of the History of the Church from A.D. 1003 to A.D. 1304Medley, D. J. (Dudley Julius)
Religion
The Church and the Empire: Being an Outline of the History of the Church from A.D. 1003 to A.D. 1304
Medley, D. J. (Dudley Julius)
Church history -- Middle Ages, 600-1500
After Lothair's return to Germany, Roger of Sicily gradually recovered
his authority in Southern Italy, and he even made use of his
championship of Anacletus to annex unopposed some of the papal lands.
Finally, to the scandal of Christendom, the abbey of Monte Cassino,
the premier monastery of the West, declared for Anacletus. Both
Innocent and the Norman foes of Roger appealed to Lothair, who crossed
the Alps, for a second time, in August, 1136, this time, accompanied
by a sufficient force. He did not delay long in Lombardy: he ignored
Rome, which apart from Roger was powerless. One army, under Lothair,
moved down the shores of the Adriatic; another, under Henry of
Bavaria, along the west coast. The fleets of Genoa and Pisa
co-operated, and Roger retired into Sicily. But both Emperor and Pope
claimed the conquered duchy of Apulia, and the dispute was only
settled by both presenting to the new duke the banner by which the
investiture was made. It did not help to soothe the quarrel when the
recovered monastery of Monte Cassino was handed over to the Emperor's
Chancellor. Lothair could remain no longer in Italy; but he fell ill
on his way back, and died in a Tyrolese village on December 3rd, 1138.
[Sidenote: The end of the schism.]
Lothair had done nothing to end the schism. Innocent was back in Rome,
but Anacletus had never been ousted from it. Meanwhile, in the spring
of 1137, Bernard had also responded to the appeal of Innocent and
returned to Italy. While Lothair was overrunning Apulia Bernard was
winning over the adherents of Anacletus in Rome. When Lothair retired
Roger immediately began to recover his dominions; but when Bernard
made overtures to him on behalf of Innocent, he professed himself
quite ready to hear the arguments on both sides. A conference took
place between a skilful supporter of Anacletus and this "rustic
abbot"; but although Bernard convinced his rhetorical adversary, Roger
had too much to lose in acknowledging Innocent, for he would be
obliged to surrender the papal lands which he had occupied and,
perhaps, the royal title, the gift of Anacletus. The end, however, was
at hand. Less than two months after Lothair's death Anacletus died
(January 25, 1138). His few remaining followers elected a successor,
but this was more with the desire of making good terms than of
prolonging the schism. Innocent bribed and Bernard persuaded, and the
anti-Pope surrendered of his own accord. Bernard, to whom was rightly
ascribed the merit of ending the scandal of disunion in Christendom,
immediately escaped from his admirers and returned to the solitude of
Clairvaux and his literary labours. These were not all self-imposed.
Among his correspondents were persons in all ranks of life; and his
letters, no less than his formal treatises, prove his influence as one
of the most deeply spiritual teachers of the Middle Ages.
[Sidenote Roger of Sicily.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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