We have now come to one of the real crises of history. The new spirit had gained ascendency at Rome, and the great man had arisen who was to present the papal ideal with all the authority of genius. Hildebrand of Soana[6] was the son of a well-to-do Tuscan peasant; he had been brought up by his uncle, abbot of the strict convent of St. Mary’s on the Aventine, which was the centre of the Cluniac ideas in Rome, and where he made his profession as monk. He became the chaplain of Gregory VI. who, though he bought the Papacy with gold, had striven his best to carry out the work of reformation. When deprived of his office at Sutri, Gregory VI. had been compelled to retire to Germany with the Emperor. Hildebrand, now about twenty-five years old, accompanied his master in his exile. In 1048 the deposed Pope died, and his chaplain betook himself to Cluny, where he remained for a full year, and where, he tells us, he would have gladly spent the rest of his life. But in 1049 Leo IX. passed through Cluny on his way to Rome, and Hildebrand was commanded to accompany him. With his return to Rome his active career began. As papal sub-deacon he reorganised the crippled finances of the Holy See, and strengthened the hold of the Pope over the unruly citizens. As papal legate he was sent to France in 1054 to put down the heresy of Berengar of Tours. But the death of Leo recalled him to Italy, whence he went to the Emperor at the head of the deputation that successfully requested the appointment of Victor II. With this Pope he was as powerful as with Leo. But Victor II. died in 1057, and Frederick of Lorraine left his newly-won abbot’s chair at Monte Casino to ascend the throne of St. Peter as Stephen IX. [Sidenote: Stephen IX., 1057–1058.] Though a zealot for the ideas of Cluny, Stephen, as the head of the house of Lorraine, was the natural leader of the political opposition to the imperial house both in Germany and Italy. He made Peter Damiani a cardinal, and zealously pushed forward the warfare against simony in Germany. Stephen’s early death in 1058, when Hildebrand was away in Germany, brought about a new crisis. The Counts of Tusculum thought the moment opportune to make a desperate effort to win back their old influence. They terrorised Rome with their troops, and brought about the irregular election of one of the Crescentii, who called himself Benedict X. The prompt action of Hildebrand preserved the Papacy for the reforming party. He hurried back to Florence, and formed a close alliance with Duke Godfrey of Lorraine, Stephen’s brother, against the nominee of Tusculum. The stricter cardinals met at Siena and chose Gerhard, Bishop of Florence, a Burgundian by birth, as orthodox Pope. Gerhard held another synod at Sutri, where the Antipope was formally deposed. [Sidenote: Nicholas II., 1058–1061.] Early in 1059 he entered Rome in triumph. By assuming the name of Nicholas II., he proclaimed himself the