LEO
160
LEO
minister of John VIII. When Leo became pope, he
was Cardinal-Priest of St. Susanna. His immediate
predecessor, John X, had be^n engaged in settling
questions of ecclesiastical jurisdiction in Dalmatia;
some of these were decided by Leo VI, and there is ex-
tant a Bull of his in which he states that he has
granted the pallium to Archbishop John of Spalato,
orders all the bishops of Dalmatia to obey him, and to
confine their operations within the limits of their own
dioceses, and instructs Bishop Gregory to be content
with the Diocese of Scodra. The only other item of
information regarding Leo which has reached us is
that "according to most writers he was buried in St.
Peter's".
Liber PorUificalis. ed. Duchesne, II (Paris, 1892), 242; Mann, Liven of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages, IV, 188.
Horace K. Mann.
Leo VJlI, Pope, date of birth unknown; d. 13 Julv, 939. A Roman and priest of St. Sixtus, and probably a Benedictine monk, he was elected pope 3 January, 936. He seems to have been placed upon the Chair of Peter by the power of Alberic, prince and senator of the Romans. Alberic's authority in Rome was dis- puted by Hugo, who bore the title of King of Italy (Langobardia) . The citv was being besieged by Hugo when the famous Odo, Abbot of Cluny, reached it. He had been summoned by Leo, who knew his great in- fluence with both Alberic and Hugo, to make peace be- tween them. Odo accomplished the desires of the pope, and a marriage between Alberic and Hugo's daughter Alda effected at least a temporary under- standing between the belligerents. The Bulls of Leo consist for the most part of grants of privilege to various monasteries, especially to Cluny. One, how- ever, is a letter to Frederick, Archbishop of Mainz. With a view to co-operating in the work of reform which was being accomphsh^ in Germany by Henry I (the Fowler) and his son Otho I, Leo named Fred- erick his vicar throughout all Germany, with power to proceed against all erring clerics. He would not , how- ever, allow the archbishop to baptize the Jews by force, though he did authorize their expulsion from
the cities on their refusal to embrace Christianity.
Liber Pontificalia, ed. Duchesne, II (Paris, 1892), 244; JhTTk, Reg. Pontif., I (Leipzie, 1888), 3597 sqq.; Mann, Lix'ea of the Popes in the Early MiMU Ages, IV (LondoD, 1906). 205
■qq.
Horace K. Mann.
Leo Vm, Pope, date of birth unknown; d. between
20 February and 13 AprU, 965. When the Emperor
Otho I illegally brought about the deposition of the
unworthy rope John XII (Nov.. 963), he equally il-
i^ally caused to be elected, to fill his place, a layman,
"Leo, the venerable protonotary'*. Leo was a Ro-
man and the son of one John. His family was well
known in the Clivus Argentarii (now Via di Marforio,
between the Corso and uie Forum Romanum), and he
himself gave his name to various streets in the neigh-
bourhood of his home. Chosen pope on 4 December,
he was consecrated Bishop of Rome on 6 December,
all the lesser orders having, in violation of the canon
law, been bestowed upon him in the meantime by Sico,
Bishop of Ostia. A few weeks after Leo's consecra-
tion, the Romans made a vain effort to overthrow the
authority of the emperor. They were severely pun-
ished for their attempt; but, through the intercession
of Leo, Otho restored to them the hostages he had re-
ceived from them. No sooner, however, did the em-
peror leave Rome, than the people rose and expelled
his nominee (Feb., 964). Jonn XII at once returned
to the city, summoned a council, condemned Leo
"one of the employees of our curia, who has broken
his faith with us", and degraded those clerics who had
been ordained by him. ^on after this John died (14
May, 964), and the Romans unwisely elected to suc-
ceed him the Cardinal-Deacon Benedict. Indignant
ftt the expulsion of Leo, and the election of Benedict,
Otho hurried to Rome, and waa soon in poanession of
both it and the new pope. Leo returned with the em«
peror, and at once brought Benedict to trial. With
the consent of all his would-be judges, Benedict was
degraded to the rank of a deacon, Lio himself tearing
the pallium from his shoulders (July, 964). If it be
the fact, as is asserted by a contemporary, that Bene-
dict acquiesced in his deposition, and if, as seems cer-
tain, no further protest was made against Leo*s posi-
tion, he may well be regarded as a true pope from July,
964, to his death in 965, about the month of March.
No extant records inform us of any deeds which Leo performed during the period when he may be safely regarded as a true pope. He is said, indeed, to have given Otho the right of nominating any one he chose to be pope or bishop, and to have restored to Otho all the lands which hb predecessors had be- 8towe<l upon the papacy. It is ^enerallv allowed, how- ever, that the documents which make these state- ments are imperial productions forged during the investiture quarrel.
Liber Pontificalis, ed. Ddchesnk. II (Paria, 1892), 250; LlOTpRAND, Hist. Ortoni« (Hanover, 1S77), ixsqq.; Ann. Alta- hensrs majores (Hftnover, 1868), an., 963 sq.; JAFrfe, Reg., I (Leipzig, 1888 ^ , 467 sqcl Cf. Fisher. The Medieval Empire, II (London. 1897), li:?: Duchesne, The Beginnings of the Tem- poral Sovereignty of the Popes (London, 190S), 222 »qq.; Majnn, The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages, IV, 260-81.
HoKACE K. Mann.
Leo IX, Saint, Pope (1049-54), b. at Egisheim, near Colmar, on the borders of Alsaco, 21 June, 1002; d. 19 April, 1054. lie belonged to a noble family which had givi'n or was to give saints to the (^hurch and rulers to the Empire. He was named Bruno. His father Hugh was nrst cousin to Emperor Conrad, and both Hugh and his wife Heilewide were remarkable for their piet v and learning. .^Vs a sign of the tender conscience which soon began to manifest itself in the saintly child, we are told that, though he had given abundant proofs of a bright mind, on one occasion he could not study out of an exceptionally beautiful book which his mother had bought and given to him. At length it transpired that the book had been stolen from the Abbey of St. Hubert in the Ardennes. When Heilewide had restored the volume to its rightful owners, the little Bruno's studies proceeded un- checked. When five years of age, he was committed to the care of the energetic Berthold, Bishop of Toul, who had a school for the sons of the nobility. Intelli- gent, graceful in body, and gracious in uisposition, Bruno was a favourite with his schoolfellows. Whilst still a youth and at home for his holidays, he was attacked when asleep by some animal, and so much injured that for some time he lay between life and death. In that condition he saw, as he used after- wards to tell his friends, a vision of St. Benedict, who cured him by touching his wounds with a cross. This we are told by Leo's principal biographer, Wlbert, who was his intimate friend when the saint was Bish- op of Toul.
Bruno became a canon of St. Stephen's at Toul (1017), and though still quite young exerted a sooth- ing influence on Herimann^ the choleric successor of Bishop Berthold. When, m 1024, Conrad, Bruno's cousin, succeeded the Emperor Henry I, the saint's relatives sent him tp the new king's court **to serve in his chapel ". His virtue soon made itself felt, and his companions, to distinguish him from others who bore the same name, always spoke of him as **the good Bruno ". In 1026 Conrad set out for Italy to make his authority respected in that portion of his dominions, and as Herimann, Bishop of Toul, was t<X) old to lead his contingent into the peninsula, he en* trusted the command of it to Bruno, then a deacon. There is rt»ason to believe that this novel occupation was not altogether uncongenial to him, for soldiers seem always to have had an attraction for him . While he was thus in the midst of arms. Bishop Herimann died and Bruno was at once elected to succeed him.
