CLEMENT II. (Suidger) became pope on Dec. 25, 1046. He belonged to a noble Saxon family, was bishop of Bamberg, and chancellor to the emperor Henry III., who elevated him to the papacy. He was the first pope placed on the throne by the power of the German emperors, but his short pontificate was only signal ized by the convocation of a council in which decrees were en acted against simony. He died on Oct. 9, 1047.