PASCHAL II. (Ranieri), pope from Aug. 16, 1099, to Jan. 21, 1118, a native of Bieda, near Viterbo, was a Cluniac monk. He was created cardinal-priest of S. Clemente by Gregory VII. about 1076, and was consecrated pope in succession to Urban II. on Aug. 14, 1099. In the long struggle with the emperors over in vestiture, he zealously carried on the Hildebrandine policy, but with only partial success. In 1104 Paschal instigated the em peror's second son to rebel against his father, but soon found Henry V. even more persistent in maintaining the right of investi ture than Henry IV. had been. The imperial Diet at Mainz invited (Jan. 1106) Paschal to visit Germany and settle the trouble, hut the pope in the Council of Guastalla (Oct. 1106) simply renewed the prohibition of investiture. In the same year he ended the investiture struggle in England. At the close of '106 he sought in vain the mediation of King Philip and Prince Louis in the imperial struggle, but, his negotiations remaining without result, he returned to Italy in Sept. 1107.
When Henry V. advanced with an army into Italy in order to be crowned, the pope agreed to a compromise, but the Romans rose in revolt against the compact, and Henry retired taking with him pope and curia. After sixty-one days of harsh imprisonment, Paschal yielded and guaranteed investiture to the emperor. Henry was then crowned in St. Peter's on April 13, and withdrew beyond the Alps. The Hildebrandine party was aroused to action, how
ever ; a Lateran council of March 1112 declared null and void the concessions extorted by violence; a council held at Vienna in October actually excommunicated the emperor, and Paschal sanctioned the proceeding. Towards the end of the pontificate trouble began anew in England. On the death of the countess Matilda, who had bequeathed all her territories to the Church (1 I's), the emperor at once laid claim to them as imperial fiefs and forced the pope to flee from Rome. Paschal returned after the emperor's withdrawal at the beginning of 1'18, but died within a few days on Jan. 21, I 118. His successor was Gelasius II.
The principal sources for the life of Paschal II. are his Letters in the Monumenta Germaniae historica, Epistolae, vols. 3, 6, 7, 13, 17, 23, 25, and the Vita by Petrus Pisanus in the Liber pontificalis, ed. Duchesne (Paris, 1892). Important bulls are in J. A. G. von Pflugk Harttung, Die Bullen der Pdpste bis zum Ende des zwolften Jahrhun derts (Gotha, 1901) , and a valuable digest in Jaffe-Wattenbach, Regesta pontif. roman. (1885-88). There is an exhaustive bibliography with an excellent article by Carl Mirbt in Herzog-Hauck, Realencyklopddie (3rd ed., 2904). See the Catholic Encyclopaedia. (C. H. H.)