Ii Imperial Period

Leo III. (795-816) further strengthened the ties between Charlemagne and the Church by sending the former the keys of the grave of St. Peter and the banner of Rome. Charlemagne had already joined to his office of patrician the function of high justice. The pope urged him to despatch an envoy to receive the oath of fealty from the Romans. Leo had antagonized the Romans, and during a procession had been attacked and barbar ously maltreated (799). He fled to Charlemagne and returned guarded by his envoys ; Charlemagne himself went to Rome in Nov. Boo. As there was no one authorized to try a pope, Leo was permitted to clear himself of the charges against him by taking an oath on three altars. Then, on Christmas day, in St. Peter's, before an assemblage of Roman and Frankish lords, clergy, and people, the pontiff placed the imperial crown on Charlemagne's head and all proclaimed him emperor. Thus the new emperor was accepted by the Romans and consecrated by the pope. Yet Charlemagne was not sovereign of Rome; he pos sessed scarcely any regalia there, and was not in command of the army.

The death of Charlemagne in 814 was the signal for a further conspiracy of the nobles against the pope, who instantly put the ringleaders to death. He was severely blamed by the new emperor Louis for this violation of the imperial prerogative, as the emperor was determined to have his power recognized in Rome, and especially to insure that his assent must be secured for the election of a pope. To assure this he sent his son Lothair to be king of Italy, and the latter was crowned co-emperor in 823. In the following year Lothair promulgated a new constitu tion, to which Pope Eugenius II. (824-827) had to give his oath of adherence. The more direct power was to appertain to the pope—the supreme authority, presidency of the tribunals, and final judgment on appeal to the emperor. The new constitution also established the right of contending parties to select either the Roman or a Teutonic code for settlement of their disputes.

This is a convenient point to attempt a summary of the relations of the papacy with the City of Rome. By the donations and aid of the Franks it had become legal as well as actual ruler of the city. Charles the Great as emperor was the sovereign, but he never wished to take the place of the pope as chief of the Roman administration. The imperial missus of the constitution of had as an associate a papal missus, and the two were ordered to refer all matters first to the pope ; the emperor reserved a right of appeal to himself. But the power of the pope was secure only when he had outside support. At other times there was always danger that the nobles in the city would either revolt against him or, and more frequently, put in their own pope and use him for their own advantage. It must be noted, however, that the nobility as such never, before the middle of the i2th century, played a con stitutional role in the administration of the city.

The City Officials.

The principal official was the prefect, who was the chief of police and judge in criminal matters. In civil cases he presided over the court and announced the decision, but was not himself a judge. He held his power from the pope except during periods of strife between an emperor and a pope, when the former sometimes usurped the right of appointment. Next in rank were the consuls of the Romans, or the dukes. They were nobles employed by the popes for special duties such as pre siding over tribunals. Apparently the titles were applied to the same office, "duke" being used before the II th century and "con sul of the Romans" later, although in the period of transition the same man was sometimes styled both "duke" and "consul." Then there were "the seven judges," the primicerius and the secundicer ius, who may be roughly described as first and under secretaries of state; the arcarius, or papal receiver; the sacellarius, or cashier; the protoscriniarius, who was at the head of the papal chancery; the prinzus defensor, who was the advocate of the Church and ad ministered its possessions; and the nomenclator, who pleaded the cause of widows, orphans and paupers. These men were called judges, a term then used generally for officials. (For example, the judices de militia were military officials and not judges at all.) These seven officials had apparently been created as need arose; the primicerius is mentioned in the 4th century, the protoscriniar ius not until the ninth. They gradually ceased to be chiefs of administration and by the middle of the II th century were thought of only as civil judges. For example, the camerarius, or treasurer, had taken over the duties of both the arcarius and sacellarius. In addition there were other civil judges, the judices dativi, who assisted the seven, but could not give judgment without the con sent of some of "the seven ordinary judges." The latter were

always members of the clergy; the judices dativi were not. For administrative purposes the city was divided into 12 districts. These 12 had succeeded the division of the city in the 6th century into 14 districts for civil administration and seven for ecclesiasti cal. Just when the change was made is uncertain, but Duchesne thinks it goes back to the time of the Byzantine rule. Finally it may be noted that "senator" was merely a title of honour carry ing no power except when a usurping aristocrat bore the title. These statements as to the officials are based mainly on Halphen's study, which has done so much to correct former erroneous notions. Many details are still in doubt, but in general this outline applies to the period before the rise of the commune. The fall of the Frankish empire left all Italy a prey to anarchy and torn by faction fights. The Saracens were advancing from the south, the Hungarians from the north. Anarchy was at its climax in Rome. The aristocracy gained strength and wrested fresh privileges from the pontiffs. Early in the loth century Theophylact, who had been an official of the Sacred palace, was the chief of the Roman nobles. He was a senator, and his wife Theodora was styled "senatrix." She and her daughter Marozia were influential, and tradition has assigned to them both greater influence and more vice than can be proved by historical data. Marozia's husband was Alberic, the marquis of Spoleto. After Theophylact, Theodora and Alberic were all dead Marozia be came the leader of the noble faction, and added to her power by marrying Guy, marquis of Tuscany. The pope was imprisoned by her and soon died, possibly murdered. Marozia was supreme, and raised her son to the papacy as John XI. When on Guy's death she married King Hugh of Italy (932), a revolt against her and her new husband was led by Alberic, her son ; he was successful and became the ruler of the city. Of Marozia no more is heard. Otto the Great.—Alberic, as "prince and senator of all the Romans," ruled Rome and the duchy until his death in 954• "His yoke was heavy on the Romans and on the Holy Apostolic See"; but the popes were docile and the nobles were kept in order by a stern hand. Alberic was so completely master of Rome that he may have dreamed of creating an hereditary dynasty. He gave his son the name of Octavian, and on his deathbed he made the nobles swear to elect Octavian pope at the next vacancy. The lad was then 16 years old, and the following year was elected pope with the name of John XII. His palace was the scene of scandalous licence, while his public acts were those of a tyrant. He desired to be both pope and prince, but utterly failed to be either. In 96o, realizing the impossibility of maintaining his power without outside aid, he sought help from Otto I. and promised him the imperial crown. Otto vowed to defend the Church, to restore her territories, to refrain from usurping the power of the pope or the republic, and was crowned on Feb. 2, 962. Otto con firmed to the pope the territories granted by the Carolingians and even enlarged them, but he also revived the constitution of by which the election of a pope required the imperial confir mation, and he reserved for himself the suzerainty over the papal territory as the Carolingians had done. John XII., finding a master in the protector he had invoked, joined the discontented nobles who were conspiring against the emperor. But the latter hastened to Rome in Nov. 963, assembled the clergy, nobles and heads of the people, and made them take an oath never again to elect a pope without his consent and that of his son. He also con voked a synod presided over by himself in St. Peter's, which judged, condemned and deposed Pope John and elected Leo VIII. (963-965), a Roman noble, in his stead. All this was done at the direct bidding of the emperor, who thus deprived the Romans of their most valued privilege, the right of choosing the pope. More over, Otto was hated as a foreign ruler and the clergy were resentful at the uncanonical deposition of a pope and the equally uncanonical election of a layman. On Jan. 3, 964, the Romans at tacked the Vatican, where the emperor was lodged. The German knights repulsed them with much slaughter, but Otto departed in February, and John XII. returned with an army of followers and compelled the defenceless Leo VIII. to seek safety in flight. Soon afterwards Leo was deposed and excommunicated by a new synod, and many of his adherents were cruelly murdered. When on May 14, 964, John suddenly died, the Romans, amid violent struggles and tumults, elected Benedict V., and procured his consecration in spite of the emperor's veto. Otto appeared at the head of an army, besieged the city, reduced it by famine and, after holding a council which deposed Benedict, restored VIII. to the papal throne.