With the tenth century we find the Papacy in a phase which seemed at time, to imperil all it had gained. Its three functions—the bishopric of Rome. the government of a Roman 'state. and the headship of Latin Christianity—were often in hopeless conflict. lint never more than now. In the furious strife of kcal parties in which Mime, like every other Italian city', was involved, the Papacy Caine to be hardly more than the spoil of party Victory. Popes of every variety of ineapacity and unsuitableness were set up by rivals in politics. and, even if they -ucceeded in maintaining their hold upon the bishoprit and the Boman territory. there was little of any influence upon the movement of affair, outside this field. It is the most convincing proof of the need in that age of some such cen tral religious authority in Europe that men con tinned to pay deference to an institution so careless of its own credit and its own future.
'1•wo causes were destined to bring the Papacy once again into the great currents of European Christianity. The first of these was the renewal of the Empire on a German basis. The entrance of the Saxon people into the Latin-Christian culture (c.s30) resulted in a great strengthen ing of the purely German as distinguished from the half-Romantic elements of the Western world. In 919 the German kingship passed with lienry l. into Saxon hands. Nis son Otho 1. (937-973) took up the kingdom. no longer as a Saxon thane, but as the born King of all Germans, and after twenty-five years of varying success saw his idea of kingship fairly realized. For nearly forty years the Empire had gone begging for a. power strong enough to come and take it. In 961 Otho crossed the Alps as of right. and in 962 was crowned Emperor at Rome by Pope .Tohn XII.. whom he soon uncanonically deposed on accusations of every possible iniquity. He then caused the 'election' of a capable Roman layman, Leo V111., and maintained him with his sword. He bound the clergy and nobility of Home by solemn oaths to elect their popes in future 'ca nonically' and to seek for such election the ap proval of the Emperor. Thus it was thought to establish a formal balance of rights between these two branches of the highest earthly power. If the Papal sanction be needed to make the Emperor, no less should Imperial approval be necessary to a valid Papal election. But no sooner was the Imperial camp removed from Rome than all the evils of local factional strife broke out again. To end the perpetual conflict, Otho !IL (983-1002), a youth of generous en thusiasms, tried the experiment of a Roman residence in conjunction with a German pope. Gregory V., of his own making. For a moment the problem seemed solved, but a new outbreak of Roman fury drove hint from the city to his death.
Meanwhile the Church was developing a new energy through the force' of its monastic princi ple, the second cause alluded to above. The
Monastery of Cluny in Burgundy began from its foundation about 910 to exercise an influence 'upon clerical life quite without precedent. This took the form of a purification of the priestly office by ridding it of the frequent vice of simony and by strictly enforcing the rule of priestly celi bacy. The reaction of this movement upon society at large is seen in the efforts to bring about the peace of the land known as the 'Peace of God' and the ''Truce of God.' In all this great activity the Papacy as such took no part. but the time came when these ideas took possession of it and made it do their bidding.
The two processes we have noticed—the rise of the Empire and the purification of the Church —come together in the middle of the eleventh century. Another period of Papal depression had followed the work of the Othos. and once more the Papacy became the prey of contending local factions. The office was tossed about in shameless 'deals' or by open violence. in the year 1046 three persons were claiming the Papal power on different grounds. The scandal was too great, and the 'Romans' appealed to the Em peror Henry 111. in the synod of Sutri held on the borders of the Roman territory, Henry brought about the removal of all three claimants and nominated a worthy German prel ate who was accepted by the Romans. Two other Germans, also nominated by the Emperor, fol lowed in rapid succession. The last of these was Bruno, Bishop of Tout in Lorraine, who as Pope Leo IX. 1049-54), and under the guidance of the monk Hildebrand, began the aggressive policy of Church reform through Papal action, which is the most important feature of Papal history for the next century. Though nominated by the Emperor, Leo saw plainly that to succeed he must be free from all outside control and rely upon the old Roman traditions. lie began his administration by a journey to France and Germany, where in two synods. at Rheims and at Mainz, he proclaimed the articles of the Cluny programme. especially that against simony, and demanded the allegiance of the northern prelates in his crusade against these evils. The con science of Europe, roused already by the work of the monastic reformers, responded with satis factory readiness. At Rome Leo 1X. found him self involved in an entirely new political situa tion. The Norman conquerors of Southern Italy had reached a point in their expansion where it was important for them to have a definite legal status. They threatened to encroach upon the Papal territory and actually routed the Pope's army in the battle of Civitate (1053). But the wisdom of I.eo turned this rout into a victory by persuading the Normans to become the vassals of the holy See' on condition that their power, within certain limits. should be recognized as a legitimate sovereignty.