GREGORY IL (Pope 715-31). He was born in Rome in 669, and educated at the Lateran. His pontificate is specially noticeable as forming an epoch in the progress of the territorial preemi nence of the Roman See in Italy. The authority of the Eastern emperors in the West had sunk into little more than a name, and the tyrannical and barbarous measures by Emperor Leo the 'saurian attempted to enforce his decrees against image-worship ( see LEO III.; ICONOCLASM) weak ened still more the tie which bound Italy to the Eastern emperors. The natural result of the dimi nution of the Imperial authority in Italy was the growth of that of the Pope, to whom the deserted Italian provinces looked, partly as their spiritual counselor and head, partly as their mediator with the barbarous enemy, partly as the centre of the political federation of self-defense which their isolation necessitated. Gregory convened a coun cil in Rome on the subject of the honor due to im ages, and addressed an energetic letter to the Em peror. He died in Rome, February 10, 731. His Epistolce et Canones are in Migne, Patrol. Let., lxxxix. Consult amen, Das Pontifikat Gregory II. (Diisseldorf, 1888).—GREGORY III. (Pope 731 41). He was a Syrian by birth, and followed the policy of his predecessor, Gregory II. In 739 he sent a deputation to Charles Martel, soliciting his succor against the Lombards, and proposing, if it was granted, to recognize him as protector of the Romans, and to confer on him the title of 'Con sul and Patrician of Rome.' This offer was made
by the Pope "in virtue of a decree of the Roman Primus," and is of great historical importance in the consideration of the nature and origin of the Papal power in Italy. Owing to the pressure of the war with the Saracens, the embassy failed, but it was a step toward the consummation of the independence of the West. Gregory bestowed the pallium on Boniface, the Apostle of Germany (732). He died in Rome, November 28, 741. His extant writings are in Migne, Patrol. Lat., lxxxix. and xeviii.—GREGORY IV. (Pope 827-44). He was a native of Rome. He tried unsuccessfully to ar range the quarrel between Louis the Pious (q.v.) and his sons, and rebuilt Ostia. as a defense for the mouth of the Tiber. His Epistolce are in Migne, Patrol. Let., cvi.—GREGORY V. (Bruno of Carin thia) (Pope 996-99). He was the first German Pope, a relative of the Emperor Otho III. His authority was disputed by an antipope, John XVI. (997-98). His Epistolce are in Migne, Pa trol. Lat., cxxxvii.—GREGORY VI. (John Grati anus) (Pope 1045-46). He had been a priest in Rome, and bought the Papacy from Pope Benedict IX. The facts leaked out and the Emperor took him prisoner, after having compelled his resigna tion (1046), and brought him to Germany. Ve died in 1048 at Cologne. His Epistolre are in Migne, Patrol. Let., cxlii.--GREGORY VI. was also the title of an antipope to Benedict VIII. in 1012.