§ 66. Henry III and the Synod of Sutri. Deposition of three rival Popes. a.d. 1046.
Bonizo (or Bonitho, bishop of Sutri, afterwards of Piacenza, and friend of Gregory VII., d. 1089):
Liber ad amicum, s. de persecutione Ecclesiae (in Oefelii Scriptores rerum Boicarum II., 794,
and better in Jaffe’s Monumenta Gregoriana, 1865). Contains in lib. V. a history, of the popes
from Benedict IX. to Gregory VII., with many errors.
Rodulfus Glaber (or Glaber Radulfus, monk of Cluny, about 1046): Historia sui temporis (in Migne,
Tom. 142).
Desiderius (Abbot of M. Cassino, afterwards pope Victor III., d. 1080): De Miraculis a S. Benedicto
aliisque monachis Cassiniensibus gestis Dialog., in "Bibl. Patr." Lugd. XVIII. 853.
Annales Romani in Pertz, Mon. Germ. VII.
Annales Corbeienses, in Pertz, Mon. Germ. V.; and in Jaffé, Monumenta Corbeiensia, Berlin, 1864.
Ernst Steindorff: Jahrbucher des deutschen Reichs unter Heinrich III. Leipzig, 1874.
Hefele: Conciliengesch. IV. 706 sqq. (2d ed.).
See Lit. in § 64, especially Höfler and Will.
Emperor Henry III., of the house of Franconia, was appealed to by the advocates of reform,
and felt deeply the sad state of the church. He was only twenty-two years old, but ripe in intellect,
full of energy and zeal, and aimed at a reformation of the church under the control of the empire,
as Hildebrand afterwards labored for a reformation of the church under the control of the papacy.
On his way to Rome for the coronation he held (Dec. 20, 1046) a synod at Sutri, a small
town about twenty-five miles north of Rome, and a few days afterwards another synod at Rome
which completed the work.^301 Gregory VI. presided at first. The claims of the three rival pontiffs
were considered. Benedict IX. and Sylvester III. were soon disposed of, the first having twice
resigned, the second being a mere intruder. Gregory VI. deserved likewise deposition for the sin
of simony in buying the papacy; but as he had convoked the synod by order of the emperor and
was otherwise a worthy person, he was allowed to depose himself or to abdicate. He did it in these
words: "I, Gregory, bishop, servant of the servants of God, do hereby adjudge myself to be removed
from the pontificate of the Holy Roman Church, because of the enormous error which by simoniacal
impurity has crept into and vitiated my election." Then he asked the assembled fathers: "Is it your
pleasure that so it shall be?" to which they unanimously replied: "Your pleasure is our pleasure;
therefore so let it be." As soon as the humble pope had pronounced his own sentence, he descended
from the throne, divested himself of his pontifical robes, and implored pardon on his knees for the
usurpation of the highest dignity in Christendom. He acted as pope de facto, and pronounced himself
no pope de jure. He was used by the synod for deposing his two rivals, and then for deposing
himself. In that way the synod saved the principle that the pope was above every human tribunal,
and responsible to God alone. This view of the case of Gregory, rests on the reports of Bonitho and
Desiderius. According to other reports in the Annales Corbeienses and Peter Damiani, who was
present at Sutri, Gregory was deposed directly by the Synod.^302 At all events, the deposition was
real and final, and the cause was the sin of simony.
(^301) The sources differ in the distribution of the work between the two synods: some assign it to Sutri, others to Rome,
others divide it. Steindorff and Hefele (IV. 710) assume that Gregory and Sylvester were deposed at Sutri; Benedict (who did
not appear at Sutri) was deposed in Rome. All agree that the new pope was elected in Rome.
(^302) See Jaffé, Steindorff, and Hefele (IV. 711 sq.).