crosses, which were usually reserved to grace the entrance of the Emperor into the city, were seen advancing towards him. Louis was seized with pious fear and joy at these unexpected honours. On the steps up to the church of St. Peter he was met and embraced by the pope. They proceeded, Louis at the right hand of the pope, to the silver-plated doors of the church, which, however, were jealously closed. Then the Pope, by the suggestion, it was said, of the Holy Ghost, addressed the king," Comest thou with a pure heart and mind for the welfare of the republic, and of the whole world, and of this Church? If so, I will command that the gates be opened; if otherwise never, with my consent, shalt thou enter therein." The king protested that he came with no hostile or evil intent. At the touch of the prelate the doors flew open, the whole clergy burst out in the accordant chant, "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." The Frank army, in the mean time, were not permitted to enter the city, June 15. the gates of which were strongly guarded by the militia of Rome. A few days after Louis was anointed King of Lombardy. The Franks insisted on the Pope and the patricians of Rome swearing fealty to the king. They resolutely refused to acknowledge any allegiance but to the Emperor himself.

The degraded archbishops, Ebbo of Rheims, Bartholomew of Narbonne, prayed to be restored to their sees and their honours; but Drogo of Metz, the brother and faithful adherent of Louis the Pious, was at the head of the Frankish army. The Pope would grant them the humiliating permission to communicate, but to communicate only with the common people. Drogo, Bishop of Metz, son of the glorious Emperor Charles the

Great, was appointed with the fullest powers Vicar of the Pope beyond the Alps.

Saracen in

Sergius died after a pontificate of three years. An unforeseen necessity enforced the immediate Jan. 27, 847. election of his successor, Leo IV. The im- Leo IV. pulse of Mohammedan invasion against the still narrowing boundaries of Christendom had by no means ceased. The Saracen fleets were masters of the Mediterranean. Sicily, with the exception of Syra- vasions. cuse, which made a gallant defence for some years, was in their hands. They had conquered Calabria, were rapidly advancing northwards, and subduing the parts of the province which still owned allegiance to the Byzantine Empire. Rome herself beheld the Moslemin at her gates; the suburban churches of St. Peter and St. Paul were plundered; the capital of Christendom was in danger of becoming a Mohammedan city. The Moslemin retired on the advance of an army of Franks, according to some authorities, under the command of King Louis himself; but they retreated only to inflict a shameful defeat on the Christians, and then sate down to besiege Gaeta. The great riches of the monastery of Monte Casino escaped only by an opportune rising of the river Garigliano, attributed by the grateful monks to a miracle.m

f Vit. Sergii.

It is observed that under Leo IV. the form of address of the papal letters is changed. With two exceptions, the name of the person addressed is placed | after that of the Pope: the title Dominus is dropped.-Garnier, in Not. ad Lib. Pontiff. Planck, iii. p. 29.

The progress of the Saracens was aided by the feuds among the Lombard dukes. The princes of Spoleto and |

k

Benevento and Naples had been at continual war with each other. For details, see Anonym. Salernit.

Famin (Histoire des Invasions des Sarrasins en Italie) describes the conquest of Sicily, and the first invasions of Italy, c. iv.-Annal. Met. Annal. Bertin. sub ann. 846. Baronius sub ann.

Famin, p. 199.

m The abbey, however, had already

But these terrible strangers might at any time return to invest the city of St. Peter. Whether to avert the danger by his prayers, to summon the Frank Protector with more commanding voice, or to strengthen the city by his administration, a Pope appeared instantly necessary to the nobles, clergy, and people of Rome." With the utmost haste, but with reservation of the imperial rights, infringed only on account of the exigencies of the time, Leo IV. was elected, consecrated, Jan. 847. and assumed the functions of pope. The Romans were released from their immediate terrors by the destruction of the Saracen fleet in a tempest off Gaeta. Another legend ascribed this disaster to the insulted and plundered apostles."

Leo's first care was to provide for the future security of the Vatican and the church of St. Peter. He carried out the design, before entertained by Leo III., of forming a new suburb, surrounded by strong fortifications, on the right bank of the Tiber, which might at once protect the most hallowed edifice of Christendom, and receive the fugitives who might be driven from the city by hostile incursions, perhaps by civil insurrections. This part of Rome perpetuated the name of the pope, as the Leonine city.

Sept.

A.D. 855.

in strengthening, in restoring the plundered and desecrated churches of the two apostles, and adorning Rome. The succession to Leo IV. was contested between Benedict III., who commanded the suffrages of the clergy and people, and Anastasius, who, at the head of an armed faction, seized the Lateran, stripped Benedict of his pontifical robes, and awaited the confirmation of his violent usurpation by the Imperial Legates, whose influence he thought that he had secured. But these Commissioners, after strict investigation, decided in favour of Benedict. Anastasius was expelled with disgrace from the Lateran, his rival consecrated in the presence of the Emperor's representatives. Anastasius, with unwonted mercy, was only degraded to lay communion.

Sept. 29.

The pontificate of Benedict III. is memorable chiefly for the commencement of the long strife between Ignatius and Photius for the see of Constantinople. This strife ended in the permanent schism between the Eastern and Western Churches.

CHAPTER IV.

Nicolas I. Ignatius and Photius.

NICOLAS I., the successor of Benedict, was chosen rather by the favour of the Emperor Louis and his

April,
A.D. 858.

nobles than that of the clergy. He has been thought worthy to share the appellation of the Great with Leo I., with Gregory I., with Hildebrand, and with Innocent III. At least three great events signalised the pontificate of Nicolas I.,-the strife of Photius with Ignatius for the archiepiscopal throne of Constantinople; the prohibition of the divorce of King Lothair from his Queen Theutberga; and the humiliation of the great prelates on the Rhine, the successful assertion of the papal supremacy even over Hincmar, Archbishop of Rheims. In the first two of these momentous questions, the contest about the see of Constantinople, and that of Lothair, King of Lorraine, with his wife Theutberga, Nicolas took his stand on the great eternal principles of justice, humanity, and sound morals. These were no questions of abstruse and subtile theology nor the assertion of dubious rights. In both cases the Pope was the protector of the feeble and the oppressed, the victims of calumny and of cruelty. The Bishop of Constantinople, unjustly deposed, persecuted, exiled, treated with the worst inhumanity, implored the judgement of the head of Western Christendom. A queen,

a Prudent. Trecens. apud P'ertz, i. 142. Vit. Nicolai I.