King Louis VII

King Louis VI of France (1120 - 1180) had several children with his second wife, Adélaide of Maurienne. Their eldest, Philip (1116 - 1131) was named heir apparent. The second child was Louis, intended for the Church.

Louis' childhood education was designed to prepare him for a high ecclesiastical position. He spent a lot of his youth therefore at Saint-Denis with the Abbot Suger, his father's advisor, which had the effect of making him a very devout Christian his whole life. The accidental death of Louis' older brother Philip in 1131 changed Louis' life forever. He was named heir apparent and anointed king by Pope Innocent II at Reims Cathedral. (The French Capetian dynasty for a time followed the practice of actually naming the heir as king while the father lived; see another example here.)

In 1137, Duke William X of Aquitaine died on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. William had asked Louis VI to be his daughter Eleanor's guardian, and Louis VI moved quickly to have his son marry her, especially since she inherited her father's lands. Louis married Eleanor of Aquitaine that same year when he was 17 and she was a few years younger. As heir to the enormous province of Aquitaine, she was one of the wealthiest women in Europe; the alliance spread the Capetian territory significantly.

Louis VI died one week after the wedding, and all at once Louis and his new bride became King and Queen of France. Suddenly the raised-to-be-a-cleric Louis had the weight of running a kingdom on his shoulders, and his lively young and wealthy bride was not quite suited to the serious older teen he had just married.

Louis was monkish, but not meek, and immediately asserted his authority as king over areas that were certain to cause him trouble. But we'll start discussing those tomorrow.

Peter the Venerable

Peter of Montboissier was born to a woman who was called "Blessed Raingarde" (she was revered as saintly but not formally canonized).

His mother dedicated him to God and handed him to a Cluniac monastery early in his life. By the time he was twenty years old he was the prior of a monastery at Vézelay. He was so good at his job that by the age of thirty he was named abbot general of the Cluniac Order, and embarked on a campaign of reform and stricter discipline.

Peter favored education, and promoted learning in his monasteries. This put him at odds with Bernard of Clairvaux, who preferred the life of a monk to be spent in prayer and manual labor. He charted his own course in other ways: he supported the election of Pope Innocent II against that of Pope Anacletus, even though Anacletus also began as a Cluniac monk, like Peter. Peter also protected Peter Abelard when he was being persecuted for his Trinitarianism (more on that later).

He was prominent in many religious councils, such as Pope Innocent II's Council of Pisa, where he supported Innocent's reforms. He tried to persuade the political figures of Europe that the Crusades should be nonviolent missionary campaigns, not military campaigns intended to subjugate.

His defense of Christianity against other religions was fierce. He wrote treatises against Jews. He called for the Koran to be translated into Latin (which was completed in 1143) so that it could be debated properly, meaning refuted properly. He traveled to Spain (possible Toledo) to meet the translators. Later scholars criticized the translation for its errors.

His responses to the translated texts were two treatises, the the Summa totius heresis Saracenorum ("The Summary of the Entire Heresy of the Saracens") and the Liber contra sectam sive heresim Saracenorum ("The Refutation of the Sect or Heresy of the Saracens"). He essentially labels them heresies so far from Christianity that they are equivalent to paganism.

Peter died on Christmas Day 1156. Peter was thought of as a saint, but was never canonized. As of 2004, the Roman Catholic Church considers him "Blessed."

I now want to turn to his support of Peter Abelard, another French scholar who caused a stir in religious circles. See you tomorrow.

Alberic of Ostia

Alberic started in Beauvais in France but went everywhere once he became a papal legate. Born in 1080, he entered Cluny and became a Benedictine monk, becoming prior of Saint-Martin-des-Champs in Paris. Cluny's abbot, Peter the Venerable, brought him back in 1126 to help restore Benedictine discipline.

In 1135, he attended the Council of Pisa, called by the newly (and suspiciously) elected Pope Innocent II. This brought him to Innocent's attention, and Alberic was named Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia in 1138. Innocent immediately sent him as a papal legate to England.

This was important because papal legate authority had been given to the Archbishop of Canterbury at the strong request of King Henry II. The recent Archbishop, William of Corbeil, had died, and the post was vacant due to the ongoing period called the Anarchy. Alberic helped negotiate a resolution to the war between Stephen of Blois and David I of Scotland (who supported Empress Matilda). Afterward, Alberic visited abbeys and churches and convened a council that elected Abbot Theobald of Bec as Archbishop of Canterbury.

Alberic brought Theobald and others back to Rome in January 1139 where they attended the Second Lateran Council. He was then sent to repeat his English success in Bari on the Adriatic, where the citizens refused to accept Roger II of Sicily as their ruler. He failed that time: the citizens wouldn't allow him into the city.

Still, Innocent relied on him to build deeper ties to the Armenian Church, that had split centuries earlier from Rome over doctrinal differences. There he met with the Armenian Catholicos (leader) Grigor III Pahlavuni. The two traveled on pilgrimage to Jerusalem where, at the Templum Domini, the Dome of the Rock, Grigor pledged to improve relations with Rome.

In the summer of 1144, Alberic was in France, traveling round and resolving ecclesiastical disputes. While there, he persuaded Bernard of Clairvaux to preach against heresy in the Southwest of France. Alberic then returned to Rome in time to help plan the Second Crusade.

Alberic died on 20 November 1148 and was buried in Verdun Cathedral. Bernard of Clairvaux said Mass at his grave, calling Alberic "the venerable Bishop of Ostia, a man who has done great things in Israel, through whom Christ has often given victory to His Church."

It's nice to be considered venerable, even nicer when you are so respected that Venerable becomes part of your name, such as the Venerable Bede. Another person so highly respected was Peter the Venerable, and I'll tell you more about him tomorrow.

Armenian-Roman Relations

When Pope Innocent II decided to try to reconcile the Roman Catholic Church with the Armenian Apostolic Church, he wrote to its current head, the Catholicos Grigor III Pahlavuni (1093 - 1166).

The Armenian Church had split in its doctrine from the Roman Church after the Council of Chlcedon in 451 over monophysitism. At Chalcedon it was affirmed that, in the person of Jesus, there were two distinct aspects, both the human and the divine. Armeni embraced monophysitism, declaring that Jesus was wholly divine.

The two Churches remained in communication, however. Grigor, for instance, participated in a council at Antioch presided over by the papal legate Alberic of Ostia in November 1139. Grigor accompanied Alberic on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem where, in April 1141, he attended a synod at the Templum Domini ("Temple of the Lord") at the Dome of the Rock. While there he vowed to reconcile the Armenian Church with Rome. Alberic reported this to Pope Innocent, who sent Grigor a letter and a pallium, conferring on Grigor a high rank.

With travel to the East becoming common due to the Crusades, envoys from Rome followed along and went to Armenia, continuing dialogue. According to the Armenian Church's own website:

Pontifical Envoys from Rome established continuous contact with the clergy of the Armenian Church, who were hoping to receive political and economic support from the Pope and the Western powers for the Armenian Kingdom. During this period, the Armenian Church adopted some Catholic Church ritual traditions, and Western culture left a tangible trace on Armenian science, art, miniature painting, literature, as well as in various spheres of public life. [source]

The "political and economic support" would have been helpful against enemies both foreign and domestic. Not only were there foreign invaders to contend with, but also the Armenian government could be a problem. The secular ruler of Armenia in 1037, King Hovhannes-Smbat, deposed the Catholicos Petros and appointed a replacement (we'll call him an "anti-catholics," since there were "anti-popes"). The rest of the clergy were so overt in their condemnation that Petros was re-instated.

By the 14th century, a reconciliation between the two entities had been firmly established, and doctrinal differences were being overlooked in order to maintain healthy relations. (The Second Vatican Council in 1962 - 1965 confirmed the reconciliation.)

The Dome of the Rock has been a important site for many groups over the centuries; next time, let's talk about the place and the temple there.

Pope Innocent II

Gregorio Papareschi was a Cluniac monk who was made a cardinal deacon in 1116 by Pope Paschal II. After Paschal, Pope Calixtus II sent him on various important missions, including to the Concordat of Worms. In 1124, Gregorio as an advisor to Pope Honorius II.

Honorius died on 13 February 1130, and six cardinals quickly appointed Gregorio as the next pope, consecrating him the very next day and supported by the powerful Frangipani family. This was highly irregular (only six cardinals!), and a larger group of cardinals chose Pietro Pierleoni, whose family was the enemy of the Frangipani, as Pope Anacletus II. Anacletus was able to drive Innocent from Rome.

The conflict between the two went on for years until Anacletus died in 25 January 1138. This did not make Innocent's life conflict-free, however. Roger of Sicily opposed him, especially after Innocent had him excommunicated at the Second Lateran Council (Innocent was not alone in objecting to Sicily being in Roger's possession). Roger's son, Roger III of Apulia, captured Innocent and forced him to acknowledge the kingship of Sicily.

Among Innocent's decisions was a papal bull in 1139 declaring that the Knights Templar should be only answerable to the papacy. He established ties with Armenian Catholics and began the process of ending the schism between Armenia and Rome. He also made cardinals of several of his nephews.

The Second Lateran Council (or "Second Council of the Lateran") was Innocent's attempt to unify policy across Roman Catholicism. Some of the canons established were mentioned here. Besides the prohibition against tournaments and jousts,

Kings were to dispense justice with the advice of bishops
Lay people who did not pay tithes were to be excommunicated
After a bishop died and a church was vacant, a replacement must be found within three years
The use of bows or slings against Christians was prohibited.
Clergy were not allowed to accept a benefice from a layman that would obligate them to the layman.

When Innocent died on 24 September 1143, he was interred in a sarcophagus the supposedly once held the body of Emperor Hadrian.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle says that the original Britons came from Armenia, and Armenia has been mentioned many times over the course of this blog, but we've never talked about the Armenian Church before today. Next time, let's look at where it came from and its connection (or lack thereof) to Rome.

The Joust

The Joust was a specific kind of tournament, and was one of the few types of military contests that had to be on horseback and involved only two combatants at a time. This one-on-one duel involved two men, each mounted, riding at each other with lances, attempting to unseat the other or break their lance. In some cases, a wooden barrier was placed the length of the lists to prevent the horses from colliding.

In the 12th century, jousting was sometimes not allowed because it distracted from the excitement of the other events, especially the mêlée, but Edward II of England in 1309 banned all forms of tournament except the joust. For him, it was more exciting to watch than the Pas d'armes or Tupinaire or Quintain, easier to see than the Mêlée because the men were higher off the ground and there were only two, a bit safer because there was a specific goal.

Some people spoke out against any form of tournament. Pope Innocent II at Clermont forbade Christian burial for anyone killed in a tournament. He was all for warfare against the heathen, but did not want Christians endangering each other's lives. And tournaments could be dangerous; just a few posts back we learned of someone dying because of a tournament. Henry II imposed a ban on tournaments because knights traveling from far and wide to join one were indulging in harassment of the population along the way. His son Richard, however, loved fighting, and established six locations where they were permitted to hold tourneys (and established a fee structure—payable to the Crown—for those who wanted to hold them and participate).

Richard's brother, John, and John's son, Henry III, made jousting more difficult with restrictions that encouraged safety but limited the excitement. Some of the rules that developed over time were necessary, to help figure out who won. After a day of pairs of knights going against each other, the winners could be declared as follows:

1st place: unhorsing the opponent; extra if the horse falls down.
2nd place: breaking lances
3rd place: most striking of the opponent's visor (this was particularly dangerous, but got you points)
4th place: breaking the most spears

There were also rules that could disqualify you:

Striking a horse
Striking a man's back from behind him

You could also be penalized for breaking your spear on the opponent's saddle (a forbidden target).

Some of the last tournaments and jousts took place during the reign of Henry VIII, who used elaborate ones to celebrate momentous events, such as the birth of a son.

Next time, I want to talk about Pope Innocent II and his Second Lateran Council that forbade jousts and tournaments.

Aelred of Rievaulx

In 1134, a man in his 20s entered Rievaulx, a Cistercian abbey in North Yorkshire. A sentence like this has been written many times in this blog, but it usually refers to a younger son of a family who had no prospects in life other than the church. In this case, however, the young man had already had a significant career that could have lasted his whole lifetime, and he gave it all up. A monk at Rievaulx who knew Aelred, Walter Daniel, wrote a biography of Aelred, giving us more biographical detail than we usually have on anyone from this time period.

Aelred of Rievaulx was born c.1110 in Hexham in Northumberland, one of three sons of a priest named Eilaf. (Archbishop Anselm of Canterbury's prohibition against clerical marriage was very recent.) Although priests still had sons, a 1095 order from the Council of Claremont forbade the sons of priests to become priests (the idea was to prevent inheritance of benefices, since a bishop or higher-ranking prelate should decide where a benefice goes when a priest dies).

He would have been educated at the cathedral school at Durham. We know he spent several years at the court of King David I of Scotland, and was there long enough to rise to the title echonomus, a word related to "economy" and indicating that he was a steward or seneschal, possible the steward of the king's household, managing all of the "below stairs" members of staff. While in this role, Walter Daniel tells us of an incident where a knight harassed him and used a degrading sexual slur. Daniel uses this anecdote as an example of Aelred's capacity for forgiveness, but the incident seems to have made Aelred depressed and disillusioned with court life.

On a mission for David to Thurstan, Archbishop of York, Aelred learned of Rievaulx Abbey, founded only two years earlier by monks from Clairvaux Abbey in northeastern France. Aelred realized that a religious life was his true calling, and joined Rievaulx. A few years later he was part of a delegation to Rome to see Pope Innocent II. The purpose was to present northern England delegates who opposed the election of Henry de Sully as Archbishop of York; although de Sully was an abbot, his main qualification was that he was a nephew of Stephen of Blois, whose seizing of the throne of England caused The Anarchy. Their delegation was successful.

After Rome, Aelred in 1143 was made abbot of Revesby Abbey in Lincolnshire, founded that year as a daughter house of Rievaulx. Not long after, in 1147, he was made abbot of Rievaulx itself. According to his biographer, Aelred "doubled everything" at Rievaulx. The buildings, the members, the resources—all increased under Aelred at what was an already flourishing complex.

Tomorrow, we'll talk more about Aelred's leadership and authorship. See you then.

Reviving the Roman Senate

After the Ostrogoths took Rome in 476 under Odoacer, the Senate continued managing affairs; after all, the "barbarians" didn't want to destroy Rome and its institutions: they wanted to own them and be part of a great empire. Times changed, however, and the power of the Roman Senate faded; Pope Gregory I noted its lack of power in 593. After 603, when records show the Senate arranging some statues to be erected, there are no more references to acts of the Senate.

Rome plugged along with noble families and popes asserting control over politics and public affairs, but after the schism following the death of Pope Honorius II and almost a decade of chaos created by the conflict between Pope Innocent II and antipope Anacletus II, Rome wanted a change. It was actually the brother of Anacletus, Giordano Pierleoni, who promoted the creation of the Commune of Rome in 1143 to curtail the authority of the pope over Rome, no doubt out of revenge for Anacletus.

The first step was dividing Rome into 14 districts (many of these districts had existed for centuries; as Rome grew, new adjacent districts were identified). Four representatives would be elected from each district, creating a new Roman Senate of 56 members who were (ideally) independent of the pope and the noble families who had controlled much of Rome's fate since the end of the 6th century. Their first act was to elect a "first among equals," a patrician. (Classically, this would have been a consul, but that title had noble connotations.) Their choice? Giordano Pierleoni.

The first problem facing the Senate was Pope Lucius II. Elected on 9 March 1144, he was told by the Senate that he had to relinquish his temporal authority over Rome. Lucius asked for help from Bernard of Clairvaux and from several temporal lords, such as Roger of Sicily. When Lucius attacked Rome, his small army lost, and Lucius himself was wounded, dying on 15 February 1145.

The attack was partially blamed on Pierleoni's unsuccessful attempt at negotiating a peaceful accord with Lucius, and Pierleoni was deposed. The next pope, Eugene III, I have called the Homeless Pope. He left Rome to be consecrated at a particular abbey, and was blocked from re-entering Rome by those opposed to papal temporal power.

In 1190, Pope Clement III (not the antipope mentioned here) defused the conflict between Senate and Pope by agreeing that the citizens should elect magistrates while the pope would nominate the governor.

The popes were not the only reason why some felt the need to revive a senate. Noble families with lots of money and relatives in high places asserted disproportionate power. The most powerful of these was the Frangipani family, who involved themselves in many papal choices. We'll look at them next time.

The Second Lateran Council

When Pope Innocent II (shown here on the left, hanging out with St. Laurence) finally was able to be pope—after the rival antipope Anacletus II died in 1138, and his successor Victor IV stepped down—the Second Lateran Council was called. It had a thousand attendees in April 1139, and determined many policies and practices that are adhered to today.

There had been eight years of schism with the Innocent-Anacletus rivalry, and Innocent needed to assert his authority and replace the chaos of the prior years with some order.

Although Innocent had allowed the antipope Victor IV to resume his title as cardinal, in the Lateran Council all who had opposed Innocent were excommunicated, and especially King Roger II of Sicily, who had not supported Innocent.

Other, less dramatic, decisions by the Council included:

•Bishops and priests should dress modestly.
•Repeated First Lateran's injunction against marriage for priests, deacons, nuns, etc.
•Fixed the times of the Truce of God.
•Prohibition against tournaments and jousts that endangered life.
•Nuns and monks forbidden to sing the Divine Office together.

After this Council, Innocent's time as pope was brief (he died in 1143), and fairly uneventful. As he lay dying, however, a political movement began: the Commune of Rome decided that Roman politics being dominated by papal powers was no longer to their liking. They decided, in the Middle Ages, to revive the political system of the classical Roman Senate. How that worked is a tale for tomorrow.

Reconciling Popes and Others

When Pope Honorius II died in 1130, two popes were elected by rival factions, first Innocent II by a small contingent of cardinals, and then Anacletus II by a larger group of cardinals. Their opposing involvement with the politics of Sicily was mentioned here. Anacletus' popularity with the people of Rome helped him to drive Innocent out of Italy.

Innocent fled to France and the protection (with the convincing of Bernard of Clairvaux) of King Louis VI. He later secured, with the help of Bernard, the support of King Lothair III of Germany (whom he later crowned Holy Roman Emperor). Bernard had written to Lothair, emphasizing the fact that Anacletus' great-great-grandfather was a converted Jew, saying "It is a disgrace for Christ that a Jew sits on the throne of St. Peter's." Innocent also met Henry I of England at Chartres in January 1131 and received his support.

Louis convened a council of French bishops and asked Bernard to make a judgment about the legitimacy of the two popes. Bernard declared Innocent the pope and Anacletus an antipope. Bernard then traveled to Italy to persuade others to accept Innocent. His rhetorical skill convinced Milan to support Innocent. He also reconciled Pisa and Genoa, who had engaged in a trade rivalry for generations, establishing separate Pisan and Genoese areas of maritime influence.

Bernard also went to Aquitaine and spoke to Duke William X, eventually shifting his support from Anacletus to Innocent in 1135.

Despite all of Bernard's efforts on behalf of Innocent, and Lothair's military attempts to depose Anecletus, the papal conflict was not resolved except by the death of Anacletus in 1138. A supporter of Anacletus, Gregorio Conti, was elected Pope Victor IV, but Bernard stepped in once again. Over the course of two months, Bernard convinced Gregorio of the inappropriateness of his papal post, and he was convinced to submit to the authority of Innocent. "Victor IV" became another antipope. Innocent restored his status as cardinal.

After all that, Bernard retired to Clairvaux and devoted himself to writing the theological works that earned him the title "Doctor of the Church." He was called upon to help resolve further conflicts and battle heresy with his rhetorical gifts, and he preached the unsuccessful Second Crusade, giving what has been called "the speech of his life."

He was involved in a great many political and religious conflicts (some of which he might have caused himself) before his death on 20 August 1153. His life was so full of accomplishment that he will no doubt be mentioned in further posts. Presently, however, I want to stick with Innocent II, who convened the Second Lateran Council. It dealt with many topics, and also showed that Innocent's gracious treatment of his rival Victor was a sham.

And that's a story for another day.

Curbing the Pope

19th century bust of Arnold.

For those in the Middle Ages who thought the pope should be solely a spiritual leader and not wield temporal authority, Arnold of Brescia was their most ardent spokesperson. A short-lived 12th century Christian sect even named themselves "Arnoldists" after him; they lost credibility—condemned in 1184 at the Synod of Verona along with Cathars and Waldensians—when they also dared to preach against baptism and communion.

Arnold was born about 1190, in Lombardy in northern Italy. He joined the Augustinians, whose frugal ways clashed with the activities of the increasingly powerful popes. He supposedly studied at the University of Paris under Peter Abelard. Arnold and Abelard both were outspoken about the temporal power of the papacy, but they lost the debate at the Synod of Sens in 1141. Abelard gave in, but Arnold kept up his vocal condemnation of the popes. He was condemned by Pope Innocent II (mentioned here and here), and fled to Zurich.

After Innocent's death, Arnold reconciled with Pope Eugene III, but when he returned to Italy and found that Rome had changed its political structure and refused to allow Eugene to return, Arnold sided with Rome and quickly rose to a position of authority (rather counter to what he objected to about the papacy). He preached that priests who owned property gave up their qualifications to administer the sacraments.

Eugene in exile excommunicated Arnold, but even when Eugene managed to return to Rome, Arnold continued to wired political power in opposition to papal policies.

The next pope, Adrian IV, was not as mild-mannered and easily pushed around as Eugene: he took control of Rome in 1155 with the help of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and forced Arnold into exile, where he was picked up by Barbarossa's forces and forced into a trial. He refused to renounce any of his positions—even when faced with execution—and he was hanged for rebellion (not heresy, curiously) in June 1155. His body was burned and the ashes thrown into the Tiber River to prevent his tomb from becoming a focal point for sympathizers who would consider him a holy martyr.

Theobald of Bec

Since we brought up Canterbury yesterday, and arguably its most famous archbishop, let us take a look at his predecessor, who was very much at odds with the King of England for the same reasons, but hasn't made it into as many history books.

Theobald (c.1090-1161) was born in Normandy. He joined the abbey at Bec as a Benedictine and became its abbot in 1137. A year later, King Stephen of England appointed him the Archbishop of Canterbury. Theobald's relationship with the king was not ideal, especially when he clashed with the king's younger brother, Henry of Blois, who happened to be the Bishop of Winchester. Theobald was Henry's superior, but when your brother is the king, I suppose you tend to think you can get away with a little insubordination. Henry was appointed papal legate by Pope Celestine II, giving him some extra authority, but when Celestine died and Pope Innocent II (mentioned here) took the throne of Peter, Henry lost his position. Innocent did not like King Stephen, and wanted to appoint Theobald as his legate. This required Theobald to travel to meet the pope, which King Stephen forbade. Theobald went anyway.

Which brings us to the major issue between Theobald and King Stephen—and it's the same issue that created the greatest difficulties between Thomas Becket and King Henry II: who makes the decisions, the leader of the country or the leader of the church? The Archbishop was appointed/approved by the king, but did that give the king authority over everything the archbishop did in the future?

(For more on Stephen of Blois and his attitude toward his own right to authority, see how he took the throne in during The Anarchy, Parts One, Two, and Three, along with this.)

One of Theobald's acts that exacerbated this conflict between temporal and spiritual authority was a synod  Theobald called in 1151. It comprised mostly the bishops of the land, but the king and his son and heir, Eustace, were invited. The synod made eight new statutes, including ones forbidding taxing church property, or seizing church property, or prosecuting clergy in the royal courts as opposed to church courts.

An even worse slap in Stephen's face came a year later, when Stephen wanted to crown Eustace as his heir.* Theobald refused to participate, claiming that to crown Eustace and legitimize Stephen's dynasty would be perpetuating a crime. (See the four links above, describing how Stephen claimed the throne for himself.)

The civil war ("The Anarchy"; see above) that came not long after the death of Eustace on the White Ship tore England apart for years, until the Treaty of Wallingford. Ironically, the negotiations that brought peace between Stephen and Henry of Anjou (later King Henry II) were managed by Theobald and his long-time enemy, Henry of Blois. When Stephen died in October 1154, Theobald attended him on his deathbed; Stephen named Theobald regent until Henry could take up the reins of power. Although the two had feuded, there is evidence of mutual respect that allowed them ultimately to work together.

Theobald had the same relationship with Henry II, fighting over authority to try clergy in ecclesiastical courts rather than secular courts, and protecting church property from royal interference. Theobald helped his protégé, Thomas Becket, become chancellor. Becket seems to have become very close to the king, so close that the king was glad to make him Archbishop of Canterbury upon Theobald's death. That arrangement, however, if it was intended to make Henry's dealing with the church any easier than under Theobald, was surely a disappointment to the king. Becket proved to be as protective of the church and clergy as Theobald was. (But then, everyone knows how that turned out.)

*The Capetian Dynasty followed the practice of crowning the heir while his predecessor was still alive, previously posted about here.

The King of Sicily

Sicily, an island of less than 10,000 square miles just off the coast of Italy, would not seem to merit its own king, and for a long time it didn't have one. But just as England was brought to heel under a Norman ruler, so too did Normans take over Sicily and eventually expand its power.

Christ crowns Roger II of Sicily [art link]

Before William of Normandy conquered England, Normans were also traveling in other directions. Norman mercenaries went through southern Italy in the late 10th century, looking for employment. Originally they fought on behalf of the city-states in the region, but by the 11th century they were actually ruling the regions of Naples, Capua, Apulia, Clabria, and had carved up Sicily into several smaller counties and dukedoms.

Roger Hauteville and his brother Robert Guiscard came to southern Italy and discovered the Byzantine Greek Christians living under Muslim rule by Moors from Tunisia. In 1061 the two brothers and an army took Messina, then captured Palermo in 1071. Over the next few years they expelled the Moors, and Roger became Count of Sicily. Roger had three wives and several children. One of his last children was also named Roger.

Roger II (22 December 1095-1154) became Count of Sicily in 1105, inheriting the title (and parts of Sicily) when his elder brother died. At the age of 16, he was named Count of Sicily and Calabria. In 1122, Roger's cousin, Duke William of Apulia, accepted Roger's help in dealing with an enemy; in exchange, he offered to renounce his claims to certain lands. When William died in 1127, Roger claimed all lands that had been distributed to members of the Hauteville family on Sicily and in the Italian peninsula: Calabria and Apulia, as well as Capua.

Pope Honorius II was wary of the growing power of Normans in southern Italy and Sicily, but his attempts to counter Roger with force or politics failed. By 1129, Roger's rule of Apulia was accepted by his neighbors. When Honorius died in 1130, Roger threw his support behind Anacletus II against Innocent II. Anacletus prevailed and, despite being later declared an antipope, he was able to reward his supporter with a papal bull declaring Roger King of Sicily. Roger was undisputed ruler of the island and much of southern Italy, a worthy kingdom indeed.

Roger continued to expand his territory. When Roger's sister, Matilda, who had married Ranulf II of Alife, came to Roger claiming to have been abused by her husband, Roger took Ranulf's lands as well as his brother's county.

Pope Anacletus died in 1138, and Pope Innocent II sent an army to teach Roger a lesson: the pope mistrusted the power of the expansive Kingdom of Sicily, and wanted a buffer state between Sicily and his own territory. Innocent thought Capua would make a good neutral space between the two. His army failed, however.

The King of Sicily had a long life and accomplished numerous things, but I'll mention just one more: Roger invented a new coin that would standardize monetary exchanges throughout the Mediterranean. He named this gold coin after the duchy of Apulia: the ducat. (To be honest, this coin failed to be widely adopted. The ducat with which we are familiar was introduced by Venice in 1284.)