Excerpt: The Genesis of the Holy Roman Empire – Hervé-Dario Etchegaray, INH Press (AD 1986)
Emperor Charles II was in many ways an unfortunate character in early imperial history. His father died at a young age and he was barely able to exert authority over Italy and the papacy as both the Roman potentates and the nobility of Italy felt that the son of Lothair III is not a just or an able ruler. The Magyar Raids continued and brought havoc in the Friulian region. And, at last, it became clear by 960 that the emperor’s young wife Paola, an intelligent and independent-minded daughter of the Roman senator Theodorus of Fornovo, was incapable of peacefully living with Charles II, only bearing one daughter who died in infancy. Their marriage was part of a political settlement designed to conclude a peace between Charles II and the major potentates of Italy. But, indeed, as has happened before with Lothair II, the burden of continuing the marriage became more and more tiresome for both emperor and empress, until Paola left the court indefinitely. After her departure, Paola seemed to have feared for her safety in Rome by plotting rivals of the Fornovani and therefore went to Friuli, hoping to find an ally in margrave William II of Friuli, as his march was traditionally far removed from the ever-growing complex web of intrigues of Pavia and Rome. There the meanwhile antagonistic woman most likely had her marriage to Charles II unilaterally annulled by Patriarch Pompèu I of Aquileia, a close friend, and ally of William II of Friuli. She would then continue to marry Bernard I, Count of Glemone, and, starting in 963, Margrave of Friuli. Paola was his second wife, Bernard I's first marriage to a Countess called Adeline, probably of Ivrean origin, apparently only left one daughter who pursued an ecclesiastical career. The marriage between the two attracted attention in Rome because the marriage to the Holy Roman Emperor Charles II still had not been annulled by the Pope. After the divorce was recognized at a synod in Aquileia in the presence of the papal legates in 962, mostly through bribery, Bishop Albertus I of Verona personally went to Rome to lodge a complaint against the scheme of Paola. Pope Benedict V, independent only in name, revoked the decision and excommunicated the Patriarch Pompèu I of Aquileia, who had been the driving force at the aforementioned synod. Probably on the behalf of the Fornovani of the Roman aristocracy, he later also excommunicated both Bernard I and his aunt Paola.
Pope Benedict V’s successor, an elderly ivory tower intellectual named Pope John XII finally allowed Patriarch Pompèu I to present the matter personally in Rome. He first traveled to Ravenna, where he was “guided” by forces loyal to Charles II towards Pavia where he was imprisoned on behalf of the emperor. As unorthodox as he was, Charles II probably reasoned that a successful annulment of the unhappy marriage and the excommunication of his (former) wife might allow him to look after a new wife.
But an unnamed companion of the Patriarch traveled on to Rome anyway, where he met Paola’s nephew Lucian II of Fornovo, son of the deceased of Lucian, the new patriarch of the Fornovani. Sensing an opportunity to indefinitely remove the imperial crown from Roman politics, Lucian II agreed to arrange a meeting with his cousin Pope John XII. But it must be said that it was most likely done out of political rather than personal reasons, as Lucian II never actively or explicitly raised his voice in favor of Paola. The meeting with the Pope took place in July 963 on Monte Cassino. There, pressured by Lucian II, Pope John XII refused to recognize Paola's third marriage and pointed out that this question could only be resolved by a great Italian council, to which the Italian bishops and patriarchs should also come to Rome. This news infuriated both Charles II and Paola as this meant that both the Papacy and the Imperial Crown are at loggerheads with each other, ending the short era of uneasy peace.
Charles II tried to salvage this situation, however, and rode towards Rome where he personally appealed for an annulment of the unhappy and childless marriage. While the Papal audience was a sign of benevolent interest in the matter, it became clear that Pope John XII is unable to concede to Charles II as the influence of the Fornovani had reached the Lateran decades ago. Then, the emperor and the pope exchanged gifts. Once Charles II left the Lateran, in a manner that can be called a pattern in the emperor’s behavior, he convened a council of local Roman bishops and noblemen, most notably the head of the Tusculani Octavius [1], all carefully selected to be opposed to the Fornovani. There, he demanded the pope to explain himself in the face of several charges the council found him to be guilty of. After the emperor's betrayal, Pope John XII broke his oath of allegiance and allied himself with Lucian II, who had already prepared a small army. As a result, Emperor Charles II ordered his levies from northern Italy to Rome. Not too long after the escalation, John XII reluctantly fled the city with the church treasure.
On 6th November, 963, the emperor held a synod in Rome to depose the pope. According to the eyewitness Pompèu I of Aquileia, who was forced to accompany Charles II, thirteen cardinals were present, with the remaining ones having left with John XII. Then the letter of summons was read out which accused the Pope and thus the Fornovani of murder, perjury, desecration of the church, incest, drinking to the devil, and invoking pagan deities, without any evidence. In addition, two papal legates who argued in favor of John XII and therefore against Charles II, namely Bishop Gregory V of Rieti and the cardinal-deacon Sixtus, were arrested in Ostia. But Lucian II was ready for a fight and sent out the “Moravians” named Zacchary and Elias in Papal sources whom the Pope had originally planned for a Hungarian mission. These two missionaries carried letters with them calling on them to incite the Hungarians against Charles II. The Pope had thus become the center of an anti-imperial alliance that threatened Charles II's authority not only in Rome but also beyond the Latium. John XII simply claimed that they were forgeries that were intended to discredit him and the Papal institutions. Also, it was not he but Charles II who broke his oath, because he had not respected the independence of the Papal States. If necessary, a divine judgment should decide the matter, even in the form of a duel between the knights of the emperor and the pope.
The Pope, feeling wronged by the emperor and Lucian II, received the ambassadors with hostility and, in return, sent hostile messages and embassies to Charles II. Volkhold I of Ivrea, who had been invited by Lucian II, at least officially on behalf of John XII, appeared near Rome. He allied himself with the Pope and Volkhold I was received in the city by Lucian II of Fornovo with all honors. But this represented a breach of the oath struck in 945 and thus offered Charles II the opportunity to intervene militarily. However, it must be noted that the events can only be reconstructed using anti-papal sources. The motives for the change of policy do not emerge from this.
In the autumn of 963, the requested levies of Charles II moved to Rome. But some of the Romans, perhaps already when Volkhold I entered, turned against the Pope. Now the resistance of the de-facto besieged city collapsed and Volkhold I and Lucian II fled to Tivoli who carried the remaining church property with them. The imperial party opened the city gates but had to take a solemn oath of allegiance to the Roman senate. The emperor was also given the right to control the election of the pope. On 6th November, at the request of the Roman people and the bishops present in Rome, a synod was called in St. Peter's Basilica, presided over by the emperor. This should also examine John XII's guilt.
Here, sources become sketchy, as only extremely tendentious reports on the course of this synod survived. It is said that 12 cardinals, functionaries of the Curia, a large part of the Roman nobility as well as representatives of the people and the militia were present. Former loyal followers of the Pope also turned up. During the first session, after the Emperor asked where the Pope was, the Cardinal Presbyter Joannes and Bishop Stephen of Narni brought several charges against the absentee pope, mostly including extreme exaggerations and lies. Even if the truthfulness of these charges cannot be determined, the accusations were sufficient for the participants in the synod to order Pope John before the synod.
This happened three times, and John XII was eventually given the opportunity to swear an oath of allegiance and repentance before the synod. John XII would never get news of the summons, as he was already under house arrest in Tivoli. Lucian II, acting as a messenger of the Papal Curia, prohibited those present in the synod from electing a new Pope and threatening excommunication as a consequence. On 13th December, the synod met to deliver the verdict, and Charles II himself accused the pope of perjury and rebellion. The synod called for the Pope's deposition, more because of his political alignment than his moral wrongdoings. Formally he was declared an apostate. The aforementioned Bishop Stephen of Narni was elected with triple acclamation by the synod as Stephen V. He was consecrated on 16th December in St. Peter's Basilica. For the first time in church history, a pope who was described as a criminal and traitor was deposed. Formally, however, according to canon law, this was no correct condemnation which in turn made the claim of Stephen V illegitimate.
On 12th January 964, an uprising broke out intending to kill the new Pope and the Emperor. But the uprising was suppressed by the army of Charles II. The next day, a large number of hostages were taken, which the emperor only released after a week immediately before a battle against Volkhold I’s forces near Frascati. In late January, Charles moved to Spoleto against Duke Neidthard I who became sympathetic to the cause of Lucian II. The emperor had hardly left Rome when both Lucian II and John XII returned in February and had Stephen V and his followers deposed at a synod. The two prelates who advocated against John XII were mutilated. Gregory V of Rieti's right hand was cut off, Cardinal-deacon Sixtus lost his nose, tongue and fingers were cut off, both being paraded through Rome in the evening of that day.
John XII convened another council in which 16 bishops from around Rome took part, with 12 cardinals, the majority of whom had already participated in the deposition synod, being present. The assembly met for the first time on 2nd March 964. It reversed all decisions and measures taken by the previous synod of the emperor. Stephen V was declared illegitimate, stripped of all honors, and excommunicated. The bishop was accused of having entered the office through simony, against church law. In contrast to the above-mentioned synod, John XII actually acted exactly according to canon law, making it a lawful decision. Another measure against Bishop Pandulf of Ostia, an illegitimate son of Prince Landulf I of Capua, who was ordained by Stephen V during his short reign and already left the port city towards the Lombard principality, was postponed until the third session to allow him to justify himself. The Bishop of Ostia, who had not followed the orders of John XII, was then deposed and excommunicated, further straining the relationship between Rome and the Principality of Capua. Theobald of Albano, who was also ordained by Stephen V, submitted himself to John XII. He repented and regretted both orally and in writing that he had elected a Pope during the lifetime of the still incumbent and legitimate Pope. Everyone who had obtained offices through Stephen V had to acknowledge that antipope did not have the right to give these offices. In the spirit of the Florian Principles, the antipope was accused of having carried out the ordinations through simony, an accusation not too far removed from reality. With reference to the Lateran Council of 769, all appointments were thus declared null and void. All of these men were either reinstated with the blessing of John XII if it became clear that their appointments were not politically motivated, or denied their ability to hold higher offices.
Paola, in the meantime, became a widow for the second time when Bernard I died a natural death in the summer of 964. For the next two years, she ruled the margraviate of Friuli on behalf of her son William III. In the beginning, she was supported by her brother-in-law Erhard II, whose daughter Adeline was married to Paola’s son Adalbert III of Tuscany from her first marriage, though Adeline died of a fever in 966 already after giving birth to two daughters, Willa and Bertha. Those two daughters will go on to shape the Kingdom of Italy in the coming decades, though for now, they are growing up in the court of the new margrave of Tuscany. Nevertheless, after a short absence of Erhard II, Paola ran the affairs of government alone, presumably because Erhard II was preoccupied with the occasional Hungarian raids and had to assert himself against rebellious vassals who hoped for advantages from the lack of male leadership in the county. These conflicts did not end when Erhard II finally took over the government of Friuli on behalf of his nephew. Erhard II immediately tried to limit the influence of Paola in his court and she was sent to the Abbey of Santa Maria in Sylvis. Paola, however, managed to flee from the abbey after a nearby raid and when the unrest in the march intensified after the disappearance of Wilhelm III, Paola asked her son Adalbert III of Tuscany for support, who rushed to her aid. Nevertheless, the fighting and unrest did not end until 967 when both William III reappeared in the hands of his mother and when Erhard II was fatally wounded in armed conflict. Paola had managed to preserve the inheritance for her children, but the family of the margraves of Tuscany and Friuli emerged weakened from these conflicts. The regency was accompanied by a loss of the margrave's power, but historians attribute this not to Paola's political ineptitude, but to the social and structural changes of that time.
On the other hand, Emperor Charles II would spend most of his time suppressing unrest and opposition to his rule throughout the kingdom. Duke Neidhardt I of Spoleto was able to evade capture by the army of Charles II near Viterbo in 965, effectively completely withdrawing the duchy from the control of the Iron Crown for the time being. Charles II, now a man in his 50s, seriously fell ill near Siena in Tuscany in the Winter of 966, probably suffering from a stroke that inhibited his ability to speak with others. From this point onwards, Charles II seems to have tried to retake the eternal city without success. For the Ascension Day of 967, Charles II resided in Fossanova Abbey. Here, he fell seriously ill. After several attacks of fever, he asked for the anointing of the sick, and he died on 1st June 967 in the Abbey. With no heirs, the Carolingian thread of Italian kings and Holy Roman Emperors seemed severed for one last time.
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Cold. It was cold. His fever worsened, he knew.
Ignited by the tragedy of his life, his self-destructive ways were done in good faith. He wanted to uphold his father’s legacy, the father he had never truly interacted with, he wanted to make his mother proud, his mother behind the Alps, his mother that had died with no one to cry after her. He does not remember how his two little brother’s faces looked like. He never needed to. His heart was filled with sorrow and regret, and now his body is failing him. His never resolved sorrow transformed him into a ruthless ruler incapable of any intimate relationship, his brothers detested him, his wife left him, the only gift he had ever received with genuine joy, his daughter Joanna, was taken by God’s wrath. He sinned and he repented with his mumbling voice to the abbot. Painful memories, perhaps, but the eagle would never dare to try and exceed his God-given reach. Truly, he hoped that God’s punishment upon him will be merciful on the last day.
The true secret, he realized in hindsight, was that he knew that he could never fill in the void his father has left, both politically and personally. But he felt that he had to. The illusion was gone as the emperor collapsed on the floor. When he woke up, he felt an aching pain in the chest and, yet, he felt empty. He lay in a badly prepared bed with a bowl of water and some herbs. It was a prison, a far cry from the liberties he had enjoyed before. But golden dawn awaits beyond the night for the eagle in a cage, a cage he had set up for himself. But the bright dawn will not come for him.
“Qui non proficit, deficit". A proverb he learned from Ottwin he remembered as he slipped out of consciousness. When he woke up, drenched in sweat, a sad smile appeared on his face. Even in death, he thought, he would disappoint his father.
He closed his eyes again and pain was no more. The old eagle would finally find peace in death.
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SUMMARY:
962: Paola, wife of Emperor Charles II, annuls the marriage through Patriarch Pompèu I of Aquileia. This divorce is not recognized in the Lateran which excommunicates Paola and her new husband Margrave Bernard I of Friuli. Patriarch Pompèu I of Aquileia attempts to de-escalate the situation, but he is imprisoned by Charles II who hopes that the excommunication of Paola will not be repealed.
963: Pope Benedict V passes away. He is succeeded by John XII, another puppet of the Roman aristocracy.
963: After an unsuccessful appeal to Pope John XII to annul the marriage to Paola, Emperor Charles II convenes a synod in which Pope John XII is deposed and antipope Stephen V is declared to be his successor.
964: Agitation of Italian noblemen outside of Latium forces Charles II to leave Rome which is retaken by the Theodori. Pope John XII reverses all decisions and measures taken by the previous synod of Charles II.
1 June 967: Emperor Charles II passes away, leaving no heir to the Iron Crown.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The Theophylacti managed to get into this timeline. As I mentioned in a previous Italian update, the Counts of Tusculum are still powerful in their own right, they, however, got outmaneuvered by Theodorus of Fornovo in the prelude to TTL’s saeculum obscurum. This, understandably, made them move to the anti-Fornovani party and thus the pro-Imperial faction of the Roman political scene. Quite an allohistorical allusion.
