Everything about Gregory Ix totally explained
Pope Gregory IX, born
Ugolino di Conti, was
pope from
March 19,
1227 to
August 22,
1241.
The successor of
Pope Honorius III (1216–27), he fully inherited the traditions of
Pope Gregory VII (1073–85) and of his cousin
Pope Innocent III (1198-1216), and zealously continued their policy of
Papal supremacy.
Ugolino was born in
Anagni. Date of his birth fluctuates in the sources between ca.
1145 and
1170. He resembled his uncle in his legal training, diplomatic experience and intransigent policy.
He was created
Cardinal Deacon of S. Eustachio by his cousin Innocent III in December
1198. In
1206 he was promoted to the rank of
Cardinal Bishop of Ostia e Velletri. He became
dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals in
1219. He was also archpriest of the patriarchal
Vatican Basilica (ca. 1198/1202 until ca. 1221) and the second
Cardinal Protector of the Order of
Franciscans.
As
Cardinal Bishop of Ostia he'd been in the inner circle of Honorius III, and associated with the Pope's policy of accommodation with the formidable
Hohenstaufen Emperor
Frederick II (1220–50), whose lawyers in Naples and Capua asserted his position as universal temporal ruler, in the mold of
Constantine.
Gregory IX began his pontificate by suspending the Emperor, then lying sick at
Otranto, for dilatoriness in carrying out the promised
Sixth Crusade. The suspension was followed by
excommunication and threats of deposition, as deeper rifts appeared – Frederick II's control of the Sicilian Church, his feudal obligations to the Pope, even his continued presence in Sicily. Frederick II publicly appealed to the sovereigns of Europe complaining of his treatment. Frederick II went to the
Holy Land and skirmished with the
Saracens to fulfill his vow, but was soon back in Italy, where Gregory IX had taken advantage of his absence by invading his territories. A consequent invasion of the
Papal states in
1228 having proved unsuccessful, the Emperor was constrained to give in his submission and beg for absolution.
Although peace was thus secured (August
1230) for a season, the Roman people were far from satisfied; driven by a revolt from his own capital in June
1232, the Pope was compelled to take refuge at
Anagni and invoke the aid of Frederick II. Gregory IX and Hohenstaufen came to a truce, but when Frederick II defeated the
Lombard League in 1239, the possibility that he might dominate all of Italy, surrounding the
Papal States, became a very real threat. A new outbreak of hostility led to a fresh excommunication of the emperor in
1239, and to a prolonged war.
Gregory IX denounced Frederick II as a
heretic and summoned a council at Rome to give point to his
anathema, at which Frederick II attempted to capture or sink as many ships carrying
prelates to the synod as he could. The struggle was only terminated by the death of Gregory IX on August 22, 1241. He died before events could reach their climax; it was his successor, aptly named
Pope Innocent IV (1243-54) who declared a
crusade in
1245 that would finish the Hohenstaufen threat.
This pope, being a remarkably skillful and learned lawyer, caused to be prepared
Nova Compilatio decretalium, which was promulgated in numerous copies in
1234. (It was first printed at
Mainz in
1473). This
New Compilation of Decretals was the culmination of a long process of systematising the mass of pronouncements that had accumulated since the
Early Middle Ages, a process that had been under way since the first half of the
12th century and had come to fruition in the
Decretum compiled and edited by the papally-commissioned legist
Gratian and published in
1140. The supplement completed the work, which provided the foundation for papal legal theory.
His Bull
Parens scientiarum of 1231 resolved differences between the unruly
university scholars of Paris and the local authorities, who had precipitated this crisis by high-handed actions. His solution was in the manner of a true follower of Innocent III: he issued what in retrospect has been viewed as the
magna carta of the University, assuming direct control by extending papal patronage: his Bull allowed future suspension of lectures over a flexible range of provocations, from "monstrous injury or offense" to squabbles over "the right to assesss the rents of lodgings".
Gregory IX believed the problem of heresy needed serious attention and wasn't content with leaving it to the bishops, who might have been lax, but extended central control in this essential area as well. In 1231, he established the
Papal Inquisition to deal with it, although he didn't approve the use of torture as a tool of investigation or for penance.
He appointed ten cardinals and
canonized Saints
Elizabeth,
Dominic de Guzmán, and
Anthony of Padua, and also
Francis of Assisi, of whom he'd been a personal friend and early patron. His encroachments upon the rights of the
English Church during the reign of
Henry III of England (1216-72) are well known; similar attempts against the liberties of the national church of
France were supposedly the occasion of the
Pragmatic Sanction of
Louis IX of France (1226-70), now generally thought to be a 14th-century
forgery.
Gregory IX transformed a chapel to Our Lady in the church of
Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome.
Gregory IX endorsed the
Northern Crusades and
Teutonic Order's attempts to conquer
Orthodox Russia (particularly the
Pskov Republic and the
Novgorod Republic). In the year
1232, Gregory IX requested the
Livonian Brothers of the Sword to send troops to protect
Finland, whose semi-
Pagan people were fighting against
Novgorod Republic in the
Finnish-Novgorodian wars, however, there's no known information if any ever arrived to assist.
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