CHAPTER II

Summary

Paschalis condemns his own privilegium, March 1116

Peace was disturbed in Rome as early as 1116; Henry came to Lombardy, and Paschalis, urged by the united opposition of the bishops, was forced at the Council held at the Lateran in March by solemn oath to condemn the Privilegium of the investiture. The reconciliation which the Emperor had sought to attain through Pontius, Abbot of Cluny, had failed ; the Pope undoubtedly refused to sanction Henry's excommunication by the Council; but he did not revoke the anathema of his legates; he permitted John, Archbishop of Milan, to pronounce the excommunication of the Emperor within the cathedral of that city; he explained that a Council alone had the power of removing the malison of bishops.

Civil war in Rome concerning the prefecture, 1116

While Henry's envoys held negotiations with the Pope, they came to a secret understanding with the party in Rome who desired the Emperor's arrival. The Romans were subject to transient accesses of rage against the imperium, but their hatred of the papal power was eternal. The death of the Prefect now afforded an opportunity for open revolt. At this period the Roman nobles strove as eagerly to obtain the prefecture as their ancestors had striven for the consulate, for the criminal judge of Rome was an influential personage.