Nicholas Ii: the Normans and the Collapse of Imperial Amity

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Nicholas Ii: the Normans and the Collapse of Imperial Amity CHAPTER EIGHT NICHOLAS II: THE NORMANS AND THE COLLAPSE OF IMPERIAL AMITY Th e New Norman Policy Aft er Godfrey left Rome following the enthronement, Nicholas lost almost all of his military support against Benedict, and had to call upon Richard of Aversa for support. Benedict had fl ed to the protec- tion of the count of Galeria, and according to the Annales Romani, Hildebrand met Richard at Capua and worked out an agreement whereby Richard provided the military support that eventually defeated Benedict, and swore fealty to the pope.1 Th e agreement implied that as his vassal, the pope recognized Richard’s right to the land that he had conquered. It is estimated that these arrangements took place in May or June of 1059. Historians generally concede that it was the diplomatically skilled Hildebrand who took this initiative, but some speculate that it was Desiderius who played the major role in creating the new Norman policy.2 Stephen IX had designated Desiderius as abbot of Monte- cassino, but it was Nicholas II who confi rmed him in this dignity a few days aft er he had been ordained as cardinal priest of Santa Cecilia on March 6, 1059 at Osimo in the March of Ancona.3 During the summer of 1059 Nicholas traveled to Montecassino, and accompanied by Desiderius, he traveled on to Melfi , the old capital of Apulia that lay in the midst of the lands that Robert Guiscard had captured at the expense of the Byzantines. On August 21 or 23 Nicholas opened a council in the presence of about 100 Latin bishops of the area.4 Th e council introduced reforming decrees, and provided the occasion for the pope to meet Richard of Aversa and Robert Guiscard. Th is meeting resulted in a dramatic shift 1 Annales Romani, Lib. Pont. 2:335; Hägermann, Das Papsttum, pp. 89–93. 2 Hägermann, Das Papsttum, p. 91; Gresser, Konziliengeschichte, p. 49. 3 Ibid.; Hüls, Kardinäle, pp. 154–157. 4 JL, pp. 560–561; Mansi 19:919; IP, nr. 13, 8:11; Gresser, Konziliengeschichte, pp. 48–51; Hägermann, Das Papsttum, pp. 154–160. 110 chapter eight in policy both for the papacy and for the Normans. Robert swore fi del- ity to the Roman Church and to the pope, and obligated himself to retrieve the regalia and the possessions of St. Peter.5 Th e feudal bond aimed in part at restoring the great wealth that the Roman church had lost to the Byzantines during the Iconoclastic dispute in the early eighth century.6 Robert Guiscard facilitated the expansion of papal infl uence in both the political and religious spheres by extinguishing Byzantine and Muslim political power.7 Robert also promised to protect the papacy, and to place the churches on Norman property under its jurisdiction. At the same time as the papacy granted the Normans their conquered lands as fi efs, the Normans took a carefully formulated oath to support the candidate of “the more sound cardinals” in case of a disputed papal election.8 Th e “more sound cardinals” would be the cardinal bishops who sup- ported the reform candidates. Although the oath heightened the pros- pect that the papal electoral decree would be applied to subsequent elections, this was not the outcome. For his part, Nicholas agreed to recognize the usurpation of church lands by both Normans in return for an annual census. He created Robert Guiscard Duke of Apulia, Calabria, and of Sicily once it had been conquered, and confi rmed Richard as prince of Capua.9 For the Normans the result was the legitimization of the conquests of Richard and Robert, and papal sanction of their superiority over other Norman leaders. 5 Chron. Mont., 3.15, p. 377, Aug. 1059: “Hisdem quoque diebus et Richardo prin- cipatum Capuanum et Robberto ducatum Apulie et Calabrie atque Sicilie confi rmavit, sacramento ac fi delitate Romane ecclesie ab eis primo recepta nec non et investitione census totius terre ipsorum, singulis videlicet annis per singula bonum paria denarios duodecim….” Hägermann, Das Papsttum, pp. 156–157 says that Richard’s presence is still open to doubt. 6 Robinson, “Reform and the Church,” pp. 286, 321. 7 Goez, Kirchen Reform und Investiturstreit, pp. 123–124. 8 Ibid., 107. 9 Chron. Mont., 3.15, pp. 400–401; Loud, Church and Society in the Norman Principality of Capua, pp. 38–65; idem, Conquerors and Churchmen in Norman Italy, Variorum Collected Studies Series (Aldershot, etc., 1984), nr. IV, “Betrachtungen über die normannische Eroberung Süditaliens;” idem, Th e Age of Robert Guiscard: Southern Italy and the Norman Conquest (Harlow, Pearson Education Limited, 2000); idem, Th e Latin Church in Norman Italy (Cambridge, 2007); idem, “Th e Papacy and the Rulers of Southern Italy, 1058–1198,” pp. 151–184 of Graham Loud & Alex Metcalfe, eds. Th e Society of Norman Italy (Leiden, 2002); Valerie Ramseyer, Th e Transformation of a Religious Landscape: Medieval Southern Italy 850–1150 (Ithaca & London, 2007), p. 124..
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