3) Iron Age of the Papacy
Christendom could survive weak emperors and Vikings, but what about bad churchmen?
a) Reasons for immoral men in the Church
 Charlemagne was a patron of education, which was in the hands of the monks.
 To help them, he and other nobles would give monasteries land and money, to the point
that many became very wealthy.
 Because monasteries became a source of large income, greedy men became monks and
abbots.
 Also, popes like St. Gregory I and Charlemagne’s protection gave the papacy very high
status.
 So many rich Roman families made it a goal to have a family member become pope at any
cost.
b) Examples of Church Corruption
[1] John XI (pope 931-935)
 At the age of 25, he was made pope by the plots of his mother the Duchess Marozia, who
may have conceived him by a previous pope, Sergius III.
 He schemed against his brother Duke Alberic II, head of a powerful Roman clan.
 Alberic had him and Marozia jailed, and they
both died in prison.
[2] John XII (pope 955-964)
 The bastard son of Alberic, John XII was made pope by the intrigues of his father at the age
of 18.
 John XII spent his papacy hunting, gambling, and womanizing.
 John was very unpopular, so no one cried when he suddenly died (of STD or alcohol?) in 964.
[3] Stephen VI /VII (pope 896-897)
 He hated a previous pope Formosus (a flawed but decent man), who backed a rival Roman
clan.
 In 897, he had Formosus’ corpse dug up a year after he died and put it on trial in what was
known as the Synod of the Corpse, with Stephen as judge.
 Formosus had a “lawyer,” who pled guilty.
 Stephen ordered Formosus’ robes torn off, his three fingers severed, and his body thrown in
the Tiber.
 6 months later, there was a revolt, and Stephen was thrown in prison, where he was
strangled.
 Formosus’ body was found and reburied.
c) 3 resulting trends of these bad clerics
[1] Simony = sacred offices like bishoprics, abbacies, and even the papacy were bought.
[2] Nepotism = placing family members in sacred offices.
[3] Lay investiture = secular lords choosing who fills a sacred office
- i.e., an emperor chooses who becomes a bishop and gives him the symbols of the office
(mitre, ring, crozier, etc.)
- This implies that the lord has spiritual authority over a bishop.
 All of these trends were dangerous to the Church and the mission Christ gave it, so this
problem had to be fixed.
Assignment
1. What is the Iron Age of the Papacy?
2. Part of the reason why the Iron Age of the Papacy happened is that the Church was given
land and protection from the Emperor. Was this a good idea, or should the Church just do
without the Emperor’s help? Explain your answer.