LEO
161
LIQ
Conrad, who destincii him for higher things, was loath
to allow him to accept that insignificant see. But
Bruno, who was wholly disinclined for the higher
things, and wished to Uve in as much obscurity as
possible, induced his sovereign to permit him to take
the see. Consecrated in 1027, Bruno administered
the Diocese of Toul for over twenty years, in a season
of stress and trouble of all kinds. He had to contend
not merely with famine, but also with war, to which
as a frontier town Toul was much exposed. Bruno,
however, was equal to his position. He knew how to
make peace, and, if necessary, to wield the sword in
self-defence. Sent by Conrad to Robert the Pious, he
established so firm a peace between France and the
empire that it was not again broken even during the
reigns of the sons of both Conrad and Robert. On the
other hand, he held his epfltoopal city against Eudes,
Count of Blois, a rebel against Conrad, and "by his
wisdom and exertions ** added Burgundy to the em-
pire. It was whilst he was bishop that he was sad-
dened by the death not merely of his father and
mother, out also of two of his orothers. Amid his
trials Bruno found some consolation in music, in
which he proved himself very efficient.
The German Pope Damasus II died in 1048, and the Romans sent to ask Henry III, Conrad's successor, to let them have as the new pope either Halinard, Arch- bishop of Lyons, or Bruno. Both of them were fav- ourably known to the Romans by what the3r had seen of them when they came to Rome on pikrimage. Heniy at once fixed upon Bruno, who did all he could to avoid the honour wnich his sovereign wished to im- pose upon him. When at length he was overcome by the combined importunities of the emperor, the Ger- mans, and the Romans, he agreed to ro to Rome, and to accept the papacy if freely elected thereto by the Roman people. He wished, at least, to rescue the See of Peter from its servitude to the German emper- ors. When, in company with Hildebrand he reached Rome, and presented hunself to its people clad in pil- grim's guise and barefooted, but still tail, and fair to look upon, they cried out with one voice that him and no other would they have as pope. Assuming the name of Leo, he was solemnly enthroned 12 February, 1049. Before Leo could do anything in the matter of the reform of the Church on wnich his heart was set, he had first to put down another attempt on the part of the ex-Pope Benedict IX to seize the papal throne. He had then to attend to money matters, as the papal finances were in a deplorable condition. To better them he put them in the hands of Hildebrand, i^ man capable of improving anything.
He then b^gan the work of reform which was to give the next hundred years a character of their own, and which his great successor Gregory VII was to carry so far forward. In April, 1049, he held a synod at which he condemned the two notorious evils of the day, simony and clerical incontinence. Then he com- m^iced those journeys throughout Europe in the cause of a reformation of manners which gave him a pre-eminent right to be styled Peregrinus Apoatolicus, Leaving Rome in May, he held a council of reform at Pavia^ and pushed on through Germany to Cologne, where he iomed the Emperor Henry III. In union with him he brought about peace in Lorraine by ex- communicating che rebel Godfrey the Bearded. De- spite the jealous efforts of King Henry I to prevent him from coming to France, Leo next proce^ed to Reims, where he held an important synod, at which both bishops and abbots from England assisted . There also assembled in the city to see the famous pope an enor- mous number of enthusiastic people, Spaniards, Bretons, Franks, Irish, and English". Besides ex- communicating the Archbishop of Compostela (be- cause, he had ventured to assume the title of Avob- iUicui, reserved to the pope alone), and forbidding marriage between William (afterwards called the Con- DC— 11
queror) and Matilda of Flanders, the assembly issued
manv decrees of refoon. On his way back to Rome
Leo held another synod at Mainz, everywhere rousing
public opinion agamst the great evils of the time as he
went along, and everywhere being received with un-
bounded enthusiasm. It is apparently in connexion
with this return journey that we have the first men-
tion of the Golden Rose. The Abbess of Woffen-
heim, in return for certain privileges bestowed by the
pope, had to send to Rome "a golden rose" before
Lsetare Sunday, on which day, says Leo, the popes are
wont to carry it. Also before he returned to Home,
he discussed with Adalbert, Archbishop of Bremen,
the formation of all the Scandinavian countries, in-
cluding Iceland and Greenland, into a patriarchate,
of which the see was to be Bremen. The scheme was
never accomplished, but meanwhile Leo authorized
the consecration by Adalbert of the first native bishop
for Iceland.
In January, 1050, Leo returned to Rome, only to leave it again almost immediately for Southern Italy, whither the sufferings of its people called him. They were being heavily oppressed by the Normans. To the expostulations of Leo the wily Normans replied with promises, and when the pope, after holding a council at Siponto, returned to Rome, they continued their oppressions as before. At the usual paschal synod which Leo was in the habit of holding at Rome, the heresy of Berengarius of Tours w^as condemned — a condemnation repeated by the pope a few months later at Vercelli. Before the year 1050 had come to a close, Leo had begun his second transalpine journey. He went first to Toul^ in order solenmly to translate the relics of Gerard, bishop of that city, whom he had
i'ust canonized, and then to Germany to interview the Cmperor Henry the Black. One of the results of this meeting was that Hunfrid, Archbishop of Ravenna, was compelled by the emperor to cease acting as though he were the independent ruler of Ravenna and its district, and to submit to the pope. Returning to Rome, Leo held another of his paschal synods in April, 1051, and in July went to take possession of Benevento. Harassed by their enemies, the Bene- ventans concluded that their only hope of peace was to submit themselves to the authority of the pope. This they did, and received Leo into their city with the greatest honour. While in this vicinity, Leo again made further efforts to lessen the excesses of the Normans, but they were crippled by the native Lom- bards, who with as much folly as wickedness massa- cred a number of the Normans in Apulia. Realizing that nothing could then be done with the irate Norman survivors, I^ retraced his steps to Rome (1051).
The Norman question was henceforth ever present to the pope's mind. Constantly oppressed oy the Normans, the people of Southern Italy ceased not to implore the pope to come and help them. The Greeks, fearful of being expelled froni the peninsula altogether, begged Leo to co-operate w^ith them against the con> mon foe. Thus urged, Leo sought assistance on all sides. Failing to obtain it, he again tried the effect of personal mecfiation (1052). But again failure at- tended his efforts. He began to be convinced that appeal would have to be made to the sword. At this juncture an embassy arrived from the Hungarians, entreating him to come and make peace between them and the emperor. Again I-^eo crossed the Alps, but, thinking he was sure of success, Henry would not ac- cept the terms proposetl by the pope, with the result that his expedition against the Hungarians proved a failure. And though he at first undertook to let Leo have a German force to act against the Normans, he afterwards withdrew his promise, and the pope had to return to Italy with only a few German troops raised by his relatives (1053). In March, 1053, Leo was back in Rome. Finding the state of affairs in South* em Italy worse than ever, he raised what forces he
