GREGORY VIII. (Albert de Mora), who as papal legate had in 1172 attended the council of Avranches, which absolved Henry II. of England from the guilt of the murder of Thomas à Beckett, was consecrated pope in room of Urban III. October 25th, 1187, and died of fever on December 17th of the same year. Clement III. was his successor.
GREGORY IX., pope from 1227 to 1241, the successor of Honorius III., fully inherited the traditions of Gregory VII. and of his uncle Innocent III., and zealously gave himself up to the perpetuation of their policy. One of the first acts of his pontificate was to suspend the emperor Frederick II., then lying sick at Otranto, for dilatoriness in carrying out his promised crusade; the suspension was followed by excommunication and threats of deposition after Frederick had written to the sovereigns of Europe complaining of his treatment. A consequent invasion of the patrimony of St Peter at the instance of Frederick 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 July 1232, the pope was compelled to take refuge at Anagni and invoke the aid of Frederick. A new outbreak of hostility led to a fresh excommunication of the emperor in 1239, and to a prolonged war which was only terminated by the death of Gregory (August 22, 1241). This pope, who was a remarkably skilful and learned lawyer, caused to be prepared in 1234 the well known Nova Compilatio Decretalium, printed at Mainz in 1473. He it was who canonized Saints Elizabeth, Dominic, and Anthony of Padua, and also Francis of Assisi, of whom he had been a personal friend. His encroachments upon the rights of the English Church during the ignominious reign of Henry III. are well known; but similar attempts against the liberties of the national church of France only served to call forth the celebrated Pragmatic Sanction of St Louis. Gregory IX. was succeeded by Celestine IV.
GREGORY X., pope from 1271 to 1276, succeeded Clement IV. after the papal chair had been three years vacant; his election occurred while he was engaged in a pilgrimage to Saint Jean-d'Acre. On his arrival at Rome his first act was to summon the council which met at Lyons in 1274 for the purpose of considering the Eastern schism, the condition of the Holy Land, and the abuses of the Catholic Church. It was while returning from that council that he died at Arezzo on the 10th of January 1276. To him is due the bull which, subsequently incorporated into the code of canon law, continues to regulate all conclaves for papal elections. He was succeeded by Innocent V.
GREGORY XI. (Pierre Roger de Beaufort), pope from 1370 to 1378, born in Limousin in 1336, succeeded Urban V. in 1370 as one of the Avignon popes. During his pontificate vigorous measures were taken against the “heresies” which had broken out in Germany, England, and other parts of Europe; a sincere effort was also made to bring about a reformation in the various monastic orders. The nineteen propositions of Wickliffe and the thirteen articles of the “Sachsenspiegel” were formally condemned by him in 1373. His energy was largely stimulated by the stirring words of Catherine of Siena (see vol. v.p. 231), to whom in particular the transference of the papal see back to Italy, January 27, 1377, was almost entirely due. He did not long survive this removal, dying on March 27, 1378. His successor was Urban VI., but the antipope Clement VII. also received much support, and the schism lasted forty years.
GREGORY XII. (Angelo Corario or Corraro), pope from 1406 to 1409, born at Venice about 1326, succeeded Innocent VII. on 30th November 1406, having been chosen at Rome by a conclave consisting of only fifteen cardinals, under the express condition that, should Benedict XIII. of Avignon renounce all claim to the papacy, he also would renounce his, so that a fresh election might be made by the no longer divided church. Along with Benedict he was deposed by the council of Pisa in March 1409 as schismatical, heretical, perjured, and scandalous; but it was not till after the council of Constance had set aside John XXIII. (1415) that through his ambassador he formally renounced the title and dignity of lawful pope. The rest of his life was spent in peaceful obscurity as cardinal-bishop of Porto and legate of the mark of Ancona. He died October 18, 1417, having been succeeded in 1409 by Alexander V.
GREGORY XIII. (Ugo Buoncompagno), pope from
1572 to 1585, was born February 7, 1502, at Bologna,
where he studied law and graduated in 1530, and after
wards taught jurisprudence for some years, Alexander
Farnese and Charles Borromeo being among his pupils.
At the age of thirty-six he was summoned to Rome by
Paul III., under whom he held successive appointments
as first judge of the capital, abbreviator, and vice-chan
cellor of the campagna ; by Paul IV. he was attached as
datarius to the suite of Cardinal Carafa; and by Pius IV.
he was created cardinal priest and sent to the council of
Trent. On the death of Pius V. in May 1572, the choice
of the conclave fell upon Buoncompagno, who assumed
the name of Gregory XIII. His intervention in the
affairs of Britain through Ireland and by means of his tool
Philip II., and also the league which he sought to cement
against France (the massacre of the St Bartholomew had
taken place in September 1572), are matters which belong
to the history of those countries. In order to raise funds
for these and similar objects, he confiscated a large propor
tion of the houses and properties throughout the states of
the church, a measure which enriched his treasury, indeed,
for a time, but by alienating the great body of the nobility
and gentry, revived old factions, created new ones, and
ultimately plunged his temporal dominions into a state
bordering upon anarchy. Such was the position of matters
at the time of his death, which took place on the 10th
of April 1585. He was a liberal patron of the Jesuit
order, for which he founded many new colleges ; the new
and greatly improved edition of the Corpus juris canonici
was also due to his care ; but the work with which the
name of Gregory XIII. is most intimately and honourably
associated is that of the reformation of the calendar, which
has been already described under that heading (vol. iv. p.
671). Gregory XIII. was succeeded by Sixtus V.
GREGORY XIV. (Niccolo Sfoudrato), pope from 1590
to 1591, a native of Cremona, succeeded Urban VII., 5th
December 1590. As a monk he had been eminent for
the decency and sobriety of his life ; but his brief pontificate
was marked by no important occurrence, except that, in
stigated by the king of Spain and the duke of Mayenne, he
excommunicated Henry IV. of France, declaring him, as a
heretic and persecutor, to be deprived of his dominions,
and also levied an army for the invasion of France. The
history of that country records how this proceeding was
regarded alike by clergy, parliament, and people. The
biographers mention as a curious personal trait of Gregory
XIV. a nervous tendency to laughter which occasionally
became irresistible, and which manifested itself even at
his coronation. He was succeeded by Innocent IX.
