The Catholic Popes in a Nutshell

This fourth volume in the series covers the papacies of popes 97 to 151, between the years 770 and 1048. These years included what was a very dark period in the history of the Church - the so-called Saeculum Obscurum. To put it mildly, the Throne of St. Peter was up for grabs. Papal elections were a farce; they were nothing more than a trial of strength between opposing factions in the Roman nobility and between Rome and the (German) Holy Roman Emperor. A great many unsuitable candidates ended up on that throne. They frequently scandalised Rome and the known world with their antics, both in public and in their private lives. One of them, the wildly blatant homosexual Benedict IX, was elected three times! It also included what is perhaps the most bizarre trial of all time: the posthumous exhumation, trial, ritual degradation and execution of Pope Formosus' cadaver. The period also saw a number of 'firsts': The first papal canonisation; the first German pope; the first French pope; the first humanist pope; the first papal voluntary abdication; the first pope to be assassinated; and the first papal canonisation. The period also coincides with the rise of the (German) Holy Roman Empire which came to dominate European politics in the Middle Ages and beyond, only becoming extinct in 1806. The Introductory essay in this volume charts the rise and fall of the Empire, whilst the Concluding Essay recalls one of the earliest mass popular movements in European history - The Peace and Truce of God.