Pope Honorius II
Pope Honorius II, born Lamberto Scannabecchi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 21 December 1124 to his death in 1130.
Although from a humble background, his obvious intellect and outstanding abilities saw him promoted up through the ecclesiastical hierarchy. Attached to the Frangipani family of Rome, his election as pope was contested by a rival candidate, Celestine II, and force was used to guarantee his election.
Honorius's pontificate was concerned with ensuring that the privileges the Roman Catholic Church had obtained through the Concordat of Worms were preserved and, if possible, extended. He was the first pope to confirm the election of the Holy Roman emperor. Distrustful of the traditional Benedictine order, he favoured new monastic orders, such as the Augustinians and the Cistercians, and sought to exercise more control over the larger monastic centres of Monte Cassino and Cluny Abbey. He also approved the new military order of the Knights Templar in 1128.
Honorius II failed to prevent Roger II of Sicily from extending his power in southern Italy and was unable to stop Louis VI of France from interfering in the affairs of the French church. Like his predecessors, he managed the wide-ranging affairs of the church through Papal Legates. With his death in 1130, the Church was again thrown into confusion with the election of two rival popes, Innocent II and the antipope Anacletus II.
Early life
Lamberto was of simple rural origins, hailing from Fiagnano in the Casalfiumanese commune, near Imola in present-day Italy. Entering into an ecclesiastical career, he soon became archdeacon of Bologna, where his abilities eventually saw him attract the attention of Pope Urban II, who presumably appointed him cardinal priest of an unknown church, in, though S. Prassede has been discussed. His successor, Pope Paschal II, made Lamberto a Canon of the Lateran before elevating him to the position of cardinal bishop of Ostia in 1117. Lamberto was one of the cardinals who accompanied Pope Gelasius II into exile in 1118–19 and was at his bedside when Gelasius died.With Gelasius's death at Cluny on 28 January 1119, Cardinal Lamberto and Cardinal Cono conducted the election of a new pope according to the canons. Cardinal Lamberto carried out the coronation of Guy de Bourgogne at Vienne on 9 February 1119, and became a close advisor of Pope Callixtus II. Accompanying Callixtus throughout France, he assisted Callixtus in his initial dealings with Holy Roman Emperor Henry V. As a well-known opponent of the emperor's right to select bishops in his territories, Lamberto was a natural choice for papal legate. He was sent in 1119 to deal with Henry V and delegated with powers to come to an understanding concerning the right of investiture.
Forceful and determined, Lamberto summoned the bishops of the Holy Roman Empire to attend an assembly at Mainz on 8 September 1122. He expected absolute obedience, so much so that it took the mediation of Archbishop Adalbert of Mainz to prevent the suspension of Saint Otto of Bamberg for non-attendance. The struggle came to a conclusion with the Concordat of Worms in 1122 and the "Pactum Calixtinum", almost entirely due to Lamberto's efforts, was effected on 23 September 1123.
Pontificate
Conclave of 1124
Pressures building within the Curia, together with ongoing conflicts among the Roman nobility, would erupt after the death of Callixtus II in 1124. The pontificates of Urban II and Paschal II saw an expansion in the College of Cardinals of Italian clerics that strengthened the local Roman influence. These cardinals were reluctant to meet with the batch of cardinals recently promoted by Callixtus II, who were mainly French or Burgundian. As far as the older cardinals were concerned, these newer cardinals were dangerous innovators, and they were determined to resist their increasing influence. The northern cardinals, led by Cardinal Aymeric de Bourgogne, were equally determined to ensure that the elected pope would be one of their candidates. Both groups looked towards the great Roman families for support.By 1124, there were two great factions dominating local politics in Rome: the Frangipani family, which controlled the region around the fortified Colosseum and supported the northern cardinals, and the Pierleoni family, which controlled the Tiber Island and the fortress of the Theatre of Marcellus and supported the Italian cardinals. With Callixtus II's death on 13 December 1124, both families agreed that the election of the next pope should be in three days time, in accordance with the church canons. The Frangipani, led by Leo Frangipani, pushed for the delay in order that they could promote their preferred candidate, Lamberto, but the people were eager to see Saxo de Anagni, the Cardinal-Priest of San Stefano in Celiomonte elected as the next pope. Leo, eager to ensure a valid election, approached key members of every cardinal's entourage, promising each one that he would support their master when the voting for the election was underway.
On 16 December, all the cardinals, including Lamberto, assembled in the chapel of the monastery of St. Pancratius attached to the south of the Lateran basilica. There, at the suggestion of Jonathas, the cardinal-deacon of Santi Cosma e Damiano, who was a partisan of the Pierleoni family, the cardinals unanimously elected as Pope the Cardinal-Priest of Sant'Anastasia, Theobaldo Boccapecci, who took the name Celestine II. He had only just put on the red mantle and the Te Deum was being sung when an armed party of Frangipani supporters burst in, attacked the newly enthroned Celestine, who was wounded, and acclaimed Lamberto as Pope. Since Celestine had not been formally consecrated pope, the wounded candidate declared himself willing to resign, but the Pierleoni family and their supporters refused to accept Lamberto, who in the confusion had been proclaimed Pope under the name Honorius II.
Rome descended into factional infighting, while Cardinal Aymeric and Leo Frangipani attempted to win over the resistance of Urban, the City Prefect, and the Pierleoni family with bribes and extravagant promises. Eventually, Celestine's supporters abandoned him, leaving Honorius the only contender for the papal throne. Honorius, unwilling to accept the throne in such a manner, resigned his position before all of the assembled cardinals, but was immediately and unanimously re-elected and consecrated on 21 December 1124.
Papacy
Relations with the Holy Roman Empire
Honorius immediately came into conflict with Emperor Henry V over imperial claims in Italy. In 1116, Henry had crossed the Alps to lay claim to the Italian territories of Matilda of Tuscany, which she had supposedly left to the papacy on her death. Henry had immediately begun appointing imperial vicars throughout the newly acquired province over the objections of both the Tuscan cities and the papacy. To maintain papal claims to Tuscany, Honorius appointed Albert, a papal marquis, to rule in the pope's name in opposition to the imperial Margrave of Tuscany, Conrad von Scheiern. In addition, Henry V made very little effort to implement the terms of the Concordant of Worms, to Honorius II's irritation. Local churches were forced to appeal to Rome to obtain restitution from the imperial bishops who had taken advantage of the Investiture Controversy to obtain property for their own benefit, as the Emperor turned a blind eye.File:Urkunde Wormser Konkordat.jpg|thumb|The Concordat of Worms, which Honorius II helped to draft and which Emperor Lothair III was forced to comply with for Papal support
The death of Emperor Henry V on 23 May 1125 put an end to these squabbles, but soon Honorius was involved in a new power struggle in the Holy Roman Empire. Henry died childless and had nominated his nephew Frederick Hohenstaufen, Duke of Swabia, to succeed him as King of the Romans and Holy Roman Emperor. Of the German princes, the ecclesiastical faction was against any expansion of Hohenstaufen power, and they were determined to ensure that Frederick would not succeed Henry. Led by Archbishop Adalbert of Mainz, the archchancellor of the empire, and under the watchful gaze of two papal legates, Cardinals Gherardo and Romano, the clerical and lay nobles of the empire elected Lothair of Supplinburg, Duke of Saxony. At Lothair's request, Cardinal Gherardo and two bishops then sent word to Rome to obtain Honorius's confirmation of the election, which he granted. This was a coup for Honorius, as such a confirmation had never occurred before, and around July 1126 Honorius invited Lothair to Rome to obtain the imperial title. Lothair was keen to keep Honorius on his side, keeping to the terms of the Concordat of Worms by not attending episcopal elections, agreeing that the investiture should only occur after the bishop's consecration, and that the oath of homage be replaced with an oath of fidelity.
Lothair was unable to visit Rome immediately as Germany was rocked by the rebellion of the Hohenstaufen brothers, with Conrad Hohenstaufen elected anti-king in December 1127, followed by his descent into Italy and his crowning as King of Italy at Monza on 29 July 1128. The German bishops, again led by Adalbert of Mainz, excommunicated Conrad, an act that was confirmed by Honorius in a synod held in Rome at Easter. Honorius also sent Cardinal John of Crema to Pisa to hold another synod that excommunicated Archbishop Anselm of Milan, who had crowned Conrad king. Conrad found little help in Italy and with Honorius's support, Lothair was able to keep his throne.
One of the key ecclesiastical advisors of Lothair III was Saint Norbert of Xanten, who travelled to Rome in early 1126 to seek the formal sanction from Honorius to establish a new monastic order, the Premonstratensian Order, which Honorius agreed to do.