Alexander III, Pope

ALEXANDER III, Pope. - Rolando Bandinelli, of very humble origin, b. at Siena at the beginning of the 12th century, became famous at Bologna for his teaching of law. From there, having entered the service of the Curia, he was created cardinal of St. Mark and assisted Adrian IV in the controversies concerning the empire. He was chancellor when in 1157 at the diet of Besançon, as papal legate, he incurred the wrath of Frederick Barbarossa and the imperialists because of his doctrine concerning the relations of the Church with the Empire. When Adrian IV died on Sept. 1, 1159, the turmoils of the two opposing parties, which the deceased Pope had managed to restrain, broke out again in Rome. On Sept. 7 the cardinals, by a large majority, cast their votes for Bandinelli, who took the name A. III. The dissident cardinals who favored the imperial party, supported by a part of the lower clergy and of the people, proclaimed as elected the cardinal of St. Cecilia, Ottaviano di Monticelli, of a powerful Roman family, who took the name Victor IV. A., with his followers, found himself forced to seek refuge in a tower near St. Peter's, and then in Trastevere; then, with the help of Ottone Frangipane, he left Rome and took refuge at Ninfa (below Velletri), where he was consecrated; from there he went to Terracina, where on Sept. 27 he excommunicated his adversary. Victor, on the other hand, was consecrated at Farfa on Oct. 4. Since at that moment Frederick Barbarossa was in Italy, he had, as emperor, to take a position, but he was opposed to A., whereas Victor was a man of his party; in any case, he deferred the solution to a council to be held at Pavia, where he himself was, on Jan. 13, 1160, and invited the two adversaries to present themselves. But already in the letter he made his thinking known, giving A. the name of Rolando the chancellor, while he called Ottaviano Victor IV. The former did not appear and protested against the illegitimate proceeding of Barbarossa; the latter, instead, betook himself to Pavia. The Council opened on Feb. 5 with about fifty German and Italian prelates and, only after long discussions, under imperial pressure, Victor IV was recognized as pontiff (Feb. 11). However, A. was recognized as pontiff almost unanimously by England, France, Spain and a good part of Italy. Thus the schism was open. A., from Anagni, on March 24, launched the excommunication against Barbarossa and the principal supporters of his adversary and renewed the one already launched against the latter and his adherents. The Victorians went to great lengths to broaden credit and adherents, held new assemblies at Cremona and Lodi and excommunicated the archbishop of Milan and other adversaries of theirs.

A. managed to return to Rome on June 6, but his enemies did not leave him in peace, all the more so because the imperial power was asserting itself in the Patrimony; therefore, on the ships of the king of Sicily he betook himself to Genoa (Jan. 1167); but since Barbarossa, with the capture of Milan, had made himself absolute master of northern Italy, on March 25 he went to France, where in May 1163 he presided over a great council at Tours.

When Victor IV died at Lucca on Apr. 20, 1164, Cardinal Guido di Crema, one of his most convinced adherents, was given to him there as successor, with the name of Paschal

III; Barbarossa approved this election and at a Synod at Würzburg (May 1165) swore that he would never recognize A. but would support Paschal, and many princes and bishops present swore as he did, except for the two archbishops of Mainz and Salzburg and the patriarch of Aquileia. Meanwhile, fortunes changed in Rome, so much so that A., having left France, after having touched at Messina and Salerno, entered it on Nov. 22, 1165. But Barbarossa, taking advantage of the death of William I of Sicily (May 7, 1166), sent his armies into Italy, then descended himself against Rome (1167) and, having overcome the resistance of A. and his followers, aided by the Romans, made himself master of the city, forcing A. to flee in disguise to Benevento, and had himself crowned again by Paschal III in St. Peter's on Aug. 1, 1167. The triumph lasted little, because, once the plague had penetrated his army, Barbarossa was forced to leave Rome and repair to Germany.

As early as 1164 some Venetian cities, in agreement with Venice, had united in a league for defense against the imperial power; another league with the same purpose was formed in Dec. 1167 by thirteen Lombard cities; all naturally stood for A., indeed on July 1, 1168 they recognized him as their head; more than the material interests of the moment, the common interest of freeing themselves from imperial overbearance favored such a union. Symbol of this concord was the new city that the allies erected to confront the Piedmontese feudal lords and which, in honor of the Pope, was called Alessandria. A. did not return to Rome; Barbarossa, having descended into Italy in 1174, attempted to storm Alessandria without succeeding; on May 21, 1176 he was then defeated at Legnano by the allies, and although he had recognized the new antipope Callistus III as successor of Paschal III in 1168, he finally resolved to enter into negotiations with A. Once the first mutual distrusts were overcome, these took place at Venice, where A. arrived on Sicilian ships and where Barbarossa betook himself (1177); bishops, princes and envoys of the allied cities convened there. Barbarossa finally recognized A. as legitimate Pope and restored to the Church what he had taken; the dispossessed bishops got their sees back; with the allies a truce of six years was negotiated in preparation for the peace that was later concluded at Constance. After this solemn meeting Barbarossa returned to Germany; A. moved toward Rome where in March 1179 he held the Third Lateran Ecumenical Council, to which more than 300 bishops and many representatives convened; 27 disciplinary canons were issued there, among which the first was the one that imposed a majority of two thirds of the voters for the legitimate election of the Pope. These canons were almost a solemn complement to the admirable activity shown by A. in resolving complicated juridical questions that were brought to his judgment and were later included in the Decretals. Particularly resonant at that time was the part taken by A. in the controversies that Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, had with his king Henry II in defense of ecclesiastical liberty. When he fell slain in 1170, A. defended his memory, forcing the king to disavow the deed of the murderers, to swear obedience to the Apostolic See and to abolish the laws issued against ecclesiastical liberty.

A. died at Civita Castellana on Aug. 30, 1181. One of his late descendants in the 17th century had a commemorative monument erected to him in the Lateran basilica.

Pio Paschim

CANONICAL AND THEOLOGICAL WRITINGS

The Stroma and the Sententiae are the works on which A.'s fame as a cultivator of the ecclesiastical sciences rests.

The Stroma, discovered by Maassen and published by F. Thayer under the title Die Summa magistri Rolandi, nachmals Papstes Alexander III (Innsbruck 1784), was written very probably before 1148. It summarizes and comments on Gratian's Decretum, especially in the part concerning matrimonial law, and is, in this subject, the first methodical-didactic book known. Its importance in the history of canon law is great, also because certain of the theories accepted in it were authoritatively amended by the same author after his elevation to the papal throne.

The Sententiae, edited by P. Gietl (Die Sentenzen Rolands, nachmals Papstes Alexander III, Freiburg im Br. 1891), were composed after 1142 and constitute a notable document of the influence exercised in the 12th century by the school of Abelard (v.). It should be observed, however, that in certain questions of no secondary interest - such as, for example, those on the necessity of faith and baptism for salvation and on the nature of original sin - the author stands in open contrast with the opinions of his master.

Ferruccio Liuzzi