CADALO (CADALOO)

CADALO (CADALOO). — Antipope under the name of Honorius II (1061–72), born in Verona to a German noble family. Bishop of Parma from around 1045, he appears to have been a fierce opponent of the ecclesiastical reform, to the extent that at the death of Nicholas II (27 July 1061), Empress Agnes, regent for the eleven-year-old Henry IV, upon the proposal of the Roman nobility and the Lombard episcopate, had him elected pope at the Synod of Basel (28 Oct. 1061), in opposition to Anselm, bishop of Lucca (Alexander II), canonically elected a month earlier with the support of the party of Hildebrand. The imperial court immediately sent Benzone, bishop of Alba, to prepare the way for Cadalus’ arrival in Rome with gold and diplomacy. Cadalus followed in April 1062 with armed forces. Godfrey the Bearded, margrave of Tuscany, persuaded the two contenders to return to their respective sees pending the imperial decision (May 1062). Meanwhile, a coup d’état had removed Agnes from the regency and entrusted it to Anno of Cologne. Anno commissioned Burchard of Halberstadt to conduct an inquiry, which resulted in favor of Alexander. Cadalus then reappeared in Rome with armed men (May 1063). Initially victorious, he soon fell into the power of Cencio, who had previously supported him, and had to ransom himself with gold (spring 1064). Shortly afterward, the Synod of Mantua, presided over by Anno himself, definitively recognized Alexander as the legitimate pope and excommunicated Cadalus, who withdrew to Parma. There he died obscurely and, it seems, without renouncing his claims.