NICCOLÒ II, PAPA. — Upon the death of Stefano X (29 March 1058), the Roman nobility sought to elect a Benedetto X, who was not recognized by the better part of the clergy and people. The latter, with the protection of Goffredo, duke of Lorraine and Tuscany and brother of Stefano, and the intervention of Ildebrando, who had returned from Germany, elected in Tuscany (January 1059) Gherardo of Burgundy, bishop of Florence, under the name of N.
At Sutri, in a solemn assembly attended by Duke Goffredo and Guiberto, chancellor for Italy, Benedetto was deposed and N. recognized as pontiff. He promptly entered Rome and was installed in St Peter’s on 24 January; he visited the Marches and appointed Desiderio, abbot of Montecassino and created a cardinal, vicar for the Beneventano and Campania.
At the solemn reform Council held at the Lateran in April, he issued the decree concerning the election of the pontiff. While recognizing the honor and respect due to the king of Germany, it assigned the leading role to the cardinal bishops; after deliberating, these were to associate the other cardinals with them in the election, and then the remainder of the clergy and the people. In the choice, a member of the Roman clergy was to be preferred; in the event of disturbances, the election could also be held outside Rome, and the person elected would immediately possess full pontifical powers. In the summer, N. went to Montecassino and from there to Melfi, where he held a council. The Norman princes Riccendo of Aversa and Roberto Guiscardo swore fidelity to the Pope, rendered him the oath as vassals, and obtained their investiture: the former as prince of Capua, the latter as duke of Apulia and Calabria; Benevento remained under direct papal rule. After holding a new council in this city, N., with a Norman army that helped him subjugate the lands and castles around Rome, returned to Rome. To support the struggle that the «Patria» (v.) of Milan had undertaken against Bishop Guido, a simoniac and concubinary, N. sent Cardinal Pier Damiani and the Milanese Anselmo di Baggio, bishop of Lucca, thereby succeeding in bringing the Milanese Church back into subjection to the Roman Church. While the regency, allied with the German episcopate, was taking an openly hostile position toward the reform, N. died in Florence on 27 August 1061.