NICHOLAS II, POPE. — At the death of Stephen IX (29 March 1058), the Roman nobility sought to elect a Benedict X who was not recognized by the better part of the clergy and people; the latter, under the protection of Godfrey, Duke of Lorraine and Tuscany, brother of Stephen, and with the intervention of Hildebrand, who had returned from Germany, elected in Tuscany (January 1059) Gerard of Burgundy, Bishop of Florence, as Pope under the name of Nicholas II.
At Sutri, in a solemn assembly attended by Duke Godfrey and Guibert, chancellor for Italy, Benedict was deposed and Nicholas recognized as pope. The latter promptly entered Rome and was installed in St Peter’s on 24 January; he visited the Marches and appointed Desiderius abbot of Monte Cassino, created cardinal, vicar for Benevento and Campania.
At the solemn reform council held in the Lateran in April 1059, a decree was issued on papal elections, in which, while acknowledging the honour and respect due to the King of Germany, the primary role was assigned to the cardinal-bishops; after their deliberation the other cardinals were to be associated in the election, followed by the rest of the clergy and the people; preference was to be given to a member of the Roman clergy; in case of disturbances the election might be held outside Rome, and the person elected would forthwith possess full papal authority. In the summer Nicholas went to Monte Cassino and thence to Melfi, where he held a council: the Norman princes Richard of Aversa and Robert Guiscard swore fidelity to the Pope, rendered him homage as vassals, and received investiture—the former as Prince of Capua, the latter as Duke of Apulia and Calabria; Benevento remained under the direct dominion of the papacy. After holding another council in that city, Nicholas, with a Norman army that helped him subjugate the lands and castles around Rome, returned to the city. To support the struggle which the “Pataria” (q.v.) of Milan had undertaken against the simoniacal and concubinarian Bishop Guido, Nicholas sent Cardinal Peter Damian and the Milanese Anselm of Baggio, Bishop of Lucca, thereby bringing the Church of Milan back into subjection to Rome. While the regency allied with the German episcopate took a hostile stance toward the reform, Nicholas died in Florence on 27 August 1061.