PASCHAL II, POPE. — Originally from Pieda in Romagna, Raniero entered the ranks of the Cluniac monks, served as abbot of S. Paolo fuori le Mura, was created a cardinal under the pontificate of Gregory VII, and was legate in Castile under Urban II. Elected pope on 13 August 1099, he was consecrated the following day.
The death of the antipope Clement III (8 September 1100) did not free him from every anxiety; but the two pseudopopes who were opposed to him by the partisans of the deceased had only a brief existence. The events of the famous investiture struggle, however, took a tragic turn.
P. II, establishing his line of conduct on that of his predecessors Gregory VII and Urban II, took a clear and firm stand against those sovereigns who claimed the right to invest bishops before their consecration, and proscribed this practice under severe penalties at the Councils of the Lateran (1102) and Guastalla (1106: cf. Mansi, XX, cols. 1147 and 1209). Henry I, king of England, refused to renounce the prerogatives of the Crown, sanctioned by custom, and exiled Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury, who refused to recognize their validity (1103). For his part, the Pope excommunicated (1105) those among his courtiers who had induced him to resist, as well as the bishops guilty of having accepted investiture before their consecration. The two antagonists finally yielded to the counsels
prudent and conciliatory proposals put forward by Ivo of Chartres and Hugh of Fleury and concluded a compromise, according to which the king of England could demand from the elected bishops an oath of vassalage in consequence of the fiefs they held from the Crown, but would renounce investiture by means of the pastoral staff and ring (1107; Mansi, XX, col. 1227). It is believed that a similar, though tacit, agreement took place in France. This result, however, was reached only after various vicissitudes. King Philip I unyieldingly opposed the election of Galon (1100) as bishop of Beauvais and refused him the goods of the episcopal mensa. P. II, on the other hand, supported the cause of the elected bishop; indeed, on 18 November 1100, his legates renewed at Poitiers the excommunication already pronounced by Urban II against the Sovereign, who was living in adultery with Bertrada of Montfort, wife of Fulk, count of Anjou. In 1104 everything was settled: Philip I, having solemnly ended his relationship with Bertrada, was reconciled with the Church, and P. II transferred Galon to the see of Paris, which had conveniently become vacant (B. Monod, Essai sur les rapports de Pascal II et de Philippe Iᵉʳ, Paris 1907; A. Fliche, Le règne de Philippe Iᵉʳ, roi de France, there 1922, pp. 441–49).
The Pope showed himself conciliatory toward the King of France solely in order to secure his support, at least morally, at a moment when the investiture controversy threatened to become seriously more acute in the Empire. Henry V, in fact, instead of showing gratitude to P. II, who had facilitated his accession to the throne, arrogated to himself the right to appoint his partisans to the episcopal sees, since it mattered greatly to him to be able to rely on the loyalty of the bishops in order to secure the power that was being challenged following the dethronement of his father, Henry IV. The response to this attack against the freedom of episcopal elections was given by the first canon of the Council of Troyes (1107), which prescribed deposition for any bishop who had received investiture from a layman and for the prelate who had consecrated him (Mansi, XX, 1217–23).
Henry V then decided to impose his will by force. The march of a German army on Rome induced the Pope to sign at Sutri, on 4 February 1111, a Concordat stipulating that on the day of the imperial coronation the German episcopate would be ordered to return to the King or to the Kingdom the regalia, that is, all goods “belonging to the Kingdom, including their dependencies.” Thus, in the future, episcopal elections would be conducted according to the canonical rules (Constitutiones et acta publica [V. BIBLICA.], I, pp. 137–39).
On 12 February, before the coronation, P. II read at St Peter’s the terms of the privilege granted at Sutri; according to the Pope, possession of a temporal good held in fief would give rise to simony, ambition, and residence at court. It was better for the episcopate to be content with its patrimonial goods and the offerings of the faithful and to return the regalia to the sovereign. Henry V asked to consult the bishops present and, after lengthy deliberations, the King declared the papal act inapplicable. When the Pope refused to continue the coronation ceremony, Henry V ordered him arrested. On 11 April, after sixty days of detention, P. II capitulated and acknowledged his jailer’s right to confer investiture by means of the pastoral staff and ring, something nevertheless condemned by the councils (Constitutiones et acta publica [V. BIBLICA.], I, pp. 144–51). Consequently, the imperial coronation took place on 13 April.
The concession extorted from P. II deeply moved the West, especially Italy and Rome. It was even declared heretical. Ivo of Chartres had no difficulty proving that this designation was unfounded and exaggerated (Ep., 236, in MGH, Libelli de lite imperatorum et pontificum saec. XI e XII conscripti, II, Leipzig 1892, pp. 647–59). The Pope recovered himself; the Council held at the Lateran in March 1112 annulled the nefarious privilege (called pravilegium), extorted through violence (Mansi, XX, 49); nevertheless, the Pope did not excommunicate Henry V, so as not to close the way to reconciliation. His legates showed themselves less prudent and pronounced the sentence of excommunication (1115), which prompted Henry V to descend into Italy and usurp the inheritance of Countess Matilda. On 6 March 1116, P. II reiterated the abrogation of the privilege of 1111 (Mansi, XXI, 145).
In 1117 Henry V returned to Rome; but since the Pope had fled to Benevento, he had no other recourse than to receive the imperial unction from the hands of the archbishop of Prague, Maurice Burdinus. When he was able to return to the Roman territory, P. II settled within the strong walls of Castel S. Angelo, and died there on 21 January 1118, without having resolved the investiture controversy in Germany.
BBL: considerable bibl. is found in J. Calmette, Le monde féodal (collection “Clio”), Paris 1937, pp. 295–96; A. Fliche, V. Martin, Hist. de l'Egl., VIII, there 1946, pp. 7–11, 338–75. Sources: Jaffé-Wattenbach, pp. 702–72; Lib. Pont., II, pp. 206–320, 338–46, 369–76; MGH, Legum Sectio, IV: Constitutiones et acta publica imperatorum et regum, I, Hanover 1893, pp. 134–52, 546–74; E. Bernheim, Quellen zur Gesch. der Investiturzeit, Berlin 1938. Studies: E. Franz, Papst Paschalis II, Breslau 1877 (still very useful); A. Hauck, Kirchengesch. Deutschland, III, Leipzig 1906, pp. 881–912; Hefele-Leclercq, V, pp. 465–564; W. Schwarz, Der Investiturstreit in Frankreich, in Zeitschr. für Kirchengesch., 43 (1934), p. 128 ff.; D. Mambrini, La culla montana di un papa, S. Sofia di Romagna 1926; E. de Moreau, Les derniers temps de la querelle des investitures d'Liège, in Bull. de la Commission R. d'hist. de la Belgique, 100 (1936), pp. 301–48; E. Amann, Pascal II, in DThC, XI, II, cols. 2057–74.