(2) 1. TEOFILATTO (ca. 980-1024)
Birth. Ca. 980, Rome (or in the county of Tusculum). Of the counts of Tusculum. Son of Count Gregorio I of Tusculum and Maria. Brother of Pope John XIX. Uncle of Pope Benedict IX. He is also listed as Giovanni, Joannes III, Ioannes and Theophilactus. He was the first of the three Tusculan popes.
Education. (No information found)
Cardinalate.Bishop cardinalis of Porto in 1001 (1). Consecrated, June 22, 1001 (no further information found). When Pope Sergius IV and patrician Giovanni II Crescenzio died almost at the same time on May 12 and 18, 1012, respectively, a political upheaval occurred in Rome, in which the family of the counts of Tusculum took the power from the Crescenzians and installed Teofilatto as pope. At the same time, Romano, brother of Teofilatto, became the civil ruler of Rome as consul, dux and senator; and later, Pope John XIX.
Papacy. Elected pope on May 18, 1012 (2). Took the name Benedict VIII. The Crescenzians, to fight their rivals, installed a Gregorio as pope. In June-July 1012, the new pope used armed force to crush the Crescenzians in their mountain strongholds. His rival Gregory fled to Germany to defend his cause before King Heinrich II of Germany, but before the end of the year, the monarch recognized Pope Benedict VIII. In February 1014, he crowned King Heinrich II as emperor in the Vatican in Rome. At a synod celebrated in Rome after the coronation, the pope yielded to the new emperor's request that the creed (with the addition of the Filioque) should be sung at mass, a northern practice previously not accepted at Rome. Then the pontiff and the monarch went to Ravenna, where they celebrated a reforming synod which settled the minimum ages for holy orders and legislated against simony and irregular ordinations. In 1016, in alliance with Genoa and Pisa, Pope Benedict VIII successfully freed Sardinia from the Spanish Saracens. In Easter 1020, the pope and the emperor met at Bamberg, and Heinrich gave Benedict an imperial privilege which verbally reproduced the Privilegium Ottonianum, granted by Emperor Otto I in 962, including the rights of sovereignty it conferred on the emperor. The pontiff presided over the Synod of Pavia in August 1022, which opened with a papal address. The synod decreed degradation for non-celibate clerics in higher orders, and the reduction of their offspring to serfdom. The emperor approved these decrees, and enacted them as laws of the empire. He also encouraged monastic reform, especially under the influence of Odilo, abbot of Cluny. He created twenty one cardinals in seven promotions.
Death. April 9, 1024 (3), Rome. Buried in St. Peter's basilica. His tomb was destroyed during the demolition of the old basilica in the 17th century to build the present one.
Bibliography. Chacón, Alfonso. Vitæ, et res gestæ Pontificvm Romanorum et S. R. E. Cardinalivm ab initio nascentis Ecclesiæ vsque ad Vrbanvm VIII. Pont. Max. 2 volumes. Romae : Typis Vaticanis, 1677, I, col. 758, no. 1, and col. 767-770; Cristofori, Francesco. Cronotasi dei cardinali di Santa Romana Chiesa. Rome : Tipografia de Propaganda Fide, 1888, p. 9; Ilari, Annibale. "Benedetto VIII, papa.". Mondo vaticano. Passato e presente. Città del Vaticano : Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1995, p. 128-129; "Essai de liste générale des cardinaux. Les cardinaux du XIè siècle". Annuaire Pontifical Catholique 1926. Paris : Maison de la Bonne Presse, 1926, p. 161, no. 1; Gams, Pius Bonifatius. Series episcoporum Ecclesiae catholicae. 3 v. in 1. Graz : Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, 1957, p. VIII; Kelly, John Norman Davidson. The Oxford Dictionary of Popes. Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1986, p. 139-141; Montini, Renzo Uberto. Le tombe dei papi. Roma : Angelo Belardetti, 1957. Note: At head of title: Instituto di studi romani, p. 174, no. 144; Reardon, Wendy J. The deaths of the popes : comprehensive accounts, including funerals, burial places and epitaphs. Jefferson, N.C. : McFarland & Co., Publishers, 2004, p. 81; Regesta pontificum Romanorum ab conditio Ecclesia. Ad annum post Christum natum MCXCVIII. Graz : Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, 1956. 2 v. Reprint. Originally published : Lipsiae : Veit et comp., 1885-1888. Original t.p. included : Regesta pontificum Romanorum ab condita ecclesia : ad annum post Christum natum MCXCVIII. Editionem secundam correctam et auctam edidit Philippus Jaffè ; auspiciis Gulielmi Wattenbach; curaverunt S. Loewenfeld, F. Kaltenbrunner, P. Ewald, I, 506-514; Tellenbach, Gerd. "Benedetto VIII." Enciclopedia dei papi. 3 vols. Roma : Istituto della Enciclopedia italiana, 2000, II, 130-134.
Links. Biography, in English; biography, in English (Britannica); biography, in English; biography, in English; biography, in English; biography, in German; biographies, in German; biography, in Spanish; his bust, highrelief, cathedral of Siena, Italy; his engraving, Biblioteca comunale dell'Archiginnasio, Bologna; another engraving; four engravings, Bildarchiv Austria. Die Bildplattform der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek; his effigy on a coin, Numismatic collection of Olomouc archiepiscopate, Czech Republic; The Emperor Henry II, (1014-1024), confirms to Benedict VIII (1012-1024) the donations made by his predecessors and adds some more to them, Vatican Archive, Vatican City.
(1) This is according to Essai de liste générale des cardinaux. Les cardinaux du XIè siècle". Annuaire Pontifical Catholique 1926, p. 161, no. 1; Cristofori, Cronotasi dei cardinali di Santa Romana Chiesa, p. 9; Gams, Series episcoporum Ecclesiae catholicae, p. VIII; and his second biography in German, linked above. Ilari, "Benedetto VIII, papa.", Mondo vaticano. Passato e presente, p. 128; and Kelly, The Oxford Dictionary of Popes, p. 139, say that he was a layman at the moment of his election to the pontificate.
(2) This is according to Annuario Pontificio per l'anno 2009 (Città del Vaticano : Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2009), p. *14; Ilari, "Benedetto VIII, papa", Mondo vaticano. Passato e presente, p. 128, says that he was consecrated pope on May 18, 1012; Tellenbach, "Benedetto VIII", Enciclopedia dei papi, II, 130, which adds that according to Liber Pontificalis, p. 268, Benedict VIII was pope for eleven years, eleven months and twenty-one days; and that his consecration could be set in a time shortly after the death of his predecessor Pope Sergius IV, on May 12, 1012, and thus, perhaps that consecration occurred on May 18; his first and third biographies in English and his biography in Spanish, linked above, say that he was consecrated pope on May 18, 1012. The fourth biography in English, linked above, says that he was consecrated pope on April 20, 1012. His first biography in German, linked above, says that he was elected pope on May 20 or 21, 1012. His second biography in German, linked above, says that he was elected on May 21, 1012."Essai de liste générale des cardinaux. Les cardinaux du XIè siècle". Annuaire Pontifical Catholique 1926, p. 161, no. 1, says that he was elected pope on June 17, 1012. Kelly, The Oxford Dictionary of Popes, p. 139; and Reardon, The deaths of the popes : comprehensive accounts, including funerals, burial places and epitaphs, p. 81, indicate that he was elected pope on May 17, 1012.
(3) This is according all the sources consulted, both printed and electronic, except "Essai de liste générale des cardinaux. Les cardinaux du XIè siècle". Annuaire Pontifical Catholique 1926, p. 161, no. 1; and his fifth biography in English, which say that he died on April 7, 1025.
(3) 2. SACHSEN, Friedrich von (?-1004)
Birth. (No date found), Saxony.
Education. (No information found).
Cardinalate. Presbyter cardinalis of an unknown title or deacon cardinalis of the Holy Roman Church before June 22, 1001. Legate in Germany in 1001; he rendered an account of his legation in the Synod of Todi toward the end of December of that same year. He participated in the agreement reached between Pope Sylvester II and Emperor Ottone III, in the monastery of S. Apollinare di Classe, between the abbots of the monasteries of S. Salvatore di Pavia and S. Maria di Pomposa. Presided over a council celebrated in Pöhlde, Lower Saxony, as cardinalis presbiter sanctae Romanae aeclesiae on June 22, 1001; the purpose of the council was to solve the dispute between Archbishop Willigis of Mainz, future saint; and Bishop Bernward of Hildesheim, also future saint, concerning the jurisdiction over the abbey of Gandersheim; in the second session of the council the archbishop caused a grave tumult that made the legate leave without having arrived at a conclusion; the legate went to the emperor and advised him of all what had occurred.
Episcopate. Elected archbishop of Ravenna after July 20, 1001. Consecrated (no information found). He is documented in that post between November 22, 1001 and April 3, 1004. According to custom, after his election to the episcopate, he did not use the title of cardinal anymore.
Death. 1004 (2), (no place found). Buried (no information found).
Bibliography. Cardella, Lorenzo. Memorie storiche de' cardinali della Santa Romana Chiesa. Rome : Stamperia Pagliarini, 1792, I, pt. 1, 90-91; Gams, Pius Bonifatius. Series episcoporum Ecclesiae catholicae. 3 v. in 1. Graz : Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, 1957, p. 717; Schwartz, Gerhard. Die Besetzung der Bistümer Reichsitaliens unter den sächsischen und salischen Kaisern : mit den Listen der Bischöfe, 951-1122. Leipzig und Berlin : B. G. Teubner, 1913. Contents: Die Besetzung der italienischen Bistümer 951-1122 -- Bischofslisten der italienischen Bistümer 951-1122, p. 154.
Link. Biography, in English.
(1) This is according to Schwartz, Die Besetzung der Bistümer Reichsitaliens unter den sächsischen und salischen Kaisern : mit den Listen der Bischöfe, 951-1122, p. 154. Gams, Series episcoporum Ecclesiae catholicae, p. 717, says that he was elected in 1001.
(2) Cardella, Memorie storiche de' cardinali della Santa Romana Chiesa, I, pt. 1, 91, says that he died at the end of 1004. Gams, Series episcoporum Ecclesiae catholicae, p. 717, says that he died in 1003. Schwartz, Die Besetzung der Bistümer Reichsitaliens unter den sächsischen und salischen Kaisern : mit den Listen der Bischöfe, 951-1122, p. 154, indicates that the last time he was doicumented was on April 3, 100. His biography in English, linked above, says that he died in June 1004.
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