1.19.16
One has said that Pope Amadeus VIII, known as the Duke of Savoy,320 was elevated to the papacy when he was a layman. Another that the Council of Basel was convened specifically to depose Pope Eugene321 and found him guilty of sedition, bribery, sowing discord, and betraying his vows. Another that Pope Nicolas I excommunicated Bishop Günther of Cologne because of a disagreement with him at the council that was convened in Metz in 864 and that the aforementioned bishop sent letters to all his churches in which he said, “Although Vicar Nicholas, who has taken the title of pope and considers himself to be simultaneously pope and secular leader, has excommunicated us, we have dismissed his folly.”322 And another that Ambrose, governor of Milan, obtained the rank of bishop, even though his belief in the Christian religion was unsound.323 Another has said that Pope John VIII sent delegates to Constantinople, where they convened a synod at which four hundred bishops met and that all of them found Photius innocent and declared him to be worthy of the rank of bishop.324 Another that Pope Stephen VI ordered that the body of Formosus, Bishop of Porto, be exhumed from its grave because he had incited strife against his predecessor John VIII, and then sentenced him, dead as he was, to have his head and three of his fingers cut off, after which his body was thrown into the Tiber.325
1.19.17
And that Pope Sergius326 appointed Theodora, the mother of Marozia,327 who was married to the Count of Tuscany, a senator328 and that he, that is, the pope, fathered a boy329 on the said Marozia and had him raised inside his palace far from the eyes of the people of Rome, after which Marozia married Hugh, King of Arles,330 and intrigued to have Pope John X331 killed because he was in love with her sister, smothering him between two pieces of bedding and assuming absolute power. Next, she schemed to appoint Leo332 to the same position, and then, a few months later, murdered him in prison; after him, she appointed another man whose name has now fallen into oblivion333 and he ruled for a few years, after which she deposed him, placing John XI — her son by Sergius III — on the throne when he was only twenty-four years old, imposing on him the condition that he should implement no decision that did not directly derive from his rank as pope. She also poisoned her husband334 and married her brother-in-law the king of Lombardy,335 to whom she delegated the rule of the Papal States. One of her sons by her first husband336 rose up and incited the people of Rome against her, imprisoning her and her son, the pope, in Sant’Angelo. After him, Stephen VIII337 held office but he was hated by the Romans because he was from Germany, and they so disfigured his face that he could not show himself among the people.338 Then Marozia’s grandson Octavianus was elected pope at the age of eighteen, being known thereafter as John XII.339 He was licentious, indecent, depraved, a scoffer at religion, entirely given over to the satisfaction of sensual pleasures and his appetites, infatuated with horse-riding and chivalry — a situation that failed to disturb the church only because most other churches and nations were in the same state.
1.19.18
When Otto, the emperor,340 learned that this pope was secretly in revolt against him, and the people of Italy called on him to come and set their affairs to rights, he made his way from Pavia to Rome and, after settling the affairs of the city, convened a synod that the pope himself attended along with many princes of Germany and Rome, forty bishops, and seventeen cardinals, in the church of Saint Paul. There, in the presence of all, the emperor made a complaint against the pope that the latter had fornicated with a number of women, and specifically with Étiennette, who died in childbirth, that he had ordained as bishop of Todi a boy who was only fourteen years old, that he used to sell church titles and offices for money, that he had put out the eyes of his godson at his baptism, that he had “snipped” (i.e., castrated) a cardinal and then murdered him, and that he did not believe in Christ, along with other charges, the emperor thus being obliged to depose him and install Leo VIII341 in his place. Barely, however, had the emperor left Rome before the pope (John XII) whipped up the people of the city, convened a synod at which Leo VIII was deposed, and ordered the amputation of the hand of the cardinal who had recorded the complaint against him. He also had the tongue of the clerk who had recorded these events cut off, as well as his nose and two of his fingers. John XII was later murdered while embracing a woman — the murderer being, according to some, the woman’s husband.
1.19.19
Next, Consul Crescentius,342 son of Pope John X by Marozia, mobilized the people of Rome against Otto II and imprisoned Benedict,343 who was of the emperor’s party, and he died in prison. When this reached Otto’s ears he appointed John XIV,344 but Boniface VII,345 who had been appointed to the top position by the consul, rose up against him and killed him, leaving the consul a free hand in the running of affairs and execution of decisions until Gregory,346 the emperor’s sister’s son, was installed and Otto III347 deposed Crescentius; the emperor then played a trick on him, cut off his head, and ordered that his body be hung up by the feet.348 Pope John XV, who had been elected by the Romans, had both eyes put out and his nose cut off,349 and was then thrown from the top of the castle of Sant’Angelo. After this, the papacy was put up for sale, to be bought successively by Benedict VIII350 and John XIX,351 who were brothers to the Count of Tuscany. Then it was bought for a boy aged ten, Benedict IX.352 Then two further popes were elected, each of whom excommunicated the other,353 only to reconcile later on the basis that they divide the wealth of the church between them, each living with his concubine.354
1.19.20
Others have stated that the Church of Rome once issued an edict by which it ruled that one of the kings of France should divorce his wife and perform acts of penance for seven years355 and that, when the edict was published in the kingdom, the king lost his sanctity in the eyes of the people, who, lords and commoners alike, ostracized him to the point that he was left eventually with no one but two servants. Some say that Pope Gregory VII356 convened a synod against Henry IV,357 king of Germany, in Rome, where he declared, “I hereby depose Henry as ruler of Austria and Italy and absolve all Christians from obedience to him, and I will permit no one to serve him as a sovereign king.” When Henry IV could stand it no longer, he was forced to go to Rome. When he went to the pope, he found him alone with Countess(1) Matilda358 at Canossa,359 and the emperor stood at the gate, with no guard of his own, asking for permission to enter. When he entered the first courtyard, his way was barred by some of the pope’s servants, who stripped him of his royal mantle and dressed him in a hair shirt, and again he stood and waited for permission, barefoot in the castle courtyard, in the middle of winter. Then he was told he had to fast for three days before he could kiss the pope’s foot. When the three days were over, he was brought into the pope’s council chamber, where the pope promised to pardon him provided he should wait to see what sentence the Diet of Augsburg might pass on him. The writer goes on to say that the aforementioned pope died and was succeeded by the abbot of a monastery, under the name Urbanus II,360 who was as arrogant and tyrannical as his predecessors and, as such, set about inciting the two sons of Henry IV361 to fight their father, which was the second time the pope had set the sons against their father. They rose up against him and put him in prison but he escaped and died at Liège, pitiful and humiliated. Some say that Henry VI,362 son of Frederick II, went to Rome to have himself crowned by Pope Celestine363 and that when the emperor, crown on head, bent over to kiss the pope’s foot, the pope lifted his leg and kicked off the crown, which fell on the ground; the pope was eighty-six at the time.