Alexander III (pope)

Alexander III (in Latin, Alexander PP. III), secular name Rolando Bandinelli (Siena, < i>c. 1105-Civita Castellana, August 30, 1181), was 170.° pope of the Catholic Church from September 7, 1159 until his death twenty-two years later.

Centuries later, the Benedictine monk, Arnoldo Wion (1554-1610) in his famous edition of the prophecies of Saint Malachy, would call him Orlando Paparoni where Paparoni would mean Duck.

Origins and formation

After completing his studies in Canon Law at the University of Bologna, he dedicated himself to teaching this subject first in Bologna and later in Pisa. He wrote the Stroma or Summa Magistri Rolandi , one of the first commentaries on Gratian's Decree.

Cardinalate

In October 1150, Pope Eugenius III named him cardinal-deacon of Saint Cosme and Damian; he later he is named cardinal-legate of San Marcos. It is probably in this period that he wrote his & # 34; Sentences & # 34; , based on the & # 34; Introductio ad theologiam & # 34; by Pedro Abelardo. In 1153 he was appointed Chancellor of the Church, establishing himself as the leader of the cardinals who opposed the Emperor Federico Barbarossa, elected in 1152, and who intended to extend his empire throughout Italy. Thus began the struggle for dominium mundi.

Papacy

On September 7, 1159, Rolando was elected successor to Pope Adrian IV, and was accepted without reservation by the kings of France, England, the Christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula and Sicily, however, a minority of cardinals favored -Germanics chose Cardinal Ottaviano of Monticelli who became known as Antipope Victor IV. The latter, (like his successors Pascual III (1164-1168) and Calixto III (1168-1178) obtained the support of Emperor Barbarossa and the states controlled by him.

In 1160 Victor IV was recognized as Pope in the synod of Pavia, for which Alexander III was forced into exile and fled to France. Meanwhile, other European monarchs also recognized Alexander as the rightful pope. The powerful King Geza II of Hungary, who was waging a decade-long bloody war against the Byzantine Empire, signed a treaty with the pope in 1161 and recognized not only his mandate but also ratified his renunciation of the right of investiture over clergy, reserving exclusively for the Holy Father and his subordinates.

However, despite having the support of all the most influential monarchs of medieval Europe, Alexander III had to continue to face the Germanic emperor and his antipopes. Alexander III remained in Sens until November 23, 1165, when he returned to Rome, but immediately had to flee again under pressure from the Emperor who, arriving in Rome in 1166, had himself crowned by Antipope Paschal III..

From 1167 Alexander III took refuge, successively, in Gaeta, Benevento, Anagni and Venice. He returned to the Papal States supported by the Veronese League and, taking advantage of the difficulties the Emperor had to face, organized the Lombard League, which increased its power by joining the Veronese League and fighting the Emperor, who was embroiled in a series of campaigns in northern Italy. In the battle of Legnano, in 1176, Barbarossa was defeated and forced to sign the peace of Venice, in 1177.

The Emperor had to recognize Alexander III as the legitimate Pope and return the occupied territories to the Holy See; consequently, the pope lifted the excommunication that had weighed on him since 1160. On March 12, 1178, Alexander III returned to Rome again.

In March 1179, Alexander III convened the III Lateran Council, a council that was recognized by the Church as the eleventh Ecumenical Council. Alejandro managed to have some of his proposals accepted, among which, to avoid possible schisms, it was established that the election of the Pope was voted by a majority of two thirds of the cardinals.

This synod begins the height of the power of Alexander III who, in addition to forcing Barbarossa to recognize him as Pope, humiliated Henry II of England by taking sides, in his confrontation with Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, although after his martyrdom would be reconciled with the king through the mediation of Ricardo de Dover; he confirmed the right of Alfonso I of Portugal to the crown and in his exile, he enjoyed the protection and favor of Louis VII of France. However, shortly after the synod closed, the Roman nobility forced Alexander III to leave the city to which he would never return.

On September 29, 1179, some nobles tried to raise Antipope Innocent III to the throne as successor to Alexander III, with which the two-headedness of the Church continued. Judiciously using control of finances, Alexander III regained power. In 1181 he excommunicated William I of Scotland and lifted the ban on the kingdom of Scotland.

In the 16th century, the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela produced a bull that it attributed to Alexander III, by which this granted and confirmed the privilege of the jubilee year of Santiago de Compostela so that, if July 25 (feast of the Apostle Santiago) falls on a Sunday, the same indulgences that are earned in Rome during the jubilee years can be obtained in the Church of Compostela, created in 1300 by Boniface VIII and which are usually held there every 25 years. This is the bull "Regis aeterni", dated 1179. It also confirms a previous privilege granted by Pope Calixto II (1119-1124). In Santiago de Compostela, the jubilee years began around 1372.

Alexander III carried out a series of internal reforms in the Church and strengthened the pontifical authority. He canonized Thomas Becket (1173), Bernardo de Claraval (1173) and Edward the Confessor (1161). He died on August 30, 1181 in Civita Castellana.