Alexander II

(d. 1073)

   Pope.

   Anselm (his baptismal name) was born in Baggio, Italy and he was a pupil of lanfranc at the monastery school in Bec. He was consecrated Bishop of Lucca in 1057 and was elected Pope in 1061. However, the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV did not support his candidacy and had an alternative churchman, Cadalus of Parma, elected as Antipope, Honorius II. The schism lasted until Honorius died in 1072, although Alexander II (as he was called) was generally recognised as the true successor to St peter. In his youth, Alexander had been a supporter of the reforming Patarines. As Pope, he tried to put these ideals into practice. He held four synods in Rome. He enforced clerical celibacy, renewed the decrees against simony (the sale of ecclesiastical preferments) and even went so far as to depose the Archbishop of Milan for selling of- fices. He was also not afraid to confront the secular authorities – at the end of his life he excommunicated the Emperor’s advisors. He also condemned the persecution of the Jews in Spain and southern France and he encouraged the Christian kings against the Muslims in Spain. He insisted that new Archbishops should present themselves in person at Rome to receive the pallium, the symbol of their office, and thus he increased the influence of the Papacy. In English history, he is remembered for his support of William of Normandy’s invasion of England in 1066.

   H.K. Mann, The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages, Vol. 6. (1925);

   R. Somerville, Papacy, Councils and Canon Law in the 11th–12th Centuries (1990).