Chapter Sixty

 

 

Battle for the Vatican

 

 

During Lent of that year, 1087, Cardinal Desiderius finally yielded to his followers and took up the Pope’s tiara. He and Cardinal Odo de Lagery celebrated Easter mass in Monte Cassino as Duke Roger Borsa, Bohemud, and the Normans moved north against the anti-pope Clement III in Rome. Countess Mathilda also moved a contingent of her troops south from Tuscany against Rome. Caught unprepared, Clement III and his forces fled Saint Peter’s, and on May 9^th Desiderius was willingly consecrated and enthroned as Pope Victor III.

It was a jubilant moment for the Gregorian papists who finally once again had their Pope in control of the Vatican. The moment was short-lived as German forces counter attacked with the support of many Roman citizens, and forced Desiderius to flee after a tenure in Saint Peter’s of only eight days. By June the anti-pope once again controlled the Vatican and Desiderius escaped to Monte Cassino with the help of Mathilda and Jordan of Capua. To the joy of his followers, he did not abandon his Papacy.

Two months later in August, with much assistance from Cardinal Odo, he called the Council of Benevento where he officially excommunicated anti-pope Clement III and in the tradition of Gregorian reformists, condemned lay investiture, thereby banning royals from making clerical appointments. The anti-pope had already been excommunicated by Pope Gregory, of course, and lay investiture had already been condemned by him also. Being the new Gregorian Pope, it was considered important that the new Pope repeat both actions for the sake of continuity. Of new significance was his action of proclaiming a crusade against the Saracens of North Africa who continued to persecute and enslave Christians of their region. Though Muslims and Christians had clashed for centuries, this was the first time war against the Saracens was officially documented in terms of a united Christian crusade against Islam. The term crusade had been loosely thrown about by various European power brokers over previous decades. Until the Council of Benevento, earlier wars between Arabs and Europeans had been framed more as struggles between two military powers fighting over the conquest of territory. The Council phrased this particular struggle in terms of race and religion.

Three days into the Council, Desiderius fell ill. “I don’t feel well,” he complained to Odo as he took to his bed. “I should retire to Monte Cassino.”

“Holiness, we need you here to finish this business with North Africa.”

Desiderius lifted his tired eyes to Odo and said, “Ah, you have always been much better than I at organizing and inspiring others, which is why you should have been Pope from the very beginning. This illness that has seized me, it is what I have feared all along my friend. I sense my end approaches.”

“No, no, Desiderius, it is the pressure of recent affairs, purely your old enemy, anxiety, come to visit you again. It will pass.”

Desiderius looked at Odo fondly, and reached for his hand. “Oh, Odo, ever the optimist,” he whispered. “Always marching forward, never afraid, never daunted. A man knows his own body, dear friend, and I tell you, my end is near. What I fear most, Odo, is the chaos I leave behind. We’ve lost Rome yet again, and when I die, we shall once again be forced to begin the tedious process of selecting a new Pope which will create fresh battles for power and bitterness.”

“No, Desiderius, you will be fine I tell you. Yes, retire to Monte Cassino and I will be your voice here at Benevento.”

“Good, good,” said Desiderius, closing his weary eyes. “Odo, you have always been my faithful friend…”

That next day the Papal entourage departed for Monte Cassino and the Council of Benevento resumed without him. Within a week a courier from Monte Cassino arrived and made an announcement to the assembly. “It is with great regret that I inform you that the health of his Holiness, Pope Victor III, has seriously deteriorated. His physicians believe he shall expire within days and the monks of Monte Cassino are preparing to administer the sacrament of Extreme Unction. It is also my duty to inform you that his Holiness has appointed Cardinal Oderisius, Grand Prior of Monte Cassino, to the position of succeeding him as Abbot of Monte Cassino Monastery. His Holiness further advances the name of Cardinal Odo de Lagery, and proposes that he be considered for election as the next Pope of the true Church!”

A great stir arose within the hall as the courier completed his announcement. Attendees were shocked to hear this unexpected news of their Pope’s approaching death, and no one was more stunned than Odo himself. Desiderius’ appointment of Cardinal-Prior Oderisius as his successor in the position of Abbot of Monte Cassino was not surprising as moving from Grand Prior of a monastery to Abbot was a traditional transition. Attendees were not prepared to hear that Desiderius had already put forth the name of a successor Pope. And though many within the assembly had always assumed that Cardinal Odo would one day be Pope, they had thought this eventuality to be far off in the future. There were also those in the assembly who opposed Odo de Lagery, and there were yet others within the assembly who smelled an opportunity to hatch a power sweep of their own.

This development, as Desiderius himself had predicted, quickly gave rise to a new ripple of chaos amongst the Gregorian faithful, which erupted a few days later on September 16^th when the death of Pope Victor III, previously known as the beloved Cardinal-Abbot Desiderius of Monte Cassino, was announced. Only four months earlier the Gregorians had captured Rome and finally consecrated their Pope within the walls of Saint Peter. Now, the anti-pope possessed Rome once more and Pope Victor III lay in his grave. The Gregorian movement, therefore, was thrown back into the very state of confusion of the years following the death of Pope Gregory VII.

“Ah, the chaos never ends!” cried Cardinal Odo to Duke Borsa and Mathilda after the burial of Desiderius. “And I should be flogged for pressing my friend Desiderius into accepting the Pope’s tiara. It killed him! And never was there a more faithful servant of God than dear Desiderius. Oh, the good souls we sacrifice in the name of the Church! And once again we are a ship without a rudder.”

“Cardinal,” said Borsa, “all know that Desiderius proclaimed that you should follow him as Pope. And though I opposed your appointment previously in favor of Desiderius, know that I shall now support you. I’ll even raise arms if need be.”

“Ah, no,” said Mathilda, looking even more glum than Odo, “it’s not done that way, Borsa! For God’s sake, did you not learn your lesson forcing the Papacy on Desiderius the first time?”

“Exactly,” said Odo. “The Pope must be selected properly. Not by arms but by the College of Cardinals.”

“Then let’s gather them and be on with it, I say!” Borsa snorted.

“They are scattered all over Europe,” sighed Odo. “It will take months to convene the College, then the haggling begins.”

“A waste of time,” declared Borsa. “Desiderius proclaimed your name so let it be done.” Then Borsa paused and gave Odo a curious look. “Unless, of course you intend to resist as Desiderius did! Is that it, Cardinal?”

Odo shook his head. “No, if I am chosen, I shall accept. It must come ethically. There is a process and a procedure. Though Desiderius advanced my name, there are other aspirants, good ones. My point here is that once again we have no leadership and establishing that leadership shall take time. Meanwhile, the anti-pope solidifies his hold on the Vatican and the Saracens continue to run amok in North Africa.”

“You must hold things together again, Odo,” said Mathilda, going to his side and grasping his hands, “exactly as you have been doing all along.”

Odo exhaled heavily and closed his eyes. “Oh, Mathilda, my dear Mathilda, I thought it was over and that we had finally won taking Rome this past spring. How could I have ever guessed that we would suffer such a setback so quickly?” Then he released her hands and turned about. “This never ending see-saw is taking its toll on me I fear, Mathilda.”

A knock came at the door then, and a Benedictine courier appeared. “I have a message for Cardinal Odo,” he said, holding out a letter sealed in black wax.

“Thank you,” said Odo, knowing the black seal indicated grave news. He tore the letter open, read a few lines, then turned pale and sighed heavily. “Lord in Heaven, William the Bastard of Normandy is dead, a week ago.”

Borsa and Mathilda looked at Odo, dumbfounded. William the Bastard was one of the great figures of Europe and this sudden news of his death was a shock to all in the room. Mathilda shook her head and looked at Borsa who, although his Norman branch of the family no longer had political ties in Normandy, still had relations there. “There will be chaos in Normandy as his sons fight over William’s holdings and his vassal barons smell opportunity.”

“Yes,” said Borsa, “there’ll be uprisings.”

“Yet more chaos on the continent now,” Odo shrugged, a look of defeat creasing his face. “The last thing we need.”

Mathilda looked at Odo with empathy, then motioned for Borsa to leave.

“Give me a moment with Odo,” she whispered. Borsa nodded, and when he closed the door behind him, Mathilda then went to Odo and placed her hand upon his shoulder. “You’ve not been well these past months, Cardinal. I see it in your eyes and in your movement. The energetic, unstoppable man I know and adore has become vacant, I fear.”

“Ah, it is exhaustion and frustration.”

“Perhaps, my dear Cardinal, it is something else, also.”

“Oh?”

“Yes. Tristan.”

“Eh?”

“Ah, don’t play ignorant with me, Odo, I’m a woman and see through the false veil of mighty men such as yourself. You haven’t spoken his name one time during my presence in Rome, nor at Benevento, nor here at Monte Cassino. I see you thinking of him, or should I say grieving for your loss of him?”

“You may as well plunge a dagger into my heart as speak of him to me, Mathilda,” replied Odo with a tinge of bitterness. “Yes, I think of him, worry about him, miss him. He was like a son to me.”

“Was? No, I think he still is.”

“He has not sent me a single correspondence since storming out of Monte Cassino. No news, no greeting, nothing.”

“How many letters and inquiries have you sent to Montelucio, Odo?”

“None, of course, you know that. It was he who left, he who renounced his vows!”

“A strange thing, Odo, that was nearly half a year ago, yet I’ve never once heard another clergyman speak of Tristan renouncing his vows. I suspect that’s because you’ve told no one. Yes, I think you’ve been holding that information in confidence so he won’t be defrocked… in the hopes that he might come to his senses?”

Odo bristled at this, but it did nothing to dissuade Mathilda, and this finally forced a tiny concession out of Odo. “You women, though the frail gender, think yourselves far superior in matters of both the head and the heart, don’t you, Mathilda?”

“Of course, because we are, but never refer to me as the frail gender, for there is nothing frail about me, Cardinal.”

“Oh, indeed,” Odo smiled, “you are manly! All you lack is the beard and the swagger. Very well then, since you are going to tell me anyway, how is Tristan doing up in Montelucio?”

“Not well, I fear. Guillaume tells me he has taken to bouts of drink, and that he’s lost all direction in life. He mopes about doing nothing. Oh, such a waste of God given talent and ability to go wasted; talent and ability that you honed to perfection by the way.”

“Bah!” Odo snorted, dismissing Mathilda’s comment with a flap of his hand. “He accused me of making him corrupt, Mathilda. You should have heard his ugly accusations.”

“Oh, the anger of a young man… which should be evident to an older man. The two of you acting like pouty school boys, each refusing to acknowledge the other. Go to Montelucio, Odo, and reel him back in before it’s too late, for both of you. You are the father, you wield the power. And Odo, you are the Church. Can you truly preach charity and forgiveness to the world, yet deny it to one so close to your heart?”