As son of CountWilliam I of Burgundy, Guy was a member of and connected to the highest nobility in Europe. He becamearchbishop of Vienne and served as papal legate to France. He attended the Lateran Synod of 1112. He was elected pope atCluny in 1119. The following year, prompted by attacks on Jews, he issued the bullSicut Judaeis which forbade Christians, on pain of excommunication, from forcing Jews to convert, from harming them, from taking their property, from disturbing the celebration of their festivals, and from interfering with their cemeteries. In March 1123, Calixtus II convened theFirst Lateran Council which passed several disciplinary decrees, such as those againstsimony andconcubinage among the clergy, and violators of theTruce of God.
Guy first appears in contemporary records when he became thearchbishop of Vienne in 1088. He held strong pro-papal views about theInvestiture controversy. As archbishop, he was appointedpapal legate to France byPope Paschal II during the time that Paschal was induced under pressure fromHoly Roman EmperorHenry V to issue thePrivilegium of 1111, by which he yielded much of the papal prerogatives that had been so forcefully claimed byPope Gregory VII in theGregorian Reforms. These concessions were received with violent opposition and nowhere more so than in France, where the opposition was led by Archbishop Guy, who had attended the Lateran Synod of 1112.[4]
On his return to France, he immediately convened an assembly of French and Burgundian bishops at Vienne, where the imperial claim to a traditionallay investiture of the clergy was denounced asheretical and a sentence ofexcommunication was now pronounced against Henry V on the grounds that he had extorted thePrivilegium from Paschal II by means of violence. The council called Pope Paschal a simpleton (quod rex extorsit a vestra simplicitate).[5] These decrees were sent to Paschal II with a request for a confirmation, which they received on 20 October 1112.[6][4]
Paschal does not seem to have been quite pleased with Guy's zeal in his attacks upon Henry V.[4] During the violent confrontations between Henry V and Paschal II's successor,Pope Gelasius II, the pope was forced to flee from Rome, first toGaeta, where he was crowned, then to theCluny Abbey, where he died on 29 January 1119.[4] Guy was elected at Cluny on 2 February 1119. Nine cardinals took part in the election. Most of the other cardinals were in Rome.[7] He wascrowned at Vienne on 9 February 1119 as Calixtus II.[4]
At the outset, it appeared that the new pope was willing to negotiate with Henry V, who received the papal embassy atStrasbourg, and withdrew his support from the antipope he had proclaimed at Rome. It was agreed that pope and emperor should meet at the Château de Mousson, nearRheims, and in October the new Pope opened the council at Rheims attended byLouis VI of France with most of the barons of France and more than four hundred bishops and abbots. Henry V arrived for his personal conference at Mousson — not alone, as had been anticipated, but with an army of over thirty thousand men. Calixtus II, fearing that force was likely to be used to extract prejudicial concessions, remained at Rheims. There, Calixtus II busied himself ineffectively with attempting a reconciliation between the brothersHenry I of England andRobert II of Normandy, and the council dealt with disciplinary regulations and decrees against lay investiture,simony, and clerical concubines. Since there was no compromise coming from Henry V, it was determined on 30 October 1119 that the Emperor and his antipope should be solemnly excommunicated.[6][4]
Returning to Italy, whereantipope Gregory VIII was supported in Rome by imperial forces and Italian allies of the emperor, Calixtus II managed to gain the upper hand amid clear demonstrations of popular support. The Imperial candidate was obliged to flee to the fortress ofSutri, where he was taken prisoner through the intervention of Norman support from theKingdom of Sicily. He was transferred from prison to prison first nearSalerno, and afterwards at the fortress of Fumo.[4] The imperial allies in Rome soon disbanded.
Having established his power in Italy, the pope resolved to re-open negotiations with Henry V on the question of investiture. Henry V was anxious to put an end to a controversy, which had reduced imperial authority in Germany terminally so as it appeared in the long run. An embassy of three cardinals was sent by Calixtus II to Germany, and negotiations for a permanent settlement of the investiture struggle were begun in October 1121 atWürzburg, where it was agreed that a general truce should be proclaimed in Germany, the Church should have free use of its possessions and the lands of those in rebellion should be restored.
Those decrees were communicated to Calixtus II, who despatched the legateLambert to assist at the synod that had been convoked at Worms, where, on 23 September 1122, the agreement known as theConcordat of Worms was concluded. On his side, the Emperor abandoned his claim to investiture with ring and crosier and granted freedom of election to episcopal sees. On the papal side, it was conceded that the bishops should receive investiture with the sceptre; the episcopal elections should be held in the presence of the Emperor or his representatives; in case of disputed elections the emperor should, after the decision of the metropolitan and the suffragan bishops, confirm the rightfully-elected candidate; and the imperial investiture of the temporal properties connected to the sees should take place in Germany before the consecration.
In Burgundy and in Italy, the imperial investiture would take place after the consecration ceremony, and in the Papal States, the pope alone had the right of investiture without any interference on the part of the emperor. As a result of the Concordat, the Emperor still retained in his hands the controlling influence in the election of the bishops in Germany though he had abandoned much in regard to episcopal elections in Italy and Burgundy.[12][4]
To secure the confirmation of this Concordat of Worms, Calixtus II convened the First Lateran Council on 18 March 1123. It solemnly confirmed the Concordat and passed several disciplinary decrees, such as those against simony and concubinage among the clergy. Decrees were also passed against violators of theTruce of God, church-robbers, and forgers of ecclesiastical documents. Theindulgences already granted to the crusaders were renewed, and the jurisdiction of the bishops over the clergy, both secular and regular, was more clearly defined.[6][4]
Calixtus II devoted his last few years to re-establishing papal control over theRoman Campagna and establishing the primacy of his former prince-archbishopric, theSee of Vienne over the long-time rivalSee of Arles. He also affirmed the authority of the bishop ofLyon over the church atSens in France, transferred the historic bishopric ofMérida in Spain toSantiago de Compostela, and rebuilt the church ofSanta Maria in Cosmedin in Rome.[4]
Calixtus died on 13 December 1124. A decade or two later, a French scholar (probablyAymeric Picaud) began composing a combination of miracle tales, liturgical texts and travelers guide relating to the increasingly popular pilgrimage route from southern France through northern Spain now called theCamino de Santiago. The work (published before 1173) was called theLiber Sant Jacobi (Book ofSt. James) or theCodex Calixtinus, since a letter introduction attributed to this pope preceded each of the five chapters. Several of his authentic letters have also been preserved.[4]
^Mary Stroll,Calixtus II (1119–1124): a pope born to rule (Brill, 2004), 9.
^abcdefghijk One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: MacCaffrey, James (1908). "Pope Callistus II". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.).Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
^Solomon Grayzel (1991), "The Papal BullSicut Judeis," in: Jeremy Cohen,Essential Papers on Judaism and Christianity in Conflict. From Late Antiquity to the Reformation (New York University Press 1991), pp. 231–259.
^Simonsohn, Shlomo (1988).The Apostolic See and the Jews, Documents: 492–1404. Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, pp. 68, 143, 211, 242, 245–246, 249, 254, 260, 265, 396, 430, 507.
^Bruce Bueno De Mesquita, "Popes, kings, and endogenous institutions: The Concordat of Worms and the origins of sovereignty."International Studies Review (2000): 93–118.in JSTOR
