After Pope Urban II's death, Paschal reacted to the success of the First Crusade by preaching the penitential Crusade of 1101.[1]
During the long struggle of the papacy with theHoly Roman emperors overinvestiture, Paschal II zealously carried on theHildebrandine policy in favor of papal privilege, but with only partial success.Henry V, son ofEmperor Henry IV, took advantage of his father'sexcommunication to rebel, even to the point of seeking out Paschal II for absolution for associating with his father.[2] But, Henry V was even more persistent in maintaining the right of investiture than Emperor Henry IV had been before his death in 1106. The imperialDiet atMainz invited Paschal II to visit Germany and settle the trouble in January 1106, but the pope in the Council ofGuastalla (October 1106) simply renewed the prohibition of investiture.[3][4]
In the same year, he brought to an end the investiture struggle inEngland, in whichAnselm,archbishop of Canterbury, had been engaged withKing Henry I, by retaining to himself exclusive right to invest with the ring and crozier, but recognizing the royal nomination to vacatebenefices and the oath of fealty for temporal domains. Paschal went toFrance at the close of 1106 to seek the mediation ofKing Philip I and his sonLouis in the imperial struggle, but he returned to Italy in September 1107, his negotiations remaining without result. When Henry V advanced with an army into Italy in order to be crowned, the pope agreed to a compact in February 1111 which stipulated that before receiving the imperial crown, Henry was to abjure all claims to investitures, whilst the pope undertook to compel the prelates and abbots of the empire to restore all the temporal rights and privileges which they held from the crown.[5] Preparations were made for the coronation on 12 February 1111, but the Romans rose in revolt against Henry, and the German king retired, taking the pope and Curia with him.[4]
After 61 days of harsh imprisonment, during which PrinceRobert I of Capua'sNorman army was repulsed on its rescue mission, Paschal II yielded and guaranteed investiture to the emperor. Henry V was then crowned inSt. Peter's on 13 April 1111, and, after exacting a promise that no revenge would be taken for what had happened, withdrew beyond theAlps. The Hildebrandine party was aroused to action, however; aLateran council of March 1112 declared null and void the concessions extorted by violence; a council held atVienne in October 1111 excommunicated the emperor; and Paschal II sanctioned the proceeding.[6][4]
Pie Postulatio Voluntatis, bull issued by Paschal II in 1113
During Paschal's trip to France in 1106–1107, he consecrated the Cluniac church of Notre Dame at La Charité-sur-Loire,[8] the second largest church in Europe at the time.
Toward the end of his pontificate trouble began anew in England; Paschal II complained in 1115 that councils were held and bishops translated without his authorization, and he threatened Henry I withexcommunication.Matilda of Tuscany was said to have bequeathed all her allodial lands to the Church upon her death in 1115, but the donation was neither publicly acknowledged in Rome nor is any documentary record of the donation preserved. Emperor Henry V at once laid claim to Matilda's lands as imperial fiefs and forced the pope to flee from Rome. Paschal II returned after the emperor's withdrawal at the beginning of 1118, but died within a few days, on 21 January 1118.[4]
During Paschal's papacy some efforts were made by theByzantine EmperorAlexios I to bridge theschism between the Orthodox and the Catholic Church, but these failed, as Paschal pressed the demand that thepatriarch of Constantinople recognise the pope's primacy over "all the churches of God throughout the world" in late 1112. This was somethingOrthodox PatriarchsNicholas Grammaticus andJohn Agapetus could not do in face of opposition from the majority of clergy, the monastic world, and the laity.[10]
Pope Paschal II issued the bullPie postulatio voluntatis on 15 February 1113.[11] It brought under Papal protection and confirmed as a religious order the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, later known as the Knights Hospitaller and today known as theSovereign Military Order of Malta. It also confirmed the order's acquisitions and donations in Europe and Asia and exempted it from all authority save that of the pope.[12]
^McLaughlin, Megan (2010).Sex, Gender, and Episcopal Authority in an Age of Reform, 1000–1122. Cambridge University Press. p. 175.ISBN978-0521870054.
^Blumenthal, Uta-Renate (1988).The Investiture Controversy: Church and Monarchy from the Ninth to the Twelfth Century. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 167.ISBN978-0812213867.
^ One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Loughlin, James (1911). "Pope Paschal II". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.).Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
^Webb, Matilda (2001).The Churches and Catacombs of Early Christian Rome: A Comprehensive Guide. T.J. International. p. 93.ISBN978-1902210582.
^Suger (Abbot)."De La Venue En France Du Pape Pascal II (1107) / Of Pope Paschal II's Travel to France (1107)" (in French). Archived fromthe original on 26 September 2007. Retrieved1 May 2016.puis de Cluny à La Charité, où, au milieu d'un très grand concours d'archevêques, d'évêques et de moines, il dédia et consacra ce fameux monastère [...] 6) Le 9 mars 1107. Le monastère de la Charité-sur-Loire (Nièvre, arrondissement de Cosne) était un prieuré clunisien.
^Reilly, Bernard F. (1995).The Contest of Christian and Muslim Spain: 1031–1157. Blackwell Publishing. p. 177.ISBN978-0631199649.
^Hussey, Joan Mervyn (1986).The Orthodox Church in the Byzantine Empire. Clarendon Press. pp. 170–171.ISBN978-0198269014.
